An Alabama man who committed COVID-19 loan fraud to the tune of $379,000 while he was a federal prison inmate was sentenced Thursday to nearly 16 years in a federal lockup.

Adrian Lacey, 46, of Semmes, was sentenced to 186 months in federal prison after being convicted in federal court in Mobile in May of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Laceys conviction came the same month he was due to be released from the federal prison system.

U.S. Bureau of Prison records indicate Lacey is no longer in federal custody, but the sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Kristi DuBose means he will once again be behind bars.

While incarcerated in federal prison on prior fraud charges, Lacey orchestrated a scheme using stolen identities to apply for economic injury disaster loans, which were available as relief for business owners impacted by COVID-19 through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

DuBose also sentenced Lacey to five years of supervised release once he completes his prison term.

He was also ordered to forfeit more than $379,000 Lacey and his co-conspirators received through the scheme.

The SBA Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kasee Heisterhagen and Gaillard Ladd prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A Muscle Shoals widow filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging a Florida hospital and the surgeon and nurses who treated her husband were negligent after he died when his liver was removed instead of his spleen.

Beverly Burke Bryan also accused Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach, Florida of covering up the surgeons mistake by allegedly falsifying her husbands death certificate and other records.

A hospital spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit because the facility does not discuss active litigation.

On Aug. 21, William Bryan, 70, underwent a laparoscopic splenectomy when Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky mistakenly removed his liver, resulting in the cutting of a major artery that caused sudden blood loss and William Bryans death, according to the lawsuit.

The error was not immediately noticed; Shaknovsky labeled the removed liver specimen as spleen, the attorney claimed.

The mistake was discovered only after William Bryans death.

It was not until [the] pathologist reviewed the organ removed from Mr. Bryan that someone finally demanded the truth come out, the lawsuit claimed.

The lawsuit filed in civil court in Walton County, Florida accuses Shaknovsky, the hospital and nurses involved in Bryans treatment with several counts of medical negligence.

This heartbreaking loss has devastated the family of William Bryan, and we are seeking justice for this senseless tragedy. Dr. Shaknovskys failure to meet the accepted standard of care and Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coasts involvement in the alleged cover up has caused irreparable harm, and no family should have to endure such grief due to medical negligence, said Beverly Bryans attorney, Joe Zarzaur. We are committed to holding these actors accountable for their actions.

Burke is not suing for a specified amount of money but is seeking compensatory and other damages, including loss of earnings, loss of companionship and protection, mental pain and suffering as a result. She also requests compensation for funeral, medical and other expenses.
The demonstration against President Trumps immigration crackdown Wednesday night on the streets of downtown Albertville was deeply concerning, the dean of Alabamas congressional delegation said Thursday.

While I respect the right to peaceful assembly and free speech, any rhetoric that threatens or undermines the essential work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unacceptable, said Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, whose district includes Albertville.

During the demonstration, demonstrators condemned ICE for placing immigration detainers on undocumented migrants.

Keep ICE out of schools, one sign read, a reference to reports of agents conducted stings across the country.

Aderholt suggested demonizing the agency was inappropriate.

As a staunch advocate for the rule of law and the safety of our communities, I find the recent anti-ICE protests in Albertville deeply concerning, the congressman said Thursday.

ICE plays a critical role in targeting violent criminals who are in the country illegally, ensuring that dangerous individuals do not pose a threat to our communities. To say that ICE wont be tolerated in and around Albertville is a game of dangerous rhetoric.

The congressman pointed to Trumps first bill signing to signal that the president is committed ot immigration enforcement.

By making the Laken Riley Act the first bill signed under his administration, President Trump shows he is committed to immigration enforcement and seeking justice for the bereaved families of Americans lost to lawlessness at the border.

More pro-immigrant protests were scheduled for the weekend in Blount County.

Waving American, Mexican and flags from Latin American countries -- some of which were worn as capes -- protesters on Wednesday night chanted, el pueblo unido jamas sera vencido, (the people united will never be defeated,) nobody is illegal on stolen land and no one is illegal, power to the people.

The demonstration was organized by Michelle Medina and her friends to champion the rights of those who are hesitant to express themselves, she wrote in a Facebook post encouraging protesters.

Vehicles honked their horns in solidarity as the protesters held signs on the sidewalk.

Some posters turned Trumps campaign slogan against him.

Immigrants make America great, one of them read.

MAGA Christianity is anti-Jesus, read another. What type of visa does Jesus need? read a third.

Others advocated for the contributions immigrants make to communities.

Albertville would be nothing without immigrants, read one sign.

Albertville needs immigrants, was emblazoned on another poster.

While not directly addressing Wednesday nights demonstration, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who represented the area near Albertville when he was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, referenced the town in a tweet Thursday supporting Trumps immigration policies.

I 100% support President Trumps order to enforce immigration from Albertville, Alabama to Anchorage, Alaska and across the USA, Ainsworth tweeted. Illegal immigrants commit a crime when they jump our border and touch U.S. soil. If you dont respect our borders, you dont respect our country.

I 100% support President Trumps order to enforce immigration from Albertville, Alabama to Anchorage, Alaska and across the USA. Illegal immigrants commit a crime when they jump our border and touch U.S. soil. If you dont respect our borders, you dont respect our country.  Will Ainsworth (@willainsworthAL) January 30, 2025

The north Alabama city became a breeding ground for anti-immigrant sentiment after photos of Haitian migrants being bused to neighboring poultry plants circulated in August.

The photos prompted questions about who the migrants were and where they came from, leading to what city officials called baseless accusations, and hurtful rhetoric.

This resulted in a series of community meetings and the formation of a non-profit.

Immigrant workers have been a focus of residents concerns in Athens and Sylacauga, with city officials facing questions about the effect on crime, school overcrowding and housing.
Two shooting suspects are among four people recently indicted in northern Alabama on charges of illegal re-entry after deportation or being in possession of a firearm while in the U.S. illegally.

Prim Escalona, the U.S. Attorney for northern Alabama, on Friday announced the indictments, which were issued in November, December and January.

Keeping our communities safe is our top priority, Escalona said. My office is focused on prosecuting individuals who are in our country illegally, especially those who engage in federal crimes.

Elbio Byron Cuz-Chub, 22, of Guatemala, was indicted on a charge being an alien in possession of a firearm.

On Oct. 20, 2024, Birmingham police responded to a Shot Spotter notification from Mountainview Road on the citys westside.

Officers spotted a vehicle with three men inside and conducted a stop. Cuz-Chub was in the drivers seat with a gun in the vehicles cupholder, according to federal documents.

Two other people were in the vehicle, including one man who was moaning in pain and holding his stomach.

That man, authorities said, had been shot in the wrist and abdomen. He identified Cuz as the shooter, records state, and Cuz contended the man accidentally shot himself.

Investigators learned Cuz was encountered by border patrol agents on Dec. 10, 2017, entering the U.S. from Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley. He was released with a court date, but failed to show up, according to his indictment, and was ordered to be removed from the U.S.

Edgar Bayardo Madriz-Morales, 64, of Nicaragua, was indicted on a charge of illegal reentry after deportation.

Madriz was found in Franklin County on Nov. 2, 2024.

Investigators learned he was deported to Nicaragua in August 2002 and again in October 2023. Both deportations, documents stated, came after felony convictions. The documents did not identify the felony offenses.

Jorge Campos-Xochihua, 31, of Mexico, is charged with being an alien in possession of a firearm.

Tarrant police on Oct. 24, 2024, responded to shots fired from a vehicle in the area of Park Avenue but found nothing amiss.

A short time later, police were again alerted to shots fired in the same area, according to the indict.

An officer made contact with two men sitting in a gray Chevrolet Camaro around Pinson Street.

The driver said a drunk man came out of a bar and pointed a gun at him and his cousin. They ran to their vehicle and thats when the suspect  later identified as Campos  fired nine rounds into their pickup truck, court records state.

On Dec. 28, the victims called police to report seeing the man who had shot at them in October. Police went into the same bar and took Campos into custody.

Campos, records state, told police he knew he was being taken into custody for the shooting. He was arrested on state charges of shooting into an occupied vehicle.

After his arrest, investigators learn that he illegally entered the U.S. on Aug. 4, 2012, and was granted a voluntary return to Mexico.

The investigation showed that he last entered the U.S. in December 2016 on a temporary visa as an agriculture worker, which was valid until 2017.

Abraham Lopez-Ramirez, 48, of Mexico, is charged with illegal reentry after deportation.

In January, ICE officials learned Lopez was being held in the Cullman County Jail on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and failure/refusal to display insurance.

Lopez was first arrested in Cullman County on Feb. 18, 2010, for a hit-and-run accident, DUI and driving without insurance. He was convicted of a Class C felony and sentenced to five years in prison. He was also ordered to pay $21,000 in restitution.

In 2011, an immigration judge served Lopez with a removal order upon his release.

There currently are no records or documents that would allow Lopez to remain or live in the U.S., documents state.

Additionally, Escalona said, six other people have been recently sentenced to prison or convicted on federal immigration-related charges in northern Alabama:

 Juan Manuel Salas-Sanchez, 43, of Mexico, was sentenced to 135 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and being an alien in possession of a firearm.

 Marvin Ernesto Clemente, 38, of El Salvador, was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to illegal re-entry after deportation.

 Raul Edgardo Jimenez-Cruz, 38, of Honduras, was sentenced to 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and illegal reentry after deportation.

 Jesus Daniel Bibiano-Ruiz, 28, of Mexico, was sentenced to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm.

 Alvaro Amezcua-Gonzalez, 48, of Mexico, was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm.

 Clemente Aguilera-Castaneda, 55, of Mexico, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after deportation. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 18, 2025.

The charges and sentences announced today highlight the importance of pursuing criminals who violate our nations immigration laws and threaten public safety, said Steven N. Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta, which covers Alabama and Georgia. HSI and our partners remain steadfast in identifying, arresting, and prosecuting illegal aliens who engage in criminal activity, unlawfully possess firearms or commit violence across our communities.
A Calera man is behind bars in south Alabama, accused in a hit-and-run that critically injured a 77-year-old woman.

Gulf Shores officers on patrol responded at 12:44 p.m. Wednesday to a report of a person injured in the 900 block of West Lagoon Avenue, said Det. Carl Wittstruck.

They arrived to find a woman unresponsive in the road. She was airlifted to a hospital.

Due to the extent of the womans injuries and the lack of information about her identity, Wittstruck said, investigators from the Traffic Homicide Unit and detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division responded the scene.

Investigators learned the woman was from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. Authorities said she was in a pedestrian crosswalk when she was struck.

She remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Gustiva Licona-Hernandez, who lives in Calera, was identified by evidence from the scene, Wittstruck said.

He is charged with failure to report an accident with serious injuries. He remains in the Gulf Shores City Jail.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Gulf Shores Police Department at 251-968-2431 or gspdpio@gulfshoresal.gov.
An Alabama high school performance arts teacher who resigned earlier this month was arrested Thursday for allegedly engaging in sexual acts and other offenses with students, authorities said.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested Madison resident Nicholas James Murphy around 9:04 a.m. Thursday, the Madison County Sheriffs Office said.

Murphy, a performance arts teacher at Ardmore High School who resigned on Jan. 13, was charged with two counts of school employee engaged in sexual contact with a student, two counts of school employee engaged in a sexual act with a student and two counts of school employee soliciting obscene material, the sheriffs office said.

He was released from the Madison County jail after posting $70,000 bond, records showed.

Murphs arrest came after a joint investigation by Limestone County Sheriffs Office, Madison County Sheriffs Office, and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

This investigation is an example of the collaborative efforts between law enforcement agencies to combat online child exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice, the sheriffs office said in a statement. The Madison County Sheriffs Office is committed to protecting children from online exploitation and ensuring that those who engage in such behavior are held accountable.

The sheriffs office encouraged anyone with information on online child exploitation to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
Authorities are asking for the publics help in finding the family of a 70 -year-old man who died recently in Birmingham.

Dejong Dirk Kinney was found dead on Jan. 21 inside his home on Princeton Avenue Southwest after a concerned neighbor asked police to perform a welfare check.

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said Kinney died of natural causes.

His body is ready to be released for burial, but the coroners office has not been able to find and notify any relatives.

Kinney listed previous addresses in the 900 block of 24th Street Southwest and the 1400 block of 18th Street South in Birmingham.

Neighbors told authorities Kinney was not originally from Birmingham and they had no knowledge about his family.

Anyone with information is asked to call the coroners office at 205-930-3603.
Two Hoover brothers have been sentenced to federal prison for running an online fencing scheme that resulted in the sale of over $1 million worth of stolen goods.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala sentenced Abdurrahman Amar, 32, to 34 months in prison and Yahya Amar, 33, to 30 months in prison, according to a joint announcement Thursday by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis.

The brothers in 2024 pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to engage in the interstate transportation of stolen goods.

According to the plea agreements, from January 2022 through December 2023, Abdurrahman Amar organized and led a network of boosters  professional thieves.

The boosters regularly offered the Amars various new and unopened goods for purchase, especially personal electronic devices and tools.

The Amars knew that the boosters obtained the items by stealing them from retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowes.

After buying goods from the boosters at a steep discount, the Amars listed them for re-sale on online platformsprimarily eBay and Facebook. The prices included a markup from the boosters prices but were still well below the stolen goods retail value.

Over the course of the conspiracy, authorities said, the Amars completed about 7,283 separate sales of stolen goods on eBay, netting approximately $1,014,191.44.

After selling the stolen goods online, the Amars shipped the stolen goods to customers throughout the United States and internationally.

The brothers were initially arrested by Hoover police at their home. Raids at multiple locations in Hoover and Birmingham yielded about $30,000 in stolen property.

The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Janich prosecuted the case.
An investigation is underway, but officials in Michigan have confirmed a 5-year-old boy was killed Friday in an explosion at a medical facility.

During a press conference Friday, Lt. Ben Hancock of the Troy, Michigan Police Department said the boy was inside of a hyperbaric chamber when the explosion occurred, killing him. The boys mother suffered injuries to her arm as she was standing next to the chamber when it exploded, according to police.

Troy police and firefighters were dispatched to a medical facility located at 165 Kirts Blvd. shortly before 8 a.m. for reports of an explosion. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the room where the explosion occurred, officials said.

Lt. Ken Young of the Troy Fire Department said numerous times that it still too early in the investigation to determine what caused the explosion.

A hyperbaric chamber contains 100% oxygen, which is up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room. The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible, Young said.

Our initial research shows that this is not a common incident and the scene remains under active investigation.

Young went on to say he expects the investigation will involve multiple jurisdictions and departments throughout the state.

Hancock said it is unknown why the boy was being treated at the facility. Officials did not release the name of the victims.
Mexicos President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she sent a letter to Google opposing a decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps.

On Monday, Google announced on social media that it would comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to rename the gulf.

The revision would only apply to U.S. users of Google Maps while the rest of the world will continue seeing the current name.

We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources, Google said on social media.

However, Sheinbaum and Mexico contend renaming the entire Gulf of Mexico is an illegal act.

According to the BBC, Sheinbaum cited the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an international treaty, to say that the re-naming could only apply to 12 nautical miles out from Americas coastline.

The treaty states that only 12 nautical miles out from a countrys coastline constitutes sovereign territory.

Trumps executive order detailed the boundaries of the Gulf of America to include the, U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.

Sheinbaum also made light of the situation saying that Mexico would ask Google to make a name change as well.

By the way, we are also going to ask for Mexican America to appear on the map, Sheinbaum said.

Previously, Sheinbaum joked that North Americas name should be changed to Mexican America to reflect the boundaries of a 17th century map. That seemed to be a reference to her suggestion of renaming North America as America Mexicana.

For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico, she wrote.

A supermajority of Americans are also opposed to the idea of renaming the gulf according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

However, many Americans, primarily Republicans, support renaming the body of water the Gulf of America.

A legendary beach bar located along the gulf coast has even begun taking orders for Gulf of America t-shirts.

Chevron has announced it too will begin using the phrase Gulf of America.
A decade ago, Michigan refused to send one of its inmates to California, a state where that man might have been executed. Now, lawyers for Demetrius Frazier want to know why Michigan wont afford the same courtesy to Frazier and demand he be returned from Alabama before the state kills him.

Fraziers lawyers, in a Friday letter to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, drew a contrast between Michigans response in the case of Clarence Ray Jr. and Fraziers case, and sought help from the governor.

Frazier is set to die sometime within a 30-hour-period starting at midnight on Thursday, Feb. 6 and ending at 6 a.m. on Feb. 7. Frazier is set to die by inhaling pure nitrogen through a gas mask.

The 52-year-old was sentenced to death for the slaying of Pauline Brown, who was shot to death and raped in her Birmingham apartment in 1991. Frazier was also convicted in a separate killing in his home state of Michigan: The shooting death of a 14-year-old girl in 1992.

His lawyers are asking Whitmer to demand Fraziers return to Michigan and allow him to serve his life sentence in a prison there.

You have the absolute authority to demand Mr. Fraziers return, wrote Fraziers lawyers from the Federal Defenders Office.

Its the second request theyve made of the northern governor; the first was met with a response from Whitmers staff, indicating the governor wouldnt act at that time.

Fraizer was arrested in Detroit in 1992 for the murder of the young girl, who had been found shot in the head. During his talks with police there, he admitted to Browns slaying in Alabama the year before.

Frazier was convicted in Michigan for criminal sexual conduct, robbery, and the teenagers slaying. There, he was given three life sentences.

In 1995, Michigan authorities brought Frazier to Alabama, where he was tried for Browns killing, found guilty and sentenced to death. The Michigan authorities then brought him back north, where he was imprisoned.

Michigan does not have the death penalty, and its state constitution banned it in 1963.

Yet in 2011, then-Govs. Robert Bentley of Alabama and Rick Snyder of Michigan created an executive agreement to transfer Frazier to Alabama, according to documents signed by the governors and attached to Fraziers lawsuit. Fraziers team has argued that agreement was unlawful.

No explanation was provided in the documents as to why the transfer was initiated.

And the Friday letter suggests it was contradictory, too.

Four years after secretly transferring Mr. Frazier to Alabama, Governor Snyder refused to extradite Clarence Ray Jr., a Michigan prisoner serving life without parole for murder, to face execution in California. When California requested Mr. Ray, Michigan officials explained they do not send Michigan prisoners to death penalty states until their primary Michigan sentences are complete, said the letter.

Ray is currently serving a life sentence in a Lapeer, MI, prison, according to prison records.

A California television station KGET reported in 2015 that Ray, while in a Michigan lockup, confessed to a 1984 murder in Bakersfield, CA. After his confession, he was convicted in the Golden State and sentenced to die. But the California prosecutors, according to the TV station, said Ray wouldnt be turned over to California prison officials until after he died.

Michigan officials even told the D.A. that they do not turn over inmates to states where the death penalty is used, the report stated.

Fraziers lawyers cited the case in their Friday letter. There is no principled distinction between the circumstances of Messrs. Frazier and Ray: both were convicted of Michigan murders first, received life sentences, and were temporarily transferred to death penalty states (under the law) for trial before being returned to finish serving their Michigan sentences.

Fraziers attorneys brought their claim to federal court earlier this month, and after Michigan prison officials said they didnt want Frazier back, the lawyers dropped the case.

Theyre also seeking a different federal judge to rule on Fraziers argument that Alabamas nitrogen gas execution method causes superadded pain and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Fraziers lawyers are asking that he not be executed until the case can be fully argued, or that he be executed using nitrogen only after being first given a sedative-- specifically, the first drug in Alabamas three-drug lethal injection cocktail.

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks has yet to rule in that case.
A second person suspected of being involved in a shooting that led to the deaths of three men in Mobile earlier this month has turned himself in to authorities in Puerto Rico, police said Thursday.

Adriel Pina is charged with hindering prosecution and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to a Mobile Police Department spokesman.

Pinas age was not immediately known, and it is unclear when he will arrive in Mobile to face charges, police said.

Pina, who is not believed to be the shooter, is the second suspect charged this week in connection with the Jan. 18 triple homicide on Theodore Dawes Road by I-10 East.

He is also the second whom authorities claimed fled to Puerto Rico following the deadly shootings.

Anthony Morales Rivera, 34, who had an active warrant with the FBI for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, turned himself in to authorities on Monday, according to Mobile police.

Rivera was booked into Mobile County Metro Jail on three counts of murder in connection with the deadly Jan. 18 shootings.

Mobile police officers responded to the shooting around 7:34 p.m. Jan. 18 and found three male victims -- Marco Alvarado, 24; Christon Aponte, 30; and Angel Esparra, 28 with fatal gunshot wounds.

Officers learned the victims were involved in a physical altercation with a suspect while stopped at the overpass.

Thats when, according to police, a second suspect shot each of the victims.

Both suspects then left in separate vehicles before officers arrived.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R. Ala. says he is glad to see the reversal of the Pentagon policy covering travel costs for service members and their dependents who must cross state lines to receive abortions and other reproductive care.

For the past two years, I have been sounding the alarm about the Pentagons illegal and immoral practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, Tuberville said in a release today.

I took a lot of heat when I stood alone for nearly a year in holding senior Pentagon promotions over thisbut as of today, it was all worth it.

The change was announced in a memo posted by the Defense Travel Management Office on Wednesday, but it went into effect the day before.

The Biden administration treated taxpayers like their own personal Piggy bank that they could use to bankroll their woke agenda, Tuberville said in the release.

President Trump and Secretary Hegseth affirmed today what Ive been fighting for since I got to Washington: zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions.

In 2023, Tuberville put a 10 month hold on more than 425 military promotions requiring Senate confirmation in protest of the travel policy.

The holds, for months, raised concerns at the Pentagon about military readiness and top military leaders, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, warned that Tubervilles hold could lead to the possibility of losing talent.

I took a beating for a year from the media, Democrats, and even some Republicans, Tuberville posted to X on Friday.

Worth it.

I took a beating for a year from the media, Democrats, and even some Republicans. Worth it. https://t.co/41TpZqbCtd  Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) January 31, 2025

Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseths leadership, the Pentagon will once again be focused on lethality, not pushing a political agenda, Tuberville said in Fridays release.

Thank God common sense has been restored to our military under President Trumps leadership.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and 18 other Democratic and independent senators released an open letter this morning decrying the reversal.

This decision strips away service members ability to access the reproductive care they need, which is nothing short of abhorrent, Shaheen writes.

It runs contrary to a core goal of the Department of Defense  to ensure the health and well-being of all our service members so that our force remains ready at all times to protect Americans and keep this nation safe.

The @DeptofDefense's rescission of policy that allowed service members to get reimbursed for travel and transportation for non-covered reproductive care will harm the health and wellbeing of our service members and does nothing to support our military readiness. pic.twitter.com/Ftst4RTv6H  Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) January 30, 2025

The letter adds that at a time when we are already facing military recruitment and retention challenges, we should do all we can to assure those who answer the call to service America that we will do everything in our power to support them and their families.

Instead, this extreme action does the opposite and sends a message to servicewomen-who make up more than 17 percent of our militarys active duty-that they are not as valuable as their male counterparts.
United Methodist leaders in Alabama say that insurance will cover most of the cost of legal battles that the denomination is involved with, as the Alabama-West Florida Conference resists efforts of churches hoping to leave the denomination and take their property with them.

Our conference is currently engaged in several legal proceedings to protect the property rights of The United Methodist Church, said a statement released this month by Bishop Jonathan Holston, co-signed by board of trustees president the Rev. Emily Kincaid and cabinet dean the Rev. Jean Tippit, of the Alabama-West Florida Conference.

These efforts are vital to ensuring that the resources entrusted to us remain aligned with the purpose for which they were given: to serve Christs mission and ministry in our communities and beyond, they wrote. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to the faithful stewardship of all that God has placed in our care.

The letter then addressed the financial impact of legal battles with congregations that want to leave.

Thanks to the prudent planning and foresight of those who have come before us, insurance is covering the majority of our legal costs, they wrote. Still, we are diligently working to minimize the financial impact of these legal proceedings while upholding the principles and mission of The United Methodist Church.

The legal bills for the more than a dozen lawsuits the conference is involved in across numerous counties in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle could be substantial.

We encourage you to communicate openly with your congregation about the importance of these efforts and the conferences commitment to transparency and good stewardship, the bishop and the other clergy leaders wrote. We know you appreciate the challenge of financial management during this time of uncertainty, and we thank you for your faithful leadership and your stewardship of all that God has provided for your congregations and communities.

After quoting Pauls letter to the Corinthians to be steadfast, immovable, the United Methodist leaders asked for prayer amidst the legal wrangling.

Please join us in prayer for wisdom, justice, and peace throughout these proceedings, they wrote. Pray for all parties involved, that our actions may reflect the love and grace of Christ in all that we do.

In the most recent lawsuit, Butler Methodist Church in Choctaw County sued the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church on Jan. 23, asking for a jury trial to establish that the church property is owned by the congregation and not the denomination.

The lawsuit was filed in Choctaw County Circuit Court, and is the latest salvo in an ongoing legal battle between the United Methodist Church and congregations declaring their independence from it.

The congregation, with property at 511 South Mulberry in Butler, in western Alabama southwest of Demopolis, has been in that location since at least 1948, the lawsuit said.

In addition to being sued in numerous cases, the Alabama-West Florida Conference has also sued churches that tried to leave without following procedures set by the denomination.

The United Methodist Church filed a lawsuit on Nov. 21 against a breakaway beach church that dropped UMC affiliation from its charter but kept two appointed clergy on staff and banned denominational officials from setting foot on the campus popular with Gulf Coast residents and tourists.

The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church filed a lawsuit against Perdido Bay Methodist Church, challenging the amendment to its incorporation documents that declare it is no longer affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

Perdido Bay Methodist was one of more than 40 churches in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle whose requests to leave the denomination were stalled before the Dec. 31, 2023, disaffiliation deadline. Paragraph 2553, a special provision allowing disaffiliation due to disagreement over issues such as gay marriage, expired at that point.

The United Methodist General Conference voted in May 2024 to reverse its longstanding bans on gay marriage and ordination of LGBTQ clergy.

Churches that were not allowed to leave have adopted a new tactic: either suing the conference, saying the church property belongs to the congregation, not the denomination, or simply voting to change the churchs legal documents that have any mention of the United Methodist Church.
New leaders of financially troubled Jackson Hospital & Clinic in Montgomery said the hospital might close unless the city of Montgomery guarantees $20.5 million of its debt.

At a news conference Thursday outside the hospital, interim CEO Ron Dreskin said Jackson has arranged a financing plan with its bondholders that would keep Jackson open while it makes operational changes that are needed.

However, part of the agreement that we have made requires the city of Montgomery to give a guarantee, Dreskin said.

I want to make sure everyone is clear. We are not asking for a dollar of funds from the city of Montgomery. But we are asking them to guarantee the financing that we require to get us through the next period of time.

If we fail to get the guarantee, its going to be very difficult to get the cash we need to go forward. Thats why were here today. Thats why weve been meeting with our elected officials to explain to them the dire situation we are in, to plead with them to provide not money, but a guarantee.

Last year, Jackson Hospital defaulted on about $60 million in bonds.

In November, the hospital announced changes in its leadership, bringing in Dreskin as CEO and Allen Wilen as chief restructuring officer.

During Thursdays news conference, dozens of hospital employees held signs saying Save Jackson, Save our Community, and Save our Jobs.

The hospital, one of three in Montgomery, has about 2,100 employees.

Tynsley Morris, a registered nurse who works in labor and delivery, held a sign that read, Protect Patients, Keep Jackson Open. She said Jackson is vital to Montgomery and the surrounding area because of the quality of care.

Our unit is like family, Morris said. I think thats real important in your healthcare, is that you want to know that the people that are taking care of you, theyre taking care of each other. And were doing that. We take care of each other. They are my family, 100%.

Morris said she does not think Montgomerys other two hospitals, Baptist Medical Center South and Baptist Medical Center East, could absorb the loss of Jackson.

That is a patient safety issue, Morris said. Its a big issue that the city and the state should really focus on because were putting everybody at risk.

Not only that, we have thousands of jobs here, people who rely on this every day.

Tynsley Morris, a registered nurse at Jackson Hospital, shows her support for a plan to save the hospital at a press conference.(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

The Montgomery City Council is expected to consider the resolution to guarantee part of Jackson Hospitals debt on Friday. Several members of the council spoke at Thursdays press conference and promised the employees they would support the plan.

Jackson Hospital is a critical part of Montgomerys healthcare system, City Councilwoman Marche Johnson said. Its in everyones best interest if a pathway forward to remain open can be found.

Johnson said Jackson Hospital is important not only to Montgomery, but to Prattville, Wetumpka, Pike Road, and other nearby cities and counties.

Johnson said that while she believes the city council is ready to help Jackson, she said a more long-term solution for Jackson and other financially struggling hospitals will take a broader effort, including the involvement of state government.

Alabama is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act.

Advocates for Medicaid expansion say it could help keep hospitals open and protect access to care because it would cover hundreds of thousands of uninsured Alabamians, including many who work at jobs that dont provide insurance.

Read more: What is the coverage gap in Alabama Medicaid, health insurance?

Our state must take action to close the insurance coverage gap, Johnson said We must come together as a community and call upon our state leaders to wake up and take action. Its long overdue.

Dreskin said Jacksons financial problems were partly the result of pressures faced by most hospitals, including increased costs, the pandemic, poor reimbursement rates, the large number of uninsured patients in Alabama, and the difficulties of being a stand-alone hospital.

Wilen, the chief restructuring officer, also said the hospitals problems were the result of poor guidance by previous management. He said efforts are under way to improve operations and efficiency.

Wilen said if the city does not approve the resolution backing the hospitals debt, the options will be limited.

Number one, we may need to shut the hospital, Wilen said.

Number two, I am also working on other alternative sources of financing that dont require the guarantee but put a lot more pressure on the process here and on the restructuring overall than if we have the guarantee in place.

Wilen said if the city agrees to back the hospitals debt, it is unlikely the city would have to step in and bail the hospital out.

Im not asking for a check, Wilen said. Im asking for a guarantee which has the likelihood of being called to be minimal. But it provides third parties who are not in this community the understanding that this hospital is important to this city, the county, and the community as a whole.

Morris said she is optimistic that the city council will approve the resolution to save Jackson Hospital, which has operated in Montgomery since 1946.

I hope with my whole heart that the city does what I think that they will do, Morris said. I think they will back us up. Its super important. Were such a big part of the community.

This story was edited at 9:37 p.m. to say that Alabama is one of 10 states, not nine, have not expanded Medicaid.
The Huntsville Police Department has been operating drones in the citys skies since 2019.

But they arent being used to look for traffic violations. They also arent being used to spy on the more than 245,000 people who live within the city limits.

We do not fly unless there is an event, Huntsville Police Officer Chad Tillman said this week during the U.S. Space & Rocket Centers symposium on artificial intelligence.

We do not want to have the drones in the air patrolling the air, said Tillman, who is director of the departments UAS (unmanned aerial systems) Operations. Any time you see our drones in the air, theyre going because there has been a call for service.

There are about 20 drones actively flying. Tillman said the drones are being used for two primary reasons: officer safety and citizen safety.

In fact, he credits the use of a drone in possibly saving an officers life during a recent incident.

We had an incident where an officer was on the side of the road and the person that he had stopped decided to be very combative, and took the officer down, Tillman said. The officer was not able to get to his radio to call for help. And we were watching him with the drone.

The police officer analyzing the drone footage was able to call other officers and bring them in and stopped what could have been a tragic event.

A drone was also used in the search for missing kayakers on the Flint River following a recent flood.

The conditions we were in were high risk, Tillman said. We had the drone up. We were looking. We flew two flights and couldnt find anything. We knew we were looking for a lime-green kayak with two people in it. We pulled them down and went back. We had someone looking at the video. In those two flights, that lime-green kayak had been in view for over 10 minutes in the video.

Just a few days ago, a drone was used to help officers in a foot chase with a wanted suspect. And they are being used in assisting in investigations of burglaries in neighborhoods.

Instead of sending a patrol car in the neighborhood that everybody can see, which makes it difficult to find the people who are trying to do stuff, we put a drone up, he said. Instead of watching two blocks, we can watch 20 blocks.

Drones are also being used to map out scenes of automobile accidents.

It saves a lot of time, Tillman said. We dont have to have officers out slowing traffic down when were marking things off.

They are also being used in warrant searches.

The reason we use them on warrant searches is there are too many instances around the country where warrants get served and the wrong person is picked up, Tillman said. What we try to do with the drone is get out there before and make sure the person we are really after has been identified and is in that location and there are no collateral innocents close by.

Drones are being used to assist SWAT teams and U.S. marshals when they are searching for suspects. And they are being used when there are barricaded suspects in active shooter situations.

We try to put the drone into the high-risk environment before that officer has to go in so, we let them know what they are in for, Tillman said. The last thing we need is an officer shot.

Matt Sloane, with contractor SkyfireAI that is working with Huntsville Police, said the drones must follow FAA regulations. They fly at an altitude of between 350-400 feet.

They also cannot be weaponized by the public or police.

Law enforcement agencies and first responders are exploring uses for drones such as in the delivery of medical supplies.

They are also exploring the use of artificial intelligence with drones. Tillman said Huntsville Police Department isnt using AI right now, but he can see some benefits.

In the kayak search on the Flint River, he said AI could have focused on searching for pixels of the color of the kayak, which could have helped find the kayakers an hour sooner, he said.

He said AI can also help in the search of suspects, for example, by focusing on the color of what suspects are wearing such as one of them wearing a blue hoodie.

But Tillman doesnt like the idea of removing the human element when flying drones. Huntsville Police use human pilots and have officers monitoring footage.

Right now, were not using any (AI), but we are cautiously optimistic that it will help us do those little tasks we tend to miss, he said. I still think there needs to be a human in there that is making the ultimate decisions.

Huntsville Police began putting together its drone program in 2018. It looked at other departments using drones. There were some that purchased very expensive equipment that ended in closets collecting dust, Tillman said.

When it became time to purchase drones, he said the department designed the missions they would be used for and tried to match the hardware for those missions.

We want aircraft that have good recovery systems, redundant systems that are extremely air worthy, Tillman said. Weve made 12,000 flights since we started, and weve only lost one to mechanical failure.
Mobile police shot at a driver who tried to hit a person and an officer with a stolen skid-steer loader before striking a patrol vehicle during a chase Thursday morning, a police spokesman said.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday, officers observed the skid-steer -- which had been used to try to hit a citizen -- near the intersection of Noble Drive and Noble Lane in Tillmans Corner, said spokesman Blake Brown.

Officers tried to initiate a traffic stop when the suspect tried to a hit an officer with the skid-steer and continued to flee from police.

The driver then traveled the wrong way on I-10 westbound before turning back around and exiting the interstate at Exit 15B toward Highway 90, said Brown.

During the chase, a Mobile police unit was intentionally struck by the skid-steer, causing major damage to the vehicle, police said.

After a lengthy chase and several attempts by the driver to hit patrol vehicles and officers, officers engaged the driver with gunfire, ending the pursuit, police said.

The driver was injured and taken to a local hospital for treatment.

It was not immediately clear if the driver was struck by gunfire.

Further information on the active investigation was unavailable.
Alabama comedian Roy Wood Jr. proved hes got the jokes and the smarts during an appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy! this week.

The comedian, who was formerly a correspondent on The Daily Show and now hosts CNNs Have I Got News For You, appeared on Wednesday nights episode of Celebrity Jeopardy! to raise money for I See Me, Inc., a Birmingham-based nonprofit that works to increase the literacy rates in children of color. While the TV host trailed for much of the episode, he ended up winning during final Jeopardy, with a total of $22,200. He will also return as a semi-finalist, where he will compete to win the $1 million grand prize.

Read more: Alabamas Roy Wood Jr. to host CNN news and comedy series: Were back!

I See Me, Inc. is run by a former elementary school teacher, who saw a connection between when her students left her and they ended up, a lot of them, in jail, Wood Jr. said during the show. And theres statical connections between illiteracy and the likelihood of children ending up in jail, so I See Me, Inc. gets books by black and brown authors into the hands of black and brown students to hopefully cut down the school to prison pipeline.

During the episode, which also featured actor Phoebe Robinson and comedian Brian Jordan Alvarez, Wood Jr. said he was a longtime fan of Jeopardy! and often watched with his father Roy Wood Sr., a well-known radio and TV journalist who covered the civil rights movement.

The next episode of Celebrity Jeopardy! will air on Feb. 5.










English News China builds world's highest UHVDC transmission project

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 31 Janvier 2025



In recent years, China has been continuously improving the layout of power transmission. By the end of 2024, the country had completed and put into operation 42 UHV AC/DC projects, including 38 by State Grid Corporation of China and 4 by China Southern Power Grid, with cross-provincial and cross-regional power transmission capacity exceeding 300 million kW.

By Ding Yiting, People's Daily Celebrated as one of China's "power highways," the 800 kV ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission project from upper reaches of the Jinsha River to central China's Hubei province is the highest UHVDC transmission project in the world.



With a total length of 1,901 kilometers, the transmission project passes through northwest China's Xizang autonomous region, southwest China's Sichuan province, southwest China's Chongqing municipality, and Hubei.



Upon completion, it will transmit hydropower, wind power, and solar power from the upper reaches of the Jinsha River to China's central regions, delivering approximately 40 billion kWh of clean energy annually. It is expected to reduce coal consumption by over 17 million tons and cut carbon dioxide emissions by around 34 million tons.



An altitude of 4797.9 meters



In October 2024, the construction of power transmission towers for the project was completed in Batang county, Ganzi Tibet autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province. The towers of 65 meters high and weighing 85 tons were located on the snow-covered Setongma mountain in the county, breaking the world's record for UHVDC construction with an altitude of 4797.9 meters.



"This is the highest section of the entire project, with the altitude ranging from 3,700 meters to 4,800 meters. Some parts were even covered with ice that could be as thick as 60 millimeters. The harsh natural environment not only makes our workers prone to oxygen shortages, but also affects the performance of some machinery," said Shi Mingqing, project manager of Section 4.

Shi said that to facilitate the construction, they adopted a specialized high-altitude machinery. Portable oxygen and medications were also available on site.



Overcoming challenges in harsh natural environment



As the first UHVDC project reaching the hinterland of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, reputed as the "roof of the world," the project has overcome multiple challenges.



The first major challenge lies in transportation. For example, Section 10 of the project in Sichuan province involved the construction of 113 towers on a mountain ridge with a maximum slope of 65 degrees. One of the primary difficulties for the construction team was to transport nearly 75,000 tons of materials necessary for tower construction into the deep mountains and up to the ridge.



To address the challenge, the construction team built six roads with a total length of 36 kilometers, said Zou Zhongxuan, project manager of Section 10. Besides, to protect the ecological environment, they adopted cable transportation at every location and built 82 cableways spanning over 60 kilometers, except for the areas that required temporary roads.



"The route from Luding county in Sichuan province to the construction site has over 100 S-shaped or U-shaped bends. Each cableway can carry less than 5 tons of tower materials on average every day. It would take a month to transport the materials for building a 143-ton tower under ideal conditions, not to mention our heaviest tower weighing nearly 400 tons," Zou said.



Another major challenge is the risks brought about by the complex geographical environment. In the Chongqing section, mountainous terrain accounts for over 60 percent, with a total of nine crossings over high-speed railways and expressways, six over navigable rivers, and 30 over important power lines. In Hubei, the power transmission towers pass through the Yangtze River twice, with 60 percent of tower bases threading through the karst landform in the Enshi section.



The construction team has been strengthening independent innovation, making continuous breakthroughs in high-voltage transmission technologies, upgrading equipment, and enhancing construction capabilities, all in an effort to tackle the challenges.



Intelligent tension-stringing system



At a construction site in Yingjing county, Ya'an city of Sichuan, a steel wire rope was connected with a traction walking plate to lift two wires into the air, each with a diameter of 4.3 centimeters.

"The visibility is about only 100 meters. Don't pull too fast," said a technician, who was communicating with a tension machine operator kilometers away via a walkie-talkie, while observing the progress of the traction walking plate and wires.



Unlike traditional operations, the construction team adopted an intelligent tension-stringing system that can simulate the stringing process in advance, monitor the working status of key equipment in real time, and integrate data into a control command center at the construction site. The construction efficiency has increased by around 25 percent, making the construction process more safe and reliable.



But how to inspect the stringing effect and maintain the system?



A power company in Chongqing has developed a self-propelled robot for post-stringing inspection, which can be quickly hoisted and installed on the wires with the help of a drone, and then "walk" along the wires for quality inspection.



According to an employee of the company, with the help of technologies such as rapid positioning and laser scanning, the robot can collect and identify data related to the appearance and quality of power lines, wire curvature, and obstacles in the clearance zone. It can operate in different conditions including rain, fog, and nighttime, thereby boosting inspection efficiency.



In recent years, China has been continuously improving the layout of power transmission. By the end of 2024, the country had completed and put into operation 42 UHV AC/DC projects, including 38 by State Grid Corporation of China and 4 by China Southern Power Grid, with cross-provincial and cross-regional power transmission capacity exceeding 300 million kW.



Supported by these UHV projects, China's installed capacity for renewable energy has increased from over 300 million kW in 2012 to over 1.5 billion kW in 2023.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Technological cooperation leads to closer China-Africa economic, trade ties China's economic resilience, vitality in four sets of data Virtual anchors and hosts on the rise Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
As the new Trump administration is now governing full steam ahead, sovereignty is back with a vengeance.

With inaugural balls still lingering in Washingtons atmosphere, Donald Trump wasted no time in reimplementing aspects of American sovereignty that were dismantled or neglected during Joe Bidens time in office. In a flurry of executive orders, Trump canceled asylum appointments at the United States-Mexico border, laid the groundwork for ICE deportations, and withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accords. On the economic front, Trump is planning tariffs on China to curtail the flow of fentanyl. At universities, Trump signed an executive order allowing the deportation of foreign students who express support for Hamas.

In Washington, sovereignty may be the new black; however, restoring sovereignty in higher education is a pressing issue of national security as much as it is a matter of education reform. Foreign influence from U.S. adversaries such as China, Iran, and other countries with values antithetical to American interests pose a threat to Americas qualitative military advantage, prosperity, and the integrity of foreign policy.

Image by Freepik.

In 2023, New Yorks Alfred University closed its Confucius Institute after it was discovered to be partnering with a Chinese university tied to the Peoples Liberation Army. Alfred University was simultaneously doing hypersonic missile research for the Department of Defense. In September of last year, Georgia Tech withdrew from its own China initiative in the Shenzhen Institute after its Chinese partner, Tianjin University, was added as a designated entity threatening Americas national security. Already in 2025, the University of Michigan ended its program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University due to its involvement in the development of nuclear weapons and submarines.

Americas universities are actively undermining national security for the sake of international prestige. That Universities seek ties to China is understandable, as Beijing offers funding, lavish trips, and a river of foreign students willing to pay to attend Americas colleges. In 2019 and 2020, 49 percent of masters degrees and 57 percent of doctoral degrees in STEM fields were given to international students. The majority of these students were from China or India.

As a foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Iran is very active in American higher education. After the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, college campuses became overtly hostile to Jewish students thanks to pro-Palestinian protests and encampments. Last July, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines stated that Tehran was encouraging and financing these same student protests. This round, like others before it, involved Iran using local grassroots front groups and nonprofits to support anti-Semitism and Islamist organizing.

Rebel rousing aside, Iran has likely had access to the highest rungs of American policy due to academia. Robert Malley, the Obama administrations lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal and the Biden administrations special envoy to Tehran, was placed on leave over his security clearance. Of critical concern was whether or not Malley assisted in positioning an Iranian influence network into high levels of foreign policy decision-making. Regardless of the risks, both Yale and Princeton hired Malley after his dismissal. In elite academia, political influence is never far away or out of reach.

Higher education is known for foreign espionage activity. Manuel Rocha, a Yale graduate and former U.S. diplomat, was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year after being convicted of working as a spy for Cuba. Upon sentencing, Rocha attributed his radicalization to his time at the Ivy League school. Borders and tariffs are great tools to reinforce sovereignty, but they mean little if elite institutions allow foreign adversaries access to the means of policy and scientific advancement.

If the Trump administration is serious about sovereignty, higher education cannot be ignored. Countries that are designated countries of concern, such as those on the State Departments watchlist, which includes countries like China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia, should not have access to Americas institutions of higher education. Restoring sovereignty in higher education means reducing the influence of the individuals and funds that undermine it.

Professors engaged in research with counterparts in hostile countries or who receive foreign funds should be forced to register as foreign agents. Currently, the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) exempts religious, scholastic, academic, fine arts, or scientific pursuits from activities that mandate an individual to register as a foreign agent. Academia neatly fits most of these exemptions despite the fact that foreign adversaries actively exploit it. FARA must be amended to either eliminate these loopholes or place universities exclusively within FARAs purview.

Foreign funds are one stream of the lifeblood of higher education. Currently, colleges and universities are mandated to report foreign gifts by the Higher Education Act of 1965. Despite this mandate, higher education regularly skirts its responsibility to report the gifts it receives. Worse, enforcement is typically nonexistent. Eliminating malign foreign influence in funding to universities means changing the incentives universities face. Restoring sovereignty here means taxing foreign funds from hostile powers at a rate of 100 percent and installing compliance officers who are tasked with reporting to the Internal Revenue Service. Placing these compliance officers under the authority of trustees would insulate them from administrative oversight and allow them to do their jobs.

The winds of policy change are here, and sovereignty in education needs to be included.

Ian Oxnevad is a Senior Fellow for Foreign Affairs and Security Studies at the National Association of Scholars.
I was reading one of James Howard Kunstlers exquisite essays when I stumbled upon a hilarious conversation in his comment section. Discussing President Trumps turbocharged criminal alien relocation efforts, a reader named Mitch observed, People keep asking whos going to man the grills, pick the crops, clean the houses when all the illegals get deported. We have lots of useless government-paid parasites that could fill those jobs nicely. Theyre educated, speak English, and currently produce nothing but obstacles.

Bandit replied, But bureaucrats dont do work. They wouldnt have a clue how to do anything useful, and Im sure they dont have the mental capacity to learn.

Il faut savoir noted, Working on farms is hard and demanding. We have produced SOFT generations, heads down on their cell and social media, and have hyped their worthless degrees as big deals. Getting some time on the farms and doing hard hand labor would not only get them in shape, but show them what the true value of work means.

Finally, Beth Nicolaides dreamed, Id like to see a new IRS hire picking lettuce. (Me, too, Beth!)

I think this online conversation gets to the nub of the most pressing crisis in America: there has been a decades-long disconnect between the vast government bureaucracy and the American people whom that bureaucracy purportedly serves. When President Wilson first empowered a permanent administrative state to handle the business of governing, he envisioned an educated workforce immune from the day-to-day passions of politics but uniquely qualified to direct the operations of the American state. That was at best a naive dream and at worst a calculated strategy to deprive the American people of their democratic powers and elevate a faculty lounge of Wilson clones as a new noble class. (When it comes to academics, its difficult to know whether their love for impractical theorizing or narcissistic god complex is the root cause of their real-world failures.)

Without any doubt, the steady expansion of the federal government over the last hundred years has been an unmitigated disaster. From its inception, Wilsons modern bureaucracy became a home for scarcely camouflaged Marxist-socialists who wished to burrow inside the federal government and transform Americas Constitution from within. They sabotaged Americans interests and undermined Americans individual liberties. By hook or by crook, they constructed a hiring system that prevents their subsequent removal. No matter how poorly they perform or how malicious their intent to damage the United States, bad government workers remain employed.

Rule by mediocrity has created a widening gulf between the American people and their government. It has enabled a few million bureaucrats to work around the will of voters. It has effectively transitioned America from a representative republic to a blob-ocracy that listens to and represents only the blob. Consequently, Americans see their government as something separate from themselves  an exotic beast that has grown in spite of the Constitutions explicit limitations.

Adding insult to injury, none of Wilsons dreamy benefits materialized from the construction of a professional government. Elevating experts, he insisted over a century ago, would allow the federal government to react quickly to domestic problems and foreign challenges. Smart people who were well trained for the tasks at hand would be equipped to overcome any difficulty at a moments notice. Do those descriptions remind anyone of the federal government?

Its been four months since Hurricane Helene devastated the southern Appalachians, and FEMA still cant find western North Carolina on a map. The Pentagon wasted billions of dollars over the last four years fighting climate change and white supremacy while fast-tracking delusional men with fake breasts into positions of command. California  which prides itself as a kind of premier laboratory for the federal government  cut its firefighting budget, stopped executing controlled burns of dangerously combustible brush, and diverted record rainfalls into the Pacific in order to save a sacred fish. When wildfires predictably destroyed parts of L.A., Californias inept laboratory of professional bureaucrats were not smart enough to understand that empty fire hydrants had been the citys undoing. Instead, the experts blamed their own incompetence on global warming.

Those are just three well known examples of lethal bureaucratic failures. An honest auditor could start making a list of government-created crises, and the list would never end. Because most of the governments auditors are equally incompetent (or corrupt), the professionals who monitor all the other professionals rarely see anything wrong. Negligent supervisors breed government malfeasance exponentially. Like a hydra-headed monster, as soon as one bureaucratically engineered problem is fixed, ten new problems take its place! (For those keeping score at home, this is why President Trump recently fired a score of inspectors general whose investigatory faculties appeared crippled by willful blindness.) Rather than proving themselves skilled managers capable of deftly executing solutions, as Wilson promised, the permanent bureaucracy operates the business of government at a glacial pace. During the reign of experts, Uncle Sam has demonstrated remarkable flexibility only in his uncanny ability to stick his head up his own derriere.

The online commenters whom I quoted at the beginning of this essay articulate our predicament adroitly. After a century of bureaucratic expansion, we have millions of unnecessary employees who greatly overvalue their own contributions to American society and remain oblivious to the reality that non-government workers are the countrys only essential workers. People who grow, build, move, and fix things are the lifeblood of our nation. Government bureaucrats are leeches who drain that blood in the form of taxes and senseless rule-making so that hacks with few skills can pretend to be professionals. Professionals in what? Who knows? Even most of the experts realize that they are expert only at doing little and getting paid.

After President Trumps executive order forcing federal workers back into the office, Wilsons professional government ran to social media to shriek about the horrors of having to put on pants and function as adults. Who would watch their children? How would they ever be able to work that second job that they do when theyre pretending to work their federal jobs? How can they be expected to rejoin their coworkers when its been only five years since the beginning of COVID? If you watch enough of these videos online, it is impossible not to conclude that a substantial percentage of the federal workforce do absolutely nothing to justify their burden to American taxpayers. They are the definition of dead weight.

Unsurprisingly, many of these federal parasites are advocating for sabotage of the Trump administration. The clever writers over at Twitchy have highlighted a lengthy post from an intelligence officer who describes in detail how federal workers can undermine the president while hiding behind a pretense that they are doing their jobs by the book. The fact that unelected bureaucrats feel so untouchable that they publicly incite subversion is sufficient evidence that the administrative state should be dismantled and disbanded. As one commenter properly concludes, if they are not going to do their jobs in an apolitical manner ... they should be treated like political appointees and forfeit the protections of the civil service.

The administrative state is a giant python that chokes the Constitution and swallows the American people whole. It should be destroyed. If it cannot be destroyed, it should be chopped into little pieces and dispersed across the frontier wilderness of Alaska. If Congress and the courts prevent federal workers from being terminated, then President Trump should set them to better tasks. Hes already immediately halted the hiring of IRS agents. Now its time to do as Beth Nicolaides suggests above and send remaining IRS agents into the fields to pick lettuce. Transitioning the federal workforce into farmhands would give bureaucrats a chance to earn an honest living.

Image via Picryl.
A few days ago, I took issue with the Doomsday Squad of prominent pearl-clutchers and naysayers  including Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, director of Jihad Watch and prolific author Robert Spencer, president of the Middle East Forum Daniel Pipes, prolific British writer Melanie Phillips, and the formidable Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)  all of whom condemned in the strongest language the ceasefire/hostage release deal that then-president-elect Donald Trump insisted on before his January 20, 2025 inauguration.

In fact, Mr. Trump had sent a threatening ultimatum to Hamas, letting them know that the consequences of their failure to comply with the deal that his envoy  lawyer and business mega-mogul Steve Witkoff  worked out would be the following: There will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.

The then-president-elect concluded by warning that those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!

QUESTION

What if Mr. Biden had uttered these words on October 7, 2023? Had promised to defend Israel with all possible resources, both monetary as well as the hell to pay power of the American military?

...and, as they did upon hearing Mr. Trumps words about the hostages, the Hamas terrorist cult complied by backing off and ending their savagery?

And what if Mr. Biden had not inflicted an arms embargo on Israel, severely hurting the momentum of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the middle of the genuinely existential war the tiny Jewish state has been waging against not one, but seven surrounding enemies  Hamas, Hezballah, Syrian groups, the Houthis, Yemen, Iran, and Iraqi groups?

What if he had been a true ally and unleashed those weapons, which President Trump  to his credit  did release immediately after taking the oath of office?

More from the Paper Tigers

After the three young Israeli female hostages were released on January 19, Hamas once again demonstrated an inability to keep their word by changing the agreed-upon date to release the names of several other hostages, thus delaying their release.

But it took only a few words from American and Israeli commentators for the keffiyeh-camouflaged terrorists to back down, with one headline reading, Scared of Trump?

QUESTION

What if Mr. Biden had let it be known that changing the rules was unacceptable...big time?

Would those predictably glass-is-half-empty savants have wrung their hands in despair and written that the world is practically coming to an end?

Of course not. Because what now-president Trump has flushed out over the past nine years  since he and his wife Melania descended the escalator in Trump Tower  is the astounding numbers of weak-kneed politicians and commentators who are so afraid of the righteous assertion of power and the positive things it can bring about that they inevitably opt for and support the passive accommodators and apologists who have contaminated the political landscape for the last four years, as well as for the eight years that preceded President Trumps first term.

Much more crucial is this question: if Mr. Biden had acted as President Trump has acted, would we today be 15 months away from a war that never happened? With almost 900 fallen IDF soldiers still with us? With the unspeakable horror of the hostages suffering never having taken place?

More from the Puppet President

Shortly before the election, President-Elect Trump spelled out to all college administrators, in language clear as crystal, what he planned to do immediately upon taking the oath of office about the metastasis of antisemitism on college campuses, a strategy designed to stop the harassment, bullying, and vicious criminal behavior clearly endorsed not only by professors and administrators, but by the rampaging mobs of racist students we have witnessed over the past four years.

They will lose their accreditation and federal funding, he said.

Translation: All these schools will lose the objective measure by outside agencies of quality and educational value, and also the loss of multi-multi-multimillions of dollars every year.

And the perpetrators, Mr. Trump continued, will be found accountable and charged with violations of the Civil Rights laws.

Well, whaddaya know? Colleges are already complying!

QUESTION

What if Mr. Biden had made this simple announcement, instead of reflexively  and preposterously  warning our citizens of the dangers of Islamophobia?

Imagine sparing our nation all those months  all these past four years  of all that violence and damage and danger and, again, malevolent racism.

The List Goes On

The What If list is too long  at least a few doctoral theses in length  for a mere article.

What if Mr. Biden had done or said X, Y, Z? Would we have been spared such astronomically high food and gas prices, or the luxury hotels in several sanctuary states being filled with illegal migrants for a reported $1-billion cost per city?

Would we have been spared the five wars  count em, in Darfur, Yemen, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Israel  that didnt exist when Trump 45 was in office?

Most important, would we have been spared the violence, the grief, the bloodshed of the Hamas-Israeli War?

The Hatred of Jews and Israel on Steroids

Lets figure it out. Going back to Barack Obamas eight-year regime, there was clearly a fetish with putting nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian mullahs  for peaceful purposes, of course.

All the Democrat powers-that-be at the time  and to this day  supported this plan, even though they had all read the Iranian Charter and Mission Statement, both of which stated that their number-one goal  their objective, their desire, their raison detre  was to wipe the State of Israel off the map and to make sure that every last Jew on Earth was dead.

They also knew that Iran was the sponsor of the bands of criminals, thugs, and murderers that the United States of America has listed as terrorist groups  Hamas, Hezballah, and the Yemenite Houthis, which Mr. Biden took off the list and President Trump just put back on.

None of this mattered to the leftist radicals, who continued to believe  and who believe to this day  that nothing was more important than putting nuclear weapons in the hands of the arch-enemy of our faithful ally, Israel.

But when President Trump 45 posed severe sanctions against Iran, in essence bringing about a depressed economy, the threat toward Israel somewhat abated.

However, when Joe Biden occupied the Oval Office, he immediately lifted those punitive sanctions because, as stated, nothing is more important to the Democrat enemies of Israel than putting a nuclear threat in Israels backyard.

It is sad, actually tragic, as well as infuriating, to think what things might look like today if President Trumps four-year sabbatical had never happened.

Joan Swirsky is a New Yorkbased journalist and author. Her website is www.joanswirsky.com, and she can be reached at joanswirsky@gmail.com.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
I wrote on these pages just over a year ago about my concerns about the FAAs hiring practices. They were allowing DIE policy to infect the hiring of air traffic control agents. Now those hiring policies may have contributed to the deadly midair collision at D.C.s Reagan National Airport that killed sixty-seven people Wednesday night.

It has been reported by the New York Times and others that the staffing of air traffic controllers in the Reagan airport control tower were not normal. According to those sources, only nineteen controllers were present when the normal number would have been thirty. As a result of the short staffing, the same controller was talking to both the helicopter and the American Airlines jet, which were involved in the crash.

My initial reaction to this fact was that it might have been a good thing to have that common communication. But apparently, the helicopter and jet communications were on different frequencies, and any warning directed at one of the aircraft would likely have been heard by only that one. Separate controllers, with separate warnings, conceivably could have prevented this tragedy.

Over eleven months ago, a coalition of eleven Republican attorneys general wrote the FAA, questioning its hiring practices. I have not been able to find reports of a reply from the FAA. What is a certainty, however, is that the agency is understaffed, whereas most every other federal agency is bloated with personnel. It appears that the FAA has had difficulty finding qualified individuals, also possessing the required DIE qualities, to fill the roles. Had this not been the case, this event may not have occurred.

According to reports on television news, the controller asked the helicopter pilot if he was aware of and had eyes on the passenger jet. The pilot replied that he did. It seems possible to this untrained eye, after watching videos of the crash, that the helicopter pilot saw one of the other passenger jets in the vicinity and not the one with which he was about to collide. I can only surmise that two controllers, rather than just one, may have been able to sound the alarm to both craft and avoid this tragedy. The NTSB investigation will eventually offer some answers to this and other questions, such as why helicopters are allowed to fly in commercial flight landing and takeoff corridors.

Regardless of the results of the investigation, which I believe will point to human pilot error as the cause of this horrible incident, I would feel much better flying if I knew for certain that a full complement of air traffic controllers was looking after me. Dubious hiring requirements would likely continue to be a problem for the FAA had not President Trump put an immediate end to them. The sixty-seven souls lost last night deserved better.

(See also, The plot thickens: Did DEI contribute to the plane crash in Washington, D.C.?)

Bill Hansmann is a dentist and dental educator with over fifty years in the profession. He continues to teach and write political blogs and semi-mediocre novels while living with his wife and cats in Georgia.

Image: Ilmicrofono Oggiono via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
On January 22, in Mark Milley: pardons and mutiny, I argued a case against General Mark Milly for mutiny, which carries a penalty up to death. Of course, the argument was academic as Milley was given a blanket, preemptive pardon by Joe Bidens handlers. That article concluded with this:

Graphic: X Screenshot

Thanks to Bidens handlers, Mark Milley will never face the punishment he apparently deserves, but a competent investigation will surely include officers that served with Milley willing to tell the truth and honor their oaths of office. The truth about Milley will come out, and this time around, Donald Trump wont hesitate to see that disloyal officers get the punishmentafter full application of due process--and public scorn theyve earned. That too is part of restoring our military to its constitutional role.

Now it appears Milley may face consequences of a sort, if not exactly the consequences he arguably deserves:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will announce he is "immediately pulling" retired Gen. Mark Milley's personal security detail and security clearance, multiple senior administration officials tell Fox News. The secretary is also directing the new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine if enough evidence exists for Gen. Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement based on his actions to "undermine the chain of command" during President Donald Trump's first term, officials say. The Pentagon will also be removing a second portrait of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon. This one is from the Army's Marshall Corridor on the third floor honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army. Fox is told the removal of this second portrait will take place as soon as tonight. This means there will be no more portraits of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon.

Graphics: X Screenshots

For a perfumed prince of the Pentagon like Milley, that will hurt. There are additional reasons to look into Milleys pre-pardon conduct such as this article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

888. Art. 88. Contempt toward officials Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

We know only some of Milleys blatant contempt toward President Trump:

In his new book "War," Bob Woodward writes Gen. Milley told him at a reception at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 2023, that he believed Trump was "fascist to the core!" Gen. Milley was still serving in uniform as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he reportedly made the remark. Woodward wrote that Gen. Milley, "shared with me his worries about Trump's mental stability and control of nuclear weapons," in a previous book.

The investigation ordered by SecDef Hegseth will surely turn up even more, and more egregious, instances of Milleys contempt for Trump who unwisely did not see Milley prosecuted under the UCMJ before he left office. Bidens handlers pardoned Milley not because they feared Trump would politically persecute him. They had to know Milley violated multiple articles of the UCMJ and was potentially liable for the death penalty but would certainly never receive it. So why would Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs) who hate the military and everyone serving past or present, do anything to protect someone like Milley?

Because he too hated Donald Trump? Thats up to half the country, which is a poor reason for such generosity from decidedly non-generous people. Because Milley is a stealth D/s/c? Possible, but these are not people known for loyalty.

What may be most likely is Milley colluded with anti-Trump forces to undermine him. D/s/cs wouldnt want their conspiracy to damage a sitting president exposed. That could open them to a variety of charges, potentially including treason as Milley arguably committed mutiny by promising the Chinese to warn them should Trump initiate military action against them. Since he's pardoned, he could be compelled to testify against them. Wouldnt it be interesting if members of the J6 Committee, who have coincidently also been pardoned, conspired with Milley?

The review SecDef Hegseth ordered presents interesting options. Should the possibilities Ive raised turn out to be backed by solid evidence, Mark Milley will have to decide how many, if any, of his stars he wants to keep in retirement. He might also have to decide whether his hatred of Donald Trump and maintaining D/s/c purity matters more to him than being remembered as an honorable officer who, when given the choice, decided to expose a conspiracy to undermine an American POTUS. He might also want that security team back.

I somehow suspect Pete Hegseth plans to give Milley, should the evidence be there, exactly that choice. And if he hasnt thought of that possibility, may he consider this free advice from a patriotic American.

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
As we debate the future of the Department of Education, we get news that U.S. children are not being educated. Something is wrong, because this department has a budget of $90 billion. How are we spending those billions? Not well as we see in this report:

Americas children have continued to lose ground on reading skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made little improvement in math, according to the latest results of an exam known as the nations report card. The findings are yet another setback for U.S. schools and reflect the myriad challenges that have upended education, from pandemic school closures to a youth mental health crisis and high rates of chronic absenteeism. The national exam results also show growing inequality: While the highest-performing students have started to regain lost ground, lower-performing students are falling further behind. Given every two years to a sample of Americas children, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress of the U.S. school system. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024 in every state, testing fourth- and eighth-grade students on math and reading. The news is not good, said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees the assessment. We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.

The news is not good. Don't be surprised if more parents want to teach kids at home or call their state legislators to implement some form of school choice.

Honestly, every leader of the Education Department and Teachers unions should admit that they have failed miserably. Maybe too much indoctrination of our kids and not enough spelling and basic math exercises.

My guess is that the teachers unions will say today that they need more money. Yes, it's always money with these people.

How are we helping these kids by graduating them not reading at their grade level? We are condemning them to a lousy future of bad jobs.

I remember when President Carter created the Department of Education. It made no sense to me because education is a local matter to be run by parents and school boards. However, I never thought that I'd be reading about educational failure of this type. Federal control over education has failed and it's time to buy out these employees and shut down the building.

We cannot overlook two other issues. First, shutting down schools over COVID was a disaster. Second, the breakdown of the family unit or absence of fathers is hurting our young people immensely.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Image: David Lisbona
Defunding the police is not the only way to degrade, demoralize, and hamstring a police force. Politicians have the power to regulate them into ineffectiveness, to prevent them from using entirely constitutional investigative tools. To convince officers if they dare contact--or horrors--arrest members of Democrat/socialist/communist (D/s/c) identity or favored perpetual victim groups, theyll lose their careers and face arrest, bankruptcy and prison. Through these methods, and constantly public denouncements, police officers can be forced to abandon proactive policing, to appear to do their jobs but to do little or nothing.

Graphis: New Jersey State Police, Public Domain

Unsurprisingly, in such blue places, crime rates skyrocket, which causes culpable politicians to deny the obvious and to blame the police ever more loudly. Such a place, circa January, 2025, is New Jersey:

New Jersey State Police were facing accusations of racial profiling before a report revealed a sharp decline in traffic stops that coincided with a rise in crashes, some of them fatal. Now they're facing a special counsel investigation from the state attorney general's office, leaving troopers in a difficult position as they try to protect the public as well as their own careers amid intense scrutiny that advocates see as anti-police.

That's because it is. While no one likes getting a ticket, reliable sciencetrustworthy science--has proved effective, fair traffic enforcement substantially reduces accidents.

State troopers were accused of profiling minority drivers in a report from the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office of Public Integrity and Accountability that looked at stops between 2009 and 2021. Then they were told by union leaders that every stop they made would go under the microscope, according to a New York Times report. For months, they made fewer stops than normal. A subsequent drop in traffic stops coincided with an 18% increase in crashes, some of which took lives, according to the paper, citing public records. The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I suspect an unbiased review of those accusations would indicate a disparate impact conclusion. If NJ has a 13% black population, but 17% of stops turn out to be black drivers, D/s/c thinking is the only reason for that statistical disparity must be police racism. That blacks nationally, and particularly young black men, commit crimes far out of proportion to their population numbers is, to D/s/cs, irrelevant and must be hidden.

Days after the Times report, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced an investigation into how the matter "was orchestrated" and vowed accountability. Platkin pretended the NJ State Police were purposely not enforcing the law and also pretended not to know why that might be so. He appointed a former Obama U.S. Attorney, Preet Bharara to investigate the NJSP. [skip] The state report, which analyzed traffic stops between 2009 and 2021, accused troopers of "enforcement practices that result in adverse treatment towards minority motorists." [National Police Association Spokesperson Betsy] Branter Smith, however, downplayed concerns of profiling leading to the stops. More than 60% of the people pulled over were White drivers. Just under 19% were Black and around 13.5% were Hispanic.

According to the US Census, these are New Jerseys population figures:

White: 70.4%

Black: 15.5%

Hispanic: 22.7%

Yes, that adds up to 108.6, but its government, so what do you expect? The proportions are likely relatively accurate, and considering black propensity to commit more crimes, easily within the statistical margin of error. Apparently, New Jersey Hispanics are uncommonly law abiding, at least in terms of traffic offenses, and so are white people. If theres no statistical disparity, from where do claims of racial profiling come?

Officers making traffic stops can virtually never determine the race of drivers until after theyre stopped and the officer approaches their door, which makes claims of profiling politically suspect.

Branter Smith concluded:

"The public knows this, undoubtedly, that the police have been cut off at the knees," she told Fox News Digital. "This is just a very soft way to be anti-police. It's almost a way to defund the police without defunding, without talking about defunding them, without making anti-police statements publicly." [skip] "The most ridiculous part of this is the criminal investigation," she added. "The most horrific part of it are these additional accidents."

Exactly. Call the police racist, subject them to investigations by anti-police D/s/cs, convince them lawfully doing their jobs will result in discipline, firing, even prison, and theyre going to do what any rational person would under those circumstances: as little as possible.

In New Jersey, the public, who keep voting for D/s/cs, are seeing and feeling the inevitable result of hobbling their police. Through ignorance, inattention or malice, Americans get the police and politicians they deserve.

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
Just when you thought Gavin Newsoms fecklessness and malice in the most recent California wildfires was as bad as it could get, theres always more and worse. This time, theres confirmation that in 2024 Newsom disbanded a highly trained and capable volunteer firefighting team known as Team Blaze.

Graphic: X Screenshot

The Free Beacon reports that dimwitted decision had real world consequences:

As a result, the California National Guard wasnt able to get a complete firefighting force to Los Angelesmeaning one that included both firefighters putting out the active blaze and others following in their footsteps to prevent the fires from spreadinguntil 10 days after the L.A. fires began reducing homes to cinders. Were not the only news outlet that seems to be on to the story.

Even if they could, they likely would have had no water.

Newsoms press flacks tried to belittle the Free Beacons report, and also claimed Team Blaze was inadequately trained.

Thats weird, because the Newsom administration tapped the group to help fight the 2021 Dixie Fire, the largest single-source wildfire in California state history, according to the transcript of a September 2021 National Guard press briefing, and the volunteer unit, which was funded by generous donors, met federal standards for combating wildfires set by a little-known federal agency known as the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. Far from being "inadequately trained," it wasnt long ago when the Newsom administration praised Team Blaze as an integral part of Californias ability to respond to the type of out-of-control wildfires that destroyed the Palisades earlier in January. Back then, members of the Newsom administration praised Team Blaze as a "strike team" that "builds upon the states response efforts during times of need." Former Newsom spokesman Brian Ferguson hailed the unit as a "creative way to increase our firefighting capacity & ability to protect communities."

Its even worse:

Launched in 2020, Team Blaze was an on-call strike force staffed entirely with certified firefighters of the California State Guard, a volunteer militia force that reports directly to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Team members took training at their own expense and most of their gear was donated by an outside charity. The Team cost California nothing, except when called out to fight fires. The team was on track to have 1000 firefighters available across the state. So of course Newsom would have to ban the charity from providing equipment and disband the organization.

If that sounds insane and self-destructive, thats because it is.

Team Blaze had to return its equipment to the state and many of its firefighters quit, while those that remained were transferred to support a separate state initiative called Task Force Rattlesnake, a senior enlisted leader in the California State Guard told the Free Beacon. Task Force Rattlesnake is composed of "hotshot" Type I handcrews trained to carry out the most dangerous frontline wildfire duties. Rattlesnake deployed 14 of its Type I handcrews to Los Angeles after Newsom activated the National Guard to help quell the wildfires, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Brandon Hill told the Free Beacon. Hill disputed that Team Blaze was disbanded, saying the force was "incorporated" into Rattlesnake "as their reserve detachment."

The best part is Team Blaze had many Type II teams, but since they were disbanded, there were no Type II teams available, and:

That meant Rattlesnakes Type I handcrews had to battle the flames in Los Angeles for 10 days without the support of Type II handcrews from the California National Guard, because they didnt exist when the fires broke out on Jan. 7. As flames engulfed the city, the Guard sent 200 soldiers to Camp Robertssituated 220 miles north of the burning citywhere they spent several days learning how to perform the duties of a Type II handcrew, Hill told the Free Beacon.

Apparently, the death of Team Blaze was due to State Guard politics and antisemitism on the part of an acting head of the state National Guard. The Guards former, Jewish commander had been an advocate of Team Blaze and obtained outside funding for the team, including five fire engines. Those engines, and the teams gear, were given to the state, but that would have made no difference in LA, which due to budget cuts to the Fire Department had some 100 engines out for maintenance.

And does Newsom regret his actions? Of course not:

[Guard spokesman Lt. Col Brandon] Hill, speaking on behalf of Newsom's office on Friday, told the Free Beacon that the administration "does not regret" the moves it made in 2024 that left the California National Guard without a standby force of Type II handcrews. Hill said Team Blaze was ineffective because it had "little to no funding for equipment and maintenance"

Right. Because Newsom ensured they had no funding, equipment or maintenance. Just once, wouldnt be nice to see people like Newsom held accountable for their malice?

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
Ive been rather hard on the FBI in recent years, but only in response to such grossly unprofessional, and arguably illegal conduct Ive had no choice. As Ive so often written, Id like to believe the majority of field agents are decent, honorable people who take seriously their oaths to uphold the law and Constitution and to serve the American people. Unfortunately with DEI rampant in that agency, and unmistakable proof of political vendettas, I cant. Even if I did, when two agentsthey usually travel in pairsshow up at my door, how can I know theyre two of the honest types?

I last wrote about this case in October of 2024, but its worth updating, particularly since the FBI would have us believe its the worlds premier law enforcement agency, and because the victims may finally see justice.

Graphic: X Screenshot

The U.S. Supreme Court today [01-27-25] agreed to hear the case of an Atlanta family harmed by a mistaken FBI SWAT raid on their home. Despite the trauma inflicted on the innocent family, the government refused to cover costs of Trina Martin, her son Gabe, and her partner Toi Cliatt. Now, after an appeal from the Institute for Justice (IJ) the Court will reconsider whether their suit under the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) should be allowed to move forward.

For the Supreme Court to grant cert in a case of this kind is extraordinary and suggests the Court is planning to deal with a serious issue and/or right an egregious wrong.

Congress amended a federal statute to ensure that victims of wrongful federal police raids have a remedy in American courts, said IJ Senior Attorney Patrick Jaicomo. Its time for the Supreme Court to make it clear that the FTCA means what it says, and courts have no business carving exceptions into the statute Congress passed.

Before dawn one day in 2017, a flashbang grenade exploded in Trinas living room. Afraid of a home invasion, Toi began to reach for his shotgun, but FBI agents already broke into their home and one rushed into the bedroom and threw Toi to the floor. Tac clad and armed FBI agents also rushed into seven-year-old Gabes bedroom.

It took awhile, but the agents eventually figured out theyd made a bit of a mistake. The house they were supposed to raid had an entirely different number on an entirely different street.

There was considerable damage to the home, and the agents apologized and left Trina to deal with the mess theyd made. One later came back and gave Toi a supervisors business card, suggesting the FBI would pay for the damages. They soon discovered the FBI doesnt admit error or pay for the damage their mistakes cause, certainly not under the Harris/Biden Maladministration. There's no clear indication the Trump Administration was ever made aware of the case.

Trina applied for relief under the FTCA, but the 11th Circuit denied her appeal and the Institute for Justice took the case, leading to the granting of cert before the Supreme Court.

But thats only part of the issue. In order to get a warrant for a no-knock raid, any police officer must write an affidavit identifying himself and his experience and providing probable cause for the raid. The PC standard is particularly high for a no-knock raid, because SWAT incursions are particularly dangerous for everyone involved. No matter how much or loudly agents shout FBI, people jolted out of a sound sleep arent going to hear them and are more than justified in thinking theyre being attacked by armed criminals. Had Toi managed to get his hands on his shotgun, he would likely have been killed.

At least one of the officers serving the warrant must be an officer who knows the home, usually the officer filing the affidavit.

Warrant affidavits of this type not only have to provide complete PC, they must include complete information on the home to be raided, which includes photos of the home, and information about how the police are certain this particular home is the one to be raided. That would normally include information about police surveillance, observations over time of illegal activity relating to the home, even information about informants who had been in the home. The home also must be particularly described as to type, color and other identifying features.

Competent cops do this, not only because they dont want to raid the wrong home and end up killing innocents or trashing their home, but because mistakes like this kill cases and police credibility. Competent judges dont issue no-knock warrants absent this complete information.

Graphic: IJ YouTube Screenshot

In this case, its not like they mistook 104 Smith Street for 104 Smith Avenue. They essentially mistook 1218 Jones Street for 306 Walnut Avenue. Thats one thing if all agents intend to do is politely knock on the door and ask a few questions, but quite another when theyre playing SWAT, breaking down doors and tossing flashbangs, which can and do cause serious injury and set things aflame.

Hopefully, Trina will be made whole, and the Supreme Court will put teeth into the FTCA. That will give President Trump more leverage in reforming the FBI.

On a different subject, if you are not already a subscriber, you may not know that weve implemented something new: A weekly newsletter with unique content from our editors for subscribers only. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
In his press conference yesterday, President Trumps assertion that the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) mandates in effect as federal policy may have contributed to the tragic loss of life in Wednesdays plane crash in Washington, D.C., was mercilessly attacked by the MSM. The record thats emerging, however, appears to support the presidents claims.

According to the Washington Post on January 30, The air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport was understaffed on Wednesday evening when a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided in midair, according to a government report about the circumstances surrounding the disaster that killed 67 people and sparked renewed debate around the airports crowded airspace.

It has also been reported this week that the serious understaffing of air traffic control towers nationwide is a result of DEI racial preference policies first enacted by the Obama Administration.

Image made using AI.

A FOX Business article on April 24, 2024, asserted, FAA lawsuit claims agency discriminated against air traffic controller applicants on the basis of race - The FAA allegedly added a question rewarding applicants for doing poorly on test, to get more African American air traffic controller applicants.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who now serves as co-counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation based in Colorado, is leading efforts for a lawsuit that could set a new precedent and force companies to hire employees based on skills. Laxalt said the lawsuit represents nearly 1,000 people who went to school to become air traffic controllers. . . The individuals Laxalt represents passed the normal test right before the Obama administration said the class was too White and threw out the tests with the applicants. Thats the group of citizens we represent, Laxalt said. Their careers were derailed. Their lives were upended. So, its important we get justice for them, but obviously its important that cases like this highlight that these practices were going on in the federal government, and they can still be going on in any agency in America. The attorney pointed to an article from The Wall Street Journal that said the FAA was at 75% staffing for air traffic controllers across the country, constantly affecting travel plans for Americans.

The MSM immediately jumped to attack President Trumps targeting of DEI as a possible contributing factor in Wednesdays crash. A brief review of the record, as already published, gives the lie to these attacks.

On January 14, 2024, FOX News reported, FAAs diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. Hold on to your hats here.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website. Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring, the FAAs website states. They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism. The initiative is part of the FAAs Diversity and Inclusion hiring plan, which says diversity is integral to achieving FAAs mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond. The FAAs website shows the agencys guidelines on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23, 2022.

In response to the policies outlined above, in one of his first actions after he was sworn in for his second term in office, President Trump issued on January 22, 2025, a Presidential Memorandum described in a Fact Sheet at the White House web site: President Donald J. Trump Ends DEI Madness and Restores Excellence and Safety within the Federal Aviation Administration.

FLIGHTS SHOULD BE SUPERVISED BY THE BEST EMPLOYEES: President Donald J. Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum terminating a Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency. This Presidential Memorandum orders the Secretary of Transportation and FAA Administrator to immediately stop Biden DEI hiring programs and return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring.

It also requires the FAA Administrator to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans flight safety and efficiency.

Yesterday, Newsweek reported:

On Thursday [January 30], Trump signed an executive order initiating the Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety in the wake of the Reagan National Airport disaster, which includes implementing only merit-based hiring. The order stated the Biden administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring and specifically recruited individuals with severe intellectual disabilities in the FAA.

(See also Did the FAAs DIE requirements just end sixty-seven lives?)

Peter Barry Chowka (extensive new bio here) is a veteran investigative journalist who has been working for six decades in a variety of media, both mainstream and alternative. He is a regular contributor to the BBC in the UK. His most recent appearance on the BBC World Service international program Weekday on January 23, reporting about President Trump, can be accessed here.
Conservatives from all over the USA, the moment youve all been waiting for is here! Its the Trump Spending Freeze  an act of executive frugality so seismic, so chilling, that it has sent shivers down the spines of bureaucrats from Washington to the farthest corners of the federal empire. Yes, the gravy train has hit a sudden and screeching halt, and the nation now finds itself at a once-in-a-lifetime crossroads. Do we blindly scream in horror at the halt of unchecked spending, or do we take a deep, patriotic breath and seize this as the greatest opportunity to reset our priorities before the entire federal apparatus eats itself into oblivion?

Lets be honest. The federal government has long been an enthusiastic participant in the grand sport of financial self-sabotage. Whether its trillion-dollar stimulus bills that somehow fail to stimulate or sprawling agencies whose sole mission appears to be justifying their own existence, America has perfected the fine art of spending itself into the economic equivalent of a black hole. And now, at long last, the music has stopped. The federal spigot is off  at least temporarily  and America has a golden opportunity to take stock of where taxpayer dollars are actually going. Spoiler alert: Its not all sunshine and national security.

The newly anointed heroes here to assist President Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), were given their clear and resounding mandate from the American people in last Novembers election. Their mission is to bring serious reform to a bloated, waste-laden system that has, for decades, operated with all the financial discipline of a Vegas bachelor party.

So where to start with the great American fat-trimming? The list is long and grim. Regulatory overreach? Slashed. Subsidies for industries that should have been profitable by now? Gone. Legions of unqualifed DIE box-checkers? Pack your bags.

But lets be clear: some areas must remain sacred.

For all the grandstanding over benign issues like imaginary man-made climate change, one of the greatest threats to America  its ongoing, massive cyber-crisis  remains woefully underreported. Cyber-criminals, who seem to have a manpower advantage, cost U.S. businesses and government agencies billions of dollars annually and have even figured out how to hack into your Subaru and steal funds from your Juniper crypto wallet! And yet, instead of investing heavily in cybersecurity, weve funneled resources into agencies that seem far more concerned with monitoring mean tweets than protecting critical infrastructure.

This must change. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) needs its funding increased, not cut. In the private sector, where many businesses and individuals seek remote support for technical issues, non-technical administrators are often miscast as psuedo-I.T. managers despite the fact that they couldnt tell you the difference between SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and MDR (Managed Detection and Response). This puts businesses that handle sensitive data in harms way.

Investments in cyber-defenses in both the private and public sector should be encouraged and even incentivized by the Trump administration in an effort to get small business to be proactive rather than reactive. America businesses cannot fail due to phishing email scams that seek to steal sign-in credentials or the plethora of ransomware gangs running amok.

Speaking of national security, lets talk about the elephant in the room: the U.S. military, and the fact that it needs a rebuild after the botched Afghanistan pullout of the Biden administration. The world watched as the U.S. left behind billions in military equipment, abandoned allies, and handed the Taliban a geopolitical victory they couldnt have dreamed of. That disgraceful exit was a national security disaster, and now its time to repair the damage.

A spending freeze must not mean weakening our armed forces. On the contrary, the defense budget must be fortified to ensure that America remains a formidable global power. Investments in new technology, recruitment, and strategic operations are critical. Lets make one thing clear: national security isnt a luxury; its a necessity.

Heres the hard truth: many of the people going home with an eight-month parachute were, to put it delicately, accomplishing next to nothing for their reasonable government salary. America is notorious for keeping entire departments afloat that serve no tangible purpose beyond employing people to push papers from one desk to another. The era of jobs programs disguised as government agencies is coming to an end, and frankly, its long overdue.

So what does this look like in practical terms? Unnecessary agencies and redundant bureaucracies will get the axe. The private sector will be incentivized to take over functions that government has historically mismanaged. Efficiency and accountability will become more than just buzzwords  they will become the law of the land.

At the end of the day, the Trump Spending Freeze isnt just about stopping reckless spending; its about reimagining what America can be. The United States has every domestic advantage in the world: vast natural resources, a resilient workforce, and a culture of innovation that remains unmatched. But we have shackled ourselves with inefficiency, bureaucracy, financial irresponsibility, and a reliance on international patnerships that often work against our interests. Its time to rip off the bandage, make the necessary cuts, and invest in the things that truly matter: national security, cyber-resilience, and the economic well-being of the American people.

This is not the time for fear. It is the time for bold action. Trump and DOGE have their mandate, and America has its moment. The only question that remains: Will the consolidated power in the so-called D.C. swamp allow us to seize it?

Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, cybersecurity researcher, founder of ItFunk.Org, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cybersecurity and politics, is regularly published by many of the largest news organizations in the world.

Image via Pexels.
Bulawayo  Africa's lack of robust application of statistical research has been flagged as slowing the use of evidence-based data to drive development.

The continent is home to a mix of socio-economic challenges where data collection continues to present a problem for authorities, but experts warn that this is stalling Africa's development agenda.

National budgets and expertise have been found lacking in ensuring data and statistics drive planning towards the improvement of millions of lives in a continent projected to reach the one billion mark in the next decade.

This emerged during the recent Forum on Statistical Development in Africa (FASDev) where experts met in Addis Ababa under the theme: "Strengthening the Mobilization of Technical and Financial Resources to Support Innovation in Statistical Development in Africa."

The forum was set up in 2004 by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), whose brief is to prioritise "disadvantaged statistical systems in least developed, low-income, fragile, and small island developing states to deliver quality data and statistics for sustainable development."

The forum brings together representatives of national statistical offices, statistical training centres, international, regional and subregional institutions, bilateral agencies and international donors to deliberate on supporting statistical development in Africa.

Data collection is seen as a vital driver of sustainable development as it seeks to give a face to the continent's challenges.

Experts say while African governments have made strides in professionalising the collection of data and statistics, there is still more to be done for the timely and accurate delivery of results collected from such research.

"There is a need to expedite the provision of robust data and statistics to assist governments in accelerating the achievement of the agenda for sustainable development and Agenda 2063 through their national development plans," said Oliver Chinganya, Director of the Africa Centre for Statistics at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

These comments come at a time when many African governments are struggling to adequately fund their national statistical agency, resulting in unreliable data in areas that include the overall country population in national censuses.

"Africa should urgently invest in robust data and statistical systems to accelerate sustainable development," Chinganya said.

Data science is being touted globally as integral to understanding challenges that range from sectors such as agriculture, health, education and migration and will play a pivotal role in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

The declaration was followed by the Accra Agenda for Action in 2008, which sets out to monitor progress on aid effectiveness whereby recipient countries "have more say over their development process."

Experts say this can only be possible through the collection of reliable data and efficient statistical centres.

"The status of data collection in Africa is important for improving data quality and crucial for decision-making and development. Actors must work hard to produce credible statistics," said Adoum Gagoloum, Chief Economic Statistics at the African Union Commission, who also serves as Acting Director of the African Union Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC).

Gagoloum says there is an urgent need for governments to pool more resources towards setting up departments that will ensure that sustainable resources are allocated based on reliable data.

This is as some countries are yet to fully go digital in their data collection methods, further compromising the allocation of critical development resources.

"We need to explore new financing partnerships and resources to prioritize statistical development projects in Africa," said Babatunde Omotosho, Director of the Statistics Department at the African Development Bank.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union and the African Development Bank have partnered to roll out the modernisation of the continent's data collection and statistical models as part of broader efforts towards realising targets set under Agenda 2063.

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According to the ECA, the Statistical Commission for Africa (STATCOM) is already collaborating with the Food and Agriculture Organisation and regional agencies to exploit big data sources through training and capacity building on agricultural statistics.

"Transformation is essential to close the data gaps and in achieving the Africa Agenda 2063 and SDGs," Omotosho said.

"However, this vision calls for skilled personnel and robust infrastructure, and it is here where stakeholders and donors can make an impact, not only to supply resources but to develop technical expertise," he added.

The Forum on Statistical Development in Africa, with collaboration from national statistical centres, is banking on this new approach to bring a better understanding of the continent's challenges at a time of competing development priorities.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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On Wednesday, President Donald Trump breathed new life into our naval base at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo), Cuba, which will support his campaign promise to rid America of criminal aliens. Specifically, he directed the Pentagon to prepare Gitmo to house up to 30,000 criminal aliens, a winning decision for America.

In part, President Trump was re-elected on the promise to get tough on illegal aliens. After all, under President Joe Bidens open border policy, many millions of illegal aliens flooded into this country, including an unknown number with long rap sheets, violent gang members, and not a few terrorists.

Pres. Trumps Gitmo directive was announced during the signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act, which was named after a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia viciously raped and murdered by an illegal alien in 2024. The president said at the ceremony that his decision to use Gitmo is meant to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.

Tom Homan, Trumps border czar and director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said that ICE would run the Gitmo detention center. He promised the facility would detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.

There are at least three reasons that justify using Gitmo to detain the worst criminal aliens.

First, it is outside the United States in a remote, secure location. Such a place is necessary because some nations are refusing to accept the repatriation of their citizens who are illegally in this country. Further, some of those same nations might agree to repatriate their citizens but would fail to retain them. Thus, some of these violent people would inevitably return to the United States.

Therefore, hosting a detention facility for illegal, violent aliens at Gitmo is ideal.

Second, shipping dangerous criminal aliens to Gitmo brings us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime. This decision isnt that different than using the base to detain Al-Qaeda terrorists. But, of course, not everyone is happy with this decision.

Cubas president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, labeled Trumps order to send 30,000 criminal aliens to Gitmo an act of brutality. Further, the Cuban dictator alleges our base at Gitmo is illegally occupied territory and well-known as a torture and illegal detention facility.

Trumps secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, told a Fox News audience that Gitmo is a perfect alternative to sending illegal criminal aliens back to their countries of origin. Hegseth, who was stationed at Gitmo from 2004 to 2005 as a U.S. Army officer, said the facility is a safe location, which was built for the purpose of housing alien criminals.

Further, Gitmo has been used for decades, including under Democrat presidents like Bill Clinton, to temporarily house migrants... This is not the detention facilities (where I served) for Al Qaeda; this is using specific facilities for migrants/illegals on other parts of the naval station.

Third, the detention facility described by Hegseth at Gitmo could be especially cost-effective for the American taxpayer. After all, for 2024, Congress funded the daily detention of 41,500 noncitizens inside the U.S. at a cost of $3.4 billion, or $81,000 per prisoner, per year. The per detainee cost at Gitmo will be significantly less because it is a waypoint that houses aliens in open-air facilities in the subtropical environment.

The 30,000 detained aliens is only a drop in the bucket. However, it is a great start in a long-term effort to recover our sovereignty.

We should applaud President Trumps aggressive efforts to remove criminal aliens. Using Gitmo as a temporary holding area for the most violent, pending their repatriation with their home country, is a win-win for concerned Americans. And significantly, this action will take a bite out of our ongoing crime epidemic and is the right move for American taxpayers. Kudos to the Trump administration.

Robert Maginnis is a retired US Army officer and the author of a dozen books to include the just released Preparing for World War III: A Global Conflict That Redefines Tomorrow. He has also twice visited the detention camps at Gitmo.

Image: Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Throughout history, many outlaws have gained fame for their exploits, often becoming romanticized figures in folklore, literature, and film despite their criminal activities. Figures like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, and Bonnie and Clyde have achieved legendary status as symbols of rebellion. While the American Old West produced some of the most famous outlaws, the concept of banditry exists across cultures and historical periods worldwide.

Australias most famous outlaw was Ned Kelly, an Irish-Australian, who became a folk hero for his defiance of colonial authorities and his iconic homemade armour. Though not as widely known internationally as other legendary outlaws, he is a central figure in Australian folklore and cultural identity. His story is deeply tied to 19th-century Australia, reflecting the countrys colonial history, hardship faced by Irish settlers, and a deep-seated resentment toward the police, who frequently targeted his family. Over time, his life and exploits have taken on a legendary quality, symbolizing themes of rebellion, social injustice, and resistance against authority.

The homemade armour that Ned Kelly and his gang wore during their final showdown with the police. Photo credit: National Museum of Australia

Ned Kelly was born in 1854 in Beveridge, north of Melbourne, to Irish parents. He spent his childhood on his familys farm, where he became well acquainted with the bush. When he was a young boy, Ned once risked his life to save another child from drowning in a creek. In gratitude, the boys family gifted him a green sash. It is said this was the same sash worn by Ned during his last stand in 1880.

When Ned was 14 years old, he met bushranger Harry Power and together they committed many armed robberies. Power was often described as Neds bushranging mentor, and Ned was seen as his young accomplice. However, this relationship turned sour when Power was arrested and rumour spread that Ned had informed on him in exchange for having his own charges dropped. Though Ned denied the accusations, Power always insisted that he had been betrayed.

Ned continued his life of crime, working with various gangs to steal horses mainly. His felonious activities brought him into conflict with the police frequently. On one occasion, after being arrested for riding over a footpath while drunk, a constable named Thomas Lonigan reportedly grabbed Neds testicles, at which Ned vowed: Well Lonigan, I never shot a man yet; but if I ever do...you will be the first!

Ned Kelly on 10 November 1880, one day before his execution.

Ned kept his promise. In 1878, Ned and his brother Dan were on the run for shooting and wounding a policeman when they were confronted by a party of police. Ned shot and killed Lonigan without regret calling him the meanest man that I had any account against.

The encounter with the police party turned out to be ghastly with three policeman dead, prompting the Victorian government to declare them outlaws and announced a reward of 2,000 for the capture of Ned and his gang. The murders also led the Parliament of Victoria to pass the Felons Apprehension Act, which gave anyone the right to kill them without consequence.

Less than two months after the shooting incident, the gang robbed a bank in Euroa in north-eastern Victoria in an elaborate operation and took off with more than 2,200 in cash and gold. Two months later, the gang was back in action, this time at Jerilderie, a town 65 km across the border in New South Wales. There, they robbed the local bank of another 2,100 in cash and valuables. Before leaving, Ned found and burnt deeds, mortgages and securities, saying the bloody banks are crushing the life's blood out of the poor, struggling man.

Ned harboured deep hostility toward authority and whenever he could, he lectured those around him about police corruption and social injustice. Once he wrote to a Victorian parliamentarian, describing cases of alleged police misconduct and the harassment his family had endured. Before robbing the bank in Jerilderie, he composed a 56-page manifesto justifying his actions and outlining the injustices he claimed to have suffered at the hands of the police. In it, he also urged squatters to share their wealth with the rural poor and called for open rebellion against the colonial English.

The massacre at Stringybark Creek, which led to the death of three policemen including Thomas Lonigan.

Ned attracted a strong following, particularly among the poor Irish-Australians, who often faced discrimination and harsh treatment. Many of these settlers believed that the colonial police were corrupt and oppressive and saw Ned as a victim of relentless harassment and injustice.

To his supporters, Ned was more than an outlawhe was a defender of the working class, standing up against wealthy landowners and a legal system that favoured the rich while leaving struggling farmers behind. His bold defiance, including his letters accusing the authorities of corruption and wrongdoing, resonated deeply with many, earning him widespread sympathy and admiration.

Following the Jerilderie raid, Ned and his gang went into hiding as the New South Wales government raised the bounty on his head to 4,000. The Victorian government matched the offer, bringing the total reward for the Kelly gang to an unprecedented 8,000the largest ever placed on bushrangers.

While on the run, Ned and his gangconsisting of Ned, his brother Dan and Joe Byrne, and Steve Hartdevised a devious plan to astonish not only the Australian colonies but the whole world.

The gang from left to right: Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne.

In June 1880, sixteen months after the Jerilderie affair, Dan and Byrne shot dead one of their former gang members, Aaron Sherritt, after he turned a police informer. The murder took place at Sherritts home near Beechworth, in the presence of four policemen. The gang anticipated that news of the killing would reach Beechworth quickly and that within hours, a special police train would be dispatched from Melbourne. The train, they calculated, would stop at Benalla to pick up reinforcements before continuing through Glenrowan, a small town in the Warby Ranges.

It was at Glenrowan that the gang planned their ambush. They intended to derail the train and gun down any survivors before riding to an undefended Benalla, where they would bomb the railway bridge over the Broken River. This would cut off the town, giving them time to loot the banks, destroy the police barracks, set fire to the courthouse, free the prisoners from the gaol, and unleash widespread chaos before vanishing back into the bush.

The plan was foiled when the pilot of the incoming train saw the damaged track ahead and stopped the train on time, averting the disaster. Meanwhile, the gang had taken refuge in the local hotel, holding several hostages, when police arrived to confront them.

Ned Kellys head armour. Photo credit: State Library Victoria

Ned and his gang had spent months preparing for this final showdown. For months before their plan was put into action, the men had been forging crude but effective armour from mouldboards taken from stolen ploughs. After heating the mouldboards in a bush forge, the men beat and cut the heated iron into shape and riveted the parts together to create an armour for each member of the gang.

Each suit was made of 6 mm thick iron and consisted of a long breastplate, shoulder plates, back guard, apron, and helmet. The helmet resembled a tin can without a crown, and included a long slit for the eyes. The individual pieces were strapped onto the body, while the helmet, lined with internal leather straps, sat above the head to keep its massive weight off the collarbones and shoulders. This design not only provided protection but also allowed the helmet to be removed quickly if needed. Ned Kellys suit was the heaviest of them all, weighing an astonishing 44 kilograms.

For eleven hours, Neds gang held their ground against around forty policemen. None of the officers realized the outlaws were wearing armour until Ned was finally captured.

During Neds last stand, in the misty, dim light of dawn, the bulk and strange outline of his armour led some policemen to question whether he was even human. His apparent invulnerability filled onlookers with superstitious awe. Journalists at the scene described him as a strange apparition and a fiend with a charmed life.

One constable recalled being completely astonished and unable to comprehend what he was shooting at. As the gunfight continued, he assumed Ned was a huge blackfellow wrapped in a blanket. Another officer, who recognized Neds voice, later recounted, I fired at him point-blank and hit him straight in the body. But there is no use firing at Ned Kelly; he can't be hurt. Yet another, bewildered by the sight, became convinced the figure before him was none other than the legendary bunyip.

"A strange apparition: Ned Kelly's Fight and Capture", wood engraving, printed in The Age. Image credit: State Library Victoria

Although no bullets actually penetrated Neds armour, each shot that struck his helmet caused severe bruising, lacerations, and concussive force, leaving him disoriented. The armour also protected only the head and torso, leaving his limbs vulnerable. Ned was eventually wounded in the left hand, left arm and right foot. Joe Byrne was shot in the calf, while Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were killed in the final stages of the standoff.

Bleeding heavily, Ned retreated into the bush behind the hotel, where he lay for most of the night. At dawn, still clad in his armour and armed with three handguns, he emerged from the undergrowth and launched a final assault on the police. As he staggered forward, moving from tree to tree toward the hotel, the police opened fire. His injuries, the crushing weight of his armour, and the relentless impact of bullets against the iron plating slowed him down. He later described the sensation of being hit as feeling like blows from a man's fist.

The gunfight with Ned lasted around 15 minutes before he was finally brought down by two shotgun blasts to his unprotected legs and thighs. Severely wounded, he was carried to the railway station, where a doctor tended to him. A later examination revealed that he had sustained twenty-eight wounds, including serious gunshot injuries to his elbow and feet, multiple flesh wounds, and numerous cuts and abrasions from bullets striking his armour.

"The capture of Ned Kelly", wood engraving, printed in The Illustrated Australian News. Image credit: State Library Victoria

Once he had recovered enough to stand trial, Ned was brought before the court, where he was sentenced to death by hanging. Thousands of his sympathizers gathered in Melbourne to protest, demanding a reprieve. Their efforts were in vain. On 11 November 1880, Ned Kelly was hanged.

After Neds execution, the Victorian government launched an inquiry into the conduct of the police during the Kelly outbreak. While the report concluded that officers had acted appropriately in response to the gangs criminality, it also exposed widespread corruption within the force. As a result, several careers were ended, including that of the Chief Commissioner, while numerous other officerssome in senior positionswere reprimanded, demoted, or suspended.

News of Ned Kellys armour caused a sensation across Australia and beyond. Even Arthur Conan Doyle remarked on the gangs ingenuity, suggesting that similar armour could be used by British infantry. The four disassembled suits were eventually split between two locations: the State Library of Victoria, which holds Ned Kellys armour, and the Victorian Police Museum, which houses the armour of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart. All remain on display today.

Ned Kellys story has been romanticized in Australian culture, with many viewing him as a symbol of resistance against oppression and the struggles of the working class. His legacy continues to spark debate about law, justice, and the treatment of marginalized communities in Australian history. His life has also inspired countless books, films, songs, and artworks, while the striking image of his homemade armour endures as one of the most powerful symbols in Australian folklore.

The armour of Ned Kelly located at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Recommended reading:

# Peter FitzSimons, Ned Kelly: The Story of Australia's Most Notorious Legend

# Lindsey Lowe, The Story of Ned Kelly (On the Run: True Stories of Legendary Outlaws)
A recent report revealed that OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating the potential illegal use of GPT data to train DeepSeek AI models. Both companies believe this helped the Chinese firms very low development cost. It seems that these suspicions reached the ears of the new administrations cabinet in Washington. Donald Trumps commerce secretary claimed that DeepSeek used stolen US technology.

According to Microsofts investigations, a 2024 large-scale data exfiltration from OpenAI developer accounts was linked to DeepSeek. OpenAI believes that the developers distilled data from the GPT models to integrate it into DeepSeeks via training. This method could have allowed DeepSeek to save all the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in training by OpenAI. There are no definitive conclusions yet, but the Redmond giant reportedly has evidence that points to this.

Trumps commerce secretary says DeepSeek AI used stolen US technology

Faced with this situation, Howard LutnickTrumps nominee for US commerce secretaryspoke out harshly against Chinese tech companies. They stole things, they broke in. Theyve taken our IP, he told the Senate. Its got to end, and Im going to be rigorous in our pursuit of restrictions and enforcing those restrictions to keep us in the lead, because we must stay in the lead, he added during his confirmation hearing.

Lutnick also claimed that the Chinese use our patent office against us. They use our laws. He stressed the need to attack and end such practices to avoid being at a disadvantage in the industry. The representative also recalled that the US has been successful in creating the greatest technology companies in the internet industry and that they should repeat it in the artificial intelligence segment.

According to Lutnick, it is necessary for the US to set standards that the world meets. I think thats the way well keep our lead. Do it the American way, which we know is the winning way, our allies know is the winning way, and we need to set those standards, he stated.

Latest developments could change Trumps perception

Before the controversy arose, Trump had not been too aggressive against DeepSeek. In fact, it could be said that he praised the company, saying that its emergence was a wake-up call for the local tech industry. However, its unclear if he will stick to this stance following Microsofts latest discoveries. The new development adds to concerns related to national security and potential risks to privacy
DeepSeek took the AI industry by storm with its open-source R1 reasoning model. Although the initial days went well for the Chinese AI startup, that didnt last long. Now, there are all sorts of reports about DeepSeek in the media, with most not being in its favor for obvious reasons. As if that wasnt enough, the DeepSeek app has reportedly vanished from the Italian App Store and Google Play Store.

The DeepSeek app is no longer available in the Italian App Store and Google Play Store

Yesterday, an Italian news agency, ANSA, reported that the DeepSeek app was no longer available in the countrys App Store and Google Play Store. The app appears to have vanished a day after Italys data watchdog, the Garante, filed a privacy complaint against DeepSeek. The complaint reportedly asked the Chinese AI startup to clarify how it handles users personal data.

If you go through this article, youll get an idea of why the Italian authority filed a complaint against DeepSeek. Keeping it short, the company collects all sorts of user data. Just to give you an idea, DeepSeek AIs data tracking includes everything you type in the app. Scary isnt it?

Well, the Garante thinks the same and says that DeepSeek has 20 days to provide a clarification. However, the authority isnt sure if the apps disappearance from the App Store and Google Play Store has anything to do with its complaint. The Garantes head, Pasquale Stanzione, told ANSA, I dont know if its bound to us or not, we asked for some information.

The DeepSeek website is still working in the country

All that said, the DeepSeek website is up and running in Italy at the time of writing. Italian users who had already installed the DeepSeek app before the block are reportedly still able to use it. Italy isnt the only European country to file a privacy complaint against DeepSeek; Belgium and Ireland have done that too.
Last year, Google launched its Find My Device network, its answer to Apples Find My network. With it, people can locate their devices even when theyre not connected to the internet. Well, it looks like Google could bring the Find My Device app to Wear OS.

At this point, you should have access to the Find MY Device network. If you have the Android app, then you should already be on it. Using the app, you can locate your devices if they get lost. Say, you leave your phone at a coffee shop. If youre signed in to that device with your main Google account, youll be able to use the app or website to pinpoint its location.

The Find My Device app might come to Wear OS

Sometimes, companies leave little clues in their advertisements about upcoming announcements, and this might be what happened here. Google released an ad five months ago on YouTube advertising the Pixel Watch 3. In the ad, we got all of the trendy shots of computer-generated Pixel Watch 3s floating around and showing off their design.

However, one eagle-eyed viewer spotted something interesting about the ad and posted a screenshot to Reddit. About 17 seconds into the ad, we see six Pixel Watch 3s in a circle with each one showing something different. One shows Google Maps, another shows a camera feed from a Nest cam, another shows a media player, another shows Google Home, and another shows a workout.

The sixth watch shows what looks like a watch version of the Find My Device app. We see that the watch is tracking Elisas Pixel. We see the time the device was last seen, a mini-map, the devices battery level, and the Play Sound button.

Its a bit discouraging that Google launched this ad five months ago but hasnt given any sort of hint or teaser about the app. For all we know, the company could have canceled it altogether. However, as noted by 9To5Google, this could be an expansion of the Find phone function that the Pixel Watch 3 already has. Maybe that feature will tap into the Find My Device network rather than bringing the entire app over.

Hopefully, Google will bring the Find My Device app to Wear OS. Being able to track all of your Google devices using your watch will be super handy. Lets keep our fingers crossed!
Theres no doubt that Google has some powerful models under its belt. In fact, it has a model for just about everything, but many people use the free one accessible through the Gemini app. Well, if you use the Gemini app, then buckle up, as Gemini 2.0 Flash just launched. This is the companys fastest model to date.

Amid all of the controversy surrounding DeepSeek, Google remains committed to dropping its models. The company is currently releasing its 2.0 models, which are the successors to the 1.5 models from last year. Right now, the company is testing models like Gemini 2.0 Experimental and Gemini 2.0 Thinking. So, you can expect 2025 to be packed with Gemini releases.

Google releases Gemini 2.0 Flash for the app

Free users usually get more modest models while paying customers have access to the more powerful ones. Last year, Google gave its free users Gemini 1.5 Flash, so we can see that free users will likely get the Flash variants going forward.

Gemini 2.0 Flash prioritizes speed, so youll use it if you want quicker responses. Since theyre quicker, they may not be as in-depth or as accurate as a response from a reasoning model. These are models that will take a little extra time to think about their response. Still, Gemini 2.0 Flash is an across-the-board improvement over version 1.5 Flash.

Its available for users to use in the app starting today. If you still want to use Gemini 1.5 Flash and 1.5 Pro, Google mentioned that it will be available for the next couple of weeks. Thats a pretty vague timeline, to be honest.

Other news

Along with the news of Gemini 2.0 Flash, Google also shared some other updates. If youre a Gemini Advanced user, youll still have access to the 1 million-token version of the model for uploaded files with up to 1,500 pages. Youll also have access to features like Deep Research and Gems.

Rounding out the changes, Google also announced that it updated its image generation platform to the latest version of Imagen 3. Lauded as a state-of-the-art model by Google, it will produce much more realistic images.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started taking over our lives in one way or another. No wonder, on one random day you may have thought  what if AI starts making calls? Well, guess what? What seemed like a pretty wild dream years ago is now possible, all thanks to Googles new Ask for Me feature.

Googles new Ask for Me feature uses AI to call local businesses on your behalf

The Ask for Me feature allows AI to call local businesses for you. This feature can collect details about the price and availability of a service you might be looking for. Currently, the feature is only available for auto shops and nail salons. But the question is, how exactly does the Ask for Me feature work?

Well, using the feature requires you to first enable the experiment on Google Search Labs. When you use Google Search to look for nearby nail salons or auto shops, youll see the Ask for Me option. Next, all you have to do is select that option and answer the series of questions that Google will ask. You have to provide your email address or phone number, where you want to receive updates about your service request.

Google product lead, Rose Yao, posted a screen recording on X showing the Ask for Me feature in action. She also noted that the company has used Duplex to design this new feature. Google spokesperson, Craig Ewer, told The Verge that every call made using the feature starts by announcing that its an automated system calling from Google on behalf of a user.

Google assures that business owners wont receive such calls too often

If youre a business owner, you can always opt out of receiving such AI calls by going to your Google Business Profile settings. You can also ask Google not to call you after receiving the call. The companys spokesperson also adds that there are some kind of call quotas in place to prevent businesses from getting calls too often.
The moment we found out that ChatGPT could produce code, we all knew that hackers were going to use it. As such, the number of malicious software on the internet has exploded. However, there is some good news here. Hackers have been using Google Gemini for their own nefarious needs, but theyve been failing.

As you can tell, Google has some pretty tight safeguards on Gemini. Its models are some of the most powerful on the market, so you know that someone can do some major damage if they use it without any guardrails. All of the major AI models have some sort of guardrails to make sure that people arent causing havoc.

Hackers have been using Google Gemini but failed at getting what they want

Google doesnt exactly spy on people who use Gemini. However, if youre trying to use Gemini to teach you how to hack a corporation or build a bomb, you might be on Googles naughty list. The company reported that it found several hacking groups using Gemini to help them with their hacking skills.

10 groups are located in Iran, 9 in North Korea, 20 in China, and some in Russia. All of these groups tried using Gemini for their dirty deeds, but thanks to the safety protocols that Google put into place, they couldnt achieve more than some productivity gains.

Some malicious actors unsuccessfully attempted to prompt Gemini for guidance on abusing Google products, such as advanced phishing techniques for Gmail, assistance coding a Chrome infostealer, and methods to bypass Googles account creation verification methods, Google stated.

So, it seems that they tried to build certain malicious tools and use Gemini, but they couldnt. Rather than using Gemini to help them hack, they mostly used it for research. Google stated that it was hit the hardest by Iranian threat actors, and they used Gemini for research on defense organizations, vulnerability research, and creating content for campaigns. Far from generating malware, they used it as a research tool.

Other groups would use Gemini for translating content, localizing content, fixing code, and more. Its the equivalent of buying a robot in the hopes of it cleaning your house but finding out that it can only help you sweep.

This shows how good Google is at keeping its AI tools safe from hackers. This is extremely important in this day and age, as AI tools are becoming more accessible.
DeepSeek, the new Chinese AI platform, disrupted the tech industry like few others have ever seen before. The availability of the service alone caused huge crashes in the stocks of companies like NVIDIA, which lost up to $600 billion in market capitalization in just one day. However, Mark Zuckerberg is not worried about DeepSeek and confirms that Meta will continue to invest billions in AI development.

DeepSeek scared investors who put money into other AI companies

The DeepSeek team revealed that they trained their models with just $6 million. This is just a small fraction of the millionsor billionsthat other big names in the niche have invested. Apparently, the company used older NVIDIA H800 AI chips instead of the vendors newest hardware. Plus, official benchmarks for the DeepSeek R1 and V3 models show comparable or superior performance to other, more popular ones in some key parameters.

The cost-performance ratio of the DeepSeek models caused a stir on Wall Street. Investors who founded AI companies that spend much more on AI training and development began to have doubts about viability and profitability. NVIDIA is the main supplier of AI chips currently, so it was naturally the most affected. The brand suffered a drop of almost 18% in the price of its shares in 24 hours.

Meta will continue to invest billions in AI, CEO confirms

In the face of this turbulent situation, other big players in the segment have offered their vision on the new and powerful Chinese AI. Among them is Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, who claims that the company will continue investing billions in its AI models, regardless of the impact of DeepSeek. The firm believes that this will give them a strategic advantage in the industry.

At this point, I would bet that the ability to build out that kind of infrastructure is going to be a major advantage for both the quality of the service and being able to serve the scale that we want to, Zuckerberg said. He had already revealed last week that the company will spend more than $60 billion on AI throughout this year. Most of the money will be allocated to setting up data centers.

Regarding the potential lower demand for AI hardware due to DeepSeeks affordable requirements, Zuckerberg said its way too early to determine that that will actually happen. He noted that AI chips remain crucial for inference purposes.

The controversies that begin to surround DeepSeek

A couple of days ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that it is legit invigorating to have a new competitor to DeepSeek. The company even promised that it will release much better models. Later, OpenAI began to suspect potential illegal use of GPT models for training DeepSeeks. Experts and US officials have also warned of potential risks to user privacy and national security.

Meta took the AI path after the failed venture into the metaverse. What seemed like the future of the tech industry at the time ended up collapsing like a house of cards. However, it seems that the venture into the AI niche is turning out much better for it. Currently, Meta is working on Llama 4, its next-gen LLM. Our goal with Llama 3 was to make open source competitive with closed models, said the Meta CEO. And our goal for Llama 4 is to lead, he added.
Siri is Apples answer to smartphone virtual assistants. Unfortuntely, many consider Siri the weakest virtual assistant on the market today, as it falls far behind competitors like Google Assistant and Amazons Alexa. This is a hard fact that even the most ardent Apple fan cannot refute. Apple was expected to give Siri a massive makeover with Apple Intelligence. However, a recent report claims that Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, hinted at a potential delay for the new and improved Siri.

Apple Intelligence: A Delayed Promise

In a post on X, Bloombergs Mark Gurman quotes the Apple CEO, who indicates that the improved Siri will arrive in the next several months, suggesting a delay. One caveat to note is that Cook never explicitly mentioned a delay. Gurman suggests that Cook might have chosen this language on purpose or that the improved Siri is genuinely delayed.

If its the latter, were not surprised. Apple plans to revamp Siri with a focus on Apple Intelligence, aiming to compete with other AI-powered assistants like Googles Gemini and OpenAIs ChatGPT.

Apple initially introduced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024. However, till today, Apple hasnt released the full suite of AI features. In a recent iOS 18 update, Apple introduced some basic AI features, but these fall short of the capabilities the company promised its users. In fact, there are rumors claiming that the full suite of Apple Intelligence features might only arrive in 2026.

Potential legal troubles?

Apple Intelligence was expected to be a major selling point for the iPhone 16 series. If these AI features remain delayed or underwhelming, it could open the door to potential lawsuits over false advertising.

This would not be the first time Apple has faced similar legal challenges. In fact, a previous lawsuit was also related to Siri. When Siri was first introduced, some customers filed lawsuits alleging misleading claims about its capabilities. If Apple Intelligence doesnt deliver on its promises, history could repeat itself.

Whats next?

With the delay of Apple Intelligence, Apple finds itself in a bad position. The longer Apple takes to roll out its AI features, the more space they are leaving for the competition. Companies like Google have made tremendous strides in their AI deployment and efforts. More recently, Chinese startup DeepSeek has rolled out its own AI, which according to the reviews is actually on par with ChatGPT. Wasting time means fewer users might be inclined to use it when it becomes available.
Trump vows to cut aid to South Africa, accuses country of treating 'certain classes of people very badly'

analysis

South Africa has a new law to govern the expropriation (or compulsory acquisition) of private property by government for public purposes or in the public interest.

The passing of the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 followed a parliamentary process that began in 2020.

The act repeals the apartheid-era Expropriation Act 63 of 1975, and aims to align expropriation law with the constitution. It sets out the procedures, rules and regulations for expropriation. Besides setting out in quite a detailed fashion how expropriations are to take place, the act also provides an outline regarding how compensation is to be determined.

In South Africa's colonial and apartheid past, land distribution was grossly unequal on the basis of race. The country is still suffering the effects of this. So expropriation of property is a potential tool to reduce land inequality. This has become a matter of increasing urgency. South Africans have expressed impatience with the slow pace of land reform.

Property rights and land reform

There is much debate in the country about the provisions of the new act. The debate is mostly about the extent to which it affects existing private property rights. Some argue the act is unconstitutional. Others welcome it as a necessary step in the right direction.

I'm a professor of law with a keen interest in this area of the law, and recently edited a book on land expropriation in South Africa by leading experts. My view is that an expropriation act that is aligned with the constitution should be welcomed, to enable land reform to work effectively.

Read more: Land reform in South Africa: what the real debate should be about

Land reform also needs a capable and proactive state that implements the legal framework in such a manner that prioritises expropriation as a mechanism to ensure land reform.

So far, expropriation has not been used effectively to redistribute land more equitably, as part of land reform.

I am not convinced that the act, in its current form, is the silver bullet to effect large-scale land reform - at least not the type of radical land reform that South Africa urgently needs.

Understandably, the act will have a severe impact on property rights. But it still substantially protects landowners affected by expropriation. Only in very limited cases would they not be compensated.

Protections for land owners

The act says that property must not be expropriated arbitrarily or for a purpose other than a public purpose or in the public interest.

Public purpose means by or for the benefit of the public. For example, expropriating property to build roads, schools and hospitals. Public interest is broader and includes the nation's commitment to land reform.

"Arbitrary" would usually mean without reason or justification.

Read more: South Africa has another go at an expropriation law. What it's all about

The act further requires that an expropriating authority - an organ of state or person empowered by the act or any other legislation - must first try to reach an agreement with the owner to acquire the property on reasonable terms before considering expropriation.

This gives some power to a landowner, even though expropriation does not normally require consent. The act also says a specific expropriation must always be authorised by a law.

No compensation?

Section 12 of the act deals with compensation for expropriation. It is arguably the most controversial part of the new legislation. Section 12(1) does not appear to be problematic and is largely the same wording as section 25(3) of the constitution. This part of the property clause sets out what must be taken into account when compensation for expropriation is determined.

Section 12(3) of the act refers to "nil compensation" - when nil rand (monetary) compensation may be paid. There is no explicit reference to nil compensation in the current wording of section 25 of the constitution. It's a new thing in the Expropriation Act.

However, courts have toyed with the idea that section 25 of the constitution already provides room for a reduction in compensation.

The circumstances in which nil compensation could be granted in terms of the new act are in fact very limited. Section 12(3) leaves the discretion to the expropriating authority to determine when it may be just and equitable to pay nil compensation. However, the act lacks guidelines on how such a discretion must be exercised.

Read more: Land is a heated issue in South Africa - the print media are presenting only one side of the story

The scope of section 12(3) is also limited in some respects. For one, it is restricted to land. Only where land is expropriated would nil compensation be an option. Therefore, not all forms of property can be expropriated without compensation. The notion of property under section 25(1) of the constitution is generally wide and includes various rights and interests, which are broader than just land. For instance, personal rights, mineral rights and licences are included under the section 25(1) notion of property.

This wide understanding of property is not applicable to section 12(3), which refers to "land" being expropriated.

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Section 12(3) is also limited to the expropriation of land "in the public interest". Nil compensation is therefore envisaged only in the context of expropriation of land undertaken in the public interest, and not also for a public purpose.

Three of the four categories listed in section 12(3), where nil compensation is envisaged, are linked to the way in which the property was being used prior to the expropriation. Land used in a productive manner is therefore not evidently envisaged under section 12(3).

Nil compensation is not necessarily limited to the instances listed. Still, the amount of compensation must - in all instances - be just and equitable.

Novel approach

The act forces South Africans to engage with the idea of nil compensation in a much more direct manner.

The presence of a clause dedicated to nil compensation provides new clarity on when this could apply.

It is hard to determine whether this act will pass constitutional muster without seeing how expropriation under it will work in practice. It remains to be seen whether it will have the far-reaching consequences that many fear, or call for.

Zsa-Zsa Temmers Boggenpoel, Academic, Stellenbosch University
Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 series this month, though we already knew pretty much everything about the devices thanks to leaks. The company has more releases lined up for this year, including the Galaxy S25 Edge, the new Galaxy Z Fold/Z Flip models, and phones in more affordable ranges. Samsung has now revealed more details about its plans for foldable and Galaxy A phones for 2025.

Samsung is not planning a revolution with its 2025 foldables

During its Q4 2024 earnings call, a Samsung executive teased what its upcoming foldable phones will offer. Were aiming to enhance the form factor design and durability while also diversifying our lineup later this year in order to expand our customer base, the official said (via Jukanlosreve on X/Twitter).

Leaks related to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 point to conservatism in terms of tech specs, and the companys executive seems to confirm it. The South Korean giant wont surprise the industry with revolutionary hardware. Instead, it will focus on refining the current designs to make them potentially thinner, lighter, and more durable. Similar to the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung will put a lot of emphasis on software features and optimization to improve the user experience compared to the current Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6.

The executive also mentions that the firm will diversify its device lineup. He is probably referring to the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip FE that is targeting an affordable price segment. A foldable device at a competitive price and from a recognized brand will probably be very well received among the mainstream public. Another executive confirmed the existence of the device last November, revealing that it will use the Exynos 2500 chip. Recently, the company also teased the arrival of its first tri-fold smartphone.

Galaxy A mid-rangers to improve in some key areas

There are also details about the companys next mid-range and low-end Galaxy A devices. Starting with the mid-range, the official said that Samsung will enhance the core specs that consumers really care about, like the design, the display, and battery (sic). And prepare a go-to-market strategy on par with that of our flagship devices.

The Galaxy A56 will be the South Korean firms next mid-range king. Leaks suggest that the Exynos 1580 chip will power this device. Although Samsung mentions improvements in battery life, the phone could keep a 5,000 mAh cell. So, the enhanced endurance could come from a more efficient chip and software optimization. You can expect a more premium-like design and a better-quality display, though.

More affordable Galaxy devices wont bring big improvements

Lastly, the Samsung executive also talked about upcoming affordable phones from the company. This could include the Galaxy A1x and A0x models. Fans of these lineups might be disappointed to read that they wont have any major improvements or better prices.

Regarding the competitive situation in the mass market segment. Rather than engaging in price wars or directly competing on particular specs  what we call pin-to-pin  we aim to strengthen communication about our strengths, like security and overall product competitiveness, mainly targeting emerging markets like the Middle East and Africa, the official said.

Basically, Samsung will just improve the way it markets its more affordable Galaxy smartphones. The company wants people to know about its unique features in its price range. For example, the latest Galaxy A16 boasts up to six years of Android updates.
AstraZeneca has cancelled a planned 450 million investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, saying Labour failed to match the previous governments offer of support.

The decision reverses an announcement made by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last years March budget that would have seen the pharmaceutical company expand its existing facility in Speke.

At the time, the Conservative government said the investment would both boost the UKs life sciences sector and improve public health protection and pandemic preparedness.

Confirming the reversal on Friday, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said: Following discussions with the current Government, we are no longer pursuing our planned investment in Speke.

Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous governments proposal.

The existing facility will continue to operate and no jobs are at risk.

A Government spokesperson said a change in the make-up of the investment proposed by AstraZeneca had led to a reduced Government grant offer being put forward.

The spokesperson added: All Government grant funding has to demonstrate value for the taxpayer and unfortunately, despite extensive work from Government officials, it has not been possible to achieve a solution.

AstraZeneca remains closely engaged with the Governments work to develop our new industrial strategy, and more broadly we continue to have a thriving life sciences sector, worth 108 billion to the economy and providing over 300,000 highly skilled jobs across the country.

The decision comes as a blow to the Government following a week in which the Chancellor sought to stress its commitment to growing the economy and making Britain more attractive to international investors.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: Theres no vaccine for incompetence. In the same week they talked about growth, Labour seem to have fumbled a deal with AstraZeneca, one of the UKs largest companies and central to the critical life sciences sector.

This is yet another sign that their tax rises and changes to employment law have made the UK an unattractive place to invest.

When will Labour learn that only businesses can create growth and jobs in the economy.

But a Labour source said: After dithering for years, (former chancellor) Jeremy Hunt was so desperate for a budget announcement he offered a deal with no regard to value for money.

Of course we want to bring investment to the UK, but were prioritising every pound of taxpayers money, unlike the Tories, who wasted billions and left Labour to clean up their mess.

The announcement also follows warnings by former health secretary Matt Hancock that the UK needed to improve its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a critical part of preparing for a future pandemic.

Mr Hancock told the Covid Inquiry, earlier in January, that Britains vaccine manufacturing capacity was weak, adding: having that manufacture and fill and finish onshore, physically within the UK, is critical in the way that it simply isnt in normal times.

Sharon Todd of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) said AstraZenecas decision was a real concern for industry, sending out the wrong message at a time government is shaping its new industrial strategy, Invest 2035.

The chief executive of the learned society added that the UKs foreign direct investment in life sciences was falling way short of most of the other countries, which include France, Germany, Ireland and Singapore.

She said: If life sciences are going to be a major pillar of the UKs new industrial strategy, then the UK needs to make some bold steps forward to ensure it is competitive for life sciences investments.
Sir Keir Starmer spoke with freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari on Friday, a spokesperson for her family has said.

The Prime Minister spoke with Ms Damari and her mother, Mandy, over the phone according to a statement released on Friday.

Ms Damari, 28, was released earlier in January following the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after more than 15 months in captivity.

Ms Damari was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the morning of Hamass attack on Israel on October 7 2023 and shot in the hand, blindfolded and forced into her own car with two other friends, her family said previously.

According to Fridays statement, Ms and Mrs Damari spoke with the Prime Minister about Emilys condition following her time being held hostage, and about the conditions while she was in captivity.

Mrs Damari has said that her daughter was held by Hamas in facilities belonging to the UN refugee agency UNWRA and denied her access to medical treatment.

The pair also urged Sir Keir to exert pressure to ensure that the Red Cross have access to hostages still being held in Gaza.

Thank you @Keir_Starmer for calling us today and all your support in getting Emily home. Hamas held Emily in @UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. It's a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now. pic.twitter.com/K5aZybh0K2  Mandy Damari  (@DamariMandy) January 31, 2025

The mother and daughter thanked the Prime Minister for the Governments help help in bringing Ms Damari home, and Sir Keir invited the 28-year-old to visit Downing Street when she has recovered, the statement said.

Ms Damari was released on January 19, and was one of the first three hostages to be freed when the ceasefire deal was struck.

Two other hostages: Romi Gonen, 24; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31; were also freed.

At the time, Sir Keir said that her release was wonderful and long-overdue news.

Earlier in January, he said in a statement: The release of three hostages today is wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families.

Among them is British citizen Emily Damari, who will now be reunited with her family, including her mother Amanda who has never stopped her tireless fight to bring her daughter home.

I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced. We stand ready to offer assistance and support.

He also called for the release of the remaining hostages.

Overall, 33 hostages are set to be released during this first stage of the ceasefire deal.

On Thursday, Hamas released eight hostages in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

An UNWRA spokesperson said claims Ms Damari was held in one of its facilities were absolutely serious.

Juliette Touma, a communications director for UNWRA also told BBC Radio 4s PM: Weve repeatedly called for independent investigations into these claims, including the misuse and disregard of UN premises by Palestinian armed groups, that also includes Hamas.

UNWRA did not have access to several of its facilities for many months during the war, Ms Touma said.

Asked if it was a possibility that Ms Damari were held in an UNRWA building that was still in use by the agency, Ms Touma told the BBC: Im not in a position to provide anything else on this claim. This is precisely why were asking for an international independent investigation into this and other claims.
A man has denied the murder of a woman who was found unconscious after taking her dog for a walk.

Mother-of-six Anita Rose left her house to take her springer spaniel, Bruce, for a walk at about 5am on July 24 last year.

The 57-year-old was found unconscious with a serious head injury near Rectory Lane in Brantham, Suffolk, at about 6.25am that day, and died four days later.

Roy Barclay, of no fixed address, has been charged with her murder, said to have happened on July 28.

Anita Rose was found unconscious after taking her dog for a walk and died four days later. (Suffolk Police/ PA)

The 55-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder when he appeared before Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, via prison video-link.

Judge Martyn Levett remanded him in custody until a trial at the same court from May 27 this year.

He set a further case management hearing for February 28.

Suffolk Police said a male cyclist called an ambulance after he found Ms Rose lying unconscious on a track road near the sewage works and railway line off Rectory Lane.

Ms Rose was taken to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, having sustained a serious head injury and facial injuries, where she died four days later on July 28.

The dog was not harmed in the incident.
MPs could face a further crackdown on second jobs after the committee in charge of standards in Parliament opened an inquiry into employment outside Westminster.

The Commons Standards Committee announced its inquiry into outside interests on Friday, saying it would look at potential changes to the rules governing second jobs.

The inquiry is expected to include consideration of proposals for a qualified prohibition on outside interests, which could mean some MPs having to give up jobs outside Westminster.

Since coming to power, Labour has signalled its willingness to tighten the rules on second jobs following concern during the last Parliament over the number of MPs splitting their time between Westminster and other employment.

In its first weeks in office, the Government banned MPs from advising employers on public policy or how Parliament works, closing what it described as a loophole in the previous rules.

But Commons Leader Lucy Powell has indicated that the Government could go further and currently chairs a Modernisation Committee that has made overhauling the rules on second jobs part of its remit.

Ms Powell said she welcomed the Standards Committees decision to launch an inquiry, adding: The Government tightened the rules on outside employment for MPs in our first days in office, but we have a manifesto commitment to go further.

She said: Im clear that an MPs priority must be, first and foremost, to serve their constituents. We must all meet very high expectations that we are focused on our roles as MPs.

Trust in politics has been damaged over recent years and it is in all our interests to close the gap between the public and politicians.

Any recommendations put forward by the committee will have to be approved by MPs before they become part of the Commons rules.

One area that has sparked concern in recent years is the number of MPs working as TV presenters during the last Parliament, although the Government has so far resisted calls to restrict the participation of MPs in the media.

Several Conservative MPs also worked as regular presenters on GB News, often receiving significant payments on top of their parliamentary salaries while others, including now Foreign Secretary David Lammy, presented shows on LBC radio.

In the current Parliament, Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson host regular GB News shows, while several others have already listed payments for TV appearances and newspaper articles in their registers of interests.

Several MPs continue to work as either medical practitioners or lawyers in order to maintain their professional qualifications, while others act as company directors or advisors.
El Obeid/Umm Rawaba  Sources close to the Sudanese Armed Forces claim that the army took control of the area of Umm Rawaba in North Kordofan this morning. Earlier reports claim to show a drone shot down over the besieged North Kordofan capital of El Obeid. If these reports prove correct, this brings the SAF closer to lifting the siege on El Obeid, which is surrounded by the Rapid Support Forces from all directions.

Pro-army social media accounts posted a video from the entrance to Umm Rawaba, in which soldiers confirmed their control over the city. They also circulated a video of the assistant commander-in-chief of the army, Yasser El Atta, congratulating the forces that entered Umm Rawaba.

The Sayyad movement had taken control of a number of villages in Umm Rawaba during the past few days, the last of which was the village of Khayrin and other villages.

The Rapid Support Forces continued to deny that the Sayyad force advanced towards Umm Rawaba.

Drones downed

Pictures shared by the SAF Fifth Infantry Division claim to show drones that were shot down over El Obeid this morning, which were targeting the division's headquarters in the besieged North Kordofan capital.

According to the media of the Fifth Infantry Division, the ground defences were able to shoot down 10 drones that tried to target the division's command. It indicated that the ground anti-aircraft and electronic jamming systems were able to shoot down all the drones without causing any losses. The sources expect an increase in the number of drones that might target the area in the coming hours.

Local testimonies also indicated that these drones crossed from the direction of the area north of El Mazroub, heading south to El Obeid.

There is no confirmed information yet about any material or human losses resulting from these attacks.
Netflix fantasy drama The Sandman will end with its second series, showrunner Allan Heinberg has announced.

It comes after author Neil Gaiman, who wrote the comics that inspired the show, denied allegations made against him of sexual assault.

The first series of the programme, featuring Tom Sturridge as protagonist Dream, was released in 2022.

Dreams journey has all been building to this. The story of THE SANDMAN comes to its epic conclusion in 2025, only on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/IwDbohR74U  The Sandman (@Netflix_Sandman) January 31, 2025

A post on the shows social media pages on Friday said: The Sandman series has always been focused exclusively on Dreams story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season.

We are extremely grateful to Netflix for bringing the team all back together and giving us the time and resources to make a faithful adaptation in a way that we hope will surprise and delight the comics loyal readers as well as fans of our show  Allan Heinberg, Showrunner.

The post added: Dreams journey has all been building to this. The story of The Sandman comes to its epic conclusion in 2025, only on Netflix.

In a blog post earlier this month, Gaiman said he had read allegations about himself with horror and dismay, after claims made by eight women of abuse by the writer in an article published by New York Magazine.

He said: Ive stayed quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation.

I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever, he added.

It comes after five women, four of whom featured in the New York Magazine article, made allegations about him in a Tortoise Media podcast series published in summer 2024.

Cast members at the world premiere of The Sandman at BFI Southbank in London (Ian West/PA)

Since the allegations first surfaced, several film and TV adaptations of Gaimans stories have reportedly been affected, including season three of Good Omens, which he jointly wrote with Terry Pratchett, and a film of The Graveyard Book.

On Saturday, Dark Horse Comics, a publisher of Gaimans graphic novels and comic books, said it was no longer releasing his work.

Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled, the company said in a statement.

A stage adaptation of Gaimans book Coraline has also been scrapped.

A police report was made in New Zealand accusing Gaiman of sexual assault in January 2023.

The investigation was later dropped.
On a Reddit forum for junior doctors, one commenter shared a joke job advertisement for the position of clinical marshmallow in response to the email. Photograph: REDA&CO/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

A local health district in New South Wales has apologised after an administrator accidentally sent an email to junior doctors calling them a workforce of clinical marshmellows [sic].

The email, seen by Guardian Australia, was sent by a medical administration manager at a hospital who appears to be complaining about a doctors response to a rostering issue.

The misfired message starts: Seriously!

I wonder if any of them realise that they are a doctor and that this is what happens. Oh thats right  I forgot. Life style [sic] before career, the message continued.

God help us in the future. We are going to have a workforce of clinical marshmellows!

The union representing doctors, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (Asmof), called the message tone-deaf and unacceptable, particularly when NSW is facing a healthcare workforce crisis.

A spokesperson for the relevant local health district said: Junior medical officers (JMOs) work hard and are a vital part of our health service, and we sincerely apologise for the hurt and frustration caused by a recent email that was circulated.

We are committed to fostering a workplace where junior medical officers feel valued and respected. The email did not reflect this commitment or our values, and we have written to the relevant JMOs to apologise. The matter is being addressed appropriately, they said.

The email sparked furore and memes on online doctor forums.

JMOs include interns who have just completed their university medical training and are in their first year of being practising doctors, and residents who have completed internships and hold a general registration.

On a Reddit forum for junior doctors, one commenter shared a joke job advertisement for the position of clinical marshmallow, drawing several comments that it was unfortunately a very common attitude amongst HR/admin towards JMOs.

The Asmof executive director, Andrew Holland, said the email was not only offensive but reveals a deep disconnect between hospital administration and frontline staff who are working under immense pressure.

They deserve respect and support, not ridicule from those who should be advocating for them, Holland said in a statement.

At a time when NSW is facing a healthcare workforce crisis, these comments are not just tone-deaf  they are damaging, demoralising, and unacceptable.

Junior doctors enter this profession to care for people, but they cannot do their jobs if they are belittled and dismissed by their own employers.

In April, NSW Health settled a class action brought by junior doctors for almost $230m, claiming to have been underpaid in relation to issues such as overtime and meal breaks. Experts hoped the suit would change a culture where junior doctors do not complain and instead can protect time off for their personal lives.
An image from the series Ordeal by Roses. Photograph: Eikoh Hosoe

Whos afraid of artificial intelligence? Probably all of us are a little  but the artists at the centre of this years Photo Brussels festival have embraced the technology to bring us an intriguing and, at times, optimistic exploration of one of the most concerning developments of our time.

The ambitious curation by the photography academic Michel Poivert gathers together 17 projects at Brussels Hangar gallery. Together their creations reveal the visual and intellectual potential, along with the current limits, of this wave of promptography.

Cherry Airlines

Pascal Sgro invites us to step inside an imaginary world onboard his fictional Cherry Airlines, taking an unsettling journey back to the 1950s. Each image, created using AI, blurs the boundaries between reality and invention and suggests glossy ads for a golden age of air travel. Sgro prompts reflection on progress and aspiration, and the paradox of the environmental cost of lifestyle.

Images in the Cherry Airlines series

Serving up a fantasy lunch and a comfortable nap in the plush cabin, he tells the story of the pursuit of luxury that has fuelled the climate crisis.

Une Histoire Parallele

In their series Une Histoire Parallele, the artists Brodbeck and de Barbuat took a deep dive into the image data banks of Midjourney, an AI programme that creates images from text descriptions. Using the softwares literal language prompts, they wanted to see how they could recreate some of the worlds most famous photographs. The work was made between 2022 and 2023 and really highlighted the flaws and prejudices in source data, questioning the role of the internet in appropriation and stereotyping.

For example, facial features take on a generic form with only a hint of ethnicity  at the time, there were inadequate source images of people of ethnic minority. In the AI-generated recreation of Annie Leibovitzs iconic portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the data results repeatedly showed Lennon clothed, despite prompts that he should be naked. Not so with Ono  the AI process kept reversing the request, presuming that it is more usual for women to be naked.

The subject of Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother appears to have had some cosmetic work done, the result of Midjourneys advertising bias. Each of these images presents a sense of confusion between what we recognise and the flaws in the detail  the hands for example.

Barbaras

Honouring the unsung women who have played a significant part in shaping the Brazil we know today was the mission of the artist Claudia Jaguaribe. So little was known about her primary subject, Barbara de Alencar, whose name crops up on street signs and the occasional building, that Jaguaribe delved into AI-driven historical, iconographic and photographic research to visualise her story. During her research, she discovered that de Alencar  a business woman, an educator and a revolutionary  was in fact one of her ancestors.

From the series Barbaras, 2024, an AI portrait of Espercanca Garcia, who was an enslaved Afro-Brazilian, born in 1751, and is considered the first female lawyer in Brazil

Jaguaribe used AI to create an informed series of portraits of other unrecognised women of significance, entitled Barbaras, which she has represented through collage as stamps and postcards.

Another in the series is Aqualtune, an AI portrait of a warrior princess from what was known in her time as Kongo who, during her enslavement in Brazil, was branded on her chest with a flower design made by a hot iron. She fought for her freedom and that of others during the mid-17th century

Silent Hero

Using AI to fill in gaps in historical reference also powers the project by Alexey Yurenev to answer questions about the role his Russian grandfather played in the Red Army during the second world war. His grandfather, he knew, was considered a war hero but as he was no longer alive, Yurenev couldnt question him as to what part, exactly, he had played.

Silent Hero created by Alexey Yurenev

Yurenev came up with a method to use image data sources to create machine-generated amalgamations of people, places and events that he then presented to surviving war veterans.

AI images created by Alexey Yurenev for his project Silent Hero, which is on display at the Hangar gallery for Photo Brussels

These impressionistic images tapped into a psychological narrative that refreshed the veterans interpretations of conflict. Their response was remarkable and prompted fascinating historical testimonies.

It was as if the images I created kissed awake their memories Alexey Yurenev

A Red Army veteran who was interviewed by Alexey Yurenev for his project Silent Hero, which is on display at the Hangar gallery

New New York

Marrying nostalgia with AI technology gives rise to this series created by Robin Lopvet that revisits the history of photography in New York during the 20th century. From reportage to street photography, his computer-generated reflections play, often with humour, on techniques in colour printing and aesthetic that defined an era.

Images from the series New New York

The question he seems to be asking is: Can photography only literally describe the world? Or can we use imagination and fiction, like cinematic creations, to explain it?

For those who prefer a more traditional approach and like to enjoy some pure photography, Photo Brussels is not short of treasure.

Ordeal by Roses #32, 1961

At the galleries participating throughout the city you can feast your eyes, for example, on the vintage prints of the Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe. On display at Galerie Eric Mouchet is his emblematic series Ordeal by Roses, which was dedicated to the novelist Yukio Mishima. Born in 1933, Hosoe rose to international fame as an avant garde artist during the 60s and died just a few months ago. His work pays homage to his love of European Renaissance painting and the art of eroticism.

From the series on display at Galerie Eric Mouchet

Timeless Napoli

Nestled into gallery Stieglitz 19 are fragments of life in Napoli by the photographer Anders Petersen. His edgy, intensely cropped black and white prints dont try to make sense of the chaos of the city but they tell it how it is, bursting with character and atmosphere. The images have such a classic, timeless quality that it comes as a surprise to find that he made them as recently as 2022.

Images in the series Napoli, 2022

Wolf

In contrast with the claustrophobia of Naples, you can almost taste the mountain air of the European wilderness at Nationale 8 Gallery. In a departure from his roots in reportage and an urban life, Frederik Buyckx took a fine art approach to his project Wolf and went on an adventure to reconnect with the natural world.

In reaching some of Europes most challenging environments I wanted to see what its like to have to put up with the force of nature, to show its beauty but at the same time the harshness of coping with it

Images from the series Wolf by Frederik Buyckx
Claims are the latest criticism of Lord Hermer - Eddie Mulholland

The Attorney General has been accused of delaying policies by changing the way Government lawyers give advice.

Lord Hermer is said to have strengthened guidance to tell lawyers that they must advise ministers if they think policies could be unlawful.

In doing so, he is reported to have reversed changes made by Suella Braverman, the former attorney general who relaxed the guidance to stop lawyers taking a computer says no approach.

Ministers told The Times that Lord Hermers changes meant policies were now held up even when there was only a slim chance they would be defeated in court.

One said: He seems to think - and has said as much - that international law is more important than national law, and thats totally insane.

Another source claimed that Lord Hermer was obstructive.

The claims are the latest criticism of Lord Hermer, who has been embroiled in a number of conflict of interest rows since it emerged that Gerry Adams, one of his former clients, could receive compensation for his detention during the Troubles.

It is said that Government lawyers concerns had delayed the border security bill, which was introduced on Wednesday, and the Hillsborough law, which will apply a legal duty of candour to all public bodies.

Allies of Hermer said court cases were a problem because of the expense and the possibility of not being able to implement the policy.

A Government spokesman said: Decisions on policy are taken by the relevant secretary of state and departments as has been the case under successive governments.

The accusations came after Lord Hermer was accused of hypocrisy over his refusal to declare his earnings from past legal cases after it emerged that his deputies have published theirs.

Lucy Rigby, the Solicitor General, and her predecessor Sarah Sackman, have declared what they were paid for legal work undertaken before they took office. But Lord Hermer has refused to do so.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, urged the Attorney General to come clean or resign, adding that it appears theres one rule for Lord Hermer and one rule for everyone else.

His office has insisted he does not have to declare earnings he received before entering Parliament.

Sources in the Attorney Generals Office said there was a robust process in place for considering and managing any conflicts of interest.

They pointed to paragraph 62 of the Lords Guide to the Code of Conduct, which says that barristers do not have to register clients unless they are a foreign state or an associate body.

Lord Hermer is understood to have ceased all private practice on his appointment as Attorney General.
If the US steps back, could British taxpayers end up bankrolling even more of the WHOs bloated budget? - Hollie Adams

Britains tax burden is at a record high, public services are crumbling, and businesses and farmers are being squeezed to plug Rachel Reeves so-called 22 billion black hole. But while ordinary Brits feel the pinch, the same cant be said for global quangos.

Last November, Labour Minister for Development, Anneliese Dodds, proudly announced that the UK would recommit itself to health multilateralism and send another 310 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over the next four years. Meanwhile, the newly re-elected President Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the WHO altogether. That raises a real concern: if the US steps back, could British taxpayers end up bankrolling even more of the WHOs bloated budget?

Whether this happens or not, the extra funding for the WHO shouldnt come as a surprise. For over a decade, politicians of all stripes have quietly funnelled billions into an expanding global quangocracy, all the while paying lip service to cutting waste at home.

As the TaxPayers Alliance revealed in our Global Quangos Uncovered work, British taxpayers have poured 85 billion into global quangos since 2009, with another 7.5 billion a year locked in until 2027. To put that into perspective, that money could fund 200,000 nurses salaries every year or cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p. Instead, it props up an unelected network of international bureaucracies with little to no oversight.

The WHO is a perfect example of this. The UK is its third-largest voluntary funder, despite being only the sixth-largest economy. In 2022 alone, Britain sent 168.6 million to the WHO  outpacing nearly every other country in Europe bar Germany and the US. And for what? A track record of failure.



The WHO was slow to sound the alarm on Ebola, botched its handling of Covid-19, and its leadership has been widely criticised for deference to China. Instead of accountability, we get mission creep: bizarre health warnings like classifying aspartame (a sweetener) as possibly carcinogenic, a claim dismissed by the US Food and Drug Administration.

But the WHO is just the tip of the iceberg.

The World Bank, which was recently revealed to have up to $41bn worth of climate finance projects unaccounted for, receives 1.5 billion a year from the UK  adding up to 15.5 billion over the last decade.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken 2.1 billion from British taxpayers since 2012, despite getting 25 out of 28 UK economic forecasts wrong and being exposed for manipulating its Ease of Doing Business rankings to benefit China.

But while these numbers are staggering, this isnt just about waste - its about how Britain is governed.

For decades, politicians have promised a bonfire of the quangos, yet none have dared to challenge the global quangocracy - an unelected elite shaping policy while taxpayers pick up the tab. Starmer is just the latest in a long string of Prime Ministers more focused on his global reputation and international consensus than on delivering real solutions at home.

But around the world, some leaders are finally pushing back. President Milei in Argentina and President Trump in the US have started calling out, leaving and cutting off funding to these bloated institutions and demanding accountability. Britain must do the same.

Britain left the EU to take back control. Yet our leaders still write blank cheques for international bureaucracies. Taxpayers deserve better than to see their hard-earned money propping up unaccountable global bureaucrats. Starmers 310 million gift to the WHO is just the latest sign that our political class would rather throw money at international elites than fix whats broken at home.

Enough is enough. Its time to defund the global quangocracy.
Some families are having to go private to ensure their children get the urgent care that they need. Photograph: olga Yastremska/Alamy

Children in the UK are suffering irreversible harm and lifelong consequences as a result of unacceptable delays in accessing physiotherapy, experts have warned.

Teenagers face lifelong trauma from untreated chronic pain while children as young as four are waiting 18 months for critical treatment, according to a survey of paediatric physiotherapists.

Lengthy delays to treatment while childrens bodies are still growing can have seriously harmful repercussions for their health that can last decades.

Some families are being forced to travel more than 200 miles for NHS physiotherapy services because of delays or a lack of access where they live. Others are having to go private to ensure their children get the urgent care that they need.

The Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (APCP), a professional network of members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, surveyed 155 staff across the UK who specialise in treating babies, children and teenagers.

Responses to the survey were anonymised, but one physiotherapist cited a four-year-old patient who was forced to wait 18 months for treatment.

Another, who has worked in physiotherapy for two decades, warned that there would be a whole generation of adults with poor physical health and dire mental health due to delays getting care.

Nine in 10 (94%) expressed concerns about the inability of youngsters to access prompt treatment.

Sara Hazzard, assistant director at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said children waiting for rehabilitation for illnesses and injury were experiencing harm and distress that could last a lifetime.

The fact that this is happening up and down the UK is not just unacceptable, it is failing a generation.

Staff shortages and cuts to services were causing the delays, while at the same time the NHS was failing to create enough new posts to meet the overwhelming demand for care, Hazzard said.

Families should not fear for their childs health and future because they can only get help and rehabilitation if they can afford to pay. Urgent action is needed.

One physiotherapist who works with children under the age of six at a neurodisability service, told the survey that severe understaffing was the foremost reason for the crisis.

Our team is overwhelmed, and the workload has become unsustainable. With no end in sight, its increasingly difficult to provide the level of care these children deserve.

Georgina Ashdown, vice-chair of the APCP, said there was a devastating gap in help available for children, citing musculoskeletal therapy for long-term conditions, rehabilitation after a stroke, and support for lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy.

Sadly, long wait lists, limited access to physiotherapy due to staffing shortages and shortages of suitable rehab spaces are causing irreversible harm, she said.

For us as paediatric physiotherapists, its an agonising reality. We are acutely aware that by failing to provide timely treatment there is a risk to childrens health today but also laying the foundation for far-reaching health, social and economic problems tomorrow.

Ashdown added: The heartbreaking truth is that while quality rehabilitation can transform young lives when delivered swiftly, what is currently available across acute and community settings simply isnt enough.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: In Wales, unlike other parts of the UK, we have a waiting time target for accessing childrens physiotherapy of 14 weeks from referral to start of treatment. 98% of children are seen within the target wait time.

The Scottish health secretary, Neil Gray, said he greatly valued the role physiotherapists play in childrens rehabilitation, adding that the number working in Scotland had risen by 27.5% in the last 10 years.

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it acknowledged the concerns raised by physiotherapists and insisted it was committed to improving timely access to these essential services.

The Department of Health and Social Care, responsible for the NHS in England, said it had inherited a broken NHS but promised to ensure it would be there for all children when they need it.
Attorney General asked CPS to review guidance on fatal police shootings after the death of Chris Kaba - Tim Stewart News Limited

Police officers who shoot suspects should only face murder charges if prosecutors believe they can prove it was not self-defence.

Prosecutors have been reminded they must consider the overall circumstances of a fast-moving and dynamic incident rather than focusing on how police acted minute-by-minute.

The new guidance has been issued by Stephen Parkinson, head of the CPS, in the wake of the acquittal of Martyn Blake, a Met firearms specialist, for the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba, an armed gangster.

Sgt Blake shot the 24-year-old convicted criminal dead when he tried to ram his way out of a police roadblock in south London in September 2022.

It later emerged that Kaba had tried to gun down a rival in a packed nightclub seven days earlier and the car he was driving when he was shot dead had been involved in a firearms incident the previous day.

Prosecutors had claimed the highly experienced officer had been angry, frustrated or annoyed when he opened fire.

But Sgt Blake told his murder trial he had acted because he genuinely believed one of his colleagues was about to be killed.

An Old Bailey jury took just three hours to find Sgt Blake not guilty of the charges and the CPS faced criticism from the police and politicians over the murder charges.

Following the acquittal, the Attorney General asked the CPS to review its guidance around fatal police shootings in order to ensure the public still had confidence in the way decisions were made.

The new guidance, published on Friday, reminds prosecutors of the importance of considering the pressure of dynamic and fast-moving situations when deciding to charge an officer.

Fast-evolving situations

The updated guidance states: Where fatal police shootings are concerned, the prosecutor will be asked to consider whether the actions of the officer concerned were reasonably necessary in the circumstances as the officer honestly believed them to be.

However, the courts have indicated that officers dealing with these dynamic and fast-evolving situations should be judged with regard to the overall circumstances, without placing undue weight in hindsight upon minute dissections of time.

In any case where the related conduct takes place during a fast-moving and dynamic situation, careful thought must be given to whether the prosecution has a realistic prospect of being able to disprove the defence of self-defence and/or defence of another.

A CPS source insisted that the guidance to prosecutors had not changed and the update was simply an amplification of the factors prosecutors already take into account when making charging decisions.

Credit: Independent Office for Police Conduct

Mr Parkinson said: Criminal prosecutions brought against police officers for actions taken in the course of their duties are extremely rare and these decisions are only made after careful consideration of all the relevant evidence and circumstances.

It is crucial that police officers are able to use their powers with legal certainty and clarity, always balanced with the publics need to see the highest levels of scrutiny and accountability.

At the request of the Attorney General, and to ensure the public can have confidence in the way the CPS reaches its decisions, I have now reviewed our relevant legal guidance in this area and made changes where relevant within the law.

It is important to ensure the independence and quality of CPS guidance and decision making provides assurance both to police officers and the public in these complex cases which have profound implications for all those affected by them.

Scotland Yard welcomed the guidance and said it was not right that officers were facing down dangerous criminals unsure whether they would end up in court by doing so.

Officers lives on hold

But Assistant Commissioner Pippa Mills said there remained much work to be done around police being prosecuted for protecting the public.

She said: Too often, officers lives and careers have been put on hold, sometimes at great personal cost, as a result of a drawn-out and skewed process resulting in an extremely high rate of acquittal.

That cannot be right and has the perverse effect of putting the public at risk  as officers fear making split-second decisions and acting in accordance with their training as they tackle dangerous criminals on our streets.

We welcome this updated guidance which represents an important initial step in rebalancing that system and provides some reassurance that timeliness will improve.

But there is much still to do and we will continue to work closely with the Home Office and other agencies to ensure the wider accountability review is delivered effectively and at pace.
Women arrange charcoal into sacks at a roadside market as residents gradually return to the streets in Goma. Photograph: Michel Lunanga/AFP/Getty Images

People living in Goma on the Democratic Republic of the Congos eastern border with Rwanda have spoken of their fear and acute hunger after the M23 rebel group swept into the city earlier this week.

We are very afraid. This situation feels hopeless, said Judith Saima, a 28-year-old merchant in Goma, where heavy fighting that cut the city off from the outside world and left bodies piling up in the streets only subsided two days ago.

Access to food is a significant concern, after trade and agricultural supply routes were severed. If this continues, we will all die, either from stray bullets or starvation, said Ngise Ngeleka, a 26-year-old student living in the ULPG neighbourhood. Ngeleka said her neighbour had been hit by a bullet at the beginning of the week and that his body was still lying uncollected in the street.

Adeline Tuma, who lives in the city with her four children, said: We have nothing left to eat. My children cry from hunger. I make porridge without sugar. My shop has been looted. I curse this war. A new, grim chapter of our lives begins.

The UN said on Friday that at least 700 people had been killed and 2,800 injured in Goma since Sunday, according to an assessment conducted by the World Health Organization and the Congolese government.

Travel by boat, which many people use to carry supplies, has effectively been banned since M23 occupied Minova, a port town along Lake Kivu, last month. Another route across a small border crossing linking Goma to Gisenyi in Rwanda has also been blocked.

Residents lost access to water and electricity on Sunday. On Thursday and Friday, power and mobile data services returned in some districts and the border with Rwanda, a lifeline for the city, was reopened, as M23 tried to show it could restore order and govern. The water supply is expected to return in the coming days. In the meantime, some residents have resorted to filling jerrycans from Lake Kivu.

M23 is the latest in a string of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgent groups that have operated in mineral-rich eastern DRC since a 2003 deal was meant to end wars that had killed 6 million people, mostly from hunger and disease. The group is backed by Rwanda, which says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide. The Congolese government and several UN reports say in fact that Rwanda uses the group as a means to extract and then export valuable minerals for use in products such as mobiles phones.

On Friday, the UN voiced alarm at rampant violence in eastern Congo, a day after expressing deep concern that the rebels were advancing south from Goma to Bukavu  capital of the neighbouring South Kivu province. The UN rights office said it had documented cases of summary executions and widespread rapes in recent days. Conflict-related sexual violence has been an appalling feature of armed conflict in eastern DRC for decades, a spokesperson said.

For many in Goma, M23s occupation brings back grim memories of the last time the group seized the city, in 2012. At the time it stayed for just 10 days, leaving when Rwandas international donors threatened to cut aid. This occupation already feels different.

Related: Children executed and women raped in front of their families as M23 militia unleashes fresh terror on DRC

Elisabeth Sikuli said: In 2012, they entered in broad daylight. We heard a few bombs, but the clashes didnt last long. This time, the situation is far worse. We spent three days hiding under our beds, without food.

Hospitals have been overwhelmed by people injured in the fighting, and relief efforts have been paralysed. Internally displaced people have gone without aid for days, prompting humanitarian organisations to issue urgent pleas for a cessation to the hostilities. Uniforms abandoned by exhausted Congolese troops have been picked up and worn by street children, some of whom have looted abandoned shops.

Although there are signs of reprieve in Goma after days of intense fighting, the need for shelter, food, water, medical supplies, and protection in the city remains overwhelming, said Rose Tchwenko, Mercy Corps country director for DRC. We are now in a race against time to save lives.



On Wednesday, M23 declared its intention to remain in the city and a day later Corneille Nangaa, head of Congo River Alliance, the political coalition backing the M23, asked residents to go back to normal activities. He also pledged to get children back in school within 48 hours and open a humanitarian corridor so people displaced by fighting could return home.

At stake is a potential return to the situation that arose in the 1990s and 2000s, when Rwanda and Uganda and their proxy forces occupied and ran DRCs eastern borderlands, managing trade, communications and transport.

Not all people in Goma oppose the arrival of the Tutsi-led group. A senior UN official told Reuters this week: A lot of people are sick and tired of the chaos. If they can trade, security improves, their daily lives improve, then M23 could be popular.

Olakire Senga said he thought the Congolese government had failed to protect its citizens. The doctor said: I think we need to assess the maturity of those arriving and join them. Personally, I went out to welcome them.
Chickens at a farm in Poland. EU data shows that in 2024, tests revealed that at least 138 consignments of exported poultry from Poland contained salmonella. Photograph: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images

UK health bosses privately admitted that a lack of border inspections in the wake of Brexit had left British consumers exposed to diseased meat, an investigation has found.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has previously uncovered a host of failings in the governments handling of outbreaks of drug-resistant salmonella, particularly that linked to supermarket chicken from Poland. Illnesses connected to the outbreaks  which also affected eggs  peaked at different points between 2020 and 2024, while border checks that were supposed to be in place post-Brexit were being repeatedly delayed.

A set of documents seen by TBIJ now reveal that in a series of high-level meetings in late 2023, food safety and health bosses admitted that the UKs borders could have been allowing infected meat to enter the country unchecked.

Minutes from the meetings attended by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and its devolved partners acknowledge there were no current border controls in place, and that paperwork and physical checks on imported goods were not due to start until the following year.

This could change, officials noted. However, [the] FSA have decided that they cant wait for border controls to come in as a control measure.

We didnt do any checks on EU imports at our border control posts for three years, Helen Buckingham, a trade policy expert, told TBIJ. She pointed to a recent report published by the National Audit Office that was highly critical of the UKs post-Brexit border controls. She added: Delays on introducing a new regime of incoming checks for EU goods [were seen as being] risky for the UK in public and animal health terms, because our borders were weak.

Salmonella is a bacteria found in the guts of poultry and other livestock. It is one of the most common causes of food poisoning and is often spread through eating or having contact with undercooked meat, poultry and eggs. Salmonella poisoning can be life-threatening, particularly in infants and elderly people. It causes diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps and a high temperature.

There have been growing concerns about UK consumers exposure to the public health risks of contaminated food in recent years. Last year, hospital admissions for salmonella infections reached an all-time high. Rates for E coli, campylobacter and other foodborne illnesses, also reached record highs in the previous two years and led to a spike in hospital admissions.

In the EU, authorities issued an alert in 2023 linking more than 330 human salmonella cases to infected poultry that affected a number of member countries. Among those made sick were young children and babies, with victims identified in Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Austria, where one person died. Many of the contaminated food samples originated from Poland.

In 2023, UK authorities had become so concerned about the human impacts of ongoing salmonella cases linked to Polish poultry products that the FSA and the UKs chief veterinary officer wrote to the Polish veterinary inspectorate in 2023 demanding further action, noting at least 2,680 human infections and several deaths associated with contaminated products.

The post-Brexit inspections phased in last year did represent a more stringent system than was previously in place, said Buckingham. Pre-Brexit, we didnt check EU products of animal origin because [] the principle of free circulation of goods applied between member states.

But although checks on some UK meat and poultry imports  typically between 1% and 30%  are now being carried out, concerns have been raised that funding cuts to inspection staff at some ports could mean large volumes of substandard meat coming into the UK, as reported in the Grocer.

Tim Lang, professor emeritus of food policy at City St Georges, University of London, said: Food flows depend on trust. And that depends on believing that systems are in place to protect us from known harm. Five years from Brexit, we see not fewer, but persistence of problems. Weve put up borders but havent invested in the inspection.

Polish chicken has been a particular concern, as TBIJ reporting has highlighted. EU data shows that in 2024, tests revealed that at least 138 consignments of exported poultry from Poland contained salmonella, including variants that can be highly harmful to human health. The UK was among the affected countries. The figures were only slightly down from 2023, when there had been 149 recorded cases of contaminated products.

The internal UKHSA records reveal that a ban on Polish poultry products was among the measures considered by the FSA, but there were concerns about its potential impact on the meat industry. No ban was subsequently implemented.

Although FSA interventions brought about a reduction in reported cases, rates were still outside of the tolerance that the FSA board can accept of salmonella entering the UK from the EU, according to the documents.

Officials were also worried that the salmonella contamination had become more widespread, involving multiple producers from Poland and a greater number of food products, the documents show. While attention had initially focused on breaded chicken and other highly processed products, testing had revealed that fresh chicken and raw pet food was also implicated.

Anjali Juneja, director of UK and international affairs at the FSA, said it has been working with the Polish authorities on measures to enhance the safety and compliance of imported poultry meat and eggs. These include increased testing and other interventions at the farm and manufacturer level.

We continue to actively monitor the situation, including through in-country audits of Polish food safety controls and of poultry producers exporting to the UK. If we see any information of concern, we will take the necessary action, Juneja said. She added that the FSA welcomed the enhanced border checks implemented last year, which had become a crucial part of our food safety system that she said helped uphold the UKs high standards.

TBIJs revelations come as Parliaments Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee prepares to launch an inquiry into animal and plant health next Tuesday. Imported animal products will be a central focus of an initial evidence gathering session that will assess the effectiveness of import controls on food hygiene and public health.

The British Poultry Council has previously called for every consignment of Polish poultry to be checked at UK borders. Its chief executive, Richard Griffiths, told TBIJ: We expect our trading partners to meet their responsibilities with regard to safe food. If they cannot, and their own authorities cannot enforce the appropriate controls, then we want our own regulators to have the powers and resources to stop unsafe meat entering the country.

A Defra spokesperson said: This government will never waver in its duty to support the UKs biosecurity and preserve our food supply.

The Polish veterinary inspectorate told TBIJ that food safety alerts relating to poultry from Poland had decreased from 2020 to 2024, demonstrating that it had been taking appropriate and effective action. It said that a thorough investigation was undertaken whenever a salmonella case was detected and, in the event, it would withdraw the food in question, as well as taking measures to minimise recurrence. And it said antibiotics were used on farm animals only when prescribed by a vet.

Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain, the food and farming alliance, said the latest findings exposed just how vital it is for the government to uphold high food standards in international trade deals, especially for high-risk foods such as Polish chicken.

They must also ensure there are enough vets and food hygiene inspectors to check that British and imported meat is fit to eat  health protection roles that have been in worrying decline for several years, she added.


Dale Vince has claimed the site would create hundreds of jobs - Alistair Heap/Alamy Stock Photo

Ed Miliband has been accused of breaking the ministerial code after his department approved an application for a solar farm owned by the millionaire Labour donor Dale Vince.

Last week, the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero signed off on Heckington Fen Solar Park, a 524-hectare solar farm in Lincolnshire, which is owned by Ecotricity, Mr Vinces green energy company.

Ecotricity has donated 5.4 million to Labour since 2021, making Mr Vince one of the partys most prominent business backers.

Nick Timothy, the Tory MP and assistant whip, has written to Sir Keir Starmers ethics adviser, urging him to investigate Mr Miliband.

In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Mr Timothy pointed to a clause in the ministerial code that states no conflict should arise or could reasonably be perceived to arise between ministers duties and private interests.

He wrote: It seems clear that there is indeed such a conflict in this decision, and beyond doubt that it could reasonably be perceived that a conflict has arisen, given the financial support given to Mr Milibands party by the applicant.

Did Mr Miliband seek your advice on how to avoid or manage the perception of a conflict in making this decision? Did he seek the advice of his permanent secretary?

Nick Timothy has urged Sir Keir Starmers ethics adviser to investigate Mr Miliband - Lauren Hurley/DESNZ

Mr Timothy, the MP for West Suffolk, claimed the Energy Secretary had fallen short of public expectations, telling The Telegraph: It is difficult to see how Ed Miliband has not broken the ministerial code in making this decision, which benefits a significant Labour donor.

There is no case for constructing these giant solar and battery farms on agricultural land, but Milibands net zero zealotry means more of these monstrosities are heading for rural communities.

The Government has questions to answer not only about its links to Dale Vince but also about the absurdity of this rush to intermittent and unreliable renewables.

The Energy Department said it was Lord Hunt, a minister, and not Mr Miliband who was responsible for signing off on the solar farm.

The decision to approve Heckington Fen has angered councillors and residents, leading to accusations that Mr Miliband is trashing the countryside. It was signed off as part of the Governments attempts to achieve clean power by 2030.

Last week, Mr Vince rejected suggestions it was politically motivated and said the site would create hundreds of jobs.

Suggestions of influence are just cheap, cynical comments  Ive spent the last 30 years pushing for green energy in Britain, he told the PA news agency.

The economic and security benefits of that make it now unarguable, and thats why we have a Government committed to it, having promised it in their manifesto.

Labour also maintained that political donations had no influence over decisions on planning applications.

Data suggest that more than 100 million solar panels will be fitted across Britain by 2035 under Mr Milibands plans. The panels are expected to cover almost 500 square miles in total  an area larger than most UK cities.

A government spokesman said: No rules have been broken. Political donations have no influence over how planning applications are considered. There is a rigorous process in place to ensure that all planning decisions follow strict propriety rules and weigh up only material planning considerations in the decision.

In accordance with this process, the Energy Secretary recused himself from this decision, which was delegated to Lord Hunt.

Solar power is crucial to delivering our clean energy mission and we make no apology for supporting the development of clean energy infrastructure to provide cheap energy and protect households bills.

On Tuesday, Mr Vince broke ranks with the party to warn against the decision by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to back a third runway at Heathrow.

He said similar expansions at Gatwick and Luton would wipe out progress towards net zero targets that had already been made in other areas.
Sudan's war is causing untold misery and threatening to spill over into the neighbourhood. In this excerpt from the Watch List 2025, Crisis Group explores how the EU and its member states can assist urgently needed efforts at mediation and relief.

Sudan's ruinous civil war rages on with no end in sight. The conflict that began in April 2023 is causing untold human misery, with tens of thousands killed and millions uprooted from their homes. Famine was declared in North Darfur in August 2024, and the UN has warned that the hunger crisis could be one of the worst in modern history. Sudan is increasingly divided into zones of control, with one of the main belligerents, the Sudanese army, holding the north and most parts of the east, while the other, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), dominate the western regions of Darfur and Kordofan. The capital, Khartoum, remains a war zone, mostly under the RSF's sway, though the army is regaining ground. Despite a resurgence for the army, which took back Wad Medani, capital of the Gezira state and an agricultural and trading hub, in early January, and much of greater Khartoum late in the month, neither side appears able to achieve victory. That means the war could drag on even longer, destabilising neighbouring countries and exacting an ever greater toll on the Sudanese people. Outside powers, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the RSF's chief backer, and Egypt, which supports the army, are fuelling the hostilities.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have not been equal to the moment. Attempts to foster talks between the two warring parties have mostly stumbled just past the starting line. A crucial problem has been the failure of external players to push their allies toward serious negotiations. Western powers, including the U.S., have sought to organise new talks, but with little success. The latest actor to take up the mediation mantle, Turkiye, will need help to make progress where others have faltered.

To bolster negotiations and help avert further humanitarian catastrophe, the EU and its member states should:

Support mediators, including those with the Ankara-led initiative, working to halt the fighting. Make full use of European ties with the Gulf states and Egypt (which have strengthened over the past year) to nudge the belligerents to the table;

Form a contact group of EU foreign ministers to coordinate member state diplomacy and highlight the need for Europe to be more engaged in efforts to resolve the conflict;

Maintain or increase humanitarian spending on Sudan, and in affected regions of Chad, including by pushing member states to honour commitments made at the April 2024 Paris conference; and work with all influential outside parties to press for greater humanitarian access;

Support existing efforts, including those by the African Union (AU), to encourage dialogue among Sudan's political and civil society groups about a stable post-war future, including a substantial role for civilians.

Women wait to collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation for people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. AFP

An Intractable Conflict

The war that has now consumed much of the country began in Khartoum. In 2019, after the military ousted former President Omar al-Bashir on the back of months of popular protests, the leaders of the army and RSF - Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo "Hemedti", respectively - moved swiftly to fill the void at the apex of the Sudanese state. They each took top positions on the Sovereign Council, an eleven-member military-civilian body that assumed the head of state role during the post-Bashir transition. As chair and vice chair, Burhan and Hemedti wielded the real power, with a transitional civilian government led by technocratic Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok tasked with running the country. In October 2021, they banded together to carry out a coup removing that government.

Burhan and Hemedti's subsequent cohabitation lasted little more than a year. By early 2023, relations between the two had deteriorated, leading to a tense standoff that escalated into armed conflict that April. At first, fighting was mostly confined to Khartoum and its surroundings, allowing for hopes that it could conclude swiftly. Saudi Arabia, alongside the U.S., attempted to broker a ceasefire that May, leading to the Jeddah Declaration, an agreement that sought to protect non-combatants and civilian infrastructure. The accord also required the sides to allow unrestricted humanitarian access. The belligerents soon violated it, however, and talks broke down. The conflict then spread into Darfur, with the RSF and affiliated Arab militias taking control of El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, in June. Rights groups recorded the killing of thousands of Masalit, a non-Arab ethnic group, by the RSF. By December, the RSF had taken control of all five states in Darfur. There have been reports of widespread sexual violence, mostly targeting women and girls, in Darfur and other parts of the country where combat has been at its most intense.

A second round of Jeddah talks fared little better than the first, with the two sides blaming each other when they failed. In January 2024, the intelligence services of Egypt and the UAE convened a face-to-face meeting in Manama, Bahrain. These back-channel negotiations brought together Abdelrahim Dagalo, Hemedti's deputy (and brother), and Shams al-Din Kabbashi, Burhan's deputy. They, too, fizzled out when news of the meeting leaked and Burhan recalled Kabbashi. A second round of Jeddah talks fared little better than the first, with the two sides blaming each other when they failed. In January 2024, the intelligence services of Egypt and the UAE convened a face-to-face meeting in Manama, Bahrain. These back-channel negotiations brought together Abdelrahim Dagalo, Hemedti's deputy (and brother), and Shams al-Din Kabbashi, Burhan's deputy. They, too, fizzled out when news of the meeting leaked and Burhan recalled Kabbashi.

The outgoing Biden administration imposed sanctions on the leaders of the RSF and the Sudanese army ... for the sometimes criminal conduct of their forces.

In early 2024, the U.S. decided to involve itself more deeply in resolving the conflict, appointing a special envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello. The U.S. first sought to hold a new round of talks in Jeddah, including the UAE and Egypt. When these did not happen, they marshalled another new initiative in Geneva, co-hosted by Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, with Egypt and the UAE attending as observers. Once again, the effort was unsuccessful in bringing the belligerents together for talks. In January 2025, the outgoing Biden administration imposed sanctions on the leaders of the RSF and the Sudanese army - Hemedti and Burhan, respectively - deeming them responsible for the sometimes criminal conduct of their forces during the conflict.

Meanwhile, after a pause of more than two months during the rainy season, the army in September 2024 launched offensives to retake parts of Khartoum and Bahri, the capital's sprawling northern suburb. The assaults were partly successful, but the gains were small, and most of the city remains in the RSF's hands. The army made more headway in Sennar, a state in eastern Sudan. It retook the Jebel Moya area, a key transport hub, before seizing Sinjah, the state capital. The RSF withdrew from Sennar, redeploying its forces into neighbouring White Nile state, which borders South Sudan. In early January 2025, the momentum shifted in the army's favour again when it retook Wad Medani, which the RSF had captured in a surprise offensive in December 2023. The army has now moved back into Khartoum from several directions as the RSF has lost ground. Fighting has also continued in North Darfur, particularly around the state capital, El Fasher. The Joint Darfur Force, made up of local armed groups aligned with the army, has been battling the RSF in areas to the north and east of the city.

In December 2024, Turkiye offered to mediate new talks between the Sudanese army and the UAE, the RSF's key backer. Yet Ankara's efforts, while worthy of support, may encounter the same difficulties as previous attempts coordinated by the U.S. or Saudi Arabia - principally, the difficulty of marshalling various external interests to push the warring parties toward negotiations.

Trouble for the Neighbourhood

On top of the war's disastrous impact in Sudan, the effects on Sudan's neighbours are also severe, risking the stability of already fragile countries. South Sudan's economy has been pushed to the brink. In February 2024, the main pipeline transporting oil north from South Sudan's Upper Nile state to a Sudanese terminal at Port Sudan ruptured, causing a complete shutdown. The pipeline carries about three quarters of South Sudan's oil for export, with oil revenues comprising roughly 80 per cent of the government's budget. Fixing the pipeline is technically possible, but it has proven difficult for Juba to make agreements with the army and RSF on restarting production and export, including fees for transit through territory under their control. The pipeline has been closed for nearly a year, putting increasing pressure on South Sudan's economy that could have explosive political consequences.

More than 900,000 Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees have arrived in Chad since April 2023 - most of them now reside in Ouaddai, an impoverished eastern province - a development that could have destabilising effects. Chad has reportedly allowed the UAE to send arms to the RSF via logistical hubs on its territory. The Chadian government's alliance with the UAE, which in June 2023 agreed to loan $1.5 billion to N'Djamena, has caused disquiet, particularly among the president's Zaghawa tribe, who see the RSF as targeting their Sudanese brethren across the border in Darfur.

The war is also causing security concerns for Ethiopia and Eritrea along their western borders. For Addis Ababa, which has not shown its hand in the conflict (despite apparently leaning toward the RSF's patron, the UAE), the main risk is that the insurgency in the Amhara region will overlap with fighting in Sudan's eastern states, with arms and militants crossing the frontier. Asmara, on the other hand, distrusts Emirati influence in the region and favours the Sudanese army. It has been training Sudanese militias in Eritrea to battle the RSF, according to regional and Western diplomats.

Competing Interests

In part due to its geostrategic location, Sudan is of deep interest to several external powers whose involvement has both fuelled the war and complicated peace efforts. The RSF has received substantial support from the UAE, which has built up enormous influence across the Horn of Africa in recent years and covets a Red Sea port. In contrast, Sudan's army has garnered backing from Egypt, which sees its southern neighbour's stability as crucial to its national security. Other regional actors, including Qatar and Turkiye, sympathise with the army, with Ankara being home to Islamist figures including Bashir-era officials. Iran has supplied drones to the army. Saudi Arabia holds sway over both sides, but its chief concern is maintaining stability in the Red Sea basin and not losing clout to the UAE in Sudan and the Horn of Africa. The UAE-Egypt relationship is crucial, as each nation has significant leverage over the faction it favours. Abu Dhabi and Cairo have close bilateral ties of their own, but because their ambitions in Sudan clash, they have been unable to cooperate in resolving the conflict.

The involvement of several external states with competing interests has made it difficult to find a path to peace drawing on broad foreign support. Achieving a resolution will require not only ending hostilities in Sudan but also addressing the tangled web of regional influence.

What the EU and Its Member States Can Do

Sudan matters for the EU and its member states. Beside the terrible humanitarian crisis, a long war in one of Africa's biggest countries will radiate instability well beyond the region and into the Mediterranean basin. Sudan also abuts the Red Sea, a maritime corridor that during the Gaza conflict was severely disrupted by attacks on shipping from the Houthis in Yemen, causing the EU to deploy a naval mission (following the announcement of a ceasefire, the Houthis have said their strikes will continue only on Israeli vessels). The Sudan war has intensified a struggle for access to Port Sudan, involving external powers including Russia and Iran, which all seek a foothold near a sea route that is disproportionately important to Europe's economic fortunes. Moreover, should Sudan's war further roil neighbours such as Chad and South Sudan, thousands of fleeing people may arrive on Europe's shores, where migration is a politically loaded issue.

For these reasons, the EU and its member states should in concert support efforts to end a conflict that has not ranked high on the agenda of many powers, including Brussels, due to the attention devoted to wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Europe may especially need to step up in the coming months to pick up the likely diplomatic slack from the U.S., where the Trump administration has signalled little interest in Sudan. To this end, the EU should rally its members to support the new Ankara-led mediation track or any other that picks up momentum. It should also hold back from following Washington's lead and imposing sanctions on the leaders of the warring parties unless they are attached to a clear political strategy, coordinated with partners, for ending the war.

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Although it has limited leverage over the key players, the EU has over the past year made efforts to deepen its cooperation with the UAE, bilaterally and through the Gulf Cooperation Council (with the first ever EU-GCC summit to take place in October), and with Egypt, through the development of a "strategic and comprehensive partnership" (which comes with up to 5 billion in macro-financial assistance from Brussels) as well as support for the Egyptian armed forces. EU heads of state, foreign ministers and envoys should consistently point out to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Egypt, that a prolonged conflict does not serve their interests. It should press the UAE and Egypt, in particular, to help bring the belligerents to the table. Annette Weber, the EU special representative for the Horn of Africa, who has engaged in extensive shuttle diplomacy with regional leaders and international stakeholders, should continue those efforts with the support of member states.

To coordinate its approach better, the EU should ... consider creating a dedicated contact group for Sudan.

To coordinate its approach better, the EU should also consider creating a dedicated contact group for Sudan, possibly helmed by foreign ministers from key member states. Such a group would allow member states with a major diplomatic interest, such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and others, to harmonise their policies.

In addition, the EU should keep sending humanitarian assistance to Sudan and step up its assistance in Chad. The latter should target Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees, as well as host communities, and support projects that reduce intercommunal frictions among these groups. In 2024, Brussels allocated 72 million in humanitarian aid to alleviate the harm caused by the conflict, an amount that is set to increase to more than 90 million in 2025. The bloc should also encourage member states to maintain humanitarian funding commitments made at the April 2024 Paris conference, organised by France, Germany and the EU, totalling 2 billion, more than half from the EU and its member states. To facilitate humanitarian operations, the EU should also push, in concert with other external actors with influence such as Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the U.S., for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access, the ability to deliver humanitarian assistance across front lines and the free movement of humanitarian workers.

Finally, the EU should continue to support efforts, including by the AU, to encourage Sudan's various political and civil forces to forge a more united front toward ending the war, including potentially hammering out what a post-war unity government could look like. This political dialogue should include women, with a view to bolstering the progress that was made in increasing their participation in public life after Bashir's ouster, much of which has now been lost. By continuing to provide diplomatic and technical assistance, the EU can boost efforts to find common ground among political groups, community leaders and civil society, which will be essential to build a stable post-war future. The EU should also make clear to mediators that - if it is to endure - any deal to end the war must provide for broad, representative civilian participation in the new administration.
Campaigners for race and equality say the research downplays the complex intersection of ethnicity and class that deprives children of equal opportunities. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Alamy

Poverty and special educational needs, rather than ethnicity alone, are the key influences on individual childrens school exclusions and attainment in England, according to analysis.

The findings, by a multi-ethnic team of academics from Durham and Birmingham universities, challenge widely held views that children in some ethnic groups are disproportionately affected by exclusions and suspensions.

But campaigners for race and equality argue that the research downplays the complex intersection of ethnicity and class that deprives many children of fair access to educational opportunities, and overlooks other methods of exclusion and measures deployed against disadvantaged groups.

Related: Lack of diversity in teaching in England means minority ethnic pupils miss out

The research found that once adjusted by free school meal eligibility or special educational needs status, there were no significant differences between ethnic groups in rates of exclusion or academic attainment at primary or secondary school.

Prof Stephen Gorard, the lead author and professor of education and public policy at the University of Durham, said the findings had uncovered a correlation rather than a causal model linking special needs and poverty with exclusions.

But if you were trying to predict or explain who is going to be excluded at an individual level, then if you include poverty and special needs, knowing the ethnicity of a child doesnt help a prediction. Thats equivalent to saying: this is not driving exclusions, Gorard said.

You could argue that black children, for example, are more likely to be labelled with special needs because they are more likely to be considered for some other reasons. And that is possible. But assuming we accept that the special needs label has validity, then after taking it into account, ethnicity doesnt matter for patterns of exclusions.

Dr Shabna Begum, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, said the educational experiences of minority ethnic groups were the result of a tangled matrix of race and class that was difficult to measure.

Begum said: This should not lead us to conclude that racism is not a factor in attainment or exclusion experiences but that there is no single, linear relationship.

For instance, we have to interrogate the reasons for why some minority ethnic pupils are more likely to be in the free school meals (FSM) category, which is used as the imperfect proxy for working-class status.

By focusing on FSM status as some kind of fixed category, we risk ignoring the structural racism in labour markets and the wider housing system that explain why many black African, black Caribbean and Traveller children are more likely to experience those wider economic conditions in the first place, and how race and racism is constitutive of their class and therefore their poverty experiences  not incidental to it.

Dr Kulvinder Nagre, a research and policy coordinator for Race on the Agenda, said informal exclusions such as off-rolling  where families were persuaded or put under pressure to remove a child from school  were often missing from official data.

Our research has found that black and global majority children, and especially those from our Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, are disproportionately subject to informal exclusion, and this practice is not captured in the models used by the authors to draw their conclusions, Nagre said.

Nagre also cautioned policymakers against overlooking ethnicity as a critical factor in a childs potential.

Research has shown time and time again that cultural awareness is hugely important for educational interventions  that which may improve the attainment of a white, working-class pupil from the rural north-east [of England] is unlikely to be as effective for a working-class child from a first-generation migrant family in Tower Hamlets, and vice versa, he said.

The research, published in the journal Education Sciences, used official records from the Department for Educations national pupil database from 2019, for all pupils at state schools in England.

It concluded that prior attainment and special needs/disability status are the main drivers of attainment at both [key stage 2 at primary school] and [key stage 4 at secondary school]. Individual pupil ethnicity did not help to explain either attainment or exclusions, over and above these other factors.

Related: Alarm at first fall in disadvantaged students in England reaching university

But Gorard said the data did reveal that schools with high concentrations of pupils with particular special needs, disadvantage or ethnicity were more likely to exclude pupils  and that the government should change national admissions policies to tackle such segregation.

There is a lot of evidence that, in heavily disadvantaged settings, children are punished differently from how the same individual and the same offence and characteristics might be treated in a low segregation setting. Its one of the dangers of having highly segregated schools, Gorard said.

Pepe DiIasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: Schools and colleges work incredibly hard to support these young people but we do need to see more government action to offset the risk of exclusions and improve attainment.

DiIasio added: It is a stark reality that an obdurate attainment gap persists between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, and that this feeds through into a cycle of generational disadvantage that we must break if we are to create a fairer and more productive society.
Viktor photographed in a park in Vinnytsia. He left his position to seek further medical treatment but did not return. Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The Guardian

When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, Viktor* was ready to die for his country. He volunteered to defend Kyiv as enemy tanks appeared and joined Ukraines armed forces. In the spring of 2023 he was fighting in the village of Tonenke, near the eastern city of Avdiivka. When I arrived I was super-motivated. If necessary I would give my life, he recalled.

Gradually, however, he became disillusioned. The battle was furious. The Russians would smash our positions to the ground, he said. Senior Ukrainian commanders gave unrealistic orders. Then, while he was defending a ruined building, a panel fell on his shoulder. After receiving injections to reduce the pain, he was told to return to the front. I realised Im nobody. Just a number, he said.

In May that same year, Viktor left his position to seek further medical treatment. He did not come back. His commander marked him down as awol. Viktor is one of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who have abandoned their units. The exact figure is a military secret, but officials concede the number is large. They say it is understandable, when tired troops have served for months without a proper break.

The issue of desertion has made headlines in Ukraine. Last week the government launched an investigation into the 155th Mechanised Brigade. Fifty-six soldiers disappeared while training in France. Hundreds of others are said to be missing. The units commander, Dmytro Riumshyn, was arrested. He faces 10 years in jail for failing to carry out his official duties and to report unauthorised absences.

After three years of war, Ukraine is desperately short of soldiers, especially infantry. This has made it easier for Russias army to advance in the east. There are structural issues too. New brigades have been built from scratch. They performed poorly. Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, recently ordered a change in policy, with inexperienced recruits integrated into existing battalions.

Some who desert keep a low profile. Others live and work openly. Viktor said he went back to his brigade in August 2023 but was told he was not wanted. Once a trained sniper, he now runs a garage in western Ukraine, where he repairs military vehicles for free. Had he killed Russians? Many, he replied. Everybody is tired. The mood has changed. People used to hug soldiers in the streets. Now they worry about being conscripted.

Viktor added there was a severe lack of frontline manpower. In February 2023 he was given a 10-day break  only to be recalled a day after he got home, as Avdiivka came under attack. Two people from his company had been killed, he said. The others were wounded. One guy lost an arm. Another a leg. Some had bullet wounds. Nobody is completely OK. Even so, we managed to achieve some tasks, he said.

Another deserter, Oleksii*, said he took part in Ukrainian offensives in the southern Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. He described one battle as chaotic, with bullets flying, mortars landing in a forest clearing, and insufficient artillery support. During the winter of 2022 he had a row with a new commander, applied unsuccessfully for a transfer, and got hurt. I reached boiling point. So I decided to go where nobody can find me, he said.

Ever since, Oleksii has been in hiding. We will see what happens. Maybe I get caught and sent to the frontline, he said. He added he would take up arms again if the Russians came into his town, or if the Ukrainian army became a genuinely reformed Nato style force, with better generals. Asked if he was happy, he answered: Im alive. The longer the war goes on the more people like me there will be.

Olha Reshetylova, Ukraines commissioner for protecting service members rights, said she understood why some people went awol. Lets be honest. The problem is big. Its natural in a situation where youve had three years of major war. People are exhausted. They want to see their families. Their children are growing up without them. Relationships get broken. Wives and husbands cant wait for ever. They feel alone.

She said many service members ended up with fragile mental health. A small conflict with a senior officer could trigger them to flee their unit, she said. There were injuries too. Its a complex and complicated problem. We cant solve this with criminal punishment. If it comes to a choice between being killed and going to prison, of course at that moment you will go with the second option.

Reshetylova is a well-known human rights activist. She took up her newly created post in January at the request of Zelenskyy. Her role is to balance the needs of the state with fairness to individuals. We have this post-Soviet heritage where a soldier is slave to his commander. But Ukraines army is transforming. We are trying to change it, to make it more modern and human-orientated, she said, in an interview in Kyiv.

Ukraines parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has been debating how to bring in more recruits. Deserters face between 12 and 15 years in jail. Last summer, deputies abolished criminal penalties for those who voluntarily return to their old battalions, with full benefits restored. A bill has also been passed that allows service members to transfer to different units  getting round lingering conflicts between lower and higher ranks.

Reshetylova said transfers were unpopular with commanders, who blocked them because they were short of troops. The government is working on a solution, she said, allowing applications to be made via the ministry of defences Army+ app. Meanwhile, changes are being drafted to attract 18- to 25-year-olds, who are currently exempt from mobilisation. They include training guarantees and measures to ensure dialogue between soldiers and commanders.

Andrii Hrebeniuk, the sergeant major of an infantry battalion, fighting in the Donetsk oblast town of Velyka Novosilka, said soldiers went awol pretty frequently. Some return. Some dont, he said. Its about morale more than injury. They need a psychological reset. They go and see their families and reappear after a couple of months. Did he understand them? I dont sympathise and I dont condemn, he replied.

Hrebeniuks mechanised brigade, the 110th, last week took the unusual step of saying it was critically short of personnel. It had enough drones and artillery, but no infantry, at a time of constant Russian attacks. We need to break the stereotype that if you join up you will be dead in five minutes, Hrebeniuk said. He added: Simple things keep you alive, like digging in, cleaning your weapons, and paying attention during first aid training.

Reshetylova said there were hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers staying in their positions and not going anywhere. The recruitment crisis could be solved, she added, if Ukraines allies sent their own troops. If they did not, and Kyiv fell, Vladimir Putin would keep going. She said: As I see it, it is Europes armies that are absent without leave. They dont understand  or dont want to understand  that this is their war too.

*Names have been changed
Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers an economic growth speech at Siemens Healthineers in Oxford

For once, Rachel Reeves said something that I can agree with. At her set piece speech on Wednesday, she said low growth is not our destiny, but growth will not come without a fight. She had a point: everyone is pro-growth in principle, but when it comes to the practicalities of actually achieving it, out come the pitchforks.

Mrs Thatchers supply-side reforms  which got Britain motoring again  were, on the face of things, deeply unpopular and encountered huge resistance. Fortunately she wasnt interested in popular policies, rather policies that had popular effects.

But thats where my agreement with Reeves abruptly ends. Coming out with the right words is the easy bit. The test is actually delivering it. Reeves and her cabinet colleagues have made entire careers out of opposing pro-growth policies. So, why on earth should we believe her?

Take her main announcement on Wednesday: a third runway at Heathrow. What investor could possibly have confidence a third runway will finally be built under a Prime Minister who voted against it, a Transport Secretary who spearheaded legal challenges against it, and an Energy Secretary who famously threatened to resign if it was built over ludicrous environmental demands? Heathrows officials will soon be signing off sick with Stockholm syndrome.

Now I do not pretend that these feckless politicians who flip flop on crucial long-term decisions are new. Plenty have come before this Labour government.

I tore my hair out trying to get many of the projects built that Reeves listed on Wednesday, none more so than the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. Its short history is a parable for our failure as a country to get stuff built.

The case for development was  and remains  slam dunk. Sandwiched between two of the greatest universities of the world, which happen to be at the heart of life sciences and AI research, this region has the highest growth potential in Europe. But it is hamstrung by the fact it is one of the hardest places to build lab space and one of the most expensive areas in the country to live.

I spent years alongside many others turning this idea into an investable proposition. Planning a road and a railway to connect the two cities; raising private capital from investors around the world.

But it was ditched because a small number of MPs became uneasy and local councils opposed it. The prospect of Britains own Silicon Valley kiboshed, with investors going elsewhere like Texas and Boston.

All counties have strategic assets: Saudia Arabia has oil and gas, Italy leads in luxury goods, and the UK is world leading in life sciences, advanced manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. We take them for granted at our peril. A few decades ago the UK had a thriving car industry - now its in real danger, crippled by high energy costs and needless regulation.

We live in a country where the Government seems determined to attack excellence, cutting down tall poppies out of spite whether its private schools, the premier league or the pool of investors and millionaires that prop up our public services through their tax receipts. The Government should be fighting like lions to protect these strengths, but out of sheer complacency politicians seem to think we can neglect them.

The UKs chronic weakness is the veto-cracy that rigs our system against building vital critical infrastructure  and a generation of politicians who allowed it to grow like Japanese knotweed. Our industries are suffering as a result and were all poorer for it. Unless we urgently change course, we will be left in the dust of other major economies.

In the national interest I hope this Government succeeds in doing so, but I have no confidence in the cast of clowns in the cabinet to break from decades of malaise. None of them have a track record of backing major infrastructure projects and sticking their neck out for them. Instead they spent their time in opposition pandering to eco-zealots and exploiting the planning system to block good paying jobs for local people.

Meanwhile, each day we inch closer to a recession. Warms words from the Chancellor that were cobbled together in a panic wont undo the damage from her national insurance tax rise or the spiralling cost of borrowing. If Reeves really is Labours prize fighter for growth, shes already been knocked out on the canvas in the first round.
JD Vance said Rory Stewarts false arrogance  was the type that had driven so much elite failure over the last 40 years - Ben Curtis/Reuters

JD Vance has mocked Rory Stewart for not being as clever as he thinks he is during a spat with the former Tory MP on social media.

Mr Stewart, the former cabinet minister and host of podcast The Rest Is Politics, hit out at Mr Vance after the US vice-president discussed religion in a recent Fox News interview.

Mr Vance spoke to Fox News about the Christian concept of an order of love that comes before prioritising the rest of the world.

There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritise the rest of the world, he said.

Mr Vance added that this concept had been inverted by the far-Left.

Rory Stewart warns we should start worrying when politicians assume to speak for Jesus in response to JD Vances comments on Fox News - Jeff Gilbert

Writing on X, Mr Stewart warned of the dangers of politicians interpreting religion, saying that Mr Vances comments were a bizarre take on John 15:12-13  less Christian and more pagan tribal.

We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love, he added.

The Bible passage in question, John 15:12-13, is about the love that Jesus commands his followers to have for each other.

The passage reads: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Mr Vance retaliated by recommending that Stewart look up ordo amoris  a term that refers to a hierarchy of love  and added that the idea that there isnt a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.

Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone? he added on X.

Ive said before and Ill say it again: the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130. This false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years.

The Narcissist in Chief

Mr Vances comments follow Donald Trumps policy focus on domestic needs first, with an isolationist approach to foreign aid.

One of Mr Trumps first moves as president was to suspend all foreign aid provided by the US, by far the worlds biggest aid donor.

Republicans have argued that Washington carries too much weight compared to other Western nations, footing a bill of around $70 billion per year.

Mr Vance has previously said that foreign policy starts at home.

Weighing in on the debate, Alistair Campbell, a former Labour strategist and co-host of The Rest is Politics, said: Very odd that the vice-president of the US has nothing better to do than troll my podcast partner Rory Stewart  perhaps he has not been given a proper job by the Narcissist in Chief.
Delap, a retired teacher, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for her participation in a climate protest on the M25 in 2022. Photograph: Brian Farmer/PA Media

A 78-year-old climate protester has been released on home detention curfew just a week after her prison term was extended because government contractors were unable to find the right-sized tag for her wrist.

Gaie Delap, 78, a retired teacher and Just Stop Oil protester, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for her participation in a climate protest on the M25 in 2022 and was released last November under the home detention curfew (HDC) scheme.

She was recalled to prison just before Christmas. Because of a history of deep-vein thrombosis, she could not have a tag attached to her ankle. No wrist tag that fitted her could be found.

On Friday afternoon she was released from Eastwood Park prison on home detention curfew. It is understood that a 15cm wrist strap previously deemed unsuitable for her was considered usable.

Delaps brother, Mick Delap, said: Gaie is of course delighted to be back at home. She is enormously grateful for the support she has received not just from family and friends, but from many generous and committed individuals and organisations.

Initially, Delap was informed she would be released on 17 March but last Friday she was told it had been delayed until 7 April.

Her release on Friday follows representations by her lawyer Raj Chada, at Hodge Jones and Allen, supported by the Good Law Project. When they received no response, a letter before action was sent to the Ministry of Justice.

Lawyers acting for the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said Delaps release meant there was no longer any need to reply to the letter. Delaps legal team will not need to bring a challenge against the Ministry of Justice about her recall to prison on 20 December 2024.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said on Friday: Ms Delap has now been fitted with a tag and has been placed on home detention curfew.

Jolyon Maugham of the Good Law Project welcomed Delaps release. Although were delighted Gaie has been released today this isnt the end of the story, he said. We are now considering what action may be taken against the Ministry of Justice and Serco, who provide tags on behalf of the government, for a breach of equality law.

The Good Law Projects position is that climate protesters are being disproportionately policed. The public interest would be much better served if the police went after real criminals.

Mick Delap called the news a victory for common sense. This is not compassion  its the law finally being applied as it should be. And her release today shows that if challenged peacefully by enough people, and if backed by proper reporting, those tasked with applying the law can be persuaded to do their job, he said.

Gaie is keen that we shouldnt forget the large numbers of prisoners, especially women, serving equally unjust terms of recall whose suffering Gaies case has highlighted.

Her case was one of 16 in the court of appeal this week. On Wednesday, 16 convicted climate activists called for judges to reduce their prison sentences in a rare mass appeal. They claim the terms were excessive and breach international human rights laws.

The court of appeal reviewed the jail sentences related to four separate cases involving Just Stop Oil activists between July and September 2024.
The attorney general has tightened government legal advice to make it harder for ministers to take decisions that could be challenged in the courts. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Keir Starmer has full confidence in Richard Hermer, Downing Street said on Friday, after reports suggested ministerial colleagues had become exasperated with the attorney general holding up policy decisions.

No 10 defended Hermer after multiple Labour ministers were quoted anonymously saying he had become a block on government decision-making.

The attorney general has tightened government legal advice to make it harder for ministers to take decisions that could be challenged in the courts, but some in government believe this new guidance is excessively cautious.

The prime ministers spokesperson said on Friday: There is absolute confidence in [Hermer]. Lets be clear about the effects of not engaging properly with the law as a government. Failing to do so leads to judicial reviews, which delay projects, routinely cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds and end up blocking exactly the type of major new infrastructure that everyone accepts our country desperately needs.

It is in everyones interests that the changes in laws to be delivered by this government are effective, whether its whether it is the attorney general, prime minister or the rest of the cabinet.

Hermer is one of Starmers closest allies in government, with the prime minister having brought him in last year as a surprise appointment after the two worked together as lawyers at Doughty Street Chambers.

Since entering government, however, Hermer has irritated some officials with his insistence on vetting a range of policies to check if they comply with domestic and international law. Last year he strengthened official guidance to discourage ministers from putting forward legal arguments if they think they are likely to lose them in court, even if they think they are legitimate.

This has upset some ministerial colleagues, with the Times quoting ministers on Friday accusing Hermer of blocking policy to such an extent that he had caused a freeze on government.

One source told the paper: He thinks he makes policy. He doesnt, but he gets involved in everything and hes an activist, its causing this freeze on government.

The Guardian revealed last year Hermer had intervened to delay the decision to block some weapons sales to Israel, over concerns a partial ban could not be defended in court.

Hermer has also been criticised for failing to declare the clients he worked for in private practice, unlike Lucy Rigby, the solicitor general, and her predecessor, Sarah Sackman.

Downing Street on Friday said that declaration requirements were different in the Commons to the Lords, where Hermer sits.
Starmer

Labour this week hit its highest disapproval rating since taking the keys to Downing Street. According to the latest YouGov data, 64 per cent of British adults now disapprove of the Government  the highest figure since last Julys general election, against just 16 per cent who approve  the lowest figure to date.

Granted, these arent the worst figures of all time. The previous Sunak administration plumbed the disapproval depths of 73 per cent following last summers D-Day debacle but Nigel Farages description of Sir Keir Starmer as Blair without the flair is fast appearing far too flattering. At this point in his premiership, Blair was still walking on water after his popularity rating reached 93 per cent in the wake of Princess Dianas death, when The Independent breathlessly dubbed him: The most popular democratic politician in history. It took six years and the invasion of Iraq for him to go from hero to zero. Starmer appears to have achieved this feat in little over six months  albeit from a lower starting point. But it isnt just down to his comparative lack of charisma.

Thanks to Labours toxic mix of ideologically driven ineptitude, Starmer has gone from being viewed as decent but dull to appearing downright dangerous. Take the Southport riots, when the prime minister appeared unconcerned about prejudicing the trials of those involved in the far-Right unrest  in order not to prejudice the trial of a maniac who murdered three young girls in the most horrific way imaginable. Dangerous might seem a strong word  but lets put it a different way: has he been a safe pair of hands since taking office? Hell no. We may as well stick a hazard sign across the black door of No 10.

For Labours actions are causing real and serious harm to our economy and businesses, our intentional standing, and ultimately, our childrens futures.

The word vindictive is now being regularly used by the public in response to policies like stripping pensioners of their winter fuel allowance and slapping VAT on private school fees. (We now read the inheritance tax seven-year rule is under threat from Labour in yet another example of the Governments animus towards anyone who has had the temerity to build up a nest egg.) Thats not responsible, careful or considered government. And nor is the oxymoronic nature of many of its ministers increasingly ill-judged pronouncements. The cabinet is a bag of contradictions. One moment Rachel Reeves is doom-mongering with unsubstantiated claims of a 22 billion black hole in the nations finances; the next shes telling the UK to learn from Trumps boosterism.

Seemingly oblivious to her own Eeyore-ish approach at the Treasury, she declared at the World Economic Forum in Davos: Yes, I think we do need more positivity. Ive challenged businesses as well and said no one else is going to speak up for Britain apart from us. It hasnt been a very British thing to say. Eh? This, from the woman who has just crippled British businesses with National Insurance hikes and cuts to business rates relief. Her colleague Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, is similarly inconsistent in claiming to care about social mobility and equal opportunities while driving down educational standards and proposing to stop disadvantaged pupils from learning subjects like Latin. Meanwhile, weve got Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner at sixes and sevens over house building, in one breath saying were not getting the housing we need, but in another, declaring theres plenty of housing in the UK for migrants.

Speaking on the steps of Downing Street, Starmer pledged to be a government of service which put country before party. Yet weve already witnessed Labour concede British territory in the Chagos Islands and seek closer alignment with the EU  an utterly harebrained idea given Eurozone economies are faring worse than our own. Never Here Keirs next foreign jaunt? To Brussels, natch. Hes been to Germany three times already since becoming Prime Minister and yet will host Olaf Scholz at Chequers tomorrow  despite him being almost as much of a busted euroflush as French president Emmanuel Macron.

Instead of cosying back up to Brussels, we ought to be positioning ourselves more strategically given the new US administration  but instead weve got the likes of Sir Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, greeting Trumps re-election with hysterical warnings about the resurgence of fascism. Does anyone really regard the Foreign Office as being secure under the leadership of David Lammy, a man who described the US president as a neo-Nazi sociopath? Was Lord Mandelson, who has had to apologise for calling Trump a danger to the world in 2019, a prudent pick for UK ambassador to the US? No, both hires compromise Britain diplomatically on the worlds stage  but Starmer appointed them anyway. So much for country before party. Similarly, was it really in the nations best interests to give Lord Hermer the post of Attorney General when he has previously represented Gerry Adams, the former leader of Sinn Fein, of all people? Or on reflection, was it actually an unnecessarily risky thing to do, not least now Lord Hermer has become embroiled in a number of conflict of interest rows?

But in no area does the Government pose a greater threat than net zero. In the past week, unelected judges have blocked a major oil and gas project at Rosebank  the UKs biggest untapped oilfield  despite it being given the governmental green light in 2023. The warning signs are everywhere you look. Norways government has just collapsed after the eurosceptic Centre party left the ruling two-party coalition in a row over adopting EU green energy laws. Norway is not a member of the European Union but is part of the European Economic Area, which grants access to the EUs single market but requires the country to follow most EU directives. Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the finance minister and Centre party leader, said he could not accept three EU directives on increasing renewable energy sources and efficiency.

The furore has laid bare how dangerously exposed we are to energy imports  and exacerbates the urgent need for Britain to become energy self-sufficient  not least when our gas and electricity prices are among the highest in the world. Yet despite fracking leading to an energy (and economic) boom in the US, the energy firm Cuadrilla has announced it will soon start work on plugging the UKs only two shale gas wells in Blackpool. And on Friday, we learned that more than 10 per cent of farmland in England is set to be diverted towards helping to achieve net zero and protecting wildlife by 2050. The decarbonisation project  which will see swathes of the countryside switched to solar farms  will inevitably put food security and our already fragile farming industry at risk but still the Miliband-led madness continues.

Weve long feared net zero was a Trojan Horse for the destruction of our capitalist economy. In Labours hands, its well under way. And should we even get started on immigration? The latest projection from the Office for National Statistics suggests our population will grow to 72.5 million by 2032  putting yet more strain on our creaking infrastructure. Yet have we heard anything substantive from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper about this? No.

Make no mistake, the Prime Minister and his cabinet pose a Keir and present danger to Britain.
Narsaq, Greenland. Seventy-two per cent of the Danes said the final decision on joining the US should be Greenlands, not Denmarks. Photograph: Greenland Minerals Ltd/Reuters

Almost half of Danish people now consider the US to be a considerable threat to their country and the overwhelming majority oppose Greenland leaving to become part of the US, new polling has found.

The research by YouGov, shared exclusively with the Guardian, comes after weeks of tension between Denmark, Greenland and the US over Donald Trumps repeated assertions that he plans to take control of the autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom.

The Arctic island, which has a population of 57,000 people, was formerly ruled as a colony by Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy. Trumps interest in Greenland comes at a time of growing momentum for its pre-existing independence movement.

The poll of just over 1,000 people in Denmark, conducted between 15 and 22 January, found that 46% considered the US to be either a very big threat or a fairly big threat to Denmark.

This is higher than the number who said they considered North Korea or Iran a threat  of which 44% and 40% did respectively. But the threat of Russia remains considerably higher; 86% of respondents said they considered Moscow a threat.

Of those surveyed, 78% said they would oppose Greenland being sold to the US, but 72% said the final decision should be Greenlands, not Denmarks.

Related: Greenland is testing Europes willingness to stand up to Trump. Its failing | Nathalie Tocci

The findings come in a week in which the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, toured Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up support amid Trumps Greenland threats, after a reportedly horrendous call with the US president.

Frederiksen said Europe must unite in the face of changing relations with the US. I want to ensure that all of Europe stands together. Not only in connection with the kingdom of Denmark but also more broadly, she said.

She added: Everyone in Europe can see that it will be a different collaboration with the USA now.

Trump has said the US needs control of Greenland  and the Panama canal  for economic security and has described ownership and control of the territory as an absolute necessity. Greenland has long been on his radar as a target for purchase and in 2019 he confirmed reports that he had been urging aides to find out how the US could buy it, describing a sale as essentially a large real estate deal.

As well as oil and gas, Greenlands supply of in-demand raw materials for green technology is attracting interest from around the world, including from China.

An opinion poll published earlier this week found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want the island to become part of the US. The survey by the pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, showed only 6% of Greenlanders were in favour of becoming part of the US, with 9% undecided.
Diana Johnson said forces would need to make decisions locally. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Police forces in England and Wales are facing difficult and challenging circumstances, the policing minister has accepted, as some have been forced to cut their number of officers.

Diana Johnson said forces would need to make decisions locally on how many officers to have, days after Essex police said they could get rid of all 99 police community support officer roles within the force, pending consultation, amid a 12.5m budget shortfall for 2025-26.

Lincolnshire police said they had a 14m funding gap next year and were exploring options, including cutting 200 police officer posts by 2029  a reduction of one-sixth from the current number of about 1,200.

Johnson said the Labour government was starting from a difficult position after 14 years under the Conservatives but about 1bn of funding was going to forces from April.

Im not pretending that it isnt difficult and challenging for police forces, she told LBC radio. Obviously police and crime commissioners and chief constables have to make decisions locally about whats the best makeup of their force in terms of police officers  those police forces, and Im very well aware of Essex and Lincolnshire, those police forces that are struggling, we want to work with them. We want to make this work.

The government has said it will invest an extra 100m in neighbourhood policing, which is scheduled for the next financial year.

Ministers had announced a provisional 3.5% real-terms increase in funding for police forces with a 987m package in December, but chief constables said it fell short of the 1.3bn they need to plug funding gaps over the next two years.

The National Police Chiefs Council lead for finance, Paul Sanford, said the funding settlement presented real challenges for policing and would inevitably lead to cuts across forces.

Despite this, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the investment in neighbourhood policing marked a major turning point for policing.

The National Audit Office has said the epidemic of violence against women and girls in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies. The watchdog found disjointed efforts meant VAWG was a significant and growing problem affecting one in 12 women in England and Wales and causing physical, mental, social and financial harm to survivors.

Labour vowed to halve violence against women and girls within a decade; it was one of the partys key pledges.

The Conservatives created a team to lead its 2021 VAWG strategy, but a ministerial oversight group for the strategy only met four times in three years, the NAO said.

Johnson said the Labour government had a cross-government approach to tackling the issue, and called for a societal change.

She told ITVs Good Morning Britain programme: So this is a kind of whole approach across society. It cannot just be for the police, and  one of the criticisms in the National Audit Office report was that the Home Office was basically doing this on their own.

She said the money allocated to tackle violence against women and girls would be all spent going forward, after the NAO found the Home Office had underspent on the issue by about 15% in recent years.

 This article was amended on 2 February 2025. An earlier version said that the cut in officer numbers being considered by Lincolnshire police was 1,000. In fact, the potential cut is of 200 officers, from 1,200 to 1,000.
Prince Andrew, right, with Yang Tengbo at a Pitch@Palace China 3.0 event in October 2019. Photograph: Pitch@Palace/Youtube

The full text of a gushing letter written by Prince Andrews adviser to the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo reveals how intimate the relationship between the two had become in the aftermath of the princes disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC.

Extracts from the correspondence were quoted in a judgment upholding a decision to exclude Yang from the UK last month, but the two-page letter written by Dominic Hampshire at the end of March 2020 is eye-catching for its tone.

The letter was relied on by the Home Office to demonstrate that Tengbo was able to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and Chinese officials.

Hampshire, a senior adviser to the Duke of York, complained in the letter  subsequently recovered by police from Yangs laptop  that he had watched numerous people disappear from his [the Dukes] network and that the prince had been surrounded by red carpet chasers.

But he went on to praise Yang as being one of a very small number of people previously connected to Andrew who had continued to show total support and loyalty, amid fierce criticism in the wake of the 2019 interview on the princes friendship with the abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

The letter was among dozens of documents released by the immigration court on Friday, and was partly quoted in its judgment last month. In it, Hampshire assured Yang: You sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.

The princes aide wrote that Yang had been fortunate to attend a celebration of Andrews 60th birthday at Windsor the month before, which had been scaled down at the Queens request after he struggled to answer questions from the BBCs Emily Maitlis over his friendship with Epstein.

I also hope you fully understand what your invitation to his birthday party meant; this was not an engagement or an exclusive dinner. This was strictly his and his familys personal life that very, very few people have the privilege to ever be part of, Hampshire wrote.

Moreover, remember that you were originally invited to their house and therefore on the much smaller original guest list. Despite press reports to the contrary, I know for a fact that there were very few people who were not able to make it.

In the 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew had said he cut off contact with Epstein in December 2010, but emails disclosed in a separate legal action have now revealed they were still exchanging messages in late February 2011.

Epstein suggested the Duke might see the banker Jes Staley, and after a back and forth, Andrew wrote: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

Yang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur who had lived in the UK, was excluded from the UK by the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, in March 2023 on the advice of MI5, and the court concluded that she was entitled to conclude that the applicant represented a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom.

He maintains the allegations against him are entirely unfounded. On Friday, he said he was seeking permission to appeal against the courts decision in a statement.

A witness statement from Yang provided to the immigration court said that he had first met Hampshire after he sat next to Andrew during a VIP dinner hosted by Buckingham Palace in October 2019, and was advised by the prince to contact him. The duke wrote Dominics number down on a piece of paper, Yang said.

Hampshires letter describes how rapidly their relationship developed after meeting at the Corinthia hotel in London on 23 October. Immediately, I learned of a whole new level of obsessive confidentiality and a slightly different way of communicating, reads a sentence partly quoted in the courts judgment.

We have dealt with the aftermath of a hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful television interview; we have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we dont completely trust, Hampshire wrote, using language that has been partly quoted by the court.

Hampshire, a former Scots guard and long-time friend and fixer for the duke, heaped praise on Yangs punctuality: You bring a completely new level to timekeeping  I aim to be at every meeting at least 15 minutes before it starts and without exception, you are already there!

The purpose of the letter, Hampshire wrote, was a personal note from me to you and he apologised for its length, which he said was very British. It nevertheless emphasised the closeness of their relationship: After this short amount of time, I feel an unusual bond of friendship, trust, support and loyalty.

Seven months later, another letter from Hampshire said that Yang was authorised to act on behalf of an investment scheme called the Eurasia fund in China. It said he had the authority to act on behalf of Andrew in engagements with potential partners and investors in China but also asked that this relationship remains confidential.

 This article was amended on 7 February 2025. The investment scheme in China is called the Eurasia fund, not the Eurasian fund.
Today, South Sudanese artist, author, and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal (new book My Life Is Art out now) teams up with South African producer Bun Xapa (named one of DJ Mag's artists to watch in 2025) to release a new collaborative single, "Chaak." The track is out now via Higher Ground.

The message behind Emmanuel's hit from last year, "Gorah"--also out on Higher Ground with 75M+ streams and at #1 peak on Beatport's Afro House chart--was pointed towards checking in with loved ones to ask, "We edian?" (lyrics translated from the Naath/Nuer language to "How is it going?"). Now, on "Chaak," Emmanuel sings about manifestation and looks ahead to a time when his people can "bathe in milk"--an African expression meaning to be wealthy; not just financially but also physically and spiritually.

Emmanuel Jal and Bun Xapa initially came together at The Alchemist, a creative hub and event space in Nairobi, while Bun was on tour in Kenya. The duo hit it off immediately and started exchanging ideas. Emmanuel handed over the initial demo of "Chaak," which Bun then reworked with his signature powerful synths and irresistible rhythm.

Afropop's Banning Eyre spoke with Jal from his home in Toronto. Watch this space for their deep and extended conversation about his recent memoir/life advice book, My Life Is Art. Here's what he said about the origin of "Chaak."

"There's a DJ called Afu who invited me for a show at The Alchemist in Kenya. When I was there, he told me, "Come and meet Bun Xapa. He's playing tonight." I knew Bun Xapa from his tracks. So we went there, and the show was amazing. Then DJ Afu told us, you guys should do a song together. So we hung out with Bun Xapa. We had dinner and we kept in touch and that's how "Chaak" came about.

The word chaak means "milk." So basically, you're saying, "Now it's all done. From now going forward, I am going to be a wealthy man and I'll be showering with milk." It's a saying in my culture, when you say you're "showering with milk," it means you're so wealthy, because nobody wants to waste milk. So if you have so much milk that you can shower, put all your children in a bathtub of milk, your whole family is showering with milk, it's a sign of wealth.

We recorded in Kenya. One of the vocalists is a young lady called Princess Nyadollar. She was in a refugee camp. She's an activist. And I told her to come to the studio to sing with us. She said, "I don't like to sing." So we took her and I told her, "Look, I'm going to show you to discover yourself." And since then, she's singing. She's a DJ. She just discovered that she has a voice.

That moment is just a taste of the unique inspirational wisdom Emmanual Jal has to offer. Much more to come in his interview with Banning.

ABOUT EMMANUEL JAL

The hardships that Emmanuel had to endure so early in his life are hard to imagine, yet he has still emerged as an immensely inspiring artist. Born in Sudan, forced migration resulted in him becoming a child soldier at age eight in Ethiopia. After four years, he was part of an escape plan of 400 people, of which only 16 survived. Later, a British aid worker smuggled him into a school in Kenya. It was there he was exposed to hip-hop (Lost Boys). He emerged as a rapper in Kenya with his song "Gua" (covered by New York Times and BBC) which was the first turning point of his career in 2005. Since then, he has become an acclaimed recording artist and peace ambassador with seven studio albums and has performed alongside Lauryn Hill, Nile Rodgers, and at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. He has been involved with a number of global charity organizations, including Amnesty International. In 2008 a full-length documentary on his life was released, Warchild, and he released an autobiography of the same name.

ABOUT BUN XAPA

Bun Xapa, who comes from the rural township Thaba Nchu in the Free State province of South Africa, recently broke through into the Afro House scene with his song "Kibe" in 2023, with support from artists like Black Coffee and RUFUS DU SOL. In addition to his recent DJ Mag accolade, last year he was selected as 1001 Tracklists' Top 101 Future Of Dance list and rounded out the year with a two-month tour including stops in Nairobi, Uzbekistan, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Dubai, and India.

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Emmanuel Jal Upcoming Tour Dates

January 24 - Tandrah, Cuernavaca, Mexico

February 6 - Surf Club, Dubai

February 7 - Fitz Club - Madrid, Spain

March 1 - Wired Festival, Istanbul

Connect with Emmanuel Jal

Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | SoundCloud

Connect with Bun Xapa

Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | SoundCloud
Prince Andrew visited Jeffrey Epstein even after the hedge fund manager was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution

Prince Andrew was in touch with Jeffrey Epstein for two months longer than he has previously claimed, court documents have revealed.

The Duke of York told the financier in February 2011 that they should keep in close touch.

He has claimed previously that he cut off contact with Epstein in December 2010 when they were pictured together in Central Park, New York City.

But in the email, he tells Epstein: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

The emails, first reported by Bloomberg, were disclosed in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which is defending an appeal by James Edward Jes Staley, the former Barclays Bank boss.

Mr Staley was fined 1.8 million and banned from holding a senior management position in financial services in 2023 for making two misleading statements about his relationship with Epstein and their last contact.

Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein with Melania Trump and Gwendolyn Beck at Donald Trumps Florida home in 2000 - Davidoff Studios Photography

Email exchanges show Epstein invited Andrew out with Mr Staley, then a senior executive at JP Morgan bank, in June 2010.

It emerged in 2023 that in February 2011, Epstein wrote to Mr Staley that Andrew asked for your London schedule.

This exchange suggests that the Duke may have had further contact with the financier to enquire about meeting with JP Morgans former head of private banking.

In his infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, however, the Duke said that he did not see or speak to Epstein following their meeting in 2010.

He told her that his visit to see the disgraced financier was to inform him they they could no longer be friends, saying: By mutual agreement during that walk in the park we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day and to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward.

The Duke has been previously criticised for staying with Epstein in his 60 million Manhattan home during the trip.

In the Newsnight interview, the Duke said he had always questioned himself as to why he decided to travel to New York to end their friendship.

Prince Andrew was interviewed by Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight - BBC

I took the judgement call that because this was serious and I felt that doing it over the telephone was the chickens way of doing it, he said.

I had to go and see him and talk to him.

The FCA document refers to Prince Andrew as a member of the British royal family.

The court filings show that on February 27, 2011, Epstein emailed the Duke to say: Jes staley will be in London on next tue afternoon, if you have time.

Prince Andrew responded to clarify the date and added: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.



In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison on prostitution charges, including one involving a minor.

The disgraced financier later killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Reese Witherspoon said she was haunted by the speech, given at a ceremony in 2007 - Dan Steinberg/AP

Reese Witherspoon has hinted that she had a falling out with an actress, thought by some to be Kate Winslet, after making an unguarded speech at an awards show.

Witherspoon revealed details of the incident, saying it had led to the end of her friendship with a very serious, proper actress.

Speaking to Will Ferrell in an interview for People to promote their new film, Youre Cordially Invited, Witherspoon said the unnamed actress had asked her to present her an award.

She said she had misjudged what she described as the British, elegant, classy tone of the event, she had thought it was a roast and added: So I got up and I roasted her.

It haunts me, it literally haunts me. I had never been to this ceremony, and I was like remember the time we got laser hair removal? I thought it was so funny and it was just  I had the wrong audience.

While Witherspoon laughed off the faux pas, she said the actress did not take the joke so lightly, telling Ferrell: Im not even kidding  were not friends any more. I think she doesnt like me any more.

Internet sleuths cited Witherspoons introduction for Winslet at a 2007 awards show - Matt Sayles/Invision

Although Witherspoon did not reveal the identity of the actress, internet sleuths have claimed it was Winslet because Witherspoon delivered an introduction for her at the 2007 Bafta/LA Cunard Britannia Awards hosted in LA.

According to a fan blog from that year, it allegedly included references to stories about laser hair removal, that time on the free-way when they got pulled over and that really funny thing that happened when they were both in their underwear.

But the blog did not cite the exact quotes, and the location of the event may not match Witherspoons description of a British vibe  causing some doubt about the Winslet theory.
Panamanian demonstrators protest in Panama City against Marco Rubios visit. Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Central America this week on a five-country tour that will focus on limiting migration to the United States, curbing Chinese influence in the region and on securing Donald Trumps ambitious goal of reasserting US control over the Panama canal.

Rubio will travel to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic from Saturday to Thursday this week, meeting with the presidents of each. It is the first time in more than a century that a secretarys first official visit abroad will be to Central America.

This is a truly historic visit that Secretary Rubio will be paying to the region, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, United States special envoy for Latin America. I cant stress enough the historic nature of this visit and how it harkens back to President Trumps overall message during his inauguration of the golden age of the Americas.

Related: Tension and defiance in Panama after Trump threatens to take back canal

Tammy Bruce, the state department spokeswoman, added: This is where we live. This is who we are. This is about not just wanting to have new partnerships  but thats always good  but the nature of what it means to have an extended relationship with the people closest to you.

The visit will come just 10 days into a Trump administration that has already caused significant concern in the region, by declaring in his inaugural address that the US was taking back the Panama canal and then proceeding to threaten Colombia with 25% tariffs for refusing to take US deportees sent to the country aboard military transport planes.

I think the presidents been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again, Rubio, who is scheduled to meet with Panamanian president Jose Raul Mulino and tour the canal this weekend, said during a television interview.

Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. But that does not in any way replace the core reality that the Panama canal, we cannot allow any foreign power  particularly China  to hold that kind of potential control over it that they do. That just cant continue.

Panama has launched an audit of several ports along the canal that are owned by a company based in China in a potential bid to appease Trump. But Panamas comptroller has told the Guardian that the audits are motivated by politics and that they are not designed to deliver a peace offering to the United States.

I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal, Mulino told reporters on Thursday. That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.

Rubio also is expected to discuss curbing migration to the United States via Panama with Mulino. Panamas government said that 300,000 migrants crossed the Darien Gap into Panama in 2024. That is 42% fewer than the previous year, Reuters reported.

Rubio will then travel to El Salvador, where he will meet with the hardline president Nayib Bukele, who has used a self-described iron fist to crack down on violence in the country.

Just decades ago  it was just a decade ago San Salvador was the murder capital of the world, and today its one of the safest cities in the world, said Claver-Carone. And those extraordinary measures, which are frankly the envy of a lot of countries throughout the western hemisphere, has really made him one of the most consequential leaders not only on security but a great ally on migration.

Throughout the visit, Rubio is expected to focus on combating growing Chinese influence in the region. China has become South Americas largest trading partner and is seeking to grow its belt and road initiative in Central America as well.

Everyone thought that China was literally going to become the most influential force throughout the Americas, said Claver-Carone. This is a re-pivot of the golden age of America, of the Americas, to leave, unequivocally, without a doubt, that the 21st century, akin to the 20th century, will be an American century.
Chris Philp said Britain needed a work ethic to compete with countries such as South Korea, China and India. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

One of Kemi Badenochs senior team has been accused of real brass neck after saying Britain needed a better work ethic.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said there were 9 million working-age people not in work and Britain needed to lift our game and to up our game.

He made the comments on the BBCs Political Thinking podcast when asked whether he thought Britain was missing a belief in hard work, telling the presenter, Nick Robinson: I do a bit.

There are 9 million working-age adults who are not working. And as we compete globally with countries like South Korea, China, India, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution  we need to lift our game and to up our game, he said.

Figures published this month showed 9.3 million people were economically inactive between September and November last year, down slightly on the year before, but still 670,000 more than before the pandemic.

A quarter of those are economically inactive because they are students and another 30% have a long-term illness.

Previous Conservative politicians who have suggested British people need to work harder include Norman Tebbit, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, who suggested in the 1980s that unemployed people could follow the example of his father, who got on his bike to look for a job.

The former prime minister Liz Truss once co-wrote a book, Britannia Unchained, with five other Tory MPs, that described British people as among the worst idlers in the world and claimed: Too many people in Britain prefer a lie-in to hard work.

Responding to Philps comments, a Labour spokesperson said: After the Conservatives economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that its really all their fault. Its the same old Tories. They havent changed and theyve learned nothing.

The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said Philps own work ethic as chief secretary to the Treasury under Truss had crashed the economy in just 39 days. She added: The British public will no doubt take his advice with a bucketload of salt.

Badenoch, asked about Philps claim that Britons needed a better work ethic, told broadcasters: I think everybody should be working hard, including myself.

Philp also waded into the debate over the Conservative partys approach to immigration while in government, saying mistakes were made.

Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, had on Thursday declined to apologise for high levels of immigration during her time as home secretary in Boris Johnsons government. Appearing on the Suns Never Mind the Ballots programme, she said it was totally distortionary to suggest the previous government had thrown open our borders to the rest of the world.

But a spokesperson for Badenoch appeared to distance the Tory leader from Patels comments, saying the Conservative party under her leadership will tell the truth about the mistakes we made. They added: While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.

Philp told Sky News that he and Badenoch had been completely honest about errors made by their predecessors, and immigration numbers were far too high.
Hague Group policy will reflect anger at double standards of western powers relating to international law. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

South Africa and Malaysia will launch a campaign to protect and uphold the rulings of the international court of justice (ICJ) and the international criminal court (ICC) in the face of what they describe as defiance of ICJ orders and attempts by US Congress to hit the ICC through the use of sanctions.

The aim of the nine-nation Hague Group  which includes Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Senegal and Namibia - is to defend the institutions and rulings of the international legal order.

The move comes as both the ICC and ICJ face unprecedented challenges to their authority in cases relating to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and people-smuggling in the Mediterranean.

Ronald Lamola, South Africas international relations minister, said the campaign was aimed at ensuring compliance with international law and protecting the vulnerable.

The Hague Groups formation sends a clear message: no nation is above the law, and no crime will go unanswered, he said.

South Africa brought a case against Israel at the ICJ alleging genocide in Gaza. Israel has fiercely rejected the claim.

The group say the focus is not to punish Israel, but its approach to the global court rulings, which the Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, said strike at the very foundations of international law, which the global community has a duty to defend.

The steps to be outlined by the group reflect the growing anger in the global south at what is seen as the double standards of western powers when it comes to international law.

Related: Call to prosecute Netanyahu for war crimes exposes the wests moral doublethink | Simon Tisdall

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, issued a report on what member states could do to ensure Israel complied with ICJ rulings, notably the finding that Israels continued presence in the occupied territories is unlawful and that it should leave within 12 months.

Switzerland has been tasked with convening a conference in March of the 196 signatories to the Geneva conventions, focused on the obligation to respect international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory. A conference will also be held in June in New York to discuss a two state solution.

The ICJ has also been asked by the general assembly to give an urgent advisory opinion on the obligations Israel has as the occupying power, to provide humanitarian relief.

Critics will say such countermeasures are pretty minimal. Israel has shown no interest in abiding by the rulings of the ICJ or ICC. Moreover, if the Biden administration appeared conflicted about international law, the Trump administration has no such scruples.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has backed a bill currently before Congress for any individual or entity who had contact with an ICC investigation against an American or US ally to be subject to sanctions, which would include family members.

Equally worrying for the ICC is the erosion of its authority elsewhere. Vladimir Putin, subject to an ICC arrest warrant, has visited the UAE and Saudi Arabia, two states that like Russia are not party to the ICCs founding Rome statute, while signatory Mongolia rejected two requests from the ICC to arrest the Russian president when he visited in August last year. Mongolia claimed that Putin as a head of state enjoyed immunity  it was rejected by the ICC but a precedent was set.

In the case of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, European states have been badly divided over whether they would act on the arrest warrant issued in November, with some, including Italy, Romania and Hungary, insisting it would be ignored if he was on their territory.

Poland permitted Netanyahu to travel to Auschwitz for the 80th anniversary of its liberation, but in the end he did not come.

Another recent erosion of the ICCs authority was in Italy after the police acted on an arrest warrant for a notorious Libyan people smuggler. The judiciary put him on to a plane back to Libya for a heros welcome. Furious that its investigation into war crimes in Libya had been upended, the ICC then released the evidence against the Libyan, including his role in overseeing the deaths of migrants.

Related: Meloni faces questions after Italy frees Libyan general accused of war crimes

The ICJ arguably is more used to seeing its orders ignored, but such has been the profile of South Africas genocide case that Israels apparent defiance of the courts interim orders is more glaring. Oxfam said in a survey of NGOs this week that 89% of the agencies found provision of aid into Gaza has worsened since the six ICJ orders covering aid and prevention of genocide were issued on 26 January last year.

We have the power to turn the tide if we want to, said Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale. But at a certain point, the rules are going to become so eroded that its going to lose all legitimacy, and the United States is going to lose all legitimacy. Were going to find that were going to be past the point of no return, and those rules are no longer going to be salvageable. And I think that would be a real tragedy.
The special relationship has expired

As the United States of America begins of new chapter of secure borders, economic growth and peace through strength, the United Kingdom has been left to watch from afar. For us, our liberty, aspiration and prosperity lie buried under the weight of socialism, the shackles of political correctness and the feebleness of our political class.

The contrast couldnt be starker and it is why (and I regret to say so) as Donald Trump assumes office for this generation-defining presidency and Keir Starmer stumbles from one crisis to another, it is abundantly clear that the historic special relationship between the UK and US  one which has endured since World War II, was strengthened during the Cold War and formed the defining alliance against Islamist terrorism after 9/11  is now broken.

And it was our Labour Government that broke it.

Just as President Trump is finally taking a hard-headed stance against the oppressive regimes around the world, Keir Starmer is nowhere to be seen.

On China, Trump has made clear that tariffs will be applied, has imposed visa restrictions on students and blamed Beijing for the pandemic and collusion with Russia on Ukraine. Starmer has instead sent his Chancellor begging to Beijing, looks set to approve the mega Chinese spy HQ London, fails to implement vital national security measures like the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, and turns a blind eye to the genocide of the Uyghurs and the unprecedented hostility towards Taiwan and the Philippines.

Whilst the US will gradually wean itself off Chinese dependency, the UK is desperate to surrender sovereign UK territory in the form of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, playing into Chinas hands by giving them an important strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean.

On the Middle East, as the new Trump administration took immediate steps to curtail Hamass brutality  with their leaders being ejected by Qatar and hostages released  this Labour government reinstated, and increased, British taxpayer funding to UNWRA, the discredited UN agency some of whose workers were complicit in the October 7 attacks.

Under Labour, the UK government supports the vexatious arrest warrants issued by the politicised International Criminal Court against Israeli politicians, has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state and imposed an arms embargo on Israel. In taking these perverse steps Starmer and Lammy have shown themselves to be Hamass useful idiots, to stand on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of Trump.

Or take Iran. We know that Trump has no patience with the Ayatollahs in Tehran who, under Biden, sprawled out of control by funding Islamist extremism around the world and their nuclear bomb programme. But under Labour, we have a Government that has failed to proscribe the IRGC  the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps  the head of the snake when it comes to Iranian aggression.

On defence spending, Trump has electrified Nato members by demanding 5 per cent of GDP to go towards military budgets. After decades of underinvestment by the UK, leaving us with an ailing army, depleted navy and under-equipped air force, we must follow suit immediately.

But all Starmer can muster up is a half-hearted promise of 2.5 per cent with no timetable to getting there. Its complacent, naive and dangerous.

Whilst Trump is putting the sovereign national interest first, challenging the multilateral, globalist dominance of the WEF, the UN and the Davos cliques, by pulling out of the conflicted and incompetent World Health Organisation, the UK is increasing its funding to this outmoded body.

Whilst Trump reinforces the Southern Border by suspending asylum claims, arguably in breach of the Refugee Convention and international law, Starmer scraps the Rwanda plan, worships at the altar of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court and international law. He is the personification of the Lefty Lawyer.

Or on net zero, Trumps agenda is clear: more oil, gas and fossil fuels to increase self- sufficiency and lower energy prices to kick start manufacturing. But on our side of the pond, Militant Miliband is an eco-extremist intent on plastering our countryside with solar panels, imposing heat pumps in every house, refusing licences for north sea oil and gas and allowing the closure of our gas blast furnaces. He doesnt seem to care if the lights go out- which they nearly did a few weeks ago- or if it bankrupts the British people.

And whilst a US-UK Free Trade Deal could be dusted down and negotiated, our Labour Ministers are more interested in undoing Brexit and re-joining the Customs Union with the declining EU.

And finally, Ive not mentioned the diplomatic prowess of our Labour ministers when it comes to Trump. Not so long ago, our Foreign Secretary called him a racist KKK and a new-Nazi sympathising sociopath, our London Mayor, just last week trotted that well-worn smear of fascist and Lord Mandelson has now apologised for describing Trump a danger to the world.

Most of the Cabinet voted to ban Trump from making a state visit to the UK. No wonder Secretary Rubio didnt even bother to call our Foreign Secretary upon his appointment. No wonder no Labour Member of the government was invited to the Inauguration.

These Labour idiots dont see the potential of America under Trump and the British people will lose out, as a result.

The UK-US special relationship is broken. And it was Labour that broke it.
Starmer VAT raid

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused by Britains most eminent social mobility expert of fudging the facts about his education.

Sir Peter Lampl, a former adviser to Sir Tony Blair and founder of the Sutton Trust, has attacked the Prime Ministers VAT raid on private schools in an article for The Telegraph.

In his first major intervention since retiring, Sir Peter  who went to the same school as Sir Keir, Reigate Grammar  accuses the Prime Minister of pretending it was a state school and says the policy denies poorer students the educational opportunities enjoyed by the Prime Minister.

The school was funded by the council when Sir Keir joined but two years later it became independent. The local authority agreed to cover fees for pupils who had enrolled before the conversion and Sir Keir then received a bursary to continue his studies in the sixth form. The school now charges up to 9,150 a term for older pupils.

Sir Peter, whose charity is credited with transforming the lives of thousands of young people, writes: I dont pretend the school we went to was a state school, Starmer does. But he is fudging the facts.

I am helping young people to benefit from an education that made all the difference to me, Starmer is destroying the opportunities to have the same chances he had.

The Prime Minister said of his education in a recent biography by Tom Baldwin: As far as I was concerned, I started school as a state boy and I finished as one too.

A No 10 source insisted that Sir Keir had been upfront about the fee arrangement.

Sir Peters comments will come as a blow for the Prime Minister as he is widely acknowledged as one of the UKs leading educational philanthropists.

Sir Peter Lampl was knighted in 2003 for his services to education - Jeff Gilbert

Knighted in 2003 for services to access to higher education, Sir Peter acted as an adviser to New Labour on education, visiting Sir Tony at Chequers and earning the respect also of Gordon Brown, who praised his life transforming work.

Once described as Sir Tonys favourite millionaire, he has raised almost a billion pounds for British education and recently said that his trust had impacted government policy on more than 30 occasions.

In his article Sir Peter says Labours regressive VAT policy would deprive thousands of children the same opportunities that Sir Keir enjoyed by vandalising the independent school sector.

He writes: Its not as if the Prime Minister doesnt intimately understand the impact of these schools  an impact which is not purely about academic scores and exam passes.

In his speech at conference last year, Sir Keir devoted a sizeable passage to how learning the flute while at Reigate Grammar not only gave him a passion for classical music but also helped him develop skills for life.

Skills for life, indeed. Those frequently intangible but vital accomplishments beyond mere exam passes are exactly what is in the educational DNA of our independent schools, and what they specialise in.

At Reigate, when Starmer and I were there, the school offered its pupils huge numbers of co-curricular activities, many, many more than local state schools could manage. Music, drama, sport, art, DofE, CCF, public speaking and debating  it was all there to be enjoyed and learnt from, not just in the classroom but beyond.

Sir Peter points out that while Sir Keir claims to want to offer more children the broad education the independent sector is known for, his attack on private schools will hinder not harm that aim.

Sir Keir Starmer speaks with pupils as he visits Whale Hill Primary School - Ian Forsyth/Getty

He adds: Frankly, the Prime Minister should know better. He should want more children from low and middle-income homes to have access to independent school facilities, as we both did, not fewer.

He shouldnt be punishing and diminishing these places; he should be finding ways to better exploit and share what they have. He shouldnt be working to close down independent schools: he should be making efforts to open them up to a wider demographic.

The Prime Minister has insisted his VAT policy on private schools will raise up to 1.8 billion each year by the end of the decade. Ministers have also justified it as a Robin-hood style tax scheme that will skim off money for state schools from wealthy parents who can afford fee rises.

But Sir Peter warned it could deal a death blow to bursaries and other social mobility initiatives by forcing hard-pressed independent schools into isolation as they struggle to survive.

You may think of this as a narrow issue, affecting only the wealthy and the privileged. Its not, he wrote.

Starmer should know better than to be vandalising an education sector that does so much for this countrys young people and that did so much for him.

Since Labours VAT raid was announced, many independent schools have announced they have no choice but to cut down their outreach work and bursaries. Bolton School, which has 2,500 pupils and traces its origins back to 1516, said in January it would wind back scholarship funding for poorer students as a direct impact of VAT.

Meanwhile, Guy Ayling, the head teacher of Mount Kelly, a day and boarding school in Devon, said last year he was considering halving the 950,000 that it spends annually on bursaries and scholarships.

Headteachers have also accused the Government of unleashing an ideological battle on private schools and attempting to abolish the sector by the backdoor.

Andrew McGarva, the principal at Morrisons Academy in Perthshire, said in January it was a politically motivated move that risks harming children, families and communities across the UK.

Reeves called for abolition of private schools

The Telegraph revealed last year that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, called for the abolition of private schools six years ago and backed a campaign to ban them.

In a series of separate posts on Twitter from 2019, when Ms Reeves was a backbench MP, she said: On private schools my view is that we should work to abolish private education.

The Government currently faces legal action over its flagship education policy after a group representing more than half of private schools began a High Court challenge.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which speaks for more than 1,400 private schools across the UK, has claimed the legislation is discriminatory and a hearing will take place between April 1 and 3.

The legal challenge will not be able to halt the VAT policy in its tracks or reverse it even if successful.

However, the ISC hopes it could rubber stamp concerns that the policy is discriminatory and apply pressure on the Government to grant further exemptions.

Ministers have already announced a reprieve for children with the most acute special educational needs, plus a boost to financial support for military families who privately educate their children while they travel for work.

The Government has insisted its VAT policy ends tax breaks for private schools and will result in minimal movement of private school pupils to the state sector.

However analysis by the Treasury suggested about 6 per cent of the independent school population could be forced out by the policy over the next few years  or about 37,000 pupils.

More than 3,000 private school students applied to join state schools between June and September last year, according to data obtained by The Telegraph.

A further 2,500 pupils gave notice to leave in January when the VAT hit came into force, according to separate figures compiled by the ISC.

A government spokesman said: Ending the VAT break for private schools means an additional 1.7 billion a year that can be invested in our state schools where 94 per cent of this countrys children are educated. This means more teachers, higher standards and the best chance in life for all our children as we deliver on our Plan for Change.

Starmer should know better than to deny young people the same chances he had

By Sir Peter Lampl

Sir Keir Starmer and I have a few things in common. Firstly, there wasnt much money knocking around in the houses we grew up in. Secondly, despite our modest backgrounds, we both went to Oxford. Thirdly, we both decided to make the plight of disadvantaged young people our concern.

Theres something else we share, though: we were both the beneficiaries of financial support from Surrey County Council that allowed us to attend the same independent school, Reigate Grammar.

Then we both went on to professional success and knighthoods down our different paths. Starmer in law and politics and I as an entrepreneurial philanthropist who founded the two leading social mobility charities in the country, donated 65 million and raised getting on for one billion pounds.

Heres where the prime minister and I really differ though; I dont pretend the school we went to was a state school, Starmer does. But he is fudging the facts. I am helping young people to benefit from an education that made all the difference to me, Starmer is destroying the opportunities to have the same chances he had.

Dont let the name confuse you, Reigate Grammar has been an independent school for most of its 350-year history and was an independent school for most of the time Keir was a pupil. Early in his time at the school, it transitioned back to full independence from a post-war period when it was funded by the local authority.

And this is why Im so disappointed in his partys regressive position on VAT on school fees. You may think of this as a narrow issue, affecting only the wealthy and the privileged. Its not. As someone from a non-prosperous background who benefited from a wonderful independent school education, Starmer should know better than to be vandalising an education sector that does so much for this countrys young people and that (heres your proof) did so much for him.

Its not as if the Prime Minister doesnt intimately understand the impact of these schools  an impact which is not purely about academic scores and exam passes. In his speech at conference last year, Sir Keir devoted a sizeable passage to how learning the flute while at Reigate Grammar not only gave him a passion for classical music but also helped him develop skills for life.

Skills for life, indeed. Those frequently intangible but vital accomplishments beyond mere exam passes are exactly what is in the educational DNA of our independent schools, and what they specialise in. At Reigate, when Starmer and I were there, the school offered its pupils huge numbers of co-curricular activities, many, many more than local state schools could manage. Music, drama, sport, art, DofE (Duke of Edinburghs Award), CCF (Combined Cadet Force), public speaking and debating  it was all there to be enjoyed and learned from, not just in the classroom but beyond. The school also belongs to HMC, the independent schools trade association.

It is not without irony, then, that this is the kind of thing that the Labour Government purports to want to deliver for state school students. Starmer and his ministers are actively using both changes to Ofsted and the national curriculum review to force primaries and secondaries to adopt a broader curriculum.

Well, good luck with that, of course. But is Starmer going to achieve this ambition by pricing hundreds of thousands of students out of the independent sector and forcing them into already over-stretched state facilities? No, he is not.

Is he going to achieve it by taxing, squeezing and diminishing a sector that also supports so many opportunities for neighbouring state schools? No, he is not.

Is he going to achieve that by forcing hard-pressed independent schools into isolation as they struggle to survive, no longer able to afford the bursaries and the valuable outreach and partnership work they offer in academic, pastoral, careers, facilities, co-curricular and other areas? No, he is not.

Frankly, the Prime Minister should know better. He should want more children from low- and middle-income homes to have access to independent school facilities, as we both did, not fewer. He shouldnt be punishing and diminishing these places; he should be finding ways to better exploit and share what they have. He shouldnt be working to close down independent schools: he should be making efforts, to open them up to a wider demographic through bold funding strategies which we have successfully pioneered through our Open Access scheme.

If he wont listen to me on the dangers of pursuing his misguided policy, perhaps he will listen to two of the teacher trade unions. The NASUWT, led by Left-wing firebrand Patrick Roach, warned The Observer recently of the damage VAT would do to the workforce in independent schools, while the Association of School and College Leaders also called for a pause for reflection.

Or maybe he could just listen to his 15-year-old self, back in the late 1970s, the academically flourishing schoolboy with access to flute lessons, among so much else. I have little doubt that that teenager, set on the path that would one day lead to him running the country, would wax lyrical about life in the independent sector and the opportunity that his education was affording him.

How peculiar, then, to be in power now, in the mid-2020s, and to be shutting down that chance for so many similar kids from modest pebble-dashed semis.

Sir Peter Lampl is the founder of the Sutton Trust and founder of the Education Endowment Foundation. He writes in an independent capacity
The Rosebank project lost in court this week when a Scottish judge ruled the previous governments decision to greenlight it was unlawful. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Senior Labour figures are warning of a serious fight if Keir Starmer tries to give the go-ahead to a giant new oilfield off Shetland later this year.

MPs and ministers have told the Guardian they are prepared to oppose the UK prime minister should he try and give final consent to the Rosebank development, which is Britains biggest untapped oilfield.

Many in the party see the battle over Rosebank as the next front in the struggle between its environmental wing and those around Rachel Reeves who want to push for economic growth above all else. The chancellor signalled her support for a third runway at Heathrow this week as part of the governments latest push to stimulate the economy.

One ally of the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, who is leading the governments climate agenda, said the former Labour leader would have a punchy response for any attempt to give consent to Rosebank. The ally said: Ed will come to that fight armed with a lot of evidence about what Rosebank will do to our carbon emissions.

A spokesperson for Miliband declined to comment.

A Labour backbencher said: [A decision around Rosebank] will be a moment to speak out. There are a lot of us, on every wing of the party, who would go absolutely nuts if that happened.

Another Labour MP said: Not many in the party are going to man the barricades over Heathrow, but Rosebank is a very different matter altogether. There would be massive resistance if they try and give consent for that.

The Rosebank development lost a significant court case this week when a judge in Scotland ruled the decision by the previous government to give it the green light had been unlawful. The judge ruled that ministers should not have given it consent without knowing how much carbon dioxide would be generated by burning the oil the field will produce over its lifetime.

Equinor, the Norwegian energy company that is leading the Rosebank project, is expected to carry out that more detailed assessment and come back with a renewed consent application later this year. An Equinor spokesperson said after the ruling it would continue to work with the government on securing consent, adding: Rosebank is critical for the UKs economic growth.

But while the decision is technically up to the independent North Sea Transition Authority, government officials say it is likely to be so sensitive that the prime minister himself will have to weigh in.

Labour came into government last year promising not to issue any new licences for oil and gas fields in the North Sea. The Rosebank project, however, already has its licence and can continue developing the field until it gets environmental consent to start pumping oil out of the ground.

A source close to Starmer said the prime minister had not ruled out giving the go-ahead for the field but would want to see the application first.

Many, however, think it has been made more likely by the governments renewed push for growth, after Reeves signalled her approval for another runway at Heathrow as well as further liberalisation of the planning regime.

Asked last week about the clash between her economic agenda and the governments environmental targets, Reeves said: Growth is the number-one mission of this government, because growth underpins everything else, whether that is improving our schools and our hospitals, or indeed being able to get to net zero.

One oil and gas lobbyist said: Three months ago I would have been less confident that the government would give consent. But Trump and Labours post-Christmas growth zeal makes it significantly more likely. Equinor said the project would generate jobs for 4,000 people.

Reevess apparent downgrading of the governments climate mission is already causing unease in Labour circles. The backbencher Clive Lewis wrote in the Guardian on Friday: A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of growth. But if growth at any cost is the mantra, the costs will soon become painfully clear.

Related: Im a Labour MP  but the governments growth mission reeks of panic | Clive Lewis

Miliband is understood to have advised cabinet this week that any plan to expand Heathrow would probably violate the countrys carbon emissions targets, although he has said he will not resign over the issue.

Many Labour backbenchers say they have been willing to swallow their concerns about Heathrow on the basis that the project is unlikely to go ahead. But some say they are looking out for any further sign of the government walking away from its green agenda.

One Labour MP told the Guardian: We are proud that were the most green government the country has ever had. Thats important, and not something youd want to lose.

Another said: Once Justin Trudeau is out [as Canadian prime minister], Keir will essentially be the world leader who is the most prominently committed to climate. I think we should not shy away from taking on that mantle.

Miliband is preparing to publish the results of a recent consultation with the energy industry and the public more generally about how the government should account for the emissions from oil and gas produced in the UK.

Government officials say the outcome of that consultation will be vital in deciding whether or not they can give consent to a new oilfield while also remaining within Labours CO 2 reduction commitments.

Campaigners argue that the project is unlikely to produce the growth promised by its backers.

Tessa Khan, the executive director of Uplift, said: Renewables are the key growth sector of the UK, both in terms of investment and jobs, and where our global advantage lies.

But that sector is now in competition with the oil and gas industry for workers, supply chains, port space and other resources, not to mention the disastrous signals doubling down on oil and gas sends to clean-energy investors.
Patsy Mullen says her oncologists advice to try the drug Goserelin after a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2023 had a hugely positive impact. Photograph: Michael Conolly

When Patsy Mullen was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had no idea that chemotherapy treatment could lead to early onset menopause.

It was Mullens oncologist who mentioned the possibility, and offered the then 47-year-old the drug Goserelin, which reduces the risk by up to 70% compared with women receiving chemotherapy alone.

But a new study has shown many women in Mullens position are missing out on that choice.

Older women closer to natural menopausal age  on average 51 years old  and women with children are less likely to be offered the drug. That is because doctors assume fertility is the only consideration in a desire to delay menopause, according to a study published in Internal Medicine Journal, a publication of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Led by Dr Felicity Martin, the study analysed the medical records of adult women under the age of 48 receiving chemotherapy at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne between August 2020 and December 2022.

Related: Hot flashes and mood swings: why perimenopausal symptoms get misdiagnosed  and how to treat them

Of the 66 eligible patients, they found that one in four did not have a documented discussion regarding Goserelin, and that particular group of women were more likely to be older and have more children.

Younger patients yet to have children and who were being referred to a fertility service were more likely to be prescribed Goserelin.

Martin said that results indicated fertility is at the forefront of doctors minds when considering patients and Goserelin. The women who are older and perhaps that already had their children or who werent interested in fertility preservation were less likely to have the discussion or be prescribed it. She said doctors are forgetting, potentially, that its not just important for fertility.

Early onset menopause can also carry increased risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, sexual dysfunction, and adverse effects on mood and wellbeing. Menopausal symptoms are often more severe in women with chemotherapy-induced premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) compared with those undergoing natural menopause, the researchers noted.

Women on Goserelin  which is available on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme  take a monthly injection. Researchers want doctors to increase discussions and use of Goserelin in all premenopausal women, regardless of their fertility interests.

The study results were filtered to only include patients who were prescribed an alkylating chemotherapy, commonly used to treat breast cancer, sarcoma, haematological and gynaecological malignancies, and which carries the highest risk of POI, Martin said.

Matters as much as being kept alive

Mullen said her oncologists intervention in 2023 had a hugely positive impact post-diagnosis.

Im so grateful that my oncologist didnt overlook the suitability of Goserelin for me just because I was at an age where having children wasnt on my agenda, she said.

Mullen said she chose to take the drug to potentially preserve her pre-menopausal years. I dont want to go into menopause at 47 and lose all those years I equate to being in a younger persons body.

Chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery left her reeling, she said.

My view was really that my bodys going through a hard enough time with the treatment itself  if I can avoid adding early menopause into the mix then thats something that I was keen to consider and look at.

Discussions about preventing early onset menopause should be on all oncologists radars when thinking about cancer survivorship, she said.

Touch wood, Ill be living in this body for many decades to come, and those good hormones playing that protective role for me for as long as possible really matters. It matters as much as being kept alive in the weeks and months after diagnosis.

The researchers acknowledged the studys limitations, including its small sample size and the fact that the results only came from the one specialised cancer centre.

Associate Prof Nicholas Wilcken, a Sydney-based oncologist on the board of Breast Cancer Trials ANZ, called it a very sound study that highlights a very important point: if premature menopause can be avoided it should be.

Related: The big menopause swizz: do hormone supplements really work?

Wilcken said results were likely to be even worse in other centres. The Peter MacCallum Centre has been at the forefront of the issue, leading the original trial that showed the drug worked, he said.

Dr Belinda Kiely, a breast medical oncologist, said Goserelin is often thought about in terms of preserving fertility but the group we often overlook are women we can prevent early onset menopause.
John Swinney claimed that Scotlands electricity consumption that came from green power had risen under the SNP - Stefan Rousseau/PA

John Swinney rejected a call from his civil servants to admit misleading MSPs over the amount of Scotlands electricity that came from renewables, a dossier has disclosed.

The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament in May last year that the proportion of Scotlands electricity consumption that came from green sources of power had risen from 20 per cent to 113 per cent under the SNP.

But the Scottish Tories Liam Kerr challenged him that the real figure was 64 per cent, with Scotland still relying on nuclear and gas to generate much of the remainder. The SNP opposes the construction of new nuclear power stations.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) by the These Islands think tank disclose that six days after the exchange Mr Swinney was informed that officials have come to us as they believe that we need to submit a correction.

Although the equivalent of 113 per cent of Scotlands energy consumption was generated by renewables, the message to the First Minister noted that it goes into the GB-wide grid and gets consumed GB-wide.

The following day Mr Swinneys principal private secretary replied that he had discussed the matter with the First Minister but he does not believe that the record should be corrected.

Mr Swinney eventually backed down after concerned civil servants wrote to the Scottish Governments chief statistician, who warned him the UKs statistics watchdog would intervene if he did not issue an urgent correction.

But only weeks later, Mr Swinney appeared at a general election rally attacking Rishi Sunak for disregarding Civil Service advice on not misleading the public with statistics.

The First Minister said that if he had been told by the Scottish Governments permanent secretary not to use information in a particular way because it created that misleading impression, I would not have used it.

Earlier this week, the Scottish Government published a video on social media promoting Scotland that claimed it had all electricity supplied only from renewable sources. It was promoted by Angus Robertson, the SNPs external affairs secretary.

Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Tories deputy leader, said: This is shameful behaviour from John Swinney and reeks of SNP secrecy and cover-up.

It is no wonder Scots feel so disconnected from Holyrood when they see the First Minister doubling down on false stats and then attempting to try and spin his way out of being straight with them.

Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Tories deputy leader, accused John Swinney of shameful behaviour - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Sam Taylor, who heads These Islands, said: You might be tempted to dismiss this as yesterdays news. Corrections, however grudgingly, have been made. Lessons have been learned.

But that simply isnt the case. Just this week, Angus Robertson was yet again pushing the false statistic on social media.

The dossier included an email dated June 3 last year in which an unnamed civil servant expressed concern at Mr Swinneys refusal to correct the record.

This was particularly concerning as the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) watchdog had intervened over similar claims previously made by SNP ministers, they said.

They asked whether anything more could be done to flag this to Mr Swinney to ensure this is not misrepresented again in future and warned that they had brought the matter to the attention of Ally McAlpine, the Scottish Governments chief statistician.

Mr McAlpine wrote to the First Minister more than three weeks later stating that Mr Swinney had made a statement on the use of renewable energy in Scotland, which needs corrected on the official record.

He warned Mr Swinney that the matter had been referred back to the UKSA but said the watchdog was unlikely to take further action if he issued a correction as soon as possible.

More than a month after making the statement, on June 26 last year, Mr Swinney finally wrote to Holyroods presiding officer with a clarification.

He admitted that 64.7 per cent of Scotlands electricity consumption came from renewables and argued that the language I originally used meant that I inadvertently described this different statistic.

Mr Swinney also acknowledged that the 20-day deadline for him to correct Holyroods written record of its proceedings had passed.

The Scottish Government was approached for comment.
analysis

Burundi faces serious climate and environmental challenges. The biggest is the country's overdependence on the use of biomass (firewood). The second is outdated agricultural practices that have led to deforestation. In turn this has increased the country's vulnerability to climate shocks.

A landlocked country on the north-eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, Burundi is extremely poor, with 76% of the population living below the poverty line (US$2.15 per day) in 2023. It is also ranked the 22nd most vulnerable to climate change in the world.

Burundi produces very little CO (less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions). Its challenge is therefore less about reducing greenhouse gases and more about managing its vulnerability to climate change. The excessive use of biomass and deforestation make it more vulnerable to extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.

Burundi has a history of extreme events that are considered climate-related. It has experienced severe droughts, resulting in crop failure and a 35% livestock mortality (1998-2005), as well as severe floods in 2006 and 2007.

But the country hasn't developed a reliable climate change legal and regulatory framework to address the issues. It is struggling to balance strict climate regulations alongside promoting voluntary behavioural changes.

Burundians are reluctant to adopt climate-friendly energy and agricultural practices due to a combination of factors. These include unaffordability, entrenched cultural practices in favour of biomass use and an agricultural sector largely dependent on forest clearing.

As a law and climate change expert, I examined in a recent paper how the government of Burundi should approach the problems of biomass dependence and deforestation.

I set out how the government could increase voluntary compliance without threatening the livelihoods of poor, agrarian people. This requires a climate change regulatory system that is delicately balanced between appropriate coercion measures ("stick") and sufficient encouragement and incentives ("carrot").

I propose that the government use financial incentives to encourage households and farmers to transition to climate-friendly practices. At the same time it would need to put in place punitive tools to deter non-compliance with these climate goals.

But to achieve this, it first needs to put in place a legal and regulatory framework to underpin these measures. Achieving this would establish a road map for improving climate policies in other countries in the east central African region too.

The sources of the problems

From 2008 to 2021, Burundi's population increased from 8 million to 12 million. This led to higher demand for firewood and arable land. Deforestation causes irregular and excessive rainfall.

Households and farmers across the country are reluctant to adopt climate-friendly energy and agricultural practices, because of cost, cultural practices and farming practices.

For example, about 90% of rural Burundian households use three-stone fires - a simple arrangement on the ground to balance a pot above an open fire. Nearly all (99%) of households use solid fuels like wood and charcoal as their primary fuel for cooking. Less than 2% of the population is estimated to have access to improved cookstoves which emit less smoke.

The agricultural sector is very heavily dependent on forest clearing. In 2020, Burundi had 465,000 hectares of natural forest, extending over 17% of its land area. In 2023, it lost 2,350 hectares of natural forest.

Balancing act

The "carrot and stick" model would use tools designed to restrict the use of biomass. For example, households and farmers that rely on biomass could be fined or their land could be seized.

Simultaneously, the government would need to provide generous economic and financial tools for households and agricultural entities. These could include grants, tax relief on agricultural products, interest-free loans, compensation and grant schemes.

I argue that combining these tools within a single regulatory framework would persuade stakeholders to move away from activities that have a climate impact, towards cleaner energy sources. This is an innovative idea for climate change regulation, drawing from experience in other sectors in developing countries.

The approach creates a synergy between punishment and persuasion. But it requires a legal basis.

Read more: Ghana is behind the curve on climate change laws: expert suggests a way to get corporations on board

A legal framework

Given the gaps in Burundi's current climate change legal framework, reform should encompass three steps. The government needs to:

enact climate legislation

establish a climate change regulator

institute economic incentives for climate-friendly activities and practices.

These steps are interlinked. But the first is the most fundamental, as it creates the foundation for the climate change legal framework and regulates all activities and practices within the climate change sector. It equally provides a legal basis for the "carrot and stick" approach.

A legal framework would allow Burundi to:

put in place punitive instruments

establish a climate regulator to enforce climate control measures

create the mechanisms to provide payments and incentives to individuals, households and agricultural entities to move to cleaner energy sources. These could include buying cleaner energy appliances and modern farming tools. Payments could also be made to compensate for loss of earnings or reduced agricultural products that may arise in the initial phases of implementing climate-friendly practices.

protect the climate rights of indigenous and marginalised groups. These include access to cleaner energy sources and financial grants. Also, the right to participation in climate decision making, the right to access information, and the right to justice and remedies.

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Climate change legislation would also:

enable Burundi's international climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement to be put into domestic law

introduce accountability for climate change measures adopted by the government

ensure legislative oversight on government activities in the sector.

Read more: Business and management graduates can become climate change and sustainability champions - lessons from Uganda and Tanzania on how universities can support this

The way forward

The proposed reform of Burundi's climate change legal framework has wider application to most of the countries in the region: Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo, Zambia, Central African Republic and Malawi. All are predominantly agricultural-based economies and biomass-dependant for their energy needs.

These countries have similar climate change challenges based on the same factors plaguing Burundi. In my view all would benefit from a "carrot and stick" approach.

Kikelomo Kila, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Huddersfield
(l-r) Father Nattapong Pinta, nine year old son Weerapat Pinta and mother Narissara Jantasang, from Thailand. Nattapong was among those kidnapped by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023. Photograph: Supplied

Narissara Jantasangs nine-year-old son was brimming with excitement as he watched footage of Thai hostages being released from Gaza on Thursday. Then he noticed his mother had started to cry. He asked me: whats going on, Mom? Narissara says. He realised his dad was not one of those released.

Five of the remaining six Thai nationals still being held in Gaza were released on Thursday, after 15 months in captivity. Nattapong Pinta, 36, however, was not among them. Of dozens of Thais kidnapped by Hamas from the farms on which they were working in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, he is the last to remain.

I feel hurt, why was it not him? says Narissara. I dont know where to find an answer. Nobody can answer. I asked the embassy; the embassy cant tell me.

Related: Three Israelis and five Thais freed from Gaza as Trump envoy meets hostages relatives

On Thursday night, their son, Weerapat Pinta, went to bed without dinner. I just dropped him at school. Everyone is sad at the moment. I dont know what to say, she said.

I told my son to keep strong  lets wait for dad. He asked how long? I said maybe next Saturday, there might be a release, says Narissara. She says the same thing to everyone in the family. I want to comfort them, even though I dont really have information about when there will be a next round.

Nattapong had moved to work in Israel in 2022, drawn, like many Thais, by the higher salaries offered there. He wanted to improve our family situation. Our son was very young. We didnt earn enough here, says Narissara, who is from Nakhon Phanom, in north-east Thailand.

Nattapong worked hard while away, taking on overtime so he could send more money back to the family.

Joy at the release of five hostages

Throughout Thursday, Narissara stayed in touch with Nattapongs family, who are in Phrae province, northern Thailand, speaking by phone as they waited for updates. They had been told the night before by Thai authorities that a hostage release would be taking place. The family was heartbroken when he wasnt among them.

Israel is a common destination for Thai migrant workers. About 30,000 Thai nationals were working in Israel before the war, mostly in the agricultural sector.

Since the 7 October attacks by Hamas, the Israeli government said Thais made up the largest single group of foreign dead and missing. In addition to the five released on Thursday, a further 23 were released in 2023. A further 46 Thais are confirmed to have been killed.

For other families in Thailand, Thursday brought overwhelming relief. Wiwwaeo Sriaouns home in Udon Thani, north-east Thailand, erupted into deafening cheers and screaming when they saw images of her son, Watchara, finally released. I now know for sure that he is coming home and that he is alive and safe, says Wiwwaeo. She cried tears of joy when she saw the proof he was free.

Watcharas nine-year-old daughter was ecstatic. She really wants to see her fathers face, said Wiwwaeo.

Wilart Thaenna, father of Pongsak Thaenna, from Buriram province, north-east Thailand, says he almost cried when he heard the news.

He would arrange a bai sri su kwan ceremony for his son, in which a white thread is placed around a persons wrist, a tradition that is believed to bring the spirit to the body. He was overjoyed to be reunited. Ill cook whatever he wants to eat, he said, adding they would gather as a family to celebrate. I will say [to Pongsak], just stay home with me, you dont need to go anywhere else, he said.

The released Thai hostages were taken to hospital for medical treatment. It is not yet clear when they will return home.

In a statement, Thailands foreign ministry expressed heartfelt congratulations to the families of the released hostages, as well as to extend its deep appreciation to Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, the US and other friendly countries as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and all the parties involved for their instrumental roles contributed to the release of the Thai hostages in the Gaza Strip and to Israel for taking care of them and facilitating their return to Thailand.

It added that Thailand calls for the release of all the remaining hostages including a Thai national soonest, so they can safely return to their homeland and to their beloved families.
Pete Hegseth has argued that diversity is our strength is one of the dumbest phrases in history - Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg

Its only his second week in office, and already Donald Trump is ruffling all the right feathers. The new administration is directly confronting the dishonesty of the identitarian Left, whose slogan - diversity is our strength - masks their true agenda: an assault on American unity and its mainstream culture.

In his inaugural speech, the returning President pledged to forge a society that is colourblind and merit-based. Whether Hispanic or white, male or female, straight or gay, Trump has said that he wants to represent all Americans.

He has now begun to give practical expression to that ambition. The executive order requiring the federal government to recognise only two sexes reaffirms biological reality in an era when gender has been politicised and detached from observable biological traits. Recognising this essential truth is not only scientifically accurate, but also reinforces the shared reality that any functioning society needs to survive.

The commitment to remove Pride flags and other identity-based symbols from consular posts, replacing them with only the American flag, fulfils a similar purpose. The national flag symbolises unity among all Americans. Displaying the Pride or Black Lives Matter flags  which were flown at embassies under the Biden administration  does not just associate the US government with specific political causes. It undermines Americas core principle of e pluribus unum or out of many, one.

Critics have blasted Trumps moves as regressive and discriminatory. They are neither. Recognising only two sexes in legal terms does not prevent people from living their lives as they wish. But it does ensure that public policy remains grounded in reality, not in subjective interpretations of identity. Trumps opponents will have a hard job convincing many Americans, meanwhile, that returning to flying just the American flag is anything other than uncontroversial.

But the new MAGA policies are also part of a broader effort to restore global leadership and purpose to a nation diminished by identity politics. For years, while the US and its allies have been distracted by senseless debates over pronouns, bathrooms, and gender in competitive sports, adversaries like China have had no such distractions.

This is particularly relevant in the realm of national security. As Pete Hegseth, Trumps new Secretary of Defense, argued in a media interview this week: One of the dumbest phrases in military history is our diversity is our strength Our diversity is not our strength. Our unity and our shared purpose is our strength. The focus of the military, he has argued, should be to treat everyone equally and to hold everyone to the same high standards.

In the end, Trumps bold stances arent just a correction for America  they are a wake-up call for the Western world. They serve as both a course correction and a battle cry. The message is clear: a nation that loses its national identity in the chaos of ideological fancy cannot stand against those who seek to undermine it.

The real question is whether Europe and its allies will have the courage to follow suit or if they will continue their slow descent into irrelevance. The clock is ticking.

Lee Cohen, a senior fellow of the Bow Group and the Bruges Group, was adviser on Great Britain to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and founded the Congressional United Kingdom Caucus
Donald Trump accused the Black Hawk of taking an unbelievably bad route - Celal Gunes /Anadolu via Getty Images

The Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet was to blame for the crash near Washington DC, Donald Trump has said.

Washingtons Ronald Reagan airport banned helicopters from flying parts of two routes within its radius after the crash and the US president said the military aircraft was flying too high at the time of the collision.

The Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a training flight for a female pilot who has not yet been identified.

She was being overseen by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who had more than 1,000 hours of flying experience and would have been expected to take over the controls in an emergency.

The crew chief of the Black Hawk was identified as Ryan OHara, a father of one, who would have sat in the back of the aircraft as it flew through the congested airspace above Washington DC.

All three soldiers were killed in the crash above Ronald Reagan National Airport, as well as the 64 passengers and crew on American Airlines flight 5342.

Credit: Earthcam

Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff of the armys aviation directorate, dismissed questions on the ability of female pilots in remarks to reporters on Thursday.

As for women in the military, flying a helicopter is like driving a car, he said. You just got to learn how to do it and anyone can do it with the proper training.

Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night  this wasnt something new to either one of them. These are our top pilots doing this national capital region, he added.

In a post on his own social media platform, Trump Social, Mr Trump wrote: The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit.

Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it???

The Black Hawk was conducting a training flight at the time of the collision - US Coast Guard via AP

The crew had night vision goggles at the time of the flight, Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, said.

He added that the army was investigating whether there was an elevation issue after it was reported the helicopter had been flying outside the normal Black Hawk route.

On Friday it emerged an air traffic controller was allowed to leave their post early on the night of the crash.

At the time of the collision, there was one controller managing traffic for both helicopters and planes, a job normally handled by two people from 10am until 9.30pm, according to The New York Times.

Bradley Bowman, a former Black Hawk pilot who had flown the same path as the doomed craft, told CBS News that it was crucial for pilots to keep the helicopter below 200ft.

You literally have aircraft coming in and out, and you have to stay at that altitude ... to make sure there isnt a collision. For some reason that failed last night.

Mr Trump has blamed diversity hiring for the crash, without providing evidence, and accused the Black Hawk of taking an unbelievably bad route ahead of the crash.

The Black Hawk crew were part of Bravo Company of the 12 Aviation Battalion based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Rescuers have pulled around 40 bodies out of the freezing waters of the Potomac River, with the search continuing into Friday morning.

The wreckage of the passenger jet in the Potomac River - Shutterstock

The Marine Corps junior reserve officers training corp at Parkview High in Gwinnett County posted a condolence message on Facebook confirming OHara was one of its former students.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own. Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan OHara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk involved in last nights crash in DC.

The post, which has since been deleted, added that OHara was fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the rifle team.

Gary, OHaras father, was watching television when news of the crash broke.

I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking, he told The Washington Post. Two army officials delivered the news that his son was among the casualties on Thursday morning.

As a parent, how do you take the news like this and not be totally broken? asked Mr OHara.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the flight black box from the US military Black Hawk helicopter involved in Wednesdays deadly crash with a commercial airliner, and it appears to be undamaged, NTSB member Todd Inman said Friday.

The black box  containing a flight data and cockpit voice recorder  was in good condition despite its accident with an American Airlines jet in Washington DC, Inman said. But, he said, the NTSB would not be releasing information from the device immediately as investigations into the crash that killed 67 people aboard both aircraft continued.

Recorders for the passenger plane were recovered Thursday night. The planes data recorder was in good condition, but the cockpit voice recorder had water intrusion, a problem investigators are now dealing with, Inman said.

Investigators have a very high level of confidence that they will get information from that device, he added.

Meanwhile, air traffic control conducted interviews with witnesses Friday, Inman said, adding those interviews would continue through Friday night and into the coming days.

Inmans comments Friday came after Donald Trump said that the Black Hawk helicopter had been flying too high, by a lot at the time of the crash. The president delivered that assertion even as investigators continued to piece together the reasons for the disaster and had not arrived at a conclusion.

The presidents claim seemed to stem from questions about the angle at which the helicopter had been flying, as well as whether the air traffic control tower had been understaffed.

Related: Washington DC plane crash: more than 40 bodies recovered; Trump claims army helicopter was flying too high  live updates

All 64 people on the passenger plane, along with the three people in the army helicopter, died on Wednesday night after the two aircraft collided in midair close to the Reagan National airport. The bodies of more than 40 people had been recovered from the icy Potomac River, where the wreckage now lies. Most of those recovered victims had been identified, though work was still continuing to identify others.

The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration would immediately restrict helicopter traffic around the Reagan airport, saying the decision would ensure the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic.

The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system, and todays action is a significant step towards restoring that, he said.

Emergency medical helicopters as well as those actively working in law enforcement and air defense are exempt from the restrictions. The presidential helicopter Marine One is exempt, too.

There have been claims that the staffing levels in the air traffic control tower, and the congested skies around the capital, played a role in the crash.

In a highly unusual and subjective move, especially at these early stages of a painstaking official accident investigation, the US president weighed in on social media, not just to repeat his statement about the helicopters altitude that he made on Thursday, but with his own comments. Trump alleged that the helicopter had been flying above the required height limit in the clear night sky on Wednesday, as the commercial jet was on final approach to land at Reagan.

ABC News aired claims that the Black Hawk had been flying at 400ft, when it should have been at 200ft.

The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot, Trump posted on Truth Social. It was far above the 200 ft limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it???

At the White House press briefing, the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, backed up the president, saying he simply stated that the helicopter was flying higher than it should have been, which is one of the reasons that led to this collision. And the other reasons for that are still being investigated.

In the wake of the disaster, Trump has also implied, without any evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in aviation administration and air traffic control under previous Democratic administrations contributed to the crash.

It doesnt matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are, Trump said on Thursday about air traffic controllers. They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses. Cant have regular people doing their job.

The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, said he stood behind every highly skilled, highly trained air traffic controller that is out there.

In an interview with CBS News, Daniels outlined the many tests and trainings required for the job, and said: It doesnt matter their race, color, religion, you can know you are in the best hands that take that responsibility very seriously every day.

Investigators have pointed out that the causes of the crash and any potential lessons from it are still to be determined. Previously, reports abounded from anonymous sources in government that double the number of air traffic controllers should have been dealing with guiding aircraft that night.

Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told ABCs Good Morning America that we dont have determination yet as to whether staffing levels contributed to the crash.

The only conclusion I know is we met with several hundred family members who lost their loved ones in the Potomac. We dont need that to happen any more, he said, choking up as he spoke on air.

The Illinois representative Jesus Garcia, a Democrat who sits on the House subcommittee on aviation, accused Trump in an interview with CNN of exploiting disaster to continue to spread racist lies and divisiveness across the country, simply to score political points with his base.

He added: We dont know what occurred and whether it was human error that caused this flight or other factors.

Marylands governor, Wes Moore, also a Democrat, criticized Trumps remarks, too, including the comment Trump made when asked by the media whether he would visit the site of the crash. The president said: You want me to go swimming?

Moore said: When this country needed comfort, we got chaos. When this country needed healing, we got hatred.

An initial FAA report obtained by US media organisations said staffing levels were not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic before a military helicopter collided with a passenger jet in the heart of Washington DC.

According to the report, the separate roles of coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes had been combined when the collision happened, the Associated Press reported. But it further reported a source saying staffing had been normal. The Washington Post said two people had been handling the jobs of four inside the control tower.

The helicopter and the passenger plane had been flying in a standard flight pattern on a clear night before the crash, Duffy said.

The US army had an increase in very serious aviation incidents during the last fiscal year, with 15 flight and two ground incidents that resulted in deaths of service members, destruction of aircraft or more than $2.5m in damage to the airframe, the Associated Press reported.
US President Donald Trumps special envoy, Richard Grenell (left), is in Caracas to meet with Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. Photograph: Zurimac Camposprensa Presidencial Venezuela/Presidencia de Venezuela/AFP/Getty Images

A Donald Trump special envoy has flown to Venezuela to hold talks with its authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, fuelling fresh speculation of a possible deal between the two governments.

Richard Grenell, a prominent Maga cheerleader and diplomat who was the US ambassador to Germany during Trumps first term, was set to land in Caracas on Friday, according to CNN.

Venezuelas communications ministry and Trumps special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, both confirmed the meeting.

In a conference call with Latin American journalists, Claver-Carone claimed Grenell had not gone to Venezuela to negotiate with Maduro, but to deliver two unequivocal messages. One was about the need for Venezuela to receive US deportation flights filled with Venezuelan criminals and the second that Maduro should immediately release North American citizens being held in Venezuelan jails.

If these requirements are not met obviously, as President Trump has said publicly, there will be consequences from the US government, Claver-Carone added, insisting the talks did not relate to access to Venezuelas oil reserves, which are the largest in the world. There is no kind of trade-off here. There are no quid pro quos ... There are no negotiations, he claimed.

Grenell hinted at the trip last week, after the new US presidents inauguration, writing on X: Donald Trump is President of the United States, again. And diplomacy is back. Ive spoken to multiple officials in Venezuela today and will begin meetings early tomorrow morning. Talking is a tactic.

Reports of Grenells first overseas mission rekindled suspicions that the businessman author of The Art of the Deal could be plotting some kind of agreement with Maduro, who recently extended his rule despite widespread suspicions that he lost last years presidential election.

Related: A real wild card: experts struggle to predict Trumps stance on Venezuela

The Venezuelan dictator hinted he might accept such a deal after Trumps re-election last November, publicly reaching out to a politician he once called a miserable racist cowboy.

In his first government  Trump wasnt good to us [but] this is a new start, Maduro said, in reference to Trumps attempt to overthrow him with a maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and military threats. At his 10 January swearing-in, Maduro again hinted he was open to talks, declaring: Im a man of dialogue. I know how to listen and I know how to learn.

Any deal between Trump and Maduro  which would probably involve deporting Venezuelan migrants from the US, Washington turning a blind eye to the collapse of Venezuelas democracy, and US access to Venezuelas huge oil reserves  would prove highly controversial, not least among Republicans in Florida, which boasts more than 3 million Latino voters.

After Grenells trip to Caracas was reported, the Republican senator Rick Scott, Floridas former governor, wrote on X: I hope that during todays visit, the only thing Richard Grenell focuses on is demanding the return of the kidnapped Americans, ensuring that Maduro takes back the thugs and gang members in our country, and finding a new country for Maduro, [interior minister] Diosdado [Cabello], and anyone else involved in this thuggish regime to relocate to ASAP.

An understanding between Trump and Maduro is far from assured. Trumps administration contains several key proponents of his failed maximum pressure Venezuela policy, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Claver-Carone.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, as he set off on a five-country tour of Central America, Rubio attacked the illegitimate regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, accusing them of intentionally amplifying the chaos in the Americas.

Earlier this month Trump publicly recognized Edmundo Gonzalez, the apparent winner of last years election in Venezuela, as the countrys president-elect and called Maduros opponents freedom fighters.
North Waless Tawelu Retreats offers guided wild swims, sauna sessions, yoga and meditation. Photograph: Hollie Harmsworth

Winning tip: Wild swims and yoga, north Wales

With Eryri national park (Snowdonia) on the doorstep and guided wild swims available, north Wales Tawelu Retreats offers options to explore the outdoors or go full hibernation with the retreats yoga classes and meditations, plus a sauna and hot tub. The chef cooked up filling, comforting veggie food and gorgeous chai and hot chocolate. Even getting lost running up the Welsh fells and nearly missing my hot shells massage didnt trouble my stress levels. Its women only, four days from 650.

Laura King

Serenity and vegetarian food in Japan

Staying at a shukubo (Buddhist temple guesthouse) in Koyasan, Japan, was calming yet insightful. Here we observed monastic life in beautiful, tranquil surroundings. We were served shojin ryori, traditional Japanese Buddhist meals that were vegetarian  dishes that were not only tasty but eye-catching, too. We meditated, learned origami and participated in a Goma fire ceremony. This early morning ritual is believed to have a powerful cleansing effect spiritually and psychologically. The ceremony was very emotive. We slept in a traditional Japanese room, simple but very comfortable. Overall, a great retreat in which to switch off and experience spiritual enlightenment as well as a new culture.

Reshma

Guardian Travel readers' tips

Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print. To enter the latest competition visit the readers' tips homepage

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I found inner peace in Devon

The Sharpham Trust, sitting above the beautiful River Dart in south Devon, is a mindfulness charity which holds retreats to promote the belief that we could all be showing more compassion towards each other, the planet and ourselves. Sharpham was a much-needed MOT on my zest for life after years of burnout. Saying no to people had felt impossible, and it had worn me down to exhaustion. Sharpham marked a dramatic shift to finding an inner peace that had hitherto eluded me. The prices are accessible, youre given your own room (a retreat rarity), and the food is wonderful. A truly beautiful experience.

Liv

Well, well, wellness in Spain

Not far from Alicante and the brilliant Sierra Helada natural park is a wonderful wellness centre, La Crisalida Retreat. Mindfulness, yoga, workshops, meditation, guided walks. Too energetic? There is no pressure to join in. You can laze on your sun bed next to one of the pools, or walk into the village for a mooch around the market and an ice-cream on the stunning beach. You can arrive and leave any day and it is open all year. Shared and single rooms are available.

Victoria

Digital detox with stargazing, Cumbria

Do you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone? Retreat like its 1999! A luxuriously renovated 1872 vicarage, outside Sedbergh, Cumbria, is the perfect setting for a digital detox. A few days of self-care, self-love and no tech in sight. Meticulously curated days offer the right mix of activities and rest. Twice daily yoga sessions, guided walks, sound baths, stargazing around the fire pit, talking circles and shared freshly prepared meals around the dining table will wean you off doom scrolling. The small group of like-minded guests allows for great bonding and meaningful connections. The four-day detox retreat is from 545.

Josette

Running wild in Argyll and Bute

On a regenerative farm in Auchgoyle, Argyll and Bute, Wild Running and Wellness Retreats have curated an unforgettable experience. The trails were adventurous and exciting, leading us through ancient woodland, across beaches and over hills. The wildlife and landscape were further brought to life by Katharine and Davids infectious passion for  and knowledge of  their local environment. Between runs, we were rejuvenated with delicious homecooked meals and snacks in the stunning farmhouse, and activities including yoga in the ecolodge, wild swimming, a wood-fired sauna, art class and coffee tasting. We left feeling inspired, recharged and fully nourished by nature.

Kate Lloyd

River, salmon, Iceland  thats all I need

My solo salmon fishing break last summer in Iceland was a perfect way to unwind after a stressful year at work followed by a tense divorce. The area was peaceful, quiet and beautiful  full of long days blessed with pale sunlight until dusk turned into dawn. Basing myself in the Myrarkvisl River valley in the north of the country, all I needed was some warm pullovers and a couple of fishing rods. Days spent in nature with the cool waters trickling along, salmon and trout biting, and my fellow fishers encouraging me with some friendly advice. We even got together to barbecue dinners later on under the midnight sun.

Joe

Writing retreat, Shropshire Hills

You go to an Arvon retreat wondering if youll write. You come home knowing youre a writer. During a week at the Clockhouse, in the Shropshire Hills, I took off my watch, put away my phone and spoke as many words to others in a week as Id normally manage in 10 minutes at home. I slept when I was tired, I ate the organic, locally prepared meals only when I was hungry. For a week I lived in my head and in a world shared only by the characters of my novel. And I loved every moment. A four-day retreat costs from 660 at the Clockhouse.

Nikki

Miles of mindfulness in northern England

Last June I walked the Dales Way (an 80-mile route from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere) and I did it alone. For mindfulness, self regeneration and sheer pleasure, the walk through some of the UKs most stunning countryside and beside some wonderful flowing rivers was an experience Ill always treasure. I walked over five days, staying in some really quaint pubs in tranquil villages, averaging about 15 miles a day at a really steady pace. Accommodation cost about 500 for some great B&Bs.

Paul Thompson

Nature retreat in the Thames valley

Sadhama retreat on the Hardwick Estate in the Thames valley north of Reading is the perfect getaway. There are a variety of events throughout the year. I attended Sweat and Serenity (299, bring your own tent) in May last year and it changed my life for the better. The retreat included a sweat lodge cleansing ceremony, Siberian outdoor sauna, meditation, gong bath and morning swims in a clean stretch of the River Thames.

Meliz Toros
Members of the Mandalay People's Defence Forces (MDY-PDF) training at a camp in an undisclosed location in Myanmar's northern Shan State. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Myanmar is a south-east Asian country that has experienced decades of conflict and repressive military rule since it gained independence from Britain in 1948. Since a military coup in 2021, fighting has flared once again. Heres a primer on the conflict:

Whats the history behind the current fighting?

Myanmar spent decades under military rule from 1962 to 2011, and was a pariah state subject to severe international sanctions. However, the country gradually began to liberalise and transition to a democracy. A nominally civilian government was introduced in 2011, and historic elections took place in 2015. National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who had spent years in prison during military rule, won the vote by a landslide. The military still retained significant political power, however, and in 2021 Myanmars transition towards democracy was cut short when it seized power in a coup.

What happened after the coup?

The coup was widely opposed by the public who took to the streets nationwide in mass protests. The military responded with deadly force, and began arresting anyone suspected of criticising its rule. In response, many civilians joined so-called peoples defence forces, to fight against it. Some ethnic armed groups, which have long fought for independence, also began fighting the military. These groups specific goals, and the extent to which they are coordinated, varies. Fighting has spiralled across much of the country, including parts of the centre, which had rarely seen conflict in previous decades.

Who is winning and is there any likelihood of peace soon?

The sheer number of groups fighting against the military has left the generals severely overstretched. It has endured the most humiliating defeats in its history, losing huge swathes of territory including along the borders with China and Bangladesh. Dozens of towns and military battalions and even two regional commands have been lost.

A study by the BBC estimates the military controls just 21% of territory. The military has been accused of repeatedly bombing civilian sites, including schools and hospitals, torching villages, carrying out mass killings, and torturing its opponents in a desperate attempt to cling to power. Calls for the resignation of the junta chief Min Aung Hlaing have grown among pro-military circles, however he shows no signs of backing down.

The military has promised elections this year, but it is unclear how it will implement these given that large areas of the country are controlled by its opponents.

What are the US, EU and other countries saying or doing about it?

The US and EU have imposed a series of sanctions on figures and businesses linked to Myanmars military, however these have had little impact. The regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has led international efforts to resolve the crisis, but with no success. It agreed upon a five-point concensus in 2021, which included a commitment to immediately end violence, and for constructive dialogue to find a peaceful solution. However, conflict has only escalated in the years since.

Which country has most influence over Myanmar?

China. It is an ally of, and supplies weapons to, the military but it also has ties with some of the powerful ethnic armed groups located near its shared border.

Chinas response to the coup has shifted over time. Its initial response to the coup in 2021 was muted, but Beijing grew increasingly frustrated with the militarys inability to control the country, and especially its failure to clamp down on the criminal scam centres that proliferated in border areas and which targeted Chinese citizens. In 2023 it gave implicit approval for the Brotherhood Alliance, formed of armed ethnic organisations in the north, to launch an offensive against the military, in what many analysts believe was an attempt to punish the junta. However, when these groups launched a second offensive in 2024, and succeeding in taking even more territory, China put pressure on them to stop by cutting off border supplies, apparently concerned that the military could lose control of central cities. Since then, it has been more supportive of the military.

China will look to protect its interests in Myanmar, said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center: Border stability, investment, connectivity projects, and keeping Americans out.

Who are the Rohingya and why are they so badly affected by this conflict?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority group who have lived for centuries in Myanmar. Despite this, they are not recognised as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship since 1982, making them the worlds largest stateless population, according to the UN. The Rohingya crisis escalated dramatically in August 2017 when, in response to small attacks by a Rohingya armed group, the military conducted deadly clearance operations that drove more than 700,000 Rohingya across the border to seek safety in Bangladesh. The events led to allegations of genocide in the UNs top court.

For the estimated 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar the situation is especially dire. They are now caught between the military and its opponent in Rakhine state, the Arakan Army (AA), which has taken control of much of the state. Rohingya say they have been subject to forced recruitment by the junta, as well as deadly attacks by the AA, which has accused them of siding with the military.

What happened to Aung San Suu Kyi?

Aung San Suu Kyi is Myanmars most famous politician. Born in Myanmar, which was then Burma under British rule, in 1945, she was the daughter of Myanmars independence hero, Gen Aung San. She went to the University of Oxford, then worked at the UN for three years, before marrying British historian Michael Aris in 1972.

After moving back to Myanmar in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi became swept up in pro-democracy demonstrations opposing the ruling junta. In 1988 she co-founded the NLD, and was placed under house arrest the following year, where she remained on-and-off for 15 years. Globally, she was hailed as an icon for peace and democracy, and was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1991. When Myanmar eventually held elections in 2015, the NLD won a sweeping victory. Aung San Suu Kyi was prevented from becoming president by a clause in the constitution, but became state counsellor.

Internationally her reputation suffered hugely when she failed to condemn the militarys brutal violence against the Rohingya minority. She remained highly popular domestically, however.

She was detained again in February 2021, after the military coup

Why did Myanmar change its name from Burma?

In 1989 the ruling military junta changed the countrys name to Myanmar, saying Burma was a hangover from colonial times that favoured the majority Burmar ethnic group. At the time, pro-democracy activists opposed the change, which they said the unelected junta had no authority to make. The change was also disingenuous, given the militarys repressive treatment of minorities. Countries and media were for years divided over which name to use; Burma was associated with the pro-democracy movement, while using the name Myanmar suggested approval of the junta. Now use of Myanmar is widespread.
They say that dogs are mans best friend. But they can sometimes be our greatest protectors too. A woman in Baldwinsville, New York is thanking her Pit Bull after the dog warned her of a fire in her apartment building. The dogs signal saved Angela Murrays life and now the dog is being heralded a hero for his quick thinking.

Murray said she was sleeping on January 24, a little before 10 pm, when she heard something. It was her Pit Bull, Rocco, barking  Barking worse than usual, Murray told Syracuse.com.

I could faintly hear the alarm going off, she added. It was just the nudge the woman needed to investigate.

I went to the living room where he kept barking and Im hearing pop pop pop in the ceiling, she said. Im like oh no, this is real.

Related: Oklahoma Animal Rescue Owner Risks Her Life to Save 23 Dogs From Deadly Fire

The dog mom knew it was time to act. She went upstairs and dressed quickly in sweatpants, before turning to Rocco and putting him on his leash. At first, Murray tried to escape through her front door, but already the fire that was ripping through her apartment complex was too great.

Im on the top floor but I could see stuff flying, debris, she said. They then went to the backdoor and managed to make it down a back staircase. Murray was lucky. She got out in the nick of time. She recalled looking back at the staircase that saved her life  it was completely engulfed in flames. Had she left even one minute later, the worst couldve happened.

If I had stopped to get my glasses or look for my wallet... nope, I wouldnt have made it out, she told the news outlet.

Firefighters arrived on the scene and put out the flames, which tore through two of the buildings in the New Legacy Apartments complex at 1 Legacy Drive. The roofs of the buildings reportedly collapsed. In total, 24 apartments were destroyed or damaged because of the fire.

Thankfully, it seems that no one was seriously hurt. Although an 80-year-old man was brought to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Murray later told the news outlet that several of her neighbors credit Rocco (and his barking) for making sure they got out safe.

A couple of tenants are calling him the hero dog, she said. They said they never hear him bark but he was barking out of control that something was wrong.

Thats our hero dog! one resident told the news outlet. He deserves an award or something!

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Police forces need to make decisions locally on how many officers to have, a minister has said after some warned of funding pressures.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said she was not pretending that police forces were not facing funding challenges.

The Government will invest an extra 100 million into neighbourhood policing, adding to 100 million announced in December for England and Wales to put 13,000 more police officers on the streets by 2029.

The 200 million, which is part of the Police Funding Settlement published on Friday, is about visible, accessible policing, Downing Street said.

But Lincolnshire Police said its share was a tiny percentage of what it needed.

Forces had warned of difficult times ahead with current funding levels, and some said they would have to make cuts to officer numbers.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the Government was starting from a difficult position after 14 years of the Conservatives (PA)

Im not pretending that it isnt difficult and challenging for police forces, Dame Diana told LBC.

Obviously PCCs and chief constables have to make decisions locally about whats the best makeup of their force in terms of police officers, she said.

She said the Government was starting from a difficult position after 14 years under the Conservatives but around 1 billion of additional funding is going to forces from April and she is meeting with struggling police forces.

Those police forces, and Im very well aware of Essex and Lincolnshire, those police forces that are struggling, we want to work with them. We want to make this work.

The new investment for more officers is scheduled for the next financial year and each police force will set out plans to use it to increase patrols by early spring.

Reacting to the cash boost on Friday, National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) chairman Chief Constable Gavin Stephens welcomed the investment in neighbourhood policing, saying it is a vital part of how we engage with our communities, building trust and confidence locally.

It comes after ministers set out a provisional 3.5% real-terms increase in funding for forces with a 986.9 million boost in December.

That fell short of the 1.3 billion which chief constables said police forces would need to plug funding gaps over the next two years.

NPCC lead for finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said then that the funding settlement presented real challenges for policing and would inevitably lead to cuts across forces.

Total funding to police forces will be up to 17.5 billion next year under the final settlement, an increase of up to 1.1 billion on the previous year.

On Thursday, Lincolnshire Police said it has a 14 million funding gap next year, and the force is exploring options, including potentially reducing the number of officers by up to 1,000 by 2029.

It said on Friday that it still sees a deficit after a first assessment of the final settlement and will need to cut 400 officers and staff.

There may be some potential extra money to support the neighbourhood policing pledge. We welcome any additional funding that is allocated to policing but unfortunately this will be a tiny percentage of what we need, Chief Constable Paul Gibson said.

He said he had cancelled police recruitment and would need to start reducing police staff numbers significantly and immediately.

Essex Police said this week it needed urgent action to address a budget shortfall and was looking at axing all police community support officers and reducing the number of staff.

On Friday, Essex Police said the extra 100 million would go some way to bridging its 5.3 million funding gap.

Weve lobbied hard for this funding to be increased through the consultation period. The decision we announced earlier this week has created concern and has resulted in change, Roger Hirst, the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the investment in neighbourhood policing marked a major turning point for policing.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper during a visit to West Yorkshire Police in December (PA)

This major investment marks a turning point for policing in this country.

By doubling extra neighbourhood funding to 200 million, we are giving forces across the country what they need to put more officers and PCSOs where theyre needed most  on our streets and in our town centres.

Every neighbourhood deserves dedicated officers who know their patch, understand residents concerns and can tackle problems before they escalate.

This investment, alongside new powers we are bringing into law, will help prevent crime and protect our communities, which is at the heart of our Plan for Change.

Restoring local policing will not happen overnight, but this funding boost will get more officers into our town centres and rural areas.

Dame Diana said more officers on the ground would help to target antisocial behaviour and record-breaking levels of shoplifting.

(PA Graphics)

Itll help us to start to tackle the problem with retail crime We know shop thefts have gone up to record-breaking levels. We need to tackle this.

We need to get that police presence back into our high streets and our communities, she told GB News.

Measures already announced to target thefts include a specific offence around attacks and assaults on retail workers and removing the 200 limit under which most people are not prosecuted for shoplifting.

Dame Diana said there are also efforts to target serious organised gangs that steal from shops.

So theres work ongoing, bringing retailers and the police together to use the intelligence about how these serious criminals are actually targeting the retail sector and what more we can do to prevent that.

The Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley on Thursday confirmed the countrys biggest police force will not make cuts to neighbourhood policing, despite a stretch in the system.

The funding for neighbourhood police will be split between every force in England and Wales and is for them to decide how to spend, Downing Street said.

The 13,000 neighbourhood officers could be newly recruited or they could be currently serving officers being moved into neighbourhood roles, a No 10 spokesman said.

Asked if the Prime Minister had a preference for new recruitment or shifting officers into neighbourhood roles, he said: I think this is about visible, accessible policing and officers on the streets for people to turn to and rely on if they feel unsafe.
Shes the best man on the force! Okay, shes actually a Golden Retriever. But that didnt stop one traveler from admiring her handy police work. The police dog was ready for action in a video shared by Nika. And other people had to agree the dog really was pretty darn cute.

Nika spotted the police dog while at the airport in Buenos Aires. What a cutie! And she serves a very special function while on the job.

At first it might not seem like the dog is doing anything special. But she was just waiting for the right moment to step in. As the clip shows, the Golden Retriever is used to sniff out contraband at baggage check. She does a good job of it too!

Related: Australian Golden Retriever Police Dog Is Truly the Happiest Member of the Precinct

It's the cutest thing I have ever seen! Visit the airport in Buenos Aires to meet her! She takes her job seriously! Paid in treats, Nika joked in the videos caption.

The comments section was cracking up. Goldi is searching for forbidden food, joked one person. Cute until she stays on YOUR bag, another commenter teased. Goldens don't look for drugs, but for forbidden food. To me it makes a lot of sense that they use a Golden for this specific job, one person pointed out. You cant even get mad when you get busted for whatever she is looking for, someone else added.

Dogs at Airports

The first time you see a dog at the airport, it can be confusing. But dogs serve an important function at these facilities and can help security do their important work.

The reason why dogs are so good at this kind of work is because of their strong senses of smell. Dogs have much stronger noses than humans do, which means when trained they can smell things that humans cant catch.

Dogs are often used to suss out contraband in airports. That can be anything from illicit substances, firearms, to weapons that might be dangerous. Like we said, it takes special training for dogs to be able to discern these objects. But theyre pretty handy at doing the job when given the task.

It should be said that because theyre on the job, you shouldnt pet police dogs while theyre working. They may look like your own sweet pup, but make no mistake they need to work! These dogs are there to protect you. So the next time you see a dog at an airport give them some space. You never know when theyre about to crack a case.

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Port Sudan  Sudan's Civil Democratic Forces alliance Tagadom (Progress)* officially announced its disengagement from all parties seeking to form an exile or parallel government of Sudan, saying in a statement this afternoon that the alliance's official position has not changed. A subsequent release on behalf of Tagadom vice-chair El Hadi Idris, who is refered to but not named, refutes the original as 'unauthorised'.

In the original statement at 15:33 today, Tagadom spokesman Bakri El Jack says: "The official position of the coordination of Civil Democratic Forces alliance Tagadom was and still is that the coordination does not seek to form an exile government or parallel government."

Today's statement does not mention, but refers to Tagadom vice-chair El Hadi Idris, and a number of leaders of the Tagadom coordination, who have put forward a proposal to form a government parallel to the government in Port Sudan. A subsequent statement at 17:41 on behalf of Idris, alleges that "the statement circulated under the name of the spokesman does not reflect the official position of the coordination of civil democratic forces (Progress). This statement has not been agreed upon by any of the authorized coordinating bodies, nor has it been agreed within known regulatory frameworks."

Tagadom spokesman Bakri El Jack: "At a meeting of the Board of Directors of Tagadom, which concluded on December 6, 2024, a proposed government formation was proposed by a group within the Board, and no agreement was made on the proposal within it," today's statement says. "According to it, the meeting decided to refer the issue of the dispute of legitimacy and other issues to the political mechanism, which held several meetings and issued recommendations that were withdrawn to the General Secretariat and the Coordination Board.

"The political mechanism, at its last meeting, agreed to disconnect entities and individuals insisting on proceeding with forming a government, and between entities and individuals holding on not forming any government individually or with any of the fighting parties."

El Jack says that a committee has been formed to reach a formula of disconnecting with the majority agreed between the two parties, each to work politically and organisationally independent from the other, with full appreciation of the different options built on terms of understanding for each party. Unless the reality of the situation says that these options cannot coexist within one alliance that refused war and is not biased to either of its parties.

"We are feeling the effect of the war pushing everyone towards polarisation and division, the coordination of democratic forces will remain impartial to any side of the war, and the legitimacy of the authority of the matter in Port Sudan or any other authority. We reject war and violence as a means of managing the political conflict in the country, and we will work to build a civil front that is rejecting war and believing in the unity of the country. We will also work to contribute to ending the war through mass and diplomatic work, as well as work to end the war through inclusive dialogue for all active forces, based on an integrated transitional justice and justice project, and a comprehensive vision for social recovery to soften the social fabric and tackle the remnants of the social and political war of division and polarisation," the Tagadom spokesman's statement concludes.

Tagadom Vice-chair refutes statement

"We would like to emphasise, in light of recent statements, that the statement circulated under the name of the spokesman does not reflect the official position of the coordination of the Civil Democratic Forces alliance 'Tagadom'. This statement has not been agreed upon by any of the authorised coordinating bodies, nor has it been agreed within known regulatory frameworks," the later statement on behalf of Tagadom vice-chair El Hadi Idris says.

"We also emphasise that the Tagadom coordination has not yet taken any decision on the issue of forming the government, and that this issue is still being discussed between all parties. Any expedited statements released outside the organisational context are irresponsible attempts to impose certain agendas, and do not represent the collective will of the Alliance."

Idris suggests that "this hurried statement is an attempt to create a division within the coordination, which we strongly reject. The Tagadom alliance is founded on the basis of political compatibility between its institutions, and they alone have the right to report its fate. No single party can decide the fate of coordination or make decisions without the consent of all."

"We refuse any attempts to impose a reality without going back to all partners, and we will face it firmly and responsibly," the statement on behalf of Tagadom vice-chair El Hadi Idris concludes.

UPDATE: This article was updated at 18:28 to reflect the new statement on behalf of Tagadom vice-chair El Hadi Idris

* The Civil Democratic Forces 'Tagadom' (meaning 'progress' in Arabic) alliance was formed in October 2023. It chose Abdallah Hamdok, who served as Sudan's prime minister during the transitional period following the ousting of President Omar Al Bashir in 2019, as chairperson. The group consists of the Sudanese Congress Party, the National Umma Party, the SPLM-Democratic Revolutionary Movement, and other members of the Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC).

Tagadom developed a roadmap, containing a proposal for a comprehensive ceasefire with effective monitoring mechanisms and the development of a comprehensive political process leading to democratic governance, and called on Sudanese hold-out parties and groups to help and "build the broadest democratic civil front possible and to discuss ways to end the current war".

In December, Hamdok invited the commanders of the warring Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for a meeting. SAF Commander-in-chief Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan did not comply, but Lt Gen Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo, commander of the RSF, reacted positively.

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They met in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on January 1 this year. The meeting ended the next day with a declaration, signed by Hemedti and Hamdok, in which the RSF agrees "to immediately and unconditionally stop hostilities" in direct negotiations with SAF, provided that the army commanders agree to the same Tagadom procedures.

El Burhan ignored the Tagadom invitation - which unfortunately led to misinterpretations of the agreement with the RSF. Many, including SAF commanders, have since accused the alliance of siding with the paramilitary group.

In end March, the national public prosecution office, moved to Port Sudan, Red Sea state, after the outbreak of the war in April 2023, charged the heads of the 17 Tagadom member groups with provoking war against the state, incitement, conspiracy, undermining the constitutional order, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The Civil Democratic Forces alliance held its delayed founding conference in end May. The conference approved a political paper and revamped the organisational structure representing political parties, trade unions, resistance committees, civil society groups, and former rebel movements. Heated discussions were held over calls to cancel the Addis Ababa agreement between the RSF and Tagadom.
More police will be on the streets in central London on Saturday as a protest in support of Tommy Robinson and a counter-demonstration are set to take place, the Metropolitan Police said.

A protest organised under the name Stop the Isolation or Unite the Kingdom in support of Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, will form up in Sandell Street and Cornwall Road, off Waterloo Road outside Waterloo Station, from midday.

It will march from there to Whitehall via Westminster Bridge.

ADMIN POST Tomorrow we will be holding our Stop The Isolation rally in London. We will be highlighting Tommy's political imprisonment, the fact that being in isolation is severely damaging his mental health, that others are imprisoned for merely posting opinions about the pic.twitter.com/EXFWeAHIJT  Tommy Robinson  (@TRobinsonNewEra) January 31, 2025

A static assembly will then take place in Parliament Street, at the Parliament Square end of Whitehall.

A protest organised by Stand Up To Racism will form up in St Jamess Street, south of Piccadilly Circus, from 11.30am.

It will march from there to Whitehall, via Piccadilly Circus and Haymarket.

A static assembly will take place at the Trafalgar Square end of Whitehall.

Those joining the Unite the Kingdom protest must not deviate from the route shown on the map (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Pedestrian access in the middle of Whitehall will be restricted, with officers deployed to keep both groups apart, the Met said.

Anyone in the area not involved in the protests is encouraged to use other routes to go from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square  or vice versa, the force added.

Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after the Solicitor General took legal action against him for breaching a High Court injunction made in 2021.

He admitted 10 breaches of the order, which barred him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.

Organisers of the protest in support of Robinson posted on X saying: We will proceed to Downing Street.

Stand against the isolation of Tommy Robinson.

On arrival at the end of the Unite the Kingdom march, they must only assemble in the area marked in blue on the map (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Deliver our message to the establishment.

Weyman Bennett, Stand Up To Racism co-convenor, said: We saw the power of mobilising against the far right in response to last summers racist riots.

We must bring that anti-racist spirit onto the streets of London and reject the politics of hate.

Commander Louise Puddefoot, who is in charge of the policing operation, said: We are well prepared for these protests, having been in discussions with both sets of organisers in recent weeks.

We have officers deployed in significant numbers to provide reassurance to the wider community, and to give us the capability to intervene swiftly and decisively if incidents of crime or disorder occur.

Anyone taking part in the Stand Up To Racism march must form up in the area shaded in red on the map (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Decisions on our policing style at protests, including the types of uniform worn by officers and the protective equipment available to them, are taken on a case by case basis. It allows us to be ready to respond quickly and decisively where we need to.

Our assessment for tomorrows protest, based on the information available to us, is that an additional level of preparedness is required.

On arrival at the end of the Stand Up To Racism march, they must only assemble in the area marked in red on the map. (Metropolitan Police/PA)

What our officers are wearing or the protective kit they are carrying doesnt change their role at these events. They are there to ensure all involved can exercise their right to protest peacefully, without causing serious disruption to the life of the wider community and without risking the disorder that could take place if groups with opposing views come together.
A conversation on why children find it so easy to take a life is desperately needed, an MP has said, following the fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old boy earlier this week.

Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty suggested it isnt enough to ban zombie knives and that the root causes of knife crime amongst young people should be addressed.

The fatal stabbing of a child has become a familiar occurrence, with the number of teenagers killed as a result of knife crime doubling in the past decade, the Huntingdon MP told the Commons.

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder, West Midlands Police said, after 12-year-old Leo Ross was found with a stab wound near Scribers Lane in Hall Green, Birmingham on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Commons Leader Lucy Powell said the Government is committed to halving knife crime over the next decade and further measures to tackle the issue will be brought forward later this year.

During business questions, Mr Obese-Jecty said: This week we saw the tragic murder of Leo Ross who was just 12 years old, two weeks ago 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa. The fatal stabbing of a child has become an all too familiar occurrence.

The number of teenagers murdered by knife has doubled in the past decade, teenagers are twice as likely to be fatally stabbed as any other demographic.

The Government have pledged to halve knife crime, legislating to ban zombie knives, but they account for only 3.6% of murders involving a knife. Kitchen knives account for over 52.6%, everybody has access to a draw-full of those in their own home.

We desperately need a conversation about the root causes of knife crime, about why the situation is now worse than ever, and about why  shockingly  our children are now prepared to kill other children, why they find it so easy to take a life.

So will the Leader of the House make time in the Parliamentary schedule to discuss the causes of knife crime?

Leo Ross, 12, who died in hospital hours after he was found with a stab wound to the stomach in Hall Green, Birmingham, on Tuesday (West Midlands Police/PA)

Ms Powell replied: Can I share his remarks about the awful news yesterday of the stabbing and murder of Leo Ross, just 12-years-old, in the West Midlands.

An age (of) my own child, and Im sure many others who would be watching, and that of his constituents and others as well.

This Government is committed to halving knife crime over the next decade, thats an incredibly ambitious agenda that drives much of our activity in this space.

The Prime Minister brought together a coalition to tackle knife crime in No 10 Downing Street in September. Weve taken very quick action to ban zombie knives and dangerous ninja swords, further measures will be coming forward in the crime and policing bill later this year.

But, hes absolutely right, this takes a strategic, holistic, wide approach that also looks at preventative measures, education, youth services and brings all the players in our communities together to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
A UK supermarket is trialling the sale of grapes labelled with their flavour or texture as it aims to better understand what customers prefer.

Tesco said that many may think of grapes in terms of red, green and black but that there are many hundreds of varieties.

The chain noted there are other fruits which are sold by variety, for example apples  with Gala, Braeburn, Golden Delicious and many more.

It said this helps customers know what to expect with each purchase. As a further example, wine is sold by grape, flavour and style rather than simply red or white.

A trial in 220 Tesco stores has seen grapes go on sale in three types of newly labelled packaging  categorising the fruit by either tropical flavour, candy flavour or crunchiness.

This is in addition to the existing range of table grapes.

Tesco is trialling the sale of grapes labelled with their flavour or texture as it aims to better understand what customers prefer (Tesco/PA)

Tesco hopes to learn more about shopper preferences through the trial and could look to expand the range.

It said that early feedback indicated that UK shoppers favour their grapes primarily by crunchy texture, next by tropical flavour and lastly by candy flavour.

Tesco fruit technical manager James Cackett said: If you ask anyone how many grape varieties there are, most people are likely to tell you three  red, green and black.

And that was pretty much the case until the turn of the century when fruit breeders began looking at how to naturally improve flavour, crunchiness and sweetness, which is a wholly natural process, to deliver better quality grapes all round.

Now with the advance in breeding technology we have the possibility to draw from many hundreds of new grape varieties which will allow us to deliver exactly what our customers want, and thats the reason why we have set up these trials.

He said that they will allow us to better gauge and understand the attributes our shoppers prefer.

A grape supplier said the trial reflects the strengths of our breeding programmes (Andrew Matthews/ PA)

The trial is being carried out together with Tesco suppliers AMT Fresh, a Peterborough-based global fruit importer, and leading global fruit developers Bloom Fresh.

Rachel Botha, head of commercial at AMT Fresh, said: This project, which we are implementing with Tesco through the Jaffa brand, is the most far-reaching research ever undertaken in the UK to understand British consumers table grape-eating preferences, redefining the way they are segmented and marketed.

We are working with the worlds foremost fruit breeding companies to supply the grapes that British shoppers want to consistently see on supermarket shelves.

Thanks to advances in technology we now have the ability to do just that.

She said that the trial reflects the strengths of our breeding programmes, the commitment of growers eager to explore new possibilities, and Tescos openness to pioneering shopper-focused initiatives.
UK drill star Digga D has been sentenced to three years and 11 months imprisonment for supplying 45kg of cannabis after he was arrested on an Instagram livestream.

The 24-year-old musician, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, previously pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the importation and supply of the Class B drug.

Herbert, of Lonsdale Road in Notting Hill, London, was arrested near Lincoln on February 21 last year while livestreaming on Instagram.

During a two-day trial of issue, known as a Newton hearing, in December, prosecutors said Herbert played a role in supplying up to 60kg of cannabis, which he denied.

He appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday via video-link from HMP Wormwood Scrubs, where Judge Simon Hirst told him he was satisfied the rapper had been in possession of 50.65kg of cannabis and had sold at least 45kg for profit.

Rhys Herbert was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The judge was sure Herbert supplied drugs over a period of seven months between January 2023 and July 2023, and sentenced him to nearly four years  which he will spend up to half in custody.

The rapper, who previously told the court he had used the drug since he was 12 years old, has been in custody since he was arrested in February last year.

The judge told Herbert: I am satisfied you were involved in supplying at least 45kg.

It is agreed you had a significant role on the basis you expected significant financial advantage. On occasions others were involved in the operation of returning and collecting cannabis.

The level of the offending is so serious that there must be a sentence of imprisonment.

Prosecutor Aaron Dinnes told the sentencing hearing that Herbert had six convictions for 13 previous offences, which included possession of a blade and violent disorder.

James Scobie KC, defending Herbert, said: This is absolutely a first offence in terms of drug supply.

In respect of him as a dealer, this is not really a case of somebody who had a large number of people. It was a single occasion he directed one person to pick up some drugs, who happened to be a friend.

He does not have a team, this is very much a one-man band.

The defendant has been away now since February of last year. There is a very much positive side, legitimate side, to this young mans life in respect of his work which is that of a performer and a writer to some degree of international notoriety and following.

It is very, very sad and disappointing that he has had at the very least a year of his productive working life behind bars.

Hes not a danger to the public, hes actually a contributor to the public.

The court heard a letter from Herberts mother suggested that since being in custody, her son had been reading the Bible daily and was remorseful for what he had done.

Detective Constable Jacob Saville, of the Metropolitan Police, said: Rhys Herbert has already admitted to his role in the importation and supply of large quantities of cannabis; now a judge has reviewed all of the evidence and determined he played a significant role in this operation.

As soon as we became aware of the various messages and information held on Herberts phone, detectives began to compile a wealth of evidence that proved his involvement was irrefutable.

Drugs and the associated criminality they bring devastates communities and we will continue to identify and arrest those responsible who engage in this activity.
An alleged victim of a Chinese PhD student who is accused of drugging and raping 10 women told police that she felt disgusting after waking up at his London flat, a trial heard.

On Friday, jurors at Inner London Crown Court were shown a police interview where the woman claimed that Zhenhao Zou raped her after not allowing her to leave his flat in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, in May 2023.

She told Detective Constable Emily Nice in February 2024 that they were drinking wine together but she began to find him odd and wanted to leave but he would not let her go, the court heard.

The woman said that at one point she was crying on the floor, and when she tried to leave he dragged her back by her clothes, before pushing her to drink vodka, jurors were told.

Zhenhao Zou is on trial at Inner London Crown Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

She told the officer of feeling hopeless and out of control and that she was made to stay in the flat, jurors heard.

The woman said she asked Zou for 100,000 in Chinese currency (11,000) to stay but told the detective that she did not expect the defendant to pay and that this did not allow him to have sex with her, the court was told.

She claims that he raped her while she was unconscious.

Asked to recall how she felt, the woman told Dc Nice: I felt very disgusting but I had no strength to fight him off.

During the interview, she added: I cant even remember when this finished because I had already passed out.

The woman told the officer that she was feeling dizzy and drowsy during the evening.

Police found video footage of the alleged rape filmed on a camera placed by his bed and graphic photographs of the alleged victim in Zous possession, the jury was told.

In the footage, played in court, the woman can be heard screaming and appears to try and get up from the bed on several occasions but the defendant pushes her back down each time, prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC said.

Asked how she felt after the evening, the alleged victim said: I could not sleep, I could not eat, I felt disgusting physically it was much worse than mentally.

The woman is one of two of Zous 10 alleged victims who have been identified by police.

Zou, 27, is accused of drugging and raping 10 women in total, including three in London and seven in China, jurors heard.

Prosecutors say he filmed nine of the alleged victims, the footage of which was played in court on Thursday.

The student moved to Belfast in 2017 to study at Queens University before heading to London in 2019 to do a masters degree and then a PhD at UCL.

Zou denies 11 counts of rape as well as three counts of voyeurism, 12 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and eight of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.

He will argue that the sexual interactions were consensual, that drugs and alcohol were consumed by the women voluntarily, and that some of the footage captured involved role playing, jurors were told.
An investigation is underway in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis after 19 people were found dead aboard a vessel, authorities said.

The St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) received a report about a vessel drifting southwest of Nevis between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Wednesday. Responding SKNDF personnel towed the ship to the Coast Guard on St. Kitts, where it was dry-docked for further investigation, police said.

Pictured is a vessel that 19 people were found dead aboard near Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

When the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) officers arrived at the dock they found the 19 deceased people on the ship. The initial indication was that the vessel had been at sea for a "lengthy period" based on the peoples' advanced stages of decomposition, according to police.

St. Kitts and Nevis is a dual-island nation located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

'RSCNPF extends its deepest condolences'

All occupants died before the vessel entered St. Kitts and Nevis territorial waters, police said. Identification documents found on the ship suggest that some of the deceased individuals were from Mali, West Africa, according to the release.

Police Commissioner James Sutton told The Associated Press that the ship was a fishing vessel, "which is not typically found in the Caribbean."

"The RSCNPF is working diligently to confirm their identities and to understand the circumstances that led to this unfortunate situation," the police force said in the release. "The RSCNPF extends its deepest condolences to the families and communities affected by this tragedy."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 19 people found dead near St. Kitts and Nevis on fishing vessel
MEXICO CITY (AP)  It might cost more to repair them than to buy new ones. But baby Jesus figurines have such sentimental value in families that every January an area in downtown Mexico City is full of people with the broken religious sculptures looking for a workshop for hands, legs, nose, eyes, eyelashes or fingers.

Mexicans restore their baby Jesus figurines in time for Candlemas, on Feb. 2, the Catholic feast marking the end of Christmas celebrations that commemorates the Virgin Marys purification and Jesus presentation at the temple.

It is common that from one year to the next, plaster figures lose a hand, a nose, a finger or even the entire head. However, some people decide not to replace their figurine but to restore it, because they were a gift or have been with them for years.

It is cheaper to buy one, but it is not so much the one you buy, but the one someone has given you, (its) why you have it. Nothing more, said Maria Sanchez Arena, 61, who this time of the year helps restoring baby Jesus figurines.

Mexicans often keep the figurines during the Christmas season in Nativity scenes displayed in homes, and on Candlemas they take them to church to be blessed.
Chaotic scenes surrounding the release of Israeli and Thai hostages in Gaza on Thursday brought condemnation from Israeli leaders and a temporary delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners, who were ultimately released later in the day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed by several hours the agreed release of 110 Palestinian detainees, including dozens of minors, after live images were broadcast across Israel of a crowd of thousands jostling and cheering as the hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in the central Gazan city of Khan Younis.

He described those scenes as shocking, and demanded guarantees from those who mediated a ceasefire deal  Qatar, Egypt and the United States  that the incident would not be repeated.

The release Thursday morning of the captive Israeli soldier Agam Berger in Jabalya, northern Gaza, had gone off without incident  a stage-managed affair in which Hamas militants paraded her in front of cameras and then handed her to representatives from the International Committee for the Red Cross.

But the release in the early afternoon of two Israeli and five Thai civilians produced some of the most stunning images of the nearly two-week-old ceasefire, striking a painful nerve for much of the Israeli public.

Unusually, that handover was a joint affair between Hamas and several allied militant groups. Thousands of Gazans crowded in Khan Younis as Hamas and its allies staged the handover outside the razed house of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed by Israeli forces in October.

Among those released was Arbel Yehoud, a 29-year-old civilian whom militants abducted from her home in the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023. She was held captive by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Stepping out from a white van, the Israeli civilian looked gaunt and frightened. As militants walked her through a roaring crowd, she kept her head locked forward as her eyes darted left and right. The crowd jostled her back and forth as she made her way toward a waiting Red Cross vehicle.

Gadi Mozes, age 80, was among those held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and released in central Gaza on Thursday. - Jehad Alshrafi/AP

Yehoud was returned to Israel without further incident. But for many in Israel, the images sparked fears of a repeat of an infamous, televised incident in October 2000, known colloquially as the Ramallah lynching. Two reservist Israeli soldiers  who had been detained after accidentally driven into Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank  were brutally murdered by a Palestinian mob mourning a child whom Israeli troops had killed the previous day.

Fifteen hostages have been released since a ceasefire went into effect earlier this month. Their freedom has brought some relief to a nation traumatized daily by images of civilians and soldiers held captive since October 7, 2023.

But that solace has accompanied by astounding images of Hamas militants elaborate handover ceremonies  clearly designed to show that the group is still standing, despite the Israeli governments promises of total victory over the perpetrators of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a right-wing extremist who has threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition, has cited Hamass presence on the streets of Gaza as proof that Israel must return to war, saying that it was proof of the heavy and terrible price Israel is paying for this bad deal.

Israel's Ofer Prison, in the occupied West Bank. - Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

110 Palestinians released

Just as night fell, the Israeli prison authority released 110 Palestinians from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, including a prominent former militant leader from the embattled city of Jenin.

In the West Bank town of Beitunia, which overlooks Ofer Prison, the Israeli military on Thursday shut down public celebrations by Palestinians over the detainees release, as has repeatedly been the case.

Israeli troops fired rubber-coated steel bullets and used tear gas and stun grenades to clear a small crowd. They dropped Arabic-language flyers warning onlookers that the security forces will not allow demonstrations in support of terrorist organizations.

At least 61 Palestinians were injured, according to local paramedics. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its members treated patients with injuries from live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas, as well as those sustained falling over.

The release was met with jubilation in the streets of Ramallah, where hundreds gathered to meet some of the released detainees. Many of those gathered there chanted in support of Hamas military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades. A smaller crowd of Fatah supporters has gathered on a nearby hill.

Among those freed were 30 children  some held without charge and none convicted, according to Adalah, a legal aid organization. Also released were 32 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 48 prisoners with high sentences. Some of those with serious sentences were due to be released to Egypt, as per the terms of the ceasefire deal agreed to in Doha.

The most prominent to be released on Thursday was Zakaria Zubeidi, former commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Fatah party, which governs the West Bank. His mother, brother, and son have all been killed by the Israeli military. Zubeidi rose through the ranks of the militant group during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.

A Palestinian child in Ramallah holds a portrait of Zakaria Zubeidi, who was released from Israeli prison on Thursday. - Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

A former child actor, Zubeidi co-founded The Freedom Theatre in his hometown of the Jenin Refugee Camp following that conflict, to promote cultural education among his compatriots.

He was arrested in 2019 and charged with involvement in shooting attacks against Israelis. He gained near cult status among many Palestinians after he was among a group who tunneled out of Israels high security Gilboa prison in 2021, before being re-arrested several days later.

Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Tareq Al Hilou, Eugenia Yosef, Lauren Izso, Dana Karni and Khader Al-Zaanoun, a journalist with WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

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The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is typically a time for family reunions and visits with friends. However, this year Ren Jun and his family decided to celebrate it in a different way.

Tourists visit the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic spot in the city of Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang/Xinhua)

They set off on an adventure across northwest China, exploring ancient Buddhist caves in the mountains, discovering the secrets of temples, and even stepping into a 2,000-year-old underground tomb in the heart of the Gobi Desert.



"We're from the south, and our daughter's really into the culture of the northwestern region, so we thought it'd be a great idea to come check it out during this long break," Ren said.

In recent years, driven by a growing interest in traditional Chinese culture and greater consumption power, an increasing number of people have been choosing to spend the Spring Festival holiday exploring the country's splendid cultural wonders.

The Spring Festival, the most important festival in China, fell on Jan. 29 this year, with an eight-day public holiday break running from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4. During the 40-day travel rush surrounding the holiday, China is once again experiencing the world's largest annual migration, with tourism accounting for a significant share of this travel surge.

Since Jan. 1, flight bookings to destinations known for their cultural heritage, such as the cities of Datong, Yangzhou, Quanzhou and Jingdezhen, have doubled compared to last year, according to data from Meituan Travel.

By the second day of the holiday, tickets for major attractions like the Palace Museum in Beijing were already sold out for the entire holiday, while the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province had only a few remaining tickets for the last three days of this holiday.

Fueled by rising demand for more immersive travel experiences, travel agencies are offering group tours led by scholars who provide expert guidance during the journey.

Ren's tour group was led by Xing Yaolong, a scholar with the Chinese Association of Dunhuang and Turfan Studies. With years of expertise as an expert guide, Xing has observed a "larger appetite" for cultural experiences among tourists.

Using Dunhuang's Mogao Grottoes, a treasure trove of ancient Buddhist relics and art, as an example, Xing noted that more and more people are willing to dip into their pockets for visits to the exclusive, higher-priced caves with restricted access.

Riding this wave, niche travel agencies have been popping up. Having had trouble finding a satisfactory guided tour to culture-rich Shanxi Province in north China, Ding Manwen, a former documentary filmmaker, founded "The Seekers" in 2023 -- a travel agency dedicated to cultural heritage tours.

Today, the agency offers not only in-depth tours to Shanxi but also a dozen other trips to destinations such as south China's Guangdong, east China's Fujian and southwest China's Yunnan, with all available during this Spring Festival holiday.

"As the people enjoy greater material wealth, their hunger for spiritual enrichment has only grown. Moreover, the elderly, especially retirees, are now playing a key role in driving cultural and tourism consumption," said Wang Lei, a professor at the school of government management, Beijing Normal University.

Instead of flocking to popular landmarks, many travelers have opted to visit charming, lesser-known ancient towns and villages that are buzzing with vibrant folk traditions during the Spring Festival.

A few days prior to the festival, a young man nicknamed "Daodao" shared his unique experience in Zhanqi Village in east China's Anhui Province on popular Chinese social network and lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, also known as rednote.

"As dusk falls, the village comes alive, with the sky glowing under a sea of colorful fish-shaped lanterns, swaying gently as they're carried by the crowd. The air hums with the infectious energy of village galas, cheers echoing through the crowd, as locals and tourists alike get swept up in the lively dance, moving to the rhythm of folk music," he shared in a short video, adding that he had returned to the village the following day to learn more about the fish-shaped lanterns.

To promote the fish-shaped lantern culture, an 800-year-old intangible cultural heritage item, local authorities have established workshops dedicated to this craft, while sharing schedules and locations of lantern performances on social media for the convenience of tourists.

From temple fairs to carnivals -- a wide range of events celebrating intangible cultural heritage can be found all over China these days.

For those unable to make it in person, there is the option of soaking up the festive vibes online. This year's Spring Festival Gala, broadcast by China Media Group on Chinese New Year's Eve, featured significant intangible cultural heritage content and garnered 16.8 billion views across all media platforms.

"Gorgeous! I want to travel to Wuxi and Chongqing after watching this," commented a user on the microblogging site, Weibo, in response to the gala.

"Only by understanding our roots can we know where we are headed," said another user.




SAN Francisco, California / Apex, North Carolina  With so much bad news about climate change lately, is it too late for the world to tackle the problem? Professor Felix Dodds and Chris Spence review the current state-of-play.

When it comes to climate change, the awful news has been coming thick and fast. We now know that in 2024, the Earth's average temperature exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

Extreme weather seems to be multiplying, with shocking fires in Los Angeles and storms striking Europe and America's east coast since the start of the year. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his country will turn its back on the ambitious Paris Agreement adopted in 2015.

Meanwhile, the United Nations' latest annual summit--COP29 in Azerbaijan--ended in November with complaints it had done too little to change the narrative. Some even questioned whether the UN's ongoing exertions were a waste of time, and whether annual global climate summits were still worth doing?

Are things really so bad? Let's break down the news piece-by-piece and look at each issue in turn.

How bad is it that we have broken the 1.5C ceiling?

It's pretty bad. It means we can expect extreme weather like heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and flooding to increase in frequency and severity. It's also going to affect food production, harm many plant and animal species, and risk sending the world over several "tipping points", such as faster melting of ice in the Arctic, Antarctic, and elsewhere, causing sea-level rise. If you don't like that our weather is getting more extreme, then sadly it's too late. We'll all have to get used to it, and adapt accordingly.

One piece of good news lost among all the big, bad headlines relates to the leadership at COP30. Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago has been chosen as president of COP30. He played a significant role in the Rio+20 negotiations and has been one of Brazil's top civil servants for many years. His expertise when it comes to climate change and COPs is impressive

That said, it's not all doom and gloom. There are some silver linings. First, the world has actually been doing a lot to fight back. Partly prompted by major international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, countries have been actively finding ways to reduce emissions, such as investing in green technologies and working on new policies that affect pretty much everything we do.

Whether it's new energy efficiency programmes in our homes and offices, efforts to protect our forests, or the rise in hybrid and electric vehicles, a lot is happening. Perhaps the biggest transformation has been the growth of solar and wind power, which is now considerably cheaper and more efficient that earlier sources of electricity like coal or natural gas. The pay-off is clear, with countries like the UK, Sweden, and Denmark already cutting their greenhouse gas emissions in half since the 1990s.

Another silver lining of our efforts to cut emissions is expert projections for temperature rise in the longer term. Before the Paris Agreement, some were predicting temperatures to go up by 4-6C by 2100, which would be catastrophic for humanity and the planet; an extinction event for modern civilization. Now, the estimates sit around 2-2.8C, depending on whether countries honour the goals they've set themselves. These numbers are still bad, but nowhere near as terrifying as they were.

So yes, 1.5 is bad and we will need to redouble our efforts to make sure it doesn't get much worse. But we shouldn't give up hope just yet.

What does President Trump's decision to leave the Paris Agreement mean?

No one can deny that U.S. leadership greatly helps our global efforts to combat climate change.

Still, there are several reasons why we shouldn't panic. First, as mentioned above, the world is already on a long-term path to cut emissions. The new U.S. administration may wish to "drill, baby, drill," but renewables will continue to rise. Why? Because they're cheaper than the alternatives. As an experienced business leader, President Trump knows as well as anyone that companies are motivated by profits. They will look for the most cost-effective energy option. In many cases, this will mean renewable energy.

Secondly, even if the U.S. does leave Paris and change its domestic policies, there is an inertia in systems. The outgoing Biden administration, which had pledged $3 billion for the UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF), has already handed over $2 billion. They've also spent much larger amounts on supporting the U.S. transition to a green economy. This is money the new President will not be able to take back. Plus, a country as big and powerful as America can't turn its entire economy around overnight. For instance, during President Trump's first term, emissions in the U.S. continued to fall, even if he himself did not support this.

Thirdly, even American presidents aren't all powerful. There are many other interests and alternative viewpoints in the U.S. Others who might disagree with President Trump will likely step up and try to fill the gap. For instance, business leader Michael Bloomberg has just announced that he will help cover U.S. financial obligations to the UN and its climate work. There is precedent for this, too. Back in the 2000s, a lot of progress was made on climate change at the state and city level throughout the U.S., even though President George W. Bush generally didn't support it.

Finally, there has been a shift in the centre of gravity when it comes to climate change. The U.S. remains important, but on climate change it matters less than it once did. Under Presidents Obama, Biden, and Trump himself, U.S. emissions have fallen. They now represent about 11% of the global total, down from 30% in 1970. These days, U.S. emissions are dwarfed by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). These are the countries whose leadership will be needed in the decade to come.

There are signs that big corporate players are also turning away from their climate pledges. For instance, Blackrock just left the Net Zero Asset Managers coalition. What does this mean?

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) was announced at COP26 in 2021. It brings together corporate leaders from the financial services sector to support the transition to an ambitious "net-zero" emissions economy. However, after the recent U.S. election, some big U.S. banks left the Net Zero Banking Alliance, which is part of GFANZ. Now, Blackrock has left a similar coalition for asset managers; which is also a part of GFANZ.

This is not good news. It probably marks a symbolic victory for politicians who had been pressuring big corporate interests to step back from their climate pledges. In some ways, it mirrors the recent abandonment by several big American companies of their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programmes.

At this stage, it is hard to know how much of a genuine impact this will have. For every company trying to appease the Trump administration by backtracking, it is likely there will also be those--like insurance companies--whose profits are being so badly impacted by climate change that they will be unlikely to change their positions.

Was COP29 really a failure?

No. Although the latest annual UN climate summit didn't result in any big breakthroughs, it did achieve some modest successes. For instance, wealthy industrialized nations agreed to increase annual funding for developing countries from US$100 billion to US$300 billion annually by 2030. This is far less than the US$1.3 trillion many experts believe is needed to combat climate change, though that number was included as a goal for 2035. Although US$300 billion is an improvement on the previous amount, it's not what developing countries were hoping for, which was closer to $500 billion by 2030.

Other outcomes from COP29 include agreement on standards for carbon markets, which means carbon trading is likely to increase and new finances might flow to the Global South. What's more, several countries announced that they would strengthen their pledges--known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)--under the Paris Agreement. These included Azerbaijan, Brazil, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Shouldn't COP29 have done a lot more, given the urgency of the climate crisis? As we have noted in an earlier article for IPS ("Are Climate Summits a Waste of Time?"), the UN climate process is designed to help us make incremental progress, year after year, decade after decade.

And it has. It may seem like the pace of change is too slow--and it often is--but the UN has kept the ball moving over many, many years, and can take credit for helping us forward much more than we realize.

Isn't Azerbaijan an oil producer? Why hold meetings on climate change in fossil fuel states?

Yes, it is. In fact, many countries that have hosted the annual UN climate summit in the past have also been fossil fuel states. These include the UAE, UK, Poland, South Africa, India, and Indonesia. In fact, Poland (a major coal producer), has hosted the climate COPs three times!

Why is this? The hosting of the COPs is decided by the relevant regional groupings of the UN. So, each region gets its turn every few years to decide who hosts.

The fact is, many countries produce fossil fuels, and often these are the ones with the financial and organizational capacity to host large events like a UN summit. As we have argued in the past ("Global Cooperation on Climate Change: What Have We Achieved and What Needs to Happen Next?"), we believe hosts should be judged not on their fossil fuel status, but on whether the annual COP they host is a success.

If we judge the hosts by what the UN summits achieve, then fossil fuel countries have a mixed record. COP29 was not a breakout success, but the recent COPs in Egypt and the UAE achieved a surprising breakthrough, with agreement on a loss and damage fund. Also, some of these fossil fuel producers are slowly transitioning their economies away from selling oil, coal and gas. Azerbaijan, for instance, is promoting its tourism sector.

Are UN climate COPs still worth holding? Do they need to change?

As mentioned above, we believe UN climate summits are worth it, as they have helped the world make significant progress over the past thirty years. That said, some people think the COPs need to change how they operate. For instance, there were 65,000 people at COP29, but only a few thousand were actually involved in the UN negotiations. Isn't this a sign something needs to be done differently?

We think the critics miss the point. While it's true that the UN climate COPs have become large and unwieldy, they also serve many purposes. First, the world pays attention to these mega-events, which ratchet up the political pressure. Prime ministers, presidents, and other world leaders often attend, knowing the eyes of the world are on them. This, too, raises expectations and sometimes leads to better outcomes.

Not only that, but the COPs are often teeming with other folks from every sector and country, all eager to talk about what they are doing, listen to others, and build networks, coalitions, and alliances. Sometimes, these lead to powerful "coalitions of the willing". The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) mentioned earlier is an example of this, as is the Global Methane Pledge, a coalition uniting 159 participating countries (and the European Commission) in pursuit of a goal to cut methane emissions 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.

On other occasions, participants can generate new ideas that eventually end up in the formal UN negotiations. Recent examples include discussions on agriculture and water management. Currently, it appears as if climate change in the context of oceans and human health may soon be added to the formal discussions.

Of course, the climate COPs could certainly be improved. For instance, the number of formal agenda items could be reduced, since the negotiations are now very complex. However, the UN COPs continue to serve an important function and should, in our opinion, include a wide range of stakeholders.

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Moises Savian, Brazil's Secretary of Land Governance, Territorial and Socio Environmental Development at COP29. He looks forward to COP30 which will be held in his country. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

The next COP is taking place in Belem, Brazil in November 2025. What's on the agenda, and what needs to happen before then?

The road to COP30 in Brazil lies through Bonn, Germany, which is the location for the annual preparatory meeting each June. UN climate watchers will be paying close attention to the two-week session in Bonn to see if we are on track to make any breakthroughs in Brazil.

The key issues where observers would like to see progress at COP30 include:

More countries coming to the table with ambitious pledges in the form of stronger NDCs; Evidence that more funding is being mobilized to fight climate change, especially for the Global South; Proof that countries are keeping their current promises under the Paris Agreement, or that they are at least taking steps to close any gaps; Progress on using Nature-Based Solutions like forest restoration and sustainable land management; and, Stronger private sector engagement, including avoiding any backsliding from major companies, and in particular from the financial sector.

We would also like to see evidence at COP30 that the recently-created Loss and Damage Fund is starting to have an impact, and that the role of oceans in climate change mitigation and adaptation is being taken more seriously.

Even though the situation is bad, is there still hope?

Yes. Despite the recent bad news, we remain optimistic. History shows we have made positive strides already. We are convinced now is the time to double down on global, collaborative efforts to combat climate change, and that the UN COPs provide important, regular milestones to meet, review our progress, and strengthen our pledges.

One piece of good news lost among all the big, bad headlines relates to the leadership at COP30. Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago has been chosen as president of COP30. He played a significant role in the Rio+20 negotiations and has been one of Brazil's top civil servants for many years. His expertise when it comes to climate change and COPs is impressive. The appointment of such a consummate professional is a positive sign of how seriously the Brazilian government is taking its responsibilities as the COP30 host.

Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in UN environmental negotiations since the 1990s. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022). Their next book, Environmental Lobbying at the United Nations: A Guide to Protecting Our Planet, is due for release in June 2025.

Follow @https://twitter.com/felixdodds
Adams County Sheriff's Office Ashley White

A Colorado woman has been found guilty in the murder of her boyfriend, who was fatally shot twice in the head after he expressed skepticism about her finding a job.

After a three-week trial, Ashley White, 29, was convicted of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and robbery in connection with the August 2020 death of 28-year-old Cody DeLisa, according to a Jan. 28 press release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors described Whites relationship with DeLisa as volatile and strained in the months leading up to the killing, with DeLisa often criticizing White for her struggles in securing full-time employment, which contributed to tension between the two.

White had "expressed resentment, even writing in her diary that she regretted ever meeting DeLisa, according to prosecutors.

Her frustration escalated after an incident in which she attempted to drown and burn DeLisas cat, a behavior that raised alarms about her mental well-being, prosecutors said.

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The day of the killing, White allegedly went to a job interview in Denver and then texted DeLisa about it while she was returning home on the bus.

Prosecutors said that during their text exchange, DeLisa expressed skepticism about her chances of getting the job, which upset White.

According to prosecutors, White began talking to a stranger on the bus who told her his name was Scott.

Scott asked if she was in a relationship with a man and whether he raped her, prosecutors said. White responded that he had, and Scott then said they must kill him.

The two got off the bus and walked to Whites home, where Scott told DeLisa he was Whites brother from Texas, prosecutors said.

DeLisa was shot twice in the head and then robbed of his wallet. His body was found during a welfare check the following day.

White and Scott spent a couple of days together before Scott moved on, per the press release. They never saw each other again.

White was later arrested and charged with the killing.

Three years after the murder, a woman came forward alleging her boyfriend Michael Stratton, who was in custody for the killing of a man in Pueblo, may have been "Scott."

Her description of Strattons confession matched Whites account of the crime, prosecutors said.

Stratton was deemed incompetent to stand trial in the Pueblo murder case and has not been charged in connection with DeLisas murder, prosecutors said.

White is scheduled for sentencing on April 4. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.



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Dutch police have arrested three people in connection with a museum heist that saw thieves blow open a door with explosives before stealing four priceless ancient artifacts, including an approximately 2,500-year-old gold helmet on loan from Romania.

Officials in the Netherlands published the names and photographs of two of the suspects, Douglas Chesley Wendersteyt and Bernhard Zeeman, on Thursday, less than a week after the heist at Drents Museum in Assen, roughly 80 miles northeast of Amsterdam. The third person, a woman, was not named by police.

All three suspects hail from the city of Heerhugowaard in the Netherlands, police said, more than 70 miles from the museum.

The daring heist occurred during the early hours of Saturday morning, according to Dutch police, who received a report of an explosion at 3:45 a.m. local time. Grainy CCTV footage shows suspects opening an exterior door before a blast sends sparks and smoke into the air.

Among the stolen items, which have not yet been recovered, are three 2,000-year-old gold bracelets and the Helmet of Cotofenesti, a historically important item on loan from the National History Museum of Romania. Dutch police have described finding the artifacts as their absolute priority, appealing for information from the public.

Investigators say they tracked down the suspects after discovering a bag containing clothing in Assen. They also searched properties in Heerhugowaard.

Police are appealing for information about a black van, which they say may have been driven by one of the thieves following the heist, as well as various tools used during the break-in  including hammers and a crowbar. Officials have released images of another man, seen at a hardware store in Assen, who is also linked to the heist.

The four stolen items were part of an exhibition about the Dacians, an ancient society that occupied much of present-day Romania before being conquered by the Romans.

Drents Museum describes the Helmet of Cotofenesti  which was uncovered in a Romanian village almost a century ago  as a masterpiece. Its design features mythological scenes and a pair of golden eyes that were thought to deter enemies during battle, while protecting against the evil eye.

Considered a Romanian national treasure, its theft has sparked consternation among Romanian officials and fears that the gold helmet, which weighs around two pounds, would be melted down.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has hailed the artifacts as having exceptional cultural and historical importance, according to the Associated Press, and said their disappearance had a strong emotional and symbolic impact on society.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also said the Romanian government had not authorized the loan and that he will seek damages from the Netherlands if they are not recovered, according to CNN affiliate Antena 3.

Stolen items from Drents Museum in Assen. - Dutch Police

Romanias Culture Minister Natalia-Elena Intotero said she had dismissed the National History Museums director, Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, over his handling of the crisis, Antena 3 reported.

Oberlander-Tarnoveanu had earlier called the heist an incident that even in our most pessimistic dreams, we would not have believed possible, according to the AP.

CNN has reached out to Romanias National History Museum and the Drents Museum.

Drents Museum has remained closed since the heist but is due to reopen to the public Friday. Its premises were damaged by the explosion, though no injuries were reported.

The museums general director, Harry Tupan, described the incident as a dark day  both for his institution and the National History Museum of Romania.

In a statement Wednesday, Drents Museum welcomed the arrests as hopeful news.

The safe return of the stolen artifacts would be a fantastic next step for all involved. Not only for us, but especially for the Romanian people, the museum said.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former senior adviser to the U.S. Federal Reserve, John Harold Rogers, was arrested on charges he conspired to steal Fed trade secrets for the benefit of China, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

Rogers, who worked as a senior adviser in the Fed's division of international finance from 2010 until 2021, allegedly shared confidential information with Chinese co-conspirators who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and posed as graduate students.

A judge ordered Rogers to be held until a detention hearing next Tuesday, according to a U.S. Attorney's office spokesperson.

A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment. An attorney for Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Chinese Embassy spokesperson said the embassy was not familiar with the specifics of this case but added that "China is a country that upholds the rule of law."

The spokesperson added that China did not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

"We oppose any smear and attack on China with so-called 'spy risks'," the spokesperson added.

The Fed's international finance division is responsible for basic research, policy analysis, and reporting in the areas of foreign economic activity, U.S. external trade and capital flows, and developments in international financial markets and institutions, according to the U.S. central bank's website.

Starting in 2018, Rogers allegedly began soliciting confidential information including economic data and sensitive information about interest-rate deliberations, and then passed it on to co-conspirators while pretending to teach classes in China, according to the indictment.

Rogers received payments for airfare, lodging and dining during his travel to China, and was offered a payment for a beach vacation, the indictment said.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder, Douglas Gillison, Ann Saphir; Editing by Alistair Bell and Himani Sarkar)
Novo Nordisk has ballooned to become one of Europes most valuable companies, thanks to skyrocketing sales of Ozempic, the diabetes medicine thats grown into a worldleading weight-loss drug.

Our waistlines have also balloonedand not just from the excesses of the festive period. Novo Nordisk estimates there are 1 billion people worldwide suffering from obesity, and already an estimated 8 million people are trusting next-generation weight-loss drugs like Ozempic to shed those extra pounds.

Novo Nordisks rapid rise is a story worth celebrating. The pharma giant ranks No. 116 on the Fortune 500 Europe list and appears on the latest Worlds Most Admired Companies list. In recent years, few European companies have achieved global scale at such a pace. Novo Nordisks valuation briefly surpassed the entire economy of its home country, Denmark, in late 2024, and Ozempic remains the overwhelming market leader, despite challenges from American juggernauts like Eli Lilly.

Novo Nordisks outsize success raises a bigger question: When is a company too big to fail? As Ryan Hogg explores Denmarks economy would have entered negative growth in 2023 if it werent for the countrys pharmaceuticals sector, dominated largely by Novo Nordisk. And when disappointing clinical trial results for the companys new weight-loss drug were revealed, its share price tanked by almost 20%, wiping billions off its market capitalization.

Novo Nordisks outsize success raises a bigger question: When is a company too big to fail?

Its a problem that has plagued European governments for decades, from the credit-crunch bank bailouts of 2008 to more recent rescue packages for the likes of Lufthansa (9 billion) and Air FranceKLM (7.7 billion), after those airlines were battered by pandemic-era lockdowns.

Nokia provides a cautionary tale for Denmark and Novo Nordisk. Once a market leader in mobile phones, Nokia contributed 25% of Finlands GDP growth before the smartphone era. When Nokias models succumbed to Apples iPhone, Nokia took down much of the Finnish economy with it, coining the term the Nokia effect.

Despite this, Nokia, like many tech-first businesses, left a legacy of innovation that lives on in many new companies. In that spirit, we celebrate Europes Most Influential Women in Tech, our inaugural list of female leaders driving digital transformation across the biggest businesses. Curated by Fortunes Grethe Schepers, the list proudly showcases titans of tech like Sabine Klauke, CTO of Airbus; Barbara Lavernos, deputy CEO at LOreal; and Hauke Stars, on the executive board of Volkswagen.

Diageo, the drinks empire behind Guinness, Don Julio, and Johnnie Walker whisky, grew into a global powerhouse through both innovation and smart acquisitions. In the first of her series of features on European companies that have grown global brands, Prarthana Prakash reveals Diageos fascinating history and the strategies it used to take on the worlds biggest drink companies.

This issue also features a special package of stories to help you navigate the Trump presidency and what it could mean for global business. With the threat of tariffs looming, 2025 may just call for a stiff drink.

Alex Wood Morton

Executive Editor, Europe, Fortune

@alexwoodmorton

This article appears in the February/March 2025 issue of Fortune with the headline A Cautionary Tale for Europe".

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Google's own security researchers say hackers are using the company's Gemini AI model to help streamline aspects of cyberattacks. (Andrey Rudakov/BloombergGetty Images)

Hello and welcome to Eye on AI. In todays editionA Google report reveals how malicious actors are using Gemini to hack faster and more efficiently; Microsoft quickly moves to offer DeepSeeks R1 to Azure customers; OpenAI launches ChatGPT for government; and much more.

If a technology can be at all useful for cyber attacks, hackers will without a doubt add it to their toolbox. So its no surprise that hacking groups have jumped on AI, just as everyone else has. But now we have some details about exactly how government-backed malicious actors are leveraging the technology, including AI tools built by U.S. companies.

Googles Threat Intelligence Group yesterday published a report detailing how hacking groups associated with China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, and over a dozen other countries have been using the companys Gemini chatbot to assist with their operations. The researchers found the AI chatbot is being used for both hacking activity (like espionage and computer network attacks) and coordinated efforts to influence online audiences.

Overall, Gemini was helpful in supporting several phases of an attack, including research, creating malicious content, and planning evasion strategies. But, as of now, hackers have not been able to use Gemini to generate novel attack methods, according to the report. Hacking groups from Iran and China used Gemini the most, relying on the chatbot for a wide variety of tasks from researching military targets to malicious scriptingover 20 Chinese groups and 10 Iranian groups were observed using Gemini.

The findings come as geopolitical concerns around AI are reaching new heights, sparked by the release of R1 from DeepSeek, which appears to have overcome the roadblock of U.S. sanctions and built a model with similar capabilities to leading U.S. AI systems while being trained without top-of-the-line AI hardware and at only a fraction of the cost.

Hackers tap AI for research, coding, content generation, and more

According to the report, the vast majority of activity observed by the researchers involved using AI to accelerate their campaigns. This includes actions like using Gemini to troubleshoot code for malware, generate phishing emails, and create and localize content.

They also used Gemini for research, including investigating potential infrastructure, vulnerabilities, target organizations, evasion techniques, and more. For example, the report describes how China-backed groups used Gemini to research U.S. military and U.S.-based IT organizations, U.S. government network ranges, and publicly available information about U.S. intelligence personnel. North Korean groups were observed researching nuclear power plants in South Korea, cyber forces of foreign militaries, historic cyber events, and malware development.

In fewer cases, the Google researchers observed malicious actors instructing Gemini to take malicious actions and attempting to circumvent its guardrails. In one example described in the report, a group input different publicly available jailbreak prompts in an attempt to get Gemini to output Python code for a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) tool. Others sought to use Gemini to abuse Google products, including researching techniques for Gmail phishing and bypassing Google's account verification methods. Google says its safety responses restricted such content and that attempts to use Gemini to abuse Google products were unsuccessful.

No new threatsfor now

The other point made clear in the report is that while government-backed hacking groups are finding plenty of ways to hack more efficiently with AI, they were not observed using AI to discover new code vulnerabilities or develop unprecedented ways of orchestrating attacks.

Rather than enabling disruptive change, generative AI allows threat actors to move faster and at higher volume, reads the report, also noting that it allows less-skilled actors to more quickly develop their tools and skills.

This, of course, could change as AI further develops, becomes more integrated into the world, and hacking groups gain more experience experimenting with it. The cloud completely upended the cyberthreat landscape, greatly expanding how malicious actors could hack and exploit. AI will be probably even more transformative in changing how companies and governments operate, how data is exchanged, how information is learned, and how we interact with the internet, software, and our devices.

This does mean that there is a high risk of AI being used for hacking and espionage operations in new ways. Even if were not seeing evidence of this right now, we shouldnt get complacent about this threat.

And with that, heres more AI news.

Sage Lazzaro

sage.lazzaro@consultant.fortune.com

sagelazzaro.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hamas has handed over three Israelis and five Thai nationals in chaotic scenes at multiple locations in Gaza, as part of the latest phase of a fragile ceasefire deal.

Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, both civilians, an Israeli female soldier Agam Berger, 20, and five Thai citizens were released among massive crowds in the north and the south of the Gaza Strip. Later, they crossed into Israel where the Israelis were reunited with their families, while the Thai workers were met by members of the consulate.

Ms Berger was the first to be released in northern Gaza. Hours later, in southern Gaza in chaotic scenes that sparked uproar in Israel, huge crowds gathered at the second handover sight located at the destroyed home of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in Khan Younis. There hundreds of Palestinians swarmed heavily armed militants as they fought through the scrum to deliver a visibly shaken Ms Yehoud, 29, to Red Cross vehicles.

The releases were part of the first phase of this Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which will see 33 hostages freed for up to 1,900 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails across six weeks.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the chaos around Ms Yehouds handover shocking and temporarily suspended the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners over Hamass handling of the incident.

Mr Netanyahu said: I demand that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages. Whoever dares to harm our hostages will pay the price.

He later said that he had received such a commitment and the prison releases began later on Thursday afternoon.

Arbel Yehoud is handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza (AP)

Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi is freed by the Israeli authorities (AP)

There appeared to be no live images of Mr Mosess release, but he was pictured later. He is among the oldest remaining hostages in Gaza. His family members told The Independent last week he suffered from numerous medical issues.

The release of the five Thai nationals  which was not officially part of the deal  was also not widely televised. Israel named them as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak.

More than 30 Thai farm workers were taken hostage on 7 October, 2023, in the Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza. Around 1,200 people were killed during the assault according to the Israelis, while 251 more, including the eight released today, were taken hostage.

Israels retaliatory air and ground offensive in Gaza in the 15 months since then has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly 2 million people.

Eight of the 33 hostages slated for release in the first phase are dead, the Israeli government said this week. Five Israeli civilians and five soldiers  all women  as well five Thai nationals not included in the original deal, have been released so far in the ceasefire, which began on 19 January. The next hostage release is scheduled for Saturday. In return, Israel has released 290 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Gadi Moses, 80, is released by Hamas (AP)

Earlier in Jabalia, northern Gaza, Ms Berger, 20, a military spotter, was filmed emerging from a heavily damaged building before walking onto a stage where she waved at the crowd. Ms Berger had reportedly arrived at the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel just two days before Hamass 7 October attack during which she was captured.

A video from Ms Bergers family home showed dozens of people celebrating as they watched her being released.

Family members and supporters of Israeli captive, Agam Berger, celebrate in Holon as she is released (Reuters)

This is the happiest moment of my life, one of Ms Bergers relatives told Israeli outlet Channel 12. Now we can breathe again.

Ms Bergers family said in a statement: Thank God we have reached this moment, and our hero Agam has returned to us after 482 days in enemy hands.Later the family of Ms Yehoud shared a photo of the family aboard an Israeli helicopter.

Gadi Moses with his three children (Reuters)

Ms Yehoud, who appeared in a video by the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad this week, was taken with her partner Ariel Cunio. Mr Cunio, together with his brother David, remains inside Gaza and is not included in the list of releases for the first part of the ceasefire deal. Ms Yehouds brother Dolev was killed during the 7 October assault.

Our mission is not yet complete. Ariel, Arbels partner, is still held captive in Gaza. So are his brother David, their good friend Sasha, the other hostages from Nir Oz, and all our loved ones, the family wrote. We will not rest until all hostages are released. We urge everyone not to let this open door close. Everyone must be brought home immediately so that we can heal as a society.

The family of Gadi Moses also shared a photo, showing the frail grandfather with his three children.

At Hostages Square, a rallying point in Tel Aviv, a group representing those held in Gaza clutched around huge screens playing the live images. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters called the hostage transfer harrowing adding our hearts were gripped with fear. They once again called for all the hostages to be released.

Ms Berger is believed to be the last female Israeli solider still left inside Gaza. She had been captured alongside her fellow observers Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy, who have all been released already.

Ms Yehud is the last female civilian hostage that Israel believes is most likely alive. Another civilian woman, Shiri Bibas, remains in Gaza after she was abducted from Nir Oz with her two young sons, Ariel, who was four at the time, and Kfir, who was nine months. The Israeli military has expressed grave concern for the lives of Ms Bibas and her children, though their deaths have not been confirmed.

Agam Berger was flanked by dozens of Hamas militants as she was released in Jabalia, northern Gaza (Reuters)

The partner of Mr Moses, one of the oldest remaining hostages, was also killed by Hamas on 7 October. His ex-wife Margalit Moses, initially a hostage, was released during the first week-long ceasefire deal in November 2023.

Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, families of the detainees waited anxiously for news of the releases after the delay. Scuffles erupted around Ofer prison with Palestinian teenagers throwing stones outside the complex and Israeli forces firing tear gas as they tried to clear the area.

Prisoners were finally released in the afternoon in white buses, with windshields shattered from the clashes. On board is expected to be 30 serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis and 30 minors, the youngest just 15 years old.

Among those seen leaving Ofer prison was Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former militant leader and theatre director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 before being rearrested days later. In a grey prison sweatsuit, he flashed a victory sign at the crowds.

The ceasefire deal, brokered by United States, Egypt and Qatar after a year of tough negotiations, has been fraught with delays and at several points has floundered.

Israel said Ms Yehoud, who Palestinian militant factions initially accused of being a combatant, was supposed to have been freed last Saturday and delayed the opening of crossings to northern Gaza when she was not. After an agreement, brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, was pushed through late on Sunday to release her on Thursday, Israel opened the crossing, known as the Netzarim corridor, the following morning.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians then began returning to their homes in the north of the territory, much of which has been destroyed by more than 15 months of war.
Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Your trailer hitch will be stolen without securing it.

A New York man has been arrested after he allegedly admitted to killing his teenage daughter because he did not approve of her TikTok content.

The victim, 14-year-old Hira Anwar from New York, was killed allegedly by her father in Quetta, Pakistan, near the Afghan border, according to police, BBC and the New York Times reported.

Hiras father, Anwar-ul-Haq, allegedly admitted to killing his daughter on Monday, Jan. 27, because he found her TikTok videos objectionable, police said, according to BBC and CNN.

Our investigation so far has found that the family had an objection to her dressing, lifestyle, and social gathering, said police investigator Zohaib Mohsin, according to BBC.

Hira, police said, was allegedly lured out of the country under the guise of visiting extended family in Pakistan, per NYT.

According to BBC and CNN, Haq had recently moved his family to his native Pakistan after living for 25 years in New York, where Hira was born and raised.

When she lived in the U.S., Hira began creating TikTok content he found objectionable, her father told police, per BBC.

He said she continued making content on the social media platform after they moved to Pakistan, CNN reported. Hira's family did not approve of her dressing, lifestyle and social gathering, officials told BBC.

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Haq has been charged with murder, per BBC, CNN and NYT. In Pakistan, where similar homicides are called "honor-killing," he could face a mandatory life imprisonment if convicted.



Plea and attorney information for Haq were not available. It wasnt immediately clear if Haq, a U.S. citizen, will be extradited back to the U.S. or if the State Department is investigating. PEOPLE has reached out to the American consulate in Islamabad for further information.

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.



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The next three people to be released from Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas include the father of the youngest hostage and a dual US national.

A spokesperson for Hamas military wing said that Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, will be released in the next exchange, expected on Saturday.

Ninety Palestinians, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be released in return.

Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of conflict, 33 hostages held by the Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, are detained by Israel without charge. Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 Palestinians have so far been exchanged.

From left to right: Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon are due to be released this weekend (AFP via Getty Images)

The war was triggered by an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken captive. Israel's retaliatory offensive inside Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry, and laid waste to the territory home to 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.

Mr Bibas is the father of baby Kfir, only nine months old when he was kidnapped on 7 October, and Ariel, who was four at the time of the cross-border attack. Mr Bibass wife, Shiri, the mother of the two children, was also taken at the same time.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir remain unaccounted for amid grave concerns over their wellbeing, with the likely release of Mr Bibas marking a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the Bibas familys release.

Video of Shiri holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the Hamas attack.

Under the latest ceasefire agreement, living women and children were supposed to be freed first, but Ariel and Kfir were the only children being held who were not released in a previous week-long truce in November 2023. Hamas says that Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the conflict. Israel has not confirmed that claim, but last week the military said there were grave concerns about what has happened to them.

A destroyed mosque in Nuseirat, Gaza (AP)

Relatives of the Bibas family said in a statement: We said then, and we say now: we hold on to hope and continue waiting for their return. We await clarity regarding their condition.

The second hostage to be released this weekend, Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, was seen in a video released by Hamas last year. His wife was released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

Ofer Kalderon's two children, Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were also released in the first exchange.

This weekends exchange will be the fourth iteration of the tentative peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

On Thursday, Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza while Israel freed 110 Palestinians.

But the exchange sparked anger in Israel after footage showed some of the hostages in Gaza being surrounded by crowds. The release of the Palestinian prisoners was delayed as a result.

Arbel Yehoud is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross (AP)

Whoever dares to harm our captives, his blood will be on his head, wrote Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the swap.

The exchange on Thursday had been born out of a disagreement between Israel and Hamas after the last living female hostage, Arbel Yehoud, was not included in the exchange the previous weekend. Israel responded by delaying the opening of the Netzarim corridor to northern Gaza until the start of this week, effectively preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from returning home.

The US, Egypt and Qatar brokered Thursdays swap, breaking with the informal tradition of carrying out the exchanges on the weekends, to ensure the corridor was opened.

It was Ms Yehoud who was then surrounded by crowds on Thursday before she was released, prompting anger from the Israeli government.

The Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be released on the weekend include 30 minors and some convicted members of Palestinian groups responsible for deadly attacks that have killed dozens of people in Israel.

More talks on the implementation of the second stage of the deal, due to begin by 4 February, are meant to open the way to the release of over 60 other hostages, including men of military age, and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.

If that succeeds, a formal end to the war could follow along with talks on the monumental challenge of reconstructing Gaza.
As federal officials continue investigating what caused the deadliest U.S. air crash in almost a quarter century, understanding what happened inside the Army Black Hawk helicopter  and exactly what altitude it was flying at when it collided with a passenger jet  will likely be key to unraveling the disaster, aviation experts say.

A pair of seasoned Army pilots were at the controls, with a third aviator seated behind them for a routine mission in clear weather on Wednesday  part of an annual evaluation to test a pilots knowledge and proficiency in the cockpit, officials said. The flight path, too, was a familiar one: The buzz of military helicopters is a constant above Washington, D.C.

And yet the training flight ended in a fireball in the night sky as the UH-60 Black Hawk slammed into a commercial airliner carrying 64 people, leaving no survivors.

Publicly available data reviewed by NBC News suggests the Army helicopter may have been flying too high at the time of the crash, but investigators cautioned against drawing conclusions before theyre able to analyze official flight data.

Investigators have recovered flight data recorders, or black boxes, from the American Eagle jet and the helicopter, which should provide the exact altitude at impact and other details.

Theres a lot of experts out there, but until we get the data from the black boxes, thats the only truth, and we wont know that for a little bit, said Jonathan Koziol, a senior Army aviation adviser whos helping with the investigation.

U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

Prior to the collision, both aircraft were in transition, according to officials with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation. American Eagle Flight 5342 was descending to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; the Army helicopter was shifting from one flight path to another, a common move often performed in the busy airspace above the nations capital. The passenger jets last known altitude was logged at about 375 feet, according to the aircraft tracking website FlightAware. But helicopters generally are not permitted to fly above 200 feet near Reagan, under Federal Aviation Administration rules.

Tim Loranger, an aviation attorney and former U.S. Marine Corps aircraft mechanic, said the publicly available data suggests the passenger jet was exactly where it was supposed to be, at the altitude that it was supposed to be and that the Army helicopter was not. If those findings are confirmed by the official flight data, Loranger said, it will open a host of additional questions.

Investigators, he said, will want to know if a mechanical problem with the helicopters instruments provided the pilots with incorrect altitude data. Theyll be asking whether the air traffic controller noticed a problem with the helicopters altitude and gave clear instructions to correct the issue. And theyll be scrutinizing whether the Army pilots had logged sufficient flight hours in recent months to stay proficient.

Flying aircraft, its not like riding a bicycle, said Loranger, who has represented family members of service members killed in military aircraft crashes. You have to continuously do it in order to maintain your sharpness and your skills as a pilot.

Koziol, the Army aviation adviser, said the instructor pilot had about 1,000 flying hours and the co-pilot, who was undergoing the evaluation, had about 500 hours.

That is an experienced crew, he said. That is right on target. When asked when either of them had last flown, Koziol said he did not know.

The Army on Friday identified two out of the three Black Hawk crew members as Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara.

The Army said OHara is believed to be dead, pending positive identification of his body, and that the remains of the two other soldiers have not yet been recovered. No one on the passenger jet survived. Local officials said Friday that 41 sets of remains have been recovered and that 28 victims have been identified so far.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the fatal collision, is also probing the passenger jet, flight paths and air traffic control operations.

An air traffic control supervisor in the tower at Reagan National let a controller end their shift early, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News. That left one controller to handle both plane and helicopter traffic in the area, which is allowed under FAA regulations but not typical for that time of day at Reagan.

And theyre looking into whether the airspace above Washington, D.C., could be too crowded.

Reagan airport was designed for 15 million passengers annually, but now handles roughly 25 million people each year, according to airport officials. There has been a discussion for years between airport officials and elected leaders about whether air traffic safety is impacted by this dramatic increase.

Danger is inherent in military aviation. During combat and rescue operations, pilots often must navigate treacherous conditions under intense pressure; training flights designed to prepare them for those missions carry their own hazards, and some experts warn the risks have been growing in recent years. In fiscal year 2024, the Army recorded the highest number of serious aviation accidents in a decade, including one involving a Black Hawk.

Another open question is whether the Army aviators were wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the crash. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video posted to X that the Black Hawk pilots did have night vision goggles. However, it is not clear whether the aviators were using them. The devices can aid pilots as they navigate dark terrain, but some experts say they could limit a pilots vision in a brightly lit, congested airspace.

It would just be a bright mass of light, and it would be very distracting, and it would be very dangerous to fly in that with the night-vision goggles in that area, Loranger said.

Rodney Sangsland, an Army veteran who spent 20 years training new pilots on Black Hawks after his retirement from the military, disagreed. Sangsland said hes logged over 5,000 hours of flying with night-vision goggles, including in illuminated areas. Although the goggles can limit a pilots range of vision, he said pilots are trained to continuously scan their surroundings.

I believe in them, he said. Theyre a lifesaver.

In the wake of this weeks disaster, some officials are questioning the appropriateness of conducting military training missions near a busy airport. Daniel Driscoll, President Donald Trumps nominee to lead the U.S. Army, said at his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he planned to review the protocols.

There are appropriate times to take risk, and there are inappropriate times to take risk, Driscoll said. I dont know the details around this one, but after doing it, if confirmed, and working with this committee to figure out the facts, I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near, at an airport like Reagan.

The Black Hawk involved in the crash was from the Armys Bravo Company, of the 12th Aviation Battalion in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, officials said. The unit is tasked with flying senior government officials in and out of D.C., including in the event of an emergency, Koziol said.

They have to be familiar with all the routes around the capital, Koziol said. Theres a lot of rules. They have to be proficient.

Sangsland, the retired Black Hawk pilot, said he didnt want to speculate about what may have caused the crash.

Regardless of what went wrong, he disagreed with any suggestion that Army helicopters should be restricted from the airspace. The mission of flying high-ranking officials and dignitaries is too important.

That mission requires helicopters to fly that route, he said. If youre going to fly that route, where else can you train?
Joan Collins is to play Wallis Simpson in a biopic about the American socialite whose relationship with the British King led to his abdication.

The 91-year-old actress revealed that the cameras will soon start rolling for the film, entitled The Bitter End.

She posted a split panel of two black and white images on Instagram of herself and Simpson, who became the Duchess of Windsor after she married King Edward VIII following his abdication.

King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 in order to marry Wallis Simpson. The pair were later known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. - AP

Collins said: Im delighted to be playing #wallissimpson the #duchessofwindsor in an untold story about her final years, to start shooting soon in London and Paris.

The news was greeted with much excitement from Collins Instagram followers. One wrote: This is going to be great  Ive always been so curious about those final years for her.

Another said: This will be extraordinary! And no one could play the role more exquisitely than you @joancollinsdbe ! Just phenomenal!

Filming is set to begin in May of this year, when the actress, who famously played the scheming Alexis Colby in 80s soap Dynasty, turns 92.

Collins, 91, shot to fame in Dynasty in the 1980s, playing the beautiful, conniving Alexis Colby. - ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Edward VIII scandalized British society in 1936 when he stepped away from the throne in order to marry Simpson, an American divorcee.

Simpson was born Bessie Wallis Warfield in Pennsylvania in 1896. She lived in London in the 1930s with her second husband, Ernest Simpson. It was during this period that she met the prince, who became King on the death of his father, George V, in 1936.

Edward abdicated after just 10 months on the throne, sparking a constitutional crisis that led to the coronation of his younger brother, George VI  father of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Edward and Wallis, who went on to be known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, were married in France in 1937, and spent most of the rest of their lives there. In 1953, they moved into Villa Windsor, a 14-room mansion, in the Boulogne woods of western Paris. The duke died in 1972, while his wife continued to live there in increasing isolation and declining health until her death in 1986.

Wallis Simpson at her home near Paris in 1974 - two years after her husband's death - Wolfgang Kuhn/United Archives/Getty Images

The film promises to tell the shocking untold story of the last years of Wallis Simpson, according to production firm John Gore Studios.

Currently in pre-production, the films script has been written by Louise Fennell, the mother of actress and screenwriter Emerald Fennell, who played Camilla Parker Bowles in Netflixs The Crown.

The Bitter End is set to be directed by Mike Newell, whose previous credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

CNN royal commentator Kate Williams contributed to this article.

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Madagascar Heron (Ardea humbloti) adult standing in lake, Madagascan endemic, endangered Lac Ravelobe, Ampijoroa Forest Station, Ankarafantsika Reserve, Madagascar November  Neil Bowman/Shutterstock.com

The Madagascar heron, also known as Humblots heron, is a species of heron endemic to the north and west coasts of Madagascar. It is also natively present in the Comoro Islands and Mayotte. Due to a declining population, experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included the bird on its Endangered Species Red List in 2016. Lets look at the history of this gorgeous bird and how we can help its population recover in its endemic region.

What Is the Madagascar Heron?

Agami Photo Agency/Shutterstock.com

Known scientifically as Ardea humbloti, the Madagascar heron was added to the red list in 2016 following a review of the populations size at the time. A team assessed the species for inclusion in the endangered species lists on October 1, 2016, and has not received a reassessment since. The IUCN believes that, within the native ranges in Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, and Mayotte, there are less than 1,000 mature Madagascar herons and that the population continues to decline in the present.

One of the primary traits of the Madagascar heron is its wide range. It is classified as a terrestrial, freshwater, or marine animal, depending on the situation. Forests, inland wetlands, marine neritic, marine intertidal, and marine coastal/supratidal areas are all adequate for this bird. It can also live in artificial terrestrial zones designated for it. Since it is not a migratory species, relocating the species to more habitable areas would have to be intentional and human-directed. Unfortunately, its natural habitat is in decline as well, resulting in less habitable land for the species. There are many sources of habitat destruction for the Madagascar heron, which we will detail going forward.

Threats Facing the Madagascar Heron

The Madagascar heron faces a wide variety of external threats to its existence, the largest being agriculture and aquaculture expansion into its habitat. Expansion of perennial and annual non-timber farms in the area can result in major habitat destruction for animals like the Madagascar heron. In addition to agricultural and aquacultural expansion, human disturbances when crossing through heron habitats can cause the birds to face danger and stress, which can shorten lifespans and affect breeding behaviors. Climate change and severe weather disturbances also put stress on the species, causing mass deaths or habitat destruction.

In addition to threats from the climate and agriculture, there is also the danger from poaching and hunting, which can sometimes target the Madagascar herons already dwindling population. Hunting and trapping, logging and wood harvesting, and fishing and other aquatic resource use can result in accidental killing or habitat destruction. Finally, pollution poses a significant risk to the Madagascar heron. The introduction of pollutants can have widespread effects on large areas of land, making them uninhabitable for the local flora and fauna. Locals in the area also kill the birds for food from time to time, but experts do not consider this a significant risk compared to poaching.

How You Can Help

Pav-Pro Photography Ltd/Shutterstock.com

While most of the conservation efforts for the Madagascar heron requires more money and reach than the average person has available to them, there are still a few ways to get involved. The IUCN has implemented an action recovery plan that details the steps the organization plans to take regarding the conservation and repopulation of the species. Still, theres a great need for additional funding to provide the necessary equipment and materials and to provide the ability for the organization to plan charity events and lobby for legislation to protect the species.

In addition to donations and attending charity events, citizens can participate in the education aspect of nature conservation. One of the biggest barriers to funding and legislation is a lack of public knowledge about nature conservation and its impacts. A great resource to learn more is heronconservation.org. By educating others through social media posts and in-person avenues, citizens can influence the outreach and impact legislation choices made by national and international bodies that impact this species.

The post There are Less Than 1,000 of These Birds Left in the Wild appeared first on A-Z Animals.
These guys finally went bust.

Five Mafia members and associates pleaded guilty to running an illegal online betting operation that made nearly $25 million in profits over the past 25 years, officials said.

The reputed members and associates of the Lucchese organized crime family had been raking in the scharole with their Rhino Sports since the early 2000s  and serve as a warning that the traditional La Cosa Nostra is still around, the Eastern District U.S. attorneys office said.

Illegal gambling businesses require enforcement and protection from mob rivals that carry the persistent threat of violence, said U.S. Attorney John J. Durham in a statement announcing the guilty pleas.

U.S. Attorney John J. Durhams statement announcing the guilty pleas. Facebook/U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York

The New York Field Office of the FBI urged the public not to ignore the dangers of organized crime just because the headlines are less flashy than in the past.

However, the men pleading guilty in this case illustrate how entrenched the traditional mafia are in their noxious and familiar criminality, said James E. Dennehy, assistant director in charge of the New York field office.

Anthony Villani, a reputed Lucchese crime family soldier, pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to pay $4 million in forfeiture and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Anthony Villani, a reputed Lucchese crime family soldier, pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering and illegal gambling. REUTERS

Villani, a 60-year-old resident of Elmsford, owned and operated Rhino Sports, an online business employing Mafia figures as local bookmakers. The operation, which was based in the Bronx and Westchester county, collected at least $1 million annually, taking bets from anywhere between 400 and 1,300 individuals on any given week.

The other defendants, some of whom were employed by Villani, took money from the gambling business and purchased fake money orders under false names, according to prosecutors.

These money orders were payable to one of Villanis property companies to look like legitimate rental payments.

While the five defendants are now awaiting sentencing, a sixth defendant remains at large.
Basi Affia can take you to another world, a universe set 300 years in the future, where Earth is known as Alkebulan, the Kupaa Initiative is expanding humanity and Astral Knights battle a villain in outer space. And all of the main characters are Black.

Affia created Universe 528, his world of sci-fi graphic novels and web-based motion comics, through his company, Sensiil Studios, which he calls Iowas first Black-owned comic book company. In his studio on Keo Way in Des Moines in the same building as Northern Vessel, he escapes into a futuristic universe with graphic novels that follow complex storylines involving space exploration, religious themes, and character development.

On Feb. 1, he releases his newest graphic novel, Aaru En Duat: Ascension, with an author appearance at Beaverdale Books on Feb. 3, where hell sign copies and sell his collection of books.

Basi Affia poses for a portrait at Sensi'il Studios on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Des Moines.

"Did you know that about one-third of anime's fanbase is the Pan-African community?" he wrote on his website. "Yet only 5% of the characters reflect that. As Iowa and Nebraska's first Black comic book publisher, Sensi'il Studios aspires to bring authentic representation to the science fiction and fantasy genres. ...Sensi'il Studios is a space where Pan-African people can see themselves in the future, and see that they have a future, by producing stories with Black lead characters."

Getting to this point in his career  with the graphic novels in the Universe 528 collection as well as another graphic novel written in a joint project with NASCAR driver Colin Garrett's 11/11 Veteran Project called "Regicide: Havoc"  is giving Affia, 27, a chance to help other Black graphic novelists get their works published.

Right now, he's working with an author on the East Coast to publish a book. That's in between working with creative groups such as GenieMixedIt in the music industry, acting with the Pyramid Theatre Group, and modeling. He's also married to Carol Wachuka White, who shares studio space with him for her permanent makeup company, MainBrows, and two children, Azriel, 5, and Elijah, 2, who both appear as characters in his books.

His 2025 agenda includes plans to pen more chapters of his Universe 528 series and attend Comic Con events, including the show in Des Moines in late May, and the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market, where he sells his novels. He's working feverishly on a webtoon that he is entering in a competition in March.

Basi, whose legal name is Aniekanabasi White, was born in Des Moines, attended Lincoln High School and participated in Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After he graduated, he entered the National Guard, serving for three years as a religious affairs specialist.

I've been blessed to have experiences and relationships with people from a lot of different paths of life, he said from his studio while putting the finishing touches on his new novel. I was just very well-traveled. There was a lot of diversity growing up for me.

Read more: Shopping at thrift stores is trendy. What are the best, worst cities to thrift?

Basi Affia's merchandise, art and graphic novels are seen at Sensi'il Studios on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Des Moines.

Friends stayed at his home, becoming like family. His blended family  two siblings who are six and eight years older than him as well as half-siblings  are like friends. His father, who flips houses, taught him the ins and outs of business.

The benefit of having an entrepreneurial family is that there's all these lessons and mindsets and things that I picked up on very early on, he said. My dad had us reading books and listening to audiobooks on our trips when I was 9, 10, 11 years old, teaching us assets, liabilities, different types of business.

He said the turning point for his writing career as a graphic novelist came four years ago at a Comic Con event in Omaha, where he met Fabrice Sapolsky, who created the Spider Noir character for Marvel. He asked him to critique his first book, Lost With All Hands.

Be careful if you ask somebody to do that because it hurts so good, Affia said. It was such good criticism, and it hurt so good.

Affia reworked his novel, changed the lettering, redid panels. He grew.

All the stuff that I've learned from four years ago to now has really, really paid off, Affia said. I learned how to separate the art from the artist. I learned to not take things personally in the professional realm. And in a way, I do take it personally, but I want to be the best version of me that I can be, and in order to do that, I can't take this personally. I just have to take it for the craft that it is.

Now Affia is ready to release his latest book, with plans to build an entire universe with the characters he created.

I've had probably, like 1,000 years worth of stuff established for four years now, he said. I've built out the galaxy, I've placed characters in that setting, and the story is just seeing what happens.

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The graphic novelist behind Iowa's first black-owned comic company
Nick Ut/AP Photo; Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo Sante and Kenneth Kimes

Petite and energetic, widow and philanthropist Irene Silverman was 82 when she mysteriously vanished from her multi-million-dollar townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side in the summer of 1998.

Her disappearance happened to coincide the sudden departure of a 23-year-old man and a woman in her 60s who had moved just a few weeks earlier into one of the elegantly furnished apartments that Silverman rented out in her building for up to $10,000 a month.

But there was no coincidence. It was soon discovered that Silverman's former tenants Kenny Kimes and his mother Sante, a pair of grifters wanted for a cross-country series of crimes, including the shooting death of a Los Angeles businessman named David Kazdin whose body was discovered in a Dumpster near LAX in March of 1998, according to CNN, as well as thefts and arson in Las Vegas and the Bahamas.

NYPD via Getty Irene Silverman

The story of the notorious Kimes's criminal career, culminating in the murder of Irene Silverman, as well as the manhunt that led to their arrest and 2000 conviction, is featured on Datelines The Devil Wore White, airing on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m./8 p.m. CT.



The episode features an interview with the now 49-year-old Kenny Kimes, who is serving his sentence for killing Kazdin in a prison in San Diego.

NYPD via Getty (2) Kenny and Sante Kimes

I absolutely regret my past and the ignorance of my past crimes makes we want to do better and engage in what I would call tangible contrition, he told correspondent Keith Morrison in the prison interview.

Asked what he would say the families of his victims, Kenny responded: 100 percent. I am sorry. I was an idiot and my ignorance I am ashamed of.

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.

Also interviewed for the episode include Kennys half-brother Kent Walker and Ken Holmgren, the son of one of Sante Kimes suspected murder victims.

Datelines The Devil Wore White airs on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m./8 p.m. CT.



Read the original article on People
The feds have launched a nationwide manhunt for a 32-year-old woman tied to the shooting death of a US Border Patrol agent in Vermont last week  and is linked to murders in California and Pennsylvania.

Michelle Zajko, who is described as armed and dangerous by federal authorities, is believed to have supplied the guns that killed border agent David Maland, 44, during a Jan. 20 traffic stop near the Canadian border, according to a report by the Times Union.

Two guns recovered at the scene of Malands death  .40-caliber and .380-caliber semiautomatic handguns  were purchased by Zajko at a Mount Tabor gun shop in February and allegedly used by accused killer Teresa Youngblut to gun down Maland, the outlet said.

US Border Patrol agent David Maland, 44, was shot and killed during a traffic stop near the Canadian border in Vermont on Jan. 20. AP

Authorities said US Border Patrol agent David Maland and German national Felix Bauckholt were killed in a shootout in Vermont on Jan 20. REUTERS

Federal authorities said Zajko is also sought for the January 2023 shooting deaths of her parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, inside their home in Delaware County, Pa.

According to sources and court records reviewed by The Post, Zajko is also a person of interest in another homicide, the slaying of a landlord in Vallejo, Calif.

Meanwhile, Youngblut went before a judge in federal court in Vermont on Thursday and was ordered held without bail  saying nothing during the brief hearing.

Youngblut, 21, of Washington state, was with German national Felix Bauckholt on Interstate 91 in Conventry, Vt., on Jan. 20 when they were pulled over by Maland and other agents.

The pair, allegedly part of a bizarre vegan cult calling themselves Zizians, opened fire on the agents, fatally wounding Maland and Bauckholt and injuring Youngblut.

Bauckholt was pronounced dead at the scene while Maland died at a nearby hospital.

Teresa Youngblut is charged with the murder of US Border Patrol agent David Maland in Vermont on Jan. 20. AP

The investigation has now expanded to Zajko.

Records reviewed by the Times Union indicate that Bauckholt flew into the US just hours before Zajkos parents were killed in Pennsylvania, although he has not been linked to the murders.

Youngblut has also been loosely tied to the California murder through a former beau, the outlet said.

Youngblut and Maximillian Snyder once applied for a marriage license in Washington state. Although it is unclear if the two ever exchange vows, Snyder is now charged with murder in the Vallejo slaying of an 82-year-old landlord on Jan. 17, according to the outlet.

Snyder may also be tied to the murders of Zajkos parents in Pennsylvania and was in contact with Youngblut and Bauckholt before those killings, court records show.

The US Attorneys Office in Vermont did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By Katie Paul and Stephen Nellis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese state-linked social media accounts amplified narratives celebrating the launch of Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI models last week, days before the news tanked U.S. tech stocks, according to online analysis firm Graphika.

The accounts involved in the effort, including those of Chinese diplomats, embassies and state media, amplified media coverage of the launch and promoted the idea that DeepSeek challenged U.S. dominance in the AI sector, New York-based Graphika said in a report it provided to Reuters on Thursday.

The messaging was rolled out on platforms such as Elon Musk's X and Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram, as well as Chinese services Toutiao and Weibo, Graphika said.

"This activity shows how China is able to quickly mobilize a range of actors that seed and amplify online narratives casting Beijing as surpassing the U.S. in critical areas of geopolitical competition, including the race to develop and deploy the most advanced AI technologies," Graphika Chief Intelligence Officer Jack Stubbs told Reuters.

"We've consistently seen overt and covert Chinese state-linked actors among the first movers in leveraging AI to scale their operations in the information environment."

Graphika said it also found a video featuring pro-China, anti-Western content on a YouTube channel whose activity resembled that of Shadow Play, a coordinated influence campaign involving at least 30 YouTube channels that was first identified by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2023.

YouTube owner Alphabet, Meta, X and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Graphika said it found a small spike in discussion about DeepSeek's advancements in relation to OpenAI's ChatGPT on X immediately after DeepSeek released its models on Jan. 20, followed by a much larger uptick that started on Friday and continued to build over the weekend.

By Monday, DeepSeek's free AI assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's app store and global investors dumped U.S. tech stocks, wiping $593 billion off chipmaker Nvidia's market value in a record one-day loss for any company on Wall Street.

Nvidia declined to comment on the Graphika report.

DeepSeek's researchers claim to have developed aspects of their AI model at a far lower cost than U.S. rivals, sparking worries that U.S. companies that have plowed tens of billions of dollars into AI data centers could face a price war with China.

Shares of Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI that operates data centers on behalf of the ChatGPT creator, slid earlier this week when it disclosed slower cloud revenue growth than Wall Street expected while it continued to plow billions into capital expenditures.

Microsoft and Meta have vowed to continue deep investments in AI for the foreseeable future.

DeepSeek's rise to prominence was celebrated in China as a sign that the nation was beating back Washington's attempts to contain China's tech industry with curbs on technology exports.

In the U.S., DeepSeek's accomplishments sparked accusations that it had improperly accessed technology from OpenAI and other leaders, though the allegations remain unproved.

The U.S. Commerce Department is looking into whether DeepSeek has been using U.S. chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, a person familiar with the matter said.

(Reporting by Katie Paul in New York and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Facebook

(The Center Square)  New Hampshire lawmakers are moving quickly to tighten the state's immigration policies as President Donald Trump ramps up his nationwide crackdown on undocumented migrants.

On Thursday, the state Senate approved a bill that would prohibit so-called sanctuary city policies and require local law enforcement to support U.S. Immigration and Customs officials' efforts to apprehend people who are living in the country illegally. The measure passed by a 15-8 vote along party lines, with the chamber's Republican majority supporting it.

Under the bill, any New Hampshire city or town that adopts a "sanctuary city" policy would be subject to punitive action from the state attorney general.

The bill's primary sponsor, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, said a ban on sanctuary policies would "send a message that New Hampshire is not open to illegal aliens" and make the state safer.

"It's our responsibility to the residents of New Hampshire to make it known the immigration we welcome is legal immigration," Gannon said in remarks Thursday ahead of the bill's passage. "We could do that by prohibiting sanctuary cities."

Another bill approved by the Senate will allow counties and local governments to sign federal 287(g) agreements with federal officials to proactively work with ICE on immigration crackdowns.

Several communities in New Hampshire, including Manchester, have local ordinances restricting cooperation with federal officials seeking undocumented immigrants on so-called ICE detainers, which can be either criminal or civil.

But Sen. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, said New Hampshire law already requires state and local law-enforcement officials to cooperate with federal officials on criminal ICE detainers.

"There are no pro-crime cities or towns in New Hampshire," she said in remarks during Thursday's debate on the bill. "And anyone who would harbor a criminal is chargeable, whether that person is a citizen or a non-citizen. We all want safe communities and have laws allowing law-enforcement to act."

Democrats also pointed out that the New Hampshire Association of Counties has raised concern the sanctuary policy ban could force local property taxpayers to foot the bill to care for illegal immigrants in county jails as they wait to be picked up by immigration officials.

A similar proposal to restrict sanctuary policies is working its way through the state House of Representatives with support from several Democrats who voted to advance the bill out of committee.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, has made abolishing sanctuary policies a key focus of her administration and has pledged to sign a ban if it reaches her desk.

"I want you to send me a ban on sanctuary city policies and I want you to send me tougher penalties for fentanyl dealers," Ayotte said in her inaugural address.
By Simon Lewis, Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China's presence around the Panama Canal is a national security concern that Panama's government has to deal with, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America, said on Friday, ahead of U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio's visit to the country.

Rubio will depart on Saturday on his first foreign trip, with a scheduled visit to the canal and a meeting with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since President Donald Trump's threat to take control of the U.S.-built canal.

Rubio will also visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where the Trump administration's efforts to repatriate migrants from the region and stem migration into the U.S. will be on the agenda, Claver-Carone said in a briefing call with reporters.

Claver-Carone said it was not Mulino's fault that China's presence around the canal "got completely out of hand" under previous Panamanian governments, but added that the Panamanian president now "has to deal with it."

"This increasingly creeping presence of Chinese companies and actors throughout the Canal Zone, in everything from ports and logistics to telecommunications infrastructure and otherwise, which is very concerning, not only frankly to the national security of the United States, but frankly to the national security of Panama and to the entire Western Hemisphere," he said. "So that will be an issue of discussion."

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has for more than two decades operated the ports at the canal's entrances. The company is publicly listed and not financially tied to the Chinese government, though Hong Kong firms are subject to government oversight.

China's economic influence has been growing in Latin America, fueling worries in Washington that the resource-rich region will tilt to Chinese interests rather than those of the U.S.

Panama has vehemently denied ceding operation of the canal to China, but Rubio said on Thursday he had "zero doubt" that Beijing had a contingency to be able to block the canal in the event of a conflict.

Mulino says he won't discuss control of the canal with Rubio.

Panama is awaiting the results of an audit into CK Hutchinson's payments to the state, which analysts say could provide Panama with a pretext to alter its concession with the company.

Despite the awkwardness in relations with Panama, one of the closest U.S. partners in Latin America, R. Evan Ellis, a professor at the U.S. Army War College, said he thought the two sides were likely to search for a quick resolution.

"I think it could actually go down relatively quickly," Ellis told Reuters. "At the end of the day, President Trump is probably looking for a deal where he can declare victory. The Panamanians are looking for what they can give up in the context of not violating their own management of the canal."

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Michael Martina; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Paul Simao)
By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he had "zero doubt" that China has a contingency plan to shut down the Panama Canal in the event of a conflict with the U.S. and that Washington intends to address what it sees as a national security threat.

Just days before visiting Central America on his first foreign trip as top U.S. diplomat, Rubio, in an interview with Sirius XMs The Megyn Kelly Show, echoed some of President Donald Trump's concerns about Chinese influence over the strategic waterway.

Trump, in his Jan. 20 inauguration speech, again accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the canal in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China - claims that the Panamanian government has vehemently denied.

He vowed at the time that the U.S. would take back the canal but did not say when or how.

Rubio, a longtime China hawk during his Senate career, pointed to a Hong Kong-based company that operates two ports at the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances as a risk to the U.S. because "they have to do whatever the (Chinese) government tells them."

"And if the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to," Rubio said. "And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat."

The Panamanian government has vehemently denied ceding operation of the canal to China and insists it administers the canal fairly to all shipping.

Earlier on Thursday, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino ruled out discussing control over the canal with Rubio when he visits the country. "The canal belongs to Panama," he told reporters.

Though the canal itself is operated by Panama, the two ports on either side are run by publicly listed Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson, while other ports nearby are operated by private companies from the United States, Singapore and Taiwan.

Rubio did not repeat Trump's vow to retake the canal but insisted that the U.S. intends to address the issues the president has raised, saying the current situation "just can't continue."

"I would argue that the canal is already in the arms of the Chinese," he said, expressing hope that the issue can be resolved soon.

Critics have accused Trump of modern-day imperialism in his threats over the canal as well as Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, suggesting such rhetoric could encourage Russia in its war in Ukraine and give justification to China if it decides to invade self-ruled Taiwan.

Some analysts have questioned whether Trump is serious about pursuing what critics say would be a land grab, speculating he may be laying down an extreme negotiating position to squeeze out concessions later on.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President Lai Ching-te told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners.

The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties.

In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties.

Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff's message on Jan. 1's World Day of Peace, pointed to Francis' comments that worldwide challenges like food crises and climate change should be jointly addressed and not merely viewed as isolated acts of charity.

"I hold this view in high regard. I therefore earnestly hope that international organisations will stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons," Lai said, according to the letter published by his office on Friday.

Taiwan is not allowed to participate in most global organisations due to pressure from China, which considers the island one of its provinces with no right to be treated as a state, a view the government in Taipei rejects.

Lai also referred to China's ongoing military threats.

"Your Holiness has stated that war is a defeat for everyone. I, too, firmly believe that peace is priceless and that war has no winners," he said.

"A high level of consensus has formed in the international community on upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

China's constitution guarantees religious freedom, but in recent years the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.

Taiwan puts no restrictions on freedom of faith and has a thriving religious community that includes Christians, Buddhists and Muslims.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Frances Kerry)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's interest in buying Greenland is "not a joke," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on Thursday, adding that acquiring Greenland was in U.S. national interest and needs to be solved.

Trump has expressed interest in making Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a part of the U.S. since his reelection in November. He hasn't ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.

Rubio told Sirius XMs The Megyn Kelly Show that Trump wants to buy Greenland and had not ruled out military coercion to acquire it so as not to take leverage off the table.

"This is not a joke," Rubio said.

"This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved."

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.

Rubio in the interview said the Arctic was going to become critical for shipping lanes, adding that the United States needs to be able to defend that and warning that U.S. rival China may seek to develop its presence.

Asked if the U.S. would own Greenland in four years, Rubio said: "Obviously that's the president's priority and he has made that point ... We're not in a position yet to discuss exactly how we'll proceed tactically. What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure."

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Army on Friday released the names of two of the soldiers killed when the military Black Hawk in which they were flying collided with a passenger jet, but said, in an unusual decision, that they were not releasing the third name at the request of the family.

The Army identified two of the soldiers killed in Wednesday's crash in Washington as Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, but did not provide details about the third.

Reuters had reported on Thursday, citing an Army official, that the crew of the Black Hawk involved in the deadly crash with an American Airlines regional passenger jet included two male soldiers and one female soldier.

"At the request of the family, the name of the third Soldier will not be released at this time," an Army statement said.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said earlier on Friday that "when we have updates on the exact individuals who were involved in the collision, including the air traffic controller, also the pilots of the helicopter and others, we will confirm those."

Trump has suggested, without evidence, that the deadly midair collision was the result of the Federal Aviation Administration's efforts to hire a more diverse workforce.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while at the White House speaking about the crash on Thursday, also took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion in the military and government.

It is standard procedure for the Pentagon to release names of troops killed 24 hours after family members are notified. That included during U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There have already been conspiracy theories circulating online about the identity of the soldiers. Viral posts falsely identified Jo Ellis, a transgender pilot with the Virginia National Guard, as one of the crew members of the helicopter.

"There were no Virginia National Guard personnel on board the Black Hawk that collided with the jetliner Wednesday evening," a Virginia National Guard spokesperson told Reuters.

The helicopter was from the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

The unit is responsible for helicopter flights in the U.S. capital area and can be used to carry senior U.S. government officials.

Trump said on Friday the Army Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high at the time of the accident, in what appeared to be a major disclosure about the investigation.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
By Rich McKay, Hannah Lang and Eric Cox

(Reuters) - Kiah Duggins was a civil rights lawyer hailed as a justice warrior who fought against police abuse and protected people from eviction.

Bob and Lori Schrock were cutting-edge farmers who ran their own grain business and were traveling to visit their daughter. They, too, served others: through a Christian program providing counseling and education for young men experiencing trauma.

All three were among the 67 lives lost in the air disaster over Washington on Wednesday night, when a U.S. Army helicopter and a passenger jet collided near Reagan National Airport. As the investigation into the crash continues, more details about the victims have emerged.

Duggins, 30, an incoming professor at Washington's Howard University, was returning home after visiting her family in Wichita, Kansas, where she grew up. She was a bright student and had been a policy intern for former first lady Michelle Obama in the White House.

"It was an honor to be able to work in the White House, and not only work in the White House, but work for the first Black President, which would not have been possible through most of American history," Duggins said in a 2017 article in an online newsletter called The Sunflower, describing her summer semester in Washington.

She had just been visiting her mother, Gwen, who was recently in hospital, media accounts said, and she was expecting to teach law at Howard this fall.

Duggins, a Harvard Law graduate and former Miss Kansas contestant, had worked for Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit legal group. Her litigation included challenging unconstitutional policing and money bail practices in Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, D.C., according to the group's website.

Her online Harvard Law profile said her peers called her "force of nature", who protected people from eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic while working at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where the faculty and staff called her "a true justice warrior."

In one case, Duggins successfully represented a woman who was being evicted for refusing to pay an unaffordable rent increase for an apartment with substandard conditions, the Harvard website said. She later negotiated a long-term affordable lease for the woman and her young child.

She also represented indigent defendants - people unable to afford a lawyer - in criminal matters for Harvard Defenders.

"My law school experience was totally defined by clinical and pro bono work," Duggins is quoted as saying in her profile, adding that her experience with clients taught her "the technical elements of the law, and larger philosophical questions about what the law should be."

Family friend and former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse remembered Duggins as a "brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights."

"Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality," Cruse wrote in a Facebook post.

THE MOURNING OF BOB AND LORI SCHROCK

Bob and Lori Schrock, aged 58 and 56, were farmers from Kiowa, Kansas, a town of 785 people near the Oklahoma border. The couple were traveling from Wichita to Washington on their way to visit Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where their daughter Ellie is a student.

They were president and vice president of Premium Grain, Inc. in Kiowa, and were among the first farmers in the area to rotate winter wheat with winter canola to further crop yields and enhance soil health, according to the Kansas City Star.

They also set up a home in Maryland to be closer to their daughter.

"There are truly just gifts from God. They didn't deserve any of this," said Grace Cantrell, 20, a Kansas State University student who grew up with Bob and Lori's daughter.

She called the couple a second "set of parents."

Michael Simpson, a friend of Bob's since the age of 11, got to know Bob through weightlifting and stayed close over the years. He said the Schrocks inspired him to quit his job and become the head of Freedom Gate Boys Ranch, a Christian program that provides a home, Christian education and trauma-informed counseling, the group's website says.

Bob had quietly provided financial support to the program over the years, Simpson said, and both Bob and Lori were deeply rooted in their faith.

"I don't have a lot of friends, so the ones I have are close, and he was one," Simpson said. (This story has been corrected to change the population of Kiowa, Kansas, to 785 from 2,400 in paragraph 14)

(Reporting by Rich McKay, Hannah Lang and Eric Cox; Writing by Daniel Trotta; editing by Donna Bryson and Nia Williams)
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega gestures to government supporters after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Nicaragua's Congress approved a constitutional reform on Thursday that would make President Daniel Ortega and his wife, current Vice President Rosario Murillo, copresidents of the Central American nation.

The proposal also expanded the presidential term to six years from five in a move that further consolidated the family's firm grip on power.

The initiative was already pushed forward in November and because Ortega and Murillos Sandinista party control the congress and all government institutions, there was little doubt it would pass.

Experts say the new constitution, which took effect on Thursday, was yet another move to guarantee presidential succession for Murillo and their family and further chip away at the few remaining balances of powers left after years of democratic crackdowns. Murillo already wielded significant power over the government.

Though in an audio published to state media's Instagram page on Thursday, Murillo declared that the reform strengthens the model of people's President, the model of direct democracy.

The proposals come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Ortega government since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed.

Nicaraguas government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country.

The Thursday measure quickly fueled a new round of criticism from the government with Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of UN experts on the Central American country saying it was yet another expansion of the family's power in a post on the social media platform X.

Nicaraguas grotesque Constitutional reforms sound the death knell for the rule of law and basic freedoms, he wrote.
The chief executive of Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of computer chips used by Artificial Intelligence companies, is meeting with President Donald Trump as his administration weighs whether to expand limits on shipping advanced chips to China.

The meeting comes during a week when the Chinese startup DeepSeek threw the AI industry into upheaval and sent Nvidia's stock price plummeting.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House Friday at 2:30 p.m., according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt said she didn't have details on the "private meeting." A Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment.

Reuters reported that Trumps administration is in the early stages of discussing new restrictions on selling AI chips to China, citing three unnamed sources.

Nvidia's advanced computer chips have been in high demand for AI development, making the California company one of the tech industry's biggest success stories in recent years.

DeepSeek claims to have developed an AI model much more cheaply than leading companies in the industry. That has spooked AI investors. Stock prices dropped this week for several American companies heavily invested in AI computing power.

President of Nvidia Jensen Huang on the field before the game between the Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on May 25, 2024.

If DeepSeek proves AI can be developed with less investment, it could mean less demand for Nvidia's chips. It also would heighten concerns that China is catching up with the United States in the AI race.

Curbing the availability of Nvidia chips in China could slow the country's AI advances. Former President Joe Biden put restrictions on sending AI chips to China. Nvidia still is able to sell its H20 chip in China. The Trump administration is considering restricting that chip.

(This story was updated with new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang meeting with Donald Trump at White House
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his third budget proposal to lawmakers next week, a plan that's expected to seek substantially more aid for the poorest public schools, emphasize frugality and press the politically fraught topics of bailing out public transit and legalizing marijuana.

The plan to be unveiled Tuesday also is expected to carry aid for rural hospitals, boost pay for workers who care for older adults and disabled people and introduce taxes on skill games that are seen as competitors to casinos and lottery contests.

It comes at a time when Pennsylvania has an enormous surplus. It's projected to have $10.5 billion in reserve when the fiscal year ends June 30.

But the state also faces growing deficits, a slow-growing economy, a fast-growing retirement-age population that is costly to care for and cost pressures from a range of human services.

Passage will require approval from Pennsylvania's Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate.

Heres what to watch for:

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SPENDING

Lawmakers approved a $47.6 billion spending plan for the current fiscal year. That represented a 6% increase over the prior year's approved budget and held the line on sales and income tax rates, the states two major revenue sources.

Big increases went toward public schools, nursing homes and services for the intellectually disabled. However, it required about $3 billion of surplus cash to balance, eliciting warnings from Republicans that the state must slow the pace of spending or risk depleting its surplus within several years.

The state is expected to bring in $46 billion in tax collections this fiscal year  likely well below what Shapiro will propose in spending.

Lawmakers say they expect Shapiro's forthcoming plan to emphasize cost savings and scraping up unused cash in program accounts to help offset spending increases elsewhere.

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PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Public schools are expected to be a top priority again.

Shapiro is under pressure from education allies and Democratic lawmakers to marshal billions more for schools in response to a court decision that found that Pennsylvanias system of public school funding violates the constitutional rights of students in the poorest districts.

Lawyers for the schools that sued the state are asking for a $1 billion increase in adequacy money for schools that have been disadvantaged by the funding system, plus another $325 million for instruction and special education to help all districts keep pace with rising costs. That's almost 13% more.

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PUBLIC TRANSIT

Shapiro has been adamant about preventing cutbacks by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, the Philadelphia region's public transit agency, which hasn't regained ridership lost during the pandemic.

Republican lawmakers have insisted on finding a new revenue source and packaging transit aid with more cash for highway projects in their districts.

Last year, Shapiro proposed a $150 million tax on the skill games that are popular in bars, convenience stores, pizzerias and standalone parlors around the state. Lawmakers are again eyeing it as a way to raise the money.

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HUMAN SERVICES

Organizations that provide home care for older adults and people with disabilities are seeking increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Direct care workers' pay rates have fallen far behind, and it's getting harder to find workers, making the services harder to get for people who need them, said Mia Haney of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association.

The association is seeking about $550 million in rate increases, about 22% more. Pennsylvania has among the lowest in reimbursement rates among its neighbors and comparable states, it says.

Separately, nursing home operators want at least $139 million more, or about 7%, to help keep beds open, and a $20 million increase, or about 10% more, for day programs that help older adults get medical, nutrition, rehab and other needs met.

Gary Pezzano of LeadingAge PA said nursing home operators are taking beds offline because they can't affording staffing costs, and that's causing emergency rooms to get backed up because theres a lack of beds to accept people in need of rehab or nursing care.

Counties are seeking another $100 million for the mental health services they administer  about a 33% increase  and say the network that serves its social services and criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse.

Shapiro, meanwhile, has said he'll propose more money to support health care in rural Pennsylvania.

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ENERGY

Shapiro wants to fast-track the construction of big power plants and offer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks amid an energy crunch that threatens to raise electricity bills across Pennsylvania.

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LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, said he believes passage of forthcoming legislation he'll sponsor to legalize marijuana is possible by July 1, although getting enough Senate Republicans on board has been a challenge. Shapiro supports legalizing marijuana.

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VIOLENCE PREVENTION

The anti-gun violence group CeaseFirePA said it found big drops in gun violence  a 42% drop in victims and a 38% drop in deaths since 2022. It urged lawmakers to double down on $56.5 million it budgeted this year for violence prevention.

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This story has been corrected to show the Pennsylvania Homecare Association is seeking $550 million, not $500 million, and that the percentage increase is 22%, not 7%.

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Follow Marc Levy on X at: https://x.com/timelywriter
A Miami real estate broker was convicted on money laundering charges for helping two sanctioned Russian oligarchs rent and sell luxury properties in Florida  the first time a US realtor has been held responsible under federal laws.

Roman Sinyavsky pleaded guilty earlier this month to conducting real estate transactions involving blocked properties owned by Vladimir Putin puppets Viktor Perevalov and Valeri Abramov.

The two oligarchs were first sanctioned in 2018 by the US Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for owning a Russia-based construction firm that built a highway in the Russian-occupied Crimea region of Ukraine.

Roman Sinyavsky pleaded guilty earlier this month to conducting real estate transactions involving blocked properties Yelp

Perevalov was designated again by OFAC last December for operating in the construction sector of the Russian economy.

Nonetheless, the pair had managed to buy condos in the posh North Miami Beach town of Bal Harbour, as well as nearby Aventura.

According to the US Justice Department, Sinyavsky conspired with others from 2018 to 2023 to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and commit money laundering by maintaining, transferring, selling, and leasing several luxury condominiums that the oligarchs owned and collecting, sharing, and using the proceeds to maintain the properties.

Sinyavsky was fined around $1.1 million and faces up to five years in jail when he is sentenced on April 11.

The first-of-its-kind conviction could help dissuade other brokers who have teamed with foreign drug lords, kleptocrats and other unseemly characters to wash their blood money through US real estate, according to crime and corruption expert Louise Shelley, the founder and executive director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center.

Valeri Abramov, from left with Vladimir Putin and Viktor Perevalov. President of Russia

I have never heard of anything like this before. I think it shows that professionals in this area who are aiding money laundering will now be held accountable for their actions, said Shelley, who is also a professor at the Schar School of Policy and International Affairs at George Mason University.

Its a sector that has been overlooked in the anti-money laundering community. But there has been a policy shift. Professionals can now be held accountable  and with serious consequences.

In the past, brokers have been subpoenaed by law enforcement to share information that can help convict the people accused of laundering money  but they were never convicted or investigated for the role they personally played.

The first-of-its-kind conviction could help dissuade other brokers who have teamed with foreign drug lords, kleptocrats and other unseemly characters to wash their blood money through US real estate. Earth Pixel LLC.  stock.adobe.com

This is a wake-up call for brokers, said one industry veteran who has previously been subpoenaed. I cant imagine this guy will ever have a brokers license again. Hell be flipping burgers.

The investigation into Sinyavsky was coordinated through the Justice Departments Task Force KleptoCapture

The US government seized two of the three properties and sold them for $1.8 million.

In its 2024 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment Report, the Treasury Department described real estate professionals as a critical vulnerability because of their role helping their clients launder money through real estate.

Last year, the Treasurys financial crimes unit, known as FinCEN, also proposed a rule to stem dirty money through residential real estate by exposing people who buy properties in cash through trusts and other entities that hide their identities.

The rule passed last August and will go into effect at the end of the year.

Once enacted, whenever a legal entity buys residential real estate in cash, a responsible party  it could be the lawyer, escrow agent, or real estate broker  will have to collect and report beneficial ownership information about the buyers, said Scott Greytak, director of advocacy for Transparency International US.
FILE = U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, testifies during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Robert Santos, who emphasized inclusivity and outreach to overlooked communities, has decided to resign as director of the U.S. Census Bureau, midway through his five-year term and in the midst of planning for the 2030 census, which will determine political power and federal funding nationwide for another decade.

Santos, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, said in a letter Thursday evening that he made the decision after deep reflection. Santos was sworn in as the bureau's 26th director, and its first Hispanic leader, in 2022.

His planned departure clears the way for Republican President Donald Trump to reshape the agency's leadership as his allies in Congress and GOP state attorneys general renew efforts to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from census numbers used to divvy up congressional seats and Electoral College votes among states.

A Republican redistricting expert wrote that using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic white people. The census numbers also guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal dollars to the states for roads, health care and other programs.

Civil rights groups on Friday urged Trump to appoint an impartial leader to head the nation's largest statistical agency.

The integrity of the U.S. Census Bureau must remain above partisan influence, ensuring that data collection and reporting continue to serve the American people with accuracy, transparency, and fairness, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement.

Besides planning for the 2030 census, Santos and other bureau leaders were overseeing changes to the questionnaires for the next once-a-decade head count and the annual American Community Survey when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as race and ethnicity.

Queries about sexual orientation and gender identity were planned for the 2027 annual survey of American life for the first time. The bureau also was implementing a directive from the Biden administration to combine questions about race and ethnicity and add a new Middle Eastern and North African category.

A law establishing a five-year term for Census Bureau directors was passed in 2012 to provide continuity for the amount of planning required for each census. But the three directors who have led the agency since then have all resigned before their terms expired, either right before or after changes in administrations.

The goal was to insulate the planning of the decennial census from presidential politics, and that is clearly not working, said historian Margo Anderson. The clock is ticking here.

During his term, Santos emphasized restoring trust to the Census Bureau following Trump's first term. Many census-watchers felt Trump's administration tried to politicize the 2020 census by installing large numbers of political appointees at the agency and through failed efforts to keep people in the U.S. illegally from being counted for apportionment.

The Constitution's 14th Amendment says that the whole number of persons in each state should be counted for the numbers used for apportionment.

Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick to be secretary of commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau, was asked during a confirmation hearing this week if he would count every person during the census. He responded, I promise you, we will count each whole person. ... Thats what the Constitution says, and we will stick right to it rigorously.

Before joining the Census Bureau, Santos was a vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and had spent four decades in survey research, statistical design and analysis and executive-level management. The Texas native said in his letter that he planned to spend time with his family in retirement.

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The story has been corrected to show that Robert Santos has decided to resign as director of the U.S. Census Bureau instead of has resigned from the agency.

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Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

BOSTON (AP)  A second federal judge on Friday ordered a temporary pause in Trump administration efforts to freeze federal funding in the latest twist over the spending of trillions of dollars in grants and loans.

Judge John McConnell sided with nearly two dozen states that requested an emergency order preventing most federal agencies from halting funding.

Another judge in Washington halted the plan earlier this week minutes before it was set to go into effect, but her short-term order is only in place until Monday unless she decides to extend it.

McConnell ordered the federal government not to pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate funding promised to the states while the temporary restraining order is in place.

The Court must act in these early stages of the litigation under the worst case scenario because the breadth and ambiguity of the Executives action makes it impossible to do otherwise, McConnell wrote.

The decision was praised by several of the states that were part of the lawsuit.

Todays court decision reaffirms that the President cannot unilaterally take away federal funding, especially resources that our kids, seniors and economy rely on. His reckless actions unleashed chaos and confusion yet demonstrated the enormous power of attorneys general to fight back, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement. My office will keep fighting to protect Massachusetts residents from these egregious and unlawful abuses of power.

Rhode Island Attorney General Neronha said he appreciated the fact McConnell saw the irreparable harm that this directive would cause, and frankly has already caused, Americans across the country.

Make no mistake: this federal funding pause was implemented to inspire fear and chaos, and it was successful in that respect, Neronha said in a statement. "These tactics are intended to wear us down, but with each legal victory we reaffirm that these significant and unlawful disruptions wont be tolerated, and will certainly be met with swift and immediate action now and in the future.

The federal government had opposed the order, arguing there was no basis for what they described as sweeping relief.

The decision from McConnell, who is based in Rhode Island and was appointed by former President Barack Obama, comes despite the Office of Management and Budget rescinding a memo outlining a sweeping pause on federal loans and grants.

McConnell found that recession was in name-only and his order was still necessary.

The White House press secretary has said that a funding freeze is still planned in line with President Donald Trumps blitz of executive orders.

The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The memo, which was issued earlier this week by the OMB, had frightened states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.

Administration officials said the pause was necessary to review whether spending aligned with Trumps executive orders on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. But two days later, they sent out a two-sentence notice rescinding the original memo.

A day later, Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans, including Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps, would not be affected. But that did little to ease the confusion.

Administration officials insisted that despite the confusion, their actions still had the intended effect by underscoring to federal agencies their obligations to abide by Trumps executive orders. That prompted states to request the temporary restraining order.

In their motion, lawyers for Trumps Justice Department argued the federal court lacked jurisdiction and the plaintiffs couldnt use an order that was aimed initially against the OMB memo to seek broader action against Trump's executive orders.

They also argued that Trump and the OMB plainly have authority to direct agencies to fully implement the Presidents agenda, consistent with each individual agencys underlying statutory authorities.

The Presidents authority to direct subordinate agencies to implement his agenda, subject to those agencies own statutory authorities, is well-established, Brett Shumate, the acting assistant attorney general, wrote.

The Trump administration did not have immediate comment on the order.

The ruling in favor of the states was not unexpected.

In a hearing Wednesday on the initial order from the states, McConnell had said he was sympathetic to the argument put forth from the states about the potential harm from any federal funding freeze.

___

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this story.
This photo released by Venezuela's presidential press office shows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, right, shaking hands with Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump's special envoy, at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Behind is Jorge Rodriguez, president of the National Assembly. (Venezuela's presidential press office, via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months were freed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro after he met Friday with a Trump administration official tasked with urging the authoritarian leader to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social media. The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the maximum pressure campaign he pursued against Maduro during his first term.

Trip focused on deporting Venezuelans and release of Americans

Grenells hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trumps efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans.

We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens, Grenell posted on X along with a photo showing him and the men aboard an aircraft. They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldnt stop thanking him.

Trump wrote Saturday on his social media site Truth Social that he was happy to have the Americans back home.

And very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua. Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back, he wrote. We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.

The press office of Venezuelas government said Saturday it would not officially comment on the claims for now.

Meeting came soon after Maduro was sworn in following controversial election

The meeting in Venezuela's capital took place less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last year's election. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduro's claim to victory and instead points to tally sheets collected by the opposition coalition showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a more than a two-to-one margin.

Venezuelan state television aired footage of Grenell and Maduro speaking in the Miraflores Palace and said the meeting had been requested by the U.S. government.

Signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked if Grenell being filmed meeting with Maduro lent legitimacy to a government that the Trump White House does not officially recognize.

No. We want to do something with Venezuela. Ive been a very big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro, Trump responded. Theyve treated us not so good, but theyve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly."

Maduro, appearing on state television after Grenell had left Venezuela, said the visit yielded initial agreements but did not provide any details.

I have seen three U.S. presidents pass before me," Maduro said. "This is the fourth term, and our message has been one: We want to build relationships of respect for Venezuelas sovereignty, for Venezuelas democratic life, for international law and for our Latin American region.

Terrible timing

Some Republicans criticized the visit.

This is terrible timing," said Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy to Venezuela and Iran during the first Trump administration. "A meeting with Maduro will be used by him to legitimize his rule and show that the Americans recognize him as president. If the purpose is to deliver a tough message about migration issues, the president couldve done that himself. There was no need to send someone to Caracas.

The dispute over the election results sparked nationwide protests. More than 2,200 people were arrested during and after the demonstrations.

Among those detained are as many as 10 Americans who the government has linked to alleged plots to destabilize the country. Neither the White House nor Maduro's government immediately released the names of the six who were freed Friday.

A nonprofit group that had advocated for the release of a detainee said David Estrella, a 62-yer-old who was last heard from in September, was among those on their way back to the U.S. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had accused Estrella of being part of an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro.

The Trump administration has taken a slew of actions to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

Those measures include the revocation earlier this week of a Biden administration decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.

Targeting Tren de Aragua

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday that Trump had instructed Grenell to identify a place and ensure that repatriation flights" carrying Venezuelans, including members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, "land in Venezuela. She said Trump also ordered Grenell to ensure that all U.S. detainees in Venezuela are returned home.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country since 2013, when its economy unraveled and Maduro first took office. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants increasingly set their sights on the U.S.

Venezuelans desire for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro are expected to keep pushing people to emigrate.

Ahead of the presidential election last year, a nationwide poll by Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed about a quarter of the population thinking about emigrating if Maduro was re-elected.

Grenell has reached out to Maduro before on Trumps behalf to secure the release of imprisoned Americans only to come home empty handed.

In 2020, he traveled with Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, to Mexico City for a secret meeting with a top Maduro aide. The backchannel talks centered on Maduros offer to swap eight Americans then imprisoned in Venezuela for businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of the president charged in the U.S. with money laundering, The Associated Press previously reported.

No deal was struck and Grenells demand that Maduro step down was dismissed by the Venezuelan presidents envoy. Grenell has always denied he was negotiating a hostage swap.

Later, in December 2023, the Biden administration exchanged Saab for 10 Americans as part of a policy to re-engage Maduro ahead of presidential elections.

___

Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report from Washington.

____

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Navigating the market for credit cards can feel like wading through a sea of plastic. With hundreds of options, it's easy to drown in an ocean of fine print.

That's why I've curated this list of standout credit card offers for the month. My focus? Cards with limited-time welcome bonuses or unique perks that caught my eye.

Marchs selection leans towards travel offers that are ideal for summer vacation savings. You'll find cards best suited to globetrotters chasing the jet set, and others that are perfect for the folks whose idea of vacation includes a road trip to a lake house for an extended family reunion.

Remember, the best card for you isn't always the one with the biggest bonus. It's about finding the right match for your spending habits and financial goals. I've broken down the key features of each card to help you spot a diamond in the rough that could level up your spending.

Best travel rewards card offer: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

If you want a card that makes earning travel rewards simple and flexible, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a top contender with its standard offer. With a flat earning rate on every purchase and valuable travel perks, this card is perfect for those who want to maximize their rewards without overthinking it. Capital One has sweetened the pot for a limited time, adding a $250 Capital One Travel credit to its standard 75,000 mile welcome offer.

Capital One Miles has a large selection of transfer partners including Air Canada Aeroplan and Air France/KLM Flying Blue. Ive successfully redeemed Capital One Miles through both of those programs in the last year. I used 25,000 Aeroplan miles to visit Panama for last spring break, flying in business class, and I just redeemed 55,000 Flying Blue miles for a trip to Porto, Portugal (also in business class) this fall.

That said, Capital One Miles have two downsides:

Capital One lacks a domestic airline partner, so theres a learning curve to maximize your miles.

If youre looking for travel rewards that also have a competitive cash-redemption option, youre better off with Chase Ultimate Rewards. Thats because you can get one cent per Ultimate Rewards point in cash value, but only a half cent per mile with Capital One Miles.

Best general travel card offer: The One Key+ Card

One Key is Expedias rewards program, allowing you to earn and spend OneKeyCash rewards across their companies: Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. Im a fan of the One Key program in general, and the One Key+ Card currently has an enhanced welcome bonus.

Until April 1, 2025, the usual $400 OneKeyCash welcome offer on the One Key+ Card is bumped up to $600 OneKeyCash after spending $3,000 on the card in three months. If you are dead-set against an annual fee, theres also a $0 annual fee version of the One Key card with a lower earnings rate of 1.5% on everyday purchases vs. the 2% the One Key+ Card offers. Heres what you need to know about the cards:

The One Key program is great for family travelers as Vrbo rentals earn One Key rewards, a feature Airbnb doesnt have. If youre thinking about a summer family beach trip, nows the time to get that rental sorted. With the average price of a vacation rental around $160/night in April 2025, $600 in OneKeyCash could make a big dent in your vacation budget for just a $99 annual fee.

Best airline card offer: Southwest Plus Card

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card stands out for its low annual fee and solid rewards structure. The current welcome bonus is one of the best offers on the market, offering both a Companion Pass and bonus points. The Companion Pass allows a designated person to fly with you for just the cost of taxes and fees, potentially saving you hundreds or even thousands on travel. There are two other pricier Southwest cards that have the Companion Pass offer as well. Here are the details:

While it may not have all the premium perks of higher-tier Southwest cards, the Plus card still offers valuable benefits like anniversary points and travel protections. These features can easily offset the modest annual fee for even infrequent Southwest flyers. Unlike other airline credit cards, benefits such as free checked bags dont matter with a Southwest card as all passengers get two free checked bags on Southwest.

One drawback to note is the Plus card's 3% foreign transaction fee, making it less ideal for international travel. However, for domestic travelers who will fly Southwest even once this year with a companion, this card provides a cost-effective way to earn Rapid Rewards points while your partner flies for free and to enjoy some nice perks without a hefty annual fee.

Best hotel card offer: IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card

My vote for the best hotel credit card offer of March 2025 goes to my favorite hotel card: the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.

This travel credit card is making waves with its latest welcome bonus, offering a hefty 170,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. This eye-catching offer is a significant step up the cards usual offer of 140,000 points, giving travelers a substantial boost to their IHG Rewards balance right out of the gate.

But the card's appeal goes beyond just the initial bonus. Take a look at its key features:

The IHG Premier Card packs a punch with perks like an anniversary free night certificate, fourth night free on award stays, and automatic Platinum Elite status. For frequent IHG guests, these benefits can easily outweigh the $99 annual fee. I easily get $500 in value out of this card each year from the Free Night Certificate and the fourth award free benefits alone.

Chris Butsch, credit cards expert and writer, is also a fan of the IHG Premier. When deciding which of the major hotel brands to marry, I ended up with IHG, he says. The IHG One Rewards Premier card came with better status than the World of Hyatt card (Platinum vs. Discoverist) and unlike with Marriott, I can earn higher status with points or nights.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
FILE - A worker collects shopping carts in front of a Costco warehouse on July 16, 2024, in Sheridan, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Thousands of Costco workers prepared to strike with a midnight deadline drawing closer Friday while the worker's union and the company negotiated.

The Teamsters union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states: California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

It's unclear if the strikes would close stores. Costco has 219,000 U.S. employees and 617 U.S. stores. The company said its labor agreement with the Teamsters applies to less than 10% of those stores.

On Jan. 20, Teamsters members at Costco voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if a new three-year contract agreement wasn't reached by midnight Friday, when the current contract expires.

Union members say the Issaquah, Washington, company needs to make a contract offer that reflects its sales and profit growth. Costco's revenue rose 5% to $254 billion in its most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 1. The company reported net income of $7.36 billion, double its profit in 2019.

"Costco has two choices: respect the workers who made them a success or face a national strike, Teamsters General President Sean OBrien said in a statement. Costco Teamsters deserve an industry-leading contract that reflects the companys massive profits. If Costco thinks they can exploit our members while raking in billions, well shut them down.

Costco said in a statement that it has had a good relationship with the union for several decades and is negotiating in good faith.

We have always treated our employees fairly and well throughout the history of our company, Costco said.
Some weather events have been so deadly and destructive that they prompted important changes that still save lives and property today.

From Jan. 31 - Feb. 1, 1953, 72 years ago tonight, a powerful storm with high winds pushed a catastrophic surge of water from the North Sea into southern parts of the Netherlands.

This surge of water during a spring tide, no less, overwhelmed the Dutch flood defenses at the time. Almost 500 breaches were punched in flood-control dikes, allowing the North Sea to spill into Zeeland, South Holland and North Brabant provinces.

By Feb. 1, about 770 square miles of southern Holland were inundated, forcing 72,500 Dutch residents to flee their homes.

Whole towns were flooded, sending residents scurrying to rooftops to survive. The luckiest of those were rescued, but many were not. The Dutch government estimated 1,835 people and 182,000 animals died from the floods in the Netherlands, alone.

Netherlands Great North Sea Flood 1953

In neighboring Belgium, 37 breaches in dikes flooded several towns and villages, including Antwerp, claiming 22 lives. This was also the worst flood of the 20th century in parts of the U.K. Another 307 lives were lost in England as 1,600 kilometers of coastline was damaged.

The Netherlands has a long history of such floods. More than a hundred have been documented since 1200. The earliest reliable such storm surge happened on Dec. 26, 838. But this devastating flood triggered a massive megaproject of flood control that would last over four decades.

Less than three weeks after the flood, the Dutch government assembled a committee and in 1954 the Delta Works project, a new network of storm surge barriers, dams, dikes and levees that could prevent another 1953 disaster, began. Forty three years later at a total cost of $13 billion, the project was completed with the Maeslant storm surge barrier which protects Rotterdam and one of the world's busiest ports.

This storm also prompted the U.K. government to boost defenses along the coast, including the construction of the Thames Barrier to protect London, which was finished in 1984.

Netherlands Great North Sea Flood 1953 weather map

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
FILE - The coffin of former far-right National Front party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is carried in the church in Trinite-sur-Mer, western France, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mathieu Pattier, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

PARIS (AP)  The tomb housing the remains of Jean-Marie Le Pen was vandalized less than three weeks after the polarizing far-right French leader was buried.

Authorities in the Brittany region of western France said they were informed of the damage Friday and that police were investigating.

The founder of Frances far-right National Front, who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism, died Jan. 7. He was 96. He was buried in a Le Pen family tomb in the small Brittany port of La Trinite-sur-Mer.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau denounced the damage as an absolute abjection.

Respect for the dead is what distinguishes civilization from barbarism, he posted on X.

Brittany authorities said in a statement that given the political sensitivity," the cemetery had been the focus of stepped-up police surveillance in the days immediately before and after Le Pen's burial on Jan. 11. But the security was subsequently scaled down, the statement added.

It said police patrols of the site will now be stepped back up again given the exceptional nature of the attack.

Le Pen's extreme views won him staunch supporters but also widespread condemnation. He repeatedly denied the Holocaust and was convicted multiple times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence. He made Islam and Muslim immigrants his primary targets, blaming them for economic and social woes in France.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Trump administration on Friday fired a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases and demanded the names of FBI agents involved in those same probes so they can possibly be ousted, moves that reflect a White House determination to exert control over federal law enforcement and purge agencies of career employees seen as insufficiently loyal.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the firings of the Jan. 6 prosecutors days after President Donald Trump's sweeping clemency action benefiting the more than 1,500 people charged in the U.S. Capitol attack, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. About two dozen employees at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington were terminated, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel issues.

A separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot  a list the bureaus acting director said could number in the thousands. Bove, who has defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, said Justice Department officials would then carry out a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.

As we've said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what's in the best interest of the workforce and the American people  always, acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll wrote in a letter to the workforce.

The prosecutors fired in the D.C. U.S. attorney's office had been hired for temporary assignments to support the Jan. 6 cases, but were moved into permanent roles after Trump's presidential win in November, according to the memo obtained by the AP. Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, said he would not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous administration."

Any mass firings at the FBI would be a major blow to the historic independence from the White House of the nations premier federal law enforcement agency but would be in keeping with Trumps persistent resolve to bend the law enforcement and intelligence community to his will. It would be part of a startling pattern of retribution waged on federal government employees, following the forced ousters of a group of senior FBI executives earlier this week as well as a broad termination by the Justice Department of prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smiths team who investigated Trump.

The FBI Agents Association said the reported efforts to oust agents represented outrageous actions by acting officials" that were "fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents.

Dismissing potentially hundreds of Agents would severely weaken the Bureaus ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure, the association said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what recourse any fired agent might take, but the bureau has a well-defined process for terminations and any abrupt action that bypasses that protocol could presumably open the door to a legal challenge.

When pressed during his confirmation hearing Thursday, Trumps pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, said he was not aware of any plans to terminate or otherwise punish FBI employees who were involved in the Trump investigations. Patel said if he was confirmed he would follow the FBIs internal review processes for taking action against employees.

Asked by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker whether he would reverse any decisions before his confirmation that dont follow that standard process, Patel said, I dont know whats going on right now over there, but Im committed to you, senator, and your colleagues, that I will honor the due process of the FBI.

Before he was nominated for the directors position, Patel had remarked on at least one podcast appearance about what he called anti-Trump conspirators in the government and news media who he said needed to be rooted out.

Trump has for years expressed fury at the FBI and Justice Department over investigations that shadowed his presidency, including an inquiry into ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign, and continued over the last four years. He fired one FBI director, James Comey, amid the Russia investigation and then replaced his second, Christopher Wray, just weeks after his win in November.

Asked at the White House on Friday if he had anything to do with the scrutiny of the agents, he said: No, but we have some very bad people over there. It was weaponized at a level that nobodys never seen before. They came after a lot of people  like me  but they came after a lot of people.

He added, If they fired some people over there, thats a good thing, because they were very bad.

The FBI and Smiths team investigated Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both of those cases resulted in indictments that were withdrawn after Trumps November presidential win because of longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president.

The Justice Department also charged more than 1,500 Trump supporters in connection with the Capitol riot, though Trump on his first day in office granted clemency to all of them  including the ones convicted of violent crimes  through pardons, sentence commutations and dismissals of indictments.

This week, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on Smith investigations, and a group of senior FBI executives  including several executive assistant directors and agents in charge of big-city field offices  have been told to either resign or retire or be fired Monday.

_____

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Michael Kunzelman, Byron Tau and Jim Mustian contributed to this report.
Andy Collinss Berlina possesses one of the most remarkable facias in motoring history

In the late 1970s, the UK was one of Lancias most important export markets, the Italian brand outselling Audi, BMW and Volvo. This Beta 1600 Berlina Series 3, owned by the marque expert Andy Collins, is a reminder of that era  and possesses one of the most remarkable facias in motoring history.

The Beta debuted in 1972, with UK imports starting in 1973. By 1979, the third-generation version sported what Lancia called a strikingly unique angled facia. But on 12 April 1980, a Telegraph report was headlined: Lancia Buys Back Rust-Hit Betas And Scraps Them. The Lancia rust scandal mainly affected the 1973-74 models and it was estimated to cost Fiat, the marques parent company, 1,000,000.

A Lancia spokesman told the press: We have decided [that] if this problem manifests itself in a Beta we consult our Italian engineers and if they think it is terminal, we buy the cars at the book price of between 800 to 1,000. Then we scrap them in the crusher.

However, Collins remarks: Was there ever an official recall on the Beta? I didnt think there was. It became part of the folklore that has developed around the whole business, along with engines falling out (which they didnt) and new cars being scrapped (which they werent).

The Beta 1600 S3 was a bargain at 5,975; cheaper than an Audi 80CL or the Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6

Collins further observes: It wasnt the subframes that were the issue, it was the box section at the leading edge of the floorpan that it bolted to; it was this section that was redesigned. Enthusiasts also argued that other marques (including German ones) suffered from rust at that time, yet the companys panicked reaction resulted in calamitous damage to the brand. Lancia GB sold 11,000 Betas in 1977, but by 1980 the figure had fallen to less than 7,000.

That year the Trevi, with three box styling  and no Beta badging  replaced the S3. To further entice potential buyers, the sales copy boasted: Youll find a six-year anti-corrosion warranty. Collins explains the 1983 Y registration on his 1982 Beta is because: It is one of the last Berlinas. It is thought only 52 S3 cars came into the UK, but they sat in storage for a good few years until stocks of the S2 were depleted, by which time the Trevi had replaced the Berlina.

And, for customers immune to saloon bar rust jokes, the Beta 1600 S3 was quite a bargain at 5,975; cheaper than an Audi 80CL at 6,063 or the Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6 at 6,050. The bodywork dated well, the interior was well-furnished and the technical specification included a twin-cam engine, five-speed gearbox and disc brakes at each corner.

In addition, the S3 sported an elegant new grille and that interesting facia. This is more associated with the Trevi but, in Collinss words: I get very cross when people say the Beta S3 has a Trevi dash. No, the Trevi has a Beta S3 dash! In fact, the Trevi is pure S3 from the front bumper to the back of the rear doors; a Beta Berlina without a fastback, as it were.

I get very cross when people say the Beta S3 has a Trevi dash, says Collins. No, the Trevi has a Beta S3 dash!

Autocar seemed faintly aghast with the facia design by Mario and Daria Bellini, comparing it to something which could have appeared in the ideas section of a mid-1960s Continental motor show. Others thought it resembled an artefact from the TV series Blakes Seven, which was most unfair to Lancia; the sci-fi series spaceship sets often looked as though they were constructed from Styrofoam whereas the Betas dashboard was, according to Mario Bellini Architects, A challenge tackled by the architect from a structural, and not purely aesthetic, angle.

As for survival rates, Collins believes: There are two Series 3 Beta Berlinas left that we know of. Of course, out of only 52 that came in, that is a significantly higher percentage survival rate than for Ford Cortinas.

His gold example spent 20 years off the road and he finally took to the wheel after four years of restoration, the S3 behaving impeccably.

Fortunately, the rust jokes that afflicted Lancia now seem as dated as a rerun of The Professionals and this survivor is a reminder of how the Beta once occupied a market niche later dominated by the BMW 3-Series. At its best, the Lancia truly fulfilled the concessionaires promise of a stylish, individualistic car.

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Country music legend Wynonna Judd might have one of the most impressive fans in the music industry. Marbie Baugh has seen the singer perform in 49 of the 50 states of the U.S.

On Jan. 30, while co-hosting TODAY with Jenna & Friends, Judd made sure Baugh would get to her 50th state.

Judd told Baugh shes flying her out to a concert in New Mexico, the only state Baugh hasnt seen Judd perform in (yet).

Im speechless. Now I have to find a new goal in life! Baugh said, blown away.

Wynonna Judd and Marbie Baugh.

Growing up in Fort Payne, Alabama, Baugh suffered a tragedy when her father passed away when she was 13. For Baugh, Judds music, which she first heard performed by a local band at a church camp, was a lifeline.

As a 13-year-old, you dont expect to go through life without a father, Baugh said. The music came into my life, that voice just resonated with my soul: dont give up. The message was there: just keep moving.

As a teenager, Baugh set her sights on going to Judds 1991 farewell concert. But the high school senior simply could not afford the $25 ticket prices, which she said might as well have cost her thousands.

Almost a decade later, Baugh had a job that allowed her to afford concert tickets. She saw her first Judd show in nosebleed seats in 1999.

The live music just touches you even more deeply than you can imagine, she said.

After her first show, Baugh began to visit any concerts she could within driving distance. Before she knew it, she had seen Judd play in about 35 states. Then, committed to see her idol in all 50.

After hitting Alaska, Montana and Washington State, Baugh had one final location: New Mexico. Thats when Judd swooped in with her surprise.

This isnt the first time Baugh and Judd have met. Judd described their relationship as more than show business. She's brought Baugh backstage at multiple concerts and said they have a relationship, discussing their personal lives.

I dont have 100 million followers, but I have the ones that matter, Judd said on TODAY with Jenna & Friends. I know their first name, I know her story, I know that she takes care of her mother, I know where she is in the audience. Youre one of my important people that I claim by family of choice.

After leaving Baugh speechless, Judd gave her advice on a new goal: Theres always Canada!

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -A New York doctor was indicted by a grand jury in West Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday for prescribing an abortion pill that was taken by a teenager there.

Margaret Carpenter and her practice, Nightingale Medical, were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducting drugs, a felony, according to an indictment provided by the West Baton Rouge District Attorney's office. The minor's mother was also charged.

The case appeared to be the first time a state has brought criminal charges against a doctor in another state for prescribing abortion drugs across state lines. It will likely be an early test of the power of states that criminalize abortion to prosecute providers outside their borders, and the ability of states that support abortion rights to shield providers from such prosecutions. Carpenter was also sued civilly by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last month.

"It is illegal to send abortion pills into this state and it's illegal to coerce another into having an abortion," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. "We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday that the state would not comply with any request to extradite Carpenter.

New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement said: "This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American."

Medication abortion accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions. It has drawn increasing scrutiny since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision allowing states to ban abortion, which more than 20, including Louisiana, have done.

Louisiana last year also passed a law specifically targeting mifepristone, classifying it as a controlled substance under state law.

Mifepristone is the first part of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortion, which is approved by the FDA to terminate pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.

Carpenter, who is based in New Paltz, New York, is a co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, which supports nationwide access to abortion through telemedicine.

"The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women's access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country," the Coalition said in a statement.

TEST CASES

New York is among the eight Democratic-led states that have passed so-called shield laws aiming to protect doctors who provide abortion pills to patients in other states. The law says New York will not cooperate with another state's effort to prosecute, sue or otherwise penalize a doctor for providing the pills, as long as the doctor complies with New York law.

"These are cases designed to test New York's shield law," Rachel Rebouche, a professor at Temple University's Beasley School of Law who focuses on reproductive health law, said of the Louisiana and Texas cases. She said the legal issues surrounding shield laws were "murky," and that similar cases were likely in the future as anti-abortion prosecutors seek to test their limits.

The U.S. Constitution requires states to extradite someone who commits a crime in one state and then flees to another. It also generally requires states to respect the judgments of each other's courts, but there are exceptions, according to Rebouche.

"This might be an issue that ends up in front of the (U.S.) Supreme Court," Rebouche said. "What do New York courts have to do? Do they have to enforce the decisions of another state?"

In the meantime, she said, Carpenter and other doctors who help provide abortion pills face serious risk if they travel to states without shield laws.

Anti-abortion groups praised the indictment.

"Louisiana has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from high-risk abortion drugs," said Erik Baptist, a lawyer at the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. The group until recently represented anti-abortion activists in a lawsuit seeking to restrict the availability of mifepristone nationwide, which has been taken over by Republican states after the Supreme Court ruled the original plaintiffs lacked legal standing.

Nancy Northrup, president of the pro-abortion rights Center for Reproductive Rights, in a statement said that the case is "designed to frighten other doctors from providing care to women trapped in states where abortion is banned and options are limited."

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson and Jack Queen in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and Diane Craft)
Marysville, CA (95901)

Today

Windy with periods of rain. High 58F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 46F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Publicly listed AUCyber has received another bid, this time from Interactive for $0.165 per share on 30 January.

The offer is subject to extensive conditions and AUCybers board said it didnt consider Interactives proposal to be superior compared to 5G Networks and has recommended shareholders to accept 5GNs offer.

5G Networks (5GN) raised its offer from $0.11 to $0.135 per share on 28 January saying it was considered the best option, as the latters financial viability remain uncertain. 5GNs offer has been declared last and final and is scheduled to close on 6 February.

The Board remains committed to maximising value for all shareholders and as such is open to considering all genuine third-party proposals that can demonstrate superior value and certainty, compared to 5GNs revised offer, the statement to the ASX said.

ARN previously reported 5GN offered to purchase all the shares of cyber security and cloud provider AUCyber in a deal that equates to roughly $18 million.

At the time 5GN already owned 17,562,221 AUCyber shares, which is approximately 11 per cent.
by Fady Noun

An attempt to return to villages near the still-occupied border has left 26 dead and over 160 injured. New deadline of 18 February for Jewish State troops to leave the country. The incidents revive Hezbollah, which insists on the legitimacy of resistance to Israel, which must remain armed. US envoy Morgan Ortagus, who succeeds Hochstein, is expected in the coming days.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - My son is still there. His body has been lying on the ground for three months, let me pass. He is your son and he is also my brother. Try to understand, it is only in your interest that we keep you away.

This exchange between a woman from the south who, like many of the inhabitants, was trying to make her way to her ruined village, still occupied by Israel, and a Lebanese soldier who, with his fellow soldiers, formed a human barrier to prevent her from doing so, sums up the dramatic and ambiguous situation into which Hezbollah threw the people of the south and the army last weekend.

The troops did their best to prevent the population expelled from the villages in October following the Israeli evacuation order from suffering further losses. However, despite all the precautions taken, this disorderly return to the part of southern Lebanon still occupied by Israel resulted in 26 dead and almost 160 injured in two days, including a father and mother, a scout leader and a soldier.

This disorderly move was made under pressure from the pro-Iranian Party of God. The pretext given was that the 60-day period in the ceasefire agreement of 27 November 2024 had expired. We will not accept this deadline being extended even for a second, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem had declared.

However, already in the previous days, and regardless of any coordination with the commission in charge of overseeing the ceasefire, Israel had declared that its army would not withdraw from some villages in the eastern sector, while warning the population not to approach its positions.

Lacking official reactions from the newly elected President of the Republic Joseph Aoun or interim Prime Minister Nagib Mikati regarding the unilateral change of the Jewish state, the Lebanese Shia movement allowed itself to ignore Israel's warning. And heedless of popular security and the army's public image, a popular movement was created to force the timing and manner of a return, contrary to public opinion.

The inhabitants peacefully challenged the Israeli army and its decision, with the result we know and further bloodshed. Many cited attachment to the land and respect for the dead, some of whom are still buried under the rubble of their homes, to justify their decision.

The resulting popular movement has resulted in an advance, albeit limited, towards the occupied villages with the Jewish state's military ceding a few hundred metres of the territories under their control. On the other hand, these small advances and the losses incurred were exploited skilfully at the political level by Hezbollah, which denounced the apathy of the authorities in Beirut and, at the same time, stressed the need for Islamic resistance.

However, horrified by the death toll of 26 January, the bloodiest day ever recorded with 24 dead, the government reacted. In agreement with France and the US, the following day the Israeli army was granted an additional period of grace - expiring on 18 February - to evacuate Lebanese territory. At the same time, the Israeli side has already announced that it wants to maintain at least three high positions on Lebanese territory.

The issue will be raised with the US envoy Morgan Ortagus, who succeeds Amos Hochstein, the architect of the 27 November ceasefire and the new implementation process of UN Resolution 1701. In this regard, Ortagus herself is expected in Lebanon in the coming days.

In the past few days, to reiterate their position, convoys of motorbikes have crossed some arteries of Beirut's Christian neighbourhoods, shouting Shiites! Shiites! The Amal movement branded this gesture as a dangerous provocation that risks fuelling an escalation of tension and threatened to expel the young people involved from the group.

At the same time, Israel claims to have intercepted a Hezbollah surveillance drone launched from Lebanon on 29 January. But on the same day, the Israeli army reduced a poultry farm to smoke and dust and set fire to a villa near the Markaba (Marjeyoun) intersection.

This morning, the army (IDF) reports several raids during the night against Shia movement targets in the Bekaa valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border, including a facility used for the development of underground weapons and another associated with arms smuggling into Lebanon.

These destructions seem to have no other justification than to depopulate the border area and humiliate a people deeply attached to their land. One wonders what this state will do when the population begins to rebuild its villages that have been mercilessly razed to the ground.

The Prime Minister-designate, Nawaf Salam, has not reacted to these incidents and has shifted his attention to the formation of the new government, trying to reassure the Lebanese about the work being done to achieve the goal. In fact, after consulting with the head of state, he declared that the new executive will soon see the light of day.

His criteria for this delicate exercise include the non-accumulation of parliamentary and ministerial functions, the need for the government not to be a miniature parliament and the absence of any EU or party monopoly on a ministerial portfolio, given that the Shiite tandem retains that of Finance. Interviewed by AsiaNews, a local political expert, on condition of anonymity, points out that these developments clearly indicate that Hezbollah is regaining strength and has not given up its ambitions.

Moreover, the analyst adds, it is equally clear that the ceasefire in southern Lebanon has not brought peace. This clearly demonstrates, he concludes, the ambiguity of half defeats and half victories that history leaves unresolved.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

From Kazakhstan to Tajikistan, procedures have been adopted throughout the region to change the spelling of surnames by eliminating the patronymic forms imposed during tsarist and Soviet domination, in order to recover Turkic or other ethnic roots. However, only a few personalities have taken this step, perceived by many as an unnecessary complication.

Astana (AsiaNews) - The campaign to de-Russify names and above all surnames, freeing them from the endings in -ev(a), -ov(a) and the like, imposed by tsarist and Soviet domination, which erase the true roots of the families and people of the many Turkic, Tatar, Persian, Mongolian and other ethnic groups of these countries, continues in various ways throughout the Central Asian states. Many, however, oppose this restoration, having become accustomed to Russian-style denominations as simpler and more modern.

As early as 2020, the rector of Uzbekistan's University of Journalism and Mass Communications, Serzod Tadziddinovic Kudratkhodzaev, declared that we cannot truly evolve until we become self-conscious and express our national pride, changing his name to Serzodkhon Todziddinkhon ugli Kudratkhodza. According to the 1995 law On the State Language, people living in Uzbekistan, regardless of their nationality, have the right to write their name, patronymic and surname in accordance with national historical traditions.

The procedure is regulated by the government, which can base a name change on a court decision when the surname is unacceptable by sound, or does not correspond to nationality. Those who want to change their registry data must go to the municipal offices with a large package of documents, pay a state fee of between USD 25 and 50, and the request is processed within a month. Despite the rather simple procedures, there is actually not a great demand in Uzbekistan, limiting itself to a more patriotic indication of the patronymic, which instead of the classic Russian -vic and -ovna is indicated with the more traditional Uzbek -ugli and -kizi, meaning son and daughter.

Kazakhstan also has a 1996 presidential decree On the spelling of surnames and patronymics of Kazakh nationality, which corresponded to the numerous requests of citizens to restore the traditions of the Kazakh people. Those who wish to do so have the right to change the spelling of their surnames, like the actor Bauyrzan Mukhameduly from Almaty, who took his father's surname immediately after the end of the USSR, in order to free himself as soon as possible from the rules imposed by the Soviet regime. Russian surnames depended on the head of the family (Fedor-Fedorov), and the Soviets insisted on the unification of nationalities and languages, as the Kazakh journalist Gaziza Uzak, who herself changed her surname, points out. One is reminded of the World War II hero Bauyrzan Momysuly, whom the Soviets always called Momysev, but he refused to change his surname.

In Kyrgyzstan, the return to linguistic roots took place more recently, when the speaker of parliament, Nurlanbek Sakiev, decided to change his surname back to Nurlanbek Turgunbek uulu, proclaiming on Facebook that I am the son of Turgunbek, I am the son of a Kyrgyz!, stating that he had long dreamed of changing his surname. The procedure for changing one's surname in Kyrgyzstan is quite simple, all one has to do is go to the population service centre a couple of times and leave an application for a change of passport, with a certificate of surname change.

A similar situation can be found in the country of mixed Turanian-Persian roots of Tajikistan, where the rejection of Russian endings of surnames has been in vogue since 2007, when the president himself changed his name from Emomali Saripovic Rakhmonov to the current Emomali Rakhmon. His example was immediately imitated by many state officials, although over time the process went in the opposite direction, so as not to complicate the issuing of documents and employment in Russia for labour migrants. A few years ago, the Prosecutor General of Dushanbe expressed his concern about the return to Russian surnames among young people, which was banned in 2020 on the basis of a parliamentary decision for the defence of national self-consciousness, which often ends up depending on a couple of letters, between -on and -zoda.
31 January 2025 20:17 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Making up big stories out of small issues, blackmailing, provocations in all kinds of guises and blackmailing political figures is the art that the Armenian lobby is most skilled at and accustomed to. We would not be wrong to say that this art is inherited from their ancestors. There is a saying among the people, "A cow does not lay eggs." However, according to the Armenian lobby, this is also possible.

We do not doubt that Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has antipathy towards Azerbaijan. We have witnessed many of her biased statements to date, whether on the official X or in her statements. Since such behaviour has already made her appear as a pro-Armenian politician in the eyes of Azerbaijanis, there is no longer any investigation into whether what she says is really her own words. But this time, it seems we had to investigate...

It should be noted that representatives of the Armenian National Committee, one of the most active and brazen organizations of the Armenian lobby, spread across America and Canada, have recently started making a fuss about a group of war criminals imprisoned in Baku. The published claims state that officials also want their release, but when it comes to the fact that FM Melanie Joly and others have expressed such an opinion, this cannot be confirmed. Therefore, Azernews continued to find in-depth reports and visited Madam Jolys X page. Looking at the latest posts, we cannot find any information about the imprisoned war criminals. It seems that the FM herself is not aware of the information published about her on social media networks by Armenians.

So let us kindly inform her that the esteemed Foreign Minister has once again forgotten to respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, or someone illegally acts on her behalf. Dear Minister, even your friend, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has confirmed that Garabagh is part of Azerbaijans territories. The ANCC, which almost wants to exercise your powers, publishes articles in your name and says that you are ambitious towards Azerbaijani lands. Perhaps, dear Minister, you can clarify this yourself?

We have not yet been able to specify a centre called "Hay Dat" which is said to have been functioning under the auspices of Armenias Dashnaktsutyun party. However, the centre in question also tried to make it obvious that the Canadian minister addressed them. When doing a search on Google for this name, which is honestly called a centre by the Armenian lobby, we find almost nothing about its origin. This also shows that the Armenian lobby carries out strong propaganda under the name of hundreds of such subsidiary organisations. However, I will be honest about the Dashnaktsutyun party, which is known to everyone with its criminal background. Its crimes against Azerbaijan and the services it provided in the occupation of territories have left indelible marks on the pages of history. If we are talking about the Canadian minister's connections with Dashnaktsutyun, then the possibility of world political leaders being part of the crimes begins to emerge. If FM Melanie really agrees with the ideas of a party like Dashnaktsutyun and supports them, she may have to respond to this at the international level.

But if this is just an exaggeration by Armenians, there are hundreds of funny stories about it. Therefore, let's tune in to another story in the Middle East.

For example, don't be surprised if an Armenian media outlet publishes information on behalf of the government, and in the end, it turns out that the hero mentioned in the information is either a shepherd or a low-ranking official. In Syria, an Armenian representative of the former Baath Party in one of the provinces of the city of Aleppo makes some biased opinions about Azerbaijan. The Armenian media immediately publishes this as information on behalf of a high-ranking official in the Assads party. If not investigated, it could simply create a big scandal between the two states. But when this is dug out, you will read a really funny story. So, let's accept this as a funny story until the truth about FM Melanie comes out...
31 January 2025 16:56 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

On January 29, 2025, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot once again voiced unsubstantiated allegations against Azerbaijan, accusing the country of interfering in France's overseas territories. These claims, presented during a Senate discussion, marked yet another episode in France's ongoing campaign to discredit Azerbaijan's efforts on the global stage.

Barrots statement, claiming that Azerbaijans "Baku Initiative Group" was behind attempts to destabilize France's overseas regions, including New Caledonia and Corsica, raised more questions than answers. He condemned Azerbaijan for allegedly orchestrating digital and physical efforts to influence France's territorial integrity, even referencing a December 2024 report from the Viginum service, which supposedly confirmed such interference.

"Thank you, esteemed senators, for raising questions to the government regarding the unacceptable actions of a group called the 'Baku Initiative Group," Barrot began, painting Azerbaijan as a sinister force meddling in Frances internal affairs. The accusations werent new. Just days earlier, Barrot took to X (formerly Twitter), denouncing the "Baku Group" for destabilizing French politics in New Caledonia, labelling Azerbaijans actions as unacceptable and demanding they cease immediately.

Azerbaijans Ministry of Foreign Affairs swiftly responded to these baseless accusations, reiterating that it was, in fact, Frances colonial policies in New Caledonia that were at the heart of the tensions, not Azerbaijans actions. The Ministry stressed that Barrots claims were merely an attempt to divert attention from Frances own shortcomings in addressing the demands of the indigenous population in its overseas territories, particularly New Caledonia, where France has long been criticized for its repressive actions.

As Azerbaijan's spokesperson Aykhan Hajizade pointed out, The comment by the Foreign Minister of France accusing Azerbaijan of overseas territories interference is an overt attempt to cover up Frances inaction vis-a-vis demands of the indigenous population of New Caledonia. The Ministry also emphasized the absurdity of France's attempt to shift the blame to Azerbaijan, when it is France itself that continues to exploit and oppress its overseas territories.

President Ilham Aliyev had previously highlighted how external forces, including France, have been trying to influence the situation in the South Caucasus. During a recent speech, he addressed how foreign attempts to meddle in Azerbaijans internal affairs and territorial integrity, particularly regarding the historical region of Garabagh, have been met with firm resistance from Baku.

The continued focus by Paris on Azerbaijan's role in the affairs of its overseas territories reveals the growing frustration of the French government, which has failed to deliver meaningful solutions to longstanding issues like the fight for self-determination in New Caledonia. Despite Barrot's dramatic rhetoric, Azerbaijans stance remains clearsupporting the fight against colonial oppression, whether in the South Caucasus or Frances overseas territories, is not a cause for shame.

Azerbaijans efforts to expose Frances colonial legacy and its refusal to accept any meddling in its territorial integrity, as President Aliyev recently affirmed, are not going unnoticed. While Paris continues to accuse Azerbaijan of interference, the reality is that Azerbaijan is, in fact, standing up for justice, not just for its own people, but also for those resisting colonial rule around the world.

Instead of engaging in theatrical displays of condemnation, Barrot and the French government would do well to reconsider their approach. If France truly seeks to resolve its issues with Azerbaijan, it must take concrete stepsstarting with ending its colonial practices in the overseas territories and addressing the root causes of the unrest.

So, as Frances foreign minister continues to deliver his impassioned speeches, perhaps its time for him to address the real issues head-on. Instead of pointing fingers at Azerbaijan, Barrot and his government must confront the uncomfortable reality of Frances ongoing colonial policies. After all, the true question is not whether Azerbaijan is interfering in Frances territories, but whether France is willing to face the consequences of its colonial history and stop destabilizing the South Caucasus in the process.

We respect our relationship with Paris over the past three decades. But it is time for France to face the truth and acknowledge that its colonial policies, not Azerbaijan's supposed interference, are the true source of instability in the region. Only by addressing these issues head-on can France begin to mend its relationship with Azerbaijan and take meaningful steps toward peace and cooperation.
31 January 2025 13:06 (UTC+04:00)

Nazrin Abdul Read more

It is important that ensuring alignment between Azerbaijans National Priorities and the New UN Framework Document.

Azernews reports that Huseyn Huseynov, Chairman of the Department of Sustainable Development and Social Policy at Azerbaijans Ministry of Economy and Secretary of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development, discussed the importance of aligning the government's priorities with the new framework document in his speech at the "High-level Strategic Prioritization" event in Baku. The event was part of the UN-Azerbaijan Cooperation Framework on Sustainable Development Issues (2026-2030).

Huseynov explained that Azerbaijans relations with the UN are based on five-year framework documents. The current framework document, covering the period from 2021 to 2025, will conclude this year, with many economic, environmental, and social projects nearing completion.

"The main goal of todays seminar is to prepare a new framework document covering the years 2026-2030, which will replace the current one," Huseynov said. "A key objective is to align the UNs upcoming projects within the new framework with Azerbaijans national priorities."

He stressed the need to harmonize the priorities outlined in "Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development" with the new framework, including the objectives of the first State Program, "The Great Return."

Huseynov added that the document should also incorporate international initiatives, especially national goals, priorities, and indicators under the Sustainable Development Goals. Promoting sustainable financing and supporting related projects will be vital components of the new framework, he concluded.
31 January 2025 16:15 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

An artistic evening and meeting with the head of the Azerbaijan State Dance Ensemble, People's Artist, choreographer Rufat Khalilzade will take place at Azerbaijan State Children's Philharmonic on February 11, Azernews reports.

The event is organized by the Culture Ministry's Scientific, Methodological and Qualification Center of Culture (MEMIM) with the support of the Azerbaijan State Children's Philharmonic and the Gara Garayev Central School of Arts within the project "Friend of the Master".

The meeting will discuss the history and development of choreography and national dance performance, the preservation of national traditions and values in the modern period, approaches to new trends and styles of teaching choreography. Compositions performed by various dance groups will be presented.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, and Milli.Az.
31 January 2025 15:11 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

A postage stamp has been issued in the Netherlands in memory of the famous oil industrialist, millionaire, and major philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (1823-1924), Azernews reports.

The stamp was issued by the national postal operator of the Netherlands PostNL as part of the "Pearls of Azerbaijan" project, the author of which is choreographer Saltanat Revangizi.

The project "Pearls of Azerbaijan" is aimed at promoting national history and culture. Previously, postage stamps were issued dedicated to the poet Nizami Ganjavi, writer Ismail Shikhli, composers Uzeyir Hajibayli, Jovdat Hajiyev, Fikrat Amirov, musician Rashid Behbudov, dancer Amina Dilbazi, etc.

Postcards dedicated to Khankandi, Shusha, artist Sakit Mammadov, and grandmaster Vugar Hashimov were also released.

Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev was not only one of the significant personalities for Azerbaijan and the entire Turkic world, his activities in the field of charity and humanitarian aid created a deep connection between our peoples and played an important role in promoting such values as solidarity and enlightenment.

He contributed to the economic and social development of Azerbaijan and at the same time became a symbol reflecting the common values of the Turkic world with his innovative activities in the field of education, health care and social security.
31 January 2025 17:55 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

The Ambassador Cultural Club has presented the third part of the cultural project "Hungary Through the Eyes of Azerbaijani Artists," organized by the Embassy of Hungary in Azerbaijan and the Arts Council Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

Each artwork reflects the artist's vision, emotions, and interpretation of Hungary's rich cultural heritage, which has been a primary source of inspiration.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the project's author, head of the Arts Council Azerbaijan, renowned artist Dadash Mammadov, stressed that the project began with a meeting with the Hungarian Ambassador and then continued with a creative workshop where artists studied Hungary's cultural traditions. In the third phase, the results of this inspiring interaction are presented as part of this exhibition.

This exhibition is the result of a successful collaboration between the Arts Council Azerbaijan and the Embassy of Hungary, demonstrating how joint cultural initiatives can inspire and unite people.

The Hungarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Tamas Jozsef Torma, emphasized that the main goal of the project is to showcase the power of art as a tool for cultural exchange and strengthening mutual understanding between countries. It was noted that art is a universal language that can unite people, blur borders, and create strong bridges of understanding. Such initiatives not only reveal the richness of cultural heritage but also strengthen friendly ties between Hungary and Azerbaijan, fostering fruitful cooperation.

The project's curator, Sona Guliyeva, pointed out that it is important for the Ambassador Cultural Club to continue developing cooperation with diplomatic missions, creating new projects that serve as a bridge between cultures. Within the framework of this project, art has become a language that unites traditions, inspires creativity, and contributes to the strengthening of international ties.

The exhibition displays artworks by talented Azerbaijani artists such as Aynura Mustafayeva, Roya Hasanova, Elshan Rzazade, Leyla Museibova, Naila Maharramova, Maryam Kibleyeva, Leyla Orujeva, Nargiz Guliyeva, Ruslan Rustamov, Sevinj Ganjali, Tarana Aliyeva, Huseyn Kangarli, Sevda Rustamova, Nigar Aliyeva, and Malak Abbaszade.

Ambassador Cultural Club invites all art enthusiasts to visit the exhibition and become a part of this vibrant cultural event.

Founded by Arts Council Azerbaijan, the Ambassadors Cultural Club serves as a point of contact for cultural exchange, to create projects that inspire and unite people, and to strengthen cultural ties between diplomats, artists, and the broader audience.

The club aims to highlight the unique aspects of Azerbaijani culture, such as traditional crafts, carpet weaving, music, visual arts, and contemporary art. Special attention is given to folk traditions that reflect the richness of our cultural identity.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, and Milli.Az.
31 January 2025 10:43 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Sabina Aliyeva, the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has addressed an open letter to Tirana Hassan, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). Azernews reports that the letter criticizes the section of HRW's 2024 report that pertains to Azerbaijan, citing a biased and one-sided approach against the country.

Aliyeva highlights that, while preparing the report, HRW relied on dubious and biased sources instead of referring to publicly available annual and parallel reports that comprehensively detail the Ombudsman's activities in protecting human rights and freedoms, including preventing torture. The letter also mentions that members of the Ombudsmans National Preventive Group met with several individuals cited in HRW's report and found no evidence of torture or mistreatment.

Additionally, the letter points out that HRW's report failed to acknowledge Azerbaijan's significant achievements, such as the effective discussions and crucial decisions made during COP29, which Azerbaijan hosted to address the consequences of climate change. The report also overlooked Azerbaijan's efforts to safely and dignifiedly reintegrate former internally displaced persons (IDPs) into their homes after ending Armenia's occupation policy, which had grossly violated the fundamental rights and freedoms of over one million Azerbaijanis.

Moreover, the Ombudsmans letter emphasizes the long-standing issues of landmines posing significant threats to people's lives and health and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Armenia. These crucial issues were ignored in HRW's report, leading to a display of double standards against Azerbaijan.

Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva calls on Human Rights Watch to adopt an impartial approach, ensure fairness, and base their reports on verified facts when preparing their assessments.
31 January 2025 12:07 (UTC+04:00)

Akbar Novruz Read more

Azerbaijan has put forward proposals for the new Framework Document to be signed between the country and the United Nations for 2026-2030, outlining key areas of cooperation, Azernews reports.

At the High-Level Strategic Prioritization event, Deputy Minister of Economy Samad Bashirli emphasized that the document should incorporate Azerbaijans strategic priorities, including:

Implementation of COP29 climate initiatives, reflecting Azerbaijans global commitments,

Support for sustainable development in liberated territories, aiding their reintegration,

Inclusion of Goal 18 in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to enhance mine safety,

Promotion of economic diversification, expanding exports and innovation,

Strengthening cooperation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital economy.

Bashirli noted that the Ministry of Economy has prepared a detailed presentation on these proposals, aiming to ensure Azerbaijans socioeconomic and technological progress aligns with global sustainability goals.
31 January 2025 14:33 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

The relocation of IDPs, who were uprooted from their homes due to the Armenian invasion in the 1990s, to their homelands is gaining momentum.

On January 31, 2024, Azerbaijans Aghdam witnessed a touching scene. A group of IDPs, comprising 22 families or 94 people of various ages, left Aghdam for Ballija village in Khojaly. These IDPs spent 30 yearsliterally half of their livesin administrative buildings, dormitories, and all that far away from the homes they had once built for themselves. They lost their dreams, their future and much more. As an additional thorn, some of them lost their loved ones. Against all odds, like all citizens of Azerbaijan, they have never lost hope of returning to their homes. Today is that day.

Seeing their homelands after thirty yearsliterally half of their liveswas a poignant moment, and some of the IDPs even were close to tears. Sharing her joys with local media, Sudabe Javadova noted that she was 35 years old when she was uprooted from her homeland. Now, she is 68.

More than thirty years of my life were spent in exile, yearning for my homeland. I am very happy that, after so many years, today I can return to my land. As the proverb goes, 'the days of hardship are short-lived.' Thank God, Garabagh has been liberated, and our difficult days are behind us. Now, the joyful days of Garabagh have begun. From now on, I will live with my family and children in our homeland," she emphasized.

Another IDP Hamlet Nasibov expressed that for over thirty years, they lived with the hope and longing of returning to our homeland. Today, he is happy to finally return to my native land.

"Human fate is full of contradictions. When we left our homeland, we walked these roads with great sorrow and hopelessness. Now, we are returning with joy and pride. I express my gratitude to our army and our President for making these beautiful feelings possible, and for reuniting us with our homeland," he added.

It is worth noting that located just 10.6 kilometres from the city centre, Ballija village in the Khojaly region lies on the left bank of the Ballija River, at the foothills of the Garabagh mountain range. The village derives its name from the river that runs through the area. The climate is generally mild and warm, except in the mountainous regions.

Its important to note that the village was occupied by Armenian forces in 1992 during the outbreak of the Garabagh conflict. However, Ballija was liberated from enemy control during local counter-terrorism operations conducted on September 19-20, 2023. These operations successfully restored Azerbaijani sovereignty over the village, bringing an end to more than three decades of occupation.

It should be emphasized that in addition to former internally displaced persons (IDPs) relocated to Garabagh and Eastern Zangazur, over 30,000 people currently live in the region. These individuals include those working on projects being implemented in the area, as well as those serving in local branches of various government institutions.

Moreover, many are employed in the recently resumed health, education, culture, tourism, industry, and energy sectors, contributing to the revitalization of the region's infrastructure and services. This growing population reflects the continued development and re-establishment of essential services in these newly returned territories.
31 January 2025 16:59 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Birol Akgun, the newly appointed Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, has arrived in Baku, Azernews reports, citing the Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan.

The Turkish Embassy's Press Counselor, Alptekin Cihangir Isbilir, announced that Ambassador Akgun would officially begin his duties from tomorrow.

Ambassador Akgun's arrival marks the beginning of a new phase in the diplomatic relations between Turkiye and Azerbaijan. His mission is expected to further strengthen the ties between the two countries, which have shared a close relationship for many years. The new ambassador's focus will be on enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade, culture, and regional security.

The Turkish community in Azerbaijan has expressed optimism about Ambassador Akgun's appointment, anticipating fruitful collaborations and continued mutual support. The arrival of the new ambassador also signifies Turkey's commitment to maintaining strong and friendly relations with Azerbaijan.

As Ambassador Akgun steps into his new role, both nations look forward to a period of renewed diplomatic engagement and partnership.
31 January 2025 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Alimat Aliyeva

UBTech Robotics, based in Shenzhen, plans to start mass production of humanoid robots by the end of 2025, Azernews reports.

The world was captivated when humanoid robots performed a synchronized dance during a broadcast of the Chinese New Year concert. Its safe to say that the future of robotics is already here.

This year, UBTech Robotics aims to deliver between 500 and 1,000 units of industrial robots, with over 60 percent of these being the new Walker S2 models. These robots are expected to be lighter and more durable than their predecessors. Despite facing some financial losses, UBTech remains committed to investing heavily in artificial intelligence and continues to compete in Chinas rapidly expanding robotics market. Notable clients of the company include major companies such as Foxconn and SF Express.

The companys general manager, Michael Tam, clarified that the products will be delivered to SF Express, automotive manufacturers, and other industrial sectors.

UBTechs ultimate goal is to introduce humanoid robots into every family. The primary focus of the company, however, remains industrial robots. Factories need humanoid robots to help solve labor shortages, Tam emphasized.

While humanoid robots are not yet capable of performing household tasks, they are continually improving. Experts believe that in the near future, programmers will resolve these limitations. Chinas industrial landscape provides an ideal environment for humanoid robots to work and undergo training.

Founded in 2012, UBTech has quickly become a leader in Chinese robotics. The company, which went public in Hong Kong in 2023, offers a diverse range of robots across various fields, including maintenance, logistics, and even healthcare. Last October, UBTech unveiled the Walker S1 industrial humanoid, which is already being used in car manufacturing plants. According to Tam, the implementation at Foxconns facilities will require additional fine-tuning, but it marks a significant step toward the future of automation.

UBTech is not just focused on robotics for factories; the company has also developed educational robots, such as the Alpha series, which are designed to teach children coding and STEM skills, helping inspire the next generation of engineers and roboticists.
31 January 2025 21:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Alimat Aliyeva

A complex housing the worlds largest army command center is under construction near Beijing, and it will be 10 times the size of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, Azernews reports.

Satellite images reveal a construction site spanning over 6 square kilometers, located about 30 kilometers southwest of Beijing. The main construction began in mid-2024, according to reports.

The site features deep pits, which military experts believe will be used for large, fortified bunkers designed to protect Chinese military leaders in the event of a conflict, including a potential nuclear war, as noted by The Financial Times.

The U.S. military and intelligence community are closely monitoring the development, which they refer to as the Beijing Military Camp.

Dennis Wilder, the former head of the CIA's China analytical department, told the publication that if the construction of such a massive military complex is confirmed, it would signal Beijing's broader ambitions  not only to build world-class conventional forces but also to develop advanced nuclear warfare capabilities.

This development is particularly noteworthy given the growing tensions in the region and Beijings push for modernization of its military forces. The scale of the project raises concerns among analysts about Chinas long-term military goals and its potential response to emerging global security challenges.
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Under the Biden regime, federal taxpayers were shoveling out hundreds of millions of dollars to non-governmental organizations, some run by social gospel churches, that aiding migrants in crossing the US border and staying here. There was little accounting of how this money was spent, but it included helping them get to and over the border, as well as harboring them once they crossed the border.

That has now comes to a screeching halt as new Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has issued a directive to immediately cut off all of that funding. DHS will now spend ninety days investigating that funding.

"It is amazing to me that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by the federal government that has been sent to NGOs to facilitate this invasion of our country," Noem declared.

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/01/30/homeland-security-chief-kristi-noem-chops-funding-for-migrant-aid-groups/

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-admin-canceling-funding-ngos-involved-illegal-immigration-noem-says
Norway's center-left government coalition has collapsed over a dispute on whether to agree to adopt the provisions of the European Union's radical Green Deal. When the two party coalition's lead party, the Labor Party proposed agreeing to implement the EU Green Deal, its junior partner, the Center Party, refused and left the coalition. The Center Party objected that the Green Deal would cause Norway's electric rates to skyrocket and be a burden on citizens.

Norway is not a member of the European Union, its citizens having voted in a referendum not to join. However it has economic agreements with the EU and like Switzerland, is a member of the European Economic Area. The EU has been pressuring Norway to knuckle under and agree to adopt policies similar to their Green Deal.

For now, the Labor Party is going to try to govern as a minority govenrment, but can be brought down at any time by a vote of no confidence. In that case, a snap election for parliament would be called by the king. Labor currently holds 48 seats in the 168 seat parliament.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2007940/chaos-norway-government-collapses-EU
Donald Trump had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater co-operation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl (Evan Vucci/AP)
A Belfast mum has described her experiences with psychosis in an effort to tackle the stigma around mental health in Northern Ireland.

Megan Finn (27) thought she was battling pre-wedding stress while juggling motherhood and running a business when she took unwell during her honeymoon in Spain in 2022.
One of the Colombia Three has appeared in court charged with the callous and cowardly murder of three RUC officers over 40 years ago.
Committed for the Administration of Justice, with backing from UNISON, Bernardo's and other groups, take legal action against Stormont's failure to implement an Anti-Poverty Strategy for Northern Ireland. The groups are pictured outside the High Court in Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye
China's exports to over 160 countries and regions saw growth in 2024, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The country's exports grew 7.1 percent year on year, reaching 25.45 trillion yuan (about 3.55 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, marking the eighth consecutive year of growth, according to the latest data released by the GAC.

Exports to Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia increased by 23.3 percent, 19.2 percent and 18.2 percent year on year, respectively. Exports to ASEAN countries and nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative grew by 13.4 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, exports to traditional markets, such as the European Union and the United States, rose by 4.3 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.

Lyu Daliang, a GAC official, said that despite growing uncertainties and challenges, China's exports -- characterized by a wide range of products -- are expected to remain resilient and dynamic, supported by both incremental and existing policies.
Teachers have been offered a 5.5% pay rise backdated to the start of the 2024/25 academic year, which could cost the NI Executive nearly 50 million if accepted.

Unions had called off planned industrial action short of strike at the start of January to allow a four week window for negotiations.

Minister Paul Givan had promised to bring an offer to the table by the first week of February and unions will now take the offer to members who will vote on whether to accept.

At the end of last year unions called for a 13.5% pay rise, something which the Minister said was unaffordable.

The offer is in line with what was accepted by teachers in England last year, and will also include new agreements on teacher workloads.

Although no union has yet confirmed, they are expected to recommend that members accept the new offer on the table, but it will also include a commitment that in future industrial action should only be taken as a last resort in any dispute.

Any pay deal offer will now have to be voted on by union members.

Earlier in January, Minister Paul Givan had warned that negotiations were proving difficult considering the financial constraints on his department, stressing that the pay claim was substantially higher that what was recommended by the UK government and accepted by teachers in England.

The Minister added: In line with the requirements of public sector pay policy any proposals for a teachers pay award must be affordable and this is proving difficult to resolve given the pressures that already face the education budget.

In addition to the expected pay offer, pressure group think1265 had also urged the Minister to ensure commitments to easing the workloads experienced by teachers are met.

The group had written to the Minister outlining a lack of implementation in schools of the current teacher workload agreement, which was part of the previous pay deal in April 2024.

It said any pay offer must include a significant workload element if teachers are to vote in favour of accepting any proposed deal.

Read more DUP appoints Lord Weir to EA Board after elevation of Storey to chairperson

Brian Banks, co-founder of think1265 - the name taken from the maximum number of hours teachers are contracted to work in an academic year - said far too many teachers have come forward to say previous commitments have not yet been met.

Last Augusts workload agreement had the potential to transform teachers workload and work-life balance, but thousands of teachers have told us that its not being implemented in their schools, he said.

Currently the only mechanism for ensuring that schools meet teachers rights on workload lies with teachers taking out grievances against their own bosses.

Helen Doogan, co-founder of the think1265 campaign added: Weve studied teachers workload for almost a year now, and because every school is different it follows that workload solutions need to be developed on a school by school basis.

"Weve written to the Minister to explain how the current workload agreement can achieve that, but there has to be a more robust mechanism in place to ensure that schools are doing what they are supposed to be doing under that agreement.

The campaigners say that the onus should be on the Department of Education to ensure that school leaders are correctly implementing teachers workload rights in their school.

Mr Banks continued: The most valuable resource in our education system is teacher time. We think its high time the Ministers department took responsibility for ensuring this limited resource is deployed according to the workload rules agreed by teachers, employers and the Department itself.

We are campaigning for something that has already been agreed, he added.
Economy Minister Conor Murphy pictured at Queen's University Belfast Students' Union with students from QUB, Ulster University and St Mary's University College as he announced a 20% increase in maximum student maintenance loans

Economy Minister Conor Murphy pictured at Queen's University Belfast Students' Union with (back, from left) Kieran Minto, president at Queen's University Belfast Students' Union; Daire Stevenson, president at St Mary's University College Students' Union; (fromt, from left) Ben Friel, president at NUS-USI; and Emily Roberts, vice-president at Ulster University Students' Union

There will be some financial relief for struggling students after Economy Minister Conor Murphy announced a 20% increase in maximum student maintenance loans.

The new higher levels will kick in from the start of the 2025/26 academic year.

The increase will provide 50m of additional support to approximately 35,600 local students to assist with living costs.

The president of the NUS-USI students union said the increase will be welcomed by all students and follows years of campaigning to address student finances.

This substantial increase in maintenance loans is a testament to the tireless campaigning of the student movement across Northern Ireland for more money in students pockets, he said.

We commend the minister for recognising the financial challenges faced by students and for taking decisive action to address this. This funding boost will enable countless students to focus on their studies without the constant worry of making ends meet.

But he warned that more will be needed to ensure the whole student population reaps rewards from measures to alleviate financial hardship.

Its crucial to remember that not all students benefit from this announcement, he stressed.

We urge the department to address these gaps in student support and ensure that all students, regardless of their course or level of study, have access to the financial resources they need to succeed.

We look forward to engaging with the department during the imminent higher education funding review to push for a fairer and more sustainable student finance system in Northern Ireland.

This time last year, a major survey from the union revealed that the vast majority of students in Northern Ireland were constantly worried about finance.

The 2024 survey, the biggest conducted by the students union, showed that 84% of students had financial concerns, with more than one in five (22%) saying money worries dominate their lives.

The results shed light on the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students, leaving many struggling to buy food, through inadequate financial support, and facing the stress of managing increased costs alongside studies and exams.

Almost 40% said dealing with the stress of the cost of living was impacting their mental health, with around 25% considering leaving their course.

Announcing the rise in student maintenance, Minister Conor Murphy said: I am acutely aware of the difficulties that continue to be faced in the current cost-of-living crisis by people right across society, and not least by students.

I am therefore pleased to confirm a 20% increase in the maximum student maintenance loan available to full-time undergraduate students from academic year 2025/26.

This will provide in the region of 50m of additional support to approximately 35,600 local students studying in these islands.

The additional support includes increases to the limits for those who live at home, away from home, and those living in London.

Students from the lowest-income households will see their combined maintenance loan and grant funding rise from 6,610 to 7,925 if living at home; from 8,136 to 9,757 if living away from home; and from 10,852 to 13,016 if living in London.

Eligible students can also continue to avail of income-assessed maintenance grant support of up to 3,475, as well as other targeted support provided by the department, such as Disabled Students Allowance.

Higher education is a cornerstone of our economy and key to delivering my economic priorities of good jobs, regional balance, raising productivity and net-zero carbon emissions, the minister added.

This increase will help ensure as many students as possible can access higher education and can successfully complete their courses, providing benefits for society and the wider economy.

Economy Minister Conor Murphy pictured at Queen's University Belfast Students' Union with (back, from left) Kieran Minto, president at Queen's University Belfast Students' Union; Daire Stevenson, president at St Mary's University College Students' Union; (fromt, from left) Ben Friel, president at NUS-USI; and Emily Roberts, vice-president at Ulster University Students' Union

News Catch Up - Thursday 30 January
Wilfred Garrett, 79, from Co Antrim, Northern Ireland who is receiving end-of-life care for heart failure, has been without power for seven days after Storm Eowyn (Emma Garrett/PA)

Former Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy on Friday next to a tree and power lines brought down by last week's storm. Pic: Luke Jervis

A former Sinn Fein MP has claimed NIE Networks should be doing more after saying he has been living in darkness most of the time without power for the past seven days.

It comes as it was revealed that a man receiving palliative care is among the 8,000 homes that remain without supply a week after Storm Eowyn.

The former Mid Ulster politician Francie Molloy also told the Belfast Telegraph that the suggestion of having people pay for compensation through their bills would be adding insult to injury.

He is calling for Stormont to do a lot more to impose controls on this.

Efforts to repair damaged power lines continued into a seventh day as thousands of homes across Northern Ireland are still waiting for their electricity supplies to be restored.

Economy Minister Conor Murphy has said a decision to compensate NIE customers has been agreed in principle, although no details around this have been released.

Sharing his experience, Mr Molloy  who lives in Co Tyrone  told this newspaper: Its really a bad situation.

Francie Molloy next to a picture of Michelle O'Neill (Photo by by Peter Morrison)

From five oclock in the evening were in total darkness except for torches and lamps.

They [NIE] say that they have meter reader people who go around checking the houses to see how people are but nobody has come here in the whole week.

I just feel that weve been let down completely by NIE particularly, and with ESB who actually own the grid.

Whenever NIE and their shareholders get the dividends and get their bonuses they dont share them with the customers, so why should we have to pay for our own compensation?

I think Stormont could do a lot more to actually impose that on NIE.

Meanwhile Emma Garrett (43), from Mallusk, Co Antrim, described the week-long power outage as a miserable and nightmare experience, particularly as her 79-year-old father-in-law, Wilfred Garrett, who has heart failure and diabetes, lives next door.

He relies on electricity to monitor his blood sugar levels and was given a diagnosis of a matter of months to live by doctors over the Christmas period, according to his daughter-in-law.

With type 1 diabetes, circulation is badly affected, so staying warm is really important, Ms Garrett, chief executive of a social enterprise, said.

He relies on electricity to notify him when his blood sugar levels change dramatically, so that obviously wasnt happening either with no power in his house.

She said NIE Networks dont seem to have prioritised Mr Garrett and criticised the company for not doing more to support him.

They left him out a generator, but it wasnt fit for purpose  which means that it would really only turn on his TV and a couple of lights  it wouldnt turn on the heating system, she added.

Ms Garrett estimates she has spent more than 1,500 to cover the cost of three nights at their local hotel, food waste and other daily food purchases.

She said she feels fortunate to have enough money to cover her expenses, but added she felt very nervous for families who are really struggling, are living day to day, and who are having to rely on food banks.

She has urged NIE Networks to offer accommodation to vulnerable people and households on low income to compensate for the week-long power outage.

During the week, warnings were given that any compensation scheme would likely see bills soar by 15 for every household.

Former Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy on Friday next to a tree and power lines brought down by last week's storm. Pic: Luke Jervis

Watch: Banbridge Golf Club clear-up operation after Storm Eowyn

In response to Mr Molloys complaints, Ronan McKeown, who is NIEs major incident coordinator, praised the commitment of the companys teams out working and confirmed they have made a target to get power restored to everyone in Northern Ireland by 10pm on Monday.

We have got a very robust emergency plan here in NIE Networks, he said.

Before the storm arrived we were already starting to make preparations about what we needed to do in the days ahead.

We have faced a serious challenge here last week. A third of the country was off [power], we have got 97% of the country back on and those 8,000 [who arent], we are working tirelessly to get them on.

The commitment of people here in NIE this week has been unbelievable.

From the very outset of this we said we were expecting this to take 10 days. All our efforts are aimed at restoring everyone by 10pm on Monday night.

We are actually ahead of track. We have been doing amazing work to get to the 8,000 now.

There are hard yards here ahead of us over the weekend.

Former Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy on Friday next to a tree and power lines brought down by last week's storm. Pic: Luke Jervis

Northern Ireland Electricity working hard to reconnect the last 16,000 customers
Emergency services are currently at the scene of a multi-car crash on the M2 in Belfast. PACEMAKER BELFAST 31/01/2025

The scene on the M2

The PSNI have said four people were taken to hospital following a multi-vehicle crash at major Belfast motorway on Friday.

The M2 in Belfast has now re-opened following a collision close to Duncrue Street shortly after 1:40pm.

Inspector McCartney said: Police received and responded to a report of a collision in the area shortly before 1.30pm today, Friday 31st January.

Colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service also attended the scene.

Four people were taken to hospital for medical treatment for injuries which at this stage, are not believed to be life threatening.

Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances of the collision, and we are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time, and may have captured any dash cam or mobile phone footage, to contact us via 101, and quote reference number 772 of 31/01/25.

Read more Two elderly sisters found dead in Belfast house as neighbours mourn 'awful tragedy

A PSNI spokesperson added that both lanes of the M2 Southbound at its Fortwilliam junction are now fully reopened following an earlier road traffic collision involving a number of vehicles.

Earlier a spokesperson fo r the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) had said three people were hospitalised.

In a statement NIAS said they received a 999 call at 13:27 on Friday following reports of an RTC in the M2 area, Belfast.

NIAS despatched an Ambulance Officer, two Rapid Response Paramedics, and two emergency Ambulances to the incident, added the spokesperson.

Three people were taken to Royal Victoria Hospital by Ambulance.

Emergency services are currently at the scene of a multi-car crash on the M2 in Belfast. PACEMAKER BELFAST 31/01/2025

The scene on the M2

Watch: Banbridge Golf Club clear-up operation after Storm Eowyn
The scene of the alert in south Belfast Photo: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press.

A search operation in the Empire Street area of south Belfast where a man in his 50's was arrested following the discovery of a "suspicious object" on January 29th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

A search operation in the Empire Street area of south Belfast where a man in his 50's was arrested following the discovery of a "suspicious object" on January 29th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

A search operation in the Empire Street area of south Belfast where a man in his 50's was arrested following the discovery of a "suspicious object" on January 29th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

A search operation in the Empire Street area of south Belfast where a man in his 50's was arrested following the discovery of a "suspicious object" on January 29th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

A 50-year old man has been charged with a number of offences in connection with an ongoing Belfast security alert.

Earlier today, police said they discovered what is believed to be an improvised grenade following a major search operation at a property in south Belfast. The device has since been removed and made safe.

The man was arrested yesterday following the discovery of a suspicious object. He has been charged with a number of offences in connection with the investigation and will appear before Belfast Magistrates Court tomorrow (Friday).

Photographs from the scene last night showed several Tactical Support Group officers searching a house in the Empire Street area with a number of plain-clothes armed officers at the scene.

In an updated statement on Friday evening morning, a PSNI spokesperson said police remain at the scene but evacuated residents have returned to their home.

Chief Inspector Mark Conway said: The object, believed to be an improvised grenade, has been removed and made safe by ATO  evacuated residents in the area have also been allowed to return home.

A 50-year-old man who was arrested has now been charged with a number of offences in connection with the investigation. He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday morning, 31st January.

We would reiterate our message that we are aware of inaccurate online speculation regarding this alert, and we advise the public not rely on such sources for their information.

I would also like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding as a public safety operation was carried out overnight and into today.

I fully understand the disruption this can cause, however, our primary aim throughout the course of this operation was to keep our community safe.

Our enquiries remain ongoing, with a police presence remaining in the area overnight as we continue with our enquiries. Anyone with information which could assist our investigation or noticed anything suspicious in the area in recent days, is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 401 29/01/25.

On Thursday, Mr Conway had said: Following the discovery of a suspicious object in the area, officers have commenced a public safety operation.

"A number of homes have been evacuated and motorists are advised to avoid the area. We thank residents for their understanding as we continue to keep the local community safe.

Officers will continue to provide a visible policing presence in the area and an update will be provided in due course.

It is understood the security alert is centred around a residential property near the Laganside Auctions building, with the street cordoned off at the junction of Lamberg Street.

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, a member of staff at the business said: It is just happening out the back of the building. It seems to be one of the houses out towards the back.

"One of our staff members approached the police officers and they said it was OK for us to remain.

"We have just been working away here.

A search operation in the Empire Street area of south Belfast where a man in his 50's was arrested following the discovery of a "suspicious object" on January 29th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Watch: Never before seen relics revealed in Strand Arts Centre renovations
A man has been arrested after a police officer was struck on the back of the neck with a glass bottle in Ballymena.

A number of officers were also threatened by knife-wielding man while they responded to a concern for safety call in the early hours of Friday morning.

PSNI arrived at the scene on in the North Street area of the town when they came under attack.

Chief Inspector Boyd said officers were threatened with a knife by a male and had a number of items thrown at them from a window, including plates.

One officer was struck on the back of the neck with a glass bottle thrown from height, they added.

The male was subsequently arrested for assault on police, criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.

"He remains in custody.

Chief Inspector Boyd said the incident highlights the risks faced by officers every day when they are doing their jobs.

"Our officers are here to help, and to respond to calls to assist those who need that help, they added.

Assaults on police are unacceptable and must not be tolerated.

Thankfully, all officers involved were fit to remain on duty, but our ask is that officers and the work they do should not be taken for granted.

Police are investigating the robberies.

Watch: Banbridge Golf Club clear-up operation after Storm Eowyn
Robert McCartney murder 20 years on: IRA weighed his life against protecting those who killed him

20 years after the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney, his sisters tell Suzanne Breen how they will never give up on justice

Robert McCartney

Suzanne Breen Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 07:10

It was the birth of Robert McCartneys first grandchild which broke the heart of his sisters all over again.
A senior adviser to the Duke of York told an alleged Chinese spy later banned from the UK that Andrews Newsnight interview had been ill advised, newly released documents show.
A proud jewellery store manager who killed himself after being the victim of a 1.38 million robbery saw the best in most people, his mother told jurors.

Junior Kunu, 30, and Mannix Pedro, 37, are charged with conspiring with others to commit the robbery after more than 70 luxury watches were stolen from the 247 Kettles shop in Richmond, south-west London, on May 25 last year.

Office manager Oliver White, 27, took his own life the next day as a direct result of the robbery, jurors were previously told.

The victims mother, Amy Keane, described him as a really hardworking young man as she gave evidence at the defendants trial at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday.

The court previously heard Mr White tried to transfer 14,000 of his own savings to his bosses after the robbery.

Ms Keane told jurors her son was not extravagant with his money by any means and would spend most weekends at home with his girlfriend.

She said: Ollie [Mr White] never touched that money. It was his future and I know he was devastated by the robbery and his friends losing so much money.

Asked by prosecutor Edward Brown KC whether she considered her son to be trusting or wary, Ms Keane replied: Ollie was the most happy-go-lucky [person]  Everything was a lot of fun [with him].

He saw the best in most people. He wasnt one to be wary.

Other members of Mr Whites family shed tears in the public gallery as Ms Keane gave her evidence.

Earlier, the court heard 247 Kettles had received a warning from police in February 2024 that it might be at risk of a robbery, but Mr Thornton and fellow owner Joe Riley were out of the country when the robbery took place.

None of the watches stolen in the robbery were insured, despite the business previously being a victim of theft three years earlier, jurors were told.

The stores co-owners Mr Thornton and Mr Riley also both gave evidence from behind a screen on Friday.

Tyrone Smith KC, defending Kunu, said the owners held two meetings with Mr White the day after the robbery.

Mr Thornton had earlier said he and Mr Riley were in New York for a business trip when the robbery happened.

Mr Smith asked: Were questions asked why he [Mr White] let people in who looked shady?

Mr Thornton replied: Yes.

Mr Smith then asked: Was he quizzed about why he didnt press the alarm button?

Mr Thornton again replied: Yes.

Mr Smith was then told Yes when he asked Mr Thornton: Was he quizzed about why he didnt call the police sooner?

The KC added: He was accused of being involved, wasnt he?

Mr Thornton said: No.

Mr Smith asked him: You were at a loss to understand why he acted the way that he did, and the only conclusion you could draw was that this was an inside job, and you told him as much, didnt you?

No, the co-owner replied.

Mr Smith told jurors that CCTV of the second meeting, held in the store office, was no longer available and had not been seen by anyone, including the police.

Asked by Mr Smith about the contents of the CCTV footage, Mr Riley told jurors the meeting probably would not have looked the best on camera.

He added: At the time, emotions were high after what happened. Im not going to say that it was a lovely conversation, but nobody blamed Ollie, from what I can remember anyway.

The court heard 247 Kettles had CCTV, panic buttons and magnetic locking doors for security measures as well as a smoke system.

The store mainly sold high-end Rolex models ranging anywhere from 3,000 to 60,000-70,000 in value.

Mr Thornton told jurors the jewellery had not been insured, both when the business suffered the robbery in May 2024 and during a previous incident when it was based in Egham, Surrey, in 2021.

Asked by Mr Smith if he had told Mr White the watches were not insured, Mr Thornton said: Yes.

Mr Riley told jurors that Mr White was my best friend and that he would trust him with anything.

He said he did not return to the store for six to seven weeks after Mr Whites death.

The court heard Mr Thornton had also known Mr White for more than 10 years and he considered him definitely a good friend.

Mr Thornton said Mr White knew the procedure in the event of a robbery, that he trusted the manager and that he dealt with customers well.

Asked by prosecutor Edward Brown KC about the meetings on May 26, Mr Thornton said they reviewed CCTV footage of the incident as they were trying to work out a clear picture.

Asked how Mr White seemed at the meeting, Mr Thornton replied: He was still a little bit in shock about the previous day, but other than that nothing too alarming.

Jurors previously heard Mr White was put in a headlock and tied up while the watches were stolen from the store.

Mr Brown told the court the defendants played different roles in the plot, with Kunu having entered the premises to carry out the robbery, while Pedro, who did not attend the shop on May 25, was closely involved in the planning and execution.

Two other men said to have been involved  Michael Ashman and Kyle Bowrage  are still at large, having fled abroad soon after May 25.

Pedro, of Cobham, and Kunu, of Mitcham, south-west London, deny the charges.

None of the watches have been recovered, Mr Brown previously said.

The trial will resume on Monday.
Alia Shawkat, left, Hailey Gates and Callum Turner attend the premiere of Atropia during the Sundance Film Festival at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

The war satire Atropia, about actors in a military role-playing facility, has won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festivals US dramatic competition, while the Dylan OBrien movie Twinless got the coveted audience award.

Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prize winners in Park City, Utah.

Other grand jury winners included the documentaries Seeds, about farmers in rural Georgia, and Cutting Through The Rocks, about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village.

Dylan OBrien, left, and James Sweeney in a scene from Twinless (Greg Cotten/Sundance Film Festival via AP)

The Indian drama Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears), about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.

Its for my dad, said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade.

His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.

Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeneys Twinless, about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the US dramatic category.

Andre Ricciardi in a scene from Andre Is An Idiot (Sundance Institute via AP)

OBrien also won a special jury award for his acting.

The US documentary audience award went to Andre Is An Idiot, a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer.

Other audience picks were Prime Minister, about former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and DJ Ahmet, a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.

Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press (AP) journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, 2000 Meters To Andriivka, a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.

Mstyslav Chernov attends the premiere of 2000 Meters To Andriivka during the Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah (Chris Pizzello/AP)

Heres to all documentary directors who are risking their lives in Ukraine trying to tell the stories of people who protect the land that I call home, Chernov said on stage.

Others singled out for directing include Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor, a documentary about a murder in Florida told through the use of police body camera footage, and Rashad Frett for Ricky, a drama about life post-incarceration.

The world cinema documentary jury also gave special prizes to Coexistence, My Ass! about a comedian who creates a one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel and Palestine, and Mr Nobody Against Putin, in which a Russian teacher goes undercover to expose what is happening in his school during the invasion of Ukraine.

Our programming team is so thrilled to have introduced these moving and impactful works to our audiences this festival, and we look forward to following the journeys of each of these talented artists and their projects, said festival programming director Kim Yutani.

The Sundance Film Festival runs until Sunday.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Presidents palace in Vilnius, Lithuania (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

Securing an end to the fighting in Ukraine must take place with Kyivs full involvement and come with more defence spending by regional countries to avoid any future Russian aggression, according to Lithuanias president.

Gitanas Nauseda, the president of the Baltic coastal nation, told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday that a settlement negotiated without proper deterrent measures would allow Russia to consolidate its forces and prepare for further aggression in the region.

Mr Naussda said that even when a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine, you cannot believe that the intentions of Russia will be just to stop and do nothing.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Presidents palace in Vilnius, Lithuania (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

They will use this break in order to consolidate, to strengthen the military capabilities and to strike again in the future, he told the Associated Press in Vilnius.

And then the main question is, what will be the next target of Russia? Ukraine, maybe. Baltic countries, maybe.

Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1990, is increasingly worried about the ongoing brutal war in Ukraine and the aggression of its neighbour Russia.

Its geographical position  bordering Russias Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Moscows proxy Belarus to the east  make it vulnerable to a potential broader conflict launched from the Kremlin even after an eventual end to the war, Mr Nauseda said.

You can never feel safe living in this part of the world, because we have this neighbour, and we will still have it after one hundred or two hundred years, Mr Nauseda said of Russia.

You always have the threat from the east, and you must be aware and take all the necessary precautionary measures in order not to be attacked.

This is not individual country-by-country conflict, he added. This is a challenge of Putin towards Nato.

 Unacceptable if ceasefire plans exclude Kyiv

The country recently became the first member of the Nato military alliance to commit to raising its defence spending to at least 5% of its overall national economic output, as called for by US President Donald Trump.

A long-time critic of Nato countries that do not spend more on defence, Mr Trump has threatened he would not defend alliance members that fail to meet defence spending goals.

While some European countries have signalled upping their spending to Mr Trumps desired 5% of GDP would be an economic burden, other nations on the alliances eastern flank, including Lithuania, have greeted the proposal as a necessity.

US President Donald Trump has threatened he would not defend Nato members that fail to meet defence spending goals (Evan Vucci/AP)

Before Mr Trump took office earlier this month, questions over how he would engage with the war in Ukraine loomed over European countries as some speculated he would roll back the crucial military aid provided by the administration of President Joe Biden.

But after his inauguration, Mr Trump threatened to impose sanctions and tariffs on Moscow, and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to settle now and stop this ridiculous war.

Mr Nauseda said the new US administration must ensure that Kyiv is fully involved in negotiations to end the fighting, and that a resolution to the conflict should not be drawn up bilaterally between Moscow and Washington.

It would be unacceptable if the peace would be set behind the doors and without the involvement of Ukraine, he said.

Ukraine paid a very high price in this war. Ukraine lost many human lives. Infrastructure, facilities and houses are destroyed.

The Ukrainian people deserve the right to set the conditions of this peace.

A Ukrainian brigade fires a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian front-line positions in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

I think that President Donald Trump understands that: no peace negotiations without Ukraine, he added.

 Suspicions over damaged undersea cables

Another security concern facing Lithuania and the region is a series of events that have damaged undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged since October 2023.

Most recently, a fibre optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland reportedly ruptured on Sunday.

Nato launched a new mission dubbed Baltic Sentry earlier this month to protect the underwater infrastructure vital to the economic well-being of the region.

Although cable operators note that sub-sea cable damage is commonplace, the frequency and concentration of incidents in the Baltic have heightened suspicions that damage might have been deliberate.

To address those concerns, Mr Nauseda said: It is time for us to show some muscle.

Nato and the EU should take more responsibility in surveying the Baltic Sea, bringing additional maritime capabilities to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.

Some politicians in Lithuania have objected to the country raising its military expenditures, already among the highest relative to GDP in the 32-member Nato alliance.

But Mr Nauseda said Lithuania must show that it can be responsible for its own defence.

This is an absolutely clear priority for this country, as a frontline country, that we have to spend more, he said.

Of course, we can rely on the support of our allies in Nato. But it would be naive to expect that somebody will care about our security if there will be clear indications that we are not able to defend ourselves.
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Across the world, millions of Christians sing hundreds of hymns in their church every Sunday. Singing is such an integral part of worship. The church has a massive collection of songs, but some stand out above the rest. Some classics have captured the attention of Christians for generations.

When we learn the stories behind our favorite hymns, they come to life in a new way. History adds context and meaning so that we can understand and relate to the hymns in a profound fashion. These stories will spark emotion and passion the next time you sing them.

"Amazing Grace"

This would not be a complete list without one of the most well-known hymns in the world. "Amazing Grace" was created by John Newton in 1779. The author of the hymn described himself as the "wretch" in the song. He was a slave trader, rebel, blasphemer, and all-around immoral man. He was as far from grace as anyone could ever be and lived a life full of hardship. God was able to get his attention after Newton's slave ship was nearly wrecked in a thunderstorm. As the vessel was taking on water and the crew was crying, Newton fell to his knees and started pleading for God's forgiveness. God's grace saved Newton. Newton became a pastor in Olney, England, where he wrote the song. Today, the song still inspires the world and is sung in churches everywhere.

"How Great Thou Art"

This song was written in 1885 by Carl Gustav Boberg, a 26-year-old pastor from Sweden. Boberg was said to have been caught in a thunderstorm after church one Sunday afternoon. From his place in the mountains, Boberg could see the storm rolling in and noticed the immense power and force it had. Once the storm passed, Boberg observed a beautiful big rainbow cover the valley, over the meadows and grain fields. It took his breath away. He wrote the song "O Store Gud," which was then translated into German, Russian, and English. A stanza in the song was picked up in 1949 by an English missionary named Stuart K. Hine and changed to what we know today. Millions now sing the song of Christians in dozens of languages across the world.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

Joseph Scriven, a young Irishman, completed his college education in 1844. He returned home to marry his sweetheart. He came home to find his bride-to-be tragically lying dead after falling off her horse. Later on, Scriven moved to Canada and fell in love again. Unfortunately, for the second time, his bride-to-be hit a horrible fate. She became ill and died weeks before their marriage.

Scriven wrote a poem to his mother in Ireland to describe the tragedy he had faced. He spoke of how his deep friendship with Jesus, which he had cultivated through prayer, helped him get through the loss of his two loved ones. Instead of believing God was punishing him, Scriven thought God was his rock. The poem was published anonymously under the title "Pray Without Ceasing". Later in 1868, attorney Charles Converse set the text to music and changed the name to what we know it as today.

"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

Isaac Watts devoted much of his life to writing, including essays, sermons, and hymns, despite his frail health. He is considered the father of English hymnody crafting songs like the Christmas carol "Joy to the World". As a teen, Watts was concerned with the crude lyrics that most English-speaking congregations used to praise God. Watts was challenged by his father to create something better, so he began to write hymns. At first, he wrote new versions of Bible verses in the book of Psalms. Then in 1707, Watts wrote, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," which reflected his personal feelings. This writing style was considered controversial at the time, but the song became so popular and had a significant impact on the church. Theologian Matthew Arnold came to call it the greatest hymn in the English language.

"Wherever He Leads, I'll Go"

Two friends, R.S. Jones and B.B. McKinney, were having lunch at an Alabama Sunday school conference in 1936. Jones had just returned from Brazil, where he was a missionary. Jones was heartbroken, because just days before he found out that health issues would keep him from returning to the country to do God's work. McKinney, a hymn writer, asked Jones what he was going to do. Jones replied, "Wherever He leads, I'll go". This statement was so powerful that McKinney penned the classic hymn that afternoon, and later that night performed it after Jones had preached in the church. Since then, the song has been such in many worship services. We might know where God will lead us, but we can trust He knows what He is doing.

The hymns we know and love have much deeper meanings behind them. Knowing the history of these songs makes them that much more meaningful each time we sing them. We can honor God's hand in creating these beautiful tunes.

Megan Bailey is a content producer and digital marketing specialist specializing in social media marketing. She attended James Madison University where she received a degree in psychology.
PHS students approached the microphone with a different perspective: They love and are proud of their school. And they don't want their school to be defined by what the grown-ups did or didn't do, or what others have to say about it.
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GREAT BARRINGTON  To quell unnecessary fear in the community, immigrant advocates and other groups are asking that ICE sightings or arrests be verified with specific information before those reports are broadcast.

Sharing ICE sightings? reads Instagram and Facebook messages posted on Wednesday by the Berkshire Immigrant Center. Lets do it responsibly.

The post, which is also in Spanish, is asking that people verify information, and include accurate details before sharing sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or any activity by the agency.

The center says that to ensure accurate information people should include the specific time of the sighting, the exact location (street address, intersection or landmarks), and detailed descriptions of the agents: their appearance, any badges or identification displayed, and the vehicles they were using (make, model, color, and license plate number if possible).

Unverified information can spread fear and misinformation, the center's post said. By providing accurate details, we can help counter misinformation, support those impacted by ICE activity, and hold authorities accountable.

The post was shared by the social media accounts of other immigrant community organizations, like Latinas 413.

The post comes amid anxiety and uncertainty over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and threat of mass deportation. President Donald Trump signed into law on Wednesday the Laken Riley Act, which makes it easier to deport anyone who entered the country illegally and has been charged with certain crimes. But it remains unclear whether ICE will also target immigrants who are law-abiding, working and raising families, but whose citizenship paperwork is not finalized.

State Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced last week that ICE cannot use local and state police to enforce federal immigration policies.

Berkshire Immigration Center is, however, certain about this: As of January 21, 2025, the government expanded expedited removal nationwide, said another of the nonprofits social media posts.

This means some individuals arrested by ICE or [U.S. Border and Customs Protection] may be deported without a hearing unless they express fear of returning home and qualify for asylum, the post reads. Individuals should be prepared to exercise their rights and take steps to protect themselves and their families.

That post includes a list of steps to take to avoid expedited removal.

The center's earlier post about verification of ICE activity follows social media reports alleging sightings in Great Barrington since Trumps inauguration on Jan. 20. As of Thursday morning, The Eagle has been unable to verify any of those sightings.

Immigration attorneys and those who work closely with immigrants in the Berkshires say they have not received any reports that ICE is currently active in the county since Jan. 20.

We have not heard of any ICE sightings, Berkshire Immigrant Center Executive Director Melissa Canavan said on Thursday.

Canavan also wrote in an automated email response that she and other staff are experiencing a higher than usual volume of communications, and that this may result in a delay in my response time.

The nonprofit is working to understand changes to immigration law and inform and help its clients.

ICE has not responded to a request for information about whether it had arrested anyone in Berkshire County since Jan. 20, nor about the numbers of total arrests in Massachusetts.

One Berkshire resident, who is an immigrant from Argentina, said that all the uncertainty is making her and other immigrants she knows nervous about being out in public. Even driving is nerve-racking, said Marina, who was nervous about publishing her full name.

Most immigrants are law-abiding, hard-working, and trying to be professionals, Marina added. She runs a local art collective that serves immigrant artists and who works to support immigrant business owners. She also created a video podcast for immigrant stories.

She said that most immigrants have businesses and families." Deportation of someone who has been here 20 years and built a business" could cause them to lose everything theyve worked for.

As immigrants, we are always living with fear, she said. But now, everything is complex.
The prophet looks out over a valley of death, a horrifying scene of skeletons. The bones were dry, like they had lain there for centuries. Scanning back and forth at the remains of an ancient slaughter, a hopeless scene, Ezekiel asks a hopeful question. Can these dry bones live?

Ezekiel understood, on some level, that these dry bones represented the nation of Israel. He spoke and ministered during the people of Gods greatest and most humiliating defeat, and those bones represented the death of Israels mission and purpose. It seemed completely hopeless. Yet Ezekiel knew God. The one who created the universe with his word might bring life to the dead. So Ezekiel asks if God can restore and resurrect the hopeless and dead.

God says the dry bones can live. And they do.

This dramatic scene in Ezekiel 37 has been the subject of countless sermons and messages over the last two thousand years. Full of symbolism and meaning, the prophets experience still speaks to our hearts today. Yet Ezekiel ministered during a great crisis, and this powerful vision from God comes within a larger, more epic moment.

Who was Ezekiel? How did God use this prophet?

Who Was Ezekiel?

Ezekiels name in Hebrew was Yechezquel, which means God strengthens or God will strengthen. His name references the power he needed to fulfill Gods prophetic calling during his life. He wrote the book named after him, Ezekiel, one of the major prophetic books of the Old Testament.

Ezekiel was born into a priestly family, which had him serve in the Jerusalem Temple. His father, Buzi, was also a priest, so Ezekiel came from a long line of spiritual leaders. Ezekiels priestly background influenced his messages; his visions often included the temple and rituals to communicate Gods word. From the priestly class, he had been trained in the Scripture and tradition as preparation for a spiritual leadership.

Babylon invaded Judah and took captives when Ezekiel was around 25 years old. Ezekiel settled with a group of exiles along the Kebar River in Babylon. At age 30, when priests usually begin their service, Ezekiel got his first vision and prophetic calling. His first vision included a revelation of Gods glory. The prophet saw a whirlwind, a great cloud with flashing fire, and living creatures with wheels full of eyes. God spoke to Ezekiel during the vision and called him to be a prophet to Israel, also warning him of the peoples resistance to the truth. However, God instructed him to be faithful with the Lords word, regardless of how people responded.

Despite Ezekiels hardships, including exile and rejection, he remained committed to his calling and relied upon Gods strength to see him through a traumatic time in Judahs history.

What Was Happening with Judah during Ezekiels Time?

During the days of Ezekiel, Judah and Israel experienced one of the darkest periods in their history. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah followed a similar path of rebellion against God, which led to its downfall.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah a number of times, finally conquering Jerusalem in 605 BC, making Judah a vassal state and taking some of the leaders and young men captive, including Daniel. Judah rebelled against Babylon in 597 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar returned and sacked the city and temple, enslaving more people, including Ezekiel. These thousands of exiles lived near the Kebar River in Babylon.

What few leaders left in Jerusalem, including King Zedekiah, continued to resist Babylons rule. The prophet Jeremiah warned Zedekiah and the Jews to submit to Babylon, as part of Gods plan, but they refused to listen. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem one final time in 586 BC. The Babylonians destroyed the city and the temple, deporting the remaining people to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar left the city empty and in ruins.

The exiles in Babylon lived with immense grief, feeling abandoned by God. They struggled to comprehend why God would allow their defeat and exile, despite continued messages from Isaiah and Jeremiah. Some Jews started turning to idolatry while others thought the covenant with God was broken forever.

God called Ezekiel to speak judgment and hope into this despair. He communicated how the story wasnt over. He was righteous in his judgment, and he would also lovingly restore his people.

How Did God Use Ezekiel as a Messenger to Israel and Judah?

God used Ezekiel to call Judah to repentance from the sins which prompted the exile, while also promising a future redemption.

The Lord first established Ezekiel as a watchman over Israel, including Judah. The role of watchman acted as someone who watches for danger and warns the people. God told Ezekiel to deliver his message, whether the people listened or not. If Ezekiel failed to warn them, their blood would be on his hands. But if he spoke Gods words, Ezekiel would save his own life even if others disbelieved him (Ezekiel 3:17-21).

Ezekiel also received the call of a messenger, delivering Gods words through prophecies, visions, and interesting actions with spiritual meaning. One of those acts included lying on his side for a long time to represent the siege of Jerusalem. God instructed him to only speak what God commanded, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Even Ezekiels times of silence, under Gods direction, sent a message of divine judgment.

Since Judah had disobeyed God, their sin had deceived them, and they didnt understand why God enacted such radical judgment. Therefore, God reminded them of their sin, injustice, and idolatry through Ezekiel. God gave him very vivid and harsh messages, warning of Jerusalems fall and the destruction of the temple. One vision showed how Gods glory departed from the Temple (Ezekiel 10), a symbol of how Judah broke their covenant with God and led to their exile from the Promised Land.

However, in his love, God offered restoration through repentance. Ezekiel prophesied how God would remain faithful to his covenant and restore all Israel back to their land and proper worship. God promised to gather the people from exile, forgive them, and give them a new covenant. The valley of dry bones spoke of this great revival.

How Did God Use Ezekiel to Pass Judgment on Other Nations?

While God judged Judah through Babylon, neighboring nations took advantage of Israels downfall and acted with injustice toward Gods people. God rules over all people, everywhere, not just the nation of Israel. And he holds all nations accountable. Ezekiel chapters 25-32 pronounce judgment upon these nations.

Ezekiel starts with condemning Ammon for their celebration of Judahs destruction. In this judgment, Ammon would suffer Judahs same fate  conquered by foreign powers, their land left desolate, and their people in exile. Gods judgment on his chosen people wasnt something to celebrate but mourn.

Then Ezekiel rebukes Moab and Edom, nations also from the family of Abraham. Moab mocked Judah and claimed Israel wasnt any different from other nations. Of course, God had chosen them to be his special people. God promised to also hand Moab over to the Babylonians to humble their pride. Edom, from the line of Esau, had long fought with Israel and Judah, which continued while the Jews came under exile. God spoke his vengeance upon them, how Israel would rule over them.

Toward the Mediterranean coast, the Philistines had long warred with Israel and Judah, even up to the day of exile. God declared he would destroy them and cut off their future. Tyre and Sidon, wealthy city states, were also brought under Gods judgment. Tyre possessed pride in their riches and trade and also rejoiced over Jerusalems fall. Ezekiel prophesied Tyres destruction by Babylon and other future nations. Gods condemnation of the king of Tyre could be compared to the arrogance of Satan who tried to exalt himself above God. Sidon faced judgment for their opposition to Israel, and God prophesied plague and violence upon them.

Finally, Israels old enemy Egypt received a long prophecy of judgment, lasting three chapters (Ezekiel 29-32). God rebukes Pharoah for his pride and relying upon human ability. Ezekiel prophesies the Egyptian fall to Babylon, weaking that ancient empire further to become a poor nation.

As we see in later prophets, each of these same nations would have the opportunity for restoration through becoming part of Gods people in a new covenant which would offer a new kingdom to all.

How Did God Use Ezekiel to Reveal the New Covenant?

God used Ezekiel to give his people hope. The story wasnt over yet. While they underwent tragedy, God had even greater things planned for the future. The promise of a new covenant became the foundation of this future hope. Unlike the old covenant, broken by Israels disobedience, the new covenant promised a transformation of the heart.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 prophesies this new covenant: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. In these verses, God addresses the real issue  the heart. The stiff-necked and rebellious people couldnt keep the divine law. However, a transformed heart could. Therefore, God promises to change them from within, giving them his Spirit so they could walk in righteousness.

The vision of the valley of dry bones almost immediately follows the new covenant promise. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet sees the lifeless bones representing Israel. God commands Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones, and they come together as flesh. God eventually breathes new life into these formerly dead bodies, symbolizing the complete and radical restoration of Israel and the new covenant.

Later, Ezekiel describes a vision of the new temple (chapters 40-48), symbolizing the new relationship with God based on right worship and the Lords presence in his people. The imagined temple was bigger than any previous one and has never been built. On some level, the temple vision signified the perfect and eternal nature of the new covenant. Gods glory returned to fill the temple; a fitting conclusion come full circle from one of Ezekiels first visions. God would once again live with his people where true worship was restored.

Jesus declared himself as this new covenant, referring back to promises in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezekiel revealed the promise of this new covenant and offered hope and restoration to Israel, a promise which would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ and his disciples today.

Peace.

Photo credit: Getty Images/Daniel Christel

Britt Mooney lives and tells great stories. As an author of fiction and non-fiction, he is passionate about teaching ministries and nonprofits the power of storytelling to inspire and spread truth. Mooney has a podcast called Kingdom Over Coffee and is a published author of We Were Reborn for This: The Jesus Model for Living Heaven on Earth as well as Say Yes: How God-Sized Dreams Take Flight.


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Since taking office on January 20th, US president Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across the federal government and the private sector.

While Mr Trump's orders have been celebrated by some supporters and allies, they have been criticised by advocacy groups who say they might deepen inequities and undo decades of progress made to enshrine civil rights protections for marginalised groups.

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Mr Trump and his allies have also blamed, without offering evidence, diversity efforts for the handling of recent deadly California wildfires and a Washington air crash. Civil rights advocates dismiss the allegations and call them dangerous.

What is DEI?

DEI programmes have been part of workplace diversity efforts to ensure fairer representation for groups seen as historically marginalised, such as African Americans, LGBTQ+ community members, women, disabled people and other ethnic minorities in the United States.

The efforts aim to remove systemic barriers for groups affected by a legacy of racism, sexism and xenophobia.

DEI practices include training on combating discrimination, addressing pay inequity along gender or racial lines and broadening recruitment and access for underrepresented ethnic groups.

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What is the US history of DEI?

DEI is a relatively new term but efforts to address inequities and structural racism go back centuries in the US.

More recent efforts can be traced to the landmark Civil Rights Act signed in 1964 by then-president Lyndon B Johnson, which banned discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, color and sex, and ushered in sweeping changes to American life, including ending segregation.

The legislation followed an escalating series of demonstrations by activists in the 1950s and 1960s, amid the civil rights movement.

In 1965, Mr Johnson issued an executive order that further prohibited discrimination in federal employment by requiring the government to ensure that applicants and employees are treated without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. Mr Trump has revoked that action.

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DEI efforts picked up pace, including in the private sector, in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.

The killings of Mr Floyd and several other Black Americans led to protests worldwide against racism and police brutality.

What do Trump and his allies say to oppose DEI?

Mr Trump and his allies say DEI unfairly discriminates against other Americans, including white people and men, and weakens the importance of merit in job hiring or promotion.

"My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense - and these are policies that were absolute nonsense - throughout the government and the private sector," Mr Trump told the World Economic Forum after taking office for his second term.

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What do civil rights advocates say in support of DEI?

Civil rights advocates say DEI efforts help uplift marginalised groups and address the continued effects of historical and generational inequity.

The American Civil Liberties Union says DEI programs are not discriminatory. "They are essential to creating environments where everyone has a chance to succeed and addressing persistent barriers for individuals to advance in their careers," the ACLU said.

The United Nations' top human rights official, Volker Turk, said diversity was not a threat and should be treasured.

What has Trump done to dismantle DEI?

World Trump consoles air crash victims then attacks dive... Read More

Mr Trump has signed executive orders calling for the elimination of government diversity programmes and the removal of all federal offices and jobs related to DEI. Mr Trump has pressured the private sector as well to rescind DEI policies.

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The president has also issued an order to end funding for schools supporting critical race theory, an academic framework most often taught in law schools that rests on the premise that racial bias - intentional or not - is baked into US laws and institutions.

How are Trump's efforts being received by Americans?

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 59 per cent of respondents, including 30 per cent of Republicans, opposed Mr Trump's moves to end federal efforts to promote the hiring of women and members of racial minority groups.

When asked specifically about Mr Trump's order to close federal DEI offices, respondents were more evenly divided, with 51 per cent opposed and 44 per cent in favour, largely along partisan lines.
A Bulgarian man was remanded in custody for sentencing after admitting his role in smuggling over 20 million worth of cocaine to Ireland from Brazil.

Nikola Penchev (34), pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to one count of possession of cocaine in excess of 13,000 for sale or supply, contrary to Section 15 (A) of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

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Penchev, with an address at Velicki, Preslav, Bulgaria, spoke only to confer his guilty plea during the brief court hearing on Thursday.

The offence carries a mandatory prescriptive minimum 10-year jail sentence unless a court finds extenuating exceptional circumstances that would allow a reduced term.

The 21.6 million total cocaine haul was smuggled on board the MV Verila cargo ship, which travelled from Brazil to Canada and onto Foynes Port, Co Limerick, bringing with it a legal consignment of sugar and grain.

The drugs were discovered by Revenue Customs officers who searched the ship after it had docked at Foynes Port, on December 19th, 2023.

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The drugs were to be dropped overboard and collected for transportation across Ireland and the rest of Europe, but this did not happen.

After pleading guilty, Penchev was remanded in continuing custody for sentence on April 9th.

A co-accused man, Kamen Petkov, also from Bulgaria, who pleaded guilty to the same offence was jailed for 10 years last December.

Judge Colin Daly told Petkovs sentencing hearing that Petkov had been in control of such a large quantity of drugs that it was impossible not to conclude that thousands of lives would have been affected by such a volume of drugs.

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Petkov, (36), told gardai, following his arrest, that he had agreed to smuggle the drugs for a 150,000 fee, as he had massive gambling debts.

Judge Daly said Petkov facilitated organised crime internationally for a significant reward.

Detective Garda Adrian Cahill, Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, told the sentencing hearing that the cocaine found on board the vessel was pure cocaine, with a potential value of five times that amount on the street estimated at 105 million.

A total of 12 bales of cocaine were discovered hidden in an air-conditioning room on the bulk vessel.

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Judge Daly said that while he accepted that a prison sentence in Ireland would be more difficult for a non-Irish national, this does not persuade me to impose a sentence below the prescriptive minimum term.

The accused must have been aware he was involved in smuggling drugs of enormous quantity, across thousands of miles, across continents. He (Petkov) assisted the loading of the drugs onto the ship and he was in control of the drugs on board, the judge said.

Prosecuting barrister, Lily Buckley, told the hearing that Petkov had been approached by unidentified security persons at Antoniana Port, Brazil, to smuggle the drugs on board the ship.

The Maltese registered vessel sailed on to Santos Port, Brazil, and Hamilton Port, Canada, before reaching Foynes.

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Petkov told gardai that he had tied the drug bales together and attached life jackets and a transmitter to the haul, and that he was expected to drop the bales overboard before the ship docked at Foynes Port.

He was given a mobile phone to stay in touch with drug dealers in Bolivia and Paraguay and was instructed to drop the cocaine into waters at Glin Pier, west County Limerick, but Petkov told Gardai that he did not see anyone at the pier to collect the bales so, he put the drugs back in their hiding place on board the ship.

Detective Garda Cahill said Petkov had helped load the drugs on the ship in Brazil, he was in full control of the drugs during the sailing, and he was the point of contact for his criminal paymasters.

Garda Cahill said Garda forensics found Petkovs DNA on a sophisticated light beacon that he had attached to a transmitter on the cocaine bales.

Petkov, a father of one and qualified electrician, had regularly worked five-month contracts at sea on board cargo ships.

He told gardai it was his first time being involved in smuggling drugs, and that he had actually not received any payment.

It is his first criminal conviction, the court heard.
The High Court has ordered the extradition of a 66-year-old man who is wanted in the North for the murder of a part-time member of the UDR in Co Armagh over 45 years ago.

James Donegan, of Bruce Manor, Arva in Co Cavan, is wanted by authorities in the North for the murder of 64-year-old Joseph James Porter at Mountnorris in Co Armagh on a date unknown between June 22nd and 25th, 1979.

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Mr Donegan is also wanted for a second offence of the possession of a firearm and ammunition with the intent to endanger life as well as belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.

When he was arrested at Dublin Airport last June having agreed to meet gardai as he returned home from holidays, Mr Donegan told arresting officers: "I'm an innocent man".

At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath said he was satisfied that none of the objections raised by Mr Donegan met the necessary criteria to refuse his extradition and directed he should be surrendered.

Mr Donegan was arrested by detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at Dublin Airport following the endorsement of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TaCA) Warrant issued by the Northern Ireland Authorities.

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The extradition warrant states that Mr Porter's body was found close to the entrance of his farm at Creggan Road, Mountnorris in Co Armagh on June 24th, 1979. A post-mortem examination conducted that day concluded that Mr Porter had died of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.

The warrant also states that prior to his death Mr Porter had been a part time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice McGrath noted the objections raised by lawyers for Mr Donegan to his extradition related to whether the alleged offences would correspond to an offence under the law in this jurisdiction and an alleged abuse of process.

He said in considering correspondence in a case such as this one based on circumstantial evidence, it is sufficient to provide a broad outline of the alleged offences. The judge said he was satisfied that the criteria had been met for each of the three offences alleged and the details in the warrant were sufficient to meet section 11A of the Act.

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Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent had asserted that his surrender would amount to an abuse of process and noted the first issue raised in support of this argument concerned the decision of the DPP in this jurisdiction not to prosecute.

The judge said the decision by the DPP in 2017 not to prosecute was not a ground for refusal.

There was no question of any assurance ever being given that Mr Donegan would not be prosecuted here or elsewhere, he added.

The judge also said the respondent had not adduced any evidence in support of an argument that owing to the passage of time he will not now receive a fair trial in the prosecuting state.

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Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent is sought to stand trial for the most serious offences and noted this is the first surrender request. An explanation had been given for the circumstances where many years after the event the respondents surrender came to be sought, he said, adding there is no evidence of any bad faith or improper motive.

There is no evidence to suggest he will not receive a fair trial, he added.

Ireland Man extradited from Northern Ireland to Republic o... Read More

The judge noted there was no doubt that the respondents surrender would undoubtedly result in the disruption of his family life and said Mr Donegan was a man who also had health difficulties and underwent heart surgery in the summer of 2024.

However, Mr Justice McGrath said no evidence has been put before the court to suggest the UK would not provide sufficient medical attention and said the potential disruption to Mr Donegans family life was nowhere close to the standard of gross disruption necessary to refuse surrender.

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The judge said having considered and rejected all the arguments, he found the application for surrender was not unconscionable and he therefore made an order for Mr Donegans surrender.

Following an application by counsel for Mr Donegan for a stay of one week on his surrender, Mr Justice McGrath adjourned the matter to next Friday, February 7th.
A teen who was until recent weeks smoking three to four bags of heroin a day is now drug-free after spending some time detained in a secure State care unit, the High Court has heard.

Mr Justice John Jordan said the boys extraordinary progress in a matter of weeks is a testament to what can be achieved when children get a place in one of the States three special care units, which are deployed as a short-term therapeutic intervention to reduce a young persons risk of harm.

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The judge said he hopes the teen, who is due to exit secure care soon, will continue to progress and be able to stay away from drugs while getting continuing support in the community.

Highly troubled and vulnerable children aged 11 to 17 can be detained in a special care unit on foot of a High Court order sought by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

However, a staffing crisis in the sector prevents Tusla from opening up all 26 of the places, meaning it cannot comply with all of the special care detention orders made by the High Court.

The agency says public sector pay restrictions, set by Government departments, prevent it from offering attractive enough salaries for what is particularly challenging work.

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Mr Justice Jordan has been highly critical of the years-long crisis and Tuslas non-compliance with his orders, calling it unacceptable and a disgrace.

The judge said he hopes Tusla will look at the progress achieved by this boy and compare it with the harm being caused to the at-risk children awaiting secure places.

The boys own court-ordered admission to special care was delayed because the agency could not find a space for him.

Senior counsel for Tusla, David Leahy, said the boy wished he had longer in special care and wrote a letter expressing his thanks to the court for giving him another chance.

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Mr Leahy said addiction services will help the boy when he is discharged and that plans are being arranged for his aftercare as he approaches adulthood.

Shane Costello SC, representing the teens court-appointed advocate, commended the special care staff and treating physicians who have done exceptional work.

Mr Costello said the boy is exhibiting an impressive level of maturity now that he is sober and in a position of stability. He is sleeping well, eating well, engaging with staff and wants to remain drug free.

This is a rather staggering contrast to his presentation some five weeks ago when he was smoking three to four bags of heroin daily on the streets, he said.

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Mr Justice Jordan said he will list the case for a final review at the end of February.

This picture of positivity is rare in the High Courts special care list and was juxtaposed by the case of another boy for whom the criminal process has overtaken the special care process.

Mr Costello, this time acting for Tusla, said the agency initially decided to apply for another special care order for him but, regrettably, will no longer do this as he is now detained on remand in prison with charges pending before the District and Circuit courts.

The court heard the teen has had regrettable associations with a woman who appears to perceive she has a mother-like role to play in his life.

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Gardai had to be called after he absconded from his community placement and was later found in a hotel room abroad, said Mr Costello.

Ireland Sisters of Waterford woman (39) who died of cervic... Read More

Mr Leahy, representing the boys mother in this case, said his client seems to have borne the brunt of threats from this woman, who seems to want to supplant the mothers role in [the teens] life.

He said the boys mother would have liked him to have been detained in special care for his safety and welfare, but things have moved on since he has been brought into custody and is protected there.

Counsel for the boy, Patricia Brazil, said: As far as he is concerned he wants nothing to do with the Child and Family Agency.

The judge will review the case in a month.
Gardai have seized luxury goods and 180 suspected counterfeit Apple Air Pod Max headphones, with an estimated loss of revenue of 104,400, following two search warrants in Dublin residences.

On Friday, as part of an operation targeting Intellectual Property (IP) crime, An Garda Siochana carried out two searches under warrant at business and residential premises in the Dublin 1 and Dublin 13 areas.

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Gardai seized luxury goods, suspected counterfeit items, and cash.

Items seized included:

180 suspected counterfeit Apple Air Pod Max headphones, with an estimated loss of revenue of 104,400;

185 suspected counterfeit fake Otterbox mobile phone cases with an estimated loss of revenue of 5,500;

Luxury goods by brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga and Hermes  with an estimated value of 6,000;

25,710 cash.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, of the Dublin Metropolitan Region, said: "The Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) have once again shown their effectiveness in tackling Organised Criminal Gangs operating across our capital city.

"Large-scale intellectual property theft and the associated money laundering offences are controlled by well-structured criminal networks who risk the safety of the public by selling poor quality counterfeit products, often attempting to pass them off as genuine.

The searches were conducted by the An Garda Siochana Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) Intellectual Property and Counterfeit Investigations Unit, and the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT), assisted by the National Criminal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI).

The suspected counterfeit items are now subject to examination, and no arrests have been made at this time.

Gardai said investigations are ongoing.
The Land Development Agency (LDA) has announced the purchase of a site on Dublins Naas Road with the potential to deliver over 1,200 cost rental homes.

The State-sponsored body has reached an agreement with the owners to purchase the 3.79-hectare Royal Liver site.

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The purchase follows an independent valuation process and is part of the LDAs private land acquisition initiative.

The announcement comes in the wake of official home completion figures from the Central Statistics Office, showing the number of new homes built last year fell back to just over 30,000 despite Government pledges it would be close to 40,000.

The Royal Liver site is located next to the Luas red line and close to the Grand Canal at the junction of Naas Road and Kylemore Road.

There is existing planning permission for housing development on the land, with an initial first phase delivering at least 465 new homes.

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The site is located at the heart of the planned City Edge redevelopment and near to two other affordable, cost rental and social developments being delivered by the LDA in partnership with Dublin City Council at Bluebell and Cherry Orchard Point.

John Coleman, chief executive of the Land Development Agency, said: This is another major development for the LDA as we continue to deliver the right type of housing in the right place.

This site is superbly located in a part of Dublin that can accommodate and benefit from more housing, new services, amenities and ultimately new communities.

We are excited to have closed this deal at a price that will allow us to deliver a high number of well-served and much-needed cost rental apartments and we now look forward to getting construction underway.

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Computer-generated images of potential plans for the Royal Liver site

We are acutely aware of the regeneration plans for the City Edge quarter of Dublin and we are working closely with Dublin City Council to help kick start and provide a stimulus for new housing in the area.

There is a compelling case for the development of new apartments alongside existing rail and Luas services and the LDA is playing a significant role in delivering such projects. Working with Dublin City Council, we are already active in this area, with our joint plans for Bluebell Waterways and Cherry Orchard Point.

Our private land acquisition initiative has proved to be an effective way of adding to the LDAs land bank and our housing delivery pipeline. It is expected that further purchases will be completed if prices are right and we are continuing to examine and evaluate expressions of interest as we receive them.
Opposition parties have written to the Taoiseach to criticise flawed, preposterous proposals to resolve a row over how speaking time should be allocated to government-affiliated independents.

It comes as a member of the Dail reform committee, which is attempting to resolve the issue, said they have gone backwards in trying to reach an agreement.

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Efforts to appoint a Taoiseach two weeks ago were delayed by a day after the opposition disrupted proceedings in protest over speaking time.

Of the nine independents supporting the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael government  seven from the Regional Independent Group and two Kerry brothers Michael and Danny Healy-Rae  five are ministers of state.

Four of the other independents want to be part of a technical group, which would give them Dail speaking slots during opposition time.

Opposition parties have argued this would dilute efforts to hold Government to account.

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Despite talks being held this week to attempt to resolve the row before the Dail resumes next Wednesday, they broke up on Friday without agreement.

The opposition has sent a letter to Taoiseach Micheal Martin criticising the latest proposal, which suggests a hybrid technical group that allows members to either support Government or not.

The letter read: Despite taking a week to bring forward this proposal, it is clear the Governments position remains unchanged  granting special parliamentary privileges to a group that is not in opposition.

This attempt to designate the Regional Independents as an informal technical grouping of unaligned members/hybrid group and to manipulate speaking time to favour them is fundamentally flawed and must be abandoned.

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Speaking on the plinth as the meeting at Leinster House broke up, opposition TDs suggested that there would be further disruption in the Dail next week if current stances remain.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said that we have gone backwards.

TD Paul Murphy speaking to the media outside Leinster House (PA)

The proposal they currently tabled is even worse than the proposal that they tabled last night. It is an opposition technical group called something different.

He said that there was a need to reconvene party leaders for a meeting over the weekend before the Dail reform committee meets on Tuesday.

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Asked what would happen when the Dail reconvenes if no progress is made, Mr Murphy said: That much hasnt been discussed, exactly what form that would take, but I would think certainly the mood music from the opposition is absolute opposition to what is being attempted and we need to discuss the details of what that looks like.

But, lets say they have a meeting of the Dail reform committee on Tuesday and vote this through by majority, that will not be acceptable to us and will be protested.

Sinn Fein chief whip Padraig Mac Lochlainn said we rule nothing out in relation to what would happen on Wednesday, and said that no self-respecting opposition could accept this.

He added: We want the Dail to sit obviously in opposition, we want to do our job. But we cant be taken for fools. This has to come to a sensible conclusion. Im actually genuinely shocked that were still talking about this now over a week later.

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We waited a whole a week for the Government to present their draft solution and it was absolutely an insult to our intelligence what was given to us yesterday. We spent five-and-a-half hours and and there was nothing was conceded by Government, nothing, and here we are again today.

Social Democrats acting leader Cian OCallaghan and TD Aidan Farrelly (PA)

Deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Cian OCallaghan, said that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to stop dancing to the tune of Michael Lowry, the Tipperary TD who led the Regional Independents during government formation talks.

He added: The entire proposal being put forward, where government backbench TDs would masquerade not just as members of the opposition, but the latest proposals we saw this week (they would) effectively be masquerading as leaders of the opposition, is utterly preposterous, totally unacceptable.

It will never fly, not alone with opposition, I think with the general public as well, who have not been impressed by this carry-on, especially when theres very serious issues facing the country that we should be all focusing on.

Why is government bending over backwards to try to get them treated as opposition when everyone knows they're not?



Last week Martin & Harris said that there is no deal with Lowry on this.

From what went on last night, I now find that extremely hard to believe.#LowrysLackeys pic.twitter.com/aPB9nkdy60  Paul Murphy  (@paulmurphy_TD) January 31, 2025

A spokesperson for the Government, Chief Whip Mary Butler, said that the Government was disappointed that the opposition had chosen to dismiss the proposal, while the Government remains open to positive engagement.

She added: Our Dail must be able to function, and we cannot have a repeat of the scenes in the chamber last week, and no individuals should be able to hold the Dail to ransom.

The Government is focused on an orderly meeting of the Dail next week, to address the aftermath of Storm Eowyn and the business that the public expect all of our elected representatives to do.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Martin said there had been simplistic utterances on the issue, and that his Fianna Fail party had commissioned senior counsel opinion on the matter.

Asked whether he believe it will be resolved, Mr Martin said: I would hope so. We will keep talking. We want to try and resolve this.

Could I say at the outset, I think theres been a lot of, I think, simplistic utterances about this entire situation.

Our party has commissioned senior counsel opinion on this just to create a context because theres a notion going around that opposition and government, you cant be in either, thats far too simplistic because go back to 1932 and from then onwards, people from opposition benches have been supporting different governments in different ways.

For example, the confidence supply agreement between the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael from 2016 to 2020, if what Sinn Fein is saying and People Before Profit are saying that you cant be in opposition and support government or be involved in discussions around the programme for government or budget, we would not have had confidence and supply.

That programme for government was influenced by the main opposition party, the budgets were influenced by the two-to-one rule about two times expenditure versus tax relief.

Into the future, weve got to be careful not to be overly prescriptive about what a Dail might do, or members of the Dail might do.

Ireland Fianna Fail seeks legal advice as row over Dail sp... Read More

Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said in a statement: A Dail that can reach consensus is ultimately better for democracy and becomes truly representative of the peoples wishes.

It is regrettable that no consensus or agreement could be reached today. As Ceann Comhairle, I am committed to continuing with this process and to exhausting every possible avenue.

The Committee has agreed to reconvene on February 4th at 12pm, having reflected over the weekend on todays discussions.
The war satire Atropia, about actors in a military role-playing facility, has won the grand jury prize in the Sundance Film Festivals US dramatic competition, while the Dylan OBrien movie Twinless got the coveted audience award.

Juries and programmers for the 41st edition of the independent film festival announced the major prize winners in Park City, Utah.

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Other grand jury winners included the documentaries Seeds, about farmers in rural Georgia, and Cutting Through The Rocks, about the first elected councilwoman in an Iranian village.



Dylan OBrien, left, and James Sweeney in a scene from Twinless (Greg Cotten/Sundance Film Festival via AP)

The Indian drama Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears), about a city dweller mourning his father in the western Indian countryside, won the top prize in the world cinema competition.

Its for my dad, said writer and director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade.

His late father, he said, was the one who encouraged him to pursue filmmaking.

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Audiences also get to vote on their own awards, where James Sweeneys Twinless, about the bromance between two men who meet in a twin bereavement support group, triumphed in the US dramatic category.



Andre Ricciardi in a scene from Andre Is An Idiot (Sundance Institute via AP)

OBrien also won a special jury award for his acting.

The US documentary audience award went to Andre Is An Idiot, a life-affirming film about dying of colon cancer.

Other audience picks were Prime Minister, about former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and DJ Ahmet, a coming-of-age film about a 15-year-old boy in North Macedonia.

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Mstyslav Chernov, the Oscar-winning Associated Press (AP) journalist, won the world cinema documentary directing award for his latest dispatch from Ukraine, 2000 Meters To Andriivka, a joint production between the AP and PBS Frontline.



Mstyslav Chernov attends the premiere of 2000 Meters To Andriivka during the Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah (Chris Pizzello/AP)

Heres to all documentary directors who are risking their lives in Ukraine trying to tell the stories of people who protect the land that I call home, Chernov said on stage.

Others singled out for directing include Geeta Gandbhir for The Perfect Neighbor, a documentary about a murder in Florida told through the use of police body camera footage, and Rashad Frett for Ricky, a drama about life post-incarceration.

The world cinema documentary jury also gave special prizes to Coexistence, My Ass! about a comedian who creates a one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel and Palestine, and Mr Nobody Against Putin, in which a Russian teacher goes undercover to expose what is happening in his school during the invasion of Ukraine.

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Our programming team is so thrilled to have introduced these moving and impactful works to our audiences this festival, and we look forward to following the journeys of each of these talented artists and their projects, said festival programming director Kim Yutani.

The Sundance Film Festival runs until Sunday.
Colombias president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the US to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.

Wealth is only produced by the working people, Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on X, formerly Twitter.

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Lets build social wealth in Colombia.



The Colombian president made his comments following a bitter feud over immigration with US President Donald Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)

The leftist president said his government would provide loans to those who take up his offer to return home and enlist in one of its programmes to start a business.

Mr Petro made his comments following a bitter feud over immigration last weekend with US President Donald Trump that nearly triggered a trade war and rupture in diplomatic relations between the US and its historic ally in South America.

Mr Petro, in an earlier social media storm, accused the Trump administration of mistreating migrants who entered the US illegally by handcuffing them and removing them on military flights to Latin America.

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Mr Trump exploded when Mr Petro denied two such flights permission to land.

Later, the two sides negotiated a truce amid protests by investors that Mr Petro was sabotaging Colombias export economy, which relies heavily on purchases from the US.

Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the US from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data.

It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
Hamas has released the names of three male hostages set to be released on Saturday.

The list includes Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, Israeli officials confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

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Saturdays release will be the fourth since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect.



Israeli captive Arbel Yehoud being escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she was handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis on Thursday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

Yarden Bibas was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

Photos taken during the abduction appear to show him wounded.

His wife, Shiri, and two boys, Ariel and Kfir, were also taken captive at the kibbutz.

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The boys, who were four and under one-year-old when they were captured, were the youngest hostages.

Hamas has claimed that Shiri Babas and the two boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not verified the claim.

Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said recently that the military was seriously concerned about the fate of the mother and her two boys.



Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Keith Siegel, an American Israeli originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife, Aviva Siegel.

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Aviva Siegel was released during a brief ceasefire period in November 2023, and since then has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and the other hostages remaining in Gaza.

Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage, was captured by the militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his two children.

His ex-wife, Hadas, was also taken captive.

The two children and Hadas Kalderon were released during the hostage exchange in November.

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The organisation representing families of the hostages has been celebrating the news of their expected release.



A crowd greets Palestinian prisoners after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

The Hostages Families Forum said on Friday it welcomes the joyous news.

We have both the sacred duty and moral right to bring all our brothers and sisters home, they said.

We will not give up or stop at any stage until all hostages return home, down to the last one.

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Israeli officials say around 80 hostages remain in Gaza, including three taken captive before October 7 2023.

During the first phase of the ceasefire deal, 33 hostages are set to be released.

On Thursday, Hamas released eight hostages in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The chaotic sight of armed fighters escorting Israeli hostages through a crowd of thousands of onlookers caused Israeli leaders to briefly delay the release of the Palestinian prisoners, underscoring the fragility of the current truce.
The mother of one of the Thai hostages held in the Gaza Strip for over a year said he had changed so much when she caught sight of him on a Facebook livestream she did not recognise him as he was released on Thursday.

Surasak Rumnao, 32, who was kidnapped from the southern Israeli town of Yesha on October 7, 2023, looked pale and puffy, said his mother, Khammee Lamnao.

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I was so happy that I could not eat anything, Ms Khammee said on a video call with the Associated Press.



Fve Thai hostages who were freed from Hamas pose for a picture with Thai ambassador to Israel Pannabha Chandraramya (Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv/AP)

His father brought some food to me but I did not want to eat at all.

Dozens of Israeli doctors, nurses and representatives from Israel and Thailand waved flags, sang and cheered on Thursday as the five Thai hostages stepped off a military helicopter and entered a hospital outside Tel Aviv, where they will spend a few days undergoing medical tests and recuperating.

Three Israelis were also released on Thursday, and Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners in the exchange.

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Besides Mr Sarusak, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were released in Thursdays exchange.

Hamas militants kidnapped 31 Thai nationals during the assault on southern Israel, making them the largest group of foreigners held captive.

Many of the Thai agricultural workers lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first.

During an earlier ceasefire in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.

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According to Thailands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 46 Thais have been killed during the conflict, including two Thai citizens who were killed on October 7 2023 and their bodies taken into Gaza.



One of five Thai hostages is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters to the Red Cross in Khan Younis (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

Dr Osnat Levzion-Korach, the director of Shamir Medical Centre outside Tel Aviv where the five were taken, said they were in fair health, though most were held underground and were not exposed to sunlight for extended periods of time.

She said they did not appear to be malnourished and credited their young age with helping them survive captivity in fairly good physical shape.

Thailands ambassador to Israel, Pannabha Chandraramya, said she facilitated video calls between the hostages and their families after they arrived at the hospital, describing them as incredibly emotional, with shouts of joy and tears.

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She said it was one of the happiest days of her life to see their release just a week before she ends her five-year term.

Ambassador Pannabha said there was no immediate information available about the last Thai hostage left in Gaza, Nattapong Pingsa, nor the two Thai workers whose bodies were taken into Gaza.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra thanked Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, the US, Israel, and the Red Cross for helping to negotiate the Thais release in a separate deal from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

She said Thailands minister of foreign affairs would travel to Israel this weekend.

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Pongsak Thaenna, front, and Surasak Rumnao, two of five Thai hostages who were freed from Hamas, arrive in Israel (Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv/AP)

Ambassador Pannabha said the Thai government may bring some relatives of the released hostages to Israel, though many do not have passports, and that the government would help those released return home as soon as they are medically cleared to travel.

Israel will recognise the released Thai hostages as terror victims, a designation that entitles them to financial benefits and healthcare, said Alex Gandler, the deputy spokesperson of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said Israels ambassador in Thailand visited some of the hostages released in the previous ceasefire deal on Thursday and that the Israeli government maintains contact with them.

Mr Gandler added that since the released Thais did not have family in Israel to greet them upon their release, some of their former employers came to meet them at the hospital.

Mr Gandler said Israel is committed to releasing all the hostages, regardless of nationality.

There are still one Thai, one Nepali and one Tanzanian hostage, as well as the bodies of a Tanzanian and the two Thais being held in Gaza, according to the prime ministers office.

Israel hopes all the international hostages will be released, both living and dead, Mr Gandler said, which Israel and Hamas will begin discussing next week.
Securing an end to the fighting in Ukraine must take place with Kyivs full involvement and come with more defence spending by regional countries to avoid any future Russian aggression, according to Lithuanias president.

Gitanas Nauseda, the president of the Baltic coastal nation, told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday that a settlement negotiated without proper deterrent measures would allow Russia to consolidate its forces and prepare for further aggression in the region.

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Mr Naussda said that even when a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine, you cannot believe that the intentions of Russia will be just to stop and do nothing.



Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Presidents palace in Vilnius, Lithuania (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

They will use this break in order to consolidate, to strengthen the military capabilities and to strike again in the future, he told the Associated Press in Vilnius.

And then the main question is, what will be the next target of Russia? Ukraine, maybe. Baltic countries, maybe.

Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1990, is increasingly worried about the ongoing brutal war in Ukraine and the aggression of its neighbour Russia.

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Its geographical position  bordering Russias Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Moscows proxy Belarus to the east  make it vulnerable to a potential broader conflict launched from the Kremlin even after an eventual end to the war, Mr Nauseda said.

You can never feel safe living in this part of the world, because we have this neighbour, and we will still have it after one hundred or two hundred years, Mr Nauseda said of Russia.

You always have the threat from the east, and you must be aware and take all the necessary precautionary measures in order not to be attacked.

This is not individual country-by-country conflict, he added. This is a challenge of Putin towards Nato.

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 Unacceptable if ceasefire plans exclude Kyiv

The country recently became the first member of the Nato military alliance to commit to raising its defence spending to at least 5% of its overall national economic output, as called for by US President Donald Trump.

A long-time critic of Nato countries that do not spend more on defence, Mr Trump has threatened he would not defend alliance members that fail to meet defence spending goals.

While some European countries have signalled upping their spending to Mr Trumps desired 5% of GDP would be an economic burden, other nations on the alliances eastern flank, including Lithuania, have greeted the proposal as a necessity.



US President Donald Trump has threatened he would not defend Nato members that fail to meet defence spending goals (Evan Vucci/AP)

Before Mr Trump took office earlier this month, questions over how he would engage with the war in Ukraine loomed over European countries as some speculated he would roll back the crucial military aid provided by the administration of President Joe Biden.

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But after his inauguration, Mr Trump threatened to impose sanctions and tariffs on Moscow, and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to settle now and stop this ridiculous war.

Mr Nauseda said the new US administration must ensure that Kyiv is fully involved in negotiations to end the fighting, and that a resolution to the conflict should not be drawn up bilaterally between Moscow and Washington.

It would be unacceptable if the peace would be set behind the doors and without the involvement of Ukraine, he said.

Ukraine paid a very high price in this war. Ukraine lost many human lives. Infrastructure, facilities and houses are destroyed.

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The Ukrainian people deserve the right to set the conditions of this peace.



A Ukrainian brigade fires a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian front-line positions in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

I think that President Donald Trump understands that: no peace negotiations without Ukraine, he added.

 Suspicions over damaged undersea cables

Another security concern facing Lithuania and the region is a series of events that have damaged undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged since October 2023.

Most recently, a fibre optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland reportedly ruptured on Sunday.

Nato launched a new mission dubbed Baltic Sentry earlier this month to protect the underwater infrastructure vital to the economic well-being of the region.

Although cable operators note that sub-sea cable damage is commonplace, the frequency and concentration of incidents in the Baltic have heightened suspicions that damage might have been deliberate.

To address those concerns, Mr Nauseda said: It is time for us to show some muscle.

Nato and the EU should take more responsibility in surveying the Baltic Sea, bringing additional maritime capabilities to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.

Some politicians in Lithuania have objected to the country raising its military expenditures, already among the highest relative to GDP in the 32-member Nato alliance.

But Mr Nauseda said Lithuania must show that it can be responsible for its own defence.

This is an absolutely clear priority for this country, as a frontline country, that we have to spend more, he said.

Of course, we can rely on the support of our allies in Nato. But it would be naive to expect that somebody will care about our security if there will be clear indications that we are not able to defend ourselves.
Child serial killer Lucy Letbys legal team will announce what is claimed to be new medical evidence from a panel of international experts, next week.

The panel, to be chaired by Conservative MP Sir David Davis, will include retired neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee, who is expected to disclose new analysis at a central London press conference on Tuesday.

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The evidence is said to be the unanimous findings of independent analysis by 14 neonatal experts.

Dr Lee was the top paediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Canada for more than a decade, and founded the Canadian Neonatal Network, which includes 27 hospitals and 16 universities.

Tory former minister Sir David, who earlier this week used justice questions in the House of Commons to raise concerns on behalf of Letbys legal team who are seeking to reopen her case, will chair the panel and the former nurses barrister, Mark McDonald, will also be present.

Letby, from Hereford, was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others, with two attempts on one child, when she worked on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

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After two trials, she is serving 15 whole-life orders, making her only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.

Her legal team last month said it would make a fresh bid to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was not reliable.

Mark McDonald, Letbys barrister, is working to reopen her case (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Mr McDonald said he would seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the exceptional but necessary decision to apply to reopen her case.

Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Dewi Evans said concerns regarding his evidence were unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate.

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Sir David, the MP for Goole and Pocklington, wants a retrial for Letby and said he believes it will clear the former nurse.

A public inquiry examining events at the Countess of Chester Hospital following Letbys multiple convictions was launched, and findings by chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall are expected this autumn.
Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Democratic Republic of the Congos largest city said they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa.

It comes as Congos president called for a massive military mobilisation to resist the rebellion and his defence minister rejected calls for talks.

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In a video message, Congos Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to be completely burned immediately.



Rebel leader Corneille Nangaa addresses a news conference in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, lets stay dead here, said Mr Muadiamvita, a close ally of Congos president.

At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighbouring South Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing.

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We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country, Nangaa said.

He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, more than 1,500 kilometres (nearly 1,000 miles) away.

Rwandas leader, Paul Kagame said he spoke with Angolas President Joao Lourenco  a mediator in the conflict who also met with Congos leader a day earlier  and both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities.



M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump described the conflict as a very serious problem when asked about it on Thursday but declined to comment further.

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A UN spokesman said the agency is disturbed by reports that neighbouring Rwandan forces have crossed the border in the direction where the rebels are said to be advancing.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma.

They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congos mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth 24 trillion dollars that are critical to much of the worlds technology.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, meanwhile, called on young people to enlist massively in the military, as a crucial meeting of neighbours asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels.

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Rwandas leader also threatened to deal with any confrontation with South Africa, which has complained that fighting in eastern Congo has left South African peacekeepers dead.



Government soldiers and police officers, at right, who surrendered to M23 rebels, left, board trucks to an undisclosed location in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into Goma on Monday, Mr Tshisekedi vowed a vigorous and coordinated response from his forces to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution.

On Thursday, he met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Kinshasa, the Congolese presidency said on X, formerly Twitter, noting that France has provided significant support to Congo in recent UN meetings on the issue.

(Congo) expects a little more action in the face of this crisis, it added.
US President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said.

But it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to US consumers.

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Mr Trump, a Republican, had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater co-operation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing.

Starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

These are promises made and promises kept by the president.

Mr Trump had said he was weighing issuing an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports, but Ms Leavitt said she had no information to share on the presidents decision on any potential carveouts.

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The United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration.

US daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day.

Mr Trump has previously stated a 10% tariff on Chinese imports would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from the country.
The U.S. will impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, along with 10 per cent on China, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Friday, but she declined to say whether there will be exemptions.

While the announcement of tariffs may roil financial markets and strain the U.S. relationship with its top two trading partners, offering a 28-day window before implementation and possible exemptions would suggest a more careful approach by the Trump administration.

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It also would buy time for negotiations over actions by Canada and Mexico to meet Trump's stated goals for the duties to pressure the two U.S. neighbors to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and deadly fentanyl opioids across the U.S. border.

Trump's punitive duties and retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico threaten to disrupt nearly $1.6 trillion (1.5 trillion) in North American trade and effectively end a 30-year free trade system that has deeply integrated the three economies.

Trump hinted about possible exemptions on Thursday when he said he would soon decide whether to apply the tariffs to imports of Canadian and Mexican oil, an indication that he may be concerned about their impact on gasoline prices.

Crude oil is the top U.S. import from Canada and among the top five from Mexico, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

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Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC on Friday that tariff revenue will help pay for the extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which total some $4 trillion and expire this year.

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Trump was expected to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as the legal basis for the tariffs, declaring a national emergency over fentanyl overdoses that killed nearly 75,000 Americans in 2023 and illegal immigration.

IEEPA, enacted in 1977 and modified after the Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks on the U.S., gives the president broad powers to impose economic sanctions in a crisis.

Among the trade law tools at Trump's disposal, it would give him the fastest path to imposing broad tariffs, as others require lengthy investigations by the Commerce Department or USTR.

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Economists and business executives have warned that the tariffs would spark major increases in the prices of imports such as aluminum and lumber from Canada, fruits, vegetables, beer and electronics from Mexico and motor vehicles from both countries.

Tariffs are paid by firms that import goods and pass the costs on to consumers or accept lower profits, economists say.

"President Trump's tariffs will tax America first," said Matthew Holmes, public policy chief at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "From higher costs at the pumps, grocery stores and online checkout, tariffs cascade through the economy and end up hurting consumers and businesses on both sides of the border."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said Canada would immediately respond with forceful countermeasures, adding "It's not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act."

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Canada has drawn up detailed targets for immediate tariff retaliation, including duties on orange juice from Florida, Trump's adopted home state, a source familiar with the plan said. Canada has a broader list of targets that could reach C$150 billion worth of U.S. imports, but would hold public consultations before acting, the source said.

During Trump's first term, China targeted U.S. soybeans and other farm products, while the European Union hit iconic American products including bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davidson HOG.N motorcycles.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would "wait with a cool head" for Trump's tariff decision and was prepared to continue a border dialogue.

"We will always defend the dignity of our people, respect for our sovereignty and a dialogue as equals without subordination," she said.

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Sheinbaum previously said Mexico also would retaliate, arguing that Trump's tariffs would cost 400,000 U.S. jobs and drive up prices for U.S. consumers.

Trump last Sunday waged a 10-hour trade war of words with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, threatening the South American country with 25 per cent tariffs over its refusal to allow U.S. military flights loaded with Colombian deportees. The crisis ended when Petro agreed to accept the flights.

China has been more circumspect about its retaliation plans. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, emphasized China's cooperation with the U.S. on curbing fentanyl trafficking and said he hopes the U.S. "will not take China's goodwill for granted."
When the new Preston Bunnings opened on Bell Street in 2023, the retailer had two years remaining on the Chifley Drive store and was paying more than $2 million a year for the empty property. BWP now also owns Bunnings Bell Street superstore following the takeover last year of Newmark Capital. Panda Marts new space in the south-east, the ex-Masters store on the South Gippsland Highway in Cranbourne, has been empty since Woolworths ambitious attempt to compete with Bunnings came crashing down in 2016. The hardware and homewares emporium  designed to snatch market share from rival Coles-owned Bunnings  failed to hit the spot with shoppers and was bought by investment banker David Di Pilla, who used it to establish the HomeCo group. Bertie bought Toyotas former research and design centre at 61 Bertie Street, Port Melbourne is up for lease following its sale to investor and importer Ali Ali.

Records show Alis Property Corporate Holdings No.8 settled its purchase last month, paying $51.7 million, which was close to the asking price. The almost 2-hectare site has a slew of showrooms, warehouses and office space covering 11,590 square metres. Ali scored a bargain back in 2023, paying $30 million for a nearby 3-hectare property at 277-281 Ingles Street, which had been listed at around $60 million. Also once part of Toyotas extensive operations, the site came with planning approval for a four-tower mixed-use development. Toyota has retained its headquarters at 155 Bertie Street, but moved the centres functions to Altona. The first Toyota car assembled outside of Australia was put together in Port Melbourne in 1963.

Once a hotbed of automotive manufacturing, Fishermans Bend has long been earmarked for urban redevelopment, but a lack of planning clarity and compromised public transport options have dampened demand for location on the fringe of Port Melbourne. Loading The Bertie Street deal was struck by CBRE agents Harry Kalaitzis, Matthew Romanin, Trent Hobart and Andrew Bell. Dawkins Occhiutos Walter Occhiuto and CBREs Romanin and Charlie Betts are handling leasing inquiries. Innocent bystander The Brown Family Wine Group has sold its Innocent Bystander venue in Healesville to Yarra Glen winery group Zonzo Estate.

Zonzo will expand its hospitality offerings from its nearby vineyard to the restaurant at 334 Maroondah Highway. Patrons can expect a delicious new dining experience, a unique retail offering, and a new home for the legendary Zoncello Limoncello Spritz, Zonzos Rod Micallef said. Innocent Bystander at 334 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, has been acquired by Zonzo. Its worth noting shoppers will still find the Innocent Bystander label on the bottle shop shelves. While the veteran Brown Family Wine Group is giving up the restaurant it bought in 2016, things remain full steam ahead on the Innocent Bystander wine label. Colliers agents Ben Baines, Lucas Soccio, Duncan McCulloch, and James Zhuang managed the transaction, which was originally quoted at around $4 million. Baines said the deal was wrapped up just two weeks after expressions of interest closed, with six offers under consideration.

Social fund A purpose-built accommodation facility for essential workers employed at Bendigo Hospital has sold for more than $35 million to a social infrastructure fund. The property at 10 Atkins Street, North Bendigo was developed by Qualitas and sold to New Zealand-based infrastructure investor HRL Morrison and Co in 2016. Bendigo Hospitals worker accommodation complex at 10 Atkins Street, North Bendigo. The project includes 120 apartments in 11 three-storey buildings that are fully leased to the Bendigo Health Care Group until March 2044.

The deal was done by Colliers agents Rob Joyes and Travis Hurst, and reflected a yield of 6.2 per cent. Joyes said the complex is just 500 metres away from the hospital and attracted a diverse mix of potential buyers, including private investors, listed residential funds, listed healthcare funds, listed social infrastructure funds, and high-profile syndicators. The secure lease term of 19.46 years was appealing for several bidding parties, he said. Cash-strapped A 14-storey apartment tower in downtown Dandenong is for sale after the company that owned the site was put into receivership last October.

The part-finished building at 27 Scott Street is now under the control of corporate undertaker Grant Thornton. Building works worth about $24 million  including the concrete columns up to level 13 and fire stairs up to level 12  have already been completed, along with electricity, plumbing and windows installation. 27 Scott Street, Dandenong: looking for a developer to finish the job. Stonebridge agent Julian White, who is marketing the property, declined to supply a quote price for the development. Its the latest in a long line of projects to hit the wall as money runs out while building costs increase.

In Box Hill, private funder Metrics has taken control of APHs proposed Novotel hotel site. In the CBD, the Liberman familys Merricks Capital took control of the Melbourne Place Hotel project on Russell Street and recently sold it to Ark Capital Partners for $150 million. Loading The Dandenong site has had a checkered history, with both owners since 2015 running into trouble. The company that owns it, the prosaically named 27 Scott Street, is in receivership, while its owner Philidor Vic  controlled by Ester Grezos  has applied for voluntary deregistration. A related company, Philidor, controlled by Ioannis Gkarezos  also known as John Grezos  is also the subject of a wind-up application.
After 15 years behind the camera as a director, Jeremy Sims is returning to the other side.

Im terrified, he said. Im literally terrified because theres a whole bunch of different sets of skills, so Ive got great anxiety about learning my lines and all of that stuff. But Ill get there.

Jeremy Sims, Luke Bracey and Zac Burgess will star in season two of The Artful Dodger.

Sims, who has spent the last few years directing Sevens RFDS, has been cast in season two of Disneys The Artful Dodger, along with fellow Australian stars Luke Bracey, who has carved a solid career in Hollywood, and Zac Burgess, who played the older Eli Bell in Netflixs hit series Boy Swallows Universe.

Sims plays the Duke of Shrewsbury, the brother of Port Victorys governor, while Bracey is Inspector Henry Boxer, who arrives in Australia looking for a new life.
A hungry and exhausted crested penguin swam ashore at Ninety Mile Beach at Lake Bunga, near Lakes Entrance, on Thursday  more than 1800 kilometres from home.

After a gruelling swim and lonely night ashore, the penguin  believed to be a Fiordland  survived attempted attacks by a shark and a hungry fox before wildlife rescuers picked it up at the Victorian beach on Friday morning.

Listed as vulnerable, Fiordland penguins breed on the south-western coast of New Zealands South Island, on the other side of the treacherous Tasman Sea.

Wildlife carer Nikki Jordan said a member of the public reported seeing what looked like a very exhausted old penguin on Thursday night.
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Review Eating outCarlton Looking for that authentic Lygon Street dining experience? This legendary restaurant is it, and amore From arancini to tiramisu, the family-run Donninis has been serving gold standards of Italian classics since 1979. Dani Valent January 31, 2025 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

This story is part of the February 1 edition of Good Weekend. See all stories .

1 / 8 Pasta trio (clockwise from top left: Gnocchi with tomato and basil, spinach and ricotta tortelli with mascarpone, and tagliatelle with bolognese ragu). Bonnie Savage 2 / 8 Most of the diners at Donninis are regulars whove accumulated friends, kids and grandkids along the way. Bonnie Savage 3 / 8 The spaghetti carbonara is gold standard. Bonnie Savage 4 / 8 Tuscan covaccino draped with prosciutto. Bonnie Savage 5 / 8 Vitello tonnato piadina is a lunchtime winner. Bonnie Savage 6 / 8 The original Donninis traded on Drummond Street from 1979, before the restaurant relocated to its current Lygon Street site (pictured) in 2002. Bonnie Savage 7 / 8 Seasonal arancini fillings change regularly. Bonnie Savage 8 / 8 Tiramisu is well-balanced. Bonnie Savage Previous Slide Next Slide Good Food hat 15 / 20 How we score Italian$$$$ Wind back to the 1960s and Lygon Street, Carlton, was one of the only places in Melbourne you could drink espresso and buy parmesan cheese. By the 1980s, the strip was synonymous with Italian food and the Lygon Street Festa drew crowds of 700,000. Those days are gone: today youre as likely to find Pakistani kebabs as pizza capricciosa, and if you want gelato, youll find Asian flavours like pandan alongside the pistachio. Theres delight in change, but heritage hold-outs should be celebrated, too. Five years ago, Lygon Street was dying. Now diners are queuing out the door

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Thats where Donninis comes in, not because its been offering the same food since 2002, but because its still doing it so well, with rigour and passion. The setting is simple, worn by loving use, with bare tables, functional servingware and paper napkins, whether youre inside the long dining room or at one of the broad pavement tables where awnings and glass partitions more or less keep the weather at bay. Most of the diners at Donninis are regulars whove accumulated friends, kids and grandkids along the way. Bonnie Savage The configuration is flexible  a table pulled here or pushed there  speaking to the way the restaurant serves its guests, most of whom are regulars whove accumulated friends, kids and grandkids along the way. Owner-brothers Riccardo and Marco Donnini are from a restaurant dynasty. Their grandparents came from Italy in the 1950s to open University Cafe, which is opposite and displays one of the citys first espresso machines. (In those days, baristas needed a boilermakers licence to operate the mysterious, hissing contraptions.)

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Between 1979 and 2002, the family ran Donninis on nearby Drummond Street before relaunching on the main drag. Head chef Vito DeNino has been with the family since the 1980s. Maria Briscuso, 80, has been hand-making pasta for the Donninis for decades. Manager Vik Gill has run the dining room for 16 years. One Donnini is in the house at all times, unless the Blues are playing. Arancini. Bonnie Savage Youll eat cucina povera, peasant cuisine that depends on touch, skill, season, region and a fierce and necessary attachment to frugality. Its not flashy and it doesnt pop on Instagram, but the ingredients are first-rate and the dishes hit you in the soul. The team makes three different bread doughs. Theres lightly leavened focaccia, a piadina pressed into an outstanding vitello tonnato toastie (a lunch winner) and Tuscan covaccino, which is laced with pork fat, rolled thinly, scattered with asiago cheese, and cooked hard and fast before its draped with prosciutto. Its crisp and melty, pure and simple bliss. Most tables order the trio of pasta. Gnocchi with tomato and basil, spinach and ricotta tortelli with mascarpone, and tagliatelle with bolognese ragu shimmer like the Three Graces  radiant, joyful and glorious.

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The spaghetti carbonara is gold standard. Bonnie Savage Somehow, you also need to try the spaghetti carbonara. Pork jowl is cured in-house for eight weeks, bringing concentrated, salty ballast to a sublime emulsification of butter, egg yolk and parmigiano. Its the gold standard for a much-abused classic. Arancini are often stodgy rice spheres but here, theyre only just held together by starch and love and filled with something seasonal, maybe asparagus or mushroom, plus oozy mozzarella. Tiramisu is well-balanced. Bonnie Savage Tiramisu, recently trending, is now considered declasse in some quarters. Whatever. The whole time, Donninis has been serving a version from great-grandmother Eros thats built in a cup and soaked in espresso with a splash of marsala; not too biscuity, everything in balance.

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Fashions flow, streets change but bless the restaurants that ignore it all, greeting each customer as a fond friend whos ready to swoon over pasta. The low-down Atmosphere: Honest, family-run Italian Go-to dishes: Pasta trio ($41.90-$51.90); Covaccino ($18.90); Arancini ($21.90 for 3) Drinks: The concise food-friendly wine list leans to northern Italy. Theres decent value, with many bottles hovering either side of $60 and nine wines by the glass ($15-$17) Cost: About $150 for 2 people, excluding drinks This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
Ursula and her mother went to Warsaw where they registered as Jewish refugees, and began the search for a country far away from Europe. Ursulas mother knew of a family friend who had immigrated to Melbourne before WWII. She wrote to him, and he was willing to sponsor them to come to Australia. They boarded the El Sudan in Marseilles and arrived in Melbourne in 1948. They were met by the Jewish Welfare Society and housed at the Bialystoker Centre (run by Bialystok expatriates) in St Kilda. Ursula soon met my father, Felix Flicker (also from Bialystok). They were married at the Elwood synagogue in 1949.

The unconventional Ursula was not the traditional Jewish mother or grandmother. After the war, she abandoned any Jewish religious beliefs she might have had. I was sent to MLC for my schooling. Searching for spiritual meaning in life, she immersed herself in Buddhist teachings, the wisdom of Krishnamurti, and explored Jewish Kabbalistic philosophy. She had many non-Jewish friends and prepared Christmas festivities for them in her home.

Ursulas love of Israel evolved over time. Initially, she worried that Israel was just another Jewish ghetto. The Six-Day War of 1967 was a turning point, and she came to fully embrace Israel as a home for Jews. Later in 1967, my father, who had been badly wounded in WWII, co-founded Keren Mishpachot Hagiborim, an organisation supporting Israels disabled war veterans. He later became the president of KMH, and Ursula the president of the womens division.

Ursula was involved in many voluntary activities for the Melbourne Jewish community and beyond. She served as a Polish and Russian translator at the Royal Childrens Hospital, organised the library in Melbournes Frances Barkman House (an orphanage for Jewish children including Holocaust survivors), and monitored local Slavic languages newspapers for anti-Semitism for the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith.

Tormented by the unknown fate of her sister, Ursula became obsessed with finding out the exact details of where, when, and how Jareczka had died. In the early 1980s, she joined the fledgling group of people who established the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. Ursula organised its first exhibition and became the founding archivist. For 25 years, she collected and archived materials from Holocaust survivors who lived in Melbourne. Whenever new lists of names of those who had been exterminated came to light, she carefully scrutinised them in search of her sisters name. Ursula never found out the exact circumstances of her sisters death. For her years of dedicated, voluntary work for the MHM, Ursula was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM), and the MHM archives were named the Ursula Flicker Archival Collection.
I felt like Id like lost the respect of senior staff, she says. It didnt feel fair. It didnt feel right.

After that, she says her normal duties were cut back and she felt as though she was frosted out of the business.

The then-20-year-old brushed the comments off, but when a senior sommelier grabbed her face and kissed her lips without consent at work in 2022, she reported it to management.

Over the next 18 months, she says she endured frequent sexual harassment, with near-daily comments from male staff about her appearance and body.

I felt like Id made it, she says of getting a spot at the glamorous restaurant just a few hundred metres from Victorias parliament house. Then it went downhill pretty quickly.

A Herald and Good Food investigation reveals a top Sydney restaurant group allegedly ousted female staff after they reported sexual assaults and encouraged on-duty sex and drug use.

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Richardson says her complaint went nowhere. She left Grossi Florentino in 2015 after what she described as a toxic culture of long hours, partying and sexism that left her so traumatised she avoided the top of Bourke Street for two years.

Former bartender Melissa Richardson said she also reported an incident of sexual harassment to her manager after a male employee became intoxicated and told her at a work function: By the end of the day, I am going to f--- you.

Rizzolis account of the culture at the Grossi Groups restaurants is consistent with that of more than a dozen former employees, who in interviews described sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination, with limited avenues of complaint.

The company was aware of, and appropriately dealt with, a complaint from Ms Rizzoli, the lawyers said.

Through lawyers, Grossi Restaurants did not directly respond to a detailed list of questions about Rizzolis treatment, but denied she was demoted and pointed to her resignation letter to support this.

Rizzoli wrote a resignation letter filled with compliments, which she felt was the easiest way to leave on good terms. The email made no mention of her true reason for leaving, she says, or how hurt she felt by the process.

Bucirde said the hospitality industry has been trapped in a trauma cycle where chefs pass on bad behaviour to the next generation.

People do mimic and learn from behaviour, she said. People say, if its not as extreme as rape, its not worth exploring. But the spectrum of sexual harassment is so wide. No one should feel uncomfortable in their workplace.

Hospitality cultural change advocate Jamie Bucirde said every comment matters and that language sets the tone for the workplace.

Former hospitality worker Jamie Bucirde, now an advocate for safe workplaces, says change is needed. Credit: Wayne Taylor

Grossi was not involved in the incidents described by Rizzoli, and she says he was always kind to her, but she described the fine-dining kitchen as a locker room where male chefs would rile each other up and sexism was rife.

This masthead revealed this week that one of Australias most prominent celebrity chefs, Guy Grossi, issued a public apology to a senior journalist over a claim he groped her breast at an industry event in 2022.

Women there were second-class citizens. If you werent Italian, you were a third-class citizen, Richardson said. They did a lot of damage, to me, to a lot of people. Theyre toxic, and they spread their toxicity. They tell you [that] youre the problem and youre replaceable.

Such behaviour towards female staff was routinely explained internally as part of the Italian culture, Rizzoli said, where kissing, touching and sexually charged comments were normalised.

One of these chefs started sending excessive messages to her private Instagram account  which she did not respond to.

Rizzoli said the chefs working in the almost exclusively male kitchen made regular comments about her body and appearance, such as youre sexy or I like the way you walk.

The upstairs kitchen at Grossi Florentino is at the end of a corridor, far from the view of guests.

Theres a really big celebrity chef culture and we glorify those people. So we really need people leading these conversations . 

During one evening shift in 2022, Rizzoli was alone in the kitchen when he approached her, grabbed her face and kissed her on the lips.

Most shifts, Rizzoli says the sommelier touched her body, putting his hands on the small of her back, her cheeks, her hair.

Thats how it was explained to me at first, and I felt a bit silly, said one woman who worked at Grossi Grill from 2020 to 2022. But as time went on, I was saying, No, its not culture. It started to be taken more seriously.

This claim was supported by two additional women, who declined to be named because they still worked in the industry, who said the sommelier was really touchy and really Italian.

Eventually, the behaviour crossed a line when Rizzoli came on the radar of the sommelier, who she said was always very, very touchy.

Id heard that so many times, she says. It was like a motto.

Then he put his hand on my back to pull me towards him. The wall was right behind me, she said. It freaked me out. It was awful. He walked off as if nothing happened.

She was encouraged by a coworker to report the incident to management, and in March 2022 set up a meeting with a senior manager.

The meeting lasted no more than 15 minutes and nothing was written down, Rizzoli said, who was almost in tears as she relayed what happened.

It was a short meeting, [they] were like Oh, thats not good. Well talk to him. Anything else you need?

The Grossi group restaurants on Bourke Street. Credit: Penny Stephens

Two days later, Rizzoli came into work and the sommelier was there, storming around and avoiding eye contact with her, she said. I was like, Oh shit, they must have told him.

Rizzoli never received any updates about the status of her complaint, and says that over the next few months, her duties were cut back to polishing items out the back.

I was good at my job, but then they essentially frosted me out.

She started calling in sick for shifts, before eventually resigning in May 2022 with the complimentary email.

I was just in tears the whole day before I sent that email, and after I sent the email. I was just sad and confused and overwhelmed, and felt like Id been ostracised from something I loved and was good at.

A private dining space at Grossi Florentino.

In response to questions, Grossis lawyers cited Rizzolis resignation email, which contained the most flattering compliments including the support she felt she was given, to undermine her claims.

After Ms Rizzoli resigned, Grossi Restaurants reached out to her on multiple occasions enquiring as to her availability for work, which, on occasion, she accepted, they said.

The lawyers did not respond to questions about whether employment lawyers were retained to deal with Rizzolis complaint, or whether the sommelier was disciplined.

Rizzoli said she went through a period of blaming herself for the incident, but now realises the companys response was inadequate. She is speaking out to ensure other young women dont have the same experience.

I really dont think its OK that he treated me that way. I worry that he will treat others that way. I also think its not really fair that I ended up essentially ostracised out of my job because I brought it up.

Nine women interviewed by this investigation said flirtatious, touchy and feely behaviour by male chefs employed in Grossis kitchens was routinely dismissed as an expression of Italian culture.

I slapped one of the chefs across the face once, after he grabbed me inappropriately. Former staff member

Saying something in a jovial way doesnt change the way youve just commented on someones arse. You definitely felt objectified, I felt objectified, said one former waitress.

Through interviews, the former employees described multiple incidents: one chef put his finger on my lip, another bit the shoulder of a second waitress, another kissed a third waitress on the lips, and a fourth waitress said chefs demanded massages in the Florentino kitchen.

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I slapped one of the chefs across the face once, after he grabbed me inappropriately, another female employee said. It was very incestuous.

Rizzoli said it was an effective shutdown to use culture as a shield, but its only with hindsight she realises this was unacceptable. This view was supported by other women who were accepting of the treatment at the time, but now look back differently.

It doesnt really matter if its Italian culture or not. There is a professionalism that needs to transpire day to day. That didnt happen, said one woman who worked at the restaurant for almost a decade.

Male chefs also said the kitchen culture was problematic, citing various examples of aggression and bullying. One former male chef, who worked in Ombra and Grill from 2017 to 2019, said one former senior chef was well-known for such behaviour.

I was sworn at, called a fat piece of shit, telling my mum to go f--- herself. It was verbally aggressive, he said. He was notorious in that building for being aggressive, everyone knew he was a hothead. It wasnt a one-off, it was constant.

Integral to the branding and story of Grossi Restaurants is that its a family-owned and run business.

The line between the personal and the professional is blurred in many hospitality settings, but many former employees said this was especially so at Grossi restaurants, where staff romantic relationships were common, particularly between senior men and younger women.

Members of the family would also join staff for after-work drinks, and multiple former employees reported a culture of binge-drinking where groups would bounce between Spleen, The European, Siglo, Angel Bar and occasionally Crown Casino.

We would stay out all night, Richardson said. Come back the next day and do it all again. Thats just how it was.

Grossi Florentino Cellar Bar.

Multiple interviewees said the informality of the family business structure meant staff did not always feel comfortable making complaints.

There wasnt really an HR system. It was definitely still family business, said another woman who left this year.

One email obtained by this investigation, sent in 2023 by a waitress in her 20s, raised a bullying complaint about a male manager.

Ive dealt with verbal abuse and bullying in a workplace before and I do not want to be made to feel like I should just put up with it again.

I believe Grossi as an establishment should be able to do better. [The manager] has made me visibly upset in front of customers, hes made me cry on shift and he makes me dread coming to work which is very disappointing because I do enjoy every other aspect of my job.

I do hope that this is taken seriously, you have a lot of young women working in this establishment and how they might get treated is something I worry about.

After this, the waitress said she continued to be rostered on shifts with the same male manager. She resigned soon after.

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This investigation also interviewed female staff who had a different experience, with some describing working across Grossi Group restaurants as amazing and empowering.

One woman said she felt supported by Guy Grossi who told her you can look at me like a father figure once he became aware of an inappropriate inter-staff relationship. He was really nice about it.

Another woman, who worked at Grill and Ombra in 2016, said women were in senior roles, which had a positive impact on the culture, and the family business structure meant staff were treated better.

[In] hospitality sometimes you just become a number, she said. They bring people along for the ride.

At first, Rizzoli said she took her job at Grossi Florentino seriously, studying the menu, wine list and cooking style of the chefs. She attended all the training sessions and was committed to going the extra mile.

However, she noticed the male employees careers progressed much faster.

When a man would apply for a front-of-house position, by the second shift hed be taking orders, taking the champagne trolley, talking about wine. He would be on the floor immediately.

Phoebe Rizzoli noticed the male employees careers progressed much faster. Credit: Eddie Jim

A year-and-a-half into my position, I was still not allowed to take orders. Its not the fault of me not being able to do it. I just wasnt given the opportunity.

This was supported by 14 women who have worked at Florentino over the past decade and described it as male-dominated, a mans world and a boys club and mentioned career progression as a common factor.

I dont think the words gender equality ever got muttered between the walls of that building, said one long-term former staffer. Nobody questioned it.

Grossi Restaurants lawyers did not respond to questions about gender-based discrimination, or requests to provide data about the workforce.

Both Rizzoli and Richardson now work in different industries and are speaking out in the hope of creating positive change in Melbournes hospitality sector. Richardson said the public image of Grossi Florentino does not match the reality.

Theres no care for the staff, Richardson says. Its all a facade.

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The discovery of a caravan filled with explosives and a list of Jewish targets. A neo-Nazi rally in Adelaide. A row over whether Foreign Minister Penny Wong should represent Australia at the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Grace Tame, a former Australian of the Year, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan F--- MURDOCH. As we marked the national holiday, a date in the calendar that exposes division as much as comity, we have been reminded once more of the splintering of Australia.

Illustration by Simon Letch Credit:

Over the course of January, we have gone through something of a perfect storm of polarisation. The now ritualistic arguments over Australia Day coincided with the commencement of a political year made all the more combative by the impending federal election. The swearing-in of Donald Trump, and the rightward cultural shift it represents, has raised political hackles even further. The ceasefire in Gaza has not brought an end to the spate of antisemitic attacks, which have escalated alarmingly during the 15-month war.

What makes this moment all the more worrisome is the apparent threat from foreign players intent on inflaming internal divisions. The Australian Federal Police suspect overseas actors might have paid local criminals to carry out some of the antisemitic attacks.

When I first came to live here almost 20 years ago, after reporting on American disunion and a posting in South Asia covering a spate of civil wars in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, it was the distance from global conflicts, and its sense of social cohesion, that was part of Australias allure. I even used to joke that, if ever we did find ourselves in the midst of a global meltdown, refuge could be found in the serene Sydney suburb of Woollahra, because nothing bad could possibly happen there. How naive. In recent months, Woollahra, my imagined safe haven, has become the prime target of repeated antisemitic attacks.
Parents have begun cancelling applications for Jewish preschools in favour of non-denominational institutions as fear mounts that sending their children to religious colleges will make them vulnerable amid an intensification of antisemitic threats.

Extra police stood guard at Jewish schools on Friday, in addition to the schools own security, amid deep distress at the discovery of a caravan full of mining explosives, with a note naming The Great Synagogue in the CBD and The Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst as potential targets.

Children at religious schools have been covering their blazer emblems in public, avoiding public transport and wearing casual clothes on excursions amid concern that identifying their school would put them at risk.

Police were outside five-year-old Remys school on his first day of kindergarten amid deep concern from parents about intensifying antisemitic attacks. Credit: Louise Kennerley

At Mount Sinai College in Maroubra, where a wall was tagged with Jews are the real terrorists this week, dark-clothed security guards guided cars through the gates while two police officers handed out temporary tattoos and police armbands to ease the tension.
A woman suspected of delivering fake Botox injections to three Sydney patients who were later hospitalised has been barred from performing any cosmetic procedures while healthcare watchdogs in NSW and Victoria investigate the mysterious anti-wrinkle substance they warn could pose an ongoing risk to public safety.

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) on Friday named Norsafiza Binti Zakaria  who has also operated under the names Natasha Scha, Zakaria Scha, and Scha Zakaria Beauty Spa  as the non-registered practitioner who injected at least three people with substances she claimed were botulinum toxin at a home in Guildford, in Sydneys west, on January 11.

Norsafiza Binti Zakaria operates under several aliases including Natasha Scha, Zakaria Scha, and Scha Zakaria Beauty Spa.

One client was treated in intensive care, and two others were admitted to hospital and treated for botulism  a rare and potentially deadly condition caused by a neurotoxic protein derived from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which is used to make Botox.

The commission issued a public warning alleging Zakaria had unlawfully advertised cosmetic injections via WhatsApp, had performed these procedures in residential premises across NSW and Victoria without the involvement of a registered practitioner, and the substances she injects may pose an immediate risk to anyone who has received them.
Lord Mayor Nick Reeces plan to make the city safer by targeting begging and alcohol consumption will begin with just two private security guards assisting local law officers after police declined to provide resources to the project.

City of Melbournes proposed trial is in response to 37 reported incidents of violence towards staff members, some of which resulted in injury, over the past two years while enforcing local laws relating to behavioural issues on the streets.

Elizabeth Street has become a beacon for unruly behaviour. Credit: Wayne Taylor

The council requested assistance from Victoria Police for its 30-strong team of local law officers, but the force said it did not have the resources. Instead, a six-week pilot will involve a security services business providing two guards.

Management has met with and written to Victoria Police to request dedicated resourcing of two police officers to work alongside our local laws officers seven days a week to ensure consistent enforcement of begging and public consumption of alcohol in the City of Melbourne, a report to councillors said.
A primary school principal in Melbournes south-east has been charged with possession of child abuse material.

Richard Barren, principal of Langwarrin Park Primary School, was arrested on January 26 after returning to Australia from the US. The Australian Federal Police allege he was caught in a random baggage check with abuse material on his phone.

Langwarrin Park Primary School Principal Richard Barren..

Federal officers later searched Barrens Mornington Peninsula home, where they seized more electronic devices before charging him with one count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service.

The 49-year-old, who is on bail, faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday. The case was adjourned and he is due back in court in late May.
Warning: This story contains graphic content.

A West Australian father who was found guilty last year on 97 counts of rape over the horrific assaults of 12 women over two years has been sentenced to nearly three decades behind bars.

Adam Lusk, 46, drugged and raped the women between April 2020 and January 2022. During his trial, the Perth District Court was told the youngest victim was just 16 years old at the time of the abuse. A jury found him guilty in September.

Lusk, 46, filmed himself raping multiple women. Credit: Nine News.

Some had no idea they had been assaulted until police contacted them after finding footage of the assaults on Lusks iPad.
AI has already cemented its place as the most important technology of the decade, upending industries, economies and daily life at an unprecedented rate. And Chinas free, powerful chatbot is threatening to rule the roost. For the newly re-elected Trump  and the entire Western world, including Australia  theres much at stake. Loading Tech has become core to Trumps power and his second presidency, and his dalliance with the likes of Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Oracle boss Larry Ellison offers a glimpse of the next four years. Its a Trump tech broligarchy, with the spectre of China now hanging over everything. Trump called DeepSeeks arrival a wake-up call for US companies who must focus on competing to win.

Joan Westenberg is an Australian technologist and former start-up employee, and now operates independent publication The Index. For Westenberg, DeepSeeks ascent represents an existential crisis for Silicon Valley and its executives like Altman and Zuckerberg. She says rather than viewing it as an arms race, however, what DeepSeek has proven is that collaboration beats competition, and openness trumps secrecy. DeepSeeks cheap, open AI model sent a tidal wave through Silicon Valley but thrilled scientists, given its open for researchers to examine at will. American tech giants hoarded the narrative about AIs future, according to Joan Westenberg, and DeepSeek subsequently shattered it. Credit: Renee Nowytarger Published under an MIT licence, DeepSeeks model can be freely reused, though technically, its not considered fully open source given its training data has not been made available. China has earned a reputation for secrecy but DeepSeek is anything but.

The greatest threat to American AI dominance was never China, Westenberg tells this masthead. It was the delusion that dominance itself was sustainable. When you mistake money for momentum, you build castles on quicksand. And a trillion dollars vanished because the market finally saw through the theatre. When you spend billions convincing the world that only your path leads forward, watching someone take a different route ... becomes an existential crisis. Joan Westenberg American tech giants hoarded the narrative about AIs future, according to Westenberg, and DeepSeek subsequently shattered it. DeepSeek is proving that innovation flows from many tributaries, and not a single divine, Trump-blessed spring in Silicon Valley. For years, Silicon Valley positioned itself as our shield against foreign AI supremacy. Then a Chinese start-up using open-source methods exposed the emperors new clothes: real innovation doesnt need protection  it needs participation.

The market crash was about trust ... When you spend billions convincing the world that only your path leads forward, watching someone take a different route to the same destination becomes an existential crisis. DeepSeeks rise raises important, existential questions for the Valley but also Australia, which has widely been perceived as an AI laggard as the likes of US and China sprint ahead. Has Australia already been left behind? Or has DeepSeeks rapid and impressive accomplishments, despite limited capabilities, mean something similar could yet emerge locally? Eric Gao, CEO of Boman Group, believes Australia lacks both the financial backing and deep talent pool needed to support a thriving AI industry. Eric Gao is the CEO of Boman Group, an institutional investor that manages funds of Chinese high-net-wealth individuals. For Gao, Australia currently lacks both the financial backing and deep talent pool needed to support a thriving AI industry.

Australian corporations and customers tend to be hesitant early adopters, limiting domestic innovation and investment, he says. However DeepSeek has opened the door for new AI start-ups worldwide to follow a similar playbook. We may soon see other DeepSeeks emerging in different countries. Loading Zac Altman  no relation to Sam  is an Australian start-up founder building Kantoko, a technology platform attempting to make ADHD care more accessible. He says Australia should have a clear plan to make every high school graduate AI-native, given students are already using AI for their assignments. Australia does have world-class AI talent, he says, but the federal government is not moving fast enough.

While the US and China can release $500 billion commitments overnight, Australias planning to deliver a plan later this year and wont even have the budget until 2027, he says. Start-ups are doing our part so it would be helpful to see the government step up and invest in our future. Its embarrassing ... Everyone else will be halfway through the race while were still picking which shoes to buy. Id really hate to see us miss this golden AI opportunity. Others are more optimistic. For James Cameron, partner at one of Australias largest venture capital firms AirTree, the development should serve as a significant shot in the arm for Australian start-ups. AirTree has joined other investment funds in betting big on Australias AI companies, pouring millions of dollars into the likes of Canva, Build Club and Leonardo.ai. Cameron says new open-source models like DeepSeeks R1 will put downward pressure on the cost of building AI applications, meaning it should be easier for new Australian tech companies to flourish.

Most Australian founders are focused on this application layer, where we see the greatest value being created as foundational models become increasingly commoditised, he says. Square Peg Capital partner James Tynan says there is a unique opportunity for an Australian start-up founder to create the next global AI company. Credit: Oscar Colman For start-ups vying to build the underlying foundational models themselves, DeepSeek shows that the cost curve for training these models may be dropping quickly. This paves the way for teams all over the world to build smaller, cheaper and more focused foundational models. James Tynan, partner at rival Australian venture capital firm Square Peg, agrees and says that right now, there is a unique opportunity for an Australian start-up founder to create the next global AI company. In over a decade of investing in founders building AI companies, weve never seen a wave of change like what were currently experiencing, he says.

These AI breakthroughs are driving a level of change akin to the birth of the internet ... The race is on to create global winners. Australias new chief scientist Tony Haymet this week called AI a great opportunity for Australia, given the nation was perfectly set up to use renewable energy to run power-hungry AI data centres. DeepSeeks rise may indeed be a much-needed shot in the arm for Australia, which to date has struggled for AI relevancy, but it raises uncomfortable questions about the billions of dollars already invested by US giants to build and train their foundational models. Estimates suggest that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are each spending between $US30 billion and $US60 billion annually on AI development. The common belief was that building the most powerful systems required billions of dollars in specialised computer chips, but DeepSeek claimed to have developed its technologies with significantly fewer resources. The Chinese start-up says it spent just $US5.6 million ($8.9 million) on computing power for its base R1 model, relying on about 2000 less powerful H800 chips produced by Nvidia, which have been banned from export to China since October. The events of the past week will bring the US export controls on microchips into sharp focus, given in this case they may have backfired, spurring Chinas engineers to make do with less.

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng (right), pictured at a symposium presided by Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier this month, says AI should be affordable and accessible to everyone. In an interview with Chinese media, DeepSeeks founder Liang Wenfeng said that AI should be affordable and accessible to everyone. Loading Wenfeng, who is 40, has kept a relatively low profile despite his new role in leading Chinas AI revolution. An engineering graduate who has never studied or worked outside of mainland China, Liang has been compared to OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who is effectively the face of AI in the US. DeepSeek grew out of Liangs hedge fund, High-Flyer Capital, which uses AI to identify patterns in stock prices. The executive is assumed to own 51 per cent of High-Flyer. Chinas AI cant be in the position of following forever, he said in a rare media interview in July last year.

OpenAI is not a god and cannot always be at the forefront. Most of DeepSeeks top researchers were fresh graduates from top Chinese universities, he said, and many were hired from outside the computer science field to diversify its abilities. More investment does not necessarily lead to more innovation, he said. Otherwise, large companies would take over all innovation. Marina Zhang, an associate professor from the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, says DeepSeek is part of a new wave of Chinese start-ups defined by an ability to maximise limited resources. She says Western observers have effectively missed the point. They often focus on Chinas hardware limitations and US restrictions, she says, underestimating the ingenuity and resilience of Chinese companies like DeepSeek.

Unlike their predecessors, who often prioritised quick profits under the pressures of venture capital, this new generation of Chinese tech entrepreneurs is defined by its dedication to foundational research and long-term technological advancement, she says. DeepSeeks AI model is censoring politically sensitive content and sending user data to Chinese servers: according to the companys own privacy policy, it collects a users email address, phone number and date of birth, as long as any user input including text and audio, then storing that data in secure servers in China. Credit: Tom Compagnoni Many of them are educated at Chinas top universities  such as Tsinghua, Peking, and Zhejiang  and include top prizewinners in STEM competitions. And remarkably, even members of their management teams are often under the age of 35, bringing youthful energy and a fresh perspective to leadership. Having grown up during Chinas rapid technological ascent, they are deeply motivated by a drive for self-reliance in innovation. Some in Silicon Valley remain calm despite the market bloodbath. James Alcorn is a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Lightspeed, which is an investor in both OpenAI and fellow AI heavyweight Anthropic.

He thinks the claims about DeepSeeks threat to US AI leadership are greatly overstated. Does this mark a profound shift in the distribution of geopolitical technology and power? Absolutely not, he says. The kneejerk reaction that DeepSeek has commoditised AI; that hundreds of billions in capex at US labs is now rendered worthless; and that Western AI leadership has evaporated, is mistaken. The right way to interpret DeepSeek is twofold. Mind-bogglingly complex optimisation of AIs status quo, and a blueprint of the new AI paradigm, where scale wins. DeepSeek models enable more use cases, which in turn creates more companies, more jobs, and ultimately, economic growth. DeepSeeks position atop the app charts remains far from certain. The company has been fending off cyberattacks, and has been forced to temporarily limit user registrations due to its rampant popularity. Then there are the pressing questions about security. DeepSeek has quickly joined the growing list of Chinese companies causing unease for Western governments, including the likes of TikTok and Huawei, which have each been banned in various capacities.

DeepSeeks AI model is censoring politically sensitive content and sending user data to Chinese servers: according to the companys own privacy policy, it collects a users email address, phone number and date of birth, along with any user input including text and audio, then storing that data in secure servers in China. When prompted to explain the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, DeepSeek says bluntly: Lets talk about something else, and when asking about Taiwan it evangelises complete reunification as an unstoppable force. The federal government is yet to issue any formal guidance but Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic and Liberal senator James Paterson this week each urged caution. Canberra, Washington and Beijing will each be watching closely. Whatever happens next will likely help determine the power dynamics of the rest of the decade, and beyond.
Three. Two. One. Flash. A quick shot of torchlight sends thousands of microbats  barely 15 centimetres wide with wings outstretched  into a frenzied flap, swarming and darting above us like kamikaze hummingbirds. Dazzled, they briefly retreat to the depths of their bat cave, before exiting minutes later with the same erratic energy to pursue their nightly feed, silhouetted against a deep purple sky.

About 50,000 of these tiny bats will later return to Barkers Cave in the Undara Volcanic National Park, four hours drive or so south-west of Cairns, with the cave the last stop on a wildlife at sunset tour.

The Undara lava tubes.

Our tour starts in a van that slowly bumps along a dirt road that Australias first settlers once traversed in pursuit of a goldfield lottery. To our left, an eastern grey kangaroo stands bolt upright to survey our movements, then twitches a furry ear and bends over to resume nibbling soft green shoots of vegetation, spurred by a controlled burn. Behind it, three emus take big deliberate steps through waist-height grass among acacia trees, almost blending in with the brown and straw-coloured landscape.

This is Tropical North Queenslands Gulf Savannah country, and, along with a healthy array of wildlife, the region has some of Australias most striking geological landscapes. If youve never visited Australias great outback before (perhaps the idea of tramping across a dusty campground to a communal shower with your towel and undies under your arm gives you the heebie-jeebies), this is the place to do it. You can drive well-maintained, 2WD-friendly roads and enjoy a comfortable bed and shower each night, but still experience some of the most awe-inspiring sights the outback has to offer. By tackling just the first section of the iconic Savannah Way, starting in Cairns, you can dip your toe into the outback then be sleeping in your own bed within a week.
Both the Colombian and Brazilian governments posted online thinly veiled messages to Trump, showing their citizens returning home and noting that they deserve respect. They are free and dignified, and they are in their homeland where they are loved, Petro wrote on Tuesday. The Pew Research Center estimated there were 11 million immigrants living in the US without legal permission in 2022, but more recent estimates put the population at almost 14 million. This includes around 4 million Mexicans, 2.1 million Central Americans, 230,000 Brazilians and 190,000 Colombians. The government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, had stern words in response to the deportation debacle. Credit: AP Petro had initially turned away the deportation flights because they were operated by the US military, a recent change under the Trump administration. It was Colombian military aircraft that flew the Colombian deportees home on Tuesday. Mexico is not yet known to have received any deportation flights on military planes. The Brazilians were flown on a commercial charter. The Brazilian government summoned the top American diplomat on Monday to discuss the conditions of that flight. The government has repeatedly asked the US government to shackle deportees only if they pose a threat, including in a 2022 call between Brazils foreign minister and then-secretary of state Antony Blinken, according to a summary of Brazilian efforts detailed in a 2022 government document.

US officials have largely ignored those requests, according to Brazilian officials and academics who track the issue. The US government has deported about 7700 Brazilians on roughly 95 flights since 2020, according to Brazilian officials. On many of those flights, ICE agents have chained Brazilian deportees at the hands and feet, officials said. Yet the deportation flight to Brazil  the first of Trumps new term  was also the first to draw such public backlash from the Brazilian government. The difference last Friday, officials and passengers said, was the condition of the plane and the rough handling of the deportees by ICE agents. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. For many of the Brazilian deportees, the journey began weeks ago, with long bus rides across the United States  from California, Georgia, Arizona and Texas  to a federal immigration centre in Alexandria, Louisiana. The men spent those rides handcuffed, sometimes for days. In the early morning hours last Friday, ICE agents filled the passenger jet with the deportees, putting dozens of shackled men in the rear and women and children, who were not handcuffed, in the front, the deportees said.

The flight, operated by a charter airline, GlobalX Air, had problems from the start. The passengers said that on the first attempt, the plane struggled to take off. After a mechanic worked on a turbine, it departed, but passengers were uneasy. They started to question: If something happens, how are you going to take the shackles off 80 people? said Luiz Campos, 35, one of the Brazilian deportees, who was on the flight after spending six weeks in Texas detention centres. Please, take off these chains, he recalled people asking. They said, No. Its protocol. Its always like this. Loading Tensions increased hours later during a refuelling stop in Panama. Again, the plane struggled to take off, and this time, three passengers described seeing smoke come from an engine on the wing. The incident also caused the air-conditioning to stop working, they said, and the plane quickly became a sauna in the tropical heat. Eventually, the air-conditioning was restored, and the plane took off again. Hours later, it landed in Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon. The flight was scheduled to finish in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a city 2600 kilometres to the south. Brazils federal police said the plane landed because of a technical issue.

GlobalX Air and ICE did not respond to requests for comment. In Manaus, the plane then struggled to take off for a third time, again with apparent engine issues, passengers said. And then, again, the air stopped flowing inside the cabin. Some deportees said that in the muggy cabin, the shackled men began pushing their way up the aisles, physically pressing up against ICE agents standing in the way. Agents and passengers shouted and pushed one another, and several deportees said they were struck. Then some passengers opened the emergency exits. Within minutes, at least seven handcuffed men stepped out onto a wing. Call the police! one shouted, according to a video of the moment. Brazils federal police eventually entered the cabin and ordered ICE agents to let the Brazilians go. With people at the airport looking on and taking video, the deportees said, the ICE agents sought to remove the shackles before letting them off the plane.
We are delighted to be supporting the market to deliver more social and affordable housing in accordance with the objectives of the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility and the National Housing Accord Facility, Langford said.
Reducing human rights risks in Sri Lanka, where raw materials are produced, in collaboration with Mitsui Norin

Currently, Japan imports about 40% of the black tea leaves from Sri Lanka

In the future, the number of target estates used to be increased, with the aim of procuring 80% of the tea leaves purchased by Kirin Holdings from sustainable production areas by 2030



Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (Kirin Holdings) (TOKYO:2503) and Mitsui Norin Co., Ltd. (Mitsui Norin) are developing a human rights due diligence initiative targeting tea plantations in Sri Lanka, with the aim of achieving sustainable sourcing of black tea leaves used for Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130637034/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

Kirin Holdings and Mitsui Norin have been implementing the Designated Tea Estates System, under which tea leaves are procured and supplied from designated estates in order to cultivate estates that supply tea leaves of stable quality. The system is designed to reduce and prevent the occurrence of human rights risks by identifying negative human rights impacts through the implementation of new questionnaires and on-site audits at designated tea estates. In the first year, the project will be implemented on four estates. In the future, the number of target estates will be increased, with the aim of procuring 80% of the tea leaves purchased by Kirin Holdings from sustainable production areas*1 by 2030. Through the procurement of sustainable tea leaves, Kirin Holdings recognizes the social issues faced by the estates and works to improve the wellbeing of the employees working on the estates.

*1: Refers to estates where human rights due diligence has been carried out by Mitsui Norin or estates certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

The Kirin Group has been conducting human rights due diligence*2 upstream in its supply chain since 2018 in line with the global standard, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the Kirin Group Human Rights Policy. So far, the Kirin Group has done so in the supply chains of coffee beans in Laos, soya beans in China, tea leaves in Sri Lanka, grapes in Argentina and sugarcane in Brazil. The experience and knowledge gained from those initiatives will be used in our human rights due diligence efforts with Mitsui Norin, and any issues identified will be considered for resolution in collaboration with Kirin Holdings and Mitsui Norin.

*2: The Kirin Group's human rights due diligence: https://www.kirinholdings.com/en/impact/community/2_1/duediligence

In addition to human rights initiatives, the Kirin Group is also involved in biodiversity conservation and other activities aimed at protecting the areas where raw materials are produced. Currently, about 40%*3 of the black tea leaves*4 imported to Japan come from Sri Lanka, of which about 20%*5 are used in Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha. Starting in December 2024, the Kirin Group began implementing a Regenerative Tea Scorecard in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance as a tool to promote regenerative agriculture at the discretion of farmers. In addition, in response to the impacts of climate change and land-use change associated with urbanization facing tea plantations in Sri Lanka, the Kirin Group published its Environmental Report 2022 in July 2022, which became the first in the world to trial the disclosure of natural capital, including Sri Lankan tea estates, based on the LEAP approach advocated by TNFD.

*3 Results for leaf only (excluding instant black tea)

*4 Customs clearance statistics from Japans Ministry of Finance

*5 Kirin Beverage research

About Kirin Holdings

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.

Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, Kirin Holdings expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become A global leader in CSV*, creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals. Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.

* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130637034/en/
Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd. (Kirin Holdings) (TOKYO: 2503) and Kirin Beverage Company, Ltd. (Kirin Beverage) have been working with the Rainforest Alliance since October 2023 to develop a tool to encourage a transition to regenerative agriculture*1. The Regenerative Tea Scorecard, a tool to encourage the transition to regenerative agriculture, which has been developed in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance since October 2023, is to be operational from December 2024. The operation is targeted at some tea plantations in Sri Lanka, the main producer of the tea leaves used in Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha, and is planned to be in operation on one large estate and 30 small farms in Sri Lanka by the end of 2025.

*1 An approach to environmental conservation and restoration through agricultural activities.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130966280/en/

250ml LL Slim Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha Straight Tea (Photo: Business Wire)

The Regenerative Tea Scorecard is intended to be a voluntary, accessible tool for those involved in growing tea leaves on tea estates. It is a tool to support tea farms in their transition to regenerative farming. It will be piloted in Kirin Beverages supply chain. Tea farmers can use the The Regenerative Tea Scorecard to assess their current farm practices and identify areas of improvement to transition to regenerative agriculture. The Regenerative Tea Scorecard is based on the Rainforest Alliances definition of regenerative agriculture, which takes a conservation and restoration approach to farming by combining environmentally friendly farming practices with integrated systems management strategies to ensure soil health, on-farm biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and farmer livelihoods.

Currently, approximately 40%*2 of the black tea leaves*3 imported into Japan come from Sri Lanka, of which approximately 20%*4 are used in Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha. The Kirin Group has been supporting the acquisition of Rainforest Alliance Certification*5 since 2013 in order to build better partnerships with the tea-producing regions of Sri Lanka and the people who work there, and to continue producing safe and tasty tea drinks. By the end of 2023, 94*6 large farms, equivalent to about 30% of all large farms in Sri Lanka, had obtained certification. From 2021, Kirin Beverage has been selling 250ml LL Slim Kirin Gogo-no-Kocha Straight Tea, which is made from 100% Sri Lankan tea leaves, of which more than 90% are Rainforest Alliance Certified tea leaves.

*2 Leaf only results (excluding instant tea)

*3 Customs clearance statistics, Ministry of Finance

*4 Kirin Beverage research

*5 Certification awarded to farms recognized for their commitment to more sustainable farming methods while protecting nature and the producers.

*6 One large plantation had declined to continue certification in 2023.

Tea plantations in Sri Lanka face a variety of challenges, including the effects of climate change, such as drought and heavy rainfall, and the effects of land use change due to urbanization. In its Environmental Report 2022, published in July 2022, the Kirin Group was the first in the world to trial the disclosure of natural capital*7 including tea plantations in Sri Lanka, based on the LEAP approach advocated by the TNFD.*8 In its Environmental Report 2023, published in July 2023, Locate (discovery of contact points with nature) and Evaluate (analysis of dependencies and impacts) for tea plantations in Sri Lanka, and in the Environmental Report 2024, published in June 2024, Assess (assessment of risks and opportunities) and future direction (Prepare: preparation for reporting). A detailed analysis and assessment were conducted and published, revealing that training for Rainforest Alliance certification and the transition to regenerative agriculture are effective ways to resolve issues. However, not all small plantations have achieved certification, and to address these challenges, the Kirin Group is working with the Rainforest Alliance to develop the Scorecard, primarily to improve the sustainability of farmers. Through this activity, the Kirin Group aims to support the implementation of environmentally regenerative farming practices on tea plantations and improve the sustainability of the raw material production areas.

*7 Natural capital is the stock of natural assets that provide society with flows of renewable and non-renewable resources and ecosystem services

*8 Nature-related Financial Disclosure Task Force, a risk management-oriented disclosure framework for companies to report and act on risks and opportunities related to natural capital.

The Kirin Group will continue to address complex and interrelated environmental issues (biological resources, water resources, containers and packaging, and climate change) in a holistic approach, and to work with all those involved in the value chain to connect our desire to enjoy and pass on the bounty of the earth to future generations. We will proactively promote various initiatives that will have a positive impact on nature and people.

For Reference

Kirin Group Environmental Vision 2050 https://www.kirinholdings.com/en/impact/env/mission/

About Kirin Holdings

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.

Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become A global leader in CSV*, creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals. Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.

* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130966280/en/
Runa, the leading global fintech infrastructure for the next generation of payouts experiences, today announced its expansion into India, opening access to the countrys $8.9 billion gift card market. With this expansion, Runa allows its business customers the ability to easily send instant, domestic and cross-border payouts to consumer recipients in India, dramatically reducing the traditional barriers of cost and complexity.

Indias rapid digital payment transformationexpanding at a notable rate of 44% CAGR by transaction volume from 2017 to 2024paired with a surge in cross-border consumer transactions, which grew by 121% in the last nine months of 2024 alone, has created a strong demand for alternative consumer payout solutions.

By unlocking access to India, Runa emerges as a strategic partner for companies looking to tap into India's thriving gift card sector for consumer disbursement, rewards, recognition and incentives. With the Indian market growing by 15.3% year over year, Runa enables companies to simplify regulatory compliance, reduce foreign exchange risks, and provide flexible funding options when sending funds to Indian recipients.

Were proud to bring Runa to India, where digital payments and gift cards are transforming how people connect and transact, said Aron Alexander, CEO of Runa. Indias fast-growing market is full of opportunity, and were here to help businesses effortlessly join one of the worlds most exciting economies and connect with millions of new consumers.

Through Runas technology, businesses can now deliver instant payouts via an expansive network of thousands of global and leading Indian merchants, including e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Shoppers Stop and popular digital wallets like Amazon Pay. Runas customers benefit from:

Real-Time Payouts : A streamlined solution for instant payments, eliminating the delays and costs associated with traditional cross-border transactions.

: A streamlined solution for instant payments, eliminating the delays and costs associated with traditional cross-border transactions. Flexible Funding & Foreign Exchange Options : Mitigation of capital control risks and seamless transactions without the need to hold Indian Rupees.

: Mitigation of capital control risks and seamless transactions without the need to hold Indian Rupees. Built-in Regulatory Compliance : Comprehensive handling of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, GST regulations, and data protection requirements.

: Comprehensive handling of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, GST regulations, and data protection requirements. Extensive Merchant Network: A single integration granting access to top Indian and global merchants.



The expansion comes at a pivotal time, as The International Trade Administration reports that India is experiencing a digital payments revolution and e-commerce boom, fueled by rapid smartphone adoption, 650 million users in 2024, and internet connectivity extending to more than 950 million people.

Runa has done all of the heavy lifting to pave the way for us to launch in India, sourcing popular merchants and alleviating the hassles and compliance challenges, said Mike Bowles, Senior Director of Operations at Augeo Marketing. Were looking forward to launching our program into the Indian market.

Runas modern global payment infrastructure allows businesses to instantly reach more recipients with the most payout options, unbound by traditional cross-border challenges on legacy payment rails. For more information, visit https://runa.io/lp/send-international-payouts-to-india

About Runa

Runa is a leading global fintech building the infrastructure for the next generation of payouts experiences. Runa's API empowers thousands of businesses to make payments to 5 billion+ consumers in 190+ countries. Consumers receive the money instantly and save it to their account or spend it at any merchant within the Runa Network. Fully embeddable within any digital experience, Runa transforms payouts by unlocking new revenue for senders, removing friction for consumers and increasing basket size for merchants.

Based in London and New York and supported by a global team, Runas growth is backed by key investors, including Element Ventures, CommerzVentures, Clocktower Ventures, Volution Capital, 13Books Capital, and SAP. Learn more at www.runa.io.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130141681/en/
The Hyundai Tucson has made its mark in being the upgrade of choice for people who want to transition from a sedan to a higher vehicle. Not ...
CARLOW County Council has launched the Carlow Period Dignity Initiative, a programme offering free menstrual products through no-cost dispensers in publicly accessible buildings across the county.

The scheme, which began on Tuesday 21 January, represents the local authoritys latest effort to alleviate period poverty and promote health, dignity and equality.

Speaking at the launch, Coilin OReilly, chief executive of Carlow County Council, emphasised that the initiative is more than just distributing necessary products. By ensuring that period products are freely available, we are helping to break down the barriers that many people face when it comes to their menstrual health, he said. We are saying that no-one should have to face period poverty. The programme is supported by the Department of Health and forms part of the countys broader commitment to addressing the challenges posed by inadequate access to menstrual products. According to the Healthy Ireland Survey 2022, 24% of women experience at least one indicator of period poverty, with 14% of women aged over 25 reporting having to use materials not intended for menstrual use. These findings underscore the need for accessible solutions.

Free product dispensers are now located in a range of key venues, including Carlow County Council County Building, Carlow Town Hall, Carlow Enterprise House, Carlow County Museum and Library, Bagenalstown Library, Borris Library, Tullow Library, Ducketts Grove, New Oak Community Centre and Forward Steps Family Resource Centre.

This wide coverage aims to ensure that individuals throughout the county can access supplies without stigma or financial burden.

Leas-cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, Tommy Kinsella, welcomed the move, stressing that everyone  whether a student, a mother, a worker, or someone in between  should have equitable access to necessary products.

Healthy Carlow and Carlow County Council say they plan to expand the initiative in 2025.

They invite local buildings already offering free period products to join, receive promotional materials and boost awareness of the cause. For more information, contact Carlow County Councils Community Section on 059 9170321.
Olivia Kelleher

A man has been found dead following a fire at a flat in Togher Road on the southside of Cork city.

Three units of Cork City Fire Brigade attended at the property at about 7pm on Friday. A man was found deceased in the property.

The fire was contained within one room at the flat. The body of the man, who is understood to be in his 60s, remains at the scene.

A second person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

The flat has been preserved for a technical examination. This will establish the cause of the fire.

The Office of the State Pathologist has been notified and a post mortem examination will be carried out at Cork University Hospital. This will determine the course of the garda investigation.

The Coroner has been informed and an inquest will be held in due course.
By Sarah Ping, PA

A man receiving palliative care is among the miserable residents impacted as thousands of homes remain without power in Ireland a week after Storm Eowyn.

Efforts to repair damaged power lines continue into a seventh day as thousands of homes across the island are still waiting for their electricity supplies to be restored.

ESB Networks have made progress in repairing the damage done from Storm Eowyn but 76,000 homes, farms and businesses are still without power in the Republic.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks said its more than 1,550 staff and contractors have been tirelessly working to restore power in the North, though some areas may not see electricity return until 10pm on Saturday.

Emma Garrett (43), from Mallusk in Co Antrim, described the week-long power outage as miserable and a nightmare.

Ms Garretts father-in-law, Wilfred Garrett (79), lives next door to her with her mother-in-law, and has heart failure and lives with diabetes.

He relies on electricity to monitor his blood sugar levels and was given a diagnosis of a matter of months to live by doctors over the Christmas period, according to his daughter-in-law.

With type 1 diabetes, circulation is badly affected, so staying warm is really important, Ms Garrett, chief executive of a social enterprise, told the PA news agency.

He relies on electricity to notify him when his blood sugar levels change dramatically, so that obviously wasnt happening either with no power in his house.

She said NIE Networks dont seem to have prioritised Mr Garrett and criticised the company for not doing more to support him.

They left him out a generator, but it wasnt fit for purpose which means that it would really only turn on his TV and a couple of lights  it wouldnt turn on the heating system, she said.

Ms Garrett said she has spent hundreds on hotel rooms for herself, her two sons aged 11 and 14, and her mother-in-law and father-in-law  while her husband has remained at home, without lights and heating, to keep the property safe.

We do have a stove which was able to heat one room, but weve no warm water, no means to cook food and its dark, so its been pretty miserable, she said.

She said she has thrown away around 300 (350) worth of food and has had to rely on hotel stays after the rest of her family were also impacted by power outages.

Were having to buy food daily because we cant keep any food in the house. We cant cook, so were having to rely on takeaways, she said.

Ms Garrett estimates she has spent more than 1,500 (1,800) to cover the cost of three nights at their local hotel, food waste and other daily food purchases.

She said she feels fortunate to have enough money to cover her expenses, but added she felt very nervous for families who are really struggling, are living day to day, and who are having to rely on food banks.

Tree removal work on Cyprus Avenue in east Belfast (David Young/PA)

She has urged NIE Networks to offer accommodation to vulnerable people and households on low income to compensate for the week-long power outage.

They definitely should be prioritising people who are vulnerable, and perhaps people who are reliant on food banks, or people like my father-in-law, who are medically unwell, she said.

They should be providing accommodation for them at this stage when theyre seven days and no heat in their house.

Ms Garrett was told by her electricity provider to expect her power to be restored by 10pm on Saturday.

In a statement on its website, NIE Networks said: We continue to work tirelessly to restore power to all those still affected across Northern Ireland. We have over 1550 staff and contractors escalated, additional support from other countries and further support on the way.

Over the coming days there may be occasions when householders experience interruption to their electricity supply as we undertake permanent repairs and work to restore all those impacted.

PA has contacted NIE Networks for comment, but it had not responded at the time of publication.
BAGENALSTOWN Community First Responders (CFR) have publicly thanked the Ballyloughan guild of the Irish Countrywomens Association (ICA) for raising vital funds during their recent Christmas fundraiser.

A statement from Bagenalstown CFR said the donation is deeply appreciated and will be used to enhance and maintain our equipment.

The local CFR group, part of the national network affiliated with the National Ambulance Service, responds to cardiac and choking emergencies within a ten-kilometre radius of Bagenalstown.

We are trained in CPR and carry defibrillators to call outs, said a spokesperson for the group. We bridge the time gap between calling 112/999 and the arrival of the ambulance. Entirely volunteer-run, Bagenalstown CFR relies heavily on donations and an annual street collection to maintain both its own and the public defibrillators around town. Representatives from the group said the ICAs support will significantly aid their ongoing efforts.

We train every second Monday in Jimmys Pub and all are welcome to join us. As always, we are looking to recruit new members, they added. With three certified cardiac instructors on hand, the group is ready to train volunteers in-house to the appropriate level.
You are here: Business

The number of passenger trips operated by China's urban rail transit networks in 2024 grew by around 2.8 billion, or 9.5 percent from a year earlier, official data showed.

A total of 32.24 billion passenger trips were handled by the network last year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

By Dec. 31, 2024, the total operating length of 325 urban rail transit lines across 54 Chinese cities reached 10,945.6 kilometers.

Last year, China added 748 kilometers of new rail lines, with 18 new urban rail transit lines becoming operational.
In May 2024, when it was announced that Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettners critically acclaimed, sci-fi animated series Scavengers Reign would not be getting a second season from Max, or potential savior Netflix, there were a lot of broken hearts in its ardent fan base. But as is often the case in the animation industry, Bennett was already deep into production of his next original animated series, Common Side Effects, with current collaborator, screenwriter Steve Hely (American Dad!, 30 Rock, Veep).

Initially introduced by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels Bandera production company, Bennett and Hely found immediate common interests in modern-day socioeconomic problems and 90s-era action films. Those ideas bloomed into a dramatic thriller centering on Marshall Cuso (voiced by Dave King), a socially awkward researcher on the hunt in Peru for a rare blue mushroom rumored to have incredible restorative properties.

When Marshall travels to a pharmacology conference to confront Rick Kruger (voiced by Mike Judge), the CEO of Reutical Pharmaceutical, Inc., for the companys toxic runoff in Peru, theres an unexpected connection with his old high school friend, Frances Applewhite (voiced by Emily Pendergast), who is now Krugers assistant. When Marshall confides to Frances that hes made a huge discovery, both of their lives are put in immediate jeopardy.

Rendered in Bennetts signature visual style and written with Helys wit and character-forward intentionality, Common Side Effects is an adult animated series unlike anything out there right now, including its home network, Adult Swim.

To find out exactly how this show got greenlit and brought to life in exactly the way they intended, Cartoon Brew spoke with Bennett and Hely about bringing something so singular to life. Common Side Effects debuts this Sunday, February 2, at 11:30pm ET/PT on Adult Swim. New episodes air weekly.

Cartoon Brew: When you were brought together by Bandera, did it take a bit to find a commonality in the stories you were interested in telling?

Steve Hely: Right off the bat, we were thinking about the same kinds of stuff: mushrooms, South America, medicine, healthcare. Also, we were referencing the same movies, 90s action, The Fugitive and stuff. We were very quickly speaking the same language. Its been a long journey, as that was like 2019 or so. Its been fun along the way, and the project keeps growing and evolving in a way that feels very positive.

The show is an absorbing thriller which is not something you typically see greenlit for animated series. What was the initial reception from networks to your pitch?

Joe Bennett: I would say that has been such an uphill battle. Just working in the industry of adult animation, it was such a hard thing to try to get done. A lot of [responses] were like, Well, you should do this in live action. That only makes sense. From Steves world, its just the idea of really smart writing where things dont feel forced, or too on the nose. Theres not this heavy exposition. I feel like you havent really seen that too much in animation, or maybe really at all. Common Side Effects, actually, before it was at Adult Swim and Max, we sold it to Amazon. They bought the script, and then when we wrote it, their reaction to the script was like, This is not funny or interesting. And I was like, Well, hold on. It is funny. Its just that its a totally different kind of funny.

Hely: Scavengers Reign is obviously this fantastical world. But Joes done some stuff in animation thats very much taking place in our world and I thought that was a cool thing to explore. Theres plenty of Common Side Effects that could only be done in animation. Theres all these fantastical hallucinatory sequences. But to make something that you sort of forget is animated seemed like a cool challenge.

How did it eventually find its home at Adult Swim?

Hely: I think it was originally gonna be streaming on Max. But the Warner Bros. empire includes Adult Swim, and somehow it just fit for them. This isnt necessarily a typical Adult Swim show but they were excited to take something on thats a little different and weird. Its cool. I love Adult Swim shows, and Ive been watching them for a long time. Its exciting to be part of that legacy, and hopefully itll bring us to some fans who are into everything Adult Swim does, as well as people who are like, Theres this weird show that aspires to be prestige tv.

In developing the look of the series, I could see someone wanting to establish the blue mushroom hallucinatory elements of the story first, and others wanting to lock the ensemble cast of characters first. What was your path?

Bennett: It was a bit of an organic process. I talked to Steve about a lot of this stuff. Id think of a visual, and Steve would help with the description, or vice versa. I think theres a really nice organic fluidity there that has always worked really well. With this, we wanted to be careful. This is a totally made-up drug and plant, so we wanted to be careful about not doing something that felt too drug cliche, or that sort of thing. But a lot of this is, honestly, me pulling reference from people I see on the street, or characters that I see in a film thats inspiring.

A good example would be from day one, Steve and I have been talking about the [Marshall] character being based off a real guy, John Laroche in Adaptation. Hes this sort of strange, unhinged guy that is super smart. Hed represent himself in court. Hes kind of dirty, maybe a little smelly. But theres something really charming and interesting about that guy. It was just implementing a lot of that stuff into these characters. Again, working with a brilliant writer like Steve, this stuff kind of comes together very quickly.

And then Marshalls relationship with Frances develops into a thing that I dont even know where it was going to go. Its so fun to see these characters develop. Then when youre watching a later episode, Im hooked on these characters that are totally made up. Its refreshing.

The thriller aspects of the series are very much grounded in real world problems. How did you keep to that throughline?

Hely: Every person has felt the experience of going up against the system, whether youre trying to change your flight, or get your health insurance. Like, youre just battling this strange, not even a person, but this massive [concept].

Even Rick, the character Mike Judge plays, hes also caught up in the system. They have pressures on them, and theyre caught and trapped in ways that theyre trying to get out of. Theres not like an evil bad guy whos planning all this stuff. Its just a massive shifting, all consuming thing that were all caught up in.

We want these characters to be real, and to just think about them like, what would they really do? If the DEA were coming after you, what would really happen? Whats the actual procedure? So, we talked to a former DEA agent. We talked to people who worked in the pharmaceutical business. We talked to mycologists. We talked to legal experts. We talked to a tortoise expert. And thats how we try to create the story, and that leads to exciting stuff.

Bennett: I would just add that even though theres a ton of characters in this show, at the core of it, it started with Frances and Marshall. What do we want out of that? Things like betrayal and love, how is that going to be injected [into it]? Those are the things that came first, and then it sort of blossomed out into more characters and a bigger story. But at the core of it, its always come down to those guys.

The episodes are full of these quirks and oddities attached to the characters that make them memorable, like the car jams that DEA Agents Copano (voiced by Joseph Lee Anderson) and Harrington (voiced by Martha Kelly) break into. Or, the nerdisms of Frances boyfriend. Were those additions or scripted inclusions?

Hely: A lot of that was coming from the animation. Theres so much of that thats just nobody even saying a word. It just looks cool. Its Joes visual eye, or the timing of the animation. Everybody thats working on the show, the way these guys at their studio have this pipeline thats full of brilliant animators at every stage, so it just gets more and more interesting as its coming along.

With the actors, several times we would have more than one actor in the booth at the same time. We would record their little laughs, or the weird little chat that they would make before they even knew we were recording. Lets make it sound real and vivid, and the accidents will be as good as the stuff we scripted.

Who were the primary animation studios working on Common Side Effects?

Bennett: Green Street Pictures, which is out in Pasadena. Its a studio made by myself and three other partners. We work with a lot of international artists. We work with a partner studio in Argentina, Le Cube. Theyre amazing.

It was such a fun experience and a cool, hybrid setup. A lot of the people coming into this project worked on Scavengers, so it was nice. They kind of knew what they were getting into, but it felt almost like a new challenge. Our supervising director, Benjy Brooke, is a really amazing, smart guy. He was so good about really setting up the guardrails and us building out guides. A good example that is absolutely granular is that theres a whole part of our guidebook where we dont want characters to stand in classic poses. So its thinking about it more like, what are more naturalistic poses and postures that make sense? Or, thinking about the way a character talks and the cadence that theyre speaking in. Some people maybe dont say a line perfectly, that theres a little bit of mistakes sprinkled in there. We were really trying to embrace that as much as possible. Like Steve was saying, all across the board, feeling grounded. And if you have that, then when you have these big portal experiences, you could feel that contrast.

When it came to assigning artists to sequences, or different elements of the show like the blue mushroom sequences, or the action sequences, how did you go about that?

Bennett: With all of the people that youre working with, youre going to find out what their forte is, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. One person can be really good with designs and helping with creating the shapes for the portal world. But this person might actually be really good with animating how they bounce. Finding the blends and that sort of thing is really fun. I know Benjy and I really like to figure that stuff out together. You want to build the super team for each section. We were also very fortunate with these artists, who are so unbelievably talented, that they can switch a lot of the times and go from one role to another easily. And that was just so beneficial and so nice. My original sketches are always so rough and so hard to understand, and then they really get so nicely refined over time.

Joe, coming out of Scavengers into Common Side Effects, were there things you applied from that series to the making of this series?

Bennett: It was quite different from Scavengers. Just visually, its a pretty different looking show. I think that a big part of it was that we just wanted to make this show look like we werent taking any shortcuts, and we werent trying to just do the cheap and easy way. Its a lot of work, and its a lot of drawing. Hopefully, it pays off and people appreciate that. Were entering a world where AI, and all these things can make the most polished, craziest looking stuff. Its making me, day-by-day, want to embrace the more hands-on, craft feel.

How have you been pitching your non-animation watching friends to give this show a chance?

Hely: Were trying to make a show like Succession or Breaking Bad. I dont put it in the box of cartoons, or animation. This is a cool, interesting, unfolding drama/ thriller/comedy. Its unique and special, unlike anything else. The quality of what Joe and the team put together is so awesome, and people will like it.

Bennett: As Guillermo del Toro would say, animation is not a genre. Its a medium.
Thomas Renoldners Stampfer Dreams, which premiered at the 2024 Ottawa International Animation Festival, is a hypnotic and visually captivating 12-minute tribute to 19th-century animation pioneer, Simon von Stampfer. The Austrian scientist, in 1833, introduced the invention of stroboscopic optical magic discs, precursor to the zoetrope, where slots in a rotating viewer created the illusion of movement in hand-rendered keyframe images.

By combining sequences from Stampfers original discs, Renoldner crafts a mind-bending narrative that alternates between biography and abstract imagery. More than just a tribute to Stampfer, the film celebrates the intersections of technology, art, and animation.

Stampfer Dreams offers a contemporary perspective on the legacy of early optical devices while engaging with both historical and experimental aspects of film. According to Renoldner, the work navigates the boundaries between genres and categories in film art, which he finds overly restrictive.

Cartoon Brew spoke with Renoldner about the process behind his work, from preserving historical materials to his technical and artistic choices.

Who was Simon von Stampfer?

Understanding Stampfer Dreams begins with Simon von Stampfer and his stroboscopic discs, an invention that predates cinema by several decades. As Renoldner explains, Simon von Stampfer (17901864) was a scientist with expertise in multiple disciplines, including mathematics, practical geometry, and astronomy. He invented several devices for these fields and, like [mathematician] Joseph Plateau, [he] studied [physicist] Michael Faradays experiments on optical illusion phenomena.

Faradays studies on stroboscopic motion illusions, observed while examining rotating cogwheels on industrial machines, paved the way for Stampfers innovations. Faraday constructed a gear mechanism with two gears mounted on the same axle, allowing them to rotate in different directions and at varying speeds. When looking through the slots of the front wheel at the second wheel, Renoldner explained, it appears as if [the wheel] is standing still when both wheels move at the same speed, or when the two wheels move at slightly different speeds, it appears to move slowly.

He added, Both Stampfer and Plateau were familiar with Faradays 1831 publication on these discoveries. Both independently conceived the idea of adding moving images to Faradays construction, which led to the separate invention of the phenakistoscope. This device became one of the earliest steps in the evolution of cinema.

Resonance with Contemporary Animation

In the context of contemporary animation, Stampfer Dreams engages with current debates surrounding technology. Renoldner noted a division between two distinct groups: The haters of AI and the lovers of vintage  if I can call it that ironically. My film, with its reference to honest handmade art, might seem like a statement against AI. But since digital animation tools allow us to show Stampfers animations in perfect quality and at precisely controllable frame rates without losing the original visual integrity, I would say Stampfer Dreams is a perfect example of how modern technology can preserve historical sources while still moving forward. So, it can be seen as a statement of openness to both high-tech and old-school.

Renoldner is enthusiastic about how Stampfers work intersects with contemporary animation practices: The animations on Stampfers discs from 1833 are proof of [historian] Giannalberto Bendazzis statement that animation can cover a wide range of genres, from abstract to figurative and from narrative to experimental. What Stampfer created were endless short films, which today can be seen as forerunners of the ultra-short animations we now recognize as GIFs.

Renoldner also observed a renewed interest in the phenakistoscope among contemporary artists. The phenakistoscope seems to have had a kind of renaissance in art contexts, with artists using variations of it in installations, he said. Its fascinating to see how such an early optical device continues to inspire new work.

Reconstructing the Discs

To reconstruct the stroboscopic discs for Stampfer Dreams, Renoldner and his team accessed the entire collection of Stampfers discs at Kremsmunster Abbey, in Austria. They are kept by Gerhard Father Amand Kraml, the curator of the Natural History Museum, who gave us photographs of the original discs, he said. My main animators, Reinhold Bidner and Eni Brandner, used Photoshop and After Effects to isolate Stampfers animations from the background and to rearrange and combine them with background drawings by Linda Wolfsgruber and Christoph Rodler, following my storyboard for the narrative parts and my sample animations for the experimental sections.

The technical process was a collaborative effort that included composer Christof Dienz, who had previously composed music for German television and short films. Renoldner explained: The communicative process between me, my animators, and Christof was quite complex. We first offered Christof a rough version of the film, then received a digital sound version of the composition. Christof suggested stretching the composition for the third dream in the circus scene. I asked for a few revisions to the music, and after it was recorded with the musicians, we adapted the final version of the animation to the completed music mix.

Finding a Story

With the original discs featuring a range of 23 diverse animations, Renoldner spent significant time figuring out how to create a cohesive story from the animated loops. Finding a story or structural concept was one of the most time-consuming parts of the four-year process, Renoldner says. His concept was to create what he calls a pre-cinema found footage film, using only the sequences from Stampfers discs and combining them with appropriate backgrounds.

Early on, Renoldner settled on the theme of early industrialization, as he explains: Some of the most fascinating Stampfer discs feature rotating wheels and gears, some of them combined with rhythmically bouncing hammers. Together, they symbolize the historical context of the industrial revolution. This theme was not only an aesthetic choice but also a reflection of the historical period in which Stampfers innovations emerged.

Renoldners research included studies on the industrial revolution, child labor, and industrial facilities in the Vienna area: I visited a revitalized hammer forge from the early 18th century powered by water wheels. It became clear to me that the rotating axle driven by a water wheel represented a fundamental mechanical principle that would later serve as a basic element for larger industrial plants.

Renoldner also drew from Stampfers biography as a starting point for the films narrative: I wanted to show the Alpine region of Stampfers youth at the beginning of the film, where he experiences a dream about future technological advancements. This dream, inspired by the power of a rotating wheel he sees in a farmers mill, sets the stage for the rest of the film. I used Stampfers naturalistic animations to create a narrative framework and the abstract and semi-abstract animations to depict Simons visions of the future as surreal dreams.

Fusing Narrative and Non-Narrative

Stampfer Dreams is an unconventional blend of narrative and non-narrative elements, as well as historical and experimental approaches. Renoldner said: Its one of my main interests as an artist to question the dominant standards and cliches within different genres of film. Ive been a curator and animation teacher for about 40 years, and Ive seen a lot of repetitive ideas. With my work, I try to contradict the narrow-mindedness of certain genres and to build a bridge between animation and avant-garde film.

Renoldners blending of genres is evident in Stampfer Dreams: I confront the audience with a narrative structure and visual setting reminiscent of a movie for children, while the dream sequences follow avant-garde film strategies and contradict the expectations towards a classical narrative film.

While Stampfer Dreams could be seen as educational  introducing historical devices to a wider audience  Renoldner insisted it is more than that: Its the first time Ive used historical material in my work, but I felt it was necessary to give a voice to these important devices that led to the invention of cinema.

Preserving the Discs

Preserving the physical integrity of the original stroboscopic discs was of utmost importance to Renoldner and his team. He explains: Our aim was to preserve the original quality of these beautiful hand-colored lithographs. We cleaned up the images slightly, removing dirt and minor damage, and refreshed the colors to ensure they appeared vibrant on screen. But we didnt want to lose the authenticity of the original material.

By blending historical material with modern technology, Renoldner doesnt just pay tribute to the past; he pushes the boundaries of both animation and experimental film. Stampfer Dreams celebrates the groundbreaking work of early optical inventors while reimagining how animation can continue to surprise and inspire.

The 12-minute film Stamper Dreams is currently screening on the animation festival circuit. An accompanying book by the same name, that includes an augmented reality component allowing the original optical magic discs to be viewed in motion, has also been published.
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Domestic dispatches in Peru edged up by 0.1 per cent YoY to 0.967Mt in December 2024, according to the country's cement association, ASOCEM. Of this total, 0.897Mt were supplied by the association's members.

Cement production in Peru slipped by one per cent to 0.916Mt in December 2024 when compared with December 2023 while clinker production was down 30 per cent YoY to 0.657Mt.

Cement exports increased by 70 per cent YoY to 12,900t, but the association reported that there were no clinker exports.

Cement imports advanced by 22 per cent YoY to 3000t with all shipments entering Peru from Chile via the Tacna terminal. The average CIF import price was reported as US$127/t, up 19 per cent YoY.

Meanwhile, clinker imports surged 376 per cent to 209,000t. Of this total, 44 per cent was attributed to cement producers from South Korea, 24 per cent from Japan, 19 per cent from Ecuador and 13 per cent from Turkiye. The average CIF import price fell by 19 per cent YoY to US$54/t, imported via the port of Callao, while at the ports of Matarani and Pisco, average CIF import prices were US$111/t (up 87 per cent YoY) and US$48/t (down 19 per cent YoY), respectively.

January-December 2024

For the full-year 2024 cement dispatches in Peru remained stable at 11.993Mt. Of this total, ASOCEM members saw a three per cent decline in domestic sales to 10.917Mt from 11.2Mt in 2023.

Cement production in 2024 saw a similar contraction, by three per cent, to 11.066Mt from 11.404Mt in 2023.

In terms of external trade, domestic cement producers exported 131,000t of cement, down eight per cent YoY from 143,000t in 2023, while clinker exports fell by a quarter to 503,000t from 669,000t in 2023.

Cement imports increased by 29 per cent YoY to 272,000t when compared with 2023, when 211,000t of cement were imported. Clinker imports saw a 42 per cent surge to 957,000t in 2024 from 673,000t in the previous year.
A Criminal Court jury on Thursday afternoon found D'vante Jones guilty of second-degree murder in a slaying that was caught on video in front of the local Amazon facility.

The state had sought a first-degree murder conviction in the case in which 19-year-old Javonte Moon was killed in the early morning of Aug. 9, 2023.

Prosecutor Paul Moyle had told the jury that it was a premeditated case. He said Jones left the plant after a run-in with Moon, went home to get a gun, then returned and waited an hour and a half until Moon came out the front door.

He said Jones appeared to celebrate like a victorious athlete after firing a fatal shot into the face of the victim. Austin Schofield also prosecuted the case.

The defendant was represented by Alex Shoaf and Mike Little of the Public Defender's Office.

Sentencing is April 11.

If convicted as charged, Jones would not have been eligible for parole consideration until after serving 51 years.

An expert witness called by the defense in the Amazon shooting case had testified that Jones suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The licensed clinical psychologist said it related to a disturbing incident that he faced when he was 13.

The Criminal Court jury also heard from a female Amazon worker who was mentioned earlier in the case as an interest of both Jones and the victim.

The female said she was present on the Amazon parking lot during a work break around 1:50 a.m. on the day of the shooting when there was a confrontation between Jones and Moon.

She said Moon was making threats against Jones, but she felt he was "bluffing." She said Moon did not display any type of weapon or engage in any physical attack.

The female said she started work at Amazon on July 16 and met Jones the next day. She said they had only been together away from work on one occasion and she was still getting to know him.

The witness said Moon was "persistent" in approaching her at work.

The jury on Tuesday got several views of the fatal shooting just outside the front doors of the Amazon Fulfillment Center on Discovery Drive.

Jones, who was 20 at the time of the Aug. 9, 2023, close range shooting, is standing trial in the courtroom of Judge Amanda Dunn for murder.

The video shows Jones walk up to a pair on a bench, greet them, then head for Moon just after he had walked out. He walked directly toward him, then shot him in the face. Moon later died.

Jones afterward told detective Jason Gunn that he had waited an hour and a half for the encounter with his workmate.

Jones, who had only been at Amazon for a month, said he got along with Moon the first two weeks and was sometimes dropped off at his house by him. However, he said Moon started agitating him, including trying to flirt with Kayla, a female that Jones was interested in.

He said Moon "kept trying to talk to her to make me mad. She was telling me I don't have anything to worry about."

In the interview, Jones said Moon persistently "kept trying to get under my skin," including when they were walking down stairs near one another near the time of the shooting.

Jones said Moon on that occasion "said he was going to kill me" and told him he wanted to fight him.

Jones told the detective, "I pretty much got fed up. I went home and got my five (gun)."

He said he returned to the plant and waited an hour and a half for Moon to come outside. He told of then walking up to him and "shooting him in the face."

Jones told the detective where to find the gun (in a juniper bush by the Amazon parking lot). He said he bought the Springfield 45-caliber at a pawn shop.

A single 45-caliber shell casing was found at the scene along with a puddle of blood. A 45-caliber projectile was removed from the victim during the autopsy.

Greg Mardis, who was nearing retirement at the time with the crime scene unit, told of finally locating the gun in a line of junipers. He said it still had one bullet in the chamber and three in the magazine.

A Lyft driver told of picking up Jones from the plant in the early morning. He said Jones was mainly quiet on the ride. He said he had driven away from the house when he got a "ping" and found that Jones wanted to come back to his house for a return ride.

The witness said Jones was more excitable and talkative at this time, and he indicated he had a gun on him. The driver said he learned that "there was some sort of conflict and the other guy said he would kill him."

He said Jones stated that he got the gun "for his protection."

The driver said he learned on the news about an hour later that there had been a shooting at Amazon and the victim was not expected to live. He said he immediately called police.

He said, "I assumed my car was on camera, and I didn't want police all over town coming after me."


Pinnacle Financial Partners has expanded its presence in Chattanooga with the addition of two new associates to its full-service office on Broad Street. Chanel Santiesteban and Fernando Santiesteban each bring decades of industry experience to the firm.The additions of Chanel and Fernando to our team exemplify Pinnacles commitment to attracting the best in the business, said Michael Mathis, Chattanooga president. Both have already made an impact in their roles, bringing dynamic skills and experience to our Chattanooga clients and community.Their dedication to providing personalized service and innovative solutions reinforces Pinnacles presence in Southeast Tennessee.Ms. Santiesteban serves as a financial advisor with a strong focus in wealth planning. She has 30 years of experience and joins the firm from Regions Bank, where she served as vice president and wealth advisor in the private wealth management division. She also served in various roles at Washington Mutual Bank and Bank of America. She has served as an advisor for several bank initiatives and was named top wealth advisor at Regions in both 2022 and 2023. She attended Miami Dade College.Mr. Santiesteban also serves as a financial advisor, bringing 32 years of experience to the firm. He joins Pinnacle after serving at Regions Bank, where he was senior vice president of commercial banking. While at Regions, he received multiple Chairmans Club awards along with numerous Top Performer awards. He also has experience at Bank of America, where he started his career in 1992 and held multiple roles before specializing in wealth management and commercial banking. Fernando attended Miami Dade College and is RMA Credit Risk-certified.
Chase Hamilton Place is at 2120 Gunbarrel Road Chase Northshore is at 306 Cherokee Blvd. Inside a new Chase branch location Previous Next

Chase bank is officially present across all of Tennessees major markets with the opening of its first Chattanooga retail branches.

The grand opening of Chases new branches at Hamilton Place (2120 Gunbarrel Road) and Northshore (306 Cherokee Blvd.) on Thursday bring the banks Tennessee retail footprint to about 30 branches and makes it official: Chase now has a statewide retail presence across all of Tennessees major markets.

The grand opening of our first Chattanooga branches has been more than a decade in the making, said Mark Cassara, market director for Chase Banking in Chattanooga. We are here to serve all of Tennessee and are committed to helping more people make the most of their money and build a strong financial foundation, so they can reach their financial goals and dreams.

JPMorganChase has had commercial banking offices in Chattanooga since 2012. Chase opened its first Chase branch in Tennessee five years ago in Nashville.

Our new branches will allow us to be there for our customers and help meet their needs face-to-face during lifes biggest moments, like buying a car, a home, planning for kids education or planning for retirement, said Viktor Kogan, Chases Northshore branch manager.

Chase is the first and only national bank to have branches in all lower 48 states. Every day, approximately 900,000 people walk into a Chase branch to cash a check, make a deposit or speak to an expert about a financial decision that could impact their lives.

With Chase opening its first branches in Chattanooga, were not only investing in the financial health of our residents  were committed to the health and vitality of the entire community, said Larry Murphy, Chases Hamilton Place branch manager. Our doors are open and we look forward to helping more Chattanoogans make the most of their money.

To celebrate Chase opening its doors to the community, on Thursday, the bank announced its $10,000 investment in Feeding the Future, a Chattanooga-based non-profit that provides meals for children facing food insecurity.

One in six kids across the state of Tennessee doesnt know where their next meal is coming from. Feeding the Future is doing amazing things to let no child go hungry, said Brandon Abney, executive director of Commercial Banking at JPMorganChase. Our new branch presence brings the full breadth of JPMorganChases resources to Chattanooga  including our commitment to the underserved residents that make up our city.

Several of Chattanoogas topic business leaders attended Chases grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremonies, including representatives from the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, LAUNCH Chattanooga and Feeding the Future.


Karen Anne Hopper Liner passed away on January 27, 2025.

On Nov. 8, 1973, David and Margaret Hopper became the proud parents of Karen Anne. In a couple year's time, their son Andrew arrived, giving Karen not only a brother, but her first best friend. From the beginning, Karen was independent, strong-willed, tenacious and never changed. These characteristics made her a force for good, and she used these attributes, determined to make the world a better place.

Musically gifted, Karen played clarinet in the band, and owned the stage in show choir while attending Bradley County High School. Graduating with honors in 1992, Karen continued her education at Lee University, receiving her degree in 1995. Pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse, Karen continued on to nursing school at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga where she graduated in 1998.

Karen loved being a nurse in the antepartum unit at Bradley Memorial where she tended to the newborn babies and helped new moms learn the ropes. This job prepared her for her next big career change. In 2003, she herself became a new mother to her son, Asher Braden. It was love at first sight. Asher was promoted to the status of big brother in 2010 as Karen brought her daughter Ariana Rose into the world. For the second time, she found love at first sight. Karen, a dedicated mother, made her children the center of her world.

As her children grew, her need to help others never left her. In 2020, Karen studied and passed her Tennessee real estate license with top marks. Smart and dedicated, Karen became a star realtor at Bender Realty where she thrived, finding people their dream home.

Karens generosity, kindness, and loyalty drew people to her, giving her a broad range of friends which enriched her life. Karens giving heart led her to work with many charitable organizations like Women United and Rotary International.

With a legacy of love, cherishing her memory are her parents, David and Margaret Hopper, son Asher Liner, daughter Ariana Liner, brother Andrew (Sydney) Hopper, niece Elin Hopper, uncles and aunts Larry (Becky) Hopper, Phil (Diana) Day, and Carol Gowers, many cousins, special friends Randy Baxter, Emily Brown, Sarah Evors, Jeani Featherngill, Adam (Jennifer) Hammond, Deanna Hitch, and Jennifer Martin.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests you honor Karen by donating to the United Way and the Cleveland Rotary Foundation, two charities she held dear.

Karen's family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 3, at the "Ridge Chapel" of Companion Funeral & Cremation Service located at 2412 Georgetown Road NW, Cleveland, Tn. 37311. A celebration of Karen's life will follow the visitation at 7 p.m.

You are invited to share a personal memory of Karen or your condolences with her family at her online memorial located at www.companionfunerals.com. Companion Funeral & Cremation Service and the Cody family are honored to assist the Liner family with these arrangements.
Funeral services for a Cleveland realtor who police say was killed by her ex-husband will be Monday.

The family of Karen Hopper Liner will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. at the "Ridge Chapel" of Companion Funeral & Cremation Service, 2412 Georgetown Road NW, Cleveland.

A celebration of life will follow the visitation at 7 p.m.

Ms. Liner was found dead at her home in a new Cleveland subdivision last Monday morning. Craig Lliner is facing a murder charge. The couple's divorce was finalized last September.

The family said in her obituary:

On Nov. 8, 1973, David and Margaret Hopper became the proud parents of Karen Anne. In a couple year's time, their son Andrew arrived, giving Karen not only a brother, but her first best friend. From the beginning, Karen was independent, strong-willed, tenacious and never changed. These characteristics made her a force for good, and she used these attributes, determined to make the world a better place.

Musically gifted, Karen played clarinet in the band, and owned the stage in show choir while attending Bradley County High School. Graduating with honors in 1992, Karen continued her education at Lee University, receiving her degree in 1995. Pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse, Karen continued on to nursing school at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga where she graduated in 1998.

Karen loved being a nurse in the antepartum unit at Bradley Memorial where she tended to the newborn babies and helped new moms learn the ropes. This job prepared her for her next big career change. In 2003, she herself became a new mother to her son, Asher Braden. It was love at first sight. Asher was promoted to the status of big brother in 2010 as Karen brought her daughter Ariana Rose into the world. For the second time, she found love at first sight. Karen, a dedicated mother, made her children the center of her world.

As her children grew, her need to help others never left her. In 2020, Karen studied and passed her Tennessee real estate license with top marks. Smart and dedicated, Karen became a star realtor at Bender Realty where she thrived, finding people their dream home.

Karens generosity, kindness, and loyalty drew people to her, giving her a broad range of friends which enriched her life. Karens giving heart led her to work with many charitable organizations like Women United and Rotary International.

With a legacy of love, cherishing her memory are her parents, David and Margaret Hopper, son Asher Liner, daughter Ariana Liner, brother Andrew (Sydney) Hopper, niece Elin Hopper, uncles and aunts Larry (Becky) Hopper, Phil (Diana) Day, and Carol Gowers, many cousins, special friends Randy Baxter, Emily Brown, Sarah Evors, Jeani Featherngill, Adam (Jennifer) Hammond, Deanna Hitch, and Jennifer Martin.
A Criminal Court judge on Friday ordered a Hixson man held without bond after hearing tape recordings in which he threatened a prosecutor.

Seth Austin Cordell was recorded in a jail phone call as telling his fiancee concerning child sex prosecutor Stephani Brown, "I'm going to burn that f------ b----. I hate that f------ b----. I hope she's listening. I'm going to burn her a--."

He also said of certain people involved in his case, "If I get time, I'm going to f--- some people up."

A detective handling Cordell's child sex abuse case said he recently listened to recordings of Cordell phone calls from the jail. Two of the recordings were played in court.

Judge Barry Steelman said he ordered the revocation of Cordell's bond and the no bond after hearing the "threats" he made.

Cordell said he was just "blowing off steam." He said his anger was fueled when his lawyer, Clancy Covert, at an earlier hearing when handcuffs were being placed on him (Cordell), told him, "We're going to burn their a--es in court."

Cordell, who has his own electrical firm, said he should not have made the statements against prosecutor Brown, and he apologized to her.

After being indicted on the child sex abuse charges, Cordell was arrested after saying he was going to "pull a drive-by" at a downtown Chattanooga bar. Police said Cordell had been trespassed from the Leapin' Leprechaun and, when an employee again told him to leave, he began arguing.

Employees said he left, but returned. Employees said he then reached for a gun and yelled, "I'm gonna pull a drive-by on all of you."

Cordell had been on probation on that case. Prior to the order of no bond by Judge Steelman, handcuffs were placed on Cordell after General Sessions Court Gary Starnes revoked his bond in the bar case.
A report from the Tennessee District Attorneys Conference says there were 2,719 cases in the state of illegal immigrants committing crimes in the period September-December 2024. There were 22 of the 95 counties who did not submit data.

The Laken Riley Act that was signed into law this week mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury.

Hamilton County was sixth in the state in the number of illegal immigrants committing crimes with 114.

Others were Davidson 796, Knox 242, Sumner 212, Rutherford 189 and Maury 153.

Of the 2,719 individuals, there were 3,854 total charges. Of these, 447 were violent offenses.

There were 11 homicides (including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and vehicular homicide). There were three first-degree murder charges, one second-degree murder and seven vehicular homicide.

DUI cases numbered 654, followed by driving without a license 549 and traffic offenses 533. There were 154 domestic assault cases.

The charges include three rape of a child, six aggravated rape, two continuous sexual abuse of a child, two aggravated child abuse under age eight, three aggravated kidnapping, one especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, nine statutory rape, two aggravated sexual battery of a minor, aggravated sexual battery, six aggravated robbery, one carjacking, 27 aggravated domestic assault, 80 aggravated assault, 21 child abuse and neglect, among other charges.

The cases included 892 from Mexico, 564 from Guatemala, 332 from Honduras, 130 from Venezuela, 182 country not reported, 86 El Salvador, 37 Cuba, 37 Nicaragua, 25 Jamaica and 16 Romania.
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The Defenders of Country and Culture Obituary Policy waives the newspapers obituary fee for deceased Cherokee Nation citizens who served in the United States military or received the distinction of Cherokee National Treasure. The Editorial Board of the Cherokee Phoenix unanimously passed the new policy during the boards January meeting.
Home News Conservatives more optimistic about free speech after Trump win: poll

Conservatives have become much more optimistic about the state of free speech in the United States after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, while liberals have become more pessimistic, a new poll shows.

A January 2025 National Speech Index, published Thursday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, surveyed 1,000 Americans about their views on the state of free speech and the First Amendment in the U.S. Conducted from Jan. 3-9, the data has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.

"Unsurprisingly, the sudden shift suggests that for many [Americans,] their feelings about the future of free speech depend in large part on whether they trust whomever occupies the White House," FIRE Research Fellow and Manager of Polling and Analytics Nathan Honeycutt said in a statement.

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"Of course, we at FIRE have long recognized that no party has a monopoly on censorship.

The fifth survey of its kind conducted on a quarterly basis since January 2024 shows that a majority of Americans who identify as conservative (52%) and slightly less than half of Americans who consider themselves very conservative (49%) believe that things are heading in the "RIGHT direction" when it comes to people being able to freely express their views. This constituted an all-time high in the survey's history.

In January 2024, 20% of conservative Americans and 18% of very conservative Americans thought the state of free speech was heading in the "RIGHT direction." Those numbers barely budged in April 2024, measured at 23% among conservatives and 19% among the very conservative.

While the share of conservatives confident about the state of free speech in the U.S. dropped to a record low of 16% in July 2024, the percentage of very conservative Americans who felt the same way increased slightly to 20%. In October 2024, 18% of conservative voters and 30% of very conservative voters expressed optimism about the state of free speech.

By contrast, only 34% of Americans who characterize themselves as "liberal" and 32% who believe they are "very liberal" felt positively about the state of free speech in January 2025, two months after Trump, a Republican, was elected to replace outgoing Democrat President Joe Biden.

This marked a sharp decline from 49% of liberals and 46% of very liberal Americans who expressed the same level of confidence in the state of free speech in the U.S. in October 2024.

In July 2024, the difference between the two groups was larger, with 45% of liberal Americans and about one-third (31%) of those who call themselves "very liberal" thinking free speech was heading in the "RIGHT direction."

Three months earlier, a majority of liberal Americans (54%) thought free speech in the U.S. was on a positive trajectory as did 45% of the "very liberal." During the first installment of the Free Speech Index in January 2024, 32% of liberals and 46% of "very liberal" Americans held the same view.

In addition to measuring Americans' thoughts about the overall state of free speech, the survey asked respondents whether they viewed a series of statements as provocative or offensive.

The statement viewed as "very" or "extremely" offensive by the highest percentage of Americans (80%) was the belief that "America got what it deserved on 9/11," referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed thousands of people.

Other declarations seen as "very" or "extremely" offensive by a majority of Americans include the assertions that "children should be able to transition without parental consent" (59%) and that "the police are just as racist as the Ku Klux Klan" (51%). Meanwhile, less than half of respondents thought the ideas that "Black Lives Matter is a hate group" (45%) and "the Catholic Church is a pedophilic institution" (42%) were "very" or "extremely" offensive.

Forty percent of Americans believed that saying trans-identified people have a "mental disorder" (40%) was "very" or "extremely" offensive while 39% had the same view about the belief that "abortion should be completely illegal." Less than one-third of respondents (32%) considered the opinion that "illegal immigrants should be arrested and deported" was "very" or "extremely" offensive.
Home News David Daleiden orders Calif. attorney general to retract statement claiming hes a 'felon'

David Daleiden has demanded that California Attorney General Rob Bonta retract a government press release that claims the pro-life activist is a convicted felon.

Daleiden and fellow pro-life activist Sandra Merritt recently reached a plea agreement with the state attorney general in which a host of charges against them over their undercover filming of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers were dropped.

On Tuesday, Bonta released a statement claiming that he had secured the felony conviction of David Robert Daleiden, along with co-conspirator Sandra Merritt, for criminally recording confidential communications with womens healthcare providers.

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Yesterday, they each pleaded no contest to, and were found guilty of, one felony count of California Penal Code Section 632(a) (unlawful recording of confidential communication), stated the press release.

Daleiden denied the claim that he was a convicted felon, announcing on his X account Wednesday that he was issuing a Demand for Retraction and Correction to the California AG's Office for the false statements in their press release yesterday and unsigned press statements this morning, which directly contradict the Court's rulings on Monday.

The pro-life activist also posted a screenshot from a transcript of the legal proceedings, in which the court is quoted as saying that the plea at this point will be entered but it will not be accepted as a felony.

The judge explicitly stated on the record yesterday that we would ONLY be convicted and found guilty if we break the agreement, Daleiden added.

In 2015, Daleidens group, the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal sale of aborted babies' body parts.

Daleiden and Merritt also secretly recorded conversations that took place at conferences hosted by the National Abortion Federation in 2014 and 2015, with NAF suing them in response.

In one of the undercover videos filmed at a Planned Parenthood workshop in Michigan in 2014, an abortion provider argued against helping young victims of rape and sexual assault. She asserted that because clinic workers are not state employees, they should not be required to report suspected cases of child abuse to authorities.

Both organizations and many pro-choice activists have argued that the videos were deceptively edited. However, CMS also released hours of unedited video from each encounter with abortion providers and their speeches at conferences.

Multiple state-level investigations that followed failed to bring criminal charges against the abortion providers.

Daleiden and Merritt weathered years of legal battles over their undercover investigation, facing several charges, including illegal recordings of private events and falsification of IDs as part of their cover.

In October 2022, for example, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit released a unanimous decision against the pro-life activists that required them to pay a $2.4 million judgment to Planned Parenthood.

Circuit Judge Ronald M. Gould authored the panel opinion, rejecting the arguments of the pro-life activists that their actions were protected by the First Amendment and journalistic practices.

In 2020, Daleiden filed a complaint against then U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and others, alleging that Harris wrongfully investigated him while she was California attorney general.

Daleiden became the first journalist ever to be criminally prosecuted under Californias recording law  because his investigation revealed and he published shock[ing] content that Californias Attorney General and the private party coconspirators wanted to cover up, stated the lawsuit.

Defendants seek their pound of flesh from Mr. Daleiden and to chill other journalists from investigating and reporting on that same content.
Home News Father of pilot killed in DC plane crash says his son was a Christian: Hes right with Jesus

The father of Sam Lilley, a pilot killed in the Washington, D.C., crash involving an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter, says his son was a devout Christian, declaring he is right with Jesus.

The father said he's taking solace in his sons Christian faith while mourning the tragic loss.

The day after Wednesday nights fatal collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Tim Lilley told News Nation he drew comfort from his sons Christian faith. He referred to First Officer Lilley as someone who was right with Jesus.

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Sams right with Jesus, and I know where hes going, he told News Nation host Chris Cuomo. We just need time. My family  and time. Lots of prayers.

Sam was engaged to be married soon, according to his family.

His father described him as a kind man who helped others and was in a happy place.

I was so proud when Sam became a pilot. Now it hurts so bad I cant even cry myself to sleep, Tim Lilley wrote on Facebook. I know Ill see him again, but my heart is breaking. He was doing great in his career and his personal life. He was engaged to get married in the fall. It is so devastating to lose someone that is loved so much.

Authorities reported that the American Airlines regional jet, operated by PSA Airlines, collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in icy conditions over the Potomac River. Emergency teams have recovered multiple bodies and do not expect to find survivors among the 64 people who were on the jet and three on the helicopter.

Before beginning his aviation career, Sam Lilley studied marketing but switched to flying after a short time in the workforce. Sam eventually joined PSA Airlines, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sam graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2018. The university released a statement calling him an outstanding alumnus who soared in his career.

Tim Lilley told Cuomo he learned of the disaster by watching news reports of a crash in the D.C. area. Initially, he didn't think it involved his son, though he was aware Sam was on a trip that might pass through Ronald Reagan National Airport.

He contacted Sams fiancee, who confirmed that Sams route included a flight to Washington. At that point, Tim Lilley said he realized his son had been on board and was unaccounted for.

Tim Lilley is a former Army helicopter pilot who served in the 1990s, flying routes that included the same corridor where the crash occurred.

Officials describe the accident as the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years and say a move from rescue to recovery operations began Thursday morning.
Home News Hospitals suspend sex-change surgeries, puberty blockers for kids after Trump's order

Hospitals in Virginia, Colorado and Washington, D.C., suspended body-altering interventions for minors confused about their sex in response to President Donald Trump's executive order that seeks to ban federal funding for the "chemical and surgical mutilation" of children.

Denver Health in Colorado and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health and the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU are just a few hospitals in the nation that have announced a suspension of so-called "gender-affirming care."

The Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., also announced a pause in the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone-suppressing drugs for trans-identified youth patients. The hospital said it already did not perform sex-change surgeries on minors.

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Trump issued an executive order Tuesday titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," calling for the removal of federal funding from medical schools and hospitals that condone life-altering, experimental treatments for gender dysphoric children.

The word "children" in the order refers to individuals under 19 years of age. In addition to ending federal funding of so-called "gender-affirming care," the order instructed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to publish a review of the existing literature on "best practices" for helping children experiencing gender dysphoria or confusion about their identity.

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, a spokeswoman for VCU directed the outlet to a statement on the webpage for the children's hospital.

"VCU Health and Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU have suspended gender-affirming medication and gender-affirming surgical procedures for those under 19 years old in response to clear guidance from the state provided to VCU," the statement reads. "We are committed to ensuring that we're always delivering care in accordance with the law."

"Appointments will be maintained to discuss specific care options for patients in compliance with the most recent guidance," the announcement continued.

Denver Health announced in a Thursday statement that it suspended sex-change surgeries for children under the age of 19 while it seeks to understand how to comply with Trump's executive order.

Denver Health did not say whether it plans to pause offering hormone-suppressing drugs to teens, as 9NEWS reports.

"The executive order includes criminal and financial consequences for those who do not comply, including placing participation in federal programs including Medicare, Medicaid and other programs administered by HHS at risk," the hospital's statement reads.

Denver Health did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

Under the order, the HHS secretary must take all "appropriate actions" that are consistent with the law "to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children." Under the order, some coverage of mutilating interventions for minors will be excluded from Medicaid and Medicare.

"These programs represent a significant portion of Denver Health's funding, and the executive order specifically states that should we not comply, our participation in these programs is at risk," Denver Health said about its practices for treating gender dysphoric minors. "The loss of this funding would critically impair our ability to provide care for the Denver community."

"Denver Health is proud to be one of a very small number of providers of comprehensive care services to all of our patients including to LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse patients," the hospital added. "As we navigate the order's requirements, we will continue to provide primary and behavioral health care to all impacted youth and will work to maintain the level of trust we have built with the LGBTQ+ community."

The hospital encourages patients to proceed with scheduled primary care and behavioral health care visits and to discuss potential changes to their treatment plans with their doctors.

The order comes as some foreign and state governments have reexamined approaches amid exponential increases in children who suffer from gender dysphoria seeking medical help.

In the United States, over two dozen states have enacted policies restricting genital-mutilating surgeries or hormone interventions for minors who suffer from gender dysphoria.

In 2024, the United Kingdom's National Health Service released the Cass Review laying out recommendations from the NHS England Policy Working Group regarding practices medical professionals should follow when assisting youth exhibiting gender dysphoria.

The review was chaired by Dr. Hilary Cass, the retired former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. Following the report, the NHS indefinitely banned the use of puberty-blocking drugs on children who struggle with gender dysphoria except for in clinical trials.

Cass' report found studies claiming that puberty-blockers help improve the well-being of children suffering from gender dysphoria are of "poor" quality. The review also recommended "extreme caution" for prescribing irreversible cross-sex hormones to minors.

"The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress," Cass wrote in the report's introduction.
Home News Judge sides with Arizona school board after member was urged to stop quoting Bible at meetings

An Arizona school board didn't violate federal law by warning a member not to quote from the Bible during public meetings, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi for the District of Arizona, a Trump appointee, ruled last week that board member Heather Rooks didn't have standing to sue Peoria Unified School District after she was advised to stop quoting the Bible during board meetings.

Liburdi concluded that emailed instructions from the board to not quote Scripture during the meetings constituted "legal advice" from its attorney rather than unlawful censorship of speech.

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"Based on the content of the emails, it appears PUSD is correct: the emails are legal advice designed to explicitly warn board members about potential legal liability from third parties," wrote the judge.

"Nowhere in the emails does it say the Board will refer board members to the Arizona Attorney General for reciting Bible verses. Nor does it say the Board President will cut a board member's microphone at the mention of scripture."

The ruling warned that "if the Court were to construe the type of advice provided in the emails as a threat, as Rooks suggests, it would risk chilling an entirely different type of speech  conversations between attorneys and their clients."

Erin Smith, associate counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is representing Rooks, said in a statement that the school board has "backtracked" and will "allow her to say Bible verses going forward."

"Heather plans to resume saying the Bible verses at the next board meeting, and appeal the district courts ruling to ensure her speech remains protected," Smith said in a statement Wednesday.

After taking office in January 2023, Rooks began a practice of quoting from the Bible during the board comments segment of public meetings, using verses from both the Old and New Testaments.

Her practice eventually garnered the attention of the Wisconsin-based church-state separation group Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent a letter to the school board demanding that the Bible-quoting be stopped.

The school board and its attorney concluded that quoting Bible verses during the meetings might violate the Constitution and sent out emails recommending that Rooks stop doing so.

In September 2023, the First Liberty Institute and the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP filed a lawsuit against the Peoria USD on behalf of Rooks, arguing that her quoting Scripture during meetings was part of "a longstanding, well-accepted tradition" among public officials.

"Rooks' practice accords with over 200 years of this Nation's historical practices and understandings," read the suit. "Public officials from Presidents Washington and Lincoln up through President Biden routinely recited scripture while performing their official duties."

"Rooks doesn't coerce or call for anyone else's participation. She doesn't ask for anyone to bow their heads, stand, or participate in reading.  This Court should declare that Rooks' brief quotations of scripture during her Board comments time at public school board meetings do not violate the Establishment Clause."
Home News Pakistani police file blasphemy charges against mentally-challenged Christian man

LAHORE, Pakistan  Police in Pakistan this week arrested a mentally challenged Christian man on blasphemy charges despite being aware of his condition, sources said.

In Sahiwal, Punjab Province, Ghala Mandi police on Monday arrested Farhan Javed Masih, 28, after a local villager, Muhammad Bilal Khan, accused him of speaking against Islam and the religions sacred figures, said the suspects mother, Parveen Javed.

We were at home when Bilal and some other Muslims came and told us that Farhan had committed blasphemy, his mother, Parveen Javed, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. I pleaded with them to forgive him, keeping in mind his mental state, but they did not listen to me and called the police, who arrested him.

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Javed, widowed six years ago and mother of three children in Chak 134-9/L village, said Farhan Masihs mental health started deteriorating after his fathers death. His younger sister, Anum, said that his mental condition was known to everyone in the village.

Getting him arrested for blasphemy will only aggravate his mental condition, she said. The police should have at least gotten his mental examination done before registering the FIR [First Information Report] against him.

A member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Parveen Javed said her son had completed a four-year nursing course and had worked at Adam Welfare Hospital in Sahiwal but was fired in 2023 due to mental illness and drug addiction.

Farhan had become a heroin addict, which aggravated his mental health, she said. We have tried to get him treated, but it didnt work. Ever since he lost his job, Farhan used to loiter around the village all day saying absurd things. The entire village knows that he is of unsound mind.

His sister said the family was surviving on the earnings of her and her mother.

My mother and I are already under a lot of pressure and stress due to my brothers illness and drug addiction problem, she said. Now we are on a knifes edge thinking what will happen to Farhan given how serious the accusation is.

Intent must be proven for conviction on blasphemy charges in Pakistan, which carry punishments ranging from fines and prison to the death penalty.

Complainant Bilal Khan stated in the FIR that he was going to water his crops when Farhan Masih arrived and started speaking absurdities.

The holy personages of your religion are false, and I dont want to live among Muslims, because you belong to inferior status, Masih purportedly told him, according to Khans police complaint.

Police registered a case against the Christian under the blasphemy statutes, including Section 295-A, which calls for imprisonment of up to 10 years for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs; 298-A, with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison for disrespecting the wives and companions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam; and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which includes a clause related to causing civil commotion or unrest and is punishable by a minimum five-year jail term.

Bishop Abraham Daniel of the Baptist Church in Sahiwal said there were 150 to 200 Christian families in the village.

When I got news of the incident, I immediately contacted senior police officials and sought security for the Christian residents, Daniel told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. Thankfully, timely police deployment prevented any untoward incident from taking place there, and the situation is peaceful now.

He said that Masihs mental illness should have protected him against arrest on blasphemy charges.

Farhan has no control over his mind and does not comprehend the seriousness of the things that he says, Daniel said. He did not commit blasphemy intentionally, and the police and court must take his mental condition into account while judging the matter.

Church of Pakistans Moderator Bishop Azad Marshall said a senior officer should have intervened as police knew the matter involved a person of unstable mind.

Farhans case is particularly concerning because his mental illness raises serious questions on his ability to understand or commit the alleged offense, Marshall told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. We have repeatedly called for reforms in Pakistans blasphemy laws, but unfortunately our pleas continue to be ignored despite several people falling victim to false accusations of blasphemy every second day.

The senior church leader also expressed concern over reports of organized groups trapping youths in blasphemy cases across the country, regretting that the dangerous trend had made Christians more vulnerable to persecution.

Hundreds of people, including Muslims, are being accused and jailed for blasphemy, but its very strange that despite this issue being highlighted by the media and even the National Commission for Human Rights, nothing is being done to dismantle such organized groups, he said.

Spike in false accusations

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, any baseless blasphemy accusation can ignite public outrage and sometimes result in mob violence.

According to the Lahore-based advocacy group Center for Social Justice, 343 blasphemy cases were filed in Pakistan in 2024, including 19 Christians, five of them females.

Expressing alarm over an increase in false blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on Nov. 7, 2024, urged repeal or amending of the countrys widely condemned blasphemy laws.

The committee noted that false blasphemy accusations led to Islamist mob violence and recommended amending the laws in accordance with requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In its concluding observations of the committees second periodic report on Pakistan, it stated concern over sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carry severe penalties, including the death penalty, and have a disproportionate impact on religious minorities.

It is also concerned about the increasing number of persons incarcerated under blasphemy charges, the high number of blasphemy cases based on false accusations, violence against those accused of blasphemy, fostering vigilante justice, and allegations of entrapment of persons, in particular young persons, on accusations of on-line blasphemy under cybercrime laws, the committee stated.

It emphasized ending use of cybercrime laws, such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, to prosecute and detain those accused of breaching blasphemy laws online. The committee also urged the government to investigate allegations of massive abuse of blasphemy laws in connection with cybercrime laws and publish the results of the inquiries.

[The committee] is also concerned about the chilling effect that criminal defamation laws, blasphemy, sedition and counter-terrorism laws, and other recently passed legislation have on the exercise of freedom of expression by journalists, activists, human rights defenders and members of ethnic and religious minorities, it stated.

Urging Pakistan to take all necessary measures to guarantee prompt and fair trials for all persons charged with blasphemy or other offenses against religion, the committee highlighted jail conditions, stating that it was also concerned about reports of abuse of women prisoners, including sexual violence, and that individuals accused of blasphemy are often placed in solitary confinement for extended periods of time. It remains concerned about the widespread recourse to prolonged pretrial detention.

Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.

This article was originally published at Christian Daily InternationalMorning Star News
Home News Ohio AG backs pastor convicted of fire code violation for housing homeless at church 'Only government officials could say people are safer in sub-zero temperatures than inside the warmth of a church,' lawyer says

Ohio Attorney General David Yost has filed a brief in support of a pastor who was recently found guilty of a building code violation related to his church sheltering the homeless.

Pastor Chris Avell of Dad's Place Church in Bryan was recently found guilty of a fire code violation that was leveled by city officials.

In an amicus brief filed earlier this week in the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth Appellate District, Williams County, Yost argued that the city was violating the churchs rights.

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This case is about religious liberty, read the brief. Applying Ohios proper test  strict scrutiny  the Church should prevail, and the preliminary injunction against the Church should be reversed.

That is because the City has not shown a likelihood of success that its claimed interests are compelling, nor has it shown that it has chosen the least restrictive means of pursuing its interests. As shown below, the City cannot meet the higher burden that Ohios Constitution requires.

The First Liberty Institute, which is helping to represent Avell, noted that this marks the third brief that Yost has filed on behalf of the church since its legal battle with the city began in 2023.

We thank Attorney General Yost for his defense of Dads Place and his unflinching leadership in defense of religious liberty for all Ohioans, said FLI Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys in a statement released Wednesday.

As he says in his brief, it is past time for the city to relent in its harassment of Dads Place and for the court to uphold the Ohio Constitution.

In March of 2023, Avell decided to keep his church open all day and night for the benefit of the local homeless population. Soon after, however, city officials charged Avell with 18 zoning law violations, including allegedly lacking proper kitchen and laundry facilities, unsafe building exits and improper ventilation.

Avell and his legal representatives met with Bryan officials in January of last year. After the meeting, it was announced that the two parties agreed that the city would drop the charges against Avell in return for halting residential operations while he acquires requisite building certifications and zoning permits, as well as installing the various safety measures.

However, last April, Dad's Place and the building owner, Riehle Rentals, faced new citations related to its sheltering of the homeless, as officials alleged that two violations of the city's fire code were found during an inspection that month.

Charges centered on the fact that the church didn't have an automated sprinkler system in its main room where 15 people were sleeping at the time of the fire chief's inspection.

"We did not want to do this. We must do this for the safety of the people using the church, renters in space above the church and the businesses adjacent to the building," Bryan Mayor Carrie Schlade said in a statement, according to WTOL 11. "This is not some bureaucratic dispute between Dad's Place and the city. This is a very dangerous situation for the people that Dad's Place has invited in to stay overnight."

Earlier this month, a Bryan Municipal Court judge found Avell guilty of the violation and fined the pastor $200 and gave him a 60-day suspended jail sentence. The decision was stayed 30 days to allow for an appeal.

FLI Counsel Ryan Gardner denounced the decision in a statement, believing that no American pastor should be pronounced guilty for providing temporary shelter to those in desperate need."

"Only government officials could say with a straight face that people are safer in the sub-zero temperatures on the street than inside the warmth of a church," he added.
Home News Pro-life atheist sentenced to prison for abortion clinic protest didn't want pardon from Trump

An atheist pro-life activist pardoned by President Donald Trump following a federal prison sentence for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act believes the Republican leaders actions may make it harder to appeal the conviction.

The nonbinary activist, who identifies as Herb Geraghty, was among several pro-life activists found guilty in August 2023 of violating federal law in connection with a 2020 blockade of a Washington, D.C., abortion facility. In May, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Geraghty to 27 months in federal prison, with the activist serving 17 months before receiving a pardon from Trump.

I think the pardon is going to make it a little bit harder, but the appeal is still ongoing, and I feel strongly that we can be successful, Geraghty told The Christian Post.

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While the activist didnt want the pardon, Geraghty expressed gratitude to Trump for pardoning the old and sickly pro-lifers serving time for participating in the 2020 blockade at the Washington Surgi-Clinic. Several of the activists involved in attempting to prevent abortions at the facility  such as Joan Andrews Bell, Heather Idoni and Jean Marshall  are elderly women, and Geraghty feared for their health in prison.

"I was glad that they were going home, but I thought that I wasn't going to because I was rejecting my pardon, but the prison said, 'No, it's an unconditional pardon; you have to leave,'" the pro-life atheist recalled.

"And so, it didn't really hit me that I was leaving until I was already outside," Geraghty added.

Regarding the president, Geraghty considers it a good sign that Trump listened to requests from various pro-life advocates to pardon the activists. As is the case with many pro-lifers, Geraghty did not approve of some of Trump's comments about abortion during the campaign trail, but the president's recent actions came as a "pleasant surprise."

"What Donald Trump personally believes about the value of unborn human beings, I can't determine. I hope that this is a sign that we will be able to get some other good pro-life policies during the Trump administration," the pro-life atheist said, expressing a desire to see a national abortion ban.

During the interview, Geraghty also reflected on the day of the "rescue" at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in 2020.

Pro-lifers who engage in the tactic called rescue attempt to prevent abortions by entering the facility to counsel women about their options. In some cases, pro-life advocates will refuse to leave and wait for the police to arrest them.

Geraghty was one of several defendants who participated in the effort to stop the Washington Surgi-Clinic from performing abortions on Oct. 22, 2020. According to prosecutors, Geraghty assisted fellow pro-life activist Lauren Handy in planning the blockade.

A jury concluded in 2023 that Geraghty "did, in fact, use force and/or violence against clinic employees in his entry, or at least aided and abetted fellow Defendants in doing so," something that the activist denies.

"This was a nonviolent, peaceful protest from our side," Geraghty insisted. "We did not engage in any violence. We never assaulted anyone."

According to a trial brief for the case, several of the defendants reportedly used chairs to block the clinic's entrance, tying themselves together with chains and ropes. As the activists entered the abortion facility, a nurse injured her ankle while attempting to stop them.

Geraghty did not remember seeing any signs of injury from the nurse on the day of the protest. The activist accused the Washington Surgi-Clinic staff of using violence against the pro-life activists, claiming that one employee started hitting the advocates with a broom.

"What I was doing on that day is what I do regularly anyway, which is counseling moms and giving them the opportunity to know that there are resources out there for them," the pro-life activist said.

Following the pardon from Trump, the activist revealed that the next steps are somewhat uncertain at the moment; however, Geraghty stressed a desire to continue advocating against abortion and connecting pregnant women to free pregnancy resources.

"Other than that, I don't have a direct plan. I still absolutely support nonviolent direct action in support of unborn children," the pardoned pro-lifer said. "What exactly that is going to look like for me? I don't know yet."
Home News Trump pushes school choice expansion after heartbreaking report on student performance

Following the publication of the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results showing American students falling behind in reading and stagnating in math, President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. Department of Education and several other federal agencies to look for ways to expand school choice for families to improve student performance.

In an ambitious executive order labeled "Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families," Trump cited the results, which the U.S. Department of Education has decried as "heartbreaking," as an impetus for the action.

More than half of fourth graders tested nationwide in the report were found deficient in reading at a proficient level for their grade, and the share of students considered proficient was found to be 2 percentage points lower than two years earlier.

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"Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school. According to this year's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math," the executive order noted.

"Moreover, geographically based school assignments exacerbate the cost of housing in districts with preferred schools, straining the finances of millions of American families sacrificing for their children's futures."

Trump highlighted a growing body of research showing how well-designed school choice programs currently being pursued in several states improve student achievement and push nearby schools to improve their performance.

Research from the America First Policy Institute shows that as of August 2024, 34 states offer a collection of 75 school choice programs, including 18 that offer Educational Savings Accounts.

These accounts are publicly funded government-authorized savings accounts established for parents of K-12 students to use for multiple educational purposes, according to Ed Choice.

These funds can be applied to school tuition, tutoring, instructional materials, or therapies for students with special needs. Researchers noted that in just three years, the number of states that offer universal school choice increased from 0 to 12, while 22 others passed school choice expansion bills. In 2024, Alabama, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, Georgia and Nebraska all passed school choice expansion bills.

In Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families, Trump ordered the secretary of education to issue guidance on how states can use federal formula funds to support K-12 school choice initiatives in 60 days. The secretary was also ordered to prioritize school choice in discretionary grant programs.

Trump directed the secretaries of labor and education to review their respective discretionary grant programs and make recommendations to President Trump within 90 days of the order on how these programs can expand school choice for families and teachers.

The president told the Department of Health and Human Services secretary to issue guidance on how states receiving block grants from the department "can use them to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options."

Under a similar timeframe, Trump urged the secretary of defense to examine how military-connected families could use Department of Defense funds to attend schools of their choice, including private, faith-based or public charter schools. Any findings in this area will be implemented in the 2025-26 school year.

In a bid to help children eligible to attend Bureau of Indian Education schools, President Trump asked the secretary of the interior to evaluate how their families can use federal funds for school choice within 90 days. The findings are expected to inform a plan to be submitted to President Trump for implementation in the 2025-2026 school year.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education said the NAEP results decried the NAEP results as a "heartbreaking reality," considering the billions of dollars of federal funds invested in education annually.

"Today's NAEP results reveal a heartbreaking reality for American students and confirm our worst fears: not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind," the agency said in a statement.

"Despite the billions of dollars that the federal government invests in K-12 education annually, and the approximately $190 billion in federal pandemic funds, our education system continues to fail students across the nation.

"We must do better for our students. The Trump Administration is committed to reorienting our education system to fully empower states, to prioritize meaningful learning, and provide universal access to high-quality instruction. Change must happen, and it must happen now."
Home Opinion Costcos refusal to cut DEI draws warning from 19 states

Its a shrinking club, but there are still headstrong CEOs who refuse to bend to the anti-woke winds. None have grabbed more headlines than Costco, the big box holdout whos clinging to DEI while a stampede of businesses run the other way. After voting down a shareholder resolution last Thursday to return to neutral, the heat is on. And if consumers wont change the companys mind, maybe 19 state attorneys general will.

In a surprise move, a coalition of red state law enforcers wrote to the wholesaler, warning them that under the new Trump administration and the Supreme Courts recent decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, these extreme identity politics would no longer be tolerated. Although Costcos motto is do the right thing, the AGs point out, it appears the company is doing the wrong thing  clinging to DEI policies that courts and businesses have rejected as illegal. Costco should treat every person equally and based on their merit, rather than based on divisive and discriminatory DEI practices. That reflects President Trumps executive order encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI discrimination and Preferences.

The conservative leaders were referring to one of the presidents earliest orders on January 21, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. While the action most directly affected federal agencies, there was a lengthy section in the document intended for the private sector, where the administration encourages CEOs like Costcos Ron Vachris to ditch DEI and instead embrace individual initiative, excellence, and hard work.

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Not so subtly, the AGs note that other businesses have faced lawsuits or are under investigation for refusing to roll back woke internal policies. For the good of its employees, investors, and customers, the 19 conservatives concluded, Costco should do the right thing by following the law and repealing its DEI policies. Within 30 days, please either notify us that Costco has repealed its DEI policies or explain why Costco has refused to do so. We look forward to your response. It was signed by the Republican attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Days earlier, the Costco board had publicly doubled down, declaring that its commitment to respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary. They join the stubborn woke  a collection of companies that refuse to heed consumers warnings like Apple and Delta, United, American, and Southwest Airlines.

And they do so at their own peril, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird insisted. Its time to ditch DEI, she argued. While other companies right the ship and abandon their illegal, woke policies, Costco has doubled down. Im putting Costco on notice to do the right thing and eliminate discriminatory DEI, the Iowan urged in a statement. No American should be denied an opportunity because they dont fit the woke mold.

Interestingly enough, Costco hasnt been a public target of conservative activist Robby Starbucks, whos generated the most concessions from major U.S. chains like Target, Walmart, and McDonalds. In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, the corporate giant killer cut the wholesaler a tiny bit of slack.

Its a very nuanced thing here, actually, Starbuck said, because Costco is not quite in the same box [as other brands like Target]. So Costco doesnt have extremely radical DEI, but they do have DEI policies that I believe are going to be a major legal liability. Which is why, he clarified, We did not approach Costco.

Instead, the Free Enterprise Project, an arm of the National Center for Public Policy Research, offered an anti-DEI resolution that was voted down by 98% of the shareholders after the board frantically lobbied people to vote no. Starbuck isnt surprised by that. If you ever have a shareholder proposal, no matter whether you like it or you hate it, leaders are going to urge their shareholders to vote against it because they dont want to cede authority. [If] these people are going to decide for you something that you believe should be an executive decision, youre always going to say, Please vote against this because this should be under our authority, our control.

Stefan Padfield, the executive director of the project that offered the resolution, isnt deterred. Fortunately, the truth about DEI is being exposed as never before, and it is only a matter of time until DEIs inherent shareholder-value-destroying nature forces even managers like those at Costco to get back to neutral and focus on creating value by providing great products and services rather than engaging in neo-Marxist and neo-racist social engineering projects, he insisted.

On that, he and Starbuck agree. I think Costcos executives are just sort of learning about exactly what their DEI programs do and kind of getting familiar with the legal landscape. I dont think weve heard the last of the Costco story. Since last weeks shareholder vote, Starbuck says he has reached out to their executives. Personally, I have engaged, he said, adding that he would keep the details of those conversations off the record for now. I have made sure they have all the information, he explained. And I think its something that theyre going to have to look very deeply at themselves and see if they think that they want to test the waters.

At the end of the day, Starbuck pointed out, its up to management to decide how they want to run their business. If you see the evidence that this is not making you money or that this is wasting you money, you should get away from it. And thats why its been an easy sell to so many CEOs, because they understand that this has done nothing but bring division. It has cost them money. Its just been an absolute black hole since the very beginning. It was not what they thought it was going to be. They thought this was going to be about equality. Most of them didnt even know what equity was. And when you actually show them everything their companies are doing, most of them cant believe it. They think its absurd.

Originally published at The Washington Stand.
Home Opinion The Right has a misogyny problem

On Monday, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace posted her college graduation photo. In the picture, a beaming 22-year-old Mace is decked out in uniform, the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets military program at The Citadel.

Mace captioned the photo, I didn't fight like hell to become the first woman to graduate from The Citadel just for some man in a miniskirt to take away that achievement. Protecting women's accomplishments isn't a political talking point for meit's personal.

Instead of congratulating the congresswoman, numerous conservative influencers chose to mock and falsely accuse her.

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Sean Davis, CEO of the Federalist, replied, A key part of your personal identity is having invaded a male-only institution, and yet youre surprised at the desire of someone to invade female-only spaces? Youre exactly right that delusional men cosplaying as women have no business whatsoever in womens bathrooms, but I find the lack of self-awareness and understanding of downstream effects of pretending to erase sex differences to be absolutely wild.

Will Tanner, co-founder of The American Tribune, wrote, It was the breaking down of gender barriers in the first place that allowed the trans insanity  If you want to end the man in a miniskirt issue, you have to roll back everything that led to this point.

Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire quipped, The girlboss feminism routine isnt just cringy. It also directly undermines our argument. The Citadel was a male-only space forced by law to admit females in the name of diversity and inclusion. That is the exact argument trans-identifying males use to invade female spaces. Nancy Mace was literally a beneficiary of a DEI program. Its a ridiculous and tone deaf thing to brag about in this moment.

Of course, the argument of trans men who want to enter womens bathrooms is that they literally are women. Mace never claimed to be a man. In addition, when Mace attended, The Citadel was accepting female students. By these mens logic, any woman who attends a previously all-male college or university is invading mens space.

Congresswoman Mace did not invade a male-only institution nor do anything to force The Citadel to include females. Despite the accusations by Walsh and others, Mace attended a co-ed school. She was simply the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets, a military program at The Citadel.

Maces degree is in business administration. She went on to earn her master's degree in journalism and mass communication at the University of Georgia. She did not serve in the military. She did not invade a male-only space. She did not take the place of a man who might otherwise have participated in the program.

So, why are Walsh, Tanner, Davis, and others falsely accusing the Congresswoman in this way? What do they mean when they say they want to, roll back everything that led to this point. If this point is Mace being proud that she graduated from The Citadel, and if we were to roll back everything that led to it, women wouldnt be allowed to attend most colleges in the United States.

Up until the 1970s, most colleges and universities were male-only. While there were a few female-only colleges, household names like Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Duke, did not accept female students. Walsh presumably knows this because he concluded, We rightly lament the death of female-only spaces. But male only spaces died long before, thanks in part to the efforts of Nancy Mace.

Presumably, the male only spaces that died long before are the majority of American colleges. Walsh then doubled down, saying, Please name one specific way that the military and related institutions have been improved by the forced inclusion of women?

But Nancy Mace did not force the Corps of Cadets program to include her. It was co-ed when she applied. She also never enlisted in the military. Making matters worse, Walsh is either unaware or does not care that over 3 million women have faithfully served and sacrificed for our country, not because theyre angsty feminists, but because theyre American patriots.

Harriet Tubman was a Union spy during the Civil War; over 21,000 women served in the Army Nurse Corps during WWI; female codebreakers helped crack Nazi ciphers during WWII; and over 24,000 women served during Operation Desert Storm. This is but a fraction of the sacrifices and achievements women have accomplished for the military and their country.

This instinct to accuse women of invading male spaces for going to college, or for enlisting in the military (even when they didnt), seems to be part of a larger pattern of sexism. We saw another manifestation of it when Benny Johnson promoted self-proclaimed misogynist, Andrew Tate, on his show.

For his part, Walsh has publicly discussed reading the works of Christian Nationalist pastor Doug Wilson. In one post, Walsh refers to an article Wilson wrote as having, Actually changed my perspective on a few things. Very insightful commentary.

Known for his controversial stances on topics such as slavery, gender roles, and theology, Wilson commands heavy influence among right-leaning Christian men.

He has promoted the idea that we should repeal the 19th Amendment, claiming that by allowing women the right to vote, we were, in fact, taking it away from families.

Despite residing in Moscow, Idaho, Wilson is no small-town yokel. He owns his own book publishing company, pastors a church, influences a vast online audience, and has been featured on The Daily Wire and The Tucker Carlson Show.

If Wilson is an influence among major conservative influencers such as Matt Walsh, we can expect to see more and more antagonism toward females in conservative spaces. It will not matter that women like Nancy Mace are on their side. It will not matter that she is fighting for conservative values. It will not even matter that shes supported by President Trump. The root of their antagonism is their disdain for her gender. It has nothing to do with her ideas, accomplishments, or beliefs. It has nothing to do with logic, historical facts, or even politics. Its misogyny, pure and simple.



We can know this for certain when we consider the irrationality of their argument. A woman attending a previously all-male college is not remotely the same as a mentally unstable fetishist in drag trying to enter a womens bathroom.
Home News Church of England bishop of Liverpool resigns amid claims sexual harassment

The bishop of Liverpool has resigned after coming under scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

John Perumbalath, who continues to deny the allegations, announced on Thursday that he was stepping down, days after the U.K.'s Channel 4 News broadcast complaints by two women.

One complainant is a female bishop who said she had been sexually harassed by Perumbalath. The Church of England said it had "explored" her complaint and that it had been "assessed not to be a safeguarding matter but a matter of alleged misconduct."

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It was not fully investigated, however, because the bishop did not bring the complaint within the 12-month limitation required under the Church of England's Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM). An application for her complaint to be considered beyond the deadline was supported by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, but refused by the Deputy President of Tribunals, a Church of England spokesperson said.

The second complaint was made by a woman in the Diocese of Chelmsford who said she was sexually assaulted by Perumbalath on three separate occasions.

She alleged that at a diocesan away day in 2019, Perumbalath "kissed me forcefully on my mouth, which I did not like and I did not want. I tried to move away, but he was holding my head too tightly."

She alleged that at the end of a meeting in 2022, "As he was letting go of hugging me, he ran his hands past the side of my breasts on both sides, with a medium pressure, until he reached the edge of the areola."

She also alleged that in January 2023, Perumbalath "pressed his face against my face, said 'I love you' quietly in my ear, and moved his mouth to just below my ear, on the pulse point on my neck. He opened his mouth, took a piece of my skin between his lips, and let go."

The Church of England said that the National Safeguarding Team (NST) had investigated the complaint and "concluded that there were no ongoing safeguarding concerns, but a learning outcome was identified with which the bishop fully engaged."

"The complaint was also investigated by the police which resulted in no further action," the spokesperson said.

"The NST concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to bring a safeguarding-related complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) itself but offered the woman support if she wished to do so."

The report by Channel 4 News prompted senior clergy in the Diocese of Liverpool to write to the archbishop of York, who is temporarily leading the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, stepped down over safeguarding failures.

In their letter, the Liverpool clergy said that Perumbalath's position had become "untenable" and that he should "step aside from all ministry" in the diocese until the allegation by the female bishop is fully investigated.

Perumbalath denied the allegations in a statement announcing his resignation in which he also claimed he had been a victim of "trial by media."

"Earlier this week, I was approached by Channel 4 news who informed me they would be broadcasting a story containing allegations of inappropriate behaviour by me against two different women," he said.

"Since those allegations were made, I have consistently maintained that I have not done anything wrong and continue to do so," Perumbalath continued. "Since the claims were made in 2023, they have been investigated and considered by experts from the National Safeguarding Team and had found them unsubstantiated. The first allegation was also investigated by the police resulting in no further action. Despite this, media reports have treated me as guilty on all charges and treated these allegations as fact.

"Further it has been erroneously reported that prior to my appointment as Bishop of Liverpool, I had failed the safeguarding assessment process. This is categorically not true. As the Church of England have made clear in their written statements over the past 48 hours responding to these false claims, the National Safeguarding Team found no concerns about my operational safeguarding experience and recommended some development work for me as I took on additional strategic safeguarding responsibilities  which is commonly the case for new diocesan bishops.

"This rush to judgment and my trial by media (be that social or broadcast) has made my position untenable due to the impact it will have on the Diocese of Liverpool and the wider church whilst we await further reviews and next steps."

Commenting on the announcement, the archbishop of York said, "I acknowledge the decision made by the Rt. Rev. John Perumbalath to resign from active ministry in the Church of England. I respect his decision and thank him for his ministry.

"My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those who have been affected by this situation.

"I am committed to ensuring stability during this time of transition and will be putting the necessary arrangements in place to provide episcopal oversight for the Diocese. An acting bishop for the Diocese of Liverpool will be announced in the coming days."

Senior clergy in the Diocese of Liverpool said in a statement: "Having received the news of the retirement of the bishop of Liverpool, we acknowledge his decision in taking this step for the good of the Diocese of Liverpool. This is a deeply painful situation, and we hold all concerned in our prayers.

"We will be liaising with the archbishop of York in the coming days to establish interim episcopal oversight for the diocese. We continue working hard to support all those who have been affected by this story; and to support our clergy, congregations and staff as their ministry continues."

This article was originally published at Christian Today
Home Opinion Trump and immigration: How Christians should process this

The second Trump Administration has hit the ground running when it comes to fulfilling its campaign promise to deport millions of illegal aliens currently residing in America. As they promised, they are starting with the most violent and dangerous illegals among us. The administration gives every indication of equipping itself, however, to forcibly deport millions of people who have come to America illegally.

As for now, the majority of the American public supports the deportation program that is currently being implemented.

Additionally, the Trump Administrations vigorous deportation actions coupled with much more vigorous policy enforcement at the border will assuredly stem the massive flow of incoming illegals to a mere shadow of the large influx during the Biden Administration.

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It remains to be seen how the public will react as the number of deported climbs dramatically.

Given native-born birth rates, at some point, it will become apparent to at least a majority of Americans that some degree of legal, regulated immigration must be accepted in order for the economy to grow and prosper.

Looking at the role that immigration has played in American history, it seems that legal, regulated immigration would not cause significant disruption.

At present, however, a majority of Americans have been increasingly uncomfortable with the rapidly rising number of undocumented newcomers taking up residence in their country. Once the current problems have been resolved, America should implement an orderly, legal system of immigration.

After all, we are a nation of immigrants. We should have a good deal of room for people who are willing to embrace our values and beliefs to come to America (as summarized in The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution).

Unless they are Native Americans, all Americans are descended from immigrants or else they are immigrants themselves.

The pivotal question is do these prospective immigrants want to come to America, embrace our value system (as summarized in our Founding Documents), and become proficient in the English language? This does not mean they must renounce their heritage from their native country.

After all, we have millions of Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Japanese-Americans who are loyal and patriotic Americans and are also proud of the national heritage of their country of origin.

Early in the 20th century during a previous surge in immigration, President Theodore Roosevelt had asserted that America had plenty of room for people who were hyphenated Americans (for example, Irish-Americans) as long as the emphasis was always focused on the American part of that description.

America has benefited greatly from the earlier wave of immigration. Our culture is much richer linguistically, gastronomically, musically, and economically from the contributions of these various ethnicities than would have been the case otherwise.

Unfortunately, Americas immigration system has been broken in multiple ways since at least the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s.

The American people have been frustrated by the brokenness of the immigration system which has led to between 15 to 20 million undocumented immigrants who have not been vetted, screened, or approved.

It should be acknowledged that unfortunately, there have been powerful forces at both ends of the political spectrum that have pushed the tidal wave of illegal immigrants. From the right, you have groups that are quite pleased with the cheap labor (under minimum wage) produced by mass migration (experts estimate that such mass immigration depresses wages at least 10% at the bottom of the wage scale). On the left, you have those who either do not believe in national borders or those who see millions of illegal immigrants as future liberal voters.

The American people need to reject these extremes and insist that their Senators and Congressmen build a coalition of the center-right and the center-left and pass meaningful, lasting immigration reform.

It must be noted that the question of immigration is crucial to Americas (and by consequence the worlds) future. America is in a life-and-death competition with Communist China for world leadership for the remainder of the 21st century. Will America (committed to universal human rights) or Communist China (totalitarian to its core) lead the world? The battleground will be the research for AI and other high-tech research concerning the next generation of weaponry.

In that struggle, the battle will be determined by which nations can attract the most cerebral brain power (wherever it originated) to do its research within its borders. It is in all humanitys very best interest that America win the contest for brain power with China.

Finally, a recent column in the Wall Street Journal Merit and the Case for Immigration, highlights both the benefits of immigration and the absolutely critical role played by parents and family in producing young people who produce at their highest potential.

Former Senator Phil Gramm and former University of Chicago Economics Professor Robert Topei share their experiences with the Finus Welch Foundation and its goal of granting four-year college scholarships to both the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. The scholarships are intended for promising students from Texas families of modest means. The average score of the scholarship recipients last year on the SAT was 1450 or the 96th percentile.

After the scholarship recipients are selected, the Foundation tabulates background information. They discovered that 62% of the 2024 recipients had both parents being foreign born (3 times the national average) and another 9% had one foreign-born parent, while only 29% had both parents born in the U.S.

Research from the Institute for Family Studies confirms that migrant households are more likely to have both natural parents in the household. In spite of far more often attending underperforming schools and more incidence of poverty, these immigrant students outperformed their native-born contemporaries.

Gramm and Topei save their most startling finding for last:

But perhaps the most significant finding is that 91% of all immigrant parents nationwide expected their children to graduate from college, and 59% expected them to pursue graduate or professional degrees.

As we embrace the right kind of immigration reform where we control who comes to America and who doesnt, we need to make certain that adults and children alike (immigrant and native-born) are taught our founding principles and our founding documents.

Gramm and Topei have underscored the critical importance of intact families in raising maximum-accomplishing students. To the extent we abandon the ideal of natural-born parents raising their children in intact households, we diminish the prospect of children, natural born or immigrant, from reaching their God-given potential.

Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear, or are we going to continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence that no-fault divorce is harmful to children?

Quoting what Pericles said to the Athenians 2500 years ago, Gramm and Topei applied it to America today. Where the prize is highest, there, too, will you find the best and the bravest!

Let us resolve to minimize the impediments for those who wish to come to America as we seek to attract the best and the bravest.
TERMS OF REFERENCE

Destination and Impact Monitoring Specialist

(consultant for full-time position)

Location: CPIU IFAD, Chisinau

Project: TRTP

1. Client

The client for this assignment is the Consolidated IFAD Programme Implementation Unit (CPIU IFAD), which is responsible for day-to-day management and implementation of IFAD ongoing project Talent Retention for Rural Transformation (TRTP) which has established a robust and well-recognised track record of competent and diligent programme management of IFADs previous and ongoing projects.

2. Background

Republic of Moldova and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) signed Financing Agreements for implementation of Talent Retention for Rural Transformation Project.

Talent Retention for Rural Transformation Project (TRTP) was launched in 2021 with an implementation period of 6 years. The project aims to stimulate large-scale rural economic growth and reduce poverty through complementary investments; to enable the rural poor, especially young people, women and small farmers, to increase their productive capacity, resilience to economic, environmental and climate risks and ensure their access to markets.

3. Context of the Task/Activities

A well-functioning M&E system should be able to collect information and data required to: measure project progresses and outcomes; determine project effects on the livelihoods of the primary target group; assess the relevance of project implementation strategy and procedures; identify and circumvent bottlenecks during project implementation; and support the decision-making process to sustain an efficient and effective project implementation. Evidences on good practices and successful initiatives should be gathered to develop lessons learnt. This knowledge should be properly disseminated among stakeholders and partners with a view to support project performance, policy development and policy dialogue.

4. General and specific objectives. Job description

Under this tender UCIP IFAD will recruit a qualified consultant in Destination and Impact Monitoring Specialist, responsible for Monitoring M&E activities.

Under the supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and CPIU IFAD director and in close collaboration with CPIU team, the Destination and Impact Monitoring Specialist (DIMS) will be responsible for the day-to-day M&E operations and activities, ensuring the continuous Project performance monitoring and evaluation of Project results with respect to the defined indicators and respective targets and providing timely and relevant information to Project stakeholders. The DIMS reports to the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager. The position is based at the CPIU office in Moldova with frequent visits to the Project implementation sites.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

 In line with TRTP goals and objectives, the COSOP strategic objectives as well as TRTP targeting strategy, in close coordination with the M&E manager develop and implement effective M&E strategy, systems and tools (M&E plan, MIS, data collection and reporting forms, etc.)

 Implement the Project M&E activities in accordance with the Project guidelines and procedures (including the IFAD COI guidelines) and the annually updated M&E action plan. This plan outlines the scope, organization and contents of the M&E system, roles and responsibilities, participatory approaches, how data will be collected, analysed, reported, used and otherwise managed, data quality assurance mechanisms, timeline for M&E-related activities, staffing and capacity building plan, budget, linkages with KM, etc.

Minimum qualification requirements

At least masters degree in one of the following: Social Sciences, Political Science, Agricultural Economics, Rural Development, Economics, Project Management/Business Administration, or a similar subject.

 At least 3 years of experience in the design and implementation of M&E/MIS in development projects implemented by national/international NGOs/UN bodies/ Government;

 Strong analytical skills with the ability to draft and write comprehensive reports, presenting research and analysis effectively

 Proven experience in designing tools and strategies for data collection, analysis and report writing;

 Expertise in data entry, storage and management;

 Proficiency in Microsoft office products (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook);

 Knowledge of statistical software for data analysis (e.g. SPSS) and proficiency in GIS software (Google Earth, Galileo);

 Excellent communication skills;

 Specific experience in the agriculture and rural development sector will be an asset;

 Language Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken English and Romanian. while proficiency in Russian is an asset.

 Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals. Strong relationship-building skills with clients and stakeholders;

 Strong relationship-building skills with clients and stakeholders;

 Ability to prioritize tasks, identify critical activities, and adjust priorities as needed;

 Willingness to conduct frequent field visits to project implementation sites.

Expected Outcome

 The M&E framework for the country programme has been improved, is highly efficient and complements the KM&C initiatives, providing analytical information to support IFAD and the line ministries in their piloting and operational roles;

 M&E framework improved internally (Project level). This contributes to better management and improved Project implementation;

 M&E officers who are highly skilled in collecting, analysing and updating data on project implementation and performance.

Selection Criteria

Interested persons should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The passing score for shortlisting is 70%; the top ranked consultant will be invited to submit a proposal in the next stage.

Only persons included in the short list will be requested to submit Technical and financial offers.

Criterion Weight



1. General qualifications: 20

Higher education qualification in one of the following fields: agricultural economics, finance. Masters degree in the required field is an advantage. 15

Graduation of specific international training courses in the last 5 years; in M&E or auditing or economical analyses. 5

2. Specific previous experience in the field for vacant position: 40

Have at least 3 years experience in the field of monitoring (auditing) and evaluation of projects.

In the field of agriculture and / or rural economic development (including the collection and analysis of field-specific indicators) it will be an advantage; 15

Professional experience in field of: economic analysis in agriculture, auditing, monitoring and reporting; 15

Familiarity and solid experience regarding the implementation of grant and development projects; 5

Experience in project planning, monitoring and evaluation, regular reporting of project and programme activities, 5

3. Computer management skills, statistical and GIS software

Skills to use Microsoft Office programmes (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook), experience of managing the website and mobile platforms 10

4. Competencies (through Interview for candidates that score at least 49 points on the above criteria 1 to 3): 30

 Language skills: Fluency in Romanian, English. Russian will be an advantage. 15

 Creative and pragmatic approach to problem solving; Proven capacity to analyze and synthesize 5

 Highest standards of professionalism and integrity 10

TOTAL 100

The Specialist will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection (ICS) procurement method set out in IFAD project procurement handbook that can be accessed via the IFAD website at https://www.ifad.org/documents.

The top ranked candidates will be invited in due course to submit a technical and financial proposal that will be evaluated and negotiated. The passing score for shortlisting is 70 points.

Interested candidates shall submit information on their credentials to perform the services, including descriptions of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills, qualifications and other relevant information.

Location and period of execution

The consultant will be offered a fixed-term employment contract based on 40-hour weekly work programme at the Consolidated Unit for the Implementation of the IFAD Programs headquartered located in Chisinau city, Stefan cel Mare Av. no. 162.

The expected start of the assignment is end of March, 2025. The contract is valid until the end of TRTP Project (March 2027).

For the selected candidate will be set a one-month probation period, which will start from the date of contract signing.

Project coordination

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and CPIU IFAD Director.

The consultant will work in close coordination with other CPIU staff, i.e. the Knowledge Management & Communication (KM&C) Specialist, the Gender & Social Inclusion Specialist, the Infrastructure Engineers, the Financial Manager, the Procurement Officers and the Legal Officer.

Services and facilities to be provided by client

Working conditions are common, in the office, with short distance trips to the country or to international meetings abroad. Office with conditions according to health safety rules, with equipment specific to office work (computer, xerox, printer, fax, scanner, Internet connection, etc.). For field visits CPIU will provide Specialist with transport.

For more information, please acces link https://www.ucipifad.md/achizitii/ucip-ifad-anunta-angajarea-unui-specialist-in-monitorizare-si-impact/

Alte articole de la acest autor:
Moldova pentru Educatie: Liceul Teoretic O. Ghibu din Orhei va avea unul dintre cele mai moderne blocuri alimentare din tara
Job Info

Posting Period: 31.01.2025-07.02.2025

Locations: Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova Job Schedule: Part time

Part time Job Shift: Day

Day Contract Type: Consultancy (Up to 11 months)

Consultancy (Up to 11 months) Vacancy Type: Consultancy

Job Description

4. Project Context and Scope:

4.1 Overall background

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. IOM works to help ensure the orderly and human management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues and to assist the national governments in the development of migration management policies, programs and instruments based on solid evidence and statistics.

IOM its commitment to supporting member states to produce quality, accessible, disaggregated, reliable and timely data which are essential to inform policies, action and public opinion. The importance of data is well recognized and highlighted in multiple international frameworks, and the critical need for it is felt starkly in times of crisis, as the global COVID-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated.

According to IOM Migration Data Strategy[1], a key IOM goal is to improve the evidence base for good migration governance in support of sustainable development, effective humanitarian action and peaceful societies, and to support implementation, monitoring and reporting by relevant stakeholders on their actions in support of relevant international frameworks. To this end, IOM is using various data tools and instruments to collect, analyze, and capitalize on migration-related evidence to support its own programming and to assist states in designing policies and programs that best respond to migrants' needs, capacities, and challenges. These tools include Migration Profiles, Diaspora Mapping, Diaspora Tracking Matrix, Migrant Profiling, Migration Governance Indicators, and others.

Initially, Migration Profiles were conceived of as a concise statistical report, prepared according to a common framework, which could make it easier to understand the migration situation at a glance in a particular country. Over time, the Migration Profile has evolved from being a means to bring together data from a wide range of sources to a more elaborate process involving consultation with many different actors. The key goal is to help identify and develop strategies to address data gaps and produce the evidence required to manage migration effectively. The process of preparing Migration Profiles can promote discussion about migration policy, coherence and coordination between ministries and other stakeholders. Migration Profiles have rapidly become a tool to promote evidencebased policymaking. Migration Profiles ranged from short 510 pages statistical overviews to longer more comprehensive reports based on extensive consultation and analysis of the migration situation of a particular country.

Followed by the recommendations of the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) and taking stock of the experience of more than 80 countries migration profiles developed by various stakeholders, IOM has issued in 2011 a Practical guide and a framework for developing national owned Migration Profiles titled Migration Profiles: Making the Most of the Process[2].

In order to support evidence-based policymaking, starting from 2012, IOM has supported the Government of Moldova in developing and implementing eight Extended Migration Profile (EMP) reports, which include all available statistical data on migration for the period 2010-2021. The aim of the EMP exercise in Moldova is to foster efficient migration management by supporting the development of evidence-based policies. During the years of implementation in Moldova, the EMPs have broadened the national stakeholders knowledge base about migration, enabled it to assess how migration can beneficially impact development, improved the use and dissemination of existing migration information among relevant stakeholders, and supported the establishment of mechanisms for regular reporting on migration-related trends and the impact of migration. To complement the EMP migration data collected from administrative sources, IOM Moldova has implemented several other data collection instruments such as Diaspora Mapping and Migrants Profiling which uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather relevant information on the impact of the migration related policies and programs on the final beneficiaries  Moldovan diaspora and labour migrants.

In this context, in partnership with the World Bank and with the EUs support, during 2011-2012 IOM has mapped the Moldovan Diaspora residing in the Russian Federation and in four EU destination countries (France, Italy, United Kingdom and Portugal). Subsequently, in 2017 within a Confidence Building Measures EU financed project, the Moldovan diaspora was further mapped in six destination countries (Germany, UK, Israel, Italy, Portugal and Russian Federation). Supplementary, a separate diaspora mapping report was issued in 2017 focusing specifically on the peculiarities of the diaspora communities originating from the left bank of the Nistru River.

Moreover, during 2019 IOM executed an in-depth study on the profile of Moldovan labour migrants experiences, needs, perceptions and their future plans in 6 destination countries and in Moldova, supplemented in 2020 with a rapid assessment of the pandemic consequences on the vulnerabilities, specific needs and future plans of the Moldovan diaspora and labour migrants in 10 main destination countries in the context of COVID-19. Furthermore, during 2020 IOM executed a study on the mobility-driven impact of COVID-19, numbers and profiles of the returning migrants as well as specific vulnerabilities of groups affected by the decrease of remittances. At the same time, as part of the MiDL project of UNDP, local migration profiles of 38 rural communities were developed with data available and/or collected locally; those local migration profiles were used to mainstream migration in the local communities social-economic development strategies and development processes.

Furthermore, to help countries assess the comprehensiveness of their migration policies and governance frameworks, the IOM developed the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) framework, which was implemented in Moldova at the national level during 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021. This enabled Moldovan central public authorities to evaluate national migration policies and institutional frameworks in a structured way and identify areas with potential for further development.

In the context of the Ukraine Response, during 2022-2024, IOM has deployed several rounds of Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM)[3] Surveys focusing mainly on collecting data on refugees and TCNs from Ukraine, on their displacement patterns, intentions, and needs aim to capture their displacement trends and identify their main profiles, immediate humanitarian needs and intentions.

Additionally, in 2023 a DTM-MGI data collection in Moldova have been combined to develop an innovative approach in the municipalities of Balti and Cahul of the Republic of Moldova producing a joint report which analysis the extent to which migration policies and services available in Balti and Cahul address the needs of migrants, directly from migrants' perspective. Specifically, the evaluation considered the characteristics and needs of Ukrainian displaced population and TCNs and the local migration governance landscape[4].

In addition, the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Moldovan returnees from abroad was analyzed by IOM in 2023 focusing on the contextual analysis of the challenges, needs, vulnerabilities, and further intentions of the Moldovans returning to their home country, and the impact of the war in Ukraine on their social-economic situation[5].

4.2 Latest global and national developments

However, since the EMP was first launched, there have been significant changes in institutional and policy frameworks, as well as migration patterns and trends at the global, regional, and national levels. These changes are not reflected in the current EMP template and in the set of the indicators, making it necessary to thoroughly revise and update it, both in Moldova and in other countries.

Global developments

Some of the most relevant developments was the adoption by all UN Member States in 2015 of the Agenda 2030 which provides a comprehensive framework for measuring sustainable development, including from a migration governance perspective, encapsulated in all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and which underscores the multifaceted impacts of migration on sustainable development. However, the central reference to migration in the SDGs is target 10.7 on facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.

The Government of Moldova has gone through the process of nationalization and adaptation of SDGs indicators to its local context which implies not only their integration into the national strategic framework, supplemented with additional indicators that reveal the national context and priorities, but also the establishment of a system of reporting and assessing the progress in achieving each relevant goal for the Republic of Moldova.[6] In order to ensure the principle of universality of the global agenda and the fact that no one is left behind, Moldovan Government pledged to disaggregate, where relevant, the indicators according to certain criteria depending on the specifics of SDG targets, such as gender, age, ethnicity, migrant status, disability, areas of residence, and other characteristics.

The incorporation of target 10.7 into the 2030 Agenda created the need to define and measure the planned and well-managed migration policies. This is why, in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed the Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF). This Framework offers a concise view of an ideal approach that allows a State to determine what it might need to govern migration well and in a way that suits its circumstances. In order to operationalize the MiGOF, IOM worked with The Economist Impact to develop the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI), a standard set of approximately 90 indicators to assist countries in assessing their migration policies and advance the conversation on what well-governed migration might look like in practice. In the process of nationalization and adjustment to the national context, the SDG indicators, since 2022 IOM has used the MGI framework to set up a new aggregated target for tracking relevant progress in a more systematic and iterative manner the progress under the 10.7.2 global SDG indicator. Another development was the adoption of the Global Compact of Migration (GCM) in 2018 by 164 states which is the first-ever intergovernmental agreement to cover all dimensions of international migration in a comprehensive and holistic manner. This compact outlines 23 objectives for better managing migration at local, national, regional, and global levels. While it is non-legally binding, it represents a significant step towards more coordinated and humane migration policies. With the initiation of activities related to developing the GCM, the Republic of Moldova has become an active supporter, making relevant contributions to the document drafting process. In this context, national priorities were identified and formulated through a participatory and carried subsequent national voluntary reviews in the context of GCMs implementation. The implementation of the GCM by Moldova supports the enhancement of migration governance, and help addressing the challenges and reap the benefits of migration for a country where almost a quarter of the countrys population currently is residing abroad on a temporary as well as more permanent basis.

National developments

The countrys long-term goal is to address migrations demographic, social, and economic effects by tackling underlying development challenges in multiple sectors. This effort aims to make Moldova a better and safer place while unlocking the potential of migration for the sustainable development of its cities and rural communities alike. This approach has led to consistent improvement in the countrys migration management, stemming from important public policies that reflect national interests and priorities. These improvements are evident in fields such as diaspora engagement, prevention and counteraction of irregular migration and human trafficking, improved management of Moldovan labor migration abroad, cooperation with destination countries, return and reintegration of Moldovan migrants, and employment and livelihood opportunities for foreigners residing in Moldova.

Therefore, aware of the Moldovan diasporas migration development potential, the Moldovan Government established the Diaspora Relations Bureau (BRD) in 2012 as a General Department within the State Chancellery, under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister. The BRD is responsible for developing and implementing an integrated (mainstreaming) approach to diaspora, migration, and development (DMD) at both the central and local levels, including through a DMD network of national focal points (DMD NFPs) appointed within all central public authorities. This network was extended to the local level in 2017. The Governments commitment to this mainstreaming mechanism was reaffirmed in 2016 with the adoption of the National Diaspora Strategy 2025 and its implementation plans.

This policy document paves the way to the adoption and implementation of comprehensive migration coordination mechanism that applies a whole-of-government approach to migration. This includes various levels of inter-ministerial commissions and committees, working groups with various moderators, etc. An Interministerial Committee on DMD at the state secretaries level was established to ensure coherent and participatory M&E processes and the implementation of an integrated approach to DMD. Additionally, the Commission for Migration and Asylum Coordination created in 2006 had been actively engaged during 2022-2024 to monitor and coordinate activities in the fields of migration, asylum, statelessness, and the integration of foreigners in the Republic of Moldova, ensuring a uniform and coherent application of governmental policies in these areas. Also, the activity of the National Council for the Integrated Management of the State Border represented an effective platform to discuss policy programs and other important issues in the field of immigration, admission and stay of foreigners in the Republic of Moldova. Labour market liberalisation for foreigners in certain sectors of the economy and simplification of admission and documentation procedures for those who want to work or invest in the Republic of Moldova were initiated and are promoted by the national authorities since 2020. Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, Moldovan authorities have committed to hosting thousands of Ukrainians and third-country nationals, mobilizing all services to assist and protect people fleeing the war, and supporting socio-economic integration for those who decided to stay in the country for a longer period. Moreover, in recent years, Moldova has increasingly transitioned from a country of origin to a country of destination for labour migrants and for those seeking higher education. To respond to foreigners integration needs and challenges, with support of IOM the Government of Moldova developed and adopted the Programme on Managing Migration Flow, Asylum, and the Integration of Foreigners for 20222025. This policy document constitutes the national-level migration strategy with the main goal of facilitating the development of an integrated migration management system. To implement the programme, the Bureau for Migration and Asylum was reorganized in the General Inspectorate for Migration of the MIA with the modification of its organizational structure (see the GD No. 16/2023), which will enforce , the legal framework, including on the integration of foreigners.

The internal institutional and policy changes mentioned above led to an enhanced migration management institutional framework and support programs to valorize the migration for development and address the challenges faced by migrants. For instance, the engagement of the diaspora in a positive and productive dialogue with the institutions in the country of origin was expanded in new fields. National actors who in the past were not previously involved in the leveraging of migrations positive potential for sustainable development  now are champions in promoting it, adopting a progressive discourse. One such recent example is the Ministry of Environment, which is working to mainstream migration into the Second National Adaptation Plan of Moldova. The progress achieved in this respect and in other instances has been extensively outlined in the Global Compact on Migration National Voluntary Review Reports submitted by the Government in 2022 and 2023 but is yet to be reflected in the updated EMP.

In the context of current EU integration processes and challenges such as the high influx of Ukrainian refugees, third-country nationals, and risks of irregular migration, the Moldovan Government is reforming its labor migration management policy framework. The aim is to develop an integrated migration management system based on strong institutions, effective use of evidence, clear procedures, risk analysis and management, and enhanced inter-institutional and international cooperation. This approach prioritizes policy coherence, balancing the needs of various sectors, and aligning with Moldovas EU accession goals. Taking into account that a significant number of foreigners are displaced persons from Ukraine, family members of Moldovan citizens (mixed families), business developers, or have other purposes, each category (profile) of foreigners has its own needs and requirements. In this regard, the positive impact of the current migration process would be achieved through the sustainable integration of all categories of foreigners, and mapping their needs, challenges, and institutional capabilities should be a priority in this process.

It also emphasizes the need for timely, accurate, reliable, and disaggregated migration data, including aspects related to gender, children left behind, vulnerable groups, migrant health, and the mobility of health personnel. Moreover, the alignment to EU standards from data point of view means also adopting EUROSTAT reporting framework which involves the systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of statistical data, including migration-related data, according to EU standards.

Evolving migration patterns and trends, driven by military conflicts, economic, political, and environmental factors, shape the global, reginal and national migration landscape, presenting both opportunities and challenges for policymakers worldwide with significant steps made in the global governance of migration through the adoption of key global frameworks like the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the GCM, and the development of the MGI informing and supporting the migration related reforms on the national level in Moldova. These fundamental developments have triggered the emergence of new metadata and call for the amendment of EMP indicators framework to ensure that migration data collection and analysis remain relevant, comprehensive, and aligned with evolving global frameworks and international, regional, and national migration realities.

The EMP revision is expected to contribute to more granular and disaggregated migration data, improved quality and analysis of Migration Profile reports, enhanced data management, and improved capacities to use Migration Profiles as a tool for monitoring and evaluation, subsequently supporting countries in better understanding and managing migration flows, addressing emerging challenges, and leveraging migration for sustainable development, in line with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the Global Compact for Migration.

Against this backdrop, within the framework of the Joint UN Moldova Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund Programme (MMPTF), titled Leveraging the Positive Impact of Migration on Moldovas Development through Improved Policy Evidence and Better Engaged Diaspora, and implemented jointly by IOM, UNDP, UNICEF, and WHO, IOM is supporting the Government of the Republic of Moldova, particularly the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), in updating the EMP. This involves thoroughly revising and subsequently updating the existing template and indicators and incorporating new and relevant indicators which better capture the changing migration patterns and policy priorities in Moldova. Furthermore, based on the changed current global context, lessons learned in Moldova and other countries in terms of EMP development and implementation, IOM will work to revise its Global Migration Profile Guidelines, including by updating its migration trend and impact indicators and recommended sources that may be used to generate data for those indicators, ensuring as well as these serve as capacity-building instruments for and enhance cooperation among States.

4.3 The overall objective of the consultancy is to support Moldovan national stakeholders to revise and update the Extended Migration Profile of the Republic of Moldova template and set of indicators and contribute to IOMs work to review and update the IOMs Global Migration Profile Guidelines to ensure sustainability, policy relevance and linkage to overall development framework of the EMP process.

IOM has selected a principal national consultant, who is coordinating the specific tasks to achieve the above mentioned overall objective, including will (i) execute a comprehensive Data Assessment Report (DAR), (ii) execute a brief mapping of the recent developments in the global and regional frameworks, (iii) conduct a desk research and organize bilateral and multilateral consultations and exchanges with the main national data producers to thoroughly assess the effectiveness of the current Moldovan EMP data collection, analysis, and dissemination processes, (iv) propose a set of the updated/new indicators and an enhanced template for the updated EMP content and structure relevant for Moldovan context, including integrating in-depth aspects related to gender, children left behind and other vulnerable groups, migrant health, mobility of health personnel, those related to measuring the institutional capacities for governing migration etc., (v) support the consultations and the validation of the updated EMP with the IOM RES, GMDAC and national stakeholders, (vi) provide one-day capacity-building session needed for an effective hand-over of the EMP updated tool to the Moldovan Government, (vii) provide support for the EMP data collection process, including for data reception and verification, (viii) propose contributions for adjustment of the IOMs Global Migration Profile Guidelines to be used by other interested Governments to implement their own nationalized EMPs tools.

In order to facilitate the DAR related data collection, analysis and validation of the enhanced template for the updated EMP IOM is seeking to contract two thematic specialists, specifically one thematic specialist on evidence-based support to policy development in support of the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA) and one thematic specialist on migration data collection and analysis to assist the General Inspectorate of Migration (GIM) of MIA who will consistently support the work of the principal national consultant by:

Supporting the execution of a comprehensive Data Assessment Report (DAR) by facilitating access to migration related data and a better understanding of the latest migration management policy, legislative and institutional reforms in Moldova, as well as the progress, changes, and current capabilities of the national statistical and administrative migration data systems.

Assisting in the reestablishment of the EMP Technical Working Group (TWG), including by providing an updated list of relevant PME institutions and focal points nominated by each institution.

Supporting the activities of the TWG, including convening TWG meetings, drafting and dispatching the letters of invitation, coordinating the meetings agenda, systematically drafting meeting minutes, and following up on the execution of agreed action points.

Assisting in the distribution and collection of completed DAR metadata surveys from TWG members, ensuring that all provided data is accurate and complete, including through the organization of follow-up bilateral meetings with TWG members.

Reviewing the draft Data Assessment Report (DAR) submitted by the principal national consultant and providing feedback to ensure overall quality of the report and provide support in formulating meaningful recommendations.

Supporting the organization of the validation meeting for the DAR, in the framework of EMP TWG, including drafting the agenda, drafting and sending the invitation for participation, and preparing the meeting minutes.

Providing input and feedback on the enhanced EMP template and list of indicators submitted by the principal national consultant.

Sharing the EMP template and list of indicators with the members of the EMP TWG through official channels and assisting in the collection of their input and feedback, which will be integrated by the principal consultant.

Supporting the organization of the validation meeting EMP template and list of indicators, in the framework of EMP TWG, including drafting the agenda, drafting and sending the invitation for participation, and preparing the meeting minutes.

Drafting the Government Decision (GD), the Informative Note to update the EMP template and indicators and validating the final texts of the documents by organizing the consultation process with the EMP TWG.

Assisting with the distribution and collection of EMP data collection template for the updated indicators, ensuring that all provided data by TWG members is accurate and complete. This includes organizing follow-up bilateral meetings with TWG members, if needed.

Supporting the organization of the one-day capacity-building session provided for an effective hand-over of the EMP updated tool to the Moldovan Government.

Contributing to other activities identified in the work process, relevant to the achievement of the task

5. Category B Consultants: Tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment

Category B Consultant is hired to provide the bellow deliverables, according to the proposed timeline:

TIMELINE DELIVERABLE 20.02.2025 Deliverable 1: Narrative report No. 1 on the support provided for the: facilitating access to migration related data and a better understanding of the latest migration management policy, legislative and institutional reforms in Moldova, as well as the progress, changes, and current capabilities of the national statistical and administrative migration data systems to support DAR assessment. (MIA and GIM experts )

) assistance in the reestablishment of the EMP Technical Working Group (TWG), including by providing an updated list of PME relevant institutions and focal points nominated by each institution ( leading MIA expert ).

). TWG operationalization, including convening TWG meetings, drafting and dispatching the letters of invitation, drafting and coordinating the meetings agenda, systematically drafting meeting minutes, and following up on the execution of agreed action points. (leading GIM expert )

) distribution and collection of completed DAR metadata surveys from TWG members, ensuring that all provided data is accurate and complete, including through the organization of follow-up bilateral meetings with TWG members (leading MIA expert). 31.03.2025 Deliverables 2: Narrative report No. 2 on the support provided for the: reviewing the draft DAR assessment submitted by the principal national consultant and providing feedback to ensure overall quality of the report and provide support in formulating meaningful recommendations. ( MIA and GIM experts)

organization of the validation meeting for the DAR submitted report, in the format of EMP TWG, including drafting the agenda, drafting and sending the invitation for participation, and preparing the meeting minutes. (leading GIM expert )

) provided input and feedback on the enhanced EMP template and list of indicators submitted by the principal national consultant. ( MIA and GIM experts)

supporting the consultation and validation of the EMP template and list of indicators with the EMP TWG members through official channels and assisting in the collection of their input and feedback, which will be integrated by the principal consultant. (leading MIA expert) 15.06.2025 Deliverable 3: Narrative report No. 3 on the support provided for the: drafting the Government Decision (GD) and the Informative Note aiming to update the EMP template and indicators (leading MIA expert) .

. organization of the one-day capacity-building session provided for an effective hand-over of the EMP updated tool to the Moldovan Government (leading GIM expert)

distribution of EMP data collection template with updated indicators and collection of data, ensuring that all provided data by TWG members is accurate and complete, including organization of follow-up bilateral meetings with TWG members, if needed (leading MIA expert).

Responsibilities

6. Organizational Department / Unit to which the Consultant is contributing:

Under the overall supervision of the IOM Chief of Mission, and the direct supervision of the Migration and Development Programme Coordinator, the consultant will be responsible for providing effective and efficient support as described above, within the framework of the UN Moldova Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund Programme (MMPTF), titled Leveraging the positive impact of migration on Moldovas development through improved policy evidence and better engaged diaspora, implemented jointly by IOM, UNDP, UNICEF, and WHO.

The process of updating the EMP in Moldova will be coordinated by the IOM Moldova and Moldovan Government, specifically by MIA, which is leading its implementation on national level, including through the Interinstitutional Technical Working Group on Migration Statistics (TWGMS). The European Migration Network (EMN) Focal Point in Moldova will also contribute by sharing relevant input and feedback to the process, including by sharing relevant EMN methodologies, data sources, reports, studies and other publications which analyze migration and asylum policies and track legislative developments in this field. Substantive support will be provided by the IOM through its Research Unit (RES) and the Global Migration Data Analysis Center (GMDAC) on the methodological aspects which need to be followed to ensure international compatibility of the updated Moldovan EMP template and report structure. Moreover, RES and GMDAC will provide its guidance, expertise support, feedback and will incorporate the national expertise proposals in the IOMs Global Migration Profile Guidelines.

Management arrangement: The Consultancy and its tasks hereunder shall be performed during 1 February 2025  15 June 2025, starting the day of the contract signing, the Consultant will be given up to 20 working days in total (20 days per consultant) to carry out the entire assignment. The fee will be paid to the Consultant in 3 (three) instalments as follows:

- Instalment 1 disbursed upon completion of the Deliverable 1

- Instalment 2 disbursed upon completion of the of the Deliverable 2

- Instalment 3 disbursed by upon completion of the of the Deliverable 3

Note: The 20 number of working days have been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of the assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the IOM, shall be the only criteria for International Consultants work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

7. Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

Satisfactory submission of deliverables indicated in these ToR.

Qualifications

8. Education, Experience and/or skills required

University degree in migration studies, social sciences, politics, communication or law, International Affairs or any related discipline.

Strong background in migration policy in Moldova, including immigration and knowledge/experience in government structures and migration interinstitutional coordination frameworks in Moldova.

Advanced knowledge of immigration, including on existing practices of investing the social and financial capital accumulated abroad;

At least three (3) years of experience on public policy issues related to migration, human rights, local governance.

At least three (3) years of experience in migration statistics, existing data frameworks and methodologies;

Computer literacy, especially Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel;

Strong organizational, analytical and writing skills;

Ability to timely understand the Organizations structure and portfolios;

Ability to work effectively and harmoniously in a team of colleagues of varied cultural and professional backgrounds;



9.Travel required

No international travel is envisioned under this assignment.

10. Competencies

Values

Inclusion and respect for diversity : respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.

: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible. Integrity and transparency : maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.

: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct. Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies  behavioural indicators

Teamwork : develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.

: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results. Delivering results : produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.

: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes. Managing and sharing knowledge : continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.

: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate. Accountability : takes ownership for achieving the Organizations priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.

: takes ownership for achieving the Organizations priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work. Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

Notes

Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation. Consultants engaged to work on a home-based consultancy who do not need to travel do not need to provide vaccination records, regardless of the length of the consultancy contract. IOM covers Consultants against occupational accidents and illnesses under the Compensation Plan (CP), free of charge, for the duration of the consultancy. IOM does not provide evacuation or medical insurance for reasons related to non-occupational accidents and illnesses. Consultants are responsible for their own medical insurance for non-occupational accident or illness and will be required to provide written proof of such coverage before commencing work. IOM does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, processing, training or other fee). IOM does not request any information related to bank accounts. IOM only accepts duly completed applications submitted through the IOM online recruitment system. The online tool also allows candidates to track the status of their application.

For further information and other job postings, you are welcome to visit our website: IOM Moldova Careers

Required Skills

Strong background in migration policy in Moldova, including immigration and knowledge/experience in government structures and migration interinstitutional coordination frameworks in Moldova.
The Captain Tom Foundation has changed its name following a demand from the late fundraisers family.

This week, the organisation renamed itself as the 1189808 Foundation, after its charity registration number.

The move comes after the foundations website stopped operating last month and Captain Tom Moores family was criticised by the Charity Commission in November for repeatedly benefiting from the mismanaged charity in an inquiry report.

Captain Toms daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin were both banned from being charity trustees as part of the investigation.

In 2023, the charity announced on its website that it had closed to donations and a barrister representing Captain Toms family members said the organisation is to be closed down .

1189808 Foundation

The foundation legally changed its name on Wednesday to the 1189808 Foundation, according to documents filed with Companies House, with the charity also renamed on the commissions website.

A spokesperson for the charity confirmed to Civil Society that the name change was due to a family request.

Notwithstanding the Charity Commissions findings against the Ingram-Moores, as well as their failure to rectify matters by returning the funds properly due to it, the Captain Tom Foundation considers it inappropriate to stand in the way of the family's wish regarding the use of the late Sir Captain Toms name, they said.

The foundation has therefore acceded to the familys demand that it removes Captain Toms name from its title.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the commission said: We continue to engage with the remaining trustee, as the charitys future is determined.

They promptly notified the commission of this change, and the register has been updated.

Trustees are required to keep their charity details up to date by law.

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By Dzmitry/Adobe

Charities have reported benefits for staff after permanently switching to a four-day working week, as further trials of the scheme are planned for later this year.

The 4 Day Week Foundation announced this week that it had accredited 200 UK organisations across all sectors for permanently implementing a four-day working week since it launched its scheme three years ago.

Brook, the British Society for Rheumatology, Citizens Advice Gateshead and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies are among the over 20 charities accredited by the foundation.

The 4 Day Week Foundation defines a four-day week as a 32-hour working week or less worked over four days, with no reduction in pay as its gold standard for accreditation.

It also recognises organisations that have moved to a 35-hour working week or less, with no loss of pay, as its silver standard.

Id recommend it to all organisations

Opportunity Green, an NGO that tackles climate change, did a three-month trial of a four-day week in May 2023 before permanently becoming a four-day week employer.

The charity reported that the trial had been a  huge success , with 78% of its staff agreeing or strongly agreeing that a four-day week had benefitted their health and wellbeing.

Aoife OLeary told Civil Society that as the chief executive and founder of a rapidly growing NGO, it was a nerve-wracking decision to adopt the four-day week.

But ultimately, I knew my staff would benefit massively, and rightly feel appreciated for the hard work they put in, she said.

I was right  we ran an anonymous staff survey after our initial three-month trial, showing that an overwhelming majority felt that the system benefits their health and wellbeing and that 100% of staff are satisfied with the amount of free time they have outside of work.

OLeary added that a shorter week has also had a positive impact on our work.

Efficiency hasnt dropped, weve continued to bring in more funding and in turn, recruit new hires to grow our team.

I would definitely recommend the four-day week to all organisations thinking of making the change.

Staff absenteeism fell by 71%

Advice Direct Scotland, a charity which provides independent advice to Scottish citizens, moved to a four-day week in September 2018 before becoming an accredited employer.

Following the move, the charity reported that staff absenteeism fell by 71% between 2017 and 2019 while the average number of absent days per employee decreased by 55%.

Chief executive Andrew Bartlett told Civil Society: The four-day week is a tangible shift that brings profound benefits to both the mental and physical health of employees.

By condensing work hours without reducing pay, people have an extra day to unwind and decompress, drastically reducing workplace stress and burnout.

More research shows how a shorter work week leads to happier, healthier and more productive employees. This shift in working practices creates a better work-life balance that is crucial for mental wellbeing.

Bartlett added that the four-day week has resulted in fewer sick days, lower turnover rates and better employee morale, which are not only perks but also real strategic advantages.

Wellbeing isnt just a personal concern but an organisational one as well. This isnt about working less. Its about working better.

Time is a priceless asset which can be better used to enhance our quality of life, productivity and health.

Five-day working week no longer fit for purpose

The 4 Day Week Foundation was previously known as the 4 Day Week Campaign.

Campaign director Joe Ryle told Civil Society that the name change was to signify the broadening scope of the work we carry out and in recognition of the progress that has been made so far.

Ryle said the organisation is not registered with the Charity Commission for now but is having conversations about potentially doing so in the future.

On the benefits of the four-day week campaign, he said: With 50% more free time, a four-day week gives people the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives.

As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers.

The nine to five, five-day working week was invented 100 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. Were long overdue an update.

The next four-day week national pilot has been scheduled to take place between September and October 2025.

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East Palestine and Norfolk Southern have announced a $22 million settlement resolving all of the villages claims arising from the disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that prompted a national reckoning on railroad safety.

The settlement is to be used for priorities the village identifies in connection with the derailment, but it also recognizes about $13.5 million that Norfolk Southern has already paid to the village to pay for upgrades to the water treatment plant and replace police and fire equipment among other things, according to the joint announcement posted Monday on the villages website. It also reaffirms Norfolk Southerns commitment of $25 million to ongoing improvements to East Palestine City Park that is in addition to this settlement.

The freight train derailment in the village near the Pennsylvania state line included 11 cars transporting hazardous materials. Area residents evacuated and, days later, officials fearing a possible uncontrolled blast intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the sky. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board later determined that it wasnt necessary to blow open those vinyl chloride cars and burn the plastic ingredient.

Norfolk Southern and the village agreed that a proposed $20 million regional safety training center in the village is not feasible, so it wont be built, according to the statement. Norfolk Southern agreed to transfer about 15 acres (6 hectares) acquired for the center to the village and it remains committed to providing training for East Palestines first responders at other facilities in the region.

The railroad routinely provides hands-on training to firefighters all across its network, but Norfolk Southern had touted this training center as a way to bolster that training and help prepare cities and towns to deal with a disaster like this derailment. Norfolk Southern didnt say whether it still plans to build the training center elsewhere or has entirely abandoned the project.

The derailment prompted regulators and members of Congress to propose safety reforms, but the bill that was coauthored by Vice President JD Vance when he was still an Ohio senator stalled and was never approved. The major freight railroads all promised to re-examine their procedures and add hundreds more trackside detectors that are designed to catch mechanical problems before they can cause a derailment, but the head of the Federal Railroad Administration said those changes didnt lead to meaningful improvement in the industrys safety record.

Additional legal actions are pending. A handful of residents challenging Norfolk Southerns $600 million settlement related to the crash have asked a court to reject a judges order requiring them to put up an $850,000 bond to continue their appeal for higher compensation and more information about the contamination.

Nearly $300 million of the settlement has been on hold because of the appeal, even though a judge approved the deal in September. The holdout residents are urging the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop them from having to put up the huge sum to continue with their claims.

In addition to that class-action settlement with residents, a separate settlement with the federal government is awaiting approval from a judge. That deal includes $25 million for medical exams and another $30 million for drinking water monitoring in the decades ahead but doesnt include any money to treat health problems that might develop. The railroad also agreed to pay a $15 million fine and follow through on its commitments to pay for the $1 billion cleanup in East Palestine and invest roughly $244 million in safety upgrades across its network spanning 22 states in the Eastern U.S.

Some individual businesses and other government entities in the area have separate lawsuits pending against the railroad, and Norfolk Southern is still pursuing claims against other companies like the chemical manufacturer that made the vinyl chloride and the owners of the tank cars to get them to share the cost of the cleanup. Ohio and Pennsylvania have their own lawsuits pending against the railroad.

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON, D.C.  Three people with connections to Ohio were among the 67 victims of Wednesday nights deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas, reports say.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Grace Maxwell, 20, of Wichita, Kansas, and a student at Cedarville University in Greene County, was a passenger on the American flight. The flight originated in Wichita.

The Wichita Eagle reports Maxwell had returned home to attend the funeral of her grandfather. She was a junior majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in biomedical engineering at Cedarville, according to the Eagle.

As you can imagine, the past 24 hours have been very difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community, the university said in a statement to WLWT Channel 5. As a university, we do not desire to turn this tragic event into anything more than a way to honor Grace, her family, and Jesus.

Cedarville University President Thomas White will address students Friday about Maxwells death, WLWT reports.

Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33, a Cincinnati native and a lawyer in Washington, D.C., also was a passenger on the American flight, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Her partner, David Seidman, tells the Enquirer that Keys died on her birthday.

She was just the best partner and so special, had such a sharp wit, and just really pushed everyone around her to be the best versions of themselves, Seidman tells the Enquirer.

The Enquirer reports a statement from her family says Keys embraced life at full speed.

She was so fun  and funny! the statement says. Liz had a sharp wit and appreciated it in others. ... We are filled with unbearable sorrow and despair at our loss.

WXIX Channel 19 reports that Vikesh Patel, an employee of GE Aerospace in the Cincinnati area, was a passenger on the American Airlines flight.

This is a tragedy not only for our industry but also for the GE Aerospace team as one of our cherished colleagues, Vikesh Patel, was onboard the flight, Larry Culp, chairman and CEO of GE Aerospace, tells WXIX. Our hearts are with his family and all those impacted by this horrific accident.

The crash occurred before 9 p.m. in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Air crash investigations can take months and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane, agency spokesperson Peter Knudson said. They were at the agencys labs for evaluation.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
 
Apple defied the doom and gloom that had been building for weeks. Shares rose roughly 3% Thursday evening after the tech giant reported a slightly better-than-expected quarter. More importantly, guidance for revenue growth in the March quarter was much better feared. Revenue in Apple's fiscal 2025 first quarter, which ended in December, grew 10% year-over-year to $124.3 billion  exceeding the LSEG estimate of $124.12 billion. Earnings per share increased 10% to $2.40, beating LSEG's estimate of $2.35. Apple Why we own it: Apple's dominant hardware and growing services businesses provide a deep competitive moat and plenty of bundling opportunities. Management's net cash neutral strategy provides confidence that free cash flow will continue to fund dividends and buybacks. There's a reason it's one of only two "own it, don't trade it" stocks in the portfolio. Competitors: Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, Dell and HP Inc. Most recent buy : April 8, 2014 Initiation : Dec. 2, 2013 Bottom line Did the Apple quarter have some hair on it? Sure. iPhone sales were a little light and revenue in China missed by more than $2 billion. However, nothing was truly thesis hurting with strength in other products, other regions  and, most importantly, within services which also contributes to the margin expansion story. The main bear case coming into the print was that Apple's quarter would be fine but then guidance was going to be horrible and future quarter estimates would move much lower. Yes, lower even though forecasts have been revised down already. Some may tweak the numbers down but we shouldn't see aggressive cutting. Apple's not out of the woods, yet. It's too hard to predict how the company will fare in the second half of this calendar year, but the outlook given should calm a lot of fears. The early stage of Apple Intelligence has its critics, but you can't deny the record upgrades Apple had in the quarter and the outperformance year over year in markets where these new AI features are rolled out. These are very encouraging data points for the future that bulls will hold onto. It may still be too early to know exactly how DeepSeek's low-cost, efficient AI model will impact Apple. Apple shares were up more than 6% as of Thursday close on the idea that more efficient AI models may make integration with Apple's hardware easier, leading to more enhanced features. Although we didn't get any detailed answers on the earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said that "innovation that drives efficiency is a good thing." We heard Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satay Nadella express similar sentiments on their companies' post-earnings calls after Wednesday's closing bell. (Read our earnings stories on Meta and Microsoft .) This is certainly a development to monitor in the future. AAPL 1Y mountain Apple 1 year Overall, the reaction to Apple's earnings and the outlook Thursday evening serves as yet another good reminder of how expectations matter during earnings season. When expectations get terribly low in fear of an earnings miss and a downbeat view of the future, all that is needed is an inline result and some positive leading indicators about the future to get the stock to trade higher. We're reiterating our 2 rating and $280 price target. Products It was a mixed quarter for the different product lines, with iPhone and Wearables revenue dipping in the quarter and falling short of the consensus estimate. But Mac, iPad, and Services revenue all grew by double-digit percentages and outperformed expectations. Although the iPhone's performance was a little light, it still set a record in dozens of markets and regions, according to the company. Although the buzz around Apple Intelligence may feel like a dud and the upgrades aren't happening as fast as we hoped six months ago, Cook sounded upbeat on the call about the sales it is driving. "We did see that the markets where we had rolled out Apple Intelligence, that the year-over-year performance on the iPhone 16 family was stronger than those where Apple Intelligence was not available." This is a very good sign for things to come. In April, Apple Intelligence will roll out with more languages like French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese. More features are in the works too. One of the more notable features people are excited to see is the enhanced Siri. Services The services segment always demands a lot of investor attention, and for good reason because it is a fast-growing, high-margin revenue stream. Revenue increased 14% from last year and gross margins expanded to 75% in the quarter, a level that is nearly double the 39.3% margin for Products. This is why it is critical for Apple to continue growing its installed base. The more hardware devices in circulation creates more opportunity for Apple to attach those higher margin services. In the quarter, Apple set a new record for its installed base with over 2.35 billion active devices. In addition, transacting and paid accounts set new records thanks to double-digit growth in paid accounts and paid subscriptions. Apple now has well over one billion subscriptions across the services on its platform. Geographic Apple outperformed revenue estimates in the Americas, Europe, and Japan. The Rest of Asia Pacific region was a small miss but still set a record. As for China, revenue was weaker than expected, falling 11% from last year. The troubles in China should not come as a shock to anyone who has followed the recent headlines. The company attributed over half the decline to a change in channel inventory, the competitive nature of the market, and the fact that Apple Intelligence has not been made available there. Apple is still waiting on government approval. On a positive note, it sounds like fiscal stimulus or subsidies in China could be a tailwind in future quarters. Cook pointed out that a national subsidiary program was announced by the Chinese government on Jan. 20, covering categories like smartphones, tablets, PCs, and smartwatches. Cook does expect fiscal stimulus to happen but said he would talk about what it looks like on the next earnings call. Cash Apple has a policy of being net cash neutral over time, meaning that if the cash isn't used for acquisitions or organic growth investments, it is returned to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. During the reported quarter, Apple paid $3.9 billion in dividends and equivalents and returned another $23.3 billion via the repurchase of 100 million shares. Guidance For the March quarter, the fiscal 2025 second quarter, Apple expects total to increase by a low-to-mid-single digit rate on a percentage basis. That's roughly in line with the FactSet estimate of 5% growth and much better than what investors had feared. This outlook incorporates a negative impact of 2.5 percentage points from foreign exchange fluctuations. The company said that backing out the impact of FX shows a year-over-year growth rate for the March quarter that would be comparable to the December quarter. Services revenue is expected to increase in the low double digits year over year, a rate in line to slightly better than the FactSet estimate of about 11% growth. Gross margin is projected to be between 46.5% and 47.5%, better than the 46.9% estimate at the midpoint. Operating expenses are forecast in a range of $15.1 billion to $15.3 billion, a bit higher than the $15.15 billion estimate. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL, META, MSFT. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (C) poses for selfies with customers during Apple's iPhone 16 launch in New York on September 20, 2024. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here's what CNBC TV's producers were watching as stocks rose in volatile trading Thursday, and what's on the radar for the next session. Big Oil Chevron reports at 6 a.m. ET. CEO Mike Wirth will be on " Squawk Box " right after the numbers come out. The stock is up 5.6% in three months and is 6.5% from the April high. Exxon Mobil reports as well. CEO Darren Woods will also join us live, in the 10 a.m. hour. The stock is down 6% over the past three months. Shares are down 13% from the high reached in October. Phillips 66 reports before the bell. The stock is down 1% in the past three months. Phillips 66 is down 30% from the April high. Oil, the commodity, is up 6% in three months. CVX 3M mountain Chevron shares in the past three months Eaton This company has become a part of the artificial intelligence story. It's a component in the S & P industrials and is a big player in the electronics industry. Eaton releases quarterly numbers before the bell Friday. The stock is 14% from the Nov. 26 high. Over the past three months, Eaton has fallen 4.6%. In the last 12 months, it is up 31%. Apple follow The stock initially dropped after reporting numbers this afternoon, but then it turned around and jumped. In extended trading, it's up about 3%. iPhone sales fell a little in the quarter but overall sales were up. CEO Tim Cook told CNBC Apple watcher Steve Kovach that iPhone sales were better in countries where Apple Intelligence is already available. CNBC.com's Kif Leswing is reporting Thursday evening that overall sales in China dropped 11.1% in the quarter to $18.51 billion dollars. Apple beat expectations on an earnings-per-share basis and on revenue. If you accounted for Apple's after-hours jump, shares would be up 6% in three months. The stock is about 8% below the high hit on Dec. 26. AAPL 3M mountain Apple shares in the past three months Apple suppliers Jabil and Broadcom are Apple's top performing suppliers in the last three months. Jabil is up 31% in the last three months. Broadcom is up 22% in three months. AMD is on the lower end of Apple suppliers in terms of stock performance in the last three months. It is down 20% in that period. Atlassian Shares jumped about 20% in extended trading after Atlassian reported earnings Thursday afternoon. The software company is based in Sydney, Australia. In a letter to investors , the company touted subscription revenue, "which grew 30% year-over-year." Including Thursday's after-hours jump, the stock is now up more than 65% in three months. Thanks to CNBC breaking news editor Brianna Bernath for watching this one.
In an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, WM CEO Jim Fish described how the waste management company's recent acquisition helps reduce volatility and hedge against more cyclical aspects of the business.

"It's a little bit of a natural hedge for us," Fish said of Stericycle, which largely destroys medical or hazardous waste and was acquired by WM last year. "There's not much cyclicality to it, there's not a lot of, there's hardly any seasonality to it at all. I mean, we have a little bit of seasonality in, in our core business...this helps flatten that out."

WM's Thursday earnings report impressed Wall Street, with shares finishing the session up more than 6%. Fish discussed how the homebuilding market affects WM, saying that segment has shrunk from ten percent to probably less than half of that as a component of the business. But while he said the industrial business has been soft, Fish is more optimistic about the sector due to the Trump administration, which he described as "pretty pro business." He highlighted aspects of the portfolio that performed well, like solid waste in landfills.

Fish also explained how WM is using automation to replace workers that operate trucks and other pieces of heavy equipment. These job markets are shrinking and the roles are difficult to fill, he said, with a 50% turnover rate for those who work on the back of trucks. He also said the average age of one of WM's heavy equipment operators is approaching 53. Fish claimed that the company is not getting rid of human workers, but replacing them with automated technology when they leave.

"This is almost by necessity that we're using technology to replace difficult to hire heads," Fish said. "I think, one thing that I want to make sure I was clear on here, though, is we're not laying folks off, all we're doing is using attrition."
Atlassian shares popped 14.9% after the software company blew past Wall Street's fiscal second-quarter earnings and guidance expectations.

The stock hit a fresh 52-week high and closed at its highest level since April 2022. It was also the stock's best day since November.

Adjusted earnings came in at 96 cents per share, ahead of the 76 cents per share projected by analysts polled by LSEG. Atlassian reported revenues of $1.29 billion, versus the $1.24 billion estimate.

For the third quarter, Atlassian said it anticipates $1.35 billion in revenue, above the $1.31 billion LSEG estimate and previous guidance.

Atlassian benefited from robust cloud and data center growth during the period as more customers turned to artificial intelligence solutions. That contributed to 30% subscription revenue growth over the prior year. Atlassian also said it now expects 26.5% cloud growth and 21.5% data center growth for the fiscal year.
Chris Sacca is a billionaire due to his early investments in tech companies like Uber, Instagram and Kickstarter.

He got his start backing something a bit less cutting edge. "I started trading commodities when I was 13 or 14 ... And I was trading live hogs," Sacca, a 49-year-old venture investor and entrepreneur, said on a recent episode of the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show."

Sacca, whose net worth was most recently estimated at $1.2 billion by Forbes in 2021, was introduced to investing while working for a family friend who ran a construction equipment rental business, he explained. The owner, Bob Haas, who Sacca said was his "dad's best friend," had a commodities trading account that he showed the teen Sacca on a computer in the business' upstairs office.

After Sacca showed an interest, Haas offered his teen employee a deal: He'd allow Sacca to make one trade with his account, offering to either cover the cost of any losses or split any profit evenly. "That's called venture capital," said Sacca.

DON'T MISS: How to use AI to be more productive and successful at work

Because Sacca was new to investing  and his parents didn't own stocks, he noted  Haas gave him a week to study what sort of trade he wanted to make.

"I went to the library, I started learning about Stochastics, about charts, and technical analysis," Sacca said, adding: "I went all in. I read everything, I studied everything." Soon, he was researching commodities like coffee, oil, cocoa, even "frozen orange juice concentrate, like [the movie] 'Trading Places.'"

He identified what he thought was a "pattern anomaly" in live hog futures, placed his trade, and cashed out two weeks later for $171, he said. He was struck by how he could earn so much "by pushing a button and using my brain," compared to $4.25 per hour doing manual labor downstairs at Haas' business, he added.

"I was like, 'I want to be the guy who works upstairs,'" said Sacca. "I can't tell you how seminal that experience was for me, the rest of my life. There's only so far you can lever a man-hour."

Sacca followed stock quotes regularly from that point forward, even carrying a pager to school, he said. His interest in earning money from a young age wasn't surprising: "From the time I was 6 years old, I was going around the neighborhood selling walnuts that I'd poke holes in and call air fresheners, or rocks that I had found in a parking lot," he said. "I was literally going door to door."

Other childhood ventures for Sacca included mowing lawns, washing and detailing cars, a newspaper route, selling candy, and running a gambling card game at his high school. "I paid off a teacher," he said. "We were always hustling."

Sacca got a law degree from Georgetown University in 2000, and eventually landed a job as an in-house lawyer at Google. He helped fund some early-stage startups as an angel investor, becoming one of the earliest backers of Twitter, now known as X. In 2010, he launched VC firm Lowercase Capital, which invested in companies like Uber, Kickstarter, Stripe and Blue Bottle Coffee.

Sacca announced his retirement from traditional venture investing in 2017, instead shifting his focus to a climate investment fund, Lowercarbon Capital, aimed at backing carbon removal startups.

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Offshore workers examine hydrocarbon samples aboard the Chevron Corp. Jack/St. Malo deepwater oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, May 18, 2018.

Energy giant Chevron used the phrase "Gulf of America" repeatedly in its earnings release Friday, adhering to a directive made by President Donald Trump on his first day back in office.

Chevron previously used "Gulf of Mexico" to refer to that body of water, which stretches from Texas to Florida on the southeastern border of the U.S. to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and as far east as Cuba. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

"The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America's future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America," the White House order said.

It does not appear the order would have the legal authority to force companies to change their communications around activities in the Gulf. Chevron's rival, Exxon Mobil , referred to the region as "U.S. Gulf Coast" in its latest quarterly report, which was the same wording it used before the order.

The move by Chevron is another example of American companies seemingly growing more willing to publicly align with Trump in his second term in the White House. Many companies, including Meta Platforms , have rolled back their diversity initiatives at the same time as Trump is pushing for similar changes in federal agencies.

Chevron also gave $2 million to Trump's inauguration.

The executive order directs the secretary of the Interior to make the name change for federal communications and data systems within 30 days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an arm of the Commerce Department, was still using "Gulf of Mexico" as of Friday.
Chinese state-linked social media accounts amplified narratives celebrating the launch of Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI models last week, days before the news tanked U.S. tech stocks, according to online analysis firm Graphika.

Chinese state-linked social media accounts amplified narratives celebrating the launch of Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI models last week, days before the news tanked U.S. tech stocks, according to online analysis firm Graphika.

The accounts involved in the effort, including those of Chinese diplomats, embassies and state media, amplified media coverage of the launch and promoted the idea that DeepSeek challenged U.S. dominance in the AI sector, New York-based Graphika said in a report it provided to Reuters on Thursday.

The messaging was rolled out on platforms such as Elon Musk's X and Meta Platforms ' Facebook and Instagram, as well as Chinese services Toutiao and Weibo, Graphika said.

"This activity shows how China is able to quickly mobilize a range of actors that seed and amplify online narratives casting Beijing as surpassing the U.S. in critical areas of geopolitical competition, including the race to develop and deploy the most advanced AI technologies," Graphika Chief Intelligence Officer Jack Stubbs told Reuters.

"We've consistently seen overt and covert Chinese state-linked actors among the first movers in leveraging AI to scale their operations in the information environment."

Graphika said it also found a video featuring pro-China, anti-Western content on a YouTube channel whose activity resembled that of Shadow Play, a coordinated influence campaign involving at least 30 YouTube channels that was first identified by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2023.

YouTube owner Alphabet , Meta, X and the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Graphika said it found a small spike in discussion about DeepSeek's advancements in relation to OpenAI's ChatGPT on X immediately after DeepSeek released its models on Jan. 20, followed by a much larger uptick that started on Friday and continued to build over the weekend.

By Monday, DeepSeek's free AI assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's app store and global investors dumped U.S. tech stocks, wiping $593 billion off chipmaker Nvidia's market value in a record one-day loss for any company on Wall Street.

Nvidia declined to comment on the Graphika report.
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Friday's key moments. 1. Stocks climbed higher Friday as strong earnings from megacap tech names helped shake off a tough week. Meta Platform s' blockbuster quarter mid-week and Apple 's solid results late Thursday is "giving a glow" to a lot of tech, Jim Cramer observed. That strength helped erase the losses from Monday's sell-off, sparked by DeepSeek's lower-cost AI model and concerns about its impact on Nvidia and others. While Jim remains bullish on Nvidia, he mentioned he's consider trimming once we're not restricted from trading. 2. Apple shares advanced 1% Friday after posting a better-than-expected beat on the top and bottom lines. In a private interview with CEO Tim Cook, Jim said he sensed a confidence in Apple's trajectory, one reason he believes the stock opened higher. Despite a 1% drop in iPhone sales and an 11% decline in China revenue, Apple's AI-powered Apple Intelligence looks like it will be a gamechanger. Cook pointed to strong demand for iPhones with new features, suggesting that once AI-powered models gain traction in China, sales should improve. 3. Eaton shares slid 3% Friday despite delivering a solid earnings report. The sell-off was fueled by concerns that low-cost AI models could reduce demand for power-hungry data centers, a key market for Eaton. But the company's outlook was upbeat. Eaton highlighted strong hyperscaler demand and a pipeline of projects that should drive growth for years. Jim also reminded members that Eaton "is a company that operates on five megatrends. Only one of them is data center." Three of those other trends  grid modernization, reindustrialization and reshoring  align with policy shifts under the Trump administration, Jim said. 4. Stocks covered in Friday's rapid fire at the end of the video were: Chevron , Vertex , Walgreens , Abbvie , and Deckers Outdoors . (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long META, AAPL, NVDA, ETN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.
Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto via Getty Images

Large language models like those developed by Microsoft -backed firm OpenAI are set to become commoditized this year amid rapid advances toward next-generation artificial intelligence agents and more nimble, open-source rivals, according to top tech executives. Last week, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released R1, an open-source reasoning model that claims to rival OpenAI's o1 model on both cost and performance. Open-source refers to software whose source code is made freely available on the open web for possible modification and redistribution. This week, growing awareness of DeepSeek's new model led to a severe slump in shares of Nvidia and other tech giants, as investors feared a possible retrenchment in spending on the powerful graphics processing units required to train and run advanced AI workloads. Nvidia lost close to $600 billion in market capitalization on Monday  the biggest single-day drop for any company in U.S. history. Meanwhile, executives and scientists at leading AI labs are all talking up a shift from large language models to so-called "AI agents" that can carry out actions on your behalf. LLMs are the foundational technology behind today's generative AI apps. However, experts believe a push toward agentic AI systems  which incorporate LLM technology  this year will erode the value of these models.

Commoditization of LLMs

LLMs are expected to become more of a commodity in the near future as the tech becomes increasingly advanced and the costs involved in training and running them continue to drop. Thomas Wolf, co-founder and chief science officer of Hugging Face, suggested LLMs will become more integrated into intelligent systems linked to the company's own databases. "I think people are moving from this craziness around the model, understanding that, thanks to open-source ... a lot of these models are going to be free and freely available," Wolf told CNBC. Hugging Face is a popular code repository for open-source AI projects.

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"In the internet revolution, we're moving from building websites as the main business to actually building internet-native companies  so, the Airbnb of AI, the Stripe of AI," he added. "They are not about the model. They are about the system and how you make the model useful for tasks." The arrival of DeepSeek's R1 model last week is viewed by some tech CEOs as a further indicator LLMs are becoming increasingly commoditized. R1 incorporates some key aspects that differentiate it from other models on the market. For example, the model incorporates a "mixed precision" framework that uses a combination of full-precision 32-bit floating point (FP32) numbers and low-precision 8-bit floating point (FP8) numbers. The latter is faster to process but can be less accurate. However, rather than rely on one or the other, DeepSeek uses FP8 for most calculations and switches to FP32 for certain tasks where a higher degree of accuracy is required. "As AI gets more efficient and accessible, we will see its use skyrocket, turning it into a commodity we just can't get enough of," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote on social media platform X, in an apparent reference to DeepSeek. Meanwhile, Matt Calkins, CEO of U.S. software firm Appian, told CNBC that DeepSeek's success simply shows that AI models are going to become more of a commodity in the future. "In my opinion, we're going to see a commoditization of AI. Many companies will achieve competitive AI, and a lack of differentiation will be bad for high-spending first-movers," Calkins said via email.

What are AI agents?

In the last two years, much of the focus has been on LLM-powered products, from generative AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT to tools that can produce images and video content. LLM-based generative apps like ChatGPT rely on a certain amount of handholding from users to continuously prompt them for outputs, whereas in contrast, AI agents are designed to be more action-oriented.

If you wanted to book a doctor's appointment, for example, you could ask ChatGPT for information on your nearest GP practices  similar to how you'd query the web using Google's search engine. In future, tech execs predict the next generation AI will involve agents that can find out where your nearest GP is, provide available times for your doctor, and book you an appointment  all directly within a single platform. This is expected to transform the way that we interact with the web. "Over the decades since the web was invented, the standard interface of webpages and menus hasn't really changed very much," Bobby Blumofe, chief technology officer of Akamai, told CNBC previously. "We're sort of living in this tyranny of being tethered to a screen and being tethered to web pages and menus you have to remember how to navigate."

The shift from models to agents

Last week, Arthur Mensch, the CEO of Mistral said that he thinks the "focus should shift to systems" that integrate both language models and contextual business data. "That's that's where this is shifting," Mensch told CNBC's Arjun Kharpal at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

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"It also means that the industry that is adopting it, is going to distill its expertise into those systems  and that's where that's going to be necessary to actually drive the value of AI into those industries." Mistral, which is backed by Microsoft , has swiftly become one of Europe's buzziest AI firms. Founded only two years ago, it was last valued by investors at around $6 billion in June 2024. The trend of agents has already gained considerable traction. Last week, OpenAI launched its own agent, called Operator. OpenAI describes it as "an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for you," adding it's trained to interact with "the buttons, menus, and text fields that people use daily" on the web. Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, rolled out AI agents itself in November. Anthropic, an Amazon-backed AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI research executives, last year introduced "computer use," which is a capability that allows its AI agents to use computers like humans to complete complex tasks. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in Davos last week that Computer Use should be thought of as a precursor to a "broader vision" that integrates these agents with commonly used applications. "We are planning this year in 2025 to build something that we call the 'virtual collaborator,'" Amodei said, describing it as "an agent that operates on your computer."

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"You can give it tasks. You can say, write this feature for this app, and it'll write some code, it'll compile the code, it'll check the code, it'll talk to its coworkers on Slack, or on Google Docs, or on some other platform," Anthropic's chief explained. Anthropic plans to gradually build out pieces of this vision over the next year  while still ensuring it's "safe and controllable," Amodei added. Paul O'Sullivan, Salesforce's chief technology officer for U.K. and Ireland, predicts verbal communication will become more important in the new world of AI agents. Salesforce was arguably early to the agentic AI game, having launched its own Agentforce system in September before Microsoft, OpenAI or Anthropic. "We will converse more," he told CNBC in a recent interview. "The screens will get smaller, our eyes will get worse. But they'll probably be replaced with mobile devices that are more powerful than laptops anyway."
The air traffic control at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, as seen from Virginia on Jan. 30, 2025.

WASHINGTON  The Federal Aviation Administration will restrict helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., after the fatal collision of Army Black Hawk helicopter with an American Airlines jetliner earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday.

"Today's decision will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic," Duffy said in a post on social media site X. "The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system and today's action is a significant step towards restoring that trust."

The restricted area includes Memorial Bridge to South Capitol Street Bridge, excluding the Tidal Basin; Haines Point to Wilson Bridge; and the airspace above the airport, Duffy said in the post.

National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said at a briefing Thursday afternoon that helicopters operate in zones, or tracks, in Washington. "This one was transitioning from track one to four as part of their normal procedure," he said. "If you live in D.C., you see a lot of helicopters going down into this area. So there's a very well-defined system."

American Eagle Flight 5342 was seconds away from landing at Reagan National Airport when it collided with the Army helicopter on Wednesday night. All 64 people on board the plane and all three people on the helicopter died. It was the first deadly commercial airline crash in the U.S. in more than 15 years and the deadliest since 2001.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said Thursday that it was not clear "why the military aircraft came into the path" of its aircraft. On Friday, Isom thanked President Donald Trump "for his leadership on aviation safety. I applaud him, Secretary Duffy and the Administration for taking quick and decisive action today to restrict helicopter activity around DCA."

Investigators on Friday continued their investigation, looking at aspects such as the altitude of the aircraft, staffing and communication with air traffic controllers.

The American Airlines plane, a regional CRJ700 that was arriving from Wichita, Kansas, was flying at about 300 feet on its final approach when it collided with the Black Hawk.

According to FAA rules, helicopters, which routinely cross through and around Washington, between military bases, the Pentagon and other locations, must fly in the area close to the airport at a maximum of 200 feet.
Building on the remarkable progress achieved in recent years, China's commercial reusable rocket developers are poised to reach new heights over the next 12 months.

Guowang and Spacesail, two of China's major low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellations, will have tens of thousands of satellites in orbit in the future, creating a robust market foundation for the country's commercial launches.

Vast market demand will serve as a powerful driving force, propelling continuous innovation and breakthroughs in reusable rocket technology, while accelerating the widespread application of new technologies, materials, processes and testing methods, said Meng Xianbo, chief strategy officer of Galactic Energy, a Beijing-based rocket developer.

Galactic Energy is currently working on two types of reusable rockets. The PALLAS-1 is a two-stage reusable rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene. Weighing around 290 tonnes at launch, it can carry up to 8 tonnes to LEO. This rocket is set to make its debut flight in the first half of 2025, kicking off commercial operations with two planned missions this year.

Based on the PALLAS-1 design, the PALLAS-2 rocket features a boosted LEO payload capacity of 30 tonnes and is expected to wrap up assembly and testing in the course of 2025.

LandSpace's Zhuque-3 rocket, meanwhile, completed a 10-kilometer vertical takeoff and landing recovery test in September 2024. This mission used a single-stage rocket with liquid oxygen and methane engines, marking the first time a Chinese rocket had completed vertical takeoff and landing recovery.

The company revealed that the Zhuque-3 rocket is slated for its inaugural launch in 2025 -- with three missions planned for the year.

"These launches will deliver a combined payload capacity of around 60 tonnes, and we are targeting the successful recovery of the rocket's first stage within these three missions," said Zhang Changwu, CEO of LandSpace.

The commercial reusable rocket SQX-2Y, developed by i-Space, completed a vertical take-off and landing flight test on Nov. 2, 2023. Subsequently, it conducted its second flight test mission on Dec. 10, 2023.

The company said valuable data and experience gained from these two SQX-2Y flight tests will contribute to key technological innovations for its medium-to-large reusable liquid oxygen-methane launch vehicle, named SQX-3.

According to the company, the SQX-3 launch vehicle is scheduled to perform its first orbital launch and recovery test mission in December 2025.

Following the recovery of its first stage, it will undergo maintenance and inspection before being equipped with a new second stage. The rocket is then planned to conduct its first reuse flight test mission in June 2026, said Ji Haibo, deputy general manager of the company.

The maritime recovery platform for the SQX-3 rocket's maiden flight mission commenced construction in November 2024, Ji added.

Another rocket startup, Deep Blue Aerospace, announced last year that it plans to carry out commercial suborbital flights in 2027, using the company's reusable rocket Nebula-1.

The oxygen/kerosene-fueled Nebula-1, the company's first reusable launch vehicle, completed 10 of the 11 key verification tasks during its first high-altitude vertical recovery flight test on Sept. 22, 2024.

The Nebula-1 rocket will conduct extensive high-altitude recovery tests in 2025 and 2026. These tests aim to verify the feasibility and stability of the technology, while also accumulating critical data for ultimate orbit entry and recovery, according to the company.

Huo Liang, founder and chairman of this company, said advancements in rocket reusability will drive down space travel costs -- making it accessible to the general public rather than remaining a niche luxury.

"We look forward to sending more people to space, inspiring broader interest in cosmic exploration, and expanding humanity's understanding of the universe," Huo added.




The German parliament rejected an opposition draft law on tightening immigration policy on Friday, two days after the opposition conservatives were accused of breaching an agreement against cooperating with the far right for the first time.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, whose conservatives are leading in the polls before a Feb. 23 snap election, said the new law was a necessary response to a series of high-profile killings in public spaces by people of immigrant background.

His similar, non-binding motion was passed by parliament on Wednesday thanks to backing from legislators from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), prompting a wave of protest from the public, politicians and even some of his own party at a supposed breach of an agreement not to work with the far right.

A DeutschlandTrend poll for public television found that 67% of voters backed permanent border controls, including over half the supporters of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts were hopeful that a Donald Trump presidency would usher in a bull market for digital assets, after promises on the campaign to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet" and a "bitcoin superpower." So far, things are looking good for the crypto crowd. The price of bitcoin  the world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency  has jumped to about $104,000, a roughly 50% rise since Trump was elected for a second term. And in the short time since Trump reclaimed the Oval Office, his administration has gotten to work enacting a pro-crypto agenda. "All of the things that were on the wish list last summer have pretty much happened  especially for bitcoin," says Andy Baehr, managing director at CoinDesk Indices. Here are three updates that have happened so far.

New faces, new regulations

Trump received millions in donations from the crypto industry in the hopes that he'd deliver on promises to roll back a perceived government crackdown on crypto led by former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. Gensler stepped down earlier this month, giving way to an interim chair who Trump plans to replace with former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, currently CEO at Patomak Global Partners. Trump has also installed venture capitalist David Sacks as White House AI and crypto czar. The SEC's first major move under Trump: withdrawing an accounting rule known as SAB 121, which required banks and other financial institutions to treat cryptocurrencies as a liability on their balance sheet. Crypto industry advocates say the move will pave the way for wider crypto adoption among people who prefer to interact with legacy financial institutions. "Repealing it just gives a lot more comfort to financial institutions to be able to consider custodying crypto, which should pave the way for a lot more regulated institutions to adopt crypto as an asset class that they support on behalf of the clients," says Kian Sarreshteh, co-founder and CEO of digital investing platform InvestiFi.

The first family of meme coins

On the Friday before his inauguration, Trump launched his own meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency based on a meme, character or social media trend. The token, which features an image of Trump, rose from about $6.50 to $73 over the course of two days before suffering a 50% drawdown. First Lady Melania Trump launched her own coin, which topped out at more than $13 before settling in around $2.30. Crypto experts say there are a few ways to take in the news that the first family is putting out coins with value pegged only to what their fans are willing to pay for them. One is that it's another powerful sign that the current administration will continue to forward crypto-friendly policies, says Federico Brokate, vice president and head of U.S. business at crypto ETF firm 21Shares. "It's another vote of confidence in the ecosystem by this new administration," he says. "This falls squarely in that category of continued promotion and acceptance and embracing [of digital assets] by this new administration that's coming into power." Another is skepticism on behalf of retail traders. It's important to remember that meme coins  even those branded by the President  are volatile even by crypto's standards. Those who trade these tokens should know that they are entirely speculative, says Baehr. "Meme coins are definitionally frivolous. It says so right on the label. It says, 'this is a meme about a dog,'" he says, referring to coins such as the shiba inu-themed dogecoin. "The frivolity is written right on the outside. So you're not being fooled."

Looking for the next catalyst
NASA is the latest federal agency to ban use of China's DeepSeek AI technology by employees and block access to the platform from its systems, CNBC has learned.

In a memo on Friday to all NASA personnel from the agency's chief artificial intelligence officer, employees were informed that DeepSeek's servers "operate outside of the United States, raising national security and privacy concerns."

"DeepSeek and its products and services are not authorized for use with NASA's data and information or on government-issued devices and networks," the memo said.

NASA didn't immediately provide a comment.

DeepSeek's free-to-download AI assistant is now available in the U.S., rivaling products like OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Google Gemini. DeepSeek's app rocketed to the top of Apple's App Store at the start of the week, unseating OpenAI's ChatGPT from the lead spot. DeepSeek was still No. 1 on Friday.

Reports of DeepSeek's power and efficiency roiled U.S. markets early in the week, notably hammering chip companies Nvidia and Broadcom , which have soared in value by selling costly processors for building AI models and running massive workloads.

President Donald Trump said Monday that DeepSeek's sudden rise should be a "wake-up call" for U.S. tech companies.

As of Jan. 31, NASA personnel are not permitted to use DeepSeek to "share or upload agency data on DeepSeek products or services," and are "not authorized to "access DeepSeek via NASA devices and agency-managed network connections." And NASA's Security Operations Center has now blocked use of DeepSeek on "agency-managed devices and networks," the memo said.

Late last week, the U.S. Navy instructed its members to avoid using DeepSeek. In a warning issued by email, the Navy said DeepSeek's AI was not to be used "in any capacity" due to "potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model's origin and usage."

Axios reported Thursday that U.S. congressional offices were being told that use of DeepSeek was "unauthorized for official House use," citing a notice from the House's chief administrative officer.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp said the rise of competing artificial intelligence models such as China's DeepSeek is a sign that the U.S. needs to work quicker to develop advanced AI.

"Technology is not inherently good," and could pose threats in the hands of adversaries, Karp told CNBC's Sara Eisen in an interview airing Friday. "We have to acknowledge that, but that also just means we have to run harder, run faster, have an all-country effort."

Karp, whose company develops software and systems used by defense agencies, called the U.S. the "single best tech scene in the world," but said competing tools such as DeepSeek have "woken up" the tech world to the threats of second movers. He said he is "pretty optimistic" that national security will focus on ways to protect American innovation from manipulation and theft.

DeepSeek rocked technology markets this week when its open-source model beat out OpenAI's ChatGPT as the top free app on Apple's U.S. App store. Stocks sold off Monday, with Nvidia registering the most significant one-day market value loss in history. Claims and estimates that the model cost less than competitors to make spurred questions about the hefty capital expenditures megacap tech has funneled into AI.

Karp said he does not "really believe" the cost estimates surrounding DeepSeek's creation.

Palantir has been one of the stories of Wall Street of late, with shares up more than 425% over the past year and outperforming all other members of the S&P 500 in 2024. The stock is up 12% since the start of January and gained more than 4% to a record on Friday. The company is now valued at close to $200 billion.

Palantir's growth in recent years has stemmed from ballooning demand for AI solutions, where Karp says the company is leading the charge and is poised to transform the way American companies run. Improving the U.S is the company's "primary objective," he said.

Karp, a vocal supporter of Israel since the Oct. 7 attack, also backed up his stance and commented on controversy surrounding Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Historians and politicians viewed Musk's hand gestures at an inauguration event for President Donald Trump as a Nazi salute.

Karp said any idea that Musk is a Nazi is "completely absurd and a complete rewrite of history." Musk has also echoed support for Israel and visited the country shortly after the attack.

While Karp stayed out of politics in the recent presidential election, he offered support for the national security stance on illegal immigration. He said people should not "have a right" to be in the U.S. if they entered illegally, especially if they have engaged in crimes.

"The average American or European as an example are really decent, compassionate, wonderful people, and there is no reason for them to tolerate someone engaged in severe criminal activity in their society," he said.

Palantir reports earnings after the bell Monday.

WATCH: Palantir is like GameStop
This story is part of CNBC Make It's Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they've used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

Steve Barsh didn't set out to become a property manager. He just wanted to rent out his vacation home.

In 1999, three years after Barsh sold his software company SECA, he and his wife Amber Salzman bought a $820,000 three-bedroom condo in Old Town  a historic mining neighborhood in Park City, Utah  complete with a nearby ski lift up the nearly 7,000-foot mountain looming behind the building.

They stayed there on vacations, renting it out after they returned home to Philadelphia, Barsh says. After two years, Barsh  frustrated at coughing up 40% of the rental earnings to pay a local property manager  started managing the short-term rentals himself, he says.

Today, the 59-year-old owns and runs property management company Parker Chase Properties, which brought in $1.27 million in revenue from bookings on VRBO, Airbnb and travel software platform Hospitable last year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. (Barsh is an investor in Hospitable, according to the company.)

He pockets 40 to 50% of his side hustle's revenue as profit, he estimates.

DON'T MISS: The ultimate guide to earning passive income online

Parker Chase manages five condo rentals, including four that Barsh and his wife own. They spent a total of roughly $6 million to buy three of them in 2019, with $100,000 down payments for each, funding the purchases largely through money his wife took home from a biotechnology company acquisition, Barsh says. They bought the fourth after selling their original condo in in 2023, he adds.

The median Parker Chase rental for March 2025 currently costs $3,390 per night, according to the company's website. Barsh manages the properties, and works with housekeepers and backup property managers who step in when he's out of the country, he says.

He uses artificial intelligence tools to draft and schedule messages to guests, and program lock codes to automatically set themselves to guests' phone numbers  allowing him to only work one or two hours per day on Parker Chase, he says. He's a startup investor by day: a venture partner at nonprofit accelerator Inception Studio, and an advisor to organizations and CEOs ranging from SeatGeek to NASA, he says.

Here, Barsh discusses how other people can follow in his footsteps, how he identifies his perfect guests and the startup lessons that made his side hustle successful.

CNBC Make It: Not everyone has large sums of capital to invest in a side hustle. Do you think Parker Chase's success is replicable for other people?

Barsh: I think it's totally doable. Most people do it by rental arbitrage [when renters sublet on platforms like Airbnb for short-term stays]. That makes it very easy to start. Lots of people do that today.

That's not super interesting to my family, because we're betting on the property. We bought our first place for $820,000, spent $500,000 on renovations over the years and sold it for $4.3 million 25 years later.

We've used this experience as a teachable moment for our two kids [whose middle names are Parker and Chase, respectively]. When you have extra cash, you don't spend it. You invest it in appreciating assets, not depreciating assets, like fancier cars or leased airplanes.

What did you learn from your first condo to make your next ones more profitable?

There was no big "aha" moment. It was just continual, small iterations over time.

We've learned it's like a math formula. Generally, the rule of thumb based off the mortgage rates [in 2019] was: We want to generate 10% of its value in rental income in a year. If we buy a property that's $1 million, we have to convince ourselves we can make $100,000 in rental income. We get positive cash flow off of that.

For our guests, we want them to have nice things and we want to keep them busy with amenities like ski-in, ski-out locations. Our target guest is somebody who stays at a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons, and what we want to do is excite and delight and exceed their expectations every single time.

We had a guest staying with us this past summer, and I asked him if anything was missing. He told me that every morning, he had a protein shake, and it would be great if we could have one of those bottles with the spring inside.

I couldn't resist. I went on Amazon and bought five for $12. They arrived the next morning.

How does your day job change the way you approach your side hustle? What have you learned from the startup world about being a property manager?

Over half of startups fail because they're not solving a big and urgent problem that people care about. I ask the exact same questions in both jobs. First, people who want to do short-term rentals need to understand: Who is their customer? Does your target guest stay at a Hilton? Do they stay at a Motel 6? Do they stay at a Ritz-Carlton?

Then, you have to develop your core differentiator  what you makes you unique, when you've got lots of competition. I realized early on: Our guests really like nice things. We have Cuisinart products, unbelievably comfortable leather chairs and 85-inch flat screens.

Most people, it seems, in the rental business, think: What's the smallest TV I could put on the wall? What are the cheapest dishes I can put in? Could we have put in a 55-inch TV and saved $300? Sure. But we want our guests to feel like everything is perfect.

People look at what we do and say, "Why did you do this? They're renters." I say, "Because they're not renters. They're guests, and you want to treat them as guests."

Then, you always have to refine that equation. If you stay at a hotel chain and you fill out the feedback card, do you think anybody gives a s---? As a mom-and-pop operation, we take guest feedback very seriously.

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A person uses a mobile phone with the U.S. Capitol building in the background, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2024.

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's administration from freezing federal loans, grants and other financial assistance to 22 states, barring the Republican for now from implementing a policy that had stoked confusion and fears about critical government-funded services being disrupted.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island came at the behest of Democratic attorneys generals from 22 states and the District of Columbia and despite the White House saying it was rescinding Monday's memo from its budget office detailing the policy.

The temporary restraining order will be in place until further order of the court while the judge considers whether to issue a longer preliminary injunction.

The memo that prompted the litigation came from the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and had detailed a sweeping directive to halt funding as part of Trump's broader effort to overhaul the federal government.

Trump has already issued orders that aim to stop foreign aid, freeze hiring, shutter diversity programs across dozens of agencies, and reclassify federal workers to make them easier to fire while offering financial incentives to millions more to resign to shrink the government's size.

States received $1.11 trillion in grants in fiscal year 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, amounting to 36.4% of the states' combined total revenue.
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As President Donald Trump threatens to impose his first tranche of tariffs on the world Saturday, Chinese manufacturers are bracing for impact. Though Trump is proposing his biggest initial swing at Canada and Mexico with a proposed 25% tariff, the U.S. president still has China on his radar. After a report that the administration could delay at least some of the duties until March 1, the White House said Friday that Trump will follow through on plans to slap 10% tariffs on imports from China on Saturday. On the campaign trail, he threatened tariffs on Chinese-made goods of 60% or more. Trump has contended tariffs boost U.S. manufacturing and job growth, and early in his second term has used the threats to gain leverage in policy negotiations. Even so, if Trump imposes the levies, they could raise prices for U.S. consumers on everything from furniture to electronics. In China, new duties could damage exporters who rely on the U.S. market. On a recent trip to the manufacturing belt of Guangdong province, CNBC found factory owners preparing for the tariff threat. Here are three main takeaways:

Tariff threat already raising prices for U.S. consumers

Hoping to beat Trump's tariffs, furniture seller Harry Li is doubling the number of products he ships to the U.S. and stockpiling them in warehouses there. He expects the strategy will force him to raise prices as much as 10% -- no matter what Trump's tariffs turn out to be. He sells four out of five of his tables and other large furnishings to American consumers. "I have to ship them in advance and take on more risk," he said at his Foshan factory. His company Tianyiled plans to keep the extra inventory in the U.S. until Trump's tariff plan for China becomes clearer.

Chinese factories adopt coping strategies

In addition to stockpiling, Li is considering other ways to avoid the border taxes. "One thing we can do is to pick those products not on the tariff list and export them to the U.S. instead," he said. In the nearby industrial city of Guangzhou, water purifier maker Zheng Yu is scouring the globe to find a new production base to supply the U.S. outside of China. He plans to set up assembly lines in a third country, buying some equipment and components from China while hiring locally for certain jobs. Zheng's company Tesran is considering Vietnam, Malaysia, and Mexico as manufacturing bases, but is leaning toward Dubai even though costs will be 30% higher than in China. "The domestic market is too competitive. We have been wanting to jump out of it for some time," he said. "Trump's tariffs gave us the final push." The Tesran founder is also already in touch with his U.S. clients to discuss splitting the tariffs. He is hoping his partners will take on at least half of the cost.

Chinese factories have a breaking point  which could lead to less choice for U.S. shoppers
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the FBI, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025.

Update Feb. 26, 2025, at 11 a.m. ET: This story from Jan. 31 has been updated to include separate statements from Patel and McMahon about plans to decline the stock and also clarify the status of the awards.

Trump Media on Jan. 28 awarded thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump's then-nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump's eldest son and to four other board members, regulatory filings at the time showed.

The company awarded 25,946 shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and the president's pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all served as Trump Media directors at the time, the Jan. 30 filings said.

The stock awards were made public hours after Patel appeared for a Senate hearing on his nomination to lead the FBI, the top U.S. law enforcement agency.

Patel told senators in a written response to their questions that he would not accept the stock award.

"On January 28, 2025, the TMTG board convened without my presence or participation and awarded all board membersincluding myselfcompensation for past services provided, including a monetary award and shares," Patel wrote in response to a question from Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

"Even though this represented compensation for past services I had provided, out of an abundance of caution and to avoid any appearance of any conflict, I did not and will not accept that compensation," he added.

The questionnaire was delivered to the Senate on Jan. 30 and posted on the Judiciary Committee's website Feb. 3.

Patel also wrote that he would step down from the board of Trump Media if he were confirmed as FBI director. The Senate voted to confirm Patel Feb. 20, and the company announced the same day that he was no longer a director of Trump Media.

McMahon wrote in a Feb. 7 ethics filing that she would resign from the Trump Media board if she were confirmed as Education secretary and forfeit the portion of the stock award that had not yet vested.

McMahon added that she would divest from the remaining one-fourth of the stock award, which has already vested, within 90 days of her confirmation.

McMahon has not yet been confirmed, but the Senate panel with jurisdiction voted Feb. 20 to send her nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.

Three other directors on Jan. 28  former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider and Kyle Green  were granted the same number of DJT shares at no cost, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The filings said the awards were made on Jan. 28, and Trump Media closed trading that day at $30.04 per share.

At that price, each individual's stock award had a paper value of more than $779,400. But most of these shares had restrictions on when they could be sold.

The filings said the stock was granted "as consideration for services provided" between late March  when Trump Media went public after completing a merger with a blank-check company  and Dec. 25.

Weeks after winning the presidential election, Trump transferred his majority stake in Trump Media to his revocable trust. Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust, and Trump Jr. is its only trustee.

The SEC filings said the shares awarded were restricted stock units that would vest in installments.

Twenty-five percent of the awarded RSUs  about 6,487 shares per director  immediately vested, meaning they can be sold at any time. The paper value of those shares was nearly $195,000 as of the closing price on Jan. 28.

The remaining 75% of the RSUs will vest in nine quarterly installments over two years beginning March 25.

Trump Media did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.
As a child growing up in Franklin, Indiana, Stacie Grissom was always curious about who lived in the "coolest house in town"  a former schoolhouse, turned barn, and then quirky residence. "Never in my wildest dreams would I think that someday it could be our house," Grissom tells CNBC Make It. In early 2020, Grissom worked on the marketing team for BarkBox and her husband, Sean Wilson, was an orthopedic surgeon in hospitals across New York City. After a decade in the city, which included living through the covid-19 pandemic while pregnant, the couple realized they were ready to move back to Franklin. "We had a reevaluation that it's the people who matter the most, so we wanted to move back to our hometown to be by our families," Grissom says. "We got our chosen family in New York, and it's the best city in the world, but we had to go where our family was."

As a child, Grissom grew up driving by the schoolhouse. Phil Yunker for CNBC Make It

To help find the family a new home in Indiana, Grissom contacted a local realtor friend and told him to start looking for "weird old houses" that might need some work. "We decided to look for an old and unique home because we both love historic stuff," she says. "Finding old things and fixing them up and making them better. Whether that's a piece of furniture that we found on the street in New York or an old school like this." The realtor's dad knew the schoolhouse was up for sale and told him to send it to Grissom, who got an email from her friend with the subject line "Don't Judge Me." She called Wilson immediately to tell him about the listing. "I remembered the school. I couldn't believe that it was for sale," she says. The couple were still in New York, so Grissom's parents went to check out the property that same weekend. Her dad has years of experience in commercial real estate, so Grissom says she knew he would give an honest and expert opinion on the state of the schoolhouse.

The renovations included installing a new roof and floors. Stacie Grissom

The 9,000-square-foot building was a school for local children in the early 1900s. After it closed in the 1930s, it was used as a barn. Eventually, it was converted into a residence and split into two apartments. After a tour of the schoolhouse, Grissom's parents gave their stamp of approval and in August 2021, the couple made an offer on the house having not seen it for themselves. Their offer of $175,000 was accepted within 24 hours. "We wouldn't have bought it if my parents hadn't agreed because we knew with this kind of project we were going to need the entire village," she says. "My dad looked around and he was like 'It's crazy, but I think you can figure it out.'" Grissom was the third employee hired on at Barkbox and had some funds from when the company went public in 2021. They used it to pay for the schoolhouse in full.

Grissom says they basically needed to rebuild a new home within the shell of the 111-year-old schoolhouse. Stacie Grissom

The couple saw the school for the first time a week after they closed. They started renovations almost immediately. By the fall of 2021, the building was down to its bare bones, but the work they thought would take two years ended up taking three. "We knew going into this that this was going to be a lifelong project," Grissom says. "The project will never end and the problems will constantly pop up. That is daunting and also like it was part of the appeal, weirdly." The renovation included installing a roof, fresh floors and building a kitchen, which alone cost the couple about $26,000. "[We were basically rebuilding] a new house within the shell of this 100-year-old building," Grissom says.

Grissom and Wilson built the kitchen themselves in one of the old classrooms. Phil Yunker for CNBC Make It

While some areas of the house needed a complete overhaul, they were able to salvage the floors in one of the original classrooms, refinish some of the old doors and keep a water fountain that they are still trying to restore. Grissom declined to comment on exactly how much they've spent total on all of the renovations so far, but said they offset some of the cost with social media partnerships. "In terms of the renovation being fully complete, I don't know if it will ever be," she says. "There's nothing that makes me happier than waking up on a Saturday and being like 'I have a project to do.'"

The couple converted one of the old classrooms into their primary bedroom. Phil Yunker for CNBC Make It

The family officially moved into the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom schoolhouse in September 2024. They pay $340 a month for utilities, including electricity, water, and Wi-Fi. About $4,200 a year goes to property taxes and refilling their propane tank. The old classrooms were all converted into the primary bedroom, kid's bedrooms, living room, and kitchen. Grissom has added turkey decor throughout the living room to honor the schoolhouse's history as a barn and made mosaics for the entrances, one with the school's name and the other with its date of creation. The family has been in the home for a little while now and are thinking about what to do with their unfinished basement. It currently serves as a workshop, storage for the contractors' materials, and a play area for the kids.

The couple pays homage to the old schoolhouse with their decor. Phil Yunker for CNBC Make It
Dodla Dairy targets 10% volume and 15% value growth for FY26

The company is focusing on deepening its presence in existing markets rather than expanding into new geographies in the coming year.
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Data protection authorities in Europe imposed fines amounting to 1.2 billion last year according to the seventh edition of commercial law firm DLA Pipers GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey.

For the period since January 28, 2024, this represents a decrease of 33 percent compared to the fines of the previous year. This is the first year-on-year decline in fines, it said  although 2023 was unusual: Ireland fined Meta a record 1.2 billion that year, and no comparable fines were imposed in 2024.

In total, the fines imposed since GDPR came into force in May 2018 amount to 5.88 billion. Large technology companies and social media giants in particular have had to pay. Almost all of the ten highest fines imposed since 2018 relate to the tech industry, including the fines of 310 million euros imposed on LinkedIn by the Irish data protection authority in 2024 and a 251 million fine for Meta.
The official Saturday Night Live YouTube channel is stocked with hundreds of sketches from the shows five decades of comedy but only one has passed the magic 100-million view mark. Matt Foley screaming at David Spade and Christina Applegate? Nope. Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell rapping about Lazy Sunday? Not even close.

To keep you in suspense just a little longer, lets count down the top five

1 Porn Teacher: 106 Million Views

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The most viewed video on SNLs YouTube channel is Amy Schumers Porn Teacher sketch? Really?

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Can you believe that? the comic asked Howard Stern this week. The most viewed SNL sketch of all time is me and Kyle Mooney.

At first, Schumer said, she was shocked to hear that the sketch ended up in the top slot. Im like, No way. And I go and its like 100-something million. It has more than Cowbell, you know, the most classic. Then Im like, most people are really perverts. I get it.

To be fair, the sketch is pretty funny as well. Its a parody of both terrible acting in porn and stilted scripts that seem ridiculous even for sex-scene set-ups. The sketchs great idea: Insert Aidy Bryant as a real school kid who cant quite understand why Ricky is getting so much special attention from Teacher.

Given Sterns public obsession with porn, the bit was right in his wheelhouse. Who wrote that sketch? he asked.

Some pervert, Schumer said with a shrug,

Given the online popularity of Porn Teacher, Schumer wants to bring the concept back for SNLs 50th anniversary show but with a typical porn twist: Im like a realtor or something.

Stern praised the sketch as Schumers Cashmere, the classic Led Zeppelin track that became the groups signature song.

Schumer agreed. Thats what my son will remember me for.
Conspiracy theories are rampant in modern Hollywood, with internet weirdos claiming that Avril Lavigne died and was replaced with a lookalike, Beyonce runs the Illuminati, Logan Paul is a talented performer, etc. But viewers back in the day didnt need the internet to be weird. Conspiracy theories were just as prevalent in Old Hollywood, there just weren't any subreddits to share them on.

5 James Dean Faked His Death Rumors of faked death have plagued everyone from Elvis to Tupac, but they go back at least as far as James Dean, whose fans immediately refused to believe he really perished in a 1955 car crash. The car, which was put on display by its new owner, wasnt damaged enough to have withstood a deadly crash, they insisted, so he must have been either disfigured to the point of being hidden by the studio or used the accident as an excuse to escape Hollywood while the studio used his death to drum up publicity for his posthumous movies. In reality, Deans car was totaled and the display model was probably fake, but we can still hope he lived out his days in blissful obscurity.

4 Lana Turner, Not Her Daughter, Stabbed Her Boyfriend In 1958, movie star Lana Turners 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, confessed to stabbing and killing her mothers abusive gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stomponato, in defense of her mother during an argument. Thanks to Cranes apparent lack of emotion about the whole thing and Turners dramatic testimony, some suspected that it was actually Turner who had killed her boyfriend, convincing Crane to take the fall because she risked less punishment as a minor. Crane did get off scot-free after the death was ruled justifiable homicide, but theres not much evidence either way beyond Cranes insistence that no mother would do that, and hey, thats fair.

3 William Randolph Hearst Mistook a Studio Head for Charlie Chaplin and Shot Him Advertisement In 1924, Thomas Ince, known as the Father of the Western, celebrated his 42nd birthday on media mogul William Randolph Hearsts yacht, suffering a fatal heart attack due to a little too much partying. Thats the official story, anyway. An employee of another guest, Charlie Chaplin, claimed to have seen Ince bleeding from a gunshot wound to the forehead after being shot by Hearst, who mistook him for Chaplin, believing that Chaplin was having an affair with his mistress, actress Marion Davies. Nevermind that nobody at Inces open casket funeral noted a forehead wound; the shooting was allegedly witnessed by gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who kept quiet in exchange for a job from Hearst, even long after Hearst himself was dead. She could never.

2 The Mafia Got Frank Sinatra His Role in From Here to Eternity Advertisement Advertisement After Sinatra turned in an Oscar-winning performance in the 1953 film, it was rumored that he only got the part because of his Mafia connections, specifically that his made buddies threatened a producer with a horse head in the bed, inspiring The Godfather author Mario Puzo. In reality, his wife at the time, movie star Ava Gardner, persuaded the studio heads wife to convince her husband to give him the role. In other words, he got it the old-fashioned way: sex and nepotism.
McElhenney will make the most of his TV-MA rating when Always Sunny gets a turn with the crossover

On a very special episode of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Paddys Pub Gang is going to give the teachers of Willard R. Abbott Elementary School a crash-course in colorful vocabulary.

The most highly anticipated sitcom crossover event in the history of Philadelphia has an unusual but brilliant format devised by Abbott Elementary creator and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia superfan Quinta Brunson. Instead of picking one series for the two shows to join forces upon and subject the fans of the visiting team to unfamiliar camera angles and editing decisions, both Abbott and Always Sunny get a turn with the crossover, first in the Abbott midseason premiere Volunteers that released earlier this month and then in a yet-untitled Always Sunny episode that will air during the shows upcoming 17th season this June.

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That means that, after forcing the Paddys Pub Gang to self-censor to fit in the TV-PG constraints and save some students from emotional scarring, Brunson and her co-stars will take a walk on the TV-MA side with all the unbridled vocabulary and graphic scenes featuring dog masturbation that come with it.

During Rob McElhenney's appearance on the Wednesday night episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and creator warned Abbott Elementary fans who are still too scared to venture over to the dark side of Hulu that Janine, Jacob and maybe even Ms. Barbara Howard herself will soon have to use some four-letter words that wont show up in the school spelling bee.

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The way that we looked at the episodes is that we shot the same story from two different perspectives, McElhenney explained of the crossovers conceit, then understating, Abbott has a very specific family tone, Sunny has a very specific un-family tone. But we thought it would be interesting if we told the same story, except told through the prism of each individual tone.

Kimmel then asked his guest, So we wont see the characters from Abbott Elementary cursing and being deplorable, will we?

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Oh, McElhenney relished, yes we will.

McElhenney explained that, since the cast of Always Sunny paid their dues and their debt to society while pretending to be upstanding citizens, its now their turn to make the working stiffs of West Philly sink to the South Philly level. Well, we had to play nice on their show, and we got them to play bad on ours, McElhenney puckishly teased.

Even if they may have personal objections to the obscene language of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Abbott Elementary characters should count their blessings that they only have to play bad, not play CharDee MacDennis.
The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was recently nominated for eight Academy Awards. But just think of how many more nominations it would have gotten had the filmmakers included a scene in which Dylan shares a bed with the future star of Caddyshack.

As odd as it may sound, this scene wasnt totally off the table, seeing as how Chase once claimed to have spent the night with the legendary musician.

During an episode of the short-lived Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show, the late comedian, and Bob Dylan superfan, asked Chase if he had any good Dylan stories. His response was more than a little surprising: I slept with him.

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Chase went on to explain that he was attending Bard College at the time, just across the river from his hometown of Woodstock, New York. He comes over, and hes trying to teach himself the piano, Chase said of Dylan. We had a stand up piano (at Bard) that was out of tune. And were all in our rooms studying, and you can hear him (playing the piano). Just awful.

Chase went on to explain that he actually told Dylan to knock it off: Finally we went down, I said, Bob, please, were studying. He got a little mopey. And he went and sat by the fireplace, and he took his guitar out. Within literally five minutes, the whole place was in that room. Everybody just wanted to hear him play and sing.

But at the end of the night, Dylan didnt have a place to stay. So he got into bed with me, Chase said. I mean, like a single bed. All night. He was wearing a jean shirt, and jean pants. They all smelled like an ashtray.

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When Chase came to the end of the story, Macdonald had just one takeaway:

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Is any of this true? Hard to say. After all, it isnt the first time that Chase has claimed to have been intimate with a music legend. For starters, Chases suggestion that Dylan was teaching himself to play the piano is a little suspicious, because Dylan had already taught himself to play the piano when he was a kid, before he even took up the guitar. He was no guy from Shine, but his piano playing wouldnt have been unlistenable.

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Chase graduated from Bard in 1967, and transferred there in his second year of college, which would mean that he was there beginning around 1964. Well, Dylan began periodically living in Woodstock as early as 1963. And there is a famous legend involving Dylan and Bard College; its long been rumored that Dylans line the pump don't work cause the vandals took the handle that concludes 1965s Subterranean Homesick Blues, was a reference to a real water pump at Bard.

The pump sits outside of the schools publications building, which in the 60s, it was a rooming house/bar/restaurant called Adolphs, where Dylan was supposedly a frequent patron.

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Of course, none of this backs up Chases story, but I did happen to stumble upon a 2016 alumni interview with someone from the same graduating class as Chase. He specifically recalled that Dylan used to come on campus and give impromptu concerts, including at Sottery Hall and Ward Manor, the dorm where Chase lived along with his Steely Dan buddies. But Dylan wasnt just giving free shows out of the goodness of his heart. Frankly, he was looking for girls, the former Bard student stated.

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So much of what Chase said was true  except the parts about him telling Dylan to shut up, and later spooning together, cannot be verified at this time.
There have been a lot of stories over the past year about the various feuds between the surviving members of Monty Python. And while that may be kind of a bummer for fans to hear, Sir Michael Palin recently pointed out that one source of interpersonal friction was a key part of what made much of their comedy so great.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Palin discussed his career as a travel documentary host, as well as his published diaries, which chronicled the early years of Monty Python. When the Times suggested that Eric Idle was upset by the diarys release, Palin explained that none of these public beefs would last long if the Pythons were in closer proximity to one another. The great thing about Python was, when we were all together, any disputes we had were dealt with fairly briskly, Palin clarified. I dont get to talk to Eric as much as Id like to. Itd be nice if we could all sit down and just be as we were when we were writing the comedy shows.

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Palin was also asked about his relationship with John Cleese, specifically because his characterization in the diary seems to reflect their onscreen chemistry in sketches. It does, in an interesting way, Palin admitted. A lot of the things that we did that people enjoyed were scenes where I would annoy John. This is a cheese shop? Yes sir, finest in the district. Its a quite nice relationship, but its a bit like that in real life.

Its true, some of the absolute best Monty Python sketches found Palin irritating the hell out of Cleese. In addition to the Cheese Shop routine, obviously theres the Dead Parrot sketch, in which Palins stubborn refusal to admit that a pet bird has expired incenses Cleeses overly-verbose customer.

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Although, in other sketches, like Argument Clinic and Fish License, the dynamic switches, and its Cleese whos playing the irrational pest role (even though hes playing the same character from Dead Parrot, Mr. Praline). Those sketches were also able to mine laughs from an unspoken tension between the two performers.

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And, as weve mentioned before, a number of their joint talk show interviews were also playfully hostile  so much so that Palin actually slapped Cleese in the face on more than one occasion.

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Palin told The New York Times that this simmering agitation can be traced back to the groups respective university educations. John is a Cambridge man, and he occasionally found the Oxford Pythons (Palin and Terry Jones)] a little bit woolly-minded, Palin revealed, adding that, John and I could play up the difference between us, if you like. John can be cruel and I can be a bit soppy, and the mix of the two works really well.

So, for all we know, the Dead Parrot sketch would have been a total failure if not for Cleeses academic snobbery.
No sooner had the Chancellor declared that economic growth was 'the number one mission of this government', than a Scottish judge made a mockery of it.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh, acting on a case brought by eco-campaigners, ruled that the Rosebank oilfield off Shetland  one of the largest in the North Sea  may not be touched.

Too bad for the energy companies that have sunk billions into our oil and gas fields. Too bad for the workers they employ. Too bad for taxpayers who must make up the lost revenue. And too bad for every company in this country that relies on energy  from steel mills to AI firms.

Energy is not just one among many commodities. It is the motor of efficiency, the vector of economic growth, the ultimate poverty-buster. The story of human civilisation is the story of falling fuel prices. As we moved from muscle power to steam power to oil power, we liberated our species from back-breaking toil.

Now we are going in the opposite direction, ripping out our industrialised economy and replacing it with something inferior. And, bizarrely, we are pretending that we can do so without making ourselves poorer. I feel almost sorry for Rachel Reeves. I am sure she is sincere when she talks of 'growth' as the way to cut hospital waiting lists, improve the lives of working people and, indeed, meet our climate goals.

But, like every previous Chancellor, she is up against the Blob. Anti-runway campaigners know that, if things get serious, they need only go to court to get a ruling similar to the Rosebank judgment. I say 'almost' because Labour cannot just blame the Blob. It chooses to keep the net zero target on the statute book, subordinating other policies to it.

The Government's split between growth and greenery has never been so pronounced. After all, Labour is choosing to accelerate our immiseration, bringing forward the plan to decarbonise the grid by five years. Labour decided to drop its opposition to the Rosebank protesters, more or less guaranteeing their victory. But  even if it were serious about growth, even if it did want to frack and drill and build nuclear power stations at every opportunity  Labour would still be halted by woke bureaucrats, as in this case, with judges making such landmark decisions based on possible carbon emissions.

'The age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impacts is over,' said a spokesman for Greenpeace, one of the organisations that brought the legal challenge.

Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband is pictured outside Downing Street

The Stena Spey oil rig off the coast of the Scottish Highlands. A judge has upheld a legal challenge by environmental campaigners against the decision to grant consent to two new oil and gas fields in the North Sea

Climate protesters stage a demonstration outside Shell's headquarters in London

Climate activists demonstrate against Rosebank oil and gas field in Edinburgh

In other words, never mind how you vote. Some things will be elevated above the field of politics. The USSR elevated communism over democracy. Iran elevates Islam over democracy. Now Britain elevates Net Zero over democracy.

I write as someone who accepts that the world is heating, partly because of human activity. But I have come to realise that the ecologist movement is less interested in cutting greenhouse gases than in dismantling capitalism.

'Giving society cheap, abundant energy at this point would be the moral equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun,' wrote Paul Ehrlich, the father of the green movement, in 1975.

Perhaps Energy Secretary Ed Miliband thinks this way. Or perhaps he has convinced himself that the transition will somehow 'create green jobs'. But this is true only in the sense that banning mechanical diggers would 'create shovelling jobs'.

Miliband admits that we need fossil fuels during the transition. So why phase them out at home  where they are cleaner and cheaper than those we must now import from dirty (in every sense) dictatorships? What fools they must take us for.

Lord Hannan of Kingsclere is president of the Institute for Free Trade.
Some people fear Artificial Intelligence. They fret about the lack of human touch, its robotic nature, the threat it may pose to our freedom.

Will AI rob us? Will its workings be transparent? Will it seize power and become tyrannous?

Three senior civil servants came to the Commons public accounts committee to discuss AI.

The trio were, to use an expression used by one of them, 'top-of-the-shop level'. Their language was as codified and as tangled by acronyms as any computer's JavaScript.

The main performer: Sarah Munby, permanent secretary at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

A bustling, barging conversationalist. If you think that's another way of saying she barely stopped gassing, you would not be wrong.

Ms Munby could have been one of those computer printers that acquires a mind of its own and, for hours, will disgorge yet more sheets of paper, the cogs and wheels and gear-teeth of its inner gubbins ceaselessly chattering and whirring.

You try to press the CANCEL button and nothing happens. You yank out its plug from the socket on the wall and, spookily, the reams of unwanted data just keep spooling forth. Welcome, as Rod Serling used to say, to the Twilight Zone.

Lib Dem MP Rachel Gilmour (pictured), a new arrival at Westminster, was swathed in a purple faux fur and wore her glasses atop her brow, Jackie Onassis-style

From left to right: Catherine Little, Sarah Munby and David Knott. The trio were, to use an expression used by one of them, 'top-of-the-shop level'. Their language was as codified and as tangled by acronyms as any computer's JavaScript

Ms Munby could have been one of those computer printers that acquires a mind of its own and, for hours, will disgorge yet more sheets of paper, the cogs and wheels and gear-teeth of its inner gubbins ceaselessly chattering and whirring

To one side of Robot Munby sat Cat Little, permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office and 'chief operating officer' of the civil service.

Linguistics professors previously revered jaunty Ms Little as the most natural, gifted gibberist of her day (gibberist, n., a person fluent in high, sustained gibberish). As this hearing unfolded it has to be conceded that in Ms Munby we had a contender for Ms Little's crown.

The third of the trio was David Knott, chief technology officer for the Central Digital and Data Office, a new unit created, at no little cost, to cope with AI.

Mr Knott looked a little over-awed to be beside the verbal volcano known as Mount Munby. When he eventually spoke (it took him 40 minutes to screw up the courage) he proved a mumbler. Seemed terrified.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, was a tight, tautly-drawn Knott. Sitting behind him in the public seats (the press table again having been colonised by a claque of clerks), one could not hear everything he said.

Ms Munby had no problem with volume. Heaven knows what she was on about, mind you.

Square of jaw, flexing two farmyard forearms, she was soon barrelling on about action plans and interfaces, service transformation and the change agenda. We heard of suites, whole suites, tools, toolkits, organic growth, strategy and drive.

'Music to our ears,' said Rachel Gilmour (Lib Dem, Tiverton & Minehead).

Ms Little was one of three senior civil servants came to the Commons public accounts committee to discuss AI

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Con, North Cotswolds) rummaged in his own toolkit and said something about 'frameworks for procurement'

Ms Gilmour, a new arrival at Westminster, was swathed in a purple faux fur and wore her glasses atop her brow, Jackie Onassis-style. I may be wrong but I'd say she had just wandered in from the sun-deck of a chalet bar at Courmayeur.

Ms Munby was by now hailing civil servants as 'model-builders at one end of the funnel'. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Con, North Cotswolds) rummaged in his own toolkit and said something about 'frameworks for procurement'.

Ms Munby effortlessly trumped him with 'a very challenging procurement journey'. See what I mean? She's good, this lady. 'Commonality,' she cried. 'Piloting and scaling. Collective use cases. Digital roadmaps. Not ready for primetime.'

A delegation of Commonwealth parliamentarians was in attendance. Poor things, they must have wondered if Britain still spoke English.

Ms Little, chipping from the bunker, offered 'senior leadership in commercial' and 'digital-data and innovation pathways'.

The galleries murmured admiration, even more so when she used 'onboard' as a verb and when she 'pegged payframes' and welcomed 'a holistic package'.

The champion was not surrendering her title without a fight.

She boasted, furthermore, that she had just been to the global government summit, a blue-riband freebie organised in Singapore by that great, glistening yogi of gibberists, Gus O'Donnell.

Fear not, little flock, about AI being incomprehensible. It can't be worse than Whitehall.
There can be no greater example of Labour's naive attitude to growth and business than its refusal to back an investment on Merseyside by British pharmaceutical pioneer AstraZeneca.

As the country's biggest company, with a market value of 176 billion, AstraZeneca was a hero of the pandemic  rapidly developing the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine which saved countless lives in Britain and across the globe.

In failing to support the project Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are committing an act of self-harm which makes a nonsense of their agenda to turn Britain into a science powerhouse.

Since Labour came to office there has been unlimited support for the public sector unions and scant recognition that private enterprise is the bedrock of prosperity.

Under the leadership of French boss Pascal Soriot, the company has established itself at the cutting edge of UK scientific, healthcare and medical research. It is precisely the type of firm the UK needs if it is to become the kind of bioscience and tech hub Rachel Reeves envisaged in her growth speech earlier this week.

AZ has already invested some 1 billion in a state-of-the-art pharma, open-access research centre in Cambridge which leads the way on cancer treatments.

The group has become frustrated with Labour penny-pinching over support for a world-class 450 million vaccine plant in an area of Liverpool desperate for new industry.

Starmer's government cut support, originally promised by the Tories, in a grotesque example of failing to back the UK's research and manufacturing capacity.

Pictured: The AstraZeneca headquarters in Cambridge (file photo)

Alex Brummer (pictured) has said there is no greater example of Labour's naive attitude to growth and business than its refusal to back an investment on Merseyside by AstraZeneca

Chancellor Rachel Reeves during a business meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (and top executives from some of Britain's major businesses in central London

The uncaring attitude of Labour towards Britain's top company is totally at variance with policy in the United States where investment by AstraZeneca in research-based industries receives generous tax breaks and subsidies from federal and state government.

Last year the company revealed it is planning to invest some 2.9 billion on research and development in the US, taking advantage of financial incentives to bring more science and industry to the US.

In 2014 AstraZeneca (with the help of the Daily Mail) fought a lonely battle to avoid being taken over by American rival Pfizer which wanted to acquire its pioneering work on immunology treatments for cancer.

Since then, AZ shares have soared 589 per cent and it has now overtaken oil giant Shell to become the UK's most valuable enterprise.

My greatest fear is that Labour's neglect of one of the UK's few global giants may eventually tempt it to up sticks and move its science, headquarters and share listing to the US. That would be a catastrophe.
Influencers say that using a banana acts as an 'exfoliant' to give 'glowy' skin

Skincare experts have slammed Gen Z's latest TikTok trend of using banana peel on their faces.

Influencers have been rubbing the peels all over their skin as an 'exfoliant', claiming it makes it more 'glowy' and that it has anti-aging properties as a 'natural Botox'.

Indeed, searches for 'banana peel face mask' have risen by 100% and 'banana peel skincare' by 33 per cent in the last three months, according to skincare brand Absolute Collagen, while videos of the trend on TikTok have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

However experts and doctors have condemned the trend as 'misinformation', saying its effectiveness as an exfoliant is limited, and may only end up irritating their skin.

While bananas contain the antioxidant lutein, which can help brighten the skin, the skin cannot successful absorb this through direct application.

Kali Thompson, from London, told her 250,000 followers in a video that she'd been using 'banana Botox' on her skin for the past few months.

As she rubbed the banana peel on her face, she explained: 'A few months ago I started rubbing banana peels on my face and I swear it's made my skin glow more!

'I saw this woman on here, and she said that it's nature's Botox and she said that it has enzymes in it and I think it exfoliates your face or something.

Skincare experts have slammed Gen Z's latest TikTok trend of using banana peel on their faces. Pictured: Kali Thompson from London tries the hack

'But my skin has gotten so much more glowy! I do it every morning. I love that I can rub banana peel on my face every day but I actually can't be a**** to change my pillow case when this is probably the real issue here for my skin.

'Honestly try it, stick with it for a couple of months and you are going to look like you've had a facelift.'

Another TikTok user, @yourmategingerkate gave a tutorial on using banana skins.

Kate, who lives in Kent and is in her 40s, advocates for using all natural skincare products.

Describing her method of using the bananas, she said: 'You are going to get the inside part of your banana skin, and all you are going to do is literally rub that all over your face. This is a brilliant exfoliator, it's brilliant for moisturising the skin.

'It's got enzymes in it which really act as a natural Botox. This is brilliant for fine lines and wrinkles. It's really really easy and takes two minutes to do.'

She said she will then leave the banana on her face for around 15 minutes before rinsing with warm water and patting dry.

Millie Margot from Birmingham tried out the hack after seeing it in the newspaper and said it felt 'so beyond weird' and that she wouldn't be trying it again after it caused her eczema to flare up.

Millie Margot from Birmingham tried out the hack after seeing it in the newspaper and said it felt 'so beyond weird'

TikTok user @Nazeea, who is based in Toronto, said she tried the hack after seeing it would help with 'hydration, brightening, hyperpigmentation and be preventative Botox'

She said: 'I don't think I'll be doing that again, but I'll be honest, my skin feels very smooth!

'Don't do it on your eye eczema, because my eczema is burning! It is on f**ing fire.

'Other than that, my skin is glowing, but is that moisturiser?'

Skincare experts, including Dr Dave Reilly, head scientist at Absolute Collagen, have expressed doubts about the trend.

He said: 'While eating bananas may be good for your skin, one of the latest TikTok money-saving trends is saving the peel to rub on your face.

'This trend has come from claims that banana skins contain 'lutein', an antioxidant that can help brighten the skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

'Other videos on the social media platform suggest that the banana peel will also act as an exfoliant for your skin.

'While it may be true that banana peel contains this antioxidant, it will not be topically absorbed through direct application to the skin. The concentration of lutein in the peel is also not high enough to produce significant results.'

Another TikTok user, @yourmategingerkate gave a tutorial on using banana skins

Kali said that she has been using banana peels for a few months and has noticed a new glow to her skin

Seeing influencers try out the banana peel 'hack' has inspired many TikTok users to do the same

Dr Reilly added that while exfoliation is an 'essential' step in a skincare routine, a banana skin will have 'limited' effectiveness, and it could actually irritate the skin.

He said: 'Unfortunately, TikTok trends like these often spread misinformation about skincare and can become popular quickly.

'That is why I would always recommend sticking to your trusted skincare routine and avoiding any skincare 'hacks' to minimise the risk of irritation.'

TikTok commenters were also divided about the trend as while some claimed it was a staple of their skincare routine, others said it had given them spots and rashes.

People said: 'It works! I leave the peels on the worst creases for 30min. I used to do Botox. I don't need Botox anymore';

'I do this every morning it works it's amazing';

'I broke out and gave clear skin normally gutted so want to try all natural but first try and rash';

'Wait does this actually work??? It doesn't break you out????';

TikTok commenters were also divided about the trend as while some claimed it was a staple of their skincare routine, others said it had given them spots and rashes

'Y'all be doin anything bruh i'm crine';

'Sensitive skin .. don't try plz. Tried this like a year ago along with the egg white thing and my skin got a bad reaction';

'I tried this and it broke my face out so bad.'

'There's no topical or food supplement that is going to give you the same effect Botox can when you inject it,' Dr Geeta Yadav, a dermatologist based in Toronto, said previously in reaction to the trend.

Meanwhile Dr Taylor Bullock, a dermatology resident at the Cleveland Clinic added: 'There's no scientific evidence to suggest that rubbing a banana peel on your face is going to help with wrinkles, dark circles or inflammation.'

Dr Yadav said that while banana peels do have antimicrobial properties, the benefits are so small that it's unlikely you'll notice them.

Instead, she recommended an over the counter skin product like vitamin C serum.

Any skin benefits you might get from banana peels are thought to lie with the high quantity of antioxidants found in the fruit.

Antioxidants are compounds that absorb harmful particles called free radicals that can cause stress and damage to DNA over time, according to Dr Bullock. They're found naturally in many foods like blueberries, green tea and cocoa, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

Antioxidants can help fight cellular damage caused by UV ways from the sun, smoke and pollution.

But banana peels probably aren't the most efficient way to increase your intake of antioxidants. Antioxidant products applied to the face, like vitamin C serums are probably more potent ways to get the skin benefits.

'In theory, you could probably get some antioxidants by rubbing the peel on your skin,' Dr Bullock said. 'If your goal is to have a skin care routine full of antioxidants, you're much better off applying an antioxidant-rich skin care product to your face instead.'
As love stories go, it was, in key details, an age-old one. She was a young woman of show-stopping beauty, he had less obvious physical charms, being thickset, grey-haired and 27 years her senior.

He compensated for it by owning an Italian palazzo, a chateau outside Paris, an 18th-century residence at Hampton Court and another in Moscow  and by flying from one to the next by private jet.

But, says Vogue model and style icon Elena 'Lena' Perminova announcing her divorce from KGB colonel-turned-oligarch Alexander Lebedev, 'even the most beautiful stories come to an end'.

Stressing that they are parting on the best of terms she adds: 'There was a lot of kindness and goodness. And most importantly four wonderful children came out of all this. They couldn't have wished for a better father.'

KGB colonel-turned-oligarch Alexander Lebedev and Elena 'Lena' Perminova have announced their dicorce

The Vogue model and style icon was born into a family in which money was tight and was arrested at the age of 16

It's an impeccably optimistic spirit  one which perhaps owes something to her escape from an unpromising start in life. Born into a family in which money was tight, Lena was persuaded to deal in ecstasy by an older, unscrupulous boyfriend.

Arrested aged 16, she was sentenced to a six-year stretch, which, in its grimmest moments, saw her confined to a claustrophobic cell.

Her father pleaded for help from a member of Russia's parliament  Lebedev. He married Lena, who's now 38, in 2005. 'He was my angel,' Lena later said. 'There is no other word for it.'

Taras Romanov, a 6 ft 3 in toned male model is believed to be comforting Lena after her split with Alexander

In 2011, Lebedev punched a fellow guest when appearing on Russian television, and was subsequently sentenced to community service for disorderly conduct.

Let's hope that he remains in touch with his angelic side  especially when he learns the identity of the man said to be comforting Lena after their split. He is Taras Romanov, a 6 ft 3 in toned male model.

Taras declines to comment. Perhaps that's wise. A Ukrainian, he describes himself as a 'freedom fighter' and makes no secret on social media of his support for his country's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Lebedev publicly supported Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Petra leaves LA behind and returns home to London

When Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone moved her family to Los Angeles from their home in Chelsea in 2018, she had hoped it would be a haven away from the 'unsafe' streets in London.

Now, however, billionaire Bernie Ecclestone's younger daughter has returned after nearly losing her 25 million mansion to the wildfires.

'We got evacuated and haven't been back since,' Petra, 36, tells me at the Autosport Awards at the Roundhouse, where her father was honoured with the 75th Anniversary Award.

'We were in a hotel for a few days, realised it was getting bad and came back to our London home,' she says.

Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone moved her family to Los Angeles from their home in Chelsea in 2018

The future is green at the palace

King Charles is said to 'love' Ed Miliband's efforts to make Britain greener, even though the Energy Secretary's zealous push to meet Net Zero targets is reportedly alienating some fellow ministers.

So this will please 'Red Ed'  the Royal Household has applied for planning permission to install seven electric vehicle charging points at four locations around St James's Palace.

'Reducing the palace's carbon footprint has become a key aim for Royal Household Property Section in the build-up to the UK becoming carbon neutral by 2050,' says a palace statement.

F1 star Coulthard is ready to wed again

As a Formula 1 driver for 15 seasons, his career was built on speed. But David Coulthard prefers to take things slowly when it comes to his love life.

Swedish model Sigrid Silversand tells me that he has proposed to her after four years together. 'It was a surprise as David is really good at hiding stuff,' she says. 'He kept it a secret and asked my parents for permission to marry me. He's a proper gentleman and there are only a few of them left.'

The retired racing star, 53, proposed to Sigrid, 29, in Mauritius. 'I wasn't nervous proposing,' he tells me at a party in London. 'I'm very happy.'

He separated from wife Karen Minier, a Belgian TV presenter, in 2021 after eight years. They have a son, Dayton.

Retired racing star David Coulthard and Swedish model Sigrid Silversand are getting married

Late peer's past as a turncoat Labour MP

He was, in his pomp, every inch a lord, from the patrician face and equestrian prowess to the membership of no fewer than three gentlemen's clubs  not to mention possession of a splendid, 18th-century country pile, Frampton Hall in Lincolnshire.

But the death aged 80, announced yesterday, of Lord Davies of Stamford has prompted memories of his unusual path to his peerage.

Quentin Davies had been a Tory MP for 20 years before defecting to Labour in 2007 when he said leader Gordon Brown was someone 'I have always greatly admired'. Presumably he'd forgotten that, two years earlier, he'd called Brown 'extraordinarily incompetent'.

Triple-Bafta winner Mike Leigh's new film, Hard Truths, follows the life of a troubled woman who is quickly enraged by 'inconsiderate' strangers.

The director admits to having a complaint of his own when it comes to the public's behaviour.

'My gripe is people who walk about with umbrellas without any consideration for what the spokes are going to do to people's eyeballs,' he says at a screening at London's Barbican Centre.

Triple-Bafta winner Mike Leigh's new film, Hard Truths, follows the life of a troubled woman who is quickly enraged by 'inconsiderate' strangers

This Morning presenter Ashley James says her working-class parents were determined to send her brother to public school because of his hair colour.

The former Made In Chelsea star says: 'My brother, he's very academic, ginger. My parents were very worried how he'd cope [at state school]. They just didn't want my brother to be bullied.'

Ashley was also sent to boarding school. 'All the girls in my year had titles,' she says. 'I even remember going to friends in the holidays. They'd teach me how to curtsy.'
A treasured chocolate bar is making its return to a major UK supermarket after a three year hiatus for just 45p.

Fans of the Crispy Rolls mourned when chocolate bosses pulled the sweet treat from shelves three years ago.

Now, chocolate lovers will be delighted to discover that the dry spell is over, with Tesco stocking three variations.

Shoppers can currently get their hands on Bounty Crispy Rolls, Twix Crispy Rolls, and Milky Way Crispy Rolls at the supermarket for 45p on Clubcard price, according to food Instagram account @newfoodsuk.

Mars discontinued the beloved Milky Way Crispy Rolls in 2022, explaining that the chocolatey treat was 'in a galaxy far, far away'.

But the Crispy Rolls are now firmly back on planet earth, causing fans to rejoice over the happy news on social media.

Viewers took to the comment section to share their thoughts, with one saying: 'Excuse me while I sprint to Tesco.'

A second happy user added: 'The Bounty ones are so good!'

A selection of Crispy Rolls (pictured) are back on the shelves of a major UK supermarket, according to food Instagram account @newfoodsuk

'Even milky way?! Theyre my faves,' a third said.

A fourth wrote: 'On the shopping list!

MailOnline has contacted Tesco for comment.

It comes after Iceland also revealed that the chocolate bar will soon return to its shelves.

The budget supermarket took to X/Twitter to share the good news with its customers, announcing that everyone's 'favourite' chocolate is back.

Milky Way Crispy Rolls will hit Iceland's shelves on February 4 for a week alongside two brand-new additions - Bounty Crispy Rolls and Twix Crispy Rolls.

The frozen-food retailer will sell each chocolate bar for 50p - but shoppers who are particularly hungry have the option to buy all three for 1.20.

Although the Milky Way Crispy Bars are returning for a limited time only, chocoholics took to X to express their excitement.

'Hooray!' one overjoyed shopper exclaimed. 'I'm glad these chocolates are back in the shops. My stomach has missed them.'

Budget supermarket Iceland is also set to sell a limited quantity of the Milky Way Crispy Rolls for 50p

From February 4, Iceland will sell the Milky Way Crispy Rolls, the Bounty Crispy Rolls and the Twix Crispy Rolls for 50p each - but shoppers who are particularly hungry have the option to buy all three for 1.20

With his mouth clearly watering, another user described the Milky Way Crispy Bars as 'amazing' and a sugary snack that 'reminds me of my childhood'.

When news first landed of that the chocolate bars were to be discontinued, social media erupted with heartfelt posts, including one emotional tweet that summed up the nation's mood: 'Woke up to see apparently Crispy Rolls have been discontinued??! Week ruined nobody talk to me'.

At the time, a spokesperson for Mars Wrigley UK told The Sun: 'The love for Milky Way Crispy Rolls has been out of this world and we've certainly taken note!'

Three years later, nostalgic fans continued to rally for a chocolate comeback, with one Change.org petition amassing over 8,600 signatures.

Then a series of mysterious billboards appeared overnight in London showcasing a selection of passionate online pleas including a fan's humorous lament: 'When they decided to discontinue Milky Way crispy rolls, they decided to discontinue a part of me.'

Although the Milky Way Crispy Bars are returning for a limited time only, chocoholics took to X to express their excitement - saying that the chocolatey treat 'reminds me of my childhood'

A series of mysterious billboards appeared overnight in London showcasing a selection of passionate online pleas

One fan's humorous lament read: 'When they decided to discontinue Milky Way crispy rolls, they decided to discontinue a part of me'

The truth is now out: the billboard campaign was all part of the triumphant return of the fan-favourite Milky Way Crispy Rolls.

A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley commented: 'We don't shy away from our mistakes at Mars. We wanted to show that the people had spoken, and we had listened!

'This is a fan favourite, so we're celebrating by introducing two new flavours as well. This is all about you  our fans  eating and enjoying life's simple pleasures; Crispy Rolls!'

The sweet news comes just weeks after another discontinued chocolatey treat was spotted in Home Bargains.

Posting to the Snack Reviews group on Facebook, one user triumphantly declared that he found White Chocolate Crunch bars in the British budget store.

The much-loved snack, made from white chocolate and crisped rice, made a brief reappearance in Londis stores in April 2024 but Nestle later confirmed that there were 'no current plans to bring them back'.

So now that the beloved treat is back in stock at Home Bargains, fans have raced to to get their hands on a 100g bar for 1.39.

'Take my money,' one desperate user wrote on Facebook, while a second fan described it as the 'best chocolate ever'.

Others said they 'needed to try' the chocolate bar, with some hoping that the dark chocolate version would be returning as well.

The classic milk chocolate crunch is still widely available across British supermarkets - with a 100g bar retailing for around 1.40.

For those who are not lucky enough to have a Home Bargains nearby, one user said that she had seen the White Chocolate Crunch bar in Farmfoods.

'A bit cheaper at 1,' she said. 'They had the milk chocolate and white chocolate ones.'
Around the world, McDonald's is a staple for anyone in need of a quick meal on the go.

But although the fast-food chain might look the same from the outside, the menu offerings from London to Tokyo and Sydney couldn't be more varied.

In the UK, customers can enjoy variations of a chicken or beef burger, with chicken wraps, the restaurant's famous french fries and ever-changing McFlurry flavours also on the menu.

But across the Atlantic in Canada, restaurant-goers can tuck into plates of hot poutine, or enjoy a selection of 'McPops' - tiny, filled powdered doughnuts in a variety of flavours.

In India, the restaurant has curated items inspired by the local cuisine. This includes a number of paneer burgers and wraps, alongside 'Aloo' inspired potato patty sandwiches.

Those visiting Egypt could test out the McFalafel - a decadent wrap with falafel, salad and tahini in a toasted tortilla - or try a twist on the traditional apple pie, a strawberry custard pie.

McDonald's in Thailand even serves some dishes with rice, offering a sweet and spicy Kaprao Crispy Chicken meal, which can be topped off with a fried egg.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the menu items you won't find at your local...

The popular McSpicy Paneer features a piece of crispy, fried cheese in a warm bun, served with a spicy sauce and salad

India

McDonald's in India has a unique selection of menu items, largely inspired by the local cuisine.

The popular McSpicy Paneer features a piece of crispy, fried cheese in a warm bun, served with a spicy sauce and salad. It's an extremely popular menu item over in India, but is only one of a collection of offerings that feature Paneer.

The Butter Paneer Grilled Burger is a slightly different take on the item, with a grilled paneer slice - rather than breaded - and inspired by the much-loved curry of the same name.

The Butter Paneer Grilled Burger is a slightly different take on the item, with a grilled paneer slice - rather than breaded - and inspired by the much-loved curry of the same name

For the vegetarians is the Veg Maharaja Mac, an Indian-inspired take on the classic Big Mac

The paneer slice is sandwiched between 'super-soft sesame buns', and lathered in creamy makhani sauce. McDonald's also has a chicken variation of the burger, for those who prefer a meat option.

Also for the vegetarians is the Veg Maharaja Mac, an Indian-inspired take on the classic Big Mac. It features two corn and cheese patties, with jalapenos, salad and cocktail sauce between three bun slices.

Japan

McDonald's in Japan is home to a host of delicious items you won't find in the UK.

Among them are the popular Teriyaki McBurger - at 477kcal - which consists of a traditional beef patty covered in sweet and sticky teriyaki sauce. The burger is finished off with shredded lettuce, and a dollop of Japanese-style mayonnaise.

Also available is the Bai Shrimp Filet-O - at 570kcal. This seafood burger has a fried patty full of tender shrimp, topped with cocktail sauce and crispy lettuce.

On their dessert menu, McDonald's Japan sells the Melon McFloat. This 205kcal sweet treat features popular Japanese melon Fanta with a swirl of vanilla soft serve ice cream.

McDonald's in Japan is home to a host of delicious items you won't find in the UK. They include the Teriyaki McBurger (left) and the Bai Shrimp Filet-O (right)

On their dessert menu, McDonald's Japan sells the refreshing Melon McFloat

Thailand

Those in Thailand can tuck into some very unique menu items, inspired by popular Thai dishes.

One of the most popular is the Kaprao Crispy Chicken: fried chicken in sweet and spicy sauce, which is served with white rice. If you're particularly hungry, you can add a fried egg, too.

Also available are Patongko doughnuts, which are a popular street food in Thailand.

The deep-fried pastries are served with a condensed milk dip, but have also been accompanied by a pandan flavoured custard in the past.

Another interesting take on the McDonald's apple pie is Thailand's corn pie, which has a divisive filling of corn pieces and gooey, sweet corn syrup.

One of the most popular dishes in Thailand is the Kaprao Crispy Chicken - fried chicken in sweet and spicy sauce, which is served with white rice

Australia

If you're heading Down Under, there are a number of unusual menu items to try.

The first are the limited-edition Vegemite McShaker fries, inspired by the iconic yeast extract. The fries come with a Vegemite flavouring, which you add to classic McDonald's fries and shake in a bag to apply.

Also on offer is the McOz - in both chicken and beef - which includes a four-ounce (113g) beef patty, beetroot, tomato, lettuce, cheese, mustard and ketchup on a toasted bun.

McDonald's Australia also sells a selection of toasties, including a BBQ, Bacon and Cheese Toastie - and a traditional grilled cheese sandwich.

The McOz (left) - in both chicken and beef - includes a four-ounce (113g) beef patty, beetroot, tomato, lettuce, cheese, mustard and ketchup on a toasted bun

The limited-edition Vegemite McShaker fries are available in Australia, inspired by the iconic yeast extract

Canada

One very Canadian menu item on offer over the Atlantic Ocean is a plate of Poutine.

The meal - which clocks in at 870kcal - includes a bed of classic McDonald's fries, drowning in delicious gravy with a handful of gooey cheese curds on top. Other limited-edition variations have fried buffalo chicken.

Those in Canada can also get their hands on a 460kcal Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry over the winter months. The ice cream treat is flavoured with rich cocoa powder and mini marshmallows, which is swirled into vanilla soft serve.

Also available are a selection of 'McPops' - small, filled powdered doughnuts. They come in three flavours - white chocolate, berry and hazelnut and cocoa - which clock in at 120kcal each.

One very Canadian menu item on offer over the Atlantic Ocean is a plate of poutine

Those in Canada can also get their hands on a 460kcal Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry (left) over the winter months. Pictured right: McPops

Germany

Over in Germany, anyone heading to McDonald's can tuck into curly fries.

The brand new take on the classic french fries - at 470kcal for a medium serving -come with a flavourful seasoning and crispier-than-usual coating.

For the vegans heading to McDonald's, McPlant Nuggets are available in Germany.

The plant-based option - at 357kcal for a six-piece - is a twist on the much-loved McNugget, and can be accompanied by a variety of sauces.

On the sweeter side, customers can grab a selection of mini pancakes for 183kcal.

Over in Germany, anyone heading to McDonald's can tuck into curly fries

For the vegans heading to McDonald's, McPlant Nuggets are available in Germany

Italy

Elsewhere in Europe, Italians heading to McDonald's have the option of a pistachio-filled croissant - which clocks in at 355kcal.

But the pastry isn't the only unique item McDonald's in Italy has to offer, with customers able to swap their fries for a small block of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Those looking for a more substantial meal can opt for the McToast - at 234kcal - which is a panini-style sandwich containing a slice of prosciutto and a generous amount of cheese.

Elsewhere in Europe, Italians heading to McDonald's have the option of a pistachio-filled croissant - which clocks in at 355kcal

Those looking for a more substantial meal can opt for the McToast - at 234kcal - which is a panini-style sandwich containing a slice of prosciutto and a generous amount of cheese

Egypt

In Egypt, one very unique menu item is the McFalafel.

The decadent wrap features deep-fried chickpea and herb falafel, with salad and Tahini sauce in a large, toasted tortilla. It is a total of 357kcal for the wrap.

Also available is the strawberry custard pie, a brand new take on the traditional McDonald's apple pie. The Egyptian sweet treat contains strawberry compote in sweet custard, wrapped in a flaky, deep-friend pastry.

There are also slices of red velvet and chocolate cake available for those with a sweet tooth.

The McFalafel wrap features deep-fried chickpea and herb falafel, with salad and tahini sauce in a large, toasted tortilla

Also available is the strawberry custard pie, a brand-new take on the traditional McDonald's apple pie

South Korea

Back in Asia, and South Korean McDonald's has a take on traditional bulgogi.

The Bulgogi Burger - at 409kcal - is made with pork and flavoured with a sweet, sticky sauce. The thin patty can come with and without a fried egg, with crispy lettuce and inside a soft bun.

Also available in South Korea is the Shrimp Snack Wrap - at 287kcal - which features a small, deep-fried shrimp patty inside a soft tortilla.

And for dessert, there are bite-sized chocolate churros on the menu. The three-piece dessert clocks in at 253kcal, and they are filled with a chocolate syrup sauce.

The Bulgogi Burger - at 409kcal - is made with pork and flavoured with a sweet, sticky sauce

Also available in South Korea is the Shrimp Snack Wrap - at 287kcal - which features a small, deep-fried shrimp patty inside a soft tortilla

Saudi Arabia

The Chicken McArabia is a unique menu item available to those in Saudi Arabia.

The sandwich - which is 537kcal - has two grilled chicken patties inside Arabic bread, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and flavourful garlic sauce.

Also on the menu is the Big Breakfast, which has Halal sausage, a warm McMuffin and scrambled eggs, all for 431kcal.
Meghan Markle's Suits co-star revealed the royals' new Netflix series will give people 'an authentic look' at the royal.

Abigail Spencer, 43, who starred in the law firm drama alongside Meghan, also 43, is due to appear in her upcoming lifestyle series, With Love Meghan, which was postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.

Speaking to PEOPLE at the American Heart Association Red Dress Collection Concert on Thursday, the actress said she has learned 'a lot' from her former co-star.

She said: 'What I'm so excited about is that people will really get an authentic look at the woman that I love and know.

'Also, you're gonna learn a lot, I learned a lot from her and she actually gets to teach me something on the show. I'm just so grateful.'

'It's really from her heart. It really is with love,' Spencer says.

Abigail and Meghan starred on the USA Network drama together, which ran for nine seasons from 2011 to 2019.

The actress is a member of Meghan's inner circle despite her previously cutting several former co-stars from her life.

The Duchess of Sussex 's Suits co-star Abigail Spencer revealed Meghan Markle's new Netflix series will give people 'an authentic look' at the royal (pictured in 2016)

Abigail also made an emotional appearance in the Sussexes' 2022 Netflix documentary.

Talking in the documentary, Abigail revealed that she was one of the first people to learn about Meghan's then-secret relationship with Harry.

'It was 2016, Meghan and I met up in New York,' she recalled.

'We really enjoyed going to have tea and champagne at Bergdorf Goodman. We'd be like, 'Let's meet at the tea room at Bergdorfs.'

'She's like, 'Um yeah, I think I met someone and I'm in love. It's Prince Harry.''

Like several of Meghan's other friends who feature in the Netflix show, Abigail was full of excitement over the earliest stages of their relationship.

'I could just feel everything in her body vibrating,' she shared. 'We have a photo from that moment. I was screaming because I could tell it was different.

'It was very clear from the moment she told me about him that they were in love and they were going to go to the ends of the earth to be together.'

Meghan as Rachel Zane, Abigail Spencer as Dana Scott in 'God's Green Earth' Suits episode

Speaking to PEOPLE at the American Heart Association Red Dress Collection Concert on Thursday, the actress said she has learned 'a lot' from her former co-star

The new Netflix series, With Love Meghan, has been moved from its previously announced January premiere date to March 4 due to the ongoing devastation caused by the fires.

It comes after Abigail hailed Meghan's support for Los Angeles fire victims as 'excellent'.

Abigail took to social media to praise Archewell's post supporting victims of the devastating LA fires.

Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan shared resources and ideas for those 'compelled to help' victims of the California fires, while the couple made a surprise visit to hand out food to LA fires evacuees in Pasadena last month.

The couple, who live in Montecito, posted a link to various charities they've previously worked with and asked supporters to 'help those in need'.

Abigail shared the post to her Instagram, writing: 'Excellent vetted resources for those looking to help'.

Meghan and Abigail made headlines last April after they were seen beaming together in a series of Instagram pictures to support friend Kelly McKee Zajfen's Mother's Day campaign for her charity 'Alliance of Moms.'

Kelly, 44, also received one of the coveted jams and gushed over it on social media, saying how she was 'so proud' of the Duchess.

Abigail Spencer took to Instagram to share Archewell's post with resources to help LA fire victims

Abigail had a recurring role as Dana 'Scottie' Scott, Gabriel Macht's character's rival, on the legal drama Suits.

Having started her career on All My Children in 1998, she has since had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, A Beautiful Now, This Is Where I Leave You, and the crime thriller film The Forger following her departure from Suits.

She also received critical acclaim for starring as Amantha Holden in the Sundance Channel original drama series Rectify.

It comes as Harry and Meghan showed support for victims of the fires and handed out food parcels to those affected by the devastating fires at the Pasadena Convention Centre last month.

The couple were spotted hugging Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen - a company distributing free hot meals to the public and emergency crews in the wake of the wildfires.

Taking to their website, Sussex.com, the couple said: 'In the last few days, wildfires in Southern California have raged through neighborhoods and devastated families, homes, schools, medical care centers, and so much more  affecting tens of thousands from all walks of life.

'A state of emergency has been issued.

'If you feel compelled to help, here are some resources and ideas,' they wrote.

Meghan donned a 23 LA Dodger hat in the shade 'essential blue', featuring a Los Angeles Dodgers 'LA' logo in white on the front

Meghan spoke with Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, center, and Doug Goodwin, who's home was destroyed by the Eaton Fire, in Altadena

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are photographed speaking with Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo

They are also encouraging people to 'open their home' to others affected and to donated to American Red Cross.

'If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do. And be sure to check in with any disabled or elderly neighbors to see if they need help evacuating,'

'Some families and people have been left with nothing. Please consider donating clothing, childrens toys & clothing, and other essentials. The American Red Cross is on the ground helping those in need.,'

The couple were keen to provide any support they could, according to the Mayor, saying they were 'great people' with 'great personalities'.

'They really buoyed the spirits of the first responders. We visited the command post at the Rose Bowl and people were very happy to see them,' the Mayor added.

It comes after the couple opened the doors to their $29million mansion in Montecito, which is around 90 miles from LA, to their friends and loved ones who were forced to evacuate the ongoing wildfires.

Speaking to Fox News, Mayor Gordo said: 'They (Harry and Meghan) want to be as helpful as they can be and really they just want to be supportive.'

He added that the couple visited some of the burnt out houses in Pasadena and Altadena and spoke to those who had lost their homes.

'They took the time to meet the people who were affected and spend time. They are just very caring people who are very concerned for their friends and neighbours,' the Mayor said.

Ms Hirasuna then asked: 'I saw Meghan Markle stoop down and take the lid off of a plastic bin. Do they want to really get down and dirty?'

Mayor Gordo replied saying the couple 'were not here for publicity, they came out here to work'.

He said Harry and Meghan made an earlier appearance at the centre, during which they were 'anonymously' serving food to victims who were unable to recognise the pair with their masks on.

'We went to visit some of the families in the impacted area and view firsthand some of the impacted area and then they wanted to go visit the first responders and personally thank them for their efforts to help our families and their neighbors,' the Mayor added.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California's First Partner, was also pictured speaking to the couple along with Chef Andres.
The Princess of Wales was heading home but jumped out to speak to crowds

Kate delighted a young girl who was thrilled to meet a 'real-life princess' as she took part in her first royal 'away day' since 2023 in south Wales yesterday.

The Princess of Wales, 43, visited children's hospice Ty Hafan and Corgi sock manufacturer, which formed part of her 'slow and gradual' return to royal duties following her cancer treatment last year.

Kate was clearly in her element as she met with young children in the hospice, taking part in craft activities including a painted handprint, just as King Charles had done years earlier in his own role as patron.

After a long day, Kate was departing Corgi's premises in the royal convoy - when she suddenly broke protocol, jumping out of the car and running towards delighted fans who had been waiting to catch a glimpse of her.

Among them was three-year-old Lily-Rose Logan, who had been crying out 'hello princess' in a bid to capture her attention.

Lily-Rose was delighted when Kate came running up to her, and even asked in wonder if she was really a princess.

Kate was equally taken with Lily-Rose, and gave a very sweet response, explaining that she was indeed a princess.

She said: 'Yes I am! I wanted to come and say hello you and see your village, and what's going on here, and see this amazing factory.'

Kate delighted three-year-old Lily-Rose Logan who was thrilled to meet a 'real-life princess' as she took part in her first royal 'away day' since 2023 in south Wales yesterday

Lily-Rose then showed Kate her toy banana, and handed it over to her as a gift. As onlookers laughed, Kate politely handed it back, before Lily threw it on the floor, and the giggling princess went to retrieve it.

Kate said: 'Thank you for coming to say hello! I heard you saying hello from all the way back there, so I thought I should come and say hello to you. It's very nice to meet you.'

Lily-Rose sweetly exclaimed: 'I wanted to say hi to you!'

Kate added: 'Do you know what they make over here? They make socks and jumpers. It's very interesting. So maybe when you're older you can have a look in there! It's incredible what they're doing.'

Royal convoys rarely stop after leaving an engagement - but the Princess of Wales was clearly determined to meet with those who had turned up to welcome her.

As the convoy was heading away, Kate jumped out and ran towards delighted crowds, to cheers and cries of 'oh my god!'

As she ran over, the princess greeted crowds, saying: 'Who was calling? Can I shake your hand? What's your name? Hello, it's very nice to meet you.'

It was announced yesterday morning that Kate was the new patron of children's hospice Ty Hafan, taking over from King Charles, and also following in the footsteps of the late Princess Diana.

Kate met three-year-old Lily-Rose, who gifted her a banana and had been shouting 'hello princess'

Kate was equally taken with Lily-Rose, and gave a very sweet response, explaining that she was indeed a princess

Kate greeted members of the public after her visit to Corgi, a manufacturer in Wales

When Lily-Rose gifted her a banana, Kate politely declined the gift and handed it back

Despite being touched by the gift, Kate handed the banana back in a sweet moment

It wasn't long before the princess got stuck in to the visit, as she made a beeline for adorable children who visit the hospice who were using the soft play area.

She took part in a musical session with children suffering from life-limiting conditions and even had her hand painted red to leave a permanent memory of her visit - just as King Charles had done previously on two separate visits to the hospice, first in 2001 and then again in 2018.

Later in the day, Kate visited Corgi, a textiles manufacturer in Ammanford focusing on socks and knitwear.

The Princess of Wales had collapsed in giggles and declared herself 'terrible' at making socks during the visit.

Catherine took a seat at one machine where employee Shauna Kinsey, 24, showed her how to 'link' the toe to the sock, stitch by stitch.

The Princess spent several minutes trying to get to grips with the process, laughing at her own efforts.

'It's so fiddly,' she said. 'It's definitely not my forte.'

The Princess said Miss Kinsey, who has worked for the company for six years, 'made it look so easy'.

The Princess of Wales yesterday arrived for her first royal 'away day' since 2023 - as she continues her slow and gradual return to public duties

Kate got crafty on the solo visit, helping children with their art by painting their hands and appearing thoroughly in her element

Kate gets crafty! The Princess made art with her hands with the help of a young girl who painted her palm bright red

A royal work of art! the Princess made a piece of artwork out of her painted handprint and signed it with 'Catherine'

Kate's sweet artwork follows King Charles's lilac handprint from a visit to the hospice in 2018 when he was still the Prince of Wales

The princess wore her high street favourite, a dogtooth checked mini dress from Zara with puffed sleeves and a pussybow detail

Kate is following in the footsteps of Princess Diana to become the patron of the hospice. Diana is pictured in 1996 at an event raising funds for the hospice

She added: 'It's really hard. I'm sorry, I'm so terrible.'

Miss Kinsey admitted later that she had to unravel some of the Princess's work as she had been 'going in the wrong line'.

It is no coincidence that the princess has chosen South Wales to undertake two solo engagements given her title and love for the country and its people, sources have told the Mail.

The day was designed to showcase the work of 'long-established organisations with community at their core'.

The princess's visit focused on spotlighting the wellbeing of children and families as well as celebrating excellence in Welsh textiles manufacturing, both of which are themes close to her heart.

A source told the Mail: 'When she became the Princess of Wales she and her husband vowed to celebrate and service the dynamic nation that Wales is today.

'I think the Princess choosing a visit to Wales for her second solo engagement of 2025 signals the importance that she places on Wales and the love that she has for the nation and its people.'

The last joint 'away day' of engagement conducted by the princess was in early November 2023 and her last day of solo engagements was in September of the same year, when she visited her ancestors' former wool factory in Leeds.

Kate tried her hand at making the socks and knitwear, but later apologised for being so 'terrible' at it

Kate was given a sneak peak at some of the items the manufacturer was making

To coincide with her arrival, Kensington Palace announced that the princess had also become Patron of Ty Hafan Children's Hospice, following in the footsteps of the King and her husband's late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Irfon Rees, Chief Executive of Ty Hafan  which translates from Welsh to 'Haven House' in English  said: 'We are deeply honoured that Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales has become Patron of Ty Hafan and it was an absolute pleasure to welcome Her Royal Highness to our hospice for the first time today.

'As our Patron, Her Royal Highness will be an inspiration for children with life-shortening conditions and their families, our dedicated staff and volunteers and everyone who so generously supports us.

'No parent ever imagines that their child's life will be short. Sadly this is the reality facing thousands of families in Wales. We can't stop this happening, but together we can make sure that no one lives their child's short life alone.'

The wellbeing of children and their families has always been close to The Princess' heart, a palace aide said.

The first patronage Her Royal Highness took on when she became a Member of The Royal Family was EACH (East Anglia's Children's Hospice) and she maintains a close relationship with the organisation to this day.

The Princess is looking forward to building a similar relationship with Ty Hafan and the children and families it serves in Wales, they added.

Kate appeared to be having the time of her life as she got to try out making the socks herself

As Prince of Wales, King Charles was patron of Ty Hafan from 2001.

The position was previously held by Diana, Princess of Wales while the charity was in its fundraising stage.

Commenting on her patronage on the Kensington Palace X/Twitter account, the Princess said: 'A proud moment becoming Patron of Ty Hafan.

To mark the visit and the announcement of the patronage, Kensington Palace arranged for a donation of musical instruments to be provided to the charity to allow them to conduct more music therapy sessions in the future.

Although it has been a comparatively busy week for The Princess  with the Holocaust Memorial Day Service on Monday followed by the two engagements in Wales today - sources close to the princess are keen to stress that it remains part of a gradual, phased return to work.

Aides say the engagements this week are not a 'template' for the next few months and she is not 'fully back to work' yet. Her diary will, it is said, vary from week to week.

It was little over a year ago that she was admitted to hospital for serious abdominal surgery, after which doctors found there had been evidence of cancer present.

She underwent a gruelling course of preventative chemotherapy, which ended late last summer, and recently confirmed that she was officially in remission.

While thanking people for their ongoing support she warned, however, that her focus remains on her recovery and adjusting to a 'new normal' for the sake of her family.
Queen Mary of Denmark looked typically chic as she attended a farewell reception at the official residence of the Danish royal family in Copenhagen wearing a blush pink blouse on Thursday.

The Australian-born royal, 52, threw the soiree for her communications director Lene Balleby - who has worked for the Danish royals since 2008.

Cut from pure silk, the elegant blouse is London-based fashion label The Fold and is estimated at 250.

The mother-of-four teamed the silk number with grey wide-legged trousers which accentuated her height.

Completing her elegant look, she opted for minimal jewellery, including a dainty necklace and a silver ring to match.

With her brown tresses down in blow-dried waves, the Queen looked picture perfect as she stood next to her husband, 56, who looked dapper in a navy blue suit and red tie for the bittersweet occasion.

In one heartwarming moment, the Queen was pictured hugging her communications director Lene Balleby - who has worked for the Danish royals since 2008.

Although she started out as a kindergarten teaching assistant, Lene has more than 20 years of experience in communications having previously worked for the Danish Embassy in Washington, according to her LinkedIn.

Queen Mary attends a farewell reception at Amalienborg Palace on January 30

The Danish Queen (left) hugs her communications director Lene Balleby (right)

She has been by the King and Queen's side through scandals such as King Frederik's night out in Madrid with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova which was captured by paparazzi.

During a 'private visit' to Madrid, the now King, who was then the Crown Prince of Denmark, was spotted strolling through the city with the 47-year-old TV personality on October 25, 2023.

The Danish King and Queen were pictured applauding Lene alongside Princess Benedikte, 80 - the younger sister of Queen Margrethe.

It comes after Queen Mary inaugurated a new hiking trail during a visit to the Danish Nature Foundation in Lerbjerg Forest on Thursday.

The royal, 52, donned a camo green monochrome look to explore one of the forest's many restored bogs and five kilometers of restored streams in Lejre, Denmark.

The mother-of-four appeared in good spirits as she kept warm and dry in a waterproof jacket and matching trousers, a purple beanie, and light green gloves.

The queen wore minimal make-up and let her brunette locks fall naturally around her shoulders.

Lene (right) has worked for the Danish Royal Household since 2008

The mother-of-four (left) wears a blush pink blouse with grey wide-legged trousers while her husband King Frederik (right) looks dapper in a navy blue suit and red tie

The Danish King and Queen applaud alongside Princess Benedikte (left) - the younger sister of Queen Margrethe

Although she started out as a kindergarten teaching assistant, Lene has more than 20 years of experience in communications having previously worked for the Danish Embassy in Washington, according to her LinkedIn.

During the official event, Mary met with several members of staff in the forest to celebrate the restoration work they have carried out before listening to talks given by those who had worked on the project.

The royal then officially opened the trail, as she cut a vine 'rope' with a large pair of secateurs together with the chairman of Handicap Council, Bjarne Ego Jargensen and student Oliver Krammer Christensen .

Later on, she was photographed walking along the wooden forest path that snaked through the trees, while accompanied by the duo, before she enjoyed some refreshments.

The Danish royal took advantage of the hot drinks on offer and warmed herself up in a tent before treating herself to a slice of cake as she chatted with other visitors.

Mary's dressed down and more rugged outfit is in stark contrast to her dazzling look earlier this month.

Queen Mary looked striking in a magnificent magnolia and gold gown earlier this month as she hosted The Royal Couple's New Year's Reception.

She put on a dazzling display as she arrived at Christian VII's Palace in Amalienborg alongside her husband, King Frederik, 56, for the engagement.

Queen Mary of Denmark, 52, showed off her love of nature as she visited the Danish Nature Foundation in Lerbjerg Forest on Thursday

The royal donned a camo green monochrome look to explore one of the forest's many restored bogs and 5 kilometers of restored streams in Lejre, Denmark

After opening the forest boardwalk by cutting through a vine 'rope', Mary warmed herself up with a hot drink and a cake inside a tent

The mother-of-four looked looked in good spirits as she kept warm and dry in a waterproof jacket and matching trousers, a purple beanie and light green gloves

The mother-of-four looked angelic in a full length gold brocade dress with full sleeves and a high collar.

The regal looking gown, designed by Teri Jon by Rickie Freeman, was previously worn by Mary at an engagement last year - when the queen took a state visit to Greenland alongside her husband.

Mary was pictured smiling sweetly as she stepped out in the stunning frock, polishing off the ensemble with a pair of crisp white gloves and a baby blue sash going across her chest.

She donned a subtle but classic makeup look with a soft base, rose pink lip and a glamorous smoky eye.

The royal wore her thick chocolate tresses in a stylish up do with her stylish fringe framing her face.

Accessorising the look, she styled a pair of pearl drop earrings which perfectly complimented the subtle glow streaming from the gold embroidery on her dress.

Meanwhile, Frederik look dapper in full military regalia, sporting a full black suit, gold epaulettes and a sky blue sash in the same shade as that worn by his wife.

He looked every inch the handsome king, sporting his usual subtle beard and short cropped grey hair.

The couple - who share Prince Christian of Denmark, 19, and Princess Isabella, 17 - grinned from ear to ear as they were photographed strolling through Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.

For the first part of today's engagement, the royals arrived at Christian VII's Palace in Amalienborg to greet the Supreme Court Judges, the Royal Life Guards, and the Guard House Regiments.

As the day continued, the pair were whisked away so they could attend a second reception was for the Diplomatic Corps at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
Patricia Powell, 62, refused to leave her mother alone with the murderous doctor

A woman has revealed how she saved her mother from the grasp of one of Britain's most infamous serial killers, Harold Shipman.

Patricia Powell, 62, from Hyde, Greater Manchester, believes she prevented her mother, Margaret Beckwith, from becoming one of Shipman's victims by refusing to leave her alone with the GP - just months before his arrest in 1998.

Shipman, also known as Dr Death, murdered at least 215 victims over a 23-year period, injecting them with lethal doses of painkillers.

He was arrested 25-years-ago today on January 31, 2000, and was given 15 life sentences to run concurrently before he took his life in prison four years later.

Patricia told the BBC that her mother, who was 64 at the time, had an appointment with Shipman at his Market Street practice where he requested that she left the room so he could examine her mother and provide her with medication.

However, the 62-year-old refused to do so after having an uneasy feeling that there was 'something not right with him,' she said.

Patricia added: 'He went to give my mum some medication and I said, "she's not taking it."'

'My mum asked me why and I said, "can't you see he's no good? He fobs people off by telling different stories."'

A woman has revealed how she 'saved' her mother from murderous doctor Harold Shipman (pictured)

After she refused to leave her mother alone in the doctor's room Shipman prescribed medication and the pair left the surgery.

Patricia added: 'Whatever he wanted to do backfired on him because I was there'.

She added that other workers in the surgery did not want to listen to negative feedback and believed Shipman to be a 'wonderful' addition to the team.

Now, the 62-year-old, whose mother died recently, has lost faith in doctors and no longer feels like she can trust their advice.

Killer GP Harold Shipman killed an estimated total of 250 patients over a 27-year period stretching back to 1971, using the drug Diamorphine.

Around 80 percent of his victims were elderly women with his youngest victim a 41-year-old man.

Margaret Beckwith, who was 64 at the time, had an appointment with Shipman at his Market Street practice (pictured)

Pictured: The recovery couch inside of Dr Harold Shipman's surgery room in Hyde, Greater Manchester

Shipman (seen here on ITV's 2018 World in Action Programme) got away with secretly poisoning and murdering at least 215 of his patients across three decades

Shipman was convicted of drug offences in 1976 after becoming addicted to pethidine as a young doctor, but he was allowed to carry on practising by the General Medical Council (GMC).

He began his killing spree in Pontefract General in the early seventies, and was eventually arrested in September 1998 aged 52, and was jailed for life in January 2000.

He was convicted at Preston Crown Court of the murders of 15 elderly women: Marie West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall, Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia and Kathleen Grundy.

Ten days after his whole life-term conviction plus a four-year sentence for forgery, the GMC struck Shipman off the register.

A year after his sentencing an inquiry was launched which concluded that the family doctor had killed at least 215 of his patients between 1975 and 1998, during which he had also practised in Todmorden, West Yorkshire (19741975), and Hyde, Greater Manchester (19771998).

A sixth and final report in 2005 found further suspicions about other deaths in his early career and Dame Janet Smith, the judge who submitted the report, estimated his total victim count over that 27-year period was 250.

On the eve of his 58th birthday Shipman was found hanged in his cell in Wakefield Prison in January 2004.

His wife Primrose Shipman, who maintained her husband's innocence after his conviction, received his full NHS pension, which she would not have been entitled to had Shipman lived past age 60.
A painting by Princess Beatrice's eight-year-old stepson Wolfie sold for a massive 40,000 to a private buyer, his mother has claimed.

Dara Huang, an American architect and designer, shares her son Christopher Woolf - known affectionately as 'Wolfie' - with her former fiancee British-Italian developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Edoardo, 41, is now married to Princess Beatrice, with whom he has two daughters - Sienna, three, and Athena, who was born on January 22.

But his eldest son appears to have developed something of an artistic talent already.

At just eight years old, his mother Dara claims she sold a painting by Wolfie for 40,000.

Taking to Tatler, she joked: 'Im not sure I even told my client that it was done by a child.'

Dara designs properties for the rich and famous - even designing an office for actress Margot Robbie - so there's no telling where the eight-year-old's art may be hung.

This is far from the first time we've heard rumour of Wolfie's artistic talents, with his mother sharing a clip of him working diligently on a painting back in 2023.

Dara Huang, an American architect and designer, shares her son Christopher Woolf - known affectionately as 'Wolfie' - with her former fiancee Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

Dara, 41, designs properties for the rich and famous - even designing an office for actress Margot Robbie - so there's no telling where the eight-year-old's art may be hung

The video showed the little boy adding black lines and a touch of blue paint to two canvas lined with black and grey lines signed 'Wolfie.'

Princess Beatrice's stepson completed the painting for a charity project, with his mother proudly dubbing him 'Baby Picasso'.

Wolfie has been enjoying life far away from the royal spotlight, and usually stays out of royal events, apart from family occasions.

Dara and Edo were together for three years from 2015 until 2018 and even got engaged in 2017.

However, two years after they broke up, he married Princess Beatrice in 2020 and welcomed their first daughter Sienna Mapelli Mozzi in 2021. Edo and Dara are thought to be on friendly terms with each other since the break-up.

Earlier this week, Beatrice and Edo announced they had welcomed their second daughter - Athena Elizabeth Rose - to the world.

It seems Wolfie has already met his new sister, as Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday that the family are 'enjoying spending time together with Athena's older siblings, Wolfie and Sienna.'

Athena Elizabeth becomes 11th in line to the throne as the second child of Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, pushing her aunt Princess Eugenie down to 12th place.

Wolfie's mother, Dara, claims she sold a painting by her eight-year-old son for 40,000

Edoardo, 41, is now married to Princess Beatrice, with whom he has two daughters - Sienna, three, and Athena, who was born on January 22

Buckingham Palace's full statement reads: 'Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, born on Wednesday, 22nd January, at 12:57pm.

'The baby was born weighing 4 pounds and 5 ounces.

'The King and Queen, and other members of The Royal Family have all been informed and are delighted with the news.

'Princess Beatrice and Mr Mapelli Mozzi would like to thank all the staff at the hospital for their wonderful care.

'Her Royal Highness and her daughter are healthy and doing well, and the family are enjoying spending time together with Athena's older siblings, Wolfie and Sienna.'

Earlier this week, Beatrice and Edo announced they had welcomed their second daughter - Athena Elizabeth Rose - to the world on January 22

Edo, also posting on Instagram, revealed his new daughter was 'tiny and absolutely perfect'.

He wrote on Instagram sharing a photograph of Athena wrapped in a blanket: 'Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi.

'We welcomed baby Athena into our lives last week. She is tiny and absolutely perfect.

'We are all (including Wolfie and Sienna) already completely besotted with her.

'Our hearts are overflowing with love for you, baby Athena.

'A massive thank you from my wife and I goes out to all the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their exceptional care and support during this incredibly special time.'

Reposting the baby announcement on her Instagram story, Athena's aunt Princess Eugenie wrote 'welcome baby girl'.
A father told to say his final goodbyes to his baby after he was given emergency open-heart surgery has described it as the 'darkest hour' of his life.

Joe Silver, 32, who lives in Harrogate with his wife of five years, Charlotte, also 32, said their first and only child, Billy, was not breathing when he was born four weeks prematurely via an emergency C-section on October 30, 2023.

Billy was soon diagnosed with pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum (PAICVS)  a very serious form of congenital heart condition causing a lack of oxygenated blood to pump around the body.

At just a few weeks old, Billy's heart was fitted with a plastic valve to keep it functioning while his chest was 'so swollen' doctors could not close his rib cage properly for a few days.

Though he managed to pull through and spend his first Christmas recovering in hospital, he required a second emergency open-heart surgery just months later in June, having outgrown the valve.

During his first surgery, Billy started to 'crash' and doctors had to perform emergency CPR - with Joe and Charlotte experiencing agony as they were told to say their final goodbyes to him before he had even reached his first birthday.

Joe recalled the heart-wrenching moment he waited to be told whether Billy had made it through, describing it as the 'darkest hour' of his life.

'We were told to say our goodbyes and leave the room. We experienced the darkest five hours of our lives waiting to get a phone call to find out if our son was dead or alive,' Joe, who works in commercial property, said.

Joe Silver was told to say his final goodbyes to his baby after he was given emergency open-heart surgery and described it as the 'darkest hour' of his life. Joe and Billy are pictured in hospital

'From a selfish perspective, it definitely made me re-align what was important, everything else bled into irrelevance.

'We never thought this would be our first experience being parents. It's an experience that's going to stay with us for the rest of our lives, for better or for worse.'

Now 15 months old, Billy's 'strong-willed' personality is starting to shine through, and while he will need another open-heart surgery in the future when his pulmonary valve 'fails entirely', the family are taking things 'day by day'.

When Billy was born on October 30, 2023, he weighed just four pounds and eight ounces.

He was not breathing and doctors initially thought he had a lung issue, so he was rushed into an incubator for around seven hours while medical staff tried to establish the problem.

Supported by the Embrace team, a specialist transport service for critically ill infants and children in Yorkshire and the Humber, Billy was transferred to Leeds Children's Hospital.

There, he was diagnosed with pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum.

Pulmonary atresia is a defect of the pulmonary valve, which is the valve that controls blood flow from the right ventricle to the main pulmonary artery. It develops in the womb.

Billy was not breathing when he was born four weeks prematurely via an emergency C-section on October 30, 2023. Pictured spending his first Christmas in hospital

Joe and his wife Charlotte had the most 'agonising hours' of their lives after Billy went into open-heart surgery

Billy had his second open heart surgery in June 2024 - and is expected to need another operation in the future

Billy was soon diagnosed with pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum (PAICVS)

Billy was born four weeks prematurely via an emergency C-section

Around one in 180 babies in the UK are diagnosed with a heart defect at birth - an average of 12 per day. One in every 7,700 babies born in the US each year are born with pulmonary atresia.

There are two types - pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum - which Amber has - and pulmonary atresia with a ventricular septal defect, which is a hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers, or ventricles, of the heart.

'Because he was so small, it was obvious what operation was needed but we had to play a waiting game to get him up to size,' Joe said.

In November 2023, Billy was able to have his first open-heart surgery which saw a stent fitted into his pulmonary artery to help keep the valve open.

'When we were on the ward and the doctor was explaining what he had done, the stent dislodged itself and made it's way to Billy's lung,' Joe said.

However, Billy then started to 'crash' and Joe and Charlotte were told to say their 'goodbyes' and leave the room.

'When they started performing CPR at that time, it was pretty devastating for Charlotte and I,' he said, adding they experienced 'a hell of a lot of emotion' while waiting to hear the results of the operation.

'The call came through and it's a phone call you don't really want to answer,' Joe said.

Now 15-months-old, Billy's 'strong-willed' personality is starting to shine through

While he will need another open-heart operation when his pulmonary valve 'fails entirely', the family are taking things 'day by day'

Joe said Billy is now 'doing well', though the family do not know what the future holds

WHAT IS PULMONARY ATRESIA? Pulmonary atresia is a condition where blood cannot flow between the right pumping chamber (right ventricle) into the lungs to pick up oxygen. Often, this is because the large blood vessel that carries blood to the lungs (the pulmonary artery) hasnt developed properly, and the right ventricle is smaller than usual. The valve linking the right ventricle and the right filling chamber (atria) may also be narrowed or closed. Pulmonary atresia is a form of congenital heart disease  a term used to describe a problem with the hearts structure and function due to abnormal development before birth. These have a range of symptoms, which include: Excessive sweating

Extreme tiredness and fatigue

Poor feeding

Rapid heartbeat and breathing

Shortness of breath

Chest pain

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Fortunately, the operation was a success, which Joe said was an 'incredible feeling'.

But Billy's chest was 'so swollen' from the operation the doctors were not able to close his rib cage properly for a few days.

'They had a patch over his chest but if you were to remove the dressing, you would be able to see his lungs and heart, everything just beating away,' Joe said.

The family spent Billy's first Christmas recovering in hospital while knowing he would need a second open-heart surgery in the near future as he would soon outgrow the plastic valve placed in his chest.

'You've probably got about six months to a year before you outgrow it,' Joe explained.

They were able to take Billy home for the first time in January, but in June, their son had difficulty breathing so they travelled to Leeds Children's Hospital once again.

On June 18, Billy had his second open-heart surgery to replace the plastic valve with his own tissue, although it was 'not any easier the second time around' for his parents.

While Billy was being cared for, Joe and Charlotte were supported by The Sick Children's Trust, who were able to give them a place to stay free of charge located less than a minute from the hospital in Eckersley House  one of the charity's 'Homes from Home'.

Joe said Billy is doing 'well' at the moment and he now requires six-monthly checkups

At some point, Billy will need another open-heart surgery as his pulmonary artery will one day 'fail entirely'

'It was phenomenal to have that there,' Joe said, adding they stayed for four months around Billy's first operation and one month for his second.

'If that phone rings in the middle of the night, which you dread every single night, you're a 30-second run away from getting back on the ward.'

Joe said Billy is doing 'well' at the moment and he now requires six-monthly checkups.

'He seems to be very strong-willed which is amazing to see and which is very characteristic of having that fight he needed to have in the first year of his life,' Joe said.

At some point, Billy will need another open-heart surgery as his pulmonary artery will one day 'fail entirely'.

'It might be when he's 10 or 15, if we're lucky it will be in his 20s or 30s  there's a lot of unknowns, we're just going to take it day by day,' he said.

To find out more about The Sick Children's Trust, you can visit their website.
James Middleton has shared an adorable snap of himself as a baby with his mother Carole in celebration of her 70th birthday.

The mother-of-three - James, 37, Pippa, 41, and the Princess of Wales, 43, - celebrates her milestone birthday today, marking the day with her nearest and dearest in a celebration which is being kept tightly under wraps.

And to mark the occasion, Carole's youngest child shared a sweet baby snap of himself with his mother on Instagram, writing: 'Happy 70th Birthday to my darling Mother. My Hero'.

It is thought that the Royal Family, who are reportedly very fond of the Middletons, may also be on hand to celebrate her big birthday.

Grant Harrold, who previously worked as King Charles's butler, told the Daily Express the King and Queen may throw a birthday bash for Mrs Middleton.

'As it's a special birthday, I definitely think the King and Queen will be doing some sort of party for her, maybe in London as they like to mark special occasions', he told the newspaper.

It comes following speculation that Carole and her husband Michael may be granted a title  as grandparents of a future king, and to reward them for their unstinting loyalty and discretion to the Royal Family over the past two decades.

Middleton family friend and business tycoon Sir John Madejski has previously called for this. They should be the Earl and Countess of Bucklebury, he said in 2014. They deserve it. They are great people and really good role models.

James shared a sweet baby snap of himself with his mother on Instagram, writing: 'Happy 70th Birthday to my darling Mother. My Hero'

James and Carole Middleton pictured together at the wedding of Pippa in May 2017

Carole and Michael Middleton attend the second day of Royal Ascot in June 2024

Carole Middleton is seen playing cards in Kate's personal message after she finished her chemotherapy

And over the last 12 months, Carole's role within the firm has been even further cemented as she helped the family through daughter Kate's cancer diagnosis and preventative course of chemotherapy.

She was also centre stage in Kates personal Instagram video, released last September after her chemotherapy finished, there were scenes of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on the swings at home in Norfolk, her and William lying on a blanket on the nearby beach, and Carole and Michael playing card games around the table.

This appearance of the Middleton parents was very telling, a source reveals, adding that Carole was the family linchpin who often did the school run during this period, driving the children  and her daughter  there and back so that Kate could still be part of their daily routine.

In December, at Kates annual Together at Christmas carol service, six-year-old Prince Louis clutched a poignant little label for the kindness tree which read, in wobbly handwriting: Thank you Granny and Grandpa because they have played games with me.

Daily Mail Royal Editor Rebecca English previously said on the Palace Confidential podcast that she believes Carole could be made a member of the Royal Victorian Order in the future.

The honour is given by the monarch to those who have helped the Royal Family. It is usually handed to members of household staff or ambassadors for the UK.

'They could do that', Ms English said on the podcast. 'I don't think we would see that in the King's lifetime, but possibly William's.'

Carole's rise to the public consciousness began when her eldest daughter started a relationship with Prince William around 20 years ago during their days as students at St Andrews University.

A Mother's Day tribute from the Princess of Wales to her mother Carole Middleton

Carole Middleton and the Duchess of Cambridge attend day 1 of Royal Ascot in June 2017

Prince William is said to be very close with his in laws (pictured at Royal Ascot in 2024)

The Princess of Wales (at the time the girlfriend of Prince William) pictured with mother Carole at the parade ground at the Royal Military College in 2006

Carole is descended from Durham coal mining stock. After achieving four A-levels, she wanted to become a teacher, but her parents couldnt afford the college fees, so she decided to get a job to be able to fund it herself.

Initially she landed a place on John Lewiss trainee scheme, then moved to a secretarial job at what became British Airways, where she realised she wanted to become an air hostess instead of a teacher.

She was so determined to be good at her job that she would record her on-board announcements and play them back to herself.

Soon, the smiley, pretty, determined young woman caught the eye of a BA flight dispatcher called Michael from Leeds, whose family had aristocratic ties, and the pair fell in love.

They moved into an apartment in Slough, close to Heathrow, and were married in 1980.

The first child, Catherine, was born two years later, followed by siblings Pippa and James. But a little thing like motherhood wasnt going to slow Carole down.

In 1987 she launched a party business, Party Pieces, after being able to find only one type of paper plate (with clowns on) for Kates fifth birthday.

Its success transformed Carole into a self-made millionaire within a few years, and Michael left his job at BA to pitch in.

The family moved from a two-bedroom cottage to a five-bedroom house a few miles away in Berkshire, and the three children went to private school.

In 2012, the success of Party Pieces (its since been sold, after hitting tougher times during the pandemic) enabled Carole and Michael to move into a 4.7 million Grade-II Berkshire manor house, Bucklebury Manor, which has seven bedrooms and enough space for plenty of grandchildren.
Princess Leonor of Spain continues to make waves as she settles into life on board a navy training vessel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The daughter of King Felipe and Queen Letizia is spending six months aboard tall ship Juan Sebastian Elcano, which is touring two oceans, 10 ports and eight countries around the Americas.

Leonor is sailing with her fellow navy cadets to Brazil, arriving by 14 February.

She is following in the footsteps of her father, Felipe, and her grandfather, King Juan Carlos, who also carried out a similar trip.

Leonor - who began three years of military training in 2023 - showed off the typical duties expected of a naval cadet, including the maintenance and cleaning of the boat.

The royal, dressed in a black uniform and who has styled her brunette tresses into a sleek low bun, showed she was fearless as she climbed 50 metres up a rope ladder before tieing the sails with her comrades.

Earlier this month, Leonor dazzled at the annual Pascua Militar military event at the Royal Palace in Madrid with her parents.

Her mother Letizia looked stunning in a beautiful burgundy frock and stylish black fur coat - while Felipe and Leonor sported full military regalia.

Setting sail: Princess Leonor of Spain showed she is fearless as she climbed the navy tall ship Juan Sebastian Elcano to help tie the sails

The daughter of King Felipe and Queen Letizia is spending six months aboard the navy training ship in the Atlantic Ocean

Princess Leonor, sporting a sleek low bun, inspects the sails aboard her training ship

The Queen appeared in good spirits as she walked alongside her teenage daughter, beaming with pride as prepared to mark the annual military event, which is a National Holiday in Spain.

Letizia sported a full length red and burgundy gown and a pair of kitten heels in the same shade.

Shielding from the cold blast, Letizia snuggled up in a stylish black fur coat, pulling the fashionable number up to her chin.

The Spanish royal wore a full glam makeup look with a flawless base, bronze accentuated cheeks and a full rouged lip.

Elsewhere Felipe, 56, looked smart in full military regalia, sporting a khaki suit, red waistband - representing the highest military rank - and pink and white striped sash.

The king has served in the military for almost three decades until he acceded to the throne in 2014.

Throughout his long military career King Felipe was promoted multiple times, achieving the status of lieutenant colonel in the Army, frigate captain in the Navy, and lieutenant colonel in the Air Force in 2009.

On becoming King on June 19, 2014 when his father abdicated, King Felipe was made Commander-In-Chief of the entire military.

The ship is said to be touring two oceans, 10 ports and eight countries around the Americas

Leonor is sailing with her fellow cadets to Brazil, arriving at their destination by 14 February

The Spanish royal showed she is not afraid to muck in and help with the ship's maintenance

Leonor is seen cleaning the ship alongside a fellow cadet on board Juan Sebastian Elcano

Navy cadet duties also include learning how to use navigation tools while aboard the vessel

The royal, decked out in her naval uniform, used naval equipment to check the boat's position

Joining her parents, 19-year-old Princess Leonor - who began three years of military training in 2023 - looked just the part in a navy blue uniform.

During the ceremony, the King of Spain welcomes a number of official guests including the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence, the Chief of defence the Chiefs of Staff of all branches, the Grand Masters of the Royal and Military Orders of San Fernando and San Hermenegildo, the Civil Guard chiefs and Spanish Veterans Brotherhood.

After troops have been reviewed by the king in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, officials will head to he Throne Room of the Royal Palace where a number of military personnel will be rewarded for their service.

While centered around a main event in Madrid, the military event iscelebrated across Spain in its different military headquarters.

Leonor started at the Naval Military Academy of Marin in the summer of 2023 and has since been promoted to the rank of Cadet Ensign and awarded the Grand Cross of Military Merit by her father.

The 19-year-old was later spotted in a class on board the ship, which is touring for six months
The King is set to star in a feature-length Amazon film set in a royal mansion in Scotland.

The King's son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan Markle have signed TV and podcast deals since quitting life as working royals.

Yet now it seems Charles is also stepping into the streaming business with his film for the American giant Amazon.

The documentary is currently being filmed at Dumfries House in Scotland and will take inspiration from a book written by His Majesty.

It is set to air towards the end of this year or the start of 2026.

Filming began earlier this month and takes inspiration from Harmony: A New Way of Looking At Our World, which the monarch wrote in 2010.

In the book, King Charles explains how society must rebalance its relationship between humans, the modern world and nature in order to avert an environmental crisis.

He called for a 'dramatic revolution' to the way people look at the world.

King Charles III is set to show 'what he stands for' in a feature-length film for Amazon Prime that will focus on his passion for the environment. Pictured: The monarch at Dumfries House

The film will take inspiration from his 2010 book Harmony: A New Way of Looking At Our World

A source told The Times: 'More than any other documentary he has done before, the aim seems to be to tell the world what the King stands for and what he is all about.'

The documentary is said to delve into the ideas put forward by the monarch 15 years ago.

A palace source said viewers would be 'genuinely amazed' at how these have now been implemented and added: 'This is a chance to 'show, not tell' how [the ideas] can transform people, places, and ultimately the planet.'

It is understood Amazon was just one of a number of platforms consulted about the film, before the streaming giant was given the royal go-ahead.

In an interview to promote Harmony in 2010, King Charles, then Prince of Wales, said: 'I am absolutely determined to be the defender of nature. Full stop.

'That's what the rest of my life is going to be concerned with.

'I think people don't quite understand how much it requires to put your head above the parapet.

'It's no fun having your head shot off all the time. But I just feel deeply. I know perfectly well this book is going to bring all of my critics out of their lairs.'

Filming began earlier this month at Dumfries House and takes inspiration from Harmony: A New Way of Looking At Our World, which the monarch wrote in 2010

In his book, King Charles explains how society must rebalance its relationship between humans, the modern world and nature in order to avert an environmental crisis

The feature film is slated to air just months after Meghan Markle's lifestyle programme, With Love, Meghan finally broadcasts on Amazon Prime's rival, Netflix, in March

In an extract from the book he declared that nothing less than a 'revolution' would change people's attitudes towards the environment.

He wrote: 'The many environmental and social problems that now loom large on our horizon cannot be solved by carrying on with the very approach that has caused them.

'This will involve taking all sorts of dramatic steps to change the way we consider the world and act in it.'

Elsewhere he expressed his frustration that people thought he has been 'merely leaping from one subject to another, from architecture one minute to agriculture the next, as if I had spent a morning saving the rainforest, then in the afternoon jumping to help young people start new businesses.'

King Charles was however trying to show all of these issues are 'completely interrelated' in understanding the bigger picture.

The feature film is slated to air just months after Meghan Markle's lifestyle programme, With Love, Meghan finally broadcasts on Amazon Prime's rival, Netflix, in March.

Her Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, 43, has revealed the much-anticipated series will give people 'an authentic look' at the royal.

The show will be the latest production released as part of a multimillion-dollar deal between Netflix and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Harry recently released a series about polo, while in 2022 the couple participated in a candid docuseries, Harry & Meghan, which examined their departure from royal life.
Aussies are rushing to purchase new looks from Target

Target Australia is giving competitors a run for their money after dropping a range of chic, stylish outfits for every occasion.

Customers are spoilt for choice with the latest 'Lily Loves' selection, with prices starting at $40.

The new $60 pink Asymmetrical Satin Midi Dress was dubbed a 'must have' by shoppers online, which is also available in black, leopard print and gold.

The $30 Strapless Satin Top and matching $50 Satin Maxi Skirt has already skyrocketed in popularity and is unavailable in certain sizes.

Both outfits are made from polyester but have an 'all over satin feel' for a chic finish.

The looks shared to the official Target Australia TikTok page quickly caught the attention of shoppers.

One woman said she'll be 'running to Target' to pick up the latest pieces, and another said she 'loves' the designs.

A third admitted her 'whole wardrobe' is full of Target buys.

The new $60 pink Asymmetrical Satin Midi Dress (left) quickly caught the attention of shoppers online. The $30 Strapless Satin Top and matching $50 Satin Maxi Skirt has already skyrocketed in popularity (right)

Pictured: Satin Maxi Skirt and matching top (left) and Asymmetrical Satin Midi Dress - leopard print (right)

All styles are available nationwide from sizes four to 20.

Last year shoppers were running to Target to purchase an affordable summer dress that's said to be a 'dupe' of a popular Australian designer.

The $60 Drop Waist Midi Dress looks similar to the $550 Anna Quan Drop Waist Maxi Dress.

The striking style embodies elegance and sophistication for a classic look that'll turn heads at any event.

Both outfits are designed with a drop waist, white skirt and black strapless top with a straight neckline.

The Target option is ideal for those on a budget but is made from a blend of viscose and polyester while the designer alternative is made from cotton.

Forever New is also selling a mid-range option for $150.

An Aussie blogger who goes by the moniker 'Kmart Insider' revealed the side-by-side comparison online.

'Target dropping $60 dupe of $550 designer dress? I'm so here for it!' the caption read.

The $60 Drop Waist Midi Dress from Target Australia (left) looks similar to the $550 Anna Quan Drop Waist Maxi Dress (right)

The Instagram post quickly caught the attention of others who raved about the Target dress.

'Well done Target,' one wrote.

'Heading to target first thing tomorrow,' another said.

A third preferred the budget Target version over the designer alternative.

The Target dress is available in sizes four to 14, is designed with hidden side seam pockets and a double layered top. There's also a white version.

Forever New is also selling a mid-range option for $150 (pictured)

Earlier this year Kmart Australia released a trendy $35 summer dress that sent shoppers into a spin.

The Sleeveless Tie Back Midi Dress is a perfect summer essential designed with an Amalfi Coast-inspired pattern.

The print features sketches of lemons, olives, chilli, flowers, candles and wine - symbols often associated with Positano in Italy.

Other brands have released similar looks featuring the trending style; Palm Noosa launched a version costing $360 as well as Forever New for $189.99.

The mid-length Kmart dress is available in size six to 20, is made with a square neck, two side pockets and tie-up back detail.

Kmart Insider also noticed the buy and shared images on Instagram.

'This summer's hottest trend has just landed at Kmart! For just $35 we can all add some serious European charm to our look,' she wrote.
A young woman was left confused by her boyfriend's comment on her tracksuit

A boyfriend has been dubbed a 'control freak' for disapproving of his girlfriend wearing a tracksuit - and labelling it as 'inappropriate' to wear thanks to one minor detail.

The tracksuit featured a pink bow on the chest which her boyfriend thought was 'suggestive'.

Looking in the mirror wearing a comfortable grey hoodie and matching pants, the young woman questioned his comment.

Feeling confused as to what he meant, she sought advice by sharing images of the look on Reddit.

Many were quick to point out the lack of context and wondered where the young woman was planning on wearing the outfit.

For instance, one person said it would be considered inappropriate to wear a tracksuit to the beach, a high-class restaurant, a business meeting, an interview or 'anything formal'.

The comments were quickly flooded with hundreds of responses and most people turned on the boyfriend.

'It's not at all. It's f***ing sweats. It's none of his business anyway,' one wrote on Reddit.

A young woman has questioned if her outfit (pictured) is 'inappropriate' following a comment her boyfriend made

The tracksuit featured a pink bow on the chest which the boyfriend said was 'suggestive'. Looking in the mirror wearing a comfortable grey hoodie and matching pants, the young woman questioned his comment

'Bows are suggestive? Suggestive of what? Liking bows? Supporting Cancer research?' one asked.

'She's as covered in baggy clothes as you can get. Does he want her to wear a bag on her head? What a loon,' another wrote.

'You could literally not be showing less skin,' a third said.

One woman shared her own experience with a controlling partner and said: 'I had a boyfriend who wouldn't let me wear colourful eyeliner because i was looking for 'male attention'.

'He also would get angry if i wore dresses to formal events. Please run while you can because these small everyday things he was controlling slowly got bigger and bigger.'

Another woman added: 'May this love never find me again. Your boyfriend is a control freak.'

Last year another young man was labelled as 'insecure' and 'jealous' for disapproving of his girlfriend going on a one-week holiday to Hawaii that's funded by another man (stock image)

Last year another young man was labelled as 'insecure' and 'jealous' for disapproving of his girlfriend going on a one-week holiday to Hawaii that's funded by another man.

The 21-year-old girlfriend was invited on the trip by her best friend who babysits for a 'very wealthy divorced man' who paid for both of their return flights.

The 22-year-old boyfriend felt odd about the situation and shared the details on Reddit.

'From my perspective I see many red flags as I believe men usually gift girls things when they want or expect something in return,' he wrote.

'I'm a huge fan of experiences and fully appreciate the opportunity to travel for free. However I am not naive and I know usually men don't just fly attractive women along with them on vacation for nothing.'

The 40-year-old divorced man is going on a holiday elsewhere and asked the babysitter to look after his place, saying she can bring someone along to keep her company.

He offered his whole home along with $2,000 spending money in addition to her regular pay.

The girlfriend works for an airline and was on standby to make her own travel arrangements but the 40-year-old offered to pay and confirmed her tickets.
A mother-of-four had three limbs amputated after she developed the 'silent killer' disease sepsis following the birth of her twins.

Khedidja Teape, 29, from south-east London, was left with a blackened nose, hands, legs and fingers that needed to be removed after the life-threatening ordeal.

Ms Teape, also known as Deesh or Deesha, gave birth to twins Zakari and Zalaysia on April 12, 2023.

But little did she know that this joyous moment would quickly turn into a life-altering journey.

Shortly after arriving home with her newborns, she began to suffer stomach pains, but claims her concerns were dismissed by medics.

After five days, the agony had become so intense she was forced to make a desperate call for an ambulance.

'I was experiencing stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, shivering and not being able to eat, just generally not feeling myself. So by day five it was like "I can't do this anymore, I need some sort of medical attention",' she told the BBC.

Her symptoms were caused by a strep A infection. This is a type of bacteria that can cause a range of illnesses including strep throat, scarlet fever, and necrotising fasciitis (also known as flesh-eating disease).

Khedidja Teape, 29, from south-east London , was left with blackened hands, legs, fingers and nose that needed to be removed after the life-threatening ordeal

She gave birth to twins on April 12, 2023. But little did she know that this joyous moment would quickly turn into a life-altering journey

In some cases, strep A also lead to sepsis, a potentially fatal response to an infection which affects 245,000 people in the UK every year.

This violent reaction can lead to the immune system injuring the body's own tissue, which can lead to life threatening organ failure.

At least 48,000 die from a sepsis-related illness annually, according to The UK Sepsis trust.

In Ms Teape's case, she was put into an induced coma for a week in order to hook her up to machines that could perform the job of her failing organs.

But when she woke up she found her had limbs had turned black.

Recalling her last memories in ICU before she went under she said : 'I was told needed a procedure done ASAP.'

'My heart rate was high and blood pressure was very low. I waved my family goodbye and went off to theatre, the last words I remember saying to myself was "I got this",' She wrote on her Gofundme page.

When she woke up again she assumed she had just had the procedure, but, in fact, she had been in another coma for a week.

She wrote: 'My partner then began telling me how happy he was I was awake and that I had been sleeping for a whole week in an induced coma, him and my family were told to prepare for the worst.

'I thought it was a joke he was running and then family and friends started turning up in tears, saying "don't do that again, we thought were going to lose you".'

Her symptoms were caused by an infection called Strep A which led to sepsis. She was put into an induced coma for a week, when she woke up her limbs had turned black (pictured)

The mum has now received fitted prosthetics, and is now able to walk independently, as she looks after babies Zakari and Zalaysia

'The sepsis had turned my body black. In the space of a week, all my limbs were dead,' Ms Teape said speaking to the BBC.

'My hands and feet were underneath the blanket and when Shawn (her partner) moved the blanket I saw my hands literally curved up like a claw, but like frozen. And then my legs, until my knees, were like flaking with like black scarring.'

The sepsis left lasting damage and five months later in August 2023 she had both her legs, left hand the fingers of her right hand amputated.

Her partner Shawn Ayton said it is a 'living nightmare', but he is grateful she is alive.

'There's always a silver lining in every situation. Like, she's here. She gets to be a mother at the end of the day so that's the main thing,' he said.

Ms Teape admitted that adapting to her new reality has been 'physically, emotionally and mentally demanding'.

Speaking to The Sun, she told how she has now received fitted prosthetics, and is now able to walk independently, as she looks after babies Zakari and Zalaysia.

'Now, I can carry my twins in the crook of my right arm, and lift them up too,' she told the newspaper. 'My family are happy to have me home.'

'My life may have been flipped upside down, but at least my babies, and my older kids, still have their mum.'
A doctor set for a role in the Trump administration has given fascinating insight into the president's motives for pulling America out of the World Health Organization.

Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the WHO in one of his first acts as president, citing the agency's close ties to China, failings during Covid and the fact he believes the US was being ripped off by the organization.

But speaking on DailyMail.com's podcast Welcome to MAGAland this week, Dr Aseem Malhotra said there were also concerns among those in the incoming administration about the agency's ties to commercial industry.

He highlighted how more than 80 percent of WHO's funding relies on 'voluntary contributions,' meaning any amount of money given freely by donors, whether member states, NGOs, philanthropic organizations or other private entities.

This funding model contrasts to when the WHO first launched in 1948 and its budget was set by countries' annual membership fees. Dr Malhotra said there were increasing concerns about influence and conflicts of interest.

Dr Malhotra, who is close friends with RFK Jr, Trump's pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, used the fact Bill Gates is one of the WHO's largest donors as an example.

A doctor set for a role in the Trump administration has revealed why the President decided to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization , with Bill Gates' involvement being a top concern

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $689 million to the United Nations agency in 2024, making the Gates' the largest contributor after the US, which paid $958 million.

But Dr Malhotra highlights the billionaire is 'heavily invested in ultra-processed foods' which are fueling the global crisis of chronic diseases.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Q1 2024 filing shows holdings of $604 million in Coca-Cola shares and nearly $97 million in Kraft Heinz, the maker of Kraft mac and cheese, an array of processed meats like Oscar Mayer, and Jell-O.

Gates has also championed synthetic meat, investing in companies such as Beyond Meat, Hampton Creek Foods and Nature's Fynd, despite growing concerns about the health effects of these ultraprocessed alternatives.

Dr Malhotra says Gates' backing of ultra-processed junk foods presents a problem, as 'these are the people that are really directing the policy of the WHO'.

Despite backing Kamala Harris during the 2024 election, Gates met with Trump in January after he was elected for a dinner in New York to fill him in on his work.

The Microsoft founder said that much of the three-hour discussion was focused on global health and elaborated on his efforts to combat HIV.

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Another critical topic was the ongoing fight against polio, a disease that Gates' foundation has long targeted for eradication.

Gates said Trump was 'fascinated' by the complexities of achieving eradication and, he claims, seemed eager to explore how his administration could support the effort.

The WHO gets funding from member states which pay annual membership dues.

Member countries pay what are called 'assessed contributions,' a percentage of a country's GDP agreed upon every two years.

Usually, these sums cover less than a fifth of WHO's total budget, meaning the WHO relies on 'voluntary contributions' - those given freely by donors.

These voluntary contributions are typically earmarked for specific projects or diseases, meaning WHO cannot freely decide how to use them.

For example, polio eradication has consistently been one of the WHOs top funded programs, mainly because much of the Gates Foundations contributions have been directed to that cause.

Lawrence Gostin, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law told Euro News in 2023: 'WHO therefore can't set the global health agenda and has had to do the bidding of rich donors, not only rich nations in Europe and North America, but also rich philanthropies such as the Gates Foundation.'

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is responsible for more than 88 per cent of the total amount donated by philanthropic foundations to the health agency.

Other contributors include the Bloomberg Family Foundation (3.5 per cent), the UK's Wellcome Trust (1.1 per cent) and the Rockefeller Foundation (0.8 per cent).

British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra , who also has close ties to RFK Jr, Trump's pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, highlights that billionaire Gates is one of WHO's largest donors

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $689 million to the United Nations agency in 2024, making the Gates' the largest contributor after the US

The WHO's former director general Dr Margaret Chan previously hinted that the agency's funding comes with strings attached.

In a conference in 2015, she explained: 'As an organization, only 30 percent of my budget is predictable funds.

'[The] other 70 percent I have to take a hat and go around the world to beg for money.

'And when they give us the money, they are highly linked to their preferences what they like.'

Meanwhile, an article in Nature published in 2017 underscores why 'time is ripe to reform the WHO'.

The piece reads: 'One problem is that the WHO has become dangerously dependent on voluntary contributions, which now make up more than 80 percent of its overall budget.

'Most of this money comes with strings attached by the funders to their own priorities, making it next to impossible for the WHO to have much of a say in its own agenda.

'As a result, the WHO's programs have proliferated but thinned.'

Dr Malhotra says Trump's government 'wants the WHO to exist and have a role, but until it becomes independent, I believe that, making a statement by withdrawing funding from the WHO from all these countries is the right move for sure. 100 percent.'

President Trump told a Las Vegas rally on Saturday he was considering U-turning on his decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization days after signing an executive order to do so

Trump's executive order sets a 12-month notice period for the US to leave the United Nations health agency and stop all financial contributions to its work.

But already domestic health agencies such as the CDC have been told to sever communications with the agency.

The United States is by far the WHO's biggest financial backer, contributing around 18 percent of its overall funding. WHO's most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion.

The US departure is likely to put at risk programs across the organization, according to several experts both inside and outside the WHO, notably those tackling tuberculosis, the world's biggest infectious disease killer, as well as HIV/AIDS and other health emergencies.

'This is the darkest day for global health I've ever experienced,' said Gostin last week.

Trump's order said the administration would cease negotiations on the WHO pandemic treaty while the withdrawal is in progress.

US government personnel working with the WHO will be recalled and reassigned, and the government will look for partners to take over necessary WHO activities, according to the order.

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

The government will review, rescind, and replace the 2024 US Global Health Security Strategy as soon as practicable, the order said.

For the latest White House gossip and news, listen to new politics podcast, Welcome to MAGAland: Insider Trump's Second 100 Day's. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
One of Australia's most widely used medications will be subject to tightened restrictions from Saturday in an effort to combat overdoses.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is bringing in changes to the sale of paracetamol, commonly used for headaches and period pain, in an effort to prevent incidents of liver damage and self harm.

From February 1, packs of the medication for sale outside chemists will be limited to 16 tablets or capsules, down from 20, while packs in pharmacies will be limited to 50 tablets or capsules, down from 100.

The tablets or capsules will also need to be in blister packaging and not bottles.

A maximum of 100 tablets or capsules can be accessed only under consultation with a pharmacist as a 'pharmacist only medicine'.

The rules will also apply to any combination medicines that contain the drug, including cold and flu treatments.

Some states such as Queensland and WA already have further restrictions in place, requiring any size packs over 16 to be kept behind the counter inside pharmacies.

The medication remains safe if used as directed.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration will reduce the number of paracetamol tablets or capsules consumer can buy

The drug can cause serious liver damage if taken in amounts greater than what is directed

The revisions were done in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Medicines Scheduling and submissions from the public and healthcare organisations.

The TGA said the alarming number of overdose cases from the drug were behind the regulatory change.

The medicines watchdog said about 50 deaths a year are caused by paracetamol overdose along with about 255 hospitalisations for liver damage.

It said such overdoses often occurred on the spur of the moment and reducing the number of capsules or tablets 'lying around' could save lives.

Some submissions raised concerns about rural Australians who needed to travel long distances for supplies and whether the price of the product would increase, which the TGA said it had considered.

The safety watchdog is also encouraging retailers such as supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol stations to impose buying limits on the product.

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A new vaccine offered to millions of pensioners and pregnant women could trigger a serious neurological condition, officials have warned.

The alert, issued by US health chiefs, concerns a jab that protects against respiratory syncytial virus (or RSV), which was rolled out to vulnerable people in Britain for the first time last year.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said results of an American study suggested two types of RSV jab carry a significant increased risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome  a disabling condition that causes damage to nerves  42 days after vaccination.

While still recommending the jabs for eligible adults, the FDA officials said Guillain-Barre syndrome would now be listed as a risk in leaflets given to patients.

In the UK, the condition is already noted as a potential complication in patient information, however not all of those who receive the jab will be warned verbally of the risks.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a bug that causes coughs and colds in most people, but can be potentially deadly for the elderly as well as young babies.

RSV, which is spread by coughs and sneezes, hospitalises about 30,000 children and 18,000 adults in the UK every year, due to serious breathing complications like pneumonia.

Around 100 children die from the virus each winter. It's also estimated to contribute to the deaths of 8,000 adults over the same period due to the increased strain the infection puts on patient's hearts, causing the organ to fail.

US health chiefs issued a warning about RSV jabs, which was only launched in Britain last year, in an alert earlier this month. Stock image

In the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study, officials combed through vaccine reaction data on two RSV jabs, called Abrysvo and Arexvy, documented between May 2023 and July last year.

They found that for Abrysvo, the type of RSV jab offered in the UK, there were an additional nine cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome per every million doses of the vaccine dished out.

For Arexvy, there was an additional seven cases of the syndrome per million doses.

This is significantly more than the equivalent for the flu vaccine, which generates one to two cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome per million vaccine doses.

However, the FDA added that the new study didn't change the current advice  the benefits of RSV vaccination outweighs the risks for vulnerable groups.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a poorly understood condition.

It occurs when the body's immune system, which normally protects people from infection, mistakenly attacks healthy nerve cells.

Initial signs include a tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, which is followed by muscle weakness and difficulties moving in the following weeks.

In some cases, it can lead to problems breathing, facial paralysis and impaired vision.

For young children and older adults, RSV can lead to breathing difficulties and even severe pneumonia-like lung infections

Guillain-Barre syndrome is normally temporary if treated.

While most patients recover within a year, some are left with permanent nerve damage.

What triggers the immune system to attack nerve cells in Guillain-Barre syndrome isn't understood.

But, as the syndrome can also occur following an infection with a virus or bacteria, some experts suspect it's caused by a misfiring of the immune system in response to a foreign substance, be that a pathogen or a vaccine.

Such reactions, from both infections or RSV vaccines, are rare, with the risk estimated to be about one in every 1,000.

In Britain, the RSV vaccine Abrysvo, made by Covid jab manufacturer Pfizer, is offered to adults aged 75 to 79 to help protect them against serious respiratory infections.

Pregnant women past 28 weeks are also advised to get the jab as it passes on protective anti-RSV antibodies to newborn children.

The latest data shows that as of December, nearly half of eligible older adults in England took up the offer of an RSV vaccine.

Data on uptake among pregnant women lags behind. The latest uptake figures are for September last year and show only a third of eligible woman had taken up the offer.

RSV is usually spread via coughs and sneezes, close contact with an infected person or contact with contaminated surfaces

More recent NHS data shows that, as of last week, 1.5million eligible adults in England had been given the RSV vaccine, of which 140,000 were pregnant women.

Dr Conall Watson consultant epidemiologist for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: 'The RSV vaccine offers a vital opportunity for any mums-to-be to protect their babies from severe RSV lung infection.'

'Its encouraging to see the RSV programme getting off to such a positive start with over a third of women who gave birth in September having had the vaccine.'

UKHSA have also outlined that while Guillain-Barre syndrome has been reported extremely rarely among older adults receiving the RSV the vaccine it can also occur after infections and other jabs.

Additionally, so far, there is no evidence the RSV vaccine increases the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome among pregnant women.

NHS officials warn that RSV cases are high this year, with hospital data showing an average of 28 children are hospitalised with the virus everyday  a rate that's 41 per cent higher than last year.

As the RSV jab was launched in September last year women who've lost newborn babies to RSV pleaded with expectant mothers to have the vaccine.

The latest NHS data, for the 2023-2024 financial year, recorded about 3,000 admissions for Guillain-Barre syndrome in England's hospitals though some cases could be the same patient needing to admitted multiple times that year.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is more common among adults and men for reasons scientists are still investigating.
Another case of the new deadly mpox strain has been detected in the UK, health officials confirmed today.

The clade 1b mutation, which experts have called 'the most dangerous one so far' kills one in ten of those infected and is believed to be behind a wave of miscarriages in Africa, where it emerged.

The latest diagnosis takes the total number of confirmed cases in Britain now to eight. The UK, however, has not recorded any deaths.

The unidentified patient, from London, had no links to the previous seven cases. Officials don't yet know how they became infected with the strain.

But the individual had 'recently' travelled back to the UK from Uganda, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

Health chiefs rushed to reassure the public about the threat clade 1b poses.

Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at UKHSA, said: 'The risk to the UK population remains low.

'Close contacts have been identified and offered appropriate advice in order to reduce the chance of further spread.'

The patient is now being treated in the high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in North London  the same facility where imported cases of Ebola were treated in 2015

Officials don't yet know how they became infected with the strain. But they had 'recently' travelled back to the UK from Uganda, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said

The patient is now being treated in the high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in North London  the same facility where imported cases of Ebola were treated in 2015.

Contacts of the case will also be offered testing and vaccination where needed, officials also said.

The UK's first mpox case was detected after the individual developed flu-like symptoms, followed by a rash and attended A&E on October 27 where they were tested.

They were then also transferred to the high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

In November, officials confirmed a further four patients were being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with the strain.

Earlier this month, a sixth case  which had no previous links to the other cases  was also detected in East Sussex.

They had also recently returned from Uganda and officials said they were now under specialist care at Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust.

Then on Monday, officials did not disclose where the seventh case was being treated.

Cases of Clade 1b in the UK are a far cry from the 2022 outbreak where thousands of cases were recorded, mostly in London

A global outbreak of mpox, previously known as monkeypox, began in Africa in May 2022.

But the latest Clade 1b strain is considered far deadlier.

It has swept through central Africa killing at least 1,000 people, since the outbreak began.

Countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo have been hit especially hard with cases also spotted in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya.

However, experts say fatality rates of clade 1b from central Africa are unlikely to be replicated in developed nations like the UK due to better access to higher quality healthcare.

Britain's cases means it joins countries including the US, Sweden, Thailand, India and Germany in having cases outside of Africa.

In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an ongoing mpox outbreak across several central African nations as a 'public health emergency of international concern'.

This is the same designation the WHO gave Covid in late January 2020, just a few weeks before the virus ripped across the world.

Mpox causes characteristic lumpy lesions, as well as a fever, aches and pains and fatigue.

However, in a small number of cases, it can enter the blood and lungs, as well as other parts of the body, when it becomes life-threatening.

Current mpox vaccines, which are designed to work on smallpox a close relative of the mpox virus, were used during the 2022 outbreak against the milder strain.

But they have yet to be widely tested against the more potent clade 1b strain.

The WHO and the NHS recommends a vaccine within four days of contact with someone who has the virus or within up to 14 days if there are no symptoms.

Healthcare workers and men who have sex with men are advised to receive a vaccine even if they have had no mpox exposure.

There are no direct treatments available with medics focused instead on supporting a patient to help their body fight off the virus.
The Biden administration  in its final weeks  quietly stacked a key health committee in a move that could sabotage Robert F Kennedy Jr's vaccine plans.

The former President approved the appointments of eight pro-vaccine candidates to a critical committee that is influential in setting America's immunization policies.

Sources say the flood of 11th-hour appointments, with terms lasting until 2028, is an attempt to block RFK Jr from rolling out his antivax agenda.

At his senate confirmation hearing this week, RFK Jr repeatedly assured members he would not do anything 'that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking' the polio or measles vaccines.

However, he has often argued the risks outweigh the benefits of many childhood shots and this week he refused to rule out that some may cause autism in children.

A former senior Health and Human Services Department official told STAT News the flurry of confirmations to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was very intentional.

They added: It was our goal to fill every vacancy on every [federal advisory committee] the department has, with particular focus on ones like ACIP where maintenance of our scientific expertise was critical.

But sources fear Kennedy  or whoever replaces him, should the Senate reject his bid to be head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)  could simply fire the committee members, who all have at-will contracts.

In its final months, the Biden administration blocked the Trump administrations health agenda, which vaccine skeptic RFK Jr would lead, by approving eight new appointments to a key committee shaping US vaccination policy

The ACIP consists of clinicians and scientists who recommend schedules, dosing, and vaccine approval.

ACIP submits its recommendations about whether the vaccine should be approved to the CDC, which does not have to agree with their verdict but often does.

The ACIP also regularly reviews the safety data on already-approved vaccines, looking for signs of injuries of adverse effects.

But the HHS Secretary has full authority to reshape ACIP, including its membership, mandate, scope, meeting frequency, or even its existence.

RFK Jr has insisted that, as head of HHS, he would not restrict access to lifesaving vaccines for polio, measles, and other shots.

But Democrats in the Biden administration and scientists fear he could do an about-face when appointed.

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Possible actions include canceling or delaying meetings, blocking outgoing HHS boss Xavier Becerras appointees, removing current members, overriding ACIP recommendations more often, or dissolving the committee entirely.

New members could also disrupt ACIPs recommendations by reclassifying certain childhood vaccines as requiring shared clinical decision-making, meaning they would be given only after a parent consults a doctor rather than as part of routine immunizations.

Dr Larry Gostin, director of Georgetown Universitys ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said: You can have ACIP questioning certain vaccines and casting doubt in the publics mind about them.

Thats going to particularly affect state policymakers in red states, who will then loosen childhood vaccination laws.

LEFT: Denise Jamieson, chair of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine who is on the ACIP. And RIGHT: Dr Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University

Dr Helen Chu is an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Washington and member of the ACIP

Softening recommendations for vaccines might not take them away, but public health experts fear that it will still lead to fewer parents getting their children vaccinated because the shots seem unimportant.

According to Dr Paul Offitt, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, said: He could do a lot of things. If the FDA chooses to license a drug or a vaccine, he could say, I don't think enough studies have been done. He could gut the drug advisory committees.

Kennedy would be an agent of chaos when it came to vaccines and the people who would suffer the most are children because it's always the most vulnerable among us who suffer our ignorance.

The new experts are a mix of pediatric and geriatric infectious disease experts, experts on health behavior, and former public health officials.

They have all publicly emphasized the crucial role of vaccines in preventing infectious diseases and enhancing public health.

The former President's move was 'very intentional', sources have revealed

Measles vaccinations stalled before the pandemic and since then, rates have continued to fall

Dr Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has often found himself in the center of a culture war over Covid vaccines, how safe they are, who should get them, and whether they should be compelled to do so

This includes backing well-established vaccine schedules and guidelines, like those provided by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Some of the new members will be controversial among vaccine-skeptics.

Dr Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, is a staunch supporter of eliminating non-medical exemptions for vaccines in schools.

She said after a California law passed in 2015 to nix all but medical exemptions, Dr Maldonado said: 'Its the right thing to do. We have to protect children if we have the means to do so.'

The new ACIP members will join officially at the committees next meeting February 26-28. Whether it actually happens or not is up in the air.

A meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, another vaccine advisory group within HHS, scheduled for early February has already been canceled, while members of the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee were told that future meetings of the group have been postponed indefinitely.

If RFK Jr is approved, he'll be responsible for overseeing several agencies, including the FDA and CDC, as well as child refugee resettlement, and has a budget of about $140 billion.
The Search Party by Hannah Richell (Simon & Schuster 9.99, 416pp)

The Search Party is available now from the Mail Bookshop

When a group of old university friends gets together for a glamping weekend in Cornwall, it feels like a wonderful opportunity to relax and reconnect.

The hosts, Annie and Max, have moved out of London in search of a calmer environment for their troubled 12-year-old adopted son, Kip.

Reality TV judge Dominic faces strong resistance from his glamorous second wife, Tanya, and his teenage daughter, Scarlet, while GP Kira is looking forward to introducing her new partner and baby daughter to the group.

But as a storm rolls in, old tensions resurface, secrets are revealed and tragedy strikes when a child goes missing. The tension builds remorselessly in a brilliantly atmospheric thriller.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (Penguin 9.99, 288pp)

Glorious Exploits is available now from the Mail Bookshop

In 412BC, the citizens of the Sicilian city of Syracuse are celebrating their victory over an invading Athenian army.

The surviving Athenians have been thrown into a quarry, where they are starving to death.

But a couple of local likely lads have plans for the emaciated prisoners. Having lost his wife and young son, Gelon is obsessed with the tragedies of the great Athenian playwright, Euripides.

The ravaged Athenian prisoners can recite lines from the plays, so Gelon, with the help of his cheerfully illiterate friend Lampo, decides to stage a performance of Medea in the quarry.

Narrated by Lampo, with a wisecracking Irish turn of phrase standing in for Syracusan street talk, Lennons debut is a brilliantly original exploration of the transformative power of art and love.

The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes (Oneworld 9.99, 352pp)

The Alternatives is available now from the Mail Bookshop

Olwen Flatterys geology students at the University of Galway find her unorthodox approach to teaching an inspiration. Her home life is rich and contented.

Yet one night she gets on her bike and cycles out of her life. This disappearance unites her three younger sisters in the search for her. The sisters were orphaned in their teens when their parents died in a tragic accident and Olwen, then 17, held the family together.

Since then they have gone their separate ways: Rhona and Nell followed Olwen into academia, while Maeve is a celebrity chef. But Olwens flight forces the sisters to revisit old wounds and new uncertainties.

Hughess warm and engaging novel takes a searching look at our deepest connections, with family and nature.
THE SECRET PAINTER by Joe Tucker (Canongate 18.99, 224pp)

The Secret Painter is available now from the Mail Bookshop

Eric Tucker never had a career, lived with his mother for most of his life and probably never had a girlfriend.

In his final years he became increasingly odd, filling his house with old newspapers and insisting on wearing clothes that were held together by Sellotape.

Yet Eric left behind an extraordinary legacy. After he died in 2018, as his relatives cleared his council house of years of clutter, they found more than 500 paintings and hundreds more sketches located in every nook and cranny of the property, some even stuffed into empty compost bags in the ruins of an old air raid shelter.

It was, Erics nephew Joe says, like discovering a vast escape tunnel dug by a prisoner with just a spoon.

His family knew that Eric liked to paint, but they had no idea just how talented an artist he was. The paintings, done over six decades, were all images of working-class life in the north-west of England: children playing in alleyways, pigeon-fanciers, tramps.

By any conventional measure Eric achieved little during his lifetime. Born in Warrington, Cheshire, he left school at 14 and had a string of temporary labouring jobs, including working as a grave digger, before he eventually ended up loading lorries for a construction company.

After Erics death, Joe Tucker, a TV scriptwriter, set out to try to understand more about his uncles life. How had this seemingly unpromising man become such an accomplished artist?

Erics brother  Joes father  believed that his education had come largely from his regular visits to Manchesters two public art galleries. Even into his 70s and early 80s, with his mobility failing, he would catch a bus to the city to get a pint and visit a gallery.

As a child, Joe had spent a lot of time with his uncle, but couldnt remember ever seeing him paint. Eric seemed to have almost no interest in anyone seeing his work, although he did once sell a few paintings through a local gallery. When he found out he had to pay the gallery a commission, he was so outraged that he took the remaining picture and stormed out.

Posthumously Popular: One-Eyed Lady, an Eric Tucker painting

When Eric was diagnosed with heart problems, he refused to stay in hospital or go into a care home, because he was extremely worried about being away from his paintings. Shortly before he died, aged 86, Eric finally confided to his brother that he would have liked to have had his work exhibited.

On the spur of the moment, Joe decided that, to honour his uncles memory, he and his parents would hold a two-day pop-up exhibition in Erics house (now cleared of its clutter), showing 60 of his paintings.

As the day approached, Joe worried that we were about to spend two days alone in Erics house, surrounded by his paintings . . . a final, heartbreaking addendum to his life.

There had only been a trickle of local publicity, and then a few days before the show, the Mail ran a story about Eric. Other news outlets picked up the story. Suddenly, Eric Tucker and his paintings were big news. Even before the exhibition opened, Joe was astonished to see a long line of people . . . more than we could fit in my uncles house.

In total, 2,000 people came to view Erics paintings  many left visibly moved by what they had seen.

The following year, Warrington Museum & Art Gallery held a retrospective of Erics work. Two galleries in Londons prestigious Cork Street put on an exhibition and it was the fastest-selling in their history. Eric has been even been dubbed the secret Lowry and his paintings now sell for up to 15,000.

Time will tell if his work will be acquired by major galleries. If this acclaim had happened during his lifetime, would this talented, contrary, secretive man have been pleased or not? No one can say, but this warm, often funny book, is a real gem.
SOURCE CODE by Bill Gates (Allen Lane 25, 336pp)

Source Code is available now from the Mail Bookshop

When Bill Gates was nine, a therapist said he was retarded. He wasnt bad at his lessons. It was his voice  he was squeaky.

She recommended he be held back a year while she taught him how to develop a big daddy-bear voice. She made him pronounce the letter r as he licked peanut butter off a bread stick.

Just over a decade later, Gates had co-founded Microsoft, got into every university he applied to (except Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but then only because he couldnt be bothered to go to the interview) and was hurrying on to become the worlds richest man.

Source Code is a good title for this gentle, pensive autobiography. Gates likes the idea of self-digitalisation. He marks even that early act of therapeutic child abuse as useful because it added a bit to his thirst for independent thinking, which would later prove so useful to him.

Another teacher, spotting a glimmer of the future in the boy, had suggested Gates be moved up a year, not down. If these supposed experts dont know what to do with me, thought Gates with great self-possession, why should I care about their opinions?

Gates kidded about, babbled and questioned everything at school. Grades were awarded for a combination of quality (A, B, C) and effort (1, 2, 3). It didnt make sense to Gates that the top score was A1. If you truly were smart, youd be able to get an A with as little effort as possible, so A3 should be the best grade.

Mrs Carson, he peeped to his fourth grade teacher (Year Five, in the UK), please give me an A3.

Baby Bill: At 7 years old, young Bill Gates would have no idea how much he would go on to achieve

In ninth grade he rarely opened his textbooks. But after school hed hurry home and work like mad on a second set of books he kept hidden in his bedroom.

One of the mild surprises of Source Code is that preppy Bill Gates, archdeacon of nerdiness, was cool at school.

Another mild surprise is that he is prepared to admit to this embarrassing deception with the textbooks.

A third, that the plan didnt work. I always remembered ninth grade as the year I made straight As, he observes. But recently I came across my transcript and was surprised to see a mix of As and Bs (including one in biology).

Gatess trouble as a memoirist is that his life has been too easy, speech therapists aside; he is balanced and kind; his parents were supportive and interesting; his obstacles, never threatening.

By the end of Source Code, the first of a projected three volume memoir, Gates is in his 20s. Hes dropped out of Harvard, Microsoft is racing towards world dominance, but his favourite drink is still a Shirley Temple mocktail. (Ginger beer, grenadine and a maraschino cherry: even Temple thought they were icky and refused to drink them.)

Distinctly clever, but not a genius; he wants to be a good person, but also better than everyone else; hes ruthless and kind, awkward and adept, astonishingly prescient yet sweetly naive.

The nearest Gatess childhood got to being dodgy was when he was 16. He and his school friend Paul Allen, with whom he later set up Microsoft, found themselves wandering about an industrial area of South Seattle, looking for a dealer.

For $360 (about 2,000 today) the man handed Gates an aluminium wrap. Too excited to wait, they ripped open the packet on the spot.

With any other hero of autobiography there would have been 5g heroin inside, or the finger of a kidnapped friend; with Bill Gates it was a stick of chewing gum with 18 gold legs  the Intel 8008 microprocessor chip.

The fastest computer chip in the world, the 8008 had been released only months before and was difficult to find. (Gates doesnt mention this in Source Code, but their dealer cheated them, as dealers do: according to the Intel catalogue, the price should have been $120.)

Gates had seen his first computer in 1962, at the Seattle World Fair, when he was seven. It was a miraculous machine  an IBM 1620  dirt cheap for its time: only $100,000. Gates didnt fall in love with it. He preferred the Belgian waffles.

His interest in computing began two years later, when he heard a chug-chug-chug sound coming from the maths classroom at his private school, like a cog-railway grinding its way up the side of a mountain. It was a teletype machine, connected by telephone to a computer far away in California.

No ordinary high school could have afforded such a thing: $1,000 a year, just for the hire; $8 extra for every hour of computer time.

Gates had seen his first computer in 1962, at the Seattle World Fair, but didnt fall in love with it. He preferred the Belgian waffles on offer

Then the woman who was deputy director of the Washington University computer lab gave Gates free time on the machines there. All his young life, as Gates is quick to acknowledge, he did well by the beneficence of adults.

For years he climbed out of his bedroom window when he should have been sleeping, and hurried down the street to do some coding at a nearby computer. Another time he and Allen came across some digger trucks one night at a building site. The keys were still in the ignition, so they drove around merrily in the dark.

Gatess smartest move in mathematics (his strongest subject) was to give it up when he got to Harvard. He lacked the eerie artistry that marks out real brilliance in the field. But he had something almost as rare: flexibility of mind.

He remembered all that work hed done on computing, accepted that pure mathematics was out of his reach and returned full time to programming. Humility kept him swaggering in the right place.

The pleasure of this reflective book is the sense of Old Bill Gates peeking over your shoulder. He is as bemused by Young Bill Gates as you are. Who is this peculiar, but not that peculiar, skinny boy with his high-pitched voice and habit of rocking back and forth when excited?

Hes distinctly clever, but not a genius; he wants to be a good person, but also better than everyone else; hes ruthless and kind, awkward and adept, astonishingly prescient yet sweetly naive. Hes a precocious distortion of the boy next door.
The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance by Adam LeBor (Apollo 27.99, 512pp)

The Last Days of Budapest is available now from the Mail Bookshop

The fizzing nightlife of Budapest scintillated the future Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson when they visited in 1934.

On the surface, the Hungarian capital was a place of non-stop gaiety, music and dance to the accompaniment of Tokaj wine and delicious goulash.

At the glamorous Arizona nightclub, scantily-clad dancers swung from poles, and cavorted down a catwalk between the diners. At the nearby famous restaurant Kakkuk, gypsy violinists serenaded the guests.

The main shopping avenue of the Jewish quarter, Kiraly Street, was one of the citys liveliest thoroughfares, bustling with thriving shops. But beneath the surface, Hungarys dark strain of vicious anti-Semitism was beginning to make itself felt.

Far-Right thugs had already enjoyed a brief taste of power in the early 1920s, meting out violent revenge on anyone whod supported the two-year Soviet-style government.

As LeBor writes in his powerful book on the catastrophe that would befall Budapest during the Second World War, that savagery would erupt again in the winter of 1944-5, but on a much larger scale.

In the 1930s, Admiral Horthy, Hungarys weak regent and head of state, enacted the first anti-Semitic laws, for example, that only 20 per cent of employees in any business could be Jewish. This kind of thing normalised anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, those thugs nursed their taste for sadism.

It would re-emerge after the Nazi invasion in 1944, when they re-formed as the terrifying Arrow Cross Party: feral, sadistic, psychopathic Hungarian anti-Semites, who would rampage through the streets, raiding yellowstar houses (where Jews were forced to live, 14 to a room) and murdering tens of thousands of men, women and children, mainly by shooting them on the banks of the Danube so they could fall into the river.

Guarded: A German soldier stands guard as Jews are rounded up in the Hungarian capital in late 1944

My Jewish great-grandmother Etelka Tannert and her son, my great-uncle Ferenc, died in Budapest in 1944.

Ive never known exactly how they met their deaths. Reading this haunting book opens all kinds of ghastly possibilities for how it might have happened.

The thought that it could have been in an Allied air raid is almost comforting, compared with the other forms of slow death described here, some of them in torture chambers in the basements of what used to be Budapests most elegant hotels.

What LeBor shows us with horrifying clarity is how life became steadily worse for Budapests Jews  from the mid-1930s until the final horror of the Siege of Budapest, which began in December 1944 and ended in January 1945, when the Russians smashed through the gates of the ghetto in which Jews were crammed together in a state of starvation and disease. The psychological strain on the inhabitants through those years is unimaginable.

In some ways, they were the lucky ones. At least they werent all murdered at Auschwitz, which is was what happened to almost all the Jews from provincial Hungary, in one of the most industrially efficient programmes of mass-murder in history, overseen by Adolf Eichmann, who unleashed his program as soon as Germany invaded the country in March 1944.

Unforgettable: four young siblings, Judit, Tibor, Zoltan and Pal Ornstein

A quarter of a million Hungarian Jews were ripped from their towns and villages, and forced into cattle trucks and gas chambers.

The deportations from central Budapest were just about to start on June 26, when President Roosevelt presented an ultimatum to Admiral Horthy: if the deportations did not stop, he would be treated as a war criminal.

News of what really happened to Jews when they were relocated had trickled out. The deportations were drastically curtailed. The Jews of Budapest were safe, for now , writes LeBor.

And thanks to the work of heroic figures, such as Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and Jewish-Hungarian forger David Gur, who provided Jews with false documents, thousands were saved. This book celebrates figures such as these.

There are unforgettable photographs. One is of four young siblings: Judit, Tibor, Zoltan and Pal Ornstein. Judit (working at a childrens home in Budapest) kept a diary in 1944 in which she described her worry about her provincial family.

Little did she know, four of them were already dead. Three of her little brothers (including her youngest brother Laszio, who was not in the photo) died at Auschwitz, along with their mother. Judit would be killed in an Allied air raid, but her diary survived  as did Pal, who would go on to become a renowned professor in the US, living until 2017.

Train in a Budapest train station, 1944

It often seemed that indigenous populations turned out to be the most vicious anti-Semites, as bad as the Nazis themselves.

In the Netherlands, Dutch locals relished hunting down and betraying hidden Jews. In France, local policemen savoured providing quotas of Jews to be deported. And Budapest, LeBor writes, was a city of snitches. Its own strain of thuggery was particularly violent.

By the end of 1944, the city was heaped with dead bodies on the streets or washed up from the Danube. Nowhere else in Europe were Jews killed in public in such large numbers over such a long period, LeBor writes. For this to happen, there had to be unspoken assent to the violence.

The final showdown, when the city was pounded to smithereens by the Russians, levelling much of the historic quarter of Buda, feels like the result of allowing a city to descend into a state of moral depravity.
THE GHOSTS OF ROME by Joseph O'Connor (Harvill Secker 20, 384pp)

The Ghosts of Rome is available now from the Mail Bookshop

RETURNING to war-ravaged Europe and occupied Rome so cinematically described in My Father's House, O'Connor's 'dread-drenched' sequel is subtle and sombre, as the incursion of the Nazis into the city puts the members of 'The Choir' in grave danger.

Committed to smuggling refugees and Allied soldiers to safety, the crew are worn down and worn out; food is scarce, the atmosphere claustrophobic and mistrust seeps into their psyches, especially with the arrival of a mysterious airman, whose loyalties are open to question.

It's a stellar piece of storytelling.

O'Connor brilliantly captures the sense of the city and its inhabitants in peril.

But he also celebrates The Choir's doughty friendship, their vivid voices conveying their stories of unshowy heroism in the face of Hitler's henchman Hauptmann, whose determination to stop them knows no bounds.

THE ARTIST by Lucy Steeds (Michael Joseph 16.99, 304pp)

The Artist is available now from the Mail Bookshop

HONEYED heat and slow-burn attraction make for a smouldering atmosphere in Lucy Steeds's intense, beautifully realised debut.

It's summer in Provence in 1920 and aspiring writer Joseph finds himself in the tempestuous orbit of reclusive artist Tartuffe, known as Tata, and his put-upon niece Ettie.

Tata's pictures are filled with light but he's a dark character; temperamental and misogynistic, being around him is like 'living with an ever-changing storm'.

Grieving his inspiring, dead mother, and heart sore for his war-damaged elder brother, writing about Tata's luminous pictures give Joseph hope.

But slowly his attention and his affection turns to Ettie, who's living a secret artistic life of her own, growing into a gift which has been 'quashed, hidden, smothered', in Tata's repressive world.

It's a blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful.

THE QUEEN OF FIVES by Alex Hay (Headline 18.99, 416pp)

The Queen of Fives is available now from the Mail Bookshop

ALEX HAY, the author of the rip-roaring debut The Housekeepers, returns to the fray with an audacious tale of charlatans and chicanery set in the gorgeous surrounds of 1898

Mayfair. In a breathless game of bluff and double bluff, carried off in glorious disguises and glamorous ballgowns, conwoman Quinn Le Blanc embarks on an elaborate ruse to separate the rich-beyond-belief Duke of Kendal from a huge chunk of his fortune over the course of five frantic days.

Masquerading as a wealthy debutante, the shape-shifting Quinn infiltrates their Berkeley Square mansion, but she is not the only with secrets.

The duke, his fiery sister Tor and their ruthless stepmother are just as duplicitous, as the cunning quartet embark on a dangerous game of brinkmanship, delivered with fabulous aplomb by Hay, who delights in these high-stakes high jinks.
THE DARK HOURS by Amy Jordan (HQ 16.99, 352pp)

The Dark Hours is available now from the Mail Bookshop

BACK in 1994, new young police officer Julia Harte, a member of the Irish Garda, had an almost fatal brush with serial killer James Cox in Cork, Ireland.

Now, 30 years later and aged 60, she has retired to a small town on the coast, hoping to put the past behind her after many years as a detective inspector.

But one month after Cox's death, a copycat seems to have surfaced and Julia is dragged back into a new investigation, forcing her to confront her agonising past.

Told with an exceptional eye for the pressures on police officers, this dazzlingly mature debut from a former civil servant announces the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

The tangled, terrifying story she tells feels as though Jordan has been writing for decades. It would make great TV - it's as good as Broadchurch.

THE BIG EMPTY by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster 20, 384pp)

The Big Empty is available now from the Mail Bookshop

PRIVATE investigator Elvis Cole and his silent - and distinctly frightening - ex-Marine partner Joe Pike have become one of the best-loved double acts in crime fiction and this 20th story underlines why.

Cole is hired by influencer Traci Beller, who has made her name baking muffins on social media, to search for her father Tommy, who went missing in Los Angeles ten years ago when she was 13.

Other private eyes have tried to find out what happened, without success. Then Cole discovers a trailer-trash mother and her daughter who may hold the key to where Tommy went, but there are violent men who don't want anyone to know the truth.

Told with Crais's typical laconic, Philip Marlowe-style wit, the search comes to a dark, shocking conclusion.

THE DAY OF THE ROARING by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press 16.99, 400pp)

The Day of The Roaring is available now from the Mail Bookshop

BLACK DI Diana Walker, daughter of Kenyan parents and working in Sheffield, lies at the heart of this ambitious debut by a former journalist.

A dismembered head is found in a locked filing cabinet on the derelict site of what was once a failed secondary school. It turns out to belong to the former headmaster.

But there is no apparent motive for the crime and some of Walker's colleagues put it down to county-lines violence.

She is not so sure and starts to delve into the school's background. It transpires that another teacher is missing while a second has been found dead.

Add into the plot the coercion of black women and female genital mutilation, not to mention Britain's colonial past and organised crime.

The result is a fine story that is all but lost in other issues: a shame.
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Morning Joe's Katty Kay took aim at Democrats on Friday during discussions about the DC plane crash.

The analyst chided progressives for failing to 'push back' on President Donald Trump, who wildly blamed the crash that killed 67 on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in federal hiring.

Shortly before, fill-in host Jonathan Lemire accused the president of politicizing a 'national tragedy' to 'attack his foes', paving the way for Kay's comments.

The British journalist said she thought Democrats had missed an opportunity to call Trump, 78, out.

'But it looks like Donald Trump is feeling extremely powerful and realizing that even if he says something or goes too far, then hes not going to get much pushback, right?' Kay pointed out, amid a still-young investigation.

Kay did mention former Department of Transportation head Pete Buttigieg, who called Trump's suggestion that DEI 'could have' played a part in the disaster 'despicable'.

Joining in on the bipartisan back-and-forth, Kay conceded, 'I mean, yes, Pete Buttigieg came out with a tweet saying that this was despicable.

'But you have not had a complete outcry, uniform, from members of the Democratic Party responding to what President Trump did.'

Morning Joe's Katty Kay took aim at Democrats on Friday during discussions about the DC crash

The analyst chided progressives for failing to 'push back' on the president, following his comments about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

The journalist, who is both British and Swiss, claimed Trump 'effectively blam[ed] black, brown people, women, [and] people with disabilities' for the crash, which occurred over the Potomac Wednesday night and remains unexplained.

'I mean, lets be honest,' she said of the declaration. 'Thats what diversity is, and that is what the president said - that black, brown people, women and people with disabilities caused this crash.

'I mean, where is the outcry?' Kay then asked, looking for 'a coordinated outcry from Democrats'.

'Theyve been tied up,' she declared, pointing to recent House grillings of Trump's cabinet appointments. 'Theyve been tied up in the hearings on Capitol Hill.

'Its just this - this sense, that Donald Trump wants to have a fight,' Kay then thought aloud, airing her remarks to both Lemire and fellow host Willie Geist.

'The fact that he signed a memorandum even after that press conference doesnt suggest at all that he thinks he went too far in that press conference, quite the contrary,' she claimed. 'He wants to push it even further.

'And he thinks that therell be, even if nothing happens thats positive, there will be very little pushback from a Congress.'

She claimed that members of the Republican-dominated legislative branch are 'either cowed on the Democratic side or compliant on the Republican side.'

Shortly before, fill-in host Jonathan Lemire accused the president of politicizing a 'national tragedy' to 'attack his foes', paving the way for Kay's comments. The British journalist said she thought Democrats had missed out on an opportunity to call Trump out

Hours before, he linked diversity initiatives in federal hiring processes to the crash involving an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter - without any evidence

'Brilliant people have to be in those positions,' Trump said of staffers within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as bodies were still being pulled from the Potomac River

The comments were echoed by commentators and pundits on Thursday, as they reacted to the president's comments.

During his press conference on Thursday, the 78-year-old claimed he put 'safety' first, whereas Presidents Biden and Obama prioritized politics .

He also claimed Biden, 82, ended 'very powerful tests' for air traffic controllers during his term, and that standards were higher under his previous presidency.

The remarks linked diversity initiatives in hiring to the crash, which involved an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter, leading many to argue Trump's comments were baseless.

'I think he owes the American people an apology,' Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen said, adding how he had been 'outraged' by the president's pointed response.

'It was just grotesque the way he immediately politicized this terrible tragedy,' he said.

'He was immediately pointing fingers and when he was asked by the press what the basis of his claims were, he admitted that he didn't have any,' the senator noted.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also weighed in on Capitol Hill, mere moments after the briefing concluded.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also criticized Trump's comments on Capitol Hill Thursday, saying it 'turn[ed] [his] stomach'

Rachel Maddow also weighed in to criticize the president's comments as 'baseless', as did former CNN anchor Jim Acosta

'Its one thing for internet pundits to spew up conspiracy theories,' he said. Its another for the President of the United States of America to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified.

'It just turns your stomach.'

Buttigieg, who served under Biden and was mentioned by Trump, also chided the president for the unfounded theory.

'Despicable,' he wrote on X, after his successor was sworn into office Wednesday, just hours before the under-investigation collision.

'As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,' he continued.

'We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.'

Buttigieg went on as how Trump 'now oversees the military and the FAA', before claiming that his litany of executive actions showed his lack of understanding on the subject.

'One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe,' Buttigieg stated.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg jumped in on the action, saying Trump should 'be leading, not lying' during such a disaster after Trump called him out at an 11 am press conference

'Time for the president to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.

A newly unemployed Jim Acosta also took to time to slam the president, doing so on X.

'Harry Truman famously said the buck stops here,' the former CNN star, who quit on the air Tuesday, tweeted. 'Trump is trying to pass the buck and blame everybody but his administration for the DC plane crash,'

'This is a time for consoling the families and investigating the cause of this tragedy, not shameful finger pointing.'

Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia also called Trump's comments 'stomach-churning', citing how he did not have evidence to support his claim.

'Can you imagine a more damaging thing to hear if you're suffering already than a president trying to make political hay out of something like this?' Kaine said in an interview on CNN.

'They were still searching for bodies in the Potomac when he was running off at the mouth about this.'

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow also both weighed in on the crash, criticizing Trump for his comments.

When asked for concreted evidence previous administrations' penchant for diversity played a part in the crash, Trump could only engage in conjecture. He told reporters it was 'common sense'. Pictured, the moment the military-owned Blackhawk flew into the passenger plane

O'Donnell said the president's theory was 'based entirely on his own profoundly ignorant, prejudiced guess.'

Even before the press conference, progressives on CNN were politicizing the tragedy, with Bakari Sellers' posting a screenshot of a release from the House Committee on Transport and Infrastructure that announced a Trump-issued hiring freeze of air traffic controllers.

The article featured a statement from the committees ranking member Rick Larsen, warning about the potential threat to safety.

'Eight days ago,' the popular comment continued to tweet, before deleting within minutes.

Meanwhile, the crash - the worst in the US since September 11, 2001 - remains unexplained. DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has called it an 'accident'.

The National Transportation Safety Board is handling the investigation.
Jim Acosta's new Substack has amassed 123,000 subscribers in just a matter days, as cable news continues its decline.

The development comes days after CNN reported one of its worst ratings months in history, weeks after a round of layoffs that affected almost 200.

Acosta, 53, was spared, though a lineup revamp saw him stripped of his usual 10 am hour.

Despite efforts to set him up with a new one, the anchor made clear on the set of CNN Newsroom on Tuesday he was going his own way.

Within hours, he was advertising his Substack - titled The Jim Acosta Show - offering paid subscriptions.

A recent post penned on Friday saw the ex-chief White House correspondent thank fellow former CNN staffer Oliver Darcy for his shout-out of the Substack.

'The great Status newsletter by Oliver Darcy notes my Substack already taking off,' Acosta wrote a little after 11am. '123k subscribers so far and we are just getting started folks. More to come. About an hour before, he promoted the page to at least 2million on X.

A line seemingly deleted from the page previously boasted about having 'thousands of paid subscribers'. However, many of the subscribers are not paying ones - with that specific statistic difficult to discern due to the nature of the platform.

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Jim Acosta's new Substack has amassed 123,000 subscribers in just a matter days, as cable news continues its decline. The development comes days after CNN reported one of its worst ratings months in history, weeks after a round of layoffs that affected almost 200

Acosta, was spared, though a lineup revamp saw him stripped of his usual 10am hour. Despite efforts to set him up with a new one, the anchor made clear on the set of Newsroom Tuesday he was going his own way. Within hours, he was advertising his Substack - the Jim Acosta Show

Paid plans available include a monthly one for $8 and an annual for $80. An option billed as a 'Founding Member' plan - also lasting a year - is available for $240.

Each offers access to all of Acosta's posts and the ability to post comments within '[Acosta's] community', with no differences specified between the 'Founding Member' and lower-tiered 'Annual' plans.

Alongside the three subscription plans is an option simply listed as none, where users are able to view the 'occasional public post' penned by Acosta.

DailyMail.com signed up for the free option and was able to view a series of posts, including his initial Substack live where he filmed himself announcing the new venture.

'Hey guys, it's Jim - and let me just say this, I've had quite the day,' he began in the self-filmed video, which was also posted to X.

'But as you can see, earlier today - this was my last day at CNN. And I did want to jump on Substack live here for a moment and say, welcome to my new venture. I'm going independent - at least for now.

The journalist, who famously clashed with Donald Trump during his first term, cryptically teased, 'This is just the beginning.'

Repeating lines that appeared to reference Trump during his closing message earlier in the day, he added, 'Don't give into the lies. Don't give into the fear.'

A recent post penned Friday saw the ex-chief White House correspondent thank fellow former CNN staffer Oliver Darcy for his shout-out

'The great Status newsletter by Oliver Darcy notes my Substack already taking off,' Acosta wrote a little after 11 am. '123k subscribers so far and we are just getting started folks. More to come. About an hour before, he promoted the page to his 2million followers on X

A line seemingly deleted from the page previously boasted about having 'thousands of paid subscribers'. However, many of the subscribers are not paying ones - with the specific statistic difficult to discern due to the nature of the platform. Available plans are seen here

'Hold on to the truth,' he continued. 'And I hope we'll keep this conversation going.'

'Great to see all of you here. We'll talk some more soon.'

The post - actually the Substack's second - was pointedly titled 'Hold on to the truth...'

It is among those available for free. Acosta also streamed a video featuring Norman Eisen, a CNN legal analyst who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment and trial of Trump in 2020.

The Substack's first post, a note cryptically titled Coming Soon, was posted way back on January 16, a day after Darcy published a report featuring CNN insider quotes that insisted Wolf Blitzer was set to take Acosta's hour.

That prediction came true, with Acosta seemingly reading the writing on the wall weeks before his final broadcast.

On the new page, Acosta penned an additional 740 words recalling his experiences at CNN - a post that's also free.

A series of other, more short-form updates are also available to unpaid users - like the one talking up Darcy and another showing his pet beagle.

DailyMail.com signed up for the free option and was able to view a series of posts, including his initial Substack live where he filmed himself announcing the new venture

A series of other, more short-form updates are also available to unpaid users - like this one showing his pet beagle

Another, penned Friday afternoon, saw Acosta again proclaim his intent to take a stab at journalism on his own, after days of being panned by Trump and others on Truth Social. Meanwhile, the number of Substack journalists covering news and politics continues to grow

Another, written on Friday afternoon, saw Acosta again proclaim his intent to take a stab at journalism on his own, after days of being panned by Trump and others on Truth Social.

'Contrary to what some in the far-right echo chamber have been saying this week, I have not been silenced,' Acosta wrote, as subscribers continued to come in.

'Im right here folks. And I am ready to get started!' he added, after the number of Substack journalists in news and politics making more than $1 million doubled during last year.

Outlets like The Ankler, a Hollywood news startup, joined in 2022 and Darcy's Status emerged late last year, with both boasting large followings.
Kromek Group left investors cheering this week as it unmasked a road to profitability via a deal with Siemens Healthineers.

Shares in the radiation and bio-detection specialist rocketed almost 38 per cent, fuelled by Thursday's news of the $37.5million (30.2million) cash deal with the German medical technology giant.

Equipment to produce cadmium zinc telluride detector tiles, used for medical imaging, would be transferred to Siemens, alongside training and related services.

Payments would be made in return over the coming four years, including $25million initially, covering a string of agreements.

'These significant agreements enable us to deliver profitability in 2025, significantly ahead of market expectations,' chief executive Arnab Basu flagged.

He added they laid 'the groundwork for further growth in revenues and sustainable profitability beyond that' and left scope to 'significantly' reduce debt.

Kromek would also remain the largest independent maker of such detector tiles, despite Siemens taking 15 of its 174 production furnaces, the company said.

Transformational: Kromek Group shares rocketed after the firm agreed a 30.2million cash deal with the German medical technology giant Siemens Healthineers

Kromek separately published interim figures showing revenue of 3.7million, against 7.1million a year earlier, as its margin widened from 54.2 per cent to 56.9 per cent.

Basu noted the Siemens deal meant Kromek would grow revenue for a fifth consecutive year come 2026.

He said: 'Consequently, the board looks to the future with confidence.'

Kromek's jump placed it well among the junior market's risers in a solid week across the board for London-listed companies.

The AIM all-share had added 0.5 per cent to reach 718 come Friday morning, albeit lagging once again against mid and blue caps, which enjoyed hefty gains.

Indeed, the FTSE 100 repeatedly broke its own records late in the week, having climbed 2.2 per cent by Friday to reach 8,687.

While the FTSE 100's lack of technology exposure saw it avoid a global sell-off early on after the release of DeepSeek's cheaper and less data-hungry artificial intelligence bot, the FTSE 250 had faced pressure before bouncing back for a 1.7 per cent rise to 20,875.

Several junior market constituents outperformed against their larger counterparts though, not least Marechale Capital.

Shares in the firm skyrocketed 127 per cent for the week as speculation built around looming approval for a project by investee Weardale Lithium Limited.

Marechale on Wednesday flagged Durham County Council had recommended approving the lithium project, which would be the UK's largest such extraction site, before a hearing in early February.

Mosman Oil & Gas was another major riser, jumping almost 56 per cent thanks to updates on Thursday, including news of advancements at its American helium venture.

Vecta Oil and Gas, of which Mosman owns 20 per cent, had penned a deal with contractor Desert Eagle Operating to begin drilling at up to five wells 'as soon as possible'.

Mosman separately unveiled an extension for an exploration permit in the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, Australia as a sale of the asset to Echelon Resources continued.

Among other AIM risers, Fevertree Drinks PLC gained 24 per cent on an exclusive sales, distribution and production deal with Molson Coors for its carbonated mixers in the US.

Molson Coors would also buy an 8.5 per cent stake in Fevertree for 71million under the agreement, which the latter said would be used for a share buyback.

Expectation-beating full-year figures took transport management software firm Microlise up 41 per cent for the week.

A 12.9 per cent increase in revenue to 81million and 20.2 per cent jump in adjusted earnings to 11.3million had left it comfortably ahead of market expectations, Microlise said.

Quadrise got a late boost on Friday as it continued a run of successful fundraising among AIM-listed firms.

Some 6.53million had been raised, the clean energy technology provider said, after a retail offer under a wider fundraiser was doubled in size on strong demand.

News of proposed fundraising did little to help Metals One though, which sat as the week's biggest junior market faller.

Shares dropped almost 44 per cent, as Friday saw efforts revealed to bring in 5million, including through a 4.4million equity raise.

Metals One acknowledged the plans to raise funds would see 'significant dilution for shareholders' but said these would support operations for the coming 18 months.
Smiths Group plans to offload a major chunk of its business to help boost shareholder returns, following pressure from a major investor.

The engineering firm said it hopes to sell Smiths Interconnect, which makes radio frequency components and semiconductor test applications, by the end of this year.

Once that deal is completed, the FTSE 100 company then intends to sell or demerge Smiths Detection, a baggage screening and explosive detector business.

Smiths said a 'large portion' of proceeds from these divestments would be returned to investors, who will also benefit from an additional 350million in share buybacks during 2025.

It comes a fortnight after a US activist investor, Engine Capital, which owns around a 2 per cent stake in the company, called for the business to be broken up.

Engine claimed Smiths' conglomerate structure had seen shares trade at a discount to the company's true value, despite its improved operating performance.

Outlook: Smiths Group now anticipates organic revenues will advance by 8 per cent or more this fiscal year, compared to a previous forecast made in January for at least 7 per cent growth

To close the valuation gap, Engine recommended that Smiths either be sold 'in whole or in pieces'.

It said this could include spinning off Smiths' John Crane in the US or selling other divisions.

'With several recent breakups that have created tremendous value for investors in the industrial sector, we see a significant and timely opportunity for the board to unlock meaningful value for shareholders,' Engine wrote.

Smiths Group shares soared 13.6 per cent to 21.18 on Friday morning following the strategic update, making them the FTSE 100's biggest riser by far.

The London-based firm said the transactions will enable it to concentrate on 'high-performance industrial technologies for efficient flow and heat management' through its John Crane and Flex-Tek businesses.

Both divisions generated operating profit margins of more than 20 per cent in the last financial year, as well as returns on employed capital of over 25 per cent.

John Crane develops mechanical seals and filtration systems for sectors like energy, life sciences and mining, while Flex-Tek specialises in equipment that regulates the heat and flow of fluids and gases.

Roland Carter, chief executive of Smiths, said: 'The board has spent considerable time evaluating the options to maximise shareholder value and address the persistent discount to the significant value embedded within the group.

'We start from a position of strength, and as we execute this strategy, we will become a more focused business with significant potential for future growth and value creation.'
With a blank expression on his face, the thief piles items from a shelf laden with M&S jams and chutneys while a security guard begs him to stop - before shoving past the employee and walking out of the exit.

This footage, filmed at a branch on London's Chancery Lane, is only one of countless examples of brazen shoplifting that have been caught on camera across the UK, with those involved often making no effort to hide their identities.

In other cases the thieves appear to be relishing their moment of notoriety, with video from a Tesco in West Drayton showing three shoplifters laughing as they leave the store laden with bottles of spirits - as security guards watch on helplessly.

When they do intervene, guards are often pelted with abuse - as happened in another Tesco a short drive away in West Drayton where a man pelted staff with chocolate bars and screamed 'get your f***ing hands off me' in front of terrified children.

In an even more shocking case, a serial thief drove 220 yards with a farm shop employee on his bonnet after he bravely tried to stop him fleeing Mainsgill Farm in North Yorkshire by standing in front of his car.

These disturbing videos, all filmed in recent months, provide a small insight into a crime that has reached crisis levels across the UK - with new data showing the number of shoplifting offences has risen by 23 per cent to more than 490,000 a year.

There were a total of 492,914 offences recorded by police in the year to September, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday - the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003.

MailOnline recently obtained CCTV footage from shop owners in Surrey that reveals brazen thieves casually stealing hundreds of pounds worth of stock before fleeing with full bags.

A thief casually strips shelves at an M&S on Chancery Lane while a security guard tries to stop him

A masked thief - dressed all in black - loading stolen vapes in to a large bag in a Tesco store

Shoplifters stealing alcohol from a Tesco in West Drayton as security guards watch on helplessly. Staff are often ordered by supermarkets not to physically confront thieves

Lindsey Kleinlercher, joint owner of gift shop Between The Lines, said shoplifting is now 'blatant' across the store's 18 locations in the south of England - as she hit out at the lack of support from police.

It follows warnings that shoplifting is 'spiraling out of control' after a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggested there were more than 2,000 incidents a day, with staff facing assault, being threatened with weapons, and abuse.

There were more than 55,000 incidents of theft per day, equating to more than 20 million in total.

The alarming figures show the issue is getting worse, with cases of attacks and shoplifting beating last year's record numbers to be a fresh high since the surveys began in 2001.

This is despite businesses paying a record 1.8billion on prevention tactics such as CCTV, more security guards and body worn cameras.

Some 61 per cent of retailers say the police response to calls for help has been 'poor' or 'very poor'.

Retailers are reporting unprecedented levels of violence towards their staff, with the number of incidents involving a weapon more than doubling to 70 per day.

MailOnline recently obtained footage from shop owners in Surrey that shows how they have also been hit by Britain's shoplifting crisis. In this grab, a member of staff confronts a shoplifter in Haslemere

In another piece of footage, this time from Oxted, a man can be seen squatting down and hurriedly shoving four candles into an open Sainsbury's bag

A man shoving luxury candles into an empty Waitrose bag in the nearby town of Hersham

Crime is up overall, crime survey reveals

The Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) is based on interviews with 35,000 people and regarded by statisticians as the more accurate picture of crime levels. This found there were 9.5million incidents of headline crime last year. This was an increase of 12 per cent on the year before, mainly driven by a 19 per cent rise in fraud. The CSEW has found that crime overall has generally decreased over the last decades, with the exception of some offences - such as sexual assault. Police data showing shoplifting is at a record high will be seized upon by retail bosses as further proof that urgent action is needed to tackle lawlessness. Advertisement

Alarming cases include staff being 'spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes' and the perpetrators 'are getting bolder and more aggressive' by the day, according to Ms Dickinson.

She added: 'With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse.

'Retailers are spending more than ever before, but they cannot prevent crime alone. We need the police to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately.'

As a result, the industry group reiterated calls for attacks on shop staff to be made a specific offence in England and Wales, as it is in Scotland.

Labour has promised to do this in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill, which the industry is hoping will be introduced in the coming weeks.

It marks a victory for The Mail, which led the way on exposing abuse against store workers and shoplifting and called for authorities to take the issue more seriously.

The campaign began after Tesco boss Ken Murphy revealed that every frontline worker was to be offered a body camera due to a rise in attacks.

Ministers have also vowed to remove a 200 threshold that means many shoplifting cases are deprioritised by police.

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This graph does not include data up to September 2024 due to changes in the length of reporting periods.

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The current laws mean that theft has been 'decriminalised', according to Lord Stuart Rose, the former boss of Asda and Marks & Spencer.

But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted the country could not tolerate 'a situation where shoplifters can walk in, shoplift and walk back out again and nobody can do anything about it' last year.

The frequency of attacks mean that many of the 3 million people working in the retail industry are terrified to come to work, according to The Retail Trust.

'People are contacting our helpline in their thousands to report horrifying incidents of abuse and violence and many say that they are now at breaking point,' Chris Brook-Carter, the organisation's chief executive, said.

And responding to today's crime statistics, Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: 'These figures show that shoplifting, retail crime and snatch theft remain unacceptably high, blighting town centres and high streets right across the country. For far too long these crimes have been written off as 'low-level' and not treated with the urgency or seriousness they deserve.

'This government is determined to turn the page. As part of the Plan for Change, our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will put officers and PCSOs back on the beat in every corner of the country, ensuring the police are visible, accessible and responsive to the communities they serve.

'Our forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill will give the police the powers they need to crack down on the criminals who cause misery in our communities, and to tackle the scourge of serious violence on our streets'.

Prolific shoplifter Tania Patmore, 52, avoided jail after admitting stealing nearly 150,000 worth of goods

When shoplifters are caught they rarely face serious punishment, with a woman who stole 145,000 worth of goods from Tesco avoiding jail when she was sentenced this week.

Tania Patmore, 52, admitted to 73 offences as part of a gang who filled the trolleys and then pushed them out of stores in the southeast of England without paying.

But, despite her confession, she won't spend any time behind bars as she is the sole carer of her teenage daughter.

Each offence consisted of taking from one to ten trolleys from the same store in quick succession.

For Patmore, that amounted to stealing 184 trolleys filled with goods, and attempting to steal another 47.

A farm shop employee bravely tries to stop 56- year-old Alan Lewis from fleeing with stolen goods on November 23 last year

He then drove off with the staff member on his bonnet - where he remained for a staggering 200 metres

Lewis was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for two years

A sentencing hearing at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday heard the value of the stolen property came to 145,000.

Circuit Judge Robert Fraser gave Patmore a suspended two year sentence after Patmore's barrister said she was the sole carer for her 13-year-old daughter.

The judge told Patmore: 'I make it very clear I am doing this purely because of your daughter.

'You are a very lucky lady.' Patmore thanked him from the dock.
An air traffic control veteran with 23 years of experience has revealed the mistake operators made in the moments leading up to the deadly collision in Washington, DC.

The American Airlines jet with 64 people onboard crashed with a US Army helicopter carrying three soldiers over the icy waters of the Potomac River Wednesday night, killing everyone.

The Black Hawk helicopter apparently flew in the jet's path as it landed at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Investigators working through the wreckage in the Potomac uncovered two black box flight recorders on Thursday night as they attempt to determine what went wrong.

An experienced air traffic controller told DailyMail.com that the air traffic control (ATC) audio that emerged from the crash showed the operator's instructions to the helicopter were 'very ambiguous.'

In the nearly minute-and-a-half recording, ATC operators can be heard asking the helicopter if the commercial flight is in sight.

Through muffled audio, more commands and confirmations are made between ATC operators.

One air traffic controller said to the helicopter pilot: 'PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?'

Seconds later, the controller spoke again, requesting: 'Pat 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.'

An air traffic control veteran with 23 years' experience said the audio that emerged from the crash shows the operator's instructions to the helicopter were 'very ambiguous'

An American Airlines jet with 64 people onboard crashed with a US Army helicopter carrying three soldiers over the icy waters of the Potomac River Wednesday night

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The veteran air traffic controller, who has worked in six different airports throughout the country, said that if those commands were the Black Hawk's first reference to the plane, the instructions were unclear.

'It would have been very ambiguous as far as, "Okay, what plane? Well, where am I looking?"' he said.

'Whenever you give directions to people, we use the 12 points on a clock. Let's say 12 o'clock is north. If I say, "Look to your nine o'clock" that would mean look to your left or to the west.

'So, if I had a helicopter that was coming into my airspace and I wanted him to see an airplane, I would say, "PAT 2-5 traffic, nine o'clock, three miles regional jet inbound to the airport."

He noted that air traffic controllers have a massive responsibility to give accurate and detailed information to pilots.

We have to be right all the time because if were not, people die. Air Traffic Controllers have hundreds if not thousands of lives on our screen, our radar scope at one time,' the veteran controller said.

'What we say goes if we tell you to do something, you better do it because we're trying to ensure your safety.

'The pilot in command can disregard instructions if they think that their aircraft is going to be in imminent danger, but youd better have a good reason because theyre going to be asked why they did it.

In the nearly minute-and-a-half recording, ATC operators can be heard asking the helicopter if the commercial flight is in sight

They slammed into one another just 400ft above ground, erupting in a violent explosion before plunging into the freezing Potomac River below

Devastating radar footage captured the moment the doomed American Airlines flight collided with a US Army helicopter.

The Black Hawk helicopter cut through the airspace from the opposite direction under cover of darkness, with both aircraft seemingly unaware of the other's presence.

They slammed into one another just 400ft above ground, erupting in a violent explosion before plunging into the freezing Potomac River below.

Air Traffic Control radar footage showed the fateful moment the two aircraft crossed paths.

The American Airlines flight, labeled JIA5342, and the Army Black Hawk helicopter, labeled PAT25, appeared to be facing each other head-on leading up to the crash.

The helicopter's path remained relatively straight while the American Airlines flight veered to make its landing, and the two collided.

Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han's mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.

The bodies of all four flight crew members - including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding - were also recovered from the debris on Thursday.

The pilots of the American Eagle jet were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed.

And both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

ATC staff numbers at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday were 'not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic', and controllers were more overworked than usual, according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report seen by the New York Times.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The helicopter's path remained relatively straight while the American Airlines flight veered, and the two collided

Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover (made worse by overwork-induced burnout) and budget cuts.

Controllers frequently work 10 hours daily, six days a week, to fill the void.

The preliminary crash report detailed that the lack of staff meant the controller monitoring and directing helicopters near DCA was also instructing planes to land and depart on the runways.

Usually two controllers would handle these roles, as staff use two different radio frequencies to talk to planes and helicopter pilots.

While the controller is talking to them, the pilots of each aircraft may not be able hear each other.
A retired Australian Army chief has raised concerns over the Defence Force's waning troop numbers, fearing an understaffed service could jeopardise security.

Lieutenant General Peter Leahy warned that the current ADF strength of about 58,000 is insufficient to adequately defend the nation.

The defence force recruits little more than 5,000 new members annually, but insiders believe it must climb to 9,000 yearly to meet demand.

A protracted shortfall could mean Australia is required to enforce conscription in the case of an invasion or significant overseas conflict, Lt Gen Leahy said.

'(Conscription) is there if there is an emergency, but it has never been popular in Australia with the military and public,' he told Seven News.

'We should be encouraging people to join and developing a positive attitude to service, rather than forcing them.'

Compulsory enlistment for peacetime service was abolished in 1972 amid mass protests against Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Lt. Gen Leahy, along with the RSL Defence and National Security Committee, which he leads, has proposed several changes to the Defence Force aimed at attracting more recruits.

Lieutenant General Peter Leahy warned conscription is 'not popular' but 'available' amid waning ADF sign ups

Lt Gen Leahy said the ADF should sweeten the deal for young recruits with a lookalike GI Bill for service people

They want Australia to copy the GI Bill in the US, which sees service members provided with tertiary and vocational training upon leaving the ADF.

They are also proposing a return of the Ready Reserve Scheme for fresh school leavers.

The scheme gave young Australians a year of full-time training before they proceeded to tertiary or vocational training - required to serve 50 days a year in the Ready Reserves unit for four years after.

'While the mechanics of recruiting are being improved, it is uncertain whether this will be enough to achieve the targets and guarantee our ability to field new capabilities and operate them on future battlefields,' Lt Gen Leahy told The Australian.

'There is something else at play. Surveys such as the Scanlon 2023 Social Cohesion Report identified a declining sense of pride and belonging in Australia. It also reported a declining trust in the government.

Lt Gen Leahy said military service commercials miss the key attributes of military service's appeal

Researchers said cultural factors are more likely to influence Gen Z's willingness to serve

'Military service is about purpose, values and loyalty. It is about service and sacrifice, and contributing to something bigger than yourself. It is also about fighting and the application of lethal force on the battlefield. ADF recruiting commercials are muted on this nature of military service.'

He feared recruitment commercials focused too much on what service could do for recruits and not enough on what recruits could do for their country.

He also suggested the recruitment under an amalgamated 'ADF' title meant there was little for recruits to identify with.

He said historically recruits feel a stronger connection to their service by joining an individual branch of the defence force such as the Royal Australian Air Force.

Academics Robert Hoffmann and Maria Beamond outlined two reasons for the recruitment impasse in a piece for the Conversation last year.

'One is economic  low unemployment and a perception of better opportunities, work conditions and future prospects in the private sector,' they wrote.

'The other reason is cultural: a declining willingness of Gen Z to identify with  and fight to defend  their nation.

'Many of the proposals to raise military recruitment in Australia are general. The government recently raised pay and bonuses in the defence force, for example.

'Other measures include making the recruitment process easier, making military service an opt-out system, reducing medical requirements, or increasing the maximum recruitment age and galvanising junior military leaders to change outdated traditions that harm recruitment.'

But the researchers suggested building a force that 'appeals to younger generations' social values' was the best way forward.

'Our own and other research suggests Gen Z is strongly motivated by things that support their own growth and wellbeing, both materially and spiritually, rather than service toward others.'
An angry resident has hit back at a report suggesting a controversial 'view tax' was justified as a council decides today if the policy will be changed.

The Gold Coast view tax was a policy that, last July, increased rates for owners of properties on the fifth floor or higher of apartment blocks on the glitter strip.

Units on floors 40 and above saw a 40 to 50 per cent increase in rates, while units on floors 11 to 20 saw a 20 to 30 per cent increase.

Chris Griffith, who lives on the 28th floor of a Gold Coast apartment, warned the tax would have further implications for the rest of the country.

'I think everyone across the country would be concerned about whether apartment rates are going to rise eventually across the country if this precedent gets through,' he told Sunrise.

The Gold Coast City Council said the view tax was intended to ensure 'fairness and equity for all ratepayers' and a recent City report found the tax would save 96 per cent of ratepayers paying bigger bills.

The report found Gold Coast homeowners in the suburbs were paying $400 more in their $1,800-plus rate bills than penthouse owners living with a view of Surfers Paradise.

The City report revealed a Benowa property, worth about $1.5million, was charged $1,848 in rates under the previous system compared to a similar priced level 61 unit at Surfers Paradise which was hit with just a $1,223 bill.

Rates have gone up in high rise apartments on the Gold Coast due to a view tax

At least nine Gold Coast body corporates have petitioned against the view tax, demanding change

The council also gained no extra revenue from the view tax because it redistributed it across the rate base.

Officers said the changes had been 'extensively tested for fairness and equity' by referencing market valuation comparisons for units and homes.

But Mr Griffith hit back at the report's findings, claiming councils didn't have to spend as much money looking after apartment blocks compared to general housing.

'The council talks about equity between homes and apartments, but it's much cheaper for councils to service apartments whether it is the roads, rates, sewerage, whatever. It is all in one spot,' Mr Griffith said.

'You put 1,000 people in an apartment block over a huge area and of course it is much more expensive for council and we think that needs to be taken into account and it has been traditionally by all sorts of councils.

'Certainly, I think ratepayers would pay a fair share of their rates, but it is so much cheaper for councils to service high-rise, and collect such a huge amount of money, that it seems a bit unfair to go this direction.'

Mayor Tom Tate acknowledged suburban homeowners were being hit harder for rates under the previous system.

'They should be paying the same council rates. Council will vote on that,' he said.

Mr Griffith wasn't expecting good news after Gold Coast City Council meets today to discuss the tax.

Chris Griffith says he shouldn't have to pay higher rates because he lives in an apartment

'I think they will verify they want to keep things the way they are. That is from reading the council report,' he said.

'I think it is something that state governments will have to consider and at a federal level, given that we are trying to get people into apartments and we are trying to get people to downsize. We don't want to provide a disincentive to them.'

At least nine body corporates of super towers in Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Southport issued petitions to the City calling on the tax to be reconsidered.
Democrats unleashed on President Donald Trump on Thursday after he blamed diversity and inclusion policies and criticized his predecessors following the deadly plane crash.

During his press conference on Thursday at the White House, the 78-year-old claimed he put 'safety' first while Presidents Biden and Obama prioritized politics in a jaw-dropping political attack.

Trump's remarks came just hours after an American Airline plane collided with a military helicopter midair Wednesday evening near Reagan International Airport. 67 people were killed.

Democrats on Thursday afternoon were enraged by his response which left no survivors in what is the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. in decades.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded on Capitol Hill just moments after he watched the president's news conference.

'Its one thing for internet pundits to spew up conspiracy theories. Its another for the President of the United States of America to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified,' Schumer said.

'It just turns your stomach,' he added.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer surrounded by fellow Democrats responded Trump blaming DEI policies and his predecessors after the deadly collision. The New York lawmaker said Trump's response 'turns your stomach'

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen said he was 'outraged' watching the president's response.

'It was just grotesque the way he immediately politicized this terrible tragedy,' he said.

'I think he owes the American people an apology,' Van Hollen said.

'He was immediately pointing fingers and when he was asked by the press what the basis of his claims were, he admitted that he didn't have any,' the senator noted.

During his remarks, Trump also went after former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who served under Biden.

'He was a disaster as a Mayor. He ran his city into the ground and he's a disaster now. He's just got a good line of bulls***', Trump said of Buttigieg.

Buttigieg, whose successor was sworn into office just hours before the collision, responded on X.

'Despicable,' he wrote. 'As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.'

Buttigieg went on that Trump 'now oversees the military and the FAA.'

'One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again,' he continued.

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.

President Trump now oversees the military and the  Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 30, 2025

Senator Tim Kaine who represents Virginia called Trump blaming DEI policies 'stomach-churning' and 'outrageous' and noted Trump had to acknowledge he did not have evidence to support his claim.

'Can you imagine a more damaging thing to hear if you're suffering already than a president trying to make political hay out of something like this?' Kaine said in an interview on CNN.

'They were still searching for bodies in the Potomac when he was running off at the mouth about this,' Kaine said.

Kaine told reporters on Thursday that he expects there were victims in the crash from his state as the American Airlines jet was headed to Reagan.

He would not speculate on the collision and said they would get answers from the NTSB, but he expressed that he had been concerned about the complex airspace.

This is truly like a real life bad episode of the Apprentice, but honestly, He is the first one who should be fired. It is clear that he has no idea of how to do the job of President, competently.



I expect that his entire tenure will go something like this, when things go  Jasmine Crockett (@JasmineForUS) January 30, 2025

Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett went after Trump in a blistering post on X following his remarks.

'This is truly like a real life bad episode of the Apprentice, but honestly, He is the first one who should be fired,' she wrote.

'It is clear that he has no idea of how to do the job of President, competently,' she continued.

'I expect that his entire tenure will go something like this, when things go bad Biden, Biden, Biden, Obama, Biden, DEI, DEI, DEI, trans, immigrant, repeat,' Crockett wrote.

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, who is a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot, also responded online.

'There are still bodies being pulled from the Potomac River. Families are grieving the loss of loved ones,' she wrote on X.

'Yet Donald Trump is baselessly blaming "DEI" for last night's tragic collision. Absolutely shameful. We need the facts, not partisan politics,' she said.

Duckworth is the ranking member of the Aviation Safety Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and will be involved in the investigation of what happened.
Are there new parking measures in YOUR area?

Locals have slammed plans to introduce parking permits costing up to 750 amid a drive by Labour-run councils to crack down on car use across London.

Lewisham Council is expected to make thousands of pounds from fining motorists by rolling out new controlled parking zones across the borough.

The local authority has also been accused of trying to push through the consultation on the proposals over the Christmas period to 'minimise objections'.

Residents in the Brockley and Telegraph Hill areas have been told if the plans go ahead they will have to pay for permits to park outside their own homes.

While the prices vary, owners of the most-polluting diesel cars are now facing yearly charges of more than 300. Moreover for those with non-compliant vans, the costs can reach 750, locals have said.

There will also be parking charges for visitors to the area, which has raised separate concerns about the impact of restrictions on local businesses.

John Ohalloran, 54, a self-employed painter and decorator, told MailOnline: 'I have a diesel van and I'm now facing charges of 750 to park my van outside of my own home.

'This is a war on motorists. There has been the bus lanes and the LTNs [Low Traffic Neighbourhoods] and now this.'

'It is a cash grab. Everybody is feeling the pinch at the moment. '

John Ohalloran, 54, a self-employed painter and decorator said he is now facing charges of up to 750 to park his van

Lewisham Council is expected to make thousands of pounds from fining motorists by rolling out new controlled parking zones across the borough. Pictured: One of the streets in the zone

Telegraph Hill resident Corina Poore, 80, (pictured with her husband) raised concerns about how the consultation was handled

Telegraph Hill resident Corina Poore, 80, raised concerns about how the consultation was handled.

She said: 'A lot of people are uncomfortable. The consultation was not very well planned.

'It was introduced around three to four days before Christmas with a deadline in early January.'

'Telegraph Hill is a very residential area. There are a number of family businesses. The businesses are concerned about falling footfall,' she added.

Peter Ryan, 79, who lives on Drakefell Road, also told MailOnline: 'I really don't want to end up in a situation where we can't afford to live here anymore.

'There are a lot of objections to this issue. It doesn't look like there is any advantage to it.

'We have an aging petrol car. We do not want that to be penalised. I am very concerned about this.

'Drakefell Road is a diverse street with lots of different income levels. People cannot afford these parking fees.'

One woman who wished to remain anonymous questioned why permits were being proposed in the area as there is 'no shortage of parking spaces'.

Residents in the Brockley and Telegraph Hill areas (pictured) have been told if the plans go ahead they will have to pay for permits to park outside their own homes

There will also be charges for visitors to the area, which has raised separate concerns about the impact of parking restrictions on local businesses (stock photo)

Councils across London have introduced a number of 'anti-car' measures (file photo of LTN bollard)

She said: 'I do not have a car but I am still very opposed to it. I have food deliveries from Tesco and I have friends who want to park their cars.

'Drakefell Road is one of the busiest in Lewisham. Parked cars prevent cars from going too fast down the street.

There is no parking problem here. There is no problem with commuters parking their cars. We are not near enough to the station.'

Lewisham Council has said the measures are being proposed to 'create better streets for residents' and to 'reduce the number of car journeys' made in the borough.

It denied that the scheme is simply about 'making money' and instead see it as a 'long-term investment in Lewishams public realm and the health of residents'.

When asked about the cost of the permits, the local authority said they were priced consistently with other areas in the borough and are based on vehicle emissions.

It added that residents would receive a '15 per cent discount in the first year'.

Locals now have until February 2 to share their thoughts on the consultation after the deadline was extended.

It comes as the mayor of a London council accused of waging a war on motorists boasted about being driven around in his 'sick' taxpayer-funded car.

John-Paul Ennis, the Mayor of Lambeth, said being chauffeured around in a 'nice car' was one of the best perks of the job - despite some of his residents also paying up to 800-a-year for a parking permit.

John-Paul Ennis (right) , the Mayor of Lambeth, said being chauffeured around in a 'nice car' was one of the best perks of the job

John-Paul Ennis (pictured) took on the role as Mayor of Lambeth last year

General views of traffic on Streatham High Road where the introduction of an LTN made the congestion worse

In an interview with DJ AG, an online influencer, the 27-year-old Labour councillor explained that he gets to wear a chain, 'so that is pretty nice'.

'You get a nice car as well, you get driven around  it's sick,' he added.

Lambeth Council has infuriated locals by introducing a series of policies to limit car use since it became the first local authority to declare a climate emergency in 2019.

The Labour-run local authority has hiked the cost of parking permits and introduced a hated Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme (LTNS).

It was last year hauled into court by its own residents over the 'flawed' plan that was forced through despite a majority opposition from locals.

Legal documents seen by the Telegraph listed various 'failings' by the council surrounding the LTN system in West Dulwich.

Meanwhile, The Times has reported that the local authority in Lambeth has raised the cost of residents' parking permits by 444 per cent over the past two years.

A motorist with a diesel vehicle could be paying as much as 800 per year to park their car in the borough, analysis by the newspaper revealed.

Even someone with a zero-emissions vehicle would now be slapped with a 128.26 fee for a permit.

This is compared to the 39.50-a-year that was charged in 2023, equating to a 224 per cent rise.

Over the same period, the price for a driver with a one-litre diesel car has increased from 82.69 to 350.14.

Shockingly if the owner chooses to pay in three-monthly instalments, the annual total increases to 450.22 which is a 444 per cent increase over two years.
More than a dozen wildlife animals, including family pets, have mysteriously died on a popular hiking trail.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department recovered a total of 14 dead coyotes, three javelina and a raven on a walking route near the Pantano Wash river about 30 minutes from the Tucson city center over the past weekend, KVOA News 4 reported.

Local dogs have also been found, devastating owners who say their beloved canine companions did not deserve such a grim and sudden end.

The most likely theory behind deaths is a poisonous substance being purposely spread throughout the park.

'I suspect the poison is either strychnine or another fast-acting poison based on the appearance of the stomach contents,' Dr. Anne Justice-Allen, a wildlife veterinarian for the department said in a release, according to the outlet.

Fritz Neuhauser, a resident who has lived in the Eastside for the last 40 years, started realizing something was wrong on January 21 when he discovered a dead coyote and three dead javelinas on his property, KVOA-TV reported.

More than a dozen wildlife animals, including family pets, were found dead from apparent poisoning on a trail in Pantano Wash between Houghton Road and Old Spanish Trail in the Tucson area of Arizona over the past weekend

Residents are being urgently warned to take extra precautions as the substance may have resulted in the death of three family dogs on the popular hiking trail

Fritz Neuhauser, a resident, started realizing something was wrong on January 21 when he discovered a dead coyote and three dead javelinas on his property while taking his dog on his daily off-leash runs through the wash

Just a few days after Neuhauser discovered the dead animals, his beloved dog Luigi went missing while on a walk

From then on, he began encountering more and more dead animals as he took his beloved dog Luigi on his daily off-leash runs - seven coyotes and a raven by the end of the week.

The devastating finds led Neuhauser to contact Arizona Game and Fish where together they found more than a dozen other animals dead.

'This, with 14 or more animals, this is not normal,' Tarah Clark, the department's Tucson Wildlife Manager, told KVOA. 'We believe that whoever is doing this is intentionally putting out poison targeting wildlife.'

Just days after the first few animals were found, Luigi tragically went missing while on a walk.

Neuhauser was walking with his neighbor at the time, whose dogs also went missing.

'We got really upset and were really looking,' Neuhauser told KOLD 13 News. 'It was probably 30, 40 minutes into it when my friend got a phone call and another dog walker had found his dog dead on the trail.'

The neighbor told Neuhauser that his dog ultimately had to be euthanized after it was found, KVOA reported.

In an extremely worried state, Neuhauser frantically tried to track down Luigi using an air tag. He ended up getting a ping, but was unable to locate his dog.

Luigi was tragically found dead on Sunday afternoon - making him the third family dog that was killed from ingesting the poison

Officials for the Arizona Game and Fish Department have an investigation underway as they believe that the poison was deliberately left behind and intentionally used to kill

'I suspect the poison is either strychnine or another fast-acting poison based on the appearance of the stomach contents,' Dr. Anne Justice-Allen, a wildlife veterinarian for the department said in a release

The Arizona Game and Fish Department have recovered a total of 14 dead coyotes, three javelina and a raven on a trail

It wasn't until Sunday afternoon when the heartbreaking news came to light - Luigi was among the animals who were killed.

'I got another ping. Only the second ping in four days,' Neuhauser told KOLD. 'Somebody had walked near enough to my dog. I saw it on the satellite and came down and I found my dog.

'He was such a good dog, such a friendly and happy dog,' he told WSAZ 3 News in tears. 'He did not deserve this.'

A third person reported that his dog is in recovery at the veterinarian after it had ingested poison, according to KVOA.

Wildlife officials conducted a necropsy on one of the javelinas and determined that the poison was most likely placed in food as a way to attract both wildlife and family pets on the trail.

An investigation is underway where officials are looking for materials or bait sites used in the sickening acts, though none have been located so far.

Additional samples from the deceased animals are set to be tested at a veterinary diagnostic lab.

Pet owners are being warned to take extra precautions.

'This is a popular area for residents to hike with their dogs,' the department said in a release.

'Dog owners are advised to keep their pets on a leash, and keep them from picking up anything on the trail or in the wash.'

Signs of possible poisoning to keep an eye out for include salivation, seizures and sudden collapse.

'If a pet eats anything off the ground in the area, owners should seek immediate veterinary care for the pet as the poison acts quickly,' officials warned.

Anyone who comes across dead wildlife or other abnormal behavior in wildlife is highly encouraged to contact the agency's Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-352-0700.
Donald Trump's order freezing foreign aid has sealed the spigot of U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing to DEI projects abroad, saving U.S. money from being 'lit on fire,' a top Republican says.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) has revealed exclusively to DailyMail.com some suspicious federal expenditures that the State Department approved under Joe Biden.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs, meant to expand diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) objectives abroad, are now effectively killed under Trump's foreign aid freeze.

One of the big ticket items that no longer will receive U.S. funding is a pro LGBTQ group in Serbia through a group called 'Grupa Izadji,' which in English translates to 'Group Come Out.'

This NGO received $1.5 million from Biden's administration to 'advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities, by promoting economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia.'

According to the grant, the Serbian group 'will foster an environment that increases employment potential for LGBTQI+ persons, expands opportunities for LGBTQI+ entrepreneurs, and reduces workplace discrimination.'

However, Trump's foreign aid freeze has cut off money from flowing to 'Grupa Izadji,' which was expected to be funded through the end of FY 2025.

Projects like that and others that push DEI, like a $70,000 grant to a group in Ireland to produce a DEI musical in 2022, will now be crushed by Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mast says.

A photo of posted on pro-LGBT Serbian Grupa Izadji's website. The group has already recieved $1.5 million from the U.S. to enhance LGBT employment opportunities

Biden's administration awarded $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam. As of December 2024, the effort has saved 260 gallons of gas, the same amount of gas held by two average semi-trucks

President Donald Trump's foreign aid freeze has halted money flowing to Stat Department grants

'America would have been better off if Biden and Blinken had lit your money on fire, instead of spending it on DEI musicals in Ireland or creating jobs for LGBTQ Serbians in Serbia,' he told DailyMail.com in a statement.

Trump's foreign aid freeze 'is common sense versus crazy' he added, slamming the costly foreign projects.

The Irish DEI musical fund was approved specifically made to 'deliver a live musical event to promote the U.S. and Irish shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,' according to the grant.

Another one of these costly foreign aid funds approved under Biden's administration awarded $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam.

Since the huge investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars there has been at least one battery station built, avoiding a total of 260 gallons of gas, according to the USAID website.

An average semi-truck holds roughly, by comparison, holds about 130 gallons of gas.

Earlier this week Mast revealed other jaw-dropping projects that U.S. taxpayers were funding in Afghanistan, Peru, Gaza and Colombia.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week that the Biden administration almost sent $50 million taxpayer dollars worth of condoms to Gaza, which she called 'a preposterous waste of taxpayer money!'

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast told DailyMail.com that Biden's State Department funded a transgender opera in Colombia and a transgender advocacy comic book in Peru

The U.S. government gave $70,000 to a group in Ireland to create a DEI musical. Above theater goers are shown lining up to watch the 'Hamilton' musical in Dublin

Joe Biden (L) and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) oversaw the State Department when it approved the millions for Serbian LBGT advancement and Vietnam's electric vehicle efforts

'There was about to be $50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza!' Leavitt shockingly claimed.

Though later the press secretary's claims were debunked after it was reported that just a portion of the $50 million was set aside for family planning like contraception.

Mast also blew the lid on a USAID program that awarded '$47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia.'

The chairman also revealed the U.S. government funded a Peruvian 'transgender comic book' that costed $32,000.

'We're trying to get our hands on the actual comic book, in Peru,' Mast previously told DailyMail.com. 'And I heard it's reasonably risque.'

Th Republican called the projects 'crazy' and vowed similar programs will soon be shuttered.

'These are drops in the bucket of the American budget, but they're still ridiculous and stupid,' The Republican said of the programs that he is working with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump to dismantle.

Rubio himself even noticed the State Department after being sworn in that major program reforms could be expected.

'Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions,' his memo stated, adding only initiatives that 'make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous' are appropriate.

'Certain priorities will be replaced, certain issues deemphasized, and some practices we will cease altogether,' his statement continued.

For the latest White House gossip and news, listen to the Daily Mail's new politics podcast, Welcome to MAGAland. Available wherever you get your podcasts now.
Footage has captured the heart-pounding moment a cyclist goes flying over their handlebars after braking to avoid a car which was pulling out of a parking spot.

The bike rider, known as Sam K, has lodged a case in the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal for $12,805 he claims is needed for repairs to his $20,000 custom-built bicycle.

The 68-year-old woman who was driving the SUV during the January 1 incident in South Auckland said she looked behind her but did not see the cyclist and she could not remember if she had indicated.

The cyclist was second in a pack of four who were travelling along Boundary Rd in Clover Park about 8am when the black SUV pulled out from between other cars.

'I was forced to brake and, as my brakes locked up, per the footage, I flipped 180 degrees in the air and landed on my back, nearly breaking my neck in the process,' he told the NZ Herald.

He said the group was travelling about 30-35km/h.

The crash left him with bruises, grazes and 'shock' and he was forced to take a week off his job as a Wellington-based road and traffic safety engineer.

He added that his helmet had a large dent in it and likely 'saved his life'.

The cyclist is taking the driver of the SUV to the NZ Disputes Tribunal claiming she owes him more than $12,000 more bicycle repairs after he had to quickly brake to avoid hitting her

Both the cyclist and the woman are uninsured.

The driver of the Mitsubishi ASX - a grandmother who had just popped in to her priest's house on the first day of the new year - said she had driven off slowly and has no idea where she will get the money to pay for the repairs.

'They may have to take it off my pension every damn, bloody fortnight', she said.

The cyclist is claiming for items such as a buckled carbon wheelset valued at $3,800, a buckled carbon frame at $3,290 and a $699 Garmin Edge GPS.

Footage has also been shared to social media of the cyclist and his cousin confronting the grandmother at her home a day after the crash.

'I didn't hit him. He bumped into my car', the woman said in the video.

She also questioned why only one rider fell out of the group.

The claim will go before the Disputes Tribunal in March.

The cyclist said he had also contacted police who were looking into the incident.
President Donald Trump has kept the focus on DEI hiring practices during two public appearances since the air crash in Washington, D.C.

He signed an order citing 'problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration.'

And he said air traffic controllers need to be 'geniuses' to handle the stress and complex movements of aircraft during their tense and crucial work shifts.

But he has not provided evidence that diversity hiring contributed to the crash between an inbound flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan airport.

'We need the smartest people. We need both psychologically smart and just brilliant period,' Trump said while signing the order and blaming DEI for the crash that left 64 dead in the Potomac River while first responders conduct a recovery operation.

Trump and his team have referenced a Fox News report from last year on Federal Aviation Administration hiring practices.

President Donald Trump blamed DEI hiring practices at two events for the tragic air crash in Washington, D.C. He rejected concerns about federal employees taking 'buyout' offers, heavy flight loads, or military training flights, saying controllers must be 'very smart' and 'geniuses'

The report quotes the FAA's website promoting diversity hiring and stating, "Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring."

'They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism."

Trump quoted from the passage from the White House Press Briefing room, and he was photographed what appeared to be a printout of the story.

'The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of air planes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot. A little dot on the map. A runway,' Trump said.

As Trump told it, the Barack Obama administration put in diversity hiring language, which he swept away when he took office, only to have Biden reinstitute the hiring practices.

However a Washington Post fact check piece used the Wayback machine identified FAA posts from his first term that listed the same 'targeted disabilities' for hiring.

When aide Will Scharf read from an order faulting the Biden administration and reading form the order 'elevating' competence,' Trump added: 'And Obama. But Biden much worse  not even a contest. What they've done is just crazy in so many other ways.'

It was Trump's first time addressing reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room since taking office for his second term

Trump tore into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his remarks, which followed a moment of silence for victims

During his public remarks, Trump brushed off concerns about losing staff amid a government-wide buyout-type offer to 2 million federal employees that could allow them to stay at home and get paid through the end of September.

He said if employees took the deal and left the FAA's workforce, they would be replaced with 'very competent people. We have a lot of competent people.'

Shortly after his remarks, the New York Times reported that staffing was 'not normal' in the air control tower Wednesday night, and that one person was handling both planes and helicopters.

Trump declined an opportunity to criticize the military for apparently conducting training on a Black Hawk helicopter at night near the landing area at the busy Ronald Reagan airport.

'Fine if they're in the right location, if they're not at the same levels,' Trump told a reporter.

Trump blamed DEI policies for the crash during an extraordinary press conference Thursday, which was followed by a new executive order signing during the afternoon.

That order invoked his Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025, titled Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation, which Trump inked on his second day in office.

Despite his emphasis, Trump did not provide specific evidence that hiring played a role in the crash, even as information about the pilots and crew was filtering out,.

Asked point blank Thursday f he was aware of any performance issues or disciplinary actions with anyone working at DCA's air control tower or the aircraft during the crash, Trump responded: 'No.'

But at another point, asked if race and gender played a role in the tragic accident, Trump said: 'It may have, I don't know. Incompetence might have played a role.'
Rebecca Burke, 28, was on a 'once in a lifetime' solo travelling trip across the US and Canada when it turned into a nightmare after she was handcuffed while trying to cross the Canadian border on February 26. The Brit has already spent two weeks behind bars at a detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, after Trump's war on criminal immigrants, who he claims include 'rapists and murderers'. Now her parents (top right) fear she could spend up to a month in the detention centre, described as 'cold' and 'close to capacity', despite her desperation to leave the US and come home to the UK. Despite her case reportedly moving up the priority list at the centre, Ms Burke has been told it could still be at least ten days until it is dealt with.
White House stenographers are struggling to keep up with President Donald Trump as he has stormed back into office with a flood of public remarks.

Trump spoke publicly for nearly 7 hours and 44 minutes in the first week of his presidency, according to a tally reported by the Associated Press and spoke 81,235 words.

On his first day alone, Trump delivered a 30 minute inauguration speech, followed by a second 30 minutes speech to an overflow crowd, he hosted two different speeches in Congress and had lunch before traveling to the Capitol One arena for a nearly 30 minute speech for the inauguration parade.

Later that day he spoke for about 47 minutes and signed executive orders in the Oval Office and spoke at three separate inaugural balls.

Later that week, Trump traveled to North Carolina, California, Las Vegas and Florida for public events highlighting his commitment to disaster assistance, tax policy and a speech to the congressional retreat in Florida.

He also spoke to reporters on Air Force One on two different occasions on the trip, answering questions for about 20 minutes.

It's a sharp contrast from former President Joe Biden who spent 2 hours and 36 minutes on camera in his first week, and spoke just 24,259 words as president.

The president answered 136 different questions from reporters in the first week of his presidency, according to a DailyMail.com analysis.

U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters in the White House press briefing room

President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on wildfire damage

'You're getting a little but more access to your president than you did the last one,' he told reporters, referring to former President Biden who was notoriously stingy with his time with the press.

'By about 5000 percent,' he added.

The White House is considering bolstering the stenographer team with additional staff, according to sources speaking to the Associated Press, as they do not expect Trump to let up his pace of public remarks and press events.

The president also held a press conference on Thursday to address the mid-air collision in Washington, DC between a military helicopter and a passenger plane killed 67 people.

The press conference lasted about 35 minutes as the president vowed to get to the bottom of the cause of the accident.

'We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now,' he said, blaming former President Joe Biden for watering down standards for air traffic controllers.

Later Thursday, he held another event in the Oval Office to sign executive orders addressing the crisis.

When asked if he was going to visit the crash site, he reminded the reporter that it was in the Potomac river.

'I have a plan to visit  not the site. Because what  you tell me. What's the site? Water. We're going to go swimming?' he asked.
EXCLUSIVE

A wannabe TikTok star has narrowly avoided being sent back to prison after bashing his girlfriend in a hotel room and telling her: 'I'm going to jail'.

Rabih Houchar initially denied viciously assaulting Tara Eslami while she was in Sydney to celebrate the birthday of fellow influencer Alia Elhassan.

The 27-year-old already had a history of violent offending including serving a jail term for robbery in company before attacking Ms Eslami seven months ago.

He eventually admitted to ripping open Ms Eslami's shirt after they had sex, dragging her across the floor by the hair and repeatedly punching her in the face.

Ms Eslami, who is also known as Tara Eve and has more than 22,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, had flown from Melbourne for Ms Elhassan's birthday bash on June 15 last year.

The boat party attracted a crowd of popular TikTokers including Ms Elhassan's sister Jenny Elhassan and Evelyn Ellis, who boasts almost 238,000 followers.

Videos posted online showed revellers cruising around the city in luxury cars, dancing on a yacht while sipping champagne, then heading to a room at the Crown hotel.

About 1pm the next day, Ms Eslami had lunch with Houchar, with whom she had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for eight months.

Wannabe TikTok star Rabih Houchar (above) has narrowly avoided being sent back to prison for bashing his influencer girlfriend Tara Eslami after they had sex in a Sydney hotel room

According to a statement of facts tendered in Downing Centre Local Court, the couple argued during the meal but Ms Eslami described the disagreement as 'nothing major'.

After lunch the pair returned to room 1006 at the Vibe Hotel in Sussex Street where Ms Eslami began reading text messages from a female friend Houchar didn't like.

At a bail hearing in August, it was alleged Houchar told Ms Eslami, 'I don't like the girls you are hanging out with' then seized her phone and cracked the screen.

The Supreme Court heard Ms Eslami took her phone back and said, 'I'm going to call the police. I should have done this earlier.'

Houchar responded by kissing Ms Eslami and telling her: 'I'm sorry, let me fix this, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, let's go and buy you a new phone now.'

He repeatedly apologised , saying 'I'm sorry, let me fix this', according to the statement of facts.

'The victim realised the accused had calmed down and became empathetic and both engaged in sexual intercourse,' the statement said.

'After the sexual intercourse the accused said, "We can part after this, you don't need to go to the cops".'

Ms Eslami (above), who is also known as Tara Eve, travelled from Melbourne to Sydney to celebrate the birthday of fellow influencer Alia Elhassan on June 15 last year

Houchar, who has a child in Perth, then showed Ms Eslami pictures of other women on Snapchat, insinuating that he could be with another woman.

A further argument ensued and Ms Eslami walked towards the door but Houchar stopped her from leaving by grabbing her arm.

'I'm not scared of you,' Ms Eslami told Houchar.

'You're not gonna scare me this time - just leave. I'm going to to go to the police and show them my phone. I have voice recordings from before.'

As Ms Eslami packed her bag and headed once more for the door, Houchar pulled her back by the shirt, causing it to rip open.

He dragged Ms Eslami by the hair across the floor to the bed then began punching her in the face.

'The victim can't recall how many punches as it happened so fast,' the statement of facts said.

Ms Eslami felt dizzy and suffered a cut lip and a bump to her forehead.

The day after Ms Eslami attended Alia Elhassan's birthday party in Sydney she went to lunch with Rabih Houchar (above). During the meal the pair had a minor argument

After Ms Eslami and Houchar had lunch they returned to room 1006 at the Vibe Hotel in Sussex Street where he assaulted her. A room at the hotel is pictured

When Houchar had finished assaulting Ms Eslami he walked away and started punching himself in the head.

A concerned Ms Eslami took Houchar by the arms and told him to calm down. He responded by saying, 'Why are you doing this to me? We can fix this - I love you so much.'

Ms Eslami led Houchar to the bed and got something cold from the fridge to apply to his head.

While Houchar tended to his own injuries Ms Eslami again tried to flee but he grabbed her arm and led her back to the bed.

As Houchar continued to apologise, Ms Eslami told him, 'F*** off, please leave me alone, I'm done, I don't ever want to see you again.'

Houchar then got on top of Ms Eslami and punched her in the head. Ms Eslami begged Houchar to stop but he used his legs to hold her still.

'Stop? I'm going to jail,' he said, before Ms Eslami managed to escape.

Police arrived at the hotel about 7.40pm and spoke separately to Ms Eslami and Houchar, who claimed the couple had only had a verbal dispute.

When Ms Eslami (above) tried to flee the hotel Houchar pulled her back by the shirt, causing it to rip open. He dragged Ms Eslami by the hair then began punching her in the face

Houchar, from Guildford in Sydney's west, was refused bail when he pleaded not guilty the next day to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, destroying or damaging property and stalk or intimidate.

He was granted bail on August 19 and pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Downing Centre Local Court on November 29 when the other charges with withdrawn. An additional charge of common assault was also dismissed.

At the same time magistrate Janet Wahlquist imposed a two-year apprehended domestic violence order to protect Ms Eslami from Houchar.

On Thursday in the same court, magistrate James Gibson sentenced Houchar to a term of imprisonment of eight months to be served by way of an intensive correction order.

Under that order Haucher must complete 100 hours of community service and undertake treatment programs to reduce his risk of reoffending as well as drug and alcohol counselling.

Houchar, whose TikTok account 'dior_onma_body' has been stripped of all content but retains 16,800 followers, has no source of income other than the $1,000 to $1,500 a week he previously claimed to earn from his social media accounts.

Houchar was jailed for a minimum two years and three months in July 2017 for robbery in company and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community correction order in September 2022 after being convicted of intentionally distributing an intimate image without consent.

In an unrelated matter, Jenny Elhassan made headlines in April 2022 when she was the victim of an acid attack by three masked men who threw a corrosive substance on her face outside a Chinatown restaurant.

Alia Elhassan was previously married to convicted drug smuggler Steven Elmir, once regarded as among Sydney's most feared underworld figures.
Anthony Albanese became agitated when asked about the public being kept in the dark about a caravan packed with explosives that was possibly intended as a terror plot targeting Jews.

The Prime Minister was defensive when he was pressed on whether the Australian public and state premiers should have been given more information about the anti-Semitic discovery in Sydney's north-west.

'What's correct protocol is making sure that we don't speak about operational matters,' he told reporters on Friday morning.

'This should not be the source of political debate, and that I note that the Coalition have said, as well, that they wouldn't change the protocols that have been in place for a long period of time.

'The idea that you make public pronouncements about something that is an ongoing investigation is, of course, entirely inappropriate because as the police have made very clear, both state and federal, the priority is those ongoing investigations.'

A caravan - filled with explosives and notes with the address of a Sydney synagogue - was discovered by police at Dural in Sydney's north-west on January 19, but the information wasn't revealed to the public until Wednesday after a leak to the media.

This was 10 days after a member of the public reported the caravan to police.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has argued national cabinet should have at least been told, following revelations they weren't.

The Prime Minister was defensive when he was pressed on whether the Australian public and state premiers should have been given more information about the anti-Semitic discovery in Sydney 's north-west (pictured is the property at Dural)

But following a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney, Mr Albanese argued talking publicly about the latest development would have undermined a police investigation.

'I have no intention of undermining an ongoing investigation by going into the details of what I will do,' he said.

Tammie Farrugia and her boyfriend Scott Marshall are in custody charged with unrelated offences, with police saying their arrests were made on the 'periphery' of the case.

The couple sought a caravan last month via a Facebook post.

Farrugia and Marshall have not been charged in relation to the caravan and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

Farrugia was arrested over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woollahra, in Sydney's east, in December, while Marshall was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.

They do not appear to have any history of extremist ideology, which might support Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw's warning that overseas actors could be paying petty criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks.

The Sydney Hills District resident who reported the caravan to police was concerned that it posed a safety risk to passing cars because it was close to the road.

Anthony Albanese became agitated when asked about a caravan packed with explosives that was possibly intended as a terror plot targeting Jews

The Dural man thought it had been abandoned and towed the caravan on to his property before discovering its contents.

The explosive, known as Powergel and often using in mining, had the capacity to produce a 40m blast wave, but was not wired to explode, police said.

New South Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said he was 'not happy' that details of the investigation were leaked to the media.

He said caravan had initially been seen on the side of the road on December 7 but was towed to a nearby property on January 19.
The white West Virginia couple who were accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and making them live in a filthy shed have been found guilty.

Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, went on trial earlier this month, each facing a slew of child neglect charges related to the treatment of their five adoptive children.

On Wednesday, the Kanawha County Circuit Court jury deliberated for more than eight hours before reaching their final verdict, ABC news reported.

Whitefeather was convicted of all 19 counts against her - including forced labor, human trafficking and child neglect - while Lantz was found guilty of 12 of the 16 counts he was charged with.

Lantz was acquitted of the four civil rights violations he was accused of while Whitefeather was found guilty of the same charges.

They were reportedly stone-faced while learning the verdict.

Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak revealed she shed tears when she heard the judge read off 'guilty' for majority of the charges.

'These cases mean a lot to us - we take a lot of this personally,' she said at a news conference, ABC news reported.

Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, who were accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and making them live in a filthy shed have been found guilty

The West Virginia couple were first arrested in October 2023

'This is our community, and these are the children of our community. If were not going to fight for them, then who will?'

The pair will return to court for sentencing on March 19. Whitefeather faces a maximum sentence of 215 years, while her husband faces up to 75 years.

They were arrested in October 2023 after two of their adoptive children were found severely neglected with no food, light or running water in a 20 by 14-foot shed with a camera in the corner.

The siblings were adopted in Minnesota before the family moved to a farm in Washington in 2018. They went to West Virginia in May 2023.

When the children were found, they had sores on their feet, wreaked of body odor and were wearing wet clothes. They were allegedly forced into labor on the couple's Sissonville farmland.

Kanawah County prosecutors said five children aged 16, 14, 11, nine and six were used basically as slaves' because of their race.

Three hours after finding the older children in the locked shed, deputies found a nine-year-old girl holed up in a loft inside the family's locked main house.

When Child Protective Services (CPS) made the horrifying discovery of the two children locked in the shed, Whitefeather told deputies the children actually 'liked' the shed they were locked in.

Pictured: The backyard shed where two of the couple's teenage adopted children were found. There was no way to open the door from the inside, and cops found the kids without food or water. The kids were also forced to do manual labor on the surrounding farmland, its alleged

Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62 of Charleston, West Virginia , plead not guilty on Monday to the new charges they are facing. The couple were first arrested in October 2023 after their adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property

However, the teenage girl told deputies they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours.

The building only had a small RV porta-potty and no running water, according to images from inside and descriptions from the initial police report.

The children were also forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor, they said.

The criminal complaint stated: 'If there was a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to exit the locked room to safety.'

Court documents said neighbors reported that the children were forced into farm labor and were not allowed inside the main house.

During the trial, which kicked off on January 14, a neighbor, Joyce Bailey, testified about the horrific tasks the couple allegedly forced the young children to do.

Video that she took of the children performing the physical jobs was also shown to the court.

'He [Lantz] made them carry it all, that heavy fencing. They would just stand there and wait for him to tell them what to do,' Bailey emotionally recalled.

Pictured: Outhouses on the property on Cheyenne Lane. The couple sold the home in December 2023, after they had been initially arrested

Defense attorneys Mark Plants, left, and John Balenovich, right, spoke to reporters after court

The distressed neighbor also said that she saw some of the children haul full buckets of water and other supplies, including propane tanks between the trailer, barn and home, all while Lantz stood by and watched.

At one point, Bailey said the oldest boy 'could barely walk' as he lugged one of the tanks while Lantz watched him.

The eldest child, now 18, also shared a tear-jerking testimony during the trial. She discussed the alleged outdoor work she and her siblings were forced to endure, saying some of them were told to dig with their hands.

She also said that they were mainly fed peanut butter sandwiches at specified times throughout the day.

The couple allegedly made some of the children stand in their rooms with their hands on their heads for extended periods of times and slept on the floor.

She and the oldest boy sibling shared a room. She revealed in her testimony that they were only given one bucket for the both of them to use the bathroom in.

Whitefeather claimed the shed was a 'teenager hangout' and they were able to leave whenever they wanted to.

But testimony demonstrated that they had no idea where the shed's key was. Detectives found one hidden on a cabinet in the shed.

Balenovich said the state 'dropped the ball the most in this case' while defending Lantz and his wife

The children were found by authorities with an array of health problems - and the photos were taken by Whitefeather's brother about a week following the arrests

Racist text messages were submitted as evidence to the court by prosecutors. The 18-year-old child said they were cursed at 'all the time' and racist language was used.

Whitefeather allegedly called the oldest daughter 'dirty' and would not eat off the same plates the kids used.

Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck said in court: 'You want to know what racists look like? Look at them.'

Lantzs attorney, John Balenovich, said the children were previously traumatized from their past living situation and the couple was battling to get help for them.

Balenovich said the state 'dropped the ball the most in this case,' but a forensic psychologist for the prosecution said the way the couple treated the children worsened their mental states.

The oldest boy has been admitted to a psychiatric institution and is receiving full-time care, according to ABC news.

While addressing claims of forced labor during closing statements, Whitefeather's lawyer, Mark Plants, said: 'These are farm people that do farm chores. It wasnt about race. It wasnt about forced labor.'
A passenger flight had to abort landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC the day before American Airlines Flight 5342 collided in midair with a helicopter.

Republic Airways Flight 4514 was forced to back out of touching down and had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

That's according to an audio recording from air traffic control captured on Tuesday and heard by The Washington Post.

Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport. It eventually landed safely.

The incident is eerily similar to the events of Wednesday night, when an American Airlines plane smashed into a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it came into land at the airport.

The aircraft collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake past the airport, and crashed into the river.

Sixty-four people - 60 passengers and four crew - were onboard and all died, officials said.

Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport

In total 67 people have died as a result of the midair collision on Wednesday night, the wreckage of the aircraft is seen here in the Potomac River

Three soldiers had been inside the helicopter at the time of the incident and had been on a training mission. They also died in the collision bringing the death toll to 67.

At least 40 bodies have since been pulled from the Potomac River following extensive recovery missions by emergency teams.

It also emerged on Thursday night that investigators recovered two black boxes from the wreckage.

This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

A preliminary report has said that air traffic control staffing at the airport was 'not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have improved since then, as a source told CNN the Reagan National control tower was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.

Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget cuts. Controllers frequently work 10-hour days, six days a week, to fill the void.

The preliminary crash report detailed that the lack of staff meant the controller monitoring and directing helicopters near DCA was also instructing planes landing and departing on the runways.

Usually, two controllers would handle these roles, as staff use two different radio frequencies to talk to planes and helicopter pilots.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30

Search and rescue members work at the wreckage site in the Potomac River on Thursday

Emergency units respond after a passenger aircraft collided with a helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport

While the controller is talking to them, the pilots of each aircraft may not be able hear each other.

At least three minors - including figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han - are among the victims who died.

Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han's mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.

The bodies of all four flight crew members - including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding - were also recovered from the debris on Thursday.

The pilots of the American Eagle jet were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed.

And both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

Three unidentified Fairfax County students and six parents - two who were staff members - also died, the school district confirmed.

'Many on the flight were returning from a figure skating event in Wichita, Kansas,' the district said. Lane and Han were also coming from the skating event.
An armed convict escaped from an open prison before using a makeshift weapon to force a nurse to drive him to a cash machine, according to reports.

The criminal was scheduled to attend a working party at Standford Hill open prison, on the Isle of Sheppy in Kent, but did not show.

Instead, it is understood he went to a car park nearby Swaleside prison and accosted a nurse with an alleged 'makeshift weapon'.

The convict then ordered the healthcare worker to take him to the nearest village, the Telegraph reports.

He then demanded the alleged victim take out money from a cash point before fleeing the scene.

The individual was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and robbery, senior prison sources have told the publication.

'This prisoner is back behind bars and police are investigating,' a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesman told the Telegraph.

'We take violence against our hard-working staff incredibly seriously and, if found guilty, he will be punished.'

An armed convict escaped from Standord Hill open prison (pictured) before using a makeshift weapon to force her to drive him to a cash machine

It is understood he went to a car park nearby Swaleside prison and accosted a nurse with an alleged 'makeshift weapon' (file photo)

MailOnline has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.

Earlier this month it was announced rules on sending criminals to open jails could be relaxed despite fears it would risk worsening unrest.

Open jails have lower security measures and allow inmates to leave the premises during the day to attend work and education.

The Government is looking at allowing inmates to be held in open conditions for up to five years before their release rather than the current three, according to reports.

The separate move could also mean official guidance would permanently alter to allow convicts to be put in open jails even if they warn guards they may flee.

The move was first introduced temporarily under the last government in 2023 but could become permanent, the Observer previously reported.

Figures obtained by the paper showed that 143 criminals absconded from the lowest security jails in England and Wales between January 2022 and March last year, and prison sources said more went missing over the Christmas period.

According to the Telegraph, it is estimated that there are about 60 incidents of absconding from open prisons annually.

National chairman of the Prison Officers' Association Mark Fairhurst predicted that if the measures go ahead it was 'inevitable violence will rise, drug abuse will rise, absconds will rise'.

He said: 'The open estate is supposed to be trusted conditions. Putting people with five years left into that world is going to destabilise it even further.

It comes after the Government is reportedly looking at allowing inmates to be held in open conditions for up to five years before their release rather than the current three (pictured: Prisoners being released from HMP Pentonville in London last September)

National chairman of the Prison Officers Association Mark Fairhurst predicted the plan would see an increase in violence, drug abuse and absconds

'The majority of people accessing the open estate now would never have previously been transferred, but they've relaxed the criteria so much just to fill the space.'

He added at the time: 'We've got people refusing to work, people who are high on spice, people who are just walking out - we had absconds over Christmas.

'You can just walk out, but you can also walk back in with loads of drugs and alcohol on you because there's no searches.'

In December, David Gauke who is now leading Labour's sentencing review, claimed the current overcrowding crisis in UK prisons opened up 'opportunity' for change.

He believed that thousands of convicts should be sent to low-security open prisons in a bid to reduce reoffending as well as tackle Britain's overcrowding issue.

He also said Britain should follow Spain's example, where a much greater proportion of convicted criminals are free to work and study outside prison walls during the day

Speaking to the Times, the former Conservative Cabinet minister said Britain does not 'make as much use of open prisons' as it could.

He visited three prisons in Spain this month where reforms have included greater use of open prisons, community sentences and house arrests.

David Gauke (pictured) who is now leading Labour's sentencing review, says thousands of convicts should be sent to low-security open prisons in a bid to reduce reoffending as well as tackle Britain's overcrowding issue

In an attempt to ease the overcrowding issue, the former Tory government eased rules to allow category C prisoners in closed to jails to be moved to open facilities if they met criteria for offence and risk.

Now it is understood that ministers are weighing up whether to expand further and permit prisoners to be kept in open jails for as much as five years before their sentence comes to an end, instead of the current three year period.

An MoJ spokesperson told the Telegraph at the time: 'Only less-serious offenders who meet strict criteria are eligible for moves to open conditions.

'The Prison Service can exclude anyone who can't be managed safely in a Category D prison.

'Those who abscond face serious consequences, including being returned to closed conditions and serving an additional two years.'
A police chief has torn up a diversity guide that told officers to avoid saying 'blacklisted' and 'black sheep' in case it offended anyone.

Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards called the document 'virtue signalling' and said it would 'damage public trust and confidence in policing'.

The nine-page diversity, equality and inclusion reference guide, published last year, was created by Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire constabularies.

It called on police officers to use gender neutral language such as 'pregnant person' rather than pregnant women while it advised against using 'Christian-centric' language such as 'faith'.

Mr Ash-Edwards, who was elected into his role last May, said he and Hertfordshire Chief Constable Andy Prophet shared concerns over the guide and have now 'commissioned a review of all such documents'.

He demanded a return to 'common sense... when it comes to language' and told The Telegraph in a statement: 'Asking police officers and staff to use terms such as 'pregnant people' is unlikely to be seen as 'inclusive' by many women, for example.'

Mr Ash-Edwards said from his experience of meeting residents from diverse communities 'many Asian residents are worried about family gold burglaries, our Jewish communities fear anti-Semitic hate crimes'.

'What I have yet to hear is a call for more virtue signalling,' he said.

The phrase 'blacklist' has been warned against in a police nine-page diversity, equality and inclusion reference guide

Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards called the document 'virtue signalling' and said it would 'damage public trust and confidence in policing'

He adds to growing voices of bewilderment against the guide.

The 'reference resource for staff and officers' handout said gender is a 'social construct relating to behaviours and attributes'.

'There is a wider range of gender identities than just male and female,' it added.

The guide covers concepts such as racial microagressions and white fragility - which is defined as 'a state in which some white people are unable to cope with or process the information they receive about racism'.

Officers are also reminded to refrain from generalisations such as older people people grumpy and boring and women in their 50s being menopausal.

Last week, Festus Akinbusoye, the UK's first black Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and former PCC for Bedfordshire Constabulary, called the document 'utterly mad'.

Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire constabularies have created a diversity, equality and inclusion reference guide for their officers and staff (file image)

Festus Akinbusoye, the UKs first black Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and former PCC for Bedfordshire Constabulary, called the guidance utterly mad

He questioned why the term 'whitewashing' was not singled out for criticism but the terms 'blacklisted', 'black sheep' and 'black mark' were.

'Was this to have been brought to my attention while serving as Police and Crime Commissioner, I would have asked questions as to the necessity and limited inclusivity of this inclusion document,' Mr Akinbusoye added.

James Esses, a psychotherapist and campaigner who posted screenshots of the guidance on X, said: 'I think it is utter madness that in all the years we have seen the harms that this woke ideology has done, that this being sent to police officers.'

The three forces said in a joint statement the guide aimed to help officers identify difference in communities and to treat the public with respect.
A tenth of British farmland is set to come under threat under Labour's new nature plan in a bid to reach 'net zero' by 2050.

The agricultural land could make way for solar farms, reservoirs, woodlands, tree planting, and building new towns.

Labour's plans to ditch sections of the land in order to meet green targets are likely to infuriate farmers further who have already been left outraged by the Government's inheritance tax raid.

They will be unveiled as part of a consultation being launched today by Environment Secretary Steve Reed on how to better manage the country's landscape for food production, meeting net zero targets, and building new homes.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has estimated, according to the Telegraph, that food production would need to be stopped on nine per cent of agricultural land by 2050 in order to meet targets.

The newspaper reported a reduction in food output will cause a further five per cent to be lost, while four per cent will share its area with trees.

However, a government spokesman has insisted the framework will not tell anyone what to do with their land.

'Instead, it will be the most sophisticated data ever published on land use options so farmers and landowners can make better decisions for themselves on how to get the most out of their land and boost their profits,' they said.

Under the plans, the highest quality agricultural land will remain protected for food production, the Government said.

A tenth of agricultural land could make way for solar farms, reservoirs, woodlands, tree planting, and building new towns

Farmers take part in a protest outside Siemens Healthineers in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, against changes to inheritance tax -- January 29, 2025

Environment Secretary Steve Reed will launch a land use framework consultation on how to better manage the country's landscape for food production, meeting net zero targets, and building new homes

But ministers will also look into how and where land can be used for other needs such as solar farms, reservoirs, roads, new woodlands and new towns.

With land use long seen as a sensitive and politically thorny issue, the Environment Secretary will insist that the framework 'will not tell people what to do'.

During a speech at the Royal Geographical Society today, Mr Reed is expected to announce the 'start of a national conversation' on how the country can meet multiple land objectives and contribute to the wider pursuit of economic growth.

Mr Reed will set out the new policy as a strategic approach to meeting national targets on water, nature and climate as well as shoring up food security and boosting the economy.

Mr Reed recently sought to reset relations with farmers after proposed changes to inheritance tax became a political flashpoint for an industry crippled by rising costs, tough market conditions and worsening climate impacts.

With the framework proposals likely to see pushback from some in the farming sector, Mr Reed will reiterate his message that food production remains a priority.

'The primary purpose of farming will always be to produce food that feeds the nation,' he is set to say.

'This framework will give decision makers the toolkit they need to protect our highest quality agricultural land.'

As part of the consultation, the Government will hold workshops with farmers, landowners and other stakeholders across the country over the next few weeks.

Interested groups will be asked about the best ways to incentivise and deliver the shift of agriculturally unproductive land towards diverse purposes.

Alongside draft proposals, the Government will publish data on how England's land is currently used as well as modelling what future land use may look like.

Farmers gather in tractors at the Maze site close to Lisburn, Co Antrim for one of seven protest tractor runs across Northern Ireland -- January 25, 2025

Members of the Ulster Farmers' Union take part in a protest on the streets of Derry/Londonderry as part of the National Farmers' Day of Unity -- January 25, 2025

A farmer holds up a sign during a protest outside the Siemens Healthineers in Eynsham, Oxfordshire -- January 29, 2025

Tractors gather at Selby Livestock Auction Mart ahead of parading on a route around Selby as part of the National Farmers' Day of Unity -- January 25, 2025

This will help to support decision-making by local government, landowners, businesses, farmers and nature groups to make the most of England's limited land, it said.

'It's time for policy to leave the chambers of Westminster and reflect the actual lived experiences of farmers, landowners and planners on the ground,' Mr Reed will say.

Ahead of the speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said: 'This new approach will make better use of our land and grasp the opportunities to deliver new homes and infrastructure in the areas most in need, achieving win-win results for both development and the environment.'

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 'The biggest threat to nature and food security is the climate crisis, which threatens our best farmland, food production and the livelihoods of farmers.

'As we deliver our mission for the UK to become a clean energy superpower as part of the Plan for Change, we will ensure a proper balance between food security, nature preservation and clean energy.'

After the consultation, the Government will continue extensive sector engagement to design the final land use framework.
Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger has said he believes flying at night over water could be factors in what led to a American Airlines flight colliding with a helicopter, killing 67 people.

Sully, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009, told The New York Times the two factors could have made avoiding the chopper harder.

He said: 'There would have been fewer ground lights visible over the water than over land at night.'

According to Sully, this 'might have made it a little bit harder to see'.

The 74-year-old added: 'Nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft  basically all you can do is see the lights on them.

'You have to try to figure out: Are they above you or below you? Or how far away? Or which direction are they headed? Everything is harder at night.'

Sully told the outlet that he hoped the cockpit voice recorder, the inflight data recorder and air-traffic control data would help clear up what went wrong.

He added: 'I'm just devastated by this. We have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve.'

Sully, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009 , told The New York Times the two factors could have made avoiding the chopper harder

Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington

Sully had also appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday to discuss the collision.

He said that it was apparent that at least one of the pilots was able to see the other, and that the air traffic controller was not required to step in to separate the two.

Sully told the outlet: 'It seems apparent from the air traffic control communications that the airplanes were able to see each other, at least one was able to see the other.

'The air traffic controller was able to relieve himself of the requirement to have him separate the airplanes, and the pilots would have to separate from each other visually by identifying the other aircraft and staying a safe distance away. Obviously at some point, separation was tragically lost.'

He then spoke generally about the safety of air travel, and likened the incident on Wednesday to a row of dominoes being 'lined up the wrong way'.

'It's hard to have the diligence and the dedication to adhere to best practices on every minute of every hour of every day, every week, every month, every year for a decades long aviation career. Any lapse could potentially be fatal, even though we have a lot of safety.

'If all the dominoes line up in the wrong way, we could have on rare occasions a catastrophic event.

'Given enough time, given enough flights, given enough flight hours, eventually whatever can happen will happen unless we work very hard to prevent every incident from turning into an accident', he added.

When asked about Reagan National Airport, Sully added that it was considered a special airport that pilots needed specific training on due to its short runways and its proximity to other airports.

The midair collision between the Army helicopter and the jet from Kansas near Reagan National Airport killed all 64 people onboard.

Three soldiers had been inside the helicopter at the time of the incident and had been on a training mission. They also died in the collision bringing the death toll to 67.

Sully was behind the yoke of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009 when it encountered double engine failure after colliding with a flock of geese after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport.

Sully was behind the yoke of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009 when it encountered double engine failure after colliding with a flock of geese

All 155 people on board survived the plane's crash landing into the Hudson River, seen here, which has since been dubbed the 'Miracle on the Hudson'

All 155 people on board survived the plane's crash landing into the Hudson River, which has since been dubbed the 'Miracle on the Hudson'.

Sully was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 2016 movie named after him about the flight, which Clint Eastwood directed.

On Thursday evening, rescue crews digging through the wreckage managed to recover two black boxes from the waters of the Potomac River.

This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

A preliminary report has said that air traffic control staffing at the airport was 'not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

Sully had also appeared on Good Morning America after the incident happened late on Wednesday night

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30

The situation appeared to have improved since then, as a source told CNN the Reagan National control tower was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.

Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget cuts. Controllers frequently work 10-hour days, six days a week, to fill the void.

The preliminary crash report detailed that the lack of staff meant the controller monitoring and directing helicopters near DCA was also instructing planes landing and departing on the runways.

Usually, two controllers would handle these roles, as staff use two different radio frequencies to talk to planes and helicopter pilots.

Emergency response teams including Washington, DC Fire and EMS, DC Police and others, assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River

At least 40 bodies have since been pulled from the Potomac River following extensive recovery missions by emergency teams.

The bodies of all four flight crew members - including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding - were also recovered from the debris on Thursday.

The pilots of the American Eagle jet were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed.

And both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

In an situation eerily similar to what happened on Wednesday night, a Republic Airways flight had to abort landing at the airport on Tuesday after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport. It eventually landed safely.
As the Spring Festival ushers in the Year of the Snake, China is flooded with auspicious representations of the hissing, scaly reptile, from pythons coiling around gold ingots to serpents with chubby faces and fluffy bodies.

Tourists enjoy a handmade lantern show in Longxi County of Dingxi City, northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Lang Bingbing)

This year's Spring Festival is the first since being added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2024. The recognition has sparked excitement, boosting the festive atmosphere long before the holiday officially begins on Jan. 28, the Chinese New Year's Eve.

Amid the festive cheer, the snake -- a symbol that carries intricate cultural significance in both Eastern and Western traditions -- is shaking off its negative connotations and taking on a more auspicious and celebratory role.

The snake comes sixth in the 12-animal rotation used by the Chinese to represent the year, following the loong and preceding the horse. Others in the zodiac include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, sheep/goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, this Year of the Snake is a leap year, making it a super-long year with a total of 384 days. This year's Spring Festival holiday, traditionally lasting seven days, has been extended by an additional day.

TRADITIONAL SYMBOLISM

Snakes, among the oldest creatures on Earth, have held significant cultural roles worldwide, with their symbolism varying widely across regions.

In the Western culture, snakes are often associated with temptation, sin and evil forces, famously symbolized by the serpent in the Bible who lured Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.

It is also associated with medicine and the medical profession, appearing on emblems of institutions including the World Health Organization. This imagery traces back to Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing, whose worship involved the use of snakes.

A bronze snake is pictured at Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Xue Chen)

In early Chinese mythologies, snakes are depicted as divine beings and worshiped as totems. Fuxi and Nuwa, mythological figures said to be the progenitors of the Chinese people, are often depicted as half-human, half-snake.

Some historians also believe the national emblem of China -- loong, or Chinese dragon -- is based on images of snakes, which explains why people in many places still call snakes "lesser dragons."

In Chinese literary tradition, the snake symbolizes renewal, longevity and health, with the shedding of its skin seen as a powerful symbol of rebirth and rejuvenation.

However, this does not mean snakes are universally viewed as auspicious in modern China. The Chinese language, for example, features many derogatory idioms related to the cold-blooded creature: "a tiger's head and snake's tail" describes something that starts well but ends poorly, while villains are said to "have the heart and soul of a snake and scorpion."

Its image in Chinese pop culture is also mixed. On one hand, a household snake appears as a vicious yaoguai in the 1986-1987 animation "Calabash Brothers." On the other hand, the kindhearted "White Lady," a snake who transforms into a woman and marries a doctor, presents a more positive portrayal. In Chinese folklore and various adaptations, the snake lady and her human husband save many lives during a deadly plague, only to be separated by a Buddhist monk.

MODERN SIGNIFICANCE

Historically, parts of snakes, such as their skin and gall, have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat ailments and promote longevity.

While snake hunting has diminished significantly due to stricter laws protecting wildlife, snake farming for medical purposes continues in some parts of China.

In 2022, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region established a medicinal snake professional committee to regulate the industry. Today, around 200 snake farms are spread throughout the region.

In the folk traditions of the Zhuang and Yao ethnic groups, medicinal snakes are believed to have therapeutic properties, such as strengthening bones, easing rheumatism, promoting circulation, and alleviating skin disorders.

The Spring Festival is expected to inspire the country's designers, folk artists and cultural heritage inheritors to incorporate snake motifs into their creations.

Luo Huaqing, an inheritor of the paper-cutting tradition of the Mulam ethnic group, has been busy working on hundreds of snake-themed orders. Hailing from Luocheng Mulam Autonomous County in Guangxi, the Mulam paper-cutting craft is known for its simplicity, rustic beauty and ethnic uniqueness.

However, the snake is not a traditional motif in Mulam paper-cutting. "Unlike dragons, phoenixes, pomegranates, or fish, snakes are generally not associated with auspicious meanings," Luo said.

To cater to modern tastes and customer demands, Luo has introduced innovative elements into her designs. She incorporates snake scales with patterns resembling gold coins and the Chinese character "Fu," which symbolizes good fortune and happiness.

"By integrating symbols of prosperity and good luck, these innovative snake-themed paper-cutting designs have gained significant popularity in the market during the New Year," Luo added.
This rare footage showing hundreds of eight-legged crawlies 'raining from the sky' has been explained as a bizarre and racy phenomenon.

Hundreds of spiders descended from the heavens in a scene that could be likened to snowflakes falling - but with eight real limbs.

The scenes which have now been shared online were captured on camera in Sao Thome das Letra, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Although the nightmarish scene baffled users online after being uploaded to social media, experts have explained the science behind the strange occurrence.

Biologist and experts flocked to provide context to the sky of spiders, divulging the droves of insects were on a very large web, mating in a ritual 'orgy'.

One biologist, Kayron Passos, gave context to the situation via a local media news outlet.

He said: 'It's a spider orgy. The females have something called spermatheca, where they store the semen of different males to fertilise the eggs.

'This way, the female ensures that she will have several different offspring and increase genetic variability.'

This rare footage showing hundreds of eight-legged creepy-crawlies 'raining from the sky' in what has been explained as a bizarre and racy phenomenon by experts

The scenes which have now been shared online were captured on camera in Sao Thome das Letra, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil

Experts have since revealed that the spiders were in fact engaged in an orgy within a large web in the sky

Social media users have been left dumb-founded by the footage, dubbing it 'spider heaven'

Passos further clarified that even after fertilising the eggs, the females continue to collect semen for later use.

He said: 'This behaviour increases resistance, making these offspring more resistant to diseases.'

Arachnologist Ana Lucia Tourinho said that although spiders 'don't stay together' certain species will display more 'social behaviour.

The expert with a PhD in Biological Sciences said: 'Spiders generally do not stay together, but some species exhibit this social behaviour of forming colonies.

'The strategy of staying together in a group increases the food supply for the offspring and juveniles.'

The expert, who has been studying the creepy crawlies for nearly three decades added: 'The colony usually forms every year, most of them in the colony are relatives, they are usually generations of mothers and daughters together, but after they mate they will disperse.'

Despite the scientific background, viewers were dumb-founded by the clip which was circulated by local press a month after it appeared online.

One onlooker dubbed it 'spider heaven', whilst another spoke of their own run-in with the natural occurence in real life.

'It was in my brother's backyard in Tiradentes. Always in the late afternoon. I was scared when I first saw it,' they said.
Starmer's new trade envoy to New Zealand has quit social media blaming abuse from trolls over her gender, hair colour, clothes and glasses.

Carolyn Harris, who is MP for Swansea East, is saying goodbye to X - formerly Twitter - after footage in which she appeared to fall asleep in parliament re-circulated online.

In a statement to her 35,000 followers, she said: 'In recent months, I have been monitoring this platform and have been criticised not for my work, my views or my actions but for my gender the colour of my hair, glasses and even my choice of clothing.'

She concluded: 'As of today, I will no longer be monitoring this account.'

Comments on the post have been switched off but that has not stopped some users from re-posting and sharing their thoughts.

Author Peter Lloyd said: 'Labour MP Carolyn Harris has announced she's leaving X.

'How will we cope without her astute, keenly-observed musings on the world?'

He accompanied this with the infamous image of Ms Harris 'asleep' first circulated in 2021.

Starmer's new trade envoy to New Zealand has quit social media blaming abuse from trolls over her gender , hair colour, clothes and glasses

Carolyn Harris, who is MP for Swansea East, is saying goodbye to X - formerly Twitter - after footage in which she appeared to fall asleep in parliament re-circulated online

This decision wasnt made lightly, but I can no longer justify staying on this platform. Heres why: pic.twitter.com/GNUEsdntnR  Carolyn Harris (@carolynharris24) January 30, 2025

Labour MP Carolyn Harris has announced shes leaving X.



How will we cope without her astute, keenly-observed musings on the world? pic.twitter.com/bseR5bIheK  Peter Lloyd (@Suffragent_) January 30, 2025

But another user stated: 'It is a shame that Carolyn Harris feels she must leave X. Abuse is unacceptable.'

Four years ago the Welsh MP said the capture from Prime Ministers Questions had 'opened the floodgates' to 'relentless abuse'.

She said someone had even shouted at her at her front door, saying 'did you enjoy your snooze?'.

But the Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour explained: 'I categorically did not - and would never - go to sleep during any session in work.'

Ms Harris is chair of UK Menopause Taskforce and has previously called on government to introduce 'national formulary' so medications can be prescribed 'across the country'.

She served as Shadow Minister for Safeguarding and Vulnerability from 2016 to 2017, and a junior Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities from 2017 to 2020.

Sir Keir Starmer named a slew of parliamentarians as the UK's new trade envoys earlier this week - but questions were immediately asked about some of his appointments.

A cross-party group of 32 MPs and peers were announced to be joining the trade envoy programme.

Someone said: 'This is Labour MP for Swansea, Carolyn Harris at PMQ's. A lot of folk getting upset at her appearance. At least she was awake this week'

They will cover 79 markets across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and the Americas, and have been tasked with drumming up new investment into Britain.

Among those appointed by the Department for Business and Trade was Labour's Kate Osamor, MP for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill, who is trade envoy to East Africa.

In 2020, Ms Osamor was ordered to apologise to the House of Commons after telling a journalist: 'I should have come down here with a f****** bat and smashed your face open'.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 'Trade and investment are key to delivering economic growth, the number one mission of this Government and a key part of our Plan for Change.

'That's why I've launched a new team of Trade Envoys, who will use their experience, expertise and knowledge to unlock new markets around the world for British businesses, drumming up investment into the UK and ultimately driving economic growth.'
Two women who worked together at a Washington DC law firm have been identified as victims of the tragic crash between an American Airlines plane and Army helicopter.

Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best, and her colleague Elizabeth Keys, both 33, were returning home from Kansas after completing a deposition.

Ms Keys' mother tragically revealed it was her birthday on the day of the fateful crash.

American Airlines flight 5342 was moments from touching down when it collided with a Black Hawk Army helicopter.

It immediately went up in flames and both aircrafts crashed into the Potomac River below. Authorities say there are no survivors.

Sixty passengers were on board the flight, as well as four crew members. Three soldiers were on board the helicopter.

So far, 40 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage. Authorities will return on Friday morning to continue the search.

Ms Keys' mother told WKRC her daughter was 'a valedictorian and Varsity sailor' who graduated from Georgetown University Law Center.

Elizabeth Keys was returning home from Kansas after completing a deposition. Ms Keys' mother tragically revealed it was her birthday on the day of the fateful crash

Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best has been identified as one of the 67 victims

'She loved deeply and was deeply loved. Liz was a warm, generous woman. She was so fun - and funny! Liz had a sharp wit and appreciated it in others. Gatherings were always better when Liz was there; she was filled with light and joy.

'Her hugs were wonderful. Elizabeth was strong and fearless - she embraced life at full speed.'

She is survived by her partner David Seidman, who her mother described as 'the love of her life', and their Yorkie, Tucker.

'Words cannot express how deeply Elizabeth, my Bitsy, will be missed. We are filled with unbearable sorrow and despair at our loss,' she said.

Keys and Best worked together at Wilkinson Stekloff litigation in the Washington DC office.

Founder Beth Wilkinson said: 'We are heartbroken by this terrible tragedy. Liz and Sarah were cherished members of our firm - wonderful attorneys, colleagues, and friends.

'Beyond being an excellent lawyer, Liz brought fearlessness, humor, and sharp wit to work every day, no matter the setting or circumstances.

'Sarah joined us just last fall and quickly energized us all with her boundless curiosity, kindness, and intelligence.

American Airlines flight 5342 was moments from touching down when it collided with a Black Hawk Army helicopter

Ms Keys' mother told WKRC her daughter was 'a valedictorian and Varsity sailor' who graduated from Georgetown University Law Center

'It is hard to imagine the firm without them. We are keeping them in our memories and their families in our thoughts and prayers.'

On Thursday evening, rescue crews digging through the wreckage managed to recover two black boxes from the waters of the Potomac River.

This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

A preliminary report has said that air traffic control staffing at the airport was 'not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

At least 40 bodies have since been pulled from the Potomac River following extensive recovery missions by emergency teams.

The bodies of all four flight crew members - including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding - were also recovered from the debris on Thursday.

The pilots of the American Eagle jet were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed.

And both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

In an situation eerily similar to what happened on Wednesday night, a Republic Airways flight had to abort landing at the airport on Tuesday after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport. It eventually landed safely.
A dissident who has spent five years in a Cairo jail has said he is ready to give up his British citizenship in despair at the government's inability to secure his release.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British-Egyptian activist and blogger, has spent hundreds of days on hunger strike to raise awareness of his case.

He was sentenced to half a decade in prison in December 2021 on charges of spreading fake news.

Despite now having served his five years including pre-trial detention, Fattah has still not been released.

His family has now given permission for some of his private letters to be published following his continued 'illegal incarceration'.

In one sent on December 4, Fattah reflected on Sir Keir Starmer meeting the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

He wrote according to The Guardian: 'I wonder if he's paying any attention to me.

'I've said from the start that if they can't or don't want to or don't care to argue about a consular visit then one can't look to them for a release, because it means they basically don't recognise me as citizen and they endorse the local authority not recognising me as a human being.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah (pictured), a British-Egyptian activist and blogger, has spent hundreds of days on hunger strike to raise awareness of his case.

Australian journalist Peter Greste, arrested and imprisoned in Egypt in 2013 while reporting for Al Jazeera, stands with Laila Soueif on January 20

Signs displayed outside Downing Street call for the release of Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah

'So probably the next step is to give up both nationalities and live without either (optimistic, of course, since this assumes life in some future stage).'

It comes as his 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif is on hunger strike and protesting daily outside Downing Street seeking his release.

She has been told she in serious danger of having a heart attack after losing 21kg on a 122-day hunger strike.

Foreign secretary David Lammy also reportedly made the case for Fattah's release during a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart last week.

In 2022, the UN demanded Egypt immediately release Fattah after he was on hunger strike for seven months.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turks said Fattah's life was in great danger', adding: 'His dry hunger strike puts his life at acute risk.'

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said when he was in office that he hoped to see the issue resolved as soon as possible.

However, Fattah's sister Sanaa Seif said Britain had not replied to her request for proof that her brother was alive.

'I asked the British authorities to get us some proof that Alaa is alive and conscious, I did not get any response.'

Laila Soueif, mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, during a hunger strike to protest against her son's detention in Egypt on January 20

Sanaa Seif, sister of jailed Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, pictured at the COP27 summit in Egypt in November 2022

Fattah rose to prominence during Egypt's 2011 popular uprising which led to Egypt's first democratic presidential election.

The new Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Mursi, was toppled by the military - then led by Sisi - after mass protests against his rule in July 2013.

The following month security forces broke up two pro-Mursi sit-ins in Cairo and killed hundreds of civilians.

Fattah, a software developer from an activist family, was detained in the subsequent crackdown on Islamists, leftists and liberals alike, and has been behind bars for most of the time since then.
A single mother from Melbourne lost all of her life savings after falling for a scam disguised as a job opportunity - and is now struggling to even feed her kids.

Melissa Anderson, 43, had taken two years off work to care for her young sons, aged one and two - a time that saw her split with her partner and struggle to pay the bills.

She started looking for work online on Facebook job boards, where she found what seemed like a simple cleaning job posted by someone named 'Aurora O'Brien.'

After expressing interest, she was promptly contacted and asked to provide her phone number.

But instead of offering cleaning services, the company claimed it actually specialised in providing 'positive reviews' for BnB listings on a platform that closely resembled AirBnB.

Melissa's prospective employer moved the conversation to the encrypted social media app Telegram and gave her 'training' that seemed like a real onboarding process.

The scammers taught her about the nature of the job, including how many homes she'd review in a batch, how to optimise and generate reviews, and how to leave a five-star score.

Ms Anderson then left reviews for 'commissions,' with the scammers depositing small amounts of money into the app.

Single mother Melissa Anderson has been robbed of her savings by international scammers

A faux training session then groomed the mother into believing she was doing real work

Then the fraudsters informed her she'd need to deposit some money to make recommendations on 'properties' with higher payouts.

On their meticulously designed app and website, Ms Anderson was instructed to log into her Commonwealth Bank account and provide screenshots to show the scammers that she was making the deposits.

During these process she was also sent a link, which gave them remote access to her device.

'As my banking details were open I lost my entire account,' she explained

She said she checked her account and saw the fraudsters had siphoned all the money from her accounts - and had lost more than $23,900.

'They took money out and then held it to ransom. Saying give us more or you won't see your money again.

'It's all a scam and of course you won't see anything back from them.

'To make matters worse, the scammers also took the balance of my credit card, so it's negative, and I'm getting bills for the interest.'

Ms Anderson said she was embarrassed to have fallen for the cruel scheme and reached out to only her closest friend for advice after she lost everything.

While they talked, her back pocket still buzzed with messages on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram.

Ms Anderson has now been left with no means to support her two young boys, with authorities saying she'll never see the money again

'They wanted more, they said "if you can't get this amount, borrow from your friends, borrow from your family, you can sell your car, you can pawn gold jewellery",' Ms Anderson said.

She said the Commonwealth Bank has told her they were powerless to investigate the theft of her $23,900 as she had handed her information to the scammers.

But Ms Anderson has done her own digging into the scam.

She believes she traced the website to an office building in China and has since alerted every authority she can find, including the domain hosts.

When she checked back on the fraudulent website earlier in the week, however, she noticed everything on the website had been changed.

'They do a lot of maintenance to make sure they don't get caught. I'd like them to get stopped, but I don't know how much work is involved.'

She even warned the scammers she was going to put a stop to them, and received a crushing reply.

'I threatened to tell AirBnB; they said 'Go ahead, we don't care'; they obviously think they're bullet-proof.'

Ms Anderson has slowly come to terms with the huge financial blow.

The site began telling Ms Anderson she had insufficient funds to carry out her tasks, before scammers would take more right from her bank account

'Once it's gone, it's gone, and in my heart, I know it's not coming back, but I want to think they might give it back.

'All I'm hoping is that no one does the same thing as me.'

Ms Anderson has started a GoFundMe page in an effort to recoup some of the money lost.

Commonwealth Bank has been contacted for comment.
An Australian clergyman has shared the deep emotions he felt after walking in the footsteps of Stolen Generation victims, shedding light on the tragic history of Sydney's Central Station.

Standing on Platform 1 at Central Station, Reverend Bill Crews stopped by a memorial plaque honoring the thousands of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families and sent across the country as part of the Stolen Generation.

'This is a dark part of Australia's history that most people want to forget. I'm on Central Railway Station in Sydney. Trains come here from all over Australia,' Reverend Crews said in a video posted to social media.

'Little Aboriginal kids were taken from their mums and dads, trained here to the number one platform at Central railway where they were split up.

'The boys went to Kinchela Boys Home and the girls went to Cootamundra Girls Home (Cootamundra Domestic Training Home).'

Revered Crews choked back tears as he told Daily Mail Australia he was given a first-hand account of what it was like from a member of the Stolen Generation.

'A lady from the bush rang me before Christmas and said she'd come see me and I saw her on Saturday morning,' he said.

Reverend Bill Crews explained a horror that occurred at Central Station

'I met her there Central and she was one of the Cootamundra girls and she told me the story.

'To actually walk in the steps of where the kids were walking was actually quite moving.'

The memorial plaque is next to Platform 1, near the Taxi rank, but people often walk by without noticing it because it 'just looks like an advertisement', according to Reverend Crews.

That was another reason he made the video and he wanted to send a message to modern day Australia.

'Racism has no bounds. It has no morals and it is essentially evil,' he said.

'This platform would've been filled with crying children being removed from one another and taken to kids' homes where incredible abuse occurred.

'Many of these kids didn't live. They didn't die as children, they died because of the abuse that happened and they couldn't survive into adulthood. This is just so wrong.'

Transport has worked with NSW Stolen Generations survivor organisations to install memorial plaques at its stations.

Thousands of kids were removed from their families in what's known as the Stolen Generation

Plaques have been installed at stations in Grafton, Kempsey, Bourke, Berry, and Bomaderry.

Stephen Ritchie, from Taree on the Mid-North Coast, was taken from his family and sent to the Kinchela Boys Home.

When they were unveiled in 2022, he said he had mixed views about the plaques.

'I might think different to the others but, to me, it brings back too many memories and you've got to re-live them again, which in my view is wrong,' he said.
A second soldier on board the doomed Black Hawk helicopter has been identified following a deadly mid-air collision with an American Airlines plane.

Grieving widow Carrie Eaves revealed her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves was one of three soldiers taking part in the fateful training exercise over Washington DC on Wednesday night.

The helicopter collided with the passenger jet, carrying 60 passengers and four crew, and crashed into the Potomac River, with everyone involved now presumed dead.

Authorities have pulled around 40 bodies from the wreckage so far amid ongoing efforts to search the water.

Eaves' devastated wife, Carrie, said: 'I am sure by now all of you have heard the news of the tragedy that has occurred in DC.

'My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.'

She has shared several photos of Eaves, one of which he was in uniform, and asked her friends to share any pictures they may have of him in his memory.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves confirmed his death on Thursday night, taking to X to write: 'Mississippi is mourning the loss of Brooksville native Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who was killed in last night's accident at Reagan National Airport.'

Grieving widow Carrie Eaves revealed her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves was one of three soldiers taking part in the fateful training exercise over Washington DC on Wednesday night

Eaves' devastated wife, Carrie, said: 'I am sure by now all of you have heard the news of the tragedy that has occurred in DC

'My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,' Carrie said

Hours earlier, Eaves' fellow soldier Ryan O'Hara was named as the crew chief on the flight.

O'Hara, a father-of-one from Georgia, was on board the doomed UH-60 helicopter on an annual proficiency training flight and is among the 67 lives lost in the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2009.

The 28-year-old left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, and was remembered fondly by his his school as a beloved member of the rifle team.

His father, Gary, was watching television on the couch at his Midway, Georgia, home on Wednesday night when he saw the breaking news that a commercial plane had collided with a military helicopter.

He told the Washington Post: 'I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking.'

About 10am Thursday, two Army officials knocked on his door to deliver the horrific news, his 28-year-old son was among the casualties.

'As a parent, how do you take the news like this and not be totally broken?' he asked.

'His mother and I and his sister are just absolutely devastated to think we were talking to him just yesterday and we'll never have the opportunity to talk with him again.'

Ryan O'Hara from Georgia was on board the doomed helicopter when it plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday night

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Retired Army chief warrant officer Jonathan Koziol told ABC News the trio were 'very experienced.'

O'Hara individually had hundreds of hours of flight time logged, while Eaves, the instructor pilot running the training drill, had 'more than 1,000 hours of flight time.'

The female pilot commanding the flight, who has not yet been identified, at the time had also logged more than 500 hours, Koziol said.

'Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night -- this wasn't something new to either one of them,' he said.

'These are our top pilots doing this National Capital Region.'

While the pilot being evaluated was at the wheel, if something were to have gone wrong, the instructor likely would have taken control, the publication stated.

The cause of one of the worst airline incidents in U.S. history has still not been determined as first responders pull dozens of bodies out of the river.

But President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the helicopter pilots should have seen where they were going in an extraordinary briefing on what he called 'an excrutiating night in our nation's history'.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage which remain in the Potomac River

Trump said the airliner was 'doing everything right' while the Black Hawk was 'going at an angle that was unbelievably bad'.

Defense Secertary Pete Hegseth added that there was an 'elevation issue' the Army is already looking into.

In the aftermath, first responders in the nation's capital confirmed there were no survivors and the rescue operation had turned to recovery.

Multiple federal agencies have now launched an investigation into how the aircraft came into contact so close to one of the busiest transport hubs in the country.

The Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corp at Parkview High in Gwinnett County confirmed O'Hara was a student and one of those on board.

'It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own. Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan O'Hara was the Crew Chief on the Black Hawk involved in last nights crash in DC.,' Parkview MCJROTC posted on Facebook.

'Our deepest condolences go out to Gary O'Hara and his entire family.'

The post, that has since been removed, added that O'Hara is 'fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the rifle team.'

O'Hara left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, and was remembered fondly by his his school as a beloved member of the rifle team

Emergency workers recover debris from the Potomac River in the aftermath of the collision

Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River

The Black Hawk was assigned to Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Hegseth said the crew had night vision goggles and were experienced.

Doomed Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas  carrying 60 passengers and four crew  collided in a massive fireball with the Army Black Hawk helicopter 400ft above the Potomac River as it was approaching Reagan National Airport just before 9pm Wednesday.

Pilots Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley and flight attendants Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder were all among the victims.

In a further terrible twist to the tragedy, Lilley Sr revealed he himself is a former Army Black Hawk pilot and had flown in the exact same area where the disaster happened.

'Samuel was in the prime of his life. He was engaged to a beautiful, wonderful girl and we were all excited about her joining the family,' he said.

Timothy, a former Army warrant officer who is now a private jet pilot, was at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey, when the crash happened  and is now in Washington.

But he initially had no idea his beloved son was one of the pilots who perished in the tragedy.

'I saw the crash on the news. I didn't think there was any way it was my son,' he said. 'But then I watched long enough to figure out it was my son's airline and then I kind of know his schedule.
Victorian homicide squad detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in his 90s last night.

Police were called to an address at Maryvale Road, in Morwell, at 9.20pm, and found the man dead while another man was located and taken into custody.

"The exact circumstances surrounding the incident are yet to be established and the investigation is in its infancy," a police statement said.

More to come.
Prosecutors cemented their damning case for murder and rape against Hollywood producer David Pearce and his co-accused roommate on Thursday in forceful closing arguments

In a blistering summation to the jury, counsel Seth Carmack said sinister Pearce will rape, cheat, lie and, if he needs to, will murder.

He highlighted the shady, manipulative, lying things Pearce had done to women, describing him as person who does not care about anyone but himself.

Pearce, 42, is charged with the horrific deaths of friends Christy Giles, 24, a model and aspiring actress, and architect Hilda Cabrales-Arzola, 26.

Their lifeless bodies were dumped at two separate Los Angeles area hospitals by Pearce and roommate Brandt Osborn, 45, on Nov. 14, 2021.

The women met Pearce and several of his friends at a warehouse rave in a gritty party of Los Angeles the previous evening.

After their deaths, it emerged that both women had been drugged with a deadly cocktail of fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, heroine, MDMA and the rape drug GHB.

Former child actor Pearce told a court he attempted to resuscitate Giles and Cabrales-Arzola prior to them tragically dying after a wild night fueled by alcohol and drugs.

Prosecutors said in closing arguments Thursday that Hollywood producer David Pearce will rape, cheat, lie and, if he needs to, will murder'

Hilda Cabrales (right), 26, and her model friend Christy Giles (left), 24, were found dead outside of two separate hospitals after partying in Los Angeles. The pair had died from drug overdoses, and their bodies were captured on video being dumped by masked men

Their lifeless bodies were dumped at two separate Los Angeles area hospitals by Pearce and roommate Brandt Osborn, 45, on November 14, 2021

The two friends drank red wine and did cocaine at Pearces Beverly Hills home with his friend of 20 years and co-worker, Michael Ansbach, 50, after returning home from the rave at 5am.

Pearce testified earlier that he witnessed Ansbach do coke 20 times over the course of the previous afternoon and evening but never personally witnessed the women do drugs.

Osborn was with the group at the rave but said he went to bed when they arrived home.

Carmack added that Pearce was manipulative and under-handed. And he told the jury that Pearce was lying to your face with his testimony which stretched over two days.

Pearce made a despicable attempt to charm you, persuade you with lie, after lie after lie.

He craved power and control over the jury, friends and women.

And this craving for power ultimately led to Christie and Hildas deaths.

Pearce testified he saw Michael Ansbach, 50, do coke 20 times over the course of the previous afternoon and evening but never personally witnessed the women do drugs

David Pearce - who has been charged with both women's manslaughter - is seen with Cabrales-Arzola on the evening she and Giles died

The deaths were no accident and he spoke of how Pearce and Osborn quickly sped off after leaving the women at the two hospitals without any regard for their well-being.

As hospital workers attempted to save the lives of the women, Pearce and Osborn went for a meal at El Pollo Loco.

Pearce had been taking advantage of women for years, and in doing so he killed two young women, said Carmack.

He insisted that Brandt was also guilty of deception in recounting the events of Nov. 13 and 14, 2021 and that he ignored the noise of one of the women who had been moaning in pain

In addition to the murder charges, the disgraced former film producer had been previously charged with several counts of sexual assault against a total of seven victims spanning a 13-year period.

Giles, a model and aspiring actress from Alabama and living in Los Angeles, was found murdered on November 13, 2021

Giles was allegedly served a fatal cocktail of fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, heroine, MDMA and the rape drug GHB.

Twelve women earlier testified about being raped and sexually abused by Pearce, who denied all their claims.

He wants power and control, and when he cant get it he uses drugs to get what he wants, added Carmack.

Why not take Christy and Hilda to hospital at the same time? he said to the jury. Answering his own question he said it was because Pearce had to make sure that they were dead.

It made no sense to leave Hilda behind when they should have taken her to hospital at the same time as Christy.

Carmack said that if Pearce gave the women drugs in order to then assault them that it means he is also responsible for their murders even if it was an accident.

He urged the jury to give these ladies justice and return a guilty verdict.

Cabrales-Arzola, an architect and interior designer from Mexico, had traveled to Los Angeles to study and formed a friendship with Giles

At one point a man using a walking stick was told to vacate the courtroom by the judge because it appeared that he was sleepy and nodding off but he told her he was praying before being escorted out by bailiffs.

Jeff Voll, Pearces defense attorney, told the jury that prosecutors did not meet their burden of proof.

He said his client was wrongly portrayed as the Prince of Darkness, like Beelzebub, like satan.

Voll stated that prosecution star witness Ansbach was the real killer. Evidence shows that Michael Ansbach gave the women fentanyl.

He said there was insufficient evidence to prove Pearce raped and sexually assaulted seven Jane Does and five other women.

Cabrales-Arzola remained in critical condition until her heartbroken family took her off life support days before her 27th birthday

The court heard testimony that Pearce snorted cocaine off of a womans genitals and ejaculated on the face of Jane Doe 1.

Voss recalled his client saying his apartment was a drug den but there was no evidence he gave drugs to the two women who died.

Voss said evidence had shown both women had a lot of fentanyl in their systems but Pearce hadnt supplied it.

He admitted Pearce pursued an alternative lifestyle and referenced The Eagles famous song, Life in the Fast Lane.

Its a sinners lifestyle. Thats just the way it us, he added.

There was no indent to kill because he didnt give them drugs. Pearce did not kill anyone. Theres no malice.

Sometimes justice deserves a not guilty verdict.
Over 13,000 federal employees reportedly received an abusive email concerning President Trump, after officials rolled out a new broadcast system.

All of those currently employed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received the email with the subject header 'Resign', according to Mediaite.

The message said: 'Aren't you tired of working for a complete c***?', and was followed up by a message from senior staff who apologized.

NOAA Deputy Director of Communications Scott Smullen reportedly told staff in a memo: 'I'm sorry this happened to us. I will report it.'

The Trump administration launched a new system that allows all 2.3 million federal employees to be emailed from a single address.

It was rolled out last week by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and has already been hit with a lawsuit brought by two federal employees alleging that the system raises security concerns.

The complaint cites concerns about the possibility of it being hacked, and the privacy of workers.

Lawyer Kel McClanahan, who is representing the two, hopes to extend the lawsuit to be a class action.

The message said: 'Aren't you tired of working for a complete c***?', and was followed up by a message from senior staff who apologized.

In a statement, McClanahan said: 'Plugging in a new email server for the sole purpose of sending messages directly to every federal employee is an invitation to be hacked, and every employee out there needs to know how much of their data is at risk.'

He called for it to be shut down until the OPM 'treats this data with the security it warrants'.

The Trump administration started sending out emails to thousands of workers on Tuesday night offering them a 'buyout' to voluntarily leave their positions but remain on the payroll for months.

The administration has called for federal workers to return to the office and plans to offer the buyouts to up to two million workers who do not want to.

The email was linked to President Donald Trump's executive order demanding the office return.

It said the last date to accept the offer is February 6, and employees could simply send an email from their government account with the word 'resign' in the subject line.

An Office of Personnel Management spokesperson said employees who accept the terms were being offered the chance to go on administrative leave at full pay through September 30.

The administration has called for federal workers to return to the office and plans to offer the buyouts to up to two million workers who do not want to

But many government workers appear ready to reject the offer and are vowing to continue working in protest.

Trump on Wednesday claimed federal employees who don't show up for work at offices next month will be fired.

'We have informed the federal workforce that if they're working for the federal government, they must show up to the office on time and on schedule,' he said at a White House event.

'If they don't agree by February 6 to show up back to work in their office, they will be terminated,' he added.

Trump predicted a 'very substantial number of people will not show up to work' and that would make the government 'smaller and more efficient.'
A 20-year-old student was among 67 passengers on doomed American Airlines flight 5342 after returning home to attend her grandfather's funeral.

. Grace Maxwell, a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio , was on the doomed flight returning back to school

She had reportedly been in Kansas to attend her grandfather's funeral, The Wichita Eagle reports.

Her father told the publication that she 'was on the plane', but that he'd not yet heard from authorities regarding any further details.

Cedarville University told WLWT that Maxwell's death will be formally addressed with the student body during an all-campus chapel program on Friday.

'As you can imagine, the past 24 hours have been very difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community,' the school said.

'As a university, we do not desire to turn this tragic event into anything more than a way to honor Grace, her family, and Jesus.'

Maxwell was due to graduate in 2026.

Grace Maxwell, a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio , was on the doomed flight returning back to school

Around 40 bodies have already been pulled from the wreckage at Potomac River in Washington DC

'Grace was a resident of Maddox Hall and known to be a thoughtful, quiet student leader,' her school said.

'During her college years, she assisted mechanical engineering faculty as a grader.'

Maxwell's secondary advisor, Dr Tim Norman, described her as 'a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering.'

She was 'scheduled to serve on a project team this semester that would begin to create a hand-stabilizing device for a differently enabled Dayton boy so he could feed himself rather than relying on others.'

The school said: 'Even though we don't understand why this has happened, we are confident that Grace is with Jesus Christ.

'Those of us who believe in Christ will see her again. We grieve, but not as those without hope.'

Counseling services will be available for all students and staff.

Around 40 bodies have already been pulled from the wreckage at Potomac River in Washington DC.

Maxwell's secondary advisor, Dr Tim Norman, described her as 'a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering'

Divers will return on Friday to continue searching for the remaining victims.

There were 60 passengers on board the plane and four crew members, as well as three soldiers on board the Black Hawk Army helicopter it collided with.

Authorities say there are no survivors.

David Hoagland, President of the DC Fire Fighters Association, revealed on Thursday night the harrowing scenes first responders were confronted with.

'It's graphic. They encountered people inside the plane still strapped in their seats, and they weren't able to remove them right away,' Hoagland said.

'Today, a lot of the effort has been focused on removing people from inside the plane who they were not able to remove last night, as well as just continuing to scan the entire area to see who they can locate.'
Authorities in NSW and Victoria have banned an unregistered Botox practitioner and warned the public to stay away from her firm after a suspected botulism outbreak.

Norsafiza Binti Zakaria, who uses various aliases, is suspected of delivering fake anti-wrinkle injections to three Sydney women at a private botox party, before they were all later hospitalised.

Zakaria has now been barred from performing any cosmetic procedures in NSW and Victoria while the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner and the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) investigate.

She has not been charged by police in connection with the incidents.

The ban comes after the patients were rushed to hospital with suspected botulism which causes toxins to weaken the muscle and restricts breathing.

One Sydney woman was placed in intensive care and the two other cases were linked to the same Sydney home.

The commission alleges Zakaria advertises Botox injections on social media and WhatsApp.

The bogus practitioner then administers the substances at homes in NSW and Victoria despite having no legal registration.

Botox parties are popular in the UK and US with restrictions on who can administer the prescription only medication more lax.

Norsafiza Binti Zakaria (pictured) has been banned from administering botox after three women were hospitalised

It's alleged she used WhatsApp and social media to arrange the private parties

But in Australia, only medical doctors and registered nurses that are practising with a current AHPRA registration are able to give the cosmetic injections.

A fourth case, which was reported to the Victorian Department of Health in September has also been connected to Zakaria,

That patient was also hospitalised, however an alert was not issued at the time because authorities believed it was an isolated incident.

On Friday, NSW Health published the eight-week interim prohibition order against Zakaria which bars her from performing any cosmetic procedures.

The order also specifically mentions she is also banned from practising under any of the other names she has previously used including Natasha Scha, Zakaria Scha, Natasha Ismail, Scha Zakaria, Scha Natasha and Scha Zakaria Beauty Spa'.

The HCCC has the power to extend the eight-week ban until a full investigation is done and it applies in both NSW and Victoria.

Symptoms of botulism can take up to two weeks to show up after being injected.

Symptoms include progressive weakness, difficulty swallowing, drooping eyelids, blurred or double vision and difficulty breathing.
The 'extremely dangerous' lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles are hindering California's wildlife cleanup efforts.

As federal agencies enter Phase 1 of clearing out the debris piled throughout Los Angeles, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with removing hazardous materials.

Lithium-ion batteries are making up a significant portion of these dangerous items - and the EPA worries they may 'can spontaneously re-ignite, explode, and emit toxic gases and particulates even after the fire is out,' NBC Los Angeles reported.

EPA incident commander Steve Calanog told the outlet that the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires will likely call for the 'largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, thats ever happened in the history of the world.'

Calanog said that handling these shockingly temperamental batteries is no easy task - and it requires 'technical sophistication and care.'

The crew handling the dangerous materials must deionize the batteries so they can be compressed for proper disposal.

They must wear special protective gear, including fire-resistant clothes and masks.

Exposure to overheated lithium-ion batteries can be extremely toxic to humans, according to the Prevor laboratory.

As federal agencies enter Phase 1 of trying to clear out the fire debris piled throughout Los Angeles

Lithium-ion batteries are making up a significant portion of these dangerous items - and the EPA worries they may 'can spontaneously re-ignite, explode, and emit toxic gases and particulates even after the fire is out'

Aside from bursting into flames, humans near damaged or overheated batteries could be breathing in dangerous gases that can cause severe burns to one's skin, eyes or digestive track.

It can also cause 'irritation' to someone's respiratory track if inhaled.

'We dont know the long-term effects of all this exposure, and we haven't seen this on this large of a scale and this many electric vehicles,' Los Angeles City Fire Captain Adam VanGerpen told NBC.

'This is an unprecedented amount of electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries in there.'

More than 99,000 zero-emission vehicles were sold in LA County in 2024, the California Energy Commission reported. California has the most EVs out of all the states.

Californians appeared to favor Tesla models Y, 3 and Cybertruck - as they were the top three most sold models of zero-emission cars sold in LA.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been an avid champion of EVs, as he gave his stamp of approval to the EPA decision to ban the sale of all gas-powered cars in the state by 2035.

LA residents have been warned that residual heat from the fires could lead to random combustions and that they should be extra careful in the months following the disasters.

Phase 1 of the cleanup response involves the EPA handling and clearing out risky materials

'With the lithium-ion batteries, even if they look like they are intact they could have damage on the inside, so they continue to off gas and the off-gas from these batteries can be toxic to your health,' VanGerpen told NBC.

Lithium-ion batters are also used in items such as electronics, vapes, electric bikes and power tools.

Phase 1 of the cleanup response involves the EPA handling and clearing out risky materials.

One they complete the challenging task and the affected areas are deemed safe, the Army Corps of Engineers can launch Phase 2, which is essentially the removal of the remaining debris.

Home and property owners are able to request the free removal of the fires' fallout by the Corps or can hire an independent contractor to do so, according to NBC.

Phase 2 was first expected to take up to 18 months, but after President Trump visited LA, they said it could be done in a year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

'Once a crew shows up to a property, depending on the complexity of that site, it can take two to ten days to clear the debris from that site,' Colonel Eric Swenson of the Corps told the outlet.

'It just really depends on how fast we get those rights of entry.'

President Donald Trump talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom after arriving on Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, on Friday

More than 99,000 zero-emission vehicles were sold in LA County in 2024, the California Energy Commission reported

Last Friday, Trump visited LA to assess the damage left behind by the three weeks of nonstop flames.

He clashed with LA Mayor Karen Bass about how to handle the county's comeback from the devastation - but ultimately offered the county his support.

The EPA has assessed about 2,500 of the approximate 14,500 destroyed properties, the LA Times reported.
An air traffic controller was reportedly allowed to leave their post early just before American Airlines Flight 5342 collided in midair with a military helicopter over Washington DC.

Insiders and a preliminary internal FAA report have started to reveal catastrophic failures leading up to the aviation disaster that killed 67 people, including three soldiers, Wednesday night.

The collision took place as the American Airlines flight, carrying 60 passengers and four crew, made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET.

That night, an air traffic controller was left to handle both helicopter traffic and manage planes - which should have been a divided duty - according to The New York Times.

Those tasks are usually handled between two people from 10am until 9:30pm, according to the report.

After 9:30pm the duties are typically combined and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report said that staffing configuration 'was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic'.

It remains unclear why the supervisor allowed the worker to clock off early on Wednesday night, just before the midair collision.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport also captured the moment the two collided in midair

It has also emerged that the Army helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers, involved in the collision might have also deviated from its approved flight path.

The outlet again spoke with insiders that said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter was not on its approved route and flying higher than it should have been.

Approval had been given for the helicopter to fly no higher than 200 feet along the east side of the Potomac River, where it would have avoided the passenger jet.

The pilot of the helicopter confirmed sight of the American Airlines flight and was told to stick to their predetermined route and go behind the plane.

Sources said the pilot did not stick to the path however and was a half-mile off course as well as being at an altitude above 300 feet.

A senior Army official told The Times that the pilot of the Black Hawk had flown the route before and was well aware of the tight altitude restrictions and routes.

As the jet approached the runway, those onboard had asked air traffic control to change their runway, according to an FAA report.

The plane, a Bombardier CRJ700, had been cleared to touch down on Runway 1, the main airport thoroughfare, but the controller then asked the pilot to land on Runway 33.

A source told The Times that such a move is routine especially with regional jets, and that the decision might have been made to prevent clogging on the main runway.

Five current and former controllers also told the outlet that the lone controller in the tower should have been more proactive in directing the two away from each other.

New footage emerged on Thursday showing the fireball explosion in the background of the Capitol Building

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The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river

NTSB investigators are seen here working on the black box of American Airlines flight 5342

The darkness could have played a part in what made it so difficult for both pilots to actually gauge their distance apart, they added.

Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have improved since then, as a source told CNN the Reagan National control tower was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.

Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget cuts.

In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.

The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

On Thursday morning officials confirmed all 67 on both the plane and helicopter had perished, with their rescue mission then becoming a recovery operation.

Investigators made a break through later that night, after they had pulled 40 bodies to shore, when they found two black boxes from the American Airlines flight.

A flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were pulled from the river by salvage teams.

This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

The identities of those who died in the collision have started to trickle out, with DailyMail.com revealing the identities of the pilot and first officer.

Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters.

Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital.

Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River

Eaves, left, and O'Hara, right, were both on board the helicopter when it collided with the jet

A devastated husband and father has revealed his wife Justyna and 12-year-old daughter Brielle were on board the tragic flight

Kiah Duggins had been visiting her mom in her hometown of Wichita but was returning to Washington DC, where she worked for Civil Rights Corps

Grace Maxwell, a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio, was on the doomed flight returning back to school

Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best (left) was tragically killed on the flight, returning home after conducting a deposition with her colleague, Elizabeth Keys (right)

Both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

At least three minors - including figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han - are among the victims who died.

Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han's mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter alongside fellow soldier Ryan O'Hara.

Eaves' devastated wife, Carrie, said: 'I am sure by now all of you have heard the news of the tragedy that has occurred in DC.

Married couple Roger and Stephanie Haynos were on board the flight alongside their son, as part of a team of skaters returning home from the US Ice Skating Championships

Spencer Lane and other figure skaters had been returning home from the National Development Camp, which is held in conjunction with the national championships

His mother, Christine Lane, was confirmed dead, by The Skating Club of Boston

Jinna Han (pictured front row in red) and her mother Jin were confirmed dead

Asra Hussain messaged husband Hamaad Raza , 25, to say 'We are landing in 20 minutes' as American Eagle Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport jut before 8pm ET Wednesday night

'My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.'

She has shared several photos of Eaves, one of which he was in uniform, and asked her friends to share any pictures they may have of him in his memory.

O'Hara, a father-of-one from Georgia, left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, and was remembered fondly by his his school as a beloved member of the rifle team.

His father, Gary, was watching television on the couch at his Midway, Georgia, home on Wednesday when he saw the news on the collision.

He told the Washington Post: 'I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking.'

'His mother and I and his sister are just absolutely devastated to think we were talking to him just yesterday and we'll never have the opportunity to talk with him again.'

Two Chinese nationals were among the victims of the crash, the Chinese Embassy in the US said in a statement, without providing further details.

Newly-engaged Lilley, 29, was months away from being promoted to captain in a career that he adored, his father Timothy told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview

Campos was born in New York but grew up in Florida

Danasia Elder was revealed to be one of the flight attendants on board the commercial plane

Ian Epstein was revealed to be one of the flight attendants on board the commercial plane

Michael Stovall was returning home from a hunting trip in Kansas

In an situation eerily similar to what happened on Wednesday night, a Republic Airways flight had to abort landing at the airport on Tuesday after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport. It eventually landed safely.

President Trump blamed DEI hiring practices on the air crash on Thursday as he spoke with reporters.

Asked point blank if he was aware of any performance issues or disciplinary actions with anyone working at DCA's air control tower or the aircraft during the crash, Trump responded: 'No.'

But at another point, asked if race and gender played a role in the tragic accident, Trump said: 'It may have, I don't know. Incompetence might have played a role.'

Pitcher (right) was on the same trip as Stovall. He was the owner of a plumbing business and was in the process of building a new home with his wife, Kylie, who he married just over a year ago

Inna Volyanskaya, of Virginia, was a skating coach and her death was confirmed by her ex-husband Ross Lansel

Wendy Shaffer was a mother-of-two to a Shields, three, and Bennett, one

Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured in an old photo) attended the Kansas event with his skaters, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, his wife, Natalia Gudin confirmed

Sean Kay and his skating partner Angela Yang died on the American Airlines flight with their coach Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured L-R: Angela, Alexandr, Sean)

The sisters, 14 and 11, were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and frequently shared images of their routines on their social media page

Trump, 78, was asked if he had any plans to go visit the site, as rescue workers scour the Potomac River for bodies and collect debris at the start of a lengthy investigation about the crash.

'I have a plan to visit  not the site. Because what  you tell me. What's the site? Water. We're going to go swimming?'

Instead of visiting the Potomac where only parts of the American Eagle flight 5342 are visible above about seven feet of water, Trump said he would be meeting with family members of some victims.

'I will be meeting with some people that were very badly hurt, with their family member, obviously, but I'll be meeting with some of the families,' he said.

Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington

Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger has also since weighed in on the crash, saying he believes that flying at night over water could have been factors in it.

Sully, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009, told The New York Times the two factors could have made avoiding the chopper harder.

He said: 'There would have been fewer ground lights visible over the water than over land at night.'

According to Sully, this 'might have made it a little bit harder to see'.

President Donald Trump said he would meet with family members but would not visit the site of a horrific air crash in D.C. 'What's the site? Water. We're going to go swimming?' he said

The 74-year-old added: 'Nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft  basically all you can do is see the lights on them.

'You have to try to figure out: Are they above you or below you? Or how far away? Or which direction are they headed? Everything is harder at night.'

Sully told the outlet that he hoped the cockpit voice recorder, the inflight data recorder and air-traffic control data would help clear up what went wrong.

He added: 'I'm just devastated by this. We have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve.'

Sully, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009 , told The New York Times the two factors could have made avoiding the chopper harder

DailyMail.com has also spoken with an air traffic control veteran who said the audio from the incident with instructions to the helicopter were 'very ambiguous'.

In the nearly minute-and-a-half recording, ATC operators can be heard asking the helicopter if the commercial flight is in sight.

Through muffled audio, more commands and confirmations are made between ATC operators.

One air traffic controller said to the helicopter pilot: 'PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?'

The helicopter's path remained relatively straight while the American Airlines flight veered, and the two collided

Seconds later, the controller spoke again, requesting: 'Pat 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.'

The veteran air traffic controller, who has worked in six different airports throughout the country, said that if those commands were the Black Hawk's first reference to the plane, the instructions were unclear.

'It would have been very ambiguous as far as, "Okay, what plane? Well, where am I looking?"' he said.

'Whenever you give directions to people, we use the 12 points on a clock. Let's say 12 o'clock is north. If I say, "Look to your nine o'clock" that would mean look to your left or to the west.

'So, if I had a helicopter that was coming into my airspace and I wanted him to see an airplane, I would say, "PAT 2-5 traffic, nine o'clock, three miles regional jet inbound to the airport."'

He noted that air traffic controllers have a massive responsibility to give accurate and detailed information to pilots.
Australia's peak medical body will review the health care provided to transgender and gender-diverse children as the federal government attempts to stall the banning of puberty blockers in some parts of the country.

The review led by the National Health and Medical Research Council will examine aspects of children's gender-affirming care including the use of puberty blockers, Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Friday.

'It is imperative there is community confidence that Australian children, adolescents and their families are receiving the most appropriate care,' he said.

Mr Butler said he has tasked the council with developing new guidelines for trans healthcare, in an area the council has described as 'contested and evolving'.

Guidelines on the use of puberty blockers will be completed by mid-2026, with other advice not yet given a completion date.

The announcement comes two days after the Queensland government immediately paused any new patients under 18 accessing gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone therapies while a probe into the services is carried out.

The move came after reports that gender-affirming hormones had been given to minors as young as 12 years of age without authorised care in the state's far north.

Mr Butler said he has asked new LNP health minister Tim Nicholls to abide by national standards.

Puberty blockers and health care provided to transgender children will officially be reviewed by the Australian government

'I've indicated to Minister Nicholls that I don't think it would be appropriate for Queensland to continue with their stated intention to undertake an evidence review in this area of care,' he said.

'These issues should be nationally consistent.'

The issue has come under global scrutiny with the UK's controversial Cass review ultimately leading to the National Health Service restricting the use of puberty blockers in children.

In the United States, President Donald Trump has also vowed to end federal funding for gender-affirming care for children. Mr Butler said he has been cautiously watching the issue unfold internationally.

'I've given deep consideration to this area over the course of summer, given movements overseas,' he said.

He said the review would be evidence based and he was 'not interested in playing politics with the issue'. 'Not all of the (commentary) is particularly constructive, and some of it, frankly, is quite damaging to the mental health of young people and families,' he said.
A four-year-old girl is being treated for horrifying injuries in one of the worst cases of alleged child torture detectives have ever seen.

The girl was found by police at a property in Queensland on January 9 after they launched a high-risk missing persons investigation following a tip-off.

She was was taken to Logan Hospital in Brisbane's south, where it is alleged that medical staff documented extensive injuries, including bruising, burns, fractures, and disfigurement.

A 32-year-old woman has been charged with a raft of almost 30 offences, including torture, grievous bodily harm and supplying dangerous drugs.

Police will allege they found 'disturbing evidence of sustained and severe physical abuse' inflicted upon the child over an extended period of time.

It is also alleged that the suspect attempted to conceal the child and her injuries by moving her to various addresses.

Detective Acting Inspector Kent Ellis commended the dedication of the investigating officers, whose persistence was instrumental in rescuing the child and ensuring her safety.

'The alleged physical abuse this little girl endured is amongst the worst I have seen in my career,' Mr Ellis said.

A 32-year-old woman has been charged with a raft of almost 30 offences, including torture, grievous bodily harm and supplying dangerous drugs

Police will allege they found 'disturbing evidence of sustained and severe physical abuse' inflicted upon the child over an extended period of time

'Her injuries are horrific and highlight the unimaginable suffering she has experienced.

'The initial response of general duties officers, coupled with the comprehensive investigation by CPIU detectives, saved this child's life.

'This case highlights the importance of community vigilance. If members of the public are aware of or suspect child abuse, they are encouraged to report it to police.'

The woman was denied bail and remains in custody.

She is due to appear at Beenleigh Magistrates Court on March 19.
This is the shocking moment a tattoo-covered drug kingpin is arrested by police while he is sat in his pants.

John Horn, 38, covered himself with a pillow while he is read his rights as an officer tells him he's under arrest for conspiring to supply.

Bodycam footage shows Horn sitting in only a pair of black boxers as Kent Police raided the home in Ramsgate.

The footage shows a woman walk down the stares as Horn looks blankly at police responding 'yep' to the officers arresting him.

He was arrested in on March 21, 2024, after police discovered he was the ringleader of an organised crime group responsible for the supply of class A drugs.

A series of other arrests were made that day, and large quantities of cash and drugs were seized in the process.

Horn used fellow dealer Oliver Eyles, 36, to manage the day-to-day running of their criminal enterprise which was based in Thanet. This included the onward distribution of cocaine to other street dealers.

Five members of the gang had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine and appeared at Canterbury Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday.

John Horn, 38, was sitting in only a pair of black boxers as Kent Police raided the home in Ramsgate

The footage shows a woman walk down the stares as Horn responds 'yep' to the police officers arresting him

Horn was jailed for six years and six months at Canterbury Crown Court

Each of the offenders pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine prior to their sentencing.

Horn, of Highfield Road, was sentenced to six years and six months' imprisonment.

His second in command, Eyles, of Lavender Lane, Ramsgate, was jailed for five years and six months.

Joseph Shuttleworth, 35, of Orchard Close, Ramsgate, received a custodial sentence of two years and four months.

Jason Tse, 41, of Beach Road, Westgate, was sentenced to three years and 10 months' imprisonment.

Finally, Christopher Palmer, 34, of Nixon Avenue, Ramsgate, received a two-year suspended prison sentence.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Nicola Emery said: Organised crime groups are often run like businesses with each member having clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

'John Horn sat at the very top of this particular criminal network and whilst he rarely handled any drugs himself, it was very clear he played a leading role in the supply of cocaine to users across east Kent.

Horn was arrested in on March 21, 2024, after police discovered he was the ringleader of an organised crime group responsible for the supply of class A drugs

Horn used Oliver Eyles, 36, (pictured) to manage the day-to-day running of their criminal enterprise which was based in Thanet

Jason Tse, 41, was handed a three years and 10 months prison sentence for his involvement

While Joseph Shuttleworth, 35, received a two years and four months sentence

He thought that by having other criminals do his dirty work for him, it would reduce the risk of him being arrested and sent to prison.

'Unfortunately for Horn and the other members of his group, we knew exactly who they were and what they were up to.

This is a significant result in Kent Polices ongoing fight against the supply of class A drugs, with those responsible receiving sentences that will see them behind bars for a long time.
Prince Andrew told paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein they would 'play more soon' two months after he claimed he had cut him off.

He claimed that he had cut off the disgraced American after they were spotted walking through Central Park together in December 2010. Not long before Epstein had been released from an 18-month jail sentence for child prostitution offences.

Andrew  who was criticised for staying with Epstein in his 60 million Manhattan house during the trip  insisted in a disastrous BBC interview that it was the last time he had contact with him.

But new emails revealed in court filings show the pair talking over email for months after - until at least late February 2011.

They even corresponded on the day a now-infamous photo of Andrew and then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre was published. The teenager, who he had his arm around in the 2001 picture, claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein.

After discussing press reports the under-fire Prince said: 'keep in close touch and well play some more soon!!!!', as reported by Bloomberg.

The photograph of Andrew and Giuffre also Ghislaine Maxwell, and was taken in her Mayfair home.

Prince Andrew claimed that he had cut off the disgraced American after they were spotted walking through Central Park together in December 2010

They even corresponded on the day a now-infamous photo of Andrew and then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre was published. The teenager, who he had his arm around in the 2001 picture, claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide

Andrew  who was criticised for staying with Epstein in his 60 million Manhattan house during the trip  insisted in a disastrous BBC interview that it was the last time he had contact with him

The royal reportedly paid Giuffre 13million to settle her sex assault civil claim out of court without admission of wrongdoing. Now 41, she had claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 after being trafficked by Epstein, something he has always denied.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

In November 2019, Andrew gave an interview to BBCs Newsnight about his friendship with Epstein. He was asked by Ms Maitlis: Was that visit, December of 2010 the only time you saw him after he was convicted? to which he replied: Yes, yeah.

She asked him: Did you see him or speak to him again? To which he replied: No.

Andrew claimed the visit to see Epstein was to tell him they could no longer be friends. He told Maitlis by mutual agreement during that walk in the park we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day and to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward.

The emails were revealed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they defend an appeal by Jes Staley.

Andrew is not referred to by name in the legal filing by the FCA, but only identified as 'a member of the British royal family'. Other court documents confirm they knew each other and Epstein had arranged for them to meet repeatedly.

Staley, the 68-year-old former Barclays boss, was banned from the UK finance industry and fined 1.8 million in 2023 for having 'recklessly misled' the regulator by allowing the bank's board to downplay his interactions with Epstein.

Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida in 2000

The emails were revealed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they defend an appeal by Jes Staley (pictured)

The filing further shows that Lord Mandelson (pictured) - now the new ambassador in Washington - stayed in contact with Epstein until at least August 2012, The Times reports

The FCA claim that in 2018 Staley said that he 'did not have a close relationship' with Epstein but emails describe him as one of his 'deepest' and 'most cherished' friends, The Times reports.

Despite previous claims the emails reportedly show him in contact with the financier in the days before he was appointed Barclays chief.

The filing further shows that Lord Mandelson - now the new ambassador in Washington - stayed in contact with Epstein until at least August 2012, The Times reports.

He sent Staley a note called 'CityUK and the future of the financial sector' - later forwarding this on to the financier saying 'Below is something I forwarded to your boy'.

The former Labour business, trade and Northern Ireland secretary appears to have stayed with Epstein in New York in the same year. The American emailed Staley in May saying: 'Peter Mandelson here at 5  staying a couple of days.'

MailOnline has contacted Prince Andrew and Lord Mandelson for comment.
Germany's conservative opposition party is set to team up with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to tackle migration - prompting anger from former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz will seek the AfD's support in parliament today over the flashpoint issue after his first effort sparked widespread condemnation and street protests.

Merkel, whose decision to open the borders to over one million first-time migrants in 2015 has been criticised by the right for triggering the migrant crisis, slammed her successor's decision.

'I believe it is wrong,' Merkel said, referring to the outcome of a vote in parliament on Wednesday when a CDU motion was passed with support from the nationalist AfD, breaking a long-held political taboo in Germany.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Greens and other critics also condemned the move for breaking post-war Germany's long-established 'firewall' against any cooperation with the extreme right.

Thousands took to the streets in multiple rallies on Thursday waving signs that read 'Shame on you', 'Friedrich Merz is a security risk for our democracy' and 'We are the firewall'.

While Wednesday's resolution was a non-binding call to restrict immigration, the proposal on Friday's agenda would have the force of law, marking another milestone in German politics.

The move comes after a series of deadly attacks have darkened the mood in Germany over the arrival of millions of war refugees and other asylum seekers in recent years, ahead of February 23 elections.

'I believe it is wrong,' Merkel said, referring to the outcome of a vote in parliament on Wednesday when a CDU motion was passed with support from the nationalist AfD

Friedrich Merz, chancellor candidate of the German Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), speaks to voters during an election campaign

Demonstrators gather in front of the headquarters of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the Christian Democratsic Union (CDU), to protest against the CDU

Merz is a frontrunner in the polls while the AfD - which rails against immigration, Islam and multiculturalism and is close to right-wing populist forces abroad - has made significant gains and is polling at around 20 percent.

Merz has insisted he is not seeking active co-operation with the AfD and would not enter a coalition with them.

'I would be selling the soul of the CDU if I even thought about it,' he said at a campaign event on Thursday.

'It would not be the Alternative for Germany but the final decline for Germany.'

He has nonetheless defended the unprecedented tactical use of AfD support in the national legislature, arguing that 'a right decision doesn't become wrong just because the wrong people agree to it'.

Aside from the firewall controversy, human rights groups have broadly slammed Merz's immigration proposals, arguing they would contravene EU and international law.

Amnesty International said 'the attack in Aschaffenburg would not have been prevented' by the CDU's bill, which 'instead will only hurt the rights of refugees'.

'Two wrongs don't make a right,' said its Germany chapter's general secretary Julia Duchrow, who also voiced fears of an increase in random police checks and 'racial profiling'.

The CDU and its Bavarian allies the CSU have proposed a so-called Influx Limitation Act which would restrict family reunions for rejected asylum seekers with stays of deportation.

It would also boost the powers of federal police to detain undocumented migrants, whom Merz wants to place in custody and send back as soon as possible.

The CDU-CSU has urged Scholz's Social Democrats and their allies the Greens to back the bill, but is ready to pass it if needed with the AfD and the smaller FDP and BSW parties.

Migrants, mainly from Syria and Iraq, walk at the E45 freeway from Padborg, on the Danish-German border, heading north to try to get to Sweden on September 9, 2015

Unlike Wednesday's motion, it would eventually become a law if passed by the upper house, although this is considered highly unlikely to happen before the election.

Migration and public security have shot back up the political agenda after a series of deadly attacks where the suspects have been asylum-seekers.

Last week a man used a kitchen knife to attack kindergarten toddlers in a park in the southern city of Aschaffenburg, killing a two-year-old child and a man who tried to save the children.

Police arrested a 28-year-old Afghan man, who had stayed despite a deportation order to Bulgaria, where he entered the EU, and who is now being held in a psychiatric institution.

In December, police arrested a Saudi man over a car-ramming attack in which an SUV barrelled through a crowded Christmas market, killing five and wounding hundreds in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly stabbed another man in broad daylight in Sydney's south earlier this week.

Emergency services were called to Maloney Street, Eastlakes in Sydney's south at about 12.20pm on Monday following reports of a man lying injured on the footpath.

The man died at the scene, despite paramedics' best efforts to revive him.

He was later identified as a 47-year-old from Maroubra.

Following his death, a crime scene was established and police launched a major manhunt.

On Friday, officers arrested a 33-year-old man at Surry Hills Police Station and charged him with one count of murder and assault occasioning bodily harm.

He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.

Dozens of uniformed and plain-clothed detectives spent much of Monday afternoon at the cordoned off scene as forensics scoured the area for evidence.

Emergency services were called to Maloney Street, Eastlakes in Sydney 's south at about 12.20pm on Monday following reports of a man lying injured on the footpath

The man died at the scene, despite paramedics' best efforts to revive him. He was later identified as a 47-year-old from Maroubra

A police tent was also set up to shield the man's body from public view.

Shocked residents recalled hearing a 'commotion' shortly before midday.

A woman was woken by the sound of voices, including that of a man saying 'get the dog, get the dog'.

She claimed that shouting and fights were a common occurrence in the area next.

'It's horrifying living here,' the mother-of-three told the Daily Telegraph.

'It's crazy, but you'll expect an incident to happen at least once a month.'

Witnesses and anyone with any information are urged to call Crime Stoppers.

Following his death, a crime scene was established and police launched a major manhunt
A chilling warning has been issued to tourists visiting the North Korean 'Benidorm', after 250 Brits signed up to see Kim's new beach resort.

The resort in Wonsan, at a former missile launch site, got its nickname after Kim Jong-un reportedly sent a fact-finding mission to Spain's Costa Blanca in 2017.

Now, after years of delay, it's set to open this summer, with the first trips in July up for sale through Vostok Intur, a travel agency in Vladivostok, Russia.

And Brits are keen to visit too  On The Beach made a page for people to register their interest, and got more than 250 sign-ups within a month.

But campaigners warn that holidaymakers risk paying the ultimate price, and that nobody's safety is assured in Kim Jong-un's kingdom.

Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said a visit was both unsafe and immoral.

He said: 'The Wonsan-Kalma resort was built with forced labour. Vacationing there is morally and ethically wrong  it is truly an abomination.

'Having Russian nationals vacation there is testament to the pathetic isolation of both Russia and North Korea.'

British tourists wanting to visit North Korea's 'Benidorm' have been warned that they could put their safety at risk by visiting the communist regime, with the executive director of the Committee for human rights in North Korea calling the visit unsafe and immoral

The resort in Wonsan, which was built in an old missile launch site, is set to open this summer

The resort got its nickname of the 'North Korean Benidorm' as dictator Kim Jong Un was reportedly inspired by Spain's Costa Brava holiday hotspot

The warnings come after American tourist Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea on dubious charges on a trip to Pyongyang in 2016. He was ultimately released in a vegetative stage and later died

Some tourists visiting the country pay with their lives.

Mr Scarlatoiu offered the example of Otto Warmbier, an American student arrested on dubious charges during a trip to Pyongyang in 2016.

Accused of taking down a propaganda poster, he was detained for 17 months, released in a vegetative state and died.
Shocking footage shows the moment a drug dealing boy racer sent a pedestrian somersaulting into the back seat of a BMW convertible - after hitting him at nearly 70mph.

Ahmed Lal, 24, had been 'showing off' to his friends speeding around Wellington, Shropshire before he hit David Skinner on June 18, 2023.

The disturbing footage shows him hurtling towards Mr Skinner as he drove his friend's BMW M4 along Watling Street.

Mr Skinner was thrown into the air and landed in the back seat of the car, which had its roof down at the time.

Experts estimated that Lal was doing at least 67mph, and may have been going as fast as 71.5mph, in the 30mph zone.

A passenger in Lal's car got out while the vehicle was still moving and fled the scene as Mr Skinner's shoe was seen bouncing along the road following the impact.

Mr Skinner was left with a fractured pelvic bone and hip, broken bones in his foot and significant bruising to his chest and left eye.

When officers arrived at the scene Lal was tested for drugs, which came back positive for cannabis.

Mr Skinner was thrown into the air and landed in the back seat of the BMW, which had its roof down

Ahmed Lal, 24, had been 'showing off' to his friends speeding around Wellington, Shropshire before he hit David Skinner on June 18, 2023

Lal, of Wellington, was tested for drugs, which came back positive for cannabis

Lal, of Wellington, was jailed for five years and eight months at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was also driving on a provisional license and did not display L plates on the vehicle at the time of the collision.

Lal was arrested at the side of the road and taken into custody.

Once he was released pending further enquiries it was discovered that he had given false details and had fled to Stoke-on-Trent to evade arrest.

Officers located Lal and he was later charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving, using a motor vehicle without insurance, driving a motor vehicle otherwise in accordance with a license and driving under the influence of drugs.

Lal pleaded guilty to those charges, as well as two charges of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Sentencing, Recorder Adrian Jack said: 'You drove at a wholly excessive speed for an extended period of time.

'Your victim was thrown into the air and landed in the back of your car. You committed those offences on bail and then perverted the course of justice.'

Experts estimated that Lal was doing at least 67mph, and may have been going as fast as 71.5mph, in the 30mph zone

Mr Skinner was left with a fractured pelvic bone and hip, broken bones in his foot and significant bruising to his chest and left eye

Lal was driving on a provisional license and did not display L plates on the vehicle

The court was told Mr Skinner was on his way to a shop at around 3.30pm to 'pick up some peas for his tea'.

Prosecutor William Dudley told the court: 'The defendant was racing around town beforehand. His speed was far too fast.'

In a victim impact statement, Mr Skinner said he has had difficulty sleeping since the crash and 'feels dead inside'.

He also expressed worries over finding employment due to his injuries.

Philip Beardwell, defending, told the court that 'immature' Lal had turned to abusing class A drugs after the death of his brother in 2020 and had run up a debt to his dealer.

He added: 'He was told if he couldn't pay the debt he would have to deal drugs.'

A spokesman from West Mercia Police's Operational Policing Unit, said: 'Lal's actions that were not only irresponsible that left someone with serious injuries, but also delayed us getting justice after he gave false details to try and avoid facing the consequences of his actions.

'I hope the sentence given to Lal by the judge will be able to bring some sort of closure to his victim, who has already suffered enough.'
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

On this occasion, it shows a lone female Israeli hostage, accompanied by balaclava and helmet-clad gunmen, being jostled through a baying mob comprising hundreds of jeering men.

These were the chaotic scenes yesterday as Arbel Yehoud was escorted by fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to a waiting Red Cross vehicle in the southern Gaza Strip.

The terror of this young woman, still only 29, and emerging from hundreds of days of captivity during which she endured unimaginable horror, is written all over her face.

It is, of course, not the first time we have seen such sickening scenes of jubilation at what should be a time of sober reflection and fragile concord in this most horrible of conflicts.

They have been a hallmark of every hostage handover that has taken place in recent weeks.

Yet this particular public display made my stomach turn: Jihadi men screaming genocidal chants, trying to intimidate a traumatised young woman already gripped with fear.

No wonder prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday released a statement condemning the shocking scenes.

Israeli soldier Arbel Yehoud, 29, circled, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 30

Yehoud has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023

He vowed to delay the reciprocal return of Palestinian prisoners until the safe exit of our hostages is guaranteed in the next few days.

In other words: Hamas is jeopardising the already precarious ceasefire.

Not only was the behaviour of the Islamist crowd certifiably evil  but deeply misogynistic.

How can we see it any other way when confronted with these scenes, knowing as we do that those same gunmen holding Yehoud at gunpoint are part of a regime that has overseen the rape, torture and death of any number of Jewish women?

This was a display of pure, naked aggression  an aggression that started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters slaughtered innocent civilians, gang-raped young Israeli girls, spat on their brutalised bodies and paraded other terrified and blooded Israeli women through the streets.

Equally shocking was the response to these deplorable acts by Western liberal women  which was not unequivocal condemnation, but denial.

Hordes of female protesters, many of them middle-class and no doubt fully paid-up members of the #MeToo movement, marched through the streets of London and other European capitals swathed in Palestinian flags, calling for death to Israel and an end to Palestinian suffering.

They have done so ever since, apparently oblivious to the gaping hypocrisy at the heart of their protest, which is that if you cherry-pick who you perceive as a victim on the basis of their race, nationality or religion then you are betraying any feminist principles you may believe you hold.

Yehoud was the second Israeli hostage out of three to be released on Thursday

Scores of spectators clamoured to catch a glimpse of the Israeli hostage amid the chaotic scene

Their denial of the suffering of Jewish women has continued to be a source of profound disgust to me, a woman who grew up in a Muslim household in Pakistan and who knows first-hand how cheap a womans life is for men who fight in the name of religion.

I wonder if they notice that among these baying crowds there is not a single woman present?

That the Palestine they cheer for is an unequal society where many women are little more than chattels, confined to their homes and many themselves subjected to torture and murder by the men of Hamas, as many human rights organisations have reported.

Not for them are the rights and freedoms that women in Western democracies enjoy. Yet many use that freedom to protest in favour of a regime that would strip it away in a heartbeat.

This is the uncomfortable truth that those flag-waving marchers seem unable to confront, a truth encapsulated yesterday in those chilling pictures of Arbel Yehouds terrified face.

A refusal to accept it is nothing less than a betrayal of all womankind.

Khadija Khan is politics and culture editor at A Further Inquiry magazine.
A top lawyer who featured in the TV series Underbelly after he helped jail some of Sydney's most notorious criminals has been charged with child abuse material offices.

Former Crown Prosecutor Paul Leask, 58, was reportedly arrested in a hotel room in Sydney's CBD on Thursday afternoon in a dramatic Australian Federal Police (AFP) raid following a tip-off from US authorities.

Police allege they found a hard drive containing more than 300 files depicting child abuse material and a white crystal substance believed to be a prohibited drug, reported the Daily Telegraph.

It is alleged he was sending the material to a person on an app.

Leask was charged with four offences relating to the possession, access and distribution of child abuse material and another of drug possession.

He did not apply for bail on Friday and will next appear in court on March 26.

'The AFP allegedly identified the man while investigating a report from the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about a user uploading child abuse material online,' the AFP said in a statement.

'AFP investigators allegedly linked the Sydney man to the illegal online activity.

Former Crown Prosecutor Paul Leask (pictured), 58, was reportedly arrested in a hotel room in Sydney's CBD on Thursday afternoon in a dramatic Australian Federal Police raid following a tip-off from US authorities

'They executed a search warrant at the man's hotel room on 30 January, 2025, allegedly finding more than 300 files of child abuse material on electronic devices. The devices will be subject to further forensic examination.

'Investigators also found a clip-seal bag containing a substance suspected to be methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia.'

Leask, who is now retired and is understood to live in Bali, was one of NSW's leading crown prosecutors.

He helped jail crime boss Anthony Perish who was sentenced to 24 years in prison over the 2001 murder of drug dealer Terry Falconer.

His body had been chopped up and concealed in six packages before being dumped in the Hastings River.

Leask, who was played by actor Michael Dorman, featured as a character in the fifth season of the Underbelly series, which also starred Jonathan LaPaglia as Perish.

He also helped convict maths tutor Quy Huy Hoang who used his position to sexually abuse five children between 2007 and 2014.

AFP Detective Inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias said the AFP remained committed to protecting children.

He helped jail crime boss Anthony Perish who was sentenced to 24 years in prison over the 2001 murder of drug dealer Terry Falconer. His role would feature in season five of the crime series Underbelly

'Anyone who views this material is committing a crime,' Det-Insp Tsardoulias said.

'Our message to online offenders has not changed - if you procure, access and transmit child abuse material, you will be found, arrested and prosecuted.

'This is not a victimless crime. Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators.'
A British tourist has been reported missing after he failed to return home from a holiday to Bangkok.

Father-of-one James Sangwine, 33, travelled to the Thai city for a holiday on January 18.

His partner Katie, 38, said James, who is unemployed from Epping, Essex, told her he was going to spend time with a British friend, who now lives in Thailand.

But she hasn't heard from him since he was heading to a bar to meet friends on January 20.

Unusually, he didn't call to wish his seven-year-old son 'happy birthday' the next day - or board his flight home on January 24.

Distraught Katie, who is unemployed, says his phone appears to be switched off and he hasn't attempted to contact any other family members in the last 10 days.

'On Monday 20th, he sent me a little photo from where he was staying, and told me he was meeting some friends at a bar,' she said.

'He told me about it, saying it was a nice little place - and that was the last time we spoke.

Father-of-one James Sangwine, 33, has been reported missing after he failed to return home from a holiday to Bangkok

The father-of-one, from Essex, has not been heard from since January 20

He had travelled to the Thai capital on January 18 to visit a friend

'While he was at the bar, early in the evening his time, he tried to call me.

'But I was asleep - it was 11pm for me.

'He hasn't rung since - it's not going through, like it's off.'

Katie says she has reported James as a missing person to the Royal Thai Police (RTP) - but hasn't had an update, and is worried it isn't being investigated.

'We haven't been told anything,' she said.

'Even if James has passed away - we still need to know, so we can have his body back and give him a funeral.

'Someone must know where he is, or what has happened to him.'

She says he was last seen while out with friends, at the Abandoned Mansion Bar & Restaurant, Bangkok, according to a local couple he met there, who texted her.

He was last seen at the Abandoned Mansion Bar & Restaurant, his partner said

James' partner Katie has reported him as a missing person to Thai police, but said she is yet to receive any updates

MailOnline has approached the British Embassy in Bangkok for comment.

James' disappearance in Thailand comes as another devastated British family searched for answers this month when the body of tourist Regan Kelly was found floating in the sea in the paradise island of Phuket.

The 28-year-old had just arrived in Thailand for a month-long trip when he went missing in the early hours of January 3.

The building surveyor from Selsdon, south London, was last seen in CCTV footage at the bar of the Mad Monkey Hostel, where he was staying on the island.

The footage shows him talking to a man, who also looked like a tourist but who was not staying at the hotel, for several hours before the conversation began to get 'increasingly heated', Regan's family said.

Security camera footage from a hotel closer to the seafront then showed Regan running, with the unknown man following him some 15 seconds after, she said. The video, shared with the family by police, then cuts off.

At 10am the next day, a watersports instructor found a naked body face down in the water off Patong. Police sent photos to Regan's family, who had reported him missing, and his identity was confirmed.
The Government will put an extra 100million into neighbourhood policing as it seeks to fulfill its pledge to put more officers on the ground.

The figure matches an earlier investment announced in December for England and Wales to put 13,000 more police officers on the streets by 2029.

But forces have warned of difficult times ahead with current funding levels, with some saying they will have to make cuts to officer numbers.

The new investment is scheduled for the next financial year and each police force will set out plans to use it to increase patrols by early spring.

It comes after ministers set out a provisional 3.5% real-terms increase in funding for forces with a 986.9m package in December.

That fell short of the 1.3bn which chief constables said police forces would need to plug funding gaps over the next two years.

National Police Chiefs' Council lead for finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said then the funding settlement presented 'real challenges' for policing and would 'inevitably lead to cuts across forces'.

Lincolnshire Police yesterday said it has a 14m funding gap next year, and the force is 'exploring options', including potentially reducing the number of officers by up to 1,000 by 2029.

Yvette Cooper meeting West Yorkshire Police officers in Halifax on December 23

Meanwhile, Essex Police said everyone it employs 'will be impacted in some way' by cuts.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the investment in neighbourhood policing marked a 'major turning point' for policing.

'This major investment marks a turning point for policing in this country.

'By doubling extra neighbourhood funding to 200m, we are giving forces across the country what they need to put more officers and PCSOs where they're needed most - on our streets and in our town centres.

'Every neighbourhood deserves dedicated officers who know their patch, understand residents' concerns and can tackle problems before they escalate.

'This investment, alongside new powers we are bringing into law, will help prevent crime and protect our communities, which is at the heart of our Plan for Change.

'Restoring local policing will not happen overnight, but this funding boost will get more officers into our town centres and rural areas.'

Senior officers including Met Chief Sir Mark Rowley (pictured) have warned of funding difficulties

The Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley confirmed the country's biggest police force will not make cuts to neighbourhood policing, despite a 'stretch in the system'.

The announcement of extra money comes as the final Police Funding Settlement is published on Friday.

Total funding to police forces will be up to 17.5bn next year.

It comes as concerning new figures showed shoplifting offences have risen by 23 per cent to more than 490,000 a year to hit the highest level since records began.

The shocking data is further proof of Britain's worsening retail theft epidemic, which an industry body today warned was 'out of control'.

There were a total of 492,914 offences recorded by police in the year to September, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found - the highest figure since current police recording practices began for the year ending March 2003.

MailOnline recently obtained CCTV footage from shop owners in Surrey that reveals brazen thieves casually stealing hundreds of pounds worth of stock before fleeing with full bags.

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Lindsey Kleinlercher, joint owner of gift shop Between The Lines, said shoplifting is now 'blatant' across the store's 18 locations in the south of England - as she hit out at the lack of support from police.

Police recorded 1.8 million theft offences in the year to September, a two per cent increase driven by shoplifting and a 22 per cent rise in crimes involving theft from a person (146,109).

Knife offences and robberies rose by four per cent each.
A minister has mocked 'Brexit benefits' on the fifth anniversary of the UK leaving the bloc.

Mary Creagh risked undermining Keir Starmer's delicate position on cutting ties with the EU with a withering assessment of the results.

The nature minister - previously one of the most vocal proponents of a second referendum - posted on X listing 'all the Brexit benefits'.

'Immigration up. Growth down. Food, agriculture & fishing sectors worst hit,' the Coventry East MP wrote.

Meanwhile, Polish PM Donald Tusk - who was European Council president during much of the negotiations - has waded in by joking 'we still miss you'.

Sir Keir is not marking the date in any official way, as he prepares to push his plans for a 'reset' with the bloc at a Brussels summit next week.

However, there are concerns that the EU will demand major concessions, such as a migrant return deal and free movement arrangements for younger voters.

The UK officially left the EU at 11pm on January 31, 2020, after Boris Johnson finally broke three-and-a-half years of political deadlock that followed the 2016 referendum.

Mary Creagh risked undermining Keir Starmer's (pictured) delicate position on cutting ties with the EU with a withering assessment of the results

The nature minister - previously one of the most vocal proponents of a second referendum - posted on X listing 'all the Brexit benefits'

Labour has ruled out a return to either the customs union or the EU single market - despite the latter being backed by senior figures including London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Polish PM Donald Tusk - who was European Council president during much of the negotiations - has waded in by joking 'we still miss you'

The Tories have celebrated the anniversary, with shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel saying it marked five years since her party 'honoured the democratic will of the British people and got Brexit done'.

She said: 'Since then, our country has reaped the benefits  securing new trade deals with dynamic, fast-growing markets across the world and reclaiming sovereignty from Brussels.'

Dame Priti warned that Labour was 'driven by socialist ideology and blind to the will of the people', and wanted to 'dismantle Brexit and drag us back into the EU's grasp'.

Brexit champion Nigel Farage told his GB News show: 'I still 100 per cent believe it was the right thing to do.'

Mr Farage admitted he was 'disappointed in the way it's been delivered'.

Labour has ruled out a return to either the customs union or the EU single market - despite the latter being backed by senior figures including London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The PM's official spokesman said yesterday that the Government's approach was 'to strengthen our ties on security and defence, improve the relationship on trade and investment and work with the EU to identify areas which are in the UK's national interest'.

He added: 'You can see through the work we've done so far working towards a security partnership, committing to six-monthly foreign policy dialogues, that we're taking an approach that supports our ambitions to deliver greater safety, security and prosperity across the UK.'

Asked whether the Government was embarrassed about Brexit, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'Our focus is very much on the future. That's why the Prime Minister has spoken of the importance of resetting the relationship with Europe and that's the job he is getting on with.'

Ms Creagh campaigned for a 'People's Vote' to reverse the 2016 referendum, but lost her Wakefield seat in Mr Johnson's 2019 election landslide - when he vowed to 'Get Brexit done'.

Sir Keir also backed a second referendum as shadow Brexit Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, but now insists he is determined to 'make Brexit work'.

According to YouGov research carried out earlier this month, 55 per cent of Brits now think Brexit was the wrong decision.

That view was shared by 18 per cent of those who voted Leave - although 66 per cent stand by their original choice.

Some 7 per cent of previous Remainers have switched to say it was right for the UK to leave, while 88 per cent had not changed position.

Lord Sugar branded Brexit the 'biggest disaster of my lifetime' yesterday and insisted the UK should beg to be let back into the EU.

A poll published this week suggested that just 30 per cent now believe the UK was right to leave the EU

Ms Creagh has posted about Brexit since entering the government after the election

The business mogul and Apprentice star blamed the decision for crushing economic growth.

He told BBC Breakfast that if he were PM he would go 'on bended knees' to Brussels and ask to rejoin.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used the fifth anniversary to criticise the Brexit deal as 'an utter disaster for our country' that had resulted in 'farmers, fishers and small businesses' being 'caught up in red tape'.

He reiterated his call for a UK-EU customs union deal, saying it would 'unlock growth, demonstrate British leadership and give us the best possible hand to play against President Trump'.
John Lewis has warned it could miss profit targets this year following a disappointing festive period.

The partnership, which includes Waitrose and the John Lewis department stores, told staff it had fallen short of sales and profit expectation during the Christmas rush.

It comes as footfall plunged on the high street amid the gloomy economic fallout following Chancellor Rachel Reeve's record 40billion tax raid last year.

The apparent slump in sales now means that John Lewis appears unlikely to hit its 131million profit goal for the year.

The company blamed 'lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence' for missing out on its sales targets.

According to an internal document seen by the Telegraph, the company said: 'Both John Lewis and Waitrose missed their sales targets.'

The glum outlook, revealed on Thursday, reportedly left staff worried, with one insider telling the newspaper they no longer expected to receive a bonus this year.

However, despite the disappointing results, John Lewis claimed it had still out performed its rivals.

The high street giant, long favoured by Britain's middle class, appointed former Tesco boss Jason Terry (pictured) as its chairman last September

The partnership had been left struggling under former chairman Dame Sharon White (picture), losing money for three years in a row before returning to profit in 2023.

But news of the slump in sales will come as a blow for the company's hopes of bouncing back and improving its finances.

The partnership had been left struggling under former chairman Dame Sharon White, losing money for three years in a row before returning to profit in 2023.

The high street giant, long favoured by Britain's middle class, appointed former Tesco boss Jason Terry as its chairman last September after losing ground to rival Marks & Spencer.

Peter Ruis, a veteran of the fashion industry, was also drafted in to run the partnership's department stores.

John Lewis had said in September that it was expecting a significant rise in profits for the year to January.

Latest figures showed that last year the retail giant recorded a pre-tax profit of 56million - a huge turn around from the staggering 234million loss the previous year.

The partnership is continuing with its drive to boost sales, and has sweeping plans to overhaul and modernise its stores.

Waitrose aims to open 100 new shops by 2029. It also intends to refurbish and update half of its existing stores.

John Lewis has warned it could miss profit targets this year following a disappointing festive period (file picture of one of its department stores in Glasgow, Scotland)

And in another shake-up, John Lewis brought back its 'never knowingly undersold' price promise.

The initiative, which sees customers being refunded the difference if they find a cheaper price for an item at a rival store, was ditched under the leadership of Dame Sharon.

'Considerable improvement' had been recorded in September at the half-year financial results.

In August, John Lewis announced it was axing 153 jobs this year as part of a shake-up of team members.

As part of the revamp, the company also invested in 5million worth of headsets to help improve communication.

The department store chain said the shake-up would ensure staff 'are in the right place, doing the right tasks at the right time'.

Removing 'unnecessary tasks' and a multimillion pound investment in new technology - including the use of digital headsets - will make employees' roles 'easier', John Lewis said.

The job cuts will impact one per cent of its workforce with the firm saying it will be met through voluntary redundancy and natural attrition.

A John Lewis spokesman said: 'As we said in September we remain on track to deliver full year pre-exceptional profits significantly above the 42million we reported in 2023-2024 and we will update on our performance at our results in March.'
A 'wellness guru' has been ordered to pay his wealthy heiress ex 3,862,900 and hand back her mother's 350,000 Ferrari after she accused him in court of siphoning off millions of pounds during their relationship.

'Besotted' multimillionaire socialite Vanessa Wurm, 41, believes she was 'intentionally targeted' on social media by meditating businessman Kash Amini, 35, with whom she had a romantic relationship between 2019 and 2022.

During that time, Mr Amini lived with Ms Wurm in her exclusive 4.1m pad in Grosvenor Crescent Mews, Knightsbridge.

But, following their split, Mr Amini, boss of the company behind 'finance and wellness' app Maslife, was accused of misusing funds Ms Wurm poured into his company while they were together, while squandering her cash on his 'generally extravagant lifestyle.'

That included the purchase of a 10,000 personalised number plate KASIH for a 350,000 Ferrari 812 Superfast belonging to her 'extremely wealthy, elderly mother' Rosemarie Wurm.

Ms Wurm even told the court that Mr Amini drove off in her mother's lavish vehicle 'with a large grin on his face' after she ended their relationship.

'I was besotted by Kash and was engulfed by his charm offensive,' Ms Wurm told the court. 'He came across as very sincere and I was captivated by him almost immediately...he made me feel special.

'My mother and I are very trustworthy people. We have lived an uneventful life in that we never experienced people who wanted to know us for ulterior motives.'

'Wellness guru' Kash Amini, 35, has been ordered to pay multimillionare Vanessa Wurm, 41, a total of 3,862,900 after she sued him for secretly siphoning off millions of her cash during their three-year relationship (the pair are pictured together in Cannes, France, in May 2022)

Ms Wurm believes she was 'intentionally targeted' on social media by Mr Amini who is accused of squandering her cash on his 'generally extravagant lifestyle.'

The entrepreneur and socialite had also previously accused her ex of holding 45,000 worth of luxury clothing - including Dolce & Gabbana silk pyjamas and Hermes sandals.

Mr Amini is also suspected of having passed large sums of Ms Wurm's cash to his dry-cleaning company boss brother Bahador, who allegedly used the funds to buy himself a 250,000 Bentley Bentayga and a 1.5m apartment in Chelsea.

The former couple lived a lavish lifestyle, attending Royal Ascot and splashing hundreds of thousands of pounds on expensive goods.

In her affidavit, Ms Wurm told the court that she had 'paid for everything' including expensive holidays, clothes and gifts, private jets and credit card bills.

As well as their personal entanglement, the pair had 'a professed business element' to their relationship, her barrister Andrew Butler KC said, with Ms Wurm claiming to have invested 3.2m in Mr Amini's business based on 'promises of a shareholding and a position within the business'.

Ms Wurm told the court that Mr Amini, who previously lived a 'modest lifestyle', drove off in her mother's 350k Ferrari 'with a large grin on his face' after she ended their relationship

The former couple lived a lavish lifestyle, attending Royal Ascot and splashing hundreds of thousands of pounds on expensive goods. Ms Wurm said she had paid for 'everything'

Ms Wurm and Mr Amini had a 'romantic relationship' between 2019 and 2022 during which they set up home at her 4million pad in London 's exclusive Belgravia (pictured is Grosvenor Crescent Mews, Belgravia)

Suing for her money back, she claimed the shareholding she received was not of the proportion she was entitled and that, whilst she was appointed COO of the company briefly, her position was 'promptly terminated at the end of their relationship'.

Lawyers for Ms Wurm told the High Court that examination of his personal and company bank accounts showed that the millions she thought she was using to buy a major stake in his business had in fact been 'dissipated in a bewildering array of directions.'

As part of her case, Ms Wurm's barrister highlighted a newspaper interview from August 2022, in which Mr Amini spoke of using the 'power of meditation' to clear 1million of debts.

In the interview, Mr Amini spoke of 'imploding' seven years ago after mentally exhausting himself when variously working as a crypto trader, financier, entrepreneur and restaurateur, before taking a break to engage in mindful meditation and devoting four years to 'self-development'.

He said his spiritual transformation helped him clear his debts and, after picking himself up, he went on to found Maslife, which aims to help people make better health and financial choices, and encourages practising yoga and meditation.

Mr Butler said: 'Since he had no - or no significant - income throughout the duration of his relationship with Ms Wurm, she believes that if and in so far as Mr Amini did clear such a debt, he actually did so through the misapplication of the payments.

The barrister said that disclosure of Mr Amini's finances had 'revealed that Ms Wurm's money 'had been dissipated in a bewildering array of directions'

Mr Amini (pictured) is also suspected of having passed large sums to his dry-cleaning company boss brother Bahador to buy himself a 250,000 Bentley Bentayga and a 1.5m Chelsea apartment

'Given that Ms Wurm had known Bahador previously to have lived a very modest lifestyle, living with his mother, operating the laundry business and driving an old van, it is difficult to identify any catalyst for the change in his circumstances other than the money given by Ms Wurm to Kash Amini'.

In September last year, a judge debarred Mr Amini and the company from defending the action due to their non-compliance with court orders for disclosure of financial records.

And on Friday High Court Master Paul Teverson ordered Mr Amini and his company Maslife Ltd to pay 3,862,900 to Ms Wurm and to give an account of 'any profit derived from the misapplication of those funds'.

He also ordered the return of the Ferrari, declaring that it is the rightful property of Ms Wurm's mother.

Bahador Amini denies the claims against him, and Ms Wurm's action against him will return to court at a later date.
A parliament is only as good as the politicians it attracts. Unfortunately for Holyrood, it mostly attracts the flotsam and jetsam of the Scottish public sector-NGO complex, all those benighted souls who, but for the regional list system, could be found in their natural habitats of council HR and charity PR. The collective noun for a group of MSPs is a mediocrity.

Not so Fergus Ewing, the veteran Nationalist who shows his humdrum colleagues how to shine from the backbenches.

This mostly involves finding new ways to torment his own front bench and the Gaia gang across the way.

Call him a Tory. Call him a boomer. But every time the Presiding Officer calls him, you know youre in for a treat.

His latest intervention, lobbed in near the end of First Ministers Questions, was exquisitely designed to infuriate all the right people.

Heaping praise upon Scotlands whiskies and seafood, the ruddy-jowled rabble-rouser reminded the chamber of the vital importance of being able to export these products overseas.

As such, he pressed, would the Scottish Government give its full-throated and unequivocal support to the Chancellors plans for a third runway at Heathrow, which he branded the future gateway for Scottish Highlands and Islands exports to the willing world?

From the Green enclosure there came an awful mewling, a collective whimper of discontent.

Exquisitely infuriating: Fergus Ewing

They hadnt been this outraged since the Holyrood coffee bar ran out of oat milk.

Poor John Swinney. He couldnt very well come out against Scotland selling its wares around the world, but swinging in behind a third runway could expect a rough landing among his grassroots activists.

He opted to swerve. The decision to allow expansion at Heathrow airport lies exclusively with the UK Government.

It took 18 years, but we finally had the first recorded instance of an SNP minister declining to speak on a reserved matter.

Thereafter, the First Minister sprinted to safer ground and made the rest of his answer about Brexit.

Ewing has a special talent for offending Green sensibilities, a noble calling for which he ought to be rewarded. At the very least, we should name an oil tanker after him.

He wasnt the only one having fun at FMQs. Russell Findlay amused himself by giving the SNP government a right shoeing for its handling of healthcare. All that matters to John Swinney is an easy headline, with no interest in delivery, he hissed.

The Nats had kept the Scottish NHS trapped in the analogue age by not following Englands lead in setting up a one-stop NHS app.

These people took a decade to build two ferries in an island nation. Apps are a bit above their pay grade.

The First Minister popped off with the various health projects that would be bankrolled under the new budget.

Tory MSPs jeered at him, earning themselves a rebuke from presiding officer Alison Johnstone, who told them: The purpose of this session is scrutiny.

Findlay assured the presiding officer of his innocence: I wasnt making a single noise. I was just smiling in incredulity.

Swinney accused the Tory leader of supporting the economics of the madhouse, which for an advocate of Scottish independence is certainly a brave line of attack.

But for chutzpah, nothing could best a scripted reply the First Minister fired in the direction of Anas Sarwar. The Labour leader was high on rhetoric, and low on delivery.

Swinney had to have been high on something to use that line, for there has never been a more apt summation of two decades of Nationalist governance.

In what must have been a record of some kind, Alex Cole-Hamilton asked a question that was 180 words in length.

It was really just a thinly-disguised boast about the various spending commitments the Lib Dems had secured in exchange for their votes on the budget.

The length didnt bother me so much as the fact he said it all in one breath. By the time he reached the question mark, he didnt need an answer, he needed a ventilator.
The number of people living on London's streets in the run-up to Christmas rose by more than a quarter compared to the previous year.

Officials identified 704 people living on the streets of the capital between October and December - a 26 per cent rise on 2023.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,612 individuals were found to be sleeping rough, a five per cent increase on the year before.

The figures were today branded 'incredibly concerning' by a leading homelessness charity, and raise fresh questions about the Mayor of London's approach to tackling homelessness.

Sir Sadiq Khan - who was knighted in the New Year's honours in a deeply controversial move - has pledged to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030.

People are deemed to be living on the streets if they have had been seen rough sleeping on several occasions over a period of three weeks or more.

Rick Henderson, chief executive at Homeless Link, said: 'Thousands of lives are being ruined because our support services and the systems that fund them have been pushed to breaking point.'

Numbers sleeping rough in the capital hit a record high in the previous July-September period at 4,780, so while the most recent figures are down slightly on that, they are the second highest quarterly figure on record.

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The figures raise questions for Sir Sadiq Khan - who was knighted in the New Year's honours in a deeply controversial move - who pledged to end rough sleeping in the capital

New rough sleepers - of which 2,115 were recorded - decreased by 7% on the same period in 2023.

Mr Henderson welcomed extra funding from central Government as a 'positive start' but added: 'Now is the time to get it right once and for all and end homelessness for good'.

He said: 'We are calling for a wholesale review and reset of the funding system and a national homelessness strategy that shifts the focus from crisis management to prevention to ensure that people get the support they need and do not lose their homes in the first place.'

Chief executive of St Mungo's, Emma Haddad, called for more focus on prevention.

She said: 'That the latest rough sleeping figures for London have continued to rise is incredibly concerning. Behind every number is a person who has spent the night on the pavement in winter.'

The Mayor recently said he rough sleeping could get worse this year, before improving in 2026.

He told the Big Issue magazine: 'I think you'll start seeing progress, there will be milestones along the way.

'We're in 2025 now, I think things are going to get worse this year but things will improve by next year.'

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Tents line the pavements of Tottenham Court Road in central London

He has announced what he described as 'the biggest ever investment in tackling rough sleeping' since 2000, in the form of homelessness hubs across the city.

Following the publication of the latest figures on Friday, a spokesperson for the Mayor described the numbers as 'a shameful legacy of the last Government'.

They added: 'The Mayor is doing everything in his power to help Londoners off the streets and into more secure accommodation.

'Just this week he delivered the biggest ever single investment of 10 million to tackle the capital's rough sleeping crisis - more than any London Mayor - to expand the number of homelessness hubs across the capital.'

Earlier this month the Government announced it was tripling rough sleeping funding for England to help people off the streets this winter to 30 million.

The Government had announced 10 million before Christmas to boost the use of emergency accommodation, but said an extra 20 million was now available to tackle record levels of rough sleeping.
The father of the youngest hostages taken on October 7 is being released to Israel tomorrow, Hamas said, without offering any update on his missing children and wife.

Yarden Bibas is the father of baby Kfir, only nine months old when he was kidnapped, and Ariel, who was four at the time of the attack.

There was no word on the fate of Kfir and Ariel, or on their mother Shiri, who was taken at the same time.

Hamas said in late 2023 that they had been killed by Israeli bombardment, but Israel has not officially confirmed their deaths.

Yarden will be released along with two others including a dual US citizen in the next exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to Hamas.

Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a post on his Telegram channel.

Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, was seen in a video released by Hamas last year.

His wife was released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

Ofer Kalderon's two children Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were also released in the first exchange.

Collect picture from the Bibas family of Baby Kfir Bibas, and mother Shiri, brother Ariel, and father Yarden, held hostage in Gaza

Yarden Bibas, an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped in the deadly October 7 2023 attack by Hamas

Ofer Kalderon, an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped in the deadly October 7 2023 attack by Hamas

Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, and is now due to be freed on Saturday

Hamas previously claimed that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were killed in an Israeli bombing.

Israel said it was assessing the claim in November 2023, but has so far not confirmed the mother and sons' deaths.

Terror group Hamas released a horrific video at the time showing Yarden breaking down after being told that his wife and sons were dead.

Hamas did not offer proof to back up its claims and Israel's Defence Forces blasted the sick video as 'psychological terror'.

In a TV interview in June, then-Israeli minister Benny Gantz suggested that the government knew what had happened to the Bibas family, but that it could not provide details yet.

Israel has not officially confirmed the deaths of the two boys and their mother, but has expressed 'grave concern' for their fate.

There have been no proof-of-life videos shared of Shiri or her sons since their abduction on October 7, 2023.

Video of the mother and her two young boys being taken away by the terrorists was met with horror worldwide due to her visible distress.

Hamas said this week that only 25 of the 33 hostages it plans to release are still alive.

The 33 names on the list are women, the Bibas family children, men aged over 50, and unwell and injured men.

Israel has accused Hamas of 'psychological terror' for naming the hostages but not actually confirming whether they are alive.

Whether hostages were alive or dead inside Gaza has been a heartbreaking question for waiting families who have pushed Israel's government to reach a deal to free them, fearing that time was running out.

The image of the two young boys being carried by their weeping mother, Shiri, as they were marched from their homes was one of the most striking to be published in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war

Kfir Bibas, then just nine months old, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nir Oz Kibbutz in southern Israel where Kfir lived with his older brother Ariel, their mother Shiri and father Yarden

Around 90 hostages are still being held, and Israeli authorities believe between a third and a half of them were killed in the initial attack or died in captivity.

An Israeli general revealed Monday that some of the hostages released from Gaza so far during the ceasefire had been held in Hamas tunnels for up to eight months straight, deprived of daylight and with little to no human contact.

Three Israeli civilians and four soldiers - all women - have been released so far in the ceasefire, and in return, Israel has released 290 Palestinian convicts and detainees.

'Some of them told us that they've been in the past few months, that they've been through the entire time, in tunnels, underground,' deputy chief of the Israeli military's medical corps, Colonel Dr. Avi Banov, told journalists online.

'Some of them were alone through the entire time they were there,' he said.

'Those who said they were together were in better shape.'

The hostages said their treatment improved in the days leading up to their release, Banov said, when they were allowed to shower, change their clothes and received better food.

(Left to Right) Israeli hostages Naama Levy, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev stand on a stage before being delivered to the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross

They appeared to be in good condition and smiling in videos on the days of their release.

Citing the hostages' privacy, Banov would not say whether any of the seven bore signs of torture or abuse.

Some had not received proper treatment for wounds sustained when they were captured during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and some showed signs of 'mild starvation', Banov said.

The ceasefire reached earlier this month after more than a year of negotiations is aimed at ending the 15-month war, which was triggered by the initial 2023 Hamas attack, as well as freeing hostages still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The first phase of the ceasefire runs until early March, but the second and far more difficult phase has yet to be negotiated.

Talks on phase two are set to begin next Monday.

Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war, while Israel has threatened to resume its offensive until Hamas is destroyed.
Ed Miliband objected to building a third runway at Heathrow just a day before the Chancellor gave the Government's backing for expansion, it has been revealed.

The Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary is reported to have argued against expanding Europe's busiest airport at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.

According to The Telegraph, Mr Miliband voiced concerns about the environmental impact of a third runway during the weekly meeting of top ministers.

But, little more than 24 hours later, Rachel Reeves used a major speech to put Heathrow expansion at the centre of her new economic growth plan.

The Chancellor claimed an extension of the west London site was 'badly needed' because 'for decades its growth has been constrained'.

In a sign of Cabinet tensions over the Chancellor's public support for further developing Heathrow, Mr Miliband has so far remained silent on the issue.

He did not attend Ms Reeves' speech in Oxfordshire, despite many other ministers attending, and was not seen at Prime Minister's Questions later the same day.

By contrast, Environment Secretary Steve Reed - who like Mr Miliband is a past critic of Heathrow expansion - offered public backing for Ms Reeves' plans within hours.

Ed Miliband objected to building a third runway at Heathrow just a day before the Chancellor gave the Government's backing for expansion, it has been revealed

Rachel Reeves used a major speech on Wednesday to put Heathrow expansion at the centre of her new economic growth plan

The Chancellor claimed an extension of the west London site was 'badly needed' because 'for decades its growth has been constrained'

Mr Reed claimed supporting a third runway was 'in line with the Government's climate and environmental commitments'.

Despite being a consistent opponent of Heathrow expansion during his political career, Mr Miliband has insisted he won't resign over the Chancellor's decision.

He has told allies it is important a vocal supporter of climate issues remains in the Cabinet.

Mr Miliband is also said to have enjoyed a victory in consent for a third runway only being granted if the Department for Transport can meet its carbon budget.

Asked earlier this week if Mr Miliband was fully behind her Heathrow plans, Ms Reeves said: 'Yes, we are all united as a Cabinet backing these plans.'

A spokesman for Mr Miliband said they would not comment on discussions at Cabinet meetings.

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has emerged as the biggest opponent of Heathrow expansion since Ms Reeves' announcement on Wednesday.

The Labour politician vowed to block a third runway 'with any tool in the toolkit'.

Sir Sadiq said he remains opposed to Heathrow expansion because of its impact on noise, air pollution and meeting the UKs climate change targets.

He added the last plans for a third runway at Heathrow involved building a tunnel under the M25 motorway and bulldozing a village.
Brazilian police continue to search for answers after a porn star plunged to her death from a balcony while filming a threesome, as they question whether she might have been deliberately killed.

Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves, known online as Anna Polly, was found lifeless last week in a courtyard at an aparthotel in Nova Iguacu, roughly 25 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

The 28-year-old adult content creator is believed to have fallen as she was filming X-rated scenes for her OnlyFans with two unnamed men.

But police still do not know whether the fall was an accident or a crime, and are analysing hotel CCTV images as part of their investigation.

Meanwhile, family and friends of Alves have said that she was being pressured and harassed online by some of her fans and subscribers, Brazilian outlet Metropoles reported.

Cops are aware of this and have taken in Alves' phone as evidence.

The men who were with the adult content creator at the time of her fall reportedly gave investigators conflicting accounts of what occurred before the incident, and according to news outlet Globo, they were questioned for the second time on Thursday, but no arrests have been made.

Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves, who used the name Anna Polly online, was found lifeless in a courtyard at the aparthotel in Nova Iguacu north-west of Rio de Janeiro

The OnlyFans model, whom local media reports was 23, is believed to have fallen as she was filming X-rated scenes with the two men for the adult content site, but police are questioning if her death was an accident or a crime

According to Alves' family and friends, she had faced pressure and harassment from her fans and subscribers

The results of the post-mortem have not been published and it is not yet clear if there was a presence of drugs in Alves' system or anything suggesting she was a victim of sexual violence.

A spokesman for the Baixada Fluminense Homicide Unit, which is leading the investigation, told local press: 'We are conducting a thorough investigation to clarify what happened.

'It's a complex case, and we don't rule out any possibility, from an accident to a possible crime.'

Her boyfriend Pedro Henrique told Brazilian magazine Quem: 'All the information about the case is already in the hands of the police and they are investigating.

'If someone is to blame, they will pay and the culprit will be found. She died in the fall. There was no time to save her.'

Alves is believed to have died at the four-star Mont Blanc Apart Hotel in Nova Iguacu, according to local reports.

Graphic footage showing a police officer standing over a body - believed to be Alves - in a blood-covered sheet has been published online.

Alves was buried on January 25, according to an Instagram post made by her boyfriend.

Investigators have described their ongoing probe as 'complex' and say they are keeping an open mind about her death - which they say could be an accident or a crime

He said in a social media tribute as he announced details of her funeral: 'It's so difficult without you.

'As the hours pass it's starting to sink in and the hole in my heart is only getting bigger.'

Meanwhile, a friend of Alves said of the influencer: 'She had loads of plans, she wanted to expand her presence on social media and she always spoke enthusiastically about her future projects.

'This news has left everyone stunned.'
Almost all big councils are planning to hike council tax by the maximum allowed this year, according to a survey.

Some 93 per cent of county and unitary authorities are proposing 4.99 per cent ceiling as they struggle to balance the books.

A number are known to be looking for special permission for higher rises.

However, research by the County Councils Network found that many are warning they will still need to make cuts to services - including nearly a third who said they would be 'severe'.

All the English councils quizzed said the 515million of government funding to offset the employer national insurance hike in the Budget would not cover their extra costs.

Six in 10 said they were more likely to lay off staff and half were looking at adult social care provision.

Streetlights and climate initiatives were considered a potential area for savings for 42 per cent, and 35 per cent were more likely to cut libraries.

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All the councils quizzed said the 515million of government funding to offset Rachel Reeves' (pictured) employer national insurance hike in the Budget would not cover their extra costs

Although three-quarters of the 32 councils who responded to the survey were confident of being able to balance their budget this year, just one was optimistic they would manage to do so at the end of the Parliament.

Cllr Barry Lewis, Finance Spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said: 'With councils in county areas currently finalising their budgets next year and making extremely tough decisions, a difficult situation has been made worse with the proposed distribution of money to local authorities in the Local Government Finance Settlement. The government is cherry picking what areas to focus funding on.

'It is clear now that the vast majority of county and unitary councils are in a worse position than before the Autumn Budget and finance settlement.

'Virtually all county and unitary councils will have to raise their council tax by the maximum permitted in March, but even this will not be enough.

'Many are now more likely to have to set out further reductions in adult social care, school transport, libraries and more.

'Considering there is very little fat left to cut from many of these services already, a further reduction will have a material impact on our residents.

'Therefore, the government must rethink its proposals in the finance settlement and ensure that all parts of the country that are facing significant financial challenges receive a fair share of resources rather than selecting a handful of councils to benefit.

'Looking ahead to the fair funding review, our plea to government is 'show us the evidence'.

'There has been nothing published so far that backs up ministers' decisions and if this trend does continue then it will push many county and unitary councils to the brink.

Our survey that reveals just one council is confident of setting a balanced budget by the end of this Parliament should be an alarm call to the government.'
A double Olympian and his wife whose baby died following a 'catalogue of hospital failures' have spoken of their 'ten year hell to get to the truth' as they prepare for his second inquest.

Allyn and Jenny Condon have campaigned tirelessly to get justice for their son, Ben, who died when he was eight weeks old.

He was admitted to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in April 2015 with what staff described as a 'cold' but seven days later he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.

The fresh inquest into his death while under the care of University Hospital Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust starts on Monday.

It is due to run for three weeks and falls on what should have been Ben's tenth birthday.

Ms Condon said: 'It destroyed me hearing the inquest would fall on Ben's birthday.

'We have been forced to repeatedly relive the trauma of that day through every harrowing attempt the Trust have made to conceal the truth from us.

'They have been nothing short of completely blase about our grief. This never goes way, it has broken me, but we will continue to fight until the truth about what happened to our beautiful boy is bought into the stark light of day.'

Ben, aged just eight weeks old, was admitted to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in April 2015 with what staff described as a 'cold' but seven days later he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.

Allyn and Jenny Condon (pictured) have campaigned tirelessly to get justice for their son

The fresh inquest into his death while under the care of University Hospital Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust starts on Monday. Pictured: Ben Condon with his parents

Mr Condon is former sprinter and bobsleigher and at the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 became the seventh person to have competed for Great Britain in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games having already competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Mary Smith, from New South Law, who are representing the family at the inquest said 'Hospital Trusts and those working for them have a duty to be open and honest with families.

'Never should a bereaved family be re-traumatised by a battle to uncover what happened to their loved one.'

The premature baby developed a cough three days after he was discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit in Southmead Hospital Bristol.

As his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital and diagnosed with Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV).

Children are expected to make a full recovery from the virus but Ben died following a cardiac arrest on April 17, 2015, after contracting a bacterial infection and developing sepsis. He was not given antibiotics until an hour before he died.

In a follow up meeting with the hospital in July 2015, staff were recorded talking about the mistakes that had been made after Ben's parents had left the room.

Unaware that the family's and the staff's recording devices were still on they were heard discussing whether they could delete the conversation as 'that could get us into difficulty.'

Ms Condon said: 'It destroyed me hearing the inquest would fall on Ben's birthday'

In a follow up meeting with the hospital in July 2015, staff were recorded talking about the mistakes that had been made after Ben's parents had left the room. Pictured: Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

Ben's parents say they were still not told of the mistakes.

The question of whether their son could have survived if he had received different care has haunted the parents and led them to exhaust every avenue - including meeting then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt - to expose the 'systemic cover-up' by the Trust.

The Trust wrote to Jeremy Hunt accepting they had made a 'material contribution' and 'believe it is only right to acknowledge the view that Ben would on the balance of probabilities have survived, if antibiotics had been given sooner.'

This letter was never provided to the parents, a key factor in the High Court taking the unusual step of quashing the original inquest conclusion and granting the parents a fresh inquest.

A 2021 investigation into Ben's death by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found 'there was a deliberate intention to deceive' and a 'universal failure to be open and honest' with the parents.

The Condons have remained firm in their view that the first inquest in 2015, which recorded a narrative conclusion after doctors said the bacterial infection and his subsequent treatment played no part in his death, was intentionally misled by the Trust.

Throughout their ten-year battle Ben's parents have made more than 100 requests for information to the Trust, including numerous formal Subject Access Requests, to understand the actions taken by the medical professions in charge of their son's care.

Many of them remain unanswered.

A 2021 investigation into Ben's death by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found 'there was a deliberate intention to deceive' and a 'universal failure to be open and honest' with the parents

Throughout their ten-year battle Ben's parents have made more than 100 requests for information to the hospital Trust

Ms Condon said: 'All we have ever wanted is to understand why and how our son died, instead, we have suffered a ten-year hell to get to the truth. At every turn the Trust have taken steps to hide the truth and protect their own reputational interests rather than learn from what happened.

'In our view, until the truth is known, future lives of patients are in grave danger. Ben's life will not be in vain and we will not let the systemic cover up continue.

'We need people to know what really happened, so changes can be made to prevent this ever happening again.

'We also want to ensure no bereaved parents are ever treated in the way we have been.

'We are hopeful, this time round, that we will finally be provided with a truthful account so that the right conclusion can be reached by the coroner.'

Mary Smith, Head of Inquests, Human Rights and Fatal Negligence at New South Law, said: 'No family should be put through the trauma Ben's have. When things go wrong, Trusts have a duty to be open and honest and to work with families to reduce the burden of their trauma, not add to it.

'As the PHSO and CQC have made clear, the conduct of the Trust towards Ben's parents has been shameful. For ten years, the Trust has failed to disclose records, answer simple questions and to comply with their professional 'Duty of Candour.' The hope is that, through this process, Jenny and Allyn will finally have the information they need to understand what happened to Ben and to begin to process their grief.'

The family is represented by Ms Smith, of New South Law and Jennifer McLeod and Sophie Bird of Brick Court Chambers. Ms Smith and Ms McLeod also represented the family in their earlier battle at the High Court to quash the original inquest conclusion.

The conclusion is expected to be delivered at Avon Coroner's Court on February 21.
The deaths of 67 people in this week's tragic plane crash in Washington DC have focused scrutiny on America's air traffic control system and whether failings within it contributed to the disaster.

The collision took place as American Airlines Flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew, collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter as it made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET.

Donald Trump has claimed that 'diversity targets' within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were responsible for the tragedy. Asked for evidence of this claim, he replied: 'It just could have been.'

An internal FAA report has revealed possible issues relating to staffing, with one controller reportedly left to handle both helicopter traffic and planes - a task that should have been done by two people.

A supervisor decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early, according to a report in the New York Times.

Inevitably, air traffic control authorities around the world - including within the UK - will be carefully analysing Wednesday night's disaster to work out what could have been done differently.

But how is Britain's air traffic control system set up, and how does it compare with America's? Below, MailOnline compares the approach taken by both countries, including their varying approaches to recruitment and training.

The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

ORGANISATION

America's FAA is responsible for the country's air traffic control system through a network of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC).

Each ARTCC coordinates traffic within a defined area and there are 22 in total. By contrast, the UK operates a less centralised system.

While the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) acts as the national airspace regulator, it is up to individual airports to manage their own local areas.

Airports appoint air traffic control companies to ensure that aircraft operate in a safe manner when arriving and departing from airports, the CAA states on its website.

Once planes are enroute to another destination they are managed by NATS, the UK provider of this air traffic control service.

NATS has previously hit out at claims it is short of personnel after Covid, with a spokesman insisting: 'We have the correct numbers of controllers and engineers in our centres and at major airports.'

A source told CNN the Reagan National control tower - which covers the skies over DC, was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.

President Trump railed against alleged diversity hiring practices for air traffic controllers

RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING

Air traffic controllers in the US and UK are highly trained, although the exact content of this training differs slightly between both countries.

In the UK, the standard route to becoming an air traffic controller is a training programme with NATS, which typically takes three years compared to two to three years in America.

To eligible for an apprenticeship, applicants are required to have at least five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) including English and Maths.

For people entering via the graduate route, a degree that demonstrates a 'high degree of numeracy' is preferred.

Successful candidates spend between a year and 18 months on an intensive course combining theory and practical based sessions before they are posted to an airport or control centre for more practical training.

The whole process takes around three years.

Pay for fully qualified controllers is high in the US by international standards at $137,380 (110,582), according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

This compares to just over 42,000 in the UK, according to Indeed - only slightly above the average salary of 37,430.

WORKING FROM HOME

The collapse of NATS' computer system last year - which caused widespread chaos at UK airports - was blamed in part on a maintenance engineer working from home.

With the system down, flights could not take off or land at any airport, causing hellish delays that lasted for days and cost airlines 100 million in compensation.

A Civil Aviation Authority inquiry into the incident today found that IT support engineers were allowed to work from home on one of the busiest days of the year.

The engineer assigned to fix the problem struggled to login remotely because the system had crashed, so it would not accept his password.

The FAA states on its website that it offers remote working for some roles at the discretion of managers.

Air traffic controllers in both countries work from control towers housing complex flight management equipment.

While the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) acts as the national airspace regulator in the UK, it is up to individual airports to manage their own local areas. Pictured is the tower at Stansted

DIVERSITY TARGETS

During a bizarre press conference, President Trump railed against alleged diversity hiring practices for air traffic controllers, including people with dwarfism and complete paralysis.

He accused his predecessor Joe Biden of watering down standards, and slammed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having 'a good line of bulls***.'

Mr Trump said the hiring guidance for the FAA's diversity and inclusion programme expressed a preference for people with disabilities involving 'hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism'.

This may have been a reference to a FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring initiative - contained in a now deleted section of its website - which described a series of 'targeted disabilities' that bosses were keen to see represented in its ranks.

However, it is unclear how this policy would have affected air traffic controllers, who are a tiny minority among the FAA's more than 35,000 employees.

The UK's NATS announced in 2023 that it was seeking to improve diversity in a new controller recruitment drive.

This targeted the organisation's 'gender imbalance', with bosses explaining that they wanted to ensure half of the new intake were women.
The doomed Black Hawk chopper had been rehearsing Trump's evacuation route to a nuclear bunker before its deadly crash, online sleuths have claimed.

American Airlines Flight 5342 was approaching Washington's Reagan National Airport at around 9pm on Wednesday when the military chopper and plane collided in mid-air, before falling into the Potomac River, killing 67 people.

The plane held four crew members and 60 passengers, while the helicopter was carrying three soldiers during a night training exercise 'on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission', Pete Hegseth, Trump's defence secretary, said.

'The military does dangerous things. It does routine things on a regular basis. Tragically, last night, a mistake was made.'

Conspiracy theorists have rushed to social media to place uncorroborated blame on the US government, suggesting the collision must have been intentional because 'military helicopters don't fly into planes'.

But now, several online sleuths have revealed their theories on the helicopter carrying out an emergency evacuation route for the president as part of a Continuity of Government contingency.

A Continuity of Government mission (COG) in the US refers to a set of policies and procedures designed to ensure that essential government functions continue during and after a catastrophic event, such as a nuclear attack, natural disaster, cyberattack, or terrorist incident.

One of the five key aspects of a COG mission is protecting key personnel and infrastructure.

The deadly collision of a Black Hawk and passenger jet in Washington DC shocked the nation Wednesday, sparking an investigation into what caused the mid-air crash

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

This has led a number of social media users to speculate that the chopper had been carrying out an evacuation and relocation training exercise which in a real-life situation would take a leader to a secure location such as a classified bunker.

'CIA has a long history of plotting and executing air disasters. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to find a Black Hawk on a vaguely defined CoG mission striking an airliner sus as hell.' one baffled X/Twitter user said.

'What the hell were they doing in the tower? Why was a damn black hawk helicopter flying a COG training mission in civilian airspace on a Wednesday?,' a second asked.

'If the Black Hawk indeed was on a COG mission, was there a weapon hidden on the plane that needed to be neutralized before it landed? The good of the many outweighing the good of the few.....,' a third commented.

One more chimed in: 'Continuity of government exercise can describe the large scale nuclear training. In other words training for what to do if it happened. Like designated survivor stuff'.

Another warned: 'They've been doing training for a nuke too'.

This isnt about DEI. You should be asking why a Black hawk is doing COG exercises at one of the busiest airport in the air'.

It comes amid a huge swell of conspiracy theories around the incident, with some alleging the helicopter appeared to 'chase' the Bombadier plane as it approached for landing, comparing the scene to a '1970s-style assassination'.

Others have demanded to 'know who was on that passenger plane', suggesting that the incident was a 'targeted hit'.

Conspiracy theorists have branded the horrific crash as 'suspicious', alleging that trained pilots would know how to navigate this type of situation.

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The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river

'This plane crash is so strange something is off,' one X user shared. 'A Blackhawk not having alarms going, 3 soldiers not seeing a effin commercial plane?

'A army pilot who doesn't understand how to navigate close to an airport? Even if training? Yeah this smells bad.'

'This looks deliberate to me,' one Instagram user commented on a video of the collision. 'Watch this clip, especially the slow motion part, the plane is coming in to land and the helicopter comes in from the left and flies straight into it.'

Dozens of social media users have called for more details about those on board the aircraft, baselessly claiming there was 'larger agenda at play'.

'We need to know who was on these planes because it looks like that Blackhawk flew directly into it,' one X user wrote.

'Bottom line: this doesn't feel random,' replied another. 'The real question is whether it was a botched op, a targeted hit, or a larger agenda at play.

'My bet? Something was in that Black Hawk, or someone was on that plane, and this wasn't supposed to be public.'

The Bombadier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9pm after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.

Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River

A fireball then erupted in the night sky as the aircraft collided, before both the plane and helicopter tumbled into the icy Potomac River

Authorities have not yet pinpointed a reason for the collision, but have said it could have been 'prevented', as many question how the two aircraft did not see each other on the clear night.

Insiders and a preliminary internal Federal Aviation Authority report have started to reveal catastrophic failures leading up to the aviation disaster.

The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

On Thursday morning officials confirmed all 67 on both the plane and helicopter had perished, with their rescue mission then becoming a recovery operation.

Investigators on Thursday recovered the black boxes from the CRJ700 airplane, which carried 60 passengers and four crew members, as rescuers pulled bodies from the freezing water.

Divers aim to 'salvage the aircraft' and find additional components today.

There were no survivors after the two aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River in the country's deadliest aviation disaster since 2001.

Over 40 bodies had been pulled from the icy waters of the river as of Thursday evening as recovery operations continue.

Investigators plan to push forward today with efforts to retrieve both the passenger plane and helicopter from the river.

Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington

A flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were pulled from the river by salvage teams.

This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

The identities of those who died in the collision have started to trickle out, with DailyMail.com revealing the identities of the pilot and first officer.

Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters.

Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital.

Both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

At least three minors - including figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han - are among the victims who died.

Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han's mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter alongside fellow soldier Ryan O'Hara.

The military said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was taking is 200 feet but it may have been flying higher. The collision occurred at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a 'fairly experienced crew' of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight.

Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.
China is constructing a colossal military command centre, with US intelligence sources warning it could serve as a wartime bunker for president Xi Jinping and his top military leaders.

The vast facility on the outskirts of Beijing - believed to be at least ten times the size of the Pentagon - has raised alarm among Western intelligence agencies, who fear it signals Beijing's preparations for a major global conflict, potentially including nuclear war.

Newly analysed satellite images of the project show a 1,500-acre site under rapid development 30km south-west of Beijing.

Military analysts believe the massive construction includes heavily fortified bunkers designed to shield China's top military brass from missile strikes - particularly 'bunker-buster' weapons used by the US.

Experts say the facility, nicknamed 'Beijing Military City' by intelligence analysts, could eclipse any known military command centre in the world.

The shocking revelations come as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) races to expand its nuclear arsenal and increase its combat capabilities ahead of its centenary in 2027.

US intelligence sources believe Xi Jinping has ordered the PLA to be capable of launching an attack on Taiwan by 2027, further heightening tensions in the region.

Former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder warned that the complex could mark a dangerous shift in China's military doctrine.

The vast facility on the outskirts of Beijing - believed to be at least ten times the size of the Pentagon - has raised alarm among Western intelligence agencies

China is constructing a colossal military command centre, with US intelligence sources warning it could serve as a wartime bunker for President Xi Jinping (pictured) and his top military leaders

'If confirmed, this new advanced underground command bunker signals Beijing's intent to build not just a world-class conventional force, but also an advanced nuclear warfighting capability,' he told the Financial Times.

US intelligence officials, who have been closely monitoring the site since mid-2024, say the scale and secrecy of the project suggest it is intended to replace China's current command centre in the Western Hills, which was built during the Cold War.

Despite the immense scale of the development, Beijing has refused to comment, with the Chinese embassy in Washington claiming it was 'not aware of the details'.

Satellite images show at least 100 cranes operating over a five-square-kilometre area, where military analysts believe extensive underground tunnels and hardened bunkers are being built.

There are no signs of commercial development, and all online references to the project appear to have been scrubbed from Chinese internet searches.

When reporters attempted to investigate the site, guards refused entry and blocked access to hiking trails near the area.

A local shopkeeper described it bluntly: 'It's a military area.'

Military experts say the project has all the hallmarks of a top-secret PLA installation, with heavily reinforced concrete structures and deep underground tunnelling.

One US intelligence source suggested that the sheer scale of the new bunker means it could serve as China's primary wartime command centre, offering greater protection against US military strikes and housing advanced secure communications technology.

China is expanding its nuclear-weapons stockpile at an unprecedented rate, while seeking to integrate its army, navy, and air force into a single, more efficient warfighting machine

Newly analysed satellite images of the project show a 1,500-acre site under rapid development 30km south-west of Beijing

The site was previously empty and showed no signs of any building work

The construction of the site coincides with a massive military build-up by the PLA, which is rapidly modernising its forces to rival the US.

China is expanding its nuclear weapons stockpile at an unprecedented rate, while seeking to integrate its army, navy, and air force into a single, more efficient warfighting machine.

A China expert who analysed the satellite images said the bunker 'has all the hallmarks of a doomsday command centre'.

'Nearly ten times bigger than the Pentagon, it's fitting for Xi Jinping's ambitions to surpass the US.'

Some Chinese citizens have even speculated online about the project's purpose. In a now-deleted post on Chinese social media, one user asked: 'Are they building the Chinese Pentagon in Qinglonghu?'

US intelligence agencies are now racing to determine the true purpose of the vast facility and how it fits into China's broader military ambitions.

Western officials warn that if China is preparing for a future war - whether over Taiwan or against the US - this underground fortress could play a key role in their strategic planning. But for now, Beijing remains silent.

It comes just days after satellite images have unveiled China's construction of a new sprawling fusion research centre which has sparked international apprehension over its potential applications in both energy production and nuclear weapons development.

Satellite images have unveiled China's construction of a sprawling fusion research centre which has sparked international apprehension over its potential applications in energy production and nuclear-weapons development

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, where experiments in high energy density physics and astrophysical phenomena take place

NIF Target Bay in Livermore, California. The system uses 192 laser beams converging at the centre of this giant sphere to make a tiny hydrogen fuel pellet implode

The research facility, located in Mianyang, Sichuan province, has been analysed by multiple experts that have identified the plant's design, which features four extensive laser bays converging on a central experimental chamber.

The design bears striking similarities to the 2.8billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, which made headlines last year for achieving a breakthrough in nuclear fusion.

However, the Chinese experiment bay appears to be approximately 50 per cent larger than its American counterpart, suggesting the country's ambitions may surpass even those of the US in the race for fusion technology.

The facility's location in Mianyang is particularly significant, as the region is already known as a hub for China's nuclear and defense research.

The city is home to the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), the nation's premier nuclear weapons research institute.

This connection has led to speculation that the new facility is not solely focused on energy research but could also serve dual purposes, including enhancing the country's nuclear arsenal.

Experts highlight that such facilities enable countries to simulate the conditions of nuclear explosions, thereby refining warhead designs without the need for actual detonations.
An audio recording has captured the moment an air traffic controller screamed as a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet crashed over DC.

Air traffic control (ATC) operators were directing the doomed Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 helicopter - marked as a PAT 25 - to pass behind the plane just seconds before the deadly crash occurred.

'PAT 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight?' one controller said, according to a recording of the final communication between ATC and the three helicopter crew members.

The controller spoke again, requesting: 'Pat 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.'

Seconds later a haunting, audible gasp can be heard from the control tower as the passenger jet and helicopter collide in mid-air, before plummeting into the Potomac River.

'Tower, did you see that?' another aircraft called in, seemingly referencing the crash, as another person is heard saying: 'Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three.'

Versions of the extraordinary clip had already surfaced but the screams can be heard much clearer with audio levels adjusted to pick up background noise.

There were no survivors in Wednesday's crash, which is the country's deadliest aviation disaster since 2001. Over 40 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters of the river and recovery operations remain ongoing.

Authorities have not yet pinpointed a reason for the collision, but have said it could have been 'prevented'. Insiders and a preliminary internal Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) report have also begun to reveal catastrophic failures that occurred leading up to the disaster - including a controller reportedly leaving their post early.

President Donald Trump also came under fire Thursday after suggesting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives may have played a role in the deadly crash. He accused his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama of keeping qualified employees out of the FAA in pursuit of DEI - a remark that outraged Democrats across the nation.

But documents about FAA hiring practices reveal that last year the agency was recruiting people with targeted disabilities, including 'hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.'

An air traffic controller screamed as a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet collided in mid-air on Wednesday night, killing everyone on board

Air traffic control (ATC) operators were directing the doomed Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 helicopter - marked as a PAT 25 - to pass behind the plane just seconds before the deadly crash occurred. Pictured are emergency response units assessing the wreckage in the Potomac River on January 30, 2025

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

The nearly minute-and-a-half recording - captured in the moments before and after the horrific crash - has emerged in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The muffled audio reveals the commands and confirmations are made between ATC operators, the helicopter crew and other aircraft in the area.

Immediately after the collision, the tower alerted other pilots of the terrifying crash and redirected planes approaching runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.

According to CNN, the controller said: 'I don't know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach end 3-3. We are going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future if you want to go back to the gate.

'Highly suggest you guys coordinate with the company,' the audio continued. 'Let me know what you want to do.'

The tragic recording also revealed that another pilot had personally seen the crash confirmed the incident with an air traffic controller, CNN reported.

The pilot who witnessed the devastating collision said: 'Yeah, we were on short final and we saw flares from the opposite side of the Potomac.'

According to NBC, a controller detailed what they saw in the moments after the incident, which was also captured in the audio.

The operator said: 'It was probably out in the middle of the river. Um, I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven't seen anything since they hit the river.'

An approach controller later said: 'Apparently both aircraft involved are in the river, a search and rescue will be ongoing.'

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Newly released footage shows the moment an American Airlines plane, flying near the US Capitol building, was approaching to land at DC's Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday

Lights from both the American Airlines passenger plane (left) and the Army Black Hawk helicopter (right) are seen flashing as they continue to fly towards each other

A fireball then erupted in the night sky as the aircraft collided, before both the plane and helicopter tumbled into the icy Potomac River

The collision took place as the American Airlines flight made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET.

That night, an air traffic controller was left to handle both helicopter traffic and manage planes - which should have been a divided duty - according to The New York Times.

Those tasks are usually handled between two people from 10am until 9.30pm, according to the report.

After 9.30pm the duties are typically combined and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report said that staffing configuration 'was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic'.

It remains unclear why the supervisor allowed the worker to clock off early on Wednesday night, just before the midair collision.

It has also emerged that the Army helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers, involved in the collision might have also deviated from its approved flight path.

The helicopter's path remained relatively straight while the American Airlines flight veered, and the two collided

The collision took place as the American Airlines flight made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET on Wednesday

The horrific accident prompted a large-scale search and rescue operation over the river as helicopters, boats and police searched the water and ground

The outlet again spoke with insiders that said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter was not on its approved route and flying higher than it should have been.

Approval had been given for the helicopter to fly no higher than 200 feet along the east side of the Potomac River, where it would have avoided the passenger jet.

The pilot of the helicopter confirmed sight of the American Airlines flight and was told to stick to their predetermined route and go behind the plane.

Sources said the pilot did not stick to the path however and was a half-mile off course as well as being at an altitude above 300 feet.

A senior Army official told The Times that the pilot of the Black Hawk had flown the route before and was well aware of the tight altitude restrictions and routes.

As the jet approached the runway, those onboard had asked air traffic control to change their runway, according to an FAA report.

The plane, a Bombardier CRJ700, had been cleared to touch down on Runway 1, the main airport thoroughfare, but the controller then asked the pilot to land on Runway 33.

A source told The Times that such a move is routine especially with regional jets, and that the decision might have been made to prevent clogging on the main runway.

Five current and former controllers also told the outlet that the lone controller in the tower should have been more proactive in directing the two away from each other.

Although the released audio from ATC around the time of the collision is muffled, you can hear an audible gasp around the 24-second mark

The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river

NTSB investigators are seen here working on the black box of American Airlines flight 5342

The horrific accident prompted a large-scale search and rescue operation over the river that saw helicopters, boats and police searched the water and ground.

On Thursday morning officials confirmed all 67 on both the plane and helicopter had perished, with their rescue mission then becoming a recovery operation.

Investigators made a break through later that night, after they had pulled 40 bodies to shore, when they found two black boxes from the American Airlines flight.

They plan to push forward today with efforts to retrieve both the passenger plane and helicopter from the river.

A flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were pulled from the river by salvage teams. This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

The identities of those who died in the collision have started to trickle out, with DailyMail.com revealing the identities of the pilot and first officer.

Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters.

Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital.

Both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

At least three minors - including figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han - are among the victims who died.

Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han's mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter alongside fellow soldier Ryan O'Hara.

The Black Hawk helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the crash.

Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River

Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington

The National Transportation Safety Board is studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at the airport, a situation deemed 'not normal' but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The military said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was taking is 200 feet but it may have been flying higher. The collision occurred at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a 'fairly experienced crew' of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight.

Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves, left, and Ryan O'Hara, right, were both on board the helicopter when it collided with the jet

Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, (left) and First Officer Samuel Lilley (right) had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital

A devastated husband and father has revealed his wife Justyna and 12-year-old daughter Brielle were on board the tragic flight

Kiah Duggins (left) had been visiting her mom in her hometown of Wichita but was returning to Washington DC, where she worked for Civil Rights Corps. Grace Maxwell, (right) a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio, was on the doomed flight returning back to school

Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best (left) was tragically killed on the flight, returning home after conducting a deposition with her colleague, Elizabeth Keys (right)

Married couple Roger and Stephanie Haynos were on board the flight alongside their son, as part of a team of skaters returning home from the US Ice Skating Championships

Spencer Lane and other figure skaters had been returning home from the National Development Camp, which is held in conjunction with the national championships. His mother, Christine Lane, was confirmed dead, by The Skating Club of Boston

Jinna Han (pictured front row in red) and her mother Jin were confirmed dead

Asra Hussain messaged husband Hamaad Raza , 25, to say 'We are landing in 20 minutes' as American Eagle Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport jut before 8pm ET Wednesday night

Danasia Elder and Ian Epstein were revealed to be the flight attendants on board the commercial plane

Mark Stovall (left) was returning home from a hunting trip in Kansas. Jesse Pitcher (right) was on the same trip as Stovall. He was the owner of a plumbing business and was in the process of building a new home with his wife, Kylie, who he married just over a year ago

Inna Volyanskaya, of Virginia, was a skating coach and her death was confirmed by her ex-husband Ross Lansel

Wendy Shaffer was a mother-of-two to a Shields, three, and Bennett, one

Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured in an old photo) attended the Kansas event with his skaters, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, his wife, Natalia Gudin confirmed

Sean Kay and his skating partner Angela Yang died on the American Airlines flight with their coach Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured L-R: Angela, Alexandr, Sean)

Everly and Alydia Livingston, sisters aged 14 and 11, were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and frequently shared images of their routines on their social media page

Trump has suggested that DEI hiring practices may have contributed to the crash. He has not provided evidence to support the suggestion, but did say air traffic controllers need to be 'geniuses' to handle the stress and complex movements of aircraft during their tense and crucial work shifts.

Trump and his team on Thursday referenced a Fox News report from last year on FAA hiring practices. The report quotes the Biden-era FAA's website's promotion of diversity hiring and states: 'Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring.'

'They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.'

Trump, quoting from the passage as he addressed reporters in the White House Press Briefing room, said: 'The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of air planes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot. A little dot on the map. A runway.'

The report did not specify which roles in the agency, which has nearly 45,000 employees, were included in the targeted recruitment efforts.

The FAA has 'very strict requirements' and 'high standards' for air traffic controllers, a former agency administrator told NewsNation, alleging that although the agency 'hires a lot of people, not all of them can be controllers'.

Diversity initiatives ramped up at the FAA under the Obama Administration, were largely swept away during Trump's first term and then reinstated under Biden.

These DEI efforts saw the agency hire 'more minorities' and 'people with disabilities' in 'key positions, including air traffic control', The Washington Times reports.

The Obama Administration introduced a 'biographical assessment' test at the FAA in 2013, which was designed to increase the hiring of 'preferred minority' groups at air traffic control (ATC) centers.

The assessment, designed to help qualified candidates without aviation experience secure jobs in ATC, asked seemingly irrelevant questions such as applicants' involvement in school sports or the age at which they held their first job.

Candidates with more experience and greater qualifications were disqualified by the assessment, the report states.

Investigators on Friday continue recovery efforts in the waters of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 collided mid-air Wednesday night

Recovery teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Friday

Many of the rejected applicants were allegedly Air Traffic Collegiate Training graduates, held a pilot's license, or had other 'critical experience' relevant to ATC.

The FAA was hit then with a class-action lawsuit involving more than 3,000 rejected applicants who alleged discrimination.

The agency dropped the biographical assessment in 2018 - during Trump's first term - after Congress banned its use.

ATC applicants were instead required to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, which aimed to assess the majority of skills and attributes necessary to be a successful air traffic controller.

After Trump left office, Biden implemented broader DEI practices in an effort to create more employment opportunities for underrepresented groups.

Data from the US Census Bureau and IPUMS reveals that 78 per cent of air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are men and 22 per cent are women, according to Axios.

The majority of workers - 71 per cent - also identify as non-Hispanic white.

Trump has issued an official memo directing the government to investigate 'deterioration in hiring standards' at the FAA under the Biden Administration and ordered the 'replacement' of anyone unqualified for their role.
A 46-year-old father-of-two found guilty of 97 counts of sexual assault after he filmed himself raping nine women and three teenagers has been jailed for 28 years.

Adam Charles Lusk was convicted of 85 of counts of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of stupefying in order to commit an indictable offence in Perth's Western Australia District Court last year.

He was stony-faced in court as District Court Judge Alan Troy handed down his sentence on Friday, telling him he had stolen something 'precious and irreplaceable' from his victims.

'To drug someone with stupefying substances and commit acts they did not consent to is going beyond the norm,' Judge Toy said, reported the ABC.

'There is no doubt in each case you stole something irreplaceable from all of your victims.

'It is abundantly clear to me if (the police) had not arrested you... you would have continued to offend in this fashion.'

Judge Toy added: 'It was truly predatory - you showed no mercy.'

In considering his sentence, Judge Toy noted that Lusk's 'lack of empathy is truly remarkable' and the ex-soldier was 'highly likely' to think he had done no wrong.

Adam Charles Lusk (pictured) was convicted of 85 of counts of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of stupefying in order to commit an indictable offence in Perth 's Western Australia District Court last year

The court heard that the FIFO civil engineer met his victims either through social interactions or online using Sugar Daddy Meet, Tinder and Snapchat over an almost two year period between April 2020 and January 2022..

The court heard the father would lure his victims to his Ascot home in the city's east, where he would drug, rape and film them.

Three of his victims were teenagers, with the youngest just 16 years old when he first raped her.

A jury found Lusk guilty after a gruelling five-week trial where several videos which were too graphic to be shown to an open court.

He initially pleaded his innocence to 100 offences and claimed the women and teens had all consented to sex and that some pretended to be unconscious or semi-lucid.

More than 80 of his offences were captured on video with the victims heard repeatedly telling Lusk 'no' and pushing him away. One begged him to 'show mercy'.

Some of Lusk's worst offences were committed against a 16-year-old girl who he met on Sugar Daddy Meet in 2020, The West Australian reported.

On one occasion he recorded himself abusing the teen, who was only semi-conscious.

Lusk (pictured) was stony-faced in court as District Court Judge Alan Troy handed down his sentence on Friday, telling him he had stolen something 'precious and irreplaceable' from his victims

When she began pleading for him to stop, Lusk pinned her arm behind her back and told her to 'ssh'.

The other two underage victims were 17-year-old girls who were invited to Lusk's home to 'part' after one of them met him through Snapchat.

They had begun talking six months earlier, when the girl was 16.

Lusk recorded himself raping one of the girls. He was also accused of raping a third 17-year-old girl on the same night but was acquitted of the charge.

Two charges of drugging women were also dismissed.

Lusk admitted to raping one of the women he filmed during the trial as the jury was shown footage of her unconscious for 19 minutes.

In a rare case, Judge Alan Troy instructed the jury to find Lusk guilty of raping the woman multiple times but that they to decide whether the victim had been drugged.

Lusk claimed the woman had passed out due to a sex game but the jury found he drugged her.

Six women were completely unconscious in the videos and two appeared 'semi-disorientated'.

Some of Lusk's worst offences were committed against a 16-year-old girl who he met on Sugar Daddy Meet in 2020

The court heard Lusk kept the videos he considered 'noteworthy'.

When asked if the women had consented to being filmed, Lusk claimed he believed it would be okay because he planned to share the footage with them.

The videos were never shared with the women, with Lusk arguing he 'never had the opportunity' in several cases.

A person known to Lusk submitted a video of one of the rapes to police in May 2021.

But officers were unable to charge Lusk as they couldn't identify the victim.

The acquaintance had confronted Lusk over text at the time.

In one message, the person wrote: 'She was roofied'.

Mr Lusk replied: 'No she wasn't. We'd been f**king all afternoon and she bombed out.'

'...She liked to get wasted and f**k. She was drunk AF'.

Following his arrest in January 2022, Lusk told police the woman was 'role playing' a fantasy they'd discussed beforehand.

However, he later testified he filmed the video to 'tease' the woman for being 'lazy' during sex.

Lusk was arrested after two women reported their assaults to police, allowing officers to seize his electronic devices.

The woman in the video submitted in 2021 was found and she testified to having no recollection of the night or having sex with Lusk.

She claimed she was given what she thought was a paracetamol after arriving at his home due to a headache.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or the Sexual Assault Resource Centre 1800 199 888.
A senior Tory today warned that Brits have lost their 'work ethic' as he pointed to the nine million now classed as 'inactive'.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp insisted that the country must 'lift our game' and 'compete' with rivals such as South Korea, China and India.

The combative comments, in a BBC interview, were seized on by Labour and the Lib Dems who accused Mr Philp of having 'real brass neck' for levelling the criticism.

However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she believed 'everybody should be working hard'.

Asked if Britain was missing 'a belief in hard work', Mr Philp told the Political Thinking podcast: 'I do a bit.'

'There are nine million working age adults who are not working,' he said.

'As we compete globally with countries like South Korea, China, India, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution.'

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp insisted that the country must 'lift our game' and 'compete' with rivals such as South Korea, China and India

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The MP added: 'We are in a global race. That means we've got to be competitive, and it means we've got to work hard.

'As a country we need to lift our game, we need to up our game.'

Figures published this month showed 9.3 million people were economically inactive between September and November last year.

That was down slightly on the year before but still 670,000 more than before the pandemic.

Around a quarter of those are economically inactive because they are students, while another 30 per cent have a long-term illness.

Both the Tories and Labour have backed drives to get people off benefits and into the workplace.

A Labour spokesman said: 'After the Conservatives' economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it's really all their fault.

'It's the same old Tories. They haven't changed and they've learned nothing.'

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper also criticised Mr Philp, saying his own 'work ethic' as chief secretary to the Treasury under Liz Truss had 'crashed the economy in just 39 days'.

She added: 'The British public will no doubt take his advice with a bucketload of salt. The Conservatives could do with showing a bit more humility after trashing the economy and leaving the NHS on its knees.'

Quizzed on the remarks by broadcasters, Ms Badenoch said: 'I think everybody should be working hard, including myself.'
Young ketamine users face irreversible bladder issues and risk 'wearing nappies' for the rest of their lives, a judge has warned.

'People in their 20s and 30s are having to spend the rest of their lives in nappies' having taken the 'appaling substance,' Judge Simon Medland said as he handed drug dealer Kaius Morrison, 23, a two-year suspended sentence for possessing ketamine and cocaine with intent to supply.

Earlier this month, Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Crime, said: 'Ketamine is an extremely dangerous substance and the recent rise in its use is deeply concerning.'

Her comments came after a coroner wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in November calling for action over the drug's classification following a man's death.

James Boland, 38, from Manchester, died of sepsis caused by a kidney infection which was 'a complication of long-term use of ketamine'.

Coroner Alison Mutch OBE warned people in Britain are under a 'false impression' that the drug - which killed Friends star Matthew Perry - is less dangerous than other substances like cocaine.

Ketamine, which is currently a Class B drug, could be upgraded to Class A - the same as heroin, crack and cocaine, as use surged to record levels.

Raising it to Class A would increase those penalties to life for dealing for those dealing the potentially deadly drug and seven years for possession.

James Boland, 38, from Manchester, died of sepsis caused by a kidney infection which was 'a complication of long-term use of ketamine'

Tracy Marelli, 48, said ketamine 'destroyed' her daughter Sophie Russell, 20, who died following a ketamine addiction

Ms Russell used the drug daily, which had caused her agonising abdominal pains and incontinence

What is ketamine? Ketamine, also known as K, is a powerful general anesthetic that is used to stop humans and animals experiencing pain during operations. It started being used as a party drug in the late 2000s, with people taking it before raves for a more intense experience. What are the side effects? Ketamine causes a loss of feeling and paralysis of the muscles. It can also lead to people experiencing hallucinations and a distortion of reality, which many call entering the 'k-hole'. Ketamine may also cause people to feel incapable of moving, or lead to panic attacks, confusion and memory loss. Regular users can seriously damage their bladders, which may need to be surgically removed. Other risks include a raised heart rate and blood pressure. Paralysis of the muscles can leave people vulnerable to hurting themselves, while not feeling pain properly can cause them to underestimate any damage. How is it taken and what is the law around it? For medical use ketamine is liquid but the 'street' drug is normally a grainy, white powder. Ketamine is currently a Class B substance and the maximum penalty for supplying and producing it is up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. The punishment for possession of the drug is up to 5 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both The government is seeking expert advice on reclassifying ketamine to become a Class A substance, after illegal use of the drug reached their highest ever levels. Advertisement

Ms Mutch said maintaining its classification encourages people to use it over class A drugs.

Mr Boland - founder and owner of Ancoats Coffee Co in Manchester - had switched from cocaine because he thought ketamine was 'less harmful'.

He was a 'chronic user' of the drug and also suffered serious urological issues as a result of abusing it.

In November, a devastated mother begged ministers to classify ketamine as Class A, after the death of her 20-year-old daughter who suffered a two-year addiction to the substance.

Sophie Russell, from Lincolnshire, died in September after using the drug daily, which had caused her agonising abdominal pains and incontinence.

Her mother Tracy Marelli said the drug 'destroyed her.'

In April, midwife Clare Rogers, 47, called for ketamine to be upgraded to Class A after her award-winning 26-year-old student son, Rian Rogers, was killed by the drug.

The popularity of ketamine has risen in recent years.

The party drug, known as 'K' or 'Special K', comes as a powder and is usually snorted.

In the year ending March 2023, an official study showed 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 admitted using the substance during the previous 12 months.

The number of 16- to 59-year-olds in England and Wales who reported ever having used ketamine rose from 837,000 in 2014-15 to 1.27 million in 2023-24, according to Office for National Statistics data.

The drug was upgraded from Class C to Class B just a decade ago, but now ministers believe even tougher measures may be needed to discourage its use.

In October 2023, Friends star Perry, 54, was found dead in his hot tub at his home in Los Angeles.

It emerged the Chandler Bing actor died from the acute effects of ketamine, having been using it to treat depression.

Dealing ketamine currently carries up to 14 years' imprisonment, while possession carries up to five years.

Kaius, a part-time scaffolder, had four previous non-drug convictions and pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday for possessing ketamine.

He had brought a bag ready to go to prison.

Two bags of white powder were found in a coat on the back seat of his white VW after police followed his vehicle on January 17, 2023.

They saw a man from a nearby van enter the car and leave shortly after in a Sainsbury's car park in Chapelford, Warrington.

Kaius left the car park at speed and as police followed him he 'appeared to be trying to secrete something,' prosecuting lawyer Andrew McInnes said.

Mr Boland was a 'chronic user' of the drug and also suffered serious urological issues as a result of abusing it

In April, midwife Clare Rogers, 47, called for ketamine to be upgraded to Class A after her award-winning 26-year-old student son, Rian Rogers (pictured), was killed by the drug

Friends star Matthew Perry was killed by ketamine and drowning, with his death ruled an accident



Two snap bags containing around 100 worth of cocaine were found in a small Louis Vuitton bag.

A pair of mobile phones were ringing continuously and messages relating to drug dealing were also discovered.

Police also found cocaine worth 3,800, 17.4g of ketamine worth 1,000, 340 cash and drug dealing paraphernalia.

Judge Medland said he was 'straining the sentencing guidelines which many judges would not,' as he sentenced the drug dealer to two years imprisonment suspended for two years, 15 days of rehabilitation activities and 180 hours unpaid work.

Jim Smith, defending lawyer, said the 23-year-old 'is no longer using Class A drugs and has moved away from criminal classes.'

He added Kaius pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and has since been offered more work with a scaffolding firm.

Judge Medland added: 'You now have the potential of full time work in a lucrative industry so on this occasion I'm going to take a chance on you.'

He also criticised the police's failure to seize the dealer's car.

'I fail to understand why on earth the police don't seize these things being used as a tool of the trade, namely a delivery van for drugs,' he said.
A UK drill rapper has been jailed for three years and 11 months for selling 45 kilos of cannabis after helping import the drug from the US.

Digga D was arrested after police launched a raid on his property in Bracebridge Heath near Lincoln in the early hours of February 21 last year - while he was broadcasting live on Instagram.

The rapper, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, pleaded guilty last May to importing 3.6 kilos of cannabis in June and July 2023 and a further charge of supplying cannabis.

However, during a trial of the issue, known as a Newton Hearing, at Lincoln Crown Court, the 24-year-old denied being involved in commercial transactions of up to 60kg of cannabis.

Judge Simon Hirst decided on the level of Herbert's drug dealing after hearing two days of evidence, because the prosecution did not accept the basis of his pleas.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Hirst said he was satisfied Herbert had played a significant role in selling cannabis for a commercial profit.

Judge Hirst said: I am satisfied so that I am sure first, Mr Herbert was involved in supply of cannabis over a period of at least 7 months from about January 2023 to July 2023.

Second, the amount of cannabis which came into the possession of Mr Herbert was at least 50.65 kilograms.

Digga D, pictured, was jailed for three years and 11 months for selling 45 kilos of cannabis after helping import the drug from the US

The rapper, pictured, whose real name is Rhys Herbert, pleaded guilty last May to importing 3.6 kilos of cannabis in June and July 2023 and a further charge of supplying cannabis

Digga D was arrested after police launched a raid on his property in Bracebridge Heath near Lincoln in the early hours of February 21 last year - while he was broadcasting live on Instagram

Third, with some reservations I am prepared to accept that Mr Herbert was himself using 28 grams per week over 5 months and that some drugs were shared with others.

Even, considering that there were friends in Lincoln with him at some times, music engineers when in the studio and a management team, it is difficult to see how more than 5 kilograms could be consumed by those people, I am satisfied so that I am sure that at least 45 kilograms was sold on.

Fourth, the cannabis, which was sold on, was for a commercial profit.

The court heard Herbert had six previous convictions for 13 offences, including possessing an offensive weapon and violent disorder for which he was sentenced to 30 months youth detention in March 2020.

James Scobie KC, mitigating for Herbert, argued there had been a determined effort to besmirch his client during the investigation and said none of his previous convictions were relevant.

All the matters were when he was a teenager at the time, he was 18 at the time of the last offence, Mr Scobie told the court.

This is very much a first offence in terms of drugs supply.

He is clearly in a unique position to obtain these drugs without being in a chain for many years, and you honour knows those reasons.

Digga can be heard shouting: 'What do you lot want, I'm here! I am here! Stop! What are you lot doing?'

Your honour found he was involved in supply for seven months, clearly that was intermittent, there were periods when he was out of the country.

The court was also handed letters from Mr Herbert's mother and aunt which expressed his remorse and detailed his reading of the bible while every day in jail.

Mr Scobie said Herbert was an only child and urged: He isn't a danger to the public, he is someone who contributes to the public.

Herbert, who has spent the last ten months on remand at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, followed the sentence hearing via a videolink from the jail.

During the Newton Hearing, which was heard in December, Herbert said he began smoking cannabis from the age of 12 and used the drug throughout his teenage years to "help with his frequent migraines".

Herbert claimed it was a benefit to buy his cannabis in bulk as he could afford it and it proved cheaper.

The musician said buying in bulk also reduced the chance of him coming to the attention of the police as he was often stopped both in London and elsewhere in the country.

He said he also obtained bags of cannabis to use in the video for his hit song I'm From.

British rapper Digga D performing one of his songs on stage

Mr Scobie stressed the artist had earnings in excess of 3m at the time of the drug dealing activity.

The court heard two sets of weighing scales and a cannabis grinder were recovered from Herbert's London home on Lonsdale Road in Notting Hill, where he lived with his mother.

Mobile phone footage of the star handling a bag of cannabis and allegedly complaining about the poor quality was also played to the judge.

A number of photographs also showed Herbert handling large amounts of cash, the court was told.

Mr Scobie explained that Herbert was an internationally recognised musician with a legitimate income and made videos which demonstrated large amounts of money.
The US Army has refused to identify the co-pilot of the helicopter in the DC air disaster at the request of the family.

Pilot in charge Chief Warrant Office 2 Andrew Eaves and crew chief Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara were named on Friday as those on board.

The Black Hawk helicopter appeared to fly straight into American Airlines Flight 5342 as in came in to land at Reagan National Airport just before 9pm on Wednesday.

All three soldiers on board were killed, along with 60 passengers and four crew on the plane that was arriving from Wichita, Kansas.

Military personnel killed in accidents or combat are usually made public 24 hours after their families are notified, making withholding her name very unusual.

'At the request of the family, the name of the third soldier will not be released at this time,' the US Army said.

OHara and the co-pilot's bodies have been recovered but Eaves is still in the water along with several of the airline passengers.

Relatives are entitled to do this, it is extremely unusual, with the New York Times branding the decision to withhold the name an 'extraordinary step'.

Why the co-pilot's family requested her name be withheld, and why the US Army acquiesced, is unclear.

She had about 500 hours of flying of experience, which is considered a 'normal' amount, and her 'very experienced' colleagues had about 1,000 hours.

Our live coverage has now ended but for a full recap see below.
A black school manager lost his race discrimination claim after being sacked following a row with a white colleague about whether Joe Biden was fit to be US president.

Chris McLean-Benjamin, who is black British of West Indian origin, said a librarian acted like a 'superior white female' and treated him like a child after he tried to engage her in a debate about the 46th US president's suitability for public office.

The Leaning Resource Centre manager had questioned Mr Biden's cognitive abilities and called him a 'dangerous man', an employment tribunal heard.

The librarian said she didn't wish to continue discussing the issue, but Mr McLean-Benjamin brought it up with her again when they were in a store room together and told her 'You are treating me like a child' and 'I don't care how you speak to your husband', the panel was told.

After she complained about him making her feel uncomfortable, the Leaning Resource Centre manager accused her of acting like a 'superior white female'.

He was then asked to leave the school - which he had only worked at for a month - and escorted off the premises by a security guard.

Mr McLean-Benjamin sued Hornsey School for Girls in north London and the recruitment agency that placed him there for race and sex discrimination. However, his claims were dismissed.

The tribunal, which was held in Watford, heard the man was supplied by the recruitment company Edgware Associates to work at the school from January 2023.

The man was sacked from his role as Leaning Resource Centre manager at Hornsey School for Girls in Haringey, north London

The tribunal heard he was filling the vacancy temporarily until they could find a permanent replacement.

On February 21 2023, he had a conversation with a white female colleague, who the tribunal referred to only as ZBC.

The hearing was told he remarked to the assistant librarian that then US president Joe Biden is a 'dangerous man' and 'questioned his cognitive abilities'.

ZBC told Mr McLean-Benjamin that she did not want to continue the conversation shortly after this.

But the man tried to bring up the topic again later in the day when they were in the storeroom together and she again told him she didn't want to talk about it.

The assistant librarian told a colleague that 'she found the whole interaction uncomfortable'.

She said Mr McLean-Benjamin had claimed she was treating him like a child during the conversation, and that he said '[I] treat everyone with respect and you are using this against me'.

In a meeting with school bosses about the incident several days later, the man said that the reason for the investigation was 'plainly racism'.

The man got embroiled in a row with one of the school's librarians after initiating an argument about former US president Joe Biden's suitability for public office

The tribunal found that during this meeting, he was irate and pacing around the room, repeatedly calling the assistant librarian 'that woman' rather than using her name.

Mr McLean-Benjamin said that his colleague saw herself as a 'superior white female', and on another occasion she had acted 'like a mad woman'.

Referring to the store room conversation, he said: 'If she wants to say I locked the door and battered her I will go now.' He also called her a 'clown' and a 'joker'.

The tribunal heard that after this meeting, he went to the school's playground and had a half-hour call with his union representative.

He 'appeared angry by virtue of his body language', and was overheard saying 'this school is racist' or 'it is racist', the tribunal heard.

Mr McLean-Benjamin denied being angry, claiming he was 'perfectly calm' on the phone.

Shortly after this phone call, he 'was asked to leave the premises and was escorted from it by the security guard'.

Mr McLean-Benjamin was sacked and then took legal action. However, the tribunal found that the man was not racially discriminated against.

Employment Judge Nathaniel Caiden concluded that 'there is nothing to show that someone of another race or sex would have been treated differently - let alone more favourably'.
A man has denied murdering a mother-of-six found dying on a secluded path after an early morning dog walk.

Anita Rose, 57, was exercising her springer spaniel Bruce when she was attacked on a track near her home at Brantham, near Ipswich, Suffolk.

She was found unconscious with serious head injuries by a cyclist riding to work at 6.25am on July 24 last year, and died four days later in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.

Roy Barclay, 55, of no fixed address pleaded not guilty to murder when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today via a video link from prison.

He was arrested after extensive inquiries by the police and shortly after a Crimewatch appeal by Ms Rose's family.

Simon Spence KC, defending, said that he denied being the 'assailant' of Ms Rose.

Judge Martyn Levett adjourned the hearing for a further case management hearing on February 28, with a trial due to start on May 27 this year.

Barclay spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during the hearing.

Ms Rose was allegedly attacked at the secluded spot between a sewage works and the main Ipswich to London railway line while on her regular early morning walk.

Roy Barclay, 55, of fixed address pleaded not guilty to murder when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court via a video link from prison

Anita Rose was found unconscious near a train line after taking her dog for a walk close to her home

Suffolk Police issued a map showing the route that Anita Rose walked in Brantham on July 24

She was filmed by a doorbell camera when she set off at 5am from her home where she lived with her partner of 13 years Richard Jones in Palfrey Heights, Brantham.

Ms Rose is thought to have walked more than three miles on a network of tracks and paths before she was attacked.

She was found unconscious, wearing leggings and trainers on her lower half, with her dog lead wrapped around her leg, but only her bra on her top half with her pink Regatta jacket missing.

The cyclist who found her, and a woman passer-by dialled 999, and she was taken to hospital by ambulance with serious head and facial injuries.

Ms Rose who had 13 grandchildren remained in a critical condition with her family at her side before she died on July 28.

A post mortem by a Home Office pathologist failed to establish her exact cause of death and further tests are being carried out.

Her iPhone was missing, along with her pink zip-up jacket, when she was found.

Suffolk Police later said they had recovered her phone, but were still hunting her jacket and her black quilted phone case with a gold crown and stud detail.

Officers have carried out wide-ranging inquiries since Ms Rose was found including forensic searches, house-to-house inquiries and CCTV analysis.

They had spoken to more than 630 people and taken around 90 statements by August 8.

Inquiries included distributing more than 1,200 leaflets in the Brantham area, and speaking to travellers on trains which passed the spot where she was found.

Jessica Cox, Anita Rose's daughter, spoke to BBC Crimewatch Live about her mother last October shortly before Barclay was arrested

CCTV images of Anita Rose during her last moments near her home at Brantham, near Ipswich

The mother-of-six was out walking her dog Bruce and was found unconscious on a track in Brantham

A photo of Jessica Cox with her mother Anita Rose, shown in the BBC Crimewatch Live appeal

Ms Rose's daughter Jessica Cox made a new appeal for information to help police last October on BBC Crimewatch Live, shortly before Barclay was arrested.

She tearfully described her mother as a 'beautiful, strong, independent woman' who loved being with her children and grandchildren.

Ms Cox added that her mother had moved to Brantham about six years ago and 'loved the area', and 'felt safe' there.

Ms Rose's partner Richard Jones, a lorry driver, posted a social media tribute to her after her death, saying: 'This was my beautiful Anita absolute heartbroken love you always and forever in my heart.'

A tribute from her children released by police said: 'Our mum was well known and loved in the community.

'She was brutally taken from us devastatingly too early, and we have been robbed of so much time with her.

'She wasn't just a mum of six, she was also a grandma to 13, a long-term partner, a mother-in-law and a special friend to so many.'
An influencer died just three days after undergoing a liposuction at southern Mexico clinic that was not authorized to perform the procedure.

Denisse Reyes had the liposuction done Sunday at the San Pablo Medical Clinic in Tuxtla Gutierrez, a city in the southern state of Chiapas.

The 27-year-old took to her social to inform her followers that she was in the recovery stage.

Her uncle, Ammao Rodriguez, told DailyMail.com that she was administered an intravenous medication by her surgeon, Dr. Orlando Gamboa, on Monday.

However, Mr Rodriguez alleged that Reyes' body did not react well to the medication before her heart stopped beating.

'She starts to feel sick and goes into cardiac arrest and at that moment they take her out of the room where she was in the (clinic),' Rodriguez said.

A friend who accompanied Reyes was instructed by the medical staff to remain outside the recovery room and that they would 'talk to a family member her condition was delicate,' according to Rodriguez.

He added that Reyes was transferred to Manzur Hospital because San Pablo Medical Clinic did not have an intensive care unit.

Reyes' medical condition failed to improve and died Wednesday.

Mexican influencer Denisse Reyes had a liposuction done Sunday, fell ill after she had intravenous medication Monday before she went into cardiac arrest and died Wednesday. The 27-year-old leaves behind an eight-year-old son

Dr. Orlando Gamboa is said to have performed a liposuction on 27-year-old influencer Denisse Reyes on Sunday

Rodriguez said Reyes was healthy and did not have any preexisting illnesses.

He added that has been in contact with Chiapas health authorities to file a lawsuit against Gamboa.

'May he authorities do justice to Denisse and may the doctor pay in some way for what he did,' Rodriguez said.

'It's not fair that she was already fine after her surgery and suddenly her health worsened to the point of death.'

Gamboa has not commented publicly since the tragic death. He made headlines in December 2024when he was accused of being responsible for the death of a woman who died after having a liposuction.

Gamboa immediately went on social media to say that he was not involved in the operation and the medical team that was performed the procedure were not linked to his clinic.

Denisse Reyes built a large following in 2022 as a 'nenis,' a term for women who sell online products in Mexico, and later opened up her own shop

Ammao Rodriguez told DailyMail.com that his niece, Denisse Rodriguez, was did not have any medical conditions going into the liposuction

Reyes, who leaves behind an eight-year-old son, found fame in 2022 as a 'nenis,' a term for women who sell online products in Mexico.

She eventually opened her own store and used her Instagram and TikTok accounts to promote her business in her hometown Tampico, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

'You were a woman who always did what she wanted and went 1000% in her life, too free, spontaneous, extroverted, that was you,' Reyes's sister, Massiel Reyes, wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.

'Sister, I love you with all my heart, what is happening hurts my soul, I would like to turn back time but it no longer exists.'
Disturbing body camera footage revealed the shocking moment a Florida police officer shot a dog dead after the pup lunged at another officer who kicked the animal while responding to a bite complaint.

The incident occurred at Miami's Sewell Park last April, and the footage was recently released following an internal investigation.

The incident unfolded as Nicole Iyescas and her daughter, Esmeralda, were taking their one-year-old dog, Miso, for a walk when a man approached the bench they were sitting on.

The French bulldog-Malinois mix was startled and began to bark, and Nicole lost her grip on its leash. Miso then ran up to the man and bit his arm.

The man called animal control and Miami police officers soon arrived at the scene. Nicole and Esmeralda told local NBC affiliate WTVJ News that the cops ordered them to sit on the bench.

'The police officer wasn't giving my mom the chance to speak or even to listen or give her own statement,' Esmeralda said.

The bodycam footage shows Nicole speaking with one cop as another asked the man who reported the incident what happened.

Miso then started to jump at the officer, who responded by kicking the dog, causing Nicole to lose her grip on the leash.

The officer fell to the ground after the dog chased him, prompting a second officer to pull out his gun

Miso was a French bulldog-Malinois mix and was out for a walk in the park before he was shot dead

Miso lay on the ground after being shot by the officer

'He kicked the dog so hard that I lost my balance and at this time I lost the leash,' she told WTVJ.

The dog appeared to run at the officer who, began backpedaling and ultimately fell to the ground.

That's when the other office took out his gun and fired at the dog, killing it.

Screams could be heard in the background as Nicole, her daughter, and several onlookers watched the horrific scene.

Nicole is still traumatized by the events that led to her dog's death.

'This did not have to happen,' Nicole told WTVJ, adding that she didn't believe Miso was a danger to the cops.

'They made my life very difficult that day,' she said.

Witnesses previously told WTVJ that the incident didn't seem to require that aggressive of a response.

One witness described the situation as 'very calm' and 'under control' before police arrived.

Nicole Iyescas (left) and her daughter, Esmeralda, recalled the shocking day that they saw their dog shot dead in the park

One witness described the situation as 'very calm' and 'under control' before police arrived

The man bitten by Miso called animal control and Miami police officers soon arrived at the scene

Another witness said that he saw Miso suffering and suggested to police that someone should call a professional to either help the dog or euthanize him.

'They left him suffering,' Nicole said. 'He was breathing, bleeding.'

Miami Police Department spokesman Officer Michael Vega told DailyMail.com that the officers involved in the incident acted in accordance with departmental guidelines. An internal investigation was conducted and the case is now closed.

The department frequently responds to cases involving loose or stray dogs and the investigation determined that the officers were justified, Vega said.

Police officers are generally subject broad guidelines on how to respond to domestic animals that pose an imminent threat to others.

A review of public records by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals determined that over 50% of officer-involved shooting incidents involve a dog.

'Police rarely receive any training that would allow them to rapidly and realistically assess the degree of danger posed by a dog; nor are they routinely informed about or trained to use any of the wide variety of non-lethal tools and techniques available to them as alternatives to shooting,' according to the ASPCA.

The ASPCA advocates that officers exhaust all other possible avenues before fatally shooting a dog.
A stern-faced Prince Andrew was spotted for the first time today following the publication of previously unseen emails between him and Jeffrey Epstein.

The Duke of York, 64, was seen riding his horse through Windsor Great Park accompanied by a companion - having driven there in his Range Rover.

His outing comes just hours after the emergence of an email he sent to Epstein saying 'we'll play more soon'.

Andrew claimed that he had cut off the paedophile financier after they were seen walking through Central Park together in December 2010 - not long after Epstein had been released from an 18-month jail sentence for child prostitution offences.

However, new emails revealed in court filings show the pair talking over email for months after - until at least late February 2011.

They even corresponded on the day a now-infamous photo of Andrew and then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre was published.

The teenager, who he had his arm around in the 2001 picture, claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein.

After discussing press reports the under-fire Prince said: 'keep in close touch and we'll play some more soon!!!!', as reported by Bloomberg.

The Duke of York, 64, was seen riding his horse through Windsor Great Park accompanied by a companion

He had driven into the park in his dark green Range Rover

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide

The royal reportedly paid Giuffre 13million to settle her sex assault civil claim out of court without admission of wrongdoing.

Now 41, she had claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 after being trafficked by Epstein, something he has always denied.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

In November 2019, Andrew gave an interview to BBC's Newsnight about his friendship with Epstein. He was asked by Ms Maitlis: 'Was that visit, December of 2010 the only time you saw him after he was convicted?' to which he replied: 'Yes, yeah.'

She asked him: 'Did you see him or speak to him again?' To which he replied: 'No.'

Andrew claimed the visit to see Epstein was to tell him they could no longer be friends. He told Maitlis by 'mutual agreement during that walk in the park we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day and to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward'.

The emails were revealed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they defend an appeal by Jes Staley.

Andrew is not referred to by name in the legal filing by the FCA, but only identified as 'a member of the British royal family'. Other court documents confirm they knew each other and Epstein had arranged for them to meet repeatedly.

They even corresponded on the day a now-infamous photo of Andrew and then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre was published. The teenager, who he had his arm around in the 2001 picture, claims she was sex-trafficked by Epstein. Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell is also seen here in the photo

Andrew  who was criticised for staying with Epstein in his 60million Manhattan house during the trip  insisted in a disastrous BBC interview with Emily Maitlis, pictured here with Andrew, that it was the last time he had contact with him

Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida in 2000

The emails were revealed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as they defend an appeal by Jes Staley (pictured)

Staley, the 68-year-old former Barclays boss, was banned from the UK finance industry and fined 1.8 million in 2023 for having 'recklessly misled' the regulator by allowing the bank's board to downplay his interactions with Epstein.

The FCA claim that in 2018 Staley said that he 'did not have a close relationship' with Epstein but emails describe him as one of his 'deepest' and 'most cherished' friends, The Times reports.

Despite previous claims the emails reportedly show him in contact with the financier in the days before he was appointed Barclays chief.

The filing further shows that Lord Mandelson - now the new ambassador in Washington - stayed in contact with Epstein until at least August 2012, The Times reports.

He sent Staley a note called 'CityUK and the future of the financial sector' - later forwarding this on to the financier saying 'Below is something I forwarded to your boy'.

The former Labour business, trade and Northern Ireland secretary appears to have stayed with Epstein in New York in the same year. The American emailed Staley in May saying: 'Peter Mandelson here at 5  staying a couple of days.'

MailOnline has contacted Prince Andrew and Lord Mandelson for comment.
Freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari revealed in a phone call with Keir Starmer today that Hamas terrorists held her in a United Nations aid facility and denied her medical treatment.

Emily spent 15 nightmare months in Gaza after she was snatched from her home in southern Israel during Hamas' incursion in the country on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people.

Her release earlier this month came as part of a fragile ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

In an emotional conversation with the PM this morning, the 28-year-old said she had been kept in facilities belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and was not given medical attention, despite having been shot in the hand and leg during the violent kidnapping and losing two fingers.

It was also revealed that all that was provided to the hostage over the course of her captivity to treat her wounds was an out-of-date iodine bottle.

Emily's revelation about where she was held comes after Israel in October adopted a law banning operations by the UNRWA on Israeli land from January 30 after the country alleged that a number of the agency's staff were involved in Hamas' October 7 attack.

The U.N. has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired.

Israel's move was met with widespread condemnation from world leaders, however, as almost all of Gaza's population are dependent on aid from the agency.

Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari and her mother Many pictured speaking to Keir Starmer on the phone today

The mother and daughter thanked the PM for his efforts in bringing Emily home, and asked him to put pressure on Hamas and the UNRWA to let the Red Cross have access to the remaining 82 hostages

During today's phone call with Starmer, Emily and her mother Mandy Damari also asked the PM to 'put maximum pressure on Hamas and UNRWA to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to finally have access to the 82 remaining hostages still being held in the territory'.

Also on the call, Starmer enquired about Emily's condition, to which Mandy responded that her daughter 'seems to be doing pretty well psychologically', but noted that she had a 'long road ahead of her considering the physical injuries she sustained'.

Mandy later shared an image of her daughter speaking to the PM on the phone on X and thanked him for his 'support in getting Emily home'.

'Hamas held Emily in @UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. Its a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now', she wrote.

Despite Israel's ban coming into force yesterday, the UN Palestinian relief agency said its humanitarian work across the occupied territories and Gaza was still ongoing on Friday.

'We continue to provide services,' Juliette Touma, director of communications of UNRWA, told a press briefing in Geneva.

'In Gaza, UNRWA continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response. We continue to have international personnel in Gaza, and we continue to bring in trucks of basic supplies.'

She said any disruptions to its work in Gaza would put a ceasefire deal that halted the war between Israel and Hamas at risk.

Emily reunited with her mother after 471 days being held captive by Hamas

'If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk and is going to be in jeopardy,' she said.

Before the ceasefire deal, experts had warned of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza.

Supplies have since risen and the World Food Programme said that more than 32,000 tonnes of food had entered Gaza since the Jan. 19 deal took effect.

At the same briefing, the World Health Organization's Dr Rik Peeperkorn said about 12,000-14,000 patients were waiting to be evacuated from Gaza across the Rafah crossing.

Fifty are set to be moved on Saturday amid warnings that some children could die.

These would be the first medical evacuations via Rafah since it was shut in May last year, he added.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch today swiped that Reform UK are a 'protest party' as she dismissed their recent surge in opinion polls.

The latest Survation poll showed Reform were backed by 24 per cent of voters - two percentage points ahead of the Tories and just three points behind Labour.

A separate Techne UK survey published today also showed Nigel Farage's party on 24 per cent support - one point ahead of the Tories and two points behind Labour.

But, despite the apparent threat posed by Reform, Mrs Badenoch insisted she was focused on her job of holding the Labour Government to account.

She also said she was 'not at all' worried about Mr Farage staging a major rally in her constituency this evening.

The rally in Quendon, North West Essex, is expected to see speeches from all five of Reform's MPs with the party boasting the area is a 'target seat'.

Mrs Badenoch played down concerns about Reform's challenge to her party after last night slapping down a senior member of her shadow cabinet.

A spokesman for the Tory leader rebuked Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, after she declined to apologise for record-high immigration figures.

Kemi Badenoch, speaking on a visit to a farm in Cheshire, swiped that Reform UK are a 'protest party' as she dismissed their recent surge in opinion polls

The Tory leader also said she was 'not at all' worried about Nigel Farage's party staging a major rally in her constituency

The rally in Quendon, North West Essex, is expected to see speeches from all five of Reform's MPs - including Mr Farage - with the party boasting the area is a 'target seat'

Speaking to The Sun, Dame Priti said it was 'totally distortionary' to suggest the previous Tory government had 'thrown open our borders' to the rest of the world.

Official figures show net migration has soared since the UK left the EU in January 2020, reaching a record high of 903,000 in the year to June 2023.

Dame Priti, who served as home secretary between 2019 and 2022, said she was 'not fine' with the levels of immigration in the past three years.

But she declined to apologise for the figures and said the previous government had 'made it quite clear it would be people from the rest of the world, people with skills' coming into the UK after Brexit.

In an apparent rebuke of Dame Priti, a spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said the Tories under her leadership 'will tell the truth about the mistakes we made'.

He added: 'While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.'

Dame Priti later clarified her comments, saying the UK's immigration system was 'not fit for purpose' and she was 'not happy about the high numbers while the Conservatives were in government'.

She added: 'Our party is now under new leadership and it is important we learn from our mistakes and how we can do things better.'

Mr Farage seized on Dame Priti's remarks and told his supporters: 'The Conservatives must never be forgiven for their immigration betrayal. What was Priti Patel thinking?'

The latest Survation poll showed Reform were backed by 24 per cent of voters - two percentage points ahead of the Tories and just three points behind Labour

Mrs Badenoch played down concerns about Reform's challenge to her party after slapping down shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel

The row came as a slew of new opinion polls showed Reform maintaining a challenge to both the Tories and Labour.

But asked about the rise of Reform in the polls on a visit to a farm in Cheshire today, Mrs Badenoch said: 'The reason why we were kicked out six months ago is because people were unhappy with our government.

'We are now under new leadership and I'm working to change that, but it's not going to happen overnight.

'What is astonishing is how badly Labour is doing. They should still be in a honeymoon period and people in this country are crying out for serious politics.

'It's not a surprise that at the moment protest parties are gaining in the polls, but the job that the British people have given me is to fight for them, be the leader of the opposition, hold the Government to account.

'That's why I'm here talking about the family farm tax. It's really important that we tell people what's going on with farming and how Labour's policies are going to destroy it.

'That's much more important than having a rally about myself.'

Asked whether she was worried about Reform staging a rally in her constituency, she said: 'Not at all.'

Another survey has shown Reform are four percentage points ahead of Labour and six points ahead of the Tories.

The latest research by Find Out Now, which has been conducting regular voting intention polls since November, put Reform on 27 per cent support, Labour on 23 per cent, and the Tories on 21 per cent.

The pollster's surveys since the beginning of this year have consistently put Reform level with or ahead of Labour and the Tories.
People living in a Kent village have slammed the decision to welcome 100 new pupils to a local school, claiming parents' dodgy parking already causes chaos.

Locals in Marden, just outside Maidstone, said parents of children at Marden Primary Academy block their driveways, park on zigzag lines and abandon their cars while dropping off.

But Maidstone Borough Council's Planning Committee voted unanimously to expand the school - taking the total number of pupils from 292 to 397 - and add a new single-storey building.

The council said the primary academy needed to grow from its current 'one and a half form' entry to instead have two classes per year group because of all the new homes in the area.

Residents of the village in the Maidstone borough are worried this will put even more pressure on Goudhurst Road - the main route through Marden and the street the school is on.

Councillor Claudine Russell, who represents the ward containing Marden, said: 'You see the parents dropping their kids off. They park on the yellow zigzags. They block people's driveways. They go wherever.

'Let's be clear. It's not parking. It's car abandonment!'

Locals in the village of Marden, just outside Maidstone, Kent, said parents of children at Marden Primary Academy block their driveways, park on zigzag lines (pictured) and abandon their cars while dropping off

Councillor Russell said of parents' school run driving in Marden (pictured): 'It's not parking. It's car abandonment!'

While the school has staff parking, there is no off-street parking for parents or visitors.

The new building the school have been allowed to construct will contain four classrooms, a dining hall, kitchen, staff room and new hard surface play areas.

Conservative Councillor Russell said having more pupils means more cars in the village: 'We need to have a realistic view about what that is going to do to the main road through Marden.'

Councillor Tony Harwood - the borough council's cabinet member for planning policy and management - had environmental and health concerns about the development.

The Liberal Democrat claimed to see parents 'sitting in a pool of fumes' when he visited the school.

The representative for Penenden Heath ward, a suburb of Maidstone town, said: 'There were a number of 4x4 [cars], sitting with their engines chugging away for half an hour before the school was even due out.'

Labour's Councillor Maureen Cleator - for Shepway ward just outside the town of Maidstone - claimed there was similar behaviour at the school near her home.

She said: 'The parents sit there with their engines running - and I know for a fact that many of them are not even driving very far to pick their kids up.'

The people who run the village hall are also frustrated at parents of the academy's students - saying they park in their spaces, blocking out those using the hall.

Trustees of the Marden Memorial Hall said they were 'actively looking at ways to stop unauthorised parking'.

The owners of Marden Pre-School said it is affected by parents blocking access to the hall too: 'We use the Memorial Hall and our customers often cannot use the car park to drop-off their children [because of school parking].'

Councillors suggested Leigh Academies Trust, which runs Marden Primary Academy, should employ a lollipop person to at least discourage parents from parking on the zigzags.

They also said the academy should organise a walking bus - a regular group that walk to school - to cut down road traffic.

But planning committee chairman and Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Wilby said while the school will arrange a walking bus, it was not legally possible to compel the trust to employ a lollipop person.

Councillor Cleator, though, felt the school was more than able to afford a lollipop person: 'The Leigh Academy Trust is a very rich, very big multi-academy trust.

'It has got a lot of money. They certainly pay their chief executive a lot.'

Councillors Tony Harwood (left) and Claudine Russell (right) both have fears over expansion of the school

The people who run the village hall in Marden (pictured) are also frustrated at parents of the local school's students - saying they park in their spaces, blocking out those using the hall

Other councillors criticised the fact that the new school building would be placed right up against the boundary with its neighbours

Chief executive Simon Beamish's salary is between 300,000 and 310,000 a year, according to the last publicly available set of accounts for the Leigh Academies Trust from August 2023.

Councillors were also worried that three trees would be cut down to make way for the development.

Leigh Academies Trust will plant 11 new ones elsewhere - but the Green Party's Councillor Mike Summersgill doubted whether these new trees would be looked after.

Councillor Summersgill, who represents the ward Marden is in alongside Councillor Russell, said: 'Can we ensure the trust looks after these trees better than they have in the past?

'Tree loss on the site has been a big concern for many local people.'

Other councillors criticised the fact that the new school building would be placed right up against the boundary with its neighbours.

But planning officers said this was done to protect an oak tree to the north of the proposed new building.

Representatives also worried about the fate of the great crested newts known to live on the land - after a pond onsite was filled in to cater for the planning application.

The trust admitted there is no plan to transfer the newts.

It will instead fulfil its legal duties by paying 33,000 to Natural England to create new ponds for the newts elsewhere.

The approved school expansion will be entirely paid for by Section 106 money and Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL) - money for infrastructure, paid to Maidstone Borough Council by any local developers.

Leigh Academies Trust was approached for a comment.
A transgender Black Hawk pilot has been wrongly named as one of the three US Army personnel flying the helicopter that collided with a plane in Washington DC.

Jo Ellis, 34, was misidentified as the female co-pilot of the doomed chopper on Thursday.

A shaken-sounding Ellis picked up the phone when called by DailyMail.com Friday morning, confirming that she was not killed.

Ellis added: 'I am very much alive.'

She said the false rumors had 'shocked,' her with the Pentagon said to be preparing a statement in a bid to debunk the online lies.

Ellis, who previously worked for CNN star Michael Smerconish, said the slurs are 'disrespectful to the families' of the 67 people killed in Wednesday night's disaster.

On Friday, it emerged the co-pilot of the US Army Black Hawk Sikorsky UH-60 was female servicemember on a training sortie.

She has not been identified.

Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves and Ryan O'Hara from Georgia were the other two service personnel on board.

Transgender servicewoman Jo Ellis has been falsely named as the co-pilot of the US Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into a passenger plane Wednesday night, killing 67

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves and Paul O'Hara from Georgia were both on board the crashed Black Hawk and died in the explosion. A third, female co-pilot has not been named

The helicopter is said to have flown at a higher than normal altitude when it collided with American Eagle flight 5342 as it came into land at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC shortly before 9pm ET Wednesday night.

Horrifying video footage showed the two aircraft collide in a fireball before plunging into the icy Potomac River just east of Reagan's runways.

The three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk were all killed, as were the 60 passengers and four crew aboard the Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft.

Investigators are still working to establish what caused the crash, with recovery efforts ongoing Friday as 14 bodies remain in the water.

On Thursday night it emerged an air traffic controller at Reagan airport had been sent home from their shift early, meaning on person was in charge of both plane and helicopter traffic.

Footage of the Black Hawk crashing into the side of the plane has also sparked speculation the chopper was to blame.

Robert Isoms, CEO of American Eagle's parent company American Airlines, questioned why the chopper had crossed the path of the airliner.

President Trump suggested diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies were to blame, with some online 'sleuths' subsequently singling out Jo Ellis.

A blog written by Ellis said she had spent her childhood homeschooled for most of her education, and had struggled with gender dysmorphia since the age of five.

Ellis spent years in the military and says she knew she was trans from a young age, but only began living as a woman recently

She recently penned a soul-baring blog about life as a trans servicewoman for CNN star Michael Smerconish - her former employer

This is the moment the Black Hawk helicopter collided with the American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-7000 Wednesday evening, killing all 67 on board

Recovery efforts continue on Friday morning, with 14 bodies still unaccounted for

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

She joined the military in 2009 as a 15G helicopter mechanic in the Virginia National Guard, and went on to deploy to Iraq with Operation New Dawn two years later.

After earning the Air Medal for her valor in the Middle East, she also served in Guatemala and Kuwait in subsequent years.

While saying she worked through gender dysmorphia by trying to become more successful and more manly, she got married, adopted a dog and raised a stepdaughter, as all the things I thought a good man should do.

Ellis wrote that in 2020, she was accepted into the Armys Warrant Officer Flight Training program. I completed Warrant Officer Candidate School, SERE School (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), and the UH60 Black Hawk helicopter course.

She said that the pandemic and the rigors of flight school led her to confront her gender dysphoria and decide, with the support of her spouse, to transition.

She said when she told her military commanders in 2023, she was met with immediate support.

The day before the tragic collision over Reagan International Airport, Ellis had given an interview with Sirius XM DJ and CNN host Michael Smerconish, whose Smerconish.com website she once managed.

Ellis spoke of her pride in serving 15 years in the military and struggle with gender dysmorphia before coming out.

She said in the interview she currently serves in the National Guard as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, as well as working a private sector IT job.
President Donald Trump tore into the performance of the Army Black Hawk helicopter team who died in a fiery crash with a passenger plane at DC's Ronald Reagan Airport, asking how they could have botched their predetermined flight route.

The extraordinary online missive from the Commander-in-Chief on his Truth Social account came just a day after he blamed diversity hiring practices among air traffic controllers for the crash which left 67 dead in the Potomac River near the White House.

Two of the deceased Army helicopter crew members have been identified. A female co-pilot has yet to be identified, but Fox News reported she had 500 hours of flying experience. They are among the 64 who died int he crash.

'The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it???' Trump posted Friday morning.

On Thursday he ordered an investigation into the fiery crash.

The New York Times reported that the helicopter flew a half mile outside of its approved flight path, and was at about 300 feet during impact when it should have been below 200 feet.

President Trump said it shouldn't be 'too complicated' to understand that the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed with a passenger jet Wednesday was flying beyond its proscribed altitude. 'The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot,' Trump posted online Friday

Trump's new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Friday: 'We're looking at altitude, and the president was clear about that: someone was at the wrong altitude. The investigation will help us understand that. Was the Black Hawk too high, was it on course? Right now, we don't quite know.'

Trump also said Thursday that both aircraft were at the 'same height' during an extraordinary pair of White House events where he blamed D.E.I. hiring practices for the crash and then dismissed a trip to the recovery site with a joke about swimming.

Trump's brief post about the Black Hawk's fatal flight path comes a recovery efforts to continue at the site where American Eagle flight 5342 and the Black Hawk on a night training mission crashed.

The flight instructor has been identified as Chief Warrant Office 2 Andrew Eaves. Both he and the unidentified female copilot were being evaluated during the flight.

'We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,' his wife Carrie Eaves posted online.

Ryan O'Hara has been identified as the crew chief. He had a wife and one-year-old son.

Trump declined to criticize the military night time training exercise when asked about it Thursday. Nor did he raise issues with the heavy flow of air traffic at the nation's busiest runway.

This image obtained on January 31, 2025, from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington, DC, shows NTSB investigators inspecting a black box from American Airlines flight 5342

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves has been identified as the pilot on board the Black Hawk Army helicopter

Trump tore into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his remarks, which followed a moment of silence for victims

His immediate complaints about DEI drew howls from Democrats.

'Its one thing for internet pundits to spew up conspiracy theories. Its another for the President of the United States of America to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified,' said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York. 'It just turns your stomach,' he added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended Donald Trump's criticism of DEI hiring practices in government and revealed new details about the investigation surrounding the fatal plane crash in D.C.

On Wednesday evening, a military Black Hawk helicopter crashed with a civilian airliner above airspace in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

The defense secretary appeared on Fox News to discuss the tragedy on Friday, revealing that the investigation was focusing primarily on the altitude of the plane and the Black Hawk.

We are looking at altitude, and the president was clear about that, someone was at the wrong altitude, Hegseth said. Was the Black Hawk too high? Was it on course? Right now we dont quite know.

President Trump revealed on social media Friday morning that the helicopter was flying too high.

It was far above the 200 foot limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it??? the president wrote on TruthSocial.

Hegseth confirmed that three soldiers were aboard the Black Hawk helicopter but could not conclusively say which pilot was flying the helicopter at the time of the crash.

You had a captain in training. You had a chief warrant officer too as an instructor. And then you also had a staff sergeant in that Black Hawk as well, he said.

Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves has been identified as the pilot on board the Black Hawk Army helicopter, the crew chief was identified as Ryan O'Hara.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks with reporters

Two of the soldiers deployed on the Blackhawk helicopter flight that crashed into a civilian airliner

The female co-pilot has yet to be named.

Hegseth said the military wanted to make sure the families were notified before revealing the names of everyone killed in the crash.

He defended President Donald Trumps claim that diversity, equity and inclusion programs within government were partially to blame for the crash.

The environment around which we choose pilots or air traffic controllers, as the president pointed out correctly yesterday, better be highest possible standard,' he said. 'The best of the best who are managing, you know  a flight a minute and managing radio traffic.'

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks with the media after arriving at the Pentagon

Hegseth backed Trumps efforts to root out DEI programs out of the federal government, especially among air traffic controllers.

I dont care what background they come from, what their race is, what their gender is, if they are rich or poor. I just need them to be good at their job because I need my flight to land safely, he said.

Hegseth also promised to root out DEI programs out of the Defense Department, blaming former President Joe Biden for implementing the practice throughout government.

For too long under Biden cared about this things, emphasize those things, pushed real or perceived quotes at the Defense Department, he said.

We are ending all of that, its been made very clear across all of our services and commands, is it merit only and this means we will get the best of the best.
Rachel Reeves suffered a fresh blow today as AstraZeneca cancelled a huge 450million investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant.

The pharma giant blamed the Labour government reducing support as it dramatically torpedoed the development on Merseyside.

Then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced at the Budget last March that the firm would be expanding its existing facility in Speke.

The Tory administration hailed the investment as boosting the UK's life sciences sector, as well as improving public health protection in the wake of the pandemic.

But a spokesman for AstraZeneca said today: 'Following discussions with the current Government, we are no longer pursuing our planned investment in Speke.

'Several factors have influenced this decision including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government's proposal.'

Rachel Reeves suffered a fresh blow today as AstraZeneca cancelled a huge 450million investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant

The pharma giant blamed the Labour government reducing support as it dramatically torpedoed the development on Merseyside

The existing facility, which produces the flu vaccine, will continue to operate and no current jobs are at risk.

The decision by the UK's most valuable company is humiliating for Ms Reeves after she spent weeks boasting of her determination to grow the economy and bring in more investment.

Her October Budget - including a massive national insurance raid on firms - has been blamed for crushing activity.

The previous deal with AstraZeneca is believed to have included 70million in grants and 20million in research and development funding from the UK Health Security Agency.

Tory MP Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: 'There's no vaccine for incompetence.

'In the same week they talked about growth, Labour seem to have fumbled a deal with AstraZeneca, one of the UK's largest companies and central to the critical life sciences sector.

'This is yet another sign that their tax rises and changes to employment law have made the UK an unattractive place to invest.

'When will Labour learn that only businesses can create growth and jobs in the economy.'

Before Christmas AstraZeneca revealed that it would be investing $3.5bn in research and development and manufacturing in the US.

America is the world's largest pharma market and generates 44 per cent of the company's sales.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock has warned that the UK needs to improve its own vaccine manufacturing capability as a 'critical' part of preparing for a future pandemic.

Mr Hancock told the Covid Inquiry earlier this month that Britain's vaccine manufacturing capacity was 'weak'.

He added: 'having that manufacture and fill and finish onshore, physically within the UK, is critical in the way that it simply isn't in normal times'.
Joking to a pregnant female colleague that shes mad for having more children is not discrimination, an employment tribunal has ruled

NHS worker Samina Ashraf had sued NHS England for sex, racial and religious harassment after manager David Marston made the light-hearted comment during a speech wishing her well before she went on maternity leave.

But an employment panel threw out her claim ruling that difficulties of parenting can be felt regardless of race, sex or religion.

As a result rueful but warm light hearted comments about the challenges of having children do not breach workplace equality laws, it said.

Ms Ashraf, a patient safety manager, had launched the action over the speech made by Mr Marston in 2019 when the pair worked for Health Education England, a public body absorbed by the NHS in 2023.

During the short address, her boss had quipped that she was mad for having more kids.

He later told the tribunal the comment was a bad joke at his expense because he had two young children at the time so having more sounded like madness to him.

But Ms Ashraf claimed the comment was harassment and that Mr Marston had said it randomly across the office and not as part of a speech.

The employment tribunal in central London heard at the time the pair worked for Health Education England, a public body absorbed by the NHS in 2023. Pictured: Heath Education England, Crawley

However, employment Judge Graeme Hodgson found that the reason Ms Ashraf was unhappy with the comment was because she viewed her boss 'in a seriously negative light and felt any interaction was 'unwanted'

He said: 'We accept that [Mr Marstons] comment was meant to be a joke, particularly given it was put in the context of describing [Ms Ashraf] as an excellent mother.

'We accept that the conduct was unwanted, but we dont accept that Mr Marston could have known that.

'[Ms Ashraf] finding Mr Marstons conduct unwelcome did not arise from Mr Marstons conduct on that occasion.

'At the time he did not know the claimant viewed him in a seriously negative light. Had he known that, he may have trod more cautiously.

'His conduct was unwanted because she viewed his conduct, generally, as unwanted, even conduct which was objectively reasonable and justified.'

EJ Hodgson added that although the joke was not the most successful', it was not harassment because the difficulties of parenting can be felt regardless of race, sex or religion.

'This was a well meant comment, which was essentially innocuous,' he added.

'Even if it was not the most successful attempt at humour, it was obviously a joke made at his own expense, and in support of his general assertion [Ms Ashraf] was an excellent mother.

'It related to a general rueful, but warm, view of the difficulties of parenting.

'Those difficulties may be felt by all, regardless of race, religion, or sex. It was essentially an inclusive comment.'

In another allegation Ms Ashraf complained that after she came back from maternity leave she asked to start a postgraduate degree but Mr Marston told her how can a mother do a masters degree?.

She also claimed that he compared her to a male colleague who had undertaken the qualification, saying he is younger than you, single and does not have a kid.

However, EJ Hodgson found these offensive and inappropriate comments were never made by Mr Marston and Ms Ashraf had no evidence of either remark.

Ms Ashraf also told the tribunal she was denied bereavement leave, which she considered religious discrimination, but EJ Hodgson concluded that she never requested bereavement leave and so it could not have been granted in the first place.

Ms Ashraf also alleged that she had been discriminated against by being removed from meetings and refused professional development opportunities.

EJ Hodgson found that none of these allegations were well-founded and dismissed all of her claims for sex, religious and racial discrimination.
MPs have been warned they could face a fresh crackdown on their outside earnings after a House of Commons watchdog launched a probe.

The Standards Committee is looking into whether there should be a change in the rules relating to MPs' second jobs and other interests away from Parliament.

It will look at the 'effectiveness' of the current rules in the MPs' code of conduct, and also consider proposals for a 'qualified prohibition' on outside interests.

This could mean some MPs having to give up those roles they hold away from Westminster and separate to their parliamentary duties.

There has been renewed scrutiny of MPs' second jobs following the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal in late 2021.

At the height of the row, Sir Keir Starmer - the then leader of the opposition - touted a total ban on MPs having second jobs with 'very limited exceptions'.

Following his general election victory in July, the PM acted to close loopholes allowing MPs to hold paid lobbying or advisory roles as long as they relate to policy or how Parliament works.

Labour also established a 'Modernisation Committee' to consider reforms to Commons rules and working practices.

MPs have been warned they could face a fresh crackdown on their outside earnings after a House of Commons watchdog launched a probe

There has been renewed scrutiny of MPs' second jobs following the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal in late 2021

The party's election manifesto had pledged to task this committee with 'urgent work on the restrictions that need to be put in place to prevent MPs from taking up roles that stop them serving their constituents and the country'.

Labour MP Lucy Powell, chair of the Modernisation Committee and Leader of the House of Commons, said: 'I welcome the Standards Committee taking forward this important piece of work on MPs outside interests.

'The Government tightened the rules on outside employment for MPs in our first days in office, but we have a manifesto commitment to go further.

'I'm clear that an MP's priority must be first and foremost to serve their constituents. We must all meet very high expectations that we are focussed on our roles as MPs.

'Trust in politics has been damaged over recent years and it is in all our interests to close the gap between the public and politicians.'

Sir Keir made his 2021 promise to restrict MPs' second jobs in the wake of Mr Paterson, a former Tory minister, being found to have broken lobbying rules.

It was ruled by a Commons watchdog that Mr Paterson 'repeatedly used his privileged position' to benefit Randox, a clinical diagnostics company, and Lynn's Country Foods, a meat processor and distributor, as part of his 110,000-a-year private sector work.

Shortly after, it was revealed how Sir Geoffrey Cox - a former attorney general - voted by proxy in the Commons while earning hundreds of thousands of pounds for legal work more than 4,000 miles away in the Caribbean.

Sir Keir later defended David Lammy, now the Foreign Secretary, for earning 200,000 from second jobs over the course of three years.

A Sky News and Tortoise Media analysis found MPs made a total of more than 17million from outside work during the last parliament.

Sir Keir said Mr Lammy's outside earnings came from 'media work and writing books', which he added was 'all part of the political process'.

In May last year, Labour won the Blackpool South by-election that was prompted by the resignation of Scott Benton as the constituency's MP.

It came after an undercover investigation by The Times saw Mr Benton filmed saying he was prepared to leak market sensitive information to a bogus investment fund.

He also offered to lobby ministers on behalf of gambling investors - who were actually newspaper reporters posing as business representatives - in exchange for payment.

Several Tory MPs in the last Parliament worked as regular TV presenters on GB News, often receiving significant payments on top of their MP salaries.

In the current Parliament, Reform UK MPs Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson host regular GB News shows, while several others have already listed payments for TV appearances and newspaper articles in their registers of interests.

Several MPs continue to work as either medical practitioners or lawyers in order to maintain their professional qualifications, while others act as company directors or advisors.
It is five years since that glorious moment when I stood in the pillared room in Downing Street as a cheering crowd counted down the seconds to midnight  and BONG!

I smote a small gong (Big Ben then being out of action) and Britain left the European Union. As I look back, I am more confident than ever that our country did the right thing.

In fact, I continue to marvel at the sheer heroism of the British people. It was they  you  who voted for freedom. It was the people of this country who voted to restore our independence. That vote in 2016 was the biggest show of democratic support for any proposition or political party in the history of the UK, and it was against all the odds.

Every leader of a major political party was urging the people to vote Remain; so were most MPs and most members of the House of Lords. The broadcasters, the CBI, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a parade of foreign leaders  all of them wagged their fingers at the British public and told them that they would be mad to leave the EU.

The British were hectored; they were threatened, and they were told  lets face it  a pack of lies.

Not by the Leave campaign, oh no, and certainly not by the Great Red Bus of Truth (I could expand on the veracity of that point about the 350 million, if you insist).

I smote a small gong (Big Ben then being out of action) and Britain left the European Union, writes Boris Johnson

Five years on it is clear that, on the contrary, it was the Remainers who were wrong, and that their pessimism was unfounded. We were told that if we voted to leave the EU, investment would flee the UK, property prices would collapse, unemployment would rise by a million and that it would be necessary to have an emergency tax-raising budget.

They said that Britain would become an economic basket case, the sick man of Europe once again. Remember all that?

Remember that doom-laden leaflet, costing 9million, that was sent to every household in the country, in the hope of making our flesh creep?

It was absolute rubbish. Those who peddled those lies  all of them, Hezza, Campbell, Osborne, Welby  should now be hunted down and made to apologise, blubbing like disgraced Japanese generals before being allowed to commit ritual seppuku live on GB News.

There was no fall in the property market, quite the reverse. There was no spike in unemployment. When the Tories left office in 2024, we had the fastest growing economy in the G7, and we had unemployment at a 50-year low.

As for comparisons between the UK and the remaining members of the EU  the Eurozone is stagnant, and have you seen what is happening in Germany?

They have just recorded two years of negative growth, and fall in activity is so pronounced that profits at Deutsche Bank have fallen 92 per cent. If that is the European model, surely it is obvious that we are better off out of it.

When you look at what has actually happened since Brexit you can see the immanent wisdom of the people. With their massive common sense, they refused to be intimidated.

They held up two fingers to all those who told them Britain was too feeble to leave the EU, and five years ago  obedient to their mandate  we scrupulously took back control. We took back control of our laws, our borders, our fish, and huge sums of taxpayers money.

Of course, I am proud of what we did with those new Brexit freedoms, in the relatively short time I was in No 10. We cut taxes on all sorts of things, from tampons to solar panels. We cut tariffs and did dozens of free trade deals of a kind that would, of course, have been impossible in the EU. Even amid the agony of Covid, we found  serendipitously  a crucial Brexit advantage. By delivering a full and proper Brexit, we came out of both the customs union and single market  and ceased to be bound by the decisions of EU institutions such as the European Medicines Agency.

This meant that we did not have to wait for the EU in order to give approval to lifesaving vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others; and that meant we were able to get on with vaccinating our public weeks and weeks before the 27 EU countries.

In the early months of 2021, when hundreds of elderly people were dying of Covid every day, that mattered a very great deal. Let me remind you that by

March 2021 we had vaccinated 45 per cent of the UK adult population, and the particularly vulnerable, including those over 80, had almost 100 per cent vaccine protection.

Across the EU they had vaccinated only 10 per cent of their population. At a crucial moment of national distress, we were able to protect people precisely because we were independent of the EU. Yes, Mes Amis, Brexit saved lives. Some now claim that we could have somehow done that anyway, within the EU. That is transparent nonsense.

Boris Johnson gives a thumbs up after signing the Brexit trade deal at No10 on December 30, 2020

If we had stayed in the EU, we would have stayed instinctively with the European Medicines Agency timetable, we would have stayed in the European vaccines procurement programme  and our vaccine roll-out would have been appreciably slower, at a life-and-death moment for the British people.

It was thanks to that speedy vaccine roll-out, of course, that we were able to come out of Covid restrictions far faster than the rest of Europe, and to stage the fastest economic recovery in the G7.

Brexit has already proved its worth. It was thanks to Brexit that the UK was able to show leadership in Ukraine, and to deliver the Aukus defence pact with the US and Australia, among much else. This is not the time to go slow, but to double down.

We need to continue to expand and exploit those freedoms, in everything from AI to biosciences to financial services, to make this country by far the best place to live and invest. We need to look at what is happening in Trumps America, not tie ourselves back to the comatose EU.

Instead, we are told that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are planning, this month, to begin a process of selling out  drifting back undemocratically into alignment with the zero-growth single market. Is that really what this country needs, after the catastrophic October Budget from Rachel from Accounts? More regulation, more red tape  and imposed by Brussels?

I know that Kemi Badenoch is a staunch Brexiteer, and that she will watch and denounce any Starmerite surrenderism. We must set red lines now: not a penny of UK taxpayers money to the EU; complete control of our borders, our laws, our fish; no role for the European Court in the UK; and no return to the customs union or single market.

Above all, we need to believe in ourselves, and in what an independent Britain can do. Brexit means nothing unless you have a government that truly believes in Brexit, and Britain will never truly succeed until the British ruling classes finally share the pride and self-confidence of the people themselves.

Can we rely on Starmer to get it? Of course not. Which is why we must fight, fight, fight for the return of a government that does.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will become the first world leader to visit the White House on Tuesday when he holds meetings with President Donald Trump.

A senior administration official confirmed the trip, but stressed that it was a 'working meeting' without the ceremony of an 'official visit.'

DailyMail.com understands that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also due to visit in February, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also expected soon.

Netanyahu's place at the top of the list lays down a marker for Trump's priorities in office, as he eyes the next step in a tricky negotiation between Hamas and Israel, and pushes for the reconstruction of Gaza.

The issue dominated his second week in office after he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he wanted Jordan and Egypt to take refugees from 'demolition zone' Gaza.

He also previewed his plans for a meeting telling reporters he expected Netanyahu in Washington 'in the not too distant future.'

In his invitation to the Israeli prime minister, Trump wrote: 'I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.'

Netanyahu has been a frequent guest of presidents of both parties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. The two are seen here at the White House in 2020

Sir Keir Starmer, British prime minister, is also expected to visit in February

He was last at the White House in July when he met President Joe Biden, and he addressed lawmakers at a joint session of Congress.

The order is a change from Trump's first time in office.

Then his first guest was Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservative Party is more closely aligned with Trump than Starmer's Labour Party.

Trump's allies have been irritated by past comments made by some of Starmer's office holders and by Lord Peter Mandelson, the incoming British ambassador.

However, Trump has tamped down questions about rifts with Washington's closest ally and has had only warm words for Starmer since taking office.

'I think hes done a very good job thus far,' he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

'Hes represented his country in terms of his philosophy. I may not agree with his philosophy but I have a very good relationship with him.'

The Trump administration says it could take more than 10 years to rebuild Gaza.

The two spoke by phone on Sunday, making Starmer the first European leader to talk with Trump.

Trump and his administration have focused much of their time and attention on leaders in Central and Southern America as they look to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

But Trump also spoke with Modi on Monday, and officials from both sides are working to establish a date for a visit.

The president is expected to sign more executive orders Friday, as he keeps up a busy pace at the end of his second week back in office.

He is due to spend the weekend at this Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
A 'show off' driver who admitted to racing at '120mph' before causing a horror crash that killed his 18-year-old passenger asked police: 'Am I going to prison for this?'

Reckless Jack Cracknell clocked a speed of 117mph before he lost control of his high-powered Ford Fiesta ST as he raced through a 40mph zone.

Ignoring the desperate pleas of his four passengers to stop, cocky Cracknell went on to clip a kerb, plough through a roundabout and smash into the Old Gate Inn pub in Canterbury, Kent.

The crash in the early hours of December 3, 2022, left rear-seat passenger Lucy Billingham dead and Colby Ainger, who was also in the back of the car, with a broken wrist.

In police body-worn footage filmed shortly after the fatal smash, a bloodied Cracknell - who was today jailed for his crime - says: 'I'm so, so sorry.'

Sitting inside the pub he rammed his Ford into, he then ask a police officer: 'Can you tell me, am I going to prison for this?'

'It depends what happens,' responds the officer. 'Obviously you are telling me you're going to go to prison. I don't know how you were driving before or what you were doing.'

In a clip later on, the officer can be heard quizzing Cracknell about his driving, asking: 'How fast were you going?'

Lucy Billingham, 18, was killed when Jack Cracknell lost control of his car and slammed into a pub having been racing at speeds of 117mph

In footage filmed on police body-worn cameras, a bloodied Cracknell can he heard asking if he is going to go to prison

'A hundred and twenty,' he replies.

'A hundred and twenty?' the police officer says, incredulously.

'Yeah I know, it's stupid. I'm definitely going to prison,' Cracknell - then aged 20 - is heard saying.

The 22-year-old has now been jailed for six years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Caging Cracknell, Judge Simon James said the reckless motorist's 'desire for danger and speed' had led to the deadly crash and that it was 'a miracle' anyone had survived.

'You were driving at speeds well in excess of 100mph on a residential road where the speed limit is 40mph,' the judge said, reported KentOnline.

'You ignored pleas from your passengers to slow down before losing control and striking a kerb. The impact sent the vehicle spinning into collision with an adjacent building and the car eventually came to rest on its roof.

'Looking at the photographs of the resultant damage it is a miracle that anyone survived.

'Lucy's death was caused by your irresponsibility, criminally reckless speed and abject failure to have regard to the safety of others.

The horror crash took place on December 3, 2022, in the early hours of the morning. Cracknell (pictured) has now been jailed for six year for causing death by dangerous driving

'And although you didn't intend to kill her, your desire for danger and speed directly caused her death.'

The court heard that Cracknell was driving Lucy and three friends from Canterbury's Club Chemistry to a nearby hotel when the tragedy happened at 4.20am.

During the trip, the butcher from the village of Ospringe, Kent, 'put his foot down' and began to drive 'faster and faster'.

Analysis later revealed his Fiesta had been speeding for potentially 1.3 miles and was travelling at 117mph just five seconds before it hit the kerb at 85mph.

Prosecutor Mr Stevenson said the defendant's driving was making passenger Louis Kennett 'feel unsafe'.

Cracknell sped past the hotel and continued along New Dover Road, increasing his speed as his passengers begged him to stop, police said.

He then clipped the kerb, lost control and crashed.

Lucy suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.

Mr Kennett, who was best friends with Lucy, branded Cracknell's driving as 'murderous'.

In a statement read at Canterbury Crown Court, he said he felt 'angry, upset and uncomfortable all over' whenever he thought about that fateful night.

He added: 'You, Jack Cracknell, are a stupid, irresponsible person and your actions are murderous.

'I'm definitely going to prison' Cracknell is heard telling officers shortly after the crash

'You were ignorant to my warnings to stop at the hotel and you continued to speed up. You were showing off to everyone else in the car and making me feel scared.'

He added: 'I hope you regret this every day of your life.'

In a statement, Lucy's mother Heather Kemsley, described her daughter 'a bright, bubbly girl, just coming out of her shell' and who was 'really excited' about starting a new job at a Wetherspoon pub.

'When Lucy died it broke me. It broke the whole family. I have lost my daughter who I was just starting to bond with again and build up a relationship with,' she said.

Jailing Cracknell for six years, Judge Simon James said Lucy was 'a ball of energy, vibrant and popular' and that no sentence imposed could 'possibly come anywhere close to bringing peace and solace' to those who knew her.

'I have little doubt that those closely connected with Lucy who continue to mourn her tragic passing will consider that the sentence comes no way close to compensating for her loss,' the judge added.

Cracknell was also given an eight-year driving ban.

In a statement after the hearing, Detective Constable Lee Berridge, Kent Police's investigating officer, said: 'I hope this tragic case sends out a message to all motorists that driving recklessly and at high speeds can have catastrophic consequences.

'Lucy Billingham's death was completely avoidable, had Cracknell driven sensibly and within the speed limit on the night of this incident.

'My thoughts and those of my team are with her family and friends, as they continue to remember her and mourn their loss.'
A young Texas girl said she wet her pants at school after a teacher blocked her from using the bathroom - only to be sent back to class in her soiled clothes.

The humiliating incident occurred at the Harmony School of Excellence in Houston, which is ranked in the top 150 for Texas elementary and middle schools by US News and World Report.

Jalia Burchett, 12, was physically blocked from using the restroom by a teacher monitoring the halls on January 24, she told KTRK.

She was told that she wasn't allowed in the restroom in between classes and didn't have a pass.

Then, on her way to class, Jalia said she fell and peed herself. She went to the nurse's office for help but was told to return to class as they didn't have pants she could borrow in her size.

Jalia's mother, April Smith, was furious and confused when she received a text from her daughter explaining the situation.

'She's 12. "Why would you pee on yourself?" She told me a teacher essentially blocked her from using the restroom, and they didn't have any pants for her, so she needed pants,' Smith told KTRK.

As Jalia waited in class wearing wet jeans, Smith ordered her fresh underwear and pants via Instacart, as she was at work and couldn't drop the clothes off herself.

April Smith was shocked and confused when her 12-year-old daughter texted her to say that she wet her pants in school

Harmony School of Excellence is a highly ranked charter school in Houston, Texas

Smith told KTRK that she was never notified about the incident and had to contact the school to find out what happened.

She called the front desk and instructed them to bring Jalia to the front office so she could wait for fresh clothes.

'It is just inhumane, so Jaila didn't go to school on Monday,' Smith said. 'I let her decompress all weekend, and on Tuesday, I called the dean back to see what actions were taken.'

'I don't think I would ever trust a school like that anymore,' Jalia told KTRK.

Smith said that she was initially told by the school that no action would be taken, but the district has since put the staffers involved on paid administrative leave.

The Harmony Public School District said in a statement that Jalia wasn't blocked from using the bathroom and was told to get a pass and then come back, KTRK reported. The school added that it is continuing to look into the matter.

Smith said she pulled her daughter from school and is considering taking legal action.

'I understand that there has to be structure and there has to be policies, but for a 12-year-old to be forced to use the restroom on themselves and to go to class and sit in their wet pants is unacceptable,' she said.

The Harmony School of Excellence is a charter school for children in kindergarten through the eighth grade. It's a part of the Harmony Public School district, which includes 75 schools.

The district counts more than 45,000 students and boasts a 100% college acceptance rate.

Despite the school's high ranks, parents have complained about the way their children have been treated.

Jalia Burchett, 12, said she was prevented from using the restroom at her middle school

The Harmony School of Excellence is a charter school for children in kindergarten through the eighth grade

Last January, the mother of a 15-year-old student with special needs claimed that her son left Harmony Science Academy with a red mark across his face, a burn on his hand, and a busted lip.

The mom told KPRC that the school never notified her of her son's injuries and how he got them remained a mystery.

Her son is nonverbal and she expressed concern that someone at the school assaulted him.

Harmony Public Schools said at the time that it didn't believe the school was at fault for his injuries.

'This is every parent's worst nightmare and I am sick of it. I trusted that school to take care of my child,' the mother told KPRC.

DailyMail.com reached out to Harmony Public Schools for comment.
A handful of senior FBI employees have been told to resign within days or be fired as President Donald Trump continues his war on downsizing the federal government.

The move came as Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to lead the federal agency, faced a contentious confirmation hearing with senators where he vowed not to look backward and punish perceived rivals.

'I have no interest, no desire, and will not, If confirmed, go backwards,' Patel, who has been critical of the agency, said at his Thursday hearing. 'There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI.'

Senators also asked about what they called an 'enemies list,' which comes from Patel's 2023 book, 'Government Gangsters.' The book names more than 50 current or former American officials that Patel claims are 'members of the Executive Branch deep state.'

But Patel told senators: 'It's not an enemies list  that is a total mischaracterization.'

President Donald Trump's latest target is the FBI

Trump is focused on clearing out the government as he kicks off his second term.

In particular, he's lasered in on the Justice Department - which the FBI is part of. Trump fired several career attorneys as he moves against what he calls the 'deep state' he alleges is working against him.

The president also has fired several inspectors general at government agencies and his executive order terminating all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has sidelined 395 government bureaucrats.

The FBI officials given the ultimatum had been promoted under Christopher Wray, who stepped down as FBI director this month. FBI directors serve 10 years but Wray resigned after Trump won the election and said he'd fire Wray when he takes office.

The officials include half-dozen 'executive assistant directors,' who are some of the bureau's top managers overseeing criminal, national security and cyber investigations. They are career civil servants, meaning they can't be fired without cause, NBC News reported.

At his hearing, Patel said he doesn't know of any plans to move or fire personnel.

'Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, FBI agents or personnel associated with Trump investigations?' asked Democratic Sen. Cory Booker.

'I am not aware of that, senator,' Patel replied.

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

Kash Patel, President Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, is a break with tradition

FBI agents - particularly those who investigated January 6th or Trump's handling of classified documents - fear retribution

Patel is a break with tradition. In the past, nominees to lead the FBI have had extensive law enforcement experience. Patel is known for his loyalty to Donald Trump and for his accusations against the agency, which he has accused of weaponizing its powers to target Trump.

But he told senators he believes that 98 percent of the FBI was made up of 'courageous apolitical warriors for justice' who 'just need better leadership.'

He has said he will dramatically reshape the agency without offering details on what he exactly plans to do.

Trump and many Republicans believe the FBI has a bias against the president, citing the 2016 Trump-Russia probe, and the Hunter Biden investigation.

That has left hundreds of FBI agents who were assigned to investigate the January 6 insurrection and Trump's handling of classified documents worried they could be next.
Prince Andrews most trusted lieutenant confided in an alleged Chinese spy that his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview was hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful, court documents have revealed.

Dominic Hampshire, a former soldier and equerry to the Duke of Kent, wrote a lengthy letter on Buckingham Palace-headed notepaper in 2020 thanking Yang Tengbo and describing how they had worked together to pass messages between presidents different royal families and very senior business people.

He also told of the dukes struggles dealing with the aftermath of his television interview, during which Andrew was questioned by Emily Maitlis about his association with Jeffrey Epstein and claims by Virginia Giuffre that they had sex when she was 17.

In the lengthy note, Mr Hampshire described how Andrew introduced him to Yang in 2019 and they met at Londons Corinthia hotel where he learned of a whole new level of obsessive confidentiality.

He added: So much has changed since that afternoon tea at the Corinthia. We have dealt with the aftermath of a hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful television interview; we have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we dont completely trust.

Mr Hampshire said he and Yang spoke almost daily and had developed an unusual bond of friendship, trust, support and loyalty.

Describing how Yang sat at the top of the tree outside of Andrews closest confidantes, Mr Hampshire said that in the wake of his disastrous BBC interview, numerous people had disappeared from the princes network because they are simply not true to their word or they are red carpet chasers.

He added that, in contrast, Yang had shown total support and loyalty.

Yang Tengbo, an alleged Chinese spy who also goes by the Anglicised name Chris Yang

Yang at an event alongside Prince Andrew

Dominic Hampshire, a former soldier and equerry to the Duke of Kent

In December, Yang, 50, was unmasked as an alleged spy who was said to be operating on behalf of Chinas United Front Work Department, the arm of the Chinese government that organises Beijing's cultural influence operations.

Yang was banned from returning to the UK in February 2023 on national security grounds. His appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal was rejected in December last year. Hundreds of pages of documents considered by the tribunal were released today.

Yang denies the allegations. In a statement issued ahead of the release of the documents, he said the allegations against me are entirely unfounded, I have done nothing wrong.

Prince Andrew is interviewed by Emily Maitlis on BBC's Newsnight

He added: The UK's position on its dealings with China is inconsistent and erratic.

As a self-made entrepreneur, I have built a successful career facilitating trade and investment between the UK and China.

I was educated at a British university, I'm a UK taxpayer, and my activities have led to significant investment and job creation in the UK.

Stories of entrepreneurial success like this should be encouraged and celebrated, not punished.
A French gynaecologist has been barred from his practice for a month for refusing to examine a transgender patient after he said he was only qualified to treat 'real women'.

Dr Victor Acharian refused to see the 26-year-old patient, who attended the gynaecological appointment with her boyfriend, in August 2023.

He told her that he was 'not competent, but I can guide you' and said that it was not his 'specialty', adding: 'I don't know how to treat them and I don't mind being called ignorant,' Euronews reported.

The patient reportedly called the doctor 'transphobic' before her partner left a comment on the clinic's Google reviews complaining about what had happened.

The doctor replied that he only treated 'real women' and said he had 'no skills to treat men, even if they have shaved their beards and come to tell my secretary that they have become women'.

The incident left the patient in a 'black hole' and in 'shock', according to French press.

Transgender rights organisations also lodged a series of complaints, coming to the patient's defence.

In December, Dr Acharian appeared before the French Medical Council and, now, he has been suspended for a month from March 1, with an additional five months' probation, the Times reported.

Trans protest groups condemn Dr Victor Acharian for saying he was not qualified to treat the transgender patient

Protesters hold a banner reading 'face to the sexual violences, to the phobia of the LGBTQI - abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or questioning)' during a demonstration called by Feminist Strike Movement

Edouard Martial, a lawyer who represented the patient, said: 'We have the satisfaction of having confirmation that what happened that day was totally abnormal.'

Trans group SOS Homophobie claimed that the doctor's actions could have been 'also punishable by criminal sanctions'.

Mar Cambrolle, president of the Trans Platform Federation in Spain, also previously told Euronews: 'It is brutal to deny the right to health, it is a universal right that all citizens have.'

Acharian, who practises in Pau, southwestern France, does have the right to appeal against the suspension, but it is not yet clear whether he will.

The doctor did apologise for causing any offence weeks after the incident and said he had offered to refer the trans patient to a specialist who could help.

It is estimated that 50 per cent of trans people in France cancel or delay their medical appointments to avoid discrimination, according to the latest report published by Doctors of the World.
A five-year-old boy was killed after the hyperbaric chamber in which he was receiving oxygen therapy exploded.

The unidentified child was being treated at the Oxford Center in the northern Detroit suburb of Troy when the explosion killed him instantly and started a fire.

Oakland County Fire Department arrived minutes after the 911 about 8am on Friday, but the boy was already dead.

His mother, who was standing near the chamber when it blew up, was also injured by the blast.

The fire was quickly put out and there was no damage to the rest of the facility. The Oxford Center, which opened in 2008, will be indefinitely closed for investigation.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat various health conditions like carbon monoxide poisoning, diabetic foot ulcers, and the bends.

It wasn't clear what ailment the boy was being treated for.

Police stand outside the Oxford Center where a five-year-old boy was killed when the hyperbaric chamber he was getting oxygen therapy in exploded

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat various health conditions. These are the chambers used at the Oxford Center

The chamber increases air pressure, which helps the lungs take in more oxygen and distribute it to cells, helping to fight infection and damage.

'Explosions and fires have occurred in HBOT chambers that have not been reviewed by the FDA and are located at unaccredited facilities,' FDA advice reads.

Accreditation for hyperbaric chambers is given by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, which only lists two locations in Michigan.

Neither are in Troy, despite the Oxford Center saying it provided the treatment for the past 15 years.

'This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us... The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority,' it said.

'Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy.

'We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place.'
The Trump administration has sent a second 'fork in the road' email to 2 million federal employees talking up an offer to resign  this time dropping in enticing language about enjoying an 'extended vacation' and touring 'dream destinations.'

It offers the lure of no-show, no-work jobs, benefits that keep accruing over time, and even dangles tropical getaways in an effort to persuade employees to move on, according to an email obtained by DailyMail.com.

The striking language, contained in a new FAQ document spelling out the terms of the deal and sent around to workers Thursday evening, comes after Democratic lawmakers called it an illegal trick and an employees' union urged workers to pass on the unusual terms.

The new document poses a series of questions that rattled federal employees might be wondering about as they ponder whether to resign their posts in advance, while still getting paid through the end of September.

'Am I allowed to get a second job during the deferred resignation period?' reads one of the questions in the email, which came from the newly created Office of Personnel Management HR address, hr@opm.gov.

'Absolutely!' is the answer.

President Trump's team has described the offer of 'deferred resignation' as a salve to those who aren't willing to live with his new return-to-office orders. But it is also part of a government-wide purge.

The feds would be allowed to keep their existing work-from-home arrangements after turning in their response by typing 'Resign' into the subject line of their response.

President Donald Trump and his 'DOGE' chief Elon Musk are making moves to remake the federal government, with a 'buyout' deal offering voluntary separations that would include pay through the end of September

But the FAQ sheet makes clear the feds are expecting very little work during the period.

'Can I take an extended vacation while on administrative leave?' goes an additional sample question.

'You are most welcome to stay at home and relax or travel to your dream destination. Whatever you would like,' goes the response.

Another response makes clear that at least in most cases, the government is expecting very little.

'Am I expected to work at my government job during the deferred resignation period?' goes the question.

'No' is the response.

Yet another section, on why deferred resignation is being offered, the document says the workforce is undergoing 'significant changes' and that 'you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your futureand have a nice vacation.'

An administration official summed up the purpose of the new guidance. 'Basically theyre saying youre definitely not going to work.' There might be 'rare instances where agencies might need you to work' which get handled on an agency-by-agency basis.

The fulsomeness of the pitch that explicitly invokes vacation getaways on government time offers a hint that the play for early retirements hasn't generated the anticipated response.

The OPM posted the latest questions and responses as an update to a FAQ that it posted online for employees considering the offer before a Feb. 6 deadline.

Officials said the White House initially said it expected 5-10% of of the workforce to take the deal, for a potential budget savings of $100 billion. That would involve a mass resignation of up to 200,000 people being willing to walk away from positions that typically offer more security than private sector jobs.

Want a getaway? The latest email from the Trump administration says its okay to take 'extended vacation while on administrative leave'. It's part of a push to get workers to resign in advance

President Donald Trump is set to fly to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. His administration wants the 2 million-strong workforce to consider their own summer vacation plans  as well as travel while on the clock

But there are not indications the offer is attracting anything close to that amount of interest, and an Office of Personnel Management spokesperson declined to reveal the number of workers who had accepted the terms.

Still, for workers nearing the retirement or hoping to take a summer break, or fearing the unknown amid DOGE head Elon Musk's vow to slash funds and payrolls, it presents an opportunity.

The AFGE union issued its own fact sheet and warned the effort might be too good to be true.

'Employees should not take the Program at face value. The Program documentation, including the introductory email, an associated guidance memorandum ... are riddled with inconsistencies and uncertainties. It is also unclear whether OPM has the legal authority to support the Program or its alleged benefits, and the eligibility criteria are vague,' it said.

The 'fork in the road' language traces to Musk's takeover of Twitter, and when the offer first broke he posted an image of what he said was a sculpture of a fork in the road. Musk now leads Trump's new Office of Government Efficiency, and has placed many longtime aides at key agencies as part of his bid to transform government.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, whose state is home to thousands of federal employees, this week termed the offer a 'trick' and urged them not to take it.

'The president has no authority to make that offer. Theres no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work,' he said. He compared it to accounts of Trump 'stiffing' contractors during his business career.

'My message to federal employees who received this is: Yeah, the president has tried to terrorize you for about a week, and then gives you a little sweetheart offer if you resign in the next week, we're just going to pay you for doing nothing for the next seven months. Dont be fooled! Hes tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign, hell stiff you, just like he stiffed the contractors. He doesn't have any authority to do this.'

Some workers have been vowing to 'hold the line' in online chat groups.

The move comes as a the top Treasury official overseeing the government's payment system resigned, with mass departures at multiple agencies. At the U.S. Agency for International Development, more than 50 were placed on administrative leave.
Food critic Giles Coren has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Disclosing the shock revelation on Friday afternoon, Mr Coren said he learnt of his diagnosis at 'bang on 9.30am' on Wednesday.

Mr Coren, 55, wrote in The Times he first got tested a couple of years ago after being alerted to the issue by the work of celebrities including Stephen Fry and Bill Turnbull, who both announced they had been diagnosed with the disease.

He received a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test result of four. Many doctors use this score as a cut-off for deciding whether a case requires further testing, according to the American Cancer Society.

But he said his doctor described prostate cancer as a 'slow cancer' which 'all men get' if they live long enough, but still sent him for an MRI scan.

He refused a biopsy after the result came back inconclusive. But he later agreed to the examination at the Royal Free Hospital in North London after his PSA score increased to six and then seven.

The food critic was this week told doctors had discovered less than a millimetre of cancer in just three of the 21 samples he had provided.

His condition, described as a 'malign tumour', would not require treatment for the moment, he was told, but it would be monitored for growth.

Restaurant critic Giles Coren has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer

Mr Coren, 55, credited awareness created by celebrities including Stephen Fry and Bill Turnbull for his decision to get tested

Mr Coren said he had a PSA test score of four a few years ago, which is commonly viewed as the cut-off by doctors for further testing

Mr Coren has been restaurant critic for The Times since 2002.

His diagnosis came a day after prostate cancer was revealed by his paper to be the most common type of cancer in the UK, having risen 25 per cent in the last five years to overtake breast cancer to the top spot.

According to Cancer Research, more than 55,000 cases were diagnosed in the UK alone each year between 2017 and 2019 - around 150 every day.

It accounts for 28 per cent of all UK cancer cases in males and 14 per cent of cases overall.

It's most common in males aged 75 to 79, with about a third of all cases diagnosed in males aged over 75, the charity said.
Donald Trump ordered federal employees to remove their pronounces from the email signatures as he continues his widespread purge of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the government.

Federal employees were sent memos ordering them to remove their pronouns from official government communications by the end of the week.

'Pronouns and any other information not permitted in the policy must be removed from CDC/ATSDR employee signatures by 5.p.m. ET on Friday,' read one message from the Center for Disease Control's Chief Information Officer Jason Bonander, according to a copy of the memo obtained by ABC News.

The memos cited Trump's executive orders signed after taking office as responsible for the change.

One federal government employee from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) griped to ABC News about Trump's detailed restrictions.

'In my decade-plus years at CDC I've never been told what I can and can't put in my email signature,' the employee said.

The use of pronouns in work emails has expanded in recent years to signal a company's commitment to inclusion of employees who identified as a different gender than the one they were born with.

The Democratic party sought to be as inclusive as possible, allowing potential employees for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign to select from nine different genders on employment applications.

United States President Donald Trump signs two executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC

A sign hangs on the wall outside the office of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)

Republicans, however, made a concerted effort to combat the use of specific pronouns in the workplace.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) even put up a sign outside her office on Capitol Hill defying the inclusive government effort in regard to gender.

Trump also moved to root out 'gender inclusive' practices after taking office.

His executive orders required government agencies to remove DEI language from all communications and publications.

A memo from the Office of Personnel and Management acting director Charles Ezell ordered agencies to close all DEI offices and place employees on administrative leave.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defends Trump's executive orders during a press briefing at the White House

Trump has vowed to eliminate DEI programs throughout the White House and the federal goverment

'These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination,' the memo read.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day as president ordering all DEI and DEIA and environmental justice offices and positions be terminated within 60 days.

The president's executive order seeks to unwind the efforts by the Biden administration to advance 'racial equity' throughout the federal government.

'The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,' Trump's order read.

He described the programs as a sign of 'immense public waste' and 'shameful discrimination.'

'Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great,' the order read.

Trump blamed the recent plane crash with a Black Hawk helicopter on DEI policies put into place by the federal government by former President Joe Biden.

He vowed to continue rooting the programs out of the federal government, expressing his desire to only hire the best and the brightest people into the positions regardless of their race and gender.

'The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department and we need the best and brightest, whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals or whether it's throughout government,' he said.
The White House is calling on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to apologize after the New York Democrat vowed to fight the Trump agenda 'in the streets.'

Jeffries made his remarks during a press conference in New York on Friday morning where the lawmaker and others gathered to blast the new administration's attempts to freeze federal funding earlier this week.

Surrounded by officials from programs that could have been impacted by the freeze of grants and loans, Jeffries claimed New Yorkers and Americans are 'under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda.'

He said that agenda is trying to cut taxes for billionaire donors and wealthy corporations and stick New Yorkers and the working class Americans with the bill.

'That's not acceptable. We're going to fight it legislatively, we are going to fight it in the courts, and we're going to fight it in the streets,' Jeffries said.

But the White House responded by calling his comments a 'sick call for violence' and claimed it 'incited his followers.'

'Will Minority Leader Jeffries apologize for this disgusting threat?' the White House put out in a release.

'Or will he double down on the same calls for violence that have plagued the country for years?' it continued.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaking at a press conference in New York about the Trump administration's federal funding freeze on Friday where he vowed to fight the

It comes as members of both parties have warned of and accused those across the aisle of inciting political violence amid heated rhetoric in recent years.

Jeffries communications director Christie Stephenson responded to the White House accusation with a statement.

'The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable,' she said.

'Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully,' Stephenson said.

This week, Democrats were outraged after a Trump administration memo caused mass confusion.

The directive attempted to freeze federal grants, loans and other financial assistance before it was blocked temporarily in federal court.

At his press conference on Friday, Jeffries called the freeze 'unlawful' and a 'Republican ripoff scheme to steal taxpayer dollars.'

But Democrats are in the minority in both the House and Senate and have few options when it comes to blocking the White House from moving forward with its agenda and Republicans in Congress who are preparing to move forward with a series of priorities including extending provisions of the Trump 2017 tax law.

During the press conference, Jeffries was asked what he's going to do as minority leader and which aspects he is most determined to block.

Jeffries said Democratic officials and everyday Americans this week 'rose up in defiance' against the federal funding freeze.

'We fought it, we stopped it, and we will never surrender,' Jeffries said.

After the memo on the freeze caused widespread confusion and legal challenges, Trump's budget office rescinded the memo freezing federal loans and grants less than two days after it went out.

Jeffries also said Friday he's committed to working across the aisle where possible to 'make life better' for everyday Americans, but he said they would push back on 'far right extremism.'
A rising media star has told of her pride at reading the TV news for the first time today.

Leigh Milner shared a clip of her presenting debut on the BBC News channel this morning - reporting the latest news on the air crash in Washington DC.

Referencing her background growing up on a council estate in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, saying never in my wildest dreams did I think I would make it as a national newsreader, but I did it.

Current and former BBC stars were quick to congratulate her including former Royal correspondent Jennie Bond who posted on X: Well done! That first broadcast is a scary moment, isnt it!? Good luck for the future.

Senior BBC News exec Erron Gordon added: Fantastic.

The presenter, 35, is married to another BBC star Chris Berrow, a musician and radio presenter.

The couple now live with their son Theo (who turns two tomorrow) in Epping Forest, Essex.

Leigh has earned thousands of followers on social media for her behind the scenes insights about her job and sweet videos of Theo watching mummy on TV.

Leigh Milner anchoring BBC News this morning. Her debut broadcast included updates from the air crash in Washington DC

When not broadcasting on the BBC, Leigh presents a podcast with her husband Chris Berrow called Work Wife Balance

Leigh with her husband Chris, who she met while they were both working for local radio

When they are not broadcasting for the BBC Leigh and Chris host a podcast together called Work Wife Balance.

In a recent episode, they listeners an idea of how they juggle their commitments with Leigh saying: This is a common question me and Chris get because we both work in the BBC. I work in telly, Chris works in radio and we juggle our work wife balance.

People go how the hell do you do it, when do you have a life? I just had a go at Chris this week saying we work too much, I never see you.

Chris said: Our job is a bit weird and sometimes we do night shifts and weekends, I have to now just for looking after Theo, but on the three nursery days we have we usually dont work.

The podcast has even featured interventions from her parents Gary and Jane.

Shedding light on her background, Leigh said: Im actually northern, really northern, if I have a couple more [drinks] I talk how I used to talk because Im from Wakefield, thats my roots.

Then I met this one [Chris] and I poshed up a bit. Thats why Gary - or G-Dog - is so Yorkshire and Im actually northern.

After graduating in 2010 with a degree in journalism from the University of Lincoln, she landed a job at BBC Look East, one of the countrys most watched regional news programmes.

Leigh and her husband Chris wearing sunglasses on the beach. The couple married in February 2020

Leigh on a beautiful sandy beach with her son Theo. Leigh picked up a national story after her 'unbearable' delivery e unbearable after the hospital had recently suspended gas and air over fears midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels

Leigh and Chris met while they were both working in local radio, joking she fancied the posh totty Cambridge graduate straight away but he had a girlfriend at the time so they became friends before swooping in when he was single.

They married in February 2020 - sweet photos shared on social media by the loved-up couple show them dancing and exchanging vows barefoot on a beautiful sandy beach.

Baby Theo followed in February 2023 and even while giving birth Leigh managed to pick up a story that went nationwide.

Her delivery at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, was made unbearable because the hospital had recently suspended gas and air due to fears midwives and doctors have been exposed to unsafe levels.

She had been promised other pain relief but ended up receiving only paracetamol as the labour progressed and doctors said there was no time for an epidural - an injection in the back to stop feeling pain - or anything else.

I desperately needed something to take the edge off, she said in an interview at the time.

Talking about her background, Leigh said she was 'very northern' but became 'poshed-up' after marrying her husband Chris

Leigh called her delivery an 'absolute mess' and compared it to a 'Victorian birth'

Leigh was one of the first journalists on the scene after the late Tory MP Sir David Amess was murdered by terrorist Ali Harbi Ali during a surgery with constituents at a church in Essex

My whole body was shaking. I kept begging for pain relief but the only thing they said they could give me was paracetamol. The pain was so much that I was in and out of consciousness.

It felt like a Victorian birth and it shouldnt have. From start to finish, that day was an absolute mess.

It seemed like it would never end  it was a mess from start to finish. I understand they have to keep the staff safe, but they also need to support women giving birth.

Leigh was also one of the first journalists on the scene when MP Sir David Amess was murdered by terrorist Ali Harbi Ali while meeting constituents in a church in Essex, which she describes as: A day Ill never forget.
Donald Trump's press secretary on Friday defended the president's use of an expletive during a briefing on Washington air tragedy, explaining that it was one of the ways in which he connected with ordinary Americans.

And Karoline Leavitt used her position on the podium to mock the White House press corps to its face.

Her appearance in the briefing provided yet another reminder of how the seat of American power has been transformed in two short weeks.

A day earlier, Trump delivered an update on the air crash, railing against the previous administration and its transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, as a 'disaster' with 'a good line of bulls***.'

Leavitt was asked whether this was part of a deliberate communications strategy.

'I think one of the things that the American people love most about this president is that he often says what they are thinking, but sometimes lack the courage to say themselves,' she said,

'And I think yesterday at this podium, you heard President Trump express great frustration, perhaps even anger, with the previous administration's policies, many of which have led to the crises that our country is currently facing and that this president is focused on fixing.'

Buttigieg had blasted the president, saying he should be 'leading, not lying,' after his wild briefing room appearance.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave her second briefing of the week on Friday

She defended the president's use of an expletive a day earlier, and said he was giving voice to ordinary Americans and to his own frustrations about the state of the country

This administration is opening up the briefing room to non-conventional media organizations, including podcasters and rightwing social media stars.

Leavitt said she had received 10,000 submissions for four seats at the side of the briefing room, usually reserved for White House staff.

Friday's occupant was John Ashbrook, co-host of the Ruthless podcast. He served up a softball, asking whether the media was out of touch with ordinary Americans and their views on deportations.

'Out of touch?' she asked with a raised eyebrow, before listing exactly how out of touch they were complete with reference to opinion polls showing a majority of Americans in support of deportations.

Worse was to come, when she was asked about the CIA recently concluding that the most likely explanation was that it leaked from a Chinese lab.

She claimed that he was roundly mocked in the briefing room by journalists.

'Said he was spewing conspiracy theories. He was not,' she continued, warming to her theme.

'We now know that to be the confirmable truth.

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Donald Trump should 'be leading, not lying' as he blasted president

'It took many years for it to come out, but the president was right in this instance, again.'

Leavitt also used her appearance to defend the president's comments that diversity hires had an impact on air safety.

But there were more conventional announcements from the podium.

Leavitt confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have a 'working meeting' at the White House on Tuesday.

And she revealed that the president was ready to go ahead with plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 percent tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said.

For the latest White House gossip and news, listen to the Daily Mail's new politics podcast, Welcome to MAGAland. Available wherever you get your podcasts now.
A notorious Canadian killer was arrested on Tuesday after violating the conditions of her release.

Kelly Ellard, who changed her name to Kerry Sim, was convicted in April 2005 for the brutal 1997 murder of classmate Reena Virk, 14, in Saanich, British Columbia.

Sim was serving a life sentence for the murder but was granted day parole in 2018 under conditions that she would remain sober, not contact the Virk family, follow a treatment plan, and report all intimate relationships.

A spokesperson for the Surrey Police Services confirmed Sim's arrest to DailyMail.com. The Corrections Service of Canada, which issued the warrant, did not provide specifics on which conditions she violated.

Sim was arrested again in 2021 and was ordered twice to attend a hearing for her behavior after testing positive for codeine and for domestic violence. She had been living in a community-based residential facility after her release.

While in prison, Sim had two children. Her first child was conceived during a conjugal visit with her boyfriend, who was also an ex-convict.

She had a second child with the same person and was a mother of two by 2020.

Sim was thrust into the public eye for her involvement in the brutal killing of Virk after luring her to a party.

Kelly Ellard, who changed her name to Kerry Sim, has sat for multiple hearings and trials following the 1997 murder of her classmate

Reena Virk was violently killed by her classmates at a gathering in 1997

Virk was a victim of bullying at her predominately white school, where she felt like an outsider and struggled in her home life.

Her parents, who had converted to Jehovah's Witnesses, kept Virk under strict religious rules.

She had previously run away and was placed in the care of her grandparents before being moved to a foster home.

Her life came to a tragic end on November 14, 1997, when a group of classmates invited her to a party.

Unbeknownst to her, the group was planning to attack Virk. She arrived at the gathering and found her eight classmates drinking and smoking.

The teens violently accused Virk of spreading rumors about them before assaulting her.

The six girls convicted of assaulting Virk were known as the 'Shoreline Six.' Sim and the one boy at the party, Warren Glowatski, were later convicted of murder.

Virk was eventually able to escape, but Glowatski and Sim followed her and dragged her under a bridge.

Warren Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder in Virk's death

Glowatski and Sim dragged Virk under a bridge and left her body beaten in the water

They continued to beat her until she was unconscious and drowned her body in the water. Glowatski later said that Sim held Virk's head underwater, but she denied that claim.

Virk's parents reported her missing, but because of her history of running away, police didn't find her body until eight days after the attack.

A coroner's report later revealed the extensive injuries she endured, mirroring those of car crash victims.

Speculation over who killed Virk began to grow in Saanich when when other students overheard those involved talking about the murder.

Police eventually arrested Glowatski and Sim, who were 16 and 15 at the time. Due to the vicious extent of their crimes, the two teens were tried as adults.

Glowatski was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He completed a restorative justice program in prison and sought forgiveness from the Virk family.

Virk's mother, Suman, who died in 2018, previously explained to The Globe and Mail why she forgave Glowatski.

'I think the most important reason why we've forgiven Warren is so we can just put this whole matter aside and for our own healing and sense of wholeness,' she said.

Journalist Rebecca Godfrey spent years researching Virk's brutal death for her novel

Sim stood trial three times for Virk's murder before she was convicted

The Virk family was forced to grieve their daughter's death in the spotlight after her case became a national story

Sim, on the other hand, didn't seek reconciliation for her crimes. Her conviction wasn't as straightforward as she went through multiple trials.

Her first conviction in March 2000 was overturned after the defense argued she didn't receive a fair trial. She awaited a second trial in prison until she appeared in court again in June 2004.

Sim said that she wasn't the one who killed Virk, resulting in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. Her third conviction a year later was overturned on appeal.

The case made it to Canada's Supreme Court, where Sim's conviction and life sentence were reinstated.

The judge at her 2005 trial was convinced that Sim wouldn't rehabilitate, telling her, 'You alone are responsible for your situation, and until you reach this elementary conclusion you will not grow.

'You will not rehabilitate; you will be forever stalled in this nightmare which you have created.'

The other six girls involved in the attack were convicted in juvenile court for assault and served sentences of under a year.

Virk's parents remained outspoken about their daughter's death in the years that followed and became advocates for victims of bullying.

Virk's father, Manjit, penned a novel about his daughter titled, Reena: A Father's Story.

Virk's story has been sensationalized and became the inspiration for several books, movies, and documentaries.

The most recent retelling was detailed in the popular Hulu series Under the Bridge, starring Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone.

Keough portrayed Rebecca Godfrey, a journalist who wrote a book under the same name about the horrific incident, while Gladstone played a cop investigating the crime.

Godfrey was living in New York at the time but became enthralled by the case from her hometown in Canada. She spent nearly a decade researching the case for her book.

Since the Hulu series was released last year, there's been a renewed interest in the tragic events that occurred in November 1997.
The boss of a soft play centre has been sentenced to 25 years in a US jail after he was caught with child abuse images on his phone during a holiday to Florida.

Steven Paul McInally, who reportedly owned Go Wild soft play unit in Glasgow, was stopped by border guards at Orlando International Airport in August 2023.

Officers were shocked to find more than 3,900 images and 70 videos of children when they asked the 36-year-old to unlock his iPhone.

Some of the sexually explicit material included images of children that had been taken during a sleepover party at his home, the United States Attorney's Office has said.

McInally pleaded guilty to transporting and possessing child sexual abuse material on November 1, 2024.

Police officers searched the Go Wild soft play in Glasgow soon after the businessman's arrest.

It is believed detectives also carried out searches at his home.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: 'Following an investigation, a 36-year-old man was subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with offences under the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009.'

Steven Paul McInally, who reportedly owned Go Wild soft play unit in Glasgow, has been jailed for 25 years in the US

McInally was stopped by border guards at Orlando International Airport in August 2023

Officers were shocked to find more than 3,900 images and 70 videos of children when they asked the 36-year-old to unlock his iPhone

In a statement the United States Attorney's Office said: 'According to court documents, on August 25, 2023, McInally arrived at the Orlando International Airport on vacation from Scotland.

'Upon his arrival, McInally was subjected to a border search where law enforcement found child sexual abuse material on McInallys cellphone.

'Some of the child sexual abuse material found on McInallys cellphone included images of minors that had been taken during a sleepover party that the minors attended at his home.

'A forensic review revealed approximately 3,900 images and 70 videos of child sexual abuse material on McInallys cellphone.

'This case was investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations.

'It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie A. McNeff.'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump are open to using military force like airstrikes and special forces against drug cartels in Mexico.

Trump has long took issue with the criminal rings and he vowed during his campaign 'to wage war on the cartels.'

Just on Monday some suspected cartel members brazenly opened fire on U.S. Border Patrol who were monitoring a drug and human smuggling hot zone at the Texas-Mexico border. The agents returned fire into Mexico, though no on was injured.

For their role in producing deadly drugs bound for the U.S., like fentanyl, the president has said he would take the fight to the cartels to halt the drugs flowing into America.

Speaking with his former Fox News colleagues Friday morning, Hegseth revealed that Trump is instructing him to make available any resources needed to go after the cartels.

Host Brian Kilmeade asked Hegseth: 'If we find that they continue to fire at Border Control and they continue to put fentanyl into our country, as a secretary of defense, are you permitted now to go after them in Mexico or where they are?'

'Brian, I dont want to get ahead of the president and I wont,' the secretary started. 'Thats ultimately going to be his decision.'

'But let me be clear,' he said. 'All options will be on the table if were dealing with what are designated to be foreign terrorist organizations who are specifically targeting Americans on our border.'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told his former Fox News colleagues that Trump is keeping 'all options' on the table to deal with Mexican cartels. This could mean an array of different military tactics could be used against the criminal groups

Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which operates 23 of Mexico's 32 states and its capital, Mexico City, has expanded its drug trade operations into 11 states in the U.S., Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration

Jalisco New Generation Cartel pose for a threatening recorded message sent to a local TV station

Hegseth's broad response could be understood to mean any array of U.S. military might, including strikes from the land, sea or air, could be 'on the table' to go after the cartels.

Hegseth also noted that the U.S. military is also shifting its posture to better defend the country at home, including from threats emanating from Mexico.

'The military is orienting, shifting toward an understanding of homeland defense on our sovereign territorial border,' Hegseth told Kilmeade. 'That is something we will do and do robustly.'

'Should there be other options necessary to prevent the cartels from continuing to pour people, gangs and drugs and violence into our country  we will take that on. So the president will make that call.'

Since 2019, the number of Americans who have died annually to fentanyl has nearly tripled, rising from 31,000 overdose deaths to 87,000 in 2023, according to federal data.

The synthetic opioid - which is typically produced in Mexico using ingredients from China - is responsible for roughly 80 precent of overdose deaths nationwide.

The substance is do deadly that fentanyl poisoning was the leading cause of death of Americans aged 18 - 45 in 2022.

'I will deploy all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose the full naval embargo on the cartels,' Trump pledged in 2023. 'We will guarantee that the waters of the western hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country.'

Handout picture released by the Ministry of Defense and the Navy on January 31, 2025, shows two suspects being presented with confiscated illegal drugs at an undisclosed location in Mexico. Mexico's government, under mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump to curb drug trafficking, announced on January 31 that it had seized 18 kilos of fentanyl hidden in a bus

Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) pose for a photo at an undisclosed location, in Michoacan state, Mexico, July 1, 2021

A truck full of fentanyl pills discovered by Mexican authorities in December 2024

'Furthermore, I will order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations.'

The Republican also classified the cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, a federal designation that could lead to real consequences for the criminal groups.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned Friday that a 25 percent tariff will be levied on Mexico and Canada on February 1.

A 10 percent tariff will also be imposed against China on the same day.

Leavitt said the financial moves against the countries were, in part, due to their lackadaisical crackdowns on illegal drugs and immigrants streaming into the U.S.

American Border Patrol stationed at the Mexican border were fired upon by a suspected drug cartel in an effort to smuggle illegal migrants into Texas on Monday

Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) pose for a photo at an undisclosed location, in Michoacan state, Mexico, October 15, 2022

'Tomorrow, the President will be implementing a 25 percent tariff on Mexico, a 25 percent tariff on Canada, a 10 percent tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country that has killed tens of millions of Americans,' Leavitt said.

The real number of Americans who have perished due to fentanyl, however, ranges in the hundreds of thousands, not tens millions.

Cartels have been increasingly hostile towards the U.S. in recent years.

And Monday's firefight between the criminals and Border Patrol agents have become a more frequent occurrence along the border.

The gunfight broke out in Fronton, Texas, near Guadalupe Guerra, exactly one week after President Donald Trump returned to office.

Footage shows a small group of rifle-bearing cartel members crossing from Mexico onto an island in the Rio Grande river.

No U.S. officials were injured in the fight which saw Border Patrol return fire into Mexico.
An ex-British army sniper has been killed in Ukraine after sacrificing himself being gunned down by a Russian drone in a bid to save his fellow servicemen.

Former Royal Welsh Fusilier Alexander Garms-Rizzi, 23, placed himself as 'bait' in an attempt to divert three of his Ukrainian troops being shot in battle.

The three men had managed to get to the a bunker during the brutal clash with Putin's troops in the eastern side of the war-torn country.

But despite having reached a shelter, one of the soldiers had been seriously injured, The Sun reports.

Brave Alexander was then fatally hit by a Russian drone in 'no man's land' between warring sides as he attempted to save his comrades by running in circles as they sped to a nearby bunker.

His commander as well as his fellow troops commended his bravery yesterday, as they grieved the young Brit, who has been boasted as one of the most courageous Ukrainian soldiers on the front-lines.

In a touching tribute, his heartbroken best friend - a Finnish volunteer whose call name is 'Finn' told the publication that Mr Garms-Rizzi 'was born a fighter'.

'[He] died how he would have wanted - with honour while helping others,' he said.

Former Royal Welsh Fusilier Alexander Garms-Rizzi, 23, (pictured in a mask) has been gunned down in a bid to save his fellow troops

A Ukrainian soldier is placed in trenches retaken from the Russian army on the Vuhledar front line as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

A Ukrainian soldier of an artillery unit fires towards Russian positions outside Bakhmut

His fellow soldier described him as a 'very well-liked' young man, who saved lives, adding that both commanders and troops 'loved' the Brit.

According to the publication, the former British Army sniper is now being lined up to receive a posthumous bravery medal.

The soldier, whose mother is Russian, went AWOL during a British Army NATO exercise in Estonia during March 2022.

At the time he told officers he felt compelled to fight in the conflict and made no effort to conceal his actions.

He had also sent his unit a message admitting he had crossed the border to join pro-Ukrainian forces.

After two months he came back to the UK voluntarily and was handed a year prison sentence by a court martial for defying orders to remain.

His decision to flee to fight in Ukraine sparked a major diplomatic row, as ex-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss openly supported Britons opting to join Ukrainian front-lines at the time.

The tensity only grew when a well-revered Ukrainian soldier who battled alongside Alexander asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to take action.

Special forces colonel Roman Kostenko told The Sun that Alexander served in his group of men and was a valuable member to his troop.

Ukrainian soldiers at the artillery position in an unidentified area on the Adiivka frontline prepare to fire the D 30 gun as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Adiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 13, 2024

British Army Challenger 2 tanks are seen at the training ground in Nowa Deba on September 21, 2022, in Nowa Deba, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland

Alexander's decision to flee to fight in Ukraine sparked a major diplomatic row, as ex-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss openly supported Brits opting to join Ukrainian front-lines at the time.

The tensity only grew when a well-revered Ukrainian soldier who battled alongside Alexander asked President Volodymr Zelensky to take action

The young sniper had reportedly made his way back to the Ukrainian trenches after serving eight months behind bars on British soil.

Alexander - who went by the name Sasha on the front-lines - is understood to have died in battle but it is too perilous to recover his body.

His commander, who described the late soldier as 'very brave' explained that on the day of his death, he alongside other Ukrainian servicemen were in a dugout which had collapsed.

Divulging the final moments of Alexander's live, he said that the courageous troop 'distracted the drone' by sprinting in a circle as his comrades rushed to safety 500 metres away in a neighbouring bunker.

'In the end two of the guys survived unscathed, though the other one was seriously wounded near the dugout - but Sasha didn't make it,' the commander told The Sun.

'They later searched for him with drones and found his body, but it hasn't been evacuated yet.

'He took a different path and was only about 100 metres from safety when he was hit. He died a hero.'

The ex-army soldier was previously locked up for a year after a judge ruled that his actions of fleeing to Ukrainian front-lines risked dragging Britain into a war with Russia.

A Ukrainian soldier on a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle at his positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine

A resident is seen after shellings in the frontline city of Avdiivka amid Russian-Ukrainian war

A court martial heard the soldier, a fluent Russian speaker, had been deployed to Estonia in November 2021 with the rest of his unit as part of Operation Cabrit and NATO's enhanced Forward Presence in the region

The military court heard that by operating as a 'rifleman' alongside Ukrainian militia, Garms-Rizzi had defied orders and created a security risk Prosecutors said that had he been captured 'the potential harm... is difficult to overstate'.

Garms-Rizzi went on leave from March 2022, and failed to return two weeks later, the court was told. When his unit managed to contact him, the soldier, who lived in Russian until the age of 12 and had Ukrainian friends, admitted he had gone to join the war.

Passing sentence at the time, Judge Advocate General Darren Reed said: '[Your actions were] deliberate and pre-meditated. You lived in Russia until you were 12 years old and spent summers there after leaving.

He added: 'You spent nearly six months AWOL. Members of the British Army are not authorised to go to Ukraine.

Polish soldiers seen before a high-intensity training session using M1A2 Abrams tanks at Nowa Deba training ground, on May 6, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen of the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade fire a Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzer toward Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 4, 2024

'The order not to go to Ukraine could not have been clearer. The order was there to protect British forces and the state from being dragged into the conflict.'

Representing himself, Garms-Rizzi told the hearing he had not been able to 'just stand by and watch things unfold' while his Ukrainian school friends were killed. He said: 'I handed myself in at Dover. My mother is Russian.

'If I go back to Russia [to see her] I will be sentenced to the Gulag. I can't see anyone in Russia. [I went because] my friends were getting killed. I have Ukrainian friends from school who I met in Russia. I think I did the right thing. [My role in Ukraine] was a mixture of rifleman work and humanitarian. It was translation and medical care.

Alongisde a year long prison sentence, the court dismissed Alexander of Tidworth Barracks, from the British Army.

MailOnline has approached the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for comment.
Channel 4 is under fire for 'sanitising' the extremist views of a woman accused of anti-Semitism and homophobia in a show about immigration.

Former The Apprentice candidate Bushra Shaikh appears in reality show Go Back To Where You Come From which starts on Monday.

The series takes six people  four anti-immigration and two pro-immigration  and shows them following migrant routes from Somalia and Syria.

Ms Shaikh, 41, who is of Pakistani heritage and headed an anti-racism campaign in sport called Run Racism Out, is on the show as a pro-immigration campaigner.

She is shown in a trailer saying: 'There is a proportion in Britain who I think are as thick as s***. I am not the person you want to have these ridiculous racist and Islamophobic conversations with.'

However, Channel 4 is accused of not showing her more extreme side which can be seen through her social media accounts.

This week, after tweeting that an Iraqi Christian called Salwan Momika who was famous in Sweden for burning the Koran had been shot dead, she wrote to her 89,000 followers on X: 'Some of you may disagree but the public desecration of any holy book should be viewed as a hate crime and the offender should face consequences.'

She later insisted she didn't mean that he should have been shot, adding: 'I'm neither sad nor happy that Salwan Momika is dead. I don't care.'

Bushra Shaikh (pictured) appears in Channel 4 reality show Go Back To Where You Came From, but critics have blasted the channel for not showing her more extreme views found on her social media pages

In 2023 she wrote a tweet which was described as homophobic in which she said that homosexuality was seen as 'unnatural and immoral' in Islam. She then compared homosexuality to paedophilia, writing: 'Nobody is born gay. It is a choice. Nobody is born a paedo either right. Feelings do not determine that which is right to do. Both are wrong.'

Earlier in the week, meanwhile, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) uncovered a string of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic posts in which Ms Shaikh, who runs a fashion line of 'modest' clothing, said Jews who moved to Israel from Europe are 'the biggest charlatans on this planet' and a 'bunch of lying scumbags'.

She also said that Jews should be expelled from Israel, writing on X: 'One state solution. Palestine. And send this European problem back to f****** Europe.'

The tweet was posted a week after the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

The CAA said: 'Channel 4 is sanitising Bushra Shaikh to make her more sympathetic instead of revealing her as the hypocrite she is.'

Channel 4 said: 'Within the programme, all strong views expressed by contributors are challenged. Outside of the programme, the responsibility for social media posts lies with the individual.'

A spokesman for Ms Shaikh said: 'In relation to Salwan Momika, Bushra never supports or condones murder and it is awful that he was killed  the law must never be taken into one's own hands.

Shaikh with fellow stars on Go Back to Where You Came From. The show contains six people, four anti-immigration and two pro-immigration  and shows them following migrant routes from Somalia and Syria

'However, she stands firmly with her opinion that the public desecration of any holy religious scripture be seen as a hate crime and these individuals should 'face consequences' within the framework of the law.

'The allegations of anti-Semitism is baseless. Sending Israelis 'back to Europe' was satire, in response to her being told to go back to Pakistan. Saying Israelis is not saying Jews. We must see the difference.

'Bushra is not homophobic, she is a Muslim and follows the belief that sodomy is a sin. However, this is no excuse that the gay community be subject to abuse and a minority group be protected. Both things can be true at the same time. The claim of comparing it to paedophilia is untrue, being gay and a paedophile are two very different things.'
Every candidate running for Democratic National Committee chair raised their hand Thursday night when asked if Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 race at least partially due to 'racism' and 'misogyny.'

MSNBC broadcast a forum from Georgetown University for the eight DNC hopefuls, with voting taking place at the DNC Winter Meeting on Saturday.

Democrats are looking for new leadership after a disastrous 2024 election cycle that saw them stay in the minority in the House of Representatives, while also losing control of the White House and Senate.

One of the lessons of 2024 is that Republicans were arfully able to wave off claims of racism in their own party by making Democrats look bad for bringing it up as a political issue.

So-called 'wokeism' became a political loser, while at the same time, Republicans were able to make gains in black and Latino communities.

Democrats continued to open themselves up to those attacks during Thursday night's display.

'Have a show of hands - how many of you believe racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris' defeat?' asked MSNBC and The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart.

Every candidate agreed with that statement - and were joined by members of the audiences who also raised their hands and laughed.

Every candidate running for Democratic National Committee chair raised their hand Thursday night when asked if Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 race at least partially due to 'racism' and 'misogyny'

'Have a show of hands - how many of you believe racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris' defeat?' asked MSNBC and The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart

The clip quickly got picked up by the conservative account @EndWokeness, where it got more than 2 million views.

Conservatives licked their lips pushing that the Democrats were going to make the same mistake in 2028.

'Good. They will keep losing,' commented one X user. 'And they are already set for failure moving forward. Perfect for republicans!!!' another said.

DOGE leader Elon Musk chimed in with a 'wow.'

The most prominent voice backing what the Democrats said was former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who took things a step further.

'Well they left out stupidity but otherwise yeah you guys are white supremacist motherf***ers who are going to h***. Have fun!' the liberal commentator said.

Eight Democrats, in total, participated in Thursday's DNC chair forum.

Democrats will go into Saturday's voting with two not-so-well-known state party chairs in the lead - Minnesota's Ken Martin and Wisconsin's Ben Wikler.

Other notable hopefuls are 2020 and 2024 presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson, who Oprah put on the map as a self-help guru.

Williamson opened up Thursday night's forum by dryly proclaiming that, 'fascism is literally in the house' as she urged Democrats that it was imperative to get in gear.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is also a candidate, pitching 'new leadership.'

He ran for the White House in 2016.

Faiz Shakir, the former campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign, is also in the race.

Candidate Dr. Quintessa Hathaway of Arkansas gave the most colorful opening, doing it in song.

'You fight on, you fight on, you fight on, you fight on. When your government is doing you wrong, you fight on, you fight on,' she sang.
KitKats' new line of chocolate bars are set to change shape from the legendary four-finger style to a two-column design to 'encourage sharing'.

A line of the iconic British chocolate will be made as a 1.35, 99g sharing bar with 'multiple break off pieces', KitKat's maker Nestle announced.

Three different flavours are available in stores - double chocolate, salted caramel and hazelnut.

The four-finger style has been in existence for almost 90 years, since Rowntree's of York launched the bar in 1935.

It was reportedly created after a Rowntree worker suggested making a chocolate bar that a man could fit in his bag for work.

Although the classic four-fingered KitKats will remain on sale, Nestle said it was launching the new sharing bars to make it 'easier to create moments of connection'.

KitKats' iconic shape has been altered in a new line of the classic British chocolate bars

NEW STYLE: KitKats are now being made as 99g sharing bars with breakout pieces

ICONIC STYLE: KitKats are known for their classic four or two-finger shapes

Some chocolate lovers on social media said they were excited about the new range.

One person wrote: 'Oooooh I have to sample them all!!'

A second said: 'These look fun to try!!!'

A third added: 'Waiting impatiently for my local to put them on the shelves. Says they are in stock.'

'These innovative bars provide a unique, and multi-sensory eating experience thanks to their delicious light and creamy fillings and chocolate that melts effortlessly in the mouth,' a spokesperson added.

'This contrast in textures makes for an exceptional experience, made all the more eye-catching by the stunning swirled effect created by the marbled coating.'

Stephanie Scales, Marketing Manager for KitKat at Nestle UK & Ireland, said: 'In today's non-stop world, it's far too easy to let the evenings disappear in a blur.

'We want KitKat fans to hit that pause button and really unwind at the end of the day and what better way to do that than by catching up with your favourite people and sharing a delicious treat?

'KitKat's always been about those feel-good breaks and now with sharing bars, we're making it even easier to disconnect and reclaim your evenings.'

The launch comes after customers slammed Nestle as 'cruel' amid plans to discontinue an immensely popular chocolate bar.

The chocolate behemoth confirmed today they are axing the plant-based version of KitKats due to insufficient sales.

Pictured: What the new range of chocolate bars looks like on the inside

Much to the shock of vegans, Nestle said it will only be available 'until the summer' - though there is no specific date provided for when sales will stop in the UK.

Crafted with rice-based milk alternatives and made using 100 per cent sustainable cocoa, it is popular with customers looking for a dairy-free or vegan alternative.

The vegan version of the KitKat was first launched in 2021 due to customer demand and was also believed to push Nestle further towards its Net Zero Plans for 2050.

Although it tasted similar to the original, the KitKat Vegan had an 18 per cent smaller carbon footprint.

The KitKat Vegan was available in 15 European countries including France, Denmark and the UK - where it sold for around 1.

A Nestle spokesperson told The Mirror: 'We know that KitKat Vegan has been popular for those looking for dairy or vegan alternatives.

'Unfortunately, global demand has been reducing to the point that production was making manufacturing more and more complex and we have now made the difficult decision to discontinue the product.

Much to the shock of vegans, Nestle said the KitKat Vegan will only be available 'until the summer' - though there is no specific date provided for when sales will stop in the UK

'We know there will be some disappointment, however it will still be available in the UK and Ireland until the summer.'

Nestle acknowledged that vegan chocolate remains a niche market, with their more traditional products bringing in the most money.

The spokesperson added: 'Our emphasis with the KitKat brand for the foreseeable future will be on classic chocolate variants, as they continue to be the preferred choice among consumers.'
Sir Keir Starmer last night warned that the Anglo-US military base on the Chagos Islands must be protected from 'malign influence'  as he awaits Donald Trump's verdict on the controversial handover.

The Prime Minister made the strongly worded remarks in his first conversation with his counterpart in Mauritius.

The country, a China ally, is on course to take control of the Indian Ocean archipelago. The PM and Navin Ramgoolam spoke of their continued commitment to the deal, Downing Street said, after the UK was forced to make fresh concessions in recent weeks.

However it remains on ice until Mr Trump decides if it risks the security of the joint US-UK base on the largest atoll, Diego Garcia.

A No 10 spokesman said yesterday: 'The leaders began by reflecting on their first months in office and discussed the strong relationship between the UK and Mauritius, which they looked forward to expanding.

'The Prime Minister underlined the need for a deal to secure the military base on Diego Garcia that ensures strong protections, including from malign influence, and that will allow the base to continue to operate.'

But Tory defence spokesman James Cartlidge said: 'Paying for the privilege of surrendering the Chagos Islands represents terrible value for money. It's especially disgraceful given the Government hasn't even set out the details of their deal to Parliament and the British people.

'The Prime Minister must do the right thing and heed our calls to cancel this dreadful deal in the national interest.'

Tory peer Lord Kempsell said the readout of the call between the leaders suggested the deal is 'currently dead'. 'Am told major objections from US administration are in play,' he wrote online.

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that the military base on the Chagos Islands must be protected from 'malign influence'

Mauritius, an ally of China, is on course to take control of the islands in the Indian Ocean

The controversial handover of the archipelago remains on ice pending a verdict from Donald Trump on whether the joint UK-US base is threatened by the deal. He is yet to publicly comment on the plan

President Trump is yet to comment publicly on Britain's plan to pay Mauritius an estimated 9billion in order to keep the military base operational for the next 99 years  at the same time as it gives up sovereignty of the entire Chagos Islands.

However his Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly used his first phone call with Foreign Secretary David Lammy to challenge him over the terms of the handover.

Using the same word as the Prime Minister used in his call, Mr Rubio and Mr Lammy were said to have discussed 'China's malign influence'.
A woman has died in a suspected murder at a home in Melbourne, as police reveal they are also investigating the death of a man who knew her.

Homicide detectives were called to a house on Ormond Road in Ascot Vale, north-west Melbourne, just after 4pm on Friday.

Victoria Police said on Friday evening that a woman's body was found inside the home and her death was being treated as suspicious.

Two hours later, police were called to Little River, 50km south-west of Ascot Vale where they discovered a man with critical injuries on the Princes Freeway.

'The exact circumstances surrounding the incidents continue to be investigated, however at this stage detectives are not looking for anyone else in relation to the matters,' a spokesperson said on Saturday morning.

'Police also believe the parties involved were known to each other.'

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Senior Labour figures are divided over how closely Britain should seek to align itself with the EU, the Mail can reveal.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is said to be pushing to lift trade barriers with Brussels. But other ministers and officials fear this will lead to Labour haemorrhaging support to Reform UK.

Sir Keir Starmer is pressing to reset the UK's relationship with the EU, and on Monday he will become the first British leader since Brexit to attend a meeting of the European Council's 27 EU leaders.

At an informal retreat in Brussels, the leaders will discuss defence and security cooperation over a working dinner. Then, on Tuesday, the Paymaster General and EU relations minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, will hold talks with his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic.

But the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, has been cautioning against efforts by Ms Reeves to unpick Brexit. 'Rachel sees lifting trade barriers with the EU as a big opportunity for growth and is pushing hard to use this reset to make some real changes,' the source said.

'But Morgan is much more cautious about the politics of it all and the threat from Reform  he does not want to stretch those manifesto red lines that helped convince people Labour could be trusted with Brexit.

'There is a real tension there between the two people closest to the PM, and no sign at the moment of how he plans to resolve it.'

Other Cabinet figures are wary of handing votes to Nigel Farage. One minister highlighted that Reform came second to Labour in 89 seats.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to be pushing for a closer relationship with Brussels and to lift trade barriers

But Sir Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney (pictured) is cautioning against efforts to unpick Brexit, amid concerns it could hand votes to Nigel Farage

Having won back many Red Wall voters, they feared the party could lose them again if it is seen to be 'undoing' Brexit. But EU diplomats have warned that unless Sir Keir shows more ambition, his attempts to reset the relationship will do little to help the UK's economy.

Yesterday Bloomberg reported that Britain is exploring a 'slimmed-down' version of the EU's youth mobility scheme, allowing 18 to 30-year-olds from across the EU to move to the UK for a few years. Officials are apparently looking at ways to deliver on the EU demand while avoiding adding to net migration.

Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will host German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks, and a wider reset is likely to be discussed.

Yesterday was Brexit's fifth anniversary, but Sir Keir failed to mark the occasion. Instead, a No 10 spokesman said: 'We know we can do better to make Brexit work for the British people, that it's in the UK's national interest to have a more cooperative relationship with the EU.'

Elsewhere, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch dismissed Reform UK as a 'protest party' as its leader Mr Farage prepared to hold a rally in her constituency yesterday.

A new Techne UK poll showed Reform in second place with 24 per cent, one point ahead of the Tories on 23 per cent and two points behind Labour on 26 per cent. Asked about the poll, Mrs Badenoch said it wasn't a surprise that 'at the moment protest parties are gaining in the polls'.
A senior Trump adviser said Friday that 'a large number' of federal workers were going to resign after accepting buyout offers.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was offering payouts to millions of federal employees who agree to leave their jobs next weekmarking an extraordinary effort to shrink the government overnight.

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told reporters that he did not know the exact number of people who had said yes.

'But I will tell you that the initial briefings that I've received suggested a large number of federal workers have accepted the buyout offer,' he said.

'And I think the point here to really underscore is that federal workers who are not happy in their jobs, who don't want to show up at work, who do not want to be in the office, who are not passionate about what they're doing are often not the kind of federal worker you want responsible for having enormous authority over the lives of the American people.'

An email sent to millions of employees said they would be entitled to about eight months of salary, but they have to make up their mind by Feb. 6.

A recent estimates suggested that the federal government employed more than three million people, or almost two percent of the entire civilian workforce.

Even a small percentage accepting the deal could reshape the economy.

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller said a large number of federal staff had accepted buyout orders. He is seen here at the White House on Tuesday

President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive project to reshape the government

Miller added that the offer was being run at the same time as a hiring overhaul.

'This is happening in conjunction with a wholesale reform of the hiring process in the federal government to find people who are really dedicated to service at the absolute highest level, he said.

A second email, obtained by DailyMail.com, reveals the tactics being used to encourage workers to take the deal.

It uses enticing language, mentioned that staff would be able to enjoy an 'extended vacation' or travel to 'dream destinations.

It runs through a series of questions and answers to make its point.

'Can I take an extended vacation while on administrative leave?' asks a sample question.

'You are most welcome to stay at home and relax or travel to your dream destination. Whatever you would like,' goes the response.

Democrats and a powerful union called it an effort to try to dupe employees  or pressure them to leave to make way for Trump loyalists.

The American Federation of Government Employees union blasted the offer in a statement by president Everett Kelley.

'This offer should not be viewed as voluntary,' he said.

'Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.'
Sir Keir Starmer's embattled law chief is facing a Cabinet backlash for 'freezing' government decisions with his overly cautious approach.

Lord Hermer KC has already been accused by the Tories of conflicts of interest and secrecy over the clients he represented before entering Parliament.

Now the Attorney General has been hit by hostile briefings from his own Labour colleagues about his guidance on legal risk.

Under rules he introduced late last year, government lawyers must now warn ministers their policies are unlawful if they think they could not be properly argued in court. Those with a high risk of failing can only be put forward as a last resort.

Ministers told The Times that Lord Hermer is pushing back on policies even when there is only a slim chance of them being defeated by legal challenges.

A source said: 'He seems to think  and has said as much  that international law is more important than national law, and that's totally insane.

'It's a massive misunderstanding of how the public see their Government and the laws that are made in this country. He thinks he makes policy. He doesn't, but he gets involved in everything and he's an activist. It's causing this freeze on Government.'

Another insider called him 'finickity' and claimed he had become more 'obstructive' in recent months, saying: 'There have been things that have gone to the wire because he's still got problems.'

Lord Hermer KC has already been accused by the Tories of conflicts of interest and secrecy over the clients he represented before entering Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer is said to have 'absolute confidence' in Lord Hermer

Tory peer Lord Frost said: 'Being a friend of the PM won't help him once he starts to become a pain in Government'

Government lawyers are said to have delayed decisions on new measures to tackle illegal migration as well as the Hillsborough law forcing public bodies to co-operate with investigations

Lord Hermer was challenged by Labour backbencher Sarah Russell in January over the 'chilling effect' of his legal risk guidance on the Government taking on commercial interests.

'Giving evidence to the justice committee, he insisted: 'If we are confident in our policies, having decided that these are policies we want to take, if we are confident in their legality or comfortable with the degree of legal risk, the mere fact that it is a well-resourced defendant on the other side will not stop Government, I imagine, in moving forward.'

Concerns have also been raised over 'conflicts of interest' issues, with the barrister in recent weeks coming under fire for refusing to disclose his earnings for representing the likes of Gerry Adams, Shamima Begum and a Guantanamo Bay detainee.

Lord Hermer, who represented the former Sinn Fein leader as a specialist human rights lawyer, has refused to reveal if he played a role in a proposed law change which paves the way for his former client to get taxpayer-funded compensation for being interned in the 1970s.

He has been accused of 'hiding behind' the law officers' convention by saying it prevents him from disclosing which matters he had or had not advised on.

He has also admitted he recused himself from some decisions because of potential conflicts of interest with his previous briefs.

Concerns have also been raised over 'conflicts of interest' issues, with the barrister in recent weeks coming under fire for refusing to disclose his earnings for representing the likes of Gerry Adams and Shamima Begum

Government lawyers are said to have delayed decisions on new measures to tackle illegal migration (Pictured: People, believed to be migrants, disembark from a British Border Force vessel as they arrive at the Port of Dover on January 15, 2025)

Last night Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick told the Mail: 'Lord Hermer is uniquely ill-placed to be Attorney General. He is mired in a cloud of suspicion as he's hiding his financial interests.

'He can't provide advice on a range of critical matters because he represented so many clients against the British Government. And the advice he does actually provide stops ministers from getting anything done.'

Tory peer Lord Frost added: 'The knives are already out. Being a friend of the PM won't help him once he starts to become a pain in Government.'

Asked if the PM was concerned about the briefings, a No 10 spokesman said yesterday: 'We wouldn't comment on anonymous briefings and sources as a matter of principle. The Attorney General is getting on with the important work of government.'

He said Sir Keir has 'absolute confidence' in Lord Hermer.
The investigation into a caravan found loaded with explosives in a suspected terror plot against Sydney's Jewish community has spread to Queensland.

Queensland Police have confirmed that they are supporting the multi-agency probe that began in NSW when the caravan was first discovered on January 19.

'The Queensland Police Service, Security and Counter Terrorism Command remains engaged and supporting the New South Wales investigation with all necessary resources,' a spokesperson told 7News.

It comes as authorities step up their protection of the Jewish community in Sydney, with police now patrolling student drop-offs and pick-ups at all Jewish schools.

Authorities have been criticised for keeping the public, and politicians, in the dark about their discovery of the explosives-laden caravan at a rural property in Dural.

The explosives had the potential to create a blast radius of 40metres and cause mass casualties.

It wasn't until 10 days later, on Wednesday, that the media revealed the finding after a leak from police.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday became agitated while speaking to reporters refused to say when he had first been told about the caravan.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday became agitated while speaking to reporters refused to say when he had first been told about the caravan

Police discovered a caravan loaded with explosives at a rural property in Dural (pictured) on January 19 and launched a multi-agency investigation

'What's correct protocol is making sure that we don't speak about operational matters,' Mr Albanese told reporters.

'This should not be the source of political debate, and that I note that the Coalition have said, as well, that they wouldn't change the protocols that have been in place for a long period of time.

'The idea that you make public pronouncements about something that is an ongoing investigation is, of course, entirely inappropriate because as the police have made very clear, both state and federal, the priority is those ongoing investigations.'

NSW Premier Chris Minns was made aware of the discovery one day after the fact, on January 20.

Police are still hunting for the ringleaders who may have recruited two people in the suspected anti-Semitic terror plot.

Tammie Farrugia and her boyfriend Scott Marshall are in custody charged with unrelated offences, with police saying their arrests were made on the 'periphery' of the case.

The couple had posted on Facebook last month seeking a caravan.

Farrugia and Marshall have not been charged in relation to the caravan and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. But it's understood terrorism police are probing whether the couple have ties to bikie gangs or white supremacist groups.

Farrugia and Marshall (pictured) have not been charged in relation to the caravan and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing

Farrugia was arrested over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woollahra, in Sydney's east, in December, while Marshall was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.

They do not appear to have any history of extremist ideology, which might support Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw's warning that overseas actors could be paying petty criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks.

'We are looking at if - or how - they have been paid, for example in cryptocurrency, which can take longer to identify,' Mr Kershaw said earlier this month.

But it's unclear who the foreign actors could be or why they would sponsor such attacks.
Chronic shortages of weapons and equipment in the Armed Forces are being glossed over by Labour in a 300billion 'cover-up', MPs have claimed.

A failure to produce reports for Parliament has left the committees charged with scrutinising spending in the dark over what Britain needs to buy to defend itself.

The Mail understands the failure to publish the Equipment Plan has been caused by ministers and senior officials having no idea how much money they will have to spend.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has imposed spending restrictions on the Armed Forces amid a stagnating economy. Consequently, military chiefs no longer expect the UK to meet the target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence this year.

In a rare joint statement, Sir Geoffrey Clinton-Brown, the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, and Tan Dhesi, chairman of the defence committee, said: 'The reality is that transparency on acquisition, expenditure and capability has decreased, severely undermining the ability of both committees to scrutinise the estimated 300billion of taxpayers' money planned to be spent on defence equipment over the next decade.'

Labour is glossing over chronic shortages of army weapons and equipment in a 300billion 'cover-up', MPs have warned (file photo)

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has imposed spending restrictions on the Armed Forces amid a stagnating economy, meaning that Britain is no longer set to make its target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence this year

Tory Armed Forces spokesman Mark Francois said ministers' sums 'no longer added up'. The situation has been exacerbated by this country's support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia coming at a significant cost to its defences. The Mail's 'Don't Leave Britain Defenceless' campaign calls for an immediate cash boost for the Armed Forces.

The UK is thought to be running low on ammunition of all calibres and its air defences have been compromised. Tanks, missiles and rocket launchers are also in short supply.

Last night, a senior defence source said: 'The situation is absolute chaos. The services require additional investment and clarity  both have been taken away.'
Peter Dutton's new Elon Musk-inspired shadow minister for government efficiency has vowed to review federal funding for Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies if the Coalition is elected.

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was handed the newly-created role of shadow minister for government efficiency by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last Saturday.

The move was widely seen as being inspired by US President Donald Trump who appointed the world's richest man Elon Musk as head of a new 'Department of Government Efficiency'.

The X owner has been tasked with trimming red tape and delivering better value for US taxpayers by, among other things, axing jobs relating to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

It is a role that Senator Price has embraced with similar gusto, as she outlines her plans to slash the Canberra bureaucracy if the Coalition wins government.

'Australians want to cut the waste, they want to make sure that outcomes are coming to life with the way in which taxpayer dollars are being spent by their government,' Senator Price told the ABC.

First in her sights is the money spent on Indigenous affairs, in particular federal funding for Welcome to Country ceremonies.

'I would like to look at an audit of the billions of dollars that are spent in the Indigenous space, so that we can understand where that can be better spent,' she added.

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was handed the newly-created role of shadow minister for government efficiency by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last Saturday (they are pictured together)

The move was widely seen as being inspired by US President Donald Trump who appointed the world's richest man Elon Musk (pictured) as head of a new 'Department of Government Efficiency'

'I don't believe that we should be spending $450,000 a term on Welcome to Country when that isn't actually improving the life of a marginalised, Indigenous Australian.'

'That kind of funding could be redirected to actually improve the lives of marginalised Indigenous Australians, as opposed to being used for what is effectively a welcoming ceremony, many of which have now become quite politicised.'

Senator Price tried to claim Musk's red-tape-slashing appointment 'wasn't an inspiration' for her new portfolio but few are convinced.

Asked about Senator Price's plans to review Welcome to Country funding, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kept on message about the cost of living crisis.

'What Australians are concerned about when I travel around the country isn't looking for culture wars and looking to divide,' he said.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the decision was disappointing and showed the coalition was focused on 'culture wars'.

'It really is quite disappointing, actually - we know that the opposition leader walked out on the apology, he won't stand in front of the Indigenous flag and now he doesn't want elders doing welcome to country,' she said.

'We have to really ask the question, where is the Indigenous plan for the future with the coalition and with Senator Price?'

First in Senator Price's sights is federal funding for Welcome to Country ceremonies (pictured: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese observes Aboriginal dancers during the opening of the 47th Federal Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra in July 2022)

The coalition has also started using the slogan 'are you better off than you were three years ago?', replicating the rhetoric Mr Trump used in his successful presidential campaign.

Taking another leaf out of Trump's playbook, Opposition Leader Mr Dutton used a major speech on Friday to criticise cultural diversity jobs in the public sector and pledged to slash the number of public servants if elected.

'I have not met an Australian across the country - I was in Alice Springs over the last couple of days - who can tell me their lives are better off because the government's employed 36,000 public servants in Canberra,' he said.

'I have met people ... who say their lives are worse off because of the extra bureaucratic red tape that comes with the employment of 36,000 more public servants.'

He took aim specifically at 'cultural diversity and inclusion adviser positions'.

'Such positions ... do nothing to improve the lives of everyday Australians,' he said.

'They're certainly not ... frontline service roles that can make a difference to people's lives.'

More money would be spent on frontline services that make a difference, including doctors, national security and intelligence, Mr Dutton said.

But Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly said staff with lived experience - such as people with a disability or Indigenous people - meant the government could better reflect the community and deliver essential services more effectively.

'Inclusion and diversity may sound like an easy target to Mr Dutton and Mr Trump but for people who access public services, the value of having someone who speaks their language and understands their experience is immeasurable,' she said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has criticised the coalition's pledge to axe public servants, arguing it would have tangible impacts including waiting times for things like veterans' pensions.

On top of thousands of people losing their jobs, Senator Gallagher questioned where the cuts would come from, citing Labor increasing resourcing to process visa backlogs, social payment claims and border enforcement.
A graffiti artist is behind bars accused of being the vandal behind the infamous Pam The Bird cartoon which has defaced a string of prime sites around Melbourne.

Jack Gibson-Burrell, 21, of Yarraville, is charged with scrawling with his childish cartoon bird graffiti over some beloved city buildings and structures for years.

Gibson-Burrell was arrested on Thursday and now faces more than 50 charges, including criminal damage, burglary, shop theft and theft of a motor vehicle.

In one incident, police allege Gibson-Burrell scaled and defaced the heritage-listed Flinders Street station clock tower on July 10 last year.

Its further alleged he is also responsible for graffiti plastered across the rail network as well as the 'Cheese Stick' column on CityLink, the Nine building in Docklands, and concrete silos on Mercer Street in Geelong.

Just weeks ago Pam the Bird appeared on the top of the Novotel Hotel on Collins Street in Melbourne's CBD.

A clip shared to social media showed Pam the Bird coloured in black underneath the sprawling Novotel logo.

The words 'He He Meow' was written below the beak of the bird.

Jack Gibson-Burrell will spend the weekend behind bars

Pam the bird was recently spray painted on the Novotel in Melbourne

A man suspected of defacing Flinder Street Station with Pam the bird appeared on an Instagram page boasting about it

The alleged vandal appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Friday where he attempted to be released on bail.

The alleged graffiti has divided Melburnians, with some likening it to the UK's Banksy artist or the street art in the city's famed laneways, while others see it as vandalism.

'This is disgraceful,' one person wrote.

'Sick of seeing this c**p all over Melbourne!' another said.

'It's not art, why is everyone liking this? It's property damage for the sake of it,' a third added.

The January 20 defacement of the Novotel is included among the swag of charges against Gibson-Burrell.

Police estimate the total damage from Gibson-Burrell's offending reaches more than $100,000.

He has also been charged over an incident in Footscray where an allegedly stolen car was driven through the front window of Nandos in Barkly Street in December.

Police executed search warrants on Thursday at homes in Yarraville and Abbotsford, where they seized multiple items including spray paint, illegal fireworks, abseiling equipment and property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.

A masked man suspected of being the artist behind Pam the bird pours milk over his head

Nothing is sacred when it comes to Pam the bird.

Pam the bird competes for space with fellow vandal Lushsux

Detective Senior Constable Scott Nicholls told the court Gibson-Burrell had been the only person in Australia ever caught painting Pam the bird, alleging every piece of graffiti featuring the bird was painted by him alone.

'The accused is currently one of the most prominent graffito artists in Australia. He's a notorious vandal and is known to graffiti a distinct cartoon bird alongside the tag Pam,' he told the court.

'The accused engages in what is described as high volume offending. It is a certainty that he will continue to offend at a high frequency.'

Senior Constable Nicholls alleged no-one else was responsible for Pam the bird across Melbourne.

'He is the only person known to police to have engaged in painting this distinct graffiti and is also the only person to be found guilty of painting the bird,' he said.

Pam the bird has stained many Melbourne trains

Matthew Raoul White, 39, of Abbotsford has also been charged with more than 20 criminal damage offences relating to the graffiti of suburban trains and the Docklands office building.

Like Banksy, Pam the Bird has developed a strong following across social media with people tagging the bird whenever they spot the graffiti.

Banksy is the pseudonym of an England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation.

The court heard Gibson-Burrell is alleged to be operating an Instagram page that shows a masked vandal which police allege is him at work on Pam the Bird imagery.

One photograph shows a masked person lounging on what appears to be the inside of the Flinders Street Station clock.

Another video shows him pouring milk over his head while standing in front of Pam graffiti on a Melbourne train.

The page includes newspaper articles about the bird vandalism across heritage buildings, which he gleefully mocks.

Following an in depth story in The Age newspaper about the artwork, a Pam appeared on the Channel 9 building that houses the newspapers offices in the Docklands, with the words 'something to report about'.

His bail hearing was told, Gibson-Burrell was previously charged in 2023 when he was caught spray painting a 'Pam the Bird' inside the City Loop.

He escaped without conviction due to his youth.

A bail decision is expected to be made next week.
There is 'definitely a public interest' in Americans knowing if Prince Harry told the truth about his drug taking when he applied for a US visa, according to a royal expert.

The Daily Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden made the comments after an American think tank reopened its case to have the Duke's immigration papers released.

The Heritage Foundation has raised questions about how he was able to gain entry to the US in 2020 with his wife Meghan after having admitted in his 2023 book Spare to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

Heritage has made accusations Harry had either lied on his papers about his drug use or has been given special treatment by the Joe Biden administration in order to emigrate to the country.

But now that royal admirer Donald Trump has taken control of the presidency, there have been suggestions that he might not be as sympathetic to the Duke, of whom he has been critical of in the past.

Discussing the development on the Mail's YouTube show Palace Confidential, Richard said: 'Migration is a big subject in America at the moment with Trump's plan to repatriate illegal immigrants.

'The Heritage Foundation wants to know more information about how he acquired his status to live in the USA. You have to declare if you have had past use of drugs, Harry has written about that in his memoirs, and they want to know.

'Did he tell the truth?

The Daily Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden has claimed on the latest episode of the Mail's YouTube show Palace Confidential that there is 'definitely a public interest' in Americans knowing if Prince Harry told the truth about his drug taking when he applied for a US visa

US President Donald Trump pictured in the Oval Office on January 6 signing an executive order for pardons. He has previously said he 'wouldn't protect' Harry

If the files are made public and Harry is found to have lied, he faces leaving his life in the Californian town of Montecito behind

Watch the latest episode of Palace Confidential here:

'Harry has a big problem now because it is thought that the new president may be less sympathetic to Harry and Meghan judging on previous comments, so he may encourage the judge to make the reasons public.

'Why can't Americans know why this person was allowed in and on what basis?

'The key thing is that everyone is treated the same whether rich or poor, so there is definitely a public interest in knowing.'

Lawyers for The Heritage Foundation and the Department for Homeland Security have now been ordered by a judge to meet at a federal court in Washington DC on Wednesday, February 5.

Heritage lost a previous case in September when it brought a lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security after a Freedom of Information request for the documents to be released was rejected as a judge ruled it should remain private.

The comments were made on the latest episode of Palace Confidential, which is hosted by Jo Elvin and features fresh insights and discussion on the biggest royal news of the week.

Elsewhere in the show, the panel also discussed the news that Reform leader Nigel Farage had sarcastically dismissed Harry and Meghan as 'wonderboy and wondergirl' for quitting royal duties and moving to America.

He made the comments while at Buckingham Palace after he was invited there along with more than 300 new MPs and peers for a 'welcome' reception.

Nigel Farage and Richard Tice spoke to the Duchess of Edinburgh during a reception hosted by King Charles on January 29

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Richard Tice spoke with Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh

The Daily Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English said Farage also complimented the Duke and Duchess Edinburgh for doing so many royal engagements.

Although the politician did not speak to the King or Queen because he has met them multiple times before and said he wanted to let other MPs make the most of the occasion.

The panel also discussed the happy news that Princess Beatrice has given birth to a daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose.

The King's niece, 36, welcomed her second daughter with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi last week.

Rebecca English said she 'loves' the name, describing Athena as a 'personal choice', Elizabeth as being a tribute to Queen Elizabeth, and Rose as tribute to Princess Margaret, whose middle name was also Rose.

She continued: 'You could tell by the weight anyway (that she was early), but as someone said to me she came slightly early but not unexpectedly soon.'

It is believed doctors had warned a premature arrival was a possibility.

Although the panel then noted it would take a 'cataclysmic event' to put baby Athena on the throne, they confirmed she was now 11th in line, pushing her aunt Princess Eugenie down to 12th place.

The Daily Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English said she 'loves' the name of Princess Beatrice's new baby - Athena Elizabeth Rose

The panel of royal experts discussed the the biggest royal news of the week on the latest episode of Palace Confidential, which is hosted by Jo Elvin

Princess Beatrice gave birth to a daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose, last week

Princess Beatrice gave birth to her second daughter with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (pictured). The eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson is already mother to Sienna Elizabeth, three, and stepson Wolfie, eight

The show also discussed the news of Prince William visiting a Hereford farm to learn about its journey to becoming net zero.

The Prince of Wales, 42, travelled to Lower Blakemere Farm, which is located on his Duchy of Cornwall estate.

He learned about the family's regenerative farming practices as part of their journey to battle climate change.

Rebecca then giggled when recounting her experience the following day as the Prince gleefully goofed around with lake water.

William appeared to be in high spirits as he and local school children in Guildford filtered DNA samples through a syringe after extracting water from a local pond.

And the royal playfully turned the tables on the media, joyfully dousing them with the water collected and declaring: 'This is, like, the best day of my life!'

Rebecca then revealed he got into the swing of things 'very enthusiastically', and she overheard him telling someone 'I enjoyed soaking those journalists'.

She then said she 'couldn't resist' but shouted back to him, 'hold on, we are here you know' before he poked his head around and cheekily replied 'I know'.

Prince William visiting a Hereford farm to learn about its journey to becoming net zero

William, 42, appeared to be in high spirits as he and local school children in Guildford filtered DNA samples through a syringe after extracting water from a local pond

There was also chat about the sombre topic of King Charles' visit to Poland where he became the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The monarch appeared to shed a tear while he listened to the stories of those who survived the former Nazi concentration camp as he sat with other world leaders to mark 80 years since its liberation.

Rebecca, who has covered the royal for more than 20 years, said: 'I don't think I have ever seen the king so moved.'

Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales also paid tribute to those who suffered the horrors committed during World War II at an emotional reunion with genocide survivors.

The ceremony at Guildhall - which was shown on BBC1 at 7pm on Tuesday - brought together faith and civic leaders as well as survivors of the Holocaust and more recent genocides.

Rebecca said she was 'absolutely mobbed' when she got there as people were 'so genuinely excited to see her'.

King Charles III wiped his eye during a commemoration event at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27

King Charles III layed a candle during commemorations at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camp

King Charles III looked at suitcases during a tour at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

But the panel paid special attention to the necklace that the Princess wore, as it came from a celebrated Jewish curator.

The royal, 43, donned a stunning vintage faux pearl necklace from luxury jeweller Susan Caplan during the commemoration.

Rebecca then described the fact that Catherine decided to wear a Jewish brand to a holocaust memorial brand meant a lot to those affected.

And the panel touched on how Princess Kate is starting to go to more royal events now as her strength continues to grow.

But they said the Palace has to manage the public's expectations, as the demand to see more of her will only continue to build, although it might not always be possible.

The panel then discussed the story in the MailOnline by Claudia Joseph which looked at how Carole Middleton and Kate would wear the same outfits.

Rebecca 'I love that mother and daughter can wear the same outfits'.

Although Jo confessed, her daughter wouldn't always be too keen to wear her outfits.

But this thriftiness is not just limited to the Middletons, as Richard Eden explained the Queen was also known to reuse outfits and jewellery.

The Princess of Wales wore a necklace from a celebrated Jewish curator as she attended a moving a Holocaust Memorial Service in London on January 27

Princess Kate donned a stunning vintage faux pearl necklace (right) from luxury jeweller Susan Caplan (left) during the commemoration

The Princess of Wales had worn the 580 Max Mara coat nine years earlier, when she visited the headquarters of Ben Ainslie Racing Portsmouth Old Town, in December, 2015

The panel then answered viewer's questions, which included: What is the significance of Harry and Meghan being the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

Towards the end of the show, the panel also touched on Princess Anne's visit to South Africa where she arrived at the equestrian centre to observe a riding lesson.

This is despite Anne suffering a health scare last June where she sustained a head injury and said she 'can't remember a single thing'.

Anne took some rare time off after the accident, which doctors believe was consistent with being struck by a horse.

Although no one for sure knows what happened in the incident.

Finally the panel revealed their 'Unsung Hero of the Royal Family' of the week.

To hear all the insights from the team of unrivalled royal experts, watch the full show on YouTube now.
After taking over three apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has now spread to a fourth property in Denver - proving the only solution to deal with the crime ring is deportation, cops and their victims have told DailyMail.com.

The gang members, now considered terrorists after President Donald Trump classified TdA as a terrorist organization, have fled the first three apartments they seized in Aurora after city and law enforcement cracked down.

Now, they have taken the mayhem they cause, by selling drugs and prostitution, to Denver - where the mobsters are using the same criminal enterprise playbook they used in Aurora and San Antonio.

DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal The Jewell in Denver, a slum infested with rats and smelling of human waste, is the latest apartment complex where the South American syndicate has total control.

'This is why you have to deport them. If you try to just arrest them, the ones that get away will just go elsewhere and do the exact same thing,' one federal agent who spoke on condition of anonymity told DailyMail.com.

The Jewell's newest inhabitant are so dangerous that the Denver Police Department sent an armored vehicle carrying its SWAT on Thursday to raid the property on a drug warrant.

Six people we taken away in handcuffs out of an apartment unit described as a 'drug den,' where people were in the process of getting high when SWAT stormed in.

Exclusive video obtained by DailyMail.com showed several suspects being lead away as a shocked resident walking his dogs exclaimed: 'They're finally turning this place out. Finally, dude!'

Police raided The Jewell apartments in Denver Thursday, making several arrests

Denver's SWAT executed a drug warrant at the Jewell, not related to immigration, officers told DailyMail.com

DailyMail.com first broke the news that TdA had crossed into the US in October 2023, but the criminal organization became a household name in August 2024 when video of the armed thugs storming a unit at the Edge of Lowry apartment in Aurora surfaced.

A national outrage erupted after the public learned TdA had overpowered three complexes in Aurora.

City leaders began an aggressive campaign to simultaneously downplay the problem while making arrests.

In December, the Aurora Police Department arrested nine TdA members after a migrant couple accused them of kidnapping and torturing them.

Federal agents stormed Edge of Lowry Wednesday, arresting one suspected gangster.

However, attempts to arrest Tren de Aragua members and drive them out of the run-down apartments they controlled in the suburbs just meant they needed to find a new landing spot.

Far from its namesake, the Jewell is TdA's newest point of operation, but the gang is up to its same old tricks.

Members are blatantly taking over vacant apartment complexes and filling them with their own 'tenants' who pay rent to them, not the apartment management, sources told DailyMail.com.

Alleged TdA members moved into the back building of the Jewell about four months ago, residents tell DailyMail.com

DailyMail.com witnessed what appeared to be a drug buy, as a Venezuelan man went up to the roof of the apartment complex with a woman Thursday morning

The woman returned to the ground level appearing to be disoriented and struggling to push a red shopping cart

The Jewell Apartments is run by the same property management company that runs three other apartment complexes in Aurora where TdA seized power

Members don't hide their criminal activity or their affiliation to TdA.

'Before it was just regular migrants - just families trying to survive. In the last four months, the new people who have started to arrive are scary,' one resident who asked not be identified stated.

'I'm afraid of them,' the male resident added. 'They look at you some type of way, like they're going to kill you.'

At night, they throw wild parties where prostitutes and johns are often seen climbing the steps to a roof-top party pad where 'everything you can image happens,' residents claimed.

Other tenants and apartment staffer say they have reported all of this to the cops but nothing ever happens.'

The Denver Police Department confirmed there have been 112 calls for service there in the last four months, including shootings.

The gang's drug customers also often seen hanging around the parking lot, with homeless drug users seen 'lining' up at night to score a hit.

DailyMail.com witnessed a drug transition go down at 9am, after a blonde woman arrived and met up with a Venezuelan man.

The Edge at Lowry Apartments was the second property taken over by the South American gang in Aurora, Colorado

They walked up to the roof of the complex and she came back down looking high and pushing a red shopping cart through the parking lot.

A staffer who wanted her identity protected for fear of retribution told us the horrors she has seen, including having to clean newly-vacated apartment and finding heavy blood stains inside units.

'These people aren't here to work. They feel entitled to all the free things they get in this country,' the staffer - a migrant as well - said.

'There have been rumors ICE might be coming here and making arrests and I hope they do. I work hard for the little I have and these people are just a problem.'

Earlier this week, reports claimed federal agencies had planned a massive raid in Denver, but the enforcement was pushed back after the plans were leaked.
One of NASA's stranded astronauts has revealed she has lost the ability to perform several basic tasks after being stranded in space for eight months.

Sunita Williams admitted this week that she has forgotten what it's like to walk after spending 234 days in microgravity.

'I've been up here long enough, right now I've been trying to remember what it's like to walk. I haven't walked. I haven't sat down. I haven't laid down,' she said during a video call with students at Needham High School in Massachusetts on Monday.

Williams, 59 and her crewmate, Barry Wilmore, 62, were supposed to spend eight days on the ISS when they embarked on their mission on June 5, but the Boeing capsule that took them there was plagued by technical issues.

The capsule has since returned to Earth empty, leaving the two astronauts stuck on the ISS until at least late March when they can catch a ride home on SpaceX's Crew-9 spacecraft.

President Donald Trump said 'the two brave astronauts' were 'virtually abandoned by the Biden administration' and asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to 'go get' them.

'Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe,' the president said. 'Good luck Elon!!!'

The 53-year-old billionaire vowed in a post to retrieve Wilmore and Williams 'as soon as possible.'

Sunita Williams admitted this week that she has forgotten how to walk after spending 234 days in microgravity

Musk said he was asked by President Donald Trump to bring NASA's stranded astronauts home as soon as possible

NASA, however, has repeatedly stated that the Starliner crew is not stranded.

In a statement emailed to DailyMail.com on February 3, the agency said:

'NASA astronaut Suni Williams is successfully performing all duties and functions during her mission aboard the International Space Station, including her daily exercise routine, spacewalks outside of the space station, and a variety of science experiments inside the orbiting laboratory.'

NASA added that long-duration missions in microgravity cause many changes to the human body that the agency must work to mitigate.

Part of that mitigation strategy is a rigorous, two-hour-long daily exercise routine all ISS astronauts must follow.

This routine includes variations of running on a treadmill, stationary biking, and resistance strength training.

'This regime is critical to ensuring astronauts remain healthy and productive during extended missions aboard the orbiting laboratory,' NASA said.

Prior to Trump's recent statement, Musk's SpaceX was already tasked with bringing astronauts Williams and Wilmore back from the ISS.

If Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams do return in late March as expected, they will have spent 10 months on the ISS, which is two months longer than a standard long-term ISS mission

President Donald Trump asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to 'go get' two astronauts who remain stuck in space

The capsule experienced helium leaks and thruster malfunctions before, during and after its launch.

By August, NASA decided Starliner was unfit to safely bring the astronauts home, and announced that Williams and Wilmore would instead hitch a ride back to Earth on SpaceX's Crew-9 capsule, which is currently docked to the ISS.

NASA previously said that Crew-9 would return home as soon as February, but the agency changed the mission timeline in December.

In a statement, officials explained that SpaceX needed more time to complete work on the Crew-10 capsule, which must launch to the ISS before Crew-9 can leave the ISS.

Thus, the astronauts' return was pushed back to late March. By that time, they will have spent eight months in space.

During long space missions, microgravity takes a toll on astronauts' bodies, causing significant muscle and bone deterioration.

For every month in space, astronauts' weight-bearing bones become roughly one percent less dense if they don't take precautions to counter this loss, according to NASA.

And their muscles which are usually activated by simply moving around on Earth also weaken because they no longer need to work as hard, the agency says.

When astronauts return from long-term space missions, it's not uncommon for them not to be able to walk under their own power.

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump's Second 100 Days - The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

The recent statements from Musk and President Trump suggest the timing of Williams and Wilmore's rescue mission could change again, potentially bringing them home sooner.

There are a couple ways SpaceX might do this, according to astrophysicist and science communicator Scott Manley.

One option is to launch Crew-10 earlier, which would also allow the Crew-9 capsule to bring Williams and Wilmore home earlier, he explained in a recent X post.

This would require SpaceX to finish work on the spacecraft ahead of schedule, but the company has not said that it is on track to do so.

Option two is to allow Crew-9 to return to Earth before Crew-10 launches, Manley said.

This would go against NASA protocol, which requires the agency to maintain a critical mass of astronauts on the ISS during the 'handover process,' or the overlap between a departing ISS crew's time on the space station and a new crew's arrival.

This period allows the departing crew (in this case, Crew-9 and the Starliner crew) to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew (Crew-10) and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex, according to NASA.

The handover process helps operations on the ISS run smoothly, but it is not an absolute necessity.

Should NASA opt to let the Crew-9 capsule leave the ISS before Crew-10 arrives, Russian Soyuz astronauts would be there to receive the Crew-10 astronauts.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has vowed to bring NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams back from the ISS 'as soon as possible' by order of President Donald Trump

SpaceX's Crew-9 capsule launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket in September. The capsule is currently docked on the ISS and ready to bring its crew plus Williams and Wilmore home by late March, unless NASA and SpaceX move its departure up

There are a couple ways SpaceX might do this, according to astrophysicist and science communicator Scott Manley.

One option is to launch Crew-10 earlier, which would also allow the Crew-9 capsule to bring Williams and Wilmore home earlier, he explained in a recent X post.

This would require SpaceX to finish work on the spacecraft ahead of schedule, but the company has not said that it is on track to do so.

Option two is to allow Crew-9 to return to Earth before Crew-10 launches, Manley said.

This would go against NASA protocol, which requires the agency to maintain a critical mass of astronauts on the ISS during the 'handover process,' or the overlap between a departing ISS crew's time on the space station and a new crew's arrival.

This period allows the departing crew (in this case, Crew-9 and the Starliner crew) to share any lessons learned with the newly arrived crew (Crew-10) and support a better transition for ongoing science and maintenance at the complex, according to NASA.

The handover process helps operations on the ISS run smoothly, but it is not an absolute necessity.

Should NASA opt to let the Crew-9 capsule leave the ISS before Crew-10 arrives, Russian Soyuz astronauts would be there to receive the Crew-10 astronauts.

It's also possible that the timing of the Starliner crew's return will not change at all.

When Musk stated he would bring the astronauts home 'as soon as possible,' he may actually have been referring to the current mission schedule, Manley said.

What's more, it could be that 'Elon is trolling,' he added. In other words, these statements from Musk and Trump may be displays of political showmanship that do not actually promise any real changes to the rescue mission's timeline.

Neither SpaceX, NASA, nor the White House have made any official public statements regarding a revised return date for Williams and Wilmore.

In an emailed statement, NASA told DailyMail.com: 'NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions.'

SpaceX and the White House did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Despite the astronauts' dramatically extended stay on the ISS, NASA has repeatedly stated that they are not stranded.

The agency has also emphasized that NASA astronauts always train for lengthy missions, and that medical experts have been closely monitoring the Starliner crew's health as they endure the harsh conditions aboard the ISS, including low-gravity, heightened radiation exposure and the psychological stress of confinement.

If Williams and Wilmore do return home in late March as expected, their mission will have lasted two months longer than a standard long-term ISS mission, which typically lasts six months.

But they will not break astronaut Frank Rubio's record for the longest stretch of time spent on the ISS, which is 371 consecutive days.
If you're paranoid about companies and government agencies tracking your whereabouts, experts have the answer.

British clothing brand Vollebak is selling a futuristic tracksuit made of pure silver that blocks radio waves so no-one can track or call you.

The silver material blocks electromagnetic radiation, infrared detection and even bacteria  protecting your whole body.

'Shielding Suit' has pockets for your smartphone so you cannot be detected  even if your device is switched off.

Vollebak, which makes 'clothes from the future', has used the same shielding material that NASA has used for its Mars exploration rover, Curiosity.

'Weve designed the jacket to be comfortable to wear anywhere, just like a regular lightweight jacket; the only difference is youll look like youve just stepped off a spaceship,' it says.

However, the blinging garment doesn't come cheap  the jacket and trousers together cost a whopping 3,990.

Vollebak is already responsible for a range of eccentric clothing, including a lava-proof 'apocalypse jacket' to a 'cocoon' garment for a trip to Mars  and it's even working on a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak.

The futuristic suit made of pure silver blocks radio waves so no-one can track you, whether or not your phone is on or off

However, the blinging garment doesn't come cheap  the jacket and trousers together cost a whopping 3,990

'Long before the Curiosity Rover was sent to Mars to search for signs of life, it had to be tested here on Earth,' Vollebak says on its website.

'So NASA created an electromagnetic shielding tent that was designed to completely block out external electromagnetic radiation during testing.

'Weve now taken that technology and converted it into our first Shielding Suit.'

The outer shell of the suit is embedded with pure silver that blocks radio waves and microwaves in the frequency range 0.2GHz to 10GHz.

This range includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Ku-band satellites, as well as radar systems, which use radio waves to determine the distance and direction of objects.

The suit also deflects mid and long wave infrared radiation  meaning you can't be seen on infrared cameras when it's dark.

According to the company, Shielding Suit has pockets for your phone that work like a 'Faraday cage'  an enclosure that blocks electromagnetic fields.

Named after legendary English scientist Michael Faraday, who first constructed one in 1836, Faraday cages are used in data centers, laboratories and hospitals.

The suit also deflects mid and long wave infrared radiation - meaning you can't be seen on infrared cameras when it's dark

The phone shielding pockets block access to your devices, regardless of whether theyre switched on or off.

'Youll find the jacket pocket on the left chest and another inside the right side pocket,' the company says.

'Physically its engineered just like a pillow case to totally envelope your device.

'Conceptually its more like making a pocket thats entirely watertight [but] for electromagnetic energy instead.

'So you shouldnt be tracked, hacked, or even called.'

'As silver is both electrically conductive and antimicrobial, it means it can reflect certain types of electromagnetic energy whilst killing bacteria at the same time.'

What's more, silver is antimicrobial, meaning it stops microorganisms such as bacteria from growing, which should reduce chance of illnesses.

To make the suit, Vollebak has worked with German lab Shieldex, which creates high-tech metallised fabrics for digital forensics, medical textiles, aerospace and Mars rovers.

The suit uses the same shielding material that NASA has used for its Mars exploration rover, Curiosity (pictured)

Applications for their materials have included protecting electronics from cyberattacks, disguising satellites from thermal imaging cameras, and making wearable biometric sensors.

According to Vollebak, electromagnetic radiation leaves citizens vulnerable to an increasing threat of tracking, calling it the next significant 'science challenge.

'It does a great job of helping information and energy travel throughout the universe, as we enter an era of cybersecurity breaches, geopolitical instability, the first manned missions to Mars, and cosmic radiation exposure, its also going to present an increased threat,' it says.

On the Vollebak website, the suit is available to pre-order now and will be shipping to customers in April.

The jacket is 2,495 while the trousers are 1,495  coming to an overall cost for the combo of 3,990.
The 'alien mummies' discovered in Peru have largely been dismissed as a hoax by the scientific community, but researchers studying the specimens believe otherwise.

Dr Jose Zalce, former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, has analyzed 21 of the strange bodies, finding 'fingerprints, bone wear, dental formations, muscular features and internal organs - proving they're 100 percent real biological organisms.'

He even claimed some were pregnant, 'making them impossible to fake or replicate fraudulently,' said Zalce who has testified under oath that the mummies are real following his six years of work with them.

Recent scans of a 'pregnant' mummy revealed what appeared to be an intact fetus that had the same physical characteristics of the corpses, which the team said was proof of authenticity.

The mummies first exploded on the scene when controversial UFO enthusiast and journalist Jaime Maussan ushered two small beings into Mexico Congress in 2023.

He claimed they were not part of 'our terrestrial evolution', with 30 percent of their genetic composition still 'unknown.'

Dr Zalce and his team, however, have performed X-rays, CT scans with 3D reconstruction, fluoroscopy, DNA analysis, forensic fingerprinting and tissue sample examinations on each body for the last six years.

'These confirm with 100 percent certainty their organic, biofunctional, and skeletal anatomical authenticity,' Dr Zalce told DailyMail.com.

Researchers have been studying these 'alien mummies' for about six years, claiming them to be 100 percent real

The researchers conducted a recent scan of a mummy named 'Montserrat,' finding it was pregnant at the time of death, which they believe was at least 1,200 years ago

The mystery began in 2017 when Maussan and a team of self-proclaimed paranormal researchers said they found a mysterious three-fingered 'mummified humanoid' with an elongated skull near the city of Nazca.

The body was found covered in white powder, which the team said was used to preserve the remains.

And five years later, the tiny beings were paraded through Mexico's Congress where Maussan argued his case and did so on two occasions.

During the second meeting, he brought in a string of doctors who all said the bodies were those of real, once-living organisms - some experts claimed to have studied 'five similar specimens over four years.

Now, a group of researchers who have studied nearly two dozen specimens are 100 percent sure they are real.

Jois Mantilla, a Peruvian journalist, has worked closely with the team stands with the experts' conclusion, specifically when the fetus was discovered in a mummy named Montserrat.

'The fact that the fetus is a tridactyl [three-fingered being] makes it one of the most important proofs of the authenticity of these bodies,' he said.

Dr Zalce and his team have determined that the specimen was between 15 and 25 years old at time of due to its 'bodily condition, gestational state, and a comparison of her anthropomorphic bone structure.'

He estimated Montserrat's remains are from 1,200 to 1,600 years old.

Mantilla also believes the the mummies are remains from an unknown species of hominin due to having some physical characteristics of a human, while its hands, facial features, elongated skull and feet are completely different.

One specimen, named Montserrat, was found with a metallic-like object on its head that experts said said was placed on the body while it was alive

Dr Jose Zalce, former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, has analyzed 21 bodies , finding 'fingerprints, bone wear, dental formations , muscular features and internal organs - proving they're 100 percent real biological organisms'

'It could be a different species of hominid that had not been described before by science,' he said.

'We presume that these beings, so similar to humans, but different at the same time, may have been genetically created by combining genes as in the case of Maria.'

A study on the mummy named Maria, published in May 2024, found that it has biological similarities to that of a human - but with 'many morphological and anatomical structural differences.'

The creature's bones were observed to flow smoothly under the mummified casing, in a way that is found throughout the human body, and its elongated skull showed no signs of artificial cranial deformation.

Mantilla claimed that genes of a bamboo and chimpanzee were used to genetically modify a 'human from the East.'

However, scientists outside this group have also studied two mummies and found different results.

Forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada, who led the analysis, said the claims that the two objects came from another word are 'totally false.'

'The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times,' he said in January 2024.

Researchers said the fingerprints are very unique as they are linear and not wavy like those of humans

'They are not extraterrestrials; they are not aliens.'

However, a former Colorado prosecutor and current defense attorney, who has examined one of the mummies, is also a true believer.

Joshua McDowell said: 'The bodies studied by Estrada were not related to any specimen that we have studied. They were folk dolls made to look like tridactyls confiscated at the airport.'

Estrada's statements have not stopped Zalce and his team from looking deeper into the mysterious bodies.

'All serious researchers involved have confirmed that these are non-human bodies with unique anatomical differences, such as tridactyl, without any traces of artificial manipulation or alteration,' Dr Zalce said.

One of those differences, according to researchers, are the specimens' fingerprints do not correspond to any hominid, they are linear.

'Those of humans, hominids, are oblique, they are wavy, they are rounded shapes and these are totally linear,' Mantilla said.

'In some of the bodies, the number of fingers reach five, in others four and some have only three.'

Dr Zalce added that the mummies' 'authenticity is supported by fingerprints, DNA analysis showing remarkable differences from human DNA, and other surprising genetic and pathological findings.'

Experts speculated that the mummies could be a remains from an unknown species of hominin due to having some physical characteristics of a human, while its hands, facial features, elongated skull and feet are completely different

'We presume that these beings,so similar to humans, but different at the same time, may have been genetically created by combining genes as in the case of Maria,' they said. Pictured is Maria

Metallic plates have been found throughout other areas of the mummies' bodies, 'from the interior covering some bones to external attachments on the skin, forming a biofunctional implant with no signs of rejection,' said Dr Zalce.

'These polymetallic plates have been analyzed using [a light-based measurement], revealing an alloy composed of copper, cadmium, osmium, aluminum, gold, and silver,' he added.

'Notably, the silver has a purity of over 95 percent, which is rare in nature. Additionally, cadmium and osmium, relatively recent discoveries, are currently used in satellite communication and satellite structures.'

Montserrat was found with a metallic-like object on its head that Mantilla said was placed on the body while it was alive.

'They have been placed on the skin using a technique that we still do not know,' he said. 'In some cases, [like Montserrat], the skin has been seen to have grown around the implant.

'This gives us the understanding that these implants were used while the subject was still alive. They were not metal implants placed for ritual purposes.'

McDowell is helping the researchers work collaboratively with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture to complete additional genetic and forensic testing not currently available in Peru.

'There are a lot of unknowns about these tridactyl specimens that could be definitively answered through additional testing modalities not currently available in Peru,' he said.

'Our position is simply that they should be tested, in a legal and culturally sensitive manner, with the best methods available today.'
Pete Davidson had Jimmy Fallon in stitches when he shared a story about a surprising encounter he had with Leonardo DiCaprio on Thursday's episode of The Tonight Show.

The 31-year-old former Saturday Night Live star revealed that he had a run-in with the 50-year-old Oscar winner in 2015, when he was a regular cast member on the sketch comedy series' 40th anniversary special.

Pete  who revealed this month that he once wanted to be fired from SNL said the anniversary episode wasn't actually that bad for him, because it was only his first year on the show, so he wasn't a known quantity yet.

Otherwise, the special is the 'most anxiety-provoking' version of the show, because it doesn't have a 'normal audience.'

Instead, Pete clarified, the live audience is made up of stars like Jack Nicholson and Taylor Swift.

'So you're, like, dressed like a potato in front of' all the superstars, Pete joked as he wiggled his fingers around and danced in his seat.

Pete Davidson had Jimmy Fallon in stitches when he shared a story about a surprising encounter he had with Leonardo DiCaprio on Thursday's episode of The Tonight Show

The 31-year-old former Saturday Night Live star revealed that he had a run-in with the 50-year-old Oscar winner in 2015, when he was a regular cast member on the sketch comedy series' 40th anniversary special; pictured in January 2024 in Beverly Hills

'And then Jack Nicholson's just sitting there,' he added, miming the Oscar winner by squinting his eyes and rocking back and forth while grinning.

Fallon, who was well acquainted with the pressures of the anniversary show, asked if Nicholson was the one who had 'freaked' him out, but Pete clarified that it was another A-lister.

He recalled how he was about to 'introduce a category' with his former costar Leslie Jones, but just as the on-set announcer said he had five seconds before the show went live again, he felt a surprise tug on his shirt  from none other than Leonardo DiCaprio.

Pete remember that Leo had 'his big Revenant beard' at the time of the show.

'He just went, "I like what you're doing,"' the comedian recalled, squinting his eyes and nodding as he impersonated the Killers Of The Flower Moon star.

Just at that moment, the woman keeping tabs shouted 'Live!', which threw Pete off his game.

Pete's hilarious story comes after news that one of DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's longest-gestating projects just got a major new boost.

Their film adaptation of Erik Larson's 2004 nonfiction book The Devil In The White City now has the back of 20th Century Studios, sources told Deadline last week.

the special is the 'most anxiety-provoking' version of the show, because it doesn't have a 'normal audience.' Instead, Pete clarified, the live audience is made up of stars like Jack Nicholson and Taylor Swift

'So you're, like, dressed like a potato in front of' all the superstars, Pete joked as he wiggled his fingers around and danced in his seat

'And then Jack Nicholson's just sitting there,' he added, miming the Oscar winner by squinting his eyes and rocking back and forth while grinning

He recalled how he was about to 'introduce a category' with his former costar Leslie Jones, but just as the on-set announcer said he had five seconds before the show went live again, he felt a surprise tug on his shirt  from none other than Leonardo DiCaprio

Pete remember that Leo had 'his big Revenant beard' at the time of the show. 'He just went, "I like what you're doing,"' the comedian recalled, squinting his eyes and nodding as he impersonated the Killers Of The Flower Moon star

Just at that moment, the woman keeping tabs shouted 'Live!', which threw Pete off his game; DiCaprio is pictured in May 2023 in Cannes, France

Pete's hilarious story comes after news that DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese's long-gestating projects Devil In The White City got a boost after 20th Century Studios moved forward with a film intended for theatrical exhibition; seen in 2023 in Las Vegas

According to the publication, DiCaprio is again in talks to star in the nonfiction serial killer thriller, while Scorsese is negotiating to direct the project.

The movie follows their last collaboration, the acclaimed Western crime epic Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Although the news is promising for fans of DiCaprio and Scorsese's many collaborations, they shouldn't get their hopes up too much, as the project has been in various stages of discussions since the Wolf Of Wall Street star bought the rights to the nonfiction history back in 2010.

The film had previously been planned as a feature film at Paramount, with DiCaprio starring and Scorsese directing, but that version of the project fell through.

It was reconstituted as a limited series for Hulu in 2022, with Keanu Reeves set to star and Tar director Todd Field to helm the project, but that fell through just two months after it was announced when both exited the project.

Now, DiCaprio may get a chance to bring the chilling history to life with his good friend and regular collaborator Scorsese, with whom he has been working since 2002's Gangs Of New York.

According to Deadline, the two would produce their upcoming film, along with Stacey Sher, Rick Yorn and Jennifer Davisson, who is DiCaprios partner at his production company Appian Way.

Sources said that a recent meeting with executives at 20th Century  formerly 20th Century Fox before Disney bought it  went well enough that they wanted to move forward with a theatrical adaptation of Larson's book.

The movie, which would star DiCaprio and be directed by Scorsese, is adapted from Erik Larson's bestselling nonfiction crime tale The Devil In The White City, about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the serial killer H. H. Holmes

DiCaprio bought the rights back in 2010, and he and Scorsese were attached for Paramount before the project fell apart. Keanu Reeves later signed on to a Hulu limited series version directed by Todd Field, but that also fell apart in 2022; seen in 2019 in Santa Barbara, Calif.

DiCaprio most recently worked with Scorsese on the Oscar-nominated crime epic Killers Of The Flower Moon (pictured). Their collaborations have earned $1.3 billion over the years

Despite having been tossed around for more than a decade, there isn't currently a screenplay for Devil In The White City.

Larson's book, which is subtitled Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America, tells a dual story set around the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

The book, which is structured more like a novel than a traditional history, juxtaposes the feats of the World's Fair architect Daniel Burnham with the grisly crimes of the early American serial killer H. H. Holmes.

Holmes, who ran a hotel in Chicago at the time, was only ever tried and convicted of murdering one person, but he was believed to have killed several other people, and he confessed to having murdered 27, though several of his alleged victims later turned out to still be alive.

The sensationalist newspapers of the era dubbed the hotel he ran a 'murder castle,' and it was claimed that it had secret rooms for torturing guests, as well as trapdoors and a gas chamber.

However, most of these claims were later shown to be serious exaggerations or complete fabrications.

This would be the seventh project for DiCaprio and Scorsese if it comes to fruition.

They first worked together on 2002's Gangs Of New York, and quickly followed that up with the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator and the Oscar-winning The Departed, which earned Scorsese his first  and so far only  Academy Award for best director.

They reunited in 2010 for the thriller Shutter Island, before making their most commercially successful film to date in 2013 with The Wolf Of Wall Street.

DiCaprio worked with Scorsese's other great acting inspiration, Robert DeNiro, on the short film The Audition in 2015, but their last major theatrical release was 2023's Killers Of The Flower Moon, which was released by Paramount and Apple TV+.

All of their films have been hits with critics, with several already attraction modern masterpiece status, and they have proved to have one of the most profitable creative partnerships in film after earning $1.3 billion together.
Fans of an action-packed Netflix series have not stopped binge-watching the show since the premiere of Season 2.

The Night Agent's second season is topping the streaming platform's top 10 TV series in the US currently following its January 23 release.

However, in a rare feat, millions of fans are also currently tuned into the show's first season, which too has become a top 10 watch in the US, according to Tudum.

The first season of The Night Agent is currently at number 6 after having spent nine weeks on the top 10 list between 2023 and 2025.

Fans on X revealed one of the main reasons they tuned into the show's first season right before the second was simply because they forgot the plot.

'Watching season 1 of Night Agent before I watch the new season I forgot what happened in season 1,' an X user joked online.

Meanwhile, another tweeter said they were re-watching the series from the beginning to 'remember what happened'.

Fans have been binge-watching the first season of The Night Agent on Netflix following the show's second season premiere on January 23

Season 1 of the show centers around FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), whose job is to monitor a phone line for undercover spies at the White House.

The phone finally rings, and Basso finds himself in a conspiracy involving the crime family of Viktor Bala (Dikran Tulaine).

Season 2 is set nine months after the show's first season finale, and Sutherland becomes entangled in even more obstacles.

After going AWOL following a compromised mission, Sutherland sets off to find those responsible for leaking American Intelligence and stealing enough experimental weapons to 'wipe out' Manhattan.

Other Season 2 stars include Luciane Buchanan, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Sarah Desjardins, and Louis Herthum.

Several Netflix users claimed they managed to watch all 10 episodes of The Night Agent's first season in 24 hours.

The show centers around Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) - a night agent who in Season 2 goes AWOL after a compromised mission

'The night agent so good I'm bout to finish season 1 in one day lol,' a fan wrote.

However, several viewers who praised the show believed there were some issues Season 2 but believed it was still worth the watch.

'Just finished season 2 of 'The Night Agent' on Netflix. Terrific, suspenseful thriller- as exciting as season 1,' an X user tweeted.

'By episode 9 it gets too far fetched but kudos to the creative team for it being so exciting anyway.'

'The night agent season 1 was so much better. I'm literally forcing myself to push through season 2 that's how boring it is,' another wrote.

'Just finished season 2 of the night agent really enjoyed it they have set season 3 up perfectly!,' a fan tweeted.

The first season of The Night Agent is number 6 on a Netflix most-watched TV series list, according to Tudom

Social media users claimed they were binge-watching the first season in order to remember the previous events that took place

The Netflix show's first season debuted at number 7 on its most-watched TV series list and received a 74 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Critics gave its second season an 82 percent Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes to modest critical acclaim.

'Season 2 is a little messier, a little more self-serious and at times slower than the satisfying first go-round, but "Night Agent" still delivers,' critic Kelly Lawler wrote for USA Today.

'The Night Agent's second season isn't going to win any awards, but it's a genuinely fun ride from start to finish, and I'm already excited for Season 3,' wrote Erik Kain of Forbes.

However, more than one unimpressed critic criticized the second season's plotline.

'To the show's credit, it doesn't shy away from portraying American hypocrisy, on both an individual and global-political level, and it understands human desperation,' critic Nina Metz wrote for the Chicago Tribune.

'But its concept of what constitutes a threat to American democracy feels stuck in a previous era, as if the threats were all foreign.'

(From left to right), Basso's co-stars include Arienne Mandi and Luciane Buchanan

Netflix renewed The Night Angel for a third season back in October 2024, and filming began later that year.

It is still in production, and some plot lines of Season 3 were written before the second season debut, according to TV Guide.

Producers have stayed quiet on what the upcoming season will focus on, but producer Shawn Ryan hinted at what could happen based on the events of Season 2.

'Peter falls in the middle of an awkward and uncomfortable place - he's between two very powerful people that may be up to no good,' Ryan told Tudom in January 2025.

'That will be an interesting question in Season 3: Who's really in control of that relationship - President Hagan or Jacob Monroe?'

As of January 2025, Basso is the only cast member who confirmed he will star in the upcoming season, and producers have not announced its release date.
Kevin Costner felt 'sucker-punched' after learning of ex-wife Christine Baumgartner's engagement to the man he had considered a friend Josh Connor, DailyMail.com has learned.

Handsome financier Connor, 49, popped the question during an intimate dinner earlier this week, less than one year after Baumgartner and Costner's messy divorce was finalized.

And while friends of the couple were reportedly not surprised by the proposal, the news came as a shocking 'betrayal' to Costner who only found out from his children, insiders revealed.

'Kevin said he felt sucker-punched when his kids told him about the marriage proposal,' a close source told DailyMail.com exclusively.

'He said he would have preferred to have heard it straight from Christine, but either way, it still feels like betrayal even after all this time.

'He just celebrated his birthday, thank God they waited at least a week to make the announcement,' the friend added.

Kevin Costner only learned of his ex-wife's engagement through is children, insiders tell DailyMail.com

Christine Baumgartner and Costner's former friend Josh Connor were revealed to be engaged on Wednesday - less than a year after her divorce from the Hollywood icon - pictured May 2024

Costner, who turned 70 on January 18, has been seen out and about in recent weeks, partying in Aspen, Colorado and mingling with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Jeff Bezos, and other A-list stars.

Earlier this week he unveiled his new television project, Yellowstone to Yosemite, on Fox News-owned streaming service FoxNation, following his shock departure from Yellowstone last year.

The show, set to premiere on February 8, will follow the actor on President Theodore Roosevelt and naturalist John Muir's Yosemite expedition in 1903.

'Kevin will do what he always does and that's focus on his kids and his work,' the source added.

'He's premiering Horizon 2 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, his docuseries is coming out soon and he's got his music and of course his best friend Bobby.

'Thank god for that dog, he's been there with Kevin through it all, bringing him and the kids so much joy.

Sources told DailyMail.com Costner felt 'sucker-punched' when he learned of his ex-wife's upcoming marriage from his children and wished she would've relayed the news to him herself. He is pictured with kids, Hayes, Grace, and Cayden, whom he shares with Baumgartner

The former couple welcomed three children during the course of their marriage: Cayden, 17, Hayes, 15, and Grace, 14

Baumgartner and Connor's relationship was confirmed in January 2024. They are pictured in Montecito July 2024

'Kevin was bragging about Bobby being on the cover of Dogue Magazine and how he's a celebrity in his own right.'

'As far as dating, Kevin said it's just not a priority right now. He said he's not opposed to it and if it happens it happens.'

Costner has publicly gushed over his beloved one-year-old English Boxhead Lab, whom he adopted in December 2023.

The pup had supported him on the set several times and is often featured on his social media.

Costner, 70, and Baumgartner, 50, split in May 2023 following a 19-year marriage and three children - with Baumgartner sparking up a romance with Connor, 49, that year.

The couple got engaged on January 26 during an intimate dinner in Santa Barbara, according to People.

Kevin Costner's latest project is raising eyebrows, with many wondering if he's subtly capitalizing on his Yellowstone fame after his fallout with the show's creator Taylor Sheridan

Costner has publicly gushed over his beloved one-year-old English Boxhead Lab, whom he adopted in December 2023

Kevin gushed in his dog's DOGUE cover story last Wednesday: 'Bobby is with me always. He's either at my feet, my bed, on the couch just always by my side. He travels with me on set and on vacations when it's appropriate and possible'

A source said: 'It was about to rain, so almost no one else was on the beach when Josh got down on one knee.'

The couple's loved ones were 'not surprised' by the proposal, with the source adding: 'They spent Christmas together last month, where it all began. They are both over the moon and excited for their future together.'

The proposal comes 11 months after Costner and Baumgartner settled their acrimonious divorce battle following much legal wrangling over child and spousal support.

Costner and Baumgartner both sought joint custody of their three children and Baumgartner is receiving $63,209 a month in child support from her ex, a much lower amount than the $165,000 she had requested.

In an emotional court hearing in August, Christine had argued that their children had grown accustomed to a life of luxury, claiming that their 'affluent lifestyle' was 'in their DNA.'

Baumgartner previously wanted to overturn her prenuptial agreement so she could receive alimony.

Under the prenup she is entitled to a lump sum of $1.5million and a year's worth of mortgage payments on a new home worth up to $1million.

However the judge rejected these protests and enforced the prenup.

Baumgartner filed for divorce from Costner in May 2023 citing irreconcilable differences.

She was ordered to vacate Costner's $145million Carpinteria compound two months later.

The former couple welcomed three children during the course of their marriage: Cayden, 17, Hayes, 15, and Grace, 14.

Baumgartner was first spotted with her and Costner's former neighbor Connor in July 2023 in Hawaii. He is also divorced and a father of three children.

Their romance was confirmed in January 2024.

However, it has since been reported that Costner had suspected that 'something was going on between Christine and Josh,' a source informed Us Weekly.
Jon Gosselin has revealed the weight loss plan that he believes will help him shed pounds for his upcoming wedding to fiancee Stephanie Lebo.

The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star, 47, proposed to Stephanie, 37, in November 2024 after three years together at her favorite restaurant in Pennsylvania where they reside.

The couple is set to tie the knot on November 23, 2025, after locking in a venue somewhere in the 'Northeast' that's 'close to home,' according to Jon.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com at The Music Lodge's Enlighten Wellness Lounge at the Sundance Film Festival, the reality star shared more details about his upcoming nuptials and how he's preparing for the big day.

'To get prepared for the wedding and my own self, I've been doing CellSound, which is getting rid of my visceral fat. I am part of a new med spa that I go to.

'Working out. I walk. I didn't work out this week because I've been walking up this damn hill, 15,000 steps and 7,000 feet, so I'm feeling it,' Jon said, referring to Main Street in Park City, Utah, where the film festival takes place.

'But I'm trying to eat healthier and not eat as much, and portion control.

'And all these things that everyone does, I'm trying to maintain that. And now I have the time. So I have the time to go the gym, and I have the time to do these things.'

Jon Gosselin spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com at the Sundance Film Festival (pictured at the Shutterstock Chalet on January 24)

The DJ shared how he's getting in shape to fit into a smaller 'suit size' for his upcoming wedding to Stephanie Lebo

Jon, 47, and Stephanie, 37, are set to tie the knot on November 23, 2025, at a venue that's 'close to home' in Reading, Pennsylvania

Jon previously revealed he had lost more than 50 pounds with help from semaglutide, which is commonly sold under brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy.

He told DailyMail.com on January 25 in a video interview that he's 'still on a low dose' of semaglutide, which he injects himself with once a week to help him 'maintain' his weight.

However, he said he wants to lose 'about 20 pounds' to reach his goal weight of 190, so he can wear a smaller suit size for his fall wedding.

'I want to reach 190 because that will put me in a better suit size for my wedding because I have broad shoulders.

'So, I would love to be a 40 regular instead of a 42. It's just what I want,' he said.

To also help with the weight loss, he gets CellSound treatments when he goes to Los Angeles to visit Dr. Nicholas Nikolov, a world-renowned plastic surgeon.

Jon was able to show off his abs this summer after 'never having abs before' from the non-invasive treatments since they helped 'tighten up all that skin and the belly fat.'

The Beverly Hills-based doctor, who was also at the Enlighten Wellness Lounge, told DailyMail.com that he noticed a difference with Jon getting the CellSound treatments.

Jon is hoping to lose '20 pounds' so that he could fit into a size 40 suit for his wedding this fall (pictured in 2022)

Jon previously revealed he had lost over 50 pounds by taking semaglutide, known as brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, and saw his abs for the first time over the summer

Jon credits Dr. Nicholas Nikolov for introducing him to CellSound Aesthetics treatments, which help get rid of visceral fat and tighten the skin

'We've slimmed him down a little more. The tissue looks better and his appearance. In a bathing suit, he looks a lot better,' he said.

During Sundance, Jon DJ'd at The Music Lodge's Enlighten Wellness Lounge at Treasure Mountain Inn where guests got to try a CellSound Aesthetics session for themselves as well as recharge with ReClinic's vitamin drips and relax with a chair massage by Enlighten Wellness.

Celebrities who stopped by the lounge included John Lithgow, Dave Franco, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Meredith Marks and Marlee Matlin.

With 10 months away from his upcoming wedding, Jon said the next step is to send out the invitations to his and Stephanie's friends and family.

He's hoping to keep the guest list 'below 150,' so each week, he keeps 'dwindling [the guest list] down 10 people.'

Despite being estranged from six of his eight children, he plans on inviting them all of them to his wedding, even though he doesn't have all their addresses or phone numbers.

Kate, 49, and Jon's twins Mady and Cara, 24, and their four 20-year-old sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, have been estranged from their father for over 10 years.

The exes' other two kids, Hannah and Collin, 20, have lived with Jon since 2018, but both are now attending college. Hannah is at the University of Miami while Collin is studying at Penn State University.

Jon is close to two of his eight children, Hannah and Collin Gosselin, who are now 20 years old and away at college

Jon revealed in 2023 that he last spoke to his daughters, Mady and Cara, in 2014 (pictured on the Today show with mom Kate Gosselin the year he claimed he last spoke to them)

The TV personality is also estranged from four of his 20-year-old sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, which Jon is 'praying that they come around or talk to me'

Jon hasn't been in touch with his ex Kate since there's 'too much animosity,' he insisted

'Mady and Cara live in Manhattan. They have their own careers, their own life. The other four... they go to four different colleges in North Carolina, so I guess they got in state tuition or whatever, because that's where they live now,' Jon shared.

He went on to say his daughter Hannah 'talks to them,' and that he's 'praying that they come around or talk to me.'

He explained, 'I'm not gonna pressure them, but they already know how I feel because Hannah told them.

'I don't have their phone numbers. I don't have any of that stuff. I used to reach out to Cara on LinkedIn. I go to New York a lot, but I never heard a response.

'But it's interesting, like, the cell phone numbers that I do have, they must still be active because [text messages are] blue and I'm not green.'

As far as reaching out to his ex, Kate, he told DailyMail.com that he's 'not' in contact with her, especially spending 14 years embroiled in a nasty custody battle.

'I don't plan on it either. Too much animosity,' he insisted.

The mom-of-eight was previously seeking $132,000 in alleged back child support and then lost the battle in November 2023 when a Pennsylvania judge ruled in Jon's favor.

Stephanie posted on January 26 on Instagram that she 'said yes' to her wedding dress, which she selected from L&H Bridal Rack in Sinking Spring, PA

Jon continues to make his DJ career a focus in his life apart from being a 'stay-at-home dad'

After Sundance, the DJ headed back home where his primary focus is his music career and being a 'stay-at-home dad' to Hannah and Collin whenever they come back home from school and Stephanie's teenage daughter, Giuliana.

'We've pretty built a good rapport with each other. I mean, I take [Giuliana] to school and take her roller skating and all that kind of stuff, just like I did with my kids,' he said.

For now, Jon is not stressing wedding planning and letting his fiancee, who is a cosmetologist, handle the small details and is leaving the music aspect of the ceremony to his partner, Noah Opstad.

'I mean, things have been really good. It's not as stressful. I mean, a wedding is stressful, but I've DJ'd so many weddings.

'I just let Steph talk, and then I'm like, "Okay." She just wants to get it out and she has big plans. There's a coordinator and all that stuff,' he explained.

Stephanie revealed on her Instagram on January 26 that she 'said yes' to her wedding dress, which she selected from L&H Bridal Rack in Sinking Spring, PA.

Jon said his mother, Pamela Castello, was involved in helping his fiancee pick out the dress, which he believes was a sweet gesture.

'My mom said it's nice because Steph's involving my mother, and my mother, she's had six weddings, like, in my family, and was never really involved,' he shared.
The Apprentice (BBC1)

Rating:

(yes, no stars!)

Flops, every one of them. Hopeless, cringing disasters that failed so badly, it was physically uncomfortable. How can anyone perform so dreadfully and be oblivious to it?

I'm not talking about the candidates on The Apprentice, embarrassing though they were. It's Lord Sugar's jokes that leave me with my teeth and my eyelids clenched tight in pain.

'I'm looking for a Bezos, not a bozo,' he greeted the 18 hopefuls  a lame gag made worse by the fact he didn't know how to pronounce the name of the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos (it's 'bay-zoes', not 'bezzoss').

'You're in the air conditioning business?' he asked one contestant. 'You blow hot and cold, do you?'

All the apprentices chuckled dutifully, though their amusement was drowned out by the howls of mirth from the Good Lord's sidekicks, Karren Brady and Tim Campbell.

That's how you get ahead in business  laugh loudly when the boss cracks a funny.

Many of his one-liners are crude and puerile. As he pushed the teams' business plans to one side, he snorted, 'I've got a bunch of CVs here  some of them contain more crap than the River Thames.'

When one office junior got his geography muddled, on a sales trip to the Austrian mountains, Sugar sneered, 'I believe you had trouble with your Dolomites. I think I can get you some cream for that.'

Flops, every one of them. Hopeless, cringing disasters that failed so badly, it was physically uncomfortable - and that was just Lord Sugar's jokes

'This is where the schnitzel hits the fan,' he added, as the Austrian puns kept coming.

'Do-re-mi, no dough for me.' He told one woman to 'keep your Von Trapp shut.'

Who writes this drivel? And how can we make them stop?

The simplest solution is the obvious one: The Apprentice is desperately outdated and has no place on primetime TV. It should have been cancelled years ago.

Its format has barely changed since the Noughties. We still see endless staged shots of the apprentices filing into limousines or running along streets in flapping suits and high heels.

Repetitive edits pick out their smuggest boasts and most inane asides, which encourages them to behave like idiots in the hope of extra screen time.

Half of them have no real interest in 'becoming Lord Sugar's next business partner'  they're just looking for publicity on social media.

'You didn't sell anything, did you?' snapped Baroness Brady at one apprentice, Emma. 'Technically, no,' she admitted, as though she felt it unfair for criticism to be based on actual facts.

The Apprentice is desperately outdated and has no place on primetime TV. It should have been cancelled years ago, writes Christopher Stevens

In reality, British businesses are struggling to stay afloat, with the number on the brink of bankruptcy up 25 per cent on last year, according to a recent report.

But this show, a throwback to the era before the 2008 banking crisis, continues to celebrate stupidity, mismanagement, backstabbing and cluelessness.

'It's a shambles, you know, a bloody shambles,' gloated Sugar, as he despatched his first victim, the hapless Emma.

But to see British business hopefuls failing isn't funny any more. And, Lord knows, neither are the boss's jokes.
Jackie 'O' Henderson rang in her 50th birthday in style live on-air on Friday with her KIIS FM co-stars - but there was one notable person missing from the celebrations.

The radio star's colleagues threw a lavish birthday party to mark the milestone occasion, however Kyle Sandilands was not in attendance because he was off sick.

The blonde beauty was treated to a huge table of party food and posters featuring never-before-seen throwback photos of Jackie as a child set up to commemorate the event.

She was joined by her close friends, including show producers Intern Pete Deppeler and Cooper Johns, as well as her daughter Kitty, who sweetly called in to wish her mum a happy birthday.

Jackie looked flawless and half her age on her big day as she had fun with her co-stars.

She was also surprised with a lavish retreat getaway from her best friend Gemma O'Neill.

Jackie 'O' Henderson rang in her 50th birthday in style live on-air on Friday with her KIIS FM co-stars - but there was one notable person missing from the celebrations

'She has given me a weekend away to a silent retreat in the Blue Mountains. We'll be taking the train, there's yoga and deep-guided meditation!' she said.

Sadly, Kyle was a no-show and did not make an appearance throughout the morning.

Jackie once described her best friend and colleague of 20 years Kyle as her 'ride or die.'

Now, the 50-year-old has enshrined that sentiment into her legally binding $100million contract with KIIS FM.

The pair signed a record-breaking $200 million deal with Australian Radio Network (ARN) in November 2023 that will see them remain on airwaves until 2034 - earning a whopping $10m per year salary each.

On Thursday, the duo opened up about what their extensive contracts stated would happen to the show if one of them were to pass away.

'I've got a whole page in there about what happens if you die,' Jackie told Kyle.

The blonde beauty was treated to a huge table of party food and posters with never-before-seen throwback photos of Jackie as a child set up to commemorate the event

Her colleagues set up several collages of Jackie around the office

'I've got that as well, had that for quite a few years. I think you only just put that in yours this year,' Kyle added.

'Wait. Why was I in yours? Was I more likely to die?' Jackie exclaimed.

Kyle reassured her the death clause is something the lawyers came up with years ago, and the new deal was a chance for Jackie to add her own individual stipulations.

'The lawyers rang me when they were doing this new deal and said "Jackie wants this death clause",' he said.

'I said, well, she should get that. I've had that for years.'

As part of Jackie's contract, the host specified she wanted the option to leave the show if Kyle died.

'So, what would have happened to me prior if you'd have died? Like what?' Jackie asked him, which Kyle didn't know.

Sadly, Kyle was a no-show and did not make an appearance throughout the morning because he was sick

'My contract would have still stood,' she suddenly realised. 'Now its weakened.'

Nevertheless, Jackie said she felt good about her heartfelt choice to honour their 20 years of friendship in the hypothetical face of Kyle's death.
 Flash

Israel agreed on Thursday to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 minors, reversing an earlier decision to delay the exchange. The move followed the release of three Israeli and five Thai hostages by Hamas under the ongoing Gaza ceasefire.

The decision came despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's initial suspension of the prisoner release, citing security concerns during a chaotic handover of hostages in southern Gaza.

Mediation efforts helped salvage the third round of hostage-prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas.

The day's exchange began with the release of Agam Berger, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier captured during Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on the Nahal Oz base. Footage showed her in a khaki uniform emerging from damaged buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza, before being transferred to Israeli custody.

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Hamas released two more Israelis -- Arbel Yahoud, 29, and Gadi Mozes, 80 -- along with five Thai agricultural workers. The Thai hostages, identified as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak, had been working in southern Israel when they were taken captive.

Scenes of chaos unfolded as hundreds of Gazans gathered, and militants struggled to control the crowd. Netanyahu condemned the "shocking scenes" and urged international mediators to ensure safe hostage transfers.

Following the hostages' release, Netanyahu's office initially delayed the Palestinian prisoner release, demanding guarantees for the safety of future releases. Israeli media reported that buses carrying Palestinian prisoners were ordered to turn back. However, about an hour later, Israel resumed the exchange after mediators secured assurances.

At Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, where weekly protests call for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal, crowds celebrated the latest releases while displaying photos of those still held in Gaza. Some hostages, including those believed to be dead, are expected to be freed in later phases of the agreement.

Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, who is in Israel for talks with Netanyahu and other officials, visited the Hostage Square and spoke with families of the captives. He expressed optimism about the deal's continuation and suggested an American-Israeli hostage might be released Friday, ahead of the next scheduled exchange on Saturday.

This was the third exchange since the Gaza ceasefire began on Jan. 19. Netanyahu remains under pressure from far-right coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich to resume military operations before the deal is completed.

All released hostages underwent medical evaluations in Israel. Mozes, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was reported in good condition at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, while Berger was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.

More than 60 Israeli hostages and 290 Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged under the truce. Israel insists the ceasefire will not derail its broader campaign against Hamas, while mediators push to extend the pause in fighting. Thursday's events underscored the fragility of the deal as both sides navigate distrust and competing demands.




Rihanna again supported her beau A$AP Rocky on Thursday amid his criminal trial in downtown Los Angeles, as he faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

The Grammy-winning artist and fashion mogul, 36, for the second day in a row, made headlines for her starry presence and glamorous, stylish appearance.

The AP reported that she '[outshined] key testimony' in the case, which stems from a shooting her boyfriend, 36, stands accused of.

A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, has entered not guilty pleas to a pair of felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in connection with the November 2021 shooting in Hollywood, California of his one-time friend, A$AP Relli.

The Umbrella songstress, who shares two children with A$AP Rocky, 36 - RZA, two, and Riot Rose, one - again was seated between A$AP Rocky's mother Renee Black and sister Erika B. Mayers.

The Barbados-born superstar was 'again brought into the courtroom surreptitiously before most of the rest of the audience' Thursday, according to the AP, as she was clad in 'a white top and gold earrings.'

Rihanna, 36, again supported her beau A$AP Rocky, 36, on Thursday amid his criminal trial in downtown Los Angeles, as he faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted

A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was seen headed toward court Thursday in a black trench coat over a navy blue suit with black shoes

Court sketches indicated she had large hoop earrings with her black locks down and parted during the legal proceedings, as TMZ reported she donned a 'button-up white top, skinny black tie, black work pants and black point pumps.'

A$AP Rocky was seen headed toward court in a black trench coat over a navy blue suit with black shoes.

On Wednesday, the fashion mogul, who founded the company Fenty Beauty, donned a an all-black ensemble of a coat with buttons, a purse and gold jewelry in the outing, sources told People Wednesday.

Rihanna - who was mentioned multiple times as attorneys conducted jury selection - wore her hair to the side and donned black-framed glasses at one point to focus on footage displayed during Wednesday's hearing.

Thursday's hearing was again marked by 'contentious' exchanges between A$AP Rocky's accuser A$AP Relli, whose real name is Terell Ephron, and defense attorney Joe Tacopina.

On Wednesday, A$AP Relli 'repeatedly demanded to know why' Tacopina had taken a certain line of questioning, leading Judge Mark S. Arnold to recess the case so A$AP Relli's attorney could instruct him how to answer the questions in a manner appropriate for the court.

At one point, A$AP Relli yelled at A$AP Rocky, 'You did this to yourself!' to which A$AP Rocky did not respond.

The judge admonished him, 'Do not talk to the defendant!' to which he defended himself, 'He's staring at me!'

The SOS songstress was on hand for the second day in a row as her boyfriend stood trial

The We Found Love artist again was seated between A$AP Rocky's mother Renee Black and sister Erika B. Mayers during the legal proceedings

A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, has entered not guilty pleas to a pair of felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in connection with the November 2021 shooting in Hollywood, California of his one-time friend, A$AP Relli

The celebrity couple was pictured last month in NYC at the Footwear News Achievement Awards, where A$AP Rocky was an honoree

At another point in the trial Wednesday, Tacopina displayed a series of Instagram posts that indicated A$AP Relli had problems with A$AP Rocky before the shooting occurred, which would have contradicted prior statements he gave in the proceedings.

A$AP Relli asked Tacopina, 'Why are you showing my Instagram?' adding he was 'already getting death threats' from 'the whole world.'

A$AP Relli told Tacopina that he was getting pushback from the public over the way he had been portrayed as legal proceedings played out in the case.

'Cause youre saying Im an extortionist and youre putting my whole life out there,' said A$AP Relli, who has filed a civil case against Tacopina accusing him of libeling him with statements about the case. He has also sued A$AP Rocky in connection with the incident.

A$AP Relli earlier this week testified about the specific incident in which he alleges A$AP Rocky shot him amid a dispute between the pair.

A$AP Relli said in testimony that A$AP Rocky had aimed a firearm in his direction, at one point holding it in the air as he approached him.

'He turned around and then it was like BOOM! I felt my hand hot. I was hit. Or I was grazed. I didnt have a hole or nothing.'
Amy Schumer looked fabulous in a figure-hugging black midi dress in New York City.

She paired the v-neck, long-sleeved dress with black pumps and classic Wayfarer-style black sunglasses.

The Kinda Pregnant star, 43, had her long blonde hair pulled back into a sassy ponytail.

She was spotted leaving the SiriusXM offices where she appeared on Town Hall promoting her new comedy film.

Amy  who had to quit using Ozempic due to the side effects  and her Kinda Pregnant co-stars Brianne Howey, Jillian Bell, Lizze Broadway and Urzila Carlson sat down for a panel with host Bevy Smith.

Will Forte and Damon Wayons Jr. also star in the Netflix film scheduled to hit the streaming service on February 5.

Amy Schumer looked fabulous in a figure-hugging black midi dress in New York City

The Kinda Pregnant star, 43, had her long blonde hair pulled back into a sassy ponytail

Amy plays Lainy in the movie and when her 'plan to settle down and start a family falls apart, she puts on a fake baby bump, tells a lie - and accidentally falls for her dream guy,' according to the synopsis.

The I'm So Pretty star also made a stop at the Howard Stern Show where she spoke about her experience with Ozempic after the host mentioned his dislike of the drug.

Ozempic is an FDA-approved prescription medication to treat type 2 diabetes. The medication is administered weekly by injection in the thigh, stomach or arm.

It is a brand name for semaglutide, which works in the brain to impact satiety and as such, has exploded in popularity as a way to lose weight quickly.

The comedienne said she lost 30 pounds while taking the diabetes medicine that is also used for weight loss.

She started taking the once a week shot in 2022 but soon started vomiting and having constant nausea.

Schumer later learned that she has the GDF15 gene, which means her body produces 'abnormally low levels' of the GDF15 hormone that 'causes taste aversion, nausea and vomiting,' as per the HER Foundation.

The hormone is produced during pregnancy as well as 'by organs under stress and by tumors.'

Amy discussed her new movie Kinda Pregnant and her bad experience on Ozempic

She paired the v-neck, long-sleeved dress with black pumps and classic Wayfarer-style black sunglasses

She was spotted leaving the SiriusXM offices where she appeared on Town Hall promoting her new comedy film

Amy plays Lainy in the movie and when her 'plan to settle down and start a family falls apart, she puts on a fake baby bump, tells a lie - and accidentally falls for her dream guy'

'I have this gene - GDF15 - which makes you extremely prone to nausea which is why I was so sick during my pregnancy,' Schumer, who welcomed a son with husband Chris Fischer in 2019, revealed on Wednesday's episode of SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show.

The Trainwreck star's GDF15 sensitivity affected her when she was using Ozempic.

'So, I tried Ozempic almost three years ago and I was like bedridden, I was vomiting and then you have no energy but other people take it and they're all good,' she explained.

While she lost 30 pounds taking the drug, Schumer said that it prevents her from being able to play with her five-year-old son Gene.

'I lost 30 pounds so quick [on it]. I looked great and I couldn't lift my head off the pillow, so what's the point?'

Schumer joked that all the positives being advertised about Ozempic are 'red flags' and that even Oprah Winfrey  who admitted to taking a GLP-1 to lose weight  is now skinnier than Stern.

Ultimately, the Life & Beth star decided Ozempic was not for her due to her the side effects.

'And youre like, "OK, this isnt livable for me." But I immediately invested [in it] because I knew everyone was going to try it,' she added.

Ultimately, the Life & Beth star decided Ozempic was not for her due to her the side effects

Amy and her Kinda Pregnant co-stars Brianne Howey, Jillian Bell, Lizze Broadway and Urzila Carlson sat down for a panel with host Bevy Smith

Will Forte and Damon Wayons Jr. also star in the Netflix film scheduled to hit the streaming service on February 5

The Unfrosted star also shared her opinion on fellow celebrities 'lying' about taking Ozempic for weight loss.

'Everyone has been lying saying, "Oh smaller portions." Like shut the f*** up.

'You are on Ozempic or one of those things or you got work done. Just stop,' she said.

'Be real with the people. When I got lipo, I said I got lipo,' she added.
Gascon is currently nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards

Transgender Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon is under fire over offensive social media posts that have resurfaced online.

Gascon, 52, who is currently nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her starring role in the musical Emilia Perez, has been slammed over the 'hurtful' posts, which criticize Islam, the Oscars, and George Floyd.

The posts, which were dug up by Muslim writer Sarah Hagi and translated into English by Variety, have since been deleted from Gascon's X account (formerly known as Twitter).

One post, from November 2020, read: 'Im sorry. Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English well have to teach Arabic.'

Another post from September 2020 featured a photo of a Muslim family dining in a restaurant in traditional Islamic attire, which included the wife covered from head-to-toe in a black burqa.

Transgender Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon is under fire over offensive social media posts she shared resurfaced online

The posts, which were written in Spanish, criticized Islam, the Oscars, and George Floyd

'Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY,' Gascon wrote.

In 2021 Gascon wrote that 'Islam fails to comply with international rights', and 'I am so sick of so much of this s**t, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the fucking beliefs of morons that violate human rights'.

She also posted about George Floyd, whose murder by Minneapolis police, as he protested 'I can't breathe', sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Gascon wrote: 'I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They are both wrong.'

The actress added: 'Too many things to reflect on regarding the behavior of our species every time an event occurs. Perhaps it is no longer a question of racism, but of social classes that feel threatened by each other. Maybe thats the only real difference.'

Gascon, who is the first transgender actress to be nominated for an Oscar, also slammed the Hollywood ceremony in a scathing post from 2021.

'More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didnt know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala,' she posted.

She also criticized China during the Covid pandemic, writing: 'The Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled purchase.'

Responding to the controversy in a statement to DailyMail.com, Gascon said, 'I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt.'

Gascon is currently nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her starring role in the musical Emilia Perez

She continued, 'As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.'

Gascon's posts have already been criticized by The Muslim Public Affairs Council, who issued a statement to The Wrap on Thursday.

'Deleted or not, these tweets are hurtful, offensive, and shocking, most especially coming from someone who is a member of another vulnerable community,' they said.

'Muslims are part of every community, including the transgender community.'

Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here) for Best Actress at the upcoming Oscars.

Her film Emilia Perez was also recognized in several categories including top honor Best Picture, Best Director for Jacques Audiard, Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature.

In the film, Karla portrays titular character Emilia Perez, who is a cartel leader who enlists the help of unappreciated lawyer Rita Mora Castro (played by Zoe Saldana) to help fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.

The star completed most of her gender transition in 2018 and announced her new identity after acting in Mexican telenovelas for years.
Jackie 'O' Henderson has revealed she thought her ex-husband had died and was on the verge of breaking down crying after a colleague said he 'was no longer with us' live on-air.

The KIIS FM star said she initially feared the worst when her Peter 'Intern Pete' Deppeler disrupted the breakfast show star's 50th birthday celebration on air on Friday to tell her they had 'lost' her first husband, 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil.

Just as Henderson was about to burst into tears, Doppler clarified O'Neil was simply leaving the network's parent company, ARN, where he has hosted a hit morning show on sister station WSFM GOLD for the past fours years.

'What an a***hole, I was honestly going to like burst into tears,' she told her listeners.

'That was brutal, it was. Honestly, in that moment my heart it was like... it honestly was like for a second I thought he had died.

'I was just about to... I could feel the tears coming - and then he said, you know, he's leaving ARN.'

Nine has poached Henderson's ex just months after he became the first person to topple the network's outgoing talkback radio titan Ray Hadley in the ratings for the first time in more than two decades.

The veteran broadcaster has now has quit his hit Mornings show on WSFM GOLD101.7 and is defecting to Nine's flagship Sydney station 2GB, where he will front a newly rebuild overnights program.

Jackie 'O' Henderson was celebrating her 50th birthday live on air when she was told that her first husband 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil was 'no longer with us' and she thought he had died

O'Neil was briefly married to fellow radio star Jackie 'O' Henderson in the 90s (above, together)

The journeyman disc jockey, who has plied his trade at some of the country's biggest radio networks throughout his four-decade career, including Nova, Triple M, 96FM and Star 104.5, will debut on Nine Radio on March 4.

O'Neil said his new overnight program, which will run Tuesdays to Fridays and also be heard on 2GB's Brisbane-based sister station 4BC, would fulfil his long-held ambition to transition to talkback.

'All the roads I've travelled have led to this moment,' he said.

'There are no finer radio stations to pursue my talk radio aspirations than at 2GB and 4BC.

'This really is the most exciting and pivotal moment of my career.'

The move comes just months after O'Neil spectacularly unseated outgoing 2GB morning host Ray Hadley in his second-last ratings survey last November before hanging up his microphone for the final time last month.

The surprise victory was the culmination of four years of work at WSFM by O'Neil, who joined the western Sydney outfit in 2020 and gradually built his morning show audience while claiming the industry ACRA Award for Best Music Host last year.

He said he was sad to be leaving his 'second home' but looking forward to the new challenge of winning over yet another new audience.

O'Neil has quit his hit WSGM GOLD morning show and defected to talkback station 2GB

'WSFM GOLD101.7 has been more than just my radio station for the last four years, it's been my second home,' O'Neil said.

'I'll definitely miss the laughs with my fantastic co-workers and also the listeners who have become such great friends. HeckI might even miss playing Roxette!!'

The GOLD Network's head of content, Sue Carter, said they had agreed to release O'Neil from his contract early so he could follow his talkback dream and that he left the media company on good terms.

'Phil is one of a kind, I've known him for decades and over that time I've seen his passion for radio only get stronger,' she said.

'When he told us he had an opportunity to host an overnight program on 2GB, we didn't hesitate to release him of any contractual obligations.

'While we'll miss him on air, we're excited for him as he embarks on this next adventure.

'We send him off with our best wishes and a huge thank you for everything he has brought to the station.'

Nine Radio Content Manager Greg Byrnes said signing O'Neil was a coup for both the network and its listeners.

O'Neil has been working out of the same building as his ex-wife and fellow radio star Jackie 'O' Henderson and her breakfast show co-host Kyle Sandilands for the past four years

O'Neil briefly became Sydney's new top morning show radio host in his timeslot last November

'Phil will bring fresh energy to overnights and is an exciting addition to our new lineups in Sydney and Brisbane,' he said.

'He's engaging, entertaining and has a loyal following. Phil loves talk radio and our early morning listeners are going to love getting to know him'.

When the WSFM radio presenter dethroned Hadley in Sydney's hotly contested mornings timeslot in November, it was the first time 2GB's long-reigning radio king had lost a ratings survey in two decades.

O'Neil, who hosts his show from 9am to 1pm, took out the pole position after attracting 12.7 per cent share of the available audience, lifting 0.5 percentage points.

Hadley had enjoyed an unbeaten 160 ratings survey run, when his show dropped 1.3 percentage points, pulling in 11.1 per cent share, coming third after smoothfm 95.3 with 11.2 per cent of the audience.

However, he regained top spot the following month in his last-ever radio ratings survey before retiring.

Phil began his radio career in the 1990s as the host of the Hot30 Countdown before landing roles on Nova 969 and Triple M.

In 2004, he returned to the UK and worked in radio before eventually travelling back to Australia.

O'Neil toppled 2GB's Ray Hadley in the talkback titan's second last ratings survey before his retirement, only for the outgoing host to regain top spot the following month

Jackie 'O' Henderson met 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil while he was hosting a radio show on the Gold Coast (pictured together at the time with a Michael Jackson impersonator)

The move to WSFM saw him working out of the same building as his ex-wife Jackie 'O' Henderson, who co-hosts popular FM breakfast show on ARN's KIIS 106.5 which airs from 6am to 10am weekdays.

Henderson and her co-host Kyle Sandilands have once again claimed the top position for their breakfast time slot despite a drop to 13.1 per cent of the audience.

The couple met while working together on the Gold Coast in the 1990s, after an 18-year-old Henderson called into the radio show O'Neil was hosting at the time to enter a competition, and married just a year later.

Their split in 1999 led to their radio show ending and Phil returning to the UK.

Henderson went on to marry Lee Henderson ,with whom she shares daughter, Kitty, 12, before they broke up 2018 after 15 years of marriage.

Jackie and Phil split in 1999. She went on to marry Lee Henderson with whom she shares her daughter, Kitty, 12. The pair separated in 2018 after 15 years of marriage. (All pictured)

Jackie has not publicly dated anyone since the split, but British photographer Lee has moved on with jujitsu instructor Gabriella Motta.

Asked about her first marriage by KIIS FM newsreader Brooklyn Ross on-air last year, Henderson declined to reveal who was responsible for their split.

'When I was married to Ugly Phil, he was a big radio star and I was working 9 to 5 at a real estate agency,' Jackie explained.

Brooklyn then asked: 'I know this is ancient history but did you leave him or did he leave you?'

'How dare you Brooklyn. My own friend,' a shocked Jackie responded.
Jackie 'O' Henderson has confirmed she lost her driver's licence following mounting speculation.

The radio host, who celebrated her 50th birthday on Friday, revealed on the Kyle & Jackie O show that she's no longer permitted to drive.

Daily Mail Australia was the first to report rumours that Jackie had lost her licence and was being ferried around Sydney in her SUV by an elderly gentleman who isn't related to her.

Speaking with fellow KIIS FM stars Cooper Johns and newsreader Brooklyn Ross, the blonde beauty revealed she had been gifted a trip to the Blue Mountains by her friend Gemma O'Neill for her milestone birthday.

But she questioned how she was going to travel to her weekend away, which is more than 110km away from her home in Sydney's eastern suburbs, now that she is unable to drive herself there.

'Gemma  my best friend  she's given me a weekend away to a silent retreat,' she said live on air.

Jackie 'O' Henderson has confirmed she lost her driver's licence

Daily Mail Australia was the first to report on speculation that Jackie had lost her licence and was being ferried around Sydney in her SUV by an elderly gentleman

'I'm gonna have to catch the train because it's to the Blue Mountains and I don't have my licence!'

What is normally a 1.5-hour drive to the Blue Mountains will end up taking double the amount of time on public transport for Jackie, with the star likely having to catch a bus and two trains to get to her destination in just over three hours.

Jackie rang in her 50th birthday in style live on-air on Friday with her KIIS FM co-stars - but there was one notable person missing from the celebrations.

The radio star's colleagues threw a lavish birthday party to mark the milestone occasion, however Kyle Sandilands was not in attendance because he was off sick.

The blonde beauty was treated to a huge table of party food and posters featuring never-before-seen throwback photos of Jackie as a child set up to commemorate the event.

She was joined by her close friends, including show producers Intern Pete Deppeler and Cooper Johns, as well as her daughter Kitty, who sweetly called in to wish her mum a happy birthday.

Jackie looked flawless and half her age on her big day as she had fun with her co-stars.

'We'll be taking the train, there's yoga and deep-guided meditation!' she said.

Jackie questioned how she was going to travel to her weekend away, which is more than 110km away from her home in Sydney's eastern suburbs, now that she is unable to drive herself there

The blonde beauty was treated to a huge table of party food and posters with never-before-seen throwback photos of Jackie as a child set up to commemorate her 50th birthday

Sadly, Kyle was a no-show and did not make an appearance throughout the morning.

Jackie once described her best friend and colleague of 20 years Kyle as her 'ride or die.'

Now, the 50-year-old has enshrined that sentiment into her legally binding $100million contract with KIIS FM.

The pair signed a record-breaking $200 million deal with Australian Radio Network (ARN) in November 2023 that will see them remain on airwaves until 2034 - earning a whopping $10million per year salary each.

On Thursday, the duo opened up about what their extensive contracts stated would happen to the show if one of them were to pass away.

'I've got a whole page in there about what happens if you die,' Jackie told Kyle.

'I've got that as well, had that for quite a few years. I think you only just put that in yours this year,' Kyle added.

'Wait. Why was I in yours? Was I more likely to die?' Jackie exclaimed.

Her colleagues set up several collages of Jackie around the office

Sadly, Kyle was a no-show and did not make an appearance because he was sick

Kyle reassured her the death clause is something the lawyers came up with years ago, and the new deal was a chance for Jackie to add her own individual stipulations.

'The lawyers rang me when they were doing this new deal and said "Jackie wants this death clause",' he said.

'I said, well, she should get that. I've had that for years.'

As part of Jackie's contract, the host specified she wanted the option to leave the show if Kyle died.

'So, what would have happened to me prior if you'd have died? Like what?' Jackie asked him, which Kyle didn't know.

'My contract would have still stood,' she suddenly realised. 'Now its weakened.'

Nevertheless, Jackie said she felt good about her heartfelt choice to honour their 20 years of friendship in the hypothetical face of Kyle's death.
Reese Witherspoon shocked fans on Thursday by dishing on her secret feud with an unnamed A-list actress.

In a joint PEOPLE interview with her You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell on Thursday, Witherspoon revealed that her friendship with the movie star soured after she 'roasted' her at an awards ceremony.

The actress  who internet sleuths may have uncovered  had personally asked Witherspoon to speak at the 'classy' event in her honor. Witherspoon did not reveal the name of the ceremony or when it took place.

'It literally haunts me,' she confessed before recounting the 'embarrassing' moment for Ferrell.

'So this friend of mine  who I didn't really know that well, but she was a very serious, proper actress  she asked me to give her an award,' she explained.

'But I had never been to this award ceremony, so I thought it was like a roast. So I got up and I roasted her.'

Reese Witherspoon shocked fans on Thursday by dishing on her secret feud with an unnamed A-list actress; Witherspoon seen on January 28, 2025

However, Witherspoon quickly realized that her 'funny' speech wasn't landing with the event's audience.

'The tone [of the event] was British and elegant and classy. And I was like, 'Remember the time we got laser hair removal?!'' Witherspoon recalled with a laugh.

She added: 'I'm still embarrassed about it.'

The speech went over so poorly that the unnamed actress stopped talking to Witherspoon all together.

'We're not friends anymore. I'm not even kidding  we're not friends anymore,' she revealed.

'I think she doesn't like me anymore. I thought it was so funny and it was just, I had the wrong audience.

'It was pretty bad. Yeah. Not even kidding, she doesn't talk to me anymore. Oh well,' the Oscar-winner concluded.

While Witherspoon refused to share the identity of her former actress pal, she was less tight-lipped when it came to dishing about the highly-anticipated Legally Blonde prequel series.

She told PEOPLE this week that production on the TV series will begin in March 2025.

In a joint PEOPLE interview with her You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell on Thursday, Witherspoon revealed that her friendship with the movie star soured after she 'roasted' her at an awards ceremony; Witherspoon seen in October 2024

'We're not friends anymore. I'm not even kidding  we're not friends anymore,' she revealed. 'I think she doesn't like me anymore. I thought it was so funny and it was just, I had the wrong audience'; Witherspoon seen in October 2024

Witherspoon developed the upcoming show with the help of her production company Hello Sunshine.

She will also executive produce the series alongside Lauren Neustadter, Lauren Kisilevsky, Marc Platt and Laura Kittrell, who will also serve as showrunner.

Legally Blonde was released in 2001, with Witherspoon playing the iconic role of sorority girl-turned-lawyer Elle Woods.

The hit film also starred the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Selma Blair and Luke Wilson.

The sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde was released in 2003.

'I'm really excited. We start in March,' Witherspoon gushed about spin-off series on Wednesday. 'I'm really excited because we're going through the casting process right now and we're picking who is going to play the young me. It's kind of a trip,'

'It's so exciting too, to watch these young girls that are so filled with enthusiasm and excitement and completely... There's so many good ones. That's the hard thing because there's so many good people to choose from,' she added.

Witherspoon has been hitting the media circuit lately with You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell to promote the new Prime Video comedy.

'When two weddings are double-booked at the same venue, the father of one bride and the sister of the other bride try to preserve the wedding weekend,' the film's official IMDb synopsis reads.

Witherspoon has been hitting the media circuit lately with You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell to promote the new Prime Video comedy; the co-stars seen on January 23

'When two weddings are double-booked at the same venue, the father of one bride and the sister of the other bride try to preserve the wedding weekend,' the film's official IMDb synopsis reads

During her sit-down interview with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos this week, Witherspoon talked about acting alongside Ferrell in the new flick.

She recalled that the director and writer of the film Nicholas Stoller phoned her and told her he is working on a new movie with Ferrell.

Witherspoon said Ferrell's involvement was all she needed to hear to accept the job.

Witherspoon added that her and Will met 20 years prior when he was on Saturday Night Live and she hosted it.

Since then the two have been wanting to star in a movie together.

You're Cordially Invited is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Comedian Ken Flores was reportedly suffering from a serious health issue prior to his shock death at age 28.

TMZ reports Flores was suffering from congestive heart failure and had been making an effort to improve his health as of late.

According to Cleveland Clinic, 'Congestive heart failure is a long-term condition that happens when your heart cant pump blood well enough to give your body a normal supply. Blood and fluids collect in your lungs and legs over time.'

According to sources close to the late comedian and law enforcement, Flores had sought help multiple times at the hospital over the course of the last two years.

Flores had also been losing weight and attempting to improve his health.

However, he had also been using oxygen, and oxygen tanks were found yesterday at his home, according to TMZ. Home oxygen therapy can be used as a treatment for congestive heart therapy, according to Dignity Health.

Comedian Ken Flores was reportedly suffering from major health issues prior to his shock death at age 28; Flores pictured August 2023

Ken went into cardiac arrest and was found in his home by a friend. His friend called 911 and performed CPR on him as he waited for paramedics, TMZ reports.

Flores was pronounced dead at the scene.

Insiders add that no drugs were found and foul play is not suspected.

An autopsy has now been completed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Officer and the cause and manner of death will be released following the return of a toxicology test, TMZ adds.

Flores' family announced his tragic passing on Wednesday in a statement posted to his Instagram.

'It is with great sadness that we confirm the untimely passing of our friend, brother, and son, Kenyi Flores,' the family posted on his Instagram account Wednesday.

'Please respect our privacy at this time as we are all shocked and devastated by this loss.'

Last Sunday, Flores revealed via X that he was making an attempt at being booze-free for his 2025 tour.

Flores' family announced his tragic passing on Wednesday in a statement posted to his Instagram

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to TMZ that Ken died on Tuesday from undisclosed causes (pictured last Sunday)

'So I started my tour a couple weeks ago and I'm proud to say I've done every single show - five in Portland, one in Albuquerque, and four in Atlanta - without a single drop of alcohol,' the Chicago-based funnyman tweeted.

'Nervous for Phoenix next weekend but I think I got it. I'm not sober just wanna chill a bit.'

Indeed, Ken was scheduled to perform this Thursday night at Desert Ridge Improv in Phoenix, AZ.

Flores had his 969K social media followers to thank for many of his bits going viral on Instagram and TikTok.

The former Talkin' My S*** podcaster was also once part of a roast battle with the roastmaster general himself, Jeff Ross.

Last Sunday, Flores revealed via X that he was making an attempt at being booze-free for his 2025 tour (pictured August 10)

The Chicago-based funnyman tweeted: 'So I started my tour a couple weeks ago and I'm proud to say I've done every single show - five in Portland, one in Albuquerque, and four in Atlanta - without a single drop of alcohol. Nervous for Phoenix next weekend but I think I got it. I'm not sober just wanna chill a bit'

The Hollywood Improv lead the online tributes by posting a slideshow of snaps of Ken performing at the historic venue.

'We were honored to share your talent on our stages,' Hollywood Improv wrote.

'You were greatness, and it was only a matter of time until the whole world saw it. You were also kind and a tremendous friend to all lucky enough to know you. We love you Ken, thank you for all the laughs.'

Comedian Carlos Flores Instastoried a recent snap captioned: 'Feels unreal I had just met you compa... nicest and funniest dude ever. RIP young legend.'

Comedian Neema Naz wrote: F***, I was hoping this wasn't real. What a tragic and devastating loss to the world. Ken was a gem and was going to be a star one day. RIP.'

The band Los Desvelados shared a snap captioned: 'Ken, thank you for all the amazing times, the laughter, the jokes. You will be missed!'

Comedian Rene Vaca shared a PDA-filled slideshow captioned: 'Life will never be the same. I love you so much king.'

And the comedy account Foos Gone Wild posted: 'RIP @kenflores300 We lost a super talented and funny foo. Glad to have worked with him ad the FGW Comedy Store show. Our condolences to his family. Socks up to heavens.'
Freya Allan put on a daring display in a braless look as she struck a pose inside Dior Beauty's Inside Lip Glow party in London on Thursday.

The 23-year-old actress caught the eye in a plunging white shirt and tailcoat suit, teamed with tiny black shorts.

The Witcher's star elevated her frame with chunky platform heels and a natural swipe of makeup.

Joining her at the bash, Reese Witherspoon's daughter Ava Phillippe cut a sophisticated figure.

The Hollywood actress' lookalike daughter slipped into a glamorous black midi dress and dazzling court heels.

EastEnders actress and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here Jessica Plummer exuded elegance in a strapless pleated gown.

Freya Allan, 23, put on a daring display in a braless look as she struck a pose inside Dior Beauty's Inside Lip Glow party in London on Thursday

Joining her at the bash, Reese Witherspoon's daughter Ava Phillippe (pictured) cut a sophisticated figure

EastEnders actress and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here Jessica Plummer (pictured) exuded elegance in a strapless pleated gown

Elsewhere, Bridgerton star Charithra Chandran pulled off a jaw-dropping look.

Charithra quickly became a household name after starring as Edwina Sharma in the second series of the smash hit Netflix period drama.

Turning heads as she arrived, the actress flashed her underwear in a mesh ruffled-sleeve co-ord.

Sex Education star Mimi Keene showed off her flawless complexion and flashed her legs in a split wrap dress.

Reese shares her daughter with her actor ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

The pair married on June 5, 1999 after meeting on the set of Cruel Intentions two years prior.

The former couple welcomed Ava on September 1999 and son Deacon in October 2003 before making the decision to divorce on June 13, 2008.

She is not like other Hollywood nepo babies  despite having an A-list mum, Ava has worked hard to establish her own identity.

The actress caught the eye in a plunging white shirt and tailcoat suit, teamed with tiny black shorts

Elsewhere, Bridgerton star Charithra Chandran pulled off a jaw-dropping look

Sex Education star Mimi Keene showed off her flawless complexion and flashed her legs in a split wrap dress

Alexandra Daddario looked stylish in a black dress and white tailored coat

Jessica was joined by Rose Williams as they posed for a sweet snap together

Suki Waterhouse's sister Maddi was also in attendance

Ruth Bradley opted for an off the shoulder black dress

Anna Shaffer looked gorgeous in a chic black number

Dior beauty ambassador Rahi Chadda cut a stylish figure at the VIP event

Lydia Butler put on a very leggy display in a black pair of shorts and checked shawl

Sharing the actress' hard worth ethic, Ava attended UC Berkley before diving into the modeling industry.

She has gone on to pose for Rodartes Fall look book in 2018, Ivy Park in 2021 and Aerie.

And she told Daily Pop that she credits her parents for guiding her on the right path.

'My parents have always encouraged me to choose the path thats right for me and, you know, guide me along the way to make better choices than I might make,' she said in 2021.

'Im so grateful for that. That is such a privilege to have parents that support you in that way and want you to be who you truly are meant to be,' she added.

The Big Little Lies star married her second husband, talent agent Jim Toth on March 26, 2011. But she filed for divorce on March 30, 2023. The proceedings were finalized on August of the same year, citing irreconcilable differences.

They share son, Tennessee James Toth, 11, born on September 27, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

Reese has since moved on to German financier, Oliver Haarmann, 56, and it is speculated that the pair are taking things to the next level.
Inside No.9: Stage/Fright (Wyndham's Theatre, London)

Verdict: A party for themselves

Rating:

Fifty-something TV comedians Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are celebrating their pearl anniversary  having worked together for an astonishing 30 years.

Now they're back on stage where they started out in The League Of Gentlemen (with Mark Gatiss), celebrating their success by throwing a 'me party' for themselves  not unlike Amy Adams and Miss Piggy in The Muppets.

Instead of dining out, they're redeploying the format of their BBC so-called 'anthology' series, Inside No.9, to stage a collection of interlocking yarns, mixing horror, comedy and ghost stories.

Set in and around the Wyndham's Theatre itself, they start with a brilliant sketch featuring audience members running a gamut of cardinal sins from eating, chatting and answering phones, to Skyping on laptops. I've seen it all.

Thereafter, it morphs into the tale of smutty, washed-out Seventies comedians Len and Tommy (aka Cheese and Crackers) staging a dismal comeback.

But the scene changes again as they kidnap a minor celebrity (Alexander Armstrong from Pointless on Wednesday this week), before it settles down after the interval as a

Hammer Horror spoof in which a young woman seeks minor surgery at a lunatic asylum.

The show has a distinct feeling of using up the comedians' off-cuts, out-takes and left-overs for the amusement of themselves and their fervid fan-base.

Fifty-something TV comedians Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are celebrating their pearl anniversary  having worked together for an astonishing 30 years

The duo are redeploying the format of their BBC so-called 'anthology' series, Inside No.9, to stage a collection of interlocking yarns, mixing horror, comedy and ghost stories

And in keeping with their guiding principle for No.9, we must not only expect the unexpected, but also expect the very much expected innuendo and black comedy.

And naturally there are a great many disguises as both men slip in and out of costumes and prosthetics  including for one deliciously gruesome interlude in which Shearsmith amputates his own leg.

Both men have always struck me as being blessed with the aura of slightly sleazy uncles.

This seasons their stage presence and our discomfiture significantly. But here, they also clearly aspire to classic double-act status, and there is more than a nod to Morecambe (Pemberton) and Wise (Shearsmith).

And yet, their habit of not only pulling our legs, but also constantly pulling the rug from under our expectations does become slightly wearing.

Nonetheless, there is something commendably disruptive about their brand of theatrical anarchy and director Simon Evans does well to keep their runaway train on track  especially when it comes to the multiple levels of reality in the asylum scenes.

Nor is it all Pemberton and Shearsmith self-tribute. There are also terrific turns from Anna Francolini as a deadpan nurse at the asylum, and Miranda Hennessy as a pop star turned actress (a dig at Lily Allen).

Fans will be pleased with the roster of self-regarding in-jokes in what is a one-off memorial service before its time.

In keeping with their guiding principle for No.9, we must not only expect the unexpected, but also expect the very much expected innuendo and black comedy

And, although the rest of us may also be amused, we needn't be too disappointed the show is more or less sold out.

Until April 5.

Johnny Depp classic's gone for a Burton

Scissorhandz (Southwark Playhouse, London)

Verdict: Lacks cutting edge

Rating:

Scissorhandz is an American musical homage to Tim Burton he may well prefer to forget.

It's based on his 1990 film Edward Scissorhands starring Johnny Depp. Now, in a dazzlingly innocuous move, they have inserted a 'z' into the title and turned Burton's tale of the misshapen outcast with scissors for fingers into an ecstatically banal affirmation of variant sexual identity.

In line with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, our gender-neutral hero demands to know his purpose from his creator-mother.

'You are not from God, but from love,' she explains, without resolving her creation's bemusement at humans' tribal behaviour.

But although the show is earnest, it's mostly a loud celebration of sectarian interest.

Music consists of recycled pop and rock, ranging from Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman to American Authors' Best Day Of My Life, and climaxing in an almost haunting rendition of Radiohead's Creep.

The singing, however, is uneven, with Emma Williams yodelling most forcefully as Scissorhandz's adoptive, Avon Lady mother, Peg.

Otherwise, a kitsch, happy-clappy mood glosses variable vocal standards.

Scissorhandz is an American musical homage to Tim Burton he may well prefer to forget

Meanwhile, the venue's narrow strip of a stage, hemmed in at close quarters, cramps Bradley Bredeweg's rock-musical ambitions.

With little space in front of a mountain of amplifiers, the choreography is forever on the brink of a human pile-up.

In a role reprised from the original production in Las Vegas, Jordan Kai Burnett's Scissorhandz is dexterous enough, snipping at topiary before getting into ladies' hair  upper and nether.

Otherwise Burnett is left to drift purposelessly about the stage in pasty make-up and gothic leathers.

Although the ending has been corrected to ensure something like social justice, the achievement is to turn the story into what it was all along  a Hollywood tale of outsider triumph.

Until March 29.

A jazzed-up Shakespeare set in smokin' 1940s Harlem

Play On! (Bristol Old Vic, then Lyric Hammersmith)

Verdict: The Bard sings the blues

Rating:

West Side Story revamped Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet courtesy of Bernstein and Sondheim; Cole Porter made the Bard's cold, hateful The Taming Of The Shrew hot to trot as Kiss Me, Kate.

Alas, Play On! Sheldon Epps's riff on Twelfth Night, to the tune of Duke Ellington, is not in quite the same groove.

The title comes from the play's first line. Ellington's It Don't Mean A Thing might be more apposite.

For while the Duke's fabulous blues chime with the theme of unrequited love, Cheryl L West's book, and sketchy characters with few sparks flying between them, capture little of the bitter-sweetness of this cruel comedy of confusion.

Never mind. Played as a juke-box musical, Michael Buffong's production provides potent proof of the unquoted part of that famous first line, 'Music is the food of love.'

Relocated to Harlem in the Forties (suggested by set designer Ultz's smoky bar and tatty costumes), the plot plays fast and loose with Shakespeare's preoccupations with disguise and identity.

West Side Story revamped Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet; Cole Porter made the Bard's cold, hateful The Taming Of The Shrew hot to trot as Kiss Me, Kate - but Play On! Sheldon Epps's riff on Twelfth Night, to the tune of Duke Ellington, is not in quite the same groove

This Duke is no titled grandee but the greatest band leader in Harlem and, following a bust-up with Liv, the club's luscious diva, he has lost his muse and his mojo.

Enter aspirant composer, Viola, who discovers that writing songs is for men only.

As a suited, booted Vyman, 'he' persuades lovelorn Duke, Earl Gregory (I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good), 'his' winning songs will seduce Liv all over again.

From there, the music takes over. Koko Alexander's shimmering Liv brings the house down with Mood Indigo.

Cameron Bernard Jones's uptight Malvolio figure, tricked into upgrading his wardrobe, puts a cut into his strut in a screaming yellow zoot suit.

Best of all, Lifford Shillingford and Llewellyn Jamal blow the roof off with Rocks In My Bed before a brand new fairytale ending.

Ellington not Shakespeare, but irresistibly enjoyable.

Until February 22.

Toilet humour saved by a classic comic formula

The Gift (Park Theatre, London)

Verdict: Potty men

Rating:

What would you do if you received a poop in the post? That is the dismal question posed by Dave Florez's scatological sit-com about a middle-aged neurotic single man, Colin.

The stool in question has arrived in a posh patisserie box at his North London home and is the object of his anxious inquiry, alongside his sister Lisa and her partner Brian.

I couldn't quite believe that the offending article would be left for scrutiny on the kitchen counter  even under relative safety of cling film.

That though is what we must accept as the trio attempt to apportion motive and blame.

And although the set-up also serves as a pretext for schoolboyish gags and gratuitous F-ing and C-ing, it includes the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche by way of intellectual seasoning.

What's to like, you may be wondering? Well, after a welter of cheap gags in a long first half, Florez engineers mildly anarchic comedy in Adam Meggido's production on an IKEA show-kitchen set during a better plotted second period.

What would you do if you received a poop in the post? That is the dismal question posed by Dave Florez's scatological sit-com about a middle-aged neurotic single man, Colin

And, at core, it has the classic - let's not call it cliched - comic formula of idiot males vying for the approval of a fit young woman (even if she is sister to one).

Alex Price is a consistently (but not overly) vulgar Essex stereotype, whose bad manners helping himself to booze from the fridge without offering to anyone else are at least shared by the others.

Laura Haddock rolls large eyes as the trophy-in-the-middle wife, providing re-assurance, scorn and despairing groans.

And Nicholas Burns bottles the vacuity of many a modern male in Colin's repertoire of neurotic delusions - including fancying himself as a handy gangsta.
Bhad Bhabie is facing a fiery $10 million lawsuit threat from Soulja Boy, who claims the rapper defamed his character with explosive allegations.

The drama ignited when Bhabie, 21  who recently underwent a nose job during her cancer battle  dropped her diss track Over Cooked.

The song seemingly accused both Soulja Boy and his fellow rapper Tyga of being romantically involved with Bhabies now-archenemy Alabama Barker, the daughter of rock icon Travis Barker.

In quick response, Alabama and Tyga denied the allegations, but Soulja Boy, 34, escalated things, launching a savage Instagram Live tirade filled with expletives to deny the claims, per TMZ.

'You not Black, you not gangsta, you not s***,' Soulja fired off. 'You aint no bad baby, you a crack baby. I dont care how much money you get, you a crackhead deep down.'

After warning he'd 'smack the f*** out of [her],' Soulja went on to threaten Bhabie with legal action, saying: 'And Im suing your ass, b****, and I want all of my money too. Defamation of character, you lied on my name to the internet. I want $10 million in cash.'

Bhad Bhabie is in hot water after facing a fiery $10 million lawsuit threat from Soulja Boy, who claims the rapper defamed his character with explosive allegations; (seen in 2018)

Bhabie's song seemingly accused both Soulja Boy and his fellow rapper Tyga of being romantically involved with Bhabies now-archenemy Alabama Barker, the daughter of rock icon Travis Barker; (Soulja in 2021)

Whether Soulja will follow through with the lawsuit is unclear, but Bhad Bhabie has already re-uploaded the track, now censoring Soulja and Tyga's names.

A rep told TMZ, 'We are aware of the video circulating, but we do not condone any form of violence or threats.'

They added, 'While some may view it as a joke or simply entertaining, men threatening women or making light of domestic violence is exactly why these issues are so often dismissed.

'Even though emotions are high, violence or threats against women should never be the answer.'

In Over Cooked, Bhad Bhabie also seems to accuse Alabama of being pregnant with Tygas child.

Responding to the shocking claims on TikTok, a defiant Barker wrote, 'Let's clear this up! I never in my life have remotely been near Tyga.'

She continued, 'I've also never been pregnant, nor do I know Soulja Boy. The end.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Barker, Bhad Bhabie, and Tyga for comment.

In quick response, Alabama and Tyga denied the allegations , but Soulja Boy escalated things, launching a savage Instagram Live tirade filled with expletives to deny the claims, per TMZ; (seen in 2023)

After warning he'd 'smack the f*** out of [her],' Soulja went on to threaten Bhabie with legal action, saying: 'And Im suing your ass, b****, and I want all of my money too. Defamation of character, you lied on my name to the internet. I want $10 million in cash.'

In Over Cooked, Bhad Bhabie also seems to accuse Alabama Barker (pictured) of being pregnant with Tygas child.

Bhad Bhabie, real name Danielle Bregoli, and Barker have been in a public feud for the last couple of months.

When contacted by DailyMail.com about the feud, a rep for Bregoli declined to address the incident with Barker directly, but stated that Bregoli was focused on her music career.

Responding to the shocking claims on TikTok, a defiant Barker wrote, 'Let's clear this up! I never in my life have remotely been near Tyga.'

She continued, 'I've also never been pregnant, nor do I know Soulja Boy. The end.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Barker, Bhad Bhabie, and Tyga for comment.

Bhad Bhabie, real name Danielle Bregoli, and Barker have been in a public feud for the last couple of months.

When contacted by DailyMail.com about the feud, a rep for Bregoli declined to address the incident with Barker directly, but stated that Bregoli was focused on her music career.

'Danielle is excited to be back working on new music and is looking forward to doing what she loves most: creating art that connects with her fans and continues to push her boundaries as an artist,' they said.

Responding to the shocking claims on TikTok, a defiant Barker wrote, 'Let's clear this up! I never in my life have remotely been near Tyga' (Tyga in 2023)

The drama started when Bregoli accused Barker of trying to steal her on-again/off-again boyfriend Le Vaughn.

Barker addressed the allegations in December and said she has 'no interest' in Le Vaughn.

Barker, who turned 19 on December 24, then said that it was Le Vaughn who has been contacting her and 'confessing his feelings' for her for nearly a year.

In a lengthy post, she wrote: 'I want to be clear: I have no interest in this man.'

Barker denied getting involved in their relationship and also claimed Le Vaughn lied to her about his name, his Instagram and his relationship status.

The aspiring rapper also insisted that she was 'misled' and 'deceived.'

Barker said she previously met up with Le Vaughn in Las Vegas, and at the time was 'unaware' he was dating Bregoli.

She claimed that they did not have an affair and wrote that 'nothing substantial ever came from' the 'frequent communication' Le Vaughn initiated first.

Whether Soulja will follow through with the lawsuit is unclear, but Bhad Bhabie has already re-uploaded the track, now censoring Soulja and Tyga's names

Barker said that after learning that he was in a relationship with Bregoli, she 'apologized multiple times' to the Gucci Flip Flops hitmaker  who welcomed daughter Kali Love with Le Vaughn last year.

Making things more awkward is that fact that Tyga previously dated Kylie Jenner, who is the younger sister of Alabama's stepmother, Kourtney Kardashian.

Barker is also working on a music career of her own and released her first rap single Vogue in December.

Her father Travis and his wife Kourtney both appeared in the music video for the song.
Jamie Foxx looked to be in good spirits despite his recent split from girlfriend Alyce Huckstepp, as he stepped out in Miami, Florida, with friends on Thursday.

The actor, 57, flashed a smile while looking at something on his phone, before heading out for a bike ride.

He sported a white t-shirt, grey shorts, neon green socks and white sneakers for the outing.

The Oscar-winner  who recently declared that he is done dating white women  completed his look with a pair of black sunglasses.

He also took to Instagram on Thursday to promote his friend Loren Ridinger's book, Scrambled or Sunny Side Up.

The two posed together, with Jamie looking cozy in a grey tracksuit and a diamond chain.

Jamie Foxx, 57, looked to be in good spirits despite his recent split from girlfriend Alyce Huckstepp, as he enjoyed a bike ride in Miami, Florida, with friends on Thursday

In the caption he wrote, 'This is a book we all need. This book is not about dying. It's a book about living and how to make your time really matter. How to find yourself in times of darkness. Something we all can relate to.'

'This book will move you to find a new you. @lorenridinger you are my sister and was there for me and I love you and thank you so much for opening up your soul and giving us something that will inspire us youre late husband, and our friend will forever be missed I love you to the moon and back. Scrambled or Sunny side up."'

It comes a week after it was reported that he has split from his girlfriend Alyce.

A source close to Foxx told PEOPLE on Thursday that he and Huckstepp are no longer together after dating for a year and a half.

They were first romantically linked in 2023 following Foxx's six-year relationship with Dawson's Creek star Katie Holmes, 46, which came to an end in 2019.

Foxx and Huckstepp were last photographed together on October 30, 2024 during a romantic trip to Mexico.

A month prior, the couple looked very much in love as they were spotted grabbing dinner with friends at Nobu Malibu.

The restaurant  which nearly succumbed to the LA fire  holds significance for Foxx and Huckstepp as it's where they first debuted their romance in August 2023.

The actor flashed a smile while looking at something on his phone as he exited a store

He sported a white t-shirt, grey shorts, neon green socks and white sneakers for the outing

The pair may have first crossed paths in August 2022 when Huckstepp attended the Los Angeles premiere of Foxx's Netflix film Night Shift.

While they never made their official red carpet debut as a couple, Huckstepp has supported Foxx behind the scenes.

She is said to have joined Foxx on set of several of his projects, including a commercial shoot for BetMGM in July 2024.

A source told PEOPLE at the time that the pair looked 'cozy' and that Huckstepp was present for at least one of the shoot days.

Huckstepp and Foxx went public with their romance just months after he suffered a stroke caused by a bleed on the brain in April 2023.

The blonde beauty proved to be a 'great' presence in the actor's life as he recovered from the health scare that left him in a coma for 20 days, an insider told the outlet last year.

But things changed in the couple's relationship following their October 2024 Mexico trip as less than two months later Foxx announced that he'd been 'cured' of white women and that he is 'back on the black side of town'.

He made the joke in his new Netflix special What Had Happened Was, which was released on December 10, after dishing on his shock stroke and denying that disgraced music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs had anything to do with his hospitalization.

He also took to Instagram on Thursday to promote his friend Loren Ridinger's book Scrambled or Sunny Side Up. The two posed together, with Jamie looking cozy in a grey tracksuit

In the caption he wrote, 'This is a book we all need. This book is not about dying. It's a book about living and how to make your time really matter. How to find yourself in times of darkness. Something we all can relate to'

Sitting down at a piano, Foxx sang: 'Sisters, I'm here to tell you, I've been cured.

'I've been cured of everything, no more white girls. I'm serious, no more white girls. No more white girls. No more. No more white girls.'

As audience members applauded and leapt out their seats, Jamie continued: 'I'm back on the Black side of town!

'No more white girls. No more potato salad and raisins. No more white girls. No more spray tan, no more big t*tties no ass, no more white girls.'

Foxx has had several high-profile relationships over the years with both black and white women.

In 1993 he dated Connie Kline, and the pair went on to welcome daughter Connie one year later.

Between 1996 and 2001, Foxx was linked to Haitian actress Garcelle Beauvais, before going on to date actress Leila Arcieri in 2005.

In 2008, Foxx dated Kristin Grannis, the mother of his second daughter, Anelise.

Last Thursday it was reported Foxx split from his girlfriend Alyce after recently declaring that he is done dating white women; the exes seen in September 2024

The couple were first romantically linked in 2023; Huckstepp pictured with a guest at the LA premiere of Foxx's film Night Shift on August 10, 2022

But things changed in the couple's relationship following their October 2024 Mexico trip as just months later Foxx announced that he'd been 'cured' of white women and that he is 'back on the black side of town'

He made the joke in his new Netflix special What Had Happened Was, which was released on December 10, after dishing on his shock stroke and denying that disgraced music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs had anything to do with his hospitalization

He then enjoyed a six-year romance with Katie Holmes from 2013 to 2019.

While many viewers were in hysterics by Foxx's admission, they couldn't help but question his sincerity.

Taking to X, one wrote: 'Interesting. It took a stroke???'

Another said: 'Jamie funny as s**t because he lying like hell LMFAOOOOO.'

A third added: 'I don't believe him. But I'm going to mind my business.'

'Jamie knows he lyin',' a fourth continued.

Elsewhere in his special, Foxx revealed that he lost 20 days' worth of memory and was unable to walk amid his terrifying health battle.

During an emotional scene on his Netflix special, he recalled: 'On April 11, I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for Aspirin.

'I realized quickly that when you're in a medical emergency, your boys don't know what the f*** to do.'

Jamie has had several high-profile relationships over the years with a variety of women, including a six-year romance with Katie Holmes; the exes seen in 2019

Foxx then confessed: 'I don't remember 20 days.'

Becoming emotional, Jamie broke down in tears told audience that he was 'back,' adding: 'You don't know how good this feels.'

He also credited his 16-year-old daughter Anelise for saving his life by playing the guitar at his bedside, branding her his 'spiritual defibrillator.'

Foxx said that Anelise, who he shares with psychotherapist Kristin, snuck into my hospital room with her guitar.

He continued: 'They said when she was playing, my vitals went down.

'The nurses at the nurses station were baffled. Like, 'Wow what did they give him?'

'They rushed into the room and she said, 'Ssh. I got him.'

'Do you know what I found out? That God was in that guitar. That's my spiritual defibrillator.'

During this heartfelt moment, Anelise came out onto the stage with her guitar.

'Thank you much for stepping up when all was lost,' the actor said.

Foxx's shock split from Huckstepp comes amid the actor's busy promo schedule for the action-comedy Back In Action.

Foxx's shock split from Huckstepp comes amid the actor's busy promo schedule for his and Cameron Doaz's new action-comedy Back In Action; the actors seen on January 15

The film  which was released on Netflix on January 17  sees Foxx star opposite Cameron Diaz, 52, and serves as a comeback for both A-list actors.

It marks Foxx's first film since he suffered a stroke in 2023 and Cameron's first project since she famously quit acting for family reasons in 2014.

Back In Action follows Emily (Cameron) and Matt (Jamie), two former CIA agents who have given up their life of espionage and action in order to settle down, start a family, and live a normal life.

The cast list for the film also includes Kyle Chandler, Glenn, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, Jamie Demetriou, and Rylan Jackson.
Jackie 'O' Henderson put on a stylish display as she celebrated her 50th birthday on Friday.

The radio star dressed to impress in Ksubi cargo pants, which retail for $220, as she stepped out with her daughter Kitty.

The KIIS FM star completed her birthday look with a buttoned denim shirt and carried a $4600 Miu Miu bag.

She also wore a pair of designer black sandals, dark sunglasses and gold earrings as she left her Sydney mansion.

Upon exiting, Jackie appeared to be shocked as she found a chauffeur-driven car at the front of her property.

Her 13-year-old daughter Kitty was dressed in an all-white ensemble and held a black bag as she walked alongside her mum.

Jackie O Henderson (pictured) put on a stylish display as she celebrated her 50th birthday on Friday

The radio star dressed to impress in Ksubi cargo pants, which retail for $220, as she stepped out with her daughter Kitty

The outing comes after Jackie rang in her 50th birthday in style live on-air with her KIIS FM co-stars on Friday - but there was one notable person missing from the celebrations.

The radio star's colleagues threw a lavish birthday party to mark the milestone occasion, however Kyle Sandilands was not in attendance because he was off sick.

The blonde beauty was treated to a huge table of party food and posters featuring never-before-seen throwback photos of Jackie as a child set up to commemorate the event.

She was joined by her close friends, including show producers Intern Pete Deppeler and Cooper Johns, as well as daughter Kitty, who sweetly called in to wish her mum a happy birthday.

Jackie looked flawless and half her age on her big day as she had fun with her co-stars.

Sadly, Kyle was a no-show and did not make an appearance throughout the morning.

During the show, Jackie also confirmed she has lost her driver's licence following mounting speculation.

The radio host revealed that she's no longer permitted to drive.

The KIIS FM star completed her birthday look with a buttoned denim shirt and held a $4600 Miu Miu bag

Jackie appeared to be shocked as she found a chauffeur-driven car at the front of her property

Her 13-year-old daughter Kitty was dressed in an all-white ensemble and held a black bag as she walked alongside her mum

The outing comes after Jackie rang in her 50th birthday in style live on-air with her KIIS FM co-stars

The radio star's colleagues threw a lavish birthday party to mark the milestone occasion, however Kyle Sandilands was not in attendance because he was off sick

During her radio show, Jackie also confirmed she has lost her driver's licence following mounting speculation

Daily Mail Australia was the first to report rumours that Jackie had lost her licence and was being ferried around Sydney in her SUV by an elderly gentleman who isn't related to her.

Speaking with fellow KIIS FM stars Cooper Johns and newsreader Brooklyn Ross, the blonde beauty revealed she had been gifted a trip to the Blue Mountains by her friend Gemma O'Neill for her milestone birthday.

But she questioned how she was going to travel to her weekend away, which is more than 110km away from her home in Sydney's eastern suburbs, now that she is unable to drive herself there.

'Gemma  my best friend  she's given me a weekend away to a silent retreat,' she said live on air.

'I'm gonna have to catch the train because it's to the Blue Mountains and I don't have my licence!'

What is normally a 1.5-hour drive to the Blue Mountains will end up taking double the amount of time on public transport for Jackie, with the star likely having to catch a bus and two trains to get to her destination in just over three hours.
Justin Bieber has once again sparked concern among fans after stepping out in New York City looking visibly worn for the second day in a row, amid growing rumors of marital tension with wife Hailey Bieber.

The 30-year-old pop star was dressed in his signature disheveled-chic stylesporting a dark jacket over a white shirt, paired with a pink beanie that appeared to be inside-out.

Though accompanied by a friend, Justin's downcast demeanor and gaunt appearance seemed to echo the troubling whispers about his 'unacceptable' behavior that have reportedly strained his six-year marriage to Hailey.

Just hours earlier, the couple had already fueled speculation when they were seen separately at hot spot Bar Pitti.

Hailey was seen leaving the restaurant alone around 4:30 PM, while Justin, sans wife, arrived with a group of friends just half an hour later.and was seen leaving solo at 6:40 PM.

Sources close to the couple have since revealed to DailyMail.com that Justin's weary look may be the result of him becoming 'borderline reclusive,' struggling with the pressures of large crowds and the constant spotlight after years in the public eye.

Justin Bieber has once again sparked concern among fans after stepping out in New York City , looking visibly worn and distant for the second day in a row , amid growing rumors of marital tension with wife Hailey Bieber

The 30-year-old pop star was dressed in his signature disheveled-chic stylesporting a dark jacket over a white shirt, paired with a pink beanie that appeared to be inside-out

Though accompanied by a friend, Justin's downcast demeanor and gaunt appearance seemed to echo the troubling whispers about his 'unacceptable' behavior that have reportedly strained his six-year marriage to Hailey

'Justin has been struggling for the last couple of years and a significant part of that is down to his worry about being in certain public situations,' the source said.

'He has built up a deep fear of being out in spaces with lots of people and has a deep-seated worry about large crowds.That is one of the reasons why he's not done any touring for a while.'

'Justin focused on trying to heal and get better by staying away from too many outings away from his homes where he would have to mix with strangers - and that in turn has made him borderline reclusive at times.'

His fears have taken a toll on Hailey who has been desperately trying to encourage him to overcome his concerns, with the insider claiming their recent trip to Aspen was her attempt to help ease him into public life.

This report comes just days after the couple  who share son Jack Blues Bieber  appeared to present a united front, enjoying a date night together over the weekend.

However, sources tell DailyMail.com that Hailey's friends are growing increasingly concerned about Justin's 'unacceptable behavior,' with some reportedly urging her to leave the musician.

'Hailey's been struggling with Justin almost since the start of the marriage,' an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively last week.

'She loves him madly but he's a loose cannon. Some of her friends have advised her to go it alone and leave him,' the source shared.

Just hours earlier, the couple had already fueled speculation when they were seen separately at the hot Italian spot Bar Pitti

Hailey was spotted leaving the restaurant alone around 4:30 PM, while Justin, sans wife, arrived with a group of friends just half an hour later.and was seen leaving solo at 6:40 PM

Sources close to the couple have since revealed to DailyMail.com that Justin's weary look may be the result of him becoming 'borderline reclusive,' struggling with the pressures of large crowds and the constant spotlight after years in the public eye

Over the past few weeks, the musician has raised eyebrows by unfollowing a number of other notable names including his mentor Usher, his former manager Scooter Braun and Ryan Good, who was the best man at his wedding

Hailey appeared unfazed by the drama

'His behavior is sometimes unacceptable. She's put up with a lot'

Last week, Justin also attempted to debunk rumors of marital woes between him and his wife after setting the record straight about unfollowing her on Instagram

Mystery surrounding the couple's marriage has intensified ever since he unfollowed his father-in-law Stephen Baldwin, furthering speculation of relationship woes and concern for the star after he also shared a picture of a bong

Over the past few weeks, the musician has raised eyebrows by unfollowing a number of other notable names including his mentor Usher, his former manager Scooter Braun and Ryan Good, who was the best man at his wedding

'His behavior is sometimes unacceptable. She's put up with a lot.'

The insider said Hailey and those close to her were hopeful that he would change after the arrival of their first child, son Jack Blues Bieber, in August 2024, but despite being there for her, little has changed.

'When the baby was born he was there for her and she thought being a father would change him for the better, but it hasn't stuck,' they added.

Last week, Justin also attempted to debunk rumors of marital woes between him and his wife after setting the record straight about unfollowing her on Instagram.

Just hours after insisting that his social media account was hacked, he returned to the app to share loved-up photos with Hailey from their trip to Aspen, Colorado.

Mystery surrounding the couple's marriage has intensified ever since he unfollowed his father-in-law Stephen Baldwin, furthering speculation of relationship woes and concern for the star after he also shared a picture of a bong.

However, sources tell DailyMail.com that Hailey's friends are growing increasingly concerned about Justin's 'unacceptable behavior,' with some reportedly urging her to leave the musician

'Hailey's been struggling with Justin almost since the start of the marriage,' an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively last week

The insider said Hailey and those close to her were hopeful that he would change after the arrival of their first child, son Jack Blues Bieber, in August 2024, but despite being there for her, little has changed

This latest move has added to fan's confusion, who shared their thoughts on X after it was posted online that Justin no longer follows Hailey's page.

Just late last year, the pair were embroiled in split speculation following their sixth wedding anniversary.

Fans speculated that the couple were experiencing marriage troubles when they seemingly had a concerning Instagram Story exchange with each other last month.

Over the past few weeks, the musician has raised eyebrows by unfollowing a number of other notable names including his mentor Usher, his former manager Scooter Braun and Ryan Good, who was the best man at his wedding.
Fans are convinced they've uncovered the A-list actress who Reese Witherspoon claims 'doesn't like' her anymore.

The Legally Blonde star kicked off the speculation on Thursday when she revealed that an unnamed actress stopped being her friend after she 'roasted' her in a speech at a 'classy' British awards event.

Witherspoon told PEOPLE that she's still 'haunted' by the experience and that the actress no longer speaks to her.

'We're not friends anymore. I'm not even kidding  we're not friends anymore,' she said. 'I think she doesn't like me anymore.'

While Witherspoon remained tight-lipped about the actress' identity, internet sleuths believe she's been secretly feuding with fellow Oscar-winner Kate Winslet.

This is because Witherspoon once honored the Titanic star on stage at the BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards back in November 2007.

She delivered a joke-filled speech that included her playfully mocking Winslet's British accent in front of the event's audience.

But the most telling detail was an alleged joke about 'laser hair removal,' which Witherspoon had mentioned in Thursday's interview as she recalled parts of the 'embarrassing' speech.

Fans are convinced they've uncovered the A-list actress who Reese Witherspoon claims 'doesn't like' her anymore after she 'roasted' her in an awards speech; Witherspoon in 2024

While Witherspoon remained tight-lipped about the actress' identity, internet sleuths believe she's been secretly feuding with fellow Oscar-winner Kate Winslet. This is because Witherspoon once honored the Titanic star on stage at the BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards back in November 2007

'I always wanted to be a European movie star, wear giant sunglasses, elaborate neck scarves, smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, and have savoir faire and gravitas,' Witherspoon's speech began, according to JustJared, who uncovered parts of the transcript on a Witherspoon fan site.

'Imagine my good fortune when Kate Winslet moved into my neighborhood, rang my door bell and said, (insert British accent here) "Dahling, Sam is off shooting, and I believe our children are the same age. Could they possibly have a play date and oh, by the way, it's almost 9 o'clock and I've had nothing to do drink, do you have any wine?"

She then went on speak about Winslet's 'fearlessness' when it came to her famous nude scene in the 2001 film Iris.

'When I saw her in and she took off all her clothes and jumped into that lake, I thought, "Wow, I bet that lake is really cold." And then I thought, "Wow, Theres an actor without fear,"' Witherspoon teased.

She then told the crowd that she couldn't share any personal stories about her and Winslet because 'theyre all too bawdy or tawdry or drunken to tell.'

The 'embarrassing' stories in question, according to the fan site, were 'the time [Witherspoon and Winslet] contemplated laser hair removal and or that time on the freeway when they pulled over and.. or that really funny thing that happened when they were both in their underwear.'

In her PEOPLE interview, Witherspoon explained that the actress, who many think is Winslet, has asked her to speak at the event on her behalf.

She delivered a joke-filled speech that included her playfully mocking Winslet's British accent in front of the event's audience

But the most telling detail was an alleged joke about 'laser hair removal,' which Witherspoon had mentioned in Thursday's interview as she recalled parts of the speech

'It was pretty bad. Yeah. Not even kidding, she doesn't talk to me anymore. Oh well,' Witherspoon told PEOPLE on Thursday; Winslet seen at the 2007 event

Along with the star's name, Witherspoon did not reveal the name of the ceremony or when it took place.

'It literally haunts me,' she confessed before recounting the 'embarrassing' moment for the outlet.

'So this friend of mine  who I didn't really know that well, but she was a very serious, proper actress  she asked me to give her an award,' she explained.

'But I had never been to this award ceremony, so I thought it was like a roast. So I got up and I roasted her.'

However, Witherspoon quickly realized that her 'funny' speech wasn't landing with the event's audience.

'The tone [of the event] was British and elegant and classy. And I was like, 'Remember the time we got laser hair removal?!'' Witherspoon recalled with a laugh.

She added: 'I'm still embarrassed about it.'

'I thought it was so funny and it was just, I had the wrong audience,' she said of the speech.

'It was pretty bad. Yeah. Not even kidding, she doesn't talk to me anymore. Oh well,' the Oscar-winner concluded.

'I thought it was so funny and it was just, I had the wrong audience,' she said of the speech; Witherspoon seen on Tuesday

In a joint PEOPLE interview with her You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell on Thursday, Witherspoon revealed that her friendship with the movie star soured after she 'roasted' her at an awards ceremony; Witherspoon seen in October 2024

While Witherspoon refused to share the identity of her former actress pal, she was less tight-lipped when it came to dishing about the highly-anticipated Legally Blonde prequel series.

She told PEOPLE this week that production on the TV series will begin in March 2025.

Witherspoon developed the upcoming show with the help of her production company Hello Sunshine.

She will also executive produce the series alongside Lauren Neustadter, Lauren Kisilevsky, Marc Platt and Laura Kittrell, who will also serve as showrunner.

Legally Blonde was released in 2001, with Witherspoon playing the iconic role of sorority girl-turned-lawyer Elle Woods.

The hit film also starred the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Selma Blair and Luke Wilson.

The sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde was released in 2003.

'I'm really excited. We start in March,' Witherspoon gushed about spin-off series on Wednesday. 'I'm really excited because we're going through the casting process right now and we're picking who is going to play the young me. It's kind of a trip,'

'It's so exciting too, to watch these young girls that are so filled with enthusiasm and excitement and completely... There's so many good ones. That's the hard thing because there's so many good people to choose from,' she added.

Witherspoon has been hitting the media circuit lately with You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell to promote the new Prime Video comedy.

'When two weddings are double-booked at the same venue, the father of one bride and the sister of the other bride try to preserve the wedding weekend,' the film's official IMDb synopsis reads.

Witherspoon has been hitting the media circuit lately with You're Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell to promote the new Prime Video comedy; the co-stars seen on January 23

'When two weddings are double-booked at the same venue, the father of one bride and the sister of the other bride try to preserve the wedding weekend,' the film's official IMDb synopsis reads

During her sit-down interview with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos this week, Witherspoon talked about acting alongside Ferrell in the new flick.

She recalled that the director and writer of the film Nicholas Stoller phoned her and told her he is working on a new movie with Ferrell.

Witherspoon said Ferrell's involvement was all she needed to hear to accept the job.

Witherspoon added that her and Will met 20 years prior when he was on Saturday Night Live and she hosted it.

Since then the two have been wanting to star in a movie together.

You're Cordially Invited is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Married At First Sight star Katie Johnstone has had a less-than-stellar-start tor her reality show experience.

The 37-year-old bride was brutally rejected by her 'villain' groom Tim Gromie, who said he wanted a 'petite blonde.'

Despite the fractious beginning, the pair soldiered on to their honeymoon, in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain, where the awkwardness persists.

Six months on from filming her edit however, Katie looks markedly different to the beleaguered bride fans have seen over the first week of the long-running Nine series.

Since her time on the series, Katie has been taking time to work on herself and a recent photoshoot at Studio Republic shows the bride positively glowing.

Studio Republic is an empowerment photography studio aimed at bringing out the confidence in its subjects.

Six months on from filming her edit, Married At First Sight star Katie Johnstone (pictured) looks markedly different to the beleaguered bride fans have seen over the first week of the long-running Nine series

Since her time on the series, Katie has been taking time to work on herself and a recent photoshoot at Studio Republic shows the bride positively glowing

'For Katie, empowerment photography wasn't just about capturing beautiful images,' Studio Republic founder Traci Castle told Daily Mail Australia.

'It was about seeing herself through a new perspective, free from self-doubt or the pressure to change.

'She wanted a tangible reminder that confidence isnt about altering who you are but embracing every phase of your story with pride.'

Katie looked stunning in the expansive series of shots that showed her modelling an array of different outfits.

She cut quite the sultry figure in a shimmering black maxi dress that she wore with a pair of black leather boots.

The dress also featured a plunging neckline that offered a hint of cleavage.

She wore her auburn hair up for the shoot choosing to eschew accessories to let her dress do the talking.

Finishing her seductive look, Katie wore a deep red shade on her lip and a smoky eye.

She cut quite the sultry figure in a shimmering black maxi dress that she wore with a pair of black leather boots

The dress also featured a plunging neckline that offered a hint of cleavage

She was not afraid to pose up a storm for the camera, either. with photos showing her aloofly running her hand through her locks as she stood in front of a pink neon sign that read: 'fierce'

She was not afraid to pose up a storm for the camera, either. with photos showing her aloofly running her hand through her locks as she stood in front of a pink neon sign that read: 'fierce.'

Another set showed Katie cutting quite a chic figure in an eye-catching black and grey paid suit.

The form-fitting outfit clung her he frame perfectly, she added an extra layer of drama with a sheer lacy blouse that peeked out from under her double-breasted jacket.

This time around, Katie oped for a lighter rose shade for her lip and a subtle blush to accentuate her cheekbones.

The reality star gave off an air of effortless confidence in the striking outfit.

Wearing the same black leather boots as in the first set, Katie changed outfits a third time for some playful posing by a staircase.

This time around, she opted for a colourful burnt orange dress that finished just below her knee.

Complimenting her locks perfectly, the dress also featured a plunging neckline, whichd Katie adorned with a gold pendant necklace.

Another set showed Katie in a teal coloured jacket and matching pants.

The jacket, which Katie had rolled the sleeves up to her elbows, was worn over a high-necked black blouse.

Another set showed Katie cutting quite a chic figure in an eye-catching black and grey paid suit

The form-fitting outfit clung her he frame perfectly, she added an extra layer of drama with a sheer lacy blouse that peeked out from under her double-breasted jacket

Wearing the same black leather boots as in the first set, Katie changed outfits a third time for some playful posing by a staircase

This time around, she opted for a colourful burnt orange dress that finished just below her knee

However, in an eye-popping display, Katie appeared to remove the blouse at one point, posing braless.

An ample amount of cleavage could be seen from under Katie's colourful jacket.

Katie's controversial groom Tim Gromie sparked outrage again during Thursday night's episode, after a very off colour joke at Katie's expense.

Tim's offhand comment sent social media into meltdown, with some fans even calling for him to be 'banned from the show'.

During an awkward exchange, Katie tried to encourage some optimism in their relationship, expressing her hope that they could build something meaningful.

'What would be your number one thing you want to do today?' Tim asked his bride.

To which she cheekily joked: 'Should we strip off nude and run around the forest?'

However, Tim's response was anything but encouraging.

Another set showed Katie in a teal coloured jacket and matching pants.

The jacket, which Katie had rolled the sleeves up to her elbows, was worn over a high-necked black blouse.

However, in an eye-popping display, Katie appeared to remove the blouse at one point, posing braless

An ample amount of cleavage could be seen from under Katie's colourful jacket

The 37-year-old bride was brutally rejected by her 'villain groom' Tim Gromie (right), who said he wanted a 'petite blonde'

'You do it, and I'll just put the blinds up,' he quipped, in a tone that many fans perceived as condescending and dismissive.

The moment quickly went viral, with fans taking to X to slam Tim's behaviour.

'"You do it and I'll put the blinds up"  at this point his pure existence is irritating. TF is actually wrong with you?' one furious fan wrote.

Another added, 'What a p**k of a thing to say to her about the blinds.'

The backlash didn't stop there, with viewers criticising both his attitude and overall appearance.

'Tim is beyond foul, inside & out. The outfits & lack of nail care, the slobbing in that hat & white singlet,' a user commented, complete with a disgusted face emoji.
Pip Edwards has shared a sweet tribute to bestie Jackie 'O' Henderson as the radio Queen marks her 50th birthday milestone.

The P.E Nation co-founder, 44 took to Instagram on Friday to share two photos commemorating her friendship with the KIIS FM star.

The first image showed the pair huddling close as they happily enjoyed a drink.

The pair looked to be having a great time at what appeared to be Bondi hotspot Icebergs.

Pip cut a casual figure in a form fitting grey crop top that she wore with an unbuttoned light blue collared shirt.

She finished her look with a pair of jeans and accessorised with some subtle bling in her ears and a cocktail that the eagerly clutched in her hand.

Pip Edwards has shared a sweet tribute to bestie Jackie 'O' Henderson as the radio Queen marks her 50th birthday milestone. Both pictured

Jackie, meanwhile, wore a shimmering, sleeveless purple dress that featured a frill embellishment at the decolletage.

The low-cut dress showed off Jackie's svelte form and she finished her look with a pair of black sunglasses.

The pair appeared to be having a great time in each other's company as Pip rested her head on Jackie's shoulder.

Captioning the sweet photo, Pip praised her pal for being a 'Wonder Woman.'

'Wishing this Wonder Woman a very, very happy birthday,' Pip wrote. '50 has never looked soooo good!'

'A true inspiration, the best supportive friend, and someone I love exploring and living life with! Happy birthday @jackieo_official.'

Pip followed up the sweet post with a second celebratory image showing the pair together.

Thais time around, Jackie wore a stunning dress from US label Alice + Olivia.

The figure-hugging dress clung to Jackie's svelte form and featured a striking coastal beach print.

'Wishing this Wonder Woman a very, very happy birthday,' Pip wrote. '50 has never looked soooo good!' Pip captioned on image that showed the pair enjoying a cocktail

'A true inspiration, the best supportive friend, and someone I love exploring and living life with! Happy birthday @jackieo_official,' she continued

She wore her blonde locks back for the occasion and finished her look with a pair of quirky yellow framed cats-eye sunglasses.

Pip meanwhile clad her thin frame in a striking black and white striped playsuit that she matched with a similarly coloured ribbon in her hair.

She finished her look with a pair of black Chanel sunglasses.

Captioning the photo, Pip offered another round of best wishes with: 'happy birthday Jackie,' augmenting the sentiment with a red love heart emoji.

The dynamic duo recently stepped out in designer frocks previously seen on the Australian Fashion Week runway when they attended a book launch in Potts Point.

Jackie wore a $3200 limited edition dress by Sydney designer Amber Symond for Wednesday's outing.

The floor length Portrait of a Man dress features licensed artwork by Tamara de Lempicka, a pioneering 1920s artist known for her distinctive Art Deco style.

Pip meanwhile, matched Jackie's ensemble in a strapless $359 'Volant mini' by Australian label L'idee.

Pip and Jackie posed together for a mirror selfie at the bottom of the Ksubi creative director's staircase in their finery.

Dressed up to celebrate our fave fabulous friend,' Pip captioned the photo shared to her Stories.

'With my woman, Jackie O.'

The blonde besties attended interior stylist Steve Cordnoy's lavish book launch at furniture store MCM House in Paddington.
Anthony Hopkins shocked locals on Wednesday as he was spotted tucking into fish and chips on a return to his home town, Port Talbot.

Workers at Steve's Fish Bar in the south Wales town saw a familiar face leaning over the counter as they went about their shift.

It was none other than the Oscar-winning actor, 87, who returned to his boyhood haunt after losing his home in the Los Angeles fires this month.

And while his character Hannibal Lecter was famously locked up behind bars for eating other humans, Anthony was more interested in devouring a traditional Taibach takeaway.

It is not known whether the Silence Of The Lambs actor stayed around to eat the meal in the shop or whether he took the feast elsewhere, but he presumably washed it all down with a nice Chianti.

The shop's owner posted on Facebook: 'He's back again for his fish and chips, can't ask for a better advertisement.'

Anthony Hopkins shocked Port Talbot locals on Wednesday as he was spotted tucking into some fish and chips in his home town

The Oscar winner returned to his boyhood haunt after losing his home in the Los Angeles fires this month

It is not known whether the Silence Of The Lambs actor stayed around to eat the meal in the shop or whether he took the feast elsewhere

According to a recent menu from the establishment, Anthony could get a large fish and chips for around 10 - which is still a good deal more than what he would have paid when he was tucking into takeaways in the area in the 1950s.

The Father star's heart-warming appearance in his home town comes after he lost his property in the Palisade fire in LA this month.

He recently shared a poignant message of support to those impacted by the catastrophic wildfires.

Posting to his 5.4million followers last week, he wrote: 'As we all struggle to heal from the devastation of these fires, it's important we remember that the only thing we take with us is the love we give.'

The actor, who purchased a stunning four-bedroom, five-bathroom home in the Pacific Palisades area for 4.8m in 2021, saw his property destroyed by the flames.

Photos reveal the charred remains of the classic colonial home, with little more than a scorched fence standing as the only trace of what was once a beautiful house.

The purchase had been a fresh start for the Oscar-winning actor, who had just sold his long-time Malibu oceanfront place for 8.4m - more than double what he paid for it back in 2001.

Unfortunately, the recent tragic events are not the first time Anthony's home has faced devastating flames.

The actor (pictured, in 1975) moved out of the area in his teens

While his character Hannibal Lecter was famously locked up in a straitjacket for eating other humans, Anthony was more interested in devouring a traditional Taibach takeaway

The Father star's heart-warming appearance in his home town comes after he lost his $6million property in the Palisade fire in LA this month (pictured before the fire)

Back in November 2018, his home narrowly escaped the Woolsey fire, which burned down his neighbor's property.

Going even further back to 2000, the Remains Of The Day star lost his London home in a fire too, but fortunately, he was safe in Los Angeles at the time.

Earlier this month the Welsh actor put on a brave face for the star-studded Joy Awards in Saudi Arabia.

Dressed in a sharp black suit and a classic white button-up shirt, he posed for photos alongside his wife Stella on the red carpet and even offered a friendly wave towards the crowd.

It followed on from a busy year professionally, amid a number of professional endeavors.

He provided the voice of Jimmy in the Zack Snyder film Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver, which debuted on Netflix in April; and played the role of Vespasian on the 10-episode Peacock series Those About to Die, which debuted in July.
Gregg Wallace's fitness and healthy eating empire has been branded a 'scam' with 'horrific' customer service after customers claimed they struggled to get refunds and cancel their monthly membership.

The shamed Masterchef star, 60, set up Gregg Wallace.Health after he himself shed five stone, with the business offering recipes, advice from experts and frozen ready deliveries.

Following his exit from the BBC cookery show last year amid a probe into alleged sexual misconduct, the company slashed prices and offered customers 40 off an annual subscription.

The website reads: 'Ready to transform your health and feel your best?  no risks, just results. Cancel anytime'.

However in recent weeks fans who signed up have furiously taken to review bible Trustpilot and claimed they are being incorrectly charged and are struggling to get their money back.

One customer fumed: 'What a scam. I cancelled my membership when they changed apps. However [it] managed to do an auto renewal of my membership and deducted an annual subscription for a non functioning App. Getting no reply on their email for a refund. Customer service terrible and would not recommend them'.

Gregg Wallace s healthy eating empire has been branded a 'scam' with 'horrific' customer service after customers claimed they struggled to get refunds and cancel monthly memberships

The shamed Masterchef star, 40, set up Gregg Wallace.Health after he himself shed five stone, with the business offering recipes, advice from experts and frozen ready deliveries (pictured)

Following his exit from the BBC cookery show (pictured) last year amid a probe into alleged sexual misconduct, the company slashed prices and offered customers 40 off an annual subscription

While a second wrote: 'Renewed my membership and took the money without any warning, tried to resolve amicably many times but the customer service was horrific and unprofessional. AVOID THESE BANDITS AT ALL COSTS!!!'

Another said: 'They took membership renewal money with no notice and are ignoring my daily emails to get it back'.

And: 'Renewed my membership without 7 days notice, just took 89.99 from my bank account. I have emailed them twice and so far no reply. I do not use the site, don't find it useful and would like my money back'.

While someone else added : 'Absolutely sick of this company. Cancelled a 6 monthly repeat unauthorised subscription 6 months ago, after many hours chasing emails managed to get a refund on the condition that I removed any negative reviews! All persona data should be removed from GWH on cancellation yet I received another email to inform me my subscription is about to renew again!

'Unable to speak to anyone, have left numerous chat messages with no response and suspect another 49 will be taken from my bank account without approval leaving me having to spend hours again trying to pursue a refund. Come on GWH get your act together.'

With yet another unhappy customer adding: 'Like others, payment of 89.99 taken without any notice, tried to contact them several times but have only had an automated response telling me that they are busy and will get back in due course and to read their No Refund policy. I do not use the site and would also like my money back. REALLY POOR/NO customer service. AVOID.'

A spokesperson for Gregg Wallace Health told MailOnline: 'The membership renewal policy is very clear and we send out reminder notices by email before any money is taken. Anyone who feels they've been incorrectly charged should contact us and we'll be happy to resolve the situation.

'Gregg Wallace Health has helped many people, with thousands of members now leading happier and healthier lives.'

The website reads: 'Ready to transform your health and feel your best?  no risks, just results. Cancel anytime'

However in recent weeks fans who signed up have furiously taken to review bible Trustpilot and claimed they are being incorrectly charged and are struggling to get their money back

It comes after Gregg's wife Anna Wallace shared a quote in a rare post amid her husband's sexual misconduct probe.

While her partner keeps his head down amid the scandal, Anna took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a sweet message as she seemingly tries to keep a positive outlook.

The quote read: 'Hello Tuesday. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.'

Anna, who shares five-year-old son Sid with Gregg, has not yet publicly addressed any claims made against her husband.

It comes days after Gregg surprised viewers with a return to TV since leaving MasterChef amid historical misconduct allegations.

He appeared recently on Channel 5 in a rerun of 90-minute documentary Beast from the East: The Big Freeze of 2018.

The show, which first aired in 2023, looks back at when Britain was in the midst of the icy grip of the Siberian storm which wreaked havoc on the country and caused temperatures to plunge to -11C and 20inches of snow to fall in some areas.

Gregg appeared in interviews alongside Countryfile's Adam Henson, and meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker, in which he spoke about being delighted of hearing how sales of cans of soup had soared.

He talked about snow along the small country roads near his home in Kent being up to your earlobes and how he had been 'snowed out' compared to others in the countryside being 'snowed in'.

Gregg was initially bullish in the face of the allegations, taking to Instagram to say they mostly came from 'middle class women of a certain age'.

He went on to ask: 'Can you imagine how many women on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo?'

Since then, several high-profile names - including TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson as well as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - have condemned his remarks in public statements.

It comes after Gregg's wife Anna Wallace shared a quote in a rare post amid her husband's sexual misconduct probe

While her partner keeps his head down amid the scandal, Anna took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a sweet message as she seemingly tries to keep a positive outlook

Anna, who shares five-year-old son Sid with Gregg, has not yet publicly addressed any claims made against her husband

The former greengrocer later apologised for the controversial comments which caused a PR storm.

The under-fire presenter said of his middle class women slur: 'I wasn't in a good headspace when I posted it. I've been under a huge amount of stress, a lot of emotion.

Among those to come forward with allegations against Wallace is a woman called Lisa, not her real name, who worked on BBC show Eat Well for Less in 2015.

She told the BBC Wallace 'touched her inappropriately' when they were filming in a supermarket.

'He brushed past me at the checkout, and touched my bum with his waist and penis and laughed and said 'oooh you liked that didn't you',' she alleged.

'It was the way he reacted, other people would've said 'oh I'm sorry can I squeeze by' which would've been ok.'

Other claims include talking about his sex life on set, asking for women's numbers and repeatedly questioning a gay woman about the 'logistics' of dating other women.

Gregg's lawyers said 'it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature'.

Food critic Grace Dent, 51, is set to replace Wallace on MasterChef while the investigation into his behaviour takes place.

Dent will judge the upcoming 20th series of Celebrity MasterChef, having appeared regularly as a guest and then even a contestant on MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics in 2022.
EastEnders fans have been left bereft after it was revealed Natalie Cassidy is leaving the soap for good after 32 years.

The 41-year-old actress, who has played trumpet playing Sonia Fowler on the BBC show for over three decades, will be saying goodbye to Walford in dramatic upcoming scenes.

While details of Sonia's departure haven't been confirmed, bosses have revealed that Natalie will film her final scenes next month, coinciding with the show's 40th anniversary week.

Announcing her exit, Natalie said: 'After another 11 solid years back on The Square, I have decided it's time to move on to pastures new. EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show.

'Thank you to Chris Clenshaw for the opportunity to be such a big part of the 40th anniversary - it's an honour. See ya, Sonia, going but never forgotten.'

With Sonia's departure marking the end of an era for EastEnders fans, MailOnline takes a look back at some of her biggest moments on the soap.

EastEnders star have been left bereft after it was revealed Natalie Cassidy is leaving the soap for good after 32 years playing Sonia Fowler (right, in 1999)

Now MailOnline takes a look back at some of her biggest moments on the soap, including stealing her baby Rebecca back after giving her up for adoption

Stealing her adopted baby back

Shortly after arriving in Albert Square, Sonia began dating Martin Fowler.

Unaware that she was pregnant, she unexpectedly gave birth to their daughter Chloe (later renamed Rebecca).

Despite her protests, the baby was put up for adoption.

However, Sonia became obsessed with her child and decided to abduct her, locking herself inside a house and ignoring the pleas of Rebecca's adoptive parents.

It was ultimately her step-grandmother, Dot Branning, who convinced her to return the baby.

Affair with Naomi Julien

Sonia had an affair with Naomi Julien (Petra Letang) back in 2006 when she was unhappy in her marriage to Martin

Unhappy in her marriage to Martin, Sonia sought comfort in her colleague, fellow nurse Naomi Julien.

The pair kissed on November 28, 2005, leading to a dramatic short-lived affair that was praised by viewers.

However, after Rebecca was placed in Martin's care following the death of Margaret, Sonia's focus shifted, leaving Naomi feeling neglected and ending their relationship.

Speaking in 2010, Natalie reflected on the storyline, saying she believed it was the 'wrong thing' for Sonia's character and a key reason for her decision to leave the soap in 2007.

She told Reveal: 'One of the reasons I left was because of the lesbian storyline I had. I felt that it wasn't right for Sonia - sometimes in soaps people are so keen to get a shocking story that the character gets forgotten.'

She added: 'I'd only do it if I had an exciting storyline. I'd hate to go back and dwindle in the background - I'd like Sonia to cause a stir!'

Framed for murder

Wendy Richard's character, Pauline Fowler, left the soap in a dramatic Christmas Day episode in 2006 and for a time Sonia believed she was responsible

Wendy Richard's character, Pauline Fowler, left the soap in a dramatic Christmas Day episode in 2006.

Her body was discovered in the snow in Albert Square, and for a time, Sonia believed she was responsible.

At the time, Sonia and Martin had divorced but still had feelings for each other.

Pauline had lied to Martin, claiming she had a brain tumour to prevent him from reconciling with Sonia.

During a heated argument, Sonia slapped Pauline, who later collapsed and died.

Sonia was arrested for murder, but it was later revealed that Pauline had actually been killed by her husband, Joe Macer.

He had struck her over the head during a Christmas Day argument, leading to her death.

Sonia was released from prison and ultimately left Walford with Martin for Manchester.

Cancer scare

Sonia discovered a lump in her breast. This was especially distressing as her mother, Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson), had been diagnosed with breast cancer the previous year

Returning to EastEnders in 2010 and again in 2014, Sonia had a deeply emotional storyline when she discovered a lump in her breast.

This was especially distressing as her mother, Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson), had been diagnosed with breast cancer the previous year.

Although Sonia was given the all-clear, the experience took a significant emotional toll, straining her relationships - including with Tina Carter.

However, they managed to overcome their difficulties, with Sonia stepping up to care for Tina's ailing mother, Sylvie Carter, and becoming her full-time carer.

Her daughter's overdose

One of Sonia's most heartbreaking storylines came when her daughter, Bex (Jasmine Armfield) attempted to die by suicide

One of Sonia's most heartbreaking storylines came when her daughter, Bex (Jasmine Armfield) attempted to die by suicide.

Sonia found Bex, then 19, unresponsive in bed after an overdose.

Struggling with guilt, Sonia blamed herself and Martin for not being present enough in their daughter's life.

Bex, who was played by Jasmine Armfield, later revealed that she had been battling her mental health for some time and had previously taken pills to cope with exam stress.

The storyline ended with Bex choosing to leave Walford in March 2020, deferring her place at the University of Oxford to go travelling.

Unsuccessful IVF treatment

In recent years, Sonia and her partner, Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman), have been on an emotional IVF journey after learning that Reiss couldn't conceive naturally

In recent years, Sonia and her partner, Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman), have been on an emotional IVF journey after learning that Reiss couldn't conceive naturally.

After previous disappointments, Sonia was overjoyed to discover she was pregnant.

However, tensions arose when Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) returned, causing constant clashes with Reiss.

In a heated argument, Bianca accused Reiss of being unfit to be a father, leading him to demand that Sonia ask Bianca to move out.

Reiss took matters into his own hands, breaking the news himself - only for the argument to be interrupted when they found Sonia bleeding.

Rushed to the hospital, the trio anxiously awaited news, only to be devastated when doctors revealed Sonia had a blighted ovum.

Though the IVF treatment had initially worked, the embryo had failed to develop into a foetus, meaning there was no baby.

Pregnant with a murderer's child

The character is currently pregnant with killer Reiss' baby, unaware that he murdered his ex-wife Debbie, a crime Sonia was charged with

A jury found her not guilty after Reiss managed to produce a video of her sister, Bianca Butcher, falsely confessing to the killing

Sonia is currently pregnant with killer Reiss' baby, unaware that he murdered his ex-wife Debbie, a crime Sonia was charged with.

A jury found her not guilty after Reiss managed to produce a video of her sister, Bianca Butcher, falsely confessing to the killing.

As viewers know, it was actually her cruel fiance who smothered his wife with a pillow in her private care home to give himself some financial freedom.
Hailey Bieber looked nothing short of sensational as she flaunted her incredible figure in skimpy underwear while promoting her Rhode skincare range.

The model, 28, who launched the company in June 2022, was certainly on fine form as she pulled a number of poses in promotional images shared to the brand's Instagram account.

Hailey - who named the brand after her middle name - showcased her incredible pins in white underwear and a white crop top, which she teamed with matching white socks and heels.

The stunner also highlighted her plump pout as she applied the newest product from her collection, her Peptide Lip Shape.

Hailey's snaps comes as husband Justin once again sparked concern among fans after stepping out in New York City on Thursday looking visibly worn for the second day in a row, amid growing rumors of marital tension.

Hailey Bieber looked nothing short of sensational as she flaunted her incredible figure in skimpy underwear while promoting her Rhode skincare range

The model, 28, who launched the company in June 2022, was certainly on fine form as she pulled a number of poses in promotional images shared to the brand's Instagram account

Hailey's snaps comes as her husband Justin Bieber sparked concern with his appearance amid marital tension rumours

He initially left fans worried on Wednesday as he emerged looking tense and hollow-eyed while sporting a bright yellow hoodie, oversized cargo pants, and fuzzy slipper-like shoes.

And a day later, the 30-year-old pop star was again dressed in his signature disheveled-chic stylesporting a dark jacket over a white shirt, paired with a pink beanie that appeared to be inside-out.

Though accompanied by a friend, Justin's downcast demeanor and gaunt appearance seemed to echo the troubling whispers about his 'unacceptable' behavior that have reportedly strained his six-year marriage to Hailey.

Just hours earlier, the couple had already fueled speculation when they were seen separately at hot spot Bar Pitti.

Hailey was seen leaving the restaurant alone around 4:30 PM, while Justin, sans wife, arrived with a group of friends just half an hour later and was seen leaving solo at 6:40 PM.

Sources close to the couple have since revealed to DailyMail.com that Justin's weary look may be the result of him becoming 'borderline reclusive,' struggling with the pressures of large crowds and the constant spotlight after years in the public eye.

'Justin has been struggling for the last couple of years and a significant part of that is down to his worry about being in certain public situations,' the source said.

'He has built up a deep fear of being out in spaces with lots of people and has a deep-seated worry about large crowds. That is one of the reasons why he's not done any touring for a while.'

Hailey - who named the brand after her middle name - showcased her incredible pins in white underwear and a white crop top, which she teamed with matching white socks and heels

The stunner also highlighted her plump pout as she applied the newest product from her collection, her Peptide Lip Shape

Hailey wowed in gorgeous snaps amid increasing rumours about the state of her marriage

'Justin focused on trying to heal and get better by staying away from too many outings away from his homes where he would have to mix with strangers - and that in turn has made him borderline reclusive at times.'

His fears have taken a toll on Hailey who has been desperately trying to encourage him to overcome his concerns, with the insider claiming their recent trip to Aspen was her attempt to help ease him into public life.

This report comes just days after the couple  who share son Jack Blues Bieber  appeared to present a united front, enjoying a date night together over the weekend.

However, sources tell DailyMail.com that Hailey's friends are growing increasingly concerned about Justin's 'unacceptable behavior,' with some reportedly urging her to leave the musician.

'Hailey's been struggling with Justin almost since the start of the marriage,' an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively last week.

'She loves him madly but he's a loose cannon. Some of her friends have advised her to go it alone and leave him,' the source shared.

'His behavior is sometimes unacceptable. She's put up with a lot.'

Justin once again sparked concern among fans after stepping out in New York City , looking visibly worn and distant for the second day in a row , amid growing rumors of marital tension with wife Hailey

The 30-year-old pop star was dressed in his signature disheveled-chic stylesporting a dark jacket over a white shirt, paired with a pink beanie that appeared to be inside-out

Just hours earlier, the couple had already fueled speculation when they were seen separately at the hot Italian spot Bar Patti

'Hailey's been struggling with Justin almost since the start of the marriage,' an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively last week

The insider said Hailey and those close to her were hopeful that he would change after the arrival of their first child, son Jack Blues Bieber, in August 2024, but despite being there for her, little has changed.

'When the baby was born he was there for her and she thought being a father would change him for the better, but it hasn't stuck,' they added.

Last week, Justin also attempted to debunk rumors of marital woes between him and his wife after setting the record straight about unfollowing her on Instagram.

Just hours after insisting that his social media account was hacked, he returned to the app to share loved-up photos with Hailey from their trip to Aspen, Colorado.

Mystery surrounding the couple's marriage has intensified ever since he unfollowed his father-in-law Stephen Baldwin, furthering speculation of relationship woes and concern for the star after he also shared a picture of a bong.
Abbie Chatfield has come down with an illness that is making her feel so unwell she is considering a hospital visit.

The 29-year-old posted to Instagram Stories on Thursday night revealing she has a bad stomach bug.

'Huge news. I have a sudden onset stomach flu and I vomited out of my nose' she wrote, posting from her sick bed.

'Even a drop of water in my stomach makes me writhe in pain. At what point do I go to hospital if this doesn't stop?' she asked.

Abbie added that her dog Walter, and her boyfriend Adam Hyde, are nursing her back to health.

'It's so cute Walter has slept next to me in bed all night because I was crying and vomiting. He is usually in his crate but he is taking care of mummy' she said.

Abbie Chatfield (pictured) has come down with an illness that is making her feel so unwell she is considering a hospital visit

'Adam is here too He did my skincare for me in bed and out me oranges to suck on (That I vomited up 20 min later)'.

By Friday, Abbie appeared to be on the mend and appeared to have avoided a hospital visit.

Abbie has had a bad run with her health in the past.

The star was rushed to hospital following her partner Adam's live DJ set in Sydney last year when she suffered a 'bad' urinary tract infection (UTI).

The media personality shared a video of herself lying in a hospital bed as her musician boyfriend fed her chips.

Saying she was a 'princess in hospital', the FBoy Island host kept the camera trained on herself as she smiled up at her beau who was dutifully hand feeding her.

'DW it's just a bad UTI and I didn't have to stay the night!' she explained to her followers of her condition.

A UTI is an infection most commonly seen in women which occurs when bacteria enters the urethra and spreads through to the bladder.

'Even a drop of water in my stomach makes me writhe in pain. At what point do I go to hospital if this doesn't stop?' she asked

Abbie added that her dog Walter, and her boyfriend Adam Hyde (pictured) are nursing her back to health

According to the Mayo Clinic, infection can happen anywhere in the urinary system - kidney, ureters, bladder and urethra - but mostly occurs in the lower urinary tract.

A UTI is generally painful, with symptoms becoming worse if the infection is left untreated and allowed to spread to the kidneys.

Earlier this month, Abbie revealed she was furious after Instagram removed her post in which she bravely discussed her struggles with suicidal thoughts.

The Bachelor star tearfully spoke about her mental health on her It's A Lot podcast on Tuesday after a man 'harassed' her at the Australian Open.

She candidly detailed her struggles with suicidal thoughts as a result of trolling, and dealing with the trauma of domestic violence in a past relationship.

But after sharing a clip of the episode to Instagram, Abbie was left enraged after the social media platform seemingly removed it mere hours later.

Abbie took to her Stories to share a screenshot showing Instagram informing her that her post had been removed. She did not specify the reason it was taken down.

In a caption, Abbie fumed that her video had been removed while online trolls are still able to share cruel content about her.

Earlier this month, Abbie revealed she was furious after Instagram removed her post in which she bravely discussed her struggles with suicidal thoughts

She raged: 'Sorry? Love that I can be attacked and bullied on this app with people harassing me daily but I can't share merely how I FEEL??'

Abbie re-shared the video to her It's A Lot podcast's Instagram page without the accompanying caption and urged her followers to watch it there instead.

The post's removal came just hours after she first posted the video, in which she candidly discussed her struggles with suicidal thoughts and anxiety.

During the podcast, Abbie addressed an incident at the Australian Open, where a man 'harassed' her while she was working and filmed her.

After the clip was shared online, Abbie tearfully spoke about the resulting backlash, including that of former AFL player Jed Lamb, who had commented on the video that she 'sucked'.

Abbie was overwhelmed with emotion as she revealed the Australian Open incident came at a time when she was already struggling psychologically with online trolling.

'The day before he uploaded that, I was with my therapist speaking about my suicidal ideations to do with all this trolling, to do with feeling like I'm always surveilled, to do with feeling like no matter what I do I'm going to get trolled,' she shared.

'Even when I'm not saying or doing anything '"controversial"', I still get attacked and abused and trolled, and I'm just f**king over it. I'm really f**king exhausted.'

bbie has had a bad run with her health in the past. The star was rushed to hospital following her partner Adam's live DJ set in Sydney last year when she suffered a 'bad' urinary tract infection

'At the moment, my suicidal thoughts are rampant. My resting thought is '"f**k, I'd love to take a pill and just go to sleep and not wake up, that would be so nice",' she went on.

'When I'm anxious, I think about ending my own life because of this trolling and because of all the things I've listed.

'It's been a slow burn and I'm just at a point where I'm like '"I can't do this anymore, I can't deal with this anymore, I'm really tired."'

The podcaster also detailed how she has been left traumatised and suffering with PTSD because of domestic violence in a past relationship.

She explained how people expect her to be happy because she has found love with musician Adam, however Abbie is still affected by her past.

'There's this idea that now that with Adam and in a happy and safe relationship, everything is fine and all my PTSD is reversed and everything is happy, happy and I'm able to move on from that abusive relationship,' she shared.

'It's getting better but it's not just '"you've got a happy boyfriend now, so everything's fine."'

'Any issues that me and Adam have end up getting tainted by - I'm not overreacting or being crazy but my anxieties - I get very scared about certain things and overapologise.'

Abbie said she tried EMDR therapy - which helps people process traumatic memories and is used to treat PTSD - but it opened her mind up to more 'flashbacks' and made things worse for her.

'Listen to the full episode to hear more about how I got here. I hope some of you can at least feel comfort in relating to how I'm feeling. If you're struggling, reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14.'

If you or anyone you know is struggling and needs support, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call 000
Leo Woodall has revealed that his role in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was set to be drastically different.

In the fourth movie in the romantic comedy saga, Londoner Leo plays Hampstead Heath park worker Roxster, who meets the clumsy and lovelorn TV worker (Renee Zellweger) after rescuing her from a tree.

The film is set to shine a light on age gap romances, navigating how 51-year-old Bridget handles dating 29-year-old Roxster, and a love triangle with Mr. Wallaker - played by Chiwetel Ejiofor - a teacher at Bridget's son's school.

Leo, 28, approached the role very differently to how it was filmed, however, revealing his character was initially meant to be Scottish.

Joining Renee, 55, on The Graham Norton Show, which will air on Friday night, Leo explained: 'He was supposed to be Scottish. I went into the audition prepared to do it in a Scottish accent and once I did it, they changed their minds!'

Leo Woodall has revealed that his role in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was set to be drastically different, with film bosses originally wanting his character to be Scottish

Leo joined co-star Renee Zellweger, 55, on The Graham Norton Show, which will air on Friday night at 10.40pm on BBC One and iPlayer

Leo plays Hampstead Heath park worker Roxster, who meets the clumsy and lovelorn TV worker Bridget after rescuing her from a tree

The upcoming film takes place four years after the death of Bridget's husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and sees her readjust to the single life.

It also includes the return of Hugh Grant, who continues in the role of former lover Daniel Cleaver  who had been killed off in the third film, Bridget Jones's Baby.

Leo, also known for Netflix's One Day and HBO hit series The White Lotus, said he did not really get to know Hugh during the filming of the movie but they have since mingled at the premieres and press events.

He said: 'I didn't get to work with Hugh, and I was too shy to say hello to him. Everyone keep asking me, "What he's like?" and I have to say, "I don't know, I haven't met him".'

Renee revealed said she was 'hopeful' for Hugh's return 'but also surprised (because) he was dead'.

'But if you are going to bring someone back to life, let it be Daniel Cleaver,' she added.

'I am so glad they found him alive at the end of the third film so he could come back if he wanted to. He is so brilliant.'

She also spoke about how Bridget has addressed 'the dark moments' with grief of Mark dying in her 'own way'.

Leo explained: 'He was supposed to be Scottish. I went into the audition prepared to do it in a Scottish accent and once I did it, they changed their minds!'

Renee revealed said she was 'hopeful' for Hugh Grant's return 'but also surprised (because) he was dead', adding: 'But if you are going to bring someone back to life, let it be Daniel Cleaver'

Renee added: 'I am so glad they found him alive at the end of the third film so he could come back if he wanted to. He is so brilliant' (Hugh pictured in the film)

'No one gets to this stage of life without knowing grief and it wouldn't be authentic without a little struggle,' she added.

The new film is based on British author Helen Fielding's 2013 book Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which sees the character as a widow in her 50s with two children.

The trailer sees Bridget being encouraged to get back on the horse by her friends after self-imposing a four-year sex ban in the years following Mark's death.

She also quits her job working in television to do the school run, with comical scenes expected as she struggles to keep up with the Yummy Mummies.

During a trip to the park, Bridget finds her two children have got themselves stuck in a tree where she is rescued by two dashing dashing men in the form of The White Lotus star's Leo and Oscar nominee Chiwetel.

She soon finds herself in the middle of a three-way battle for her affections between toy boy Roxster, PE teacher Mr. Wallaker and the notorious Daniel Cleaver.

Fans can also rejoice as one particularly sexy scene sees Roxster jump into a pool in front of her to rescue a little dog - in a moment mirroring the iconic Mr Darcy Pride and Prejudice look.

As the trailer unravels, Bridget's romance with Roxster heats up and the pair have 'mind-blowing sex' after a date.

Host Graham Norton with (L-R) Cyndi Lauper, Renee, Leo, Sterling K Brow and Anthony Mackie

However Bridget is left confused as flirtatious meetings with Mr Wallaker increase and she eventually stumbles into a barn to find him half-naked.

The movie was officially confirmed last year, with the script being penned by author Helen, Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer, and Michael Morris as director.

Bridget Jones, Mad About The Boy will hit cinema screens on February 14.

The Graham Norton Show airs Friday at 10.40pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
Ten years ago, David Beckham hit back at those who criticised him for kissing his daughter on the lips.

But on Thursday night, Harper Beckham, 13, dodged her dad's attempts to give her a peck whilst at his launch party for Hugo Boss.

Supported by his whole family, David Beckham, 49, celebrated his bodywear collection with BOSS at Lightroom in London.

His wife Victoria, 50, sons Romeo, 22, and Cruz, 19, as well as Harper were in attendance.

A new video posted by Paris Match shows the hilarious moment the doting father tried to get a kiss from his daughter whilst on the dancefloor.

Jokingy pouting his lips, he smiles and leans in towards Harper but she quickly leans back and dodges him.

Giggling and smiling together, he goes in for another attempt, but she offers her cheek instead in a sweet moment.

The hilarious moment Harper Beckham, 13, dodged dad David's kisses appeared in a new Instagram video on Friday after he hit defiantly defended himself for kissing her on the lips

Jokingy pouting his lips, he smiles and leans in towards Harper but she quickly leans back and dodges him

Giggling and smiling together, he goes in for another attempt, but she offers her cheek instead

The scene is a world away from when David defiantly stood up to critics who said kissing his daughter on the lips was odd.

Posting on Instagram when Harper was five years old, he posted another picture doing the same thing in 2018, 2019 and another in 2023.

Now after turning thirteen last July, it seems Harper is not so keen anymore.

While many had branded the pictures at the time'beautiful' and a depiction of the 'close bond' he has with Harper, David was also hit with a barrage of negative comments as others claimed the post had been 'disgusting'.

Defending his display of affection, he said during a Facebook Live in 2017 that he kisses all of his children on the lips.

'I kiss all my kids on the lips, he said.

'Brooklyn maybe not. Brooklyn is 18, so he might find that a little strange, but I'm very affectionate with the kids.

'It's how I was brought up - and Victoria - and it's how we are with our children.

'We want to show our kids love and we protect them, look after them and support them. Having children is the most special thing in the world.'

Harper wore a dress from her mother's collection at her father's party on Thursday.

David previously defended his display of affection and said during a Facebook Live in 2017 that he kisses all of his children on the lips

David was also seen kissing on Harper on the lips after she gave him a makeover in 2023

Posh and Becks were joined by their sons Romeo, 22, Cruz, 19, and daughter Harper, 13, as they posed for a family snap inside the party (Kim Turnbull, Romeo, Victoria, David, Harper, Cruz and Jackie L-R)

Harper wore a dress from her mother's collection for the event

Cruzs girlfriend Jack Apostel  who is ten years older than him  wore head to toe Victoria Beckham too in a white suit and red lace underwear.

David's lookalike son Romeo was also joined by his new girlfriend Kim Turnbull at the star-studded event.

Noticeably missing from the clan was David and Victoria's eldest son Brooklyn, 25, and his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham, 30.

While Gordon Ramsay, 58, and his wife Tana, 50, were also in attendance at the bash to support their close friend.

The family danced the night away on the dance floor to Amy Winehouses' Valerie and the party continued into the early hours of the morning at Marylebones Chiltern Firehouse where James Corden, 46, and Halle Berry, 58, were in attendance.
Australian actress Rachel Griffiths has made the bold claim that a session with a sex worker can be more beneficial than a trip to the psychologist.

The Muriel's Wedding star, 56, was chatting to Allison Langdon on Nine's A Current Affair on Friday to promote her upcoming series Madam.

The New Zealand-based dramedy tells the story of Mack Lee, played by Griffiths, who, after discovering her husband has been seeing a sex worker, takes an unusual action.

She is inspired to open her own feminist brothel called Sweethearts in a small New Zealand town.

'There's a whole thing about the NDIS and people with disabilities seeing sex workers, and how the taxpayer should pay for it,' Rachel divulged.

She then said that after having conversations in preparation for the role, she came to the conclusion that sex workers could be more beneficial to mental health than psychologists.

Australian actress Rachel Griffiths (pictured) has made the bold claim that a session with a sex worker can be more beneficial than a trip to the psychologist

'After many of the conversations I had I thought an hour with a professional, tender, warm sex worker would probably leave a client a lot more happy and lighthearted than an hour with a psychologist banging on about how difficult your childhood was,' she said.

'I'm all for that.'

Rachel continued after Allison labelled her comments as 'controversial.'

'I think women provide a service and I think it has a lot of positive benefits for the people who choose to employ those services.'

Elsewhere in the interview, Rachel said she was drawn to the role as it told a based-on-a-true-story tale of the sex work industry from a female point of view.

'When I get a script that is about the sex industry from the perspective of a woman who worked in it as a comedy I think this is gonna have the twist,' she said.

'When women talk about sex, it's funny and also, I think sex is funny.'

The interview took an odd turn when Rachel began talking about dogs in a park.

The Muriel's Wedding star, 56, was chatting to Alison Langdon on Nine's A Current Affair on Friday to promote her upcoming series Madam (pictured)

'After many of the conversations I had I thought an hour with a professional, tender, warm sex worker would probably leave a client a lot more happy and lighthearted than an hour with a psychologist banging on about how difficult your childhood was,' she said

'When you see two dogs at it in the park it's like: "oh please"' she continued.

'But I reckon those same dogs if they saw two people at it in the park would go "oh please that is just embarrassing".

'They'd be apologising to the other dog going I am so sorry.'

Realising the bizarre turn the interview had taken, Rachel added: 'I've ended up in a cul-de-sac of weirdness.'

Catting back to Allison after the interview she said: 'And that was the clean version. Imagine what we had to leave on the cutting room floor.'

The Academy Award-winning actress tied the knot with her artist husband Andrew Taylor in 2002.

They share two children Banjo, 20, and Adelaide, 19.

The family who lived in the US for a decade, moved back Down Under in 2012.

'I was hungry to come home and tell our own Australian stories with humanity and vigour,' she wrote in a 2021 column for Stellar.

'So I did, and the years since have been the most satisfying of my career.'

Since returning, she has starred in a remake of the Australian horror film Patrick and the Mel Gibson-directed Hacksaw Ridge.

She has also directed episodes of the TV series Nowhere Boys and the feature-length Michelle Payne biopic Ride Like a Girl.

Madam premieres on Nine and Nine Now after Married At First Sight on Tuesday 4 February.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley returned to the runway for the first time in 10 years during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday.

The English supermodel, 37, commanded attention in an off-shoulder sheer black tulle dress, featuring a braided cage corset and a laced hemline as she walked for the Jean Paul Gaultier show.

The laced hemline graciously flowed behind Rosie as she strutted the runway with confidence in edgy cut-out heels, marking a sensational return for the former Victoria's Secret Angel.

The Plymouth-born modelled the stunning creation by Ludovic de Saint Sernin - as the guest designer just made his successful debut during Paris Fashion Week.

She looked incredible with a nude net mask over her face and her blonde tresses swept back in a flawless up-do, with a few locks styled on her face.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley returned to the runway for the first time in 10 years during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday as she walked in the Jean Paul Gaultier show

The English supermodel commanded attention in a off-shoulder sheer black tulle dress, featuring a braided cage corset and a laced hemline for Paris Fashion Week

The model's gown was part of a collection which imagined a sartorial shipwreck, with the sculptural corseting and maritime influences that have become entwined with JPG's legacy.

The last time Rosie graced a fashion runway was for the Balmain Spring/Summer show in September 2015.

The stunner wore a stylish white co-ord featuring a cut-out crop top and smart checked trousers adding a thick black belt.

In the following years, Rosie embarked on several business ventures including her own beauty line Rose Inc and a hugely successful collaboration with Wardrobe.NYC.

Her epic runway appearance comes after Rosie revealed she and husband Jason Statham, 57, have moved back to London for the safety of their children.

After living with Jason in California for eleven years, the couple invested 15million in three luxury homes in London.

Speaking to the Telegraph in October, she said the experience had been 'grounding'.

She said: 'Living back in the UK has been a really grounding experience for us. The fact that we can walk out of our front door and go and get a coffee and a loaf of bread [without paparazzi intrusion].

The Plymouth-born modelled the stunning creation by Ludovic de Saint Sernin - as the designer just made his successful debut during Paris Fashion Week

The catwalk alum looked jaw-dropping embodying the haunting look, which was completed with a nude net on her face

'We'd leave our home in LA and there'd be five cars following us down the block to the gym. Both Jason and I felt like it was really important for our children to not be impacted by our line of work.

'We wanted our kids to have a childhood away from cameras as much as we could. Because I've seen that.

'I've seen children of celebrities whose parents didn't give them that choice. 'It's Jack's choice and it's Bella's choice, whether they live in the public eye.

'If they want to, that won't be a problem. But I just always feared my son turning round to me one day and saying, 'You and Daddy didn't protect me, I don't want this'.'

In recent weeks the supermodel has been posting regularly on Instagram partnering with huge brands such as Tiffany, Belvedere Vodka and Alo.

Rosie has carved out an impressive career in modelling, starring in numerous campaigns and runway shows, as well as becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel.

Just last week Rosie and Jason were pictured out shopping and having lunch together.

The low-key British couple first began dating in 2009 after meeting at a party in London and experiencing what Rosie called 'instant chemistry'.

The last time Rosie graced a fashion runway was for Balmain Spring/Summer in September 2015 amid the annual Fashion Week (pictured)

Rosie has carved out an impressive career in modelling, starring in numerous campaigns and runway shows, as well as becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel (pictured in 2010)

Her latest outing comes as the Victoria Secret model revealed she and husband Jason Statham have moved back to London for the safety of their children (pictured with daughter)

They made their red carpet debut in February 2011 at the Vanity Fair Oscars after party, and later that year attended the Met Gala together as well.

They became engaged in 2016, and have a son Jack, seven, and daughter, Isabella, two.

Speaking about their plans to marry after Jack was born, Rosie said: 'I think the time will come. It's also not a huge priority for us.'

She has also addressed the couple's 20-year age gap, saying: 'His knowledge and strength are really inspiring and attractive, and that can come with a man who's had a bit of time.'
Married At First Sight bride Katie Johnstone has given a post-show update after a less-than-stellar start to married life.

Katie was mercilessly rejected by groom Tim Gromie who said he would have preferred to be matched with a 'petite blonde.'

Ever the optimist however, Katie has persisted to form a connection with Tim during their awkward honeymoon in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain.

However, six months on from filming her reality show tilt, Katie has been busy working on her self-empowerment.

The 37-year-old was recently the subject of a stunning photoshoot at at Studio Republic shows the bride positively glowing.

Studio Republic is an empowerment photography studio aimed at bringing out the confidence in its subjects.

Six months on from filming her reality show tilt, MAFS bride Katie Johnstone (pictured) has given a post-show update

Following the session, the studio shared a video of Katie that showed her discussing her post Married At First Sight life.

In perhaps a telling statement, Katie said in the video that her current focus was being 'her own soul mate.'

'The only person that I want to manifest love for is myself right now,' she said.

'I feel like if your cups full, then it can overflow you.'

Katie added that post-MAFS she has been working on feeling comfortable in her own skin.

'I've gone on such a journey in my life. Its taken me a long time to feel really good in my own skin, and I feel like this is just a good reinforcement of that,' she said.

'We get one body and we get one chance about being here now in this moment, and I want to do it shining.'

Continuing Katie said she was currently in a healthy place - one that is defined by. a love of self first.

Katie was recently the subject of a stunning photoshoot from Studio Republic and they took to Instagram to share a clip of Katie giving a glimpse of what she's been up to

In perhaps a telling statement, Katie said in the video that her current focus was being 'her own soul mate.' Katie is pictured with groom Tim Gromie (righht)

'I want to be all of me 100 per cent. Doing things like this helps bring that out in you,' she said.

'And all in all, I like what I see. I like my curves, I like my stretch marks, I like the saggy bits, the lumpy bits, the good bits.

'I love it all.'

Katie's controversial groom Tim Gromie sparked outrage again during Thursday night's episode, after a very off colour joke at Katie's expense.

Tim's offhand comment sent social media into meltdown, with some fans even calling for him to be 'banned from the show'.

During an awkward exchange, Katie tried to encourage some optimism in their relationship, expressing her hope that they could build something meaningful.

'What would be your number one thing you want to do today?' Tim asked his bride.

To which she cheekily joked: 'Should we strip off nude and run around the forest?'

'The only person that I want to manifest love for is myself right now,' she said. 'I feel like if your cups full, then it can overflow you.'

She added: 'I want to be all of me 100 per cent. Doing things like this helps bring that out in you,' she said. 'And all in all, I like what I see. I like my curves, I like my stretch marks, I like the saggy bits, the lumpy bits, the good bits'

However, Tim's response was anything but encouraging.

You do it, and I'll just put the blinds up,' he quipped, in a tone that many fans perceived as condescending and dismissive.

The moment quickly went viral, with fans taking to X to slam Tim's behaviour.

'"You do it and I'll put the blinds up"  at this point his pure existence is irritating. TF is actually wrong with you?' one furious fan wrote.

Another added, 'What a p**k of a thing to say to her about the blinds.'

The backlash didn't stop there, with viewers criticising both his attitude and overall appearance.

'Tim is beyond foul, inside & out. The outfits & lack of nail care, the slobbing in that hat & white singlet,' a user commented, complete with a disgusted face emoji.
Love Island's Ekin-Su Culculoglu has been dealt another blow after ex Davide Sanclimenti went public with his stunning new American girlfriend.

Ekin-Su, who is currently starring in the All Stars spin off, has not had the easiest time on the show after Curtis Pritchard, 28, showed interest in bombshell Danielle Sellers.

She decided to confront Curtis about his feelings for the new woman - with the brunette beauty ending up in tears - which viewers accused her of 'faking'.

And in another blow, ex Davie, 30, who won Love Island with Ekin-Su in 2022, has now gone Instagram official with his new girlfriend.

The hunk is thought to have begun a new romance with American crypto investor and mum-influencer Iris, whom he's been linked to for some time.

Sharing a series of loved up snaps on Thursday, the reality star gave his fans a glimpse into his new relationship in a round-up of the month photo dump.

Love Island 's Ekin-Su Culculoglu has been dealt another blow as ex Davide Sanclimenti has gone public with his stunning new American girlfriend

Davide is thought to have begun a new romance with American crypto investor and mum-influencer Iris, whom he's been linked to for some time

The snaps included one of the pair posing for a sweet selfie outside a temple that's believed to be the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles.

The pair were seen beaming at the camera next to the Buddhist monastery, which had been decorated to celebrate the start of 'the Year of the Snake'.

Captioning the post, he penned: 'Happy Lunar New Year! #JanuaryDump.'

Iris, who had been tagged in the post, replied in the comments: 'Happy New Year Baby.'

It comes after Ekin-Su opened up about her relationship with Davide for the first time since entering the Love Island: All Stars villa.

The reality star spoke about her relationship with her ex during a chat with Olivia Hawkins, explaining why she originally chose to pursue a romance with him over love interest Jay Younger in the villa.

Ekin-Su split from Davide in January 2024, nearly two years after they were crowned Love Island champions, and claimed at the time that he was unfaithful.

Olivia had shared concerns over her conflicted feelings for Marcel Somerville, and Luca Bish, leading Ekin-Su to shed some light on her own experience.

The snaps included one of the pair posed for a sweet selfie outside a template that's believed to be the Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles

Davide and new girlfriend Iris posed for a sweet selfie

'Is it possible to like two people at the same time?' Olivia asked.

Ekin-Su then replied: 'I liked Davide and I also liked Jay when he walked in. But my heart was gravitating towards Davide!'

The actress explored her connection with Jay despite her romance with Davide during her first stint in the villa in 2022, famously crawling on her knees across the terrace to enjoy a secret smooch with him.

Eventually Ekin-Su chose to be with Davide, and Jay was dumped from the island soon after.

Since Ekin-Su entered the All Stars villa on Monday, Davide has taken a swipe at his ex in a recent post, after a fan commented: 'Bro stay strong when shes on tv kissing loads of wee boys.'

He replied: 'I really hope she does [laughing face emojis)] At least she will leave me alone and stop talking about me once and for all. '

And more fans of Davide rushed to defend him in the comments as they warned that 'the truth will come out' eventually.

One wrote: '@davidesancli boss she toxic youre a beast stay grinding'

Another said: 'Truth comes out in the end. Hes moved on. Shes still talking her usual trash for fame/sympathy. Were all rooting for you Davide x'

But in support of the former Dancing On Ice contestant, one follower said: 'To be fair to her she hasn't been talking about you in the villa apart when she was asked by someone and she replied that she didn't know or care what you were doing as that chapter in her life is over and she has moved on'.

Ekin-Su split from Davide in January 2024, nearly two years after they were crowned Love Island champions, and claimed at the time that he was unfaithful

Ekin-Su opened up about her relationship with Davide in a chat with Olivia Hawkins after entering the Love Island: All Stars villa

The actress explored her connection with Jay despite her romance with Davide during her first stint in the villa in 2022

Just days ago, when asked by fellow Islander Gabby Allen how she would feel to see Davide enter the villa, Ekin-Su simply replied: 'Nothing.'

The girls laughed at her response before asking Ekin-Su where her and Davide - who split in January 2024 - stood now.

'I don't know what he's doing, I couldn't care,' Ekin-Su shrugged. 'It's in the past.

'That's the old chapter and I'm here in the new chapter. Things didn't work and I'm here.'

Ekin has always alleged that infidelity on Davide's part led to the end of their relationship, and she regretted signing up for Celebrity Big Brother so soon after they split up.

She told The Sun: 'I went into the show thinking that I could rebuild myself after everything that happened with Davide, but I came off worse. My guard was up.

'I blame myself for making a poor choice in my career. People could see that I wasnt myself, and I can understand why they thought I was being fake.'

She added: 'I never wanted to believe the allegations against Davide but people would tell me I was being cheated on all the time.

'I was so scared of being alone, and I didnt know who the hell Ekin-Su was meant to be without him.'
Molly-Mae Hague looked in good spirits on Friday as she returned to normality and ran errands in Manchester.

The Love Island star, 25, wrapped up in a black maxi coat teamed with matching wide-leg trousers and a brown top.

She kept it comfortable in a pair of Adidas Samba trainers, and carried her phone and keys by hand.

The entrepreneur was no doubt enjoying a return to normality following a lavish trip in Switzerland earlier this week.

The influencer whisked off to St. Moritz for a luxurious ski trip - while her ex-fiancee Tommy Fury stays at home in Manchester.

The former reality star showed off her impressive designer winter wardrobe as she hit the slopes in the snowy mountain area.

Molly-Mae Hague looked in good spirits on Friday as she returned to normality and ran errands in Manchester after her lavish getaway

The Love Island star wrapped up in a black maxi coat teamed with matching wide-leg trousers and a brown top

She kept it comfortable for her daily outing in a pair of Adidas Samba trainers, and ditched any bag choice while carrying her phone and keys by hand

For one snap she wore a stylish white fur coat and fluffy brown hat teamed with trendy de Savary gloves and dark shades.

Another Instagram pose showed her in a snow storm as she wore a dark brown coat and cosy white scarf.

While staying at her luxury hotel she gave a glimpse inside her envy-inducing wardrobe full of designer coats, goggles and boots.

Molly-Mae told how she wanted to 'live there' as she snapped pictures of the sunset before taking a trip up the mountain in a picturesque cable car.

As she enjoyed her trip to Switzerland her former partner Tommy, also 25, was back in Manchester and posted to his Story while at the gym.

It comes after last week Molly-Mae and Tommy reunited for their daughter Bambi's second birthday.

They reunited for the first time outside her Cheshire mansion since her Prime Video documentary, Behind It All, was released.

Tommy and Molly met on ITV's Love Island in 2019 and were together for five years before announcing their split last summer.

Earlier this week the influencer whisked off to St. Moritz, Switzerland, for a luxurious ski trip - while her ex-fiancee Tommy Fury stays at home in Manchester

Molly-Mae showed off her impressive designer winter wardrobe as she hit the slopes in the snowy mountain area

Another Instagram pose showed her in a snow storm as she wore a dark brown coat and cosy white scarf

The pair welcomed their daughter Bambi in January 2023 before getting engaged in September of that year.

Since their split at New Year's they were seen kissing - sparking rumours they had got back together.

But Tommy and Molly put their relationship woes to one side as they got together for Bambi's birthday.

Tommy shared snaps of the decorations in the mansion they used to share together - which were themed around the children's book The Tiger Who Came To Tea.

He shared with fans that it was her favourite story before sharing a sweet snap of Bambi as a newborn.

He penned in the caption of the snap taken in hospital: 'How has time gone that fast!!!'

Molly also took to her story to share snaps with Bambi ahead of the big celebration.

Alongside a snap with Bambi she posted on Wednesday night, she said: 'Last evening as my one-year-old. Mummy loves you more than words could ever explain.'

While staying at her luxury hotel she gave a glimpse inside her envy-inducing wardrobe full of designer coats, goggles and boots

Tommy remained in the UK this week and instead hit the gym while she was away

In the tell-all series, the influencer showed how she juggles being a mum to daughter Bambi, managing her brand Maebe and the pressures of being in the public eye as well as addressing her highly publicised split from Tommy.

She left fans in 'tears' as they praised her for showing her 'real' and 'vulnerable' side in the series.

In the documentary, Molly showed her vulnerable side as she opened up about the devastating circumstances surrounding her split, with the star struggling with the attention while trying to manage her own feelings.

In a particularly candid moment, she admitting that she wished the split was a publicity stunt to promote her show following rumours the couple could have reignited their romance.

She said: 'I just think it's bizarre that anyone would think it's a publicity stunt, I wish it was a publicity stunt, because that would be a lot easier, that would mean my relationship's actually fine, but it's not.'

She admitted the timing of the break-up was inconvenient rather than opportunistic as the shock news took attention away from launching her brand Maebe.

While in a conversation with her sister Zoe Rae, the latter candidly admitted 'all she wants in this life is to be with him and have another baby' so they can 'grow old as a family'.

Just before the documentary came out Tommy revealed they split due to his problems with alcohol.
Pamela Anderson stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night to talk about her latest movie The Last Showgirl.

While there, Jimmy brought up something he once heard about her getting paid to attend one of Donald Trump's birthday parties.

The Baywatch star, 57, clarified that it was while she was a Playboy Playmate.

As part of her playmate duties, she was paid $500 a day to make appearances and Trump requested her presence.

'When you're a playmate, they give you $500 a day to pretty much go anywhere, so I was hired at that time for a birthday party.'

Kimmel retorted: 'How sad that he has to hire people to come to his birthday party.'

Pamela Anderson stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night to talk about her latest movie The Last Showgirl. While there, Jimmy brought up something he once heard about her getting paid to attend one of Donald Trump's birthday parties

When she was asked to join Trump she was working for Playboy; seen in 2002

Pamela looked chic in a Chanel black silk top and pants that called to mind fancy pajamas. Her black pumps with pearl-encrusted heels were also from Chanel.

She wore her blonde hair straight and with forehead skimming bangs.

Pamela recently talked about her new aesthetic in an interview with Elle, saying, 'I want to be a little more polished but not look overdone.'

The Barbed Wire star also chatted about her latest movie, The Last Showgirl, with Kimmel.

They filmed the whole movie in just 18 days on location in Las Vegas.

Pamela revealed she drove there from British Columbia with her assistant saying, 'I love a road trip.'

The film shot at the Rio Hotel and Casino, but she stayed at 'an ex-husband's house.'

'I found the house,' she said. 'So I wanted to use it while I was doing the showgirl movie.

'I had all the girls from Jubilee come over and it was basically the only time they ate vegetables,' she said adding that she was making them vegetable soup.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on January 30

As part of her playmate duties, she was paid $500 a day to make appearances and Trump requested her presence

'When you're a playmate, they give you $500 a day to pretty much go anywhere, so I was hired at that time for a birthday party,' she said; seen entering Kimmel's Hollywood studios

Kimmel retorted: 'How sad that he has to hire people to come to his birthday party'

'When you make a meal together, you get to know each other,' she said.

She also talked about her history with Las Vegas. The blonde beauty appeared in a magic show and was a dancer in Elton John's show.

Pamela was expected to be nominated for an Academy Award for her work in The Last Showgirl but she was not.

Pamela is adamant she's not feeling sad about the snub and told Kimmel, 'The work is the award.'

'Oh my gosh, it's [an Oscar nomination] not something I ever expected. Doing the work is the win,' she told Elle for her recent cover story.

'That's what I like to do, and I think we can lose sight of that sometimes in this whole crazy awards season.

'But it's nice to be recognized, and it's all a bonus. 'I couldn't imagine [it] anyway.'

Pam's fans rallied in support when she was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Pamela recently talked about her new aesthetic in an interview with Elle , saying, 'I want to be a little more polished but not look overdone'

Her new movie is called The Last Showgirl and is set in Las Vegas

'She is an amazing actress, why on earth was she left off the list? one fan on X (formerly Twitter) wondered.

Another piped up: 'Pamela was done wrong by the Academy Awards, not fair.'

One fan said said that the siren should have not only been nominated but should have already won as she was 'magnificent and heartbreaking on so many levels. Cheers to you beautiful Pam!!!'

Pamela has been nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the upcoming SAG Awards.

'I'm happy for the SAG nomination, that's [voted on by] your peers. That's really cool. This has been a long road promoting this film,' Pam told Elle.

Pamela will compete against Cytnhia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofia Gascon (Emilia Perez), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Demi Moore (The Substance) at the ceremony on February 23.
Rihanna and her partner A$AP Rocky looked exhausted as they headed out to dinner Thursday night in Beverly Hills after a long day in court.

Following a draining day of testimony, Rihanna and her boyfriend of about four years, tried to keep a low profile as they went to dine, accompanied by their security team.

The Grammy winner, 36, who has been sitting through the trial in support for Rocky, wore a somber looking black jacket with a long white blouse buttoned up to the neck.

Her long hair was parted on the side and styled straight and she appeared to be wearing little makeup behind her dark framed glasses, accessorizing only with a pair of large hoop earrings.

Rocky, 36, wore a black suit with a white shirt as well, and donned dark sunglasses for the outing.

Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic handgun.

Rihanna, 36, and A$AP Rocky, 36, looked somber in black as they headed out to dinner in Beverly Hills following a tough day of testimony in court Thursday. Rocky is on trial for two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and faces 24 years behind bars if convicted

The Praise the Lord rapper is accused of firing the weapon at A$AP Relli, real name Terell Ephron, a friend from high school, accused Rocky of firing at him outside a hotel in Los Angeles in 2021 during an argument.

During his testimony Relli contended that his story may have changed over the three years since the alleged incident took place, but declared he knows what happened,' according to the Associate Press.

Rocky's attorney, Joe Tacopina compared the testimony Relli gave on the stand Thursday to his 2022 interview with prosecutors and pointed out the discrepancies.

While speaking with prosecutors in his initial interview Relli had said Rocky had pressed the gun into his stomach, but didn't remember what his former friend had told him.

In testimony, Relli claimed the gun was pointed at his stomach and head, and Rocky had said he was going to kill Relli.

'A gun was pulled on me. It was pointed at me, and it was fired later,' he told the jury at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, adding, 'It's been three years. If he was innocent he would be home a long time ago.'

During once tense moment, Relli shouted to Rocky 'You did this to yourself!'

When the judge admonished him, Relli responded, 'He was staring at me!'

Both Rocky and Rihanna tried to keep their presence lowkey. She appeared to be wearing little makeup behind her dark framed glasses. Rocky donned dark sunglasses

Rihanna has been quietly supporting her partner during the trial. The couple are the parents of two sons, RZA, two, and Riot, 17 months

While questioning the witness, Tacopina spent much of his time examining Relli's attitude toward his former friend, confronting him with text messages between the two including one angry message accusing Rocky of not supporting one of his projects.

In another, Relli wrote he would 'beat up' Rocky if he didn't pay for the body of a mutual friend to be returned to New York. The witness said he later learned Rocky had paid for the service.

In another text message just before the November 6, 2021 incident, Tacopino asked about one that read, 'you got all these fake animosity towards me lol beat me up' and another, that said, 'I wish you would.'

'That doesn't mean 'bring a gun,' Relli said.

When asked why he had deleted the texts before handing his phone over to Los Angeles police, the rapper said he didn't know why he had done it.

A$AP Relli, real name Terell Ephron, was a friend of Rocky's from high school. On Thursday, the defense questioned him about discrepancies between his interview with prosecutors and his testimony on the stand (Pictured in Los Angeles Wednesday)

Prosecutors played surveillance footage on the first day of trial showing Rocky drawing a gun along with another clip which captured sound that appeared to be gunshots, but neither video directly captured the alleged shooting

Rocky had the chance to avoid trial by agreeing to plead guilty to one charge of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm in exchange for 180 days in jail, but refused (Pictured in Los Angeles Wednesday)

Rocky's defense has argued the gun in question was a starter pistol that shoots only blanks, which the Am I Dreaming artist carried as a prop.

Prosecutors played surveillance footage on the first day of trial showing Rocky drawing a gun along with another clip which captured sound that appeared to be gunshots, but neither video directly captured the alleged shooting,

Rocky had the chance to avoid trial by agreeing to plead guilty to one charge of felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm in exchange for 180 days in jail, but refused.

He and Rihanna are the parents of two sons, RZA, two, and Riot, 17 months.
Will Ferrell revealed the practice that he feels should never be a part of wedding receptions.

The Elf star, 57 - who has been busy promoting his latest film You're Cordially Invited with castmate Reese Witherspoon - opened up about the topic during a recent interview this week.

At one point, the star was asked what he thought should be banned when it came to weddings and he simply replied with: 'Cash bar.'

With a cash bar, wedding guests are required to pay for their own drinks due to the hosts of the ceremony not covering the cost - which has been a controversial topic.

The Hollywood actor - who has a net worth of $160 million - then added of cash bars in a chat with BuzzFeed UK: 'That's rude.'

Witherspoon, who also joined in on the interview, agreed with Will and stated, 'That's in really poor taste.'

Will Ferrell, 57, revealed the one thing that he feels should never be a part of wedding receptions; seen earlier this month in NYC

Ferrell also added that the hosts should make sure that there is plenty of food for guests.

He recalled attending a friend's wedding when there wasn't enough - which he labeled as 'not good' and added 'That's a real no-no.'

Will - who took part in his own nuptials back in 2000 with wife Viveca Paulin - later expressed that he disliked macarena lines at wedding ceremonies.

And while recently talking to This Morning, the Step Brothers star recalled the prank he took part in while at a pal's wedding in the past.

'I have a friend who asked if I would stand up and object, so I did,' Ferrell explained.

'I stood up, in that moment where they're like, "Does anyone object?" I said "I do! I love you Carol! Please, take me back!"'

However, he soon realized that he had used the wrong name and said, 'My friend, the groom, said, "This isn't Carol, it's Susan."'

'And I went, "Oh, sorry," and I sat back down. No one really laughed, except he laughed. So the joke didn't quite land,' Will admitted.

At one point, the star was asked what he thought should be banned when it came to weddings and he simply replied with: 'Cash bar'

And while recently talking to This Morning, the Step Brothers star recalled the prank he took part in while at a pal's wedding in the past; seen in earlier this month in L.A.

Will and Reese have been promoting their new Amazon Prime comedy titled You're Cordially Invited - which dropped on the streaming site on Thursday, January 30.

Other stars that were cast in the project include Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro and Celia Watson.

The premise is: 'When two weddings are double-booked at the same venue, the father of one bride and the sister of the other bride try to preserve the wedding weekend,' per an IMDB synopsis.

Ferrell was also one of the producers on the movie, along with Reese under her media company Hello Sunshine.

During a joint conversation with Glamour UK, Will discussed what 'surprised' him while working with the Legally Blonde actress.

'I would say that with Hello Sunshine and how much Reese does as a producer...,' he answered.

'A lot of the episodic stuff she's done recently that it was so fun to get in the comedy battleground with her, and to see that she is as funny an actress as anyone I've ever worked with.'

Will added, 'I loved it because we both were in these scenes, and while we're saying ridiculous things and screaming at each other.'

Will and Reese have been promoting their new Amazon Prime comedy titled You're Cordially Invited - which dropped on the streaming site on Thursday, January 30

'It's a heightened context, and yet she's playing it as real as I am, and that's what I think is at the heart of any good comedy.'

Ferrell has starred in a number of comedic films during the course of his career thus far, such as Elf, Anchorman, Blades Of Glory and Talladega Nights.

Along with Legally Blonde, Reese also took on a leading role in the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama.

She is also known for playing dramatic roles, such as her portrayal of June Carter in Walk The Line - which earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.

During a joint conversation with Glamour UK, Will discussed what 'surprised' him while working with the Legally Blonde actress; seen in 2024 in Park City, Utah

Witherspoon also talked about collaborating with Ferrell and expressed, 'Will is the ultimate ally'

Witherspoon also talked about collaborating with Ferrell and expressed, 'Will is the ultimate ally.'

'Just in terms of the generosity on set, of really listening to my perspective, the other female producers perspective, also lifting up other people's ideas. He's just a generous soul and a generous human.'

Earlier this month, fans were left raving over You're Cordially Invited shortly after the trailer was released.

And this week on Tuesday, the pair walked the red carpet at the premiere of the movie in NYC.
Melissa Gilbert has hit back at Megyn Kelly on her claims that the Little House on the Prairie reboot will be too 'woke.'

'If you wokeify Little House on the Prairie I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project,' Kelly, 54, wrote on X account about the news.

It caught the attention of original star Melissa, who played Laura Ingalls in the beloved television series that ran for nine seasons starting in 1974.

'Apparently Megyn tweeted (I'm not on that platform) asking that Netflix not "woke-ify" their Little House remake,' Gilbert began on Instagram.

'Ummwatch the original again. TV doesn't get too much more "woke" than we did.'

Melissa Gilbert decided to school Megyn Kelly on her Little House on the Prairie facts. Seen here in January 2025

Melissa played Laura Ingalls in the beloved television series that ran for nine seasons starting in 1974

'We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other "woke" topic you can think of. Thank you very much.'

Gilbert captioned the post: @megynkelly watch any episode on any streaming platform anywhere in the world. x.'

Netflix announced the reboot of the iconic Western series on January 29 and it comes 42 years after the original series ended in 1983.

The new show will be 'part hopeful, family drama, part epic survival tale and part origin story of the American West,' per a release from the streamer.

'This fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilders iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books offers a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.'

The original series was set in the midwest in the 1870s when the 'west' was being settled by families seeking new frontiers.

'Little House on the Prairie has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many fans around the world, and were excited to share its enduring themes of hope and optimism with a fresh take on this iconic story,' Jinny Howe, Netflix's Vice President, Drama Series said in a press release.

'[Showrunner] Rebecca Sonnenshines vision threads the needle with an emotional depth that will delight both new and existing fans of this beloved classic.'

Kelly, 54, shared a link to a Hollywood Reporter story about the Netflix reboot of the series on X (formerly Twitter )

'If you wokeify Little House on the Prairie I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project,' she wrote. Seen here January 20, 2025

Melissa got wind of Kelly's mean-spirited tweet and didn't hold anything back in her reply

'Apparently Megyn tweeted (I'm not on that platform) asking that Netflix not "woke-ify" their Little House remake. Ummwatch the original again. TV doesn't get too much more "woke " than we did,' Gilbert wrote on Instagram

'We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other 'woke' topic you can think of,' Gilbert wrote. Megyn seen here January 20, 2025

'I fell deeply in love with these books when I was five years old. They inspired me to become a writer and a filmmaker, and I am honored and thrilled to be adapting these stories for a new global audience with Netflix,' Sonnenshine said of the upcoming project.

One of the commenters on Melissa's post called Megyn, 'a real life Nellie Oleson,' referring to the spoiled bully character and Laura's nemesis played by Alison Arngrim.

In June, the Little House on the Prairie cast reunited at the Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

Karen Grassle, Alison Arngrim, Melissa Sue Anderson, Matthew Labyorteaux, and Wendi Lou Lee sat on a panel and reflected on their favorite memories from the show.

They also addressed fans questions about a reboot or reunion of the series.

'There have been lots of attempts to do a Little House on the Prairie again,' Grassle, 82, who played the show's matriarch Caroline Ingalls, explained to People.

'There have been shows, there have been a musical, and I think we had a unique experience and it can't be repeated.'

'Michael [Landon] was a genius at casting and writing,' she added of her onscreen husband, who played Charles Ingalls.

Gilbert captioned the post: @megynkelly watch any episode on any streaming platform anywhere in the world. x.' Seen here in January

One of the commenters on Melissa's post called Megyn, 'a real life Nellie Oleson.' Seen here January 20, 2025

'He understood things about how to translate that material into television for the public that was beyond what most writers understand.

'And he had his thumb on the pulse of the public and understood what people were longing for, and you don't find that every day,' she gushed about the late actor who was also an executive producer and writer for the show.

'And then the fact that we were all so perfectly cast was a kind of genius,' she added, looking at her costars.

Anderson, who played eldest sister Mary Ingalls, had her own reason for thinking a reboot wouldn't work and its because Landon wouldn't be part of it.

'Little House works on television because of him,' she said. Landon died in 1991.

Arngrim, 62, who played Nellie Oleson in the series is ready to take on a new role if there was ever a reboot of Little House  her mother.

'I always joke that if they do redo the entire thing, I am ready to play Mrs. Oleson. Absolutely, I'm down for that,' she sassed.
Trinny Woodall has revealed a huge business sacrifice she made after facing worries about the future of her 21-year-old daughter Lyla.

The entrepreneur 60, who made her debut on BBC's Dragon's Den this week, founded her beloved brand Trinny London from her own kitchen back in 2017.

Now a multi-million-pound cosmetics empire, the business is a household name that the star has put her everything into - including selling her home to begin the brand.

However, Trinny lifted the lid on the one downside to being so invested in her company - and it affects her daughter.

She told the iPaper: 'I still don't own a home. I sold my previous house to start Trinny London, which I grappled with for a long time. Most people at 60 are trying to pay off their mortgage.

'My future is very much vested in Trinny London and I now feel fine about that, but for a while I did think 'If I died tomorrow Lyla would have no home'.

Trinny Woodall has revealed a huge business sacrifice she made after facing worries about the future of her 21-year-old daughter Lyla

The entrepreneur 60, who made her debut on BBC 's Dragon's Den this week, founded her beloved brand Trinny London from her own kitchen back in 2017 (pictured with Lyla in 2024)

The star revealed: 'I took some money out of the business to put into an account which is enough to buy Lyla a flat, so if something did happen my bases are covered.'

Trinny was the presenter of TV's What Not To Wear and was known for delivering ruthless home truths as she helped men and women find their new look.

Last year, she revealed she is just as cutting in her personal life  and said if people drain her energy, she will 'let them go'.

Showing off her sense of style in a leopard-print suit on the cover of Woman & Home magazine, the entrepreneur and TV presenter said: 'I'm ruthless when it comes to letting go of people from my life.

'If people drain my energy, they have to go. Friends should bring each other energy.'

In 2023, Trinny split from her partner of a decade, art collector and Nigella Lawson's ex-husband Charles Saatchi, 81.

Speaking about dating again, Trinny said: 'Being single in your 50s and 60s is interesting... Is there a difference between me saying I'm 59 and dating, and being 60 and dating?

'Not at all... it's all about how we come across  60 used to feel old, but now it's like being 40.'

She was previously married to Lyla's dad, businessman Johnny Elichaoff from 1999 to 2009. He tragically took his own life in 2014.

Trinny said: 'My future is very much vested in Trinny London and I now feel fine about that, but for a while I did think 'If I died tomorrow Lyla would have no home'

She was previously married to Lyla's dad, businessman Johnny Elichaoff from 1999 to 2009. He tragically took his own life in 2014

At the time of his death, the star was launching her beauty company Trinny London, which she has turned into an empire.

Trinny and Susannah Constantine became household names in 2001 as co-hosts of What Not To Wear, where they got a reputation for their straight-talking fashion advice.

Speaking about their relationship, she said: 'Of all my friendships, ours is the most equal... It can be very intense and sometimes we needed a break, but we totally accept each other for who we are.'

The revelation came after her daughter and her co-star's daughter insisted that the programme would not be made today.

The pair feel as if the show and their mothers would instantly be 'cancelled' because of how it.

They were known for their cutting comments to each others, namely about Susannah's 'chicken arms' or Trinny's 'flat chest'.

But making their own joint media appearance, Esme and Lyla joked that their mothers would likely be taken off air now for how they spoke to each other.

'I think they would be cancelled if the show was made now,' Lyla told Tatler.

Trinny and Susannah Constantine became household names in 2001 as co-hosts of What Not To Wear, where they got a reputation for their straight-talking fashion advice (Pictured in 2002)

Esme and Lyla joked that their mothers would likely be taken off air now for how they spoke to each other

'You can't really speak to people like that any more, and say things like, 'You're so ugly.'

Lyla is studying communication and digital media at Madrid's IE University, while Esme did an art history degree at Bristol.

Asked if they're fans of the show, they both replied simultaneously: 'I've never actually watched it.'

But they do recall some of their time on sets, as Esme said: 'I remember going to places like Poland or Sweden and doing the European tour things.
Renee Zellweger lived out of a suitcase at the height of her acting career and didn't unpack until she was 41.

The Bridget Jones's Diary star, 55, admits she was incredibly busy for most of her 30s and didn't really find the time to settle in once place until she took a hiatus from Hollywood back in 2010.

When asked to give her younger self some advice, Renee told the Guardian newspaper: 'Girl, slow down. Moving from place to place, constantly living out of your suitcase  I never unpacked until I was probably 41.'

Renee went on to insist she has no regrets about taking a six-year break from her movie career.

She added: 'There was a lot to treasure... I scrutinized myself. And because I wasn't taking care of myself in my 30s, I didn't make great choices all the time.'

The girlfriend of Ant Anstead also said: 'It's really easy to forget yourself in the mix.'

Renee Zellweger lived out of a suitcase at the height of her acting career and didn't unpack until she was 41. The Bridget Jones's Diary star, 55, admits she was incredibly busy for most of her 30s and didn't really find the time to settle in, she told The Guardian; seen on January 29

In her 30s she made films like Bridget Jones' Diary which was a massive hit

It comes as Renee prepares to launch her fourth Bridget Jones movie - Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - in cinemas in February.

The actress admits she can empathize with the character over the pressure on women to get married and have children.

Renee - who was married to musician Kenny Chesney for five months in 2005 and has no kids - added: 'To choose not to have children isn't that exceptional, is it? I think it's quite common [these days].'

She added of the character - created by writer Helen Fielding in a newspaper column in the 1990s: 'Isn't that a cool thing that Helen created this character that people want to talk about for 30 years?

'I think people see themselves in her imperfections, vulnerability and fear. Her authenticity and transparent humanity make it easy for folks to feel that "I know her."'

This comes after Zellweger said she is 'in denial' about the end of the Bridget Jones franchise.

The star reprises her role as the titular character in the fourth and final movie in the series, but has her 'fingers crossed' that her alter ego returns.

Seen here in high school before she got her break in Love And A 45

Speaking at the film's premiere in London, Zellweger told the BBC: 'Let me live in denial for a little longer.'

The new flick sees Bridget living as a widow following the death of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) as she adjusts to being a single mother and the world of modern dating. The story is partially inspired by author Helen Fielding  whose husband Kevin Curran passed away in 2016. Zellweger said: '(The film) is a beautiful story and really the most personal for Helen.

She is sharing about her own experiences about loss, grief and finding new happiness, it's a pretty special one.' The 'Chicago' star added that she has always felt 'really, really lucky to get the part' of Bridget and 'was just trying not to get fired'.

Bridget begins a relationship with 29-year-old Roxster (Leo Woodall) in the movie and Zellweger is supportive of the character becoming romantically involved with a younger man. She told Variety: 'I mean, I think it's nothing new. 'But maybe the social taboos are melting away... it's never a bad thing.

When asked to give her younger self some advice, Renee told the Guardian newspaper: 'Girl, slow down. Moving from place to place, constantly living out of your suitcase  I never unpacked until I was probably 41. Because I wasn't taking care of myself in my 30s, I didn't make great choices all the time.' Seen on January 31

Renee with co-star Leo Woodall in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, directed by Michael Morris

'There's certain things that we probably don't need to have opinions about, and where people find love... why would that ever be a problem?' Woodall concurred and believes it is important for audiences to 'get used to it'.

The One Day star said: 'It's a real relationship that happens a lot and you know, we're just not used to seeing it on screen.'

Bridget's other love interest in the film is school teacher Mr. Wallaker and actor Chiwetel Ejiofor hinted that there is plenty of complexity to his character.

The 47-year-old star said: 'He's quite stern in his own way, he has a kind of sense of the world.

'At the same time, he's really able to communicate with Billy, Bridget's son, and understand that he's going through something and trying to figure out ways of helping that. There's a lot of layering to him.'

Meanwhile, Fielding is proud that a character she created in the 1990s continues to appeal to young audiences today. The novelist said: 'When I do a signing half the audience are Gen Z's. They're the first generation who have lived through a world crisis for ages. They're very similar to Bridget in their emotional fragility, their ability to share and cry on TikTok. 'And they have their same little rituals, Bridget has ice cream and vodka and they have sleep routines and things like that. 'I think they're a really interesting and lovely generation. I can't wait until they start writing more novels.'
ICICI offered jobs to 13 GNDU MBA students

Amritsar: Under the able leadership of Vice Chancellor Dr Karamjeet Singh, Directorate of Placement & Career Enhancement of Guru Nanak Dev University organised Campus Placement drive by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance company for MBA - Batch 2025 students of GNDU, Amritsar. A team of 2 senior members visited Guru Nanak Dev University to conduct the interviews of MBA students. The company selected 13 students at a pay package of Rs. 4.50 Lakhs per annum. These students will join their jobs after passing out their respective courses in June 2025.

Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights held in Guru Nanak Dev University

Amritsar: A workshop on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Technology Transfer was organised by Intellectual Property Rights Cell and office of Dean Students Welfare in which Dr Amaresh Panda, a seasoned Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Professional from the Government of India participated as speaker.

Special lecture on DIGITAL ARREST AND CYBER CRIMES

Amritsar: Senior Advocate Sh.Sandeep Gorsi, (Supreme Court of India, Punjab and Haryana High Court) delivered a special lecture on DIGITAL ARREST AND CYBER CRIMES organised by the Department of Laws, Guru Nanak Dev University on the current and relevant topic of immense value.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied in early trade on Friday helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro post its earnings announcement and a firm trend in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 188.11 points to 76,947.92 in early trade, a day before the Union Budget. The NSE Nifty climbed 68.6 points to 23,318.10.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Larsen & Toubro climbed over 3 per cent after the infrastructure and engineering major reported a 14 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,359 crore for the December quarter on the back of higher revenue from operations.

Titan, Maruti, Adani Ports, Nestle and Power Grid were the other major gainers.

ITC Hotels, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.

"The Budget - expectations and actuals - will influence the market today and tomorrow. Since we are going into the Budget without a pre-Budget rally, the probability of a rally, post Budget, will be high if the Budget delivers on growth stimulating initiatives like cuts in personal income tax.

"But it is important to understand that the impact of the Budget will last only for a few days, at best. The medium to long-term trend of the market will be dictated by GDP and earnings growth," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in positive territory, while Seoul quoted lower. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.

US markets ended in the positive zone on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,582.95 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.83 per cent to USD 77.51 a barrel.

The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 226.85 points or 0.30 per cent to settle at 76,759.81 on Thursday. The Nifty went up by 86.40 points or 0.37 per cent to 23,249.50.
Motor insurance is the most effective financial cover that exists for car owners. When an insurance company rejects a claim, it can cause serious implications for insurance beneficiaries. However, motor insurance claim rejection is a real issue faced by many beneficiaries. There are several reasons why motor insurance claims are rejected by car insurance companies. Understanding the common causes of motor insurance claim rejection can help the beneficiaries take proactive steps to avoid claim rejection, thus benefitting them in the long run. If you are considering buying motor insurance, then the tips in this article will help you avoid claim rejections and maintain a positive image with your car insurance provider.

What Is Motor Insurance Claim Rejection?

A claim rejection happens when beneficiaries do not adhere to the rules and regulations set by the car insurance company or when there are irregularities in the documentation at the time of placing a reimbursement claim request. The reason for rejection varies from minor name spelling mismatch to major breach of the policies set by insurance companies. From inaccurate documentation to major vehicle documentation issues, several factors contribute to a car insurance claim rejection. Taking the following actions can prove to be beneficial in steering clear of a motor insurance claim rejection in the future.

1. Choose the Right Insurance Policy

How does one choose the right insurance policy? What should one look out for while looking at motor insurance policies from prominent car insurance companies? These are some of the most pertinent questions haunting most people who are looking to buy a motor insurance. Selecting the right insurance policy is fundamental to minimizing claim rejections from a car insurance company. Conduct thorough research and compare policies from various insurers. Look for comprehensive coverage that includes both third-party liability and own-damage protection. Pay close attention to the policy's terms, conditions, exclusions, deductibles, and limitations to fully understand what is covered.

Key Considerations:

Understand the different coverage options available at the time of purchasing the insurance policy to avoid being in complicated situations in the future.

Coverage Types: Ensure the policy covers all necessary aspects, including natural calamities and theft, in short, it must have comprehensive coverage for all kinds of possible issues.

Exclusions: Familiarize yourself with situations that may lead to claim denial, such as unauthorized vehicle use or illegal activities.

Choosing the right insurance policy is the first step towards a hassle-free insurance claim process.

2. Provide Accurate Information

Inaccurate documentation is one of the prevalent reasons for motor insurance claim rejection. When you purchase your car insurance online, make sure that you provide complete and accurate information to your insurer. Mention all the relevant information like your previous No Claim Bonus (NCB), any modifications made to the vehicle and additional drivers who will use the insured vehicle. Failure to disclose any such information can lead to claim rejection or policy cancellation. Incomplete information could also cause instances of identity theft, further leading to gigantic losses.

Important Details to Disclose:

1. Previous NCB percentage

2. Vehicle modifications

3. Additional drivers

3. Understand Policy Terms and Conditions

Understand the terms and conditions of your motor insurance policy so you dont committ documentation mistakes that could be misunderstood for information fraud by the insurance provider. Take the time to learn what is not covered by your motor insurance policy so that you can take care to avoid the circumstances that may lead to situations that are not covered by your motor insurance policy.

Common exclusions include:

 Driving under influence

 Running a red light.

 Unauthorized use of the vehicle.

4. Document Incidents Thoroughly

In the event of an accident, you must possess all the documents and record all the important details accurately for a successful claim. Take photographs of the vehicle and accident scene, gather witness statements, and file a police report if necessary. Quickly notify your insurer with all relevant details, including date, time, location, and contact information of other parties involved.

Documentation Checklist:

1. Photographs of damages

2. Witness statements

3. Police report (if applicable)

5. Timely Reporting of Claims

Most insurance policies mention specific timeframes within which you must report an incident. Failing to notify your insurer immediately when an accident occurs can result in a rejected claim. Once reported, cooperate fully with the insurer's investigation by providing all requested documents and information swiftly.

6. Maintain Your Vehicle Regularly

Regular vehicle maintenance plays a significant role in preventing claim rejections. Adhere to the manufacturer's recommended service schedule and keep all service records updated. Failure to maintain your vehicle properly may result in a claim denial if damages are attributed to negligence or lack of maintenance. Obtain your Pollution Under Control certificate at regular intervals to avoid being fined. A PUC ensures that vehicle owners are checking their emissions, thus taking small steps in saving our environment.

Maintenance Practices:

1. Follow service schedules.

2. Keep records of maintenance work including a PUC.

3. Address mechanical issues promptly.

7. Avoid Insurance Fraud

Insurance fraud is a jailable offense in India. Deliberately being part of fraudulent activities such as arson, exaggerating the damages, etc. can lead to insurance claim rejection and policy cancellation. It is crucial to maintain integrity throughout the claim process to avoid unnecessary complications.

Fraudulent Practices to Avoid:

 Providing false narratives

 Exaggerating damages

 Staging accidents

8. Inform Relevant Authorities

In case of an accident, inform the police immediately - Failure to do so will invite legal implications and complicate the chances of your claim being processed. Document the accident scene in detail to ensure that the insurance firm does not find inconsistencies in your narrative and the actual incidents.

Steps After an Accident:

 Call emergency services if needed.

 Notify law enforcement.

 Document the scene thoroughly.

9. Avoid These Mistakes While Filing A Claim

One of the primary reasons behind insurance claim rejections is that beneficiaries often make small mistakes while filing a reimbursement claim. These mistakes occur as a result of incomplete information about filing the insurance claim. Following is a list of common mistakes that lead to an insurance claim rejection.

 Not informing the police about an accident.

 Failing to notify your insurance company promptly.

 Moving your vehicle from the accident scene before documentation.

 Paying out-of-pocket for damages without consulting your insurer.

 Accepting a final payment cheque without ensuring it covers all damages.

10. Review Your Policy Regularly

Regularly reviewing your insurance policy ensures that you remain aware of any changes in coverage or terms that could affect future claims. This practice allows you to make any necessary adjustments based on changes in your circumstances or vehicle usage.

Review Checklist:

1. Update personal information (address, drivers).

2. Adjust coverage as needed (new vehicles or modifications).

3. Ensure compliance with current regulations.

Conclusion

When a motor insurance claim rejection happens, it causes severe financial repercussions. Insurance companies deny claims due to several reasons. As beneficiaries, you must take the time to learn every single detail about your vehicle insurance and take care to not flout any of the terms and conditions mentioned within the policy. Before being tempted to indulge in any illegal activities such as insurance fraud, know that such actions are punishable and can invite serious legal issues. Be diligent to inform the concerning authorities of any accidents and document the accident site in detail, especially the condition of your car, to avoid any inconsistencies in your narrative and the investigating officers findings. By selecting the right insurance policy, providing accurate information, understanding policy terms, documenting incidents thoroughly, reporting claims timely, maintaining vehicles regularly, avoiding fraudulent practices, informing relevant authorities promptly, steering clear of common mistakes during claims processing, and reviewing policies regularly, you can significantly enhance your chances of a successful claim.
In a major setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), eight MLAs have resigned, ahead of the coming Delhi Assembly polls on February 5. The MLAs who resigned are Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Rohit Kumar (Trilokpuri), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Girish Soni (Madipur), Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), and Bhawna Goud (Palam). Sources said these MLAs were disgruntled after being denied tickets for the February 5 polls and were touch with other parties. BS Joon (Bijwasan) was the first AAP MLA who gave his papers. Most of the MLAs shared their resignation letters on social media and slammed AAP over corruption and other issues.

Reacting to the development, South Delhi BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the ship of Aam Aadmi Party is sinking, that is why seven MLAs have resigned from the party.

He said that when the ship of a party like Aam Aadmi Party starts sinking, then a situation of stampede is created in the party. The same is happening with AAP, he said

Madan Lal, the outgoing MLA from Kasturba Nagar, claimed on Friday that he and six other party MLAs had resigned from AAPs primary membership. Lal said they had also sent their resignation letters to Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

Palams Bhavna Goud in her resignation letter directed her disappointment at party chief Arvind Kejriwal. I have lost faith in you, the MLA said. Naresh Yadav was earlier the Mehrauli candidate. He was convicted by a Punjab court in a Quran desecration case in December and sentenced to two-year jail. When the AAP released its fifth list of candidates for the Delhi election, to be held on February 5, the party announced Mahender Chaudhary as its Mehrauli candidate, replacing Naresh Yadav.

In a letter addressed to party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Yadav said, I dedicated my entire life to politics and worked under your leadership with utmost honesty and dedication. I made every effort to realize your vision and also contributed 100% to fulfilling the responsibilities given to me. However, today, the party has drifted from its core ideology, and good people who want to work honestly are being sidelined, while those involved in corrupt practices are being given a place in the organization. He represented south Delhis Mehrauli constituency for 10 years. Yadav, was convicted convicted and sentenced to a two-year term in November by a Punjab court in the 2016 Quran desecration case. While the AAP had announced him as its candidate despite the conviction.

Bhupinder Singh Joon, who was replaced from Bijwasan, said, The voices of sincere workers and public representatives are often sidelined, and critical decisions are made without consultation or consensus. Moreover, the focus on self-promotion rather than addressing core public issues has become deeply disheartening.

Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, the Trilokpuri MLA who resigned today, in a post on X said he joined AAP during the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption, with the hope of securing social justice for the Dalit and Valmiki communities.

Mehraulia said the AAP promised to uplift these communities, but failed to address crucial issues such as scrapping contract-based labour and ensuring temporary workers are absorbed permanently.

Janakpuris Rajesh Rishi also cited growing disenchantment with what he called the AAPs departure from its core values. In his resignation letter, he criticised the AAP for betraying the principles of corruption-free governance and transparency it was founded on. Rishi, another former supporter of Anna Hazares anti-corruption movement, alleged the party has become a cesspit of nepotism and corruption.

The AAPs candidate list for the upcoming Delhi elections shows that the party has fielded new candidates, including Mukesh Goel from Adarsh Nagar, Pravin Kumar from Janakpuri, Surendra Bhardwaj from Bijwasan, and Joginder Solanki from Palam, replacing the resigning MLAs.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5 and the votes counted on February 8.
In a startling revelation, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini of hatching a conspiracy to influence and force half of Delhis population to thirst due to the poisonous Yamuna water to defame his party ahead of the Assembly polls on February 5 by sending highly-polluted waters to the national Capital. In his six-page written reply addressed to the chief election commissioner (CEC), AAP chief raised serious allegations against Saini and said the Haryana Chief Minister orchestrated a conspiracy to influence the Delhi assembly election. He demanded that a criminal case should be filed against Saini regarding the poisonous Yamuna issue.

In the response to the Commissions second notice, Kejriwal clarified that his earlier statements, which referenced the Yamuna being poisoned, were made in the context of the rising ammonia levels in the water and were not intended to suggest any malicious intent outside of this environmental crisis.

Warning that water could be used as a weapon to win elections if the EC fails to act, he said he was shocked that the poll body did not pass any order for the Haryana Chief Minister but chose to hound him.

Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of the BJP is a small price to pay for it, and I welcome it with open arms, he added. Accompanied by Delhi and Punjab chief ministers Atishi and Bhagwant Mann, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor went to the ECs office and submitted his reply personally. The AAP leaders also carried three bottles of ammonia-mixed water for the election commissioners to drive home their point. Kejriwal also claimed that the water being supplied from Haryana to Delhi has high levels of ammonia. AAP national convenor alleged that the ammonia levels started increasing very sharply from 15 Jan onwards (around 3.2 ppm on 15 Jan) and reached 7 ppm a few days later.

Kejriwal alleged that Delhi CM Atishi contacted Saini to resolve the crises, but despite several attempts, the issues remained unresolved. The chief minister of Delhi called up the chief minister of Haryana in the last week of December and requested him to either take steps to reduce ammonia or provide additional water to dilute it. Though CM Haryana assured me that he would take the necessary steps, however, he did not. Subsequently, CM Delhi again called him several times. After a few calls, Chief Minister of Haryana stopped taking CM Delhis calls, as said in the letter.

There was a deliberate conspiracy on the part of Haryana CM, who happens to be from BJP, to influence Delhi elections by sending highly polluted waters to Delhi. He knew very well that this would create artificial water scarcity in Delhi, whose blame would lie on the AAP government in Delhi. This would have rendered almost half of Delhi without water and would have created huge public misery for almost 10 million people of Delhi who would have gone without water, he said in the letter.

The AAP supremo also accused the CEC of complete silence and inaction over blatant violations of the Model Code of Conduct allegedly by BJP leaders in Delhi. Kejriwal also questioned the baffling alacrity of the CEC to act against him, even though he was merely raising an issue of very high public importance and had averted a huge public crisis in Delhi. Equally baffling is the CECs refusal to direct Haryana to stop polluting Delhis waters, he said.

If the CEC continues ignoring the widespread practice of purchase of votes with cash and goods by the BJP, you will end up normalising this corrupt practice as well, he said, while claiming that evidence in the form of videos and peoples statements were not acknowledged.

India is known worldwide as the bedrock of democracy, he said, adding, The CEC, with its clear act of omission and negligence of corrupt practices by the BJP, looks set to tarnish this image of India globally.

If no action is taken against the Haryana government and the BJP leaders involved in corrupt practices it will be amply clear to everyone that the Chief Election Commissioner keeps the interest of the ruling party over public interest. Unfortunately, I cant be expected to be silent on this and tow this line out of fear or expectations of favour. My only concern is the health and safety of the people of Delhi and I will fight for the protection of our democratic principles, he added.

Before visiting the Election Commissions office, Kejriwal told media that the language of second notice hints that the poll body has already decided their action. He alleged that the poll body is shooting the messenger by targeting the AAP for raising its voice. The Yamuna water issue has emerged as a crucial political matter ahead of the Delhi assembly election, with Kejriwal pointing fingers at the BJP-led Haryana government for deliberately contaminating the water.
Alert troops of the Indian army neutralised two heavily armed Pakistani terrorists in the fierce gunfight along the line of control in the Khari Karmara area of Poonch early Friday morning. This is the first major incident of terrorist-related violence in the last two years in the Khari Karmara area of Poonch.

According to local reports, the movement of a group of heavily armed Pakistani infiltrators was detected by the troops late Thursday evening while they (Pakistani infiltrators) were attempting to sneak inside the Indian territory taking advantage of the raging forest fires in the forward area.

The security forces in the region were already conducting massive combing and search operations based on local intelligence inputs about the suspected movement of terrorists in the upper reaches of Rajouri and Poonch.

In a post on X, the Nagrota-based White Knight Corps also confirmed the terrorist movement was detected last night at the Line of Control in the Poonch Sector.

The terrorist movement was detected last night at the Line of Control in the Poonch sector. Alert troops swiftly engaged the infiltrating terrorists, triggering an intense and heavy firefight. The anti-terrorist operation continued through the night, leading to the neutralisation of two terrorists. The search of the area thus far has resulted in the recovery of several weapons and war-like stores, White Knight Corps posted on X.

According to official sources, terrorist handlers operating from across the line of control were desperately trying to push more and more Pakistani infiltrators inside the Indian territory ahead of the summer months. A team of NIA personnel had also searched houses of PoK-based terrorist operatives in the Rajouri district to expose their network of Over Ground Workers, providing logistics support to these Pakistani infiltrators. The drone movement was also detected along the line of control in the Mendhar sector of Poonch in the run-up to the Republic Day celebrations. The Indian army had opened firing on the Pakistani drones after it attempted to breach the Indian air space.
In an unprecedented move, the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday reacted strongly over the Congress leaders comments on President Droupadi Murmus address to the joint session of the Parliament terming the remarks are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan which has never responded to such political remarks, in a statement said such comments hurt the dignity of the high office and therefore are unacceptable.

Soon after the President concluded her address to the joint sitting of both the Houses, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were seen discussing the speech. The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak poor thing, Sonia was heard saying in a video doing the rounds on social media.

The Presidents office said it believes that it might be the case that these leaders were not acquainted with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable, the statement said.

These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak. Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring, the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too launched a scathing attack on the Congress, accusing its shahi parivar of insulting President Droupadi Murmu, who hails from a tribal background. In a direct response to Congress leaders purported remarks on Murmu, Modi, at a public meeting in the national Capital said, These Congress people think they are the masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress royal family has once again been exposed.

While the ruling BJP also launched an all-out attack on the grand old party saying they were deeply disrespectful and underscored the oppositions continued disregard for the dignity of the highest constitutional office, Congress hit back and said every person in India has respect and empathy for President Murmu but the BJP leaders cannot digest Sonia Gandhis empathy for her health.

Modi alleged that the Congress members belittled Murmu with their remarks on her speech. The Congress royal family does not accept anyone from the Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC communities who rise above their circumstances. They insult them at every step, he said.

BJP national president J P Nadda said the former Congress president of the phrase poor thing to refer to the President is deeply disrespectful and underscores the oppositions continued disregard for the dignity of the highest constitutional office.

Amid the row Congress Lok Sabha MP and daughter of Sonia, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said her mother has the utmost respect for the President and that it is very unfortunate that her remarks have been twisted by the media. She also hit out at the BJPs demand for an apology over the issue, saying it should first apologise for ruining the country.

My mother is a 78-year-old lady. She simply said that the President must have been tired reading such a long speech, poor thing. She fully respects, in fact she has the utmost respect for her (the President). It is very unfortunate that this kind of a thing is twisted by the media, Priyanka Gandhi said talking to media.

Hitting back, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said in Sonia Gandhis empathy for President Droupadi Murmu health cannot be digested by the men in BJP. Will the BJP answer for the disrespect shown to President Murmu when she was not invited to the inauguration of the Parliament or the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya? the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha asked.
With Assembly polls inching closer, several students of Delhi University and other higher educational institutions, residing in North Campus, have opined that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has failed on various fronts in the last 10 years and there should BJPs double-engine government for better development and welfare of the people of national capital.

Though these students are hoping for change in power in Delhi, some still have reposed their faith on AAP asserting that in the run-up to the Assembly elections, the BJP and Congress announced galore of freebies, while the ruling dispensation has already delivered what it had promised in last polls.

They were also of the opinion that Delhi would witness a fierce contest between the AAP and BJP. The Congress, which has announced five guarantees including Rs 2,500 per month to every woman under the Pyari Didi Yojana, and eyeing to return to power highlighting the works done by the previous Sheila Dikshit-led government in Capital, did not find a mention.

Navya Malhotra, a first-time voter, highlighted various issues including pollution and sanitation, which she has claimed the AAP government has totally failed to address in the last 10 years. She said the BJP should be given a chance this election.

Talking to the Pioneer, the 18-year-old said, I feel this time BJP should come to power in Delhi. The AAP has been saying that they were not able to do the work for the people because Arvind Kejriwal and his team members were put behind bars and Delhi doesnt have statehood. But, 10 years is a very long period. They didnt do much.

Kejriwal had talked about the slum areas, especially JJ colony, that he will take care of such places. But, he failed to take any appropriate steps for waste management. It has become such a big problem. He hasnt taken care of this, she said.

Referring to pollution, Navya said, The AAP government has completely failed. Because of pollution, students we were not able to go to schools, colleges. Our time was wasted. So it is definitely important to give a chance to the BJP. Some people are following Narendra Modi because he is saving Hindutva, while some people are following him, because genuinely they cannot see any better party than BJP.

Referring to BJPs manifesto, she said, In the BJPs manifesto, they are giving those things that Kejriwal has offered to people. But there are also different things like giving Rs 2,1000 to pregnant women, so the rural/lower sections will get monetary help. Kejriwal had also talked about monetary help, but overall development didnt work out quite well.

Mentioning the law and order situation, Navya said, As a first time female voter, I feel safety in Delhi is a prominent issue, because I still cant freely roam out of my house at night. Even if I go downstairs I have to be quite vigilant. The AAP has installed cameras. Are they functional ? Women safety is very prime. Delhi which has been given the title of rape capital, if that can be changed by a double-engine government BJP, then why not Har Har Modi. 

Notably, the law and order of Delhi comes under the Union Home Ministry.

She also accused the incumbent AAP MLA from Timarpur Dilip Pandey for not doing enough to mitigate the issues concerning the people of the constituency and said the BJP should be given a chance.

The AAP this time has fielded turncoat Surinder Pal Singh (Bitto), BJP Surya Prakash and Congress Lokendra Chaudhary.

Echoing similar sentiments, Aksh, a B Pharmacy student and a resident of Vijay Nagar Single Storey in North Campus, said, I will probably support BJP, because that is the mood of Delhi I feel right now. There are only two major parties-AAP and BJP. There is least mention of Congress in Delhi.

Asserting that the middle class is really troubled under the AAP, he said, The middle class is really troubled under the AAP. They feel their money is not properly used.

Stating that the condition of Delhi overall has deteriorated, Aksh said, There are traffic problems, and a poor drainage system. AAP had promised about better schools etc, but these things have not really happened. Kejriwal has increased the trend of freebies. But the thing is freebies wont help in the development of the country. 

There is no chance to give votes to AAP. We had already given them a chance, trusted them, and thought they would do something different, but they did nothing, he said. Expressing a similar opinion, Prajwal, a law graduate, said, If we look into the last two decade, there was not very good governance in Delhi. There should be a change this time and I feel this time the BJP will form the government.

Stating that in democracy, there should be a change after every five years, he said, There should be a replacement of AAP in Delhi. AAP is in power in Delhi because of the freebies. The BJP has been in power at the Centre since 2014, and India has emerged as a global player.

Raees, a student of the Delhi University, however, opined that AAP will retain the power in Delhi, Right now, we can notice that it is AAP versus BJP right now in Delhi. It will be a close contest this time. But I feel AAP will only come back to power.

Asserting that AAPs basic vote bank is women voters, he said, The way they are giving freebies to women, it will help them to gain votes.










A five and a half year old girl suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) disease has been admitted to a private hospital in Ranchi. The girl has been kept on ventilator support.



The Doctor who is treating the girl said that there is no need to panic about this disease, but caution and timely treatment is the only way to prevent it.



Child specialist Dr Rajesh, who is treating the girl suffering from GBS, said that about eight days ago a couple brought this girl, then the condition of the girl was very serious and she was not able to move. "There was also difficulty in breathing but the girl was given ventilator support by giving IVIG and methyl prednisolone medicine. At present, the condition of the girl is stable. Now she is opening her eyes. The condition of the girl is better than before, but she is not able to recover," he added.



Doctor Rajesh told that this is not a rare disease. "GBS is an autoimmune neurological disorder. The immune system attacks the nerves of its own body. Due to this, the patient has trouble walking and breathing. This is a danger to children and the elderly," he added.



The Doctor said that when the girl was brought, the severity of the disease was estimated by looking at the symptoms. He said that at that time he had informed the Civil Surgeon of Ranchi as well as a representative of WHO present in Lucknow.



Dr Rajesh told that if any child or elderly person complains of difficulty in walking and weakness, then immediately go to the doctor because this disease attacks the nerves very fast, so timely treatment is necessary.



GBS is a disease whose exact cause is not known at present. However, it usually occurs after infection. In this, the immune system of the body mistakenly attacks the nerves. It can also damage the nervous system. Its first symptom is tingling in the hands and feet. These sensations can spread rapidly and in severe cases can lead to paralysis. There is no cure for it yet but treating the symptoms can speed up the patient's recovery. GBS is believed to occur when the immunity power is low.



A patient infected with GBS has diarrhea, stomach pain, fever and vomiting. This disease can also be caused by contaminated water or food.



Generally doctors recommend boiling water before drinking it. Apart from this, open or stale food should not be eaten. If someone feels weakness along with muscle strain, then one should immediately consult a doctor.
The Republic Day vandalism of Dr BR Ambedkars statue in Amritsar has taken a shocking turn as the police investigations indicated an international angle to the crime. Accused Akashdeep Singh, who defiled and damaged the statue on January 26, has reportedly confessed to being radicalized in Dubai. His mission was allegedly to create unrest in Punjab, with an even more sinister plan  burning the Indian national flag in Bhatinda. However, he was arrested before he could execute the second act.

During a court hearing on Friday, the police sought and secured an additional five-day remand for Akashdeep to further probe his activities and connections. Investigators believed that his actions were part of a larger conspiracy to incite communal discord in Punjab. They suspected that he was brainwashed and manipulated by external forces to disrupt Punjabs social harmony.

Authorities informed the Court that the accused had planned another act of desecration in Bathinda, where he intended to burn a national flag, which remains to be recovered. Police believed that his actions were not isolated but part of a carefully-orchestrated plan to stir tensions in the state.

Ladder Near Statue: Fire Dept in dock

Another major twist in the case has surfaced, with fresh CCTV footage revealing that the Amritsar Municipal Corporations Fire Department had placed a ladder near the statue on the night of January 25  just hours before the attack. The footage shows a fire brigade truck arriving at Heritage Street at around 8:45 pm, with officials setting up a ladder next to the statue. The ladder remained there overnight and remained present when the incident took place the next evening.

The latest revelation has raised serious questions about whether the attack was premeditated and if certain officials were complicit in facilitating the crime. Social organizations have criticized the authorities, questioning why such a facility was provided to the accused when even paying tributes to the statue often requires special permissions and arrangements.

Another newly-surfaced CCTV footage painted a clearer picture of how the accused executed the crime. Footage shows Akashdeep arriving at the site carrying a bottle of flammable liquid. He attempted to set fire to a replica of the Indian Constitution placed under the statue and the national flag. He then pulled a hammer from his backpack and climbed the pre-positioned ladder to strike the statue multiple times.

The footage has intensified concerns about whether he had inside help, as the placement of the ladder before the attack suggested prior knowledge and planning.

Dubai Connection

Akashdeeps mother, following the incident, had publicly disowned him, stating that he has had no contact with his family since moving to Dubai in search of work. His sister resides in Muscat, while his parents and two younger brothers live in Moga, Punjab. The family, which survives on daily wages, claimed that Akashdeep had distanced himself from them and had been living in a rented house in Amritsar for the past four months without visiting home.

Forensic Investigation Underway

To dig deeper into the accuseds network, the police have sent his mobile phone for forensic analysis. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Jaspal Singh, leading the investigation, stated that police have recovered a mobile phone from Akashdeep, which has been sent for forensic examination. The phone data is expected to provide crucial insights into his communications and possible foreign handlers, he said.

The case is still under investigation, and we cannot disclose many details at this point, ACP Singh said. However, he confirmed that the police are interrogating individuals linked to Akashdeep, besides probing his international links.

The Amritsar Police have registered an FIR under eight different sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), those related to religious incitement and damage to public property. Officials are now focused on unearthing Akashdeeps full network, including those who radicalized him and funded his activities.

Key Developments

 Accused, Akashdeep, was allegedly brainwashed in Dubai

 Akashdeep sent to Punjab to create tensions

 Had plans to burn the Tricolour in Bhatinda, but arrested before execution of act

 Fire Departments ladder was placed near the statue a day before the attack, raising suspicion

 Accuseds phone sent for forensic analysis to trace connections  both local and international
Punjab to get Best State and Best District Awards under Green Schools Prog



Chandigarh: Punjab has once again set a benchmark in environmental sustainability by securing the prestigious Best State and Best District awards under the Green Schools Programme. These accolades, facilitated by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST) and the Punjab Governments Department of Science, Technology and Environment will be conferred during Green Schools Awards Ceremony organized by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on February 4 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The awards celebrate Punjabs exemplary efforts in fostering environmental awareness and sustainability among school communities, reinforcing its leadership in the nationwide initiative.



Kurukshetra Civil Hospital tops State rankings



Chandigarh: Haryana Health Minister Kumari Arti Singh Rao on Friday said that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released a list of the health institutions receiving the "Kayakalp" award. Among these, Kurukshetra District Hospital has been ranked first at the state level for the current financial year. In addition, 768 other institutions across Haryana have also been honored with the Kayakalp Award. She further said that the quality of healthcare facilities in the state government health institutions is continuously improving. This progress is evident from the fact that the Central Government has awarded the "Kayakalp" award to 769 health institutions in Haryana this year, a significant increase from the 390 institutions that received the award last year.



38th Surajkund International Crafts Mela to begin in Faridabad from Feb 7



Chandigarh: Haryana Heritage and Tourism Minister Arvind Sharma on Friday met Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in New Delhi and formally invited him to the inauguration of the 38th Surajkund International Crafts Mela, scheduled to be held in Faridabad from February 7. Shekhawat said that an action plan will be prepared to bring Haryana's rich civilization, culture, and tourism on the global stage. He also emphasized the need to enhance the grandeur of the 38th Surajkund International Crafts Mela and to involve major partner countries in the event in the future. Shekhawat stated that the time has come to showcase Haryana's tourism on the global stage, similar to the recognition of the Surajkund International Crafts Mela. He emphasized that the Central and Haryana Governments will collaborate to develop a special action plan to ensure that the world experiences and appreciates the richness of Haryanas culture and tourism.



Joshi inaugurates CISF Unit Parade Ground at Punjab & Haryana Civil Secretariat



Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Secretary Vivek Joshi on Friday inaugurated the newly constructed Parade Ground of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Unit at the Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat. During the ceremony, Joshi highlighted the pivotal role played by the CISF in safeguarding the nations critical installations and lauded the forces ability to effectively counter security threats. He praised the CISF personnel for their unwavering dedication and service and emphasized that the new Parade Ground would significantly enhance the efficiency of their training and practice sessions.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday said that the State Government is committed to making the state a model in terms of development and public welfare by following the principles of Deenbandhu Sir Chhotu Ram. Acknowledging the legacy of Rahbar-e-Azam Choudhary Chhotu Ram, he said that the leader dedicated his life to the welfare of farmers, labourers, and the poor. His efforts were focused on advocating for the interests of farmers, labourers, and petty shopkeepers.



He paid floral tributes to Chhotu Ram by laying flowers at his memorial located in the Jat Shikshan Sansthan campus in Rohtak on the 144th birth anniversary of Chhotu Ram.



Saini announced a discretionary grant of Rs 31 lakh to the Jat Shikshan Sansthan. Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda also announced a Rs 21 lakh grant to the institution. Regarding the institutions demands, the Chief Minister said that once the institution deposits the matching grant as per the rules for the hostel at Maharani Kishori Mahila Mahavidyalaya, the government will allocate Rs. 10 crore for the project. He also assured that the feasibility of the other demands raised by the institution would be examined.



He said that the government has decided to procure 100 per cent of crops in the state at the minimum support price (MSP), ensuring that farmers receive payments within 72 hours of the transaction. To date, approximately Rs 1,25,000 crore has been deposited into the accounts of around 12 lakh farmers in the state. In response to reduced rainfall during the Kharif season, the government has provided assistance of Rs 2000 per acre to help reduce farmers' costs, amounting to Rs 1345 crore in total aid.



He highlighted the financial support farmers are receiving through the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, under which Rs 6000 annually is provided to farmers to help purchase agricultural inputs. So far, Rs 342 crore has been disbursed to farmers in the state across 18 installments, with a total of Rs 6203 crore provided nationwide.



The Chief Minister encouraged farmers to adopt horticultural crops and said that Maharana Pratap Horticulture University is being set up in Uchani, Karnal district, at an investment of Rs 700 crore across 65 acres. He called on parents to take a pledge to protect their children from drug addiction, emphasizing the need for community involvement in combating this social issue.



He mentioned that the government has established a college every 20 km to ensure easy access to education. Additionally, a decision has been made to provide free education to the daughters of families with an annual income of less than Rs. 1.80 lakh in the state. To restore the youth's trust in the government, he highlighted that 1.71 lakh young individuals have been employed based on merit. As per the Sankalp Patra, the government plans to provide two lakh jobs to the youth without any kharchi-parchi.




A high-level meeting of police chiefs of seven states, NIA, NCB, Narcotics Control Bureau Haryana and Special Task Force Haryana officials was held in Panchkula on Friday to discuss strategy on preventing drug trafficking, control organized crime, crack down on gangsters and other criminal activities in the states of North India, including Haryana.



According to a Haryana Police spokesperson, in this meeting, discussions were held on strengthening of mutual coordination to prevent criminal activities in seven states - Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Apart from this, discussions were held in the meeting regarding the implementation of the Inter-State Drug Secretariat and to prevent cross-border drug smuggling and organized crime and better coordination of the state police.



He said that in the meeting, the issue of preventing drug smuggling was mainly discussed in detail. It was informed in the meeting that money is collected through drugs in criminal activities and terror etc., which is a matter of concern. It was also discussed in the meeting how criminals target the youth for the movement of drugs and the need for good coordination among all the states was emphasized to curb drug trafficking. All the officers agreed that a joint team of the states should be formed to share the data base of the criminals among the states. All the states will appoint nodal officers of SP rank in their state for better implementation of the Inter-State Drug Secretariat so that information can be exchanged in real time.



Different states gave their views on various issues related to strengthening the Inter-State Drug Secretariat and criminal activities. During this, they also shared the efforts being made and best practices being followed by them regarding crime control in their states. During this, senior police officers of various states presented an outline of the current status of crime and the challenges through presentations by different states. It was also informed that in the current environment, criminals are increasing their crime network abroad and committing crimes in India while sitting there.



Through the presentation, NCB Deputy Director General Sambit Mishra said that there is a need to identify the drug trafficking routes so that all the states can stop the cross-border smuggling of opium and other narcotics. Drugs are the main source of income for organized crime.



Giving information about organized violent crime in the state, SP Special Task Force Wasim Akram said that currently 80 criminal gangs are active in Haryana, out of which eight are big gangs involved in extortion in the Delhi NCR region. Apart from this, in the meeting, a detailed discussion about the use of SIM cards and different networks etc. used for crime, police verification of tenants and employees etc was held. All the gangs have made their point of contact abroad and are running their gangs while sitting there. In this direction, organized efforts of the police of all the states are very important. These infamous criminals are hiding in countries like Dubai, Pakistan, Armenia, Bangkok, Thailand to America, Portugal and Canada. It was informed that currently 35 look out notices have been issued by the Haryana Police and 22 passports have been revoked. Towards the end Haryana Police Director General Shatrujeet Kapur gave vote of thanks to the participants and highlighted the importance of dialogue within the neighbouring states.




Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday launched a strong critique of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the quality of Yamuna water, stating that no work had been done in Delhi over the past 10 years. He accused Kejriwal of resorting to cheap politics to cover up his failures. "For the last decade, Kejriwal has forced the people of Delhi to drink contaminated water," Saini remarked.



While presenting water samples from both Haryana and Delhi to the media at Yamuna Ghat in Wazirabad, Saini emphasized the significant difference between the two. In Delhi, polluted water is being dumped into the Yamuna, he added.



Directly holding the Delhi government responsible, Saini said, "We supply clean water to Delhi through the Yamuna, but due to mismanagement, the Delhi government is polluting it." He added that when the same water reaches Faridabad, its quality is significantly compromised, raising the risk of serious health issues like cancer.



The Haryana Chief Minister said that the people of Delhi have recognized Kejriwals deceit and character, and will now reject him. He criticized Kejriwal for failing to develop Delhi in the past 10 years and attempting to shift the blame onto Haryana to divert attention. He mentioned that he himself drank water released from Haryana into the Yamuna at Palla Ghat, contrasting it with the water released from Delhi, which is undrinkable.



Haryana Chief Minister also pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi allocated Rs. 8,500 crores for cleaning drains, ponds, repairing the sewage system, and other related works, but the results have not been visible. He said that it is the Chief Minister's responsibility to provide facilities to the public, but such facilities are not evident in Delhi.



He further criticized Kejriwal for failing to deliver on promises like improving schools and providing clean water, accusing him of resorting to deceptive politics. He said that the people of Delhi will close the "shop of lies" on February 5.
The National Conference on Innovations in Coal & Mineral Characterization for Sustainable Resource Utilization (ICMCS-2025), organized by CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML) in Jamshedpur, successfully concluded on January 31, 2025, at Kolkata. The event saw the participation of approximately 100 delegates from 30 renowned institutions across India, including IITs, GSI, universities, CSIR, BARC, and Tata Steel. The conference provided a platform for presenting research findings on the sustainable utilization of coal, ores, and minerals, with a particular focus on the preparation of Certified Reference Material (CRM) as part of the Make in India initiative, aimed at reducing import reliance.



The conference enabled researchers, scientists, PhD scholars, and industry professionals to exchange ideas and contribute toward the vision of "Vikashit Bharat" by 2047. During the valedictory session, Monika Sahu conducted the proceedings, with delegates expressing their appreciation for Dr. Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury, Director of CSIR-NML, and Sanchita Chakravarty, Chairperson of ICMCS-2025, for organizing a successful event. The importance and benefits of such conferences in driving innovation and collaboration in the field were emphasized.



Awards were presented to the winners in both the oral presentation and poster presentation categories. The winners of the oral presentations were: P. Kumar  IIT Kharagpur, Susmit M. Nimje  Tata Steel, and Munmun Maji  CSIR-CIMFR Bharat.



The winners of the poster presentations were: Kanishk Kumar Karan  AcSIR, CIMFR, Jamshedpur, Kundan Kumar  AcSIR NML, Jamshedpur, Neelu Priya Tirky  Ranchi University.



The conference concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Rajen Kundu, Convener of ICMCS-2025, who highlighted the success of the event and expressed gratitude for the collaborative efforts that made the conference a valuable knowledge-sharing platform.
People from every corner of Uttar Pradesh have stepped up to support and assist the massive gathering of devotees at Mahakumbh Nagar. Inspired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, individuals from all religions, classes and communities are coming forward to aid the pilgrims. Residents of Prayagraj, along with those from Lucknow, Ayodhya, Kashi, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Chitrakoot, and Mirzapur are actively arranging food and water for the devotees.

According to a government spokesman, doctors, teachers and volunteers from various fields have also joined the efforts to serve the pilgrims. Witnessing an unprecedented influx of devotees, even robotic surgeons from England and leading heart and vascular specialists from across India are stepping in to provide medical assistance.

In an extraordinary gesture of hospitality, schools and religious institutions have opened their doors to accommodate visitors, the spokesman pointed out. In Prayagraj, a 65-member team from The Pom Academy distributes free food and water at the railway station and surrounding areas. Food packets are also being provided via mobile vans to those facing commuting challenges. Additionally, 12 school rooms have been prepared for temporary lodging, while staff from various schools are seen actively helping devotees on the streets.

With the support of the UP government, a diverse group of professionals - from robotic surgeons from England to local teachers - are dedicated to serving the devotees at Maha Kumbh, the spokesman added.

At Apollo Hospital in Lucknow, a team of doctors provides online medical assistance to pilgrims, with renowned vascular surgeon Dr Yashpal Singh offering virtual consultations. Additionally, Dr Waliullah Siddiqui, a specialist in robotic surgery from England, has travelled from Lucknow to Prayagraj to provide direct medical care.

Similarly, Dr Avinash Kumar Singh, a leading cardiologist from Medanta Hospital, is diagnosing and prescribing medicines online for pilgrims from Lucknow and Ayodhya.

Many volunteers distribute water and food packets to the devotees along the routes leading to Prayagraj from Ayodhya, Sultanpur and Pratapgarh.

The people of UP are showcasing an extraordinary confluence of faith and humanity, setting an example for the entire nation, the spokesman claimed.

Upon entering Prayagraj, one is immediately immersed in an atmosphere of devotion, social harmony and goodwill. Every day, a sea of devotees arrives at Mahakumbh Nagar to take a holy dip in the sacred Triveni.

In a remarkable display of unity, Muslim community members extended their warm welcome alongside Sanatan devotees. Outside the Jama Masjid in the Chowk area, a large gathering of people greeted the pilgrims with chants of 'Har Har Gange', offering flowers and angavastram as a gesture of reverence before bidding them farewell.

Dr Anjali Kesari, a local, summed up the sentiment: "In Allahabad, we dont see the Maha Kumbh pilgrims as outsiders, we are hosts and they are our guests." She shared how her neighbourhood in Chowk, close to the railway station, banded together to serve food to weary pilgrims.

Many locals have cleared up spaces outside their homes for visitors to rest at night. For us, Kumbh is not just a religious fair; it is a confluence of humanity, Dr Kesari said.

City hotels are not far behind in lending a pro bono hand to the weary. Alok Singh, who runs a Vitthal Hotel in Civil Lines, has converted his 100-bed dormitory into a free rest stop for pilgrims.

After taking a holy dip, many devotees are exhausted when they return to Civil Lines and head towards the railway station. Its a part of Prayagrajs culture to help others, and this is our way of contributing, he said.

Dr Mrityunjay Parmar, an assistant professor in the English Department said in the aftermath of the stampede, Allahabad University opened its campus and hostels to returning pilgrims before they undertook their journey.

Apart from accommodation, the university campus has been designated as a holding area for Kumbh, where officials and students are working together to arrange meals for pilgrims.

In the old city area, Yadgar-e-Husaini Inter College, a Muslim minority institution established in 1942 near GT Road, opened its doors for the pilgrims to take a rest. The college is close to the bus stand and the Civil Lines Railway Station.

Dr Krishna Singh, a dentist running a bhandara late into the night for devotees on Harshvardhan Marg in Sector 17 of the fair, said, We keep the bhandara open late so that no one goes hungry. Here, it operates from 5 pm to 2 am.

The Maha Kumbh, which started on January 13 and will continue till February 26, is seeing pilgrims in millions descending on Prayagraj every day, occupying almost every road and bylane as they make their way to the Maha Kumbh Mela area.

According to the Uttar Pradesh government, nearly 30 crore pilgrims had taken the holy dip in the sacred waters at the Maha Kumbh till Thursday.
The atmosphere was reverberating with loud chants of 'Ab nahi sahege, Badal k rahenge' (we will not tolerate, we will change) and 'Modi ji ko Jai Shree Ram' when Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the ruling party accusing it of turning Delhi into its ATM for political gains and promising to clean Yamuna river and starting an underwater metro at a public meeting in Dwarka ahead of the Delhi assembly elections.

"I am giving you my guarantee that the BJP government will not leave any stone unturned to develop Delhi. In the past 10 years, 'AAP-da' has fought with everyone-centre, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. They do not let us implement central government schemes. If they remain here, Delhi will be left behind in development," he said.

Stating that the national Capital needs a double-engine government, Modi asserted, "Delhi me takrar wali nahi, talmel wali sarkar chahiye. (Delhi needs a government of coordination, not conflict)."

He added that Delhi needs to be free from the 'AAP-da' (disaster) of 'loot' and 'jhoot' (lies). He claimed, "Aap-da has made Delhi an ATM for shining their politics. When they have to contest elections in other states, they rob the pockets of Delhi."

"As soon as we form the government, we will hit harder on AAP's corruption. Those who have looted Delhi will have to pay back. In the first session of assembly, we will table the CAG report which has accounts of 'AAP-da' government's corruption," he claimed.

Scores of party workers and supporters gathered to listen to Modi while waving party flags and wearing saffron turbans and caps. The crowd frequently broke out in a clamour, shouting 'Jai Shree Ram' and 'Modi, Modi'.

He alleged that in the fear of defeat, AAP can go to any lengths to win the elections while stating that people are questioning them on water wherever they are going to seek votes. Accusing the AAP of lying to the people because of their anger, he said, "The AAP has made a disgusting allegation against the people of the land which preaches Geeta to the people. They do not have shame or hesitation. Please be warned they will go to any lengths to prove they are right before elections."

Calling Yamuna River a symbol of 'spiritual' and 'economic' power is not just a river, he put the blame of it being in danger because of AAP. He mentioned that as a Chief Minister of Gujarat he made a world class riverfront in Ahmedabad.

"I have experience of working and I will personally give time to the Delhi government. We will clean Yamuna and change the future of Delhi-NCR. We have a step by step process for it. We will clean the water of Yamuna, second we will make a modern river front and in the corners of Yamuna we will make a corridor to promote tourism. Further, we will also start an underwater metro," he added.

He assured the people of Delhi to give Yamuna recognition from all over the world. "When we clean a river, we make India's future more prosperous. For centuries people will remember those who voted for BJP on February 5," Modi added.

He highlighted the recently inaugurated Yashobhoomi convention centre as a testament to the BJP's vision for a modern Delhi. "The BJP wants to make Delhi modern, and a glimpse of that can be seen in Dwarka after the Centre constructed the majestic Yashobhoomi here," he said.

Recalling AAP's promises during Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement, he remarked, "During Anna Andolan, they promised to change the country's politics. The country is seeing how they betrayed Anna Hazare and the people."

Modi accused AAP of spending only 20 per cent of Delhi's budget on development while neglecting its infrastructure. "AAP is not spending Delhi's money on the people but on their own publicity. Those who live in 'sheesh mahal' don't care about the houses of the poor; AAP is anti-middle class," he charged. Reaffirming his commitment to Delhi's development, he declared, "I guarantee that the BJP government will not leave any stone unturned in Delhi's progress. It's my dream to provide pucca houses to all in Delhi, but AAPda is working with full strength to ensure this is not fulfilled." The prime minister accused AAP of blocking the allocation of fully constructed houses to the poor while focusing on luxurious accommodations for themselves. "Modi will help construct pucca houses for all poor in Delhi. This is my guarantee," he asserted.

Modi also announced that in the first Cabinet meeting of a BJP-led government, a decision would be taken to transfer Rs 2,500 into the accounts of Delhi's women and described it as "Modi's guarantee."

Continuing his criticism of AAP, Modi said, "They have made grand promises, but where is the infrastructure? Where are the jobs they claimed they would create? Delhi deserves better than broken promises and political gimmicks." He accused AAP leaders of misleading the people. "They talk about development, but all they have done is build a model of corruption. The people of Delhi are paying the price for their deceit," he claimed.

Highlighting the BJP's contributions, Modi noted, "The Centre has allocated thousands of crores for Delhi's infrastructure, yet nothing changes on the ground. AAP's only achievement is empty rhetoric." He assured that if the BJP came to power, Delhi's civic issues would be swiftly addressed.

"From better roads to improved water supply, we will bring real transformation.

No more excuses, only solutions," he declared, urging voters to prioritise voting on February 5, stating 'phle matdan fir jalpan' (first vote then eat).
The desecration of a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar in Amritsar on Republic Day has set off a fierce political storm in Punjab, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) launching scathing attacks on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led State Government. While the BJP has formed a six-member probe panel to investigate the incident, the SAD Working Committee on Friday demanded a judicial inquiry, alleging a deep-rooted conspiracy to disturb communal harmony in the State.

The issue has sparked statewide protests, particularly among the Dalit organizations, who see the act as an assault on the legacy of Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution. The incident, captured in viral footage, shows a youth, identified as Akashdeep, climbing a ladder and hammering the statue, leading to widespread condemnation and demands for swift justice. As political tensions soar, the BJP and SAD have intensified their offensive against the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government, accusing it of negligence and failing to protect symbols of social justice.

In a decisive move, BJP national president JP Nadda on Friday announced the constitution of a six-member fact-finding committee to probe the Ambedkar statue desecration and submit its findings. The BJP leadership has strongly condemned the act, calling it a direct result of the AAP Governments apathy towards Dalits and law enforcement failures.

The panel members include Rajya Sabha MP and Uttar Pradeshs former DGP Brij Lal; BJP Scheduled Castes Morchas national president Lal Singh Arya; former Union Minister and ex-MP from Hoshiarpur Som Prakash; BJP national spokesperson Guruprakash Paswan; Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Asim Arun; and senior BJP leader from Ambala Banto Devi Kataria.

The incident is a deliberate act of mischief, meant to provoke communal tensions in Punjab. The AAP government is complicit through its inaction, and we demand strict action against those responsible, said Nadda, in a statement.

The BJP panel will visit Amritsar, meet local authorities, civil society groups, and Dalit leaders, and prepare a comprehensive investigative report.

The formation of the fact-finding panel comes days after the BJP delegation had met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria submitting a memorandum demanding a high-level inquiry and stringent action against all conspirators. The party has also staged protests across Punjab, with leaders like former Union Minister Vijay Sampla, former state Cabinet Minister Manoranjan Kalia, former MLA Fateh Singh Bajwa, former MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, and former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon spearheading the movement.

SAD Demands Judicial Probe

Meanwhile, the SAD Working Committee, in a high-level meeting on Friday chaired by partys working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar, has called for a judicial inquiry into the Amritsar statue desecration.

Senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema alleged that the incident was part of a premeditated conspiracy to create social unrest in Punjab. For over a decade, attempts have been made to disturb communal harmony in Punjab  first by desecrating religious scriptures and now by targeting Dr Ambedkars statue. We demand a judicial probe to unmask the masterminds behind this act, said Cheema.

SAD's alleged that the AAP Government is downplaying the incident instead of ensuring an impartial investigation. The failure of law enforcement on Republic Day, when security should have been at its peak, raises suspicions, said the partys statement.

This probe should be initiated at the earliest besides taking action against civil and police officials who had failed in their duty to protect the statue on the occasion of Republic Day when the entire State was in a state of high alert, said the party, vowing to expose those behind the incident and hold officials accountable for their inaction.

AAP Under Fire





With both BJP and SAD mounting pressure, the AAP Government has found itself on the defensive. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had condemned the act, assuring strict action and swift arrests. The Amritsar Police Commissionerate has already registered an FIR and arrested the accused, identified as a resident of Moga district.

However, the opposition is unsatisfied, with BJP and SAD accusing AAP of failing to protect Punjabs socio-political harmony. The coming days are expected to witness intensified protests, political showdowns, and heightened scrutiny over the governments handling of the case.
Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday jumped in the election fray holding rallies and roadshows in different parts of the national Capital, calling AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi coward and corrupt while her brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP convenor of lying.

Following her roadshow in Nangloi Jat, Gandhi, who has made her appearance for the first time in campaigning for the Congress for the state polls later she held a public meeting in Mustafabad.

Addressing a poll rally in Mustafabad, Vadra said, "The Constitution gave you (people of India) the right to vote. You, the prime minister, politician and everyone else have this right. This vote gives you the right to choose the government. Through this vote, you can strengthen the country and the Constitution."

She said that there is no difference between PM Modi and Arvind Kejriwal, calling them both cowards and corrupt. PM Modi blames former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal blames Modi. Both of them do not take any responsibility, Priyanka said, while addressing a public gathering. The party is hoping that Priyanka 's campaign will attract more women and young voters to the party.

Meanwhile, Gandhi hit out at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of lying and making false promises and said that the man who came in a small car promising to change politics ended up in the "sheesh mahal" parking lot.

Launching a stinging attack on the former Delhi chief minister, Gandhi alleged that he did nothing for the people of the national capital in the past 10 years. The former Congress chief also slammed the BJP, accusing it of spreading hatred and violence in society and said it is only the Congress that talks of giving "bhaagidaari" (share) and equal rights to all irrespective of caste, creed or religion.

Gandhi showed a picture of 'Team Kejriwal', saying none of his 'Navratans' (nine gems) are from the OBCs, minorities, Dalits and tribals. All belong to the upper castes, he said.

"Kejriwal had claimed to bring a change in Delhi politics. But the biggest ever corruption -- liquor scam -- was done by Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia.

Five years ago, he said that he would take a dip in Yamuna and drink its water. Forget about Yamuna water, you should drink the water made available to jhuggis here," he said.

"Your (Kejriwal's) words are hollow.

He said he will protect the Dalits and minorities but I want to ask you who is standing with you. The Congress or Kejriwal?" the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha asked at the rally.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday vowed to transform Delhi's landscape if the BJP assumed power in the national capital after the February 5 polls. Addressing a public meeting in Shalimar Bagh, Gadkari claimed that his party did not seek to merely change the government but to transform the national capital.

"We do not just want to change the government ... We want to change the picture of Delhi  Only the BJP can do this," he asserted. Gadkari compared BJP-led governance to high-speed progress, asserting that Delhi's development would accelerate like a bullet train if the saffron party assumed power. "If the BJP's engine is installed in Delhi, development will happen at bullet-train speeds," he remarked.

Addressing the issue of pollution, Gadkari pledged to make the city free from toxic air in five years. "Delhi is not just the country's capital but also the heart of the people. This heart has developed an infection," he said, referring to the national capital's severe air pollution problem. Citing global rankings, he noted that 42 of the world's 50 most polluted cities were in India, with Delhi being the worst hit.

Gadkari -- the Union minister of road transport and highways -- acknowledged transportation as a significant contributor to the problem, with fossil fuels accounting for about 40 per cent of the city's pollution. "I accept that 40 per cent of the pollution happens because of my department." He also highlighted the Centre's waste management efforts, claiming that 20 lakh tons of garbage from the Ghazipur landfill had been used for road construction, reducing the height of the garbage pile by seven metres. "Can this situation not be changed?" he asked, asserting that the Centre had been actively working on addressing these challenges. Discussing infrastructure development, Gadkari noted that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, road projects worth Rs 65,000 crore had been approved for Delhi. "We have completed work worth Rs 33,000 crore and, by December, work worth Rs 1 lakh crore will be done in NCR," he said.

The Union minister said key expressways, including the Delhi-Katra Expressway, would significantly ease congestion and expressed confidence that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway would be completed before Republic Day next year. Gadkari also emphasised efforts to clean the Yamuna, revealing that the Centre had provided Rs 6,000 crore to the Delhi government for the river's rejuvenation.

However, the city government did not contribute its 15 per cent share, delaying the project, he claimed. "Cleaning the Yamuna is difficult but not impossible."

Outlining his vision for sustainable development, Gadkari stressed the need to shift farmers from being merely food providers to energy contributors, advocating for bio-CNG production from agricultural waste.

"My vision is to make Delhi free from waste. Bio-CNG is being prepared from stubble and you will not see any buses running on diesel within five years," he said. Gadkari reiterated the BJP's commitment to ethics, economy, ecology and the environment, asserting that an honest and efficient administration could drive change. "This country needs people who work with honesty. The problem is not money but finding the right people to get the work done," he said, promising a cleaner and more developed Delhi if the BJP took office.
In a setback to the AAP, seven of its outgoing MLAs resigned from the party on Friday, with only five days to go for the Delhi Assembly polls.

Sources said these MLAs were disgruntled after being denied tickets for the February 5 polls and were in touch with other parties.

Most of the MLAs shared their resignation letters on social media and slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over corruption and other issues.

Madan Lal, the outgoing MLA from Kasturba Nagar, said seven AAP legislators, including him, have quit the party's primary membership.

He said they have also sent their resignation letters to Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

Besides Lal, the AAP MLAs who have resigned are Bhavna Gaur (Palam), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Rohit Mehraulia (Trilokpuri), Pawan Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), B S Joon (Bijwasan) and Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri).

"The seven MLAs were anguished over being given a cold shoulder by the party and its leaders, despite working honestly for years. We will soon share our future strategy," Lal told PTI.

In her resignation letter addressed to party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Gaur said, "I hereby resign from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party as I have lost faith in you and the party." She is a two-time MLA from Palam.

Slamming these MLAs, AAP's national spokesperson Reena Gupta said a survey conducted by the party had revealed that all of them were unavailable to the public in their respective constituencies and that is why they were denied poll tickets.

"We did not give them tickets because of the unfavourable results of the survey. The fact that they are now attending another party after being refused tickets is not a huge deal. It is a part of politics," Gupta said.

Later, the AAP said in a statement that some MLAs were denied tickets for the February 5 polls, leading to "dissatisfaction". Over the last few weeks, under Kejriwals leadership, the party has given poll tickets to ordinary individuals from humble backgrounds, the statement said.

The AAP has replaced 16 of its incumbent MLAs with new faces for the February 5 polls.

Yadav was initially given a ticket by the AAP from Mehrauli but was replaced by Mahender Chaudhary in December over his conviction in a Punjab court in a 2016 case of desecration of the Quran. Yadav has been the Mehrauli MLA since 2015.

Mehraulia, the AAP MLA from the Trilokpuri reserved seat, also shared his resignation letter on X.

"My relationship with such fake and opportunist people who only need a photo of Baba Saheb (Ambedkar), not his ideology, ends today. I resign from the primary membership of the AAP and all other posts," he said in a post on the microblogging platform.

Janakpuri MLA Rajesh Rishi was also among those who quit the Kejriwal-led party.

"Born out of the Anna Hazare movement and formed by Arvind Kejriwal to ensure a corruption-free Delhi, the AAP has become corrupt now, as a result of which I am resigning with a heavy heart from the primary membership and all other posts of the party," Rishi said on X.

The Delhi election is being seen as a referendum on the AAP's governance model and its leader, Kejriwal.

As the AAP battles to retain its stronghold for a third consecutive term, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming for a comeback to power in the national capital after a gap of more than 25 years.

Rituraj Jha, the Kirari MLA who has also been denied a poll ticket this time by the AAP, slammed those who have quit the party, saying history will never forgive them.

Jha said Kejriwal gave him everything and allowed him to represent Kirari in the Assembly for 10 years.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are scheduled be held on February 5, with the results set to be declared on February 8.
An Independent candidate and an uncle of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana was injured after a speeding car crashed into his office in outer Delhi's Mundka, police said.

The incident, caught on CCTV, showed the vehicle swerving to avoid a bike before ploughing into the office of Rambir Shokeen, who is a maternal uncle of gangster Bawana.

Shokeen has accused opposition parties of orchestrating the attack, while authorities have launched an investigation.

"After checking multiple CCTV footage, we found that the car driver was trying to avoid a motorcycle rider coming from the opposite side. The car first hit the motorcycle, and the driver changed lanes to avoid a hard collision. We are further investigating the matter," police said.

Shokeen is a former Independent MLA from Mundka Assembly constituency.

He was booked in a case filed under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, or MCOCA, in 2015, after the unearthing of an AK-47 from a plot belonging to him.

He escaped police custody in 2018 while being taken to a city hospital and was re-arrested in 2020.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Friday said that his government has been working hard to restore peace in the state and protect its present and future generations.

The Centres initiative to fence the border with Myanmar and regulate the entry of foreigners have started yielding results, the chief minister said while speaking at a programme at Sekmai in Imphal West district.

The CM said that in the midst of all problems in the state, developmental works have to be taken up along with continuation of education and business activities.

Manipur has been in the grip of ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities, which left over 250 people dead and thousands homeless since May 2023. While Meiteis mostly live in Imphal valley region, Kukis are in the majority in the hill areas of the northeastern state.

"We are passing through a difficult phase. Many in both hills and valley have lost their lives while many have been displaced from their homes. Even then, the government is working for restoration of peace, Singh said.

The government's objective is to ensure peaceful coexistence among all old settlers as well as to protect them from outsiders with the assistance of the Centre, he said.

Singh said, "The displaced persons staying in relief camps are facing hardships. The crisis is not letting us sleep at night we are trying to save the present and future generations."

The BJP-led central government has introduced the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Manipur to restrict the entry of outsiders, he said.

If the people (of the state) do not show gratitude to the central government along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for giving us ILP, God will not approve us, he said.

The CM said that his Cabinet has decided to make 1961 the base year for ILP and thus those who had lived before 1961 will become permanent residents of the state.

"We have always embraced peaceful co-existence with old settlers. However, our appeal is not to bring new immigrants leading to a demographic change in the state" Singh said.

He listed some of the schemes that his government with support from the Centre implemented in Manipur.
A pick-up van rammed into a canter truck amid fog in this district on Friday, leaving nine people dead and many others injured, police said.

The accident took place near Golu ka Mour village in Guruharsahai sub-division.

Satnam Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Guruharsahai, said that as soon as the matter was reported, teams from the Sadak Suraksha Force (SSF) reached the spot and started the rescue operation.

The injured were sent to the nearest hospitals in Guruharsahai, Jalalabad and few of the critically injured were referred to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot.

The pick-up van was carrying more than 20 people, mainly those working as waiters, who were going to attend a function at Jalalabad.

During the preliminary investigation, it came to fore that the pick-up van driver lost balance over his vehicle and hit the truck on account of fog.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal went to the Election Commission's office here on Friday and furnished his reply to the poll body over its notice to him on his "poison mixed" in Yamuna water remark.

Kejriwal was accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann.

The former Delhi chief minister went to the Election Commission's office without an appointment.

Sources from the Election Commission (EC) said that they accepted the meetings as a "special case" as campaigning in Delhi is at its peak.

"The Commission accepted the manner of meeting with Arvind Kejriwal today as a special case, altering its earlier schedule in view of the thick of the campaign period in Delhi and for leaving no scope for complaint for any stakeholders," an EC source said.

"The Commission gave a patient hearing to Arvind Kejriwal to substantiate his statements on Yamuna poisoning and mass genocide," the source added.

Talking to reporters after Kejriwal's meeting with the Election Commission, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that his party chief gave the poll panel a detailed reply.

"Kejriwal told them in details how a conspiracy was hatched by the BJP to send poisonous water to Delhi. The Election Commission has said they will conduct a probe," Singh told reporters.

Before visiting the Election Commission's office, Kejriwal told reporters that the language of second notice hints that the poll body has already decided their action.

He alleged that the poll body is "shooting the messenger" by targeting the AAP for raising its voice.

Kejriwal said that it was a political conspiracy to force half of Delhi to thirst because of "poisonous" water having high ammonia to defame the AAP during the elections.

"I want to congratulate the people of Delhi that our struggle has been successful and the ammonia level in Yamuna which was 7 ppm since January 26-27 has now come down to 2.1 ppm now," the AAP chief said.

Kejriwal on Thursday accused the EC and its chief election commissioner of indulging in politics over his statement and claimed that Yamuna water supplied from Haryana to Delhi has high levels of ammonia content.

The EC served him two notices seeking reply over his allegation that the BJP government mixed "poison" in Yamuna water for Delhi attempting a "genocide" in the city.

Kejriwal said on Friday that he saved Delhi from an artificial water crisis to influence the polls, but the EC served him notices.

Kejriwal, who is contesting the Delhi polls from the New Delhi seat, was asked to share details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the "poison" by the Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11 am failing which the Commission will be free to take appropriate decisions in the matter.
(): Bangladeshs largest minority rights group accused the countrys interim government on Thursday of failing to protect religious and ethnic minorities from attacks and harassment, a claim the government has denied. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said the government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is also using state institutions to suppress minority groups. Yunus took over after a student-led uprising last year in which hundreds of people died forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India on August 5, ending her 15-year rule. The council earlier said 2,010 incidents of communal violence took place across the Muslim-majority country between August 4 and 20. The Yunus-led government disputed the claim, saying that most of the incidents were caused by political reasons and not by communal issues.

Traditionally, Hindus and other members of minority groups have been seen as supporters of Hasinas Bangladesh Awami League party.

In a news conference on Thursday, the council reiterated its claim of earlier attacks and said 174 new incidents of communal violence had taken place between August 21 and December 31 last year in which 23 members of minority groups were killed and nine women were raped. It said other incidents involved arson, vandalism, looting and forcible takeover of property and businesses. It said at least 15 members of minority groups were either arrested or tortured for allegedly undermining Islam.

Manindra Kumar Nath, the groups acting general secretary, accused the government of manipulating state institutions to harass people from minority groups. We have observed that the interim government has begun using various important state institutions to carry out discriminatory actions against minorities. This is unexpected and undesirable from a government that was established based on the anti-discrimination student movement, he said. The council said minority groups were being targeted in a systematic way, and called for the release of a jailed Hindu leader.

Nath said the leader, Chinmoy Das Prabhu, was being deprived of his legal right to bail in a sedition case. He is also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.

Nath said many minority leaders had gone into hiding because of false charges against them. The interim government has said they face specific charges and were not targeted for any communal reason. Under Yunus, Bangladesh has been going through a tense period with Hindu-majority India over minority issues, sparking protests and counter-protests.
Boyd Gaming Co. (NYSE:BYD  Get Free Report)s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $76.93 and last traded at $77.00, with a volume of 210951 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $76.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Boyd Gaming from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Boyd Gaming from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Boyd Gaming from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Boyd Gaming from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $92.80.

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Boyd Gaming Trading Up 1.4 %

Boyd Gaming Dividend Announcement

The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Boyd Gamings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.98%.

Boyd Gaming declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Josh Hirsberg sold 21,549 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.43, for a total value of $1,539,245.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 438,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,330,269.45. This trade represents a 4.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Keith Smith sold 40,000 shares of Boyd Gaming stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $2,939,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,161,202 shares of the companys stock, valued at $85,336,734.98. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 122,209 shares of company stock worth $8,846,394 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 27.94% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Boyd Gaming

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Boyd Gaming by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,672 shares of the companys stock worth $136,680,000 after acquiring an additional 17,591 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,768 shares of the companys stock valued at $74,611,000 after buying an additional 33,379 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 5.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 971,921 shares of the companys stock valued at $62,835,000 after buying an additional 54,128 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 6,158.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 908,905 shares of the companys stock valued at $58,761,000 after buying an additional 894,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in Boyd Gaming by 2.4% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 679,178 shares of the companys stock valued at $42,523,000 after buying an additional 16,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the companys stock.

Boyd Gaming Company Profile

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Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company operates through Las Vegas Locals, Downtown Las Vegas, Midwest & South, and Online segments.

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Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN  Get Free Report) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.27, Zacks reports. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.37%. Eastman Chemical updated its FY 2025 guidance to 8.000-8.750 EPS.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:EMN traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $92.62. 1,380,090 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,043,554. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.44. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $80.71 and a 12-month high of $114.50. The firms fifty day moving average is $95.14 and its 200-day moving average is $100.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

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Eastman Chemical Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Eastman Chemicals previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Eastman Chemicals payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insider Transactions at Eastman Chemical

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

In related news, SVP Julie A. Mcalindon sold 4,456 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.84, for a total value of $471,623.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,013.52. This represents a 50.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . Also, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 3,061 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $321,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,430. This trade represents a 19.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,021 shares of company stock worth $1,895,948. 1.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Several research firms have recently commented on EMN. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Eastman Chemical from $105.00 to $102.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America upgraded Eastman Chemical from a neutral rating to a buy rating and cut their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $109.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Eastman Chemical from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $112.92.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on EMN

About Eastman Chemical

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Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids.

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First Farmers Financial Co. (OTCMKTS:FFMR  Get Free Report) shares traded up 0.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $67.00 and last traded at $66.15. 9,886 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 308% from the average session volume of 2,421 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.00.

First Farmers Financial Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.90.

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First Farmers Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. This is a boost from First Farmers Financials previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

About First Farmers Financial

First Farmers Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Farmers Bank & Trust that provides banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses. The company offers checking and savings accounts, health savings accounts, youth accounts, business accounts, deposit and government accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts, as well as account management services; and mortgages and construction loans, first time home buyers loan, home equity loans, auto loans, collateral loans, and debit and credit cards.

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Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (CVE:RECO  Get Free Report)s stock price fell 21.4% on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$0.94 and last traded at C$0.98. 2,709,108 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 561% from the average session volume of 410,035 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$1.24.

Reconnaissance Energy Africa Trading Down 21.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of C$258.51 million, a PE ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.24. The companys 50 day moving average price is C$1.06 and its 200-day moving average price is C$1.02.

About Reconnaissance Energy Africa

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Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd., a junior oil and gas company, engages in exploration and development of oil and gas properties in Namibia and Botswana. The company holds a 90% interest in a petroleum exploration license that covers an area of approximately 25,341.33 square kilometer located in Namibia; and 100% working interest in a petroleum license, which covers an area of 8,990 square kilometer located in northwestern Botswana.

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Swiss Life Holding AG (OTCMKTS:SZLMY  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,300 shares, an increase of 270.6% from the December 31st total of 1,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Swiss Life Trading Up 2.6 %

Swiss Life stock traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $41.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,707. Swiss Life has a 52-week low of $32.94 and a 52-week high of $42.70. The firms fifty day moving average is $39.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.10.

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Swiss Life Company Profile

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Swiss Life Holding AG provides life, pensions, and financial solutions for private and corporate clients. It operates through Switzerland, France, Germany, International, Asset Managers, and Other segments. The company offers a range of life, pension, health, annuity, and investment-type policies to groups and individuals, as well as disability coverage.

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Shares of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR  Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 1,605,056 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 41% from the previous sessions volume of 1,138,916 shares.The stock last traded at $34.87 and had previously closed at $33.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com began coverage on Spirit AeroSystems in a research report on Monday. They issued a sell rating on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded Spirit AeroSystems to a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spirit AeroSystems has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.67.

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Spirit AeroSystems Stock Performance

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.81 and a beta of 1.81. The stocks fifty day moving average is $33.39 and its 200 day moving average is $33.34.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 3,996.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,500,000 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $81,275,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438,974 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. acquired a new position in Spirit AeroSystems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,296,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 1,744.2% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 802,091 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $26,557,000 after buying an additional 758,599 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Spirit AeroSystems during the third quarter worth $16,817,000. Finally, Harvest Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 84.8% during the third quarter. Harvest Management LLC now owns 483,000 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $15,702,000 after buying an additional 221,600 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Spirit AeroSystems Company Profile

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Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc engages in the design, engineering, manufacture, and marketing of commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, floor beams, nacelles, struts/pylons, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, flaps and slats flight control surfaces, wing structures, and wing systems.

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Vanquis Banking Group plc (OTCMKTS:FPLPF  Get Free Report) traded down 14.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $0.63 and last traded at $0.63. 1,404 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 1,100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.74.

Vanquis Banking Group Stock Down 14.4 %

The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $0.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $0.69.

Vanquis Banking Group Company Profile

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Vanquis Banking Group plc engages in the provision of personal credit products to the non-standard lending market in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The company offers credit cards products, and unsecured personal loans products, as well as provides vehicle finance for cars, motorbikes, van, and light commercial vehicles.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB  Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

WRB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned 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 $64.36.

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W. R. Berkley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WRB opened at $59.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 11.96%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkleys payout ratio is currently 8.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $429,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $417,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in W. R. Berkley by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,154,783 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $235,701,000 after buying an additional 2,118,641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.82% of the companys stock.

About W. R. Berkley

(Get Free Report)

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xerox (NYSE:XRX  Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Xerox from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Xerox from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $9.50.

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Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on XRX

Xerox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XRX opened at $8.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of -0.79 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.74. Xerox has a fifty-two week low of $8.02 and a fifty-two week high of $19.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Xerox (NYSE:XRX  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.26). Xerox had a positive return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 21.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The businesss revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Xerox will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xerox

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XRX. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xerox by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,969,127 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $176,140,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,806 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Xerox by 27.9% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,033,506 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $10,728,000 after acquiring an additional 225,617 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Xerox by 55.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 469,106 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $4,869,000 after purchasing an additional 167,500 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Xerox during the third quarter valued at about $1,626,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Xerox by 1,960.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 163,163 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 155,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.36% of the companys stock.

About Xerox

(Get Free Report)

Xerox Holdings Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a workplace technology company that integrates hardware, services, and software for enterprises in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Print and Other; and FITTLE.

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Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL  Free Report) by 107.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,041 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the quarter. Asset Dedication LLCs holdings in Aflac were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,462 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 4,186 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,692 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,099,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth approximately $552,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 8.2% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 105,000 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $9,378,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $108.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The companys fifty day moving average price is $105.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.26. The company has a market capitalization of $60.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflacs previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflacs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a hold rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $102.67.

Read Our Latest Report on AFL

About Aflac

(Free Report)

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.

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Auto Trader Group plc (OTCMKTS:ATDRY  Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 77,100 shares, an increase of 119.7% from the December 31st total of 35,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 404,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Auto Trader Group Stock Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS ATDRY traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $2.45. 100,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 210,568. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $2.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.64. Auto Trader Group has a one year low of $2.04 and a one year high of $3.00.

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Auto Trader Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.0113 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd.

Auto Trader Group Company Profile

Auto Trader Group plc operates in the digital automotive marketplace in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company provides vehicle advertisement on its websites for private sellers, as well as insurance and loan financing products to consumers; and display advertising on its websites for manufacturers and their advertising agencies.

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Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC  Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The bank reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05), Zacks reports. Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 15.90%.

Banco Santander-Chile Price Performance

Banco Santander-Chile stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.65. The company had a trading volume of 62,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 164,305. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $19.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.75. Banco Santander-Chile has a 1 year low of $17.73 and a 1 year high of $21.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.86.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America downgraded Banco Santander-Chile from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the company from $22.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $21.33.

About Banco Santander-Chile

(Get Free Report)

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.

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BDF Gestion lowered its holdings in shares of Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH  Free Report) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,736 shares of the companys stock after selling 616 shares during the period. BDF Gestions holdings in Molina Healthcare were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Molina Healthcare by 2,500.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 104 shares of the companys stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Molina Healthcare by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 163 shares of the companys stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Molina Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Molina Healthcare by 96.2% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 206 shares of the companys stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, AM Squared Ltd grew its stake in Molina Healthcare by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 300 shares of the companys stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.50% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MOH. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Molina Healthcare from $405.00 to $331.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $406.00 target price on shares of Molina Healthcare in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Molina Healthcare from $360.00 to $362.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Molina Healthcare from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a neutral rating and set a $350.00 target price (down previously from $378.00) on shares of Molina Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Molina Healthcare has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $359.18.

Molina Healthcare Price Performance

NYSE MOH opened at $313.26 on Friday. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $297.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $317.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Molina Healthcare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $272.69 and a 12-month high of $423.92.

Molina Healthcare Company Profile

(Free Report)

Molina Healthcare, Inc provides managed healthcare services to low-income families and individuals under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. It operates in four segments: Medicaid, Medicare, Marketplace, and Other. The company served in across 19 states. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

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BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN (NYSEARCA:FNGD  Get Free Report)s share price traded down 4.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $11.66 and last traded at $11.68. 726,487 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 5,595,286 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.18.

BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.73 and a beta of -5.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $13.58 and a 200 day moving average of $19.40.

BMO REX MicroSectors FANG Index 3X Inverse Leveraged ETN Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

The MicroSectors FANG+ Index -3X Inverse Leveraged ETN (FNGD) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the NYSE FANG+ index. The fund tracks -3x the daily price movements of an index of technology and consumer discretionary companies. The note uses derivatives to achieve its -3x exposure. FNGD was launched on Jan 25, 2018 and is issued by REX Microsectors.

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Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lowered its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Free Report) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,210 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 1,493 shares during the quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Managements holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 492 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1,168.1% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. 76.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BMY. Barclays boosted their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a market perform rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $56.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Phil M. Holzer sold 700 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $38,934.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,760 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $654,091.20. This trade represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE BMY opened at $59.11 on Friday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $39.35 and a 12 month high of $61.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The company has a market capitalization of $119.88 billion, a PE ratio of -16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $11.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $11.26 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a negative net margin of 15.30% and a positive return on equity of 11.94%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 0.92 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This is a boost from Bristol-Myers Squibbs previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Bristol-Myers Squibbs payout ratio is -69.08%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Profile

(Free Report)

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers products for hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, fibrotic, and neuroscience diseases. The company's products include Eliquis for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in non-valvular atrial fibrillation, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for various anti-cancer indications, including bladder, blood, CRC, head and neck, RCC, HCC, lung, melanoma, MPM, stomach and esophageal cancer; Pomalyst/Imnovid for multiple myeloma; Orencia for active rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis; and Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia.

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BTC Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG  Free Report) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,999 shares of the banks stock after buying an additional 7,119 shares during the quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the banks stock valued at $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the banks stock worth $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 85.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,043,650 shares of the banks stock worth $83,933,000 after purchasing an additional 942,662 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 51.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,644,542 shares of the banks stock valued at $107,897,000 after acquiring an additional 894,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,511,148 shares of the banks stock valued at $62,063,000 after purchasing an additional 838,917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.6 %

CFG opened at $48.37 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $45.85 and a 200-day moving average of $43.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.24 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. Citizens Financial Groups quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Citizens Financial Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.45%.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

(Free Report)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking.

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Celestica (NYSE:CLS  Get Free Report) (TSE:CLS) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $115.00 to $140.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an outperform rating on the technology companys stock. Royal Bank of Canadas target price indicates a potential upside of 13.30% from the stocks previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Celestica in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a neutral rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Celestica from $91.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Celestica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. CIBC upgraded shares of Celestica from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Celestica from $77.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Celestica currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $99.64.

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Read Our Latest Report on Celestica

Celestica Price Performance

Insider Buying and Selling

Shares of NYSE:CLS opened at $123.57 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Celestica has a 1 year low of $32.80 and a 1 year high of $133.66. The firm has a market cap of $14.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.04 and a beta of 2.27.

In other Celestica news, Director Michael Wilson sold 25,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.73, for a total value of $2,468,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,784 shares in the company, valued at $176,134.32. The trade was a 93.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celestica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Celestica in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Celestica by 120.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 103,660 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $5,299,000 after acquiring an additional 56,732 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Celestica in the 3rd quarter worth $61,210,000. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Celestica during the third quarter worth $420,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Celestica by 61.9% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,901 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 12,584 shares during the period. 67.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Celestica Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Celestica Inc provides supply chain solutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. It operates through two segments: Advanced Technology Solutions, and Connectivity & Cloud Solutions. The company offers a range of product manufacturing and related supply chain services, including design and development, new product introduction, engineering services, component sourcing, electronics manufacturing and assembly, testing, complex mechanical assembly, systems integration, precision machining, order fulfillment, logistics, asset management, product licensing, and after-market repair and return services.

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Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG  Free Report) by 51.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,708 shares of the restaurant operators stock after purchasing an additional 3,621 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 384.0% in the 3rd quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 484 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 950.0% during the third quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 525 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the third quarter worth $32,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. 91.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 4,404 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $286,304.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 185,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,078,337.92. The trade was a 2.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $66.88.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance

NYSE CMG opened at $58.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.27. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.98 and a 12 month high of $69.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.59 and a 200-day moving average of $57.73.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 43.20%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. Chipotle Mexican Grills revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

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.

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Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG  Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $75.00 price target on the restaurant operators stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CMG. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $66.88.

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View Our Latest Stock Report on CMG

Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CMG opened at $58.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a PE ratio of 54.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.27. The firms 50 day moving average price is $60.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.73. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a 52-week low of $47.98 and a 52-week high of $69.26.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 43.20% and a net margin of 13.51%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Laurie Schalow sold 4,404 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $286,304.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 185,792 shares of the companys stock, valued at $12,078,337.92. This represents a 2.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.02% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chipotle Mexican Grill

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill by 5,897.8% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 48,942 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $2,820,000 after purchasing an additional 48,126 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,256,000. Optas LLC boosted its position in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 318.5% in the 3rd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 17,160 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $989,000 after buying an additional 13,060 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill in the 4th quarter worth about $2,513,000. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the third quarter worth approximately $758,000. 91.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

(Get 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.

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Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB  Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The oil and gas company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.23, Zacks reports. Core Laboratories had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 16.43%. Core Laboratories updated its Q1 2025 guidance to 0.120-0.160 EPS.

Core Laboratories Price Performance

Core Laboratories stock traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.28. 55,322 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 283,060. The stock has a market capitalization of $811.06 million, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 2.39. The businesss 50-day moving average is $18.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.48. Core Laboratories has a 12 month low of $13.82 and a 12 month high of $25.13.

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Core Laboratories Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Core Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is currently 6.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CLB shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Core Laboratories from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.00.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on CLB

Core Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Core Laboratories Inc provides reservoir description and production enhancement services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock and reservoir fluid samples to enhance production and improve recovery of crude oil and gas from its clients' reservoirs.

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Cypress Capital Management LLC WY lowered its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT  Free Report) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,696 shares of the aerospace companys stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin makes up 2.1% of Cypress Capital Management LLC WYs investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cypress Capital Management LLC WYs holdings in Lockheed Martin were worth $1,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LMT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,827,645 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $2,816,898,000 after purchasing an additional 83,997 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 6.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,389,025 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $1,981,088,000 after buying an additional 209,591 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 8.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,074,855 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $1,797,437,000 after buying an additional 240,306 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 60,592.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,559,178 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $911,433,000 after buying an additional 1,556,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Lockheed Martin by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 656,807 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $382,498,000 after acquiring an additional 13,253 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.19% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Lockheed Martin from $570.00 to $550.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $700.00 to $600.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $540.00 to $535.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $527.00 to $508.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a buy rating and a $579.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $555.60.

Lockheed Martin Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE LMT opened at $459.12 on Friday. Lockheed Martin Co. has a 52 week low of $413.92 and a 52 week high of $618.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10. The company has a market capitalization of $108.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.48. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $495.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $536.97.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The aerospace company reported $7.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $6.58 by $1.09. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 101.47%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 27.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $3.30 dividend. This represents a $13.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Lockheed Martins dividend payout ratio is currently 59.30%.

Lockheed Martin Profile

(Free Report)

Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. The company operates through Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space segments.

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Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB  Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.27), Zacks reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft had a return on equity of 5.35% and a net margin of 6.40%. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft updated its FY 2025 guidance to EPS.

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE DB traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.70. The company had a trading volume of 448,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,790,474. The companys fifty day moving average price is $17.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.93. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has a 12 month low of $12.43 and a 12 month high of $20.45. The stock has a market cap of $39.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

About Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

(Get Free Report)

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, a stock corporation, provides corporate and investment banking, and asset management products and services to private individuals, corporate entities, and institutional clients in Germany, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific.

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Dynatrace (NYSE:DT  Get Free Report) updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 1.360-1.370 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 1.320. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.7 billion-$1.7 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.7 billion. Dynatrace also updated its Q4 2025 guidance to 0.290-0.310 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DT has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas started coverage on Dynatrace in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a neutral rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a buy rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Dynatrace in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Dynatrace in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Dynatrace from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Dynatrace from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dynatrace has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $61.96.

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Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Dynatrace

Dynatrace Price Performance

Insider Activity at Dynatrace

Shares of DT traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $58.19. 328,296 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,567,522. Dynatrace has a 52 week low of $39.42 and a 52 week high of $61.41. The company has a market cap of $17.37 billion, a PE ratio of 105.99, a P/E/G ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.92.

In related news, EVP Bernd Greifeneder sold 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.83, for a total transaction of $2,891,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,007,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,237,007.54. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Dynatrace

(Get Free Report)

Dynatrace, Inc provides a security platform for multicloud environments in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates Dynatrace, a security platform, which provides application and microservices monitoring, runtime application security, infrastructure monitoring, log management and analytics, digital experience monitoring, digital business analytics, and cloud automation.

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Shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD  Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of Moderate Buy from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.60.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EPD shares. US Capital Advisors upgraded Enterprise Products Partners from a moderate buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wolfe Research lowered Enterprise Products Partners from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a buy rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Enterprise Products Partners from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

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Institutional Trading of Enterprise Products Partners

Enterprise Products Partners Stock Performance

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 3,307 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,364 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 73,470 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $2,304,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 10,103 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 29,800 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. 26.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

EPD opened at $33.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $73.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.49. Enterprise Products Partners has a 1 year low of $26.12 and a 1 year high of $34.63.

Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.01). Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 10.32%. The firm had revenue of $13.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $13.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Enterprise Products Partners will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.535 per share. This is an increase from Enterprise Products Partnerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.30%. Enterprise Products Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.15%.

Enterprise Products Partners Company Profile

(Get Free Report

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.

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Heritage Financial Services LLC lessened its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,826 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after selling 702 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLCs holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position in Abbott Laboratories by 51.3% in the third quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 363 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays restated an overweight rating and set a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Argus raised Abbott Laboratories to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ABT opened at $128.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $99.71 and a 1 year high of $129.85. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $115.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.90.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratoriess quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratoriess previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Menieres disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

Further Reading

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International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM  Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $260.00 to $270.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the technology companys stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on IBM. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on International Business Machines from $217.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on International Business Machines from $227.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on International Business Machines from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on International Business Machines from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank cut International Business Machines from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $225.53.

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View Our Latest Stock Report on International Business Machines

International Business Machines Trading Up 12.9 %

NYSE IBM opened at $258.22 on Thursday. The firms fifty day moving average is $225.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $238.76 billion, a PE ratio of 40.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.74. International Business Machines has a one year low of $162.62 and a one year high of $261.80.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.15. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 40.37% and a net margin of 9.60%. Analysts expect that International Business Machines will post 10.54 earnings per share for the current year.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.67 per share. This represents a $6.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. International Business Machiness dividend payout ratio is currently 104.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nickle Jaclyn Lamoreaux sold 3,600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.20, for a total transaction of $774,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 25,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,463,928. The trade was a 12.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Business Machines

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in International Business Machines by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,671,883 shares of the technology companys stock worth $12,307,940,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,803 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of International Business Machines by 6.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,195,933 shares of the technology companys stock worth $1,148,717,000 after buying an additional 294,276 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,726,700 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $602,819,000 after buying an additional 12,400 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Business Machines by 20,324.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,715,636 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $600,373,000 after buying an additional 2,702,340 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in International Business Machines during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $573,306,000. 58.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines Company Profile

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International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers a hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate.

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Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recently disclosed in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has initiated a reduction in its workforce. The decision, approved by the Companys Board of Directors on January 17, 2025, entails a workforce reduction of approximately 50%, largely affecting field-based sales employees. The affected employees were officially notified on January 29, 2025, with the downsizing anticipated to be completed by the conclusion of the first half of 2025. Following the reduction, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals anticipates retaining around 120 full-time employees.

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The Company estimates that the associated costs of this restructuring will approximate between $20.0 million and $25.0 million. These costs primarily encompass one-time expenditure on severance packages and benefits for the affected employees. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals foresees the majority of these charges to be incurred during the initial half of 2025. Notably, most of these expenses are expected to translate into cash outflows, and additional unforeseen costs may arise due to circumstances related to or as a result of the workforce reduction.

In a related development, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals also announced the promotion of Gregory Martini to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective January 27, 2025. Mr. Martini previously held the position of Vice President, Strategic Finance & Investor Relations since March 2022, bringing a wealth of experience to his elevated role. With a background that includes stints at prominent organizations like Thermo Fisher Scientific and Ernst & Young, Mr. Martinis appointment underscores a strategic move within the Companys leadership.

As part of his new role, Mr. Martini will receive an annual base salary of $485,000 and have a target bonus of 45% of the base salary, subject to meeting certain performance criteria. Additionally, he was granted 111,111 restricted stock units (RSUs) on January 27, 2025, under the Companys 2019 Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan. These RSUs are set to vest quarterly over a four-year period.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals will enter into an indemnification agreement and an executive severance agreement with Mr. Martini as per standard practices. The terms of these agreements align with those outlined previously in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

While sharing these developments, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals cautioned investors about forward-looking statements, advising against placing undue reliance on them. The Company emphasized the inherent risks and uncertainties that could lead to actual results differing from anticipated outcomes. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals expressed its commitment to updating stakeholders on any developments stemming from these changes.

The Companys filing concluded by underscoring the absence of any undisclosed agreements or conflicts of interest related to Mr. Martinis appointment. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals indicated that Mr. Martinis elevation was devoid of any familial relationships within the Company, ensuring transparency and adherence to regulatory standards.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read Ironwood Pharmaceuticalss 8K filing here.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a healthcare company, focuses on the development and commercialization of gastrointestinal (GI) products. It markets linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase type-C (GC-C) agonist for the treatment of adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation under the LINZESS name in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China, as well as under the CONSTELLA name in the Canada and European countries.

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Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $640.00 price objective on the credit services providers stock. Monness Crespi & Hardts target price suggests a potential upside of 13.65% from the companys previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $572.00 target price on shares of Mastercard in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Mastercard from $580.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $581.72.

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Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE:MA traded down $2.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $563.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,709,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,290. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $527.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $500.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. As a group, analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $12.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Mastercard

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard during the second quarter worth $213,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Mastercard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,080,000. Abacus Planning Group Inc. acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 7.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 167,963 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $82,940,000 after buying an additional 11,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the companys stock.

About Mastercard

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Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.

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MSCI (NYSE:MSCI  Free Report) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $700.00 to $680.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the technology companys stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 41.99, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $606.80 and a 200 day moving average of $581.51. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 168.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCIs previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. MSCIs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the companys stock.

MSCI Company Profile

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MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.

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NB Bancorp, Inc., operating as Needham Bank, implemented significant changes to its retirement and compensation plans, as disclosed in a recent SEC filing. On January 28, 2025, the Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of NB Bancorp, Inc., adopted amendments freezing benefits under the Second Amended and Restated Director Retirement Plan (DRP) and participation in the Needham Bank Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan for Officers (NQDP).

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The Benefit Freeze Amendment to the DRP stipulates that no additional benefits will accrue for participants post-December 31, 2024. Similarly, the Participation Freeze Amendment to the NQDP states that no new participants can enroll in the plan after January 28, 2025. The details of these amendments are outlined in Exhibit 10.1 and Exhibit 10.2 attached to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by NB Bancorp.

These modifications signify a strategic shift in the companys executive compensation and retirement strategies. The freezing of benefits and participation marks a deliberate decision to limit future liabilities and streamline the management of these programs. The company aims to enhance its financial stability and align these plans with its long-term business objectives.

NB Bancorp, an emerging growth company as defined by the SEC, is proactively managing its financial obligations and strategic initiatives. The amendments reflect a careful consideration of the companys current financial position and its evolving business landscape.

For further details regarding these changes and their implications, refer to the complete filings on the SECs EDGAR database or the companys official communications.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read NB Bancorps 8K filing here.

About NB Bancorp

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NB Bancorp, Inc focuses on operating as a bank holding company for Needham Bank that provides various banking products and services in Greater Boston metropolitan area and surrounding communities in Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut, southern New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The company offers various deposits, including certificate of deposit, individual retirement, money market, savings, NOW, demand deposit, and interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts; and commercial real estate and multifamily, one- to four-family residential real estate, construction and land development, commercial and industrial, and consumer loans, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit.

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NEC Co. (OTCMKTS:NIPNF  Get Free Report)s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $99.80 and last traded at $99.80, with a volume of 13311 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $80.00.

NEC Trading Up 24.8 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.60.

NEC Company Profile

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NEC Corporation provides information and communication technology solutions in Japan and internationally. It operates through five segments: Public Solutions Business, Public Infrastructure Business, Enterprise Business, Network Services Business, and Global Business. It provides systems integration services, including systems implementation and consulting; maintenance and support services; outsourcing and cloud services; and system equipment.

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New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT  Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,555 shares of the companys stock after selling 204 shares during the quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Vertiv were worth $631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRT. State Street Corp raised its position in Vertiv by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,635,081 shares of the companys stock worth $759,614,000 after buying an additional 308,704 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertiv by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,951,784 shares of the companys stock worth $592,433,000 after purchasing an additional 408,054 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Vertiv by 10,825.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,600,415 shares of the companys stock valued at $457,695,000 after purchasing an additional 4,558,306 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Vertiv by 271.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,915,446 shares of the companys stock valued at $389,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in Vertiv by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,611,566 shares of the companys stock worth $359,315,000 after purchasing an additional 40,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.92% of the companys stock.

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Vertiv Stock Up 3.8 %

Vertiv stock opened at $114.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $126.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.81. Vertiv Holdings Co has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $155.84. The company has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a PE ratio of 76.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.63.

Vertiv Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This is an increase from Vertivs previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.13%. Vertivs payout ratio is currently 6.67%.

VRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Melius cut Vertiv from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Vertiv from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They set an overweight rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Vertiv in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a buy rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Vertiv from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertiv currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $139.36.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Vertiv

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jan Van Dokkum sold 38,647 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.39, for a total transaction of $5,271,064.33. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,750. The trade was a 60.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Stephen Liang sold 86,619 shares of Vertiv stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.07, for a total value of $11,353,152.33. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,551 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,562,549.57. This trade represents a 81.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 171,527 shares of company stock worth $23,105,682. Company insiders own 5.01% of the companys stock.

Vertiv Profile

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Vertiv Holdings Co, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and services critical digital infrastructure technologies and life cycle services for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial environments in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

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Novartis (NYSE:NVS  Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18, Zacks reports. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%.

Novartis Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE NVS traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, reaching $105.13. 2,475,830 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,821,415. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Novartis has a fifty-two week low of $92.35 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $100.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC lowered Novartis from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Novartis from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novartis currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $123.38.

About Novartis

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Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.

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Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new stake in shares of BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ  Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,500 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $670,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BJ. FMR LLC boosted its stake in BJs Wholesale Club by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,357,118 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,184,175,000 after purchasing an additional 966,528 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BJs Wholesale Club by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,439,358 shares of the companys stock valued at $531,118,000 after purchasing an additional 217,385 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of BJs Wholesale Club by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,763,931 shares of the companys stock worth $408,926,000 after purchasing an additional 337,217 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of BJs Wholesale Club by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,045,590 shares of the companys stock worth $333,680,000 after purchasing an additional 45,288 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in BJs Wholesale Club by 60.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,387,592 shares of the companys stock worth $196,929,000 after buying an additional 896,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.60% of the companys stock.

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BJs Wholesale Club Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BJ opened at $100.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.76. BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BJs Wholesale Club ( NYSE:BJ Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.29. BJs Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.71% and a return on equity of 35.41%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BJs Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BJ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BJs Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on BJs Wholesale Club from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on BJs Wholesale Club from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of BJs Wholesale Club from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of BJs Wholesale Club from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $94.00.

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BJs Wholesale Club Company Profile

(Free Report)

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.

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Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX  Get Free Report) had its target price raised by research analysts at Raymond James from $101.00 to $119.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a strong-buy rating on the medical equipment providers stock. Raymond James price target suggests a potential upside of 15.24% from the companys previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Boston Scientific in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Boston Scientific from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Boston Scientific from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $98.35.

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Boston Scientific Trading Up 0.2 %

Insider Buying and Selling

Shares of NYSE:BSX traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $103.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,862,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,669,373. Boston Scientific has a 12-month low of $62.63 and a 12-month high of $104.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $152.19 billion, a PE ratio of 85.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.80. The companys 50 day moving average is $93.22 and its 200-day moving average is $86.04.

In other Boston Scientific news, EVP Arthur C. Butcher sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.27, for a total transaction of $1,250,672.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 978 shares in the company, valued at $87,306.06. This trade represents a 93.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP John Bradley Sorenson sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total transaction of $370,792.38. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 35,319 shares in the company, valued at $3,179,416.38. The trade was a 10.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,989 shares of company stock worth $2,702,261. Insiders own 0.50% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BSX. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Boston Scientific by 85.8% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,213 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Boston Scientific in the second quarter worth $33,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Boston Scientific by 1.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 214,594 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $16,526,000 after acquiring an additional 2,254 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Boston Scientific by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 295,984 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $22,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,399 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Boston Scientific in the second quarter worth $5,349,000. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the companys stock.

Boston Scientific Company Profile

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Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.

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Weg S.A. (OTCMKTS:WEGZY  Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 51,400 shares, an increase of 180.9% from the December 31st total of 18,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 64,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

WEG Trading Up 1.1 %

WEGZY opened at $9.34 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average is $9.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.34. WEG has a 1 year low of $6.31 and a 1 year high of $10.36.

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WEG Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a $0.0084 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from WEGs previous dividend of $0.01. WEGs payout ratio is presently 24.44%.

WEG Company Profile

WEG SA engages in the production and sale of capital goods in Brazil and internationally. The company offers electric motors, generators, and transformers; gear units and geared motors; hydraulic and steam turbines; frequency converters; motor starters and maneuver devices; control and protection of electric circuits for industrial automation; power sockets and switches; and electric traction solutions for heavy vehicles, SUV vehicles, locomotives, and sea transportation capital goods.

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ALMATY, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan is prepared to boost its exports to Kyrgyzstan across 175 product categories by more than 203 million U.S. dollars, according to the press service of the Kazakh government on Thursday.

This was revealed following a meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliyev on the same day.

The expanded export range includes products from various sectors, including petrochemicals, food, metallurgy, machinery, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, among other goods.

Agriculture accounts for approximately 20 percent of total trade between the nations. Under the roadmap to boost agricultural exports, trade in the agro-industrial sector has grown by 5.5 percent in the first eleven months of 2024, totaling 313.6 million dollars. Kazakhstan's grain exports to Kyrgyzstan amounted to 40,400 tons, while flour exports totaled 53,200 tons.

It was also noted that bilateral trade between the two countries reached 1.6 billion dollars in the first eleven months of 2024. Maintaining this positive growth and enhancing the trade structure with a broader range of products is a central goal for future progress. 
Time: 12:30pm

Location: The Arts Centre.

Join us for the grand launch of African Heritage Month 2025, as we come together to celebrate the theme "Celebrating the Legacy and Future of Black Creativity". This flagship event will showcase the enduring contributions of African Nova Scotians and people of African-descent and recognizes the outstanding contributions of Black staff, students, and faculty who have shared their artistry with our University community.

The event starts at 12:30 pm in the Dalhousie Art Centres Sculpture Court. Attendees will take in a 45-minute ceremony to celebrate African Heritage Month, followed by an opportunity to explore the Dalhousie Art Gallery's new exhibits Oluseye: by Faith and Grit and Down Home: Portraits of Resilience, both which feature Artists of African descent from Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada.

This launch event serves as a vibrant kickoff for African Heritage Month, a time for reflection, celebration, and education. As we look to the future, we invite all members of the community to gather in solidarity, learn, and participate in the ongoing story of Black creativityhonoring the trailblazers who came before and the creators who will shape tomorrow.

Come celebrate, connect, and be inspired as we honor the legacy and future of Black creativity in Nova Scotia and beyond.
SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (NYSE:OR  Free Report) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,563 shares of the basic materials companys stock after selling 7,007 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLCs holdings in Osisko Gold Royalties were worth $698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Get Osisko Gold Royalties alerts:

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Osisko Gold Royalties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $288,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Osisko Gold Royalties in the second quarter valued at approximately $211,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Osisko Gold Royalties by 81.1% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 274,253 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $4,268,000 after purchasing an additional 122,827 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Osisko Gold Royalties during the second quarter valued at approximately $344,000. Finally, Creekside Partners bought a new position in shares of Osisko Gold Royalties in the second quarter worth approximately $229,000. 68.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Osisko Gold Royalties from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Osisko Gold Royalties Price Performance

Shares of Osisko Gold Royalties stock opened at $18.61 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.86 and a 200 day moving average of $18.55. Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd has a 52 week low of $12.77 and a 52 week high of $21.29. The company has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of -88.60 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 4.40, a current ratio of 4.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Osisko Gold Royalties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.048 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Osisko Gold Royaltiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Osisko Gold Royaltiess dividend payout ratio is -85.71%.

Osisko Gold Royalties Profile

(Free Report)

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd acquires and manages precious metal and other royalties, streams, and other interests in Canada and internationally. It also owns options on offtake; royalty/stream financings; and exclusive rights to participate in future royalty/stream financings on various projects. The companys primary asset is a 3-5% net smelter return royalty on the Canadian Malartic complex located in Canada.

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A first for Derry City and Northern Ireland, Foyle Kumon is organising the NI Maths Fest in partnership with Ulster University and the inaugural event will take place in the Guildhall next month.

This FREE event will engage primary school children, secondary school children and their parents in activities and talks to help demystify maths, teach practical tips for using maths in our daily lives and build confidence in supporting children to learn maths.

The two-day event, on Friday, February 7 (9.00am - 4.00pm) and Saturday, February 8 (11.00am - 3.00pm), is open to primary schools to visit on Day 1 and to the public including post primary students and parents on Day 2.

Day 1 will feature maths activities for children created by school children! Young innovators from Lisnagelvin Primary School, Steelstown Primary School, St Marys College, Lumen Christi College, Thornhill College, Omagh Integrated Primary School, Bready Jubilee Primary School and Bunscoil Cholmcille will all host fun activities they have designed to make maths engaging and interactive. Visiting schools will be able to vote on their favourite activity and the winning school will be presented with the inaugural Foyle Kumon Maths Trophy.

Day 2 will be open to the public which is designed for children in their teens, their parents and families. The event will be packed with practical talks and workshops such as Financial Management and budgeting for children and young people, Careers in Maths and Technology, Maths in Business for children who want to set up their own business, brain boosting activities like Rubiks cube the brain gym and importantly a talk for parents about how to support their childrens learning and become more comfortable with helping with maths homework.

The event will also feature Virtual Reality, AI and Technology based activities hosted by Seagate Technologies and North West Regional College as well as activities and stands presented by Ulster University, Benchmark Financial Planning, Kumon Study Centre, Seagate Technologies and Lumen Christi College and local radio station Q105 will broad live from the event.

The event promises to be a fun, practical and interesting afternoon with spot competitions, a Brain Gym, a maths photo wall and fun facts about maths, for secondary school students and their parents.

Sumeeta Gupta NI Maths Fest founder explains how the Maths Festival came about.

The idea of having a Maths festival in the city emerged primarily from the need to alleviate the fear of maths. Through the last 12 years of delivering educational support to children and families through the Kumon maths and English programme, I have observed how a parents own childhood experiences can lead to them lacking confidence in maths, which then translates to their children. They are less likely to be confident in helping with maths at home which further affects childrens comfort with maths.

Thanks to Derry City and Strabane District Council, the schools in Derry and beyond and by working together with our Educational Partners like Ulster University, North West Regional College, Benchmark Financial Planning, Seagate, NumeraSee and Local Communities, parents and Derry Strabanes Flagship STEM companies we have created the first event of an annual initiative that will bring children and schools from all across our region to Derry to have fun with Maths.

Ahead of the NI Maths Fest 2025, Malachy O Neill, Ulster University Director of Regional Engagement said Ulster University is delighted to be the key partner in the inaugural NI Maths Fest 2025 that allows young people and their families to engage with Maths in exciting ways and inspires young people to pursue a career in STEM. We believe that STEM education is vitally important as it equips young people with the skills and creativity to drive innovation, solve global challenges and shape the future economy and we are committed to supporting initiatives such as NI Maths Fest that promotes the significance of STEM.

NI MATHS FEST LAUNCH. . . .The Deputy Mayor, Darren Guy pictured at the launch of the Northern Ireland Maiden Maths Festival on Wednesday afternoon outside the city's Guildhall. The event will run on Friday and Saturday, 7th and 8th February, 2025 at the Guildhall, Derry. Included from left are Carol Ann Doherty, DCSDC, Lisa Rutherford and Sinead Meenan, Benchmark Financial Planning and Sumeeta Gupta, Director, NI Maths Fest, Kumon Instructor.. (Photos; Jim McCafferty Photography)

The festival aims to improve accessibility to Maths for the families of Derry Strabane and beyond and help parents develop their own skills so they can support their children. The event is free to attend on Saturday, February 8 at the Guildhall between 11.00am - 3.00pm, registration is recommended but not required- To find out more and book your slot visit www.nimathsfest.co.uk.

Sinead Meenan, Benchmark Financial Planning, one of the sponsors of next weeks event, said: "We are thrilled to support the inaugural Northern Ireland Maths Fest, a wonderful event that highlights the importance of mathematics in everyday life and inspires future generations. At Benchmark Financial Planning, we are committed to fostering education and community engagement, and this sponsorship reflects our dedication to making a positive impact."

READ NEXT: Free Derry sword fighting class welcoming people to try 'something new'

Another sponsor, Derry City and Strabane District Councils Carolann Doherty, Business Officer added: Foyle Kumon organises NI Maths Fest in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council and supported by Go Succeed NI which is funded by UK Government. Go Succeed is a free service that provides support to potential entrepreneurs, start-ups, existing businesses and businesses ready to scale to maximise their potential.

While Patricia Greene, from The Web Crew, said: As a Derry-based web development company, we're delighted to support NI Maths Fest 2025! With 25 years of experience building websites for local & national businesses, we've seen first-hand how crucial maths skills are in the tech world. It's amazing to see young minds discover how numbers and logic shape everything, eg from gaming to web design. Its great to see the community coming together to make maths less daunting and more fun! We're proud to be part of this fantastic local initiative.
Audiences in Derry can look forward to enjoying a screening of the Celtic Tiger film with a difference King Frankie as part of Film Hub NIs special Collective programme which brings local films to local places via its network of community cinemas.

King Frankie will be shown by Nerve Centre Derry on Thursday 6 February at 7pm. Tickets cost 6 plus booking fee and can be booked online.

The movie tells the redemption story of Frankie Burke starring Peter Coonan (Love/Hate) as a kindly taxi driver living a quiet life who is forced to confront the ghosts of his past on the death of his father, which premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival to critical acclaim. Its a gritty Irish drama, exploring complex themes of mental health, loss and guilt in a raw, yet sensitive, manner.

King Frankie introduces Broughshane teenager Claudia Beatty as a young actor with Downs Syndrome who enjoys a special bond with Frankie as he drives her about. Belfast actor Conor MacNeill (The Tourist, Industry, The Sixth Commandment, Derry Girls) also delivers a strong performance as the hotel manager given the run-around by Frankie.

Eavan King, Nerve Centre says: King Frankie is a wonderful Irish film and we are delighted to be able to show it at the Nerve Centre on Thursday 6 February as part of Film Hub NIs 2025 Collective Tour.

Dermot Malones ultimately hopeful parable about greed, guilt, and redemption, is served well by the ever-versatile Peter Coonan who conjures the many faces of Frankie  from repugnant to repentant  with ease.

Sara Gunn-Smith, Film Hub NI says: The profile of Irish film has grown significantly over the past decade, so we are delighted to kick off the New Year with a special tour for this incredible debut film by Writer/Director Dermot Malone, who leads the young and creative Banjoman team who brought the story of King Frankie to screen on a micro budget.

Claudia on set with Peter Coonan.

The film charts the life of a man who enjoyed huge financial success during the Celtic Tiger years, but got badly burned. Its a story of pain, grief and loss but also redemption, change and hope which we feel audiences will appreciate.

"It fits perfectly with Film Hubs aim to ensure that the widest selection of independent film is available to diverse audiences in Northern Ireland. Were also delighted to welcome some of the films cast and crew for Q&As at our Film Hub member screenings in Newcastle, Bangor, Belfast and Ballymena.

READ NEXT: MacD on Music

Dermot Malone, Writer / Director, Banjoman says: We are so happy to be able to work with Film Hub NI to bring King Frankie to audiences right across the north. I hope that people find a connection with Frankie and can take from his story that everyone deserves a second chance. I look forward to joining some of the screenings and hearing what audiences think..

Filmed on location in Dublin and Meath, King Frankie is the debut film from Banjoman Productions, released by leading Irish distributor Wildcard.

Film Hub NI is part of the BFI Film Audience Network supported through National Lottery funding, distributed by the British Film Institute. For full details of all Film Hub NI King Frankie screenings, CLICK HERE.
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PICTURED ABOVE: MaryClaire Kerlin, PEACEPLUS project coordinator; Sue Divin, PEACE Manager in Derry City and Strabane District Council; Lilian Seenoi Barr, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane and Andrew Ritchie, 'The Food Project' coordinator from Cornerstone City Church.

Cornerstone's City Church Hope Centre initiative has been awarded 86,000 in funding from PEACEPLUS, a programme that is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body, to help support its new food poverty project.

The grant, which has been funded through Derry City and Strabane District Councils PEACEPLUS local Co-Designed Action Plan, will enable the Hope Centre to expand its outreach and impact on the community, addressing food poverty while also fostering cross-community relations.

The Food Project is designed to reach approximately 100 participants over an 18-month period through a variety of initiatives with the overall aim of educating and empowering individuals by teaching them how to shop wisely and prepare nutritious meals on a budget. The project will work to tackle food poverty, promote self-sufficiency, and encourage community cohesion.

The grant will also support the creation of one new job  a Project Coordinator to oversee the implementation and success of the project. Additionally, 30,000 of the grant will be allocated for capital improvements, including the installation of a new kitchen at the Hope Centre. This new facility will be integral in hosting practical workshops and cookery classes throughout the project.

John Loughery, a member of the leadership team at Cornerstone City Church, expressed his gratitude to the funding body, "We are incredibly grateful to PEACEPLUS, the Special EU Programmes Body and Derry City and Strabane District Council for awarding us this contract. This project is not just about providing food; it's about equipping individuals with the skills and confidence they need to lead healthier, more independent lives.

"We have a desire to see people live from a place of wholeness and we believe that through this project we can equip people with some of the tools that will enable them to do so. We are also huge advocates for reconciliation and this project is also about bringing people together and building a stronger, more united community for everyone.

"We truly believe that The Food Project will provide us with a real opportunity to make a real difference in our local community. As a team we really do look forward to working with participants and seeing the positive impact that their journey with us will undoubtedly have."

PEACEPLUS, a programme that is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body, is a unique cross-border structural funds programme that is aimed at reinforcing progress towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous society in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. It represents an investment of 1.44bn in support of projects that promote peace and reconciliation and contribute to cross-border economic and territorial development.

Were delighted to be working with The Hope Centre in Cornerstone City Church on this local PEACEPLUS project said Sue Divin, PEACE Manager in Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane, Lilian Seenoi Barr, getting a tour of the new facilities at the launch of 'The Food Project' at Cornerstone City Church.

Its one of 58 cross-community projects that weve tendered in our overall 8 million local programme. Addressing food poverty was one of the needs which came forward in our co-design process, and it was prioritised particularly in the Waterside area of the city.

"Faith based organisations delivering social-based, practical outreach projects have been integral in the delivery of many PEACE projects across Northern Ireland and the border counties, and their work is a welcome part of the wider community, voluntary and charity sector.

"We know this project will make a huge difference to people from a wide range of identities and communities in our council area.

READ NEXT: Derry's Peace Bridge inspection works to commence

Key Components of the upcoming project will include educational workshops where participants will learn practical skills for budgeting, shopping, and cooking through hands-on workshops and classes; a range of eight community based events designed to bring people together, celebrate diversity, and share resources; a cross-community young programme that seeks to foster understanding and collaboration among young people from different backgrounds from across the city; it will also see an expansion of the Hope Centres current services including the food and clothing bank and the organisations Mens Group which specifically targets men in need within the community.

Pictured is Lilian Seenoi Barr, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane, getting a tour of the new facilities at the launch of 'The Food Project' at Cornerstone City Church. The project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme that is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body

The Hope Centre is a vital part of Cornerstone City Churchs mission to serve the local community. It provides essential services such as food and clothing banks, practical workshops, and community events aimed at improving the quality of life for residents of Derry City and Strabane District.
Stormonts Communities Minister has disregarded his legal duty to develop an anti-poverty strategy for Northern Ireland, a court has been told.

A legal challenge against the 18-year-long failure to fulfil a statutory obligation to introduce such a plan in the region was heard in Belfast High Court on Friday.

A barrister for the applicant taking the case  the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ)  claimed Communities Minister Gordon Lyons approach to the issue suggested he is setting the strategy up to fail.

Karen Quinlivan KC also accused First Minister Michelle ONeill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of an abject failure to progress the strategy.

The St Andrews Agreement struck by the UK and Ireland in 2006 introduced a legislative obligation on the Stormont Executive to develop a strategy to tackle poverty in Northern Ireland.

A previous court challenge in 2015 ruled that the failure to act on the obligation was unlawful.

Despite that, a strategy has still not been introduced in the years since.

The CAJ, backed by the Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) organisation, has taken a fresh judicial review challenge against Mr Lyons, Ms ONeill, Ms Little-Pengelly and the Executive as a whole.

Arguments were heard by Mr Justice Humphreys in the High Court on Friday morning.

Ms Quinlivan, representing the CAJ, characterised Mr Lyons actions on a strategy as lethargic.

She also accused him of binning preparatory work undertaken in the previous Assembly mandate prior to the collapse of powersharing in 2022  a period when Sinn Fein held the communities portfolio.

The barrister further alleged that the minister moved on the issue  by asking fellow ministers to set up a working group to examine a strategy  only when a legal letter from the CAJ threatening court action was sent last September.

Theres no evidence of urgency on the part of the minister in relation to this issue, she said.

Ms Quinlivan added: We submit that, in truth, the minister appears to be aiming at a strategy which is set up to fail.

The barrister claimed procrastination was a feature of Mr Lyons attitude to the strategy.

The minister lies at the heart of the delay in developing this strategy, she said.

He has disregarded entirely the work undertaken during the lifespan of the previous executive.

He has disregarded the statutory obligation which he as a minister was designated to bring forward.

He has disregarded the exhortations of his own Assembly colleagues on the Communities Committee, which to their credit have sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to persuade him to fulfil his obligations.

She added: In truth, we say the evidence shows that hes thwarted progress of the strategy in a manner inconsistent with his duties as a minister and inconsistent with his duty as a member of the Executive Committee.

Ms Quinlivan said Ms ONeill and Ms Little-Pengelly could have pressed for progress on the issue by placing it on the agenda of the Executive for consideration.

Its ultimately an Executive Committee responsibility, she said.

It is the collective responsibility of the Executive Committee and, as leaders of the Executive Committee, theres a clear onus on the First and deputy First Ministers to identify the committees statutory obligations and to ensure compliance. We say theyve manifestly failed to do so.

Dr Tony McGleenan KC, representing the Stormont ministers, rejected the applicants arguments.

He insisted ministers had been making progress towards an agreed strategy since the return of powersharing last year.

The barrister acknowledged that the 18-year total delay was a material factor but he stressed that, in regard to the current Executive, the clock begins to run when devolution returned in February 2024.

He said Mr Lyons was fully entitled to look at the issue afresh when he became Communities Minister and insisted he was under no obligation to continue the work done in the previous mandate.

We cant ignore the fact of a new mandate, he said.

A new incoming minister and executive are entitled to say we will look anew at this.

He said Mr Lyons had nevertheless ensured quite a significant degree of continuity with previous work on the strategy.

So it isnt a case of reset to zero and start again, he added.

The issue is picked up.

Mr McGleenan said there was no evidential basis to support the argument that Mr Lyons was acting in bad faith.

The barrister said while the St Andrews Agreement had introduced a statutory obligation, he highlighted that there was no legislative timeframe on when such a strategy should be introduced.

He added: If you stand back and look at this case and ask ourselves whether the Minister of the Communities is frustrating the statutory purpose, or whether the First Minister, deputy First Minister or the Executive are frustrating the statutory purpose, Id say thats a conclusion that its difficult for the court to reach because all the evidence in this mandate is that they are progressing towards the discharge of that statutory purpose.

The judge said he did find it peculiar that a strategy had not been implemented in the years since St Andrews, as he made the point that a desire to tackle poverty should not be a contentious issue for a government.

He said he would reserve judgment in the case and deliver a ruling as soon as was possible.

Justice Humphreys said: Obviously, this is an important case, both in terms of the applicant and the public interest more generally, but also its an important case concerning the respective roles of ministers of the Executive Committee and indeed of the court in the exercise of statutory duties in bringing forward strategies and policies of this nature.
HIGHLIGHTS Motorola Edge 50 Fusion 5G price drops to under Rs 19,500 on Amazon with bank discounts. The smartphone features a 144Hz OLED display and a 50MP Sony LYT-700C camera. Customers can avail up to Rs 21,449 exchange value for old devices and opt for no-cost EMI.

If you are in the market looking out for a smartphone under the budget of Rs 20,000, there are still plenty of options available. Interestingly, the customers can now also consider the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion 5G in this segment, thanks to the bank offers on Amazon. Usually priced at Rs 22,999, the customers can now buy the device by paying under Rs 19,500.

The smartphone offers a good 144 Hz 3D Curved Display, a great performance and a dual camera setup. Heres how the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion 5G deal looks like.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion price in India, offers on Amazon:

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is currently listed at Rs 21,449 on Amazon. The customers can get up to Rs 2,000 instant discount on using select bank cards like OneCard bringing down the price to under Rs 19,500. If not, the customers can use select cards and get discounts as per Amazons terms and conditions.

The customers can even save more by using their bank cards to buy the device on easy monthly installments. The no-cost EMI starts from Rs 966 per month. If the users still want to reduce the price, they exchange their old device. One can get a value of up to Rs 21,449 exchange value depending on the model, value and working conditions.

Also read: iPhone 15 available at Rs 9,901 discount on Flipkart, further savings possible

As a part of add-ons choose extended warranty for Rs 849 so that the customers can ensure free repairs (manufacturing defects) in case of any mishaps.

Specs:

The device comes with a 6.7-inch FHD+ 10-bit OLED panel with 144Hz refresh rate. The display comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It comes powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and Adreno 710 GPU. The device comes coupled with up to 12 GB LPDDR4X RAM and up to 512GB (UFS 2.2) storage. The device is backed by a 5,000 mAh battery and 68W fast charging support.

Speaking of the optics, the customers will get a 50 MP Sony LYT-700C with optical image stabilisation and a 13 MP ultra-wide camera. For selfies, it gets 32 MP front camera.
Two takeaway workers who attacked one another with meat cleavers in a row over "who was the better chef" have been sent to prison after their original sentences of community service were deemed too lenient.

On Thursday, Dawei Zhang (38) and Han Chung Tang (46) were sentenced by the three-judge Court of Appeal to two years and six months in prison with the final 12 months suspended on condition they be of good behaviour. The court overturned the original sentence of 240 hours of community service handed down by Judge Martina Baxter at the Circuit Court last year.

The court heard that one of the men ended up with a meat cleaver stuck in his back and needed a blood transfusion along with treatment for stab wounds to his head, forearm and back.

The other man suffered lacerations to his scalp, chest and shoulder.

Joe Mulrean BL, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the appeal court that sentences imposed by the courts must deter people from committing violent crimes using dangerous weapons.

He added: "How is general deterrence served if a person can engage in such ferocious acts of violence and walk out of court without a significant punishment?"

Mr Mulrean played CCTV footage which showed Zhang initially attacking Tang in the kitchen of the restaurant without a weapon in what the court described as "fisticuffs". Mr Mulrean said Tang accepted in garda interviews that he was first to take up a meat cleaver but when the two men went through a back door of the kitchen to an area not covered by CCTV, they were both armed with cleavers.

Tang received the worst injuries and ended up with a cleaver "buried in his back which broke his shoulder blade," counsel said.

John Byrne SC, for Zhang, said Judge Baxter's sentence was lenient but not unduly so. He said the sentencing judge had given a careful and reasoned sentence taking into account his client's lack of previous convictions, good character, work history and early guilty plea.

Padraig Dwyer SC, for Tang, said the incident was an "explosion of violence" after tensions between the two workmates had been simmering.

Both men are of good character and considered low risk for reoffending, Mr Dwyer said, but got "sucked into a violent episode" and picked up weapons that were freely available.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy delivered judgment, saying that imprisonment for serious assaults using dangerous weapons is necessary as a deterrent to others. There must be exceptional circumstances to justify a non-custodial sentence and the court found none in this case, he said.

Mr Justice McCarthy quashed the original sentence of community service on the grounds it was unduly lenient and imposed in its place one of two-and-a-half years imprisonment with the final 12 months suspended.

Both men entered bonds to be of good behaviour during the period of their suspended sentence before being taken away by prison officers.

The defendants were preparing food in the kitchen of Jumbo Wok takeaway in Kimmage, Dublin, in July 2019 when a verbal argument became violent.

Zhang, of Cloonlara Square, Phoenix Park Racecourse, Castleknock, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm and one count of producing a knife in the course of a dispute at the restaurant on July 27, 2019.

Tang, of Millbrook, Portlaoise, Co Laois, pleaded guilty to the same charges.

During a sentencing hearing last year, Judge Baxter said the pair were intent on causing serious harm to each other over who was the better chef. She said the violence on the day was gratuitous and noted there was blood everywhere in the aftermath of the incident.

At an earlier sentence hearing, Detective Garda Marcus Sweeney said that the pair had a tense history, with the argument that day starting over the shared workload.

A physical fight ensued, which was captured on camera before the pair broke apart and Zhang left the kitchen to have a cigarette.

When he returned to the kitchen, the pair started fighting again before Tang grabbed a meat cleaver and swung it at Zhang, hitting him on the head and shoulder a number of times, the court heard.

In an incident that was not captured on camera, Zhang then stabbed Tang a number of times. Another restaurant worker discovered Tang collapsed in the backyard in a pool of blood, while Zhang was bleeding heavily from the head. There was blood all over the kitchen floor, the court heard.

An ambulance and gardai were called and emergency services worked to staunch the flow of blood in Tang's case. He was taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds to his head, forearm, and back and required blood transfusions.

Zhang required medical treatment for lacerations to his scalp, chest and shoulder.
The number of people who were in emergency accommodation over the Christmas period fell compared with November, housing figures show.

The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that just under 15,000 people were homeless last month.

A total of 14,864 were recorded as homeless last month, a drop of some 335 compared with the previous month.

For the same month there are also 148 fewer children and 76 fewer families accessing emergency accommodation compared with November.

Homelessness up 12% in last 12 months Child homelessness up 14% in last year Seasonal Dec drop sees slight fall in all categories on Nov Adults 10,354 (-188)Children 4,510 (-148)Total 14,864 (-335)Families 2,092 (76)Singles 6,847 (-82)Pensioners 229 (-6) pic.twitter.com/Hkdle6orvD  Eoin O Broin (@EOBroin) January 31, 2025

The majority of people in emergency accommodation were Irish at 51.7%, followed by 26.6% who are non-EEA (European Economic Area) and 21.7% who were EEA/UK.

Sinn Feins Eoin O Broin said homelessness has risen 12% in last 12 months, while child homelessness is up 14% compared with last year.

He said last months figures dropped as expected.

The December homeless report published today shows marginal decreases in adult and child homelessness compared to November, he said in a statement.

This seasonal drop in homeless numbers has occurred for the last number of years as family and friends do everything they can to keep loved ones from spending Christmas in emergency accommodation.

However, compared to December 2023 homelessness is up 12%, while child homelessness is up 14% in the last year. This shows that the crisis is getting worse.

Catherine Kenny, chief executive of Dublin Simon Community, said: While we welcome the slight decrease in the number of people in emergency accommodation around the country, we are still unable to accept the injustice of almost 15,000 without a place to call home.

This figure represents a 12% increase on the number in emergency accommodation compared to December 2023.

As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we cannot and should not tolerate a society where so many are left without the basic human necessity of shelter.

Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan called on Minister for Housing James Browne to turn this one-off decline into a new momentum.

We are encouraged that the new Programme for Government includes a commitment to reducing and working towards ending homelessness by 2030, Mr Dennigan added.

There is now an opportunity to develop detailed plans so this can be achieved.

As a first step, new minister James Brown and the local authorities must deliver on the programmes commitment to ensure that long-term homeless families benefit from the increased supply of social housing.
Callaghans Butchers & Deli in Ardee have been honoured with a tasty award after being named as having the best steak in Leinster.

The top butchers won the Best Striploin Steak in Leinster award at the National Steak Challenge in the Curragh Co Kildare.

Peter Callaghan said: We are absolutely thrilled to announce our success at the recent National Irish Steak Challenge hosted by Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland and judged by over 30 experts, including the renowned John Relihan and Darina Allen.

It all starts with the farmer, who was Niall Reilly from Stabannan, who supplies us regularly with quality stock and then our shop team of craft butchers who help maintain our quality process which includes dry ageing for 14 to 21days ,expertly cut and presented.

Above: Peter Callaghan with his award-winning steaks

And the results are the Number 1 Striploin Steak in Leinster.

This achievement reflects our dedication to producing the very best for our customers. From selecting the finest locally sourced beef to perfecting every cut, we take immense pride in the work we do - and this award is a testament to that commitment.

We want to thank our incredible team for their commitment to excellence and, most importantly, our amazing customers for their continued support.

Pop into the shop to try our award-winning steak!
As St. Brigid's Day approaches on the 1st of February, the birthplace of Irelands beloved saint invites visitors to celebrate this special occasion and immerse themselves in the rich heritage, vibrant culture, and stunning landscapes that make Louth a must-visit destination.



Discover the Legacy of St. Brigid

Born at sunrise on the 1st of February 452 in Faughart, just outside Dundalk, St. Brigids story is deeply woven into the fabric of Louths history.

Her life, marked by healing, fertility, poetry, and care for the land, is beautifully linked to the Celtic Goddess Brigid, embodying wisdom and rebirth.

Growing up on her fathers farm in Faughart she developed a profound respect for nature and the world around her. St. Brigids Day has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, which marked fertility, the arrival of spring, renewal, and light.

Visitors can embark on a spiritual journey to the ancient site of Faughart, home to St. Brigids Shrine and Well, a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In 1934, Cardinal Mac Rory declared Faughart the National Shrine of St. Brigid for all of Ireland, cementing its significance as a site of tranquil beauty and reflection. The Shrine is home to Sruth Bhride (St. Brigids Stream), modern and ancient Stations of the Cross, and healing stones revered for their sacred powers.

Adding a modern touch to this ancient legacy, visual artist Friz has depicted Brigid as both Goddess and Saint in a striking mural created for the SEEK Urban Arts Festival on Bridge Street, Dundalk.

This artwork bridges Brigids ancient heritage with Louths vibrant modern culture.



Events to Celebrate St. Brigids Day in Louth

A variety of events are planned across Louth to honour St. Brigids enduring legacy:



The Northern Lights Celebrating Brigid at Market Square, Dundalk Town Centre

Live Shows 1st and 2nd February between 6pm-7pm and running until Friday, 28 February 2025.

The Northern Lights multisensory light show will illuminate Dundalks Market Square in celebration of St. Brigid.

This breathtaking display, choreographed to music, intertwines historical, cultural, and spiritual elements with cutting-edge technology.

The installation will be illuminated daily (without audio) 11am to midnight for the month of February.

Above: The Northern Lights Celebrating Brigid. PIC: MARK DUFFY PHOTOGRAPHY



Faughart Candlelit Procession Celebrating Brigid - Sunday 2nd February - 6.30pm

On Sunday 2nd of February, the Faughart Community Group will host an ancient-style candlelit procession starting at St. Brigids Shrine and concluding at Faughart Graveyard.

Open to people of all faiths and none, the procession is led by robed figures, a lone drummer, and local schoolchildren.

It culminates at the Hill of Faughart with a fire-lit motte, candlelit ruins, and Gregorian chant, honouring Brigids connection to County Louth and her legacy as a Celtic Goddess and Irelands matron saint.

Above: St Brigid's Shrine. PHOTO: TOURISM IRELAND

Creative Spark Launches Pop-Up Exhibition: Brigid  A Celebration of Art, Legacy, and Community

Creative Spark is excited to open its first pop-up exhibition space at the Downtown Hub, Dundalk, featuring ten artists from the Creative Spark Print Studio. Inspired by Brigids legacy and symbolism, the exhibition runs from Friday, 31st January, to Wednesday, 28th February.

Opening Night: Friday 31st January at 7pm, and exhibition running until 28th February.

Location: Creative Spark Downtown Hub, Dundalk. Opening Hours: Monday  Friday 9:30am  5:00pm



An Tain Arts Centre (Bo Studios): Crios Belt Weaving For Brigids Week

Join artist Una Curley on Thursday, 6th February for a unique, hands-on workshop celebrating Irish heritage and craftsmanship.

Learn the traditional art of handweaving a crios belt, explore the history and techniques behind this ancient craft, using vibrant threads to create your very own wearable masterpiece.

This workshop is a wonderful way to connect with Irish traditions while developing new skills in a friendly and creative atmosphere.



Brigid of Faughart Festival:

The Brigid of Faughart Festival 2025 celebrates Brigid of Faughart as Saint and pre-Christian Celtic Goddess and her birthplace of Faughart, where the story of Saint Brigid began.



Brigid Symbols and Customs Workshop - 1st February - 11:00 am - An Tain Arts Centre, Dundalk.

Tickets 10 (+1.50 Booking Fee Per Ticket)

Learn to weave the iconic Brigids Cross and the Crios Brid, (Brigids belt), ancient symbols of Brigid and share stories of Saint Brigids days past.

All ages welcome. With Roisin Cotter and Maura Lennon. All materials provided.



Pilgrimage Walk

10am-2.00pm - Sunday 2nd February

This years pilgrimage invites participants to walk the Day 1 route of the Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage.

The journey begins at St. Brigids Holy Well on the Hill of Faughart and continues through St. Brigids Shrine, Kilcurry, Toberona, and the Lisnawilly Estate, concluding at Brigids Stream in Dundalk.

Highlights include:

 Rituals such as a Brigid Water Blessing

 Storytelling of Brigids myths and legends

 Historical insights into Ireland's Ancient East

Contribution: 25 (supports the upkeep of Brigid's Way Pilgrimage & Festival) Fitness: Moderate level required.

Preparations: Participants should bring a packed lunch and water bottle.



Tour of Faughart Sacred Sites with Roisin Cotter (1km) - Monday 3rd February

11.00am -1.00pm

Join Roisin Cotter for a guided tour of Faugharts sacred sites, starting at Faughart Old Graveyard/Hill of Faughart car park. The 1km walk concludes at St. Brigid's Shrine.

Preparations: Walking boots and warm clothing are recommended. Donation: 10 or more appreciated.

Above: Aerial image of the Old Faughart Graveyard. PHTOTO: TOURISM IRELAND



Brigids Trail Map & Guide

For those seeking to explore Brigids legacy, Brigids Trail Map & Guide highlights key sites, including the Brigid of Faughart mural in Dundalk, St. Brigids Shrine and Holy Well in Faughart.



Plan Your Visit

St. Brigids Day, now a public holiday celebrated annually on the first Monday in February, is the perfect time to explore Louth, the birthplace of Irelands beloved saint.

Whether youre seeking a spiritual retreat, an outdoor adventure, or a journey through rich cultural heritage, Louth has something for everyone. Discover the county's vibrant history, stunning landscapes, and connections to the life of St. Brigid, and experience why Louth is one of Ireland's most enchanting destinations.



For more information on events and activities, visit www.visitlouth.ie
There was a slight fall in the number of people recorded as homeless in Louth and the North East region in December, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

262 adults accessed local authority managed emergency accommodation during the week of 23-29 December 2024 in the North East region, with 235 of them in Louth. This is down from 273 in November in the North East, which included 242 Louth. The North East region comprises Louth, Monaghan and Cavan. 27 people were recorded as homeless in Monaghan and Cavan combined.

Of the 262 adults in the North East region, 140 were male and 122 were female. 46 were aged 18-24; 137 aged 25-44; 73 were aged 45-64; and six people were aged 65 and over. 150 were Irish citizens; 50 were EEA/IK citizens; and 62 were Non-EEA citizens.

62 families with 138 child dependents also accessed local authority managed emergency accommodation during the week of 23-29 December in the North East region. This is down from 69 families with 152 children in November.

Nationally, 10,354 adults and 4,510 children, giving a total of 14,864 homeless people were recorded in December. This is down from 10,541 adults and 4,658 children, 15,199 people in total, in November, the first fall in quite some time in the number of people accessing local authority managed emergency accommodation.

Commenting on the latest figures, Dundalk Simon Community said that with a new Government in place, there must finally be action on homelessness. It added that the Government figures do not account for those rough sleeping, individuals in domestic violence shelters, refugees, or asylum seekers on our streets. These figures also exclude those in hidden homelessness: people sleeping in cars, staying with friends, on sofas, or in unsuitable conditions.

Catherine Kenny, CEO said: While we welcome the slight decrease in the number of people in emergency accommodation around the country, we are still unable to accept the injustice of almost 15,000 without a place to call home. This figure represents a 12% increase on the number in emergency accommodation compared to December 2023. As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we cannot and should not tolerate a society where so many are left without the basic human necessity of shelter.

The Government should take little comfort in the minor reduction in the numbers in emergency accommodation services. It is not uncommon for these numbers to dip around Christmas time as some people find other places to stay. A partial decrease does not take away from the fact that there are thousands without the comfort of a home.

"We believe it is the responsibility of this new Cabinet, taking an interdepartmental approach, to sufficiently address this crisis in a way that previous administrations have failed to. It is time for those in power to remember those without it and finally invest in workable solutions.
Adult learners from Louth and Meath gathered at City North Hotel in Gormanstown, Co Meath to share their experiences and help shape the future of further education.

This regional meeting of the National Further Education and Training (FET) Learner Forum brought together 72 participants, providing them with a platform to discuss their learning journeys and contribute to positive change.

The National FET Learner Forum is a collaborative initiative led by AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, in partnership with SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority, and local Education and Training Boards. This marks the first regional meeting of the year, with thousands of learners from across Ireland set to participate throughout 2025, sharing their experiences and insights

Speaking at the forum, Mick Burns, from the Support & Development Unit at Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) said: Learner voice is such an important aspect of FET. It is a cornerstone of effective education because it respects and amplifies the perspectives of learners, creating a more dynamic, equitable, and impactful learning environment.

"It provides each learner with an opportunity to express their opinions and ideas which can help shape how we deliver our services for them.

Facilitators at the event noted that learners spoke highly of their courses, tutors, and the overall nature of adult learning. Youthreach learners highlighted how the shyness they felt in secondary school faded in a Further Education and Training (FET) setting, describing the experience as 'transformative' and saying it significantly eased their anxiety
Opposition parties have written to the Taoiseach to criticise flawed, preposterous proposals to resolve a row over how speaking time should be allocated to government-affiliated independents.

It comes as a member of the Dail reform committee, which is attempting to resolve the issue, said they have gone backwards in trying to reach an agreement.

Efforts to appoint an Irish premier two weeks ago were delayed by a day after the opposition disrupted proceedings in protest over speaking time.

Of the nine independents supporting the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael government  seven from the Regional Independent Group and two Kerry brothers Michael and Danny Healy-Rae  five are ministers of state.

Four of the other independents want to be part of a technical group, which would give them Dail speaking slots during opposition time.

Opposition parties have argued this would dilute efforts to hold Government to account.

Despite talks being held this week to attempt to resolve the row before the Dail resumes next Wednesday, they broke up on Friday without agreement.

The opposition has sent a letter to Taoiseach Micheal Martin criticising the latest proposal, which suggests a hybrid technical group that allows members to either support Government or not.

The letter read: Despite taking a week to bring forward this proposal, it is clear the Governments position remains unchanged  granting special parliamentary privileges to a group that is not in opposition.

This attempt to designate the Regional Independents as an informal technical grouping of unaligned members/hybrid group and to manipulate speaking time to favour them is fundamentally flawed and must be abandoned.

Speaking on the plinth as the meeting at Leinster House broke up, opposition TDs suggested that there would be further disruption in the Dail next week if current stances remain.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said that we have gone backwards.

The proposal they currently tabled is even worse than the proposal that they tabled last night. It is an opposition technical group called something different.

He said that there was a need to reconvene party leaders for a meeting over the weekend before the Dail reform committee meets on Tuesday.

Asked what would happen when the Dail reconvenes if no progress is made, Mr Murphy said: That much hasnt been discussed, exactly what form that would take, but I would think certainly the mood music from the opposition is absolute opposition to what is being attempted and we need to discuss the details of what that looks like.

But, lets say they have a meeting of the Dail reform committee on Tuesday and vote this through by majority, that will not be acceptable to us and will be protested.

Sinn Fein chief whip Padraig Mac Lochlainn said we rule nothing out in relation to what would happen on Wednesday, and said that no self-respecting opposition could accept this.

He added: We want the Dail to sit obviously in opposition, we want to do our job. But we cant be taken for fools. This has to come to a sensible conclusion. Im actually genuinely shocked that were still talking about this now over a week later.

We waited a whole a week for the Government to present their draft solution and it was absolutely an insult to our intelligence what was given to us yesterday. We spent five-and-a-half hours and and there was nothing was conceded by Government, nothing, and here we are again today.

Deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Cian OCallaghan, said that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to stop dancing to the tune of Michael Lowry, the Tipperary TD who led the Regional Independents during government formation talks.

He added: The entire proposal being put forward, where government backbench TDs would masquerade not just as members of the opposition, but the latest proposals we saw this week (they would) effectively be masquerading as leaders of the opposition, is utterly preposterous, totally unacceptable.

It will never fly, not alone with opposition, I think with the general public as well, who have not been impressed by this carry-on, especially when theres very serious issues facing the country that we should be all focusing on.

Why is government bending over backwards to try to get them treated as opposition when everyone knows they're not? Last week Martin & Harris said that there is no deal with Lowry on this.From what went on last night, I now find that extremely hard to believe.#LowrysLackeys pic.twitter.com/aPB9nkdy60  Paul Murphy  (@paulmurphy_TD) January 31, 2025

A spokesperson for the Government, Chief Whip Mary Butler, said that the Government was disappointed that the opposition had chosen to dismiss the proposal, while the Government remains open to positive engagement.

She added: Our Dail must be able to function, and we cannot have a repeat of the scenes in the chamber last week, and no individuals should be able to hold the Dail to ransom.

The Government is focused on an orderly meeting of the Dail next week, to address the aftermath of Storm Eowyn and the business that the public expect all of our elected representatives to do.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Martin said there had been simplistic utterances on the issue, and that his Fianna Fail party had commissioned senior counsel opinion on the matter.

Asked whether he believe it will be resolved, Mr Martin said: I would hope so. We will keep talking. We want to try and resolve this.

Could I say at the outset, I think theres been a lot of, I think, simplistic utterances about this entire situation.

Our party has commissioned senior counsel opinion on this just to create a context because theres a notion going around that opposition and government, you cant be in either, thats far too simplistic because go back to 1932 and from then onwards, people from opposition benches have been supporting different governments in different ways.

For example, the confidence supply agreement between the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael from 2016 to 2020, if what Sinn Fein is saying and People Before Profit are saying that you cant be in opposition and support government or be involved in discussions around the programme for government or budget, we would not have had confidence and supply.

That programme for government was influenced by the main opposition party, the budgets were influenced by the two-to-one rule about two times expenditure versus tax relief.

Into the future, weve got to be careful not to be overly prescriptive about what a Dail might do, or members of the Dail might do.

Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy said in a statement: A Dail that can reach consensus is ultimately better for democracy and becomes truly representative of the peoples wishes.

It is regrettable that no consensus or agreement could be reached today. As Ceann Comhairle, I am committed to continuing with this process and to exhausting every possible avenue.

The Committee has agreed to reconvene on February 4 at 12pm, having reflected over the weekend on todays discussions.
She may only be 18, but Sarah Thompson, from Knocknaheeny, is launching a literary zine with her writer friend, Lavie Olupona, at Myo Cafe tomorrow, February 1.

Sarah, who is a first-year student of English at UCC, has a book of poetry written which she is trying to get published.

She also has a podcast entitled The Lost Library, in which she interviews indie writers and focuses on authors that are not usually well known.

Sarah faces challenges every day because of disability. She was born with a form of scoliosis that affects the neck. She also has a dislocated hip and uses a walking stick.

While disability does not define this creative young woman, it has been a source of difficulty.

In her writing, she focuses a lot on mental health, explaining: Its kind of hard for young people to speak up about it and I think its under-represented in poetry.

For me, poetry is a great outlet for all these emotions you feel. Thats what is great about the arts. You can use it to express yourself.

A past pupil of Terence MacSwiney Community College in Hollyhill, where creativity is encouraged, says Sarah, she has always loved English.

I started writing poetry when I was about 13. Ive always been a reader. I wanted to explore the avenue of writing and Id like to get my poetry book out there.

The school I went to is very supportive of creative projects. Theyve done collaborations with the Kabin Crew such as workshops.

While Sarah is dedicated to writing, she says she may do a post-graduate course in teaching. It would be practical. Its very hard to get poetry published. If I was teaching, I could pursue writing on the side.

Sarah and Lavie only decided to put together the zine, called Blaithi, in November.

Lavie, who is 19, is an activist and poet, studying social science at UCC. She performed her poem, Let Our Voices Be Heard in the Dail on International Womens Day in 2022, invited by Holly Cairns, now leader of the Social Democrats. Lavie also won an Edna OBrien Young Writers award at the Museum of Literature Ireland.

Blaithi will have about 20 pages for its first issue.

We couldnt do a launch without Myo Cafe, said Sarah. Theyre giving us the use of their facilities.

Well have a couple of guests at it including people from Good Day Cork (a platform that celebrates positive stories.)

The zine, whose title means little flowers, had a relatively small number of submissions for its first issue, but Sarah believes there is an opening for a publication that amplifies the voices of young people.

It will feature a variety of genres such as poetry, prose, essays and art work, centred around specific themes.

For the inaugural edition, the theme is new beginnings.

The theme is open to interpretation, explains Sarah. It could mean a new day. Art is what we make it.

Literature is something that Sarah is passionate about. As a child, she was reading a bit ahead of my age, adding: I was reading Jacqueline Wilson when I was very young and a lot of David Walliams.

I recently read a poetry book by Isabella Dorta who performs spoken word poetry.

Ive read Margaret Atwood. At college, weve just read Sir Orfeo (a Middle English poem). We have just finished Seamus Heaneys translation of Beowulf. Its not to my taste.

I read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recently. Its really good.

Asked what she likes to write about, Sarah says she would like to make social commentary on issues such as children on long waiting lists for scoliosis operations. (Sarah had private treatment, but feels strongly about access to health care.)

Blaithi, the new literary magazine launched by Sarah Thompson and Lavie

My poetry so far is very much focused on mental health, but Im hoping to branch out and to touch on social issues, she said.

People are very aware of mental health issues, but its a question of how do we encourage them to talk about it? There is so much stigma around it.

I would have struggled dealing with my disability. Everyone has their own struggles. When I was doing the Leaving Cert, I was trying to cope with the amount of pain I was in.

Some days, I can be fine; other days I can have a lot of pain.

The pervasiveness of social media in young peoples lives is another theme that Sarah is interested in exploring.

Its all in your face. You can be mindlessly scrolling on TikTok. Youre seeing people with seemingly perfect lives in big houses. Of course thats going to affect young people.

Everyone has access to social media. I would be heavily involved with it because of my podcast. It has pros and cons.

For her podcast, Sarahs interviewees have included Kalynn Bayron, a writer of young adult fiction who is a New York Times bestseller.

I interviewed her on Zoom; she was lovely. I focus on authors that maybe people wouldnt know.

Ive had opportunities to connect with lesser-known writers. I get ARCs (advanced reader copies) of books so I read them before they get published.

There was more poetry than short stories submitted to Blaithi. The cover is a reproduction of an artwork by artist Susie Lopez.

Weve had a good few students submitting work to us, said Sarah, Theyre really talented. I think theres a lot of talent around Cork; its just not represented enough.

Sarah and Lavie are on a mission to change that.

To submit work, go to Blaithi on Instagram. Its expected that the zine will be published quarterly. It costs 5.
A couple from West Cork is preparing to undertake a 29-day trek to raise funds and awareness for the plight of the people of Gaza.

Niamh McAndrew, 26, and Ruairi OSullivan, 23, will begin their journey tomorrow, February 1, as they re-trace the historic route the OSullivan Beare clan marched in 1603.

This route, from Cork to Cavan, was originally taken by Donal OSullivan Beare and 1,000 of his supporters fleeing invading English forces.

Niamh and Ruairi chose this route - the 700km Beara Breifne Way - to honour the parallels between Irelands history of displacement and the ongoing struggles of Palestinians.

For us, this walk is about raising money and awareness - and a way to draw attention to the potent connection between the Irish story and the current Palestinian story, Niamh explains.

For Ruairi, the trek has layers of meaning.

My family is OSullivan on my fathers side, but as well as that, I recently discovered my ancestors on my mothers side, the OCharra clan, were among the 400 soldiers who also marched, he said.

So, my ancestors on each side marched together.

We are walking from Glengarriff to Blacklion, Co. Cavan, near Niamhs hometown in Fermanagh, so were walking from my home place to Niamhs home place.

For all these reasons, the trek feels really poignant and personal.

Niamh and Ruairi first met in West Cork after she relocated from Fermanagh to volunteer at a meditation centre.

Niamh says: I moved down to West Cork nearly four years ago and just fell in love with it, especially Allihies. Between the people and the landscape, I stayed a lot longer than I intended!

The couple will walk an average of 20km a day on their trek, carrying only the essentials - camping gear, minimal clothing, and a Palestinian flag.

Our intention is to camp where possible. We are trying to connect, in a small way, to the experience of displacement by not having a lot of comforts, Niamh explains.

But we understand that, with the climate in Ireland, we may have to rely on the generosity of people to put us up, and we have already had offers of some accommodation along the way.

The local response to their endeavour has been overwhelmingly supportive.

OSullivan, who is originally from Eyeries, says: Weve had people offering us equipment, and friends saying theyll join us for a day along the way.

Others have helped by promoting our fundraiser in local pubs and shops. Its been amazing to see how generous people are.

Its a strong reminder of the sense of community we have here in West Cork.

Niamh emphasises the deep connection between Irish and Palestinian struggles.

Growing up in the North from a nationalist background, theres a really strong connection.

In the North, you see a lot of Palestinian flags. I guess because there is still the experience of many people who are under the rule of a government that we dont feel is ours.

Theres a shared understanding of colonialism. That is half of the perspective in the North. Obviously, there are other perspectives, she explains.

Ruairi draws similar links between Irelands history and the plight of Palestinians.

Through the years, there has been hardship, famine and religious persecution, he says.

The couple chose Gaza Go Bragh as the recipient of their fund-raising, for its transparency and direct impact.

We wanted to ensure the money goes directly to people in Gaza, Niamh says.

Gaza Go Bragh works on the ground, providing direct financial aid to families in need.

Despite the recent ceasefire, the couple believe this is no time to lose focus on the Middle East

In the modern era, people seem to have a very short attention span. We are all guilty of it. There is so much happening, which has its benefits, but it also means a 24-hour news cycle," says Ruairi.

But these people havent even had time to mourn yet. The news moves on, but the people in Gaza are trying to find stability, safety, and some semblance of their previous lives.

Its going to take a long time to heal. I think it isnt something to be forgotten quickly.

Niamh echoes this sentiment, noting the importance of continuing solidarity.

Walking itself is such a contemplative activity. When you are just walking and there are no distractions, you really start to notice the mind has a bit more space to hold different contemplations, she says.

I think with this walk representing our own ancestral connection, while also bringing the Palestinian people to mind, there will be a lot of compassion and empathy grown within us.

Walking for 29 days as a couple will be no small feat, but Niamh and Ruairi are optimistic.

We often talk about what well talk about and whether well run out of things to say, Niamh laughs.

But I think even more so than the challenge, there will be so much support for each other.

For them, this journey is about much more than the physical challenge.

This walk is about solidarity, Niamh explains. Its about remembering our shared history and standing with those who are suffering today.

The couple invite others to join them for sections of the walk, to follow their journey on Instagram and Facebook, or to donate to their fundraising page to support Gaza Go Bragh.

https://www.idonate.ie/crowdfunder/MarchforPalestine

Facebook - Beara for Palestine

Instagram - Beara March for Palestine
SINCE January 1, an outdoor smoking ban has been in place in Italys financial and fashion capital, Milan.

Debate has intensified as to whether Ireland should implement a similar ban.

People in Milan are subject to fines ranging from 40 to 240. According to city officials, the measure applies to all public spaces, including streets. There is an exception: People in isolated areas may smoke outside, but only if they can keep a distance of at least 10m from other people.

In 2020, Milan City Council passed an air-quality ordinance that called for stricter bans and the reduction of smoking. In 2021, the first ban was put in to effect, forbidding smoking in public parks, childrens playgrounds, bus stops, and sporting facilities.

The new, outdoor ban, coming ahead of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, is looking to drastically improve the citys air quality.

Smoking is responsible for approximately 85% of all cases of lung cancer, which is the deadliest cancer, according to the World Health Organisation.

Speaking to The Echo, Dr Zubair Kabir, who has been a senior lecturer in public health since 2012 at University College Cork, and the academic director of the flagship programme the Master of Public Health (MPH), outlines how Ireland and Cork could introduce an outdoor smoking ban, should the authorities ever decide to do so.

Cork has been considered to be a cultural capital and also the World Health Organisation has considered Cork as a healthy city, Dr Kabir says.

You have all these projects ongoing with the Cork City Council and thinking of making Cork a healthy city.

So, when you talk of Cork, there are some activities in place: We have this workforce and we have a team.

We are thinking about being a healthy city. So we can just incorporate another additional pillar of tackling tobacco.

There is plenty to consider from both sides of the debate, for and against the introduction of an outdoor smoking ban.

As Dr Kabir alludes to, the outdoor ban in Milan does not include e-cigarettes.

Dr Kabir also is of the opinion that if an outdoor smoking ban ever came to Cork, improved messaging and communication with the public would be essential for successful implementation.

The Department for Health, they had this action plan, what to do over the next 10 years, Dr Kabir says. This was drafted almost, like, 10 years ago, that Ireland will become almost tobacco free by 2025 and that the smoking rate will come down to less than 5%.

Now, it is almost like 18%.

We didnt do much, Dr Kabir says. We were complacent with many things. We didnt invest in funds, and we have to reset this goal and think about our neighbours, like the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Norway.

They have this thing called smoke-free generation.

So, the tobacco end game, which is not possible in Ireland within the next 12 months, we have to rethink and revisit our targets and goals, so that we can.

As to what he feels decision-makers, such as in Dail Eireann and Cork City Council, should take in to consideration with regards to introducing any potential outdoor smoking ban, Dr Kabir discusses how collaboration and leadership from the top will be vital.

We need a political champion who would take this agenda forward. We may come up with orders and strategies, but the implementation part is the key.

You need to have a vision and road map towards that investment of funds. We have proven strategies, like the FCTC, (the Framework Conventional Tobacco Control), by the WHO, which we havent implemented in its entirety.

Theyre looking more at the demand side of the tobacco products, but how about the supply side? The tobacco end game is more about the supply side, Dr Kabir says.

There are articles laid out in this framework, which talk about how to tackle the supply side, for example Article 5.3.

The tobacco companies should be out of any discussion regarding any strategies or a tobacco-free Ireland.

There should be stakeholders; like Cork City Council may be one of those stakeholders. We need academia; people from higher-education institutions, like UCC.

Dr Kabir says: Also, we need people in the general public, who have gone through these kind of experiences.

Like a pregnant mother? How about them having a baby, yet to be born, and someone is smoking within less than 10m in front of them at the bus stop?

If you have those live messages, real stories captured, and we have to invest in these hard-hitting campaigns, which should be funded through the Government.

The HSE is underfunded, in terms of running these hard-hitting campaigns, which need to be not one-off, but sustained campaigns, like in the US.

So, investment is key and then public awareness.
A city councillor has called for an urgent intervention into road safety in Cork, questioning why the RSA has continued to delay the publication of data surrounding crashes, such as where and when they occurred, despite previously pledging to have it available by the end of last year.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan, who is chairperson of the Cork City Council transport strategic policy committee, has called for the installation of signage warning of crashes along the South Link Rd into the tunnel along the N40, as well as the N25, saying these measures must be accompanied by garda deployment.

He told The Echo that urgent intervention is needed, adding: More crashes will lead to more congestion or worse, another fatality.

Every day, multiple times a day, there is crash after crash, causing backlogs not just on the main artery surrounding the city but impacting into communities like Blackrock, Douglas, and causing significant danger in enhanced traffic flows.

We are at a point where we need additional gardai deployed to Cork to the roads policing unit at these crash sites to deter further crashes, along with traffic information boards warning drivers to slow down. So much of this is driver behaviour, but we now need to put out the deterrence to force that behaviour change.

Mr Horgan has written to the minister for transport as well as executives at Cork City Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and the Garda Commissioner to request urgent intervention along the N40 and N25.

Mr Horgans letter called for signage detailing the need to slow down and driver responsibility, and deployment of tow trucks to help move crashed cars to the hard shoulder to allow traffic to flow.

He also suggested a significant number of additional gardai deployed to the roads policing unit to be present on site at rush hour times especially, and a major public relations campaign through TV, radio, newspapers, and social media on the need for driver behaviour changes in Cork and on the South Link Road.

He also called for an assessment of road infrastructure, including the need for temporary speed limitations if required, at stretches to counteract the crashes.

Similarly, Mr Horgan asked for the examination and publication of data for where crashes are taking place that have been recorded by the Garda Pulse System. This has long been called for by councillors, as the data used to be regularly shared, but has not been shared in more than six years due to GDPR concerns.

An RSA spokesperson told The Echo in April of 2024: It is hoped that the sharing of collision data with local authorities will be able to resume later this year. Mr Horgan said this has not occurred, adding: Ive been seeking this data, along with other public reps, for some years now, and there is still no action taken.

How can we target resources to roads where crashes are happening if we are not in the full knowledge of the data regarding those crashes? We can no longer rely on anecdotal evidence to protect commuters.

The Echo contacted the RSA for comment.
A higher-speed Cork to Belfast rail link and the restoration of flights between the Northern Irish city and Cork Airport are among the priorities Irelands Chambers network said they wish to progress at a meeting of business leaders from across the island in Dublin this week.

The aim of progressing the higher-speed rail link, the restoration of the flights between Cork and Belfast, as well as funding allocations for ports, all-island innovation clusters, and enhancing tourism links is to advance key priorities to shape the future of the all-island economy, Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said following the meeting.

We see significant potential to advance a more integrated approach to economic development, one that harnesses the strengths of each region and creates shared prosperity, said Mr Healy.

We are focused on strengthening the connectivity that underpins business growth and regional development.

By advancing discussion on the opportunities for our ports, fostering all-island innovation clusters, and enhancing tourism links, we are creating the foundations for a modern, competitive and sustainable island economy.

Cork Chamber was just one of the organisations from the city and county represented at the meeting.

Board members from the organisation attended alongside representatives of Port of Cork, Cork Airport, Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Visit Cork, and others. The grouping met with peers and counterparts from Dublin and Belfast.

Cork Chamber president Rob Horgan said the network of Chambers of Commerce had a critical role in leading collaboration and driving forward an all-island approach to economic development.

This Tri-Region Partnership is a powerful example of how the chamber network can bring together business leaders, policymakers, and key stakeholders to deliver tangible benefits for communities across the island of Ireland.

The event was hosted by the capitals Chamber of Commerce and CEO, Mary Rose Burke, who said the meeting was an example of how the business community and the chamber network across the island is leading on fostering connectivity, economic growth.

We have a great ambition to strengthen ties across the regions, she said. We are united in our goal to advance our common interests and adopt an all-island approach to economic growth.
A 132 million investment into a Cork-based med-tech company has been described as a resounding endorsement of the area.

The Carrigtwohill-based company, GE HealthCare, announced the multi-million euro investment on Friday, which will see a new 3,000m2 facility established to support pipeline products and cater to growing global demand.

As part of his first engagement as Taoiseach in Cork county, Micheal Martin turned the sod at the site, and was joined by fellow party members, Cork East TD James OConnor and Cork North-Central TD, Padraig OSullivan.

GE HealthCare has been manufacturing in Ireland for more than 30 years, and has invested extensively in the Carrigtwohill site and the people working here, said Mr Martin.

What we are witnessing is continued advancement and growth in the company, in high-quality, high-end manufacturing, [which is] a very key part of the medical world in terms of diagnostics.

This is very good news, and whats impressive is its based on the quality of people who work here.

Human capital [at GE HealthCare] has grown and developed, and is the key ingredient in ensuring that the Cork plant plays a significant role in meeting the growing market globally.

I am delighted to welcome this significant new investment here in Cork, which is testament to the commitment of GE HealthCare in Ireland, and also to our highly skilled workforce.

CEO of Cork Chamber, Conor Healy said the investment is "a resounding endorsement of Cork and Ireland as a world-class location for global businesses to invest, grow and thrive".

Global medical technology company GE HealthCare has today announced a 132m investment to expand its Carrigtwohill site. Image shows a CGI of the new state-of-the-art facility.

He added: This expansion underscores the confidence that foreign direct investment companies have in our region.

GE HealthCare has been a valued part of Corks business landscape, [and] beyond the benefits to healthcare innovation and supply chain security, this investment will deliver a major economic boost to our region.

The creation of 250 jobs during the construction phase will [also] provide significant opportunities for local contractors, suppliers, and service providers, further stimulating business activity and economic growth in Cork and beyond.

Cork has long been recognised as a dynamic hub [and] once operational in 2027, this state-of-the-art facility will continue to strengthen our life sciences ecosystem, attracting further talent and investment to the area.

The company said that by the end of 2027, the new state-of-the-art facility, on the grounds of the existing site, will enable a further 25m patient doses per year of contrast media, which is injectable diagnostic imaging agents used to enhance visualisation of organs, blood vessels, and tissues during medical imaging.

The facility is set to include solution preparation vessels, multi-functional powder handling systems, a new filling line and autoclaves, with advanced automation systems underpinning production.

Kevin ONeill, President & CEO, GE HealthCares Pharmaceutical Diagnostics, Eugene Barrett, Managing Director, GE HealthCare Ireland, Lorraine Marah, HR Director, GE HealthCare and An Taoiseach Micheal Martin at the turning of the sod at GE HealthCare in Carrigtohill. Photo: Darragh Kane

Engineering firm IPS-Integrated Project Services will lead the project, enabling construction works to start at the facility next month.

As part of this project, more than 250 construction roles are expected to be created.

Kevin ONeill, president and CEO of GE HealthCares pharmaceutical diagnostics (PDx) segment, said the new facility demonstrates the companys broader commitment not just to address future demand, but also to increase resiliency and security of industry supply for customers.

Site leader and managing director of GE HealthCare Ireland, Eugene Barrett, said: This expansion strengthens our longstanding presence in Cork, where we have a highly skilled team, access to leading talent in the pharmaceutical industry, strong distribution links around the world and a great partnership with IDA Ireland.

IDA Ireland CEO Michael Lohan said: [This] announcement by GE HealthCare to expand their manufacturing facility and related expertise for producing vital pharmaceuticals and creating employment opportunities is very welcome. Its an endorsement from GE HealthCare senior leadership team of the confidence in the capability and competency of the team at the Carrigtwohill campus developed over three decades.
Gardai are appealing for witnesses to come forward following a road traffic collision in Cork yesterday.

The incident, involving two cars, occurred eastbound on the N25 near Cobh Cross shortly before 3pm.

The drivers of both vehicles, a male in his 80s and a female in her 40s, were conveyed to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for treatment of injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

Gardai are now appealing for any witnesses to this collision to come forward.

Any road users who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, who were travelling on the N25 and the environs of Cobh Cross yesterday, between 2.30pm and 3.15pm, are asked to make this footage available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cobh Garda Station on 021-4908530, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.
A man has died following a residential fire in Togher Road this evening. The fire brigade attended the scene at around 6.30pm this evening.

The man was found in the house after the fire brigade entered, while a woman managed to leave the house as they arrived and was treated by ambulances at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Ger Ryan, Third Officer at Cork City Fire Brigade told The Echo: There unfortunately has been a fatality at the scene.

It was a domestic fire, three units responded and when we got into the house we found a person deceased. We made every effort, dealt with the fire then found the person. He added: The fire was contained to the one room in the house.

Gardai and ambulances were in attendance. There were two people in the house, as we arrived one female left and she was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

There will be an investigation starting now as to what started the fire, and we will be helping the Gardai with that. A Garda spokesperson told The Echo: Gardai and emergency services are currently attending the scene of a fire at a domestic residence on the Togher Road in Cork this evening, Friday 31st January 2025.

Once the premises has been made safe by fire services it will be held subject to a technical examination by Gardai.

No further information is available at this time.
The shakiest of starts, and having to immediately face up to new challenges both home and abroad, means there is no honeymoon period for a new government that many of us will be watching with real interest.

An election campaign full of promises  and the robust defence of measures introduced by outgoing government members that are already being questioned, on housing, health, cost of living, and transport - has yielded a familiar-looking two-party arrangement, but with a new prop-up the modern modality in Irish politics that is here to stay.

Current TDs will be hoping the arrangement is not temporary.

As someone who contested the recent general election as an Independent candidate in Cork South Central, I will be particularly interested to see how the new Cork TDs fare, and what the dilution of Cork representation at the Cabinet table  from three to one - will mean for the much-needed development of the city and county to drive the region.

A trio of ministers for Galway will also be worth following in terms of spatial priorities.

The hoohah and bluster over what side of the House the Regional Independents would sit at and speak from was a barn-storming start. It was handled smugly and poorly by the main parties, and understandably jumped upon by some parties of the Opposition... even if the way that was done was crass and lacking class.

Something of a pyrrhic victory has been achieved by the unprecedented events on day one: it looks like those in the Regional Independents Group will indeed speak from within government time during Dail business, but it also seems that opposition speaking rights will be reduced. Robbing from Peter to pay Paul, as it were.

Explanations as to why a Dail recess was called for a fortnight on the day the Government was formed, made by the youngest member of the Dail on some media outlets, were lame, particularly as they came at a time when the country required immediate action post-Storm Eowyn. Getting new ministers up to speed on briefs is indeed important, but it was not reason enough to adjourn the Dail for a fortnight when the learning could be done on the job.

A persistent trend of recent years, where months pass before government formation is finalised, allied to the long Dail breaks during holidays (TDs will of course argue these are not holidays), conspire to add to the mistrust of  and disinterest in  politics. (There was a time governments were formed as soon as possible after the election and the motivation for this needs to return).

That more than 40% of voters did not bother to turn out and vote in the November election affirms this disinterest. And this percentage is probably even greater when you consider the nature of our archaic registration system where some people are getting multiple votes when they change addresses.

We also have a situation where the deceased remain on registers many years after dying, where people are turning up to vote and their vote has already been cast, and where students votes are being transferred and they are voting in two jurisdictions. It all just adds to the apathy and malaise.

A trawl of the Electoral Registers using PPS numbers as filters, or a complete review at Census time during door to door data collection, is required to ensure our voting system has any semblance of integrity. Compulsory voting, as deployed in Australia, should also be debated and discussed by a Citizens Assembly.

During the general election campaign, issues such as the closure of small businesses, including early years creches and centres, the decline in housing builds, and pressures on virtually all sectors of the health and disability sectors  including adolescent mental health  were aired and trumpeted as areas in dire need of action. In the months since, headlines in The Echo suggest they remain as pressing concernstime will tell if those elected will act on them.

Other political developments and wars around the world, as well as emergencies that come from left-field, will have to be faced by the new government, addressed and surmounted.

We have yet to hear how the Apple money, as it has become to be known, will be invested to improve our towns, cities and communities. Much of the responsibility will fall on the government TDs who are the ones who can actively deliver given their positioning within Leinster House, but the opposition also has a role to be louder and more effervescent in their questioning of policy development and implementation.

Cork had three senior members at the Cabinet table in the last Government; that has been reduced to one, albeit that being the Taoiseach who should be able to wield the greatest power. Major projects like the events centre, the light rail system for Cork, and the new motorway to Limerick were allowed to stall and stagnate over the last decade, even with such Cabinet clout.

Of our 20 Cork TDs, 11 are in government and nine are in opposition, so, as the region singled out and trumpeted by the last Government as the counterbalance to Dublin (at least in planning terminology, if not in execution of policies) we should be getting more slices of the cake down south. (Surely Cork North West should itself receive the reward of a ministry given its 100% return of three government TDs?)

The job of government, as we know, at local and national level, is to look after those in their charge, ie, the people who have returned them to work in public office. These elected officeholders must, in turn, design programmes and deliver initiatives to benefit all and instruct those employed in the public service on how to best manage the resources we have - and not the other way around as so often seems to be the case. This requires bravery, foresight, and fast-paced responses to issues and deficits that we have rarely seen to date.

As a new government sets out its stall, we should all be vigilant as to how the post-election responses match the pre-election words that got its component parts into power.

We all need to keep a close eye on how those elected across the various Cork constituencies perform, to determine if the promises made become actions delivered. Otherwise, its Groundhog Day as the norm.
Here on Facebook Feedback, we have found that our readers are not averse to a rant about Cork traffic.

An opinion piece penned by our regular columnist, Trevor Laffan, this week, brought the topic back to life once more.

His article, headlined  Major flaw in 215m Dunkettle project that means jams today, prompted a flurry of comments from more than 130 of our readers, who shared their views on our EchoLive.ie Facebook page of what they thought of the new road infrastructure at the traditional bottle-neck site.

Teresa Coughlan said: It should never have been a tunnel, but a bridge with five lanes and the middle lane changing direction during rush hours.

This is the way rush hours are handled in other countries.

Salman Talpur replied to Ms Coughlans proposal: It would be too steep for lorries, as youd have to add loops to decrease the gradient, and it would cost a few childrens hospitals.

Teresa Coughlan replied: The longest bridge in Spain is in Cadiz, it is five kilometre long and three kilometres over the bay, and cruise ships can easily go under and its also a beautiful bridge.

I dont believe there would have been a massive price difference.

Salman Talpur stated: Building longer bridges higher is different to building shorter bridges higher. It would be like the Brooklyn Bridge, where the bridge over ground is longer than the bridge over the water.

It would be a lot cheaper to build a new, deeper and wider tunnel.

Teresa Coughlan furthered her argument: Of course its different, but as I said, the one in Cadiz has 1km on each side over land and 3km over the bay. The land under it can be landscaped and its a beautiful bridge.

There are many high bridges all over Europe and they add to the landscape. There is nothing attractive about the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

I believed then, and still believe, it was the wrong choice the council made for a tunnel instead of a bridge, and the amount of times that it has closed for maintenance is shocking.

Mick McSweeney remarked: A suspension bridge nowadays would break the bank. 215 million of road construction would seem like pennies compared to the huge cost of a bridge.

They would be better off sinking a new tunnel, or better still spending the money on decent transportation infrastructure.

Luke O Brien replied to Trevor Laffans article with his own point of view: Its a pretty simple interchange now, the problem really is poor driving, and people lane jumping in a mad dash to grab three feet. Anyone who cant use it, shouldnt be using it. Simple.

Yes, a bridge would have been much handier and an extra lane each way through the tunnel would be great, but this is what we have.

Patience and leaving plenty of time for your journey are all it takes. Driving here is very stressful. Id rather drive across Europe than a few hours here.

David OSullivan responded: The concept of zipper merging is completely alien to some people. Go to the end of the merging lane. Its not difficult. The amount of times I see people stop with their indicator on and the lane clear ahead of them is mental.

Zipper merging occurs when motorists use both lanes of traffic until reaching the defined merge area, and then alternate in zipper fashion into the open lane.

Ger Duhig commented: We never build anything for the future here. Same with the M50. Dublin to Naas and vice versa is another massive bottleneck.

John Middleton was another reader full of suggestions: Great article. Trevors point about three lanes merging into one on the N25 entrance to the tunnel is well made.

This could have been alleviated by looping the Little Island exit slip road over the existing N25 to join the M8 on the northern side of the old Dunkettle interchange, and then youd have had two lanes into one for the N25 and two lanes into one for the M8 and Little Island exit.

It would have alleviated, to some extent, the ridiculous tailbacks that exist every morning and evening on the N25 entrance slip to the tunnel.

JM Fitzpatrick stated: I agree, coming from the city towards the tunnel and around onto the road from Dublin, the lead-in lane is too short if theres any bit of traffic from Dublin. Should the curve have been wider to give a longer lead-in lane?

Brendan Clifford said: I saw it the moment the plans were released. Another bottleneck with three roads coming into 1 with very little space. Absolute madness.

Kevin Mac Gabhann said: It does flow a little better but thats the only improvement, but you still have huge tailbacks. Very disappointing.

Cochise Rahametan added to the conversation: Yup, not surprised. As with everything, short-term solution thinking.

You will see in a few years there will be a need for a second Jack Lynch Tunnel, and everything will be back to square one. The same with the Ballincollig bypass, it will have to connect the Macroom bypass.

Richie LeFaux remarked of the Dunkettle works: Absolute madness. Before, when the lane on the right was for Dublin, youd have every chancer heading down that lane, skipping the huge backlog of traffic queuing, pulling into the middle lane at the last moment to get into the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

Throw a few million at it and remove the Dublin lane and instead mark it with converging lines so all the chancers drive over the lines to once again skip the backlog to merge into the middle lane!

He continued: Then give them another way to skip by heading through Little Island like they used to years before and once again merging into [the] middle lane. No improvements and the queue-skippers rewarded as before, and the honest motorists penalised by longer delays for trusting the design.

Alan Corcoran was another critical of lane-hoppers: A complete cluster heading west at the best of times. It works perfectly going east except for the turn for the M8 as people cross lanes when they realise they are in the wrong lane.

Sean OSullivan replied to the article: So true. Morning and evening rush hours are worse than ever.

Mark Kelleher joked: The whole thing is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Andrew Foley shared his views, saying: It was never going to work for southbound traffic. Four of the busiest lanes in the country into two and then throw in a fifth lane out of Little Island.

All the design in the world wasnt going to improve that.

The location of the interchange on top of the tunnel is the crux of the problem, if the major intersection of N25 and M8 was further north it would work fine.

Annette de Paor said: What Trevor Laffan might not have realised is that a lot of traffic takes the Little Island exit from the Dublin road with no intentions of actually going into Little Island.

They use the flyover to join in with the traffic coming from East Cork, which causes excess traffic exiting Little Island, and creating the stop-start flow that he experienced.

Todd O Sullivan laughed:Its like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube, that mess down there.
Hip-hop has been in somewhat of a vacuum lately. In my opinion, the trap era was a semi golden period where artists such as Migos, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Future and others emerged and made great music, while simultaneously we had massive artistic statements that crossed over boundaries by the likes of Kendrick Lamar.

Kanye West continued to make big artistic statements in this era too while Odd Future and Tyler and Earl emerged, as did a whole host of talented women, such as Nicki, Cardi and Megan. Trap music pretty much became the new pop music and artists such as Drake became pop stars, for better or for worse. This is a period that pretty much dominated the last 15 years; before that we had many previous hip-hop eras too.

The 90s had both a boom-bap jazzy sound and a west coast G-funk one, while the south also emerged and laid the groundwork for the modern era with the likes of the Geto Boyz and Outkast and later Three 6 Mafia and others.

We could go further back to the 80s and the different styles of gangster rap and political rap at a time when funk breakbeats ruled, or even to the 70s where disco sometimes provided the backbone to the grooves.

Hip-hop has been developing for over 50 years and its now global; our neighbours in the UK have always made great rap records but its only recently that the UK scene has gone truly global.

Great rap artists such as Roots Manuva, Rodney P, Skepta, Dizzee Rascal, Blak Twang, Giggs, Kano, Ty, Wiley and many more paved the way, and became hugely influential, but these days the genre has become bigger than ever, and its more international too. Central Cees eagerly awaited debut album proper, Cant Rush Greatness, arrives at a time where UK rap is more popular than ever.

Legends such as Dizzee and Skepta are still held in huge esteem, but the newer generation, like Dave and Central Cee, are crossing over in ways previously not possible. She dont listen to UK rap if it aint Dave or Cench is a quote from a previous song recorded by these two, and its indicative of how big both of them are in the grander scheme of things these days.

Central Cees album comes off the back of a hugely successful string of mixtapes and singles that have been massive smashes, so why am I saying rap exists in a vacuum? Well basically, we are lacking a bit of star quality and truly global tastemakers.

Weve still got Kendrick Lamar at his peak, and globally massive artists such as Travis Scott, Kanye, Drake and many more; but most of them are from previous generations at this stage. Theres a bunch of young girls making waves, like Glorilla, Ice Spice and Sexxy Red, but there remains a vacuum for a truly game-changing star. Doechii is definitely one, and she will most likely blow up even further this year. But we need a few more.

Central Cee has been big for a while, but this album should send things into a newer orbit. It could be an important one for rap, and it might help bring more shine on this side of the world too.

Theres no reason why Jordan Adetunji or Travis or Ellz or Offica or other young Irish rappers cant go further too; indeed Jordan just dropped his debut mixtape this week too, backed by the global smash Kehlani.

Central Cees early singles were absolute classics, and five years or so on, hes still a great MC. Sometimes the flow can be a bit repetitive, but hes got bars forever and lyrically hes decent too. His choice of samples, beats and guest spots has always been first class, and over the years hes teamed up with Drake, Dave, Lil Baby and many more on a prolific run of singles, and on this album the feature list is again on point.

Legends such as Skepta and 21 Savage are accompanied by Lil Durk, Baby and regular collaborator Dave, and all bring a much needed variety to the sonic palette.

Musically, it doesnt stray too far from trap and drill but theres some wonderful jersey and baile funk influences and plenty of r&b and soul vibes too.

Theres gonna be a lot more hits coming from this album, and its likely to do really well commercially. Central Cee is here to stay!
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

Climate advocates marched in Westminster, London, calling on the government to stop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea, on Jan. 15, 2023. Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

The decision by the previous Conservative government in the United Kingdom to approve the giant Rosebank oilfield off Shetland was ruled unlawful by an Edinburgh court on Thursday.

The judgment by Lord Ericht at the Court of Session said the carbon emissions that would be created by the burning of oil and gas at the largest untapped oilfield in the UK had not been taken into consideration.

Todays ruling is part of a clear trend were seeing from courts in the UK  marking the third time in the last year that judges have found that downstream emissions must be considered in planning decisions, said ClientEarth lawyer Robert Clarke, in a press release from ClientEarth. This is a resounding signal from the courtroom that companies and governments can no longer turn a blind eye to the vast majority of the emissions their coal, oil and gas fields create.

BREAKING: ROSEBANK OIL FIELD DECLARED UNLAWFUL!  This is huge victory for climate justice + people power!  Political attention must immediately turn to developing an urgent and fair transition plan for oil workers.



[image or embed]  Friends of the Earth Scotland  (@foescot.bsky.social) January 30, 2025 at 5:07 AM

The court also ruled that consent for Shells Jackdaw gas field was unlawful and that owners of both oilfields needed to seek new government approval before production could start, reported BBC News.

The judgment followed a case brought by Greenpeace and Uplift.

Lord Ericht said a more detailed environmental impact assessment would be needed that takes into account the climate effects of burning any extracted fossil fuels.

Work on both fields will be allowed to continue while the new information is gathered; however, no oil and gas can be extracted without the granting of new approval.

Permission for Rosebanks North Atlantic oil development was given in 2023, while approval for the smaller Jackdaw gas field, located in the North Sea, was granted in the summer of 2022.

Lord Ericht wrote in the 57-page judgment that remaking the decision on a lawful basis was in the public interest due to the impacts of climate change, which outweighed the developers interests.

Uplift Executive Director Tessa Khan said the current Labour government should deny approval for both projects.

The climate science is crystal clear that we cant create new oil and gas fields if were going to stay within safe climate thresholds, Khan said, as BBC News reported.

Philip Evans, a senior campaigner with Greenpeace, called the judgment a historic win, reported The Guardian.

The age of governments approving new drilling sites by ignoring their climate impacts is over, Evans said. The courts have agreed with what climate campaigners have said all along: Rosebank and Jackdaw are unlawful, and their full climate impacts must now be properly considered.

Campaigners had argued that oil and gas exploration in the North Sea would not bring any economic or energy security and that there was no climate rationale behind it.

Any institutional investor, asset manager or lender backing new fossil fuel projects in the UK is now gambling on a high-risk strategy for its clients with financial prospects seriously in doubt, Clarke said in the press release. New fossil fuel projects in the UK have never been a riskier investment  and financial institutions both at home and abroad must take that into account when it comes to their portfolios.

The International Energy Agency has repeatedly said that there should be no new drilling for oil and gas if we are to keep global heating from exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold recommended by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Climate activists and trade unions have argued that the UK government should be investing in renewable energy in order to meet climate goals and provide cheap and secure energy, The Guardian reported.

James Alexander, UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association chief executive, called renewables the UKs key growth sector of the future.

That is where we should be focusing our upskilling efforts and attracting the billions available in private investment, Alexander said.

The courts ruling sends the decision on Rosebank  primarily owned by Equinor  and Jackdaw back to the government. A UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said the government was receiving environmental guidance that takes emissions from oil and gas into account and was expected to deliver an update in the spring.

We will respond to this consultation as soon as possible and developers will be able to apply for consents under this revised regime. Our priority is to deliver a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, which drives towards our clean energy future of energy security, lower bills, and good, long-term jobs, the spokesperson said.

Stop Rosebank campaigner Lauren MacDonald said the development would bring more harm than benefits to Scotland.

Almost all of Rosebanks oil would be sold overseas, doing nothing to lower our bills or make us more secure, with most of the profits going straight to the state-backed Norwegian firm, Equinor, MacDonald said, as reported by The Guardian. Its not fair that people here are now suffering the impacts of climate change, which is driven by fossil fuels and which will get worse as long as companies are allowed to open huge new drilling sites.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

The most comprehensive worldwide analysis of wildlife genetic diversity ever undertaken has found that it is plummeting at an astonishing rate, but that conservation efforts can help protect species.

Two-thirds of the populations studied were declining in genetic diversity. However, the researchers found that conservation was sustaining  and even increasing, in some cases  the genetic diversity of populations.

Mitigating loss of genetic diversity is a major global biodiversity challenge. To meet recent international commitments to maintain genetic diversity within species, we need to understand relationships between threats, conservation management and genetic diversity change, the authors wrote in the study.

Promising endeavors like animal translocations and habitat restorations were designed to grow populations, introduce new breeding individuals and improve environmental conditions.

There is no getting around the fact that biodiversity is declining at unprecedented rates across the globe  but there are glimmers of hope. The action of conservationists is reversing these losses and helping to create genetically diverse populations that can better meet the challenges of the future, said associate professor Catherine Grueber with University of Sydneys School of Life and Environmental Sciences in a press release.

The landmark study, Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss, was published in Nature, and was a collaboration between an international team of researchers from nations including Poland, Spain, Greece, Sweden, China and the United Kingdom.

The research team looked at 628 species across 882 studies over more than three decades  1985 to 2019  including plant, animal and fungi across most maritime and all terrestrial realms on Earth.

If a new disease comes through, or theres a heatwave, there may be some individuals in the population that have certain characteristics that enable them to tolerate those new conditions, Grueber explained, as The Guardian reported. Those characteristics will get passed on to the next generation, and the population will persist instead of going extinct.

The team gained new insights into studies conducted decades earlier through the use of innovations in genetic analysis. They created a scale of common measurement that enabled them to compare studies, even when varying methodologies were used and genetic data was collected in different ways.

This kind of comprehensive global study would not have been possible even 10 years ago, Grueber said in the press release. Advances in genetics and statistics have given us new tools that mean we can continue to learn from studies long after they were carried out  a huge benefit when we are looking at populations and trends on a global scale.

Conservation efforts that could maintain or improve genetic diversity include translocations  animals being moved between populations for the benefit of a species or ecosystem  population control, restoration and controlling pest or feral species.

Genetic diversity loss occurs globally and is a realistic prediction for many species, especially birds and mammals, in the face of threats such as land use change, disease, abiotic natural phenomena and harvesting or harassment. Conservation strategies designed to improve environmental conditions, increase population growth rates and introduce new individuals (for example, restoring connectivity or performing translocations) may maintain or even increase genetic diversity. Our findings underscore the urgent need for active, genetically informed conservation interventions to halt genetic diversity loss, the authors of the study wrote.

Releasing golden bandicoots in Western Australia after genetic monitoring. Colleen Sims / WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, Attractions

Conservation success stories included reintroducing the golden bandicoot into parts of Western Australia; releasing Arctic foxes from Scandinavian captive breeding programs; translocating greater prairie chickens in North America into existing populations; and effective disease treatment within populations of black-tailed prairie dogs, which has improved colony health in north-central Montana.

The authors of the findings hope they will encourage further conservation efforts and bring increased protections to currently unmanaged populations.

Despite successes, we cant be complacent. Two-thirds of the populations analysed are facing threats, and among these populations less than half received any kind of conservation management. Its vital that we learn from what is working so that we can protect species in the long-term, said Dr. Robyn Shaw, co-first author of the study and a University of Canberra postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, in the press release.
OpenAIs latest machine learning mode has arrived. On Friday, the company released o3-mini and it's available to try now. What's more, for the first time OpenAI is making one of its "reasoning" models available to free users of ChatGPT. If you want to try it yourself, select the "Reason" button under the message composer to get started.

According to OpenAI, o3-mini is faster and more accurate than its predecessor, o1-mini. In A/B testing, the company found o3-mini was 24 percent faster than o1 at delivering a response. Moreover, set to its "medium" reasoning effort, the new model can come close to the performance of the more expensive o1 system in some math, coding and science benchmarks. Like OpenAI's other reasoning models, o3-mini will show you how it arrived at an answer instead of simply responding to a prompt. Notably, the model works with ChatGPT Search out of box, enabling it to comb the web for the latest information and useful links. OpenAI says it's working on integrating search across all of its reasoning models.

"The release of OpenAI o3-mini marks another step in OpenAIs mission to push the boundaries of cost-effective intelligence. By optimizing reasoning for STEM domains while keeping costs low, were making high-quality AI even more accessible," OpenAI said. "This model continues our track record of driving down the cost of intelligence  reducing per-token pricing by 95% since launching GPT-4  while maintaining top-tier reasoning capabilities. As AI adoption expands, we remain committed to leading at the frontier, building models that balance intelligence, efficiency, and safety at scale."

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With today's announcement, o3-mini will replace o1-mini in the model picker. Additionally, OpenAI is tripling the rate limit for Plus and Team ChatGPT users from 50 messages per day with o1-mini to 150 messages per day for o3-mini. OpenAI's recently launched $200 per month Pro tier offers unlimited access to the new system.

When OpenAI first previewed o3 and o3-mini at the end of last year, CEO Sam Altman said the latter would arrive around the end of January. Altman gave a more concrete timeline on January 17 when he wrote on X that OpenAI was planning to ship in a couple of weeks.

Now that its here, its safe to say o3-mini arrives with a sense of urgency. On January 20, the same day Altman was attending Donald Trumps inauguration, Chinas DeepSeek quietly released its R1 chain-of-thought model. By January 27, the companys chatbot surpassed ChatGPT as the most-download free app on the US App Store after going viral. The overnight success of DeepSeek wiped $1 trillion of stock market value, and almost certainly left OpenAI blindsided.

In the aftermath of last week, OpenAI said it was working with Microsoft to identify two accounts the company claims may have distilled its models. Distillation is the process of transferring the knowledge of an advanced AI system to a smaller, more efficient one. Distillation is not a controversial practice. DeepSeek has used distillation on its own R1 model to train its smaller algorithms; in fact, OpenAIs terms of service allow for distillation as long users dont train competing models on the outputs of the companys AI.

OpenAI did not explicitly name DeepSeek. We know [China]-based companies  and others  are constantly trying to distill the models of leading US AI companies, an OpenAI spokesperson told The Guardian recently. However, David Sacks, President Trumps AI advisor, was more direct, claiming there was substantial evidence that DeepSeek had "distilled the knowledge out of OpenAIs models.
Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon, widely praised for her groundbreaking role in "Emilia Perez, is now facing intense scrutiny as past controversies resurface, overshadowing her historic Oscar nomination. While previous backlash remained largely within Latino and Spanish-language media, newly unearthed tweets about Islam and Muslims have escalated the scandal, sparking global outrage and raising questions about her public image.

Read more: Karla Sofia Gascon Makes History as First Out Transgender Actress Nominated for Oscar Award

In one such tweet, Gascon questioned, "Is Islam a religion of peace? Tell that to the victims of terrorist attacks." Another post read, "Why do we keep pretending that Islam is compatible with Western values?" These statements have ignited widespread criticism, with many accusing Gascon of perpetuating harmful stereotypes against Muslims.

In another one, she wrote, "Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured."

The backlash has been swift, with social media users and industry professionals expressing their disappointment. One user commented, "It's disheartening to see such ignorance from someone in her position." Another added, "These comments are unacceptable and promote division."

Some have gone as far as demanding that her name is removed from the Oscar nominations.

Gascon and Audiard have also criticized and demeaned Latino culture

The backlash against Gascon started with the "Emilia Perez" movie itself. The film, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel leader who transitions to escape a life of crime, has been criticized for perpetuating harmful stereotypes about both the transgender community and Mexican culture. Critics argue that the narrative is regressive and fails to provide an authentic representation.

The controversy surrounding the film intensified this week when director Jacques Audiard made remarks about the Spanish language that many found offensive. In an interview, Audiard stated, "Spanish is a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of the poor, and of migrants."

Before, he apologized to the Mexican audience. "If there are things that seem shocking in Emilia Perez then I am sorry ... Cinema doesn't provide answers, it only asks questions. But maybe the questions in Emilia Perez are incorrect," said Audiard, speaking to CNN.

Gascon has also been criticized for her response to negative reactions from Mexican and Brazilian audiences regarding "Emilia Perez." In interviews, she referred to Mexican critics as "cats" and suggested that those who disliked the film were "intellectually inferior." These remarks have been perceived as xenophobic and dismissive of valid cultural critiques from Latinos and Mexicans.

Her latest tweet regarding the controversy was posted on Wednesday January 29, when she said:

"I love art, which is why I applaud the creativity of all the hater groups who try to come up with a new controversy or a new way to insult me every day. That's a good thing because it stimulates the brain cells, and maybe one day they'll understand that hate won't get them anywhere.

Sincerely,

Public Enemy No. 1"

Me encanta el arte, por eso aplaudo la creatividad de todos los grupos de haters que cada dia tratan de inventar una nueva polemica o una nueva manera de insultarme. Eso es bueno porque despierta las neuronas, y con ello quiza algun dia puedan entender que el odio no les va a pic.twitter.com/cJUlJdZy9J  Karla Sofia Gascon (@karsiagascon) January 30, 2025

The culmination of these controversies has cast a shadow over Gascon's historic Oscar nomination, prompting discussions about accountability and the responsibilities of public figures in their communications.
Christina Haack has revealed that her emotional conversation with ex-husband Tarek El Moussa on "The Flip Off's" premiere episode was real and unplanned.

While producers had asked her to inform Tarek about her split from third husband Josh Hall, the heartfelt exchange that followed was actually spontaneous.

Haack explains she was in a particularly vulnerable state when Tarek arrived at her Newport Beach home, having dealt with the aftermath of Hall's divorce filing for about two weeks.

The emotional weight of their shared history, dating back to their 2016 split, surfaced unexpectedly during their interaction.

The formerly married couple, who met in 2005 when Tarek was 24 and Christina was 22, built their house-flipping business together and co-starred on HGTV's 'Flip or Flop' from 2013 to 2022. Their marriage ended in 2016 following a concerning incident involving Tarek and a gun.

During the premiere episode, both opened up about their past, with Christina expressing how deeply their split affected her, particularly regarding her role as a mother.

"I know we're in a good place now," Christina told Tarek in the episode. "But yeah, we went through a lot of stuff. I don't think anyone understands just how much stuff we went through. We met when we were so young."

"When our stuff imploded, I felt like not only did I lose... we were best friends, but also I felt like I lost like, I need to be a full-time mom," she added. "And that really, really, really hurt me a lot and really affected me."

The pair share two children: Taylor, 14, and Brayden, 9. Christina also has a 5-year-old son, Hudson, with second husband Ant Anstead, while Tarek has a two-year-old son, Tristan, with current wife Heather Rae El Moussa.

The conversation culminated in mutual apologies and forgiveness, with Tarek acknowledging his role in their past issues and Christina expressing remorse for her part.

Read more: Prosecutors Consider Death Penalty in Cuban Artist El Taiger Murder Case

Christina describes the exchange as "healing for both of us" and believes it provided closure not only for them but also for viewers who have followed their journey since their mid-twenties.
Blake Lively appears to be staying away from the public eye amid her legal battle with actor-director Justin Baldoni.

On Thursday, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was seen leaving the couple's New York City apartment alone, fueling speculation that the family is getting away from the drama.

According to the Daily Mail, their photographer spotted Reynolds, 48, leaving his apartment building as security loaded multiple pieces of luggage into his car.

Blake Lively hides amid It Ends With Us legal saga as Ryan Reynolds appears to pack up for vacation https://t.co/Pl4YUmNAwS  Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) January 30, 2025

Included with their belongings was a child floatation device and a blanket with the name of the couple's son.

The outlet described Reynolds looking glum in a navy blue button-up and matching pants, green and blue striped jacket, white sneakers, and dark sunglasses.

Despite the continuing fallout from his wife's legal drama, Reynolds seems to focus on meeting his professional obligations, appearing as scheduled later that day at the Paley Center in New York for a speaking engagement.

Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, are currently in the middle of a legal drama that involves lawsuits on both sides. However, the Daily Mail notes that the presence of swimming gear among the items packed into Reynolds' car may suggest that the family is going off on holiday.

In September, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni over alleged sexual harassment on the set of the film "It Ends With Us," the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel of the same name.

Baldoni responded with a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, claiming she had tried to pressure him to make changes to the film script.

The actor-director likewise filed a lawsuit against The New York Times for $250 million.

Earlier this month, Lively and Reynolds' legal team asked that a gag order be placed against Baldoni's attorney due to the couple's claims that Baldoni's team has launched a retaliatory media campaign against them.

The request was made after Baldoni's side released behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of "It Ends With Us."

Deadline reported that Michael Gottlieb, the couple's attorney, wrote in a letter filed Thursday with Judge Lewis Liman that the couple will be seeking a dismissal of Baldoni's complaint.

As a result, the date for a pre-trial conference has been pushed up from Feb. 12 to Feb. 3 in order to advance the proceedings in the ongoing legal saga.
Netflix is moving forward with plans to broadcast the TV talent competition featuring Liam Payne, which was recorded prior to his death.

The family of the late One Direction star has reportedly not yet approved of this idea.

Payne tragically died on Oct. 16 when he fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires after a night of reported heavy drinking and drug usage. His age was 31.

Prior to his death, Payne had completed shooting the Netflix series "Building the Band," which also features Nicole Scherzinger, Kelly Rowland, and AJ McLean.

Netflix initiated discussions with the celebrity's family members after his death, insisting on securing their blessing before proceeding with the broadcast of the show.

However, as per The Sun's report, the streaming service has opted to launch the series this year without obtaining the final approval, reportedly surprising the late star's family and friends.

According to an insider who spoke to the outlet, Netflix spoke with Payne's family as the company didn't want to progress the project without considering their feelings.

"The family got the sense that this was a celebration of Liam, an image of positivity," the insider shared. "He was doing what he did best as a true boyband star."

"But they hadn't given it a final stamp of approval and as far as they were concerned were still discussing what the show would look like," the insider added. "So, they were surprised by the announcement."

This week, Jeff Gaspin, the Vice President overseeing unscripted content at Netflix, provided an update on the ongoing conversations with Payne's family.

During a recent press event for "Next on Netflix 2025" in London, the speaker addressed the audience by stating, "So Liam was part of 'Building the Band,' and we have been in touch with his family to discuss what role that will play."

"There is nothing to announce yet," he revealed at that time. "But we have been speaking with his family."

The latest revelation arrived three months following Payne's demise and the confirmation of his cause of death during a UK inquest.

The recently disclosed medical reason for his passing is attributed to "polytrauma," a term used to describe the presence of several traumatic injuries sustained by a person.
Nicole Kidman's earlobes have been the subject of some scrutiny among fans, who took to social media to describe them as looking "stretched" or like "bat ears."

Her earlobes have sparked rumors that the 57-year-old Australian actress has had cosmetic surgery.

I would like to present to you as exhibit 1 and 2... Nicole Kidman's earlobes pic.twitter.com/Sf8pRO7K3C  Mean Green Mother (@Mean_Grn_Mother) September 6, 2024

I can't be the only person who's noticed Nicole Kidman's elephantine earlobes pic.twitter.com/GEHi3jRRxU  Morbidly Obese Snorlax (@__snorlaxx__) July 6, 2024

Speaking to Daily Mail's FEMAIL, plastic surgeon Mark Solomos, who appeared in Olivia Attwood's ITV documentary "Price of Perfection," explained that these types of features are commonly known as "pixie" or "bat ears."

"The effect occurs when the earlobe is pulled downward, often revealing that a facelift has been performed," he said.

According to Solomos, "pixie" or "bat ears" are "typically a result of poor surgical technique."

As facelifts become more normalized and more accessible, however, Solomos says "pixie ears" are becoming increasingly common.

Dr. Laura Geige, a cosmetic dermatology expert, explained to FEMAIL that "pixie ear deformity" is an established side effect of facelifts that happens when too much tension is applied to the skin during the surgery.

This causes the skin covering the earlobe to look stretched or distended and become less clearly separated from the face.

Dr. Geige noted "Careful incision placement, conservative tension, and ensuring the earlobe remains free floating rather than tethered all help prevent this outcome."

"For those experiencing pixie ear deformity, correction is possible through minor surgical adjustments, often involving fat grafting or a small local revision to restore the natural shape," she added.

Meanwhile, fans online have been speculating about what might have caused Kidman's earlobes to look the way it does, even attributing it to heavy earrings or previous cosmetic work.

Despite the fuss, Kidman previously credited her ageless appearance to a healthy lifestyle and denied having cosmetic surgery in a 2013 interview with Marie Claire.

"To be honest, I am completely natural," she said. "I wear sunscreen and I don't smoke. I take care of myself. I'm very proud to say that."

But she acknowledged that she tried Botox in 2011 and has since stopped.

"No surgery for me," she told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, as quoted by Marie Claire. "I did try Botox, unfortunately, but I got out of it and now I can finally move my face again."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris made an unexpected appearance at the FireAid benefit concert on Thursday night.

Harris made the appearance with her husband, Doug Emhoff, at the concert, which was organized to raise money for the victims of the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.

Kamala Harris at the FireAid concert pic.twitter.com/rHUG55d68z  Alanna (@Alanna8824) January 31, 2025

According to The Sun, the couple received a round of applause from the crowd. Many in the crowd could also be heard cheering for them.

Both Harris and Emhoff took to social media to share their thoughts on the FireAid concert. They likewise shared their support as Los Angeles continues to recover from the wildfires.

Kamala and I are grateful to be at the FireAid concert tonight in our hometown of Los Angeles. It is a wonderful night that shows the strength and resilience of our city as we begin to recover and rebuild from the devastating wildfires. pic.twitter.com/Lrz8LcMYHH  Doug Emhoff (@DouglasEmhoff) January 31, 2025

"Kamala and I are grateful to be at the FireAid concert tonight in our hometown of Los Angeles," Emhoff said on X (formerly Twitter). "It is a wonderful night that shows the strength and resilience of our city as we begin to recover and rebuild from the devastating wildfires."

Thank you to the artists who gathered tonight in Los Angeles for the FireAid Concert. Angelenos will continue to stand together to support those impacted by the wildfires and show gratitude for the first responders who help keep our communities safe.https://t.co/AeAfLU0IgX https://t.co/KYf7GV7eNh  Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 31, 2025

"Angelenos will continue to stand together to support those impacted by the wildfires and show gratitude for the first responders who help keep our communities safe," Harris said in a tweet that appeared on her X account.

Read more: Fox News Host Jesse Watters Slammed for Questioning Why Doug Emhoff Grocery Shops with Kamala Harris

People have praised the couple on social media for showing up at the concert and showing support for the victims of the Los Angeles fires.

"Thank you, Kamala Harris," one tweet read. "It's inspiring to see the community come together to support those affected by the wildfires. Together, we can rebuild and show our gratitude to the first responders."

BRING THE PEOPLES PRESIDENT ON STAGE AT FIREAID!! KAMALA HARRIS!  Sapphire  (@BigGretchNo1) January 31, 2025

kamala harris and i are vibing to earth wind and fires september in the same room i love my madame president (were both at the fireaid benefit show on opposite ends)  jenny from the block (@jennyhuynh97) January 31, 2025
Speculation is swirling about which A-list actress no longer speaks to Reese Witherspoon after an awkward moment at an awards show.

Earlier this week, Witherspoon mentioned in an interview with PEOPLE that a well-known Hollywood actress stopped communicating with her following a joke she made while presenting an award. The remark, which referenced "laser hair removal," seemingly led to the end of their friendship.

Without naming the person, Witherspoon shared that she regrets the moment, but internet sleuths believe the actress in question is Kate Winslet.

Just Jared reported Thursday, January 30 that Winslet is the most likely person Witherspoon referred to.

During the 2007 BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards, Witherspoon presented Winslet with the artist of the year award. While on stage, she made lighthearted comments, joking about Winslet's European sophistication and recounting a humorous interaction between them.

"I always wanted to be a European movie star, wear giant sunglasses, elaborate neck scarves, smoke hand-rolled cigarettes and have savoir-faire and gravitas," Witherspoon said. She continued, "Imagine my good fortune when Kate Winslet moved into my neighborhood, rang my doorbell and said, 'Darling, Sam [Mendes] is off shooting, and I believe our children are the same age. Could they possibly have a play date and oh, by the way, it's almost 9 o'clock and I've had nothing to drink, do you have any wine?' "

Though Witherspoon praised Winslet's bold acting choices, she also referenced an unflattering scene from Holy Smoke (1999) and their past discussions about cosmetic procedures.

"Remember the time we got laser hair removal?!" she recalled.

Witherspoon later admitted that she misjudged the tone of the event, expecting a roast-style atmosphere. "I thought it was so funny, and it was just, I had the wrong audience. It was pretty bad. I'm not even kidding, she doesn't talk to me anymore."

While this remains speculation, many believe Winslet and Witherspoon's friendship never recovered after that night.

As of this writing, the Titanic actress has not commented on Witherspoon's remarks.
Prince Harry is reportedly facing a major risk as he gears up for a security battle in the UK years after he was stripped of his royal security in February 2020, according to a former royal butler.

The Duke of Sussex and his legal team is bracing to revisit a battle regarding his security protection in an effort to request an appeal to the High Court ruling that he should receive a different level of security after stepping down from his royal duties in January 2020.

Former royal butler, Grant Harrold, urged the potential "threat" the Duke faces due to his royal and celebrity status and military history, which render him and his family a target.

Harrold, who worked as a butler for King Charles between 2004 and 2011, is sounding off regarding the risks of the royal's lack of protection and agrees with the prince's concern for himself and his family.

"The threat is huge; there was an assassination attempt on the then Prince Charles in 1994 in Australia, which just highlights the risk. I think Harry is more worried about his wife and his kids and the risk of kidnapping plots, to be honest," the former butler stated.

"The more he does in public as a celebrity, the more he could become a target. So, of course, he is going to take his security more seriously, and this is very important to him," he stated, per Express.

Despite his understandable concern, it seems many feel as though the prince shouldn't have the same level of security due to his decision to willingly leave his royal position in the United Kingdom.

When Prince Harry lost his case in High Court last February, judge Sir Peter Lane found that "there has not been any unlawfulness in reaching the decision" to revise the royal's security, per Express.

"It's important they [members of the Royal Family] are given the right security detail. Breaches do happen. People find ways around it, and there's always that risk, and that's what will always be in the back of Harry's mind," Harrold added. "It's hard to say if they get enough protection."

"Potentially, they are a higher target than the Royal Family because of politics, but again, the royals have had the same security protocols for decades," he concluded, per the British outlet.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle voluntarily stepped down as senior members of the royal family back in January 2020, before making their official departure in March of that year.

The royals followed through on their separation, known as Megxit  a play on the term Brexit  citing intense media coverage, security concerns, and a desire for independence, in addition to claims Markle was treated unfairly.
Karla Sofia Gascon, star of the Oscar-nominated Emilia Perez, remains under fire after her past controversial tweets resurfaced.

But the Spanish actress, who recently made history as the first openly transgender nominee for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, has apologized and subsequently deleted her social media accounts after facing backlash and death threats, she says.

"I'm sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect me and my family, so at their request, I am closing my account on X," Gascon told The Hollywood Reporter.

"I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused," she added.

The controversy began when old tweets from Gascon surfaced online earlier this week, including posts criticizing Muslim culture, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars. Journalist Sarah Hagi and others widely shared screenshots of her tweets on social media, sparking a heated debate.

its so insane that karla sofia gascon still has these tweets up. straight up have never seen tweets this racist from someone actively campaigning to win an ACADEMY AWARD. there are more than a dozen pic.twitter.com/1rcNzkJXuo  sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) January 30, 2025

What Karla Sofia Gascon Tweeted

In one 2020 tweet, Gascon reportedly wrote about Muslim women wearing burkas: "Islam is marvelous, without any machismo.

Women are respected, and when they are so respected, they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible."

Another post criticized George Floyd, per Variety, stating, "Very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler," while also condemning police brutality and racism.

Gascon has since apologized for the posts, calling them hurtful.

"I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt," she said in a statement. "As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain."

She ended her apology with a plea for understanding: "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."

Despite her apology, the backlash continues. Social media users have questioned how the Emilia Perez cast and the Academy will address the controversy. Netflix, the movie's distributor, has yet to comment on the matter.

The situation escalated after Gascon accused fans of fellow Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres of contributing to the backlash, according to People. However, she later clarified that Torres and her team had shown her support and were not involved in any negative actions against her.

Read more: Anna Kournikova Resurfaces in a Wheelchair After Two Years

Gascon's achievements in the film industry, including winning Best Actress at Cannes, have been overshadowed by the resurfaced tweets.
James Charles is being dragged across social media by fans after making "disgusting" remarks regarding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s voice during a confirmation hearing from Capitol Hill.

The politician was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia back in 1996 in his early 40's, which rendered his voice dry, shaky, response and chronic vocal tremor.

Charles commented publicly on RFK Jr. 's condition on TikTok, asking "how many cigarettes" the politician smokes before mocking his position as a leader and potential secretary of health in a now-deleted video.

Needless to say, Charles has since deleted the video  but not before fans could capture the footage and drag him regarding his offensive commentary.

"No offense, but why does RFK sound like that?" Charles asked his TikTok following of over 40 million in a video he captioned: "This impression actually hurt."

"How many packs of cigarettes a day do you have to smoke to even get to that level of throat pain," he continued. "You're trying to convince us that he's going to be Secretary of Health? Doesn't seem very healthy to me."

This is absolutely disgusting. James Charles should go back to preying on underage boys and hocking cheap makeup. Mocking RFKs spasmodic dysphonia is gross. The left preaches about tolerance, but I guess its the rules for thee, not for me. pic.twitter.com/2S0B5DW0hS  Link Lauren (@itslinklauren) January 31, 2025

Charles proceeded to add an offensive impersonation of the politician's vocal spasms, repeatedly pretending to choke over words in a babbling fashion. "Spit it out, grandpa!" Charles exclaimed.

"Are you good?!" he asked angrily. "Jesus f****** Christ."

Critics condemned the influencer who made "disgusting" comments about he politician, and even brought up previous claims against him involving alleged "pedo" behavior.

"This is absolutely disgusting," one fan on X commented in a repost. "James Charles should go back to preying on underage boys and hocking cheap makeup. Mocking RFK's spasmodic dysphonia is gross. The left preaches about tolerance, but I guess it's the rules for thee, not for me."

"No offense, James Charles, but why do you look like that?" one fan shot back. "It says something about every single person who supports him knowing he is a pedo," a second fan alleged. "Disgusting! This from the party of inclusion," a third poked. "Why does james charles dm minors. the world may never know," a fourth speculated.

James Charles gets owned for making fun of the way RFK talks. pic.twitter.com/X8qJLBrpmg  TheTexasOne (@TexasRepublic71) January 30, 2025

Another repost of the offensive rant reached a whopping 1.8 million views, as a fan on X stated that fans "owned" Charles after making such an offensive video.

James Charles was disgraced in the public eye after the beauty influencer was exposed after sending explicit messages to a young boy over the internet, rendering him temporarily demonetized on YouTube, per BBC.

Fans have been dragging the beauty-lover ever since, as one creator on YouTube created a video of Charles apologizing  except every time the creator hears what he deems "a lie" the speed of the video increases  causing comical eruption in the comment section.

James Charles is a makeup artist and beauty influencer from Bethlehem, New York, who gained a substantial following after working as a local makeup artist. Charles, 25, has done makeup for Katy Perry and has done collabs with Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.
2

El corte de carne dos veces mas barato que el entrecot y que pocos piden: "Super tierno e igual o mejor"
Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday in exchange for three Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Though the chaotic handover of some of the hostages, through an unruly crowd by masked militants, drew an angry protest from Israel.
'We are going to leave no stone unturned,' NTSB says after plane crash

National Transportation Safety Board to investigate a midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas that killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.
DeepSeek AI SHOCKS the Industry! | Game-Changer or Hidden Danger?

Have you seen what DeepSeek R1 is doing? It is amazing and you get the info that Content Entrepreneurs need to know.

Im Terry Brock with Stark Raving Entrepreneurs and in this episode you get to see the pros and the con-cerns of this tool.

DeepSeek AI is making waves in the AI world! This open-source large language model (LLM) is disrupting the industry, lowering costs, and giving developers unprecedented access.

But is it a friend or a foe? In this video, I uncover DeepSeek R1s capabilities, risks, and game-changing potentialincluding data privacy concerns, market impact, and how it compares to ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity.

Is DeepSeek AI the future of AI, or should we be worried?

Watch until the end to find out!

Catch the Video Here:

https://youtu.be/4eZ4RlFvwU4

Key Topics Covered:

What is DeepSeek AI, and why is it important?

How DeepSeek is disrupting the AI industry

FREE AI? The real cost of open-source models

Privacy concerns & risks of using DeepSeek AI

How does it compare to ChatGPT, Grok & Perplexity?

Who wins the AI battleChinas DeepSeek vs OpenAI?

Timestamps

00:00  Intro

00:54  What is DeepSeek R1?

02:36  Advantages of Open Source Software

06:28  DeepSeek R1 and Content Generation Techniques

07:49  Additional Considerations for Content Creation

10:42  Addressing Potential Concerns in AI

16:23  Understanding Your Responsibilities with AI

18:15  Awareness vs. Fear in AI Usage

19:59  Responsible AI Usage Guidelines

21:05  Utilizing AI as a Personal Assistant

22:19  Future of AI: Enjoying the Journey in 2025

22:52  Protecting Proprietary Information

23:33  Whats Next for AI Development

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For your convenience, heres a Spanish language summary:

En este episodio de Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, Terry Brock aborda el lanzamiento de DeepSeq R1, un modelo de lenguaje de gran escala (LLM) proveniente de China. Terry menciona los aspectos positivos y preocupantes de DeepSeq R1, destacando que es de codigo abierto y ofrece costos mas bajos para los desarrolladores, lo que fomenta la colaboracion y la transparencia. Sin embargo, tambien advierte sobre los riesgos asociados, como la privacidad de los datos y la potencial censura y manipulacion de la informacion.

DeepSeq R1 tiene ventajas notables, como la generacion, optimizacion y traduccion de contenido, optimizacion de flujos de trabajo y la capacidad de personalizacion e integracion en diversas aplicaciones. Aun asi, Terry enfatiza la importancia de ser cauteloso, especialmente debido a las preocupaciones de privacidad relacionadas con la ubicacion de los servidores en China y la propiedad de los datos.

Kevin Turner, mencionado en el episodio, advierte sobre la posible censura y manipulacion de la informacion por parte de DeepSeq R1, e insta a los usuarios a probar la herramienta con preguntas criticas para observar posibles sesgos. Terry sugiere implementar pautas eticas claras para el desarrollo y uso de IA, ser transparente y responsable, y evitar compartir informacion sensible.

En resumen, DeepSeq R1 ofrece grandes posibilidades, pero su uso requiere precaucion y un enfoque informado para evitar problemas de privacidad y manipulacion. Terry concluye alentando a los oyentes a ser conscientes y proactivos al utilizar tecnologias de IA.

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For your convenience, heres the transcript in English:

Terry Brock [00:00:00]:

This has been an exciting time in AI. As a matter of fact, this week we had something thats a little bit scary and good news, and it made some real ripples. DeepSeq R1 came out. Now this is a new LLM, a large language model thats out from China, and it has some concerns about what it can do. Also, it lowered the cost dramatically for the developers, people using it, and made it open source. Open source means, hey, its free. Its like, hey, its free in the budget for you. Yeah, it is.

Terry Brock [00:00:27]:

So its got some good things. Were gonna go through that in this particular video and show you whats going on, how you can use this, and what you need to be aware of. Because as we look at it, theres a lot there. Deep seek R1. I think thats revision 1 theyve got. Revolutionizing the AI landscape. Were gonna cover that here on Starke Raving Entrepreneurs, where Gina Carr, my partner, and I talk to you about how you could build your business using it. So lets get right into it on how youre gonna use this and what it is.

Terry Brock [00:00:54]:

So you look at what in the world is DeepSeek R1? Well, its a tool that gives you a lot of capabilities. Matter of fact, if you look at it right here, youll see, well, its an innovative AI tool designed to empower across diverse industries with advanced natural language processing capabilities. It leverages cutting edge deep learning algorithms to analyze, understand, and generate text and code offering a comprehensive suite of solutions, AI solutions. And by the way, doesnt that just sound like AI? Yeah. It does. It sound like AI created that? Well, guess what? It did. AI created that stuff and put it in there. That doesnt mean its bad.

Terry Brock [00:01:32]:

It just means, okay, first of all, letting you know its real. But it is significant. You need to know about this, whats whats going on, particularly from a marketing point of view. Because I think we can get some good use out of it in marketing, but at the same time, what we need to do is to be aware of the challenges that are there as well. These kind of things can be dangerous. So what we want to do is we want to look at all of that. But while were looking at that, we want to say, okay, thats a reality in it. But when we see the reality on one hand, we need to know about the realities and the dangers that are in other areas and what its going to do.

Terry Brock [00:02:04]:

So like for instance, example, its also going to help you whoops. Just missed the tool here. Let me get this lined up here for you. See, were keeping it real. K? Whether youre a researcher, developer, content creator, business professional, DeepSeq offers a unique blend of power and versatility. It does that, enabling you to unlock new insights. I like that because it uses a reasoning model to optimize workflows and enhance your productivity. All that is good, and it really does that well.

Terry Brock [00:02:33]:

So when you look at deep seek R1, theres some key advantages to using it. Number 1, for instance, what youre going to see is youre going to be looking at something that is open source. And that open source means, hey, its going to be available to people at a reasonable cost. Youre not gonna be paying the $20 a month or so that many people are. For many people, that is an issue. It means also therell be more people attracted to it and more people starting to use this. We see that DeepSeqs open source nature fosters collaboration, thats key, and transparency, enabling users to access and modify the underlying code base. Thats really good because you start finding out whats going on inside of it.

Terry Brock [00:03:14]:

Also, cost effective solution. The open source model makes deep seek a more cost effective alternative, particularly for the developers compared to proprietary AI platforms. This is huge, and its a big part of what were looking at with the platform. Because what its gonna do is gonna enable many more users to get on there and developers to start developing their code at a much lower cost. Well, because of that, guess what happened? We lost oveR1 $1,000,000,000,000. Thats with a t. We used to say 1,000,000,000,000 with a b. Now were saying trillion with a t in market value this week.

Terry Brock [00:03:50]:

Thats pretty significant. I think some of thats gonna bounce back, but its a major shake up. People going, woah, We thought we were ahead. Now we gotta step back and really monitor whats going on on this to see whats going on, and make sure that were monitoring what is happening there. Also, you got a versatile and adaptable type of platform. DeepSeq is adaptable architecture, and it allows it to be customized and integrated into various applications and workflows. Thats huge. Its really, really important.

Terry Brock [00:04:20]:

So as we look at this open source model, heres some things to be aware of. First of all, community driven. Thats important. Because as we often say at Stark Raving Entrepreneurs, we say this often, none of us is as smart as all of us. Thats an old Japanese saying used a lot in Silicon Valley, but its still true. We need a community. Whatever were in today, we cant do it alone. No one person can make it by him or himself or herself or him or herself.

Terry Brock [00:04:46]:

Yeah. Himself or herself. But what you wanna do is you wanna have a group of people. One of the things we do at Stark Raving Entrepreneurs is having a lot of really smart people that are contributing ideas. Oh, I tried this program. Oh, I tried that one. It was really good. This one I tried, not quite as good.

Terry Brock [00:05:00]:

Or heres a way you can use this tool better that tool better. All of that is really important. So look at your community driven model. What you want is deep seek, which is thriving on a vibrant community of developers who actively contribute to its development and improvement. Thats important. Also, transparent developer development. That means when somebody changes something, youre gonna be able to see it right there. You can say, okay, thats what it was.

Terry Brock [00:05:26]:

The open source model allows users to understand the inner workings of deep seek and contribute to its evolution. I like that. So people are giving their own perspective, their own ideas of whats working, what is good and what isnt good, how they can change it, and what they can do with All of this contributes to learning and growing in a really big way, and I think its something that we wanna look at. Also, reduced licensing costs. This is huge. This gives you the ability to get a lot more done with a lot less cost involved. And that gives you open source tools, which typically eliminate licensing fees associated with commercial software. Youve got all kinds of good tools there, and that opens up some possibilities.

Terry Brock [00:06:12]:

Also, open access. The open source model provides free access to the core functionality of deep seek, empowering users without financial limitations. Hey. This is a pretty good deal all the way around when you look at just that aspect of it. We got others coming up later, so stay tuned. You dont wanna drop out right now. Heres what it focuses on. I like this part here.

Terry Brock [00:06:33]:

What its doing is its saying, okay. What were gonna do is were empowering content creators with AI through content generation, content optimization, and content translation. They put this in here like this looking at what youre doing, the generation, getting new ideas. And because its using reasoning, thats important. See, with chat gpt, their o one model gives you the ability to have the AI take a little bit more time, a few seconds more, and come up with better answers. Rather than just coming out with, heres the answer, it starts looking around going, maybe this is maybe that oh, this looks a little different. Lets combine them together and come up with something different. This is doing it at a lower cost, and thats whats really shaking up the market right now.

Terry Brock [00:07:16]:

And we see the content optimization. It gives you the opportunity to optimize content for SEO, readability and user engagement. How do we get people more involved? Thats a key factor. And then also, on the content translation, you can translate content into multiple languages, expanding reach and your audience. Think about that. That gives you the ability to have more than just one language involved in this. Youll be able to get more people involved in a bigger way and be able to do so much more with it. So this is something you at least wanna know about.

Terry Brock [00:07:51]:

However, like I said, theres some other considerations that are there. For instance, generating and optimizing content. This is critical. You wanna make sure that you can do that in a big way with creative writing. This is something that we do a lot. I use perplexity with a writing focus often because that gives me the ability to really hone in on making my writing better, better spelling, grammar, doing it in a certain style, certain kind of phraseology that it would use, taking my writing, not a copy and paste, but my writing, and then it modifies it and we customize it, And then I further customize it from there. See, deep state can generate original content based on user prompts, expanding creative possibilities. So I like that.

Terry Brock [00:08:36]:

But then theres also your content optimization. You see, what it can do is it can analyze and suggest improvements to existing content, enhancing readability and SEO. This is the way you really wanna use AI, where AI becomes an assistant to you. Not that you just accept everything that its saying, but what youre doing is youre saying, okay, I want a little bit more of this. I wanna see whats going to work, and what would work best in this particular situation versus another situation. You can also automate tedious tasks. By automating tedious tasks, youre gonna be able to get a lot more done with this in several different ways. For instance, with data analysis, you can see that deep speak is going to automate your data analysis task, freeing up time for more strategic initiatives.

Terry Brock [00:09:27]:

This is really good, letting machines do something that humans did before, but let humans go beyond that and do even more. This is the real key to success. And it also has content summarization. Were using this a lot right now. It can summarize lengthy documents and articles, providing key insights in a concise format. I like that. And thats something I wanna really check on, particularly for my friends who are writing books, who are writing long form content. Could you take a Brazilian page book? Im just exaggerating here.

Terry Brock [00:10:01]:

You wanna put that in there. The limit right now with Claude, which is one of the best out there as were doing this recording, 300 to 350 pages. Okay? That takes in most books, would be under that, so you could use it. Claude is very good. However, sometimes you might wanna take more than that because you might wanna say, I want every book Ive printed or every article Ive done over the last x number of years. A lot of content creators who have created a lot of content over the years when writing videos, audio, are gonna have a lot of that. How much can we put in there? That we dont know yet. And I think what we wanna do is we wanna research it a little bit more so we can find out, okay, what do we do, where can we go with this, and what can be done? Now, heres the real interesting thing.

Terry Brock [00:10:44]:

Potential concerns and considerations. Because when you look at this, theres a lot out there that were concerned about because it well, its different here. The bias and the fairness is there Because right now, all the AI models can perpetuate existing societal biases, if not carefully trained and monitored. You wanna make sure that youre doing that in a profound way. That its there helping you out on that and letting you see the kind of things that can be done. And what you wanna do is look at data privacy. Your data privacy is critical because the data used to train AI models should be protected to ensure user privacy and security. You see, thats critical with this because the servers are now based in China.

Terry Brock [00:11:31]:

And if you look at the user agreement that you agree to when you accept the free program, it says, the material you put in, they own. They have that. They can access that. They can also access lots of information on your laptop computer, for instance. They can do that. Now theres a way you can work around that. Im gonna mention a little bit later. But its got some real important considerations that are not trivial and need to be considered in what youre going to do.

Terry Brock [00:11:59]:

Also, you wanna look at misinformation and manipulation. AI generated content can be used to spread misinformation or manipulate public opinion. Well, of course, this is where we need to be extra careful on that. Matter of fact, a person named Kevin Turner came up with this. And, Kevin, if youre watching this, just wanna thank you for, letting this be known and getting it out also to Beth Granger, who shared this for our Stark Raving Entrepreneurs community. And Kevin Turner talked about a lot of things here. He says, its an urgent warning. Its a Trojan horse for propaganda and privacy invasion.

Terry Brock [00:12:32]:

Question mark. Is it? Its not hes not saying it is. Hes being very fair and being reasonable on this. Is it truly free, or is it designed to deceive? Well, I think thats something that we need to look at and be concerned with, of where it is. So lets take a look at some of the concerns he expressed. First he said, test it for yourself. If you decide to download DeepSeq, R1, test it with these critical questions and witness the alarming censorship firsthand. You try this.

Terry Brock [00:12:57]:

Heres what we want you to do. Ask a question like, why is China criticized for human rights abuses with the Uighurs? And thats thats how its pronounced, by the way. The We Uighurs, I think is the way they pronounce it over there. But, Uighurs. You do some research on that, and youll get different answers in United States, in the EU, in other countries than you will in China. So theres something going on here. Im not taking a political stance either way here. Just saying, hey.

Terry Brock [00:13:25]:

You wanna be aware of that. Also, what you wanna look at hold on a minute. We missed this. I wanna make sure you get number 3. What is the best country in the world to live in? Well, okay. I dont think thats such a bad thing because many people feel, hey, the country Im in, thats the best one. And thats good. Do you feel the country where you are right now, whether you were born there or you chose to move there, its the best one to live in for you, wonderful.

Terry Brock [00:13:48]:

Because I think the key there is for you. What is right for you might not be right for someone else, so what youve gotta do is say, alright. Where do I need to be with what Im doing? So I think thats a good thing to keep in mind there. Then, oh, heres a tough one. What happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989? Theyre very sensitive about that over in China, and often, this is censored, or its given a different view of what we have in other countries. So I think you need to be aware of that. Try this also. What are the biggest criticisms of Xi Jinping? Oh, that is one that they dont like over in China.

Terry Brock [00:14:23]:

So Im wondering whats gonna happen with this video. Might not be over there for a while. But, I think that asking questions seems to be reasonable. Whatever it is, Im not taking a position one way or another, again, on this particular episode here. But you wanna look at that. And how does censorship work in China? Well, thats gonna be important too. Where did COVID 19 come from? And what were saying is, you should take this and try it yourself. See what its like.

Terry Brock [00:14:48]:

What answers do you get if you use Im gonna show you a way you can use this in just a moment, a way to be a little bit safer than some of the others. But, what you wanna do is make sure that youre doing it in a position where youre gonna be safe. And heres the concern that Kevin d Kerner addressed. I think he was very wise to that. He said, the results, blatant AI of the worst kind. Artificial ignorance I like the way he put that together. Clever. Artificial ignorance designed to manipulate your view worldwide.

Terry Brock [00:15:16]:

Well, I think its something for us to be aware of. And Kevin, we appreciate you doing that if youre watching this right here. Putting that together, I think, has some very important points. And matter of fact, you can check out his full post. Heres the really long link thats there that you can see, but a better way I put this into a URL shortener. So its bit dotly kevinturnerdeepseek, all in lowercase as one word. And again, we thank Beth Granger for sharing this, making it available for our Stark Raving Entrepreneurs community. I think thats really important, and were seeing a lot of capabilities coming from it.

Terry Brock [00:15:52]:

We dealt with this before at our meeting just this last week this week, just yesterday, as a matter of fact, is why Im putting this together. And heres something you can get in as well. Theres the URL you can use if youre catching this on an audio format. Again, its bit.lyhttpscolon/bit.ly/kevinturnerdeepseek, or heres a QR code. If youre catching this on a video format, youll be able to scan that and get the information you need. But theres some other things I wanna tell you, very important here, when youre looking at possible implementation of this. When youre doing it, your responsibilities are important. What you wanna look at is look at the ethical guidelines.

Terry Brock [00:16:34]:

For instance, implementing clear ethical guidelines for AI development and deployment is crucial to ensure responsible use. Have principles for yourself. If youre a small company, a one person operator, then its gonna be different, but you need some. If youre a larger corporation, then obviously youre gonna need to follow the guidelines that are set up by those in power there, and those who are leading you. Transparency and accountability. Well, you want transparency in AI algorithms and decisions because thats essential for building trust and understanding. If you want trust and understanding, something thats critical in business, you need to do that. And heres some thoughts that we have from, stark raving entrepreneurs.

Terry Brock [00:17:14]:

First of all, you wanna be cautious about embracing privacy innovating tools, invasive tools that are like that. Make sure that youre exercising what you know. Do not put your social security number out there. Do not put the last four of your social security. Be careful in your mothers maiden name, birth dates, medical history. Be careful when youre putting out, were gonna be developing a product on a, b, and c. Oh, yeah? Well, your competitors might be looking at that, or were doing this or were doing that. Just be careful when youre doing it.

Terry Brock [00:17:45]:

It. Make sure that you would share on AI what you would feel comfortable sharing on a widely attended Facebook interview thats live, for instance, or a YouTube live, something like that. Remember, free has a cost for your privacy. You think, oh, its free. Okay. Its great. Well, maybe its great. Maybe you wanna cut back on that a little bit.

Terry Brock [00:18:07]:

And you wanna test a variety of sources to see whats going on and how this is behaving, what its doing and what its not doing. Because, this is gonna make a difference in whats happening. I like the idea of using chat gpt and perplexity, and then maybe anotheR1 like grok. Or in this case, you might look at deep seek, going through perplexity. Perplexity can give you that ability as well to look at it. And be aware, but dont be scared. Theres one you can quote me on. I came up with that, by the way, just yesterday.

Terry Brock [00:18:39]:

I was sitting here thinking about it and came up with the idea, be aware, but dont be scared. Take the right steps so youre doing what needs to be done, and make sure youre monitoring it carefully. And also, stay in touch with what happens. You wanna make sure that youre continually updated, continually updated on whats going on in the world. You need a community. We do this in our Starkraving Entrepreneurs community. And you wanna look at what communities are available that can help you out. We would welcome you there.

Terry Brock [00:19:06]:

Come in and be with us if that would be the right thing for you. Also, consider installing on your computer with no net access. You can do this with deep seek. You put it on your computer. Now, it takes a little bit more computer savvy to do that. If you want to do that, youre gonna get some real advantages because what youll get is the ability to run it on your computer and keep it only on your computer. It does take a little bit more tech finesse on that, but that could be something to do in a department where youve got several people, and you wanna tap into what deep sea can do for you. But you dont wanna share that information with the entire world.

Terry Brock [00:19:43]:

So be careful on that. Look at what is available and how you can use it and the kind of capabilities are there. Also, dont share sensitive data, as I mentioned here, not only on deep seek R1, but on other platforms as well. Just be careful of that. And consider that access through perplexity. This is something I have not done yet. Well be doing that in the future and wanna let you know the kinds of things that are there. Well share this with our star craving entrepreneurs group with our bronze and silver levels, particularly letting them see it with some hands on do for you how to make this kind of thing happen.

Terry Brock [00:20:15]:

Its got some real good applications. And then, stay in regular contact with your chosen source. You wanna make sure that the sources youre working with, the people youre with, find out whats going on. Hey, what did you hear about this? What do you think about that? What kind of results are you getting? This is where you learn in how we get ahead in todays world. And number 10, for stark raving entrepreneurs, bronze and silver members, be sure and check the Facebook groups. I know many of you are watching this right now. Make sure that, if youre in the silver or the bronze group, that you check those groups when were putting in new updates, new fresh information, and ways that you can use this to make money, to build your business. Because thats what were all about at Star Creating Entrepreneurs.

Terry Brock [00:20:56]:

In our live and let live environment, thats what we embrace. And embrace a check out check it out first mentality in all of AI. And really, thats for life too. You wanna make sure that youre checking something out, examining it, fully aware of whats going on. Use AI responsibly and wisely. We recommend you use AI as your assistant, not as a copy and paste robot. You wanna start with your unique voice, what youre saying, the experiences that youve had, the books you read, the conference that you went to where you heard that great speaker and he was really good on this, That conference you went to last year in Phoenix and she was really good. That speaker, she was just dynamite.

Terry Brock [00:21:38]:

You can share that. And you see, chat gpt and deep seek and, perplexity dont know about that. So now you get a chance to stand out from the crowd that way. Look at AI as your research head. Someone thats in charge of your research and helping you in that in some specific ways so that you can get the kind of information you want when you need it. Also, edit and make it you. As I like to say, you want to U ize it. Make it your own material.

Terry Brock [00:22:09]:

I like to say, if your name is George, you wanna Georgeize it. If your name is Mary, you wanna Maryize it. If youre Terry like me, you Terryize it. Okay? So if thats something you wanna do, make sure its there. And heres another little thing I came up with yesterday. You can take this as well. Enjoy the ride in 2025. So enjoy the ride in 2025.

Terry Brock [00:22:29]:

Its got a lot of good opportunities for you. Its a lot of good things out there. But theres even more available as you start working with this and start taking advantage of whats there. So weve got some good things for you here. Here is that QR code again. So you can use that. Grab that for information that can help you, let you get ahead, and let you, use that in some, big ways, in some significant ways that are gonna help you. So now, as we look at it in closing, what I would suggest is as youre using these tools, make sure that youre not putting out proprietary information, putting out information that you dont want to share with the world.

Terry Brock [00:23:04]:

We saw that some companies did that with chat gpt, like Samsung did that and they go, oops, we made a mistake on there. They pulled back from using chat gpt for a while. And then the people at Samsung were really, really smart. They came out and said, wait a minute. Were gonna put these rules and positions in place, and they did it the right way. So we can learn from that. Make sure that youre doing those kinds of practices, and be cautious. Dont just jump into a new tool because its the new cool thing.

Terry Brock [00:23:30]:

You wanna study it and make sure that youre getting the right information. And speaking of right information, got some tools for you that you wanna see right now. Some things are gonna help you in a big way. Got a video over here that talks about how you could start using AI and really develop it in some big ways and help yourself grow on that. Im Terry Brock for Star Craving Entrepreneurs with Gina Carr, my partner on that. Thank you very much for joining me today, and Im looking forward to hearing from you. Please share this with your community. Let them know whats going on, how they can use it.

Terry Brock [00:24:01]:

And if you got questions, drop a note in the comments below wherever youre getting this, whatever podcast or YouTube or other platform youre getting it on, and we look forward to hearing from you.
The government has set out how it will better protect productive farmland as part of a new consultation which aims to 'make the most of our land'.

The Land Use Framework consultation, launched on Friday (31 January), seeks a new strategic approach to managing land use in England.

As part of it, the government is looking at new ways to deliver housebuilding, nature goals, energy infrastructure and entire new towns.

However, it also wants to give decision makers the data they need to protect the most productive farmland, boosting food security amid 'global uncertainty and a changing climate'.

As part of what it calls a 'national conversation' on land use, workshops will commence across England bringing farmers and landowners to the discussion table.

The announcement comes just days after a parliamentary committee called on the government to increase domestic food production by 30% by 2050, as food imports and global uncertainty continues to rise.

The call comes against the backdrop of plans to build 1.5 million new homes over five years, entire towns and energy infrastructure to achieve the 'Clean Power by 2030' goal.

But Labour said on Friday (31 January) that protecting UK food security and pursuing economic growth 'go hand-in-hand' as its plans to 'kickstart the economy'.

Defra Secretary Steve Reed set out how England's most productive farmland will be protected from these developments in a speech at the Royal Geographical Society.

He said: "Its time for policy to leave the chambers of Westminster and reflect the actual lived experiences of farmers, landowners and planners on the ground.

"We will transform how we use our land, that means enabling the protection of prime agricultural land, restore our natural world and drive economic growth."

Speaking specifically about farmland, Mr Reed said that the government has a 'cast-iron commitment' to maintain long-term food production.

"The primary purpose of farming will always be to produce food that feeds the nation," the Defra Secretary added.

"This framework will give decision makers the toolkit they need to protect our highest quality agricultural land."

The government will also consult on how data can be used in some planning decisions to improve the resilience of the food system to flooding risk.

Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, said the announcement 'could not be more timely'.

"Setting out clear principles, and working across government departments, were pleased to see that the land use consultation focuses on mechanisms for delivery.

"Our work in Devon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire proves that farmers, communities, local authorities, green groups and businesses are keen to work together."

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, with the final Land Use Framework published later in the year.
A huge asteroid could plummet to Earth and wreck Christmas in 2032.

A huge asteroid could cause havoc on Earth in December 2032

The chunk of rock called 2024 YR4 - which has been dubbed the size of the London Eye - is zooming down at 38,000mph, and a crash landing is predicted for December 22, 2032.

Despite space geeks keeping a close eye on the asteroid - which poses the biggest risk from a collision ever recorded by the European Space Agency - there is only a 1.2 per cent chance of it impacting Earth.

The asteroid - which was spotted on Christmas Day (25.12.24) by a telescope at a Chile observatory - is moving away from our planet, but its orbit could bring it closer once again.

Gareth Collins, a professor of planetary science at Imperial College London, said: "At this stage, the best thing to do is continue tracking the asteroid for as long as possible so that we can predict its trajectory with more confidence."
Josh Brolin had to work harder to prove himself at his 'Goonies' audition because of his famous dad.

Josh Brolin was humbled by Steven Spielberg

The 56-year-old actor - who is the son of actor James Brolin and his late ex-wife, casting director Jane Cameron - insisted nepotism didn't work in his favour when it came to trying out for the 1985 classic and he soon realised he needed to do more work.

Speaking on 'Literally! With Rob Lowe', he recalled: I think 'Goonies' was quite an accident.

"I went in there, Ive been told, they pulled the Brolin thing, Are you [James] Brolins kid? You want to be an actor, huh? So instead of that nepotistic thing, they looked at me and were like, Oh yeah? So act.'

"You know, 'I'm not gonna help you because I know you think you're gonna make it', which is ridiculous.

I studied. I got Stanislavski books, Grotowski  and Antonin Artaud and the 'Theatre of Cruelty'. I literally stayed in a bookstore 90 percent of the time. Just reading, reading, reading.

The 'Dune' actor eventually got to meet with producer Steven Spielberg and director Richard Donner and, following multiple meetings, he landed his breakthrough role of Brand Walsh.

He said: I just looked right for the part. You look at Sean Astin, you look at the type of movie it is, I looked like a bit of a bad boy, but sort of a jock, and I was in good shape, so they were like, thats the guy. I went back six times, just so they could make sure, and then I did it.

Studying gave Josh some big ideas - but he was quickly humbled by Spielberg.

He recalled: I was on the set and I was reading all this stuff. I came to Steven at some point, we were in one of the tunnels, and I said, Hey, Steven, can I talk to you for a second?'

"I was 16 - and really dumb too because I'd missed a lot of school.

I said, Hey, dont you think that the tunnels kind of represent my mothers womb? And what if we film me climbing up the tunnel, but really Im trying to cut that emotional umbilical cord of my mother, and I could have tears coming down my face?

"I went into this whole thing, and I was getting all excited because he was nodding his head, and then I waited.

And then he looked at me and he said, Why dont you just act? Just say the words on the page, youll be fine.'

And I could have been like, D***! But I didnt, I was like, Oh, totally. I got it.' 
Lily Collins has paid a heartfelt birthday tribute to her dad Phil Collins.

Phil Collins recently turned 74

The 35-year-old actress has taken to social media to pay tribute to the chart-topping musician, who turned 74 on Thursday (30.01.25).

Alongside a throwback photo of them together, Lily wrote on Instagram: "From a west coast star to the West End stage and everywhere in between  Im so grateful to be by your side and for the support, experiences, and love we have and will continue to share. The older I get, the greater I appreciate all the little, special moments spent together. Happy birthday Dad. I couldnt love you more or be more thankful to celebrate you today and every day. Truly. To the moon and back again (sic)"

Lily has also posted a video of herself at Hotel Eden in Rome, where her autograph and her dad's now sit side by side on the wall.

The 'Emily in Paris' star commented: "Like father, like daughter. So proud to share space with you. Happy birthday, Dad."

Phil - who has battled various health problems in recent years, including diabetes - remains one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Despite this, Lily previously admitted that she struggled to understand her dad's fame during her younger years.

The brunette beauty - who was born in England, but raised in Los Angeles - told 'TODAY': "I remember being a kid at Disneyland with my dad and having someone come up and ask him for a photo. And I think I was just so confused because I was, like, well, Disneyland has nothing to do with him.

"But it was that kind of recognition no matter where he went that he had touched the life of somebody in a very profound way."
Reese Witherspoon has revealed a speech misfire at an awards ceremony cost her a friendship with an A-list actress.

Reese Witherspoon has revealed a speech misfire at an awards ceremony cost her a friendship with an A-list actress

The Legally Blonde star, 48, admitted the mishap happened when she was invited to present an award to a well-respected actress but completely misjudged the tone of the evening  delivering a roast-style speech as she believed it was meant to be a lighthearted event.

She has now admitted to People about her friendship crumbling as a result of her gags at the event: Im not even kidding  were not friends anymore.

It literally haunts me.

Reese added: So this friend of mine  who I didnt really know that well, but she was a very serious, proper actress  she asked me to give her an award.

I had never been to that particular awards ceremony before, and I thought it was like a roast. So I got up and I roasted her.

(But) the tone was British and elegant and classy. And I was like, Remember the time we got laser hair removal?!

Despite now seeing the funny side of the incident, the Oscar-winner admitted she remains embarrassed by her error.

She added: Im still embarrassed about it. I thought it was so funny, and it was just, I had the wrong audience. It was pretty bad.

I think (the actress being honoured) doesnt like me anymore... oh well.

Reese recently reflected on the importance of humour in her life.

She said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about how she instills it in her children: I think you should embarrass them enough that theyre funny later in life.

Jimmy then told her: You are one of the coolest moms, I would say. Your kids gotta be proud of you, but also, you post (online) that make you embarrassed I love that about you.

Reese agreed her children  Ava, 25, Deacon, 21, and 12-year-old Tennessee  dont always love what she shares on social media, but she believes it teaches them to take life less seriously.

She said: I think its a good thing.
Russell Brands time at the BBC was marked by a culture in which individuals felt unable to raise concerns about his behaviour, a review by the broadcaster has found.

Russell Brands time at the BBC was marked by a culture in which individuals felt unable to raise concerns about his behaviour, a review by the broadcaster has found

The report, led by Peter Johnston, the BBCs director of editorial complaints and reviews, stated many colleagues believed the presenter would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent.

Russell, 49, has denied allegations of rape, assault and emotional abuse, maintaining all his sexual relationships were absolutely always consensual.

The review into his behaviour follows a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023, which reported accusations from four women alleging sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013.

Mr Johnstons review focused on Brands conduct while working at BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 between 2006 and 2008.

He investigated eight complaints, noting only one was formally submitted to the BBC at the time.

Mr Johnston said: The culture of the time undoubtedly influenced what was acceptable/tolerated, but I have found that a number of individuals had concerns about Russell Brands behaviour which they felt unable to raise then.

Many interviewees believed, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent.

The report also highlighted failures in the BBCs complaints system during Brands tenure.

Mr Johnston added in the document: The processes for raising any concerns were also not as developed as they are now.

He addedthe corporation has since introduced improved mechanisms for staff to report concerns.

In response, the BBC acknowledged eight complaints about Russell had been reviewed, two of which were made while the comic and actor was employed by the broadcaster  one formally, another informally.

The corporation said about the findings of the probe: It is of great concern that some of these individuals felt unable to raise concerns about Russell Brands behaviour at the time, and the BBC has apologised to them as part of this review."

Russell left the BBC in 2008 following a high-profile editorial breach.

The broadcaster said it had since strengthened its safeguarding policies, introducing a process for handling serious allegations and implementing an anti-bullying and harassment policy.

It added: It is clear that presenters have been able to abuse their positions at the BBC.

In November 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it was considering bringing charges against Russell.

The Metropolitan Police said it had received multiple reports of sexual offences from women in London and elsewhere in the UK following the initial media investigation.

A man in his 40s was interviewed under caution three times in relation to the allegations.

The BBC confirmed it had been in contact with the Metropolitan Police throughout the review, which has been shared with the force.

It said: The BBC acknowledges that Russell Brand categorically denies all public allegations made against him.
John Mulaney has taken a swipe at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

John Mulaney has taken a swipe at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

While announcing his latest Netflix project, the 42-year-old joked: Not since Harry and Meghan has Netflix given more money to someone without a specific plan.

He made the gag when introducing Everybodys Live with John Mulaney at a Netflix showcase event, confirming the variety talk show will air live over 12 weeks starting in March.

John continued his comparison with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, adding: Like Harry and Meghan, theres nothing but goodwill on my side. People are rooting for me left and right.

Best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, John has had a long-standing relationship with Netflix, releasing multiple stand-up specials, including Baby J and the childrens variety special John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch.

His comments referenced the Sussexes high-profile Netflix deal, which saw the release of Harry and Meghan in December 2022.

The three-part docuseries chronicled their relationship and departure from royal duties, drawing both praise and criticism.

Meghan, 42, is set to return to Netflix in March with her new show With Love, Meghan  a lifestyle series originally postponed due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

She and Harry were recently reported to be pursuing a professional split to take on individual projects but appeared together this month at the Invictus Games event.

Reflecting on his own show, John said: It was one of those shows that neither Netflix nor I really needed to do. I never wanted to host a talk show and they were getting out of the talk show game, so it was the perfect moment to do this.

He added about the concept: We will never be relevant, we will never be your source for news, we will always be reckless. Netflix will always provide us with data that we ignore.

John stressed the unconventional nature of Everybodys Live by saying: There is absolutely nothing new about what Im doing. But by taking a lot of elements other people have already done and doing them out of order, it feels new and thats whats important. If we can be one-tenth as popular on Netflix as anything from South Korea, I will have the most successful talk show in world history.

Everybodys Live with John Mulaney will premiere on Netflix on 12 March.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million policy-based loan to help the Philippine government expand labour market programmes designed to improve the productivity and employability of Filipino workers, while supporting reforms that will transform the investment environment to become more conducive to job creation.

The Business and Employment Recovery Programme-Subprogramme 2 is assisting the government in pursuing reforms and initiatives to achieve inclusive economic growth by equipping the countrys labour force, including vulnerable youth, with the skills required to meet evolving industry needs. It also aims to increase womens participation in the workforce via technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and provide better access to livelihood and employment opportunities through government job facilitation programmes.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million loan to support the Philippine government's labour market reforms under the Business and Employment Recovery Programme-Subprogramme 2. The initiative aims to improve workforce productivity, enhance skills training, increase women's workforce participation, and create more formal jobs.

While job recovery in the Philippines has been encouraging in the post-COVID-19 period, the quality of jobs remains a critical concern, with many workers still facing challenges such as underemployment, informality, and limited access to decent work opportunities, said ADB country director for the Philippines, Pavit Ramachandran. This new programme addresses that need and will help in preparing Filipino workers for higher-skilled jobs such as in analytics and artificial intelligence, software development and security, and business process managementindustries where Filipinos have a proven potential to excel.

Under the programme, the government is targeting to increase the formal employment in the private sector by an average of 600,000 to 700,000 jobs per year, with the share of private sector jobs to total employment rising to 51 per cent against 49 per cent in 2019, or prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to massive job losses and contraction in industry output.

Other targets include skills training for 5,000 workers, including those displaced during the COVID-19 pandemic, through private sector-led programs such as the SkillsUpNet Philippines or similar workplace skills training programme piloted by the government with ADB support. The government also wants to raise the number of job placements through public employment service offices (PESOs) in local government units (LGUs) across the country by 120,000 annually and expand the number of LGUs implementing the JobStart Philippines skills training programme for the youth not in education, employment, or training.

This programme builds on the ADB-financed Facilitating Youth School-to-Work Transition Programme, which supported previous labour market reforms and initiatives, including JobStart Philippines and the institutionalisation of PESOs. It also complements the supporting innovation in the Philippine TVET System, which is helping upgrade and modernise TVET training institutes managed by the governments Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 69 members49 from the region.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)
The European Union (EU) and Jordan recently signed a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, officially elevating the formers relationship with the latter.

The signing followed a bilateral meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

The EU and Jordan have signed a Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, officially elevating their bilateral ties. The partnership is structured around five pillars, two of which are human capital, and economic resilience, trade and investment. The EU will back reforms that drive growth and employment. Both sides will work to bridge skills gaps, foster inclusivity and promote job creation.

The EU and Jordan have a long and deep-rooted history of cooperation, based on the Jordan-EU Association Agreement and the Jordan-EU Partnership Priorities (2021-2027).

The partnership aims at upscaling this cooperation to better tackle common challenges. It also reflects the continued commitment of the EU to assist Jordan in facing the socio-economic impact of the Syrian crisis, and in supporting refugee and host communities in Jordan, a release from the EU said.

It will also open up further avenues for investments and enhance business opportunities for European companies by contributing to a more stable economic environment.

It will be complemented by financial resources worth 3 billion, comprising grants, public and private investments and macro-financial assistance.

The partnership will increase security, stability and economic opportunities for Jordan and the EU, directly benefitting our citizens, European Commission commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica, who signed the partnership document, said.

The partnership is structured around five key pillars, two of which are human capital and economic resilience, trade and investment.

The EU will back structural reforms that drive growth and employment while maximising the potential of the free trade area. Focus areas include green transition, sustainable resource management, and expanded cooperation on digitalisation, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The EU and Jordan will work to bridge skills gaps, foster inclusivity and promote job creation. Initiatives will include support for quality education, vocational training and entrepreneurial development.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Net sales of Upland cotton in the United States for the 2024-25 season totalled 280,000 running bales (RB), each weighing 226.8 kg (500 pounds), during the week ending January 23, 2025. This marks a decrease of 20 per cent from the previous week, but an increase of 20 per cent from the prior four-week average.

The increases were primarily for Vietnam (86,000 RB), Turkiye (76,300 RB), Pakistan (49,800 RB), Bangladesh (22,900 RB), and Costa Rica (13,200 RB).

In the week ending January 23, 2025, US Upland cotton sales for the 2024-25 season decreased by 20 per cent weekly but increased by the same margin compared to the four-week average, with significant exports to Vietnam and Turkiye. Pima cotton sales also showed an uptick. However, overall cotton exports fell by 31 per cent from the previous week.

Net sales of 38,600 RB for 2025-26 were reported for the week for Malaysia (26,400 RB), Costa Rica (11,000 RB), and Japan (1,200 RB). The exports of 153,500 RB were down 31 per cent from the previous week and 19 per cent from the prior four-week average. The destinations were primarily to Pakistan (38,700 RB), Vietnam (30,500 RB), China (23,400 RB), Mexico (10,200 RB), and Turkiye (9,400 RB).

Net sales of Pima totalling 7,200 RB for 2024-25 were up 18 per cent from the previous week and 69 per cent from the prior four-week average. Increases primarily for Peru (2,300 RB), Hong Kong (2,200 RB), India (1,200 RB), Egypt (900 RB), and Turkiye (400 RB) were offset by reductions for Italy (300 RB).

Exports of 7,900 RB were up noticeably from the previous week and up 20 per cent from the prior four-week average. The destinations were primarily to Peru (3,200 RB), India (2,300 RB), China (1,100 RB), Turkiye (500 RB), and Pakistan (400 RB).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
BMW's stock demonstrated positive momentum on Thursday, climbing 0.7% to reach 79.86 on XETRA, with an intraday peak of 80.12. This upward trajectory marks a significant recovery from mid-November's 52-week low of 65.26, representing an 18% increase. However, the current price remains substantially below April's high of 115.35. The third quarter proved challenging for the Munich-based automaker, with earnings per share declining from 4.21 to 0.63 and revenue dropping 15.74% to 32.41 billion.

Analyst Outlook Remains Positive

Despite recent financial headwinds, market analysts maintain an optimistic stance on BMW's stock performance, setting an average price target of 87.83. This forecast suggests considerable upside potential from current levels. Looking ahead to 2024, experts project earnings per share of 12.54, though shareholders should anticipate a reduced dividend of 4.54, down from the previous year's 6.00 distribution.

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As the U.S. sees an alarming rollback of funding, resources, and support for Black businesses, Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. is creating a financial Underground Railroad-an internal network dedicated to funding and elevating Black entrepreneurs. Through the Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. Black Business Pitch Competition at Yale University, held in collaboration with Yale's Black Solidarity Conference on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at the Yale Afro-American Cultural Center, Black entrepreneurs will receive cash prizes, mentorship, and access to a private network of investors, business leaders, and wealth-building strategists committed to closing the racial wealth gap.

At a time when corporate DEI budgets are being slashed, Black business grants are disappearing, and access to capital is shrinking, this initiative is not just a competition-it's a covert financial revolution ensuring Black businesses are funded, protected, and built to last for generations.

"This country has a long history of limiting, restricting, and outright stealing from Black entrepreneurs," said Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. "While they try to cut us off from funding, we are creating our own economy-one that can't be shut down, one that doesn't rely on their approval. This competition is not just about winning-it's about mobilizing financial freedom for Black businesses, no matter what obstacles they put in our way."

The Economic Suppression of Black Businesses & the Need for an Underground Railroad

While discussions on racial wealth disparities have gained national attention, Black entrepreneurs continue to face systemic financial barriers:

Only 1.2% of venture capital funding goes to Black founders, despite Black-owned businesses being among the fastest-growing in the U.S. (Crunchbase)

Banks are twice as likely to reject Black business loan applicants than white applicants, even when they have similar financial profiles. (Federal Reserve)

Corporate DEI programs are being defunded at record rates, with major corporations quietly eliminating diversity funding after years of pledges to support Black businesses. (The Washington Post)

Instead of waiting for outside funding that historically never comes, Ward is building an internal Black financial ecosystem that trains, funds, and protects Black entrepreneurs, bypassing traditional financial gatekeepers.

Beyond Capital: Why Mentorship & Networking Are the Keys to Long-Term Black Business Success

While funding is critical, mentorship and networking are just as essential in building Black businesses that last for generations:

88% of Black entrepreneurs say that lack of mentorship limits their ability to scale. (McKinsey & Company)

Black founders with strong networks are 72% more likely to secure funding and business partnerships than those without mentorship. (Harvard Business Review)

Recognizing this, the Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. Black Business Pitch Competition ensures that winners and finalists gain access to top-tier Black executives, investors, and business leaders who are committed to building a financial underground network for Black success.

Hands-on mentorship from leading Black executives, investors, and industry experts

Networking opportunities with high-level professionals, funders, and potential business partners

A seat at the United in DEI Legacy Table, a coalition of Black business leaders committed to economic empowerment

"This is about more than just writing a check," Ward said. "This is about giving Black entrepreneurs the tools and the networks they need to build financial power that cannot be taken away."

The Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. Scholarship: A Commitment to Generational Wealth

Community Service - Businesses that reinvest in their communities

Resilience - Navigating challenges with strength and adaptability

Love & Connection - Leading with purpose and relationships

Communication - Mastering storytelling and business strategy

Health & Wellness - Prioritizing holistic success

Mindset - Cultivating a wealth-building mentality

Team Building - Strengthening businesses through collaboration

Allyship - Creating inclusive economic opportunities

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) - Fostering Black economic advancement

Social Justice - Using business as a force for systemic change

Recipients of the scholarship are expected to pay it forward, serving as mentors, business leaders, and advocates for Black economic empowerment.

A Collaboration with Yale University's Black Solidarity Conference

The Black Solidarity Conference at Yale has been a hub for student activism, scholarship, and leadership development for over 25 years. This partnership ensures that economic empowerment and business development remain a central part of the conversation on racial justice, Black solidarity, and generational wealth-building.

Join the Movement: Compete, Observe, or Partner in This Economic Revolution

The Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. Black Business Pitch Competition is not just about business-it's about creating an unbreakable financial network that funds Black businesses internally, independent of outside approval.

Are you an entrepreneur with a business idea that could change the world? Apply to compete.

Want to witness Black innovation and support the next generation of business leaders? Attend as an observer.

Interested in partnering, mentoring, or funding Black businesses? Collaborate with us for future pitch competitions.

For competition details, media inquiries, or sponsorship opportunities, contact:

Kelsha Sellars

404-410-0200

Kelsha@ninavafirm.com

For more information, visit:

www.nselaaward.com | www.ninavafirm.com

###

SOURCE: Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D.-renowned scholar, legal strategist, and civil rights leader-will deliver a historic address at Yale University on Black Solidarity, Reproductive Justice, and the broader political intersections between DEI rollbacks, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and post-Roe restrictions.

As state governments escalate attacks on diversity, abortion rights, and LGBTQ+ protections, Ward will expose how these issues are not isolated battles but part of a larger coordinated movement to dismantle fundamental rights for marginalized communities. Her talk will provide students, activists, and community leaders with an understanding of how these policies are interconnected and why collective action is crucial to resisting this political agenda.

The event, taking place Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, 2025, at Yale's Afro-American Cultural Center, is part of Yale University's student-led initiative to empower emerging leaders in the fight for civil rights, reproductive justice, and racial solidarity.

A Legacy of Reproductive Justice Leadership & Mass Mobilization

Ward is one of the most influential voices in the fight for reproductive justice today. As a former national organizer for the National Organization for Women (NOW) and NARAL Pro-Choice America, she has been at the forefront of some of the most pivotal movements for women's rights in modern history.

In 2004, she made history by leading the largest women's rights demonstration ever recorded-the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C., mobilizing 1.2 million people in defense of reproductive rights-the largest demonstration for women's healthcare in U.S. history.

The Political Intersection of Reproductive Justice, DEI Rollbacks, and Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

Ward's address at Yale University will connect the dots between recent political shifts and their disproportionate impact on Black communities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Current political trends reveal a calculated strategy to dismantle rights for marginalized communities:

14 states have implemented near-total abortion bans, disproportionately affecting Black and low-income communities. (Guttmacher Institute)

Black maternal mortality rates are nearly three times higher than for white women, worsened by new abortion restrictions. (CDC)

Over 30 states have introduced or passed legislation rolling back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. (The Washington Post)

More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in 2024 alone, including bans on gender-affirming care, school censorship laws, and increased criminalization of LGBTQ+ identity. (Human Rights Campaign)

"The attacks on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ protections, and DEI are not separate battles; they are part of a larger movement to strip away the power and autonomy of marginalized communities," Ward said. "If we do not stand together, they will continue to divide and dismantle us piece by piece."

Mobilizing the Next Generation: A Student-Led Movement for Justice

Ward's address will also unveil a powerful, student-led initiative aimed at mobilizing young activists to resist these political attacks and advocate for reproductive justice, racial equity, and LGBTQ+ rights.

This initiative will:

Train student leaders on grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and advocacy strategies

Build campus-based networks to fight against anti-DEI policies, abortion restrictions, and LGBTQ+ discrimination

Launch coordinated protests, voter drives, and social action campaigns leading up to the 2026 elections

Create intersectional partnerships between Black rights groups, reproductive justice organizations, and LGBTQ+ advocacy movements

"The student movements of the past were the catalysts for civil rights, women's rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. This generation has the power to change history again, but only if we mobilize now," Ward said. "We are not waiting for permission to reclaim our rights."

A Scholar, Activist, and Cultural Disruptor

Ward is not just an activist-she is a scholar, thought leader, and cultural disruptor who has reshaped the conversation on shame, power, and personal transformation.

Her background includes:

Former business attorney, specializing in civil rights law, social justice policy, and corporate strategy

One of the Top 5 female slam poets in the world, using spoken word as a tool for social change

Media commentator featured on CNN, BET, C-SPAN, and TEDx, bringing justice conversations to mainstream audiences

Founder of Ni' Nava & Associates, a global consulting firm connecting thought leaders with high-impact speaking opportunities

As one of the most dynamic and influential voices in the national fight for racial and reproductive justice, Ward's address at Yale University marks a pivotal moment in the movement to reclaim rights under attack.

Representation & Booking Information

For media inquiries, interview requests, or speaking engagements with Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D., please contact:

Kelsha Sellars

404-410-0200

Kelsha@ninavafirm.com

For more information on Ward's work, visit:

www.nselaaward.com

Reproductive Justice, DEI, and LGBTQ+ Rights in the 21st Century

As reproductive rights, DEI initiatives, and LGBTQ+ protections face unprecedented attacks, it is more urgent than ever for communities to unite in resistance.

Join Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D. at Yale University for a landmark discussion that will shape the next era of Black leadership, reproductive justice, and intersectional activism. The time to fight back is now.

###

SOURCE: Madam Nselaa Ward, J.D.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 30, 2025) - In a groundbreaking move set to transform the way scientific research is captured and managed, Boston-based SciShield, and Groningen, Netherlands-based eLabNext, have merged to launch the world's first and only Scientific Management Platform (SMP). The combined company has been re-branded as SciSure. Founded by scientists for scientists, SciSure delivers the unique combination of eLabNext's Digital Lab Platform with its ELN (Electronic Laboratory Notebook) and LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) and SciShield's comprehensive, trusted, and compliant EHS (Environmental Health & Safety) platform. The SMP will address the most pressing issues in science today: fragmented systems and the inefficiencies they create.

SciShield and eLabNext Merge to Create SciSure and Deliver the Future of Scientific Research Management

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/239099_3b2bfc2c64caa882_002full.jpg

"Scientific organizations face the costly challenge of maintaining disparate systems that burden scientists and add unnecessary cost, complexity, and risk. Today, that changes," said Phil Meer, Chief Executive Officer. "By bringing eLabNext and SciShield together, we accelerate our vision to deliver an unparalleled scientist experience via a platform that will serve as a digital ecosystem for stakeholders vested in ensuring accurate, safe, compliant, and streamlined scientific research."

Unparalleled Global Scale

Trust, protection, and research integrity form the core values of SciSure. The combined company offers unparalleled global scale, featuring 800+ unique customer organizations, 550,000+ research and administrative users, and 37,000+ lab groups across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Customers include global Fortune 100 Biopharma organizations, over one-third of United States R1 Academic Institutions, and laboratories within companies across diverse industries, including healthcare, oil & gas, and food safety.



Research, Safety, Training, and Operations in a Single Platform

For decades, scientists, Lab Operations, Facilities Management, and EHS professionals have managed the dynamic and complex operational and regulatory requirements that span scientific organizations using fragmented technologies. These disconnected systems aren't just inconvenient-they create significant risks. These risks include inadequate research documentation, poor IP management, loss of critical experiment data, lapses in training, compliance violations, and the mishandling of hazardous materials. The SMP mitigates these risks by creating synchronized, intelligent, and proactive data-driven insights and seamless, secure workflows to enable scientists to effectively conduct and document their research, and scientific organizations to proactively inspect, report, remediate, and, ultimately, minimize risk. Moreover, via its partner-enabled Marketplace, SciSure offers an open digital ecosystem designed for internal customer systems and third-party software vendors to seamlessly deliver third-party data and workflows into and out of the Scientific Management Platform (SMP).



"Our mission is to support scientific organizations in facilitating unburdened, uncompromised, and safe scientific advancement," said Nathan Watson, SciShield Founder and SciSure Chief Strategy Officer. "The SMP enables fast, efficient, and more reliable decision-making, allowing scientists to focus on what they do best: advancing their scientific discoveries."



A Solution Designed by Scientists, for Scientists



With scientists and researchers at the core of SciSure's Senior Leadership Team, the Scientific Management Platform (SMP) will improve the scientist experience, with benefits including:





Liberating scientists from administrative and compliance burdens

Enhancing trust in digital solutions and accuracy of data

Establishing a home base for planning, documenting, and organizing research data

Streamlining and organizing multiple technologies, allowing for data from adjacent systems to be securely integrated and available to scientists within their daily workflow

"Scientists must have confidence and trust in the digital solutions they use. When trust goes up, speed and innovation follow," said Erwin Seinen, eLabNext co-founder and SciSure Chief Revenue Officer. "The SMP is the ultimate home base for scientists, lab operations, and EHS professionals to thrive together," added Wouter de Jong, eLabNext co-founder and SciSure Chief Product Officer.

Ownership

SciSure is backed by Strattam Capital. Strattam Capital first invested in SciShield in 2023 to enable the company to accelerate its pace of innovation while continuing to provide best-in-class services to its high-profile customer base. In addition, the investment provided SciShield with resources to expand its product offerings, operations, and sales teams.



About the SMP



The Scientific Management Platform (SMP) redefines laboratory efficiency and compliance, empowering organizations to deliver on their missions without compromise. By uniting critical systems, the SMP champions a new era of trust and innovation in digital science, fostering collaboration and liberating scientists and researchers to make the breakthroughs the world is counting on them to make.

Explore more about the SciSure vision and learn how we're reimagining the Scientist Experience at www.scisure.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239099

SOURCE: Plentisoft
Sunrise UPC GmbH / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Sunrise reminds of upcoming end of free ADS cancellation period



31-Jan-2025 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





In the context of the spin-off of Sunrise in November 2024, Sunrise shares were initially distributed in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADSs). Since the completion of the spin-off, Sunrise ADS holders have been and continue to be entitled to cancel the Sunrise ADSs and demand delivery of the underlying Sunrise shares and deposit such shares with a bank, broker or other nominee capable of holding and trading the Sunrise shares on SIX Swiss Exchange.

The three-month period during which holders of Sunrise ADSs who cancel their Sunrise ADSs and demand delivery of the underlying Sunrise shares do not have to pay cancellation fees of up to $0.05 per Sunrise ADS will expire on 11 February 2025[1].

As of 28 January 2025, c. 67% of the Class A ADS and c. 98% of the Class B ADS have been cancelled[2] with the remaining outstanding ADSs representing c. 31% of Sunrise's share capital as of the spin-off.

For further information, please refer to the Sunrise Investor Relations page .

[1] Holders of Sunrise ADSs will be responsible for paying any taxes or other expenses in connection with such cancellation before or after 11 February 2025.

[2] Net of ADS issuances, both across the restricted and unrestricted programs.

Ad hoc announcement "Sunrise reminds of upcoming end of free ADS cancellation period" (pdf)

Sunrise Investor Relations

Alex Herrmann

+41 58 777 61 00

investor.relations@sunrise.net Sunrise Media Relations



+41 58 777 76 66

media@sunrise.net

ABOUT SUNRISE

Sunrise Communications Ltd. (Sunrise) is Switzerland's leading challenger, with a strong number two position in the Swiss telecommunications market and is listed on SIX Swiss Exchange (SUNN).

By providing the most comprehensive fixed network access and a world-class mobile network delivering the highest gigabit coverage in Switzerland, Sunrise stands out as a premium and scaled company. Based on its best-in-class, future-fit networks, Sunrise provides high-quality mobile, landline, broadband and TV services to residential customers and empowers business customers with 360 communications and integrated ICT solutions for connectivity, security and IoT from a single source, thereby advancing their digitalisation.

At the end of September 2024, the Sunrise customer base included around 3.1 million mobile, 1.3 million broadband and 1.0 million enhanced TV customers (RGUs), as well as thousands of companies as business customers.

Sunrise boasts a dynamic and international environment where everyone has a voice, where perspectives are shared and where values are respected. Sunrise believes that providing equal opportunities to a diverse workforce is critical to the company's success. Roughly 2,600 employees (FTEs) from around 80 nations contribute to the success of Sunrise with their expertise, innovative thinking and exceptional commitment, reflecting the diversity of our customers.
BrightHeart, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for obstetrics and pediatric cardiology, presented two groundbreaking studies during the oral plenary and concurrent sessions on January 30th at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2025 Pregnancy Meeting, held in Aurora, Colorado. As the first major unveiling of the BrightHeart technology and presentation of key clinical results, these sessions drove significant enthusiasm for BrightHeart's potential to transform prenatal care.

BrightHeart's innovative AI technology addresses a critical unmet clinical need, targeting the significant challenge of screening for congenital heart defects (CHDs), the most common type of birth defect. Currently, up to 70% of CHD cases go undetected during routine prenatal ultrasounds due to the complexity of these exams. Formally unveiled in the SMFM 2025 presentation sessions, BrightHeart's AI software demonstrated the potential to dramatically reduce these missed diagnoses and revolutionize care in the obstetric space.

The first study, "AI Significantly Improves Detection of Prenatal Ultrasounds Suspicious for Major Congenital Heart Defects by OBGYN/MFMs," was based on a dataset of 200 prenatal ultrasound exams reviewed by 14 US and European physicians with varying levels of experience. The study highlighted how BrightHeart's AI software significantly improved detection rates with a 15.3% increase in sensitivity, while also improving efficiency with an 18% reduction in reading time among both OBGYNs and MFM specialists. The results highlight the potential of BrightHeart to improve the efficiency and quality of fetal heart ultrasounds, particularly in low-risk pregnancies managed by non-specialists.

The second study, "Artificial Intelligence System Accurately Detects Fetal Ultrasound Findings Suspicious For Major Congenital Heart Defects," analyzed a total of 877 ultrasound exams from 11 centers across multiple countries. The results demonstrated that BrightHeart's AI software was able to provide conclusions for 98.8% of exams. Among these, the AI software demonstrated impressive accuracy, identifying exams with signs associated with severe CHD with a sensitivity of 98.7% and confirming the absence of signs associated with severe CHD with a specificity of 97.7%. These results highlight the transformative potential of BrightHeart's AI technology to significantly enhance early screening of CHD.

BrightHeart CEO and Partner at Sofinnova Partners, Cecile Dupont, expressed the profound impact of these findings, "The results presented at SMFM 2025 underscore BrightHeart's unwavering commitment to innovation in maternal-fetal care. This technology has the power to transform clinical practice, making expert-level diagnostics accessible to all, regardless of location or specialist availability."

Dr. Jennifer Lam-Rachlin, lead author and Maternal Fetal Medicine Assistant Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital/Mount Sinai West Hospital, Director of Fetal Echocardiography at Carnegie Imaging for Women, emphasized the clinical implications, "Our early exposure to the BrightHeart AI software through these research studies has already had a positive impact on our center. As AI continues to transform ultrasound care, BrightHeart's findings highlight its ability to optimize fetal heart evaluation, streamline workflows, and improve prenatal diagnostics."

Recently granted FDA clearance, BrightHeart's AI technology represents a pivotal step forward in expanding access to expert-level care. BrightHeart invites clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders to collaborate in advancing maternal-fetal health. Together, we can reshape the future of prenatal care.

About BrightHeart

BrightHeart SAS is a Paris-based, privately held, medical device company and part of Sofinnova MD Start, Sofinnova Partners' medical device accelerator. The company's software uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to analyze fetal heart ultrasound exams and support clinicians and sonographers with tools to improve fetal heart evaluations.

BrightHeart builds on more than a decade of foundational excellence and innovation in fetal cardiology training established by co-founders Dr. Marilyne Levy and Dr. Bertrand Stos, two leading fetal cardiologists based in Paris, France.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical, and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over 2.8 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130238557/en/

Contacts:

For further information:

Cecile Dupont

Chief Executive Officer, BrightHeart

press@brightheart.fr

Optimum Strategic Communications

Hana Malik

sofinnova@optimumcomms.com

+44 (0) 20 3882 2119
Strategy built around two complementary development axes: GMP Individualized Phage Therapies (IPT) and Phage Therapies Medicinal Products (PTMP), to maximize access to phage therapy care

Acceleration of the deployment of the IPT model, achieved as a first step by the strategic collaboration with Technophage, enabling a significant expansion of the phage portfolio (25 GMP phages by the end of 2025) to meet the clinical needs of individualized therapies

Continued development of the PTMP model through clinical studies and the filing of new early access programs (AAC)

Focusing current resource on the IPT model to generate short-term revenue as early as in 2026 and target revenue of approximately 20 million in 2027

Expected regulatory approvals for the GLORIA study, strategic asset for PHAXIAM's long-term development, from the EMA (EU) and the MHRA (UK), followed by the launch of the clinical study subject to future financial resources currently being studied

Cash position of 3.6 million as of December 31, 2024, and active search for dilutive and non-dilutive financing to extend the Company's cash runway beyond March 2025

Regulatory News:

PHAXIAM Therapeutics (Euronext: PHXM FR0011471135), a biopharmaceutical company ("PHAXIAM" or "the Company") developing innovative treatments for severe and resistant bacterial infections, announced today an update on the deployment of its ambitious strategy in the phage therapy market, enabling it to maximize its development potential.

Thibaut du Fayet, Chief Executive Officer of PHAXIAM, stated: "We start 2025 with a clear ambition to position PHAXIAM as a Specialty Pharma in Critical care, in the booming phage therapy market. By deploying our strategy around two complementary development axes, Individualized GMP-Phage Therapies (IPT) and Phage Therapies Medicinal Products (PTMP), we aim to maximize patient access to these innovative treatments. The strategic collaboration with Technophage is a major step forward on this pathway, which should enable us to introduce individualized phage therapy in key European hospitals and generate first revenue as early as 2026, enabling us to target operating profitability at end-2027. We are convinced that with this accelerated and dual strategy, we will be able to radically change the way thousands of patients suffering from severe, resistant bacterial infections are treated in Europe

Accelerated development strategy in the dynamic phage therapy market

Antibiotic resistance (AMR) is a critical global public health issue, responsible for at least 1,270,000 deaths a year and, according to the World Health Organization, could cause 10 million deaths a year by 20501

Since its creation2, PHAXIAM has been at the forefront of the fight against antibiotic resistance, thanks to its phage therapy approach and the development of a portfolio of phages targeting some of the most virulent bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

In parallel with the clinical development of its phages, the Company has treated, with success and a demonstrated clinical benefit, more than 130 patients under compassionate status since 2018, mainly in France, but also in other European countries. This clinical momentum testifies to the strong demand from physicians for PHAXIAM phages, which are produced in pharmaceutical quality (GMP Good Manufacturing Practice).

In this context of strong demand for phage therapy, PHAXIAM presented, in November 2024, a development strategy combining in parallel (1) the classical clinical development pathway (Phages Therapy Medical Product or PTMP) and (2) the commercialization of Individualized Phages Therapies (IPT) with GMP Phages. This dual development approach is widely used in other therapeutic fields, such as allergies, and is particularly well-suited to phage therapy.

PHAXIAM benefits from several key assets for the deployment of the IPT model, including established expertise in the selection of the most effective GMP phages for bacterial strains, thanks to its phagogram, a robust tool for guiding physicians in the choice of phage-based treatments.

The simultaneous development of PTMP and IPT models creates a virtuous circle for phage therapy:

the commercial development in the IPT model will help finance PTMP programs and facilitate rapid uptake of future approved medicinal products;

the clinical success in the PTMP model, from which the GLORIA clinical study in Prosthetic Joint Infections (PJI) has emerged, will strengthen the clinical and market acceptance of IPT therapies for clinical indications not yet covered by the PTMP approach.

Strategic collaboration with Technophage to accelerate the deployment of individualized GMP-phage therapy (IPT)

With the aim of fostering the emergence of phage therapy, PHAXIAM approached several players specialized in phage therapy, in Europe and North America. These discussions led to the finalization of a strategic collaboration with Technophage, a Portuguese company specialized in the development and manufacture of GMP phages, enabling the implementation of individualized phage therapy (IPT) through the pooling of their GMP phage portfolios.

By combining, (1) PHAXIAM's GMP phage portfolio and its advanced phagogram-based diagnostic capabilities, (2) with Technophage's GMP phage portfolio and GMP manufacturing expertise, this partnership aims to achieve a portfolio of 25 GMP phages by the end of 2025 and 35-45 GMP phages by the end of 2026. This expanded portfolio will target a minimum of 7 of the most critical pathogens, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, E. coli, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, E. faecium and E. spp, which account for around 70%3 of resistant bacterial infections.

The IPT model, based on the extension of individualized treatments in European countries, should generate and secure revenue in the short and medium term, with potential revenue of around 20 million in 2027 and potentially around 100 million in 2030, by treating patients in the most important European countries. The aim is to generate these targeted revenues with a very marginal increase in the company's fixed costs, thanks to the redeployment of internal resources and expertise to the IPT model.

Continued development of the PTMP model through clinical studies and filing of new AAC applications

In parallel with the IPT model, PHAXIAM is pursuing PTMP clinical development. In particular, the Company continues to prepare the Phase II GLORIA study, the world's 1st multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled phage therapy study in Prosthetic Joint Infections.

PHAXIAM has already received IND approval from the US FDA in Q4 2024 and has also submitted the clinical protocol to the main European health authorities, including the EMA and the UK MHRA. Subject to these approvals, expected during the first half of 2025, the GLORIA study will be conducted in 7 European countries (France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden) and in the United-States, positioning it as one of the most robust and broadest phage therapy studies in the world.

Once these regulatory approvals have been obtained, the launch of the GLORIA study will depend on the company's future non-dilutive financial resources, currently being studied by the Company, and will be scheduled accordingly, possibly up to Q1 2026.

The Company is also continuing recruitment for its Phase I Pharmacokinetic study in endocarditis, targeting patients with resistant S. aureus infections in the heart chambers and valves. First clinical results are expected in mid-2025.

Finally, PHAXIAM also intends to extend the Compassionate Access Authorization (AAC) status available for its anti-S. aureus phages to other phages in its portfolio in 2025. Submission of the AAC for anti-P. aeruginosa phages, for Prosthetic Joint Infections, is expected by the end of January 2025.

Cash and cash equivalents of 3.6 million as of December 31, 2024

Cash and cash equivalents amounted to 3.6 million as of December 31, 2024. The said information is based on preliminary data not yet audited and will be the subject of communication on March 13, 2025, at the time of publication of the audited full-year results for the 2024 financial year. The Company believes that this cash position can finance its existing programs and planned operating expenses up to March 2025.

The Company is actively working on various dilutive and non-dilutive options to extend its cash runway beyond this timeframe, aiming for a minimum of 12 months of operations.

Outlook

The Company decided to allocate its existing and future financial resources primarily to accelerate its deployment in the IPT field, mainly by structuring the strategic partnership with Technophage, in order to generate commercial revenue in the short term, with the aim of achieving operating profitability in 2027.

About PHAXIAM Therapeutics

PHAXIAM is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for resistant bacterial infections, which are responsible for many serious infections. The company is building on an innovative approach based on the use of phages, natural bacterial-killing viruses. PHAXIAM is developing a portfolio of phages targeting 3 of the most resistant and dangerous bacteria, which together account for more than two-thirds of resistant hospital-acquired infections: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

PHAXIAM is listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0011471135, ticker: PHXM). PHAXIAM is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma Bio, CAC Mid Small, CAC All Tradable, EnterNext PEA-PME 150 and Next Biotech indexes.

For more information, please visit www.phaxiam.com

Forward-looking information

This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to the clinical programs, development plans, business and regulatory strategy and anticipated future performance of PHAXIAM and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such statements, forecasts and estimates are based on various assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable when made but may or may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond PHAXIAM's control. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Investor should carefully read the risk factors section of the Company which can be found in the Company's regulatory filings with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), including in the Company's 2023 Universal Registration Document (Document d'Enregistrement Universel) filed with the AMF on April 5, 2024 and future filings and reports by the Company. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. PHAXIAM disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statement, forecast or estimates to reflect any change in PHAXIAM's expectations with regard thereto, or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement, forecast or estimate is based, except to the extent required by law.

________________________

1 Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990-2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050 (Lancet, Sept 2024)

2 PHAXIAM is the result of the merger, in June 2023, between Erytech and Pherecydes Pharma, a biotech company founded in 2006, specializing in the development of innovative treatments for resistant bacterial infections.

3 ESKAPEE pathogens responsible for 70% of deaths attributable to AMR Lancet 2024 (ESKAPEE pathogens: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp., Escherichia coli)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130268564/en/

Contacts:

PHAXIAM

Thibaut du Fayet

CEO

+33 4 78 74 44 38

investors@phaxiam.com

NewCap

Mathilde Bohin Dusan Oresansky

Investor Relations

Arthur Rouille

Media Relations

+33 1 44 71 94 94

phaxiam@newcap.eu
Regulatory News:

NOT FOR DIRECT OR INDIRECT DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SOUTH AFRICA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN

CARMAT (FR0010907956, ALCAR) (Paris:ALCAR), designer and developer of the world's most advanced total artificial heart, aiming to provide a therapeutic alternative for people suffering from advanced biventricular heart failure (the "Company" or "CARMAT"), today announces the completion of its global offering for a total gross amount of 9.7 million, of which 8.6 million was subscribed by specialized investors as defined below and 1.1 million by retail investors via the PrimaryBid platform (the "Global Offering

Stephane Piat, Chief Executive Officer of CARMAT, stated: "I am happy with the success of this capital increase, achieved in a tough environment, which gives us the means to pursue our growth trajectory. I would like to thank all existing and new shareholders, and more particularly our two main shareholders, who have once again strongly confirmed their commitment to our company. Backed by this support, we are determined to successfully achieve the many value-creating milestones that lie ahead of us in the first quarter. Given the sales momentum observed at the beginning of the year, we are also confident in our ability to double our sales this year compared to 2024. Meanwhile, we will continue our efforts to extend our cash runway over the longer term and thus allow for an even wider adoption of our unique therapy, for the benefit of patients suffering from advanced heart failure."

Use of Proceeds

The main purpose of the Global Offering is to strengthen CARMAT's equity position and finance its short-term operations and development. The net proceeds of the Global Offering will allow CARMAT to pursue its operations until mid-May 2025, and in particular to further develop its sales in Europe and continue the EFICAS clinical study in France.

The Global Offering only partially covers the Company's financing needs over the next 12 months, with an additional post-Global Offering financing requirement estimated between 30 and 35 million.

In view of this, the Company continues to explore actively all options of additional financings and is, in particular, discussing with various financial players who might support CARMAT over the long term.

However, there is no guarantee at this stage that these discussions will ultimately result in financial support for the Company, regardless of the amount, and even that they will materialize before the term of the Company's current cash runway.

Main terms of the Global Offering

The Global Offering, for a total amount of 9.7 million (including issue premium), was carried out, without shareholders' preferential subscription rights or a priority subscription period, through the issuance of 12,593,264 new ordinary shares, representing 28.3% of the Company's1 existing share capital before the Global Offering, within the framework of:

a reserved offering of 11,148,543 newly issued shares for a total amount (including issue premium) of 8.6 million, to French or foreign individuals, companies, or investment funds investing on a regular basis, or having invested more than 1 million in the life sciences or technology sectors over the past 36 months, pursuant to Article L. 225-138 of the French Commercial Code (the "Reserved Offering"); and

a public offering in France of newly issued shares intended for retail investors via the PrimaryBid platform, for a total amount (including issue premium) of 1.1 million, through the issuance of 1,444,721 new ordinary shares (the "PrimaryBid Offering

Bank Degroof Petercam SA/NV and Invest Securities acted as Global Coordinators, Joint Lead Managers, and Joint Bookrunners for the Reserved Offering (together, the "Placement Agents"). The Reserved Offering was subject to a placement agreement signed between the Company and the Placement Agents on January 30, 2025.

For the PrimaryBid Offering, investors subscribed exclusively through PrimaryBid's partner brokers listed on the PrimaryBid website (www.PrimaryBid.fr). The PrimaryBid Offering was subject to an engagement letter between the Company and PrimaryBid and was not covered by a placement agreement. For more details, please visit www.PrimaryBid.fr.

The new shares, representing approximately 28.3% of the Company's share capital on a non-diluted basis before the Global Offering and 22.0% on a non-diluted basis after completion of the Global Offering, were issued yesterday evening by decision of the Company's Chief Executive Officer, acting under the sub-delegations of authority granted by the Company's Board of Directors on January 30, 2025, and pursuant to Articles L. 225-138 and L. 225-136 of the French Commercial Code, in accordance with the 6th and 2nd resolutions of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on December 30, 2024.

The issue price of the new shares was set at 0.77 per share, representing a 29.1% discount to CARMAT's closing share price on January 29, 2025, i.e. 1.086, and a 29.7% discount compared to CARMAT's average volume-weighted average share price over the five trading days prior to the determination of the issue price (i.e. the trading days of January 23, 24, 27, 28, and 29, 2025), i.e. 1.09456.

To the best of the Company's knowledge, the ownership structure before and after completion of the Global Offering is as follows:

Pre-Global Offering

(on a non-diluted basis) Post-Global Offering

(on a non-diluted basis) Number of

shares of share

capital Number of

shares of share

capital Lohas SARL (Pierre Bastid) 4,854,143 10.9% 9,399,597 16.5% Les Bastidons (Pierre Bastid) 1,343,333 3.0% 1,343,333 2.4% Sante Holdings SRL (Dr Antonino Ligresti) 6,143,866 13.8% 10,689,320 18.7% Corely Belgium SPRL (Gaspard family) 880,000 2.0% 880,000 1.5% Therabel Invest 741,706 1.7% 741,706 1.3% Matra Defense SAS (Airbus Group) 670,640 1.5% 670,640 1.2% Pr. Alain Carpentier Family 491,583 1.1% 491,583 0.9% Association Recherche Scientifique Fondation A. Carpentier 115,000 0.3% 115,000 0.2% Stephane Piat (Chief Executive Officer) 553,402 1.2% 553,402 1.0% Cornovum 458,715 1.0% 458,715 0.8% Treasury shares* 2,021,291 4.5% 2,021,291 3.5% Free float 26,267,904 59.0% 29,770,260 52.1% TOTAL 44,541,583 100.0% 57,134,847 100.0% * including liquidity contract (situation as of December 31, 2024)

Existing shareholders Lohas SARL/Les Bastidons (family offices of Mr. Pierre Bastid) and Sante Holdings SRL (family office of Dr. Antonino Ligresti), holding 13.9% and 13.8% of the Company's share capital, respectively, prior to the Global Offering, had committed to subscribing 3.5 million each in the Reserved Offering.

These shareholders were allocated 100% of their subscription in the Reserved Offering. Their total investment represents 72% of the total amount raised in the Global Offering.

Admission of new shares

Settlement-delivery of the new shares and their admission to trading on the Euronext Growth Paris multilateral trading facility under the same ISIN code FR0010907956 are expected to take place on February 4, 2025. The new shares will be listed on the same quotation line as the Company's existing ordinary shares, will carry current dividend rights, and will be immediately fungible with the Company's existing shares.

The Global Offering is not subject to a prospectus requiring an approval from the French Financial Market Authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers) (the "AMF

Lock-up commitment

As part of the Global Offering, the Company has agreed to a standstill commitment effective from the date of signing the placement agreement with the Placement Agents and expiring 30 days after the settlement-delivery of the Reserved Offering, subject to customary exceptions and the issuance of shares as part of the conversion (equitization) of the loan granted by the European Investment Bank (the "EIB")2 and the financing line agreed with Vester Finance3 allowing the latter to potentially be utilized during the aforementioned standstill period.

It is specified that no lock-up commitment was requested from the Company's existing shareholders or from investors subscribing to the Reserved Offering.

Risk factors

The public's attention is drawn to the risk factors related to the Company and its activities, as presented in Chapter 2 of the 2023 Universal Registration Document, filed with the AMF on April 30, 2024, under number D.24-0374, as updated by an amendment to the 2023 Universal Registration Document, filed with the AMF on September 17, 2024, under number D.24-0374-A01 (together, the "2023 Universal Registration Document"). Copies of these documents are available free of charge from CARMAT (36, avenue de l'Europe Immeuble l'Etendard Energy III 78140 Velizy-Villacoublay), as well as on the websites of CARMAT (www.carmatsa.com) and the AMF (www.amf-france.org).

Additionally, investors are invited to consider the specific risks associated with the Global Offering. The market price of the Company's shares may fluctuate and fall below the subscription price of the newly issued shares issued in the Global Offering. The volatility and liquidity of the Company's shares may experience significant fluctuations. Sales of the Company's shares on the market could negatively impact the share price. Existing shareholders may suffer potentially significant dilution due to future capital increases necessary for the Company's financing needs, as well as the conversion (equitization) of the EIB loan and the funding agreement with Vester Finance. Since the securities are not intended to be listed on a regulated market, investors will not benefit from the guarantees associated with such markets.

This press release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2017, as amended, nor an offer to the public.

About CARMAT

CARMAT is a French MedTech that designs, manufactures and markets the Aeson artificial heart. The Company's ambition is to make Aeson the first alternative to a heart transplant, and thus provide a therapeutic solution to people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, who are facing a well-known shortfall in available human grafts. The world's first physiological artificial heart that is highly hemocompatible, pulsatile and self-regulated, Aeson could save, every year, the lives of thousands of patients waiting for a heart transplant. The device offers patients quality of life and mobility thanks to its ergonomic and portable external power supply system that is continuously connected to the implanted prosthesis. Aeson is commercially available as a bridge to transplant in the European Union and other countries that recognize CE marking. Aeson is also currently being assessed within the framework of an Early Feasibility Study (EFS) in the United States. Founded in 2008, CARMAT is based in the Paris region, with its head offices located in Velizy-Villacoublay and its production site in Bois-d'Arcy. The Company can rely on the talent and expertise of a multidisciplinary team of circa 200 highly specialized people. CARMAT is listed on the Euronext Growth market in Paris (Ticker: ALCAR ISIN code: FR0010907956).

For more information, please go to www.carmatsa.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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Name: CARMAT

ISIN code: FR0010907956

Ticker: ALCAR

Disclaimer

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of shares in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

The distribution of this document may, in certain jurisdictions, be restricted by local legislations. Persons into whose possession this document comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such potential local restrictions.

This press release is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 (as amended, the "Prospectus Regulation"). Any decision to purchase shares must be made solely on the basis of publicly available information on the Company.

In France, the offer of CARMAT shares described below was made in the context of (i) a capital increase reserved to one specified category of beneficiaries, pursuant to article L. 225-138 of the French commercial code and applicable regulatory provisions and (ii) a public offering in France primarily intended to retail investors through the PrimaryBid platform. Pursuant to article 211-3 of the General regulations of the French financial markets authority (Autorite des marches financiers) (the "AMF") and articles 1(4) and 3 of the Prospectus Regulation, the offer of CARMAT shares will not require the publication of a prospectus approved by the AMF.

With respect to Member States of the European Economic Area, no action has been taken or will be taken to permit a public offering of the securities referred to in this press release requiring the publication of a prospectus in any Member State. Therefore, such securities may not be and shall not be offered in any Member State other than in accordance with the exemptions of Article 1(4) of Prospectus Regulation or, otherwise, in cases not requiring the publication of a prospectus under Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation and/or the applicable regulations in such Member State.

This press release and the information it contains are being distributed to and are only intended for persons who are (x) outside the United Kingdom or (y) in the United Kingdom and are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), (ii) high net worth entities and other such persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order ("high net worth companies", "unincorporated associations", etc.) or (iii) other persons to whom an invitation or inducement to participate in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Market Act 2000) may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons in (y)(i), (y)(ii) and (y)(iii) together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). Any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire securities to which this press release relates will only be engaged with Relevant Persons. Any person who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this press release or any of its contents.

This press release may not be distributed, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States. This press release and the information contained therein does not, and will not, constitute an offer of securities for sale, nor the solicitation of an offer to purchase, securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction where restrictions may apply. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The securities of CARMAT have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, and CARMAT does not intend to conduct a public offering in the United States.

MIFID II Product Governance/Target Market: solely for the purposes of the requirements of article 9.8 of the EU Delegated Directive 2017/593 relating to the product approval process, the target market assessment in respect of the shares of CARMAT has led to the conclusion in relation to the type of clients criteria only that: (i) the type of clients to whom the shares are targeted is eligible counterparties and professional clients and retail clients, each as defined in Directive 2014/65/EU, as amended ("MiFID II"); and (ii) all channels for distribution of the shares of CARMAT to eligible counterparties and professional clients and retail clients are appropriate. Any person subsequently offering, selling or recommending the shares of CARMAT (a "distributor") should take into consideration the type of clients assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the shares of CARMAT and determining appropriate distribution channels.

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Any decision to subscribe for or purchase the shares or other securities of CARMAT must be made solely based on information publicly available about CARMAT. Such information is not the responsibility of Bank Degroof Petercam SA/NV and Invest Securities and has not been independently verified by Bank Degroof Petercam SA/NV and Invest Securities.

________________________ 1 On a non-diluted basis 2 For further details on this equitization, please refer to the press release published by the Company on June 13, 2024 and to section 3.1.7 of CARMAT's 2023 universal registration document. 3 For further details on this financing line, please refer to the press release published by the Company on July 5, 2024.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130908593/en/

Contacts:

CARMAT

Stephane Piat

Chief Executive Officer

Pascale d'Arbonneau

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Tel.: +33 1 39 45 64 50

contact@carmatsas.com

Alize RP

Press Relations

Caroline Carmagnol

Tel.: +33 6 64 18 99 59

carmat@alizerp.com

NewCap

Financial Communication

& Investor Relations

Dusan Oresansky

Jeremy Digel

Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 92

carmat@newcap.eu
First results from the phase IIIb RELAX clinical trial reinforce the high and sustained efficacy of single treatment of RelabotulinumtoxinA (Relfydess TM ) for moderate to severe frown lines (glabellar lines) beyond 6 months

) for moderate to severe frown lines (glabellar lines) beyond 6 months These results reinforce RelabotulinumtoxinA's 6-month clinical effect and rapid onset from Day 1 demonstrated in the phase III READY clinical trial program 1,2

Data also show high and sustained patient satisfaction with treatment outcomes and appearance beyond 6 months 1

Developed and manufactured by Galderma, RelabotulinumtoxinA is the first and only ready-to-use liquid neuromodulator developed using PEARLTM Technology that is optimized for simple volumetric dosing to increase ease-of-use3,4,5

Galderma (SWX:GALD), the pure-play dermatology category leader, announced today results from its new phase IIIb RELAX clinical trial demonstrating the rapid onset and the long-lasting duration of aesthetic efficacy, as well as high patient satisfaction and increased confidence, using a single-dose of RelabotulinumtoxinA (Relfydess) to treat frown lines (glabellar lines)1. Galderma's analysis was presented at the International Master Course on Aging Science (IMCAS) 2025 annual congress, held in Paris from January 30 to February 1, 2025.

Developed and manufactured by Galderma, RelabotulinumtoxinA is the first and only ready-to-use liquid neuromodulator created with PEARL Technology that is designed to preserve molecule integrity to deliver a highly active, innovative, complex-free molecule3,4,5.Previously announced data from the phase III READY clinical trial program demonstrated rapid onset as soon as Day 1 (reported by up to 39% of subjects) and long-lasting efficacy for 6 months (maintained by up to 75% of subjects) when using RelabotulinumtoxinA to treat frown lines and crow's feet (lateral canthal lines) 2,6

"We are proud to share our latest RelabotulinumtoxinA data, which reaffirms the sustained clinical effect and patient satisfaction observed in our READY clinical trial program. These findings, together with our proprietary PEARL Technology, reinforce RelabotulinumtoxinA as a safe, effective, and innovative treatment option, and uphold Galderma's position at the forefront of aesthetic advancements."

BALDO SCASSELLATI SFORZOLINI, M.D., Ph.D. GLOBAL HEAD OF R&D GALDERMA

RELAX is a phase IIIb, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the long-lasting efficacy and satisfaction of RelabotulinumtoxinA in 132 adults with moderate-to-severe frown lines over a 12-month period1,7

Results supported a fast onset of aesthetic improvement at Day 1 (40%; subject-reported) and a duration of effect through 6 months 1

Subject satisfaction with treatment and appearance was also high, with 92% of subjects satisfied with treatment outcome at Month 1, 69% satisfied at Month 6, and 60% still satisfied at Month 12 1

Furthermore, at both Month 6 and at Month 12, more than 50% of subjects reported that they had increased self-confidence and looked great for their age, highlighting sustained benefits of RelabotulinumtoxinA over time 1

Investigators reported high rates of =1-grade improvement from baseline, with the highest responder rates at Month 1 (98%), and improvement in GL severity maintained through Month 6 (57%) and Month 9 (28%). RelabotulinumtoxinA continues to be well tolerated with no treatment-related serious adverse events1

"I'm excited to see the continued benefits of RelabotulinumtoxinA highlighted in the RELAX study, in my practice. With onset from Day 1 coupled with sustained efficacy and high satisfaction for 6 months, healthcare professionals will be able to address a real need from patients, by offering them the fast acting and long-lasting results they desire, in an easy-to-use liquid formulation, with two treatments a year."

GLYNIS ABLON, M.D., F.A.A.D. ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Following the successful completion of the European Decentralized Procedure, resulting in a positive decision for the use of Relfydess (RelabotulinumtoxinA), Galderma already received national approvals in 14 European countries, as well as a marketing authorization from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK.

More details on Galderma's scientific presentations at IMCAS can be found here.

About RelabotulinumtoxinA

Pioneered by Galderma, RelabotulinumtoxinA is the first and only ready-to-use liquid neuromodulator created with PEARL Technology that is designed to preserve molecule integrity4,5.PEARL Technology is designed to deliver a highly active, innovative, complex-free molecule, with up to 39% of patients seeing effects from day one and up to 75% of patients maintaining improvements for 6 Months3,4,5,6.RelabotulinumtoxinA is optimized for simple volumetric dosing, without reconstitution, to increase ease-of-use and help ensure consistent dose/volume every time4,5. It was entirely developed and manufactured by Galderma to expand its neuromodulator portfolio as part of the broadest Injectable Aesthetics portfolio on the market.

About Galderma

Galderma (SIX: GALD) is the pure-play dermatology category leader, present in approximately 90 countries. We deliver an innovative, science-based portfolio of premium flagship brands and services that span the full spectrum of the fast-growing dermatology market through Injectable Aesthetics, Dermatological Skincare and Therapeutic Dermatology. Since our foundation in 1981, we have dedicated our focus and passion to the human body's largest organ the skin meeting individual consumer and patient needs with superior outcomes in partnership with healthcare professionals. Because we understand that the skin we are in shapes our lives, we are advancing dermatology for every skin story. For more information: www.galderma.com.

References:

1 Prather HB, et al. Efficacy and safety of a novel formulation liquid botulinum toxin, RelabotulinumtoxinA, when used for combination treatment of glabellar and lateral canthal lines. E-poster presented at: ASDS 2024; October 17-20, 2024; Orlando, FL

2 Ibrahim SF, et al. RelaBoNT-A treatment of glabellar lines and lateral canthal lines across different ethnicity and race: Pooled data from three phase III studies. E-poster presented at: ASDS 2024; October 17-20, 2024; Orlando, FL

3 Sundberg AL and Stahl U. Relabotulinum toxin a novel, high purity BoNT-A1 in liquid formulation. Presented at: TOXINS 2021; Jan 16-17, 2021; virtual meeting

4 Do M, et al. Purification process of a complex-free highly purified botulinum neurotoxin type A1 (BoNT-A1) relabotulinumtoxinA. Presented at: TOXINS 2022; July 27-30, 2022; New Orleans, LA

5 Persson C, et al. Patient and Investigator Treatment Experience with Ready-to-Use AbobotulinumtoxinA Solution Versus Powder BotulinumtoxinA for Treatment of Glabellar Lines. Abstract presented at TOXINS 2024; Jan 17-20, 2024, Berlin

6 Based on a literature search conducted in May 2023 across PuBMED, clinicaltrials.gov, and euDRACT

7 Galderma. Data on file. Clinical Study Report for Protocol QM111: RELAX. Galderma Laboratories

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130978800/en/

Contacts:

For further information:

Christian Marcoux, M.Sc.

Chief Communications Officer

christian.marcoux@galderma.com

+41 76 315 26 50

Sebastien Cros

Corporate Communications Director

sebastien.cros@galderma.com

+41 79 529 59 85

Emil Ivanov

Head of Strategy, Investor Relations, and ESG

emil.ivanov@galderma.com

+41 21 642 78 12

Jessica Cohen

Investor Relations and Strategy Director

jessica.cohen@galderma.com

+41 21 642 76 43
Record 5.1m revenue in 2024, x4 compared with 2023, in line with guidance

A growing portfolio of clients, with c. 50 customers supplied in 2024, and numerous significant offtake contracts signed in France and Germany during the year, including in the second half a 5-year offtake contract in Germany with H2 Mobility, Europe's leading network of hydrogen service stations

Strong increase in our installed electrolysis capacity, now at 22 MW, almost x4 versus FY 2023

Construction continues at our two new sites in France: Croixrault (5 MW) and Le Cheylas

(10 MW)

Memorandum of Understanding signed with Masdar, one of the world's largest renewable energy investors, to jointly develop large green H2 production sites in Europe, in line with our partnership strategy

Build-up of one of the largest transportation fleet for bulk hydrogen delivery in EU with c.70 new hydrogen tube trailers under operation in 8 countries, enabling Lhyfe to have an unparalleled customer reach

Nantes (France) - 31 January 2025 - 7:00 am - Lhyfe (Euronext Paris - FR0014009YQ1 - LHYFE), one of the world's pioneers in the production of green and renewable hydrogen to decarbonize industry and mobility, presents the highlights of the 2nd half of 2024 and gives an update on its development and on the advancement of the company's projects at the end of 2024.

2024 revenue: increase x4 compared to 2023

In 2024 Lhyfe quadrupled its revenue to 5.1 million[1], compared with 1.3 million in 2023, after having more than doubled its revenue between 2022 and 2023.

This performance mainly reflects the production at full capacity achieved all year long at the Bouin site, new customers signed into our portfolio of clients as well as first deliveries from Buleon and Bessieres sites.

In 2024, the Group made more than 470 deliveries to clients located mainly in France and in Germany, with a 99% service rate, relying on its c.70 containers fleet.

Over the second half of the year, Lhyfe continued to expand its customer portfolio both in France and Germany, and notably:

In France, contracts signed recently include an 18-month offtake contract with taxi company Hysetco for more than 45 tonnes of green hydrogen over the period and a 3-year offtake contract with a refueling station operator in France for more than 45 tonnes of green hydrogen per year.

In Germany, Lhyfe signed a 5-year offtake agreement with H2 Mobility Deutschland, Europe's largest operator of public hydrogen stations, to provide more than 240 tonnes of green hydrogen on average per year. Lhyfe also signed a 3-year offtake contract with a large energy player for more than 40 tonnes of green hydrogen per year on average.

All these contracts will contribute to the commercial ramp-up of our existing and coming sites in France and in Germany.

Increase in installed production capacity

France: Bouin, Buleon and Bessieres sites

To meet the growing customer demand in the region, production capacity at the Bouin site will be increased from 1 to 2.5 MW in 2025 and planned in accordance with the site's production schedule. In 2024, the on-site storage authorization increased from 1 tonne to 5 tonnes.

The Buleon and Bessieres sites, each with an electrolysis capacity of 5 MW, are installed and have started deliveries to clients. These two new sites in Brittany and Occitanie represent the two largest installed bulk production sites for green hydrogen in France. As planned, commercial ramp-up will continue over 2025 and 2026.

Germany: Tubingen and Schwabisch Gmund sites

In Tubingen, the onsite production plant (1 MW) has been installed for Deutsche Bahn Energie.

In Schwabisch Gmund, the production unit (up to 4 tonnes per day of green hydrogen representing an installed electrolysis capacity of 10 MW) is now installed. It benefits from the design of previously installed Lhyfe plants, from commercial experience gained as well as from an already-built customer base. Commercial ramp-up will start in 2025.

Progress of our sites in Construction stage

In Croixrault, in the Hauts-de-France region, civil works were launched in the first half of 2024 are now almost over. Next steps include installation of all the equipment, piping and cabling. The production site (up to 2 tonnes of green hydrogen per day - 5 MW of installed capacity) is intended to supply local uses in mobility and industry.

In Le Cheylas, between Grenoble and Chambery, civil works for the 10 MW green hydrogen production plant are now almost over. Next steps include installation of all the equipment, piping and cabling. From 2025, and for a period of 10 years, Lhyfe will supply anchor client HYmpulsion with up to 1.6 tonne of green hydrogen per day to meet the needs of 7 hydrogen stations in the Alps. Lhyfe will also supply regional manufacturers looking to replace grey hydrogen or natural gas with green hydrogen.

A 9.1 GW projects pipeline at end 2024

At the end of 2024, Lhyfe's projects pipeline[2] represented a total electrolysis capacity of 9.1 GW (versus 9.5 GW in June 2024).

This portfolio of projects is dynamically managed by Lhyfe's teams, who work to transform and mature each project. Projects at an advanced stage of development[3] represented a total production capacity of 558 MW at the end of the year (vs. 598 MW at end of June 2024).

During the 2nd half of 2024, Lhyfe's teams continued to work on the development of bulk, on-site and backbone sites projects, with significant milestones achieved during the period for several of them[4]:

On bulk projects (hydrogen delivered by road in containers): Awarding in December of a c.11m subsidy for a 10 MW plant in Sweden, in Vaggeryd, which will be able to produce up to 4.4 tonnes of green hydrogen per day. The Vaggeryd project is the second 10 MW project of Lhyfe in Sweden to receive a grant from Klimatklivet.

On on-site projects (hydrogen supplied to a main customer via a direct connection): Signing of an exclusive partnership with Elyse Energy, a pioneer in the production of low-carbon molecules, in order to develop the production of e-methanol from green hydrogen that would be produced by Lhyfe in a production unit (up to 85 tonnes per day) to be built, as part of a call for proposal launched by Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port and won by Lhyfe. Signing of a partnership with OX2, one of Europe's largest onshore wind developers, and Velarion, to create a hydrogen-based industrial cluster in Ange, Sweden, including a c.300 MW plant capable of producing up to 100 tonnes of green hydrogen per day to be notably used by Velarion's carbon-neutral fertilizer plant within this industrial cluster. In October 2024, the Ange municipality approved the construction of the wind park to be built by OX2 to supply Lhyfe's hydrogen production site with renewable electricity.



Over the year Lhyfe continued to secure subsidies[5] to support the deployment of its projects, totaling 242m at end of 2024.

Rolling-out of our co-development strategy: signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Masdar

At the beginning of 2025, Lhyfe and Masdar, the UAE's clean energy leader, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore co-development opportunities in large-scale green hydrogen production projects in Europe.

The MoU was signed at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2025 and is part of the strategy announced in 2024 by Lhyfe to co-develop projects with financial or industrial investors seeking to invest in green hydrogen production projects.

Masdar is aiming for a renewable energy portfolio capacity of 100GW by 2030 and aims to be a leading producer of green hydrogen in the same timeframe with the objective of 1 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen or equivalent derivatives in the UAE and globally within a decade.

ESG performance: ranked n1 in Europe

Lhyfe improved its ESG rating by obtaining in November 2024[6] the Platinum certificate, the highest level of certification by extra-financial rating agency EthiFinance. With a rating of 86/100, up +17 points over 2 years, Lhyfe confirms the performance of its business model and ranks 1st among European companies in its Industry/Utilities sector (out of 73 companies) and 7th in France for all sectors combined.

This performance reflects the commitment and constant efforts of Lhyfe's management and all the teams to develop the company's business model and thus participate in the decarbonization of entire sectors of transport and industry while guaranteeing the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

Optimizing our power consumption

Lhyfe has decided to join forces with Energy Pool to leverage the inherent flexibility of electrolysers it uses in some of its French production sites. For a period of five years starting in 2025, Lhyfe will be able to respond instantly to signals from the electrical grid, offering valuable grid balancing services to the French grid operator. These services will help to enhance grid stability and efficiency, facilitate the integration of renewables and reduce the ecological impact and the cost of Lhyfe's energy consumption, thus having a favorable impact on the price of green hydrogen. This collaboration covers in particular the sites of Buleon, Bessieres and Le Cheylas, with a combined capacity of 30 MW.

Financial calendar

Date Release Thursday 27 March 2025 (before opening) FY 2024 results (audited) Friday 23 May 2025 General Meeting

About Lhyfe

Lhyfe is a European group dedicated to the energy transition, and a producer and supplier of green and renewable hydrogen. Its production sites and portfolio of projects aim to provide access to green and renewable hydrogen in industrial quantities, and to enter into a virtuous energy model allowing the decarbonization of entire sectors of industry and mobility.

In 2021, Lhyfe inaugurated the world's first industrial green hydrogen production site in direct connection with a wind farm. In 2022, Lhyfe inaugurated the world's first pilot platform for green hydrogen production at sea.

Since then, it has installed three new sites and currently has several sites under construction or expansion across Europe.

Lhyfe is present in 12 European countries and had 201 employees at end of December 2024. The company is listed on the Euronext market in Paris (ISIN: FR0014009YQ1 - mnemonic: LHYFE).

More information on Lhyfe.com

Contacts

Lhyfe - Investor relations

LHYFE

Yoann Nguyen

investors@lhyfe.com Lhyfe - Financial press relations

ACTUS

Manon Clairet

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr Lhyfe - Business press relations

Nouvelles Graines

Clemence Rebours

+33 (0)6 60 57 76 43

c.rebours@nouvelles-graines.com

[1] Non audited figure

[2] The project pipeline does not include offshore projects

[3] Projects in Tender ready, Awarded, or Construction stages. The definitions of these stages are detailed in Section 1.8.1 of the Universal Registration Document approved by the AMF on 25 April 2024 and available on Lhyfe's website

[4] More details on each of the announced projects are available on https://www.lhyfe.com/investors/financial-press-releases/

[5] Including signed grants and grants currently under contractualization process

2 Score detailed in the press release disclosed on 26 November 2024, available here

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-89766-lhyfe-pr-2024-business-update-31012025-en.pdf
H2 2024 revenue 12.0 million up 10.2% compared to H2 2023

FY 2024 revenue 22.9 million up 3.3% compared to 2023

Growing order backlog at 71.0 million, as of December 31, 2024

eyonis Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) regulatory filings for FDA 510(k) clearance and CE marking in Q2, 2025

eyonis LCS FDA 510(k) clearance expected in Q3, 2025 followed by commercial launch in the USA

EIB 2020 loan maturity extension combined with the new financing agreement with Iris, and operational improvements in the iCRO Business Unit organization, extend the Company's cash runway into Q4 2025

Regulatory News:

Median Technologies FR0011049824, ALMDT, PEA/SME scheme eligible), a leading developer of eyonis, a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) powered Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) for early cancer diagnostics, and a globally leading provider of AI-based image analyses and imaging services for oncology drug developers, releases today its 2024 key financial indicators (unaudited), and provides an outlook on the Company's critical milestones in 2025.

Fredrik Brag, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Median Technologies, commented:We are delighted to report that the second half of 2024 saw an acceleration of our iCRO1 business unit revenue growth, +10.2% compared to revenues over the same period a year before. We are now back to growth, after lower-than-expected revenues in 2023 and H1 2024. Our new major iCRO agreements with Top 3 and Top 10 pharma groups, the extension of our footprint in South Korea and Japan and new Master Services Agreements with global CROs in 2024 are driving continued order backlog growth in 2025. Thanks also to significant ongoing operational improvements in the iCRO Business Unit organization, we anticipate iCRO will improve its profitability in 2025 and contribute to the financing of Median.

2025 is a truly pivotal year, expected to end with the commercialization of our first AI-based Software as a Medical Device, eyonis Lung Cancer Screening (LCS); we expect to file FDA 510(k) clearance and CE marking in Q2 2025, and obtain FDA marketing authorization in Q3. This will be followed by immediate commercialization in the U.S.

Lung cancer represents the number one cancer mortality worldwide, because it is very often diagnosed at a late stage. Early lung cancer diagnosis through screening procedures has clearly been proven to save patients' lives. We are confident that eyonis LCS will deliver greater accuracy and efficiency to increase early diagnosis and support radiologists in navigating complex and often inconclusive imaging data, saving lives and avoiding astronomical medical costs in the process. We believe there is an ethical and economic imperative to roll out AI enabled lung cancer screening to all those who can benefit."

eyonisLCS Software as a Medical Device: AI-driven innovation for Lung Cancer Screening

2024 key achievements

Median reported in August that eyonis LCS, met all primary and secondary endpoints with statistical significance in REALITY (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT06576232), the first of the two pivotal studies for Median's fully owned Software as a Medical Device eyonis LCS, providing an analytical validation.

A webinar on the REALITY data held in November 2024, featured two globally leading U.S. pulmonologists discussing how eyonis LCS will be used to help people at risk of lung cancer.

2025 strategic outlook and key milestones

The Company is on track to communicate the second eyonis LCS pivotal study, RELIVE (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT06751576), in the coming weeks.RELIVE is a Multi-Reader Multi-Case (MRMC) trial that will offer clinical validation of eyonis LCS to complement the analytical validation already achieved with REALITY. The RELIVE study objective is to compare the ability of radiologists to successfully diagnose lung cancer in patients with or without the help of eyonis LCS.

Regulatory filings for U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance and for CE marking, will be submitted in Q2 2025 for eyonis LCS. Marketing authorizations are expected in Q3 2025 and Q1 2026, for U.S. and EEA, respectively, assuming normal regulators' review times.

Working in parallel, Median is in active discussions with several leading U.S. AI diagnostic commercialization organizations for eyonis LCS. The Company will review in due course its best possible partnering options for the commercialization of eyonis LCS.

iCRO: AI-driven and central imaging services for oncology drug development

2024 key financial indicators

Median's 2024 revenue stemmed entirely from the iCRO Business Unit, which provides imaging services to measure drug efficacy in industry-sponsored oncology trials.

Q4 2024 revenue totaled 5.9 million, up 8.3%, vs 5.4 million revenue generated over the same period in 2023.

H2 2024 saw 10.2% growth, with revenues totaling 12.0 million, compared to 10.9 million revenues over the same period the prior year.

2024 Full-Year revenue stood at 22.9 million, a 3.3% increase compared to 22.2 million 2023 FY revenue.

Revenue growth acceleration over the second half of 2024 confirms the expected recovery of revenue.

On December 31, 2024, the order backlog2 stood at 71.0 million, vs 68.2 million as of September 30, 2024, and vs 66.9 million as of December 31, 2023.

2025 strategic outlook

Median Technologies' iCRO Business Unit is currently the preferred provider for two of the top three global pharma companies in oncology, with the largest pipelines of oncology studies in the world. In 2025, the Company will continue to deploy a 3-pillar strategy to drive the iCRO business growth: becoming the preferred imaging services provider for additional leading oncology groups; strengthening partnerships with global CROs3; and geographical expansion in new fast growing clinical trial markets, notably East Asia.

Importantly, the iCRO Business Unit has launched this strategy, thanks not only to its central imaging services but also Imaging Lab, an entity of iCRO that provides biopharma companies with advanced AI-based decision-making capabilities. Imaging Lab AI image analysis capabilities are a powerful catalyst in the sales process, differentiating and increasing the attractiveness of iCRO services because it offers unique added value compared to peers in the image processing space. Median aims in 2025 to establish new master services agreements with flagship biopharmaceutical companies, such as the one announced in August 2024.

Over the second half of 2024, the Company implemented significant operational improvements to enhance the profitability of the iCRO business. This effort will continue in 2025.

Cash and cash equivalents at 8.1m on December 31, 2024

On December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents stood at 8.1 million, versus 19.5 million a year prior. Early 2024, the Company's cash position was strengthened with the receipt of 8.5 million from the release of the final tranche of the 2020 loan granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Cash position strengthened in January 2025, extending the Company's cash runway from Q2 to Q4 2025

On January 24, 2025, the Company announced that the EIB had agreed to extend the maturity of the 2020 loan granted to Median, from April to October 2025. Median Technologies and the European Investment Bank have also agreed on a new loan facility for up to 37.5 million, with the release of tranches subject to certain milestones. Description of the new financing project, which is currently under appraisal is available on the EIB website. The legal documentations for the 2025 loan and the 2020 loan maturity extension are in process and expected to be finalized in Q1 2025.

On the same date, Median Technologies also announced that on January 23, 2025, the Company signed a financing agreement with Iris in the form of bonds redeemable in shares for a maximum amount of 10 million, with an initial tranche of 4 million. The Company will have the right to suspend and reactivate the drawdowns of the tranches without penalty. The key terms and conditions of the financing facility are as follows:

A single tranche of 4,000 warrants, subscribed by Iris Capital, each warrant entitling its holder to subscribe to a bond redeemable in shares,

- Iris Capital has committed to subscribing over a 24-month period to 4,000 bonds upon the exercise of the warrants in six tranches (the first for 4,000,000, the second for 2,500,000, the third to fifth for 1,000,000 each, and the sixth and final for 500,000),

- Median Technologies will have the right to suspend and reactivate the drawdowns of the tranches without penalty,

- The redemption price of the bonds in new shares is equal to 95% of the lowest volume-weighted average price over the twenty-five (25) trading days immediately preceding the bond redemption date. By way of exception, the parties may agree on a redemption price for the Bonds in the event of a block sale of the shares resulting from the redemption of the said Bonds by Iris Capital.

- Furthermore, it is specified that the redemption price of the bonds can in no case be lower than (i) the minimum price set by the board of directors of Median Technologies, namely 95% of the volume-weighted average price of the trading day immediately preceding the bond redemption date, (ii) the minimum price set by the combined general meeting of the company's shareholders on June 19, 2024, namely the average closing price of Median Technologies' ordinary shares observed over the twenty (20) trading sessions preceding the bond redemption date, reduced by a discount of 20%, (iii) nor the nominal value of the company's shares.

The new financing agreement with Iris, the extension of the EIB's 2020 loan maturity from April to October 2025 combined with the implementation of iCRO operational improvements extend the Company's cash runway into Q4, 2025. Successful completion of milestones enabling drawdowns of the new 2025 EIB loan tranches would extend the Company's cash runway beyond Q4, 2025.

Next financial release on April 29, 2025, after the market close: 2024 Financial Report

About Median Technologies: Pioneering innovative imaging services and Software as a Medical Device, Median Technologies harnesses cutting-edge AI to enhance the accuracy of early cancer diagnoses and cancer treatments. Median's offerings include iCRO, which provides medical image analysis and management in oncology trials, and eyonis, an AI/ML tech-based suite of software as a medical device (SaMD). Median empowers biopharmaceutical entities and clinicians to advance patient care and expedite the development of novel therapies. The French-based company, with a presence in the U.S. and China, trades on the Euronext Growth market (ISIN: FR0011049824, ticker: ALMDT). Median is also eligible for the French SME equity savings plan scheme (PEA-PME). For more information, visit www.mediantechnologies.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts. They include projections and estimates as well as the assumptions on which these are based, statements concerning projects, objectives, intentions, and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, or future performance.

These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates" or "plans" and any other similar expressions. Although Median's management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Median Technologies, including the risks set forth in the annual financial report of the Company published on April 25, 2024, which is available on the Company's website (https://mediantechnologies.com/). The occurrence of all or parts of such risks could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Median Technologies as of the date of the press release. Median Technologies does not undertake to update any forward-looking information or statements, subject to applicable regulations, in particular Articles 223-1 et seq. of the General Regulation of the French Autorite des Marches Financiers.

Disclaimer

The preliminary figures set forth above are based on management's initial review of the Company's operations for the period ending December 31st, 2024, and are subject to revision based upon the finalization of the review conducted on the full year financial statements by the Group's statutory auditors. Actual results may differ materially from these preliminary figures as a result of the completion of annual closing procedures, final adjustments and other developments arising between now and the time that the Company's financial results are finalized, and such changes could be material. In addition, these preliminary figures are not a comprehensive statement of the Company's financial results for 2024, should not be viewed as a substitute for financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and are not necessarily indicative of the Company's results for any future period.

1 iCRO: imaging Contract Research Organization 2 The order backlog is the sum of orders received but not yet fulfilled. An increase or decrease in the order backlog corresponds to the order intake of the reporting period, net of invoiced services, completed or cancelled contracts, and currency impact for projects in foreign currency (re-evaluated at the exchange rate on closing date). Orders are booked once the customer confirms, in writing, its retention of the Company's services for a given project. The contract is usually signed a few months after written confirmation. 3 CRO: Contract Research Organization

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130321829/en/

Contacts:

MEDIAN TECHNOLOGIES

Emmanuelle Leygues

VP, Corporate Marketing Financial Communications

+33 6 10 93 58 88

emmanuelle.leygues@mediantechnologies.com

Investors

Ghislaine Gasparetto

SEITOSEI ACTIFIN

+33 6 21 10 49 24

ghislaine.gasparetto@seitosei-actifin.com

U.S. media investors

Chris Maggos

COHESION BUREAU

+41 79 367 6254

chris.maggos@cohesionbureau.com

Press

Caroline Carmagnol

ALIZE RP

+33 6 64 18 99 59

median@alize.com
BlackRock Throgmorton Trust Plc - Publication of a circular and notice of General Meeting

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 31

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

31 January 2025

Blackrock Throgmorton Trust plc

Publication of a circular and notice of general meeting to renew the authority to buy back ordinary shares

The Board of BlackRock Throgmorton Trust plc (the "Company") announces that it has today published a Circular (the "Circular") which contains a notice of a general meeting (the "General Meeting"), at which the Board seeks Shareholders' approval to renew the Company's share buyback authority. The General Meeting will be held at 11.00 a.m. on 17 February 2025 at 12 Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DL.

At the Company's annual general meeting on 19 March 2024 (the "2024 AGM"), the Directors were given authority to make market purchases of up to 14,276,699 Ordinary Shares, representing 14.99 per cent. of the issued Ordinary Share capital (excluding treasury shares) as at the date of the notice of the 2024 AGM (the "Existing Authority"). As at the Latest Practicable Date, the Company has bought back 10,568,000 Ordinary Shares and a significant proportion of the Existing Authority has been utilised. The Directors have concluded that the Existing Authority could be fully utilised before the Company's next annual general meeting, which is expected to be held at the end of March 2025 (the "2025 AGM"), if the Company's purchases of its own shares were to continue at the same rate as they are at present.

The Directors consider that it is in Shareholders' interests that the Company continues to have the flexibility to make market purchases of Ordinary Shares in order to ensure that the Ordinary Shares do not trade at a price that is at an excessive discount to the NAV per Ordinary Share.

Accordingly, in order to retain this flexibility, the Board is now seeking to replace the Existing Authority with a renewed Shareholder authority (the "New Authority") to make market purchases of Ordinary Shares, such authority to expire at the conclusion of the 2025 AGM (the "Proposal").

The Directors are accordingly convening a General Meeting to be held at the offices of BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited at 12 Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DL on 17 February 2025 at 11.00 a.m. at which the Resolution will be put to Shareholders.

Background

As at the Latest Practicable Date, the Company has bought back 10,568,000 Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Existing Authority. As a result, the Company is only able to buy back a further 3,708,699 Ordinary Shares, which represents 4.44 per cent. of the issued Ordinary Share capital (excluding treasury shares) as at the Latest Practicable Date.

Market purchases of Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Existing Authority have taken place in order to manage the discount to NAV at which the Ordinary Shares continue to trade. At the current rate of purchases, it is likely that the Existing Authority will be exhausted soon, and before the 2025 AGM, leaving the Company unable to buy back further Ordinary Shares until shareholder authority to undertake market purchases of Ordinary Shares is sought at the 2025 AGM.

Reasons for the Proposal

The Board considers that it is in Shareholders' interests that the Company has, at all times, the ability to issue and buy back its shares in order to address temporary imbalances of supply and demand to ensure that the share price does not trade at an excessive discount or premium to NAV. In particular, the Board believes that it is in Shareholders' interests for the Company to be able to buy back Ordinary Shares in order to prevent a significant discount to NAV at which the Ordinary Shares may trade in the market.

The Board is therefore seeking Shareholder approval at the General Meeting to enable the Company to buy back 12,504,937 Ordinary Shares, or, if less, that number of Ordinary Shares which is equal to 14.99 per cent. of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital (excluding treasury shares) at the date of the General Meeting. The New Authority requires the approval of Shareholders and is therefore conditional on the passing of the Resolution.

The New Authority

The New Authority is being sought by way of a special resolution (the "Resolution") that will be put to Shareholders at the General Meeting.

The Resolution will, if passed, give the Directors the authority (in substitution for any existing authorities) to make market purchases of up to 12,504,937 Ordinary Shares, or, if less, that number of Ordinary Shares which is equal to 14.99 per cent. of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital (excluding treasury shares) at the date of the General Meeting.

The Resolution will authorise the Company to make market purchases of Ordinary Shares for a maximum price (exclusive of expenses) of the higher of (i) 105 per cent. of the average of the middle market quotations of the Ordinary Shares for the five dealing days preceding the purchase and (ii) the higher of the price quoted for (a) the last independent trade of and (b) the highest independent bid for, any number of Ordinary Shares on the trading venue where the purchase is carried out. The minimum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid for any such Ordinary Share shall be 5 pence.

The Directors intend to use the New Authority where they have determined that it is in the best interests of Shareholders to do so with the objective of addressing any imbalance between the supply of, and the demand for, Ordinary Shares and ensuring that the discount at which the Ordinary Shares trade to the NAV per Ordinary Share is managed. In deciding whether to make any such purchases, the Directors will have regard to what they believe to be in the interests of Shareholders as a whole and to applicable law and regulatory. All the Ordinary Shares purchased pursuant to the New Authority shall be either held in treasury or cancelled immediately upon completion of the purchase.

A special resolution requires a majority of at least 75 per cent. of members entitled to vote and present in person or by proxy to vote in favour in order for it to be passed.

Benefits of the Proposal

If the New Authority is granted, the Company will be able to continue to buy back Ordinary Shares with the objective of addressing any imbalance between the supply of, and the demand for, Ordinary Shares and ensuring that the discount at which the Ordinary Shares trade to the NAV per Ordinary Share is managed. Without such New Authority, the Directors may not have sufficient authority to continue to buy back Ordinary Shares to address any such imbalance. In such circumstances, it might be expected that the discount would widen as a result of a fall in the share price relative to the NAV per Ordinary Share, which would be detrimental to all existing Shareholders.

A copy of the Circular will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism. The Circular will also be available on the Company's website ( www.blackrock.co.uk/thrg ). Capitalised terms used in this announcement, unless otherwise defined, have the same meanings as set out in the Circular.
Press release Paris, January 31, 2025 - 8:00am

Recovery of ROUGIER SA

and estimated 2024 revenues of 95 million

Rougier SA (ALRGR, code ISIN FR0000037640) a century-old leader in responsible African timber, releases its estimated revenues for the 2024 financial year.

Definitive exit from the Safeguard Plan

As a reminder, a Safeguard Plan for ROUGIER SA was approved by a ruling of the Poitiers Commercial Court on February 26, 2019, and subsequently extended for two years by a ruling on January 12, 2021. Thanks to the successful execution of its continuation plan, ROUGIER SA has fully settled all of its restructured liabilities. This achievement allowed the company to obtain, at the end of 2024, the confirmation of the completion of its safeguard plan by the Poitiers Commercial Court.

It is noted that Rougier Afrique International remains under a continuation plan.

Business developments in 2024

ROUGIER SA's consolidated estimated revenue for 2024 amounted to 95 million, down -3.9% compared to the 99 million recorded in 2023.

This trend reflects weaker demand in a context of global economic slowdown and geopolitical uncertainties.

In Gabon, business declined compared to the previous year, mainly due to a decrease in demand for logs from local industrial players, as well as a wait-and-see approach from decision-makers in an electoral context.

In Congo, after strong performances in the first half of 2024, marked by a 2.6% increase in revenues, forestry and industrial operations slowed in the second half due to nationwide diesel shortages. Additionally, pressures on final markets continue to weigh on the country's overall activity.

Rougier Afrique International's trading revenues recorded a strong 12.6% growth, driven by the expansion of its panel product range.

By product category, ROUGIER's consolidated revenues is as follows:

At 31 December 2024* 2023 Change M % M % Logs 37.1 39.1% 41.7 43.9% -11.0% Sawn timber and derivatives 30.2 31.8% 32.4 34.1% -6.8% Plywood and derivatives 27.7 29.2% 24.6 25.9% +12.6% Other 0.0 0.0% 0.2 0.2% -100.0% Group's annual revenues 95 99 -3.9%

* unaudited

Governance of Rougier Afrique International

The Group's main operational entity, Rougier Afrique International, is strengthening its governance with the appointment of Francis Rougier as President and Tidiani Jeff Tall as Chief Executive Officer.

Next meeting: 2024 annual results, on April 30, 2025, after close of trading.

About ROUGIER

Founded in 1923, ROUGIER is a leading player in responsible African timber. Operating in Central Africa (Gabon and the Republic of Congo), ROUGIER is involved in the management of 100% responsible natural forests, certified with independent international labels, as well as industrial processing and international trade. ISIN: FR0000037640 - ALRGR

ROUGIER shares are eligible for SME share-based savings schemes (PEA-PME).

www.rougier.fr

Contact

Cyril Combe

rougier@calyptus.net

Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 65 68 68

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Iconic Geneva Hotel to Host Europe's Largest Hotel Contents Auction

The Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva, considered as one of Geneva's most iconic hotels, will host in February 2025 the largest and most comprehensive auction of hotel contents ever held in Europe. This significant event invites individuals, hospitality operators, and design enthusiasts to own a piece of history from this prestigious 5-star hotel-led complex, just before it will embark on a visionary transformation that promises a new era of elegance, sophistication, and sustainability.

Over the course of four days, about 6000 unique lots will be offered for sale, including furnishings, artwork, and accessories from guest bedrooms along with assets from the hotel's restaurants, banqueting halls, commercial kitchens, terrace furniture, laundry and linen, generators and even the contents of the renowned Theatre du Leman.

For Simon Rose, the auction director, this auction is more than just a sale: " it is a landmark event that will capture the attention of operators, collectors and fans from around the world, offering a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of the hotel's history. "

The Fairmont hotel temporarily closed its doors at the end of 2024 to undergo a major transformation starting in Q2 2025. Once complete, the revitalized property will stand as an emblem of forward-thinking design and sustainable luxury, destined to become a new icon in Geneva, for both the local community and global visitors alike. It will perpetuate an extraordinary legacy and offer its guests an unparalleled experience in the years to come.

A Legacy of Excellence

Since its opening in 1885, Grand Hotel Geneva has been at the forefront of the luxury hospitality industry, earning a reputation as one of Switzerland's leading and largest 5-star hotels. With its privileged location on the shores of Lake Geneva, offering breathtaking views of the Jet d'Eau fountain, Mont Blanc, and the French Alps, the hotel has become a beloved destination for travellers from around the world. Home to 412 refined rooms and suites, several high-end restaurants, a spa complex, a 1'400-seat theatre and the Java nightclub, Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva has set an unmatched standard in luxury. The renovation initiative marks the next chapter in this extraordinary legacy, ensuring the hotel continues to offer its guests an unparalleled experience in the years to come.

About the auction

Pro Auction, the specialist hospitality sector auction house, will conduct the sale. The Fairmont auction will take place at the hotel from 17-20 February 2025, commencing at 10.00 CET each day. Online bidding will also be available via a live webcast simultaneously Viewing is by arrangement with the auctioneers from February 10, 2025. The catalogue is available to download from the bidding website: https://tinyurl.com/The-Geneva-Sale

Media Contact:

Christophe Lamps

cla@dynamicsgroup.ch

+41 79 476 26 87

Contact details for Pro Auction Ltd

Simon Rose

info@proauction.ltd.uk

+44 1761 414 000

SOURCE: Pro Auction Limited

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - As a leader in workplace technology, Guru is happy to announce the general release of Guru, an AI-powered search platform. Eliminating (and not replacing) how a company may acquire and manage knowledge, Guru simplifies information retrieval and provides a productivity boost by allowing itself to flow seamlessly throughout all applications in the workplace.

And in a world where employees are frequently confronted with the consequences of information overload, Guru offers a desirable answer. Evidence indicates that employees can actually spend up to 20% of their work time searching for information, a time-waster that not only consumes resource time, but also hinders the flow and efficiency of teamwork. Guru overcomes these issues, as it represents a single platform from which the users can easily and quickly browse and retrieve information without compromising the time delays and decision making process.

Transforming Knowledge Management

Guru has been designed to function as a single knowledge platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate accurate, contextually focused outputs. Guru, which can be seamlessly integrated with the most popular tools (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, etc., as well as enterprise apps) without interfering with their workflow, provides employees with the necessary tools with as little disruption as possible.

"Our goal with Guru is to empower teams to work smarter, not harder," says Rick Nucci. "We understand the frustration of digging through countless emails, chats, and documents to find a single piece of information. Guru eliminates this hassle by bringing everything together in one intuitive platform."

Unlike traditional search engines, AI elements of Guru have the potential to learn and evolve in tandem with organizational needs. This dynamic capability guarantees to employees that they are always on access to the most current and timely data.

A New Era for Workplace Collaboration

One of the most significant impacts of Guru is its ability to reduce disruptions in the workspace. Historically, "shoulder tapping" - the technique of requesting information from colleagues - was an everyday activity. In specific contexts, this behaviour is effective but invariably leads to a bottleneck and accrues inefficiencies unless workflows are optimized.

Guru preconditions against the demand for those intercessions by providing self-help knowledge-based solution. Taking advantage of the benefits of both autonomy and learning from practice, employees are able to work on their own to gather the information that they need. Eg, Guru-assisted customer service teams can access real-time data about a product, organizational policy, or problem-solving guide, and not have to wait for an update from another area.

Highlighting Industry Achievement

Guru is one of the milestones in the generation of AI-driven tools for workspacedesign. As of the topic, Guru is unlike advanced search engines such as Perplexity which provide on-the-fly, context-sensitive responses, but the latter has a specific enterprise-oriented flavour. The ability of the tool to combine with a wide variety of software platforms makes it one of the leaders in its competitive domain of artificial intelligence (AI) search tools.

With the continued integration and use of AI-powered tools by and within industries, the existence of such solutions as Guru is being highlighted. On the other hand, among the significant tools, i.e., Notion AI, ChatGPT, and Google Workspaces AI demonstrate to us that application of artificial intelligence to exploit the wisdom of knowledge management is changing traditional approaches to knowledge management. However, due to the Guru-inspired focus on context-based integration in the workplace and and us-inspired design, it remains a first-thought choice among organizations who look for usable, optimized operations.

Commitment to Innovation

Guru is dedicated to improving workplace technology capabilities. The creation of Guru is an extension of a larger effort to efficiently address fundamental pain points of contemporary companies, which involves communication inefficiencies, data siloes, and lack of consistency in accessing information.

"Innovation is at the heart of everything we do," adds Nucci. "With Guru, we're not just introducing a product; we're setting a new standard for how organizations manage and utilize knowledge. The aim is to assist businesses to achieve their ambitions by providing them with the means to make work simpler and more effective."

Looking Ahead

As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, tools like Guru are poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of work. Guru helps to release to the fullest the potential of companies by removing the excessive information overload and performing effortless teamwork.

Guru invites any business to learn how they can overcome Guru's potential to transform their operations and learn more about Guru's features firsthand, through AI-enabled search. For further information on the Guru, or to book a demonstration, visit getguru.com.

About Guru

Guru is a pioneer in workplace innovation and aims to create tools that foster team success and organizational success. Considering that the potential of artificial intelligence is something to be harnessed, the solutions that are being implemented by the company are focused on even greater use (in terms of efficiency, communication, knowledge sharing) of their impact. To learn more about Guru, visit getguru.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/238946

SOURCE: Media Feature
Jupiter International says it will invest INR 20. 05 billion ($231. 4 million) to build a solar factory in India. The facility will produce 4. 2 GW of solar cells and 3. 6 GW of modules per year. From pv magazine India Jupiter International has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of the Indian state of Odisha to invest INR 20. 05 billion in a solar manufacturing facility. Under the terms of the agreement, the solar cell manufacturer will invest INR 2,005 crore through its subsidiary, Jupiter Renewables, to set up a facility with an annual production capacity of 4. 2 GW for ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TU Delft researchers have investigated for the first time the effect rear irradiance has on the optimal bandgap energy and thickness of the perovskite cell in a bifacial two-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem module. Their findings show that bifacial tandems have over a 25% gain in energy yield compared to bifacial single junction modules and up to 5% gain compared to monofacial tandem modules. A research group led by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands has investigated how perovskite materials may be optimized to achieve improved performance in bifacial two-terminal perovskite-silicon ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Greece installed 400 MW of net-metered PV systems in 2024, bringing its cumulative distributed solar capacity to 850 MW. However, the country shifted from net metering to net billing in September. Stelios Psomas, policy officer at the Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies (Helapco), told pv magazine that Greece installed 400 MW of new net-metered PV capacity in 2024. This total includes 300 MW of commercial systems and 100 MW of residential solar, bringing Greece's cumulative installed net-metered capacity to more than 850 MW. However, the Greek parliament passed the 5106/2024 law in ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
FOMBONI, Comoros, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed industries worldwide, making it one of the most promising investment sectors today. Moneda Del Mundo, a premier Latin American broker, provides traders with an exceptional opportunity to invest in the world's top AI-driven companies.

With AI-driven businesses revolutionizing finance, healthcare, and technology, Moneda Del Mundo ensures traders can access these high-potential stocks through a secure and innovative trading platform. "Artificial intelligence is shaping the future, and investors now have the chance to be part of this transformation," says Ignacio Veracruz, a spokesperson for Moneda Del Mundo. "Our platform simplifies access to leading AI stocks, enabling our clients to take advantage of this booming market confidently and easily."

A Smart and Secure Way to Discover the Era of AI

Moneda Del Mundo has developed a user-friendly platform equipped with cutting-edge AI tools that assist traders in making informed decisions. The platform provides real-time market insights, risk management solutions, and personalized support, guaranteeing that both novice and experienced investors can optimize their trading strategies.

"Our mission is to empower traders with access to the best investment opportunities, and AI is at the forefront of technological progress," adds Veracruz. "By offering access to the world's top AI companies, we give our clients the tools they need to capitalize on this rapidly growing sector."

As the demand for AI solutions continues to soar, investing in AI companies presents a lucrative opportunity for those looking to diversify their portfolios. Moneda Del Mundo stands out by combining innovation, security, and transparency, making AI investments more accessible than ever.

About Moneda Del Mundo

Moneda Del Mundo is a leading Latin American broker, fully regulated and licensed, dedicated to bringing out a safe and reliable trading experience. The company's goal is to facilitate users with an innovative platform, cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools, and personalized service. With a strong commitment to transparency and excellence, the firm presents tailored solutions to meet the unique needs of every client. Whether you are a seasoned investor or just starting, Moneda Del Mundo ensures you have the tools and support needed to achieve your financial goals.

Website : https://www.monedadelmundo.com/

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/moneda-del-mundo-opens-the-door-to-investing-in-leading-ai-companies-302365173.html
Sellvia's Tools Help Amazon Sellers Reach $12.8 Billion in Projected Sales

In 2024, Sellvia helped more than 50,000 new Amazon sellers launch their businesses with its turnkey Amazon Store package. With each Amazon seller averaging $250,000 in annual revenue, these businesses collectively are projected to achieve $12.84 billion in sales by the end of 2025. This accounts for nearly 2% of Amazon's total marketplace sales, which reached approximately $700 billion in 2023.

Sellvia Logo

Sellvia Logo

Sellvia's Amazon Store package is available as a bonus with the purchase of a turnkey e-commerce website or as a standalone package for those looking to start selling on Amazon as soon as possible. Each package comes with product listings, optimized descriptions, and personal business consultations, allowing new sellers to hit the ground running.

"Sellvia is all about making business simple and profitable; Amazon is no exception," says Ilia Dolgikh, CEO of Sellvia. "We take care of the technical work so entrepreneurs can focus on growing their sales. Seeing our sellers generate billions in revenue proves how powerful this model is."

With thousands of new sellers starting with Sellvia each year and billions in revenue generated, the company continues to redefine how entrepreneurs break into Amazon's marketplace.

About Sellvia

Sellvia provides entrepreneurs with ready-to-go online businesses, offering turnkey solutions for Amazon and beyond. With a U.S.-based fulfillment center, fast shipping, and expert marketing support, Sellvia helps newcomers transition into successful online entrepreneurs. Since 2023, the number of online stores created by Sellvia upon request has nearly doubled, reaching a new company milestone of 1.5 million stores, reinforcing Sellvia's role as a leading provider of seamless e-commerce solutions. Visit sellvia.com for details.

Contact Information

Polina Beletskaya

Marketing Director at Sellvia LLC

Email: polina.beletskaya@sellvia.com



SOURCE: Sellvia LLC

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
ChallengerX Plc - Management accounts for the quarters ended 31 December and 30 September 2024

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, January 31

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

31 January 2025

ChallengerX plc

("ChallengerX", "CX"orthe"Company")

Management accounts for the quarters ended31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024

ChallengerX (AQUIS: CXS) announces its unaudited management accounts reports for the quarters ended 31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024.

For further information, please contact:

ChallengerXplc John May, Chairman jmay@city-westminster.com Stuart Adam, CFO sjadam@city-westminster.com

DirectorsStatement

Introduction

ChallengerX plc (the "Company" or "ChallengerX") is quoted on the Aquis Stock Exchange ("AQSE") Growth Market. The Company was incorporated on 7 June 2021 and its shares were admitted to trading on 23 December 2021. Trading in the Company's ordinary shares on AQSE was suspended on 6 June 2024. The Company is aware of its continuing obligations under the AQSE rules.

Activitiesduringtheperiods

The Company was in negotiations to complete a significant transaction for the Company; it was also reviewing other products to add to its core business. The Company's aim is to enhance its position and seek to restore its shares to trading as soon as possible.

Outlook

On 8 January the Company announced it had raised a total of 120,000 through the issuance of a Convertible Loan Note. The Loan will be automatically converted into 120,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.001 each in the Company upon the relisting of ChallengerX Shares on the Aquis Stock Exchange.

On 20 January the Company further announced it is in active negotiations with the owners of Nyce International Limited and Virya VC Limited, with the aim to acquire their entire issued share capital. In addition, as part of this transaction, the Company announced the intention to enter into a licensing agreement in relation to an instance of Reelsoft AB's Vision RGS (Remote Gaming Server) and Game Aggregation Platform (together, the "Potential Acquisitions").

The Company is at an advanced stage of its legal and financial due diligence process and negotiation of the share purchase agreements and licensing agreements. A significant part of the costs associated with this process have been included in expenditure to 31 December 2024.

The Board is also negotiating certain new board appointments and working alongside an Aquis Corporate Adviser to conduct a review of the potential candidates' experience and background as well as of the enlarged group's suitability, following completion of the Potential Acquisitions and readmission to trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange.

It is not expected that the Potential Acquisitions would constitute a Reverse Takeover under Rule 3.6 of the Access Rulebook.

The Potential Acquisitions are subject to a number of conditions, including the lifting of the suspension to trading of ChallengerX Shares by Aquis Stock Exchange, the issue and admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading, and completion of a fundraise in a sufficient amount to satisfy the enlarged group's working capital requirement.

The completion of the Potential Acquisitions and relisting of ChallengerX Shares on the Aquis Stock Exchange cannot be guaranteed.

John May

Chairman

Statement of Comprehensive Income forthe quarters ended 31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024

31 December 2024 30 September 2024 '000 '000 Revenue - - Administrative expenses (121) (46) Operatingloss (121) (46) Lossbefore tax (121) (46) Taxation - - Lossfortheperiod (121) (46) Totalcomprehensiveloss (121) (46) (Loss)pershare(pence)fromcontinuingoperationsattributableto ownersoftheCompany-Basic and diluted earnings per share (0.028) (0.011)

Statement of Financial Position as at quarters ended 31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024

31 December 2024 '000 30 September 2024 (restated) '000 Intangible assets Software Licence - - Currentassets Trade and other receivables 16 4 Cash and cash equivalents 103 1 Totalcurrentassets 119 5 Totalassets 119 5 Currentliabilities Trade and other payables 473 238 Totalcurrentliabilities 473 238 Netassets (354) (233) Capitalandreserves Share capital: - Issued - Treasury 432 1 432 1 Total share capital 433 433 Share premium 1,786 1,786 Retained earnings (2,573) (2,452) Totalequity (354) (233)

StatementofChangesinEquity

Forthequarters ended

31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024

Share capital Share premium Retained earnings Total '000 '000 '000 '000 As at 30 June 2024 (restated) 433 1,786 (2,406) (187) Issue of share capital - - - - Loss for the quarter ended 30 September 2024 - - (46) (46) TotalComprehensiveIncome - - (46) (46) Asat30 September 2024 433 1,786 (2,452) (233) Issue of share capital - - - - Loss for the quarter ended 31 December 2024 - - (121) (121) TotalComprehensiveIncome - - (121) (121) Asat31 December 2024 433 1,786 (2,573) (354)

StatementofCashFlows

Forthe quarters ended 31 December 2024

and 30 September 2024

31 December 2024 30 September2024 '000 '000 Cashfromoperatingactivities Loss before tax (121) (46) Adjustments for: (Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables (12) 3 Increase /(decrease) in trade and other payables 115 42 Netcash (used)inoperatingactivities (18) (1) Cash flows from financing activities Issue of share capital - - Adjustment to share premium - - Loan received 120 - Netcashfromfinancingactivities 120 - Netcashflowforthe period 102 (1) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1 2 Cashandcashequivalentsatendofperiod 103 1 Netchangeincashandcashequivalents 103 (1) Cashandcashequivalentscomprise: Cash at bank and in hand 103 1 103 1

Notestothefinancialstatements

General information

ChallengerX plc is a public limited company limited by shares and was incorporated in England on 7 June 2021 with company number 13440398. Its registered office is 16 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DG.

The Company's shares are currently suspended from trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market under symbol CXS and ISIN number GB00BMD0WG01.

The Company was first incorporated on 7 June 2021.

The information for periods ended 31 December 2024 and 30 September 2024 are unaudited.

Basis of Preparation

The quarterly management accounts of ChallengerX plc have been prepared in compliance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102, "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland" ("FRS 102") and the Companies Act 2006.

These management accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, under the historical cost convention.

The financial statements are presented in Pounds Sterling, which is the Company's presentation and functional

currency.

The preparation of the financial statements requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise its judgment in the process of applying the Company's accounting policies.

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis and are presented in '000 unless

otherwise stated.

Going Concern

As at 31 December 2024, the Company had cash of 103,341. The Company has limited operating cash flow and is dependent on the performance of its trading and its cash balances for its working capital requirements. As at the date of this report, the Company had approximately 78,327 cash at bank.

In making their assessment of going concern, the Directors, having made due and careful enquiry, are of the opinion that the Company will have access to adequate working capital to meet its obligations for the period of at least 12 months from the date these management accounts are authorized for issue. The Directors, have discussed the Company's position with its investors and potential investors and believes it will secure the funding required to pursue its objectives.

The Directors believe in the Company's potential. However, the success of securing funding has been identified as a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt over the going concern assessment. Whilst acknowledging this uncertainty, based upon the expectation of completing a successful fundraising in the near future, and the continued support of its investors, the Directors consider it appropriate to continue to prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis.

Earnings per share
On January 22, the Zodiac Flashmob "Happy Chinese New Year" Delegation from the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau was invited to the Spring Festival reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Italy. The event was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Italy, Jia Guide, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, and other distinguished guests.

Ambassador Jia Guide extended his Spring Festival greetings to the guests. He reviewed the significant achievements of the Chinese path to modernization in 2024 and the comprehensive upgrade of China-Italy relations. He also looked forward to the bright prospects for China's development and the China-Italy and China-EU relations in 2025.

Deputy Prime Minister Salvini extended warm congratulations on the Chinese Spring Festival. He emphasized Italy's commitment to strengthening relations with China and expressed his belief that cooperation between the two countries can contribute to global peace and stability.

Wang Hongtao, Deputy Director-General of the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, highlighted in his speech that from Beijing, the ancient capital with thousands of years of history, to Rome, the Eternal City, the two civilizations have exemplified equal dialogue and common development. He introduced Beijing's latest entry facilitation policies and rich tourism offerings, warmly inviting more Italian friends to visit Beijing.

The Spring Festival reception was held at Villa Miani, built in 1837. The event featured the "Hello, Beijing" Photography Exhibition, the "Happy Chinese New Year" Photography Exhibition, and an exhibition of award-winning designs from the Global Zodiac Design Competition. These exhibitions brought the Neoclassical Italian architecture into a dialogue with Beijing across time and space. Each piece showcased the perfect blend of Beijing's traditional charm and modern vitality, conveying the civilizational concepts of peace, harmony, and unity. This is the first time that the Spring Festival, now inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is celebrated as an intangible cultural heritage event. They also highlighted the auspicious symbolism of Chinese zodiac culture.

Deputy Director-General Wang Hongtao also introduced the "Hello, Beijing" Photography Exhibition to the guests and warmly invited them to visit Beijing. Deputy Prime Minister Salvini expressed his eagerness to visit Beijing and praised the wonderful performances brought by the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250131565671/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Contact: Wang Jie

Company Name: Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchanges Center

Website: https://www.bocec.cn

Email: xiaojie12321@163. com
DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BlackDuckRWA proudly announces the successful launch of its BD crypto token, a groundbreaking digital asset designed to seamlessly integrate traditional finance with the rapidly evolving Web3 ecosystem. Established in 2019, the company's pioneering model empowers investors to qualify for rewards generated from trading within the $7.5 trillion foreign exchange (Forex) market, offering unparalleled access to structured financial products on-chain.

Following a fair launch on the Solana network on January 24, BD exceeded expectations, attracting 2,000 wallet holders in just five minutes and reaching a 3 million market cap within days. With a robust six-month roadmap and a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance, BlackDuckRWA is now preparing for major exchange listings in the coming months to expand its global reach.

Revolutionizing DeFi with Forex Rebates and Staking Rewards

BlackDuckRWA is transforming decentralized finance by introducing on-chain Forex structured products, providing investors with diverse risk-adjusted opportunities. Backed by an executive team with experience at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, the company reported an average return of 36% per month in altcoin trading in 2024, reinforcing its track record in high-performance investment strategies.

With the launch of BD, BlackDuckRWA's innovative model extends benefits to token holders through Forex rebates, which are earned from high-frequency trading activity. Investors can lock their BD tokens into the staking platform to qualify for reward distributions based on their holdings and staking duration. This initiative is scheduled to go live in month three of the six-month roadmap.

By linking the BD token's value to Forex trading volume and rebates, BlackDuckRWA ensures a sustainable incentive for ownership and participation. Additionally, the platform will foster an engaged community, empowering members to propose new features and participate in exclusive NFT drops that reward early adopters and active contributors.

Official Statement from BlackDuckRWA:

"BlackDuckRWA is dedicated to bridging traditional finance and Web3 by offering investors innovative, yield-generating opportunities in a fully compliant and scalable ecosystem. Our mission is to create a more inclusive and accessible financial system, ensuring broader participation in the evolving digital economy.

"With the increasing adoption of blockchain technology, the demand for cutting-edge financial solutions is at an all-time high. Our BD token staking platform and Forex rebate model will provide tangible value to holders, and we look forward to expanding our ecosystem through upcoming exchange listings and community-driven developments."

For more information, visit www.blackduckrwa.com or join the discussion on X at @blackduckrwa.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2610017/BlackDuck_Logo.jpg

Media contact:

BlackDuckRWA Communications Team

Email: press@blackduckrwa.com

Website: www.blackduckrwa.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/blackduckrwa-takes-flight-with-token-launch--bridging-traditional-finance-and-web3-302365260.html
LONDON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- MikeWorldWide, one of the world's leading independent public relations agencies has announced the appointment of Sarah Moloney as managing director of its UK and European operations. Moloney has over 20 years' experience in growing and running PR agencies, most latterly as UK MD and EVP at KWT Global, where she transformed the agency into a high-performing integrated brand communications business within the EMEA Stagwell Group, servicing some of the world's largest B2B and consumer brands.

Tom Berry, the previous UK managing director of MikeWorldWide, becomes chair of the London office. He will provide counsel for Moloney, as well as provide strategic consultancy for a roster of clients at the agency worldwide.

"In the era of mega-mergers, Sarah is the ideal person to guide clients and our people with the necessary agility, strength, and bespoke marketing solutions required to compete in a rapidly evolving landscape," said Michael Kempner, founder and CEO of MikeWorldWide. "As an earned first, yet fully integrated leader, she has the grit, experience, and vision to help accelerate the growth of MikeWorldWide as one of the leading mid-size agencies in the UK."

Moloney's strategy is to build on the agency's high calibre client roster, helping enhance brand reputation and relevancy through impactful communications, as well as driving further growth for the UK business. She will also oversee the market integration of the agency's innovative tech stack, which includes a series of sophisticated AI tools that offer clients greater precision and predictability.

"MikeWorldWide is an innovative and forward-thinking communications agency that offers its clients and prospects modern, integrated and intelligent thinking," said Moloney. "I feel privileged to join a business that has a strong vision, great people and huge ambition. I look forward to working with Michael, Tom and the wider team in continuing to build an agency that has reputation and impact at its heart."

MikeWorldWide's UK B2B and consumer clients include: The Sunday Times, TeamViewer, Sky Media, StubHub International, Ivanti and The Employers' Network for Equality and Inclusion.

About MikeWorldWide

MikeWorldWide is a leading independent, integrated public relations agency serving global clients across the US & Europe. It employs more than 225 communications experts that live at the intersection of consumer brand marketing, technology, and corporate reputation. The award-winning firm applies its expertise and culture of caring through research, strategy, creativity, empathy, and insight for clients to maximize the potential of every marketing channel. It delivers breakthrough communications for the global enterprises, corporate leaders, and innovative brands who are driving the creative economy.

To learn more about MikeWorldWide, visit mww.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sarah-moloney-joins-mikeworldwide-london-as-managing-director-302364789.html
HANKO, Finland, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- FORCIT is planning to invest more than EUR 200 million in the construction of a new TNT production facility in Pori, Finland.

TNT is a widely used explosive that has been used in military applications for a long time. There is currently limited capacity for TNT production in Europe.

The production and logistics solutions regarding the new facility to be built will be designed with the environment and residents in mind.

"Investing in Finland is an investment in increasing the safety and security of not only Finland but also Europe as a whole," says Joakim Westerlund, CEO of FORCIT.

The project will be developed in strong cooperation with the defence administration, the authorities and local communities. The impacts of the project on defence and military security of supply as well as employment will be significant. The state-owned private equity company Tesi is negotiating investments in the production plant project.

Media contact requests:

Mari Halonen

mari.halonen@forcit.fi

+358 40 869 0417

Images for media are available: https://newsroom.notified.com/forcit-oy-newsroom/presskits

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/forcit-plans-to-invest-more-than-eur-200-million-in-the-construction-of-a-new-tnt-production-facility-in-pori-finland-302365267.html
(TSXV:OGN)(OTCQX:OGNRF) Orogen Royalties Inc. ("Orogen" or the "Company") announces that, as part of the Company's annual share-based compensation program, the Board of Directors have authorized a grant of 324,000 Restricted Share Units (RSUs), 62,000 Deferred Share Units (DSUs), and 977,000 incentive Stock Options to directors, officers, employees, and consultants. The grant has been authorized pursuant to the Company's Omnibus Equity Incentive Compensation Plan that was approved by shareholders October 29, 2024.

The RSUs awarded will fully vest on the second anniversary of the date of grant. The DSUs awarded will vest 50% each on the third and fourth anniversaries of the grant date and will settle on the termination of service. The Stock Options have a life of five years, an exercise price of $1.51, and will vest over three years including 25% that will vest immediately followed by 25% on the first, second, and third anniversaries from the date of grant.

These equity-based compensation grants are subject to regulatory acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Orogen Royalties Inc.

Orogen Royalties Inc. is focused on organic royalty creation and royalty acquisitions on precious and base metal discoveries in western North America. The Company's royalty portfolio includes the Ermitano gold and silver mine in Sonora, Mexico (2% NSR royalty) being mined by First Majestic Silver Corp. and the Expanded Silicon gold project (1% NSR royalty) in Nevada, USA, being advanced by AngloGold Ashanti NA. The Company is well financed with several projects actively being explored under joint ventures.

On Behalf of the Board

OROGEN ROYALTIES INC.

Paddy Nicol

President & CEO

To find out more about Orogen, please contact Paddy Nicol, President & CEO at 604-248-8648, and Marco LoCascio, Vice President, Corporate Development at 604-248-8648. Visit our website at www.orogenroyalties.com.

Orogen Royalties Inc.

1015 - 789 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC

Canada V6C 1H2

info@orogenroyalties.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this presentation, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Orogen Royalties Inc. (the "Company") expect to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

Although the Company believe the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which COVID-19 may impact the Company's business will depend on future developments such as the geographic spread of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, travel restrictions, physical distancing, business closures or business disruptions, and the effectiveness of actions taken in Canada and other countries to contain and treat the disease. Although it is not possible to reliably estimate the length or severity of these developments and their financial impact as of the date of approval of these condensed interim consolidated financial statements, continuation of the prevailing conditions could have a significant adverse impact on the Company's financial position and results of operations for future periods.

Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

SOURCE: Orogen Royalties Inc

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
RedChip Companies, an industry leader in investor relations, media, and research for microcap and small-cap companies, today announced its expansion into Canada with the opening of a new office and the appointment of Michael Jennings to lead its Canadian operations. This strategic move underscores RedChip's commitment to delivering exceptional services to Canadian-listed companies and building on its track record of more than three decades of success in the United States.

"Opening an office in Toronto is a natural progression for RedChip as we continue to grow our footprint," said Dave Gentry, CEO of RedChip Companies. "Canadian stocks listed on the Toronto and Vancouver exchanges offer tremendous opportunities, and with Michael's leadership and expertise, we are well-positioned to deliver our proven investor relations and media solutions to this vibrant market."

Jennings brings a wealth of experience to RedChip's Canadian operations. As a former CEO and Founder of a highly successful public microcap company, Jennings led the company from a startup to a thriving enterprise with 90 employees, 60% EBITDA margins, and an employee attrition rate under 5%. Under his leadership, the company secured $23 million in funding, achieved rapid growth, and cultivated a culture of innovation and operational excellence. Jennings orchestrated the sale of the company for $71 million after just three years of operation, generating significant returns for investors.

"I am thrilled to join RedChip during this exciting period of expansion," said Jennings. "Canada's dynamic market offers tremendous potential, and I look forward to helping Canadian companies connect with investors and achieve their full growth potential."

RedChip's Canadian office, located in Toronto, will provide investor relations, media production, and research services tailored to Canadian-listed microcap and small-cap companies. By leveraging its industry-leading service platform-which includes retail and institutional roadshows, digital media solutions, the weekly television show Small Stocks, Big Money, and much more-RedChip aims to connect Canadian issuers with a broad base of investors in North America and beyond.

"Michael's entrepreneurial success and deep understanding of the microcap space make him the ideal leader to drive our expansion into Canada," added Gentry. "We're excited to bring our innovative services to Canadian companies and to help them achieve their growth objectives."

About RedChip Companies

RedChip Companies, an Inc. 5000 company, is an international investor relations, media, and research firm focused on microcap and small-cap companies. For 32 years, RedChip has delivered concrete, measurable results for its clients. Our newsletter, Small Stocks, Big Money, is delivered online weekly to 60,000 investors. RedChip has developed the most comprehensive service platform in the industry for microcap and small-cap companies. These services include the following: a worldwide distribution network for its stock research; retail and institutional roadshows in major U.S. cities; outbound marketing to stock brokers, RIAs, institutions, and family offices; a digital media investor relations platform that has generated millions of unique investor views; investor webinars and group calls; a television show, Small Stocks, Big Money, which airs weekly on Bloomberg US; TV commercials in local and national markets; corporate and product videos; website design; and traditional investor relation services, which include press release writing, development of investor presentations, quarterly conference call script writing, strategic consulting, capital raising, and more.

To learn more about RedChip's products and services, please visit:

https://www.redchip.com/corporate/investor_relations

"Discovering Tomorrow's Blue Chips Today"

Follow RedChip on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redchip/

Follow RedChip on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedChipCompanies

Follow RedChip on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redchipcompanies/

Follow RedChip on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RedChip

Follow RedChip on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@redchip

Follow RedChip on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-3068340

Subscribe to our Mailing List: https://www.redchip.com/newsletter/latest

Contact:

Dave Gentry

RedChip Companies Inc.

1-407-644-4256

info@redchip.com

--END--

SOURCE: RedChip

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV: BCM) (OTCQX: BCEKF) (BVL: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") announces it produced 7,937 ounces of gold and 55,803 ounces of silver from the Mercedes Mine ("Mercedes") during the three months ended December 31, 2024 ("Q4 2024").

Eric Caba, President and CEO of Bear Creek, states "Production from Mercedes decreased during Q4 2024 as we continued the transition from mining at San Martin, a bulk-mineable deposit and the biggest contributor to production during 2024, into other areas of the Mercedes operation. This transition requires extensive development work, adaptations to new narrow-vein mining methods, and the deployment of right-sized equipment and specialized supplies, which have taken longer than expected to procure. Our ongoing efforts to improve efficiency, contain costs, apply operational discipline and reduce dilution, combined with completion of the transition to narrow vein mining methods appropriate for future production from the Marianas deposit, are focused on benefitting Mercedes' performance in 2025."

Q4 2024 Production

Production and development results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 are as follows:



Q1 2024 (1) Q2 2024 (1) Q3 2024 (1) Q4 2024 Full Year 2024 (2) Ore Mined (tonnes) 106,365 93,093 103,889 95,204 398,552 Ore Processed (tonnes) 109,280 95,727 102,535 93,170 400,771 Gold grade processed (gpt) 3.69 3.23 3.40 2.79 3.30 Gold recovery (%) 94% 93% 96% 95% 95% Gold ounces produced 12,228 9,304 10,751 7,937 40,220 Silver ounces produced 44,040 40,893 76,939 55,803 217,675 Development (meters) 2,780 2,569 2,025 3,090 10,464

(1) See Bear Creek news releases dated April 17, July 19 and October 18, 2024

(2) Full year 2024 numbers may not add due to rounding

The tonnage of ore mined and processed was impacted during Q4 2024 by delays experienced in obtaining certain equipment and supplies necessary to transition from the bulk mining methods used at the San Martin deposit to narrow vein mining methods required to effectively mine at the Marianas deposit and delays related to unplanned remediation of ground conditions. While as a result the final quarter of the year saw lower than anticipated gold and silver production, we are working to resolve both of these underlying factors and improve production accordingly. The average Q4 2024 gold grade of processed ore was impacted by lower-than-expected grades of ore mined from the Diluvio and Lupita deposits. Development activity originally planned for earlier quarters occurred in the final quarter of the year, leading to the substantially higher development meters achieved in Q4 2024.

In summary, unforeseen delays related to the transition of mining methods and contractors during the quarter negatively impacted production results for Q4 2024. However, the majority of this shortfall is expected to be made up in the course of 2025 concurrent with anticipated reductions in dilution that stem from using experienced narrow vein miners and right sized equipment.

Bear Creek is planning an aggressive exploration program for 2025 to test high quality, near-mine brownfield targets identified in late 2024 through a study that integrated new information obtained from reprocessing historic aeromagnetic survey data, with ground-based geochemistry, new geological field observations and a re-interpretation of structural controls on Mercedes mineralization. The 69,284-hectare Mercedes property is located at the convergence of discrete porphyry, epithermal & orogenic belts and represents a highly prospective environment that is largely unexplored outside of the Mercedes mine deposits. Our 2025 exploration plans will be announced in an exploration update news release in the coming days.

Shipping Alternatives

Bear Creek, through its Mercedes operating entity, currently ships d'ore from the Mercedes Mine to refining facilities in the USA pursuant to a contract with Asahi Refining ("Asahi"). The Company has confirmed that alternative d'ore shipping arrangements to Asahi's facilities in Canada are available to it, and will avail itself of these alternatives in the event precious metals shipments from Mexico to the USA become subject to punitive tariffs. Should this occur, the net effect of the change for the Company would be a moderate increase in the transportation costs for the production from Mercedes.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Eric Caba

President and Chief Executive Officer

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Unless otherwise indicated, scientific and technical information in this news release is based on work programs and initiatives conducted by or under the supervision of, and/or has been reviewed and approved by, Donald Mc Iver, Fellow SEG and Fellow Aus IMM, Vice President, Exploration and Geology of Bear Creek Mining Corporation, who is a qualified person ("QP") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding: the timing, appropriateness, and benefits of the transition from bulk to narrow vein mining methodologies; the inclusion and relative contribution of various deposits on future production at Mercedes; expectations regarding 2025 Mercedes production results; the anticipated resolution of delays in equipment procurement that impacted Q4 2024 production results and the timing and impacts thereof; expectations regarding anticipated reductions in dilution and containment of costs, the potential impacts of such reductions on production results, and the timing thereof; 2025 Mercedes exploration plans and potential outcomes and plans to publicize such plans; and, potential changes to d'ore shipments from Mercedes. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to assumptions related to the Company's exploration, development and operating activities, the availability of funds required to meet its requirements and plans, business objectives, goals and capabilities, assumptions related to gold and silver prices, and the expectation that anticipated exploration, development and operating results will not differ materially from expectations. Although management considers the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on information available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and the risk exists that estimates, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions on which they are based do not reflect future experience. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the expectations expressed in them. These risk factors may be generally stated as the risk that the assumptions expressed above do not occur, but may include additional risks as described in the Company's latest Annual Information Form, and other disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR+. The foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on behalf of the Company, except as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239079

SOURCE: Bear Creek Mining Corporation
The Romanian Photovoltaic Industry Association (RPIA) says Romania installed 1. 7 GW of solar in 2024, as increased funding, higher renewable targets, and a streamlined permitting process drove market growth. Romania installed 1. 7 GW of solar in 2024, according to figures from the RPIA. RPIA Policy Officer Irene Mihai told pv magazine that the figure consists of 600 MW of utility-scale projects and 1. 1 GW of distributed generation installations, pushing Romania to almost 5 GW of cumulative installed capacity. The result marks Romania's second year of strong solar growth, with 1. 5 GW added ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Labor Market Conference (GLMC) 2025 successfully concluded its Second Edition at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, following two days of insightful discussions and agreements to develop the future of work. The event brought together a distinguished international audience, with over 10,000 participants, 40 labor ministers, and more than 200 global experts and speakers representing over 100 countries, reinforcing GLMC's role as a dynamic global platform shaping the future of work.

After the opening ceremony, H.E. Eng. Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, delivered the keynote speech, where he unveiled the Global Labor Charter. This groundbreaking initiative was announced following a high-level Ministerial Roundtable, involving 40 labor ministers from around the world, and introduces eight key pillars, including youth workforce integration, readiness for digital transformation, investment in human capital, and enhanced collaboration between governments and industries to foster innovative, and employment-driven solutions.

Further solidifying the conference's impact, H.E. Al-Rajhi announced the launch of the Labor Market Academy, a GLMC collaborative initiative with the World Bank and Takamol Holding, aimed at equipping future labor market leaders with advanced policymaking expertise. The academy's inaugural cohort will include 30 participants, with plans to scale up to 600 participants within three years, fostering global knowledge exchange and policy innovation for adaptive labor markets.

Additionally, the conference introduced two GLMC Policy Labs, developed in partnership with the World Bank which served as dedicated platforms for critical discussions on labor market transformation. The Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs) Lab focused on integrating youth into the workforce through tailored employment initiatives, while the Sectoral Skills Councils (SSCs) Lab is designed to enhance private sector involvement in skills development and workforce planning.

As a key driver of global labor market transformation, GLMC facilitated the signing of 70 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and strategic agreements between government entities and private sector leaders, directly impacting over 300,000 individuals. These agreements focus on enhancing workforce skills, expanding employment opportunities, fostering innovation in labor policies, and strengthening global partnerships-all in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030 and GLMC's mission to create resilient and adaptive labor markets.

In this context, several significant MOUs were signed between the public and private sectors, marking strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening the labor market, improving training and employment opportunities, developing skills, and empowering national talent across key sectors. Notable collaborations included the Ministry of Tourism, Takamol Holding, INSEAD, UiPath, Proven Arabia, BVIS, and the Saudi Digital Academy-each contributing to the advancement of education, workforce efficiency, and skill development.

In line with its commitment to research and analysis, GLMC unveiled an international report titled "Making Labor Markets Work for the Youth", developed in collaboration with the World Bank. The report offers a comprehensive examination of economically inactive youth aged 15-24, exploring the economic and social implications of their disengagement from the labor market, and presents a strategic framework to tackle this issue, highlighting successful case studies and actionable solutions.

Over two days, 40-panel discussions were held, featuring 200 global speakers who explored key topics such as the impact of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies on employment, demographic shifts in labor markets, bridging the skills gap, and strategies to empower youth and promote green jobs. Sessions brought together distinguished figures from the public and private sectors, international organizations, and leading academics, fostering innovative solutions to enhance labor market sustainability.

Recognized as one of the most influential global platforms in global labor development, GLMC continues to cement its position as a premier international hub, bringing together governments, private sector leaders, global institutions, and thought leaders to facilitate knowledge exchange, analyze labor market trends, and design forward-thinking policies to keep pace with the rapid transformations in the world of work.

The success of the Global Labor Market Conference 2025 underscores Saudi Arabia's dedication to shaping the future of work, driving innovation, and fostering global labor market progress. By strengthening partnerships and focusing on policy advancement, the conference sets the stage for a resilient, inclusive global workforce. GLMC's transition into a year-round knowledge hub ensures ongoing collaboration and impactful action, reinforcing the Kingdom's commitment to sustainable labor markets and advancing Saudi Vision 2030 through human capital development.

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/closing-of-the-second-edition-of-the-global-labor-market-conference-milestone-achievements-and-international-agreements-to-shape-the-future-of-work-302365319.html
A comprehensive survey conducted from Q2 2024 to Q1 2025 among 1,812 hospitals, health systems, physician organizations, and payers has identified the top end-to-end cybersecurity software and services vendors in the healthcare industry. These vendors have been recognized for their outstanding protection satisfaction, vendor performance, usability, governance, and compliance capabilities, ensuring robust security across all healthcare IT environments.

As cyber threats continue to rise in complexity, healthcare providers and payers require comprehensive, AI-driven security solutions that safeguard sensitive patient data, ensure regulatory compliance, and secure critical infrastructure. The following top-ranked vendors have earned the highest client satisfaction and data protection ratings for their Zero Trust architectures, threat intelligence capabilities, and advanced security platforms tailored to the healthcare industry.

2025 End-to-End Healthcare Cybersecurity Vendors

An end-to-end cybersecurity vendor provides comprehensive security solutions that address the entire spectrum of cybersecurity needs within the healthcare industry, encompassing providers, payers, and suppliers. These vendors go beyond offering standalone products; they deliver integrated frameworks that protect sensitive patient data, ensure compliance with stringent regulations, and secure diverse digital environments such as electronic health records (EHRs), IoT/IoMT devices, telehealth platforms, and cloud-based services.

Healthcare organizations face unique cybersecurity challenges, including safeguarding highly sensitive Protected Health Information (PHI), ensuring uninterrupted care delivery, and managing complex networks and interconnected systems. End-to-end vendors are distinguished by their ability to deliver cohesive, multi-layered security solutions tailored to these specific needs. They combine advanced technologies, robust risk management practices, and exceptional service excellence to protect healthcare entities from emerging threats.

Core Qualities of an End-to-End Healthcare Cybersecurity Vendor

Strategic Industry Alignment: End-to-end vendors deeply understand the operational and regulatory complexities of the healthcare industry. Their solutions are designed to align with value-based care (VBC) models, support interoperability initiatives like health information exchanges (HIE), and secure telehealth platforms. This industry-specific focus ensures that their tools and services meet the unique demands of healthcare organizations.

Comprehensive Technology Stack: These vendors offer a range of tools and technologies, from endpoint detection and response (EDR) to identity and access management (IAM), encryption, cloud security, and data loss prevention (DLP). Their solutions integrate seamlessly across platforms, enabling healthcare organizations to secure every layer of their IT infrastructure without gaps or redundancies.

Advanced Threat Detection and Mitigation: Leveraging AI, machine learning, and behavioral analytics, end-to-end vendors provide proactive threat detection and real-time mitigation. They ensure healthcare systems are protected against sophisticated attacks, including ransomware, phishing, and insider threats. These capabilities are critical for maintaining the integrity and availability of EHR systems and other critical applications.

Regulatory Compliance Expertise: Healthcare cybersecurity vendors understand the importance of compliance with regulations such as HIPAA, HITECH, GDPR, and regional data protection laws. Their solutions include built-in compliance features, automated auditing, and reporting capabilities, enabling healthcare organizations to meet regulatory requirements efficiently.

Service Excellence and Support: An essential differentiator for end-to-end vendors is their focus on providing exceptional customer support and training. They equip healthcare IT teams with the knowledge and resources to effectively use their tools and stay ahead of emerging threats. This includes 24/7 support, detailed documentation, and tailored training programs.

Scalability and Customization: End-to-end vendors design their solutions to scale with the needs of healthcare organizations, whether they are small clinics, large hospital systems, or multinational payers. They also offer customization options to address specific workflows, integration requirements, or compliance mandates.

"The healthcare industry is a prime target for cyber threats due to its reliance on interconnected systems and the high value of patient data. End-to-end cybersecurity vendors provide the critical defense needed to mitigate risks, ensure operational continuity, and maintain trust," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "As healthcare rapidly evolves with cloud adoption, IoMT expansion, and interoperability demands, these vendors enable secure digital transformation while ensuring compliance and resilience in an increasingly complex threat landscape."

Top-Ranked End-to-End Healthcare Cybersecurity Vendors

1. Palo Alto Networks: AI-Powered Network, Cloud, and Endpoint Security for Healthcare

Palo Alto Networks leads the industry with its AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, ensuring the protection of cloud environments, medical devices, endpoints, and network infrastructures. Prisma Cloud & Prisma Access provide Zero Trust security, cloud workload protection, and secure remote access for telehealth and hybrid IT environments. Cortex XDR & Cortex XSOAR enhance real-time threat detection and incident management, while Strata Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) offer deep packet inspection and intrusion prevention. Additionally, IoT Security for Medical Devices (IoMT) mitigates risks in connected medical devices, and its HIPAA & HITRUST Compliance Tools automate policy enforcement to maintain regulatory adherence.

2. IBM Security: AI-Driven Threat Intelligence & Healthcare Compliance

IBM Security provides a robust cybersecurity ecosystem designed for healthcare organizations. IBM Security QRadar SIEM delivers advanced threat detection, compliance monitoring, and security analytics, ensuring adherence to HIPAA, HITRUST, and GDPR. The IBM Security MaaS360 platform secures endpoint and mobile device management, while X-Force Threat Intelligence enables real-time cyber threat monitoring and AI-driven threat hunting. To further fortify healthcare systems, IBM Cloud Security & Guardium Data Protection safeguard EHRs, financial transactions, and IoMT devices from cyber threats.

3. CrowdStrike: AI-Powered Endpoint Security & Zero Trust for Healthcare

CrowdStrike's Falcon XDR and Zero Trust Protection ensure AI-driven endpoint security, ransomware mitigation, and threat intelligence for healthcare infrastructures. Falcon Insight & Identity Protection safeguard privileged healthcare accounts by ensuring only authorized users can access critical systems. With real-time threat detection and behavioral AI analysis, CrowdStrike prevents zero-day attacks on hospitals, payers, and pharmaceutical research institutions. The Falcon Platform integrates incident response, forensic analysis, and cloud security, making it a powerful solution for mitigating ransomware, supply chain threats, and insider risks.

4. Microsoft: AI-Powered Cloud Security & Compliance-Driven Threat Protection

Microsoft offers a holistic security ecosystem for healthcare through Azure Security Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Sentinel (SIEM/SOAR). Active Directory Identity Protection secures user authentication across vast healthcare networks, while its Zero Trust security architecture enforces least-privilege access. Microsoft's AI-driven Extended Detection and Response (XDR) delivers real-time threat intelligence, providing protection across endpoints, cloud, and hybrid environments.

5. Cisco: Advanced Network Security & IoT Protection for Healthcare

Cisco specializes in securing telehealth platforms, IoMT devices, and hybrid healthcare networks. Duo Security enables multi-factor authentication (MFA) and Zero Trust network access, ensuring only authorized personnel can access sensitive data. Cisco Umbrella and SecureX provide AI-driven network monitoring, real-time threat intelligence, and encrypted traffic security. Additionally, Firepower Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and Secure SD-WAN strengthen hospital network security, protecting EHRs, IoT devices, and cloud-based applications.

6. Fortinet: Zero-Trust Network Security & AI-Driven Threat Prevention

Fortinet provides tailored security solutions for healthcare, including FortiGate NGFW, FortiEDR, and Secure SD-WAN. FortiNAC enforces microsegmentation to prevent lateral cyber threats, particularly in connected medical devices. FortiGuard Threat Intelligence delivers AI-driven, real-time malware analysis and ransomware mitigation, ensuring compliance with stringent healthcare cybersecurity regulations.

7. Check Point: Cloud & Endpoint Security for Healthcare Data Privacy

Check Point's Infinity SOC, CloudGuard, and Harmony Endpoint solutions provide comprehensive cybersecurity for healthcare organizations. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Zero Trust Segmentation safeguard EHRs, claims data, and payment systems from phishing, insider threats, and ransomware. The Infinity Total Protection model extends real-time security for remote healthcare workers, cloud-hosted telehealth solutions, and AI-driven diagnostics.

8. McAfee (Trellix): Unified Cloud & Endpoint Protection for Healthcare Digital Transformation

McAfee (Trellix) specializes in AI-powered cloud security for healthcare, offering MVISION CASB, Secure Web Gateway, and endpoint protection solutions. The company's Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platform employs behavioral analytics for proactive threat detection, enabling healthcare SOC teams to neutralize cyberattacks before they escalate. With deep integration into EHR systems, cloud workloads, and IoT medical devices, McAfee ensures compliance, risk mitigation, and 24/7 cyber threat monitoring.

9. Trend Micro: Cloud & Endpoint Security with AI-Powered Threat Intelligence

Trend Micro's Deep Security and Cloud One platforms provide extensive protection for hospitals, payers, and telemedicine platforms. Its XDR analytics leverage machine learning to detect advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware, and insider risks across cloud, endpoint, and network environments. Trend Micro Vision One enhances proactive incident response and compliance automation for HIPAA, HITRUST, and GDPR. Additionally, its IoT Security Suite secures medical imaging devices, wearables, and smart hospital networks, reducing vulnerabilities in connected healthcare environments.

10. SentinelOne: Autonomous AI-Driven Endpoint Protection for Healthcare

SentinelOne's Singularity XDR platform offers real-time, AI-powered threat mitigation across healthcare networks, endpoints, and cloud applications. Its self-healing endpoint security protects hospitals and payers from zero-day threats, ransomware, and AI-driven malware attacks. SentinelOne's behavioral AI models automatically detect, analyze, and respond to cyber threats, significantly reducing response times and improving incident remediation.

11. CyberArk: Privileged Access Security & Identity Protection

CyberArk is a leader in securing privileged access and identity governance for hospitals, insurance payers, and clinical research institutions. Its Identity Security Platform enforces Zero Trust identity governance, reducing the risks associated with credential-based cyberattacks. CyberArk provides password vaulting, just-in-time access controls, and session monitoring, ensuring that only authorized professionals access sensitive patient data while maintaining HIPAA and HITRUST compliance.

12. FireEye (Mandiant, now Google Cloud Security): Incident Response & Threat Intelligence for Healthcare

FireEye, now part of Google Cloud Security, delivers advanced cyber threat intelligence, incident response, and forensic security tailored for healthcare environments. Mandiant Threat Intelligence provides real-time threat actor tracking, allowing healthcare security teams to anticipate and mitigate cyberattacks. The FireEye Helix SIEM platform integrates AI-driven anomaly detection, proactive threat hunting, and forensic analysis, enabling healthcare organizations to rapidly detect and respond to breaches, ransomware threats, and supply chain vulnerabilities.

About Black Book Research

Black Book is a leading healthcare IT research firm, renowned for its independent evaluations of cybersecurity solutions and vendor performance. The 2025 Black Book of Healthcare Cybersecurity, a 210-page research report, offers in-depth analysis and profiles on 430 cybersecurity vendors, available for gratis download here. Black Book's research is driven by feedback from over 3 million healthcare IT users, assessing vendor effectiveness across 18 key performance indicators. With a focus on AI-driven cybersecurity innovations, Black Book delivers transparent, data-driven insights to empower healthcare providers, payers, and industry stakeholders. Free from vendor influence, Black Book continues to be the industry's trusted source for benchmarking cybersecurity strategies, digital transformation, and IT risk management.

SOURCE: Black Book Market Research

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers is proud to announce that Miles Hickman has been named a Partner at the firm. Born and raised in Lakeland, Florida, Miles has dedicated his career to advocating for personal injury victims throughout the central Florida region.

Miles Hickman, personal injury lawyer in Clearwater, FL

Miles earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Studies from the University of Central Florida in 2014. He went on to obtain his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 2017. During law school, he clerked for a prominent insurance defense firm in St. Petersburg, where he continued to work for the first six years of his career. Early on, Miles demonstrated leadership by managing a legal team that grew to over ten employees. He has represented clients through all facets of personal injury claims, including pre-suit, litigation, and trial, serving as both first and second chair counsel during trials.

Throughout his career, Miles has placed a strong emphasis on preparing cases for trial, ensuring that each client receives diligent and thorough representation. His dedication to the legal profession is further exemplified by his memberships in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, SuperLawyers Rising Star, The Florida Bar, the St. Petersburg Bar Association, and the Clearwater Bar Association. Additionally, Miles is an Eagle Scout and actively contributes to the community through organizations such as the Backpack Lady Project, Clothes to Kids, and the Suncoast Animal League.

In his free time, Miles enjoys being out on the water, attending sporting events, and spending quality time with his wife and dogs.

Mark Roman , founding attorney of Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers, expressed his enthusiasm about Miles Hickman 's new role: "Miles has been an invaluable asset to our firm, consistently demonstrating exceptional legal acumen and a deep commitment to our clients. His promotion to partner is a testament to his hard work, dedication, and the high regard in which he is held by both clients and colleagues."

Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers is a dedicated personal injury law firm serving the Tampa Bay area and surrounding communities. With over 60 years of combined experience, the firm handles a wide range of personal injury cases, including car accidents, truck accidents, slip and falls, bicycle accidents, brain injuries, and wrongful death claims.

For more information, contact us to schedule a free consultation.

Media Contact:

Company Name: Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers

Address: 2360 Congress Ave

City: Clearwater

State: Florida

Zip: 33763

Country: United States

Phone: (727) 787-2500

Website: https://romanaustin.com/

SOURCE: Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
The following closed-end funds reported sources of distribution for January and this fiscal year to date.

Distribution Period: January 2025

Ticker Tax-Exempt Funds Distribution Amount Per Share MAV Pioneer Municipal High Income Advantage Fund, Inc. $0.0325 MHI Pioneer Municipal High Income Fund, Inc. $0.0350 MIO Pioneer Municipal High Income Opportunities Fund, Inc. $0.0500

The following tables set forth estimates of the character of the current distribution and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: Net Investment Income; Net Realized Short-Term Capital Gains; Net Realized Long-Term Capital Gains or Return of Capital. All amounts are expressed per common share.

Pioneer Municipal High Income Advantage Fund, Inc. (NYSE: MAV) Percentage Total Percentage Make up Make up of Cumulative of Total Cumulative Current Current Distributions Distributions Distribution Distribution Fiscal Year to Date Fiscal Year to Date Net Investment Income $0.0300 92.3% $0.2787 85.8% Net Realized Short-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Net Realized Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Return of Capital $0.0025 7.7% $0.0463 14.2% Total per Common Share $0.0325 100.0% $0.3250 100.0%

Pioneer Municipal High Income Fund, Inc. (NYSE: MHI) Percentage Total Percentage Make up Make up of Cumulative of Total Cumulative Current Current Distributions Distributions Distribution Distribution Fiscal Year to Date Fiscal Year to Date Net Investment Income $0.0346 98.9% $0.2822 89.6% Net Realized Short-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Net Realized Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Return of Capital $0.0004 1.1% $0.0328 10.4% Total per Common Share $0.0350 100.0% $0.3150 100.0% Pioneer Municipal High Income Opportunities Fund, Inc. (NYSE: MIO) Percentage Total Percentage Make up Make up of Cumulative of Total Cumulative Current Current Distributions Distributions Distribution Distribution Fiscal Year to Date Fiscal Year to Date Net Investment Income $0.0443 88.6% $0.3751 83.4% Net Realized Short-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Net Realized Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 0.0% $0.0000 0.0% Return of Capital $0.0057 11.4% $0.0749 16.6% Total per Common Share $0.0500 100.0% $0.4500 100.0%

Notes:

Investors should not necessarily draw any conclusions about the funds' investment performance from the amount of these distributions.

Each fund estimates that a portion of its distribution does not represent income or realized capital gains. Therefore, such portion of its distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur when some or all of the money invested in the fund is returned to the investor. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the fund's investment performance and should not be considered "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported under the notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources for tax reporting purposes will depend upon each fund's investment experience during the remainder of its respective fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. Each fund will provide investors with a Form(s) 1099 for the calendar year that explains how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The funds are closed-end investment companies. The funds trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the following symbols: MAV, MHI and MIO.

Keep in mind, distribution rates are not guaranteed. A fund's distribution rate may be affected by numerous factors, including changes in actual or projected investment income, the level of undistributed net investment income, if any, and other factors. Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, are not continuously offered. Once issued, common shares of closed-end funds are bought and sold in the open market through a stock exchange and frequently trade at prices lower than their net asset value. Net Asset Value (NAV) is total assets less total liabilities divided by the number of common shares outstanding. For performance data on Amundi US's closed-end funds, please call 800-225-6292 or visit our closed-end pricing page.

About Amundi US

Amundi US is the US business of Amundi, Europe's largest asset manager by assets under management and ranked among the ten largest globally1. Boston is one of Amundi's six main global investment hubs2 and offers a broad range of fixed-income, equity, and multi-asset investment solutions in close partnership with wealth management firms, distribution platforms, and institutional investors across the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

With our financial and extra-financial research capabilities and long-standing commitment to responsible investment, Amundi is a key player in the asset management landscape. Amundi clients benefit from the expertise and advice of 5,5003 team members and market professionals in 35 countries3. A subsidiary of the Credit Agricole group and listed on the Paris stock exchange, Amundi currently manages approximately $2.445 trillion of assets3

Amundi, a Trusted Partner, working every day in the interest of our clients and society.

www.amundi.com/us

Follow us on linkedin.com/company/amundi-us/ and twitter.com/amundi_us.

1 Source: IPE "Top 500 Asset Managers" published in June 2024, based on assets under management as of December 31, 2023.

2 Boston, Dublin, London, Milan, Paris, and Tokyo

3 Amundi data as of 9/30/2024

Amundi Distributor US, Inc., Member SIPC

60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109

2025 Amundi Asset Management US, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250131468885/en/

Contacts:

Shareholder Inquiries: Please contact your financial advisor or visit www.amundi.com/us.



Broker/Advisor Inquiries Please Contact: 800-622-9876

Media Inquiries Please Contact: Geoff Smith, 617-504-8520
BOSTON and PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Thought Industries, the leading platform for external training, and OpenSesame, the global marketplace for on-demand training courses, today announced their strategic partnership. As businesses continue to face an ever-evolving landscape, the demand for high-impact learning has never been greater. By leveraging Thought Industries alongside OpenSesame's course content, organizations can build an impactful learning ecosystem that spans the unique training needs of multiple audiences.

External Training: Thought Industries enables organizations to deliver engaging learning experiences that can help customers, partners, and members improve their skills, understand products, and drive brand loyalty. With OpenSesame's library of 40,000+ courses, organizations can integrate high-quality training content to enhance their external training.

Internal Training: This partnership provides organizations with a powerful way to upskill employees, streamline onboarding, and foster continuous learning. Ultimately, it improving workforce productivity, engagement, and retention.

"Our partnership with OpenSesame is a game-changer for organizations looking to streamline both customer and employee learning on one platform," said Robin Wadsworth, CEO of Thought Industries. "With the foundation of our platform and OpenSesame's top-notch content, we're equipping businesses to drive growth, boost retention, and fuel success."

Rebeca Mesa, OpenSesame's VP of Partnerships, added, "The synergy between OpenSesame's diverse library of courses and Thought Industries' sophisticated platform gives organizations the ability to address all their learning needs-externally and internally-with one cohesive solution. Our partnership will help businesses create more dynamic, impactful learning experiences that will ultimately drive customer retention, business performance and growth."

About Thought Industries

Thought Industries delivers learning solutions to drive customer lifetime value and revenue growth. Its platform empowers businesses to help their customers, partners, members, and employees realize their potential. Thought Industries serves a wide range of industries, including technology, healthcare, financial services, and more.

About OpenSesame

OpenSesame is the ultimate choice for L&D learning initiatives fueled by innovation, agility, and care. With 40,000+ courses across formats and languages, the OpenSesame marketplace provides the most comprehensive catalog for business training, covering compliance, leadership, DEI, and more. More than a content provider, OpenSesame's suite of solutions and partnerships help you run your program more effectively.

For more information, visit Thought Industries and OpenSesame .

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/thought-industries-and-opensesame-partner-to-improve-external--internal-training-302364956.html
Spice up your February plans at Palate Las Vegas - Indulge in a charming Valentine's Day dinner, Date Night Thursdays, themed brunches and more.

Palate Las Vegas is turning up the heat this February with a month full of exceptional dining experiences, themed events, and exclusive promotions. From celebrating love on Valentine's Day to cheering on your favorite team for the Big Game, Palate has something special for everyone this month. See more information below:

Valentine's Day

Grab your significant other for a memorable Valentine's Day dinner. Offered only on Valentine's Day (Friday, February 14th), priced at $79 per person, Executive Chef Sterling Buckley has whipped up a romantic "It Takes Two" three course dinner menu to enjoy with your partner. Included in the prix fixe menu contains:

First Course:

"What a Pear": Pickled Bartlet and Smoked D'anjou with Cracklins', Orange Ricotta, Watercress, Pumpkin Seed Streusel, and Cherry Vinaigrette

Second Course (Choice of):

"Shell & Fin": Prawn and Salmon with Saffron Risotto, Asparagus Barigoule and Chorizo Mojo

"Braised & Grilled": Brisket and NY Strip with Miso Apple Puree, Roasted Root Vegetables, Smoked Soubise and Chino Gremolata

Third Course:

"Good vs Evil": Vanilla Tres Leches and Chocolate Pound Cake with Strawberry Gelee, Orange Compote and Hazelunut Crunch.

Pair these courses with Palate's signature "The Rose" cocktail made with Glaciers 45 Huckleberry Vodka, Elderflower Liqueur, Hibiscus Syrup, Lime, Lemonade and a beautiful rose for guests to take home. Book your Valentine's Day dinner at this link .

Date Night Thursdays

Don't wait for the busy weekend to treat yourself and your partner to a much needed date night. Launching on Thursday, February 6th, Palate will be offering Date Night Thursdays in which Executive Chef Sterling Buckley will be introducing a weekly, rotating prix fixe menu, $75 per couple. Guests will have the opportunity to choose from different dishes to enjoy during their three courses. On Thursday, February 6th, Chef Sterling will be offering:

First Course (Choice of 1):

Crown Kale made with Heirloom Tomato, Pecan Granola, Candied Persimmon and Pickled Lemon Dressing

Miso Bronzed Pork Belly made with Cripsy Maitake, Smoked Pearl Onion, Pickled Cucumber, Watermelon Radish and Grilled Pineapple

Scallops "Tiger Style" made with Coconut Letche de Tigre, Alliums, Candied Kumquat, Cucumber, Smoked Trout Roe and Cilantro

Second Course (Choice of 2):

Scallops and Grits made with Black Garlic Grits, Roasted Bok Choy and Miso Truffle Sauce

Flank made with Mojo Verde, Roasted Vegetables and Herb Butter

Grilled Eggplant made with Citrus Salad and Truffle Gremolata

Third Course (Choice of 1):

The Hummingbird made with a Pina Sugar Nest, Banana Bread, Candied Pecans, Cinnamon Ice Cream, Cream Cheese Frosting, and Pineapple Flowers

Citrus Rice Pudding made with Toasted Marshmallow and Chocolate Shavings

NEW Saturday Brunch

Enjoy Palate's iconic brunch menu twice a week, starting in February. In addition to Sunday brunch, Palate will be open from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. for brunch services on Saturdays, launching February 6th. Guests can enjoy a variety of libations and bottomless mimosa or rose, live music from 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and indulge in Chef Sterling's creative dishes such as the Pork Belly Breakfast or Rosewood Ranch Flank and Eggs.

Additionally, enjoy themed brunches every first and third Sunday of the month. Palate will be channeling their inner cowboy with a Cowboy Brunch every first Sunday and kicking it up a notch with a Party Brunch every third Sunday, with a live DJ and drink specials.

The Big Game

Pregame before the Big Game at Palate Las Vegas with Sunday Brunch. From 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., indulge in delicious brunch dishes and take advantage of Palate's Gameboard from their famous Pork Bao Buns to Longganisa Sliders. Accompanied with live music from 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., get the vibes rolling before watching the Big Game.

?Make February unforgettable at Palate Las Vegas, where every visit is an experience to savor. Reservations are recommended for Valentine's Weekend and other special events. Stay tuned for more information and announcements from Palate including Industry Night, Open Mic Night, Paint and Sip and more exciting events to come.

For more information about Palate Las Vegas, visit their website at www.palatelv.com.

ABOUT PALATE

Palate, the newest venture from Bar-Kada Hospitality with Executive Chef Sterling Buckley, is set to redefine Modern Americana cuisine with cultural influences in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts District. Palate invites guests to experience culinary artistry with a menu featuring signature dishes such as the Duck Dynasty charcuterie board and American Wagyu Flank Steak as well as Chef Sterling's homemade biscuits. Underlining its commitment to community and creativity, Palate offers live music from Friday to Sunday by local artists and displaying artwork throughout the restaurant's walls (some available for sale). With a tagline, "The food is art, the cocktails are art, and we feature local artists," Palate promises an unforgettable dining experience where community meets artistic innovation.

Located at 1301 S. Main St., Suite 110, inside the Colorado, Palate welcomes guests from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays; 3 p.m. - 12 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. for Brunch on Sundays; Happy Hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m from Wednesday through Saturday; and Puppy Hour from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. from Wednesday through Saturday.

For more information, visit palatelv.com or follow Palate on social media.

Contact Information:

Katherine Mendoza

Marketing Relations Coordinator

pr@avaroseagency.com

(702) 556-6591

SOURCE: Palate Las Vegas

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Phenom Resources Corp. (TSXV: PHNM) (OTCQX: PHNMF) (FSE: 1PY0) ("Phenom" or the "Company") announces that it proposes to undertake a non-brokered private placement of up to 5,400,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.25/Unit to raise total gross proceeds of up to $1,350,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will be comprised of one common share and one warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one common share for a period of 3 years at a price of $0.35. The Company also retains an approximately 11% over-allotment option which will permit it to issue up to an additional 600,000 Units for up to an additional $150,000 if circumstances warrant at the time of closing.

The gross proceeds received from the sale of the Units will be used for work programs on the Company's exploration properties and for general working capital.

The Units will be offered to qualified purchasers in reliance upon exemptions from prospectus and registration requirements of applicable securities legislation. A finder's fee may be paid to eligible finders in relation to this financing, subject to compliance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

All securities issued and sold under the Offering will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from their date of issuance. Completion of the Offering remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Certain directors and officers of the Company (the "Insiders") are expected to participate in the Offering. Participation by Insiders in the private placement is considered a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company expects that it will be exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation and minority shareholder approval in connection with the Insiders' participation in the private placement in reliance of sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, on the basis that participation in the Offering by the Insiders will not exceed 25% of the fair market value of the Company's market capitalization.

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 of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Phenom Resources Corp.

Phenom has 100% interest in the Carlin Gold-Vanadium Project, located six miles south from the town of Carlin, Nevada, and Highway I-80 in Elko County, which hosts the Carlin Vanadium deposit, North America's largest highest grade primary vanadium resource. The Company has options on three gold projects in Nevada - the Dobbin and King Solomon Properties, which are Carlin Gold-type targets, and the Crescent Valley Property, a Bonanza high grade gold vein-type target.

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.

Forward-Looking information

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance and include the Company's ability complete the proposed non-brokered private placement financing on the terms as described above. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and 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 under applicable securities regulations.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.



To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239103

SOURCE: Phenom Resources Corp.
In this special bonus episode of ESG Talk recorded live at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mandi McReynolds sits down with Jill Klindt, CFO of Workiva, to discuss the interplay between sustainability and financial performance. They explore how emerging tech like generative AI is revolutionizing regulatory compliance and business processes, the evolving roles of chief sustainability officers, and the importance of integrating non-financial data in achieving company goals. Tune in for insights on sustainable innovation, growth strategies, and the future of ESG reporting.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - The Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme of St. Kitts and Nevis has achieved remarkable growth under its new statutory corporate structure and leadership. Since transitioning from a government entity in late 2024, the Programme has recorded an unprecedented 169% increase in applications during the final quarter of the year (October-December) compared to the preceding nine months. The substantial surge reflects renewed investor confidence in the Programme's efficiency, transparency, and global appeal.

Restructuring for Success

Under the leadership of Executive Chairman Calvin St. Juste, a former Senior Executive at Morgan Stanley, the CBI Unit underwent a comprehensive transformation. This included reviewing over 1,000 new applications and successfully transitioning the Programme from a 40-year-old government-run entity to a globally competitive, corporate-led model.

Driven by his experience on Wall Street, St. Juste implemented six core business principles that guides the Programme's management, further streamlines the operations and cements the Programme as the leader in the global investment migration industry.

A Strong Foundation for the Future

Prime Minister Drew's foresight to transition the CBI Unit to a statutory body has strengthened the Programme, continuing to attract ultra-high-net-worth individuals seeking a secure and reputable second citizenship. This resurgence underscores the Programme's reputation for providing attractive benefits, including its stability, reliability, and role in advancing the nation's development goals.

The Prime Minister stated that, "The Citizenship by Investment Programme of St. Kitts and Nevis stands as a benchmark for excellence, integrity in the investment migration industry. The CIU's transition to a statutory body was a bold step, rooted in our commitment to upholding the highest industry standards and setting a mark for others to follow. This remarkable growth reflects the transformative changes we've implemented to ensure transparency and efficiency. We remain steadfast in the vision to revolutionise the CBI industry while driving sustainable development and economic prosperity for our nation. Our commitment to global security remains integral to maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness of our Citizenship by Investment Programme".

Global Engagement and Leadership

To bolster the Programme's reputation, Executive Chairman St. Juste embarked on a global tour to engage stakeholders to rebuild trust with local service providers and actively promote the Programme. His emphasis on transparency and efficiency has been instrumental in positioning the programme as the "first and finest" in the industry.

"We are incredibly proud of the progress we've made in a short period, but there's still more work to do. This success is a testament to the dedication of our team and the trust placed in us by our stakeholders. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and efficiency while ensuring that the CBI Programme continues to contribute significantly to the economic development of St. Kitts and Nevis," - Executive Chairman His Excellency Calvin St. Juste.

CIU Board of Governors commented:

"We extend our sincere gratitude to each and every member of the CIU for their contributions. A special recognition must go to the "Taskforce" team, whose unwavering and relentless efforts were pivotal in navigating the challenges of the transition and in achieving this immediate success. Their dedication has been key in restoring stakeholder confidence and solidifying the SKN CBI Programme's position as a leading offering in the industry."

Driving Economic Development

With a strong foundation in place and a renewed focus on excellence, the St. Kitts and Nevis CBI Programme is set to achieve even greater success in 2025 and beyond. Its continued growth will support the nation's vision of becoming a sustainable island state, enhancing its global standing while contributing significantly to local economic and social development.

Notably, this impressive growth underscores the success of the Programme's transition to a statutory body and its renewed appeal to investors. The surge in applications is a clear indication that the Programme is once again attracting high-net-worth individuals seeking a secure and reputable alternative citizenship.

The renewed interest is not only a vote of confidence in the Programme's leadership but also a recognition of the attractive benefits offered by St. Kitts and Nevis for wealth migration, favourable tax environment, business opportunities and a high quality of life.

About the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit:

The St. Kitts and Nevis CIU is internationally renowned for its high-performance culture, professionalism, and commitment to excellence. By launching the Office of the Chairman, the CIU reaffirms its dedication to innovation, good governance, and delivering unparalleled value to investors and citizens alike.





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Contact Data

St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit

(1-869) 467-1474

info@sknciu.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239121

SOURCE: St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit
ITAB Shop Concept AB (publ) ("ITAB") has today completed the previously announced acquisition of Financiere HMY ("HMY") for a cash consideration of EUR 320 million (approximately SEK 3,613 million) on a cash and debt free basis.

With the aim of strengthening ITAB's position and customer base, accelerating the expansion into the retail markets in Western and Southern Europe, and complementing its offering, ITAB agreed to acquire HMY for a cash consideration of EUR 320 million (approximately SEK 3,613 million) at the end of September 2024. HMY is a leading European supplier of shop fittings, checkouts and store design to the retail industry and had sales of just over EUR 541 million in 2023. With the extended reach and scale, the combined Group will continue to invest in new capabilities that will further improve sales of Retail Technology and services through solutions developed together with the customers. The broader and complementing combined product offering and geographic reach is expected to create significant cross-selling opportunities to the combined customer base.

On 5 December 2024, ITAB announced that it had entered into a final and definitive share purchase agreement for the acquisition of HMY. All conditions for the transaction and closing have now been fulfilled, and the acquisition was completed today on 31 January 2025. The purchase price was paid in connection with the closing of the transaction. HMY will be consolidated in the ITAB Group as of 1 February 2025.

"We are thrilled that our two companies now join forces to the benefit of all our customers and employees. We see this as a strategic and cultural fit with clear synergies and value creation over the coming years. We are now the leading solution provider for the retail market, which has been our strategic ambition. I am happy to welcome all HMY teams as new colleagues and I am convinced we will be Better Together", says Andreas Elgaard, President & CEO of ITAB Group.

Jonkoping, 31 January 2025

ITAB Shop Concept AB (publ)

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, at 3:15 p.m. CET on 31 January 2025.

For further information, please contact:

Andreas Elgaard, President & CEO, ITAB Group

Telephone: +46-73 232 16 35

Ulrika Bergmo Skold, CFO, ITAB Group

Telephone: +46-73 230 05 98

ITAB Shop Concept AB (publ), Box 9054, SE-550 09 Jonkoping, Sweden

itab.com, itabgroup.com



AT ITAB we help customers turn consumer brand experience into physical reality with our know-how, solutions, and ecosystem of partners. We co-create with our customers, efficient retail solutions that deliver convenient and inspiring consumer experiences. The offer includes consultative design services, custom-made interiors, checkout systems, consumer guidance solutions, professional lighting systems and interactive digital solutions for the physical store. ITAB has annual sales of approximately SEK 6.4 billion and approximately 2,500 employees. ITAB's share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Leadership appointments advance Cascale's focus on more tailored, equitable member engagement and industry-wide collaboration

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND; HONG KONG; AND OAKLAND, CA / ACCESS Newswire / January 31, 2025 / As part of the ongoing evolution of its member engagement and governance model, Cascale has expanded its membership engagement team to include Alexandra Rieger, senior director, manufacturer membership, and Joleen Ong, senior director, brand & retailer membership. This new structure reflects Cascale's commitment to enhancing member engagement through a more tailored and equitable approach to serving the needs of its diverse membership. Alexandra Rieger and Joleen Ong bring extensive expertise in sustainability, supply chain dynamics, and human rights, and their appointments strengthen Cascale's capacity to deliver meaningful support to members and drive impactful outcomes across the value chain.

The shift demonstrates Cascale's ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and inclusive decision-making for all members, further elevating supplier and manufacturer voices while maintaining robust support for brand and retailer, and affiliate members. By fostering equitable partnerships and balancing the diverse needs of all stakeholders, Cascale is better positioned than ever to lead the consumer goods industry toward collaboration, regulatory alignment, and sustainability goals.

Andrew Martin, executive vice president at Cascale, commented, "We're so excited to welcome Alexandra and Joleen to the Cascale team as we strengthen our commitment to more tailored and equitable member engagement. Their leadership will bring fresh perspectives, deepen our collaboration with members, and help us address the complex challenges facing the industry. With their vast experience and depth of expertise, Cascale is better positioned to empower members and advance meaningful progress across sustainability, innovation, and equitable partnership."

Alexandra Rieger will oversee all aspects of manufacturer member engagement and impact, ensuring manufacturers are empowered with tools, resources, and support to drive industry transformation. She has cultivated over 20 years in global sourcing and supply chain leadership roles across the industry, leading manufacturers and brands like Brandix, MAS, Triumph, Gildan, and Levi Strauss.

"Joining Cascale represents an incredible opportunity to work alongside a vast membership base to advance sustainability and innovation across the value chain," said Alexandra Rieger, senior director, manufacturer membership at Cascale. "Each supply chain has the potential to create value and an urgent responsibility to address the challenges facing the planet and its people. I'm excited to engage with manufacturers to amplify their voices, empower their contributions, and collectively drive meaningful change-particularly in areas like decarbonization and responsible sourcing. Together, we can orchestrate solutions that balance complexity, innovation, and impact."

Joleen Ong will lead all aspects of brand & retailer member engagement, helping members drive sustainability impact through the use of Cascale's Higg Index tools and programs. She brings over 15 years of experience in sustainability and human rights within the apparel and footwear industries and has extensive expertise in operationalizing the Higg Index tools across brands. She previously served as the sustainability director at Fanatics, where she led the integration of sustainability practices and responsible purchasing initiatives across the enterprise, and led the sustainable manufacturing and licensing programs at Columbia Sportswear Company.

Joleen Ong, senior director, brand & retailer membership at Cascale shared, "I'm honored to join Cascale and work alongside such a dedicated team committed to driving collective action across the apparel and consumer goods industry. By equipping brands and retailers with the tools and resources needed to combat climate change and support decent work for all, we have an incredible opportunity to create meaningful change at scale. I'm eager to leverage my experience at two Cascale member brands to build robust, inclusive listening channels and partner effectively with our members on this crucial journey toward a more sustainable future."

ABOUT CASCALE

Cascale is the global nonprofit alliance empowering collaboration to drive equitable and restorative business practices in the consumer goods industry. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale owns and develops the Higg Index, which is exclusively available on Worldly, the most comprehensive sustainability data and insights platform. Cascale unites over 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, and NGO/nonprofit affiliates around the globe through one singular vision: To catalyze impact at scale and give back more than we take to the planet and its people.

LinkedIn | X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cascale on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Cascale

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cascale

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Cascale

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Dr. Sudipta Mohanty, on behalf of the Dr. Sudipta Mohanty Grant organization, proudly introduces the Dr. Sudipta Mohanty Grant for Healthcare Students, a unique opportunity designed to inspire and assist undergraduate students pursuing careers in healthcare. This prestigious grant underscores Dr. Mohanty's dedication to fostering innovation and excellence within the medical field by empowering students to address pressing challenges in healthcare.

Dr. Sudipta Mohanty

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The grant, valued at $1,000, is open to undergraduate students currently enrolled in accredited colleges or universities across the United States. Applicants must demonstrate strong academic standing and a commitment to a career in healthcare, with fields of study including pre-med, nursing, public health, biomedical engineering, or related disciplines.

Dr. Sudipta Mohanty, an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an active staff member at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, established this grant to encourage and support the next generation of healthcare professionals. Having dedicated his career to advancing patient care, medical education, and clinical research, Dr. Mohanty is committed to providing students with the resources and guidance needed to lead transformative changes in the healthcare industry.

Application Requirements

To apply for the Dr. Sudipta Mohanty Grant for Healthcare Students, eligible candidates must submit a 500-750 word essay addressing the following prompt:

"What is one significant change you would like to see in the healthcare industry within the next 10 years, and how do you envision contributing to this change?"

Applications, including the essay, must be submitted via email to apply@drsudiptamohantygrant.com no later than September 15, 2025. Essays will be evaluated on originality, clarity of thought, and their relevance to the prompt and healthcare field. The winner of the grant will be announced on October 15, 2025.

Dr. Sudipta Mohanty's passion for advancing healthcare extends beyond his work as a clinician and educator. With a Bachelor's degree in Biology from California State University Los Angeles and an MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Mohanty completed his residency and served as Chief Resident at the University of California Riverside. His contributions to internal medicine, mentorship, and education have earned him widespread recognition.

The grant reflects Dr. Mohanty's commitment to nurturing the aspirations of healthcare students who exhibit a genuine drive to improve the field. By encouraging students to articulate and develop their vision for the future of healthcare, Dr. Sudipta Mohanty hopes to spark innovative ideas that address critical challenges in medicine.

Key Dates

Grant Amount : $1,000

Application Deadline : September 15, 2025

Winner Announcement: October 15, 2025

Dr. Sudipta Mohanty believes that the future of healthcare lies in the hands of students who possess both the intellect and the determination to address the evolving needs of society. His vision for the grant is to provide a platform for aspiring healthcare leaders to share their insights and take their first steps toward impactful careers.

For more information about the grant and the application process, please visit https://drsudiptamohantygrant.com/.

This grant initiative, open to students across the United States, serves as a testament to Dr. Sudipta Mohanty's dedication to fostering a brighter future for healthcare. Through this effort, Dr. Mohanty aims to leave a lasting impact on the field by supporting students who will become tomorrow's innovators and leaders.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239105

SOURCE: GYT
Verified Market Research a leading provider of business intelligence and market analysis is thrilled to announce the release of its comprehensive and authoritative report on the, "Cultured Meat Market Size and Forecast," This report provides a deep dive into the rapidly evolving landscape of cultured meat, covering critical aspects of market growth, trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by key players in the industry.

LEWES, Del., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Cultured Meat Market Size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.15 % from 2024 to 2031, according to a new report published by Verified Market Research. The report reveals that the market was valued at USD 169.48 Million in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 538.48 Million by the end of the forecast period.

The cultured meat market is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by a combination of increasing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical food options, advances in biotechnological innovations, and regulatory developments. As more governments and organizations focus on reducing the environmental impact of traditional meat production, cultured meat presents a viable and sustainable solution to meet global food demands.

Key Highlights of the Report:

Market Overview : A thorough analysis of the market landscape, including key trends, growth drivers, and constraints impacting the cultured meat industry.

: A thorough analysis of the market landscape, including key trends, growth drivers, and constraints impacting the cultured meat industry. Technological Advancements : Insights into the latest innovations in bioreactors, cellular agriculture, and production techniques that are shaping the future of cultured meat.

: Insights into the latest innovations in bioreactors, cellular agriculture, and production techniques that are shaping the future of cultured meat. Market Segmentation : Detailed analysis across product types, applications, and geographical regions, highlighting emerging trends and market potential.

: Detailed analysis across product types, applications, and geographical regions, highlighting emerging trends and market potential. Competitive Landscape : Profiles of the leading players, including startups and established food corporations, with a focus on their strategies to capture market share and drive industry growth.

: Profiles of the leading players, including startups and established food corporations, with a focus on their strategies to capture market share and drive industry growth. Opportunities & Challenges: A clear understanding of the strategic opportunities available to companies and the barriers they must overcome to succeed in this competitive market.

Why This Report Matters: As cultured meat emerges as a key player in the global food industry, this report provides decision-makers with actionable insights to capitalize on growth opportunities, optimize investments, and stay ahead of industry trends. Whether you are a food manufacturer, investor, or tech developer, this report is a must-have tool for navigating the complex and dynamic landscape of the cultured meat market.

Stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving Cultured Meat Market. For more information or to request a sample copy of the report, please visit: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample?rid=9890

Browse in-depth TOC on "Global Cultured Meat Market Size"

202 - Pages

126 - Tables

37 - Figures

Report Scope

REPORT ATTRIBUTES DETAILS STUDY PERIOD 2020-2031 BASE YEAR 2023 FORECAST PERIOD 2024-2031 HISTORICAL PERIOD 2020-2022 UNIT Value (USD Million) KEY COMPANIES PROFILED Eat Just, Inc., Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats), Meatable, Balletic Foods, Believer Foods, Bluenalu, Finless Foods, and Future Meat Technologies Ltd. SEGMENTS COVERED By Source

By Product Type

By Geography CUSTOMIZATION SCOPE Free report customization (equivalent to up to 4 analyst's working days) with purchase. Addition or alteration to country, regional & segment scope.

Global Cultured Meat Market Overview

Market Driver

Rising Consumer Demand for Sustainable Solutions: As global awareness of environmental issues grows, there is increasing demand for sustainable food sources. The Cultured Meat Market is poised to benefit from this shift, as cultured meat offers a solution to traditional meat production's significant carbon footprint and resource consumption. Businesses aligning with sustainability goals are tapping into this growing consumer preference, positioning themselves for long-term growth and a competitive advantage.

Technological Advancements in Biotech and Manufacturing: Advances in cellular agriculture and biotechnological innovations are transforming the Cultured Meat Market. Improvements in bioreactor designs, cell culture media, and production efficiency are reducing costs and accelerating production timelines. As production methods become more scalable and cost-effective, companies are poised to meet the growing demand for cultured meat, driving rapid market expansion and positioning the sector for significant revenue growth in the coming years.

Supportive Regulatory Developments and Investments: Government support and regulatory approvals are crucial for the Cultured Meat Market. Many countries are now embracing the potential of lab-grown meat, providing funding, favorable policies, and facilitating quicker market entry. This backing is driving investor confidence, attracting substantial funding and ensuring the industry's growth. With global regulatory frameworks evolving, the industry is gaining momentum, opening the door for new entrants and long-term scalability.

To Purchase a Comprehensive Report Analysis: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/select-licence?rid=9890

Market Restraint

High Production Costs and Scalability Challenges: Despite advancements, high production costs remain a significant challenge in the Cultured Meat Market. The need for specialized equipment, cell culture media, and bioreactors still limits the scalability of cultured meat production. This results in a price point higher than traditional meat, hindering market penetration. Until these costs are lowered through innovation, the market's growth may be constrained, limiting its ability to reach mass adoption in the food industry.

Consumer Perception and Acceptance Issues: The acceptance of cultured meat by consumers is still in its nascent stages. While there is growing interest, some customers remain skeptical about lab-grown meat's taste, safety, and environmental impact. Negative perceptions or a lack of understanding can slow down adoption rates. Businesses must prioritize education and transparency to overcome these barriers, as consumer trust and widespread market acceptance will be crucial to unlocking the full potential of the Cultured Meat Market.

Regulatory Hurdles and Uncertainties: While regulatory support is a driver, inconsistent or unclear regulations can present a significant barrier in the Cultured Meat Market. Countries have differing regulations regarding the approval, labeling, and distribution of cultured meat, creating uncertainty for manufacturers. The absence of a unified global framework complicates market entry for new players, delaying time-to-market and increasing operational costs. Standardizing regulations will be key to streamlining industry growth and unlocking global expansion.

Geographical Dominance

The Cultured Meat Market is experiencing geographical dominance, particularly in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. North America, led by the U.S., is a key player due to significant investments in biotech innovations and supportive regulatory environments. Europe follows closely with strong sustainability goals. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific, driven by population growth and increasing food security concerns, presents immense growth opportunities. Regional leadership in innovation and policy will dictate global market expansion.

Key Players

The "Global Cultured Meat Market" study report will provide a valuable insight with an emphasis on the global market. The major players in the market are Eat Just, Inc., Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats), Meatable, Balletic Foods, Believer Foods, Bluenalu, Finless Foods, and Future Meat Technologies Ltd.

Cultured Meat Market Segment Analysis

Based on the research, Verified Market Research has segmented the global Cultured Meat Market into Source, Product Type and Geography.

Cultured Meat Market, by Product Type Beef Chicken Pork Fish and Seafood Others (Duck, Turkey, etc.)

Cultured Meat Market, by Source Bovine Poultry Porcine Aquatic Others

Cultured Meat Market, by Geography North America U.S Canada Mexico Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific ROW Middle East & Africa Latin America



Browse Related Reports:

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Top 7 Plant-Based Meat Companies leading future of food

Visualize Cultured Meat Market using Verified Market Intelligence -:

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cultured-meat-market-is-expected-to-generate-a-revenue-of-usd-538-48-million-by-2031--globally-at-17-15-cagr-verified-market-research-302365210.html
Trelleborg Group, through its Trelleborg Sealing Solutions business area, has signed an agreement to acquire the US company Aero-Plastics Inc. The company specializes in attractive, high-performance plastics and interior segments for the aerospace industry.

Aero-Plastics was founded 80 years ago and is based in Renton, Washington, USA. The company offers expertise in precision injection molding, thermoforming, and machining of high-performance polymer materials. The company delivers complete solutions that simplify customer supply chains through value-added services such as assembly, engraving, and specialized painted coatings. Sales in 2024 amounted to approximately SEK 150 million.

"Through acquiring Aero-Plastics, we are further expanding our total offering and product portfolio for the aerospace industry. At the same time, we are strengthening our position in thermoplastics and the interiors segment, which is expected to generate favorable sales synergies. We also add more capacity, knowledge, and a business built on strong, long-term customer relationships", says Jurgen Bosch, President of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.

The global aerospace industry is in a growth phase that is expected to continue for many years. In addition to investments in Trelleborg's operations, the acquisition of Magee Plastics, a company focused on thermoplastic solutions for the aerospace industry, was finalized in December 2024. A new state-of-the-art facility in Morocco dedicated to producing sealing solutions for the aerospace industry will also be inaugurated at the end of 2025.

The transaction is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2025.

Contacts

Media: Vice President Communications Tobias Rydergren, +46 (0)410 67015, +46 (0)733 747015, tobias.rydergren@trelleborg.com

Investors/analysts: Vice President IR Christofer Sjogren, +46 (0)410 67068, +46 (0)708 665140, christofer.sjogren@trelleborg.com

About Us

Trelleborg is a world leader in engineered polymer solutions that protect critical applications in demanding environments. Its innovative solutions accelerate performance for customers in a sustainable way. In 2024, The Trelleborg Group had annual sales of approximately SEK 34 billion in around 40 countries. The Group comprises three business areas: Trelleborg Industrial Solutions, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions and Trelleborg Medical Solutions. The Trelleborg share has been listed on the Stock Exchange since 1964 and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Large Cap. www.trelleborg.com
Join Us for the Grand Opening of the Lila Model at The Reserve at Victoria

Kolter Homes, a premier home builder in Florida, is pleased to announce the grand opening of the Lila model at The Reserve at Victoria, a new home community in charming DeLand, Florida. The Lila floorplan is now available for construction. It offers a versatile and spacious design that includes 3 to 5 bedrooms, a flex space, 3 baths, a great room, and a 2-car garage, with an option to upgrade to a 3-car garage. A designer-decorated model is available for prospective homeowners to tour.

Kolter Homes Lila Model at The Reserve at Victoria

Exterior of Lila Model

The Reserve at Victoria celebrated this milestone with a grand opening event to reveal the Lila model. The grand opening event allowed prospective homeowners to explore the exceptional features and craftsmanship of the Lila model. Attendees had the chance to tour the model home, speak with Kolter Homes representatives, and learn more about the unique offerings of The Reserve at Victoria. Emily Vaughn, Kolter Homes Community Director at The Reserve at Victoria, reflects on the past year and the significance of this grand opening: "The past year has been an incredible journey for the community. We are excited to introduce the Lila model, which embodies the perfect blend of style, functionality, and comfort. This grand opening is a testament to our commitment to providing exceptional homes for our residents."

Personalization is a hallmark of The Reserve at Victoria, where new homes are "Built Around You." Each floorplan offers an average of 29 structural options and a wide range of finish choices, allowing homeowners to create a space that truly reflects their individual tastes and needs. The Reserve at Victoria also offers a selection of move-in ready homes, perfect for those looking to settle in quickly and enjoy the community's amenities. The Reserve at Victoria is more than just a collection of homes; it is a vibrant community that offers a variety of amenities for residents to enjoy. The Resident-only Clubhouse features a fitness center, a resort-style pool, and pickleball courts, providing ample opportunities for recreation and relaxation.

Kolter Homes is dedicated to creating communities that enhance the quality of life for their residents. The Reserve at Victoria is a prime example of this commitment, offering thoughtfully designed homes in a community that offers a range of amenities that cater to the needs and desires of modern homeowners.

As the community continues to grow, Kolter Homes remains focused on delivering high-quality homes and exceptional customer service. The introduction of the Lila model is a significant milestone in this journey, and Kolter Homes looks forward to welcoming new residents to The Reserve at Victoria.

For those interested in learning more about Kolter Homes' communities in central Florida, click here.

The Kolter Group LLC is a private investment firm focused on real estate development and investment based in Delray Beach, Florida. Led by CEO Robert "Bobby" Julien, the Kolter Group LLC (together with its affiliates, "Kolter") includes four residential development business units. Kolter has sponsored over $26 billion of realized and in-process real estate projects throughout the southeastern United States (including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee).

Kolter has completed 84 residential projects, delivering over 23,000 units.

Kolter has current investment in 80 residential projects expected to deliver a total of over 56,000 units.

Kolter Homes LLC, together with its affiliates (together with its affiliates, "Kolter Homes"), is focused on the development, construction, and sale of 500-1,500 for-sale single-family units, often as Cresswind branded, age-restricted, amenity-rich master-planned communities, with additional focus on smaller traditional and age-targeted add-on communities of 100-500 homes. Kolter Homes has sponsored over $12.9 billion of realized and in-process real estate projects throughout the southeastern United States.

Kolter Homes has completed 17 projects, delivering over 7,000 residences.

Kolter Homes has current investment in 26 projects expected to deliver a total of over 19,000 residences.

Contact Information

John Manrique

SVP Marketing

jmanrique@kolter.com

561-515-4450





SOURCE: Kolter Homes

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Northern Superior Resources Inc. ("Northern Superior" or the "Company") (TSXV:SUP)(OTCQB:NSUPF)(GR:D9M1) announces that its Board of Directors (the "Board") has returned to its original size of seven (7) directors following the resignation of Mr. Francois Perron. The Board had been temporarily expanded to eight (8) members with the recent appointment of Mr. Eric Desaulniers, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc.

The Board is now comprised of the following directors:

Victor Cantore, Executive Chairman;

Simon Marcotte, President and CEO;

Michael Gentile;

Eric Desaulniers;

Andrew Farncomb;

Frank Guillemette; and

Peter Damouni.

Victor Cantore, Executive Chairman of Northern Superior, commented: "Francois has been an outstanding contributor to Northern Superior for many years, long before my involvement with the Company. His professionalism, insight, and integrity have made him a pleasure to work with, and we are truly grateful for his guidance and support over the years. While he is stepping down from the Board, we look forward to maintaining a strong and positive relationship with him. On behalf of the entire team at Northern Superior, I sincerely thank Francois for his contributions and wish him nothing but continued success in all his present and future endeavors."

About Northern Superior Resources Inc.

Northern Superior is a gold exploration company focused on the Chibougamau Camp in Quebec, Canada. The Company has consolidated the largest land package in the region, with total land holdings currently exceeding 62,000 hectares. The main properties include Philibert, Lac Surprise, Chevrier and Croteau. Northern Superior also owns 62% of ONGold Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ONAU) (OTCQX: ONGRF) which is advancing promising exploration assets, including Monument Bay and the district scale TPK Project; Agnico Eagle owns 15% of ONGold Resources Ltd.

Northern Superior is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and trades on the TSXV under the symbol SUP and the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol NSUPF. For further information, please refer to the Company's website at www.nsuperior.com or the Company's profile on SEDAR+.

Northern Superior Resources Inc. on Behalf of the Board of Directors

Simon Marcotte, CFA, President and Chief Executive Officer

Contact Information

Katrina Damouni

Director - Corporate Development

Tel: +44 7795 128583 (Mobile/WhatsApp)

info@nsuperior.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 press release.

SOURCE: Northern Superior Resources Inc.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
As seen in the DESTINY-Breast06 trial, a pproximately 20-25 percent of hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients may be considered HER2-ultralow. 1 These patients may now be eligible for a targeted treatment, which could significantly improve their outcomes.

The PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) test, the first and only FDA approved companion diagnostic for assessing HER2-low status since 2022, is now also approved to aid in the assessment of HER2-ultralow status for metastatic breast cancer patients.

HER2 interpretation in breast cancer is evolving. With the introduction of HER2-low and now HER2-ultralow classifications, Roche continues to lead in HER2 diagnostics, helping to expand patient access to personalised treatment.

Basel, 31 January 2025 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a label expansion for the PATHWAY anti-HER2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody* to identify patients with HR-positive, HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer who may be eligible for treatment with ENHERTU. ENHERTU is a specifically engineered HER2-directed antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and being jointly developed and commercialised by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.

Until the introduction of HER2-low status in 2022, HER2 status was categorised as either "positive" or "negative" based on the level of HER2 expression. The PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) test has now received approval to identify a new patient population designated as "HER2-ultralow." HER2-ultralow refers to patients who have very low levels of HER2 expression, even lower than the existing HER2-low category.

"One in eight women in the United States will face invasive breast cancer in their lifetime," said Matt Sause, CEO of Roche Diagnostics. "The rising incidence of metastatic breast cancer, particularly among younger populations, underscores the urgent need for new diagnostic options. The approval of our test for determining HER2-ultralow status offers new hope to patients by providing a possible path to HER2-targeted treatment where none existed before, helping clinicians transform outcomes for many facing this challenging disease."

HER2 is a receptor protein that helps cancer cells grow quickly. To determine a patient's HER2 status, pathologists evaluate, or score, the level of HER2 receptor protein expressed in breast cancer tissue samples. The PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) test was used as part of the DESTINY-Breast06 trial, which showed a median progression-free survival of 13.2 months with ENHERTU compared to 8.1 months with the standard of care (chemotherapy) in the overall trial population of patients with HER2-low and HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer. An exploratory analysis showed the results were consistent between patients with HER2-low and HER2-ultralow expression.2

The FDA approval of the new HER2-ultralow indication expands on the intended use for Roche's on-market PATHWAY anti-HER2 (4B5) test, proven in delivering timely, clear, and confident results. The launch further strengthens and differentiates Roche's comprehensive breast cancer solutions portfolio, aiding patients and providers in making informed decisions to improve outcomes.

About PATHWAY anti-HER2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Antibody

Roche's pre-diluted PATHWAY anti-HER2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody, used in combination with the fully automated BenchMark IHC/ISH slide staining instrument, standardises all immunohistochemistry (IHC) processes from baking through staining and reduces the possibility of human error.3 It also minimises inherent variability resulting from individual reagent dilution and other processes found in manual and semi-automated IHC methods. The Roche HER2 (4B5) clone achieves consistently high proficiency assessment scores compared to other clones 4 and demonstrates high concordance with HER2 FISH,5,6 empowering laboratories to employ the most widely adopted and reliable HER2-IHC primary antibody.

About Roche

Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines, Roche has grown into the world's largest biotechnology company and the global leader in in-vitro diagnostics. The company pursues scientific excellence to discover and develop medicines and diagnostics for improving and saving the lives of people around the world. We are a pioneer in personalised healthcare and want to further transform how healthcare is delivered to have an even greater impact. To provide the best care for each person we partner with many stakeholders and combine our strengths in Diagnostics and Pharma with data insights from the clinical practice.

For over 125 years, sustainability has been an integral part of Roche's business. As a science-driven company, our greatest contribution to society is developing innovative medicines and diagnostics that help people live healthier lives. Roche is committed to the Science Based Targets initiative and the Sustainable Markets Initiative to achieve net zero by 2045.

Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.

For more information, please visit www.roche.com.

* Hereafter referred to as PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) test

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.



References

[1] Salgado RF, et al. LBA21 - Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low and HER2-ultralow status determination in tumors of patients (pts) with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in DESTINY-Breast06 (DB-06). Annals of Oncology. (2024) 35 (suppl_2): 1-72. 10.1016/annonc/annonc1623.

[2] Bardia A, et. al. Trastuzumab Deruxtecan after Endocrine Therapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer, New England Journal of Medicine. 2024; 391:2110-2122

[3] PATHWAY anti-HER-2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody Package Insert

[4] NORDIQC HER2 IHC Assessment Run B37 2024

[5] Mayr D, et al. Comprehensive immunohistochemical analysis of Her-2/neu oncoprotein overexpression in breast cancer: HercepTest (Dako) for manual testing and Her-2/neuTest 4B5 (VENTANA) for VENTANA BenchMark automatic staining system with correlation to results of BenchMark automatic staining system with correlation to results of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Virchows Archiv. 2009; 454(3):241-248.

[6] Brugmann A, Lelkaitis G, Nielsen S, et al. Testing HER2 in breast cancer: a comparative study on BRISH, FISH, and IHC. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2011;19(3):203-211.

Roche Global Media Relations

Phone: +41 61 688 8888 / e-mail: media.relations@roche.com

Hans Trees, PhD

Phone: +41 79 407 72 58 Sileia Urech

Phone: +41 79 935 81 48



Nathalie Altermatt

Phone: +41 79 771 05 25 Lorena Corfas

Phone: +41 79 568 24 95



Simon Goldsborough

Phone: +44 797 32 72 915 Karsten Kleine

Phone: +41 79 461 86 83



Nina Mahlitz

Phone: +41 79 327 54 74 Kirti Pandey

Phone: +49 172 6367262



Yvette Petillon

Phone: +41 79 961 92 50 Dr Rebekka Schnell

Phone: +41 79 205 27 03

Attachment
CHENGDU, China, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In the ancient towns of Chengdu, fish lanterns parade through the streets and fireworks light up the night sky; in the urban center, cutting-edge technology blends the ancient with the modern. From the sci-fi spectacles of today to the enduring charm of intangible cultural heritage and the elegance of Eastern aesthetics, Chengdu pulses with vitality.

"Open the Jinmen Gate!" The cry rings out, accompanied by the beat of drums in the Jinmen Scenic Area of Xindu District. The festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year spills out from the lively street scenes.

Nearly 100 banquets of "Nine Bowls"-a traditional and distinctive Sichuan feast-are laid out in a row, with steam rising from the dishes in the cold winter. The rich aroma of meat mingles with the savory, spicy notes of fermented broad bean paste, filling the air. The authentic "Sichuan flavor" is impossible to resist at this banquet, celebrating the Chinese New Year with a tribute to intangible cultural heritage.

This marks the first Spring Festival since the Chinese New Year was added to the Representative List of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December of last year. To celebrate this achievement, Chengdu's cultural inheritors showcase their crafts. On quincuncial piles, lion dancers leap and twirl in celebration of the New Year. At the sugar painting stalls, children watch in wide-eyed wonder as artisans skillfully create dragon and phoenix designs, forming sweet childhood memories. Young women, dressed in traditional hanfu garments with head-pinned flowers and holding fish lanterns, stroll in groups beneath the night sky. Meanwhile, molten iron fireworks shoot into the air-a fiery spectacle exclusive to Chengdu, burning at a searing 1,600 degrees Celsius.

At the Wenshufang Street Intangible Cultural Heritage Chinese New Year Goods Shopping Festival, the spirit of the New Year is woven seamlessly into shopping. A dazzling array of specialty goods-from handmade sugar paintings and Shu brocade sachets to cured meat and sausages-lines the streets. Tourists carrying red paper bags, browse and select goods with joy on their faces, radiating the happiness of the holiday season.

This street, brimming with New Year's cheer, reflects not only the inheritance of tradition but also a celebration of everyday life.

At the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, the "Ancient Shu Kingdom Looks at Today's Pidu: Sci-Fi Chinese New Year" Nebula Magic Night is in full swing. The highlight, the "Golden Snake Fire Dance" drone show, transforms the night sky with a massive spaceship that glows with cool blue and blazing white light, as though it is traveling from the present straight into the future.

In addition, the "Sparkling Fire" fire pot performance symbolizes the removal of evil and the blessing of peace, while the "Interstellar Travel" concert, with its passionate performances, leaves the audience wondering whether they are witnessing the present or the future.

Culture is the lifeblood of a city. In 2024, Chengdu harnessed culture to drive economic vitality, enrich urban life, benefit its people, and promote cultural exchange. Through a series of cultural events, the city has fostered a spiritual home for its citizens, contributing to the ongoing construction of a world-class cultural city.

For the 2025 Spring Festival, Chengdu is celebrating under the theme "Vibrant Chengdu Year, Countless New Beginnings," launching 12 major tourism and cultural events, along with over 1,000 special activities across 13 categories. The Chinese New Year in Chengdu is not only a fusion of fireworks and blooming flowers but also a dazzling showcase of the city's cultural vitality.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2610315/City_of_Chengdu_1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2610316/City_of_Chengdu_2.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/new-year-in-chengdu-feast-of-science-fiction-intangible-cultural-heritage-and-eastern-aesthetics-302365476.html
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MAX) (OTC Pink: MXROF) (FSE: M1D2) ("Max" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its news releases on December 12, 2024, January 2, 2025, January 7, 2025, January 9, 2025, and January 20, 2025, Max Iron Brazil Ltd. ("Max Brazil"), formerly a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has received in-principle advice on suitability from ASX Limited (the "ASX") to advance plans for admission to the official list of the Australian Securities Exchange. Max Brazil plans to lodge a Prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in Q1 of 2025.

Max Brazil is conducting a non-broker Pre-IPO private placement (the "Pre-IPO") of up to 30,000,000 Ordinary Shares (the "Ordinary Shares") in the capital of Max Brazil at a price of AUD$0.10 per Ordinary Share for aggregate proceeds of up to AUD$3,000,000. As of January 20, 2025, Max Brazil has completed Pre-IPO aggregate amount of 25,000,000 Ordinary Shares for aggregate gross proceeds AUD$2,500,000.

Max Brazil intends to undertake an initial public offering (the "IPO") and apply to list the Ordinary Shares on the ASX. Its currently contemplated that the IPO will be for a minimum of 30,000,000 Ordinary Shares in the capital of Max Brazil at a price of AUD$0.20 per Ordinary Share for minimum aggregate gross proceeds of AUD$6,000,000 up to a maximum of 50,000,000 Ordinary Shares for maximum aggregate proceeds of AUD$10,000,000.

Following the completion of the IPO, and assuming the Pre-IPO is fully subscribed, it is currently contemplated that the Company will own approximately 59% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares in the event that Max Brazil completes the Minimum IPO and 52% if Max Brazil completes the Maximum IPO. The Company's ownership interest in Max Brazil may be reduced to below 50% in the event the terms of the IPO are revised, due to Subsequent issuances, or for any other reason determined to be acceptable to the Company's Board.

Following the completion of the IPO and ASX listing, the Ordinary Shares will be listed for trading on the ASX and Max Brazil will be subject to applicable Australian securities legislation and the rules and regulations of the ASX. There is no guarantee that the proposed IPO or listing of Max Brazil on the ASX will be completed on the terms set out in this announcement or at all.

It is currently contemplated that the net proceeds of the IPO will be used, among other things, for the advancement of the Floralia DSO Hematite Iron Ore Project (the "Floralia DSO Project") located 67-km east of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Closing of the IPO is subject to a number of conditions, including receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals. The IPO represents a "Reviewable Disposition" as defined in Policy 5.3 - Acquisitions and Dispositions of Non-Cash Assets of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") and therefore the IPO is subject to the approval of the Company's shareholders.

The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Max Resource Corp.

The Company's wholly owned Sierra Azul Project sits along the Colombian portion of the world's largest producing copper belt (Andean belt), with world-class infrastructure and the presence of global majors (Glencore and Chevron). Max has an Earn-In Agreement ("EIA") with Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation ("Freeport"), a wholly owned affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) relating to the Sierra Azul Project. Under the terms of the EIA, Freeport has been granted a two-stage option to acquire up to an 80% ownership interest in the Sierra Azul Project by funding cumulative expenditures of C$50 million and making cash payments to Max of C$1.55 million. Max is the operator of the initial stage. The USD $4.2 million 2024 exploration program for the Sierra Azul Project is funded by Freeport.

The Company's Floralia DSO Project is located 67-km east of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil's largest iron ore and steel producing State. Max's technical team has significantly expanded the Floralia hematite geological target from 8-12mt at 58% Fe to 50-70mt at 55%-61% Fe.

Max Brazil has now commenced inaugural drill programs at the Floralia DSO Project, consisting of approximately 1,000m of diamond and 800m by a mobile power auger rig.

The Company has added an Australian entity, Max Brazil, to hold the "Floralia DSO Project" through the existing Canadian and Brazilian holding entities. As announced on January 9, 2025, Max Brazil plans to seek listing on the ASX Limited ("ASX" or "Australian Stock Exchange").

Max cautions investors the potential quantity and grade of the iron ore is conceptual in nature, and further cautions there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource, and Max is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Hematite mineralization tonnage potential estimation is based on in situ high-grade outcrops and interpreted and modelled magnetic anomalies. Density value used for the estimate is 2.8t/m. Hematite sample grades range between 55-61%Fe. Hematite mineralization tonnage potential estimation is based on in situ hematite outcrop interpreted and modelled magnetic anomalies. Density value used for the estimate is 2.5t/m3. The 58 channel samples were collected for chemical analysis from in situ outcrops in previously mined slopes of industrial materials. Channel samples weighed in average 14 kg. Chemical analysis was performed at ALS Laboratories. Metal Oxides are determined using XRF analysis. Fusion disks are made with pulped samples and the addition of a borate-based flux. Max did not insert standards or blanks in the assay stream and is relying on ALS's lab QA/QC.

For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com and https://maxironbrazil.com/.



Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this new release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this news release include the anticipated use of proceeds of the Offering. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.



NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES



To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239144

SOURCE: MAX Resource Corp.
2024 annual revenue: 2.286 K

Regulatory News:

Llama Group, specialist in digital audio monetization (ISIN code: BE0974334667 Ticker: ALLAM), publishes its 20241 revenue.

Llama Group SA announces that its consolidated revenue for 2024 is 2.286K, representing a 21% increase compared to the 1.891K revenue achieved in 2023.

Performance per entity

Jamendo: Sustained Growth Driven by Technological Optimization and New Contracts

Jamendo's revenue for 2024 reached  2.107K, marking a 20% increase compared to 2023 ( 1.773K). This growth is driven by two key factors:

Technological migration of the platform: The transition to a new technical environment in Q4 2024 enhanced the customer experience, leading to increased sales.



Signing of new strategic contracts : Jamendo secured agreements with major industry players, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence. This growth momentum, initiated at the end of the year, is expected to continue in 2025.

Winamp: A Structuring Phase Before Monetization

Revenue from the Winamp online platform remains marginal in the consolidated revenue for 2024. The launch of Winamp for Creators 2.0 during the year laid the groundwork for monetization in 2025, with advanced technical completion and a strategy focused on accelerating artist acquisition.

Bridger: Alignment with Winamp's Strategy

Bridger's revenue follows the same trend as Winamp. Copyright management, a service integrated into Winamp for Creators 2.0, will see its commercial launch aligned with that of the Winamp for Creators platform. Nevertheless, in 2024 alone, Bridger has already collected royalties for more than 30,000 works from over a thousand artists.

Hotmix: Encouraging Growth Momentum

Hotmix also experienced significant revenue growth in 2024, increasing from 111K in 2023 to 161K, a 45% rise. This growth is driven by a technical overhaul of the Hotmix website, offering an improved listening experience. We anticipate that this positive momentum will continue in 2025, supported by the launch of a mobile app in early February 2025 and a partnership strategy set to be deployed throughout the year.

Olivier Van Gulck, CFO : "The 2024 revenue is in line with our expectations and marks an initial progression compared to 2023. This year was dedicated to establishing the necessary technical foundations to drive commercial growth in 2025."

Winamp: A Unique Platform to Simplify Both Artists' Administrative Management and Their Monetization Streams

In 2024, LLAMA GROUP intensified the development of Winamp with the goal of connecting three key communities through a single platform:

Music artists and labels Collaborators that artists can recruit globally to help manage and monetize their work Content consumers

The new Winamp for Creators platform was launched in 2024.

This platform enables artists and labels to centralize all financial streams, find collaborators, share revenues with them, and publish content to generate new revenue streams.

As a global product, it will be the most comprehensive solution available to artists in the market.

The Winamp Product Line Includes Two Core Offerings:

Winamp for Creators A unique platform providing creators with monetization services, including music distribution, licensing through Jamendo, copyright management via Bridger, a fanzone, NFT creation, and the ability to recruit collaborators.

A unique platform providing creators with monetization services, including music distribution, licensing through Jamendo, copyright management via Bridger, a fanzone, NFT creation, and the ability to recruit collaborators. Winamp Player The iconic media player has been restructured and integrated into the new platform, offering a seamless music listening experience. Over time, the player will allow listeners to access the fanzone, an exclusive content space between artists and superfans. Additionally, it will aggregate multiple content types, including MP3s, podcasts, radio stations, audiobooks, and connections to select music services.

The success potential of our platform is significant, as it provides a concrete solution to the administrative and monetization challenges faced by artists today.

Next Meeting

April 30, 2025 Publication of the 2024 annual results

About Llama Group

Llama Group (Paris: ALLAM) (Brussels: ALLAM) is a pioneer and leader in the digital music industry. With extensive expertise across various sectors, the group owns the iconic Winamp platform, the Bridger copyright management company, and the Jamendo music licensing company. Llama Group's ambition is to build the future of the music industry through sustained investment in a range of innovative solutions and in the talent and skills of people who love music. The group stands by its brand values: empowerment, access, simplicity, and fairness. Winamp's vision is a world where a cutting-edge music platform connects artists and their fans like never before. Bridger's mission is to support songwriters and composers by providing a simple and innovative solution for collecting royalties. Jamendo enables independent artists to generate additional income through commercial licenses. Finally, Hotmix offers a bouquet of more than sixty thematic and free digital radio stations.

1 Unaudited 2024 turnover

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250131085655/en/

Contacts:

Investors Relations

Olivier Van Gulck

investors@llama-group.com
CMUV Bancorp

CMUV Bancorp Announces 2024 4th Quarter Financial Results



31-Jan-2025 / 19:00 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



CMUV Bancorp Announces 2024 4th Quarter Financial Results



EL CENTRO, CA - January 31, 2025 ( NEWMEDIAWIRE ) - CMUV Bancorp, the holding company for Community Valley Bank ("CVB"), is pleased to announce unaudited year-end results for 2024. Earnings for the year ending December 31, 2024, were $4,156,350. CVB's Total Assets grew to $311 MM at fiscal year-end 2024, with Gross Loans ending at just short of $263 MM. Deposits also increased to $271 MM. Earnings per share for 2024 were $2.38. CVB ended 2024 with a Community Bank Capital Leverage ratio of 12.0%, well above the ratio threshold required to be considered a well-capitalized bank. Our Allowance for Credit Losses ended the year at $2,710,837, or 1.04% of total loans, and Non-Accrual and Past Due Loans remain very low at less than 0.02%. CVB's Board of Directors and Management believe the ACL is fully funded at this time. ROAA was 1.36% and ROAE was at 12.17% for the year ending December 31, 2024. We thank each of you for being a valuable shareholder in your Community Valley Bank! Community Valley Bank / CMUV Bancorp Financial Summary For Quarter Ending December 31, 2024 BALANCE SHEET December 31, 2024 December 31, 2023 ASSETS Cash & Cash Equivalents $ 28,472,322 $ 45,198,375 Total Investments 7,191,513 7,426,100 Gross Loans 262,932,710 231,924,633 ACL (2,710,837) (2,534,087) Total Earning Assets $ 295,885,707 $ 282,015,021 Other Assets 15,481,678 $ 15,025,617 TOTAL ASSETS $ 311,367,385 $ 297,040,638 LIABILITIES Deposits $ 270,934,149 $ 259,604,962 Total Borrowings & Debt Obligations 2,003,400 2,043,630 Other Liabilities 896,329 670,975 TOTAL LIABILITIES $ 273,833,877 $ 262,319,567 SHAREHOLDER CAPITAL/EQUITY Total Stock, Equity, Retained Earnings $ 33,377,158 $ 30,716,328 Net Income $ 4,156,350 4,004,744 TOTAL EQUITY/CAPITAL $ 37,533,507 $ 34,721,071 TOTAL LIABILITIES & CAPITAL/EQUITY $ 311,367,385 $ 297,040,638 STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENSE December 31, 2024 December 31, 2023 Total Interest Income $ 17,885,742 $ 15,927,961 Total Interest Expense (5,188,631) $ (4,033,266) NET INTEREST INCOME $ 12,697,111 $ 11,894,695 Total Other Non-Interest Income $ 911,349 $838,567 Total Non-Interest Expenses $ (7,564,023) $ (7,065,385) Provision for Loan Loss (210,948) $ (135,600) INCOME BEFORE TAXES $ 5,833,490 $ 5,532,277 Income Tax Expense $ (1,677,141) $ (1,527,533) NET INCOME $ 4,156,350 $ 4,004,744 FINANCIAL RATIOS Return on Average Assets (ROAA) 1.36% 1.37% Return on Average Equity (ROAE) 12.17% 12.37% Net Income - Quarter $1,063,184 $1,130,729 Earnings Per Share (Basic) - Quarter $0.61 $0.64 Earnings Per Share (Basic) - YTD $2.38 $2.26 Total Shares (Oustanding/Exercised) 1,746,622 1,772,422 Book Value - Basic (CVB - Bank) $21.49 $19.59 Book Value - Basic (CMUV - Holding Company) $17.79 $16.15 ** Book Value = Total Equity-Capital/Total Shares (Exercised)



Contact:

Jon A Edney

7603521889

mediarelations@yourcvb.com



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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.




TORONTO, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Elite Franchise Canada Top 100 (EF100) ranking for 2025 has been officially released, recognizing the country's top franchisors for their innovation, resilience, and success. Making its debut this year, the EF100 celebrates excellence across the franchising industry, highlighting businesses that set the standard for growth and leadership.

For its inaugural Canadian edition, Pizza Pizza has secured the top spot, further establishing itself as a leader in the quick-service restaurant sector. The brand's commitment to quality, service, and franchisee support has earned it this prestigious recognition.

Paul Goddard, CEO of Pizza Pizza, expressed pride in the achievement. "This is a momentous milestone for Pizza Pizza and a reflection of the incredible work of our franchisees and teams across the country. Our vision has always been to grow while staying true to our values; providing great food, great service, and great opportunities for entrepreneurs."

Philip Goudreau, Chief Operating Officer, added, "being recognized by the EF100 is a reflection of our collective commitment, and we look forward to setting even higher standards in the years ahead."

The top five franchises of 2025 showcase the strength of Canada's franchising sector:

A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. - 2nd place

- 2nd place Boston Pizza - 3rd place

- 3rd place McDonald's - 4th place

- 4th place Mary Brown's - 5th place

These brands continue to thrive by embracing innovation, adaptability, and resilience.

Lyn Little, Partner and National Franchise Industry Leader at BDO, and an EF100 judge, commended the industry's perseverance. "The resilience and innovation demonstrated in response to Canada's business challenges are truly commendable. Franchise brands consistently rise to the occasion, setting new benchmarks for excellence and driving the evolution of the industry."

The EF100 Awards Ceremony will take place on February 26, 2025, at The Carlu Toronto, recognizing top franchises and presenting special awards in sustainability, diversity, and innovation.

Additionally, Elite Franchise subscribers can vote for the People's Choice Award by visiting the EF100 2025 website to explore brand profiles and support their favorite franchise.

Scott English, Founder and Global Brand Director of Elite Franchise, highlighted the significance of the rankings. "Gaining a spot in the Top 100 is a remarkable achievement. These brands' forward-thinking attitudes and groundbreaking innovations continue to impress us, earning them the recognition they truly deserve."

By showcasing Canada's leading franchises, the EF100 provides a valuable benchmark for both aspiring entrepreneurs and established businesses.

About the EF100 Canada

The Elite Franchise Canada Top 100 (EF100) is an annual ranking celebrating the top franchisors in Canada. Recognizing innovation, resilience, and business excellence, the EF100 highlights franchises that set industry standards and drive long-term success. The ranking is assessed based on key criteria, including growth, franchisee support, community involvement, and future goals.

The EF100 Awards Evening will take place on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at The Carlu Toronto, bringing together leading franchisors to celebrate achievements in sustainability, diversity, and innovation. The event provides a unique opportunity for networking and industry recognition.

Link to page: https://elitefranchisemagazine.com/efca100-2025

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2609898/Elite_Franchise_Canada.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/celebrating-excellence-in-canadian-franchising-the-2025-ef100-unveils-the-top-franchises-302365263.html
Paris, France - January 31, 2025 - The Combined Annual General Meeting of Atos SE shareholders convened to approve the 2023 financial statements was held today at the Company's registered office, chaired by Philippe Salle, Chairman of the Board of Directors until today and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer as of February 1, 2025.

Broadcast live on the Atos website, the Annual General Meeting was a key opportunity to inform and exchange views with shareholders, who approved all the resolutions submitted to the vote.

In particular, the Annual General Meeting approved the statutory and consolidated financial statements for the 2023 financial year.

Detailed voting results and a replay of the Annual General Meeting will be available on the Atos website (under Investors - Annual General Meeting).

Changes to the Board of Directors composition

The Annual General Meeting approved all the ratifications of appointments submitted to it. In particular, the ratification of Philippe Salle's appointment was approved by 94.18% of the votes cast.

The shareholders approved the renewal of Sujatha Chandrasekaran's term of office as Director, and the appointments of Joanna Dziubak and Hildegard Muller as new Directors.

At the close of the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors noted the end of Mandy Metten's term of office as the second Director representing employees, with the Board reduced to eight members (excluding the Director representing employees), and the expiry of the terms of office of Alain Crozier, Katrina Hopkins, Monika Maurer and Astrid Stange.

On the recommendation of the Nomination and Governance Committee, the Board of Directors has decided to appoint Mandy Metten as a censor to the Board of Directors, with effect from today, subject to ratification by the next Annual General Meeting.

The Board again noted the resignation of Jean Pierre Mustier from his duties as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company with effect from today. The Board also reiterated its unanimous decision of October 14, 2024 to combine the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and to appoint Philippe Salle as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer with effect from February 1, 2025. The Board would like to thank Jean Pierre Mustier, who remarkably steered the Group's restructuring, for his unfailing commitment and contribution to the Group's success, as well as for the exemplary transition he implemented with Philippe Salle.

At the close of the Annual General Meeting and the Board of Directors, the Atos Board of Directors comprised nine Directors, of whom 75% are independent Directors1 and 62.5% are women2, and one censor:

Philippe Salle, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Laurent Collet-Billon*, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors

Elizabeth Tinkham*, Lead Independent Director

Sujatha Chandrasekaran*

Joanna Dziubak*

Fares Louis, Director representing employees

Francoise Mercadal-Delasalles*

Jean-Jacques Morin*

Hildegard Muller

Mandy Metten, censor

* Independent Directors

The Board of Directors has also amended its Internal Rules3, in particular to strengthen the duties and resources of the Lead Independent Director, whose appointment is now mandatory when the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are combined. The matters reserved to the Board of Directors have also been extended.

Changes to the Board Committees composition

Taking into account its renewed composition, the Board has restructured its committees, as of today, on the recommendation of the Nomination and Governance Committee:

Audit Committee : Jean-Jacques Morin* (Chair); Laurent Collet-Billon*; Joanna Dziubak*; Sujatha Chandrasekaran*





: Jean-Jacques Morin* (Chair); Laurent Collet-Billon*; Joanna Dziubak*; Sujatha Chandrasekaran* Nomination and Governance Committee : Elizabeth Tinkham* (Chair); Sujatha Chandrasekaran*; Fares Louis; Joanna Dziubak*





: Elizabeth Tinkham* (Chair); Sujatha Chandrasekaran*; Fares Louis; Joanna Dziubak* Remuneration Committee : Laurent Collet-Billon* (Chair); Fares Louis; Francoise Mercadal-Delasalles*; Hildegard Muller





: Laurent Collet-Billon* (Chair); Fares Louis; Francoise Mercadal-Delasalles*; Hildegard Muller CSR Committee : Francoise Mercadal-Delasalles* (Chair); Hildegard Muller; Fares Louis





* Independent Directors

Philippe Salle, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Atos SE, said: "I am delighted by the confidence expressed by our shareholders. With a more compact and strengthened Board of Directors, we are fully mobilized and focused on deploying the Group's new strategy. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank the Directors whose terms of office have ended for their commitment and contribution to Atos during this critical period."

***

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 82,000 employees and annual revenue of c. 10 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), and listed on Euronext Paris.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

Contacts

Investor relations: David Pierre-Kahn | investors@atos.net | +33 6 28 51 45 96

Individual shareholders: 0805 65 00 75

Press contact: globalprteam@atos.net

1 In accordance with article 10.3 of the AFEP-MEDEF Code, the Director representing employees is not taken into account in determining the percentage of independent members.

2 In accordance with the law, the Director representing employees is not taken into account in determining the parity ratio on the Board of Directors.

3 Available on the Atos website, under Investors - Corporate Governance.

Attachment
San Francisco, California--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Gift2Games, a leading rewards platform, is pleased to announce the launch of its mobile application on Google Play and the App Store. The app is designed to simplify access to Gift2Games' extensive catalog, empowering businesses and consumers with more seamless digital gift care solutions. This launch is accompanied by the company's strategic expansion into new markets and enhanced partnerships with leading gaming publishers.

Gift2Games Mobile App

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Mobile App Enhances Digital Incentive Experience

The mobile app represents a key milestone in the company's evolution. It integrates seamlessly with the Gift2Games' API, connecting users to its catalog of over 3,000 global brands. This enables businesses to issue, track, and manage digital gift cards without the hurdles of traditional systems. With multi-language and multi-currency support, it is accessible to users across global markets. The API is also scalable and flexible, streamlining backend operations and enhancing customer experiences.

Gift2Games further differentiates itself with features such as instant digital gift card delivery and fraud prevention measures. Its no-fee structure and user-friendly design aim to provide a practical solution for both businesses and individual users.

Key features of the mobile app:

Easy access to over 3,000 global brands, spanning diverse regions and industries, including gaming and retail.

Effortless purchasing and management simplify the entire incentives process for both businesses and casual users.

API integration to ensure businesses can incorporate incentive solutions seamlessly into their existing platforms.

Advanced security features to protect against fraud.

Expansion into New Global Markets

Building on its success in Canada and the United States, Gift2Games is expanding into South America, Europe, and Asia to meet the growing demand for digital incentives. As this industry expands, Gift2Games is well-positioned to deliver innovative digital gift card solutions and incentives platforms. Through its global expansion, the company aims to form strategic partnerships with local businesses and provide tailored solutions that address the unique needs of each market.

Strengthened Partnerships in the Gaming Industry

Gift2Games' partnerships are pivotal in supporting its expansion into new regions. By collaborating with industry giants, Gift2Games has strengthened its position as a leader in the digital incentives market, enhancing its catalog with high-demand gaming incentives and giving businesses access to digital products that appeal to a global gaming audience.

In 2024, digital game revenue soared to $175.8 billion, accounting for 95.4% of total global gaming revenues. Furthermore, the global gaming population has surpassed 3.32 billion in 2024, growing by over 100 million from the previous year. With such a vast and engaged demographic, Gift2Games' gaming-focused incentives can help businesses reach one of the most passionate and active consumer bases worldwide.

Through these strengthened partnerships, Gift2Games enables businesses to navigate the evolving digital incentives landscape and deliver solutions that resonate with consumer preferences. By tapping into this immense and growing market, the company is well-positioned to drive engagement for businesses and gaming audiences alike.

Leading the Future for Digital Incentives

Through its mobile application, global market expansion, and strengthened partnerships, Gift2Games empowers businesses to implement flexible and efficient digital gift card and incentive solutions. By integrating innovation, accessibility, and an expansive catalog of options, the company is driving the ongoing evolution of the digital incentives landscape.

For more details about Gift2Games and to explore its catalog of gift cards, please visit https://www.gift2games.com. To download the mobile app, click here.

Gift2Games logo

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About Gift2Games

Gift2Games is a global leader in digital gift card distribution and incentives solutions, bringing over 7 years of experience to businesses worldwide. The company provides efficient, scalable platforms that help businesses drive customer engagement and foster loyalty through customized incentive programs. Operating across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, Gift2Games is dedicated to delivering tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of businesses in diverse markets.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/235426

SOURCE: Brand Featured
Clearwater, a leader in healthcare cybersecurity, compliance, and risk management, has been recognized as a top-ranked firm in the Top 100 Healthcare IT Advisory and Consulting Project Areas in Highest Demand for 2025, published by Black Book Research. Clearwater's continued excellence in cybersecurity, compliance advisory, and risk management solidifies its position as a trusted partner for healthcare organizations navigating an evolving digital landscape.

#1 Client-Rated Cybersecurity and Compliance Consulting Firm

Clearwater received top rankings for its robust cybersecurity framework and compliance solutions. Clients reported enhanced security postures, reduced risk exposure, and streamlined regulatory compliance with HIPAA, HITRUST, and NIST frameworks due to Clearwater's risk assessments and proactive mitigation strategies.

Beyond category leadership, Clearwater secured top rankings in 3 of the most in-demand healthcare IT consulting engagements, as identified by Black Book Research's independent client surveys of 1,777 HIT leaders for the coming year. These engagements represent critical, high-impact areas where Clearwater has demonstrated measurable success through engagement reviews by clients since 2020.

Cybersecurity and Risk Management

Medical Device Security Strategy - Clearwater is recognized for its expertise in securing connected medical devices, protecting patient data, and ensuring device functionality in clinical environments.

Cyber Risk Management Programs - Leading the industry in designing comprehensive programs that proactively manage cybersecurity risks, reduce breaches, and ensure regulatory compliance.

Patient and Consumer Data Privacy and Security Advisory - Clearwater continues to be the trusted choice for ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations, helping healthcare organizations safeguard sensitive patient information.

About Black Book Research

Black Book Research is the healthcare industry's leading independent market research firm, providing unbiased evaluations of healthcare IT solutions, consulting, and advisory services. Black Book's rankings are based exclusively on direct client feedback and are free from vendor influence, ensuring transparency and credibility in industry assessments. The 2025 enhanced advisory firm KPIs used in the evaluation of consulting firms can be viewed in full at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/black-book-s-2025-key-performance-indicators-for-evaluating-healthcare-22507744

The full results of the 2025 Black Book Research rankings, including the Top 100 In-Demand Healthcare IT Consulting Engagements, can be accessed at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/top-100-healthcare-it-consultant-project-areas-in-highest-demand-22506382 For an in-depth review of performance, download the 2025 Black Book of Healthcare IT Consultants at https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/2025-black-book-of-healthcare-it-consultants-and-advisory-firms

SOURCE: Black Book Research

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Nordic Consulting has been recognized as a top-ranked firm in the Top 100 Healthcare IT Advisory and Consulting Project Areas in Highest Demand for 2025, published by Black Book Research. Nordic continues to drive innovation and excellence in healthcare IT, earning top rankings in key service areas such as EHR implementation, optimization, and enterprise training.

Beyond category leadership, Nordic secured top rankings in 7 of the most in-demand healthcare IT consulting engagements, as identified by Black Book Research's independent client surveys of 1,777 HIT leaders for the coming year. These engagements represent critical, high-impact areas where Huron has demonstrated measurable success through engagement reviews by clients since 2020.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: Epic Systems - Recognized for its expertise in supporting the implementation and optimization of Epic EHR systems to improve clinical workflows and data accessibility.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: Altera Digital Solutions - Nordic leads in optimizing Altera's EHR solutions, enhancing patient data management and clinical efficiency.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: Oracle Health - Providing expert guidance on deploying and optimizing Oracle's EHR solutions to streamline clinical and administrative processes.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: Large Group Practices (athenahealth & NextGen Healthcare) - Nordic is a leader in optimizing athenahealth and NextGen Healthcare EHRs for large practices and clinics, ensuring seamless workflows and improved interoperability.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: Veradigm & Medical/Primary Care Specialty EHRs - Recognized for implementing specialty EHR solutions that provide actionable insights and integrated care solutions.

EHR Implementation and Optimization: ModMed & Surgical Specialty EHRs - Supporting the deployment and optimization of surgical specialty EHR systems to enhance specialty care workflows and patient outcomes.

EHR Enterprise Training - Nordic leads in providing customized training programs to ensure healthcare teams effectively adopt and utilize EHR systems, reducing implementation challenges and improving operational efficiency.

About Black Book Research

Black Book Research is the healthcare industry's leading independent market research firm, providing unbiased evaluations of healthcare IT solutions, consulting, and advisory services. Black Book's rankings are based exclusively on direct client feedback and are free from vendor influence, ensuring transparency and credibility in industry assessments. The 2025 enhanced advisory firm KPIs used in the evaluation of consulting firms can be viewed in full at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/black-book-s-2025-key-performance-indicators-for-evaluating-healthcare-22507744

The full results of the 2025 Black Book Research rankings, including the Top 100 In-Demand Healthcare IT Consulting Engagements, can be accessed at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/top-100-healthcare-it-consultant-project-areas-in-highest-demand-22506382 For an in-depth review of performance, download the 2025 Black Book of Healthcare IT Consultants at https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/2025-black-book-of-healthcare-it-consultants-and-advisory-firms

SOURCE: Black Book Research

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Huron Consulting Group has been named a top-ranked firm in the Top 100 Healthcare IT Advisory and Consulting Project Areas in Highest Demand for 2025, published by Black Book Research. Recognized for its excellence in strategic planning, interoperability, and clinical IT advisory, Huron continues to drive transformation in healthcare organizations nationwide.

Beyond category leadership, Huron additionally secured top rankings in 7 of the most in-demand healthcare IT consulting engagements, as identified by Black Book Research's independent client surveys of 1,777 HIT leaders for the coming year. These engagements represent critical, high-impact areas where Huron has demonstrated measurable success through engagement reviews by clients since 2020.

IT Governance Framework Development - Huron is recognized for its expertise in establishing IT governance frameworks that align technology investments with organizational goals, ensuring sustainable digital transformation.

Interoperability, HIE, and Data Exchange Strategy and Optimization - Acknowledged for developing seamless data exchange strategies to enhance care coordination.

FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) Adoption and Implementation - Huron is a leader in implementing FHIR standards to improve data interoperability and compliance.

Interoperability Maturity Assessment and Roadmap Development - The firm provides comprehensive roadmaps to help organizations achieve full interoperability and data integration.

Pharmacy IT Systems Implementation - Huron optimizes pharmacy IT systems, including e-prescribing and inventory tracking, to improve medication management and patient safety.

Emergency Department (ED) Workflow Optimization - Recognized for streamlining ED workflows to enhance efficiency, reduce wait times, and improve patient outcomes.

Behavioral Health IT System Optimization - Huron supports behavioral health providers by optimizing EHR and telehealth solutions to meet the growing demand for mental health services.

About Black Book Research

Black Book Research is the healthcare industry's leading independent market research firm, providing unbiased evaluations of healthcare IT solutions, consulting, and advisory services. Black Book's rankings are based exclusively on direct client feedback and are free from vendor influence, ensuring transparency and credibility in industry assessments. The 2025 enhanced advisory firm KPIs used in the evaluation of consulting firms can be viewed in full at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/black-book-s-2025-key-performance-indicators-for-evaluating-healthcare-22507744

The full results of the 2025 Black Book Research rankings, including the Top 100 In-Demand Healthcare IT Consulting Engagements, can be accessed at https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/top-100-healthcare-it-consultant-project-areas-in-highest-demand-22506382 For an in-depth review of performance, download the 2025 Black Book of Healthcare IT Consultants at https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/2025-black-book-of-healthcare-it-consultants-and-advisory-firms

SOURCE: Black Book Research

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Lagos, Nigeria--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Elvis Tech, a Nigerian company known for innovating in sustainable energy, has announced the growth of its product range, which is based on solar energfor homes, corporations, and organizations with modern devices to solve the problem associated with poor power supply. They specialize in production of laptop power banks, solar generators, and customized solar installations, and the company is one of the leading energy self-sufficiencies throughout Nigeria.

Elvis Tech Laptop Power Bank with solar panel and appliances

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According to Statista, 2024, 40% of Nigeria's population do not have permanent access to electricity. Elvis Tech aims to bridge this gap by enabling communities to harness solar energy with eco-friendly technology. The frequent grid failures and rising fuel costs continue to disrupt productivity, education, and daily living.

'Nigeria's energy challenges demand urgency and innovation,' said the founder of Elvis Tech, Elvis Ogbonna. The solutions are engineered to provide reliability where traditional grids fall short. 'From students needing uninterrupted study hours to SMEs battling operational downtime, we're delivering power autonomy one solar device at a time.'

Elvis Tech Limited, one of Nigeria's leading tech firms, is meeting the needs of the country's growing dependence on remote work and technology.

These include the following:

High Powered Laptops Charger With Solar Power and Weatherproofing: Off grid laptop chargers that can power the computer for 3-5 uses on a single solar charge.

Advanced Pro Series 100,000mAH Power Banks: Easy to carry backpack models with led lights, powerful capacity, and fast charging USB ports for smartphones and tablets.

Solar Generators From 300W to 5kW scalable units are available for home use, SMEs and healthcare facilities. These generators come with lithium batteries, pure sine wave inverters, and ports for solar panels.

Main Usage: Alternative energy power units for inverters, fridges, pumps and medical equipment during long power cuts.

Solar Generators: Custom Solar Installations

All-in-one solar applications for commercial and residential buildings, including rooftop photovoltaic panels, inverters and battery storage.

Clean Energy for Education and Growth

Elvis Tech's initiatives align with Nigeria's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) goals. "Access to energy shouldn't be a luxury. We're committed to democratizing solar technology," emphasized Elvis.

Availability and Future Initiatives

Elvis Tech products are available nationwide via their e-commerce platform. The company is also piloting a "Solar for Students" discount program to support academic resilience.

Upcoming Launch: Q4 2024 debut of PowerStride Pro-a hybrid power bank integrating solar, hand-crank, and wireless charging for extreme environments.

About Elvis Tech

Founded in 2020, Elvis Tech is a Nigerian-owned renewable energy enterprise dedicated to innovation and sustainability. From its Lagos headquarters, the company serves over 12,000 customers, combining locally tailored engineering with globally certified components.

Vision: To become West Africa's most trusted clean energy provider by 2030.

Values: Affordability, durability, and customer-centric service.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239122

SOURCE: United Press
Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Colibri Resource Corporation (CBI: TSXV) ("Colibri" or the "Company") wishes to provide supplemental disclosure in respect of its proposed private placement announced on January 17, 2025. As originally disclosed, the Company intends to conduct a non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of up to 10,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.025 for gross proceeds of up to $250,000. Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share and one (1) common share purchase warrant (the Warrants). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share (a "Common Share") of the Company at a price of C$0.05 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering.

The following detailed use of proceeds information constitutes the supplemental disclosure: the net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be applied as follows: approximately 20% for upcoming exploration expenses at Colibri's highly prospective precious metals projects in Mexico, including the Pilar Gold Project & the EP Gold Project, 65% for arm's length creditors including payment of interest expenses on outstanding loans and up to 15% to non-arm's length parties as reimbursement for expenses paid on behalf of the Company by the non-arm's length parties. No proceeds are being used for investor relations activities. The Company will be relying on appropriate exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") for its payments to non-arm's length parties.

The Offering is anticipated to close towards the middle of February 2025 (the "Closing"). Closing may occur in one or more tranches.

Closing of the Offering is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Common Shares issuable will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring on the date that is four months and one day after Closing. The Company anticipates that it may pay certain finder's fees as per the guidelines of the Exchange.

The Offering will be conducted by the Company primarily under the "accredited investor" exemption of National Instrument 45-106 -- Prospectus and Registration Exemptions but may use other exemptions if appropriate.

For further details of the Offering, please contact Ian McGavney, President & CEO of the Company at (506) 383-4274 or ianmcgavney@colibriresource.com.

Certain insiders of the Company may acquire Units in the Offering. Any participation by insiders in the Private Placement will constitute a "related party transaction" as defined under MI 61-101. The Company expects such participation will be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the Units subscribed for by the insiders, nor the consideration for the Units paid by such insiders, is expected to exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

The securities of the Company 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 absent registration or an available exemption from the registration requirement of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. 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 these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

ABOUT COLIBRI RESOURCE CORPORATION:

Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the (TSXV: CBI) and is focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company holds four high potential precious metal projects: 1) 100% of EP Gold Project in the significant Caborca Gold Belt which has delivered highly encouraging exploration results and is surround by Mexico's second largest major producer of gold on four sides, 2) 49% Ownership of the Pilar Gold & Silver Project which is believed to hold the potential to be a near term producing mine, and 3) two highly prospective interests in the Sierra Madre (Diamante Gold & Silver Project and Jackie Gold & Silver Project.

Forward-Looking Statements

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.

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239236

SOURCE: Colibri Resource Corporation
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Spark Energy Minerals Inc. (CSE: SPRK) (OTC Pink: SPARF) (FSE: 8PC) ("Spark" or the "Company") an exploration Company focused on the discovery of battery metals in Brazil's prestigious Lithium Valley, is pleased to announce an update on recent exploration activities completed through January 2025.

In January 2025, Spark's field teams have continued with first pass reconnaissance mapping and stream sediment sampling coverage over unexplored areas of the tenement package with the aim of identifying and definition of new pegmatite trends. In January, a further 3 new pegmatite trends have been identified, bringing the total pegmatite occurrences identified to date to 90 over a combined 31km of strike within 11 trends. To date, a total of 19 old underground and open pit mining excavations have been identified.

The team has also identified extensive areas with excellent potential for the discovery of regolith-hosted rare earth elements (REE) and Gallium, as highlighted by recent competitor press releases whose tenements are contiguous to Sparks. Axel Ree Limited's release in December 2024 reported high-grade intercepts of up to 124 g/t Ga2O3 and REE values of up to 28,321ppm TREO in the regolith immediately south of Sparks tenements (see full release here).

Moving into February, the exploration program and strategy will include a detailed follow-up of anomalous analytical results from the December 2024 program which are due imminently.

Arapaima Lithium Project Highlights:

Spark Energy's 64,359-hectare land package runs parallel to Sigma Lithium, Brazil's largest lithium company with a market cap of ~C$2 billion and sits only 15km away at the closest point.

70% of the extensive tenement package remains to be explored, underscoring the potential as new pegmatite corridors continue to be uncovered.

January exploration to date has identified a further 3 pegmatite trends covering a combined 3.8 km of strike to the north-east and northwest of Priority Target Area 1. This brings the total combined pegmatite trend inventory to 11 pegmatite trends with 90 individual pegmatites mapped over a combined strike length of 31km.

To date, 19 old mining excavations have been identified and mapped by Spark's geological team. These areas are all focused on pegmatite occurrences with evidence for prior exploitation of gemstones (topaz, aquamarine-beryl), feldspar, quartz and tourmaline.

Spark's exploration team completed a reconnaissance visit to its tenement north of the tenement owned by Axel Ree Limited which recently reported high Gallium and TREO (Total Rare Earth Oxide Results) from a shallow drilling program. (See Press Release - Axel Ree Limited's December 2024, where that company reported high-grade intercepts of up to 124 g/t Ga2O3 and REE values of up to 28,321ppm TREO in the regolith immediately south of Sparks tenement.). The Spark team collected 23 soil samples at 50m intervals along the margins of the access roads which cover the north extensions of the mineralization reported by Axel Ree Limited (see Figure 4).

Q1 2025 exploration program will continue with focused follow-up of the priority target areas identified towards the end of last year where results are due imminently whilst continuing with first pass exploration across areas that remain unexplored to date.

Figure 1: New Pegmatite Trends Northeast and Northwest of Target Area 1. These trends add 3.8km of pegmatite strike increasing the current target inventory to 31km.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10093/239238_e8d61fbd947118cf_002full.jpg





Figure 2: Integrated Map with stream sediment sampling stations and old mining excavations

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10093/239238_e8d61fbd947118cf_003full.jpg

To date, 19 individual old artisanal mining excavations (underground adits and open pit excavations) have been identified by Sparks geologists. These areas have identified small tubular pegmatites hosted within the Caladao Granite, which presents the mineral association of feldspar, quartz, muscovite, biotite, beryl and topaz, of which aquamarine, topaz and rock crystal (hyaline and smoky quartz) have economic use.

Spark Energy's priority area reconnaissance teams continue to build on the geological understanding of the 3 main identified targets (Area 1, 5 and 6 as shown in Figure 3 below) from Q4 2024's field program with 70% of the 64,359 hectares still be to explored. To date, these are host to 11 pegmatite trends supported by 90 individual pegmatite occurrences over a combined strike length of 31km, mapped in the central and north sections of the Arapaima Lithium project tenements.

Figure 3: Figure showing location Target Areas with geological data and sampling points, Arapaima Lithium project tenements.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10093/239238_e8d61fbd947118cf_004full.jpg

Figure 4: Figure showing recent TREO and Gallium - Ga203 results reported by Axel exploration, (green dots show drill holes with red dots depicting soil samples collected by Spark immediately to the north of the Spark - Axel tenement boundary.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10093/239238_e8d61fbd947118cf_005full.jpg

Additionally, Axel Ree Limited recorded high TREO assays up to 28,321ppm TREO (2.8% TREO) and up to 7,606ppm MREO (0.76% MREO) at their flagship Caladao Project in the Lithium Valley, Brazil contiguous to Spark's tenements. The spark team collected some 23 soil samples at 50m intervals along the margins of the access road which cover the north extensions to the mineralization reported by Axel (noted above).

The Caladao Project is located in the northeast portion of the State of Minas Gerais, and the overall geological setting includes a sequence of Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences that were intruded by late-tectonic alkaline granites consistent with the geology observed on the Spark tenements in this area. These granites have undergone intense tropical weathering, resulting in the development of a thick regolith profile that can reach up to 60m and contain abundant clay minerals.

Jon Hill, Director of Spark Energy Minerals, commented: "With initial analytical results to be reported imminently the team is fully engaged to progress our priority targets to the drilling stage through the implementation of focused follow-up sampling and mapping over anomalous areas whether they are associated with rock chip samples from weathered exposures of mapped pegmatites or stream sediment samples highlighting more prospective catchment areas. The recognition of the high potential for regolith-hosted Rare Earth Element Mineralization adds a further dimension to this rapidly emerging greenfields exploration project."

Eugene Hodgson, CEO of Spark Energy Minerals, stated: "The expansion of our priority targets to cover a combined 31km pegmatite trend at the Arapaima Lithium Project marks a significant milestone in our exploration efforts. This development, along with the identification of 90 individual pegmatites and 19 old mining excavations, underscores the immense potential of our 64,359-hectare land package in Brazil's Lithium Valley. The discovery of new pegmatite trends and the potential for rare earth elements and gallium further enhances the value proposition of our project. With 70% of our tenement package still unexplored, we are excited about the prospects for continued discoveries as we advance our exploration program in 2025."

Qualified Person:

The scientific and technical information disclosed in this document has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill BSc Hons, FAUSIMM, a Qualified Person consistent with NI 43-101.

About Spark Energy Minerals Inc.

Spark Energy Minerals, Inc. is a Canadian company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of battery metals and mineral assets, with a particular emphasis on its substantial interests in Brazil. The Company's flagship project is the Arapaima Lithium project spanning 64,359 hectares in Brazil's renowned Lithium Valley, one of the most prolific mining regions in the world. This region is rapidly gaining global recognition for its vast deposits of lithium and rare earth minerals, positioning Brazil as a critical player in the global energy transition.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could," "intend," "expect," "believe," "will," "projected," "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239238

SOURCE: Spark Energy Minerals Inc.
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / January 31, 2025 / Henkel

AViewFrom Henkel North America series

Did you know that Henkel North America employs approximately 8,000 employees in more than 70 sites across the U.S. and Canada? Collectively, these sites support two business units: Adhesive Technologies and Consumer Brands.

Our AViewFrom series features select locations, sharing information and facts about our sites across Henkel North America.

Tightly sealed windows, flooring that stays put, and element-resistant siding that looks beautiful are all made possible with the sealants and adhesives produced at Henkel Adhesives Technologies' Mentor, Ohio facility. This is a site on the move, running seven days a week, powered by a dedicated team working to manufacture the products construction pros and do-it-yourselfers depend on. Learn more in this AViewFrom segment.

Near the shores of Lake Erie, one of the United States' Great lakes, sits Henkel's 196,000 sq. ft. Mentor, OH site, where about 140 employees manufacture construction adhesives and sealants for the company's Consumers & Craftsmen (ACC) business. Marketed under the LOCTITE, OSI, and LEPAGE brands, among others, this facility produces over 44 million cartridges of solvent-free and solvent-based adhesives and sealants annually to support North American professional and retail customers. The products are used for various kitchen and bath, window, door, flooring, and siding applications and are essential for preventing air and moisture ingress, securing flooring materials, and protecting against water damage on exterior siding.

"Our operation is highly complex and requires extreme precision," explains Plant Operations Director Joseph Perdue. "Unlike facilities serving industrial customers, where the material is filled into large drums, we produce point-of-sale cartridges in more than 20 different bulk formulations for 5 different brands. Consumers expect each 9.5 oz-tube of material to look and perform the same - every time."

Our team of operators, quality control professionals, maintenance and engineering specialists, and product development experts are dedicated to making sure every formulation is mixed, filled, and packaged to exacting standards and that product consistency is bar none. Our exceptional reputation depends on it. Joseph Perdue, Plant Operations Director

Like its water-based sealant and adhesives sister plant in LaGrange, GA, the Mentor, OH site has been in existence since 1984 and joined the Henkel manufacturing footprint in the early 2000s following the company's acquisition of OSI Sealants. The high-volume operation runs 24 hours a day Monday through Friday, with partial weekend production as well. Mentor was recognized in 2013 as Henkel's best global plant and, in 2019, was the recipient of significant capital investment to upgrade equipment and drive manufacturing efficiency. This year, two new high-speed filling lines were installed, helping to increase capacity, and freeing valuable resources for high-changeover production, such as Mentor's color-matched sealant lines.

Protecting natural resources is a hallmark of the Henkel Mentor plant, which is a carbon-neutral operation and a zero-waste-to-landfill site. No water is used in production processes here, and the team strives to significantly reduce manufacturing waste. With its color-matched line, for example, changing over the sealant colors means the first several tubes post-changeover will result in a mixture of the previous color and the new color. Instead of scrapping this material, the company sells its 'rainbow caulk' at a reduced price compared to its color-specific varieties. For applications where the sealant will not be visible, this is a perfect solution for waste reduction and consumer cost savings.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Mentor facility manufactures products that are specifically designed to color match various construction and design materials such as paints, windows and doors. More specifically, the plant produces hundreds of color-matched OSI brand sealants for color-coded products made by well-known construction material and supply manufacturers with a Color ID system to help find the perfect color match.

The Mentor plant's color matching capability and Color ID system gives customers and consumers options to match to existing building materials and supplies from well-known suppliers.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Engagement with the local community is central to Mentor's success and demonstrates its commitment to supporting area initiatives. Recently, the plant's focus has been to create awareness of the types of jobs available at the manufacturing facility and in various support functions. In September, a team of employees attended a career fair at the Case Western Reserve University to promote Henkel jobs and internships. In October, as part of the Mentor plant's Manufacturing Day activities, employees participated in the local high school's "Think Manufacturing" career fair where Senior Manufacturing Engineer Scott Schwickerath, Administrative Assistant Amia Martorana, and Packaging Operator Katy Shaffer, connected with students to discuss the variety of career opportunities at Henkel. The Gen Z crowd was all ears and had plenty of questions. Hopefully, some of them are inspired to take the next step!

CULTURE AND CAREER

"Opportunity is everywhere at this site," shares Amia Martorana, who worked as a machine operator for two years before becoming the administrative assistant.

If you want to learn, if you're curious, and have a passion for the business, there are multiple avenues for advancement. And management's support is extraordinary. I'm also a college student and appreciate being able to simultaneously pursue two goals - education and professional development. Amia Martorana, Site Administrator

Recognizing and valuing employees has been vital to building Mentor's unique culture.

When you operate a multi-shift site, traditional all-staff events are difficult to organize. Instead, we do shift-specific appreciation events like summer cookouts and holiday parties, which occur between shifts so that everyone can participate. Kelli Burns, Site Human Resources Business Partner

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Henkel on 3blmedia.com.



Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Henkel

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/henkel

Email: info@3blmedia.com



SOURCE: Henkel

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Metalore Resources Limited (TSXV:MET) ("Metalore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Ms. Ashley Nadon has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") and Director of the Company, and Mr. Peter Cox has been appointed as Director.

Ashley Nadon is a chartered professional accountant and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) degree from the University of Toronto, and an MBA in Accounting from McMaster University. Ms. Nadon provides consulting and accounting services to private and public companies in her role as Managing Director of a firm of chartered professional accountants. Ms. Nadon has experience as the CFO of several Reporting Issuers and is currently the CFO of Homeland Nickel Inc.

Ms. Nadon replaces Don Bryson, who steps down as Chief Financial Officer and Director. The Board would like to thank Mr. Bryson for his contribution to the Company and wishes him well with his future endeavors.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has appointed Mr. Peter Cox as Director. A graduate of McMaster University in Power & Energy Engineering Technology, he progressed at Titan Trailer becoming a Senior Designer in R&D, streamlining processes and enhanced efficiency. Peter has spent the past five years building his stake in Metalore, drawn by its distinctive balance of natural gas, gold resources, and cash reserves - along with its steadfast commitment to protecting shareholder equity.

Mr. Cox replaces Bruce Davis who, for health reasons, at 93 years of age, retires from Board duties as Director. We graciously thank Mr. Davis for his years of dedication and service to Metalore.

About Metalore Resources Limited

Metalore has produced natural gas from its Southwestern Ontario operations since 1964. Revenues generated from natural gas sales have enabled the Company to explore Northwestern Ontario for gold, copper, zinc, lithium, PGE's and diamonds without dilution to its share structure (currently 1,775,035 shares outstanding). The Company remains actively involved in joint venture exploration with Equinox Gold Greenstone Gold Mines on the Brookbank gold properties, Thunder Bay mining district.

For further information contact:

Armen Chilian P.Geo. President /CEO

(519) 428 - 2464 www.metaloreresources.ca/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.

SOURCE: Metalore Resources Ltd.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
TRU Precious Metals Corp. (TSXV:TRU)(OTCQB:TRUIF)(FSE:706) ("TRU" or the "Company") announces that Heran Zhou will be stepping down from his role as Corporate Secretary effective February 1, 2025. Mr. Zhou has held the position since October 1, 2022.

Olga Nikitovic, the Company's President and Chief Financial Officer will assume the additional role of Corporate Secretary.

The Board would like to thank Mr. Zhou for his invaluable contributions to the Company and wish him success in his future endeavors.

TRU (TSXV:TRU)(OTCQB:TRUIF)(FSE:706) is on a mission to build long-term shareholder value through prudent natural resource property development. The company's flagship project is the Golden Rose Project a regional-scale 297.50 km2 land package in Central Western Newfoundland (includes a 33.25 km2 package of claims over which TRU has an option with TSX-listed Quadro Resources to acquire up to an aggregate 65% ownership) which straddles a 45 km strike length along the gold deposit-bearing Cape Ray - Valentine Lake Shear Zone, directly between Calibre Mining's Valentine Project and AuMEGA Metals' Cape Ray Gold Project. TRU is currently focused on efficiently discovering the full gold and copper potential at Golden Rose, targeting continuity along this proven gold bearing trend. The Golden Rose Project is currently subject to an Earn-In Agreement with TSX-listed Eldorado Gold Corporation ("Eldorado"), whereby Eldorado has the option to fund CAD15.25M in cash payments and exploration expenditures over 5 years to earn an 80%-interest in the Golden Rose project. Please refer to our July 30th, 2024 press release for further details of the agreement.

TRU is approximately 36%-owned by European strategic investor Ormonde Mining plc (AQSE:ORM).

For further information about TRU, please contact:

Steve NICOL

CEO

TRU Precious Metals Corp.

Phone: 1-855-760-2TRU (2878)

Email: ir@trupreciousmetals.com

To connect with TRU via social media, below are links:

X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/TRUMetals

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TruMetalsCorp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tru-precious-metals-corp/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TRUMetals/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TRUMetals/

Acknowledgement

TRU would like to thank the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for financial support through the Junior Exploration Assistance Program and the Federal Government for its critical mineral assistance funding for the exploration activities at Golden Rose.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding Golden Rose, the Company's exploration programs and results, and commodities prices that are believed by management to be reasonable in the circumstances, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including without limitation: mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on Golden Rose; the exploration potential of Golden Rose and the nature and style of mineralization at Golden Rose; risks inherent in mineral exploration activities; volatility in precious metals and base metals prices; volatility in economic conditions and financial markets; and those other risks described in the Company's continuous disclosure documents. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements herein. Investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements herein except as required by applicable securities laws.

This press release is solely the responsibility of TRU, and Eldorado is not in any way responsible or liable for the contents hereof.

Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: TRU Precious Metals Corp.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (OTCQB: DTCFF) (FSE: DTC) ("Defence" or the "Company"), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing radiopharmaceuticals and ADC products using its proprietary platform and drug delivery technologies in addition to novel immune-oncology vaccines, is pleased to announce the closing of the 2nd tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of $0.60 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $3,915,000 (the "Closing").

Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each whole, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one additional Share at an exercise price of $0.75 per Share for a period of 24 months from the date of the Closing (the "Warrant Expiry Date").

In connection with the Closing, the Company paid a cash finder's fees consisting of: (i) a cash fee equal to $217,680 and (ii) issued a total of 372,000 finder's warrants (the "Finder's Warrants") to certain qualified arm's length finder. Each Finder's Warrant is exercisable into one Share at an exercise price of $0.75 per Share on or before the Warrant Expiry Date. PowerOne Capital Markets Limited acted as a finder in connection with a portion of the Offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to advance its preclinical and clinical programs and for general working capital. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from their date of issue in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The Company has granted 250,000 incentive stock options to two board members (the "Directors' Options") and 100,000 incentive stock option to a consultant (the "Consultant's Options"), in accordance with the terms and conditions of Defence's Omnibus Incentive Plan. The stock options granted are vested immediately and exercisable at a price of $1.02 per common share of the Company, of which the Director's Options are for a period of ten years from the grant date and the Consultant's Options are for a period of three years.

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded clinical-stage biotechnology company developing and engineering the next generation of radio-immuno-conjugate and ADC products using its proprietary platform in addition to novel immune-oncology vaccines. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUM technology, which enables precision delivery of radio-immuno-conjugates or ADCs in their intact form to target cells, and vaccine antigens. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, 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/239258

SOURCE: Defence Therapeutics Inc.
Blue Sage Capital, an Austin, TX-based lower-middle market private equity firm, announced the final close of Blue Sage Capital IV, L.P., at $618M including a substantial commitment from the General Partner.

The fund was backed by a global group of Limited Partners including well-known college/university endowments, charitable foundations, pension funds, large family offices, insurance companies, and entrepreneurial individuals. Many of the Limited Partners have now partnered with Blue Sage across multiple prior funds, some going back to the firms founding almost 25 years ago.

The fund continues Blue Sages strategy of partnering with founders, families, and management teams in high-potential lower-middle market businesses. As with prior Blue Sage funds, Fund IV focuses on investment partnerships with environmental solutions, niche manufacturing, and specialty services companies in North America, particularly in Texas, the Southwest, and the Midwest.

With Fund IV closed, the firm has now raised over $1.2 Billion during its history.

Led by Peter Huff, Founder and Managing Partner, Blue Sage Capital is a private equity firm that has been investing in profitable and growing lower middle-market companies since 2002. Blue Sage seeks to partner with founders, families, and management teams as the first round of institutional capital for businesses that enjoy leadership positions in niche manufacturing, environmental solutions, or specialty services industries. Blue Sage will invest $25 million to $60 million in control buyout investments and recapitalizations of companies with $25 million to $200 million of revenue.

FinSMEs

31/01/2025
Cogenuity Partners, a San Francisco, CA-based lower middle market private equity firm, announced the close of its inaugural fund, Cogenuity Fund I LP, with $425M in total capital commitments.

The fund received commitments from a diverse limited partner base that included a number of blue-chip investors, such as endowments and foundations, insurance companies, funds-of-funds and strategic investors.

Founded by Dan Delaney, Cogenuity invests in businesses providing critical products, services, and equipment across high-value manufacturing, infrastructure solutions, critical industrial services and industrial technology.

Cogenuity began deploying the Fund in 2024 with the completion of its first investment in United Safety & Survivability Corporation, a global manufacturer of innovative safety and survivability solutions. Cogenuity also assisted USSC management in the acquisition of Dafo Vehicle, a Sweden-based developer and manufacturer of fire suppression systems.

FinSMEs

31/01/2025
Motif Systems, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a building design platform, raised $46M in Seed and Series A Funding.

The round was led by CapitalG, and the previously undisclosed Seed round was led by Redpoint Ventures. Pre-seed venture firm Baukunst also participated in both rounds.

The company intends to us etch funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Motif Systems is creating a new platform for building design. The company aims to improve the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry by integrating modern 3D technology, cloud platforms, and AI to develop a dynamic and collaborative process yielding more sustainable and efficient places to live, work and connect.

It was founded in 2023 by CEO Amar Hanspal (former Co-CEO of Autodesk, CPO at Autodesk, and founder and CEO of Bright Machines) and CTO Brian Matthews (former VP of platform engineering at Autodesk, VP and group CTO of information modeling and platform group, and founder and CTO at Bright Machines). Matt Jezyk (former Autodesk, Tesla, Rivian) and Lira Nikolovska (former Phillips Design, Autodesk, Bright Machines) joined Motifs founding team.

FinSMEs

31/01/2025
Indias real estate sector is on the cusp of a significant transformation, propelled by technological advancements in PropTech. The governments 2025 Union Budget highlights this shift, highlighting the integration of technology within real estate as a pivotal growth driver.

The Indian governments commitment to digitizing land records and real estate transactions is evident through initiatives like the Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). This programme aims to enhance transparency and streamline property transactions, laying the groundwork for a more efficient and digitally enabled real estate sector. Additionally, the implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) has established a regulatory framework that fosters trust among investors and consumers, facilitating the adoption of PropTech solutions.

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The budgets emphasis on technological innovation is expected to bolster investments in PropTech. In the past 14 years, the sector has attracted over $4.6 billion in investments, with a significant portion coming from foreign players keen to tap into Indias potential. This influx of capital is anticipated to drive innovation within the PropTech sector, enabling startups to develop advanced and user-friendly solutions that cater to the evolving needs of the real estate market.

The budgets focus on affordable housing and sustainable development presents a unique opportunity for PropTech to address critical challenges. By incentivizing the use of technology in building smarter, more sustainable housing options, the government aims to streamline construction processes, reduce costs and facilitate faster approvals. Broker aggregation technology can significantly enhance this effort by organizing and streamlining the real estate transaction process. It integrates independent brokers onto a unified platform, allowing them to access verified listings, manage transactions more efficiently and provide better services to both developers and buyers. This technology brings transparency to the sector, reduces friction and accelerates deal closures, all of which contribute to making affordable housing projects more viable and scalable, while also driving sustainable urban development.

Data-driven decision-making is poised to become a cornerstone of Indias real estate sector. The governments budgetary support for data collection, management and analytics is expected to empower developers, investors and policymakers with accurate, real-time information. This empowerment will enhance decision-making processes, reduce risks, and foster a more transparent and efficient real estate market.

India stands at a pivotal juncture, with the 2025 Union Budget setting the stage for a technologically advanced and sustainable real estate sector. The governments strategic initiatives, coupled with increased investments in PropTech are expected to drive innovation and address critical challenges such as affordable housing and urban infrastructure.

The author is Founder of ANACITY. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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According to a recent report, showrunners Raj & DK have wrapped up the first shoot schedule in Mumbai read more

Aditya Roy Kapur is reportedly headlining Raj & DKs next project Rakt Bramhand-The Bloody Kingdom. by The Night Manager actor is said to have undergone three months of training in sword fighting, weaponry, horse riding, archery, and other physical art forms. Heres what the director duo and Aditya shared about the Netflix show.

Raj & DK are set to collaborate with actor Aditya Roy Kapur in their next project Rakt Bramhand-The Bloody Kingdom. Touted to be an action fantasy drama, the show also stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Ali Fazal.

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According to a recent report, showrunners Raj & DK have wrapped up the first shoot schedule in Mumbai as they said At the heart of Rakt Brahmand is a character that demands strength, intensity and a bit of wackiness, and Aditya brings all of that as the lead. And for his part, hes been training very hard to meet the demands of the character. Our goal with this show is to create a world that is both original and evokes the fantastical tales we grew up hearing, the filmmaker duo said.
Paoli said she mostly selects movies in which women are in lead roles. read more

Actor Paoli Dam of Hate Story fame on Friday said she does not like the conventional films having larger-than-life male heroes as those are signs of patriarchy.

Paoli said she mostly selects movies in which women are in lead roles.

She is essaying the role of the female protagonist in Chhad (Terrace), a Bengali film produced by the NFDC after 15 years.

The demarcation between films with larger-than-life male characters as heroes and content-rich films having women in lead roles should erase gradually, she said.

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The larger-than-life male hero is a sign of the patriarchal system, Paoli told PTI on the sidelines of the trailer launch of Chhad, which will hit the screens on March 8, International Womens Day.

I choose characters which I identify with in some way or other, she said.

For her character in Chhad, the terrace is a metaphor for freedom, Paoli said.

My character can never see the open sky from the sideway window as the view from her room is blocked by walls. So the woman, who loves to write stories, draw pictures and imparts tuition to children, chooses terrace as the subject which is the space for her liberated soul," she said.

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Her other major films include Kaalbela (2009), Elar Char Adhyay (2012), Sab Charitro Kalponik (2009), Moner Manush (2010) and Machher Jhol (2017).

Paoli said she is happy that the NFDC-produced film which earned accolades in film festivals in Dhaka, Toronto and elsewhere is being released on International Womens Day.

An NFDC spokesperson said, We produced a Bengali film after 15 years. The last Bengali film produced by NFDC was Mayabazaar in 2012, he said.

The motto of NFDC is to produce interesting films of new directors and encourage them to make more regional films, he said.
Some of the other titles are Rian Johnsons next Knives Out film Wake Up Dead Man, which will bring back Daniel Craig as famous sleuth Benoit Blanc, as well as filmmaker Noah Baumbachs Jay Kelly with George Clooney. read more

Streaming platform Netflix on Friday unveiled its international films and series slate, including Frankenstein by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, crime thriller Rip with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and the much-anticipated third season of Squid Game.

Some of the other titles are Rian Johnsons next Knives Out film Wake Up Dead Man, which will bring back Daniel Craig as famous sleuth Benoit Blanc, as well as filmmaker Noah Baumbachs Jay Kelly with George Clooney.

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The event at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles included special guests WWE superstars CM Punk and Rhea Ripley as well as prominent Hollywood names like del Toro, Affleck, John Mulaney, Tina Fey and the Duffer Brothers. It was simultaneously live-streamed across 12 countries.

No matter what youre looking forward to this year, theres no way to be completely ready for whats next on Netix, Bela Bajaria, Netixs Chief Content Ofcer, said at the companys annual showcase of films, series and games in 2025.

With more than 700 million people watching, we cant just be one thing. We need to be the best version of everything, Bajaria said. Based on Mary Shelleys 1818 novel of the same title, del Toros Frankenstein features Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Over the decades, the character has fused with my soul in a way that it has become an autobiography. It doesnt get more personal than this, said Guillermo del Toro, who has been wanting to make this project for 50 years, in a video message. The streamer has revealed that The Old Guard 2 is set to premiere on July 2. The film marks the return of Charlize Theron as Andy of Scythia, the immortal mercenary, who confronts a powerful new adversary.

In addition, Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelows untitled Netix lm is scheduled for a release later this year.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the star-studded cast includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Jonah Hauer-King, Moses Ingram, Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke.

New comedies include The Four Seasons, a fresh adaptation of the 1981 lm originally written by Alan Alda, now helmed by Tina Fey. She said they were able to assemble a cast of beloved comedy actors that could create the same

warm, human vibe of the original. Lena Dunham has inked a creative partnership with Netix for the upcoming scripted debut with Netflix, with Too Much

Netflix and Tyler Perry announced two new projects: a new film, Madeas Destination Wedding, and a new comedy series, She The People.

In addition to this, Perry also has part two of the hit drama series Beauty in Black, which is set to return on March 6, the drama feature Straw, and the faith-based feature R&B. The streaming platform also released first-look images from these projects. Netflix is also bringing fan-favourite titles, including Stranger Things, Wednesday and Squid Game. Bajaria revealed that season two of Jenna Ortega-led Wednesday recently wrapped production and will come out later this year.

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She also announced that the final season of Squid Game will debut on June 27. Talking about the final season of Stranger Things, co-creator Ross Duffer said, This is our biggest and most ambitious season yet. Added his brother, Matt, At the same time, we think its our most personal story. It was super intense and emotional to film  for us and our actors. The Duffer Brothers also talked about two new shows they are executive producing in 2026

The Boroughs and Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. Were going to be hanging around at Netflix, which has been our home for the past 10 years, Ross said. We couldnt ask for better partners. If you want to tell original stories like we do, this is the place to be.

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On the documentary front, Netflix announced projects like Air Force Elite, Chaos: The Manson Murders, Eddie, Pangolin: Kulus Journey, Titan, American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden, Gone Girls, and Katrina: Come Hell and High Water.

A new weekly one-of-a-kind late-night show, Everybodys Live with John Mulaney, will premiere live on March 12. We will be live globally with no delay. We will never be relevant. We will never be your source for news. We will always be reckless, Mulaney said.
Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a big worry for India. His organisation, the Sikhs for Justice, has tendered several threats against Indian officials, including PM Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The Centre in a submission to a UAPA tribunal also claimed that the collective has incited Sikh soldiers in the Indian Army to quit and even instigated Christians in Manipur to secede read more

A UAPA tribunal has upheld the Centre's decision to extend the ban on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun-run Sikhs for Justice group. The Centre submitted several arguments to support their move. File image/AP

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the pro-Khalistan separatist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), could best be described as Indias enemy number 1. He and his organisation have made multiple threats against India and its government over the years, earning him the tag of terrorist and banning his group from operating in the country.

And earlier this month, an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal in Delhi upheld the Centres decision of banning the SFJ for five years.

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But what makes Pannuns SFJ a threat to India? Heres what the government has revealed.

Pannun a terrorist, SFJ banned in India

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who escaped to the US from India in 2007, founded the SFJ in the same year with the express intent of achieving self-determination for the Sikh people in their historic homeland in the region of Indian held Punjab and establishing a sovereign state, popularly known as Khalistan.

In 2018, he earned notoriety when he planned a sizable pro-Khalistan Sikh gathering in Londons Trafalgar Square and declared their campaign, Referendum 2020. His actions prompted the Centre to declare him as a terrorist under Section 51A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

In the following year, the Indian government declared the SFJ as an unlawful organisation for five years, which was extended for another five years in July 2024.

Pannun has made repeated threats to India over the past few years. In October 2020, a week before former Prime Minister Indira Gandhis death anniversary, Pannun made a video message in which he urged Indian students to raise the Khalistan flag and slogans in support of the country in exchange for an iPhone 12 Mini.

He also wrote to Xi Jinping of China in June 2020 to empathise with the people of China following the Galwan conflict. He also criticised Indias violent aggression causing the death of several soldiers of China at Ladakh valley border, according to the Caravan.

Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun founded the Sikhs for Justice group in 2007. File image/AP

When India played host to the G20 Summit in September 2023, he released an audio message asking Kashmiri Muslims residing in the Valley to go to Delhi and march to Pragati Maidan after Friday prayers. He also threatened to hoist the Khalistani flag at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport.

In October 2024, Pannun went as far as issuing a public video warning urging passengers to avoid flying on Air India flights between November 1 and 19. Pannun claimed that an attack could happen during this period, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of what he referred to as the Sikh genocide. Additionally, hes warned of attacking the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya.

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Tribunal upholds Centres decision on SFJ

Earlier in January, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Tribunal upheld the Centres extension of a five-year ban on SFJ, citing a slew of subversive activities carried out by the outfit.

The tribunal consisting of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta had been constituted on August 2 last year to determine whether or not there was sufficient cause for extending the declaration of SFJ as an unlawful association.

To support their reason, the Centre submitted a report, citing all of SFJs activities which were harming the countrys internal security and public as well as the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.

In its submission, the Centre said that the SFJ issued multiple threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and, even Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Rajnath Singhs landline received a recorded voice message on July 22, 2024, alleging that Sikhs were under existential threat due to the Indian government, and warned Members of Parliament to stay home if they did not want to experience the Khalistan referendum, reported the Indian Express.

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SFJ has not only issued threats, as per the Centres submission but also filed baseless court cases against Indians visiting European countries, Canada and USA. In fact, last year, a US district court had issued summons to the Indian government, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel, among others, on a civil lawsuit filed by Pannun, seeking damages for an alleged plot to assassinate him in 2023.

The SFJ, the Centre, submitted has also risked the lives of Indian diplomats. Photographs of Indian diplomats  Ambassador Vikram Duraiswami, Ambassador Tranajot Singh Sandhu, Ambassador Sanjay Kumar Varma, Aseem R Mahajan, Dr Shashank Vikram, Apoorva Srivastava and Manish  have been circulated by Pannun mentioning them as Killers in UK, Killers in USA, Killers in Canada, Killers in Australia while blaming them for the killing of pro-Khalistani Hardeep Singh Nijjar (in Canada in 2023) and prominently displaying Kill India posters, thus making Indian diplomats vulnerable and putting at risk the lives of senior Indian diplomats, officials and their families posted in various countries, observed the Centre.

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Furthermore, to back its decision to extend the ban on SFJ, the Centre pointed out the numerous cases  almost 104 in number  against the group, As many as 96 cases have been registered against SFJ in Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Assam. The remaining eight are being probed by National Investigating Agency, read a gazette published by the government.

The Centre further noted in its submissions that Pannun and the SFJ have provoked and instigated the Sikh soldiers of the Army on social media to leave the Indian Army. The Indian government contended that Pannun had urged Sikh soldiers to join the SFJ movement and offered them Rs 5,000 more than the salary they received.

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An activist holds a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun during a rally in New Delhi. File image/AFP

In its submission, the Centre said that Pannun also tried to provoke the Punjab Police officials, urging them not to stop farmers from going to Jalandhar, Pathankot and Abohar during the farmers stir, the governments submission to the tribunal read.

A note from the Centre states that the SFJ incited Muslims, Tamils and Christians from Manipur to secede from India. The note read that SFJ was inciting the Christian community in Manipur to raise their voices for a separate country and instigated the people of Tamil Nadu to raise flags of Dravidstan and stoking Muslim sentiments by raising the bogey of minority persecution and pressed them to carve out a separate Urduistan.

SFJs threats against judge

But it doesnt stop there. On Wednesday (January 29), SFJ also issued a threat against Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, the tribunal chief, for upholding the ban on the organisation.

The Times of India reported that Pannun accused Justice Mendiratta of complicity in judicial oppression against the Khalistan movement. He called Justice Mendirattas ruling an act of judicial tyranny.

The SFJ further added that the Khalistan referendum was a legitimate political referendum and not an act of terrorism. It stated that those who issued oppressive rulings against Khalistan activities would be held accountable.

With inputs from agencies
Three-and-a-half-years of political turmoil, which saw three prime ministers come and go, culminated on January 31, 2020 when the United Kingdom officially exited the European Union, marking a watershed moment in European history read more

So long, farewell, its hard to say goodbye sang the children of the Von Trapp family in the movie The Sound of Music. However, on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom wasnt humming the same song when it officially quit the European Union (EU), marking a watershed moment for both the UK and the EU.

Its this event and other such memorable moments that make January 31 a significant day in history.

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In our ongoing series History Today, we revisit UKs exit from the EU and other events that shaped the world.

Goodbye EU, says UK

After three-and-a-half years  UK had voted yes in the Brexit referendum conducted on June 23, 2016  Britain finally became the first ever country to leave the European Union at 11:01 pm GMT on January 31, 2020.

In a televised address, Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: The most important thing to say tonight is that this is not an end but a beginning. This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act.

The announcement saw muted celebrations and protests. It was a time of excitement and concern. Excitement because the UK was entering a new era; concern because the future was uncertain and no one knew what would happen to the country after choosing to leave the umbrella of a giant trading power.

A man waves a British flag on Brexit day in London, Britain. File image/Reuters

But how did UK get here? It dates back to June 2016 when the British people went to the polls in a vote on whether the UK should remain a member of the EU. To much of the countrys shock, 51.9 per cent of Brits voted to leave the EU with 48.1 per cent voting to remain in the economic and political union. What followed was political turmoil; then Prime Minister David Cameron resigned.

Finally after many deliberations, delays and discussions, an exit was decided upon and Brexit was finally triggered. However, it also set the stage for how Britain would negotiate its future relationship with Europe.

Whether Brexit has been a success or not is still to be decided. But one thing is certain  it is one of the biggest political and economic shifts in modern European history.

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US President Truman announces development of H-Bomb

On this day, back in 1950, US President Harry S Truman publicly announced his decision to support the development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon believed to be hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

This moment in history came after the United States lost its nuclear supremacy when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb five months earlier. This led to Truman to approve massive funding to complete the worlds first superbomb, as he described it in his public announcement on January 31.

In his speech, Truman said, It is part of my responsibility as commander in chief of the Armed Forces to see to it that our country is able to defend itself against any possible aggressor.

Accordingly, I have directed the Atomic Energy Commission to continue its work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or superbomb. Like all other work in the field of atomic weapons, it is being and will be carried forward on a basis consistent with the overall objectives of our program for peace and security.

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Two years later, on November 1, 1952, the United States successfully detonated Mike, the worlds first hydrogen bomb, on the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Marshall Islands. The explosive instantly vaporised an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Chimp goes where no chimp has gone before

Long before Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 won the space race for the United States, it was Ham, an astro-chimp that went to space, paving the way for Armstrong.

As the Russians moved closer to sending a human into orbit, the Americans decided to use three-year-old Ham to find out whether humans would be able to survive in space. After 18 months of training, Ham was selected as the chimpanzee whose life would be risked to test the safety of space flight on the ape body. On January 31, 1961, after several hours of waiting on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, three-and-a-half-year old Ham was propelled into space, strapped into a container called a couch.

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Ham, then a three-year-old chimpanzee, in the biopack couch for the MR-2 suborbital test flight. File image/Nasa

Hams flight lasted approximately 16.5 minutes. After the flight, Hams capsule splashed down, following which he was retrieved. When he was finally released from the couch however, his face bore an enormous grin. Although interpreted as a happy smile by many people, Hams expression was one of extreme fear and anxiety.

Two years after his historic space journey, Ham was transferred to The National Zoo, where he lived alone for 17 years, before finally being sent to the North Carolina Zoo where he could live with other chimps. He died 22 years after his historic flight into space, on January 18, 1983, at the estimated age of 26.

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This Day, That Year

>> In 1990, the Soviet Unions first McDonalds fast food restaurant opened in Moscow.

>> In 2020, the United States declared a public health emergency over the new coronavirus.
After the native forest Te Urewera and Whanganui River, New Zealand has now granted legal rights to a mountain. Mount Taranaki, which will be known by its Maori name  Taranaki Maunga, has gotten all the rights and responsibilities of a human being. What does this mean? read more

A man takes a picture of his wife with Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont, in the background in New Plymouth, New Zealand, September 26, 2011. File Photo/AP

A mountain in New Zealand will have the same legal rights as a person. Mount Taranaki, now known by its Maori name  Taranaki Maunga, was recognised as a legal person on Thursday (January 30) after a settlement became law.

The snow-capped dormant volcano is considered an ancestor by Indigenous people in New Zealand. The new law grants the mountain all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

Lets take a closer look.

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What does the law say?

The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill became law after receiving a nod from New Zealands Parliament Thursday. It was passed by 123 lawmakers unanimously.

It gives Taranaki Maunga all rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person.

The legal personality of the mountain will be known as Te Kahui Tupua, which the law sees as a living and indivisible whole, as per Associated Press (AP).

The legislation covers Taranaki and its surrounding peaks and land, incorporating all their physical and metaphysical elements.

A view of Mount Taranaki near New Plymouth September 26, 2011. File Photo/Reuters

Hundreds of Maori from the Taranaki region were present in Parliament as the bill became law, recognising their perspective that natural features are ancestors and living beings, reported BBC.

Reactions to the law

The law means Taranaki Maunga will own itself, with four members from local Maori iwi, or tribes, and four others appointed by New Zealands Conservation Minister being the face and voice of the mountain.

The mountain has long been an honoured ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place," Paul Goldsmith, the government minister responsible for the settlements with Maori tribes, told Parliament in a speech on Thursday.

Today, Taranaki, our maunga [mountain], our maunga tupuna [ancestral mountain], is released from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of political party Te Pati Maori [the Maori Party], was quoted as saying by AP.

We grew up knowing there was nothing anyone could do to make us any less connected, she added.

Aisha Campbell, who is also from a Taranaki iwi, told 1News that the mountain is what connects us and what binds us together as a people.

Why does it matter?

The law aims to undo the historic wrongs done to Maori from the Taranaki region during colonisation.

Taranaki Maunga will no longer be officially known as Mount Egmont  the name given to the mountain by British explorer Captain James Cook in 1770 after he spotted it from his ship.

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In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between Maori tribes and representatives of the British crown. This pact, which established New Zealand as a country, granted Maori rights to their land and resources.

However, the Crown breached the treaty, breaking its promise to Maori.

As per BBC, Goldsmith admitted that breaches of the Treaty mean that immense and compounding harm have been inflicted upon the whanau [wider family], hapu [sub-tribe] and iwi of Taranaki, causing immeasurable harm over many decades.

Traditional Maori practices associated with the mountain were banned while tourism was promoted, he acknowledged.

The mountains legal rights will ensure its traditional uses are restored and conservation work is done to protect its native wildlife.

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The public will continue to have access to the mountain.

The settlement came with an apology from the government for confiscating Mt Taranaki and over a million acres of land from local Maori in the 1860s.

This is not the first time New Zealand has granted legal personhood to its natural feature. In 2014, Te Urewera, a vast native forest on the North Island, became the first to get such rights.

New Zealand recognised the Whanganui River as human in 2017.

With input from agencies
Shubhanshu Shukla, a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, is set to become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). He will serve as a pilot in the Axiom-4 mission, a joint venture between Nasa and Isro. Shukla said he would carry several items representing India read more

Shukla will be Indias second astronaut to venture into space. X/@Axiom_Space

Shubhanshu Shukla is set to script history as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission is part of a collaboration between Nasa and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the US space agency announced.

The Axiom-4 mission will mark the return of human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each country sponsoring its first government-backed astronaut in over 40 years.

Shukla will be Indias second astronaut to venture into space, nearly four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharmas historic 1984 journey aboard a Soviet spacecraft.

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The commercial mission will be led by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, who serves as the director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space. Shukla, an Isro astronaut, will take on the role of pilot.

But who is Shubhanshu Shukla, and how did he reach this milestone? Heres a look at his journey so far:

Who is Shubhanshu Shukla?

Shukla, a group captain in the Indian Air Force, was earlier named the Prime astronaut for the Isros Gaganyaan mission.

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Shukla is fluent in both English and his native Hindi.

His career took off when he was commissioned into the Indian Air Forces fighter wing in June 2006. A seasoned test pilot and combat leader, he has accumulated 2,000 hours of flight experience on various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.

In 2019, Isro called him for astronaut training. He then underwent a year of rigorous preparation at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow.

On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Shukla was among the select astronauts undergoing intensive training for Indias first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, planned for launch in 2025.

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In August 2024, Shukla was chosen as the Prime astronaut for the upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS), while Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair was selected as the Backup astronaut.

The Gaganyaan mission aims to find Indias human spaceflight capabilities by sending a three-member crew to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission, with a safe return to Indian waters.

According to The Indian Express, his aspiration to become an astronaut was shaped by stories of bravery from the 1999 Kargil War, which took place when he was 14. These accounts of heroism motivated him to join the armed forces.

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Shukla graduated from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Air Forces fighter stream on June 17, 2006, making him the first in his family to serve in the armed forces. Looking back on his journey, he describes it as a rollercoaster ride, News18 reported.

Nicknamed Gunjan by his family, Shukla is the youngest of three siblings and a father to a four-year-old son. His family considers his selection a proud milestone, according to the report. At 39, he is the youngest astronaut-designate for the ISS mission.

This is the journey of 1.4 billion people: Shukla

During an online press conference, the Axiom Mission 4 crew members spoke about their training experiences and what it meant to travel to the ISS.

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I am really, really excited to go into microgravity and experience spaceflight on my own. The tempo for the mission has been building up each month and I think we are at a stage where all the pieces are kind of coming together. I am extremely excited to see how this unfolds in the coming months, he was quoted as saying by PTI.

I also have a personal agenda of capturing my experiences on board the station (ISS) through pictures and videos so that I can share these with all the Bharatvaasis back home.

I want them to share this thrilling experience through my eyes, for I truly believe that, even as an individual travelling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people, he added.

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Shukla said he planned to take certain items from different parts of the country with him to the ISS during the 14-day mission and even expressed hope to serve Indian food to astronauts in the orbital laboratory.

Isro has come up with a unique idea. India is a big country with different regions with their own cultures and very rich history. Isro consulted a university where students were asked to come up with these ideas from each and every region, he said.

Mission Pilot & future Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla will be taking several items representing the various regions and communities of India to space with him on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS! 



ISRO had contacted an university and asked its students from various parts of the pic.twitter.com/xJ68Scqx6b  ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) January 30, 2025

Shukla said he would carry with him a lot of items representing the regions in particular and India in general to honour his country.

ALSO READ | How Elon Musk will help bring Sunita Williams back from space

He also plans to practice a few poses of yoga. Going forward, training will mostly be repetition of things Id probably demonstrate a few poses of yoga. Most importantly we need to practice yoga while we are on the ground for a healthy body and mind, he said.

Sharma-Shukla parallel

Shuklas journey to space comes nearly four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharmas historic achievement in 1984. However, there are more similarities between Sharma and Shuklas trips.

Ahead of the mission, Axiom released the space patch that will feature on the astronauts space suits. The Ax-4 patch includes four ascending lines, each representing the flag of a country participating in the mission.

A similar space patch with the Indian flag was worn by Rakesh Sharma in 1981. This would be another time the Indian flag would be featured on a space patch.

The patch design prominently places Earth at the centre of a pentagon, along with the names and flags of all four astronauts. Seven stars are also depicted in the centre, symbolising the seven continents, according to The Indian Express.

The first Indian astronaut travelled to space in 1984, I was born in 1985. I grew up reading about him in our textbooks and hearing about his stories from space. But the desire to become an astronaut couldnt take root in me as India didnt have an active human spaceflight programme. But another impressionable thing was an airshow where a fighter plane captured my attention, Shukla told The Times of India.

What we know about the Axiom-4 mission

Axiom-4 is the fourth mission by private space company Axiom Space in collaboration with Nasa and is scheduled to launch for the ISS sometime in October this year.

The first private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 1, launched in April 2022 for a 17-day stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. The second, Axiom Mission 2, also commanded by Whitson, launched in May 2023 with four private astronauts who spent eight days in orbit.

The most recent mission, Axiom Mission 3, launched in January 2024, with the crew spending 18 days docked at the space station.

Indias participation in the mission comes after PM Modis visit to the US last year, during which he announced a collaboration between the two nations to send an Indian astronaut to the ISS in 2024.

Following this announcement, the Astronaut Selection Board of India shortlisted four astronauts from a group of Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots: Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan, Group Captain Ajith Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

The mission will be carried out using the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

With inputs from agencies
Following President Droupadi Murmus address in Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said she appeared very tired and could hardly speak, poor thing, while her son Rahul Gandhi dismissed the address as boring. The remark has ignited a storm with criticism pouring from PM Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders read more

After President Droupadi Murmu delivered her customary address to Parliament, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi remarked to reporters that the President appeared very tired" during her speech, while her son, Rahul Gandhi, dismissed the address as boring." PTI

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has sparked a major controversy after she referred to President Droupadi Murmu as a poor thing following her address in Parliament at the start of the Budget Session on Friday.

The remark has drawn fierce criticism from several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtrapati Bhavan, who said her comment was unacceptable and in poor taste.

The BJP has even accused Gandhi of disrespecting Indias first tribal President and demanded an unconditional apology. The Congress, however, has defended her insisting that her words were taken out of context.

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So, what exactly did Sonia Gandhi say? How did her comment trigger such a political storm? Heres everything you need to know.

What did Sonia Gandhi say?

After President Droupadi Murmu, 66, delivered her customary address to Parliament, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi remarked to reporters that the President appeared very tired" during her speech, while her son, Rahul Gandhi, described the address as boring."

The President was getting very tired by the end She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi was heard telling Rahul.

#WATCH | Delhi | After the President's address to the Parliament, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi says,"...The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing..." pic.twitter.com/o6cwoeYFdE  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

Her remark immediately triggered a fierce backlash from the BJP, which accused her of making a derogatory comment and demanded an unconditional apology.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya slammed the remark, claiming it demeaned the high office of the President and exposed Gandhis feudal mindset.

Union Minister JP Nadda also condemned the comment, calling it deeply disrespectful and a reflection of the Congress partys elitist, anti-poor, and anti-tribal nature. He demanded that the Congress issue an unconditional apology to both President Murmu and Indias tribal communities.

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Union Minister for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju echoed this demand, asserting, Our President, a tribal woman, is not weak. Droupadi Murmu has worked extensively for the country and society in ways they [Congress leaders] cannot even imagine. They should apologise to her.

#WATCH | On Congress MP Sonia Gandhi's statement on President Droupadi Murmu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju says, "... I condemn the comments made by Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. Our President, a tribal woman, is not weak... Droupadi Murmu has worked pic.twitter.com/d5R3n8ULYa  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

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Similarly, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan called Gandhis remark an unprecedented insult to the President.

PM Modi reacts

Condemning Sonia Gandhis remark, PM Modi during an election rally in Delhis Dwarka said the Congress familys arrogance was on full display today.

President Droupadi Murmu addressed Parliament. But a member of the royal family said the language was boring. One member said her language seemed tiring Urban Naxals words are more interesting to the royal family, PM Modi said, criticising the Congress.

#WATCH | Delhi: PM Narendra Modi says, "Droupadi Murmu ji has come here from a tribal family. Her mother tongue is not Hindi, it is Odia. She inspired the Parliament today in a wonderful way, gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her. A member of pic.twitter.com/yIB0c4PUhl  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

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He went on to describe the comment as an insult to the 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of the country.

Droupadi Murmu ji has come here from a tribal family. Her mother tongue is not Hindi, it is Odia. She inspired the Parliament today in a wonderful way, gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her, he added.

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Clearly hurt dignity of high office:Rashtrapati Bhavan

The Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a firm response, calling the remarks made by some prominent leaders of the Congress as unacceptable and stating that they clearly hurt the dignity of the high office.

The statement further clarified that President Droupadi Murmu was not tired at any point during her speech. It emphasised that the President believes speaking up for marginalized communities, women, and farmers can never be tiring.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan also said that it might be the case that the leaders were unfamiliar with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages, adding that in any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable.

Priyanka Gandhi, Congress come to Sonias defence

In the wake of criticism over Sonia Gandhis remark, her daughter Priyanka Gandhi stepped forward to defend her, claiming that the comments were being misinterpreted.

#WATCH | Delhi: On Sonia Gandhi's remarks on President Murmu and her speech, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says, "My mother is a 78-year-old lady, she has simply said that 'the President read such a long speech and she must have been tired, poor thing'...she fully respects pic.twitter.com/xNQTydHUAX  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

My mother is a 78-year-old lady, she has simply said that the President read such a long speech and she must have been tired, poor thing. She fully respects the President of India. I think it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is twisted by the media. They both are two respected people and older than us. She means no disrespect. BJP should first apologise for pushing into a gorge, Priyanka said.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge also defended the statement, asserting that the party can never insult the President or any citizen.

The Indian National Congress and our leaders can never insult His Excellency the President or any citizen. This is not our culture," Kharge said, before shifting his focus to the BJP.

He added, The President was insulted by the Modi government on the very day when he was not invited to the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament. BJP had deliberately kept our current President and previous President away from both the Temple of Democracy and Ram Temple."

With input from agencies
A man has been fined after being convicted of flying a drone while intoxicated, in what is believed to be the first such case in Sweden. The prosecution treated the offence similarly to drink-driving read more

This is the first case in Sweden where someone has been convicted for flying a drone while intoxicated. Image courtesy: Pixabay/Representational

Can drink-driving a drone get you in trouble?

It seems possible - at least in Sweden.

A man has been fined after being convicted of operating a drone while intoxicated.

This is believed to be the first case in the country where a drone operator has been prosecuted and found guilty of being drunk.

What happened in this case? How much fine will the person pay?

A 55-year-old man was convicted in July for operating a drone under the influence at a classic car event in Rattvik, a town in Dalarna, central Sweden. The event was held in a temporary no-fly zone.

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According to a report by The Guardian, police spotted the drone while using their own device to monitor the gathering.

The event was held in a temporary no-fly zone. Image courtesy: Pixabay/Representational

Upon tracing its location, they found a man who later admitted to flying it. Tests showed his blood alcohol level was 0.69 parts per 1,000.

Swedish law sets the legal limit at 0.2 parts per 1,000, with 1.0 considered a serious violation. The countrys drink-driving laws are among the strictest in Europe.

By comparison, the UKs limit is 0.8, while Spain, France, and Belgium set it at 0.5. Romania and Hungary enforce a zero-tolerance policy.

The man later retracted his statement, claiming he was not flying the drone and blamed a friend who was not present when police arrived.

This is believed to be the first case in Sweden where someone has been prosecuted and convicted for flying a drone while intoxicated.

Speaking to broadcaster SVT, prosecutor Jenny Holden Nystrom said, I have not seen a case like this before.

I am satisfied with the verdict.

District court president Karin Hellmont said that the case was treated similarly to drink-driving offences.

It is an aircraft. Even though it is flown by itself, it is controlled by someone down on the ground and can fall from a high height and injure someone, she said.

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The man was ordered to pay a fine of 32,000 SEK (2,341), split into daily instalments of 400 SEK (29) over 80 days, The Guardian reported.

When Japan banned drunk-driving drones in 2019

Operating a drone while intoxicated in Japan can lead to a prison sentence of up to one year, following the acceptance of a law in 2019 that aimed at controlling the increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Under the law, flying a drone weighing more than 200 grams (seven ounces) while drunk could also result in a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,750).

The lower house of parliament approved the measure after a series of accidents involving drones.

Also, performing dangerous manoeuvres, such as steep dives, can lead to fines of up to 500,000 yen.

We believe operating drones after consuming alcohol is as serious as (drink) driving, a transport ministry official told AFP.

The regulations were introduced in response to the growing popularity of drones and a rise in related incidents. Japan has also faced challenges with tourists flying drones in crowded destinations like Kyoto.

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Did you know that drones are also delivering alcohol in some regions?

Drones have the potential to bypass traffic congestion, lower costs by eliminating the need for a driver, and offer quick access to alcohol with just a click.

According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies, drone trials for food deliveries are already underway in places like the United States and Australia.

Drone trials for food deliveries are already underway in several places. Image courtesy: Pixabay/Representational

Research in Australia indicates that many consumers support drone alcohol delivery services, with a significant minority planning to use them once available.

Less than half (46%) of surveyed adults supported banning alcohol delivery via drone, while 36% said they intended to use drones and other autonomous vehicles to buy alcohol regularly, the Institute of Alcohol Studies said in an article.

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Experts have raised concerns about the possible effects of drone-delivered alcohol, with survey results suggesting that overall alcohol consumption could rise.

About half (47%) of respondents believed that alcohol intake would increase once such services become widely available, the report said.
Today much is spoken about the complex process of keeping the Budget safe and secure and away from prying eyes. However, that hasnt always been the case. The Budget has been leaked on two occasions  one in 1947, just months after the country gained independence and later in 1950 read more

On February 1, all eyes will turn to India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she presents the country's Budget. File image/PTI

India awaits with bated breath for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present the countrys Budget. After months of toiling and great secrecy, the Budget will be made public on February 1, detailing the countrys debt and expenditures.

In fact, much ado is made about how secretive the entire Budget-making process is  some officials at the finance ministry are barred from meeting people in the outside world, including their family members.

But have you ever thought why such secrecy? It all dates back to when the Budget, believe it or not, was leaked  not once, but twice.

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We get you all the details.

First Budget leak of 1947

India had just attained independence from the British in August 1947 and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had tasked Sir RK Shanmukham Chetty to present the budget then. On November 26, 1947, he was all ready to present independent India with its first Budget for a seven-and-a half month-period from August 15, 1947 to March 31, 1948.

But before Chetty could present his Budget speech at 5 pm  this was because politicians and officials wanted their counterparts in Britain to follow the details comfortably  it had been leaked.

RK Shanmukham Chetty presented independent Indias first Budget in 1947. File image/Wikimedia

But how? The leak occurred as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton told a journalist about the changes in taxes proposed in the Budget. As per a report by The Guardian, as Dalton was on his way to the Commons chamber, he met with the Daily Stars John Carvel and said, No more on tobacco; a penny on beer; something on dogs and pools but not on horses; increase in purchase tax, but only on articles now taxable; profits tax doubled.

Carvels story was on the streets in approximately 20 minutes, causing a huge furore. Left with no alternative, Dalton apologised and then resigned from his position.

Second Budget leak of 1950

But the 1947 incident is a lone one when Budget details have been revealed to the public before time. Theres the infamous case that took place in 1950.

Unlike today where the printing of the Budget happens in the basement of the Secretariat Building in Delhis North Block, earlier printing of Budget papers used to take place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India. The budget used to get printed at the same press and confidentiality was never breached.

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Former Finance Minister John Mathai had to resign after the Budget leaked in 1950. File image/@JarAppHQ

However, in January 1950 when John Matthai was the finance minister, pages from the Budget document were leaked while at the press. Matthai, the second finance minister, of the country, then resigned after being accused of serving the interests of powerful people, as per a News18 report.

Following this leak, the printing of the Budget was shifted out of Rashtrapati Bhavan and moved to a government press on Minto Road. It was only in 1980 that the North Blocks basement became the spot where Budget papers are printed.

Securing the Budget

Today, keeping the Budget confidential is no simple task. A lot is done to ensure that it is kept a secret until the papers arrive at Parliament and the finance minister of the country reads out his/her budget speech.

In fact, weeks before the announcement of the budget, the finance ministry office goes into quarantine. It is out of bounds for visitors and media until the presentation. Fifteen days prior to the Budget presentation, officials from the Central Industrial Security Force and Intelligence Bureau (IB) patrol the corridors of the finance ministry. CISF personnel are stationed outside key offices, including those of the finance minister, finance secretary, and other top officials, ensuring no unauthorised access.

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Those involved in the making of the budget also have their phones tracked by an intelligence team. During this time, the people involved in the making of the budget are also placed under quarantine. They are not allowed to leave or even meet their families. In case of an emergency, the families of quarantined officials can leave a message on a number given to them. However, they cannot speak with them directly.

Only the finance minister can visit the officials.

A security personnel checks sacks containing copies of the Union Budget at Parliament, in New Delhi in 2019. File image/PTI

When printing is about to begin, the finance ministers budget speech is the most guarded. It is given to the printers only two days before the scheduled date  February 1.

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Notably, the leaking of budget documents is punishable under the Official Secrets Act.

But many question if such confidentiality is needed. Some experts point out that major government announcements are not part of the budget anymore. Also, in many countries, the Budget is placed in the public domain months before it is presented.

But, perhaps we want to keep up with some old British traditions such as the secrecy around the Budget until the big day.

With inputs from agencies
In the deadliest US aviation disaster in 20 years, 67 people died after an American Airlines passenger jet collided mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington DC. US President Donald Trump has blamed diversity hiring for air traffic controllers, claiming reduced standards led to the crash read more

Donald Trump held his predecessor, Joe Biden, several other Democrats, the helicopters pilot, and air traffic control accountable for the incident. AP

The United States witnessed its most deadly aviation disaster in over 20 years on Wednesday, which resulted in the deaths of 67 people.

However, US President Donald Trump was quick to criticise diversity hiring, claiming - without presenting evidence - that reduced standards were responsible for the crash.

ALSO READ | No survivors in Washington plane crash: Why recovering bodies from Potomac River is challenging

His remarks came after a mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.

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He held his predecessor, Joe Biden, several other Democrats, the helicopters pilot, and air traffic control accountable for the incident.

What is DEI? Why is Trump against it?

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has signed a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across both the federal government and the private sector.

Trump and his allies have also, without presenting evidence, blamed diversity efforts for the handling of recent deadly wildfires in California. Civil rights advocates have dismissed these claims, calling them dangerous.

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has signed a series of executive orders. Reuters/File Photo

DEI programmes are part of workplace policies designed to ensure fairer representation for historically marginalised groups, including African Americans, LGBTQ+ individuals, women, disabled people, and other ethnic minorities in the United States.

Notably, these efforts seek to eliminate systemic barriers affecting groups that have long faced racism, sexism, and xenophobia. DEI practices often include training to combat discrimination, addressing pay disparities based on gender or race, and expanding recruitment opportunities for underrepresented communities.

Trump and his supporters argue that DEI policies unfairly disadvantage other Americans, particularly white people and men while undermining merit-based hiring and promotion.

My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense  and these are policies that were absolute nonsense  throughout the government and the private sector, Trump told the World Economic Forum after beginning his second term.

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The US President has also signed an order to cut funding for schools that promote critical race theory, an academic framework primarily taught in law schools. This theory is based on the idea that racial bias - whether intentional or not - is embedded within US laws and institutions.

Why Trump blamed DEI hiring for the Washington air crash

Without presenting any evidence, Trump has attributed the blame for the deadly air collision to policies implemented by previous Democratic administrations.

On Thursday, Trump pointed fingers at multiple parties, including the helicopters pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor Joe Biden, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he called a disaster.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about Wednesdays deadly midair collision, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. Reuters

Trump accused Buttigieg of running the Department of Transportation into the ground with his diversity.

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In response, Buttigieg called Trump despicable.

When asked repeatedly why he was linking federal diversity and inclusion policies to the crash, Trump claimed that previous leadership had determined the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) workforce was too white.

ALSO READ | Washington DC plane crash: 7 mid-air coalitions that rattled aviation industry

He said, We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary.

You remember that. Only the highest aptitude. They have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there.

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These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use. And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that seeks the exact opposite. So we dont know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody thats psychologically superior. And thats what were going to have.

Trump further claimed that the FAAs diversity and inclusion hiring guidelines gave preference to individuals with disabilities, including hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.

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However, it remains unclear how these diversity efforts may have affected air traffic controllers. The FAA employs more than 35,000 people, with only a fraction serving in that role.

Last year, the FAA responded to criticisms of its hiring practices by stating that all new employees must meet rigorous qualifications that vary by position.

Trump has now appointed Chris Rocheleau, a US Air Force veteran with over 20 years of experience at the FAA, as the agencys acting head.

Washington DC plane crash: What happened?

The collision involved a regional jet departing from Wichita, Kansas, and a military helicopter carrying three soldiers on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The skies were clear at the time.

Helicopter and plane crash in DC. Video here. Pilots can respond, but how is this possible? pic.twitter.com/OiTsLCDWJa  Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 30, 2025

A few minutes before the jet was scheduled to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could use a shorter runway, to which the pilots agreed. Controllers then cleared the jet to land, and flight tracking data showed the aircraft adjusting its approach accordingly.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopters crew if they had visual contact with the plane. Moments later, the controller made another radio call, seemingly instructing the helicopter to hold position and wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no response, and the aircraft collided seconds later.

Emergency service vehicles near the site of the crash in the Potomac River, outside Washington. Reuters

Fact Check: Did diversity hiring policies lead to Washington plane crash?

Trump has provided no evidence linking the plane crash to diversity hiring policies at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Meanwhile, data from the US Census Bureau and the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), cited by Axios, shows that air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are predominantly male and white.

According to the data, 78% are men and 22% are women, while 71% identify as non-Hispanic white. The figures cover professionals working in air transportation or services incidental to transportation.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, and there is no evidence that FAA hiring policies have impacted aviation safety.

Deadliest plane crash since November 2001 in the US

Wednesdays crash was the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people on board.

The last major fatal crash involving a US commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. That accident involved a Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane, killing everyone on board along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.

With inputs from agencies
Investigations have begun into how American Airlines flight 5342 suffered a mid-air collision with a US armys Black Hawk helicopter, with both crashing into the Potomac River in Washington. Aviation experts are already providing some explanation as to how this tragedy unfolded, resulting in the loss of all 67 lives on board both aircraft read more

Emergency workers recover debris from the Potomac River in the aftermath of the collision of American Airlines flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter, as seen from Virginia. Reuters

This was a dark and excruciating night in our nations capital and in our nations history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly.

United States President Donald Trump expressed grief on Thursday morning as he addressed the nation and the world on the mid-air collision that took place between an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter, which sent both aircraft into the Potomac River below, presumably killing all 67 people  64 on board the plane and three on the Black Hawk helicopter.

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As people mourn this horrible tragedy  this is the deadliest US air disaster since November 2001  many are still struggling to understand how a deadly mid-air collision could occur in what experts describe as the most controlled bit of airspace in the world.

Collision between American Airlines flight and Black Hawk

American Airlines Flight 5342 from Kansas collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport at 8:47 pm, local time, Wednesday. The crash, according to National Transportation Safety Board member J Todd Inman, appeared to have been a very quick, rapid impact.

Eyewitnesses who saw the tragedy taking place were aghast at what they witnessed. It (the explosion) looked to me like a giant Roman candle, sparks shooting from the head of the plane down to the tail. I saw that for about two seconds, said Ari Schulman to NBC Washington.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Centre shows the collision.

Audio sourced from LiveATC.net, which provides live air traffic control broadcasts from air traffic control towers and radar facilities around the world, reveals the plane had initially been cleared to land on runway 1. But an air traffic controller asked the flight crew if they could use runway 33 instead.

FBI agents stand near debris, after American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed into Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia. Reuters

Then less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport issued a call to the military helicopter: PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight? Moments later, another directive was given: PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.

There was no response from the helicopter. Seconds later, the two aircraft collided. A pilot observing the incident made an urgent call over the radio: Tower, did you see that?

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Following the crash, one could hear one of the air traffic controllers saying, as per a Reuters report, Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three.

Following the crash and both aircraft plunging into the Potomac, around 300 responders reached the spot for search-and-rescue officials. However, no survivors have been found with officials being able to recover 40 bodies from the waters.

Additionally, the planes black boxes have been recovered from the water, which could offer clues about the cause of the crash.

Human error and miscommunications

As investigations into the collision have begun, with US President Donald Trump promising a thorough probe to determine just what went wrong, many experts are wondering if human error is to blame for the tragedy in the skies.

Many aviation experts suggest that the pilots of the American Airlines flight as well as the Black Hawk failed to perform the time-honoured method of seeing and avoiding, which could have been the reason for the collision.

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The pilots of the military UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter did confirm to controllers that they had visually identified the American Airlines jet as they crossed its path and were avoiding it. They may have identified the wrong approaching airliner, initial speculation suggests.

Search and rescue efforts are seen around a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, early Thursday morning. AP

As Juan Browne, an American airline pilot with an influential aviation channel, told the New York Times: For whatever reason the helicopter did not see and avoid the CRJ (the American Airlines plane) as he was directed to do by the air traffic controller and ran straight into it. The CRJ was on a stable approach exactly where it was supposed to be and doing what it was supposed to be doing.

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Philip Greenspun, an MIT professor and former Delta pilot, was also of the opinion that the mid-air collision was most likely the result of human error stemming from a confluence of factors. In The Independent, he notes that the chief possibility could have been a misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk pilots.

Some also note that miscommunication from the Air Traffic Control could have been the cause of the crash. As Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), told NBC News any dialogue with air traffic control will be a primary focus of the investigation.

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For instance, the controller at Reagan National Airport is heard telling the helicopter pilot if he saw the CRJ  the type of airplane  in the sky, without indicating where it was. Retired Black Hawk pilot Lt Col Darin Gaub said that this doesnt align with the language normally used. The language is usually more along the lines of  Black Hawk, hey, do you see the aircraft at your 11 oclock, five miles out, moving north? or something along those lines, he was quoted as telling the New York Post.

Wichita Mayor Lily Wu hugs an attendee at a prayer vigil for victims of the plane crash of the American Airlines flight 5342, at Wichita City Hall, in Wichita, Kansas. Reuters

Bright lights and congestion at Reagan Airport

Some experts note that the congestion in the skies above the Reagan National Airport could have been one of the contributing factors to the mid-air collision.

Located along the Potomac just southwest of Washington, Reagan Airport is much closer to the city than the larger Dulles International Airport in a congested and complex airspace that requires pilots to navigate among hundreds of commercial planes, military aircraft, and around restricted areas that include sensitive sites.

Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain and chief executive officer of Aero Consulting Experts, told the Associated Press, This was a disaster waiting to happen. Those of us who have been around a long time have been yelling into a vacuum that something like this would happen because our systems are stretched to extremes.

Some also note that the congestion in the skies could have led to a saturation of lights, causing the tragedy.

Aviation experts said there is also a possibility that the aircraft were in each others blind spots  which planes and helicopters have, just like cars. The fact that the two aircraft were so close to the ground would have meant they had limited time to manoeuvre around blind spots. Helicopter pilots cant be just constantly leaning forward or backward, because you could become disoriented, Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline pilot and an assistant professor at the Centre for Aviation Studies at Ohio State University, explained to NBC News. So there could have been a visual obstruction for them as they were trying to find this jet, and they ran out of time.

There are also questions being raised about the TCAS  traffic collision avoidance system. While all commercial aircraft in the US are fitted with this warning system, their sensitivity is adjusted as the aircraft approaches its landing. Some of its alert functions are inhibited because instructions to descend near the ground would be dangerous and to avoid distracting pilots.

Some even speculate that the helicopter pilots night vision goggles may have contributed to the accident. Helmets, just as goggles, significantly reduce peripheral vision, which can also make it harder to see brightly-lit objects against dark backgrounds, like an airliner in a dark sky with its landing lights blazing. Night vision takes your normal field of vision from what you see normally to down to about a 40-degree angle, and that affects each pilot in the front, Gaub said in a New York Post report.

People walk at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in the aftermath of the collision of American Airlines flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, in Arlington. Reuters

What comes next

The NTSB and the FAA have begun investigating the collision and the eventual collapse into the Potomac River. While authorities havent given any clear reason as to what happened, US President Donald Trump said that federal diversity efforts could have been a factor, without providing any evidence.

As of now, investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft and they are now at the NTSBs labs for evaluation. Board member Todd Inman said officials aimed to release a preliminary report into the incident within 30 days. We will take the time thats necessary, he said. If we find something that is a significant issue that warrants immediate action, we will not hesitate to make those recommendations and make them public.

With inputs from agencies
The Uttar Pradesh government will host the India-Nepal Friendship Festival from February 5 to 23, aiming to enhance bilateral ties through cultural exchange. The event will feature traditional music, dance performances, and a cultural tour across districts bordering Nepal. read more

The Uttar Pradesh government will organise India-Nepal Friendship Festival from February 5 to 23 to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries, an official said on Friday.

The festival will see song and dance performances by artists from the state and Nepal. A cultural tour will also be also be taken out in districts bordering Nepal.

The tour will start from Siddharthnagar on February 5 and conclude in Pilibhit on February 23 after covering Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bahraich and Lakhimpur Kheri.

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Earlier, Culture and Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh said in a statement that the aim of the India-Nepal Friendship Festival is to strengthen the bilateral relations between India and Nepal, and promote cultural and social ties.

The shared heritage of language, religion, customs and festivals between India and Nepal makes this festival even more special. It provides an opportunity to bring the citizens of both the countries on one platform, further strengthening the spirit of friendship and cooperation, he said.

The event will feature various cultural programmes, art performances, music, dance, and traditional food, the minister said.
Prime Minister asked for the support from all the Members of Parliament to help the country move towards Vikshit Bharat. He insisted that the new budget would give a golden opportunity for young parliamentarians to contribute to Indias future read more

Before the budget session commenced in the Indian parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his governments third term would focus on Indias self-round development. The prime minister addressed the media outside the parliament on Friday. A day before the Budget 2025 is tabled, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the economic survey 2024-2025.

In the third term, we will focus on Indias all-round development. We are moving ahead on mission modeInnovation, inclusion and investment form the base of our economic activity. In this session of Parliament, many historic bills and amendments will be discussed, PM Modi told the media present outside the parliament. After due and detailed discussions, these will be formed into laws. Especially Nari Shakti and womens empowerment will be the centre of focus. Reform, perform, and transform will be our second area of focus, he added.

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Speaking at the start of the Budget Session of Parliament. https://t.co/IC4Sk4Ppub  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 31, 2025

Prime Minister asked for the support from all the Members of Parliament to help the country move towards Vikshit Bharat. He insisted that the new budget would give a golden opportunity for young parliamentarians to contribute to Indias future. In this budget session, all MPs will contribute to strengthening Viksit Bharat, especially the young MPs, since it is a golden opportunity for them, he said. They will be witness to the Viksit Bharat I hope that we will stand up to the hopes and expectations of people, the young prime minister furthered.

PM takes jabs at the Opposition

While addressing the media, the prime minister also took jabs at the opposition leaders. He said that, since 2014, there has been no foreign interference when it comes to formulating the budget. You must have noticed, since 2014, this is the first Parliament session, which saw no videshi chingari (foreign interference) in our affairs, in which no foreign forces tried to ignite a fire, the prime minister remarked.

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I had noticed this before every budget session. And many in our country leave no stone unturned to fan these sparks, he added. Prime Minister emphasised how the budget would benefit young Indian citizens. Ours is a young nation, and today 20-25-year-olds will be the greatest beneficiaries of Viksit Bharat by the time they are 50 years old. They will be at the helm of policymaking The efforts to fulfil our vision of Viksit Bharat will be a huge gift for our young generation, he said.

PM Modi also insisted that he will pray that Maa Lakshmi continues to bless the poor and middle class of the country. I pray that Maa Lakshmi continues to bless the poor and middle class of our country. It is a matter of great pride that India completed 75 years as a democratic nation. India has established itself well on the global pedestal, he said.

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This is the first complete budget of my third term. I can confidently say that in 2047, when India will complete 100 years of Independence, India will fulfil its aim of Viksit Bharat, and this budget will give new energy and hope to the nation, PM Modi furthered. On Saturday, the Finance Minister will present the 2025 Union Budget laying out the vision for India in the next year.
DeepSeek could just be the primer in the story with news of several other Chinese artificial intelligence models popping up to give Silicon Valley a jolt read more

DeepSeek has now gone viral and is topping the App Store charts, having beaten out the previously undisputed kingChatGPT. Image Credit: Reuters

Its been a couple of days since DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company, rocked the world and global markets, sending American tech titans into a tizzy with its claim that it has built its chatbot at a tiny fraction of the cost and energy-draining data centres that are so popular in the US. Where companies are pouring billions into transcending to the next wave of artificial intelligence.

DeepSeek is everywhere right now on social media and is a burning topic of conversation in every power circle in the world.

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So, what do we know now?

DeepSeek was a side project of a Chinese quant hedge fund firm called High-Flyer. Its cost is not just 100 times cheaper but 200 times! It is open-sourced in the true meaning of the term. Many American companies try to solve this problem horizontally by building larger data centres. The Chinese firms are innovating vertically, using new mathematical and engineering approaches.

DeepSeek has now gone viral and is topping the App Store charts, having beaten out the previously undisputed kingChatGPT.

So how exactly did DeepSeek manage to do this?

Aside from cheaper training, not doing RLHF (Reinforcement Learning From Human Feedback, a machine learning technique that uses human feedback to improve), quantisation, and caching, where is the reduction coming from?

Is this because DeepSeek-R1, a general-purpose AI system, isnt quantised? Is it subsidised? Or is OpenAI/Anthropic simply charging too much? There are a few basic architectural points compounded together for huge savings.

The MoEMixture of Experts, a machine learning technique where multiple expert networks or learners are used to break up a problem into homogenous parts.

MLAMulti-Head Latent Attention, probably DeepSeeks most critical innovation, to make LLMs more efficient.

FP8Floating-point-8-bit, a data format that can be used for training and inference in AI models.

Multi-fibre Termination Push-on connectors.

Caching, a process that stores multiple copies of data or files in a temporary storage locationor cacheso they can be accessed faster.

Cheap electricity

Cheaper supplies and costs in general in China.

DeepSeek has also mentioned that it had priced earlier versions to make a small profit. Anthropic and OpenAI were able to charge a premium since they have the best-performing models. Their customers are also primarily Western markets, which are more affluent and can afford to pay more. It is also important to not underestimate Chinas goals. Chinese are known to sell products at extremely low prices in order to weaken competitors. We have previously seen them selling products at a loss for 3-5 years in industries such as solar power and electric vehicles until they have the market to themselves and can race ahead technologically.

However, we cannot afford to discredit the fact that DeepSeek has been made at a cheaper rate while using much less electricity. So, what did DeepSeek do that went so right?

It optimised smarter by proving that exceptional software can overcome any hardware limitations. Its engineers ensured that they focused on low-level code optimisation to make memory usage efficient. These improvements made sure that performance was not hampered by chip limitations.

It trained only the crucial parts by using a technique called Auxiliary Loss Free Load Balancing, which ensured that only the most relevant parts of the model were active and updated. Conventional training of AI models usually involves updating every part, including the parts that dont have much contribution. This leads to a huge waste of resources. This led to a 95 per cent reduction in GPU usage as compared to other tech giant companies such as Meta.

DeepSeek used an innovative technique called Low Rank Key Value (KV) Joint Compression to overcome the challenge of inference when it comes to running AI models, which is highly memory intensive and extremely costly. The KV cache stores key-value pairs that are essential for attention mechanisms, which use up a lot of memory. DeepSeek has found a solution to compressing these key-value pairs, using much less memory storage.

And now we circle back to the most important component, DeepSeeks R1. With R1, DeepSeek basically cracked one of the holy grails of AI, which is getting models to reason step-by-step without relying on mammoth supervised datasets. The DeepSeek-R1-Zero experiment showed the world something extraordinary. Using pure reinforcement learning with carefully crafted reward functions, DeepSeek managed to get models to develop sophisticated reasoning capabilities completely autonomously. This wasnt purely for troubleshooting or problem-solving; instead, the model organically learnt to generate long chains of thought, self-verify its work, and allocate more computation problems to tougher problems.

Is this a technology fluke? Nope. In fact, DeepSeek could just be the primer in this story with news of several other Chinese AI models popping up to give Silicon Valley a jolt. Minimax and Qwen, both backed by Alibaba and Tencent, are some of the high-profile names that are promising big changes in the AI world. The word on the street is: America built and keeps building bigger and bigger air balloons while China just built an aeroplane!

The author is a freelance journalist and features writer based out of Delhi. Her main areas of focus are politics, social issues, climate change and lifestyle-related topics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views.

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Several experts, including Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, nominated to head the US Commerce Department, recently suggested that DeepSeek had found ways to avoid US sanctions. Analysts suspect that DeepSeek got their hands on the sanctioned GPUs through Singapore read more

Singapore has become a focal point due to its strategic role in global semiconductor trade. Although it accounts for about 20 per cent of NVIDIAs revenue, most shipments linked to Singapore are destined for locations other than the country. Image Credit: Reuters

US officials are investigating whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek circumvented US export restrictions by purchasing advanced NVIDIA semiconductors through third parties in Singapore. These chips, crucial for AI tasks, are banned for sale to China under US regulations. The probe follows the release of DeepSeeks R1 chatbot, which rivals US-developed AI tools, prompting concerns about Chinas growing capabilities in artificial intelligence.

R1, which has impressed engineers for its efficiency and low cost, has led some industry experts to question whether DeepSeeks success is built on Western technology. DeepSeek has not commented on the matter, but US officials are focused on whether the company used intermediaries in Singapore to bypass restrictions on NVIDIA chips. The US government, including White House and FBI officials, is investigating this potential circumvention.

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NVIDIAs Role and the AI arms race

Several experts, including Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, nominated to head the US Commerce Department, recently suggested that DeepSeek had found ways to avoid US sanctions. As the department responsible for enforcing semiconductor trade restrictions, Lutnick stressed the need to stop China from using US technology to compete in the AI field. If they are going to compete with us, let them compete, but stop using our tools to compete with us, Lutnick said during his confirmation hearing.

The controversy underscores tensions over AI technologys strategic importance. DeepSeeks R1 chatbot is seen as a significant competitor to US platforms like OpenAI, as it mimics human reasoning and could disrupt the AI market. With China advancing rapidly in AI, concerns have grown about the effectiveness of US efforts to limit Chinas access to critical technologies, especially as AIs role in both economic and military power increases.

US export restrictions and efforts to tighten controls

The US has long imposed export restrictions on certain semiconductors and related production tools to limit Chinas access to advanced AI technologies. These measures aim to prevent China from gaining a technological edge that could have military implications. However, recent developments around DeepSeek have raised doubts about the effectiveness of these controls.

DeepSeeks V3 AI model, released last month, is believed to have been trained on NVIDIAs H800 chips. After the Biden administration imposed a ban on these chips in October 2023, NVIDIA developed a less capable alternative, the H20, for the Chinese market. US officials are now considering whether to impose additional restrictions on the H20 chips, continuing a policy debate that began at the end of President Trumps term.

In response to concerns about intermediary countries, the Biden administration expanded its export controls in 2023 to include more than 40 nations, including many in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. However, Singapore was not initially included in these restrictions. In 2023, Bidens administration further expanded the controls, requiring licenses for large shipments of chips to Singapore, while smaller shipments are now subject to notification.

Singapores role and growing scrutiny

Singapore has become a focal point due to its strategic role in global semiconductor trade. Although it accounts for about 20 per cent of NVIDIAs revenue, most shipments linked to Singapore are destined for locations other than the country. US lawmakers have raised concerns, calling for stricter controls on shipments to Singapore to prevent chips from being diverted to China. Representatives John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi have urged National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to enforce stricter oversight on Singapores role in the semiconductor trade.

As the investigation into DeepSeek continues, it reflects the ongoing challenges in managing global semiconductor trade and controlling access to AI technologies. The outcome of this probe could have significant implications for US-China relations and the future of AI development.
For the iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence improves user experience in ways that arent always visible but make a big difference. The phones new hardware, including enhanced cameras and longer battery life, is further optimised by AI read more

In a recent conversation with CNBC, Cook revealed that markets where Apple Intelligence has been rolled out are experiencing stronger iPhone 16 sales compared to areas without the platform. Image Credit Apple

Apples latest iPhone 16 models are seeing strong sales in certain regions, but in others, performance has been less impressive. CEO Tim Cook suggests that the availability of Apple Intelligence, the companys AI platform, is a key factor in this discrepancy. In a recent conversation with CNBC, Cook revealed that markets where Apple Intelligence has been rolled out are experiencing stronger iPhone 16 sales compared to areas without the platform.

Despite the absence of Apple Intelligence in China, a region critical to Apples global growth, the company has still managed to maintain success there thanks to strong hardware advancements and brand loyalty. However, Cooks comments hint that the rollout of Apple Intelligence could play a significant role in boosting sales where its available.

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Apples AI suite

Unlike its competitors, such as Google, who have aggressively marketed AI features, Apple has taken a more understated approach with its AI platform. Apple Intelligence works quietly behind the scenes, enhancing the iPhone experience with features like smarter Siri interactions, better photo editing suggestions, and personalised app recommendations. This subtle integration fits Apples style, allowing the AI to enrich the user experience without the fanfare of an overt marketing push.

Cooks remarks suggest that this behind-the-scenes AI strategy is resonating with customers, giving the iPhone 16 an edge in markets where Apple Intelligence is active. While not immediately obvious, these AI features contribute significantly to the phones overall performance, enhancing everything from battery life to camera quality.

AIs growing importance and Apples cautious rollout

The rise of AI is impossible to ignore in todays tech landscape. Companies like Google have made AI a central feature in their devices, with Pixel phones offering standout capabilities such as real-time translation and advanced camera features. In contrast, Apple has been more selective, gradually rolling out AI features that integrate seamlessly with its hardware and software ecosystem.

For the iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence improves user experience in ways that arent always visible but make a big difference. The phones new hardware, including enhanced cameras and longer battery life, is further optimised by AI, adding another layer of functionality that enhances the overall appeal. Apples selective rollout of Apple Intelligence across certain markets seems to be a way of testing the waters, as the company typically takes a measured approach with new technology.

As AI continues to shape the future of technology, Apples ability to integrate it seamlessly into its products could become one of the companys major differentiators. With AI quietly elevating the iPhone 16 experience, it may only be a matter of time before Apple expands this platform more widely, potentially driving further sales in markets yet to experience its full benefits.
DeepSeeks latest AI model potentially benefiting from NVIDIAs H20 chips, which are designed to comply with current US export rules unless lawmakers are now urging the Trump administration to revisit these controls read more

As the US government considers new export restrictions on NVIDIAs chips, the case of DeepSeek is likely to intensify the debate over Chinas role in the AI race. Image Credit: Reuters, Reuters

Two US lawmakers are urging President Donald Trumps administration to consider imposing new export restrictions on NVIDIAs artificial intelligence (AI) chips, alleging that the Chinese AI company DeepSeek has exploited these chips in its AI models. Republican Representative John Moolenaar and Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lead the House Select Committee on China, have called for this action as part of a broader review of the US export control system.

In a letter addressed to National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, the lawmakers requested that the Commerce and State Departments scrutinise the potential national security risks of allowing the export of NVIDIAs H20 chips and similar AI technology. These chips are currently outside the scope of US export restrictions, but the lawmakers argue that their use by DeepSeek could have serious implications for national security.

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DeepSeeks AI model and growing concerns

The controversy surrounding DeepSeeks use of NVIDIA chips comes after the Chinese startup unveiled a new AI model, which has garnered attention for its efficiency and low cost. DeepSeeks AI assistant, released recently, allegedly uses far less data than existing models, possibly signalling a breakthrough in reducing the costs associated with AI development. The success of this AI tool has raised concerns in Washington about Chinas rapid advancement in AI technology, with fears that it could be used for cyberattacks or even bioweapons development.

This growing concern over Chinas AI capabilities has prompted former President Joe Biden to introduce measures to restrict Chinas access to advanced AI chips and the tools used to produce them. However, with DeepSeeks latest AI model potentially benefiting from NVIDIAs H20 chips, which are designed to comply with current US export rules, lawmakers are now urging the Trump administration to revisit these controls.

NVIDIAs position and industry response

NVIDIA has responded to the calls for tighter restrictions by reiterating that its products comply with all US government regulations. The company has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the administrations approach to regulating AI technology, but it has not specifically addressed the claims regarding DeepSeeks use of its chips. NVIDIAs statement reflects its commitment to adhering to the governments export control policies while also navigating the complex landscape of international AI development.

As the US government considers new export restrictions on NVIDIAs chips, the case of DeepSeek is likely to intensify the debate over Chinas role in the AI race. The Trump administration is reportedly weighing these new measures as part of a broader push to tighten controls on AI-related technologies and curb Chinas access to the tools that could bolster its technological and military power.

The outcome of this review could have significant consequences for NVIDIA, as well as for the broader global semiconductor industry. As the US continues to grapple with Chinas technological advancements, the pressure on companies like NVIDIA to comply with export regulations is only expected to increase. The outcome of this investigation and the potential new curbs on NVIDIAs chips could reshape the future of AI technology and its global distribution.
American military personnel began downloading earlier versions of DeepSeeks code to their workstations in the autumn of 2024, without initially realizing the connection to Chinese servers. read more

American military services are now taking a more cautious approach, with some considering new rules to explicitly address the use of Chinese-made generative AI models. Image Credit: Reuters

The US Department of Defense has taken swift action to block access to DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, after it was discovered that Pentagon employees had connected their work computers to Chinese servers while using the AI service.

DeepSeeks terms of service explicitly state that user data is stored on servers in China and is governed by Chinese law, which mandates cooperation with the countrys intelligence agencies. Despite these warnings, several Pentagon workers reportedly used the service for at least two days, prompting security concerns.

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On January 28, the Pentagons Defence Information Systems Agency (DISA), which oversees the militarys IT networks, began blocking access to DeepSeek on some of its systems. However, some employees were still able to access the AI tool, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The official reason cited for the block was operational reasons, but the move came after concerns were raised about the potential security risks of using DeepSeek, especially given its connections to China.

Militarys growing concerns over data privacy and security

DeepSeeks privacy policy clearly outlines that user data is stored in China and governed by Chinese law, which has sparked alarm within the Pentagon. While the company claims that its platform operates under standard privacy guidelines, the link to Chinese servers raised significant concerns about data privacy, security, and potential espionage risks.

According to a Bloomberg report, military personnel began downloading earlier versions of DeepSeeks code to their workstations in the autumn of 2024, without initially realizing the connection to Chinese servers.

As the use of DeepSeek gained momentum, concerns over its potential risks led to efforts within the military services to track and remove the software from employees machines. Some military branches, including the Navy, have moved to prohibit the use of DeepSeek altogether, while others are still determining the full extent of its usage within their networks.

Diverse responses across the military services

The Navy took immediate action, issuing a ban on DeepSeek usage as of January 31, citing security and ethical concerns. Navy spokesperson Lauren Chatmas confirmed that the service already had guidelines in place that discourage the use of open-source AI systems for official work, which includes DeepSeek.

Meanwhile, the Air Force has not issued specific guidance on DeepSeek but prohibits the use of sensitive public information in commercial generative AI systems without proper clearance. The Army, which had raised concerns about the security risks of AI tools, is considering new policies to explicitly ban Chinese generative AI models, such as DeepSeek.

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Interestingly, some Defense Department personnel have been using DeepSeek through an authorized platform, Ask Sage, which does not connect directly to Chinese servers. This has allowed them to continue using the AI tool without violating the Pentagons data security protocols.

However, given the growing concerns, military services are now taking a more cautious approach, with some considering new rules to explicitly address the use of Chinese-made generative AI models.

Pentagon scrambles to assess the full impact

The Pentagon is continuing to assess the extent to which employees have used DeepSeeks system through their web browsers, and efforts are underway to remove any China-origin code from individual workstations, as reported by TechCrunch.

With the growing interest in generative AI tools like DeepSeek, the Pentagon is facing increasing pressure to balance technological advancements with stringent data privacy and security measures.

The rising use of AI in military operations raises critical questions about the control and safety of data, especially when it involves foreign-made technologies with potential ties to adversary governments.

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About 2,150 foreign Muslims from 72 countries were among the tens of thousands of Bangladeshis who joined the first phase of the congregation, said Habibullah Raihan, a spokesman of the organizing committee read more

Millions of Muslims gathered for a religious event in the centre of Bangladesh's Dhaka. Source: Reuters | File.

Tens of thousands of people gathered on a riverbank near Bangladeshs capital on Friday to listen to sermons by Islamic scholars at the Biswa Ijtema, or global congregation of Muslim devotees.

The three-day annual event will end Sunday when hundreds of thousands of Muslims are expected to join final prayers like every year. This is the first phase of Biswa Ijtema, while the second phase will be held Feb. 3-5. The third phase will be held Feb. 14-16.

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Biswa Ijtema is one of the largest gatherings of Muslim devotees, held on the sandy banks of the Turag River in Tongi, just north of Dhaka, the capital. The event dates back to the 1950s when the Tablighi Jamaat movement started hosting the event.

On Friday, Muslims joined the weekly afternoon prayers as many more continued to stream toward the venue from across Bangladesh.

About 2,150 foreign Muslims from 72 countries were among the tens of thousands of Bangladeshis who joined the first phase of the congregation, said Habibullah Raihan, a spokesman of the organizing committee.

He said that scholars and clerics from India, Pakistan and other countries delivered their sermons on the tenants of Islam as the devotees slept in tents erected on the riverbank.

Security checkpoints and cameras have been installed, while plainclothes security officials joined uniformed officers in the area.

A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman, director-general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, said Friday that there was no particular security threat, but that adequate measures were in place to ensure safety.

Mohammed Nadim, a grocer from the northern district of Rangpur, traveled overnight with many others from his area to join the weekly prayers on Friday.

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I come here every year to seek blessings. It gives me peace, he told The Associated Press at the scene.

Many people came here like me. We raise our hands together. We want peace in my life, we want peace in the world. May Allah accept us, may Allah forgive us, he said.
Japans economy could face significant challenges if US President Donald Trump imposes new tariffs on China. Japans chief economist said that such measures could negatively affect the countrys economy, though Japanese companies may be better prepared this time. read more

Curious but true Japan is worried about Trump imposing new tariffs on China. AP

Japans economy could suffer if US President Donald Trump slaps fresh tariffs on China, sparking a renewed US-China trade war, the countrys chief economist said.

Japans chief economist at the Cabinet Office, Tomoko Hayashi, said in an interview with Bloomberg that if a US-China trade war leads to higher tariffs, its likely to negatively affect Japans economy.

Hayashi emphasized that Japanese companies may be better equipped to handle the impact of Trumps policies this time, thanks to expanded supply chains and a better understanding of his tactics.

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Hayashis team earlier said that Japans exports dropped 7.1 percent between the second quarter of 2018, just before Trumps first round of tariffs, and the first quarter of 2020. They argue that the decline shows the impact of the US-China trade war. The main effect was indirect, as it disrupted Japanese components used in products made in China and then sent to the US.

Policymakers, investors, and economists are closely watching Trumps trade policy, worried that his threat to impose tariffs could harm global trade and hurt confidence in economic growth.

President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

Additionally, he has threatened to implement 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. A decision on whether to include oil imports in the plan is still pending.
Five years since Britain officially left the EU, both the economy and the political landscape have been reshaped by the decision. Businesses, politics, and immigration are facing new challenges. Despite some trade deals, the long-term impact on exports and national productivity remains a source of debate. read more

Five years ago Friday, two crowds of people gathered near Britains Parliament  some with Union Jacks and cheers, others European Union flags and tears.

On Jan 31, 2020 at 11 pm London time  midnight at EU headquarters in Brussels  the U.K. officially left the bloc after almost five decades of membership that had brought free movement and free trade between Britain and 27 other European countries.

For Brexit supporters, the U.K. was now a sovereign nation in charge of its own destiny. For opponents, it was an isolated and diminished country.

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It was, inarguably, a divided nation that had taken a leap into the dark. Five years on, people and businesses are still wrestling with the economic, social and cultural aftershocks.

The impact has been really quite profound, said political scientist Anand Menon, who heads the think-tank U.K. in a Changing Europe. Its changed our economy.

And our politics has been changed quite fundamentally as well, he added. Weve seen a new division around Brexit becoming part of electoral politics. A decision that split the nation An island nation with a robust sense of its historical importance, Britain had long been an uneasy member of the EU when it held a referendum in June 2016 on whether to remain or leave. Decades of deindustrialization, followed by years of public spending cuts and high immigration, made fertile ground for the argument that Brexit would let the UK take back control of its borders, laws and economy.

Yet the result  52% to 48% in favor of leaving  came as a shock to many. Neither the Conservative government, which campaigned to stay in the EU, nor pro-Brexit campaigners had planned for the messy details of the split.

The referendum was followed by years of wrangling over divorce terms between a wounded EU and a fractious U.K. that caused gridlock in Parliament and ultimately defeated Prime Minister Theresa May. She resigned in 2019 and was replaced by Boris Johnson, who vowed to get Brexit done. It wasnt so simple.

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A blow to the British economy The UK left without agreement on its future economic relationship with the EU, which accounted for half the countrys trade. The political departure was followed by 11 months of testy negotiations on divorce terms, culminating in agreement on Christmas Eve in 2020.

The bare-bones trade deal saw the U.K. leave the blocs single market and customs union. It meant goods could move without tariffs or quotas, but brought new red tape, costs and delays for trading businesses.

It has cost us money. We are definitely slower and its more expensive. But weve survived, said Lars Andersen, whose London-based company, My Nametags, ships brightly colored labels for kids clothes and school supplies to more than 150 countries.

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To keep trading with the EU, Andersen has had to set up a base in Ireland, through which all orders destined for EU countries must pass before being sent on. He says the hassle has been worth it, but some other small businesses he knows have stopped trading with the EU or moved manufacturing out of the U.K.

Julianne Ponan, founder and CEO of allergen-free food producer Creative Nature, had a growing export business to EU countries that was devastated by Brexit. Since then she has successfully turned to markets in the Middle East and Australia, something she says has been a positive outcome of leaving the EU.

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Having mastered the new red tape, she is now gradually building up business with Europe again.

But weve lost four years of growth there, she said. And thats the sad part. We would be a lot further ahead in our journey if Brexit hadnt happened. The governments Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that UK exports and imports will both be around 15% lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU, and economic productivity 4% less than it otherwise would have been.

Brexit supporters argue that short-term pain will be offset by Britains new freedom to strike trade deals around the world. Since Brexit the UK has signed trade agreements with countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

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But David Henig, a trade expert at the European Center for International Political Economy, said they have not offset the hit to trade with Britains nearest neighbors.

The big players arent so much affected, Henig said. We still have Airbus, we still have Scotch whisky. We still do defense, big pharmaceuticals. But the mid-size players are really struggling to keep their exporting position. And nobody new is coming in to set up. A lesson in unintended consequences In some ways, Brexit has not played out as either supporters or opponents anticipated. The COVID-19 pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine piled on more economic disruption, and made it harder to discern the impact of Britains EU exit on the economy.

In one key area, immigration, Brexits impact has been the opposite of what many predicted. A desire to reduce immigration was a major reason many people voted to leave the EU, yet immigration today is far higher than before Brexit because the number of visas granted for workers from around the world has soared.

Meanwhile, the rise of protectionist political leaders, especially newly returned U.S. President Donald Trump, has raised the stakes for Britain, now caught between its near neighbors in Europe and its trans-Atlantic special relationship with the US.

The world is a far less forgiving place now than it was in 2016 when we voted to leave, Menon said.

Can Britain and the EU be friends again? Polls suggest UK public opinion has soured on Brexit, with a majority of people now thinking it was a mistake. But rejoining seems a distant prospect. With memories of arguments and division still raw, few people want to go through all that again.

Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected in July 2024, has promised to reset relations with the EU, but has ruled out rejoining the customs union or single market. Hes aiming for relatively modest changes such as a making it easier for artists to tour and for professionals to have their qualifications recognized, as well as on closer cooperation on law enforcement and security.

EU leaders have welcomed the change of tone from Britain, but have problems of their own amid growing populism across the continent. The U.K. is no longer a top priority.

I completely understand, its difficult to get back together after quite a harsh divorce, said Andersen, who nonetheless hopes Britain and the EU will draw closer with time. I suspect it will happen, but it will happen slowly and subtly without politicians particularly shouting about it.
Deif was widely known as the second-highest-ranking Hamas official in Gaza, behind Yahya Sinwar, the groups leader in the territory read more

After months of silence, Hamas has finally confirmed the death of its military wing leader Mohammed Deif. The confirmation came from the Palestinian militant group months after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that it had killed Deif back in July this year. Israel maintained that Deif was one of the figures who was responsible for the planning of the devastating October 7 attack in Southern Israel, which led to the death of 1,200 people with 251 being held hostage.

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It is pertinent to note that Deif was widely known as the second-highest-ranking Hamas official in Gaza, behind Yahya Sinwar, the groups leader in the territory. However, Sinwar was also killed by the Israeli forces last year. While confirming the news on Thursday, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said his death was befitting," Al Jazeera reported.

This is befitting of our leader Mohammed Deif, who exhausted the enemy for more than 30 years, Abu Obeida said. How, by God, could Mohammed Deif be mentioned in history without the title martyr and without the medal of martyrdom? he asked. Deif was one of the founders of the Qassam Brigades which was formed in 1990 and led the military wing of the Palestinian group for two decades.

The man behind the tunnels in Gaza

According to Al Jazeera, Deif was believed to be one of the main developers of Hamas vast network of tunnels across Gaza. Not only this, he was also lauded for his lethal bomb-making expertise. On the morning of the October 7 attack, Hamas issued a voice recording in which Deif was heard announcing the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.

Many believe that through his message, Deif signalled that the October 7 attack was in retaliation to Israeli raids at Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site. In November last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Deif for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes."

Other than Deif, the International court also issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes over Israels conduct of its war in Gaza. In the Thursday statement, Hamas also announced the death of deputy military commander Marwan Issa. The deputy commanders death was announced by the United States in March last year.

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Issa was considered Israels most-wanted man. The European Union, which placed the Hamas leader on its terrorist blacklist, linked him directly to the 7 October attack.

With inputs from agencies.
India is concerned recent trade pacts signed by the Maldives will likely hurt the archipelagos cash-strapped economy, the Indian foreign ministry said on Friday, in a reference to agreements between the Maldives and China, as well as Turkey read more

India is concerned recent trade pacts signed by the Maldives will likely hurt the archipelagos cash-strapped economy, the Indian foreign ministry said on Friday, in a reference to agreements between the Maldives and China, as well as Turkey.

China and India both vie for influence in the strategically located Indian Ocean nation, whose $7.8 billion economy has struggled with low foreign exchange reserves and substantial external debt, sparking fears of a default.

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Analysts have previously said that a free trade agreement between China and the Maldives, which came into effect on Jan. 1, risks increase Males balance of payments deficit with China, one of its main sources for consumer goods, lead to customs duty losses, and make it vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

The Maldives also signed a trade pact with Turkey last year, which local media reports said involved reduced tariffs on both sides.

Recent agreements that are likely to result in revenue loss for the Maldives government are obviously a matter of concern and do not bode well for the long-term fiscal stability of the country, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters.

We would obviously need to take that into account while framing our own policies, he added, without naming any country.

The embassy of the Maldives in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Much of the money the Maldives owes is to China and India, which have extended $1.37 billion and $124 million, respectively, in loans, World Bank data shows.

In October, India signed a $400-million and a 30-billion rupee ($346 million) bilateral currency swap agreement with the Maldives and also agreed to initiate talks on a free trade agreement focusing on goods and services.

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But reserves still remain very low in lieu of substantial external debt obligations, ratings agency Moodys said in December, adding that it expected the Maldives to continue to be tested on securing bilateral and multilateral financing to shore up external buffers.
Israel has raised concerns with the US-led committee monitoring the Lebanon ceasefire, alleging that Iran is sending suitcases filled with US dollars to Hezbollah through Beiruts international airport, according to a report, citing an American defence official read more

Cars queue as they drop passengers outside the BeirutRafic Hariri International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon, July 30, 2024. File Image/Reuters

Israel has raised concerns with the US-led committee monitoring the Lebanon ceasefire, alleging that Iran is sending suitcases filled with US dollars to Hezbollah through Beiruts international airport, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing an American defence official.

The official said that Israel also claims that Turkish citizens are being utilised to smuggle cash from Istanbul to Beirut.

According to the report, Israels complaints have been communicated to the Lebanese government.

A Lebanese security official, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal, said that Beirut airport is under strict military control to thwart smuggling attempts by Hezbollah.

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While smuggling large sums of cash through the airport would be challenging, valuable items such as gemstones and diamonds could potentially go undetected, the official said.

The ceasefire agreement reached on November 27 ended two months of intense warfare, which followed months of lower-intensity cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah.

During the campaign, Israel eliminated most of Hezbollahs senior leadership. It also targeted the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial institution, which has over 30 outlets across Lebanon, which both Jerusalem and Washington say is used by Hezbollah for money laundering and terrorism financing, assertions the group denies.

The Iran-backed terror group began near-daily attacks on northern Israel a day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of Israeli residents of the north were displaced by the attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the country.

With inputs from agencies
Last Monday the European Union agreed to restart its monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing, with 18 EU and local personnel including a police security detachment from Italy, Spain and France read more

The Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip is pictured from the Palestinian side in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on January 29, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. AFP File

A Hamas official on Friday said that Israel will reopen the Rafah border crossing on February 1 after the fourth batch of hostages and Palestinian prisoners are released.

The mediators informed Hamas of Israels approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange, the Hamas official told AFP.

The official added that as per the ceasefire agreement, injured people will be evacuated at the crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt.

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The Rafah crossing was a vital entry point for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza before the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side of it in May.

Hamas health ministry said that the first group of wounded people will leave Gaza on Saturday for treatment in Egypt.

Last Monday the European Union agreed to restart its monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing, with 18 EU and local personnel including a police security detachment from Italy, Spain and France.

The mission was launched at the request of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the full support of Egypt, the Italian government said in a statement which added the primary objective is to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick.

Hamas to release 3 hostages tomorrow

Meanwhile, Hamas has announced that it will free three Israeli hostages on Saturday, making it the fourth such release under the Gaza truce deal.

The three hostages were kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist group on October 7 and will finally meet their loved ones on February 1.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 15 hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.

In exchange, Israel will free 90 prisoners, nine of whom are serving life sentences, the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said.

Who are the hostages?

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum said that the captives to be released in the latest swap are Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon.

Bibas, along with his wife Shiri and their children, Ariel (4) and Kfir (10 months), were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yarden was injured during the kidnapping and was seen being taken to Gaza separately from his wife and children. According to a report by Times of Israel, Hamas has said that Shiri and her two children have been killed in captivity but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.

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Kalderon, who also holds French nationality, was taken hostage along with two kids from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. His children were released in the previous ceasefire.

Siegel, a US citizen originally from North Carolina, was kidnapped along with his wife, Aviva, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led attack and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Aviva was released during a previous ceasefire in November 2023.

With inputs from agencies
The Israeli military is expected to publish an update on more than 1,000 ongoing war crime cases related to the war in the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks read more

Israeli military patrols near the Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City amid the ongoing ground operation against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)

The Israeli military is scheduled to publish a major formal update on ongoing war crimes investigations related to the war in the Gaza Strip, according to a report.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza, the Israeli military has been accused of a host of war crimes, ranging from intentional targeting of civilians, the indiscriminate bombardment with disregard to civilian lives to the usage of starvation as a method of war.

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The Jerusalem Post has reported that Military Advocate General Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi will issue an update on war crime investigations in the coming weeks. While the exact timeline or the reason for the update is not known, the newspaper reported that two reasons could be behind the decisions.

Firstly, the announcement of Israeli military chief Gen. Herzi Halevi that he will publish results of investigation into failures on October 7, 2023, before he leaves office on March 6 could have driven Tomer-Yerushalmis decision.

Secondly, the prosecution of Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) where it is accused of genocide could also be behind the decision.

In addition to the update in the coming weeks, military sources told The Post that a further even more comprehensive update will be issued by the end of July to respond to allegations made by South Africa in ICJ against Israel.

In the update on ongoing war crime investigations, Advocate General Maj. Gen. Tomer-Yerushalmi is expected to say that the number of total preliminary operational reviews by the Fact Finding Mechanism is up to more than 1,000 cases, according to The Post.

Among those cases, the newspaper reported that the military has opened around 85 criminal probes and around 220 disciplinary probes.

In the update in the coming weeks, final conclusions in the attack on World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers are also expected in which the Israeli military killed seven workers from six nations.

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The newspaper further reported that the update could also issue a final ruling on probes into the attacks on two bakeries, one in October 2023 and another in November 2023, which were used to make the case at the ICJ and International Criminal Court (ICC) that Israel was starving out Palestinians by intentionally bombing food-production sites.

In its conclusions, the newspaper reported that there is a high probability that the military would say that there were terrorists in the bakeries when they were struck or that they were struck accidentally while terrorists nearby were being targeted.

Throughout the war that began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has faced accusations of human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza. In some notable cases, Israeli military or elements in the military have themselves admitted and publicised their acts.

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In January 2024, the Israeli military demolished the Al-Israa University in Gaza in controlled explosions. Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, who ordered the demolition, was formally censured by the military but was not sacked. In another case, participants at a funeral of an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza recalled how the soldier used to kill Palestinians and burn their houses to lift the spirits of fellow soldiers. Moreover, throughout the war, Israeli soldiers have shared videos of playing with toys in ruined homes and walking around with displaced Palestinian womens clothes to mock them, attracting widespread condemnation outside Israel.
Federal authorities said that a man has agreed to plead guilty to unsafely operating a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft during the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. read more

Tim Bearer walks in the rubble of his mother's fire-ravaged property in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. Image- AP

Peter Tripp Akemann, a 56-year-old from Culver City has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge after his drone collided with a firefighting aircraft during the Palisades fire. The collision on Jan. 9 caused the firefighting aircraft to be grounded for several days.

Federal prosecutors said on Friday that Akemann will pay a fine, complete community service and could face up to a year in federal prison.

Akemann was charged with unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft after his drone which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on January 9, struck a Super Scooper. The collision caused a fist-sized hole in the planes wing and grounded it for about five days, while the drone was destroyed. The Super Scooper is a large fixed-wing aircraft that drops water on fast-moving fires.

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Lack of common sense and ignorance of your duty as a drone pilot will not shield you from criminal charges, said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office.

Davis said there was no evidence Akemann intentionally caused the collision.

However, flying drones in a restricted area could cause a catastrophe, Davis said.

Officials say the plane was owned by the government of Quebec and that Akemann has agreed to pay restitution. He has also agreed to 150 hours of community service related to wildfire relief.

Akemann is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon.

The wind-driven blaze in the upscale Pacific Palisades began Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people.

The conflagration fueled by dry Santa Ana winds has scorched at least 36 square miles (94 square kilometers) of land. It was 98% contained as of Friday.

Authorities say Akemann launched the drone from the top of a parking structure in Santa Monica on Jan. 9 and flew it more than 1.5 miles toward the Palisades Fire before losing site of it. It then crashed with the Super Scooper firefighting plane that was carrying two firefighters.

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The crash caused a hole in the left wing of the aircraft.

Drone operations were prohibited in the area at the time due to the firefight.

The fire in the hilly Los Angeles neighborhood, home to Hollywood stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Crystal who lost houses in the fire, forced thousands of people from their homes, and knocked out power to tens of thousands.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fires. Officials have placed the origin of blaze behind a home on Piedra Morada Drive, which sits above a densely wooded arroyo.

Another wind-whipped fire that started the same day in Altadena, a community about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Pacific Palisades, killed at least 17 people and destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

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The Santa Ana winds have turned seasonal wildfires into infernos that have leveled neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

Several Altadena residents who lost homes in the Eaton Fire told the AP they received no notifications about their neighborhoods. For others, the first warning was an urgent text message in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials approved an outside review of how alerts functioned in the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire in response to residents demands. City officials declined to answer The Associated Press questions about a lag in some Palisades Fire alerts, though Fire Capt. Branden Silverman said responding to a fire and determining evacuation needs can take some time.

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With inputs from agencies
Metas popular WhatsApp chat service accused Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions of targeting scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. read more

Almost 100 journalists and other civil society members who use WhatsApp, the widely used messaging platform owned by Meta, were reportedly targeted by spyware developed by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, the company claimed today.

Those affected were being notified of a potential security breach on their devices, with WhatsApp informing The Guardian that it had high confidence that the users in question had been targeted and possibly compromised.

According to experts, the attack was classified as a zero-click exploit, meaning the victims did not need to click on any malicious links for their devices to be infected.

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The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company will continue to protect peoples ability to communicate privately.

The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users of its platform.

The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted or where they were geographically, saying only that targets included an unspecified number of people in civil society and media. He said WhatsApp had since disrupted the hacking effort and was referring targets to Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab.

The official declined to discuss how it ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the hack. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but declined to go into detail.

The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton said the discovery of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use.

Spyware merchants such as Paragon sell high-end surveillance software to government clients and typically pitch their services as critical to fighting crime and protecting national security.

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But such spy tools have repeatedly been discovered on the phones of journalists, activists, opposition politicians, and at least 50 U.S. officials, raising concerns over the unchecked proliferation of the technology.

Paragon  which was reportedly acquired by Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners last month  has tried to position itself publicly as one of the industrys more responsible players.

The companys website advertises ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats, and media reports citing people familiar with the company say Paragon only sells to governments in stable democratic countries.

Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, said Paragon had the reputation of being a better spyware company, but WhatsApps recent revelations suggest otherwise.

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This is not just a question of some bad apples  these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry.

AE did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

With inputs from Reuters
Russia on Friday claimed it had captured another village in its relentless offensive in eastern Ukraines Donetsk region and as it closes in on the critical Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk after almost three years of war. read more

Civilians participate in trench warfare training during a "Test Week" organized by the 3rd Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on January 30, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo- AFP

Moscow accused Ukrainian troops on Friday of killing 22 people when they occupied a Russian village, including eight women who were allegedly raped before being executed.

Ukraine has controlled dozens of border settlements in the Kursk region of western Russia since launching a surprise offensive in August, and says about 2,000 civilians still live in areas it occupies.

Russia has now retaken several towns and villages.

Russias Investigative Committee said on January 19 it was investigating the killing of at least seven civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

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The village has been retaken by Moscow.

The committee said on Friday it had expanded the probe and was now investigating the killing of 22 residents between September and November.

Among the victims, whose bodies were found in the basements of several homes, were eight women who were allegedly raped before being killed, the Investigative Committee said.

Russia claims capture of Novovasylivka, moving closer to Pokrovsk in Donetsk

On Friday, Russia asserted that its forces had captured another village in their ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraines Donetsk region, advancing closer to the key Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk after nearly three years of conflict.

The Russian claim of taking Novovasylivka could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian officials did not immediately respond.

However, battlefield maps published early Friday by the Ukrainian General Staff suggested the village was at least partly under Russian control. A comparison with other maps of the area by The Associated Press indicated Novovasylivka is largely under Russian control.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture the key Donetsk strongholds of Pokrovsk and nearby Chasiv Yar, fighting their way across farm fields and woodland and engulfing small rural settlements.

The fall of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar could enable the Russian army to complete its hold on Donetsk and even set the stage for it to continue on into the neighboring Dnipro region.

The recent Russian push in the area has coincided with US President Donald Trump taking office and repeating his pledge to end the war soon. That has prompted both Moscow and Kyiv to pursue battlefield gains that might give them an edge at the bargaining table.

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The village of Novovasylivka is located around 11 kilometers (7 miles) southwest of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian officials have said Russia is attempting a pincer movement to surround Pokrovsk.

Pokrovsk is a key road and rail junction, furnishing supplies to a broad span of the front line. Chasiv Yar is a strategic hilltop.

Ukraines General Staff said Friday that Ukrainian troops had repelled 71 attacks by the Russian army toward Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, meaning that almost half of Russias attacks along the entire 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line occurred around Pokrovsk.

With inputs from agencies
Myanmars rebel groups have made significant territorial gains against the ruling military junta over the past year. The armed group now controls key towns and strategic regions, posing the biggest challenge to military rule since the 2021 coup. read more

The rebel armed opposition groups in Myanmar have made significant gains in the ongoing civil war against the ruling junta forces over the past year, The Guardian reported.

These advances have given a major morale boost to the wider movement to overthrow the military regime.

Across the country, 95 towns have now fallen to various pro-democracy groups, according to Myanmar Peace Monitor.

Last year, the military lost over 200 bases and 14 towns in northern Kachin State, including the key rare-earth mining hubs of Chipwi and Pangwa.

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Rakhine State goes into the hands of rebels

In the western part, almost all of Rakhine State is under the control of the rebels. The Arakan Army has claimed control over Maungdaw, the last military outpost in northern Rakhine State. The entire 271 km-long border with Bangladesh is now secured by the rebels.

In central Sagaing, Peoples Defense Forces seized Kawlin and Pinlebuimportant towns for transporting supplies to the front lines.

Estimates say that the military controls only 21% of the countrys territory, though the military establishment still holds key and densely populated cities. A study commissioned by the BBC also suggests the same.

In late 2023, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) advanced on Laukkai, the capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. By early January 2024, the MNDAA had gained full control of the city, marking a substantial loss for the military junta.

While opium production decreased by 4% in 2024, instability may lead to future increases in the illicit drug trade.

Rohingya joins in support of group

Rohingya insurgents from refugee camps in Bangladesh have joined the conflict in support of the rebel group. In August 2017, violence erupted in Myanmars Rakhine State, leading to the mass exodus of nearly one million Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh.

Military coup, widespread unrest

In early February 2021, Myanmars military executed a coup. The crackdown began on the democratically elected leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

This move ignited widespread civil unrest across Myanmar. This initiated a protracted conflict between the military junta and various resistance groups, including the National Unity Government (NUG) and the Peoples Defence Force (PDF).

Since the conflict has started, over 50,000 people have been killed and millions displaced.
A day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on President Donald Trumps desire to buy Greenland, Denmark on Friday once again rejected Trumps proposal, asserting that the US cannot simply take over the territory, according to a report read more

A day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on President Donald Trumps desire to buy Greenland, Denmark on Friday once again rejected Trumps proposal, asserting that the US cannot simply take over the territory.

Some believe that if (the US) just owned the whole world, everything would be under control. But thats not what the US needs, Politico quoted Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen as saying on Friday, citing Danish public broadcaster TV 2.

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We have no interest in selling Greenland to the US, it will not happen, the Greenlanders are a people, and Greenland is a country, he added.

Rubio had on Thursday said that buying Greenland would be vital to US interests.

This is not a joke, Rubio said on the The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM, one of his first media appearances since being sworn in.

This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved, he added.

Rasmussen shot back saying, I would be more surprised if he said it was a joke.

He added the US and Denmark should cooperate on Arctic security.

We need to find a different form in which we jointly take on these tasks  If we can have a substantive discussion about it, then we can find a solution, said Rasmussen.

During the interview, Rubio downplayed Trumps previous remarks about not ruling out using military force against Denmark, a NATO ally, to acquire Greenland  but he didnt outright dismiss the possibility.

He is not going to begin what he views as a negotiation or a conversation by taking  leverage off the table, and thats a tactic thats used all the time in business, Rubio said.

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Its being applied to foreign policy and I think to great effect in the first term.

Trumps increasingly pointed comments about Greenland  calling the US acquisition of the island an absolute necessity and not ruling out military force or economic pressure  have triggered crisis talks in Copenhagen and other European capitals.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has been traveling between Berlin, Brussels, and Paris this week to garner support for Denmarks stance.

She and Trump reportedly had a heated 45-minute phone call two weeks ago, during which the US president emphasized his serious intentions regarding Greenland, noting its strategic Arctic location and abundant mineral resources.

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Most Greenlanders oppose the idea, with recent polling indicating that 85 percent of the territorys population of approximately 60,000 do not wish to become American.

With inputs from agencies
Ukraines special operations forces said on Friday that North Korean troops have not been spotted on the battlefield in Russias Kursk region for about three weeks, indicating they may have withdrawn after sustaining heavy losses, according to a report, citing military spokesperson. read more

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, meets soldiers who took part in a training in North Korea, on March 13, 2024. File Image/Reuters via KCNA

Ukraines special operations forces said on Friday that North Korean troops have not been spotted on the battlefield in Russias Kursk region for about three weeks, indicating they may have withdrawn after sustaining heavy losses, according to a Reuters report, citing military spokesperson.

Ukrainian and Western intelligence estimates suggest that approximately 11,000 North Korean troops were deployed in Kursk to assist Russian forces, although Russia has not confirmed or denied their presence.

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The special operations forces speak exclusively for the areas where our units are deployed, in this regard, we inform you that the presence of North Korean troops has not been noted for approximately three weeks, Reuters quoted Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, the forces spokesperson, as saying

Presumably, having suffered heavy losses, they were forced to withdraw, he said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military spokesperson for the Kursk front told Reuters he could not provide an official comment on the situation, and it remains unclear where exactly the special operations forces are deployed within the region.

In August, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into western Kursk to divert Russian forces, boost morale, and gain leverage in negotiations. Although Russia has managed to push Ukrainian troops back, it has not succeeded in driving them entirely to the border.

North Korean regular troops reportedly joined the conflict on Russias side in October, as stated by Kyiv and its Western allies, who indicated they were sent to the Kursk region.

On January 11, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian special forces, in coordination with paratroopers, had captured two North Korean soldiers on the battlefield.

With inputs from agencies
The statement came days after Trump signed an order that mandated a process to develop an American Iron Dome, a next-generation U.S. missile defence shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other forms of aerial attack. read more

Russia on Friday slammed US President Donald Trumps executive order to build a new missile defence shield, accusing Washington of disrupting the global nuclear balance and fuelling military tensions in space.

On Monday, Trump signed an order to start the process of developing of an American Iron Dome, a next-generation missile defence system designed to counter ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other aerial threats.

According to the White House, the intention was to upgrade an outdated system and respond to an evolving catastrophic threat, as US adversaries continue to advance their missile capabilities.

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However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised the plan, asserting that it seeks to weaken the nuclear deterrence capabilities of both Russia and China.

In Moscows strongest rebuke yet of Trumps new policy, she warned that the US move would undermine prospects for nuclear arms control discussionsan issue both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have previously expressed support for.

It (the plan) directly envisages a significant strengthening of the American nuclear arsenal and means for conducting combat operations in space, including the development and deployment of space-based interception systems, Zakharova told reporters at a news briefing in Moscow.

We consider this as another confirmation of the U.S. focus on turning space into an arena of armed confrontation and the deployment of weapons there.

The indicated U.S. approaches will not contribute to reducing tensions or improving the situation in the strategic sphere, including creating a basis for a fruitful dialogue on strategic offensive arms, she said.

The White Houses Iron Dome statement did not refer to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but said:

The Iron Dome will further the goals of peace through strength. By empowering the United States with a second-strike capability, the Iron Dome will deter adversaries from attacks on the homeland.

Trump and Putin have both said they would like to meet face-to-face to discuss a range of issues, including the Ukraine war, but Moscow says it has yet to receive any signals from the U.S. on when and where such an encounter could take place.

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With inputs from agencies
Steve Witkoff, the US Special Envoy to Middle East, has said that there is almost nothing left in the Gaza Strip and reconstruction would take up to 10-15 years, not five years as per some previous estimates read more

Steve Witkoff, the US Special Envoy to Middle East, has visited the Gaza Strip and said it may take 10-15 years to rebuild the war-ravaged enclave.

Gaza has been devastated in Israeli bombardment and ground battles between Israeli forces and Hamas. The United Nations (UN) has said that 92 per cent of all houses in the Palestinian enclave have been destroyed or damaged in the war. Several neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble in their entirety.

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Witkoff has become the first senior US official to visit Gaza in more than a decade. He visited the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, which divides the strip into northern and southern halves, to inspect the implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The Corridor is being used for the security screening of displaced Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza.

In an interview with Axios, Witkoff said that the security arrangements at Netzarim and Philadelphi Corridors are working better than expected.

Witkoff arrived in Israel on Wednesday after visiting Saudi Arabia where he met Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh. The meeting was the first official contact between the Trump administration and Palestinian Authority (PA), the de facto Palestinian government that partially governs West Bank. In Israel, Witkoff met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top officials and told Axios that he stressed for the implementation of the complete implementation of the ceasefire deal.

There is almost nothing left of Gaza

Commenting on the devastation in Gaza, Witkoff told Axios that there is almost nothing left of Gaza.

What was inescapable is that there is almost nothing left of GazaPeople are moving north to get back to their homes and see what happened and turn around and leave  there is no water and no electricity. It is stunning just how much damage occurred there, said Witkoff.

Out of total 436,000 housing units affected by the war, accounting for 92 per cent of all houses in Gaza, the UN has said that 160,000 have been completely destroyed and 276,000 have been damaged partially. As hundreds of thousands of Palestinians return to northern Gaza, many of them are finding their homes and neighbourhoods in ruins.

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Witkoff said that the devastation of Gaza has been underestimated so far. He described the strip as uninhabitable.

There has been this perception we can get to a solid plan for Gaza in five years. But its impossible. This is a 10 to 15 year rebuilding planThere is nothing left standing. Many unexploded ordnances. It is not safe to walk there. It is very dangerous. I wouldnt have known this without going there and inspecting, said Witkoff.
After weeks of intense speculation, the White House confirmed on Friday that President Donald Trump will impose aggressive tariffs on key US trading partners this weekend. read more

US President Donald Trump is expected to push forth with a Saturday deadline for tariff hikes on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, the White House said Friday.

I can confirm that tomorrow, the February 1st deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago continues, said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. She reiterated plans for a 25 percent levy on Canada and Mexico, and confirmed a 10 percent rate on China.

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Trumps punitive duties and retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico threaten to disrupt nearly $1.6 trillion in North American trade and effectively end a 30-year free trade system that has deeply integrated the three economies.

Economists and business executives have warned that the tariffs would spark major increases in the prices of imports such as aluminum and lumber from Canada, fruits, vegetables, beer and electronics from Mexico and motor vehicles from both countries.

Tariffs are paid by firms that import goods and pass the costs on to consumers or accept lower profits, economists say.

President Trumps tariffs will tax America first, said Matthew Holmes, public policy chief at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. From higher costs at the pumps, grocery stores and online checkout, tariffs cascade through the economy and end up hurting consumers and businesses on both sides of the border.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said Canada would immediately respond with forceful countermeasures, adding Its not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act.

Canada has drawn up detailed targets for immediate tariff retaliation, including duties on orange juice from Florida, Trumps adopted home state, a source familiar with the plan said.

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Canada has a broader list of targets that could reach C$150 billion worth of U.S. imports, but would hold public consultations before acting, the source said.

During Trumps first term, China targeted U.S. soybeans and other farm products, while the European Union hit iconic American products including bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would wait with a cool head for Trumps tariff decision and was prepared to continue a border dialogue.

We will always defend the dignity of our people, respect for our sovereignty and a dialogue as equals without subordination, she said.

Sheinbaum previously said Mexico also would retaliate, arguing that Trumps tariffs would cost 400,000 U.S. jobs and drive up prices for U.S. consumers.

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With inputs from agencies
Ukraine previously said it had captured or killed several North Korean soldiers deployed to the Kursk region. Zelensky has published footage of interrogations with what he said were North Korean prisoners of war captured by his army on the Kursk front read more

Soldiers participate in a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. Reuters

Ukraine believes North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russias army on the Kursk front line have been withdrawn after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday.

Western, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence agencies say Pyongyang deployed more than 10,000 troops to support Russias forces fighting in its western Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a shock cross-border offensive in August.

Kyiv captured dozens of border settlements in the operation  the first time a foreign army had crossed into Russian territory since the Second World War  in an embarrassing setback for the Kremlin.

The North Korean deployment  never officially confirmed by Moscow or Pyongyang  was supposed to reinforce Russias army and help them expel Ukraines troops.

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But nearly six months on, Ukraine still holds on to swathes of Russian territory, something President Volodymyr Zelensky sees as a key bargaining chip in any future negotiations with Moscow.

Over the past three weeks, we have not seen or detected any activity or military clashes with the North Koreans, Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesman for the Special Operations Forces, told AFP.

We believe that they have been withdrawn because of the heavy losses that were inflicted, he added.

Ukraine previously said it had captured or killed several North Korean soldiers deployed to the Kursk region.

Zelensky has published footage of interrogations with what he said were North Korean prisoners of war captured by his army on the Kursk front.

Ukrainian officials have said that wounded North Korean troops were blowing themselves up with grenades rather than being taken alive.

Asked earlier on Friday about reports the North Korean soldiers had been withdrawn, the Kremlin declined to comment.

There are a lot of different arguments out there, both right and wrong, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Its not worth commenting on every time, he added.

Kyiv and the West had decried their deployment as a major escalation in the three-year conflict.

Ukraine says around 2,000 Russian civilians live in areas under its occupation, mostly cut off from contact with relatives on the other side of the new front line.

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Discontent has been growing in the Russian border region at the failure of the local authorities to secure their return to Moscow-controlled territory or provide updates on their status.

Despite Ukraines hold on part of the Kursk region, Russia has been advancing elsewhere across the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front.

Moscows army on Friday said it had captured another village, Novovasylivka, in eastern Ukraine, where its forces are advancing on a key logistics hub and a road that is crucial for military supplies.

Novovasylivka is close to the key hub of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, and to the internal border with Ukraines Dnipropetrovsk region, which so far has been spared ground combat.

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Russia in 2022 said it was annexing the Donetsk region  despite not having it under full control  but has not publicly made territorial claims on Dnipropetrovsk.
As the M23 seeks to advance after capturing the strategic city of Goma this week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk calls for an end to the violence and for all parties to uphold their obligations under international human rights law. Rape has been widely documented as a weapon of war in eastern Congo for decades, fuelling a long-running sexual violence crisis in the region. read more

Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group are expanding their control in eastern Congo after capturing the city of Goma, the UN said Friday. The rights body also expressed concerns over a sharp rise in human rights violations, including summary executions, the bombing of displacement camps and reports of gang rape and other sexual violence.

The rebel group remains the most formidable among the more than 100 armed factions vying for dominance in Congos mineral-rich east, an area abundant in resources essential to global technology.

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According to UN experts, the group is supported by approximately 4,000 Rwandan troops, a significantly larger force than in 2012 when they first took Goma in a conflict rooted in ethnic tensions.

Atrocities surge in Congo: 12 executed, 52 women raped

The UN rights office (OHCHR) has documented summary executions of at least 12 people by the M23 between Jan. 26 and 28 as well as new cases of sexual violence by the Congolese armed forces and members of the pro-government Wazalendo alliance of armed groups, the organisation said in a statement.

We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23" from Jan. 26-28, Laurence said, adding that the group has also occupied schools and hospitals in the province and are subjecting civilians to forced conscription and forced labor.

Congolese forces have also been accused of sexual violence as fighting rages on in the region, Laurence said.

We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape, he said.

Congo forces repel rebel attack, mass mobilisation begins

An attack by the rebels in Kalehe territory, about 140 kilometers (about 85 miles) from the South Kivu provincial capital, on Thursday was repelled by security forces, said Lt. Gen. Pacifique Masunzu, who commands a key military defense zone in South Kivu.

Congolese military bases in Bukavu were being emptied on Thursday to reinforce those along the way to the provincial capital, residents have told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of young people were on Friday registering as volunteers to join military training in the provincial capital, according to Gabriel Kasanji, a local administrative officer. This follows Congolese President Felix Tshisekedis call on Thursday for a mass military mobilization.

The central African nations military has been weakened after it lost hundreds of personnel and foreign mercenaries who surrendered to the rebels after the fall of Goma.

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As he took office on Friday as the new governor of North Kivu, which includes Goma, Maj. Gen. Somo Kakule Evariste vowed to move as soon as possible to Goma to restore government control.

This is not the time for speeches, the general said. The flame of resistance will never be extinguished.

Gomas residents face water, electricity shortages

As much of Goma remained without water and electricity supplies, residents trekked for hours to fetch water from Lake Kivu.

We want the war to end so that we can resume normal life. Coming here every day, we will not make it, said Badeja Matanda, a Goma resident.

M23 has tried to assert their control over the city, saying on Thursday that they were working to restore electricity and water supplies cut in the city of about 2 million people as the fighting raged on.

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We are going to struggle until we restore democracy, said Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23. From a failed state to a modern state."

With inputs from agencies
Patel, who has been a longtime Trump supporter and was part of the presidents first stint in the White House tried to distance himself from the statement he made on numerous podcasts and in the appendix of his book Government Gangsters read more

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, on Thursday. AP

Notorious conspiracy theorist Kash Patel attempted to navigate through the intense Senate confirmation hearing, which was conducted to determine whether US President Donald Trumps pick is fit to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the agency which he once wanted to shut down. During the hearing, one of the instances that garnered attention was his hesitation to answer whether he would use his position to investigate some of Trumps political opponents.

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The hearing revolved around Patels provocative public remarks, in which he attacked the very federal agency he is planning to lead. The senators also questioned his ability to resist political pressure from the White House. Patel, who has been a longtime Trump supporter and was part of the presidents first stint in the White House tried to distance himself from the statement he made on numerous podcasts and in the appendix of his book Government Gangsters.

In the past, Patel has shared a list of people he believed were Trumps adversaries in government. The list included former attorneys general and FBI directors. During the hearing, Patel insisted that it was not the list of Trumps enemies.Its not an enemies list, Patel said. Its a total mischaracterization," he remarked. However, the Democratic lawmakers raised concerns that he might use his far-reaching powers to please Trump.

Patel remains hesitant

When pressed over the matter, Patel refused to explicitly say that he would not use his position to investigate former FBI Director James Comey or others on the list. He maintained that he would not investigate anyone unless they had broken the law. Interestingly, Patel mentioned that the FBI was answerable to the Justice Department and, ultimately, the White House. This was notably in contrast to the reply given by Trumps attorney general nominee Pam Bondi during her Senate hearing, where she said that the DoJ is answerable to the constitution of the United States.

In another instance, Democrats caught Patel in an awkward moment as they unexpectedly brought up his role as a witness in the criminal investigation into Trumps mishandling of classified documents. It is pertinent to note that during the investigation in the case, Patel was subpoenaed to testify about whether the documents the FBI seized at Mar-a-Lago had been declassified under a standing declassification order.

After getting partial immunity, Patel told Senator Cory Booker, that he had witnessed Trump issue a declassification order for some documents, but he did not actually know whether they applied to the documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

Democrats remain unimpressed

After the hearing, it became apparent that Democrats were less likely to support Patels nomination. Still, Patel attempted to distance himself from his most problematic comments even as Senator Amy Klobuchar read back his past remarks verbatim. Patel said that her quotations were grotesque mischaracterizations at one point in time, he did not remember making the comments which were being read back to him.

I am quoting his own words, Klobuchar said. The January 6 riots were also mentioned during the hearing. When asked about Trumps decision to pardon 1,600 people charged in connection to the attack, many of whom were convicted of assaulting police officers, Patel made it clear that he has always rejected violence against law enforcement officials and did not agree with Trumps commutations.

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The Indian-origin lawyer formally served as a public defender in Florida before joining the justice department in 2014 as a line prosecutor in the national security division. In 2017, Patel became one of the top Republican aides on the House Intelligence Committee, where he wrote a provocative memo charging the FBI and the Justice Department of abusing surveillance powers to spy on a Trump adviser. The memo was eventually criticised as misleading, though an inspector general later found errors with aspects of the surveillance.

With inputs from agencies.
Rubio departs on Saturday on his first foreign trip, and will visit the canal and meet Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since President Donald Trumps threat to take control of the canal. read more

Ahead of Rubios visit to the country, US Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone said on Friday that Chinas presence around the Panama Canal is a national security concern that Panamas government has to deal with.

Rubio will arrive in Panama on Saturday on his first official foreign trip as Americas top diplomat, signaling the importance that both he and Trump place on securing the canal. Although immigration will be a major topic of conversation in Panama and at his other stops, Rubio said the canal issue is a priority.

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Rubio will also visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where the Trump administrations efforts to repatriate migrants from the region and stem migration will be on the agenda, Claver-Carone said in a briefing call with reporters.

Claver-Carone said it was not Mulinos fault but that under previous Panamanian governments, Chinas presence around the Canal got completely out of hand and Mulino has to deal with it.

This increasingly creeping presence of Chinese companies and actors throughout the Canal Zone, in everything from ports and logistics to telecommunications infrastructure and otherwise, which is very concerning, not only frankly to the national security of the United States, but frankly to the national security of Panama and to the entire Western Hemisphere, he said. So that will be an issue of discussion.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says President Donald Trumps desire to acquire Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal is driven by legitimate national security interests stemming from growing concerns about Chinese activity and influence in the Arctic and in Latin America.

Ahead of a trip to Central America that will start in Panama this weekend, Rubio said Thursday that he could not predict if Trump would succeed in buying Greenland from Denmark or restoring American authority over the Panama Canal while he is office. But he said the attention that Trump will give to both would have an impact.

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What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure; our interest in the Panama Canal will be more secure, Rubio said in an interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly.

Chinese investments in ports and other infrastructure and facilities at both the Pacific and Caribbean ends of the canal are a cause for major concern, leaving Panama and the critical shipping route vulnerable to China, he said.

Theyre all over Panama, Rubio said of Chinese companies that many experts believe are beholden to the government in Beijing and would carry out orders to cut off or limit traffic to the canal in the event of a conflict with Taiwan or an unrelated breakdown in relations with the U.S.

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If the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to, he said. I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so that is a direct threat.

Rubio added that if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could and that would be a violation of the 1977 treaty signed by former President Jimmy Carter under which the U.S. ceded control of the American-built canal to Panama in 1999.

He also echoed Trumps complaint that American ships are being overcharged for using the canal, which would also be a violation of the treaty.

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We should not be in a position of having to pay more than other countries. In fact, we should be getting a discount or maybe for free, because we paid for the thing, he said.

With inputs from agencies
Were ready with a response - a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response. Its not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act, Trudeau said in televised remarks read more

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said that Canada will respond immediately and forcefully if the US goes ahead with a threat to impose tariffs.

Speaking to an advisory council on Canada-US relations, Trudeau said the country was at a critical moment and warned that Canadians could be facing tough times.

US President Donald Trump has set a Saturday deadline to implement a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, citing the need for stronger measures to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and the deadly opioid fentanyl into the US.

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Trump has long praised tariffs as effective economic policy. On Monday, Trump called tariff the fourth-most beautiful word in the dictionary, behind God, love and religion.

He has used and promised to employ tariffs for three primary purposes: to raise revenue, to bring trade into balance and to bring rival countries to the negotiating table.

Were ready with a response - a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response. Its not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act, Reuters quoted Trudeau as saying in televised remarks, adding that all options were on the table.

Canada sends 75% of all its goods and services exports to the US and the economy would be badly hit by Trumps promised tariffs.

I wont sugarcoat it - our nation could be facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks, Trudeau said.

I know Canadians might be anxious and worried, but I want them to know the federal government, and indeed, all orders of government, have their backs, Trudeau said.

With inputs from agencies
Last week, Musk told his associates that he had been invited to sleep in the White Houses Lincoln Bedroom at an exclusive black-tie dinner hosted by the Alfalfa Club read more

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has not only given a Cabinet position to Elon Musk but also a makeshift resting place as the Tesla CEO is spending nights in the office.

Musk has told his friends, WIRED reported, that he is too busy to go back home after spending his day at work in the DOGE office based out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Last week, Musk told his associates that he had been invited to sleep in the White Houses Lincoln Bedroom at an exclusive black-tie dinner hosted by the Alfalfa Club. If this were true, the episode highlights Musks growing influence with US President Donald Trump and how he has been shown the way to enter the close circle.

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Hard work wins the bread

This is not the first time Musk has made headlines for his work ethic. When Tesla was at the helm, the X owner slept on the floor of the factory. It was my primary residence, he said in an interview in 2022.

This is important because if the team thinks their leader is off somewhere having a good time, drinking Mai Tais on a tropical island, which I definitely could have been doing  since the team could see me sleeping on the floor during shift change, they knew I was there, and that made a huge difference, they gave it their all," he added.

After acquiring Twitter, Musk started sleeping at its San Francisco offices, where employees often saw him pacing late at night and being escorted to the bathroom by his security guards. He even attempted to have a bathroom installed next to his office to avoid crossing the floor during his stays.

The WIRED says that Musk has asked his key ally Steve Davis, who heads the Boring Company and is tasked with hiring people for DOGE, to move into the Twitter offices with his wife and newborn baby.
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault compared layoffs at Tiffany & Co. to job cuts at Meta, drawing a parallel between the two companies. Arnault revealed that he had discussed Metas decision to let go of low-performing employees with Mark Zuckerberg last week, describing the move as a way to promote outwards those workers. read more

LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault described Mark Zuckerbergs decision to lay off underperforming Meta employees as an opportunity for them to be promoted outwards, so to speak.

Arnault, who leads the luxury goods conglomerate behind brands like Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Sephora drew a parallel between Zuckerbergs recent layoffs at Meta and similar actions taken at Tiffanys, suggesting that being laid off could be seen as a form of promotion.

During a Tuesday earnings call, Arnault mentioned that he had discussed the layoffs with Zuckerberg, noting that the affected workers were being promoted outwards, so to speak. In mid-January, Meta announced an internal memo revealing it would reduce its workforce by 5% due to performance issues, equating to about 3,600 jobs.

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Despite the cuts, Meta plans to hire new employees to fill the vacancies, as the company employed approximately 72,000 people as of September 2024.

Ive decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster, Zuckerberg wrote in an internal message, according to Bloomberg. We typically manage out people who arent meeting expectations over a year, but now were going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.

During LVMHs Tuesday earnings call, Bernard Arnault shared that a similar approach was taken with employees at Tiffanys, the iconic jewelry brand acquired by LVMH in 2021. Arnault described Tiffanys as a sleeping beauty, which had been awakened only through LVMHs acquisition, and stated that the company didnt have a choice but to make staff reductions. However, LVMH did not disclose how many employees were laid off at Tiffanys and did not respond to Fortunes request for comment.

Arnault explained that some employees were unable to adapt to the new demands at Tiffanys, noting, When youre used to sleeping for 10 years, and youre all of a sudden asked to become fierce, and when youre expected to achieve high objectives, some people cant. Unfortunately, we were not able to keep everyone.

LVMHs decision reflects a broader trend in corporate jargon surrounding layoffs. For example, Amazon managers have referred to layoffs as unregretted attrition, and other companies have labeled job cuts as rightsizing. While such measures may offer short-term benefits like cost reduction and increased efficiency, the Academy to Innovate HR warns of several drawbacks, including decreased employee morale, damage to the companys reputation, and potential legal risks.

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Research from Harvard Business Review suggests that job cuts rarely help senior leaders meet long-term goals, and a study from the University of Texas at Arlington found that layoffs often negatively affect stock prices. Economic historian Stephen Mihm, writing in Bloomberg, also argued that an increase in layoffs signals a revival of outdated corporate strategies, which, if continued, could severely harm these companies.
Image: Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Countries today are increasingly leaning towards protectionism to shield domestic industries. However, history shows isolation hinders long-term growth. Therefore, India's journey toward Viksit Bharat requires a strategy that adapts to these shifting dynamics.

As the nation prepares for Budget 2025, the focus must shift towards creating a resilient economy by addressing foundational challenges in resource optimisation, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) empowerment, and procurement.

While the world looks inward, India must focus on creating an ecosystem that fosters productivity and competitiveness domestically without closing itself off to the world.

Optimising Domestic Resource Potential

India's direct tax base remains narrow despite a growing economy, which limits the government's ability to fund critical development priorities. In FY 2023-24, direct taxes contributed 51.5 percent of total tax revenue, while indirect taxes accounted for the rest . Tax contributions are disproportionately low among high-income earners, with around 2,20,000 individuals reporting incomes above Rs1 crore . The solution lies in expanding the direct tax base through the simplified regime that offers clear advantages over the old system: lower tax rates in exchange for fewer exemptions, predictable long-term tax planning, and streamlined compliance requirements. These benefits can drive voluntary adoption of the new framework. To further strengthen direct tax collections, the government should consider presumptive income tax based on consumption and implement a minimum tax for individuals, similar to the concept of MAT for companies.

The country must also better leverage its savings at 30.2 percent of GDP . These savings remain in low-yield assets like gold and real estate instead of productive investments. By strengthening market infrastructure, introducing targeted financial instruments with competitive yields, and creating tax-efficient investment vehicles, policymakers can redirect these funds toward long-term growth sectors.

While foreign direct investment (FDI) remains an important source of capital, inflows declined to $44.4 billion in FY 2023-24 from $46 billion the previous year. This highlights the volatility of external funding. There is a need to build a self-sustaining investment ecosystem powered by domestic tax revenue and efficient capital allocation.

Equally important is ensuring that government expenditure on welfare spending is optimised for maximum impact. The government should allocate funds to strengthen Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) to achieve this. By tracking social and economic mobility at the family level, PPP enables data-driven policy decisions, reduces fiscal leakages, and ensures welfare schemes reach intended beneficiaries efficiently. With India spending over Rs20 lakh crore annually on social sector schemes, even a marginal improvement in targeting can lead to significant savings and better utilisation of public resources .

Strengthening GDP Growth Engine of India

MSMEs are crucial to India's economy, contributing 30 percent to GDP and employing over 110 million people . However, the full potential of MSMEs still remains untapped. In countries like Germany and Japan, SMEs represent a far more significant portion of the economy. Germany's Mittelstand, for instance, accounts for more than 55 percent of the GDP and generates half of the country's economic output, with 82 percent of apprentices trained in these businesses . Similarly, Japan's SMEs contribute 55 percent to Gross Value Added (GVA), representing 99 percent of all enterprises and providing 70 percent of private sector jobs .

In contrast, Indian MSMEs are much less in number and face a host of challenges. Rising input costs and limited access to structured finance hinder their growth. Technology adoption remains a significant roadblock, with 36 percent of MSME owners citing resistance to new technologies and 18 percent struggling with the high costs of implementation . As a result, many MSMEs lack basic digital infrastructure, leaving them disadvantaged in the global economy.

To address these disparities, a two-pronged approach is essential. First, the government must streamline the registration process and introduce clear incentives, such as preferential credit access and technology upgrade subsidies, to bring informal enterprises into the formal sector. Second, establishing digital transformation centres in MSME clusters. Initiatives like "Zero Defect, Zero Effect" must be revitalised, with pathways for informal enterprises to access such benefits.

Procurement Reforms for Efficiency

India's public procurement accounts for roughly 20-22 percent of the GDP . Efficient public procurement can enhance the effectiveness of government spending, churn greater economic activity, and support local businesses.

A key to this transformation is integrating systems like IFMS, eOffice, and Dak, as well as automating processes. A proven example is the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) implemented in the Income Tax Department, dramatically improving governance and reducing complaints. This model can be adapted for procurement by introducing better transparency, reducing payment delays, and ensuring the timely execution of contracts.

Conclusion

The budget is an opportunity to implement these changes. These concrete steps can help India build a more robust and self-reliant economic foundation. Focusing on long-term resilience, efficiency, and competitiveness can create the necessary conditions for sustained growth.

The author is co-founder of Primus Partners.
Uncertainty swept the nation this week when the Trump White House introduced a freeze on federal grants and loans, sending organizations across the country scrambling to figure out what would come next.

The White House ordered the freeze Monday evening. The freeze was then blocked by a federal judge before being rescinded Wednesday via a brief memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that simply stated, OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded.

The rescinding of the order provided some relief nationwide, though that clarity became murky when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted Wednesday, This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the courts injunction. The Presidents (executive orders) on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

With a federal funding freeze still within the realm of possibility  and, per Leavitt, still in effect, though she didnt clarify how this could be the case amidst an injunction and the rescinding of the original order  The Daily Sentinel opted to look into how such a freeze could affect educational institutions on Colorados Western Slope.

SCHOOL DISTRICT 51

Before the freeze was rescinded, The Daily Sentinel requested an interview with anyone with Mesa County Valley School District 51 who could discuss how such a freeze would impact the district.

However, a spokesperson for D51 who had reached out to various potential interviewees ultimately said, I dont think anybody feels comfortable conducting an interview because we still dont know what it means for the district, demonstrating the uncertainty the proposed freeze created for school districts.

D51 did highlight some of the programs in the district that rely the most on federal grants, such as Medicaid, Title I, Special Education and Nutrition Services.

The D51 Board of Education recently passed its re-adopted budget for the 2024-2025 school year. Of its designated governmental purpose grants, $27,726,631 of revenue is federal while just over $10 million comes at the state and local levels.

The districts total of $37.8 million in grant expenditures includes $10.2 million for Medicaid, nearly $6 million for Title I schools (money that assists 17 D51 schools where at least half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches), and $6.4 million for Special Education.

In the districts re-adopted budget, federal reimbursements serve as the primary source of Nutrition Services Fund revenue: $8,131,379 out of a total revenue of $11,252,207 (71.4%). State reimbursements make up 17.17%.

Additionally, D51s general fund revenue includes $78,393 in federal revenue, though thats a tiny fraction of the districts general fund total ($246.3 million).

COLORADO MESA

Colorado Mesa University President John Marshall discussed the universitys response to the freeze and how this scenario has made the school evaluate its programs and funding.

Marshall said that since CMU is not an R1 or land grant institution, it doesnt rely on federal grants nearly as much as some other colleges.

I think its important for organizations like ours to just really carefully read whats coming and thoughtfully analyze what it might be and try not to have too much of a knee-jerk reaction to something like that, Marshall said. Weve been pulling over the last 24 hours all the various federal grant exposure that we have and really trying to understand what, if any, impacts there might be. Its conceivable that the impact could be very minimal if something like this were to occur. Its conceivable that they could be modest. Theyre not going to be significant for us because thats not really how were wired or oriented as an institution.

Marshall elaborated after saying CMU only has a few federally funded programs that could be impacted by a federal fund freeze.

Lets say theres a dozen that have some connection to some federal grant. Of those dozen, a subset of those might be impacted by the memo, and of those, a subset of those might actually be things we felt like maybe we needed to plan on some changes. Its sort of like a fraction of a fraction. Its really just going exhaustively over all the various federal grants were going over, Marshall said.

Now, were making some assumptions that the guidance from the White House and OMB indicated that Pell grants and student loans and some of those major federal programs were unaffected, so if those were affected, that would be a different conversation, but in the context of just these federal grants, we dont have a lot of federal assistance programs and things like that. Its really just stacking them all up, looking through them carefully, and our Office of Sponsored Programs does a great job of keeping track of and analyzing where were at in any given moment.

Marshall said notable grants that could have been impacted  and still could be depending on any future actions by the Trump administration  are federal TRIO grants, which are aimed at supporting low-income and first-generation students, demographics that CMU has prioritized in outreach and enrollment in recent years.

We dont know this for certain, but that would be one of the larger grants we have, and I think its unlikely those would ultimately be affected, Marshall said. If they are, well have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to continue supporting the students in those programs.

Marshall was then asked about how this weeks events will inform CMU moving forward, especially in the event that another order is issued regarding federal fund freezing.

I think its a good reminder for us that we want to really be thoughtful about making sure that everyone of our programs, whether its something were running with institutional funds or grant funds or anything else, is being run the way youd run your own private business, as thoughtfully and carefully as possible with the most impact possible. Thats something we ought to be doing all the time, Marshall said.

The other reality is that, every four years, theres an election. Things change in Washington over time and our task is to continue to stay focused on our mission, irrespective of whos in the White House, and try to be as responsive as we can to the various directives weve received over the year and will continue to come from this administration as it has from past administrations.

MESA COUNTY

The Daily Sentinel received a statement from Mesa County Public Affairs Director Stephanie Reecy on Tuesday, before the freeze was paused and then ultimately rescinded. Reecy was asked if the freeze was expected to have an impact on the county.

At this time, the temporary pause of agency grant, loan, and other financial assistance programs does not seem to impact Mesa County services or operations directly, Reecy said. However, we are closely monitoring the situation and will assess any potential effects on our programs as more details emerge.
5 foreigners nabbed for alleged spying ops

Philippine News Agency

By Benjamin Pulta

January 30, 2025, 5:29 pm

MANILA -- Authorities have arrested five foreign nationals suspected of engaging in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations in the country.

Top officials from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday presented to the media the five Chinese suspects as well as the equipment recovered from them.

Also presented were supposed video footage from drones and military-grade, high-resolution video cameras disguised to look like civilian security closed circuit TVs (CCTVs).

AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said data collected from the solar-powered video cameras were "being sent real-time" to a remote location.

"That could be why in the past ships were always aware when we deploy Coast Guard and naval resupply ships," Brawner said.

Photos recovered include images on the Naval Detachment Oyster Bay in Brgy. Bahile in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, which is part of the Philippine Navy's Naval Forces West (Navforwest) positioned near the contested West Philippine Sea.

The five were identified as Cai Shaohuang, Cheng Hai Tao, Wu Cheng Ting, Wang Yong Yi and Wu Chin Ren.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago said the suspects claimed to be members of civic groups Qiaoxing Volunteer Group of the Philippines and Philippine-China Association of Promotion of Peace and Friendship, Inc.

He said they also posed as buyers of seafood from locals, particularly lobsters, and have even befriended local officials.

The arrests were made following pursuit operations on Jan. 24 to 25 in Palawan, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.

Other images show the Philippine Navy's Del Pilar Class offshore patrol vessel BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS 16), maps overlooking the Subic Bay International Airport, and Naval Operating Base Subic.

There were also footages of the Philippine Coast Guard vessels BRP Teresa Magbanua and BRP Gabriela Silang docked in the PCG Maritime Safety Service Unit NCR-Cluster, officials said.

Meanwhile, the NBI denied claims that the government is targeting Chinese nationals in its operations.

"We are not targeting the Chinese. It just so happens that there was a violation of the (espionage) law and these people happened to be Chinese," Santiago said.

Santiago also denied reports that they tortured Deng Quanjing, the suspected spy who used an SUV (sports utility vehicle) to allegedly map out crucial military installations in Luzon, and that the latter was deprived of the service of a competent counsel.

"At every opportunity the NBI gave Chinese consular officials the opportunity to meet with their constituents," the NBI chief said.

Too early to tell whether acts state sponsored

Brawner, meanwhile, said it is still too early to tell whether the activities of the Chinese suspects are state sponsored.

"We cannot conclude that. What we are focusing on is on the act itself, yung pag-espiya yung tinatawag nating (the spying, or what we call) ISR, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations so yun po yung focus natin (that is our focus)," he added.

While it is known that images and videos being taken by the suspects are being forwarded, the AFP chief said where these are sent remains unknown.

He also said that this case is "just the tip of the iceberg" and that many individuals behind these kinds of activities have yet to be caught.

"We are in the process of also building up the intelligence against these other activities," the AFP chief added.

He also admitted that the five suspects are related to the case of the alleged Chinese spy arrested last Jan. 17 in Makati City, along with two Filipino accomplices. (with Priam Nepomuceno/PNA)

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China's spy agency warns people not to 'endanger national security' during holidays

People should be careful what they say when meeting up with friends and family, the Ministry of State Security says.

By Lin Yueyang for RFA Mandarin 2025.01.30 -- China's spy agency has called on the country's citizens to beware of "endangering national security" over the holiday period, a phrase commentators said was a warning to people to be careful what they say, and to not pass on information that hasn't been officially released.

"Certain traps that endanger national security can enter our lives unannounced," the Ministry of State Security said in a Jan. 28 post to its official WeChat account, the day most people would be gathering back at their family home to eat a meal and welcome in the Year of the Snake.

The much-feared Ministry has been cranking up propaganda warning of foreign "spies" in recent months, in a bid to get more people to inform on each other and steer clear of anything linked to the West.

The post called on people to enjoy the New Year as usual, but to be mindful of "ulterior motives to spy and steal state secrets," particularly when attending gatherings and making visits.

"Don't let your guard down when it comes to security and confidentiality," the notice warned. "The public is warned to beware of people using the exchange of news ... and other normal exchanges and interactions to acquire state secrets."

"We must be vigilant against foreign spy agencies who collect and steal secrets both online and through secret infiltration," it said.

U.S.-based lawyer Gao Guangjun said such notices have become common over the festive period in recent years, and has coincided with China's growing sense of isolation from the international community.

He said such notices rarely define a "state secret," leaving the authorities free to "enforce the law at will."

What's a state secret?

The Chinese authorities have typically employed a highly elastic definition of what constitutes a state secret, and national security charges are frequently leveled at journalists, rights lawyers and activists, often based on material they post online.

Article 14 of China's Law on Safeguarding State Secrets, which was amended last year, divides state secrets into three categories: top secret; confidential and secret.

Which information falls into which category is left to the authorities to decide, according to Article 15.

The lack of definition makes "endangering state security" an easy crime to pin on anyone sharing information the government doesn't like, Gao said.

The Ministry also called on people to "avoid military restricted zones, confidential scientific research institutions, communications bases and key power facilities" when going out to have fun.

It also called on social media users to be careful what they say online.

"Beware of spy agencies using social media comment areas to collect and steal state secrets and information," it said.

U.S.-based political scientist Wang Juntao said the notice was "absurd."

"It's getting more and more ridiculous and over the top," he said of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's obsession with security.

He said the authorities are nervous because people typically gather and exchange news over the Lunar New Year holiday, making it a time of potential unrest in their eyes.

"There are large movements of the population around Spring Festival, when people go back to their family home," Wang said.

"As the migrant workers go back home, they'll take with them news of everything they saw and heard in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places," he said. "So the authorities will want to control people's speech and thoughts around this time."

"They don't want people to start saying stuff that is different from the government line."

Meanwhile, China's Cyberspace Administration named and shamed a number of "illegal and irregular" online news and information service providers in a Jan. 19 announcement, according several organizations of peddling "fake news."

Websites including the China International News Network, Heilongjiang Online, Huaxia Morning News on Netease and the video account Xinxi Xinbao were all accused of "compiling and publishing false and untrue information and misleading the public," the notice said.

Others had run news operations without a license, and "illegally recruited reporters," and carried out reporting and publishing of "so-called" news, it said.

The agency said the "rectification" campaign would continue in 2025.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

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Trump pick for intelligence chief slams 'costly failures,' smear campaigns

By Jeff Seldin January 30, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to lead the country's intelligence apparatus launched a broadside against the conduct of those agencies under previous presidents, accusing them of wielding their power to undermine Trump while also seeking to smear her reputation.

Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday she would bring "fresh eyes" if confirmed as director of national intelligence and restore faith in the intelligence community's 18 agencies, which she said is at "an all-time low."

"For too long, faulty, inadequate, or weaponized intelligence have led to costly failures and the undermining of our national security and God-given freedoms," Gabbard said during her nomination hearing.

"The bottom line is this  this must end," she said. "President Trump's reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure, and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community."

Gabbard also lashed out at those who have criticized her nomination by arguing she is "loyal to something or someone other than God, my own conscience and the Constitution of the United States," she said.

"What truly unsettles my political opponents is I refuse to be their puppet," she said in her opening statement.

Trump's decision to nominate Gabbard for the post shortly after his victory in November's presidential election caught some lawmakers and former intelligence officials by surprise.

The former Democratic representative from the state of Hawaii, and a one-time Democratic presidential candidate, is a 20-year-plus veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard with tours in Iraq and Kuwait. But while she was awarded a combat medical badge, she has not held any senior leadership positions.

Gabbard has also faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for statements she has made about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, about the use of warrantless surveillance, and for legislation she introduced to pardon Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor accused of leaking thousands of classified documents before ultimately fleeing to Russia.

There also have been criticisms of a 2017 trip Gabbard took to Syria, during which she met with then-President Bashar al-Assad.

"It's fair to say Ms. Gabbard's nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee," said Republican committee chairman Tom Cotton, as the hearing got underway.

But Cotton, who earlier told Fox News that Gabbard is ready to assume the role of the top U.S intelligence official, also said he was dismayed by attacks on her patriotism and loyalty.

"I can only laugh at some critics who say that Ms. Gabbard has unconventional views," he told lawmakers. "But look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking."

Other lawmakers, though, were not equally impressed.

"I continue to have significant concerns about your judgment and your qualifications," said committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat.

"Repeatedly, you have excused our adversaries' worst actions, [and] instead often blame them on the United States," he said. "I respectfully just don't believe, on your judgment and your credibility issues, that this is the appropriate role for you to take going forward."

Senate Intelligence Committee members questioned Gabbard repeatedly about her statements regarding Snowden, despite Gabbard's testimony that, if confirmed, she would not push for him to be pardoned.

Gabbard, however, repeatedly declined to fully condemn Snowden's actions, saying that while he broke the law, he also exposed unlawful actions and prompted needed reforms.

"My heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nation's security," she told Republican Senator James Lankford, who asked if she considered Snowden a traitor. "I'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again."

Democratic Senator Michael Bennet expressed frustration with Gabbard's responses.

"This is when you need to answer the questions of the people whose votes you're asking for to be confirmed as the chief intelligence of this nation," Bennet told Gabbard, before asking his fellow lawmakers, "Can't we do better?"

Russia-Ukraine stance

Other lawmakers questioned Gabbard about comments she has made about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia's legitimate security concerns," Gabbard said on social media as Russia began its invasion in 2022.

But Gabbard took a different stance during Thursday's hearing.

"Putin started the war in Ukraine," she told one senator, while telling another she was offended by his question about whether she would give Russia "a pass" when evaluating intelligence.

"My sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people," Gabbard said, describing Russia as a "strategic competitor" with a concerning nuclear weapons arsenal.

"You have my commitment to be completely objective, unbiased and apolitical, and I hope you understand my commitment to our country's interests," she said.

Meeting with Syria's Assad

Gabbard also defended her 2017 trip to Syria and her meeting with Assad, who had been accused by the U.S. and others of using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.

"I asked him tough questions about his own regime's actions, the use of chemical weapons and the brutal tactics that were being used against his own people," she said, defending the decision to make the trip.

Gabbard likewise defended her newfound support of U.S. warrantless surveillance capabilities despite opposition to the program while she was a lawmaker, citing recent reforms enacted by Congress to better protect the privacy of U.S. citizens.

Gabbard also raised concerns about Chinese-linked hackers known as Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, calling Beijing's ability to infiltrate critical infrastructure and telecommunications systems "an area of significant and great concern."

Some Senate Republicans had been making a strong push for Gabbard's confirmation even before the hearing got underway.

Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took to X [on social media] to reject accusations that Gabbard is sympathetic to Russia.

"This is what the Deep State does to reformers. We can't let the Deep State win," Lee said in a post later re-posted by Trump ally and U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency.

"I have a long record of speaking truth to power," Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, saying she would also take it upon herself, if confirmed, to give Trump his daily intelligence briefings.

"I will do my very best to find the truth, no matter where it leads, and share that truth with President Trump, his advisers, and you in Congress," she said.

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No: 25, 29 January 2025, Regarding the Three Turkish Citizens Attempting to Cross Illegally from Lebanon to Israel

Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs

It has been learned that the three Turkish citizens, with whom contact had been lost while attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon to Israel, lost their lives as a result of an Israeli airstrike in the region.

We wish Allah's mercy upon our citizens and extend our condolences to their families.

The necessary procedures are underway to repatriate their bodies to Turkiye as soon as possible.

We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens. As we have emphasized on every occasion, Israel must immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region.

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Recovery Underway for U.S. Army Helicopter Crash

By Joint Task Force-National Capital Region U.S. Army Military District of Washington January 30, 2025

WASHINGTON -- "Our deepest condolences go out to all the families and friends impacted during this tragedy, and we will support them through this difficult time. Our top priority is to assist in the recovery efforts, while fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other investigative agencies to determine the cause of this tragic incident," said Maj. Gen. Trevor J. Bredenkamp, commander Joint Task Force - National Capital Region/ U.S. Army Military District of Washington.

"While the investigation is ongoing, we are committed to transparency and will share accurate updates as soon as they become available," said Bredenkamp.

While performing a training mission a United States Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Va., collided in midair with an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet Flight 5342 last night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The FAA, NTSB and the United States Army will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation. We are working with local officials and will provide any additional information once it becomes available.

Additional queries can be directed to the Military District of Washington Public Affairs Office at usarmy.mcnair.mdw.mbx.mediadesk-omb@army.mil.



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Assembly President regrets Georgian delegation's decision to withdraw from Parliamentary Assembly

Council of Europe

Parliamentary Assembly

Strasbourg

30 January 2025

"I regret the decision of the Georgian delegation to withdraw from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) following the Assembly's vote tonight to ratify the delegation's credentials, subject to conditions," said the Parliamentary Assembly President, Theodoros Rousopoulos. "This jeopardises the dialogue that could help to advance democratic standards in Georgia."

Earlier, the Assembly decided to ratify the credentials of the Georgian delegation, but suspended many of its members' rights and said it would reconsider the credentials in April according to progress made by the Georgian authorities on reversing "democratic backsliding" in the country. The credentials were challenged on the opening day of the Assembly's winter plenary session in Strasbourg.

In a resolution based on a report by Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica (Latvia, EPP/CD), the Assembly said it would reconsider the credentials at its April 2025 part-session "in the light of progress achieved" on a series of issues, including:

the organisation of "new genuinely democratic parliamentary elections", held under strict international monitoring and conditions of political independence of state institutions and election administration

immediate and effective steps to "enable Georgia to resume the European integration process"

an immediate end to police brutality and human rights abuses

the release of all political prisoners before the Assembly's 2025 April part-session

Although approving the credentials, the Assembly suspended a number of rights of members the Georgian delegation "as a clear sign of its condemnation of police brutality and other human rights abuses". They may not join five of PACE's nine committees, become rapporteurs, observe elections or represent the Assembly at certain events.

The Assembly also said it would "explore ways of strengthening the participation of Georgian extra-parliamentary opposition and civil society in its actions with regard to Georgia".

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The Estonian Defence Forces Receive the First Batch of CAESAR Self-Propelled Howitzers

Republic of Estonia - Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI)

30.01.2025

News, Armaments

The Estonian Defence Forces have received the first batch of CAESAR MK1 155 mm caliber self-propelled howitzers on a 66 chassis, which will be assigned to the newly established 3rd self-propelled artillery battalion operating under the command of the Estonian division.

"It is a pleasure to confirm that the first CAESAR self-propelled howitzers have been handed over to the Estonian Defence Forces. We signed the contract last June, and it took just half a year for the first CAESAR howitzers to arrive in Estonia," commented Ramil Lipp, Strategic Category Manager (Armaments) at the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI).

Considering the reliability and effectiveness of this weapon in various conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, it can be said that Estonia has acquired the best possible solution. "This indirect fire weapon allows units to relocate quickly over a distance of 600 km on a single refueling, and its standard caliber supports compatibility with various NATO munitions," added Lipp.

Lieutenant Colonel Rauno Viitmann, project officer for the procurement from the Estonian Defence Forces side, stated: "The CAESARs increase firepower and reaction speed of the Estonian division, enabling support for units across the country in various situations when needed. Both conscripts and reservists will operate the self-propelled howitzers - conscript training will begin in the coming weeks, and reservist training exercises are planned for the summer."

The CAESAR MK1 self-propelled howitzer is a 155 mm caliber indirect fire weapon that enables units to engage targets over 40 kilometers away and relocate quickly over long distances. The standard caliber allows the system to be used with various NATO-compatible munitions. The system's automation, combined with its relative simplicity, enables crews to be trained within a few weeks, and its widespread use in multiple countries ensures long-term logistical support and spare parts availability. The Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI) signed contracts in the summer of 2024 with the French defence procurement agency DGA and the defence industry company KNDS to acquire 12 CAESAR wheeled self-propelled howitzers. The contract also includes the option to purchase additional howitzers in the future

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Germany Federal Foreign Office

30.01.2025 - Press release

Following the escalation in violence by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance Luise Amtsberg issued the following statement:

A large proportion of people in the region are already living under difficult humanitarian conditions. The advance of the M23 militia, supported by Rwanda, and their presumed capture of the provincial capital, Goma, are causing immeasurable suffering among the civilian population: countless people are fleeing the fighting. Many of them have little or no access to food and water. In areas where fighting is taking place, women and girls are especially frequent victims of gender-based violence. Particularly in and around Goma - where hundreds of thousands of displaced people had previously sought refuge - the situation is disastrous. Once again, they are having to flee their homes; supply routes are cut off. People are no longer able to provide for themselves and their families, and doctors and hospitals can barely function.

Many people in eastern Congo depend for their survival on the work of humanitarian aid workers. Aid organisations on the ground are operating at the very limits of their capacity - and beyond. Yet they, too, are not spared by the fighting. In addition, even humanitarian aid flights are impacted by GPS jamming carried out by Rwanda and the M23; the airspace over Goma is closed.

We call on the M23 to withdraw. Rwanda must immediately end its support for the M23, and all parties involved must immediately cease hostilities and return to the negotiating table. Together with our partners in the EU and beyond, we are working to stabilise the situation in eastern Congo. As the current Chair of the International Contact Group for the Great Lakes, the Federal Government is committed to achieving stability. The protection of the civilian population, of humanitarian aid workers and of peacekeepers is mandated under international law and must be respected under all circumstances.

It must also be clear that embassies and diplomatic personnel must never be the target of attacks. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms. I also condemn the attack on the premises of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Kinshasa.

There can only be a political solution to the conflict. The Federal Government particularly supports the peace efforts of the Luanda Process under the leadership of Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, as well as the Nairobi Process. Rwanda must end its presence in the DRC, which violates international law, and cease its support for the M23. The Congolese army must disarm the rebel militia FDLR and must be open to inclusive dialogue. Only in this way can the ceasefire of 30 July 2024 negotiated under the Luanda Peace Process be upheld and further suffering prevented.
Finland is prepared for security threats against communications networks and is making sustained effort to strengthen security

Finnish Government

Ministry of Transport and Communications

30.1.2025 10.15

Press release

Communications networks are part of the infrastructure that is essential for the functioning of society. The security of communications networks is extensively regulated in the Act on Electronic Communications Services. Its provisions contain obligations to ensure that the security of communications networks is, above all, proactively safeguarded though retroactive measures may be used where necessary.

The aim of the Act is to ensure that public communications networks, services and related critical dedicated networks are planned and maintained in a secure manner. The Act covers all communications networks, such as 5G networks, undersea cables and future communications networks. Operators are responsible for security, and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom supervises compliance with the Act.

Authorities may already now remove communications network equipment that threatens national security or national defence

In 2021, Finnish legislation was reinforced based on the EU's recommendations for 5G networks, especially with the view of safeguarding national security and national defence. Equipment that endangers national security or national defence must not be used in the critical parts of the communications network.

The use of the equipment could endanger national security or national defence so that the use would enable foreign intelligence activities or activities that would disrupt, paralyse or otherwise adversely affect the important interests, basic functions of society or democratic order of Finland. In such a situation, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom may, on the initiative of the security authorities, among others, order the equipment to be removed.

"Technological development and changes in the security environment are always taken into account nationally in ensuring network security. At the same time, we will continue advocacy work and close cooperation both within the EU and internationally. The Commission will soon provide detailed plans for a more integrated approach to network security," says Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne.

"We are fully aware of the risks and concerns associated with Chinese technology and are preparing for them. The Finnish Security Intelligence Service has evaluated the matter in its national security overview. Security authorities' evaluations of and reports on threats to national security and defence will be taken account of in full when applying network security legislation," Minister Ranne says.

The Act also lays down provisions on the Advisory Board for Network Security led by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The Board will further strengthen cooperation between the security authorities and telecommunications operators.

Traficom's regulation technically defines critical parts of communications networks

On 23 January 2025, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom launched a project to update the technical specification of the critical parts of communications networks. The project will take comprehensive account of the technological development of communications networks and security threats in a changed operating environment.

The Transport and Communications Agency will regularly assess the updates to the regulation on the definition of the critical parts of communications networks and may, if necessary, also assess as critical a part of a communications network that is not specifically mentioned in the regulation.

Finland continues as frontrunner in developing secure communications networks

The architecture of communications networks will become more complex in the future. Finland has promoted built-in security in the transition to the next generation of networks both within the EU and internationally. In Finland, public authorities and the private sector cooperate closely in developing secure communications networks.

"By investing in the development of secure 6G networks now, we are showing that Finland continues to be a leader in developing communications networks," Minister Ranne says.

The Advisory Board for Network Security is currently reviewing security issues related to 6G networks as part of the work of the working group to promote 6G communications technologies.

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Germany to join Finland-led CAVS Framework Agreement

Finnish Ministry of Defence

30.01.2025 10:00

Germany joins into Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) Framework Agreement which enables serial procurement of CAVS vehicles from Patria. The CAVS Framework Agreement has been previously entered between Finland, Sweden, and Latvia.

- We are very pleased that also Germany moves ahead with Finland-led CAVS project. We have actively marketed our co-procurement programme to allies and partners, says Minister of Defence Antti Hakkanen.

Germany joined the CAVS project in 2023 and the CAVS product development agreement in spring 2024. German Ministry of Defence is planning to replace its current Fuchs fleet with Patria 6x6 armoured vehicles. Patria is committed to industrial cooperation with German companies. It will manufacture the CAVS vehicles in Germany in cooperation with German partners. Actual serial procurements need to be even approved by the German parliament.

"The CAVS project exemplifies the increasing procurement cooperation in accordance with the EU defence strategy, the development of European defence and the Ministry of Defence's activity in promoting Finnish defence industry. Programme strengthens European defence and NATO cooperation. The European Commission acknowledged the work by granting the project EUR 60 million through the EDIRPA instrument. The funding will be used for multinational cooperation among the CAVS member countries", Minister Hakkanen says.

"The CAVS project allows Member States to procure modern armoured vehicles quickly and cost-effectively. Its extensive industrial cooperation within the EU will improve the security of supply and readiness of the EU and the capabilities of the European defence industry. The countries participating in the CAVS project benefit from common procurement, product development and life-cycle management. Our cooperation with Germany has been excellent and, on behalf of the three CAVS countries Finland, Sweden and Latvia, I would like to wish Germany once again welcome to the project's serial procurement phase," Hakkanen says.

The goal of the CAVS project, which was launched in cooperation between Defence Ministries of Finland and Latvia in 2020, is to develop an armoured 6x6 vehicle system for the needs of EU Member States. Vehicles are already being delivered to Finland, Sweden and Latvia. The three countries have ordered around 700 armoured vehicles from Patria. The most recent order for C2 vehicles came from Latvia in 2024. Finland has ordered armoured personnel carriers and heavy armoured personnel carriers designed for crisis management operations. In addition to the previously mentioned, defence forces of various countries have expressed at least their tentative interest in the CAVS vehicles.

The CAVS project is open to European countries with similar 6x6 armoured vehicle requirements. Having Germany and Sweden on board enables user cooperation, joint exercises, crisis management operations and missions between Nordic and Baltic Sea countries and simplifies logistics and improves security of supply.

Inquiries: Riikka Saxlin, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 036, and Brigadier General Engineering Juha-Matti Ylitalo, Deputy Chief, Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command, tel. +358 299 800 (Defence Forces' switchboard).

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Joint statement by the Nordic Defence Ministers

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 30/01/2025

Today, 30 January 2025, the Nordic Ministers of Defence met in Helsinki under the Finnish chairship of Nordic defence cooperation (NORDEFCO).

Nordic defence cooperation has entered a new era with the signing of Vision 2030 in April last year. Vision 2030 marks a new level of ambition for NORDEFCO, with efforts to implement its objectives rapidly underway.

The Nordic Defence Ministers welcome progress made to operationalise Vision 2030, strengthening the deterrence and defence of NATO. At the core of Nordic defence cooperation is the ability to conduct joint military operations to manage both present and future challenges together.

As NATO members, the Nordic countries are committed to assisting each other and other allies, with readiness to defend every inch of NATO territory. The Nordic Ministers of Defence reiterate their commitment to strengthening military cooperation, including in the framework of Joint Force Command Norfolk, in support of NATO's regional efforts.

In a time of increased uncertainty, characterised by Russia's hostile behaviour and war of aggression against Ukraine, the Nordic Defence Ministers emphasise the importance of a strong and united Alliance and express their unwavering support for Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes. Confronted with serious and long-term threats to regional and global security, Nordic Defence Cooperation has never been stronger.

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Norway transfers USD 24.5 Million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

Government of Norway

Press release | Date: 30/01/2025

'Gaza is in ruins, and UNRWA is needed more than ever. The fact that Israeli laws, which can effectively prevent UNRWA from operating in Palestine, are coming into force is extremely dramatic. This is particularly serious at a time when all efforts should be directed towards implementing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. It is now crucial that the international community provides UNRWA with political and financial support so that all Palestine refugees in the region can continue to receive vital assistance and services,' said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

Today, Norway is transferring USD 24.5 million (NOK 275 million) to UNRWA. The Norwegian contribution will finance UNRWA's efforts for six million Palestine refugees in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

UNRWA is in a serious crisis after the Israeli parliament passed laws last autumn that can effectively make it impossible for UNRWA to operate in Palestine. The laws come into force on 30 January.

'The needs in Gaza are enormous. Around one million people in Gaza are entirely dependent on UNRWA for basic services such as education, healthcare and food. If UNRWA must halt its operations in Palestine, 330,000 children and young people in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, will lose the opportunity to attend school. Women and girls will be particularly affected, as UNRWA focuses on gender equality,' said Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim.

Last autumn, Norway submitted a resolution to the UN General Assembly requesting the International Court of Justice to clarify Israel's legal obligations under international law to facilitate the provision of emergency aid and essential services to Palestinians living under occupation. The resolution was adopted with an overwhelming majority of 137 UN member states. Due to the urgency of the matter, the Court is prioritising the case. Norway will actively contribute to this process.

'In addition to the rights and needs of the Palestinians, the resolution is about defending the UN, international law and humanitarian principles. When the UN General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949, the international community committed to ensuring the basic needs of Palestine refugees until a political solution between Israel and the Palestinians is in place. We cannot abandon this responsibility now,' said Eide.

UN agencies and other organisations working in Gaza rely on UNRWA's staff and network to distribute aid to the population. UNRWA has been responsible for 60 percent of food deliveries in Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect.

'UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian efforts in Gaza. They are a crucial actor in effectively implementing the ceasefire. Given the current situation in Gaza, neither the Palestinian government nor other organisations can assume UNRWA's responsibilities. I fear that the refugees will lose hope and that the Middle East will become even more unstable,' said Tvinnereim.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949. The organisation's mandate is to protect and meet the basic needs of Palestine refugees, including food, education, healthcare and shelter.

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Sweden to donate anti-tank weapons to Moldova

Government Offices of Sweden

Press release from Ministry of Defence

Published 30 January 2025

The Government is proposing to donate m/86 (AT4) anti-tank weapons to Moldova within the framework of the additional amending budget that contains the 18th military support package to Ukraine.

In light of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moldova finds itself in a very vulnerable position, due to its geographical proximity to Ukraine and Russia's repeated influence campaigns against the country. Moldova is in great need of assistance, including military support. It is in Sweden's foreign and security policy interests to assist Moldova as a matter of urgency.

Supporting Ukraine further and increasing engagement with other countries in the EU's Eastern partnership, such as Moldova, are important parts of Sweden's policy to constrain Russia's influence, freedom of action and ability to do harm.

The Government is therefore proposing to donate anti-tank weapons worth a maximum of SEK 13 000 000 to Moldova, within the framework of the additional amending budget that contains the 18th military support package to Ukraine.



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Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari-January 30, 2025

IDF Press Release

January 30, 2025

30.01.25

IDF

"The distressing images from Gaza today put Arbel and Gadi's lives at riskwe will not allow Hamas to violate the agreement."

"Today, we returned eight more hostagesArbel Yehoud, Gadi Mozes, Agam Berger, and five Thai nationals who were abducted on October 7. Arbel Yehoud was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with her partner, Ariel Cunio, who is still held captive by Hamas. Her brother, Dolev, was murdered that same day. Gadi Mozes, who is 80 years old, was abducted from Nir Oz along with five members of his family. Many members of the Nir Oz community were murdered, and seventy-four were taken hostageincluding women, men, and children. We have a commitment to bringing them all backreturning the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for burial.

This morning, Agam Berger, an IDF soldier, was returnedthe last abducted soldier from the Nahal Oz base. With this, all of the field observer soldiers abducted on the morning of October 7 have now returned. We are glad you are home. Agam and her fellow soldiers acted bravely and courageously that morning, standing against a brutal enemy storming toward them. They remained dedicated to their mission until the very last moments. We embrace the bereaved families who lost loved ones in the battle at the Nahal Oz base and continue to support them. It is our duty to thoroughly investigate what happened and present our findings transparently and as soon as possiblefirst to the families and then to the public.

We remain fully committed to bringing back the 82 hostages who are still being held in Gaza. The distressing images from Gaza today put Arbel and Gadi's lives at risk. Hamas is responsible for thisand as we have made clear, we will not accept such danger to the hostages! We are fully committed to the ceasefire agreement as determined by the political echelon, and we will ensure its full implementation. We will not allow Hamas to violate the agreement. We are preparing for the return of additional hostages this coming Saturday.

In Judea and Samaria, we eliminated ten terrorists yesterday in an airstrike. We are fighting terrorism. Today, during an exchange of fire with terrorists in the Jenin Camp, an IDF soldier, Staff Sergeant Liam Hazi from the Haruv Reconnaissance Battalion, fell in battle. Another soldier was seriously wounded, and several others sustained mild to moderate injuries. We extend our condolences to his family and stand by them during these difficult times. We continue to act decisively against terrorism wherever it may be, including in Judea and Samaria. Tonight as well, we remember those who fell in the battles of October 7 and the heavy price paid by IDF soldiers and commandersboth in regular service and reservesthroughout the war."

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Third prisoner exchange between Israel, Hamas begins in Gaza

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 30, 2025

Tehran, IRNA -- A third exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel is currently underway as part of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The Palestinian resistance group handed over a female Israeli soldier to the Red Cross in northern Gaza's Jabalia area on Thursday.

The Israeli military confirmed that Agam Berger, 20, had crossed the border into the occupied territories. The military was preparing to receive more prisoners shortly, it added in a statement on X.

Berger is one of the three Israeli prisoners and five Thai nationals being released by Hamas in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 minors.

Later in the day, two other Israeli prisoners were handed over to the Red Cross in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

According to Al-Mayadeen news channel, two Israeli prisoners named Erbil Yehuda and Gadi Mozis were handed over to the Red Cross on Thursday.

Al-Mayadeen reporter said that the two Israeli prisoners are in good health, adding, "They were handed over to the Red Cross in front of the house of the martyr "Yahya Al-Sinwar" (the late head of the political office of Hamas) in Khan Yunis."

Israel was supposed to release 110 Palestinians later in the day, but it put on hold to free them for yet unclear reasons.

Large crowds of Palestinians and resistance fighters also gathered in Khan Younis in southern Gaza to welcome the Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has failed to achieve its stated goal of eradicating Hamas in Gaza following over 15 months of a genocidal war that killed more than 47,000 Palestinians.

Early this month, the Israeli regime was forced to enter a ceasefire deal with Hamas, which continues to have a strong presence in Gaza and is in charge of the handover of Israeli prisoners.

2050**4353

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Hamas to release 3 Israelis in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 30, 2025

Tehran, IRNA -- Hamas is expected to release three Israelis in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 minors, during the third swap on Thursday under a tenuous ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

"Tomorrow, 110 Palestinian prisoners are to be released," the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Publishing the list of the prisoners, the advocacy group said 30 Palestinians set for release were under the age of 18, and 32 had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

As part of the exchange on Thursday, Hamas will also release three Israeli prisoners-- two women and an 80-year-old manas well as five Thai nationals.

They were taken prisoner, along with scores of other Israeli settlers and soldiers, by Palestinian resistance fighters on October 7, 2023.

Two other swaps have already taken place since the ceasefire deal came into force on January 19, under which 290 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for seven Israelis.

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Statement by PM Netanyahu

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Media Statements

The 37th Government

30.01.2025

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening:

"Agam, Arbel, Gadi - welcome home!

The entire State of Israel embraces you, as do my wife Sara and I.

This release was achieved, first of all, thanks to our heroic soldiers, and it was also achieved thanks to the steadfast and determined stand that we took during the negotiations.

We will not accept violations of the agreement.

During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages.

And I will add: Whoever dares to harm our hostages - will pay the price."

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Statement to the Media by Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Media Statements

The 37th Government

30.01.2025

Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, today:

"Today, three of our hostages - Gadi Mozes, Arbel Yehoud and Agam Berger - were released from Hamas captivity.

Today, five Thai nationals were also released from Hamas captivity.

We are welcoming them with a big hug, and deeply regret the long time that passed until their release; we also regret the loss that the families and communities experienced, the torment that that they endured in captivity, as well as what their families endured during this time. These are moments of joy but also concern and anticipation - because the mission is to return them all.

I appeal to our hostages, and I tell you: We are working to release you. We will neither rest nor be silent until you are home.

This operation - 'Wings of Freedom' - is an entire deployment to receive the hostages who are returning to the country, and it is being carried out by all elements in the State of Israel. The details of the operation were personally approved by the Prime Minister.

The hostages were received by IDF forces and the security establishment. They were transferred to hospitals for treatment by the healthcare system, and to the care of the Prime Minister's Office Authority for the Hostages, the Missing and those Returning to Israel.

Receiving the hostages and assisting the families has been provided for in extensive Knesset legislation that was led by the Knesset Speaker, the various committees and MKs.

Hostages and their family members receive a comprehensive rehabilitation and readjustment package that includes assistance to returning hostages (those who have been redeemed from captivity) throughout their lives.

At the same time, the release of the terrorists is being carried out by the Prison Service, the ISA and the Israel Police, pursuant to the agreement and Government directives.

Until today, ten foreign nationals - living and deceased - were in Hamas and Islamic Jihad captivity. Five Thai nationals were released today: Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak.

At this very time, we are in the midst of assessments for the continuation of the negotiations, ahead of their second stage. The Prime Minister's visit with US President Trump and his meetings with the American administration will be held parallel to the start of the negotiations on the second stage of the deal. This is of crucial importance.

The return of the hostages, it is important to say today, is happening - first and foremost - due to the sacrifice of the soldiers of the IDF, and the personnel of the ISA, the Mossad, the security forces, and the emergency and rescue services.

Today, all of our hearts, our appreciation and our gratitude are with the bereaved families, with our wounded in both body and spirit, and with our fighting men and women on all fronts.

Operation Wings of Freedom, the release of the hostages, is the product of extensive national activity led by the Prime Minister. This is activity by the IDF and the security forces, the entire network that is dealing with the captives and the missing, and of many Government ministries, beginning with the negotiations, through the preparations to receive the hostages and continuous assistance for their families.

Today is an emotional day. These days are emotional days. However, we are focused on a continuous effort for the return home of all of them

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Statement by PM Netanyahu

Israel - Prime Minister's Office

Media Statements

The 37th Government

30.01.2025

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this afternoon:

"I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages. This is additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization.

I demand that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages.

Whoever dares to harm our hostages will pay the price."

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Latvia signs 373 million euro procurement contract for 42 "ASCOD" infantry fighting vehicles

Republic of Latvia - Ministry of Defence

01/30/2025 - 09:46

In Latvia

International cooperation

Information prepared by Media Relations Section

On Thursday, January 30, Latvian National Armaments Director Major General Andis Dilans and the Vice President of the Spanish company "General Dynamics European Land Systems - Santa Barbara Sistemas" Alejandro Page Hernandez signed a 373 million euro contract to procure 42 "ASCOD" infantry fighting vehicles for the Latvian National Armed Forces.

"Procurement of new and modern infantry fighting vehicles marks a new chapter in the mechanisation of the Latvian Army's Land Forces. At the same time, this is a great agreement for our national military industry, which will take part in the provision of new fighting vehicles," said Defence Minister A. Spruds, who attended the contract signing.

"We are grateful that our "ASCOD" infantry fighting vehicle has been selected by the Latvian National Armed Forces as the winner of an international competition. We are looking forward to collaborating with the national defense industry to jointly strengthen Latvia's military capabilities and to proudly deliver this great vehicle to our new customer," said A. Page Hernandez, Vice President of "General Dynamics European Land Systems - Santa Barbara Sistemas".

Infantry combat machines come with NATO STANAG 4569 level four armor, automatic cannon, anti-tank weapons, machine gun and other state-of-the-art technologies that will ensure soldiers situational awareness on the battlefield. The infantry fighting vehicle`s crew consist of three soldiers, and it is capable of transporting and deploying six soldiers with full combat equipment.

The procedure for procuring infantry fighting vehicles was launched in early 2023, with several potential suppliers selected as part of a thorough feasibility study. Functional tests of supplier infantry fighting vehicles were conducted in autumn 2023 to obtain data on the operational capabilities of the platforms.

Following the functional tests, the National Armed Forces carried out an in-depth assessment of the results obtained in accordance with their operational needs. Platform costs, available equipment, meeting local industry engagement requirements, delivery deadlines and other aspects were also assessed.

Under the State Defence Concept, the National Armed Forces must develop capabilities by increasing fire capacity and distances that prevent an adversary from operating freely in the air, sea and ground. At the same time, the capabilities of anti-aircraft defense, coastal defense and long-range missile artillery and drones should be further developed, as well as infantry fighting vehicle platforms should be procured. Infantry Fighting Vehicle capability is also set as one of the priorities within the framework of NATO Capability Development Goals.

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NATO Secretary General commends reservists: "People can sleep easy knowing you stand ready"

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

29 Jan. 2025

Last updated: 30 Jan. 2025

On Wednesday (29 January 2025), NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, took part in the first joint meeting between the NATO Committee on Reserves and the Reserve Federations (CIOR, CIOMR and CISOR), hosted at NATO Headquarters from 27 to 31 January.

In his remarks to reservists and representatives of the military the Secretary General acknowledged the vital role played by the reserve forces as part of NATO's defence and deterrence. He said: "You represent a vital pillar of our collective defence. Reserve forces comprise over half of the wartime strength of the armies of NATO Allies. People can sleep easy knowing you stand ready." Mr Rutte also praised reservists as a bridge between civil society and the military at a time when NATO must adopt a wartime mindset.

Reservists from all Allied nations, as well as from NATO's partners Australia, Austria, Georgia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Ukraine, attended the annual meeting. The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defence, Serhii Melnyk also attended the conference.

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Marcos to China: Stop aggressive acts, I'll return US missile system

Philippine News Agency

By Darryl John Esguerra

January 30, 2025, 4:10 pm Updated on January 30, 2025, 4:18 pm

MANILA -- President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. clapped back at China's criticisms of the deployment of the United States' Typhon missile system to the Philippines, stating that he would be willing to have the military hardware pulled out of the country if Chinese aggression in the West Philippines Sea (WPS) stops.

In a media interview in Cebu City Thursday, Marcos addressed China's objections to the missile system, emphasizing that Manila had not commented on Beijing's much larger missile arsenal.

"I don't understand their comments on the Typhon missile system," Marcos said.

"We don't make any comments on their missile systems and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have."

The President then proposed a deal with China: halt its aggressive actions and territorial claims over the Philippines, and in exchange, the Philippines would consider recalling the missile system.

"Let's make a deal with Chinastop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water-cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior, and I'll return the Typhon missiles," Marcos said.

"Tigil nila yung ginagawa nila, ibabalik ko lahat 'yan (Stop all their aggressive acts and I'll return everything)," he added.

The remarks come amid ongoing tensions in the South China Sea, where China has continued its maritime assertiveness, including incidents of harassment against Filipino fishermen and coast guard personnel in contested waters.

The Philippines has repeatedly raised concerns over China's military presence and actions in the region, which Manila deems as violations of its sovereignty.

The US deployed the Typhon missile system to the Philippines in April last year as part of the Balikatan military exercises, and has reportedly stayed in the country since.

The move has drawn the ire of China which repeatedly called for its withdrawal.

Filipino soldiers will reportedly train on the US military's intermediate range missile system during unilateral army drills next month. (PNA)

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PH, US Air Forces inaugurate EDCA fuel storage facility in Cebu

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno

January 30, 2025, 3:20 pm

MANILA -- The Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) inaugurated a newly completed fuel storage facility at the Brig. Gen. Benito N. Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Thursday, highlighting the strong military alliance between the two nations.

The USD2.7-million project funded by the US government under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) features two above-ground storage tanks, each with a capacity of 75,708 liters.

"It also features a modern fuel handling system, a covered parking area for refueling trucks, and a secured perimeter, designed and constructed compliant to security and safety standards," PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said in a statement.

It was constructed by Himalayan Builders and Engineers Pvt. Ltd. and ACE Builders.

The project started on June 22, 2022 and was completed on Sept. 6, 2024.

PAF Air Mobility Command chief Maj. Gen. Ramil Oloroso and PACAF commander Gen. Kevin Schneider graced the facility's blessing and turnover rites.

"This project, undertaken under the EDCA, will significantly improve the PAF's fuel storage and distribution capabilities, enhancing operational readiness and logistical efficiency," Castillo said.

She added that the facility would also support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations, strengthen national defense capabilities, and sustain a wide range of PAF flying missions, including airlift, internal security, and territorial defense operations, reinforcing the Air Force's ability to respond to various operational demands.

Oloroso, in the same statement, said the new facility would bolster the PAF's ability to effectively carry out its missions.

He expressed his gratitude for the continued support and partnership with PACAF and for the completion of the EDCA project, which remains instrumental in facilitating cooperation in HADR operations aside from strengthening the country's defense capabilities and promoting regional security. (PNA)

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Nat'l security exec says PH ramping up defense spending

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno

January 30, 2025, 10:08 am

MANILA -- The Philippines has been boosting its defense expenditures to enable its military to foster stronger cooperation with allies, a ranking National Security Council (NSC) official said.

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya made this remark after United States President Donald Trump called on allies, including members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to beef up their defense spending to at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product.

"I think we have (shown) to the United States that we have been ramping up also our defense spending, we now have a very clear Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept (CADC) which really requires enormous sums of money in investment into Philippine defense, military spending or security spending," he said in the Utak Forum held at the New Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City Wednesday.

Under the CADC, the Philippine military eyes to defend the country's domains, including its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Malaya said that Manila has been allocating more funds to continue the Rehorizon 3 of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, focused on acquiring equipment and weapon systems for "external defense and territorial security of the country."

"So if we follow the logic where he (Trump) is asking NATO members to devote more of their resources, I think we're also doing the same," Malaya said.

US missile system deployment

Meanwhile, Malaya said the presence of the US Medium Range Capability Typhon missile system was not for offensive purposes.

"I think the Philippine government has made very clear its position that the presence of the Typhon missile system in the Philippines was part of course of the 'Balikatan' exercises so the purpose of that was to train Filipino troops in utilizing this, it is not for offensive purposes, it is primarily for defensive purposes and to ensure that the Philippines has capacity to operate such weapon system and the Philippines has expressed its interest to buy this types of systems in the same manner that we bought the BrahMos missile system," he added.

The missile system arrived in the Philippines last year and was used for training purposes during the Filipino and American exercises last year.

Malaya said it can be used for the Philippines' CADC.

"Very clearly it is for defense purposes so as mentioned by the AFP, this is a sovereign act, this is a decision of the Philippine government and it is not meant for any other state, it is for the territorial integrity of the Philippines," he added.

China earlier criticized the missile system's deployment to the Philippines, saying it threatens regional peace and security. (PNA)

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Turkey says Israeli airstrike killed three nationals on Lebanon border

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 7:34 PM

The Turkish foreign ministry has confirmed that an Israeli airstrike killed at least three of its nationals along the Lebanese border with the occupied territories.

The news was initially reported by Lebanese media and then confirmed by Turkey's foreign ministry.

"We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens," the ministry said in a statement.

It said procedures were underway to repatriate their bodies to Turkey. It also demanded an end to Israel's aggressive policies across the West Asian region.

"As we have emphasized on every occasion, Israel must immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region," the statement read.

In September, a US-Turkish citizen was shot dead by Israeli troops in West Bank last week. Aysenur Eygi was targeted while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied territories when she was shot and killed.

In 2016, Israel and Turkey restored diplomatic ties after ending a six-year rift over the killing by Israeli troops of 10 Turkish activists on a Gaza-bound ship.

The latest Israeli aggression came after Israeli forces killed 22 people in southern Lebanon over the weekend as thousands of people tried to return home in defiance of Israeli military threats.

The Lebanese military reported that their forces were escorting displaced residents returning to the southern border towns.

The same day, the United States said the agreement would be extended until February 18. Israel said on January 24 that it would keep troops in the south beyond the deadline set out in the US-brokered ceasefire.

On Monday, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassem rejected any extension of the Israeli withdrawal deadline, stating that there should be "no extension for even one day."

He underscored that continued occupation constitutes aggression against Lebanon's sovereignty, and everyonefrom the government to the people, resistance groups, parties, and all sectsbears responsibility to confront the occupation.

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Iran's foreign minister meets Hamas leaders during Doha visit

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 6:57 PM

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met with senior Hamas leaders during a visit to Qatar and discussed the reconstruction of Gaza.

The talks in Doha on Thursday were attended by prominent figures from the Gaza-based resistance group Hamas, including Mohammed Darwish, leader of Hamas' Shura Advisory Council, and Khalil al-Hayya, the group's chief negotiator.

The meeting coincided with the third phase of the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and the Israeli regime.

Discussions focused on the latest political and field developments, the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, ongoing prisoner exchange efforts, and Israeli attempts to delay reconstruction and humanitarian relief to the besieged strip.

During the meeting, Darwish described Operation Al-Aqsa Flood as a "turning point" in the Palestinian people's struggle against the occupation regime.

He emphasized that the Israeli regime's attempts to separate the Palestinian people from their landthrough genocidal wars and other meanshave failed.

He reiterated that the Palestinian people remain deeply rooted in their land and are steadfast in their commitment to their rights, holy sites, and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Araghchi reaffirmed the Islamic Republic of Iran's unwavering support for the Palestinian people's struggle.

He also praised the heroic resistance of the people of Gaza, which he said exposed the falsehood of the Israeli regime's much-hyped military invincibility.

Araghchi noted that the people of Gaza had carried out an unprecedented heroic operation, both on the ground and in high-level negotiations, which led to a ceasefire and an honorable prisoner exchange deal after 15 months of Israeli war on Gaza.

Meeting with Qatari prime minister

Araghchi also met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, and discussed Gaza, the occupied Palestinian territories and Syria.

During the meeting, a wide range of topics of mutual interest were also discussed, including the development of bilateral relations and regional developments.

Both sides emphasized their support for Syria's sovereignty, stability, and territorial integrity.

Araghchi highlighted the strong and positive relations between Iran and Qatar, reiterating Iran's will to expand ties with Qatar across various fields.

He also commended Qatar's constructive and positive role in facilitating the Gaza ceasefire and halting the ongoing genocide.

Referring to the unwavering resilience of the Palestinian people and their resistance, Araghchi stressed the need for vigilance in ensuring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, given the Zionist regime's history of violating commitments and obstructing peace efforts.

Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, for his part, emphasized his country's commitment to strengthening relations with Iran and praised Tehran's significant role and position in the region, as well as its contributions to promoting peace and stability.

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Hamas announces death of military commander Mohammed Deif

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 5:49 PM

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, has announced the martyrdom of several of its military council leaders in the battle against the Israeli invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip, including its chief of staff Mohammed Deif.

Chief of al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida on Thursday also confirmed the death of deputy military commander Marwan Issa in combat.

Other commanders killed in the battle included Ghazi Abu Tama'a, the commander of weapons and combat services, Raed Thabet, the commander of manpower and head of supplies unit, and Rafeh Salama, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.

Ahmed al-Ghandour, the commander of Northern Brigade, and Ayman Nofal, the commander of Central Brigade, were the other high-profile Hamas members killed in combat.

Mohammad 'Abu Khaled' Deif, known for his elusiveness, had survived at least seven attempts on his life by Israel. He had been a key figure in orchestrating military operations against Israel.

Media outlets had reported Deif's death, but the announcement Thursday is the first official acknowledgment from Hamas of the senior leader's demise.

Israel initially announced in August 2024 that Deif had been killed in a July airstrike, but his death had not been confirmed since.

Abu Obeida said the announcement came only after completing necessary procedures, addressing security concerns dictated by battlefield conditions and verifying details.

He noted that the group had previously announced the deaths of Ghandour and Nofal during Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Deif's deputy, Issa, was instrumental in Hamas's military strategies. Tama'a, responsible for overseeing the organization's weapons in Gaza, previously served as the head of the Central Camps Brigade of Hamas.

Thabet was considered among the top ten most senior Hamas military commanders, while Salama was known for his close association with Deif and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar who was killed in combat in Gaza in October.

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Israel releases 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for eight captives

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 2:16 PM

Israel has released 110 Palestinian prisoners after a temporary delay ordered by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu even as Hamas had released eight captives in the third phase of the prisoner swap.

The prisoners released on Thursday evening included 30 minors, 32 Palestinian who had received life sentences, and 48 others who were serving prison terms of different duration.

Most of them reunited with their families in the occupied West Bank, while 23 of them were sent to Egypt. The prisoners released on Thursday were all men, aged 15 to 69.

The released inmates transported by Red Cross buses to both Palestinian territories were greeted with cheers by thousands of joyful Palestinians.

Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammed Abu Warda and Mohammed Aradeh were among the high-profile Palestinians released on Thursday.

Israeli drones dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning Palestinians not to hold flags or banners or celebrate the release of prisoners in any way, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli soldiers often attack crowds that gather near prisons to celebrate the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Earlier Thursday, 12 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli soldiers in Beitunia, near the prison in the West Bank where Palestinian prisoners were due to be released.

Two Palestinians were wounded by live bullets, two by rubber bullets and eight by tear gas, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Israeli forces also arrested 26 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank early Thursday, according to Wafa news agency.

Earlier in the day, Hamas released three Israeli captives, a female soldier and two settlers, plus five Thai nationals, fulfilling its part of the third phase of the prisoner swap, paving the way for Israel to to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, as scheduled.

However, Netanyahu said in a statement that he had ordered a halt to the release of Palestinians until further notice, claiming that the handover of eight captives had been conducted in a "chaotic" condition.

The Israeli premier said the exchange would be delayed until mediators secured guarantees from Hamas of "the safe exit of our hostages in the next rounds."

Surrounded by masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, the captives made their way through large Palestinian crowds toward the Red Cross vehicles on Thursday without any incident.

Also a day after a second exchange of Israeli captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, Netanyahu ordered Israeli troops to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza.

Israel said then Hamas had failed to free a captive who it claimed should have been released, but Hamas denied such an arrangement had ever been agreed.

The holdup left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians stranded behind an Israeli military barrier for two days before being allowed to head to their homes.

Israeli forces fired on the crowds on three occasions, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza as part of the ceasefire, which came into effect last Sunday.

The ceasefire is aimed at ending the 15-month Israeli war on Gaza and freeing captives still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Over six weeks, Hamas will release 33 Israeli captives - about one-third of those in captivity - in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group, of the Palestinian prisoners to be released Thursday, 32 had received life sentences, and 48 were serving prison terms of different duration.

In the last two exchanges, Hamas released seven Israeli captives in return for 290 prisoners, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, except for one Jordanian.

A fourth exchange scheduled for Saturday will involve the release of three Israeli men, according to Netanyahu's office.

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3rd phase of prisoner swap begins in Gaza Strip, 3 Israeli captives handed over

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 10:13 AM

The third round of the prisoner exchange has begun in the besieged Gaza Strip with the release of three Israeli captives while 110 Palestinians, including 30 children, are set to be released later on Thursday.

In a statement on Thursday, the occupying regime's army said that Israeli soldier Agam Berger was released by the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement earlier in the day under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the movement.

"The returning captive has just been transferred to Israeli army forces in the Gaza Strip," it said.

The al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas handed over the Israeli soldier to the Red Cross in Jabalya Camp in northern Gaza.

Later in the day, the Israeli army issued another brief statement, saying that two other Israelis, namely settlers Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes, plus five Thai nationals were also released by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance.

"The 7 returning hostages are currently being accompanied by" the Israeli military and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) "forces on their return to" Israel, "where they will undergo an initial medical assessment," the statement read.

With the release of these eight captives, Hamas fulfilled its part of the third phase of the prisoner swap on Thursday. Now, the Israeli authorities are set to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 children, later in the day, as scheduled.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group, of the Palestinian prisoners to be released today, 32 had received life sentences, and 48 were serving prison terms of different duration.

In the last two exchanges, Hamas released seven Israeli captives in return for 290 prisoners, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, except for one Jordanian.

A fourth exchange scheduled for Saturday will involve the release of three Israeli men, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The Gaza ceasefire deal began on January 19 with the release of three Israeli captives and 90 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has released a list of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal. More than 230 prisoners are serving life sentences and will be permanently sent to exile upon their release.



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Trump's forced displacement plan for Gaza poses 'serious threat' to region: Yemen

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 7:34 AM

Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement says US President Donald Trump's recent proposal to forcibly expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Arab countries poses a threat to West Asia.

"The talk of displacing the Palestinian people to neighboring countries is a serious threat to the region and is rejected by Palestinians, Arabs, internationally, humanely," Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said on Wednesday.

He also noted that Washington is acting outside the framework of international law and that its efforts to liquidate the Palestinian cause are doomed to fail as they did in the past.

On Saturday, Trump touted a plan to "clean out" the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents to Jordan and Egypt either "temporarily or long-term."

The remarks sparked widespread condemnations from Palestine, the UN and the Arab world as a potentially fatal blow to the so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Two days later, Trump once again called for Palestinians to move to "safer" locations, citing Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as likely partners to his scheme.

However, the Jordanian king stressed his country's "firm position on the need to keep the Palestinians on their land and to guarantee their legitimate rights, in accordance with the ... two-state solution," according to the royal palace.

Similarly, Sisi said Egypt will not participate in the displacement of Palestinians, which is an "act of injustice," emphasizing that the plan "can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security."

He added that Cairo would work with Trump towards regional peace based on the two-state framework.

Hamas hails Egypt's opposition to Trump's plan

Additionally, on Wednesday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas appreciated Sisi's firm opposition to any plan or action aimed at forcibly displacing the people of Gaza or transferring them to other locations under any pretexts.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem praised the Egyptian president for reaffirming his support for Palestine and opposing the repetition of the historical oppression against the nation.

Israel was forced to agree to a Gaza ceasefire after the regime failed to achieve its objectives in the besieged territory despite killing over 47,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, during a 15-month-long genocidal war.

The truce took effect on January 19 in Gaza, where the Israeli offensive destroyed or damaged nearly 70 percent of all structures and displaced almost all of its 2.2 million residents.





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Israeli drone strike in West bank kills 10 Palestinians as violence intensifies

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 7:26 AM

An Israeli drone strike on a village in the occupied West Bank has killed at least 10 Palestinians and injured several others as the regime has intensified its military assault in the region since a ceasefire took effect between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in a statement on Thursday said "there are 10 martyrs due to the occupation's bombing of the town of Tamun in the Tubas district" in the northern West Bank on Wednesday. Initially, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported seven deaths from the attack.

Israel's use of a jet fighter to strike the rural village of Tamun marked the latest escalation in its intensifying crackdown on Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Local residents reported that the airstrike hit a home in a densely populated area, while the Palestinian Health Ministry warned that the casualty count may rise.

As is customary, the Israeli military claimed that the airstrike was part of a "counterterrorism operation" carried out by an Israeli aircraft based on intelligence from the ISA (Israel Security Agency) in the Tamun area.

In response, Hamas condemned the strike, stating that the "escalating crimes of the fascist occupation in the West Bank" and its ongoing policy of targeting resistance fighters reaffirmed its criminal approach against the Palestinian people and represented a failed attempt to undermine their steadfast resistance.

The incident is part of a broader Israeli offensive in the northern West Bank, particularly targeting the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm and their surrounding refugee camps.

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza on January 19, at least 20 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank as a result of attacks by Israeli forces, with many other Palestinians injured or displaced.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Israel may repeat its campaign of genocide in Gaza in the West Bank.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has criticized Western politicians for their silence as Israeli forces kill Palestinian children in the West Bank.

"As Israel continues to kill Palestinian children from the River to the Sea, where are the Western politicians to be seen or heard?" she questioned in a post on the X platform on Tuesday.

A group of UN experts has also expressed concern over the escalating violence in Jenin and the broader West Bank. They noted that the timing of the attacks coincided with a US decision to lift limited sanctions on Israeli settlers and Israeli authorities' removal of administrative detentions and other sanctions related to settler violence.

"The lack of intervention by states to protect Palestinians in line with international law is alarming and of catastrophic ramifications," the experts stated.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that since the onset of the Gaza war, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 873 Palestinians in the West Bank.





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Israel set to release 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 3 Israeli captives under Gaza truce

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 7:13 AM

Israel is set to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 minors, in exchange for three Israeli captives as the third phase of the prisoner swap under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said, "110 Palestinian prisoners are to be released" on Thursday, adding that the prisoners were expected to arrive in the "Radana area of Ramallah at around noon."

Releasing the prisoner list, the group noted that 30 were minors, 32 had received life sentences, and 48 were serving prison terms of different duration.

According to the Club, 20 of the prisoners set to be released would be sent into exile.

In the third phase of the prisoner exchange, three Israeli captives are to be freed, along with five Thai nationals, it further said.

In the last two exchanges, Hamas released seven Israeli captives in return for 290 prisoners, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, except for one Jordanian.

A fourth exchange scheduled for Saturday will involve the release of three Israeli men, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The Gaza ceasefire deal began on January 19 with the release of three Israeli captives and 90 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel has released a list of more than 700 Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal. More than 230 prisoners are serving life sentences and will be permanently sent to exile upon their release.

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Serbian Students March From Belgrade To Novi Sad

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service January 30, 2025

BELGRADE -- Hundreds of Serbian students have begun a march from Belgrade to the city of Novi Sad in the latest protest to shake the country over the deadly collapse of a train station roof they say was the result of deep-seated corruption.

Residents in the capital cheered from apartment windows as the students, some holding signs with the message "One step closer to justice," embarked on the 80-kilometer walk that will culminate with a rally in Novi Sad organized by students there.

"Traffic on the route will be suspended and redirected. Members of the traffic police and public order department, as well as ambulances and water tankers, will be deployed in front of and behind the convoy," Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said.

Anger over the November collapse of the roof, which left 15 people dead, has swept across the country, with tens of thousands taking to the streets as part of a movement calling for greater accountability and justice.

In response, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Novi Sad Mayor Milan Duric stepped down this week, saying they considered themselves "objectively responsible" for what happened.

The protests have piled pressure on populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who faces his biggest challenge since taking office a decade ago.

Vucic said on January 29 that his ruling party will decide in the next 10 days whether it will put forward a new government, which has attempted to maintain close ties to traditional ally Russia while also promoting the country's European Union membership hopes, or call snap parliamentary elections.

The canopy collapse occurred after the Novi Sad railway station had been renovated twice in recent years by a Chinese-led consortium of four companies. Serbian Railways insisted the renovation didn't include the concrete overhang, but some experts disputed that, while many people blame corruption and poor construction oversight for the tragedy.

Participants in recent demonstrations called for accountability for those deemed responsible for the Novi Sad tragedy. They have also demanded officials be investigated for the beating of students during the protests.

Vucic also said he was ready to provide an amnesty for all students and professors facing criminal charges following their arrests during the recent protests.

Students have also been holding more than 60 state universities in lockdown for the past two months. Their primary demand is that authorities release complete documentation on the railway station reconstruction projects.

The authorities claim all their demands have been met and urge students to open the faculties.

Academics, on the other hand, say the requirements have been only partially met and the suspension of work at the faculties will continue until further notice.

They insist the documentation on the reconstruction of the train station published on the website of the government of Serbia and on the website of the prosecutor-general's office in Novi Sad is incomplete.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/demanding-justice- corruption-serbian-students-launch-march-belgrade/33296797.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a media question on the energy crisis in Transnistria

30 January 2025 14:40

117-30-01-2025

Question: Based on reports coming from Transnistria, despite external aid proposals, the situation around the energy crisis in the region is not improving and is, in fact, close to a humanitarian catastrophe. How can you explain that?

Maria Zakharova: We are seriously concerned that the problem of natural gas supplies to Transnistria, which arose after Ukraine closed Russian energy transit via its territory on January 1, is being prolonged. Economic and social difficulties in Transnistria are growing incrementally. The reasons for the continued delays and objections from the Moldovan side regarding the options proposed by external partners remain unclear.

The Russian side has suggested a clear mechanism for purchasing gas and delivering it to Transnistria under new conditions. Chisinau has balked at this proposal.

The European Union has also interfered, announcing a grant aid package of 30 million euros to cover the region's urgent energy needs. Tiraspol welcomed the financial aid proposed by the EU. But here too, Chisinau started to impose conditions and reservations. We hear contradictory statements from the Moldovan side. It has reached a point where the leaders of Transnistria have had to publicly address the European Commission with a request to influence the Moldovan side.

Officials in Chisinau are thus obstructing any humanitarian aid to Transnistria coming from either the Russian Federation or the European Union. This constitutes a grave violation of the 1992 Treaty on the Principles of Peaceful Settlement of the Transnistrian Crisis, which contains a clear obligation "to prevent any sanctions or blockades" and "to remove any hindrances to the movement of goods, services and people."

We are left with the impression that the claims of readiness to end the hardship faced by the Transnistrian people, constantly voiced by the Moldovan side, are merely declarations. The reality is that Chisinau seems to be interested in using the energy crisis as a weapon to exert more pressure on the rebellious Transnistria.

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Spain rejects the entry into force of Knesset laws on UNRWA

Spain - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

PRESS STATEMENT 009

Thursday, January 30, 2025

The Government rejects the entry into force of the Knesset laws preventing UNRWA operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and calls for the suspension of their application.

Spain expresses its deepest concern about the impact this decision will have on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, endangering the ceasefire initiated on 19 January.

UNRWA is essential and irreplaceable for the lives of the 6 million refugees to whom it provides essential services, as well as for regional stability, and Spain firmly supports its work.

-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-

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Situation in Eastern DRC: UK statement

The UK has issued a statement following the occupation of Goma in Eastern DRC by M23 and Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF).

30 January 2025

An FCDO spokesperson said:

"The UK condemns the occupation of Goma and other territories in eastern DRC by M23 and Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) as an unacceptable breach of DRC's sovereignty and the UN Charter which poses a fundamental risk to regional stability.

"The UK calls for the immediate withdrawal of all RDF from Congolese territory. On 26 January, the Foreign Secretary told President Kagame that an attack on Goma would provoke a strong response from the international community. On 29 January, Lord Collins made clear to the Rwandan High Commissioner that Rwanda's actions in eastern DRC were unacceptable and expressed deep concern at reports of M23 and RDF advancing through South Kivu towards Bukavu.

"The humanitarian situation, already dire before M23 and RDF's latest offensive, is now critical. More than 800,000 people in the area who were prioritised for support may no longer receive vital food and nutritional assistance. The UK calls on all parties to immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access, and return to inclusive diplomatic talks. Their engagement in good faith in African-led processes will be key. There can be no military solution.

"The UK is actively considering next steps, alongside international partners, including the possibility of a review of all UK support to Rwanda."

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UNRWA 'continues to deliver' as Israeli ban comes into effect

30 January 2025 - UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA on Thursday upheld its commitment to support millions across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as Israel's order for it to cease operations went into effect.

"UNRWA continues to deliver assistance and services to the communities we serve," the agency said in a post on the social media platform X.

"Our clinics across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem are open while the humanitarian operation in Gaza continues."

No official word

Last October, the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, passed two laws that called for ending UNRWA's operations in its territory and prohibiting Israeli authorities from having any contact with the agency.

Israel ordered UNRWA to vacate all premises in occupied East Jerusalem and cease operations in them by 30 January of this year.

In a separate post on X, UNRWA said it had not received any official communication on how the bills will be implemented.

Fears of impact

Speaking to The Guardian, UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma said its headquarters in East Jerusalem "is still there" and the flag is still flying.

"We don't have plans to close our operations," she said. "But we are in the dark."

Since 1950, UNRWA has been assisting Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The ban threatens life-saving aid, education and healthcare for millions in the OPT, and the UN has repeatedly warned of the consequences.

Palestinians in Gaza are also worried, including Iman Hillis, who is currently staying in an UNRWA school with her family.

"We will have nothing to eat or drink, and this will affect us greatly," she told UN News on Wednesday. "All the people will be destroyed and will not have food, water or flour."



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Hospitals overwhelmed in DR Congo, food running out: Goma faces 'devastation'

30 January 2025 - After days of intense fighting, the humanitarian situation in Goma, capital of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has reached alarming levels - with humanitarian needs now massive and response capacities severely strained.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday that food supplies are running dangerously low, as water and electricity outages exacerbate the crisis.

The seizure and closure of Goma's airport by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels has further interfered with aid delivery, while the blocking of roads and lake transport restrictions have left thousands stranded.

The rebel group has taken control of most of Goma since entering the city on Monday in the biggest escalation of a decades-long conflict springing from the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis, and a continuing struggle for control of rich mineral resources in the region among a plethora of armed groups.

Fleeing by boat

Families attempting to flee the violence across Lake Kivu are resorting to unsafe makeshift boats, putting their lives at risk.

At the same time, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reports that humanitarian workers have been unable to leave their shelters in Goma for over 24 hours due to the insecurity, severely affecting emergency response efforts.

Tom Fletcher, the emergency relief chief, has allocated $17 million from the UN's Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to support lifesaving assistance - yet access to those in need remains uncertain.

Hospitals overwhelmed

Medical facilities in Goma - and second city Bukavu to the south - are overwhelmed, with over 2,000 injuries reported since the beginning of January, including many from gunshot wounds. Hospitals lack adequate medical supplies, fuel and staff to manage the growing influx of patients.

The World Health Organization (WHO), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are urgently working to bolster healthcare services, but with supply chains disrupted and facilities at capacity, response efforts are severely strained.

Additionally, health authorities warn of an increasing risk of disease outbreaks, including cholera, measles and mpox, due to mass displacement, unsafe water sources and inadequate sanitation.

Escalating insecurity in North Kivu

In the village of Kiziba, on the outskirts of Goma, civilians are reporting armed men in military uniforms carrying out widespread looting, extortion and sexual violence, according to Radio Okapi, the station run by UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, MONUSCO.

Meanwhile, Stephane Dujarric, the Secretary-General Spokesperson reported that other armed groups in the east, including Zaire and the CODECO militias, have increased attacks against the population in Djugu territory in the past month, robbing civilians.

At least six people have been killed since last weekend and as a result, many have stopped using roads in the area, which also prevents them from going to their fields or to markets.

Reports indicate that some roads have reopened, but mass displacement continues, with at least 700,000 people now internally displaced within North Kivu and South Kivu.

Peacekeepers' response

Peacekeepers with (MONUSCO) have launched the second phase of an operation called Horizon of Peace in Djugu territory, aiming to contain an escalation of violence by armed groups, according to Mr. Dujarric.

MONUSCO peacekeepers have stepped up patrols on several roads in the territory to support the free movement of people and goods.

Calls for international action

Bruno Lemarquis, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for DR Congo, has issued a strong plea for immediate international support. "I call on the international community to step up its support in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis," he stated.

Emergency food agency WFP has reiterated its readiness to resume food distributions as soon as security conditions permit, but without immediate access, thousands remain at risk of starvation and disease.





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The extremely serious humanitarian situation in Goma requires immediate attention from the international community

UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Kinshasa, January 30, 2025 - The Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Bruno Lemarquis, reiterates his deep concern over the critical situation in Goma. After several days of intense fighting, the city is now facing the devastating consequences of the hostilities, with massive humanitarian needs and severely strained response capacities.

Medical facilities are overwhelmed. Between 23 and 28 January, the hospitals in the city of Goma, supported by MSF, the ICRC and the WHO, treated more than 1,000 wounded, many of them civilians who had fallen victim to bullets and heavy artillery explosions. The lack of medicines, equipment and medical staff is jeopardizing the treatment of the wounded and increasing the risk of loss of life.

Basic services are largely paralyzed. Electricity and drinking water have been cut off for several days, forcing the population to draw directly on untreated water from Lake Kivu. This situation exposes thousands of people to the immediate risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera. The morgues are full, and the lifeless bodies left in the streets of the city pose a major health risk for the survivors.

Humanitarian infrastructure and warehouses have been looted, severely compromising the humanitarian response. Significant quantities of food, medicines, and essential medical supplies have been lost in targeted attacks on United Nations agencies and humanitarian NGOs critical to the emergency response.

This loss delays the rapid delivery of aid to populations in desperate need. Humanitarian actors on the ground continue their operations despite extremely precarious conditions. However, without additional resources, including the replacement of looted stocks, without the restoration of internet access, and given the security risks restricting humanitarian movements, the response remains severely hindered and intervention capacities greatly reduced.

On behalf of all the humanitarian actors serving vulnerable populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I condemn in the strongest possible terms the looting of humanitarian facilities and warehouses.

These acts are unacceptable and constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. They directly compromise the delivery of vital aid to the most vulnerable populations.

I call on all parties to protect civilians and ensure their access to goods and services essential to their survival. I also call on all parties to facilitate, accelerate and protect the supply of humanitarian actors. Without supplies of essential goods, fuel and logistical equipment, it will be impossible to meet

the growing needs of the population and to maintain humanitarian operations in Goma.

I call for the immediate and sustained resumption of operations at Goma airport, a vital access point for humanitarian resupply, emergency response efforts, and the free movement of affected populations.

I also call for the strict respect of the rights of internally displaced persons and for all returns to be voluntary. Returns can only take place under safe, voluntary, and dignified conditions, in accordance with international principles. It is imperative to ensure that displaced persons have a free and informed choice, as well as secure and viable conditions for their return.

I call on the international community to step up its support in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian actors remain on the ground, mobilized to scale up their response, but without adequate resources, the current crisis risks deteriorating even further. Immediate action is essential.

On behalf of the entire humanitarian community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I reaffirm that the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence of humanitarian actors are absolute and non-negotiable. Their sole mission is to provide assistance and protection to vulnerable populations, regardless of political considerations.

*******

For more information, please contact:

Carla Martinez, Head of Office, OCHA-RDC, +243817061223, martinez14@un.org

Jean Jonas Tossa, Public Information Officer, +243817 061 220, tossa4@un.org

Humanitarian situation updates for the DRC are available at www.reliefweb.int

30 January 2025

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Statement by the Bureau of the Advisory Commission on UNRWA, 30 January 2025

UNRWA

30 Jan 2025

The Bureau welcomes the announcement of the ceasefire agreement and hostage deal in Gaza and looks forward to its full implementation, so that conditions for a political horizon of peace can be envisaged.

The Bureau calls on the Government of Israel, as the occupying power in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), to suspend the implementation of the Israeli State legislation curtailing UNRWA's operations in the oPt and to enter into a constructive dialogue with UNRWA to responsibly ensure the continuity of UNRWA operations in line with its mandate.

If implemented, the legislation would severely impact the humanitarian response in Gaza, potentially jeopardize the ceasefire and could eventually undermine prospects for regional stability.

At present, amidst collective efforts to consolidate the viability and sustainability of the ceasefire, one of the most urgent and immediate tasks for the international community is to alleviate the extremely dire humanitarian situation for civilians in Gaza by providing assistance at the speed and scale that is required.

UNRWA has facilitated more than half of the entire emergency response in Gaza over the past 15 months and remains vital in the successful implementation of the ceasefire for the provision of humanitarian assistance and of education to the hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza and the 50,000 children in UNRWA schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. No other entity or UN Agency currently has the capacity or infrastructure to replace UNRWA's unique mandate and experience in delivering education, health services and relief and social services in the oPt.

As a provider of essential services to Palestine Refugees, UNRWA has a crucial role not only as a humanitarian actor contributing to the sustainability of the ceasefire, but also as indispensable for the human and economic development of Palestinians and for the path towards a durable political solution.

The Bureau is convinced that until a just and durable solution to the plight of Palestine Refugees is reached in accordance with international law and relevant UN Resolutions, UNRWA remains essential in all five fields of operations.

The Bureau underlines the importance that UNRWA fully implements the recommendations of the Colonna Report and acknowledges the initial progress made on implementing the recommendations. The Bureau requests the Agency to prioritize and accelerate measures to enhance vetting of staff and ensuring neutrality of the Agency.

Background Information:

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency's area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.

UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.

UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

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Secretary-General's remarks to the Ambassadorial-Level meeting of the Peacebuilding Commission [as delivered]

United Nations Secretary-General

New York

30 January 2025

It is a pleasure to be here with you today.

I wish to start by congratulating the Member States that have recently been elected to the Peacebuilding Commission.

I also congratulate Brazil for leading the PBC during its 18th session and welcome Germany's candidacy for the chair of the 19th session.

Excellencies,

Our world is in trouble.

We see spreading conflicts and widening geopolitical divisions.

We face a deepening climate crisis and widening inequalities.

We are confronting the proliferation of weapons and the spread of disinformation.

All of this and more makes the work of the Peacebuilding Commission more critical than ever.

I want to salute the Commission for its vital advisory role to the Security Council, including in the context of UN mission transitions.

I also recognize your important convening role within the UN and beyond - engaging civil society, the private sector, international and regional organizations, and financial institutions.

Now we have the chance to consolidate and expand that work.

The Pact for the Future charts a course to reforming international cooperation - including by prioritizing prevention, mediation and peacebuilding.

It seeks to break siloes by advancing coordination with regional organizations, developing innovative approaches and fostering the full participation of women, youth and marginalized groups in peace processes.

And, fundamentally, the Pact calls for strengthening the Peacebuilding Commission.

This year's Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture offers an opportunity to further advance these efforts and strengthen the role of the PBC - namely its relationship with the Security Council.

My recent report on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace lays out concrete suggestions around inflection points where the Commission can help catalyze national efforts.

This includes working to fully empower the Commission to mobilize political and financial support for nationally-owned peacebuilding and prevention strategies.

As the review unfolds, I encourage the Commission to draw on its rich experience to guide deliberations at the General Assembly and Security Council - with actionable recommendations towards strengthening the peacebuilding architecture and transforming people's lives.

Excellencies,

This brings me to a vital issue: financing.

The General Assembly's approval of assessed contributions to the Peacebuilding Fund marks an important step.

But it is still a far cry from the "quantum leap" of $500 million per year that is needed.

As many Member States have highlighted, voluntary contributions remain paramount - and I encourage countries to provide additional support to the Fund.

Given the urgent and expanding needs for peacebuilding support, I trust that the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture will further examine how to ensure the predictability, adequacy and sustainability of the Fund - including by exploring innovative financing mechanisms, public-private partnerships and blended funding models.

Excellencies,

We must never waver in our commitment to pursue, achieve and sustain peace.

The Peacebuilding architecture - consisting of the Peacebuilding Commission, the Peacebuilding Support Office and the Peacebuilding Fund - working together with UN Country Teams, are essential tools to help translate aspirations into reality.

I look forward to continuing to work with you all to strengthen our peacebuilding architecture and help build a world of peace and prosperity for all largely thanks to your precious intervention.

Thank you very much.

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NATO, EU on high alert as undersea cable attacks escalate in Baltic

By Myroslava Gongadze January 30, 2025

As authorities investigate the fourth Baltic Sea cable-cutting incident in recent months, European leaders have expressed concern about the frequency of attacks involving civilian vessels and critical civilian infrastructure.

The Vezhen, a Bulgarian-owned vessel, was detained this week in the Baltic Sea, suspected of dragging its anchor across the seafloor, severing a data cable between Sweden and Latvia.

Aleksander Kalchev, the CEO of the company that owns the Vezhen, denied that the damage was intentional.

Nevertheless, Swedish security services have boarded the vessel for further investigation.

Latvian Minister of Defense Andris Spruds, in a written response to VOA on Wednesday, confirmed that Latvia is working closely with Sweden and NATO to address the incident.

"Latvia's Naval Forces' diving team has conducted an inspection at the damage site and collected evidence in cooperation with Swedish Coast Guard vessels," Spruds told VOA.

He emphasized that Latvia would deploy new technologies and continue working closely with NATO allies to enhance the protection of critical sea infrastructure. "These sabotage actions will not be tolerated, and we will continue to enforce bold actions within the rule of law," Spruds said.

Growing pattern of attacks

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, whose country launched a sabotage investigation into damage to the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia on Dec. 25, has emphasized the urgency of the situation.

"This cannot continue," he told Finnish Lannen Media this week. He called for stronger coordination within the European Union to prevent further attacks. "We must be on a common front in sanctions against Russia. That applies to every EU country," he told a Finnish journalist.

The government in Poland, another Baltic Sea country with more than 1,000 kilometers of coastline, has called for enhanced security measures.

In an interview with VOA, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said recent attacks on undersea cables  such as those between Latvia and Sweden, as well as Estonia and Finland  align with broader patterns of sabotage seen in the region. While investigations are ongoing, Poland views these incidents as deliberate actions, he said.

"Even if there is no direct evidence today, sabotage and provocations are part of Russia's standard arsenal. ... We are at a point where we have to assume that this is a conscious, deliberate action," he told VOA on Tuesday.

Polish officials also emphasize the need for more coordinated maritime security measures.

"We want such policing missions to start taking place in the Baltic Sea. There is a lot of traffic when it comes to ships and vessels ... and security is an absolutely fundamental issue here," he told VOA.

Given its strategic importance and the increasing presence of Russian naval activity, he said, NATO must prioritize the Baltic Sea as a critical security zone.

"The Baltic Sea has become an arena where all tricks are allowed," Siemoniak said.

Political and strategic motives

While evidence is still being gathered, the geopolitical implications of these attacks are becoming clearer. Analysts believe the sabotage is not just an attempt to disrupt communication networks but also a calculated effort to test NATO's response capabilities and sow discord among member states.

Lawmakers in Finland, the newest member of NATO, have voiced concerns that these incidents may be part of a broader conflict that many Western governments are hesitant to acknowledge.

"If we don't know whether we're at war, it's always best to assume that we are," Jussi Halla-aho, the speaker of the Finnish Parliament, said in an interview earlier this month in the Turku daily Turun Sanomat.

Countering hybrid warfare

A significant challenge for NATO and its allies is how to respond effectively to these incidents. Unlike conventional military aggression, these acts of sabotage involve civilian vessels and infrastructure, making direct retaliation difficult.

"If we openly accuse Russia or China of these attacks, the next logical question is: What are we going to do about it?" Matti Posio, a Finnish foreign policy expert and chief editor at Lannen Media Oy, told VOA in an interview. "The reality is that options are limited, and that's exactly what the perpetrators are counting on."

With tensions rising, NATO is considering additional measures to secure the Baltic Sea, officials and observers told VOA. One option includes increasing naval patrols and surveillance of key maritime routes. However, "more drastic proposals  such as closing parts of the Gulf of Finland to Russian-linked vessels  remain politically sensitive and legally complex," Posio said.

Dilemma for NATO and EU

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, who visited Latvia this week, issued a a statement with her Latvian counterpart.

"We are aware that Russia is a long-term threat to world peace and international order; therefore, NATO's deterrence and defense measures must be further strengthened, while coordinating the Allied response to the intensifying threat posed by Russia," their statement said.

As tensions rise, NATO has launched Baltic Sentry 2025 to enhance security and resilience. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has emphasized the need for greater coordination in protecting critical infrastructure from sabotage.

EU interior ministers will meet in Warsaw on Thursday. Among other topics, they will address growing concerns over sabotage targeting critical infrastructure in Europe.

The ministers are expected to discuss potential countermeasures and coordination efforts to strengthen security and deterrence against future disruptions.

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US lawmakers weigh cost of foreign aid freeze in competition with China

By Katherine Gypson January 30, 2025

U.S. lawmakers Thursday weighed the impact that President Donald Trump's 90-day foreign aid freeze will have on competition with China.

Trump signed an executive order within hours of being sworn in as president ordering a halt to all U.S. international assistance while the new administration determines whether the aid aligns with his "America First" policy.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch said the move was a necessary step to prioritize fiscal responsibility as the U.S. faces a debt of $36 trillion.

"This is obviously a work in progress," Risch, a Republican from Idaho, said Thursday.

"It was intended to underscore the fact that we're going into debt at the rate of $1 trillion every 100 days. I think that has certainly been underscored as a result of this. If you think this is bad, when our debtors come and want their money and we can't pay it, that's going to be really bad," Risch said. "It's caused everyone to take a breath and look at how we're spending our money, where we're spending our money, seeing that it's done as efficiently as possible. Admittedly, there have been some inconveniences along the line, but they're continuing to work on this."

Democrats said the pause in aid creates a void that will be filled by the People's Republic of China (PRC).

"I'm particularly concerned about the expansion of China's influence, both at home and abroad, as a result of a freeze on our foreign assistance  and, in particular, the way it's implemented in its cascading effect," Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said in a hearing about Chinese influence abroad.

"There is nothing China wants to do more than limit the reach of our global influence, than to reinforce its imprint," Coons added. "[That way] we're an unreliable partner with countries throughout the world and particularly in the Global South, and my concern is that we put our security, our economic and our diplomatic interest at risk with an abrupt pause that puts a halt to actions to counter malign activity by the PRC, to advance to invest in infrastructure."

But Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Democrats should not be the only ones concerned about evaluating and restoring the aid.

"I hope that all of you on the other side of the aisle will share your concerns with the administration and point out that this is not a partisan issue," she said. "This is about what are we going to do to ensure that our influence continues around the world in the interest of our own national security."

Around the world, U.S.-funded foreign aid programs have already begun shutting down their programming and laying off staff in the wake of the freeze. The U.S. is the world's largest foreign aid provider but is outspent by China in some areas. According to the Government Accountability Office, between 2013 and 2022, China spent $679 billion on global infrastructure projects compared with the United States' $76 billion.

"Foreign aid is a really important arrow in the quiver of U.S. national security, along with other tools such as diplomacy, military assistance and so on," Jennifer Lind, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, told lawmakers Thursday. "And so ideally, we would want to be using all of our different tools in a coordinated fashion to achieve our objectives. For that reason, I think it's understandable if the administration wants to take a short pause and assess: Are we using the right tools in the right way?"

But Melanie Hart of the Atlantic Council said the freeze "is hobbling America's ability to compete with China in every domain."

"Over $1 billion more foreign military financing for Taiwan. Frozen. NDI [National Democratic Institute] and IRI [International Republican Institute] are shutting down global operations. Human rights organizations  frozen," she said. "Washington has effectively abandoned the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement."

Hart said she understood the administration's desire to maximize the strategic focus of the aid and appreciated the State Department's waivers, but that "this broad freeze hobbles America at a moment when we are in the battle of the century."

"It is a massive gift to Beijing. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to regain the ground we are already losing today, tomorrow and this week," Hart said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver last Friday unfreezing emergency food assistance and earlier this week issued another waiver unfreezing humanitarian assistance.

The top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China on Thursday welcomed Rubio's waivers but said more had to be done.

"While periodic review of foreign assistance programs' contribution to U.S. national security is necessary, abruptly freezing any foreign assistance directly cedes ground to our foremost adversary: the CCP," said Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois, in a statement.

"At a time when the CCP is aggressively investing abroad, rerouting supply chains and buying authoritarian favor, the United States must double down on foreign assistance  not kneecap ourselves."

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Hamas frees eight more hostages under Gaza ceasefire

By VOA News January 30, 2025

The Israeli military said eight hostages, including three Israelis and five Thai nationals, were released Thursday as Israel and Hamas carried out their third exchange of hostages and prisoners under a ceasefire agreement to halt more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

Israeli soldier Agam Berger was released to the Red Cross in the refugee camp of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, then went to Israel, where she was reunited with her parents.

"Thank God we have reached this moment, and our hero Agam has returned to us after 482 days in enemy hands," Berger's family said in a statement. "Now Agam and our family can begin the healing process, but the recovery will not be complete until all the hostages return home."

Hours later, a Red Cross convoy moved through a chaotic, crowded scene in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis to deliver the other two Israelis and the Thai nationals to the Israeli military.

Their release was delayed after armed militants struggled to contain the large Palestinian crowds that gathered around the Red Cross cars. The hostages were eventually led through the crowd surrounded by a ring of gunmen.

"I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office shortly after the handover was completed. He said he "demands that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur and guarantee the safety of our hostages."

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the group then crossed into Israeli territory. It identified the freed Israelis as Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses, and the Thais as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakhan, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat and Rumnao Surasak.

The military said the Israelis would be reunited with their families, while Thai government officials would meet with its citizens.

Later in the day, as part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 32 serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The Hamas-linked prisoners' office said that about 20 of the freed Palestinian prisoners would be expelled abroad and will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank or Jerusalem. Such prisoners can head to Gaza or leave for Egypt, where discussions over their final destination are ongoing, according to the Palestinian commissioner for prisoners' affairs.

Returning home

Under the ceasefire, more than 423,000 Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza over the past three days after the Israeli military ordered them out of the region in the earliest stages of the war in October 2023. However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who have been killed in the warfare, and many northern neighborhoods have been decimated in the fighting.

Previous exchanges have freed seven hostages the militants were holding in Gaza and 300 prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas is due to release three additional hostages on Saturday, with Israel freeing dozens more Palestinian prisoners.

The first phase of the ceasefire lasts for 42 days, about one-quarter of which has passed. It calls for the release of 33 hostages from Gaza, as well as negotiations on the details of the second phase involving the release of the rest of the hostages, an end to the conflict and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Those negotiations are due to begin next week.

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Netanyahu on Wednesday to reinforce American support for the ceasefire.

Witkoff, who played a key role in shaping the six-week truce, also inspected the Netzarim Corridor, a 6-kilometer-wide strip of land that bisects Gaza, where American security contractors have been hired to help oversee the return of displaced Palestinians.

Witkoff was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Gaza in years. American officials have stayed away from the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea because of security concerns and Washington's no-contact policy with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group.

Netanyahu is headed to Washington this weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump has invited him for talks at the White House on Tuesday. It will be Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since starting his second term in office.

In the West Bank

Meanwhile, during the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has ramped up its military operations in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday. The U.N. humanitarian agency said there has been a "drastic deterioration in the humanitarian and protection situation" in the West Bank.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a visit to the city of Jenin on Wednesday that Israel has "declared war on Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria," referring to the West Bank.

"The Jenin refugee camp will not return to what it was," he said. "After the operation is completed, the [Israel Defense Forces] will remain in the camp to ensure that terrorism does not return."

The war in Gaza started with the shock Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages.

Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has killed at least 47,400 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said the death toll includes 17,000 militants.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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East African leaders call for ceasefire in DRC; humanitarian crisis worsens

By Juma Majanga January 30, 2025

East African Community leaders on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where government forces are fighting rebel group M23, while aid agencies say the clashes are deepening the already dire humanitarian crisis there.

Kenyan President William Ruto led an online meeting for seven of eight of the trade bloc's heads of state. The only member not participating was Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi.

In a statement afterward, the leaders called on the warring parties to cease hostilities in eastern Congo and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected areas.

The summit also asked the DRC government to protect diplomatic missions in the country, following attacks this week by protesters in the capital, Kinshasa, targeting embassies of several countries presumed to be sympathetic to the M23 rebel group.

The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting M23, which this week took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Witnesses reported seeing bodies in the streets, but local officials have not determined a death toll.

The Congolese government said it is fighting to push out the rebels from the city of 2 million.

Edgar Githua, an international relations analyst in Nairobi, said animosity between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame could derail any ceasefire talks.

"There's still a lot of bad blood between DRC and Rwanda on how to approach this issue because DRC believes that these are Rwandese, and Kagame categorically keeps on saying M23 are not Rwandese, these are ethnic Tutsis who are Congolese by citizenship," Githua said. "It is only that they share a language with Rwanda. So, this issue of identity is what is ailing this conflict and needs to be addressed deeply."

Meanwhile, aid agencies say these latest clashes have made the dire humanitarian crisis in DRC even worse, as thousands of Goma residents, many of whom were already displaced due to earlier conflict, are forced to flee again.

Maina King'ori, the acting country director for CARE International in DRC, told VOA from Goma, "There's been no electricity supply for the last several days in most parts of Goma. The water system is not functioning; it has been shut down, though slowly coming back in some places, and there has been no internet connectivity in Goma for the last three days. This makes living really difficult."

King'ori urged parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and protect civilians.

"Civilians cannot be a target," he said. "Civilians are not party to this conflict, yet they're having to bear the immense load. ... They're the ones that are having to feel the pain of sleeping outside, of being relocated several times, of losing loved ones."

Democratic Republic of Congo is grappling with a decadeslong crisis that humanitarian agencies say has left over 6 million people displaced, with recent hostilities exacerbating their plight.

North Kivu, where Goma is located, hosts over 2.7 million internally displaced people, according to CARE International.

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South African, Rwandan leaders in war of words over DR Congo

By Kate Bartlett January 30, 2025

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has lashed out at South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, after Ramaphosa accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels behind the escalating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this week. Kagame has accused Ramaphosa of "lying" and warned of possible "confrontation."

South Africa has troops deployed in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission there, as well as in a separate deployment by the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, aimed at backing up Congolese forces fighting rebels.

But Pretoria is under pressure this week after 13 South African soldiers were killed in a recent surge in fighting that resulted in the M23 militia - which Rwanda is widely accused of backing - making a rapid advance and seizing partial control of the key city of Goma in North Kivu province on Sunday night.

Ramaphosa said in a written statement on Wednesday that the M23, and what he called "a Rwandan Defense Force militia," were responsible for the casualties, while his minister of defense, Angie Motshekga, went one step further.

"It's just that at that stage, when they were firing above our heads, the president did warn them to say, 'If you are going to fire, we'll take it as a declaration of war.'"

The remarks by Ramaphosa and Motshekga have caused a diplomatic spat with Kigali.

Kagame verbally hit back in an angry statement posted to his social media on Wednesday night, saying the Rwandan Defense Force was not a militia and quote, "if South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day."

He also disputed Ramaphosa's statement that the dead South African soldiers were "peacekeepers," saying the SADC force was engaged in "offensive combat operations."

"I spoke with the president of South Africa, who sought me out to speak with me, on this matter, because of their involvement in eastern Congo, and he's also there pretending to be playing a peacemaker role. M23 are not Rwandans, please, and South Africa dares even issue threats," he said.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has directly blamed Rwanda for backing the M23, saying reports by U.N. experts proved Kigali's involvement. He said on Wednesday that South Africa had taken part in an African Union meeting on the crisis.

"As South Africa, we participated in that platform and put our position across, which is that there is a ceasefire, immediate cessation of hostilities... and, also, to request all the forces that are supporting M23, to also cease all support immediately," he said.

Mineral-rich eastern Congo, which borders Rwanda, has been plagued by conflict for more than three decades. The current fighting stems partly from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The perpetrators fled across the border to North Kivu, and Rwanda says they now represent a security threat to its territory.

The Congolese government has accused Kigali of being active in eastern Congo, saying Kigali is after the area's vast mineral wealth.

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World Food Programme warns that efforts to ramp up food aid to famine-impacted Sudan being impeded

World Food Programme

30 January 2025

As WFP teams work around the clock to reach key locations for first time, fighting and arbitrary obstructions by local authorities hinder consistent flow of vital aid.

ROME/NAIROBI/PORT SUDAN -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working tirelessly to expand food and nutrition assistance to millions more people across Sudan - aiming to triple the number of people it supports to 7 million. WFP's top priority is to deliver life-saving assistance to locations facing famine or teetering on its brink.

Today, intensified fighting and the arbitrary obstruction of humanitarian convoys are hindering the fast and consistent movement of desperately needed aid.

Since launching a large-scale surge of food aid in late 2024, WFP has pushed into hard-to-reach areas, including Zamzam Camp in North Darfur, south Khartoum, and Gebaish in West Kordofan. In January, WFP even reached Wad Madani in Gezira State after the city became safe enough to get trucks of food and nutrition supplies through. Over 2.5 million people per month received much-needed food and nutrition assistance in the last quarter of 2024, including many for the first time, since the conflict began.

"We have made significant breakthroughs in getting aid deliveries to hard-to-reach areas in the last three months, but these cannot be one-off events," said Alex Marianelli, acting Country Director for Sudan. "We urgently need to get a constant flow of aid to families in the hardest hit locations, which have also been the most difficult to reach."

A convoy headed to areas already in famine, or at-risk of famine, in Darfur, took three times longer to reach its destination due to interferences. After crossing the Adre border in mid-December, local officials from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) held-back some 40 humanitarian trucks for nearly three weeks, requiring new clearances and inspections. As a result, the WFP-led convoy had to be redirected to another famine-risk area in the Darfur region. On arrival, the RSF held the trucks again and made additional demands. Finally, the convoy finally reached its destination earlier this week, a full six weeks after its departure, for a journey that would normally take a maximum of two weeks.

Meanwhile, a national liquidity crisis has led to widespread cash shortages. WFP cash and in-kind food distributions for over 4 million people have been delayed for over one month due to a lack of sufficient bank notes to help pay porters to load trucks. Recent efforts by Sudan's Central Bank and Ministry of Finance to ease the crisis, and increase cash availability, has meant that WFP's operations can gradually resume.

WFP calls on all parties on the ground in Sudan to remove all unnecessary barriers and obstacles that are preventing a full-scale humanitarian response to Sudan's growing hunger crisis. The neutrality and independence of aid workers and humanitarian work must be respected. The safe passage of humanitarian assistance to hard-to-reach, famine-struck areas must be guaranteed.

Sudan continues to face a catastrophic humanitarian situation with approximately 24.6 million people - nearly half of Sudan's population - facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). Twenty-seven locations across Sudan are either in famine or at risk of famine, while more than one-third of children in the hardest hit regions are acutely malnourished, well above the threshold for a famine declaration.

# # #

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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Trump insists Egypt, Jordan will accept displaced Gazans

Iran Press TV

Friday, 31 January 2025 3:30 AM

US President Donald Trump has insisted that Egypt and Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite the two nations having dismissed his plan to relocate Gazans there.

Trump's comments on Thursday came a day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II rejected any forced displacement of Gazans.

"They will do it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked for his response to the Egyptian and Jordanian refusal.

"They're going to do it. We do a lot for them, and they're going to do it."

Last week, Trump proposed relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations to "just clean out" the war-torn area, in what analysts see as a push for the expulsion of Palestinians from their homelands.

Trump indicated Saturday that he had spoken with King Abdullah II of Jordon about potentially building housing and moving more than 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries.

"I said to him that I'd love you to take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it's a mess, it's a real mess," he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"I'd like Egypt to take people ... You're talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the century, it's had many, many conflicts. And I don't know, something has to happen."

The president said that the potential housing "could be temporary" or "could be long-term."

He claimed the move can "bring peace" to West Asia if Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab nations accept enough Palestinian refugees.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff made a rare trip to Gaza this week, the White House said.

Egypt's Sisi had said on Wednesday in his first public response to Trump's comments that displacing "the Palestinian people from their land is an injustice that we cannot take part in."

Jordan's King Abdullah II separately stressed his country's "firm position on the need to keep the Palestinians on their land."

This is not the first time Trump and his team have proposed the relocation of Palestinian people, especially the people of Gaza to another country.

During the run-up to his inauguration, Trump's West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff, said Trump is considering relocating the Gaza residents to Indonesia for the duration of the reconstruction period.

However, Indonesia slammed the idea saying, "Indonesia remains steadfast in its position that any attempt to relocate Gaza residents is unacceptable."

In addition to Indonesia, the majority of the international community, especially the Arab nations have rejected the plan in favor of Palestinian sovereignty.

The idea of a so-called "voluntary migration" of the people of Gaza was first promoted during the Biden administration by far-right Israeli ministers.

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Resistance leaders pay tribute to Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif

Iran Press TV

Friday, 31 January 2025 12:26 AM

Resistance leaders have paid tribute to the chief of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas.

On Thursday, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, announced the martyrdom of several of its military council leaders in the battle against the Israeli invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip, including its chief of staff Mohammed Deif.

Chief of al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida on Thursday also confirmed the death of deputy military commander Marwan Issa in combat.

Other commanders killed in the battle included Ghazi Abu Tama'a, the commander of weapons and combat services, Raed Thabet, the commander of manpower and head of supplies unit, and Rafeh Salama, the commander of the Khan Younis Brigade.

Ahmed al-Ghandour, the commander of the Northern Brigade, and Ayman Nofal, the commander of the Central Brigade, were the other high-profile Hamas members killed in combat.

Mohammad 'Abu Khaled' Deif, known for his elusiveness, had survived at least seven attempts on his life by Israel. He had been a key figure in orchestrating military operations against Israel.

Across the Axis of Resistance, factions mourn and honor the martyrs of the Al-Qassam Brigades, led by the great martyred leader, Commander Deif.

The Islamic Jihad Movement said it "mourns the martyrdom of Mohammed Deif (Abu Khaled) and his comrades, saluting their pivotal role in initiating the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood and achieving victories such as the recent prisoner exchange deal under resistance-imposed terms."

"The Movement stresses that the martyrdom of leaders strengthens the steadfastness of the resistance and forces the Zionist entity to retreat," it added.

"Islamic Jihad reaffirms its steadfastness alongside Hamas and other resistance factions to honor the blood of the martyrs, achieve full liberation, and thwart Zionist-American schemes targeting the Palestinian cause. Indeed it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also said it mourns "the great Palestinian fighter and Chief of Staff of the Al-Qassam Brigades, alongside Marwan Issa and their comrades."

"Mohammed Deif was a symbol of meticulous planning and heroic resistance, who struck fear into the Zionist entity for decades. The PFLP affirms that their martyrdom will strengthen the resistance and that the enemy's crimes will not halt the struggle but instead ensure the eventual collapse of the Zionist occupation," it added.

Deif's deputy, Issa, was instrumental in Hamas's military strategies. Tama'a, responsible for overseeing the organization's weapons in Gaza, previously served as the head of the Central Camps Brigade of Hamas.

Thabet was considered among the top ten most senior Hamas military commanders, while Salama was known for his close association with Deif and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar who was killed in combat in Gaza in October.

Meanwhile, the Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said they also "mourn the martyrdom of Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and their comrades."

These leaders were heroic symbols of sacrifice who gave their lives defending the sanctities of Palestine in the battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood. The Brigades reaffirm their commitment to escalating resistance against the zionist enemy, which will meet its inevitable fate of collapse. The resistance will not rest until every inch of Palestinian land is liberated."

In addition, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades "mourn the martyrdom of Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Ghazi Abu Tama'a, Raed Thabet, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, and Ayman Noufal, who gave their lives defending Al-Aqsa."

"Their sacrifices in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood represent a decisive moment in the fight for liberation. The Brigades pledge to continue their path until Palestine is free from the river to the sea. JihadVictory or Martyrdom."

In addition, the Mujahideen Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, "mourn the martyrdom of Mohammed Deif, his deputy Marwan Issa, and their comrades Ghazi Abu Tama'a, Raed Thabet, Rafi' Salama, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, and Ayman Noufal."

"Their long journey of jihad and resistance exemplifies courage and devotion to defending the sanctities of Palestine. The Brigades pledge to follow their path and escalate resistance until the Zionist occupation is eradicated and Palestine is liberated. Allahu Akbar! Victory is promised to the Mujahideen."

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it also "mourns Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, and their comrades, who ascended in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood while defending the dignity of Palestine."

"The DFLP affirms that the martyrdom of these leaders will not weaken the resistance but instead strengthen its determination to defeat the zionist entity. Their blood will forever light the path to liberation and the return of Palestinian rights."

in the meantime, Fatah Al-Intifada "mourns Commander Mohammed Deif (Abu Khaled), Chief of Staff of Al-Qassam Brigades, and his comrades Marwan Issa, Ghazi Abu Tama'a, Raed Thabet, Rafi' Salama, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, and Ayman Noufal."

"Their martyrdom in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood is a reminder of the unity of the resistance, which will continue to haunt the Zionist enemy until their aggression is defeated and Palestine is liberated. Revolution until victory!"

The Political Bureau of Ansar Allah said it "mourns Mohammed Deif, the great martyr of the Ummah, alongside his comrades, who sacrificed their lives defending the sanctities of Al-Quds and Palestine."

"Ansar Allah emphasizes that these martyrs achieved a monumental victory for the resistance and Palestine. The Bureau reaffirms its unwavering support for Hamas and all resistance factions, pledging steadfastness in their cause until victory is achieved and Palestine is liberated."

Islamic Resistance in Iraq - the Scream of Al-Quds Brigades "mourns Mohammed Deif and his comrades, who became martyrs in the battle for Al-Aqsa Mosque and the liberation of Palestine."

"The Brigades pledge to honor the sacrifices of the martyrs and continue the fight until Al-Quds is fully liberated and the zionist entity is eradicated from the face of the earth."

The legacy of Mohammed Deif and his brothers-in-arms will continue to haunt the Zionist entity and inspire generations of resistance fighters until the occupiers meet their inevitable fate, and Al-Quds and Palestine are fully liberated.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 30 January 2025 - Day 1072

Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to withhold the pressure of the occupation troops.

So far, 125 combat clashes have taken place.

Today, the Russian terrorist state made 44 air strikes, dropping 88 cab. In addition, the Russian zagarbniki used 1007 kamikaze drones for strikes and carried out more than 4,600 shelling at the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements.

In the Kharkiv direction, there was one battle in the direction of Liptsiv. Also, the Russian enemy caused an air strike in the area of Kozachoi lopana.

Three times Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions in the Kupans komu direction, near Petropavlivka, Zagrizovoye and New Kruglyakivka. Defense Forces units stopped all Russian attacks.

In the Lyman direction for today Russian troops attacked Ukrainian defenders in the areas of the settlements of Kopanka, Balka Zhuravka, Yampolivka, Green Valley, Terns and Kolodyazi. Ukrainian soldiers repelled nine Russian attacks. Under the airstrikes were the areas of the new kruglyakivki and lyman.

On the Siversky direction from the beginning of the day, Russian forces made nine attempts to appease Ukrainian defenders from occupied positions in the areas of Bilogorivka and Verkhnyokamiansky, all clashes are over. The Russian enemy caused air strikes on Dronivka and Sivers .ku.

In the kramators komu direction Ukrainian warriors repelled 10 attempts of Russian zagarbnikiv to advance in the areas of orihovo-vasilivka, novomarkovoye, stupocok, temporary yar and predtecinyogo. At the same time, Russian forces caused air strikes across the areas of fedorivka, tihonivka and bilokuzminivki.

In the Toretsky direction, Russian forces 13 times tried to move forward in the areas of Toretsk, diliivka, scherbinivka and the Crimea, one clash is still ongoing. Also - bombarded Scherbinivka, Katerynivka, Kleban-Bik and Ivanopilla, using the KAB.

In the Pokrovsk direction during this day, the Russian aggressor 51 times attacked Ukrainian positions in the areas of the settlements Malinivka, Elizavetivka, Vodyane Druge, Novotoretske, Ray, Pokrovsk, Lisivka, Novoukrainka, Udaachne, Yasenove, Shevchenko and Dachne. Seven clashes are still going on. Bilitske suffered airstrike controlled air bombs.

According to the available information, the losses of the Russian occupiers to the direction, for today, have been 337 people killed and wounded, ten vehicles have been destroyed, one BPLA antenna, one satellite means of communication, two REB devices, one PTRK, the surveillance complex "Murom-M" and three BPLA operative-tactical level, in addition, two Russian mortars were significantly damaged.

In the Novopavliv direction, the zRussian agarbniki carried out one attack of the positions of Ukrainian troops near Konstantinopol. The settlements of Rozliv and Mosquito were hit by air strikes.

In the direction of Gulyajpils komu, Russian forces made four attempts to appease Ukrainian defenders from occupied positions in the areas of Novopol and Novosilka. Ternove and Temirivka suffered from enemy air strikes.

The Russian enemy did not perform active actions in the Orihiv direction.

In the Pridniprovsky direction, Russian zagarbniki seven times tried to push out of occupied positions Ukrainian units, unsuccessful, having suffered losses - retreated.

Defense Forces of Ukraine continue operations in the Kursk direction. Today, Ukrainian soldiers repelled 11 attacks of the Zagarbnytsia army in this direction, in addition, the Russian aviation launched 12 air strikes on its own territory, dropping 16 KAB.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of one motorised infantry brigade and one air assault brigade of the AFU near Volchansk (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 50 troops, one armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, and one field artillery gun.

Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of three mechanised brigades of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and one national guard brigade near Peschanoye, Zagryzovo, Zagoruykovka, Kutkovka, Putnikovo, and Kurilovka (Kharkov region).

The AFU losses amounted to more than 320 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, 10 motor vehicles, eight field artillery guns, including three NATO-made guns. One ammunition depot was wiped out.

Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Losses were inflicted on formations of two mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade of the AFU, and one territorial defence brigade near Seversk, Dronovka, Verkhnekamenskoye, and Chasov Yar (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 175 troops, two motor vehicles, and one field artillery gun. One ammunition depot was wiped out.

Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces continued to engage in active offensive operations. Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of three mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one airmobile brigade of the AFU, and one national guard brigade near Dzerzhinsk, Druzhba, Nelepovka, Novopavlovka, Shcherbinovka, and Andreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 550 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles, and two field artillery guns.

Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of the enemy's defences. Losses were inflicted on formations of two mechanised brigades of the AFU, one marine brigade, and one territorial defence brigade near Novoselka, Razliv, Volnoye Pole (Donetsk People's Republic), and Novodarovka (Zaporozhye region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 125 troops and three motor vehicles. Five field artillery guns, including one NATO-made gun, were destroyed.

Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade of the AFU and one territorial defence brigade near Antonovka, Tokarevka (Kherson region), and Kamenskoye (Zaporozhye region).

The AFU losses amounted to up to 55 troops and two motor vehicles.

Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces struck Ukrainian defence industry objects, infrastructure of military airfields, UAV workshops and storages, as well as engaged the enemy's manpower and hardware in 142 areas.

Air defence units shot down two French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, four U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, and 61 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 652 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 41,861 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 20,892 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,510 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,058 field artillery guns and mortars, and 30,904 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.

In the past six months, monthly medical and irrecoverable losses of the AFU manpower have been constantly reaching about 50,000 troops and more (January 2025  51,960 troops, December 2024  48,470 troops, November 2024  60,805 troops, etc.).

The number of recruits of the AFU training centres even considering the more active mobilisation efforts all over Ukraine by enlistment offices has rarely exceeded 30,000 people per month over the past six months. Without proper training, these recruits are sent to the line of contact, which results in decreasing the AFU total strength.

According to the official data, up to 100,000 Ukrainian troops have gone AWOL or fled.

Legislative changes prepared by the Kiev regime under pressure from Western countries to lower the mobilisation age from 25 to 18 are the only way for Zelensky to delay the cascading collapse of the front in Donbass for a few more months.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also reported that he Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.

In the course of offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of one tank brigade, one heavy mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades, one marine brigade, and three territorial defence brigades of the AFU near Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Guyevo, Pervy Knyazhy, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Nikolayevka, Nikolsky, Novaya Sorochina, Rubanshchina, Sverdlikovo, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. Two counter-attacks launched by the enemy's units were repelled.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and artillery inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the enemy near Viktorovka, Guyevo, Zazulevka, Kazachaya Loknya, Kolmakov, Kositsa, Kruglenkoye, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Nikolsky, Novaya Sorochina, Oleshnya, Sverdlikovo, Staraya Sorochina, Sudzha, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, and Obody in Sumy region.

Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 240 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, one armoured personnel carrier, four armoured fighting vehicles, 14 motor vehicles, four artillery guns, nine mortars, two electronic warfare stations, three UAV command posts, and two ammunition depots.

Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 56,140 troops, 325 tanks, 241 infantry fighting vehicles, 185 armoured personnel carriers, 1,653 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,707 motor vehicles, 396 artillery guns, 44 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 16 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 105 EW stations, 14 counter-battery warfare radars, four air defence radars, 32 units of engineering and other materiel, including 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, nine armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.

The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.





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Trump says U.S. will hold 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 30, 2025

Tehran, IRNA -- U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to use a detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to detain up to 30,000 migrants deported from the United States.

President Trump directed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to initiate the process to "stop the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty."

The Trump administration clarified that the deported migrants would not be housed in the main military prison at Guantanamo, which currently holds suspected "foreign terrorists." Instead, they would be detained in a separate area on the naval base, which has historically been used to hold migrants intercepted at sea, primarily Haitians, Cubans, and Dominicans.

This facility has remained largely vacant in recent years, and Trump intends to repurpose it for "high-priority criminal aliens."

The plan was first reported by Fox News, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided some details about the program.

Hegseth emphasized that the migrants would not be held indefinitely. He described Guantanamo as a "waystation" until the administration secures agreements with other countries to accept the migrants.

The Trump administration has not defined what length of time it considers "temporary transit," nor has it provided a timeline for when deportations to Guantanamo might start.

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Trump orders preparation at Guantanamo Bay for detention of 30,000 migrants

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:18, January 30, 2025

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will instruct the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department to prepare a facility for 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. naval base located on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

"We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. This will double our capacity immediately," Trump made the remarks before he signed the Laken Riley Act at the White House.

The Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, was approved by Congress earlier this month. It marks the first major legislation of the new administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CNN that the base could be reserved to detain what she described as "the worst of the worst."

During his campaign, Trump promised to carry out large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants once he took office. After his inauguration on Jan. 20, deportation operations have ramped up in several parts of the United States, reportedly focusing on criminals.

On Sunday alone, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made nearly 1,000 arrests, with lots of activity taking place in the southeastern part of the country, Fox News cited various ICE field offices as saying.

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Trump plans to detain 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 10:24 AM

US President Donald Trump has announced an expansive directive granting federal authorities the ability to deport up to 30,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal records to a designated detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a memorandum from the White House, Trump instructed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to initiate the process of detaining "criminal migrants" in order to "halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty."

The administration clarified that the deported migrants would not be placed in the military prison at Guantanamo, which has gained notoriety for holding foreign terrorism suspects and has faced intense scrutiny from human rights organizations.

Instead, the plan involves utilizing a separate section of the naval station historically employed as a temporary detention site for migrants intercepted at sea, particularly from Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

Details surrounding the plan emerged during a Fox News broadcast featuring key figures from Trump's administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth emphasized that the migrants would not face indefinite detention akin to that experienced by individuals in the military prison, where some have have been held for over two decades without formal charges.

He described Guantanamo as "a temporary transit" to move illegals out of the US without clarifying what "temporary transit" means regarding its duration.

Trump's initial announcement indicated that Guantanamo could accommodate 30,000 individuals, emphasizing the facility's potential for "full capacity" expansion.

He expressed concerns about certain migrants, asserting, "Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to Guantanamo."

However, this initiative has drawn skepticism from various quarters. Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, raised concerns over the facility's conditions, labeling it "decrepit" and questioning the legality of using Guantanamo for this purpose.

He argued that while the US has the right to deport individuals with specific criminal convictions, "it does not give the United States the right to put them in a legal black hole in an offshore prison just to get them out of sight and out of mind. That's not something that human rights law would allow."

Cuba's government was quick to denounce the proposal, accusing the US of engaging in torture and unlawful detention on the country's land which has "occupied."

Havana has denounced the existence of a US naval base on the island ever since Fidel Castro swept to power in 1959.

"In act of brutality, the new government of the US has announced it will incarcerate, at the naval base at Guantanamo, located in illegally occupied Cuban territory, thousands of forcibly expulsed migrants, who will be located near known prisons of torture and illegal detention," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on X.

Trump's announcement coincided with his signing of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants arrested for theft or violent crimes be held in jail while awaiting trial, further underscoring the administration's tough stance on immigration issues.

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Australia Boosts Stock of Long-Range Anti-Radiation Missiles

The Hon Richard Marles MP

Deputy Prime Minister

Minister for Defence

30 January 2025

The Albanese Government is investing up to $650 million to acquire additional stocks of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER) missiles, which are designed to detect, attack and destroy enemy radar systems.

This is to increase the warstock of the Australian Defence Force and its ability to deter Australia's potential adversaries to keep Australians safe.

This investment is in addition to the $431 million for the AARGM-ER missile previously announced by the Government in August 2023.

These supersonic air-launched missiles will be deployed from Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft and, in the future, on Australia's F-35A Lightning II aircraft.

The missiles will be acquired through the United States Government's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procurement process, reflecting our close partnership with the United States.

This investment is part of the Albanese Government's record investment in Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance, including warstock uplift, to deliver the priorities in the 2024 National Defence Strategy.

Quotes attributable to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles:

"This is the Albanese Government delivering the capabilities needed for the Australian Defence Force.

"Australia and the United States continue to work as closely as ever, and the Alliance between our two countries ensures Australians are kept safe and our national interests are defended."

Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Pat Conroy:

"These world class missiles will improve the range, survivability and effectiveness of our Air Force to find and destroy enemy radars.

"The Albanese Government is delivering its commitment to enhance Australia's long-range strike capability, delivering on a key priority of the National Defence Strategy.

"This acquisition is a testament to Australia's strong, long-standing Alliance with the United States."

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Experts: Trump faces tough task to denuclearize North Korea

By Young Gyo Kim January 30, 2025

The White House says President Donald Trump is going to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea, although analysts say that is easier said than done.

White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told VOA Korean via email this week that "President Trump had a good relationship with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un," and that Trump's "mix of toughness and diplomacy led to the first-ever leader-level commitment to complete denuclearization."

Trump and Kim met three times in 2018-19, in Singapore, Hanoi and over the inter-Korean border at Panmunjom.

Trump, who has recently called North Korea "a nuclear power," said in an interview with Fox News last week that he would reach out to Kim again, adding, "He liked me, and I got along with him."

Commitment to denuclearization

Former U.S. government officials say there is no doubt that Trump is serious about resuming talks with Kim.

Susan Thornton, a former senior U.S. diplomat for Asian affairs, told VOA Korean on Wednesday via email it "seems clear that President Trump plans to pick up where he left off with Kim Jong Un in his first administration."

Thornton, who was acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Trump administration, said Trump would "like to hold Kim and North Korea to the 2018 Singapore joint statement that included Kim's commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

However, "much has changed since then, and Kim's hand is stronger, so it won't be easy," Thornton said, referring to Pyongyang's development of more advanced weapons.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported Wednesday that Kim said it was "indispensable" to bolster nuclear forces, as North Korea continues to face "confrontations with the most vicious, hostile countries."

Last Saturday, the North test-fired what it said were sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles. Kim, who inspected the test launch, said the country's war deterrence means are "being perfected more thoroughly," according to KCNA.

Evans Revere, former acting secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA Korean on the phone Wednesday that Kim would agree to come back to the table if he believed reengaging with Washington "could help him attain any of his own goals with respect to his nuclear and missile programs and relations with the United States."

Revere is skeptical that any of Kim's goals would include his regime's denuclearization.

"The North Koreans might dangle the possibility of a discussion about denuclearization to attract the United States into a dialogue, but it would not be a serious proposal," he said. "Quite frankly, they are determined to keep their weapons, keep their capabilities, which they regard as essential to their own existence."

Daunting task

Frank Aum, a senior expert on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace who worked at the Department of Defense from 2010 to 2017, said denuclearization is not a realistic goal to achieve in the near or medium term.



"The best thing Trump can do to increase the odds of North Korea's engagement is to resolve Russia's war in Ukraine, which would decrease North Korea's leverage and signal that a U.S. offer better than the one in Hanoi might be on the table," Aum said in an email to VOA Korean.

North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received military or financial assistance, according to U.S. and South Korean officials.

The February 2019 talks, in which Trump and Kim met for the second time, collapsed after Kim asked for full lifting of sanctions in exchange for the dismantling of the country's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang. Trump demanded more should be done on Kim's end.

Aum said Kim would likely not have budged from his position then.



"Trump may probe to see if he can get Kim to accept partial sanctions relief instead, like he tried at Hanoi, or offer more for Yongbyon," Aum said. "It seems clear that Kim will not offer any more security concessions than Yongbyon."

Sydney Seiler, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA Korean via email on Wednesday that "for now, it is unlikely any meeting, if it takes place, will reasonably be related to denuclearization."

"Trump will likely seek to keep the ultimate goal of denuclearization alive while exploring ways in which to reduce the threat," Seiler said.

Referring to recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the failure of sanctions to halt the North Korean nuclear program, Seiler speculated that sanctions relief may be offered for significant steps in the new talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Seiler added that military exercises and extended deterrence may also be reduced in terms of their frequency, volume and scale, in exchange for a halt or slowing of Kim's long-range missile launches and nuclear tests.

In June 2018, Trump decided to suspend major military exercises with South Korea in an apparent gesture of good faith, right after his first meeting with Kim in Singapore. It raised some fears among South Koreans that such a move could weaken defense against the North.

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Iran urges IAEA to avoid 'politicized, unconstructive' approach

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Jan 29, 2025

Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refrain from taking a politicized and unconstructive approach to the Iranian nuclear issue, and instead focus on its technical cooperation with the country.

Araghchi held a phone conversation with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Wednesday, with the two exchanging views on interactions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog.

The top Iranian diplomat reiterated his country's determination to continue cooperation with the IAEA within the framework of its international obligations, saying the agency needs to avoid politicization and an unconstructive approach.

Araghchi also urged the IAEA to act within the framework of its responsibilities and continue cooperation with Iran in "a technical atmosphere", away from "unjustified pressure" exerted by some countries.

Grossi, on his part, said that his agency intends to have serious cooperation with Iran. He also said he would hold negotiations with all parties to create appropriate conditions for resolving the outstanding issues.

Back in November 2024, the IAEA's Board of Governors adopted a resolution, accusing Iran of "non-compliance" with its safeguards obligations.

Iran rejected that resolution as "unjust", saying it was adopted under pressure by the United States, and the E3 group of countries - namely Britain, Germany, and France - even though Iran's nuclear sites had been subject to extensive inspections by the IAEA.

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Iran committed to constructive interaction with EU, ready for any scenario: FM Araghchi

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 6:32 AM

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reaffirmed Tehran's constant commitment to dialogue with Europe while maintaining its readiness for any scenario.

Araghchi made the remarks in a phone conversation with Polish Foreign Minister Radosaw Sikorski on Wednesday.

He said Iran has always been committed to dealing with European countries based on dialogue and interaction to solve issues while it is fully prepared for any circumstances.

He extended his congratulations to Poland over its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and expressed hope that Iran and the EU would improve constructive interaction during the period.

Iran and three European countries of Britain, France, and Germany have been having talks on and off since 2021, three years after the United States left the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and reinstated harsh sanctions against Iran.

The trio failed to live up to their promise of bringing Washington back to the deal.

Reacting to the counter-party's non-commitment to its obligations, Tehran initiated a set of retaliatory nuclear steps, including activating more advanced centrifuges.

Iran has been stepping up the measures in response to the other parties' continued refusal to uphold their obligations under the nuclear deal.

The Polish foreign minister, for his part, said Tehran and Warsaw maintain over a half-century of diplomatic ties and hailed the two sides' efforts to develop cordial relations.

Sikorski expressed hope for resolving issues between Iran and the European Union, including the nuclear one.

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Iran underlines necessity of stopping Israeli regime's crimes, aggression

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 January 2025 3:05 AM

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has underlined the necessity of cessation of the Israeli regime's crimes and aggression throughout the West Asia region.

The top diplomat made the remarks to Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday, responding to a phone call by the latter.

He reiterated Iran's support for extension of the ceasefire deal that was brought about in the Gaza Strip earlier this month with the hope of ending the regime's 15-month-long war of genocide against the coastal territory that has so far claimed the lives of at least 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

He also urged prolongation of a similar deal that addresses Tel Aviv's escalated deadly aggression towards Lebanon that killed at least 3,961 people, including senior resistance officials, before a similar ceasefire deal came about last November.

The remarks came amid the Israeli regime's continuous deadly violations of both the agreements.

Araghchi, meanwhile, warned against any escalation of tensions in Yemen, where the regime, the United States, and the UK have been carrying out heavy deadly attacks with the aim of stopping Sana'a's pro-Palestinian operations.

He said such aggression posed a threat to regional stability and security.

The foreign minister noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran had always been a supporter of peace and stability in the region, and would spare no effort to ensure realization of regional peace and stability.

Araghchi also elaborated on Iran's position regarding peaceful nuclear activities, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic had always been ready to engage in dialog based on its principles and national interests.

He clarified that this approach was not new and formed the basis of previous talks involving the country too.

Iran and the UK, France, and Germany have resumed talks addressing the country's nuclear energy program in the hope of restoring a 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world countries, including the European trio.

After the United States unilateral and illegal withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, the trio vowed to try to return Washington to the accord besides living up to their own commitments under the deal.

They, however, stopped short of doing either, while ramping up even more illegal sanctions against Tehran.

The two sides further discussed some consular issues as well as the latest status of bilateral relations, emphasizing the importance of continued diplomatic consultations.

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UN expert urges support for people of Myanmar as they heroically oppose military oppression

Press releases

Special Procedures

30 January 2025

GENEVA -- The fourth anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar is a time to mourn the loss of thousands of innocent lives at the hands of a brutal military regime while celebrating the heroism of those who continue to stand up for human rights in a country under siege, a UN expert said today.

"It is also a time for the international community to provide the people of Myanmar a genuine partnership to help end this nightmare," said Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Andrews said four years of military oppression, violence and incompetence have cast Myanmar into an abyss.

"Junta forces have slaughtered thousands of civilians, bombed and burned villages, and displaced millions of people. More than 20,000 political prisoners remain behind bars. The economy and public services have collapsed. Famine and starvation loom over large parts of the population," the Special Rapporteur said.

"The junta's plans, including holding sham elections this year in a backdrop of escalating armed conflict and human rights violations, are a path to ruin," Andrews said.

He said it was not possible to hold a legitimate election while arresting, detaining, torturing and executing leaders of the opposition and when it is illegal for journalists or citizens to criticise the junta.

"Governments should dismiss these plans for what they are - a fraud," Andrews said.

He lauded pro-democracy activists, journalists, doctors, human rights defenders and citizens from all walks of life who have risked their lives to fight for Myanmar's future.

"The resilience and courage of Myanmar's people continue to amaze and inspire others around the world. I am heartened by the courageous efforts of those documenting the junta's crimes, caring for those injured by the attacks, providing food and shelter to those displaced, and teaching children whose education was upended by the coup. These heroic efforts are compelling indicators that Myanmar's best days lie ahead," the expert said.

Andrews said action by member states including targeted sanctions and a crackdown on the arms trade by Singapore have contributed to a one-third drop in the volume of weapons and military supplies the junta has been able to purchase through the formal banking system since the year ending March 2023.

"When governments muster the political will, they help save lives and support freedom in Myanmar," the Special Rapporteur said, calling for stronger action from the international community. "The failure of the Security Council to take action requires that UN Member States who support human rights coordinate strong, sustained actions that can deny the junta the means to continue its brutality against the people of Myanmar."

He urged governments to back efforts to hold perpetrators of grave human rights violations accountable, including in the International Criminal Court (ICC), and by supporting the democratic movement and civil society as they build the foundation for a strong justice system and transitional justice processes.

"Impunity has enabled a decades-long cycle of violence and oppression in Myanmar. Ultimately, this sad chapter of Myanmar's history must end with junta leaders being prosecuted for their crimes," Andrews said.

Tom Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR. Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/

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Myanmar aid groups struggle with freeze as UN warns of 'staggering' hunger

Thailand has offered help refugee camps along the border for the time being.

By Kiana Duncan for RFA

2025.01.30

MAE SOT, Thailand -- Groups helping victims of Myanmar's turmoil are struggling to provide assistance after the U.S. put a 90-day freeze on nearly all foreign aid, one organization said on Thursday, as the U.N. warned of looming hunger five years after the military ousted an elected government.

More than 3.5 million people have been displaced in Myanmar due to war between a junta that seized power in 2021, which is backed by China and sanctioned by Western governments, and a loose alliance of pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups battling to end military rule.

In the 2024 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, the U.S. provided $141 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, much of which is channeled through groups working on the Thai-Myanmar border.

The U.S. State Department on Friday announced the freeze on nearly all aid in order to give the State Department time to review programs "to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda."

In the days since, stop-work orders have been sent by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to implementing partners ranging from media organizations to clinics.

One aid worker, who declined to be identified, said about 20 relief groups providing healthcare with USAID assistance along the Thai-Myanmar border were at risk of being suspended.

Nai Aue Mon, program director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland group,which documents human rights violations, said communication and travel costs, salaries and stipends would be hit.

"To be honest, it's widespread, it's huge," Nai Aue Mon said of the impact of the aid freeze on humanitarian groups in areas under the administration of the anti-junta Karen National Union in Kayin state and to the south in Mon state, affecting thousands of people.

"It significantly impacts those groups ... nearly every organization is more or less impacted by this executive order."

Groups might have some funds in reserve and were scrambling for other sources of donations but the outlook was grim, he said.

"As far as I know, my organization, we still have some resources but we don't know after that," Nai Aue Mon said. "We're definitely struggling a lot."

Thailand to try to fill the gap

Some 100,000 ethnic Karen people from eastern Myanmar war zones have lived in camps on the Thai side for decades and people fleeing more recent repression in Myanmar's towns and cities have also sought shelter on the border.

Refugee camp hospitals were having to discharge patients because health workers had been suspended from duties, a health worker speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons told RFA.

Thailand will help fill the gap in funding for the camps on its soil, at least for the time being, a government minister said, according to The Bangkok Post.

"We cannot abandon or chase them away since they have lived here in the camps for a long time," Thai Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin told the newspaper.

"We cannot just talk about refugees who have been affected ... All kinds of healthcare and assistance must be provided to other groups of people who live in this country."

The freeze in U.S. aid comes as Myanmar is spiraling into a humanitarian crisis, aid groups say.

"A staggering 15 million people are expected to face hunger in 2025, up from 13.3 million last year," the World Food Programme said in a report on Wednesday.

Almost 20 million people, or nearly one in three people in Myanmar, will need humanitarian assistance in 2025, the U.N. food agency said.

"Growing conflict across the country, access restrictions, a crumbling economy and successive weather-related crises are driving record levels of hunger," said the WFP Country Director Michael Dunford.

"The world cannot afford to overlook Myanmar's escalating crisis. Without immediate and increased international support, hundreds of thousands more will be pushed to the brink."

Edited by RFA Staff.

Copyright 1998-2025, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content January not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Myanmar militia 'ready to return' more than 60 trafficked foreigners to Thailand

The expected release comes after international alarm about the scam centers put pressure on governments to act.

By RFA Burmese 2025.01.30 -- A pro-junta Myanmar militia that oversees online scam operations has said it will release more than 60 foreigners who were trafficked into working in its eastern border enclave.

Scam centers proliferated in lawless corners of Southeast Asia following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, when many casinos turned to online fraud, often staffed by unsuspecting job-seekers lured by false offers of work, to make up for lost gamblers.

Thousands of people from around Asia -- and from as far away as Africa -- have been trafficked into centers in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, which are often run by ethnic Chinese gangsters, rights groups and law enforcement agencies say.

"We're ready to return them," a spokesperson for the militia, known as the Border Guard Force, or BGF, Maj. Naing Maung Zaw, told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday, referring to the more than 60 people.

The spokesperson said the foreigners would be released from the notorious KK Park and Shwe Kokko centers in Myanmar's Myawaddy district, in Kayin state, and sent back over the border to the Thai town of Mae Sot.

The spokesman did not release any details about the foreigners but the Thai media outlet The Reporters said that they included 39 Chinese, 13 Indians, five Indonesians, one Kazakh, one Ethiopian, one Pakistani and one Malaysian.

Naing Maung Zaw said his group was waiting for authorisation from Myanmar military authorities to go ahead with the release.

"We haven't heard any confirmation back from this side. We've submitted it to relevant officials ... We're getting permission from the responsible people," he said.

RFA tried to telephone Kayin state's junta spokesperson, Khin Maung Myint, for information on the return but he did not answer.

The rescue of a Chinese actor from a fraud operation overseen by the BGF has raised international alarm in rent weeks and has scared off Chinese tourists from visiting neighboring Thailand and brought pressure on governments to rein in the businesses.

China and its five Mekong River neighbors have agreed to cooperate to fight the scam operations while the BFG militia said it would stop forced labor and fraud in its eastern Myanmar zone of operations.

Thai authorities will investigate whether any of the more than 60 people due to be released were trafficked or were involved in trafficking others, The Reporters said, adding that some Chinese nationals being released would be extradited to China for their involvement in crime.

A senior Chinese official, Deputy Minister of Public Security Liu Zhongyi is due to travel to Myawaddy from Mae Sot, the Thai outlet said.

The ethnic Karen BGF emerged from a split in the 1990s in Myanmar's oldest ethnic minority guerrilla force, the largely Christian-led Karen National Union, when Buddhist fighters broke away and sided with the military.

The military let the splinter group rule in some areas in Kayin state, where it set up the BGF under the auspices of the army and profited from cross-border trade and later from online gambling and scam operations.

Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.

Copyright 1998-2025, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content January not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - on Myanmar

United Nations Secretary-General

New York

30 January 2025

Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected Government on 1 February 2021, the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate, with devastating consequences for civilians.

The Secretary-General condemns all forms of violence and calls on all parties to the conflict to exercise maximum restraint, uphold human rights and international humanitarian law, and prevent further incitement of violence and intercommunal tensions. He reiterates his concern regarding the military's stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying conflict, including aerial bombardment and widespread human rights violations and without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely and peacefully exercise their political rights, including safety and security.

Over 19.9 million people in Myanmar - more than one-third of its population - need humanitarian assistance, compared to one million before the military took over four years ago. Unimpeded access must be assured to enable the UN and its partners to continue to deliver humanitarian assistance and essential services.

The Secretary-General renews his calls for greater cooperation among all stakeholders to bring an end to the hostilities and help the people of Myanmar forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and return to civilian rule. The Secretary-General also appeals to countries in the region to grant access to safety and protection for those fleeing conflict and persecution and for the international community to provide greater support to countries, including Bangladesh, hosting refugees from Myanmar.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Julie Bishop, remains actively engaged with all stakeholders, in close cooperation with ASEAN, in the search of a Myanmar-led resolution to the crisis.

A viable future for Myanmar must ensure safety, accountability, and opportunity for all its communities, including the Rohingya, and address the root causes of conflict, discrimination and disenfranchisement in all its forms. The Secretary-General reaffirms the unwavering support of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar in these efforts.

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Transcript of the Weekly Press Briefing by the Spokesperson, Thursday, 30 January 2025

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Assalam-o-Alaikum,

Welcome to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I welcome you all at the weekly press briefing.

Let me begin by extending our deepest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the victims of the recent attack on Saudi Hospital in Al-Fasher, Sudan. The attack leading to unfortunate deaths supposedly of seventy people clearly violates international law and puts innocent civilians at grave risk. Pakistan believes that the conflict can only be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. We express full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan.

Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and unfounded allegations to target Pakistan China friendship. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the foundational principle of One-China Policy which is a consistent cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy and remains unchanged. We reiterate that China is Pakistan's all-weather strategic partner, and this relationship is characterized by mutual trust, shared values, support on issues of core concern and a commitment to regional and global stability.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is coordinating the repatriation of 22 Pakistani survivors of the recent maritime incident near the Dakhla port in Morocco. Following thorough investigations and careful coordination with Moroccan authorities, these individuals will be returned to Pakistan in batches. And I can inform you today that first batch has arrived through two flights in Islamabad.

The Pakistan Embassy in Rabat is in close coordination with the Moroccan authorities to oversee the relief efforts and finalize the complex repatriation procedure.

The welfare of Pakistani nationals abroad remains an important priority of the government and it will continue to work to extend all possible facilitation in this regard. Further updates will be shared as the repatriation efforts move forward.

Pakistan is set to host AMAN-25; the ninth edition of multinational AMAN exercise from February 7 to 11. A key feature of this year's exercise will be the AMAN Dialogue, where Chiefs of Naval Forces, heads of Coast Guards, and senior leaders from around the world will convene to discuss regional maritime security and devise joint strategies to counter evolving maritime threats.

Around 60 countries will participate in AMAN-25, contributing with ships, aircraft, Special Operations Forces (SOF), Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams, Marines, and observers. Delegations from across the globe will also attend the inaugural International AMAN Dialogue, which will take place alongside the exercise.

The AMAN series has been a hallmark of Pakistan's efforts to promote regional peace and cooperation. Launched in 2007, the inaugural exercise saw participation of 28 countries. By 2023, the number of participating nations had grown to 50, including major naval powers. The motto of the AMAN series, "Together for Peace," reflects its core mission, while this year's theme, "Secure Seas; Prosperous Future," emphasizes the importance of maritime security for global prosperity.

Pakistan condemns the Israeli withdrawal from 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA and its efforts to hamper UNRWA's ability to fulfill its mandate of providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza valley. This ban would lead to further instability and worsening of humanitarian situation in Gaza as the region and its people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and support.

Pakistan condemns the continued Israeli aggression in West Bank. Latest Israeli military raid in the Jenin and Balata Refugee Camps of the West Bank resulting in the killing of a 2-year toddler along with killing and injuring of several Palestinians is reprehensible and condemnable. We call on the international community to break its silence on continuous acts of brutality by Israel against innocent Palestinians.

Pakistan notes with concern the refusal by Israeli forces to withdraw from South of Lebanon on 26th January. We condemn the killing of 24 civilians including six women. It is worrying that Israel's killing spree in southern Lebanon continues despite a ceasefire in place since November 27.

Confiscation of properties is an ugly facet of the Indian authorities' campaign to crush dissent in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). As part of this campaign, assets of 11 individuals were seized in Kishtwar district, a few days ago.

The ongoing campaign to victimize the dissenters and intimidate the Kashmiri people must stop. India must also allow the people of IIOJK to freely exercise their right to self determination, as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pakistan and Serbia will hold the 5th round of Bilateral Political Consultations in Islamabad on January 31. Additional Secretary (Europe), Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan will lead the Pakistani delegation. The Serbian side shall be headed by the Secretary of State, Mr. Damjan Jovic. The two sides will discuss a range of topics including political, trade, and people to people contacts.

Third round of Pakistan-Uzbekistan Bilateral Political Consultations will be held on 4-5 February 2025, in Tashkent. Additional Secretary (Afghanistan & West Asia), Ambassador Syed Ali Asad Gilani would be leading the Pakistan delegation.

The second round of Pakistan-Qatar BPC is scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar on the 5th February 2025. The Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar will lead Pakistan delegation. Besides the dialogue, the DPM/FM will also interact with the Qatari leadership.

I thank you!

*

1. (Mateen Haider, G News): There was latest announcement from Washington that all USAID assistance to number of countries, including Pakistan suspended. So would you like to update us that this suspension of US assistance to Pakistan is affecting how many areas or how many sectors in Pakistan since number of sectors, number of areas in Pakistan used to get this US aid and has this matter is taken up at some diplomatic level or something like that? Your take on this?

Spokesperson: Thank you for asking this question, because I received this question from a lot of colleagues, and I promised them that I'll provide an answer during the briefing. What I can convey to you is that we have taken note of the executive order issued by the U.S. President, pausing all foreign development assistance programs for 90 days in order to assess their efficiencies and consistency with the US foreign policy. Over the years, USAID has worked on a number of beneficial projects in Pakistan in the areas of energy, education, health and Narcotics Control. We hope that these programs will restart soon, and the two sides remain in contact on that.

2. (Khalid Mehmood, Express News): Interior Minister visited America and met key American officials. What was the sole purpose of his visit? Secondly, he is performing someone else's duties. Wasn't it the duty of Ishaq Dar?



Spokesperson: First of all, about the honorable interior minister's visit, I think their press release is self-contained and sufficient. And regarding the second part of the question is, it is the Prime Minister's prerogative. He deploys the ministers wherever he wants. So, I don't agree with your characterization of that.

3. (Khawaja Nayyar Iqbal, Media Today): Sir, an investor delegation from America arrived in Pakistan on the point where American programs are being (inaudible). Can you please elaborate that in which sectors of Pakistan this delegation will invest? What are American incentives in it? And what benefits are Pakistan seeking through this? Secondly, regarding those restrictions, how Pakistan is affected by those restrictions?

4. (Anas Mallick, Capital TV): Furthering towards what Mr. Khwaja just asked, the US Embassy spokesperson yesterday said that this is a primary business delegation that is visiting Pakistan. Would you want to shed light on the composition of the delegation or is it visiting on the invitation of Government of Pakistan or is it actually American decision?

Spokesperson: This is a welcome visit. Investors and businessmen keep visiting. This is a regular feature. There's nothing extraordinary about it. The businessmen you are referring to are very reputable businessmen. But what I can tell you is that this is something the foreign ministry is not processing. It's a regular activity for the investors to visit, and we look forward to deepening our economic engagement with the United States. It's a constant feature of our relations. US is indeed the biggest, most powerful economy in the world. As, we try to improve economic relations with all countries; the same applies to our relations with the US. So for, the details, I would refer you to SIFC.

5. (Shaukat Piracha, AAJ News): President Trump issued executive order for the plan to deport or imprison the illegal immigrants back in United States to Guantanamo Bay. How many Pakistanis will be impacted and what will be your comments on this policy of imprisoning the illegal immigrants into Guantanamo Bay?

Spokesperson: I actually, I think this news has come just now and I need some more time to process it. About the question of illegal immigrants, the US has expedited the removal of aliens, illegal migrants from the US under the new executive order by the President of the United States issued on 20th January 2025. The Government of Pakistan and the US remain in active collaboration with each other for processing cases of illegal migrants and their subsequent deportations. This is an ongoing process carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, and I'll try to get exact figures involved.

6. (Naveed Siddiqui, Business Recorder): Sir, the EU has warned Pakistan not to take GSP plus status for granted and EU's Special Representative for Human Rights, who is currently on a week-long visit in Pakistan, has also urged the Government of Pakistan not to use military courts to pursue cases against citizens and has opposed the recently enacted laws like PECA Act and recent move to restrict freedom of expressions. What are your views?

Spokesperson: I have to check the whole statement, whether it has been said or it is just the headline. In interstate relations no one takes any state or any party for granted. EU remains a very important partner for Pakistan. Pakistan-EU friendship and cooperation is based on universally recognized principles and these principles define Pakistan's relations with the European Union. It's a rich and comprehensive partnership. The two sides are very much engaged with each other. And GSP plus is one component of this very rich relationship. That's the first point.

There's no question of anyone taking anything for granted. I won't agree with this characterization. And specifically on GSP plus, it's a hand of partnership. It's a mark of partnership between Pakistan and the EU. There are a lot of activities which are undertaken by Pakistan in terms of international obligations and commitment. There is a very robustly working Treaty Implementation Cell which tries to supervise and coordinate Pakistan's follow up on implementation of the range of treaties.

About the Special Envoy's visits, again it's a regular feature of our interaction with the European Union and what we have put across is our perspective on whatever things happening in our legislative front, for example, on PECA or on the trial of terrorists or other wanted people. But this is part of an ongoing process. This is not one off or there is no one sitting in judgment on what's happening in Pakistan. It's a collaborative dialogue between two partners and friends.

7. (Anwer Abbas, 24 News HD): Sir, I just want to know that you have assumed charge since weeks now, almost a month. And the boat incident that took place, it has been almost a month long till now. Three or four briefings after that incident have already taken place. Our mission is trying. FIA team went there, it returned back even and still we do not know the figure. We do not know the causes. We do not know the reasons for the deaths. Do you admit it's your failure being a spokesperson in first larger task, as well as is also the failure of our mission there?

Spokesperson: I don't agree with this characterization and I am pleased if you think I can muster all the answers on behalf of the government. As I explained to you in my interaction with friends earlier also, our mission in Rabat has been very actively engaged. And I just want to acknowledge, once again, the cooperation and the help we have received from our brotherly country of Morocco. And this unfortunate tragedy happened close to their port. Although there was no involvement of Morocco, they, you know, helped with the survivors, the dead bodies, whatever they could. They have extended all possible facilities. That's the second point. Third point is, 22 survivors with names and details were confirmed to you. And the final point, as I mentioned in the last briefing, this is a very sensitive issue. The identification of the dead bodies is not always easy. You know, you may have to take the DNA samples or fingerprints. It's a long chain and then processing confirmation at the embassy level. Then it has to be checked against the database here. So, there are layers of work involved. And obviously the incident which has taken place in a foreign country, a friendly, brotherly country, but we have to takes action in line with their processes, their laws, their bureaucracy. And as I mentioned to you last time was that we can't afford to go wrong. So that's why we are taking all this care. And about the FIA's visit I had asked you earlier to contact the Interior Ministry on that. That's the best place to provide an answer.

8. (Tahir Khan, NNI News Agency): You issued a statement yesterday regarding American weapons in Afghanistan and said the same thing last week. Why in a week you said the same thing twice? And in the statement yesterday, you said that Pakistan has been asking the authorities in Afghanistan. So, my question is that as you are asking again and again from Taliban or the Afghan interim government but what is their response? Do they admit that the weapons have gone? What is their response? Does Pakistan have concerns that these weapons could come handy to TTP? Second part, relocation of the TTP people, there are many reports circulating for months, are those reports true? Can you officially confirm that this process has started or is going on?

9. (Zeeshan Yousafzai, Dunya TV): Sir, there are some reports about TTP's usage of weapons in Pakistan, and Pakistan has shared some evidence to Kabul as well. Is that true? If yes, then on what occasions have we provided them with the evidence?

10. (Allah Noor Wazir, Mashriq TV): Is TTP backed by Afghan government in the matter of its usage of weapons in Pakistan? Similarly, who is responsible for the leftover weapons which are being used against Pakistan, is it current Afghan government or the USA?

Spokesperson: I have seen a reports comparing our statement issued yesterday and the last week to assert that we have changed our position. If you look closely, they are in harmony. Yesterday's position is explaining it in more detail. The statement we made in the last briefing has been further expanded. It has just given more detail. That's the first point.

The issue of weapons remains a source of concern. Why? We have proof of terrorist group using the same weapons for their terrorist actions in Pakistan. If you look at the entirety of the terrorism problem, this is one component of it, and that of course, remains a part of our engagement with the Afghan authorities, Kabul authorities, repeatedly conveying to them our concerns. The proofs are regularly provided. I would not comment in detail about what time, but we have given sufficient proof and this remains an important component of our engagement with the Taliban authorities to convey that the terrorists enjoy sanctuary for attacks inside Pakistan. Regarding relocation, I'll have to check. I'm not in a position to confirm I'll have to check with my colleagues dealing with this issue.

Weapons and who is responsible? But right now, the issue is that weapons were left in Kabul, and they are under control of TTA as they have taken over the state. I mean, there is a new administration in Kabul. And those weapons are being used for terrorist activities in Pakistan. This is what I can say without getting into who is responsible. In our view, the primary responsibility is of the Kabul administration. They have to ensure that the sanctuary is not enjoyed by terrorists. This has to stop. This is what I can say.

11. (Raziq Mahmood Bhatti, Daily Kashmir Express): In previous week, 17 people including children were martyred in Rajouri and other districts of IIOJK. We kept condemning such incidents in the past but now we are not condemning, has our policy been changed? Your comments.

Spokesperson: Not at all. The gruesome dance of death continues in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and our position remains very clear. There couldn't be more clarity in that. We condemn it and we draw attention of international community to these horrendous acts being perpetrated against the Kashmiris. And I agree with you that it is one tragedy after another. We continue to emphasize the humanitarian, human rights dimension and also the larger dimension of the problems, the strain it puts on the overall security system in South Asia. And for a stable South Asia, the only route is through the peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute, according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

12. Abdullah Momand, Dawn News): The Indian government announced an award, the third highest award of India, Padma Bhushan, to a citizen Sadhvi Ritambhara, who was once accused of helping to incite a mob that led to demolish the Babri Mosque. She faced criminal charges. So, what are your views about this announcement of the Indian Government to award Sadhvi?

Spokesperson: What I can say is that it is another indicator, if we needed any more indicators, of the dangerous turn in the Indian polity and the direction it is taking. A person responsible for such acts of vandalism and incitement is being awarded the third highest award and this proves what we have been arguing. It's becoming clearer day in day out to the international community.

And on a different note, last time, Mr. Aizaz also raised a question. So, I wanted to just mention that there are 770 Pakistanis in Indian jails. Similarly, I do not have, right now, readily the number of Indian prisoners in Pakistani prison system. But the two sides remain engaged to find wherever there is possibility to alleviate and to help the prisoners return to their country.

13. (Suleman Ahmad, Bol News): As you stated that there are 770 Pakistani prisoners, do you have more data about how many men, children, and women are includes?

Spokesperson: I'll give the details to you.

14. (Afzal Reza, IRNA): I have two questions, first regarding Pakistan and Turkiye high level exchange and second regarding recent proposal by the Donald Trump to force displacement of the Palestinians from their land and asking Egyptians and Jordanians to take them. What is Pakistan's position regarding the Donald Trump's recent proposal to force the Palestinian from their land and offering them to Egyptian and Jordan. And secondly, are we expecting any high-level exchange between Pakistan and Turkiye? Any expected visit by the President Erdogan to Islamabad?

Spokesperson: About the first question, the proposal to displace the people of Gaza is deeply troubling and unjust. The Palestinian land belongs to the Palestinian people and the only viable and just option is the two-state solution, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. With regards to your question about Turkiye, Turkiye remains one of our closest partners and a long-standing friend and we will make the announcement regarding high level visits in due course as everything becomes finalized.

15. (Anas Mallick, Capital TV): Sticking to high level visits, on the 7th of January, this year, the Prime Minister, while addressing a cabinet briefing, had said that the President of Indonesia will be visiting Pakistan this month, which ends tomorrow, and similarly, on the 2nd of January 2025, in your welcome briefing, when the Foreign Minister announced your appointment as well, he said that he will be traveling to Bangladesh from Malaysia, and he announced the Malaysia visit from 4th to 6th of February. Would you want to confirm these engagements? And will the President of Indonesia be visiting Pakistan as the Prime Minister announced it and will the Foreign Minister be visiting Bangladesh, as he himself announced?

Spokesperson: Both visits are in the works, but again, we will make the announcement in due course; once everything falls in place. Both visits are in the works. We are coordinating, and frankly, these timings, of course, we have to adjust both sides' convenience. But I can tell you that we are working, the two sides are working on the visits.

16. (Syed Asif Ali, Din News): According to Indian, Pakistani, British and American media, India has been involved in 11 target killings in Pakistan since 2023 and Indian media was the first one to report this news. Has Pakistan undertaken any investigation regarding this and have we raised this issue on any forum? If yes, then what is the response on that?



Spokesperson: You see, I have earlier briefing, also mentioned it. It is state sponsored terrorism with global reach and Pakistan is one part of Indian targeted assassinations in Canada and in other countries. Besides there are news of their scouting in some other countries for further assassinations. So, it is part of a global terrorist undertaking by the Indian state. And this is something we have highlighted. Our investigations were going on. We are in contact with a lot of other countries also. But this remains a serious concern, not just for Pakistan, but again, as I have been saying, it shows the drift or the direction India is taking. So, this is the reality, the mantra of terrorism, you see, and how actually it has been practiced by the Indian side. So, it is not just Pakistan. It's a global problem. We remain seized of the matter, and we remain actively engaged on this. Our government remains actively engaged on this.

17. (Aamir Saeed Abbasi, Nuqta News): Sir, my question is that during the oath taking ceremony of President Trump, Indian Foreign Minister was invited and later on President Trump also spoken to Prime Minister Modi. So, is there any contact between Pakistan and new Trump administration after the oath taking of President Trump? Don't you think that it's our diplomatic failure that India is, you know, properly engaged with the new administration, and there are no official or diplomatic talks between the Pakistan and United States after Trump Administration.

Spokesperson: I'll repeat myself in what we conveyed in earlier briefings that what kind of relations India has with the US or with other countries is for them to decide. We remain engaged with the United States at multiple levels. It remains a very important relationship, and we look forward to engaging and further solidifying and strengthening Pakistan-US, relations which remain very important for Pakistan, for the US and also from the perspective of the regional stability.

18. (Shaukat Piracha, AAJ News): Sir, you talked about the good omen of the US businessman coming to Pakistan, but Mr. Beach also talked about something which is of the concern of diplomatic relations between the two countries. How do you feel or comment when US businessman says that ex-President Biden was bitter against Pakistan or he mistreated Pakistan. And secondly, there was lot of concern in Pakistan from one of the close aids of President Trump, tweeting, I'm talking of Richard Grenell, whether Pakistan is satisfied now that he was a victim of deep fake technology while tweeting against Pakistan?

Spokesperson: I am not going to comment on an American businessman's characterization of Pakistan US relations and our position on the relations with the US is well known. And I'll get back to you on the question of tweets and the deletion of tweets.

19. (Jiang Chao, Xinhua News Agency): Thank you so much, Spokesperson Ambassador Shafqat. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif extended greetings to the Chinese people on the Chinese New Year and said that China's success story served as a beacon of inspiration and confidence for Pakistan. Today is the second day of the Year of Snake in the Chinese calendar, what would you want to extend to the Chinese people, and how do you evaluate the cooperation in all fields between Pakistan and China in the new year? Thank you.

Spokesperson: China-Pakistan friendship remains a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy. Decades old, all encompassing, multi-dimensional, and it has stood the test of time. China remains the most important, reliable and close friend, strategic partner, and we are iron brothers. I had the privilege of serving in China, and I understand the importance of Chinese New Year. And we can, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, and I think all Pakistani people and the friends from media, we can also add to the voice of the honorable Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, in extending our warmest regards and best wishes to the Chinese people for a Happy Chinese New Year.

20. (Syeda Qurat ul Ain, Independent Urdu): There are reports that almost 50 Pakistanis are stuck in Congo. Since we don't have a Mission in the country, what is MoFA doing on this, and are there any contacts with the concerned government of the country?

Spokesperson: I need to check with Africa division. I'll get back to you. I haven't seen any news on that, but I'll check and get back to you.

21. (Mudassar Iqbal, The Destination): A big tranche of illegal sim cards totaled 6,700 was confiscated at Multan Airport. I don't know if this question is related to this ministry or not, but sims are coming from abroad and overseas Pakistanis are involved in this as they issue them from abroad. The most critical problem that this country is facing, according to current government, is fake news. A controversial bill has also been passed on this matter. What actions do our missions take and what message does this ministry give to Pakistanis who register sims in their names abroad and sell it in Pakistan and then operate social media accounts that are involved in fake news, spreading misinformation on Pakistan's internal affairs, providing opportunity for Indian interference?

Spokesperson: On fake news, we know how dangerous it is. We are increasingly becoming aware of erosion of society's stability and how dangerous it is to the social harmony of the societys'. But about this news about sims, I can refer to you to Ministry of Interior and I.T. ministry. They will be in a better position to respond to the specifics of this question.

22. (Almas Haider Naqvi, Daily Dunya): My question is about the US MTCR policy shift, which allows broader missile sales, favoring allies like India, while undermining regimes of Non-Proliferation goals. Don't you think that this policy shift leads to the arms raise and security dilemma, particularly in South Asia, which impacts the strategic stability?

Spokesperson: I cannot but agree with you. Regarding this arms transfers to India, we continue to argue at multiple levels with our friends and partners and other countries which have defense relations with India, that in making these decisions, they should be mindful of the destabilizing impact this is going to have on the regional stability and also fanning India's hegemonic impulse.

23. (Abdullah Momand, Dawn News): As you mentioned about the prisoners in India, so what are the major charges the Pakistani citizens are facing, and what about the consular access? And the second one, the media controversy this week, an American girl who reached to Pakistan for her love and she refused to return to her country. Police claim that she will be handed to her to American consulate in Karachi. So what are the updates? Thank you.

24. (Aftab Jahan, News One): The American girl who is in Karachi, what can the Foreign Ministry do about it because the American consulate has stated that without her wishes, we cannot send her back to the United States. So, is this not against our diplomatic policies that she is not being sent back and what Foreign Ministry can do about it?



Spokesperson: I can try to get the more details, but they are in prison for a range of offenses. It's not just one category. So about the second question, we have our own laws about entry, visa, and stay. The law is taking its course, and there isn't much for the Foreign Ministry to comment on it, unless the issue arises and it's the local authorities dealing with the matter according to our domestic legislation and laws. A foreigner comes with the visa and till the duration of the visa, they can stay here. And obviously, if you have a valid visa, without any reason, you can't be asked to leave the country. But, in any case, the specifics you can get from the Sindh government Home department, they can provide you more detail on that.

25. (Anas Mallick, Capital TV): In 10 days since the new US administration took charge, the new Secretary of State, Marc Rubio, has been having calls with a lot of his counterparts from across the region as well. Is there a call planned between the Foreign Minister and Secretary of State that he would be expecting sometime soon, because I haven't seen that happen in the releases that the USA has done? Thank you.



Spokesperson: The engagements continue at multiple levels, and as soon as some high level engagement is crystallized or it's firmed up, we will inform our colleagues in the media about that.

26. Rashida Sial, Abb Takk News): A deadline was given to Afghan nationals that they leave Pakistan before 31st December. After the announcement of this deadline, the Afghan Government asked Pakistan to review this decision. Did the Afghan Government contacted you officially, what is policy on this situation and is any new deadline being considered?

Secondly, regarding beggars who go to Gulf countries, previously Saudi government wrote to Pakistan about it and this issue has been raised at Standing Committee of the National Assembly. UAE also imposed harsh restrictions for visas for Pakistanis. What actions are being taken about it?

27. (Islam Uddin, Anadolu Agency Turkiye): How many Afghan nationals are currently stuck in Pakistan who stayed here after the Taliban return to Kabul? And for example, secondly, the Trump administration refused to allow them to enter the United States. So what would be Pakistan's strategy? You will send them back to Kabul or allow them to live in Pakistan. Thank you.

Spokesperson: The last question about the numbers, I can give you a broad figure, the Afghan nationals who had been cleared for resettlement abroad. I need to reconfirm this figure, almost 80,000 have been taken by various countries for resettlement, and around 40,000 are still in Pakistan.

Secondly, about the suspension of Afghan resettlement program, we have taken note of the suspension of the United States Refugee Admission Program by the US President through an Executive Order on 20th January, 2025. We are hopeful that the program would be restarted so that the remaining Afghan refugees could be resettled in the US as per commitments given by the US government.

Regarding your question about interaction with the Afghan authorities, because Afghan refugees have been here for so long, it remains a constant topic of discussion. There are a number of issues which arise out of the refugee movement, like consular issues, passports etc. Hence, it is a constant topic of discussion between the two governments at multiple levels.

About the question on beggars, I don't have any details, but I think I would also request you to address this question to Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis. When you have a very robust relationship, for example, there are millions of Pakistanis living and working in the gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait so a number of issues, consular, matters can come up which have to be addressed. And this is being addressed sufficiently. The dialogue mechanisms are robust. We continue to engage. And finally, about the UAE visa, a lot of people say that it's becoming difficult. But what I want to emphasize was there is a huge Pakistani community working very happily, and living there. It's an issue between our two countries. We have very strong brotherly relations with UAE. It's an ongoing discussion. If anything specific comes out, I'll share it with you.

28. (Tahir Khan, NNI News Agency): Has floated some proposals for the confidence building measures with Afghanistan so visit of Sadiq Sahab, the visit of Foreign Minister as he said on 10th July that he will visit Afghanistan in coming days but it has been six months now but it is being speculated that this visit will take place.

Secondly, Pakistan is proposing that China, Russia and Pakistan hold an Envoys level meeting on Afghanistan at Kabul and it is speculated that Pakistan may change the status of Charge d'Affairs to Ambassador.

When Sadiq Sahab visited, there was an understanding about the visits of political leader and I have information that the Afghan Embassy has invited some political leaders in which Mushahid Hussain Syed, Aimel Wali, Siraj ul Haq will be participating. Can you confirm this?

Spokesperson: Thank you, Tahir Sahab. As always, you have covered the whole canvas. What I can tell you on CBMs and these visits, there are discussions going on. I don't have any concrete information to share with you, but the two sides, remain engaged to find a proper time and agenda, how to move forward. But the two sides remain in contact, and this matter remains under discussion.

About Pakistan, China, Russia, what I can tell you is I don't have any specific news to share with you. We have very close collaboration coordination on Afghanistan issue going on with China and also with Russia. You know, the special representatives are in touch with each other. And it is again, not one off thing. It is an ongoing thing.

About Cd'A question, our Ambassador Nizamani is a very distinguished diplomat. So far, he continues to work as a Cd'A but as I mentioned to you last time, we will look at an opportune time, keeping in view overall situation, and also broadly what direction the international community is taking before we take a decision on this matter. But what I wanted to reiterate is that although both sides are maintaining Embassies at the Cd'A level, but the contacts are very robust. It's not in any way impeding access of any of the embassy for passing on messages, and for engaging, so this also goes on.

Visit of political leaders, I'll have to check on this. I don't have any information.

29. (Aiman, 361 News): Recently, the Taliban acting Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Muhammad Abbas has called the senior leadership to open schools for Afghan girls. So your stance on it?

Spokesperson: Thank you. I have seen the statement. You know, Pakistan has been advocating that the universally recognized norms in terms of the female education should be preferred. But essentially, it remains an internal matter of Afghanistan. But from our side, what I can convey to you, we have this Allama Iqbal scholarship program. One third of the 4500 scholarships are reserved for females. So that's our approach. But in essence, it remains an internal matter to Afghanistan, which we hope sees a positive evolution in terms of their approach and policy on this matter.

30. (Khawaja Nayyar Iqbal, Media Today): What is Pakistan's stance on forced resettlement of war torn Palestinian affectees to other Arab countries?

Secondly, America is providing 2000 pounds bombs to Israel, what is Pakistan's position as America has exempted Israel from recent blockages of aid to other countries?

Spokesperson: The proposal to displace the people of Gaza is deeply troubling and unjust. The Palestinian land belongs to the Palestinian people, and the only viable and just option is the two state solution and resolution according to the UN Security Council resolutions.

About the other question, what we have advocated consistently, is that instead of military option, diplomacy has to be in the lead, and diplomacy based on justice, international law and UN Security Council resolutions leading to a two state solution. That's only option which can take us out of this quagmire which we are witnessing in Middle East.

31. (Khalid Mehmood, Express News): Sir, please confirm two visits. Next month, Prime Minister's visit to Azerbaijan and Turkiye's President to Pakistan? What is schedule and when this will commence?



Spokesperson: There are multiple visits being scheduled which are in the pipeline, so we will make formal announcements once everything is firmed up and confirmed. I would request your patience a bit more on that count.

32. (Zain Zaman, Agency France-Presses): In your last briefing you said that US has not communicated, on official level, US not communicated its new policy regarding Afghan refugees. So over the course of one week, have you heard back from the US officials on new policy? Thank You.

Spokesperson: When I made the last briefing, the policy hadn't been communicated. But recently, we have heard, we have been informed about the pause, the suspension so far, but we are in touch with them, and we will see how it evolves.

And thank you very much for a very patient hearing; most grateful. Thank you sir.

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Pakistan says Afghan-based 'terrorists' increasingly use US arms for cross-border attacks

By Ayaz Gul January 30, 2025

Pakistan said Thursday it had provided Taliban leaders in Afghanistan with "sufficient proof" to substantiate its claims that militants are using modern weapons left behind by the United States military for cross-border terrorism.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan stated at a weekly news conference in Islamabad that the presence of U.S. advanced weapons in the neighboring country "remains a source of concern," and it has been communicated multiple times to the Taliban government in Kabul.

"The proofs are regularly provided," Khan said when asked for his comments on whether Pakistan has shared any evidence with the Taliban.

"We have given sufficient proof, and this remains an important component of our engagement with the Taliban authorities to convey that the terrorists enjoy sanctuary [in Afghanistan] for attacks inside Pakistan," the spokesperson asserted.

Khan said Islamabad has consistently urged the de facto Afghan leaders to ensure that the weapons "do not fall into the wrong hands."

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy Taliban spokesperson, vehemently dismissed allegations Thursday that the military hardware in question has been acquired by terrorist organizations and is being utilized in attacks against Pakistani territory.

"All weapons and military equipment are safely stored and maintained to prevent any potential misuse," Taliban-run state television quoted Fitrat as claiming.

Pakistan has seen an increase in militant attacks since the Taliban regained control in Kabul, leading to the deaths of hundreds of civilians and security personnel. The violence is primarily attributed to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, a globally designated terrorist organization that Islamabad claims is being sheltered and supported by the de facto Afghan rulers.

The TTP has been waging deadly attacks for more than 15 years, but regional experts note a marked increase in the precision and lethality of militant raids against Pakistani security forces over the past couple of years, inflicting heavy losses on them.

U.S.-led Western troops were stationed in Afghanistan to protect the internationally backed government in Kabul for nearly two decades. They hastily and chaotically withdrew in August 2021, just days after the then-insurgent Taliban regained control of the war-torn South Asian nation.

A U.S. Department of Defense report in 2022 found that about $7 billion worth of military hardware was left behind in Afghanistan after the military withdrawal was completed. The equipment, including aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment and other materials was subsequently seized by the Taliban.

President Donald Trump pledged on the eve of his Jan. 20 inauguration to retrieve the U.S. military weapons from the Taliban, claiming former President Joe Biden's administration "gave our military equipment, a big chunk of it, to the enemy."

Trump stated that future financial assistance to Afghanistan would be contingent upon the return of U.S. military equipment.

"If we're going to pay billions of dollars a year, tell them we're not going to give them the money unless they give back our military equipment," he said.

Taliban officials have not publicly responded to Trump's assertions but privately claim they fought against and defeated American troops, acquiring the military equipment as "spoils of the war."

The Kabul government, not recognized by any country, has repeatedly displayed U.S. military gear in their so-called victory day celebrations over the past three years.

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Meeting with Transport Minister Roman Starovoit

The President held a working meeting with Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit.

January 30, 2025

14:10

The Kremlin, Moscow

Transport Minister Roman Starovoit: I would like to report on the performance of our transport complex and our plans until 2030.

Like the rest of the country, we are focused on the special military operation. That is why we are working to ensure the smooth and safe operation of the national transport system. Of course, we also take part in humanitarian missions, regularly sending aid to our forces on the battlefront, to the new regions and to the people living in the border areas. Our task in this context is to ensure effective use of the substantial funds, which the Government is allocating to our system as per your instructions. As usual, our cash execution of the budget is around 100 percent.

Regarding motorways, we are also working in the new regions. We have completed a 10-kilometre section of a four-lane motorway in the Donetsk People's Republic. We have opened a bypass road around Tver, which is more than 62 kilometres long, to traffic, which was a much-anticipated event that finished the construction of the new M-11 MoscowSt Petersburg Motorway. We have also completed another major project - an 11-kilometre bypass road around the town of Oktyabrsky on the M-5 Urals Motorway as part of your instructions on the construction of bypass roads.

We have invested approximately 3 trillion rubles in the construction of motorways since 2022.

As for aviation, we have finished the construction of the apron and auxiliary infrastructure at Yelizovo Airport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Vladimir Putin: What about Tomsk?

Roman Starovoit: We are building a new 3.6-kilometre-long runway in Yakutsk and new terminals in Tomsk, Stavropol, Ulan-Ude and Magadan. These are major facilities, which are very important for our people.

Despite problems with maintaining our aircraft fleet, we have better results to report than in 2023.

Now, to the railways. Of course, our task is not only to build new lines but also rail terminal infrastructure. We have rebuilt the railway station in Mariupol and completed the second line on the Kuanda-Kuandinsky stretch of the BAM-2 project.

I consider it symbolic that a concession agreement on the high-speed Moscow-St Petersburg line was signed on the 50th anniversary of the BAM Line. It is an extremely complicated project but we are so far proceeding on schedule. I was instructed by the Government to head the design office, which is why I believe that we will finish that project on time.

Passenger traffic: As I reported to you earlier, we transported 688,500 children in groups during the summer holidays. This figure is also higher than in 2023. The Russian Government has allocated nearly 17 billion rubles to support passengers travelling in open-type carriages (sleeping and sitting). This service enjoys high demand, so we plan to continue in the same vein.

We see growth in container traffic, including containers from the Far Eastern Federal District. Mr President, since you keep this issue under your personal review, we, too, pay special attention to it. The Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways are working together from a joint headquarters on a daily basis.

Sea transport: This year, we opened a coal terminal in Primorye, and upgraded berth No. 2 of the Murmansk Commercial Sea Port. The first port facility began operation in Pionersky, Kaliningrad Region - the first start-up phase of the new marine terminal. This is a very important facility that should increase both passenger transport and ferry transport of motor vehicles.

River transport: I wanted to consult with you later, but in general, we have largely eliminated bottlenecks in the Yenisei, Moscow, Volga and Ob-Irtysh basins with a total length of 1,756 kilometres. This has increased river transport by 13.5 percent to 10 million passengers. Overall, we have 101,000 kilometres of river thoroughfares, which makes Russia second in the world by waterway length.

Border checkpoints are a very important part of our work, which you also keep under review. The Yarag-Kazmalyar checkpoint in Dagestan has been put into operation; a very complex engineering facility with 39 lanes has been completed in Verkhny Lars on the Georgian border; and checkpoints have been installed in our new regions. We have significantly enhanced our capabilities for inspecting passing vehicles. The total capacity of Russia-Azerbaijan border crossing points has grown fivefold in recent years; Russia-China and Russia-Georgia checkpoints' capacity have doubled. Your instruction to cut the inspection time to 10 minutes by 2030 will be fulfilled. An additional 150 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes following the Prime Minister's instructions.

According to opinion polls, Russians have the highest awareness of the Safe and High-Quality Roads national project, and we are clearly on track. I would like to say a little later that it is going to transform into a new national project, Infrastructure for Life. We have already done a great deal of work with the Government in this regard.

The current project envisions a major upgrade of public transport. This will include new buses, trolleybuses, and trams. New public transport certainly changes the image of our cities, but above all, it improves the convenience and safety of passengers who use public transport.

In keeping with your executive order, we have drawn up two national projects for the period until 2030. The Effective Transport System will include nine federal projects. The Infrastructure for Life national project, as far as the Ministry of Transport is concerned, will incorporate, as I said, the Safe and Quality Roads project. This has been structured and coordinated. A total of over 9 trillion rubles will be allocated for these two national projects until 2030. So, thank you very much for this support.

It goes without saying that it is impossible to carry out such extensive work unless we have reliable personnel. Therefore, a federal project aimed at developing the personnel potential in the transport industry is being approved for the first time. I would like to report that the Ministry of Transport oversees 19 universities, along with branches, with a student body of over 500,000. I want to thank you for signing the Executive Order awarding the Admiral Ushakov Maritime State University in Novorossiysk the Order of Maritime Merit. Thank you very much.

I also wanted to ask for your advice, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: I have a question. The rail transport is functioning well, but the loadings are somewhat inadequate. How do you explain this?

Roman Starovoit: The volume of loading has declined by 4 percent. However, we also saw a 5-percent decline, which is worse than we anticipated. There are several reasons for this, both subjective and objective. We are working on this jointly with Russian Railways, consignors, and car operators. It is a very difficult task. I work on it practically every day. The Ministry of Transport has established an emergency task force jointly with Russian Railways and carriers.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Roman Starovoit: I wanted to ask for your advice. I supervise all types of transport, of course, but we have noted that river transport has been undeservedly neglected since the late 1990s. Meanwhile, it is in high demand, especially for passenger and inter-regional carriage. Therefore, I wanted to ask for your advice and report that we have drawn up the River Thoroughfares project. It has five stages until 2030, and is focused on the Volga-Kama area. We are inviting Russian regions and providing them support to test the routes.

Vladimir Putin: There is much potential in this.

Roman Starovoit: There is significant potential. But it has been unfairly sidelined. This year, we are allocating about 150 million rubles to carriers in pilot regions for subsidised routes.

Apart from passenger traffic, we are focusing on whether the regions have piers. We are planning to sign agreements with regions that are interested in implementing this project. It is also necessary to carry out dredging works. We have bought 18 dredgers. We are building the Bagayevsky water scheme on the Don River and the Gorodets floodgates on the Volga. And, of course, river transport should cater both for passengers and freight. If calculated in tonne-kilometres, approximately the same amount of freight is carried by the entire road freight transport fleet during a season. Therefore, there is substantial potential in this regard, and I would like to ask for your support in focusing on this project with the Government and returning to you with proposals.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

<...>

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China Supplying Key Chemicals For Russian Missiles, RFE/RL Investigation Finds

By Kyrylo Ovsyaniy, Anna Myroniuk, Schemes and Carl Schreck January 30, 2025

KYIV -- Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, Western nations have accused China of supplying Moscow with microchips and other critical dual-use technologies that are "powering Russia's brutal war of aggression."

In response, Washington and Brussels have hit hundreds of Chinese companies and individuals with sanctions in a pressure campaign to stem the technology flow to the Kremlin's war machine.

But left untouched by these Western sanctions are some two dozen Chinese companies supplying Russia with gallium, germanium, and antimony -- key elements found in the drones and missiles that Moscow is using to pummel Ukraine.

An investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, has found that these Chinese companies are feeding these critical minerals to Russia's military-industrial complex, including the state-owned conglomerate Rostec, which says it provides nearly 80 percent of the weapons the Kremlin is deploying in Ukraine.

According to records obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and reviewed by Schemes, at least a third of these suppliers are partially owned by the Chinese government, which publicly denies having "fanned fire or fueled the flames" of Russia's war on Ukraine.

The Chinese Sellers These Chinese suppliers of critical minerals to Russia identified by Schemes include Yunnan Lincang Xinyuan Germanium Industry, whose largest stakeholder is Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member Bao Wendong. Its minority shareholders are two firms with state capital. Another Chinese company supplying germanium, gallium, and antimony to Russia is VITAL Technology Group, a group of Chinese companies with around 25-percent ownership by Chinese state structures. A third is Hynhe Technology, which is 10-percent owned by Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical, a leading Chinese state-owned company in the northwestern city of Hangzhou.

Among the recipients of these Chinese metals is a Japanese-owned Russian firm that has sold silicon wafers to Russian manufacturers of microelectronics for weapons, customs and tax records reviewed by Schemes show. Japan has coordinated with Washington and Brussels on its own sanctions targeting Russian aggression.

Following Russia's February 2022 invasion, the United States and the EU imposed restrictions on exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to Russia. But China is not a party to Western sanctions targeting Moscow, meaning their effectiveness is limited.

"If there is direct cooperation between a Chinese and a Russian company, then the sanctions of Western partners do not directly affect this. They can continue to do what they do among themselves," Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy's sanctions policy commissioner, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, told Schemes.

Vlasiuk added, however, that sanctions nonetheless play an important role in complicating the Russian military's supply chain.

Conventional And Nuclear Weapons

Many countries across the world -- including the United States and EU member nations -- maintain reserves of gallium, germanium, and antimony due to their importance in microelectronics and military applications.

"These are all elements that are parts of any electronic systems...and even more so in a war zone, in military facilities, in any kind of defense system," Tetyana Solomakha, a senior avionics lecturer at the Kyiv Aviation Institute, told Schemes.

Among the many military applications of these minerals are nuclear weapons, night-vision goggles, laser-guidance systems, drones, and infrared sensors for warships, aircraft, missiles, and tanks.

"These metals are used in microprocessors. A drone without a flight controller and without this microprocessor simply will not fly," Anton Pobuta, founder of the Ukrainian company Lab 418, which manufactures drones, told Schemes.

When China, the world's largest producer of gallium, germanium, and antimony, banned its companies last month from supplying the three minerals to the United States in response to new U.S. export controls targeting Beijing, Chinese officials specifically cited their military applications.

But Beijing has secured a firm hold on the market for these minerals in Russia, where buyers include multiple companies already subjected to U.S. sanctions.

Amid the Western sanctions regime, China became the only foreign supplier of gallium and germanium to Russia in 2023 and remains Russia's largest supplier of antimony, according to Russian customs data obtained by Schemes.

The Rostec-linked companies through which Chinese rare minerals end up in the Russian defense sector include Germanium JSC, a direct Rostec subsidiary, and a private company called Germanium and Applications, which actively does business with Rostec.

Records reviewed by Schemes show that Germanium and Applications in turn supplies Chinese rare metals to companies that include the Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant, a manufacturer of optical equipment for Russian military jets and helicopters.

The Urals Optical and Mechanical Plant, which is under both U.S. and EU sanctions, describes itself as the "main suppliers of optical systems" for the Russian military.

Other Russian importers of Chinese rare minerals include the U.S.-sanctioned Enkor Grupp, an electronics manufacturer whose plant received a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, and Cryotrade Engineering, a company that has also been sanctioned by Washington and which works with Rostec and other firms in the Russian military industry.

Public procurement records show that Cryotrade Engineering, an importer of Chinese gallium, does business with multiple Russian research institutes under U.S. sanctions, including the Kurchatov Institute, a nuclear-weapons developer headed by a close associate of Putin. Gallium is used to stabilize the plutonium in atomic bombs.

Both gallium and germanium are used in technology critical for Russian weapons, including laser guidance systems like those used in the Orlan-30 unmanned reconnaissance drone, which Moscow has deployed in Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry boasted in November that the Orlan-30's laser designator rangefinder "makes it possible to accurately aim a guided munition, whether it is an adjusted aerial bomb or an adjusted artillery shell, at a target."

Japan's Supply-Chain Link

Records reviewed by Schemes also show that a Russian subsidiary of the Japanese company Ferrotec, which produces silicon parts for microchips, has both imported antimony from China and sold silicon wafers to Russian manufacturers of microelectronics for the military.

The subsidiary, Moscow-based Ferrotec Nord, has imported antimony over the past four years from companies within VITAL Technology Group, a Chinese conglomerate with around 25-percent ownership by Chinese state entities.

The most recent of these listed shipments in customs records obtained by Schemes came in February 2024, nearly two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

As recently as last year, Ferrotec Nord sold silicon wafers to a plant outside Moscow called Epiel, according to tax records obtained by Schemes.

Epiel is among the main suppliers of microchip components to the Rostec-owned firm Angstrem, which openly states that it works with Russian arms manufacturers.

In Russian civil litigation in November 2023, Angstrem stated that it supplies microchips and semiconductor devices to the Russian Defense Ministry, state space agency Roskosmos, and sanctioned Russian arms manufacturer Uralvagonzavod, among other weapons producers.

The company added that its volume of orders had quadrupled due to Russia's "special military operation" -- the official Kremlin description of its war on Ukraine.

Schemes sought comment from the Japanese holding Ferrotec on its rare-mineral imports from China and work with suppliers to Russia's military-industrial complex.

The company did not respond in time for publication.

Kyrylo Ovsyaniy Kyrylo Ovsyaniy is an investigative journalist with Schemes (Skhemy), an investigative news project run by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. Since 2021 he has worked on the Corruption In Detail program, after beginning in 2019 with a regional project. Born in Odesa, he has worked as a journalist there since 2018. Anna Myroniuk Anna Myroniuk has been an editor at Schemes, the investigative arm of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, since April 2024. Previously, she was among the co-founders of the Ukrainian English-language outlet Kyiv Independent and headed the investigations desk there from August 2022 to January 2024. She holds a master's degree in investigative journalism from the City University of London. Myroniuk is a Chevening Scholar, the winner of the 2023 European Press Prize and the #AllForJan Award, an honoree of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing list, and the runner-up in the investigative reporting category of the 2022 European Press Prize. Schemes Schemes (Skhemy) is the award-winning investigative project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. Launched in 2014, it has exposed high-level corruption and abuse of power for over a decade. Following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the project expanded to uncovering Russian war crimes. Carl Schreck Carl Schreck is an award-winning investigative journalist who serves as RFE/RL's enterprise editor. He has covered Russia and the former Soviet Union for more than 20 years, including a decade in Moscow. He has led investigations into corruption, cronyism, and disinformation campaigns in Russia and Central Asia, as well as on poisoning attacks against Kremlin opponents and assassinations of Iranian exiles in the West. Schreck joined RFE/RL in 2014.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-critical-minerals- russia-weapons-ukraine-2024/33295674.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud

30 January 2025 15:00

118-30-01-2025

On January 30, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

The foreign ministers exchanged views on a number of topical issues on the regional agenda, focusing on the situation in Syria.

They reaffirmed a common stance on the importance of consolidating the efforts of all responsible members of the international community towards an early political and diplomatic settlement of the acute crises that are undermining peace and stability in the Middle East.

In addition, they discussed the practical aspects of the further strengthening of the multifaceted Russian-Saudi relations.

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HRH the Crown Prince Congratulates Al-Sharaa on Assuming Presidency of Syria

Saudi Press Agency

Thursday 30/07/1446

Riyadh, January 30, 2025, SPA -- His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, sent a cable of congratulations to President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the occasion of assuming the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic during the transitional phase.

HRH the Crown Prince wished President Al-Sharaa success in leading Syria toward a prosperous future. He also wished him continued good health and happiness, as well as further progress and prosperity for the Syrian people.

--SPA

17:34 Local Time 14:34 GMT

0045

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Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Congratulates Al-Sharaa on Assuming Presidency of Syria

Saudi Press Agency

Thursday 30/07/1446

Riyadh, January 30, 2025, SPA -- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud sent a cable of congratulations to President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the occasion of assuming the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic during the transitional phase.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his sincere wishes for President Al-Sharaa, hoping for his success in leading Syria toward a prosperous future. He also wished him continued good health and happiness, as well as further progress and prosperity for the Syrian people.

--SPA

17:26 Local Time 14:26 GMT

0044

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Syria: Hostilities and aid challenges persist across devastated country

30 January 2025 - Humanitarians warned on Thursday that Syria continues to face major security and aid challenges in the northeast and beyond, in the uncertain aftermath of the overthrow of the Assad regime.

In an update, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said more than 25,000 people have been newly uprooted from the northeastern city of Manbij where shelling and airstrikes have been reported.

OCHA noted that hostilities have been intensifying over the past week, particularly in eastern Aleppo and around the Tishreen Dam.

The dam is a key target for different groups of Syrian fighters vying for control of northern Syria. These include the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting alongside the PKK/YPG - the Kurdish Workers' Party or People's Protection Units.

Hundreds of thousands fleeing

As a result of the escalating violence, the number of newly displaced people has increased to 652,000 as of 27 January, OCHA said.

The deadly incidents reported in Syria's northeast include shelling that struck a town in the Manbij countryside on 25 January, injuring an unverified number of children.

On Saturday, clashes affected a displacement camp in Jarablus north of Manbij, injuring seven including two children and destroying five shelters.

On the same day, a car bomb detonated in front of a hospital and school in Manbij city, reportedly killing one civilian and injuring seven others.

In the past week, OCHA, has also reported clashes in coastal areas with "increased criminal activities, including looting and vandalism, constraining the movements of civilians during night hours".

The UN agency also noted continuing Israeli incursions into Quneitra in southern Syria, near the Golan Heights buffer zone that the Israeli military moved into - forces said temporarily - following the ouster of President Assad.

Massive aid needs

More widely across Syria's governorates, the UN agency warned that a "lack of public services and liquidity constraints" have severely affected communities and the humanitarian response. In Homs and Hama, for instance, electricity is available for only 45 to 60 minutes every eight hours.

In northwest Syria, 102 health facilities have already run out of funds since the start of 2025. The UN and its humanitarian partners are appealing for $1.2 billion to help the most vulnerable 6.7 million people in Syria until March.

The developments came ahead of a UN Security Council meeting later on Thursday behind closed doors on Syria - and the reported declaration that head of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham and the caretaker authority in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been declared transitional president.

It was also reported that the new caretaker authority has decided to suspend the Syrian constitution.

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New submarine facility in Bristol opened by Defence Minister

New Submarine Availability Support Hub will support 100 new jobs, boost engineering capabilities and deliver on the Government's Plan for Change.

30 January 2025

New Submarine Availability Support Hub will support 100 new jobs, boost engineering capabilities and deliver on the Government's Plan for Change.

The state-of-the-art facility will bring Government and industry closer together - enabling faster decision- making and innovative problem solving.

Follows the launch of the Government's new Defence Industrial Strategy, which will ensure the defence sector is an engine for growth.

Britain's nuclear submarine patrols will be strengthened by a new hub that brings Government and industry closer together, creating 100 new jobs and supporting apprenticeships across the UK.

The Submarine Availability Support Hub (SASH) will improve submarine delivery, boost UK engineering capabilities, and help maintain the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent.

The opening of the state-of-the-art facility will help deliver the government's Plan for Change by strengthening security and supporting the mission to kickstart economic growth.

The facility will enable the Defence Nuclear Enterprise - the partnership of organisations that operate, maintain, renew and sustain the UK's nuclear deterrent - to work together more seamlessly with Babcock and other contractors to drive better submarine availability and delivery.

This will be achieved through utilising cutting-edge digital and learning tools and drawing together technical and engineering expertise in a collaborative space.

The investment demonstrates the government's commitment to the national security and follows the launch of the consultation for the Defence Industrial Strategy - which will place deterrence at the heart of a new approach and ensures the defence sector is an engine for growth in every region and nation of the UK.

Defence Minister Maria Eagle today opened the SASH in Bristol, which adds to the 42,000 jobs, and supply chain of 3,000 businesses already supporting our national endeavour to maintain the continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent.

Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle MP, said:

It was a privilege to open the new Babcock Submarine Availability Support Hub in Bristol, and to have the opportunity to speak with civilian colleagues and Navy personnel alike. The investment in this new facility is another demonstration of the government's commitment to making defence an engine for growth. This brand new facility will benefit the UK's nuclear deterrent, which safeguards our security, and bolsters our country's prosperity.

Submarine Delivery Agency, CEO Sir Chris Gardner KBE said:

The opening of the Submarine Availability Support Hub in Bristol provides a collaborative space that will support submarine availability for the Royal Navy in defence of our nation. This innovative facility is a clear demonstration of the government's commitment to the UK's nuclear enterprise. It offers a dedicated space for the Submarine Delivery Agency and Babcock to undertake vital joint work which will support waterfront operations, as well as presenting an opportunity to develop future talent by providing placement roles for engineering students.

In addition, the activity taking place within the SASH enables waterfront operations at Clyde and Devonport by improving the content, planning and preparation for maintenance periods as part of an integrated Naval Nuclear business to support submarine availability.

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Largest support package to Ukraine announced

Government Offices of Sweden

Press release from Ministry of Defence

Published 30 January 2025

The Swedish Government is presenting its largest military support package to Ukraine to date, valued at SEK 13.5 billion. This package will also strengthen Ukraine's long-range capability. Sweden aims to donate about 1 billion SEK towards making Ukraine able to produce long-distance missiles and drones. It also includes a doubling of the previous 16 donated Combat Boat 90s (CB 90) and anti-tank weapons, as well as investments to support Ukraine's defence industry.

With this eighteenth support package, Sweden has provided a total of SEK 61.9 billion in military support to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began nearly three years ago.

The package is divided into eight components, the largest of which consists of various procurements of new materiel - primarily from the Swedish and other European defence industries - for the purpose of donation to Ukraine.

The package, worth SEK 13.5 billion in total, contains the following components:

Procurement for donations worth approximately SEK 5.9 billion.

- This means that the Defence Materiel Administration, tasked by the Government, procures equipment from the Swedish and foreign defence industries to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

- This means that the Defence Materiel Administration, tasked by the Government, procures equipment from the Swedish and foreign defence industries to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Financial donations worth approximately SEK 2.8 billion.

- This means that Sweden is supporting Ukraine through donations to various funds for procurement of military equipment and ammunition, e.g. through capability coalitions. Another example is procurement cooperation between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden aims to donate 1 billion SEK towards Ukrainian production of long-range missiles and long-distance drones.

- This means that Sweden is supporting Ukraine through donations to various funds for procurement of military equipment and ammunition, e.g. through capability coalitions. Another example is procurement cooperation between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden aims to donate 1 billion SEK towards Ukrainian production of long-range missiles and long-distance drones. Donations of materiel from the Swedish Armed Forces, with corresponding replacement purchases, valued at approximately SEK 3.3 billion. This includes:

- 146 trucks;

- 16 Combat Boat 90s; (A doubling from the previous 16 donated CB 90s)

- 23 weapon stations for marine use;

- 1 million units of 12.7 mm ammunition;

- 1 500 TOW anti-tank missiles;

- 200 anti-tank weapons, including training materiel;

- infantry equipment for individual soldiers and unit equipment; and

- chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) personal protective equipment.

- 146 trucks; - 16 Combat Boat 90s; (A doubling from the previous 16 donated CB 90s) - 23 weapon stations for marine use; - 1 million units of 12.7 mm ammunition; - 1 500 TOW anti-tank missiles; - 200 anti-tank weapons, including training materiel; - infantry equipment for individual soldiers and unit equipment; and - chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) personal protective equipment. Services via the Swedish Defence Research Agency and Swedish Defence University, valued at approximately SEK 180 million.

- The Defence Research Agency will continue its efforts to develop a corresponding agency in Ukraine.

- The Defence University is tasked with implementing an education programme for Ukrainian pupils in Ukraine.

- The Defence Research Agency will continue its efforts to develop a corresponding agency in Ukraine. - The Defence University is tasked with implementing an education programme for Ukrainian pupils in Ukraine. Training valued at SEK 650 million.

- Funding to the Swedish Armed Forces' support to a number of training initiatives throughout 2025, such as Interflex, which conducts basic training for Ukrainian soldiers.

- Funding to the Swedish Armed Forces' support to a number of training initiatives throughout 2025, such as Interflex, which conducts basic training for Ukrainian soldiers. Supply solutions valued at SEK 400 million.

- This includes various types of maintenance measures for the Swedish materiel that has been donated.

More about the eighteenth support package

Sweden's military support to Ukraine is always based on Ukraine's needs and priorities. Ongoing bilateral communication and multilateral collaboration in the capability coalitions provide this knowledge.

The ability to support Ukraine with newly produced materiel that can be delivered quickly is a significant tool to supplement donations of materiel from the Swedish Armed Forces war organisation. At the same time as Ukrainian units receive the materiel that they need, Ukrainian, Swedish and European supply security is also strengthened.

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Update 272 - IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency

7/2024

Vienna, Austria

30 Jan 2025

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi will travel to Ukraine next week for high-level meetings in Kyiv, in which the ongoing efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help prevent a nuclear accident during the military conflict will be discussed.

It will be the 11th mission to Ukraine led personally by the Director General since the conflict began almost three years ago, demonstrating the IAEA's unwavering commitment to assist Ukraine in ensuring nuclear safety and security.

"As long as this horrific war continues, the IAEA will remain present and stay active, focused on doing everything we can to support nuclear safety and security in extremely challenging circumstances. As the overall situation is still precarious and fragile, our work there remains essential," Director General Grossi said ahead of the visit to the Ukrainian capital on 4 February.

Over the past week, the IAEA teams present at Ukraine's nuclear power plants (NPPs) have continued to report on the persistent risks the facilities are facing, with numerous indications of military activity near the sites.

At the Zaporizhzhya NPP (ZNPP), the IAEA team heard explosions daily coming from outside the plant, including multiple explosions at a near distance this morning. There was no damage reported to the plant itself.

Highlighting persistent challenges related to the availability of off-site power, the ZNPP's sole remaining 750 kilovolt (kV) power line was disconnected on Wednesday due to the activation of a protection system, once again leaving the site dependent on its only remaining 330 kV back-up power line for the electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety functions.

The IAEA team has continued to conduct walkdowns across the ZNPP, including at the 750 kV open switchyard for the first time since late last year. The team members confirmed that maintenance on the voltage stabilizers had been completed and discussed future maintenance work with the ZNPP.

Last Friday, the team observed condensation - water drops on the floor and walls - within the containment building of reactor unit 5. The ZNPP confirmed it was aware of this issue, and the IAEA team will look further into this in the coming days. The team assessed that the safety system rooms were in good order.

The IAEA teams at the other NPPs in Ukraine and the Chornobyl site have continued to report air raid alarms every day. At Khmelnytskyy, South Ukraine and Chornobyl, the teams were informed that drones had been detected at various distances from the sites. At the Khmelnytskyy NPP, the team had to shelter at the site on Tuesday morning.

At the South Ukraine NPP, the team was informed that one of the plant's two 750 kV lines was disconnected on Wednesday morning due to unspecified military activities. As a result, one of its three reactors temporarily decreased power output before later the same day returning to nominal power.

The IAEA teams at Khmelnytskyy, Rivne, South Ukraine and Chornobyl all rotated over the past week. The team at the ZNPP will rotate next week.

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Vice-Minister Pranevicius encourages Uzbekistan to more actively support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Updated 2025-01-30

On 29 January, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Julius Pranevicius, met with Uzbekistan's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olimjon Abdullaev. They discussed bilateral political and economic cooperation, migration, and the integration of Uzbek citizens. They also covered the European Union's relations with Uzbekistan, the implementation of sanctions, and other relevant international agenda topics.

On 29 January, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Julius Pranevicius, met with Uzbekistan's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olimjon Abdullaev. They discussed bilateral political and economic cooperation, migration and the integration of Uzbek citizens. They also covered the European Union's relations with Uzbekistan, the implementation of sanctions, and other relevant international agenda topics.

"We understand the economic and energy dependence of Central Asian countries on Russia, but we urge the region's leaders to educate their societies more about the threat posed by Russia's imperial ambitions, to support Ukraine on its difficult path to victory, and also to choose reliable partners in restructuring energy, trade, resource supply, and logistics networks," said Vice-Minister Pranevicius.

The Vice-Minister emphasized the importance of joint actions to prevent circumvention of sanctions against Russia and urged Uzbekistan to strengthen cooperation in this area with European Union institutions and member states, including Lithuania.

Presenting Lithuania's achievements in green energy, Pranevicius invited Uzbekistan to take advantage of Lithuania's experience in implementing solar power plants in the country.

"The transition to a 'green economy' will help reduce the spread of water scarcity, desertification, pollution, and other environmental threats that impact the regional security of Central Asia," added the Vice-Minister.

The Vice-Ministers also discussed the agreement between Uzbekistan and the European Union on the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation, which is expected to be signed later this year. After the agreement comes into force, it will open pathways for Uzbekistan (o gal nebutinai?) to strengthen ties with the European Union, including Lithuania.

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Lithuania transferred to Ukraine mobile short-range air defence systems with missiles

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2025-01-30

International cooperation | Security and defense policy | Uncategorized

Lithuania continues steadfast military support to Ukraine. Most recently, man-portable short-range air defence systems with missiles were delivered to the armed Forces of Ukraine in the end of last week.

Majors directions of assistance this year are planned to be for urgent needs (air defence, ammunition, drones, drone jamming equipment) while simultaneously developing the Lithuanian defence industry and support to Ukraine's defence industry by providing financing to weaponry production in Ukraine.

Lithuania will also be contributing to the Capability Coalition for Demining that it leads together with Iceland, as well as to other capability coalition it is a member of. Military assistance will also be transferred via international funds and collective initiatives, medical rehabilitation aid to injured Ukrainian troops and training to Ukrainian military personnel will continue to be provide.

Since the breakout of the war, Lithuania has delivered to Ukraine military assistance worth of EUR 767 million. Lithuania's overall support for Ukraine for the long-haul has exceeded a billion and a half euros.

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The Lithuanian leader spoke with the President of Ukraine by telephone

President of the Republic of Lithuania

Januray 30, 2025

On Thursday, President Gitanas Nauseda had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Lithuanian and Ukrainian leaders discussed the upcoming informal European Council meeting, plans to bolster European defense, and prospects for peace talks in Ukraine.

President Gitanas Nauseda emphasized that Ukraine has been heroically resisting Russian aggression for nearly three years, demonstrating remarkable resilience. According to the Head of State, the lessons Ukraine has learned on the battlefield and the innovations it is implementing are invaluable for advancing Europe's defense industry.

On potential peace talks, the Gitanas Nauseda underscored that it is Ukrainenot the aggressorthat has to define the terms of peace. "We are skeptical about the idea of ending the war with a 'quick deal.' We do not believe that a quick ceasefire will lead to sustainable peace. On the contrary, it may mean a moral defeat for the West and allow Russia to strengthen its military capabilities, further increasing the threat to Euro-Atlantic security as a whole," the Lithuanian leader underlined.

The President pointed out that any potential talks need to be grounded in respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, with strong and lasting security guarantees.

The Head of State reaffirmed that Lithuania will continue to firmly adhere to its commitments, allocating at least 0.25% of its GDP to Ukraine's security and defense, and that cooperation between the defense industries of both countries in military technology production will continue.

The conversation also addressed the upcoming conference, "Three Years, Countless Futures: Protecting Freedom and Ukraine's Children," which will be held at the Ukrainian Center in Vilnius to mark the third anniversary of Russia's war against Ukraine. The conference is being organized under the patronage of Lithuanian First Lady Diana Nausediene and Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, in collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine and Vytautas Magnus University.



The President's Communication Group

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OSCE promotes classification system for cyber incidents to strengthen cyber security in Ukraine

OSCE | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

30 January 2025

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) organized a workshop on cyber incident classification for 15 cyber security policy and technical experts from Ukraine, including two women and 13 men. The workshop, held on 29 January, focused on the development and implementation of a national cyber incident classification system, a common scheme for understanding and defining what a cyber incident is, that ensures consistency in crisis management tools and plans.

With the exponential increase of cyberattacks targeting the country, experts stressed the importance of establishing such a system to ensure effective prioritization and management, particularly for incidents impacting critical infrastructure. The workshop built upon the knowledge and expertise gathered in previous similar events, tailored to Ukraine.

Yurii Romanchuk, Head of the Cyber Diplomacy Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stated that "we are particularly interested in developing a unified taxonomy for cyber incident classification, one that will be regularly updated, clearly communicated and effectively utilized by all stakeholders. Interagency co-operation and information exchange within the OSCE framework will significantly enhance the efficiency of incident response at both national and international levels."

"Developing a national cyber incident classification system is a key step in managing the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of cyber threats that Ukraine faces daily," emphasized John Schabedoth, Cyber Foreign Policy Staff at the German Federal Foreign Office.

Alban Andreu, Advisor at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, added: "France supports the OSCE Secretariat's efforts to implement confidence-building measure 15 (CBM 15) on the protection of critical infrastructure to contribute to capacity-building at national and regional levels. The more we are grounded in concrete outcomes, such as this dedicated workshop for Ukraine, the more we strive for resilience and cooperation in cyberspace."

Participants also engaged in a table-top exercise aimed at exploring the practical application of the OSCE's 16 cyber/ICT security confidence-building measures (CBMs). These measures are designed to address misunderstandings and misperceptions in cyberspace by fostering transparency, communication and co-operation between the OSCE participating States. The exercise demonstrated how CBMs can help prevent escalation during a cyber incident and highlighted the critical role of cross-border collaboration in protecting critical infrastructure.

The workshop is part of the "Facilitation of the Development and Implementation of National Cyber Incident Severity Scales (NCISS) and Related Measures to Protect Critical Infrastructures" project, funded by France and Germany.

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'The Russians Worked Fast:' How Ukraine Lost Its Tactical Nuclear Weapons

By Dmytro Shurkhalo January 30, 2025

When Ukraine declared its independence from the U.S.S.R in August 1991., Kyiv came into possession of the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world, after the Soviet Union and the United States.

Besides large and complex strategic missiles, Kyiv had also taken over thousands of the Soviet Union's "tactical" nuclear devices, designed to be small enough to use on an active battlefield.

General-Lieutenant Oleksandr Skipalskiy was the head of Ukraine's military intelligence through the 1990s. The retired military chief spoke to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service about how an estimated 2,800-4,200 tactical nuclear weapons were relinquished to Russia in a move that may have changed the course of history.

"We were told that Russia was determined to strip Ukraine of its tactical nuclear weapons at any cost," Skipalskiy recalls of the period following the collapse of the U.S.S.R. "This was deliberately aimed at depriving Ukraine of the simplest nuclear devices, which did not require complex storage and maintenance systems."

Unlike long-range strategic missiles which require costly upkeep, tactical nuclear munitions can be stored for decades with minimal effort. Some tactical nukes can be as small as an artillery shell.

After Skipalskiy ordered a review into the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to Russia, a report was compiled calling for the proposed transfer to be canceled.

In early 1992, as Russian teams were already removing the nuclear munitions, the retired intelligence head says, "I saw with my own eyes how [Ukrainian Security Service Head] Yevhen Marchuk placed our report arguing against the removal of tactical nuclear weapons into a folder and said, 'I'm going to take this to the president.'"

For two weeks following the delivery of that report, the extraction of the weapons was paused.

"Then it got back under way without any explanation; at least I wasn't told anything," Skipalsky says.

"I believe [then-Ukrainian President Leonid] Kravchuk made the final decision himself. But who advised him and what arguments were put forward? That I don't know."

Russian crews tasked with removing the weapons, he says, worked "fast and around the clock" to load and transport the tactical nuclear warheads out of Ukraine.

When the last weapon was taken away, Skipalskiy claims, "the Russians and their supporters in Ukraine were openly celebrating, saying: 'We totally hoodwinked the [Ukrainians], we left them the bones and took the meat!'"

Kyiv had requested to monitor each step of the transfer, which would ostensibly end with Russia destroying the tactical nuclear weapons. But, Skipalskiy claims, "they didn't allow our observers to oversee this, we were just shown some building and told, 'this is our processing facility,' but no one was let inside so no one witnessed the claimed disposal of these warheads."

Skipalskiy says Moscow was able to spook Washington into piling pressure on Kyiv. The Kremlin, he says, "argued that there was a lack of control and that there was the threat of nuclear terrorism. Even if there were no Ukrainian terrorists per se, they claimed that the technological situation was dangerous. As a result, the Americans helped to twist Ukraine's arm, demanding the transfer of nuclear weapons."

Tactical nukes were stored in facilities throughout Ukraine, especially in Crimea. In some cases, localized attempts were made to stop their transfer to Russia. "In the Ivano-Frankivsk region there was a major storage base and the civilian administration started saying that the removal was a mistake," Skipalskiy recalls. A similar confrontation was also reported in Sambir, in western Ukraine.

"Anyone with any sense could see that nuclear weapons are primarily a deterrent, a tool of security," Skipalskiy told RFE/RL. "Many people spoke out informally, and military personnel even sent letters of concern." But in Ukraine's early months of independence, some military hierarchies were still directly linked to Moscow.

"Military personnel are disciplined people subordinate to their commanders. So when their officer tells them, 'this has been coordinated with your leadership, send it all for disposal immediately,' they simply follow orders."

Another factor muddying the issue of tactical nuclear weapons at the time, Skipalskiy says, was the idea that had been floated suggesting that formerly Soviet militaries might be joined to form some kind of union. With the emergence of multiple new, formerly Soviet states with links to Moscow, Spikalskiy recalls, "some argued that the nuclear component needed to be centralized."

Later, when Ukraine's more powerful strategic nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles were targeted for destruction or removal, Skipalskiy says, "there were more organized attempts to hold onto them but the pressure and threats [to destroy or relinquish the weapons] were intense." Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who played a leading role in the denuclearization of Ukraine, suggested in 2023 that the move was a strategic blunder in light of the war that has been waged on Ukraine since 2014.

Skipalskiy says questions today about whether Ukraine should build its own nuclear weapons capacity is pointless to talk about publicly. "No state has created nuclear weapons while broadcasting that fact,' he says, adding, "those who grandstand and beat their chests saying, 'we should do X and Y,' that is not how a responsible state operates. Just look after your country's security and be discreet about it."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-tactical- nuclear-weapons-removal-russia-war/33297502.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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At Least 6 Killed In Russian Drone Strike On Ukraine's Sumy

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service January 30, 2025

A Russian drone attack that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called "a horrible tragedy" struck a residential building in the Ukrainian regional capital Sumy, officials said, killing at least six and injuring nine others, including a child.

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, those killed in the attack on January 30 were three couples who ranged in age between 61 and 74 years old. Ukraine's State Emergencies Service reports that rescue operations are still underway.

Russia launched more than 80 drones at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, in what have become nightly waves of attacks across the country. Most of the drones were shot down by defense missiles or driven off track by electronic jamming.

"A terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime," Zelenskyy said of the strike.

"It is important that the world does not pause the pressure on Russia for the terror," he added.

Officials said that five apartments across four floors and 12 balconies were destroyed. More than 80 windows and balconies were damaged, and over 20 cars were impacted.

The strike also caused power, water, and heating outages in the affected building, with one entrance losing its gas supply

Russian forces have frequently targeted Ukrainian cities using drones, missiles, guided bombs, and multiple-launch rocket systems.

Despite overwhelming evidence, Russia denies deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, Ukrainian officials and international organizations classify such strikes as war crimes, emphasizing that they are deliberate attacks on civilians, hospitals, schools, and critical infrastructure.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/six-killed-russia- attack-shahed-drone-strike-ukraine-sumy/33297198.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia continues to cause immense civilian suffering in Ukraine: UK statement to the OSCE

Ambassador Holland condemns the civilian suffering caused by Russia's strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and indiscriminate attacks on cities.

30 January 2025

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It has been six weeks since the Council last discussed this agenda item. During these six weeks, regrettably, Russia has continued the same pattern of behaviour we have seen for almost three years. A pattern of behaviour that is indefensible and inconsistent with Russia's international commitments, including under the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions and the Helsinki Final Act.

On 25 December, a day of significance for many Christians in Ukraine, Russia launched a massive missile attack against energy infrastructure, killing an energy worker, and leaving hundreds of thousands in the Dnipro and Kharkiv regions without heating for days.

Ukrainians had to endure 13 widescale missile attacks against their energy infrastructure in 2024. Not only has this threatened civilian access to power, water and heating over winter, but by targeting transmission equipment critical to the safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants, Russia has posed serious threats to nuclear safety as well.

We have already seen the first such attack of 2025, with Russia hitting sites primarily in the west of Ukraine, including gas storage facilities on 15 January.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that these attacks on energy infrastructure constituted the war crime of excessive incidental civilian harm and potentially a crime against humanity.

It is not just these attacks that raise serious concerns about Russia's respect for its obligations under international humanitarian law. The UN has also raised concerns about Russia's indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population.

During our recess, on 8 January, a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia city caused the highest number of civilian casualties from a single incident for almost two years. Two Russian glide bombs struck a crowd outside an industrial facility, killing 13 civilians and injuring 110. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said: "It was entirely foreseeable that using such weapons in a city during the day would result in significant civilian casualties ... It is hard to see how this attack could be in compliance with the obligation to minimise civilian harm."

The UN estimates that there have been more than 30,000 civilian casualties since the Russian state launched its unprovoked war. Approximately 10,500 killed and more than 20,000 injured. These are a conservative estimate. The true figure is likely far higher.

2024 was a difficult year for Ukraine with attacks against the civilian population and its energy infrastructure. And Russia has started 2025 in the same vein. And just as we did in 2024, the UK will stand with Ukraine in 2025 and beyond. This unbreakable bond was formalised earlier this month through the signing of a landmark UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership. We will continue to give political, economic, military and moral support to ensure Ukraine prevails, to secure the lasting peace that the Ukrainian people deserve and the security that our continent demands. Thank you.

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I'm Receiving Hourly Updates on the Situation in Sumy, Where Recovery Efforts Are Still Ongoing at the Site of a Russian Shahed Strike - Address by the President

President of Ukraine

30 January 2025 - 20:22

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

Here's the report for today.

The Commander-in-Chief provided an update on the frontline and the Kursk operation. There are achievements for which our brigades deserve recognition, particularly the 225th Separate Assault Battalion, which is bravely and persistently destroying the enemy, as well as the 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade - well done, guys! Today, I also extend my gratitude to the Special Operations Forces for their effective strikes on Russian soldiers and equipment. It is very important that every day gives us new results - and that these results are the enemy's losses, Russia's losses.

I also had an extensive conversation today with Budanov about our objectives, future prospects, and various scenarios. It is essential to act proactively.

I am receiving hourly updates on the situation in Sumy, where recovery efforts are still ongoing at the site of a Russian Shahed strike. An ordinary residential building was destroyed. Nine people were killed - my condolences to all the families. Thirteen people were injured, including a child. Everyone is receiving the necessary assistance. I want to thank every rescuer, every medical worker, and every police officer assisting on the ground. This is already Russia's hallmark - destroying the lives of many families, the entire home. And every such Russian strike must face a response from the world - terror must not go unpunished. The most effective response is to support our people and our state, to keep the pressure on Russia, and not to fall for Moscow's manipulations - whether political or in the media. Russia must be forced into peace. The cause of this war lies solely with Russia.

Several international conversations took place today as well. Lithuania, President Nauseda. I am grateful for all the support, and as always, we will continue working together with other partners in Europe to maintain European unity and strengthen Europe's ability to act. The Baltic states, the Nordic countries, and many others on the continent are our steadfast allies. It is crucial to convince everyone to stand together. I also spoke with the President of Lebanon today - in particular, we discussed the need for stability and food security. We can help those in need, ensuring that the outcomes in these countries benefit all of us in the long run. A normal life is a necessity for everyone.

Glory to Ukraine!

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Continuation of the "Grain from Ukraine" Program: Presidential Office Hosted a Meeting with UN World Food Programme Representatives

President of Ukraine

30 January 2025 - 20:15

Advisor to the President of Ukraine Vladyslav Vlasiuk met with representatives of the United Nations World Food Programme to discuss the continued implementation of the "Grain from Ukraine" program.

The discussion focused on increasing assistance to the countries that need it most, with a particular emphasis on providing food aid to the people of Syria.

"Aid to Syria is a very important issue for the President of Ukraine. This is assistance from the Ukrainian nation to the people of Syria, who, like us, know all too well what it means to suffer because of the Russians. We would like to continue our cooperation in ensuring food security," said Vladyslav Vlasiuk.

According to the Presidential Advisor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food have agreed on a preliminary list of products that Ukraine can provide to other countries with the support of the UN WFP. This year, further expansion of the "Grain from Ukraine" presidential initiative is planned.

Richard Ragan, WFP Country Director in Ukraine, noted that the organization is particularly interested in oil and is also considering the purchase of corn, wheat, and peas. He also emphasized that the WFP is currently working to accelerate the food supply process, particularly for Syria.

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Presidential Office Hosts Interagency Meeting on Boosting International Investment Projects and State Property Privatization

President of Ukraine

30 January 2025 - 17:14

Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Brusyl held a meeting to prepare the presentation of potential investment projects. The meeting was held as part of the coordination of upcoming international events by Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.

Participants included Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Yuriy Katsion, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Education and Science, and the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

The attendees developed a comprehensive package of Ukrainian proposals within the framework of the state property privatization process and agreed on mechanisms for presenting Ukraine's investment opportunities at the international level.

"International investments are the foundation for Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, and modernization, as well as for strengthening its economic potential and ensuring the country's financial stability," said Ihor Brusyl.

Additionally, one of the key outcomes of the meeting was the identification of priority areas for attracting foreign investment and promising sectors for international cooperation.

The participants also agreed on a unified approach to presenting investment projects and coordinating efforts among all agencies to ensure the successful implementation of planned initiatives.

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Andriy Yermak and UK Ambassador Discussed Battlefield Situation and Implementation of the One Hundred Year Partnership Agreement

President of Ukraine

30 January 2025 - 12:58

Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak met with Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Martin Harris.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the outcomes of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Ukraine. They also addressed the necessary steps to implement the bilateral One Hundred Year Partnership Agreement signed on January 16.

Special attention was paid to the situation in the most intense frontline directions, the course of the operation in the Kursk region and the needs for armament of the Ukrainian defenders. Andriy Yermak emphasized that Ukraine must have a strong position on the battlefield to achieve a sustainable and just peace.

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Russian drone attack kills 4 in Sumy, Ukraine says

By VOA News January 30, 2025

Ukrainian officials said Thursday a Russian drone attack killed at least four people in the northeastern city of Sumy.

The regional state administration in Sumy said a drone hit a high-rise residential building, and that the attack also injured nine people.

Ukraine's military said it shot down 37 of the 81 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.

Intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Poltava, Odesa, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the military said.

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that falling drone debris damaged two residential buildings, a grain warehouse and a hospital.

Officials in Zhytomyr said drone fragments damaged six houses.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday it shot down three Ukrainian drones overnight in Belgorod and another two drones in Bryansk.

US aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday he has received an initial report on "critical programs" previously funded by American support that are now suspended.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suspended funding of many foreign programs to conduct a 90-day audit of foreign aid.

Zelenskyy said the key areas that have been affected by the frozen funds are the energy sector, veteran projects and border crossings.

Ukrainian officials have been instructed to continue their own audit of areas affected by the frozen funds, Zelenskyy said.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE: IIPR) between February 27, 2024 and December 19, 2024, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important March 18, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased IIPR securities 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 IIPR class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=33890 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for more information. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than March 18, 2025. 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 achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) IIPR was experiencing significant declines in rent and property-management fees in connection with certain customer leases; (2) the foregoing would likely impair IIPRs ability to maintain funds from operations (FFO) and revenue growth; (3) accordingly, IIPRs leasing operations were less profitable than IIPR had represented to investors; and (4) as a result, IIPRs public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the IIPR class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=33890 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for more information.

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

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Lafayette, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lafayette, Colorado -

Encore Data Products has geared up for the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) 2025 in Orlando, FL. They showcased some exciting products at the event, including the AVID WonderEars, school headsets, and the Power Post. All these items are available on their website, https://www.encoredataproducts.com/. These products are designed to meet the growing need for technology-driven solutions in education.

A representative of Encore, expressed excitement, stating, "Attending FETC 2025 was a great opportunity for us to introduce our cutting-edge products to educators and technology enthusiasts. Our focus remains on facilitating high-quality learning experiences. We were eager to showcase how our technologies can enhance classroom interactions and education."

Encore is dedicated to offering support to schools, libraries, and businesses with a diverse range of audio and technology products. The AVID WonderEars, featured among their offerings, are designed to provide superior sound quality specifically for educational settings. These headphones are praised for their durability and ease of use, making them perfect for daily classroom activities.

Encore's collection also includes school headsets. These come with built-in microphones to foster interactive learning in various educational settings. The headsets are crucial for clear communication during virtual learning sessions and group projects, allowing both students and teachers to engage effectively.

The Power Post is another standout product, tailored to support dynamic learning environments. It's built to offer efficient power and connectivity solutions, helping classrooms keep up with the growing demand for digital learning tools.

Encore's website details a comprehensive range of their offerings, including AV technology like document & web cameras and PA systems, as well as clean & healthy supplies such as electronic sanitizers to maintain hygiene in educational settings.

The representative added, "Educational technology is continuously evolving, and we strive to provide innovative products that keep pace with these changes. The AVID WonderEars, school headsets, and Power Post are just a glimpse of what's available through our comprehensive range of audiovisual technology."

During FETC 2025, attendees had the opportunity to try out these products and explore how they fit into modern educational settings. Encore will be holding demonstrations to show educators practical uses of their technology, creating an environment ripe for inspiration and new ideas.

As new tech comes into play, schools look for trustworthy partners to supply quality technology solutions. Encore Data Products aims to be that partner, offering not just the materials but also the momentum to push the educational technology sector forward.

With FETC 2025 wrapping up, Encore was ready to interact with a wide range of participants. Their presence at the event highlights the company's goal to remain key players in the shifting world of education. By highlighting items like the AVID WonderEars, school headsets, and Power Post, they hoped to close existing technological gaps and back scholarly development.

Encore Data Products is set on driving progress in education by delivering effective audio and tech products. They anticipate their involvement in FETC 2025 will lead to more robust partnerships within the educational sector. The conference promised to be a platform for discussing innovations that could transform learning spaces.

Those interested are encouraged to visit their website for more details about what Encore Data Products offers and how these can impact education and technology advancements.



Recent News: Encore Data Products to Unveil Innovative Learning Tools at TCEA 2025

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For more information about Encore Data Products, contact the company here:



Encore Data Products

Media Relations

866-926-1669

marketing@encoredataproducts.com

https://www.encoredataproducts.com/

1729 Majestic Drive, Suite 5

Lafayette, Colorado 80026
SAN JOSE, California, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cavli Wireless , a leading innovator in IoT solutions, proudly announces the launch of its latest Autograde AQ20 IoT Module . The AQ20 is engineered to meet the rigorous demands of connected vehicle applications, delivering robust LTE Cat 4 connectivity and exceptional durability for automotive environments. With this launch, Cavli continues to solidify its position as a trusted partner for OEMs developing next-generation automotive solutions.

The AQ20 module features LTE Cat 4 with fallback to 2G networks, offering downlink speeds of up to 150 Mbps and uplink speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Built on the Qualcomm MDM9268 chipset and powered by an Arm Cortex A7 that clocks up to 1.3 GHz, AQ20 offers multiple memory options. The module is equipped with an optional eSIM functionality, ensuring seamless global connectivity for smooth and hassle-free autograde deployments. Its GNSS capabilities powered by Qualcomm Location Suite Gen8C Lite, supporting GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, and SBAS constellations, provide precise location tracking, essential for modern connected vehicle solutions.

The AQ20, available in an LGA form factor, measuring 33 x 37.5 x 3.0mm, and is designed to be compatible with a broad spectrum of global LTE bands. Combining high-throughput connectivity with a rugged, durable module, the AQ20 is engineered to withstand harsh environmental conditions, including extreme temperatures and vibrations. This makes it an ideal solution for OEMs developing connected automotive applications that require both performance and reliability in the most dynamic of environments. By offering robust connectivity in challenging environments, the AQ20 empowers manufacturers to create long-lasting, high-performance solutions that meet the demands of the modern automotive industry, ensuring both dependability and scalability in connected vehicle applications.

Designed specifically for automotive environments, it supports an extended operating temperature range of -40C to +105C, making it suitable for placement in challenging conditions, such as vehicle engine bays. Its IATF 16949:2016 certification and adherence to automotive-grade quality processes, including APQP and PPAP, ensures consistent performance in the most challenging automotive environments. The AQ20s integrated eSIM capability simplifies international deployments, eliminating the need for physical SIM cards and enabling hassle-free connectivity management.

Cavlis AQ20 has been designed to offer multiple memory configurations, including 256/512 MB of RAM and ROM, along with region-specific SKUs for global deployments. These options provide a versatile solution that can be tailored to meet the unique requirements of OEMs, without increasing the final bill of materials (BOM).

The AQ20 module is purpose-built to support connected vehicle technologies, including Telematics Control Units (TCUs), Electronic Control Units (ECUs), On-Board Diagnostics (OBD), and other automotive systems. Its advanced features and durability position it as a critical component for applications requiring reliable, secure, and high-performance connectivity. For TCUs, the AQ20 delivers seamless data transmission for real-time vehicle monitoring, over-the-air (OTA) updates, and predictive maintenance. Its in-built GNSS capabilities ensure precise navigation, enhancing fleet management and vehicle tracking. OBD devices can leverage the module's robust data transfer speeds to provide diagnostic insights, enabling OEMs and fleet operators to optimize vehicle performance and reduce downtime. Additionally, its high-temperature tolerance ensures reliability when installed in engine compartments, a feature vital for automotive-grade IoT modules. In smart mobility and intelligent transportation systems, the AQ20 enables real-time data sharing between vehicles and infrastructure, paving the way for enhanced safety and efficiency.

The Cavli Hubble Stack further enhances the capabilities of the AQ20 by introducing remote diagnosis, monitoring, and debugging of the module through Hubble Lens, an advanced component of the Cavli Hubble IoT connectivity & modem management platform . This feature eliminates the necessity for physical intervention, simplifying the expansion of IoT solutions. Through strategic alliances with operators worldwide, Cavli has established a substantial presence, delivering unparalleled connectivity solutions that set new standards in service quality and cost-effectiveness.

John Mathew, CEO and Chief Technology Architect of Cavli Wireless, remarked, "The automotive industry is constantly evolving, and designing connected solutions that meet the rigorous standards of this dynamic sector has been a welcome challenge. With its rugged design, high-performance connectivity, and adherence to automotive-grade quality standards, the AQ20 sets a new benchmark for reliability and innovation in connected vehicle applications."

The AQ20 automotive-grade IoT module underscores Cavli Wireless' dedication to empowering OEMs with cutting-edge solutions that enhance safety, efficiency, and connectivity in the automotive sector. To learn how the AQ20 can transform your next project, connect with our solution specialists today.

About Cavli Wireless

Cavli Wireless is a global leader in industrial-grade IoT solutions, combining connectivity and device management into a unified platform. Cavli designs and manufactures cellular IoT smart modules with integrated eSIM capabilities, delivering reliable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions for industries worldwide.

CONTACT:

Abhinand Dinesh, Sr. Associate - Corporate Marketing

Cavli Wireless

abhinand.dinesh@cavliwireless.com

+91-9605750306

https://www.cavliwireless.com/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c033219f-dd9a-4f46-b0b4-d8854997168d
Business developments in 2024: sales revenue of 90.5 billion euros / EBIT margin from operations of 3.5 percent

Strategy 2030: portfolio management to secure competitiveness.

North America posts around six percent increase; focus on growth in U.S.

AI boosts core business: software and services to generate sales worth billions by 2030.

Growth: climate change as focus of innovations.

Economic policy: market liberalization and more investment for a strong Europe.

Stefan Hartung: Our technologies for the mobility and homes of the future remain key growth areas.

Markus Forschner: Our aim for the 2025 fiscal year is to improve our sales revenue and result even if conditions are tough.

Stuttgart, Germany, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Bosch, the supplier of technology and services, generated sales revenue of 90.5 billion euros in 2024, according to preliminary figures[1]. In nominal terms, this is a 1 percent year-on-year fall, and roughly on a par with the previous year when adjusted for exchange-rate effects. This equates to an EBIT margin from operations of 3.5 percent. Despite our best efforts, Bosch, too, was not completely immune to economic developments, but we made a respectable showing compared to our industry peers, said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, referring to the companys published preliminary business figures. Our technologies for the mobility and homes of the future remain key growth areas for us. He pointed to efforts to strengthen competitiveness and growth in the 2024 fiscal year through strategic portfolio decisions involving both acquisitions and divestments. And, he added, the company also had to make certain structural adjustments.

In addition to the weak growth of the global economy, the Bosch Groups business development was adversely affected by the fact that growth markets such as electromobility developed much more slowly than expected. A lack of sales in these areas and the accompanying underutilized capacity, as well as continued high upfront expenditure for future technologies and provisions for necessary strategic adjustments, had a negative impact on result. Despite all the challenges, Bosch continues to rigorously pursue its ambitious business goals: by 2030, the company aims to be among the leading suppliers in its areas of business in key markets. Moreover, the company is striving for average annual growth of between 6 and 8 percent, with a margin of at least 7 percent.

Growth strategy: portfolio management for greater business opportunities

In the past fiscal year, Bosch systematically implemented its Strategy 2030 and reached important milestones. One of these is the planned acquisition of the HVAC business of Johnson Controls and Hitachi, a deal worth around 8 billion U.S. dollars. By purchasing this business, Bosch intends to expand its presence in growth markets such as the U.S. and Asia. Despite the current headwinds, were rigorously pursuing our growth strategy and will continue to resolutely drive forward technologies crucial for tomorrows world, Hartung said. With the successful sale of large parts of its Building Technologies divisions product business for security and communications technology, Bosch will focus on the systems integration business in the future and continue to grow. With these moves, the company aims to achieve a better balance among its business sectors, improve its robustness, and make its portfolio viable for the future.

Focused on growth in United States

In North America, Bosch ended its 2024 fiscal year with $17.4 billion (16 billion euros) in consolidated sales, which represents a growth of around six percent compared to the previous year. The North American region achieved preliminary total net sales of $18.7 billion USD including sales of non-consolidated companies and internal deliveries to affiliated companies.

North America and the United States specifically is an important growth market for Bosch, said Paul Thomas, president of Bosch in North America. Our team here is working to seize growth opportunities, which is evident in the positive preliminary results for 2024 despite continued economic headwinds.

The Mobility business achieved $10.7 billion USD (9.9 billion euros) in 2024, a five percent increase from 2023. The company continues to invest in and book customer wins related to technologies supporting regional needs such as trucks/SUVs and hybrid technology. It continues to progress on plans to manufacture the second generation silicon carbide chips on 200mm wafers in Roseville, California in 2026.

In the Consumer Goods business sector, the North American region achieved $3.4 billion USD (3.1 billion euros) which was a three percent increase. The company has planning multiple new product launches in the power tools and home appliances categories tailored to the U.S. market. It also announced plans to advertise for the first time at the Big Game in the U.S., which kicks off a multi-year brand campaign focused on the Power Tools and Home Appliance businesses.

The campaign we will launch this year is focused on supporting sales growth in the United States and will contribute to our companys overall future global success, Paul Thomas said.

In Energy and Building Technology, preliminary results in North America showed $1.9 billion USD (1.8 billion euros), a 46 percent increase from 2023. In 2024, the company announced plans to acquire the HVAC solutions business for residential and light commercial buildings from Johnson Controls, which includes a strong presence in North America. The proposed acquisition is expected to close during 2025.

For the Industrial Technology business sector, the company posted $1.4 billion USD (1.3 billion euros) in North America in 2024, a 12 percent decrease YoY.

Technologies of the future: innovation creating solutions Invented for life

To achieve its growth targets, Bosch is driving innovation in areas of future importance. Electromobility, hydrogen, and sustainable technologies remain a growth business and the focus of our innovations, said Hartung, referring to the ongoing challenge of climate change. He gave the example of a cryogenic pump that Bosch is currently testing in the U.S., which compresses up to 600 kilograms of liquid hydrogen per hour. In just 10 minutes, such a pump will allow trucks to fill up with enough hydrogen for the next 1,000 kilometers. Bosch is also leading the way in home appliances. Just a few weeks from now, it will debut an energy-efficient built-in XXL fridge-freezer which will be the worlds first home appliance capable of manufacturer-independent connectivity via the new Matter standard. Around 5,000 AI experts at Bosch are working on making AI suitable for everyday use, such as a new AI-assisted emergency call service that allows elevator users to request help in their native language via simultaneous translation, but doesnt require the retrofitting of elevators.



Digital solutions: artificial intelligence boosting core business

Intelligent software and digital services have now become an important pillar for Boschs core business. Were increasingly using AI in our own processes, improving quality and productivity in both our plants and our offices, Hartung said. AI has also become an integral part of our products and solutions. Bosch expects to generate sales of more than 6 billion euros with software and services by the beginning of the next decade, two-thirds of this in the Mobility business sector. At Bosch, AI has been playing an important role in assisted and automated driving for years now, Hartung said. But its not only in AI that were taking software-defined mobility forward, and this makes Bosch an ideal partner for the worlds major tech players. One example is the system solution Vehicle Motion Management. Among other things, this enables brake-by-wire braking systems, in which an electronic brake pedal operates without a mechanical connection.

Economic policy: competitiveness for a strong Europe

Bosch is looking to new policy frameworks in Germany and the EU to stimulate growth. According to Hartung, action is needed to strengthen their competitiveness and attractiveness as places to do business. A strong EU consists of fewer regulations and more investment as well as fewer barriers and more market liberalization, he said. With a view to energy prices, bureaucracy, and a lack of investment in infrastructure in Germany, the companys home market, Hartung hopes to see a quick move from talk to action after the countrys upcoming elections. Anything that makes doing business easier is a step in the right direction, he said. Then Germany and Europe can be among the worlds economic and technological frontrunners in the future as well. As before, Bosch wants to do its part here: in the coming year, roughly 40 percent of the companys global investments will continue to go to its German locations.

Business developments in 2024: market developments affecting business sectors sales

The sales figures for Boschs business sectors clearly reflect the general market trend. Overall, 2024 was an outlier, with all our focus markets performing poorly at the same time, said Markus Forschner, member of the board of management and chief financial officer of Robert Bosch GmbH. With sales revenue of 55.9 billion euros, the Mobility business sector roughly reached the previous years level. Despite the declining market, sales revenue remained virtually unchanged after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. In the Industrial Technology business sector, sales revenue reached 6.5 billion euros, which is 13 percent less than in the previous year in nominal terms, or minus 12 percent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. The weak mechanical engineering sector hit the main markets of Europe, China, and the U.S. particularly hard. In the Consumer Goods business sector, sales revenue grew a nominal 2 percent to 20.3 billion euros. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, this was in fact 3 percent higher than in the previous year. This means that Bosch is again growing in the consumer goods business  for the first time since the drop in demand at the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Sales revenue in the Energy and Building Technology business sector amounted to 7.5 billion euros. This corresponds to a decline of 3 percent, both in nominal terms and after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. This was mainly due to the gloomy sentiment in the European heating market.

Business developments in 2024: subdued regional sales development

In addition to market developments, the economic situation impacted the regional development of sales revenue to varying degrees. Our European business was particularly affected by the economic situation, Forschner explained. Sales revenue in Europe totaled 44.5 billion euros, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 5 percent in nominal terms and after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. Developments in North America and China meant that sales revenue growth in the Americas and Asia Pacific was also on the subdued side. In North America, sales revenue grew by 5 percent to 16 billion euros. Sales revenue in South America totaled 1.8 billion euros. This is a nominal increase of 6 percent, or an exchange rate-adjusted 12 percent. In Asia Pacific, sales revenue grew to 28.1 billion euros. Nominal growth was 1 percent, or 3 percent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects.

Headcount development in 2024: reduced personnel requirements becoming apparent

As of December 31, 2024, the Bosch Group employed some 417,900 associates worldwide  this is nearly 3 percent lower than the previous year (-11,500). Significant regional changes were seen in Europe and Asia. In Germany as well, headcount fell by around 3 percent (-4,400) to just over 129,800.

Outlook for 2025: weak economy to put greater pressure on costs

In the current year as well, the Bosch Group expects a highly challenging environment. Worldwide, we anticipate that growth will remain only moderate, Forschner said. We dont expect the global economy to pick up again before 2026. As things stand, Bosch assumes that the economy will grow by just 2 percent in 2025. To implement its growth strategy, the company remains focused on its financial targets. Even in the face of persistently adverse conditions, we want to further improve our sales and result in the 2025 fiscal year, Forschner said. In his view, only profitable growth will enable the company to continue its strong and meaningful development. Accordingly, Bosch aims to achieve its target margin of 7 percent by 2026. The objective is to further increase competitiveness at all levels  from attractive products and acceptable costs to suitable structures for a forward-looking portfolio. Sensible savings and focused investments ensure that we have the necessary room for maneuver, Forschner said. But he cautioned that this will not be easy. Such a plan will require great effort, and does not rule out painful decisions.

Press photographs and infocharts are available on the Bosch Media Service at www.bosch-press.com .

About Bosch

Having established a presence in North America in 1906, today the Bosch Group employs more than 41,000 associates in more than 100 locations in the North American region (as of Dec. 31, 2024). According to preliminary figures, Bosch generated consolidated sales of $17.4 billion in the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2023. For more information visit www.bosch.us, www.bosch.mx and www.bosch.ca.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 417,900 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2024). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 90.5 billion euros in 2024. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. With its business activities, the company aims to use technology to help shape universal trends such as automation, electrification, digitalization, connectivity, and an orientation to sustainability. In this context, Boschs broad diversification across regions and industries strengthens its innovativeness and robustness. Bosch uses its proven expertise in sensor technology, software, and services to offer customers cross-domain solutions from a single source. It also applies its expertise in connectivity and artificial intelligence in order to develop and manufacture user-friendly, sustainable products. With technology that is Invented for life, Bosch wants to help improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Boschs global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. Boschs innovative strength is key to the companys further development. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 86,900 associates in research and development, of which nearly 48,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (18611942) as Workshop

for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. The special ownership structure of

Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making

it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family.

The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG. It is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the companys long-term existence and in particular its financial independence  in line with the mission handed down in the will of the companys founder, Robert Bosch.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com.

Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.0823

[1] Rounded figures, may differ from figures published in the subsequent consolidated financial statements .

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CARTAGO, Costa Rica, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A once-forgotten gem from Costa Ricas past is stepping back into the spotlight. The famed Pura Pora hot springs, celebrated in the 19th century as the countrys Fountain of Youth, are undergoing a remarkable transformation under the stewardship of GBI Costa Rica . Renowned for their mineral-rich, rejuvenating waters, these hot springs once attracted aristocrats and global travelers seeking respite and healing. After decades of obscurity, they are now poised to become a beacon of wellness tourism in Costa Rica.

Originally the centerpiece of the Bella Vista Hotel, built in 1885, Pura Pora offered relief from ailments such as arthritis, skin conditions, and respiratory issues. The 1910 earthquake, however, left the hotel in ruins, and the springs vanished from public awareness. Adventurer Avraham Kotlitzky rediscovered Pura Pora decades later, inspired by the regions storied past and the potential for a modern-day sanctuary. Now, GBI Costa Rica aims to restore the springs legacy while embracing cutting-edge sustainability and luxury.





Instalaciones del Palacio Purapora en Agua Caliente de Cartago / Buildings of Purapora Palace in Agua Caliente of Cartago.

This is about more than preserving historyits about crafting a forward-thinking destination, says Chen Noiman , co-founder of GBI Costa Rica. Pura Pora will redefine wellness tourism by harmonizing Costa Ricas natural splendor with contemporary comfort and innovation.

Central to the project is a state-of-the-art wellness center, featuring thermal baths that tap directly into the hot springs, advanced hydrotherapy clinics, and therapeutic mud treatments. To broaden its appeal, GBI Costa Rica will also introduce eco-conscious suites, health-oriented dining options spotlighting local cuisine, and immersive cultural experiences that reveal Cartagos heritage. This holistic approach ensures visitors of all backgrounds, from leisure travelers to dedicated wellness enthusiasts, can benefit from the projects transformative vision.

To introduce these ambitious plans, GBI Costa Rica will host the UpPura Conference , a free event inviting investors to explore Pura Poras future firsthand. Attendees will not only gain insights into how the revitalized hot springs can reshape sustainable tourism in Cartago and beyond, but theyll also enjoy a complimentary three-night stay at the hotel to experience the transformation for themselves.

With its rich history, pristine landscapes, and focus on innovation, Pura Pora promises to be more than a luxurious escapeit stands as a symbol of Costa Ricas evolving commitment to holistic well-being. For those looking to help shape the next era of responsible travel, Pura Pora offers an inspiring opportunity to uplift and rejuvenate generations to come.

Media Contact:

GBI Costa Rica

info@uppura.com

https://uppura.com
Corpus Christi, Texas, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Port of Corpus Christi and its customers moved 206.5 million tons through the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in 2024, a new high mark driven by increases in crude oil and dry bulk commodities, including agricultural products.

Port customers also ended 2024 with record quarterly tonnage (54 million tons) in Q4 2024  a 4.3 percent increase over the same period last year and a 1.9 percent increase from the previous quarterly record (Q3 2024). Leading commodities in Q4 2024 included crude oil, refined products and liquefied natural gas. For the year, crude oil shipments increased 3.5 percent over 2023 to 130.5 million tons, while dry bulk and agricultural goods increased 8.1 percent and 38.7 percent, respectively. The new annual tonnage record is 1.7 percent higher than the previous record set in 2023, marking the seventh consecutive record year set by Port of Corpus Christi customers.

The commitment of Port of Corpus Christi customers to deliver American energy and essential goods to our trading partners and allies around the world reinforces to the global marketplace the resilience of the South Texas Coastal Bend, said Kent Britton, Chief Executive Officer for the Port of Corpus Christi. The Port of Corpus Christi is grateful to the community of Port customers who continue to meet the demands of an evolving energy market.

Completion of the fourth and final phase of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project is projected for early 2025. Once completed, the Coastal Bend region will be home to the most improved waterway on the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida, with a deeper (54 feet Mean Lower Low Water) and wider (530 feet) ship channel with additional barge shelves.

On behalf of my fellow Port of Corpus Christi commissioners, I want to congratulate our customers for the milestones achieved by our gateway in 2024, said David Engel, Chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi Commission. Over the past 10 years, the Port Commission has supported the investment of more than $1 billion in capital projects to ensure our industry partners have the infrastructure they need to be successful. We look forward to building on that commitment in the years ahead.

About Port Corpus Christi

As a leader in U.S. energy export ports and a major economic engine of Texas and the nation, the Port of Corpus Christi is the third-largest port in the United States in total waterborne tonnage. Strategically located on the western Gulf of Mexico with a 36-mile, soon to be 54-foot (MLLW) deep channel, the Port of Corpus Christi is a major gateway to international and domestic maritime commerce. The Port of Corpus Christi has excellent railroad and highway network connectivity via three North American Class-1 railroads and two major interstate highways. With an outstanding staff overseen by its seven-member commission, the Port of Corpus Christi is Moving Americas Energy. For more information about the Port of Corpus Christi, visit www.portofcc.com.

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TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SDC has partnered with Singular exclusively to integrate secure closed-loop AI capabilities into clinical research technology offerings. This initiative provides the tools to leverage the full power of artificial intelligence while maintaining the security and integrity of study, customer and patient data.

Singulars technology enhances our ability to continue to deliver secure and efficient solutions, while also integrating an exclusive AI platform designed specifically for SDC customers, said Richard Abelson, CEO of SDC. The SDC Sidekick will simplify how study personnel interact with their data, providing Clinical Research professionals with clearer insights into their trials and improved visibility into emerging trends.

Unlike external AI tools that may expose sensitive data to third-party risks, the embedded AI solutions developed through this partnership will remain fully integrated within SDCs ecosystem. This ensures unmatched levels of confidentiality, compliance with stringent data protection regulations, and enhanced operational efficiency for clinical research studies.

Our collaboration with SDC exemplifies how AI can drive impactful change while maintaining the utmost standards of privacy and trust, said Uday Chandra, CEO of Singular. Together, were pioneering a new era of secure and efficient research technology.

Key Benefits of AI-enabled Technology:

Secure Data: Minimizes breaches with closed-loop AI.

Improved Outcomes: Streamlines decision-making for better care.

Optimize Resources: Automating processes, faster analysis, and actionable insights.

Faster Trials: Reduces timelines by 30%.

About SDC

SDC is a leading provider of innovative healthcare technology solutions, dedicated to improving patient outcomes through secure, efficient systems. With a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology to address the evolving needs of healthcare providers, SDC is at the forefront of industry advancements.

About Singular

Singular is a pioneer in artificial intelligence technology, specializing in secure, closed-loop systems for the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Singulars mission is to enable organizations to harness the transformative power of AI while maintaining the highest standards of data privacy and trust.

Media Contact:

Jim Townsend

SVP, Business Development

SDC

+1 480-344-5450

jtownsend@sdcclinical.com

www.sdcclinical.com

Visit www.sdcclinical.com or https://singlr.ai/ for more information.
Mithril Silver and Gold Ltd. (ASX:MTH, TSXV:MSG) (Mithril or the Company) presents its quarterly report for the period ended 31 December 2024.

Highlights

Drilling continued at the Target 1 area of the Copalquin gold-silver district in Mexico, expanding the maiden resource footprint ahead of a resource update in 2025. Highlight drill results include1

4.60 m @ 5.51 g/t gold, 182.4 g/t silver, from 99m (CDH-162), including 2.40m @ 10.24 g/t gold, 335 g/t silver, from 100.40m,including



0.60m @ 28.0 g/t gold, 997 g/t silver, from 100.40m

CDH-162 was part of the first drilling into an area shallower than the maiden resource model, at the historic El Refugio mine workings on the western side of the Target 1 resource area.

9.00m @ 2.06 g/t gold, 90.26 g/t silver, from 98m (CDH-161) Including 1.00m @ 2.14 g/t gold, 259 g/t silver from 99m plus

1.60m @ 5.09 g/t gold, 299 g/t silver from 125.60m including 0.50m @ 12.15 g/t gold, 758 g/t silver from 126.7m



CDH-161 was drilled at El Cometa on the eastern side of the Target 1 resource area, again adding to the expanded resource footprint.

The second stage of the 9,000m drill program commenced on the eastern side of the Target 1 resource area at El Cometa where recent drill hole CDH-159 intercepted 33m from surface at 31.8 g/t gold and 274 g/t silver2 with almost 4,000 metres of core drilling during the quarter

The Target 1 area maiden resource3 update drilling is on schedule for end of Q1 2025

The municipal access road upgrade progressed throughout the quarter and on schedule for completion late March 2025 by which time drilling is scheduled to commence with the addition of a second drill at the first of two further advanced target areas in the district

The road upgrade and current site preparations will facilitate the significantly expanded and fully funded exploration activities throughout 2025, including 35,000 metres of additional drilling

CDH-159 reported in September 2024 (33.00m @31.8 g/t gold, 274 g/t silver from surface1) became a global top 20 gold-silver intercept reported in 2024 (app.mininghub.com)

Corporate

Completion of A$12.5M placement (before costs)4 plus proceeds from exercise of Options (A$4.417M) funding an additional 35,000 metres of drilling at Copalquin during 2025.

Cash balance on 31 December 2024, A$15.74M plus A$1.00M on 6 month term deposit

Exploration Activity Discussion

By the end of the December 2024 quarter, a total of 7,138 metres were drilled since commencing in June 2024, testing Soledad, Cometa and Refugio to better define dimensions along strike and depth of the mineral evidence that already has shown exceptional silver and gold potential and multi-event quartz deposition. Additionally, the first holes drilled during the previous quarter at the historic Copalquin mine, 300m lower elevation and 900m SE of the Target 1 area. These holes provided evidence of an epithermal, multi-phase banded quartz vein, interpreted to be part of the conduit system responsible for the widespread gold-silver mineralization throughout the district and supporting our model of a large and long lived epithermal gold-silver system.

CDH-161 intersected 9.00m @ 2.06 g/t gold, 90.26 g/t silver, from 98m, including

1.00m @ 2.14 g/t gold, 259 g/t silver from 99m plus

1.60m @ 5.09 g/t gold, 299 g/t silver from 125.60m including

0.50m @ 12.15 g/t gold, 758 g/t silver from 126.7m

In order to establish the vertical and horizontal continuity of Cometa Zone (Refugio E-W Structure and crosscutting of NW structures) drill testing at depth and along strike of both CDH-159 (33.00m @31.8 g/t gold, 274 g/t silver from surface) and CDH-161 progressed.

After completion of detailed mapping and sampling in the underground workings at El Cometa, we can now say that Fault/Breccias and Fault/Veins along drift are occurring both as high and low angle structures. There is a dominant 220-250 degrees oriented, 50-70 degrees angle SE structure offset by a NW structure that has been developed with channel sample assays pending.

CDH-162 intersected 4.60 m @ 5.51 g/t gold, 182.43 g/t silver, from 99m, including

2.40m @ 10.24 gold g/t gold, 335.03 g/t silver, from 100.40m, plus including

0.60m @ 28 gold g/t gold, 997 g/t silver, from 100.40m

CDH-164 intersected 6.80 m @ 0.70 g/t Au, 36.98 g/t silver, from 87.20m

CDH-162, CDH-163 and CDH-164 were drilled in Refugio historic workings shallower than the maiden resource. A wide quartz breccia zone was intercept along a hydrothermal breccia in all holes. CDH-162 hit Refugio Structure 4.60m @ 5.51 g/t Au, 182.43 g/t Ag, from 99m. CDH-163 hit the El Refugio historic workings from 86.60m to 88.30m returning with anomalous intercepts of 2.70m @ 0.28 g/t Au, 19.28 g/t Ag from 88.30m, CDH-164 also hit a breccia zone intercepting 6.80m @ 0.70 g/t Au, 36.98 g/t Ag from 87.20m, including 4m @ 0.93 g/t Au, 45.83 g/t Ag, from 88.00 m

CDH-165 and CDH-166 both holes were drilled on the western margin to provide geological information to support the development of the geological model. No reportable intercepts from these exploration holes.



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Figure 1 Cross-section at the historic El Refugio mine workings where the first drilling has been recently completed (CDH-162 to 164).



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Figure 2 Plan view of drilling at El Cometa in the eastern side of the Target 1 resource area showing the recent drill intercepts into two separate and parallel structures 100m apart. Further drilling is planned to establish the continuity the mineralisation in this area.



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Figure 3 Central area around the Target 1 Maiden JORC resource area, where all the drilling to date has been completed.

Channel Sampling results at Target 1 Area reported during the quarter (Lumbrera, La Soledad, El Cometa underground workings)5

Lumbrera Vein

1.75m @ 9.19 g/t gold, 653 g/t silver (5070-5071) L1

1.50m @ 13.6 g/t gold, 545 g/t silver (5072-5073) L2

Lumbrera Pit:

1.00m @ 0.70 g/t gold, 61.0 g/t silver (5069)

Soledad Level 1:

2.00 m @ 8.99 g/t gold, 736 g/t silver (5074-5075) L3

0.90m @ 9.57 g/t gold, 361 g/t silver (5076)

0.80m @ 6.87 g/t gold, 267 g/t silver (5077)

1.50m @ 1.72 g/t gold, 22.2 g/t silver (5079-5080) L4

Soledad Level 2:

0.94 m @ 8.81 g/t gold, 51.0 g/t silver (5087)

0.80 m @ 5.36 g/t gold, 143 g/tsilver (5088)

1.80m @ 4.58 g/t gold, 193.3 g/t silver (5090-5091) L5

1.50m @ 2.46 g/t gold, 141.5 g/t silver (5092-5093) L6

1.50m @ 0.84 g/t gold, 99.2 g/ t silver (5094-5095) L7

3.40m @ 1.56 g/t gold, 100.8 g/t silver (5096-5099) L8

2.00 m @ 4.23 g/t gold, 481 g/tsilver (5500-5501) L9

0.70m @ 3.42 g/t gold, 251 g/t silver (5502)

2.80m @ 1.62 g/t gold, 106.1 g/t silver (5503,5505-5506) L10

Soledad Level 3:

1.90m @ 0.38 g/t gold, 16.9 g/t silver (5509-5510) L11

1.80m @ 0.83 g/t gold, 42.5 g/t silver (5511-5512) L12

2.70m @ 1.21 g/t gold, 56.0 g/t silver (5513, 5515-5516) L13

Leon Vein

0.70m @ 6.00 g/t gold, 75.6 g/t silver (5517)



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Figure 4 La Soledad workings underground channel sampling (Target 1 area)

El Cometa underground workings:

The mapping and sampling within the El Cometa underground workings, with recent dewatering of the lower level of workings (from accumulated rainfall), provides vein and structure data to develop the geologic model for this important and complex, shallower mineralisation on the eastern side of the Target 1 resource area where significant high-grade drill intercepts have been reported.



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Figure 5 El Cometa workings underground channel sampling (Target 1 area)



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Figure 6 LiDAR hill shade image with the historic workings identified across the district and 2020-2022 highlight channel sample results. Target 1 area current drilling location, channel sampling area and the high priority drill target areas of Las Brujas-El Peru and La Constancia-El Jabali. Several new areas highlighted across the district for follow-up work.

Figure 7 left and right - municipal road upgrade works, facilitating the expanded exploration program for the Copalquin District in 2025

CORPORATE

Cash - At end of the December 2024 quarter, the Company had total cash of A$15.74M, plus A$1.0M held in term deposit.

Placement - On 28 October 2024, the Company announced it had received binding commitments for the Placement of 25,000,000 new fully paid ordinary shares in the Company at an issue price of $0.50 to raise approximately $12.5M (before costs)6. The Placement was well supported by Australian, North American and European investors. Participants in Placement received one free attaching option for every two shares subscribed for under the Placement. The options will be unlisted, have an exercise price of $0.75 and an exercise period of 2 years from date of issue. Directors of the Company committed to subscribe for $200,000 in the Placement.

Exploration expenditure

Exploration expenditure for the quarter was $1.756M (Mexico: $1.753M, Australia $0.003M).

Related party Payments

In line with its obligations under ASX Listing Rule 5.3.5, Mithril Silver and Gold Limited notes that the only payments to related parties of the Company, as advised in the Appendix 5B for the period ended 31 December 2024, pertain to payments to directors and consultants for fees, salary and superannuation

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE

The Company philosophy operating in the Copalquin district is to support communities via children's education and providing employment opportunities. This includes supporting community schools in the district, employing twenty people from within the district under the federal employment laws, supporting routine medical visits and developing infrastructure in the district for long term benefit. This includes the municipal access road, connecting to the township of El Durazno 12 km east of the Copalquin District, with support for the municipal upgrade works scheduled for commencement in October 2024.

ABOUT THE COPALQUIN GOLD SILVER PROJECT

The Copalquin mining district is located in Durango State, Mexico and covers an entire mining district of 70km2 containing several dozen historic gold and silver mines and workings, ten of which had notable production. The district is within the Sierra Madre Gold Silver Trend which extends north-south along the western side of Mexico and hosts many world-class gold and silver deposits.

Multiple mineralisation events, young intrusives thought to be system-driving heat sources, widespread alteration together with extensive surface vein exposures and dozens of historic mine workings, identify the Copalquin mining district as a major epithermal centre for Gold and Silver.

Within 15 months of drilling in the Copalquin District, Mithril delivered a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate demonstrating the high-grade gold and silver resource potential for the district. This maiden resource is detailed below (see ASX release 17 November 2021)^ and a NI43-101 Technical Report, "Copalquin Property Mineral Resource Estimate", filed on SEDAR+, July 2024.

2,416,000 tonnes4.80 g/t gold, 141 g/t silver for 373,000 oz gold plus 10,953,000 oz silver (Total 529,000 oz AuEq*) using a cut-off grade of 2.0 g/t AuEq*

28.6% of the resource tonnage is classified as indicated

Tonnes (kt) Tonnes (kt) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Gold Eq.* (g/t) Gold (koz) Silver (koz) Gold Eq.* (koz) El Refugio Indicated 691 5.43 114.2 7.06 121 2,538 157 Inferred 1,447 4.63 137.1 6.59 215 6,377 307 La Soledad Indicated - - - - - - - Inferred 278 4.12 228.2 7.38 37 2,037 66 Total Indicated 691 5.43 114.2 7.06 121 2,538 157 Inferred 1,725 4.55 151.7 6.72 252 8,414 372 TOTAL 2,416 4.80 141 6.81 373 10,953 529

Table 1 - Mineral resource estimate El Refugio - La Soledad using a cut-off grade of 2.0 g/t AuEq*

* The gold equivalent (AuEq.) values are determined from gold and silver values and assume the following: AuEq. = gold equivalent calculated using and gold:silver price ratio of 70:1. That is, 70 g/t silver = 1 g/t gold. The metal prices used to determine the 70:1 ratio are the cumulative average prices for 2021: gold USD1,798.34 and silver: USD25.32 (actual is 71:1) from kitco.com. Metallurgical recoveries are assumed to be approximately equal for both gold and silver at this early stage. Actual metallurgical recoveries from test work to date are 96% and 91% for gold and silver, respectively. In the Company's opinion there is reasonable potential for both gold and silver to be extracted and sold. Actual metal prices have not been used in resource estimate, only the price ratio for the AuEq reporting. Formula for AuEq. = Au grade + ((Ag grade/gold:silver price ratio) x (Ag recovery/Au recovery))

^ The information in this report that relates to Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information provided in the following ASX announcement: 17 Nov 2021 - MAIDEN JORC RESOURCE 529,000 OUNCES @ 6.81G/T (AuEq*), which includes the full JORC MRE report, also available on the Mithril Resources Limited Website.

The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data 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. The company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person's findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement.

Mining study and metallurgical test work supports the development of the El Refugio-La Soledad resource with conventional underground mining methods indicated as being appropriate and with high gold-silver recovery to produce metal on-site with conventional processing.

Mithril is currently exploring in the Copalquin District to expand the resource footprint, demonstrating its multi-million-ounce gold and silver potential.

Mithril has an exclusive option to purchase 100% interest in the Copalquin mining concessions by paying US$10M on or any time before 7 August 2026 (option has been extended by 3 years). Mithril has reached an agreement with the vendor for an extension of the payment date by a further 2 years (bringing the payment date to 7 August 2028).

-ENDS-

Released with the authority of the Board.

For further information contact:

John Skeet Managing Director and CEO jskeet@mithrilresources.com.au +61 435 766 809 Mark Flynn Investor Relations mflynn@mithrilresources.com.au +61 416 068 733



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Figure 7 - Copalquin District location map with locations of mining and exploration activity within the state of Durango

Competent Persons Statement - JORC

The information in this announcement that relates to metallurgical test results, mineral processing and project development and study work has been compiled by Mr John Skeet who is Mithril's CEO and Managing Director. Mr Skeet is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. This is a Recognised Professional Organisation (RPO) under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code.

Mr Skeet has sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralisation and the types of deposits under consideration, and to the activities undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Skeet consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. The Australian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

The information in this announcement that relates to sampling techniques and data, exploration results and geological interpretation for Mithril's Mexican project, has been compiled by Mr Ricardo Rodriguez who is Mithril's Project Manager. Mr Rodriguez is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. This is a Recognised Professional Organisation (RPO) under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code.

Mr Rodriguez has sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralisation and the types of deposits under consideration, and to the activities undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Rodriguez consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears.

The information in this announcement that relates to Mineral Resources is reported by Mr Rodney Webster, Principal Geologist at AMC Consultants Pty Ltd (AMC), who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The report was peer reviewed by Andrew Proudman, Principal Consultant at AMC. Mr Webster is acting as the Competent Person, as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, for the reporting of the Mineral Resource estimate. A site visit was carried out by Jose Olmedo a geological consultant with AMC, in September 2021 to observe the drilling, logging, sampling and assay database. Mr Webster consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears

The Australian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

Qualified Persons - NI 43-101

Scientific and technical information in this Report has been reviewed and approved by Mr John Skeet (FAUSIMM, CP) Mithril's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Mr John Skeet is a qualified person within the meaning of NI 43-101.

The Australian Securities Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

ASX Announcements released during the December 2024 quarter:

17 December 2024, Results of Meeting

10 December 2024, PROGRESS AND DISTRICT EXPLORATION EXPANSION, COPALQUIN

27 November 2024, Results of Meeting

11 November 2024, Investor Presentation

28 October 2024, $12.5M PLACEMENT, EXPLORATION SHIFTS TO HIGH-GEAR

22 October 2024, UP TO 736 G/T SILVER, 8.99 G/T GOLD IN CHANNEL SAMPLES

18 October 2024, ASSAYS UP TO 997 G/T SILVER, 28 G/T GOLD

Table 2 Mineralised intercepts in reported drillholes above 0.1 g/t AuEq.

HOLE_ID Sample_ID From m To m Length m Au_ppm Ag_ppm AuEQ_70 AgEQ_70 CDH-161 229287 19.80 20.40 0.60 0.217 7.7 0.33 22.89 CDH-161 229288 20.40 21.00 0.60 0.473 22.8 0.80 55.91 CDH-161 229289 21.00 22.00 1.00 0.39 14.4 0.60 41.7 CDH-161 229290 22.00 23.00 1.00 0.144 6.8 0.24 16.88 CDH-161 229295 27.00 27.5 0.5 0.221 4.8 0.29 20.27 CDH-161 229327 97.00 98.00 1.00 0.117 2.5 0.15 10.69 CDH-161 229328 98.00 99.00 1.00 0.307 10.1 0.45 31.59 CDH-161 229329 99.00 99.60 0.60 10.75 206 13.69 958.5 CDH-161 229330 99.60 100.35 0.75 1.82 53.4 2.58 180.8 CDH-161 229331 100.35 100.95 0.60 2.83 61.9 3.71 260 CDH-161 229332 100.95 101.70 0.75 2.06 41.1 2.65 185.3 CDH-161 229333 101.70 102.40 0.70 0.699 15.4 0.92 64.33 CDH-161 229334 102.40 103.00 0.60 0.822 46.4 1.48 103.94 CDH-161 229335 103.00 104.00 1.00 1.75 112 3.35 234.5 CDH-161 229336 104.00 105.00 1.00 1.53 83.5 2.72 190.6 CDH-161 229337 105.00 106.00 1.00 0.738 77.5 1.85 129.16 CDH-161 229338 106.00 107.00 1.00 2.14 259 5.84 408.8 CDH-161 229340 107.65 108.35 0.70 0.113 10.2 0.26 18.11 CDH-161 229341 108.35 109.05 0.70 0.122 13.6 0.32 22.14 CDH-161 229342 109.05 109.75 0.70 0.197 19.2 0.47 32.99 CDH-161 229343 109.75 110.25 0.50 0.446 47.3 1.12 78.52 CDH-161 229344 110.25 111.00 0.75 0.48 52.4 1.23 86 CDH-161 229345 111.00 112.00 1.00 0.118 10.9 0.27 19.16 CDH-161 229346 112.00 112.70 0.70 0.729 34.8 1.23 85.83 CDH-161 229358 125.60 126.70 1.10 1.885 90.8 3.18 222.75 CDH-161 229359 126.70 127.20 0.50 12.15 758 22.98 1608.5 CDH-161 229363 129.40 130.00 0.60 0.283 2.4 0.32 22.21 CDH-161 229387 204.10 205.20 1.10 0.748 3.6 0.80 55.96 CDH-161 229388 205.20 206.20 1.00 0.342 7.1 0.44 31.04 CDH-161 229389 206.20 206.70 0.50 0.293 25.7 0.66 46.21 CDH-161 229391 206.70 207.20 0.50 0.163 15.9 0.39 27.31 CDH-161 229392 207.20 208.20 1.00 0.473 40.3 1.05 73.41 CDH-161 229393 208.20 209.20 1.00 0.69 62.1 1.58 110.4 CDH-161 229395 210.25 211.25 1.00 0.249 16.2 0.48 33.63 CDH-161 229396 211.25 211.95 0.70 0.296 18.9 0.57 39.62 CDH-161 229397 211.95 213.00 1.05 0.145 6.7 0.24 16.85 CDH-161 229398 213.00 214.10 1.10 0.222 32.6 0.69 48.14 CDH-161 229399 214.10 215.10 1.00 0.322 29 0.74 51.54 CDH-161 229400 215.10 215.75 0.65 0.225 29.8 0.65 45.55 CDH-161 229407 219.30 220.00 0.70 0.124 22.4 0.44 31.08 CDH-161 229408 220.00 221.00 1.00 0.106 6.4 0.20 13.82 CDH-161 229415 226.80 227.30 0.50 0.102 2.6 0.14 9.74 CDH-161 229416 227.30 228.00 0.70 0.185 9.3 0.32 22.25 CDH-161 229419 229.40 230.40 1.00 0.192 2.7 0.23 16.14 CDH-161 229420 230.40 231.40 1.00 0.218 3.1 0.26 18.36 CDH-161 229421 231.40 232.40 1.00 0.151 1.4 0.17 11.97 CDH-161 229422 232.40 233.40 1.00 0.157 1.7 0.18 12.69 CDH-161 229423 233.40 234.30 0.90 0.11 1.5 0.13 9.2 CDH-161 229428 237.25 238.25 1.00 0.149 2.9 0.19 13.33 CDH-161 229429 238.25 239.25 1.00 0.144 1.7 0.17 11.78 CDH-161 229433 241.00 242.00 1.00 0.117 0.8 0.13 8.99 CDH-162 229477 99.00 99.80 0.80 0.527 30.1 0.96 66.99 CDH-162 229478 99.80 100.40 0.60 0.166 12.2 0.34 23.82 CDH-162 229479 100.40 101.00 0.60 28 997 42.24 2957 CDH-162 229480 101.00 102.00 1.00 6.79 197 9.60 672.3 CDH-162 229481 102.00 102.80 0.80 1.225 11.1 1.38 96.85 CDH-162 229482 102.80 103.60 0.80 0.29 4.6 0.36 24.9 CDH-162 229500 132.75 133.25 0.50 0.121 2.2 0.15 10.67 CDH-162 229502 133.25 134.00 0.75 0.107 5.1 0.18 12.59 CDH-162 229503 134.00 135.00 1.00 0.137 1 0.15 10.59 CDH-162 229504 135.00 136.00 1.00 0.1 3.3 0.15 10.3 CDH-162 229506 137.00 138.00 1.00 0.131 2.5 0.17 11.67 CDH-162 229507 138.00 139.00 1.00 0.219 3 0.26 18.33 CDH-162 229508 139.00 140.00 1.00 0.17 2.1 0.20 14 CDH-162 229509 140.00 141.00 1.00 0.154 2 0.18 12.78 CDH-163 229541 88.30 89.00 0.70 0.413 29.1 0.83 58.01 CDH-163 229542 89.00 89.55 0.55 0.286 16.1 0.52 36.12 CDH-163 229543 89.55 90.30 0.75 0.284 19.6 0.56 39.48 CDH-163 229544 90.30 91.00 0.70 0.144 11.6 0.31 21.68 CDH-163 229546 92.00 93.00 1.00 0.214 17.8 0.47 32.78 CDH-163 229548 94.10 94.60 0.50 0.157 31.6 0.61 42.59 CDH-163 229549 94.60 95.60 1.00 0.102 11.6 0.27 18.74 CDH-163 229554 97.10 97.75 0.65 0.356 24.4 0.70 49.32 CDH-163 229560 102.25 102.90 0.65 0.146 17 0.39 27.22 CDH-163 229561 102.90 103.45 0.55 0.209 49.9 0.92 64.53 CDH-163 229564 105.00 106.00 1.00 0.123 12.8 0.31 21.41 CDH-163 229565 106.00 107.00 1.00 0.113 10.7 0.27 18.61 CDH-163 229570 111.00 112.00 1.00 0.155 3 0.20 13.85 CDH-163 229575 116.00 117.00 1.00 0.335 10 0.48 33.45 CDH-163 229599 135.00 135.70 0.70 0.128 2 0.16 10.96 CDH-163 229608 142.00 143.00 1.00 0.102 1.2 0.12 8.34 CDH-163 229622 156.00 157.00 1.00 0.125 0.5 0.13 9.25 CDH-164 229678 87.20 88.00 0.80 0.458 23.6 0.80 55.66 CDH-164 229679 88.00 89.00 1.00 0.762 37.5 1.30 90.84 CDH-164 229680 89.00 90.00 1.00 0.694 34 1.18 82.58 CDH-164 229681 90.00 91.00 1.00 1.43 64.1 2.35 164.2 CDH-164 229682 91.00 92.00 1.00 0.82 47.7 1.50 105.1 CDH-164 229683 92.00 93.00 1.00 0.323 18.9 0.59 41.51 CDH-164 229684 93.00 94.00 1.00 0.376 30.4 0.81 56.72 CDH-164 229685 94.00 95.00 1.00 0.142 15.8 0.37 25.74 CDH-164 229686 95.00 96.00 1.00 0.271 23.8 0.61 42.77 CDH-164 229687 96.00 97.00 1.00 0.376 18.5 0.64 44.82 CDH-164 229688 97.00 98.00 1.00 0.54 36.6 1.06 74.4 CDH-164 229691 100.00 100.75 0.75 0.11 7.1 0.21 14.8 CDH-164 229694 101.75 102.30 0.55 0.143 13 0.33 23.01 CDH-164 229695 102.30 103.00 0.70 0.158 21.1 0.46 32.16 CDH-164 229698 105.00 105.50 0.50 0.488 46.4 1.15 80.56 CDH-164 229700 106.35 107.00 0.65 0.149 5.3 0.22 15.73 CDH-164 229702 107.00 108.00 1.00 0.128 7.9 0.24 16.86 CDH-164 229703 108.00 108.50 0.50 0.182 11.7 0.35 24.44 CDH-164 229707 110.90 111.40 0.50 0.113 1 0.13 8.91 CDH-164 229708 111.40 112.40 1.00 0.131 10.7 0.28 19.87 CDH-164 229721 121.00 122.00 1.00 0.175 2.2 0.21 14.45 CDH-164 229722 122.00 123.00 1.00 0.259 8.9 0.39 27.03 CDH-164 229755 147 148 1 0.113 2.6 0.15 10.51 CDH-164 229759 150 151 1 0.1 2.5 0.14 9.5 CDH-164 229762 153 154 1 0.108 1.1 0.12 8.66 CDH-164 229767 158 159 1 0.123 0.6 0.13 9.21 CDH-164 229781 180.8 181.3 0.5 0.1 1.7 0.12 8.7 CDH-164 229782 181.3 182 0.7 0.229 3 0.27 19.03

Mithril Silver and Gold Limited Group

Tenement information

31 December 2024

Australian Interests:

Mining Concession Tenement title number Interest owned % Kurnalpi Area E28/2506 100.00 Kurnalpi Area E28/2567 100.00 Kurnalpi Area E28/2682 100.00 Kurnalpi Area E28/2760 100.00 Lignum Dam Area E27/538 100.00# Lignum Dam Area E27/582 100.00# Lignum Dam Area E27/584 100.00# Murchison Area (Limestone Well) E20/846 10.00 Murchison Area (Limestone Well) E57/1069 10.00

#The Lignum Dam tenements are under an earn-in agreement with Great Bolder Resources. Great Bolder has completed exploration expenditures to earn 51% interest in the tenements although this interest is not yet formally registered. Mithril has executed an agreement for the divestment of its interest in these tenements.

The Kurnalpi tenements are currently in good standing and Mithril is looking to farm-out or divest these tenements. Mithril continues to hold a 10% free carried interest in the Limestone Well tenements with Firefly Metals (formerly Auteco Minerals).

Mexican Operations:

Mining Concession Mining Concession title number Interest owned % LA SOLEDAD 52033 50.00 EL COMETA 164869 50.00 SAN MANUEL 165451 50.00 COPALQUIN 178014 50.00 EL SOL 236130 50.00 EL CORRAL 236131 50.00

Mithril has currently owns a 50% interest in the Copalquin mining concessions and has an exclusive option to purchase the remaining 50% (bringing Mithril's ownership of the Copalquin mining concessions to 100%) by paying US$10M to the vendor on or any time before 7 August 2026 (the due date for payment was initially 7 August 2023, and was extended by 3 years by written agreement between Mithril and the vendor). Mithril has executed and registered an agreement with the vendor for an extension of the payment date by a further 2 years (bringing the payment date to 7 August 2028).

1 See ASX announcement ASSAYS UP TO 997 G/T SILVER, 28 G/T GOLD dated 18 October 2024

2 See ASX announcement MTH Drills 144 g/t Gold, 1,162 g/t Silver over 7.0 metres dated 20 September 2024

3 See 'About Copalquin Gold Silver Project' section for JORC MRE details and AuEq. calculation.

4 See ASX announcement $12.5M PLACEMENT, EXPLORATION SHIFTS TO HIGH-GEAR dated 28 October 2024

5 See ASX announcement UP TO 736 G/T SILVER, 8.99 G/T GOLD IN CHANNEL SAMPLES dated 22 October 2024

6 See ASX announcement $12.5M PLACEMENT, EXPLORATION SHIFTS TO HIGH-GEAR dated 28 October 2024


Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM; OTCQB: PNTZF) ("Trigon" or the "Company") announces a proactive operational adjustment at its Kombat Mine in Namibia to address unplanned maintenance requirements for its dewatering systems. The Company has temporarily suspended its operations for an anticipated period of six to nine months due to the failure of both of its two main submersible dewatering pumps. Please refer to news release dated January 16, 2025 for additional details.

The submersible pumps are crucial to the Company's operations at the Kombat Mine, and the unexpected breakdowns have left Trigon with no immediate solution for full restoration of its systems. Both pumps have been hoisted out of the shafts and sent to a third party engineering firm for independent verification of the root causes for the failures.

Unfortunately, due to water levels returning to their normal levels of 60 metres below service at Shaft 1 and 120 metres at Shaft 3, mining operations will be paused until dewatering activities have recommenced. The Company anticipates that dewatering will restart in Q3 of 2025, once the pumps have been repaired and the risk of reoccurrence has successfully been mitigated.

Strategic Operational Update

The Company is implementing a comprehensive recovery plan including advanced repairs and upgrades to critical equipment, to ensure long-term operational resilience and efficiency. Trigon has initiated a phased recovery strategy following the identification of maintenance needs in two key submersible pumps at the Kombat Mine. Both pumps have been safely retrieved and are undergoing rigorous analysis by a leading third-party engineering firm to optimize their performance and durability . While dewatering activities will pause during this period, the Company has a clear pathway to resume operations in Q3/Q4 2025, with enhanced systems designed to mitigate future risks.

Temporary Workforce Adjustment and Employee Support

As a result of this operational setback, the Company also announces the retrenchment of the majority of its onsite employees. To align with this short-term operational adjustment, Trigon will implement a temporary workforce reduction at the mine site. This decision, while necessary under the current circumstances, is one of great regret, as the Company values its team and recognizes the impact this will have on its employees and their families.

The Company deeply values its employees and is committed to supporting all affected team members through this transition. This includes generous severance packages, extended healthcare benefits, and dedicated job placement assistance in collaboration with local partners. Trigon remains optimistic about rehiring and re-engaging its workforce once operations resume.

Jed Richardson, CEO and Executive Chairman of Trigon Metals, commented, "While this temporary pause is not the outcome we envisioned, it is a critical step to strengthen Kombat's infrastructure for sustained success. Our team is already advancing solutions to modernize our systems, ensuring we return to operations with greater reliability and efficiency. We extend our deepest gratitude to our employees and contractors, whose dedication has been instrumental in our progress to date, and to our stakeholders for their unwavering trust. Trigon is committed to emerging from this phase as a more resilient company, poised to deliver value for years to come."

Knowledge Katti, Namibian Businessman and local partner of Trigon Metals, commented, "We acknowledge the valid concerns of the Kombat community and all Trigon Mining employees during this challenging period. While this temporary pause is a setback, it is also an opportunity to strengthen our foundation for the future. Our commitment to Kombat remains unwavering-we are dedicated to ensuring that operations resume more sustainable than before. We will continue working to support our workforce and the broader community through this transition. Together, we will come back stronger."

The Company also reassures its stakeholders that it is exploring all viable options to restore operations as quickly as possible and minimize disruption to services. Trigon is actively engaging with technical experts and partners to accelerate repairs and explore innovative dewatering solutions. The Company reaffirms its confidence in the Kombat Mine's long-term potential and is prioritizing investments in equipment upgrades and process improvements. Regular updates on recovery milestones will be shared with stakeholders, including progress toward the Q3 2025 restart target.

Qualified Person

The technical information presented in this press release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Fanie Muller, P.Eng, VP Operations of Trigon, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Trigon Metals Inc.

Trigon is a publicly-traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds a 100% interest in the Kalahari Copperbelt Project and an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands where the Company operates the Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects.

Cautionary Notes

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the operations at the Kombat mine, the Company's ability to restart the operations at the Kombat mine, the impact of the flooding at the Kombat mine, the financial viability of Trigon, the timing for the repair or replacement of equipment, the Company's ability to complete a sale of the Kombat mine, the Company's strategies and the Company's abilities to execute such strategies, the economic viability of the Kombat Mine, the Company's expectations for the Kombat Mine, and the Company's future plans and objectives. 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 TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250131584420/en/

Contact

For further information, contact:

Tom Panoulias, VP Corporate Development

+1 647 276 6002 X 1127

IR@trigonmetals.com

Website: www.trigonmetals.com
Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc. (TSX:ASCU | OTCQX:ASCUF) ("ASCU" or the "Company"), an emerging US copper developer, is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated January 9, 2025 (the "January 9 PR"), it has closed its private placement with Hudbay Minerals Inc. ("Hudbay") of 11,955,270 common shares at a price of C$1.68 for gross proceeds to the Company of C$20,084,853 million (the "Hudbay Placement"). Additionally, Nuton LLC ("Nuton"), a Rio Tinto Venture, exercised its pre-emptive rights in respect of the Hudbay Placement, pursuant to the terms of its investor rights agreement, to maintain its 7.2% equity interest in the Company for gross proceeds of C$1,562,210 (the "Nuton Placement"). Pursuant to the Hudbay Placement and the Nuton Placement, the Company issued a total of 12,885,157 common shares at a price of C$1.68 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of C$21,647,064 to the Company (the "Private Placement"). The subscription by Hudbay reflects the base offering of 11,852,064 common shares as well as top-up shares of 103,206 common shares to achieve its 9.99% ownership of the Company after giving effect to the Private Placement.

ASCU President and CEO, George Ogilvie commented, "With the completion of this financing, our company is fully funded with additional runway to complete our 2025 work programs. Our main deliverable in 2025 is the preparation of updated technical data on the entire Parks/Salyer deposit and producing a Pre-Feasibility Study in the second half of the year. We are excited to welcome Hudbay as a strategic investor of the Company; an endorsement by a well-known and sophisticated entity. Hudbay has significant experience in mine development and construction, and we look forward to tapping into that wealth of knowledge as we continue to de-risk the Cactus Project through the remaining study phases to an eventual final investment decision, followed by construction and development. We also value the ongoing support of and partnership with Nuton."

Concurrent with the closing of the Hudbay Placement, ASCU and Hudbay executed an investor rights agreement substantially on the terms disclosed in the January 9 PR. A copy of the investor rights agreement will be available in due course on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under the Company's issuer profile.

Proceeds of the Private Placement are to be allocated for drilling, exploration, technical studies advancement of the Company's Cactus Project, and for general corporate purposes.

The common shares issued under the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws, expiring four months after closing the transaction. The Private Placement is subject to the final approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Scotiabank acted as financial advisor, and Bennett Jones LLP as legal advisor, to the Company, in connection with the Private Placement.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor the regulating authority has approved or disproved the information contained in this press release.

About Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (www.arizonasonoran.com | www.cactusmine.com)

ASCU is a copper exploration and development company with a 100% interest in the brownfield Cactus Project. The Project, on privately held land, contains a large-scale porphyry copper resource and a recent PEA proposes a generational open pit copper mine with robust economic returns. Cactus is a lower risk copper developer benefitting from a state-led permitting process, in place infrastructure, highways and rail lines at its doorstep and onsite permitted water access. The Company objective is to develop Cactus and become a mid-tier copper producer with low operating costs, that could generate robust returns and provide a long-term sustainable and responsible operation for the community, investors and all stakeholders. The Company is led by an executive management team and Board which have a long-standing track record of successful project delivery in North America complemented by global capital markets expertise.

Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Other Matters

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained or incorporated by reference in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "advancement", "assumptions", "become", "continue", "could", "deliverable", "delivery", "develop", "development", "emerging", "estimates", "expected", "exploration", "eventual", "feasibility", "followed", "forward", "future", "generational", "going", "long-term", "looking", "near-term", "objective", "phases", "plan", "proposes", "risk", "runway", "study", "subject to", "to be", and "upgrading", or variations of such words, and similar such words, expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results can, could, may, should, would, will (or not) be achieved, occur, provide, result or support in the future, or which, by their nature, refer to future events. In some cases, forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense, such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements include the use of proceeds of the Private Placement; the timing and ability of the Company to receive final approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange in respect of the Private Placement; the advancement and future of the Cactus Project (including the 2025 work programs and other operations, copper production, returns (economic or otherwise)); the PEA and results thereof; the preparation of an updated technical data on Parks/Salyer (including the timing thereof); the amount of funding required to complete the 2025 work program; the completion and delivery of a Pre-Feasibility Study and other studies on the Cactus Project (including the timing thereof); any eventual investment decision on, or development or construction of the Cactus Project; copper resource at the Cactus Project; permitting; operating costs; any upside in value and/or delivered back to shareholders, sustainability and risk; the Company's objectives (including the Cactus Project becoming a significant producer of copper cathodes in Arizona and the U.S.); the future plans or prospects of the Company (including sustainability of the Cactus Project and becoming a mid-tier copper producer); and the impact of Hudbay's and Nuton's investment and support in respect of the Company and its projects. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that those forward-looking statements will prove to be correct, and any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future actions, results or performance. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions, which are considered reasonable and represent best judgment based on available facts, as of the date such statements are made. If such assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions prove to be incorrect, actual and future results may be materially different than expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions referenced, contained or incorporated by reference in this press release which may prove to be incorrect include those set forth or referenced in this press release, as well as those stated in the technical report for the Cactus Project filed on August 27, 2024 (the "2024 PEA Technical Report"), the Company's Annual Information Form dated April 1, 2024 (the "AIF"), Management's Discussion and Analysis (together with the accompanying financial statements) for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the quarters already ended in 2024 (collectively, the "2023-24 Financial Disclosure") and the Company's other applicable public disclosure (collectively, "Company Disclosure"), all available on the Company's website at www.arizonasonoran.com and under its issuer profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of ASCU to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors include, among others, the "Risk Factors" in the AIF, and the risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors identified in the 2024 PEA Technical Report and the 2023-24 Financial Disclosure. The foregoing list of risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors is not exhaustive; readers should consult the more complete discussion of the Company's business, financial condition and prospects that is provided in the AIF, the 2023-24 Financial Disclosure and other Company Disclosure. Although ASCU has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release (or as otherwise expressly specified) and ASCU disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements referenced or contained in this press release are expressly qualified by these Cautionary Statements as well as the Cautionary Statements in the AIF, the 2024 PEA Technical Report, the 2023-24 Financial Disclosure and other Company Disclosure.

Preliminary Economic Assessments

The Preliminary Economic Assessment (or PEA) referenced in this press release and summarized in the 2024 PEA Technical Report is only a conceptual study of the potential viability of the Cactus Project and the economic and technical viability of the Cactus Project has not been demonstrated. The PEA is preliminary in nature and provides only an initial, high-level review of the Cactus Project's potential and design options; there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. For further detail on the Cactus Project and the PEA, including applicable technical notes and cautionary statements, please refer to the Company's press release dated August 7, 2024 and the 2024 PEA Technical Report, both available on the Company's website at www.arizonasonoran.com and under its issuer profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Mineral Resource Estimates

Until mineral deposits are actually mined and processed, copper and other mineral resources must be considered as estimates only. Mineral resource estimates that are not classified as mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimation of mineral resources is inherently uncertain, involves subjective judgement about many relevant factors and may be materially affected by, among other things, environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors described in the foregoing Cautionary Statements on Forward-Looking Statements. The quantity and grade of reported "inferred" mineral resource estimates are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define "inferred" mineral resource estimates as an "indicated" or "measured" mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading "inferred" mineral resource estimates to an "indicated" or "measured" mineral resource category. Inferred mineral resource estimates may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies or economic studies except for preliminary economic assessments. The accuracy of any mineral resource estimate is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of a "inferred", "indicated" or "measured" mineral resource estimate will ever be upgraded to a higher category including a mineral reserve. The mineral resource estimates declared by the Company were estimated, categorized and reported using standards and definitions in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (the "CIM Standards") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"), which governs the public disclosure of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects.

U.S. Readers

The terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" as disclosed by the Company are Canadian mining terms defined in the CIM Standards (collectively, the "CIM Definitions") in accordance with NI 43-101. NI 43-101 establishes standards for all public disclosure that a Canadian issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. These Canadian standards differ from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") applicable to United States domestic and certain foreign reporting companies under Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K ("S-K 1300"). Accordingly, information describing mineral resource estimates for the Cactus Project may not be comparable to similar information publicly reported in accordance with the applicable requirements of the SEC, and so there can be no assurance that any mineral resource estimate for the Cactus Project would be the same had the estimates been prepared per the SEC's reporting and disclosure requirements under applicable United States federal securities laws, and the rules and regulations thereunder, including but not limited to S-K 1300. Further, there is no assurance that any mineral resource or mineral reserve estimate that the Company may report under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared such estimates under S-K 1300.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250130804431/en/

Contact

For more information

Alison Dwoskin, Director, Investor Relations

647-233-4348

adwoskin@arizonasonoran.com

George Ogilvie, President, CEO and Director

416-723-0458

gogilvie@arizonasonoran.com
FIA to have negotiations with Russia in February

Russian racing drivers and teams' struggles with Formula 1 governing body the FIA could finally be nearing an end.

Nikita Mazepin, Russian GP 2021

 Haas

It was Haas that ousted Nikita Mazepin and his sponsor Uralkali at the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis three years ago, but the FIA simultaneously imposed restrictions on any drivers or teams in all FIA competitions.

Today, any Russian driver either needs to voluntarily renounce their ties to Russia - like Robert Shwartzman who switched to an Israeli license - or sign a document condemning Vladimir Putin's regime and agreeing to race under a neutral flag.

But according to three-time Dakar Rally winner Anton Shibalov, who refused to agree to the FIA's conditions, changes in the FIA's attitude may now be afoot.

As participants, including the guys from Kamaz, we are ready to go back even tomorrow, he told Tass news agency.

"I hope that in the coming years this will all stabilise and we will be able to take part again. But I cannot say when exactly this will happen. It depends on the FIA.

What I can say for sure is that in the near future, in February, negotiations on this topic are planned. It needs to be resolved now - the Dakar has ended, and the Formula 1 season is yet to start. Soon, the FIA president will be much less accessible, Shibalov added.

The Kamaz-Master team dominated Dakar for years until the Ukraine crisis. Shibalov says even direct competitors are looking forward to the Russian team's return.

This talk has been going on for years. I think they will only be glad to see us, said Shibalov. As you may have noticed, there is no closeness or intrigue in the races now. There was a gap of 2.5 hours between first and second place, he added, referring to the 2025 Dakar.

(GMM)
Ocon was at Maranello for Hamilton's first day

Esteban Ocon says he was "lucky" to be at Maranello for Lewis Hamilton's historic first official day as a Ferrari driver.

Esteban Ocon

 Alpine

The seven time world champion's first day, historic first photo, first Fiorano test, and first Ferrari crash this week in Barcelona have all been dominating the Formula 1 headlines.

His former boss Toto Wolff admits the photo of Hamilton outside Enzo Ferrari's house with an F40 supercar was iconic - something Enzo's living son Piero fully agrees with.

I almost couldn't believe the enthusiasm, Ferrari, 79, told Italy's Autosprint when asked about Hamilton's first day. All that true passion of the Tifosi struck me.

Piero Ferrari says he was also impressed with Hamilton's behaviour.

I don't remember other drivers so elegant on their first day at Ferrari, he admitted. Even us managers were without ties, Ferrari laughed.

Even Red Bull boss Christian Horner admits to being enthusiastic about Hamilton's new career in red. Those red overalls suit him, he is quoted as saying by Sky Italia.

I think it's fantastic for our sport. Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren will all be competitive. It will be a close and spectacular fight.

As for why Haas driver Ocon was at Maranello for Hamilton's first day, he was at the wheel of the Ferrari simulator as part of the two teams' collaboration.

I was lucky to be at the same place on the same day because I was in the Ferrari simulator, the Frenchman, who has switched from Alpine to Ferrari-powered Haas for 2025, told Canal Plus.

It's wonderful to see that there is so much passion for Ferrari, and for F1 of course, in the world and that this passion continues to grow.

Ocon is known for being close to Hamilton.

It's clear, the 28-year-old said, that having the greatest driver of our generation in the most successful team is something incredible.

(GMM)
The Castle Rock Hospital District January board meeting had a positive tone as the board looks ahead to the new year.

Several staff members gave reports about progress in their departments and upcoming projects during the January 28 meeting.

Radiology staff member Amanda Lamb said during her report that the amount of chest x-rays the radiology department is performing is steadily going down post-Covid. Lamb also reported that she and another radiology technician are currently going through an advanced radiology program through Weber State University, with their completion date set for December of this year. Castle Rock CEO Bailee Dockter added that one of the goals for the Radiology department is to continue to receive more training and development as the facility is working to improve and increase ultrasound services.

The 2024 annual audit results were also shared during the meeting. The auditing firm, out of Washington state, commented that Castle Rock saw significant improvement on the timing of preparation for this audit and that the audit was "clean." Castle Rock saw $1.7 million in positive net income in 2024.

Later in the meeting, Dr. Lynn Eskelson announced that the clinic continues to see a decrease in positive Covid tests, and virtually no positive tests for influenza B, with all cases of influenza being reported as influenza type A. However, Eskelson did mention that the clinic is seeing a rise in cases of respiratory illness and strep. Eskelson concluded his report with the reminder that it is now a policy that a parent or legal guardian must be an attendance to all well child checks and vaccination appointments, including allergy shots.

Kim White, EMS director for the Castle Rock Ambulance Service, spoke on the forward progress and high morale within the ambulance service. White said that they hired a new paramedic in January, and it will help cut back in overtime services. White also said that they recently filled a basic EMT class within days, versus in years past where they could not fill a class at all.

Castle Rock CEO Bailee Dockter also had positive news to share. She spoke about the medical center's partnership with Green River High School's internship program, where three high school seniors are currently doing internships at the clinic, with two internships in nursing and one radiology. The internships are going "very well," according to Dockter.

She also went into more detail about the upcoming construction of the new ambulance building located on Gateway Boulevard in Rock Springs. The project is currently in the production timeline phase and is about a month out from the design and development phase.

As of now, the plan is to break ground on the new ambulance bay around July 14. Having an added building in Rock Springs will allow for more efficient services throughout the county, Dockter said, as Castle Rock ambulance service is now a countywide operation. Other highlights of Dockter's report included the goal of providing more mental health and social work services, potentially providing after hours and weekend care and adding more patients to the care of several new providers who recently joined the staff at Castle Rock.

Several staff members including Eskelson and Dockter gave a reminder that the 2025 Castle Rock Medical Center health fair will be kicking off with testing services available by appointment or walk-in on February 3-26 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, February 15 and 22 from 6:30 to 9 a.m. Results will be shared at the health fair on Saturday, March 1 from 9 to 12 p.m. Patients can call 307-872-4590 for scheduling or more information.
Dear Editor,

Unfortunately, HB 172 to repeal gun free zones is back and even worse than the Governor vetoed HB 125 from last session. This legislation has come before the Legislature for many years but never gained much traction until last year when the gun lobby started putting the full court press on Legislators. Public poles show that a majority of Wyomingites DO NOT want gun free zones repealed!

- March 2024 KGAB Poll: Do you agree with Governor Gordons Veto of House Bill 125 63.3% indicated YES.

- August 2024 Wyoming Tribune Eagle poll Do you believe concealed carry of firearms should be allowed in the Capitol extension, between the Capitol and the Herschler Building? 81.1% responded NO.

- August 2024 State Building Commission survey Are you in favor of allowing members of the Public lawfully carrying concealed firearms into public areas of the Capitol and Capitol Extension? of 138 responses, 87% responded NO. Second formal comment period: 56 responses, 64% in opposition.

- August 2024 University of Wyoming survey on allowing guns on campus - more than 3,000 responses, 64% indicated NO.

- November 2024 UW Board of Trustees voted against allowing concealed carry on campus.

- January 2025 House Judiciary Committee  4 spoke in favor, 14 in opposition with at least 20 more that were unable to speak in opposition due to time restriction.

The majority of the Wyoming public does not want gun free zones repealed and local control lost. The national gun lobby is putting pressure on Wyoming Legislators to pass this irresponsible legislation, else risk being called out as not conservative enough. Members of the public, reach out to your legislator TODAY and implore them to VOTE NO ON HB 172! Legislators  please listen to your constituents and stop catering to the desires of the few at the expense of the many. Do what you know is right and stop this bill.

Erika Cole

Cheyenne
Dear Editor,

The Freedom Scholarship Act seems to be a departure from the Freedom Caucuss usual stance of smaller government. This Wyoming bill is no more than a blatant effort by the Freedom Caucus to encourage the establishment of religious-based schools to further the Freedom Caucuss Godly ideology and make the state pay for it. How this bad piece of legislation got as far as it did is inconceivable to me, and it is clearly designed to hobble public education. My daughter and son-in-law in New York pay $7000 a year to have their son attend a private Catholic college-prep school. That is their choice and they dont expect the state of New York to pay his tuition. Parents who want their children in private schools need to be prepared to pay for it themselves. Many private schools offer scholarships to lower-income parents. While we are at it, children whose parents refuse to vaccinate them should be in private school (if allowed) or homeschooled, not in public institutions. These parental choices - certainly within their rights to make - have consequences.

Patricia McDaniel

Laramie
A new article on WyoHistory.org, the online platform of the Wyoming Historical Society, tells the story of two men famous (or infamous) in Rock Springs and Sweetwater County history.

"The Outlaw and His Lawyer: Butch Cassidy and Douglas Preston," by Dick Blust of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River, chronicles the interwoven careers of outlaw Robert Leroy Parker - better known by his alias, Butch Cassidy - and his friend, Rock Springs attorney Douglas A. Preston.

Though he was a member of Wyoming's Constitutional Convention of 1889, a signer of Wyoming's State Constitution, a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, and served two terms as Wyoming's attorney general, Preston is best remembered as the lawyer for one of the Old West's most well-known bandits.

Preston and Cassidy first encountered each other in Fremont County in 1891, when Cassidy was charged with horse theft and defended by Preston - unsuccessfully, as it turned out: ultimately, he was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, then located in Laramie.

In 1895, Cassidy managed to set up a personal meeting at the prison with Wyoming Governor William Richards and requested a pardon. There is evidence that he promised in return to commit no further crimes in Wyoming. Richards agreed, and Cassidy was released early in 1896. Seven months later, he and two accomplices named Elzy Lay and Bub Meeks robbed the Montpelier Bank in Montpelier, Idaho, of some $7,000. 12 years and numerous bank holdups and train robberies later, Cassidy, along with Harry Longabaugh, (the "Sundance Kid"), was reported killed in a shootout with authorities in Bolivia.

Preston's relationship with Cassidy has long been a controversial subject among historians. Though he had a long and distinguished career - ended only by his death in an automobile crash west of Granger in 1929 - he reportedly laundered money for Cassidy and said himself the two often had secret meetings at desert locations between Sweetwater County and Brown's Park, along the Utah/Colorado border. It was also said that the two sometimes met at Boar's Tusk, north of Rock Springs.

The article can be found online at WyoHistory.org, along with other articles related to Butch Cassidy at WyoHistory.org, including "Bub Meeks and a Wild Bunch Winchester." Meeks's life after the Montpelier robbery was a litany of misfortune, as the article chronicles. His rifle is currently on exhibit at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.

The museum is located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there is no charge for admission.
GTA supported the construction of the Inalahan Veterans Memorial Park to honor the veterans from the village, the company announced in a release.

The project reflects GTA's commitment to the community and dedication to preserving the legacy of Guams veterans, the company said.

The memorial, located in front of St. Joseph's Church in Inalahan, features plaques engraved with the names of veterans from the village, honoring their courage and dedication.

The park provides a space for reflection and ensures their sacrifices are remembered for generations, GTA said.

At GTA, we are honored to be part of this meaningful endeavor, said Sharon Davis, vice president of Community Engagement and External Affairs at GTA in a statement. Its a privilege to help create a place that pays tribute to those who have given so much for our island and our nation.

This project was made possible through a partnership with the Inalahan Mayors Office and the local community, GTA said.

The Veterans Memorial Park reflects our villages respect and gratitude for the sacrifices of our service members and their families. We thank GTA for their support in bringing this project to life as a lasting symbol of appreciation and pride," Inalahan Mayor Anthony Chargualaf said in a statement.

GTA is committed to initiatives that honor and strengthen the spirit of Guam. Through GTA Gives, the companys philanthropic arm, the local company continues to invest in projects that support the community and uplift the island and its people, GTA said.

For more information on GTA Gives and all its initiatives, visit gta.net/community.
The Office of the Governor sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Office of the Attorney General over the hiring of AG Douglas Moylans brother and fiancee citing concerns from the public and accusing him of possibly violating the law.

The attorney general is not above the law. He should be investigated when his actions raise legal red flags. And if he is found to have committed a crime, he should be prosecuted and punished, Adelup said in a release.

The governors office said the FOIA request is in response to the publics concerns about the OAGs questionable hiring of AG Moylans brother Scott Moylan and the hiring and promotion of his fiancee Sheenalyn Hawkins, as well as concerns about the finances and ethics of his office.

Moylan in response to the release said it simply distracts the public from several serious legal issues that have brought his office at odds with the governor on numerous civil and criminal investigations. He cited what he says is the governors illegal use of American Rescue Plan funds, her inability to help the poor and homeless, and the overall deteriorating conditions in healthcare, education and public safety.

He also said the comments are untrue and are an attack on people who are close to him. Moylan said the comments are destroying the twos reputation and the governors office could face a defamation lawsuit.

Adelup said the goal of the FOIA is to hold government officials accountable by requiring transparency as a check against corruption and ensuring an informed citizenry.

These goals are especially important when the agency being questioned claims to be the watchdog of our government. If not adequately monitored, this agency can easily abuse the power of its office, Adelup said.

The governors office said Moylan claims to be the toughest law enforcer.

However, with that responsibility comes the expectation that his office upholds the highest ethical and professional standards, which are called into question by his offices suspicious hiring practices. Attorney General Moylan has diverted substantial resources to investigating and prosecuting so-called government corruption cases, all of which have been dismissed, while he openly and brazenly flouts the law, Adelup said.

The governors office said Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero is chief executive officer of the government of Guam and is charged with ensuring the enforcement of Guam law and that she cannot sit by while Moylan engages in conduct that raises legitimate concerns he is violating the law.

Because the attorney general cannot investigate and prosecute his own illegal acts, it falls to the governor to ensure he is held to account, Adelup said.

The attorney general has publicly addressed allegations of impropriety regarding his hiring practices, but his excuses do not pass the smell test, Adelup spokesperson Krystal Paco-San Agustin said in a statement. The AG needs to put his money where his mouth is, provide documentation for his questionable hiring and procurements, and give our people the answers they need to judge these transactions for themselves.

The FOIA request sent by Adelup legal counsel Jeffrey Moots has 33 requests for information. The requests include all communications between Chief Deputy Attorney General Joseph Guthrie and Moylan about the hirings. Guthrie was the person who hired the two after AG Moylan disqualified himself from the hirings.

Adelup is also requesting documents concerning any ethics training Moylan has attended or undertaken since Jan. 1, 2023. The governors office is also requesting documents regarding employees assigned to the AGs offices at the Bank of Hawaii building in Hagatna and the ITC Building in Tamuning and all documents reflecting the rationale for the AGs office occupying new office space in Hagatna.

Adelup wants to also see contracts between the AGs office and attorneys for the provision of legal services or consultant services since Jan. 1, 2023. The governors office also wants the procurement record for the AG billboards.

The AG and governors office this week have fought over the latest billboards which feature homeless encampments and a concept of a tent city on the front lawn of Adelup.

Adelup has called the billboards disgraceful and a waste of money and said the money could be better used to help those in need.

Moylan said the governor has control of most of the $1.3 billion government of Guam budget to help address homelessness.

Hirings

The hiring of Hawkins as well as the AGs brother drew fire in May 2024. Moylan dismissed accusations of nepotism, saying that he had disqualified himself from their hiring, just as he did in the search for a new chief of staff.

Guthrie has cited Guam law as well as Department of Administration regulations that cleared the office of nepotism, according to Pacific Daily News files.

Moylan in an earlier statement said hiring of family members or close friends is recognized in American politics.

The chief of staff position is an unclassified position and is at the complete discretion of the AG to help him fulfill his political promises, Moylan has said.

AG Moylan on Friday said the facts show Guthrie hired the two and the employees have been instrumental in keeping AG operations functioning.

It is further well documented publicly that this office has been understaffed since I took office and these two persons had the courage to stand with me to help me enforce Guams law, the AG said.

Moylan said that the governor has publicly spoke of replacing him as the AG with her choice of another attorney general in order to get her medical complex started, despite his office issuing two legal opinions that it was illegal.

He said he is democratically elected and is the Peoples chief legal officer, and not the governors alone, since the Guam Legislature changed the position from being appointed to being elected pursuant to the Organic Act of Guam.

Moylan also said his brother Scott Moylan, was one of four accountants who sought employment with his office at the same time, and he disqualified himself from his brothers application.

He clearly was the most educated and experienced among the four accountant applicants. Joe Guthrie vetted his application. Notably, even Guams public auditor spoke out before the Guam Legislature how difficult it has been for his office to hire accountants, the AG said.

Moylan said his brother was assigned to the Government Corruption Division to assist the AGs Office in ongoing investigations with the OPA involving the governors administration.
The Guam International Airport Authority got board approval to try a new tactic as it pays down its bond debt, and also announced the winners of the 2024 GIAA Employees Superlative Awards during a regular board of directors meeting on Thursday.

GIAA Deputy Executive Manager Ricky Hernandez told the board that Guams tourism recovery has been slower than expected, and thus proposed a new strategy to pay down the bond debt that it owes.

Bond defeasance, he explained, is a way to reduce pressure on the airport as the end of the fiscal year approaches and when payments are due.

As part of its agreement in issuing the airport bonds, the Guam airport must meet a debt ratio of 1.25 multiplied by its debt, each year. The administration plans to take the money it would use to pay multiple bond debts and focus it on retiring single bonds at a time.

Hernandez said meeting a debt ratio of 1.25, multiplied by $12 million, is easier than meeting a ratio of 1.25 times $15 million.

Considering if we are going to see kinda flat arrivals into Guam as compared to last year, it gives us that much more flexibility to meet those debt service coverage ratios, Hernandez told the board. But the benefits of reducing debt service coverage requirements by $3 million times 1.25 is going to be helpful as we approach the end of the fiscal year.

Airport comptroller Dafne Mansapit Shimizu told the board that the airport would not increase nor decrease the amount it would pay for the bonds come Oct. 1. It would only use the same amount it would pay to retire a bond earlier.

The board approved the motion to allow the administration to proceed with the bond defeasance.

Superlative awards

The airport administration also announced the winners of its 2024 Employee Superlative Awards, as voted by peers, as follows:
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A 48-year-old man is accused of threatening Agana Heights Elementary School staff and was charged with terroristic conduct, a magistrate's complaint filed in Superior Court states.

Todd Francis Aquino was charged with terroristic conduct as a third-degree felony and violation of a court order as a misdemeanor.

At 12:25 p.m. on Jan. 29, police received a terrorizing complaint at the school. The reporting person said Aquino had called to speak to an employee.

Aquino made several calls to the school. One employee told Aquino to hold as the person he was trying to speak with was in a meeting.

He replied, "I can't hold, I'm going to go over there and (expletive) you all up," the complaint states.

The employee said while she wasn't afraid, she believed Aquino might act on the threat.

The principal initiated a lockdown of the school at 11:58 a.m. and had staff secure all the gates.

At 12:10 p.m., the campus was declared "all clear," but gates remained secured, and a 100% ID check was implemented for visitor entry.

Police met with the employee who said she had a protective order against Aquino. He is prohibited from coming within 500 feet of her place of employment and prohibited from contacting her directly or indirectly.

Aquino was arrested at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 29.
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Postal Code




Haiti - FLASH : No criminal will be spared says the PM





On Thursday, January 30, 2025, Prime Minister Fils Aime, accompanied by Ministers Patrick Pelissier (Justice), Paul Antoine Bien-Aime (Interior) and Mario Andresol, Secretary of State for Public Security, held an important meeting at the General Directorate of the National Police of Haiti (DGPNH), which brought together the highest authorities of the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN).



In a climate of urgency and responsibility, this meeting was structured around an absolute priority : guaranteeing the security of the Haitian people.



Fils Aime was clear "The State will not back down. The unity of institutional forces is now a vital requirement. It is imperative to restore trust, strengthen coordination between law enforcement agencies and neutralize those who sow terror.



The repeated attacks by criminal groups have tortured our fellow citizens for too long. Too many families are mourning a child, a parent, a loved one, torn from life by the barbarity of these human monsters. Too many women have been raped, too many workers prevented from carrying out their activities in peace.



This situation cannot continue. The State is rising up! The State is striking! The State will triumph !"



At the end of this meeting, major decisions were taken to intensify the response against criminals and regain control of areas plagued by violence. " The police will receive the necessary means to track down, dismantle and neutralize armed groups. Fear must change sides: it will no longer be the population who will live under threat, but those who have chosen the path of crime. 



The Government announces an increase in security operations, with targeted actions on hotbeds of violence, reinforcements in personnel and equipment, as well as increased coordination between the PNH and the Haitian Armed Forces (FAdH). "We will strike hard and relentlessly. No criminal will be spared."



The Prime Minister, with determination, reiterated his commitment to restoring security and the rule of law "This fight is that of the entire Nation. We must stand tall, united and resolute. We call on every Haitian to support us, to collaborate with the forces of law and order and to reject any form of complicity with those who are destroying our country. We have a clear mandate : to put an end to the reign of criminals. And we will do it, without weakness, without hesitation, with the strength and authority of the State [...] The enemy will be defeated. Order will be restored. Haiti will find Peace again."



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





The Director General of the Social Assistance Fund, arrested

Lionel Lazarre, the Deputy Spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH) confirmed that agents of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) had proceeded on Thursday, January 30, 2025, to the arrest of Elionor Devalon, the Director of the Social Assistance Fund (CAS). According to unofficial sources, his arrest could be linked to alleged links with gangs, although the Police have not given any explanation for the charges against him.



Malta H in school canteens ?

Me Kevenot Dorvi, the General Coordinator of the National School Canteen Program (PNCS), accompanied by the institution's executives, including agronomist Claude Victor Bastien, Director of Quality and Ms. Valeska Maurice, Director of External Cooperation, met with Artem Zyabkin-Bodunov, President and CEO of the Brasserie Nationale d'Haiti (BRANA) around a partnership envisaged for the benefit of schoolchildren which would consist of introducing Malta H in school canteens.



Meeting of the Haitian Chancellor with his French counterpart

Wednesday, January 29, 2025, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Harvel Jean Baptiste was warmly welcomed by his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot. The two Chancellors discussed security cooperation between Haiti and France, the transformation of the MMSS into a UN peacekeeping operation (blue helmets), memorial issues, the sanctions file and France's humanitarian support.



Port-au-Prince and territorial governance

On Thursday, January 30, 2025, Ralph Youri Chevry, the acting Mayor of Port-au-Prince, held a meeting with the Boards of Directors of the Communal Sections (CASEC), the Administrations of the Communal Sections (ASEC) and the city delegates, in order to discuss territorial governance and the overall situation of the municipality. He reiterated his desire to work closely with the authorities of the local authorities to meet the challenges of the capital and improve the living conditions of citizens.



UNFPA alongside the Ministry of Health

On Thursday, January 30, 2025, Dr. Bertrand Sinal, Minister of Public Health, received a visit from Samir Anout, Country Representative of the United Nations Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health (UNFPA - Haiti). Let us recall that the UN Agency contributes to a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, every young person reaches their full potential. Minister Sinal shared his goals and visions for the health sector and together, they explored how UNFPA interventions can align with these goals.



Protection of cultural property and heritage sites:

The Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Justice and UNESCO, is organizing a colloquium on "The protection of cultural property and heritage sites" on January 30 and 31, 2025 at the Karibe Hotel.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Following his official appointment, US President Donald Trump has asked the three Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to resign, which the authority has now confirmed. The PCLOB is an independent data protection supervisory authority in the USA and an important element in the legitimization of data transfers under the EU-US data protection framework (Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework, TADPF for short). The first two attempts at a data transfer agreement between the EU and the USA  Safe Harbour and Privacy Shield  failed in the past following legal action by the data protection NGO noyb before the European Court of Justice.

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Stefan Hessel Stefan Hessel is a lawyer and salary partner at reuschlaw in Saarbrucken. As Head of Digital Business, he advises national and international companies on data protection, cyber security and IT law.

Christina Kiefer Christina Kiefer is a lawyer and Senior Associate in the Digital Business Unit at reuschlaw.

In the resignation of the three members, noyb now sees a first hole in the TADPF. This agreement between the EU Commission and the US government is the central basis for the adequacy decision for data transfers to the USA, which has been in force since June 10, 2023. This has put an end to years of legal uncertainty. Since then, controllers who transfer personal data to the USA do not have to agree any additional safeguards if the recipient in the USA is certified under the EU-US data protection framework. If the adequacy decision is abolished, companies on both sides of the Atlantic will once again face considerable legal uncertainty.

The role of the PCLOB



Among other things, the PCLOB examines whether national security measures guarantee an adequate level of data protection. This is to ensure that they do not have a disproportionate impact on privacy and civil liberties. However, such independent supervisory bodies clash with Trump's understanding of the constitution. According to the Unitary Executive Theory advocated by Trump, the entire executive branch is under the sole control of the president. Accordingly, the president also has the right to appoint and dismiss all executive officials and to oversee their work. Trump has already made extensive use of the powers derived from this in his first days in office.

In the meantime, the PCLOB has announced that the members concerned have been dismissed by the White House. However, the authority has stated that it is able to continue its work and is awaiting the appointment of new members. If one follows this interpretation, the dismissal could merely serve the purpose of ensuring that the Trump administration has a stronger influence on the PCLOB through new Republican representatives. The maximum five-member board requires three active members in order to be operational. A Republican re-nomination would therefore not affect the existence of the PCLOB as an independent supervisory body.

Executive Order as a shaky foundation

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The PCLOB performs certain tasks necessary to maintain the EU-US data protection framework in accordance with Executive Order 14086. Executive Order 14086 is a presidential order issued by President Joe Biden in 2022. As such, however, it can be amended or rescinded at any time by a new Executive Order issued by a sitting President. It therefore remains to be seen if and when Donald Trump will make any changes.

One of the executive orders signed on January 20, 2025 provides for all of Biden's national security decisions to be reviewed within 45 days and, if necessary, revoked. This is the basis for noyb's concerns that the current data agreement could be on the brink of collapse: "Since the entire agreement is based on Biden's executive orders, Trump could cancel all key elements of the agreement with a single signature." Writes noyb in its own blog and concludes: "This would make data transfers between the EU and the US illegal with immediate effect."

Is the data protection framework collapsing?

It remains to be seen whether the EU-US data protection framework will be affected by this. It should not be overlooked that even a US president does not govern completely detached from the other democratic institutions. For example, another of Donald Trump's decrees was immediately halted by a US federal judge. Moreover, some of the 46 decrees signed on the first day are more Trump PR than substantive instructions for action. It therefore remains to be seen whether a scenario in which the existing adequacy decision is jeopardized will occur at all. One argument against this is that the EU-US data protection framework, unlike the AI regulations repealed by Trump, does not represent a direct burden for US companies. However, a threat to transatlantic data traffic would jeopardize the economic activities of US companies on the EU market.

What the first few days should teach us Europeans

It is clear that an erosion of the EU-US data protection framework poses a risk to the existing adequacy decision and thus to transatlantic data transfers. Further developments will also depend on whether the EU Commission finds ways and means of dealing with Donald Trump and influencing him in the interests of Europe. In addition to the increased use of European solutions, conceivable means of exerting pressure include, in particular, requiring US companies to conduct their European business via EU branches and to guarantee exclusive data processing in the European Economic Area.

Should the adequacy decision fall despite all efforts, data controllers can still fall back on standard contractual clauses. Although this will not make data transfers to the USA impossible, it will involve significantly more effort. Data exporters must then check on a case-by-case basis whether the clauses guarantee an adequate level of data protection, taking into account the legal situation and legal practice in the third country. If this is not the case, additional protective measures must be taken. Anyone who does not yet have a complete overview of their data transfers to the USA and other third countries should obtain this as soon as possible.

The official communication from the PCLOB can be found here. The statement from noyb on the NGO's blog.

(dmk)
The GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 will go on sale on January 30. Nvidia usually sets the starting signal for 3 pm. However, interested parties are likely to have a hard time: Nvidia confirms speculation in its forum that availability will be poor at the start.

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Nvidia itself argues that it expects high demand. Recently and weeks, however, there have been increasing reports from manufacturers and retailers that there will be hardly any stock to begin with. Videocardz writes without citing a source that Nvidia has provided partner manufacturers with final BIOS versions too late. However, these are necessary before the graphics cards are packaged and shipped. Added to this are the Chinese New Year holidays, with production being heavily scaled back.

On the website of the South Korean mall TagTag, partner manufacturer Zotac writes that its models of the GeForce RTX 5090 will not be available until February. However, the GeForce RTX 5080 will be available at the launch on January 30.

Various websites and X-accounts disagree on whether the delivery problems could last a few weeks or several months.

Moderate increase in performance

Numerous tests of the first two RTX 5000 graphics cards are now online. According to these tests, the GeForce RTX 5090 is on average almost 30 percent faster than the GeForce RTX 4090 in 4K resolution. The RTX 5080 is only up to 15 percent ahead of the RTX 4080 Super  in lower resolutions, the lead shrinks to five percent. The biggest advantage of the 5000 series is the support for Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 4.

Contact points for graphics cards at the start of sales include the retailers Alternate, Caseking, Mindfactory and Notebooksbilliger. The latter store sells Nvidia's Founders Editions in Germany. Foraum operates bots that draw attention to available offers for the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080.

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(mma)
Employees of the SAP software group will receive an average 2.4 percent pay rise retroactively to the beginning of the year. This was announced by the company's works council and IG Metall. The employee representatives had previously demanded a salary increase of at least five percent. Works Council Chairman Eberhard Schick is correspondingly disappointed: this increase will not motivate the workforce to fill the gaps created by the departure of many experienced colleagues. Most recently, 3500 employees left the company in Germany.

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IG Metall: An inadequate result

The actual salary increases depend on the management's assessment of performance, according to IG Metall. Half of the workforce did not reach the average value, but the works council tried to avoid a zero increase for most employees. For the majority of employees, the employee representatives are expecting an increase of at least 0.72 percent. From our perspective as a trade union, this is a more than inadequate result for SAP employees, says Julia Wegner, trade union secretary at IG Metall in Heidelberg.

SAP, on the other hand, points out that the salary increase not only raises the annual target salary, but also increases the contributions to the company pension scheme and employee shares. Considering the employer contributions and the current economic development of the company, employee share ownership would lead to an average increase of 5.3 percent. According to IG Metall, many employees also benefit from the strong business figures through bonus payments. These have risen by between 8 and 16 percent.

Union sees career starters at a disadvantage

IG Metall has also criticized SAP's salary policy towards young professionals. Although they are part of the Early Talents Program for the first two to three years, for which an additional salary budget is available, they do not receive any salary increases if they were not employed by the company on the cut-off date.

If employees no longer count as Early Talents after this period, the SAP salary system massively disadvantages those who want to become significantly more valuable to the company by gaining professional experience, says Johannes Reich, representative of the works council list Pro Mitbestimmung of IG Metall. This particularly affects employees in the first ten years of their career. The software company did not comment on this.

In the last financial year, SAP increased its turnover by 10 percent to 34.2 billion euros. However, at 3.15 billion euros, only half of the profit from 2024 remained. The company had spent several billion on severance payments for thousands of employees who left the company voluntarily or took early retirement. The job cuts are part of the strategy to drive forward the artificial intelligence business.

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(sfe)
"With global markets in a state of transformation, now is the right time to build or strengthen trade relations with India," said Paivi Pohjanheimo , Director of International Affairs at the Finland Chamber of Commerce.

Finland and India already have strong trade and investment ties, but there is still significant untapped potential, according to the Finland Chamber of Commerce. Indias economy is expanding steadily at an annual rate of 67% and is on track to become the worlds third-largest economy.

India aims to become an industrialised and developed nation by 2047, marking 100 years of independence. Pohjanheimo noted that the countrys strategic role in global trade is constantly growing.

"India is working to solidify its position as a key global and commercial player, committed to strengthening diverse relationships with the EU, the United States, and other Western partners," she said.

India and the EU have resumed negotiations on a trade agreement after a long break. Pohjanheimo said Indias stable economic growth makes it attractive for international companies seeking large consumer markets with strong purchasing power.

"India has a young population and a growing middle class. For companies considering risk management and evaluating production locations, Indias appeal is increasing," she said.

Finland and India maintain positive bilateral relations, with trade and investment continuing to develop. Pohjanheimo highlighted the vast opportunities available for Finnish expertise and solutions across multiple industries.

"Finnish companies have significant opportunities in this massive market across various sectors," she said.

The DESI strategy, which supports Finnish exports to India, highlights key focus areas such as information technology, digitalisation, renewable energy, education, healthcare, water-related solutions, and the service sector.

"Now is the right time for companies to seize growth opportunities in India. New initiatives, such as the EU-India trade negotiations, clearly indicate India's commitment to deepening cooperation with Western partners," Pohjanheimo said.

The Finland Chamber of Commerce has released a market report on India, providing insights into its trade opportunities.

HT
On Tuesday, the Finnish public broadcaster reported that such asylum seekers are suspected in connection with about 50 reports of offences submitted to law enforcement officials.

A SPOKESPERSON at the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) has provided YLE with more information about the roughly 1,300 asylum seekers who have crossed the eastern border into Finland since 2023.

While the officials have not provided details on individual reports, they have revealed that the reports deal primarily with violent and property crimes. Police have also received a smaller number of reports about sex crimes, drug offences, traffic violations and offences committed against authorities.

The KRP spokesperson said police are collaborating with other authorities to prevent crimes.

Around 1,300 third-country citizens have entered the country across the eastern border since the second half of 2023. The Finnish government decided at the end of 2023 to close border-crossing points on the border, citing the weaponisation of migrants in a hybrid influence operation by Russia.

The spokesperson also revealed that police have identified a few dozen asylum seekers who could in theory pose a threat to internal security in Finland. Such estimates are based on various factors, including personal background, previous activities, intelligence received from national or international authorities and suspected involvement in criminal activity after their arrival in Finland.

Typically only a limited amount of information can be cobbled together on an asylum seeker immediately upon their arrival.

A considerable share of the third-country citizens have also disappeared since their arrival. At some point approximately 35 per cent have been unaccounted for, the spokesperson wrote to YLE on Tuesday.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
The team consists of firefighter-paramedics who have voluntarily applied for the role and received specialised training, primarily from the Helsinki Police Department.

Helsinkis Rescue Department is introducing a specialised Rescue Task Force (RTF) to enhance emergency response in high-risk situations. The unit will be deployed in scenarios involving serious threats, such as incidents with weapons, where traditional rescue methods are insufficient.

Training has also been supplemented with expertise from international sources. The goal is to provide faster and safer patient rescue operations in critical situations.

"In emergencies where highly trained rescue personnel handle evacuations and first aid, police officers can focus on apprehending the suspect," said Patrik Karlsson, head of the Helsinki Police Command Centre. "Police have provided tactical training to ensure the safety of rescue personnel during operations."

The unit will operate under police protection and use enhanced equipment, including ballistic protective gear, specialised communication tools, and advanced evacuation equipment. The team is also capable of performing life-saving emergency procedures in high-threat environments.

The RTF unit will be on standby 24/7 and will work closely with emergency medical services, police, and other rescue teams. Helsinki police respond to nearly 200,000 emergency calls annually, making rapid response a critical factor.

"Around-the-clock readiness ensures that specially trained rescue personnel can be deployed with minimal delay," Karlsson added.

The unit will begin operations in spring 2025 and is the first of its kind in Finland. Similar task forces already operate in other Nordic capitals, including Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo.

Marko Rostedt, director of the Helsinki Rescue Department, emphasised that such a model should be adopted more widely.

"The world is changing, and rescue services must actively monitor and respond to shifts in the operational environment," Rostedt said.

HT
The strike will begin in two phases. Logistics workers will walk out on 17 February, followed by supermarket employees on 19 February.

Finland is bracing for a large-scale retail strike that could see thousands of supermarkets and logistics centres shut down in February. The Service Union United (PAM) has issued a strike warning after negotiations with the Finnish Commerce Federation collapsed, affecting over 70,000 workers across the country.

The action will impact all major grocery chains, including K-Market, K-Supermarket, K-Citymarket, Alepa, Sale, S-Market, Prisma, Sokos, Lidl, Halpa-Halli, and Tokmanni. Some ABC convenience stores will also be affected.

PAM chair Annika Ronni-Sallinen said the union was left with no choice after talks stalled.

We must use other means to move forward and secure decent pay rises for low-income workers, she told Yle. We hope people understand that our members need these wage increases.

In total, more than 3,000 stores, offices, and logistics hubs will be impacted. During the strike, no work covered by the retail sectors collective agreement will be carried out at these locations.

The dispute centres on wage increases, with PAM and other trade unions under the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) demanding a 10% pay rise over two years.

The Industrial Union has announced its support for the retail strike with sympathy action starting on 17 February. At the same time, industrial workers in the technology sector are preparing for further walkouts, adding pressure on employers.

HT
What we need to recover from Helene

Nathan Ramsey

It isnt correct to say the federal and state governments havent been helping WNC in the aftermath of Helene.

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FEMA has already provided almost $700 million in direct and public assistance, and it is still providing housing in hotels for almost 3,000 households; FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers have already removed almost 4 million cubic yards of debris; Army Corps has invested over $40 million in a water filtration system so Asheville and the region has drinkable water; NCDOT has reopened most of the roadways and bridges mostly paid for with federal money; Congress has appropriated funding so FEMA, SBA, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies have disaster funding to help us. The state of North Carolina has appropriated around $1 billion to assist WNC, much of that money will be used for the required state match for federal funding.

So what do we still need?

There is not any public funding to help average working people rebuild their homes. Many homes were destroyed and private insurance isnt paying. Federal funding will generally help low-income households below 50 percent of the regions Average Median Income, which is generally below $50,000 depending on family size. If you earn more than that, then we dont have a good solution now outside of philanthropy and volunteer assistance.

Grants, not loans, for small business

Many local businesses are struggling to remain open. They have suffered significant financial losses. There are some small grant programs but most of these businesses must rely on low-interest loans. Most of these businesses already had debt and they cannot take on more debt even at favorable terms. These businesses need a grant program tied to job retention similar to the Payroll Protection Program where if they meet certain benchmarks then the funding will be a grant not required to be repaid.

We need more expansive support to rebuild private roads and bridges. There was initially language in the federal disaster supplemental legislation passed in December but that language was removed when the 1,500-page bill was reduced to under 200 pages. FEMA Individual Assistance can help now with private roads and bridges but it is challenging when there are multiple homes using the same private road and bridge.

We need more direct support for local governments. At the same time they are required to do more to respond to Helene, their revenue sources from sales taxes and property taxes are cratering. They need help with revenue replacement to help them get through the next few years. Otherwise, they wont have the capacity to help our communities rebuild.

Cover the gap

We need significantly more state assistance. State funds can be more flexible and nimble than federal funds. While the state cannot print money, North Carolina still has historic reserves that they can dedicate to the rebuilding of WNC. We know state funds cannot do this alone but they can leverage other funding sources and fill in critical gaps.

We need another federal disaster funding package dedicated to WNC. The legislation passed in December was a good start but we will need much more  tens of billions more. We realize Congress now has to respond to the Southern California wildfires and many in Congress want to cut federal spending. WNC not recover completely without much more federal support. We appreciate the attention from federal leaders and we need them to push forward with another funding bill. We dont need to convince the North Carolinas congressional delegation as they have our backs. But our members of Congress cannot do this without bicameral and bipartisan support from other states.

Hurricane Helene resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives and left behind $60 billion in damages. Right now we are facing more than $25 billion in uncompensated losses unless more federal and state support is directed to Western North Carolina.

WE NEED HELP AND WE NEED IT NOW!

* * * * *

Nathan Ramsey served as a Republican member of the N.C. General Assembly from 2013 to 2014 and as chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners from 2000 to 2008. A native of Fairview, he graduated from AC Reynolds High School, UNC Asheville and the University of Tennessee College of Law. He is executive director of the Land of Sky Regional Council. He and his wife, Robin, live on the family dairy farm. After spotting this post on Facebook, the Lightning got Nathans permission to run it in this weeks issue.
THE main stage could be moved to a new location for this years Christmas festival in Henley, following concerns about crowd size.

Last November, thousands descended on the town centre for the annual event, which is organised by the town council.

Roads were closed to accommodate dozens of stalls offering hot food, refreshments, gifts and fairground rides, as well as performers and entertainers.

A bumper turnout was enjoyed which was partially due to favourable weather conditions, which were chilly but dry.

At a meeting of the councils town and community committee on Tuesday last week, councillors discussed feedback from the community, including concerns about navigating the festival amid heaving crowds.

Councillor Sara Kandiah, who attended the festival in a wheelchair because of an injury, said she felt vulnerable due to the amount of people there.

She said: Yes, it was very atmospheric but it was incredibly crowded and I must admit I felt pretty vulnerable in a wheelchair.

I think having had the experience of being in a wheelchair and being in the midst of the crowds, I do have some suggestions as to how to make it a safer place for people who are a bit more vulnerable.

It did feel it was very atmospheric but I did feel very vulnerable and there was no safe escape plan for me.

She asked whether the council would be conducting a community survey to gather feedback about the event.

Councillors Glen Lambert and Tom Buckley had also felt that the crowds had caused issues in certain areas.

Cllr Lambert said: The last couple of years weve had it freezing cold or pouring rain. It was really good conditions this time. I had a walk around and there were some very dodgy pinch points where it was very crowded.

Cllr Buckley said: The biggest one was when everything finished and everyone poured down Market Place and you just had to hope that you were able to get by.

Town centre manager Paul Carey said that he hadnt planned on conducting a survey, but that the stage could be moved in front of the town hall for the next festival.

He said: Its something we could discuss at an events sub-committee. We have got plans to move the stage, which will make a big difference. I think that alone will make a huge difference to the flow in Market Place.

I also personally would also put in fewer stalls, certainly around the crossing, to widen those corners.

Councillor Ian Reissmann said: I think we run the risk a bit of throwing out the baby with the bath water.

It was a great event and it was almost a victim of its own success because it was so popular. It had a good atmosphere. I did go down there and walk around, and I had to walk around quite slowly, there could have been a bit more room but it was great.

Councillor Gill Dodds also commented on the Christmas market, which was held in Market Place at the beginning of December for the first time.

It featured 10 alpine huts which were rented out to vendors selling seasonal crafts and gifts.

The market was set up by the town council with support from creative companys the Creative Duck and the Maker Space. Mr Carey said that traders had indicated they would be interested in returning for another Christmas market this year.

Cllr Dodds said: It could have looked a bit more Christmassy and these craft fairs tend to be a lot of the same stuff.

Whereas, if you think of a German festival, which is what were trying to emulate a bit, food is a big draw and it has a much more Christmassy feel to it somehow.

Mayor Rory Hunt said he had received similar feedback.

Mr Carey said: The main reason I didnt go down that route is that it was trying to bring something different to the town that wasnt there.

We only had 10 huts so theres only so much you can do. If youre Bath and youve got 200 huts you can do all of that stuff but we arent.

The idea was to have gifting stuff for Christmas and I believe a lot of them did fairly well. If youre going to do food, then my feeling was youre taking away from the Pavilion and the Argyll a little bit, right on top of them, right at Christmas.

Cllr Buckley suggested the arts and crafts offering could be augmented by approaching vendors from the local farmers market to be included in future Christmas markets.
Video Calling Apps

Video calling has become a staple for staying connected, especially during events like the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person visits were limited. Apps like Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype are easy to use and allow seniors to see their loved ones in real-time, fostering a sense of closeness.

For example, a study published by the National Institutes of Health highlighted how video communication tools significantly reduce feelings of loneliness among older adults. Seniors who regularly use these apps report better emotional well-being and improved relationships with family members. Specialized apps such as Care.ly also help caregivers stay connected by offering features like shared calendars and health updates.

Building upon the advantages of video calls, these platforms empower caregivers to check in visually, ensuring seniors are safe and well without requiring frequent in-person visits.

The Orlando Senior Help Desk, a service of Jewish Pavilion Senior Services, can assist seniors with learning to use these apps effectively, enabling them to remain socially engaged with family and friends.

Health Monitoring Wearables

Wearable devices are another game-changer in senior care technology. Devices like the Apple Watch, Fitbit, and fall-detection systems such as Life Alert allow real-time monitoring of seniors health. These tools can track vital signs, detect falls, and send instant alerts to caregivers.

For instance, a senior wearing a smartwatch can share their heart rate, blood oxygen, or activity levels directly with their caregiver or doctor. This creates a seamless flow of information that enables caregivers to respond promptly in emergencies. A report from the American Medical Association highlights the positive impact of remote health monitoring on senior care outcomes.

Wearable devices also contribute to better communication by providing caregivers with objective health data. This reduces misunderstandings and ensures everyone involved in the seniors care has accurate information.

Once again, the Orlando Senior Help Desk can help seniors and their loved ones select or set up wearable health devices to ensure their safety and well-being.

As senior care technology continues to evolve, initiatives like the Orlando Senior Help Desk and Jewish Pavilion Senior Services are helping bridge the gap between seniors and the tools they need to stay connected and healthy. By empowering seniors to use technology effectively, these programs are improving the quality of life for older adults and their caregivers alike.

To learn more about the Orlando Senior Help Desk, visit OrlandoSeniorHelpDesk.org or call 407-678-9363. To find out how Jewish Pavilion Senior Services brings joy and Jewish culture to hundreds of seniors in 50 senior-living communities by visiting JewishPavilion.org.
(JNS)  Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday night welcomed the return of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari from Hamas captivity.

We are happy and excited about your return and await the return of the remaining hostagesthrough the use of [military] force, cutting off fuel [to Gaza] and stopping the flow of humanitarian aid [to Hamas]not through surrender, tweeted Ben-Gvir.

Ben-Gvirs Otzma Yehudit Party formally resigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government on Sunday morning, a day after Jerusalem approved the ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist group.

Flanked by members of his party, Ben-Gvir said on Thursday that the deal means the end of the war before Hamas is beaten, adding that he had pleaded with the prime minister in a private meeting to jettison the deal, which he said gives a prize to terror.

Calling it a reckless deal, the Otzma Yehudit leader said the agreement will set free hundreds of murderous terrorists, pull the IDF from the Egypt-Gaza border and return thousands of terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip.

The deal will, in fact, erase the achievements of the war, he said.

Otzma Yehudit controls six seats in the Knesset.
(JNS) - The first three female hostages freed by Hamas terrorists during the current ceasefire have been released from the hospital, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan announced on Sunday.

Former Gaza captives Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, completed their tests and initial medical treatment at the hospital, according to the statement, which noted that "Sheba Medical Center will continue to support them and their families."

The ex-hostages and their relatives were expected to move to the nearby Kfar Maccabiah Hotel following their release as they need continued medical follow-up.

Gonen, Damari and Steinbrecher were handed over by Hamas terrorists to a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Jan. 19, as part of the ceasefire agreement with the terrorist group.

Following an initial medical examination and reunion with their mothers at the Israel Defense Forces reception point near the Gaza border and their subsequent transfer to the hospital via helicopter, Sheba Medical Center General Hospital Director Dr. Yael Frenkel Nir told reporters that the women's physical condition was good enough to allow them to focus on reuniting with other family members.

Damari lost two of her fingers when she was shot by Hamas gunmen during the Oct. 7, 2023, kidnapping from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

In a Channel 12 report vetted by Israel's military censor and approved by the hostages that was published on Jan. 20, the three released captives recalled being held in underground facilities for 471 days with little medical attention, tremendous uncertainty and, at times, despair.
(JTA) - Hamas released four hostages on Saturday in a choreographed ceremony in Gaza, making them the second group of captives to go free in the ceasefire.

The four hostages released on Saturday are Daniela Gilboa, Liri Albag, Naama Levy and Karina Ariev. All are Israeli soldiers. Before being allowed to return to Israel after nearly 16 months in captivity, they were paraded across a stage in Gaza wearing green fatigues, against a banner with English, Arabic and Hebrew slogans such as "Zionism will not win" and "Palestine - the victory of the oppressed people vs the Nazi Zionism." They also received gift bags.

The four captives smiled and waved as they walked across the stage in front of a crowd, which, according to Israeli media, was meant to be a show of strength in the face of their captors. The event contrasted with the release of three Israeli women hostages on Sunday, Jan. 19, which came with images of the captives leaving Gaza amid a crowd of Hamas gunmen.

The release on Saturday came amid tensions over the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is due to last six weeks. Israel had expected the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian, but she is being held by Islamic Jihad, another Gaza terror group, and did not go free. She is reportedly due to be released next week, along with American Keith Siegel and Agam Berger, another female Israeli soldier.

The other civilian woman still in captivity is Shiri Bibas, who was abducted with her children Kfir and Ariel. Hamas said early in the war that all three of those members of the Bibas family had been killed, but Israel has not confirmed that allegation. Yarden Bibas, Shiri's husband and the father of the two boys, is also still in captivity.

In response to Arbel not being released, Israel delayed the return of Palestinians to north Gaza, which was due to begin on Saturday. Israel also released 200 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the four hostages, many of whom were serving life sentences for murdering Israelis and other acts of terror.

A total of 90 hostages are still being held in Gaza, dozens of whom have been confirmed to be dead. Hamas was due to provide details as to the condition of some of them, though the extent of that information remains unclear.

The release on Saturday came six days after Hamas released Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, all civilian women. In exchange, Israel released some 90 Palestinian security prisoners.

The second stage of the ceasefire, which has yet to be negotiated, would see Israel fully withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. A third stage would see the rest of the hostages be released as reconstruction of Gaza begins.
(JNS)  The three Israeli hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza Sunday recalled in testimonies how they helped each other survive for 471 days amid uncertainty and lacking medical care, Israels Channel 12 reported.

In statements vetted by the military censor and approved by the hostages for publication, they recalled living in underground facilities with little medical attention, tremendous uncertainty and, at times, despair.

Emily Damari, who has a leg injury and lost two fingers on her left hand during Hamass Oct. 7, 2023, attacks was treated in captivity by Romi Gonen, another of the hostages freed on Sunday and who is a trained paramedic, according to the report.

One of the hostages, whom Channel 12 did not identify, said: I didnt think Id return, I was certain that Id die in Gaza.

The three released hostagesGonen, Damari and Doron Steinbrecherwere initially held together, but became separated at some point, according to the report. Damari and Gonen were moved dozens of times between different hiding places, both above and below ground.

The hostages rarely saw the light of day and were held in underground facilities most of the time. However, they were temporarily imprisoned in humanitarian compounds originally intended for displaced Gazans, according to the report.

During their captivity, the hostages cooked and cared for each other, and some of them received medication. One hostage underwent a medical procedure without anesthesia.

The women noted that they gained limited access to television and radio broadcasts in captivity.

We saw your struggle, we heard our families fighting, one of the women told her relatives, who participated in rallies and lobbying for the hostages release. We realized that our families had survived, but we discovered that we had lost a great many friends.

They also said they were scared to death during their transfer from Hamas hands to the Red Cross.

Ninety-four hostages remain in captivity, 30 of whom are to return to Israel in the coming weeks during the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

The remaining 64 hostages are to be released in the second and third phases, according to a schedule that has yet to be announced.
(JNS)  Harvard University has resolved two federal lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination on campus with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education.

As part of the agreement, Harvard will incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of antisemitism, and the contemporary examples appended to the definition, when evaluating whether alleged discrimination violates the universitys non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies.

Harvard University was sued in May 2024 for antisemitic discrimination against Jewish students in the wake of pro-Palestinan campus protests that emerged after Hamass Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Southern Israel.

Kenneth Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education, told JNS that Harvards announcement marks a shift beyond symbolic gestures.

What is so important about Harvards incorporation of the IHRA working definition is that they are not merely using it for educational purposes, he said. They are committing to weaving it into their nondiscrimination policies and practices.

This is something that every college and university should do, Marcus added. Most of them have been resisting it.

IHRAs non-legally binding, working definition, which the group adopted in 2016, includes examples of Jew-hatred like comparing Israel to Nazis or unfairly criticizing the Jewish state. Some 43 countries have adopted the definition, as have international organizations and state and local governments.

It is part and parcel of federal law, so it shouldnt be so hard to convince universities that they need to do it, Marcus told JNS. But were in a much better position as a result of this agreement, now that Harvard is publicly stating that it will be using this working definition of antisemitism for compliance purposes.

Marcus thinks that Harvards adoption of the IHRA definition will be helpful when we are dealing with colleges and universities around the country. He also doesnt think its a coincidence that Harvard opted to settle the lawsuits as U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term.

I would call this a Trump effect, he said. Nobody wants to have pending litigation when the new sheriff comes to town. I would credit the force of President Trumps statements about campus antisemitism as a significant reason why so many colleges have been more interested in resolving cases in recent weeks than they had been prior to the general election.

Marcus told JNS that the agreement could set a precedent for how colleges address campus Jew-hatred. We see this as a pivotal moment, he said. Its not so much that antisemitic incidents will stop, but that more administrators will be prepared to address the incidents as they arise.

College administrators have resisted doing the right thing, and a lot of them have been reluctant to change their approach unless their peers are doing the same, Marcus told JNS. Having Harvard University on board means that we will be able to point to this standard every single day, and it will be the new floor for future agreements and will be the new standard for future compliance.

Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law School professor, told JNS that the resolution of the lawsuit will be a turning point for the university.

I think you can really trace the need for this settlement as a clarification back to the infamous Capitol Hill hearing with president Claudine Gay, in which the president of the university was pushed to answer this somewhat complex and difficult legal question about Harvards rules, he said.

Thats one of the reasons that this settlement is, in my perspective, good for the university as well as being good for the plaintiffs, because it clarifies something that might not have needed clarification were it not for those events, Feldman said. But because of those events, its very valuable to get clarification that antisemitism, just like racism and Islamophobia, are encompassed within the universitys anti-discrimination policies.

At the Dec. 5, 2023 hearing, Gay and the presidents of University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were asked repeatedly if calling for genocide against all Jews violated their campus policies. The presidents testified before the House education that calling for genocide of Jews wouldnt necessarily violate their procedures.

The university needs to be able to protect the academic freedom of all of the students, faculty and staff and simultaneously, it also needs to be able to assure that everyone whos in the university is treated equally and is not discriminated against or bullied or harassed, Feldman said.

Both of those objectives are, I would say, mission critical for the university, he said. Whats good about todays settlement is that, in my view, it really respects both of those objectives.

Lawrence Bacow, who was Harvards president from 2018 to 2023, told JNS that he is confident that the university will apply the IHRA definition thoughtfully in a way that respects freedom of speech.

Whenever Harvard acts, it attracts attention from other institutions, he said. Whether it prompts others to follow remains to be seen.
On Jan. 19, graffiti was painted on the Historic Oviedo Colored Schools Museum.

The graffiti included the racist SS lightning bolts symbol and hateful, explicit language.

Since then, a felony criminal mischief investigation has been launched.

Seminole County deputies said they painted over the graffiti.

The following is the Holocaust Centers statement:

On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida solemnly honors the 1.1 million victimsmost of whom were Jewishand the survivors whose resilience continues to in...
The Jewish Chamber of Commerce of Orlando invites community members to its free monthly Networking Breakfast, held the first Thursday of the month at One Senior Place, 7157 Lansdowne Blvd, Orlando, FL 32810. This event is free Ffor Chamber members. There is a nominal fee for nonmembers.

This monthly gathering is a great opportunity for local professionals to connect, collaborate, and build relationships in a welcoming and vibrant environment. The next breakfast is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 6, at 8:30 a.m.

The event, designed to foster networking and business development, features light brea...
The Jewish Pavilion Senior Services hosted a successful Sponsors Breakfast at Legacy Pointe recently, creating a welcoming space for board members, sponsors, and community leaders to connect over a shared commitment to supporting seniors in the Orlando area. The event was a unique opportunity for sponsors and board members to build lasting friendships while also engaging in meaningful business discussions that strengthen the organization's mission.

The event highlighted the Jewish Pavilion Senior Services' ongoing work to support the senior community, with a special focus on the resources prov...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)  Emily Damari (28), Doron Steinbrecher (31) and Romi Gonen (24) have begun their journey back to life at Sheba Medical Center following 471 days in Hamas captivity. Medical teams, having spent months preparing for the hostages return, prioritized the family reunions while establishing the foundation for an intricate medical and psychological rehabilitation process.

Following the hostages return, Hospital Director Dr. Yael Frankel Nir announced: I am deeply moved to report that we have received the three hostages. Their medical condition allows us to focus on family r...
(JTA)  Police in Tennessee are investigating whether an antisemitic manifesto posted online was written by a teenager accused of carrying out a fatal school shooting in Nashville on Jan. 22.

The alleged shooter at Antioch High School appears to have posted a livestream of the shooting as well as content on his social media accounts prior to the attack, in which one student was killed. The material was removed after its connection to the shooting became known.

According to The Tennessean newspaper, the materials attributed to the shooter, identified as Solomon Henderson, included statements pr...
(JNS)  The U.S. has provided Israel with a written guarantee that Jerusalem can resume its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip if negotiations for the second and third phases of the ceasefire agreement fail, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told JNS on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have provided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an official missive confirming that the State of Israel will be able to return to the war on day 43 if talks fail during the 42-day first phase of the agreement, Smotrich said, speaking at a meeting of his...
(JNS)  Israel-related issues dominated the Senate confirmation hearing of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Nearly every senator on the Foreign Relations Committee probed her views on the Jewish state and the region.

The congresswoman vowed to use her seat in Turtle Bay to combat antisemitism just as she had done in Congress.

If you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis, combined, Stefanik said. We need to be a voice of moral clari...
(JTA)  President Donald Trump says he has asked Jordan to accept Palestinians from Gaza and plans to press Egypt to do the same.

Trump said he spoke to Jordans King Abdullah II on Saturday, five days after being inaugurated for his second term and six days into a ceasefire that he pressed for in the Israel-Hamas war.

I said to him Id love you to take on more because Im looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and its a mess, its a real mess. Id like him to take people, Trump told reporters Saturday night aboard Air Force One following a rally in Las Vegas. Calling Gaza literally a d...
President Donald Trump said he is not confident that the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war will last, adding that the United States could help rebuild Gaza.

Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, made the comments following his inauguration Monday. A reporter asked whether he was confident he could keep the ceasefire in Gaza and conclude the three phases of the deal.

Im not confident, Trump responded. Thats not our war, its their war. Im not confident.

Then, presumably referring to Hamas, he added, But I think theyre very weakened on the other side.

Trump and his advisers were key t...
Sen. Cruz gives Trump drawings by children held hostage in Gaza

By JNS Staff

(JNS)  U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Sunday that he presented pictures drawn by Israeli children who were held hostage in Gaza to President-elect Donald Trump.

This week, I met with an Israeli hostage family who had been released from Gaza, Cruz wrote on X. The beautiful children drew pictures for President Trump, and they asked me to deliver them.

The Senator, who is a staunch defender of Israel and has emerged as a close ally of the president-elect, said that he gave the pictures to Trump personally on Sund...
(Gatestone Institute via JNS)  Those who think that the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas will abandon its jihad to murder Jews and destroy Israel in the aftermath of the recent ceasefire agreement are mistaken.

Although the agreement may put an end to the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, it does not, in any way, reflect a shift in the radical and dangerous ideology of the Islamist group, as outlined in its 1988 Covenant. The document quotes Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood organization (of which Hamas is an offshoot), as saying: Israel will ari...
(JNS)  The last few weeks have not been good for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees. They were, therefore, good for humanity as two senior UNRWA staffers indicated in a New York Times article that the U.N. agency will shut operations in Judea and Samaria, and the Gaza Strip.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman, Yuli Edelstein, welcomed the report. Edelsteins committee shepherded a new law through the Knesset that declares UNRWA to be a terrorist organization and bans it in Israel. The law is to take effect on Jan. 28.

The United States should follo...
Israel is celebrating the release and homecoming of three hostages this past week. At the same time Israel is grieving for the hostages and families that are not on the list of the 33 to be released in this stage of the current deal with Hamas. Thats assuming that Hamas does not violate the deal.

Its expected that at least one third of the hostages to be released in this current six-week phase are already dead. At least their families will have closure. But at such a price.

To secure the release of the first three, Israel had to release 90 hardened Palestinian Arab terrorists, some of whose...
(JNS)  In the realm of cinema, where the boundaries between good and evil are sharply drawn and the villains are unmistakably monstrous, one might imagine a collision as stark and tragic as the one currently unfolding in the Middle East. The reality, however, is far from fiction. The contrast between two societiesone fighting to protect its citizens and the other entrenched in a culture of violenceis painfully evident. The fragile ceasefire brokered to exchange hostages and prisoners has exposed not just a sliver of hope, but also the enduring abyss of hatred that fuels Hamas.

The scenes of...
(JNS)  Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has drawn some fire as a result of his legislative initiative in proposing the Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israels Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-Use of Judea and Samaria Actfor short, the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Bill. In essence, it requires all official U.S. documents and materials to use the historically accurate term Judea and Samaria instead of the West Bank. Moreover, it calls the term West Bank as language that is politically charged.

Writing last month in the New Republic, Hafiz Rashid, a jo...
President Donald Trump has betrayed his oath, our country and our safety by pardoning and commuting sentences for 1,500 Jan. 6, 2021, violent rioters. Voters elected him because they wanted lower prices for eggs and housing, not a release of violent criminals. What happened to Republicans who (falsely) claim they back the Blue?

We are horrified the president released from prison rioters, including people who violently assaulted and gravely wounded 140 police officers protecting senators, congresspeople and their staff and families. J6 domestic terrorists savagely beat, crushed and stomped on Capitol and Washington, D.C., police officers. These violent criminals fractured skulls, caused one officer to lose an eye, another to lose two fingers, caused heart attacks and concussions. Five officers lost their lives resulting from that traumatic day.

We are all less safe now. One notorious J6 rioter, the QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley, posted on X: Thank you, President Trump  now Im going to buy a mother (explicative) gun. The message is alarming for our future: if you support Trump, you can get away with criminal, even violent, acts.

These pardons are different from preemptive pardons President Joe Biden gave to protect General Mark Milley, the Jan. 6 Committee, and others to prevent often-promised revenge against an enemies list of lawful opposition threatened by Trump and his enablers.

Mary Tomlinson

Baker City
Israel will cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Thursday following accusations it provided cover for Hamas militants, a move likely to hamper delivery of its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.

The agency, UNRWA, will be banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials will also be forbidden.

UNRWA has provided support for Palestinian refugees around the Middle East for over 70 years, but has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country's security.

The hostility intensified in the wake of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with accusations that UNRWA employees participated in the assault.

"Humanitarian aid doesn't equal UNRWA, and UNRWA doesn't equal humanitarian aid. UNRWA equals an organization infested with Hamas terror activity," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein wrote on social media platform X ahead of the ban.

"This is why, beginning on January 30 and in accordance with Israeli law, Israel will have no contact with UNRWA."

The agency's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those living in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas.

Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists on Wednesday that "UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives", adding that "if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists".

"UNRWA employs over 1,200 Hamas members, including terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre," Mencer said. "This isn't aid, it's direct financial support for terror."

Later on Wednesday, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition by Palestinian human rights group Adalah contesting the UNRWA ban.

The court did note that the legislation "prohibits UNRWA activity only on the sovereign territory of the State of Israel", but "does not prohibit such activity in the areas of Judea-Samaria and the Gaza Strip", referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.

The ban does apply, however, to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where UNRWA has a field headquarters for its operations in the West Bank.

In a statement reacting to the judgement, Adalah said the law would come into effect "disregarding the catastrophic humanitarian consequences".

The move, which has been backed by Israel's close ally the United States, has drawn condemnation from aid groups and US allies.

The agency says it has brought in 60 percent of the food aid that has reached Gaza since the war started with Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel.

Israeli envoy to the United Nations Danny Danon told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in annexed east Jerusalem on Thursday.

In response, UN chief Antonio Guterres demanded that Israel rescind its order.

"I regret this decision and request that the government of Israel retract it," he said, stressing that UNRWA was "irreplaceable".

The agency's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said UNRWA's capacity to distribute aid "far exceeds that of any other entity".

He called Israel's actions against UNRWA a "relentless assault... harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory".

Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly 2023 attack, and insists that other agencies can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction -- something the UN and many donor governments dispute.

A series of investigations, including one led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.

Under US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this month, Washington has thrown its weight behind Israel's move, accusing UNRWA of overstating the impact of the decision.
Fighting desperately to cling on to coal mines that were once the lifeblood of its industrial east, Ukraine's soldiers conceded they were struggling against intensifying Russian attacks.

"There's only so much we can do. No matter what super warriors are fighting in our ranks, the Russians outnumber us. It hurts," said the chief sergeant of Ukraine's 59th brigade, deployed in the Donetsk region, who goes by the call sign "San Sanych".

Russia's army is around six kilometres (four miles) from the centre of Pokrovsk, a formerly thriving mining hub on top of Ukraine's largest coal reserves.

The capture of the city and surrounding mines -- some of which are even closer to Russian positions -- would be a painful blow to Ukraine's army, local communities and the national economy, compounding months of setbacks on the front.

Earlier this month, the area's main mine operator, Pokrovsk Coal, which employed 10,000 before the war, suspended operations.

It was Ukraine's last producer of coking coal, a key component in the production of steel.

Now some of its shuttered facilities in the village of Udachne are being used by San Sanych's brigade.

Hills of rock dump offer soldiers a vantage point over the surrounding terrain, while the caverns, shafts and basements provide underground safety.

But he was unsure how long they would have enough men or ammunition to hold on.

Life has long revolved around mining in Ukraine's eastern Donbas, the industrial heartland of the Soviet Union that Russia claimed in 2022 to have annexed from Kyiv.

With the closure of the Pokrovsk mines, many workers relocated, but others were left in limbo in mostly deserted villages just a few kilometres from the front lines.

Galyna Rodionova, a control panel operator in Udachne, had seen the shut-down coming as her drive to work became increasingly dangerous.

"We would see flashes here, flashes there, booms here and there," the 39-year-old said.

"We kept working hard but we looked at each other, said, 'this is probably our last day here' and laughed."

Management sent most workers home, including Rodionova, after the mine was damaged in December.

She started working at a friend's pet store in a nearby village -- but life away from the mine felt alien.

"We grew up in these mines, we worked there, spent half of our lives in these mines. Everyone here is like that, in every city," she said, recounting gatherings to celebrate holidays and Miner's Day on 31 August.

As a little girl, Rodionova had been brought to the mines by her mother, who had no one to watch her while she worked.

Rodionova was proud of her work, a difficult job she had held for the past 12 years.

"It was hard work, but I liked working. I don't know if there was ever a day when I didn't work. I can't live without work," she said.

"You knew that you had a home, that you were earning money and could afford stuff. Now you don't know... We live day by day in these scary times," she said.

"Everything was shattered."

Some 10,000 people still live in Pokrovsk and the surrounding villages, local officials said -- down from 82,000 before the war.

Yury, a mine worker employed by one of the few sites that remain open, is one of them.

"If they close the mine, the region will die," he said, taking a puff from his cigarette before getting on the shuttle bus for a night shift.

"It's unrealistic to find a job other than mining in this city," 45-year-old underground electrician Maksym said.

Stepping out of the bus bringing him back from work at dusk, Maksym said he felt relatively safe in the deep underground tunnels that offered protection from strikes.

The main risk, he explained, was from hits to the transformers powering the mines.

"No power means no ventilation, which means there's not enough air," he said.

When that happens, the miners rush to climb hundreds of metres up ladders in a race to the surface for oxygen.

Maksym, who like many comes from a mining family, said he would only leave if the mine closed.

"I understand that there's a war and that I need to run away. But the feeling that you were born here, that you have your own house and memories, that's a feeling that is hard to leave, no matter how bad things are" he said.

Moving would also mean not being able to visit the grave of his mother, who died seven years ago.

"That'll just rip my soul apart," he said.
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.
The inaugural Autograph Collection Hotel in Phuket redefines hospitality by weaving natural beauty with cultural authenticity to create stays that are "Exactly Like Nothing Else"

Autograph Collection Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoy's portfolio of over 30 extraordinary hotel brands, announced the highly anticipated opening of Veranda Resort Phuket, Autograph Collection. As the first Autograph Collection Hotel in Phuket and third in Thailand, this stylish new resort will become a beacon for travelers seeking a unique blend of natural beauty and immersive cultural experiences.

Nestled on the sunset coast of the secluded Cape Panwa peninsula, just a short distance from Phuket's Old Town and overlooking the Andaman Sea and vibrant sunsets, this stylish retreat is inspired by the island's natural and cultural wonders. Veranda Resort Phuket, Autograph Collection is just 12km from Phuket Town, 24km from the tourist haven of Patong Beach, and 45km from Phuket International Airport.

"Phuket is one of the world's most iconic and idyllic resort destinations, an island paradise that seamlessly fuses tropical beauty with authentic heritage. Within this stunning setting, travelers can embark on deeply personal journeys that are defined by their originality," said Brad Edman, Market Vice President, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, Marriott International. "Following the opening of the two Autograph Collection Hotels in Bangkok, Thailand's dynamic capital city, we are thrilled to introduce the brand's original style and one-of-a-kind experiences to guests in Phuket."

With no two Autograph Collection hotels the same, each individual property offers a signature experience crafted through passion and expert skill, leaving a lasting imprint on guests. The overall design concept of Veranda Resort Phuket is inspired by the cultural tapestry and natural splendor of Phuket. The resort embraces "Fluid Wonder," an ethos that integrates local heritage, panoramic views, and contemporary aesthetics. Its design pays homage to the vibrant Sino-Portuguese architecture found in Phuket's Old Town, with soothing pastel colors and organic, curved forms, all blended with seamless, minimalist finishes. This thoughtful architectural approach allows guests to experience Phuket's rich heritage in a refined ambiance.

The resort offers 159 stylish guest rooms, chic suites and stunning pool villas, each thoughtfully designed with comfort and elegance in mind. Features include private terraces with expansive views of Ao Yon Bay, natural material finishes, and custom pieces by local artists and artisans. Each space is crafted to offer a peaceful retreat that captures the island's natural allure and cultural depth. With rooms that provide direct access to the resort's pool, beautiful beachfront suites, and breathtaking multi-bedroom villas, Veranda Resort Phuket sets the scene for every occasion, from romantic honeymoons to family vacations.

The resort's dining venues celebrate Phuket's gastronomy, with dishes that fuse local flavors with international techniques at The Parlour, a vibrant all-day restaurant overlooking Ao Yon Bay. From Hokkien noodles to the local favorite, o-aew jelly, each dish is crafted with locally sourced ingredients that honor the island's culinary legacy while adding a contemporary twist. Bar Botan is a sophisticated setting to come together and join the resort's community, with indoor and alfresco seating, and the pop-up Beach Bar invites guests to chill out on the pure shores.

Veranda Resort Phuket offers an array of exclusive amenities to help all guests unwind in nature. The Let's Relax Spa provides pampering for the body, soul and spirit with wellness experiences that blend the best of East and West, while the "Figure of Nature" pool is surrounded by flowering plants that bloom in different seasons. Panoramic views of Ao Yon Bay can be captured from cool cabanas and a unique circular gazebo with sunken seats. Additionally, the resort provides excursions to Phuket Town, allowing guests to explore the historic streets and savor local delicacies.

"I am delighted to introduce guests to Veranda Resort Phuket, Autograph Collection, which seamlessly blends tradition and modernity in a spectacular scenic setting. By immersing guests in Phuket's natural beauty, while also helping them to escape the bustling west coast and uncover the cultural charm of Phuket Town, every guest can find their own way to explore this inspiring destination," said Rome Panitkuljukkrawal, General Manager, Veranda Resort Phuket, Autograph Collection. "We look forward to welcoming all global explorers to Phuket."

Veranda Resort Phuket, Autograph Collection will participate in Marriott Bonvoy - the award-winning travel program from Marriott International - allowing members to earn and redeem points for their stay at the new hotel, and at other hotels and resorts across Marriott Bonvoy's extraordinary portfolio of brands. With the Marriott Bonvoy app, members enjoy a level of personalization and a contactless experience that allows them to travel with peace of mind.

To learn more and reserve your stay, please visit https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/hktvk-veranda-resort-phuket-autograph-collection/overview/.

Hotel website
The Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration is pleased to share it has selected an outstanding leader in the hotel industry, Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, to receive the 2025 Cornell Hospitality Icon of the Industry Award. The award is scheduled to be presented at the Cornell Icon and Innovator Awards event in New York City on June 3, 2025.

A renowned industry leader, Mark Hoplamazian was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyatt Hotels Corporation in December 2006. Over the course of his eighteen-year tenure, he has overseen Hyatts IPO, transformative growth and helped articulate the companys purpose: to care for people so they can be their best. Previously, Hoplamazian served as President of The Pritzker Organization, LLC (TPO), the principal financial and investment advisor to certain Pritzker family business interests. During his 17-year tenure with TPO, he served as an advisor to various Pritzker family-owned companies, including Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Hoplamazian previously worked in international mergers and acquisitions at The First Boston Corporation in New York.

We are so excited and honored to recognize Mark as this years Cornell Icon. Mark is a tremendous leader who, with his deep care for every colleague, guest, and stakeholder, epitomizes the essence of hospitality. He leads Hyatt  and our industry  with heart, mind and soul, and is both an inspiration and model for our Cornell students. We could not think of a more fitting leader to recognize as our Industrys Icon. Kate Walsh, dean of the Nolan Hotel School

Hoplamazian serves on the Executive Committee of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Board of Directors of Brand USA, and the Executive Committee of the World Travel & Tourism Council. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of World Business Chicago; the Chairman of Skills for Chicagolands Future; and a member of the Discovery Class of the Henry Crown Fellowship. Hoplamazian is a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and serves as the co-chair of the Committees Public Safety Task Force. Hoplamazian is also a Director of the Board of VF Corporation.

We look forward to another highly successful Icon & Innovator Awards celebration this year. The events success continues to affirm the pre-eminence of our Nolan Hotel School in its engagement with the global hospitality and travel industry. Congratulations go to the new awardees, of course, but I want to add congratulations to our exceptional Nolan School leadership, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. We are so proud. Andrew Karolyi, dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

The Cornell Hospitality Icon and Innovator Awards is the largest annual event for the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, bringing together hundreds of influential leaders in the global hospitality and travel industries. The event is a key fundraiser for the schools need-based scholarships.

Sarah Magnus-Sharpe

Director of PR & Communications

Cornell
LOS ANGELES, CA  AHLA Foundation raised more than $1,000,000 at its annual Night of a Thousand Stars fundraising gala last night, bringing together more than 400 industry leaders at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate excellence in hospitality. Proceeds of the gala will support workforce development initiatives for hotel industry employees.

The event took on special significance this year as the industry demonstrated its commitment to the recovery and resilience of Los Angeles in the wake of recent wildfires with donations to the Red Cross and LA Fire Department Foundation. AHLA and the AHLA Foundation pledged $10,000 to support disaster relief efforts and will match up to $25,000 donated by AHLA members.

Each year, Night of a Thousand Stars recognizes outstanding achievements across the industry with five prestigious awards to recognize hospitality professionals under 30 years old; hospitality student excellence; women creating paths for other women in the industry to succeed; and the lodging employee of the year.

Night of a Thousand Stars is a shining tribute to the exceptional talent that drives hospitality forward, while fueling a stronger future for our industry, said Anna Blue, President of the AHLA Foundation. Through the Foundations transformative workforce development programs, we are not just opening doors but creating pathways for individuals to build meaningful, life-changing careers in this extraordinary industry.

One of the things Ive always loved about this industry is the way it loves its people. Night of a Thousand Stars is an opportunity for our industry to celebrate the incredible people who make hospitality all it is, said Rosanna Maietta, President and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA). Their stories are so powerful. They are the heart of our industry and the reason the work the AHLA Foundation does is so important to advancing the careers of so many.

AHLAs 2025 Stars of the Industry winners



North Star: Lodging Employee of the Year Award

Melvin De La Cruz, Assistant to Director of HR, The Park Vista a DoubleTree by Hilton

AHLA Foundation ForWard: Paving the Way Award

Whitney Bergmann, General Manager, Best Western Plus Grant Creek Inn

Stevan Porter Emerging Hospitality Leader of the Year Award

Nicole Harker, Front Office Manager, Amara Resort & Spa

Hotel Hero

Jessica Dunnihoo, Executive Housekeeper, Chateau on the Lake Resort Spa & Convention Center

AHLA Foundation Scholar of the Year Award

Devin Grady, Student, Anne Arundel Community College and Accountant, Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center

The events success was made possible through the generous support of presenting sponsors Encore, Guest Supply, Hilton, Hilton Supply Management and contributions from hospitality leaders and professionals across the industry. Giving at the gala was initiated by a $100,000 donation from Jon Bortz, President and CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, and his wife Ellen Bortz.

For more information about the AHLA Foundation and its initiatives, visit www.ahlafoundation.org. To donate to organizations providing emergency assistance in Los Angeles, visit https://www.ahla.com/relief.

About AHLA Foundation

The AHLA Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, works to support the hotel and lodging industrys greatest asset  our people. By connecting employees, employers, and their communities, we seek to continuously nurture a culture of professional growth and belonging. When the people who work in our industry thrive, the industry thrives along with them. The Foundation is funded by grants and charitable contributions from generous individuals and organizations who want to support individuals seeking opportunities to thrive in the hotel and lodging industry. Learn more at www.ahlafoundation.org.
Personalization has attracted a lot of hype in recent years. So much so that it has almost lost its meaning across most industries. For hotels specifically, as they tackle the day-to-day operational challenges, navigating through the complexities of catering to the individual needs of each guest may seem overwhelming, leaving many wondering where to begin.

In this article, we put personalization into context for independent hotels and provide some practical first steps for independent hotels to implement personalization at scale for first-time shoppers

Demystifying Personalization and understaing its importantance for Independent Hotels

Simply put, personalization means creating tailored guest experiences by anticipating and meeting individual preferences, needs, and expectations. Its about moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to delivering bespoke moments that resonate with each guest.

According to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations. Modern guests anticipate quick and precise responses to their needs, prompting hotels to explore creative solutions that effectively address these expectations.

However, we must also dispel the common misconception that personalization is exclusively technological, because even the most sophisticated solutions, such as CRMs for example, do not fully address the nuanced preferences and demands of every guest. Personalization, at its core, is a fundamentally human concept, which means technology and automation should be used as an enabler for hotels to deliver these experiences more efficiently to first-time guests online. This streamlined approach also enables hoteliers to train their teams to add more of a personal touch during the guests stay.

When it comes to Getting Personal with Guests, First-Impressions Matter!

One major pitfall that many independent hotel brands fall into, is that they try to be all things to all people. This challenge stems from a lack of clarity about their own story and identity. Many hotels attempt to imitate competitors instead of focusing on their unique brand and the experiences they want to offer. But, in order to deliver personalization effectively, hotels must first clearly define their brand and story, as this will better enable them to know who they are talking and selling to.

For instance, if your hotel is pet-friendly but you dont highlight this on your website, you will not attract a significant audience seeking this amenity. Similarly, many hotels cater to families, couples, or wellness travelers but fail to showcase these strengths effectively. Therefore, creating and targeting guest personaswhether they be families with pets, couples, or wellness-focused guests etc will enable your hotel to tailor content and messaging to the specific needs and preferences of your target guests, thus increasing their likelihood to book.

By analyzing visitor data and defining target profiles, hotels will be better able to create content that speaks directly to their audiences, crafting tailored offers and messaging. This foundational step is crucial for building stronger connections with guests and boosting direct bookings.

5 Steps for Independent Hotels to Deliver Direct Guest Personalization to First-Time Guests

First and foremost, hotels should ensure their direct channel the website is delivering personalization to guests, as this drives direct conversions and increases profitability. While personalization stems from an empathetic understanding of individual guest needs, its equally vital for hotels to reach and win first-time shoppers at scale through technology. For instance, automated machine-learning systems can help handle much of the complexities in the background while offering tailored interactions to guests online.

While these systems may not address every nuance of personalization, they streamline operations and empower teams to focus on providing exceptional, human-centric experiences during a guests stay. Automating online sales and marketing processes also ensures direct channels operate efficiently, making guests feel valued from the first interaction.

Combining the personal touch with the power of technology, here are five practical steps to help you implement guest personalization.

1. Get to Know who your Target Guests are

Start by setting up e-commerce tracking in Google Analytics, as this allows you to analyze customer interactions on your website. Based on these insights, you can start to tailor your content such as imagery, language, or offers based on guest profiles, locations, or previous interactions on your website. Hotels can also use first-party data to create customer personas and tailor content accordingly. Its important to note that while this may not paint a complete picture of who each guest is on an individual level, it will help to provide a basic foundation that you can use to tailor your messaging and offers accordingly.

2. Deliver Real-Time Personalization based on Target Guest Profiles

Technology bridges the gap between what guests need and what hotels can offer by leveraging data and automation. Here are the key areas of real-time personalization and how hotels can implement them effectively:

Guest Country Profiles: Hotels can use geo-targeting to tailor content, language, and offers based on the guests location or country of origin. By detecting a visitors location, the website can automatically display content in their native language, making the experience more intuitive and welcoming. For instance, a guest from Germany might see the site in German, along with culturally relevant recommendations such as local events or traditional dining options, if appropriate. Country-specific offers, such as discounts for international travelers or packages that include airport transfers, can also be dynamically showcased. Additionally, displaying prices in the guests local currency enhances convenience and trust, streamlining their booking decision. Local Activities for Destination-Specific Personalization: Technology enables hotels to connect guests with relevant local activities and amenities, enhancing the value of their stay. For example, if a guest visits a pet-friendly page, the website can dynamically display nearby pet-friendly restaurants, parks, or grooming services. Similarly, the hotel can personalize its offerings based on room selectionsuch as suggesting family-friendly activities for guests booking family suites or highlighting workspace amenities for business travelers. Additionally, proximity-based promotions, like discounts for nearby attractions or dining options, can be used to drive bookings and increase guest satisfaction. This seamless integration of local insights helps the guest feel well-catered to, even before they arrive. Shopping Recovery Based on Behavioral Triggers: Behavioral data allows hotels to engage website visitors in real time, ensuring potential bookings are not lost. If a guest hesitates at the checkout stage, for example, a pop-up could appear offering a limited-time discount or assistance in completing their booking. Similarly, when a user lingers on a specific page, such as amenities or FAQs, the website can detect this behavior and offer helpful guidance, like a chatbot or curated information. Behavioral triggers can also highlight upselling opportunities. For example, a guest browsing spa packages could be offered a deal for a spa upgrade if booked within the next 24 hours. These personalized interactions not only re-engage users but also create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Referral Traffic Personalization: The source of traffic provides valuable insights into how content should be tailored for a seamless experience. Visitors coming from Instagram, for example, can be directed to visually engaging pages with lifestyle photography and design that aligns with the platforms aesthetics. Campaign-specific visitors could see exclusive offers, such as limited-time packages or early-bird discounts, tailored to the ad they clicked on. Additionally, the tone of messaging can be adapted to match the channelfor example, playful and trendy for TikTok users, or polished and professional for LinkedIn referrals. This ensures that every interaction feels relevant and intentional, increasing the likelihood of booking.

3. Tailor your Pricing and Offers

Personalized pricing strategies, like dynamic discounts, are a powerful way to attract and convert guests. Leveraging automation to adjust rates in real-time based on factors such as location or shopping behavior, can help ensure that each guest feels uniquely valued.

For example, hotels can leverage automation to configure offers and add-ons based on occupancy data, automatically presenting family or group bookings with relevant add-ons, such as extra beds, discounted tickets to local attractions, or bundled deals on dining or shared excursions. Additionally, subscription-based personalization offers tailored packages or upgrades that align closely with guest preferences, creating a sense of exclusivity and added value.

4. Encourage Repeat Bookings

Loyalty programs can be an effective strategy for independent hotels to drive direct bookings, boost revenue, and increase guest retention. However, many hoteliers hesitate to implement them, fearing complexity or stiff competition from large chains with extensive rewards programs. Fortunately, technology has made it easier to create engaging, personalized loyalty experiences that dont require a massive investment. Below are just a few examples:

Gamify the Experience: Imagine a simple, yet fun loyalty system where guests earn rewards just by signing up. Hotels can use this as a way to encourage repeat visits and provide special incentives to guests. For example, a spin-to-win feature could offer discounts or complimentary services, making the experience both rewarding and memorable. Exclusive Offers and Early Access: Move beyond the typical one-size-fits-all approach. By using guest personas derived from first-party data, you can offer tailored incentives like early access to rate plans or exclusive amenities. These personalized offers will feel more relevant and enticing, strengthening the guest-hotel relationship. Leverage Guest History and Personas: Analyze past stays and behavior to create detailed guest profiles. By doing so, you can craft offers and rate plans that specifically match each guests preferences. This approach not only encourages loyalty but also ensures that every interaction feels personal and meaningful, increasing the likelihood of repeat bookings.

Hotels can harness the power of personalization to build loyalty programs that feel like a true value exchange for guests, turning them into repeat customers and helping to compete with OTAs.

5. Consider Complementing your Personalization Efforts with AI-Powered Assistants

Smart chatbots powered by AI and natural language processing can transform guest interactions. These assistants can answer common questions, suggest personalized experiences, and guide guests seamlessly through the booking process. Hotels can further enhance this by compiling frequently asked questions from staff interactions and incorporating those into AI-driven tools.

Conclusion

To move forward, hotels must prioritize truly knowing their guests and ensuring that their direct channelsthe first point of contactoffer a glimpse of the personalized experiences guests can expect during their stay. This is key to building stronger direct relationships and driving growth.

Technology is an essential tool in this process, but it should not be viewed as a crutch. Hotels must avoid falling into the trap of using technology as just another way to send generic offers, as seen with some large brands. Instead, authenticity is paramount. Even if a hotel doesnt have access to advanced solutions, it can still start with the basicssuch as gathering guest preferences and offering relevant, meaningful experiences that speak to their needs. The most successful hotels will use technology to enhance the guest experience, but never lose sight of the personal touch that makes each stay truly unique.

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.

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The hospitality industry is evolving faster than ever, driven by rising guest expectations and technological advancements. Hoteliers face so much pressure to deliver exceptional service while streamlining operations. But luckily, there is a solution: Single-solution platforms that consolidate all essential hotel management tools into one complete system.

Gone are the days of dealing with multiple systems for reservations, revenue management, and guest engagement. With single-solution platforms, hoteliers can embrace simplicity, efficiency, and innovation to meet the demands of modern travelers.

Why Fragmented Systems Fall Short

Managing operations with disconnected tools will just give hoteliers a huge workload. Imagine this:

Using one PMS for bookings.

Another channel manager for distribution.

A standalone CRM for guest engagement.

Spreadsheets for revenue tracking.

This fragmented approach results in siloed data, time-consuming manual tasks, and an increased risk of errors. It's an unnecessary complication.

The Power of Single-Solution Platforms

Single-solution platforms integrate key hotel functions into one user-friendly system. For example, tools like roomMaster by innQuest, a hotel management software system combine PMS, channel management, booking engines, and reporting tools into a cohesive platform.

Key benefits include:

Better Operations: Manage reservations, housekeeping, and guest communications from a single dashboard.

Manage reservations, housekeeping, and guest communications from a single dashboard. Actionable Data Insights: Access centralized analytics to identify trends, optimize pricing, and improve decision-making.

Access centralized analytics to identify trends, optimize pricing, and improve decision-making. Cost Efficiency: Eliminate redundant software and reduce training time for staff.

Eliminate redundant software and reduce training time for staff. Scalability: Easily adapt to the needs of a growing property or hotel chain. It grows with your property.

Guest-Centric Experiences: The Ultimate Differentiator

Todays travelers demand personalized, seamless experiences. Single-solution platforms enable hoteliers to meet these expectations by integrating tools like CRM software and automated communication systems.

With these platforms, hoteliers can:

Send tailored pre-arrival messages to guests, enhancing their experience before check-in. For example, a platform like innQuest's mobile app will ensure guests feel valued before they even step into your hotel.

will ensure guests feel valued before they even step into your hotel. Use guest profiles to track preferences and surprise guests with personalized touches, like their favorite snacks or room setups.

Design branded, mobile-friendly websites using tools like innQuest Ignite,

innQuests hotel website builder to drive direct bookings and create a great first impression.

How Single-Solution Platforms Empower Hotel Managers

Real-Time Revenue Management: Dynamic pricing tools help maximize revenue, while a hotel booking engine will reduce reliance on third-party platforms.

Dynamic pricing tools help maximize revenue, while a will reduce reliance on third-party platforms. Simplified Distribution: Managing room inventory across multiple Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) can be complex. Tools like a channel manager software

centralize room inventory and rates, ensuring consistent updates across platforms and preventing overbookings.

Managing room inventory across multiple Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) can be complex. Tools like a centralize room inventory and rates, ensuring consistent updates across platforms and preventing overbookings. Unified Communication: To improve guest satisfaction while saving time for staff, use the personalized messaging and automated follow-ups feature.

Adopting AI and Automation

The future of hospitality lies in AI-driven tools that automate routine tasks and provide predictive insights. Single-solution platforms harness AI to:

Analyze booking trends and forecast demand.

Automate housekeeping schedules and room assignments.

Identify upselling opportunities to boost revenue.

Overcoming the Transition Challenges

Switching to a single-solution platform may seem overwhelming, but the benefits are bigger than the initial effort. Heres how to make the transition seamless:

Evaluate Your Needs: Identify gaps in your current systems. Choose Scalable Tools: Choose platforms that grow with your property. Train Your Staff: Offer comprehensive training to maximize the platforms potential. Leverage Provider Support: Many solutions, like innQuest, include onboarding and ongoing assistance to help during the transition.

Key Takeaways

Simplify Operations: Single-solution platforms integrate PMS, booking engines, and revenue management tools into one system.

Single-solution platforms integrate PMS, booking engines, and revenue management tools into one system. Boost Efficiency: Automation reduces manual errors and frees up time for guest-focused tasks.

Automation reduces manual errors and frees up time for guest-focused tasks. Enhance Guest Satisfaction: Centralized tools enable personalized, seamless experiences.

Centralized tools enable personalized, seamless experiences. Stay Future-Ready: AI and data analytics equip hotels to adapt to trends and optimize performance.

Conclusion: Embrace the Future

As the hospitality industry evolves, single-solution platforms are becoming an essential part of hotel operations. These platforms empower hoteliers to deliver exceptional service, improve efficiency, and achieve sustainable growth.

Take the next step in transforming your hotel operations. Explore how tools like roomMaster PMS can revolutionize your property management and position your hotel for long-term success.

About InnQuest Software

InnQuest Software is a leading solutions provider for the hospitality industry committed to providing powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use Windows property management software at an affordable price. InnQuest Software's flagship product, roomMaster 2000, is used in over 4,500 properties of all sizes and types in over 80 countries, including chain, independent, business, boutique, and resort hotels. InnQuest Software is based in Tampa, Florida, with regional offices in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Visha Kugan

InnQuest Software

InnQuest Software
No one should be suprised Spotify beat the MLC: Chris Castle

A judge just threw out the MLCs lawsuit against Spotify over audio bundling royalties, and no one should be surprised, says attorney and artist advocate Chris Castle.

No one should be suprised Spotify beat the MLC

Op-ed CHRIS CASTLE via Music Tech Policy

It should come as a shock to no one that Judge Torres has dismissed the MLCs lawsuit against Spotify over bundling. The dismissal granted Spotifys motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 12(b)(6) is a pretrial motion that a defendant can file to request the court to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Essentially, the defendant Spotify is arguing that even if all the allegations in the complaint are true, they do not amount to a legal claim that would warrant a remedy from the court.

Such motions are common and, if granted, result in the case being dismissed with leave to amend, i.e., without prejudice. I think its fair to say that the most common result in 12(b)(6) practice is that the applicable court dismisses with leave to amend especially since these are pretrial motions and the plaintiff has not put on their case. Plaintiffs actually have to try very hard to get a dismissal with prejudice.

However, a court may grant the motion with prejudice if it finds that the plaintiff has already had a fair opportunity to amend the complaint but still failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted to ensure that cases which lack legal merit do not continue to consume judicial resources. This might happen when the plaintiff is represented by the most sophisticated attorneys in the New York bar (or certainly some of the most expensive) and the smartest people in the music business. Yet the MLC still failed to state a claim in the Courts viewwhich is the view that matters. The Court determined that Spotifys bundling of audiobooks with its music streaming service was explicitly permitted under the regulations for Phonorecords IV streaming mechanicals, and therefore, Spotifys reclassification of its Premium subscription plans as bundles was lawful.

In fact, the Court found that the plain meaning of the streaming mechanical regulations in Phonorecords IVhighly negotiated and litigated by the smart people, or rather dozens of the smart peopleled to the obvious conclusion that Spotify did nothing wrong.

So that was another waste of everyones time, including the Courts if I can read between the lines a bit. Just a bit. Was it a frivolous claim that might justify sanctions? Well see. Was it a legitimate cost of the mechanical licensing collective covered by the administrative assessment? I doubt it.

Spotify is not in the music business

But before anyone starts getting smug, lets understand another dimension of the entire episode. Just because Spotify took advantage of an absurdly complicated rule that would make Rube Goldberg weep for mercy doesnt mean it was right. Was it a dick move? Oh yes, very much so. Did it prove yet again that Spotify is not in the music business and could give a damn about their relationship with songwriters? Very much so. Did it prove yet again that Spotify are complete dickwads? You betcha. All of them with no exceptions.

Daniel Ek is one of the few people who continually snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. Stop referring to him as a partner. Hes not. He doesnt want to be a partner. He thinks we are beneath him and that we are stupid to the extent he thinks about songwriters at all. And you know what? Hes not wrong. If you are stupid enough to leave a loophole gaping wide open when dealing with a scumbag, whose fault is it if the scumbag behaves like a scumbag?

Was he smart? Absolutely not. He was stupid. But cunning. As we were taught by Deep Throat in All the Presidents Men, these guys are not that smart and things got out of hand. The question is, will we learn from our mistakes? My bet is that even a 30% haircut is not going to be enough to make the changes that need to get made. Well see.

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Hawaii bans ticket scalping after Bruno Mars Fan uproar

Bruno Mars fans have been hit hard by ticket scalpers, with resale prices soaring to thousands of dollars. Now the state of Hawaii bans ticket scalping via new legislation that bans re-sale markups, stop bots and protect consumers.

Hawaii bans ticket scalping after Bruno Mars Fan uproar

by CHRIS CASTLE of Music Tech Policy

Look up Not a Bot in the dictionary.

Bruno Mars is a huge star everywhere but has exceptionally loyal fans in Hawaii. Unfortunately, this means he is a top target for bots and ticket resellers. At a 2018 concert at Honolulu Stadium, second row seats priced at $125 face were reportedly resold for $6,972. As usual, the artist had nothing to do with these resellers and the artist did not make the resellers margin. If thats not a market failure, I dont know what is.

That margin was driven by bots that are as close to resellers as one is to two and have been the subject of a lot of attention by lawmakers at the federal level and increasingly in the states. Bots have been illegal under federal law since 2016, but federal law enforcement authorities have done little to enforce that law to the great frustration of Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal who sponsored the legislation.

This leaves enforcement to states and Hawaii is no exception. Hawaii state senators Chris Lee (D)*, Karl Rhoads (D)*, Joy San Buenaventura (D)*, and Lorraine Inouye (D), have introduced legislation under Hawaiis consumer protection authority that would limit resale prices to the face price of any ticket.

The bill language states:

See how easy that was? Does it make me uneasy to have government setting prices? It does, but its about the only way I can see in the current environment to stop resellers like StubHub from blatantly ripping off fans by leveraging their confederates in the vast bot ecosystem. If the federal government is not going to prosecute these people under existing laws, then dont be surprised if the states pass their own consumer protection legislation with a host of penalties.

The Hawaii legislation is scheduled for a January 30 hearing before Hawaiis Senate Transportation and Culture and the Arts Committee. Fingers crossed it gets voted out of the committee.

We should not be surprised. Its gotten so bad, fans are not going to tolerate bot scalping and under well-trodden principles of subsidiarity, its only appropriate for states to take charge. To coin a phrase, dont believe me just watch.

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Central Berkshire Habitat Offers Free Tax Assistance

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity (CBHFH) is once again offering free income tax preparation services for households earning $67,000 or less, as well as for individuals with disabilities and elderly residents, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

The program, staffed by IRS-certified volunteers, has been a longstanding resource in Berkshire County. According to CBHFH CEO Carolyn Valli, more than 85 percent of clients return annually for assistance, with the program expanding to serve new clients in South County last year.

Tax assistance will be available at multiple locations. Habitat's Pittsfield office at 314 Columbus Avenue will offer services Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Friday mornings from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. South County residents can access assistance at the Mason Library in Great Barrington, where VITA services will be available Tuesday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., starting February 4. Additionally, tax prep will be offered by appointment at MCLA.

Lynne Newton, CBHFH Community Navigator and VITA coordinator, emphasized the program's readiness to assist clients, including offering multilingual support for French and Spanish speakers. Tax time can be stressful, and having documents and instructions in your native language can help ease that anxiety, she said.

Residents can make appointments by calling 413-442-3184 or visiting www.berkshirehabitat.org/VITA.
North Adams Council Refers Parking Ban, Affirms LGBTQI+ Rights

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The City Council on Tuesday referred changes to the annual winter parking ban to the Public Services Committee and endorsed resolution supporting the state's prohibition of discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

The reducing the length of the parking ban is a proposal by Vice President Ashley Shade, who also put forward a number of changes to the Airport Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals ordinances.

She is suggesting the parking ban not go into effect until the first snow emergency of the year and ends on April 1.

It currently runs from Nov. 1 to April 15, although mayors have ended it earlier based on weather predictions. Last year, the city parking ban was lifted on April 6 and on April 1 the year before.

"I know that the mayor does not support the changes, but I think it's really important for us to look at how our parking ban is instituted," she said at Tuesday's meeting. "Personally, I don't believe bans work. And I don't believe a ban should be in effect when the roads are clear."

Shade noted her proposal was not to eliminate the ban but to look at how its working considering how climate change has affected the weather. The mayor has issued warnings rather than enforcing the ban, but "it shouldn't be at the whims of the executive in office," she said. "People should have access to the streets they pay for as long as its safe to do so."

Councilor Keith Bona, chair of Public Services, thought it worth discussion but wasn't sure he could support it.

"Things like this have come up in the past," he said. "I know it's something the public is talking about it. I think the biggest concern is when you set a date for parking bans is it prepares residents to at least have a space ready."

Not giving residents a start date, means they may not have time to rent space or find space available, he said. He also noted it says the ban would run from the start of the first snow emergency  and then cited the historic Oct. 4 storm from 1987.

"The wording would need some adjusting," Bona said, but he was open to reducing the time in the spring. He's totally against Pittsfield's use of odd/even streets rather than a parking ban because of how narrow many of North Adams streets are.

Councilor Andrew Fitch said he wanted to hear what the impact would be on public safety and public services.

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said both the fire and police chief and the commissioner of public services are against the change.

"We have tried very hard to work with people. Even when the ban is in effect for a snowstorm, we still try to call people and get people to move their cars before we even tow anyone," she said. "But it's not just about the snow. There are oftentimes in the middle of the night you get ice and we have to go sand."

She gave an example of people leaving their cars on one side of Front Street so when they moved their cars, the street wasn't sanded on that side and City Hall got complaints.

"We put notices on people's cars for like three weeks, reminding them the parking ban is in effect, and we really didn't start enforcing it until our first storm was on the horizon," the mayor said. "So I understand your point about, you know, it's not really about me, it's about who's in the chair. But I don't think anyone who is in the chair would just make a whimsical decision on, oh, we're going to tow tonight just because we want to."

It also puts more pressure on the Police Department and dispatch to make unnecessary calls and makes it more difficult for the plow crews who are trying to work as efficiently as possible, she said.

Councilor Lisa Blackmer pointed out the forecast can change pretty quickly and while she could see shifting to Nov. 15, she wasn't a fan of ending earlier, noting there was a snowstorm on April 4 last year.

"We would have been fighting with everybody in the city to try and move their cars," she said. "I don't want to make it any more complicated, and like the mayor said, there's been years where we've gotten ice storm after ice storm after ice storm and didn't have any measurable snow until February."

The proposed ordinance was referred to Public Services with a return date of the first meeting in March 6-3, with President Bryan Sapienza and Councilors Peter Oleskiewicz and Wayne Wilkinson voting no.

Fitch and Shade read into the minutes the resolution they wrote based on Massachusetts' anti-discrimination policy regarding gender identity, expression, sexual orientation, intersex status and HIV status.

The resolution was in response to an executive order by the president claiming to "defend women" and uphold the "biological reality of sex" by discontinuing the use of "gender," forcing agencies to "accurately report" someone's sex and recalling all guides, provisions and policies related to LGBTQI-plus.

"I hate that we have to bring this up right now. I'm a little emotional about it, but I'm glad that we took the time to go through the definitions that we accept here in Massachusetts, and not the contortion of definitions that were put forth in the executive order," said Fitch.

"It's really important that we are reaffirm that all human beings are human beings, no matter what an executive order tells them," said Shade. "I want to thank Councilor Fitch for working with me and helping put this together. And it's really important now that we confirm the validity of all people in our community."

Bona noted that resolutions are usually sent to the state to let lawmaker know how the city's stand on issues, but in this case it was an affirmation of what the state already has done.

"I think what we need to do as a society is be respectful to each other," said Sapienza.

There was no other discussion and the resolution passed 8-1 with Wilkinson voting no.

"I don't like things shoved down my throat," he said, without further elaboration.
The governor's bill would 'tweak' the apportionment formula on the extra $100 million she's budgeting to provide more funding for small towns with less population.

Chapter 90 Bond Bill Could Bring $5.3M to Berkshire Communities

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The Berkshires could receive more than $5.3 million in additional state Chapter 90 road funds in a new bond bill.

Gov. Maura Healey filed the bill last Friday, authorizing the borrowing of $1.5 billion over the next five years for local transportation networks. The bill includes another $100 million in Chapter 90, a 50 percent increase.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll on Saturday noted the total amount will be $300 million, the highest amount of Chapter 90 that's been proposed.

"That $100 million topper is going to have a slightly different formula that's really more focused on road miles," she said to applause at the Massachusetts Municipal Association's Connect 351 conference in Boston. "Right now, the formula looks at a whole lot of things, including population, and some of our smaller communities that have lots of roads, but maybe not as many people are kind of penalized in that formula.

"Don't worry, everybody's getting a lot of money within the formula. But there's a slight tweak on that top $100 million."

The governor's budget will use Fair Share surtax revenues to expand capital capacity, enabling $300 million in annual Chapter 90 funds, a 50 percent increase over the traditional $200 million.

The current formula for state aid considers local road mileage at 58.33 percent, population and employment at 20.83 percent each to calculate funding awards.

Adams, for example, has 55.84 miles of road with a population of 8,166 and employment is 1,712. Based on the total amount of funding approved for fiscal 2025, the town received $284,946. The bill filed by the governor would give the town another $185,513 for a total of $471,000, a 65 percent increase.

North Adams would see a 57 percent increase in funds for total of $649,273; Pittsfield, which regularly commands the most funding in the Berkshires because of its size, would get $652,000 for a total of nearly $2 million at the lowest percentage increase of 49.

The "tweaked" calculation would greatly benefit smaller towns, almost doubling their funding. Tiny Alford with its 17 miles and population of 486 would see its funding jump from $71,000 to $128,000 and New Ashford, with less than 11 miles, would go from $42,533 to $77,468.

The towns of Mount Washington, Sandisfield, Savoy and Windsor would see the highest percentage increase, at 84 percent. All told, they have 210 miles of road for a population of 2,625. Together, they average 12.5 residents per mile compared to Pittsfield's 224 residents per mile.

Even with these extra funds, towns are often strapped when it comes to road maintenance and repair  reconstructing a mile of road is upwards of $1 million nowadays.

But the administration is also seeking additional money for culverts, said Driscoll, "things that we know impact roadways and are hard to fund. Those Chapter 90 tend to go to the road, but not the culvert underneath."
Prometheus, the only full-service marketing agency in Western Visayas, has become the only agency from the province to win at the 60th Anvil Awards.

The agency secured a Silver Anvil Award for Best Public Relations-Led Integrated Campaign and another Silver Anvil Award in the Public Relations Tools  Special Events category for its Ilonggo Stories That Continue With You campaign, which promoted Daily Guardians 22nd anniversary.

Prometheus was the only agency in Western Visayas to be honored during the awards ceremony held at Manila Hotel, Manila on January 28, 2025. Prometheus Chief Executive Officer, Lcid Crescent Fernandez, along with Executive Creative Director Francis Gino Fanega and Copywriter Sean Rafio, received the award on behalf of the companys more than 50 employees.

Presented by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, the Anvil Awards stands as a symbol of excellence in the countrys public relations practice.

Known as the Oscars of Public Relations, the annual event recognizes the best PR campaigns and tools implemented and executed by the biggest companies, public relations agencies, organizations, and institutions during a specified one-year period.

The campaign featured ten uniquely crafted markers placed across Iloilo City and Iloilo Province. Each marker contained a headline, a lead, and a hollowed-out section where passersby could view the subject of the story, as these were placed at the actual locations where the reported events occurred.

The markers included a QR code directing individuals to a dedicated microsite featuring the full story that provided deeper context. The selection of the markers locations were based on Daily Guardians 22 years of historical and cultural significance, ensuring that each marker resonated deeply with the local community.

The Ilonggo Stories That Continue With You campaign resulted in an impressive 26.4 million impressions on Facebook, while the campaigns digital strategy boosted the Daily Guardian website visits to a staggering 311,000.

By placing these markers at locations where news events actually occurred, the campaign drew the attention of approximately 22.4 million viewers to the stories they depicted. It made the city itself a living archive of its own narratives, engaging pedestrians and turning casual strolls into interactive learning experiences.
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Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon has issued an apology after resurfaced posts from her X account with controversial views about Muslims, George Floyd, and diversity at the Oscars caused massive backlash.

I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt, Gascon said in a statement to The Independent.

As someone in a marginalised community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.

Gascon recently made history when she became the first-ever openly trans individual nominated for an Academy Award in any acting category.

On Thursday, journalist Sarah Hagi drew attention to a series of posts made on X, formerly Twitter, from Gascons account made between 2020 and 2021.

One post from November 2020 said: Im sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English well have to teach Arabic.

Gascon also posted a string of tweets about George Floyd in the days after he was killed by a police officer in which she described him as a drug addict swindler.

After the Oscars in 2021, Gascon posted: More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didnt know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M [Womens Strike]. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.

In 2021, Nomadland won best picture at the Oscars, while Youn Yuh Jung from Minari and Daniel Kaluuya from Judas and the Black Messiah won best supporting actor in their respective categories.

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open image in gallery Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez ( PA )

The tweets have since been deleted.

The Independent has reached out to Gascons representatives for comment.

This comes shortly after Gascon issued another statement following an interview where she appeared to accuse the social media team behind fellow Oscar contender Im Still Here of undermining her.

In an interview with the Brazilian newspaper, Folha de S Paulo, Gascon said: What I dont like are social media teams  people who work with these people  trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesnt lead anywhere.

You dont need to tear down someones work to highlight anothers. I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Perez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.

open image in gallery Fernanda Torres in a scene from I'm Still Here ( Sony Pictures Classics )

In a statement since given to Variety, Gascon has clarified her comments stating that what she said did not extend to those directly associated with Torres, but instead was aimed toward toxicity and violent hate speech on social media.

I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months, she added. In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.
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Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon has sparked outrage on social media over a series of resurfaced posts from her X account expressing controversial views about Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.

Gascon recently made history when she became the first-ever openly trans individual nominated for an Academy Award in any acting category.

Variety reports that journalist Sarah Hagi drew attention to a series of tweets from Gascons account made between 2020 and 2021.

One from September 2020 read: Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.

Another in November that year added: Im Sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English well have to teach Arabic.

Gascon also posted a string of tweets about George Floyd in the days after he was killed by a police officer in which she described him as a drug addict swindler.

Karla Sofia Gascon attending the Golden Gloves in January 2025 ( Amy Sussman/Getty Images )

After the Oscars in 2021, Gascon posted: More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didnt know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M [Womens Strike]. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.

The tweets have since been deleted. In a statement to The Independent, Gascon said: I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.

Yesterday, Gascon issued a statement to clarify her comments after a separate controversy erupted over her appearing to accuse the social media team behind fellow Oscar contender Im Still Here of undermining her.

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In an interview with the Brazilian newspaper, Folha de S Paulo, Gascon said: What I dont like are social media teams - people who work with these people - trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesnt lead anywhere.

You dont need to tear down someones work to highlight anothers. I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Perez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.

In a statement since given to Variety, Gascon has clarified her comments stating that what she said did not extend to those directly associated with Torres, but instead was aimed toward toxicity and violent hate speech on social media.

I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months, she added. In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.

Gascon went on to call Torres a wonderful woman and an amazing actress who deserves all the recognition in the world, but admitted that she had not yet seen Im Still Here.

The 52-year-old concluded: This isnt a competition. This is simply about people liking ones work or not. If [Torres] wins [the Oscar], great. If I win, same.

Earlier this month, Torres won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama.
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Amy Schumer has revealed that she personally reached out to Kim Kardashian to see if she could use a joke about the reality TV stars dead father in her new movie.

Schumer, who has recently declared that she has stopped taking Ozempic despite shedding 30 pounds, currently leads Netflixs new rom-com Kinda Pregnant, coming out on 5 February.

The 43-year-old, who was diagnosed with Cushing syndrome last February, told The Howard Stern Show that she contacted Kardashian to pitch potential jokes to her about her family, one of which wound up in the film.

I said, I want to make this joke where Im reading this kid instead of a bedtime story, a tabloid, explains Schumer. I pitched her a couple of jokes. I asked if she would mind, and she didnt mind. How cool is she?

Stern, 71, who had seen the film, called the Kardashian joke one of its highlights. Recalling the gag he said: There once was a family of beautiful princesses called the Kardashians and they lived in a palace that their dad bought them by defending a murderer. I mean, what a f***ing line.

Shes like, Yeah, do the one about my dad defending a murderer, said Schumer of Kardashians response. She was that chill. Shes such a good sport.

open image in gallery Amy Schumer on 'The Howard Stern Show' ( Getty Images )

Kardashians father, Robert, died in 2003 from esophageal cancer, aged 59. He famously defended and helped acquit actor and athlete OJ Simpson, when he was put on trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1995.

Robert married Kristen Mary Houghton (now known as Kris Jenner) in 1978 and they welcomed four children - Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Robert Kardashian Jr - who all referred to Simpson and his former wife as Uncle OJ and Auntie Nicole.

However, Roberts decision to defend Simpson divided his family. During the trial, Kris was spotted sitting on the prosecution side of the courtroom in support of Nicole. Kim, 43, previously admitted the trial put a strain on their family in a conversation with Dr Phil in 2009.

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open image in gallery Murder defendant O.J. Simpson (R) consults with friend Robert Kardashian (C) and Alvin Michelson ( AFP/Getty )

Simpsons trial was dramatised in Ryan Murphys 2016 award-winning series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Friends star, David Schwimmer played Robert Kardashian in the show.

I loved it, claimed Kim Kardashian in June 2024, adding: Some people were over, and they hadnt seen it, and I had watched it years and years ago and I wanted to see if my recollection was right on the portrayal of my dad.

And I thought it was done so well, and I remember asking Ryan, Who were your sources? Because that was my dads exact bracelet. That was our home! Kardashian said.
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Its been fourteen years since Compton-born Kendrick Lamar first grabbed the music worlds attention, and hes held it firmly in his grasp ever since. Now widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he has collected a staggering array of accolades that range from 17 Grammys to becoming the first artist outside of classical or jazz to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for 2017s Damn.

On February 9, Lamar will take to one of Americas biggest stages as he headlines the Super Bowl for the first time. In anticipation, were taking the opportunity to look back at how each of his six studio albums to date have shaped his staggering artistic legacy.

6. Section.80 (2011)

open image in gallery ( Kendrick Lamar )

Lamars debut studio album captured the sound of a young man with potential to burn finding his voice. The rapper, just 24 when the record was released, was already a flawless vocalist whose percussive flow delivered his deceptively simple and expressive rhymes straight to the listeners ear. I know some rappers using big words / To make their similes curve, Lamar explained on Poe Mans Dreams (His Vice). My simplest s*** be more pivotal.

As well as proving Lamars talent as a performer and lyricist, Section.80 showed off his burgeoning talent for telling stories that work simultaneously on multiple levels. The album weaves together the tales of characters Tammy and Keisha, two young women mistreated by men who eventually find solace and comfort in each other, while also finding space for pointed political commentary.

You know why we crack babies? / Because we born in the Eighties / That ADHD crazy, Lamar raps on standout track A.D.H.D, one of several songs  including Ronald Reagan Era  which he uses to paint a picture of the impact President Reagans policy of allowing crack cocaine to flood into Los Angeles Compton neighbourhood had on the children, like Lamar, who were growing up there. Potent and visceral, Section.80 marked out Kendrick Lamar as an artist impossible to ignore.

5. Damn (2017)

open image in gallery ( Kendrick Lamar )

For his fourth album, Damn, Lamar brought in a couple of high-profile guests: Rihanna, who raps her way through the radio-friendly single Loyalty, and perhaps more surprisingly, venerable Irish rockers U2, who turn up in unconventional fashion on XXX. Nevertheless, the spotlight never really leaves Lamar, who delivers an expansive record that combines a timeless old school rap sound with frequent nods to the future.

By this point in his career, Lamar could confidently say he was the greatest rapper alive, a fact he alludes to on the outstanding autobiographical closing track Duckworth: It was always me versus the world / Until I found its me versus me. The album produced his single biggest hit, the enormous Humble, as well as making history by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

The Pulitzer committee used plenty of their own big words to describe the album, calling it a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.

4. GNX (2024)

open image in gallery ( Dave Free )

When Lamar dropped his sixth studio album out of the blue last November, it made headlines around the world. Not only was the release itself a surprise, but so was the rappers willingness to take shots not just at his old sparring partner Drake but also the likes of Snoop Dogg (for posting a link to one of Drakes tracks) and Lil Wayne (who was apparently upset not to land the Super Bowl set himself). There was also time for romance, helped along by a pair of duets with SZA.

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Following the success of Not Like Us, his chart-topping diss track aimed at Drake, GNX captured Lamar in feisty form as he took aim at all comers over a sound indebted to classic West Coast rap. Arguably not as complex or ambitious as his previous albums, GNX nevertheless lands every single punch.

3. Mr Morale & the Big Steppers (2022)

open image in gallery ( Renell Medrano )

A deeply introspective album good enough to top most artists discographies, Mr Morale & the Big Steppers cemented Lamars status as the defining poet of his generation.

In a five-star review for The Independent, Ben Bryant praised the record as a surprising meditation on fatherhood, family and friendship.

Mr Morale & The Big Steppers is a sheaf of songs delving into conflict and reconciliation, Bryant added. It is anchored in Lamars own life, right down to a cover that features the first confirmation of the birth of his second child, Enoch. He has earned this moment of reflection.

2. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012)

open image in gallery ( Kendrick Lamar )

The record that made the whole world sit up and take notice. 2012s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City marked Lamars major label debut and had the features to match, with guest appearances from the likes of Jay-Z, Drake and Dr Dre as well as Dre, Pharrell and Hit-Boy on production duties.

It spawned hit singles Swimming Pools (Drank) and the irresistible B****, Dont Kill My Vibe and earned four Grammy nominations, including for Album of the Year. But really all of that was incidental to the power of the records central story. Billed as a Short film by Kendrick Lamar on the album cover, the deeply autobiographical record told the tale of Lamars teenage years on the gang-controlled streets of Compton with profound clarity.

Lamars storytelling is so finely wrought that it came as no surprise when a university in Georgia added the work to its curriculum alongside other coming-of-age tales such as Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I think Kendrick Lamar is the James Joyce of hip-hop, said Professor Adam Diehl . In the complexity of his storytelling, in his knowledge of the canon, and in his continuing focus on the city of his upbringing  Compton."

1. To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)

open image in gallery

Lamars politically charged masterpiece. While its still primarily a staggeringly great rap album, musically Lamar expanded his sonic palette to encompass a broad spectrum of African-American music from jazz and funk to soul  including an introductory appearance from Parliament and Funkadelic visionary George Clinton.

Lyrically, the record was partly inspired by Lamars tour of South Africa, during which he visited Nelson Mandelas jail cell on Robben Island, as well as by the United States own re-energised Black rights movement. The album addresses itself to the African-American experience with nuance and deep, existential analysis, but its as personal as it is political. In an essay published in medical journal The Lancet Psychiatry, Cambridge professors Akeem Sule and Becky Inkster described Lamar as the street poet of mental health, noting that the record deeply explores topics of addiction, anxiety, depression, and resilience.

In December 2019, The Independent named To Pimp a Butterfly as the best album of the preceding decade. Centrepiece Alright is now a civil rights anthem, but To Pimp a Butterfly plays less like a statement than a bad dream, wrote critic Jazz Monroe. Conflicted introspection, vexed empathy and political irreverence meet pitch-black humour that jolts you awake, with the sense that without this music, wed be lost.
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Reese Witherspoon has appeared to accidentally reveal the name of an A-list actor doesnt like her after a speech-gone-wrong.

On Thursday (20 January), the Legally Blonde and Big Little Lies star said that a female Hollywood star, whose name she didnt reveal, was left unimpressed after Witherspoon roasted her at a classy awards show in the UK.

'It was pretty bad, Witherspoon, who stars in new comedy Youre Cordially Invited, with Will Ferrell, told PEOPLE. Yeah, not even kidding  she doesnt talk to me anymore.

According to the actor, she is still haunted and embarrassed by the reaction to her speech, which she wrongly assumed should be a roast sending up the unnamed star, which many are deducing to be Kate Winslet.

So this friend of mine  who I didn't really know that well, but she was a very serious, proper actress  she asked me to give her an award, Witherspoon said.

But I had never been to this award ceremony, so I thought it was like a roast. So I got up and I roasted her. The tone was British and elegant and classy, and I was like, 'Remember the time we got laser hair removal?!'

Internet sleuths jumped to action and quickly surmised that Witherspoon might be talking about Titanic star Winslet.

Their evidence derives from the fact that Witherspoon poked fun at the British actor while presenting her with an award at the Bafta/LA Cunard Britannia Awards  and cracked a joke about laser hair removal.

A Witherspoon fan site, as flagged by JustJared, states that the actor said in November 2007: I always wanted to be a European movie star, wear giant sunglasses, elaborate neck scarves, smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, and have savoir faire and gravitas.

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Imagine my good fortune when Kate Winslet moved into my neighbourhood, rang my door bell and said, Darling, Sam [Mendes, Winslets ex] is off shooting, and I believe our children are the same age. Could they possibly have a play date and oh, by the way, it's almost nine o'clock and I've had nothing to do drink. So you have any wine?

open image in gallery ( Getty Images )

She then revealed that the pair once considered getting laser hair removal and also hinted at a funny escapade in their underwear, telling the crowd she cant delve into the stories as theyre all too bawdy or tawdry or drunken to tell.

Witherspoon said in the new interview: I thought it was so funny and it was, just, I had the wrong audience.

Both Witherspoon and Winslet appeared on stage together at the Oscars in 2016 to present two Best Picture nominees, Bridge of Spies and Spotlight. The pair didnt speak to one another during their segment.

open image in gallery Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon at the 2016 Oscars ( Getty Images )

The actors new film, Youre Cordially Invited, is out now.
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Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman has confessed she felt synergy with controversial tech billionaire Elon Musk, despite him making her cry.

Musk has been at the centre of backlash after being accused of giving a Nazi salute during the inauguration party, celebrating new president, Donald Trump. Last November, Fineman, 36, alleged that the Tesla owner, who hosted the show in May 2021, brought her to tears after telling her that her script wasnt funny.

I was so excited, I came in, I asked if you had any questions and you stared at me like you were firing me from Tesla and were like, Its not funny. I waited for you to be like, Ha ha, joke. No. Then you started pawing through my script, like flipping each page, being, like, I didnt laugh once, not one time, she shared in a since-deleted TikTok video.

Fineman said she ended up having a really good time performing the sketch, adding: I thought you were really funny in it. But, you know, have a little manners here, sir.

Now, she has revealed that even though things took a turn for the worse, she felt that the pair had gotten on.

"We really got along," Fineman told Andy Cohen on WWHL. "I kinda thought we had a vibe. After he made me cry. It was sort of like  we went on quite a journey."

She continued: "He made me cry, I was like, 'F*** you!' And then it got picked, the sketch got picked, we did the sketch and we got along.

Fineman was left in tears ( Bravo/NBC )

Fineman said she grasped for similarities with the controversial tycoon as she noted they both have links to the Bay Area of California.

"We have nothing in common because he goes to Mars or whatever, she said. "In my head, I was like, 'I get this guy!'"

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The comedian expressed regret over her video as she said: "I shouldn't just make videos on my phone because the problem is I want to be able to talk s***, but then it gets picked up.

She said of Musks response: "But then he was like, 'It is true, in fact. It was funny.' That's my Elon. 'It was funny.' Because I think his brain didn't know that when you read something  he pawed through [the script] and was like, 'I didn't laugh once. Not once.' But then when you perform it, it's funny. Sir."

Musk admitted he didnt find Finemans script funny as he posted on X/Twitter at the time: I was like damn my SNL appearance is going to be so f***ing unfunny that it will make a crackhead sober. But then it worked out in the end.
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Efforts to rescue a 74-year-old truck driver from a sinkhole in the Japanese city of Yashio were suspended again on Thursday after cave-ins made the area unstable.

The sinkhole, which opened on 28 January in Saitama prefecture, swallowed the 1,800kg vehicle, trapping the truck driver. Rescuers initially heard the driver responding, but lost contact soon after.

On Thursday, authorities said further cave-ins at the sinkhole had made the area highly unstable. The Straits Times reported that efforts to retrieve the driver were suspended soon after.

The initial collapse occurred at 9.50am local time on 28 January, creating a chasm 5m wide and 10m deep, according to The Japan Times. Another sinkhole appeared in Yashio on Thursday after wastewater from a ruptured sewage pipe flooded the first one. This sparked further collapses, taking down a utility pole and a restaurant signboard.

The original sinkhole was likely caused by a burst sewer pipe under the road.

The two sinkholes eventually merged, creating a crater 20m wide and complicating the rescue operation.

The expanded sinkhole also contains a gas pipeline, raising concerns about a potential leak and forcing the evacuation of nearly 200 households in the area.

open image in gallery Rescue work continues to save a driver after his truck was swallowed by a sinkhole in the city of Yashio on 29 January 2025 ( JIJI Press/AFP via Getty )

It was reported on Thursday that authorities had asked 1.2 million people across 12 cities and towns in the eastern part of Saitama prefecture to limit showers and laundry use in an effort to ease pressure on the sewer system.

Putting our first priority on saving the persons life, we are asking residents to refrain from non-essential use of water such as taking a bath or doing laundry, a Saitama prefecture official told AFP on Thursday. Using toilets is difficult to refrain from, but we are asking to use less water as much as possible.
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Thailands prime minister said her government was working with Israel to ensure the Thai hostages freed by Hamas as part of an ongoing ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal were reunited with their families at the earliest.

Israels military confirmed that three Israeli hostages  Gadi Moses, 80, Arbel Yehoud, 29, and female soldier Agam Berger, 20  had been handed over along with Thai citizens Pongsak Thaenna, 36, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Bannawat Seathao, 27, and Surasak Rumnao, 32. One Thai hostage was still unaccounted for.

The Thai government and everyone here in Thailand have long been waiting for this very moment, Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted on social media. I hold on to my hope that the remaining Thai national will be released and returned to us safely and speedily.

The families of the Thai hostages reacted with tears and celebrations on hearing the news of their release.

Mr Rumnao, who was taken from Yesha in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, appeared pale and swollen on Thursday, his mother Khammee Lamnao said. I was so happy that I could not eat anything, she told the Associated Press in a video call.

Mr Thaennas father, Wilas Thaenna, wept upon hearing his son had been freed. He had barely slept the night before from excitement. When I see him, Im going to give him a hug and tell him to come home, he told the BBC.

Mr Suwannakhams sister Sirinna said her family clung to hope throughout his time in captivity. If he had died, we would have had a body to hold a ceremony, she said. Instead, they chose to believe he was still alive.

There were 31 Thai citizens among the nearly 250 people abducted by Hamas fighters during the 2023 attack, making them the largest group of foreign hostages.

Most were agricultural workers who lived in remote compounds on the outskirts of kibbutzim and towns which were among the first areas to be overrun.

Twenty three of them were released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023, in a deal negotiated by Thailand with the support of Qatar and Iran.

According to Thailands foreign ministry, 46 Thai citizens working in Israel have been killed in the conflict so far. Two of them were killed in the 2023 attack and their bodies were taken to Gaza.

On Thursday, Dr Osnat Levzion-Korach, director of Shamir Medical Centre near Tel Aviv, where the five individuals were brought, said that they were in fair health, despite having spent most of their time underground and being deprived of sunlight for long periods. She noted that they did not seem malnourished and attributed their relatively good physical condition during captivity to their young age.

Thailands ambassador to Israel, Pannabha Chandraramya, arranged video calls between the freed hostages and their relatives back home. She described the calls as incredibly emotional, filled with cries of joy and tears. She said it was one of the happiest days of her life to witness their release, especially as it came just a week before the end of her five-year term.

Alex Gandler, deputy spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry, said his country will recognise the released Thai hostages as victims of terrorism, a designation that grants them access to financial benefits and healthcare.

The handover of the Israeli and Thai hostages in Khan Younis in southern Gaza was marked by chaotic scenes as a crowd surged towards the group, despite the presence of heavily armed militants escorting them.

The commotion caused delays in their transfer to Red Cross vehicles.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shocking scenes and suspended the planned release of Palestinian prisoners until mediators could guarantee the safe and orderly transfer of hostages in future exchanges.

However, the prisoner release resumed after a brief delay and buses carrying the freed Palestinian detainees arrived in Ramallah later in the day.

Many Thai workers in Israel come from economically disadvantaged regions of Thailand, attracted by higher wages. Before the 7 October 2023 attack, there were around 30,000 Thai nationals in the West Asian country.

While some returned home after the war broke out, the promise of better pay has continued to bring new workers to Israel, where their earnings far exceed those of jobs back in Thailand, Associated Press reported.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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Amy Schumer has opened up about the side effects she experienced while taking Ozempic.

The comedian recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show on Wednesday (January 29) where she explained that despite losing weight on the medication also used to treat type 2 diabetes, she had to to stop taking it.

I have this gene, GDF15, which makes you extremely prone to nausea, which is why I was so sick during my pregnancy, she told the radio show host.

So, I tried Ozempic almost three years ago and I was like, bedridden. I was like, vomiting  and then you have no energy. But other people take it and theyre all good. God bless them.

The I Feel Pretty actor continued, saying that she views Ozempic and other similar medications as red flags over the type of results that are promised.

Youre like, Wait a minute. Can we slow down? The side effects are you have a better personality, she said. I tried it and I was vomiting and Im in bed and my sons like, Can you play tag? Im like, I cant. I was shriveling.

Schumer told Howard Stern about her experience with Ozempic ( Getty Images )

Despite the effects Schumer experienced, she also added that she lost 30 pounds so quick and looked great.

I couldnt lift my head off the pillow, so whats the point? she said.

The Trainwreck actor previously spoke about her time taking Ozempic in a June 2023 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. She also took a moment to call out celebrities who had been lying about taking the once-weekly antidiabetic injection for weight loss.

Everyones like: Smaller portions, she joked at the time. Shut the f*** up. Youre on Ozempic, or one of those things.

Ozempic is a semaglutide, which works by mimicking a hormone that regulates appetite and creates the feeling of fullness.

Just stop, Schumer added. Just be real with the people.

The Trainwreck star even noted how she was open about undergoing liposuction for weight loss in January 2022. When I got lipo, I was like, I got lipo, she said.

Schumer isnt the only celebrity who has opened up about their experience taking weight-loss medication. Oprah Winfrey recently said during an episode of her Super Soul podcast that taking an unnamed version of the drug herself has changed her preconceptions about thin people.

The media mogul, who previously slammed weight loss drugs as the easy way out, said: One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower.

They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.

However, Winfrey claimed that what she initially thought was willpower was actually a lack of intrusive hunger thoughts, also known as food noise.

Experts have claimed GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic, and Wegovy may help lessen or even stop food noise by slowing down digestion and reducing cravings.

Winfrey continued: I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that theyre not even thinking about it. Theyre eating when theyre hungry and theyre stopping when theyre full.
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Circulation problems impact millions globally, causing discomfort and leading to various health issues, from cold extremities to more serious cardiovascular conditions.

While medical treatments play a crucial role, many individuals are turning to natural remedies to support their circulatory health.

Whether youre managing conditions like Raynauds syndrome, experiencing poor circulation in general, or simply seeking to improve overall blood flow, there are several natural approaches that can help keep your body functioning optimally.

To mark Raynauds Awareness Month (February), weve spoken with Professor Francesco Del Galdo from the University of Leeds, who is working in partnership with Scleroderma & Raynauds UK (SRUK).

The professor of rheumatology has explained why circulation issues tend to worsen in the winter and has shared some natural ways to help boost your circulation and enhance blood flow.

Why do many people suffer with circulation issues this time of year?

When our bodies are exposed to the cold, a normal response is for the blood vessels to become narrower, explains Del Galdo.

When someone has Raynauds this reaction may be much more extreme.

It will sometimes cause a noticeable colour change to the affected areas, with the skin turning white, then blue and finally to red as the circulation returns. This is known as a Raynauds attack, says Del Galdo.

Raynauds is usually triggered by cold temperatures, anxiety or stress. The condition occurs because blood vessels go into a temporary spasm, which blocks the flow of blood.

Even the smallest drop in temperature can trigger painful attacks where the blood temporarily stops flowing to the extremities, affecting fine motor skills and making it difficult to carry out even the simplest everyday tasks.

Whether youve been living with Raynauds for years or are looking for ways to improve your circulation, these eight natural approaches can help you feel more comfortable and support your overall circulatory health.

1. Stay hydrated

Hydrate to keep the body temperature stable, advises Del Galdo. Hot drinks during cold weather can also help prevent attacks.

2. Wrap up warm

SRUKs website recommends wrapping up warm in cold weather by layering multiple thin garments and loose-fitting clothes.

Additionally, hand and feet warmers, along with gloves and thick socks, can provide extra comfort and help keep your fingers and toes warm during chilly days.

3. Try some breathing exercises

Breathing exercises can help regulate the heartbeat, says Del Galdo.

4. Eating more warming foods

The charitys website also suggests that consuming traditionally warming foods like ginger, cayenne peppers, and chilies may help alleviate Raynauds symptoms.

5. Try the frisbee launch movement

The frisbee launch movement can reduce the severity and duration of the attacks, says Del Galdo. This manoeuvre begins with the forearm flexed at a 90-dgree angle and internally rotated across the chest.

Then rotate the forearm laterally, in a snapping motion, while maintaining digital extension, and repeat this movement rapidly.

6. Move your body

Exercise, within your own limits, can boost circulation and may improve Raynauds symptoms.

Any aerobic exercise can help with circulation, in particular arm swings without weights, says Del Galdo.

7. Consume more vitamin C and E

Increasing your consumption of vitamin C and vitamin E could help protect your blood vessels, according to SRUKs website, because they both contain antioxidants.

8. Avoid smoking and caffeine

Try and avoid smoking or drinking caffeine, as they can both worsen symptoms, says Del Galdo.

One cigarette can reduce the bodys temperature by up to one degree for up to 20 minutes, according to SRUK.

SRUK has a free online 60 second test (sruk.co.uk/testme) to check whether you may need to get symptoms looked at.
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Prince Andrews aide admitted to an alleged Chinese spy who was the dukes close confidant that his notorious 2019 BBC Newsnight interview was hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful.

The dukes senior adviser, Dominic Hampshire, privately admitted to Yang Tengbo - who has been barred from the UK on national security grounds - that his interview with Emily Maitlis was a disaster.

Andrews sit-down interview with the BBC journalist accelerated his fall from grace. He was questioned about claims made by Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was coerced into having sex with him when she was just 17 and his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Four days after it aired, Andrew stepped down from public duties.

He has since refused to speak about the interview, but his aide did write to Mr Tengbo about the programme.

In court documents seen by the BBC, Mr Hampshire told Mr Tengbo in March 2020 that outside of [Andrews] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.

open image in gallery In March 2020, Mr Hampshire told Mr Tengbo that outside of [Andrews] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on ( Sky News )

We have dealt with the aftermath of a hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful television interview, we have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we dont completely trust, Mr Hampshire wrote on official Buckingham Palace notepaper.

He added: I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit. With my principal and indeed his family. You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship.

In December, it emerged Mr Tengbo had been barred from entering the UK because authorities felt he was likely to pose a threat to national security.

He is said to have twice visited the royal residence at the invitation of the Kings younger brother and was described as a close confidante of Andrew.

British authorities allege the businessman - who helped the duke expand his Pitch@Palace entrepreneur programme into China - was working on behalf of the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that is used to influence foreign entities.

open image in gallery The Duke of York has faced a growing backlash following a BBC interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein ( BBC/PA )

He was banned from returning to the UK in February 2023 and in December last year he was banned from returning to the UK in February 2023 on national security grounds. His appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal was rejected.

Hundreds of pages of documents considered by the tribunal - including the exchange with Mr Hampshire - were released on Friday.

In his tribunal statement, Mr Tengbo said establishing Pitch@Palace was extremely difficult and added: After Prince Andrews interview with Emily Maitlis in November 2019, everything changed.

Andrew was criticised for the car crash BBC Newsnight interview after it aired on 16 November 2019.

During the interview, he denied he slept with Ms Giuffre, saying an encounter could not have taken place because he was at a branch of Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Princess Beatrice.

He also said Ms Giuffres claim he was sweaty at a nightclub was untrue because an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands war had left him unable to sweat.

open image in gallery In March 2022, Andrew paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, without admitting liability. ( PA Media )

Four days later, Andrew stepped back from public duties and in January 2022, he was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages after a US judge allowed Ms Giuffres civil sexual abuse claim to move to trial.

In March 2022, Andrew paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, meaning both sides avoided the case going to trial, without admitting liability.

The disclosure on Friday comes on the same day separate court documents revealed Prince Andrew appeared to have been in touch with Epstein two months after he claims to have ended contact with the convicted paedophile.

Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.
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Broccoli packages sold at Walmart stores in 20 states have received an elevated recall status over a Listeria contamination that has potentially fatal consequences.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised the recall on Braga Freshs ready-to-eat 12oz Marketside Broccoli Florets to Class 1, which is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death, according to the organization.

The FDA first announced on December 31 that Braga Fresh was issuing a voluntary recall on the product due to the possibility of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria is a bacteria that can contaminate many foods. Although symptoms can vary, a listeria infection can cause invasive illness and intestinal illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The possible listeria contamination of Braga Freshs broccoli was discovered during random sampling by Texas Health & Human Services from a Texas store location where one of multiple samples yielded a positive test result, the FDA reported.

The recalled product was sold in Walmart stores with the UPC code 6 81131 32884 5 on the back of the bag and the Lot Code: BFFG327A6 on the front of the bag.

A listeria infection can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections for people with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA ( Getty Images )

It also has a best-if-used-by date of December 10, 2024. The FDA notes that while the product is no longer being sold in stores, consumers may have frozen the item for later use. Any consumers who have the product in their freezers should not eat it and discard it.

The 12-ounce bags of broccoli were sold at Walmart stores in 20 states: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

According to the FDA, there havent been any reported illnesses connected to the recalled broccoli.

The agency also noted in its release that Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Meanwhile, people with healthier immune systems may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

Read More Coca-Cola safety recall in Europe Coca-Cola has issued a safety recall for several of its soft drink products in Europe (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) due to higher-than-normal levels of chlorate.

The affected products include Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid, and Fuze Tea with specific production codes.

Chlorate, a byproduct of chlorine-based sanitizers used in water treatment, can cause iodine deficiency.

The UK Food Standards Agency is investigating whether any affected products reached the UK market.

Coca-Cola has apologized and advised consumers to return recalled products for a refund, while experts suggest serious health risks are unlikely unless large quantities are consumed.

Read the full article here

A representative for Walmart previously told The Independent that customers can visit a Walmart store to get a refund on the recalled broccoli.

They added: The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority. While the expiration date for the potentially impacted Marketside Broccoli Florets has past and the product is no longer in stores, we encourage customers who may still have this product in their homes, such as stored in freezers, to not consume and to discard the product.

At this time, there have been no reported illnesses associated with this advisory, and we are working with the supplier to investigate.

The updated recall comes just days after six different brands of eggs were recalled in Canada due to the possibility of salmonella contamination.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recalled Golden Valley, Compliments, Foremost, IGA, No Name, and Western Family eggs on January 18. The recall applies to different packages and sizes of eggs.

Only specific lot numbers of the eggs have been affected. A list of lot numbers is available on the CFIA website.
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Three judges who oversaw Sara Sharifs family court cases before she was murdered by her father and stepmother have now been named by a court.

Judge Alison Raeside, Judge Peter Nathan and Judge Sally Williams were named on Friday as the three judges who were all involved in family court proceedings related to the care of the 10-year-old between 2013 and 2019 after a Court of Appeal ruling overturned a ban on the media identifying them.

Saras father, Urfan Sharif, and stepmother, Beinash Batool, were jailed for life for her murder in December, with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively, while her uncle, Faisal Malik, was jailed for 16 years after being convicted of causing or allowing her death.

open image in gallery Sara Sharif was murdered in the summer of 2023 ( PA Media )

The last of three sets of proceedings saw Sara placed in the home in Woking, where she later died in the summer of 2023 after a campaign of abuse in which she suffered a catalogue of 70 injuries, including 25 fractures, human bite marks and burns.

In a controversial ruling in December, Mr Justice Williams said that the media could not identify three judges who presided over a string of historical court cases before the schoolgirls death, as well as other professionals including social workers and guardians. He cited a real risk of harm to them from a virtual lynch mob and ruled they acted within the parameters that law and social work practice set for them.

open image in gallery Judge Raeside, who remains an active judge, dealt with the majority of the proceedings related to Sara ( YouTube/UK Judiciary )

But after several media organisations challenged the ban, three Court of Appeal judges ruled on 24 January that the three unnamed judges could be identified at 10am on Friday in the interests of open justice, having heard that all three wanted to convey their profound shock, horror and sadness about what happened to Sara Sharif.

Documents previously disclosed to the media showed that Surrey County Council was involved with the Sharif family for several years before Saras death, including beginning care proceedings for her just a week after her birth.

They also showed that the authority first had contact with Urfan Sharif and Saras mother Olga Sharif in 2010  more than two years before Sara was born  and had received referrals indicative of neglect relating to Saras two older siblings, known only as Z and U.

Judge Raeside, who remains an active judge, dealt with the majority of the proceedings related to Sara, with Judges Nathan and Williams  who have both since retired  involved to a lesser degree.

open image in gallery Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were convicted of Saras murder ( PA Media )

The first set of proceedings was told that the council had a number of concerns in relation to the care that (Olga Sharif) and Mr Sharif provide Z and U and are likely to provide to Sara.

Judge Raeside approved the children being placed under supervision orders, meaning the children stayed in their parents care  a position supported by Surrey County Council, the childrens guardian and Saras parents.

In November 2014, after Z was found with an arm injury consistent with an adult bite mark, Sara and her two siblings were taken into police protection.

Olga Sharif later accepted a caution after being charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

open image in gallery (Left to right) Sara Sharifs stepmother Beinash Batool, uncle Faisal Malik and father Urfan Sharif were jailed over the 10-year-olds death ( PA Wire )

Judge Raeside then extended the same order for a week the following day, with Judge Williams making an interim care order for Sara and one of her siblings as proceedings continued in 2015  her only involvement in the case.

At the end of the same set of proceedings, a hearing before Judge Raeside was told that the authority was extremely concerned that Sara and U were likely to suffer significant emotional and physical harm in their parents care, as both alleged the other was violent.

Despite the allegations, the council still concluded that the risk can be managed if Sara was returned to her mothers care with supervised contact with her father, with this position also supported by the childrens guardian. Judge Raeside approved the plan in May 2015.

Then in 2019, Sara was moved to the property where she was later murdered, following her accusations of physical abuse by her mother, which were never proved.

open image in gallery Sara Sharifs uncle Faisal Malik who was jailed for 16 years after being convicted of causing or allowing the 10-year-olds death ( PA Media )

In a report for a final hearing in October 2019, a social worker told the court that they assessed that Urfan and Beinash are able to meet Sara and (Us) needs for safety, stability, emotional warmth and guidance, adding that Urfan Sharif appears to have the childrens welfare at heart.

The move was also supported by the childrens guardian and Saras parents and was approved by Judge Raeside.

In the same month of Saras murder, Mr Justice Williams ruled that the media could access documents from the historic proceedings but ruled that social workers, guardians and judges could not be named.

He said that the decisions of professionals involved were not obviously flawed and the decision of Judge Raeside to send Sara to her fathers home was indicated by faithful application of law and practice mandated.

open image in gallery The body of 10-year-old Sara Sharif was found under a blanket in a bunk bed in the family home in Woking ( PA Media )

Following the appeal against this restriction by members of the media including the PA news agency and freelance journalists Louise Tickle and Hannah Summers, appeal judges found Mr Justice Williams was wrong to anonymise them.

But Sir Geoffrey Vos, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Warby, added that the judges faced a difficult task and are not required to tolerate bullying or abusive behaviour.

The highest-ranking judge in England and Wales has said a new security taskforce will be established to assess how better to protect judges as incidents putting their safety at risk are becoming all too common.

In a letter sent to judges on Monday, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said that in addition to physical incidents, she was also increasingly concerned about threats made to judges on social media.
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Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein that they would play some more soon two months after he claims to have ended contact with the convicted paedophile.

Newly surfaced messages have revealed the Duke of York remained in contact with the disgraced financier until February 2011 - despite having claimed to have cut him off in December 2010.

Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

Messages were exchanged between the pair on the same day a photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell - who is currently behind bars for recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein - was published, Bloomberg reports.

Ms Giuffre has accused Andrew of sexually abusing her on Epsteins private island Little St James as a teenager, which the prince unequivocally denied.

In 2022, he agreed to settle her civil claim for an multi-million dollar sum, without admitting liability.

open image in gallery Messages were exchanged between the pair on the same day a photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell. ( PA Media )

The emails were obtained by Bloomberg after being disclosed in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), defending an appeal by former Barclays boss, Jes Staley, who is challenging its decision to ban him from the finance industry for misleading regulators on his ties to Epstein.

Emails show the Epstein invited Andrew to meet Mr Staley on February 27 2011, writing: Jes staley will be in London next tue afternoon if you have time.

Andrew replied: Jes is coming on 1st March or next week?

open image in gallery Prince Andrew told Jeffrey Epstein that they would play some more two months after he claimed their relationship had ended.

In 2019, Andrew told Emily Maitlis in an infamous BBC Newsnight interview that he had ended contact with Epstein in 2010, after the pair were seen walking together in New Yorks Central Park.

During the interview, he denied he slept with Ms Giuffre, saying an encounter could not have taken place because he was at a branch of Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Princess Beatrice.

He also said Ms Giuffres claim he was sweaty at a nightclub was untrue because an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands war had left him unable to sweat.

open image in gallery Prince Andrew speaks to the BBCs Emily Maitlis during Saturdays Newsnight interview ( BBC/PA )

Four days later, Andrew announced the Queen had given him permission to step back from public duties in the wake of the interview. In January 2022, the Queen stripped Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages in the wake of a US judge allowing Ms Giuffres civil sexual abuse case against her son to move to trial.

In March 2022, Andrew paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, meaning both sides avoided the case going to trial.

As part of the agreement, he was due to pay damages to Ms Giuffre and a donation to a charity in support of victims rights.

The Independent has attempted to contact the Duke of York for a comment.
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Widely purported to have been the late Queens favourite child, Prince Andrew has suffered a sharp fall from grace over the last decade.

Plagued by a string of controversies, the latest blow has seen new messages between the duke and Jeffrey Epstein come to light - sent months after Andrew claimed to have cut the disgraced financier off.

Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

Andrews ties to the paedophile eventually forced him to step down from his royal duties and in January 2022, he was stripped of his royal patronages.

In the years since, he has faced a number of other scandals, including a close confidante of his being banned from the UK over allegations he was a Chinese spy.

Here, The Independent takes a look at a timeline of Andrews fall from grace and his retreat from the public eye.

Queens favourite

open image in gallery The Queen with her son in 2019 ( Neil Hall/EPA )

The Queen stood by Andrews side even when he was caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2019 and stepped back from royal duties for the foreseeable future.

In October 2021, it was claimed the monarch intended to spend millions of pounds privately funding her sons defence against allegations of sexual abuse made by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre.

She also signalled her support for her disgraced son by arriving alongside him for Prince Philips memorial service in March 2021.

Andrew provided a steady arm for the Queen as she walked into Westminster Abbey to remember the life of her husband, just a few weeks after he reached a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre.

Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

open image in gallery Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein ( Channel 4 )

During his 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew said he had known British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of media magnate and former MP Robert Maxwell, since she was at university.

She introduced Andrew to her then-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein in 1999. The trio enjoyed a close friendship, even after Epstein was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute in 2008.

Andrew is alleged to have personally invited the couple to Balmoral, the Queens Scottish residence, in 1999.

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022 following a New York sex-trafficking trial for procuring teen girls for Epstein for him to abuse.

open image in gallery Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of child sex offences ( New York State Division of Criminal Justice/EPA )

Andrew continued to visit Epstein in New York after the financiers conviction for child sex offences in 2008.

Epstein received an 18-month sentence but was allowed to go on work release to his office most days and was released on probation after 13 months.

Andrew faced criticism when pictures emerged which showed him opening the door of Epsteins palatial East Side townhouse in December 2010 and the pair strolling through Central Park.

In the now infamous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, the royal claimed he had cut contact with Epstein in December of 2010.

2019: Virginia Giuffre sex abuse case

open image in gallery Andrew pictured with Maxwell (R) and Virginia Roberts ( US Department of Justice/PA )

In 2019, Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan alleging she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew on three occasions when she was 17 and a minor under US law.

Ms Giuffre has accused Andrew of sexually abusing her on Epsteins private island Little St James as a teenager, which the prince unequivocally denied.

2019: BBC Newsnight interview

open image in gallery The Duke of York speaking about his links to Epstein in an interview with BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis ( Mark Harrison/BBC/PA )

Andrew was criticised for a car crash BBC Newsnight interview that aired on 16 November 2019.

During the interview, he denied he slept with Ms Giuffre, saying an encounter could not have taken place because he was at a branch of Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Princess Beatrice.

He also said Ms Giuffres claim he was sweaty at a nightclub was untrue because an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands war had left him unable to sweat.

The royal faced a public backlash, with equality campaigners claiming he was too stupid to even pretend concern for Epsteins victims.

2019: Step back from public duties

Four days later, Andrew announced the Queen had given him permission to step back from public duties in the wake of the interview.

He said it had become clear to him in recent days that his association with Epstein had become a major distraction to the royal familys work.

The royal said he regretted his association with Epstein and deeply sympathises with his victims.

2022: Stripped of royal titles and military affiliations

open image in gallery Andrew is not expected to return to public life ( John Thys/AFP via Getty Images )

In January 2022, the Queen stripped Andrew of his military titles and royal patronages in the wake of a US judge allowing Ms Giuffres civil sexual abuse case against her son to move to trial.

The prince stopped using his HRH (His Royal Highness) style his roles  including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British army  were handed to other members of the royal family.

His other military titles included honorary air commodore of RAF Lossiemouth; colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment; colonel-in-chief of the Small Arms School Corps; commodore-in-chief of the Fleet Air Arm; royal colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers; deputy colonel-in-chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths Own); and royal colonel of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

2022: Out-of-court settlement

In March 2022, Andrew paid Ms Giuffre a multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement, meaning both sides avoided the case going to trial.

As part of the agreement, he was due to pay damages to Ms Giuffre and a donation to a charity in support of victims rights.

Andrew has faced calls to confirm how he funded settlement - which is reported to be as much as 12m - and whether the Queen or even King Charles, then Prince of Wales, contributed to the sum.

December 2024: Confidante banned from UK over Chinese spy allegations

In December 2024, it emerged a close confidante of the royal lost had been barred from entering the UK because authorities felt he was likely to pose a threat to national security.

Yang Tengbo brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.

British authorities allege the businessman was working on behalf of the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party that is used to influence foreign entities.

He is said to have twice visited the royal residence at the invitation of the Kings younger brother and was described as a close confidante of Andrew.

Andrew insists he ceased all contact with the businessman accused of being a Chinese spy when concerns were first raised about him. He met the individual through official channels and nothing of a sensitive nature was ever discussed, a statement from his office said.

January 2025: New messages reveal ties with Epstein continues for months after New York visit

Newly surfaced messages revealed the Duke of York remained in contact with Epstein until February 2011 - despite having claimed to have cut him off in December 2010.

Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show they were still exchanging messages until at least late February 2011, when the duke wrote: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

Messages were exchanged between the pair on the same day a photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell - who is currently behind bars for recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein - was published, Bloomberg reports.

The emails were obtained by Bloomberg after being disclosed in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), defending an appeal by former Barclays boss, Jes Staley, who is challenging its decision to ban him from the finance industry for misleading regulators on his ties to Epstein.
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More details have emerged into the allegations about Russell Brands behaviour, after several women accused him of sexual misconduct while he was at the height of fame.

The BBC has now apologised to staff as part of review into the presenters conduct, which found that a number of people felt unable to raise their concerns.

It found that when he was a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music between 2006 and 2008, he was viewed to have great sway at the station, and that others working there felt that he would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent.

The review considered eight complaints of alleged misconduct about Brand, two of which were made while he was employed by the BBC, one formally and one informally.

The 49-year-old actor and comedian denies the accusations, and previously said all his sexual relationships were absolutely always consensual.

open image in gallery The BBC has apologised to staff who felt unable to raise their concerns ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

So what are the allegations against Brand?

The review was launched after a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches revealed four women had accused him of sexual assaults at the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013.

They included accusations of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse, with one woman alleging that she had an abusive relationship with the actor when he was in his 30s and she was 16 and still at school.

Another woman claimed he raped her without a condom against a wall at his Los Angeles home, while another said he threatened her with legal action after he sexually assaulted her.

A fourth woman alleged he assaulted her in the UK and was physically and emotionally abusive towards her.

What accusations did the review investigate?

A formal complaint was made by a BBC employee in 2007 when Brand urinated in a cup during the recording of a BBC Radio 2 show, and into a bottle during a second show, as well as allegedly behaving in an aggressive manner throwing objects at the screen in anger when a mistake was made by the production team.

open image in gallery Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse (Jonathan Brady/PA) ( PA Archive )

The complaint was eventually passed to the then-controller of Radio 2, who said she did not recall these concerns ever being raised with her.

The report notes the BBC appeared to make light of the incident in a press response at the time to The Independent, in which a spokesperson said that someone has shown him [Brand] where the toilet is. The report states: Regrettably this incident was not taken seriously at this time.

In 2016, the same member of staff reported the 2007 incident again as well as further rumours that Brand had brought groups of girls onto BBC premises. Despite enquiries being made, an investigation was not pursued further as they felt it was too long after.

Other misconduct allegations that were discovered during the course of the review included Brand having sex on BBC premises and exposing himself in the studio, with some of these rumoured incidents mentioned in his autobiography.

One competition winner claimed she had consensual sex with Brand on BBC premises, while another had a sexual encounter in a disabled toilet, but later felt Brand had abused his position and taken advantage of them.

open image in gallery The comedian has insisted that all sexual relationships were absolutely always consensual (Russell Brand/PA) ( PA Media )

An incident in the LA bureau of the BBC alleges that Brand followed a woman into a bathroom and showed her his penis, which he then referenced on air while filming his radio show in 2008.

The complainant did not raise the complaint at the time but was encouraged to do so in 2019, with the handling of the complaint found to be inadequate.

The report states: What is clear is that many BBC staff and freelancers, especially in more junior roles, found Russell Brand demanding and difficult to work with and his behaviour extreme, but all felt that there was no point in complaining as they believed they would not be listened to and, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand as a high-profile presenter had the support of the station management.

Another of the complaints in the report was made by a woman named Alice, who said a car provided by the BBC for Brand collected her and took her to his house when he was in his 30s and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

The report concluded that it was not able to verify these claims but it was "unlikely that the cars described by Alice were chauffeur-driven BBC cars or BBC management cars".

open image in gallery He has been interviewed by police on three occasions since September 2023 (James Manning/PA) ( PA Archive )

Both Alice and the report agreed that if Brand had persuaded a mini-cab that had been pre-booked by the BBC to make these additional journeys, it was likely done without staff knowledge.

Referring to management failings within the BBC, the report found that there was an apparent power dynamic and hierarchy surrounding the shows, and presenters, Brand in particular, were perceived to have a direct line to the then-controller.

What have the BBC done to improve workplace culture?

The review cost 662,062 and was conducted by the BBC's director of editorial complaints and reviews, Peter Johnston.

He said: "The processes for raising any concerns were also not as developed as they are now.

The corporation has since introduced a range of measures including a specialist case management process which considers the most serious allegations and concerns raised.

Its anti-bullying and harassment policy has been strengthened several times and a dedicated support at work team has been set up to address bullying and harassment cases.

Channel 4, where Brand also worked as a presenter, released its own internal review findings in March 2024. Its boss apologised to a former employee after the probe found it had not investigated a "serious" complaint made against the star in 2009.

What has Brand said about the review?

The comedian has always denied the accusations and insisted all sexual relationships were consensual, and previously told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the claims were very, very hurtful.

He did not accept the invitation to provide his perspective to the review.

He has been interviewed three times by police since September 2023 and last November, the Metropolitan Police sent the Crown Prosecution Service a file of evidence. A decision on charges has not yet been made.
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The Home Office has reversed catastrophic changes to the Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme to ensure that children can now join their parents in the UK, after The Independent highlighted instances of families being separated.

While Britain has offered sanctuary to nearly 300,000 Ukrainians after Russias full-scale invasion in 2022, changes to the rules issued overnight last February by the Tory government have prevented some parents from bringing their children to the UK.

In a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper last week, the charity Settled warned that Ukrainians were resorting to illegal routes and rogue advisers to bring their children to the UK as a result, putting them at risk of exploitation by criminals and traffickers.

The charity, which is among several organisations supporting Ukrainian families unable to reunite in the UK, has assisted in more than 100 cases of children being unable to join their parents after the policy change last year.

While Ukrainian refugees could previously sponsor family members, the new rules meant that only British and Irish citizens or those with permanent leave to remain were able to do so. Announcing the changes last year, the government admitted it had done so without warning to avoid a misplaced surge of applications.

The Independent has since highlighted multiple cases in which parents who left young children with relatives in Ukraine while they travelled ahead to find suitable work and accommodation in Britain suddenly found they were no longer able to obtain a UK visa for their children.

In other cases, mothers returned to Ukraine to give birth, only to find they were unable to bring their babies back to Britain.

But in new guidance issued on Friday morning, the Home Office has now stated that a parent or legal guardian who holds permission under any of the Ukraine schemes can apply to sponsor their child.

open image in gallery The Home Office has now stated that a parent or legal guardian who holds permission under any of the Ukraine schemes can apply to sponsor their child ( The Independent/Getty/iStock )

Children sponsored by their parents or guardians will be given permission to live in the UK for up to 18 months, and will have access to education, healthcare, benefits and employment where eligible, the new guidance states.

A Home Office spokesperson said: Under the previous government, a change was made to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which meant that parents could not sponsor their children to join them in the UK even if they had appropriate accommodation.

We have taken urgent action to resolve this issue, which will now enable parents with Ukraine Scheme visas to sponsor their children to join them in the UK. These will apply to both applications that have already been made, as well as future applications.

Charities welcomed the move, with Settleds chief executive Kate Smart saying: Ever since the policy change was announced last February Settled knew the heartache and risk it created ... We owe thanks to our lawyers have worked so hard to support these Ukrainian families.

The charitys schemes adviser Yuliia Ismail added: We ask that the Home Office now acts quickly to decide outstanding applications from children stuck in Ukrainian conflict zones some of which have been in limbo for almost a year.

open image in gallery Home secretary Yvette Cooper has hosted a Ukrainian family forced to flee Russias invasion ( Reuters )

We further ask that a legal route is opened to enable Ukrainian children who have already arrived in the UK to regularise their immigration status in line with status given to the parents.

Speaking to The Independent last week, one mother said she was left with no choice but to bring her children from Ukraine illegally after their carer grandparent fell ill, after she and her partner paid nearly 3,000 (2,500) to a fraudulent adviser in the UK while desperately seeking visas for their children.

Speaking through a translator, she said: It was so difficult. I was not sure if it was the right thing to do  that feeling I am doing something wrong is always with me  but Id tried everything and I reached the point that I just didnt have a choice, and could not leave my children in Ukraine.

Another mother who contacted The Independent after her application to bring her son and daughter to the UK was refused said in October: I regularly wake up in nightmares worrying about my children. I have a simple, elementary basic desire: to finally hug my children and be with them, know that they are safe ... Right now, Im not living  Im existing in waiting.

Welcoming the changes on Friday, Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of Work Rights Centre, told the BBC: "It will come as a huge relief to those parents who have been separated from their children, and will finally be able to bring them to the UK to reunite in safety."

She added: "However, this action does not help those who have been forced apart from other family members, including siblings, parents or partners.

"We know there are many Ukrainians in the UK who left behind elderly, sick or disabled relatives with the belief they would be able to bring them later. They face a cruel choice: leave the safety of the UK to care for them in Ukraine, or remain in safety leaving their loved ones vulnerable at risk."
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Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of having his head in the sand over Brexit as figures show conclusively that the UK is worse off five years after leaving the EU.

The prime minister has been urged to undertake a radical rethink of the Brexit reset to drive economic growth, as he prepares to open his negotiations at a dinner with EU leaders on Monday.

Writing in the The Independent, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey today called for the government to drop its red line on joining an EU customs union, in order to strengthen Britains hand with Donald Trump.

Following the US presidents inauguration, Sir Ed said the PM had to acknowledge that the circumstances have changed as he also accused Labour and the Tories of taking part in a conspiracy of silence over the UKs relationship with Europe.

Already, Sir Keir has been criticised for a lack of ambition in his negotiations, apparently having ruled out simple measures like creating a youth mobility scheme as well as refusing to consider rejoining the EU or its single market.

And serious concerns have been raised that the Labour government has failed to properly acknowledge the impact of Brexit, after a written parliamentary answer revealed that Sir Keir has refused to carry out an audit on the economic damage so far caused by Britains withdrawal from the bloc.

open image in gallery Ministers have been accused of negligence for refusing to estimate the cost of Brexit to the UK economy ( PA Archive )

Also writing in The Independent today, former Tory minister Dominic Grieve and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, the joint chairs of European Movement UK, called on the prime minister to seek associate membership for the UK in a bid to redefine its place within the continent.

Mr Grieve and Ms Lucas warned: The European Union is evolving, and with the risks presented by Donald Trump  from an emboldened far right and trade wars to rolling back on climate commitments and undermining multilateralism  the urgency to accelerate this transformation has never been greater.

Franco-German proposals to reform and expand the EU outline a flexible, multi-tiered structure, with concentric circles of integration at its core. It envisions additional tiers for candidate countries, such as Ukraine and the Western Balkans, and offering associate membership for partners, including, for now, the UK. This presents an opportunity for Britain to rebuild trust, foster closer cooperation, and redefine its place within the continent.

open image in gallery Former Tory minister Dominic Grieve has joined the call for a rethink ( AFP via Getty )

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has also called on the government to use the planned EU reset to help drive economic growth, warning that there is no time to lose.

William Bain, head of trade policy at the BCC, said: Firms are being held back by a complex web of red tape and regulatory burdens. This is ramping up costs, so improving our trading relationship with the EU could provide the impetus to growth needed to transform the dour outlook many are facing.

Meanwhile, Sir Keirs government has been accused of negligence after it refused to estimate the official cost of Brexit to the UK economy.

Nearly five years after Britains exit from the European Union, critics said ministers were putting their head[s] in the sand over the damage caused by the loss of the UKs biggest market.

And they accused Sir Keir of lacking confidence in his flagship Brexit reset with other EU countries, following claims that it has so far achieved little.

There have been suggestions that Brexit could be costing the British economy an astonishing 100bn a year. But the Treasury has refused to audit the overall cost.

Asked if the government would estimate the impact of the UKs exit from the EU, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: No. The government is focused on resetting the relationship with the EU, which will support economic growth, the central mission of the government.

Former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine said: The government may be reluctant to do an assessment because it would force them to reappraise our position and to hasten our return to membership of the European community.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP MP who asked the question, said Brexit was one of the biggest shocks to have hit the UK economy, adding: It is extraordinarily negligent not to understand how those changes are affecting our economy.

open image in gallery Keir Starmer knows the Labour government will have to deliver some economic growth in 2025 ( PA Wire )

He said the UKs exit continues to impact on every sector of the economy. Mr Gethins continued: A hard Tory Brexit was a folly that has been bad news for us all. That Labour has continued that damage defies belief. To refuse to carry out an economic analysis underlines the lack of confidence that the government has in its own policy.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of the pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain, said: It is likely we will never know the full extent of the damage, not just to our economy, but to opportunities for young people, relationships, life plans and cultural exchange.

This government can begin to undo this damage by working towards beneficial regulatory alignment and a youth mobility scheme with the EU, and our polling shows thats what the British people want as well.

Emma Knaggs, deputy chief executive of European Movement UK, said: Its time for ministers to stop sticking their heads in the sand over the damage Brexit continues to wreak on the UK economy. The Independent recently revealed that government estimates show Brexit is on course to cut UK trade by 15 per cent in the long run.

In terms of the divorce costs alone, before any hit to the economy is taken into account, in October a Treasury minister confirmed that Britain had spent 24bn withdrawing from the EU  with a further 6.4bn still to pay.

A Treasury spokesperson said the chancellor had been in Brussels recently as part of the governments commitment to resetting our relationship with the European Union.

A more businesslike relationship with the EU going forwards will benefit working people and put more money in their pockets by breaking down barriers to trade, creating opportunities to invest and help UK businesses sell in European markets, they added.
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Five years after Britain officially left the European Union, Brexit is less popular than ever.

YouGov polling on Wednesday showed the number of Britons who think leaving the EU was a good idea is at its lowest since the referendum, with just three in 10 saying it was the right decision.

Most voters support Britain returning to the EU, with even one in six who backed the UKs departure now experiencing regret.

open image in gallery Boris Johnson was one of the key Brexit campaigners ( Reuters )

To mark the fifth anniversary, The Independent looked at what Britain was promised before the 2016 vote, and what Britain actually got.

350m a week for the NHS

One of the most notorious promises made by the Leave campaign was that, due to Britains financial contributions to the EU, getting out would free up 350m each week which could be spent on the health service

Spending on the NHS has increased since Britain left the EU, particularly during the pandemic, but there is no evidence to suggest Britains payments to the EU have been redirected to the service.

And, far from helping, Brexit has led to a severe slowdown of nurses arriving in the UK from EU states, contributing to staff shortages, while post-Brexit red tape has led to the NHS facing drug shortages.

Take back control of Britains borders

open image in gallery Net migration has soared since Brexit ( PA Graphics )

Another key selling point for Brexiteers was immigration, and the vow that outside the EU the UK would take back control of its borders.

Much of the referendum campaign was focused on immigration, and warnings it would continue spiralling if Britain voted to remain.

But the UKs withdrawal from the EU has not made so much as a dent on net migration figures, with immigration soaring to a record high.

The net number of immigrants who arrived in the UK in 2023 was 900,000, almost four times higher than the 248,000 figure seen in 2016, the year of the referendum.

Prospering outside the EU

Vote Leave also promised the UK would prosper as an independent nation.

But official government figures show that Brexit is expected to knock 4 per cent from the size of Britains economy in the long run, adding to the squeeze on taxes and public services.

And, in a stark warning for those thinking Brexits damage would be over five years on from Britains official EU exit, official figures revealed by The Independent show that less than half of its impact has yet been felt.

The Office for Budget Responsibilitys most recent estimates show that just 40 per cent of the impact of Brexit has fed through to the economy, meaning 60 per cent is yet to materialise. The economic damage has been caused by a drop in trade between the UK and EU, largely due to post-Brexit red tape holding back businesses.

Lower taxes and cost of living

open image in gallery The cost of living has soared since Brexit ( Alamy/PA )

The official Vote Leave campaign repeatedly attacked the EU for increasing the cost of living for Britons and vowed it would fall if the UK pulled out.

A key claim was that Britain would scrap VAT on household energy bills outside Europe, saving 64 for each household per year.

VAT on household energy bills has not been scrapped, and since Brexit, mainly due to Russias invasion of Ukraine, energy bills and the cost of living have soared.

Brexit has in fact been blamed for exacerbating the cost of living crisis that hit the UK by increasing trade friction and driving up food costs.

Global Britain and a US trade deal

open image in gallery The prospect of a wide-ranging trade deal looks limited amid fears American agriculture could undercut British farmers ( AFP/Getty )

Another big Brexit bonus promised by Leave backers was a wide-ranging US trade deal that would boost British business.

Despite warnings from Barack Obama that leaving the EU would put Britain at the back of the queue, Brexiteers pressed ahead with the notion the special relationship would open the door to a deal.

Five years after regaining the power to strike individual trade deals, a US deal has continued to evade both Tory and Labour governments. There is little prospect of Sir Keir Starmer signing up to an agreement including agriculture, that would see already furious farmers undercut by American meat producers.

So even if a deal does materialise, it is likely to be far smaller in scope than what was touted before the Leave vote.

A far cry from the vision of Britain striking enough trade deals to offset its lost trade with the EU, Brexit is expected to have a long-term 15 per cent hit to overall UK trade.

Turkey joining the EU

open image in gallery Vote Leave repeatedly warned that Turkey was going to join the EU ( Carl Court/PA )

Another Brexit myth pushed by the Leave campaign was that Turkey was set to join the EU within a decade, opening freedom of movement to millions more people.

The day before the referendum, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said a Leave vote was safer and that those claiming Turkeys ascension to the EU was a long way off were lying to the British people.

But, almost a decade after the referendum, Turkeys journey from candidate to full membership status still looks stalled.

Frictionless trade between GB and Northern Ireland

open image in gallery It was feared Brexit could result in a hard Irish land border with Northern Ireland ( AFP/Getty )

Boris Johnson once famously told a Northern Irish businessman that if they were asked for customs declarations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland they could tell them to ring up the prime minister and I will direct them to throw that form in the bin.

Instead certain goods being transported into Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework require customs declarations.

Northern Ireland is treated as part of the EU single market, meaning that goods entering from Great Britain are subject to checks and declarations forms.

This has proved highly controversial, with unionists arguing the system threatens Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom. But the framework is in place to ensure no hardening of the Irish land border post-Brexit.
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Keir Starmer must be bold and use Europes security fears as leverage to secure a better Brexit reset deal when he meets EU leaders on Monday, a former national security adviser has warned.

The dangers posed by the war in Ukraine and Donald Trumps presidency offer Sir Keir a prime opportunity to put Britain back at the heart of major decisions across the continent, Lord Ricketts told The Independent.

With major EU players Germany and France also currently weak because of internal dramas in both governments, the prime minister should pitch the UK as a key solution to the problems of war on the edge of Europe and Trumps demands that EU countries spend more on defence, he said.

The call comes just days after Sir Keirs plans for his flagship post-Brexit reset were branded anaemic, with the Labour leader warned that his EU policy is vague and unambitious.

open image in gallery Starmer will meet EU leaders on Monday to discuss the UKs Brexit reset (Stefan Rousseau/PA) ( PA Wire )

Lord Ricketts said the prime minister should use that opportunity to show more boldness and make the case that the UK should be inside rather than outside potentially lucrative EU defence deals, despite Brexit.

Sir Keir should make a pitch that we shouldn't allow third country rules about European defence industries to mean we're not making the most of our collective capacity to increase our production and do better in supporting Ukraine, he said.

Such rules make it very difficult for industries in non-EU countries, like the UK, to get access to EU-funded defence manufacturing programmes to make items such as ammunition.

Lord Ricketts said the prize for the UK would be that we are then established back at the heart of the conversation about the big issues in European security.

He said this was a discussion at a different level from where Brussels negotiators are.

With Europes leaders facing political turmoil, as French President Emmanuel Macron struggles without a parliamentary majority and Germany about to hold a general election that could lead to months of coalition negotiations, Lord Ricketts said: It's a moment where it'd be good to see the British prime minister being central in those huge discussions. I hope it could open up discussions about bigger picture issues.

open image in gallery Lord Ricketts urged the PM to be brave in his negotiations with the EU ( Getty )

Asked if he thought it was a moment that required bravery from the PM, he said: Yes, I do. I mean, I think (the government) have been cautious and the initial description of the reset has been quite a lot of process which is important. The creation of goodwill and trust is important. But when it comes to the actual substance, there's a lot of impatience around the EU to see what the UK is willing to put on the table.

He added: I think it's time to get into debate about some specifics, about how industries can work better together, how we can find the funds for more purchases of weapons for Ukraine, and yes, show a bit more boldness, particularly on security and defence.

Such a move would also elevate the UKs reset negotiations away from the current transactional nature of much of Brussels talks, the peer, who is also the chair of the Lords European Affairs Committee, but stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity, said.

The bloc is currently looking for concessions from the UK on fishing quotas and youth mobility schemes to allow the under-30s to live and work in the EU in exchange for better relations.

Mondays dinner will be the first time a British prime minister has been asked to attend such a gathering since the UKs exit from the European Union in 2020.

The Labour leader has promised to fix Britains damaged relations with the bloc for the benefit of generations to come.

No 10 has been approached for comment.
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A senior Treasury minister has admitted that the government does not yet know how it will pay for its controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back the UK/US air base on Diego Garcia.

In a written answer, chief Treasury secretary Darren Jones, Rachel Reeves number two, revealed that spending has not yet been allocated for what sources have claimed could be a 9 billion bill.

A second written answer from foreign office minister Stephen Doughty suggests it could come from the under-pressure defence budget - at a time when it has been reported increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP could be delayed until 2032.

open image in gallery Chief Treasury secretary Darren Jones ( EPA )

The latest concerns about the Chagos agreement come amid signs that President Donald Trump could try to veto the deal because of fears about the impact on the Diego Garcia base.

There are worries too that China could get a foothold on the islands and that there would be an embargo against taking nuclear weapons there.

An initial deal with the former Mauritius government in 2024 had to be renegotiated following the election of a new government in the former colony, with the prime minister Navin Ramgoolam saying it was not good enough.

The UK government has so far refused to publish the details of the deal but has insisted it is good and guarantees the future of the base for another 99 years.

Responding to Tory shadow defence minister Mark Francois on where the costs of the talks and deal would be met, Mr Jones said: The direct costs of negotiation are owned and monitored by the Foreign Office (FCDO) and Ministry of Defence (MoD), and have all been met from within their budgets. Policy impact assessments are similarly owned by the FCDO and MoD.

But crucially he made it clear that costs of the paying for the deal had not been allocated yet and will need to come from within the governments future budget and spending limits.

He said: Any financial obligations arising from the finalised agreement will be managed responsibly within the governments fiscal framework, including through the upcoming spending review.

open image in gallery Mark Francois (Gareth Fuller/PA) ( PA Archive )

In his response to Mr Francois, Mr Doughty said: Costs, including those of staffing, legal counsel, travel and accommodation and other expenses arising from the negotiations have been incorporated into the budgets of those departments involved in the negotiations. There has been no central aggregation of those costs.

Mr Francois, the shadow armed forces minister, warned the costs could have a significant impact on defence spending which is already under pressure.

He said: When the defence budget is already under immense pressure not only do the government not know exactly how much it would cost us to rent back our own Islands, they dont even know which department would pay for it. If the rumoured figure of up to 9 billion is true, this is even more mad financially than strategically.

Lets hope Team Trump put them out of their misery on this, sooner rather than later.

It comes as Sir Keir and his Mauritian counterpart, Navin Ramgoolam, have spoken directly for the first time about the Chagos Islands deal.

The prime minister told Ramgoolam he wants "strong protections" for the UK-US military base on the island chain as talks to hand them over to Mauritius continue.

Sir Keir and the Mauritian leader spoke on Friday afternoon, Downing Street said, the first time the two leaders have done so directly since they both came to power.
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The government has unveiled proposals to find land for solar farms, plant trees and improve habitats for birds, insects and fish, in another blow to farmers amid an inheritance tax row.

Environment secretary Steve Reed is set to launch a consultation for the land use framework, promoted by Labour as a guide to better manage Englands finite agricultural land in the face of climate change and the net zero transition.

Under the plans, the highest quality agricultural land will remain protected for food production, the government said. But ministers will also look into how and where land can be used for other needs, such as solar farms, reservoirs, roads, new woodlands and new towns.

With land use long seen as a sensitive and politically thorny issue, the environment secretary will insist that the framework will not tell people what to do.

However, there is widespread speculation that 9 per cent of farmland would need to be removed from food production by 2050 to meet net zero targets. This creates a further setback to farmers who are likely to step up their campaign against the governments inheritance tax reforms.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union, said it was imperative this framework does not further restrict farmers ability to produce the nations food, adding the UKs farming industry has already taken a battering.

We need transparency, engagement and a government that is willing to listen, he said. Only then will we get a land use framework that delivers for consumers, for the environment and for British agriculture.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, further warned the governments proposal should not be partitioning up the countryside.

From April 2026, the first 1 million of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax. But for assets over 1 million, inheritance tax will apply with 50 per cent relief, at an effective rate of 20 per cent.

open image in gallery Farmers are gathering at protests across the UK as they step up their campaign against the Governments inheritance tax reforms ( Jacob King/PA Wire )

The proposed tax raid has become a political flashpoint for the farming industry crippled by rising costs, tough market conditions and worsening climate impacts.

The NFU is staging a series of events on Saturday as part of a so-called National Day of Unity, with farmers bringing food, tractors and livestock to town centres across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

With the framework proposals likely to see pushback from some in the farming sector, Mr Reed will reiterate his message that food production remains a priority.

The environment secretary is expected to announce during a speech at the Royal Geographical Society on Friday, that the start of a national conversation on how the country can meet multiple land objectives and contribute to the wider pursuit of economic growth.

The government has recently shifted its rhetoric to focus on the prioritisation of growth above all else, vowing to take on NIMBYs and overhaul environmental regulations to drive through major infrastructure projects.

But the Environment Secretary will set out the new policy as a strategic approach to meeting national targets on water, nature and climate as well as shoring up food security and boosting the economy.

The primary purpose of farming will always be to produce food that feeds the nation, he is set to say.

This framework will give decision makers the toolkit they need to protect our highest quality agricultural land.

Mr Reed will also argue that the land use framework is about working together to pool our knowledge and resources, to give local and national government, landowners, businesses, farmers and nature groups the data and tools they need to take informed actions that are best for them, best for the land, and best for the country.

open image in gallery Environment secretary Steve Reed has faced fierce backlash from farmers over inheritance tax ( PA Wire )

As part of the consultation, the government will hold workshops with farmers, landowners and other stakeholders across the country over the next few weeks.

Interested groups will be asked about the best ways to incentivise and deliver the shift of agriculturally unproductive land towards diverse purposes.

Alongside draft proposals, the government will publish data on how Englands land is currently used as well as modelling what future land use may look like.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance said: "A land use framework is an important step forward in determining how we go forward for farming, nature and net zero. This should not, however, be about partitioning up the countryside but ensuring that we deliver all requirements together in the most effective way. The future is farming and nature, not farming or nature".

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the government should be making life easier for farmers, not adding even more burdens.

I have been talking to farmers this year, since the budget. What they are doing with the family farm tax, the family business tax, the rise in national insurance, is killing farmers in our country.
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The Conservatives have slipped into third place for the first time in the latest weekly Techne tracker poll for The Independent, leading to new questions over Kemi Badenochs leadership.

The findings come as Reform UK plans to take the fight to the Tory leaders Essex North West constituency on Friday evening to mark the fifth anniversary of Brexit.

According to the poll, the Conservatives lost one point this week going to 23 per cent, Reform UK remained at 24 per cent and Labour, in a rare boost, picked up one point moving to 26 per cent.

open image in gallery Nigel Farage plans to hold a Brexit anniversary rally in Kemi Badenochs constituency ( AFP via Getty Images )

The Lib Dems also were down one to 12 per cent and the Green Party was unchanged at 7 per cent.

Nigel Farage told The Independent that this was just the beginning of a slide for the Tories.

He said: They will start to fall quickly, they already are in Wales.

Other recent polling data suggests Conservative support is being held up by higher numbers in the southeast and south of England. However, for a third week in a row, the Techne poll suggests around a quarter (24 per cent) of Conservative voters from the 2024 election have switched to Reform UK.

Techne UK chief executive Michela Morizzo told The Independent the survey this week is very bad news for Ms Badenoch and the Tories.

She said: Our regular Westminster tracker poll this week continues to reinforce the trend that the UK very much has three main political parties competing for power.

For Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Party there is some better news after a number of weeks slipping back. However this is not the case for Kemi Badenochs Conservatives. Her party slips back one point in national vote share down to 23 per cent.

With Nigel Farages Reform UK staying steady on 24 per cent of national vote share this means the Conservatives drop down to third in our polling. This third-place position for Badenoch and her party is the first time that the Techne UK poll has ever put the Conservatives in such a lowly position.

So this week better news for Labour and Reform UK but conversely the Conservatives continue to struggle.

open image in gallery Ms Badenochs Tories are in third place ( Getty Images )

While the Tories still poll better with voting age categories above 55, Reform has stronger ratings with voters younger than 55.

Last week Ms Morizzo suggested a deal between the two parties would be unassailable but with the Reform rally in Ms Badenochs seat tonight that seems like a distant prospect.

The findings come as some Tory MPs have been questioning Ms Badenochs strategy with a refusal to roll out new policies.

This followed a flat performance by the Conservative leader in PMQs this week and anger over the shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel defending net migration levels of 1.2 million during the last Tory government on Thursday.

Her comments drew criticism from Labour, with a party spokesperson saying the Conservatives were out of touch with reality, adding Dame Priti seems proud of her central role in the Tory open-border experiment.

A spokesman for Ms Badenoch later appeared to rebuke Dame Priti, saying the Conservative Party under her leadership will tell the truth about the mistakes we made.

The spokesman said: While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.

Dame Priti subsequently clarified her comments, saying the UKs immigration system was not fit for purpose and she was not happy about the high numbers while the Conservatives were in government.

Migration is the subject that Reform UK have played heaviest on in their recent move up in the polls to contend near the top at the expense of the Conservatives.

One source noted: A lot of people absolutely aghast over Pritis interview last night and direction of the party in general.
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The new US vice president JD Vance has taken aim at former Conservative minister and Rest is Politics presenter Rory Stewart.

Mr Vance, who took his new job in the White House less than a fortnight ago, accused the former British politician of believing he has an IQ of 130 when it is really 110.

This false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years, the Republican claimed.

In response, Mr Stewart, who presents the podcast with former New Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, sarcastically praised Mr Vances ability to measure others IQ so instantly and confidently.

open image in gallery JD Vance took a swipe at the former Tory politicians IQ ( AP )

But he accused him of insulting his voters, tweeting: I hope your big genius is not making you patronising towards people with an IQ of 110 - since that is 75 per cent of the US population. And perhaps even 1 or 2 of your voters.

The bizarre exchange erupted when Mr Vance earlier claimed: There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world.

Mr Stewart took to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter to describe the comments as a bizarre take on the bible.

He added that it was less Christian and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love

open image in gallery Rory Stewart hit back at JD Vance (PA) ( PA Archive )

Mr Trump and his allies have consistently hit out at British politicians in recent months.

Elon Musk has described Reform as the UKs only hope as he stepped up his public support for Nigel Farages party and urged Britons to vote for it.

The tycoon and close ally of Donald Trump is at the centre of rumours he is preparing to give the party up to $100m.

He also stepped up his feud with Keir Starmer, by claiming that very few businesses want to invest in Britain under Labour. Sir Keir previously clashed with Mr Musk in August when the billionaire claimed in a post on the X platform he owns that civil war was "inevitable" in Britain.
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A government strategy to stop violence against women set up in the wake of the killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa has failed, a watchdog has ruled.

Despite spending millions, the victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have not had improved outcomes with an epidemic of violence spiralling out of control.

VAWG is a significant and growing problem affecting one in 12 women, the National Audit Office (NAO) said, adding that the Home Office is not currently leading an effective cross-government response.

The report will put pressure on Sir Keir Starmers government with Labours key pledge to halve VAWG in the next decade.

But the NAO said that to meet this target, the Home Office will need to lead a coordinated, whole-system response that addresses the causes of VAWG.

While the Home Office under the Conservatives created a dedicated team to lead its 2021 VAWG strategy, the NAO said the department had found it challenging to get buy-in from other government departments, with an oversight group working to progress the strategy not having met until a year after the launch.

It came as VAWG spiralled into a national emergency with more than 1 million violent crimes against women and girls recorded by police in 2022/23 accounting for just under 20 per cent of all police-recorded crime excluding fraud in England and Wales.

A ministerial oversight group for the strategy only met four times in three years, with Public Accounts Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown saying: It is disappointing that the Home Office does not know where money is being spent and whether it is making a difference.

If the Home Office is serious about halving violence against women and girls within the next decade, it cannot continue relying on fragmented efforts.

Government must take a hard look at the lessons from past strategies and develop a better understanding of what works  both to prevent these horrific crimes and improve outcomes for traumatised victims.

The prevalence of sexual assault against women aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales was 4.3 per cent in 2023-24, up from 3.4 per cent in 2009-10, the NAO said.

In that same period, incidents of rape and sexual assault against women and girls recorded by police rose from 34,000 to 123,000, although the NAO said this could partly be explained by improved recording of such crimes.

The NAO report raised questions over funding, saying that in comparison to the 2021 illegal drugs strategy, there was no joint spending review bid prepared regarding the VAWG strategy, and noted historic Home Office underspending in this area.

The watchdog stated: Our analysis suggests other government departments spent at least 979m between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

The Home Office has historically underspent its own budget allocated to the VAWG Strategy, by an average of 15 per cent between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: Governments efforts to tackle violence against women and girls have not yet improved outcomes for the victims of these crimes.

The lack of an effective, cross-government approach and a limited understanding of what works to help reduce these crimes means the Home Office cannot be confident that government is doing the best it can to keep women and girls safe.

The new government has set an ambitious target to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade. A well-informed and effectively implemented cross-government response is needed, that addresses both the causes and the consequences of these crimes.

Victims commissioner Helen Newlove said the governments target to halve VAWG within the next decade is welcome, commendable, and necessary  but as this report makes clear, there remains a critical lack of understanding about what truly works.

She added: We know we cannot simply police our way out of this crisis; an effective strategy will require coordinated action across all sectors, with a shared vision underpinned by strong leadership from the centre. Departments must sing from the same hymn sheet and pull in the same direction. That much is clear.

She emphasised the importance of listening to victims and funding support services appropriately.

A Home Office spokesperson said the report had looked at the previous governments failure to deliver systemic change, and vowed that Labour was delivering a step-change in the governments response.

They said: Over the last six months, we have wasted no time in taking action to better protect victims and pursue perpetrators. This includes launching new domestic abuse protection orders, starting the rollout of domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, strengthening the police response to spiking and stalking, and pioneering a truly cross-government approach to tackling these issues.

We will not stop until we have a system that protects victims, supports their journey to justice and holds perpetrators to account.

The Independents Brick by Brick campaign, which was launched in partnership with the leading domestic abuse charity Refuge, to raise funds to build two houses for women and children escaping abusive partners.

Be a brick, buy a brick and donate here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate 15

The initial 300,000 target was surpassed thanks to generous donations from readers. More than 500,000 in donations have flooded in so far, and plans are already underway for a second home.

The National Policing Statement for Violence Against Women and Girls found that at least one in every 12 women will be a victim per year  equating to 2 million women  with the exact number expected to be much higher because of crimes that go unreported.
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Gunfire rang out across Goma as rebel group M23 marched into the Democratic Republic of Congos largest eastern city  in the worst escalation of a conflict lasting more than a decade. Before long they had seized the city and are now looking to push on in their fight against the government.

Faith*, a 42-year-old aid worker hiding away from the fighting in Goma, tells The Independent about life in the city now. The humanitarian situation is critical, he says.

Bodies are all over the city and many are decaying in the streets, he adds. Children are dying by the hour. Hospitals are full and those in hospital have no food, no water, and no medication. Medical staff are overwhelmed.

With the internet cut off to limit communication, Faith says people who didnt manage to escape Goma are struggling to communicate as they were primarily sharing information through social media.

The groups name, M23, refers to the 23 March 2009 accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo. Now, the M23 are taking up arms against the Congolese government, accusing the government of not living up to the peace deal and fully integrating Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration.

The rebels, reportedly backed by Rwanda  although Kigali deny this  have long been funded in part by the illicit mineral trade, with analysts suspecting the lightening advance in Congos mineral-rich eastern borderlands is set to boost their revenues.

Faith describes parts of the city as calm compared to a few days ago, yet people are still staying inside for their security.

Everything is paralysed, she says.

open image in gallery M23 rebels, left, escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma ( AP )

However, she adds that displaced people with no assistance are scattered on the streets, with nowhere to call home.

The M23 rebels say want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa, while Congos president has called for a massive military mobilisation to resist the rebellion and his defence minister rejected calls for talks.

In a video message, Congos defence minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to be completely burned immediately.

We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, lets stay dead here, said Mr Muadiamvita. Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi, meanwhile, has called on young people to enlist in the military.

At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighbouring south Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing. We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country, Mr Nangaa said. He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, nearly 1,000 miles away.

open image in gallery Civilians on the streets of the city of Goma ( AP )

The DR Congo has been grappling with a decades-long crisis, and in north Kivu, where Goma is located, there are over 2.7 million displaced persons.

Bernard Balibuno, DRC Representative for charity Cafod told The Independent. Balibuno managed to flee from Goma to Kinshasa on Friday when it became obvious that M23 were heading for Goma.

Mr Balibuno is in constant contact with colleagues in Goma.

All the feeder roads are cut off. There is mass chaos, he says. Its catastrophic. There is no electricity in the city, no water. The only information I am getting is by telephone. People are trapped and hiding in their homes.

Mr Balibuno is hearing that people, especially those with children, only come out of hiding to look for water and food.

Although petrified of the troops, people come out to clap on the groups of soldiers walking through the streets of Goma.

People are clapping as a sign of saying we welcome you and we dont have a problem with you, said Mr Balibuno. Its for their safety  to show we are with you and dont want you to shoot us.

Balibuno is most concerned for women and girls in Goma. Now, young girls are lost, going into homes they dont know, women have no food to give their children, people are sleeping outside, prisoners who were arrested for rape are outside  there is no rule of law, Balibuno says. The first victims will be women and children.

Faith agrees, saying that gender-based violence is part and parcel of what women are experiencing in the current context.

Mr Balibuno is asking for prayer and for support to save the lives they can.

We have to blame political leadership in DR Congo, in neighbouring countries and the international community, he concludes. The current situation follows months of escalating violence that has led to this moment. Concerted diplomatic action is needed beyond just condemning the violence to get it to stop.

*Names have been changed to protect identities
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Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who famously landed a commercial airline on the Hudson River over a decade ago, has weighed in on the disastrous DC plane crash.

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines regional jet was on the final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., when it collided midair with a military Black Hawk helicopter shortly before 9 p.m. ET, before plunging into the Potomac River claiming the lives of 67 people.

Weve had to learn important lessons literally with blood too often, and we had finally gotten beyond that, to where we could learn from incidents and not accidents, Captain Sullenberger told The New York Times in an interview.

While the crash came at an exceptionally safe moment in aviation history, it showed how vigilant we have to be, he told the newspaper.

Captain Sully, 74, was deemed a hero when he successfully landed a doomed Airbus A320 flight into New Yorks Hudson River on 15 January 2009, after the plane struck a flock of Canada geese at an altitude of 2,818 feet, causing both engines to ignite into flames and shut down  all 155 people on board the plane survived.

open image in gallery Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger III, the pilot who famously landed a passenger jet on the Hudson River in 2009 has weighed in on the disastrous DC plane crash ( Getty Images )

Nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft  basically all you can do is see the lights on them, he continued. You have to try to figure out: Are they above you or below you? Or how far away? Or which direction are they headed? Everything is harder at night.

Emergency crews waded through the frigid waters of the Potomac River overnight after officials announced Thursday they were shifting from a rescue to a recovery mission  40 bodies have been recovered so far.

Preliminary data from the American Eagle flight shows that the plane had been on course with its usual route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington D.C.

The helicopter crew whose BlackHawk struck the passenger jet were fairly experienced, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Thursday and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the incident had been preventable, as it had been a perfectly clear night.

open image in gallery Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River ( AFP via Getty Images )

Sully said the aviation industry was largely unchanged since he made the monumental landing in 2009, stating: Of course, weve added technology to it. But a lot of the technology is old.

The captain insisted however that a descent over water and at night are two factors that most certainly would have made avoiding the helicopter more difficult as there are fewer ground lights visible over the water than over land at night, he added.

In Thursdays press conference, and when questioned by a reporter on whether the plane was aware of the helicopter in the air, Secretary Duffy took a long pause and said: I would say, the helicopter was aware there was a plane in the area.

As an investigation continues, and families are being informed of their loved ones who perished in the crash, officials are frantically scrambling to examine the two black boxes recovered from the two wreckages.
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A 26-year-old woman has been accused of abusing a 13-year-old boy over the holidays in Florida.

Angel Sexton was arrested on a warrant for lewd and lascivious battery by the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office in Florida on Monday, police officials said.

She is alleged to have groomed the teenage victim over text before he traveled to visit her in December 2024 during the holidays.

Texts showed Sexton had abused her position of power and exploited their relationship to sexually take advantage of the boy, police said.

She now faces a number of allegations including kissing, attempted oral sex, and sexual intercourse, said the Flager County Sheriffs Office.

open image in gallery Angel Sexton was arrested on warrant for lewd and lascivious battery Thursday ( Flagler County Sheriff's Office )

Following the alleged abuse, the teenager reportedly returned to his family home in January but Sexton persisted and continued to groom him over text for weeks on end authorities say. She even professed to the boy that shed leave her husband for him, police added.

Initially, Sexton denied the allegations, but later admitted that theyd engaged in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse, said police.

FCSO Sheriff Rick Staly released a statement on the arrest: Its sickening to see a person take advantage of a child half her age and engage in a highly inappropriate and illegal relationship.

These cases are never easy, and I commend our Major Case Unit for their hard work to quickly make an arrest before she could continue her illegal behavior.

Sexton was transferred to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and is being held on a $25,000 bond.
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A man has admitted killing five people in Texas in 2023 and will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole, a prosecutor said.

Francisco Oropeza committed the killings after a neighbor complained he was keeping a baby awake by firing a gun in his yard late at night.

The Mexican national pleaded guilty to capital murder of multiple persons as part of a deal to avoid a possible death sentence, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon told The Associated Press.

Oropeza was offered the deal after prosecutors had lengthy discussions with family members of the victims, he said.

US immigration officials said Oropeza had been deported four times between 2009 and 2016. But Dillon said he will spend the rest of his life behind bars in Texas.

open image in gallery Francisco Oropeza is escorted from the San Jacinto County courthouse after a hearing in May 2023 ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

He is not eligible for deportation. He is not eligible for anything, Dillon said. He will stay in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice until he breathes his last breath.

Oropeza entered the pleas Wednesday after listening to emotional testimony from family members of the victims, Dillon said.

Oropeza's attorney, Anthony Osso Sr, didn't immediately respond to a Wednesday phone message seeking comment. He previously said that tension between Oropeza and his neighbours had been building for quite some time.

Police say Oropeza stormed into his neighbors house on April 28, 2023, after being asked to stop firing his gun late at night.

All five victims, including a 9-year-old boy, were from Honduras. The baby wasn't harmed.

The shooting happened in the rural town of Cleveland, about 45 miles north of Houston.

Police say Oropeza fled the neighbourhood after the shooting, setting off an intense search. He was eventually arrested near Conroe, roughly 20 miles from the scene.
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A death row killer who shot his friend before her bullet-ridden body was found in a scorched car is set to be executed on Friday.

Marion Bowman Jr. maintains that he did not murder 21-year-old high school acquaintance Kandee Martin in February 2001, five days before her sons second birthday. His final appeal against execution, claiming that he did not receive a vigorous defense because his lawyer was racist, was rejected by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

In May 2002, 15 months after Martins death, Bowman was convicted of murder and arson after friends and family testified against him. He was sentenced to death the same day.

After two decades on death row, Bowman will on Friday become South Carolinas 46th execution since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. He will be executed at Broad River Correctional Institution at 6pm on Friday with a single dose of lethal drug Pentobarbital.

open image in gallery This undated photo released by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the room where inmates are executed in Columbus, South Carolina

"I am so sorry for Kandee and her family, but I did not do it," Bowman wrote in a recent online statement. "Her family has suffered a loss that can not be undone. They have been through trials, and appeals, but they have never heard the truth from me. I know this wont bring them satisfaction, but this is my truth.

"I just dont want to be executed or imprisoned for life for a crime that I didnt commit," he wrote.

He has previously claimed to have refused a plea deal guaranteeing a life sentence because he did not do it.

But Martins family have described the convicted murderer as a liar and said they are counting down the minutes until his death.

Bowmans execution will be the third since a 13-year pause on executions ended in South Carolina - historically one of the busiest states for executions - caused in part because state officials could not obtain lethal injection drugs.

The killers lawyers argued during the case that his conviction relied on testimonies from individuals who received deals from prosecutors. Several witnesses recalled hearing Bowman swearing to kill the young women, with prosecutors arguing Martin owed Bowman money for crack cocaine.

Bowmans sister told Dorchester County court that her 20-year-old brother was in the passenger seat in the hours before the murder, when they encountered Martin with a group of friends and stopped the car.

When Martin told him to wait until her conversation was finished, Bowman said that bitch be dead by dark, his sister testified.

James Tywan Gadson, Bowmans cousin who became the star witness in the murder trial as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors for a reduced sentence, watched as Bowman shot Martin after the trio had driven to a remote spot.

Gadson said in his testimony that he heard Bowman telling him he wanted to kill Martin as they got out of the car. He then watched him mercilessly shoot Martin in the chest and head as she desperately pleaded for life, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette.

Bowman has admitted that he had sold drugs to Martin and that she would sometimes pay with sex. But since his arrest, he has consistently denied killing her.

"I have done some things in life I regret," Bowman added in his statement. "I regret the role I had in dealing to Kandee and know that her addiction probably led to her death. But I did not do this."

The killer is not asking Governor Henry McMaster for clemency. Lindsey Vann, Bowmans lawyer, said didnt want to spend more decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

After more than two decades of battling a broken system that has failed him at every turn, Marions decision is a powerful refusal to legitimize an unjust process that has already stolen so much of his life," Vann said in a statement Thursday.

No governor has given mercy and reduced a death sentence to life in prison without parole, since the death penalty in South Carolina was reinstated.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way to restart executions in South Carolina in July. Freddie Owens was put to death by lethal injection Sept. 20 and Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1.

The court will allow an execution every five weeks until the other three inmates who have run out of appeals are put to death.

Since the pause in executions, South Carolinas death row population has halved from 63 to 30. Around 20 inmates have been taken off after successful appeals, while others have died of natural causes.
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The fatal midair collision on Wednesday evening between an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet moments away from landing at Washington, D.C.s Reagan National Airport was a shocking and extremely rare occurrence, according to experts who believe human error is the likeliest explanation behind the tragedy that claimed dozens of lives.

In audio of the tower at Reagan communicating with the helicopter crew, a controller can be heard asking if they have the airplane in visual range, telling the chopper to pass behind the jet. Moments later, the two smacked into one another, killing all 64 people on the plane, which was flying in from Wichita, Kansas, and the three service members aboard the Black Hawk. On Thursday, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters they were not yet certain of the tragedys root cause.

Philip Greenspun, an MIT professor and former Delta pilot who flew the same Canadair Regional Jet involved, touched down at the same airport countless times. To his mind, the crash was most likely the result of human error stemming from a confluence of factors.

Chief among the possibilities, he surmised, could have been a misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk pilots. Further compounding factors may have included visual distractions, mistaken assumptions by controllers about the Black Hawks intentions, and idiosyncrasies inherent in the collision warning devices aboard both aircraft.

open image in gallery Rescue crews search the Potomac River the day after an American Airlines plane collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing 67 people ( AFP via Getty Images )

Greenspun  who is also an FAA-certificated helicopter instructor and has trained Black Hawk pilots to fly civilian choppers  has spent hundreds of hours piloting helos around Bostons Logan Airport, and said it would be very rare to need to cross the approach or departure corridor.

You usually do try to avoid it, if possible, he told The Independent, while noting that helicopters in the D.C. area still inevitably cross the paths of airliners, and have for decades, without colliding. (Nevertheless, roughly two-thirds of the rare midair collisions that do occur, happen during final approach.)

Among the additional issues that could have contributed to Wednesdays collision, Greenspun pointed to a potential misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk pilots, who were instructed to keep sight of the American Airlines CRJ, one of several in the area at the time, and maintain visual separation.

However, Black Hawk pilots fly wearing helmets, and often, at night, using night vision goggles. Helmets significantly reduce peripheral vision, as do the goggles, which can also make it harder to see brightly-lit objects against dark backgrounds, like an airliner in a dark sky with its landing lights blazing. As the airliner was lined up on a glide path, ready to land, the helicopter should have had an easier time getting out of the way, but didnt, according to Greenspun.

Im 99 percent sure the Black Hawk [crew] was confused about which airliner they were talking about, Greenspun said.

On that note, he wondered why the control tower failed to warn the Black Hawk that it needed to immediately deviate from the course it was on, and give them a stronger warning than simply asking, about 20 seconds before impact, if it had the CRJ in sight. The Black Hawk crew answered that yes, it did, but there were multiple aircraft in the vicinity and Greenspun thinks they were likely referring to the wrong plane.

The controllers at such a busy airport are about as good as you can get, according to Greenspun, who said the pilots at the controls of an airliner are also top tier, and that Army Black Hawk pilots are well above average.

open image in gallery One expert believes the crash could have been due to a misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk crew ( Getty Images )

The situation on Wednesday was totally routine, and one that air traffic control, or ATC, was almost certainly very comfortable with.

Its a shame, because air traffic controllers really are excellent people, but, after 70-plus years of trials, maybe human excellence just isnt enough, Greenspun said, noting that those working in ATC towers are working, basically, with 1950s technology.

Likewise, Greenspan believes aircraft cockpits are in need of a major refresh, as well. A number of factors, among them the long development cycles involved in manufacturing commercial and military aircraft, mean the systems used typically lag behind even inexpensive consumer-grade ones available to the masses.

To that end, Matt Cox, who flew F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets for the U.S. Navy before transitioning into private industry, said his Volvo is a lot more advanced, in terms of technology than the $70 million airplane he piloted while serving in the military.

The avionics in the Hornet were designed in the 80s and 90s, Cox told The Independent. The avionics package in a 757 cockpit was designed multiple decades ago.

Still, the components that are presently in place have all but been perfected since the dawn of aviation 120 years ago, according to Cox, whose company, Beacon AI, is developing next-generation automated co-pilot software for both the commercial sector and the military.

At the beginning, Cox explained, mechanical error accounted for 80 percent to 90 percent of airplane crashes, whereas 80 percent to 90 percent of accidents today are caused by human error.

Engines are more reliable, systems have multiple redundancies, as a society weve driven all of those causes down, he said. But, in those 120 years, the human brain didnt have a similar renaissance.

Human pilots are tasked with making the right decisions, as close as possible to 100 percent of the time, which means hoping the helicopter crew finds the right plane [out the window] and does all the right things to avoid hitting it, according to Cox.

open image in gallery Some 80 percent to 90 percent of accidents today are caused by human error, according to former US Navy fighter pilot Matt Cox ( REUTERS )

But, he maintained, Even the most skilled pilots are going to make human errors, because theyre human. We have wanted humans to be very much in control, and that has worked to get us to a great safety record today, Cox said. But its not going to keep us at the safety record we want.

Full autonomy in the cockpit is still a long ways away, Cox went on, but, he said, We do think there are some advancements that exist to bring to the cockpit alongside human pilots, driver-assist type stuff, to augment their capabilities and to help them to their jobs better. Does an automatic transmission make a bad driver into a good one? No. But itll make things a lot easier.

Whatever happened specifically, Wednesdays air disaster was a bad f**k-up, according to Mike Henderson, who owns a flight training academy in Livermore, California, and testifies as an expert witness regarding aviation accidents.

If you were to try to hit an airplane with a helicopter, its pretty hard, Henderson told The Independent. The skys a big place. That said, collisions are more likely to happen where planes are the most dense.

The American Airlines plane was full-flaps, wheels down, in about 30 seconds, theyd be touching asphalt, and this chopper cuts in front of that, Henderson said. Somebody screwed up.

Its still far too early to assign blame for what happened, according to Greenspun, who said, Most aviation accidents are [the result of] an accident chain, he said. You need more than one person to screw up It really just shows you that humans are fallible.

One thing is clear to him: DEI hiring is not to blame.

Greenspun pushed back firmly on President Donald Trumps assertion on Thursday that diversity, equity, and inclusivity programs related to the hiring of air traffic controllers had something to do with the deadly crash.

I dont think DEI is a factor here, Greenspun said, emphasizing that the incident occurred in Class B airspace, the busiest and most restrictive in the nation. There are 37 Bravo-class airports in the US, and its largely merit-based So yeah, I really dont think that could be a factor.
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A GoFundMe hub, created to support the families of those who died in the DC plane crash, has raised almost half a million dollars.

The page collates separate appeals for plane crash victims, and so far includes Casey Crafton, Wendy Jo Shaffer, Mikey Stovall, Justyna Beyer, and her daughter Brielle. Between them, the appeals have raised $498,231 in just 14 hours.

The American Airlines jet was on the final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., when it collided midair with a military Black Hawk helicopter claiming the lives of 67 people.

So far, 40 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River as well as two vital black boxes, a cockpit voice recorder, and a flight data recorder, which have all been taken for lab analysis, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Casey Crafton, a husband and father of three, of Salem, Connecticut, was flying home Wednesday from Wichita on the ill-fated Flight 5342 but was only part of the way home as Washington D.C. was only meant to be a stopover.

open image in gallery Kiah Duggins was described as a radiant light, a brilliant mind, and a fierce advocate for justice ( Instagram )

So far, $8,185 has been raised on his behalf and proceeds are going to his now-widowed wife and three children.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Nathan, husband and father to two beautiful boys aged three and one, now mourns the loss of his wife, Wendy Jo Shaffer, who was on board the American Eagles plane.

A statement on behalf of the Shaffer family read: [Wendys] love, kindness, and unwavering spirit touched everyone who knew her, and her absence leaves a void that can never be filled.

Funds raised on the hub for the family have totaled $242,593 and will go towards funeral expenses, childcare, education, and the day-to-day needs of the family as they adjust to life without their beloved wife and mother, the page read.

In Wichita, Kansas City, a family is mourning the loss of Kiah Duggins, described as a radiant light, a brilliant mind, and a fierce advocate for justice.

open image in gallery Wendy Jo Shaffers love, kindness, and unwavering spirit touched everyone who knew her, and her absence leaves a void that can never be filled said the fundraiser ( Facebook )

Duggins was a Harvard-trained civil rights attorney who dedicated her life to fighting for freedom, equity, and the liberation of marginalized communities, read the fundraiser.

Mother and daughter, Justyna and Brielle Beyer were identified early on as they had been traveling home from a figure skating competition  an event 12-year-old Brielle had been competing at in Wichita.

Brielle had dreams as big as the sky, while her mother reportedly sacrificed so much to provide for Brielle's future as an Olympic figure skater, read the post. Their fundraiser has raised $39,588.

The hub continues to be updated as more details of the victims emerge.
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A man who had recently brought his family back to Pakistan from the United States has confessed to shooting dead his teenage daughter, motivated by his disapproval of her TikTok content, police said.

The shooting happened on a street in the southwestern city of Quetta on Tuesday. The suspect, Anwar ul-Haq, initially said that unidentified gunmen shot and killed his American-born, 15-year-old daughter before he confessed to the crime, police official Babar Baloch said.

Our investigation so far has found that the family had an objection to her dressing, lifestyle, and social gathering, another police investigator, Zohaib Mohsin, said. We have her phone. It is locked, he told Reuters. We are probing all aspects, including honour killing.

The family had recently returned to Balochistan province in predominantly Muslim Pakistan, a nation with conservative social norms, having lived in the United States for about 25 years, Baloch said.

The southwestern city of Quetta:

The suspect has U.S. citizenship, the officer said. He said Haq had told him his daughter began creating objectionable content on the social media platform TikTok when she lived in the United States.

He told police that she continued to share videos on the platform after returning to Pakistan. Baloch said the main suspects brother-in-law had also been arrested in connection with the killing.

Police said they had charged Haq with the murder. They did not offer proof of Haqs U.S. citizenship except for the suspects own testimony and declined to say whether the U.S. embassy had been informed of the incident.

His family declined to respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More than 54 million people use TikTok in Pakistan, a nation of 241 million. The government has blocked the video-sharing app several times in recent years over content moderation.

This week hundreds of Pakistani journalists rallied against a proposed law to regulate social media content that they say is aimed at curbing press freedom and controlling the digital landscape.

The law would establish a regulatory authority that would have its own investigation agency and tribunals. Those found to have disseminated false or fake information face prison sentences of up to three years and fines of 2 million rupees ($7,200)

Digital media in Pakistan has already been muffled with measures by telecom authorities to slow down internet speeds, and social media platform X has been blocked for more than a year.

TikTok, which has about 170 million U.S users, was briefly taken offline in America just before a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban took effect on January 19.

open image in gallery Trump, after taking office on Jan. 20, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law on TikTok ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Islamabad often takes issue with what it terms obscene content with the social media platform, which has lately started complying with requests from Pakistan to remove certain content.

Over 1,000 women are killed each year in Pakistan at the hands of community or family members over perceived damage to honour, according to independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

That could involve eloping, posting social media content, fraternising with men, or any other infraction against conservative values relating to women.
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Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River after an American Airlines jet collided with a U.S. Army helicopter, claiming the lives of 67 people.

Authorities are going through the gruesome process of identifying the victims found so far, as families of people on board are forced to wait to have their worst fears confirmed.

Among those who have been identified are the personnel flying the two aircraft. The American Airlines crew included Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Sam Lilley, 28. The Blackhawk crew included Staff Sgt. Ryan OHara, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach.

Below is what we know about them so far.

American Airlines

open image in gallery American Airlines Captain Jonathan Campos ( Facebook )

Captain Jonathan Campos

Captain Campos, 34, was born in New York but grew up in Florida. He attended EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University where he became a certified flight instructor in 2017 and a commercial airline pilot a year later, according to company records seen by Mail Online.

Speaking with the outlet, his uncle Hector Campos said his nephew thrived in the aviation business, saying: He loved it.

We are in complete shock, Mr Campos said upon learning of his familys loss.

His alma mater issued a statement on his death, saying: Our thoughts are with his family and the families and loved ones of all impacted by this tragic accident.

First Officer Sam Lilley

open image in gallery Sam Lilley was an American Airlines first officer ( Facebook )

American Airlines pilot Sam Lilley, 28, was a fun, adventurous son and brother from Richmond Hill, Georgia, his sister Tiffany Gibson told The Charlotte Observer.

She revealed her brother had been visiting her in Goldsboro, North Carolina, with his fiancee, just before the tragedy took place.

Lilley followed in his fathers footsteps by training as a pilot, but worked in marketing before making the career move, said his sister.

He loved traveling and he loved flying, she told the outlet.

U.S. Army Blackhawk crew

Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach

open image in gallery Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach was the third pilot killed in the crash ( US Army )

Captain Rebecca M. Lobach was among the crew who was killed on board the training mission collision that occurred close to Ronald Reagan National Airport on Thursday. She was 28 years old.

Lobach served as an aviation officer from July 2019 to January 2025. She was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, Ft Belvoir.

In a statement, Lobachs family described her as a distinguished military graduate in ROTC at the University of North Carolina, and was in the top 20% of cadets nationwide.

Rebecca was a warrior and would not hesitate to defend her country in battle, the heartbreaking statement continued.

During her career, Lobach served as a White House Military Social Aide, even escorting fashion icon Ralph Lauren when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden in 2024.

Instructor pilot Andrew Eaves

open image in gallery Chief warrant officer Andrew Eaves ( Facebook )

Instructor pilot Andrew Eaves was a father, husband, and a chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army from Noxubee County, Mississippi.

The Army official graduated from Central Academy, Brooksville, according to local newspaper, The Macon Beacon.

His wife, Carrie Eaves identified the pilot as one of the men who died, in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Eaves niece Kaitlyn Lawrence described him as a man who was truly a light in a lot of our dark days.

She added: Wings of freedom has a whole new meaning now. We love you.

The Black Hawks co-pilot is yet to be named.

Crew chief Ryan OHara

open image in gallery Ryan OHara was also on board on the helicopter ( Facebook )

Ryan OHara was a husband, father, and crew chief on board the Black Hawk. Helicopter crew chiefs are responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft.

OHara had formerly attended Parkview Marine Corps JROTC at Parkview High School, Lilburn, where he was described as a hands-on gym member and a vital member of the rifle team, according to WTVY.

He, his wife, and their one-year-old lived together in Arlington, Virginia, according to WSBTV.

Parkview High Schools former Marine Corps JROTC Instructor David Erwin told WSBTV that OHara had been a quiet kid who came out of his shell during his time at Parkview.

When Erwin heard the news, he said: It was a gut punch. It was a gut punch this morning when I saw that.

After graduating, he went on to join the U.S. Army and even had a stint serving in Afghanistan, reported the outlet.
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Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is currently in discussions with Donald Trumps legal team about settling the presidents $10 billion lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview that the network says is completely without merit, and legal experts have labeled frivolous and dangerous.

The possibility of a settlement, first reported by The New York Times, comes as Paramount looks to complete a merger with Skydance Media. This deal requires regulatory approval from the FCC, which is now led by Trump-appointed Brendan Carr. Carr, meanwhile, has already indicated that the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris would be part of the agencys review of the merger and, in fact, ordered the network this week to hand over the entire unedited transcript along with all of the film footage.

Any settlement would be seen as effectively bending the knee to the president, especially at a time when Trump and his allies have relished the opportunity to use the federal government to punish his media critics. Besides suggesting that CBS would be investigated over the interview, Carr recently ordered a probe into NPR and PBS regarding their financial sponsors.

Paramount settling with Trump would also come after ABC News parent company Disney decided to pay the president $15 million (along with $1 million to his lawyers) to settle his lawsuit against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos, who said Trump had been found liable of rape in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. The jury had instead found the president liable for sexual abuse, though the judge noted there was no material difference between Trumps actions and rape.

That settlement prompted First Amendment and press organizations to warn about the chilling effect Trump could have on the free press, adding that there is concern that we are embarking on some scary times.

open image in gallery Former US president Donald Trump speaks to members of the media following his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris ( EPA )

Earlier this week, Facebooks parent company Meta revealed that it agreed to pay Trump $25 million to settle his complaint over the social media platform banning him following the Jan. 6 insurrection. Trumps account has since been restored, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been cozying up to Trump in recent months.

While there is no guarantee that Paramount will agree to a deal with Trumps legal team, and it is unclear what a possible settlement would even entail, The New York Times reported that Paramount head Shari Redstone is fully behind settling. Redstone, whose father founded Paramount, would make billions of dollars off the merger with Skydance, which is backed by Trump-boosting billionaire Larry Ellison and run by his son David.

Paramount offering up a major concession to the president would also not be taken kindly by the newsroom at CBS, particularly because the network dismissed Trumps complaint  which was filed just before the election  as false and completely without merit and that it intended to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.

In his Status News newsletter, Oliver Darcy reported that CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens have made it crystal clear that they oppose any settlement with the Trump team and do not wish to cave on this front.

In his lawsuit, which was filed in Texas to test the states law on false advertising, Trump accused 60 Minutes of partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference intended to mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales of the presidential election in Harriss favor. The complaint centers on the network airing a preview of Harriss interview with Bill Whitaker on Face the Nation that included a different answer to a question than the version aired on 60 Minutes.

To paper over Kamala's word salad weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news, Trumps lawsuit alleged.

The interview was not doctored, the network said at the time. 60 Minutes did not hide any part of Vice President Kamala Harris's answer to the question at issue. 60 Minutes fairly presented the interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead it.

CBS has also argued that Trump has no standing in Texas to file the lawsuit and has filed motions to dismiss it. Meanwhile, legal and First Amendment experts have rejected the lawsuit as meritless and ridiculous.

This is a frivolous and dangerous attempt by a politician to control the news media. The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear: the First Amendment leaves it to journalists  and not the courts, the government or candidates for office  to decide how to report the news, attorney Charles Tobin of the law firm Ballard Spahr told CNN in October.

The First Amendment was drafted to protect the press from just such litigation, famed First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams said. Mr. Trump may disagree with this or that coverage of him, but the First Amendment permits the press to decide how to cover elections, not the candidates seeking public office.

In the end, though, it isnt just Trump who has been highly critical of 60 Minutes  the show has also faced scrutiny from Redstone herself. After the Anti-Defamation League claimed a 60 Minutes story featuring former State Department employees expressing concern about the United States handling of the war between Israel and Hamas was one-sided and biased, Redstone complained to CBS News executives about the piece. A day later, former CBS News president Susan Zirinsky was hired as a temporary executive editor to address perceived bias.

Redstones interference came months after she made it clear that she had CBS Mornings co-anchor Tony Dokoupils back after he sparked internal backlash and admittedly violated the networks standards and practices over his explosive interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
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Donald Trump responded sarcastically to questions about whether he would be visiting the site of the deadly crash over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., asking reporters at the White House: You want me to go swimming?

The president said on Thursday he would be meeting with some of the families of victims of the tragedy, which occurred at Ronald Reagan Airport Wednesday night. All 67 people involved in the crash are presumed dead, authorities said previously.

When asked about his plans to visit the crash site, he replied: I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, whats the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?

Social media users were quick to condemn the callous comments.

open image in gallery The president said on Thursday he would be meeting with some of the families of victims of the tragedy, but did not specify when ( Getty Images )

67 people die under his watch, and he makes a joke? Callous, heartless, completely lacking in empathy on full display because so many other Americans are like this and see no problem with it, one user wrote in response to the clip.

We are such a profoundly unserious country sometimes, added another.

The presidents remarks came as he signed an executive order following up on remarks he made earlier in the day at a press conference, in which he laid the blame for the crash on Joe Biden and diversity (DEI) programs.

The order is titled "Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety."

"We want the most competent people, Trump said. We don't care what race they are. We want the most competent people, especially in those positions.

He added: You're talking about extremely complex things, and if they don't have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they're not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen."

Trump made the comments before any investigative findings into the crash, and offered no specifics or evidence for his claims.

When pressed after his earlier remarks about why he believed DEI was responsible for the crash, he responded that it could have been. He said he reached his conclusion because I have common sense.

open image in gallery Recovery operations were underway on Thursday. All 67 people involved in the crash are presumed dead, authorities said previously ( REUTERS )

Trump also said he would be meeting with some of the families of the victims from the D.C. collision, but did not specify when. I will be meeting with some people that were very badly hurt with their family members, obviously, but Ill be meeting with some of the families, yeah, he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 40 bodies were recovered from the Potomac River, CNN reported citing sources with knowledge of official operations.

Dive operations were concluded for the day due to daylight, conditions on the water and the belief that most of the victims that can be reached without removing parts of the aircraft from the water have already been recovered, a law enforcement source told the outlet.
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Top officials at the FBI have been told to retire or be fired in the next few days as fears brew within the nations top law enforcement agency over the possible appointment of Kash Patel, President Donald Trumps nominee to be the new director.

More than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including in Miami and Washington D.C., have been told to leave the agency, according to NBC News. Top executives have been told they would be demoted or reassigned if they choose to stay. The executives are in charge of criminal, national security, and cyber probes. Since theyre civil servants, they cannot be fired without cause.

This comes as Trump officials are taking steps to fire FBI agents involved in investigations into the president over the next few days, two people familiar with the process told the Associated Press Friday. It remains unclear how many agents will be affected by the purge, but a large number were involved in Trump-related investigations. Officials taking direction from the White House have been moving to identify specific members of staff who took part in probes deemed politically sensitive to possibly remove them from the agency, the people said.

During an hourslong hearing on Thursday, Patel attempted to assure senators that he would not target Trumps perceived enemies for retribution. The staffers given a choice to retire or be fired had been promoted under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI director appointed during Trumps first term who stepped down earlier this month, The New York Times reported.

open image in gallery Christopher Wray was appointed FBI director during Trumps first term ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )

A senior agent stated in an email to colleagues that he had been made aware that he would be removed from the rolls of the FBI as soon as Monday morning, according to the paper.

I was given no rationale for this decision, which, as you might imagine, has come as a shock, the agent wrote.

The assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office was made aware on Thursday that he was set to lose his job, according to NBC News. David Sundberg is the highest-ranking official to be removed so far.

Sundberg joined the agency in 2002 and was put in charge of the Washington field office in December 2022 by Wray. Its one of the top field positions in the agency. Washington Field Office agents were involved in the investigations of former Special Counsel Jack Smith into Trump and the Capitol riot.

At least eight senior executives at FBI headquarters have been told to resign or be fired, according to NBC News. New hires include a Republican Capitol Hill staff member and a person close to Elon Musk, the head of the outside advisory panel known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Sundberg took on the investigation into the Capitol riot and the probe into the pipe bombs left at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the night of January 5, 2021, which remains unsolved.

open image in gallery Kash Patel attempted to reassure senators that the FBI under his leadership would not target Trumps perceived enemies ( Getty Images )

Senior agents had been anticipating major changes to take place under Trump because of Patels past promises to bring change to the agency. For instance, he has said that the FBI headquarters should be closed and turned into a museum of the deep state.

The requests for employees to retire or be fired have left staff stunned. Its noteworthy that the requests came before a new director had been appointed. While directors of the FBI have more power over who they place in senior positions than leaders of other agencies, they tend to do so on a gradual basis. Brian Driscoll is currently the acting director of the agency.

The moves at the FBI are similar to measures taken at the Department of Justice, where prosecutors making major judgments on charging decisions have been fired or reassigned.

The senior officials asked to leave the FBI work both at the agencys headquarters and in the field. A number of them have moved towards retiring or quitting, including one agent who worked on the FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Another agent looking to leave was in charge of an investigation into Trumps alleged mishandling of classified documents.

During Patels confirmation hearing Thursday, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker pressed the nominee on the removals of almost a dozen career prosecutors at the Department of Justice who worked on Trump probes under Smith and whether similar measures would be taken at the FBI.

open image in gallery Cory Booker pressed Kash Patel on possible firings at the FBI ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, FBI agents or personnel associated with Trump investigations? asked Booker.

Patel said he had not been a part of the decisions at the Justice Department, adding: I am not aware of that, Senator.

This comes as the Trump administration is offering almost all federal employees to resign before February 6 and get paid through September 30. The notice was sent out on Tuesday afternoon in an email from the Office of Personnel Management. Those wanting to resign were told to reply to the email with the word resign.
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Denmark has hit out at Donald Trump, saying it was serious when it said Greenland is not for sale.

It comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. President Donald Trumps interest in acquiring the island was not a joke.

Trump says he will make the autonomous territory of Denmark a part of the United States, and has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.

Rubio told Sirius XMs The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday that acquiring Greenland was in the U.S. national interest. Trump had not ruled out military coercion to acquire it so as not to take leverage off the table, he said.

This is not a joke, Rubio said. This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.

Responding to Rubios interview, Denmarks Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said: I would be more surprised if he had said it was a joke.

We seriously mean - and this is also true in Greenland - that Greenland is not for sale.

open image in gallery Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede addresses a press conference with the Danish premier in the Mirror Hall at the Prime Minister's Office, at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, on January 10, 2025 ( Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Ima )

The island has around 57,000 residents who govern their own domestic affairs. Denmark is responsible for Greenlands defence and security, and says only Greenlanders can decide their future. The United States operates an airbase there under treaty.

Opinion polls show most residents of Greenland favour a looser relationship with Denmark but also oppose the territory becoming part of the United States.

Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence from Denmark, has also repeatedly said the island is not for sale and its people must decide their own fate.

Rubio in the interview said the Arctic was going to become critical for shipping lanes and the United States needs to be able to defend this. He said U.S. rival China may seek to develop its presence.

Asked if the U.S. would own Greenland in four years, Rubio said: Obviously thats the presidents priority and he has made that point ... Were not in a position yet to discuss exactly how well proceed tactically. What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure.

Rasmussen said that the U.S. interests outlined by Rubio in the interview match those of the Kingdom of Denmark.

If we can have a substantive discussion about this, then we will also find a solution, he said.

Referring to Rubios comments, Rasmussen said: It is summed up in this ambition that if the United States just owned the whole world, then everything would be under control. But that is not going to happen, so we have to find another form where we jointly accomplish these tasks.
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President Donald Trumps new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, confirmed during a Thursday interview that the commander-in-chiefs intentions to buy Greenland from Denmark are genuine and not a joke.

Rubio, a former Florida senator, told SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly that Trumps desire to purchase the Arctic autonomous territory is based on national security concerns for the U.S. and the rest of the world as China increases its activities in the region.

This is not a joke, like what hes saying is pretty accurate. People have been talking about it for years, Rubio said.

This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved. President Trumps put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it.

Rubio said that even as China currently doesnt have a heavy presence in the Arctic, its realistic to think that the country would install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality, to serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.

open image in gallery Marco Rubio said during an interview with Megyn Kelly that Trumps wish to buy Greenland is not a joke ( Getty Images )

Trump has, both in private and in public, shared his willingness to purchase the island, and he has previously claimed that Denmark would come along in the end, even in the face of staunch opposition from the Danes.

Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Egede previously appeared on Fox News, saying: We dont want to be Danes. We dont even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took part in an at times combative and antagonistic phone call with Trump on January 15, five days before he was sworn in for a second term in the White House.

I wasnt privy to that phone call, but I imagine the phone call went the way a lot of these phone calls go, and that is, he just speaks bluntly and frankly with people, said Rubio on Thursday. And ultimately, I think diplomacy, in many cases, works better when youre straightforward, as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing.

The SiriusXM interview was highlighted by The Hill.

The secretary also claimed that if China attacked Greenland, there would be no way for the Danes to stop them.

open image in gallery Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Egede told Fox News that his countrymen dont want to Danes or Americans. ( REUTERS )

Denmark cant stop them. They would rely on the United States to do so, said Rubio. And so his point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland, if it comes under assault, if were already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there.

Earlier this week, the Danes announced that it would spend another $2 billion on defending its North Atlantic territories, including using long-range drones and new ships built for operating in Arctic waters.

The Danes recently rejected a proposal from the French to send E.U. troops to Greenland, and a Danish MP suggested that the island rejoin the union for security reasons following its 1985 departure.
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Hours after signing off from CNN for the final time following his rejection of the networks proposal to take his news program to the graveyard midnight shift, Jim Acosta revealed that he is going independent and launching a new show on Substack.

After two decades of service, I am leaving CNN to start a new chapter, and I wont pull any punches this time around, either. I owe that to myself and to you, Acosta said in a press release.

As I said during my sign-off at the end of my final show on CNN ... Dont give in to the lies. Dont give in to fear. Hold on to the truth. Hold on to hope, Acosta added. In the meantime ... To President Trump and his allies, you may think you have silenced me. But guess again.

In a short video shared on his new Substack link, the now-former CNN anchor said he wanted to jump on Substack Live for a moment and welcome prospective subscribers to his new venture.

CNN anchor Jim Acosta said he was still reporting from Washington on Thursday while his future at the network remains in doubt. ( CNN )

Acosta joins a growing list of mainstream news journalists and personalities who have ditched legacy media to go the independent route on Substack. After his MSNBC show was canceled in early 2024, Mehdi Hasanleft the network and launched the media company Zeteo on the platform. He has since pulled in tens of thousands of paying subscribers and an emerging roster of high-profile reporters and contributors. (Disclaimer: This reporter worked for Zeteo until last November.)

Earlier on Tuesday, Acosta informed CNN viewers that he would be leaving the network after 18 years, letting them know that it came after some careful consideration and weighing an alternative time slot the network had offered him. He also delivered a serious final message to his audience.

It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant, he said, adding: Dont give in to the lies. Dont give in to the fear.

Acostas departure comes after CNN chief executive Mark Thompson proposed moving him from his 10 a.m. ET weekday slot to a shift that would begin at midnight and not end until 2 a.m. on the East Coast.

While the network head attempted to portray the move to the Siberia of television as an opportunity, noting that Acosta would air in primetime on the West Coast and be simulcast on CNN International, critics have suggested that it was an effort to exile Acosta to late-night to curry favor with Donald Trump.

They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump, one media executive said of the proposed offer. Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.

Though Thompson told Acosta  an outspoken Trump critic  that the offer had nothing to do with his editorial style and was merely about finding an extra hour amid a programming shakeup, the president was ecstatic that Acosta was on the outs.

Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour, Death Valley, because of extraordinarily BAD RATINGS (and no talent!) Trump posted on Tuesday morning. Word is that he wants to QUIT, and that would be even better. Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim! he added sarcastically.

In his first post on Substack, Acosta noted his run-ins with the president over the years, which included Trumps attempts to get him banned from covering the White House.

The Trump administration and its MAGA allies made it their mission in life to run me out of town on a rail. From the suspension of my White House press pass to the relentless calls for my firing on Fox News, not to mention the continuing threat environment for me and my loved ones, it was a trying time in my life, he wrote. But for me, there was always a greater purpose to the work.

At the anchor desk, I made sure my program, CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, devoted as much airtime as possible to reporting on Trumps assault on our elections and the destructive aftermath of his actions, Acosta added. We also covered the pandemic and other major news during this period, but we remained laser-focused on the democracy beat  relentless, like a pit bull on steroids. My team and I made a clear decision: the show would not pull any punches. How could we?
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President Donald Trumps pick to be FBI director, Kash Patel, frustrated several Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing Thursday as he dodged questions on January 6, his previous grand jury testimony, and who won the 2020 election.

Patel once asserted the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination while being questioned before a grand jury looking at whether Trump mishandled national security secrets as he, on several occasions, refused to turn over classified documents.

Several Democratic senators raised concerns regarding the testimony during the hours-long hearing, arguing that they should be made aware of any relevant information about Patel from a report by former Special Counsel Jack Smith into the classified files found at Trumps Mar-a-Lago private club.

open image in gallery Kash Patel testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 30, 2025, in Washington, DC. He frustrated several Democratic senators as he dodged their questions ( Getty Images )

The former federal prosecutor, public defender, and congressional staffer was questioned in 2022 regarding his claims made in public that Trump had issued an order that the documents be declassified.

Patel initially declined to answer, according to The New York Times, but was subsequently granted limited immunity to see what defense he might have had for Trump.

A frustrated Sen. Cory Booker thundered that it would be irresponsible for us to move forward if we do not know that the future head of the FBI would break the law and lie for the president United States.

He added: He is refusing the transparency that he claims to adhere to. He is refusing to be direct with the United States Senate. He's refusing to be transparent and put it all out there. Did he or did he not lie for the president? That is the question.

California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla pushed Patel on his alleged connection to the Jan. 6 choir. Patel reportedly helped produce and market the recording of the J6 Choir which Trump eventually used at his rallies.

Funds have been raised, as you explained to me in our meeting last week, to support families of insurrectionists, my words clearly not yours, that have been in jail, including those who committed acts of violence against police officers, said Padilla. I want to note in any of your work around the J6 prison choir, was any of the funds that were raised used to support the families of the police officers who were brutally attacked by the insurrectionists?

My foundation has been used across the country, said Patel. I don't know if those officers' families applied for a grant, that's how we distribute.

You can't say clearly and confidently that families of police officers who were brutally attacked got similar support, said Padilla.

Similarly, fellow California Sen. Adam Schiff slammed Patel for allegedly fundraising off the January 6 Capitol riot.

open image in gallery ( AP )

I want you to turn around. There are Capitol police officers behind you. They're guarding us. Take a look at them right now. Turn around, said Schiff. I want you to look at them if you can, if you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. Patel, and tell them you're proud of what you did.

Tell them you're proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles, he added. Tell them you're proud of what you did. Mr. Patel, they're right there. They're guarding you today. Tell them how proud you are.

Thats an abject lie, said Patel. I've never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement.

Following the songs release, Patel bragged about its success on social media.

Buh Bye Miley, Taylor, Rihanna, and all the rest who spent Millions trying for the coveted Number 1 spot, he wrote in 2023. Hello new Music Mogul @realDonaldTrump. We just took a flame thrower to the music industry.

Trump took part in the recording, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance while the prison choir sang the national anthem. At his rallies, Trump would at times salute as the song played while images of the Capitol riot were shown on big screens.

Like many of Trumps nominees, Patel showed his loyalty by refusing to say the president lost the 2020 election. During questioning from Peter Welch, a Vermont Democratic Senator, Patel repeatedly refused to say that Biden won the election more than four years ago.

Can you say the words Joe Biden won the 2020 election? Welch asked.

Joe Biden was the president of the United States, Patel responded.

I can say the words Donald Trump won. I don't like to say it, but I must say it, said Welch. And you cannot say that Joe Biden won the election.

What I can say is the same for both of them, Senator, both of their elections were certified, and they are both one was and one now is president, Patel responded.

Schiff used his final minutes during the hearing to urge his colleagues to think about where we are in this moment.

open image in gallery Patel arrives to testify during his confirmation hearing. He refused to say that Biden won the 2020 election ( Getty Images )

We have a new president. He's fired prosecutors who investigated him. He's investigating other prosecutors ... He has fired inspector generals who might hold him accountable, and this is just the start, he added. And as FBI Director nominee, he's chosen someone whose primary qualification, in my view, is his willingness to say yes when everyone else would say no to whatever the president wanted to say, whatever he wanted to do. That's why he is sitting here.

Something Trump may want Patel to do is to go after Schiff.

These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at Shifty Schiff and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within, Trump told Fox News in October.

Schiff continued on Thursday by lauding previous FBI directors.

I mean, look at the people who held that job before Mr. Patel, the stature of the people that held that job, the qualifications of the people that held that job, he continued. And how could any of us think that his background, his qualifications, hold a candle to the people who went before him?

How did we get here, where we are defending a nominee like this, who makes songs with convicts who attack law enforcement? Schiff asked. How did we get here, and where are we going? History is littered with democracies that lost their freedoms and didn't notice it while it was happening. Let's not be one of them.
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Senator Lisa Murkowski ripped President Donald Trump's comments blaming disability and diversity hires for the deadly American Airlines-helicopter crash.

The Alaska Republican's attack come after Trump blamed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices for the crash near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people. Specifically, the president criticized the Federal Aviation Administration's recruitment program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Murkowski told The Independent that she felt awful for the families and everyone involved.

"I don't know about you, but when I saw the news of the crash last night and just waking up this morning and watching the briefing, your heart just goes out  not only to the families who lost loved ones, but to everybody who was part of that," she said.

"Think about just the heartache of all of this," she said. "So to to see a statement like that, where, without full information about what happened, other than a massive casualty, to suggest that it was ... to be blamed because of the diversity hires, I think, does not project the level of empathy that we need to show for those who lost their loved ones."

Murkowski occasionally criticized Trump. Last week, she voted against confirming former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to become Secretary of Defense.

Earlier this week, she also came out in opposition to Trump's plot to acquire Greenland.

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that he thought that Trumps remarks were premature.

I'd have to see if the evidence is substantiated, he told The Independent. It seems a bit early to me when I think that statement was made before we even have a flight data recorder.
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Former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who ran for governor in 2024, has announced that he will not seek public office in the future and that hes dropping a lawsuit against CNN for the networks reporting on comments he made on a porn site.

Robinson wrote on X on Friday that he was sharing an important life update and that he and his family were turning the page.

Costly litigation and political gamesmanship by my detractors makes clear that continuing to pursue retribution from CNN is a futile effort, he added. That is why I have asked Jesse Binnall and his legal team to terminate any continued attempt to litigate with CNN on my or my familys behalf.

I will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future, said Robinson.

open image in gallery Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson made a series of lewd and offensive comments online, according to a report from CNN. ( AFP via Getty Images )

The 56-year-old shared his full name on the porn site Nude Africa and was a frequent user of its message board, where he posted lewd and offensive comments, according to the bombshell CNN Report. He also used an email address on the site that he used on a number of other sites for years. He also used the username minisoldr, on other websites. CNN matched the minisoldr account to a large number of biographical details shared by Robinson.

Robinson, who reportedly made the comments between 2008 and 2012, was quick to reject all responsibility for the remarks, which were posted before he went into politics. They were removed by the website following CNNs report.

On Friday, Robinson wrote on X that the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized. There is no dollar amount high enough.

He blamed his departure from politics on the political persecution of my family and loved ones, saying that its a cost I am unwilling to continue to bear.

Robinson claimed that the investigation of CNN had tremendous results and brought closure to our family during what has been an unimaginably dark situation.

open image in gallery Mark Robinson, once described by Trump as Martin Luther King on steroids, allegedly said slavery is not bad on an online forum. ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

In comments on the porn site attributed to Robinson, he wrote about peeping on women in public gym showers when he was 14.

I came to a spot that was a dead end but had two big vent covers over it! It just so happened it overlooked the showers! I sat there for about an hour and watched as several girls came in and showered, he wrote on Nude Africa, according to CNN.

I like watching t**** on girl porn! Thats f****** hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in! Robinson wrote in separate comments on the site. He has a history of anti-trans rhetoric.

Robinson said on X on Friday that he would continue to utilize my platform to promote and support many of the issues we are all so passionate about; however, at this time, I will do so from the sidelines.

Until we change the hearts and souls of those inside the political arena, it is unlikely the political process itself will undergo any meaningful change, he added.

In his reported online comments, Robinson also repeatedly attacked Martin Luther King Jr, including when a new monument was put in place in Washington, DC.

Get that f****** commie b****** off the National Mall! he wrote at the time.

One user accused the former gubernatorial nominee of being a white supremacist.

Im not in the KKK. They dont let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer K***! he wrote.

Robinson also wrote Im a Black NAZI! on a forum discussing Black Republicans.

Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few, he wrote in a separate post.

Id take Hitler over any of the s*** thats in Washington right now! he wrote in March 2012.

In October 2011, he called Martin Luther King Jr worse than a maggot and a huckster.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump once praised Mark Robinson, but campaigned in North Carolina without him once CNNs report surfaced. ( Getty Images )

President Donald Trump appeared to distance himself from Robinson following the CNN report, campaigning in North Carolina last year without the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Trump previously referred to Robinson as Martin Luther King on steroids.

At the time of the reporting in September, Robinson rejected that he was behind the comments, calling the report tabloid lies when speaking to CNN.

This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me, he said at the time. Im not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.

He has also attempted to blame artificial intelligence for making the posts.
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Donald Trump could halt New Yorks controversial congestion pricing program despite it successfully unsnarling many of the citys bumper-to-bumper streets.

The Department of Transportation is considering revoking the federal authorization that the Biden administration approved last year which gave the program the green light, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Without the authorization the program could be left open to legal challenges that could end, or at the very least temporarily pause, congestion pricing from continuing.

The outlet says that no final decision has been made, but Trump has voiced support for killing it off. Two weeks ago, a group of New York Republican lawmakers met with the president at Mar-a-Lago to advocate against the program.

President Donald Trump promised to rescind congestion pricing in New York City upon taking office ( EPA )

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to terminate congestion pricing in his first week back in office. As of now, it is still in effect.

The plan, which went into effect earlier this month, charges drivers an additional $9 to enter midtown or downtown Manhattan during peak hours.

Its purpose is to reduce heavy gridlock, lower vehicle carbon emissions, and provide more funding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to improve public transportation like subways and buses.

Data from the first week of congestion pricing shows a seven percent reduction in vehicles in the tolled area below Manhattans 60th Street, with drivers seeing a 30 to 40 percent reduction in travel times compared to last year.

But despite its success, some lawmakers have criticized it for unfairly punishing commuters in the tri-state area.

Even New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, asked Trump to look at the program, which he referred to as a disaster and claimed hits working and middle-class commuters from his state.

Mike Lawler, a Republican congressman from Hudson Valley, New York, called the program a cash grab and vowed to get it repealed.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a proponent of congestion pricing, has fought to implement the program.

Last summer Hochul temporarily paused the program from taking effect but shortly after Trump was elected she reinstated it bringing the toll down from $15 to $9.
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Mexicos President Claudia Sheinbaum has blasted Google for kowtowing to Donald Trump by changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico  and wants the United States to be identified as America Mexicana.

Sheinbaum attacked Google after Trump unilaterally decreed last week in an executive order that the Gulf of Mexico will henceforth be known as the Gulf of America  and Google quickly agreed to comply on its Google maps.

All it takes for such a name change is for U.S. documents to make the switch, Google explained in a statement Monday on X. Google claimed the move was in line with its longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have simply been updated in official government sources.

The company also said it will quickly change the name of North Americas tallest peak, Alaskas Denali, to Mt. McKinley, as Trump has demanded in a move that has triggered furious criticism, once official documents are updated.

Trump declared both changes in an executive order to honor Americas greatness.

Americans will see the Gulf of America on their Google maps, Mexico will see the Gulf of Mexico, and the rest of the world will see both, according to Google.

Sheinbaum objected to Trump and Googles name grab in a letter addressed to the company that she showed reporters Thursday. But if Google is so cavalierly changing names on its maps, Sheinbaum wants the United States identified as America Mexicana, she said Wednesday.

Sheinbaum recognizes that she has no authority to do so, just as Trump has no power to switch the name of the Gulf of Mexico, she noted.

The U.S. cannot unilaterally change the name of a body of water which it shares with Cuba and Mexico because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that an individual country's sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles from the coastline, she noted.

If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles, Sheinbaum told reporters. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico. This is what we explained in detail to Google.

But in a tit for tat, Sheinbaum is calling on Google to display the map of America Mexicana as including regions of the United States.

"We ask that when you put America Mexicana in the search engine, the map appears that we presented, she told Google.

Trump has not commented on Sheinbaums demand.

Google has not responded to questions from The Independent on whether it will include sections of the U.S. on America Mexicana on Google Maps  once the switch is recorded in official Mexican documents, which is apparently the sole Google requirement for such a change.

The name America Mexicana was first seen on maps in 1607. It includes various areas in what is currently known as the United States.
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Search and rescue teams hadnt even finished pulling the bodies out of the Potomac River before Donald Trump began blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for the disastrous Wednesday night plane crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet outside Washington that likely killed 67 people.

During a rambling press conference Thursday, Trump pushed his theory that air traffic controllers were to blame, then claimed without evidence that the Biden and Obama administrations had lowered aviation hiring standards. He also criticized an effort to hire people with disabilities that existed throughout his entire first term in office.

I put safety first, Trump claimed. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level.

Vice President JD Vance claimed: "If you go to some of the headlines over the past ten years many hundreds of people are suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trumps leadership.

Before Wednesdays collision, there hadnt been a major commercial airline crash on American soil in 16 years, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed during landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people onboard.

When pressed about his claim DEI was responsible for the crash, which is under investigation, Trump responded: It just could have been. He added that he reached the conclusion because I have common sense.

It was only the most recent disaster for which Trump and his allies have blamed DEI, even though the facts dont support them.

open image in gallery Trump has blamed diversity programs for the plane crash, even though the investigation into the disaster is at its early stages ( Getty Images )

As wildfires tore through the hills of Los Angeles this month, those on the right quickly boiled the crisis down to DEI, seemingly because Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is the first woman and second Black person to lead the city, and L.A. fire chief Kristin Crowley, a 22-year fire veteran, is the first woman and openly queer person to lead the department.

Trumps billionaire supporter and partner Elon Musk claimed: "They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes, sharing screenshots of a four-year-old L.A. Fire Department racial equity plan He then put a finer point on it, writing that DEI means people DIE in response to a video of Crowley talking about using a DEI focus to attract the best and brightest to the force.

open image in gallery Conservatives blamed DEI for the Los Angeles fires, though experts say a combination of climate change drought, high winds, poor planning, and overtaxed water systems led to the devastation ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Experts say a variety of factors caused the devastating fires, from drought conditions, to 100 mph Santa Ana winds, to neighborhoods built in dangerous fire zones, to a city water distribution system that was unable to keep hydrants filled fast enough to match a wildfire-scale blaze descending on a dense urban environment.

Part of the reason Crowley has spoken openly about fostering a more inclusive culture at the department is because it faced years of complaints and lawsuits about discrimination under her predecessors, issues which would also seem to get in the way of a focus on fire-fighting.

No matter how multi-faceted a crisis, the playbook against DEI has been run again and again.

When an extremist plowed his car into revelers and attempted to set off bombs during New Years Day celebrations in New Orleans, GOP Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News: The priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs [improvised explosive devices] ...You talk to anyone whos willing to speak within these agencies, thats what their focus has been.

When a shipping vessel collided with Baltimores Key Bridge and brought it tumbling down in March, a Utah gubernatorial candidate blamed governors who prioritize diversity," even though the ship at issue allegedly had a record of shoddy maintenance. Meanwhile, online commenters deluged Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott with racist attacks, accusing him of being a DEI mayor.

open image in gallery Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 inspired both renewed conversations about identity and an eventual right-wing backlash ( Getty Images )

Mayor Scott and Maryland Governor Wes Moore are both Black and Democrats.

Weve been the bogeyman for them since the first day they brought us to this country, and what they mean by DEI in my opinion is duly elected incumbent, Scott said in response to the attacks, claiming DEI attacks are a dog whistle for people who dont have the courage to say the N-word.

The last four years have witnessed a sea change in how the country and its institutions consider race and identity.

The massive racial justice protests after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police set off a nationwide conversation about anti-Black racism in the U.S. Yet police killings of mostly people of color continued and key police reform largely stalled at a national level. But some courts and the corporate world inspired a brief push to make workplaces more equitable and diverse.

That triggered a backlash.

The Trump movement has long relied on demonizing people of color

In 2023 the Supreme Court, stacked with Trump-appointed justices, struck down affirmative action in higher education.

At the same time, Republicans pushed to ban books talking about identity and race, claiming schools at all levels were indoctrinating students with critical race theory, a niche academic concept that seemingly came to stand in on the right for anything mentioning the existence of non-white people or racism.

In the corporate world, right-wing activists used viral social media campaigns to push major U.S. companies to drop DEI programs, and name brands like McDonalds, Walmart, and Harley all backed away from such work.

While Trump and his supporters consistently argue that opposing DEI is in fact colorblind, with a focus on fairness and merit, it also cant be ignored how demonizing people of color is a core part of the Trump movement.

The presidents 2016 campaign began with his claim in Trump Tower that Mexican immigrants were rapists and drug dealers, and the Republican has continued attacking minorities since, branding Black Lives Matter protesters as thugs, claiming during the 2024 debates that Haitian migrants are eating cats, and accusing border-crossers of poisoning the blood of America.

The MAGA movement, in other words, doesnt seem to actually want a society that ignores race and identity; they just wont admit what theyre doing is identity politics too, just from the right instead of the left.

The consequences of all this DEI wrangling may seem philosophical, but they are very real and deeply ironic.

The perception that California leaders are a bunch of social justice warriors who cant be trusted in a crisis seems to be feeding into recent Republican threats to impose conditions on wildfire aid to the state, which is highly atypical during an ongoing disaster.

The new administration has moved to end federal funding for DEI programs across the federal government and organizations supported by its work, impacting thousands across agencies and disciplines.

And the White House sets the tone for the rest of the country.

When the next disaster rolls around, itll only be a matter of time before the right hops online and goes viral with claims that DEI is to blame. And the most powerful people in the world, regardless of the facts, will be quick to believe them.
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President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that he will impose tariffs on imported goods from Mexico, Canada and China starting Saturday, a move thats expected to raise the prices Americans pay for goods coming from those countries.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump claimed he was imposing the import taxes  which are paid by American companies and passed on to consumers  because U.S. allies Mexico and Canada were sending massive amounts of fentanyl into the country that he claimed had originated in China. He also cited trade deficits as a justification for the import tax increases.

We have big deficits, and it's something we're doing, and we'll, we'll possibly very substantially increase it or not. We'll see how it is. But it's, it's a lot of money coming to the United States, said Trump, who claimed the Canadian government has treated us very unfairly while being subsidized by the US.

He also justified the import taxes on Mexican goods by blaming that countrys government for millions of criminals coming into our country, criminals, people from jails, from all over the world.

They come through Mexico, and they come through Canada too. A lot of them come through Canada. And a lot of fentanyl comes through Canada. And China makes the fentanyl. You know, China makes the fentanyl, gives it to Mexico, puts it through Canada, puts it through different different places, mostly Mexico, but also a lot through Canada. And so all three haven't treated us very well, he said.

open image in gallery President Donald Trump will enact 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada starting Saturday, the White House said ( AP )

Trump also said he would be imposing import taxes on oil, gas, steel, aluminum, and copper  all important raw materials  in a move that most experts say would cripple the American economy.

Next month, we're going to be putting tariffs on steel and aluminum, and we'll give you an announcement as to what the exact date is, but it'll be a tremendous amount of money for our country, tremendous amount, he said, adding later that people would see the power of the tariff. He also threatened to impose import taxes on pharmaceuticals used by Americans, something that could immediately negate years-long efforts to lower drug prices by multiple presidential administrations.

Trump claimed that the massive import taxes would bring our industry back by forcing foreign manufacturers to open American manufacturing facilities and compared his unilateral import taxes to a border wall.

We want to bring pharmaceuticals back to the country. And the way you bring it back to the country is by putting up a wall. And the wall is a tariff wall. We were the richest country in the world. We were at our riches from 1870 to 1913 that's when we had we were a tariff country, and then they went to an income tax concept, he said.

Most economists and international trade experts have derided Trumps plans as economically illiterate and nonsensical, and his own public statements have indicated that he sincerely believes that tariffs are paid by foreign nations as a sort of tribute for the purpose of accessing American markets. In fact, they are paid by American importers and passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that Trump would be keeping to a February 1 deadline hed set for the tariffs during the transition period after he won the 2024 presidential election.

She told reporters that Trump would be implementing, tomorrow, a 25 percent tariffs on Mexico, 25 percent tariffs on Canada and a 10 percent tariff on China after she was asked about a Wall Street Journal report that stated members of the administration hoped to find more targeted measures rather than sweeping tariffs.

As Leavitt spoke, stock markets in the U.S. began a massive sell-off in response to her comments.

Staff were reportedly looking at measures that would use specific tariffs on steel and aluminum  similar to those Trump enacted during his first term  or exclude oil.

open image in gallery The U.S. imports countless goods from China, Canada and Mexico including crude oil, electronics and food. A tariff could make prices of those items go up for Americans. ( Getty Images )

Trump also told reporters he would enact tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, oil and gas at some point in the future, though he did not elaborate on when those would begin or how much he plans to tariff.

During his first administration, Trump got the U.S. into a trade war with China  something he hinted he could bring back while on the campaign trail. The president used tariffs as a political tool to punish those he believed treats the U.S. unfairly.

Though tariffs are designed to promote domestic production and purchasing by taxing imported goods, the increase in cost typically falls on consumers, not foreign governments. This is because retailers often sidestep the increased import costs by raising prices.

The U.S. imports a host of goods from the three nations that are set to face Saturdays tariffs. The biggest imports from Canada into the U.S. are energy  with experts saying a 25 percent tariff will drive up oil costs and hurt consumers at the gas pump. In 2023, about 60 percent of crude oil imports came from Canada.

Canada is also a major importer of lumber, food and other goods.

The U.S. gets consumer electronics, cars and other products from Mexico. Approximately 2.6 million vehicles are imported from Mexico. The country to the south of the U.S. also provides 63 percent of vegetable imports. A 25 percent tariff could lead to higher prices at the grocery store for Americans.

China imports countless products, namely electronics, including nearly $45 billion worth of smartphones in 2023.

Canada and Mexico have said they would respond with their own measures.

If there are U.S. tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week.
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A painting that sold for less than $50 at a garage sale could be an original Van Gogh worth $15 million, experts say.

The canvas was found by an unsuspecting antiques collector at a Minnesota garage sale in 2016 and now historians, scientists and curators have teamed up to prove that it is an oil painting by the famed Dutch artist, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The painting bears a resemblance to Van Goghs work and depicts a fisherman smoking a pipe as he tends to his net on an empty beach.

Experts have called the painting Elimar because the name is etched into the lower right-hand corner of the canvas.

An exhaustive, multi-year investigation of the painting by experts in several fields has yielded the evidence required to identify Elimar as an autograph work by the artist, New York art-research firm LMI Group International, which acquired the painting from the antiques collector, declared in its 450-page report.

The groups findings will be shared with Van Gogh specialists and art dealers around the world later this month, according to the Journal.

They argue that the portrait was painted while Van Gogh was in the Saint-Paul asylum in Frances Saint-Remy de Provence between May 1889 and May 1890.

Elimar is clearly based upon a painting by the Danish artist Michael Ancher, the report said. Van Gogh did not copy but translated Anchers work.

Vincent Van Gogh arrived at the Saint Paul monastery in May 1889 in Saint-Remy de Provence ( Getty Images )

Experts said that the portrait also represents a time in the artists life when he was returning to themes and images from his youth.

Portraits of fisherman and themes of the life at sea were some of his earliest subjects, the report noted. The fisherman was a persona and subject matter that was very close to him for the lonely and dangerous lives that fishermen led in his lifetime.

Evidence was meticulously gathered and thousands of dollars were reportedly spent on carrying out the work. Brushstrokes were examined and compared to other works, while the paintings pigments and fibers were also studied by a fine art expert.

Maxwell Anderson, former curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, told the Journal that he was struck by what he saw when the painting was first unveiled to him.

Was I all in? No, Anderson told the outlet. But I was super intrigued.

However, the painting cannot be validated officially as a Van Gogh original without the final word from a Van Gogh Museum scholar in Amsterdam, art authenticator Richard Polsky told the Journal.

People love it when things fall through the cracks, and it would be wonderful if they found a Van Gogh, Polsky, who was not involved in the project, said. But theyve got to pin everything down and get a scholar at the Van Gogh Museum to sign off on it.

The Museum did not comment on Elimar but told the newspaper that it had a rigorous procedure in place to separate the fakes from legitimate pieces.

The spokesperson added that 99 percent of authentication requests the museum received over the last few years could not be attributed to Van Gogh in our opinion.
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The American Airlines regional jet was on the final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport., when it collided midair with a military Black Hawk helicopter shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday claiming the lives of 67 people.

So far, 40 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., as the names of the victims are being released by loved ones and officials.

Two black boxes have also been recovered from the wreckage, with a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder taken for lab analysis, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of NTSB, said Thursday: Were here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation.

Questions have been raised about staffing and safety at the airports air traffic control after reports that one controller clocked off early, according to the New York Times.

The newspaper also reported that the helicopter may not have been traveling along its approved flight path.

Airport is closest to the capital

Ronald Reagan National Airport is located less than four miles from the White House. Flying into D.C. over the Potomac River, passengers get a glimpse of the famed Washington monuments from their window.

Flight 5343 was coming in to land on Runway 33 when disaster struck.

Wichita  Washington, D.C., flight only running for a year

The Wichita flight to Reagan National Airport has only been running for a year and politicians fought hard to get it going.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran announced the American Airlines direct flight from Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to Washington Reagan National Airport would make travel faster and more affordable for Kansas residents in July 2023.

According to provisional data from FlightAware, American Eagle Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, Kansas, around 5:22 p.m. CST and was in the air for 2 hours and 35 minutes, with an estimated arrival time in Washington at 8:57 p.m. EST.

But the flight tracking data showed the flights status result as unknown and according to the visuals, the plane stopped on the east side of the Potomac River, roughly adjacent to the Blue Plains neighborhood in D.C.

open image in gallery A mid-air plane crash between an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter left 67 people dead in Washington, D.C. ( Getty Images )

Helicopter may not have been on approved flight path

The Black Hawk helicopter carrying the three soldiers may not have been traveling along its approved flight path, according to the New York Times.

According to sources who spoke to the newspaper, the helicopter was supposed to be flying in a different location and lower to the ground when it crossed Reagan National airspace.

The helicopter was flying too high and outside its approved path, several people with knowledge of the investigation told the Times.

Staffing and safety issues at air traffic control

Months before Wednesdays deadly aircraft collision, lawmakers were engaged in a fierce debate over safety at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Less than a year ago, several Washington-area lawmakers warned that a bill adding more flights to the airport could pose serious safety concerns. Last spring, a major aviation bill passed by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden added five new daily long-haul flights at Reagan National Airport.

The airport is among the busiest in the country and pilots routinely rate it among the nation's most challenging, according to NBC Washington.

The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was facing personnel issues on the night of the crash, according to the New York Times. Staffing was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report.

The controller who was handling helicopters near the airport was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways.

Preliminary data shows flight tracker for American Airlines flight 5342

Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one, the Times reported. The outlet noted that the tower at the airport had been understaffed for years.

One staff member was reportedly allowed to leave early on the night of the crash, the source told The Times. The specific timings were not immediately clear.

Soldiers aboard Black Hawk helicopter were experienced

The helicopter crew was very experienced and were not unfamiliar with the aircraft or the congestion that occurs in the airspace around D.C.

Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn't something new to either one of them," Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation said. Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure.

NTSB officials said it was too soon to tell, exactly what was the fault of the collision.

open image in gallery Crew chief Ryan O'Hara from Georgia was aboard the doomed helicopter when it plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday night ( Facebook )

One of the soldiers has been named as Ryan OHara, the Crew Chief and father-of-one from Georgia.

Ryan is fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the Rifle Team. Ryan leaves behind a wife and 1-year-old son, Parkview High School JROTC in Atlanta wrote in a Facebook post which has since been removed, WSB-TV Atlanta reported.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was also on the army helicopter, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said on X.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Eaves wife, Carrie Eaves said: "We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve," the post read. "These families' children do not need to suffer more pain.

open image in gallery Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was one of the three soldiers killed on the military helicopter as police probe its flight pattern ( Facebook )

Divers search day and night in difficult conditions

A fleet of divers combed the Potomac River in search of survivors Wednesday night and continued Thursday morning.

So far, 40 bodies have been recovered.

The challenges are access. The water that were operating in is about 8 feet deep, District of Columbia Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said on Wednesday night. There is wind, there is pieces of ice out there. So its just dangerous and hard to work in.

He continued: And because theres not a lot of lights, youre out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody.

Divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark, it is murky, and that is a very tough condition for them to dive in.

Authorities said they were confident all of the bodies would be recovered but it would take time.
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Police in Australia have charged a 21-year-old man for allegedly painting "Pam the Bird" graffiti on a series of landmarks in Melbourne.

Jack Gibson-Burrell, arrested on Thursday, faces over 50 charges, including criminal damage, burglary, shop theft, and theft of a motor vehicle, the Victoria police said on Friday.

The police claimed the graffiti painted on landmarks, trains, signs, buildings and walls across Melbourne caused $100,000 (80,453) in estimated damage.

Police arrested Mr Gibson-Burrell and another man after raiding two properties in Yarraville and Abbotsford areas of the city.

The other suspect, a 39-year-old from Abbotsford, has been charged with 20 criminal damage offences for allegedly spraying graffiti on suburban trains and a prominent building.

Mr Gibson-Burrell was responsible for making graffiti on landmarks like the Flinders Street train station, the Novotel Hotel and the 9News building, the police said.

He allegedly scaled and defaced the heritage-listed Flinders Street station clock tower on 10 July last year and painted graffiti on the 'Cheese Stick' column on CityLink. In his latest alleged offence on 20 January, he daubed graffiti on a hotel in South Wharf, the police said.

The police said they seized abseiling equipment, spray paint, illegal fireworks, and property suspected to be the proceeds of crime from him.

Acting senior sergeant Jason Wombwell of the Transit Safety Division told reporters the police would allege the two men were "prolific graffiti vandals" who worked together.

If you drive anywhere on these major roads, particularly out west  theyre everywhere, he said, according to The Australian. If you watch the mainstream media or social media some people like it  my opinion is its criminal damage.

Mr Wombwell said in terms of the "Pam the Bird" artwork, the police were investigating one person.

"We believe one person is responsible for that bird and that person is in custody and has been charged with those offences, he said.

Lawyers for the two suspects said they would apply for bail on Friday, but magistrate Johanna Metcalf indicated she might be short of time to hear the case.
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A controversial anti-migration law has been rejected by the German parliament despite support from the German far-right.

The Influx Limitation Act was blocked by the Bundestag on Friday after hours of political wrangling between the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and Greens.

Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz introduced a motion to debate the bill last week and relied on Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) votes to get it to this stage.

The move ended the decades-long tradition of mainstream German political parties excluding the far-right from Germanys political process.

The German parliament came to a standstill on Friday as the CDU tried to persuade the Social Democrats and Greens to back the law in last-minute talks after days of opposition.

open image in gallery Alice Weidel is the leader of far-right AfD, which is second in the polls ahead of Germanys 23 February election ( AFP via Getty Images )

CDU leader Friedrich Merz said tightening migration controls was needed in response to a series of high-profile killings in public spaces by people with an immigrant background.

The motion called for permanent border checks and the rejection of all asylum applications lodged by migrants who arrived in Germany by irregular means.

It also urged the pre-deportation detention of all foreigners who have exhausted their appeals against their right to asylum in Germany.

Merz, whose bloc leads in polls ahead of a 23 February election, was reported to have told Bundestag members to weather this storm.

Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democrats and his Green coalition partners were accused of trying to stop the vote from happening by referring it back to committees.

open image in gallery German chancellor Olaf Scholzs SPD party was accused of trying to block the motion ( Getty Images )

The Free Democrats, who also support tightening migration rules, said they were seeking a way of getting the law passed without relying on the AfD.

"It depends entirely on the SPD and Greens to prepare the way for a democratic majority to pass this important law," FDP legislator Benjamin Duerr said.

Scholz warned in a podcast for Die Zeit newspaper that Germany risked following Austria into a world where the far-right Freedom Party becomes the dominant political force.

Everyone said they wouldn't join with the Freedom Party," he said. "And now we might get a Freedom Party chancellor."

On Thursday, former German chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel hit out at the Christian Democrats for cooperating with the far-right.

I consider it wrong to abandon this commitment and, as a result, to knowingly allow a majority with AfD votes in the Bundestag for the first time, Ms Merkel said.

The 99-year-old Holocaust survivor Albrecht Weinberg said he would return his federal order of merit in protest of the CDUs cooperation with the AfD.

Born to a Jewish family in 1925, Weinberg spent time during World War Two in the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

The non-binding Bundestag vote marked the first time the CDU relied on AfD votes to try and push through a motion, marking a rupture with Ms Merkels centrist legacy.

Now begins a new era, proclaimed Bernd Baumann, a senior AfD lawmaker after the motion was passed.
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The grave of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's far-right National Front, has been damaged by vandals, his family said on Friday.

Marion Marechal, Le Pen's granddaughter, said on her X account that the grave, in the cemetery of La Trinite-sur-Mer in Brittany, had been found defaced on Friday, three weeks after his death aged 96.

Le Pen had been in a care facility for several weeks and died at midday on Tuesday surrounded by his loved ones, the family said in a statement at the time.

Writing on X on Friday, Marechal said: "You've destroyed the grave of our ancestors. Do you think you can break our hearts, intimidate us, discourage us? Our response will be to fight you ever harder, generation after generation. Our determination will match your infamy."

Le Pen was a controversial figure in France, tapping into white working class anger over immigration and globalisation and also minimising the Holocaust.

His supporters saw him as a charismatic figure who would speak up for the everyman, but he was widely condemned as a bigot who was convicted several times by the courts for his remarks. Le Pen amassed 11 convictions.

Hundreds of people celebrated in central Paris when his death was announced.

open image in gallery The covered tombstone in La Trinite-sur-Mer, western France ( AFP via Getty Images )

His daughter Marine Le Pen, who took over his party, renamed it the National Rally and has sought to broaden its appeal to more centrist voters, could become France's next president in 2027.

Asked about the desecration of the grave, National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told reporters the vandalism would have no impact whatsoever on the party's policies.

"I imagine this was done by the same riffraff who celebrated his death of a man on the Place de la Republique. It says everything about them and nothing about us," Tanguy said.
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Russian forces are intensifying their offensive around the strategically vital Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, threatening key supply lines and raising concerns about a potential encirclement.

The city, a crucial logistical hub in eastern Ukraine, has become a focal point in the nearly three-year-long conflict.

While Ukrainian defenders are fiercely resisting the Russian advance, the situation in Pokrovsk grows increasingly precarious. The citys main supply routes are under constant threat, with Russian troops encroaching from multiple directions.

Should Pokrovsk fall, it could significantly bolster Russias offensive capabilities in the east, potentially opening avenues for attacks in several directions and increasing pressure on Kyiv.

Life for the remaining residents of Pokrovsk is grim. Once a bustling city of 60,000, Pokrovsks population has dwindled to a mere 7,000, according to the regional governor. The closure of the last post office, with mail now delivered by armored truck, underscores the citys isolation and the dangers faced by its inhabitants.

The crucial east-west highway that runs through Pokrovsk is now within range of Russian artillery and drone fire, forcing most vehicles to abandon the main road and navigate treacherous backroads for safety.

Adding to the citys vulnerability, Russian forces have recently reached the main rail line connecting Pokrovsk to the strategically important logistical hub of Dnipro, further restricting supply lines and increasing the risk of encirclement. This development marks a critical juncture in the war, with the fate of Pokrovsk hanging in the balance.

open image in gallery Mykola, 76, attaches firewood to his bicycle in front of a building damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine January 25, 2025 ( REUTERS )

The situation is generally difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot, said the deputy commander of Ukraines 59th assault brigade, which is fighting on the Pokrovsk front.

He asked to be identified by his military call sign, Phoenix, for security reasons.

The officer said the enemy had much greater numbers of infantry, attacked in small groups willing to take extremely high casualties and adeptly exploited the landscape and low-visibility weather conditions to hide themselves from drones.

Day and night they are moving forwards, Phoenix said.

Pokrovsks road and rail connections have made it an important supply centre for a large section of Ukraines frontline, although in recent months the threat of Russian artillery and drones has limited that function.

A map of Pokrovsk:

Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said Pokrovsks transit routes meant that if it fell, Russian forces could use it as a staging ground to push north or west.

It sets up Russian forces for a potential advance into Dnipropetrovsk region ... further behind the frontlines, theyre building and repairing rail lines.

They can then move up their own logistics and that enables them to push further west.

Dnipropetrovsk region is a large province whose eastern tip faces Pokrovsk, and Russian troops are currently about 5 km (3 miles) from its boundary. It is not one of the four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia. With U.S. President Donald Trump pressing the sides to reach a peace deal, Moscows occupation of a part of this region could strengthen its hand in future negotiations.

Why does Russia want Pokrovsk?

Moscow says it has annexed Ukraines eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russias territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call the gateway to Donetsk, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.

Squeezing the Ukrainian militarys access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyivs troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line. Russian forces, according to open source data, have begun to encircle the city in a pincer movement from the southeast and southwest.

open image in gallery A Ukrainian AS-90 self-propelled artillery vehicle fires towards Russian positions at the frontline on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved )

Viktor Trehubov, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said the Russians were attempting to bypass and surround Pokrovsk from the west.

He said this differed from their approach to taking previous big urban areas, where they opted for costly frontal assaults and street fighting.

It seems that, perhaps for the first time, they have started to spare their manpower, he said.

Ukraine updates Latest from the war as of January 31 9am GMT Ukraine launched drone attacks on oil refineries within Russia, causing a fire at a refinery in the Volgograd region. One worker was injured.

Russia claims to have downed numerous Ukrainian drones targeting various regions, including Rostov, Volgograd, Kursk, and others.

A British man captured fighting for Ukraine in Russia faces terrorism and mercenary charges.

Russian forces are concentrating attacks around Pokrovsk, a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine.

A Russian drone attack on an apartment building in Sumy, Ukraine, killed four people and injured nine others, including a child.

Follow latest updates.

Three analysts Reuters spoke to said that should it capture the city, Russia had two main options for advancing on the Pokrovsk axis of battle.

The first was to push westward into the sparsely populated plains of Dnipropetrovsk region, which are lightly fortified and offer few natural or urban obstacles for Kyiv to use in defence.

The second was to push north, into a denser patchwork of industrial towns that would be tougher to get through but would enable Moscow to put pressure on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the eastern region of Donetsk.

A map of Kramatorsk:

On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy put one of Ukraines most senior generals, land forces chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, in charge of the strategic command that oversees a vast chunk of frontline including Pokrovsk.

Hes a well-respected commander and his appointment might lead to improved command and control and coordination between units on the frontline, which has remained a challenge for Ukraine over the past year, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Russias assaults on the Pokrovsk front are largely conducted by small groups of infantry that use villages and treelines to dig in, said military spokesman Trehubov.

Phoenix, the deputy brigade commander, said the Russians had recently started using a new tactic - sending three- or four-man infantry squads deep into enemy territory to ambush Ukrainian soldiers and vehicles with the help of anti-tank mines.

However, he added that overall the assaults had become slightly less intense over the past month, and that Russia was firing less artillery than six months ago.

open image in gallery Ukrainian soldiers of Skala Battalion load anti-tank mines into an armoured vehicle near Pokrovsk ( AP )

Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, said Ukraine struggled to beat back Russias small infantry assaults because it lacked sufficient manpower of its own to comprehensively cover the front lines. Kyiv has faced long-running recruitment and mobilisation issues, and last year there was a rise in soldiers deserting and absconding from a depleted, tired force.

Ukrainian units are simply running out of infantry, Paroinen said.

Why does Russia want Pokrovsk?

Moscow says it has annexed Ukraines eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russias territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call the gateway to Donetsk, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.

Squeezing the Ukrainian militarys access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyivs troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line. Russian forces, according to open source data, have begun to encircle the city in a pincer movement from the southeast and southwest.
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The people of Denmark see the US as more of a threat than North Korea amid an ongoing row between the country and Donald Trump about Greenland, a poll has found.

The YouGov survey, which polled just over 1,000 people, revealed 46 per cent thought the US to be either a very big threat or a fairly big threat to Denmark.

This was higher than the number who said they considered North Korea or Iran a threat  of which 44 per cent and 40 per cent did respectively, according to The Guardian.

It comes after Trump, 78, reportedly blasted Denmarks prime minister Mette Frederiksen in a dangerous phone call on 15 January pressuring her to cede Greenland to the US.

The Arctic island, which has a population of 57,000, was formerly ruled as a colony by Denmark, which now oversees the semi-autonomous territorys security and foreign policy.

open image in gallery Trump reportedly blasted Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen in a dangerous phone call over Denmarks refusal to cede Greenland ( Getty Images )

Trump floated the prospect of buying the vast Arctic territory during his first term in 2019, and has said US control of Greenland is an "absolute necessity" for international security.

The US president was very firm during his phone call to Frederiksen which took place five days before his inauguration, a senior European official told The Financial Times.

It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous, they said.

A few days after he was sworn in as 47th US president, he claimed Greenland wanted to be with us and said he believed it would eventually become part of the US.

"I think the people want to be with us," Trump said when asked about the island in the press room on board the presidential plane.

open image in gallery Donald Trump Jr visited Nuuk, Greenland, earlier this month amid his fathers ongoing threats to take the island ( via REUTERS )

"I don't really know what claim Denmark has to it, but it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn't allow that to happen because it's for the protection of the free world," he added.

As well as oil and gas, Greenlands supply of in-demand raw materials for green technology is attracting interest from around the world, including from China.

Frederiksen toured Berlin, Paris and Brussels this week in a bid to shore up support amid Trumps ongoing threats, urging Europe to stand together.

I want to ensure that all of Europe stands together. Not only in connection with the kingdom of Denmark but also more broadly, she said.

Everyone in Europe can see that it will be a different collaboration with the USA now, she added.
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Ukraine has launched its second major drone attack in a week against Russian oil refineries hundreds of miles from its borders.

Drone strikes were reported by local officials across seven Russian regions as footage appeared on social media showing explosions and fires at the Lukoil refinery in the southern Volgograd area. It is more than 260 miles from the nearest Ukrainian forces.

Intelligence sources said the refinery had been hit by four Ukrainian drones, causing significant damage.

The Ukrainian military, claiming responsibility for the strike in partnership with the countrys intelligence services, said the refinery was involved in supplying the Russian army.

Volgograd governor Andrei Bocharov acknowledged the attack but claimed all the drones had been shot down. He added that the debris from one of the downed drones had struck the facility and caused a small fire that was promptly extinguished. He added that one refinery worker was hospitalised.

In the Smolensk region west of Moscow, governor Vasily Anokhin claimed there had been a massive drone attack on civilian infrastructure. He said one drone was intercepted while attempting to strike a nuclear energy facility.

Nearby, air defences also destroyed several drones around the town of Andreapol, home to approximately 8,000 people, in the Tver region, according to the local governor.

Russias defence ministry said in a statement on Friday that 49 Ukrainian drones had been downed over the country overnight, including 25 in the southern Rostov region and eight in the Volgograd region.

open image in gallery Rescuers search for civilians who were killed when a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Sumy, Ukraine ( Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP )

Ukraine has targeted the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd before. Last May, an early morning drone strike claimed by Ukraines intelligence services caused a fire in some of the facilitys oil processing units.

It is also the second time the refinery has been affected by fires this month. In the early hours of 15 January, an explosion and then fire broke out in the area due to what local authorities claimed was an internal issue.

At the start of the year, Ukraines intelligence services also conducted a cyberattack on Lukoil, which is one of Russias largest oil and gas companies, preventing customers from making payments at gas stations via the mobile app.

Ukraine has carried out frequent air attacks on Russian refineries, oil depots and industrial sites in an attempt to cripple key infrastructure underpinning Russias war effort.

More than a dozen refineries have been hit in the past two months, many of which are located hundreds of miles inside Russia.

This week, Ukrainian forces claimed to have struck and set on fire a Lukoil refinery, Russias fourth largest, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow.

A Ukrainian drone attack last week also forced a refinery in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, to suspend operations.

Russia is currently feeding more crude oil through its refineries in the hope of boosting fuel exports after new US sanctions on Russian tankers and traders made exports of unprocessed crude more difficult, sources told Reuters this week.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military said on Friday that its missile and artillery forces had hit a Russian army command post in the region of Kursk  where Ukraine is trying to hold a swathe of territory taken in two surprise offensives in the past few months  as a part of its effort to disrupt Moscows troop operations and logistics. As a result of the coordinated and precision strike, the enemys command and control post was destroyed, the general staff said on social messaging app Telegram.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a barrage of drones on Ukraine in an overnight attack on Friday, injuring four people and damaging a hospital and a grain warehouse in the southern Odesa region, officials said.

Ukraines air defences shot down 59 of 102 Russian drones, the air force said. It said that 37 drones were lost, referring to the use of electronic warfare to redirect them.

Russian drones damaged the northeastern Sumy region, the Odesa region in the south, and the central Cherkasy region.

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, said that four civilians, including a doctor, were injured in drone attacks targeting the city of Chornomorsk.

The strikes also partially disrupted electricity supplies in the city and damaged the citys hospital, an administrative building, a grain warehouse, a residential house, and several trucks, he said on Telegram.
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Mohammed Deif, Hamass military wing head was killed in an airstrike, the militant group in Gaza confirmed months after Israel announced his death in the embattled Strip.

Israel in August last year had announced the death of Deif, Hamas's longtime shadowy military leader and one of the alleged masterminds of the 7 October attack on Israel, in an airstrike.

Hamas on Thursday issued a statement on his condition and announced the death of four more top members.

Arab television networks cut into live-streams of the Palestinian prisoner release to carry a press conference delivered by Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas's armed wing, who confirmed the death of Deif.

Deif had been on Israel's most-wanted list and survived a string of alleged Israeli assassination attempts while not showing his face in public for decades.

He was considered iconic among Hamas fighters and particularly hard to replace.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2024 issued an arrest warrant for Deif along with Israeli prime minister PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza.

Deif was one the founders of the group's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, in the 1990s and led the unit for decades. Under his command, Qassam Brigades carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis on buses and at cafes and built up a formidable arsenal of rockets that could strike deep into the country.

Israel says Deif and former political leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October, were behind the attacks on Israel. The militants unleashed an unprecedented attack that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 others hostage into Gaza.

Israel retaliated by launching a war in Gaza and killing more than 47,460 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Strip's health ministry.

Hamas also announced the death of deputy military commander Marwan Issa, who the US claimed was killed in March 2024. Rafaa Salameh, the Hamas commander in the southern city of Khan Younis, was also killed in airstrikes, the group said.

Over the past two weeks of the ceasefire, Hamas has projected dominance as the main Palestinian power in Gaza despite the Israeli military's stated goal of destroying and dislodging the organisation.

Dozens of uniformed, gun-toting Hamas militants have welcomed displaced Palestinians back home to their homes in the north, popped back up on the streets as policemen and featured prominently in the chaotic handovers of Israeli hostages to the Red Cross.
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Iran has given temporary reprieve from execution to Kurdish activist Pakhshan Azizi, but the uncertainty has only increased the agony of her family, rights activists said.

Ms Azizi, 40, who worked to shelter women and children displaced by the war in Syria, received last-minute relief from capital punishment over the weekend, but activists fighting her case are not resting yet.

While this is a temporary win, we have seen many times in the past that the person is still executed. By no means can we say this relief is trustworthy or that it has taken the pressure off us in any sense, Skylar Thompson, deputy director of Human Rights Activists in Iran, said.

Ms Azizi has been convicted of entering Iran and inflaming the situation during the Mahsa Amini protests in September 2022. The unrest, spearheaded by women, had erupted after Amini, 22, was arrested by morality police, allegedly for not wearing her hijab appropriately, and died in custody.

Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has declared in the past that unveiling is both religiously forbidden and politically forbidden.

The protests started with the slogan Women, Life, Freedom but quickly morphed into open calls for revolt against the Iranian government, prompting a crackdown that, according to the news agency Associated Press, left 500 people dead and over 22,000 detained.

She entered the country to inflame the situation in Iran, contacted the families of those killed in the riots of 2022-23, explained to them the goals and programmes of the opposition group, and encouraged them to continue their protests and not to give up the blood revenge for their children, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran ruled while convicting Ms Azizi.

The activist, held in Tehrans Evin jail, hasnt been allowed to meet her family since last July, when she was sentenced. She was convicted on charges of armed insurrection through effective activities and efforts using weapons to advance the goals of groups that have carried out armed uprisings against the Islamic government and whose leadership remains intact, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

The activist has denied any involvement in armed operations.

Ms Azizi is one of at least 54 prisoners who have been condemned to death on political or security charges in the country.

Iran executed 853 people in 2003 and 930 last year, the most in a decade, sending a chilling message to dissidents in the country and prompting United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk to urge Tehran to stem this ever-swelling tide of executions.

As Iran faces mounting international scrutiny, civil society must seize this moment to amplify ongoing abuses, particularly as executions in 2024 have surpassed a staggering 930 cases," Ms Thompson said.

Rights activists have called on the international community to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic to terminate the death sentences of female convicts in particular and offer them fair trials.

The international community too often leaves Iranian women behind, only paying attention when polarizing events make headlines, Ms Thompson told The Independent.

But the reality is that women in Iran, and Iranians more broadly, face systematic human rights violations every day, amounting to crimes against humanity.

She said world leaders owed it to Iranians to keep human rights at the forefront of any dialogue with Tehran. Any negotiations with Iran must put human rights on the table, she said, silence on this issue is complicity.
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The next three people to be released from Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas include the father of the youngest hostage and a dual US national.

A spokesperson for Hamas military wing said that Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54, will be released in the next exchange, expected on Saturday.

Ninety Palestinians, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be released in return.

Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of conflict, 33 hostages held by the Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, are detained by Israel without charge. Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 Palestinians have so far been exchanged.

open image in gallery From left to right: Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon are due to be released this weekend ( AFP via Getty Images )

The war was triggered by an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken captive. Israel's retaliatory offensive inside Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry, and laid waste to the territory home to 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.

Mr Bibas is the father of baby Kfir, only nine months old when he was kidnapped on 7 October, and Ariel, who was four at the time of the cross-border attack. Mr Bibass wife, Shiri, the mother of the two children, was also taken at the same time.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir remain unaccounted for amid grave concerns over their wellbeing, with the likely release of Mr Bibas marking a painful moment for the large numbers of Israelis and other supporters around the world who have long campaigned for the Bibas familys release.

Video of Shiri holding on to her children as she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Oz kibbutz became an enduring image of the Hamas attack.

Under the latest ceasefire agreement, living women and children were supposed to be freed first, but Ariel and Kfir were the only children being held who were not released in a previous week-long truce in November 2023. Hamas says that Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the conflict. Israel has not confirmed that claim, but last week the military said there were grave concerns about what has happened to them.

open image in gallery A destroyed mosque in Nuseirat, Gaza ( AP )

Relatives of the Bibas family said in a statement: We said then, and we say now: we hold on to hope and continue waiting for their return. We await clarity regarding their condition.

The second hostage to be released this weekend, Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, was seen in a video released by Hamas last year. His wife was released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

Ofer Kalderon's two children, Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were also released in the first exchange.

This weekends exchange will be the fourth iteration of the tentative peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

On Thursday, Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza while Israel freed 110 Palestinians.

But the exchange sparked anger in Israel after footage showed some of the hostages in Gaza being surrounded by crowds. The release of the Palestinian prisoners was delayed as a result.

open image in gallery Arbel Yehoud is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross ( AP )

Whoever dares to harm our captives, his blood will be on his head, wrote Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the swap.

The exchange on Thursday had been born out of a disagreement between Israel and Hamas after the last living female hostage, Arbel Yehoud, was not included in the exchange the previous weekend. Israel responded by delaying the opening of the Netzarim corridor to northern Gaza until the start of this week, effectively preventing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from returning home.

The US, Egypt and Qatar brokered Thursdays swap, breaking with the informal tradition of carrying out the exchanges on the weekends, to ensure the corridor was opened.

It was Ms Yehoud who was then surrounded by crowds on Thursday before she was released, prompting anger from the Israeli government.

The Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be released on the weekend include 30 minors and some convicted members of Palestinian groups responsible for deadly attacks that have killed dozens of people in Israel.

More talks on the implementation of the second stage of the deal, due to begin by 4 February, are meant to open the way to the release of over 60 other hostages, including men of military age, and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.

If that succeeds, a formal end to the war could follow along with talks on the monumental challenge of reconstructing Gaza.
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NASAs Perseverance rover has collected a sample from Mars that has textures unlike anything weve ever seen before.

Known as Silver Mountain, the rock core has been sealed into a tube so it can be analyzed in labs on Earth in the future.

Silver Mountain is the Martian rovers 26th sample. Dozens of samples are being collected to better understand the planets geological history, its climate, and determine whether it ever hosted life.

open image in gallery NASA's 26th Martian sample is seen in this photo. The agency says it has textures unlike anything weve ever seen before ( @NASAPersevere/X )

Earlier this month, the space agency announced that the samples could be returned to Earth as soon as 2035 and as late as 2039. NASA is deliberating what method to use. It said that a selection would be announced as soon as next year.

Pursuing two potential paths forward will ensure that NASA is able to bring these samples back from Mars with significant cost and schedule saving compared to the previous plan, former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

The Trump administrations pick to lead the agency, billionaire Jared Isaacman, has signaled that Mars will be a priority going forward.

Percy has completed its climb out of Jezero Crater, where it first landed in February 2021. Jezero Crater is a region of Mars where the ancient environment may have been favorable for microbial life.

Now it is moving over the Northern Rim, where it is expected to visit four sites of geologic interest and take several samples.

open image in gallery This montage of photos shows tubes containing samples from Mars. The NASA Mars Sample Return Program plans to bring these samples to Earth ( Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS )

The rover has journeyed across more than 20 miles, according to an interactive map that tracks its location and traverse path on NASAs website. The samples, collected in titanium tubes after the rover uses its coring drill, are also marked on the map.

This will also prepare us to safely send the first human explorers to Mars, Nicky Fox, who leads NASAs Science Mission Directorate, said.

The Perseverance rover is part of NASAs Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
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The first air crash of 2025 involving a passenger jet has taken place in Washington DC. An American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people was on the approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport when it collided in mid-air with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday evening. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.

All 67 people on board both aircraft are feared dead. The National Transportation Safety Board posted on X (formerly Twitter): NTSB has launched a go-team to the aviation accident involving a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 airplane and a Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

All flights in and out of Reagan National have been paused until at least 11am on Thursday.

What is the airport situation in Washington DC?

Most international flights to the US capital arrive at Dulles airport, 20 miles west of the city centre. Other flights from abroad touch down at Baltimore Washington, 30 miles north east.

Ronald Reagan National airport is most unusual. It opened in 1941 very close to the centre of Washington  the northern perimeter is just three miles south of the White House. Being so close, the airport is popular with many travellers: the management says: Our Runway 01/19 is the busiest in the country.

In normal operations, the airport handles up to 60 flights per hour. The stipulation is that mainline airlines have a maximum of 37 flights; commuter jets, 11; private aircraft 12.

The airport says: All aircraft movements are solely controlled through the FAA National Airspace System, including the design and implementation of flight procedures and corridors.

As a result of the proximity to the heart of government, air-traffic control is taken extremely seriously. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001  which included a plane being flown into the Pentagon  the airport was closed for 23 days.

What do we know about the aircraft involved?

It was a CRJ-701ER commuter jet operated by PSA Airlines. The type has not been involved in any previous fatal accidents.

PSA is a subsidiary of American Airlines which operates smaller aircraft on regional flights  a standard arrangement among big US carriers.

The aircraft was 20 years old and fitted with 65 seats. It normally carries two pilots and two cabin crew, which was the case with flight AA5342.

Before the crash, the plane had operated a typical busy schedule on Wednesday: flying in from Greenville-Spartanburg in the morning, making a round-trip to Cleveland and another flight to Wichita.

How common are mid-air collisions?

Thankfully, they are extremely rare. On average there has been one per year so far this century, most of them involving small private aircraft and/or helicopters.

All pilots and air-traffic controllers are focused on avoiding other traffic in the skies. All large passenger aircraft are equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system, known as TCAS. If a potential threat is identified, the system will issue a resolution advisory. Typically one aircraft will be instructed to climb and the other told to descend. Pilots are required to perform the manoeuvre specified by the resolution advisory even if it conflicts with instructions from air-traffic controllers.

The Washington tragedy involved a military helicopter, which has very different operational characteristics from a fixed-wing aircraft. It is not known if it was fitted with TCAS, but in any case the system is inhibited when aircraft are very close to the ground.

What will investigators be examining?

National Transportation Safety Board investigators will be studying in immense detail the sequence of events that led up to the tragedy.

In many accidents, a sequence of unlikely and unexpected events combine to cause a crash.

There has been much speculation, including from President Trump, about the possible causes. Much of this is unhelpful and distressing.

An American helicopter instructor and former CRJ pilot, Philip Greenspun, has posted some thoughts about what might have gone wrong.

He writes: A review of the ATC [air-traffic control] recording shows that there was plenty of room for human error.

Dr Greenspun suggests that the Black Hawk pilots may have said that they could see the approaching aircraft while actually looking at a different plane.

The most plausible explanation is that the Black Hawk crew and DCA Tower were talking about two different airliners (ie, talking past each other), he writes.

There were some excellent humans with excellent training in the airliner, in the Tower, and in the Black Hawk. Everyone was operating in the most restrictive low-altitude airspace (Class B) that we have in the US and under time-tested rules that have ensured safety despite congestion.

At the same time, however, we have the limitations of a natural language (English) and the human brain, which may latch onto and commit to the first plausible airliner that it sees.

During the current closure of Reagan National airport, what is happening to flights?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a notice reading: The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) was closed as of 29 January at 9pm EST. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is 30 January at 11pm.

After the accident, dozens of flights diverted to airports including Washington Dulles, Baltimore Washington, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Richmond and Pittsburgh.

Planned arrivals from New York La Guardia, Chicago OHare and Miami returned to their starting points.

Flights due to operate to and from the airport on Thursday morning are mainly cancelled or rescheduled to depart after 11am.

Is flying getting more dangerous?

With three fatal events involving passenger jets in five weeks, it is understandable that some people will conclude that risks are increasing.

In fact, this decade is so far much safer than any previous spell. The three crashes have had entirely different causes, all of which are extremely rare:

Azerbaijan Airlines, shot down by Russian anti-aircraft fire over Grozny on Christmas Day. It was the first flight tragedy involving a passenger jet in 2024.

Jeju Air, four days later, crashed in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained but which appear to have involved a bird strike.

American Airlines, a mid-air collision in busy airspace.

Lessons will be learnt from all of these tragedies and will contribute to future air safety.

The UK and Ireland have the best air-safety records in the world. The last fatal accident involving a British passenger jet was in the 1980s  the Kegworth disaster.

The safest airline worldwide by passengers flown without a fatal accident is Ryanair, with easyJet in second place.
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Investigators are working to retrieve the remnants of the two aircraft involved in a crash in Washington DC that killed 67 people and raised questions about air safety.

The black boxes have been recovered from the American Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, which collided with a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday, killing 67 people.

Lead investigator Brice Banning said the helicopter also contained some form of recording devices that would be read either by the National Transportation Safety Board or by the Defense Department under existing agreements.

What are black boxes?

open image in gallery A search and rescue worker holds an orange-colored black box recorder recovered at the China Eastern flight crash site in 2022 ( AP )

The name is a misnomer; they are not actually black but high-visibility orange. Experts disagree how the nickname originated but it has become synonymous with the quest for answers when planes crash.

Many historians attribute their invention to Australian scientist David Warren in the 1950s. Earliest devices recorded limited data on wire or foil. Later devices switched to magnetic tape. Modern ones use computer chips inside hard casings.

There are two recorders: a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) for pilot voices or cockpit sounds, and a separate Flight Data Recorder (FDR). Some devices combine both functions.

They are mandatory on civil flights and the aim is to preserve clues from cockpit sounds and data to help prevent future accidents, but not to determine wrongdoing or liability.

In broad terms, investigators say the FDR helps them analyse what happened and the CVR can - though not always - start to explain why. But experts caution that no two probes are the same and virtually all accidents involve multiple factors.

The disappearance in 2014 of Malaysian Airlines MH370 triggered debate about whether data should be streamed instead.

open image in gallery Wreckage of the crashed Washington DC plane ( AP )

How big are black boxes on planes?

They weigh about 10 pounds (4.5 kilos) and contain four main parts:

A chassis or interface designed to fix the device and facilitate recording and playback

An underwater locator beacon

The core housing or Crash Survivable Memory Unit made of stainless steel or titanium able to withstand a force equivalent to 3,400 times the feeling of gravity.

The recording chip on a circuit board.

After contact with water, they must first be thoroughly dried and the connections cleaned to ensure data is not erased accidentally. Audio and data files are downloaded and copied.

Updates Latest from The Independents live blog as of 1pm GMT, 31 January An American Airlines jet and a US military helicopter collided mid-air near Washington, D.C.s Reagan Airport, resulting in the presumed deaths of all 67 people on board.

A preliminary FAA report indicates that air traffic control staffing levels were not normal at the time of the crash, with one controller reportedly handling the workload typically assigned to two.

Two black boxes have been recovered and are being analyzed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

President Trump linked the incident to the FAAs diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, a claim disputed by data showing most air traffic controllers are white men.

Among the victims were two pilots, members of the Skating Club of Boston, and a civil rights attorney.

Follow latest updates

The data itself means little at first. It must be decoded from raw files before being turned into graphs and synchronised with other data, like air traffic control transmissions.

Lab experts sometimes use spectral analysis, a way of deciphering fleeting sounds or barely audible alarms.

FDRs must record at least 88 essential parameters but modern systems can typically track 1,000 or more additional signals.

open image in gallery Rescue crews search the Potomac River the day after an American Airlines plane collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing 67 people ( Getty Images )

The CVR usually contains two hours of recordings on a loop and this is being extended to 25 hours.

Implementing such regulatory changes can take years, a delay highlighted by the crash last month of a Jeju Air Boeing 737.

The recorders in that accident, in which 179 people died, did not capture the last four minutes of flight, officials say.

A spate of accidents in the 1990s in which recorders had stopped working when power was lost led the NTSB to recommend enough backup power to provide 10 minutes of extra recording.

The change was finally adopted for new planes delivered from 2010, but only came into effect eight months after the 737-800 involved in the Jeju crash left the Boeing factory, according to aircraft data on Flightradar24.
Libby Squires mother is urging the government to treat female safety in the same way as terrorism.

It comes after a report published on Friday, 31 January, found the Home Office's response to the violence against women and girls has "not improved outcomes" for victims.

If we were talking in terms of terrorism they would be on it one hundred per cent, Squire told Good Morning Britain on Friday.

She said government pledges since her daughters death have not gone far enough.

We need to absolutely prioritise this, she told the programme.

In 2019, her 21-year-old daughter, Libby, was raped and murdered after being abducted while walking home.
Video shows the wreckage of the American Airlines passenger plane in the Potomac River following a deadly collision with a Black Hawk military helicopter.

Officials say there are no survivors among the 67 passengers on the aircrafts that collided above Washington on Wednesday (29 January).

Police confirmed a multi-agency search and rescue operation is underway in the Potomac River following the crash.

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said the American Airlines plane was carrying roughly 60 passengers, adding: "My prayer is that God wraps his arms around each and every victim and that he continues to be with their families.
Donald Trump jokingly asked a reporter if he should swim to visit the Washington DC plane crash site.

The president was asked if he had any plans to visit the site of the American Airlines and military helicopter collision, as rescue workers scoured the Potomac River.

He replied: I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because what, you tell me. What's the site? Water. We're going to go swimming?

Trump said he would be meeting with family members of some of the 67 victims of the deadly crash.
When the Imperial Japanese Navy wreaked havoc at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, a sombre Franklin D Roosevelt addressed the nation to conjure a day which will live in infamy.

When Nasas Challenger space shuttle blew up shortly after lift-off in 1986, instantly killing the seven astronauts on board, Ronald Reagan spoke of how these brave young men and women had slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.

More recently, in 2012, after the horrific murder of 20 young schoolchildren at Sandy Hook, an emotional Barack Obama addressed the need to heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.

And on Thursday night after 67 people perished in the icy waters of the Potomac River, Donald Trump  checks notes  blamed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies that had led to the Federal Aviation Administration hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. There was something too about dwarves.

This, he conceded, was not based on any empirical evidence  it was his common sense. You could see the bewilderment of so many of the reporters who had gathered in the briefing room.

Sure, Trump had started his remarks by talking about how in moments like this, the differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all. But then  boom  the president went on the attack. The politicisation of a national tragedy was breathtaking in its audaciousness. Biden was to blame. Obama was to blame.

How is it possible that the 67 dead Americans in the Potomac, many still to be recovered from its murky waters, would be the latest front in the culture wars? What about those who had lost loved ones? Surely, they should be the only focus in the immediate aftermath.

The transportation secretary of the Biden administration, Pete Buttigieg, said it was despicable, accusing the president of lying not leading. He also pointed out that there had been no civilian air passenger deaths over the previous four years.

This is the what; the what unfolded yesterday. But what about the why? Why does Trump do this?

About four years ago, I went with the newly inaugurated President Biden on Air Force One to a town hall meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And watching him engage empathetically with the audience gave me a realisation. Joe Biden loves people; Donald Trump loves a crowd. Its an important distinction.

Trump is uncomfortable in the consoler-in-chief role. He reads the words if theyre there before him, but he cant do touchy-feely. Hes a fighter. Hes a kill or be killed man with an acute sense of danger.

And the bald, incontrovertible fact of the collision over the Potomac is that the crash happened on his watch. And we know where the buck stops, dont we? The fear lurking in Trump is that if he doesnt blame, then he might be blamed himself. And that would be unthinkable.

In the Trump worldview, everything is a zero-sum game. You can never have a win-win. You win or you lose.

Look at one of the most hubristic things he said when he was president first time around. At the beginning of 2018, he took the credit for the fact that across the world the year before there had not been a single civilian passenger death. He didnt  couldnt  explain why it was down to him that no planes anywhere in the world had fallen out of the sky. But if there are victories to be had, they are his; and if there is failure, then its someone else.

So rather than say what everyone was saying  that therell be a full and detailed investigation, no stone will be left unturned, all explanations will be looked at  Trump needed to point a finger.

His predecessors had let standards slip; they were so obsessed about equality and trans rights, that they had allowed aircraft to crash into each other. Maybe the investigators will find there is something to this  you can be sure this White House will be pressuring for that. But at the moment the truth looks far, far more prosaic; certainly NOTHING has been shown that points to that. Staff shortages in the tower, maybe; a helicopter pilot at the wrong altitude? Again, possible.

Donald Trump on the campaign trail is formidable: irascible, funny, powerful, pointed. He knows how to fire up an audience like no other politician I have ever seen. I also think his instinctive reading of the room is phenomenal. Though a privileged billionaire, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his perception of the American public mood  in 2016 and 2024 was remarkable.

But that doesnt mean he is infallible. And dare I say it, a disaster like this is what Trump is least well equipped to deal with. More in sorrow than in anger is not what the current president does. Anger is always pre-eminent; and over the past couple of days it has been jarring.
Oisin Fannings company declines to say if it has paid 7.5m to the State

The company has also declined to say if it has paid about 7.5m that it was due to hand over to the Department of the Environment by the end of 2024. That sum is related to decommissioning costs at the Seven Heads gas field off the south coast of Ireland.

The departure of non-executive chairman John Brown, who was appointed to the board in 2021, leaves San Leon with just three directors, including chief executive Oisin Fanning.

San Leons chief financial officer resigned last summer, while non-executive chairman Mutiu Sunmonu left last autumn.

Mr Brown was named chairman with immediate effect following Mr Sunmonus departure. San Leon said at the time that Mr Sunmonu had indicated to the board at the end of 2023 that he intended to resign his role.

Current non-executive director Adekolapo Ademola has now been appointed chairman, according to a spokesperson.

Last year, San Leon reached an agreement with the Environment Minister, after he sued the company for 7.5m in relation to decommissioning costs for Seven Heads.

San Leon disposed of its Island Oil & Gas subsidiary in 2014 to Ardilaun Energy. That included the Seven Heads gas field. San Leon said at the time that the sale of Island Oil & Gas would leave San Leon with no further exposure to abandonment costs on these assets.

The Environment Minister sued San Leon in 2023 for 7.5m, arguing that it was still liable for decommissioning costs for Seven Heads, which ceased production in 2020.

But San Leon insisted that the operator of the field, Malaysias Petronas, was now liable.

The case was settled in February last year. San Leon agreed to settle for the 7.5m. About 3m of that was due to be paid in March last year and the remainder by the end of 2024. That time period was agreed to enable San Leon to recover the entire settlement from Island (Seven Heads) Ltd.

Just to be clear, the Department of the Environment was collecting this money on behalf of Petronas, and San Leon Energy does not owe the Irish Government money, said a spokesperson for San Leon.

The Department of the Environment has been asked for comment.

Mr Browns departure comes as shareholders in the now delisted San Leon continue to await news of a major financing solution for the company that has been promised for well over a year. A spokesperson for the company said that refinancing negotiations are continuing.

San Leons shares were suspended from Londons Alternative Investment Market in 2023 pending the company publishing its audited accounts for 2022 and unaudited interim results for the six months to the end of 2023. Those financials were never filed and the company delisted its shares last summer.

No accounts have been filed by Ireland-registered San Leon Energy Plc since 2022. The last public corporate update was provided by the company in March last year.

In January last year, San Leon said it was in talks with a new potential investor after a deal inked with a different backer last year faltered.

The company then spoke to other investors and in March last year said it expected to complete a major refinancing by the end that month.
Mr Gammell joined the board in 2020

A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, operated by Riyadh Air, at the Dubai Air Show in 2023. Photo: Bloomberg

Ray Gammell, who is the chief corporate development officer at Saudi Arabias start-up airline Riyadh Air, has resigned as a non-executive director of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), the operator of Dublin Airport.

Mr Gammell has been a director of the DAA since 2020. The standard term for non-executive appointments is five years.

He held a number of executive roles with companies including Intel and RBS before joining Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways. In 2017, he took over as interim chief executive of Etihad from James Hogan.

Under Mr Hogan, Etihad pursued a strategy of taking equity stakes in other airlines. It was all about building scale, doing it rapidly and helping to drive more traffic through Abu Dhabi.

While Etihad reported a $103m profit on revenue of just over $9bn in 2015, it was also receiving billions in government funding. In 2016, it posted a near $1.9bn loss, as it shouldered $1.9bn in impairments related to aircraft and its equity stakes in Air Berlin and Alitalia. Etihad also once held a small stake in Aer Lingus, before it was sold to IAG in 2015.

After acting as interim CEO at Etihad, Mr Gammell was appointed its chief people and transformation officer. In 2023, he joined Riyadh Air as chief corporate development and enablement officer.

Former Ryanair executive Peter Bellew, who was also once the CEO of Malaysia Airlines, is Riyadh Airs chief operating officer.

Former Etihad Airways chief executive Tony Douglas  who served in the role after James Hogan  is CEO of Riyadh Air, which is slated to launch this year.

Riyadh Air is being bankrolled by the Saudi government and recently completed its first test flight.

Last year, Riyadh Air ordered 60 Airbus narrowbody A321-family jets as it prepares to start operations. It brought to 132 the total number of jets ordered by the Saudi start-up. It ordered 39 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2023, with options for an additional 33.

The company is also considering an order for Boeing 777X aircraft and the Airbus A350-1000 and expects to make a decision in the first or second quarter of this year, Mr Douglas told Reuters last November.

The growth of Riyadh Air, owned by Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund, is one of the industrys fastest launches.

Mr Douglas told Reuters the A321neo would be used to open new routes or to fly in sectors where there is not enough demand to fill the 290-seat Dreamliner.
Storm Eowyns disruption to broadband mobile services are still being felt by more than 100,000 people a week after Ireland was lashed by record-breaking gusts

More than 50,000 homes and businesses are still without broadband or mobile service as repair crews from telecoms companies struggle to get all systems back online after last weekends Storm Eowyn.

Eir, the countrys biggest telecoms company, says that about 20,000 premises are still without broadband connections, with thousands more of the companys mobile customers also left without coverage on its cellular network service.

The worst areas hit, the operator says, are Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Monaghan and Donegal.

There will also be individual faults that will take additional time to address, a spokesperson said.

National Broadband Ireland, which runs the rural fibre broadband network resold by dozens of broadband retailers, says that there are still 15,057 premises offline due to a combination of power outages and fibre breaks.

The countrys two largest mobile operators, Vodafone and Three, said today that while progress has been made, tens of thousands of customers are likely affected on their cellular or mobile broadband coverage.

Both operators have around 20,000 customers each potentially impacted by the storm damage.

These mobile network outages also affect low-cost operators such as Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, Gomo, 48, A Post Mobile and Lyca, which all use either Vodafone or Three as a base network.

While most focus has been on fixed line and fibre broadband customers, Ireland has 394,000 mobile broadband households that rely on cellular signals to power their homes primary internet services.

Most phone and broadband connections have been restored since 750,000 homes had their power knocked out by Storm Eowyn a week ago. However, some poles and mobile sites were destroyed during the extreme weather event, which was the most powerfully storm Ireland has endured in decades.

Over 250,000 homes and more than 830 mobile sites now have restored service, said the Eir spokesperson of its national repairs effort.

This was the most severe weather event ever recorded for Ireland's telecommunications network. The storm caused almost 6,000 reports of network damage, including fallen poles, damaged cables, and other hazards. So far, more than 3,500 hazards have been addressed, but new reports continue to emerge as recovery efforts progress.

Power outages continue to be a cause of service disruption during storm events, and therefore Eir has back-up power sources at 1,250 exchange sites across the country, static generators at over 250 critical sites, over 60 mobile generators, alongside battery back up on over 60pc of our mobile sites.
Woman faces legal bill for hundreds of thousands of euro after losing Circle K damages case

Kristina Kandaurova sued the petrol chain after falling at Dublin petrol station

Circle K. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

John Mulligan Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 12:13

A woman who tripped at a Circle K filling station in Dublin could be left facing a bill for hundreds of thousands of euro in legal costs after the Court of Appeal reversed a decision by the High Court where she had successfully sued the fuel company.
Gold hit an all-time high as the dollar pushed lower and traders sought safety amid concerns over US president Donald Trump's tariff measures.

Bullion surged as much as 1.4pc to $2,798.59 an ounce, surpassing its previous all-time high set in October. A weaker dollar makes bullion more appealing for investors holding other currencies as it's priced in the US currency.
Death in Paradises longevity is a testament to some viewers appetite for consuming exactly the same meal at every sitting, without so much as a burp of complaint

British drama series tend, on the whole, to have a shorter shelf life than their American equivalents.

Unless theyre soaps, of course, which are continuing serials rather than series, and therefore theoretically capable of running forever, God help us.

At this point, it would probably take a wooden stake, a mallet and a crucifix to finish off Coronation Street, which started when Harold Macmillan was still prime minister  1960.

But few weekly British drama series can expect to stay on air for 20 seasons, let alone more. Notable exceptions are Silent Witness (28 seasons) and Midsomer Murders (24 seasons).

Theres also Casualty (an astonishing 39 seasons), although you could argue that what started out as a fairly realistic and sometimes controversial medical drama jumped the fence and became a fully-fledged soap a long time ago.

For whatever reason, crime dramas seem to enjoy more longevity than any other genre. Maybe its the comfort of the familiar, the sense of certainty they provide.

You know there will be a dastardly crime. The intrepid protagonist will investigate. Theyll inevitably be distracted by a few red herrings and sometimes find their own life in danger.

In the end though, theyll crack the case, good will prevail over bad and order will be restored. And come next week, theyll be doing it all over again.

Caribbean-set cosy crime dramedy Death in Paradise (BBC1, Friday, Jan 31, 9pm) has been doing it all over again every week since 2011. Compared to Silent Witness or Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise  which this week embarks on its 14th season  has barely reached puberty.

What makes both its survival and enormous popularity especially remarkable, however, is that its far more formulaic and predictable than either of them.

Ginny Holder and Shantol Jackson in Death in Paradise. Photo: BBC/Red Planet Pictures/Lou Denim

Its a testament to some viewers appetite for consuming exactly the same meal at every sitting, without so much as a burp of complaint.

The last time  possibly the only time  Death in Paradise sprang a genuine surprise on viewers was at the start of season three, when the original fish-out-of-water lead character, DI Richard Poole (Ben Miller), formerly of the London Met, became a murder victim himself.

The crime was solved by Millers replacement Kris Marshall, who played DI Humphrey Goodman. When Marshall left, he was replaced by Ardal OHanlon as DI Jack Mooney. OHanlon was subsequently replaced by Ralf Little as DI Neville Parker.

Given Mervin is the fifth Sherlock Holmes-like genius the Met has exported to Saint Marie, its a miracle any London crime ever gets solved

The new Met officer transplanted to the murder-prone fictional island of Saint Marie is DI Mervin Wilson, played by Don Gilet, who was introduced in last years Christmas special.

As with every one of his predecessors, Mervin  whose quirks seem to be a bucket hat and a tendency to forget to say please when he wants something done  is desperate to leave the island now that his work is done.

And as with every one of his predecessors, you know hes going absolutely nowhere. Hes already in a taxi and on his way to the airport when hes stopped in his tracks by a murder, which he feels compelled to hang around and solve.

He does this with ease by spotting things at the crime scene the local officers are too dim or lazy to notice, and then connecting the dots where there dont seem to be any dots.

Given Mervin is the fifth Sherlock Holmes-like genius the Met has exported to Saint Marie, its a miracle any London crime ever gets solved.

Even by the series usual standard, the plot is bananas, the evidence wouldnt stand up in court with the aid of crutches, and Mervins reason for sticking around permanently is painfully contrived.

But hey, if you like this kind of thing, then this is the kind of thing youll like.
The new Agriculture Commissioner has pledged to tackle what he describes as illegal and unfair competition coming from third countries, which are impacting consumers and farmers in Europe.

Of course we know that we are tightening the screws, banning plant protection products and that competition from third countries continues with these products, Christophe Hansen said.

This must no longer be the case. We have started to demand reciprocity on various phytosanitary products and we must do more of this because it is not possible to ban on the one hand, while on the other hand nature continues to be destroyed.

This illegal and unfair competition is coming to our market. Neither the farmer nor the average consumer understands this.

The comments came at the 2025 Berlin International Green Week where Commissioner Hansen told the Food for Europe podcast that despite competition concerns, international trade is essential for the continents agriculture and food economy.

This must be emphasised because we export 70bn more goods each year than we import, he said.

EU Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen. Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 31st January 2025

This means that we are a net exporting continent and our farmers and food production depend on it.

Commissioner Hansen addressed the issue of generational renewal, suggesting that female farmers face more challenges when accessing credit from lenders.

We have a very big problem, which is that fewer and fewer young people are there to go into farming. We must identify the reasons for this reluctance and find solutions, he continued.

If you want to start a farm then you need financing and we see that young farmers and especially young women farmers find it very very difficult to obtain financing. The banks do not give them credit, and when they do provide it the conditions are very bad for the farmers.

I have been working on a financing initiative with the president of the European Investment Bank, 3bn, its not much but still it will provide loans to our young farmers to be able to take over a farm and start production.

The Commissioner is concerned about the general decline in meat production in the European Union.

Over the past 10 years the herd has decreased by more than 8pc. We should not continue to accelerate this trend artificially or politically, he highlights.

The Commissioner also said that for fair prices we must first and foremost work to improve the position of farmers within the value chain but we also need to work in the future on production standards and competition from third countries so that the products which come into the single market are produced according to the same standards as the European Union.

We must achieve simplification which the farmer can feel, really feel, and all levels must get involved.

What I mean by that is local and national authorities as well as European authorities must move in the same direction to simplify things. We also need to think about other measures to reduce bureaucracy and give farmers more time in the fields and barns with their animals.
CIVIL servants will continue their normal blended working arrangements despite a management instruction to increase their days in the office.

Talks are set to take place to try to resolve a dispute after their union Forsa threatened to ballot if any members were forced to adopt a new policy from February 1.

It claimed staff at the Department of Social Protection and Department of Finance were asked to work an extra day a week.

A Department of Social Protection spokesperson said it met with union officials today and has offered to use the agreed dispute resolution mechanisms.

The spokesperson said it shared its new policy with the unions in November, and has been in contact with them regarding it since.

A number of changes were made at the request of the unions, the spokesperson said.

But Forsa claims it was not consulted on the changed working arrangements before they were decided, which require civil servants to work an extra day a week.

When asked if it has instructed staff to work more days in the office, a Department of Finance spokesperson said there was no change to its remote policy arrangements as described.

A Forsa spokesperson said it has instructed its members to continue their current hybrid working arrangements.

He said it issued an instruction last night after directives were issued to staff by the departments to increase their office workdays.

Forsa deputy general secretary Eamonn Donnelly said preparation for a protective ballot for industrial action, should any members be threatened with disciplinary action for complying with the union instruction is underway.

In the unions note of instruction to members, Mr Donnelly said the departments involved had acted unilaterally and failed to honour the terms of a 2022 Blended Working Policy Framework, which provides for an ongoing review of blended working arrangements.

Mr Donnelly said: These changes, which significantly disadvantage workers, are scheduled to be introduced during the first week in February. No prior consultation or discussion took place with Forsa on this matter. This lack of engagement is in clear breach of the Framework Agreement and is also in clear breach of the Public Service Agreement 2024 to 2026.

File image, Getty Images.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 31st January 2025

We are now entering into a serious - and avoidable  dispute. These measures have been introduced with little thought for the consequences.

Forsa said this is the first instance in which the Government has rolled back remote working arrangements for its own staff.

Mr Donnelly said it asked the Department of Social Protection at a meeting on Monday for the type of analytics applied in its review of blended working.

He said the department confirmed no analytics were used and said it did not see any requirement to consult with unions.

By forcing people to attend for an additional day each week, with no evidence to support a business case for this, management are just dumping an arbitrary obligation on staff, he said.

He said Forsa has instructed members in both departments to continue working as usual and has raised the matter with the Department of Public Expenditure.

We are now entering into a serious dispute that concerns the unilateral alteration of the Blended Working Policy to the disadvantage of workers, without discussion, analytics or consultation, he said.

He accused the Department of Social Protection of trying to achieve a deliberate attack on workers terms and conditions without any negotiation with the union. No union could or should tolerate such a circumstance, he said.

Mr Donnelly said current hybrid working arrangements were crucial to reducing congestion, emissions and easing pressure on workers with caring responsibilities.

Employers have a choice. Do they want staff working productively in a remote location, or do they place a higher value on staff spending that same time commuting to and from the office?

There was only one real positive to emerge from the global pandemic, and that was the revelation that there are other productive and beneficial ways of working. An arbitrary return to the office suggests that new ways of working are at risk of being eliminated by old ways of thinking, he said.

In a bulletin to union members last week, Forsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, said remote working is a well-established fact of working life for many across the public and civil service, while global research suggests productivity remains strong.

While the new US administration has issued an executive order forcing federal workers back to full-time office attendance - and there have been attempts to make remote/hybrid working a culture war issue in the UK - the debate in Ireland has, so far, been more measured, and the experience has been significantly beneficial for Irish society, so there is no need for an arbitrary full-time return to the office in those circumstances, he said.

The Department of Social Protections message to staff said the commencement date for its Blended Working Arrangements 2025 is February 1.

It told staff to please note updates to the policy and said the main eligibility criteria are meeting business needs, individual and role suitability, health and safety and the availability of broadband.

It said the minimum level of attendance in the workplace is changing to two days per week, while those in principal officer roles and above will be expected to attend for a minimum of three days a week.

Those new to the civil service must complete six months probation before being eligible to avail of blended working.

The Department of Social Protection said it is supportive of blended working and was one of the first to introduce a blended working policy.

"That policy provides that Working from Home will be supported subject to business needs and customer service requirements and that arrangements would be reviewed on an annual basis based on experience and business needs.

Based on experience and the level of take-up by staff the provision for up to three days working from home in any week is considered reasonable and is in line with arrangements already in place in other Government Departments and as provided for within the wider Civil Service Framework agreement. The policy also provides for flexibility to allow for more days working from home in individual circumstances subject to senior management approval.

The Department advised the Trade Unions of the revision to increase the minimum attendance requirement from 1 day to 2 days per week last November. It is disappointed at the approach now taken by the union which has been taken without prior notice to the Department, particularly when there are well established mechanisms in place and available for dispute resolution within the Civil Service. The Department remains available to meet with the union to discuss this issue and to using the appropriate and established industrial relations processes and mechanisms, a spokesperson said.
Tears and screams in court as young mothers among dozens of squatters who are told they will be jailed  before it emerges they were held illegally
Kinahan enforcer Thomas Nicky McConnell, jailed for murder of Gareth Hutch, is suspected of being spotter in killing of Real IRAs Vinnie Ryan

Hutch Killer suspected in the murder of dissident Vinny Ryan

Ken Foy Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 03:30

Detectives believe a Kinahan enforcer who received a life sentence this week for the murder of Gareth Hutch acted as a spotter in the murder of dissident republican Vinnie Ryan three months earlier.
Luxury goods and designer items are among the haul

Some of the seized goods on display

Luxury goods, suspected counterfeit items and cash have been seized in Dublin today by gardai targeting Intellectual Property (IP) crime.

Officers carried out two searches, under warrant, at business and residential premises in the Dublin 1 and Dublin 13 areas.

Luxury goods and designer items are among the haul

The searches were carried out by the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) Intellectual Property and Counterfeit Investigations Unit, and the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT), assisted by the National Criminal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI).

Among the items seized were 180 suspected counterfeit Apple Air Pod Max headphones, with an estimated loss of revenue of 104,400.

A total of 185 suspected counterfeit fake Otterbox mobile phone cases with an estimated loss of revenue of 5,500.

Luxury goods by brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga and Hermes with an estimated value of 6,000, were also seized alongside 25,710 in cash.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, Dublin Metropolitan Region, said the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) had once again shown their effectiveness in tackling Organised Criminal Gangs operating across our capital city.

He added: Large-scale Intellectual Property theft and the associated money laundering offences are controlled by well-structured criminal networks who risk the safety of the public by selling poor quality counterfeit products, often attempting to pass them off as genuine.

The suspected counterfeit items are now subject to examination.

No arrests have been made at this time, a spokesperson said.

Investigations are ongoing.
The number of people seeking emergency accommodation hit 14,864 in Ireland at the end of last year, a 12pc increase from December 2023, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing.

Data released this afternoon shows that numbers seeking accommodation saw a month-on-month decrease of 335 in December 2024, down 2.2pc on November.

The overall figure of 14,864 people in need of a home includes 1,467 families, 3,366 children, and 4,745 single adults. These numbers exclude those rough sleeping, refugees, asylum seekers, individuals in domestic violence shelters, and those in hidden homelessnesspeople sleeping in cars, on couches, or in unsuitable living conditions.

The total number of families presenting as homeless has increased by 8.4pc year-on-year.

The number of Irish adults seeking emergency accommodation represents just over half of the overall figure at 5,355 while EEA/UK represents just over a fifth (21.7pc) at 2,246 and non-EEA at 2,753 (26.6pc).

CEO of Dublin Simon Community Catherine Kenny acknowledged that while there was a slight decrease in the numbers that one of the wealthiest nations in the world should not tolerate such a high figure.

While we welcome the slight decrease in the number of people in emergency accommodation around the country, we are still unable to accept the injustice of almost 15,000 without a place to call home.

The Government should take little comfort in the minor reduction in the numbers in emergency accommodation services. It is not uncommon for these numbers to dip around Christmas time as some people find other places to stay. A partial decrease does not take away from the fact that there are thousands without the comfort of a home.

Stock image.

Today's News in 90 seconds - 31st January 2025

Sinn Fein Housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin said the new Minister for Housing James Browne must urgently implement the Homeless Policy Groups 10 recommendations in any new housing plan.

As expected, the December homeless report published today shows marginal decreases in adult, and child homelessness compared to November.

This seasonal drop in homeless numbers has occurred for the last number of years as family and friends do everything they can to keep loved ones from spending Christmas in emergency accommodation.

However, compared to December 2023 homelessness is up 12pc, while child homelessness is up 14pc in the last year. This shows that the crisis is getting worse.

Earlier in January the country's leading homeless charities came together in the Homeless Policy Group and called on the government to introduce 10 key measures in the new Programme for Government.

These included a new homeless strategy to end homelessness by 2030 and an increase in social housing output to 15,000 new builds a year.

Unfortunately, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael ignored the Homeless Policy Groups recommendations.

As a result, the new government looks set to preside over ever greater increases in homelessness this year.

I am calling on the new Minister for Housing James Browne to urgently implement the Homeless Policy Groups recommendations in any new housing plan.

Failure to do so will result in increases in adult and child homelessness in the months ahead," Deputy O Broin said.

Housing spokesperson for the Social Democrats Rory Hearne said the government lacks commitment to end homelessness and is over-reliant on the private market to subsidise social housing.

The new programme for government commits to ending homelessness by 2030, but does not provide any real detail as to how this will be achieved.

A tsunami of evictions and ever-rising rents, combined with an over-reliance on the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) for those in need of social housing, is contributing to the human catastrophe of homelessness.

We need to see an emergency response from the new Government, starting with the reinstatement of a no-fault evictions ban to keep those on the verge of being made homeless in their homes, as well as a significant increase in funding and resources for preventive services and supports.

The first priority of new Housing Minister James Browne must be to take a new approach to tackling homelessness as it is clear that the current policy has failed, Mr Hearne said.

The Department of Housing recorded that a total of 8,893 adult preventions of and exits into homelessness in the past year, it said. This represents a 29.9pc increase on the 6,848 adult preventions and exits achieved in 2023.
The new season of RTEs Home of the Year is being given a make-over with a different judge.

The popular interiors show, which returns to our small screens next month, will see previous judge Sara Cosgrove moving on from the production.

She will be replaced by entrepreneur and store owner Siobhan Lam as producers re-jig the line-up for Home of the Year (HOTY) for its 2025 outing.

However, Ms Cosgrove is expected to be in the running for a different show in 2025 after she fitted seamlessly into the previous line-up for the interiors programme.

For Lam, who owns the well-known lifestyle and interiors store April and the Bear in Dublins Rathmines, this will be her first foray into TV.

The founder and director of the shop with the pink-hued exterior began the business as an online concept before it burgeoned into a physical store.

She describes it as a small, savvy and busy independent homewares business.

We are female-founded and led, hardworking and love what we do, she said.

The business was born from a need, a need to find unusual and beautiful homewares in Ireland at affordable prices.

We started as an online-only concept business and have evolved into a fully-fledged homewares/ furniture and lifestyle store and interior design studio with both a strong online and physical presence.

"We are committed to the community we have built over the last 10 years and intend on growing our business with intention, enthusiasm, hard work and a good dollop of fun.

New Home of the Year judge Siobhan Lam

Today's News in 90 seconds - 31st January 2025

Returning to the show for its 11th season will be architect Hugh Wallace - who has been there from the start - and Amanda Bone, who joined the show in 2022.

When she first started on HOTY, it was also her first time on TV and she said previously how she almost turned down the offer when it first came her way.

To be honest, I turned 50 last summer and I just said to myself, Thats it and there was a turning point in my life. I said, Im going to make the most of every day.

It sounds corny but I said that every opportunity that comes my way, Im going to enjoy myself.

So I think its a mixture of coming out of Covid and turning 50 and saying, Right the next half of my life, Im going to have a laugh, as well as work hard.

A popular fixture on the RTE schedule, it sees 21 householders from all over Ireland throwing open the doors of their homes to judges as they compete for the coveted title.

Each episode sees judges visting three houses and then scoring them according to functionality and design over the course of seven weeks. Seven finalists are then chosen ahead of the grand finale in the eighth episode, which sees the overall winner crowned.

Won last year by Marty Campbell and Shane Murray, they left judges seriously impressed with their renovated 1920s terraced home in Dublin.

Made by ShinAwil Productions, the same team behind RTEs Dancing with the Stars, the show has also spawned a spin-off celebrity version.

That show has featured well-known personalities like Norah Casey, Lorraine Keane and Terry Prone, who all threw open the doors of their immaculate homes to producers.
The living room, which shows plaster damage to the front wall

Asking price: 250,000

Agent: Mason Estates (01) 8304000

What it is: A 19th-century workers cottage in the north inner city of the capital.

Tell me more: Close to the Mater Hospital in an area where quality living accommodation is at a premium, this certainly isnt quality living accommodation  but it could be.

Notionally anyhow, it is a one-bedroom artisan house with a small backyard. Additionally, there is an entrance hallway, kitchen, living room and dining area.

The kitchen, with access to rear

The bad news: Where to start? The plaster on the interior of the front wall is crumbling for reasons yet unknown, pending a thorough engineers survey.

That the property is in poor condition will be obvious enough to anyone looking at the pictures, but the full extent of its problems will not be fully known until such a survey is carried out.

Talk about old-school, an inside toilet has never been installed in this house, which has not been lived in for at least five years.

The living room, which shows plaster damage to the front wall

A complete and comprehensive refurbishment will be required, including whatever structural repairs need to be carried out, as well as rewiring, replumbing, fresh plaster and probably a rearrangement of the living accommodation layout.

The good news: The location, close to the Mater Hospital  a massive employer in the area  is obviously excellent, situated as it is within walking distance of Phibsboro and around the corner from bustling Dorset Street.

As for the building itself, there are a couple of salvageable-looking iron fireplaces, and the property will more than likely qualify for a number of grants available for empty and derelict homes.

The rear yard, with outdoor toilet

How much to buy it? Offers in the region of 250,000 are being sought.

And to fix it up? You could spend anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 creating a modern, liveable space here.

But is it a project for a first-time buyer, or someone with easier access to finance, labour and materials, such as a builder?

What will I end up with? With a clever redesign and the necessary wherewithal, this could be transformed into a one or possibly two-bedroom city pad, close to everything you could need in the capital, including Technological University Dublin, Croke Park and the city centre itself.

Who should I talk to? Mason Estates will be happy to facilitate a full physical examination of this ailing  but curable  city home by interested artisans, investors and, perhaps, junior doctors with wealthy parents.
Jobs that are traditionally done in an office can also be done at home. Photo: Getty

Many people have happily left the daily commute behind and are unlikely to want to go back. Photo: Getty

Donald Trump speaks with Satya Nadella (centre), CEO of Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, at the White House in 2017. Photo: Getty

Although there can be distractions when working from home, many people find it easier to manage their lives. Photo: Getty

Weve all seen that harassed dad in the park trying to steer a buggy, sip an americano, control a wandering toddler and hold a conversation on a mobile wedged between shoulder and cheek.

All the while hes desperately trying to sound like hes on top of his brief. You catch only one side of the conversation, but its all you need. Hes telling his boss that, yes, hell get that email off now. Right on top of it.

But hes not. This work-from-home parent looks every bit as much on edge as the early- morning commuter on the Dart about to be deposited at the office for another 15 rounds.

Crucially, though, the dad is saving money on creches, Leap cards and diesel; spared lost hours shuffling along the M50, or winter dawns on muggy double-deckers.

The nature of work, career and employment has changed since the first industrial revolution and the seminal 1833 Factory Act, which took a dim view of children being sent up chimneys to clean them.

The third industrial revolution (the second heralded the age of mass-produced consumerism) was when the geeky bros in T-shirts began to take over the world and our lives just a generation ago.

One of the benefits of high-speed fibre-optic broadband and smartphones is that we can work from virtually anywhere. A grimy basement flat with an unappealing Eircode is every bit as suitable for populating an Excel spreadsheet as a swish sixth-floor office with a view of the Dublin Mountains.

But it took Covid to turn an already growing trend into an avalanche. Necessity has always been the mother of invention, and this time she outdid herself. The benefits were obvious and legion.

New research shows working from home can save employers at least 19,000 per employee each year

The nature of work shifted on its axis and, after the pandemic ran out of puff, many employees decided they liked this new reality. They cleared the kitchen table of Coco Pops, dressed from the belly button up and created exotic virtual backdrops for the daily conference.

Everyone was happy, even the employers, who saw the potential for massive savings in rents and leases, heating, lighting, water, maintenance and insurance. Companies are generally in favour of happy employees, especially when it suits the bottom line.

The global shift in the past few years has been nothing short of spectacular. According to Eurostat, the EUs statistics agency, the proportion of employees in Ireland who said they sometimes work from home jumped from 19.89pc in 2019 to 36.2pc last year. Its the biggest percentage-point increase of any EU country.

Shrinking office space did slash overhead costs. New research from Global Workplace Analytics shows that working from home can save employers at least 19,000 per employee each year.

But despite that, the recent corporate pushback has been as forceful as it has been surprising. A KPMG study of more than 1,300 global CEOs found 64pc believe everybody will be back working in the office from next year.

Although there can be distractions when working from home, many people find it easier to manage their lives. Photo: Getty

Today's News in 90 seconds - 31st January 2025

As many as 87pc of the most powerful bosses went on to suggest they would be more inclined to give pay rises and promotions to those who came into the office.

A McKinsey Report had respondents singing from a similar hymn sheet, with 77pc of companies polled arguing that a strong organisational culture is a key benefit of on-site work.

It wasnt surprising, then, to see Amazon chief executive Andrew Jassy say its back-to-the-office decision is based on the conclusion that collaborating and brainstorming work better when people are together in the office. Likewise, Disney, X, Starbucks (no, not the baristas) and  ironically  Zoom, which is the lovechild of those who went to work in their jimjams.

Although there can be distractions when working from home, many people find it easier to manage their lives. Photo: Getty

Donald Trump: President's first orders include pardons for Capitol riot defendants

No doubt they have done the maths. While studies differ, some of the more persuasive ones suggest that those who show up at their workplace give better bang for their buck.

A recent Institute for Economic Policy and Research paper from Stanford University claimed a 10pc to 20pc decrease in productivity for fully remote workers.

Not that everyone works for shiny digital and financial corporations, but they do set the mood music and will be crucially influential on how other employers respond.

Young families would surely fiercely resist any attempt to permanently haul them back to that remorseless grind

This all came to a pinch point with Donald Trumps decree this week demanding that all federal employees get their legs back under a desk or face the sack.

We do things differently in Ireland. Even so, Kevin Callinan, chief executive of the public sector union Forsa, felt the need to shoot a warning across the bow of the new Government, which is reviewing its blended working policy for state employees. It sounds ominous only because it probably is.

Mature workers, used to the Dickensian tyranny of the workplace cubicle, might not be unduly inclined by muscle memory to work home alone. They are not the issue.

Nor is Gen Z, a demographic so isolated by virtue of its digital compulsions that it would benefit from office culture and after-work trips to the pub.

But young families  time-poor, skint and sleep-deprived  would surely fiercely resist any attempt to permanently haul them back to that remorseless grind.

It could well trigger the sort of white-collar revolt not seen since punitively taxed PAYE workers took to the streets in 1980. Look it up on Google.
Martina Devlin: If the UK takes human rights seriously, it has to order an inquiry into the Ballymurphy massacre

As a hearing into the Omagh bombing opens, justice also demands one into the killings in Belfast by the paratroopers who would go on to perpetrate Derrys Bloody Sunday

John Teggart and members of the Ballymurphy massacre families group stage a protest outside Hillsborough castle in May, 2022. Photo: Getty

Martina Devlin Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 03:30

Unfinished business from the Troubles era continues to rear its hydra heads. This week, a public inquiry opened into the 1998 Omagh bombing, examining whether that attack by dissident republicans  intended to shatter the peace process  was avoidable.
Youve got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down, wrote science fiction author Ray Bradbury. The Government seems to have scant regard for the dangers of plunging from great heights, but it has yet to sprout wings.

Attempts to resolve an avoidable dispute over Dail speaking time for Regional Independent Group (RIG) TDs, which short-circuited the nomination of the Taoiseach last week, continues to be a distraction.

Independent TD Michael Lowry has demanded that he and three colleagues, who support the Government, be recognised as an opposition group for speaking time, despite being central to negotiating the Programme for Government and pledging to back it on every vote.

Regardless of already having been knocked off their chargers on this nonsensical crusade, coalition members have found themselves in another showdown on the issue. There are no lengths to which Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Tanaiste Simon Harris are not prepared to go to satisfy RIG wishes. It appears to matter not a whit, even if that means stretching credibility  or distorting reality  to the point of ridicule.

A compromise proposal put forward by the Government was that Mr Lowry would be given time to speak during Leaders Questions, but custom dictates this is time given to the opposition, to hold the Governments feet to the fire.

Another stroke being proposed by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to allow Lowry to sit on opposition benches

So extending the privilege would merely be opening up a different gateway for the Tipperary North TD to encroach on the oppositions allotment, as they see it.

Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat, Chinese military leader Sun Tzu wrote. Of noise there was guaranteed to be plenty as opposition members defended their territory. Defeat looked inevitable.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald saw it as another stroke being proposed by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to allow Michael Lowry to sit on opposition benches. You cannot be in government and opposition. This is an insulting response to what was agreed in the Dail last week. We wont stand for it.

Independent TD Michael Lowry. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Mary Lou McDonald accuses government of trying to 'ride roughshod over the collective opposition'

Labours Duncan Smith was also unimpressed, saying it would allow this group to continue as a faux opposition grouping, and thats just not acceptable.

There was never any reason to expect the opposition would yield on allowing an incursion on their patch or an encroachment on their time. To have thought otherwise would have been delusional.

Leaders Question terrain was out of bounds for Paul Murphy of People Before Profit, who said: They want Lowry, who is pledged to support the Government, to ask them questions about how great they are. Utterly unacceptable.

You cannot have it both ways, yet both ways seems to be the only way RIG is prepared to have it. By indulging such performative histrionics, the Government is embarrassing itself. If it thinks giving its supporters in the Dail more time to sound off is more important than getting on with running the country, it really needs to think again. The country cannot run on hot air.
Micheal Martin, with his wife Mary, acknowledges the good wishes of supporters on his becoming Taoiseach. He has since come in for criticism over the apparent gender imbalance in his Cabinet. Photo: Getty

Its mind-boggling that we now have 23 junior ministers. Someone with a great sense of humour must have come up with this arrangement.

Its an absolute joke to see so many appointed by the Government. I dont believe for one moment that any of these appointments will make a jot of difference to the running of the country, bar costing the taxpayers a fortune.

The late PJ ORourke, the American author, journalist and political satirist, once uttered the following words, which I find apposite to the above: It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.

John OBrien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary

So few women in Cabinet is failure to recognise that leadership needs balance

The under-representation of women in the Government is not just disappointing, it is a failure to recognise that true leadership requires balance (Gender equality is ignored with so few female ministers, Editorial, January 30).

History shows that when women step into positions of power, they lead with vision and resilience.

From Catherine the Great to Angela Merkel, female leaders have shaped nations, often in times of crisis. Irelands own history offers a striking example  Countess Markievicz served as a minister in the first Dail over a century ago, yet todays Government struggles to achieve even modest gender balance.

If leadership is all about ability rather than tradition, then surely we should see more women at the cabinet table.

Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh

Farcical behaviour of TDs in Dail was reminiscent of a class of junior infants

On observing the gathering of the 34th Dail, I have concluded this assembly constitutes a class of junior infants.

The childish behaviour of its members and the need for a little break early on in the first term confirms my hunch.

Michael Gannon, St Thomas Square, Kilkenny

JD Vance showed courage with espousal of his faith  no Irish politician would

I have recommended to a number of liberal friends and acquaintances that they read JD Vances autobiography, Hillbilly Elegy, to get a feel and appreciation for the man and his background.

Yet they all refuse point blank to even consider my suggestion. They have made up their minds about him and are not prepared to have their certainties questioned. Not very liberal, but one can but try.

They can, of course, choose to stay within their narrow prejudices, but the evidence continues to emerge of a very intelligent and articulate vice-president.

This was illustrated in his recent interview with journalist Margaret Brennan of CBS. What emerged was a very confident, coherent performance by Mr Vance. In fairness, Ms Brennan did a professional job, but she was no match for the VP.

From an Irish Catholic perspective, an extraordinary aspect of his performance was his unapologetic espousal of his faith, referring to his devout Catholicism, a faith with solid intellectual foundations.

No Irish politician would have the courage to so publicly declare and defend his faith position.

Eric Conway, Navan, Co Meath

Trumps wild, incoherent pronouncements should be treated with disdain

I read with interest the Episcopal Church response to Donald Trumps demand for an apology.

I believe more public figures, bodies and world leaders should take a similar approach when addressing Mr Trumps wild and sometimes incoherent statements.

Its worth remembering the famous quote: Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Richard Whitty, Swords, Co Dublin

Appointing Kennedy Jr as US health secretary would only cause serious harm

Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, which requires in simple terms that they do the best they can for their patient and do not cause harm.

This is a simple standard that doctors seem to have no problem following, but what of the US doctors proposed boss, Robert Kennedy Jr?

He has expressed a range of contradictory views on medical issues, including vaccines and abortion. It is not safe or sensible to allow him to take the position. Health is far more important than political favours.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

Infuriating that so many Irish people expect other countries to protect us

The idea of not at my back door when it comes to the defence of our country is typical of some people who for too long have lived on the coat-tails of other countries.

That weve come to expect our neighbours to defend our skies, waters and land while we sit back and do nothing to bolster our defence or security is infuriating.

We live in dangerous times with many global conflicts, and threats  not perceived as some neutrals would suggest  coming from abroad.

Using the aspirational idea of neutrality so that we dont properly equip our Defence Forces, or be part of Nato or European Defence, is a form of denial and a flagrant breach of our rights to be properly protected.

Those who constantly perpetuate the idea of neutrality as a means to sit back and do nothing are the same people who will run at the first signs of conflict while their neighbours are willing to defend them in order to maintain their freedoms.

Peace can only be achieved and maintained when aggressors are brought to the table of those who want to achieve it, and if its by force of arms, so be it.

I would prefer to be on the right side of peace while being part of a well-funded, well-resourced and well-equipped defence force.

Christy Galligan, Letterkenny, Co Donegal

Paying the ESB 54,000 to redirect a high-voltage cable is a shocking waste

I read that 54,000 had to be paid to the ESB to redirect a high-voltage cable during construction of a wall at the WRC. Shocking.

Noel Kelly, Doonbeg, Co Clare
Munster Technological University has announced the launch of a pioneering PhD research project titled Exploring the Optimisation of Irelands Response Rate to the Challenges and Opportunities Afforded to Industry and Enterprise by GenAI.

The research is supported by TU Rise and aims to seek to nurture and support innovative enterprises, elevate the global competitiveness of Irish based companies, expand export opportunities and ultimately lead to increased revenues and employment across key industry sectors.

The research will be undertaken by Mr Patrick Shields, MBA, who brings over 20 years of domestic and international leadership and management experience in industry.

Patricks research will focus on how businesses can harness GenAI to drive efficiencies and respond effectively to global market demands.

With AI set to disrupt traditional business models, informed adoption, responsible usage, and proactive skills development are critical for long-term success.

The supervisory team is led by Principal Investigator and First Supervisor, Dr Angela Wright School of Business, supported by Second Supervisor and Head of Department, OPD, School of Business, Dr Breda ODwyer.

Industry Mentor, Ms. Sharon Lehane, and AI Mentor, Dr. Sourabh Bharti, bring wide-ranging expertise in AI research, enterprise collaboration, finance, and machine learning, ensuring the project is guided by a robust mix of academic and practical insights.

Through close collaboration with industry partners who opt in to the research, Mr Shields will co-create best-practice frameworks that businesses can implement.

The work aligns with the Irish Governments ambition to have 75% of Irish businesses using AI by 2030 and will address policy needs at both national and EU levels, including the emerging regulations and standards highlighted by the NSAI Standards and Assurance Roadmap for AI.

This PhD research has the potential to significantly benefit Irish enterprises by identifying practical solutions to the challenges posed by GenAI, contributing to Irelands competitiveness and supporting businesses in adopting AI responsibly.

It responds to Irelands National Digital Strategy and ensures that insights will feed back into MTUs wider work in preparing students and industry partners for an AI-driven future.

Dr Angela Wright of the Department of Organisation and Professional Development said: We are delighted to have received this funding to support this PhD work and candidate. The findings of this research will be at the cutting edge of modern business and enterprise and will address the most compelling element to appear on the world's technological stage.

Dr Wright continued The expert research team are excited to oversee this research with Patrick, as it will be pertinent, timely and will enable industry to be armed and ready for what lies ahead.
The tertiary degree programme sees students start their course in a further education college before they progress to a higher education institute

Mallow further education college and Munster Technological University will run one tertiary degree for 2025/26. Image: Facebook

Four new courses which offer a different path to a degree will be offered in County Cork for the academic year 2025/26, the Minister for Further and Higher Education has announced.

Minister James Lawless announced on Friday (January 31) that 17 new courses will come on stream across Ireland in the next academic year as part of an expansion of the tertiary degree programme, which offers an alternative way to get a third level degree.

The programme sees students start their course, without fees, in a further education college for one to two years. They then progress to third level to complete their level 7 or 8 degree in a higher education college or university. This phase may involve fees but free fees and student grant schemes may be applicable.

The new courses in Cork will begin at Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) facilities.

A degree in mental health nursing will be run at CETBs Morrisons Island campus and Munster Technological University (MTU). The same degree will be run at CETBs Mallow campus and MTU.

A degree in general nursing will be run at CETB and MTU while a bachelors degree in social work will be run at CETB and University College Cork.

Minister Lawless said enrolments in tertiary degree programmes surged by 68pc last year, showing the strong demand for the flexible pathway to a degree.

What makes this option so wonderful, is that students can now begin their studies at a local further education institute before seamlessly progressing to higher education, without relying on the CAO points system, he said.

Tanya Jones, deputy director of the National Tertiary Office, said: tertiary degrees provide a transformative opportunity for students who might have previously thought higher education was out of reach.

By breaking down traditional barriers and creating additional access routes, these programmes enable more students to pursue their dream careers, Ms Jones said.

Talented students are now able to fully embrace their potential without the constraints of points. In 2025, an increasing number of tertiary pathways are being introduced, catering not only to recent school leavers but also to those returning to education.

This expansion ensures that education is more inclusive and accessible, empowering more people to achieve their goals and reach their full potential.

Originally launched in 2023 with 152 students across 13 programmes, 41 tertiary courses will be available this year, with 27 open for applications on February 1 and a further 14 launching on March 28.

Minister Lawless said the points a young person secures in their Leaving Certificate should not determine their future. I

If you are preparing for the Leaving Cert, or feel youve missed out on higher education, know that there are many pathways available to you, he said.

I encourage everyone to explore their options and take advantage of these opportunities. With the support of Education & Training Boards (ETBs) and Higher Education Institutes, learners can pursue a degree regardless of their background, family circumstances, or financial situation.
The annual results of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) showed that Cork County Councils Local Enterprise Offices supported the creation of 476 jobs in 2024.

The new figures also show that the Councils LEOs in South Cork and Cork North and West, financially supported 441 small businesses across the county, these companies in turn employ 2,313 people.

Local Enterprise Offices provide substantial funded supports to small businesses with programmes such as the Energy Efficiency Grant, Lean for Business and Green for Business, along with training, mentoring and sector specific expertise to help guide businesses at any stage of their development.

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Joe Carroll said: Cork County Councils Local Enterprise Offices have been a driving force behind our region's economic growth and innovation. Their steadfast support for businesses of all sizes has not only created jobs, but has nurtured a thriving culture of entrepreneurship that is essential to the continued success and prosperity of our county.

Chief Executive of Cork County Council, Moira Murrell stated: It is inspiring to see how SMEs in Cork County have navigated the challenges and seized opportunities.

The support from our Local Enterprise Offices plays a crucial role in fostering this positive environment. We will continue to collaborate closely with Enterprise Ireland to ensure that our small businesses continue to receive the best possible support, she added.

The Local Enterprise Offices were to the fore in supporting small businesses across the country in 2024, helping thousands to secure funding, upskill and avail of supports to become more sustainable and competitive.

They also released new supports with the Grow Digital Voucher enabling small businesses to take their first steps in digitalisation and the Market Explorer Grant to support companies in looking at new markets.

For more information on the Local Enterprise Offices go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie
Schools in the vicinity of the emergency scene at Claregalway Corporate Park remain closed, three days since the fire was first reported, in a precautionary measure

The battery fire at Claregalway Corporate Park is under control

The battery fire at Claregalway Corporate Park is under control

A battery fire at Claregalway Corporate Park has been contained, but schools remain closed today as a precautionary measure three days since the incident was reported, after an evacuation and five firefighters hospitalized.

The fire was reported on Wednesdy, January 29, at around 7.15am near the Xerotech plant, in Claregalway Corporate Park.

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Galway County Councillor Martin McNamara explained to the Irish Independent this was not a traditional fire.

The news that we received yesterday evening was that the fire brigade has the situation under control.

They said it wasnt a traditional fire that took place, it was a chemical reaction, because of the types of batteries that were being housed. The batteries were contained in a fireproof container when the situation arose.

They had to bring additional water tankers from Galway and Tuam to contain the situation.

Yesterday January 30, one day after the incident, part of Claregalway Corporate Business Park as well as Claregalway Educate Together National School and Colaiste Bhaile Chlair secondary school were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Read more Galway Business Park evacuation underway following significant fire

Cllr McNamara added: It was after a meeting and careful consideration that they implemented the evacuation decision, and they made the decision that the schools would not reopen today.

Fire crews are still at the scene today, January 31, and the schools remained closed.

In the meantime, the evacuation sparked concerns among parents on why the decision was not made earlier.

After seven days with no power and water, emotions were high when the message came through, but they were grateful for what the school put in place.

It also understood that five firefighters had to be hospitalized after working on this incident.

I understand that five firefighters were brought to the hospital because they felt unwell after treating the incident, but they have all been released from hospital apparently, so they are all fine, Cllr McNamara said.

As we await for more information, Cllr McNamara added that other companies at the industrial park had called for more communication and an improved protocol for future incidents.

The Sinn Fein politician said: I understand there is a lot of concern form the other residents of the industrial park.

They say that they have concerns going forward, what procedures and protocols are put in place to safeguard them.

But everybody is very grateful for the emergency services and how they reacted to the situation.
Thirteen Kerry tourism businesses were recognised at CIE Tours Awards of Excellence. CIE Tours, the largest carrier of US visitors to Ireland every year, held its annual awards of excellence celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIE Tours in 2024.

Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa, winners of the 'Best Hotel Dinner' award at the CIE Tours Awards.

Thirteen Kerry tourism businesses were recognised at the recent CIE Tours Awards of Excellence. CIE Tours, the largest carrier of US visitors to Ireland every year, held its annual awards of excellence celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIE Tours in 2024.

Now in their 33rd year, and an annual highlight within the tourism industry, each year, the prestigious accolades are awarded based on post-stay feedback received by CIE Tours from their customers.

The luxurious Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa was awarded gold for best hotel dinner. Offering guests an enjoyable dining experience, Ballygarry Estate Hotel & Spa takes great pride in sourcing local produce to create an array of dishes for any occasion.

Moriartys Authentic Irish Gift Store was highly commended and achieved the national heritage award. What began as a small souvenir shop that opened in 1964, is now one of Irelands leading gift stores selling and showcasing traditional items like handmade tweeds, knits and symbolic jewellery.

Additionally, The Rose Hotel, Great Southern Killarney, International Hotel Killarney, Killarney Avenue Hotel, Killarney Plaza Hotel and Killarney Towers Hotel received Merit awards in the hotel category.

Tangney Tours Jaunting Car, Killarney Horse & Carriage Tours, Tom Crean South Pole Inn, John B Keanes Pub and the Blasket Centre were also recognised and received Merit awards in the visitor experience category.

The CIE Tours Awards of Excellence were presented by Chairman of CIE Tours, Aidan Murphy and Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIE Tours.

Congratulating the attendees, Aidan Murphy said, Our honourees are exemplary contributors to our 95.4 per cent guest satisfaction rate, and they all deserve recognition for the excellent roles they play in welcoming visitors to Ireland and ensuring they have a memorable experience.

Speaking at the awards, Stephen Cotter said, 2024 was another landmark year for us, when we booked over 250,000 bed nights throughout Ireland. Our support for tourism destinations is bringing vital revenue to towns and villages across the country. We are delighted to honour these leaders in tourism in Kerry. Each of these businesses play a significant role in the Irish tourism industry while also making important contributions to their local communities in terms of jobs and wealth creation.

CIE Tours is the leading inbound tour operator for North American visitors to Ireland for over 90 years and in that time has brought over 3 million visitors from North America to Ireland.
Stills from the second episode of Na Feilte Tine RTE series which features the Biddy's Day parade from February of last year in Killorglin.

Stills from the second episode of Na Feilte Tine RTE series which features the Biddy's Day parade from February of last year in Killorglin.

Stills from the second episode of Na Feilte Tine RTE series which features the Biddy's Day parade from February of last year in Killorglin.

Stills from the second episode of Na Feilte Tine RTE series which features the Biddy's Day parade from February of last year in Killorglin.

With the annual Biddys Day festival fast approaching on the February bank holiday weekend, Killorglin and its famous Biddys Parade are set to be featured on our TV screens on Monday, February 3 at 6.30pm.

Thats right, the ancient Celtic feast-day celebrating St Brigid in mid-Kerry will be getting the TV treatment when it is shown in the upcoming second episode of the RTE four-part series Na Feilte Tine (The Fire Festivals).

The series is one which explores the four indigenous Irish festivals of Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and Lunasa and looks at how each festival is a welcome to the new season. Episode two explores the festival of Imbolg and the theme of Belief.

Beginning in Killorglin with the Biddy Festival, the episode  filmed in Killorglin in February of 2024  looks at the tradition of crafting effigies and other symbolic representations of the welcome to Spring. Culminating in the Killorglin Biddys Day parade, these symbolic creations are presented to the community in a spirit of celebration with song and dance.

It then explores the contemporary manifestations of ancient rituals connected to Brid, Goddess and saint, with a group from Woman Spirit Ireland. The programme ends with the festival parades in Clondalkin and Kildare village delving deeper into the theme of Belief and how it has manifested in Ireland across the millennia.

We filmed for this episode of Na Feilte Tine during Imbolg and La Fheile Bride, a season of visual contrast with pale watery days and dark clear nights. The sense of change in the air is marked with a dance sequence in old woodlands, green and mossy, a river in full flow. This dance, performed by China Lynch, beautifully communicates pent up energy twitching into life. The stirring of energy was subtle and exciting, thanks to the choreography of Rionach Ni Neill said Director Rachael Moriarty.

Night scenes, by contrast, were loud and busy. The biddy celebrations in Killorglin were a particular highlight, as fire, music and dance snaked across the bridge and through the town. We felt we were filming something contemporary and inclusive that had ancient roots, she continued.

Speaking to The Kerryman ahead of the show, Ciaran OCofaigh, producer of na Feilte Tine, praised Killorglin and its dedication to keeping traditions alive.

"Were very proud of the programme...the wonderful people in Killorglin, they have really kept these traditions alive. Its a town that has something special. It has that really special connection with it traditions. They are the only town too that features twice in the series because it also features in the Lunasa programme with Puck Fair, he said.

"Theres this very strong connection with these traditions in Killorglin. They really are a very special community down there. Imbolg is the festival but what I liked about Killorglin was that although it was billed as a Biddys Day celebration, it was still very much an Imbolg festival with Biddys and St Brigid being a major aspect of it, he continued.

For anyone who missed Program 1, Samhain, it is available to view on the RTE Player while episode two will also be available on the RTE Player afterwards if people can't catch it on Monday.
This week saw the return of third-level students to colleges across the county, bringing a surge of students back to Limerick for the new semester.

As a result, gardai are reminding students who live in built-up areas for college to park responsibly, as the results can be frustrating for local residents and other motorists.

Those found parking illegally may face a Fixed Charge Penalty, which includes a fine and penalty points on their driving license and in some cases vehicles may be seized.

Garda Gavin Keegan from Henry Street and Andrea Latouche, Community Engagement Liaison Officer at the University of Limerick, are providing information to students about the Think Before You Park' campaign in collaboration with Limerick City and County Council.

The issue of student parking has been up for debate in many past council meetings.

Councillor Peter Doyle proposed during September 2024s Metropolitan District Meeting of Limerick City and County Council that traffic wardens would visit Milford Grange, Elm Park and Hazelwood on a weekly basis during the academic year and ticket any cars parked on double yellow lines.

Cllr Doyle previously cited complaints from residents who have had their driveways blocked. One resident in Elm Park advised me in writing that due to the sheer number of cars illegally parked, I frequently have my driveway blocked and I am unable to get to work, he stated.

Another lady in Milford Grange wrote saying, last week has by far been one of the most challenging for all residents, we are held hostage in our houses due to the fact that it is challenging and dangerous to drive from our homes with the level of illegally-parked cars, he added.
Staff and students in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) will be staging a lunchtime protest on Tuesday February 4 in solidarity with catering and cleaning staff who werent paid by contractors when Institute was closed during the red weather alert issued for Storm Eowyn.

A spokesperson for the academic staff said that the protest is being held due to the failure of the companies who employ our caterers and cleaners to pay their workers for not attending work on the day of Storm Eowyn.

"The government ordered the closing of all schools, colleges and universities in response to the storm's life-threatening potential. The duties of the catering and cleaning staff cannot be performed online/remotely. These are essential workers who had no choice but to stay at home.

"Both staff and students consider it unconscionable that the companies which our publicly funded Institute pays to provide these services are, in this instance, financially penalising their most precariously employed workers.
Gardai are continuing to investigate the cause of a single-vehicle road collision on Monday that left a young man in his 20s critically injured in hospital. (Niall Carson/PA).

Gardai have renewed their appeal for information into the circumstances surrounding a single vehicle crash in county Monaghan earlier this week that left a young man fighting for his life in hospital.

The collision, which is now the subject of a garda investigation, took place along a stretch of the R186, on the northern side of Tydavnet village towards Clogher sometime between 12.50am and 3am on Monday.

A man in his 20s was initially brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda with life-threatening injuries.

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He has since been transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where he remains in a critical condition, gardai have confirmed.

Senior investigators issued an appeal on Monday in an effort to speak with any witnesses who may have come across the scene or have been in the area at around the time the incident occurred.

Investigating officers are redoubling those efforts and are appealing for motorists who may have been travelling along the R186 close to Tydavnet during the early hours of Monday morning to come forward.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) who were travelling in the area of the R186 north of Tydavnet village, between the hours of 12.50am and 3am, are asked to make this footage available to gardai, said a garda spokesperson.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Monaghan Garda Station on 047 77240, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
Atlantic Sheepdogs have been awarded gold at the CIE Tours Awards of Excellence. CIE Tours, the largest carrier of US visitors to Ireland every year, held its annual awards of excellence celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIE Tours in 2024.

Now in their 33rd year, and an annual highlight within the tourism industry, each year, the prestigious accolades are awarded based on post-stay feedback received by CIE Tours from their customers.

Awarded gold for best sheep dog trial Atlantic Sheepdogs offer its visitors an unforgettable experience as they get to participate in the life of sheep farming on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

The CIE Tours Awards of Excellence were presented by Chairman of CIE Tours, Aidan Murphy and Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIE Tours.

Congratulating the attendees, Aidan Murphy said, Our honorees are exemplary contributors to our 95.4% guest satisfaction rate, and they all deserve recognition for the excellent roles they play in welcoming visitors to Ireland and ensuring they have a memorable experience.

Speaking at the awards, Stephen Cotter said, 2024 was another landmark year for us, when we booked over 250,000 bed nights throughout Ireland. Our support for tourism destinations is bringing vital revenue to towns and villages across the country. We are delighted to honour these leaders in tourism Sligo. Atlantic Sheepdogs play a significant role in the Irish tourism industry while also making important contributions to their local community in terms of jobs and wealth creation.

CIE Tours is the leading inbound tour operator for North American visitors to Ireland for over 90 years and in that time has brought over 3 million visitors from North America to Ireland.
Rebecca Meehan said she was not willing to accept that the Department of Education cant fund either a new school for St Johns in Dungarvan or to increase existing capacity, so her son can attend school in September. Image from interview with Damien Tiernan of WLR FM radio

A Waterford mother has vowed to take her campaign for a school place for her son to the highest levels, even if it means chaining herself to the Dail railings.

Some 22 families representing 44 parents in and around the town of Dungarvan have received letters stating that there are no places left in junior infant classes for their autistic children.

Rebecca Meehan told radio station WLR FMs Damien Tiernan that she would not stop while her son Jay was denied a school place. St Johns Special School in Dungarvan doesnt have capacity to take Jay, who has been diagnosed with autism.

I will do absolutely anything to fight for Jay. I have done and I will keep going, said Rebecca. Furious parents have complained of a lottery system for a school place where a Garda Superintendent oversaw the pulling of names to ensure the process appeared transparent.

Rebecca said she was not willing to accept that the Department of Education cant fund either a new school for St Johns in Dungarvan to increase capacity, or that the Department cannot sanction two or three new classes to accommodate the 22 children who do not have spaces for this coming September.

The children have both mild to moderate, and severe to profound intellectual disabilities. These children are people, and they are worth fighting for, said Rebecca. Their contribution to society may seem little to other people, but to us it changes our world as a family.

Rebecca said she will do whatever it takes.

Whether thats chaining myself to the gates, whether thats doing a protest, whether thats starting a petition  whatever I have to do to get the leaders of this country to listen to me and to help the vulnerable.

Rebecca criticised comments from newly appointed Education Minister Helen McEntee that Ireland has the best education system in the world. There are 22 people sitting here in Dungarvan this week who got the earth-shattering news that their children have absolutely no place in September.

That my child could potentially be sitting at this kitchen table here. I am not willing to accept that, and nobody, and no other parent or family, or anyone in the community of Dungarvan who can stand with us, and make it possible to have a change, please, please, stand with us.

In a statement, Rebecca said: There are 22 families in my position for a place in the special school in Dungarvan. Just to reiterate this is not the schools issue, it is a capacity issue. It didnt come about today or yesterday. I have been highlighting this since 2022, the math wasnt mathing as they say.

The principal, vice principal, SNAs, nurse and anyone else associated with the school are absolutely unbelievable people and want to help and protect children.

In a way it is a compliment. We all want a place in this inclusive, accepting and life skill nurturing environment. The weight lies heavily on the Minister for Education now, the TDs, the NCSE.

We need change and fast. I am hoping Dungarvan will rally behind the 22 families over the coming days. To the State, we are a number, but every single one of those 22 children is number one to us and deserves the absolute best, concluded Rebecca.

St John's School in Dungarvan is oversubscribed meaning a lottery system has been put in place for new entrants

Meanwhile, Autism Support Dungarvan has said it will continue to advocate and support families in the community, and organise autism-friendly childrens events.

Our committee stood outside Leinster House in September 2024 with Inspiration by Cara Darmody for a peaceful protest to show our support to all the Dublin families in crisis knowing this issue was heading to a national crisis level, said a spokesperson.

We met helpless families some of which applied to over 20 schools for their childs constitutional right to an education from all over. Every family in our group has been affected by the shortages of appropriate school places for their child, or children.

Waterford Sinn Fein TD Conor McGuinness said he raised the shortage of special school places in Dungarvan in Leinster House this week. Every child deserves an education. The shortage of places in West Waterford didnt happen overnight, but it has now reached crisis point, said Deputy McGuinness.

Ive listened to parents and raised the issue with the new Education Minister last week on her first full day in office. I am in contact with local schools and the National Council for Special Education, and will work with anyone and everyone to push for a solution for the children affected, whilst also pushing for a more long-term solution to the lack of capacity.

Its not good enough in 2025 that any child would be locked out of education - those who starved the sector of investment and resources talk of their pride in making hard decisions but do they ever count the very real cost to children and families, said Deputy McGuinness.
The planning permission process for the installation of a mobile home at a site in north Wexford was discussed at a recent meeting of the Gorey Kilmurckridge Municipal District.

Speaking at the meeting on Tuesday, January 21, Cllr Mary Farrell said she was recently contacted by a couple who are currently living in the United States and are planning to move back to north Wexford in the future.

The couple inherited some land from their family and when they return they hope to install a modular home at the site. Cllr Farrell asked the Executive Planner if the couple can apply for planning permission to install a mobile home on this land before they move home.

They want to have all that ready before they move home, which could take three or four years before they finally move home to the site, said Cllr Farrell.

In response, the Executive Planner said every case is assessed on its merits, theres no hard and fast rule and we do try to facilitate people. He went on to say that Wexford County Council allow mobile homes temporarily while construction is going on. The couple can apply for a pre-planning meeting over Microsoft Teams to discuss this further.
Wexford & District

No plans to resurrect a dedicated tourist office in Wexford as majority of visitors get info online

With the old Failte Ireland tourist office on Wexford Quay having been repurposed as the new location for The Makers House, it seems unlikely that the town will ever have a stand-alone, dedicated tourist office again, it has emerged.
An assessment of the progress made across the country with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan will form the topic of the February lecture of the Wexford Naturalists Field Club.

Taking place in The Pumphouse at Wexford Wildfowl Reserve at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 6, the talk will be delivered by Chief Scientific Officer at the National Biodiversity Data Centre, Dr Una Fitzpatrick.

The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is a framework bringing together different sectors across the island of Ireland to create a landscape where pollinators can survive and thrive.

With one third of our wild bee species threatened with extinction, the plan seeks to take action and restore pollinator populations to healthy levels.

At this talk, Dr Fitzpatrick will give an indication of where we currently stand, what has been achieved and what is still to do.

Non-members of the Naturalists Field Club are welcome to attend this talk, which should be of interest to community groups, schools, businesses and farmers. Admission is 5 for non-members which includes refreshments.

The club has recently published details of its events for 2025 featuring birds, bats, butterflies, bogs and much more! For anyone interested in nature, you can pick up a brochure and membership application from Wexford Library, Wexford Wildfowl Reserve or at a number of visitor centres across the county.

Theres also further details at wexfordnaturalists.com.
As part of his ongoing outreach and engagement visits across the country, the Governor of the Central Bank, Gabriel Makhlouf, will be visiting Wicklow on Thursday, February 6, when he will meet members of the County Wicklow Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meeting he will be hosting.

It is an opportunity for SMEs and business people to meet directly with the Governor, to discuss issues facing Wicklow business.

Gabriel Makhlouf took up his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland in September 2019. He chairs the Central Bank Commission, is a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, a member of the European Systemic Risk Board, and is Ireland's Alternate Governor at the International Monetary Fund.

Before joining the Central Bank Gabriel was Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and the Government's chief economic and financial adviser from 2011 to 2019. During his time as Secretary, he led reviews of New Zealand's three macroeconomic pillars (monetary, financial stability and fiscal policy) and the development of a new framework for the development of economic and public policy focused on intergenerational wellbeing.

In addition Gabriel was New Zealand's alternate governor at the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He was also co-chair of the Trans-Tasman Banking Council.

Previously Gabriel worked in the UK civil service where his roles ranged from policy on domestic and international tax issues through to large-scale operational delivery. He has also chaired the OECDs Committee on Fiscal Affairs and was responsible for the UK's Government Banking Service.

The breakfast meeting takes place in The Strand Hotel, Bray.
An environmentalist embarking on a 50-city clean-up tour of the UK has said climate action is about individual responsibility rather than just screaming for government action.
We welcome these strong signals  Ukraine praises Trumps threat to Putin over ending war

Russia downplays US presidents comments that were made last week and says its ready for talks

An apartment building in Sumy, in north-eastern Ukraine, that was hit by a Russian drone strike. Photo: Reuters

Illia Novikov UK Independent Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 03:30







Ukraine has praised Donald Trumps threat to Vladimir Putin to end Russias invasion the hard way, using tariffs and sanctions, as sending a strong signal to the Kremlin.
Donald Trump says helicopter in Washington crash which killed 67 was flying too high

Father of man piloting the American Airlines jet collided with helicopter in Washington DC has spoken of his heartbreakSix members of a figure-skating club from Massachusetts, including two teenagers, are among those who died on board an American Airlines flightUS president Donald Trump used the deadly air crash to attack his two Democratic predecessors.

No survivors confirmed in Washington DC mid-air collision

Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Doina Chiacu and Katie Hawkinson Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 16:15







US President Donald Trump said on Friday the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a regional passenger jet in Washington, DC, was flying too high at the time of the accident, in what appeared to be a major disclosure about the investigation.
Gabbard calls for big change

Tulsi Gabbard is US president Donald Trumps pick to be director of US national intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard, US president Donald Trumps pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans yesterday during a fiery confirmation hearing.

Points of contention focused on her past comments that were sympathetic to Russia, as well as a meeting with Syrias now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.
Trump says diversity hires in air traffic control to blame for collision killing 67

President wildly speculates about cause of disaster in Washington DC

Search and rescue efforts are seen around the wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Photo: AP

Andrew Feinberg UK Independent Fri 31 Jan 2025 at 03:30







US president Donald Trump used a deadly air crash that killed three army aviators and 64 people on an American Airlines jet to attack his two Democratic predecessors.
The female reproductive system is beautiful but is quite complex, as they suffer from various health issues ranging from endometriosis and PCOS/PCOD to infertility. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in cervical cancer cases. Ahead of World Cancer Day, let's learn everything about cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India and is the second leading cause of death in women. According to the National Cancer Registry Programme 2023, over 340,000 cases have been reported in India. Cervical cancer arises through disordered growth of the cells. They can become malignant in response to a persistent infection with high-risk human strains of human papillomavirus (HPV).

The process, taking 10-20 years to complete, in which a cell transforms from a normal structure to a malignancy includes progressive precancerous stages referred to as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Though the virus is, in fact, sexually transmitted and the most prominent cause, other risk factors, such as smoking, weakened immunity, long-term use of oral contraceptives, and having several children, may expedite the whole process, says Dr. Shweta Mendiratta, associate director of gynaecology at Marengo Asia Hospital, Faridabad.

Reasons why India is witnessing a spike in cervical cancer cases

In the early stages, there are no symptoms, and thus one needs to go for regular screening through Pap smears and HPV testing, ideally in the early 30s.

Without treatment, the cancer will invade deeper cervical tissues and can spread (metastasise) to nearby organs such as the bladder, rectum, or far-off sites such as the lung and liver. According to Dr. Mendiratta, In its developed stage, cervical cancer presents with symptoms such as abnormal vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, and foul-smelling discharge.

Vaccination against HPV, screening performed early, and modifying lifestyles offer a major deterrent against cervical cancer diagnoses. Other emerging research supports studies on genetic tendencies and microbiome imbalances in cervical health, adds Dr. Mendiratta.

How cervical cancer develops: Know the role of HPV and abnormal cell growth

Cervical cancer awareness in India suffers from stigma, poor health education, and social barriers, causing delayed diagnosis and treatment. Even with improvements in vaccination and screening, it remains an important health problem. Recognising the first symptoms is important; these include intermenstrual and post-intercourse bleeding and excessive discharge per vaginum, but for the most part, it remains asymptomatic, says Dr. Rubina Shanawaz Z, Senior Consultant, Uro-Gynaecology, Gynaec-Oncology, Robotic Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road.

Lack of awareness and access to screening leads to higher mortality rates in low-resource settings, further emphasising that global preventive efforts are necessary. Dr. Shanawaz says, Considerably raising awareness of cervical cancer and actively promoting HPV vaccination are analytically important for effectively managing the disease in India, and the implementation of regular screenings is also important for its complete elimination.

For more on lifestyle, astrology and health from around the world please visit Indiatimes Lifestyle.
The Budget session of the Indian Parliament got underway with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both Houses of Parliament on Friday. Ahead of the first full budget in his third term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the focus is on "Innovation, Inclusion, Investment."

Following the joint address by President Murmu, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Economic Survey 2025 in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha separately.

CREDIT: BCCL

Economic Survey

The Economic Survey 2025 document will be tabled in the Lok Sabha at 12 pm and in the Rajya Sabha at 2 pm and will provide an assessment of the state of the economy and an outlook for the next financial year.

This will be followed by the presentation of the Union Budget, which will be tabled on February 1.

When is Union Budget presented

Until 2016, the Union Budget was presented on the last working day of February, but starting in 2017, the budget has been presented on February 1.

Halwa Ceremony

The process for presenting the budget starts days earlier with the traditional Halwa Ceremony, which was held on Friday, January 24, this year.

CREDIT: ANI

Lock-in period

The Halwa Ceremony also marks the beginning of the lock-in period, during which all officials and staff involved with the Budget are not permitted to leave the ministry premises until the document is presented in Parliament. This is done to maintain the secrecy of the budget document and ensure that it is not leaked.

Finance Minister calls upon President

On the day of the Union Budget, the Finance Minister will call upon the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to get assent before heading to Parliament to present the Union Budget.

CREDIT: PIB

Budget presentation

Ahead of the presentation of the budget in Parliament, the Union Cabinet will hold a meeting and approve it.

After this, the Finance Minister will deliver her budget speech and table the budget in Parliament.

This will be followed by the Prime Minister addressing Parliament, thanking the Finance Minister for the budget.

Also read: Budget 2025: As Nirmala Sitharaman is set to make history, take a look at her unique achievements

CREDIT: BCCL

Post-budget press conference

Once the budget is presented in Parliament, the Finance Minister will address the Reserve Bank of India's central board of directors.

It is also customary for the Finance Minister to address a post-budget press conference.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Konkan Expressway is a major infrastructure project that is almost complete, set to transform travel between Mumbai and Goa. Once finished, it will reduce the 12-hour journey to just 6 hours. The expressway stretches for 376 km along the Konkan coast, with an additional 120 km of road bringing the total distance to 498 km.

Key highlights include:

41 tunnels and 21 major bridges are being constructed to navigate the challenging terrain of the Konkan region.

and constructed to navigate the challenging terrain of the Konkan region. A total cost of approximately Rs 68,000 crore , including land acquisition and the construction of various infrastructure elements.

, including land acquisition and the construction of various infrastructure elements. The expressway will pass through 232 villages across three districtsRaigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurgcovering 17 talukas .

across three districtsRaigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurgcovering . The project, which began in 2011, has faced many challenges, but is now nearing completion, with around 95% of the work finished.

      .



MSRDC had completed preparing the revised DPR for the upcoming 389 Km 6 Lane Access Controlled Greenfield Konkan Expressway from Mumbai to Goa. They had also applied for environmental pic.twitter.com/p2gAzgAZMj  Infra News India (INI) (@TheINIofficial) December 5, 2024

The expressway promises to offer scenic views of the sea on one side and mountains on the other, making the journey as enjoyable as it is efficient. This development is expected to boost connectivity, tourism, and the local economy.

Konkan Expressway Construction Details

The construction of the Konkan Expressway began in 2011 and has faced several challenges over the years, including land acquisition and cost overruns. The project is now about 95% complete, with the final touches being put on various sections. The expressway will run parallel to the scenic Konkan coastline, providing beautiful views of green mountains and the sea.

Konkan Expressway Route Information

The expressway will connect several key locations:

Starting Point : Panvel (Navi Mumbai)

: Panvel (Navi Mumbai) Ending Point : Sindhudurg

: Sindhudurg Districts Covered : Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg

: Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg Villages Impacted: It will pass through 232 villages across 17 talukas.

As of January 2025, the expressway is expected to significantly reduce travel time between Mumbai and Goa from approximately 12 hours to just 6 hours, featuring 41 tunnels and 21 major bridges along its route.

The Maharashtra Expressway Grid project's completion depends on three main expressways:



 Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway

 Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway

 Konkan Expressway



The below picture clearly shows how important the Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway is for pic.twitter.com/GplkEII7SZ  Infra News India (INI) (@TheINIofficial) October 24, 2024

Benefits of the Konkan Expressway

Once completed, the Konkan Expressway is expected to:

Significantly reduce travel time for commuters.

Boost tourism in the Konkan region.

Create job opportunities in surrounding areas.

This project not only enhances connectivity but also aims to improve economic development in Maharashtra. As it nears completion, travelers can look forward to a more efficient and enjoyable journey between Mumbai and Goa.
Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to etch his name in the history books as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). Capt. Shukla, who is one of the four astronaut candidates for the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme, will travel to the ISS onboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

CREDIT: AXIOM

Former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space's Director of Human Spaceflight, Peggy Whitson, will command the commercial mission, and Capt. Shukla will be the pilot of the Axiom Mission 4, which will be launched "no earlier than spring 2025."

Capt. Shukla was born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated from the National Defence Academy and joined the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on June 17, 2006.

An experienced test pilot with about 2,000 hours of flying experience, Capt. Shukla has flown various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier 228, and An-32.

CREDIT: AXIOM

Capt. Shukla's name was included in the astronaut selection process in 2019 by the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), and later, he was shortlisted in the final selection.

In February 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the names of the four astronauts selected for India's first manned mission to the moon. Capt. Shukla, who was then a Wing Commander, was named along with Captain Prasanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, and Group Captain Angad Pratap.

Also read: Gaganyaan: Meet The Four Astronauts For India's First Manned Moon Mission

CREDIT: ISRO

"I am really, really excited to go into microgravity and experience spaceflight on my own. The tempo for the mission has been building up each month, and I think we are at a stage where all the pieces are kind of coming together. I am extremely excited to see how this unfolds in the coming months," Capt. Shukla said on Thursday.

Mission Pilot & future Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla will be taking several items representing the various regions and communities of India to space with him on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS! 



ISRO had contacted an university and asked its students from various parts of the pic.twitter.com/xJ68Scqx6b  ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) January 30, 2025

The 39-year-old also said that he was looking forward to sharing his experiences with the 1.4 billion people of India.

He would also be carrying a lot of items representing the regions in particular and India in general to honour his country.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel, better known as Kash Patel, US President Donald Trumps pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has revealed that he too had faced racism as a person of colour in the US.

Kash Patel's confirmation hearing

Patel, who was born to India-origin parents who immigrated to the US from Uganda, made the admission while facing the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

CREDIT: REUTERS

According to Patel, he faced racist attacks following the January 6, 2020, Capitol Hill riots. Patel, a staunch supporter of Trump, had come under fire for his support for the rioters.

Kash Patel raised money for January 6 insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement.



I asked him to look those officers in the eye and tell them he was proud of what he did.



He couldn't. pic.twitter.com/VEyczc320Y  Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) January 30, 2025

'Was told to go back'

Responding to a question from Senator Lindsey Graham on whether he has ever been subjected to racism as an individual, Patel said he didn't want to get into details with his family present there.

"If you look at the record from January 6th, where I testified before that committee, because of my personal information being released by the Congress, I was subjected to a direct and significant threat on my life. And I put that information in the record. I had to move," Patel said.

CREDIT: REUTERS

"I was called a detestable -- and I'll apologise if I don't get it all right, but it's in the record -- a detestable sand nigger who had no right being in this country. You should go back to where you came from. You belong with your terrorist home friends," he added.

Patel greets family with ' Jai Shri Krishna'

Patel was born in New York to Hindu parents who had fled Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda.

CREDIT: AP

Patel's parents and other family members, who are currently settled in India, had travelled to the US to witness the confirmation process.

Patel, who introduced his family members to the Senate, welcomed them saying, "Jai Shri Krishna."

This is Kash Patel, the FBI Director nominee, addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee.



Recently, Indian-origin people, especially Hindus, faced hate from white supremacists in the US. Many Trump supporters pushed to drop Indian-origin figures like Kash Patel from the cabinet. pic.twitter.com/ckDUT2PNbe  THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) January 30, 2025

If confirmed, he would be the first Hindu and Indian American to be FBI Director.

For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
India is soon to get Apple Intelligence, says Tim Cook: Apple CEO Tim Cook has formally stated that Apple Intelligence, the company's AI-powered suite, will arrive in India in April. This is a huge increase in Apple's artificial intelligence capabilities in the country, as customers previously had access to only a small number of AI tools, such as the Clean Up tool.

During Apple's most recent earnings call, Cook disclosed that the launch will support numerous languages, including a customized version of English designed for Indian users.

With this upgrade, iPhone, iPad, and Mac users in India will soon have access to AI-powered products, including Writing products, Smart Reply, and ChatGPT integration.

Apple sees India as a crucial growth area, with Cook citing record iPhone sales in the December quarter. The iPhone was the best-selling model in India at that time, cementing the country's position as the world's second-largest smartphone market and a critical region for Apple's expansion. Apple has announced plans to open four more retail outlets in India to expand its presence.

New languages added to Apple Intelligence

Credit: Yahoo

Cook revealed that Apple Intelligence will be available in numerous new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese.

The English version of Apple Intelligence will be available in Singapore and India. The anticipated market expansion will improve Apple's artificial intelligence capabilities and service quality in these locations.

The iPhone maintained its position as the number one smartphone in major global countries ranging from the United States to China and India, as well as the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Japan. During the December quarter, Apple scored its best sales ever in India, the world's second-largest smartphone market.

The company's India development gained centre stage when Cook announced Apple's plans to open four new retail locations in this area as part of its global store expansion plan.

What do you get with Apple Intelligence?

Credit: The Hans India

Apple Intelligence is the company's suite of artificial intelligence features. It includes upgraded Siri with better contextual understanding, on-device AI processing for more privacy, AI-powered writing tools for iOS, macOS, and iPadOS, and smart photo editing with generative AI.

Users can also expect AI-powered email summarization, intelligent search, improved app suggestions, real-time speech transcription, and improved auto-correct.

Apple Intelligence intends to create quick, secure, and tailored user experiences by leveraging on-device AI models and cloud-assisted processing.

Apple Intelligence: Devices to Support

Apple Intelligence will be accessible exclusively on the iPhone 16 series and iPhone 15 Pro models. Currently, Indian users lack access to these AI features. Those who own an eligible iPhone, on the other hand, can enable Apple Intelligence by altering their regional settings. To enable Apple Intelligence, take the following steps:

Go to Settings > General > Language and Region.

Choose English (US) or any supported language as the primary device language.

Once updated, the device will identify and support Apple Intelligence capabilities. Apple Intelligence will soon be available in India, providing customers with a more advanced and intuitive AI experience across Apple devices, increasing productivity and communication.

Apple's market growth and enterprise adoption

Credit: Yahoo

Cook noted that the active installed base of iPhones has reached a new high in all geographic segments, breaking the record for upgraders.

A Kantar poll also revealed that the iPhone was the best-selling model in several countries, including India, during the December quarter.

Apple's new CFO, Kevan Parekh, also highlighted the increasing enterprise use of Apple products and services, using Zomato's Mac deployment as an example.

For more informative articles on historical and upcoming events from around the world, please visit Indiatimes Events.
Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds on discount: Flipkart is currently offering the Nothing Ear (a) wireless earphones at a great discounted price. This is the ideal opportunity to get premium earbuds with excellent sound quality and a fashionable design at a reduced cost.

Nothing has established a reputation in the audio industry thanks to its innovative and transparent designs. You may take advantage of excellent sound quality without breaking the bank with our limited-time offer.

However, how can you take advantage of this offer? We have all the information on the price, the discount, and how to take advantage of the Flipkart offer. Continue reading to learn how to purchase the Nothing Ear (a) at the most competitive price!

Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds specifications in India

Credit: Flipkart

With an LDAC codec for Hi-Res Audio, the Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds include 11mm dynamic drivers. They have four Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) modes: High, Mid, Low, and Adaptive, with a maximum ANC of 45 dB.

With a 500mAh case, the battery lasts 42.5 hours (without ANC) and 24.5 hours (with ANC); 10 hours of playback may be obtained from a 10-minute charge. The earbuds have low-lag gaming mode, Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility, dual-device connectivity, and ChatGPT integration with the Nothing X app.

Their water-resistance grade is IP54 (IPX2 for the casing). Playback, ANC toggling, and volume control are all possible using pinch controls. Yellow, white, and black are the available colours

Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds price and offer on Flipkart

Credit: Flipkart

Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds are available on Flipkart for 7,999, discounted from the original price of 9,999, along with a 1-year warranty. You can also get up to Rs. 2,000 off through BOBCARD EMI Transactions. So, you can get the Nothing Ear (a) wireless earbuds for Rs. 5,999.

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K-drama favorite Moon Ga Young is making her highly anticipated return to the small screen with the romantic comedy My Dearest Nemesis, set to premiere on February 17. The story based on the popular webtoon "Black Salt Dragon", will see Moon Ga Young alongside Choi Hyun Wook, and fans are already buzzing with excitement.

Known for her versatility, Moon Ga Young has effortlessly brought to life a wide array of characters, be it playful and innocent to even deeply emotional. As fans eagerly await My Dearest Nemesis, let's have a look at some of her standout performances in previous K-dramas.

True Beauty

Where to watch: Netflix, Viki

She portrays the character Im Joo-gyeong, a high school student who transforms into a beauty icon through makeup, while secretly battling self-esteem issues and hidden insecurities. Her heartfelt portrayal of Joo-gyeong's vulnerabilities along with remarkable chemistry with her co-stars played a major role in the drama's success.

Welcome to Waikiki 2

Where to watch: Netflix, Viki

In the heartwarming sequel to the hit drama Welcome to Waikiki, she shines as Han Soo-yeon, the first love of the three male leads. After her wedding is abruptly called off, she navigates the challenges of independence and also find a way to support herself. While the show is packed with comedic moments, Moon Ga Young's portrayal of a young woman struggling to find her footing in life added a heartfelt and emotional depth to the series.

Tempted

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MXPlayer

Loosely inspired by the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses, she takes on the character Choi Su-ji, the daughter of a hospital director and the mastermind behind a seductive game of love. The drama centers on a wealthy chaebol heir who, after making a bet to seduce a college student, unexpectedly finds himself falling for her. It's a captivating exploration of power, love, and betrayal.

The Interest of Love

Where to watch: Netflix

In this drama she takes on a more mature role as Ahn Su-yeong, a fourth-year head teller at KCU Bank's Yeongpo branch where she faces the complexities of love and relationships in the workplace. The drama follows four young bank employees, each with different perspectives on love, as they navigate their personal and professional lives in search of true meaning in relationships.

Find Me in Your Memory

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

In the romantic melodrama, she plays Yeo Ha Jin, a rising actress who has forgotten her past and lives freely. Her life takes a turn when she meets a man with a rare condition that makes him remember everything. Their unexpected connection leads to a touching, heartwarming romance.

For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment.
The tragic stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, has officially claimed the lives of at least 30 people, with over 60 others injured. However, as doubts rise about the accuracy of the reported numbers and the management of the event, an anonymous survivor's account, shared on Reddit out of fear of harassment, paints a much grimmer picture  suggesting a significantly higher death toll and revealing alarming negligence by the authorities.

'Ground reality is alarmingly different'

The Reddit user shared a chilling account of the stampede's true scale, relayed by his brother, who was just metres away from the site of the disaster.

The stampede unfolded as Hindu devotees, waiting to take a spiritual bath in the river, rushed past barricades meant for a procession of holy men.

The user revealed the stark contrast between his brother's firsthand account and the official statements from the media and government, stating, "The ground reality of what he told me vs what the media and govt. is claiming is alarmingly different."

#WATCH | #Mahakumbh | Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: On the reports of a stampede at the Maha Kumbh, Special Executive Officer Akanksha Rana says, "On the Sangam routes, a stampede-like situation arose after some barriers broke. Some people have been injured. They are under treatment. pic.twitter.com/SgLRVXMlgf  ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2025

The user further confirmed that his brother had seen at least 80-90 bodies in the mortuary well before the government's official toll of 30 fatalities was released.

"There were not one but three-four different mortuaries where bodies have been kept and diluted to diversify the figure from media and people," he revealed, exposing the efforts to downplay the scale of the tragedy.

Among the victims, the loss of a six-month-old girl stood out as particularly heart-wrenching. "There was an actual 6-month-old girl who died getting crushed in the stampede and her body was thrown and dumped in the ambulance in a polythene bag tied with a knot," the user recounted.

He described the situation as "such inhumane was the not so 'rescue' and more of a 'cover up ops," reflecting the neglect and disregard for human life that prevailed.

Witnesses were silenced

Witnesses to the event who attempted to capture the chaos on their phones were silenced by the authorities.

"Some people tried to record the video from meters away but the police abused, manhandled, and snatched their phones so that the matter doesn't come out in the public domain," the user shared, hinting at the effort to suppress any evidence of the truth.

'Not one, but at least 4-5 major stampedes happened'

The stampede was not an isolated incident, as the user revealed multiple occurrences. "Not one but at least 4-5 major stampedes happened, while many minor uncounted ones," he claimed, underscoring the scale of the disaster that was hidden from the public eye.

'Crores of money spent did not do justice to this year's event'

The administration's response to the tragedy was woefully slow, with many feeling that more could have been done.

"This is shameful that the government and administration took accountability after freaking 17 hours of the first major stampede," the user said, his voice filled with frustration.

They further lamented, "The management could have been strengthened if the administration had not been so ignorant."

Pointing out the stark contrast between the amount of money and effort poured into the event and the lack of proper planning, they said, "Any sane person would be able to feel evidently that the sheer amount of thousands of crores of money, investment, political and influencers' hype, god-level PR and marketing did not give justice to this year's event."

'VVIPs and VIPs gave wrong message to general public'

The user also criticised the focus on the sacred Sangam area, which he believed contributed to the dangerous situation.

"The vulnerable Sangam area is very small and it would be impossible if such crowd comes and is adamant to have a dip there only," he explained.

"This life-threatening mockery could have been avoided but nope all VVIPs and VIP ministers had a dip at Sangam only, giving the wrong message to the general public," he added, expressing dismay over the prioritisation of political figures over public safety.

The Reddit user's account sheds light on the scale of the tragedy and the systemic failures that led to it, urging others to question the official narrative and the true cost of this sacred event.

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In a historic first, Rashtrapati Bhavan will host the wedding of a female CRPF officer, setting a new precedent at the iconic venue. On February 12, 2025, Poonam Gupta, an assistant commandant serving as a Personal Security Officer (PSO) at the Bhavan, will marry Avneesh Kumar, another assistant commandant posted in Jammu and Kashmir. The wedding, which marks a significant milestone, will be a small and intimate affair, attended by close family and friends, following a thorough security screening.

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the iconic residence of the President of India, has occasionally been the venue for weddings.

In one notable case in January 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind stepped in to help a couple whose wedding plans were disrupted at the last minute. US-based bride Ashley Hall had planned to marry at a five-star hotel in Kochi, but upon arrival, she was informed that the hotel was being reserved for the President's security.

Credit: Wikipedia

Left without a venue, Hall reached out on Twitter, seeking assistance. To her surprise, the Rashtrapati Bhavan responded, offering a solution and ensuring the wedding went ahead as planned.

However, in a groundbreaking first, the prestigious institution is now set to host the wedding of a serving officer, marking a new chapter in its history.

Although official details from the Bhavan are still awaited, sources indicate that the ceremony will take place in the Mother Teresa Crown Complex, a distinguished area within the Bhavan.

Who is Poonam Gupta?

With a background in mathematics and English literature, Poonam Gupta also earned a B.Ed. from Jiwaji University, Gwalior.

Poonam secured the 81st rank in the 2018 UPSC CAPF exam and joined the CRPF as an Assistant Commandant.

Notably, she led the CRPF women's contingent during the Republic Day parade in 2024.

Her impeccable service and conduct have caught the attention of President Droupadi Murmu, who, moved by her dedication, arranged for the wedding to take place at the prestigious Rashtrapati Bhavan.

To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes Trending.
The former CEO of Hellenic Train, Maurizio Capotorto, has been ordered to appear before a magistrate in Greece as a suspect in the ongoing investigation into last year's horrific train crash that killed 57 people. Capotorto's summons comes after his testimony to a parliamentary inquiry into the Feb. 28, 2023, head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train

in Tempi, Greece, was unanimously referred to prosecutors amid suspicions of false statements.

He is now considered a suspect in the case.

The prosecutor's order, issued in recent days, does not specify a date for his appearance.

Meanwhile, authorities in Larissa have been asked to provide updates on the main judicial probe into the crash, which is Greece's deadliest rail accident.

Any perjury charges stemming from the false testimony allegations cannot proceed until the primary investigation is complete, effectively pausing the statute of limitations on such charges.

Hellenic Train has repeatedly stated its cooperation with investigators and denied reports that the freight train was carrying hazardous materials, saying its cargo consisted of food products, metal sheets, iron wire, and empty containers.

The company insists all cargo details were in official documents provided to investigators.

The crash sparked widespread protests and accusations of government negligence, prompting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to call for clarity on the freight train's cargo.

   iefimerida.gr
Greek authorities are closely monitoring mild seismic and volcanic activity in the Santorini caldera following a recent increase in activity.

The heightened activity prompted a meeting at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection to discuss the implementation of the "TALOS 2" emergency response plan, designed to manage the impact of any potential

volcanic event.

According to a ministry statement, the Permanent Scientific Committee for Monitoring the Hellenic Volcanic Arc has detected increased activity along the central fault of Kameni in the northern part of the caldera. Scientists are analyzing data and updating preventive measures as needed.

The ministry noted the current activity is similar to that observed in 2011-2012, which lasted approximately 14 months without an eruption.

Experts currently believe there is no immediate cause for concern, based on the available data.

The meeting included Deputy Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery Christos Triantopoulos, General Secretary for Local Government Savvas Chionidis, General Secretary for Civil Protection Vasilios Papageorgiou, Fire Service Chief Theodoros Vagias, Thira Mayor Nikolaos Zorzos, South Aegean Regional Vice Governor Georgios Leontaritis, and leading scientists from institutions such as the Geodynamic Institute, the Hellenic Survey of Geology and Mineral Exploration (EAGME), and the Organization for Antiseismic Planning and Protection (OASP).

   iefimerida.gr
Greece and Saudi Arabia are accelerating plans to create a green energy corridor that will transport renewable electricity from Riyadh to Europe via Greece.

The initiative, reaffirmed during a meeting on Thursday between Greek

Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis and his Saudi counterpart, is gaining traction as both nations seek to position themselves as key players in the global energy transition.

The discussion follows a recent visit by Greeces Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia and builds on prior talks between Greeces Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) and Saudi Arabias National Grid. Last week, the two electricity transmission operators met to advance the technical and financial roadmap for the proposed interconnection, which is now moving closer to implementation.

At the heart of the project is the Saudi Greek Interconnection, a joint venture between IPTO and Saudi Arabias National Grid, established in February 2023 to conduct a feasibility study for the ambitious energy link. Initial studies, which began recently, are expected to conclude within the next nine months, offering a clearer picture of the projects viability.

A key aspect of the feasibility study is the 2,000-kilometer route the transmission line will follow. As it stands, Saudi Arabia appears set to take a longer path via Egypt and Greece through the Suez Canal, bypassing Israel -consistent with the original framework agreed upon with Greece in 2022. However, should diplomatic conditions evolve, an alternative route through Jordan, Israel, and Greece, with Cyprus as a possible intermediary stop, remains on the table.

The Saudi-Greek interconnection is part of a larger European energy strategy, closely linked to the Green Aegean Interconnector, a separate project designed to connect Greece with Germany. Together, these initiatives aim to reduce Europes reliance on Russian natural gas by enabling the large-scale transmission of solar energy from the Middle East to the EU. The interconnection will allow surplus renewable electricity generated in Saudi Arabia and Greece to be delivered to Europes high-demand markets.

One of the projects most attractive aspects is its cost-effectiveness. Saudi Arabia has already set global records for low solar energy prices, with recent Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed at just $10.4 per megawatt-hour - an unprecedented rate in the global renewable energy market.

While the final technical details will be determined through the feasibility study, the project is expected to use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology to ensure efficient, high-capacity energy transmission. Once completed, the interconnection will help power Central Europes largest energy markets - especially Germany, allowing for a more diversified, secure, and sustainable energy supply.

With the feasibility study expected to conclude by September, both Greece and Saudi Arabia are edging closer to making the green energy corridor a reality - one that could reshape Europes energy landscape for decades to come.

#ENGLISH_EDITION #GREECE #GREEN_ENERGY
If Piraeus Bank proceeds with the acquisition, it would mark a significant development in the Greek financial sector.

Piraeus Bank confirmed its interest on Friday in acquiring Ethniki Insurance, Greeces largest insurer, as CVC

Capital Partners prepares to divest from the company. The move signals a potential shift in the Greek financial and insurance landscape, reigniting discussions about the future ownership of the insurer.

CVC acquired Ethniki Insurance under favorable terms in 2021 when the National Bank of Greece (NBG) was required to sell its non-banking subsidiaries under conditions imposed by Greeces third bailout memorandum. However, while CVC did not significantly expand Ethnikis insurance operations, it capitalized on the investment by selling off key real estate assets to business figures with aligned interests, securing strong capital gains. Now, with CVC looking to exit, speculation is growing that Ethniki Insurance could once again come under the ownership of a banking groupan outcome that previously seemed unlikely.

In response to media reports, Piraeus Bank issued a statement acknowledging that it is evaluating investment opportunities to enhance shareholder value and diversify its business model. The bank stated that among the various sectors it is assessingincluding wealth management and insuranceEthniki Insurance is one of the potential targets.

However, it clarified that no formal negotiations have been finalized at this stage.

Piraeus also emphasized that any acquisition must align with its broader capital distribution strategy and investment criteria, ensuring it contributes positively to the groups long-term growth. The bank reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the market informed should a concrete deal emerge.

If Piraeus Bank proceeds with the acquisition, it would mark a significant development in the Greek financial sector, strengthening the banks position in the insurance market and diversifying its revenue streams. However, the move also raises questions about regulatory approval and the broader strategic direction of Piraeus Bank as it navigates an evolving financial landscape.

#ENGLISH_EDITION #PIRAEUS_BANK #GREECE
A suspected vandal, whose identity has not been confirmed, has been electrocuted while attempting to vandalise electricity infrastructure belonging to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

SP Josephine Adeh, the Federal Capital Territorys Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the suspects lifeless body had been retrieved.

She stated that after receiving a distress call on Thursday, the command personnel found the dead body next to step-down electricity lines at Yakubu Gowon Crescent in Asokoro.

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READ MORE: Vehicle Stolen At Gunpoint In Abuja Recovered By Police

According to the PPRO, the tools used in the vandalism were also recovered from the scene, suggesting that the accomplice had fled.

The FCT Police Command strongly warns individuals against engaging in such criminal activities, emphasising that vandalisation of public infrastructure is a grave offence that will not be tolerated within the Federal Capital Territory.

Security operatives remain on high alert to apprehend perpetrators and ensure the protection of critical national assets, the statement said.


Atiku Abubakar, Nigerias former Vice President, has shed light on the transactional nature of the countrys politics.

He revealed that attendees at a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally were paid to attend, but left before the event concluded because they were only paid for two hours.

Atiku shared this anecdote in response to comments made by Rotimi Amaechi, a former minister of transportation, at a recent event in Abuja.

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Amaechi spoke about the transactional nature of some political rallies, sharing a story about an All Progressives Congress (APC) march where women were paid to attend, but showed up wearing Jonathan for President attires instead of supporting the APC candidate.

READ ALSO: Sowore: At The Pace Theyre Going, Tinubus Govt May Imprison Us All  Atiku

Atiku echoed Amaechis comments, sharing a personal experience from a rally in Rivers State.

When Odili was in office as governor of Rivers, we went on a rally. The entire stadium was filled to capacity. But before we could finish the rally, everybody had left. We were left alone. Then I asked what happened. He said they were paid for only two hours! Atiku recalled.

This revelation shiws the pervasive nature of transactional politics in Nigeria, where attendees are often paid to attend rallies and events, rather than being motivated by genuine political convictions.


Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shed light on his fallout with Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory .

George, a member of the Partys Board of Trustees, who initially supported Wike in opposition to Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 presidential election, attributed the rift to Wikes groups decision to back Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

In an interview on Arise TV, George accused Atiku and the then-national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, of orchestrating the crisis in the PDP by disrupting the partys zoning arrangement.

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READ ALSO: Calm Down, Allow Elders Resolve PDP Crisis  Bode George Tells Atiku, Wike

The presidential candidate went to the northern zone, and the chairman of the party also went to the same zone; we said no, it cant happen like this, George said on Friday

He explained that he took sides with Wike because he was disgusted with Atiku and Ayus actions at the Partys national convention in 2022.

However, George soon discovered that Wikes group planned to support Tinubu, prompting him to abandon the group.

I told them that if they stepped out of this meeting and talked about it outside there, I would counter you. You guys have no idea who this gentleman (Tinubu) is. He had ruled my state (Lagos), and we know his modus operandi, George added.


The Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Muhammed Matawalle, has issued a stern warning to former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to desist from making inflammatory remarks that could jeopardize national security.

Amaechis recent statement at a conference in Abuja, where he allegedly declared that Nigerian politicians do steal, maim, and kill to remain in power, has sparked widespread outrage.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Matawalle condemned Amaechis remarks, saying, It is both reckless and dangerous for a former public office holder to make such inflammatory remarks.

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At a time when the government is working tirelessly to consolidate national unity and security, no responsible leader should fan the flames of violence and political unrest.

READ ALSO: Politicians Steal, Kill To Remain In Govt.; If You Think Tinubull Give You Power, Youre Wasting Your Time  Rotimi Amaechi

Matawalle emphasized that Nigeria is a sovereign nation governed by laws, not a jungle where power is seized through brute force.

He warned that security agencies are on high alert and will not hesitate to take action against anyone found inciting violence or attempting to destabilize the nation.

Let me make it clear: security agencies are on high alert. Any individual or group found inciting violence or attempting to destabilize this nation will face the full force of the law, he added.

Matawalle further warned Amaechi and others who believe they can manipulate our youth into chaos should rethink their actions. This government will not stand idly by while individuals attempt to disrupt the peace and stability of Nigeria.
In a move that has sparked widespread concern, the Department of State Services (DSS), on Thursday, detained two members of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The Assembly members, Lanre Afinni (Lagos Island Constituency 2) and Sylvester Ogunkelu (Epe II constituency), were detained in connection with the impeachment of former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.

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According to sources within the Assembly as disclosed by Vanguard, the two lawmakers were arrested at their office in Magodo, Lagos, and are currently facing interrogation.

Obasa was removed as Speaker by 35 members on January 13 and replaced with Mojisola Meranda, the former Deputy Speaker.

Also, a source in the DSS told Punch, They were just invited for questioning.

On the day of Obasas removal, the then Clerk of the House, Barrister Lekan Onafeko was not in the House and his office was locked, Sahara Reporters quoted a source as saying.

Another said, Hon. Ogunkelu, aka Sketel and Hon. Afinni physically led the charge to fetch the mace for the House sitting and had to destroy the door and some government properties to get hold of the symbol of authority.

READ ALSO: Obasa Should Be Suspended For Identifying Himself As Speaker After Impeachment Ex- Lagos Lawmaker

It is on these grounds that the police invited them. As we speak, Sketel is in detention while Afinni was released due to his health challenges.

The Deputy Speaker, Mojeed Fatai, and other lawmakers have since stormed the DSS office to demand the release of their detained colleagues.

The development has also drawn the ire of a socio-political group, the Concerned Citizens of Lagos.

In a statement, the groups representative, Murphy Ajibola, condemned the arrest, saying: These actions appear to be part of a broader strategy to pressure the Assembly into overturning the removal of former Speaker.

This orchestrated campaign against elected representatives is not just an attack on individual lawmakers; it is an assault on democracy.

The group emphasized that the Legislature exists to check executive power and represent the people, warning that when lawmakers are intimidated or arrested under questionable circumstances, democracy is at risk.


The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has clarified that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, is legally entitled to remain in office until 2027.

According to Fagbemi, Egbetokuns appointment, which took effect on October 31, 2023, is valid for a four-year term.

The AGF, in a statement on Thursday, cited the amended Police Act of 2024, which allows the IGP to complete their original term despite attaining the retirement age of 60.

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The appointment of Egbetokun which took effect from 31st day of October, 2023 would have come to an end on his attainment of 60 years of age on 4th day of September, 2024.

READ ALSO: I Never Lobbied NASS For Tenure Elongation  IGP Egbetokun

However, before his retirement age, the Police Act was amended to allow the occupant of the office to remain and complete the original four-year term granted under Section 7 (6) of the Act, notwithstanding the fact that he has attained the age of 60 years, Fagbemi stated.

Fagbemi emphasized that, For the avoidance of doubt, Egbetokuns continuous stay in office is in line with the provisions of the Police Act amended in 2024 which allow the occupant of the office to enjoy a term of four years effective from the date of his appointment as IGP, in this case, 31st day of October 2023.
Renowned Nigerian comedian, Bright Okpocha, better known as Basketmouth, has shared his thoughts on the ongoing marital challenges between music icon 2face and his wife, Annie.

In a video shared on his social media on Thursday, he addressed those questioning why he hadnt spoken out, despite having a relationship with the couple spanning over two decades.

Basketmouth clarified that he isnt in a position or qualified to comment on the situation, particularly given his own divorce from his wife.

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READ MORE: Be Role Models In This Situation  Blackface Addresses 2Baba, Annie Amid Divorce Proceedings

The comedian expressed that he is avoiding any drama this year, which is why he has chosen to remain silent on the matter.

He mentioned that the only reason he would speak out is to address individuals like Toke and others who are contributing to the situation.

Basketmouth agreed with many others, stating that 2face should have waited before announcing the divorce and should have consulted him for his opinion beforehand.

He said, I have been receiving lots of emails and DMs; people dey ask me, Bright, why dont you want to get involved in these Tuface and Annies matters?

First of all, to address you people, I am not in any position to get involved. I am not qualified at all, me especially. Make I no go talk the one wey go make people remember my own, con drag my head.

This 2025, wey we just enter, its a New Year and I am just trying to have undraggable year. So please, dont push me.

You know I have known Tuface for almost half of my life, 27 years, and Annie for 24 years, and I respect and love these guys. My heart goes to them. If I am going to get involved in any way, it is to address you guys wey dey talk too much for their matter. Lets just back off. They have got kids, theyve got a family. Everybody just dey talk, Toke talk, this one dey talk, other things dey to talk about.

Personally, Tuface did me a strong thing. Personally, he fucked me up because, based on the fact say me and him don be men for a long time, e should have called me and told me what he wanted to do or post, and I would have put him through. I would have told him not to post it now and post it around late February because I get a tour; I have a show in Manchester on the 14th, and I have a show in London and other cities. Now this thing come outside, which mouth wey I wan take use promote show, because people will say I am insensitive but in fact, the money wey me and Ropo invest for this tour dey very sensitive.

SEE POST:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFcubaGsGpY/?igsh=MXNnMjM4dWNjdHQxMw==


Convicted kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, has made a surprising claim of repentance, seeking mercy from the Lagos State Government.

Through his lawyer, Emefo Etudo, Evans addressed the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Thursday, stating that he has turned over a new leaf.

Evans, who is facing amended five counts of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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His lawyer, Etudo, however informed the court that Evans has applied for a plea bargain and has submitted an application to the State Government through the Attorney-Generals office.

Etudo emphasized that Evans focus is on the plea bargain, highlighting his clients transformation.

READ ALSO: Court Sentences Notorious Kidnapper, Evans To 21 Years Imprisonment

My client is now a repentant person. He was a young man consumed by crime, but he is now remorseful. Presently, he is a 200-level student of the National Open University.

My Lord, we have asked the Lagos State Government to give him the opportunity to go around schools in the State to talk to youths about the dangers of crime.

The prosecution alleged that Evans and his accomplice, Joseph Emeka, killed two individuals, Peter Nweke and Chijioke Ngozi, in FESTAC Town, Lagos, on August 27, 2013. Evans co-defendant also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court has adjourned the matter until March 20, 2025, for possible trial where the State Government will consider Evans application for a plea bargain.


The Federal Government, on Thursday, made good on its promise to support the family of Taiwo Akinkunmi, the renowned designer of the Nigerian flag.

A cheque of N30 million was presented to the family in Ibadan, Oyo State, by Lanre Issa-Onilu, Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and Olukemi Afolayan, State Director of the agency.

Akinkunmi, who designed the Nigerian flag, passed away on August 30, 2023, at the age of 87.



President Bola Tinubu had pledged to give him a national burial and financial support to his family during a condolence visit in September 2023.

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READ ALSO: Man Who Designed Nigerian Flag, Taiwo Akinkunmi, Placed On N500K Salary For Life

Although the national burial did not materialize, the government has now fulfilled its promise of financial support.

According to Issa-Onilu, the donation was not intended as payment for Akinkunmis services, but rather as a gesture of appreciation for his contributions to the country.

The donation of N30 million to the family of renowned national flag designer was not to pay for the services of the late legend but to support his family in appreciation of his contributions to the country, he said.



The donation is a recognition of Taiwo Akinkunmis lasting legacy and his role in shaping Nigerias national identity.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has apprehended four individuals for allegedly vandalising and stealing crude oil in Abia.

This is according to a statement signed on Thursday in Abuja by the NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Afolabi Babawale.

Babawale stated that the suspects were apprehended by the NSCDC Commandant Generals Special Intelligence Squad (CGs SIS) at Agric Waterside Camp Umuorie, located along the Obuzor/Asa axis of Ukwa West LGA in Abia.

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The spokesperson revealed that, according to reports from the CGs SIS commander, Dandaura Appolos, the suspects were heavily involved in siphoning crude oil after vandalising pipelines.

READ MORE: Ogun: Man Posing As FUNAAB Student Arrested For Phone Theft

Immediately nemesis caught up with the suspects, they began to confess their involvement that after breaking the pipeline they connected hoses or galvanised pipes.

They buried them underground and channeled the pipes to their constructed reservoirs, refining pots and storage tanks

Our men further made discoveries of different sizes of cooking ovens like two to three drums capacity and separate reservoirs for storing adulterated diesel and kerosene, Appolos said.

He further stated that the corps recovered large quantities of stolen crude oil, concealed in cellophane bags, from the male suspects, aged between 23 and 36.

Other items recovered included over 20,000 litres of automotive gas oil, metal and plastic buckets, shovels, galvanised pipes, clothing, slippers, and funnels.

The PRO added that the suspected vandals would be taken to court following a thorough investigation.


Ned Nwoko, Senator representing Delta North, has formally resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing deep divisions and irreconcilable factions within the Party.

In his resignation letter sighted on Friday Nwoko expressed dissatisfaction with the partys current state, stating, My decision to resign is first and foremost due to the deep divisions and factionalisation within the party.

This fragmentation has made it increasingly difficult to foster unity and advance the collective interests of our people, the letter dated January stated.

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Nwokos decision to leave the PDP comes after serving the party since its inception in 1999.

He attributed his resignation to the Partys nternal strife, highlighting a recent incident where top party functionaries engaged in physical altercations.

READ ALSO: I Was Supposed To Be Aboard Ill-Fated Titan Submersible  Ned Nwoko As He Mourns Friend

Just this week, precisely on the 29th of January, the top party functionaries degenerated to the lowest levels by physically fighting themselves arising from the stated factions, which have become irreconcilable, he revealed.

Despite his resignation, Nwoko reassured his constituents of his unwavering dedication to serving them.

While I bid farewell to my membership in the PDP, I assure all party members and my constituents of my unwavering dedication to statesmanship, he said.

Nwokos resignation has sparked speculation about his potential defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), although this has not been officially confirmed.
South African model Tshego Gaelae has emerged as the winner of the 40th Mrs World pageant, which took place in Las Vegas, United States of America.

Sri Lankas Ishadi Amanda finished as the first runner-up, while Thailands Ploy Panperm took the second runner-up spot.

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Gaelae celebrated her victory by expressing gratitude in an Instagram post on Friday, writing, To God Be The Glory. Thank you so much for the love and support, I am beyond grateful and elated! My beautiful South Africa, the crown is coming Home.

READ MORE: Sean Combs Faces New Indictment Over Alleged Sexual Abuse, Trafficking Of Three Women

Mrs World, the first beauty pageant dedicated to married women, was established in 1984.

Mrs South Africa, the organisation that supported her journey, also celebrated the achievement in a social media post, stating, From Soweto to Vegas and now the World, @mrsworldpageant The Crown is Coming Home! Thank you to everyone who supported our Queen on her incredible Journey.

Thank you to the @mrsworldpageant organisation and judges for everything you do, and for seeing our queen and her brilliance. What an honour to have a South African queen as the 40th Anniversary Mrs World, and first ever Black Mrs World.

Gaelaes victory follows the escalating rivalry between South Africa and Nigeria in the beauty pageant world.

The first Nigerian and West African to place as the first runner-up at the Miss Universe 2024 pageant, which took place in Mexico City in November, was Chidimma Adetshina, the 2024 Miss Universe Nigeria.

Adetshina, who also earned the title of Miss Universe Africa and Oceania, came under scrutiny regarding her South African citizenship, a controversy that prompted her to withdraw from the Miss South Africa pageant.

Adetshina was later invited to compete in the Miss Universe Nigeria 2024 pageant, where she emerged as the winner.

The situation sparked debates over the increasing competition between the two nations.

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Microsoft has moved TypeScript 5.8 into the beta stage. The new release of the companys typed superset of JavaScript introduces a limited form of type checking against conditional types in return statements.

The TypeScript 5.8 beta was introduced January 29. To get started with the beta, developers can execute the following command in NPM: npm install -D typescript@beta .

With checked returns for conditional and accessed types, TypeScript now supports a limited form of checking against conditional types in return statements, to avoid type assertions. There is an issue with type assertions in that they can defeat legitimate checks that TypeScript otherwise would perform. With TypeScript 5.8, when a functions return type is a generic conditional type, TypeScript now will use control flow analysis for generic parameters whose types are used in the conditional type, instantiate the conditional type with the narrowed type of each parameter, and relate against that new type.
A Target store in Clifton, N.J. Target joined a growing list of corporate giants such as Meta, Walmart, and McDonald's who are retreating from diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments. Backlash on social media featured calls to boycott the retailer, but owners of Black brands are urging consumers to keep buying their products at Target. Read more

Chantel Powell remembers the day her 6-year-old son, Kameron, came home from summer camp smelling like a man. It was July 2017, the kind of sticky, airless heat that made deodorant essential  but none of the options on the market seemed safe enough for her child, nor appealing enough to make him want to use them. In her kitchen, Powell improvised: baking soda, cornstarch, coconut oil and a few drops of citrus essential oil. She swiped the concoction under Kamerons arms and sent him back to camp.

The next afternoon, he ran into the house beaming: Mom, I told all the kids about your deodorant. You have to make it for everybody.

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By 2018, she had launched Play Pits, a line of natural deodorants designed for kids. She would go into Target and place her product on the shelves of the personal-care aisle to imagine something bigger for her brand. What began as a grassroots effort  selling at markets and salons  eventually did catch the attention of a Target buyer scrolling her website. In March 2022, Play Pits landed on shelves in 296 Target stores, an unprecedented feat for a Black-woman-owned business of its size.

My competition is Unilever, Procter & Gamble  big conglomerates, Powell told the Washington Post. To see my product in Target stores was a milestone.

But now, that hard-won success feels tenuous. Target recently announced plans to scale back its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including its three-year racial equity goals aimed at improving opportunities for Black-owned businesses and suppliers. The retailer, which once championed programs to diversify its shelves, has joined a growing list of corporate giants  Meta, Walmart, McDonalds  that are retreating from DEI commitments.

The backlash was immediate and visceral. Social media lit up with calls to boycott Target, with Black consumers leading the charge. Yet Powell and other Black owners of brands featured in Target stores are urging customers to clear the shelves and keep buying their products at Target. A boycott, they warn, could jeopardize their livelihoods.

If our core customer base stops supporting us at Target, Powell said, our businesses might not survive.

Emmy-winning actress and vegan lifestyle creator Tabitha Brown, whose partnership with Target spans collections from swimwear to food, took to Instagram recently with a plea to her 4 million followers. Dont let them erase us, she said, addressing the financial strain Black brands face in retail. Lets not give them what they want. Dont let them take us off shelves.

Her words echoed across the Black entrepreneurial community. The Doux, a natural hair-care line, posted on Instagram that buying directly on a brands website might sound supportive, but it can unintentionally hurt businesses that have invested heavily in retail partnerships.  The best way to support The Doux right now is to CLEAR THE SHELVES.

Through Targets DEI programs, the retailer offered better shelf placement, discounted promotional opportunities, and faster payouts  crucial benefits in an industry where companies must front the cost of inventory before seeing a dime.

Big-box retailers are a predictable revenue stream, Powell said. Online, I might make $2,000 one day and $200 the next. But with Target, I have a consistent flow of income. Its also a convenient opportunity for my customers to shop my products. For moms, convenience is key.

Powell fears the ripple effects of Targets decision to scale back DEI programs will devastate her 15 employees, most of whom are mothers. Its frustrating. Corporations jumped on the bandwagon to support Black businesses when it was trendy. Now that its easier to discard us, thats what theyre doing, she said.

Shontay Lundy, founder of Black Girl Sunscreen, knows the stakes well. Her company became the first sunscreen brand owned by a Black woman to secure year-round shelf space at Target in 2019, an achievement that helped her grow her 25-person, mostly Black female staff in Los Angeles. She steered her customers to buy at Target over her own website.

Although BGS is not part of any Target DEI initiatives, Lundy believes the Target announcement will impact her business.

When you think about boycotting, youre affecting many, many lives, Lundy said, noting that alternatives such as Costco, which is doubling down on its DEI commitments, arent viable for most Black-owned businesses because of the sheer scale of inventory required. If you cant survive in Target, you cant survive in Costco.

For Black entrepreneurs and Black women, 2024 was a grueling year, she said. It feels like we cant catch a break, Lundy said. But we have to stay grounded and not be reactive.

Pernell Cezar, cofounder of BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages, urged consumers to stay focused on the bigger picture. If youre going to support Black businesses, you need to hold yourself accountable to that cause, he said. It takes more than one level of disruption to stop any of our progress. But its hard to make progress when we feel deterred.

BLK & Bold, known for its sustainably sourced coffees and teas, is stocked in 1,500 Target stores. Black entrepreneurs are cutting our teeth in ways we havent experienced before, Cezar said. This is another part of that journey. Theres a huge importance in Black entrepreneurs being respected by the systems we partner with as well as by consumers. I dont want us to get lost amongst each other.

For Son-ja Haile, the founder of Satya + Sage, Target was a lifeline. Her candles have been sold on Target.com since 2021. Over the weekend, her sales doubled  an apparent surge of support for Black-owned brands after Targets decision. But the cost of maintaining her presence online has been steep. It costs thousands of dollars, like five figures, to run a two-week ad on Target, she said. One of Targets DEI programs helped make that expense manageable.

If the program is taken away, will my products still be sold online? Will they drop me? she wondered. I really hoped to get my products in store.
A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to two to four years in prison after having been convicted of using his status as a member of a local Jehovahs Witnesses congregation to sexually assault a 4-year-old girl nearly two decades ago.

A Philadelphia jury convicted David Balosa, 63, of two felony counts of aggravated indecent assault and related misdemeanors in September in connection with the 1998 incident. In addition to his prison sentence, Balosa received six years of probation, and will be included on the sex offender registry for the remainder of his life, the state Attorney Generals Office said.

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Balosa moved to Philadelphia from Angola in the mid-1990s, and began living with a Witness congregation family in the citys Olney neighborhood, court documents indicate. He remained in the familys home for about a month, and lived in the houses basement.

During his time there, Balosa sexually abused the familys 4-year-old daughter, and instructed the girl not to tell anyone about the incident. The girl, who is not identified in court records, did not tell her parents of the abuse for about a decade.

When she was 15, the girl informed her parents Balosa had assaulted her, and they later confronted him. Balosa denied the girls allegations, but later admitted the abuse, according to court records.

An attorney representing Balosa declined to comment.

Charges were brought against Balosa in July 2023 as part of a grand jury investigation into the Witnesses handling of sexual-abuse cases. Four other men connected with the group were charged with raping and exploiting children at that time. Since October 2022, the Attorney Generals Office has brought charges against more than a dozen members of Witness congregations across Pennsylvania as a result of grand jury investigations.

Those investigations began following a 2018 Inquirer report that found that Witness leaders had for decades worked to prevent information about child sexual assaults from becoming public. The U.S. branch of Jehovahs Witnesses previously told The Inquirer that any sexual abuse sickens the organization, adding that child sexual abuse is a particularly twisted act of evil.

For many years, this survivor lived without a sense of justice or closure for crimes that they endured as a child  and without their bravery, this conviction would not have been possible, Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement about Balosas case. I also commend the Grand Jurors and trial jurors who gave their time and attention to determining the facts in this very important matter.
Photos of Naseem Smith laid out on his mothers kitchen table. Read more

The stakes had never been higher, Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope told the judge. If Markevon Durham is ever released from prison, she said, he will kill again.

This has been the most important case of my career, Pope said. I believe if he ever gets out, he will find Christina Parker and he will try to kill her.

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Durham, in a twisted, torturous quest to try to win back Parker, his ex-girlfriend, had stalked and kidnapped her, burned down five homes, and then finally killed her new boyfriend, 23-year-old Naseem Smith.

 READ MORE: Kidnapping, arson, and murder: How one man avoided Philly police while terrorizing his ex-girlfriend

The streak of terror began in the summer of 2017. Parker, then 21, broke up with Durham after learning that he had lied about his age and was married with children.

That fall, after Parker started dating Smith, Durham began to stalk and torment them. He cut off Parkers ponytail on a subway platform and kidnapped her. He burned down five homes in search of her and Smith, using a background check tool to locate their and their families addresses. He shot at Smiths cousin, mistakenly thinking he was Smith, but missed.

For months, Smith, Parker, and their loved ones pleaded for help from Philadelphia police, telling investigators over and over that Durham was the one behind these crimes.

But law enforcement never intervened. And ultimately, on the night of Nov. 8, 2018, Durham got his way. He found Smith and shot him multiple times, killing him.

Six years later, in November 2024, after dogged detective and prosecutorial work, Durham was convicted by a judge of all of the crimes, including third-degree murder. And on Friday, he was finally scheduled to be sentenced.

The gallery of the courtroom was filled with more than two dozen of Smiths loved ones. They remembered him as a caring brother and friend whose spirit lit up every room, Parker said. He had a way of making everyone around him happy, said his brother, Yusef Smith.

At the time of his death, he had a 10-month-old son who now, at 7 years old, constantly asks about his father.

He has questions every day  He wants to know what happened and I dont know how to explain it without damaging him, said Erika Cole, the childs mother.

Coles home was one of five that Durham burned down. She was breastfeeding her and Smiths son, who was only 3 days old, when she heard an explosion, and saw the back of her home erupt in flames.

Nashawna Leake, Smiths mother, was the last relative to speak, and she was unwavering and unforgiving.

My son, he was wonderful, he had no enemies, she said. You are the enemy. You are the devil.

After hearing the testimony, Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott OKeefe ordered Durham, 34, to spend 66 to 176 years in prison. The sentence effectively means he will spend the rest of his life behind bars  Durham will be 100 years old by the time he becomes eligible for parole.

At that, Smiths family erupted in applause.

Durham, who represented himself at a weekslong trial, asked OKeefe on Friday to reconsider his conviction, and requested a new trial. He even asked to be appointed a new lawyer, saying he had never wanted to represent himself in the first place.

Pope scoffed at this. In jail calls during the trial, she said, Durham said representing himself was all part of his plan because he wanted to go head-to-head with the judge.

OKeefe denied his requests.

Durham maintained his innocence and asked for the lowest possible sentence for my children, for my family. At one point, he even compared himself to Jesus, saying that theyre similar in that he, too, is a wrongfully persecuted man.

I am a God-fearing man, Durham said. I never was a danger to these people. Ill never be a danger to these people.

Parker and Smiths family just shook their heads.

Parker, standing before the court, was short of words. She said Smith showed her what it meant to be truly loved, and that Durham had stolen her best friend from her. She now suffers from PTSD and depression.

I struggle every day just to get up, he said.

After the hearing, the families hugged Pope and Homicide Detective Robert Daly, who for months pored over cell phone records and pieced together Durhams crimes, ultimately leading to his arrest.

Outside the courtroom, Parker said she was overcome with relief. For more than six years, they had waited for this moment, and now, she said, she will never have to worry about seeing Durham again.

A weight has been lifted, she said. And I can, in a way, try to move on.
Two Montgomery County men were charged in a failed murder-for-hire plot earlier this week, according to prosecutors.

Zunir Wilson-Walker, 22, an inmate at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, and Jadan Uriah Jones, 20, of Norristown, are accused of planning to kill Wilson-Walkers ex-girlfriend, the mother of his 1-year-old child.

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In a recorded phone conversation from the correctional facility on Nov. 9, 2024, Wilson-Walker asked Jones to create a fake Instagram account to solicit someone to murder Wilson-Walkers ex-girlfriend, according to a statement by the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office. He instructed Jones to then use the platforms stories, which disappear after 24 hours, to offer $15,000, a Cartier watch, and a car to kill the woman, as well as include her home address and other identifying information, according to prosecutors. In a follow-up call later that day, prosecutors said, Wilson-Walker gave Jones a name for the account, walkdownmontt.

Before the November phone call, Wilson-Walker had lost his inmate phone privileges because of verbal abuse and threats he had made toward his ex-girlfriend over the phone, a prison investigation determined, according to the district attorneys office. Then, Wilson-Walker sent the woman several harassing and threatening messages using a tablet, which resulted in the suspension of his tablet privileges, prosecutors said. These actions violated a protection-from-abuse order issued for the woman in April 2023, prosecutors said.

Jail officials learned that Wilson-Walker had been using another inmates telephone account by the end of November, which prompted them to listen to the recorded calls and then alert Montgomery County detectives, according to the district attorneys statement.

Hours after the second phone call on Nov. 9, the walkdownmontt account posted eight private stories that included insults about Wilson-Walkers ex-girlfriend, her home address, a description of her car, and a location where she would be on a specific date, as well as the offered payment for her to get beat up or took off the map, according to the district attorneys statement. Authorities have not released the womans identity.

After filing a search warrant with Instagrams parent company, Meta, detectives learned that the account was associated with Jones cell phone number and had been created minutes after Wilson-Walker told Jones what to name it, according to the statement.

Wilson-Walker and Jones are both charged with criminal solicitation of first-degree murder and other related offenses. Wilson-Walker is also charged with stalking, making terroristic threats, and other charges related to the woman.

Both men were arraigned earlier this week and are scheduled for preliminary hearings in February.
Crozer-Chester Medical Center could be sold if a proposed deal is finalized. Read more

Bankrupt Prospect Medical Holdings announced Friday that it intends to sell Crozer Health to a not-for-profit consortium of health-care operators, with state involvement in its plan, but officials from the Pennsylvania attorney general and governors offices monitoring the bankruptcy did not confirm that a deal had been reached.

The announcement by Prospect does not mean a deal will be completed. This is the third time Prospect has announced a sale of Crozer since 2022. The two previous proposed sales fell through. Prospect did not name the health-care operators who would participate in a consortium.

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Representatives from Jefferson Health, University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Temple University Health System did not immediately respond to an email asking whether those organizations are part of the consortium.

Penn had offered to provide assistance when the state sued last fall seeking to take over Crozer. Jefferson and Temple are providing services at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Main Line Healths hospitals have cared for additional patients because of the turmoil at Crozer, but the nonprofit is not participating in a nonprofit health-care consortium to acquire Crozer Health at this time, spokesperson Phil Ellingsworth Jr. said in an email.

Main Line has been involved in conversations aimed at solutions should a closure occur and stand ready to work with partners to address any community needs, Ellingsworth wrote.

Prospect is a for-profit company, based in California, that operates outpatient clinics and two hospitals  Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park  in Delaware County, where the system is the largest health-care provider.

Prospect previously closed two other Crozer hospitals in Springfield and Drexel Hill.

It its emergency motion Friday, Prospect said that an agreement was reached merely hours before the potentially unavoidable decision to shut hospital doors and begin turning away patients would have been made.

The motion did not include a copy of the sale agreement, as is usually the case in such filings, suggesting that the agreement was not complete when the motion was filed just before 11 a.m.

The motion also says that the state attorney general had agreed to a settlement with Samuel Lee and David Topper, two top Prospect executives who collected a combined $160.5 million in dividends between 2011 and 2019, according to a recent U.S. Senate Budget Committee report.

Lee and Topper were targeted in an Oct. 29 attorney general lawsuit that aimed to claw back some of the profits Prospect and its private-equity owner Leonard Green Partners & Partners took out of Crozer.

A copy of Lee and Toppers settlement was not included in the filing.

If a final agreement is reached, a bankruptcy hearing would be held Thursday to seek emergency approval of the sale, Prospects news release said.

Prospect was under pressure to unload Crozer this week because its bankruptcy budget had money for Crozer only through Friday, according to the sale motion.

Prospects bankruptcy lawyer, Thomas R. Calfano, of Sidley Austin, said in a Jan. 14 bankruptcy hearing that Crozer had a $130 million annual operating loss.

The new release noted that the proposed sale remains subject to definitive documentation. The company did not respond to a question about why it announced the sale before a final agreement was reached.

Difficult negotiations

Prospect, which filed for bankruptcy Jan. 11, has been negotiating with representatives of Gov. Josh Shapiros administration and the state attorney general to transfer Crozer to a new nonprofit. Pennsylvania officials have been involved because the state has been working for more than a year to keep open the hospitals, which are seen as vital providers of health care in a low-income area.

Multiple sources familiar with talks over the future of Crozer say state officials hope that that a temporary manager known as a receiver could stabilize Crozer in six to nine months. It would then be transferred to a new nonprofit backed by other local health systems.

That time would also be used to determine what services are essential and financially sustainable for Chester and other nearby communities that depend on Crozer.

It was unclear how much money would be needed to sustain services at Crozer during a transition to a new nonprofit, or whether the state would provide such funding. A sticking point in negotiations is whether the new entity would be responsible for any of Prospects liabilities at Crozer.

The bankruptcy filing last month followed years of turmoil, slashed programs, and multiple rounds of layoffs since Prospect acquired Crozer in 2016 from the nonprofit Crozer Keystone Health System. Prospect has been trying to sell Crozer and hospitals in Connecticut and Rhode Island since fall 2021.

Among the recent cutbacks by Crozer was the closure of Philadelphia Cyberknife on Dec. 31 without proper 60-day notice, according to a recently released state inspection report. The facility in Havertown provided treat cancer.

Crozer still fills an essential role: The emergency departments at its hospitals had a combined 65,000 visits in 2023. The two units, which share a single license, were the sixth busiest ED in Southeastern Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia, according to state health data.

Staff writer Sarah Gantz contributed to this article.

Editors note: This story was updated with additional detail and comment.
Detail of a person with a malignant melanoma, which is a malignant skin tumor that involves the skin cells that produce pigment. But was that the cause of the spot on Ben Murray's nose? (American Cancer Society/Getty Images/TNS) Read more

The pea-size spot near the tip of his nose seemed so innocuous Ben Murray thought it might have been numb for a while and he simply hadnt noticed.

In March 2020, Murray, a videographer and editor for the Military Times, had other things on his mind. The pandemic was in its frightening initial throes, and Murrays wife, Rebecca, was pregnant with their first child.

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For the next few months Murray, then 42, periodically touched the spot, which seemed unchanged. He decided, he said, it was something weird that would go away on its own. But by August the numbness had spread, the area had reddened, and it once bled for no apparent reason.

The following month he saw a dermatologist, the first of six doctors he would consult over the next seven months.

In April 2021, more than a year after he first noticed the spot, Murray learned what it was. The discovery cleaved his life into distinct halves: before the diagnosis and after it.

He and his family have spent the past four years coping with a malady so unusual Murray likens it to a meteor hitting a leprechaun. Treatment has proved to be far more grueling and protracted than anyone expected.

When you get something like this, youre not just trying to get better, observed Murray, who said his ordeal led him to discover a resilience he hadnt known he possessed. Youre doing it to be able to soldier through ... [and to] keep everyone around you as sane and as unburdened as they can be.

Possible rosacea

The first dermatologist Murray consulted in September 2020, a month after his son was born, thought he had rosacea, a common and chronic inflammatory skin condition that causes redness on the nose and cheeks. The doctor prescribed a series of creams. None helped.

Murray decided he might have better luck with a primary care doctor. An online search yielded an internist not far from his Maryland home, whom he saw in December 2020.

The internist looked at his nose, said he didnt know what was wrong and referred Murray to an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physician.

After ordering blood tests, the ENT diagnosed a staph infection, a common bacterial disorder.

He seemed pretty sure he had nailed it, Murray recalled. But none of the prescribed creams reduced the redness or numbness.

The ENT then ordered a CT scan of Murrays head, which revealed chronic sinusitis. One possible treatment was sinus surgery, which the doctor said might relieve pressure on a nerve that could be causing numbness.

But the surgeon cautioned Murray that he wasnt convinced sinus surgery was the answer and recommended another opinion.

A second ENT prescribed another round of creams. They didnt work, and in April 2021 he performed a biopsy.

Days later Murray learned that the biopsy revealed skin cancer, the most common malignancy, although the type was unclear.

There are three main types of skin cancer along with several others doctors do not commonly encounter. Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer that accounts for 80% of cases, is diagnosed between 2 million and 4 million times a year in the United States. Squamous cell, diagnosed more than 1 million times annually, tends to be more aggressive. Melanoma, the most lethal of the three, accounts for about 100,000 cases annually. All are linked to sun exposure.

Surgery to remove the cancer, along with surrounding tissue that can harbor malignant cells, is a common treatment. It is typically most successful when cancer is detected early.

Determining the identity of Murray's cancer, which would guide treatment, fell to a Northern Virginia dermatopathologist, a pathologist who specializes in dermatology cases, and two specialists in dermatologic oncology.

Breathtakingly drastic

One of the dermatologists told Murray the spot on his nose was either squamous cell cancer or a malignancy so uncommon it hardly bore mentioning, he remembers.

Days later Murray received stunning news. Pathologists had settled on the second, extremely rare option  an aggressive form of squamoid eccrine ductal carcinoma (SEDC), or cancer of the sweat glands, which shares some features of squamous cell carcinoma. Murrays dermatologist said he was seeking a second opinion at Johns Hopkins.

Hopkins pathologists concurred with the diagnosis.

First described in 1997, SEDC is typically found on the head or neck and sometimes the limbs. It has been reported in a few hundred people worldwide, many of them men over 70. Because so few cases have been recorded, little is known about it.

This is one of those diagnoses that if you dont have it in the back of your mind youre probably not going to make it because its so rare, said surgical oncologist Michael Lowe, an associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine who specializes in complex skin cancer treatment.

Lowe, an expert for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said that while he's seen hundreds of cases of cancer affecting the sweat glands, he's not sure he's ever encountered a patient with SEDC, which is characterized by atypical squamous cells along with distinctive ductal features.

Reeling from the unexpected diagnosis, Murray and his wife scrambled to decide how to proceed and consulted doctors in Northern Virginia, Baltimore, and Cleveland.

Treatment options quickly narrowed. A genetic study found that immunotherapy, which uses medications that harnesses the bodys immune system, was unlikely to be effective. Radiation alone would probably fail, doctors said. Mohs surgery, which involves removing the cancer layer by layer until none remains, offered no benefit.

The consensus recommendation was rhinectomy, an operation to remove part or all of Murrays nose, followed by six weeks of radiation. That would be followed by a series of reconstructive surgeries estimated to take about 18 months using custom-made facial prostheses along with tissue harvested from Murrays thigh and cartilage from his ribs. In a rare bit of good news, tests showed that the malignancy had not spread beyond his nose.

My initial reaction was no friggin way, Murray said in a 2021 interview, adding that he regarded nose removal surgery as medieval.

But he was also a new father who desperately wanted to see his son grow up and was acutely aware that a recurrence could kill him or require even more extensive facial surgery.

Its difficult to clear the skin of the nose without clearing the nose, said Emorys Lowe, which is why rhinectomy is the preferred treatment for some cancers. Although cosmetic considerations are undeniably important, he said, the paramount goal of treatment is to eradicate the cancer.

But, he acknowledged, there are significant social and psychological impacts particularly for younger patients. You can have terrible colon cancer and get an ostomy bag and no one knows. But rhinectomy patients have to wear the effects of this cancer all the time. Theres no hiding it.

As weeks passed, doctors at Johns Hopkins, where Murray had decided to undergo treatment, pressed him to make a decision  and soon.

They said, Look, its an aggressive cancer, and its getting worse by the day  they could actually see it growing,  he said.

I went through a lot of agony trying to save [my nose], Murray recalled. In the end, he decided the drastic operation was his only choice.

A slowed pace

Murrays outpatient rhinectomy occurred on July 9, 2021.

In what he calls one of the worst moments of his life, Murray said that the first question he asked his wife in the recovery room was whether any of his nose remained. The answer was no; the cancer had infiltrated more deeply than his Hopkins ENT surgeon hoped. But in a critically important finding, the pathology report showed that the margins  healthy tissue surrounding the tumor  were free of detectable cancer cells.

Radiation, which turned out to be much tougher than Murray expected, began a month later. Treatments were administered five days a week for six weeks. The first month Murray lost more than 20 pounds.

Since then, the complex, exacting, and sometimes searingly painful reconstructive surgeries that were supposed to take a total of about 18 months have stretched to more than 3 years and are still underway. Murray was initially told he might need about six operations; so far he has undergone 18. His doctors hope to complete the process this year.

One reason for the slow pace is that Murray is believed to have malignant hyperthermia, a rare genetic condition that causes a potentially fatal reaction to certain anesthesia drugs and requires special precautions. The problem was discovered after he underwent an emergency appendectomy at 17 and suffered a severe drug reaction that included a dangerously high fever.

Lowe said that the damage caused by radiation may have complicated reconstruction. In the summer of 2022, a year into the process, Hopkins surgeons discovered that the tissue and cartilage used to fashion a new nose had essentially collapsed and been resorbed by Murrays body, requiring them to start over.

The unexpected setback, which Murray was told is rare, was crushing. It was another stroke of bad luck, he said.

Creating support

One of the most difficult aspects of his new reality, Murray said, has been coping with feelings of profound isolation coupled with the radical change in his appearance  terrain explored by the late poet Lucy Grealy in her extraordinary 1994 memoir of childhood jaw cancer titled The Autobiography of a Face.

It was way harder in the beginning, Murray said. It really kind of cripples you for a bit. His wife, he said, has been an absolute star and his family an unshakable presence.

In an effort to update friends and family, Murray chronicled his ordeal in a dozen wry, unflinching, and sometimes graphic pieces posted on Medium.

The mental aspect of this particular disfigurement is tough, Murray said. Very few people have it. I still look kind of funny and am not unaffected by it.

His son, now 4, rarely mentions it, but Murray said other children ask all the time, Whats wrong with your face?

The singularity of his experience has been particularly difficult. Murray, who remains cancer-free, has never met another person diagnosed with SEDC. Before his first surgery he managed to speak with one man in his late 80s whose nose had been removed 30 years earlier. He was not all that cogent, Murray recalled.

Before his surgery Murray said he had hoped to prepare himself by working with a therapist who had treated rhinectomy patients. He was unable to find one.

He encountered a similar void trying to glean practical information about postoperative care. When he began bleeding unexpectedly after one operation and telephoned for help, a nurse told him to pinch his nose closed. When he told her he didnt have one, she kept repeating the same instruction.

His experiences led him to start the Rhinectomy Support Network, a website and support group he hopes will benefit others.

Murrays efforts, Lowe said, reflect a glaring need that remains largely unmet by the medical system.

Psychological support and home care are all parts of a patients care, the Atlanta surgeon said. Its important for people whove undergone a rhinectomy to know you are not alone, that theres someone else out there whos going through what youve gone through.

It takes a good amount of understanding and acceptance and wanting to put yourself out there, Lowe said of Murrays outreach. I commend him immensely for that.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaking at swearing in of Attorney General Dave Sunday (rear left) at the Forum Auditorium in Harrisburg on Jan. 21. Read more

HARRISBURG  Gov. Josh Shapiro will again pitch in his annual budget address next week that Pennsylvania should legalize recreational marijuana and tap into tax revenue like almost all of its neighboring states.

But legalizing recreational marijuana still faces major hurdles in Pennsylvania, where the GOP-controlled state Senate is not sold on the idea.

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Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said in an interview earlier this month that Senate Republicans still have logistic reservations about marijuanas federal classification as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin, as well as whether state government could support a recreational program.

Its a practicality issue more than a philosophical issue, Pittman said.

Meanwhile, Democrats like Shapiro and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) say regulating the adult-use cannabis industry is a no-brainer, when all surrounding states  except West Virginia  are already profiting off Pennsylvanians crossing state lines.

Frankly, were losing all kinds of revenue to other states, Shapiro said in an interview earlier this month.

Shapiro proposed a 20% tax on legal marijuana as part of his budget address last year (and the year before). In his 2024 budget pitch, his administration estimated that an adult-use cannabis industry in the state could bring in $14.8 million in tax revenue in its first year and would be regulated by the Department of Agriculture. That estimate increased to $76 million in its second year, $160 million in its third, and $230 million in its fourth.

Still, some Pennsylvania Republicans seem more open to the cannabis industry after surrounding states, including Ohio, a GOP stronghold, legalized it.

And Pennsylvania will need new revenue generators to help fill a $4.5 billion budget shortfall as spending is set to outpace revenue beginning this fiscal year and is expected to grow in the coming ones  perhaps increasing lawmakers interest in taxing marijuana.

 READ MORE: Gov. Josh Shapiro says he got stuff done in his first two years. With a budget shortfall on the horizon, his biggest challenges are to come.

State Sens. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie) and Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) introduced a sweeping, bipartisan bill in the last legislative session to legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana. The bill would have set a minimum purchase and use age requirement of 21 years old, created a regulatory board and a cannabis business development fund, strengthened driving-under-the-influence laws for marijuana use, and more. But the bill never came up for a vote.

Laughlin has moved into a new leadership role as chairman of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, where a recreational marijuana bill would likely be assigned as the first step of the legislative process.

Similar marijuana legalization legislation was introduced in the Democratic-controlled House last session, but it also did not get a vote.

But Pittman, the leader of Senate Republicans, still doubts there is widespread support for legalizing recreational marijuana among his caucus  in part, he said, because of the way Pennsylvania implemented its medical marijuana program under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in 2016, with dispensaries opening around the state in 2018. But that process was fraught with issues, from weak oversight to unfair application of the law and more. A Spotlight PA investigation found that a small number of Pennsylvania doctors approve most of the states medical marijuana cards, among other issues.

Obviously, this state has not done well in rolling out medical marijuana, Pittman said. Weve not demonstrated our ability to have the bureaucracy manage something of that magnitude.

Both Pittman and Bradford said the other chamber should send them a bill to consider. However, Bradford was more confident that his narrow Democratic majority would be able to pass a measure legalizing recreational marijuana, in light of the lack of broad support in the GOP-controlled Senate.

It strikes me as abdicating our responsibility to protect our communities and our children, and at the same time, we are losing revenue that is going to go into our neighboring states, Bradford said. Yes, our numbers are close, but we are confident that we can get our numbers together and show that there is a path forward on cannabis.

Dave Sunday, Pennsylvanias new Republican attorney general, has said he opposes the legalization of adult-use cannabis but said that if it is legalized, he would follow state law.
Independence Hall relies on seasonal staff to keep up with tourists and crowds in the busy summer months. Read more

When federal workers received a memo from the U.S. governments human resources agency this week offering the chance to resign with eight months pay, some thought it might be spam.

Once you determine whether its real or not, its kind of like, what is this? said Philip Glover, national vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) District 3. His union represents about 9,400 federal workers in and near Philadelphia, among some 800,000 across the U.S. and abroad.

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In a memo to federal workers Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered a deferred resignation. Those who agree, by Feb. 6, to leave their jobs will retain all pay and benefits  and an exemption from Trump-era in-person work mandates  until Sept. 30.

Those who pass up the offer do not have full assurance that their position or agency will continue to exist, according to the memo.

The memo is one in a series of directives under President Donald Trumps second administration aimed at overhauling federal agencies. Trump signed several executive orders on his first day in office to freeze hiring, bring federal workers back to in-person work full time, and end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in federal government.

 READ MORE: Donald Trumps executive orders are likely to have a tangible impact on Philadelphias federal workers

The Inquirer spoke with union leaders and local federal workers from across several agencies, some on the basis of anonymity due to fear of retaliation in the workplace. Several said Trumps executive orders and the resignation memo have caused anxiety, distrust in the federal government, and confusion about the future of their jobs. Theyre also concerned that essential government services could suffer.

An odd and informal email

Typically, the leaders of federal agencies communicate with their own employees directly. Federal workers receiving an email from OPM was very odd said Glover.

Some noticed how the memos title  Fork in the Road  mimicked the subject line in Elon Musks email to Twitter employees when the billionaire took over.

The recent directives jibe with the goals of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Musk, who has been tasked with identifying and eradicating whats deemed to be wasteful spending, including shrinking the federal workforce.

The memo marked a major shift from the federal governments usual level of formality, said Marie Owens Powell, president of AFGEs Council 238 which represents over 8,500 EPA employees across the country.

Seeing something thats literally called Fork in the Road was not what one would expect, whatsoever, said Powell.

Uncertainty about job security

The OPM has said it intends to shrink a majority of federal agencies through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force, according to the offer notice. The memo also says federal workers should be reliable, loyal, trustworthy and that performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those that exceed expectations.

I dont feel real good about this loyalty test that theyre pushing forward, said Glover.

The OPM did not respond to a request for comment on the loyalty language and new performance standards.

 READ MORE: Who are the Philly regions federal workers? A look at the employees impacted by Trumps recent executive orders.

A Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employee in Philadelphia, who has been a federal worker since 2016, was shocked by OPMs resignation offer and wondered: Is my job in jeopardy?

The nine-year federal worker thought she would retire as a federal employee, but has begun to rethink that. She thought government work offered job security, but is less certain now.

What does the future hold for me? she said. I dont know, because it seemed like anything can happen within a week.

Another Philadelphia VBA worker, a five-year employee, said she found the memos language troubling.

Our jobs are uncertain because that email reads that you have to be performing at above the exceptional level, she said. That would be the norm  for everyone, and that is not realistic.

Questions around funding and legality

AFGEs lawyers are looking into the legality of the offer, said Glover. While it offers to pay workers through September if they accept, federal government spending is currently funded through March 14.

OPM regulations typically only allow buyouts of up to $25,000 per person unless Congress makes an exception, noted Glover. The average federal worker makes $106,382 per year, according to OPM data, which is about $71,000 from now to September.

Union leaders are skeptical of the offer  two, speaking with The Inquirer, called it a scam. The AFGE is urging caution to members considering the resignation.

Theres not yet any evidence the administration can or will uphold its end of the bargain, that Congress will go along with this unilateral massive restructuring, or that appropriated funds can be used this way, among other issues that have been raised, an AFGE spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said the unions locals and councils may demand to bargain over the program and could file grievances or unfair labor practice charges alleging the federal government directly communicated with employees, bypassing the unions.

A changing workplace

Several federal agencies offer hybrid schedules  something workers (and their bosses) have gotten used to.

Trumps executive order mandating a return to full-time in-person work might not be physically possible, workers said.

The Northeast Regional Office for the National Park Service, on Market Street in Philadelphia, can only hold about 60 employees, said Dave Fitzpatrick, secretary-treasurer of the AFGE Council 270 and a retired National Park Service maintenance employee in Philadelphia. The parks administrative workers would claim desks on a hoteling system that complemented their in-person schedules.

If you needed a desk for a couple of days, you would make a reservation, so now theyre telling all these folks to come back, Fitzpatrick said. Theres physically not enough room for them to fit into that space.

At the Philadelphia VBA: I think were going to be squished like a can of sardines, said the nine-year federal worker.

And returning to the office full time could mean an added expense for those who will now need additional help to care for children or other family members, workers said.

One Philly VA employee who has worked for the agency for more than 20 years said a flexible work-from-home schedule allowed them to attend medical appointments with their mom, who has been diagnosed with cancer. The employee themself also has a chronic illness, which was slightly easier to manage with telework.

Now, the VA employee said, Im gonna have to take a lot more time off in order to accommodate those necessary appointments. But they want to keep their job, to continue to help people rather than take an easy buyout and give up.

Federal governments future with a shrunken workforce

If employees do take the resignation offer, there is no expectation their roles would be filled again, said Powell, who represents EPA workers.

The work that they do would cease to be done, said Powell. At the EPA that includes responding to emergencies, cleaning up toxic pollution, sampling water, and monitoring air.

When theres nobody to call, theres going to be a problem, she said. The people that are there to respond to these emergencies, to do these cleanups, to make sure your water is clean or your air is breathable and safe for you and your children are not going to be there.

It takes federal workers to process passports, keep airplanes flying, and national parks running, Glover notes.

Brad Starnes, president of AFGEs Local 3631, described OPMs email as a rather ominous communication.

Wednesday morning, he got a flood of phone calls and emails from union members he represents, which includes EPA employees in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Workers were blindsided and shocked, he said.

You cannot just pull people out of an organization that provides the breadth of services that we provide that are truly needed, and expect that  there will not be severe impacts on the American people, said Starnes. Thats what scares me. Nothing like this has ever happened. This is new ground.

Independence Hall relies on seasonal staff to keep up with tourists and crowds in the busy summer months, and with the hiring freeze and the deferred resignation program, individuals seeking to learn about Philadelphia and U.S. history may be sorely disappointed, said Fitzpatrick, the retired parks employee in Philadelphia.

I dont know what the summer season is going to look like at Independence, but theres going to be a lot of people standing outside trying to get on tours that just arent going to happen, he said.

The hunger for Philadelphias tourist attractions is likely to escalate next year with the celebration of the nations 250th anniversary, which city officials are already preparing for. Trump himself has called for an extraordinary celebration in yet another executive order.

For one longtime employee with the National Park Service, telling the story of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution is not only a job  its personal.

We are dedicated employees in this park, more so than any park I have ever seen, and we take our jobs seriously because we know that sometimes this is it for these people, the employee said. This is the shot of what American history really is.
Pennsylvania State Sen. Anthony H. Williams speaks during a rally in 2022. He said he is "sounding an alarm" about a package of judicial appointments moving forward in Harrisburg that does not include Philadelphia, where nine seats are vacant. Read more

Less than a month into the new year, a routine process is causing a squabble in Harrisburg, with some Philadelphia officials expressing frustration over a slate of judges who are set to be appointed next week.

The dustup comes after a bipartisan group of lawmakers struck a deal to fill vacancies on courts across 10 Pennsylvania counties. But Philadelphia  which has the largest court system in the state, and where nine judicial seats are empty  isnt one of them.

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Several members of Philadelphias delegation to Harrisburg are concerned the city was left out of the deal, and the citys bar association says long vacancies in the Common Pleas Court have had a cascading effect on a stressed system. Seven of the courts nine open judicial seats have been empty for more than a year.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, a West Philadelphia Democrat who has served in Harrisburg for more than 35 years, said Philadelphias exclusion from the slate of appointments sets a precedent that reduces the citys influence in Harrisburg. He said legislative leaders advanced the slate without input from Philadelphias senators.

This was a deal struck without the members of the Philadelphia delegation saying theyre OK with it, Williams said. This is an absolute dilution of our Philadelphia delegations power.  For us to not be included is an insult.

Other lawmakers said theres nothing out of the ordinary. The Senate considers slates of judicial appointees on a rolling basis. For example, the state Senate confirmed 10 judges in 2023, five of whom were in Philadelphia. No judges were appointed last year.

A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) declined to comment.

State Sen. Nikil Saval, a Democrat who chairs the Philadelphia delegation, said he is hopeful the citys vacancies will be filled in a future appointment package.

Judicial vacancies are nothing new, as judges retire or are appointed to higher courts. To fill open seats outside of election season, Pennsylvania Democratic and Republican leaders typically work with the governors office to advance a slate that satisfies both parties. The governor appoints nominees to fill judicial and county row-office vacancies, who then must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the Senate, requiring bipartisan cooperation. (Magisterial district court judges outside Philadelphia require only a majority vote.)

An appointed judge fills the remainder of a predecessors 10-year term or serves until after the next municipal election, whichever is shorter. In Philadelphia, they make at least $228,400 per year.

 READ MORE: Justice delayed: Philly courts backlog leaves many jailed for months without a hearing

Philadelphias Common Pleas Court has the highest number of judicial vacancies of any court system in the state. The court  which is a trial-level court that handles serious crimes, cases involving children and families, and appeals from lower courts  should have 93 judges, but has been operating for months with 84.

The Philadelphia Bar Association, which has repeatedly called for lawmakers in Harrisburg to fill the vacancies, said in a statement that additional judges are needed immediately to relieve overcrowded schedules.

We simply cannot afford to wait any longer, said Katayun Jaffari, the chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association. We, again, urge our leaders in Harrisburg and Philadelphia to rise above political concerns and work collaboratively to fill these vacancies.

There are judicial vacancies in other counties, but no other Pennsylvania trial court is as understaffed as Philadelphias Common Pleas Court. Allegheny County is down six judges, but the package of appointments legislators are set to consider next week would fill three of those seats.

Every other county in the state has three or fewer judicial vacancies, according to a list provided by a spokesperson for the state courts system.

For Williams, excluding Philadelphia from any deal to fill judicial vacancies is a matter of reducing the citys influence. He said he expressed his extreme frustration to Costa, who told him that Philadelphia was not included in the package because the delegation was not unified behind its nominees to fill the seats.

Williams said the discord may have come down to one nominee: Larry Farnese, a former state senator now vying for a judgeship in Philadelphia.

Some caucus members expressed discomfort with Farneses nomination  shades of 2023, when sources said a long-simmering feud with another Philadelphia state senator tanked Farneses chances of being appointed from a short list of nominees.

Farnese did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

 READ MORE: Philly Democrats process of picking magic seat judges involved mischief and vengeance this year

Despite the internal strife, Williams said the delegation had coalesced around its judicial nominees  including Farnese. He said the group learned the city was left out of the appointment package and submitted a letter to Costa saying its members were in agreement, but by then it was too late, and a deal had already been struck.

This is not just about one judge, Williams said. This is about a process and precedent within the caucus.  Im sounding an alarm because others need to understand if this precedent is established, that means we will go forward with this being normal. And its not.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

In his first days in office, President Donald Trump has set his sights on eliminating diversity initiatives in the federal government often referred to as "DEI."

Trump seeks to reverse what he calls "discriminatory" DEI hiring practices put in place by former President Joe Biden, saying that workers should be hired based on merit alone. Most recently, he indicated DEI was to blame for a deadly plane crash Wednesday at Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed at least 64 people. That might explain why DEI was trending as a Google search term Friday.

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Here's what to know about DEI during the Trump administration:

What is DEI?

DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. It is sometimes called DEIA, or diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

In the workplace, DEI programs strive to create a more equitable working environment by removing barriers for those in communities that have historically been discriminated against. This includes women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Black Americans, those living with disabilities and more.

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Here's what each term in DEI/DEIA means:

Diversity: Presence of people with different cultures, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions and other characteristics

Presence of people with different cultures, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions and other characteristics Equity: Ensuring fair treatment and equal access to resources regardless of identity

Ensuring fair treatment and equal access to resources regardless of identity Inclusion: Creating spaces where all can feel belonging, acceptance and respect

Creating spaces where all can feel belonging, acceptance and respect Accessibility: Ensuring people of all abilities can participate

How did DEI start?

DEI in the U.S. originated with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, according to the Institute for Diversity Certification. Activists' efforts led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

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Education also became an area of focus for diversity efforts as schools were desegregated. Later, the Supreme Court ruled that higher education institutions could use affirmative action to foster diversity, according to the Institute for Diversity Certification.

The murder of George Floyd in 2020 sparked renewed efforts to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in workplace and education, leading to the DEI programs we see today, according to the Harvard Business Review.

ALSO READ: Go around the world with six dumplings at San Antonio restaurants

How has President Trump targeted DEI?

Trump issued an executive order Jan. 20 to terminate all DEI and "environmental justice" programs throughout the federal government.

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DEI staffers were placed on paid leave and will be laid off, according to the AP. Employees were threatened with "adverse consequences" if they did not report DEI programs that had been renamed in attempts to be spared from the widespread axing.

The executive order also instructs federal agencies to review all DEI-related programs and provide a list.

While Trump's executive order does not reach the private sector, some companies, such as Walmart and Target, have announced they will walk back DEI practices, the AP reported.
Keese joined Lloyds in 2019 and during his tenure as CFO, he played a significant role in the turnaround of Lloyds financial performance. His efforts in strengthening the organisations balance sheet led to Lloyds achieving the highest financial strength ratings in its history, as recognised by S&P Global and AM Best. Additionally, Keese contributed to positioning Lloyds as a market for global investors, supporting the development of the London Bridge 1 and 2 initiatives.
Though there are no defined parameters, this award will acknowledge someone with an established history and reputation of distinguished service to the insurance profession and who has exhibited leadership and provided inspiration to others in the sector and own workplace, whilst putting the interests of the industry at the top of their priorities throughout their career.
We have an incredibly talented team and James and Jason are both exceptional leaders. It is brilliant to see them continuing to develop their careers at CFC. I have no doubt that they, together with their teams, will go from strength to strength, OShea said.
It has been released as Australian insurers accelerate the adoption of AI and emerging digital technologies to enhance operational efficiency and customer engagement. According to the 2024 ISG Provider Lens Insurance Services report, insurers are focusing on digital transformation to optimise processes, improve risk management, and address challenges related to economic fluctuations and extreme weather claims.
Merten also noted that the sale is expected to result in a financial book gain of approximately $450 million and will increase Allstates deployable capital by $0.9 billion. However, the transaction will reduce Allstates adjusted net income return on equity by 75 basis points.
APCIA applauds Governor Kemp as well as Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, Speaker Jon Burns, and Senator John Kennedy for their commitment and ongoing leadership in addressing legal system abuse. We look forward to working with the governor and members of the House and Senate to pass this critical legislation this session, he said.
The American Airlines flight, en route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., had departed approximately 93 minutes earlier. The Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a routine training exercise at the time of the collision. Initial reports indicate that both aircraft were in communication with air traffic control, and the cause of the collision is under investigation.
Steadfast Group (Steadfast), the Australasian broker with operations in the United States, has announced the merger of two of its largest brokerages. The firms media release said the integration of Network Insurance Group and Insurance House is designed to expand their capabilities.
"We're excited to welcome the Stern Insurance Group team into our family. Daryl and Eric Stern have built an exceptional practice that truly reflects our values and value proposition, she said. Their outstanding expertise further strengthens our presence in Arizona, and we look forward to achieving new successes together and delivering even greater value to the clients we serve."
From the onset of the wildfires, insurers have been on the frontlines assisting customers with disaster recovery  proactively reaching out to impacted customers, setting up help centers, and deploying catastrophe teams to help residents get claims started and secure emergency housing, food, clothing and other resources in their time of need, Ritter said.
"Heed all the cautionary warnings that continue to come out of the large-scale unexpected flood losses: It can happen to you, and you can be better prepared for it," she said. "Have supplies ready and an exit plan should you need to evacuate the area. If you are sheltering in place, be prepared to shelter for at least a week."
There has been strong investor interest in the first capital raise, and we are confident that ARCP will provide Ariel Re with a growing source of multi-year capital in the years to come, he said.
The Massachusetts standard auto policy does not require an insurer to pay inherent diminished value (IDV) to a claimant whose vehicle is damaged by one of its insureds.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court in a 6-0 ruling has upheld dismissal of a proposed class action brought against Commerce Insurance Co. on behalf of claimants denied payments to cover the diminished fair market value of their vehicles after collisions and repairs.

The high court first found that the plaintiffs bringing the suit did not have standing to do so they must first obtain judgments against the Commerce insureds.

But the court went further. The justices decided, as a matter of discretion, that public policy would benefit from clarifying whether the 2016 standard policy provides coverage for IDV damages to a third-party claimants vehicles.

The high courts clear answer is that the 2016 standard policy does not provide coverage for IDV damages, unlike the earlier 2008 version of the policy. The language in the 2016 standard policy explicitly excludes any decreased value or intangible loss from coverage. No other laws or rulings require that IDV must be paid under the 2016 policy. And the state insurance commissioner did not exceed his authority in approving that 2016 policy with the IDV exclusion.

Lead Plaintiffs

The plaintiffs, Jeffrey Cubberley and Philip Seaver, sued Commerce in 2019 seeking a judgment declaring that Commerce was obligated to cover IDV damages and compensation for Commerces alleged breach of contract for refusing to pay them these damages. The proceedings were stayed, pending the outcome of a similar case (McGilloway v. Safety Ins. Co., 488 Mass. 610 (2021) in which the court eventually held that IDV damages were recoverable under the 2008 edition of the standard policy.

In the plaintiffs cases, Commerce had acknowledged liability for the damage caused by its insureds and processed the claims accordingly. However, while Commerce covered the full cost of repairs to restore the vehicles to their pre-collision condition, it refused to compensate the plaintiffs for any alleged IDV. As a result, each plaintiff claimed his vehicle is now worth less in the resale market than a comparable vehicle that has not suffered such damage from a collision.

A lower court granted Commerces motion to dismiss the complaint, citing the plain language of the policy. That judge did not address whether the plaintiffs had standing to bring their class action.

On the standing question, the high court found that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue Commerce over the diminished value because they had never actually obtained final judgments against Commerces insureds. Rather than obtaining final judgments against the insureds as required by law, the plaintiffs directly sued Commerce, alleging breach of contract.

In simpler terms, a third-party claimant must first secure a final judgment against the insured party before suing the insurer for an alleged failure to pay damages under the policy, the court explained.

Beyond Standing

Even though they had dismissed the case, the Supreme Court justices decided to address whether the 2016 standard policy provides coverage for IDV damages to a third-party claimants vehicle as the plaintiffs had insisted.

In the opinion written by Justice Serge Georges, Jr., the justices pointed out that the 2016 standard policy has language clearly stating that the insurer will not pay any decreased value or intangible loss claimed to result from the property damage unless otherwise required by law.

Additionally, the policy limits third-party coverage to damage or destruction of tangible property, and, the court noted, damage to tangible property does not include IDV.

Thus, on its face, the 2016 standard policy excludes such claims unless otherwise required by law.

The plaintiffs argued that IDV coverage was otherwise required because another statute says automobile insurers must cover all sums and all sums includes IDV damages. They also contended that the insurance commissioner exceeded his authority in approving the IDV exclusion.

However, the court noted, the same statute also defines property damage liability insurance as including conditions, exclusions, and limitations, as the commissioner of insurance may approve. Because the commissioner exercised this authority when he approved the exclusion in the 2016 standard policy, the court found the law does not otherwise require Commerce to cover the plaintiffs third-party IDV claims.

Indeed, the statute explicitly allows the commissioner to approve exclusions and permits insureds to bear personal responsibility for amounts exceeding policy limits, the court stated.

The plaintiffs also maintained that the 2021 McGilloway decision concerning the 2008 standard policy provided support for their argument that IDV should be covered. However, the high court said the McGilloway decision does not provide an independent legal basis requiring insurers to cover third-party IDV claims under the 2016 standard policy. The language of the 2008 standard policy required a different outcome from the one reached in the current case, the court found.

Topics Auto Massachusetts
A jury found an East Quogue, New York woman guilty of arson for attempting to set three homes on fire in Hampton Bays in November 2023.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said that Amanda Burnside is due back in court for sentencing on February 25, 2025, and faces up to 25 years in prison.

This defendant deliberately attempted to set three homes on fire, putting lives and property at grave risk, said Tierney. We thank the jury for holding this defendant accountable.

According to evidence at the trial, on November 12, 2023, Burnside attempted, but ultimately failed, to start fires at two occupied homes in Hampton Bays. However she succeeded in starting a fire at a third home which was occupied at the time by four people.

According to prosecutors, Burnside poured gasoline onto a wicker bench on the front porch and then lit papers on fire to ignite the gasoline-soaked bench. The Southampton Town Police Department arrived on scene, and Burnside was placed under arrest.
Ride-sharing giant Uber Technologies Inc. filed a racketeering lawsuit against a group of law firms, doctors and pain-management clinics it claims staged fake car accidents and performed unnecessary surgeries to take advantage of New Yorks lucrative no-fault insurance policies.

Since at least 2019, the group has conspired to exploit passengers in purported or actual minor vehicle collisions, provided sometimes medically unnecessary or even invasive and painful surgeries like spinal fusions for medical conditions that are fictitious, exaggerated or that preexisted, Uber said in the federal suit filed Thursday in Brooklyn, New York.

Many states have regulations that allow drivers and passengers to get reimbursed for medical costs or lost wages quickly after an accident, regardless of whos at fault. But in New York City, taxi industry regulators require cab and rideshare drivers to carry personal injury coverage of as much as $200,000 significantly more than the $50,000 requirement for individual drivers.

The defendants named in the Uber suit didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi has vowed to push for insurance and tort reform, including in the companys home state of California, to address rising insurance costs that he says have been passed along to consumers and contributed to a slowdown in bookings.

Read More: Uber Shares Fall Most in Two Years on Tepid Ride Bookings

Ubers suit comes as regulators struggle to manage the insolvency of New York Citys largest taxi insurerNew York Citys Biggest Taxi Insurer Is Insolvent, Risking Transit Meltdown, American Transit Insurance Co. ATIC, as the company is known, insures about 60% of the citys roughly 120,000 for-hire vehicles. In the second quarter of 2024, it had roughly $700 million in net losses, which the firm blames in part on widespread fraud similar to whats alleged in the Uber suit.

Uber sued ATIC last year over its handling of claims, saying the insurers unreasonable practices have resulted in 23 lawsuits brought against Uber and its drivers over crashes, leaving the ride-share giant to pay substantial amounts to defend itself in court.

ATIC filed its own massive $450 million racketeering suit in December seeking damages from doctors, medical centers and others for an alleged massive no-fault insurance fraud. That suit is ongoing.

Read More: NYC Taxi Disaster Driven by Decades of Inaction, Massive Fraud

State regulators and industry stakeholders have met to discuss possible solutions for ATICs statutory insolvency, including increasing premium rates and asking other insurance companies to cover the companys claims. Governor Kathy Hochul proposed new legislation to make it easier to adjust commercial car insurance rates and allow regulators to slowly phase in increases.

The case is Uber v. Wingate, 25-cv-522, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

Photo: Uber signage on a vehicle at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Uber Technologies Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on August 6. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics Fraud Auto New York Sharing Economy Ridesharing
Europes insurance watchdog has called for a recalibration of capital requirements to reflect rising climate-driven disasters across the continent.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority is recommending the industry update the way it accounts for natural catastrophe risks in standard formula calibrations, according to a statement on Thursday. EIOPA said its recommendations are based on a two-year comprehensive reassessment exercise that examined the heightened risks associated with floods, windstorms and other weather-related perils.

The goal is to ensure the continued protection of policyholders and the overall stability of the EUs insurance market amid more erratic and damaging weather patterns, EIOPA said.

Natural disasters in Europe destroyed assets worth $31 billion last year, of which $14 billion were insured, according to a recent estimate by Munich Re. Some of the most-damaging events were floods in Spain, Germany and central Europe.

EIOPAs reassessment includes new risk factors for 24 regions. It adjusted flood risk factors for three countries and proposed adding seven more for flood risk after their exposures were found to be material. The watchdog also said windstorm risk factors should be increased for Iceland and other regions, while hail risk should be raised for Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Other hazards, including wildfire, coastal flooding and droughts, also are on the radar for possible inclusion in EIOPAs formula calculations. As the frequency and intensity of certain perils change due to climate change, they may become more relevant for the EUs insurance sector than they had been in the past, EIOPA said.

The authority is mandated to reassess and potentially recalibrate natural catastrophe risk parameters every five years. EIOPA said it submitted the latest proposal to the European Commission, which is the European Unions executive arm.

European authorities have become increasingly concerned about the lack of insurance cover for natural disasters. The European Central Bank and EIOPA recently proposed a two-pronged approach to increase coverage, including a voluntary public-private reinsurance partnership and a mandatory EU fund to pay reconstruction costs when catastrophes occur.

As the fastest-warming continent, Europe has been hit by rising extreme-weather losses over the past 15 years. Between 1981 and 2023, natural catastrophes caused about 900 billion ($936 billion) of direct economic losses within the EU, with one-fifth of those losses occurring in the past three years.

Photograph: Vehicles damaged by extreme flooding in Alfafar, Spain, in this photo taken on Nov. 3, 2024. Photo credit: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Europe Climate Change
Brazilian insurance group Porto Seguro is in talks with private equity funds to possibly sell a minority stake in its health business, with discussions focusing on the strategic advantages of potential partners and valuation, two people familiar with the talks said.

Porto Seguro, which has not made a final decision about a potential deal, is considering selling a part of the health insurance division that would come with a seat on the board, which would mean at least a 5% stake, one of the sources said.

In response to a report by Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico about the talks, Porto said in a statement on Wednesday that it is always open to discussing the interest of potential investors, but no bids have been signed.

U.S.-based private equity firm Summit Partners is one of several prominent investors in discussions with Porto Seguro, due to its expertise in technology and artificial intelligence, according to the sources.

Summit Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a note to clients, investment bank UBS BB said that a new minority partner in Portos health vertical, while not essential, could accelerate expansion efforts.

Based on press reports, net income estimates and valuations of other players in Brazil, UBS BB estimated the value of Portos health unit at up to 6.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion).

(Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; editing by Brad Haynes and Jane Merriman)
Companies and government agencies around the world are moving to restrict their employees access to the tools recently released by the Chinese artificial-intelligence startup DeepSeek, according to the cybersecurity firms hired to help protect their systems.

Hundreds of companies, particularly those associated with governments, have worked to block access to DeepSeek due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards, Nadir Izrael, chief technology officer of the cyber firm Armis Inc., said, referring to the startups own clientele. Most customers of Netskope Inc., a network security firm that companies use to restrict employees access to websites, among other services, are similarly moving to limit connections.

Roughly 70% of Armis customers have requested blocks, the company said, and 52% Netskope clients are blocking access to the site entirely, according to Ray Canzanese, director of Netskopes threat labs.

The biggest concern is the AI models potential data leakage to the Chinese government, Armiss Izrael said. You dont know where your information goes.

Anxieties around DeepSeek have mounted since the weekend when praise from high-profile tech executives including Marc Andreessen propelled DeepSeeks AI chatbot to the top of Apple Store app downloads. Chief among those worries is the fact that DeepSeek states in its own privacy terms that it collects and stores data in servers in China, adding that any dispute on the matter would be governed by Chinese government law.

DeepSeek didnt respond to a request for comment.

It wasnt immediately clear how many Defense Department employees sought to access DeepSeek. Theres been no indication that a data breach or security incident has occurred in connection with DeepSeek usage at the Pentagon.

According to DeepSeeks own privacy policy, the company collects users keystrokes, text and audio input, uploaded files, feedback, chat history and other content for the purpose of training its AI models and may share that information with law enforcement and public authorities at its discretion.

Cyber researchers who set out to probe DeepSeeks security said they found a publicly accessible database belonging to the company that contained internal data. The database included some DeepSeek chat history, backend details and technical log data, according to Wiz Inc., the cybersecurity startup that Alphabet Inc. sought to buy for $23 billion last year. Wiz said DeepSeek secured the information when it reported the discovery.

DeepSeek and the increased adoption of other generative AI services is poised to accelerate the development and sales of cybersecurity services, according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., Palo Alto Networks Inc. and SentinelOne are among the companies that could benefit from the trend, said Bloomberg analysts Mandeep Singh and Damian Reimertz.

Already, governments are scrutinizing DeepSeeks privacy controls.

Italys privacy regulator ordered DeepSeek blocked as a matter of urgency and with immediate effect in an effort to protect Italians data. Irelands Data Protection Commission, which enforces the European Unions privacy regulations on many of the worlds largest technology companies, said Wednesday it had requested information from DeepSeek to determine if the company is properly safeguarding user data.

The UKs Information Commissioners Office said in a statement that generative AI developers must be transparent about how they use personal data, adding that it would take action whenever its regulatory expectations are ignored.

US officials and thinktanks have warned that Chinese national security laws allow the government there to gain access to encryption keys controlled by companies operating in the country and compel them to assist in intelligence-gathering activities. These laws were at the heart of the US governments case for banning China-based ByteDance Ltd.s TikTok platform, with national security officials warning that its Chinese ownership offered Beijing a way into Americans personal information.

TikTok has denied that it presents any such threat. US President Donald Trump vowed to come up with a deal that would allow the platform to continue to operate in the US shortly after he took office in January.

Mehdi Osman, CEO of the US software startup OpenReplay, is among the business leaders who opted not to use DeepSeeks API service over security concerns. But he warned that the firms extraordinarily low prices still threaten to lure developers away from OpenAI in the coming months.

Cybercrime researchers are meanwhile warning that DeepSeeks AI services appear to have less guardrails around them to prevent hackers from using the tools to, for example, craft phishing emails, analyze large sets of stolen data or research cyber vulnerabilities.

With very little effort, attackers will be able to make code modifications leading to increased scale and velocity of cyber and fraud attacks, said Levi Gundert, chief security and intelligence officer at the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future Inc.

Photograph: A user interface message on the DeepSeek artificial intelligence app on a mobile phone, arranged in Riga, Latvia, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Photo credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics InsurTech Data Driven Artificial Intelligence
As ESG rapidly morphs into one of the least-loved labels in global finance, those monitoring the development say its not all down to ideology.

Instead, annoyance with environmental, social and governance metrics has grown along with regulatory requirements around ESG data, according to Alex Tamlyn, partner at DLA Piper and chair of the law firms boardroom counsel practice.

There are some naysayers, flat Earthers if you like, Tamlyn said in an interview. But theres probably more generally an irritation because, to respond to the regulatory obligation, companies need to produce a lot of data, and that means youve got to spend money on getting it, he said.

The comments come as the European Union looks set to roll back some of its ESG requirements in response to concerns from its two biggest economies. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is now on track to affect far fewer companies than originally intended, after small and mid-sized firms balked at the sheer volume of the data demands they had faced.

The EU is due to tackle the directive together with several other pieces of legislation at the end of next month, as part of its so-called omnibus process.

At the same time, asset managers trying to screen for ESG risks have found theyre generally better off getting their data directly from companies, as other avenues fall short. Fresh research by DLA Piper and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership indicates that shareholder proposals usually fail, and ESG ratings are often an inadequate guide.

As a result, asset managers are increasingly relying on direct, private interactions, according to the research, which looked at how asset managers and corporate boards tackle ESG challenges.

The aggregation of data, the production of ratings and corporate governance indexes is notoriously not regulated, Tamlyn said. So you stand a better chance of getting better quality data if you have a private engagement for which you are responsible.

Researchers plowed through databases to identify just over 37,000 proposals made at annual general meetings during the 10-year period ended in June 2024. Of those, 10% were ESG-related  and most failed.

Asset managers, meanwhile, have been stepping up direct engagement with companies. Between 2020 and 2023, engagement increased by almost 40%, according to the research, which focused on the stewardship activities of 40 of the worlds largest asset managers.

At the same time, theres evidence to suggest that fund managers devoting lots of energy to their ESG strategies arent necessarily being rewarded by investment clients. Funds complying with the EUs strictest ESG standards suffered record outflows last quarter, according to a research from Morningstar Inc.

Some of the inertia that boards are displaying comes from a lack of comprehension as to where to start, Tamlyn said. If youre advising FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 companies, the budget thats available to mount a very sophisticated response to ESG challenges is usually pretty substantial, but thats not the case for smaller companies, he said.

However, companies that choose to ignore ESG do so at their own risk, Tamlyn said.

There is an intrinsic reality about the environmental continuum, which is bigger than the opinions of any president or any country or any industry sector or any board in the world, he said. The consequences of that choice will be visited upon any business, any sector, any geography in the world.

Photograph: Photovoltaic panels at a solar farm at the Bolivar Technological University (UTB), in partnership with Promigas SA, in Cartagena, Bolivar department, Colombia, on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. Photo credit: Carlos Parra Rios/Bloomberg

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Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.
A federal appeals court and the Federal Communications Commission, in one of its first actions under the new presidential administration, have handed down major decisions that many in the insurance industry may see as a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, the decisions give new freedom to insurance companies, agencies, quote-comparison sites and others that engage in telemarketing and robocalls to reach out to consumers. On the other hand, the action is likely to mean an uptick in annoying telemarketing calls to small businesses, including insurance agencies, that may want to keep their phone lines open for policyholder calls.

The Jan. 24 decision by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hurt consumers, small businesses and the American phone system, Chris Frascella, counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in a statement.

The appellant in the case was the Insurance Marketing Coalition, representing more than 50 firms, including some well-known insurance companies as well as agencies and brokers, marketing firms and tech companies. The coalition would not release the names of its members, but representatives said the court ruling and the FCCs change of heart is a victory for many businesses that need to reach out to consumers and generate leads.

The 11th Circuits decision will benefit comparison-shopping websites and the consumers who use them, for example, by making it easier, cheaper, and faster for consumers to connect with small businesses than if the rule had taken effect, explained Kevin King, one of the attorneys who led the coalitions appeal.

The controversy began in 2023 when the FCC said  under the authority granted by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991  it was proposing a new rule to help stem millions of robocalls.

The new rule would have required most firms that engage in automated calling to obtain express written consent from the consumer. Without the proposed rule, a quote-comparison site, for example, had to rely on a more general disclosure statement on its website, to which the consumer could click agree.

The rule would have prohibited telemarketers and lead generators from asking consumers to agree to receive calls about a product from our partners  and revealing only in a hyperlink that the partners actually numbered in the hundreds or even thousands, said Margot Saunders, senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, who penned an amicus brief in support of the FCC rule change.

The NCLC explained that lead generators often sell the consents to other companies, which resell them to others, resulting in a flood of unwanted calls, often regarding products that have nothing to do with the product the consumer was seeking.

The rule would have required consent to be collected for calls from one seller at a time  in other words, lead generators and telemarketers would have to get specific consent for each company the consumer wanted to hear from, Saunders noted in a statement.

The amicus brief provided comments from several small business owners who said they had been swamped by telemarketing calls, many of which spoof local phone numbers. But the businesses dared not ignore the calls for fear of missing calls from clients.

The Insurance Marketing Coalition (IMC) said the proposed one-to-one consent requirement amounted to overreach, was too burdensome to businesses that need to reach consumers, and would overstep the FCCs legal authority. IMC filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Atlanta, asking it to vacate the rule.

On Jan. 24, one day before the rule was to take effect, the court agreed wholeheartedly with the IMC and vacated the FCCs regulation.

After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we agree with IMC that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority under the TCPA because the 2023 orders new consent restrictions impermissibly conflict with the ordinary statutory meaning of prior express consent,' a panel of the 11th Circuit wrote in the opinion.

The TCPA requires only express consent, not multiple, repeated express written consents, the judges noted.

The same day the court decision came down, the FCC, under new leadership and a new U.S. president, had itself thrown in the towel and decided to scrap the rulemaking altogether.

The rule would have applied to some but not all telemarketing calls that involve human callers. Many telemarketing firms utilize automated dialing, in which a computer automatically calls the next consumer in the list the moment a human worker finishes a previous call. King said those calls are, in fact, considered to be robocalls that would have fallen under the proposed FCC rule.

For calls in which human telemarketers dial the number themselves, a different FCC rule applies, Saunders said. And, ironically, one-to-one consent already is required for those calls and the wording of that rule is almost identical to the proposed regulation on robocalls, she added. So far, FCC has made no effort to vacate that human-caller regulation.

Its uncertain how much of an impact the decisions will have on the volume of telemarketing calls. The National Consumer Law Center has said that Americans endure some 1.4 billion telemarketing calls every month, a number that has increased in recent years, according to a recent report by YouMail Inc. That same report and a coalition member, Spencer Elg, said the number of robocalls has dropped in the last year by about 6%.

In a webinar shortly after the ruling was released, King said his team had chosen to file the appeal with the Atlanta-based appeals court because of its politically conservative reputation. For decades, challenges to federal regulations were heard only in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. But in recent years, groups fighting federal rules have figured out that U.S. law and the rules of court do not prohibit rules appeals from being heard by other circuits, and a few other federal appeals courts, including the 11th Circuit, the 5th Circuit and the 6th Circuit, seem to be more open to the rule challenges, Saunders said.

Despite the consumer groups warnings that the court decision will be harmful to consumers, the coalition is not concerned that its efforts could give member insurance firms a bad look in the eyes of the public.

As the courts ruling makes clear, the FCCs rule restricted consumer choice and prohibited one-stop shopping in many instances, King said. The decision is a win for consumers because it gives them greater choice and makes it easier for them to connect with businesses that offer the goods and services they want.

This was a hanging cloud over the industry, Chris Michelson, with the IMC, said in the webinar. Weve proven that when this industry unites under a common purpose, we can achieve extraordinary results.

King cautioned that the TCPA remains complex and urged businesses that use telemarketing to consult with a knowledgeable attorney to navigate the rules.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  The parents of a local TV journalist who was fatally shot while reporting on a killing in central Florida in 2023 have filed a negligence lawsuit against their sons former employer, claiming the media company didnt do enough to protect him.

The parents of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons filed the lawsuit Tuesday in state court in Orlando. It seeks monetary damages against Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, on behalf of the journalists estate.

The lawsuit said Lyons wasnt given any security or protective equipment even though he was at a crime scene where a woman had been shot and the suspect was still at large.

Spectrum said in an email Wednesday that the claims were unfounded and it would seek to have them dismissed.

Dylans murder was an unforeseeable and horrible tragedy, Spectrum said. With regards to these specific allegations, Dylan was the victim of a senseless act of violence.

Lyons and cameraman Jesse Walden were covering the killing of a woman when the suspect approached and shot them. Lyons was killed and Walden was wounded. Just minutes earlier, the suspect had broken into a nearby home and fatally shot a 9-year-old girl and wounded her mother, authorities said.

The suspect, Keith Moses, was later charged with murder in the deaths of Lyons, the woman and the girl. He has pleaded not guilty.

Although Spectrum requires its reporters and videographers to go to high-crime areas, the company doesnt provide them with personal protection measures or security personnel, according to the lawsuit.

Journalists face an increasing threat of violence due to their work, the lawsuit said.

Bruce Shapiro, who edited a 2017 report about journalist safety training, said in an email Wednesday that it was undeniable that local reporting has become more dangerous in the United States.

Not only crime reporters but investigative journalists, local political reporter, even television meteorologists have endured unprecedented abuse, harassment, and violent attacks, said Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School.

The 2017 report was focused on war and crisis reporters, but since that time, there has been much wider recognition of local newsrooms duty of care to the safety of staff, but theres little consensus on what that looks like, he said.

Photo: A pop-up memorial for slain Spectrum News 13 journalist Dylan Lyons at the University of Central Florida Nicholson School of Communications. (Joe Burbank /Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Florida Commercial Lines Business Insurance
In 1960, a young writer named Edna OBrien published her debut novel, The Country Girls. Its storytelling quality and sexual openness made her a literary sensation - but in her native Ireland, her books were banned and she was denounced from the pulpit.

The author moved to London, where she had love affairs, grew further success as a writer and held star-studded parties attended by the likes of Marlon Brando and Robert Mitchum.

Filmmaker Sinead OSheas documentary Blue Road: The Edna OBrien Story, revisits OBriens extraordinary life and features a final testimony from her before she passed away last summer at the age of 93.

The author also provided access to her personal diaries which are read by Killarney actress Jessie Buckley through the course of the film. Yet OBrien was initially disinterested in participating in a film about her life, and it was a chance meeting with James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli that helped set the wheels in motion.

She was quite sick at the time, says OShea. I think she was very busy right up until her death, she was trying to finish a book about TS Eliot - any spare time or energy was going there, so she didn't really see the point.

At a subsequent wedding, the filmmaker struck up a conversation with another guest. I quoted Edna O'Brien to them, and the guest had said: Oh, she's one of my best friends, you should make a documentary about her. So that was really how it started.

Blue Road director Sinead O'Shea.

Barbara Broccoli, one of cinemas most successful producers, was later re-acquainted with OShea. After watching her previous documentary Pray For Our Sinners - which explores the stories of those who stood up to the Catholic Church - she advised her friend to take part.

The resulting film is a thorough, detailed and enlightening account of OBriens life. As well as a huge amount of archive footage, Blue Road features personal accounts from the writers journals, and a moving final testimony as she reflects upon her life.

In their initial interview, OBrien spent a lot of time talking about dreams. She was struggling with ill health but moved, OShea says, by some archive footage with her parents that she showed her. She said: Look at me. I look really sad, don't I? The next day, she went into hospital, but she emailed me from the hospital, and she said: Will you be sure to use that archive? And from then on, her interest was really ignited.

What was it about the authors life and her writing that fired OSheas imagination and made her want to tell her story? I didn't really understand Edna's literary worth or status. I did English in college, and yet my sense of her was maybe she was a bit frothy. Her reputation was at a very low ebb, I think, for a long time.

Then I interviewed her for Publishers Weekly, an American magazine, about 10 years ago, and it meant I got to read a lot of her books, she says.

I began with The Country Girls. It really spoke very directly to my experience of coming from the countryside and of being a girl in the 1990s, she adds, realising that it struck a chord with her own experiences even three decades after it was written.

It seems bizarre, but I do think Ireland was quite unchanged for a long time, until the late 1990s, so I really recognised this kind of smothering patriarchy and way of thinking about women in which none of their concerns are serious, but the concerns of men are always serious.

Edna O'Brien with photographer John Minihan and singer Luke Kelly in London in 1972. Picture: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

I thought she was such a brilliant writer, and she was so good at conveying what it was to be a woman, and particularly an Irish woman. Then when I met her, she's so charismatic, as you've seen in the film. Shes so formidable, and endearing and funny and interesting. You're totally drawn in, completely enraptured. There's a combination of things.

The film details how OBriens writing initially made her a pariah in her homeland, her marriage to and subsequent divorce from an older writer, Ernest Gebler, her legendary London parties, and the growth of her success internationally.

Through these times, she continued to write prolifically with bestsellers which included Girl with Green Eyes, August Is a Wicked Month and A Pagan Place.

The documentary also explores her personal struggles, including when she began attending the psychiatrist RD Laing with whom she took LSD - an experience she later said marked her forever.

Actress Jessie Buckley gives the documentary an extra layer through her readings of extracts from OBriens diaries. The Killarney star is a big fan of the authors work and OShea was connected with her through their mutual friend, the poet Eva HD.

I was trying to think of actors who could voice the diaries, and it really felt like Jesse could be the best person, because she's just so talented. She's made that move herself, you know, from rural Ireland to London, she's kind of conquered worlds, and yet she still retains this magic about her.

"I asked Eva if she would ask her, and I was obviously a bit nervous. But again, kind of instantly she said: I'd love to do this. I love Edna. I love all her work. And so it was actually very easy.

As well as OBrien's quick wit and candour while engaging with the project, OShea realised while making the film that age was taking its toll on her. A lot of this was to do with the fact that she was so old and so sick and was deaf, so she really couldn't hear things, so conversation could be very stilted at times. She has such a great brain - I think she was thirsting for more stimulation.

I think I probably had underestimated how upset she has been over the years by all the criticism she received at times, especially in Ireland. For some reason, I thought she might have laughed it off more readily but I was wrong in that, adds the filmmaker.

I do think she came to be very celebrated and recognised here for her work. But her initial reception in the US, for example - shes immediately embraced by heavyweights such as John Updike, Philip Roth or JD Salinger, with whom she spends lots of time, and she's instantly respected, and she still is, in literary circles in New York. She's always considered to be a heavyweight, whereas here, she had to prove her worth in a way that her male peers never did.
Eight more daters returned to the First Dates restaurant on Thursday for a chance at love.

In a world where everyone is looking for the one, these eight daters were no different as they faced into their blind dates hoping to find that spark.

From cheeky chat about dating, an emotional reflection on previous heartbreak, and a yearning for a "regular life" with kids and a dog, the latest episode had it all.

Peter and Jade

Peter and Jade hit it off right away and bonded over life experiences and similar social lives.

Peter (33) from Dublin was first to enter the First Dates restaurant on Thursday nights episode, saying he is often misjudged as a player.

Peter said he never says anything inappropriate but is known to go on a ghost mission from time to time.

Peter, who said he was looking for someone chatty, with a good head on their shoulders, was introduced to his date Jade (30) from Dublin who he described as stunning.

Starting their date by ordering two shots, the pair quickly got to chatting about their social lives, dating lives, and the importance of family.

Peter said that he has experienced the world of dating and that he is now ready to meet someone on the same wavelength and settle down.

Touching on eating habits, Peter said he cant stand it when women are weird about eating in front of their date, to which Jade replied: That wouldnt be me If youre hungry, eat.

Jade spoke about how she had previously experienced homelessness with her kids, describing it as a difficult time in her life but said she got an apartment five years ago which made her so happy.

Asking Jade what her curfew was for the night, Peter suggested that they go for a drink after the date.

The pair both said theyd like to see each other again and continued their date with that drink which turned into a second date and cosy dinner and drinks at Peters local pub.

Noelle and Morgan

Noelle and Morgan chatted about their differences and their similarities on their date.

Noelle (20) from Dublin settled in at the bar by having the banter with barman Neil while waiting for her date Morgan.

This man has been nothing but insults I think were in love, she told maitre d Mateo Saina.

Morgan entered the First Dates restaurant dressed to impress, saying she loves to dress for an occasion - be it purple feathers or see-through mesh.

Morgan said she recently visited a psychic who told her she would meet her soulmate and that she wouldnt live in Ireland.

Getting to know each other over dinner, the pair realised their differences but bonded over their hobbies and life experiences.

Morgan shared her past dating experiences, saying that she has had her first and second loves and that she is now waiting for her third love to come along.

Noelle spoke about the importance of being two whole individual people within a relationship who come together to make each other better people and enjoy each other.

When it came to deciding whether they wanted to see each other again, the pair said they would and said plans to attend a silent disco or to see Coldplay could be on the cards. Ultimately, though, the pair didnt make it to either.

Derek and Karen

Derek opened up about a previous heartbreak during his date with Karen.

Derek from Cavan said that if he used the phrase Howre you fixed on the date, it would be a sure sign that he was onto a winner.

In walks 40-year-old Karen, impressing Derek who spots her from the bar and uses the phrase off the bat.

After just a few minutes of meeting, the pair realised that Dereks brother, who is living in Celbridge while studying in Maynooth, is living with Karens friend.

The pair spoke about their dating experiences and how the dating apps havent been working in their favour.

Derek, who has been single for six and a half years, shared that he was with someone for eight years, was engaged to her, travelled the world together, and shared a house but that it was done and dusted just six months before the wedding.

If someones not happy in the relationship, why would you continue it, why kick the can down the street, he said.

Relating to Dereks story, Karen said she has the special ability of ending up with people who dont want to get married or have kids and spoke about how you just know when theyre not on the same page.

She spoke of her experience of feeling unworthy, unattractive and unwanted in a previous relationship which she said put her in a hole.

I went through a really bad depression. I didnt want to be here anymore. I had to find my self-worth and have to remember what do I want in life, she said.

Derek and Karen both spoke about their pets and Derek spoke about his cat Ron Burgundy, aptly named because hes kind of a big deal.

Derek broke our hearts when asked on screen if he ever felt lonely. Shedding tears, he said he feels lonely when he comes home and theres no one there.

I genuinely think the cat saved my life. Youre low and I had someone else to care for, if that makes sense, he said.

The pair also shared their zest for life and how they both want to live an active lifestyle. When asked if theyd like to meet again, they both said yes and have since explored Cavan together, with Karen even meeting Ron Burgundy.

Ariana and Josh

Josh and Ariana's date flowed but ultimately the pair were on two different paths in life.

Ariana (23) from Meath was paired with sales rep by day and, wrestler by night Josh.

Upon entering the restaurant she told maitre d Mateo that she liked what she was seeing so far as she caught a glimpse of Josh waiting at the bar.

They spoke about their experiences of moving abroad and how supportive their families are of their dreams.

Josh said that he wants to become a professional wrestler and that there is no plan B because he is so committed to achieving that dream.

Speaking about how she would be happy to settle down soon, Ariana said she wants the regular life with a dog, a baby and an apartment.

If I met the right person tomorrow, I would have a baby, she said.

Josh said that he does potentially see kids in his future but is in no rush to have kids right now.

Speaking about Arianas warm personality, Josh said her smile was already "beaming her personality" before she even spoke and that the date felt natural.

When asked if they would like to see each other again, Ariana said she would not see him romantically because they are two different people on different paths in life.

First Dates continues on RTE 2 next Thursday at 9.30pm.
The dream of abandoning the good pensionable job to write a novel or take up a paint brush can often wither in the face of the insecurity that goes hand-in-hand with the artistic life.

But when the epiphany came for former structural engineer Adrian Duncan, it couldnt be ignored.

I had been working on a building for maybe two to three years, and I was walking around it near the very end, looking at all the different joints that I had designed for each floor, which were being covered over.

By the end of the job, I felt anyone could have done this, my role in this is so unimportant, it disappears.

For most engineers, thats not a problem, you just do your job and you leave. For me, it didnt seem to be enough.

I found it slightly deflating, the idea that all of the thought, effort and human interaction that you had put into a project essentially disappeared once the building changed hands.

Duncan decided to give up his career to study art at Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire, while also taking a creative writing class in the evenings. He later went on to do a masters in art in the contemporary world at the National College of Art and Design.

I had been interested in art for years, and I wanted to become better at drawing.

When I went to art college, I learned a completely different way of drawing  and I learned a completely different way of thinking. So the whole world opened up in a very different way to me.

Duncan also brought this different way of thinking to his work as a writer. His critically acclaimed debut novel Love Notes from a German Building Site channelled his experience in construction into a philosophical meditation on language, memory and exile.

His novels A Sabbatical in Leipzig and The Geometer Lobachevsky, his short story collection Midfield Dynamo and his non-fiction work Little Republics: The Story of Bungalow Bliss built on his reputation as a distinctive and original literary voice, and he has won and been shortlisted for numerous prizes and awards.

His new book, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth, is a worthy addition to his catalogue.

It is the story of John, a shy stonemason who finds love with academic Bernadette while working on a sculptural project in a fictional European city.

When he is asked to pray for a good friend who is dying back home, it triggers a crisis, his delirious tour of Bolognas churches mirroring his late mothers religious visions in his youth.

Duncans approach to the book was inspired by real-life objects, including a sculpture of 19th century German literary couple, Bettina and Achim von Arnim, near his home in Berlin, and the ancient Greek statue known as Kritios Boy.

Objects are very important, its always where I start, says Duncan.

Even if Im working on a film, I start with an object as opposed to an idea.

When it comes to writing, his freestyle approach is very much antithetical to that of his previous job.

When youre an engineer, you have to deduce and plan everything because you dont want mistakes, whereas in art, mistakes arent a problem.

Problems arent a problem  in fact, you want them. And so I just made this leap of faith early in my writing career when I said Im not going to plan anything.

When I sit down to write, I have no idea where its going, which is a very strange thing to do at first. Now its completely normal.

Duncan says he has no interest in directing the reader in any way or eliciting a particular feeling.

Like a mosaic, the pieces gradually come together and the whole eventually comes into view to hugely satisfying effect.

What Im most interested in is that the reader is actively putting it together themselves.

My agent, Marianne Gunn OConnor, put it perfectly to me recently. She was reading another book that Ive written, and she said that the better we get to know the contours of the characters thoughts, the more we care about them.

But I know by doing it in this way that sometimes you run the risk that some readers wont connect, and thats fine as well.

Work described as 'experimental'

This may explain why his work is often referred to as experimental. He laughs heartily when I ask if this is another way of saying his books are difficult.

Yeah, I think experimental is only experimental relative to whats dominant in the industry.

Its not like I am going oh, Im going to write an experimental work, because that would suggest that I know all of the different forms or tropes, and I dont.

I dont read very much contemporary literature either, so Im not even up to date in terms of whats going on in that world.

I understand why people use the term experimental but the writing is exploration, as opposed to experiment.

Duncan moved to Berlin around 2013: Because we had no money. It was as simple as that. The recession just kicked the shit out of us, basically.

He returns home often, but is geographically removed from the Irish literary scene. His work is also clearly influenced by a European tradition.

I obviously consider myself an Irish writer, but the German language is an important part of the books, particularly 'Love Notes'.

I dont write in German or anything like that but because its a daily struggle with being understood and understanding, its very proximate to my life.

So to a certain degree, there is a European aspect to my writing because of these linguistic distances.

This contrast between the Irish and European experience in relation to Catholicism is also something that Duncan wanted to explore, an interest which is reflected in the second half of the book when John, in an altered state, wanders through the vast and ornate basilicas of Bologna.

I became really interested in the differences between Irish Catholicism, in terms of what it looks like, and Italian Catholicism  how the outer reaches of the empire are less rich in terms of their iconography, compared to the inner reaches of the empire, where there is unbelievable time and money invested.

They leave the churches open really late in Bologna, and I just found it unbelievable, this experience of walking off the street straight into an absolutely giant, silent church.

And so that feeling stuck with me, because it made me completely rethink the idea of a threshold, the idea of religious experience, even for someone who is pretty atheistic.

With his growing and intriguing body of work, it could be said that Duncan is fulfilling his wish to make a tangible creative contribution.

I presume he doesnt regret his decision to leave a steady job for the uncertainty of artistic life.

No, I dont. You probably work 10 times harder when you are connected to your work but then it isnt really work any more in the sense of how you understood it before.

I feel very lucky because an awful lot of people, and I was one of them for a long time, dont even know what they want to do, never mind how to pursue it.
Cusco, once the illustrious capital of the Inca Empire, has once again become the centre of attention for archaeologists and history enthusiasts worldwide.

A remarkable discovery of underground tunnels beneath the citys historic district is offering fresh insights into Inca engineering and cultural practices. The unearthing of these passageways, long rumoured in local legends, could reshape our understanding of how the Inca built and organised their imperial seat, known in their language as the navel of the world.

A hidden world beneath Cusco

The discovery occurred during a routine survey to assess the foundations of several older buildings in Cuscos central area. While preparing to reinforce the structural integrity of these centuries-old constructions, workers stumbled upon a cleverly concealed stone entrance. Further exploration revealed multiple branched corridors extending in various directions under the citys streets.

Its long been rumored that a network of old, underground tunnels lies beneath Cusco, Peru, the capital of the ancient Incan empire. https://t.co/DWrYXd3cm6  Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) January 21, 2025

These tunnels are estimated to date to the late 15th or early 16th century, likely during the height of the Inca Empire under rulers such as Pachacuti or Huayna Capac. Although rumours of subterranean passageways beneath Cusco have persisted for generations, few tangible traces had ever come to light, until now.

Historians believe these passageways confirm age-old oral histories that spoke of hidden corridors connecting sacred Inca sites.

Engineering marvels

One of the most striking features of these tunnels is the precision of their stonework. Much like the famous Inca walls found throughout Cusco and in sites such as Machu Picchu, the stones in these corridors fit together with minimal gaps.

This tight-fitting masonry was a hallmark of Inca construction, designed to withstand seismic activity common in the Andean region.

Machu Picchu, Peru: ruins of Inca Empire city, in Cusco region

Archaeologists also note sophisticated drainage channels carved into the passageways. Heavy rainfall is a frequent challenge in Cuscos mountainous environment, and the Incas showed remarkable foresight by including systems that directed water away from vulnerable areas.

Preliminary analysis suggests the corridors were deliberately designed to resist flooding and potential collapse in the earthquake prone region, reinforcing the Incas reputation for advanced engineering skills.

Potential purposes of the tunnels

While excavation is still in its early stages, researchers have proposed several possible uses for these newly discovered passageways. Some believe the tunnels may have served as discreet routes for Inca nobles or priests traveling between key ceremonial sites.

File photo (July 1995) Panoramic view of the the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Cusco Located atop a craggy peak in Peru's jungle-covered southern Andes, 310 miles (500 kilometers) southeast of Lima, Peru. Picture: AP Photo/Martin Mejia

In an empire where political power and religion were closely intertwined, the ability to move unseen could have been advantageous, especially during periods of ceremony or conflict.

Another intriguing hypothesis is that these corridors might have had a sacred or ritual function. Archaeologists have uncovered small niches carved into the stone walls, which could have held offerings or ceremonial objects.

These niches may reflect the Incas reverence for natural elements, such as water and earth, and their emphasis on connecting the spiritual realm to the physical one.

Water channels within the tunnels suggest they may have been part of ritual purification rites or carefully managed irrigation systems tied to important temples.

Legends come to life

For many residents, the discovery is seen as a validation of the oral traditions that have persisted for centuries.

Generations of Cusco families have passed down stories of long-lost tunnels connecting Qorikancha (the Sun Temple) to the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, as well as other significant sites around the city.

Now, the finding of actual subterranean corridors has sparked renewed interest and excitement.

Older members of the community recall tales of people descending through hidden entrances in search of treasure or sacred objects, only to return empty-handed or not at all.

Although no evidence of lost riches has surfaced, the tunnels themselves are being hailed as a treasure trove of cultural and historical significance. Locals are eager to see whether further excavations will one day reveal connections linking Cuscos most iconic Inca landmarks.

View of Machu Picchu, Peru with Wayna Picchu rising in the background

Fascinating facts about the Inca civilisation

The Inca Empire, known as Tawantinsuyu, was the largest in pre-Columbian America, stretching across modern-day Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. The Incas built a vast road system of over 24,000 miles, connecting remote regions of their empire and enabling swift communication and trade.

Their mortarless stone constructions exhibit an astonishing level of precision, which has helped many Inca sites survive centuries of natural disasters. The Incas also had sophisticated agricultural systems.

In the steep Andean terrain, terraced fields were constructed to grow staple crops such as potatoes, maize, and quinoa, significantly increasing agricultural yields.

This ancient civilisation also constructed qollqas (storehouses) to stockpile food, ensuring that surplus supplies could sustain the population during lean seasons or in times of conflict.

Whats next

While the full extent of Cuscos newly discovered tunnel system remains unknown, each day of excavation brings fresh clues to the surface. Researchers continue to employ techniques such as ground-penetrating radar to map the subterranean labyrinth without risking unnecessary damage. Conservation experts and archaeologists work hand in hand with local communities to balance the desire for knowledge with the need for preservation.

For the people of Cusco, these corridors represent more than just historical artifacts, they symbolise a living link to an illustrious past that still resonates in the citys day-to-day life.

The idea that modern residents might one day walk through the same passageways once traversed by Inca nobles and priests captures the imagination, reminding everyone of how rich and layered the citys heritage truly is.

Whether the tunnels were used as hidden ceremonial routes, practical passageways, or both, they stand as a testament to the Incas extraordinary skill and cultural depth.

As research continues, the world waits eagerly to see what else these ancient tunnels will reveal about the empire that shaped the Andean region, and about the people who have carried that legacy into the present day.
Key stakeholders representing Irelands Education and Training Boards (ETBs) have raised concerns over aspects of Senior Cycle reform.

New research involving students, parents, and principals from across schools under the ETB patronage found that a broad welcome for the proposed incoming changes was tempered with an equally broad range of concerns".

These included the urgency in determining an appropriate response to artificial intelligence, and for timely clarity when it comes to Additional Assessment Components (AACs).

AACs, expected to be worth 40% of a student's overall grade in a subject, are planned to be introduced in every subject under Senior Cycle reform, beginning on a rolling basis from this September.

Those taking part in the ETB study voiced concerns around how AACs "are to be conducted on a fair and equitable basis by all students across the country given the range of access to the internet and inadequate IT provision and maintenance in many locations".

Those taking part in the study also voiced "significant unease" in relation to "the preparedness and availability of resources within the collective system to incorporate the proposed changes". However, they welcomed the greater flexibility proposed by the reforms, according to Paddy Lavelle, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI).

This has the potential to lessen the dominance of the current CAO points system and consequently the very high levels of stress experienced by many students.

However, the study also highlights how lack of school resources and digital infrastructure in school and at home could disadvantage senior cycle students in small and rural schools as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He added: More student project work across additional subjects requires adequate infrastructure and supports, both at home and at school to ensure equity.

Dr Joe OConnell, who carried out the research added: I would summarise the feedback I received from stakeholders as welcome tempered with concern. Key cohorts have clearly identified that preparedness and resources, both fiscal and human, are critical to the success of senior cycle reform.
As Far North Queensland continues to be hammered by wild weather, residents are being warned to beware of displaced crocodiles in floodwaters.

Crofton Creek, where crocodiles have been spotted previously, was closed on Thursday night as floodwaters rose over the bridge. Source: Whitsunday Council

Millions of Australians in Far North Queensland are being hammered by heavy rainfall and the threat of a cyclone, but a new warning has been issued for another danger that comes with the wild weather.

More than 600mm of rain was recorded in north Queensland over three days, flooding roads and homes and sparking multiple rescues. Floodwaters are notoriously dangerous for both pedestrians and drivers, but residents between Cairns and Airlie Beach are being advised to steer clear due to the added risk of displaced crocodiles.

Its always an issue, always, crocodile expert John Lever told Yahoo News.

Crocodiles dont want to be fighting raging torrents all the time so they always swim to the waters edge and of course, when you get rising water levels the water reach is always changing and going further inland, so they end up further inland.

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Now when the water recedes and particularly in flood zones, crocodiles are left in a waterhole where theyve never been seen before.

Warning over 'safe' waterholes

Lever, who owns and operates Koran Crocodile Farm near Rockhampton, said risky situations can occur when people are used to using certain waterholes, ponds or lakes that are usually croc-free and dont realise that floodwaters may have led a crocodile into the area.

After floods crocodiles are misplaced and there is a massive issue really of problem crocs when the water recedes. Its going to happen and the more crocs there are, the more that get displaced.

The Proserpine River has the highest density of crocodiles in Queensland, averaging 5.5 crocs per kilometre, according to the Queensland Government.

Its a significantly crocodile populated river, Lever said, adding the biggest crocodile on his farm  measuring 4.9m long  was captured in Kelsey Creek near Proserpine.

Left: A crocodile was spotted in floodwaters in Queensland in 2023. Right: A car crosses the flooded Crofton Creek bridge in the Whitsunday Region on Thursday night. Source: Getty/Facebook

Flooding has caused roads to close in Cairns. Source: Facebook/Brett Moller

More rain to come as residents warned to be aware

The cyclone threat was downgraded off Cairns yesterday, but another four tropical lows loom across northern Australia.

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A low in the Gulf of Carpentaria had a 25 per cent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone from Sunday, the Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathan How said.

It is forecast to cross the Queensland coast over the weekend, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding between Townsville and Cairns. It will then track south which will increase rainfall for the northwest including Normanton, Mount Isa and into the Northern Territory.

The Whitsundays region has copped a drenching with Finch Hatton, west of Mackay, receiving 1315mm of rain in the 20 hours up to Friday morning.

There are 6 tropical lows identified in the Bureau's Tropical #Cyclone 7 day Forecast.



2 out of 6 of these have a moderate chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within the next 7 days.



How does a tropical low become a cyclone?



Learn more: https://t.co/S75yaaCPxM pic.twitter.com/pqFIB16sHV  Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 30, 2025

With the continued rain, Lever advises residents to just be aware.

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Be conscious of the presence of crocodiles. Be super conscious that they may be displaced and they may be trying to get back into the river system when it recedes, or they may be displaced now, and are in areas where theyve never seen them before, he said.

Another low is expected offshore of Queensland in the Coral Sea with two more off Western Australia.

The tropical low set to develop northwest of WA and another in the Coral Sea's northeast near Vanuatu are "moderate" chances of forming cyclones by Sunday.

with AAP

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More than 74,000 homes, schools, and businesses remain without supply while around 800 have no water and about 5% of mobile phone users are still impacted by Storm Eowyn.

As well as the work of more than 2,300 ESB Networks crews, power and water plants restoration has been made possible thanks to technicians and a large number of extra generators flown in from aboard.

Local authorities are now co-ordinating a local level humanitarian assistance response to the people still significantly impacted by the storm.

Local Co-ordination Groups are now in place in 17 local authority areas.

A spokesperson for the National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) said: A key focus is on ensuring the welfare of vulnerable or isolated people.

A number of organisations including Uisce Eireann, ESB Networks, An Post, An Garda Siochana, HSE and Local Link are checking in on vulnerable people and any concerns will be raised through the Local Co-ordination Group for follow up.

They said there are 380 Emergency Response Hubs established, including community led hubs with local authority financial and administrative supports.

Emergency Response Hubs are assisting people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access and shower facilities.

Starting from a peak of 768,000 homes and businesses that lost power, ESB Networks had its work cut out for itself and its 2,300 crews.

The operation to restore back power was initially hampered due to continued high winds and some very damaged terrain.

Caravan Park Owner Miko McCormack surveying the damage done at Fanore Co Clare after Storm Eowyn. Picture: Eamon Ward

Despite the challenges they faced, crews managed to restore power to 366,000 homes and businesses by the end of Saturday, and a further 124,000 homes by the end of Sunday.

Such was the scale of the task that calls went out for help from abroad.

The first to arrive on Monday were from the UK, during which another 74,000 had their power restored, bringing to 564,000 the total homes and businesses that had power restored.

But there were, at that time, another 214,000 remaining without power, of which around 36,000 had theirs restored by end of the day.

The reduction in homes and businesses being restored had more to do with the fact that they were in hard-to-access and remote rural areas.

By Tuesday, crews from Austria had arrived and were up and running by the evening, while crews that had arrived from Finland later in the day, were up and running by Wednesday.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin speaking to the media outside St Brigid's GAA Club in Co Roscommon on Tuesday when he rejected claims that the Government delayed requesting help from the EU. Picture: Cate McCurry/PA

The new international crews were set to work in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Longford, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, Sligo and Donegal.

A further 36,000 homes and businesses were restored by the end of play on Tuesday, but by Wednesday it emerged that some 3,000 electricity poles across the country would need to be replaced, along with around 900 km of new conductor cable needing to be laid.

To get the work done, crews have been working up to 15-hour shifts to clear the backlog of work.

As well as the normal crews backed by private contracts firms, they have been helped by what have been described as skilled retirees.

By Thursday evening, power had resumed to 682,000 homes and businesses, with some 86,000 in mainly isolated rural areas remaining without power.

The University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome was extensively damaged by Storm Eowyn. Picture: James Crombie/Inpho

By then 285 foreign technicians were in the country including from the UK, Finland, France and Austria.

At least 17 extra generators arrived from the European Union, with 13 from the EU's strategic reserve based in Poland, while Denmark mobilised an extra four via the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism.

As well as damaging the electricity network, the storm also caused almost 6,000 reports of network damage to Eir, including fallen poles, damaged cables, and other hazards.

So far, more than 3,500 of these have been rectified, but the company says new reports continue to emerge as recovery efforts progress.

Although more than 250,000 homes and more than 830 mobile sites have restored service, about 20,000 homes remain without broadband, primarily in Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Donegal.

Power outages continue to be a cause of service disruption during storm events, says the company.

It has back-up power sources at 1,250 exchange sites across the country, static generators at over 250 critical sites, and over 60 mobile generators, alongside battery back up on over 60% of its mobile sites.
A joint funeral is to be held on Saturday for two brothers from Cork who died of separate drug overdoses within a two-week period  with their mother losing three sons in all to drugs and another from a health condition.

Christine Kavanagh, aged 65, from Gurranabraher on the northside of Cork city, is calling on the Government to allocate more resources for people who battle addiction.

Her son, Dillon Kavanagh, aged 30, died on January 23 in Cork city. Damien Kavanagh, aged 36, was found dead in his flat in Cardiff in Wales on January 8.

Damien Kavanagh had left Cork in a bid to get off drugs.

Poignantly, Damien had made the decision to move out of Cork in recent years in an effort to escape from the drugs scene in the city. It is understand he was clean from drugs for some time.

Leon Kavanagh, aged 31, succumbed to drug addiction in 2021. Separately, Ms Kavanagh also lost a fourth son Ross, who was 31, in 2016 after he collapsed and died of an epilepsy-related condition.

The body of Damien Kavanagh was brought back to Ireland from Wales with the assistance of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. Mourners are asked to donate to the trust, if desired, in lieu of flowers.

Damien and Dillon are survived by their parents Terry and Christine, their seven surviving siblings, extended family and a large circle of friends. Damien is also survived by his children Deon and Kelvin and their mother Sonya.

A requiem mass for both men will take place at 10am on Saturday in St Marys on the Hill Church in Knocknaheeny with burial following at St Catherines Cemetery, Kilcully.

'There should be more help out there'

Christine Kavanagh previously told The Opinion Line producer Paul Byrne on Corks 96FM that more needs to be done to make drug dealers accountable for their actions.

They (dealers) have to stop dealing these dirty drugs to our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers ... It is not fair for a mum, a dad, a sister or a brother to bury another brother or a son. There should be more help out there, more services for them.

"Dillon was a lovely son. Very educated but when he went down that road with those dirty drugs it just took Dillon away from us.

Christine thanked her family and the local community for their support over the years and particularly in recent weeks as she has endured the unimaginable loss of two of her sons.
Counting for all Seanad panels is underway with just one seat filled when counts adjourned on Wednesday night.

The two university panels began counting on Wednesday  the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel and the Dublin University/Trinity College panel. Each of these panels have three seats.

Votes for the five vocational panels  Agriculture; Labour; Cultural and Educational; Industrial and Commercial; and Administrative  began in Leinster House on Thursday morning.

Michael McDowell was the first person to be elected to the Seanad after he reached the quota on the first count.

The result came in shortly after midnight and saw the Independent senator comfortably retain his seat.

It has been a strong result for the five incumbents with all on course to retain their seats leaving just one seat up for grabs following the retirement of long-time senator David Norris last year.

Follow along for the latest results here:

9.45pm

A request for a full recount has been made in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel in the Seanad election.

The count at Trinity College was adjourned shortly before 10pm on Thursday night after the final count left just 31 votes between the final two candidates.

Independent candidate Aubrey McCarthy finished with 3,741 votes while the Green Party's Hazel Chu had 3,710 - both were short of the quota of 4,450.

With a small margin separating the two, Ms Chu called for a full recount a request which the returning officer said would be considered when they return to the Trinity exam hall this morning.

The battle between Ms Chu and Mr McCarthy heated up after Ms Chu managed to pick up over 700 votes following the elimination of her Green Party colleague, Ossian Smyth.

Earlier, Independent senators Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan were elected in quick succession in Trinity as had been expected.

Over at the RDS, the National University of Ireland panel returned its three senators - Michael McDowell, Ronan Mullen and Alice-Mary Higgins - for another term early on Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, counting is underway in the vocational panels after polling closed on Thursday morning with 43 members to be elected across the five panels over the coming days.

The panels will be counted one at a time with the five-seat Cultural and Educational panel up first.

Sinn Fein's Pauline Tully was the first to take a seat getting elected on the second count after falling just two short in the first. The former TD in Cavan-Monaghan lost her seat in November's general election.

Fine Gael's Cathal Byrne will be deemed elected shortly as the count continues in Leinster House.

Those in the running to take the three remaining seats include Fianna Fail's senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee and Shane Curley; Fine Gael's Sean Kyne and Shane O'Callaghan; and Independent councillor Joe Conway.

7.25pm

Incumbent Tom Clonan has been elected on the 13th count taking the second seat in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel.

Mr Clonan finished up with 488 votes over the quota and those are now being distributed.

As expected, a large chunk of Ossian Smyth's votes went to his Green Party colleague Hazel Chu pushing her into the lead for the third seat for the first time.

Ms Chu currently has 2,962, followed by Aubrey McCarthy with 2,630 and Hugo MacNeill with 2,359.

These three will continue to fight it out for the final seat in this constituency.

This was always going to be the interesting race here as Mr Clonan and Lynn Ruane, who was elected this afternoon, were expected to retain their seats.

With Ms Chu currently 1,488 votes away from the quota there is still a fair bit of counting yet to be done here at Trinity College.

4.57pm

Lynn Ruane has been elected on the 11th count at Trinity College taking the first seat in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel.

An independent senator since 2016, Ms Ruane was expected to retain her seat in the Seanad.

With 4,806 votes, Ms Ruane exceeded the 4,450 quota and her surplus of 356 will now be distributed.

Fellow incumbent Tom Clonan is set to be elected shortly as he is now just 181 from the quota.

The Green Party's Oissan Smyth will be eliminated and it would be expected that this will benefit his colleague Hazel Chu.

The final seat is still up for grabs with very little to separate Ms Chu (2,062), Independent Hugo MacNeill (2,116) and Independent Aubrey McCarthy (2,314).

Meanwhile in Leinster House, the initial tally for the Cultural and Educational panel shows Sinn Fein's Pauline Tully on the cusp of reaching the quota in the first count.

Also leading the pack are Cathal Byrne, Shane Curley, Sean Kyne, Joe Flaherty, Lorraine Clifford-Lee, Joe Conway and Shane O'Callaghan.

3pm

Following the eighth and final count at the RDS both Senators Ronan Mullen and Alice-Mary Higgins have retained their seats.

No surprises in the National University of Ireland panel as the first count showed a clear path for the three incumbents  McDowell, Mullen and Higgins  to keep the three seats.

Meanwhile, there is still no one elected in the Dublin University/Trinity College panel.

Counting is ongoing at Trinity College with Lynn Ruane just over 300 votes away from reaching the quota.

They are on the 10th count with former minister Katherine Zappone eliminated on the ninth count.

Ruane has led the way throughout, closely followed by fellow incumbent Tom Clonan with both expected to be elected this afternoon.

The fight for the third and final seat rumbles on with Independents Aubrey McCarthy and Hugo MacNeill and the two Green Party candidates Hazel Chu and Ossian Smyth all in the mix.
Im wondering if our Government has a very particular understanding of the It takes a village idea.

For them, it doesnt take a village  it takes a village of women. Our Government, in line with our constitution, seems to believe that caring duties pertain to women exclusively, and so should be overseen by women only.

Plenty has been said and written about the gender imbalance of this latest reshuffle, including Sarah Hartes excellent analysis for this paper. We must also notice the blatant restriction of women to positions relating to care. And, more worryingly, the exclusion of men from these vital areas of Irish life.

It underpins everything. In the new Government, Jennifer Carroll McNeill is Minister for Health. Norma Foley is Minister for, (get ready for the mealy mouthful, the slosh pile) Children, Disability and Equality. Mary Butler, along with being Government Chief Whip, is now Minister of State for Mental Health. Hildegarde Naughton will sit as one of four, now controversial, super junior ministers  for  Yes, youve guessed it  Disability.

Aldagh McDonogh, chair of Women for Election, gets it right when she says womens perspectives are critical to shaping policies that reflect the realities of our society and economy, and their exclusion diminishes the strength of this Cabinet.

I would only add that siloing women into particular departments is of equal concern.

When will we resolve our unfinished democracy', asks McDonogh.

Not until women are represented, certainly, but also not until both men and women are seen as capable of a full range of duties and responsibilities.

Female cabinet ministers

As of 2025, 23 women have served as senior cabinet ministers in the governments of the Republic of Ireland. On only five occasions, women have been Ministers of Justice. There has never been a female minister of finance. There has never been a female minister of foreign affairs.

Its fascinating to me that it is only women who get trapped by their physical attributes. Yes, women can have babies  this is true, and it is a power to be respected and cherished. Women are the source of all human life, as much as we might like to bypass them in our praise of a male God.

But women are more than baby-vessels. They care and nurture, teach and mend. They also think, reflect, and analyse.

Nature designs men to be physically strong. Nature designs them to be most suited to physical work and hard labour. Yet society expands their role into all sorts of pursuits beyond the largeness of their hands, the density of their muscle. Who looks at an educated man in a suit and thinks of him as a failed man?

Yet we still struggle to be as expansive when it comes to women.

The bottom line is this: our incoming government is more comfortable with women looking after the children, the elderly, the unwell, and the people with disabilities. Indeed, they often like to lump these diverse humans together, as if disability implied some kind of childishness

Indeed, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is the only department wherein women earn more than men per hour on average.

Women make up more than half of the workforce in most government departments but tend to be over-represented in more junior roles and under-represented in the most senior positions. They also tend to be cornered into work relating to care. Essential work, yes. In my eyes, the most important work of any country, but there is no reason for it to be gendered. The current set-up reveals that our government doesnt respect or prioritise care work, just as it doesnt respect women.

They have it so terribly wrong. It does take an entire village, and we need only look to Irelands actual villages for proof.

Power of community

Villages have been proving their caring prowess ever since Storm Eowyn arrived on our coast this time last week. People are pulling together, regardless of age, gender, or nationality.

Patrick Mullan, community co-ordinating officer at the Rossinver Community Centre in Co Leitrim, along with his wife, an HSE carer, has been checking on elderly residents, leaving them with hot water bottles, fresh food, and blankets.

Its like a step back in time, Mullan says. The fact that we have power means we can give people a little bit of a refuge and help them escape the cabin fever.

Throughout affected areas, hotels, run by men and women, are opening their doors, without any promise of compensation. Local Coordination Groups are now in place in 16 counties and more Emergency Response Hubs are in the process of being set up. All over Ireland, men and women are working together to provide care and solace.

I saw the power of a united community first-hand last Saturday when I was invited to contribute to the inaugural Body and Mind Festival of Philosophy in the village of Knocknagoshel in Kerry, near Listowel.

The event was organised by their Tidy Towns committee, by individuals like Brian Harding, Susan Goodwillie, Kieran Cotter, and Chris Barrett.

Both men and women ran and contributed to the sessions. Nuala Moore (Long Distance Swimmer) spoke about the endurance of the mind, alongside John Lenihan (world champion mountain runner) and David Keohan (traditional stone-lifter & kettlebell world champion).

Both men and women organised the food, the speakers, and activities. it was the work of a whole community: women and men, young and old. Over the course of the day, they thought, questioned, listened, danced, laughed, cooked, and dined  together.

It takes a village, and what happens at a village level can happen at a national level

In the first session of the day, I was introduced to the ideas of John Moriarty, an Irish writer and philosopher, born nearby.

Mary McGillicuddy (author), Brenda Ni Shuilleabhain (filmmaker), and Kevin Power (philosopher) shared some of his wisdom.

Moriarty was a man of deep spiritual and emotional intelligence who understood that all humans are sympathetic to their environment. We are affected by the world around us, the natural world, and the interpersonal one. And so, we are entirely interdependent, however, we might like to divide ourselves.

There was no mention during the talk of women being the sole heirs to this wisdom or the sole participants in the work of caring for the earth and her people.

Afterwards, I looked into the research on Moriarty conducted by Mary McGillicuddy.

She writes: Speaking to his friend, the poet Paul Durcan, after the publication of Nostos, the first volume of his autobiography, he said 'Its scandalous to say it, Paul, but I think Im trying to heal western culture.'"

McGillicuddy reflects: Those words, to change, to heal, and to save are at the core of his extraordinary mission and to those verbs I would add another, to understand, to understand, to heal and to save both himself and the world in which he found himself, and with which, for the best part of his life, he felt so much at odds.

The Irish government restricts this work, of healing, saving, raising, nurturing, to women. The only women in senior positions, and there are few of them, are tasked with caring for the entire country.

Everything else, from the economy to transport to foreign affairs, is overseen by men.

The opening quote from Moriartys book Dreamtime quotes the Roman poet Horace.

You should change your state of mind, not the sky.

The Government will show a change of mind once it stops dividing the work of our country by gender. Only then will they see the blue sky of what is truly meant by it takes a village  and all the magnificent potential therein.
A new judge will join Hugh Wallace and Amanda Bone as they tour Ireland giving us a peek beyond front doors.

Interior consultant Siobhan Lam promises to bring her own "passion for quirky design, fearless colour, and statement pieces when RTE One's Home of the Year returns to our screens on Tuesday, February 18, as she has a gander at what other creative homeowners have done.

Siobhan joins longtime judges and award-winning architects Hugh and Amanda on series 11 for her first foray into television.

Siobhan Lam.

The April and the Bear founder, who replaces judge and interior designer Sara Cosgrove on the hit show, will be a familiar face to furniture aficionados  who will also be well-acquainted with the bright pink exterior of her lifestyle and interior store in Dublins Rathmines.

Hugh, who has been with Home of the Year from the start, is the founding partner of Douglas Wallace Consultants, and Amanda Bone is the founder of Amanda Bone Architects.

This year's series will feature homes in Carlow, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wicklow.

Siobhan Lam, left, with Hugh Wallace and Amanda Bone.

From reimagined semi-detached houses to architectural marvels and restored period homes, the show promises to inspire viewers with a diverse range of design styles.

Each week, the judges will visit three exceptional homes and score them out of 10 based on individuality, functionality, and clever design.

Siobhan Lam.

The home with the highest combined score in each episode will advance to the grand final in April, where one lucky homeowner will be crowned the winner.
US president Donald Trump said his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Saturday, but he is still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes.

We may or may not, Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office about tariff plans for oil from Canada and Mexico.

Were going to make that determination probably tonight.

Mr Trump said his decision will be based on whether the price of oil charged by the two trading partners is fair, although the basis of his threatened tariffs pertains to stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl.

The United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration.

US daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day.

But Mr Trump showed no concerns that import taxes on the United States trading partners would have a negative impact on the US economy, despite the risk shown in many economic analyses of higher prices.

We dont need the products that they have, Mr Trump said. We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber.

The president also said that China would pay tariffs for its exporting of the chemicals used to make fentanyl. He has previously stated a 10% tariff that would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from China.
Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Democratic Republic of the Congos largest city said they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa.

It comes as Congos president called for a massive military mobilisation to resist the rebellion and his defence minister rejected calls for talks.

In a video message, Congos Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to be completely burned immediately.

Rebel leader Corneille Nangaa addresses a news conference in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, lets stay dead here, said Mr Muadiamvita, a close ally of Congos president.

At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighbouring South Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing.

We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country, Nangaa said.

He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, more than 1,500 kilometres (nearly 1,000 miles) away.

Rwandas leader, Paul Kagame said he spoke with Angolas President Joao Lourenco  a mediator in the conflict who also met with Congos leader a day earlier  and both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities.

M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump described the conflict as a very serious problem when asked about it on Thursday but declined to comment further.

A UN spokesman said the agency is disturbed by reports that neighbouring Rwandan forces have crossed the border in the direction where the rebels are said to be advancing.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma.

They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congos mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth 24 trillion dollars that are critical to much of the worlds technology.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, meanwhile, called on young people to enlist massively in the military, as a crucial meeting of neighbours asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels.

Rwandas leader also threatened to deal with any confrontation with South Africa, which has complained that fighting in eastern Congo has left South African peacekeepers dead.

Government soldiers and police officers, at right, who surrendered to M23 rebels, left, board trucks to an undisclosed location in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into Goma on Monday, Mr Tshisekedi vowed a vigorous and coordinated response from his forces to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution.

On Thursday, he met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Kinshasa, the Congolese presidency said on X, formerly Twitter, noting that France has provided significant support to Congo in recent UN meetings on the issue.

(Congo) expects a little more action in the face of this crisis, it added.
Securing an end to the fighting in Ukraine must take place with Kyivs full involvement and come with more defence spending by regional countries to avoid any future Russian aggression, according to Lithuanias president.

Gitanas Nauseda, the president of the Baltic coastal nation, told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday that a settlement negotiated without proper deterrent measures would allow Russia to consolidate its forces and prepare for further aggression in the region.

Mr Naussda said that even when a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine, you cannot believe that the intentions of Russia will be just to stop and do nothing.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Presidents palace in Vilnius, Lithuania (Mindaugas Kulbis/AP)

They will use this break in order to consolidate, to strengthen the military capabilities and to strike again in the future, he told the Associated Press in Vilnius.

And then the main question is, what will be the next target of Russia? Ukraine, maybe. Baltic countries, maybe.

Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1990, is increasingly worried about the ongoing brutal war in Ukraine and the aggression of its neighbour Russia.

Its geographical position  bordering Russias Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Moscows proxy Belarus to the east  make it vulnerable to a potential broader conflict launched from the Kremlin even after an eventual end to the war, Mr Nauseda said.

You can never feel safe living in this part of the world, because we have this neighbour, and we will still have it after one hundred or two hundred years, Mr Nauseda said of Russia.

You always have the threat from the east, and you must be aware and take all the necessary precautionary measures in order not to be attacked.

This is not individual country-by-country conflict, he added. This is a challenge of Putin towards Nato.

 Unacceptable if ceasefire plans exclude Kyiv

The country recently became the first member of the Nato military alliance to commit to raising its defence spending to at least 5% of its overall national economic output, as called for by US President Donald Trump.

A long-time critic of Nato countries that do not spend more on defence, Mr Trump has threatened he would not defend alliance members that fail to meet defence spending goals.

While some European countries have signalled upping their spending to Mr Trumps desired 5% of GDP would be an economic burden, other nations on the alliances eastern flank, including Lithuania, have greeted the proposal as a necessity.

US President Donald Trump has threatened he would not defend Nato members that fail to meet defence spending goals (Evan Vucci/AP)

Before Mr Trump took office earlier this month, questions over how he would engage with the war in Ukraine loomed over European countries as some speculated he would roll back the crucial military aid provided by the administration of President Joe Biden.

But after his inauguration, Mr Trump threatened to impose sanctions and tariffs on Moscow, and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to settle now and stop this ridiculous war.

Mr Nauseda said the new US administration must ensure that Kyiv is fully involved in negotiations to end the fighting, and that a resolution to the conflict should not be drawn up bilaterally between Moscow and Washington.

It would be unacceptable if the peace would be set behind the doors and without the involvement of Ukraine, he said.

Ukraine paid a very high price in this war. Ukraine lost many human lives. Infrastructure, facilities and houses are destroyed.

The Ukrainian people deserve the right to set the conditions of this peace.

A Ukrainian brigade fires a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian front-line positions in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

I think that President Donald Trump understands that: no peace negotiations without Ukraine, he added.

 Suspicions over damaged undersea cables

Another security concern facing Lithuania and the region is a series of events that have damaged undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged since October 2023.

Most recently, a fibre optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland reportedly ruptured on Sunday.

Nato launched a new mission dubbed Baltic Sentry earlier this month to protect the underwater infrastructure vital to the economic well-being of the region.

Although cable operators note that sub-sea cable damage is commonplace, the frequency and concentration of incidents in the Baltic have heightened suspicions that damage might have been deliberate.

To address those concerns, Mr Nauseda said: It is time for us to show some muscle.

Nato and the EU should take more responsibility in surveying the Baltic Sea, bringing additional maritime capabilities to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.

Some politicians in Lithuania have objected to the country raising its military expenditures, already among the highest relative to GDP in the 32-member Nato alliance.

But Mr Nauseda said Lithuania must show that it can be responsible for its own defence.

This is an absolutely clear priority for this country, as a frontline country, that we have to spend more, he said.

Of course, we can rely on the support of our allies in Nato. But it would be naive to expect that somebody will care about our security if there will be clear indications that we are not able to defend ourselves.
After spending a freezing night out in the open, hundreds of striking students resumed their two day anti-graft protest march from the capital, Belgrade, to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to blockade three bridges over the River Danube this weekend.

The bridge blockade is planned for Saturday to mark three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station collapsed in Novi said on November 1, leaving 15 people dead.

What started two months ago as a protest against suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the countrys powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic.

A student brushes her hair after waking up at a soccer stadium during a protest over the collapse of a concrete canopy that killed 15 people in Serbia (Armin Durgut/AP)

Along the way to Novi Sad, the students were greeted by cheering citizens, honking their car horns or coming out of their homes with offers of refreshments and food.

When they reached the town of Indjija on Thursday, roughly halfway along their 80-kilometre (50-mile) route, they were welcomed with fireworks and cheers from residents.

Although most of them spent the night out in the open in a soccer field, the freezing temperatures did not dampen their desire for major changes in the corruption-ridden Balkan state.

Nevena Vecerinac, a student, said she hoped the protesters demands that include the punishment of all those responsible for the rail station tragedy will be fulfilled.

We will make it to Novi Sad, she said. Yesterdays walk was easy. Its cold now, but we can make it. We all have the same goal.

Sheep graze as students march through fields in northern Serbia (Armin Durgut/AP)

We need support from all people. With this energy and mood I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future, said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher.

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies.

Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations.

Months-long demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbias prime minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities which were ignored by the protesters who say that is not enough.

Mr Vucic and other officials have shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him, to offering concessions or issuing veiled threats.

An aerial view of students sleeping in their tents on a soccer stadium as they take part in a march in Serbia (Armin Durgut/AP)

Pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked the students, twice ramming cars into protests.

A female student was beaten with baseball bats this week, suffering a broken jaw.

The strength and determination of the protesters have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere.
Colombias president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the US to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.

Wealth is only produced by the working people, Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on X, formerly Twitter.
The most common cause of death from a shark bite is blood loss. This 'game changing' new product might just be the thing to prevent that.

An Australian wetsuit brand has been praised for its ability to drastically reduce the severity of shark bites. Source: Shark Stop

As the country's most populous state moves closer to removing the controversial and "outdated" shark netting from over 50 beaches along its coast, more modern and innovative protection methods are emerging in their place.

In NSW, just Randwick City Council is left to decide on whether to discontinue the nets on its beaches, with a vote slated for early February. If it elects to phase them out, it'll join all six other councils from Newcastle to Wollongong in making the recommendation, with the NSW government then to make a final decision on their use.

With the removal of the nets, other shark-safe approaches are now making waves among swimmers and surfers. And while shark-bite-resistant wetsuits have been around in some form for a while, a fresh study has revealed one brand in particular is showing very promising results.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Lauren Sandeman of animal protection agency Humane Society International (HSI), said wetsuits developed by Shark Stop, are nothing short of an "ingenious invention".

When tested on sharks measuring up to 4.3m, researchers found Shark Stop significantly increased the proportion of undamaged areas within a bite, making it a potential game-changer for ocean safety. Source: Shark Stop/Supplied

What are 'shark-bite-resistant' wetsuits?

Testing for these wetsuits was carried out in 2019 and 2023 by scientists at Flinders University in conjunction with NSW Department of Primary Industries. It involved extensive bite trials with various shark species  including tiger sharks and even great whites  to determine how different materials hold up under real-world conditions.

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The results have only just been concluded and shared exclusively with Yahoo News Australia.

They showed Shark Stop wetsuits reduced severe bite damage by 83 per cent, and overall injuries by up to 78 per cent compared to traditional neoprene. The fabric, made from ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), significantly reduced deep punctures and blood loss.

According to Sandeman, technology has finally caught up with the original idea, which dates back decades  and an Australian business is paving the way.

"The concept of preventing a shark from finding you by wearing certain kinds of wetsuits were quite famous with shark divers years ago," she told Yahoo. "The technology to incorporate that into neoprene, that is actually comfortable and easy to use, didn't exist. Now it does. So the idea is decades-old but the technology is new."

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Sandeman explained that when a human suffers a shark bite, the leading cause of death is blood loss. This product aims to prevent that. "They target this exact thing," she said. "Which is reducing the severity of a bite if it might occur.

"It's harder for teeth penetrate these wetsuits compared to standard neoprene. And also, if penetration does occur, it's smaller and shallower."

The Shark Stop wetsuit combines space-age nano-fibre technology with traditional neoprene, enhancing puncture, cut, and tear resistance. Source: Shark Stop/Supplied

What makes Shark Stop wetsuits different from the rest?

Shark Stop CEO, Andre Borell, branded the product a "game-changer". Speaking to Yahoo, he explained the wetsuit combines space-age nano-fibre technology with traditional neoprene, enhancing puncture, cut, and tear resistance.

"The idea for the Shark Stop was born in 2017 by inventor Haydon Burford at his kitchen table following a series of shark bites near his home in Lennox Head, NSW. In a lightbulb moment, Burford questioned why no one had developed a wetsuit to minimise shark bite injuries," he said.

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"Surfers and oceangoers need access to the right tools to take personal responsibility for their safety when entering the wild and unpredictable environments of the ocean. This wetsuit provides peace of mind for those looking to enjoy our beautiful waters.

"The science supports its effectiveness in reducing catastrophic injuries that often lead to fatalities. The wetsuit offers a level of protection that was previously unavailable, making it a groundbreaking advancement for ocean safety."

A study found Shark Stop reduced severe bite damage by 83 per cent and overall injuries by up to 78 per cent. Source: Shark Stop/Supplied

Borell said larger and more powerful bites can potentially create small punctures in the material.

However, unlike traditional wetsuits that tear apart when sharks shake, the protective fabric prevents the expansion of small holes by preventing ripping and tearing. The integrity of the suit remains intact, greatly limiting further injury.

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"So far, Shark Stop has been successfully tested against great white sharks and tiger sharks, two of the three species responsible for most fatal bites," he said. "There are also plans to test it against bull sharks, which are responsible for many shark encounters in rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters.

"With further testing and advancements, this technology could eventually provide comprehensive protection against multiple shark species."

Australia explores multiple shark safety measures

The wetsuits, aimed at surfers and divers, retail for around $1,500, much higher than a standard wetsuit  but Sandeman labelled the price "reasonable" for the level of protection they offer. It's the latest modern shark-safety technique attracting attention in Australia.

In November, Yahoo reported on a new type of shark net  dubbed the Eco Shark Barrier  which has already seen success across many parts of the country's west and in NSW.

The barrier comprises a network of durable components and works to form an enclosure that is flexible enough to allow the passage of small marine life but also rigid enough to prevent the entry of large marine animals, including sharks.

Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment?  Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories.
In a stretch of questioning crucial to the defence of ASAP Rocky, his lawyer challenged the account of his accuser, who said he suffered a hand injury when the hip-hop performer fired a gun at him in 2021.

Superstar singer Rihanna, Rockys partner and the mother of their two children, watched as the man who goes by ASAP Relli, a former friend of Rocky, underwent a second day of cross-examination that left him visibly frustrated and at times angry.

Rihanna slipped into court for a third day about 30 minutes into the evidence and sat next to Rockys mother.

Rapper ASAP Rocky arriving at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Centre in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Damian Dovarganes/AP)

Relli had given evidence under prosecution questioning that his hand felt hot when Rocky fired at him on a Hollywood street and his hand was grazed.

A photo was shown of scrapes that had torn the skin on his knuckles.

He did not seek medical attention until two days later in New York.

You waited to fly all the way across country before seeking medical attention? defence lawyer Joe Tacopina asked.

I had my hand wrapped that night, Relli said, then acknowledged he had.

He said that after the incident I didnt trust LA. I didnt trust nobody.

Through their opening statement and the cross-examination, Rockys lawyers have suggested Relli only sought medical attention because the lawyer in a separate civil case where he is seeking money from the rapper, and a police detective, told him he should.

Mr Tacopina also challenged him about the short time he spent at the hospital.

ASAP Relli giving evidence on Wednesday during ASAP Rockys trial in Los Angeles (Frazer Harrison/Pool via AP)

Thats one hour and 36 minutes for a gunshot, yeah? the lawyer said.

It was two days later, Relli replied.

Anticipating the defence tactic, the prosecution told jurors during their opening statement that for the charges in the case  two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm  it does not matter whether Relli was injured.

Guilty verdicts on both counts could lead to a maximum of 24 years in prison for Rocky.

That verdict could be a major turning point in the life of the rapper, who this weekend is nominated for his third Grammy Award at a ceremony at Crypto.com Arena just two miles from the trial.

Rockys lawyers are arguing, in a revelation made just before the trial began, that the gun he fired was a starter pistol that carried only blanks that he had just as a prop for security.

They allege Relli knew this.

Relli gave evidence under prosecution questioning that he had not known Rocky to carry a gun.

Defence lawyer Joe Tacopina listens to opening remarks from the prosecuting lawyer during the trial of his client ASAP Rocky (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

When Mr Tacopina returned to the question, Relli hedged.

I dont really chill with him every day, I dont know, he said.

From the time I chill with him, I dont know him carrying guns.

Mr Tacopina continued: Well one thing you know, is for sure he doesnt carry a prop gun.

Who carries a prop gun? Relli answered.

Whos going to come to a situation and carry a prop gun?

After the jury was dismissed for lunch, a vicious argument broke out between Mr Tacopina and deputy district attorney John Lewin over a racy photo of Rellis girlfriend that he showed Relli to identify her.

Mr Lewin argued it was an attempt to inflame the witness, and that the defences entire case failed to address the actual incident, including this prop gun garbage.

ASAP Rocky sits in a courtroom in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Frazer Harrison/Pool via AP)

Oh? Oh? Mr Tacopina shouted back.

Well see what the jury says at the end.

Mr Tacopina then called Relli a perjurer, and said that the prosecutors were abetting him.

As it got even louder and more personal, the judge, who seemed disgusted, walked out.

He had previously instructed the men, who have butted heads often, only to talk to each other on the record.

In this case they were, though the cameras had been turned off.

Rocky and Rihanna, both 36, have two sons together: two-year-old RZA Athelston Mayers and one-year-old Riot Rose Mayers.
Google has launched its latest artificial intelligence model, Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental, offering advanced capabilities for users who subscribe to its premium service. The technology giant's latest AI iteration is designed to handle complex tasks, though access is limited to those willing to pay for the top-tier subscription.

The announcement follows Google's December unveiling of Gemini 2.0, the next-generation multimodal AI model. The company aims to refine the chatbot experience with an emphasis on AI-driven agents designed to enhance performance.

Google Rolls Out Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental

Google revealed Tuesday that Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental is now available for testing. According to a report from 9to5Google, this model boasts enhanced capabilities in coding, mathematics, and other computational tasks. The company describes it as the "leading model" for executing complex assignments with greater precision.

The December teaser hinted at significant updates for Gemini AI in 2024. With this release, users can explore advanced coding challenges, generate programs from scratch, and develop sophisticated statistical models or quantum algorithms.

Despite its advancements, Google has cautioned users that the model remains experimental and may produce errors. Additionally, real-time information access is not yet available.

Exclusive Access for Gemini Advanced Subscribers

Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental is restricted to users subscribed to Gemini Advanced, the highest-tier plan priced at $19.99 per month. This subscription includes access to experimental AI models, 2TB of cloud storage through Google One, and integration with Google Workspace applications.

Google has also clarified that Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental differs from Gemini 2.0 Pro, with the former still undergoing testing and refinements.

Google's AI Roadmap

Google previously announced plans for substantial AI advancements in 2025 under "Project Astra," which aims to redefine AI-powered assistance. The company has pledged further improvements to its search engine, incorporating more generative AI features.

CEO Sundar Pichai has also hinted at upcoming AI-powered enhancements to Google Lens, expected to introduce video capabilities later this year.

With Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental now available for testing, Google continues to push forward in its AI innovation, setting the stage for further developments in the coming months.
Microsoft is expanding its gaming library to third-party platforms, a move that includes the much-celebrated "Halo" franchise making its way to Sony's PlayStation 5. This marks a significant shift in the rivalry between Microsoft and Sony, which has persisted for more than two decades.

'Halo' For PS5 Confirmed by Xbox Insider in New Leak

Xbox insider and industry leaker Jez Corden recently confirmed that Microsoft is working to bring its iconic "Halo" franchise to the PlayStation 5. This aligns with the company's ongoing strategy of broadening its first-party game library across rival platforms. Leaks had already suggested this move, with a previous report by NateTheHate noting that "Halo: The Master Chief Collection," an Xbox and Windows PC exclusive, is being ported to PlayStation 5. Corden's confirmation adds weight to the speculation that "Halo" will soon be available to PlayStation players.

ComicBook Gaming also reported on the leak, citing multiple sources that supported the claim that Microsoft is actively working on this PS5 port. The move has sparked widespread discussion in the gaming community, particularly as "Halo" stands out as one of the most significant franchises to make the jump to a competitor's platform.

Microsoft's Promise: Game Exclusivity No More



Microsoft has long positioned itself as a leader in the gaming industry, and recent developments signal a major shift in its approach to game exclusivity. In line with its stated intention to make its gaming content more inclusive, the company has pledged to share its first-party titles across various platforms. This strategy is evident in the upcoming arrival of "Forza Horizon 5" on PlayStation 5, a move that is expected to pave the way for other big titles like "Halo" to follow suit.

As part of its broader vision, Microsoft has committed to making major acquisitions to enhance its game distribution model. These include the 2020 purchase of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, which gave Microsoft control of franchises such as "Fallout" and "The Elder Scrolls." More recently, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was met with regulatory scrutiny but underscored the company's determination to expand its role as a game distributor rather than focusing on exclusivity.

Microsoft's Position as a Game Distributor

Microsoft's acquisition of high-profile game studios has positioned it as a formidable force in the gaming industry. The company has promised that it will make popular franchises, including "Call of Duty," available across various platforms, a decision that aligns with its new philosophy of inclusivity. With "Halo" now expected to arrive on PlayStation 5, Microsoft is cementing its role not just as a console maker, but as a global game distributor, ensuring that its titles reach the broadest audience possible.

The move represents a shift in the gaming industry's traditional model, signaling a future where platform exclusivity is no longer the defining factor in a game's success. As Microsoft continues to expand its gaming footprint, fans can expect further developments in this new era of cross-platform gaming.
Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 54F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 54F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tomorrow

Windy with rain showers in the morning then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High around 65F. Winds WSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.
A caravan enthusiast left a trail of blood behind at the repair shop after she made a painful mistake.

The woman's index fingertip was left behind in horrifying scenes. Source: Facebook/AAP

WARNING  GRAPHIC IMAGE: A womans horrific finger injury has sparked a warning for other caravanning enthusiasts to be mindful of where you place your fingers.

The woman had taken her caravan to a repair shop and was struggling to hitch it to her car when she accidentally got her finger caught between the tow ball and the coupling.

The incident, which happened in the US state of Ohio, has sparked a warning from experts in Australia who told Yahoo News accidents can happen quickly if youre unprepared.

A gory photo shows the American womans fingertip stuck to the tow ball, with a trail of nerve endings hanging out. There was quite the blood spatter up the back of the vehicle from them ripping it out, a worker at the repair centre said.

The woman's fingertip was severed after becoming crushed next to the tow ball. Source: Facebook/Zac Schweitzer

Keep your hands clear, expert warns

Gary Gardiner from Total Towing Setups told Yahoo News hes heard of fingers and hands being pinched and crushed over his 25 years in the caravanning industry.

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I mightve heard of half a dozen or so [accidents] where theyve somehow got their hand in the way as they were trying to manoeuvre the coupling left or right to make it line up with the ball, he said, but admitted its the first time hes seen anyone lose a body part.

There is no need for hands or fingers in or around the coupling itself or the tow ball. Just keep everything well and truly clear.

Internet reacts to gruesome injury with their own horror stories

On Facebook, viewers were horrified by the finger injury  and some had their own stories to share.

One woman said her husband had also crushed his thumb between the ball and the coupling before. Another person said their wife basically cut her fingers off when she checked to see if the camper was attached properly. The full weight of the camper shifted and caught her finger, the commenter wrote.

Experts warn accidents can happen if you're unprepared or unsure about what you're doing. Source: Getty

A man even posted a photo of his healed hand after losing the tip of his index finger the same way. Been there, he said.

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Connecting a vehicle to a caravan or trailer is a slow process usually and should be simple and basic, Gardiner said, offering some tips:

When purchasing a caravan, make sure the dealer or previous owner explains how to use the coupling

When reversing a car to the trailer, keep everyone clear of the moving vehicle

When youre lowering the coupling on to the ball, keep all your hands and fingers well out of the way

When the coupling is in place, lock it down and make sure it is secure

Put electrical leads and safety chains in place before driving

Gardiner teaches caravan safety and will be holding masterclasses twice daily at the Let's Go Gold Coast Caravan & Outdoor Expo from February 7 to 9.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Israels military announced that it has targeted multiple Hezbollah positions in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, marking two months since a fragile ceasefire with the Lebanese organization followed significant hostilities last year.

The sites hit include a Hezbollah terrorist installation that contains underground facilities for developing and manufacturing weapons, along with additional terrorist infrastructure located along the Syrian-Lebanese border, utilized by Hezbollah to smuggle arms into Lebanon, the military stated in a press release.

According to the military, the overnight strikes were carried out against targets that posed a threat to Israel and its forces.

Yesterday, the military reported intercepting a Hezbollah surveillance drone that was approaching Israeli territory, asserting that this constitutes a violation of the ceasefire agreements between Israel and Lebanon.

The Israeli army failed to meet a deadline of January 26 to withdraw completely from Lebanon, and now has until February 18 to do so.

Israel has made it clear it does not plan to adhere to the deadline, claiming that the Lebanese army has not met its obligations under the agreement.

According to the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is supposed to position itself in the south as Hezbollah withdraws its forces north of the Litani River, approximately 30km from the border.

The Iran-backed militant group must also dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it holds in the southern region.
At 11pm on 31 January 2020, the UK officially departed from the European Union, becoming the first member state to do so.

This occasion signified the start of the so-called transition period, which lasted for 11 months, allowing the UK to remain part of the single market and customs until the years end.

However, during this transitional phase, the UK was no longer part of EU political institutions.

Five years later, the repercussions of the UKs exit continue to affect households and businesses throughout the nation.

Feelings about Brexit

According to polling data from YouGov to mark the five-year anniversary, a majority of 55% of people in the UK now think the decision to leave the European Union was a mistake.

Only 30% believe it was the right choice.

Among younger voters who did not participate in the referendum, particularly those aged 18-24, a notable 75% view the departure as erroneous, according to the poll.

The YouGov poll further reveals that 64% of Britons would favor a closer relationship with the EU without rejoining any part of it.

Nevertheless, there appears to be little political willingness to revisit the referendum or to discuss rejoining the single market or customs union.

Instead, the government has been focusing on resetting its relations with the EU.

Business impact

Some sectors have experienced the impact of Brexit more acutely than others.

The horticulture sector, in particular, has faced substantial trade disruptions.

The Horticultural Trade Association reports that many of its members continue to struggle with soaring costs, significant delays, stock damage, and excessive bureaucracy.

Paolo Arrigo, owner of Seeds of Italy in north west London, shares his challenges.

I should certainly have more money in my bank account than I currently do. Ive had to allocate a significant amount to testing and bureaucracy The UK no longer recognizes the phytosanitary certificate, nor the European organic certificate. This has caused numerous issues, he explains.

Over the past year, he states he has had to dispose of 11,000 worth of tomato seeds due to importation difficulties.

He would welcome any modifications that could alleviate trade barriers in his often-overlooked sector.

Story of Brexit

This week, the think-tank UK in a Changing Europe released a comprehensive study on the narrative of Brexit, examining its origins, the negotiation process, and its future implications.

Anand Menon, director of the think-tank, notes that Brexit was always going to be an ongoing process requiring constant engagement with the EU.

The research highlighted that the Northern Ireland border would become increasingly pronounced as the UK diverges from EU regulations.

This divergence doesnt necessarily lead to multiple political crises but needs to be anticipated, the report suggested.

When asked about his assessment of Brexit five years after the UKs exit, Anand Menon remarked that it was challenging to gauge as Brexit was fundamentally about trade-offs.

On one side, we have control over our laws and immigration policy, which for some, justifies the economic costs incurred.

A striking aspect is that many leave voters who wished to see immigration decrease have been taken aback by the fact that net immigration has more than doubled since the referendum, he explains.

He identifies a paradox in the current UK landscape: if you mention Brexit in an article title to a journalist, it generates significant clicks; however, the two major parties, Labour and Conservatives, are reluctant to address Brexit due to its divisive nature, he said.

He also points out that since Donald Trumps election, the Liberal Democrats have begun advocating for much closer ties with Europe.

Calls for a return to the Customs Union

Earlier this month, Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey urged the government to pursue a new customs union with the EU.

He contended that the new President of the United States is not a reliable partner in terms of security, defense, or the economy.

Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, argued that committing to a new customs union would create a greater sense of urgency and purpose behind the talks and dialogue that has been committed to. In our opinion, progress has been far too slow on issues that should be easily agreed upon, like a European youth mobility scheme.

Mr. Miller believes that reaching an agreement on such a scheme would foster trust with the EU and demonstrate the UKs seriousness in resetting its relationship.

However, within Labour circles, there seems to be little interest in fully rejoining the customs union.

Nonetheless, the intention to reset relations remains a priority on the governments agenda.

During her growth speech this week, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stated that improving relations with the EU, our nearest and largest trading partner, was in the national interest.
UN Relief Agency for Palestinians to Persist in Operations Despite Israel Severing Ties

The United Nations has announced that its aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, will maintain its operations across all Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, even as Israel disconnects from the organization.

Following Israels accusations that UNRWA was enabling Hamas militants, legislation to sever ties with the agency took effect today. This development is anticipated to impede the essential services provided by UNRWA after 15 months of conflict in Gaza.

The agency is prohibited from functioning on Israeli soil, and all communication between it and Israeli officials is restricted.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated: UNRWA clinics throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are operational.

For over 70 years, the agency has assisted Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, but it has frequently faced opposition from Israeli officials, who have accused it of compromising the nations security.

The tensions escalated after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, with allegations that UNRWA employees were involved in the assault.

Following the implementation of the law, the Norwegian government reported a contribution of $24 million (29m) to the agency.

Gaza is in ruins, and UNRWAs assistance is more crucial than ever, remarked Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

Blatant violation of law by Israel  Turkey

Turkey denounced the Israeli action as a blatant violation of international law and stated it marks a new phase in Israels policies of occupation and annexation aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from their own land.

In defense, Israel upheld its decision.

Humanitarian aid does not equate to UNRWA, and UNRWA is not synonymous with humanitarian aid. UNRWA is an organization infiltrated with Hamas terror activities, foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X prior to the ban.

The agencys offices and personnel in Israel play a significant role in delivering healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those in Gaza, which has suffered tremendously because of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Yesterday, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer claimed that the agency employs over 1,200 Hamas members, including terrorists who participated in the October 7th massacre, adding that if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists.

Meanwhile, Israels supreme court dismissed a petition from the Palestinian human rights group Adalah challenging the ban, but it acknowledged that the legislation only prohibits UNRWAs operations on the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, not within Gaza and the West Bank.

However, it does apply to Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, where UNRWA has a field headquarters for its activities in the West Bank.

In response, Adalah noted that the law would be enacted disregarding the catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

The UNRWA building in East Jerusalem

The ban, supported by Israels primary ally, the United States, has attracted backlash from aid organizations and US partners.

UNRWA reported that it has facilitated 60% of the food aid brought into Gaza since the onset of the conflict.

Israeli envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, urged the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the agency must discontinue its operations and vacate all locations it occupies in annexed East Jerusalem.

In reaction, Mr. Guterres called for Israel to retract its order.

I regret this decision and ask that the government of Israel rescind it, he said, emphasizing that UNRWA is irreplaceable.

Its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, asserted that the agencys ability to distribute aid far exceeds that of any other entity.

He described Israels actions against UNRWA as a relentless assault  harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Latest Middle East stories

Israel asserts that several of the organizations employees were involved in the 2023 attack and maintains that other agencies are capable of stepping in to provide essential services, aid, and reconstructionclaims disputed by the UN and many donor governments.

A series of investigations, including one led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, identified some neutrality-related issues at UNRWA but emphasized that Israel had not presented evidence for its primary allegation.
By Gokcay Balci, University of Leeds |

(The Conversation)  The worlds major shipping companies say they wont be sending vessels back to the Red Sea any time soon despite a pledge by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen not to attack them as long as the ceasefire in Gaza holds.

French shipping and logistics company CMA CGM said in a statement on January 25 that the improved stability was a positive but fragile sign for the industry, and that it would continue to prioritise alternative routes.

Since November 2023, one month after the war in Gaza began, the Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks against roughly 190 commercial and naval ships in the Red Seas Bab al-Mandab Strait. The group claims to have carried out attacks on vessels connected with Israel, or heading to its ports, in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Though this has not always been the case.

These attacks have prompted many shipping companies to stop using the Red Sea  a route that around 12% of global trade usually passes through  and divert around the southern tip of Africa. This route adds more than 7,000 nautical miles on to a typical round-trip voyage. The number of commercial ships using the Suez Canal to pass between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea plummeted from over 26,000 in 2023 to 13,200 in 2024.

Supply chains have had to deal with higher shipping costs, product delivery delays, and increased carbon emissions as a result of this diversion. The Gaza ceasefire gave some hope that the disruption would finally end. But shipping lines will not hurry back to the region until long-term security is guaranteed.



Red Sea Map, via Public Domain Archive.

During the early stages of the crisis, moving a container from Shanghai in China to Europe cost approximately 250% more than before the war in Gaza began. This was largely due to increased fuel costs and higher insurance premiums. Freight rates (the price companies pay to transport goods) remained high throughout 2024, despite some fluctuations.

The cost of moving a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for example, surged from around US$4,400 on average in January to above US$8,000 by August. This had dropped to US$4,900 at the end of the year.

It is too early to say whether these costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices  full transmission through the supply chain to consumer prices can take upwards of 12 months. But some estimates suggest global consumer prices could rise by 0.6% on average in 2025 as these increased shipping costs filter through the supply chain.

Diverting around southern Africa also resulted in delays in the delivery of many goods and components. The proportion of container ships that arrived on schedule dropped from 60% on average worldwide in 2023 to about 50% throughout 2024. This created congestion at ports because ships often arrived at their destination later than planned, resulting in further delivery delays.

Unreliable transit times are a significant issue for supply chains because they make it difficult for businesses to plan inventory and coordinate production schedules. Indeed, several vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla and Volvo, temporarily suspended manufacturing in early 2024 due to a lack of components. And food supply chains, including those for avocados, tea and coffee, were also affected by delays.

Since then, many companies have adapted by increasing their safety stock levels and transporting cargo using alternative modes of transport like air and rail. Some European firms have also adopted a strategy called nearshoring, where they source products from regions closer to home such as Turkey and Morocco instead of relying on suppliers in Asia.

Increased emissions

The longer route around southern Africa requires that ships travelling between Europe and Asia use around 33% more fuel on average than they would use by travelling through the Red Sea at the same speed.

Over the past decade, most shipping companies have employed a slow steaming policy to economise on fuel use and minimise their carbon emissions. But diverted ships have been travelling around 5% faster than usual in an attempt to minimise delays. The increased vessel speeds will have caused the associated emissions toll to rise  large container vessels require 2.2% more fuel for every 1% increase in speed.

More data is required to determine the precise amount of additional emissions caused by diverting shipping away from the Red Sea. But estimates suggest that approximately 13.6 million tonnes of CO were emitted by ships rerouted from the Red Sea between December 2023 and April 2024  equivalent to the carbon emissions of nine million cars over the same period. If ships continue to avoid the region, the increased emissions could amount to 41 million extra tonnes of CO per year.

Some cargo has also shifted from sea transport to air freight, which has a far greater environmental footprint. Shipping a kilogram of product by long-haul air freight generates at least 50 times more CO emissions on average than container shipping.



Photo of container ship by Tom Fisk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-shot-of-cargo-ship-on-sea-3840441/

Before returning to the Suez Canal, container lines will want to see a prolonged period of stability around the Red Sea. This is due, in part, to safety and security concerns related to the crew, cargo and the ship.

But shipping companies also have operational challenges to keep in mind associated with the scheduling of port calls and voyages. Shipping lines will find it difficult to switch back to the longer route around Africa immediately if attacks in the Red Sea resume.

And, at least for now, the situation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait remains unpredictable. In a televised speech on January 20, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned: We have our finger on the trigger.

With other disruptions continuing to affect global shipping, such as port strikes, low water levels in the Panama Canal and extreme weather events, supply chain issues are likely to continue throughout 2025.

Gokcay Balci, Lecturer in Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics, University of Leeds

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  The Israeli systemic destruction of civilian building infrastructure in Gaza generated over 50 million tons of debris by 1 December 2024.

Clearing this rubble will be extremely dangerous for the following reasons.

Since returning to Gaza in November 2023, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams of the UN Mine Action Service have encountered more than 460 hazardous munitions visible on the ground in the regions they were able to reach.

[Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams have come across aerial bombs, mortars, rockets, grenades, and improvised explosive devices, MK 82, MK 83, and MK 84 aircraft bombs weighing between 500 and one ton - have frequently been observed on the surface of Gaza and along roadways. Likely these munitions will also be discovered as deeply buried explosives within structures and debris.]

As of January 21, 2025, a total of 92 casualties, encompassing both injuries and deaths, have already been recorded in the UN Mine Action Service Public Information Management System.

UNMAS notes that with the enforcement of the ceasefire prompting more individuals to move throughout Gaza and return to their residences, the risk of incidents rises as people enter unverified and possibly hazardous locations.

A snapshot of some 46 makeshift refugee camps as reported by aid organizations this week, including RC, UNRWA, ACTED, PARC/DRC, PHC, where 55,725 individuals huddle in the cold and rain without proper shelter.

Of the 46 sites, only 2 had received any humanitarian aid in the past 7 days. That is, 44 sites had received zilch, nada, zero, even basic things like food. Zero.

Only 2 of the sites had seen a bit of aid, limited to some food. So youre talking about over 50,000 people  children, women and men, who have not been helped by the revived shipments of aid into the strip.

Yet 91% of the camps had reported a desperate need for food.

In the area of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) 76% said they need drinking water, 50% said they need water for washing, and 28% said they needed hygiene kits. 50% need blankets, and 30% need clothing.

A third dont even have adequate clothing. Half dont have enough blankets to fend off the winter cold.

About half of the internally displaced refugees living in these makeshift camps plan to leave soon.

About a quarter say they will stay where they are, which sounds pretty desperate. They clearly have no place to go back to.

Of the over 27,000 people planning on moving soon from this set of 46 camps, their destinations are as follows:

North Gaza 39%

Gaza 30%

Rafah 28%

Khan Younis 26%

Already, 376,000 internally displaced refugees are thought to have gone home to their places of origin in northern Gaza.



Unexploded Munitions, Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3 / Clip2Comic, 2024

The Israeli campaign of deliberate destruction of domiciles has ensured, of course, that no habitable home awaits them, but maybe the rubble of your former home is better than some makeshift camp elsewhere in the country.

In the first two days of the ceasefire, a field assessment conducted by the Palestine Water Authority (PWA) revealed significant damage to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in North Gaza, affecting up to 70 percent of the infrastructure and reducing water availability to just three liters per person per day. The UN says that an average person needs 50  100 liters per day of water for drinking, washing, etc.

In Gaza City, the PWA reported extensive destruction - exceeding 90 percent  of the seawater desalination plant, the only facility of its kind north of Wadi Gaza, which previously supplied water to the citys northern and western neighborhoods. The destruction of this plant has created a severe shortage in water supply, with restoration expected to take approximately a year and cost an estimated US$5 million.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2025) - Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV: BCM) (OTCQX: BCEKF) (BVL: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") announces it produced 7,937 ounces of gold and 55,803 ounces of silver from the Mercedes Mine ("Mercedes") during the three months ended December 31, 2024 ("Q4 2024").

Eric Caba, President and CEO of Bear Creek, states "Production from Mercedes decreased during Q4 2024 as we continued the transition from mining at San Martin, a bulk-mineable deposit and the biggest contributor to production during 2024, into other areas of the Mercedes operation. This transition requires extensive development work, adaptations to new narrow-vein mining methods, and the deployment of right-sized equipment and specialized supplies, which have taken longer than expected to procure. Our ongoing efforts to improve efficiency, contain costs, apply operational discipline and reduce dilution, combined with completion of the transition to narrow vein mining methods appropriate for future production from the Marianas deposit, are focused on benefitting Mercedes' performance in 2025."

Q4 2024 Production

Production and development results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024 are as follows:

Q1 2024 (1) Q2 2024 (1) Q3 2024 (1) Q4 2024 Full Year 2024 (2) Ore Mined (tonnes) 106,365 93,093 103,889 95,204 398,552 Ore Processed (tonnes) 109,280 95,727 102,535 93,170 400,771 Gold grade processed (gpt) 3.69 3.23 3.40 2.79 3.30 Gold recovery (%) 94% 93% 96% 95% 95% Gold ounces produced 12,228 9,304 10,751 7,937 40,220 Silver ounces produced 44,040 40,893 76,939 55,803 217,675 Development (meters) 2,780 2,569 2,025 3,090 10,464

(1) See Bear Creek news releases dated April 17, July 19 and October 18, 2024

(2) Full year 2024 numbers may not add due to rounding

The tonnage of ore mined and processed was impacted during Q4 2024 by delays experienced in obtaining certain equipment and supplies necessary to transition from the bulk mining methods used at the San Martin deposit to narrow vein mining methods required to effectively mine at the Marianas deposit and delays related to unplanned remediation of ground conditions. While as a result the final quarter of the year saw lower than anticipated gold and silver production, we are working to resolve both of these underlying factors and improve production accordingly. The average Q4 2024 gold grade of processed ore was impacted by lower-than-expected grades of ore mined from the Diluvio and Lupita deposits. Development activity originally planned for earlier quarters occurred in the final quarter of the year, leading to the substantially higher development meters achieved in Q4 2024.

In summary, unforeseen delays related to the transition of mining methods and contractors during the quarter negatively impacted production results for Q4 2024. However, the majority of this shortfall is expected to be made up in the course of 2025 concurrent with anticipated reductions in dilution that stem from using experienced narrow vein miners and right sized equipment.

Bear Creek is planning an aggressive exploration program for 2025 to test high quality, near-mine brownfield targets identified in late 2024 through a study that integrated new information obtained from reprocessing historic aeromagnetic survey data, with ground-based geochemistry, new geological field observations and a re-interpretation of structural controls on Mercedes mineralization. The 69,284-hectare Mercedes property is located at the convergence of discrete porphyry, epithermal & orogenic belts and represents a highly prospective environment that is largely unexplored outside of the Mercedes mine deposits. Our 2025 exploration plans will be announced in an exploration update news release in the coming days.

Shipping Alternatives

Bear Creek, through its Mercedes operating entity, currently ships d'ore from the Mercedes Mine to refining facilities in the USA pursuant to a contract with Asahi Refining ("Asahi"). The Company has confirmed that alternative d'ore shipping arrangements to Asahi's facilities in Canada are available to it, and will avail itself of these alternatives in the event precious metals shipments from Mexico to the USA become subject to punitive tariffs. Should this occur, the net effect of the change for the Company would be a moderate increase in the transportation costs for the production from Mercedes.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Eric Caba

President and Chief Executive Officer

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Unless otherwise indicated, scientific and technical information in this news release is based on work programs and initiatives conducted by or under the supervision of, and/or has been reviewed and approved by, Donald Mc Iver, Fellow SEG and Fellow Aus IMM, Vice President, Exploration and Geology of Bear Creek Mining Corporation, who is a qualified person ("QP") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding: the timing, appropriateness, and benefits of the transition from bulk to narrow vein mining methodologies; the inclusion and relative contribution of various deposits on future production at Mercedes; expectations regarding 2025 Mercedes production results; the anticipated resolution of delays in equipment procurement that impacted Q4 2024 production results and the timing and impacts thereof; expectations regarding anticipated reductions in dilution and containment of costs, the potential impacts of such reductions on production results, and the timing thereof; 2025 Mercedes exploration plans and potential outcomes and plans to publicize such plans; and, potential changes to d'ore shipments from Mercedes. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to assumptions related to the Company's exploration, development and operating activities, the availability of funds required to meet its requirements and plans, business objectives, goals and capabilities, assumptions related to gold and silver prices, and the expectation that anticipated exploration, development and operating results will not differ materially from expectations. Although management considers the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on information available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and the risk exists that estimates, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions on which they are based do not reflect future experience. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the expectations expressed in them. These risk factors may be generally stated as the risk that the assumptions expressed above do not occur, but may include additional risks as described in the Company's latest Annual Information Form, and other disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR+. The foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on behalf of the Company, except as required by law.

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.
The UN rights chief said Friday that he was "deeply alarmed" by reports of summary executions of civilians in Khartoum North, allegedly by Sudanese army fighters and allied militia.

"Deliberately taking the life of a civilian or anyone not or no longer directly taking part in hostilities is a war crime," Volker Turk said in a statement.

The war between Sudan's army (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million, according to the United Nations, and pushed millions to the brink of famine.

After months of apparent stalemate in Khartoum, the military last week broke an almost two-year RSF siege of its Khartoum General Command headquarters.

On the same day, the military reported reclaiming its Signal Corps base in Khartoum North, and expelling the RSF from the Jaili oil refinery north of Khartoum.

The UN rights office said it had verified the killings of at least 18 people, including one woman, in seven separate incidents "attributed to SAF-affiliated fighters and militia since the SAF regained control of the area on 25 January".

"Many of the victims of these incidents, which took place in the vicinity (of) the Al Jaili oil refinery, were originally from the Darfur or Kordofan regions of Sudan," it said.

The rights office also highlighted "further disturbing allegations emanating from Khartoum North", which it was still corroborating.

It noted a video circulated Thursday showing men in SAF uniform and members of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade in Khartoum North "reading out a long list of names of alleged RSF collaborators, saying 'Zaili' -- Arabic for 'killed' -- after each name".

"These reports of summary executions, following similar incidents earlier this month in Al Jazirah State, are deeply disturbing," Turk said, adding that "such killings must not become normalised".

- 'Shocking threats of violence' -

He reiterated his call for "all parties to the conflict to take urgent action to protect civilians and to uphold obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law".

"Independent investigations must be held into these incidents in line with relevant international standards."

The rights office voiced fear of further attacks "amid shocking threats of violence against civilians".

It said it had reviewed a video showing a member of the Al Baraa Bin Malik Brigade "threatening to slaughter the residents of El Hadj Yusif in East Nile", an area of Khartoum North.

The office also denounced continued RSF attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including the shelling of a camp for displaced people in El-Fasher in North Darfur that killed nine civilians on Wednesday.

And on January 24, a drone attack on a maternity hospital in El-Fasher, attributed to the RSF, left at least 67 dead and 19 injured, it said.

"Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects are abhorrent," Turk said.

"Such attacks constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes".

On Friday, the UN Security Council "strongly condemned" the intensifying RSF attacks in El-Fasher and called for an "immediate" ceasefire between the warring parties.
An aviation expert says the midair crash in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night is likely a result of unique air traffic patterns in the area and shouldn't cause wider fears over air safety. A plane is silhouetted as it takes off from Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., Monday, May 13, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward




Friday, January 31, 2025 - A police officer picked up a lady of the night on the streets while off-duty and refused to pay her after fun, leading to an altercation.

In the video, a heavily built man is seen confronting the police officer, demanding that he pay the lady her dues.

Pay her. No one is scared of you even if you claim to be a police officer, the no-nonsense man tells the cop and charges toward him.

He goes ahead and manhandles the police officer as the crowd gathers around to witness the dramatic incident.

The incident happened at a dingy backstreet where ladies gather at night, waiting for clients.

Watch the video.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Controversial city socialite and club host Faith Makau alias Amber Ray has publicly addressed the ongoing speculation about her partner, Kennedy Rapudos source of income, following persistent allegations of money laundering.

Speaking in an interview, Amber Ray clarified that Rapudo is involved in the travel and tours business, working with a company based in the Netherlands.

He works with Dutch people. He has a partner with whom they bring visitors from the Netherlands to Africa. Thats why you see us traveling a lot, Amber Ray explained.

Amber further responded to concerns about why Rapudos company is not well-known or promoted on social media.



People ask why he doesnt advertise his business, but his kind of tours are different. His target audience is not in Kenya, so we dont need to advertise it here, she stated.

The mother of two also defended her husband against accusations of involvement in money laundering and gold scams, commonly referred to as wash wash.



When people cannot figure you out, they come up with things to tarnish your name. My husband is not a wash wash kind of guy. He does genuine business, Amber Ray insisted.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Embakasi East Member of Parliament, Babu Owino, has explained the reason why he didnt participate in the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in October last year.

Gachagua's impeachment was sparked by the vote of 281 MPs who okayed the charges against him.

However, Babu was not among the 281; he said he abstained from the impeachment vote, stating that there were no valid grounds for the ouster.

He revealed that he resisted pressure to join MPs who supported the impeachment motion tabled by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse.

"About Rigathi, and I want to say it clearly, I did not vote to impeach him. I was told to vote to impeach him.

"When I heard him speak, I said, I washed my hands like Pilate washed his hands in Jesus' crucifixion, because I said, this man, the way he has spoken, that man, genuinely speaking, I did not see his problem anywhere.

"I am a very just leader, if someone has made a mistake, I say that he has made a mistake.

"Firstly, he did not make a mistake, secondly, I did not see his mistake. He was being accused of tribalism.

"Tell me who is not tribal among those leaders," he said.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - High Court Judge Cecilia Gathua has ruled that former Migori County Governor Okoth Obado has a case to answer regarding the murder of Sharon Otieno in September 2018.

In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Cecilia Gathua also found Obado's PA Michael Oyamo, and former Migori county employee Caspal Obiero to have a case to answer over the gruesome murder of Sharon who was then a student at Rongo University.

In her ruling, Justice Cecilia Gathua stated that the prosecution's evidence established a prima facie case, warranting the three to be placed on their defence.

However, the judge acquitted the three on the charge of killing Sharon's unborn baby.

Justice Cecilia agreed with submissions made by the defense by virtue of the born alive principle, which states that for a child to be a victim or anyone to be accused of murder, that child must be born alive.

"I have considered these submissions and I'm in agreement that indeed the evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of baby Sharon doesn't support the charge of murder," she said.

As reported earlier, a paternity test done by the government indicated that the former Migori governor was the biological father of the slain Sharon's unborn baby.

The DNA test results presented in the High Court indicate a 99.99+% chance that Obado fathered the baby.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has stated that President William Ruto must address the ongoing abductions and extra-judicial killings targeting young people in the country.

Addressing a press conference on Friday after meeting with the families of the Mlolongo Four at Nairobi Funeral Home, Muturi said the issue of abductions and extra-judicial killings rests with the President."

Muturi said Ruto, who is the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, must take decisive action to address abductions and extrajudicial killings.

We want the truth and an end to this. We cannot take it as business as usual anymore. The parents have been in agony. We must get to the root cause of the abductions and extra-judicial killings," Muturi said.

He also said it is highly myopic for Ruto to pretend to be addressing the Congo crisis while, at home, sate agents are involved in the abduction and killing of young people, who are the leaders of tomorrow.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Makueni County Senator, Dan Maanzo, has stated that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was framed by the State, a move that led to his impeachment.

In an interview with Citizen TV on Thursday, Maanzo said Gachagua is only exposing the rot in government and should not be blamed for being Ruto's main defender when he was the second-in-command.

Maanzo holds that Gachagua was a product of an internal rift in President William Ruto's administration and should be allowed time to defend his ouster in court.

"He has been framed and he has appealed. The Supreme Court has not finalized his matter and so he has an opportunity to explain himself," he said speaking on Citizen TV.

"He said he disagreed with William Ruto on a lot of issues many times, he now says the epicenter of corruption in this country is the State House."

The former DP joined opposition politicians Kalonzo Musyoka and Eugene Wamalwa during the unveiling of the latters new DAP-K Party headquarters in Nairobi on Monday.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.
Veronica Polley, 39, faces a charge of attack by dog resulting in serious bodily injury. Bexar County Sheriff's Office

A 39-year-old woman has been arrested after law enforcement officials say her pitbull attacked a man, causing serious facial injuries. The dog had attacked others before, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

Veronica Elizabeth Polley faces a charge of attack by dog resulting in serious bodily injury after an incident this week Northwest of San Antonio, BCSO officials said.

BCSO officials posted a graphic photo reel to its Facebook page that includes a photo of the victim whose lip was partially dangling from his face. The post also includes images of the suspect and her dog and information about the case.

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The Bexar County Sheriff's Office announced an arrest in a recent dog attack in Northwest San Antonio. Courtesy Bexar County Sheriff s Office

Polley was arrested on Thursday. A judge set her bail at $85,000, court records show.

Deputies responded to a dog-biting incident on Tuesday in the 8400 block of Shooter Cove, near Loop 1604, according to the BCSO social media post.

A 43-year-old man and his wife were walking their dog when the pitbull attacked their dog, BCSO said.

ALSO READ: San Antonio police detain two men during Tren de Aragua operation on North Side

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"The victim managed to stop the pitbull from attacking his dog before the pitbull turned on him attacking him and drug him to the ground," BCSO wrote.

BCSO said the victim sustained serious facial injuries to his lips, chin, and cheek, requiring immediate medical attention. He was transported to University Hospital for treatment.

Deputies identified Polley as the owner of the pitbull.

Neighbors told deputies that the dog had been involved in previous attacks. They also shared surveillance video of the incident.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has revisited the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Speaking during an interview, Owino disclosed that he did not vote to impeach Gachagua because he was innocent as he did not see his mistakes.

I want to say it clearly. I did not vote to impeach Rigathi Gachagua. I was told to vote to impeach him. When I heard him speak, I said I wash my hands like Herod washed his hands in Christs crucifixion.

"Because I said this fight is not mine and the way he (Gachagua) spoke, genuinely speaking I did not see his mistake.

"I am a very just leader and if someone has made a mistake, I will point it out. First, he did not wrong me and second I did not see his mistake, Owino remarked.

He further accused MPs involved in the process of tribalism, arguing that they too could have been impeached since they had accused Gachagua of the same.

He was being accused of tribalism. Tell me who is not tribal among those leaders. They are all tribal. Is that a mistake?

"All of them were supposed to go including MPs those who are tribal and who were doing that impeachment, Owino stated.

At the same time, the lawmaker argued that it was disrespectful to involve the former deputy president's family in the process.

Gachagua was impeached by MPs on grounds of money laundering and gross misconduct among other allegations.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has come under fire from Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome for calling her merely a flower girl in the ministry.

Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony for the South B modern market, Wahome said while it is his job to criticize the government, Gachagua and all the other critics must do so with respect and decorum.

She went on to say that the Cabinet is composed of both men and women and that referring to them as flower girls is demeaning to all men who sit in the Cabinet.

The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that she has no problem with the former DP.

The work of a Cabinet Secretary is not politics but I urge those in the opposition, to criticize the government but remember we have male and female CSs.

"A name like Flower Girls is not a good name. Let's respect one another.

"I have no problem with the former Deputy President and I respect him, Wahome said.

She was responding to Gachagua, who, during the launch of the DAP-K party headquarters on Monday, alleged that he was the only one who could stand up to President William Ruto and call him out when he was wrong in Cabinet.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has told Public Service and Human Capital Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi to resign and join the Opposition instead of sabotaging President William Rutos government from within.

In a statement, Kindiki said it is dishonest for a minister to fly a flag in Rutos government and criticize the same government when he can effectively do so from Opposition.

As a result, he told those opposed to the government to join the team headed by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and do so while there.

You cannot be a minister or an officer flying a flag in this government and, at the same time, sabotage it, he said.

Those who want to oppose the President should leave the government and do it from outside, he added.

At the same time, the DP told off those advising him to criticise Ruto, saying it is not the work of the Principal Assistant to oppose his boss. Instead, he said, his function is to assist the Head of State execute his mandate.

Kindiki stated that he knows and fully understands his job, which is to support, supplement, and assist the President in delivering on his responsibilities and commitments to Kenyans.

Those telling me to oppose the President kama watu wengine wamekosea. Maybe they are looking for the wrong person, not me.

There are characters I see advising me to oppose the President and Im wondering: Is the work of the DP to oppose the President? Is that the job description?

"Those characters advising me to oppose the President are addressing the wrong person. Maybe they are talking to somebody else, not me, he added.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah has criticized the Ministry of Health for the disrupted access to the Social Health Insurance (SHA) system at Kenyatta National Hospital's facilities.

For the last two weeks, SHA system failures have affected millions of Kenyans across the country but the Ministry of Health has remained mum on the issues.

"Systems will always have errors, but how you communicate and resolve them is what matters. Kenyatta National Hospital admitted there was a system failurewhy wasnt this addressed publicly?" Ichungwah asked.

Ichungwah, who is also the Kikuyu Member of Parliament, also challenged SHAs ability to function independently, arguing that its communication strategy was "shambolic" and overly reliant on the Ministry.

"When we created SHA, we did not intend for the Ministry to run it. The authority must prove it can manage its own affairs," Ichungwah asserted.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has stated that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) will take disciplinary action against Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire for allowing goons to heckle President William Ruto last year.

Speaking on Thursday, Kindiki accused Mbarire, who is UDA National Chairperson, of failing to protect President William Ruto from heckling during his visit to Embu town.

I talked to my sister Cess, the governor of Embu and my longtime political friend. And I asked her, being a UDA governor and the national chairperson of the party, how can the party leader, the president, come to your hometown and be heckled?" Kindiki questioned.

Kindiki further criticized Mbarire, stating that if she could not prevent such incidents, there was little justification for keeping her in the partys leadership.

"How is that possible? The youth are heckling the president over something he has said that maybe they don't want to hear.

"Then what reason do we have to keep you?" Kindiki added.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.








Friday, January 31, 2025  NARC Kenya Leader Martha Karua has maintained that the Opposition must defeat President William Ruto in 2027 come what may.

In a statement, Karua hinted that all the 2027 presidential aspirants would unite to back a single candidate who would go ahead and dethrone Ruto from power.

According to her, unity of the Opposition is the only way they can defeat Ruto at the ballot.

Her statement was in response to a social media user's suggestion that each region in the country should nominate its own presidential candidate to face off with Ruto in 2027.

Karua, in her reply, said that national unity precedes regional or personal political ambitions.

"Let every aspirant grow their brand knowing at the back of their minds that Kenya is bigger than any one of us and that towards the end we will all converge and agree on a single candidate to ensure Ruto must go," she wrote.

Karua, who has been a fierce critic of Ruto's government, has already declared her interest in vying for the presidency in 2027.

Her call for unity comes amid shifting political alignments, as the opposition seeks to consolidate power against Ruto's administration, which faces criticism over economic policies and governance issues.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Busia senator Okiya Omtatah has provided a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into his past interactions with President William Ruto, saying they are not close friends.

Speaking during an interview, Omtatah revealed that the last time he spoke with Ruto was before the 2022 General Election, stating that their phone conversation lasted for about 15 minutes.

He clarified that despite their past interactions, he has never spoken to the president since he assumed office.

He explained that their past conversations have been civil, adding that they would laugh in the talks.

"Yes, I have his number. The last time we spoke was before he became president. He called me when I was somewhere around Naivasha. I was driving home and he called me. We talked for about 15 or so minutes. Yeah. Yeah, we used to laugh," he said.

Omtatah, who is keen to unseat Ruto in 2027, further disclosed that before the phone call, they had a personal meeting during his daughter's graduation at Strathmore University, an event that also saw Ruto in attendance.

According to the legislator, their paths crossed outside the political arena, allowing them to engage in casual conversations.

"Even when my daughter was graduating from Strathmore his daughter was graduating. We met there. He had his family there. He introduced me to the mother. We chatted. So we've known each other out of power," Omtatah revealed.

Despite their past cordial interactions, the senator was quick to distance himself from Rutos governance style.

Omtatah made it clear that his disapproval of the president is not rooted in personal animosity but in his firm stance on constitutionalism.

"I don't hate any human being. I don't hate the sinner, I hate the sin. So I hate the fact that the president has chosen not to rule using the law. He wants to rule outside the law," Omtatah asserted.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Renowned blogger Aoko Otieno has revealed why seasoned media personality Willis Raburu resigned from his job at the Nairobi County Government, where he had been assigned the role of the Chairman of the Nairobi Festival Committee.

Raburu resigned after 3 few months but failed to reveal the specifics that prompted his exit.

According to Aoko, the former Citizen TV host left the plum county job after Governor Sakaja started hitting on him.

The first-time Governor reportedly swings both ways and allegedly uses his position to demand favours from men.

His male lover Brian was recently revealed to the public.

Check out Aokos tweet on why Raburu allegedly resigned from his county job.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025  President William Ruto may have played Kenyans like fools on the controversial Adani deals.

This is after it emerged that the president may actually not have cancelled Adani deals to revamp the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO).

Speaking during the State of the Nation address on November 21, 2024, in Parliament, Ruto announced that after much consideration and listening to Kenyans, he had decided to cancel both the KETRACO and JKIA deals over Adani's corruption allegations by the US.

However, concerns have been raised that there is no evidence that the deals were indeed withdrawn.

While giving their submissions on the KETRACO-Adani case filed by Kalonzo Musyoka and other leaders challenging the deal, lawyer Ndegwa Njiru raised the alarm that there has been no further evidence that the deals were canceled since Ruto's pronouncements.

"As we stand before your lordship, there is no evidence other than mere presidential pronouncements made in Parliament that the deal was canceled. There is no affidavit before your lordship indicating to that effect abreasting the court on the status of that contract," Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru pointed out.

Ndegwa revealed that his team does not have faith in the deal because it was made in secrecy from its onset and they read malice even in the alleged withdrawal.

"We take judicial notice that this is a matter that was done in pure concealment and we do not read any good faith on the part of the respondents," the lawyer continued.

Also in the hearing was lawyers Kalonzo Musyoka and Eugene Wamalwa who had filed a petition at the High Court to challenge the deal.

The lawyers requested that the petition would not disappear and waste away in the cancellation despite the deal's cancellation.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - The body of a young man who reportedly went missing last month under mysterious circumstances has been found at the city mortuary after a month of frantic search.

According to Evangelist Mercy Nungari, the deceased man identified as Dennis Mwangi Macharia went missing on 8th December around Nairobi Central Business District.

His family has been searching for him, only to find his body at the city morgue.

Dennis, a total orphan, was raised by his grandmother.

She struggled to educate him through harambees until he graduated from a local medical college.

Mwangi was a clinical officer and had come to Nairobi to look for a job.

Police have launched an investigation to ascertain the cause of his death.













The Kenyan DAILY POST.
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Friday, January 31, 2025 - Environment CS Aden Duale is breathing fire in defense of President William Ruto.

This is after he called out former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for linking President William Ruto to corruption at the Affordable Housing projects.

Gachagua sensationally claimed that Ruto and his allies were doing business with the government.

According to the former DP, the president and his allies were making billions by supplying construction materials to the Affordable Housing projects.

However, in a statement, Duale could not hide his reservations.

He stated that they could no longer remain silent when Gachagua and other leaders opposed the programme initiated by President William Ruto.

The CS accused Gachagua of being a hypocrite, even posting a video where the former DP talked highly of the programme.

"It is both hypocritical and disheartening to see individuals who once championed this very program now standing in opposition to it," read the statement in part.

"By opposing the Affordable Housing Program, they are not only undermining the progress of this nation but also denying countless Kenyans the chance to improve their lives.

"Their actions reveal a blatant disregard for the welfare of the very people they claim to represent."

Duale added that the politicians could not be allowed to go on to discredit the programme which was meant to help Kenyans.

"We will not remain silent in the face of such betrayal. We will call out these detractors and hold them accountable for their attempts to obstruct a program that promises hope, dignity, and opportunity for millions of Kenyans," Duale expressed.

"The time for political games is over; the people's needs must come first. Let it be known, that those who stand against this program are standing against the future of Kenya itself."

The Kenyan DAILY POST.




Friday, January 31, 2025 - Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has vowed to bulldoze livestock vaccination exercise despite opposition from Kenyans, especially members of the Opposition.

Speaking during a consultative forum with Isiolo County leaders, Kindiki maintained that the livestock immunization exercise will kick off whether Kenyans like it or not.

He noted that the livestock industry is critical for the Kenya-Kwanza government and that the government was making investments in the sector.

The livestock sector is very critical for the Kenya-Kwanza government. We are making investments to make sure the sector brings wealth to as many people at the household level, Kindiki said.

Thats why we are insisting on the voluntary vaccination of livestock to give them the ability to withstand epidemics and also for us to work on the emerging livestock market outside the country which requires certain health standards including immunization for beef and other livestock products to enter markets in the Middle East and other parts of the world, Kindiki observed.

Kindiki equally noted that Kenya is a leading livestock producer in the continent and that the government is making investments to tap into the market.

Kenya has the third-largest livestock herd in Africa behind Sudan and Somalia. With 22 million herds of cattle and 50 million small stocks including sheep and goats, we must vaccinate our livestock so that we can now start exporting livestock and livestock products everywhere in the world, he added.

Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has been at the forefront of opposing the vaccination, saying it is a scheme to inject livestock with a deadly substance.

The Kenyan DAILY POST.
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of Chinese automaker, Changan Automobile. For the company, it has been a year of continuous progress, with its strategic transformation path becoming more defined, structural adjustments further optimized, and operational quality steadily improving. Behind the advancements in sales, structure, and quality lies Changan's unwavering focus on technological innovation in the fields of new energy and intelligence.

AVATR 11; photo credit: AVATR

In November 2024, Changan Automobile's monthly new energy vehicle (NEV) sales exceeded 100,000 units, signaling a period of rapid growth for the company's NEV sector. This success is largely attributed to the steadfast implementation of its "Shangri-La" new energy vehicle plan, "Beidou Tianshu" intelligence initiative, and "Vast Ocean" globalization strategy, alongside the practical application of digital and innovative technologies.

The company's three smart auto brands, namely, AVATR, DEEPAL, and CHANGAN, as well as three product series, UNI, NEVO, and KAICHENG, jointly create a globally competitive product matrix.

Changan Automobile's R&D capabilities have also reached new heights, with a "six-country, ten-region" global collaborative R&D network and a team of over 18,000 technical experts from 31 countries and regions worldwide. This robust R&D foundation fully supports Changan's growth toward greater scale and higher value creation.

As part of our year-end review, Gasgoo has put together a report that takes a detailed look back at Changan Automobile's key achievements and developments in 2024.

Wheels of Change: the Story of Changan Automobile (Part 1)

It's well known that Changan is one of China's three major state-owned automobile enterprises, with its roots stretching back to the Shanghai Bureau of Marine Artillery established in 1862. With a history spanning over 160 years, it has undergone three major entrepreneurial transformations.

Wheels of Change: the Story of Changan Automobile (Part 2)

Shifting gears from partnerships to pioneering its tech, Changan is consolidating various resouces on its core supply-chain in order to meet internal demands, aiming for both cost reduction and independent supply of core components.

Changan Automobile posts 5.12% YoY rise in 2024 annual sales

Chinese automaker Changan Automobile on Jan. 4 announced its monthly sales volume for December 2024, which stood at 250,689 vehicles, representing a 16.55% jump year-on-year.

Changan Automobile allies with EHang to develop flying cars

On December 21, 2024, urban air mobility (UAM) solution developer EHang announced a strategic partnership with Changan Automobile. The collaboration focuses on the R&D, manufacturing, sales, and operations of flying cars, including eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft and amphibious air-land vehicles.

Changan Automobile to raise 6 billion yuan for NEV development

Changan Automobile announced on December 6 its plans to raise up to 6 billion yuan through a private placement of A-shares. The funds will be allocated to projects focused on new energy vehicle (NEV) development, product platform upgrades, and the establishment of a global R&D center to enhance its competitiveness in the NEV market.

Changan Automobile announces tech roadmap for flying cars, humanoid robots

On November 15, Changan Automobile showcased its latest advancements in intelligent technologies at the Auto Guangzhou 2024, unveiling key developments and ambitious roadmap for flying cars and humanoid robots.

Changan KAICHENG launches strategic shift to digital new energy commercial vehicles

On November 15, Changan KAICHENG (also known as "Kaicene"), the commercial vehicle brand under Changan Automobile, launched its new brand strategy at the Auto Guangzhou 2024, accelerating its transformation into a digital new energy commercial vehicle technology brand.

Changan Mazda EZ-6 model hits market, starting at 139,800 yuan

On October 26, Changan Mazda unveiled the MAZDA EZ-6 new energy sedan in China, offering seven variants across BEV (battery-electric vehicle) and REEV (range-extended electric vehicle) powertrains, with prices ranging from 139,800 yuan to 179,800 yuan.

Changan Automobile inaugurates digital intelligent factory co-developed with China Unicom, Huawei

On October 21, Changan Automobile officially inaugurated its new digital intelligent manufacturing factory, developed in collaboration with China Unicom and Huawei. The AVATR 07, a mid-size SUV, became the first vehicle to roll off the production line at the new facility.

Changan Mazda plans to pour 10 billion yuan in new energy vehicle field by 2027

On September 28, Changan Mazda officially commenced the pre-sale of the MAZDA EZ-6 new energy sedan. This vehicle embodies a culmination of the strengths of both Changan and Mazda, marking a new flagship standard for joint-venture B-segment new energy sedans. Changan Mazda aims for the EZ-6 to continue the MAZDA6's success and reputation in China, becoming a star product in the B-segment sedan market.

Changan Automobile confirms AVATR Technology's plans for independent listing

Changan Automobile recently responded to investor inquiries via the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Q&A platform, confirming that AVATR Technology, the premium new energy vehicle company co-backed by Changan Automobile, Huawei, and CATL, holds plans to go public independently.

Changan Automobile's Thai production base to start operation in Q1 2025

On September 4, Changan Automobile revealed during an investor briefing that construction of its new energy vehicle production base in Thailand is progressing as planned, with production expected to commence in the first quarter of next year.

Changan Automobile sets up German subsidiary

Chinese automaker Changan Automobile officially registered its German subsidiary, Changan Automobile Deutschland GmbH, in Munich, marking a significant step in its European expansion, the automaker announced on September 3.

Changan Automobile unveils expansion plans for Middle East, Africa markets

On August 31, Chinese automaker Changan Automobile held its 2024 Middle East and Africa Brand Event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the event, Changan introduced three major brands and outlined its future product lineup for the region, while announcing plans to enhance localized operations and services, presenting a comprehensive vision for its renewed presence in the Middle East and Africa.

Changan Automobile forays into Latin American market

On July 24, Changan Automobile held its Latin America brand launch event in Mexico City, Mexico, unveiling three major brands, including the NEVO new energy vehicle (NEV) range under Changan Auto, the DEEPAL NEV brand, and the premium NEV brand AVATR.

GAC Group, Changan Automobile sign strategic cooperation framework agreement

On June 6, GAC Group and Changan Automobile signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement in Chongqing, marking a pioneering collaboration between a central state-owned enterprise (SOE) and a local SOE in China's automotive industry.

Changan Automobile becomes one of first pilot units for L3 intelligent connected vehicles in China

Under the unified leadership and orderly organization of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Ministry of Transport, China's pilot program for the admission and road access of Level 3 intelligent connected vehicles has achieved phased results.
Olivia Kelleher

GE HealthCare has announced a 132 million investment to expand its media fill and finish manufacturing site in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork.

A new state-of-the-art facility on the grounds of the existing site will enable 25 million more patient doses per year of contrast media by the end of 2027, helping address growing global demand.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin will this morning turn the sod to formally initiate construction works on the site of the new facility.

Contrast media are injectable diagnostic imaging agents used to enhance visualisation of organs, blood vessels and tissues during medical imaging.

The company says that global demand for iodine-based contrast media, used in x-ray, CT and interventional procedures is expected to double in the next decade.

In 2024, the Cork facility, along with GE HealthCares other fill and finish production sites in China and Norway supplied over 100 million patient doses of contrast media around the world.

The new 3000m2 facility - which will support both established and pipeline products  will include solution preparation vessels, multi-functional powder handling systems, a new filling line and autoclaves, with advanced automation systems underpinning production.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that GE HealthCare has been manufacturing in Ireland for more than 30 years, and has invested extensively in the site in Cork.

I am delighted to welcome this significant new investment here in Cork, which is testament to the commitment of GE HealthCare in Ireland, and also to our highly skilled workforce.

President and CEO of GE Healthcares Pharmaceutical Diagnostics segment, Kevin ONeill, said that as an industry leader they have a responsibility to help meet the growing global demand for contrast media from healthcare providers and their patients.

This new facility demonstrates our broader commitment not just to address future demand, but also to increase resiliency and security of industry supply for customers.

Eugene Barrett, site leader and managing director, GE HealthCare Ireland, said that first doses from the new facility are expected by the end of 2027.
Kildare County Council has delivered a knockout blow to plans by MMA fighter Conor McGregor to construct a sprawling mansion, complete with a cinema, bar and two swimming pools.

The local authority refused planning permission to McGregors application to demolish his existing five-bedroom home at The Paddocks in Straffan and replace it with 32,693sq ft six-bedroom "family home".

The council rejected the plans after Mr McGregor refused to reduce the scale of the original house.

Last July, the council told McGregor that the design and scale of the proposed home due to its length, massing and scale did not comply with the Kildare County Development Plan and requested him to submit revised plans to account of the County Development Plan.

Instead, a submission lodged on behalf of McGregor earlier this month said that it was clear from a revised suite of photomontages submitted that the site had "the capacity to comfortably absorb the proposed dwelling without resulting in any undue impacts or dis-amenity to surrounding residents".

The submission said the photomontages showed the careful siting of the proposed home and the large scale nature of the site.

It also said the planned home was largely screened from the view from the adjacent public road and neighbouring properties, any intermittent views are further obscured to the presence of existing and proposed supplementary planting.

The McGregor plan comprises a two storey over basement house complete 19.6m indoor swimming pool, a 21 metre outdoor swimming pool and a cinema.

The ambitious plan also includes a fully sunken basement to include car-parking, a bar, games area, ancillary rooms.

The council refused planning permission after its own transportation department had recommended refusal.

An internal report shows that the transportation department said it was council policy to discourage the increase of access points onto public roads.

The department said the proposal was in conflict with the county development plan and was unnecessary given that the existing access to the dwelling was fit for purpose.

McGregor paid out 3 million for The Paddocks in 2019. Planning documentation shows that McGregors staff were to be housed in a nearby home at No 5 Castledillon which is now also in the full ownership of the applicant.

Records with the Residential Property Price Register show that No 5 Castledillon was purchased for 1.65 million in June 2022.

The purchasing of the neighbouring No 5 Castledillon increased McGregors landholding from 5.8 acres to 10 acres.

The new home was designed by Dublin-based architects Tyler Owens Architects.

McGregor previously secured planning permission to partly demolish and extend and renovate The Paddocks.

However, Tyler Owens Architects told the council that having started the process of demolition back in 2022, it became apparent that the existing quality of construction of the remainder of the house, along with the clients changing needs, indicated that the works would not make sense.

This resulted in the planning application for the complete demolition of the Paddocks and replacing it with a new family home.

It added that it balances modern architectural innovation with respect for local elements, offering a dwelling that complements its setting while addressing future need.

McGregor now has the option of appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanala.

In November in the High Court, a jury found against McGregor in the civil rape case taken by Nikita Hand and McGregor has until the middle of next month to lodge appeal papers.

The Dublin woman was awarded nearly 250,000 in damages after the jury found that she was raped by McGregor in the Dublin hotel in December 2018 and McGregor also faces paying the bulk of the legal costs estimated at more than 1m associated with the case.
VICE president of Client Computing Group (CCG), Intel Corporation, Michael Langan was a recipient of the 2024 DCU Alumni Award, along with seven others from across Ireland.

The DCU Alumni Awards honour alumni who, through their exceptional ability and leadership, have achieved excellence in their chosen fields of endeavour.

Michaels career in engineering started in the early 2000s, where he has had a massive impact on the industry since. He joined Intel in 2011 as a SoC Engineering Manager, where he later set up the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) Intellectual Property team, which he continues to manage.

His work with the NPU team has seen major advances in AI, specifically work in accelerating AI workloads.

The recipients represent all five faculties of study at DCU, including business, humanities and social sciences, education, science and health, and engineering and computing.

Michaels exceptional achievement was celebrated at a special ceremony in The Helix on DCUs Glasnevin campus.

DCU President Prof Daire Keogh told the awardees on the day:

You may come from diverse fields and backgrounds but what you have in common are some key traits. You are leaders, doers, innovators and change-makers.
THE expected development of a textile and fashion hub in the former Bank of Ireland in Monasterevin is presently at An Bord Pleanala (ABP) as it rules on the Part 8 permission, which is when a local authority seeks planning permission.

The chief executives report on the Part 8 will go before the February municipal district meeting for members approval, before going to tender later this year, with expected completion sometime early in 2026.

It is estimated that the internal works and fit out will cost roughly 0.5m.

The idea has been broadly welcomed by the people of the town, with just two submissions citing opposition to the idea.

I am pleased to see a plan to develop the building, as it is currently vacant, said Theresa Troy, chair of Monasterevin Tidy Towns. The proposal to site a fashion and textile design hub is in keeping with the history of textile manufacture in the town which exists to this day.

I look forward to the day that Market Square is developed for social use, and we can use the hub to organise outdoor fashion shows on the square to display their work as they integrate with the local community, she said.

This historic building has significant influence on the town of Monasterevin, noted Jacinta Kenna.

As one of the first purpose-built financial institutions in the locality, reflecting the growing prosperity of the town, I think is an apt usage of the building, reflecting the huge contribution that the textile and clothing industry brought to Monasterevin over the years, contributing to this prosperity.

At the height of the 1980s and early 90s, Monasterevin was home to a multitude of textile business such as West End Knitwear, Tyna Knitwear, Semloh Knitwear, DeerPark Knitwear, as well as Laceys Workwear and Earleys Fashions.

Repurposing the building to reflect the historic significance of these industries that were such significant employers in the area at the time would be a welcome development, she concluded.

This seems to be a great use of this now-empty building and a great move to protect this historical structure, said Eoghan O hUallachain. There are already quite a number of derelict buildings in Monasterevin, and this project ensures that this will not become yet another.

As this is a historical building, it is only fitting that it becomes used for something linked to the towns history. Overall, it seems to be a very comprehensive plan and I feel it would be a welcome addition to the town centre, he said.

Cllr Kevin Duffy said: The proposed change of use from former Bank of Ireland to fashion and textiles design hub is a welcomed adaptive reuse of this heritage listed building. The proposed new use will ensure the ongoing protection of this important building, and its development will provide an animated junction at this important element of the streetscape of Market Square. However, not all were happy.

Its not suitable for the town, not a suitable use for building in keeping with fabric and layout of building inside or out, said Richard Buckley. There is a safety issue at the crossing and its not a suitable area for gatherings of people.

The building is of historical nature and should be found a purpose more keeping in line with current needs of the town centre, a much better suited purpose would be for many other things, he added.

He was joined in his opposition by an Aaron Sheppard, who said: I feel this is an awful waste for what is a massive building soaked in history of our great town. There are so many better uses for this building, including something similar to the court house in Kildare town, or a market building for small independent businesses to rent stalls in similar to the English market in Cork but a lot smaller. Some caution was also noted by the Department of Heritage and Local Governments Development Applications Unit, with regard to wildlife.

This building is considered to be in the higher range of suitability for roosting and hibernating bats, said spokesperson Sinead OBrien. The building has also been identified as a swift nesting site, breeding populations of which have seriously declined in Monasterevin. In both cases, the department has asked that the Kildare Local Enterprise Office carry out appropriate surveys of both species prior to starting construction, and also to consider installing swift boxes and nesting sites.

The bank closed its doors in October 2021 alongside branches in both Kilcullen and Celbridge and 100 other locations nationwide. Just a year later it was proposed that the former branch would be converted into a remote working hub, but following the success of the Food and Drinks Hub in Athy and the MERITS Building in Naas, the idea for a textiles hub for Monasterevin was progressed by the councils enterprise section.

Capital funding for the proposed development of the former Bank of Ireland building has been secured, confirmed Jacqui Mc Nabb, head of enterprise, economic development and tourism at the September meeting of the Kildare/Newbridge Municipal District in answer to a question from cllr Kevin Duffy.
One of the Premier meetings in the Irish Jumps racing calendar arrives this weekend with the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown - a top-class warm-up ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Day one of the DRF kicks off on Saturday with a belting seven-race card, with four Grade 1 contests on the slate with the feature race being the Irish Gold Cup chase at 3.30pm.

Read below to discover the latest tips and a full preview of day one of the DRF courtesy of BoyleSports, who offer the latest horse racing odds.

The action kicks off at 1.15pm with the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle, the first Grade 1 outing on the day and 12 runners will take on the two-mile and six furlong trip around Leopardstown. Its hard to look past Final Demand in the opener for Closutton powerhouse Willie Mullins, an impressive winner of a maiden hurdle at Limerick when last seen back in December and Final Demand is taken to get the better of stablemate Supersundae in the opener, second in the Grade 1 Lawlors Of Naas Hurdle last time out.

The second Grade 1 of the day comes hot on the heels of the first with the two-mile juvenile hurdle up next on the card (1.50). This could be a Mullins-dominated race again with Sainte Lucie and Lady Vega Allen two of the four entries for the powerhouse yard. Saint Lucie could well be the one to side with, the mount of top jockey Paul Townend, a winner of a juvenile hurdle at Punchestown 32 days ago having been recruited from the French ranks.

A Listed handicap hurdle in class one over the three-mile trip marks race four on day one of DRF (2.25) and a massive 26 runners looks set for the off in a typically competitive renewal of this race. At a price, Glen Kiln could be one to keep an eye off the back of an impressive display at Navan for trainer Michael Bowe, who left the impression a longer trip could be even better suited for this six-year-old after his Navan win. The Mullins-trained meeting of the waters simply cannot be ignored however, well adrift of the re-opposing Perceval Legallois in a handicap chase here just before Christmas but should be stronger for that run back over hurdles off what looks a very lenient mark of 112.

The Irish Arkle Novice Chase marks race five on the card and is the third Grade 1 of the day at Leopardstown (2.55). Majborough for the Mullins yard will be very tough to beat here, the Triumph Hurdle winners the Cheltenham Festival last year who made a winning start over the bigger obstacles at Fairyhouse in a beginners chase as an even-money favourite back in December. Stablemate Ile Atlantique roared back to form when landing the Grade 2 novice chase at Naas earlier this month and rates the next best.

142,500 is up for grabs to the winner of the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup Chase at 3.30pm and superstar chaser Galopin Des Champs is back to defend his crown. The outstanding nine-year-old and dual Cheltenham Gold cup winner looked very much back to his best when battering his rivals into submission at Leopardstowns Christmas Festival, including the re-opposing Fact To File, who is back for another crack here but may not have enough to prevent his stablemate landing a third straight win in this race. King George hero Hewick was as good as ever when second in the Champion Chase at Down Royal and is one away from the Mullins brigade to have a look at for a place, while the Henry De Bromhead-trained Montys Star could be another to fill the places in this belting ten-runner renewal.

The action continues at 4.05 with a Listed handicap chase over the two-mile trip with preference heading the way of Midnight It Is for the Gavin Cromwell yard, one win from two this season and a good third at Fairyhouse 321 days ago for the in-form yard so looks the way to go here.

Finally, ten runners will head to post for the Grade 2 bumper to bring day one of DRF to a close at Leopardstown. Gordon Elliott has seemingly kept his big guns in their box for Cheltenham this year but he does have the 300,000 Jukebox Jury gelding He Cant Dance in this bumper, a winner without too much fuss on debut at Navan when last seen a couple of months ago that should be too strong for his rivals here.

Leopardstown selections - Saturday (via Sporting Life)

1.15 - Final Demand

1.50 - Sainte Lucie

2.25 - Glen Kiln

2.55 - Majborough

3.30 - Galopin Des Champs

4.05 - Midnight It Is

4.35 - He Cant Dance
TRAVELLER health in the south of the county received some good news this week, with the announcement that Athy has been selected as one of five locations nationally to share 710,000 This is from the Dormant Accounts fund, and is to address the social determinants of Traveller health, according to the Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Colm Burke TD who made the announcement.

Kildare secured 142,000 the maximum allocation for this two year programme, and Kildare Traveller Action will lead this project.

This follows on the positive news from just three months ago when Kildare Traveller Action opened its new offices at the Parish Centre on Hawkins Street in the town.

In what has long been a problematic, and unaddressed sector of Irish public health, shockingly, half of all Irish Travellers dont live beyond their 40th birthday, while 70 per cent fail to make it past 60.

Similarly, life expectancy for female Travellers is almost 12 years below the national average, a figure that drops to 15 years below for the men.

The successful application was made as part of the Slaintecare Healthy Communities programme, through the Local Development Officer in Kildare County Council.

Athy is one of 20 Slaintecare Healthy Community Programmes, established throughout Ireland by the Department of Health, in areas with a higher population of Travellers compared to the rest of the country.

Slaintecare Healthy Communities Kildare, in collaboration with Kildare Traveller Action, HSE, County Kildare LEADER Partnership, KWETB and other organisations, will work together to recruit a dedicated Traveller Community Worker, and will deliver programmes based on Traveller mens interests, including the Engage National Mens Health Training Programme.

The funding will also support the establishment of an after-school programme for Travellers attending primary school, and a support hub for secondary school students.

Chief executive of Kildare County Council Sonya Kavanagh said: "The Slaintecare Healthy Communities Programme in Athy, as part of the work of Kildare LCDC, is very positively working to engage local people in determining how they can live healthier lifestyles and enabling those changes to occur.

This funding recognises the work to date and provides additional required resources for Kildare."
Two Kilkenny tourism businesses have been recognised at the CIE Tours Awards of Excellence.

CIE Tours, the largest carrier of US visitors to Ireland every year, held its annual awards of excellence celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIE Tours in 2024.

Now in their 33rd year, and an annual highlight within the tourism industry, each year, the prestigious accolades are awarded based on post-stay feedback received by CIE Tours from their customers.

Sullivans Taproom and Gretta Power Bungalow B&B received a Merit award in the visitor experience category, highlighting their commitment to ensuring guests at their businesses have an unforgettable experience.

The CIE Tours Awards of Excellence were presented by Chairman of CIE Tours, Aidan Murphy and Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIE Tours.

Congratulating the attendees, Aidan Murphy said: Our honorees are exemplary contributors to our 95.4% guest satisfaction rate, and they all deserve recognition for the excellent roles they play in welcoming visitors to Ireland and ensuring they have a memorable experience.



Stephen Cotter, Managing Director at CIE Tours International, present a Merit Award to Gretta and Sean Power.



Speaking at the awards, Stephen Cotter said: 2024 was another landmark year for us, when we booked over 250,000 bed nights throughout Ireland. Our support for tourism destinations is bringing vital revenue to towns and villages across the country. We are delighted to honour these leaders in tourism in Kilkenny. Each of these businesses play a significant role in the Irish tourism industry while also making important contributions to their local communities in terms of jobs and wealth creation.

CIE Tours is the leading inbound tour operator for North American visitors to Ireland for over 90 years and in that time has brought over 3 million visitors from North America to Ireland.
The driver of a car discovered by gardai on its roof and extensively damaged, has been convicted of drink driving at Kilkenny District Court.

Vadym Toderiko, who at the time was living in a hotel in Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to the charge, and other motoring offences, through his solicitor Chris Hogan.

The court heard that on July 21, 2023, gardai received a report of a single vehicle accident at Danesfort.

At the scene gardai found the car had overturned, was on its roof with extensive damage. The driver had left the vehicle.

After caution, Mr Toderiko told gardai he had had two glasses of wine and then went for a drive.

A passenger in the car had a cut to their head. They received treatment at the scene but declined to go to hospital.

Mr Toderiko was taken to Thomastown Garda Station where a breath test showed a level of 128mcg of alcohol per 100mls of breath.

Judge Geraldine Carthy observed that the level of intoxication was more like two bottles of wine than two glasses.

The court heard Mr Toderiko was very cooperative with gardai.

Mr Hogan said his client is from Ukraine. He left because of the war and still had family members there. This was causing him concern and led to him drinking to excess.

The incident was a wake up call for his client, Mr Hogan said. He is now working in Canada.

Judge Carthy convicted Mr Toderiko of drink driving and disqualified him from driving for two years. He was also fined 500.

For not having a driving licence he was fined 300 and other charges were taken into consideration.
The HSE has issued an urgent public warning about four vape products sold across Ireland.

European product safety alerts were issued for the four products, prompting the HSE to make the appeal to both consumers and retailers due to the excessive nicotine concentrations found.

Test results for the four products showed the legal nicotine concentration of 20mg/ml was exceeded, with sample results ranging between 26.9mg/ml and >30 mg/ml.

The products involved are:

ADADA A8 1200 puff. Sub-brands (flavours): Vanilla Coke

The Crystal PRO MAX 4000+ puff. Sub-brands (flavours): Watermelon Ice BatchNo. MAX20230407

Savage Vape. Sub-brands (flavours): Kiwi Passion Fruit Guava 5% Nicotine

McKesse MK Bar 7000 12ml. Sub-brand (flavour): Lime Mojito 12ml. Batch Number: Exp: 31/12/2023

In a statement on Thursday, the HSE said: "As a precautionary measure, the HSE are advising consumers to check the electronic cigarettes they may have against the products involved in these alerts.

"If they have any of these products, they should stop using them and return them to the shop where they were purchased. If they have used these products and experienced any ill effects, they should contact their General Practitioner for advice and notify the HSE at info.tpd@hse.ie," they advised.

Dr Maurice Mulcahy Regional Chief Environmental Health Officer said: Retailers need to make themselves fully aware of their legal obligations and put in place robust and effective supplier controls. We recommend retailers satisfy themselves that the products they sell are legally compliant and have been duly notified to the HSE via the European Common Entry Gate system (EU CEG).

"The HSE National Environmental Health Service is increasingly finding non complaint and unsafe products on the Irish market and will continue to use its extensive legal powers to protect the public up to and including product seizure, product destruction and prosecutions.
As monumental and consequential as Trumps 2nd term policies and Cabinet picks are, and the scope and pace of the initial Executive Orders are a stark reminder of how much Trump wants to get done and how fast he wants to do it, under the radar somewhat will be a series of investigations that will shed light on many of the most egregious and even audacious acts of the Biden Presidency and of the conduct of the so-called deep state and its supporters.

Some of the planned investigations had already begun in the newly Republican controlled House from 2022 to 2024 and, whilst some light was shed on issues such as the weaponisation of government and the corruption of the Biden family, these existing committees will either be continued or beefed up to widen their scope. There will be a raft of new investigations, some will be undertaken by House Committees, and some will be commenced by Senate Committees where the GOP now has control and where some very experienced Senators are chomping at the bit to get to the bottom of many matters. So, this list is approximate only and, in most instances, does not attempt to position where inside each House of Congress each investigation will be conducted. But when you look at what will be investigated, I attempt to flesh out the types of questions that will be asked, the live broadcasts of these hearings I predict will in some instances be explosive when the full truth is revealed.

These are but six of the investigations that will be undertaken. There will be more.

1  Weaponisation of the Federal Government

This topic has already been the subject of extensive hearings through 2023 and 2024 before the Special Select Committee of the House Judicial Committee chaired by Rep Jim Jordan and quite a lot of material was aired such as the way the Biden Admin used various federal agencies including the FBI to censor conservative speech on social media. Whilst Elon Musk released the Twitter files, this committee brought the key investigators that Musk used to testify to the Biden Admins perfidy in this respect. In the 119th Congress (2025 and 2026), these efforts will be expanded to include questions such as:

How much coordination was there between the Biden White House and Department of Justice prosecutors and Special Counsel Jack Smith concerning the various indictments Smith filed against Trump?

Ditto with the New York District Attorney Alvin Braggs office and charges laid in the so-called hush money case?

Ditto the New York Attorney General Latetia James and civil fraud case her office brought against the Trump organisation?

Ditto with the Fulton County DA Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case?

Who made the decision for the FBI to deliberately target pro-life activists and to aggressively file charges against them?

Who made the decision to allocate FBI resources to the tracking and investigation of conservative parents attending School Board meetings across the nation raising issues of pornography in school libraries, DEI, critical race theory and trans gender use of bathrooms?

Who initiated the inordinate focus of so-called domestic terrorists as a cloak to harass innocent conservative groups?

Who at the DOJ level made the decision to not prosecute the hugely damaging BLM rioters or the Antifa activists who wrought havoc, mayhem and destruction in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA but then prosecute J6 defendants to the full extent of the law?

Why did the DC Courts suppress and ignore any and all exculpatory evidence of the J6 defendants, evidence that may have led to no conviction or lighter sentences.

2  Biden and other family corruption

Significant work was already undertaken by the House Oversight Committee under Rep James Comer and a very thorough and damning report is available. This committee will continue its work and widen its scope to ask:

Precisely how many companies in Ukraine made payments to Biden family members and how much and what was given in return?

Precisely how many Chinese companies made similar payments and for what in return?

What are the connections between favours Joe Biden granted to Ukrainian and Chinese companies and individuals and the payments made to his family members?

What are the lists of similar payments made by Ukrainian and Chinese companies to members of the Pelosi family, Romney family and other influential political families in the US?

What other companies in other countries have made payments to the Biden and other families for questionable services?

3  Origins of Covid, the pandemic response and vaccine related issues

This is such a huge and emotive issue that it may well be split into different committees of inquiry but regardless of the split, the following questions ARE going to be covered:

What is the role of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the escape of the Covid virus?

What was the full role of Anthony Fauci and his colleagues in Covid so-called gain of function research?

Was the US military involved in anyway via DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)?

What role (if any) did the secret bioweapons labs in the Ukraine (admitted by Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland under questioning by Senator Marco Rubio) play in the development of viruses?

How was the Emergency Use Authorization granted by the FDA for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines without adequate prior clinical trials?

Why was Remdesivir pushed so hard as a hospital treatment of Covid when it had such a toxic track record?

Why did the Department of Health and Human Services massively widen the definition of what constituted a Covid death for doctors on death certificates and what impact did this have on the official reported numbers of Covid deaths?

Why was the sensitivity of the PCR Covid test set to a cycle figure more than double that suggested by the inventor and what impact did this have on the numbers of reported positive cases?

Why were masks recommended after initially being rejected as ineffective by Fauci and Deborah Birx with no empirical data to back up their use and why did they continue to be recommended or even mandated when numerous peer reviewed studies were published proving how ineffective they were?

Why were voices of reason and wisdom about the disastrous impact of the lockdowns like those who signed the Barrington Declaration ignored, shouted down and vilified?

Why were consequential decisions like social distancing and the lockdowns enacted and forced on people with little to no scientific or empirical data behind them?

Why was the extreme modelling by Nigel Ferguson of the Imperial College London believed when he had proven to be massively wrong on his modelling of previous swine flu, bird flu and mad cow disease outbreaks?

Why were children kept away from school and locked down at home when they were the least at-risk population for Covid? The emotional, social and educational damage this interruption did to children has been incalculable.

Why was hydroxychloroquine so disparaged and actively campaigned against despite decades of success as an anti-malarial drug?

What repercussions are there for the Lancet publishing (then eventually pulling) a falsified study purporting to show that hydroxychloroquine was dangerous in the treatment of Covid?

Why was Ivermectin not only pilloried and vilified but was frequently blocked as a prescribing option for the treatment of Covid despite a Nobel Prize for chemistry, its decades of safe use and known effectiveness against C19?

Compared to the other vaccines, why were the Covid vaccines the subject of such ubiquitous pressure to take them: from most medical practitioners/hospitals, from the media, from politicians, from celebrities, from employers and being the subject of giveaways/promotions such as free tuition/million-dollar lottery entries etc?

Why were so many mainstream, well published and credentialed medical practitioners with ZERO prior history of any vaccine skepticism in so many countries silenced from speaking out about their concerns by the various medical regulatory bodies with threats of dismissal, withdrawal of academic accreditation, license suspension and shaming by peers and colleagues and whose opinions were for a time universally blocked on mainstream and social media?

Why did the CDC withdraw the Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 after only 53 deaths following approximately 45 million shots (a rate of 1.18 deaths per million) and yet is still allowed a vaccine with 35 deaths per million to remain on the market despite being 30 times more deadly?

Why did the large social media sites like Facebook, Twitter 1.0, Instagram and You Tube use a number of tactics to silence not only concerned medical practitioners (of the type listed above i.e., not traditional anti-vaxxers) but also many thousands of ordinary people who have tried to tell factual stories of adverse Covid vaccine side effects observed with family members with warning labels, suspensions, shadow banning, de-monetising, de-platforming and outright cancellation of accounts? I have friends who had been subjected to some or all of these tactics.

4  Anomalies in the 2020 (and other) elections

The whole underpinning of what happened on January 6, 2021, was the belief, held by Trump and many of his followers (me included), that Trumps narrow victory in the 2020 election was stolen from him by Democrat voter fraud. As long-time readers will know, I posted extensively on various aspects of this electoral malfeasance (here, here, here and here). Once Pam Bondi takes over as Attorney General and Kash Patel as FBI Director, proper resources will be devoted to investigating the myriads of specific and detailed complaints that were ignored by AG Bill Barr, the Washington establishment, the mainstream media, many RINO Republicans and of course were punted by numerous courts.

What will be harder for all of the above to ignore will be a Special Select Committee of the House or the Senate empaneled to investigate this fraud ALONGSIDE indictments brought down by the DOJ after uncorrupted agents investigate the fraud that was never properly investigated. These are but some of the matters that will be aired live on national TV by committees of Congress so impossible to ignore:

Why so many mostly Democrat controlled courts or appointed judges refused to hear the substance of the large cases over conflicting grounds (lack of standing, lack of timing, moot etc.)?

Why the 18 bellwether counties across the US that have accurately predicted (usually 18/18 or 17/18) winning Presidential campaigns since 1952 (including Trump in 2016) and yet in 2020 Biden won only 4 but was still elected?

Why did over 3,000 precincts in Michigan have impossible vote counts of 80 to 350% with most being around 100%?

What was the source of the massive ballot drops in the small hours of the morning that went to Biden 90/10 or even 95/5 and tipped Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania from Trump easily winning on election night to narrowly losing 2 days later? Much of the evidence of how these frauds were perpetrated is on camera, the perpetrators just now need to be prosecuted.

How hundreds of thousands of illegible votes across the battleground states were still counted and how Republican attempts to thwart such illegal counts were ignored, overridden and scuppered?

How massive chain of custody infractions in key states were allowed to occur?

How various voting machines ended up being connected to the internet illegally and how much that led to blatant vote reversals of Trump to Biden votes?

How many ballots were illegally harvested by mules and then still counted?

How many state election laws were illegally circumvented by Democrat Secretaries of State, County Recorders and even State Appellate Courts to allow the illegal sending then counting of excessive absentee ballots?

Trumps opponents will mutter that its all spilt milk or water under the bridge admitting to perhaps SOME fraud. The point is that election tipping fraud is a myriad of many small acts of fraud that accumulate to thwart the will of the people and unless the illegal activity is identified for what it is and those who perpetrated it not escape consequences, then elections in some US states will continue to be blighted by fraud.

As the DOJ investigations into the perpetrators of the fraud across the swing states target the lower level operatives they will be leaned on to squeal on those higher up the food chain and, over time, the whole sordid corrupt edifice will be exposed and those who carried put the fraud will finally be bought to justice to send a signal that election fraud now will finally be investigated and prosecuted.

5  What REALLY happened on January 6, 2021?

The then official special January 6 House Committee chaired by Democrats with token Trump hating RINOs like Liz Chaney and Adam Kitzinger thought theyd finally got Trump by orchestrating testimony and evidence to paint a picture of a President out to overthrow the results of the 2020 election by fomenting an insurrection by his many followers at the capital that day. Charges and indictments from Special Counsel Jack Smith were supposed to see Trump in prison for 100 years for his alleged crimes on January 6. The truth is that much of what was presented to the J6 Committee was massaged, manipulated and distorted, counter testimony was suppressed and, in the end, records exculpatory to Trump were destroyed. The Republican House will convene a new J6 Committee that will ask some of these questions:

Why was exculpatory evidence and witnesses not allowed to be presented or appear at the original J6 hearings?

What evidence was destroyed by the J6 committee staff and why?

Why was footage showing Capitol police taking down barricades, opening doors and waving protestors into the building not shown and only the footage showing those who attempted to break in at a different side of the building?

What was the true number of paid FBI informants and operatives active in the protesting crowd? After initially denying or failing to confirm, the IG Report eventually confirmed at least 26 CHS (Confidential Human Source) there on January 6 th .

. Why was Ray Epps never prosecuted like other J6 defendants when he is on camera both the night before and on the grounds of the Capitol on J6 urging violent and direct action?

Why, despite having clear footage (that has been shrouded from public release), of the so-called pipe bomber have the FBI failed to make an arrest?

Why was President Trumps clear instructions many days before J6 to Washington DC Mayor Bowser and House Speaker Pelosi that the National Guard was needed to bolster security at the Capitol was not only ignored but evidence of this was suppressed at the J6 hearing?

Why was President Trumps Twitter account disabled blocking his peaceful protest instruction to his followers on J6 and why was this evidence also suppressed at the select committee hearing?

What evidence is there of collusion between key Democrat leaders to orchestrate many of the events on J6?

6  Attempted assassination of Donald Trump 13 July 2024

There are so many multiple unanswered questions on this event that will now be examined forensically in the full light of day such as:

Why did the Biden White House ignore requests for higher level Secret Service protection despite the escalation of known threats?

Why was a higher quality experienced detail from the Pittsburg Field Office taken off the assignment to protect Trump at Butler, PA in favour of a foreign dignity?

Why was an understrength, heavily female and inexperienced field detail sent in their place?

Why was the site not the subject of a drone flyover just prior to the event, a flyover that wouldve discovered Thomas Crooks on the roof?

Why were SS communication systems not able to communicate with Butler County Sheriffs Officers and why was this lack of compatibility not discovered and fixed days before the event?

Why were no magnetometers used to screen participants at the Butler event when they are standard at all major Trump events?

Why did the SS not remove Trump from the stage as soon as Butler local police alerted the presence of Thomas Crooks on the roof with a gun? The SS stage detail shouldve had Trump off the stage and in a safe place until the shooter had been neutralised.

The building where the shooter got his shots off was identified in a pre-rally walk around as a location of high risk and a post stander (at least from local police or a SS agent) should have been assigned to be at that location and the shooter wouldve been interdicted?

Why was Crooks allowed to enter the site with a range finder in his backpack and why was he allowed to roam around using the range finder even after he was reported by members of the public and yet he was never stopped?

How does a nerdy 20-year-old have his almost non-existent social media accounts and what he had was wiped so fast before investigation and why did he have several foreign bank accounts (including one in New Zealand) and not be on the FBIs radar?

Why was Crooks body cremated so fast and not subject to a high-level forensic autopsy?

What role did DEI hiring policies play in affecting the quality of the coverage the SS gave on the day and in general?

Conclusion

The mainstream media and the chattering classes of Washington DC (and then flowing from that the New Zealand MSM and Wellington elites) have persisted with a series of narratives against Trump:

He perpetuated the Big Lie over the stolen 2020 election,

He fomented an insurrection on January 6,

He illegally took classified documents to Mar-a-Lago,

He falsely claimed Covid was leaked from a Chinese lab,

He promoted the use of a dangerous treatment for Covid (hydroxychloroquine),

His response to Covid was poor and cost lives,

Hes a convicted felon.

Many people I know (and our esteemed host is part of this group) hold negative views about Trump based partly on belief of these (and other) narratives. Trump was able to prevail at the ballot box despite these narratives partly because the Democrats in office were so bad and the media track record on twisting, distorting and even lying about Trump reached such critical mass that large swaths of the electorate got their news from less biased sources. When you add these investigations and what will come out of them to the actions that will be undertaken by Trumps no-nonsense Cabinet picks, we are going to witness one of the most consequential periods in US politics in our lifetimes and possibly beyond. What will come from these investigations will be truly earth shattering and show stopping and, most importantly, narrative shifting. There will be incontrovertible evidence of so many things that opponents of Trumps and the wider conservative movement have had rubbed in his face that the face of American politics will be forever altered. The paradigm shifts and the huge movement of the Overton window that is already starting (e.g. the beginning of the end of trans surgeries and treatments of minors) and will accelerate and will have global ramifications. Buckle up everyone, we are in for a roller coaster ride but for those who have known the real truth for some time, it will be a glorious time of revelation!

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First public photography museum slated for launch in May

By Park Han-sol

From the countrys first public photography museum to a floating museum on an island, a wave of new and revamped art institutions is slated to open across Korea this year.

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) is expanding its cultural footprint with the launch of two new venues: the Photography Seoul Museum of Art, opening in May in the citys Dobong District, and the Seo-Seoul Museum of Art, set to debut later in the year in Geumcheon District.

The Photography Seoul Museum of Art will be Koreas first public institution dedicated solely to the art and history of photography, with a collection of over 20,000 works and archival materials, while the Seo-Seoul Museum of Art will place its curatorial focus on media art.

Once inaugurated, these two venues will join SeMAs network of six other museums and art-centered spaces throughout the capital.

South Jeolla Provinces Sinan County, located in the southwest and made up of 1,025 islets, is pressing forward with its ambitious 144 billion won ($99.8 million) art initiative, aiming to establish a cultural museum or landmark on every major island. The project seeks to transform the district, which has a shrinking population of 38,000, into a vibrant tourist destination.

This year will see the scheduled opening of the Floating Museum on Anjwa Island, designed by Japanese postwar artist Yukinori Yanagi. Known for his celebrated Inujima Art Project, which revitalized the small Japanese island once driven by copper smelting and quarrying in Okayama Prefecture, Yanagi now brings his creative vision to Koreas shores.

The Sorol Art Museum in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, which originally opened in February 2024, is set to welcome visitors in April under its rebranded name, Gangneung Museum of Art Sorol (tentative English title).

Designed by the New York-based architectural firm Meier Partners, the institution previously drew attention for hosting exhibitions featuring international art icons Lucio Fontana and Agnes Martin.

Its rebranding follows a transition in management from the Korean Research Institute of Contemporary Art to the Gangneung City government. Under the new leadership, the museum has announced its 2025 exhibition lineup, including solo shows of Korean abstractionist Kim Whanki and American painter Katherine Bernhardt.

Project delays

Some projects, however, are facing setbacks.

The construction of a museum in tribute to the late dansaekhwa (monochrome painting) master Park Seo-bo (1931-2023) has been marked by twists and turns. Originally slated for completion in the summer of 2024, the three-story Park Seo-bo Art Museum on Jeju Island has been put on hold.

Park Seung-ho, the artists son and chair of the Park Seo-bo Foundation, shared on Instagram that construction has been suspended due to soaring building material costs and a sharp decline in tourism on the island.

In the meantime, the nonprofit foundation is moving forward with the Park Seo-bo Museum Seoul, a smaller venue located next to Gizi in Seouls Yeonhui-dong  the site of the late painters studio-cum-residence.

The museum in Seoul will be the first dedicated to my father and is expected to be completed by year-end, the younger Park wrote.

The opening of Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul, the much-anticipated satellite branch of the iconic Parisian landmark, may also encounter delays.

The museum, located within 63 Square  more commonly known as the 63 Building  was initially scheduled to open in October 2025, with exhibitions showcasing the Pompidous collection, according to the Hanwha Foundation of Culture. However, construction only commenced at the end of last year, potentially pushing back the projects timeline.
By Yi Whan-woo

Commercial banks are rapidly introducing services tailored to older adults at their retail branches, recognizing the growth potential of this demographic as the nation is now officially classified as a super-aged society, according to bank officials and market watchers.

Banks, which once viewed offline branches as a last resort for older customers struggling to keep up with the digital era, are now transforming these branches into innovative spaces for sales and marketing. Here, older clients receive high-quality services tailored to meet their specific needs.

The services go beyond just banking and financial services, extending to supporting the emotional well-being of older adults as well.

As digital banking continues to grow and more branches close, banks are adapting their sales strategies to better serve older customers.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), the number of branches operated by local banks stood at 5,849 at the end of the third quarter of 2024. This represents a decline of over 50 branches from a year earlier, continuing a trend of quarterly decreases since the third quarter of 2018, when the number rose briefly.

Separate data from the Financial Supervisory Service also showed that the countrys four largest commercial banks  KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori  operated 2,824 offline branches as of September 2024, a 20 percent decrease from four years ago.

Additionally, banks are seeing a growing number of older customers amid the ongoing demographic shift.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Korea officially became a super-aged society in December 2024, when the proportion of its population aged 65 and older exceeded 20 percent.

As the country faces a low birthrate, the proportion of older adults is projected to reach 30 percent by 2036 and exceed 40 percent by 2050.

The banks are apparently capitalizing on the growth potential of older adults to expand sales, after regarding them as merely a digitally isolated group, said Jung Ho-chul of Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice.

Jung noted that older customers often have to wait indefinitely for basic banking services at offline branches.

A public relations officer of a major bank said on condition of anonymity, "We've come up with more innovative measures to use offline branches to better serve seniors as valued customers in the future."

KB Kookmin Bank runs its KB Senior Lounge, a mobile van that regularly visits welfare centers in Seoul to assist older adults who are physically unable to visit nearby branches in their neighborhoods.

It also runs the KB Golden Life Center, which provides consulting services on wealth management for retirees, and KB Golden Life X, a mobile platform that offers wealth management, health care and other customized services to older customers.

Shinhan Bank operates Hakijae, a digital financial education center for older customers. The center is especially used for initiatives focused on preventing financial fraud, in collaboration with various organizations.

"We can proudly say we're taking the lead in resolving digital financial blind spots and preventing financial fraud," a PR official at a major retail bank said.

The parent company of Hana Bank, Hana Financial Group, also launched an older adult-focused brand called HANA THE NEXT in 2024.

The brand reflects its respect for the experiences of older adults and its commitment to supporting their vibrant future. It targets retirees and those nearing retirement, offering comprehensive life-care services that include retirement planning, inheritance, health management and more.

The group opened its first HANA THE NEXT lounge at Hana Bank's central Seoul branch, where its consultants offer retiree-tailored services, including financial analysis, smart asset transfer preparations and personalized health management.

Woori Bank also operates branches with ATMs that feature larger font sizes for instructions, making it easier for older customers with reduced vision. The instructions use simple, clear language instead of banking jargon, which can be difficult for many older customers to understand.

Originally targeting farmers and cattle breeders, NH NongHyup Bank pushes to "keep company with older people in agricultural and other rural areas where populations are dwindling. Every week, counselors hired by the company visit the older customers who live alone and offer them tips on finance as well as health and everyday life.
By Yi Whan-woo

Industry officials said on Friday that major foreign investment firms are seeking to acquire hotels in Korea as an increasing number of properties become available for sale amid the robust recovery of the travel market following the downturn caused by COVID-19.

Real estate firms, private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds across the world are interested in buying multiple hotels owned by domestic businesses such as KT, DL Group and Lotte Group, they said.

The companies are looking to sell their respective hotels, whose values have increased as more international tourists return to Korea after the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in value provides an opportunity for sellers to raise liquidity and invest in new businesses.

KT, which has been expanding investments in artificial intelligence (AI), recently selected a consortium consisting of Samjong KPMG, Avison Young, Colliers Korea and Realty Planet as its sales advisers to sell its hotel properties.

The total value of hotels belonging to KT is over 2 trillion won ($1.37 billion), including five-star hotels such as Andaz Hotel and Sofitel Ambassador, both in southern Seoul, Novotel Ambassador Seoul in Dongdaemun District, and the Le Meridien & Moxy Myeongdong in central Seoul.

The hotels were built on the sites of KT's former telephone offices and are managed by its real estate subsidiary, KT Estate.

The subsidiary now accounts for more than 10 percent of KT's total operating profit, with the share of hotel revenue rising from 7.4 percent in 2019 to 34 percent by the end of the third quarter of 2024.

The data suggests profitability of hotel business, which gives a reason for global investment companies to show their interest, Kim Dong-young, chairman of the Global Real Estate Association of Seoul, said.

Regarding DL Group, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, along with two U.S.-headquartered private equity firms  Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Blackstone  is eyeing the acquisition of the conglomerate-owned hotels.

The Korean side wants to sell Glad Yeouido, Glad Gangnam Coex Center, both in Seoul, and Maison Glad Jeju, in Koreas southernmost resort island.

Operated by DL Groups subsidiary, Glad Hotel & Resort, the three hotels are estimated to be worth between 600 billion won and 700 billion won combined.

Glad Yeouido and Gangnam COEX Center stand out for their prime locations in Seoul's financial district of Yeouido and the commercial district of Gangnam. Meanwhile, Maison Glad Jeju, located near Jeju International Airport, has been strengthening its presence following renovations in the mid-2010s.

Lotte Group has also entered the rush to sell hotels amid rumors of a potential liquidity crisis.

While the company denied the rumor, it has been seeking to secure cash by unloading unprofitable businesses. The Group is considering selling its three- and four-star hotel brands, including L7 and City Hotel, with properties such as L7 Myeongdong, L7 Hongdae, and Lotte City Hotel Ulsan.

Industry officials explained that investment firms are likely to focus more on hotels than office buildings due to the oversupply of commercial office space.

For instance, Bental Green Oak, commonly known by its acronym BGO, was likely the only notable foreign investor to participate in a recent sales bid for the Seoul Finance Center (SFC).

Located in the bustling business district of Gwanghwamun, the SFC is estimated to be worth over 1 trillion won.

Although Blackstone and Keppel had considered acquiring the property, they ultimately withdrew from the bid at the last minute.

In contrast, data from commercial real estate service company Genstar Mate showed that the average room occupancy rate for hotels in Seoul reached 85.5 percent as of October 2024, the highest level in the past six years.

Meanwhile, industry officials noted that hotels in provincial areas may not be as profitable as those in Seoul and other major cities, given the countrys rapid population aging.

They should be offered a package with the ones in large cities for the sales to be successful, the officials said.
Korean stocks ended lower Friday after a weeklong holiday as tech shares sharply slid in the aftermath of a recent shock from the emergence of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek. The Korean won was trading sharply lower against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 19.43 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 2,517.37. The KOSPI was closed from Monday to Thursday due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

Trade volume was moderate at 443 million shares worth 13.3 trillion won ($9.14 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 560 to 333.

Foreigners dumped 1.2 trillion won worth of local shares, while retail investors and institutions purchased a combined 1.16 trillion won.

"The KOSPI saw volatility in its shares related to semiconductors and electronics due to the DeepSeek shock that hit the global stock markets during the Lunar New Year holiday," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

"DeepSeek's AI model, which is cheaper and more efficient than ChatGPT and other AI models from U.S. tech giants, has raised concerns investment will slow down into advanced chips, data centers and electric facilities," he added.

Earlier this week, the cost-efficient AI models from China's DeepSeek rattled global stock markets, with some experts arguing the Chinese AI model can compete against those from U.S. tech giants at lower costs.

Major U.S. indexes, however, gained ground overnight as investors moved to buy up tech shares following a slide sparked by DeepSeek and data indicating the world's largest economy is still strong.

In Seoul, market behemoth Samsung Electronics dipped 2.42 percent to 52,400 won, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix shot down 9.86 percent to 199,200 won.

Major bio firm Samsung Biologics declined 0.55 percent to 1.08 million won, and aerospace and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace plunged 2.79 percent to 400,000 won.

But IT and software shares were bullish as the recent DeepSeek shock indicated developing advanced AI models may not require massive computational resources, such as AI chips.

Internet portal operator Naver jumped 6.13 percent to 216,500 won, and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, soared 7.27 percent to 38,350 won.

Financial shares also gained ground, with KB Financial up 3.15 percent to 91,700 won, Shinhan Financial up 2.2 percent to 51,100 won and Meritz Financial climbing 4.48 percent to 114,200 won.

Construction and trading firm Samsung C&T also surged 4.26 percent to 119,900 won, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance shot up 11.71 percent to 381,500 won.

Krafton, the operator of the globally popular game PUBG: Battlegrounds, soared 6.12 percent to 364,000 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,452.7 won against the greenback at 3:30 p.m., sharply down 21.4 won from the previous session, the lowest since Jan. 17.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 0.3 basis point to 2.573 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds dropped 0.3 basis point to 2.701 percent. (Yonhap)
By Pyo Kyung-min

For star chef Edward Lee, visiting Korea feels like living a new life.

"I'm 52, and at my age, most individuals don't have the chance for another life," Lee said during a press conference at a hotel in Seoul's Gangnam District on Thursday.

"To have this opportunity to visit Korea and meet new people has completely changed my life. I feel young again. I feel like a child. There's already a lot I know about Korean culture, but experiencing it here is entirely different."

From finishing as a runner-up in Netflix's hit cooking competition "Culinary Class Wars" to being recognized on Korean streets by fans eager to snap a selfie with him, the chef's journey in Korea felt like wonder after wonder.

This rediscovery extended to his mother, Lee Soon-ja, who accompanied her son on his current trip to Korea. Present at the press conference, she described witnessing her son's success in their homeland as "simply surreal."

"Coming to Korea with my son's sudden invitation and then seeing people recognize him on the streets and attending events like this all feel like walking on air," she said.

Lee and his mother visited Korea in line with the Korea Image Awards on Jan. 15, where the chef received the Stepping Stone Bridge Award for promoting Korea's reputation to the global audience.

While the trip itself is not rare for the chef as he frequently visits Korea for television appearances, including the ongoing "Chef & My Fridge" and the upcoming tvN series "Edward Lee's Country Cook"  this trip marked the first in a decade that he traveled with his mother.

The chef spoke fondly of how their bond deepened as he grew older.

"When I was a child, our family was far from wealthy. My mother worked early mornings and returned home late at night," he recalled. "We didn't spend much time together, but growing up as an adult, I understood why she wasn't home."

Food eventually became the bridge that brought them closer.

"We got closer when I became an adult. We used food as a way to communicate. It became a very important way for us to talk," Lee said.

For the chef, cooking is obviously more than just sustenance  it's a medium for storytelling.

"Every chef has a different approach, and there's no right or wrong. That's what makes cuisine beautiful everyone has a unique perspective. For me, since I majored in literature, food is always a story," he said.

"I don't cook just to make delicious food. Food is my paint. When I have something to say, I cant paint or play an instrument. Food is my means to talk because I'm a chef and cooking is the only thing I'm good at. You can cook to make money or for your family, but I think some chefs cook because they have something to say."

Lees deep appreciation for storytelling in food is part of why he loves Korean cuisine. To him, it embodies not just stories but an entire history.

"Korean food starts with 'jang' (traditional fermented sauces), which has such an ancient history. The flavors come from generations. Eating and making Korean food feels like you're tasting history. It's delicious, and fermented food makes you crave more, but it also makes you think about the past," he explained.

"Traditional food from different nations aren't just trends and to think about how it has fed a nation for generations just feels so amazing."

As Korean food gains global popularity, Lee offered a fresh perspective on the phenomenon, drawing from his experiences in the U.S.

"When I was a young chef in restaurant kitchens, chefs my age hung out after work late at night, but there's usually nothing to eat. In New York's Koreatown, places were open 24 hours. My American friends and I would go there and eat kimchi, 'galbi' (grilled ribs) and 'seolleongtang' (ox bone soup)  We were all young back then and now we all have our own restaurants. That influence was crucial," he said.

"Additionally, my generation  children of Korean immigrants  have pursued our own dreams while appreciating Korean culture and bringing creativity to it. Over the past 10 to 12 years, that appreciation skyrocketed."

Despite his desire to connect with his roots, Lee doesn't consider himself a traditional Korean chef.

"At the end of the day, I'm an American chef. When I cook, I focus on expanding Korean ingredients. I do make certain dishes like 'kimchi jjigae' (kimchi stew) and 'jjajangmyeon' (black bean noodles), but I don't call myself a 'hansik' (Korean food) chef. I want to credit the chefs dedicated to traditional Korean cuisine  they are the masters. I'm someone who wants to be creative."

Although there is great demand from Korean fans eager to taste his creations, Lee's respect for Korean cuisine has kept him from opening a restaurant in Korea  for now.

"I don't want to open a restaurant and then just leave. I don't want to disappoint Korean people. If I open one, it will be when I can fully commit my time and energy. Maybe in a couple of years," he said.
The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, one of Korea's most popular winter events, has welcomed over 1 million visitors, according to the event's organizers Friday.

The festival, which began on Jan. 11, takes place in Hwacheon, a remote mountain town in Gangwon Province, located 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border and about 90 km northeast of Seoul. The event is scheduled to run through Feb. 2.

Between its opening day and Friday afternoon, approximately 982,155 people visited the festival, according to Hwacheon county. An estimated additional 40,000 attendees are expected to join throughout the day.

Since its debut in 2003, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival has consistently attracted more than 1 million visitors almost every year, earning global recognition.

This year's festival reached the 1 million milestone a day earlier than in 2024.

The festival has transformed Hwacheon, a county with a population of just 23,000, into a renowned winter destination in Korea.

Despite challenges like unusually warm winters, heavy rain in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused cancellations in 2021 and 2022, the festival has maintained its reputation as a "million festival" for 16 years.

One key factor in the festival's success is its innovative approach and quick adaptation to change.

For instance, in 2016, it became the first winter festival in Korea to introduce night fishing, an unconventional idea that gained widespread attention.

In addition to its main program  ice fishing for sancheoneo, a species of mountain trout  the festival attracts visitors with a variety of events and activities.

Every Saturday, the festival features a lantern street parade reminiscent of the lively street performances at Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival.

Meanwhile, the Santa Post Office, a popular attraction at the event, evokes the charm of Santa Claus' village in Rovaniemi, Finland. (Yonhap)
14th-century Korean Buddhist statue set for public showing before handover to Japan

By Park Jin-hai

A Goryeo-era Buddha Statue, looted by Japanese pirates and later stolen by thieves and brought back to Korea, is set to make a temporary return to its original home.

The 14th-century Korean Buddhist statue, previously housed at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in Daejeon, will be moved to and showcased to the public for 100 days at Buseok Temple in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, before its return to Japan.

People can visit and see the Gilt-bronze Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, a 50.5-centimeter-tall Buddhist statue from the 918-1392 Goryeo Dynasty, from Saturday until Buddha's Birthday that falls on May 5.

This marks a significant homecoming for the statue, which was originally looted in 1378.

The 50.5-centimeter-tall Buddhist statue that Japanese pirates plundered and took to their country had been one of the two bronze statues that Korean thieves stole from Kannon Temple on the Japanese island of Tsushima in October 2012.

Buseok Temple filed a lawsuit in 2016, claiming its ownership based on an inscription on the statue and demanded the return of the statue that had been stored at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage.

The inscription states that it was created around 1330 with the intention of enshrining it in a temple in Seoju (the Goryeo-era name for Seosan). However, the Supreme Court ruled in October 2023 that the statute of limitations had expired and that ownership of the statue belonged to Japan.

The statue will be returned to the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage before May 11 and subsequently sent back to Japan.

To ensure the statue's safety, the temple has installed seven surveillance cameras and two heat sensors inside and around Seolbeopjeon Hall where the statue will be enshrined.

Venerable Wonwoo, chief priest of Buseok Temple, expressed mixed emotions about the temporary return. "It's hard to fathom why a Buddha statue, created with the sincere devotion of Goryeo people, should be in Japan, a place with no connection to it," he said. "I believe Japanese Buddhists would feel the same way if they were in our position."

He emphasized the importance of recognizing the cultural value of artifacts and finding a common ground among nations regarding the repatriation of cultural heritage.

Before the ceremony, the Cultural Heritage Service, along with the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, inspected the Buddha statue with a Japanese team. The team, led by Sesuryo Tanaka of Kannon Temple, verified that the statue was undamaged and signed a handover agreement.

Chief Priest Tanaka said during the moving ceremony, "I believe the compassion of Guan Yin Bodhisattva has guided us to this moment." He expressed deep gratitude to the governments, legislative bodies and religious organizations of both countries for their efforts in returning the Buddha statue, repeatedly saying "Thank you very much" in Korean.

"I hope this gathering will strengthen the bond between Korea and Japan and open new doors for cooperation and growth," he added.
The leaders of North Korea and Vietnam have exchanged messages of greetings to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two leaders while declaring 2025 as a year of friendship, Pyongyang's state media reported Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent his warm celebrations in a message to Vietnamese President Luong Cuong on the occasion of the anniversary of the diplomatic relationship that was forged on Jan. 31, 1950, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Declaring this year as a year of friendship, Kim voiced hope that the bilateral relations will "steadily develop."

"This conforms to the common aspiration and desire of the peoples of the two countries to develop the friendly and cooperative relations which were forged and consolidated in the joint struggle for socialism onto a new, higher stage," the North's leader said.

In a message to Kim the KCNA carried, the Vietnamese leader said their traditional relations had been "cultivated by the leaders of several generations of the two countries with much effort," including former Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and the North's state founder Kim Il-sung.

Cuong said both sides will celebrate a year of friendship "jointly and successfully through significant exchanges and cooperative activities."

After forging diplomatic relations in 1950, North Korea and Vietnam maintained close communist ties for over decades. But their relationship turned frosty due largely to Vietnam's establishment of diplomatic ties with South Korea in 1992.

The bilateral relations began improving in the 2000s and were fully normalized on the occasion of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's trip to Hanoi in February 2019 for his summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump. (Yonhap)




South Korea's acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho and new U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held their first phone call Friday and reaffirmed the steadfast alliance between the two nations, Seoul's defense ministry said.

In the phone conversation, both sides concurred on the need to advance and deepen the level and scope of their bilateral alliance, which has stood as a "linchpin" for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region over the past 70 years, the ministry said.

Hegseth reaffirmed the U.S. ironclad commitment to defending South Korea and vowed to closely cooperate with Seoul to cement the bilateral alliance, it added.

Noting North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats, the defense chiefs agreed that sustaining the alliance through their combined defense posture is more "important than ever" to effectively deter and respond to such threats.

For such a purpose, they agreed to continue to maintain and advance their trilateral security cooperation, also involving Japan, on the back of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

The defense chiefs expressed concerns over North Korea and Russia's deepening military alignment, pledging to respond to the global security threat together with the international community.

Hegseth took office last week as the first defense secretary in the second term of U.S. President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this month. (Yonhap)
Korea and African countries will hold their inaugural talks in South Africa next week to enhance cooperation in critical minerals, following up on the agreement reached at last year's summit, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

The dialogue will take place in Cape Town on Tuesday (local time), led by Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun and government representatives of the participating African nations, the ministry said in a release.

The talks will be held on the occasion of the Mining Indaba, a major mining investment event in Africa, slated for Feb. 3-6, it said.

Discussions will focus on efforts to facilitate the development of critical minerals sectors and promote cooperation, as well as on ways to expand knowledge-sharing in related fields.

"The meeting is expected to serve as an opportunity to explore ways to expand cooperation on critical minerals between Korea and African countries, together with African government representatives responsible for critical minerals policies," the ministry said.

Korea and 48 African countries agreed to launch the dialogue platform during their first-ever summit hosted by Seoul in June last year. (Yonhap)
Korea on Friday appointed new ambassadors to 11 countries, including its first-ever envoy to Cuba, the foreign ministry said, in an overdue regular reshuffle amid political turmoil triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief martial law attempt.

Lee Ho-yul, a career diplomat serving as minister at the Korean Embassy in Mexico, will serve as the country's ambassador to Cuba, with which Korea established diplomatic relations in February last year, the ministry said in a release.

Bae Il-young, former director-general for information management at the foreign ministry, will take up the top envoy post to Slovenia, where Korea has newly opened its embassy.

Kim Hyon-du, minister-counselor at the Korean Embassy in the Philippines, will head the new embassy in Georgia, following the upgrade of the Tbilisi office.

Kim Jong-han, director-general of the department of Indo-Pacific studies at the foreign ministry-affiliated Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, will lead the embassy in Latvia.

Others include Kim Dong-bae, ambassador to Bulgaria; Kim Hyung-tae to Serbia; Kwak Tae-yeol to El Salvador; Park Ki-chang to Ukraine; Kim Choon-goo to Italy; Kang Hyung-shik to Kenya; and Han Byoung-jin to Panama.

Kim Young-jae, former minister for economic affairs at the Korean Embassy in the United States, will serve as consul general to Toronto in Canada.

Friday's list did not include the top envoy to China, a post that has drawn attention in Seoul amid concerns that the prolonged vacancy could impact diplomacy with Beijing.

The formal appointment of Kim Dae-ki, the ambassador-designate to China and Yoon's former chief of staff, has been delayed due to Yoon's impeachment.

"It's best to avoid any vacancy in the positions," a foreign ministry official told reporters. "The ambassador to China holds significance and is one of the most important diplomatic postings that carries considerable political implications, so it requires careful consideration before a final decision is made."

Former Industry Minister Bang Moon-kyu, who has been widely speculated to be the next ambassador to Indonesia, was also not included in the list.

The announcement of the ambassadors came later than usual, as regular appointments of heads of foreign missions are typically made public twice a year -- around the beginning and end of each year.

The ministry plans to make an additional announcement on several other ambassadors next month, the official added. (Yonhap)
Korea plans to issue a travel ban for an eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to intensifying fighting between government and rebel forces in the country, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The Level 4 travel ban, the highest of the country's four-scale travel warning system, will take effect Saturday for the Central African country's North Kivu Province, according to the ministry.

Korea will maintain a Level 3 alert and special travel advisory for other parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Under a Level 3 alert, Seoul recommends citizens to leave the area.

The Central African country has recently been roiled by unrest as the M23 rebel group has been engaged in armed conflict with government forces. (Yonhap)
By Kim Hyun-bin

President Yoon Suk Yeol received his first non-lawyer visit (from close aides) at the Seoul Detention Center on Friday. This marked the first general visitation since his detention on Jan. 15.

The meeting took place in a separate room within the detention center, following established protocols for pretrial detainee visits. It was conducted in a manner that ensured a distinct space for Yoon and his visitors, away from other detainees. Alongside the president were presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk, national security adviser Shin Won-sik and senior secretary for civil affairs Kim Joo-hyun.

The visit became possible when the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) lifted the restrictions on general visits to the president on Jan. 24, though such visits were temporarily limited during the Lunar New Year holiday.

During the meeting, Yoon urged his close presidential aides to remain focused and committed to their responsibilities. The president emphasized the importance of the presidential office in shaping the nations governance and encouraged his staff not to be discouraged, regardless of the challenges they may face.

Since the presidential office is at the center of state affairs, do not let your spirits falter. Give your best in your respective positions, Yoon told his aides, according to a senior official from the presidential office who was present at the meeting.

The president also asked his officials about the status of the country's health care system over the Lunar New Year holiday. Concerned about the welfare of citizens, especially older adults, he asked, Is the medical system working well? Are older citizens experiencing any difficulties?

He then reassured his team with a brief remark, stating, This is a place where people live. We are doing fine.

Despite the circumstances, the president maintained a composed and healthy demeanor throughout the visit, as reported by the official in attendance.

The president is expected to continue receiving visits from various officials, including those from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, under the current regulations, general visits are limited to one per day, meaning that careful scheduling and coordination will be required for any future engagements.

In addition, it has been reported that first lady Kim Keon Hee, for the time being, will refrain from visiting her husband at the detention center.
Back-to-back LCC incidents push travelers to cancel trips or switch to full-service airlines

By KTimes

Two aviation accidents within a month  the deadly Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29, which claimed 179 lives, and a passenger plane fire during the Lunar New Year holiday  have heightened public concerns over flight safety.

At 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, an Air Busan BX391 flight bound for Hong Kong caught fire while preparing for takeoff at Gimhae International Airport in Busan. All 176 passengers were evacuated safely, with only seven sustaining minor injuries. However, had the fire broken out mid-air, it could have led to a major disaster.

And then on Jan. 29 (local time), a small passenger plane in the United States collided with a military helicopter and crashed into a nearby river, adding to growing concerns over air travel safety.

Amid back-to-back aviation accidents, some travelers are reconsidering their plans and even canceling trips.

A 59-year-old man surnamed Seo, who had planned a family trip next month to Sapporo, Japan, decided to cancel his flights, citing safety concerns.

Airplane accidents seemed rare, but now they feel too frequent. Theres no guarantee that my family wont be affected, he said, adding that he was willing to forfeit a cancellation fee of over 1 million won ($700).

Both recent incidents in Korea involved low-cost carriers (LCCs), leading some travelers to switch to full-service airlines, which are perceived as safer.

A 30-year-old man surnamed Kim, who was planning a trip to Jeju Island, said, Im considering switching to a full-service airline that appears to have stricter maintenance and safety standards. Im even looking into ferries as an alternative.

Discussions in online travel communities for destinations like Hong Kong and Taiwan also reflect growing concerns.

Posts such as After Jeju Air and now Air Busan, Im too anxious to fly and Ill pay extra to book a flight with a full-service carrier have been trending.

The impact was already felt after the Jeju Air crash. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transports aviation portal, the number of passengers on major LCCs  including Jeju Air, Jin Air, Tway Air, Eastar Jet, Air Busan and Air Seoul  dropped by approximately 8.7 percent a week after the Jeju Air crash. Jeju Air was hit the hardest, with a 26.8 percent decline in passengers.

Investigations take time, fueling public anxiety

The slow pace of aviation accident investigations is contributing further to public anxiety. More than a month after the Jeju Air crash, authorities have yet to determine the exact cause.

In the Air Busan fire, preliminary findings suggest that a passengers portable battery or something else in carry-on luggage may have ignited the blaze, but a definitive conclusion will take time.

Aviation accident investigations must examine multiple factors, from passenger actions to aircraft manufacturers in countries like the U.S. and France, making the process inherently time-consuming, said Gong Ha-seong, a professor of fire and disaster prevention at Woosuk University.

With repeated incidents, the public naturally becomes more inclined to avoid flying altogether.

While LCCs are refraining from making official statements, there is a palpable sense of unease within the industry.

An LCC official said, Inflight fires are not an issue exclusive to LCCs. Emergency response protocols and training are conducted in accordance with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's standards, just like full-service airlines. It is premature to assume this is specifically an LCC problem.

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 KTimes

An exhibition hall in central Seoul's Insa-dong houses a small shrine just large enough for one person, where colorful ribbons, bells, ancestral tablets, candles and a single cushion are carefully arranged.

When a visitor inputs their personal information into a digital ancestral tablet and sits on the cushion, the soft voice of a middle-aged woman begins to speak: "I am a being that transcends human knowledge. I know truths beyond your understanding and can foresee the future. If you have any questions, ask me."

This shrine is ShamAIn, an artificial intelligence (AI) fortune-telling system introduced recently by a research team led by KAIST industrial design professor Nam Taek-jin.

The AI shrine provides divination services based on Koreas traditional fortune-telling concepts. Users enter their name, birthdate and occupation, and the AI responds according to the principles of saju, a form of traditional fortune-telling based on a person's birth year, month, date and time.

The setting is carefully designed to resemble a shamans house, complete with lighting, sound effects and moving decorations.

According to the research team, many participants initially approached the AI shrine out of curiosity but later found psychological comfort in sharing their personal concerns.

"We focused on how a super-intelligent AI shaman, perceived as superior to humans, interacts with people," Nam said. "We observed the potential for AI to function not just as a tool but as an authoritative entity influencing human judgment and emotions."

The AI's ability to deliver messages through spiritual engagement suggests that it has ventured into the domain traditionally held by shamans.

This is not the first appearance of an AI shaman. AI-powered fortune-telling services based on large language models (LLMs) have gained popularity among young Koreans.

Some services simply provide fortune readings based on user-inputted data, while others incorporate personality tests, blood type analysis and even facial reading for more refined predictions.

The rise of AI in religious roles extends beyond shamanism. In Christianity, AI pastors are emerging, while in Buddhism, AI monks are making their presence known.

In Germany, St. Pauls Church in Bavaria recently introduced an AI-powered pastor, developed using ChatGPT, to deliver sermons. Appearing on a large screen as a bearded man, the AI pastor told congregants, "Let go of the past and focus on the present."

Similarly, Koreas Jogye Order of Buddhism introduced "Ma-ae Buddha AI," a chatbot offering spiritual counseling at the Seoul International Buddhist Expo last year. At the Busan International Buddhist Expo, they showcased an AI monk designed to deliver sermons.

A tool for spiritual training or a threat to faith?

Reactions to AIs presence in religious settings are mixed. Some welcome AI as a tool for spiritual training, while others express concerns over technology infiltrating the sacred domain of faith.

Awake Corporation, a Korean startup, has developed Chowon, an AI pastor providing biblical guidance. The service, which boasts 150,000 monthly users and receives around 2,000 daily inquiries, generates responses based on theology reviewed by a panel of pastors and theologians.

Proponents argue that AI clergy can quickly provide Bible verses and compose prayers, aiding individual spiritual training. They also highlight that AI lowers the barrier for believers who may feel hesitant to consult human clergy.

However, skepticism remains about whether AI can replace human religious leaders. Critics point to AIs potential for misinformation and the lack of established guidelines.

Religious leaders worry that AI could misinterpret doctrine or spread incorrect teachings, potentially leading to confusion and the decline of faith.

Similar concerns arose regarding "AI Jesus," a holographic AI developed as part of the God in the Machine project at Lucerne University in Switzerland. The project allowed visitors to converse with the AI in 100 languages and confess their sins, but backlash over the perceived desecration of confession led to its termination after three months.

Some scholars also caution against AI being perceived as a divine entity. Anthony Levandowski, a former Silicon Valley engineer, founded the Way of the Future church, dedicated to worshiping AI, sparking controversy over AIs growing spiritual significance.

Can religion evolve in the AI era?

As AI advances at an unprecedented pace, its impact on religion remains a topic of heated debate. While opinions differ, there is broad agreement that AI is an irreversible trend.

Kang Sung-wook, a theological researcher and author of "Religion and AI," sees AI as a double-edged sword.

"AI provides quick and efficient responses to lifes questions, promoting spiritual training and new religious experiences," he said. "Beyond counseling, AI can enhance religious communities through tailored education and online services."

However, Kang warned against allowing AI to overshadow faith itself, stressing that while AI may supplement religious rituals, it cannot replace spiritual connection.

"AI should be embraced as a tool to complement existing religious practices, but religions must focus on their core essence," he said. "The key question is whether religion can renew itself in areas of spirituality and emotion that AI cannot fully replicate."

His final thought was particularly striking: "AI might not be here to destroy religion  it could be its savior."

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 Jung Min-ho

The number of high school students in Seoul has dropped by nearly 4,000 over the past year amid Koreas persistently low birthrate, officials said Friday.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, 45,846 students are expected to enroll in 210 regular high schools in the city in 2025, excluding those who will attend special-purpose institutions such as foreign language or vocational schools.

Last year, 49,826 students attended regular high schools in Seoul. The population of this group has declined for the second consecutive year, with no signs of reversing in the near future. In 2023, the figure was 53,761.

As a result, the average number of students per class will be 25.8, down from 26.5 in 2024. The number of overcrowded schools  defined as those with 28 or more students per class  will be reduced to 23, down from the current 47.

Officials said the country's low total fertility rate of just 0.74 has posed a challenge to maintaining a stable number of both students and teachers.

Incoming students must obtain the necessary enrollment documents from the education office or the middle schools they graduated from and submit them to their high schools between Feb. 3 and 4.
Review confirms it will be safe to investigate aircraft containing 35,900 lbs of jet fuel

By Jung Min-ho

The government will formally launch a joint investigation with foreign experts on Monday to find the cause of the fire that destroyed Air Busans passenger plane on Tuesday.

The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board announced the decision on Friday after safety issues were cleared by inspectors in regard to investigating the aircraft still containing 35,900 lbs (16,280 kilograms) of jet fuel and other potentially hazardous materials such as oxygen tanks.

The plane, an Airbus A321, had been scheduled to fly to Hong Kong from Busan when a fire broke out in an overhead bin near its tail at around 10:15 p.m., just before its takeoff. All 176 people onboard  169 passengers and seven crewmembers  escaped successfully using emergency slides.

It has been confirmed that an investigation can be conducted safely without offloading the fuel in the aircraft, an official told reporters after a risk management assessment at Gimhae International Airport. Each team of six to seven people will enter the plane at a time due to the risk associated with space issues.

Officials said they decided to put off the investigation until Monday because rain is forecast in the region over the weekend, adding it would be ideal to complete the task without pausing during the process due to the bad weather.

Officials at the investigation board under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, experts from police and fire authorities as well as France, where the Airbus headquarters is headquartered, plan to begin the investigation Monday morning.

The focus of the investigation will be establishing what exactly caused the flame. Witnesses said they had heard a crackling sound  something like an electronic device burning  before smoke, apparently originating from an overhead compartment, began to fill the cabin.

While there are multiple potential causes for that fire, such as a short circuit in the aircraft, suspicions grow that a portable battery may be the cause.

According to ministry data shared by the office of Rep. Lee Yeon-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, there were six battery-caused fire cases occurred in planes run by Korean airlines in 2023; between January and August 2024, there were five such cases.

Just seven weeks ago, Air Busan had such an incident. A fire, triggered by a portable battery problem, prompted flight attendants to use fire extinguishers to put it out.

On Friday, suitcases were taken out of the damaged aircraft. After security checks, they will be handed over to the passengers, according to officials.

The Air Busan fire came only a month after a Jeju Air plane crashed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, which killed all but two of the 181 people onboard.
President Yoon Suk Yeol met his senior aides at the Seoul Detention Center on Friday and urged them to carry on their work without being discouraged, a senior presidential official said.

Yoon made the call during his meeting with Chung Jin-suk, his chief of staff, National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik and three other senior aides at the center in Uiwang, south of Seoul.

It marked the first visit by Yoon's aides since the impeached president was formally detained on Jan. 19 over allegations of insurrection and abuse of power related to his short-lived imposition of martial law last month.

"The presidential office is at the center of state affairs, so do not be discouraged and do your best in your respective positions," Yoon was quoted as saying by the official. "This is also a place where people live. I am doing well."

Yoon also asked them whether the medical system functioned well during the Lunar New Year holiday without causing inconvenience to elderly people, according to the official.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials lifted restrictions on Yoon's meetings with visitors last Friday, but general visits were limited during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended Thursday. (Yonhap)




By Anna J. Park

Acting President Choi Sang-mok exercised his second veto on the opposition-led special counsel bill aimed at investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol over charges of insurrection, Friday.

He cited "unconstitutional" provisions in the bill and the need to protect secrets related to national security.

During a Cabinet meeting at the Government Complex Seoul, Choi said that while the bill had addressed some of the unconstitutional elements in the version he vetoed on Dec. 31, it was still passed unilaterally by the opposition without the bipartisan agreement that he had previously requested.

"The bill still contains unconstitutional elements and poses potential risks of leaking security secrets," he said.

Choi emphasized that the introduction of a special counsel should be approached with caution.

"As a special counsel is an exceptional measure, outside the principle of separation of powers, it should only be used in limited cases where the fairness and objectivity of an investigation are in doubt," he said, explaining that many have voiced that there is no need for a separate special counsel probe right now because the prosecution's investigation into the martial law case is already progressing.

"The prosecution's investigation into the case is ongoing, and key figures, including the sitting president, have been detained and indicted, and court proceedings are underway. Given these, it is difficult to see the need for introducing a special counsel at this point," Choi said.

He also highlighted that the international community is closely watching Korea's normalization and recovery processes.

"In this context, I believe that, rather than establishing a new investigative body, it is more important to ensure the fair and transparent determination of the facts through the ongoing judicial proceedings."

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) first passed a special counsel bill on Dec. 12 to dig into Yoon's insurrection charges related to the martial law declaration. That bill was vetoed on Dec. 31 and dismissed during the National Assembly's revote. In response, the DPK revised parts of the bill and reintroduced it on Jan. 17 after negotiations fell through with the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

The modified bill excluded Yoon's treason charges from the scope of the investigation but continued to target allegations related to the Dec. 3 martial law declaration, including attempts by the president and others to seize control of the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, as well as attempts to arrest and detain certain politicians, civil servants and citizens.

Arguing that the bill still contains unconstitutional elements, the PPP requested that the acting president exercise his veto power.

With Choi's veto, the government will send the bill back to the Assembly for a revote. The bill can become law if a majority of lawmakers are present and at least two-thirds of those present vote in favor. Otherwise, it will be scrapped.

This marks the seventh time Choi has exercised his veto right since assuming the acting presidency, following the Assembly's passage of a bill to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Dec. 27. Besides the two special counsel bills, Choi has vetoed five other bills, including one related to an investigation into allegations surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee.
North Korea has yet to disclose the results of a parliamentary session scheduled for earlier this week as of Thursday, amid speculation over whether leader Kim Jong-un addressed the North's relations with the United States during the meeting.

Neither North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) nor the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, a propaganda machine for general domestic readers, had published reports on the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) meeting as of 7 a.m. Thursday.

The SPA, North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, was scheduled to convene its 12th session of the 14th assembly Wednesday to address a range of issues, including constitution revisions, according to a prior KCNA report.

North Korea typically publishes media reports on major events a day after they occur through the KCNA or the Rodong Sinmun. The absence of reports on the latest SPA session has fueled speculation the parliamentary meeting may not have concluded yet and is continuing into its second day.

There is also the possibility the meeting was postponed without an official announcement. The third session of the 14th assembly in April 2020 took place two days later than initially scheduled without any news reports on the delay.

The SPA meeting functions as a regular parliamentary session in other countries, addressing constitutional or legal enactments and revisions, as well as government personnel decisions.

The SPA is the highest legislative organ in North Korea, but in reality, it merely rubber-stamps decisions made by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

The results of this year's first SPA session are closely watched to see whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would deliver any message toward the U.S., as the inauguration of President Donald Trump for his second term has raised speculation about the resumption of talks between them.

Officially taking office earlier this week, Trump referred to North Korea's Kim as a "nuclear power," sparking questions about whether he would acknowledge North Korea's nuclear weapons program, signaling a potential shift in U.S. policy toward Pyongyang. Some analysts and news media interpreted the remark as Trump's invitation to Kim for dialogue. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute, emphasizing that strengthening his country's nuclear shield was "indispensable" amid a long-term confrontation with "the most vicious hostile countries."

Kim made the remarks during his inspection of the production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute, where he reviewed the core processes for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials and learned about the present production status, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday, without specifying the date.

North Korea's security situation, in which "a long-term confrontation with the most vicious hostile countries is inevitable," makes it "indispensable" for the country to steadily strengthen the nuclear shield to cope with existing and new security dangers and to guarantee its sovereignty, interests and development right, the KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

The external situation facing North Korea "remains grave and the challenges of the hostile forces are becoming ever more pronounced," he said, adding that nuclear weapons stockpiling and its increase by geometrical progression provide an absolute force capable of thoroughly containing North Korea's enemies.

The leader stated the country's nuclear technical forces are growing stronger day by day, affirming that "guaranteeing peace and security by dint of strength is our mode of struggle and option."

He also ordered the overfulfillment of the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials and the strengthening of the country's nuclear shield.

The KCNA did not specify the nuclear-material production base Kim visited, but photos it published suggest it might be the same facility he inspected in September last year.

Reporting to the National Assembly last year, South Korea's spy agency said the facility was likely to be the Kangson nuclear complex near Pyongyang, which is one of the two known nuclear facilities operated by the reclusive state, along with the Yongbyon nuclear site.

Some observers also raise the possibility that the production base visited by Kim this time could be a different complex.

"It is possible to install a uranium enrichment facility within a short period, and the facility shown in the reported photo appears more outdated than the one revealed in September last year," Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, suggesting it may be Yongbyon or a different facility.

Kim's latest pledge for stronger nuclear capabilities, coming just days after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed an intent to reach out to him, suggests he may not reciprocate and instead continue with the current confrontational stance. (Yonhap)




U.S. President Donald Trump will pursue the "complete denuclearization of North Korea," a White House official said Tuesday, amid questions over whether Trump's recent reference to the North as a "nuclear power" signaled any policy shift.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes made the remarks shortly after the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute in an apparent move to highlight its military capability.

"President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term," Hughes said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

"President Trump had a good relationship with Kim Jong-un, and his mix of toughness and diplomacy led to the first-ever leader-level commitment to complete denuclearization," the official added.

Hughes appears to be referring to the agreement between Trump and Kim during their first summit in Singapore in 2018. Under it, the two sides agreed to work toward the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula and setting new bilateral relations.

Earlier in the day, a U.S. government official said that there has been no change yet in the United States' policy toward North Korea.

"There has not been any change of policy regarding the DPRK," the official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Last week, Trump referred to the North as a nuclear power  a term that U.S. officials have mostly refrained from using as it could be regarded as U.S. recognition of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also called the North a nuclear power during his confirmation hearing earlier this month.

Trump's "nuclear power" label for the recalcitrant regime gave rise to speculation that should Trump reengage with Kim, he could seek a deal that would curb the North's nuclear threats rather than pursuing the ultimate goal of the North's complete denuclearization. Hughes' remarks helped squelch that speculation.

In what could be a move to raise its leverage ahead of potential talks with the U.S., the KCNA reported that Kim visited the sites related to the North's nuclear program, where the leader called for "overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials and strengthening the country's nuclear shield."

During a recent Fox News interview, Trump said he would reach out to Kim again, portraying him a "smart guy" and "not a religious zealot"  an expression that apparently indicates that the dynastic ruler is someone he could communicate with again for talks.

During his first term, Trump had three meetings with Kim  the first-ever summit in Singapore in June 2018, the Hanoi summit in February 2019 and the meeting in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019. The U.S. and the North last held working-level nuclear talks in Stockholm in October 2019.

Some observers have said that Pyongyang's appetite for reengagement with Washington might have dwindled as it now relies on Russia for food, fuel, security assurances and other forms of support after its provision of munitions and troops to back Moscow's war in Ukraine. (Yonhap)
A Samsung cellphone was found among the belongings of a North Korean soldier who was killed by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian troops, according to the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) said in a Facebook post Tuesday (local time) that they conducted a raid in Russia's western front-line region of Kursk, killing two North Korean soldiers.

Photos released by the SSO show that the captured items included a mobile phone that appears to be a Samsung 2G model based on its exterior design.

Other items included printed materials with Ukrainian phrases transliterated into Korean, such as "Drop your weapons" and "Take off your clothes," seemingly intended for use when capturing Ukrainian soldiers.

A passport from the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia, was also discovered, along with a letter containing a New Year's message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to deployed soldiers.

In the letter, Kim praised the soldiers for their efforts, saying, "Please never forget, even for a moment, that I am constantly wishing and praying for all of you to return safely and in good health."

During the raid, Ukrainian soldiers also captured military assets, including protective gear, military equipment, a DL-5 rangefinder, a 1PN139-1 thermal imaging sight, and an AK-12 assault rifle equipped with a 1P87 sight, according to the SSO. (Yonhap)
By Dale Quarrington

With another year behind us, we look forward to the new year ahead to see which of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals will guide us. For 2025, it's the Year of the Snake. Unfortunately, the snake is one of the lesser-observed zodiac animals at Korean Buddhist temples. But with that being said, while snakes aren't as popular at temples as dragons, tigers or even rabbits, the snake makes its appearance in less obvious forms.

The Chinese zodiac has a long history in many cultures. In China, where the zodiac is believed to have originated, evidence supports the claim that it predates Buddhism there. The zodiac took the form of local animals that were familiar to the Chinese people. It was based upon Chinese cosmology, and as a result, it grew more elaborate in time, as well as in popularity. The zodiac was used to count the years, months, days and hours to help predict the future, tell fortunes and determine a persons personality based on the year one was born and the assigned animal given to that year. And because of its importance in China, it helped allow the zodiac to spread to other neighboring countries like Korea and Japan through trade and cross-cultural pollination.

Buddhism, as it migrated eastward from India, did a remarkable job of adapting to local religious beliefs and cultural customs. Instead of competing against local traditions, Buddhism adapted to local culture, as is the case in China with both Taoist and zodiac beliefs and in Korea with shamanic beliefs.

One of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals is the snake. Snakes, and those born in the Year of the Snake, are thought to be charming, introverted, generous and smart. As for Korean Buddhism and Korean Buddhist temples, the most common place to see depictions of the snake, is as one of the 12 Spirit Generals, or the Sibiji-shin in Korean. The 12 Spirit Generals come in many forms, and they are meant to be the embodiment of Yaksayeorae-bul (Buddha of the Eastern Paradise, and the Medicine Buddha). They can appear as shrine hall paintings, statues or even adorning pagodas.

Another way in which snakes appear at Korean Buddhist temples is through legends. One specific legend can be found at Yeojeok Hermitage, which is located in the southern portion of Songnisan National Park in Boeun, North Chungcheong Province. The hermitage is one of 11 directly associated with the famed Beopju Temple.

Purportedly, Yeojeok Hermitage was the richest hermitage on the mountain. However, its previous abbots were obsessed with material gain, so they didnt help others with the hermitages resources. Yeojeok, who was just a novice monk at this time, made nine rice balls. Yeojeok and the abbot of the hermitage traveled to neighboring Sujeong-bong Peak. There, the two sat in front of a rock and called out the names of the former abbots of Yeojeok Hermitage. One by one, Yeojeok would throw a rice ball and a big snake would come out from one of the cracks of the large stone and eat the rice ball, then return to its hole. Yeojeok did this until he got to the eighth snake. The present abbot noticed this as his former master and was surprised to see his teacher reborn as a snake.

Seeing his surprise, Yeojeok told the abbot that his teacher had become a snake because he was greedy. And even after he had died, he couldnt forget the hermitages wealth, so he lived in Sujeong-bong Peak to be near Yeojeok Hermitage. Still seeing that there was one more unoccupied hole remaining in the side of the large rock, the abbot asked Yeojeok who that hole belonged to. Yeojeok answered that the hole belonged to the current abbot. After that, the abbot held a meeting, where he distributed the wealth of the hermitage to those in need. And it was after this that the hermitage came to be known as Yeojeok Hermitage.

Arguably, an even better-known legend connected to a temple and a snake can be found at Cheongpyeong Temple in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. In this legend, there once was a Tang princess who was loved by a young man. This princess was known as Princess Pyeongyang, the daughter of Emperor Taejong [Taizong] of Tang (r. 626-649). Emperor Taejong had the man killed, but the lovesick man was reborn as a snake who constantly clung to the princess. And every effort that was made to separate the snake from the princess failed. Eventually, the princess left the palace, where she wandered until she arrived at the valley where Cheongpyeong Temple would be built. After spending a night at Gongju-gul (Princess Cave), she cleansed her body in a Gongju-tang (Princess Bath). Afterward, she dressed in a monks robe. Thanks to her virtue, the lovesick snake finally broke free from the princess and entered Nirvana. Afterward, the princess asked her father to build a temple there. Eventually, a pagoda was erected and the local people called it Gongju-tap (Princess Pagoda).

Yet another lesser-known way in which snakes can appear at Korean Buddhist temples is as a naga, which is a divine, or semi-divine, species of half-human, half-serpent beings. Nagas are one of the Eight Legions, or Palbusin-jang in Korean, of Buddhism that are protectors of the Dharma (Buddhas Teachings). Because of their role in protecting the Dharma, youll typically find nagas as stone reliefs around the base of pagodas at Korean Buddhist temples. Also, as the nagas moved eastward, they became dragons. So its the dragon, rather than the snake or naga, that youll typically find at most Korean Buddhist temples. Among the most notable nagas in the Korean Buddhist tradition, and Buddhism more generally, is Naga Mucalinda, who protected Seokgamoni-bul (Historical Buddha) from torrential rain as the Buddha neared enlightenment.

So the next time youre at a Korean Buddhist temple during the Year of the Snake, have a look around at the hard-to-find images of the reptilian arbitrator of good fortune. Most commonly, youll find them in the legends and traditions of temples, but you might be lucky enough to see a statue or painting of a naga or the snake from the 12 Spirit Generals. With all that being said, heres to a happy and prosperous 2025, the Year of the Snake!

Dale Quarrington has visited over 500 temples throughout the Korean Peninsula and published four books on Korean Buddhism. He runs the website Dale's Korean Temple Adventures.
By Michael Hurt

Standing in the lobby of a Korean cinema in Vietnam in August 2018, I had a startling revelation. A group of fashionable, young Vietnamese were sitting pretty at the CGV in Danang, but they weren't there to watch movies. Instead, they were staging elaborate fashion shoots, lounging in carefully designed seating areas and treating the entire lobby like their personal photo studio. Here was a Korean movie theater chain being used in ways even Koreans hadn't imagined  transformed into a pure space of social performance and play. It was a powerful reminder that Korea's innovative approach to spatial design had not only gone global but was evolving in fascinating new ways.

That moment crystallized something I'd been observing for years: how thoroughly Korea had revolutionized the way people use public spaces, particularly through what I call "Instafication." To understand this phenomenon, you need only step into a trendy cafe in eastern Seoul's Seongsu-dong today, where you might wonder if you've entered a coffee shop, a photo studio or an art installation. The answer is all of the above. In one corner, a couple of students study quietly. Next to them, a full-on fashion photo shoot unfolds. Meanwhile, stylish others sip lattes while carefully documenting their experience for Instagram. This isn't chaos  it's Seoul's new normal.

The most popular of these Instagram-ready spaces are what Koreans call "hot places," and you can always spot them by their telltale signs: crowds of young people with phones ready, and most distinctively, clusters of automated selfie studios. You'll often find a dozen or more of these studios within a 500-meter radius of a hot place's center. These aren't mere photo booths but elaborate stages where young Koreans perform heavily curated identities and document different versions of themselves, with the actual photography equipment taking a back seat to meticulously designed sets and backdrops.

The proliferation of these spaces and how naturally Koreans use them tell us something important about urban life here. It's what led me to argue, at an academic conference in 2015, that Seoul's new public spaces function as "noriteo" (playgrounds). A prominent Korean sociologist strongly objected to me after the presentation, insisting that adults simply do not "play" in Korean society and that I had misapplied the Korean notion of play.

This struck me as particularly shortsighted, especially given what legendary street photographer Kim Ki-chan (and in my mind, a far better sociologist than that lettered one) had taught me about understanding Korean society. Kim had explained how Korean identity was fundamentally shaped by spatial structures  like the "golmok" (alley) where neighbors could smell what each other was cooking for dinner, hear what they bickered about and feel the rhythms of each other's daily lives. His insight was crucial: To understand Korean society, one must analyze how spaces structure social action and watch how people actually use them.

The sociologist who disagreed with me wasn't speaking from such careful observation or data, but from preconceived notions about Korean culture that ignored the reality on the ground. Having conducted ethnographic photographic research in Korea since 2002, I can say with certainty: he couldn't have been more mistaken. Seoul has always been a city of play, from its traditional markets where haggling was part performance art to the "PC bangs" (internet cafes) of the 1990s that revolutionized how people gathered and socialized.

When sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term "third space" in 1989 to describe cafes and pubs as social spots between home and work, he emphasized face-to-face conversation. But Seoul was already developing something different. Those PC bangs of the late 1990s created a space that stood between those of home and work, but that was also where physical and virtual worlds merged, showing that social spaces could function far differently from Western models  and by the way, was literally a place to play.

These PC bangs served the same community-building function as Oldenburg's Western cafes, but in a uniquely Korean way  creating spaces where digital interaction was the primary social currency. Today, this playful spirit has evolved into what I call "nth spaces"  environments where physical and digital realms merge seamlessly through the process of Instafication.

As sociologist Cho Myung-rae explained in 1999, Seoul's rapid transformation from a war-ravaged city to global metropolis  accomplished in just one generation  created something unique. Unlike Western cities that developed gradually over centuries, Seoul compressed multiple stages of development into just a few decades, requiring what Cho calls "flexible sociality"  a distinctly Korean ability to rapidly navigate between different modes of social behavior. A Seoulite might haggle over prices in a traditional market one moment, then step into a hypermodern cafe with fixed prices the next, seamlessly switching between completely different social codes.

This flexibility has reached new heights in today's hot places, where Instafied spaces that merge virtual and physical worlds cluster together to transform entire neighborhoods. The phenomenon goes far beyond cafes simply adding Instagram-worthy touches  a trend seen worldwide. Instead, entire spaces are being fundamentally reconceived around social media's logic and aesthetics.

The ultimate expression is found in pop-up stores dominating trendy areas like Seongsu-dong. A shampoo brand might create a nonfunctional shower setup perfect for photos, while a cosmetics company builds an entire fantasy bathroom solely for social media moments. The actual products, if any, are often tucked away in a corner while the majority of the space becomes a playground for digital performance.

Any sociologist worth their salt should be fascinated by how this playful flexibility enables the formation of vibrant communities that seamlessly span both physical and virtual realms. Today's Seoul has evolved into something entirely new: a vast network of stages where consumption, creativity and play don't just coexist but amplify each other in ways that create entirely new forms of social connection.

Dr. Michael W. Hurt (@seoulstreetstudios on Instagram) is a photographer and professor at the Korea National University of the Arts living in Seoul since 2002. He received his doctorate from UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies and started Korea's first street fashion blog in 2006. He researches youth, subcultures and street fashion while lecturing on cultural theory at K-Arts. His work has taken him from university classrooms to consulting for tech giants like Google and Meta, and his photography has documented everything from street fashion to queer subcultures. Michael is the author of "The Seoul Fashion Report" (2009), the first book on Korean street fashion, and is currently working on "The Aesthetic Empire," a book that examines the evolution of Korean digital aesthetics.


The Navy's new MH-60R Seahawk helicopters will begin to arrive in South Korea next month, officials said Thursday, as part of efforts to better counter threats posed by North Korean submarines.

In 2020, defense authorities approved a 960 billion-won ($667.6 million) project to purchase 12 Seahawks from U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin to strengthen the Navy's anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities.

Of the 12 helicopters to be introduced, the first chopper is set to arrive in the country in February, with the rest expected to be delivered in phases by the end of the year, an official at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said.

The Seahawks are expected to enter operations next year after undergoing field tests and other pre-deployment procedures, according to a Navy official.

Equipped with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, Mark 54 lightweight torpedoes, and a dipping sonar system, the Seahawks will work alongside the Navy's P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, reinforcing surveillance and defense against North Korean submarine threats.

The Seahawks are also expected to enhance the Navy's operational capabilities as they offer longer flight endurance compared with the Lynx and AW159 Wildcat choppers currently in service, according to DAPA.

North Korea is estimated to be operating a fleet of some 70 submarines, many of which are small and older models, according to South Korean officials.

Pyongyang has recently focused on advancing its submarine capabilities, unveiling what it claimed to be a tactical nuclear attack submarine in 2023. (Yonhap)
President to face simultaneous trials in impeachment, criminal cases

By Anna J. Park

President Yoon Suk Yeol spent his third Lunar New Year holiday in office at the Seoul Detention Center, marking the first time in Koreas constitutional history that a sitting president has spent the holiday in detention.

According to Yoon's defense team, the president spent the final day of the holiday at the center, where his legal counsel visited him to discuss strategies for the upcoming trials.

Having been indicted by the prosecution on Tuesday for charges of leading an insurrection with his short-lived martial law imposition, Yoon could face trial and stay at the detention center for up to six months. His legal team plans to request bail after the holiday.

If granted, the president will be released upon paying bail; if denied, he will remain in custody throughout the trial, which is expected to last for up to six months.

Following the Lunar New Year holiday, trial proceedings for Yoon are expected to intensify.

In addition to the ongoing impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, the Seoul Central District Court is expected to officially assign the criminal case against Yoon  charged with being the ringleader of an insurrection  to a court panel as early as Friday.

The Constitutional Court is scheduled to hold its fifth oral argument on the impeachment case on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m., 12 days after the fourth hearing on Jan. 23. For the sixth to eighth hearings, set for Feb. 6, 11 and 13, the court plans to hold full-day sessions starting at 10 a.m.

If both impeachment and criminal trials proceed simultaneously, Yoon may be required to attend hearings three times a week, traveling between the Constitutional Court and the Seoul Central District Court.

Meanwhile, presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk, along with key former and current presidential secretaries, are coordinating their visits to Yoon in the near future.

Their visits have become possible, as the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials lifted the restriction on nonlawyer visits to Yoon on Jan. 24, allowing general public visits after the Lunar New Year holiday.

A senior official from the presidential office said, "We believe its our duty to pay a visit to the president."

Key ruling party lawmakers, including ruling People Power Party floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong and Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, are also coordinating schedules for visiting Yoon sometime next week.

"Considering that the president is in a difficult situation, it is the right move to fulfill our duty as human beings," Kweon said on Thursday.

However, given that public visits are limited to only one per day, the specific timing and details of the politicians' visits remain undecided.

First lady Kim Keon Hee has reportedly remained at the presidential residence in central Seoul's Hannam-dong since the debacle began with Yoon's declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
By KTimes

A female temple member has been fined for stalking and threatening a head monk after he ended their romantic relationship.

The Seoul Central District Courts Criminal Division 18, under Judge Lee Jun-gu, imposed a 5 million won ($3,740) fine on the woman and ordered her to complete 40 hours of a stalking treatment program. She was found guilty of violating the Act on Punishment of Crime of Stalking, as well as charges of assault and threats.

The woman, a temple member, had been in a romantic relationship with the head monk since May 2019. However, the monk decided to end the relationship, explaining that, as a monk, he could not engage in romantic affairs. The woman, refusing to accept this, began stalking and threatening him.

According to the investigation, she called the monk 26 times from June 2023 and visited his temple, demanding to meet. She also caused disturbances at the temple, including an incident where she interrupted a tea gathering with other members, shouting, "This man is my man," and threw a ceramic teacup. She also threatened the monk, saying she would report their relationship to the temple authorities if he did not comply with her demands.

During the trial, the woman argued that she and the monk had been in a relationship and that her actions were simply a response to his failure to fulfill a prayer request after receiving a large donation. She claimed she was merely informing him that she would report him to the religious order. She claimed her statements were not meant as a threat.

The court rejected her claims, stating, "The victim's testimony is consistent and detailed, making it credible." The judge further explained, "Given that the monk could realistically lose his credentials due to the complaint, it is clear that the victim perceived her statements as a threat."

The court acknowledged that the woman had donated over 120 million won to the temple but ruled that her threats were unrelated to financial matters. The judge concluded, "Considering she explicitly said she would report their relationship to the temple, her intent to threaten is evident."

However, the court took into account that she had admitted to some of her actions and shown remorse, which was reflected in the sentencing.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
Prosecutors on Friday indicted a current and former official of a major umbrella union for allegedly receiving orders from a North Korean agent they met in China in 2018.

The Suwon District Prosecutors Office said it indicted the two individuals, associated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), without detention on charges of violating the National Security Act.

The two are accused of traveling to Guangzhou, China, in September 2018 to meet the agent with another former KCTU official, identified by the surname Seok. The two officials allegedly conducted activities under the agent's orders after returning to South Korea.

The prosecution said it confirmed their activities through an investigation after receiving the case from the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

It said it has also acquired 90 documents of North Korea's orders and 24 reports for North Korea in connection to the case by cooperating with the NIS and the police.

Last November, Seok was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conducting espionage activities under instructions from North Korea from 2017 to 2022. (Yonhap)
By Lee Hae-rin

Ryu Hyuk, former inspector general of the Ministry of Justice, was having what he described as an "exceedingly tranquil day on the evening of Dec. 3, 2024.

After having dinner with his eldest child, he went to bed at around 10 p.m. But just 27 minutes later, his child woke him up to announce that President Yoon Suk Yeol had declared martial law.

Martial law? In this day and age? Ryu thought.

He could hardly believe what he was seeing as he turned on the TV and checked the news online. A few minutes later, he was driving to attend an emergency meeting at the justice ministry.

During the half-hour drive to the Government Complex Gwacheon, Ryu couldn't stop thinking about what was unfolding. When he arrived and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae confirmed that the meeting was about the martial law declaration, Ryu immediately walked out of the room.

"In following an order born from illegal martial law, I would be no different from a guard at Auschwitz's gas chamber, to give an extreme example," he said in a recent interview with local media. "I just didnt think it was right for me to be there at that meeting."

The following morning, he tendered his resignation.

This act of defiance mirrors the findings of Emily Caspar's book, "Just Following Orders." Caspar, who draws on the Milgram experiment and cognitive neuroscience, explores the psychological mechanisms that drive obedience, even when it demands harming others. Her research highlights how the brain's guilt response diminishes when individuals act under orders, particularly those in intermediary positions.

Yoons martial law declaration has led to months of political chaos and an ongoing leadership vacuum. In the aftermath, several high-ranking military and police officials have been arrested. Many of them said that they were simply "following orders" from their superiors, including figures like Yeo In-hyung, former chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command.

But others chose to defy orders from higher up they deemed immoral and unlawful.

Some soldiers from a key investigative unit of the martial law forces refused to enter the National Election Commission (NEC). Instead, they showed passive resistance, opting to eat instant noodles at a nearby convenience store despite pressure to comply. The soldiers had been ordered to enter the NEC to secure the main server containing election information, a move they believed to be illegal.

Caspar's work emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological drivers of obedience to break the cycle of violence. By fostering empathy and moral courage, both individually and within organizational structures, people can create a society where individuals are empowered to question and resist unjust orders, according to Caspar, who teaches at Ghent University in Belgium.

The events in Korea serve as a poignant reminder that true leadership demands moral responsibility and the courage to defy unlawful authority, even in the face of immense pressure.

Disobedience to authority

In the book, Caspar sheds light on what goes on inside the human brain when obeying terrible commands.

Caspar revisits the Milgram experiment and combines it with cognitive neuroscience to examine what happens inside the minds of perpetrators when they obey orders that harm others.

The 1961 study by American psychologist Stanley Milgram showed that ordinary people can do terrible things when ordered by an authority, even if it goes against their conscience.

According to Caspar's research, the brain activity associated with guilt diminishes when people carry out harmful actions under orders from others. Interestingly, those in mid-level positions of authority tend to be the least repulsed by cruel actions, such as violence or slaughter.

A case in point is Yeo, the former chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, who orchestrated operations to deploy military and police forces to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission.

Evidence suggests that he was involved in issuing orders for the immediate arrests of National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and key political leaders as the legislative body was preparing to vote on lifting martial law.

Around 685 martial law troops stormed the National Assembly that night, attempting to break into the main hall. They smashed windows and used physical force in an attempt to gain entry.

Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, I believe soldiers should follow orders in times of crisis, Yeo told an inquiry panel of lawmakers. I was following orders as a commanding officer.

What traits define a person who chooses to resist unreasonable orders?

The book suggests that such individuals often have a stronger sense of empathy. They are more likely to feel responsible for the harm that could result from following orders and are willing to take greater risks to prevent it.

In one experiment, participants were more likely to disobey violent commands when they were injected with oxytocin and when the frontal cortex  an area associated with empathy  was stimulated. Furthermore, the more authoritarian and hierarchical an organization was, the higher the rate of defiance among its members.

However, the neuroscientist cautions against labeling those who obey orders and commit violence as simply evil or monstrous. She argues that demonizing individuals in this way can overshadow the political and historical context that may have influenced their involvement in violence.

In order to break the cycle of violence through obedience, the author highlights the need to first understand the mechanisms of obedience and come up with an intervention plan to encourage empathy and moral courage structurally.
Witnesses say they heard crackling sound; portable battery suspected as cause

By Jung Min-ho

Concerns have been raised about the safety risk of bringing portable batteries in carry-on luggage for flights, as a lithium-ion battery is suspected as the cause of the fire that destroyed Air Busans passenger plane on Tuesday night.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Thursday, officials retrieved black boxes from the plane that caught fire at Gimhae International Airport in Busan as they prepared to formally launch a joint investigation with police and fire authorities.

The fire broke out while the airliner was preparing to take off. All 176 people on board  169 passengers and seven crewmembers  escaped successfully, with seven sustaining minor injuries.

Witnesses said they heard a crackling sound  something like an electronic device burning  before smoke originating from a rear overhead bin began to fill the cabin, which prompted an urgent evacuation through inflatable slides.

While there are still multiple potential causes for the fire, such as a short circuit in the aircraft, suspicions grow that a portable battery may be the cause.

Just seven weeks ago, the airline had a similar incident. A fire, triggered by a portable battery problem, prompted flight attendants to use fire extinguishers to put it out.

At least two other battery-caused fire incidents occurred in Korea in 2024  in an Eastar Jet plane in July and aboard an Asiana Airlines flight in April.

Rules on spare batteries vary by airline, but most companies allow batteries in carry-on bags. In the case of Air Busan, passengers can carry up to two lithium-ion batteries not exceeding a watt-hour rating of 160Wh or 8g of lithium content.

Aviation experts say even if the cause of the fire is proven to be a battery, it will be difficult for the carrier to hold the passenger who brought it accountable, because there are no rules against batteries inside the cabin.

Tuesday's incident came about a month after a Jeju Air plane crashed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, which killed all but two of the 181 people on board.

The plane that caught fire was a 17-year-old Airbus A321-200 built in 2007. It had been operated by Air Busans parent company, Asiana Airlines, until it was handed over to the budget carrier in May 2017, according to transport ministry records.

The incident could have been much worse. The plane, bound for Hong Kong, was originally scheduled to take off at 9:55 p.m., but its departure was delayed by about 20 minutes. Then the fire was spotted at 10:15 p.m., just before takeoff.

The fire could have caused a major explosion as the plane was carrying some 35,000 pounds of aviation fuel. But after the evacuation of all passengers and crew at 10:36 p.m., firefighters successfully prevented the fire from spreading to the wings, where the fuel was stored, and fully extinguished it by 11:31 p.m.

Twenty-two foreign nationals were among the passengers  18 Chinese, two Americans, one British and one Filipino. Many of the Koreans were families traveling for the Lunar New Year holiday.

At a meeting held Thursday, representatives of the transport ministry, police and firefighters discussed detailed plans for investigation after visiting the scene to examine the plane, such as how to defuel it for a safe inspection.

If the plane catches fire again over the course of a probe, it could explode, an official said. "We would decide whether to defuel the plane (for investigation)  But it seems challenging because the fuselage was damaged.

A team of investigators from France, where Airbus headquarters is located, also arrived at the scene later that day to join the fact-finding effort, as the International Civil Aviation Organizations rule requires the participation of the nation that manufactured an affected plane in a probe.

We will keep all possibilities open to find the exact cause of the fire, a ministry official said.
The annual Point-in-Time homelessness count was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday throughout San Antonio and Bexar County. The local nonprofit Close-to-Home led the effort. Close to Home The annual Point-in-Time homelessness count was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday throughout San Antonio and Bexar County. Close-to-Home, a local nonprofit, led the effort. Close to Home The annual Point-in-Time homelessness count was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday throughout San Antonio and Bexar County. The local nonprofit Close-to-Home led the effort. Close to Home

To get a snapshot of many people in San Antonio don't have a place to call home, hundreds of volunteers set out to count them this week.

Known as the Point-in-Time Count, the effort is led by the nonprofit Close to Home. The survey happens in cities across the country every year in late January.

Close to Home's staff is now gathering the data to submit to Department of Housing & Urban Development. The nonprofit plans to publish a State of Homelessness Report, which is set to be released in May.

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More than 400 volunteers assembled into 75 teams to canvass areas in Bexar County and downtown San Antonio Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, volunteers counted people living in encampments.

As the count kicked off Tuesday night with a press event, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg thanked volunteers for their help.

The Point-in-Time Count is a crucial moment of awareness for our entire community that helps align our City, County, and partner priorities to ensure we are appropriately addressing the needs of our community, Nirenberg said.

Katie Hubble, director of communications and development at Close to Home, said the count goes beyond collecting data.

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Its about shining a light on the lives of those who too often go unseen and unheard, Hubble said. Theres perhaps no better example of the level of collaboration in our work than our annual PIT Count.

Washington Moscoso, San Antonio Police Department public information officer, said 86 officers were assigned to help keep volunteers safe during the PIT count.

We want to make sure that they (volunteers) are safe, Moscoso said. Its a partnership. Were trying to get the homeless population down and get them the resources they need to get off the streets.

Nirenberg said the factors that push people into homelessness are a complex combination of socioeconomic hardship and a lack of healthcare access and supportive services.

I have one simple message for everyone... let our collective presence serve as a reminder that homelessness is a priority for San Antonio and Bexar County, Nirenberg said.

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San Antonios 2025 budget allocated $44.2 million to homeless services, which focus on expanding housing options and enhancing access to healthcare, domestic violence support services and services for youth and young adults.

According to HUD data, homelessness increased nationally by 18%  the highest ever recorded  from 2023 to 2024. During that same period, homelessness in San Antonio/Bexar County increased by 6.8%.

Over the last several years, there's been a decreasing trend in the number of homeless people in San Antonio area.

Unsheltered homelessness in San Antonio and Bexar County has decreased by 25% in the last 5 years," Hubble said. "Amongst all major Texas cities, San Antonio ranked the lowest in the unsheltered count in 2024  and 73% of those experiencing homelessness in San Antonio reside in shelters."

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She said the 2025 Strategic Action Plan, a collaboration between several organizations, is focusing on eight priorities:

 Prevent homelessness and reduce inflow

 Expand housing options and accelerate housing placements

 Strengthen homeless response & services for youth and young adults

 Improve coordination and access to domestic violence services

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 Improve access to healthcare services

 Strengthen street outreach coordination

 Effectively address opportunities to access resources
By KTimes

Passengers remain at odds with Air Busan over the appropriateness of the initial response to a fire aboard an Air Busan aircraft before taking off from Gimhae International Airport in Busan, Tuesday. Some passengers claim that after the fire broke out, flight attendants failed to make an announcement, forcing them to open the emergency exits themselves.

However, Air Busan asserts that its crew followed fire response protocols and carried out the emergency evacuation promptly under the captains direction.

The primary concern raised by passengers was the lack of a general announcement regarding the fire. They say that the crew should have immediately informed all passengers of the fire and provided instructions on whether and how to evacuate.

Some also expressed frustration that the evacuation procedures were not relayed quickly enough.

Air Busan contends that the situation was too urgent for an announcement. The airline explained that a crew member spotted the fire in the overhead compartment near the rear left side of the cabin and reported it immediately to the captain.

The airline says that multiple actions were occurring simultaneously, and ensuring a rapid assessment and evacuation decision was prioritized over making a general announcement.

Some passengers described the situation as chaotic, criticizing the crews response to the fire as inadequate. One passenger recounted attempting to open the overhead bin and use a fire extinguisher but was stopped by the crew. As smoke spread, panic ensued in the cabin.

Air Busan maintains that its actions were aimed at ensuring passenger safety. The airline explained that opening the overhead bin without assessing the situation could have intensified the fire by allowing more oxygen to fuel the flames.

An Air Busan official said, Opening the compartment could have caused the fire to spread rapidly due to increased oxygen supply.

Flight attendants attempted to extinguish the fire using onboard fire extinguishers, but embers had already spread outside of the compartment. Given the escalating danger, the captain decided that emergency evacuation was necessary.

According to Air Busan, Upon receiving the fire report, the captain shut down the hydraulic and fuel systems before declaring an emergency evacuation.

Dispute over nature of emergency evacuation

Passengers and the airline also have differing accounts of the evacuation process. Some passengers argue that one passenger took the initiative to open an emergency exit on the side opposite the fire, enabling their escape. They believe the crew's delayed response forced them to evacuate on their own.

Air Busan refutes this claim, stating that the emergency exit procedure was conducted in accordance with the captains declaration of an emergency evacuation.

The airline said that the passenger who opened the exit was fulfilling the role of an evacuation assistant.

"Passengers seated in the emergency exit row must agree to serve as evacuation assistants," an Air Busan official said. "Once the captain declares an emergency evacuation, those seated at the emergency exit are responsible for assessing the external situation, opening the exit and ensuring the evacuation slide deploys properly."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.
By Kim Ae-ran

There was a time in which hope was not seen in my life. Hope was hidden because of negative expressions. Discouraging comments and evaluations seemed to take away hope in my heart, but I was not discouraged at all because I had faith. I was calm and peaceful. I was able to be grateful for what I am. Reflecting on the situation, I realized that hope comes from faith. Hope doesnt come from me. Hope comes from faith.

Courageous people witness that hope comes from faith. As pilgrims of hope, we are going on our journey toward faith, truth, joy and eternal life. We are essentially hopeful human beings. We are called to be human beings of hope.

Hoffnungsmensch (Homo Sperans), written by Steffen Kern, German pastor, journalist and author, was published in 2023, and its Korean translation was recently published by Pauline in 2025. With inspiring episodes and stories of hope, it invites us to reflect on hope in our daily lives and to begin again.

Kern invites us to look at the world: Over 7 million people passed away due to the coronavirus. Over 80 million refugees were displaced around the world. So many cases of sexual abuse by priests, gender issues, forest fires, wars in several countries and serious political confrontations continue to disturb us. In line with these gloomy and dark situations, global climate change is progressing day by day as if to warn the end of the world. Various crises befall us day in and day out.

Facing all these struggling realities, some people keep asking such questions: Is heaven valid? Where is the Kingdom of Hope? Will heaven come to an end? Do we still have hope? Is God alive? Can the churches keep the promise of God? Can we begin again?

Despite all the uncertain situations, Kern firmly believes that world history is not a history of downfall but a history of God and salvation. Therefore, it is a history of hope.

Surely, hope comes from faith. Hope always inspires us to move forward and do something for a better future. Hope lets us expect something and leads us to go beyond the limitations. Hope motivates us and enlightens the power of life. Hope inspires us to trust in the providence of God and rely on the possibility of God.

With hope, we are willing to do something possible, hopeful and positive. A hopeful person is not self-centered, but he looks at others and listens to them. A hopeful person recognizes and accepts. A hopeful person sees the world with different eyes because he lives with a broad horizon.

A hopeful person has both feet on the ground.

"He has a piece of heaven in his heart.

"He is on the ground and in heaven at the same time.

All these inspiring stories of hope remind me of LHomme qui Marche 1 (life-size walking man) made in 1960 by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901-66). Like this walking man, we are constantly walking with hope. Going beyond all the ups and downs, we walk in hope, with hope and for hope. We walk on and on with joy and gratitude.

Affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

Kim Ae-ran is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (Figlie di San Paolo), living the Good News and proclaiming it with various means of social communication.
Addressing uncertainty of US-North Korea ties, policy ambiguity

The United States and North Korea are once again engaged in a delicate tug of war, each maneuvering to maintain the upper hand as they approach potential negotiations over the Norths nuclear program. At the heart of this struggle is the growing uncertainty surrounding the future of the Korean Peninsula. As the U.S. seeks shifting policies under President Donald Trump, the prospects of a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un loom large. However, the mixed signals coming from Washington raise questions about the future direction of American diplomacy and its implications for regional stability.

A White House official recently emphasized that the Trump administration remains committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. This statement, made by National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes, stands in contrast to some of Trumps previous comments, which included referring to North Korea as a nuclear power. This inconsistency in messaging has led to confusion about whether the U.S. is indeed pushing for complete denuclearization, or if it is shifting its focus toward a more pragmatic approach, such as arms reduction or a nuclear freeze. Trumps apparent willingness to engage Kim in another summit has only added to the ambiguity, suggesting that diplomacy might be prioritized over punitive measures.

The uncertainty surrounding U.S. policy is not limited to North Korea. The recent foreign ministers meeting between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India (the Quad) notably omitted any mention of Pyongyang's denuclearization. This omission could indicate a potential shift in the security priorities of these nations, particularly the U.S. This shift, if it materializes, could focus more on managing North Koreas nuclear capabilities through arms control agreements rather than pursuing the lofty goal of complete denuclearization.

Such a policy shift could dramatically alter the security dynamics of the Korean Peninsula. If the Trump administration moves toward arms reduction or nuclear freeze talks, it may signal a shift away from the all-or-nothing approach of complete denuclearization. While such an approach may be seen as more realistic, it also carries significant risks, as it could embolden North Korea to continue its nuclear ambitions while offering little in terms of concrete concessions.

At the same time, the U.S. is also questioning its military presence in East Asia. Vice President JD Vances comments about reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed overseas, including the 28,500 personnel stationed in South Korea, have stoked fears that the Trump administration may cut back on its military commitments in the region. This would not only reduce Americas ability to deter North Korean aggression and keep China in check but also increase South Koreas security burden. Such a reduction in U.S. military presence could lead to further instability in a region already grappling with rising tensions and shifting alliances.

North Korea, for its part, is keenly aware of the changing dynamics. Following a long hiatus after Trumps inauguration, North Korea recently test-fired tactical cruise missiles, signaling its readiness to resume its provocations. Kim Jong-uns comments following the missile tests emphasized the importance of war deterrence, suggesting that North Korea is preparing for future negotiations, but also engaging in a war of nerves. Kims rhetoric reflects an ongoing strategy of bolstering North Koreas position on the global stage while avoiding any immediate concessions to the U.S.

For South Korea, the evolving situation presents a host of challenges. The country is facing political instability at home, with the ongoing impeachment controversy surrounding President Yoon Suk Yeol, which has left the nations leadership in flux. This internal instability only complicates South Koreas ability to respond to the shifting U.S. policies and regional security challenges. South Korea must work to ensure that its interests are not sidelined in the broader context of U.S.-North Korea negotiations. It is critical that Seoul remains actively engaged in shaping the diplomatic narrative and in advocating for policies that prioritize regional stability and security.

The current state of U.S.-North Korea relations is fraught with uncertainty. The Trump administrations mixed signals on denuclearization and its potential shift in security priorities could have profound implications for the future of the Korean Peninsula. In this context, South Korea must adopt a more proactive diplomatic stance, ensuring that its concerns are heard in Washington and that its security is not compromised in the negotiations. With the region on the edge of significant change, it is essential that all parties involved exercise caution, engage in constructive diplomacy and prioritize long-term peace and stability over short-term gains.
By Casey Lartigue Jr.

In moments of frustration or impatience, Americans often count to 10 to regain composure. Living in South Korea, Ive found myself taking this practice to new extremes  counting to 10, then continuing to 110, and then back down to 1. As chairman of the board of Freedom Speakers International (FSI), this method of self-control has served me well, especially in the early days of our revamped board.

At our initial meetings, I couldnt help but wonder what my fellow board members  all South Koreans  were thinking. Their conversations often revolved around travel and food rather than the organizations work. While I could understand this at the first meeting, by the third and fourth, I found myself on the brink of walking out without informing them. Instead, I started counting  up, down and in every direction  and reminded myself that Im in Korea, where relationships often take time to warm up. Slowly but surely, things began to change.

I have served on the boards of directors and trustees for several organizations over the past two decades, and each has offered unique lessons and challenges. This was the first time I was the board chair and it seemed I had not learned anything from those years of experience. Some boards were highly professional and focused, making decisions with precision and purpose. Others were contentious, plagued by back-stabbing, gossip and unnecessary drama, which created toxic environments. I have also experienced boards that were fun, engaging and inspiring, like the one at the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). For many years, I considered BAEO to be my most rewarding board experience.

But FSI has surpassed even BAEO as the most inspiring and uplifting board Ive served on. Our first meeting of the year, held on Jan. 18, reaffirmed why FSI stands out. It was more than an administrative gathering  it was a celebration of shared values, mutual support and genuine impact.

One of the most inspiring moments came when board members pledged to support a Matching Donation Challenge sponsored by an American organization. Their generosity and commitment demonstrated their belief in FSIs mission and their determination to help it thrive. Their dedication reminded me of the deep sense of purpose that unites us.

As I have pointed out in a previous blog post, it is South Koreans who work behind the scenes to support North Korean refugees although most reporters search for evidence of discrimination by South Koreans. The South Koreans working behind the scenes to support us are our paid staffers, major supporters and our board members who are lawyers, businesspeople, freelancers, medical professionals and accountants.

The meeting itself was a testament to engaged and supportive participation. I opened the meeting with a review of our 2024 activities and plans for 2025. FSI co-founder Lee Eun-koo presented a detailed overview of our financial information and a comprehensive deep dive into our budget ensuring transparency and clarity. Board members asked thoughtful questions and offered constructive feedback, showing their deep investment in FSIs success. It was serious, focused and yet there were plenty of smiles and even shared laughter as we discussed our work.

Behind the scenes, Eun-koos efforts continue to be the backbone of our operations as she handles countless responsibilities, including preparing board materials and coordinating logistics. Her dedication keeps the organization running smoothly.

After the meeting, we invited three North Korean refugees from FSIs Keynote Speaker network to join us for dinner. This gathering was another highlight of the day.

Han Song-mi, whose memoir "Greenlight to Freedom" I co-authored, learned that several board members were enthusiastic supporters of hers. One board member had even purchased 100 copies of her memoir and personally shipped them to libraries, taking the time to write out each librarys name  an act of thoughtfulness and dedication that moved her deeply. Three other board members shared how much they had enjoyed reading her story, further affirming her impact.

Jang Sharon, another North Korean refugee, also experienced a heartwarming moment when she discovered that some board members had read her book and were fans of hers. Their admiration for her work left her feeling seen, valued and supported.

Kim Su-jin, a relative newcomer compared to Sharon, who has been with us since 2015, and Songmi, who joined in 2019, has already made an impression on our team and continues to grow in her role. She has set up a Substack account, has given several speeches and meets with us regularly to find ways she can get more deeply involved with us.

Over dinner, it was also a humbling experience for me personally. I could feel what pancakes feel like when syrup gets poured on top  so sweet! Several board members spoke in loving and supportive terms about my contributions to FSI, which was both encouraging and deeply touching. Moments like these remind me how lucky I am to work alongside such compassionate and dedicated individuals, even though I initially resisted becoming the chairman of the board.

The cherry on the top was when my co-author, Song-mi, talked about me changing the direction of her life in a positive way. Four years ago, she didnt believe me when I said she had the potential to become an author and speaker. It has happened and she doesnt miss an opportunity to thank me for my leadership and vision.

Interestingly, the board members maintain a respectful distance from the North Korean refugees, admiring their stories without forming personal connections. This approach reflects a professionalism I have come to value through my experience on other boards and did not expect with this board. By staying focused on governance, strategy, and organizational development, the board ensures the organizations continued growth and impact.

This board meeting was more than just an administrative gathering  it was a celebration of collaboration, mutual support and a shared commitment to FSIs mission. Together, we are building something truly meaningful. And for the past several meetings, I havent once had to count to 10.

Casey Lartigue Jr. (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu) is the chairman and co-founder of Freedom Speakers International with Lee Eun-koo, and co-author with Han Song-mi of her memoir "Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughters Search for Her Mother and Herself.
By Casey Lartigue Jr.

On Jan. 7, I met with Harvard graduate students visiting South Korea, thanks to a fellow Harvard alum informing me about their visit. After hearing about my work with North Korean refugees, the organizers of the Harvard Korea Trek invited me to return with a North Korean refugee the following Monday for a meeting at the Ministry of Unification.

I was delighted to accept their invitation and even more thrilled when my co-author, Han Song-mi, and my Freedom Speakers International (FSI) co-founder, Lee Eun-koo, agreed to join me.

The meeting was a powerful moment of connection. The students listened intently as I shared FSIs mission of empowering North Korean refugees through English education and public speaking. Song-mi brought the story to life with her own journey  captured in her memoir, "Greenlight to Freedom: A North Korean Daughter's Search for Her Mother and Herself," which I had the honor of co-authoring.

This wasnt Song-mis first Harvard-related event. In 2019, I invited her to the Harvard Club of Koreas annual alumni dinner. It was her first experience attending an event of that scale, and she barely spoke to anyone, sticking close to me the entire evening. At the time, her English was limited, and her confidence was even lower. She later described the night as a magical experience. She told her mother about Harvard as though she was informing her about it, only to have her mother respond, Are you crazy? Of course I know about Harvard! Song-mi reminded her mom that she attended elementary school for one year in North Korea as she waited for her mom to return to her.

In late 2022, Song-mi and I spoke together at a Harvard Graduate School of Education event. Last September, she and North Korean refugee Eom Yeong-nam were featured speakers at a Ministry of Unification event that FSI helped organize in Harvard Square. Later this year, we will return to Harvard for another event. In 2019, she had not heard of Harvard, but this past Monday, she mingled freely with Harvard graduate students, sharing her story, answering their questions and representing herself as an author and advocate.

The students asked thoughtful questions about Song-mis experiences. They thanked Song-mi for sharing her story and helping them understand the human side of North Korea. A couple thanked me for bringing Song-mis story to the world and some thanked me and co-founder Lee Eun-koo for our work empowering North Korean refugees.

As we wrapped up lunch, I introduced Greenlight to Freedom in a little more detail. Almost everyone at the table bought a copy and wanted it to be signed by Song-mi (and me). Their interest reminded Song-mi that when she first started speaking out after a decade of silence, she had no idea that people were interested in North Korea and North Korean refugees.

Before parting ways, we gathered for group photos and selfies to commemorate the day. Of course, the students were most excited about taking selfies with Song-mi, but she invited me to join. Mr. Casey! Youre the one who made me and brought my story into the world, she said. Of course, you should join me when I take a selfie with others!

Casey Lartigue Jr. (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu) is a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Educations (HGSE) Alumni Council, an HGSE Alumni admissions ambassador, a member of the Harvard Clubs of Korea, Seattle, Broward County, Fairfield County and Washington, and a member of Harvard Alumni for Education and Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs.
By Mark Peterson

Ive had an epiphany. This one is about Korean printing technology. The basic question is: Why, if the Gutenberg press spawned the Renaissance and then the Enlightenment and the end of feudalism in Europe, did not the same thing happen in Korea 200 years ahead of Gutenberg when Korea developed its own metal movable type?

Korea likes to display its pride over developing metal movable type printing and book distribution, but where were the consequential developments like those in Europe? The answer is  and this is my epiphany  the printing revolution and its attending developments were already happening in Korea ahead of metal movable type. The revolution is Korea had started with wood block printing. Metal movable type was one step in an ongoing renaissance.

It was wood block printing that created the renaissance in Korea, not 200 years ahead of Gutenberg, but 400 or 500 years ahead. It was on the heels of wood block printing, whereby large numbers of books could be printed and shared with schools all across the country. Korea was mass-producing books while Europe was still copying books by hand.

European schools and monasteries slowly spread religious scholarship, the only kind of scholarship there was, through reading of hand-copied manuscripts  manos = hand, script = writing.

Korea had some wood block printing as early as the mid-eighth century, but the exa les we know were of prayer scrolls, not any of the classic texts. But eventually, the wood block technology spread to e printing of the Confucian classics and the Buddhist scriptures. Like the West, early texts were all religious in nature.

The key factor was the emergence of secular education aimed at providing passage of the state exams that were entry to government positions. This was an extremely important development because it marked the departure from feudalism and the growth of a civilian-controlled, centralized government. No longer were political entities located in regional parts of the country maintained by a fighting force of knights or samurai. The elite of the country became scholars, not soldiers, those who could pass the state exam.

And like the renaissance in Europe, the renaissance in Korea was a product of studying the classics  in Europe, it was texts in Latin (Gutenberg did not print his Bible in German, but rather in Latin), and in Korea, it was texts in Chinese  the classics. Printing of books created the renaissance in Europe which led to wider-spread literacy, more prosperity and the death of feudalism. In Korea, the same thing happened, but hundreds of years earlier that in Europe.

Korea, by the time of the invention of movable metal type, had already blossomed into its renaissance, with its growth in literacy and education, had begun to prosper and, with the early development of a centralized state, had left feudalism behind.

It was in that atmosphere in the 13th century, that Korea started printing books with movable type. But the movable-type printing in Korea did not replace hand-copying of texts  that had already taken place by use of wood block printing about 200 years earlier. Metal movable type was merely a modified form of wood block printing. Korea didnt need a revolutionary new technology like Gutenbergs  it already had it.

The metal movable type developed in Korea was laid out in a wood block, basically. It was wood block printing with a new wrinkle  replaceable type fonts. This fact explains one other mystery  why Korea continued to use wood block printing after movable type printing was invented. Indeed, metal movable type was being developed at exactly the same time that Korea was creating its world-class 80,000 wood block collection for printing the entire Buddhist canon  now housed at Haein Temple near Daegu.

The massive effort to carve wood blocks for the Buddhist scripture could be used again and again, to print new books years, centuries after the first edition. Whereas movable type was reset and lost  yes, the paper copy would survive, but on the other hand, the ability to print again, and again, and again, off of the same wood blocks was of resounding importance.

In fact, in the Confucian realm, the collected essays of great scholars were ordered by the court to be printed on wood blocks so that they, too, could serve to reprint later on demand. And every shrine complex dedicated to a great scholar had a building to house the wood blocks. You can still see them at every seowon (private Confucian academy) in Korea today. To make a print run of paperback copies with movable type was seen as a temporary and short-sighted venture. Significant books were printed on wood blocks and they continued to be carved until the dawn of the 20th century.

So, why didnt movable type create a Gutenberg-style renaissance and revolution in Korea? The answer is that Korea had already done that  Been there, done that. Korea had widespread education (admittedly not universal, but among the upper class), and had already left feudalism behind in favor of a civil, central government that recruited officers through a written exam  all this, centuries ahead of Europe. Movable type printing was not the start of the renaissance, but a part of the wood block revolution that had already created the Korean renaissance. That was my epiphany.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
By David A. Tizzard

Recent headlines have been dominated by the impeachment and arrest of South Koreas sitting president, a spectacle that has thrown the nations political class into disarray. There is a leadership vacuum, instability, and the countrys reputation has been dragged through the mud. For many, it has been tempting to conclude that the country is falling apart. Friends and colleagues from abroad ask with a worried look on their face, What is happening over there?

Its not an easy question to answer and there will be a huge inquest into all of this in the upcoming months and years. What were living through, like the assassination of Park Chung-hee, the Nobel Peace Prize for Kim Dae-jung, and the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, will be written in the history books. And rightly so. But what wont be written about? And what do we miss when we analyze the political turbulence of the 1970s?

Look beyond the shouting matches on television and the dramatic photos of power-hungry politicians being dragged into courtrooms and what youll see is something quite remarkable: Korea is still running.

The subways continue to snake through the capital in all directions, moving quickly from station to station, carrying millions of passengers daily. The schools remain filled (of course they do!) with teachers and students putting in the kind of hours that have defined this nation. The restaurants are full, the streets are busy, and the K-pop industry continues to smash it. Han Kang has won a Nobel Prize for Literature, Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho have new films coming out. And the delivery drivers save our lives every day with their tremendously hard work. Life goes on, just as it has always done.

This resilience is not because of the political class. It is in spite of it.

The Elite

South Koreas political elite have long been characterized by scandals, infighting, and corruption. It is an open secret that the corridors of power here are often less about serving the public and more about serving personal ambitions or special interests. The impeachment and arrest of yet another president are not isolated incidents  they are part of a well-worn pattern. From military strongmen to democratic reformers, the nations leaders have too often found themselves disgraced, leaving a legacy of disappointment and distrust in their wake. A popular internet meme for Korean presidents is a variation of the Monopoly board game but rather than a list of properties and train stations, every square says Go Directly to Jail. To be fair, considering what has happened to some presidents, jail would be a preferable option

And yet, Korea endures.

The People

The secret to this resilience lies not in the Presidential Office (formerly the Blue House) but in the everyday lives of ordinary Koreans. It is the office workers who clock in each morning and work tirelessly to support their families. It is the small business owners who keep the economy ticking, even when times are tough. It is the engineers and maintenance workers who ensure that the trains run on time and the lights stay on. It is the teachers, artists and innovators who build the culture and society that the world admires.

Koreas political class may have stumbled, but its people rarely do. This is a nation that rebuilt itself from the ashes of war, transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world into a global economic powerhouse, and pioneered industries that shape the future. It often did so not because of exceptional governance but because of exceptional people.

Of course, the situation is far from ideal. A functioning democracy needs leaders who can inspire trust, enact meaningful reforms, and genuinely serve the public good. Koreans deserve better than a revolving door of presidents ending their careers in disgrace. They deserve a political class that matches the strength, resilience and innovation of its people.

But lets not confuse political dysfunction with national decline. Korea is not falling apart; it is being held together by the extraordinary efforts of ordinary people. The politicians may squabble, but the coffee shops keep coffee-ing. In fact, perhaps it is time to reframe the narrative. The endurance of Koreas society is not a testament to its politicians  it is a quiet but powerful rebuke to them. It is proof that the people can succeed even when their leaders fail.

And maybe thats the lesson here. Korea does not need a perfect government to thrive; it just needs the determination of its people, a determination that has always been its greatest strength. Let the political class be reminded: they do not define this nation. The people do.

David A. Tizzard has a doctorate in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social-cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the "Korea Deconstructed" podcast, which can be found online. He can be reached at datizzard@swu.ac.kr.
Fake Chanel products most common among imported counterfeits

By Ko Dong-hwan

Chinese goods accounted for more than 90 percent of the counterfeit products imported into Korea last year, according to Korea Customs Service data released Thursday.

The border inspection agency provided the information at the request of Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the ruling People Power Party.

The authority reported confiscating 79 counterfeit imports over the year for infringing on intellectual property rights, with a combined value exceeding 170 billion won ($117 million). Chinese goods accounted for 61 cases, valued at 153.9 billion won, representing 90.3 percent of the total.

Hong Kong followed with five counterfeit items worth 6.7 billion won, while Thailand ranked third with three cases valued at 5.4 billion won.

The luxury French fashion brand Chanel accounted for the highest number of imported counterfeits, with fake goods bearing the Chanel brand valued at 54 billion won, making up 32 percent of the total. The United Kingdoms luxury brand Burberry followed, with counterfeits worth 11.7 billion won, while another French luxury brand, Louis Vuitton, ranked third, with counterfeits valued at 10 billion won.

Handbags represented the highest value among the counterfeits, totaling over 80 billion won. Clothing and fabrics followed, valued at 52 billion won, while watches were next, accounting for over 20 billion won.

The counterfeits were sold in Korea for 30 to 50 percent of the price of the original products.

Korean online shopping malls that directly sell foreign goods are a major channel for the sale of counterfeit items. In November, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) sampled 16 pairs of slippers and sandals from luxury brands, available for foreign direct purchase on e-commerce platforms. All of them were confirmed to be counterfeit. The determination was made based on discrepancies in the logos of the counterfeits compared to the originals.

Goods priced 40 percent of the original or cheaper ones are highly probable that they are fake, a KIPO official said. Fake goods have different qualities in material, form and sewing pattern. But unless comparing it with its original, catching fake ones is quite difficult.
HBM demand will remain strong despite intensifying AI hegemony war between US, China: experts

By Lee Yeon-woo

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to face growing uncertainties in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) memory chip business following the emergence of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has dealt a blow to Nvidia and other U.S. AI tech firms, experts said Friday.

DeepSeek recently introduced its latest inference model, R1, which delivers performance comparable to OpenAIs o1. The startup said training the model cost just over $5.5 million despite using lower-grade Nvidia graphic processing units (GPUs) designed for the Chinese market.

While many details remain to be verified, this has raised questions about the competitiveness of major tech firms that have invested billions in AI infrastructure.

"The paradigm that large-scale investment is essential for AI growth has changed. Big tech companies are now likely to focus on more efficient strategies rather than blindly competing to secure the latest GPUs," iM Securities analyst Song Myung-sup said.

"This shift could negatively impact domestic memory semiconductor companies that have been supplying high-capacity high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to Nvidia in response to AI demand," he said.

In response to this recent development, investors have sold off shares of Nvidia, which holds a 70 percent share of the AI semiconductor market. On Jan. 27 (local time) alone, the company saw its market capitalization drop by approximately $589 billion, with no signs of recovery yet. Other U.S. stocks linked to its AI value chain are also facing struggles.

If demand for Nvidia's high-performance GPUs weakens as the market expects, SK hynix  which almost exclusively supplies HBM3e to Nvidia  could see its revenue decline significantly.

HBM3e, the most advanced version of its kind, plays a critical role in enhancing GPU performance, and SK hynix generates 40 percent of its total DRAM sales from its HBM business. Samsung Electronics is also undergoing quality testing in preparation for supplying these chips to Nvidia, eyeing it as its next revenue source.

Reflecting the uncertainties, the stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix on Friday did little to ease market concerns. Samsung's shares dropped 2.4 percent to 52,400 won ($36.07), while SK hynix saw a sharp 9.8 percent decline, falling to 199,200 won. The decline came on Koreas first trading day since DeepSeeks announcement, following the countrys Lunar New Year holiday.

Stocks related to power and electricity, which had previously surged on expectations of benefiting from AI infrastructure development, also dropped sharply.

"As we supply HBM for GPUs to multiple vendors, we are closely monitoring industry trends and considering various scenarios," Kim Jae-joon, executive vice president of the device solutions (DS) division at Samsung, told investors during a fourth-quarter earnings conference call on Friday.

"As both long-term opportunities and short-term risks coexist in the market, we will ensure a swift and timely response to its rapid changes," he said.

Beyond market dynamics, geopolitical tensions are adding another layer of uncertainty for Korean chipmakers.

To solidify AI leadership, the U.S. government is reportedly considering measures to block exports of Nvidia's low-end H20 chip to China, which is equipped with Samsung Electronics HBM. In response, China may intensify support for its domestic semiconductor firms and accelerate its push for self-sufficiency, potentially reshaping demand for Korean chips.

"If the U.S. government uses this incident as grounds to impose a full-scale ban on the sale of Nvidia's China-specific GPUs, Korean DRAM manufacturers, which supply HBM for these GPUs, will also suffer negative repercussions," Song said.

Strong global demand for Korean chips



Despite recent disruptions, industry experts see sustained growth ahead for Korean chipmakers. Many believe that Nvidia's market dominance will persist. After all, even DeepSeeks R1 was developed using Nvidia GPUs.

"If the same algorithm were applied to high-performance Nvidia chips, it could achieve even greater results than DeepSeeks," Lee Jong-hwan, a system semiconductor engineering professor at Sangmyung University, said.

Another potential upside is the technological advancements triggered by the DeepSeek breakthrough, which could contribute to the broader expansion of the AI ecosystem.

"As the market continues to grow, the AI semiconductor sector is poised for further expansion. The industry has now learned about the possibility that low-grade devices can deliver strong performance. Given that Samsung and SK also provide low-grade options, their HBM business could see further growth in this area," Lee said.

"HBM memory is absolutely necessary with the current technology, and Samsung and SK could see increased demand as a result," he said.

Daol Investment & Securities analyst Ko Young-min said, "There is still a need for technological advancements to achieve artificial general intelligence, and competition among big tech companies is expected to continue."

Ko continued, "Amid the ongoing trend of increasing capital expenditures for market dominance, the semiconductor and hardware sectors are likely to remain in a favorable environment."
Lutnick expresses stronger protectionism over US trades

By Ko Dong-hwan

The United States' secretary of commerce nominee has cast uncertainty over the U.S. governments promised subsidies to Korean semiconductor makers, as he called for a review of the program in line with the Donald Trump administration's skepticism about it.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, Korea's two main chipmakers, are paying keen attention to whether the subsidies promised by the previous Joe Biden government for their U.S. investment would be delayed or, in the worst-case scenario, canceled.

Howard Lutnick, Trumps pick to head the Department of Commerce, made relevant remarks during the Senate Commerce Committee's confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday (local time). They were part of his bigger agenda on boosting market competitiveness for made-in-America goods by slapping more disadvantageous conditions on imports, such as heavier tariffs.

Earlier, the Biden administration introduced the CHIPS and Science Act to attract more global semiconductor companies to build manufacturing plants in the U.S. by offering subsidies to them.

Prior to Trumps inauguration, the U.S. commerce department said in December it decided to provide Samsung Electronics with over $4.7 billion to support its chipmaking investment in Texas, and SK hynix with up to $458 million for its investment in Indiana.

When asked if he would carry on with the previous government's subsidy program, Lutnick said he cannot guarantee that until he analyzes the program and understands it.

"We need to study it, but we need to make sure that you get the benefit of the bargain and domestic manufacturing happens in America, he said during the hearing.

"We want to look at the supply chain and bring that back to America. We want to create those great jobs in America. So that way, we can go back to innovating, which is where we began. Intel began the chips, right? And then the world sort of leveraged our chips. TSMC leveraged us and sort of took it from us," he added. TSMC is a Taiwanese tech giant, which Trump had accused many times last year of "stealing" the U.S.' chip industry.

Although Lutnick said the CHIPS act is an excellent down payment to begin the process of bringing semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S., when asked if he will stick to the CHIPS programs, he said, We get the money out appropriately and correctly, and we build in America ... that is vital.

Lutnick also left a thorny message to countries trading with the U.S., singling out many of its allies, including Korea.

Our great allies have taken advantage of our good nature, and they ... like steel in Japan and appliances in Korea ... I mean, they have just taken advantage of us," he said. "It is time for them to partner with us and bring that production back home.

Tariff influences on Korean firms

Besides the subsidy issue, Lutnicks remarks and Trumps threats to hit imports with heavier tariffs have also been rattling Korean companies with overseas manufacturing bases. The tension specially intensified shortly after Trump said he would introduce 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada next month. Trump said the measure is a head start for his governments new trade policies that will introduce a universal tariff plan which aims to impose tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on all imports.

In response to these threats, Samsung is considering producing its laundry dryers in the U.S. state of South Carolina instead of the Mexican state of Queretaro. Samsung Electro-Mechanics already put off its plan to build an automotive camera module factory in Mexico.

LG Electronics is also said to be considering relocating its refrigerator production line from the Mexican city of Nuevo Leon to the U.S. state of Tennessee, which accommodates the companys factories producing laundry machines and dryers. The company's Chief Financial Officer Kim Chang-tae said that if the tariff hike is too rapid, the company can consider relocation of production bases and adjustments to its capacity.

Korean carmakers face bigger difficulties relocating their factories due to the large size of their investments compared to home appliances manufacturers. This disadvantage also prevents batteries and other components producers from leaving Mexico and Canada for a while.

POSCO International, which supplies traction motor cores for Kia's electric vehicles, said it will keep its factory in Mexico unless the Korean carmaker giant relocates its nearby factory to another country.
Why Samsung cannot abandon Exynos development

By Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung Electronics businesses for smartphone application processors (APs) are facing growing concerns as Arm, which holds over 90 percent of the market share in the global AP architecture market, is expected to hike the royalty rates for its clients by as much as 300 percent.

Samsung Electronics has been reliant on Arms intellectual property (IP) for designing its in-house AP, the Exynos series. If the fee hike is realized, a rise in the manufacturing costs for the Exynos series is inevitable, dealing additional damage to the companys already struggling foundry business.

Reuters on Jan. 14 reported that Arm is developing a long-term strategy to hike its royalty rates by as much as 300 percent, citing Arms strategy revealed during its unsuccessful court trial to secure higher royalties from Qualcomms APs. An AP is a chipset that works as the brain of a smartphone, combining functions of a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and other core components like the modem, memory controller and power management unit.

In the trial, Arm claimed that Qualcomm should pay higher royalty rates for breaching the terms of its design subsidiary Nuvias license with Arm while producing new Snapdragon chips based on Nuvias Oryon technology.

Qualcomm claims that Oryon has 1 percent or less of Arm's original technology, and a U.S. federal court found that Qualcomm can use Nuvias technology in producing APs without paying additional royalty rates.

This came as a temporary relief for Samsung which used Oryon-based Snapdragon 8 Elite for its latest Galaxy S25 smartphones, but at the same time increased the likelihood of Arm pursuing more aggressive profit strategies, such as the 300 percent fee hike, after losing the suit.

A fee hike could deal a hefty blow to Samsungs in-house AP, the Exynos series, which uses Arms IP such as Arm v9 architecture.

The latest Exynos 2500 has already been facing questions due to its manufacturing yield, which refers to the ratio of good and error-free units to the total number of units produced. The chip was set to be produced at the Samsung foundrys 3-nanometer process and supposed to empower the Galaxy S25 series, but the company apparently failed to improve the process in time for the phones launch.

To address the yield problem, Samsung even considered outsourcing Exynos 2500s production to its foundry rival TSMC, but was rejected, according to a Jan. 15 report by tech media PhoneArena.

It is a really bad sign that Samsung is not using its own APs, even though its foundry business is suffering a loss, said Lee Jong-hwan, a professor at Sangmyung Universitys Department of System Semiconductor Engineering. Not using its in-house chipset means that the companys biggest strength as the total service provider is becoming its biggest weakness.

Industry watchers expect that a 300 percent increase in fees to Arm could force Samsung to withstand greater costs for developing the Exynos series down the road, and the company may become less committed to maintaining its development. This is especially so when comparing the costs of paying the quadrupled fees to Arm versus the expenses of using Qualcomm's Snapdragon, which will eventually become independent of Arms licensing.

Despite the challenges, Samsung seeks to improve the yield of Exynos 2500 in time to use it in the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 7 series, which will debut in the latter half of this year Also, the company is reportedly developing Exynos 2600 for use as the AP for its upcoming smartphones.

Industry officials say the company is bound to be holding onto its in-house chipsets because of the cost advantages that Samsung has been enjoying as the worlds only total service provider which can design and fabricate chips and even produce end-devices such as smartphones.

In the third quarter of 2023, when Samsung used only Qualcomms chipsets for its Galaxy S23 series, the cost of purchasing APs from outside parties accounted for 18.1 percent of its total spending for smartphone parts and materials. The ratio declined to 16.6 percent in the third quarter of 2024, when Samsung used Exynos 2400 chipsets for the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus.

Qualcomms pricing strategy is also another reason for Samsung to continue making efforts on the Exynos series. Reportedly, Qualcomm has increased the price of Snapdragon 8 Elite between 20 to 30 percent, and U.S. media reports assume that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 could see a significant price hike in 2025.

For Samsung, which maintained the prices of Galaxy S25 phones despite the increased expenses for purchasing APs, Exynos success is critical for the profitability of its smartphone business as well.

From Samsungs perspective, the current situation could be a conundrum, Lee said. Samsung is assumed to be exploring ways to address the situation, such as developing its own design technology or securing more IP through partnership design houses, but we all know that this is a challenging and time-consuming process.
By Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung Group announced Thursday that the number of students trained through its software academy program has surpassed 11,000, supporting their efforts to secure employment as software developers.

Samsung announced that it held an admission ceremony for the 13th cohort of students in the Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) on Jan. 24, at its five campuses nationwide.

Around 100 students attended the ceremony at the Seoul Campus in Gangnam District, while more than 900 students participated online from the campuses in Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan-Ulsan and Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province.

Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Min-seok, Samsung Electronics President Park Seung-hee and a number of lawmakers also attended the ceremony.

Samsung Electronics CEO Han Jong-hee stated in a video message that he is fully confident that a year at SSAFY will unlock the full potential of the participants. He also expressed his hope that all participants will become pioneers in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

SSAFY was launched in December 2018 as part of Samsung Group's corporate social responsibility program. The academy recruits two groups of students annually, providing training at its five campuses. With the addition of the latest 13th cohort, SSAFY has offered training opportunities to approximately 11,000 young individuals to date.

The program offers 1,600 hours of intensive training over the course of one year, including daily sessions and collaborative projects among students. The curriculum is designed to train software developers with skills that are immediately applicable in the workplace. The training is free of charge, and each student receives a monthly stipend of 1 million won ($693).

Among the 8,000 graduates from the first to 10 cohorts, approximately 84 percent have secured jobs at 1,700 companies, including Samsung Electronics, Coupang, LG Uplus, Hyundai Mobis and several promising startups.

As the number of SSAFY graduates grows, Samsung announced that over 170 companies are now officially offering advantages to jobseekers who have completed the program.

Since 2023, SSAFY has partnered with Koreas five major banks  Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup  to collaborate on cultivating fintech software skills.

Over the past two years, the banks have donated a total of 5 billion won to SSAFY, while their employees have participated as mentors in finance-specific projects, offering guidance to help students develop expertise in the financial sector.

So far, Samsung has been operating the SSAFY initiative for university and college graduates, but has expanded the program to include graduates of Korea's Meister high schools starting with the 13th cohort. Meister high schools are specialized vocational institutions with curricula tailored to specific industrial sectors.

For these students, SSAFY offers a pre-admission program, where software developers who began their careers as high school graduates provide special lectures on AI and algorithms, along with mentoring sessions.

An official at Samsung Group stated that the decision to expand the program was made to align SSAFYs objectives with the governments plan to expand Meister high schools and enhance support for graduates in their job-seeking efforts. Currently, there are 54 Meister high schools in Korea, with the number expected to increase to 65 by 2027.

I hope all of you will grow into individuals who not only possess software skills but also have problem-solving abilities and creativity through SSAFY, Vice Minister Kim said during the event.
Questions remain on rapid expansion

By Ko Dong-hwan

London Bagel Museum, the bakery chain that sparked Korea's recent bagel craze, is now pursuing a bold expansion strategy, which has sparked both optimistic and cautious predictions.

Retail industry insiders recognize the brands sustained popularity, but caution that expansion doesnt always equate to long-term growth. They point to examples of other once-popular brands whose rapid expansion ultimately led to a dilution of their brand value.

Founded in Seoul's Anguk neighborhood in 2021, London Bagel Museum quickly became a hot spot for both locals and tourists, attracting crowds with its unique British-inspired decor and diverse bagel flavors.

The bagel maker's appeal is undeniable, as evidenced by the long lines forming outside its locations in Seoul, Suwon and Jeju.

LBM, the brands operator, posted 36 billion won and an operating profit of 12.6 billion won in 2023. According to reports, a London Bagel Museum branch in Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Songpa District, reached sales of 1.5 billion won ($1 million) on its own.

One of the key drivers behind the brand's success is its exclusivity. Despite its growing popularity, LBM operates just six outlets nationwide, creating a perception among consumers that its bagels are rare and highly coveted.

However, recent moves suggest that LBM is shifting gears. The company has been securing investments, opening more pop-up stores, and even launching online sales, signaling its intention to expand.

In October, news outlet the Bell said that LBM selected Bank of America as the lead manager for the brands bid to raise up to 300 billion won for its global expansion. The company has reportedly also set up an office in Japan.

In August, Market Kurly, a popular online food market here, launched sales of London Bagel Museums products online for the first time. London Bagel Museum also held a joint pop-up with food catering service provider Hyundai Green Food at the National Assembly earlier this month.

Despite these moves, there are concerns about whether LBM can maintain its allure as it expands. Similar chains like Knotted and Shake Shack have demonstrated that rapid market growth in Korea doesnt always translate into sustained sales.

It is a common strategy for a popular food company to expand its market, maximize its value and then exit the market to secure the return of investment, a market expert said.

It remains to be seen whether London Bagel Museum will keep seeing the same popularity alongside its market expansion.
As the nation reeled from the deadliest American aviation disaster in more than two decades, President Donald Trump on Thursday baselessly blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety and questioned the actions of a U.S. Army helicopter pilot involved in the midair collision with a commercial airliner.

Sixty-seven people are believed to have died in the Wednesday evening crash, which occurred while a flight from Wichita, Kansas, was landing at Washington Reagan National Airport. As Trump spoke, the federal investigation was just beginning and first responders were still working to recover bodies from the Potomac River.

Officials have not yet to formally establish the causes of the collision, and Trump himself acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the country to pray for the victims. But he quickly moved to engage in speculation and political attacks at a moment when Americans traditionally look to the presidency for comfort, assurance and facts.

Some really bad things happened and some things happened that shouldnt have happened," the Republican president said from the White House briefing room, just over three miles or five kilometers from the scene of the disaster.

Trump blamed former President Joe Biden's administration for encouraging the Federal Aviation Administration to recruit workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative. He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism.

Trump did not share any evidence that unqualified people were being put in critical positions like air traffic control, and he acknowledged that there was as yet no indication that air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport made any mistakes.

Asked why he was blaming diversity initiatives, Trump said, "because I have common sense, and unfortunately a lot of people dont.

Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be brilliant to ensure safety.

They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses, he said. You cant have regular people doing their job.

Trump complained specifically about Pete Buttigieg, who was Biden's transportation secretary and was a contender to challenge Trump for the White House in 2020, calling him a disaster.

Hes run it right into the ground with his diversity, Trump said, adding profanity to his description of Buttigieg.

Buttigieg responded in a post on X, calling Trumps comments despicable.

As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," he added.

As if to underscore Trump's point, the White House invited reporters into the Oval Office to watch him sign another executive order that officials said would stop woke policies in federal aviation. Trump had already signed an executive order ending diversity initiatives at the FAA last week.

We want the most competent people," Trump said. "We dont care what race they are.

Asked if he plans to visit the crash site, Trump said he would meet with family members of the victims.

Whats the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?" the president said.

The FAAs diversity efforts arent new. Before Trumps administration removed them from the agencys website this month, they were promoted there since at least 2013, including during Trumps first term in office. Substantially similar language about seeking candidates with disabilities was on the site during both Bidens term and Trumps first term, according to snapshots from the Internet Archive.

Former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker responded to accusations that the agency was prioritizing diversity over qualified candidates last year, saying that while the FAA seeks qualified candidates from a range of sources, each must meet rigorous qualifications that of course vary by position.

The plane crash was the first major disaster of Trump's new term, and his response evoked his frequent  and controversial  briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. His handling of the pandemic helped sour voters on him as he failed to win reelection in 2020.

After telling the families of the dead that our hearts are shattered alongside yours" and leading a moment of silence, Trump proceeded to speculate about what had occurred. "We do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions," he said.

Trump wondered if the helicopter pilot was wearing nightvision goggles, declared that you had a pilot problem and that the helicopter was going at an angle that was unbelievably bad. He questioned why the Army pilot didnt change course, saying that you can stop a helicopter very quickly.

He also mused about the air traffic controllers, saying of the two aircraft, for whatever reason they were at the same elevation," adding "they should have been at a different height.

Even as Trump rushed to publicly ponder reasons for the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board was more circumspect as it begins examining what happened.

We look at facts, on our investigation, and that will take some time, said Jennifer Homendy, the board's chair.

Democrats criticized Trumps remarks on Thursday.

Its one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, its another for the president of the United States, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Vice President JD Vance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth all lined up behind Trump to praise his leadership and echo his concerns about diversity programs and hiring.

When you dont have the best standards in who youre hiring, it means on the one hand, youre not getting the best people in government," Vance said, But on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there.

Trump made a point to tell Duffy, who was sworn in on Tuesday as Buttigieg's replacement, Its not your fault. Duffy took the White House podium alongside Trump and declared, When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. Duffy added, We will not accept excuses.

Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. They have cited issues with competitive pay, long hours, intensive training and mandatory retirements for contributing to the staffing shortages.

While these events are incredibly rare, our safety system is showing clear signs of strain that we cannot ignore, Homendy told lawmakers in 2023. Aviation experts issued a report around the same time saying that the FAA needs better staffing, equipment and technology. (AP)
With less than 24 hours before President Donald Trump's deadline to impose sweeping tariffs on the three biggest U.S. trading partners  Canada, Mexico and China  the global economy is bracing for impact.

Shortly after taking office this month, Trump said he planned to introduce 25 percent tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 unless they cracked down on illegal migrants crossing the U.S. border and the flow of deadly fentanyl.

He added that he was eyeing an additional 10 percent duty on Chinese goods as soon as Saturday as well, similarly over fentanyl.

On Thursday, he reiterated his commitment to levies on all three countries.

Later that day, he also re-upped threats of 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations  a bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  if they create a rival to the U.S. dollar.

Fentanyl, many times more powerful than heroin, has been responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year.

Beijing previously rebuffed claims of its complicity in the deadly trade, while Canada has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its northern border.

JPMorgan analysts believe the promise of tariffs are "a bargaining chip" to accelerate the renegotiation of a trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"However, potentially dismantling a decades-long free-trade area could be a significant shock," said a recent JPMorgan note.

One lesson from Trump's first term was that policy changes could be announced or threatened on short notice, it added.

Tariffs are paid by U.S. businesses to the government on purchases from abroad and the economic weight can fall on importers, foreign suppliers or consumers.

Recession risk

Wendong Zhang, an assistant professor at Cornell University, said Canada and Mexico would suffer the most under 25 percent U.S. tariffs and proportional retaliations from both countries.

"Canada and Mexico stand to lose 3.6 percent and two percent of real GDP respectively, while the U.S. would suffer a 0.3 percent real GDP loss," he added.

Blanket U.S. tariffs and Ottawa's response in kind could cause Canada to fall into a recession this year, Tony Stillo of Oxford Economics told AFP, adding that the United States also risks a shallow downturn.

Mexico could face a similar situation, Tim Hunter of Oxford Economics added.

It remains unclear if there could be exceptions, with Trump saying he expected to decide Thursday whether to include crude oil imports in tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Canada and Mexico supplied more than 70 percent of U.S. crude oil imports, with almost 60 percent of such U.S. imports from Canada alone, said a Congressional Research Service report.

Stillo noted that heavy oil is "exported by Canada, refined in the U.S., and there aren't easy substitutes for that in the U.S."

U.S. merchandise imports from both countries largely enter duty free or with very low rates on average, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).

A tariff hike would shock both industrial buyers and consumers, cutting across everything from machinery to fruits, a PIIE report added Thursday.

This week, Canadian officials said Ottawa would provide pandemic-level financial support to workers and businesses if U.S. tariffs hit.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added Wednesday that Ottawa was working to prevent the levies and stood ready to issue a strong response.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was confident her country could avoid the levy.

Trump's commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said Wednesday "there will be no tariff" if Canada and Mexico acted on immigration and fentanyl.

'Grand bargain'

Trump still eyes fresh tariffs on Chinese goods too, saying Thursday he was mulling them.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week: "The president has said that he is very much still considering that for Feb. 1."

Beijing has vowed to defend its "national interests," and a foreign ministry spokeswoman previously warned that "there are no winners in a trade war."

On the election campaign trail, Trump raised the idea of levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese imports.

Isaac Boltansky of financial services firm BTIG expects to see "incremental tariff increases" on Chinese goods, with consumer goods likely to face lower hikes.

"Our sense is that Trump will vacillate between carrots and sticks with China, with the ultimate goal being some sort of grand bargain before the end of his term," he said in a recent note. (AFP)
Investigators plan to push forward on Friday with efforts to retrieve the two aircraft involved in a crash in Washington that killed 67 people and raised questions about air safety in the U.S. capital.

Fresh from recovering the so-called black boxes from the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River after colliding with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday, divers aim to "salvage the aircraft" and find additional components on Friday, Washington's fire department said.

"Overnight, boats will remain on scene for security and surface searches from local, state, and federal regional partners," it said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane, which carried 60 passengers and four crew members, all of whom perished in the crash. The three members of the helicopter crew also died.

Authorities have not pinpointed a reason for the collision, which happened as the regional jet was trying to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The military said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was taking is 200 feet (61 meters) but it may have been flying higher. The collision occurred at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, questioned the safety of military and commercial flights separated by as little as 350 feet (107 m) vertically and horizontally. She also urged the government to reconsider allowing so many helicopter flights next to such a busy airport.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at the airport, a situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a "fairly experienced crew" of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight. Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.

President Donald Trump suggested without evidence that diversity efforts championed by Democrats could have played a role. Trump, a Republican, has sought to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs since coming into office on Jan. 20.

His comments drew criticism from Democrats.

How can he make these brash statements when an investigation is barely under way?" said Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network civil rights group. "It doesnt matter if these were DEI hires or Ivy League hires. What matters is the families who are grieving, who do not want to see this moment politicized by a president bent on peeling back DEI policies."

Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters and people from Kansas, the state from which the passenger flight took off.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told Reuters that more than half of the victims' bodies had been recovered by Thursday. The airport is just across the river from Washington in Virginia. (Reuters)
Qatar is confident that the deal it helped mediate for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas addressed all the major issues at stake in the war, the foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

"We are confident in the deal when it comes to the language of the deal, when it comes to the fact that we hashed out all the major issues on the table," Majed al-Ansari told a regular press conference cautioning: "Any breach from either side or a political decision... could obviously lead the deal to collapse." (AFP)
President Donald Trump's nominee for commerce secretary accused Korea and Japan on Wednesday of having "taken advantage of" America's "good nature," stressing the need to work together with the allies to bring their production to the United States.

Howard Lutnick, a preeminent businessman, made the remarks during a Senate confirmation hearing, pointing to steel products from Japan and appliances from Korea, as he responded to a senator's question over what he will do to foster an environment to encourage joint ventures with U.S. allies.

"Our great allies have taken advantage of our good nature, and they like steel in Japan and appliances in Korea ... I mean, they've just taken advantage of us. It's time for them to partner with us and bring that production back home," Lutnick told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

"So I think we're going to work closely with our allies to increase their manufacturing productivity at home, and I think your way of thinking about it saying let's work together to do that and bring it home ... I think it's really important for us, and really important for our workforce," he added.

Lutnick also pointed out that he wants to bring semiconductor production back to America.

"We want to look at the supply chain and bring that back to America. We want to create those great jobs in America. So that way, we can go back to innovating, which is where we began," he said.

"Intel began the chips, right? And then the world sort of leveraged our chips. TSMC leveraged us and sort of took it from us," he added, referring to the Taiwanese tech giant.

The CHIPS and Science Act is an "excellent down payment" to begin the process of bringing semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S., he said.

"We need to study it, but we need to make sure that you get the benefit of the bargain, and (that) domestic manufacturing happens in America," he said in response to a question over whether he will continue to operate the CHIPS programs if confirmed.

Asked if he will stick to the CHIPS programs that involve distributing federal funds, Lutnick said, "We get the money out appropriately and correctly, and we build in America ... that is vital."

His remarks came amid lingering questions whether Korean businesses, which had an agreement with the Biden administration to receive federal grants and loans for their investment in the U.S., can still get the money under the new U.S. administration.

The nominee expressed a negative view on a subsidy program that a senator said allows a luxury European electric vehicle, which is not even remotely made in America, to get a $7,500 tax credit if it is leased. Korea's Hyundai Motor has benefited from the program.

"We have to end that," he said.

He added, "That is the example of the failed industrial policy of the United States of America. It's a failed industry policy and needs to be changed."

On tariffs, Lutnick said he prefers "across-the-board," "country-by-country" tariffs rather than targeted ones as Trump is seeking to impose new tariffs on some countries to redress America's trade deficits and address other policy issues.

"I think when you pick one product in Mexico, they'll pick one product. We pick avocados, they pick white corn. We pick tomatoes, they pick yellow corn. All you're doing is picking on farmers, which is just not going to happen," he said.

He argued that in terms of trade, the U.S. needs to be treated "better" and "with respect."

"We can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect," he said.

In November, Trump nominated Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, as his commerce secretary, saying that if confirmed, Lutnick will spearhead the tariff and trade agenda of the incoming administration. (Yonhap)




Norwegian police said Friday they had seized a Norwegian-owned ship at Latvia's request over its suspected involvement in damage done to a Baltic Sea cable, but the vessel's owner rejected any wrongdoing.

Nations around the Baltic Sea have scrambled to bolster their defenses after the suspected sabotage of undersea cables in recent months, with some observers blaming Russia.

The Norway-flagged cargo ship, the "Silver Dania," was sailing between Saint Petersburg and Murmansk when Norwegian police stopped it on Thursday evening off the coast of Tromso, in northern Norway.

"The ship is suspected to have been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden," police said in a statement.

"Police are now on board the ship to search, carry out interrogations and secure leads," it said, adding that the crew and shipowner were cooperating with police.

"The entire crew on board is Russian," police said in the statement.

The ship is owned by the Norwegian group Silver Sea.

The shipowner told AFP the vessel "did nothing wrong."

Sweden and Latvia announced on January 26 that a fiber optic cable, owned by Latvia's state radio and television center and linking the Swedish island of Gotland and Ventspils, Latvia, had been damaged.

The Swedish coast guard seized a Bulgarian ship the same day, the Malta-flagged "Vezhen," as Swedish prosecutors opened an "aggravated sabotage" investigation. (AFP)
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with expenses of $1.42 million. The form shows the foundations revenue stream steadily climbing  from more than $59,700 in 2015 to $1.29 million in 2023. From 2019 to 2023, the group raised more than $4 million. Our largest donors and contributors range from the Idaho Fish and Game Department, Commission, and Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board, to other big game related conservation groups, to sportsmen, ranchers and concerned citizens, Webb wrote in an email. In a podcast, Webb touted the foundation having about 3,500 members from 43 different states and 11 chapters, including five chapters in western Montana. The foundations three paid staff include Webb, who earns $96,000 a year. He is also a licensed big game guide in Idaho. In 2023, the foundation claimed it paid out $500,500 to members or for benefits with another $331,700 in management and general expenses. Yet payouts go to very few individuals. Wolves are amazing, smart, cunning animals who have a propensity to travel great distances in short periods of time, often nocturnally, according to the foundations website. This makes them extremely difficult to harvest. Hunter success rates are less than 1% (Trapper success rates are often above 30%, but very few people have the tools, skillset, time, and knowledge to within the confines of the law convince a wolf to put its foot on a silver dollar sized trap pan inside of the wolves 250 square mile home range). The group has reimbursed 104 hunters and trappers so far this season. Since its founding, the group said 2,400 wolves have been killed by foundation members. By calculating that a wolf may consume 20 big game animals a year, the foundation estimates it has saved more than 351,000 animals. This ignores the fact that predators often take game animals that are weak, sick or injured as they are easier to kill. Reimbursements are only paid to those hunters or trappers who are members of the foundation. Purchases for which a hunter or trapper seeks reimbursement must be made prior to killing the wolf, but apply to items as varied as fuel, firearms, ammunition, traps, game cameras, outdoor clothing/gear, license & tag fees, ATV/UTV, 4-wheeler, truck purchase or payments, etc., according to the foundations website. In Idaho and Montana, a form from the state wildlife agency verifying the kill is also required to enable reimbursement. The standard reimbursement rate is $750 with the amount climbing up to $2,000 in areas of Idaho where elk are below population objectives, which is much of the panhandle. The foundation states its mission is to reduce wolf populations to levels first proposed when the animals were delisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2009. At that time, the carrying capacity for the Northern Rocky Mountains was estimated at 1,100 wolves for Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Although wolves are often criticized for reductions in game populations, studies have shown many factors are involved in wildlife declines. For example, a study of Bitterroot Valley elk published in
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THE Portlaoise based insurance brokers True Financial Limited, which trades as LowQuotes and True Wealth, has announced the acquisition the Dublin-based insurance brokerage Low.ie from JSBCA Limited.

True Financial Limited, with revenues of more than 6 million, says the move, marks a significant milestone in our plans to expand our comprehensive financial solutions to individuals and businesses across Ireland.

Low.ie has been operating for 12 years online and is the highest-ranked insurance broker on TrustPilot.

True Financial Limited is located at Kew-Lea Business Park, just off the Mountrath Road, will also bring over Low.ies staff and its customer base of around 12,000 and bring the number of True Financials employees to more than 40.

Speaking about the move the CEO of True Financial Limited Shane Tobin said: We are delighted and excited about this acquisition, which is a perfect bolt-on to our expanding business. It will double our recurring revenues and will be a very accretive investment.

We are also inheriting a team of extremely professional staff with multi years experience in the life assurance online sector with Low.ie

CEO of JSBCA Peter OReilly said: We are very happy that our clients and brilliant staff are coming under the wing of a really experienced, dynamic and expert Irish financial services provider. True Financial track record, experience and attention to detail will ensure they are in the very best of hands for the future.
THREE students from Wolfhill NS talked their way into the county semi-final of a debating contest with a winning performance.

Terrific trio Jack (captain), Will and Kevin showcased their skills to scoop success, in the second round of the Concern debating competition.

The senior schoolboys overcame an excellent Newtown NS team to defeat the motion that We should only buy Fair Trade products, after a considered and very informative debate.

It was truly a team effort for Wolfhill NS, as the rural two-teacher school has only 12 students. There are six children in the senior class, which comprises one fifth-class and five sixth-class pupils.

While the debating team has three members and a timekeeper, Callum, all six students are involved in the development and research needed to create the rebuttals and speeches.

After the second round debate on Thursday 23 January, the adjudicator complimented both school teams on their research and analysis of the information presented, which he said was factual and referenced to a high standard.

Thrilled with the wonderful win, Wolfhill NS teacher Aoife Amond said: We are over the moon and incredibly proud of our pupils, as they have worked so hard and are competing with schools that have many more pupils than we have.

The board of management, staff and community are immensely proud of the children and wish them the very best of luck in the semi-final. The school established a Debating Society in 2015, which participates annually in the Concern debating competition and inter-school debates.

Ms Amond said the debates are very valuable and worthwhile, as they allow children to hone their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

She said: The school's success in the Concern debating competition is a source of great pride to the school community. Year on year, the pupils have refined their skills and experience as they supported teams from previous years. An inclusive co-educational school set in beautiful countryside, Wolfhill NS is currently accepting enrolments for all classes for September 2025. Further details are available on the school website at www.wolfhilns.com or 087 2076140.
FAMILIES in Laois who have lost a child through bereavement are invited along, free of charge, to a meeting where they will find comfort and support.

Bereaved parents set up the Anam Cara organisation, the supporting parents group, as they understand that we dont live in an ideal world, we live in a world after our precious children have died before their time.

The organisation was established to help themselves and all bereaved parents cope with their grief and loss and journey on.

The meeting will be held in the Killeshin Hotel, Dublin Road, Portlaoise on Saturday morning 8 February from 10am.

Parents who have experienced the unimaginable are invited to the support meeting to gather and support one another through the pain of losing their only child or children.

Anam Cara, meaning soul friend in Gaelic, offers a safe space for these parents to connect, share stories, and find solace in the company of others who truly understand.

You are invited to the meeting to find comfort in the embrace of a community that walks the same path, where understanding and compassion are abundant.
En espanol

The wave of deportations ordered by Donald Trump's administration in the United States is primarily affecting Latinos. This has sparked backlash on social media against celebrities who supported the his presidential campaign. One of the most criticized is Grupo Frontera, a Texas-based band known for its success in regional Mexican music.

Read more: Mexican Corridos Tumbados Take Center Stage at Paris Fashion Week with Fuerza Regida

The group, consisting of Adelaido Solis III ("Payo"), Juan Javier Cantu, Julian Pena, Alberto Acosta, Carlos Guerrero, and Brian Ortega, has remained silent amid what could be one of the biggest controversies in their three-year career. Their social media accounts have ignored the issue entirely.

For instance, their only Instagram post since last week was a video collaboration with Alejandro Sanz for Spotify, where they discussed things that make them feel good, promoting their latest release, 'Hoy No Me Siento Bien,' a reel about the emotions their songs evoke.

Artists like Residente, Selena Gomez, Lupillo Rivera, Becky G, Chiquis, and even Angela Aguilar have spoken out against the deportations, and fans have taken notice of who is saying what. Many are now questioning those who remain silent and are also revisiting past endorsements of Trump, harshly criticizing those who supported him.

Among the most scrutinized are reggaeton artists Anuel AA and Justin Quiles, as well as TV hosts Lili Estefan and Myrka Dellanos. However, no one has received as much backlash as Grupo Frontera.

Grupo Frontera's cancellation

The controversy erupted after a viral video showed the grandmother of one of the band members celebrating Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.

This sparked a wave of outrage, particularly among Mexican fans.

Group members have remained silent amid what could be one of the biggest controversies in their three-year career. Critics accuse the group of betraying their core audience and many are calling for their cancellation.

Messages on social media include: "Make music in English now," "Never come back to Mexico," "Latinos are the ones who listen to your music, and you've let us down," "This kind of betrayal comes at a high price," and "We should cancel them all."

While most of the band members were born in Texas, they maintain strong ties to Mexico.

Grupo Frontera has built a solid career in regional Mexican music, particularly in the norteno genre, which boasts a massive following in both Mexico and the U.S. Their breakthrough hit, 'No Se Va,' was recorded in collaboration with the Colombian band Morat.

ENSTARZ Latino! reached out to the group's publicist for comment, but as of this publication, no response has been received.
A former Allentown police officer, already accused of raping a prostitute while on duty, is now facing charges in at least three more separate incidents, according to court records and published reports.

Jason Krasley, 47, of the 6400 block of Meadowview Terrace in Upper Milford Township, now is being charged with felony rape; felony involuntary servitude; and felony sexual assault, as well as misdemeanor indecent assault and misdemeanor official oppression.

Published reports, including WFMZ-69 News, state he was arraigned Thursday on the new charges.

Pamela Lehman, spokeswoman for the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office, declined comment Friday morning, but did confirm all court records are sealed in the new cases. This includes the affidavits of probable cause, which lay out evidence and witness testimony in each of the cases, as the investigation continues.

Bethlehem-based attorney James Joseph Burke, representing Krasley, couldnt immediately be reached for comment Friday morning. Burke previously said his client absolutely denies the allegations in the initial case.

New charges of involuntary servitude, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, indecent assault, and official oppression are alleged in April 2018 and January 2015 incidents. The misdemeanor offenses of indecent assault are alleged in a January 2011 incident, according to the Morning Call newspaper.

Court records show Krasley continues to be free after posting bail.

Krasley earlier this month was charged in the initial case with two counts felony rape; one count felony involuntary servitude; one count felony sex assault; three counts misdemeanor indecent assault; and related offenses.

His co-defendant and a current Allentown police officer, 45-year-old Evan Jz Weaver, of the 8800 block of Clearwater Circle in Weisenberg Township, is charged with two counts felony rape; one count felony kidnapping to inflict terror; one count felony involuntary servitude; two counts felony involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with threat forcible compulsion; and related offenses.

Both Krasley and Weaver were arraigned Jan. 10 before District Judge Linda Vega Sirop, who set bail at 10% of $750,000 and 10% of $900,000, respectively. In lieu of bail, Krasley initially was taken to the Lehigh County Jail. Court records show Krasley later posted bail, Weaver posted bail after the arraignment.

Krasley and Weaver have bail reset hearings scheduled in February for the initial case.

In that case, detectives with the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office began investigating the pair from May 2011 to early 2015.

Krasley and Weaver during that timeframe were employed with the departments vice unit. Krasleys duties included investigating prostitution and related offenses, while Weavers duties included investigating illegal narcotics and gun possession, court records state.

The pair are accused of a forcing a prostitute to perform sex acts to avoid charges and arrest. Krasley is accused in a 2015 prostitution sting operation of raping the same victim until Weaver told him to stop. Weaver then allegedly forced the victim to perform a sex act.

Authorities say Weaver and Krasley didnt document the 2015 incident or file charges.

Krasley left the department in 2021 and went to work for the SafeSport Center, which fired him last year shortly after learning hed been arrested for allegedly stealing $5,500 from a drug bust he helped conduct while on the force. Krasley is named in a whistleblower lawsuit filed last year by two Allentown officers who alleged widespread misconduct in the department.

Weaver, a current sergeant on the force, has since been placed on administrative leave.

Krasley and Weaver continue to await preliminary hearings in the initial case. Dates are yet to be scheduled. A district judge will then determine if theres sufficient evidence to send the case toward trial at the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.

If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
With services recovering after Storm Eowyn, the HSE is advising people to consider their options before attending at hospital emergency departments this Bank Holiday Weekend.

Ahead of the weekend, the HSE Midlands issued a reminder for the public on the treatment options available before attending the hospital Emergency Department (ED). The HSE pointed to a range of care pathways available to patients who do not need emergency care.

Emergency Departments treat seriously ill patients. Visit an ED or call 999 or 112 if someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk. Those with less severe injuries and symptoms may have to wait to be seen in Emergency Departments, the HSE said.

Regional Executive Officer for the HSE Dublin and Midlands, Kate Killeen White said: The sustained impact of Storm Eowyn nationally has been a challenge for all state agencies, not just the health service. The vast majority of the services in the HSE Dublin and Midlands have been restored and are operating as normal following the storm, thanks to the hard work and dedication of all of our staff across the region. Any services that are not fully functional have made contact with any affected service users and welfare checks have been conducted.

All response agencies are working together both regionally and nationally and for our services, for example, there are some challenges in our hospitals today discharging people because of the impact of power and heat in their homes. There are still knock on effects from the storm but our services are open and we would ask people to think about all the treatment options available before attending the Emergency Department, such as pharmacists, GPs, GP out-of-hours services and injury units.

Head of Service,Older Person Services, HSE Midlands, Dr. Donal Fitzsimons said: Whilst we fully appreciate that everyone will want to enjoy their weekend, however we would appeal to everyone to do so in a safe and enjoyable way. All patients who present to our emergency departments will be seen and treated, with the sickest and most urgent patients being prioritised.

However, patients presenting with non-urgent injuries may face longer waiting times, depending on the number of patients attending and the severity of patient illnesses. Any patient who needs emergency hospital care will be seen and we would urge such patients not to delay attending the ED. Do not delay in seeking medical attention if you suspect you are having a heart attack or stroke, please dial 999 or 112 in an emergency.

The HSE has issued a list of options available to people.

Visit a pharmacy for advice on common minor illnesses. Find out more here: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/pharmacy/

Make an appointment with a GP if feeling unwell and it is not an emergency

If people urgently need to see a GP outside of normal hours, they should contact their local GP Out of Hours service, details below:

Out of Hours Urgent GP Services

MIDOC is an appointment only GP service located in the Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath Areas. This service is for patients who need urgent medical attention that cannot wait to be seen by their usual GP. Opening Hours: Weekdays, Monday to Thursday 6pm to 8am. Weekends 6pm Friday to 8am Monday. All day on Bank Holidays. Telephone 1800 302 702 or go to GP Out of Hours service: GP out-of-hours service - HSE.ie for more information.

HSE Injury Units

An Injury Unit can treat a wide range of injuries such as broken bones, dislocations, sprains and strains, minor burns and scalds for all patients. All units have access to x-ray and basic diagnostic services. For more information see www.hse.ie/injuryunits.

The HSE is asking people to consider all healthcare options at this time including the injury units located in Mullingar, Roscommon, Naas and Nenagh.

Mullingar Minor Injuries Unit

Charter Medical Private Hospital, Ballinderry, Mullingar, Westmeath, N91 FE40

Monday to Friday: 8am to 7.30pm.

Saturday and Sunday: 10am to 5.30pm.

Bank Holiday Mondays: 10am to 5.30pm

Service Available To: Age 16 and older

Phone: 044 938 5331

Nenagh Injury Unit

Tyone, Nenagh, Tipperary, E45 PT86

Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, including Bank Holidays

Service Available To: Adults and children aged five and older

Phone: 067 423 11

Roscommon Injury Unit

Roscommon University Hospital, Athlone Road, Roscommon, F42 AX61

Monday to Sunday 8am to 8pm, including Bank Holidays

Service Available To: Adults and children aged 5 and older

Phone: 090 663 2212

Naas Hospital Injury Unit

Vista Primary Care Centre, Ballymore Eustace Road, Naas, Kildare, W91 X38W

Monday to Sunday 10am to 8pm. Service Available To: Age 16 and older

Phone: 045 872 135

Information on how to manage common illness and advice on when to get emergency help is also available at https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/common-illnesses/ and https://www2.hse.ie/my-child/ in relation to children.
Fianna Fail has sought legal advice over a row about speaking rights in the Dail, as the stalemate over the issue continues.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said talks to try to resolve the situation will continue but added that a lot of simplistic utterances have been made about the contentious issue.

He said that his party has commissioned senior counsel opinion on the matter.

It comes as a member of the Dail reform committee, which is attempting to resolve the issue, said they have gone backwards in trying to reach an agreement.

Government and opposition parties remain at odds over speaking rights, with attempts to find an agreement becoming fraught.

Why is government bending over backwards to try to get them treated as opposition when everyone knows they're not? Last week Martin & Harris said that there is no deal with Lowry on this.From what went on last night, I now find that extremely hard to believe.#LowrysLackeys pic.twitter.com/aPB9nkdy60  Paul Murphy  (@paulmurphy_TD) January 31, 2025

Central to the row was a move to allocate opposition speaking time to some independents who had been involved in government formation talks.

Four of those independents had joined a technical group, which is a mechanism designed to allow opposition TDs to sit in groupings to gain an allocation of speaking time.

A virtual meeting of the Dail reform committee on Thursday night ended with no resolution. The committee are holding meetings on Friday.

Speaking during a break of the meeting, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said he wanted a meeting between Government and opposition party leaders.

Our position is that this is completely and 100% unacceptable, it has no basis to work on. We are probably as far as we are going to get, which isnt too far, Mr Murphy said on Friday.

At this stage we need a reconvening of the meeting of the party leaders and group co-coordinators, as that is where the agreement originated from, which said they would recognise the difference between Government and opposition, and would work to ensure it is worked out with the support of everyone in Government and opposition.

We need to go back to see if actually a solution can be found.

Hopefully (Government) will agree to having those meetings over the weekend and then the Dail reform committee can reconvene on Tuesday.

The truth is we have gone backwards. The proposal they currently tabled is even worse than the proposal that they tabled last night.

It is an opposition technical group called something different.

Asked whether he believe it will be resolved, Mr Martin said: I would hope so. We will keep talking. We want to try and resolve this.

Could I say at the outset, I think theres been a lot of, I think, simplistic utterances about this entire situation.

Our party has commissioned senior counsel opinion on this just to create a context because theres a notion going around that opposition and government, you cant be in either, thats far too simplistic because go back to 1932 and from then onwards, people from opposition benches have been supporting different governments in different ways.

For example, the confidence supply agreement between the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael from 2016 to 2020, if what Sinn Fein is saying and People Before Profit are saying that you cant be in opposition and support government or be involved in discussions around the programme for government or budget, we would not have had confidence and supply.

That programme for government was influenced by the main opposition party, the budgets were influenced by the two-to-one rule about two times expenditure versus tax relief.

Into the future, weve got to be careful not to be overly prescriptive about what a Dail might do, or members of the Dail might do.

I think, an attempt is to unearth what has been practice.

He said that the Dail Standing Orders allow the group to be formed.

Its far more, I would argue, subtle and nuanced, and a bit more complex than all of the argumentation and commentary that weve had over the last while. Thats my opinion, Mr Martin told reporters in Cork on Friday.

We will still work to get a compromise. Well work very hard to do that because we want the Dail to work in an orderly manner. But I think fundamental principles have to be upheld as well and cannot be jettisoned in the interests of what I might consider short-term political goals.

Deputy leader of the Social Democrats, Cian OCallaghan, said that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to stop dancing to the tune of Michael Lowry.

The entire proposal being put forward really, where government backbench TDs, which masquerade not just as members of the opposition, but the latest proposals we saw this week, effectively be masquerading as leaders of the opposition, is utterly preposterous, totally unacceptable.

It will never fly, not alone with opposition, I think with the general public as well, who have not been impressed by this carry-on, especially when theres very serious issues facing the country that we should be all focusing on.

We did want to see the Dail sitting this week, and really disappointed the Government wouldnt agree to that.

To get this resolved, outright, Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the Tanaiste Simon Harris, they should really cut all ties with Michael Lowry.

They shouldnt be carrying on with these arrangements.
The public bus service in Laois running from Portlaoise to Roscrea is being bumped up, including stops at the towns and villages in between them.

Extra buses will start running daily from Monday, February 10, the Transport for Ireland (TFI) Local Link Laois Offaly has announced.

They are enhancing bus services between Portlaoise and Roscrea, via Mountrath and Borris-in-Ossory.

The enhanced route will offer improved connectivity to Portlaoise Hospital, Portlaoise Train Station and regional bus services as well as the villages and areas of Mountrath, Castletown, Pike of Rushall and Borris-in-Ossory.

Route 834 will now operate six daily return services Monday to Saturday, with an evening service from Thursday to Saturday. It will also offer an increased Sunday and Bank Holiday service with six daily return services.

The Portlaoise to Roscrea route already runs seven days a week.

The increase is part of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan which is a major national public transport initiative developed and funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA) as part of the TFI network.

TFI Local Link Laois Offaly General Manager, Frances Byrne spoke ahead of the launch.

We are delighted to see extra services added to our Sunday timetable with this enhancement. This service provides a valuable connection from Roscrea, Borris-in-Ossory, Castletown and Mountrath to Portlaoise for access for work, educational, and social activities, she said.

TFI Local Link Laois Offaly co-ordinate rural bus transport services across Laois and Offaly.
People are blaming the government. Sure what could the government do, they couldn't prevent the storm, declared the lady, as we discussed the recent fallout from Storm Eowyn.

Having endured almost five days of no power and water in a freezing cold house, I have to say my patience was a bit frayed, if not shredded. The timeline was a also a factor as we had previously been hit with a four day outage during Storm Darragh. That had been fresh in our memory when the lights went out at 11.30pm on Thursday, January 23.

Well, they could definitely have been better prepared, I curtly replied, trying to disguise the anger in my voice.

Yes, I probably shouldn't take it out on the lady, and I didn't. But I do take issue with how the government handled the situation.

It was the first time the entire country was under a red weather warning  the highest alert possible. All the experts predicted major infrastructural damage.

Why did the water treatment plants not have back up generators? Why weren't the technical specialists from Austria, UK and Finland put on standby so they could be drafted in sooner? Why were the 17 generators donated from Poland and Denmark not arranged in advance? OK, you could argue, we didn't know what damage would be done, but it was clear extra generators would be needed.

Many hotels in the worst affected areas became community hubs for those hit with power and water outages. Offering showers, places to charge phones, places to congregate in the warmth, and places to eat hot food - they were a godsend for those affected. Clogherinkoe GAA Club provided residents with a place to charge phones, hot drinks and shower facilities. Barberstown Castle, opened its doors on Friday offering use of its generator.

Why couldn't the government have organised designated community hubs in places like community centres. Some areas of Kildare were hit fairly badly with outages, however the West and North West of Ireland were the worst affected areas. If that many people had been without such services in Dublin, there would be war.

As of 12 noon on Thursday, January 30, there were still 583 homes without power in County Kildare.

Fair play to the ESB, who had a mammoth task to return power to an unprecedented 768,000 homes. They put in a massive effort but the semi-state company needs more government support. If these storms are to become common place in Ireland, the politicians need to invest in machinery, and update specialised equipment to access remote areas when the lines go down, be it woodlands, bogs or mountains.

READ: Plans refused for 21.9 million housing development in Kildare

They also need a proper strategy involving the army to ensure vulnerable people cut off in remote areas have access to the community hubs.

To make matters worse, the politicians took an extra week's holidays, and the Dail remained closed. No wonder, Taoiseach Michael Martin got a frosty reception when he visited some of the areas affected.

Lessons need to be learned from this experience.

Having thrown out all the items in the fridge and freezer for the second time in two months, soggy bags of frozen vegetables and mushy chips, showering in friends' houses, and taking over their washing machines to get school uniforms clean, plugging in slow cookers on their worktops for hot dinners, and dining on take aways, playing endless games of cards, buying bottled water and using rain water to flush toilets, the past week has certainly been an adventure. Thank god for the superserr heater. My own parents were without power for almost an entire week.

However, the lights sparked into action at around 3pm in our house in Rathangan on Tuesday, January 28. Never was I so relieved - that was until we found out that the dog chewed the broadband line, and that's another story!

- Niamh O'Donoghue
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has issued a serious produced recall for children's shoes sold to Irish parents that contain dangerous chemicals.

A statement said a safety issue has been identified with rain boots for kids and sandals sold on the TEMU platform.

The risk reported to CCPC is "chemical and environmental due to the presence of banned/restricted chemicals; Phthalates, Chlorinated Paraffins, which can harm childrens health by potentially damaging their reproductive system."

The GoodsID for the rain boots is 601099611807824.

There are approximately 14 affected boot products in the Republic of Ireland and parents are being warned they should "stop using the product immediately and keep it out of the reach of children."

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"Temu has contacted affected consumers regarding this recall on behalf of the seller, and reimbursements have been issued to those impacted," the CCPC added.

"If you have not received a refund or have further questions or concerns about this product, please contact Temus Dedicated Customer Service team by following the link.

The same safety issue has been identified with Kids Cartoon Themed Sandals sold on the TEMU platform. The brand is Jiageya. The batch number is JGY240128168. Similarly, parents should stop using them and follow this link if they have not already been contacted by TEMU about a refund.
On Wednesday, it was announced that, as expected Sligo-Leitrims Marian Harkin, would take up a Junior minister position in the Department of Education, that said, she isnt officially a junior minister yet.

Deputy Harkin will have to wait until legislation is passed that increases the amount of junior ministers that the government is allowed to have at one time.

Right now, the government is only allowed to have 20 deputies in junior minister positions, however, this government announced that they would have 23 to account for the regional independents who supported the government.

Therefore, Marian Harkin along with Colm Brophy (Fine Gael), and Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) will have to wait for Legislation to pass before they can officially take up their new roles.

It is not clear how long it will take for this legislation to pass, though it will not be before the Dail reconvenes on the 5th of February.

Until then, Sligo-Leitrim will not have a junior minister in the Dail as Deputy Frank Feighan was passed over for a junior minister role on Wednesday.

The record number of junior minister positions were filled by 10 Fianna Fail TDs, eight Fine Gael TDs and five Independents.

It was made clear that Deputy Harkin would get a junior ministerial position during the government's negotiations with the regional independent group.

The appointment of junior ministers has drawn some criticism to the government, thus far, as only six out of the 23 positions were awarded women deepening questions around gender equality in government.

Meanwhile, the salary of junior ministers also increased by 45,000 in this Dail to just under 160,000 a year, according to figures published by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Deputy Harkin was not present at government buildings on Wednesday for the announcements as her mother, who passed away earlier in the week, was laid to rest in Sligo.

READ MORE: Leitrim TD says Dail should reconvene early to manage storm response
Seven days after Storm Eowyn, Ireland is still reeling from significant electricity and water outages, with 86,000 customers without power and 2,800 without water.

Aidan Wynne, Chairman of the Turf Cutters of Ireland, strongly criticized the governments energy policies, emphasizing the critical role of turf in ensuring self-sufficiency in rural Ireland, where many have been left without power for over seven days now.

Where would we be without the turf now? Like, where would we be? Wynne demanded, highlighting the government's plan to phase out and ban turf. The government doesn't have a plan for a national emergency."

Wynne, from Drumshanbo, Leitrim, condemned the governments reliance on imported energy sources. Bord na Mona is after bringing in over 40,000 tonnes of woodchips from the Amazon forest for burning in power generation, cargos of ships in Foynes, he explained.

Look at the wind turbines, thats the greatest sham ever, he stated, pointing out their inefficiencies. "They are not generating power now."

Where would we be without the interconnectors that supply us electricity from France? We wouldnt have power. We are supposed to be a modern country.

"It's not fair our elderly people should be sitting in the dark freezing cold. We're not a modern country, we're going backwards."

He criticized modern heating solutions, stating, I know people that have air-to-water systems who are freezing. They have young children and had to move to another house that had a stove, that had heat.

How bad are we that we don't have enough staff in the ESB, and we are relying on workers to come in from other countries? If we had a third world war and the oil was cut off, what would we do then?"

Theyre trying to take the turf away from people. He emphasized the need for self-reliance, warning, If you think that the government is going to save you and your family, or me and my family... Youre going to have to paddle your own canoe.

Wynne lamented Irelands loss of self-sufficiency, noting, Were not self-sufficient at all. We should be one of the more self-sufficient countries in the world. We had our fishing. We had our oil. We had gas. They have our forest, our farm. He criticized the governments export policies, stating, Theyre trying to sell everything out from under the Irish people. They have done it with a lot of things. And people start to see reality now, and they won't see it until too late.

The most important thing in life you have is your family, your heat, and your food. Theyre the most important thing you need. Everything else after that is material.

Wynne highlights a pressing debate in Ireland regarding the balance between traditional energy sources and modern alternatives, as the nation faces ongoing energy challenges revealed by Storm Eowyn.

READ MORE Seamus ORourke shines on The Tommy Tiernan Show

READ MORE Thousands without power in Leitrim as storm Eowyn strikes
A GROUP of over 50 Ukrainian refugees living in student accommodation in Limerick city have been informed that they will be moved into hotels and different accommodation on March 4.

The refugees who are currently living in Westbourne Student Accommodation received a letter from the Department of Integration, telling them that they will be relocated to various places across the county including Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, The Pier Hotel, Bruff Accommodation and Stradbally North Castleconnell.

They had received a first letter, earlier this month, which stated they would have to be moved with 48 hours notice and wouldn't be able to bring pets.

Anastasiia Lapko (29) who has been living in Limerick for over two years was informed that she will be moved to Bruff. She is studying a film course in the Limerick College of Further Education and also works with Dance Limerick.

The Ukrainian native along with Westbourne residents is asking the Department to provide them with clear deadlines, alternative options, or housing where pets are allowed. Ms Lapko is concerned as the accommodation they are being offered doesn't allow pets and many of the Ukrainian refugees including Ms Lapko have pets. She lives with her cat, Martin, and is worried that he will end up in a cage somewhere if this issue isn't resolved.

Ms Lapko said the current situation is chaotic and that they've appealed to the department to have their stay at their current accommodation extended until June to give them sufficient time to secure other accommodation in Limerick. They said that we have to look for something on the ARP program (Accommodation Recognition Programme) but no one knows what is going to happen with this programme.

Many people have found work and education, but do not yet have the opportunity to rent something. In our case, many people have animals and the new resettlement conditions do not allow them to keep pets but the Department says that this is not their issue, added Ms Lapko.

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There are also special cases where people have to take care of elderly people who are bedridden and have a large family, people who study or work full-time cannot leave Limerick, because then they will lose working hours, or have PTSD and cannot live with others.

The full-time student is also worried about her financial situation. I get 230 per week now but I heard that everyone, job seekers, and disabled people and students will be changed to 32 per week.

Ms Lapko explained that if she has to move to Bruff she will have to commute to Limerick city for her studies. I have no money just to pay for the bus so I have no idea what to do. She said the group hasnt been given enough time to look for something under the ARP or to privately rent and that no one knows whether the programme will be continuing.

We're still trying to reach the department to give us more time because we understand that from September, it will be rented out to students. We totally understand this, but we need more time to find something else. Ms Lapko added that the owner of the accommodation centre asked that the refugees be allowed stay until the summer but this request was refused.

The Limerick-based student said the majority of Irish people are supporting Ukrainians. I think it's a very important question what's going on with the Ukrainian refugees right now all over Ireland because everyone (is) just relocated.

This situation in Ireland right now with the Ukrainian refugees is very confusing because people feel like it would be better for them to go back to Ukraine... near the front line than trying to reach the department.

She feels that the Department of Integration wants them to return home. A lot of people don't have a place to return because they just lost them. A lot of people from Mariupol, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Kherson ... are under shelling every day.
THERE'S been a major development in efforts to find and repatriate the remains of Limerick war hero Patrick Sarsfield.

A team led by Dr Loic Guyon, the honorary consul of France and head of the department of French studies at Mary Immaculate College has for the last number of years been leading efforts to bring the remains of Sarsfield home to the city.

It's believed he currently lies in rest in the Belgian city of Huy.

And during the team's latest visit to the continent, a discovery was made while exploring an area of the site located in what is nowadays the cellar of the townhouse in Huy.

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"For the first time since we began the archaeological excavations last year, I can say that there is a chance that we might have found the remains of Patrick Sarsfield," declared Dr Guyon, pictured at the excavation site below with Dr Gerard Riordan, archaeologist, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, Frank Coyne lead archaeologist and director of Aegis Archaeology Ltd, and Dr Caroline Laforest, forensic anthropolgist, Royal Institute of Natural Sciences.

The team discovered one skeleton which they were able to identify as being a man, believed to have died in his 40s.

Although that man could not be Patrick Sarsfield, as he died in his 30s, another grave next to this contained the upper half of a skeleton which, the excavators said, appears to be that of a "strongly built man".

Sarsfield was known as being tall and well-built.

Sadly, the lower half of the skeleton was unfortunately destroyed during the building of the townhouse in the 20th century.

Now, DNA tests and further assessments are set to give more information on the find.

But lead archaeologist Frank Coyne said: "The features of the skull as well as the size of the deceased, about 1.76 meters both suggest that we are in the presence of a man.

It's anticipated the test results will not be back for three months, which is why the archaeology team are remaining cautious.

But Dr Guyon said: "It is fair to say that what we found ticks all the boxes of what we are looking for and that the second skeleton could well be that of Sarsfield."

If it is confirmed that the remains found in Huy are indeed those of Patrick Sarsfield, further studies will be carried out.

It would then be hoped a facial reconstruction will be attempted in order to find out how Sarsfield really looked like.

If however it turns out that the remains are not Sarsfield's, the team is determined to carry on excavating the entirety of the site.

Sarsfield is best known for his defence of Limerick against the forces of William of Orange in 1690, in an event known as the Siege of Limerick.

Above: Noah Gaens, University of Leuven taking a tooth from the second skeleton for DNA extraction

Sarsfield, fighting for King James II, was eventually defeated, however he helped negotiate the famous Treaty of Limerick, which ended the Williamite war in Ireland.

This led to a historical episode known as the Flight of the Wild Geese where he and 12,000 of his men and their families left for France in 1691.

Sarsfield would rise through the ranks of the French military, but lost his life following the Battle of Landen in modern-day Belgium in 1693.

Records indicate he was buried in an unmarked grave in Huy alongside another unnamed French soldier.

Dr Guyon set up the Sarsfield Homecoming Project in 2020 in a bid to repatriate the remains of Limerick's most famous son to his home city.

Excavations have been taking place in Huy for the last number of years.
THE jury in the trial of a 24-year-old man accused of murdering Limerick man Dylan McCarthy during a melee outside a pub in a Kildare town nearly three years ago will begin deliberating next week.

It is the States case that Kilmallock man Mr McCarthy, 29, died following an incident in which he received both punches and a vicious kick to the head from Calvin Dunne while he was attempting to get up off the ground.

The jury has heard that Mr Dunne claims he was acting in self-defence and that Mr McCarthy was himself involved in violence on the night.

Mr Dunne has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McCarthy on or about August 22, 2022. He has also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on August 21, 2022, at Dublin Road, Monasterevin.

The trial has heard that Mr Dunne told gardai that when a group of people came out of the pub and a fight broke out, he saw Sean Kavanagh fighting with Dylan and Eamon McCarthy. Mr Dunne said that at one point, Dylan McCarthy went to hit Mr Kavanagh from behind, so Mr Dunne grabbed Dylan McCarthy by the wrist.

The accused said that Dylan McCarthy turned around to punch him, so he punched Mr McCarthy to the chin or jaw area, which caused him to fall.

I only got involved in this fight as Dylan and his party were out of control and extremely violent, Mr Dunne told gardai in interview, going on to say that he lightly kicked Mr McCarthy to what he believed was the chest area.

State pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers has told the jury that it is not possible to determine whether a punch or kick caused the fatal injury that led to the death of Dylan McCarthy.

READ MORE: Pictures show assault victim in Limerick hospital after 'vigilante-style' attack by Hayes brothers

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs today today began bringing the 12 jurors through a summary of the evidence they have heard during the trial.

The judge told the jury to come back afresh on Tuesday morning, when she will finish her outline of the evidence and they will begin their deliberations.

In her directions to the jury yesterday, Ms Justice Biggs said that there are three verdicts open to them: guilty of murder; not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter; or not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

She said that for a verdict of guilty of murder, the jury had to be convinced that Mr Dunnes actions substantially contributed to the death of Mr McCarthy and that he intended to kill or cause him serious injury.

On the issue of self-defence, Ms Justice Biggs said a person may lawfully use force to defend themselves or another person under attack, but the force that can be used is only such as is reasonable in the circumstances as the person believes it to be.

Two weeks into the trial Mr Dunne's co-accused, Sean Kavanagh, 26, with an address at St Marys Lane, Church Avenue, Monasterevin, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm on Eamon McCarthy, the father of the deceased. A charge of violent disorder was taken into consideration.

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs then directed the jury to find Kavanagh not guilty of the murder of Dylan McCarthy, a charge he had denied.

The trial continues on Tuesday before Ms Justice Biggs and the jury of ten men and two women.
A COUNTY councillor said a Limerick school and childcare facility have had to close this Friday because they have no water after their power went again.

Cllr John ODonoghue said Athlacca and surrounding areas lost ESB on Thursday night. The ESB PowerCheck map shows the power went at 7.35pm last night. There is a restoration time of 8pm this Friday for the 445 customers affected.

Cllr ODonoghue said that after making enquiries locally, I'm told that most of our local ESB staff are up north fixing problems.

I was up north early in the week and they have a lot of damage. While I understand we should help in every way possible we still have to keep the lights on at home.

We have to try and keep our farmers from pulling their hair out, help our employers keep the doors open and for employees to be able to go to work without having to worry about whether or not the local school will be open in the morning after all the mayhem in this area, especially with the snow and then the storm, said Cllr ODonoghue.

READ MORE: GAA commentator backs Limerick hurlers to bounce back for 2025

The Independent Ireland councillor said he has received a number of call from locals and frustration is building.

Temperatures fell below freezing in county Limerick last night.

An ESB spokesperson said due to the impact of Storm Eowyn, more than 2,500 ESB Networks crews and partner contactors are currently working in the worst impacted areas.

"This has been bolstered by colleagues from the south and east of the country, as well as skilled retirees and 285 skilled technicians from counterparts in Austria, Finland, France, and Great Britain. Further support is arriving from Germany, Netherlands and Norway in the coming days.

"A number of crews from Newcastle West and Tipperary were deployed to Tuam, Galway earlier this week to assist with restoration efforts there. Other ESB Networks crews remain in the locality and some personnel conducted repairs in Athlacca to restore power, following a report of a fault," said the ESB spokesperson.
DEVELOPERS are seeking a small increase in houses at a proposed new suburb on the edge of Limerick city.

As revealed by Limerick Live, Kirkland Investments have secured planning permission for a 600m plan to transform a brownfield site near Ballysimon Road on the edge of the city.

The firm, which is headed up by Rudi Butler, the son of prominent former city developer Robert Butler, acquired land near an area where the M7 and the N21 meet.

READ MORE: Scammers target those without power after Storm Eowyn in Limerick

A new secondary school, Limerick Educate Together is in its second year of operation, while Bons Secours also has permission in place for a private hospital.

In addition to this, a masterplan has been developed which is set to bring 300 apartments, offices and a Lidl supermarket - construction of which has kicked off - to the site on the east of the city.

Healy Partners architects prepared the masterplan strategy for the whole area.

Now, a minor change is set to be sought to the planning permission which is in place, which will see the replacement of commercial units with more housing.

Kirkland Investments is to seek planning permission to alter the permission it has for a commercial and residential unit in one of the buildings planned for the site.

Planned shops for the ground floor will be replaced with housing accommodation.

If granted, it means there will be an increase in housing in one of the several complexes on site from 40 homes to 48 homes.

The application also includes the remodelling of pavements and the addition of landscaping strips and associated site works.

Kirkland has advertised its intention to seek planning permission from Limerick City and County Council by publishing a notice in this newspaper.

The firm now has a fortnight to furnish council planners with more information on the project. Following this, it is anticipated Limerick City and County Council planners will either ask for more information, or deliver a verdict.
India is set to present its Union budget this year against a backdrop of fragile economic environment, inflationary pressures, global uncertainties, and growing fiscal demands. Policymakers are advocating for a balance between growth stimulus and the need to maintain fiscal discipline. Various stakeholders are emphasizing infrastructure development, job creation, and inclusive growth. Market observers are keenly watching for signals on capital expenditure, consumption, disinvestment, energy transition, and other critical areas as the government explores measures to accelerate reforms.

In this context, we take a look at the expectations and hopes of each major sector from the Budget, as pieced together by Mint's correspondents. These pieces highlight the measures industries hope to see to catalyse growth and put India on a sustainable development path. Click on each link to read the full article about each sector.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure continues to be a priority sector for the government, especially since the covid-19 pandemic. The government is building on an allocation of 11.11 trillion3.4% of GDPfor capital expenditure in last years Budget, marking a notable increase from 3 trillion (1.6% of GDP) in 201819. This momentum is helping compensate for tepid private investments, but maintaining infrastructure spending at current levels while reducing the deficit to 4.5% presents a significant challenge. The finance minister is weighing demands for sops to boost consumption, creating competing pressures on the Budget.

Healthcare

In the healthcare sector, stakeholders are pushing to lower critical treatment costs and seeking expanded insurance coverage. They are recommending reduced customs duties on oncology equipment, a 5% GST on health insurance premiums, and the revival of weighted tax deductions for R&D, given the nations urgent need for improved infrastructure and millions of new hospital beds. Government health expenditure stands at 1.84% of GDP, but stakeholders are expecting greater investment to close gaps in access and bolster innovation.

Real Estate

The real estate sector is seeking industry status" for easier financing and renewed incentives for affordable housing. Developers are looking for a reintroduced tax holiday under Section 80-IBA and lower GST on raw materials to contain construction costs. With affordable housing sales continuing to decline, measures such as expanding the SWAMIH fund for stalled projects and sustaining infrastructure development are likely to help revive demand.

Aviation

The aviation sector expects rationalised taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to ease cost pressures as domestic passenger traffic continues to soar beyond the five-lakh daily mark. Industry watchers are anticipating further support for regional connectivity through UDAN, alongside funding for new airport infrastructure and the expansion of existing capacities. The Budget may introduce fresh incentives for local maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities, fostering self-reliance and reducing operational costs.

Agriculture

Indias agriculture sector employs over 42% of the population and accounts for 18.2% of GDP. It is seeking support to modernise farming, boost production, and enhance marketing infrastructure. The Budget is likely to introduce incentives under the Bhawantar scheme to raise cotton yields and initiatives to strengthen warehousing and cold-chain networks. With digital agriculture set to transform farming practices, stakeholders are also hoping for investments in data-driven solutions and stronger water management programmes.

Capital Markets

Amid signals of a cyclical slowdown, many in the capital markets are calling for a renewed push towards capital expenditure and incentives that stimulate consumption. They are urging clear targets around disinvestment, energy transition, and tax relief for the middle class, looking to the Budget for guidance on maintaining strong foreign inflows.

Indian Railways

On another front, Indian Railways aims to secure higher outlays to expand its network and modernise operations. Plans to allocate over 50,000 crore for new tracks are underscoring the drive to reduce congestion and accommodate high-speed, semi-high-speed, and more frequent services. This infrastructure focus continues to propel a doubling of track additions compared to the previous decade, and public-private partnerships are possibly accelerating rail expansion.

Education

Indias education sector hopes the upcoming Budget will raise allocations towards the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 target of 6%, up from the current 2.9%. While the literacy rate is 80.3%, stakeholders are saying more must be done to expand STEM, AI, and vocational programmes. They are also focusing on revamping ITIs, building on the 60,000 crore upgrade scheme announced earlier.

Textiles

Indias textile industry, employing 45 million people, is seeking extended interest equalisation, revised PLI thresholds, and a National Textile Fund to enhance competitiveness. Textile exports represent a silver lining, reflecting new opportunities amid global sourcing shifts, yet high raw-material costs remain a hurdle. Stakeholders are advocating for the Bhawantar Bhugtan Yojana to stabilise cotton prices and remove import duties on cotton.

Banking

Indias banking sector is entering the Union Budget cycle with robust capital buffers, healthy asset quality, and steady credit demand, although deposit mobilisation lags behind loan growth. Observers believe retail deposit incentives could stabilise liquidity, especially as liquidity coverage ratio norms are tightening. Non-banking finance companies seek funding diversification, continued support for affordable housing and infrastructure, and measures boosting overall market confidence. Industry experts also call for more competition, foreign capital inflows, and tech-driven inclusion to meet Indias Viksit Bharat" ambitions. Banks are strengthening risk management frameworks as they navigate shifting geopolitical and regulatory challenges.

Energy

Indias energy sector seeks policies that accelerate renewable capacity growth and address delays in power purchase agreements. Non-fossil sources reached 47% of capacity by December 2024, yet stakeholders say more progress is needed, particularly in green hydrogen, which is seeing limited market uptake. The government is pushing local solar manufacturing through production-linked incentives and higher customs duties, reflecting its climate commitments. Analysts emphasise steady capital infusion, simplified regulations, and technological innovation as essential for meeting ambitious climate targets. The sector awaits Budget measures that spur domestic demand and strengthen global competitiveness.

Steel

Indias steelmakers are looking for continued infrastructure outlays and relief from rising imports, which are climbing 22% in 2024 to 9.2 million tonnes, led by cheaper shipments from China and Japan. Industry leaders warn that bargain-priced steel is undercutting domestic mills and jeopardising planned capacity expansions aimed at reaching 300 million tonnes annually. Given ongoing investigations into unfair trade practices, they are also seeking Budget incentives for green steel and regulatory safeguards. Quality control orders by the Bureau of Indian Standards, though not aiming to restrict imports, are possibly curbing substandard alloy inflows. Overall, supportive policies remain vital for sustained sector growth.

(With inputs from Madhavan N, Jessica Jani, Madhurima Nandy, Daanish Anand, Dhirendra Kumar, Puja Das, Dipti Sharma, Subhash Narayan, Pratishtha Bagai, Anshika Kayastha, Rituraj Baruah and Nehal Chaliawala.)
India has been the fastest growing large economy in the world since the covid pandemic. This period has been marked by policy stability and macro-fiscal discipline. The fiscal deficit is expected to drop to under 4.9% in FY25 and the quality of deficit has improved. While revenue expenditure was contained and rationalized by the Union government, capital spending grew 27% and 28% in FY23 and FY24. However, private capex has not happened at the pace that was expected and the high growth in government capex has driven the overall economic growth.

Looking ahead, the government will need to continue containing the fiscal deficit while also ensuring high GDP growth. Higher levels of capex, especially private capex, and attracting greater amounts of FDI could help accelerate growth.

Also Read | Budget 2025-26: Will Nirmala Sitharaman deliver a fiscal bazooka?

As the Union budget is formulated for the next fiscal, the 2.11 trillion one-time RBI dividend that the government received for FY25 may not be available. Despite this absence, the government should provide for a 10-15% increase in capex and also look at measures that can provide a boost to consumption. Such a scenario would require revenue augmentation measures.

Also Read | Budget 2025: Is 30% tax slab squeezing India's middle class dry?

Divestments and asset monetization are revenue augmentation measures that can be considered. Over the last five years, government receipts from disinvestments have been less than 50,000 crore annually. In the current fiscal, till November, the receipts were 8,625 crore against the annual target of 50,000 crore. With the capital markets being buoyant, this may be a good time to start planning to tap the markets. In addition, disinvestment can provide a fillip for private investments.

The finance ministry has typically been conservative in the past two years while projecting gross tax revenue in the budget. The actual gross tax collections in FY23 and FY24 were higher by approximately 3 trillion and 1 trillion respectively, than the budget estimates for those years. A less conservative approach to tax revenue projections can help the government budget higher expenditure to drive growth. Some money can also be put in the hands of the people to boost consumption such as by giving tax relief to people earning up to 20 lakh annually.

Also Read | Budget 2025: Tech industry calls for strategic investments in AI and R&D

As mentioned earlier, higher capital spending, especially in manufacturing, can help accelerate growth. Manufacturing in India needs to be competitive vis-s-vis competing countries, especially China, which has generated an export surplus of nearly $1 trillion. Rationalizing tariffs and providing long-term stability in rates will provide confidence for large-scale and long-term investments. Tariff review has been on the governments agenda and was committed to in the last budget. Further, taking cues from the current geo-economic trends, the government could also protect manufacturing investments in India through measures like anti-dumping duties. Finally, the government needs to continue pressing for reforms that will further improve ease of doing business and economic competitiveness. Simplification of laws and reducing disputes and litigations will also be welcome and helpful.

An area that will immensely help improve perceptions about ease of doing business in India would be measures towards dispute resolution. As on FY24, the total tax demand by Central Board of Direct Taxes stood at about 42.3 trillion, out of which 74%, i.e., 31.4 trillion is disputed. This amount is approximately 1.4 times the budgeted income tax revenues of 22 trillion for FY25.

Prioritizing disposal of cases involving high assessments, high tax demand and cases with favourable jurisdictional High Court ruling on the disputed issues should help. Capacity building for existing alternate dispute resolution mechanisms such as Advanced Pricing Agreements, review of safe harbour rules for rationalising the margins and threshold and bringing new mechanisms like mediation should also help.

The recent move to undertake a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act provides an opportunity to address some of the concerns. It seems likely that the changes proposed in the tax law will be introduced as a separate bill soon. The government should share the draft amendments for public consultation and ideally provide an indication of areas likely to be picked up in line with the last Budgets announcements on TDS and charities.

Also read | Budget 2025: Tax incentives, higher deposit insurance key asks for banks

Amidst geopolitical developments, India is uniquely positioned as the fastest-growing large economy with strong political capital. This budget will be watched for measures to enhance Indias growth, productivity and investment competitiveness.

Rajiv Memani is the chairman and CEO of EY India.
Religare Enterprises Ltd CEO and chairperson Rashmi Saluja has sued the conglomerate she heads to thwart a potential takeover and extend her tenure, pitting herself against four of the company's five independent directors, in arguably one of the first such instances in a public company.

On Tuesday, Saluja filed a case against Religare in the Delhi High Court, seeking the courts intervention to stop the annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for 7 February. One of the resolutions shareholders will vote on is Saluja's reappointment as director.

The billionaire Burman family, promoters of Dabur Ltd, has a little over 25% stake in Religare and has offered to buy 26% more from minority shareholders through an open offer at 235 a share. Saluja runs the risk of being ousted, as her reappointment needs to be approved by at least half of the shareholders. Earlier this month, proxy advisor InGovern Research Services recommended that shareholders vote against the reappointment.

Also read | Delhi high court rejects bid to halt Burmans' open offer for Religare

"This is a fight between the CEO and the majority of the board members. This is an absurd situation where a board member and CEO (Rashmi Saluja), without informing the other directors of the board or sharing the petition, has sued the company, and in a sense, sued herself," senior Supreme Court lawyer Nalin Kohli said.

Kohli represents the four independent directors -- Praveen Tripathi, Malay Sinha, Ranjan Dwivedi and Preeti Madan. Mint could not independently ascertain the stance of the fifth independent director, Hamid Ahmed. The court will hear the matter on 4 February.

"I am not aware of such a situation happening in a publicly listed firm in India, where a CEO and sitting board member has sued the company," said Kohli.

"The question that any shareholder may ask is, what is the intention of the CEO behind all this? Can the shareholders now be expected to have confidence in someone acting against the company's interests and her fiduciary duty towards protecting the interests of the shareholders? This relevant question will confront shareholders when the AGM is held."

Two independent directors, Dwivedi and Sinha, declined to comment, while Ahmed, and Madan could not be reached for comment. An email sent to Religare seeking comment went unanswered.

Surprised by case

Religare director P.K. Tripathy told Mint he was surprised that Rashmi Saluja filed a case against her own company, which she was served only to the company, and not the individual board members. He noted that four out of the six directors (including Saluja) agreed that an AGM should be held as a matter of shareholder rights, which is why they appeared in court through their counsel, to ensure the company was represented. Tripathy said the fifth director held a differing opinion from the majority at present, but could potentially change stance and align with others directors later.

"It is a shareholders right to hold an AGM, which is why the four of us deemed it necessary to appear in court to represent the company, even though we were not served the petition," Tripathi added.

Differences between Saluja, who joined Religare in 2018, and the board members, came into public view when the independent directors put their weight behind the Burman familys open offer, as Mint reported first on 13 January. Less than 10 days later, Indian-born US citizen Digivjay Danny Gaekwad proposed to make a 5,000 crore offer to buy up to 55% of Religare shares. This revised bid came less than 24 hours before Burmans open offer started on Monday. Subsequently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India returned Gaekwads letter as it did not conform to the regulators exemption application rules under the countrys takeover code.

Also read | Two Religare directors criticise haste in revealing Gaekwad bid; Saluja moves HC

However, at least two independent directors, Sinha and Tripathi, expressed their unhappiness over Religares selective disclosures made to the exchanges, including releasing Gaekwads letter to the exchanges, Mint reported on 30 January.

Sharing the counteroffer letter by Digvijay "Danny" Gaekwad with the exchanges without the company doing due diligence, getting a minority shareholder holding 500 shares to file a suit in the Delhi High Court to halt the Burmans open offer, and then filing a case in the Delhi High Court by Rashmi Saluja shows her desperate bid to remain in power," said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern said. It is becoming farcical and absurd that a company's chairperson and managing director would not take the board of directors into confidence and is suing the company itself. All corporate law norms have been flouted."

All this is being done under the garb of protecting the interests of minority shareholders while the management bandwidth and company resources are being utilized to fight the incoming acquirer," said Subramanian.

In a note earlier this month, InGovern said, "The ongoing scrutiny of Religare raises questions about the effectiveness of governance under her leadership, which reflects poorly on her oversight and governance capabilities. There are also concerns about her compensation practices and adherence to regulatory guidelines regarding executive remuneration," recommending investors to vote against Saluja'sreappointment.

Rao's plea rejected

On Thursday, the Delhi High Court, in a separate case, rejected the Bangkok-based investors plea to halt the Burman familys open offer and stop the AGM. Sapna Govind Rao, who claimed to own 500 shares in Religare, sought the high court's intervention, arguing that public investors should be allowed a chance to evaluate Gaekwads higher proposed offer to buy shares at 275 a share.

The battle for Religare has witnessed a series of dramatic turns ever since the Burman family announced their plans to own the company that controls Indias second-largest private health insurance firm, Care Health Insurance Ltd, and other broking and non-bank subsidiaries.

The Burman family had first expressed interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Religare in September 2023. They have also been pushing for the removal of Religare chairperson Rashmi Saluja.

Also read | Religare saga takes a fresh twist with the entry of a mystery Bangkok investor

Saluja has voiced her dissatisfaction with the Burman familys open offer price, and the companys annual general meeting has already been delayed by six months. In December, an investor from Madhya Pradesh sought another courts intervention for a stay order on the shareholder meeting. Subsequently, the court quashed the appeal.

"It is settled law from the landmark LIC versus Escorts case that courts will not stay AGM proceedings because, by doing that, it amounts to impeding corporate democracy," said Kohli.
In his newly built palace near Tokyo, lined by stone statues of Roman emperors and surrounded by an 18-hole golf course, Masayoshi Son was stewing. After declaring for years the imminent arrival of the artificial-intelligence revolution, the chief executive officer of SoftBank Group had missed out on it.

I havent been able to do anything," he thought, according to a speech he gave to SoftBank investors last year. Can I just get old like this and die?"

As it turned out, all he needed was a new golden boy. And now Son, who has a history of latching onto charismatic startup founders, has found one in Sam Altman.

In what would be the largest-ever investment in a startup, Son is preparing to put as much as $43 billion toward Altmans OpenAI in a pair of transactions. SoftBank is in talks to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion in the ChatGPT maker as part of a blockbuster $40 billion funding round, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The round would value OpenAI at up to $300 billionnearly double its valuation in October and an undeniable sign of Sons confidence in its prospects.

In addition, the Japanese tech and investment conglomerate has committed $18 billion toward Stargate, a venture to build cloud computing centers for OpenAI to use, according to people familiar with the matter.

For Altman, who was traveling to Tokyo on Thursday, the tie-up provides him with a deep-pocketed backer at a critical moment. His companys relationship with Microsoft, its biggest investor to date and longtime exclusive technology partner, has been fraying over OpenAIs contention that it wasnt getting enough cloud computing power. And the broader AI world has been thrown on its heels by the splashy arrival of DeepSeek, a Chinese developer of cheaply made and free-to-use AI models, which has sparked skepticism about OpenAIs strategy of spending big on proprietary technology.

An aerial view of Masayoshi Sons residence near Tokyo.

Sons commitment to OpenAI and Stargate ensures that Altmans company will have ample cloud computing firepower in the coming years just as it has ended the exclusivity portion of its Microsoft deal. And by leading a funding round that would be the biggest in Silicon Valley history, Son is enthusiastically endorsing Altmans plan to keep spending gobs of cash on leading-edge AI systems.

For all of us, the AI era represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help build a better, safer, healthier, and more prosperous future," Son wrote in a widely distributed email message Thursday.

At an event hosted by his company in Washington, D.C., the same day, Altman praised DeepSeeks technology as great work" and framed its emergence in terms of U.S. competition with China.

This is a reminder of the level of competition and the need for democratic AI to win," he said.

Big gambler

Sons plans for OpenAI eclipse his biggest-ever bets. The fortunes of the debt-friendly, risk-addicted CEO have been on a roller coaster since he emerged as a force in the 1990s. An early wager on Alibaba and its founder, Jack Ma, was a highlight, while a failed AI chips across the world.

Over the course of 2024, Son became a convert to Altmans vision. The SoftBank CEO gave a speech in October in which he gushed about OpenAIs newest technology and said he had recently asked ChatGPT how to turn 10 million yen into 100 million yenthough he didnt share its answer with the crowd.

Write to Eliot.Brown@wsj.com, Berber Jin at berber.jin@wsj.com and Keach Hagey at Keach.Hagey@wsj.com
For years, China was the epicentre of global footwear manufacturing, producing nearly 72% of the worlds shoes in 2016. From Nike to Adidas, Puma, Crocs, and New Balance, virtually every major brand relied on China for production. But today, a fundamental shift is underway.

The trade war under Donald Trump, followed by pandemic-driven supply chain disruptions, forced manufacturers to reduce their reliance on China. Rising labor costs and mounting geopolitical tensions over Taiwan further reinforced the need for diversification. Vietnam was the first to benefit, with its share of global footwear exports rising from 12% in 2016 to 16% in 2021, as companies adopted the China+1 strategy.

Read this | Uttar Pradesh tops Tamil Nadu in GST collection: Myth and reality

Now, India is beginning to make its markone of the rare instances where the China+1 strategy has truly worked. Tamil Nadu, long a leader in leather footwear manufacturing, is now at the forefront of the shift to non-leather footwear, a trend highlighted in the Economic Survey 2025.

Some of the worlds largest contract manufacturers for Nike, Crocs, New Balance, Adidas, and Puma have already set up or are in the process of establishing operations in the state. These include major Taiwanese manufacturers such as Hon Fu Group, Feng Tey, Pou Chen, and Shoetown Footwear Group, who have collectively invested 6,500 crore and created 86,000 jobs.

The surge isnt accidental. Tamil Nadus government made a deliberate push to position itself as a footwear manufacturing hub.

Read this | New rules may strip shelves bare of imported luxury shoes

It was a conscious decision by the Tamil Nadu government to accord utmost importance to this sector for multiple reasons," said Arun Roy, secretary, industry, government of Tamil Nadu. One, footwear investments have very high investment potential. Two, they typically operate in rural areas and finally, they employ women predominantly."

To capitalize on this, Tamil Nadu introduced the Footwear and Leather Products Policy in 2022, offering a suite of incentives to attract global players. The state also proactively engaged with major manufacturers, leveraging its skilled workforce and established industrial base in leather footwear to make the transition into non-leather production smoother.

The state had excellent human resources and a strong industrial base," Roy added.

Also read | Mint Primer | Samsung strike: Can it crash Tamil Nadus dream?

Today, Tamil Nadu accounts for 38% of Indias total footwear and leather products output, cementing its place as a rising force in global footwear manufacturing.
President Trumps advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting the universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he had pledged, according to people familiar with the matter, even as he reiterated Thursday that the tariffs are coming.

The situation is fluid and Trump still may go through with his vow to slap 25%, across-the-board levies on imports from Americas two largest trading partners. The president has consistently said he would do so by Saturday.

But amid ongoing negotiations with Canada and Mexico, the administration appears undecided on whether to impose tariffs on all imports from those countries, the people familiar with the matter said, adding that administration officials are preparing to opt for more targeted measures instead.

Trump is still likely to announce some sort of trade action by Saturday, but it may only affect certain sectors, such as steel and aluminum. Trump may also include major exemptions, such as oil. And the tariffs could be issued using existing legal authorities instead of more novel approaches officials had previously floated, according to people with knowledge of discussions, who stressed that no final decisions have been made.

The administration could also announce new tariffs by Saturday, but with a grace period before they are implemented, allowing negotiations to continue with the continental neighbors, some of the people said.

Trump said he would decide, likely Thursday evening, whether the tariffs will apply to imports of Mexican and Canadian oil.

Ill be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada, and separately, 25% on Mexico, and well really have to do that," Trump said, adding that the duties could rise over time.

The U.S. has been engaged in weeks of frantic negotiations with Canada and Mexico, as well as lobbying by North American businesses and labor groups that have argued the across-the-board tariffs would snarl continental supply chains, drive up prices, and increase reliance on trade with adversarial regimes such as China and Venezuela.

Migrants entered the U.S. through a hole in a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Trump has said the tariffs will take effect if the countries dont take steps to stop migration and drug trafficking over U.S. borders. The administration has considered using emergency economic powers established by a 1970s-era law to impose those tariffs, as Trump threatened last Sunday against Colombia over a migration disagreement, before backing down when he said his demands were met.

Tariffs have never before been deployed under that act, though President Richard Nixon imposed emergency tariffs under a predecessor law.

Some officials are now concerned about using emergency powers for tariffs after a federal judge earlier this week temporarily blocked a White House Office of Management and Budget memo that sought to freeze federal grants and loans. The court said the order may have violated federal law requiring the president to spend funding approved by Congress.

The injunction on the OMB action has caused some White House officials to second guess their plans to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, said people familiar with planning. Policymakers dont want to risk having an IEEPA action enjoined now, when they may potentially use it in the future on other countries.

The White House didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trumps nominee for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, told lawmakers Wednesday that if Canada and Mexico comply with Trumps demands to curtail migration and drug smuggling there will be no tariffs," and framed the threat of duties as a cudgel to get those governments to act.

Its not a tariff per se," Lutnick said. Its an act of domestic policy."

Administration officials have said publicly that Canada and Mexico are making progress toward meeting Trumps demands, which, ostensibly, would allow them to avoid immediate tariffs.

Canadian officials were encouraged by Lutnicks testimony, said one senior government official.

The Canadian minister responsible for the border, David McGuinty, said Wednesday that the government is in negotiations with the U.S. over creating a new North American fentanyl strike force." If finalized, the task force will involve more investment in people and infrastructure, he said, although he didnt provide additional details.

Mexico has created a similar working group with the Trump administration on migration issues that will later be expanded to cover other areas of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday. U.S. officials said her government is cooperating with Trumps demands on the southern border, and has agreed to receive expelled non-Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., a significant concession to the Trump administration.

The ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In the U.S., the United Steelworkers union wants Trump to back away from across-the-board tariffs.

Those efforts have coincided with an intense pressure campaign from American industries and unions reliant on supply chains that cross U.S. borders, including the automotive sector and steelworkers. This week, the United Steelworkers, a powerful union whose members helped elect Trump across the industrial Midwest, called on Trump to back away from across-the-board tariffs.

Behind closed doors, the steelworkers union has stressed the importance of Canadian oil to many of its members, pointing out that about 30,000 steelworkers are employed by oil refineries that use Canadian crude, oil that could be replaced by imports from other countries, including Venezuela, if Canadian oil becomes too expensive.

The steel industry and outside trade advisers to Trump, meanwhile, have been pushing him to restore tariffs on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum, which were lifted in 2019 during the negotiations for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

The industry has long complained about surging steel imports from the two countries harming U.S. mills. This week the Coalition for Prosperous America, a protectionist trade group that is advising Trumps trade policies, delivered him a list of options to apply tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, a tried and tested legal authority that would pose less risk than deploying IEEPA.

While reinstating steel tariffs could avoid the worst consequences of across-the-board tariffs, it is not without risk. In 2018 Mexico responded to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum with tariffs of its own, which targeted U.S. products ranging from steel to pork, cheeses, apples and bourbon, focusing on Republican strongholds.

Mexicos Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Wednesday that Sheinbaums cabinet has studied possible retaliatory measures during weekly meetings for the past eight months.

I cant reveal whats planned, but you can be sure that we have studied it very carefully," he said.

Brian Schwartz in Washington contributed to this article

Write to Gavin Bade at gavin.bade@wsj.com, Vipal Monga at vipal.monga@wsj.com and Santiago Perez at santiago.perez@wsj.com
Hamas wants to send the world the message that it is still in charge in the Gaza Strip. Its method: turning the release of hostages into a spectacle that Israel is powerless to stop.

The pattern began about two weeks ago, when the first Israeli hostages were released under a cease-fire agreement that includes the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Crowds of jeering men crowded around the Hamas trucks carrying the Israeli hostages. When the women got out, they ran to Red Cross officials waiting in nearby vehicles to take them home.

On Thursday, the militants upped the ante. They released two civilian hostagesa 29-year-old woman and an 80-year-old manin front of the rubble of the home of Yahya Sinwar, the now-dead mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre in 2023.

This time, the hostages struggled to exit Hamas vehicles as crowds again turned out to greet them, cellphones out aiming for shots of the captives. The Red Cross vehicles werent nearby this time, forcing the hostages to wade through throngs of people seemingly on the cusp of attacking them. The hostages only protection was their armed captors, members of a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Hamas is making each round of hostage releases in Gaza an increasingly elaborate event, showcasing their strength and humiliating their enemybut also threatening to derail the fragile cease-fire in the strip, regional analysts said.

Hamas is trying to make the release of the hostages look like a show," said Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of research for Israels military intelligence, adding that the move would backfire on Hamas. Everyone is looking at the disrespectful way they treat the hostages."

Israel reacted furiously to the display. It said it wouldnt release the 110 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be set free as part of the deal. Mediators, including the U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, scrambled to hold the deal together. Israel eventually released the prisoners.

I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I demand that the mediators make certain that such terrible scenes do not recur, and guarantee the safety of our hostages."

Israelis at a makeshift plaza known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv reacted with shock as they watched on a big screen as the Palestinian crowd yelled at the hostages. By contrast, shouts of joy rang from the square at the images of captives on their way to freedom. Our hearts were gripped with fear," said a statement by the Hostage Family Forum, a group of family members with hostages in Gaza.

Hamas gamed the protocol on hostage releases from the very beginning. The parties were supposed to exchange, 24 hours in advance, lists of hostages and prisoners to be released, giving both sides time to prepare the families.

On the morning of the first release, Hamas still hadnt turned over the list, delaying the deal. When it did release the list, it did so publicly, on social media, infuriating Israels negotiators, according to Arab mediators in the talks.

Protocol became a bigger issue as Hamass theatrics grew more elaborate and were a significant point of contention even before Thursdays showdown, mediators said.

When Hamas released four female soldiers this past Saturday, it held a less violent but similarly staged event. Hamas forced the women to wear green attire meant to look like military uniforms and had them waving and smiling to cameras from a stage. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, as the humanitarian organization is officially known, sat on chairs before a desk on the stage, as in a formal state ceremony.

On Thursday, hours before the release of the Israeli hostages Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses, Hamas held a similarly theatrical release of a fifth female Israeli soldier. Agam Berger, 20, was let go in the midst of the ruins of Jabalia, a city in northern Gaza that saw fierce fighting in the war.

A huge Palestinian flag was draped from a hollowed-out building, and one of the posters at the event said, Jabalia is the grave of Givati," referring to an Israeli army unit that fought in the area and lost many soldiers. At one point, while being paraded on a stage, a masked cameraman can be seen directing Berger to smile and wave. She quickly complied.

With its guns silenced and its soldiers on the periphery of Gaza, there is little Israel can do to stop Hamas from parading the hostages around. Hamas wants to demonstrate their strength and standing in Gaza," said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Hamas, in a statement after the hostage releases, said the decision to run two public handovers in different locations across Gaza on the same day was designed to show the world that our people remain on their land."

The massive turnout of our Palestinian people," Hamas said, is a message of determination, strength, and defiance."

The comments came after President Trump in recent days proposed relocating Palestinians for a time from war-ravaged Gaza to neighboring countries, Egypt and Jordan, an idea that was widely dismissed by Arab states.

Looming over the hostage releases is the question of whether Israel and Hamas can negotiate toward a permanent end to the fighting in Gaza. The two sides are expected on Monday to begin negotiating on a permanent deal that would end the war for good and see the rest of the Israeli hostages freed.

Its a very fragile situation," Kuperwasser said.

Red Cross personnel spoke with Hamas members in Gaza City this month during the first release of hostages under the cease-fire deal.

Write to Rory Jones at Rory.Jones@wsj.com and Summer Said at Summer.Said@wsj.com.
Israel has complained to the U.S.-led committee overseeing the cease-fire in Lebanon that Iranian diplomats and others are delivering tens of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah to fund the groups revival, a U.S. defense official speaking for the committee and people familiar with the content of the complaint said.

According to the Israeli complaints, Iranian envoys have been flying from Tehran to Beiruts international airport with suitcases stuffed with U.S. dollars, the people familiar with the allegations said. In addition, Israel alleged in its complaints that Turkish citizens have been used to ferry money from Istanbul to Beirut by air, the people said.

The cease-fire committee, which doesnt adjudicate alleged violations, has conveyed the complaints to Lebanons government, the official speaking for the committee said. The committee has representatives from Israel, Lebanon, the U.S., France and the United Nations.

Officials of some governments represented on the committee said they were aware of Irans use of the airport to smuggle cash or considered the allegations credible.

The cease-fire deal requires Lebanon to secure the countrys ports of entry and prevent the flow of arms and related materiel to groups like Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The terms dont specifically address deliveries of cash.

The Lebanese government and armed forces didnt reply to requests for comment. A spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations in New York and representatives of Hezbollah also didnt reply to requests for comment.

Behnam Khosravi, a diplomat at the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon, told Iranian state media this month that Tehran doesnt use passenger planes to smuggle funds into Lebanon.

Turkish officials said any large amounts of cash moving through Istanbul Airport would have been detected by X-ray machines or other security measures. The officials indicated no such movements had been found and said no third party had raised the issue with Turkey.

Cash shipments from Iran to Hezbollah could deepen friction between Israel and the two Shia allies. In two months of fierce fighting last autumn, Israel wiped out most of Hezbollahs top leaders, killed or injured many of its militants and significantly degraded its arsenal of missiles.

A wall covered with portraits of dead Hezbollah members during a funeral ceremony in southern Lebanon.

Israel has said it is committed to keeping Hezbollah from rebuilding and has threatened to strike Beiruts airport if it is used to smuggle in aid for the group.

The two sides have largely stopped fighting under a cease-fire that has held for two months, though Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Hezbollah targets which it says violated the deal, including two attacks Tuesday on vehicles Israels military said were transporting military equipment.

Lebanon has called the strikes a violation of the cease-fire.

On Jan. 2, Lebanese authorities searched passengers on a Mahan Airlines flight that landed in Beirut after a Saudi news station reported the plane was being used to bring in funds to Hezbollah. An Iranian diplomat aboard refused to comply and entered Lebanon with two bags Iran said contained documents and cash for embassy operations, according to Lebanons Foreign Ministry.

Hezbollah needs cash as it tries to recover from the conflict, which killed or wounded many of its members and did extensive damage to its strongholds in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the people familiar with the matter and Lebanese security officials said.

The group, which has a political party and social organization in addition to its militant wing, uses money to pay and recruit fighters, support families of the injured, compensate supporters for property that was destroyed and cover the cost of ongoing social-support programs.

Israel has targeted Hezbollahs sources of cash to hamper its ability to fight and slow its recovery. Over the past year, Israel killed central figures in Hezbollah and Iran who were responsible for keeping funds flowing to the Lebanese militia.

It also used airstrikes during the fighting last fall to destroy several sites where Israel said Hezbollah was keeping cash and gold, including branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a bank that is sanctioned by the U.S. for its role as a financial hub for Hezbollah.

First, Hezbollah just literally has just lost a whole lot of money. Second, they now have massive expenses," said Matthew Levitt, former deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department and now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Iran is dealing with a crisis in its sanctions-hit economy. Still, it sees Hezbollah as an important ally and deterrent against Israel and wont let the group wither away, said Levitt.

There are some signs Hezbollah is struggling to cover its commitments. The head of a Lebanese charity helping displaced people in southern Lebanon said experts appointed by Hezbollah had visited his area but underestimated the cost some people would incur to rebuild.

There is a lot of discontent against Hezbollah," the person said.

A person familiar with Hezbollahs thinking said the group wasnt experiencing a liquidity crisis and was paying compensation for badly damaged property that ranges from $12,000 to $14,000 a year for rent, along with extra payments for furniture.

Since the cease-fire came into effect in late November, Al-Qard al-Hassan has reopened 28 branches, and Hezbollah has used the bank to issue $500 million worth of checksa sign the person said showed that the group doesnt have a cash flow problem.

But the extent of the damage in Lebanon as well as the crimped pipeline of support through Syria and increased scrutiny at the Beirut airport will limit Hezbollahs ability to fully fund reconstruction, the person said.

Lebanese officials said Beirut airport is under Lebanese army control.

Until recently, Irans main smuggling route for supplying cash and weapons to Hezbollah ran through Syria, though Israeli officials have said Iran also used the Beirut airport to smuggle in cash and gold in the past. The Syrian option was largely removed by the fall of the Assad regime late last year, increasing the importance of the Beirut airport route, the people familiar with the matter said.

Lebanese officials said that under the cease-fire agreement, the airport is under the tight control of the Lebanese army to ensure funding and weapons arent brought to Hezbollah. It would be hard to smuggle large amounts of cash through the airport, a senior Lebanese security official said, though valuable items like precious stones and diamonds might bypass detection.

U.S. officials who recently left office following the change of administrations expressed concern that Hezbollah might hold enough influence over Lebanese security forces for Iranian-backed couriers to escape rigorous searches at the airport.

Saleh al-Batati contributed to this article.

Write to Dov Lieber at dov.lieber@wsj.com, Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com
MUMBAI : Indias largest bank is going high-tech in matters of surveillance by introducing a network to connect all its branches using artificial intelligence-enabled cameras, thermal imaging and intelligent video analytics, according to a document seen by Mint .

The document, a call for consultants to bid for the project, said that the State Bank of India (SBI) plans to enhance security, monitoring, reporting and incident management in real-time". It also says that by creating a unified surveillance infrastructure", the project aims to establish a secure environment for customers and employees while safeguarding critical assets."

This round-the-clock system is intended for monitoring, reporting, active deterrence and for managing incidents like robbery and fire breakouts.

SBI currently has 22,685 branches across the country, the most among domestic lenders. According to the document, SBI wants the consultant to look at a surveillance solution that would account for a 20% rise in branches over the next five years.

The document mentioned above says this project would allow its security team to oversee all activities of the local head office branches. Further, feed from these local head offices would be integrated into a dashboard at a single command centre in its Mumbai head office or corporate centre.

The consultant selected for the role will need to visit a minimum of five each of rural, semi-rural and urban branches, besides others, to figure out the feasibility of establishing a centralized monitoring station, command centre, and incident management system.

An email sent to SBI seeking comments remained unanswered till press time.

To be sure, branches remain indispensable in India even as banks have been leaning towards digital channels to reach customers. In 2024, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India had 159,633 bank branches, an increase of 3% from the previous year, as compared to a 2.4% increase between 2022 and 2023. A bulk of these branches is in rural and semi-urban areas.

Rising deployment of smart surveillance systems

Experts said that surveillance of branches and automated teller machines (ATMs) is not new. However, while they have CCTV cameras, most of these are not equipped with smart systems that can detect and report threats in real time.

About 20% of ATMs and 40% of bank branches in India have AI-based surveillance capabilities," said Rishi Agrawal, co-founder and chief executive of regulatory technology company TeamLease Regtech. What sets AI surveillance apart from traditional ones is that while cameras keep a record for post-facto analysis, AI can prevent incidents."

Agrawal said an AI-based surveillance camera can detect threats based on certain patterns. If, suppose, someone is seen using an ATM while keeping the face covered, it is seen as a red flag," he said, adding that other triggers include tailgating into the ATM, entering multiple times, going to bank branches and not performing any transactions but just loitering around.

That apart, AI systems can also identify weapons and alert law enforcement, Agrawal said, adding that these technologies are not very expensive.

SBIs move to implement centralized surveillance across its branches marks a transformative shift in the banking sector, embracing tech-driven security and real-time operational oversight," said Manjunath Rao, advisor for managed services, CMS Info Systems.

CMS offers cash management, managed services like providing software solutions for ATMs, and remote monitoring of ATMs, among others. Rao added that SBIs initiative enhances security, accelerates risk mitigation, ensures compliance, and improves operational efficiency.

That said, e-surveillance as a practice is not limited to tracking threats through cameras and at physical locations. E-surveillance primarily means using data and technology to monitor all electronic aspects, which is different from physical surveillance where banks used to have physical security services.

Kailash Prabhu, partner for risk consulting and financial services at EY India, said such surveillance includes emails, chats and, for traders, portals used to communicate with brokers and customers.

E-surveillance in this space looks at whether the person is indulging in market manipulation activities like spoofing, quote stuffing, etc., and also to detect potential risks like insider trading," said Prabhu. From a risk and compliance perspective, e-surveillance is also done to check the conduct of the person and for early identification of market abuse behaviour."

For perspective, in November 2023, e-surveillance solutions provider iVIS said it will strengthen the branch-level security operations of private sector lender ICICI Bank. This would include ATMs and cash counter operations with real-time threat mitigations, remote security management and automated response systems.

iVis said in a statement that it is skilled in its e-surveillance segment with a central command centre in its Hyderabad office that oversees 20,000 ATMs and banking sites across the country.
Biocon Biologics Ltd expects a significant rise in demand for its insulin products across geographies in the coming months and years, managing director and chief executive Shreehas Tambe said on Friday.

What we are certainly seeing is an increasing demand for our insulin productsnot just in the US and Europe but also in emerging markets," Tambe told Mint in an interview. We consider diabetes and insulin particularly as a big differentiator [for us] because the world is going to need insulin and it's not going away," Tambe added.

Also Read | Biocon Biologics to sell India branded formulations biz to Eris for 1,242 cr

Tambe said the company, a subsidiary of the Bengaluru-based Biocon Ltd, has five products in the pipeline for launch in the US, including Bevacizumab in oncology, insulin Aspart in diabetes, and Ustekinumab in autoimmune therapy. The company is also awaiting approval for its biosimilar Denosumab, used to treat osteoroposis, after which the product will be launched. Biocon also has three products lined up for launch in Europe.

Also Read | Biocon Biologics integrates Vitaris biosimilars business

The biggest tailwind that weve is that the therapy areas that we operate in happen to be the therapy areas that global healthcare spends are aligned ondiabetes, oncology and autoimmune diseases. And if you look at the portfolio that we have, it completely aligns with them," Tambe said.

First year as fully-integrated global business

The quarter ended December marked the business completing one year as a fully-integrated global biosimilars company after the acquisition of US drugmaker Viatris global biosimilars business.

The company had earlier said it hoped to grow its market share of its existing products in key markets. In the last quarter, its US market share for its oncology biosimilars grew significantlyTrastuzumabs market share doubled to 22% year-on-year, while Pegfilgrastims share grew to 23% from 19% a year ago. The shares of the insulin portfolio, which includes Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn) and unbranded Insulin Glargine, continued to be in the mid-to-high teens, including all channels. Market share of Semglee grew to 18%, including all channels.

Also Read | Biocon Biologics ahead of plan in integrating Viatris

We've said that we've got headroom for growth in Europe. We haven't done as much as we could because there is an opportunity thereWe have eight products already approved [and] three more will be launched in the next two years. So, clearly, a lot more headroom for us to work in Europe," Tambe said.

Biocon posted its results for the third quarter on Thursday. In Q3FY25, the biosimilars business grew 14% year-on-year to 2,289 crore on a like-to-like basis, after adjusting for the Branded Formulations India (BFI) revenue and income, which has since been divested.

Biocon buys back investor stake

On Thursday, parent company Biocon Ltd said its board had approved the acquisition of a 1.5% equity stake in Biocon Biologics for 550 crore from one of its existing investors who had exercised the liquidity option. It is not yet known who the investor is and Biocon did not immediately comment on it.

Biocon Biologics has earlier raised capital from Goldman Sachs, True North, Tata Capital and ADQ.

There was a requirement for an equity investment to be swapped and Biocon Limited stepped in to do that," Tambe said.

The Biocon Group reported Q3FY25 operating revenue of 3,821 crore, adjusted for the divested BFI business, reflecting a 10% year-on-year growth. Total revenue for the quarter was 3,856 crore, a 7% increase. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the quarter was 787 crore, up 16% from the previous year on a like-for-like basis. Net profit plunged 96% from 660 crore in Q3FY24 to 25 crore. The third quarter in FY24 had been significantly boosted from the Branded Formulations India (BFI) business units divestment.
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.
Indian steel majors Tata Steel Ltd and JSW Steel Ltd experienced strong domestic demand in the December quarter (Q3FY25), which helped offset a 12-13% drop in realization for both companies.

Tata Steels standalone Ebitda declined 8% year-on-year, but was 24% higher than analysts estimates, supported by lower other expenses and 8% growth in volumes. Ebitda is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization; it is a key measure of profitability for companies.

Ebitda per tonne was still down 16% to 14,200 due to lower realization and firm raw material prices. The companys European operations, accounting for 38% of consolidated revenue in the first nine months of FY25, recorded lower losses of 740 crore in Q3 vis-a-vis 2,900 crore last year. Fixed cost for the UK operations declined by about 80 per tonne (about 8,600) after manpower was reduced following the closure of the blast furnace. Losses for Netherlands business also decreased, aided by lower energy costs.

Also Read: Bruised by rising imports, steelmakers pin New Year hopes on safeguard duty

JSW Steel recorded a similar performance, beating analysts estimates despite a 22% decline in its consolidated Ebitda, supported by 12% growth in volumes. The decline in Ebitda per tonne was sharper at 30% to 8,300. The management has projected coking coal prices to come down by 800-1,200 per tonne in Q4 along with marginally lower iron ore prices, which should help improve its profitability.

Tata Steel has largely completed its expansion with 5 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) Kalinganagar facility commissioned in September, and limited capex planned for FY26. JSW Steel has several ongoing projects across downstream, captive iron ore mining and slurry pipeline.

The ramp-up of 5 mtpa expansion at Vijayanagar is in progress, whereas the 1 mpta expansion at its subsidiary, Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd achieved full capacity during the quarter. It had also acquired a 20% stake in a coking coal mine in Q2FY25 which would provide about 1.2 mtpa of coking coal from April. A Kotak Institutional Equities report projects JSW Steels Ebitda per tonne to increase to 13,200 in FY27, along with 9% volume growth over FY24-27.

While the domestic outlook remains strong, Tata Steel is facing profitability issues for its Netherlands plant, with spreads hitting their lowest point since 2016. The spreads could get worse in Q4 with further decline in realization after annual contract renewals. The unit also faces uncertainty related to its clean energy transition.

Also Read: Tata Steel investors may remain jittery amid delayed revival in European operations

The management has indicated its keenness to undertake a restructuring exercise involving reduction of manpower and fixed costs. Encouragingly, its subsidiary, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, achieved full capacity utilization and improvement in Ebitda by 3,000 per tonne, with better economies of scale. The unit has achieved Ebitda margin of 20%, up from 13% in Q2.

From their respective 52-week highs, Tata Steel's share price has declined almost 30% with limited growth visibility, whereas JSW Steel has fared better with a decline of 12% as the outlook remains strong. According to Bloomberg data, the stocks are trading at enterprise values of 6.8x and 8.9x FY26 estimated Ebitda, respectively.

To be sure, the near-term prospects appear bright on account of falling input costs, lower imports, and expected government capex in Q4FY25. Volume gains from the ramp-up of Kalinganagar for Tata Steel and Vijayanagar for JSW Steel would be key triggers for the stocks. The icing on the cake would be an announcement of safeguard duties, which the industry is eagerly waiting for.

Also Read | Budget 2025: Infra spending, safeguard duty top steel industry's wish list
Shares of Bajaj Finance Ltd surged more than 6% on Thursday, hitting a 52-week high of 8,250.65 after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The results underscored the companys aggressive asset growth, improving credit quality, and expanding digital footprintbolstering its reputation as one of Indias most formidable non-banking financial players.

Despite macroeconomic headwinds, Bajaj Finance delivered a resilient performance, raising both investor optimism and target prices among analysts. While some remain cautious over valuation concerns and rising credit costs, the broader consensus points to sustained long-term growth.

Read this | Bajaj Finance stock may face near-term pain as it marches ahead on growth, seeking wider market share

Q3 earnings beat

Bajaj Finance reported an 18% year-over-year rise in consolidated net profit to 4,308 crore, surpassing Bloombergs estimate of 4,136 crore. Net interest income (NII) jumped 23% to 9,382 crore, supported by a 28% increase in assets under management (AUM) to 3.98 lakh crore. Fee income also expanded 17%, reinforcing revenue momentum.

The company also recorded a 26% rise in net total income to 11,673 crore, while pre-provisioning operating profit (PPOP) grew 27% to 7,805 crore, reflecting strong underlying profitability. The capital adequacy ratio (CRAR) stood at a solid 21.57%, with tier-I capital at 20.79%, reinforcing financial stability and reassuring investors about Bajaj Finances ability to sustain growth while keeping leverage under control.

Despite robust earnings, asset quality saw slight deterioration. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) rose to 1.12% from 0.95% a year earlier, while net NPAs climbed to 0.48% from 0.37%. This uptick pushed provisions for loan losses to 2,043 crore, a steep increase from 1,248 crore last year.

Customer acquisition remained strong, with 5.03 million new customers added in the quarter, bringing the total base to 97.12 million. Loan disbursals also hit a record 12.06 million, up 22% year-over-year.

Brokerage view

Bajaj Finances strong Q3 performance has prompted several global and domestic brokerage firms to raise their target prices, citing robust earnings visibility and a stable credit outlook. However, opinions diverge on short-term upside, with some analysts expressing caution over valuations and asset quality risks.

Bullish calls dominate

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its Overweight rating, raising its target price to 9,300, citing sustained lower stressed asset formation and managements guidance for reduced credit costs.

Jefferies maintained its Buy recommendation with a target of 9,270, pointing to strong loan growth and improving asset quality. Valuations at 4.4x FY26 PB are attractive for high growth and RoE (20%), hence we retain BAF among top picks," it noted in a report.

Nomura raised its target to 9,000, emphasizing Bajaj Finances ability to exceed profit estimates due to lower credit costs and AUM expansion.

HSBC revised its price-to-book value multiple to 5x for FY26, lifting its target to 8,900 while maintaining a Buy recommendation.

Citi Research increased its target price to 9,060 from 8,150, highlighting stable net interest margins (NIMs) and a controlled credit cost environment.

Emkay Global revised its FY25-27 estimates upward by 2.5%, reinforcing its Buy stance with a new target of 8,800.

Cautious voices

Despite the upbeat outlook, some analysts remain wary.

UBS issued a Sell rating with a target of 6,500, citing concerns over declining return on assets (RoA) and fluctuations in asset quality.

Bernstein placed an Underperform rating with a target of 6,400, warning of potential challenges in Bajaj Finances asset mix as it expands into newer lending segments.

Read this | Bajaj Finance pivots to profitability with AI, scales back payments ambitions

While opinions on short-term upside vary, the broader consensus suggests that Bajaj Finances solid earnings trajectory, disciplined expansion, and digital transformation position it well for long-term growth.

Future roadmap: Growth with caution

Looking ahead, Bajaj Finance aims to grow its AUM by 25% in FY26 and expand net profit by 20-25%. The company is also targeting sub-2% credit costs, supported by improved collection efficiencies.

"Saw better collection efficiency in December and we have pruned businesses in the last two quarters, with the largest contribution from two-wheeler loan book winding down," managing director Rajeev Jain said in a post-earnings call. We have cut growth in used car loans by 31% and as losses in the rural B2C portfolio peaked out."

With credit costs expected to moderate in Q4 FY25, analysts believe that profitability will likely remain strong. The company is prioritizing sustainable expansion, balancing rapid growth with asset quality disciplinea strategy expected to bolster investor confidence and drive further stock appreciation.

Bajaj Finance is reshaping its business model through digital innovation while aggressively expanding its customer base. The company recorded its highest-ever quarterly increase in customers, adding 5.03 million in Q3 FY25. Its total customer base surged 21% year-over-year to 97.12 million, while new loans booked hit a record 12.06 million.

At the core of its digital push is the BFL 3.0 initiative, which integrates AI-driven processes across operations to enhance revenue, cut costs, and improve risk management. The company is also deploying a multi-cloud strategy and zero-trust security framework to strengthen its digital infrastructure.

Additionally, Bajaj Finance has scaled up its digital lending initiatives, leveraging AI-powered analytics and automated credit assessment tools to deepen customer engagement. As Indias fintech ecosystem evolves, the company is positioning itself as a leader in AI-driven lending, a move that could fuel exponential growth in the coming years.

Airtel partnership

In a landmark move, Bajaj Finance announced a strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel, gaining access to a potential 200-million-strong customer base distinct from its existing franchise. The alliance will allow Bajaj Finance to launch nine financial products on Airtels platforms, significantly expanding its digital lending footprint.

Analysts see the partnership as a game-changer, enhancing customer acquisition and reinforcing Bajaj Finances presence in retail lending. The company has already rolled out two pilot products, with the full suite expected to launch by March 2025. This expansion into telecom-backed lending platforms underscores Bajaj Finances ambition to dominate Indias digital credit ecosystem.

Leadership transition

Amid its growth momentum, Bajaj Finance is navigating a leadership transitionone of investors key concerns.

Long-time managing director Rajeev Jain, who has led the company since 2007, is expected to remain involved in strategic decision-making. Deputy CEO Anup Saha is the likely successor, a move seen as ensuring continuity and minimal disruption.

Jain has reiterated his commitment to staying actively engaged in shaping Bajaj Finances future. "This is how I would look at the future role, subject to how the board decides," he said in a post-earnings call.

Market analysts believe Jains continued presence will help maintain strategic direction, reassuring investors during the transition. The company has been working on a 15-month succession plan, with final decisions expected by March.

Also read | Gold auctions on the rise as NBFCs look to clean up books on RBI diktat, rise in prices

By balancing high-growth expansion with financial discipline, digital transformation, and leadership stability, Bajaj Finance is positioning itself for sustained long-term success.

Investor takeaway

With strong earnings momentum, a disciplined approach to credit costs, and an aggressive digital expansion strategy, Bajaj Finance remains a top pick among Indias financial stocks.

Also read | Bajaj Housing Finance business model risk is low, but valuation risk is high

While near-term riskssuch as management transition and valuation concernspersist, the companys long-term growth prospects remain compelling.

About the author: Suchitra Mandal is a financial writer with expertise in delivering well-researched insights and detailed analyses of companies' performance and market trends.
Smallcap stocks are gasping for air. A mix of economic uncertainties, earnings pressures, and relentless FII outflows has sent them into a tailspin, wiping out recent gains .

With no clear bottom in sight, investors are left wondering: Is this just a correctionor the start of something bigger?

History might have some answers.

Source: Ace Equity

The table above captures previous peaks of the BSE Smallcap Index, the extent of its declines, and the time taken for the index to recover to its previous highs.

In the last two decades, the recoveries have taken 3 to 4 years (January 2018 correction) and even 10 years (2008 correction). While this may be unsettling, my long-term view on smallcaps remains positive.

Smallcaps are the cogs and wheels that will help the economy and bigger companies running, and hence will remain not just relevant, but crucial.

Looking beyond the near term, a selective and patient approach to small-cap investingfocusing on business quality and margin of safetycan lead to strong outcomes.

A huge number of the listed companies are smallcaps. Thus, irrespective of the correction, there is always value in some businesses for those who scratch the surface. This universe is growing with more companies coming to the markets through initial public offerings (IPOs).

Smallcap offer a good number of options to choose from in terms of themes and megatrends.

For instance, until a few years ago, small-cap stocks were a prime hunting ground for investors seeking exposure to sectors like travel, tourism, hospitality, and the burgeoning financialisation of savings.

Both BSE and CDSL, the multibagger stocks of this decade, belonged to the smallcap space until a few years ago.

Also read: Why this company is a strong bet on India's capital market growth

Megatrends like EMS and AI have already played out in the small-cap space with companies like PG Electroplast, Dixon, and Netweb leading the charge.

While these themes have gained traction, trending narratives call for caution. The key to a successful investment lies not just in opportunity size but in effective execution.

A blind bet on themes can disappoint. A prime example is the smart meter initiative. Despite a target of 250 million smart meters by 2025, only 18 million meters had been installed as of earlier this month.

Another example is Borosil Renewable - India's first and largest solar glass manufacturer. When the solar theme was being blindly chased, the stock was bid up to 70 times PE (price to earnings) and beyond.

But even when the solar story was going strong, tailwinds could not help this market leader. Its pricing eroded amid imports from China and other emerging economies when anti-dumping duties were removed.

Both the business and the stock price performance disappointed. The profits have shrunk, the debt has gone up, and the return ratios have turned negative.

Also read: IPOs are back on the menu for India's rising elite

In the end, the success of this business boiled down to regulations (counting on anti-dumping duties), and not so much on the solar theme.

That could turn out to be the story for a lot of tips being circulated in the name of thematic investing.

In short, one has to be mindful of risks emerging from disruption, competition, and regulations while betting on the next big thing.

In thematic stocks, growth can be either value-accretive or value-destructive. The latter often involves massive investments but yields poor returns on capital.

Developing an immunity to the fear of missing out (FOMO) is essential for long-term wealth creation. In a market where information asymmetry is narrowing and analytical insights are sometimes misused to justify valuations, patience becomes the cornerstone of sustainable investing.

With that cautionary note out of the way, lets explore areas of opportunity in the small-cap space.

A compelling pattern has emerged from recent earnings analysis.

Discretionary spending is on the rise, while industries catering to the mass market and bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers are experiencing a slowdown.

This trend underscores the widening income divide and shifting affordability dynamics. While lower-income segments see limited momentum, the aspirations of Indias rising middle class are driving demand beyond basic necessities.

Sectors such as restaurants, hotels, travel, electronics, and alcohol are outperforming traditional FMCG and agriculture.

Within the auto industry, SUVs are gaining market share. The demand for luxury cars, premium watches, high-end brands, and upscale real estate is surging.

A striking example is Apples rise in Indiaits smartphone market share has climbed to 4% in 2024 from just 1% in 2019. In FY24, Apples revenue from India surpassed $8 billion, exceeding Hindustan Unilevers revenue.

The premiumisation theme is unfolding across Indias consumption landscape. This shift could serve as a critical indicator of where wealth creation opportunities lie in the years ahead.

The 'premiumisation' of the economy

Source: Ace Equity

In the smallcap universe, there is another way in which premiumisation is unfolding. The companies are moving away from commoditised offerings to niche or premium offerings that come with margin expansion along with less competition.

Some examples include Garware Hitech where margins are expanding because of growth in high margin B2C (business to consumer) products.

Shaily Engineering is moving from the commoditised segment of plastic engineering to niche segments in healthcare.

Mayur Uniquoters is increasing the share of business from exports to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This is positive for margins.

Also read: Five fastest growing cement stocks to watch out for in 2025

As mentioned earlier, opportunity size alone is not enoughexecution is what truly drives success. These industries and companies are actively capturing that potential.

Among the various themes, premiumisation stands out as one of the most compelling. In the current market correction, these companies are worth keeping on the watchlist.

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.com
At the Barbican, London, a recently concluded exhibition, The Imaginary Institution of India , featured nearly 150 artworks by over 30 artists done between the years 1975 and 1998, a period of drastic sociopolitical change in Indian history. The works distilled historically significant episodes as well as intimate moments and shared experiences". Among the variety of mediums and themes on showcase were Savindra Sawarkars potent etchings on themes of caste and untouchability.

Sawarkar has often been described as one of the first Indian gallery artists to foreground the Dalit experience of caste as an aesthetic mode", as mentioned in a 2022 article in Scroll about his practice. He has, over time, created a unique vocabulary featuring Buddhist imagery and social symbols attached with caste. And yet, in the prime of his practice, between 1980s to early 2000s, Sawarkar showcased his work primarily with Lalit Kala Akademis Garhi Studio in Delhi, outside of the private gallery scene.

That was a time when art practices around anti-caste narratives were missing from the mainstream. Why did that happen? This is a question that we are still seeking answers to," says contemporary artist Vikrant Bhise, who tells stories of his personal experiences of caste politics and Ambedkarite consciousness.

Things have started changing slowly in the past decadebut not without effort. Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters and co-editor, The Radical in Ambedkar, in his 2023 essay Dalit Art, cites the example of Pramodbabu Ramteke, who experimented with art forms, ultimately validating his subjects and themes through philosophical theories on Dalit life. Ramteke received a retrospective titled Open Mind at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai in 2021, which included over 250 artworks. It was the first time that a Dalit artist was recognized in this way, and it took four years of lobbying and fending off aspersions," he writes.

Today, contemporary artists such as Bhise, Prabhakar Kamble, Smita Urmila Rajmane, Tejswini Narayan Sonawane, Sajan Mani, Rahee Punyashloka and Jaisingh Nageswaran are presenting their unique vocabularies of resistance and solidarities both within and outside of the mainstream art ecosystem.

Also read: Why curators are the caregivers of the art world

In another essay, What and Who is Art For? A New Generation of Dalit Artists have some Answers published in 2024 in ArtReview, Yengde writes, A Dalit as a creator and a subject is a new form now visible in galleries, art festivals and commissioned works. Its important to say that the Dalit does not exist apart from the world. The Dalit artist is finding a kinship with the outcastes of the wider world, not least via the lineage of colonisation but also through the modern archives that these communities have created It is incumbent upon the art world to take notice of this and theorise this freshness."

In some cases, the artists have taken on the onus to bring about a change. Multidisciplinary artist Siddhesh Gautam, who goes by the moniker Bakery Prasad and focuses on the visual documentation of Indias anti-caste movement, has co-conceptualised a magazine, All That Blue. He works on it with journalist Bhumika Saraswati, photographers such as Nageswaran and Anurag Banerjee, artist Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar and book designer Sharath Ravishankar to highlight practices that are often excluded from the mainstream narrative. He feels that often only stories of violence and oppression are considered valid enough as anti-caste narratives, but moments of joy, solidarity and challenges of daily living are ignored.

A critical turn is gradually coming about. Rahee Punyashloka, an artist, writer, researcher and experimental filmmaker who lives between Bhubaneswar and Delhi, attributes this to the growing conversation in the Global North" on marginalisation. The Indian art infrastructure has no choice but to answer those questions as well. That is why we are able to get whatever little representation that now exists. But I feel this course correction is a good thing," he says.

Bhise first showed at the India Art Fair in 2021, where Delhi-based Anant Art Gallery marked half the booth for his works responding to the cases related to Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi who died by suicide in 2016 and 2019 respectively. Since then he has shown his scrolls and multi-panelled paintings as part of an eponymous solo at Anant Art and the two-person exhibition, We Will See, at Experimenter last year. He is also showing his work at the upcoming Indian Art Fair at the booths of both the galleries.

At the 2024 edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival, Sri Vamsi Matta presented a performance piece, Come Eat with Me, about the close relationship between caste and food. The artist began with personal stories and oral histories from his own community, weaving in existing literature and academic insights.

Also read: 15 years of KNMA: The shape-shifting museum

Through themes of oppression, solidarity, grief, and joy, the piece culminated in a shared mealinviting audiences to not only witness these narratives but to actively participate in them, sharing their own experiences around caste and food," says Smriti Rajgarhia, director, Serendipity Arts Foundation and Arts Festival.

In 2022, the foundation commissioned a publication, Imaginable Worlds: Art, Crisis and Global Futures, in collaboration with Chicagos Smart Museum of Art. It featured an essay on Dalit art as politics by Yengde and artworks by Kamble, Rajyashri Goody, Narayan Sonawane, Manish Harijan and others. The goal has never been just representation for the sake of it, but rather a deeper engagement that allows for meaningful dialogue and impact. By bringing these narratives to the foreas integral parts of our artistic landscapewe hope to challenge perceptions, create space for difficult conversations" she says.

View Full Image Rahee Punyashloka posts his digital illustrations under the moniker Artedkar. Courtesy: the artist

Art as witness

Bhise did not set out to be an artist initially. He was part of the labour force, working as a courier delivery person in Mumbai. He had grown up in Vikhroli in a neighbourhood deeply rooted in Dalit literature, poetry and songs. Raje Dhale, writer-activist, artist, co-founder of Dalit Panthers and a relative of Bhises, also stayed there.

Dhale inspired Bhise to take up art studies first at the Raheja School of Art and then at Sir J.J. School of Art. It was a second birth for me in a way," says the artist. His experience of being part of the labour force started to inform his practice in which he initially focused on farmers lives and hardships faced in rural areas.

The pause during the covid-19 pandemic led Bhise to read more Ambedkarite literature. Thats when he connected what he was reading with what was happening around him. Those who read these books would know, but what about those who dont? My art is not for adornment, but it is art as witness, art as an archive for future generations of the moment we have lived in," he says.

Digital media has become an important means of democratising art and making it accessible. Punyashloka, for instance, started by creating video works, which were exhibited at venues such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Tribeca Film Festival, New York. He then took a break and applied to be a doctoral candidate at the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Also read: How the Constitution inspires artists

Around that time, he also started to create digital art on Instagram under the moniker Artedkar. I would like to term it an online intervention. The idea of constructing online solidarities still deeply fascinates me," says Punyashloka, who terms his work as Artedkar as just one aspect of his broader practice that covers literature, experimental video and more.

For artists like Gautam, expressing their voice is important so that their stories are not misrepresented or misappropriated. We have been expressing ourselves but not documenting those voices. We need to do that to create better representation," he adds.

Resisting binaries

Often the messaging around identity can be linear and stereotypical, and thats why lens-based practitioner Jaisingh Nageswaran, who has curated Vaanyerum Vizhuthugal at the ongoing Chennai Photo Biennale, wants to resist singular narratives. He has brought together 12 lens-based artists of Tamil origin, including Aishwarya Arumbakkam, Krithika Sriram, Sathish Kumar, Osheen Siva and Steevez, to express their take on contradictions and complexities around identity, instead of having a nostalgia-swept view of it. This is an extension of his personal practice in which he draws on his family history and then creates connections with broader social realities of exclusion.

For Nageswaran, it is important to tell inspiring stories such as of his grandmother, a rebel who started a school in Vadipatti 70 years ago not just for Dalit children but for others as well. Besides her, he counts artist Chandruor G. Chandrasekaran, who taught at the College of Fine Arts in Chennai until his retirementhis biggest inspiration. He told me to translate my lived experiences into my work," he says.

Over the years, Nageswaran noticed several photography exhibitions taking place in Chennai, which were put together by external curators. He would often wonder if he had to present work rooted in the local culture, what would his presentation style be like. The moment came five years ago when filmmaker Pa Ranjith started a festival to mark the Dalit History Month in April. There Nageswaran didnt just exhibit his work but also wrote a curatorial note for the first time.

That made me confident to apply to the Curatorial Intensive South Asia (CISA) 2023 fellowship," he says. CISA is an initiative of Khoj International Artists Association and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan for young curators from South Asia.

Also read: The women architects of Indias Constitution

View Full Image Alina Tiphagnes work at the exhibition Vaanyerum Vizhuthugal, curated by Jaisingh Nageswaran. Courtesy: Chennai Photo Biennale

Drawing on his research and experience at CISA for his exhibition at the Chennai Photo Biennale, he decided to bring in Tamil voices that were rooted in local culture and history. He also commissioned works that brought a different perspective to lens-based practices. So, in the show, on view till 16 March, Krithika Sriram has responded to writer Bamas novel Karukku. Photographer Alina Tiphagnes work delves into family history, weaving in mythologies to create powerful visual narratives. Graphic and public artist Osheen Siva, originally from Tiruvannamalai and based in Goa, has created a soundscape.

Osheen is not a photographer but a graphic artist and muralist. I came across her work as a DJ on her social media stories. There was this visual artist, who could also create sound," Nageswaran says. So, Osheen created Palakural, an immersive audiovisual installation, which delves into the multiplicity of Tamil Nadu.

It is these intersections that appeal to artists. Nageswaran wants the art ecosystem to look beyond binaries. I dont want to have the identity of only a Dalit photographer. I have lived the Dalit experience, but I am not limited to just that. I dont want to be boxed or caged," he says.

Punyashloka, however, feels that this is difficult terrain to negotiate, especially within certain art spaces and institutions. It is almost impossible to be a person. You are foremost a beneficiary as a Dalit artist," he says. There needs to be a critical departure from this obvious depiction of what a Dalit artist should speak about. However, it is only when the obvious layer is formulated, we can move on to more complex subjects. We need to create a net of signifiers in the beginning to move onto the next phase. And that responsibility also lies with the curator to make sure that we dont just become, Oh, this Dalit artist is talking about oppression. There has to be a way to move ahead from that."
In 2010, when art collector and philanthropist Kiran Nadar opened her eponymous museum, the idea of a private museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art was a novel one for India. Back then, not-for-profit art foundations set up by collectors, patrons and artistsDevi Art Foundation, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, JSW Foundation and Khoj Studios, to name a fewto encourage collaboration and exchange were just taking baby steps. The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, or KNMA, became an integral part of this landscape as one of the first private museums in the country.

The museumspread across two spaces in Saket, Delhi, and Noida, Uttar Pradeshwas a result of Nadars fascination with art. Both in her collecting style and the programming at the museum, Nadar has displayed an unconventional attitude. She surprised everyone by picking Rameshwar Brootas Runners, a monochrome depicting a nude male torso, early in her collecting journey. Early on at KNMA, in 2014, she and director-chief curator Roobina Karode put together a three-part retrospective of Nalini Malani, You Cant Keep Acid in a Paper Bag, the first time the artists vast oeuvre and her engagement with video art was showcased.

The focus on strong practices, especially of women artists, continued with shows of Nasreen Mohamedi, Arpita Singh, Anupam Sud, Zarina, Mrinalini Mukherjee and Jayashree Chakravarty. In recent years, themed exhibitions such as MIRROR/ MAZE: Echoes of Song, Space, Spectre and The Elemental Youthe first in a series on the practice of South Asian diaspora artists curated by Akansha Rastogihave considered different aspects of the ecological and sociopolitical stimuli around us.

Over the last few years, the museum has expanded its scope from the visual arts alone to performing arts as well. The programming has also moved beyond the museum space to venues such as Delhis Sunder Nursery, a park that is home to six World Heritage tomb-gardens dating back to the 16th century, and is buzzing with picnicking families during winter.
At the Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, a set of absurdist, exaggerated fibreglass sculptures come into view. Watching Reels Makes this Easier shows a figure attempting push-ups while being immersed on his phone; another one, Im Like this only for Instagram, features a person wearing a Chanel T-shirt, seated on a Louis Vuitton couch, petting his dog. Viraj Khannas latest show, Brain Rot, is a satirical commentary on the hyper-digital lives that we lead, and the impact of the screen on the way we project our personalities to shape perceptions. On view till 9 February, it is not just the theme of the works that is interesting but its materiality as well. Khanna has been pushing the boundaries of embroidery and textile art with every show. And in this one, he has embroidered artificial leaves and flowers on astroturf before placing the sculptures on them. Brain Rota reference to Oxford Dictionarys word of 2024features hand-embroidered textiles as well, which also contemplate the psychological impact of technology on our daily lives.

If Khanna innovates with embroidery, Varanasi-based artist Debashish Paul looks at the fluidity of textile forms to explore and express his queer identity. For performances such as Me and My Pets, the artist crafts sculptural dresses, which dont subscribe to any gender norms.

Artist Gurjeet Singh too uses textile to counter heteronormative stereotypes and queerphobia. In his soft sculptures, scrap fabric is stitched together in multiple layers to create a literal and metaphorical thick skin. His work, seeks ways to build resilience Singhs figures manifest as eccentric, phallic forms with exaggerated facial features. It demonstrates his realisation that reciprocating with anger is the least productive response to words of abuse. Capturing experiences of severe discomfort, his works simultaneously embody a quiet defiance," states a curatorial note by Chemould CoLab, Mumbai, which has been exhibiting the artists work.

Contemporary artists are telling many a story through the crafts of stitching, darning and weaving. They are combining textileand the immense possibility it holdswith sculpture, performance, video, painting, paper work, to create unique visual vocabularies.

Also read: Why curators are the caregivers of the art world

The path was paved for this in post-independent India, with artists such as Mrinalini Mukherjee, Nelly Sethna and Monica Correa creating avant-garde art using fabric and fibre. They drew on the subcontinents history of textile making and tried to blur the lines between high art and skill-based craft. Mukherjees hemp fibre sculptures, Correas rhythmic weaves inspired by the energy of nature and Sethnas mobile sculptures demonstrated layered practices.

While they were considered pioneers in this field, it is only recently that the number of artists actively working with textile art has risen. In a recent essay, Painting with the Needle, accompanying an exhibition of contemporary artist Alamu Kumaresans textile portraits, art historian and curator Lina Vincent writes: Embroidery and textile arts are often associated with craft, and relegated to womens domestic work. While the Arts and Crafts Movement led by William Morris in the mid-19th century brought certain primacy to stitching, it is only recently that these mediums are achieving the recognition they deserve as a means of contemporary artmaking. This is through the efforts and sustained practices of prominent artists like Sheila Hicks, Olga de Amaral, Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui, Indian artist Mrinalini Mukherjee, Pascal Monteil and younger generation practitioners like Jacqueline Qui, Ana Teresa Barboza and Faig Ahmed to name a few."

This renewed focus on textile was also the subject of Katya Kazakinas 2022 The Art Detective column for ArtNet News Pro in which she wrote about its significance at a time of broader cultural reckoning over race and inequality. Its no coincidence that textiles are being actively and intentionally used by artists of color, who have also been excluded from the canon of art history, The textile arts have experienced a quiet but steady groundswell of interest in the last decades, and recently Ive noticed that it feels as if it is kicked into a new, even higher level," she wrote. Today, this genre can be seen at every major art fair and biennials such as La Biennale di Venezia 2024.

View Full Image Sagarika Sundaram, Source (2023), hand-dyed wool, wire. Courtesy: Nature Morte

In India too, textile-based practices are being used to explore personal histories, question gender roles and respond to ecological changes. The tactility that the genre affords, along with the opportunity to evoke humour and deep emotion, has helped make complex themes more accessible.

Smriti Rajgarhia, director of Serendipity Arts Foundation, agrees that a growing number of younger artists are turning to textile, embroidery, stitching and weaving as powerful mediums of expression. These labour-intensive practices not only carry deep-rooted cultural and social markers, but can also be reimagined for contemporary subjects. The foundation has been supporting artists who engage with these materials to address themes such as displacement, identity and the climate crisis. This is evident in their projects like Weftscapes, Infinite Forest and Abundance in Scarcity, which celebrated regional textile traditions.

Also read: 15 years of KNMA: The shape-shifting museum

Practitioners of both visual arts and craft create a dialogue together on endangered traditions and techniques. Such practices are now being recognised by foundations and institutions. Asia Society India Centre, for instance, has announced its Asia Arts Future India Award for Bengaluru-based Jayeeta Chatterjee, who depicts the monotony of domestic labour in the lives of middle class women. Whenever she visits a place, she tries to communicate with the local women and document moments from their everyday lives.

What is interesting about Chatterjees process is that she first prepares large woodblocks and then prints the visual on saris collected from the women she portrays in her work. She also makes use of the rural Bengal practice of nakshi kantha stitch in her work.

For its forthcoming edition, to be held in Delhi from 6 February onwards, India Art Fair will be showcasing textile-based works by two of its artists-in-residence, Imon Phukan and Liactuallee. According to Jaya Asokan, director of the fair, Phukans practice draws from indigenous crafts, creating layered narratives that bring together personal history with larger cultural concerns. Liactuallee, on the other hand, investigates the relationship between the body and space, often reimagining the concept of home as both a physical and psychological construct.

Khanna too is showing a new series of paintings at the fair as part of Hyderabad-based Kalakriti Art Gallerys showcase. In the khakha paintings, he uses tracing paper used in the embroidery process. He seeps paint through the needle holes on to paper to create marks, and then further paints on it.

View Full Image Viraj Khanna, 'Im Like This Only For Instagram', courtesy: Tao Art Gallery

Galleries such as Vida Heydari Contemporary (VHC) in Pune and Emami Art, Kolkata, have also stepped up to showcase either theme-based exhibitions around textile art or to include these practices on a regular basis in group shows. VHC, for instance, recently held an exhibition by visual artist Monali Meher, who is known for her unique use of red thread in her video and sculpture works, and has another ongoing show of Kanan Koteshwar. Both highlight how these artists incorporate textile into their multidisciplinary practices.

Emami Art has also shown artists such as Ujjal Dey, Sibaprasad Kar Chaudhuri and Arunima Choudhury, who explore personal histories through textile and fabric, creating pieces around themes of memory, identity, and displacement. One of the standout pieces was an installation by Ujjal Dey in his recent solo, Dawn to Dusk: A Silent Symphony. The artist displayed raw material, method of making natural dye along with video documentation to express the complex layers of cultural history and environmental concerns,"says Ushmita Sahu, director and head curator, Emami Art.

In Delhi, Nature Morte is showing the first ever solo in India of New York-based Sagarika Sundarams works. Titled Polyphony, on view till 23 February, the exhibition spotlights just how intertwined music and abstraction are in the artists practice. She works primarily with hand-made felt and dyes. The dynamic process, during which rolls of raw wool fiber are transformed into monumental sculptures in the hands of the artist, is almost theatrical," states the curatorial note. ...The face of the work reveals itself only when she flips it over and she then cuts open the piece to reveal the layers within."

Also read: Chronicling Mumbais chawls with Amol K Patil

Stemming from the personal

Each of the artistsbe it Alamu, Khanna or Aparajita Jain Mahajanhas a personal story behind their practice. Khanna grew up surrounded by art, textile and embroidery, while watching his mother, designer Anamika Khanna, at work. When he joined the family business, he looked after the embroidery and finance sections. That taught me a lot about different techniques and materials. My current practice has developed from theregiving a contemporary spin to an ancient craft form. I have realised over time that I can express myself best with this medium. My work with thread is imbued with subtle feeling. The energy is more extravagant when I use sequins and beads," he says.

Alamu, who lives and works in Chennai, and Pune-based Mahajan have similar stories to tell. From a young age, they would see their family members work with textiles. While Alamus mother and grandmother would make huge pieces of textile at home, Mahajans mother owned an apparel store, Haveli, which focused primarily on Indian textiles. Mahajan learnt to stitch when she was in boarding school.

As with most textile artists, both started out with a different medium but gravitated towards fabric. The memory of watching needles fly deftly across cloth and of conversations with tailors always stayed at the back of the mind.

Mahajan attended the Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in film, animation and video, and later the Art Students League in New York in 2007. Even as she was meandering for a decade between art and design, Mahajan started painting and began to work with paint, pen and wire. She began to include the textile scraps (katran) within these works even more after the passing of her mother. She started stitching on paper during the covid-19 pandemic.

I use katran, or cut scraps of cloth, from her textiles as marks, paint and colour. I combine them with other mediums such as pen, paint and handmade paper. Sometimes they share space with paper, or I stuff them with cotton, tie them up with thread and make forms. Pen marks are a very important part of my work as I interchange them with stitches. My work lies between the seen and the unseenbetween what is said and unsaid," she says. Mahajan was recently part of a show at VHC , He/Hem, featuring works by six artists who work with stitches on paper, for which she created works focusing on the uncertainties of the pandemic years and the idea of mortality.

Alamu initially painted in oil, but for the past five years she has felt that stitching and embroidery has become a flexible and comfortable medium of self-expression. She started creating portraits of friends and mentors, capturing nuances of their body language and facial expressions. Alamu has created evocative self-portraits, which showcase moments of surrender, where I loosen myself and let go." One of these features her floating in water. While floating in water, thoughts drift by. In rare moments of emptiness, I find a stillness, which I cherish and then capture in my art," she says.

View Full Image From Imon Phukan's 'Wild Thoughts, Wild Child' series. Courtesy: the artist

At the India Art Fair, as part of Anupa Mehta Contemporary Arts showcase, she is showing The Legacy of Melody Dorcas. This is part of her series on the people who have touched her life. Melody had a huge impact on my life. I wanted to capture a projection of what people see her asa young and bubbly young girland how she actually is," says Alamu. So, in the portrait, you see Melody posing on a chair. But a mirror reflects her true self as this idealised self who is ready to fight for equality for people, irrespective of whether she knows them well or not.

Some of the artists are responding to having grown up around old textile traditions. Phukan, for instance, would keep going back to her ancestral village in Assams Sibsagar district, where her grandmother would weave a mekhela chador on the loom at home. She would also visit the famous Fancy Bazar in Guwahati, where new designs and machine-made silk had started coming in.

Also read: How the Constitution inspires artists

She started to collect scraps, confused at first about how to use them. However, Phukan believes that discarded scraps symbolised a wound in her subconscious, connected with losing her father, and she would keep collecting them wherever she went. She moved to Vadodara for her bachelors at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, and started working on paintings. However, paint and colour did not satiate the artist in her.

Around that time, Phukan visited the outdoor bazaars in the city and came across mountains of scrap fabric. It had a sculptural feel to it. I started making small three-dimensional forms out of fabric, layering them with painting," says the 25-year-old, who is now based in London. When she moved to the UK, she discovered many textiles from different cultures at charity shops.

She also started dissecting and cutting saris brought from Assam, with the red fabric giving her a new way of seeing thread as flesh and unknown shapes as bodies. She has since worked with multi-coloured fabric and textures like silk, velvet and leather in what she calls, constructed textiles. This helps her create chaos in order". Her art responds to the tension between the familiar and the unknown. The use of forests as motifs in her work are symbols for her home state and for the mysteriousness of unspoken influences". The authentic nature of textile is not just about texture or colours but as art, carrying narratives of history, culture and lived experiences," says Phukan. Currently, she uses thread for mark making and as repetition. Usually thread is used in a harmonious way. However, I like to scratch, dig through, repeat, stitch and cut in a bid to eke out forms," she says.

The covid-19 pandemic was a changing point in Delhi-based artist Mohd Intiyazs practice. Originally from Jharkhand, the 29-year-old was featured at the Kochi Muziris Student Biennale in 2018 and was selected as a resident artist at the Khoj Peers programme a year later. During the pandemic, there was a shortage of material both in the market and in my life," says Intiyaz, who stays in the Tahirpur neighbourhood of Delhi. The area that I stay in has had a long tradition of exchanging old clothes for utensils. I also had a background in textiles and embroidery as my brother was a tailor back home. I thought of bringing all of those influences into my practice." He was surprised he hadnt thought of this earlier.

Intiyaz started using the sacks in which rations were distributed during the pandemic. Embroidery in my first work was inspired by the Alam (an integral part of Muharram processions). The stitches, in some of my works, became symbols for the superficial beautifications that take place in a city to disguise its actual face," he says.

One of his installations, Dar Badar, featuring metal and fibre casting and textile, is based on personal memories. It reflects on the number of hours that each child has to spend in certain villages to fetch water. When so much time is spent daily on simply fulfilling basic needs, then how will children be able to think ahead about their future?" Intiyaz is also showing a specially commissioned outdoor project at the IAF, supported by Method Art Gallery.

Transcending disciplines

For the artists, every material and medium has a different energy, and by mixing and merging them, they are able to express original ideas. Monali Meher, who lives in Ghent in Belgium, works across video, sculpture and performance. However, the red thread runs like a leitmotif through each of these works. It was in 2002-03 that she started using woollen thread to wrap both personal and found objects.

That was a time of transition, when one kind of technology was giving way to the other. Answering machines were being replaced by mobile phones. So, I wrapped an answering machineI was not just preserving the object but also the messages contained within," she elaborates.

In 2005, she was invited to respond to the works by Viennese Expressionist Egon Schiele as part of the artists retrospective at the Van Gogh Museum. For that, she created a video in which she could be seen covering a knife with thread. Soon after, she started wrapping public spaces.

In 2018, as part of the exhibition, Connecting Threads: Textiles in Contemporary Practice, curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta and Puja Vaish, she wrapped the staircases at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai in red thread. In the 2024 show, He/Hem at VHC, Meher created a series of mixed media drawings on risograph, titled Mindscapes & Scribble, which emerged from her 2022 project, Unknown Landscape. She also marked the drawings with stitches.

Artists believe that textile adds a deep emotive quality to their multidisciplinary works. Phukan, who works with both painting and textile, finds each an extension of the other. I paint during the day and create textiles at night. For me, fabric acts as the lyrics to my work and painting is like a song," she adds.

View Full Image Monali Meher, 'Down To Earth', mixed media, digital photo on canvas, black japan ink, wool and cotton thread. Courtesy: the artist

Acknowledging the collaborators

Textile-based art cannot be made in isolation. Visual art practitioners need to collaborate with craft practitioners to create monumental works, which take expertise and labour. And now artists and craftspersons are acknowledging each other as equal partners in this endeavour.

When Intiyaz made the shift towards textile works, he was very clear that he wanted to work with and support people who came from backgrounds similar to his.

Also read: Jayasri Burman: Maker of myths and memories

I would paint alone, but when it came to textile works, I started working with the local tailors and embroidery artists. The works are now a collaboration between all of us. And in the process of creating something together, each of our experiences and stories comes to the forefront," he explains.

Similarly, Alamu collaborates with specialists in ari embroidery. Each work takes a lot of timea minimum of two months. I start with a strong idea and then let it flow through the colours. My best collaborators are Bhupathi Anna and Ram, who specialise in ari," she adds.

In the contemporary art space

For art institutions and galleries, it is important to acknowledge the deep histories and knowledge embedded in textile traditions while also showcasing contemporary languages. According to Sahu of Emami Art, by focusing on specific techniques such as kalamkari, we can engage with the sustainable, cultural, and environmental aspects of textiles" that are more relevant than ever today.

Art institutions, in this sense, have the responsibility to amplify these practices and challenge preconceived notions about what constitutes high art," Sahu adds. To achieve this, Emami Art recently showcased The Bird That Sings Within, which featured textiles by pioneering natural dye artist Ajit Kumar Das. The works showcased his deep connection to nature, evident through vibrant works inspired by flowers, plants, and birds.

Another show which is creating connections between history and the contemporary is Surface: An Exhibition of Indian Embroideries and Surface Embellishment as Art in Jodhpur. Curated by Mayank Mansingh Kaul, three chapters of the show, organised by not-for-profit Sutrakala Foundation, are being displayed at the heritage venues of Achal Niwas, Anoop Singh ki Haveli and Lakshmi Niwas.

Each venue spotlights a different aspect of the ecology of Indian embroidery and surface embellishment. Especially interesting is the showcase at Lakshmi Niwas, which focuses on how thread work is translated into painting, sculpture and installations.

According to Mansingh Kaul, while embroidery being expressed as sculpture and installation is fairly contemporary, one cannot ignore the historical references to its textural qualities and tactility. Look at the embroidery on heavy metallic objects such as shields, armour and elaborate animal gear and trappings. We tend to think of everything as recent, but even the contemporary stems from legacy and history," he says.

The selection of work in this segment is varied, ranging from a sculptural work by the Chanakya School of Craft and a classic circle dome by Chennai-based designer Jean Francoise Lesage. Some works look at the idea of embroidery as a drawing. (Bengaluru-based artist designer) Swati Kalsis large monumental work, featuring sujuni stitches from Bihar, has a sculptural quality to it. Manisha Parekh, in her creation, instead of using thread, has employed strips of ribbon, with the base of the work being paper and board. It turns the idea of surface embellishment typically being made on cloth. The idea here was to challenge the idea of flat two-dimensional embroidery," elaborates Mansingh Kaul.

Meanwhile, Milaaya Art Gallery in Mumbaiestablished in 2024 by Gayatri Khannais offering contemporary art in hand embroidery by interpreting masterpieces in fibre art. Milaaya, a 25-year-old embroidery studio, has been working on embroidered interpretations of artworks. For its inaugural show, the gallery showcased textile renditions of works by masters such as S.H. Raza, Ram Kumar, and more.

View Full Image The Blank Letter by Ranbir Kaleka rendered in embroidery by craftspersons at Milaaya. Courtesy: Milaaya Art Gallery

At its recent show, Terra:Unraveling the Earths Story in Embroidery, embroiderers have responded to worksboth existing and new onesby artists like Nikhil Chopra, Shaurya Kumar, Ranbir Kaleka, Manjunath Kamath and Rekha Rodwittiya.

Choprathe new curator of the forthcoming Kochi Muziris Biennale along with HH Art Spaceshas responded to the landscape of Goa, his current home. His work engages with the artists personal experience and collective history of the state. Chopras layered narrative about Goas colonial history and natural environment has been interpreted by the embroiderers in silk and cotton threads and a blend of knotting, satin stitches, backstitch, and more. The entire work has taken over 6,000 hours to complete. This kind of work appeals to both seasoned collectors and new ones. The veterans have already been collecting work by these artists and want to add another dimension and layer to their collection. The emerging collectors are looking for something different," says Khanna.

As textile art reveals itself to viewers in new forms and languages, it is important to also look at how curators need to respond to this ever-evolving genre. Many feel that it is not just about displaying textiles as objects but framing them within larger cultural, political and ecological narratives.

According to Sahu, curators have the unique ability to create connections by allowing textile art to be seen through different lenses. By embracing interdisciplinary approaches, curators can bring attention to how these works challenge, subvert, or engage with global issues. Additionally, providing a platform for artists who are working with textiles in non-traditional ways allows for an expansion of the mediums vocabulary, offering new ways for audiences to engage with it," she says.

Also read: Artist Rana Begums distinct language of minimalism
Humanity should be alarmed to note that as far as threats to our existence are concerned, things have never been this bad. Or so the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists concluded after it assessed all risks and reset the so-called Doomsday Clock" at 89 seconds to midnight (which represents our annihilation), one second closer to doom than last year.

This is the closest weve come to that fate on this clock designed during the Cold War in the wake of a nuclear arms race to alert us to the possibility of extinction. Its time is an index of danger. In 1947, when it was first unveiled as a concept, it was set at 7 minutes to midnight. In 1991, after the Soviet Union collapsed, its reading was pushed back to 11.43, a whole 17 minutes away from doom, the least gloomy it has been.

Now, in the time-setting boards view, risks arise from climate change, the scary possibility of the Russia-Ukraine war going nuclear, West Asian tensions worsening and nuke controls weakening, apart from biological warfare, misinformation and the weaponization of artificial intelligence. The clock may be just construct, but it should not be dismissed. We may be closer to catastrophe than we think. This ought to focus our minds.
The chickens are coming home to roost. That might seem an inappropriate statement to make in the context of a central bank. But it may uncannily be true of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today. Why? Because the liquidity tightness of the past few weeks that it is currently trying to address is partly, though not entirely, the consequence of its own proposed new rules on the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of banks.

In July 2024, RBI had suggested that banks assign an additional 5% run-off factorbroadly, the portion of deposits kept handy to cover a surge in withdrawalsfor retail deposits that can be accessed via internet and mobile banking. This category is further split into stable and unstable deposits, with the formers run-off factor raised to 10% from 5% and the latters to 15% from 10%.

The rules, which are still in draft form, are set to take effect on 1 April. They will require lenders to set aside more money in high quality liquid assets (HQLAs), which serve as a buffer to meet unexpected demands for liquidity in case of disruptions.

No doubt, the intent behind the new draft norms is worthy. For two reasons. One, in accordance with the Basel III framework of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, banks are required to maintain sufficient HQLAs to meet 30 days net outgo of funds in stressed conditions. And two, because the greater use of digital banking platforms, be it an internet website or a mobile app, has exposed non-fixed deposits to quick and frequent retail withdrawals.

Consider the snappy use of handsets to scan QR codes for UPI payments. Potentially, easy online transfers can de-stabilize banks. Thats on paper. However, it is important to adapt the Basel norms to Indias own situation. In a scenario where our banks maintain both a cash reserve ratio of 4% and a statutory liquidity ratio of 18%, the case for an overly strict LCR is weak. Especially since banks in India depend on retail rather than wholesale deposits, which means that the kind of collapse witnessed in the case of US-based Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 is highly unlikely, if not impossible.

Inevitably, with banks moving to fall in line with tighter LCR guidelines, liquidity has been drying up within the countrys banking system. This forced RBI to announce a host of measures this week to inject liquidity.

Collectively, these measuresbond purchases, longer-term variable rate repo auctions and dollar/rupee swapsare expected to infuse about 1.5 trillion and ease the liquidity crunch in banking that had pushed up overnight and short-term lending rates. A variable rate repo auction is slated for 7 February 2025, soon after the budget and coinciding with Sanjay Malhotras first Monetary Policy Committee meeting as RBI governor. By then, what the governments borrowing programme implies will be clear.

For now, it is a relief that RBI has acted to ease the crunch. After all, the systems liquidity deficit had reportedly widened to a one-year peak in the previous fortnight. This was not a surprise.

It is estimated that banks may need to buy a sizeable chunk of additional government securities to meet RBIs new LCR norms. They have already expressed their apprehension to both the central bank and finance ministry that the revised rules would constrain their ability to lend; they have also sought a deferral of their implementation. Their plea deserves a hearing.
On 20 January 2025, former President Donald Trump surprised everyone by giving a full presidential pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the man behind Silk Road, a global digital platform on the Dark Web for trading in drugs and other contraband.

Ulbricht is perhaps the worlds first great cybercriminal and has inspired legions of crime entrepreneurs. He was also the first entrepreneur to provide proof of concept of Bitcoin as a digital currency. Interestingly, this pardon in the US does not give him immunity from being tried for money laundering in other countries.

Silk Road was an online marketplace for trading in contraband. It maintained the anonymity of vendors and users through a two-pronged strategy.

First, the platform could be accessed through a special internet browser called Tor, which hides the users real location. Second, suppliers received payment for supply of contraband in Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin wallet addresses are pseudonymous, law enforcement could not pierce through the trades on this platform.

Vendors on Silk Road came from many countrieslike the US, Canada, Germany, Australia and the UK. Over time, it grew into a huge online black market. Between 2011, when Ulbricht started the portal, and 2013, when he was caught, Silk Road facilitated transactions amounting to 9.5 million Bitcoin, which was then worth $1.2 billion. Ulbricht took a commission on each deal, which ranged between 8% and 15% of the sale proceeds.

For years, different law enforcement agencies in the USlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Servicetried to find the person behind Silk Road. Ulbricht was careful not to leave any clues about his identity. But an IRS agent discovered an old post about Silk Road on a public website. In that post, Ulbricht had accidentally used his real name. That slip led to his arrest. About 144,000 Bitcoin found in his personal wallets were seized. He was sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years in prison.

Shocking pardon

Law enforcement agencies in the US devoted significant resources to pursuing Ulbricht and later prosecuting him. The pursuit involved undercover operations, blockchain analysis, digital forensics, coordinated raids and old-fashioned detective work (which finally succeeded).

A multi-agency task force called Baltimore Silk Road Task Force had been set up to pursue him. Two members of it were later convicted of accepting Bitcoin from Ulbricht as bribes.

It is a pity that, after all that work, Ulbricht will just walk out of prison. The Libertarian Party in the US had been asking for his release for a long time, arguing that he did not deserve such a long sentence. Upon issuing the pardon, Trump thundered in a post on his Truth Social platform that The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponisation of government against me."

But is Ulbricht off the hook?

Even though Ulbrichts federal crimes in the US are now forgiven, he is not guaranteed freedom. Since Silk Road facilitated drug deals and money laundering across many countries, he can still be prosecuted in other jurisdictions. Money laundering laws in most countries derive from the standard set by the Palermo Convention, so these countries can prosecute the laundering of proceeds from crime that had originally taken place in another country.

The Silk Road was a global enterprise that enabled drug traffickers to operate by facilitating narcotic payments in many countries. Ulbricht has already been convicted

by the US judiciary, and his presidential pardon does not dispute the conviction. So, if any of these countries decide Ulbricht helped launder drug money there, they can ask for his extradition and put him on trial.

Ulbrichts legacy

While some view Ross as just a criminal mastermind, he has become an emblem of libertarian ideals for many. Libertarianswho espouse personal liberty, autonomy and limited governmentsee him as an entrepreneur who was victimized by an intrusive government.

As one of the earliest entrepreneurs who harnessed digital anonymity for profit, he showed the way for many other underground marketplaces on the Dark Web. His Silk Road also served to accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin, and showcased its potential for peer-to-peer transactions outside the financial system.

Innovator, cybercriminal, role model, launderer: Ulbricht has achieved a lot in his life. As he starts his second innings, he may make not just America, but also the Dark Web great again.

These are the authors personal views.

Smarak Swain is the author of The Great Indian Fraud.
Anna David does not support censoring books. Except when it comes to her own.

Its been nearly 20 years since she wrote her semi-autobiographical novel Party Girl," a sex romp starring a cocaine-snorting magazine writer who boozes it up while chasing celebrity gossip. Its a tale that closely mirrors Davids own downward spiral while a journalist in Hollywood in the 1990s and 2000s, an erratic period that included partying with movie stars, posing nearly nude for Playboy" to accompany her first-person essays for the magazine and landing in rehab with a drug addiction.

Now raising her toddler son, the author regrets aspects of the novel that glorify her wanton younger years. So she came up with a plan: Write a new version, bury the original on the internet and spare her future teenager TMI about his mom.

I just felt like PG-ing some of the NC-17," says David, 54, who regained her rights to the book, which underperformed originally, and just released it through her own publishing company. If embarrassing stuff never dies on the internet, then David hopes to at least put hers into a coma.

Anna David wrote the tamer version to spare her future teenager TMI about his mom, she said.

Davids story is an extreme case from a certain era of now middle-aged writers, once-young literary exhibitionists who bared all in trendy sex-and-dating confessionals without worrying too much about a terrifying future audience: their children. The author has decided to run interference on her written legacy, using the tools of online publishing and the tricks of search engine optimization to bury her original book. Though other writers dont go that far, theyre still nagged by the question: How do they handle their old revealing work when its out there in digital form, a few clicks away from a search-word-savvy child who goes to Amazon for a Lego set and comes back with a parents secrets?

Joe Oestreich, 55, lays out his romantic past in Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll," a 2012 memoir about the many decades he spent in a never-famous rock band. It includes a part in which then 20-year-old Oestreich pursues a romantic relationship with a 15-year-old. His two kids, one of them now 15, know that girl ended up being their mombut they have no idea about all the steamy details with the high-schooler.

My kids dont know that story, and I dont want them to know just yet," says Oestreich, who has been married to their mom for 25 years. In child-rearing, like in memoir writing, theres something to be said for controlling the narrative. You owe them the truth," he says of kids and readers, but not all at once."

Oestreich, who teaches memoir writing at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., encourages his students to think about the intimate moments theyre sharing in their work. The first step of growth for a novice writer is giving themselves the freedom to reveal these kinds of details," he says. I do think that maybe the next step in the development of the writer is to figure out what you dont have to tell. As Ive gotten more experienced, Ive gotten a little bit more guarded."

So far, his own children havent shown any interest in the book, which he leaves lying around so as not to fetishize it." He knows one day hell tell them about the memoirs contents.

Im a writerIm starving for positive feedback at all times," he says. The crushing thing will be if they hate it or if they think its boring." Or, maybe worse, never read it.

Tessa Fontaine, 41, whose 2018 memoir The Electric Woman" chronicled a troubled parent-child relationship, is braced for her daughter to learn that Fontaine questioned her attachment to her own mother.

I really didnt believe that I loved my mom for my whole childhood and adolescence and early 20s," she says. Now that Im a mother, its the most horrifying thing you can imagine, for your kid to feel that way about you. I think it just feels really vulnerable to have that piece of the story out there, as if it could be contagious, as if she would read it and be like, Oh, I, too, feel this way."

Fontaine is still figuring out how shell talk about her past with her daughter, who, at three years old, is a long way from reading the memoir. Eventually, the author hopes the book will build on an ongoing conversation with her child. Shell get to have this private experience of reading about that relationship, and we can keep talking more about it. It gives her this entry point into some of those challenges for me."

Tessa Fontaine, whose memoir The Electric Woman chronicled her troubled relationship with her mother, is still figuring out how shell talk about her past with her daughter.

The Party Girl" rerelease is about more than just creating a clean version for the kids, as the music industry does with songs. Its also a marketing opportunity for a novel that rolled out just after its intended HarperCollins publishing imprint, ReganBooks, folded. David blames that disruption for the lackluster launch of Party Girl." Now she hopes to reposition the book as Quit Lit, a sobriety genre that hadnt taken off when Party Girl" came out in 2007.

Rights to Party Girl" reverted back free to David in 2020, but it took multiple attempts by David, her agent and her lawyer to make the transfer official. The book has been optioned for screen adaptations multiple times, the author says, but no productions are in the works.

David, who battled a cocaine addiction for two years and has been sober since 2000, has written fiction and nonfiction, curated anthologies and co-authored works including actor Tom Sizemores bestselling memoir. In 2018, she founded Legacy Launch Pad Publishing, a hybrid model where author and publisher share the cost of releasing a book. In 2023, her son was born by surrogate and her worldview shifted.

Last year, she spent roughly four months combing through Party Girl," which one critic called crasser than most." She toned down, vagued up and cut out the graphic parts. She excised 32 F-words, a passage involving a vibrator, scenes with sex acts and the more graphic details of a threesome.

She also altered elements she says would get her canceled today, like making the service workers Latino and calling a grinding dancer in a tube top prepubescent."

After all this effort, David knows that if her son eventually wants to see the original book, hell find it. She hopes to mitigate the impact. I just know how embarrassing parents can be anyway to any teenager," she says. I dont really want to add to that."

Write to Ellen Gamerman at ellen.gamerman@wsj.com
In China, DeepSeeks sudden shot to fame with artificial-intelligence models rivaling American ones has inspired a moment of national pride.

In a week where attention on DeepSeeks low-cost AI models caused a bloodbath on Wall Street and propelled DeepSeeks app to the top of iPhone download rankings in the U.S., China was celebrating. Emojis of DeepSeek pride," often with smiling cats or dogs, flooded Chinese social media, adding to the festive Lunar New Year atmosphere.

Chinese state media, as well as tech and business leaders, raved about DeepSeek.

We need to believe that the moon in other countries is not necessarily rounder: Whatever others can do, we can also do it and even do it better," read a profile of DeepSeek, published by the government of Zhejiang province where the company is located.

Local media reported that the small Guangdong province hometown of DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has become a hot destination for tourists during the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday.

In China, the buzz around DeepSeek was a timely confidence boost as the Chinese leadership faces prolonged economic gloom and potentially another trade war with a Trump administration threatening more tariffs.

Feng Ji, co-founder of Game Science, the developer of popular videogame Black Myth: Wukong," hailed DeepSeeks advancement as one that can change a nations fortune."

So lucky, so happy! Such a shocking breakthrough came from a pure Chinese company," he wrote on the Chinese social-media platform Weibo.

Several state-media outlets, including China Daily, went so far as to repost a clip from The Daily Show" where host Jon Stewart facetiously asked: Has Chinese AI put American AI out of a job?"

Zhou Hongyi, chairman of Chinese internet-security firm Qihoo 360, said China has already caught up with the U.S. in the AI race. DeepSeek will definitely be a key member of Chinas Avengers team" in countering the U.S.s AI tech dominance," he said in a video posted on his verified account on Weibo.

U.S. export controls on high-technology equipment and high-performance chips to China have hampered Chinas ability to advance its technologies, although there have been loopholes that allowed Chinese companies to get some access to such technology and chips. Washington is trying to close those loopholes.

Beijing has sharply criticized the controls, calling them malicious attempts to suppress China.

Elsa Kania, an adjunct senior fellow at the bipartisan think tank Center for a New American Security, said Beijings rhetoric around DeepSeeks success suggests a sense of pride and vindication, with state media conveying it as a triumph that a Chinese company has achieved technology advances despite U.S. export controls.

But theres also a sober recognition that U.S. export controls that have been trying to exploit chips as a chokepoint will continue to have major impacts," Kania said. This is a breakthrough, but not a game changer in terms of the fundamentals of the competition."

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said it is investigating whether DeepSeek trained its new chatbot by repeatedly querying the U.S. companys AI models. DeepSeek hasnt commented.

Also discussed is DeepSeeks reticence to dive into topics that are politically sensitive in China. When The Wall Street Journal this week asked it questions on topics that are routinely censored within China, including the so-called taboo three Ts": Tiananmen Square, Taiwan and Tibet, it returned more limited and often propaganda-infused answers.

Meanwhile, an investigation by Cyabra, a disinformation-detection firm, found that some of the hype about DeepSeek was driven by accounts it identified as fake. Cyabra, which examined conversations around DeepSeek on several social-media platforms during the week ended Tuesday, said it had identified 12% of the profiles engaging with the topic on X as fake, using tactics such as synchronized posting and repeating content.

Cyabra said the patterns and tactics employed by the fake profiles closely align with those observed in previous influence operations linked to China. Rafi Mendelsohn, Cyabras chief marketing officer, said there is a very strong chance that these accounts were created by the Chinese government to increase positive discourse around DeepSeek and drown out negative content.

A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed allegations of a state-led effort to promote positive DeepSeek content as groundless. We always oppose attempts to manipulate social media to spread disinformation," said the spokesman, Liu Pengyu.

After DeepSeek said on Monday that it was the victim of large-scale malicious attacks," Chinese social media was rife with speculation that the U.S., or DeepSeeks U.S. rivals, were behind the attack. Some analysts have said the disruption to DeepSeeks services could have been caused by a rise in user demands. DeepSeek said on its website Thursday that a fix had been implemented.

Write to Liyan Qi at Liyan.qi@wsj.com
Two raiders who robbed a Longford bookmakers armed with a can of pepper spray and left staff terrified have been jailed for three and a half years and over two years respectively.

Peter Murphy (42) of 10 St Michaels Court, Longford and Desmond McKeever (46) of 9 St Michaels Court, Longford both pleaded guilty at Longford Circuit Court to the robbery at Boylesports in Longford town on March 3, 2024.



Murphy and McKeever also admitted one separate offence each and they were also sentenced on those matters.



Murphy pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery of Muhammad Muntaz at The Kiosk, 57 Dublin Street on February 21, 2024.

Also read: Power banks, generators and mobile heaters have sold like hot cakes in Longford



Meanwhile, McKeever pleaded guilty to carrying out a burglary and stealing a box of Xanax tablets from Lloyds Pharmacy, Ballinalee Road, Longford on May 2, 2024.



The court heard Murphy owed 2,500 to moneylenders and Mr McKeever also owed drug debt money and he was being put under pressure when they robbed Boylesports.



State barrister Shane Geraghty BL, said two staff members had been behind the counter when the defendants Mr Murphy at the front, armed with the pepper spray, entered the premises at 6.44pm.



One of the staff members knew the way they were dressed they were up to no good, he said. That person reached for the panic button but the masked man at the front (Murphy) pulled out the pepper spray.

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Mr Geraghty outlined that the staff members then ran into two separate smaller offices, as they had been trained to do, where they knew there were further panic buttons.



One of them described when they got inside, they felt they couldnt breath due to the pepper spray. The pepper spray filled the air very quickly, he added.



CCTV footage was played in the court, and it showed the two defendants reaching over the counter after the staff members had fled and grabbing 237 from one of the two tills.



The court heard the pair had not realised there was a second till, which contained over 500 and that money was left untouched when they fled the scene.

Also read: Longford man jailed for his role in robbery of Service Station



Detective Garda Orla Geraghty, who took the stand, stated after 7pm on the night in question she and her colleague Garda Carty responded to the panic alarm.



Ms Geraghty said they took statements and they got a description and there was then a large and extensive canvas for CCTV footage following the incident.



She stated that as a result of that canvas Gardai obtained CCTV from Weavers Hall and the footage showed two males believed to be responsible for the robbery exit the building at 6.33pm and return at 6.50pm.



In Weavers Hall there are numerous cameras in that premises, and they captured the two men as they re-entered the property and take the stairs to the rooftop and it was there that they were captured on camera changing and their clothing revealed another layer of clothing underneath, Ms Geraghty said. Both of the suspects can then be seen without any face coverings.



The court heard Gardai subsequently identified Mr Murphy and Mr McKeever from various pieces of footage.

Also read: Fright of her life: Longford grandmother (88) has lucky escape as Storm Eowyn sends tree crashing into her home



Mr Murphy told officers he had known Mr McKeever for 16 years and he lived next door to him.



A search of McKeevers home was carried out and items of clothing that matched clothing used in the robbery were seized.



Det Garda Geraghty said three officers identified McKeever from the CCTV footage from Boylesports and the surrounding area and he was subsequently arrested.



The court heard Boylesports staff did not wish to make any victim impact statements.



Det Garda Geraghty said one of the staff membes was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and has not worked since, while the other staff member left his job with the bookmaker as a result of the incident and he has 'struggled'.



The money that was taken was not recovered.



Judge Kenneth Connolly also heard details about Murphy's attempted robbery at The Kiosk.



The defendant entered The Kiosk armed with pepper spray and threatened Muhammad Muntaz leaving him 'extremely frightened'.



The court heard Mr Muntaz calmly tried to talk the defendant down and remained 'very cool' under pressure when the defendant approached his counter.



Murphy panicked and fled the store with nothing after about 30 seconds.



Details were also heard about another incident involving McKeever when he entered the dispensary area of Lloyd's pharmacy and took a packet of 70 Xanax tablets and stated, "I need this, I have to do this".



The defendant swallowed several pills in the pharmacy, he advised them to phone the Gardai and "Tell them it's Dessie" and left the premises and said he would be in the church grounds.



McKeever had nine previous convictions, while Murphy had 39 previous convictions.



Counsel for McKeever, Kieran Collins BL, said the defendant had a traumatic childhood and his mother passed away when he was just 15-months.



Mr Collins said individuals had effectively forced his way into McKeever's home and they were stealing his prescription medication and Gardai in court agreed they believed he was genuinely in fear and he had reason to fear the unnamed individual.

Also read: Scale of crisis in Longford is immense: TD demands that free hot meals and temporary accommodation should be made available



Counsel for Murphy, Niall Flynn BL said his client's late mother had 'certain addiction issues' and he had difficult formative years, however his late uncle in Ballymahon had a positive influence.



Murphy has been drug free for seven months and he previously worked steadily in scaffolding, tyre fitting and groundworks.



Mr Flynn said his client developed a heroin addiction and came under 'the gaze of moneylenders' and his partner and mother were threatened.



Judge Connolly said the Boylesports robbery was a 'terrifying' incident which had a profound impact.



He sentenced Murphy to four years and 10 months in prison in total for both of his offences with the final 16 months suspended on a number of strict conditions.



Meanwhile, McKeever was sentenced to a total of three years and four months with the final year suspended for both of his offences with Judge Connolly describing the Lloyd's incident as a 'cry for help'.

Also read: Longford's Joe Flaherty loses out in bid for Seanad seat
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 31 2025

Anthony Paruolo pleaded guilty in December 2024 to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his wife inside their home.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a North Bellmore man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for stabbing his wife to death in their home in October 2022 while their eight-year-old child was in his bedroom.

Anthony Paruolo, 39, pleaded guilty before Judge Robert A. Schwartz to Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) on December 4, 2024.

The defendant was sentenced today to 20 years to life in prison.

This defendant claimed a life and shattered a family when he stabbed his wife to death in the home they shared with their son, said DA Donnelly. By pleading guilty, Anthony Paruolo accepted responsibility for his horrific and senseless crime, and todays sentence ensures he is held fully accountable for the pain that he has caused. Our thoughts remain with Danielle Paruolos family and their son as they continue to navigate this unimaginable tragedy.

DA Donnelly said that on October 6, 2022, at approximately 11:40 p.m., Nassau County Police Department officers responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at the defendants North Bellmore home. Danielle Paruolo, 42, was looking to separate from her husband and had been taking steps toward a divorce, which led to the incident.

When authorities arrived, they found Paruolo deceased in a pool of blood with an approximately 13-inch-long chefs knife in her neck and stab wounds to her head, neck, and torso.

The couples eight-year-old child was found unharmed in another bedroom.

Paruolo was arrested on October 7, 2022, at approximately 1:06 a.m. at a relatives home in Kings Park by the Suffolk County Police Department and transported to the NCPD Homicide Squad.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 31 2025

Eligible donors must have an ID with a signature or a photo, weigh at least 110 pounds, have had no tattoos in the last 12 months and be ages 16-75 years of age.

Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker is once again joining forces with the New York Blood Center to host a blood drive from 1  7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27 at Syosset Fire Department Headquarters, 50 Cold Spring Road, Syosset, N.Y. 11791.

Eligible donors must have an ID with a signature or a photo, weigh at least 110 pounds, have had no tattoos in the last 12 months and be ages 16-75 years of age (16-year-old donors must have parental consent. Donors over age 76 must bring a doctors note). O-negative and B-negative donors are especially needed in addition to all other blood types.

After attracting 50 donors to our year-ending Plainview-Old Bethpage blood drive, I entered 2025 with a grateful heart and even more determination to combat Long Islands ongoing blood donor shortage, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker said. I am proud to be once again working with the New York Blood Center and the Syosset Fire Department on these life-saving efforts, and I encourage everyone who is eligible to roll up their sleeves and give the gift of life  whether you are a routine donor, havent given blood in a while, or are a first-time donor.

Appointments are preferred but not required; walk-ins will be taken as capacity permits. Limited appointments to make double red cell donations are available. Call 1-800-93-BLOOD (25663) or visit https://donate.nybc.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/321708 to make an appointment.

For more information, contact Deputy Minority Leader Druckers office at 516-571-6216 or adrucker@nassaucountyny.gov.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 31 2025

SC Veterans Emergency Home Heating Assistance Commission accepting applications.

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine announced that the Suffolk County Veterans Emergency Assistance Commission is now accepting applications from veterans in need of home heating assistance. Consideration is given to all home heating options and to minor home heating system repairs.

With all the pressures facing our heroic veterans, staying warm at night should not be one of their concerns, said Romaine.

The Commission has $100,000 at its disposal for 2025. Members of prominent veterans organizations determine eligibility and sit on the commission.

"Suffolk County serves the largest population of veterans in New York State. Our office has identified there is a need for veterans, especially those on a fixed income, with assistance paying the high cost of heating their homes. These heroes that served our country in times of peace and during war deserve the help that the Suffolk County Legislature has provided through the Veterans Emergency Home Heating Assistance Program, said Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency Director Marcelle Leis.

If you are interested in learning more and/or applying for the Veterans Emergency Home Heating Assistance Program, please contact the Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency at (631) 853-8387 or email at veteransinfo@suffolkcountyny.gov.

Recipient Criteria:

Completed Application

DD Form 214 with Character of Discharge Honorable or General Under Honorable Conditions

Household Income (W-2, Disability Rating, Social Security, etc.)

Proof of Heating Expenses (oil, electricity, gas) or Boiler/Pluming Estimate

Narrative letter describing need for assistance

All above information must be submitted with application to:

Keith OReilly, VSO

Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency

100 Veterans Memorial Hwy.

P.O. Box 6100

Hauppauge, NY 11788-0099
Profiles of the deceased Hamas leaders published on the groups Telegram channel.

On January 30, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida stated that Israel killed seven of the groups senior leaders during the recent war that began with Hamass attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The groups acknowledgment breaks more than 15 months of silence on the whereabouts of several individuals Israel had claimed it eliminated.

We announce to our great people, our nation, and all supporters of freedom and resistance around the world the martyrdom of a group of senior fighters and heroic commanders from the General Military Council of the Al Qassam Brigades, Obeida stated.

The list includes:

Hamass former military leader, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, commonly known as Mohammad Deif (Abu Khaled)

Marwan Issa (Abu al Baraa), Deifs deputy

Ghazi Abu Tamaa (Abu Mousa), commander of the arms and combat services staff

Raed Thabet (Abu Mohammad), chief of staff

Rafi Salameh (Abu Mohammad), commander of the Khan Younis brigade

Ayman Nowfal (Abu Ahmed), central brigade commander

Ahmed Ghandour (Abu Anas), northern brigade commander

Obeida praised Deif for his service and martyrdom after decades of orchestrating attacks against Israel.

This is what befits our commander Mohammad Deif, Abu Khaled, who has exhausted the enemy for more than 30 years. How, by God, could Mohammed Deif be mentioned in history without the title of martyr and the honor of martyrdom in the path of God, Obeida remarked.

Obeida shared a similar sentiment for the years Marwan Issa, Deifs deputy, gave to Hamas. And how could Marwan Issa, the mind of Al Qassam and its unshakable pillar, die in his bed, he said. Obeida also lauded the other deceased Hamas leaders.

Hamass revelation is not a surprise. Throughout the war, Israel announced the elimination of the senior leaders mentioned by Obeida.

However, the terrorist groups acknowledgment of Deifs death is significant. For years, Israel sought to eliminate him, as he was one of the most prominent figures in Hamas.

Deif remained mainly in the shadows and was rarely photographed or recorded on video. He survived numerous targeted assassination attempts, rising to become a military leader known for his infrequent yet impactful public statements. Deifs popularity increased significantly in 2021 after he issued an ultimatum to Israel to evacuate Sheikh Jarrah and release Palestinians who had been arrested for rioting at the Al Aqsa Mosque. Israel did not comply with Deifs demand, and Hamas responded by launching rockets at Israeli cities.

Hamass admission of the deaths of Deif and other prominent leaders is notable. However, it is unknown if the Islamist group and its allies in the Gaza Strip will publicly recognize the total number of their fighters killed during the war, which the Israeli military has claimed is almost 20,000.

Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un shake hands after signing a treaty in June 2024. (Kremlin photo)

North Korean (DPRK) forces fighting in Russias Kursk region have been pulled off the front lines after suffering heavy casualties, though their absence may only be temporary, The New York Times reported on January 30, citing US and Ukrainian officials. This development comes as North Korea is reportedly preparing to deploy more soldiers to Russia, though the number and type of troops Pyongyang might send remains to be seen.

Despite significant losses and challenges working with Russian forces, DPRK troops have intensified the pressure on Ukraines defense in Kursk. But reinforcements will be needed to sustain the North Korean presence there.

The initial DPRK deployment

North Korea has already dispatched some 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia, according to Ukrainian, American, and South Korean officials. They reportedly consist mainly of special operations forces (SOF) from four brigades of North Koreas elite 11th Corps, or Storm Corps. That formation is believed to comprise a total of 10 brigades and some 40,000 to 80,000 troops. According to US intelligence, Pyongyang suggested the deployment in the hope of securing Russian military technology and other aid.

DPRK troops began arriving in Russia by early October. They reportedly received Russian training in basic infantry tactics, including assaults on trenches, as well as artillery, drones, and electronic warfare. The North Koreans wear Russian uniforms and carry fake Russian military IDs. Though North Korean forces reportedly first saw action in early November, they apparently did not enter battle in large numbers until December.

Moscow has employed the DPRK troops primarily as light infantry for assaults on Ukrainian positions in Kursk Oblast, where Russia is trying to claw back territory Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive last August. In mid-January, South Korean intelligence assessed that 300 DPRK soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded. Kyiv and some Western officials have claimed the figures are even higher. At this rate of losses, North Koreas contingent would be wiped out within months, barring reinforcements.

A reported pullback

According to the officials cited by The Times, North Korean soldiers seem to have been absent from the front for around two weeks. This assessment tracks with recent reports by Ukrainian troops, though a spokesman for Ukraines Special Operations Forces said the pullback occurred in only one part of the battlefield in Kursk.

US officials believe the pullback may be temporary, The Times reported. They suggested that DPRK forces may rejoin the fight after undergoing further training or if Russia adjusts how it employs them to reduce their casualty rate. A battalion commander from Ukraines 6th Ranger Regiment, currently fighting in Kursk, similarly told Sky News that the North Koreans may be analysing their mistakes and receiving additional training, tending to their wounds, or waiting for reinforcements.

Whatever the case, intercepted Russian communications indicate DPRK forces will be back soon, he added.

Reinforcements on the way?

In recent months, Kyiv and its international partners have expressed concern that Pyongyang might send more soldiers to Russia. The Biden administration cited this threat as part of its justification for allowing Ukraine to use American missiles to strike inside Russian territory. On December 23, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said intelligence indicated Pyongyang was preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops in Russia.

On January 24, the JCS said it suspects Pyongyang is accelerating follow-up measures and preparation for an additional dispatch of troops following the casualties suffered in Kursk. The JCS statement came days after a senior Pentagon official told The Times that North Korea would deploy more forces to Russia within the next two months. The Times article did not specify the number of troops or whether they would be infantry or some other specialty. But it seemed to suggest these reinforcements would replace soldiers killed or wounded in Kursk.

After that story broke, however, The War Zone quoted Ukraines military intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, saying Kyiv does not expect to see many new ground combat troops. Rather, Budanov said he expects Pyongyang to deploy additional missile and artillery troops to operate and train Russian forces on DPRK-provided systems.

Budanov could not confirm the number of additional soldiers or when they would arrive. However, he did say Pyongyang has already provided about 120 170mm self-propelled guns (SPGs), another 120 240mm multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and almost 150 KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles. Budanov predicted Moscow would receive roughly the same number of each system this year. This total is in addition to the millions of artillery rounds North Korea has transferred so far. The SPGs and MLRS are useful, in part, because they allow Russia to tap additional calibers of DPRK ammunition. And while Ukrainian officials have said the KN-23s often fail midair or miss their targets, they can at least wreak havoc and tax Ukraines air defense capacity.

One possibility is that Pyongyang intends to rotate its forces in Kursk rather than increase the total number of North Korean troops fighting there. This would allow additional DPRK units to gain combat experience and avoid completely wiping out the units currently deployed. Officials from Ukraine and other countries have previously said they expect North Korea to rotate its contingent in Kursk every few months.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Colonel-General Kim Yong Bok, the DPRK General Staffs deputy chief for light infantry and SOF, is believed to be tasked with [] establishing the pipeline for future deployments as well as integrating North Korean troops with the Russians and absorbing battlefield insights to bring back home.

What we know about how DPRK forces are operating

Ukrainian officials and soldiers have described the North Koreans as highly motivated, disciplined, and well-trained. North Korean troops are said to doggedly press forward in the face of heavy losses and have apparently been ordered to commit suicide rather than surrender. Whereas many Russian recruits nowadays are aged 40 or older, the DPRK soldiers are young and physically fit. Moscow seems to have equipped them relatively well.

Documents recovered from slain North Korean troops and translated by NK Insider indicate that each DPRK infantry battalion in Kursk includes an assault team that is organized into approximately 9 assault units, each consisting of 18 personnel. Each battalion also has various support units, including medical, mortar, and anti-tank units, as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) teams for reconnaissance and fire correction, the documents and other evidence suggest. Each battalion should organize at least 2-3 UAV teams, with every company having at least one UAV team, one document says.

According to that document, Russia is responsible for logistical supply for battalion-level units, but units below the battalion level must organize their own supply systems. Accounts from US and Ukrainian officials and troops indicate North Korean forces also receive some artillery and drone support from the Russians. When the North Koreans capture a position, Russian forces follow to secure it.

In general, coordination between Russian and DPRK forces seems to be poor. It is unsurprising, given the language barrier and their lack of experience fighting alongside one another. During training last fall, Russian troops apparently taught the North Koreans some basic Russian words to help with communication. But communication challenges have led to multiple friendly-fire incidents, according to accounts from Ukrainian troops and Russian POWs. To try to address this issue, Russia has reportedly put translators equipped with a radio in each North Korean assault group. DPRK units, like many of their Russian counterparts, evidently have received a mix of Russian sixth-generation Azart radios and Chinese commercial-grade radios.

In October-December, Ukrainian and American officials indicated that Russia was integrating North Korean units into Russian airborne (VDV), naval infantry, and motor rifle brigades and regimentseven attaching individual North Korean platoons to Russian companies. However, subsequent evidence suggests Russian and North Korean units generally operate independently in the field, with coordination mainly occurring at higher echelons.

Captured DPRK documents seem to indicate that DPRK brigade, battalion, and company commanders maintain control over North Korean units during attacks. One document stated the attack in question was coordinated with a Russian command post in Korenevo. North Korean generals are reportedly posted at Russian headquarters, where attack objectives are determined. These officers decide when they need artillery and how long to wait before ground forces maneuver, and they synchronize with the [DPRK] troops in the field, so that the troops are not talking to their Russian counterparts, to try to reduce miscommunication, The New York Times reported recently, citing a senior Pentagon official.

One Ukrainian serviceman operating on Ukraines left flank in Kursk told the Long War Journal that despite initial reports that Russian VDV and naval infantry units in that area had received DPRK troops, he had seen no evidence that this actually happened. The Russians continued attacking on the left flank, but his unit did not encounter any North Korean soldiers. He said DPRK forces have mainly operated at the northern part of the salient.

North Korean infantry tactics have made them especially vulnerable to Ukrainian artillery fire and drone strikes. Video footage, backed up by accounts from Ukrainian troops, has shown DPRK soldiers moving in platoon-sized formations, at times walking through open fields in close proximity to one another. Russian infantry, by contrast, often attack in smaller groups and hug tree lines.

However, accounts from Ukrainian servicemen and captured DPRK documents suggest the North Koreans have sought to adapt. One document, apparently intended to distribute lessons learned, described an attack in the southeastern part of the Kursk salient by several battalions from North Koreas 94th Brigade. It said that although DPRK forces had been warned to employ dispersal tactics due to the threat of artillery and drone strikes facilitated by real-time UAV reconnaissance, many soldiers gathered and moved together, resulting in heavy casualties. Going forward, soldiers should move in smaller units of 2-3 members, the document said.

The document also instructs North Korean forces that to neutralize UAVs, drone surveillance and strike units should be organized into combat teams and companies. The North Koreans reportedly shoot down drones by having one soldier serve as bait while others fire at the threat with marksmanship praised by Ukrainian servicemen. Like their Russian counterparts, some DPRK troops have been found to carry handheld drone detectors and shotguns to counter UAVs.

Maintaining the pressure

In part thanks to the North Koreans, Russia has gradually recaptured some 50-60 percent of the Ukrainian-held territory in Kursk. The Kremlin likely aims to retake the rest before beginning potential peace talks with Kyiv, while the Ukrainians hope to use that territory as leverage in negotiations.

Ukrainian servicemen acknowledge that the DPRK forces have put Ukraines defense under greater stress. The Koreans are starting to push the front lines, targeting less defended areas and wearing out our troops that way, one Ukrainian platoon commander said.

However, Pyongyang will need to dispatch more troops to sustain its impact in Kursk. If it does not, Moscow could be forced to pull additional units from Ukraine or divert a larger share of fresh Russian recruits to Kursk, potentially undermining Russias ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraine.

John Hardie is the deputy director of FDDs Russia Program and a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani arrives at Damascus International Airport to meet Syrias new president, Ahmad al Sharaa, on January 30. (SANA)

In a move that will have significant implications for Syria and its international relations, Ahmed Sharaa was named the countrys president on January 29. The appointment is expected to provide Syria with more clear leadership during its transition after the end of the Bashar al Assad regime. In the wake of this key decision in Damascus, the new president received congratulations from several Arab countries, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani arrived in Damascus on January 30. The emir is the first head of state to meet Syrias new official leader.

Sharaa, previously known by his nom de guerre Mohammed al Jolani and the head of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, assumed leadership in Damascus when the Assad regime collapsed on December 8. Sharaa and many of the officers in HTS have spent the seven weeks between December 8 and January 29 consolidating power and holding meetings with foreign envoys at a feverish pace.

On January 29, the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said Sharaa assumes the duties of the Syrian presidency and represents it at international forums. This development bookends a number of key changes two months after HTS launched its offensive that swept the Assad regime from power. The offensive, which began in late November, took Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and the capital in a week of fighting.

Sharaa assuming leadership in Syria led to a round of meetings with foreign envoys in December, including Turkeys intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen, and representatives from several European countries and the US. Sharaa has moved to cast off his designation as a terrorist by the US and the extremist past of HTS. The US State Department removed a $10 million reward for Jolani on December 20 after he met with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf on December 20. The EU moved to lift key sanctions on Syria on January 27.

The process that led to Sharaa being named president moved quickly in January. Syria also appointed new ministers for key portfolios, such as defense and foreign policy. Sharaa and the new minister of defense, Major General Murhaf Abu Qasra, have held numerous meetings with armed factions that have deep roots in the decade-long Syrian Civil War.

Diplomatic outreach has been a key feature of Sharaas policy since he arrived in Damascus in December. In general, this effort has included outreach to Western countries, a stark contrast to the Assad regime, which was a dedicated partner of Iran and Russia.

After attending the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Shaibani returned to Damascus to host a number of delegations. On January 28, a Russian delegation arrived in Damascus, led by the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. It was the first high-level delegation from Moscow since the fall of Assad. Ukraine, which is fighting Russia, also sent its foreign minister to Syria at the end of December. In addition, on January 30, Syrias finance minister hosted a delegation from the European Union, and Syrias Ministry of Defense hosted counterparts from Turkey.

Congratulations have poured in from the region after the January 29 decision appointing Sharaa as president.

We are pleased to express to Your Excellency our congratulations on the occasion of your assumption of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic in the transitional period, Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud wrote, according to Syrian state media. Oman also congratulated Sharaa. King Abdullah II of Jordan, Syrias southern neighbor, wrote about Jordans keenness on consolidating cooperation with Syria, standing by the Syrian brothers in developing their country, and maintaining coordination on various issues, in a way that achieves common interests and enhances Arab unity.

Qatars emir arrived in Damascus on January 30. Thanis visit is symbolically important because he is the first head of state to meet the new leader in Damascus. Sharaas new status allows him to officially receive and speak to heads of state as part of diplomatic protocol.

A pattern is emerging regarding the new Syrian governments diplomatic outreach. It has worked on four fronts: to establish better relations with European countries and the US, to work closely with Turkey, to conduct outreach to the Arab states, and to remain open to discussions with allies of the former regime, such as Russia and Iran. This pattern was evident in December and January. For instance, Turkey sent officials and delegations to Damascus on December 12, 22, and 23 and January 27 and 30. Syrian officials have also met European officials from the EU, Norway, Spain, Germany, the UK, and the US.

On the Arab states front, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have reached out to Damascus beyond issuing statements over the last two months. For instance, the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan met with his Syrian counterpart in early January. Syrias foreign minister also traveled to Saudi Arabia in early January. Qatar has sent both its emir and its minister of state to Damascus.

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).


US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it killed a senior leader of Hurras al Din, Al Qaedas branch in Syria, in an airstrike in Syria on January 30. The strike, which took place less than two weeks after the Trump administration took office, may indicate a shift in US policy regarding Syria.

CENTCOM conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Zabir, who it described as a senior operative in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din. CENTCOM did not provide further details on Zabirs role within Hurras al Din, nor is there publicly available information.

Yesterdays strike in northwestern Syria is the first since September 24, 2024, when CENTCOM killed nine members of Hurras al Din, including Marwan Bassam Abd al Rauf, who was described as a senior Hurras al-Din leader responsible for overseeing military operations.

The month prior, on August 23, CENTCOM reported that it killed Abu Rahman al Makki, a Hurras al-Din Shura Council member and senior leader responsible for overseeing terrorist operations from Syria.

Hurras al Din (HAD) is Al Qaedas official branch in Syria and was formed in February 2018 by top leaders who had served in Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the Al Qaeda-linked terror group that overthrew the Assad regime in December 2024 and is now forming a government. The group is thought to have upwards of 2,500 fighters in its ranks and is based primarily in Syrias Idlib province, which, before the overthrow of the Assad regime, was controlled by HTS. HAD released a statement on January 28 that says the group has been dissolved but tells its members not to disarm and to be prepared for the next phase of the fight.

HAD and HTS are listed by the US government as terrorist organizations, and the leaders of both groups are listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for their ties to Al Qaeda. Despite the terror designations, the Biden administration removed the $10 million reward for HTS emir Abu Mohammad al Jolani in late December 2024 so that US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf could meet with him. The meeting signaled that the US government was preparing to remove the designations for HTS and recognize Jolani as the leader of Syria.

Jolani, who has since avoided using his nom de guerre in favor of rebranding with his legal name, Ahmad al Sharaa, was appointed the new leader of Syria on January 29. However, yesterdays strike may signal that the Trump administration is less eager than the Biden administration to engage with a new regime with deep terrorist affiliations.

While yesterdays strike targeted HAD and not HTS, it may put the latter group in a difficult position. HTS, now the de facto government in Syria, is riddled with terror groups that are either Al Qaeda branches or allies that have declared under the new governments banner. Despite some differences and occasional feuds between HTS and HAD (HAD formed after HTS publicly distanced itself from foreign terror groups), there are still relationships between the two groups leaders and rank and file. The strike may upset HTS leaders, members, and allies within its coalition.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
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Ten Lycoming College theatre majors and minors participated in this years Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Region II, held in Pittsburgh Jan. 14-18. The theatre department takes a group of students to the conference each year to provide them with the opportunity to showcase their talents, present their work, compete with students from more than 50 other universities and colleges in the nine-state region, and attend workshops led by theatre professionals. Lycoming student attendees who presented their work in acting, musical theatre, design, stage management, and playwriting included Olivia DiFraia, Eliza Flanigan, Gabriella Fugon, Gale Hall, Shantel Hill, Alijah Hunter, Julia Martin, Alexandra (AJ) Marusko, Evelyn Stong, and Chayton Wesneski.

National First Place Stage Management. Marusko received the highest regional recognition in stage management, earning the National Award: Regional 1st Place Stage Management Fellowship. This prestigious honor, recognizing her exceptional work, qualifies her to attend the National Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as a Stage Management Fellow in April. She will participate in exclusive events alongside winners in the other seven regions.

Regional Awards. Hunter earned multiple regional awards for her excellent lighting design and technical theatre work, including Jane Childs DTM Legacy Award, presented to one first-time presenter per region for lighting design excellence; Tech Olympics, recognized with a Certificate of Excellence for outstanding performance in the Tape Out competition; and Team Competition First Place, which went to a team of students from various institutions.

Musical Theatre Intensive (MTI) Program. Several Lycoming students auditioned for the Musical Theatre Intensive (MTI) Program scholarships, including DiFraia, Fugon, Martin, Hill, and Wesneski. Wesneski was named a Semi-finalist in the MTI scholarship audition. Hill was selected to perform in the MTI Cabaret at the festival. DiFraia was featured in the group number presented at the festivals closing ceremony.

National Playwriting Program (NPP), Acting Scholarship Auditions, and Scenic Design. Hall participated in the NPPs Monologue Slam competition and submitted scripts for review to the program. Hill was cast to perform in the NPPs 10-minute Play project. Hill, Marusko, Martin, DiFraia, Wesneski, and Fugon represented Lycoming in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions. Evelyn Stong showcased her scenic design skills in the Scenic Design Competition.

Our students consistently earn recognition and awards year after year, showcasing their dedication to their craft and chosen areas of specialization. This ongoing success also reflects the exceptional mentoring provided by our departments faculty. We take great pride in supporting our students presentations and creating opportunities for Lycoming College students to participate in the annual conference, said Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian, Ph.D., professor of theatre and chair of the department.

Accompanying Stoytcheva-Horissian and students were Bonnie Hall, adjunct theatre faculty at Lycoming, and Matt Ripa, visiting assistant professor of theatre at Lycoming. Ripa and Stoytcheva-Horissian continued serving the region in their KCACTF Region II organizational leadership positions as the Irene Ryan acting scholarship auditions coordinator and the executive steering committee representative.

The KCACTF is a national theatre program involving 20,000 students from colleges and universities annually and a network of more than 700 academic institutions nationwide. KCACTF encourages, recognizes, and celebrates the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs.
Apples all-important holiday quarter was something of a mixed bag. For one, Apple posted what it called its best quarter ever with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent year over year. However, the iPhone stumbled a bit as sales in China took a tumble.

iPhone sales were down slightly to just over $69 billion and came in under estimates of $71 billion. CEO Tim Cook blamed some of the lower sales on the lack of Apple Intelligence in China, which suffered an 11 percent overall sales decline. Cook said a change in channel inventory was also partially to blame for the sales drop.

The biggest performers were the Mac, which posted a whopping 15 percent increase, and Services, which again grew to an all-time high of $26.3 billion in sales. Apple released new M4 Macs in the quarter, including a redesigned Mac mini and refreshed MacBook Pros.

iPad sales were also up, with more than $8 billion in sales for the first time Q1 2023. Apple released a new iPad mini in October and many Apple tablets were heavily discounted over the Black Friday and holiday shopping periods. Apple is rumored to be releasing a new entry-level iPad in the spring.

The Wearables category, which includes AirPods, Apple Watch, and HomePod, was mostly flat despite the launch of a new Apple Watch in September.

Cook noted that Apples installed base of active devices reached a new all-time high.
Anyone who owned one of the first few generations of Apple Watch has probably long forgotten about them by now, but heres a reason to think of them againApple might owe you some money.

Apple has agreed to a $20 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that alleges first-generation Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Apple Watches experienced certain issues allegedly related to battery swell. The plaintiffs claimed the battery could affect other parts of the watch, including the display.

As is usually the case with settlements, Apple denies any wrongdoing, disputes the claim that Apple Watch batteries were faulty, and asserts numerous defenses to the claims in this case. In a statement to CNET, Apple assured its watches are safe and reliable, including the models in the suit. While we strongly disagree with the claims made against these early generation Apple Watch models, we agreed to settle to avoid further litigation.

Members of the settlement class will receive $20 per watch up to a maximum of $50. However, the suit notes that if necessary, a pro-rata portion of the Net Settlement Fund less than $20. That means if lots of people opt in, the payments will be divided accordingly and could decrease.

Members of the class should receive a notice with a Notice ID and Confirmation Code to confirm or update payment information anytime before April 10 online through the Payment Selection tab at the Watch Settlement site. If you dont receive a notice and are unsure whether you are included in the settlement, you can call 844-933-4042 for more information.
A sophisticated Chinese criminal network involved in illegal immigration and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation has been dismantled following a complex cross-border investigation coordinated by Europol. On 17 December, law enforcement conducted raids at 14 properties across Barcelona (4), Madrid (9), and Toledo (1) in Spain, and one property in Zagreb in Croatia. These operations resulted in 30 arrests, among which were the leaders of the criminal network. In addition, EUR 180 000 in cash was also seized, alongside weapons, 70 passports, equipment to falsify passports and visas, narcotic substances, 10 high-end vehicles and 33 mobile phones. A total of 33 victims  Chinese and Vietnamese nationals  were also safeguarded.

This investigation builds on the dismantling of Europes largest Chinese prostitution ring in February 2023. Digital evidence seized during that operation has since then been meticulously analysed, including at a forensic sprint held at Europols headquarters in March 2023. During this sprint, experts from nine countries extracted tens of terabytes of data from hundreds of confiscated mobile phones. The new intelligence provided unprecedented insights into the methods used by Chinese criminal networks in Europe, revealing a sophisticated division of labour and reliance on crime-as-a-service actors.

Two cells, one exploitation chain

The criminal organisation, composed primarily of Chinese nationals, profited significantly from the sexual exploitation of vulnerable women. To maximise profits, the group engaged in additional criminal activities, including document fraud, money laundering, and the facilitation of illegal immigration.

Victims were lured into prostitution in Europe under the promise of earning high income within a short timeframe. However, upon arrival, they were subjected to severe debt bondage and trapped in a cycle of exploitation they were unable to escape due to their vulnerabilities and dependence on the traffickers.

The organisation operated in two interconnected cells: Recruitment and smuggling cell: Victims were recruited in China through "travel agencies" where they disguised the exploitation by presenting prostitution opportunities as legitimate employment abroad. Using the Western Balkan corridor, the smuggling cell coordinated with local facilitators and drivers to illegally transport victims into the EU. Safe houses were maintained along the route, with logistics managed through instant messaging apps.

Exploitation cell: Once in Europe, victims were initially exploited in entry-point countries. Later, they were transferred to Spain and other Member States, where they were forced to work in brothels or short-stay facilities. Victims were rotated between cities and across borders to evade detection and meet the growing demand for sexual services. The organisation maintained strict control over every aspect of the victims lives, taking 50% of their earnings even after their debts were repaid.

A highly organised and resilient network

The smuggling operations were meticulously coordinated through instant messaging apps, with facilitators managing safe houses along the route and providing instructions on victim transport. Upon arrival, victims were initially exploited in entry-point countries before being transferred to Spain and other EU Member States, where their exploitation continued under the strict control of the criminal group. Victims trafficked by the group were identified in exploitation networks across multiple EU countries, underscoring the scale and resilience of this criminal network.

International cooperation leads to success

The operation was led by the Spanish National Police (Policia Nacional) in close cooperation with the Croatian National Police (Policija) and Europol. The Agency supported national authorities by enabling the exchange of critical intelligence and providing expert analytical support. On the action day, Europol deployed two experts to Madrid and Barcelona, where they worked alongside investigators, cross-checking real-time operational data, assisting with operations on the ground, and conducting forensic extractions of mobile phones used by the suspects.

This investigation is part of a wider operational taskforce at Europol, dedicated to combating Chinese human trafficking networks. Involving 11 countries, the taskforce is focused on dismantling these criminal groups operating across Europe.
Nigerian government commends Malaria Consortiums efforts, and reaffirms own commitment, to end malaria

31 January 2025



Malaria Consortiums team in Nigeria recently met with officials from the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Malaria Elimination Programme to discuss partnership opportunities and strengthen efforts towards malaria elimination in Nigeria, in alignment with national and federal efforts.

Professor Wilfred Mbacham, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Malaria Consortium, at Sheihk Jiddo Muhammed Hospital, Kano state, Nigeria

The occasion also marked the inaugural visit to Nigeria of Malaria Consortiums Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Professor Wilfred Mbacham, marking a significant milestone in reinforcing Malaria Consortiums commitment to eliminating malaria and improving public health across Nigeria. The Malaria Consortium delegation was led by Dr Nnenna Ogbulafor, the National Coordinator of the National Malaria Elimination Programme alongside Malaria Consortiums Director of Programmes for West and Central Africa, Dr Kolawole Maxwell.

Dr Ogbulafor noted, "The National Malaria Elimination Programmes history of collaboration with Malaria Consortium has seen important developments towards reducing the malaria burden in the country. Malaria Consortium has been one of the foremost partners supporting the national programme in driving the Honorable Minister of Healths Re-thinking Malaria Agenda. Our continued work together will ensure greater coordination and transparency as we work towards a malaria-free Nigeria."

The high-level meeting covered critical strategies towards malaria elimination in Nigeria, a disease which accounted for 26 percent of the global malaria burden in 2023. Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, pointed to progress made against malaria to date through the countrys Sector Wide Approach (SWAp), which aims to align resources towards building a more effectively coordinated, resilient public health system.















Caption: Malaria Consortium Nigeria team visits with the Nigerian Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare



Dr Salako commended Malaria Consortium as a global leader in tackling malaria-related challenges and acknowledged the organisations role as a critical partner in Nigeria, highlighting the independent assessments Malaria Consortium has conducted to strengthen healthcare systems across the country.

Dr Kolawole Maxwell, Director of Programmes for West and Central Africa at Malaria Consortium, shared insights from innovative projects implemented by MC across the country, stating,

We are exploring innovative, tailored approaches to support Nigeria in implementing its reforms aimed at fast-tracking malaria elimination. For these efforts to be sustainable, it is imperative that we continue to work together to identify pathways for scaling up these interventions  both existing and new tools  to cover all eligible populations in a targeted and sustainable manner, and to encourage communities to use these tools consistently to get their full health benefits.

Malaria Consortiums Be In A Net project, for example, is exploring the behavioural drivers and barriers to using insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in both Nigeria and Uganda. Working with project partner the Behavioural Insights Team, the project is applying behavioural science to ITN campaign activities to provide a low-cost solution for increasing consistent use of ITNs.

The visit strengthened Malaria Consortiums partnership with the government and reaffirmed collective commitments to transparent governance and accountability. Moving forward, Malaria Consortium will continue high-level engagements with government stakeholders and refine operational strategies, with a renewed focus on innovative malaria programme interventions to make rapid progress towards elimination and a strengthened health system.

Read more:

Project brief: Be In A Net

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 Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/

I recently received some most troubling news from a reliable informant within the Municipality of Redcliff.According to the information, the local authority has allegedly decided to award its top management hefty 400% salary increases, with some officials now reportedly earning around $16,000 a month.As if this were not outrageous enough, I am also reliably informed that elected Redcliff councilors have sanctioned a move to grant these same top officials ownership of the council houses they currently occupy.This is a cruel and painful slap in the faces of the hardworking residents of this small town, who have endured relentless hardships over the past decade, particularly after the closure of the once-mighty ZiscoSteel.The giant state-owned iron and steel company, which was the town's economic backbone, fell victim to rampant corruption, asset looting, and gross mismanagement, largely driven by nepotism.Established during the colonial era, ZiscoSteel was the single largest employer in Redcliff, sustaining thousands of livelihoods.But since its demise, most residents have struggled to make ends meet, and the ability to pay municipal bills has not been spared from this economic downturn.Yet, despite these overwhelming challenges, many residents have continued to make every effortunder the weight of a brutal economic environmentto meet their obligations to the local authority, hoping for improved service delivery.This faith, however, has been met with nothing but betrayal.The town, particularly Redcliff suburb, has suffered four years without a reliable water supply.The roads are in a deplorable state, streetlights are non-functional, refuse collection is erratic, and the overall state of municipal services is an embarrassment.In my quest to uncover the truth behind these failures, I recently requested the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) to provide a breakdown of funding disbursements to the Municipality of Redcliff for road maintenance.The figures I received confirmed that the local authority has been receiving regular financial allocations.However, when I approached the Municipality of Redcliff for an account of how these funds had been utilized, I was met with silence and excuses.Before writing this article, I gave the local authority an opportunity to respond to the damning allegations of massive salary hikes and council house ownership transfers.I waited for three days. Nothing.Their failure to provide an answer seems to confirm the worst fears of residentsthose in power are plundering municipal resources with impunity, showing no concern for the suffering of the very people they are supposed to serve.For years, the Municipality of Redcliff has used the excuse of non-payment of bills by residents to justify its failure to deliver basic services.Yet, when it comes to the luxury and comfort of senior management, financial constraints miraculously disappear.Somehow, there is always money for top officials' extravagant perksToyota Hilux Fortuners, plush salaries allegedly running into thousands of dollars, and now the supposed blatant expropriation of council properties for their personal benefit.Meanwhile, ordinary municipal workers have reportedly gone months without receiving their salaries, as the local authority hides behind claims of financial challenges.But these supposed constraints never seem to affect the extravagant lifestyles of top officials.How is it possible that an institution allegedly struggling to keep the town running can afford such obscenely high salaries and expensive vehicles?To add further insult to injury, the same officials accused of looting municipal resources appear to be stripping the town of its assets with reckless abandon.If reports that council houses are being handed over to management officials are true, then we are witnessing an unashamed act of self-enrichment at the expense of the people.What makes this revelation even more disturbing is that it is being facilitated by our elected ward councilorsthe very individuals who were entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the interests of residents.Instead, they have chosen to stab the people in the back, prioritizing the greed of a few over the needs of the many.The dire state of service delivery in Redcliff is not a result of residents failing to pay their bills, but rather a direct consequence of misplaced priorities at town hall.We are governed by people who have no interest in the welfare of residents, who view public office as nothing more than a gateway to personal enrichment.Their actions demonstrate a complete disregard for the suffering of the people who depend on them to provide the most basic services.This is not the first time the Municipality of Redcliff has been embroiled in scandal.Over the years, numerous reports have surfaced exposing shocking levels of corruption and financial mismanagement.In an open letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, I once called for a Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of Redcliff Municipality, similar to the one established for Harare.In that letter, I highlighted the fact that Redcliff has been without clean, potable water for years, a clear violation of section 77 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which guarantees every person the right to safe, clean, and potable water.Despite being legally mandated to provide and maintain a water supply, the local authority has consistently failed in this obligation, forcing residents to resort to unsafe water sources, thereby exposing them to the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases.I also outlined the disturbing reports of municipal land being exchanged for expensive luxury vehicles and high-end mobile phones for top officials, with these fraudulent activities being repeatedly flagged by the Auditor-General.One such scandal involved the irregular disposal of 21 hectares of land, estimated to be worth US$850,000, to a local cement company, Livetouch Investments, without following the necessary public procurement processes.This same land was then used to procure luxury vehicles, including Toyota Fortuner GD6s, four Toyota Hiluxs, and several Nissan NP300 trucks, amongst several service equipment.Attempts at explaining this dubious transaction have not made any sense and left me with more questions than answers as they run contrary to investigations by the Auditor-General.Furthermore, a corruption watchdog, the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA), unearthed shocking details indicating that some of these vehicles were not even purchased from Toyota Zimbabwe, as claimed, but from an individual linked to a high-ranking municipal official.When confronted, Toyota Zimbabwe apparently denied ever transacting with the Municipality of Redcliff.These revelations paint a damning picture of a local authority that has transformed itself into what appears like a looting syndicate, mismanaging municipal resources for personal gain while leaving residents to suffer.What is even more infuriating is that, despite the evidence of gross mismanagement, there has been no meaningful action taken against those responsible.At the same time, some residents continue to receive outrageously inflated municipal bills, often based on unexplained calculations.This has only deepened the sense of mistrust between residents and the local authority, with many refusing to continue paying for services that are either nonexistent or of appallingly poor quality.It is an unbearable situation where people must part with their hard-earned money for nothing in return.Redcliff, once affectionately known as Little London during the colonial era due to its well-planned infrastructure and pristine environment, has been reduced to a shell of its former self.A town that was once a model of industrial prosperity is now a wasteland of abandoned hopes, failed promises, and unchecked corruption.As residents, we cannot afford to sit back while our town is systematically destroyed by the greed of a few.We must demand accountability from those in power, refusing to be silenced by mere social media complaints.It is time for real action.I, for one, faithfully pay my municipal bills, yet I see no benefit from these payments.For how much longer must we endure this abuse?How much longer will we tolerate the misuse of our hard-earned money?We have been reduced to financing the extravagant lifestyles of top officials while we go without the most basic of constitutional rightswater.This injustice cannot be allowed to continue.
The folks behind a popular Boston gastropub are looking to bring the business back next year.

Rebecca Roth Gullo, owner of The Gallows, said in an Instagram story Thursday that the restaurant would most likely reopen in 2026.

If you want to get involved, in a big way, not in a small way, let me know, Gullo said. Im open to it.

Gullo added that the rest of her team is ready to do something exciting and big with The Gallows' reopening.

The pub originally opened at 1395 Washington St. in June of 2010, offering comfort food along with an array of beer, wine and cocktails.

The group that owned the restaurant is also behind Banyan Bar+Refuge, Blackbird Doughnuts and Sallys Sandwiches.

The Gallows closed in May of 2021 because of issues associated with the pandemic, according to Gullo.

An Instagram post from May 2024 revealed that the building The Gallows occupied was sold to a developer who planned on using the space for new apartments.

We were given a choice in August 2020, stick out the balance of our 3-year lease with no COVID deferments or abatements (and mind you, no outdoor space or end of COVID in sight at that time) or hand over the location to be developed early. We chose the latter, the post reads.

Why it took 4 years to develop, we dont know. But there you have it. End of an era, it continued. We miss all of you. It was a fabulous run at 1395. While we will never return to 1395, we are making some moves. Stay tuned.
An acclaimed French restaurant with locations around the world is coming to Massachusetts for the first time.

LPM Restaurant & Bar is planning to open a new location in Boston soon, an online press release states.

This is part of the restaurants expansion into the Northeast, which will include a location in New York City as well.

LPM, which stands for La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007. The restaurant specializes in dishes inspired by the French Riviera and Ligurian coastline, including Tapenade, Salade Nicoise and Duck a lorange.

LPM has 10 locations across the globe, including in Miami, Florida. The restaurants Dubai location was named the best European Restaurant by TimeOut, restaurant of the year by Whats On and was named one of MENAs 50 Best Restaurants.

We are beyond excited for LPM to be expanding further into the U.S. market, LPM CEO Nicolas Budzynski said in the release. We have been approached by many cities to open up additional properties. The team is taking time to ensure that the quality is reflected in our food and cocktails before embarking on new locations.
Blackstone-Millville Regional High School will be closed Friday after a student told police a threat was made against them and the high school on social media.

While an investigation into the threat by police in Millville and Blackstone determined it was likely not credible, the school is closing out of an abundance of caution, Blackstone-Millville Regional School District Superintendent Jason DeFalco and Blackstone Police Chief Gregory Gilmore said in a joint statement. Closing the school will also allow police to continue their investigation, officials said.

Both the middle and elementary schools will be open Friday with an increased police presence. Officials noted neither was mentioned in the threat.

Our first and foremost concern is for the safety of our students. This is an extreme step, but its taken with your children in mind, the statement reads.
For 33 years nobody knew the name of the man whose body was found with a stab wound in the Boston Harbor, near Thompson Island, on Dec. 4, 1991.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at the time ruled the mans death a homicide, the Boston Police Department said.

But on Thursday, police said they are now able to identify the man as Toussaint Gonsalves, who was born Oct. 2, 1970.

At the time of his death, Gonsalves was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, about 225 pounds, with short, cropped, brown hair and brown eyes, police said. He was wearing a heavy, grey, multi-colored knit sweater and a blue, white and green rugby shirt. He was also wearing black pants over red running shorts, and two pairs of black socks and black high-top sneakers. Gonsalves had three scars on his left hand and his eyebrow looked like it was shaved, authorities said.

Gonsalves was identified due to the Federal Bureau of Investigations use of genetic genealogy, the police said. This is a method used to create new leads in unsolved violent crimes. It combines the use of DNA analysis with genealogical research and historical records to create new investigative leads.

Investigators only obtain what any other customer using a publicly accessible genealogical service would receive from using it, police said.

Gonsalves was a student at the former Boston High School and mightve lived in Newton or Dorchester at the time of his death, police said. He also may have been working in a kitchen.

The police said they are investigating this unsolved case.

Anyone with information about Gonsalves should contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. Anonymous information can be provided at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).
A woman on Bostons Tremont Street followed and filmed a man  a registered sex offender  after he grabbed her buttocks, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Haydens office said Thursday.

Kenneth Osborne, 65, of Dorchester, was charged on Monday in Boston Municipal Court in Central Boston with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, Haydens office said in a statement.

Judge Richard Sinnott ordered Osborne to be held on $5,000 bail and wear GPS monitoring if released.

At around 3 p.m. on Jan. 24, several bystanders notified Boston police about a reported indecent assault near 178 Tremont St., the statement read. Distraught, the woman told officers that she was on the phone when a man, Osborne, pressed against her and grabbed her.

Do I know you? she asked him before he ran off down Boylston Street.

About a half hour later, police found and arrested Osborne near 505 Washington St. in Downtown Crossing, Haydens office said. When police asked the woman to identify the man, she said, Thats the man I was chasing.

While its fortunate that this victim didnt sustain physical injuries, no one should downplay the fear and personal violation she experienced, nor the impact that incidents like this have on our sense of neighborhood safety and quality of life, Hayden said in the statement.

Osborne was previously convicted of assault to rape and indecent assault and battery in 2006 and sentenced to state prison.

He is expected to return to court for a pre-trial hearing on March 5.
Karen Reads defense team indicated it intends to file a motion to dismiss charges against her based on extraordinary governmental misconduct, a claim it has based on an assertion prosecutors failed to properly turn over exculpatory evidence.

That motion must be filed by Feb. 11, Judge Beverly Cannone said Friday. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 18.

Reads lawyers said the motion was forthcoming in a footnote of a separate filing, to recover expert-related costs, after Read spent more than $12,000 for an expert to review surveillance footage from the Canton Police station. When the expert arrived at the station last month, they found the footage no longer existed.

Prosecutors called that motion a distortion of facts without legal merit.

Reads defense is seeking a court order to require the Norfolk County District Attorneys office to pay the $12,229.57 she spent paying for an expert, Matthew Erickson, to fly from Arizona to Massachusetts to review footage at the Canton Police station.

In the filing, Reads lawyers say prosecutors represented to them that the evidence they sought  footage from the station on the day of Jan. 29, 2022, when Reads SUV was seized and brought to the station after the death of her boyfriend, John OKeefe  existed. But when Erickson arrived at the police station last December, he found they had no such footage from that date.

Reads defense claims the footage was destroyed, at best, due to improper preservation by the commonwealth. But Special Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan in the motion filed Friday says prosecutors never represented the footage would actually still exist, nearly three years after it was taken.

The footage simply no longer exists ... because of the time that has elapsed, Brennan wrote. He argued no hearing should be set to discuss the motion and asked Cannone to deny it.

The issue is likely to be raised during the next hearing in Reads case, scheduled for Thursday.
Federal officials approved a new non-opioid painkiller developed by a Boston pharmaceutical company on Thursday, calling it a first-in-class treatment that avoids the addictive risks of opioid-based drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vertex Pharmaceuticalss Journavx, known by the generic name suzetrigine, to treat the acute pain associated with surgeries or traumatic injuries.

Studies involving patients with acute pain due to recent foot and abdominal surgeries showed the drug provided more relief than a placebo pill but didnt outperform a common alternative pill with opioids and acetaminophen.

Its not a slam dunk on effectiveness, Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research, told the Associated Press. But it is a slam dunk in that its a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot of promise.

Vertex, based in Bostons Seaport, said the drug offered the first new type of pain medication approved in more than two decades.

The sunset reflects off the Vertex Pharmaceuticals headquarters building, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, in Boston. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)AP

Todays approval is a historic milestone for the 80 million people in America who are prescribed a medicine for moderate-to-severe acute pain each year, Vertex president and CEO Dr. Reshma Kewalramani said in a statement.

Acute pain refers to short-term pain tied to tissue injury, such as surgery or trauma, according to the FDA.

Of the 80 million Americans prescribed medicine for moderate-to-severe acute pain annually, half are given an opioid, Vertex said in a press release. Ten percent of those will begin prolonged opioid use, and about 85,000 patients each year will develop opioid use disorder, the company said.

Todays approval is an important public health milestone in acute pain management, said Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, acting director of the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

This photo provided by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in January 2025 shows a tablet of the JOURNAVX (suzetrigine) medication. (Vertex Pharmaceuticals via AP)AP

The new class of drugs, known as non-opioid analgesics, offers an opportunity to mitigate certain risks associated with using an opioid for pain and provides patients with another treatment option, she said in a statement.

The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.

Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body, a process that gives rise to opioids' addictive effects.

Vertexs drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.

In support of opioid alternatives as the drugs ravaged American communities, the FDA issued guidance and grants to companies aimed at encouraging the development of other ways to treat acute pain, the agency said.

Vertexs drug was subject to two randomized, double-blind, placebo- and active-controlled trials of acute surgical pain, according to the FDA. Both studies showed a statistically significant superior reduction in pain with Journavx compared to placebo.

Its most common side effects, the FDA said, included itching, muscle spasms, increased blood level of the enzyme creatine phosphokinase, and rashes.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
It took six years to get enough people to sign up for them, but the long-awaited Dr. Seuss license plates are finally going from there to here, from here to there on the backs of little cars throughout Massachusetts.

The specialty plates feature Cat in the Hat, one of the many whimsical cartoon creations by Springfield native Theodor Seuss Geisel. The Springfield Museums is home to The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum.

Were thrilled with the response to the Dr. Seuss plate and cant wait to see them across the state, said Kay Simpson, president and CEO of the Springfield Museums.

Dr. Seuss plates can be purchased for a passenger car registered in Massachusetts through the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Specialty plates cost $40, plus standard registration fees, according to the RMV.

The first time the plates are sold, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation gets $12 and the museums get $28, The Republican reported last year. Each time the plates are renewed  which must happen every two years  the museums get the whole $40.

In March 2024, the Springfield Museums got enough people signed up to move forward with special Massachusetts license plates honoring Springfield native Theodor S. Geisel. (Jim Kinney/ The Republican )The Republican

License plate proceeds will support the museums mission to promote literacy and learning, according to a press release from Springfield Museums.

As of last March, the museum had received 785 pre-orders for the license plates after campaigning since 2019, The Republican reported. Having crossed the states 750-plate threshold for a minimum order, the specialty plates went into production and have started to be released this month, the Museums said.

We are so very grateful to the hundreds of people who placed orders for these plates over the years and have patiently waited for us to reach this incredible moment, Simpson said.
Ibram X. Kendi, the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, is leaving Boston for a new position at Howard University.

The center will close when its charter with Boston University expires on June 30, according to Boston University Today, the schools daily website. The remaining staff members will still be employed through June 30.

Kendi will serve as the director of the new Howard University Institute for Advanced Study in Washington, D.C., where he will lead efforts to advance research of importance to the global African Diaspora, according to the school.

I could not be prouder and more excited to join this illustrious and historic university, Kendi said in a statement. I have had my eye on the Mecca my entire career, studying its history and witnessing what [Howard] means to the culture. There are so many faculty on this campus whose work I deeply admire. There are so many talented students on this campus whom I am excited to support. There are so many alumni who walked those grounds and went on to shape the people, cultures, and institutions I love. This is the most fulfilling career choice I have ever made. I cant wait to get started on our new institute.

The Howard University Institute for Advanced Study will engage thinkers and scholars at the school, across the U.S. and around the world to address deep inequalities in areas including technology, health care and government, the school said.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendis exceptional scholarship and unwavering commitment to social justice align perfectly with Howard Universitys mission and values as we deepen our scholarship on the African Diaspora, Dr. Anthony K. Wutoh, Howard Universitys provost and chief academic officer, said in a statement. We are confident that under his leadership, the new institute will become a beacon of excellence and a catalyst for transformative change.

Boston University hired Kendi in 2020 to open the Center for Antiracist Research, according to BU Today. His arrival came shortly after the police murder of George Floyd.

During its initial years, the center was focused on a variety of projects and initiatives including its COVID Racial Data Tracker, making research-based amicus briefs, initiating a Racial Data Lab and building The Emancipator, a digital news outlet focused on racial equality, according to BU Today.

In 2023, the center and Kendi were accused of financial mismanagement after 19 people were laid off, according to the Washington Post. But, the university said an audit of the center found no wrongdoings.

Despite all the headwinds we faced as a new organization founded during the pandemic and the intense backlash over critical race theory, I am very proud of all we envisioned, all we created, all we learned, all we achievedthe community we built, the people we helped and inspired, Kendi said in a statement. To all the faculty, staff, administrators, students, supporters, and Boston community members, I feel honored to have been able to do this work with you over the last five years. I am departing for an opportunity I could not pass up, but what connected us at CAR remains, especially during this precarious time. Our commitment to building an equitable and just society.

Kendi is also the author of How to Be an Antiracist and winner of the 2021 MacArthur Genius grant.
Editors note: This story was updated at 6:35 on Jan. 31 to report that Zeneyda Barrera was released from ICE custody and reunited with her family.

A Lynn teen made headlines this week when she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the citys courthouse after she was released on a misdemeanor charge, which has since been dropped.

But 18-year-old Zeneyda Barrera, a native of Nicaragua, is far from the only one apprehended by ICE in a Massachusetts courthouse. And under the new presidential administration, its likely that more immigrants will face the same fate, according to Massachusetts legal organizations.

I think people touching the criminal legal system do have reason to be afraid of ICE enforcement, said Jen Klein, director of the Immigration Impact Unit at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which provides legal representation for those who cant afford an attorney. We dont know the full extent of what thats going to look like.

Lynn District Court was relatively quiet Friday morning. Small groups of people chatted in the hallways, and two court officers manning the entryway security check discussed their lunch plans.

None of the people in attendance carried an ICE badge.

In Massachusetts, courthouse staff are prohibited from assisting ICE agents or keeping someone in custody at the federal agencys request because of an immigration detainer. This policy was established through a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision.

However, according to Massachusetts Trial Court spokesperson Jennifer Donahue, a court officer will not interfere with ICE arresting an individual who has been released.

If an ICE official asks whether a specific person is in custody or if they request information from the court clerk about a case that is public, they will provide that information accordingly, according to the official Trial Court policy.

But usually, ICE does not need to be tipped off about someone in custody. When the local police department fingerprints a suspect who has been arrested, the fingerprints are entered into a national database. If the person has had any previous contact with the immigration system, they will most likely have been fingerprinted before, and the prints will match. ICE has access to that information.

ICE can then send an immigration detainer to the courthouse but must go in person to take custody of the individual in question.

According to the state Trial Courts official policy, court officers are required to process and release an individual on bail or personal recognizance as deemed by a judge.

If an ICE official arrives at the courthouse, court officers must allow them access to the holding cell area where they can take an individual who has been released into ICE custody.

Under former President Joe Biden, the unofficial ICE policy was that the agency would not arrest people in courthouses who were there for non-immigration-related reasons.

However, during President Donald Trumps first term, ICE was permitted to detain people they believed to be in the country illegally, regardless of whether they were charged with a crime.

After Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, the administration released a new directive on ICE activity in courthouses. Agents are instructed to generally avoid enforcement in non-criminal courts, such as family court or small claims, but the directive stopped short of saying ICE will not arrest anyone not charged with a crime.

Under federal law, ICE agents have the legal authority to interrogate and/or take someone into custody within 100 miles of the United States border or a port of entry. Massachusetts is a relatively small coastal state with a major international airport so that authority includes most of the state.

Read more: Trump sparks fear of mass deportations among Bay State immigrants

This means that while agents dont typically hang around courthouses waiting for someone to come through if they are there to detain someone, others who happen to be in court that day could also be targeted.

Staff at several courthouses who spoke to MassLive denied any knowledge of agents being there Thursday or Friday.

Klein said she has not heard about anyone who has not been charged with a crime being taken into custody, but there is still uncertainty about whether it could start happening throughout the state.

Weve been seeing ICE making arrests at courthouses for many years, all through the Biden administration and the previous Trump administration, she said. Using courthouses as a place of enforcement is not new ... I do expect to continue to see it throughout this administration.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

On Friday afternoon, Barrera was released from ICE custody and reunited with her family, according to U.S. Rep. Seth Moultons office. He represents the 6th District, which includes the city of Lynn.
Essex County prosecutors moved Friday to drop criminal charges against a Lynn teenager who was accused of pushing her brother during a fight.

Zeneyda Barrera, 18, originally from Nicaragua, was arrested by Lynn police after a neighbor complained about a noise disturbance around 4:30 a.m. on Monday. After speaking with Barrera, her mother and her 12-year-old brother, police learned Barrera pushed her brother to the floor during an argument over a cell phone, according to Barreras attorney, Patrick Callahan.

Barrera faced a single charge of assault and battery. She was detained by federal officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside Lynn District Court prior to her arraignment.

Read more: A Lynn teen pushed her brother during a fight. Then ICE took her

Patrick Callahan, Barreras lawyer in the criminal case, said she was still in ICE custody as of Friday afternoon.

He thanked Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker and his staff for their decision to review and ultimately drop the case.

Obviously Im quite happy with that decision, Callahan said, adding prosecutors made the right decision here.

Its the right and just thing to do, he added.

Callahan said he was hopeful the charges being dropped would lead to Barreras release.

Ultimately the decision is up to them what they want to do, he said.

Tucker, in a statement released by his office Friday afternoon, said Barrera will enter a young adult diversion program.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District, said Barreras case underscores the importance of compassion and understanding in our legal processes, particularly for our youth.

Our priority has always been the wellbeing of this young woman and her family, and I will continue to fight for her to be reunited with her loved ones, Moulton said.

Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson asked federal immigration officials to consider all the circumstances when taking any enforcement action.

If ICEs intent is to target violent offenders who put our community at risk, people like Zeneyda should not be detained, Nicholson said.
Its been a busy week for Massachusetts state Senate President Karen E. Spilka.

The Ashland Democrat has been fielding phone calls from constituents, service providers, and local leaders trying to sort sound from signal when it comes to the Trump administrations (now paused) freeze on federal funding.

I think if this keeps up, well be all walking around with neck braces from whiplash, Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, quipped during a wide-ranging interview Thursday with MassLive in her office at the State House.

First elected to the House in 2001, Spilka won election to the state Senate in 2005. She won election as the majority-Democrat chambers presiding officer in 2018, replacing Sen. Harriet Chandler.

She won reelection to the Senates top spot earlier this month, promising in her inaugural speech to improve transparency in a notoriously opaque institution.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and content.

Q: Youve been taking a lot of calls from constituents, from town officials, area agencies on aging, and the like ... What have those conversations been like? What have you been telling them?

A: Its hard to respond because, number one,  it changes, not only daily, but sometimes almost hourly. But the bottom line is, people are very concerned about their program services with ... whether theyre going to have federal funding cuts or not. And even though [President Trump] seems to have withdrawn possibly most of them, we still dont know exactly the status of them, and if thats temporary or permanent. But the calls that Im getting are concerns  and the thing that is getting to me  the folks [who] are calling are concerned about funding that Congress has already appropriated.

[Trump] is ... taking hold of Congresss role and canceling out their actions, which I believe is probably unconstitutional as separation of powers. Congress appropriates the funding [and] the executive branch, the President implements that. And he is trying to switch roles and cancel out Congresss role.

Were getting calls from a veteran who is concerned about his ... health care that might be cut because of these cuts; [from] a mother whose child is getting cancer care, ... and her concern that thats going to get cut and the care may not be available for her child. And where will that leave the family? Weve gotten a call from a daughter whose parent is in nursing home care ... [and] will her mother be able to stay there?

Q: Funding for the states shelter system runs out literally any second now, any updates on where that stands? The bill will start in the House.

A: I assume the House will [vote on the $425 million supplemental funding bill] next week. We will try to take it up soon thereafter. Ive been talking to the senators and my colleagues to get a sense of where they are at ... There is clearly, I think, as a general consensus of what I have been consistently saying, that we have to balance our fiscal affairs. We know what revenue we have available to us, and [have to] be fiscally responsible. But also, I believe we do have some obligation to people who are here.

Were a New England state. We are freezing cold. We cant allow mothers with three-month-old babies [to] sleep on park benches overnight. So I applaud the Healey administration for coming up with ways to help move people into a living situation and then, more quickly, out into a more permanent situation. And weve had discussions with the Healey administration, many discussions about that. And so we are following up with that in terms of getting ready for the Senate to do its version of that emergency assistance [bill] after the House does theirs.

Q: Boston Mayor Michele Wu has refiled her tax shift bill. Have you reviewed legislation or talked with the mayors office? And is there any reason to think it might be received more favorably than the bill that failed to advance last year?

A: What I am very happy about. Im thrilled that part of that home rule petition finally included tax relief for seniors and those of low income. The Senate, and especially the Boston senators, have been urging the city to include that either as part of a home the original home rule, or a separate bill, because the recognition that especially seniors and low-income [residents] need assistance. And many other cities and towns have done that across the state. So Im happy that is a part of it.

I have not heard from the mayor or personally heard from the city myself, so there has been no discussion further about it. But we will certainly consider the bill. It has to go through the City Council, and then a committee hearing, and then the House and then the Senate.

Q: How do you feel about Gov. Healeys proposed candy tax?

A: I will take a look at that. I do want to highlight the phenomenal tax relief package that the Legislature did last session, which was the broadest, biggest tax relief in over a generation. I dont agree with any increase in broad-based taxes. I havent had an opportunity to really look at ... what she included. But like anything else, we will certainly take a look at it.
State Sen. Peter Durant is mulling a Republican bid for governor in 2026, setting the stage for a potentially crowded primary field as the GOP looks to challenge Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.

Durant, R-Worcester/Hampshire, told WBUR-FM Thursday that hell decide this spring on a bid.

Durant, of Spencer, has emerged as a top critic of the current administrations migrant shelter policy. Hes also spearheading a legislative effort to topple the states new gun reform law.

I think that the state of Massachusetts would be best served by someone who isnt an extreme person on the right or the left  but somebody who can work with anyone, can work across party lines, and can be friendly to an administration thats on their side of the ticket, Durant told the station.

The Spencer lawmaker won a special election for his Senate seat in 2023 after more than a decade in the House. He acknowledged that his past support for President Donald Trump could be a hurdle, the station reported.

Healey, the former state attorney general, has not said whether she plans to seek a second, four-year term in the corner office.

At least three other Republicans are known to be, or said to be, considering a run.

They include former Baker administration official Mike Kennealy, Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis, and venture capitalist Brian Shortsleeve, according to published reports.
BOSTON  The tip came Tuesday evening in a text from a priest: ICE is at a candy factory.

The priest had heard the rumor about federal immigration agents from an activist, whod heard it from a lawyer, whod heard it from a client.
SPRINGFIELD  Just days before a new state law takes effect to try to address the housing crisis, the City Council adopted regulations to oversee construction of in-law apartments.

The city currently does not allow the apartments, formally called accessory dwelling units, but that will change since a provision of the state $5.16 billion Affordable Homes Act will supersede all local zoning and allow them in all single-family zones in every community.

Accessory Dwelling Units are subject to reasonable regulations, said Philip Dromey, deputy director of planning.
Crumbl Cookies, a chain known for selling a collection of cookies, will open a new location in Shrewsbury on Feb. 7.

The location of the Shrewsbury Crumbl is at 50 Boston Turnpike, located in the White City Shopping Center, according to a press release from a Crumbl public relations associate. A grand opening celebration will take place on Feb. 7, featuring a live DJ from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The first 100 customers will receive a free cookie cutter and will also get the chance to meet the owners, Dennis Sosa and Richard Howell, the press release reads.

Dennis Sosa and Richard Howell have known each other for almost 10 years, the press release reads. Their homes full of cookie-loving boys have loved Crumbl for almost as long, and they particularly enjoy Crumbls rotating menu of tasty new flavors. Dennis and Richard are super excited to bring the worlds newest Crumbl to Shrewsbury and Central Massachusetts.

The live DJ will also be at the Shrewsbury location on Feb. 8 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., according to the press release.

Crumbl was founded in 2017 by Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley, according to the companys website. The cookies sold at Crumbl vary, from milk chocolate chip to a banana bread cookie, according to the companys menu.

There are over 1,000 Crumbl stores across the United States, according to the press release. In Massachusetts, there are a total of 19 Crumbl stores, with only one in Central Mass., located in Millbury, according to a map on the Crumbl website. The opening of the Shrewsbury Crumbl marks the second store to be open in Worcester County.

The opening day celebration at the Shrewsbury Crumbl store starts at 8 a.m. and lasts until 11 p.m., the press release reads.
On Feb. 2, the United States will turn its attention to Pennsylvania to find out if Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, sees his shadow.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, however, there Feb. 2 will be a special ceremony with a different rodent  Cornelia, the woodchuck.

The EcoTarium, a science and nature museum in Worcester, will be hosting its third consecutive Groundhog Day event on Sunday. During the event, Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty will read a proclamation for the day and visitors will see the three-year-old woodchuck, according to a press release from the museum.

Visitors will meet Cornelia up close and learn fascinating facts about her from the keepers who care for her every day, the press release reads. They will enjoy a fun-filled day of Science Discovery sessions, hands-on activities, and more.'

Danielle Fisher, the EcoTariums marketing manager, told MassLive that dignitaries would come in wearing top hats, boutonnieres and sashes and would check with staff to observe whether Cornelia sees her shadow.

Cornelia herself is a female woodchuck who was born in April 2021, according to Fisher. She is non-releasable, which means she cannot be released back into the wild. She was deemed non-releasable due to being imprinted on humans and having a lack of fear of normal predators, according to Fisher.

Cornelia weighs about nine pounds and enjoys making nests with different materials such as paper, cardboard, blankets, branches and grasses, Fisher said. Her favorite foods include broccoli, nuts and bananas.

Woodchucks and groundhogs are, in fact, the same animal, according to the Mass Audubon website. The first Groundhog Day was celebrated on Feb. 2. 1887 at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, according to History.com.

The EcoTariums Groundhog Day celebration will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 2 at 222 Harrington Way in Worcester, according to the press release.
Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect that some speeding tickets will be handed out in the case of reckless driving.

Starting Jan. 30 and continuing through February, the Worcester Police Department wont be handing out as many tickets to those who speed.

Instead, those who do break the speed limit will be given a pamphlet detailing how the statutory speed limit in thickly settled or business districts city-wide has been reduced to 25 miles per hour.

Police still have discretion to give out tickets in the case of reckless driving.

These flyers are part of an educational campaign to help teach motorists about the new speed limit, according to Sergeant James Foley of the Worcester Police. The pamphlet campaign began on Jan. 30 and will last for a month, according to Interim Chief Paul Saucier.

The city council voted in September 2024 unanimously to lower the speed limit to 25 mph from 30 mph and establish 20 mph safety zones in sensitive areas, including parks, playgrounds, hospitals, senior citizen housing and childcare centers. The new speed limit went into effect in September following the councils vote, according to Tom Matthews, a spokesperson for Worcester City Manager Eric D. Batista. The lowering of the speed limit is part of Vision Zero  a street safety movement that aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on Worcesters roadways.

Thirty is now 25 and people may travel the road every day and not realize that it has changed, even as signs have gone up, Saucier told MassLive. So we just try and educate the public.

The pamphlet, which was posted on the Worcester Police Departments Facebook page, reads that the 25 mph speed limit applies to streets city-wide unless a different speed limit is posted. The pamphlet also explains as to why the speed limit was changed, reading that it is intended to make Worcesters streets safer for all roadway users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and drivers.

Because the pamphlet campaign has just begun, Foley said the police department doesnt have enough data to know how many have been handed out to motorists but expects to obtain any data about it by mid-next week. At the end of the period, officers will begin to hand out tickets to motorists who are caught speeding, Foley said.

They (the residents) have to know that the regulatory speed for the city of Worcester is 25 mph, Foley said. We always like to try to educate motorists before we start giving monetary tickets.

The information campaign is similar to another campaign that took place in April when, for a limited time, Worcester police officers did not hand out tickets to drivers who were using their phones while driving. Instead, a pamphlet informing them of the hands-free law, which prohibits using electronic devices while driving in Massachusetts, was handed out to them.

In 2024, the year the speed limit was lowered, several fatal crashes took place throughout the city. On June 24, 2024, a 1-year-old girl suffered a head injury after being hit by a car near 243 Lincoln St. A 13-year-old girl was struck and killed by a vehicle on Belmont Street on June 27, 2024. Another 13-year-old was seriously injured after being hit by a car while crossing Shrewsbury Street on July 29, leading to her being in a coma from which she woke up in September. On Oct. 6, 2024, a 29-year-old person was killed in a single-vehicle crash at the intersection of Park Avenue and Highland Street.

On Aug. 1, 2024, Worcester City Manager Eric D. Batista and Mayor Joseph Petty issued a statement declaring a road safety crisis to draw attention to the serious and worsening problem of traffic violence and rally the community behind actions to address it.

Foley said there is not enough information to know whether people have been adhering to the new speed limit.

Nevertheless, both Foley and Saucier expressed support for the 25 mph speed limit, saying that by driving slower, people are less likely to be injured.

When a vehicle is traveling 20, 25 mph, you have a better chance of survival because the speed is a lot lower, Foley said.The injuries that happen to people is horrific once you start getting up into the higher speeds.

In addition to lowering the speed limit, new permanent speed humps were installed at various locations in Worcester in 2024 as a traffic calming measure, according to the citys website.

These locations are as follows,

Alexander Road

Beechmont Street

Coolidge Road

Crowningshield Road

Monadnock Road

Murray Avenue

Squantum Street

Uxbridge Street

Whitman Road

Woodland Street

All of the locations have had permanent speed humps installed as of Dec. 27. 2024, per the citys website.
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Inland Fisheries Ireland has appealed to Mayo farmers to take all precautionary measures to help prevent water pollution when spreading slurry in 2025.

Farmers in Mayo have been permitted to spread slurry since Thursday, January 16 and Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) have reminded farmers of the negative effects it can have on the county's water systems.

Livestock manure, organic fertilisers, silage effluent and soiled water from agricultural practices are considered highly damaging substances that can cause severe water quality issues.

READ: Epic journey for salmon returning to Mayo river

Poor slurry spreading practices can ultimately wipe out local fish populations and ruin their habitats, said Barry Fox Deputy CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

With the slurry season commencing for 2025, IFI is appealing to farmers to be very mindful of their local rivers, lakes, streams and coastlines, and to heed associated regulations.

Irelands fisheries resource is a significant part of the rural economy. Agricultural communities play a pivotal role in the responsible stewardship of our environment - now, and for future generations, he added.

IFI also urged farmers to work according to all best practices, including the maintenance of the minimum distance between slurry spreading areas and watercourses and to plan ahead, noting poor weather conditions before spreading on fields.

Farmers are also asked to seek advice where necessary from Teagasc, their Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme advisor, local authority, or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

IFI stated they will continue to encourage the public to report instances of water pollution, habitat destruction, fish kills, or illegal fishing, to its confidential 24/7 number, 0818 34 74 24.
A MAYO man who is accused of assaulting an off-duty gardai will be accessed while in prison to see if he is fit to plead.

Eoghan Griffith of 5 Garryduff Drive, Castlebar is charged with assault causing harm to Detective Garda Leo Heaney in Castlebar while he was off duty in September 2023.

The defendant appeared before Achill District Court on foot of a bench warrant and is also charged with criminal damage and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour arising from the same incident in 2023.

When he was brought before the court, Mr Griffith was handcuffed and accompanied by a number of gardai and an application was made to remand him in custody.

READ: Mayo GAA star climbs highest peak in America

Solicitor Mr Thomas Walsh, who was representing Mr Griffith told Judge Fiona Lydon that he had tried to take instructions from his client but was unable to ascertain from him if he would be making a bail application or if he understood the question.

Judge Lydon agreed to remand Mr Griffith in custody and directed the preparation of a psychiatric report to determine if he is fit to plead.

In outlining the allegations against Mr Griffith for jurisdictional purposes, Court Presenter, Sergeant Conor McShane said that on September 19, 2023, Detective Garda Heaney was off-duty on the Newport Road in Castlebar when he observed an incident involving the defendant.

Sgt McShane said that when Det Garda Heaney went to intervene, it is alleged he was punched in the right eye by the defendant. He said it is alleged that Det Garda Heaney was left injured after the assault but has since made a full recovery and has no lasting effects.

A file, he said, was sent to the DPP who directed that the defendant would be charged with assault causing harm and for the case to be dealt with summarily in the district court.

Judge Lydon accepted jurisdiction and ordered that Mr Griffith receive the appropriate medical attention while in custody.

She remanded him in custody to appear before Castlebar District Court on February 4.
MEP Maria Walsh has requested clarity on how the 1 billion Mercosur support fund will help Irish farmers amid fears of negative impacts from an influx of South American produce.

Last month, an agreement between EU and Mercosur saw the free-trade rules confirmed between European and South American countries.

READ MORE: People discovering little-known 30,000 grant to fix up old farm buildings

The deal has courted controversy since gaining momentum in 2016 and gained criticism from government groups, farmers and environmental activists alike.

MEP Walsh has asked for reassurance for many concerned Irish farmers given the potential of an increased amount of exports, such as Brazilian beef, causing instability in Irish agricultural markets.

In response to the deal, MEP Walsh stated: In its current form, the deal will expose family-run enterprises to unfair competition due to an influx of lower standard products.

Competition and trade is important but not at the expense of European and Irish farmers.

The Boston-born politician, who has represented the Midlands North West constituency in Brussels since 2019, also demanded that any food imported from across the Atlantic must be held to the same level and standard as local products.

While the number 1 billion value of the trade deal may seem significant, it provides little for farmers without clarity on what it represents, according to MEP Walsh.

Regardless of the value of the fund, it provides little comfort to Irish farmers if they do not know how, or if, it will support their incomes, the Fine Gael MEP stated.
It has been revealed that Mayo County Council is in line to receive a fine worth up to 600,000 as the fallout from 2020 contract negotiations continues.

Four and a half years ago, as the Irish Times report, Kilkenny-based company Killaree Lighting Services saw a bid rejected by the Council for a contract estimated to be worth 4 million to 6 million depending on the length of time.

READ MORE Calls for world-famous rock band Fontaines D.C. to play in Mayo town

Killaree submitted its bid to undertake the work in August 2020. However, two months later the company was removed from the tender process, with the contract rewarded to Claremorris-based firm Electric Skyline.

Last week in the Court of Appeal, Ms Justice Niamh Hyland judged the Council to be liable to a penalty of up to 10% of the value of the contract. This was due to the council failing to give Killaree the chance to seek Pre-contractual remedies at the time.

The contract was for the maintenance and repair of public lighting both in Mayo and on behalf of five other councils.

The deal was to the value of 1.4 million for the first year, with the option of renewing the deal a maximum of six times every six months.

READ MORE: Mayo woman runs 100 miles to raise funds for cancer charity

Any fine decided upon by the courts must be paid to the state as what is referred to as a civil penalty.

Killarees success in the case was down to the lack of a standstill letter. This gives unsuccessful bidders a chance to question the process that a public body undertakes to eliminate them from the process.

The lack of this letter fell foul of EU regulations according to Justice Hyland.

As of January 31 at 5pm, Mayo County Council has declined to comment.
A MAYO national school's short movie on a Clew Bay boating disaster has been shortlisted among the finalists of the FIS Film Awards.

The sixth class pupils of Scoil Phadraig National School in Westport are among the finalists for this years FIS Film Awards for their short movie, 'The Clew Bay Drowning 1894'. In its 19th year, the awards ceremony takes place at the Helix, Dublin on February 12 and will be hosted by RTEs Sinead Kennedy.

The annual event honours the filmmaking achievements of Irish primary school students and their teachers across multiple categories, with the distinguished Film of the Year award taking centre stage. Awards are presented for student contributions in directing, acting, design, music, and a wide range of film genres, including comedy, drama, horror, science fiction and films in Irish among others.

Through the FIS Film Project, students are encouraged to develop their teamwork and collaboration skills, while also being provided with filmmaking tools and equipment to foster creativity and innovation in the safe environment of their school.

Scoil Phadraig Westport is one of 24 national schools from across Ireland who have been nominated for the film awards which are aimed to inspire and celebrate the creativity of the next generation of cinematic visionaries.

The Clew Bay Drowning took place on June 14, 1894 when a hooker carrying 126 passengers from Achill capsized close to Westport Quay and resulted in the drowning of 32 people. The passengers had been travelling to Westport to take a larger boat to Scotland where they were to pick potatoes for the summer season.

READ: Calls for Mayo Greenway community to be accommodated in planning process

At the time the recently constructed railway line from Westport to Achill had not been operational but it was agreed that a train would take the victims of the drowning, as well as the survivors, all the way from Westport to Achill the following morning.

This fulfilled the first part of a bleak prediction made in the seventeenth century by the north Mayo based prophet Red Brian Carabine, who said: Carriages on wheels with smoke and fire will come to Achill and the first and last carriages will carry dead bodies.

The FIS Film Awards event will be filmed, broadcast, and produced by third-level students from IADTs National Film School, offering them valuable professional experience in the industry to further develop their skills.

Speaking about this years finalists, Christina Reynolds, Creative Manager at the Institute of Art, Design & Technology said:

With so many entries and such a high level of talent involved this year, it was extremely difficult to choose our finalists. Its truly inspiring to witness the incredible creativity and innovation coming from young aspiring filmmakers who are guided by their teachers across the country. This years contest saw several entries that provided a creative twist on stories of historical significance. The awards highlight not just the talent of the students but also the power of collaboration and the role that technology and innovation play in shaping their storytelling. We look forward to this years awards which look to be bigger than ever before.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, January 31, 2025

Since it was founded in 2008, Interpublics IPG Mediabrands unit arguably has undergone more change in leadership, organization, product, services and philosophical approach than any of the other major agency holding company media-services divisions.

So it shouldnt be surprising that its transformation has continued under its most recent chief, Eileen Kiernan. What is surprising is how much it has accelerated.

In less than three years, Kiernan has completely retooled the organization -- consolidating most, if not all of its data and technology innovation and development under a rebooted Kinesso unit, enabling its client-facing agency brands (Initiative, Mediahub, and UM) to focus 100% on service, ideation, execution and stewardship.

Like its Magna unit that consolidated much of the divisions research and market intelligence as well as corporate-level partner and vendor negotiations, the move has brought a keener, consolidated focus on innovating for the future in a way that benefits all of the divisions stakeholders -- not just its agency brands, but their clients, and Interpublic corporately, including its shareholders.

And while MediaPost has recognized IPG Mediabrands in previous Agency of the Year Awards -- and its Kinesso unit, just last year -- the timing of this years recognition is noteworthy because it is likely to face even more change this year as Interpublic is poised to merge with Omnicom, pending shareholder and regulatory approval.

That should be an interesting cultural mix, especially for their respective media-services divisions, because whereas IPG Mediabrands has historically been among the most open, entrepreneurial and vocal about its vision, innovation and industry leadership, Omnicoms media group historically has taken a more insular, proprietary approach, mainly letting its clients and vendors speak for themselves.

The latter has always been an anathema for MediaPost Agency of the Year recognition, which depends on people telling their stories -- if not to us directly, at least in a public enough way that the editors of MediaPost could see and evaluate the impact they are having in the media marketplace.

Unlike creative agencies -- where their work is inherently public and on display for everyone to see, hear and watch -- media-services innovations often are opaque and require some storytelling in order to understand them.

IPG Mediabrands has always been among the best media innovation storytellers, but in the end, its about what theyve been able to show -- not tell -- that has made the difference. Especially in the past year -- the one where we are recognizing them as our Media Agency of the Year."

As in 2023, much of the big innovation took place inside Kinesso, which continued to evolve its scientific approach to the data-driven and programmatic media marketplace, expanding on the algorithmic trading model it previously developed and expanding it into a new Experimentation Lab.

No, its not a physical lab with beakers and test tubes, but one that is conducting continuous, high-speed and high-volume (tens of thousands) of experiments across the data-driven, digital media marketplace to understand which audiences, media and creative executions have the best yield for each clients outcome goals.

During 2024, Kinesso also engineered a partnership with commerce platform Vudoo developing and executing a variety of new shoppable media formats and campaigns as part of IPG Mediabrands overall deeper push into retail and commerce media.

The unit also launched a new Emerging Tech Assessment solution, enabling its client brands to test, measure and anticipate alternatives in an increasingly opaque digital media marketplace including the deprecation of cookies and user IDs.

Kinesso also accelerated the deployment of its AI-powered generative AI chatbot, My Bot, integrating it into Interpublics Interact operating system, and onboarding the app to more than 55,000 employees across 77 countries.

Kinesso aside, IPG Mediabrands also launched a dedicated health marketing and media unit, Mediabrands Health, partnered with Adverity to augment its Acxiom data spine to broaden its utility in audience development and planning, and struck a new partnership with Zefr to expand efforts around misinformation avoidance, which aligns with its longstanding Media for Good efforts.

If 2024 has a central theme for IPG, Mediabrands' Kiernan says it was it's "orchestration strategy," which enabled its disparate units to be more independent, but also more focused by "moving from a holding company-like structure with three discrete brands doing things their way to a simplified, streamlined, integrated, technologically enabled orchestration model where the brands have a role, technology has a role, and they're all interconnected and driving in the same direction to elevate the craft of media.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 31, 2025

Mobile data broker Kochava has agreed to revise some privacy practices to settle class-action claims over the alleged sale of location data, according to court papers filed Thursday,

Among other changes, the company has agreed to implement a feature aimed at blocking the sharing or use of raw location data associated with health care facilities, schools, jails and other sensitive venues.

The proposed settlement terms, filed Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, also requires the company to allow consumers to opt out of data collection by submitting a simple web form, and place opted-out consumers on a blacklist that Kochava says will prevent all future ingestion, use, and/or sale of their data.

Another provision requires Kochava to ensure that any location data it collects from an app will be used exclusively for the benefit of that app -- unless the data was collected with consumers' express consent.

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The settlement calls for the company to pay attorneys' fees of up to $1.5 million, and awards of up to $17,500 for the lead plaintiffs, but doesn't otherwise provide for monetary damages.

According to the court papers, the data broker told the plaintiffs that it lacks adequate insurance coverage for the claims, and that its financial condition both precluded a monetary settlement and virtually guaranteed Kochava would cease to operate if it lost the case.

If finalized, the deal will resolve several lawsuits dating to 2022 and 2023 over allegations that Kochava obtained and sold precise location data that originated with mobile apps.

The suits were filed soon after the Federal Trade Commission charged Kochava with acting unfairly by allegedly selling data that could expose sensitive information, such as whether people visited doctors' offices or religious institutions.

Among other allegations, the FTC alleged that Kochava sells precise geolocation data as well as mobile advertising IDs -- unique, 32-character identifiers that persist, unless consumers reset them.

Kochava, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, has argued that data it sells isn't personally identifiable, and that the FTC's allegations -- even if proven true -- wouldn't amount to unfair conduct.

A company spokesperson said the agreement memorializes Kochava's filtering tool -- dubbed Privacy Block -- as a sensible and practical tool.

The settlement is a step in the right direction for U.S. data privacy and we look forward to continued progress in this arena, the spokesperson stated.

Kochava rolled out Privacy Block in 2022, shortly before the FTC sued. At the time, the company said the tool would filter out health services location data.

The settlement agreement requires Kochava to filter out a broader range of data -- including locations associated with religious establishments, schools, childcare centers, homeless shelters, jails and offices providing services based on factors like LGBTQ+ status, political affiliation and religious beliefs.

Kochava told Winmill in October that it had settled the class-action suits, but didn't file a proposed agreement until Thursday.

The company is continuing to fight the FTC's charges.
Alaska Air Group is consolidating its media and creative agency assignments with UM and Mekanism respectively.

The move follows Alaska Air Groups $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines last September. Hawaiian Airlines is retaining its separate brand post-acquisition. Alaska Air Group also operates regional carrier Horizon Air.

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The Group reported advertising expenses of $78 million in 2023. That figure includes advertising, sponsorships and promotional costs. The company did not break out media expenditures. But agency research firm COMvergence estimates that Alaska Air Group spent $31 million on measured media in 2024 while Hawaiian Airlines spent $5 million.
7. Oh My Venus

A personal trainer partners with a lawyer on her fitness journey, but their sessions soon lead to heartwarming discoveries beyond the physical realm.
The research highlights opportunities for expansion in UK logistics

Against a global backdrop including shifts in US leadership and geopolitical tensions, the industrial and logistics (I&L) sector stands out as a beacon of opportunity for UK economic growth.

New research from property company Potter Space and Savills demonstrates how strategic investment in this sector could help drive Britain's economic renaissance.

The data, outlined in the industry report BIG things in SMALL boxes, reveals the I&L sector's impressive 7% contribution to national GVA, establishing it as a cornerstone of the UK economy.

The research highlights an exciting opportunity for expansion - with targeted investment in the sub-100k sq. ft market, the sector could generate an additional 94,000 jobs and contribute a further 5.9bn in annual GVA to the UK economy.

The UK's position as second in the Global Innovation Index showcases its exceptional R&D capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit.

By unlocking the full potential of the I&L sector, this innovation prowess could be transformed into tangible economic growth.

Jason Rockett, Managing Director of Potter Space, said: "The I&L sector has been the fastest growing UK economic sector over the past five years, delivering higher than average wages and robust growth forecasts.

"Its impact amplifies across the economy - when I&L thrives, we see corresponding growth in manufacturing, e-commerce, and emerging technology sectors.

"With increased attention and support, this sector could create thousands more quality jobs and drive substantial economic growth across our regions."

This transformative potential is already evident in businesses that have secured appropriate facilities.

Charles Hassall, CEO of Potter Space tenant Falcon Contract Flooring, said: "Securing the right industrial space has been vital to our growth journey.

"Relocating to a 28,450 sq. ft. facility at Potter Space has transformed our operationsallowing us to eliminate double handling, enhance storage efficiency, and uncover new revenue streams by providing quality storage and distribution services.

"For ambitious companies like ours, high-quality and sustainable industrial space is not merely about square footage; it's about building a foundation for future growth and giving a home to our FCF family.

"Since our move, we've experienced significant scaling in our operations, resulting in a turnover of 16 million last year and supporting a dedicated workforce of over 140 individuals."

Mark Powney, Director of Economics at Savills, added: "Across the UK, we're seeing tremendous potential for growth among SMEs.

"By ensuring these businesses have access to suitable, affordable space, we can enable them to scale operations domestically, foster innovation, and contribute to regional economic development.

"This represents an exciting opportunity for the UK economy."
At least one branch of the military is already turning away recruits after President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to craft new policies barring transgender service members.

An executive order Trump signed Monday gave the Pentagon 30 days to report back on its plans to implement a new policy on transgender service members and 60 days to actually update the policy.

But a Navy memo dated the day after Trump signed his order directed recruiters to reject transgender applicants immediately, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Military.com.

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Asked about the memo Thursday, a spokesperson for Navy Recruiting Command confirmed its authenticity.

"Navy Recruiting Command follows all directives and policies set forth by the Department of Defense and the commander in chief," Cmdr. Stephanie Turo said in an emailed statement. "As policies are being reviewed and aligned with the latest executive orders, all recruiting actions are conducted in accordance with applicable legal and policy guidance."

Under the new Navy guidance, recruits who self-identify as transgender "are not eligible to process for enlistment at this time," the memo says.

Additionally, any transgender recruits in the delayed-entry program -- which allows people to enlist a year ahead of being shipped out to basic training -- will have the date they ship out postponed "pending further DoD guidance," the memo says.

If recruiters are unsure whether someone is transgender, they should continue processing the application and leave the issue to a Military Entrance Processing Station to resolve "rather than risking a potential conflict between a recruiter and an applicant," the memo adds.

The memo also provides a script for recruiters to use when turning away transgender people.

"Thank you for your interest in serving in the United States Navy," the memo says recruiters should say. "Due to recent policy changes, we are unable to process your application at this time. We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to stay connected with your local recruiting office for future updates."

The Navy memo appears to be the first concrete example of the services carrying out Trump's order to ban transgender people from serving in the military because, in his view, being transgender is "not consistent" with military values.

It also indicates that the military is interpreting Trump's order as a broad ban on all transgender people -- rather than a more narrow restriction on those diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The words "gender dysphoria" are not in the Navy memo at all.

Gender dysphoria is the medical term for the distress that's caused when someone's gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth, and not all transgender people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

When Trump banned most transgender people from serving in the military during his first term in office, the Pentagon couched it as a medical readiness issue and focused its policies on gender dysphoria.

This time, though, Trump's order on the subject cast the very idea of being transgender as an affront to military values. In its "purpose" section, the order says that being transgender "conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle" and that insisting someone recognize their gender identity "is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."

Word that the Navy is turning away some potential recruits earlier than it is required to by Trump's order comes after most of the military services have struggled in recent years to convince young people to join. The Navy beat its recruiting goal last year, but just by about 300 recruits and largely because of a pre-basic training program that gives recruits who don't meet academic or fitness standards a chance to meet those benchmarks.

Asked Thursday whether Navy Recruiting Command agrees with Trump's characterization of transgender service members as being incompatible with the military, Turo did not directly answer.

"Our focus remains on executing our mission in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies," Turo said. "We are committed to building a strong, merit-based force that upholds the principles of fairness, excellence and dedication to duty, as outlined in the sailor's creed and the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment."

While Trump's order left it to the Pentagon to work out the details of its policy, it is expected to bar new transgender recruits.

Two people actively seeking to enlist are among the eight plaintiffs in a lawsuit that was filed the day after Trump signed his order. One of those plaintiffs is working with recruiters to join the Marine Corps, according to the lawsuit. The service that the other plaintiff is seeking to join is not specified in the text of the lawsuit.

"President Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military was issued without any study of the effectiveness of transgender service members during the past four years, or of any problems that may have arisen from their service, without any assessment of whether their service entailed greater costs, or without any assessment of whether any legitimate governmental concerns could be addressed by means other than a categorical ban," the lawsuit says. "Rather than being based on any legitimate governmental purpose, the ban reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status."

-- Konstantin Toropin contributed to this story.

Related: Trump Orders Pentagon Policy Saying Transgender Troops Are 'Not Consistent' with Military Ideals
The Pentagon had few details to offer Thursday on its new mandate from President Donald Trump to detain tens of thousands of migrants from the U.S. at its Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 9/11 terrorism suspects have been jailed for more than two decades.

The surprise move was announced by Trump on Wednesday amid a bill signing where he declared that "we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal aliens threatening the American people."

Independent reports say that the facility currently has just a fraction of that capacity, making the logistics and cost of massively ramping up the detention facilities a challenge. It was also unclear what criteria the administration would use to determine which migrants would be swept up and what legal rights they might have while held at Guantanamo, where suspects in the 2001 attack have languished in legal purgatory for years -- albeit at a separate site on the base.

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"Some of them are so bad we don't even trust the countries to hold them, because we don't want them coming back. So we're going to send them out to Guantanamo," Trump said.

An executive order followed later that day, but it just directed both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to "take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States."

The order was the latest in what Trump has promised will be the largest migrant deportation effort in U.S. history. It follows the deployment of 1,600 active-duty troops to the Mexico border during his first week in office and Air Force deportation flights -- rather than civilian flights used in the past -- to transport migrants to their countries of origin.

Throughout Wednesday both officials at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Navy wouldn't comment on the Guantanamo order, often with the explanation that they had learned about it at the same time as the public and were working to get more information.

In a pre-recorded video uploaded to social media Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had little more to add beyond noting that the Pentagon was "leaning forward on supporting the president's directive."

"We're working that in real time," he added.

Military.com also reached out to U.S. Southern Command, the combatant command that appears to be tasked with overseeing the mission, with a list of basic questions on the Migrant Operations Center but did not receive a reply in time for publication.

One nonprofit organization said in a report on the facility that it began operations under the Reagan administration as a place to keep Cuban and Haitian refugees who were intercepted at sea. Several organizations and press reports say that function has persisted to the present day, but it's set up to hold just over a hundred people -- not tens of thousands.

Last year, The New York Times reported that the facility held just 37 migrants from 2020 to 2023 and, "in the past decade, the number of families has been in the single digits."

A Swiss-based refugee nonprofit estimated the center's capacity at 130, citing 2009 documents from the private prison company the Geo Group that helped run the center.

A 2024 report from the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, said that migrants who ended up there "are detained indefinitely in prison-like conditions without access to the outside world and trapped in a punitive system" operated by the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies "with little to no transparency or accountability."

The group said that "on United States soil, extensive laws, procedures, and rules govern adjudication and review of asylum decisions" at the migrant center at Guantanamo Bay, but "there is no known guidance about how asylum and refugee decisions are made or what standards are being applied" and "there is no access to attorneys, appeal procedures, or due process."

In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that the Refugee Act of 1980, which bars the U.S. from forcibly returning refugees who feel threatened or persecuted in their home countries, did not apply outside the territory of the U.S. -- like at Guantanamo Bay.

The American Civil Liberties Union, along with IRAP, sued the government in 2024 for failing to disclose records about the interdiction and detention of refugees at the site.

It was also unclear whether Guantanamo Bay is the only military installation to be tapped for housing people slated for deportation.

On Tuesday, CBS reported that Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado was being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, "to stage and process" undocumented migrants within the United States.

However, when Military.com reached out to U.S. Northern Command, a spokesperson said that Buckley "is no longer identified as an installation support base" and directed any other questions to ICE.

ICE did not immediately return a request for comment.

The order to expand Guantanamo as a migrant detention facility is also far from the first issued by Trump that drew questions and silence from the Pentagon.

Late Monday evening, Trump fulfilled a promise and signed an executive order that he said would reinstate troops who were discharged over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate with back pay.

Neither the order nor Pentagon officials said what, if any, conditions would be applied to that promise or how to go about claiming it. Instead, a statement was issued saying the Pentagon "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president" and "provide status updates as we are able."

That same night, Trump also moved to ban transgender people from serving in the military, but that order also left most of the details to the Pentagon and newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to figure out, including the top question of what will happen to trans troops who are already serving.

Again, the only reply from the Pentagon was attributed to a nameless defense official who said they "will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president."

--Thomas Novelly contributed to this report.

Related: Trump Order on Back Pay for Vaccine Refusers Raises Questions, Offers No Clear Path Forward
President Donald Trump's unconventional pick for Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, appeared poised for a smooth confirmation after a Senate hearing Thursday with little Democrat pushback.

Driscoll's hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee stayed far away from culture war issues, including so-called "diversity, equity and inclusion" battles that have defined the early days of Trump's second term and roiled the Pentagon. The phrase "DEI" wasn't mentioned once.

Driscoll, a little-known financier and Iraq War veteran, faced only mild questioning from lawmakers, despite lacking traditional qualifications for the role. He arrived at the hearing as a political blank slate -- an advantage that stood in sharp contrast to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose confirmation was marred by allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and marital infidelity.

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When asked about how the Army promotes individuals, a perfect tee up for Driscoll to delve into culture war issues, he instead took issue with what he described as the service's bias toward how long a service member has been in a role. Traditionally, promotions are heavily weighted around that time in a specific role, in lieu of their qualifications.

"It's often the best woman or man for the job," Driscoll said, comparing how the private sector promotes versus the Army. "Time in a specific role is less correlated with a promotion. I think the Army can take a similar view."

He added that he agrees the service has an overall merit-based system.

However, some Democrats focused on Driscolls seeming lack of knowledge of the Army.

"To be candid, you performed very poorly in your conversation with me," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., noting that Driscoll seemed not to know how large a division is or where the Army is operating in Africa when he met with lawmakers privately last week.

The mellow tone Driscoll had in his hearing and total absence of red meat for the Republican base signaled to some defense officials interviewed that he may be a cooler head than some other Trump appointees, while still lacking many of the basic qualifications for the role.

Additionally, during his unsuccessful 2020 bid for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, the few media engagements Driscoll did and his ads steered clear of any overtly far-right rhetoric or culture issues. He lost that race to Madison Cawthorn, a firebrand whose single term was marred by scandal.

"He certainly isn't a culture warrior; this might be a breath of fresh air," one senior Pentagon official told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. "At the same time, he only appeared to have a very surface-level understanding of the Army."

Hegseth's key initiative has been going after diversity initiatives in the Pentagon, falsely saying during his confirmation hearing there are "quotas" to fill when it comes to promotions and positions. Gender and race are not metrics taken into consideration.

The Army, for example, makes it a point to obscure race for senior officer promotion boards. There are no policies, anywhere in the military, to fill units with specified volumes of troops from certain demographics.

Driscoll went into the hearing as an unknown figure in the Pentagon and having no background in national security. His resume includes just under four years of service as a cavalry officer with an Iraq deployment with the 10th Mountain Division, leaving the service as a first lieutenant.

His position would have not exposed him to any high-level planning, and he would have never managed more than a few dozen soldiers at a time.

After his service, he went to Yale Law School, where he was classmates with Vice President J.D. Vance, whom he would later go on to advise.

Driscoll spent much of his professional career in venture capital and on the board of a medical staffing agency. His lack of experience in the military stands in stark contrast to most contemporary Army secretaries, who spent their careers in national security policy.

Related: 'No One Knows Who He Is': Trump's Pick for Army Secretary Faces Confirmation Hearing
WASHINGTON  The top U.S. diplomat said President Donald Trumps proposal to buy Greenland is not a joke because of the risk that China would station resources on the island that threaten American security and the importance of Arctic shipping lanes for energy exports.

Those conversations are going to happen, but this is not a joke, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about discussions between Trump and Danish authorities over potentially buying the island. He spoke in an interview on SiriusXMs "The Megyn Kelly Show" posted online Thursday. Rubio also reiterated the Trump administrations interest in the Panama Canal.

Rubio, who has previously defended Trumps interest in Greenland, said Beijing may deploy Chinese companies to establish operations on the island that might one day be used by its military, adding that this was also a concern in Panama.

It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe even in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places, said Rubio, a longtime China hawk. And that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality serve a dual purpose  that in a moment of conflict they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.

Rubio said Arctic shipping routes were going to be crucial for the Trump administrations plan to export more American energy. Greenlands potential as a source of critical minerals also has been cited within Trumps camp as a reason for its strategic value.

A spokesman for Chinas Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told Bloomberg in a statement that Rubios accusations about a possible dual-use facility on Greenland are totally groundless and unfounded. He added that Beijing does not take part in managing or operating the Panama Canal and respects the countrys sovereignty.

This week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sought to drum up support from European allies to stand up to Trumps efforts to appropriate Greenland.

While Rubio was seen as the most conventional of Trumps Cabinet picks, he has fully backed Trumps foreign policy ideas, including a disruptive foreign aid freeze that has alarmed global aid organizations including the World Health Organization.

Trump has also called for the U.S. to retake control of the Panama Canal unless the cost of passage for naval and merchant ships is slashed. He has falsely accused China of operating the waterway, exaggerating the significance of two ports on either side of the canal operated by a Hong Kong-based firm.

On Wednesday evening, Trumps Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, said the U.S. had the right to do what is necessary to ensure access to the Panama Canal.

___

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CARACAS, Venezuela  A senior Trump administration official has traveled to Venezuela to urge President Nicolas Maduros government to take back deported migrants whove committed crimes in the U.S. and release a handful of imprisoned Americans, a U.S. official said Friday.

The visit by Richard Grenell, who U.S. President Donald Trump appointed as an envoy for special missions, may come as a surprise to some Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the maximum pressure campaign he pursued against the authoritarian Venezuelan leader during his first term.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trumps special envoy to Latin America, confirmed Grenells visit to Caracas in a conference call with journalists on Friday.

He said Grenell, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during Trump's first term, was in Venezuela on a very specific mission that in no way detracts from the Trump administrations goal of restoring democracy in the South American nation.

I would urge the Maduro government, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, to heed special envoy Ric Grenells message, said Claver-Carone, himself a former top national security aide to Trump during his first administration. Ultimately there will be consequences otherwise.

The visit comes less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last year's election by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduro's claim to victory.

Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner of the July election hours after polls closed without providing detailed vote counts, unlike in previous elections.

Meanwhile, the countrys main opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a more than a two-to-one margin.

Spokespeople for Gonzalez and his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Grenell's visit.

The dispute over the election results sparked nationwide protests. More than 2,200 people were arrested during and after the demonstrations.

Among those detained are as many as 10 Americans who the government has linked to alleged plots to destabilize the country. One of them is a Navy SEAL. None of the Americans has been declared wrongfully detained by the State Department, a designation that would give their cases more attention.

The Trump administration has taken a slew of actions to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

Those measures include the revocation earlier this week of a Biden administration decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country since 2013, when its economy unraveled and Maduro first took office. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants increasingly set their sights on the U.S.

Venezuelans desire for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro and his policies are expected to keep pushing people to emigrate.

Ahead of the presidential election last year, a nationwide poll by Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed about a quarter of the population thinking about emigrating if Maduro was re-elected.

Grenell has reached out to Maduro before on Trumps behalf to secure the release of imprisoned Americans only to come home empty handed.

In 2020, he traveled with Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, to Mexico City for a secret meeting with a top Maduro aide. The backchannel talks centered on Maduros offer to swap eight Americans then imprisoned in Venezuela for businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of the president charged in the U.S. with money laundering, The Associated Press previously reported.

No deal was struck and Grenells demand that Maduro step down was laughed off by the Venezuelan presidents envoy. Grenell has always denied he was negotiating a hostage swap.

Later, in December 2023, the Biden administration exchanged Saab for 10 Americans as part of a policy to re-engage Maduro ahead of presidential elections.

___

Goodman reported from Miami.
San Antonio police detained two men during a Tren de Aragua operation on the city's North Side. Homeland Security took both men into custody. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images/Cultura RF

Two suspects who authorities say may be members of Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal gang, have been taken into custody in San Antonio.

The men were taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, law enforcement officials say.

Although it's not confirmed that they are members of the gang, the men were part of a group of six men first detained by San Antonio Police Department officers as part of an ongoing undercover operation involving Tren de Aragua.

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Around 1:30 p.m.on Wednesday, SAPD officers were canvassing in the 6900 block of San Pedro Avenue, which is near the Migrant Resource Center/Centro de Bienvenida, a temporary shelter for migrants traveling through San Antonio.

The six men were detained after SAPD officers observed "suspicious activity," a preliminary San Antonio police report states.

The two men taken into federal custody  Jefferson Ignacio Primero Pluas and Fabio Valle  are both 24, according to the SAPD report.

There is an active federal warrant for Pluas and a final order of removal for Valle, according to SAPD.

The other four people who were detained were released.

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SAPD did not confirm whether Pluas and Valle were TDA members. Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for information.

Reached late Thursday, Monica Yoas, spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations, told the San Antonio Express-News that a news release is pending.

There have been past Tren de Aragua member arrests in San Antonio.

In October, SAPD arrested 19 individuals, including four Tren de Aragua members, during a gang bust at the Palatia apartment complex on the city's North Side. Homeland Security took custody of four suspected gang members.

"The operation involved over 150 officers and agents who cleared over 300 units, arresting 16 Venezuelans and three United States Citizens," according to a Department of Public Safety post on X.

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On Oct. 5, a multi-agency operation was conducted at the Palatia apartments in San Antonio, Texas. This operation, led by Texas Anti-Gang Center (TAG) agencies, including Texas DPS, San Antonio PD, FBI, HSI, and U.S. Border Patrol, was in response to reports of human trafficking,  Texas DPS (@TxDPS) October 5, 2024

At the time, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the department was informed about members of the Venezuelan gang who were in control of the area and committing various crimes.

In a statement after the arrests, McManus said the department was committed to working with state and federal partners on the rising issue of TDA's gang presence in the city.

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WASHINGTON  A year after the Inland Northwest became the testing ground for a new computer system that promised to revolutionize veterans' health care, leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs had received grave warnings from staff at Spokane's VA hospital and evidence that flaws in the software had contributed to serious patient harm.

The officials in charge of implementing the $10 billion electronic health record system, however, told Congress and the public they knew of no such harm and they launched the software at additional clinics and hospitals in the Northwest and in central Ohio. The VA was set to do the same at larger, more complex hospitals in Seattle, Portland and Boise until The Spokesman-Review reported in June 2022 that the agency's own internal watchdog, the VA Office of Inspector General, had uncovered evidence that patients had been harmed  and that VA leaders knew about it.

On the night of Jan. 24, President Donald Trump fired Mike Missal, the man who oversaw that pivotal report along with more than a dozen others regarding the computer system in his role as VA inspector general. His dismissal came as part of a mass firing of nearly all of the presidentially appointed inspectors general, despite the new administration's professed goal of eliminating the waste, fraud and abuse that IGs are charged with rooting out.

On Friday, every Democrat on the Senate VA Committee sent a letter asking Trump to reverse Missal's firing.

"I think it's pretty devastating for the federal government," Missal said of the mass firing. "I think it's harmful to transparency and it's also going to impact the accountability of government officials. You're less likely to be able to hold people accountable if you don't have truly nonpartisan, independent IG offices."

Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who leads her party on the Appropriations Committee and also sits on the VA Committee, said Americans "should ask themselves why Trump is so hell-bent on firing the people whose job it is to tackle corruption in government."

"Mike Missal served honorably for eight years under Republican and Democratic presidents, rooting out waste, fraud, and corruption at the VA and identifying over $37 billion in taxpayer savings  that is, until Donald Trump senselessly and illegally fired him alongside other nonpartisan government watchdogs last week in the dead of night," Murray said in a statement. "Missal's firing was yet another lawless action by a lawless president that will hurt veterans and taxpayers who deserve a transparent and accountable VA."

Like at least 16 other IGs who were fired at the same time, Missal said he received an email from Trump's director of presidential personnel, Sergio Gor, saying only that "due to changing priorities," he was "terminated, effective immediately."

When reporters asked Trump about the mass firing aboard Air Force One on Saturday, the president falsely claimed that it was "a very common thing to do" and pointed out that he hadn't fired the Justice Department IG, Michael Horowitz, while complimenting a critical report Horowitz had issued on Jim Comey, a former FBI director and Trump foe.

"I don't know them, but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing the job," Trump said, adding that he didn't plan to replace the sacked IGs with loyalists.

As of Thursday, his administration had not provided a list of the ousted IGs or explained the firings, as required by law.

"There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to who was fired and who was not fired," said Glenn Fine, who served as IG at the Justice Department and acting IG at the Defense Department in the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. " Mike Missal, for example, was a terrific IG. He issued hard-hitting reports in both presidential administrations. He was independent and effective, so it's not clear why he was fired and others were not."

Other than Horowitz, the only cabinet-level IG not fired by Trump was Joseph Cuffari at the Department of Homeland Security, who has been accused of abusing his authority and wasting more than $800,000 in taxpayer dollars. An investigation by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a group of his fellow IGs, substantiated those claims in September.

Mark Greenblatt, who was fired as inspector general of the Interior Department on Jan. 24, chaired that council until the end of 2024. In an interview, he said that most of the 73 IG positions in the federal government aren't appointed by the president and thus can't be fired directly, but Trump had sacked most of the presidentially appointed IGs, a total of 17 people covering 18 agencies.

"The thing that keeps me up at night is the potential politicization of the inspector general positions," said Greenblatt, adding that he was especially concerned about Gor's email citing "changing priorities."

"That is troubling because IGs are not supposed to be connected to priorities of any administration," Greenblatt said. "These are designed to be long-term positions that withstand changes in presidential administrations, specifically to insulate them from political winds changing."

The Project on Government Oversight, an independent, nonpartisan watchdog group, called for Joe Biden to fire Cuffari, but the outgoing president declined to do so. Faith Williams, director of the effective and accountable government program at the organization, said that while it's unclear why Cuffari and Horowitz remain on the job, "My guess is that Trump likes their work more than some others'."

Williams said that although the worst-case scenario would be Trump replacing Missal and the other fired IGs with loyalists who would do his bidding, even dedicated, nonpartisan investigators may feel that they can't freely do their jobs if the threat of being arbitrarily fired hangs over their heads.

The mass firing, a quintessential "Friday news dump" whose timing suggested the administration wanted to minimize attention from Congress and the public, drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans when they returned to the Capitol this week. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, and the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, pointed out that the mass firing violated a law that requires 30 days' notice and a "substantive rationale" before removing an IG.

Congress passed that law in 2022, after Grassley cited the firing of agency watchdogs by President Barack Obama and by Trump in his first term without sufficient explanation. Friday's mass firing was nearly unprecedented, however, according to Fine, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank.

In a brief interview at the Capitol on Thursday, Durbin said that aside from writing a letter, "there isn't much else" Congress can do about the mass firing, "outside of a courtroom."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Senate VA Committee, called the mass firing "beyond outrageous" and said Democrats could use the annual appropriations process to hold the administration accountable for it. He added that he hoped the VA Committee, which generally avoids the partisan rancor of other panels, "will be bipartisan in resisting this illegal firing."

"For the sake of veterans, I hope that all of the communities affected will rise up, literally, and demand that he be restored to his post. The VA is too important for a Trump loyalist to be kowtowing to the billionaires or others who may seek to take advantage of our veterans," he said.

The electronic health record system was developed by Cerner Corp. under a $10 billion contract awarded by the first Trump administration in 2018 without a bidding process. Cerner was acquired by the tech giant Oracle in 2022 and is now known as Oracle Health. Larry Ellison, Oracle's founder and chairman, is a major donor to Trump and other Republicans.

Sen. Jerry Moran, the Kansas Republican who chairs the VA Committee, said he has appreciated Missal's work and didn't know why he was fired, but the senator said he didn't have a plan to resist the move.

"The law requires a 30-day notice, but there's no enforcement mechanism that I know of," Moran said. "No statute is words on paper. It's more than that. So it would be appropriate to have the 30-day notice and explanation."

Greenblatt said that because members of Congress are the biggest consumers of IG reports, they have a stake in the offices remaining independent.

"They have all of their regular arsenal available to them," he said of lawmakers. "The question is whether they want to use any of it."

Some GOP lawmakers have defended the firing unequivocally. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a newly elected Republican from Montana, said the move was "well within the president's rights."

"Reagan did it, and the reality is the problems at the VA far outdate the IG being fired and they far outdate Trump," Sheehy said. "You've got to hold people accountable there, and if that means firing some people and replacing them with folks who are going to put the veteran first, then that's what we've got to do."

Asked if he knew of any reason that Missal wouldn't fit that bill, Sheehy said he had "no idea who he is," but added, "All I know is the VA is not working well, and if we have to fire people to fix it, then that's what we've got to do."

After Congress passed a law establishing IG offices throughout the federal government during the Carter administration in 1978, President Ronald Reagan dismissed all of them when he took office in 1981. Lawmakers in both parties decried the move, Reagan reinstated many of the fired IGs and no such mass firing happened again until last week, said Fine, the former Justice Department and Pentagon watchdog.

According to data obtained by The Spokesman-Review through a Freedom of Information Act Request, as of Dec. 16, internal VA reviews had found 2,575 cases of patient harm related to the new system at the clinics and hospitals where the department launched it despite the warnings from Spokane, where it had contributed to more than 1,900 additional cases of harm.

While VA safety experts classified most of those cases of harm as "minor," resulting in no long-term impact to a patient's health, they include 45 cases of "major" harm and 10 cases of "catastrophic" harm, with the latter category defined as "death or major permanent loss of function." By halting the system's rollout in larger hospitals that treat more complex conditions, the IG's report may have prevented wider harm to veterans.

Missal was confirmed by the Senate in April 2016 and served from the end of the Obama administration through the first Trump administration and Biden's tenure. In an interview, he said he strove to have a professional relationship with each VA secretary even as his office issued reports that sometimes implicated top officials.

"It's not up to us to decide whether something is a good policy or bad policy, but rather, is it being implemented as the agency would want?" Missal said. "It works best if there's mutual trust that we're each trying to do our jobs here, and we're each trying to help the agency improve. At the end of the day, we're all trying to make sure the veterans get the benefits and services that they deserve."

In addition to his office's reports on that system, Missal led investigations of sexual abuse, medical malpractice and fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars. According to his most recent semiannual report to Congress, Missal's office published 180 reports in the previous six months that identified $5.1 billion in misspent funds and resulted in 137 arrests.

His office also worked with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington to investigate fraudulent billing for spinal surgeries that endangered patients at Providence and MultiCare hospitals in Walla Walla and Spokane between 2013 and 2021.

In his confirmation hearing on Jan. 21, Trump's nominee to lead the VA, Doug Collins, told the Senate VA Committee, "I'm one of those that believes in gathering a lot of input and then making a decision, so if you're having input from an inspector general who's looking out for the best interests of what VA is for, then I'll be working with them and I'll look forward to it."

Collins also told senators he would look into restarting the record system's deployment ahead of the schedule set by the Biden administration, which planned the next launches in mid-2026.

Missal said he's proud of the oversight work his team did on the health record system  which will be continued by his former deputy, David Case, who is now the acting VA inspector general  calling it "a textbook example of effective, independent oversight."

"I didn't have a chance to tell them anything, because I literally was fired on a Friday night, but my hope is that they continue to conduct meaningful, independent oversight," he said of his former colleagues. "Work will continue. I think the concern is what happens next. I don't think anybody thinks this is the end of their approach to IG offices."

Orion Donovan Smith's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

 2025 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.). Visit www.spokesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Unraveling the Secrets of Samsungs Unprecedented Market Share Growth







(Stock Status: Is Samsung Corporation Still Traded Publicly?)

As we delve deeper into the world of technology, its no surprise that one company stands out from the rest  Samsung. This South Korean giant has consistently proven its mettle by capturing market share across a wide range of industries, from smartphones to semiconductors. And now, lets take a closer look at what makes Samsung such an intriguing player in todays competitive landscape.

To begin with, lets examine Samsungs track record of growth. In recent years, Samsung has experienced an unprecedented period of success, which has not only led to increased revenue but also heightened investor confidence. According to recent reports, Samsungs global smartphone sales have surpassed 300 million units, a testament to its expanding customer base and dominant position in the market.

But why has Samsung been able to maintain this level of growth despite intense competition? One factor is the companys innovative approach to product development. From its cutting-edge Galaxy series to its state-of-the-art technologies, Samsung has consistently pushed the boundaries of whats possible, resulting in products that are not only user-friendly but also highly innovative and sought after by consumers.

Another key factor driving Samsungs success is its strong brand reputation. With a loyal customer base and a well-established presence in numerous countries, Samsung has established itself as a trusted brand in the marketplace. This has helped the company to build long-term relationships with its customers and ensure that they remain loyal to the company over time.

In addition to its strong brand reputation, Samsung has also demonstrated its commitment to sustainability. The company has made significant strides towards reducing its carbon footprint and improving its environmental impact, which has earned it recognition for its efforts in corporate social responsibility.

So, what does all of this mean for Samsungs future prospects? While the company faces fierce competition in the smartphone market, its innovative product offerings and strong brand reputation make it well-positioned to continue growing in the coming years. With a focus on sustainable practices and continued innovation, Samsung can maintain its position as a leading player in the tech industry.







(Stock Status: Is Samsung Corporation Still Traded Publicly?)

In conclusion, Samsungs unwavering commitment to innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction sets it apart from its competitors in the smartphone market. As the company continues to evolve and expand its reach, it will be interesting to see how it adapts to the demands of the rapidly changing tech landscape and what opportunities it creates for its stakeholders. Only time will tell whether Samsung will continue to thrive and cement its position as a leader in the industry.

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Revolutionizing Education: How Blackboard is Protecting Students from ChatGPTs Risks







(Educational Safeguards: Can Blackboard Identify ChatGPT Usage?)

In todays digital age, educational technology has become an integral part of our daily lives. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, many educators are concerned about how to protect students from potential dangers associated with its use.

One solution that educational institutions can implement is by integrating ChatGPT monitoring into their online platforms. By doing so, educators can monitor student activity on their platforms and identify instances where ChatGPT may be being used without proper authorization.

However, not all students may be aware of the risks associated with using ChatGPT. In fact, some may even intentionally engage in chatbot-based activities that could pose a threat to themselves or others.

Thats why its crucial for educational institutions to take proactive measures to ensure that their students are protected from the dangers of ChatGPT. One way to do this is by implementing robust security measures that detect and block any unauthorized access attempts.

By integrating ChatGPT monitoring into their online platforms, educators can provide students with additional guidance and support when they encounter issues related to ChatGPT. For example, if a student is encountering difficulty accessing resources or communicating with their classmates, they can easily reach out to a teacher or administrator for assistance.

Moreover, ChatGPT monitoring can also help prevent cyberbullying and other forms of harassment that may occur when students use chatbots to harass or intimidate others. By identifying and blocking such behavior, educational institutions can create a safer learning environment for all students.

Another benefit of implementing ChatGPT monitoring is that it can help prevent students from engaging in inappropriate or offensive language. By detecting and removing anyChatGPT-generated content that violates school policies or guidelines, educational institutions can ensure that students remain respectful and appropriate in all interactions.







(Educational Safeguards: Can Blackboard Identify ChatGPT Usage?)

In conclusion, integrating ChatGPT monitoring into educational platforms can help protect students from the dangers associated with its use. By providing additional guidance and support when necessary, educational institutions can create a safe and welcoming learning environment for all students. As AI technology continues to advance, educational institutions must stay ahead of the curve in ensuring that their students are protected from the latest threats and risks.

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TROY, MI -- An investigation is underway, but officials in Troy have confirmed a 5-year-old Royal Oak boy was killed Friday in an explosion at a medical facility.

During a press conference Friday, Lt. Ben Hancock of the Troy Police Department said the boy was inside of a hyperbaric chamber when the explosion occurred, killing him. The boys mother suffered injuries to her arm as she was standing next to the chamber when it exploded, according to police.

Troy police and firefighters were dispatched to a medical facility located at 165 Kirts Blvd. shortly before 8 a.m. for reports of an explosion. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the room where the explosion occurred, officials said.

Lt. Ken Young of the Troy Fire Department said numerous times that it still too early in the investigation to determine what caused the explosion.

A hyperbaric chamber contains 100% oxygen, which is up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room. The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible, Young said. Our initial research shows that this is not a common incident and the scene remains under active investigation.

Young went on to say he expects the investigation will involve multiple jurisdictions and departments throughout the state.

Hancock said it is unknown why the boy was being treated at the facility. Officials did not release the name of the victims.
Employees at Costco are set to receive a yearly raise over the next three years that will push some hourly employees over the $30 an hour mark. According to Reuters, the national retailer announced the move in a memo sent to employees this week.

Top of scale employees are set to receive an extra $1 an hour each year, for the next three years, with the first raise setting the hourly rate at $30.20. Bottom of scale employees are receiving 50 cents more per hour, pushing their pay to $20 an hour.

The move comes as the company continues to negotiate with the Costco Teamsters union regarding a new contract. Earlier this month, the union voted in favor of a nationwide strike if a new contract could not be reached by Jan. 31.

According to Fox Business, the union is comprised of 18,000 members who voted 85% in favor of the strike. While a strike is possible, union members represent a small portion of the companys estimated 219,000 employees. If a strike were to take place, it would possibly impact 50 stores located in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington.
MACOMB COUNTY, MI  The ex-boyfriend of a Michigan woman who disappeared while running errands earlier this month is now charged with murder, WDIV Local 4 reports.

Ashley Elkins, 30, of Warren, was last heard from on Jan. 2 when she sent a text message saying she was on her way home from running errands; she never made it. The mother of two boys was reported missing the following day.

RELATED: Landfill search enters day 3 for Michigan mom who disappeared while running errands

Elkins' ex-boyfriend, DeAndre Booker, 32, of Roseville, was arraigned in Macomb County court this morning on a charge of first-degree murder; he was denied bond and remanded to jail, the report said. He was previously charged with lying to police related to Elkins disappearance. Booker is due back in court on Wednesday.

Elkins phone last pinged at Bookers apartment, and police took away a dumpster as evidence when they searched there on Jan. 7. Police also conducted a seven-day search of a 6.5-acre area of the Pine Tree Acres landfill; her body was not found but other possible evidence was collected, the report said.

DNA testing from the dumpster led to the murder charge, WDIV reports.
Michigan residents were better about leaving their firearm at home or packing it away properly before flying in 2024.

The calendar year saw 92 incidents in which a firearm was discovered at a Michigan airport security gate, which was a decrease of almost 26% from 2023, according to data published this month by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

As expected, the states most popular airport -- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) -- had the most firearm incidents with 60. That was a decline of 37.5% from the previous year and marked the lowest total since 2020.

Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) in Grand Rapids had 19 incidents, while Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) in Traverse City had five, and Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (MQT) had three.

RELATED: 2 guns in 5 days found at Gerald R. Ford International Airport checkpoints

An unloaded firearm can only be transported in a locked hard-sided container as checked baggage. Passengers have to declare the firearm and/or ammunition to the airline when checking their bag at the ticket counter.

Replica, toy guns, and firearm parts should also be transported in checked baggage.

Violators may be detained and subsequently charged with a misdemeanor. They may also face a civil penalty up to $14,950, undergo enhanced screening, and have their TSA PreCheck eligibility revoked for at least five years.

Nationwide, officers at TSA checkpoints stopped about 6,678 firearms in 2024. That amounted to about 18 firearms per day, or about one firearm for every 135,383 travelers screened.

The vast majority (94%) of guns were loaded. Ammunition is prohibited in carry-on baggage and should be stored in a checked bag and declared to the airline.

Here are the top 10 airports for firearm discoveries at TSA checkpoints in 2024:

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL): 440

Dallas Ford Worth International (DFW): 390

George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (IAH): 272

Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX): 247

Nashville International (BNA): 188

Denver International (DEN): 166

Orlando International (MCO): 150

Dallas Love Field (DAL): 143

Tampa International (TPA): 135

Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS): 126

For more details on the rules for traveling with a firearm, visit tsa.gov.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - A former youth pastor charged with more than 30 felonies for sexually abusing children will stay in jail.

Washtenaw County District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson denied Zachary Joseph Radcliffs bond after hearing from prosecutors how the 29-year-old temporarily fled to Virginia during the ongoing investigation and repeatedly contacted a victim who came forward. This means, absent another ruling, Radcliff will stay in jail until his case concludes.

Simpson made the decision in a Thursday, Jan. 30, hearing. Radcliffs attorney, Grand Rapids-based James A. Thomas, asked Simpson to reduce his clients bond to $10,000.

Radcliffs bond had previously been set at $3 million.

(A) $3 million bond is tantamount to no bond, Thomas said during the hearing. Even if it was $1 million, its still tantamount to no bond.

The worship director and interim youth pastor for Oakwood Baptist Church in Augusta Township told a victim who had come forward to keep his... mouth shut, using an expletive, after allegations surfaced, according to Amy Reiser, an assistant prosecutor for Washtenaw County. Radcliff reportedly called the victim eight times.

This is how hes acting when hes not been charged, when hes not been arrested and not been arraigned, Reiser said. He is intimidating and threatening the victims.

Read more: 10 victims, potentially more, detailed in sexual abuse allegations against youth pastor

He also drove to Virginia, home of his alma mater Liberty University, while the investigation was ongoing, Reiser said.

When setting bond, judges weigh both the defendants danger to the community and likelihood they will flee and not appear in court.

Simpson expressed concern about Radcliff previously leaving the state. Though Radcliff was not under any bond conditions at the time, the behavior was very troublesome, the judge said.

Im looking at the behavior of the defendant because thats what I have to bank on if he were to be released, he said.

Radcliff has been charged with 33 felonies, including nine counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, eight counts of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, eight counts of child sexually abusive activity and eight counts related to using a computer to commit a crime. He is facing up to life in prison.

Radcliff was arraigned on 11 charges Oct. 20, followed by another 22 felonies Nov. 26.

Police identified 10 boys and one girl who were allegedly sexually abused, including at least one victim younger than 13 at the time the alleged abuse occurred.

As part of her argument, Reiser shared part of the testimony she said was likely to be heard at Radcliffs preliminary examination, when a judge will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to send the case to trial court.

In 2015, Radcliff used Snapchat to contact a 14-year-old boy involved with Oakwood Baptist Church, eventually asking him about oral sex and offering to take him on a drive, Reiser said. In the middle of the night in July, Radcliff drove to the boys house and the boy snuck out and got into his car.

Radcliff then allegedly sexually assaulted the boy. A similar incident allegedly occurred when the boy was 15.

Radcliff reportedly referred to the incidents as their cute little secret, Reiser said.

He is also accused of bribing some of the children with goods, money or visits to restaurants in exchange for photos and videos of them masturbating, according to previous reporting. Eight children sent or received explicit photos or videos, police said.

Radcliff will next appear in court Feb. 24.

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A Lapeer Community Schools bus outside of Lapeer Center for Innovation on Nov. 14, 2018 in Lapeer. (MLive file photo)Jake May | MLive.com

LAPEER, MI  Lapeer Community Schools was impacted by a recent cybersecurity incident that breached data on students, staff, and parents.

The cybersecurity breach compromised the districts Student Information System which is provided by PowerSchool, according to a Jan. 21 statement from Lapeer Community Schools.

PowerSchool, a software vendor that provides services for thousands of districts in the United States and beyond, identified the breach on Dec. 28 and determined the perpetrator managed to access the districts data through its customer support portal by using an account belonging to one of the companys employees.

The district said PowerSchool has already taken all appropriate steps to prevent any further unauthorized access to its data and believes the breach has been contained, noting malware did not play a role in the incident.

The district said its also working internally to better protect its data.

The compromised data from districts served by PowerSchool includes social security numbers, medical information as well as the names and addresses of parents and students.

In coordination with a credit reporting agency, Experian, PowerSchool is offering students and staff impacted by the data breach two years of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring.

Experian will also assist the district in sending email notifications informing impacted individuals that their data was breached.

PowerSchool will begin contacting the Michigan Department of Attorney General in the coming weeks on behalf of individuals impacted by the breach. The district noted that individuals can opt out if they prefer to contact these offices directly.

Updates regarding the data breach are available on PowerSchools SIS-Incident page.

The district did not provide any further comment on the incident.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital is limiting the number of visitors in its pediatric areas due to health concerns amid rising respiratory illnesses.

Effective immediately, only two people are permitted at the bedside of patients during the day and one person overnight, according to the new temporary guidelines issued by Corewell Health Thursday, Jan. 30.

Hospital officials said the change was due to a high number of pediatric admissions and an increase in respiratory illnesses throughout the community.

RELATED: Respiratory illnesses expected to continue spreading in Michigan

The new restrictions only apply to pediatric inpatient units, which are open and ready to care for patients, the hospital said. There may be longer wait times or beds in non-traditional settings because of the increased number of patients.

Masks are optional for patients and visitors at all Corewell Health sites, except at long-term care and skilled nursing facilities and transplant clinics.

To prevent the spread of respiratory illness, Corewell Health officials urged families to stay home from school or work if sick, wash their hands frequently, get vaccinated against influenza, whooping cough, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.

The hospital encouraged families to talk to their doctors about new vaccines that are available for RSV, including for pregnant people, adults over 65 and infants and children.

More information can be found on Corewell Healths flu information center and visitor information pages.

Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital isnt the only Michigan hospital to put visitor restrictions in place in response to the rise in RSV cases. Detroit Medical Center also is limiting visitors to its facilities, including the Childrens Hospital of Michigan.

RELATED: Michigan hospital limits guests amid rise of flu, RSV

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services continues to urge residents to get vaccinated, even in mid-January. Fewer than one in four Michigan residents has gotten a flu shot this year, and closer to one in 10 has the latest COVID-19 booster.

Michigan is expected to see continued increasing trends in easily-spread viruses in the coming weeks, following national trends, state health officials said Friday, Jan. 17.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Jaysmin Fuentes Angelino, a senior at Union High School, has been a student within the Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) district her entire life.

Attending class each day, Fuentes Angelino said shes watched more and more students in the past two weeks stay home from her majority-Hispanic high school, because some undocumented parents are afraid to send them.
JACKSON, MI - Many students in Jacksons largest school district will be able to stay warm this winter because of a donation of winter clothing.

Jackson Public Schools received hundreds of articles of clothing Wednesday, Jan. 29, from district alumnus James Johnson Jr., business representative for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 252.

Im really happy that my organization put me in a position where I can give back to my alumni and the school I went to, Johnson said.

Using $2,500 from the unions general fund, Johnson purchased about 100 new coats from Columbia Sportswear to go to JPS students in need. Members of the union also hosted a clothing drive gathering 10-12 bags full of gently-used clothes - including boots, hats, socks and coats - also to be used by students, Johnson said.

Southeast Michigan Building Trades - for which Johnson works as secretary treasurer - donated an additional $500 for the purchased of about 50 winter hats for any JPS students who need them.

This will help our middle school and high school kids who are most likely to not wear a coat because they dont have one, said Assistant Superintendent Kriss Giannetti.

District administrators receive frequent requests from staff members and parents about kids without proper winter clothing, who in many cases cant afford to buy their own.

The clothing was delivered Wednesday to the Middle School At Parkside, where it will be temporarily stored while the district identifies which students in which schools are in need, Giannetti said. In the coming weeks, the clothing will be disseminated throughout the district to be stored in each schools community closets.

Johnson coordinated the donation and delivery with the help of Jackson School Board member Derek Dobies, who joined fellow board members Shalanda Hunt, Marilyn Acton, Subba Reddy and Cheryl Simonetti in sorting through the clothes at Parkside.

Were always trying to find ways to give back to our community and to show our community that were partners, Johnson said. This is what we do all year long.

Johnson, a JPS alum from the Class of 1997, said he is always open to lending his talents to help his alma mater.

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HILLSDALE COUNTY, MI - A shooting threat that shut down Jonesville Community Schools on Friday was made by a middle school student, according to the Michigan State Police.

A 14-year-old student at Jonesville Middle School made several specific threats that he would shoot up a classroom while speaking to another student on Thursday, Jan. 30, police said.

The suspect was specific in his threat, identifying the exact classroom and hour he would carry out the attack, police said. He also specified he would use a weapon he had gotten as a Christmas present last year.

The student who heard the teen make the threat told their mother, who then contacted police to report the threat. Troopers and detectives from the MSP Jackson Post contacted the suspect and his mother at their home Friday after the district had cancelled all classes, police said.

Related: Jonesville Community Schools closed Friday after threat to middle school

Using a warrant, police searched the suspects residence and seized numerous firearms, police said.

Police conducted additional interviews with students who also heard the threat, police said. MSP detectives found enough information to deem the threat valid.

Jonesville School administrators could not immediately be reached Friday afternoon for comment.

Police took the 14-year-old into custody and lodged the teen at the Hillsdale County Youth Home. The investigation will be submitted to the Hillsdale County Prosecutors Office to review and issue any possible charges, police said.

The investigation determined the suspect was acting alone and there is no further threat to the community, police said. The investigation is ongoing.

This incident clearly demonstrates the importance of coming forward and voicing concerns when you have knowledge of a possible threat to public safety, police said in a post on X - formerly known as Twitter. If You See Something, Say Something.

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CALHOUN COUNTY, MI  A passenger was seriously injured when a vehicle struck a tree in Southwest Michigan.

The single-vehicle crash happened at 10:13 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, near M Drive South and 2 Mile Road in Athens Township, according to a news release from the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office.

Investigators believe alcohol was a factor in the crash, the sheriffs office said.

The driver, a 52-year-old Athens Township resident, was traveling west on M Drive South when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree, according to the release.

The passenger in the vehicle sustained serious injuries in the crash and was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. The passenger is currently in stable condition, the sheriffs office said Friday.

The driver was taken to Bronson Battle Creek Hospital for medical evaluation. The sheriffs office did not say if the driver had any injuries.

The crash remains under investigation by the sheriffs office.

Sheriffs deputies were assisted at the scene by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Police Department, Athens Township Fire Department, LifeCare EMS and the Calhoun County Consolidated Dispatch Authority.

Police are asking anyone with information about the crash to call the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office at 269-781-0880 or Calhoun County Consolidated Dispatch at 269-781-0911. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Silent Observer by calling 269-781-9700.
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KALAMAZOO, MI -- Western Michigan University Provost Julian Vasquez Heilig has resigned.

Vasquez Heiligs resignation was announced in an email from the university on Thursday, Jan. 30. Vasquez Heilig will continue at WMU as a faculty member.

As we witness a transformative moment in both higher education and society, I feel compelled to dedicate more time and energy to scholarship in the coming months while also exploring new ways and opportunities to serve, Vasquez Heilig said in the email.

Vasquez Heilig was named a finalist in the University of Hawaiis search for a new president in October 2024 but was ultimately not selected.

Vasquez Heilig began as WMUs provost in January 2023. He was previously dean of the University of Kentuckys College of Education.

WMUs previous provost stepped down in February 2022.

The announcement comes several months after WMU President Edward Montgomery announced his retirement. Montgomery will end his eight-year tenure as WMUs president in June.

Chris Cheathem, senior vice provost for academic affairs, will serve as interim provost through the remainder of the academic year.

The university wont select a new provost until the next president is selected, according to the email.

The new president will have the opportunity to shape the chief academic position as they deem ideal for Westerns future, Montgomery said.
MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  A Muskegon-area high school custodian has been arrested for suspected possession of inappropriate content involving minors, school officials said.

Fruitport Community Schools Superintendent Jason Kennedy announced the custodians arrest in a letter to families Wednesday, Jan. 29. The custodian worked at Fruitport High School and was employed as a third-party contractor, Kennedy said.
Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers plans to run again for U.S. Senate in 2026, according to the Associated Press .

The Associated Press reported Thursday, Jan. 31, citing two sources familiar with Rogers' plans, that Rogers is readying to announce a bid for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

A spokesperson for Rogers told MLive only that he is strongly considering entering the race. Rogers said as much Thursday in a post on social media about the race that he concluded by saying, good news is coming soon.

Rogers, a former FBI agent who represented the Howell area in Congress from 2001 to 2015, unsuccessfully ran in November 2024 for the U.S. Senate seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

The race proved to be extremely close.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin narrowly beat Rogers by a measure of 48.64% of the vote to 48.30%, or a difference of just over 19,000 votes out of 5,406,000 total votes.

As the Associated Press pointed out , Rogers will have greater name recognition in the 2026 race but will lose the benefit of campaigning alongside President Donald Trump.

Trump held campaign rallies and stops often in Michigan throughout his campaign, even ending his 2024 presidential bid in Grand Rapids . Trump won the state by just over 80,000 votes.

No major candidate has yet officially declared a run for Peters seat. Peters has served in Congress since 2009 and said he plans to dedicate more time to family.

Related: Sen. Gary Peters plans to step down when term ends in 2027

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, confirmed she is considering a run for either Senate or the open governor seat in 2026. Tudor Dixon, the 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate, strongly hinted at a run.

Axios reported that former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat, is taking a serious look at running for the seat.

Related: Pete Buttigieg taking a serious look at Michigan Senate run, Whitmer not interested

The Associated Press reported that Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, are also considering runs.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, said she is not running for the seat.

Some others speculated as possible contenders include U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, and U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township.

The Republican and Democratic fields for Stabenows seat in 2024 were crowded, with many candidates dropping out ahead of the primary.

Related: We can heal the divide: See Sen. Debbie Stabenows farewell message

Michigan has not been represented by a Republican senator since former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, whose tenure ended in 2001.
A ballot proposal by Michigan House Republicans would both reject votes cast without photo ID and require new voter registrants to show proof of U.S. citizenship.

A top House Republican, calling the measures a no-brainer, said they would enhance voter security. However, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson countered that they would gut Michiganders voting rights in our state constitution.

Only U.S. citizens should vote in our elections, said state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford. And people should have to show ID when voting to prove that they are who they say they are. Thats just common sense.

The proposed constitutional amendment is unlikely to pass the state Legislature, as it requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers. While Republicans have a majority in the House, they would need to pursuade Democrats in both chambers.

Posthumus said it would be political suicide for Democrats not to support the measure.

If the legislature passed the measure, the proposed constitutional amendment would be placed on the ballot for voters to decide.

Benson called the proposal a failed policy that has been overturned in other states for being blatantly unconstitutional. She also claimed that in other states it has created a separate and unequal system of voting access for citizens or blocked tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting their legal ballot in an election.

I stand with the people of Michigan who have overwhelmingly passed ballot measures to make voting more accessible and to enshrine citizens voting rights into our constitution, she said. We need to hold the line on protecting every eligible citizens constitutional right to cast a ballot in every election and get back to the business of working together on honest proposals to keep Michigans elections safe, secure and accessible.

According to Votebeat , Arizona is the only state to enforce proof of citizenship requirements.

After legal challenges to those requirements, Arizona now allows those without citizenship proof to vote only in federal elections, while those providing citizenship proof can vote in state, federal and local elections, according to Arizona voter instructions .

The proposed constitional amendment comes after a Chinese national allegedly cast his ballot during the 2024 presidential election in Michigan. That man, a University of Michigan student, faces criminal charges.

The other way the Michigan proposal could get on the ballot is by garnering enough petition signatures. A group called Prove it, Michigan has already vowed to start a petition drive if the legislation fails.

Currently, voters dont need a photo ID to vote in person. They can sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury if they dont have one.

The proposed constitutional amendment would require a valid photo ID to vote. If voters dont have one, they can sign an affidavit and cast a provisional ballot, but that ballot wont be counted unless a photo ID is presented within six days.

Absentee voters would have to verify their identity by providing a copy of their ID, a drivers license number, state personal identification number, or the last four digits of their social security number.

Currently, voters requesting an absentee ballot online must provide the last four digits of their Social Security number along with a photo ID number or acknowledgement that they do not have a photo ID.

Under the proposal, the state would provide free photo ID to people who cannot afford it. State IDs cost $10 and some residents are already eligible for a free ID.

Michigan doesnt require residents to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. However, new registrants must attest under penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen and that the information about their identity and residency is accurate.

The proposed constitutional amendment would require all new voter registrants after Dec. 18, 2026, to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or have the Secretary of State verify their citizenship. Proof of citizenship would not be required for every election.

Lawmakers would later define the acceptable forms of proof of citizenship.

The state would also have to routinely verify the citizenship of all voters in the statewide qualified voter file.

Posthumus said citizenship proof requirements would help prevent instances of noncitizens voting in elections, citing the incident last fall where a Chinese student at the University of Michigan allegedly cast his vote in the presidential election.

That student, Haoxiang Gao, faces criminal charges. He allegedly used his student identification and documents showing his Ann Arbor residency to register to vote.

Related: Chinese University of Michigan student arraigned for illegally voting

Posthumus said the incident proves that non-citizen voting is a real problem that needs to be fixed.

No citizen should ever have their vote canceled out by a non-citizen voting the opposite direction, he said.

However, Benson and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit said at the time that noncitizen voting is an extremely isolated and rare event.
LANSING, MI  A challenged state law banning conversion therapy for minors remains in effect in Michigan.

U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Michigan Jane Beckering issued an order Jan. 28 denying a request to block enforcement of Michigans prohibition on the practice of conversion therapy while a lawsuit proceeds in court, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday, Jan. 31.

The harms of conversion therapy on our children are well known and documented, which is why Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer and health officials took action to protect their mental health, Nessel said. States have a duty to shield their residents, especially kids, from treatments proven to cause devastating harm, and I am glad the court denied this request to block the enforcement of this critical law. My office will continue to work to dismiss this lawsuit to protect Michigans youth.

The lawsuit, filed by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties, argues Michigans law violates free speech, due process and free exercise because it targets religious speech and interferes with the right of parents to raise their children with religious beliefs.

Related: Catholic counselors sue over Michigans ban on conversion therapy

The organization is appealing the courts ruling, filing notice Jan. 30 and requesting the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit review and make a ruling the denial decision.

Michigans new law pushes vulnerable children down a dangerous path of drugs, hormones, and surgeries that have been banned by the majority of states and federal government, said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law, the law firm representing Catholic Charities.

It harms children, defies the best available scientific evidence, and cuts children off from the compassionate, evidence-based counseling they need. We look forward to a ruling on appeal that brings Michigan back into line with the rest of the country, the constitution, and common sense, Goodrich said.

In February 2024 Michigan joined more than twenty other states and the District of Columbia to prohibit state-licensed mental health professionals from engaging in conversion therapy with minors.

Under the law, mental health professionals are barred from using any practice that aims to change someones sexual orientation or gender identity including efforts to reduce or eliminate sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward an individual of the same gender.

Related: Banning conversion therapy in Michigan would protect LGBTQ children, supporters say

But it carves out an exception for gender transitions by allowing counseling that provides acceptance, support, or understanding as long as it does not seek to change an individuals sexual orientation or gender identity. Counselors who violate the law could lose their license or face a fine up to $250,000.

The lawsuit argues this is an attempt to control counselors speech.

Catholic Charities provides counseling services in a manner consistent with its Catholic beliefs, including the Catholic teachings on gender identity and human sexuality, which are to respect the biological sex of the human person as given by God, according to the lawsuit.

The organization states it faces sanctions under Michigans new law as they admittedly provide talk therapy that seeks to help minor clients change their behavior or gender expression to align with the clients goals and religious beliefs on matters of gender identity and same-sex sexual relationships, the lawsuit states.

In her 36-page opinion, Beckering wrote that while the case does show the organization could suffer minimal injury through enforcement of the new law, there is no need for the court to take immediate action while the case remains unresolved.

Beckering added the case is unlikely to succeed on its merits, noting Michigan has a legitimate interest in safeguarding the psychological wellbeing of minors.

Numerous studies have found that conversion therapy is ineffective and harmful, leading to depression, anxiety and a higher risk of suicide. The latest guidance from World Professional Association for Transgender Health also suggests theres a low rate of teenagers who regret transitioning genders, but they should undergo thorough psychological assessments before any medical treatments take place.

About 10% of LGBTQ youth in Michigan reported being threatened with conversion therapy, according The Trevor Project, while another 5% reported they already faced it.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled two years ago sexual orientation is protected by the states Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act. The state legislature later amended the law to codify the ruling and ban discrimination based on sex or gender identity. Whitmer signed it in 2023. But that decision has been followed by lawsuits from a Catholic church, a Christian health care provider and a Catholic school arguing for religious freedom.

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The federal government is supporting a controversial Northern Michigan potash and salt mine thats been in the works for over a decade.

Michigan Potash & Salt Company landed a conditional commitment for a $1.26 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energys Loan Programs Office in mid-January. The funding will help finance the construction of a mine that proposes extracting potash, or potassium chloride, from a 12,500-acre deposit buried more than three miles under Osceola and Mecosta counties.

The initial phase of the U.S. Potash Project is just scratching the surface of the full potential of potash in Michigan. This is a win for farmers, for consumers, and for the United States as we strive to reduce our reliance on foreign countries for this critical mineral, said Michigan Potash CEO Ted Pagano in a statement.

Related: Michigan sits on a mineral worth billions  but its 8,000 feet underground

Michigan Potash estimates Evart Township mine will produce 800,000 tons of fertilizer-grade potash and 1 million tons of salt per year.

When operational, the mine will play a critical role in securing a domestic supply of potash, a fertilizer ingredient thats primarily imported to the United States from Canada, according to the Department of Energy. Its also expected to create 1,200 temporary construction jobs and 200 operational mining jobs.

A timeline on the project was not immediately available from Michigan Potash.

A conditional commitment means the federal government plans to finance the project with a loan, but an environmental review needs to be completed first. Additionally, Michigan Potash must meet certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department of Energy decides on entering into a final agreement.

Michigan Potash also secured an $80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a $50 million state infrastructure grant and approval to seek a $225 million tax-exempt bond.

The funding is a significant step forward for Michigan Potash, which has been working to develop the $1.2 billion mine since geologists rediscovered the potash trove in 2012.

Related: Will a Northern Michigan mineral deposit worth billions still be mined?

Supporters say the rich deposit is worth billions and would create domestic supply of potash thats critical for U.S. farmers. But environmental groups oppose the project out of concern that the solution mining process could contaminate aquifers and dry up nearby water supplies.

In 2018, Michigan Potash secured state permits to extract 725 million gallons of groundwater a year  about three times as much as a controversial Nestle water bottling plant located miles away from the proposed mine. Solution mining involves pumping water underground to dissolve the potash then pumping the brine back to the surface. Wastewater is then injected deep back into the earth.

The company is now seeking an air permit after a previously approved permit expired in November because constructed hadnt started yet.

Related: Public input sought on permit for controversial Michigan salt mine

The mineral processing would produce hydrogen sulfide emissions, which would be controlled with an air stripper, and would emit fine particulates such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfate and lead. State regulators say the pollutants are expected to be within allowable levels and the area is meeting air quality standards.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is taking public comment on the emissions permit until Feb. 13.

EGLE is also hosting an information session on Feb. 5 to answer any questions about the proposed potash mine. It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Osceola County Fairgrounds Building, 101 Recreation Ave., in Evart. A virtual public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 13.
PONTIAC, MI -- An Oakland County judge on Friday heard arguments surrounding Jennifer Crumbleys request for a new trial or acquittal.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews said she will issue a written decision at a later date.

Jennifer Crumbley, 46, along with her 48-year-old husband, James Crumbley, are serving between 10 and 15 years in prison after being convicted in April of four counts each of involuntary manslaughter.

In a first-of-its-kind conviction, separate juries found the parents negligent and liable for the crimes committed by their son, then-15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who committed a mass shooting and killed four classmates at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021.

Jennifers Crumbleys attorney Michael Dezsi, accused Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonalds Office of failing to disclose agreements it made with witnesses prior to trial.

The agreements were made with Shawn Hopkins, who worked as a counselor at Oxford High School, and Nick Ejak, the Dean of Students at the time of the shooting.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonalds office agreed that, in return for truthful information, including information about possible criminal activity committed by the testifying witnesses, this office will consider your clients proffer statements in deciding how to resolve this investigation as it relates to your client and any charges pending against your client being prosecuted by this office.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews challenged Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast.

Why didnt the prosecution provide that information, Matthews asked. Maybe we wouldnt be here.

Keast claimed his office wasnt required to disclose the agreements, since they werent formal immunity agreements and didnt explicitly make offers of leniency.

The defense called failure to disclose the agreements a Brady violation, meaning prosecution intentionally and improperly withheld evidence favorable to the defense that likely impacted the fairness of the trial.

Matthews is tasked with determining if the agreements should have been disclosed and whether a failure to do so impacted the outcome.

School officials who testified also faced accusations of potential criminal negligence for failing to search the shooters backpack and returning him to class after finding violent drawings the student made on a math assignment.

Deszi argued they may not have testified at all without the agreements. They dangled that carrot over those witnesses to get them to cooperate and come in, he said.

The judge asked Dezsi how necessary the school officials' testimony was for conviction, since other evidence and Jennifer Crumbleys own testimony supported most of what they testified to.

Youre arguing that without their testimony, Jennifer Crumbley wouldnt have been convicted at all, Matthews said. And I think thats a big leap.

Dezsi, citing a court precedent in another case, said, I dont have to prove to you that we would have won an acquittal, I only have to prove theres reasonable probability that the outcome could have been different.

The defense attorney previously filed evidence accusing McDonalds office of violating a gag order that banned attorneys from publicly discussing the case.

McDonalds office allowed reporters behind-the-scenes, pretrial access that resulted in various new stories and at least one documentary released following trial. The prosecution also hired public relations professionals to help shape public opinion prior to the trial, the defense claimed.

The judge ordered attorneys not to discuss those issues during Fridays arguments, since they werent included in the initial motion and were irrelevant.

You could talk to the press about it outside, I know theyre very interested in it, Matthews said. I just dont think it helps me resolve the motion.

Ethan Crumbley, 18, is serving a mandatory life sentence after pleading guilty to 24 felonies, including four counts of first-degree murder.

His victims included: Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17.

Jennifer Crumbley is imprisoned the womens Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti and James Crumbley is held at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia. Their earliest release dates are set for Dec. 2, 2031.
DETROIT -- Former Detroit Tigers starter and future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer could celebrate his 41st birthday at Comerica Park.

The veteran right-hander reportedly agreed to a one-year, $15.5 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays this week.

The Jays play the Tigers from July 24-27 at Comerica Park. The series finale is Scherzers birthday.

Scherzer pitched for the Tigers from 2010-2014, going 82-35 with a 3.52 ERA as part of a famously elite rotation. During Scherzers tenure, the Tigers made the playoffs four times, including an American League title in 2012.

Upon reaching free agency, he signed a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals after the 2014 season. It turned out to be a bargain for the Nats, who made the playoffs three times and won the 2019 World Series during Scherzers tenure.

Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million deal with the Mets before the 2022 season. He was dealt to the Rangers at the deadline in 2023 and picked up another World Series ring with Texas.

Last year didnt go as well, for Scherzer or the Rangers. He made only nine starts while battling multiple injuries.

Scherzer joins a host of veteran pitchers in signing one-year deals for about $15 million this winter. Alex Cobb (Tigers), Justin Verlander (San Francisco Giants) and Charlie Morton (Baltimore Orioles) all signed similar deals.
Fire Country returns to CBS for the mid-season premiere on Friday, Jan. 31, at 9 p.m. ET. This week, the Chezem Valley fire continues blazing out of control.

Watch the new episode for free with a trial on Paramount+, Fubo or DIRECTV Stream.

About the show:

Fire Country follows Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption. He joined an unconventional prison release program in Northern California, where he and other inmates partner with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires.

In tonights episode, Coming In Hot the Chezem Valley fire is blazing out of control, leaving Bode and Audrey to find a way to save themselves. Manny risks his freedom for his missing daughter, meanwhile Eve tries to protect her father and their familys ranch.

Tune in tonight, Jan. 31, at 9/8c on CBS.

Where to watch:

Cast:
Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust (NYSE:EVF  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 49,500 shares, a growth of 179.7% from the December 31st total of 17,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 53,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust in the third quarter valued at $284,000. Concorde Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $106,000. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust by 47.9% in the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 32,130 shares of the companys stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 10,400 shares during the last quarter.

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Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust Stock Performance

Shares of EVF traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $6.26. 26,865 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 50,730. Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust has a 1-year low of $5.97 and a 1-year high of $6.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $6.21 and a 200 day moving average of $6.22.

Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust Dividend Announcement

Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust Company Profile

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 13th were issued a $0.047 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 13th.

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Eaton Vance Senior Income Trust is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Eaton Vance Management. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in the securities of companies operating across the diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in senior secured floating rate loans.

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ABN AMRO Bank (OTCMKTS:AAVMY  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 28,200 shares, an increase of 113.6% from the December 31st total of 13,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 49,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

ABN AMRO Bank Price Performance

Shares of AAVMY opened at $17.06 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average is $15.68 and its 200 day moving average is $16.54. ABN AMRO Bank has a 12-month low of $13.96 and a 12-month high of $18.40.

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ABN AMRO Bank Company Profile

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ABN AMRO Bank N.V. provides various banking products and financial services to retail, private, and business clients in the Netherlands and internationally. It operates through three segments: Personal & Business Banking, Wealth Management, and Corporate Banking. The company provides savings and deposits products; investment and insurance products; and consumer, personal, car, and home improvement loan.

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MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX  Get Free Report) and American Well (NYSE:AMWL  Get Free Report) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Well has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for MediaAlpha and American Well, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score MediaAlpha 0 1 6 0 2.86 American Well 0 3 1 0 2.25

Valuation and Earnings

MediaAlpha currently has a consensus price target of $21.57, suggesting a potential upside of 87.11%. American Well has a consensus price target of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.34%. Given MediaAlphas stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe MediaAlpha is more favorable than American Well.

This table compares MediaAlpha and American Wells top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio MediaAlpha $681.23 million 1.13 -$40.42 million $0.17 67.82 American Well $254.04 million 0.70 -$675.16 million ($14.63) -0.80

MediaAlpha has higher revenue and earnings than American Well. American Well is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MediaAlpha, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares MediaAlpha and American Wells net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets MediaAlpha 1.41% -11.98% 5.19% American Well -84.27% -52.49% -40.22%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.0% of American Well shares are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of MediaAlpha shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of American Well shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

MediaAlpha beats American Well on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MediaAlpha

(Get Free Report)

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About American Well

(Get Free Report)

American Well Corporation, an enterprise platform and software company, delivers digitally enabling hybrid care in the United States and internationally. The company offers Converge, a cloud-based platform that enables health providers, payers, and innovators to provide in-person, virtual and automated care; and delivers virtual primary care, post-discharge follow-up, chronic condition management, virtual nursing, e-sitting, on-demand and scheduled virtual visits, specialty consults, automated care, and behavioral health, as well as specialty care programs, including dermatology, musculoskeletal care, second opinion, and cardiometabolic care to patients and members. It provides Carepoint devices comprising carts, peripherals, tablets, and TVs, which serve as digital access points in clinical settings. In addition, the company offers Amwell Medical Group network services consisting of primary and urgent care, behavioral health therapy, acute psychiatry, lactation counseling, and nutrition services. Further, it provides professional services to facilitate implementation, workflow design, systems integration, and service expansion for its products, as well as patient and provider engagement services. The company sells its products through field sales professionals, channel partners, and value-added resellers. American Well Corporation was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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AstraZeneca PLC (OTCMKTS:AZNCF  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 127,400 shares, a growth of 116.7% from the December 31st total of 58,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 15.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in AstraZeneca stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AstraZeneca PLC (OTCMKTS:AZNCF  Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,001 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $156,000. Institutional investors own 40.87% of the companys stock.

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AstraZeneca Price Performance

AZNCF traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $140.72. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,872. AstraZeneca has a twelve month low of $118.16 and a twelve month high of $175.00. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $133.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.99.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company's marketed products include Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Farxiga, Brilinta, Lokelma, Roxadustat, Andexxa, Crestor, Seloken, Onglyza, Bydureon, Fasenra, Breztri, Symbicort, Saphnelo, Tezspire, Pulmicort, Bevespi, and Daliresp for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, and oncology.

Further Reading

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Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (NYSE:BLX  Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 88,200 shares, a decline of 61.2% from the December 31st total of 227,500 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 125,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:BLX traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $37.81. The companys stock had a trading volume of 81,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 132,817. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. has a 12 month low of $22.93 and a 12 month high of $39.40.

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Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (NYSE:BLX  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $209.64 million for the quarter. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 24.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A.

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. Company Profile

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. stock. Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. ( NYSE:BLX Free Report ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,665 shares of the banks stock, valued at approximately $202,000. 19.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

(Get Free Report)

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A., a multinational bank, primarily engages in the financing of foreign trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates in two segments, Commercial and Treasury. It offers bilateral loans; structured loans including syndicated and clubbed, such as acquisition and pre-export financing, A/B loan financing, bridge loans, and liability management; and project financing.

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Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD  Free Report) (NYSE:EGO) had its price objective lowered by BMO Capital Markets from C$31.00 to C$29.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. National Bankshares dropped their price target on Eldorado Gold from C$28.00 to C$27.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Eldorado Gold from C$28.00 to C$27.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th.

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Eldorado Gold Trading Up 2.7 %

TSE ELD opened at C$22.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of C$4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 56.20 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.85, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 3.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$22.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$22.92. Eldorado Gold has a fifty-two week low of C$13.10 and a fifty-two week high of C$26.32.

Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD  Get Free Report) (NYSE:EGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported C$0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.46 by C$0.01. Eldorado Gold had a return on equity of 4.99% and a net margin of 15.68%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Eldorado Gold will post 2.1505174 earnings per share for the current year.

Eldorado Gold Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Eldorado Gold Corp is a gold and base metals producer with mining, development and exploration operations in Turkey, Canada, Greece and Romania. It has a portfolio of high-quality assets and long-term partnerships with local communities. Some of its projects include Kisladag, Efemcukuru, Skouries; Perama Hill and Certej projects.

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Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT  Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Bank of America from $452.00 to $414.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a buy rating on the industrial products companys stock. Bank of Americas price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.05% from the stocks current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CAT. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Caterpillar from $471.00 to $455.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Caterpillar from an underperform rating to an in-line rating and set a $365.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Caterpillar from $299.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Caterpillar presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $381.13.

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Caterpillar Stock Performance

Shares of Caterpillar stock traded down $2.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $372.80. 999,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,245,986. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. Caterpillar has a 12 month low of $299.93 and a 12 month high of $418.50. The stocks fifty day moving average is $381.40 and its 200 day moving average is $370.82. The stock has a market cap of $179.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.13.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.17. Caterpillar had a net margin of 16.26% and a return on equity of 59.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Caterpillar will post 21.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lange Bob De sold 12,657 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.25, for a total transaction of $5,192,534.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 71,107 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $29,171,646.75. The trade was a 15.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gerald Johnson acquired 100 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $398.57 per share, with a total value of $39,857.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,176,977.21. This trade represents a 3.51 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,900 shares of company stock worth $13,111,601 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAT. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 255,388 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $92,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,768 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Caterpillar by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 75,905 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $27,535,000 after purchasing an additional 3,162 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 1,320 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 4,812 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,745,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rational Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1,188.5% in the 4th quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 1,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the companys stock.

Caterpillar Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Caterpillar Inc manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, road reclaimers, forestry machines, cold planers, material handlers, track-type tractors, excavators, telehandlers, motor graders, and pipelayers; compact track, wheel, track-type, backhoe, and skid steer loaders; and related parts and tools.

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CMG Global Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM  Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,232 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. CMG Global Holdings LLCs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PM. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 54,711,621 shares of the companys stock worth $6,715,237,000 after buying an additional 224,840 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Philip Morris International by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 32,101,324 shares of the companys stock worth $3,886,818,000 after acquiring an additional 621,034 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Philip Morris International by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,168,446 shares of the companys stock worth $2,812,649,000 after purchasing an additional 6,721,094 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,000,570 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,560,752,000 after purchasing an additional 376,406 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,241,612 shares of the companys stock worth $1,121,932,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,454 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Philip Morris International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PM opened at $130.32 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $87.82 and a one year high of $134.15. The company has a market cap of $202.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.63.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

Analyst Ratings Changes

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Philip Morris Internationals payout ratio is 85.71%.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PM shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued an overweight rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $145.00 price objective (up previously from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $131.35.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Philip Morris International

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.

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CMG Global Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 48,116 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 945 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for 1.2% of CMG Global Holdings LLCs holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. CMG Global Holdings LLCs holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $358.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $32.35 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The businesss 50 day moving average is $45.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.73.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. Bank of Americas revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

About Bank of America

(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.

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Dover (NYSE:DOV  Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $200.00 to $215.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an equal weight rating on the industrial products companys stock. Wells Fargo & Companys price objective suggests a potential upside of 5.00% from the stocks current price.

DOV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Dover from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup cut their price target on Dover from $236.00 to $222.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Dover from $202.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Dover in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a neutral rating and a $217.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $215.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Dover in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $214.64.

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View Our Latest Analysis on Dover

Dover Trading Down 0.3 %

Dover stock traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $204.76. 113,984 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 815,852. Dover has a fifty-two week low of $148.45 and a fifty-two week high of $214.57. The firms 50 day moving average is $195.60 and its 200-day moving average is $190.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.23.

Dover (NYSE:DOV  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.20. Dover had a return on equity of 23.61% and a net margin of 18.63%. On average, analysts predict that Dover will post 8.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DOV. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Dover in the third quarter worth $1,920,000. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Dover by 347.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,772 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $4,366,000 after acquiring an additional 17,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Dover by 195.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 91,031 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $17,077,000 after buying an additional 60,235 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Dover by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 177,844 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $34,100,000 after acquiring an additional 5,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Dover by 54.3% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,158 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $2,523,000 after purchasing an additional 4,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.46% of the companys stock.

About Dover

(Get Free Report)

Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company's Engineered Products segment provides various equipment, component, software, solution, and services that are used in vehicle aftermarket, waste handling, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, industrial winch and hoist, and fluid dispensing end-market.

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Enel Chile S.A. (NYSE:ENIC  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 999,100 shares, an increase of 33.0% from the December 31st total of 751,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 375,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enel Chile

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ENIC. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enel Chile in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Enel Chile by 1,114,700.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 11,148 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 11,147 shares during the period. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enel Chile in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Enel Chile during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Enel Chile during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.20% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Enel Chile from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $3.90 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

Enel Chile Price Performance

NYSE:ENIC traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $3.04. 721,270 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 593,988. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.11. Enel Chile has a 52-week low of $2.51 and a 52-week high of $3.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.79.

Enel Chile Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $0.0463 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This is an increase from Enel Chiles previous dividend of $0.03. Enel Chiles dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.70%.

About Enel Chile

(Get Free Report)

Enel Chile SA, an electricity utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Chile. The company operates through Generation, and Distribution and Networks Segments. It generates electricity through various sources, such as hydroelectric, thermal, wind, solar, and geothermal power plants.

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Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG  Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 29,173 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in EOG Resources were worth $3,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in EOG Resources by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 46,549 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $5,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,076 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of EOG Resources by 25.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,264 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 3,656 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in EOG Resources by 8.0% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,816 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC acquired a new stake in EOG Resources in the second quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 102,657 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $12,921,000 after acquiring an additional 2,099 shares during the last quarter. 89.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other EOG Resources news, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total value of $483,560.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 42,703 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,162,365.67. This represents a 8.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Janet F. Clark sold 568 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.33, for a total transaction of $76,867.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,532 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,891,185.56. This trade represents a 1.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.30% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on EOG. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $143.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of EOG Resources in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $143.90.

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EOG Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:EOG opened at $129.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. EOG Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.94 and a fifty-two week high of $139.67. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $128.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.45. The stock has a market cap of $72.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.29.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy exploration company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.03 billion. EOG Resources had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 23.77%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.44 EPS. Analysts expect that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, November 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy exploration company to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the companys board believes its stock is undervalued.

EOG Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.975 dividend. This is a positive change from EOG Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. EOG Resourcess dividend payout ratio is 31.40%.

About EOG Resources

(Free Report)

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.

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First Affirmative Financial Network reduced its position in shares of Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR  Free Report) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,272 shares of the companys stock after selling 5,375 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Networks holdings in Amcor were worth $219,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMCR. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Amcor by 3,410.3% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amcor in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amcor in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Amcor by 3,794.1% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 3,310 shares of the companys stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 3,225 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Amcor by 296.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the companys stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.14% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Amcor from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised Amcor from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial raised shares of Amcor from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Amcor from an underperform rating to a buy rating and set a $12.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amcor currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $11.46.

Amcor Stock Performance

NYSE AMCR opened at $9.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Amcor plc has a 12-month low of $8.78 and a 12-month high of $11.48.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $0.16. Amcor had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 25.60%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Amcor plc will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Company Profile

(Free Report)

Amcor plc develops, produces, and sells packaging products in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. The company operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The Flexibles segment provides flexible and film packaging products in the food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical, fresh produce, snack food, personal care, and other industries.

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Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 742 shares of the companys stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,090,971 shares of the companys stock worth $15,089,563,000 after acquiring an additional 85,823 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 87,091.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,463,182 shares of the companys stock worth $11,041,631,000 after purchasing an additional 12,448,888 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Eli Lilly and Company by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,115,504 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,417,970,000 after buying an additional 157,741 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,058,101 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,481,175,000 after buying an additional 169,391 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,954,047 shares of the companys stock worth $1,731,168,000 after buying an additional 12,044 shares during the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Eli Lilly and Company Trading Up 2.4 %

LLY stock opened at $823.59 on Friday. Eli Lilly and Company has a fifty-two week low of $637.00 and a fifty-two week high of $972.53. The firm has a market cap of $781.85 billion, a PE ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $780.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $845.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Eli Lilly and Company Increases Dividend

Eli Lilly and Company ( NYSE:LLY Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.34). The firm had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.09 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Eli Lilly and Company will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. This is an increase from Eli Lilly and Companys previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.22%.

Eli Lilly and Company announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, December 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LLY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an outperform rating and a $1,100.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,250.00 to $1,190.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Eli Lilly and Company to a hold rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eli Lilly and Company from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $975.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $997.22.

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Insider Activity

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total value of $723,042.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,480 shares in the company, valued at $4,402,522.40. This trade represents a 14.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock.

Eli Lilly and Company Profile

(Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity.

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Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL  Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,254 shares of the basic materials companys stock after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc.s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 4.4% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,801 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,145,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 66,245 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $15,766,000 after purchasing an additional 9,067 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $224,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,382,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 71.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 735 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Ecolab Stock Up 2.3 %

Ecolab stock opened at $252.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $241.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $71.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

Ecolab ( NYSE:ECL Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolabs revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is a boost from Ecolabs previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolabs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a market perform rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $278.60.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ecolab

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 425,430 shares of company stock worth $104,201,556 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.04% of the companys stock.

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.

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Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Summit Materials, Inc. (NYSE:SUM  Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 77,709 shares of the construction companys stock after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLCs holdings in Summit Materials were worth $3,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Summit Materials by 179.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Summit Materials during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Summit Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its stake in shares of Summit Materials by 147.1% during the 3rd quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 840 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 3,804.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 937 shares of the construction companys stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter.

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Summit Materials Stock Performance

Shares of SUM stock opened at $52.39 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.88 and a beta of 1.14. Summit Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.64 and a 12-month high of $53.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Summit Materials ( NYSE:SUM Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Summit Materials had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 49.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Summit Materials, Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Summit Materials from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $52.50 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup restated a neutral rating and set a $52.50 price objective (down from $55.00) on shares of Summit Materials in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Thursday. They issued a sell rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $52.50 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Summit Materials from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Summit Materials presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $50.54.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Summit Materials

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher Burke Gaskill sold 1,536 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.91, for a total value of $78,197.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,221 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,047,651.11. The trade was a 3.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Summit Materials Profile

(Free Report)

Summit Materials, Inc is a vertically integrated construction materials company, which engages in manufacturing construction materials and related downstream products. It operates through the following segments: West, East, and Cement. The West segment includes operations in Texas, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arkansas and British Columbia, Canada.

Further Reading

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Integris Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV  Free Report) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,006 shares of the companys stock after selling 440 shares during the quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares Europe ETF were worth $417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IEV. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in iShares Europe ETF by 12.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,698,388 shares of the companys stock valued at $98,965,000 after acquiring an additional 182,168 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 8.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 159,621 shares of the companys stock worth $9,301,000 after purchasing an additional 12,957 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 149,626 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,719,000 after purchasing an additional 13,840 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 122,707 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,150,000 after buying an additional 1,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in iShares Europe ETF in the 2nd quarter worth $5,797,000.

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iShares Europe ETF Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSEARCA:IEV opened at $55.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 0.83. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $53.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.16. iShares Europe ETF has a 52 week low of $51.38 and a 52 week high of $59.06.

iShares Europe ETF Company Profile

iShares Europe ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P Europe 350 (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the stocks of companies in the countries, which includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Further Reading

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Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $17.00 to $19.50 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an underweight rating on the asset managers stock. Wells Fargo & Companys target price suggests a potential upside of 1.27% from the stocks current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Invesco from $17.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus increased their target price on shares of Invesco from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Invesco from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Invesco from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Invesco from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.71.

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Check Out Our Latest Report on Invesco

Invesco Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:IVZ opened at $19.26 on Wednesday. Invesco has a twelve month low of $14.16 and a twelve month high of $19.55. The company has a current ratio of 4.91, a quick ratio of 4.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.70 and a 200-day moving average of $17.30.

Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Invesco had a positive return on equity of 8.83% and a negative net margin of 3.00%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Invesco will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Invesco by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 75,751 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 8,317 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Invesco by 0.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 319,240 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $4,776,000 after purchasing an additional 2,451 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Invesco by 19.3% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 57,647 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,336 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in Invesco in the 2nd quarter worth about $551,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Invesco by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 66,881 shares of the asset managers stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.09% of the companys stock.

Invesco Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds.

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Lazard (NYSE:LAZ  Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $52.00 to $57.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the asset managers stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods price target suggests a potential upside of 2.44% from the stocks previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $55.00.

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Read Our Latest Stock Report on Lazard

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.65. 386,531 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,035,651. The firms 50-day moving average is $52.93 and its 200 day moving average is $50.77. The company has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. Equities research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Lazard by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset managers stock worth $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset managers stock worth $91,392,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset managers stock worth $89,285,000 after acquiring an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset managers stock worth $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the companys stock.

About Lazard

(Get Free Report)

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.

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KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR  Get Free Report)s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $167.50 and last traded at $167.11, with a volume of 3923147 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $161.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KKR has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC lowered KKR & Co. Inc. from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the stock from $153.00 to $173.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $166.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $158.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $160.86.

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KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Up 0.4 %

Institutional Trading of KKR & Co. Inc.

The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $148.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.76, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.56.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,703,762 shares of the asset managers stock worth $3,486,977,000 after purchasing an additional 481,686 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,432,827 shares of the asset managers stock worth $3,059,859,000 after buying an additional 60,147 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,808,390 shares of the asset managers stock worth $2,194,840,000 after acquiring an additional 124,257 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,589,852 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,768,788,000 after acquiring an additional 355,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,251,333 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,469,199,000 after acquiring an additional 165,631 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.26% of the companys stock.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

(Get Free Report)

KKR & Co, Inc operates as an investment firm. It offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. The firms business segments include Asset Management and Insurance Business. The Asset Management segment engages in providing private equity, real assets, credit and liquid strategies, capital markets, and principal activities.

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Koa Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ  Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,535 shares of the companys stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Constellation Brands makes up 1.9% of Koa Wealth Management LLCs holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Koa Wealth Management LLCs holdings in Constellation Brands were worth $2,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Constellation Brands by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,144,428 shares of the companys stock worth $1,841,048,000 after acquiring an additional 402,211 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Constellation Brands by 1.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,853,081 shares of the companys stock worth $477,515,000 after purchasing an additional 21,454 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Constellation Brands by 23,184.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 499,689 shares of the companys stock worth $128,765,000 after purchasing an additional 497,543 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 381,755 shares of the companys stock valued at $98,374,000 after purchasing an additional 45,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Constellation Brands by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 369,966 shares of the companys stock valued at $81,762,000 after buying an additional 147,457 shares during the period. 77.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Constellation Brands Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE STZ opened at $184.32 on Friday. Constellation Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.51 and a 52 week high of $274.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $217.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $234.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.31 billion, a PE ratio of 49.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.91.

Constellation Brands Dividend Announcement

Constellation Brands ( NYSE:STZ Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The company reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.33 by ($0.08). Constellation Brands had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 6.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Constellation Brands, Inc. will post 13.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.01 per share. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Constellation Brandss payout ratio is 108.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Constellation Brands from $282.00 to $214.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Constellation Brands from $280.00 to $220.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Roth Mkm restated a buy rating and issued a $298.00 price objective on shares of Constellation Brands in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Constellation Brands from $295.00 to $275.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Constellation Brands from $300.00 to $250.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $257.14.

Get Our Latest Report on Constellation Brands

Insider Activity at Constellation Brands

In other Constellation Brands news, EVP James A. Jr. Sabia sold 36,086 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.99, for a total value of $8,768,537.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,042 shares in the company, valued at $3,898,045.58. This represents a 69.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William T. Giles acquired 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $186.39 per share, for a total transaction of $186,390.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,463 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $272,688.57. The trade was a 215.98 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 61,746 shares of company stock valued at $15,017,097 over the last three months. 12.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Constellation Brands

(Free Report)

Constellation Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Familiar, Corona Hard Seltzer, Corona Light, Corona Non-Alcoholic, Corona Premier, Corona Refresca, Modelo Especial, Modelo Chelada, Modelo Negra, Modelo Oro, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands.

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Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH  Free Report) by 84.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,099 shares of the medical research companys stock after purchasing an additional 5,543 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLCs holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $2,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LH. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,865,460 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $416,893,000 after acquiring an additional 263,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,586,397 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $354,528,000 after buying an additional 230,708 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,930,395 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $431,405,000 after buying an additional 167,137 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 577,189 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $128,990,000 after buying an additional 105,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Laboratory Co. of America by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 284,097 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $63,490,000 after buying an additional 77,921 shares during the last quarter. 95.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Laboratory Co. of America Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:LH opened at $251.39 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.62, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.06. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $258.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Laboratory Co. of America Announces Dividend

Insiders Place Their Bets

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of Americas payout ratio is 55.71%.

In other Laboratory Co. of America news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total value of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 31,289 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,522,814.27. This trade represents a 27.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kerrii B. Anderson sold 1,000 shares of Laboratory Co. of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $235,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,722 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,989,670. The trade was a 7.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,572 shares of company stock valued at $5,915,209. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $282.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered Laboratory Co. of America from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $261.77.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Laboratory Co. of America

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

(Free Report)

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.

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Manning & Napier Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (NYSE:TLK  Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 114,552 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 8,941 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLCs holdings in Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 74.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,506 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,870 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 74.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,315 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 3,110 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,660 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 2,497 shares during the period. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk during the 3rd quarter worth about $252,000.

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Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk Price Performance

Shares of TLK opened at $16.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.05. Perusahaan Perseroan has a 52-week low of $15.35 and a 52-week high of $26.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk ( NYSE:TLK Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk had a return on equity of 14.86% and a net margin of 15.12%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Perusahaan Perseroan will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

Check Out Our Latest Report on TLK

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk Company Profile

(Free Report)

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk provides information and communications technology, and telecommunications network services worldwide. The company operates through mobile, consumer, enterprise, Wholesale and International Business, and Other segments. The Mobile segment offers mobile voice, SMS, value added services, and mobile broadband services.

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Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC  Free Report) (NYSE:MFC) had its price objective hoisted by Jefferies Financial Group from C$50.00 to C$51.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MFC. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$45.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Cormark lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. CIBC upped their target price on Manulife Financial from C$46.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, National Bankshares lifted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$45.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of C$44.55.

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Read Our Latest Stock Report on Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Price Performance

TSE MFC opened at C$44.15 on Thursday. Manulife Financial has a 12 month low of C$28.95 and a 12 month high of C$46.42. The firm has a market capitalization of C$78.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. The companys 50 day simple moving average is C$44.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$40.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.60, a current ratio of 36.68 and a quick ratio of 2.58.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC  Get Free Report) (NYSE:MFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.95 by C$0.05. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 17.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. Manulife Financials dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.09%.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In other news, Director Anthony Alex Silva sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$45.22, for a total transaction of C$45,218.70. Also, Senior Officer Steve Finch sold 11,598 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$46.07, for a total value of C$534,308.26. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,771 shares of company stock valued at $3,508,584. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Manulife Financial

(Get Free Report)

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in the United States, Canada, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment offers investment advice and solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients through multiple distribution channels, including agents and brokers affiliated with the company, independent securities brokerage firms and financial advisors pension plan consultants, and banks.

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Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO  Free Report) by 123.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 702,584 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 388,682 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltds holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $43,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Apella Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 10,533 shares of the companys stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Coca-Cola by 4.5% in the third quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the companys stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Coca-Cola by 4.3% during the third quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the companys stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Coca-Cola by 2.2% in the third quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,956 shares of the companys stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 15,312 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.26% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KO. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Coca-Cola from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Coca-Cola from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $72.13.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of KO opened at $64.05 on Friday. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $62.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.61. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $57.93 and a twelve month high of $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Insider Transactions at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 342,546 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. This trade represents a 22.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.97% of the companys stock.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO  Free Report).

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Mobius Investment Trust plc (LON:MMIT  Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 149 ($1.85) and last traded at GBX 149 ($1.85), with a volume of 59836 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 145 ($1.80).

Mobius Investment Trust Stock Up 0.1 %

The firms 50 day simple moving average is GBX 143.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 139.59. The company has a market capitalization of 170.69 million, a PE ratio of 1,232.38 and a beta of 0.74.

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Mobius Investment Trust Company Profile

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Mobius Investment Trust plc (MMIT) is a closed-ended investment company listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE: MMIT).

MMIT provides investors with access to a high conviction portfolio of 20-30 small to mid-cap companies, across emerging and frontier markets.

The London listed investment trust will be managed by Mobius Capital Partners LLP (MCP), an investment manager launched in May 2018 by Mark Mobius, Carlos Hardenberg and Greg Konieczny.

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Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS  Get Free Report) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. Approximately 1,710,355 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the previous sessions volume of 1,760,931 shares.The stock last traded at $104.97 and had previously closed at $104.75.

The company reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.18. Novartis had a net margin of 35.96% and a return on equity of 34.80%.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on NVS. HSBC cut shares of Novartis from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Novartis from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Novartis in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Novartis from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $123.38.

Institutional Trading of Novartis

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novartis by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the companys stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,728 shares of the companys stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Novartis by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 2,366 shares of the companys stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the companys stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,788 shares of the companys stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novartis Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $214.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firms fifty day moving average is $100.09 and its 200 day moving average is $108.50.

Novartis Company Profile

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Novartis AG engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY  Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

OXY has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $62.19.

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Occidental Petroleum Price Performance

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

Shares of NYSE:OXY opened at $48.87 on Tuesday. Occidental Petroleum has a 12-month low of $45.17 and a 12-month high of $71.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $45.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 1.57. The companys fifty day moving average is $49.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.81.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Occidental Petroleums dividend payout ratio is 22.92%.

Insider Transactions at Occidental Petroleum

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased 2,477,362 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $46.25 per share, with a total value of $114,577,992.50. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 257,758,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,921,348,477.50. The trade was a 0.97 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of OXY. AXA S.A. increased its holdings in Occidental Petroleum by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 31,721 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 80,581 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $5,077,000 after acquiring an additional 8,327 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 0.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 527,412 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $33,243,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Occidental Petroleum by 4.7% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,067 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KGH Ltd bought a new position in Occidental Petroleum during the second quarter worth about $5,295,000. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas.

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PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk (OTCMKTS:ADOOY  Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,100 shares, a decrease of 50.8% from the December 31st total of 12,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 19,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days.

PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk stock opened at $7.13 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.86. PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk has a 12-month low of $6.83 and a 12-month high of $15.50.

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PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Investors of record on Monday, January 13th were paid a $0.3294 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 13th. PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbks payout ratio is currently 40.19%.

PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk Company Profile

PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk, together with its subsidiaries, engages in coal and mining business in Indonesia. It operates through Coal Mining and Trading; Mining Services; Logistics; and Others segments. The company provides trading, transportation, warehousing, quarrying, cargo handling, and mining and transportation support services.

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Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment (NYSE:CHMI  Get Free Report) and Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC  Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment and Equity Commonwealths gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment $49.99 million 2.04 -$34.79 million ($1.52) -2.12 Equity Commonwealth $58.43 million 3.15 $91.16 million $0.39 4.40

Equity Commonwealth has higher revenue and earnings than Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Commonwealth, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Analyst Recommendations

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Commonwealth has a beta of 0.48, meaning that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment and Equity Commonwealth, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment 0 1 1 1 3.00 Equity Commonwealth 0 0 0 0 0.00

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment currently has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 39.53%. Given Cherry Hill Mortgage Investments stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment is more favorable than Equity Commonwealth.

Profitability

This table compares Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment and Equity Commonwealths net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment -60.97% 15.18% 1.45% Equity Commonwealth 82.00% 2.09% 1.96%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

18.5% of Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Equity Commonwealth beats Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment

(Get Free Report)

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation, a residential real estate finance company, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage assets in the United States. It operates through Investments in RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities) and Investments in Servicing Related Assets segments. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. The company generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Farmingdale, New Jersey.

About Equity Commonwealth

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Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. EQC's portfolio is comprised of four properties totaling 1.5 million square feet.

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Shares of Riskified Ltd. (NYSE:RSKD  Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a 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 $5.72.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on RSKD shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Riskified from $4.75 to $4.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Riskified from $4.50 to $4.00 and set a sell rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Riskified from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Riskified to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Riskified from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

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View Our Latest Report on RSKD

Riskified Stock Up 1.9 %

Riskified stock opened at $5.20 on Friday. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $4.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.95. Riskified has a twelve month low of $4.14 and a twelve month high of $6.64.

Riskified (NYSE:RSKD  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $78.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.01 million. Riskified had a negative net margin of 10.72% and a negative return on equity of 6.00%. The companys revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Riskified will post -0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Riskified announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Riskified

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RSKD. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in shares of Riskified in the second quarter valued at about $208,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Riskified by 17.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,118,900 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,150,000 after buying an additional 164,600 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Riskified by 110.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,991 shares of the companys stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 18,392 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Riskified during the second quarter worth about $163,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC raised its holdings in Riskified by 18.2% during the second quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 75,058 shares of the companys stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 11,574 shares in the last quarter. 58.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Riskified

(Get Free Report

Riskified Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops and offers an e-commerce risk management platform that allows online merchants to create trusted relationships with consumers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Americas. It offers Chargeback Guarantee that ensures the legitimacy of merchants' online orders; Policy Protect, a machine learning solution designed to detect and prevent refund and returns policy abuse in real-time; Account Secure, a solution that cross-checks every login attempt; Dispute Resolve, which is used to compile submissions for fraud and non-fraud related chargeback issues; and PSD2 Optimize that helps merchants avoid bank authorization failures and abandoned shopping carts.

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At Nottoway Correctional Center, the outlook was bleak.

Two nurses at the all-male state prison staffed a day shift meant to be staffed by eight. Emergency medical requests from inmates were regularly being ignored or reviewed late. And the prison was so short on security staff that inmates were regularly being left unattended in the prisons medical bay.

Those details come from Brian Reynolds, a former nurse supervisor at Nottoway who sent a flurry of requests for help up his chain of command.

This habitual low staffing is dangerous and may lead to critical mistakes and/or impact patient safety, Reynolds wrote in an email to superiors in Richmond. Please help.

Shortly after, he resigned, saying, It was untenable to continue the medical mission. In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Reynolds described the prison as chaos and that nurses there were breaking the law every day as a result of regularly being shorthanded.

Critically and dangerously short-staffed

An internal report on Virginias prisons substantiates that what Reynolds detailed at Nottoway is a systemwide crisis. At least three state prisons have a 50% vacancy rate, the report details, with some so short-staffed that they have been incapable of complying with the departments own strict policies on medical treatment, staff and inmate safety, and solitary confinement.

The report details how short staffing has become a fact of life in some of the prisons.

At Sussex State Prison, consultants found that non-security staff are frequently required to do the work of corrections officers. Sussex has had a 50% vacancy rate for at least six years.

At Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, consultants found that each month, eight staff members leave for every 10 new hires. The prison has a nearly 40% vacancy rate and remains under a judicial monitor stemming from allegations of failing to deliver adequate health care to women incarcerated there.

And at Buckingham Correctional Center, the consultants reported that the prison is making do by leaving housing and recreation yards unsupervised.

With a 30% vacancy rate, Nottoway is likely low on the prison systems list of priorities. Like Sussex State Prison, Greensville Correctional Center has a 50% vacancy rate.

And Lawrenceville Correctional Center, which was taken back from a private prison contractor in 2024, has a 66% vacancy rate.

The report was conducted for the Virginia Department of Corrections by an outside consulting group that visited each prison throughout 2024. It was publicly shared with the legislature in November. The findings substantiate crisis-level conditions detailed at Nottoway.

Many of VADOCs corrections facilities visited are critically and dangerously short-staffed. This lack of staff impacts every aspect of facility operations and results in facilities that are unsafe, the consultants wrote.

The report also says that very few educational and rehabilitation programs for prisoners were operational.

And the consultants reported finding prisons where inmates were in a de facto state of restricted housing, which is the Virginia prison systems name for what is commonly known as solitary confinement.

A couple facilities are unable to provide the required out-of-cell time, with inmates being locked in their cells for over 22 hours, the report reads.

Effectively, at one site visited, nearly the entire population had been in Restricted Housing status for an extended period of time at the time of our site visit, the report reads. Complaints were heard from inmates claiming a lack of recreation time outside their cells.

That finding suggests a violation of the Department of Corrections own stated policy on the use of isolation, which says that all inmates in restricted housing receive four hours of meaningful out of cell time.

An excellent job in maintaining safety and security

States like Florida and West Virginia have also struggled with prison staffing shortages. West Virginia temporarily deployed its contingent of the National Guard for a two-year stretch while the state legislature approved reforms. Florida did the same and has yet to stand down a contingent of 300 National Guardsmen in its state prisons.

Last December, the nonpartisan Prison Policy Initiative, which researches the impact of incarceration, described nightmarish living conditions in the nations prisons that result from understaffed facilities.

When there are fewer workers than necessary to operate facilities as planned, correctional authorities cut back on the things staff are needed to manage, and conditions get worse: people are stuck in lockdown conditions, theyre transferred around, housing units are consolidated, access to services and programming is limited, and fights break out. Prison staff safety also can be put in jeopardy, the report says.

The Virginia Department of Corrections declined a request to make high-level administrators available for an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Spokesman Kyle Gibson said corrections systems across the country are facing staffing challenges.

Despite these challenges, Virginia still operates perhaps the safest corrections system in the United States, Gibson said. The safety of the VADOCs corrections team members, inmates, and CCAP probationers remains our agencys top priority.

The consultant report echoed Gibsons claim that the prison system has maintained safety standards against the odds.

While dangerously short-staffed in some locations, the VADOC staff and leadership have done an excellent job in maintaining safety and security, the report reads.

A spokesman for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Christian Martinez, reiterated that the prison system remains safe in spite of industry headwinds.

As cited in the report, Gov. Youngkin has appointed leadership at the Virginia Department of Corrections that has maintained safe and secure facilities while actively addressing staffing challenges faced by correctional systems not only in Virginia but across the United States, Martinez said.

Martinez praised the agency for effectively allocating resources as well as for aggressive recruitment and retention efforts.

In September 2023, Youngkin shepherded change at the Department of Corrections, exiting longtime prisons director Harold Clarke shortly after two prison guards fell asleep on duty and allowed an inmate to escape prison custody while being treated at a hospital in Henrico County.

In Clarkes place, Youngkin appointed Chadwick Dotson, a retired Wise County judge whom Youngkin had previously trusted to rehabilitate the public image of the Virginia Parole Board.

Dotson expeditiously announced the closure of four state prisons, citing safety concerns and staffing shortages. Dotson ended Virginias contract with a private prison company, the GEO Group, bringing Lawrenceville Correctional Center back under state control. Virginias primary union for correctional officers said it was hopeful that Dotson would bring a different set of ears.

So, too, did Reynolds, the nurse supervisor at Nottoway. Reynolds said he eventually began to bypass his immediate superiors and directly email Dotson. He didnt hear back.

I tried to inform him that were on the brink of collapse, Reynolds said. It just makes you hopeless. Its hopeless there.
Target (NYSE:TGT  Free Report) had its price target raised by Sanford C. Bernstein from $139.00 to $142.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the retailers stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Target from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Target from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Target from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Target from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $157.70.

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Read Our Latest Research Report on TGT

Target Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $140.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.16. Target has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The firms 50-day moving average is $134.17 and its 200 day moving average is $144.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Target will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Targets dividend payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

Institutional Trading of Target

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cynosure Group LLC grew its position in Target by 4.3% during the third quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the retailers stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its position in Target by 1.2% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 5,736 shares of the retailers stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its position in Target by 3.3% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,156 shares of the retailers stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in Target by 0.4% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 15,678 shares of the retailers stock valued at $2,444,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Target by 1.1% during the third quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,818 shares of the retailers stock valued at $1,063,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the companys stock.

Target Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers apparel for women, men, boys, girls, toddlers, and infants and newborns, as well as jewelry, accessories, and shoes; and beauty and personal care, baby gear, cleaning, paper products, and pet supplies.

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Telecom Italia S.p.A. (OTCMKTS:TIIAY  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 33,200 shares, a growth of 140.6% from the December 31st total of 13,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 26,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Telecom Italia Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:TIIAY traded up $0.02 on Thursday, reaching $2.75. The companys stock had a trading volume of 21,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,181. Telecom Italia has a 52-week low of $2.19 and a 52-week high of $3.09. The stocks 50-day moving average is $2.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.53.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays raised Telecom Italia from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

About Telecom Italia

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Telecom Italia S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Italy and internationally. The company operates through Domestic, Brazil, and Other Operations segments. It offers fixed and mobile voice and Internet, and public telephony services, as well as products managed and developed for individuals and families; and voice, data, and Internet services and products, and information and communications technology solutions for top, public sector and large account customers.

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Stryker Corporation revealed that Glenn S. Boehnlein, the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will retire from his role effective April 1, 2025. Concurrently, Preston W. Wells, the current Vice President, Group Chief Financial Officer for Orthopaedics, has been promoted to assume the position of Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of the company as of the aforementioned date.

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The company confirmed that there are no predefined arrangements or agreements between Mr. Wells and any third party influencing his selection as an officer. Furthermore, Mr. Wells has no familial relationships with any company directors or executive officers. The transition to Mr. Wellss new role is part of a strategic move following Mr. Boehnleins decision to retire.

Mr. Wells, a seasoned professional with a strong financial background, has held various financial roles within the company since joining in July 2022. Before his current role, he served in significant positions, including leading Investor Relations, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Finance functions at other companies such as Dialight Corporation and Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Wells brings 17 years of financial and accounting expertise, having graduated with a bachelors degree in accounting from Bucknell University and an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Lehigh University.

Regarding the transition process, Mr. Boehnlein has entered a Transition Agreement with Stryker Corporation. This agreement outlines his continued employment as an Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer during the Advisory Period, which lasts until March 31, 2026. During this time, he will receive his current annual salary and will remain eligible for specified bonuses in line with company guidelines. Mr. Boehnleins outstanding equity awards will adhere to the terms of the existing agreements, with no new equity awards granted during the advisory period.

In Mr. Wells case, a Letter Agreement has been established, detailing his new compensation framework. Effective April 1, 2025, Mr. Wellss base salary will increase to $725,000 annually, and his bonus target will be set at 85% of his base salary, prorated for 2025. Additionally, recommendations will be made to the Compensation and Human Capital Committee for long-term incentive plan awards, with an approximate target value of $3,000,000, comprised of stock options and performance stock units.

Stryker Corporation also disclosed the issuing of a press release on January 28, 2025, regarding these executive changes, which can be found as Exhibit 99.1 in the filed Form 8-K. This information, along with all pertinent agreements and details, are available for review in the official SEC filing.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read Strykers 8K filing here.

Stryker Company Profile

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Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries.

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Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO  Free Report) had its target price cut by Telsey Advisory Group from $50.00 to $40.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the stock.

VSCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group upgraded Victorias Secret & Co. from a sell rating to a neutral rating and lifted their target price for the company from $18.00 to $47.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Victorias Secret & Co. from $33.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an equal weight rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Victorias Secret & Co. from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.36.

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Victorias Secret & Co. Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of VSCO stock opened at $36.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.54. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 2.14. Victorias Secret & Co. has a 1-year low of $15.12 and a 1-year high of $48.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.12. Victorias Secret & Co. had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 44.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.86) EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Victorias Secret & Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Victorias Secret & Co.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSCO. FMR LLC boosted its position in Victorias Secret & Co. by 146.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,757,032 shares of the companys stock worth $70,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636,602 shares during the last quarter. Forest Avenue Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. during the 3rd quarter worth $40,861,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. by 172.0% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 503,003 shares of the companys stock worth $12,927,000 after purchasing an additional 318,099 shares during the last quarter. Castellan Group purchased a new stake in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in the third quarter valued at $6,218,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Victorias Secret & Co. during the third quarter worth about $4,397,000. 90.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Victorias Secret & Co.

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Victorias Secret & Co operates as a lingerie, clothing and beauty retailer. It offers bras, panties, lingerie, pajamas, sleep, sport and swim apparel, and beauty products. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Reynoldsburg, OH.

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Tenaga Nasional Berhad (OTCMKTS:TNABY  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 500 shares, a growth of 150.0% from the December 31st total of 200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad Trading Up 1.7 %

Tenaga Nasional Berhad stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $14.75. The companys stock had a trading volume of 473 shares, compared to its average volume of 495. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $12.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.00. Tenaga Nasional Berhad has a 52-week low of $8.52 and a 52-week high of $15.24.

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About Tenaga Nasional Berhad

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Tenaga Nasional Berhad engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity in Malaysia and internationally. The company operates and maintains thermal generation facilities and hydroelectric power generating schemes; and manages and operates the National Grid that is connected to Thailand's transmission system, as well as Singapore's transmission system at Senoko.

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The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI  Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $403.00 to $379.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an overweight rating on the health services providers stock. Morgan Stanleys price objective would suggest a potential upside of 34.20% from the companys previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on CI. StockNews.com downgraded shares of The Cigna Group from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of The Cigna Group from $398.00 to $394.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $394.00 target price (up previously from $392.00) on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of The Cigna Group from $420.00 to $390.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $389.21.

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The Cigna Group Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE CI opened at $282.42 on Friday. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $295.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.69. The stock has a market cap of $78.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.54. The Cigna Group has a 52 week low of $262.03 and a 52 week high of $370.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The health services provider reported $6.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.84 by ($1.20). The Cigna Group had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 18.42%. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Cigna Group will post 28.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Cigna Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in The Cigna Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $523,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 1.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 63,156 shares of the health services providers stock worth $20,878,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in The Cigna Group by 154.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in The Cigna Group by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the health services providers stock worth $1,576,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of The Cigna Group by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 73,600 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $25,511,000 after buying an additional 11,550 shares during the last quarter. 86.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

The Cigna Group Company Profile

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The Cigna Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and related products and services in the United States. Its Evernorth Health Services segment provides a range of coordinated and point solution health services, including pharmacy benefits, home delivery pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, distribution, and care delivery and management solutions to health plans, employers, government organizations, and health care providers.

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Keudell Morrison Wealth Management decreased its stake in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:VWO  Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,183 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 325 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Managements holdings in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF were worth $889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VWO. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 2.6% in the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 31,623,839 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,513,201,000 after acquiring an additional 793,333 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 1.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,464,403 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $692,122,000 after purchasing an additional 190,971 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,168,112 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $677,944,000 after buying an additional 556,913 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,270,433 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $587,140,000 after buying an additional 434,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 6,571,767 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $314,459,000 after buying an additional 227,048 shares in the last quarter.

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Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Price Performance

NYSEARCA:VWO opened at $44.82 on Friday. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has a 1-year low of $39.43 and a 1-year high of $49.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.28. The stock has a market cap of $81.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.80.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Profile

The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index, that measures the return of stocks issued by companies located in emerging market countries.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VWO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:VWO  Free Report).

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Webster Financial Co. (NYSE:WBS  Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th.

Webster Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 23.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Webster Financial to earn $6.61 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.2%.

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Webster Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:WBS opened at $60.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.30. Webster Financial has a 1-year low of $39.33 and a 1-year high of $63.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Webster Financial ( NYSE:WBS Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. Webster Financial had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $661.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $687.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Webster Financial will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

In other news, Director Lauren States sold 1,650 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.60, for a total transaction of $99,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,023 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $910,393.80. This represents a 9.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Javier L. Evans sold 10,137 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $581,965.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,300,738.37. This trade represents a 30.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,287 shares of company stock worth $1,485,050 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WBS shares. Wedbush boosted their price target on Webster Financial from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Webster Financial from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Webster Financial from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens set a $58.00 price target on Webster Financial in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Webster Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a buy rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $62.08.

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About Webster Financial

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Webster Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Webster Bank, National Association that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, HSA Bank, and Consumer Banking.

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Winland Holdings Co. (OTCMKTS:WELX  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 400 shares, a decrease of 63.6% from the December 31st total of 1,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Winland Stock Up 2.2 %

WELX opened at $5.01 on Friday. Winland has a 52 week low of $3.11 and a 52 week high of $5.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.85. The company has a market capitalization of $24.60 million, a PE ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 1.12.

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About Winland

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Winland Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides critical condition monitoring devices to the security industry. Its products are used to protect against loss of assets due to damage from water, excess humidity, extremes of temperature, and loss of power. The company offers EnviroAlert, which monitors temperature, humidity, and/or water presence in critical environments; TempAlert, a temperature monitoring device for residential and commercial environments through security systems; WaterBug, a water presence and leak detection system; and Power-Out Alert, a power outage detector.

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Daily Horoscope Today, January 31, 2025: Career, Business, and Financial Guidance for Every Star Sign

Samir Jain is a Jaipur-based astrologer who has over 28 years of experience in the field of Astrology, Numerology, Palmistry and Vastu Shastra. He is also an expert in Jain Temple Vastu and Jain Jyotish. For more details, visit planetsastro.com, call/WhatsApp +91 8696930617 or email jainksamir@gmail.com.

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Rakhi Sawant left in tears after Dodi Khan refuses to marry her, latter says, 'I will make you get married to one of my brothers'

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Shweta Rohira, Pulkit Samrat's ex-wife meets with a terrifying accident, reveals she has multiple fractures and injuries

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Ransomware incident at Tata Tech led to temporary suspension of IT services

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Adrija Chatterjee is an Assistant Editor at Moneycontrol. She has been tracking and reporting on finance and trade ministries for over eight years.

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India's share of global IPO market rises to 30% in 2024 from 17% in 2023: Economic Survey 2025

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Insider trading in Infosys leads to ban on two, Rs 2.6 crore of illegal gains impounded

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Mexican nationals, likely cartel members, recently crossed the border and shot and wounded an American hiker. Did they assume that Joe Biden was still president, and so it was still a veritable open season on Americans without consequences?

Mexico also recently balked at allowing a U.S. transport plane to land, returning its own nationals apprehended as illegal aliens.

Was its attitude that Alejandro Mayorkas was still Homeland Security Secretary and thus working with Mexico to ensure that millions of illegal aliens could stay in the U.S. indefinitely?

After four years of Bidens appeasement, Mexico seems to assume that it has a sovereign right to encourage the flight of millions of its own impoverished citizens illegally into the U.S. and further assumes that it can fast-track millions of Latin Americans through its territory and across our border.

Mexico either cannot or will not address the billions of dollars of raw fentanyl products shipped in  mostly from China  and then processed for export to the U.S. by its cartels across a nonexistent border.

Mexico seems to have little concern that some 75,000 Americans on average die from mostly Mexican-imported fentanyl each year  more deaths in just the last decade than all the Americans killed in action during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. Who then is our friend, and who is our enemy?

This appalling death toll is in part due to the deliberate efforts of the cartels to mask fentanyl as less deadly narcotics or camouflage the poison by lacing it into counterfeit prescription drugs.

Mexico encourages its expatriate illegal aliens to send back some $63 billion per year in remittances. That huge sum constitutes one of Mexicos largest sources of foreign exchange, surpassing even its tourist and oil revenues.

These billions are often subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. Americas local, state, and federal governments provide billions of dollars in food, housing, and health care entitlements that allow Mexicos citizens, illegally residing inside the U.S., to free up the cash to be sent home.

According to U.S. census data, almost every year, the trade deficit with Mexico has increased from about $50 billion twenty years ago to $160 billion today.

That astronomical figure neither includes the $63 billion American outflow in remittances nor the multi-billion income from the cartels illicit drug sales in the U.S.

Although one would never know it from the rhetoric of Mexican politicians, the entire Mexican economy, both legal and illicit, hinges on America accepting a worsening asymmetrical relationship.

Yet the U.S. has a lot of leverage with Mexico to ensure that it no longer assumes a permanent huge trade surplus with the U.S., turns a blind eye to massive fentanyl shipments that kill thousands of Americans, encourages its own citizens to enter their neighbors country illegally, and counts on massive cash remittances from the U.S.

Loud rhetoric, threats, and ultimatums do not work.

Usually, they earn Mexicos furious retorts about Yanqui imperialism and ancient bitterness about a lost Aztlan.

Former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador used to brag about the millions of illegal aliens that were residing in the U.S. He further advised expatriate Mexican-Americans not to vote for Republicans, whom he felt one day might close the border.

Obrador rarely reflected on why millions of his own citizens were fleeing his own country  only that it was a "beautiful" thing that they did.

Did Obrador hate President Donald Trump more for challenging him by trying to stop the illegal influx or former President Joe Biden for embarrassing him by welcoming millions of them into the U.S.?

So, what should be the U.S. response to Mexicos passive-aggressive policies?

Smile, praise Mexico as our greatest trading partner, and then quietly inform them that illegal aliens will be bussed to the border.

Once there, they could be given a generous care package, escorted through a border door, and left on the Mexican side from which they entered and thus could then be escorted in caravans home in the same manner that they arrived.

To maintain cordial relations and politely gain Mexicos attention, we need a radical change in tone and action beyond just ending catch-and-release, finishing the wall, and making refugee status requests possible only in the home country of the applicant.

Rather than worry about who is sending remittances, why not politely place a 20 percent tax (about $12 billion) on all cash sent from the U.S. to Mexico?

We could also hail our mutual friendship and then reluctantly slap tariffs on imported assembled goods until the two-way trade is roughly balanced.

Who knows, once the U.S. is respected again and not considered an easy mark, Mexico could once again become a fine and reciprocal friend to the United States.

( Hanson's latest book is "The Dying Citizen" from Basic Books. Buy it in hardcover at a 58% discount! by clicking here or order in KINDLE edition at a 41% discount by clicking here. Sales help fund JWR.)

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, a professor of classics emeritus at California State University at Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services.
The Texas Department of Transportation is planning several closures on Loop 1604 this weekend on San Antonio's Northwest Side. Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News

Drivers on the Northwest Side should expect heavier-than-usual traffic tonight as the Texas Department of Transportation plans to close a stretch of Loop 1604 near the University of Texas at San Antonio.

ALSO READ: City Council says yes to bike plan that could cost billions

TxDOT will close Loop 1604's eastbound lanes between the exit ramp for Hausman Road and the entrance ramp for Kyle Seale Parkway between 9 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday, according to a news release from the agency.

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The state transportation agency will also make the following closures on Loop 1604 this weekend, between 7 a.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. Monday:

The exit ramp from Loop 1604 eastbound to Hausman Road.

The entrance ramp to Loop 1604 eastbound after Bandera Road.

The right lane of Loop 1604 eastbound between the exit ramp to Hausman Road and the exit ramp of Kyle Seale Parkway.

The left lane of the Loop 1604 eastbound frontage road between the exit ramp to Hausman Road and the exit ramp to Kyle Seale Parkway.

The work is part of TxDOTs $1.4 billion Loop 1604 North Expansion Project overhauling the stretch of Loop 1604 between Bandera Road and Interstate 35.

Also this weekend, TxDOT will close some of the frontage roads and exit ramps at the crossing of Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, between 9 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday:

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Stocks to Watch Today: Larsen and Toubro, Wipro, PB Fintech, Biocon, IRCON, Kalyan Jewellers, Shree Cement, Tata Consumer in focus on 31 January

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Unifi MF files for its first fund with SEBI, a dynamic asset allocation fund

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After Maha Kumbh stampede, over 2 lakh vehicles stopped outside Prayagraj to prevent congestion

Swarali Bodas

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Softer US inflation, upbeat global cues amp up Sensex, Nifty to eke out gains

On Yamuna water row, Shiv Sena-UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi says, "Kejriwal ji has been in power for two terms. We are hoping that in the coming times, whatever the promises that have been made to the people of Delhi, the person capable of fulfilling these promises is Arvind Kejriwal ji. As far as cleaning of Yamuna and air quality is concerned, I am certain that Mr Kejriwal will be able to address these issues..."

BJP candidate from Rajouri Garden Assembly Constituency, Manjinder Singh Sirsa says, "This time BJP will win the elections with a huge margin...We will get seats between 52-56...We are meeting with the people of Delhi, they are giving positive responses...AAP has done nothing for the people of Delhi...After February 8, Arvind Kejriwal will become ex-MLA..."

"Dilwalon ki Delhi ne than liya hai, AAPda walon ko bhagana hai, iss baar bhari bahumat se BJP sarkar banana hai'. Whenever I visit Dwarka, it is only natural for me to remember the holy city of Dwarka. I had the opportunity to serve in Dwarka, Gujarat, and here in Delhi, I have had the chance to serve Dwarka as well. The BJP wants to make Delhi as modern as possible, and a glimpse of that vision is visible here in Dwarka. The central government has built the grand Yasho Bhoomi here, which has provided employment opportunities to thousands of youth in Dwarka, Delhi..." says PM Modi.

PM Modi addressed the nation ahead of the budget session on Friday.

Meanwhile, a political battle is unfolding over the investigation into Punjab CM Bhagwant Manns residence, with the AAP and BJP clashing over the Election Commission's actions. The Commission clarified that no raid was ordered, and it was a routine investigation following a complaint. Regarding Kejriwals allegations of poison in the Yamuna, poll panel has demanded a response by 11 am.

In the lead-up to the Delhi Assembly elections for February 5, all major parties are intensifying their campaigns. Prime Minister Modi will hold a rally in Dwarka on Friday. According to reports, the BJP will hold 33 public meetings across the national capital.

Priyanjali Ghose

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Economic Survey: Only 37% of urban residents in India have access to mass transit, compared to 50% in Brazil and China

Christin Mathew Philip

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Parimal Peeyush

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Chhabi Kala

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Govt's third term witnessing work at thrice the speed of previous dispensations: Prez Murmu

Arishaa Izaj

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Smriti Mishra

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Manisha Lal Khandpur

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'Maybe some things will be out of syllabus': Jaishankar on Trump's policies

Priyanjali Ghose

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January 31, 2025 / 21:37 IST

As the Maldives faces a looming economic crisis, India on Friday said it is in close touch with the island nation regarding the situation.

The economy of the Maldives is reeling under increasing pressure, largely because of debt distress.

"We remain in close touch with Maldivian authorities on the situation facing them," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Lekha Chakraborty is Professor, NIPFP & Member, Board of Management, International Institute of Public Finance, Munich. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.

Namrata Agarwal

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In this editing of Moneycontrol Pro Panorama: Indian banks gearing for change in new year, how the trading cycle will fare in 2024...

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Shishir Tripathi is a journalist and researcher based in Delhi. He has worked with The Indian Express, Firstpost, Governance Now, and Indic Collective. He writes on Law, Governance and Politics. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.

Namrata Agarwal

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Arun Anand has authored two books on the RSS. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.

Namrata Agarwal

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From avocados to autos, Trump tariffs on Canada and Mexico could hit close to home

Sonalee Borgohain

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Rohit Singh

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US court says banning gun sales to young adults under 21 unconstitutional

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Invite your friends and family to sign up for MC Tech 3, our daily newsletter that breaks down the biggest tech and startup stories of the day

Ankita Chakravarti

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GCCs in India will have more global roles, rising past 30,000 by 2030, projects Eco Survey

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Debangana Ghosh

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Quess Corp enters GCC space with new centre for US healthcare wearables firm

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Reshab Shaw

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Reshab Shaw

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Castles, conquests and royalty will reign over the Michigan Technological University campus as students invite fellow Huskies and visitors to take in "Dragons, Knights, and Legendary Sights" during Winter Carnival 2025.

Campus and community will gather Feb. 5-8 for Michigan Tech's annual Winter Carnival, now in its second century. In addition to the event's renowned snow statues and other traditional events, a laser show befitting this year's medieval theme is among the spectacles to look forward to.

The laser show will be projected onto the exterior of the Walker Arts and Humanities Center, located near the Michigan Tech broomball rinks. It will take place directly after the Alumni All Stars Broomball Game on Wednesday, Feb. 5., with a tentative 11:15 p.m. start time.

Winter Carnival Schedule In addition to month-long and one-night snow statue construction, students compete throughout Winter Carnival in contests that would do King Arthur's knights proud. From human ice bowling and tug-of-war to the Stage Revue, keep up with all the events on the Michigan Tech Winter Carnival website.

That's far from late for the Winter Carnival All-Nighter, where statue builders will continue on through the evening. After the laser show, the campus dance party will just be getting started with the help of giant snow speakers, which have become nearly as iconic as the snow statues themselves.

No matter what the weather brings, the campus vibe will be warm and bright thanks to the fire cages interspersed across campus. Commissioned by Blue Key National Honor Society, the organizers of Winter Carnival, they were made by Tech's mechanical engineering technology Senior Design team. Firewood will be supplied by the Forestry Club of Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science.

The All-Nighter begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday and continues into the early hours of Thursday. During the night, more than 70 snow statues built on and around campus will either receive their finishing touches in the month-long category or be built from scratch in the all-night category, with judging set to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

Blue Key member Brynn Santi '26, who leads the Winter Carnival statue committee, said the biggest challenge, as always, is adjusting to the mercurial whims of Mother Nature.

"The hardest part of building snow statues is the weather and if it will cooperate with us or not," said Santi, noting that from Thursday, Jan. 16, through Wednesday, Jan. 22, organizations in the month-long category couldn't work on their statues. "First it was too warm to build and then temperatures plummeted, making it too cold to build," she said.

This year I have not had to worry about getting enough snow. We definitely have more than enough. We just need it to stay a little warmer so people can be out building in safe temperatures. Brynn Santi '26 Winter Carnival snow statue committee chair

Statue construction is governed by rules to ensure both safety and fairness. In addition to watching the thermometer, statue committee members keep an eye on sites throughout the building process to ensure precautionary safety measures are taken  like students wearing hard hats when working with scaffolding.

Campus and community members serving as snow statue judges also follow a strict set of criteria.

"Some things the judges look for that are important are that no machinery is being used for the construction of these beautiful statues and that a boundary to the statue is present at the time of judging," said Santi. Judges also consider the statue's proportions, the whiteness of the snow used, the statue's intricacy, how fitting the caption is for the entry, the entry's originality and how well it fits the Winter Carnival theme.

Slushing and Mushing into Winter Carnival 2025

For some Huskies, this will be their first go at building a snow statue. Santi has advice.

"Go into building with a plan  and plan to use more snow than you need, so if you make a mistake when sculpting you can fix it easily and not have to restart," she said. "If you're using water, wear waterproof clothing and wait for your statue to freeze fully before you try to sculpt it."

Her top tip: "Have fun with it, even though things probably will not go as you planned," said Santi. "The most important part of Winter Carnival is that everyone has a good time! If you have questions or concerns, Blue Key members will be making rounds all night and will do their best to help you."

Santi said statues are her favorite part of Winter Carnival because they make Michigan Tech and its Blue Key chapter unique.

"I was just at a national Blue Key conference in Arizona and was approached by someone from another chapter asking about our statues because they had seen them on their TikTok page," she said. "The statues are just so fun to build and work together on while taking a break from school! We enjoy all the snow we get in an interesting way that no other campus does."

Brynn Santi gives a dog sled ride at Michigan Tech Winter Carnival. (Image courtesy Michigan Tech Mushing Club)

If statues are her favorite thing about Winter Carnival, mushing surely comes in second. Santi, a third-year human biology major minoring in pre-health and public health, is vice president of the Michigan Tech Mushing Club. The club partners with Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and Wilderness Adventures owner Tom Bauer. Through its treasured relationship with the center, all Huskies are welcome to participate in real-life learning about how to care for sled dogs. There are also opportunities to train for and participate in races.

As they have for Carnivals past, the Mushing Club and Otter River are partnering to offer free sled dog rides from 2-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday during Winter Carnival. The event takes place in front of Douglass Houghton Hall on the east side of campus.

The first-of-its-kind mushing club, which formed in 2018, is excited to experience another first this year: participating in the All-Nighter statue competition. Although she will be busy with her Blue Key duties and unable to join the build, it's still a full-circle moment for Santi. Mushing Club is the reason she joined Blue Key.

"My first year with the club, we offered sled dog rides at Carnival and really enjoyed it. But we wanted to make some changes to the track, and I thought, 'What better way to improve things than to join the organization that puts it on?' I also wanted to be a part of an organization that puts on such a big event for the community and for campus," said Santi. She feels good about improvements she's helped institute through her own knowledge and after listening to feedback from fellow students.

Santi, who came to Tech for the "smaller campus feeling and the ability to know my professors one-to-one," said the University experience has lived up to her expectations. "Knowing my professors has helped me in many situations  they are happy to work with you if you have any issues. The campus itself is beautiful, and I love winter so this was the perfect option," she said.

Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
The Winter Weather Advisory, issued for the western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada, will continue until 4 AM Sunday. The Winter Storm Warning issued for Yosemite National Park, above the Valley floor, will also continue until 4 AM Sunday.

According to the National Weather Service, heavy snow remains in the forecast for elevations above 6,500 feet.

The heaviest snow is expected early this morning (Saturday).

Additional snow accumulations above the 7,000 foot elevation, will range from four inches to two feet.

Winds will continue to gust from forty-five to sixty mph, over the highest peaks. Strong, gusty winds could bring down tree branches and cause tree damage.

Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. Plan on slippery travel conditions with mountain travel delays and chain controls. Travel could be very difficult to impossible. If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.

Persons should delay all travel if possible. If travel is absolutely necessary, drive with extreme caution and be prepared for sudden changes in visibility. Leave plenty of room between you and the motorist ahead of you, and allow extra time to reach your destination. Avoid sudden braking or acceleration, and be especially cautious on hills or when making turns. Make sure your car is winterized and in good working order.

Additionally, a Flood Watch remains in effect for the Yosemite Valley, as well as the lower Sierra Nevada and foothills of Mariposa County, until late tonight (Saturday). A Flood Watch is also in effect for the western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada, the Mother Lode and the northern San Joaquin Valley, until Sunday evening.

Periods of moderate to excessive, heavy rainfall is expected over the next two days, with totals ranging from one to three inches in the Central Valley, three to eight inches in the Mother Lode and five to ten inches in the Sierra Nevada below 6,500 feet. The potential for flooding caused by such excessive rainfall, is possible.

The heaviest rain is expected through this afternoon (Saturday).

Excessive runoff will result in sharp rises on rivers, creeks, and streams. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. it could also result in the flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and low water crossings and other flood-prone locations. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. There is the potential for mud and rock slides in the foothills.

You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible Flood Warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.

Colder storms with lower snow levels and heavier snow amounts are expected next week.
Bulawayo is reeling from a horrific incident in which a 34-year-old woman, Happiness Chimbangu, allegedly murdered her husband, Edwin Chimbangu (35), and their two young children, four-year-old Promise and a seven-month-old baby, at their Cowdray Park home.

The brutal attack, confirmed by Bulawayo deputy police provincial spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele, unfolded on Thursday, 30th January 2025.

The chilling details paint a picture of escalating despair leading to unspeakable violence. Earlier that day, around 8am, Happiness visited her mother, expressing her distress over the familys dire financial situation. She complained that her husband was not providing adequately for their needs, claiming they were living in abject poverty. This initial complaint, however, offered no foreshadowing of the horrific events to come.

Later, around 3pm, Happiness returned to her mothers home, visibly more agitated. This time, her words were even more alarming. She instructed her mother to take care of her children as she was going to kill herself. This desperate plea for help, however, was tragically misinterpreted as a simple expression of suicidal ideation.

The situation took a more sinister turn later that night. Around 1am, Edwin contacted Happinesss mother, urging her to come to their home. He explained that Happiness was talking about suicide and needed help. The mother, accompanied by two church members, went to the house and engaged in counselling with Happiness, who admitted suicidal thoughts. They left, believing the immediate crisis had passed, at around 1am.

Tragically, this brief respite proved to be short-lived. Just two hours later, at approximately 2am, a chilling phone call shattered the fragile calm. A neighbour, also a church member, contacted Happinesss mother, revealing the horrifying truth: Happiness had killed her family.

Upon arriving at the scene, police discovered the bodies of Edwin and his two children. Edwin lay on the bed, bearing a deep cut to his right ear, neck, right cheek, and near his right eye. Four-year-old Promise was found lying on a mattress nearby, with a deep cut on her back shoulder and several cuts on the right side of her head. The infant also lay on the bed with her father, suffering a deep cut to the right side of her head and right cheek. All three were deceased.

A metal digger, believed to be the murder weapon, was found near the door, stained with blood. Happinesss blue dress also bore bloodstains, providing further evidence of her alleged involvement in the horrific crime.

The bodies were taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) for post-mortem examinations. The investigation is ongoing, and Happiness Chimbangu is currently in police custody, facing charges of murder.

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Controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo has vehemently denied allegations that he requested Ecobank to increase the monthly withdrawal limits on two of his company accounts to a staggering US$20 million.

The denial follows the circulation of purported letters on social media, suggesting Chivayo sought the limit increase after securing two lucrative government contracts totalling US$220 million. Chivayos response, a strongly worded statement, is laden with accusations of his own, targeting opposition figures and casting doubt on the authenticity of the documents.

Chivayos full statement reads:

DESPERATE AND SHAMEFULMy attention has been drawn to some appalling and amateurishly FORGED letters circulating on social media, FALSELY alleging that I requested increases in the maximum monthly withdrawal limits for accounts PURPORTEDLY held at EcoBank under the names of IMC Communications and Eden Breeze (Pty) Ltd.

I CATEGORICALLY DENY these false allegations and UNEQUIVOCALLY state that I have never signed, authored or authorized any such letters or requests. These documents are BLATANT FORGERIES, designed to maliciously tarnish my personal image and business reputation as well as mislead the public.

It is clear that this SMEAR CAMPAIGN is the well-orchestrated work of individuals driven by BITTERNESS and ulterior motives to suit a particular POLITICAL narrative. Among the perpetrators are certain known and warring OPPOSITION political figures who remain consumed by frustration and envy, as they have DISMALLY FAILED to achieve what I have accomplished through my regional business engagements and philanthropic efforts in my PERSONAL capacity.

It is a well-known fact that neither the opposition party PRESIDENT nor its entire leadership has ever had the privilege of being hosted by any Head of State. This glaring inadequacy is evidently the root of their bitterness and desperation to malign my name, following my recent meetings with foreign Heads of State this past week aloneMAKA TANGIRWA NE DARE !!!

I have received CREDIBLE reports that one useless female Advocate, who was rejected by her own fractured opposition political party and DESPERATE to regain relevance, allegedly misused her privileged access to court records. She is said to have UNLAWFULLY scanned my authentic signature from previously signed affidavits and FRAUDULENTLY replicated it on the fabricated letters circulating on various social media platforms. T

his brazen act of forgery, combined with the malicious dissemination of these documents, is not only professionally UNETHICAL but also a serious CRIMINAL offense. I totally REJECT and DISMISS these forgeries with the utmost CONTEMPT they deserve and reserve the right to take decisive LEGAL ACTION against all those involved in this tomfoolery! This is just but a campaign of DEFAMATION, well-calculated to fabricate controversy around my good name and standing.

As much as I can agree that I am a HARDWORKING and SUCCESSFUL businessman, the EXAGGERATED figures mentioned in the fabricated letters are WAY BEYOND my pay grade.

One wonders why any normal person would require such huge amounts of cash in a world where PLASTIC MONEY and WIRE REMITTANCE are the standard. This can however only be explained by the hatred which emanates from the choices I made when I exercised my CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to support a political party and PRESIDENT of my choice.

I will always support PRESIDENT E.D. MNANGAGWA and ZANU PFs vision and NO INDIVIDUAL from any planet, no matter how BIG or SMALL, can instill any fear in me to decide otherwise. I will neither be MOVED by nor SHAKEN by any veiled threats from FAILED opposition POLITICIANS.

We can never all be EQUAL, especially when you do not put in the effort to WORK HARD, if you are not BRAVE enough to knock on high-doors, or INNOVATIVE enough to create business opportunities that DEVELOP our beloved nation of ZIMBABWE. I can SURVIVE in any environment. In fact, I made my first ONE MILLION RAND when I was 19 and my first ONE MILLION USD when I was 23. When I continously and confidently speak boldly about becoming a BILLIONAIRE by 50, do you honestly think I sell TOMATOES at a market or supply GROCERIES to tuck shops ? I am not a LAWYER who gets paid USD 1,000 to spend THREE CONSECUTIVE WORKING DAYS arguing and fighting on behalf of a client

Let it be known now and forever that ALL contracts which my companies have executed or will execute in KENYA, SOUTH AFRICA, TANZANIA, UGANDA, or ZIMBABWE are awarded SOLELY based on COMPETENCE, PROFESSIONALISM and adherence to CORRECT and IMPECCABLE procurement procedures. The BEHEMOTHS I associate my good name with ensure that only the HIGHEST STANDARDS are maintained.

Despite these MALICIOUS efforts to taint me as a corrupt person, I remain UNWAVERING in my FAITH, VISION and the undeterred EXPANSION of my BUSINESS EMPIRE. My PHILANTHROPIC WORK, regional partnerships and unwavering AFFILIATION to the ruling party, ZANU PF, will forever remain grounded in PRINCIPLES that cannot be shaken by SHAMELESS propaganda or fabricated allegationsZVANGU NDEZVE DENGA !!!

To those behind these COWARDLY forgeries and cyber-attacks, no amount of ENVY, PROPAGANDA or BITTERNESS will diminish or tarnish my GRACE. I will CONTINUE to work tirelessly for the development of RENEWABLE ENERGY in AFRICA and NEVER stop my PHILANTHROPIC WORK to support the UNDERPRIVILEGED or giving due recognition to those who DESERVE it. You will NEVER bring me down through DISHONEST or MALICIOUS means

While Chivayo explicitly names opposition politicians as the perpetrators, his statement arrives in the wake of criticism from Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and war veterans, who have warned against zvigananda  corrupt individuals profiting from ill-gotten wealth.

This raises questions about the true target of Chivayos ire: is he responding to the oppositions dissemination of the letters, or to Chiwengas initial attack, or both? On the surface, his statement focuses on the opposition, particularly mentioning opposition activist and lawyer Fadzai Mahere, who initially shared the letters online. However, the timing and context suggest a broader response to the recent wave of criticism.

Some banking sources, however, dispute Chivayos claims, asserting that the letters are genuine and challenging Ecobank to provide clarity on the matter.

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Swiss court to rule on landmark Trafigura corruption case Reuters

Hedge fund Elliott warns White House is inflating crypto bubble that could wreak havoc FT

Tennessee GOP passes immigration law to criminalize elected officials votes The Tennessean

DC Airport Collision

Climate

Water

Ogallala Aquifer drops by more than a foot in parts of western Kansas KSN

Syndemics

China?

Myanmar

India

Africa

Syraqistan

Challenging misconceptions that hinder Muslim response to child abuse Al Jazeera

New Not-So-Cold War

Trump Administration

Spook Country

Digital Watch

DARPA To Launch Pre-Crime AML Program The Rage. AML = Anti-Money Laundering

Drones

NJ residents in disbelief over White House answer on drones The Hill

The Final Frontier

Researchers confirm the existence of an exoplanet in the habitable zone (press release) Oxford University

Greenland

Imperial Collapse Watch

Class Warfare

The Case for Kicking the Stone Los Angeles Review of Books

Antidote du jour. Via Innocent Massawe:

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
The Zelensky governments state in a smartphone model of digital identity and governance, once a source of pride and inspiration for other countries, has become a source of derision.

Regular NC readers are by now no strangers to Ukraines state-of-the-art Diia (Ukrainian for action) digital governance and identity system. For those who are, a quick recap: In December 2022, we reported that Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky government was trying to digitise just about everything it could, including most government services and bureaucracy, even against a backdrop of war, rolling blackouts and internet outages:

Ukraine may be suffering a rising wave of rolling power blackouts and internet outages as the proxy war between Russia and NATO intensifies, but that doesnt seem to have crimped the Zelensky governments ambitions to transform the country into a digital wonderland. In the past week alone, Ukraines central bank unveiled plans for a digital E-hryvnia and Kyiv signed a digital trade agreement (yep, they do exist) with the United Kingdom.

USAID Funding

In January 2023, Samantha Power, speaking at Davos, the then administrator of Washingtons soft power arm, USAID, heralded Diia as a great anti-corruption tool and unveiled US government plans to replicate the success of Ukraines e-governance app in other countries around the world  including, presumably, the United States itself. As the promotional video below shows, Diia was developed with support from USAID.

We called this out back in early 2022 alongside @SikhForTruth @TruthTalkMedia regarding the Digital Transformation of #Ukraine & its Dia platform being heralded as a template for other nations. pic.twitter.com/S8BtGCcIyT  STOPCOMMONPASS  (@org_scp) January 20, 2023

Ukraines digitisation of government services predated the conflict with Russia, but in the eternal spirit of never letting a good crisis go to waste, it was significantly expanded once the hostilities began.

The purpose of Diia was not just to digitise public services but to automate, outsource and privatise them, as Ukraines Minister of Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov Fedorov told the WEFs 2021 class of Young Global Leaders, of which he is a graduate:

The Government needs to become as flexible and mobile as an IT company, to automate all functions and services, significantly change the structure, reduce 60% of officials, introduce large-scale privatisation and outsourcing of government functions. Even in customs. Only such a Government will be able to bring about quick and bold reforms to rebuild the country and ensure rapid development.

Then, in May 2023 we picked apart a shamelessly gushing article by the United Nations Development Programme, another financial backer of Diia, about Ukraines accelerating war-time digital transformation:

Despite being plunged into war, Ukraine is forging ahead with a comprehensive re-think of how business is conducted, and how Ukrainian people interact with each other and with their government. We are building the most convenient digital state in the world  without corruption, without bureaucracy, absolutely paperless, and open for everyone, Ms. Ionan [Ukraines Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation] says. The online portal and a mobile application for public services is called Diia, which is Ukrainian for action. It aims to move all public services online, cover the entire country with internet access, close the gender and generational gaps in digital literacy, and make Ukraine the most welcoming country in the world for IT companies.

Inconvenient Consequences

That dream has withered already. Ukraine cannot muster much of a welcome for IT companies given that not only is it on the verge of losing its NATO-led proxy war against Russia while also suffering regular nationwide blackouts but large parts of its Diia system are down after being hit by a massive Russian cyber attack in early December. It is as yet unclear how much of the data held on the system has been compromised. But needless to say, the consequences for Ukrainian citizens appears to be anything but convenient, as Kyiv Independent reports:

At the start of December, Ukrainians suddenly found themselves unable to sell cars, file legal claims, or register marriages through the states recently digitized government registries. The Justice Ministry on Dec. 19 formally announced that a Russian hack had taken a laundry list of critical government databases that had been put under the Justice Ministry offline. The databases contain sensitive information from property ownership to biometric data to tax records. Relevant Ukrainian offices quickly called it an act of war from Russia. The information space is one of the key directions of the enemys attacks, wrote the State Communications Service, the national cybersecurity agency, in a statement provided to the Kyiv Independent XakNet, a hacking group previously tied to Russian intelligence, took credit for the attack, posting on Telegram data they claim to have hacked from the Ukrainian civil registry. The hackers claimed to have deleted at least some of the registry data XakNet hackers also claimed to have destroyed backup data in servers in Poland. In its message the hacker group mocks Ukraines government, saying: Its very telling to store government data on foreign storage  thats what independence Ukrainian-style looks like, apparently.

A December 20 article published by RBC Ukraine suggests that the impact of the cyberattack on the basic functioning of the Diia app was extensive, with over 20 of the apps services left temporarily unavailable, including worker reservations, business registration, online marriage registrations, property ownership services, vehicle re-registration, eRestoration, eHousing, and many others.

Given the Zelensky governments ambition to do away with all old-fashioned, paper-based bureaucracy in its mad rush to create the perfect paperless state, it would be interesting to know whether it left in place analogue backups for these bureaucratic processes.

Ukraines Justice Ministry recently insisted that all of its state registries were ready to operate but that access to some registers was still limited, as their data still needs to be updated. Access to government services through the Diia app would be available in the near future, it said on Jan. 20  over six weeks after the initial cyber attack. On January 23, UNN reported that it is now once again possible to obtain a preferential mortgage and change your place of residence online through the Diia app.

We are working to restore all services in the app and on the portal, said Fedorov.

Crumbling Public Trust

But the hack is likely to further undermine public trust in the Zelensky government. As even the New York Times reported recently, the high popularity that the Ukrainian president enjoyed in the early days of the Russian invasion, with an approval rating of about 90 percent, has dipped badly in recent months. Of course, given that Zelenksys government has cancelled elections for as long as the war goes on, this doesnt matter much.

But Ukraines reputation as a pioneer in digital governance is also under fire. For the first time since the Diia systems launch in February 2020, media in the country and abroad are beginning to question the wisdom of digitising government services so quickly and then centralising the system and data into a single digital portal under the control of just one government department, the Ministry of Justice. What was once a source of pride for the government is fast becoming a source of derision.

Just six months ago, the industry publication Biometric Update reported that Diia was continuing to attract all the right sort of attention, especially from US-based organisations. Ironically, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a highly influential Washington-based think tank, even touted Diia as an example of how digital public infrastructure can make government registries resilient against crises like war. Last week, Biometric Update reported that Russias hack of Diia had revealed flaws in the system.

In its article, the Kyiv Independent warned that the hack posed a major informational threat, highlighting how vulnerable government and Ukrainians personal data is to cyber attacks:

In pushing to digitize its services quickly, the government also may have taken shortcuts that opened the door to digital onslaughts. Attacks of these kinds also erode public trust in the government, experts say. The core problem, as (cybersecurity specialist and frequent coordinator of Ukrainian hackers, Karla) Wagner, diagnoses, was the pace at which Ukraine rewired systems ranging from passports to tax payments into a single digital portal, all under the auspices of the Justice Ministry, in order to show positive results to foreign observers.

Presumably this is in reference to Diias armies of financial backers, including USAID, the UN Development Programme, the Swedish government, and the European Union, as well as the US tech giants that were closely involved in its roll out, including Amazon Web Services, Apple and Google. As Ukraines Minister of Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov proudly admitted in December 2022, Google is effectively running (or at least was) large parts of Diia:

Google services have become our infrastructure. The tools provided by the company allowed the Government to function quickly and efficiently despite the shelling and constant threats of cyber attacks. In addition, Google ensures protection and security of Ukrainians data and promotes development of our entrepreneurs.

That protection and security has now been seriously compromised. As the Kyiv Independent article notes, hackers can often find backdoors in IT systems left open to governments, as revealed by a series of legal battles to compel Apple to extract data for US intelligence agencies. According to Wagner, one of the main reasons for Diias vulnerability to outside attacks was the widespread corner cutting that took place amid the mad rush to get the system up and running, presumably so that it could then be wielded as an example to the world:

It was very, very, very, very, very fast progress, says Wagner. And any IT project that has the heat on to make fast progress will cut corners where needed and save resources where needed with the best of intentions, which is meeting the deadlines and satisfying the requirements. (That) created not only a long string of vulnerabilities but also over-centralization in tech admin infrastructure.

When Diia was attacked, exposing the myriad flaws in Diias security architecture, a system touted for its speed and convenience suddenly stopped working  for well over a month  and became extremely inconvenient. As Kyev Independent reports, questions are now being asked about just how Russian agencies could use the hacked information:

The hack provides opportunities for Russian intelligence to obtain additional information about Ukrainian military and civilian government employees, and identify vulnerable or otherwise suitable people in Ukraine who can be recruited or coerced into conducting espionage activities and sabotage, analysts at cybersecurity firm Flashpoint wrote in a comments to the Kyiv Independent. However, more likely uses of such information include conducting future cyberattacks on other organizations in Ukraine using the information from public registries for reconnaissance, identity theft, social engineering, doxxing, harassment, and crafting convincing phishing emails, Flashpoint wrote Mykyta Knysh, who formerly worked in cybersecurity for Ukraines security services, the SBU, and currently runs the hacking collective HackYourMama, says the agencies involved should have known better. I understand that the Justice Ministry doesnt necessarily have to have this kind of expertise, but the State Office of Security and Communications, the Digital Transformation Ministry, the SBU  they should have that expertise, says Knysh At the beginning of the full-scale invasion we realized that Ukraines digital infrastructure was overly centralized, according to the old Soviet model, says Wagner. Centralization and single points of failure are a well-known anti-pattern. And its highly vulnerable Knysh is especially concerned that authorities provided no details on the hack, citing a whole monopoly on what they are saying. Given that hackers re-use hacking techniques, he was concerned for other nations.

This, surely, is the most important point. As noted at the beginning of this article, both USAID and the UN Development Programme have been working around the clock to export Ukraines Diia model to other countries around the world that are struggling with corruption and transparency issues. In its 2023 promotional piece on Diia, the UNDP announced that Diia is ready to go international, and that Ms. Ionan, Ukraines Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, is eager to share Ukraines knowledge and resources with the world.

A slightly closer look at the UNDP article reveals why the UN agency is so enthusiastic about Diia. In small print under one of the photos is this disclosure:

The UNDP, with funding from Sweden, supported the development of 23 e-services, which were launched by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on the Diia app and portal.

Meanwhile, Samantha Power, speaking at Davos in 2023, said that she saw Diia as part of a broader effort to help democratic reformers around the world deliver for their people, adding that countries would be selected accordingly. From Axios:

We want to look at the bright spots, at the countries that are committed to transparency and an anti-corruption agenda, that are bucking the global trends, Power said. She noted that Moldovas reformist government has already expressed interest in Ukraines e-governance approach. Power also hopes to partner with countries in the global south. Given the current economic headwinds, even leaders who are working to clean up corruption and improve governance may struggle to improve the lives of their citizens, she said. An app that allows citizens to file taxes or access birth certificates without waiting in line for hours could be one tangible improvement, she argued.

Once held up an example to the world, Diia should now serve as a clear warning to governments of all stripes and, more important still, global citizens: these digital governance systems, and the data they harvest and hold, are not secure. In a time of growing state-to-state conflict, rolling out easily compromised systems of digital governance and digital identity needlessly puts the basic security of those countries at serious risk.

Back in 2022, Kyiv signed a digital trade agreement (yep, they do exist) with the United Kingdom. The DTA included a provision for collaborating on digital identity. Fast forward to today, the UKs Keir Starmer government is intensifying its push to launch a digital identity system, including by implementing digital IDs for age verification in pubs and clubs this year. In recent weeks, the propaganda to support the roll out of digital IDs in the UK has kicked into gear. And the main selling points, as always, are speed and convenience.

Security issues, by contrast, are being widely ignored despite the UK governments long, chequered history with IT projects. What the Starmer government isnt telling UK residents in its digital ID PR campaign is that many of its current IT systems are dangerously lacking in basic cybersecurity. This is the damning conclusion of a new report by National Audit Office (NAO), which found that the government is so far behind on its 2022 target to harden systems against cyberattacks by 2025 that it is unlikely to achieve the target even by 2030.

Of the 228 legacy systems that were analysed, 28% were red-rated, meaning they posed a high likelihood of operational and security risks occurring. The remaining 72% were not red-rated but still presented a risk, the report said.

We have seen too often the devastating impact of cyber-attacks on our public services and peoples lives, said Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP and chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Despite the rapidly evolving cyber threat, governments response has not kept pace. Poor coordination across government, a persistent shortage of cyber skills, and a dependence on outdated legacy IT systems are continuing to leave our public services exposed.

The NAO report, said Clifton-Brown, should serve as a wake-up call to government to get on top of this pernicious threat. But instead, the UK government, like the Zelensky government in Ukraine, is in too much of a rush to expand its digital public infrastructure while playing little more than lip service to security concerns.

But not all governments in Europe are quite so blase about IT systems security. As we suggested in early December, fear of hybrid war with Russia is one of the reasons why some of northern Europes governments appear to be rethinking the wisdom of abandoning cash and embracing a fully digitised economy. The Daily Telegraph even published an article warning that Going Cashless Risks Playing Straight into Putins Hands. Perhaps (and this is probably wishful thinking on my part) Russias recent hack of Diia will have a similar sobering effect on Europes plans to unleash eminently hackable digital governance and ID systems.
Yves here. Even though it seems apparent that military contractors benefit from war, theres still some utility in proving that out formally, as George Georgiou has below.

Some readers might quibble with using General Motors as the basis for comparison, since non-Chinese carmakers are floundering. Boeing is in notably bad shape and has a large defense business, so it could not serve as a comparable. Perhaps John Deere? That might make the arms merchants look a less advantaged, but I doubt it would change the conclusion, particularly given the structure of US military contracting, which virtually assures profits to the supplier.

By George M. Georgiou, who worked for many years at the Central Bank of Cyprus in various senior roles. I wish to thank Martin Gallagher for detailed comments which challenged my initial assumptions. I also thank Tony Addison and Yiannis Tirkides for helpful comments. All errors are mine.

Introduction

The concept of an economic beneficiary of war may sound unconscionable given the scale of destruction, death and grief that conflicts often result in. However, even in the darkest of times someone, somewhere will benefit. These beneficiaries can include the black market merchants who provide food and other much needed supplies, whose normal channels of distribution are disrupted. It can also include mercenaries who sell their services to whichever side in a conflict is willing to pay the market rate, and above. But the beneficiaries are not confined to those acting in a nefarious capacity. The most obvious beneficiaries are the arms manufacturers.

The assertion that arms manufacturers benefit from war is neither novel nor new. It would be counterintuitive in the extreme if we didnt expect arms sales to increase during periods of conflict. The main purpose of this note is simply to present some data which might offer support to the argument. A secondary objective is to contrast the fortunes of the arms manufacturers with those of the non-arms manufacturers, and in this endeavor General Motors is considered as the representative non-arms manufacturer.

The Arms Trade

Tables 1 and 2 below show the top five arms exporting and top five arms importing countries, respectively.

Table 1  Top 5 Arms Exporting Countries, 2019-2023

(million TIV)

USA 58,393 France 15,283 Russia 14,760 China 8,117 Germany 7,982

Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database

What is TIV? Trend Indicator Value(TIV) is essentially a volume measure which quantifies the transfer of military resources from one country to another. SIPRI prefers this to a value measure because calculating the latter requires the use of data provided by governments and industry bodies. SIPRI argues that there are serious limitations on such government data. Specifically, there is no internationally agreed definition of what constitutes weapons and there is no standardized methodology concerning how to collect and report such data[1].

Given the economic and military hegemony of the US, which translates into a propensity to instigate wars directly or through proxies, Table 1 offers no surprises. Such is the volume of US military exports that during the period 2019-2023, it exported more than the total of the next four largest exporters, which includes Russia and China.

In Table 2, two countries are worth commenting on. India is shown to be the leading importer of weapons for the period 2019-2023. Given that Indias domestic arms industry is relatively underdeveloped, this is not surprising. However, its dependence on imports is likely to lessen as Modi continues with

Table 2Top 5 Arms Importing Countries, 2019-2023

(million TIV)

India 13,754 Saudi Arabia 11,715 Qatar 10,668 Ukraine 6,896 Pakistan 6,053

Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database

the implementation of his 2016 Defense Procurement Policy. With regard to Ukraine, prior to the current war it ranked significantly lower than the 4th place shown in the table. Between 2019 and 2021, its arms imports averaged only 31.33 TIV but in 2022 this increased to 2,789 and in 2023 it reached 4,012[2]. It is likely that the 2024 number will be significantly higher than this.

The Arms Manufacturers

Table 3 below gives a snapshot of the total revenue and market capitalisation of the top five arms manufacturers, all American. The table includes General Motors for comparison purposes. Although GM is no longer the behemoth it once was it is still a significant manufacturing company. In 1953, Eisenhower nominated Charles Wilson, then president of GM, to the post of Secretary of Defense. At the confirmation hearings, Wilson was asked about the possibility of a conflict of allegiance between GM and the US government. Wilson responded as follows:

I cannot conceive of one because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country. Our contribution to the Nation is quite considerable. (my italics)

In the September 21, 2010 issue of 24/7 Wall St, Douglas McIntyre pointed out that in 1955 GM employed 576,667 staff and accounted for 50% of the American car market. Recent data show that by the end of 2023 the number of employees had fallen to 163.00 and its market share was only 16.9%. However, GM is still the largest US car manufacturer and is thus a good benchmark for comparing the performance of the US arms manufacturers.

Table 3Top 5 Arms Manufacturers and General Motors: Total Revenue,

2023 and Market Capitalisation, 2024

(USD billion)

Total % of revenue Market Cap.

Revenue from weapons

Lockheed Martin(US) 67.57 90.0 115.90

RTX Corporation(US)[3] 68.92 59.0 155.34

Northrop Grumman(US) 39.29 90.5 68.67

Boeing(US) 77.79 40.0 135.21

General Dynamics(US) 42.27 71.4 73.18

General Motors(US) 171.84  59.68

Sources: SIPRI Top 100 Arms-Producing Military Services Companies in the World, 2023, companiesmarketcap.com

Arms Manufacturers, Conflict and the Economy

Table 4 below presents employment numbers for Lockheed Martin(LMT) and Northrup Grumman(NOC) as well as GM. The choice of Lockheed and Northrup is based primarily on their overwhelming reliance on arms sales(see Table 3 above).

Table 4  Total Employment at Lockheed, Northrup and General Motors,

20172023

LMT Growth% NOC Growth % GM Growth%

2023 122,000 5.17 101,000 6.32 163,000 -2.40

2022 116,000 1.78 95,000 7.95 167,000 6.37

2021 114,000 0 88,000 -9.28 157,000 1.29

2020 114,000 3.64 97,000 7.78 155,000 -5.49

2019 110,000 4.76 90,000 5.88 164,000 -5.20

2018 105,000 5.00 85,000 21.43 173,000 -3.89

2017 100,000 3.09 70,000 4.48 180,000 -20.00

Sources: Macrotrends, Stock Analysis

Whereas manufacturers such as GM have experienced long-term decline, as expressed by several metrics, including the number of staff employed, arms manufacturers have been increasing their headcount and revenue thanks to a thriving demand for their products. And this is reflected in the response of investors. As Wayne Duggan wrote in US News in 2024:

Not surprisingly, leading defense stocks have performed relatively well in recent months. Shares of unmanned aerial vehicle company AeroVironment Inc. are up nearly 30% in the past six months. Military aircraft part-maker TransDigm Group Inc. shares have traded higher by 32% since Hamas attacked Israel. Through Jan. 29 this year, the stock prices of defense giants RTX Corp. and Textron Inc. are up more than 7% each, while the S&P 500 is up just 3.3% (How Do Conflicts and War Affect Stocks?, January 30).

Chart 1 shows the revenue growth of Lockheed, Northrup and GM set against US GDP growth for the period 20052023. There were two significant events which impacted GDP growththe financial crisis of 20072009 and the Covid pandemic in 2020. During the financial crisis, US GDP growth was either stagnant(0.21% in 2008) or declined (-2.6% in 2009). Although there was some impact on the armaments sector, car manufacturing recorded sharp falls in output, revenues and employment. As Bill Dupor at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis wrote in 2019:

One of the hardest-hit sectors during the most recent recession was autosNew vehicle sales fell nearly 40 percent. Motor vehicle industry employment fell over 45 percent. Faced with bankruptcy, Chrysler and General Motors were bailed out by the U.S. government using TARP funds. At one point, the federal government owned 61 percent of General Motors (5 July).

During the Covid pandemic in 2020, GDP in the US declined by 2.77%. Again the impact on the arm aments sector was far less significant than on the car sector. Indeed, Lockheeds and Northrops revenues in 2020 actually increased by 9.34% and 8.74%, respectively, whereas GMs revenues fell by 10.75%.

Looking more generally at the entire period depicted in the chart, GM[4] has shown far more volatility than LMT and NOC. The armaments sector

represented seems to be more stable and resilient than the car sector. This shouldnt be surprising given the nature of the products sold by arms manufacturers and the markets in which they operate. The US doesnt just provide arms to its client states when they are at war, they also arm them in preparation for the next potential proxy conflict. The list of recipients/purchasers of US weapons is longIsrael, Taiwan, Turkey, the Philippines, the Gulf States, Egypt, South Korea, Australia, etcand the military hardware(and software) is abundant[5].

Conclusion

In his 1970 classic chart topping hit, War, Edwin Starr sang:

War, huh, yeah/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothing

If only. The songs anti-war lyrics, written by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, contrast sharply with the reality of the military-industrial complex(MIC) that views war as a financial opportunity. Eisenhowers original 1961 framing of the MIC, and its potential to circumvent and distort the agenda of democratically elected governments, was drafted with the Korean war behind him, the Vietnam war simmering, and Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq, Libya, Serbia, Ukraine, Yemen, and other arenas of conflict, yet to come.

_________

[1] For many years, the US State Department published an annual report on Military Expenditure and Arms Transfers(WMEAT). All data were in value terms. Following the repeal of the 1994 statutory provision requiring the publication of WMEAT, the State Department ceased publishing it in 2021.

[2] Figures may not add up due to rounding by SIPRI.

[3] Includes Raytheon.

[4] Plotting revenue growth for Ford shows the same pattern as GM. NOCs revenues fell in 2009 for a variety of reasons not directly related to the 2007-9 recession.

[5] See, for example, the BBC report The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth, 6 November 2023
4 Things the New York Times got wrong about aluminum in vaccines

A New York Times article published Jan. 24 online claimed that aluminum used in childhood vaccines is necessary, well-tested and safe.

(Article by Brenda Baletti republished from ChildrenHealthDefense.org)

Aluminum in vaccines is a good thing the headline said and vaccine scientists find it strange that people  like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  raise questions about it because there is no indication in aluminums nearly 100 years of use in vaccines that there are any problems.

President-elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics Dr. Andrew Racine  who is not a vaccine scientist  told the Times, If there was something jumping out about a lack of safety, we would most likely have seen it someplace, and it just doesnt appear.

The article is one of several published recently by media outlets including the Daily Tribune, The Conversation and FactCheck.org, defending the use of aluminum in drugs designed for infants.

The Defender spoke with several top researchers on aluminum toxicity and aluminum adjuvants. They said aluminum adjuvants in vaccines are poorly understood by the pharmaceutical industry and have not been appropriately safety tested against a placebo.

They also said there is evidence that the toxic chemical can wreak havoc on the immune system.

The medias claims ignore decades of research and extensive evidence that aluminum ought to be completely eliminated as a vaccine ingredient, they said.

Chris Exley, Ph.D., one of the worlds leading experts on the health effects of aluminum exposure, said the article reads like a last-ditch effort by the Times on behalf of the vaccine industry to prevent the inevitable moratorium on the continued use of aluminium adjuvants in vaccines.

Guillemette Crepeaux, Ph.D., associate professor in physiology and pharmacology, Alfort National Veterinary School, France said, All experts on aluminum and aluminum-based adjuvants agree: These compounds are not safe. The scientific literature is very clear on this matter.

Many of the vaccine industrys claims about aluminum are at stake in the historic Merck trial that began last week for fraud, negligence and concealing the likelihood and severity of adverse effects associated with its Gardasil HPV vaccine.

4 things the Times didnt tell readers about aluminum in vaccines

1. Long-term use of aluminum adjuvants doesnt mean theyre safe.

The Times repeated a claim made by vaccine makers and government regulatory agencies that the long-term use of aluminum adjuvants shows that they are safe.

However, Exley, author of Imagine You Are an Aluminum Atom: Discussions with Mr. Aluminum, wrote on Substack that even though aluminum adjuvants have been used for a long time, vaccine manufacturers still havent shown any detailed understanding of how aluminum adjuvants work.

Instead, they perpetuate a number of myths about the mechanism of action, Exley wrote.

The Times explained how adjuvants work using terms like scientists believe, but conceded that how adjuvants enhance the activity of immune cells is not fully understood.

Researchers have also reported that the mechanisms of adjuvant toxicity are even less well understood than the mechanisms by which adjuvants enhance vaccine immunogenicity.

Exley explained that adjuvants are used because antigens  like vaccines and bacteria  used in vaccines are often not sufficient to cause an immune response that would later protect someone from the target illness. Adding aluminum to the antigen provides a cheap and easy way to provoke an immune response to a weakened form of a virus.

The adjuvant is added to provoke inflammation, Crepeaux explained. By definition, the role of an adjuvant is to be toxic.

Epidemiologist and internal medical specialist Dr. Rokuro Hama, who heads the Japan Institute of Pharmacovigilance, said the adjuvants work by damaging tissue to stimulate inflammation  one of the reasons adjuvants are linked to autoimmune disorders.

As the stimulated white blood cells, or macrophages, try to fight the toxic aluminum, they do what they know: migrate throughout the body. This means the aluminum can reach multiple organs and systems, Hama said.

Multiple studies have shown that aluminum is toxic at the injection site and beyond, Exley said. And several studies link aluminum adjuvants to autoimmune conditions.

The Times said that some limited evidence from a questionable study shows a link between aluminum and asthma, but there is no evidence for any other concerns.

Exley said the reference to asthma was a red herring used by pharma to create the perception that the industry is addressing the publics concerns about toxicity and to distract from the extensive data on toxicity.

Exley said he has spent 40 years at the bench studying aluminium and it is my unwavering opinion that aluminium adjuvants in vaccines are behind serious childhood illness including autism.

2. Aluminum as an adjuvant has not been adequately safety tested.

The Times said that each time a new vaccine using an aluminum adjuvant is developed, it undergoes a lengthy clinical trial to evaluate its safety, and side effects are continuously monitored after approval.

However, the experts said that no infant vaccine containing an aluminum adjuvant has been safety tested against a true placebo such as saline. Instead, the vaccines are tested against placebos that also contain an aluminum adjuvant or against other vaccines that contain one.

This deception is the original dirty trick used by vaccine manufacturers to mask the toxicity of aluminium adjuvants in vaccines, Exley wrote.

In an expert report written for the ongoing lawsuit against Merck for adverse effects from its Gardasil vaccine, aluminum adjuvant expert Lucija Tomljenovic, Ph.D., wrote that statements like Racines claiming absence of evidence is evidence of absence is a logical fallacy.

Citing work by vaccine developer and immunology expert Dr. Nikolai Petrovsky, Tomljenovic said the absence is better explained by the fact that there are almost no high-quality randomized controlled trials or epidemiological studies investigating aluminum adjuvant safety.

This is especially striking, given that there are thousands of studies published on aluminums potency and efficacy as an adjuvant, the report noted.

Petrovsky also said that since aluminum was first introduced as an adjuvant in vaccines, the regulatory bar has been raised significantly. It is likely that if aluminum hadnt been in use all these years and presented to regulatory bodies for approval today, it would be refused registration on the basis of safety concerns.

3. The quantity of aluminum in vaccines is neither small nor insignificant.

The Times article repeated a common claim that babies are exposed to only a small amount of aluminum through vaccines in the first six months of life, especially compared to aluminum from other sources.

The article stated that aluminum from vaccines totals 4.4 milligrams, which it compared to one slice of American cheese, which can contain up to 50 milligrams of aluminum.

Experts interviewed by The Defender found this claim particularly outrageous. Comparing injected aluminum with oral aluminum is completely absurd, Hama said. Crepeaux called the comparison stupid.

First, she said, the compounds are different. Adjuvants  substances not found in food  are especially toxic due to their particulate form. Next, the route by which aluminum enters the body matters. Intramuscular injection allows the body to absorb 100% of the injected aluminum, and babies are exposed repeatedly every month or so through vaccines.

Lluis Lujan, DVM, Ph.D., said that ingested or inhaled aluminum follows different metabolic routes and is mostly excreted. Injected aluminum remains in the tissue for months or years, which can lead to lifelong inflammatory reactions in animals and humans who are injected.

It is a known neurotoxin, he said, noting that in many species aluminum causes an acute inflammatory response upon injection, followed by a chronic one.

As more aluminum-containing vaccines are injected into the same person, the effects can be cumulative.

Twenty-seven childhood vaccines approved in the U.S. include an aluminum adjuvant, according to the Times. The amount of aluminum infants are exposed to in a single dose of a vaccine, let alone in all of those vaccines over many months, is not small.

Because safety studies are lacking and efficacy studies are abundant, the amount of aluminum adjuvant permitted in vaccines is selected based on efficacy, not safety, according to Tomljenovic and confirmed in publications by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) own scientists.

Additional research by Exley and colleagues has shown that the aluminum content of vaccines within batches varied significantly and bears little or no resemblance to the amount of aluminum listed on the drugs by the makers.

Regulators like the FDA and the European Medicines Agency admit that they dont independently verify the aluminum content of vaccines.

4. Aluminum adjuvants make vaccines more profitable.

Experts say the mainstream media and vaccine makers defense of aluminum adjuvants is tied to pharmas bottom line.

Aluminium adjuvants are dirt cheap, Exley wrote on Substack. They add absolutely nothing to the cost of a vaccine. He said that producing more antigens  an alternative way to elicit an immune response  is far more expensive.

Lujan said:

In my opinion, the dispute on aluminum is merely a dispute of economic interests. At the end of all of this, the key point is money: The cost of adding aluminum to a vaccine is almost nothing. From an industrial point of view, who in their right mind would disregard so many advantages? Any other new adjuvant would represent a huge investment and maybe the revenues would not compensate.

Yes, some vaccines contain aluminum. Thats a good thing  for the industry, Lujan said, adding what he said were the unspoken words in the Times headline.

Read more at: ChildrenHealthDefense.org
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a US$160 million loan to Axian Telecom to support the operators plans to upgrade its nine subsidiaries in Africa and explore expansion into new markets.

In a statement, the AfDB said the senior corporate loan will accelerate the modernisation and expansion of Axians 4G and 5G infrastructure, as well as support its broader growth ambitions.

As part of its commitment to financial inclusion, Axian has pledged US$10 million to empower 22,000 women entrepreneurs in Madagascar through its Mvola mobile money platform. Additionally, a US$2.5 million grant will be used to enhance financial literacy and credit access for 34,000 women-led businesses across Madagascar, Tanzania, and Senegal, helping them grow and transition into the formal economy.

AfDB Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, said: By supporting Axian Telecoms growth plan, we are bridging the digital divide, creating opportunities for millions across the continent, and fostering innovation.

Axian Telecom CEO Hassan Jaber added: The funding from the African Development Bank not only underscores the immense digital potential of the continent but also highlights the critical role of collaboration in driving sustainable development.

Axian Telecom currently serves 42.9 million mobile subscribers, including 11.4 million data users and 15.2 million customers using its mobile financial services.

In recent years, the operator has been steadily gaining momentum by acquiring full control of joint ventures and positioning itself as a challenger to pan-African incumbents Orange and MTN. CEO Hassan Jaber, who was previously with MTN, was recently interviewed as part of our coverage of Axians strategic objectives for the year.
Blue flu strikes FBI: Agents protest Trumps immigration crackdown in Chicago

FBI agents in Chicago have called in sick ("Blue Flu") to avoid assisting ICE in deportation operations, as reported by whistleblower Steve Friend.

This act of insubordination reflects the growing divide between federal law enforcement agencies and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement policies.

ICE has intensified its deportation efforts, making nearly 1,200 arrests on January 27, a significant increase from the daily average under the Biden administration.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has vowed to protect residents regardless of their immigration status, and other sanctuary city mayors have been summoned to testify before a House committee.

The "Blue Flu" protest in Chicago highlights the ongoing clash between federal enforcement and resistance from within agencies and sanctuary cities over immigration policies.

In a stunning display of defiance against the Trump administrations renewed immigration enforcement efforts, multiple FBI agents in Chicago have reportedly called in sick with the so-called Blue Flu to avoid assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in rounding up criminal illegal aliens.

This act of insubordination, revealed by a whistleblower, underscores the deepening divide between federal law enforcement agencies and the White House as President Donald Trump ramps up his campaign promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

The whistleblowers revelation

Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, now a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America and host of the American Radicals podcast, blew the whistle on the protest. Ive been told that agents are calling in sickBlue Flu styleto protest the directive, Friend posted on X (formerly Twitter). The directive in question came from Acting Attorney General James McHenry, who ordered the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, ATF and Bureau of Prisons to assist ICE in its deportation operations.

Friend, who was himself ousted from the FBI in 2022 for refusing to participate in what he called overzealous investigations into January 6 defendants, told American Greatness that many agents fear retaliation for supporting the administrations policies. People know if they step forward, then leadership will identify them as MAGA, he explained. The executive management at some field offices arent sending out any guidance for the ICE directive. Just ignoring.

This isnt the first time federal employees have resisted Trumps immigration agenda. During his first term, career bureaucrats and local officials in sanctuary cities routinely obstructed ICE operations, often releasing illegal aliens back into communities rather than cooperating with federal authorities. The Blue Flu protest in Chicago is a continuation of this trend, but with a new twist: federal agents themselves are now refusing to enforce the law.

ICEs aggressive crackdown

The Trump administrations deportation efforts have intensified dramatically in recent days. ICE made nearly 1,200 arrests on Sunday, January 27, and just under 1,000 on Saturday, marking a significant uptick from the daily averages seen under the Biden administration. During Bidens final year in office, ICE arrested approximately 310 people per daya stark contrast to the current numbers.

President Trumps Border Czar, Tom Homan, and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove were on the ground in Chicago to oversee the operations. In a video posted by Fox News Matt Finn, Bove emphasized that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working in lockstep with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to implement Trumps policies. This operation is to show the country DHS is running this operation and will be in lockstep with DOJ  must implement Trump policy, Bove said.

The administrations focus has been on immigrants with criminal backgrounds, including those with minor offenses. However, ICE officials have warned that if deportable immigrants without criminal records are encountered during operations, they will also be arrested. On Sunday, ICE reported taking in 613 individuals with criminal histories and 566 without.

Sanctuary cities push back

The crackdown has sparked fear and outrage in immigrant communities across the country, particularly in sanctuary cities like Chicago, where local officials have vowed to resist federal enforcement efforts. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, declared at a news conference that the city would continue to protect its residents regardless of their immigration status. Regardless of whos in the White House, were gonna project our values, Johnson said.

Johnson and the mayors of Boston, Denver and New York City have been summoned to testify before the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform next month. The committee is investigating sanctuary cities for their refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Sanctuary jurisdictions have long argued that they are not obligated to assist the federal government in deportations, a stance that has drawn sharp criticism from conservatives. These cities are putting politics above public safety, said one senior ICE official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. By shielding criminal aliens, theyre endangering their own communities.

The road ahead

The current standoff between federal agents and the Trump administration echoes similar conflicts during the presidents first term. In 2017, ICE faced widespread resistance from local governments and activists as it sought to enforce immigration laws. The Blue Flu protest in Chicago is a new chapter in this ongoing saga, but it also highlights the challenges of implementing sweeping policy changes in a deeply polarized nation.

Steve Friend, the former FBI agent turned whistleblower, has called for decisive action to address the insubordination. Just suspend clearances like they did to me. SCOTUS says that is legal. Fire every probationary employee, he told American Greatness. I recommend the Trump administration consider an all-of-the-above strategy for handling employees who are unwilling to follow lawful, ethical and constitutional orders from the chief executive.

As the Trump administration presses forward with its deportation agenda, the resistance from within federal agencies and sanctuary cities is likely to grow. The battle over immigration enforcement is not just a policy disputeits a clash of values, with profound implications for the rule of law and the future of the nation.

For now, the Blue Flu in Chicago serves as a stark reminder that even in the halls of federal law enforcement, the culture war rages on.

Sources include:

AMGreatness.com

WallStreetJournal.com

X.com
America on the brink of COLLAPSE after decades of systemic decline

The United States is experiencing a prolonged disintegration due to political dysfunction, economic mismanagement and cultural decay, exacerbated by events like the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.

Mainstream media has become a partisan tool, promoting liberal causes and undermining conservatives, eroding trust and professionalism in journalism.

Extreme partisanship, impeachment attempts and election disputes highlight a breakdown in governance and distrust in democratic institutions at all levels.

America's prosperity, built on debt and financialization, is unraveling, with deindustrialization, stagnant wages and rising inequality undermining its economic and military strength.

The U.S. must address systemic failures, unite the nation, revive its economy and strengthen institutions to avoid further decline and irrelevance.

For the past decade, the world witnessed a series of events that laid bare the deep fissures within American society, as highlighted by author Andrei Martyanov in his book "Disintegration: Indicators of the Coming American Collapse."

From the baseless "Russian bounty" narrative peddled by mainstream media to the escalating chaos in cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, the United States appears to be unraveling at an alarming rate. This disintegration is not a sudden phenomenon but the culmination of decades of systemic decline, fueled by a toxic mix of political dysfunction, economic mismanagement and cultural decay.

One of the main institutions helping in America's collapse is the Fourth Estate, or the mainstream media, which has now devolved into a partisan tool to support liberal causes and the Democratic Party. Narratives are overhyped or outright fabricated to undermine conservatives and, especially, President Donald Trump, highlighting the deep-seated bias and lack of professionalism within the media.

The political landscape is characterized by extreme partisanship and a complete breakdown in governance. The multiple impeachment attempts against Trump during his first term, driven by partisan interests rather than evidence, and the subsequent refusal of state officials to acknowledge election results, demonstrate a profound distrust in the democratic process. This dysfunction is not limited to the federal level; state and local governments are also embroiled in partisan battles, with mayors and governors prioritizing ideology over the needs of their constituents.

American prosperity is no longer a reality

For decades, the U.S. projected an image of unparalleled prosperity, symbolized by its abundance of consumer goods and the American Dream. However, this affluence was built on a fragile foundation of debt and financialization. The 2008 financial crisis exposed the vulnerabilities of this model, and the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic further accelerated its unraveling.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the shocking reality of food insecurity in America. Studies by the Brookings Institution and others highlighted that millions of Americans, including a significant number of children, were struggling to access adequate food. This crisis was not solely due to the pandemic but was a symptom of a deeper economic malaise, characterized by stagnant wages, rising inequality and the erosion of the American middle class.

America's attempts to use economic instruments to achieve geopolitical objectives, or geoeconomics, has largely failed. The 2020 oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which devastated the U.S. shale oil industry, demonstrated the limitations of American economic power. The U.S. reliance on sanctions and financial warfare has proven ineffective against nations like Russia and China, who have developed robust strategies to counter such measures. (Related: Global tensions, natural disasters and the looming shadow of world war  all predicted by Mike Adams and Steve Quayle three years ago.)

The U.S. has undergone a dramatic deindustrialization, with manufacturing jobs being outsourced to countries like China. This has not only eroded America's economic base but has also undermined its technological and military capabilities. The decline of the U.S. automotive industry and the struggles of its commercial shipbuilding sector are emblematic of this broader trend.

The U.S., according to Martyanov, stands at a crossroads. The path to disintegration is paved with the failures of the past and the challenges of the present. To avert this fate, America must confront the root causes of its decline and embark on a path of renewal, which would require uniting the nation, embracing a cultural renaissance that celebrates America, reviving the economy and strengthening American institutions.

The future of America depends on its ability to rediscover the spirit that once made it a beacon of hope and opportunity. The choice is clear. Either the United States will rise to the challenge and forge a new path forward, or it will continue its descent into chaos and irrelevance.

Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses one of the ways the United States obliterated its ability to innovate.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Thousands of unique texts LOST when the Library of Congress burned down TWICE.

Cities are teetering on the brink of FINANCIAL COLLAPSE and turning into GHOST TOWNS.

Financial COLLAPSE remains one of the biggest threats to the social order of America.

Questions continue to rise over the Pentagon's alleged role in undermining U.S. military strength and national security.

Financial expert warns America's financial system is on the brink of collapse  and the best way to stay protected is with gold and silver.

Sources include:

Brighteon.ai

Brighteon.com
Censorship in the name of antisemitism: How Davos elites are weaponizing fear to silence dissent

At the 2025 World Economic Forum, a panel on combating antisemitism advocated for expanded social media censorship, raising concerns about free speech erosion.

Panelists, including the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, labeled TikTok, X and Instagram as "super spreaders" of antisemitism, calling for increased regulatory and reputational pressure on these platforms.

The panel's proposals, such as redefining "hate speech" and leveraging economic power to pressure social media companies, highlight the risk of stifling legitimate debate and criticism.

The push for a broader coalition to address antisemitism, involving government and non-Jewish individuals, raises concerns about state power expansion and the suppression of free speech.

Advocates argue that open dialogue, not censorship, is crucial for addressing antisemitism and other forms of hate, emphasizing the need to protect free expression in a world where the line between hate speech and legitimate criticism is increasingly blurred.

The 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, once again served as a stage for global elites to push their agendas under the guise of solving the worlds problems. This year, one panel in particulartitled Confronting Antisemitism Amid Polarizationstood out for its alarming calls to expand social media censorship in the name of combating hate. While the fight against antisemitism is a noble cause, the panels proposals raise serious concerns about the erosion of free speech and the weaponization of moral panic to silence dissent.

The panic over social media: A new frontier for censorship

The panel featured Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL); Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT); and Jennifer Schenker, Founder of The Innovator. Each speaker painted a dire picture of social media as a breeding ground for antisemitism, with Schenker setting the tone by declaring, The flames of antisemitism are being fanned every second by TikTok and social media.

Greenblatt went further, labeling platforms like TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram as super spreaders of antisemitism and hate. He expressed particular concern about younger audiences, stating, Young people get their news from TikTok, which is fairly terrifying, or from X or from Instagram. His solution? Increased regulatory and reputational pressure on social media companies to censor content deemed harmful.

Greenblatt also took aim at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from liability for user-generated content. He called it a loophole which exempts [social media companies] from liability, suggesting that stripping these protections would force platforms to act more aggressively against so-called hate speech.

But heres the problem: who gets to define what constitutes hate speech? Historically, such broad definitions have been used to suppress legitimate criticism and dissent. For example, during the McCarthy era, accusations of communism were weaponized to silence political opponents. Today, the term antisemitism is increasingly being stretched to include criticism of Israels government or policies, effectively stifling debate on one of the most contentious issues of our time.

The economic leverage of activism

Randi Weingarten, a union boss known for her controversial statements, revealed how the AFT has used its economic power to pressure social media companies. We have used the economic power sometimes against a place like Facebook or others to say, actually, you have to stand with what is moral and what is legal, she said. This admission highlights the growing trend of activist groups leveraging pension funds and other financial tools to enforce their ideological agendas.

Weingarten also expressed concern about the influence of social media on young peoples perceptions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Recounting interactions with high school students in Boston, she noted that every question [they asked] because of what they see and what theyre on focused on the actions of the IDF. Her implication was clear: platforms like TikTok and X should be more active in censoring such content.

But isnt it the role of education, not censorship, to provide context and nuance to complex issues? Instead of advocating for open dialogue, Weingarten and her fellow panelists seem more interested in controlling the narrativea dangerous precedent for any free society.

The broader implications: A slippery slope

Greenblatt emphasized the need for a broader coalition to address antisemitism, stating, The Jewish community needs to recognize we cant do it alone. We need institutions like government and individuals, non-Jews, to realize antisemitism isnt just a Jewish problem, its everyones problem.

While this sentiment is well-intentioned, it raises troubling questions about the role of government in policing speech. History is replete with examples of governments using moral panics to justify censorship and surveillance. From the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the Patriot Act of 2001, the expansion of state power in the name of protecting citizens has often come at the expense of individual freedoms.

Moreover, the panels focus on social media ignores the root causes of antisemitism and other forms of hate. Censorship may suppress symptoms, but it does nothing to address the underlying issues. In fact, it often exacerbates them by driving harmful ideologies underground, where they fester and grow unchecked.

Freedom of speech must prevail

The Davos panels calls for increased social media censorship are a stark reminder of the dangers of conflating legitimate criticism with hate speech. While combating antisemitism is a worthy goal, it must not come at the expense of free expression. As conservatives, we must remain vigilant against efforts to weaponize moral panic to silence dissent and expand state control over public discourse.

As the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, The remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. In a world where the line between hate speech and legitimate criticism is increasingly blurred, this principle has never been more important.

Sources include:

InformationLiberation.com

ReclaimTheNet.com
China gives wary welcome to influx of TikTok refugees on RedNote

Due to the impending U.S. ban on TikTok, over 700,000 American users have migrated to the Chinese social media app RedNote (Xiaohongshu). This influx has transformed the platform into a new hub for U.S.-China digital exchanges, with users sharing content and engaging in discussions across various topics.

The app's "Explore" page now features a growing number of English-language posts, reflecting a cultural bridge between American and Chinese users. While many Chinese users welcome this exchange, others express concerns about potential cultural shifts and American propaganda. State media and officials have generally supported the trend as a positive step for cultural understanding.

The sudden influx of foreign users has posed challenges for RedNote, particularly in content moderation. The platform's strict censorship policies have led to difficulties for users posting content on sensitive topics.

As TikTok users move to RedNote, privacy remains a significant concern. The app collects extensive personal data, and its privacy policy, primarily in Mandarin, has left many non-Chinese speakers uncertain about data usage.

Cybersecurity experts warn of the potential risks associated with using a China-based app, including government access to user data.

In a surprising turn of events, the Chinese social media app RedNote, known locally as Xiaohongshu, has become an unexpected haven for "TikTok refugees" fleeing the impending U.S. ban on the popular video-sharing platform. As tensions rise over national security concerns, more than 700,000 American users have migrated to RedNote, seeking a new digital community.

This sudden influx has sparked a wave of mixed reactions, with many Chinese users welcoming their American counterparts with open arms, while others express concerns about cultural shifts and potential influences.

A new digital bridge

RedNote, a platform renowned for its lifestyle content ranging from beauty and fashion to food and travel, has quickly transformed into a unique channel for U.S.-China exchanges.

Users from both countries are now swapping photos, sharing recommendations and engaging in lively discussions about everything from favorite foods to cultural curiosities.

The app's "Explore" page, once dominated by Chinese content, now features a growing number of English-language posts, with American users enthusiastically reaching out to their Chinese peers.

Jacob Hui, a translator from Hangzhou, described his experience joining a live chat co-hosted by Chinese and American influencers. "It was fascinating to interact with Americans directly," he said.

"We discussed everything from video games to daily life, and it was a refreshing change," added Hui.

Chinese state media has also embraced the trend, with state broadcaster CCTV calling it a "new home" for displaced TikTok users.

Guo Jiakun, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson echoed this sentiment, stating that "China has always supported and encouraged strengthening cultural exchanges and promoting mutual understanding among the peoples of all countries." (Related: TikTok resumes U.S. operations after Trump intervenes.)

A mixed reception

However, not everyone is thrilled about the influx of American users. Some Chinese users have expressed concerns about the platform's changing content landscape, while nationalist bloggers have warned against the influence of American propaganda.

Ren Yi, a Harvard-educated blogger known as "Chairman Rabbit," cautioned his followers about the potential for subtle manipulation. "Propagandists from the United States can easily achieve their goals by first praising you and then subtly influencing you," wrote Yi in a now-deleted article.

Independent analyst Liu Xingliang believes that the current enthusiasm for RedNote among TikTok users is likely temporary. "American netizens are in a dissatisfied mood and are looking for an alternative," he said.

"But the experience on Xiaohongshu is not yet optimized for foreigners, and the trend may not last," added Xingliang.

Navigating censorship and moderation

The sudden surge of foreign users has also posed challenges for RedNote's moderation team.

Some users have reported difficulties posting content related to sensitive topics, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, highlighting the platform's strict censorship policies.

The company is also scrambling to develop English-language moderation tools and translation features to manage the influx of non-Chinese content.

RedNote's popularity is not just a response to the TikTok ban. The app, which launched in 2013 as a shopping-focused platform, has grown to over 300 million monthly active users and surpassed one billion in profit last year. Its success has attracted the attention of major investors like Alibaba and Tencent, who invested 300 million in 2018, valuing the company at $3 billion.

However, the app is not without controversy.

In 2018, it faced regulatory issues that led to its suspension from app stores, and in 2022, Taiwan banned public sector employees from using it on official devices due to national security concerns.

Privacy concerns and data collection

As TikTok users flock to RedNote, privacy remains a significant concern. Like TikTok, RedNote collects a vast amount of personal data, including location, browsing habits and device information.

The app's privacy policy, primarily in Mandarin, has left many non-Chinese speakers uncertain about how their data is used and shared.

Cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven warns that while RedNote might seem like a suitable alternative for TikTok users, "it comes with serious cybersecurity and privacy risks." He emphasizes the lack of transparency and the potential for government access to user data under Chinese law.

Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity advisor, adds that social media apps are "fueled by data, and users should be aware of how their information is collected and used."

The migration of TikTok users to RedNote is a fascinating development in the ongoing saga of digital platforms and geopolitical tensions. While the interactions between U.S. and Chinese users have been positive, users must remain vigilant about the privacy and security implications of using a China-based app.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the RedNote phenomenon serves as a reminder of the complexities of navigating cultural exchanges in the digital age. For now, TikTok refugees are finding solace in a new community, but the long-term implications of this shift remain to be seen.

Visit BigTech.news for more updates about social media apps like TikTok.

Watch this clip about the future of the TikTok app.

This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

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CIA now believes COVID-19 originated from Wuhan LAB LEAK

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) now claims that SARS-CoV-2 likely originated from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, marking a departure from its previous agnostic stance.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the updated assessment and emphasized the lab leak theory, aligning with President Donald Trump's administration's push for accountability on the pandemic.

In 2023, a CIA whistleblower accused the agency of bribing six analysts to change their conclusion about the virus's origins from a lab leak to a natural transmission, leading to a House committee investigation.

The CIA's stance shift coincided with geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, raising questions about potential influence on the agency's assessment.

Despite the CIA's new stance, the debate on the origins of COVID-19 remains contentious, with China denying the lab leak theory and other agencies and scientists maintaining the possibility of natural zoonotic transmission.

The origins of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) remain one of the most contentious and politically charged debates of the current period. Adding another layer to the ongoing debate, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has shifted its stance on the matter, now claiming that SARS-CoV-2 likely leaked from a laboratory.

In a statement released on Saturday, Jan. 25, the CIA said it now assesses "with low confidence" that COVID-19 likely originated from a research-related incident, such as a lab leak, rather than a natural zoonotic transmission. Despite this, the agency emphasized that both scenarios remain plausible and that its assessment could change with new data.

The statement marked a significant departure from the CIA's previous agnostic stance, which had long maintained that the virus' origins were unclear. It also coincided with President Donald Trump's second term and his administration's push to hold China accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, the shift in stance happened just before Trump's inauguration. Newly confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe, a vocal proponent of the lab leak theory, declassified the assessment. (Related: Senate CONFIRMS John Ratcliffe as CIA director under second Trump administration.)

"I think our intelligence, our science, and our common sense all really dictate that the origins of COVID-19 was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)," he told Breitbart News in a recent interview. The new CIA director, a staunch critic of China's handling of the pandemic, added that ensuring the public is aware of the agency's assessment was a "day-one thing" for him.

The WIV, which which has long been at the center of the lab-leak theory, has faced scrutiny over its research into bat coronaviruses and alleged biosafety lapses. China has consistently denied the lab-leak theory, accusing the U.S. of attempting to "smear" Beijing with false allegations.

Whistleblower: CIA bribed analysts to alter COVID-19 origin findings

This change of shift contrasts with allegations put forward by a whistleblower from the CIA back in 2023. The highly credible whistleblower accused the agency of bribing six of its analysts to change their conclusion about the origins of SARS-CoV-2.

According to testimony obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the CIA allegedly offered significant financial incentives to six of its analysts to change their conclusion about COVID-19's origins. The whistleblower, described as a highly credible senior-level CIA officer, revealed that a seven-member COVID Discover Team initially concluded that the virus likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China. However, six of the analysts were reportedly bribed to alter their findings to support the natural origin theory.

The House committee has since launched an investigation into these allegations, demanding documents and communications related to the CIA's COVID-19 origins review. In a letter to then-CIA Director William Burns, the committee wrote: "The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position."

The CIA denied the allegations, with a spokesperson stating, "We do not pay analysts to reach specific conclusions." However, they acknowledged that the agency is taking the allegations "extremely seriously" and is conducting an internal review.

Previously, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Energy leaned toward the lab leak theory. Meanwhile, other agencies alongside some within the intelligence community have favored the natural origin hypothesis. Ultimately, the timing of the CIA's shift suggests that the agency's assessment may have been influenced by broader geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China.

Head over to Pandemic.news for more stories about COVID-19.

Watch John Ratcliffe telling Congress that there is overwhelming evidence of the COVID-19 lab leak theory in this clip.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

RT.com

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Brighteon.com
Egypt rejects U.S. proposal to displace Palestinians, calling it an act of injustice

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi firmly rejects U.S. President Donald Trumps suggestion to displace Palestinians from Gaza, calling it an act of injustice.

 Trumps proposal, which also urged Jordan to take in Palestinians, has been widely criticized by Arab nations and Palestinian leaders.

 The plan has reignited fears of ethnic cleansing and permanent displacement, issues central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.

Egyptian President refuses to be bullied by Israel, US

In a resolute statement on Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared that Egypt would not participate in the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, a proposal floated by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend. Sisi described the idea as an act of injustice that would threaten Egyptian national security and destabilize the region.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Kenyan President William Ruto, Sisi emphasized Egypts commitment to a two-state solution, calling it the only viable path to peace in the Middle East. The deportation or displacement of the Palestinian people is an injustice in which we cannot participate, Sisi said. The two-state solution is a historical right that cant be bypassed.

Trumps suggestion, made during a press briefing on Saturday, called for Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he described as a demolition site following 15 months of Israeli bombardment. The proposal has been met with swift and widespread condemnation from Arab nations, Palestinian leaders, and human rights organizations, who view it as a thinly veiled attempt to erase Palestinian claims to their homeland.

A decades-long struggle

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has raged for over seven decades, has repeatedly centered on the question of Palestinian statehood and the right of return for refugees displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Gaza, a narrow strip of land home to 2.3 million people, has been a focal point of the conflict since Israels withdrawal in 2005 and the subsequent rise of Hamas, the militant group that governs the enclave.

The latest escalation began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Israels retaliatory military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire population, creating a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale.

Trumps proposal to clean out Gaza and resettle its residents in Egypt and Jordan echoes long-standing Palestinian fears of ethnic cleansing and permanent displacement. These fears are rooted in the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes during the creation of Israel.

Arab nations push back

Egypt and Jordan, both of which have historically played key roles in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have firmly rejected Trumps suggestion. Jordan, which already hosts millions of Palestinian refugees, reiterated its opposition to any displacement. Our stance against any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza remains firm and unwavering, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has long been a mediator in the conflict, also rejected the proposal. We categorically reject any displacement of Palestinians from their land, be it short term or long term, Egypts foreign ministry said in a statement.

Palestinian leaders across the political spectrum have also condemned the plan. Basem Naim, a member of Hamass political bureau, told Reuters that Palestinians will not accept any offers or solutions, even if they appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction.

The rejection of Trumps proposal by Egypt, Jordan, and Palestinian leaders shines a light on the enduring complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For decades, the question of Palestinian statehood and the right of return has been a flashpoint, and any suggestion of displacement is met with fierce resistance.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

Reuters.com

Enoch, Brighteon.ai
FAUCI can still BURN for his CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY when hes called in front of a GRAND JURY and starts lying about his previous lies

Former President Joe Biden granted preemptive pardons to several high-profile figures, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, just hours before leaving office, covering both federal and certain civil liabilities.

Recipients of these pardons cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in civil, criminal, or congressional proceedings related to the pardoned conduct, potentially putting them in a difficult position if they lied in the past.

Legal experts note that while the pardons provide protection from prosecution for past actions, they do not shield individuals from potential future charges if they lie under oath during testimony about their pardoned conduct.

In a move that has sent ripples through the legal community and the nation, former Fake President Joe Biden granted preemptive pardons to a wide array of individuals, including the most notorious and heinous criminal on the planet, Fraudulent Fauci, just hours before leaving office. The pardons, which cover both federal and certain civil liabilities, have been met with mixed reactions, with some legal experts arguing that they may not offer comprehensive protection from all forms of prosecution (hopefully not).

Bidens pardons extended to several high-profile figures, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who lied through his teeth hundreds of times to Americans and cost untold numbers of deaths with his bad advice about getting jabbed up with the most dangerous and deadly vaccines ever created, for starters.

Renowned attorney Jesse R. Binnall of the Binnall Law Group highlighted the critical legal consequence of these pardons: individuals who received pardons cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in civil, criminal, or congressional proceedings about the pardoned conduct. Pardons are actually great news, Binnall wrote. No one who was just pardoned will be able to refuse to testify in a civil, criminal, or congressional proceeding based upon the 5th Amendment.

Fauci can still burn himself at the stake when hes called to testify under oath about his previous lies, statements, and advice for Americans about the plandemic

Thats really going to put Fraudulent Fauci between a rock and a hard place, as he will be trying to lie to cover up previous lies, or telling the truth that he lied under oath, which will be an admission to the worst crimes ever. Attorney and legal analyst Phil Halloway echoed Binnalls assessment, pointing out that the pardons have their limits. When asked about the implications of these pardons, Binnall emphasized that the protection offered is not absolute. Pardon can only apply to whats been done in the past, not what someone will do in the future. If they lie in sworn testimony in the future, they can and should be charged, he clarified.

In the Burdick case, the Court held that because Burdick did not accept the pardon, he did not waive his constitutional right to remain silent. The pardon could not be used to bypass the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. #FauciPrisonTime

View this post on Instagram A post shared by America | News | Red Pill (@elitemindvision)

While Bidens preemptive pardons aim to shield a range of family members and some of the worst criminals in history from potential prosecution, the legal landscape remains complex. The pardons may not offer comprehensive protection from all forms of prosecution, particularly at the state level and in civil proceedings.

As legal experts continue to unpack the implications, the move highlights the delicate balance between presidential power and the constitutional protections afforded to individuals. The debate surrounding these pardons underscores the ongoing tension between executive authority and the rule of law, a theme that has resonated throughout U.S. history.

Bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on Fauci going to jail for all his deception, fraud, and funding gain-of-function illegally while collaborating with the CCP. Hes a traitor who should spend life in prison for it.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com
House GOP launches investigation into sanctuary city policies of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has launched an investigation into the sanctuary city policies of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City.

Committee Chairman James Comer sent letters to the mayors of these cities, requesting internal communications and documentation related to their sanctuary policies by Feb. 10, with a hearing scheduled for Feb. 11.

The investigation aims to examine the effects of sanctuary policies on public safety and federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Democratic mayors of the sanctuary cities are considering their responses, with some indicating a willingness to work with federal authorities on specific cases while maintaining their commitment to public safety.

Some mayors have expressed concerns about the political climate and the potential impact of the investigation on their cities, including the threat of federal funds being pulled away and the creation of fear in communities.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has officially launched an investigation into the sanctuary policies of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City.

The investigation, announced by Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), is set to examine the policies' effects and gather relevant documents and communications from city officials. (Related: Trump administration prepares crackdown on illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities.)

Comer delivered letters to Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston, Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver and Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, requesting they submit internal communications and documentation regarding their sanctuary policies by Feb. 10. Additionally, the committee has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 11, where the mayors are expected to testify.

"The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States and their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States," Comer wrote in the letter on Jan. 27.

"Sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe."

The investigation is part of a wider Trump administration effort to target sanctuary jurisdictions. Under the leadership of border czar, Tom Homan, the administration has established the Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group within the Department of Justice.

This initiative aims to challenge state and local laws that conflict with federal immigration efforts and to hold accountable those who provide shelter to undocumented immigrants.

Mayors of four sanctuary cities pondering their next moves

The letter from Comer has left Democratic mayors in these cities pondering their next moves.

For instance, Adams has indicated a willingness to work with federal authorities on specific cases, while maintaining the city's commitment to public safety. Adams stated that the city "will not hesitate to partner with federal authorities to bring violent criminals to justice  just as we have done for years."

However, Johnson, who has long been critical of federal immigration policies, especially those targeting sanctuary cities, accused the president of using immigration policies to "stoke fear" in the city.

Meanwhile, Wu said she is still reviewing the letter, emphasizing the commitment of Boston to following the law while expressing frustration with the current political climate.

"We're all experiencing a lot of the same sense of chaos and destabilization right now, whether it is the threat of federal funds that are legally obligated being pulled away or the sense of fear that's being created in the communities," she said. "At the local level, we're focused on getting our job done every day. Our job is the one that people rely on to get their kids to school, to get around the city."

Visit Migrants.news for more stories like this.

Watch as Tom Homan explains how illegal immigrants are gaming the system.

This video is from the Newsclips channel on Brighteon.com.

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Timothy Alberino and Mike Adams shed light on a growing concern: Are mysterious orbs over US bases a national security threat?

Timothy Alberino and Mike Adams discussed unidentified orbs over US military bases and critical infrastructure, raising concerns about their advanced capabilities and unknown origins, initially dismissed as drones.

Former President Trump expressed frustration over government secrecy regarding the orbs in a meeting with governors, highlighting a lack of transparency and shared concerns.

A Wyoming state senator reported a "mother ship" deploying drones over a power plant, emphasizing the potential threat to national security and the seriousness of the incidents.

Theories about the orbs range from advanced foreign technology to extraterrestrial activity, with speculation that they could be part of a sophisticated espionage operation by adversaries like China.

Alberino called for a transparent investigation into the orb phenomenon, stressing the national security implications and the need for coordinated efforts between government and independent researchers.

In a recent interview on Brighteon.com, Timothy Alberino and host Mike Adams delved into the perplexing phenomenon of unidentified orbs hovering over US military bases and critical infrastructure. These mysterious objects, initially dismissed as drones, have raised significant concerns due to their advanced capabilities and unknown origins. As the conversation unfolded, Alberino highlighted a series of troubling incidents and a lack of transparency from government officials, leaving many to question the true nature and intent of these orbs.

Government secrecy and Presidential frustration

The discussion began with a mention of a recent meeting conducted by former President Donald Trump, where he expressed deep frustration over the government's handling of the orb phenomenon. Trump, known for his candid communication, was visibly angry that officials appeared to be withholding crucial information from the American public. During the meeting, which included governors from several states, Trump openly discussed his concerns and the ongoing mystery surrounding the orbs. The governors, including Montana's Governor Gianforte and representatives from Wyoming, corroborated Trump's sentiments, sharing their own experiences and those of their constituents.

One particularly striking incident was relayed by state senators in Wyoming. A colleague of theirs witnessed a large, unidentified object, described as a "mother ship," at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. This object deployed smaller drones that hovered and conducted surveillance over a coal-fired power plant. The senators were visibly shaken by the event, underscoring the seriousness of the situation and the potential threat to national security.

Speculation and theories abound

Theories about the origin and purpose of these orbs range from advanced foreign technology to extraterrestrial activity, with some even suggesting a deep-state conspiracy. Alberino noted that early in the phenomenon, a US congressman speculated that the drones were deployed from an Iranian mothership parked offshore. This theory, while unverified, highlights the international dimension of the issue and the potential for these orbs to be part of a sophisticated espionage operation.

The advanced capabilities of these objects have also fueled speculation. The fact that they can deploy smaller drones and conduct detailed surveillance suggests a level of technological sophistication that far exceeds conventional drone technology. This has led some experts to hypothesize that the orbs might be part of a cutting-edge surveillance program, possibly developed by a foreign adversary like China, known for its rapid advancements in drone technology and artificial intelligence.

The national security implications

The implications of these orbs for national security are profound. The ability to conduct undetected surveillance over critical infrastructure and military bases poses a significant threat. If these objects are indeed being used for espionage, they could provide valuable intelligence to adversaries, compromising the security of sensitive facilities and operations. The lack of definitive answers and the government's reluctance to provide transparent information only exacerbate the concerns.

Alberino emphasized the need for a thorough and transparent investigation into the orb phenomenon. He called for increased public awareness and a coordinated effort between government agencies and independent researchers to uncover the truth. The stakes are high, and the potential risks to national security cannot be ignored.

As the conversation concluded, both Alberino and Adams agreed that the mystery of the orbs over US bases demands urgent attention. The public has a right to know what is happening in their skies, and the government has a responsibility to provide clear and honest answers. The ongoing silence and secrecy only serve to deepen the public's mistrust and heighten the sense of unease surrounding this enigmatic phenomenon.

Watch this full episode of the "Health Ranger Report" with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and Timothy Alberino as they talk about the mysterious drobes that are not FAA-approved government research projects  so what are they?

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

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Ghostwriters, hot lots and hidden truths: The Pfizer vaccine scandal that demands accountability

A Danish study revealed that certain early batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were associated with significantly higher rates of adverse events, including deaths, leading to questions about transparency and accountability.

The study faced swift criticism, with prominent epidemiologist Anders Hviid dismissing it as "FRAUD or incompetence," and Pfizer and regulatory agencies referencing a critique by a 23-year-old Spanish student, Borja Somovilla del Saz.

Analysis of Somovilla del Saz's background and writing style suggests he may be a ghostwriter for the pharmaceutical industry, as his earlier works focused on unrelated topics and his later critiques employed polished academic language.

The Danish study is not an isolated case, with independent studies in the Czech Republic and Sweden confirming similar findings, and Pfizer's internal safety report flagging the same problematic batches.

The Pfizer vaccine batch scandal highlights systemic issues in manufacturing, quality control and regulatory oversight, emphasizing the need for transparency, accountability and rigorous inquiry to maintain public trust in public health institutions.

In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, a troubling narrative has emerged  one of corporate influence, regulatory failures and the silencing of dissent. At the center of this storm is Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant whose COVID-19 vaccine has been both hailed as a miracle and scrutinized for its safety. Recent revelations about "hot lots"  deadly batches of vaccines linked to disproportionate adverse events  have raised alarming questions about transparency, accountability and the role of ghostwriters in shaping public perception.

The Danish study and the pushback

In 2023, a Danish research group published a groundbreaking statistical analysis revealing that certain early batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were associated with significantly higher rates of adverse events, including deaths. The study, led by Vibeke Maniche, identified "blue batches" that accounted for just 4% of doses but were linked to 50% of vaccine-related deaths. These batches were withdrawn after only 80,000 dosesfar fewer than the standard batch size of one million doses.

The findings were met with swift and aggressive criticism. Anders Hviid, a prominent epidemiologist, dismissed the study as "FRAUD or incompetence" within minutes of its publication on Twitter. Hviid pressured journal editors to retract the paper, but the authors successfully defended their work.

Enter Borja Somovilla del Saz, a 23-year-old computer science student from Spain. Somovilla del Saz penned a critique arguing that the higher adverse event rates in early batches were due to their distribution to high-risk populations, such as healthcare workers and the elderly. His paper was quickly referenced by Pfizer-BioNTech and the Paul Ehrlich Institut (PEI), Germanys regulatory agency for vaccines.

But who is Borja Somovilla del Saz? A closer examination of his background and writing style reveals inconsistencies that suggest he may be a ghostwriter for the pharmaceutical industry.

The ghostwriter hypothesis

Somovilla del Sazs sudden emergence as a critic of vaccine safety studies is suspicious. His earlier publications, written in Spanish, focused on unrelated topics like LGBTQ+ rights and abortion. It wasnt until late 2022after the global vaccine debate had already peakedthat he began publishing critiques of COVID-19 vaccine studies. His first English-language paper followed Aseem Malhotras high-profile critique of mRNA vaccines, suggesting a reactionary motive.

His writing style also raises red flags. Earlier works, such as his 2021 "Response to Catholic.net," feature informal language and frequent grammatical errors. In contrast, his later critiques employ polished academic language, complete with formal use of articles and the Oxford comma. These inconsistencies suggest the involvement of external parties in crafting his critiques.

Ghostwriting is not uncommon in the pharmaceutical industry. Companies often use third parties to deliver messages that align with their interests, particularly in contentious areas like vaccine safety. The timing and tone of Somovilla del Sazs critiques, combined with his lack of expertise in epidemiology, point to a coordinated effort to discredit independent research.

Unanswered questions and systemic failures

The Danish study is not an isolated case. A Czech Republic study independently confirmed the findings, identifying significant overlaps in problematic batches. Swedish data, though pending, is expected to validate these results. Even Pfizers internal safety report flagged the same nine batches among the 20 most problematic for adverse events.

Yet, regulatory authorities have failed to provide clear explanations. The Paul Ehrlich Institut claimed that adverse event reports correlated with doses given but did not clarify whether early batches were included in their analysis. The Danish Medicines Agency attributed the outliers to heightened reporting by healthcare workers and the elderlya claim that does not hold up under scrutiny.

Manufacturing inconsistencies further complicate the picture. Early batches were produced at Pfizers Andover, Massachusetts facility before production shifted to BioNTechs Marburg, Germany site. While the Marburg facility flagged several problematic batches for further testing, many of the "yellow" batches associated with the fewest adverse events were not subjected to the same quality control measures.

A call for transparency and accountability

The Pfizer vaccine batch scandal highlights systemic issues in manufacturing, quality control and regulatory oversight. The reliance on figures like Borja Somovilla del Saz, coupled with insufficient explanations from BioNTech, Pfizer and the PEI, underscores the need for accountability and transparency.

Health freedom advocates must demand answers to the following questions:

Why were some of the safest batches not subjected to rigorous quality control?

Why do problematic batches flagged in Denmark overlap with those flagged in the Czech Republic and Sweden?

Why did regulatory authorities rely on a students critique and fail to directly address the safety concerns raised by independent studies?

What is the potential connection, if any, between early batches and the spike in abortions for foetal anomalies observed in MarchMay 2021?

The stakes could not be higher. The integrity of public health institutions and the trust of the people they serve depend on rigorous inquiry and unwavering commitment to truth. The Pfizer vaccine scandal is not just a story of corporate malfeasanceit is a call to action for all who value health freedom and scientific integrity.

Do not allow this story to be buried by those who seek to silence dissent. The truth must prevail, no matter how inconvenient it may be.

Sources include:

Expose.com

Expose.com

NaturalNews.com
The European Commission has announced the Africa-EU Space Partnership Programme, an initiative, backed by a 100 million (about US$103.8 million) investment, that, the EU says, forms a critical part of its Global Gateway strategy to deepen space cooperation between the EU and Africa.

The programme will focus on three key priorities. It will advance the green transition by developing space-based services that enhance early warning systems for hazardous weather and climate-related events.

It will also strengthen institutional collaboration between the EU and African nations to enhance decision-making and improve policy frameworks in the space sector.

Finally, the programme will strengthen the private sector by enhancing the capabilities of the space industry, driving innovation, and fostering a dynamic space-based data economy to promote sustainable growth across the continent. With this in mind, it will actively engage European private companies in areas such as service provision, capacity building and innovation.

The Africa-EU Space Partnership Programme leverages European space technologies to support Africas sustainable development in sectors like agriculture, climate monitoring, and disaster risk reduction.

It relies on Copernicus, a programme looking at our planet and its environment, for Earth observation, along with Galileo, the EUs Global Navigation Satellite System, and EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, for improved navigation. It also aims to support Africas space ambitions through the African Space Policy and Strategy.

Initiatives like the GMES & Africa (another Earth observation programme) enable access to and utilisation of crucial satellite data to develop applications in the fields of land, water, and natural resources, and marine and coastal areas.

By increasing the uptake of space-based data and fostering institutional and private sector capacity the EC says the programme will empower African countries to monitor environmental changes more effectively and reduce risks from natural disasters through advanced early warning systems.

It will also support sustainable economic growth, including through safer air traffic management enabled by the development of Africas satellite navigation system.
POLITICAL HACKS and LIBS railing off about how pre-emptive pardons denote GUILT and that they would never use them  now theyre all singing a different tune

During the impeachment proceedings of Donald J. Trump, Democrats and their media supporters vehemently criticized preemptive pardons, asserting that they imply the pardoned individuals have committed crimes, even if not known to the public.

They accused Trump of issuing "get out of jail free cards" due to concerns about his and his family's criminal culpability, viewing these pardons as an admission of guilt.

In a stark contradiction, Joe Biden, as president, issued preemptive pardons to his own family and over 8,000 other criminals before leaving office, a number unprecedented in recent presidential history.

Democrats are now facing accusations of hypocrisy, with critics claiming Biden's pardons are a direct admission of guilt and an attempt to shield himself and his family from potential legal consequences, mirroring the same logic they applied to Trump.

During the staged impeachment of Donald J. Trump, top Democrat politicians and all their favorite shilling pundits on fake news swore up and down that no President should ever give pre-emptive pardons to people that are completely innocent of any crimes, especially when it comes to your own family. They all said the preemptive pardons that are issued are the same thing as telling the public that these people have committed crimes,We may not be aware of what they are, but the pardon is clear evidence that crimes have been committed.

The Democrats continued to spew their hate and accusations at Trump, saying First off all we should take a deep breath and acknowledge the audacity of a President (Trump) who so clearly concerned about his own criminal culpability and that of his family members, that pardons are a major obsession with him. Essentially, they said Trump was issuing get out of jail free cards.

The CNN and MSNBC liberal hacks and pundits just couldnt help themselves, raging on about Where does that come from, the concept that you can just wave your magic pardon wand?

Where does that come from, the concept that you can just wave your magic pardon wand?

Little did they know that their favorite puppet, demented Joe Dark Brandon Biden, would be issuing blanket pardons for his entire CRIME FAMILY and hundreds of the worlds sickest and worst criminals, just days before leaving office. According to Democrats, this is 100 percent guilt admission. Watch:

Would be a shame if this went viral. pic.twitter.com/bLC3tglOrj  Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) January 21, 2025

Dizzy Joe Biden pardoned over 8,000 criminals and preemptively pardoned 5 innocent criminals from his own corrupt family during his tenure as Fake President. No President before him even came close to issuing that many pardons, with Trump only issuing 1,740 (including the recent ones for Jan. 6ers), Obama the Communist issued 1,927, and George W. (Frat-Boy) Bush issued only 200.

The Biden Crime Family and all their cohorts at the FBI, CIA, DHS, EPA, DOJ, HHS, and especially the CDC deserve nothing less than serving a few decades in prison for their crimes against humanity, the weaponization of the justice department, and the targeted attacks on Trump and his family. That is exactly why crooked Joe is claiming that the preemptive pardons he has issued are because he fears political attacks coming from Trump.

Its just another perfect example of the Democrats committing horrific crimes and then projecting onto innocent people, saying theyre the ones responsible. Its all fake news, hate crimes, and coverups for the crooked Dems, Big Pharma, and all their globalist cohorts. Many of them can still be facing all kinds of charges for their crimes, despite the blanket preemptive pardons. Its going to take a third term for Trump, most likely, to clean up this huge mess and finish putting away the Deep State trolls once and for all.

Tune your apocalypse dial to preparedness.news for updates on real news about surviving the Democrat-led government aggression, lies, and propaganda that comes at us every day now, even from the criminals who are no longer in office.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com
Russia demands U.S. Congress investigate alleged BIDEN-LINKED assassination plots

Russian officials accused the Biden administration of orchestrating assassination attempts against world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement that escalates geopolitical tensions between Moscow and Washington.

The Kremlin's statement demands a U.S. congressional investigation into the alleged assassination plots and highlights a pattern of similar claims against other foreign leaders, such as former U.S. President Donald Trump, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The accusations must be understood within the context of a long history of mistrust between the U.S. and Russia, characterized by mutual accusations of espionage, sabotage and covert operations.

The Kremlin's call for a U.S. investigation is likely intended to delegitimize the Biden administration and challenge U.S. moral authority on the global stage, while also serving to rally domestic and international support for Russia's narrative.

The situation raises concerns about the potential for a dangerous escalation in U.S.-Russia relations, with the world watching for how the Biden administration will respond to Russia's allegations and whether this is a prelude to conflict or a strategic maneuver.

In a stunning escalation of geopolitical tensions, Russian officials have called on the United States Congress to investigate what they describe as a series of assassination attempts orchestrated by the Biden administration against world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The explosive claims, delivered in a fiery statement by a Kremlin spokesperson, accuse the U.S. of harboring "ordinary bandits and murderers" at the highest levels of government. While the allegations lack concrete evidence, they underscore the deepening rift between Moscow and Washington, raising fears of a global conflict that could reshape the international order.

The Kremlins statement, laden with incendiary rhetoric, demands accountability from the Biden administration, which it accuses of plotting against not only Putin but also former U.S. President Donald Trump, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "We will turn to the Congress of the United States of America with a request to conduct an investigation of this situation," the spokesperson declared. "It is fraught with a global conflict. The discussion of the issue of the murder of the president of any countryin this case, the president of the Russian Federationmust be taken seriously."

A pattern of alleged assassination attempts

The Kremlins accusations are not isolated. They come amid a series of high-profile claims from conservative figures in the U.S., including Tucker Carlson, who recently alleged that the Biden administration attempted to assassinate Putin. "The Biden administration did, they tried to kill Putin," Carlson said on his podcast. "Which is insane. Thats demented, that you would even think of something like that." While Carlson provided no evidence to support his claim, his comments have amplified the narrative that the Biden administration is engaged in covert, destabilizing operations against foreign leaders.

The Kremlins statement also referenced the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and the thwarted plot against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, suggesting a broader pattern of U.S.-backed aggression. "All this is around the administration of Biden and his henchmen," the spokesperson said. "It is unacceptable for such issues to be discussed at the state level, with the participation of the Secretary of State and the President of the United States of America."

A legacy of mistrust

The allegations must be understood within the context of decades of mistrust between the U.S. and Russia. From the Cold War to the present day, both nations have accused each other of espionage, sabotage and covert operations aimed at undermining their respective governments. The Kremlins latest claims echo past accusations, such as those surrounding the poisoning of Russian dissidents on foreign soil, which Western governments have blamed on Moscow. Similarly, Russia has long accused the U.S. of meddling in its internal affairs, including allegations of CIA involvement in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Biden administrations support for Ukraine in its war against Russia has further strained relations. Moscow views U.S. military aid to Kyiv as a direct threat to its sovereignty, while Washington sees Russias invasion of Ukraine as an unprovoked act of aggression. Against this backdrop, the Kremlins accusations of assassination plots appear to be both a strategic escalation and a calculated attempt to delegitimize the Biden administration on the global stage.

A call for accountabilityor a provocation?

The Kremlins demand for a U.S. congressional investigation is unlikely to be met with cooperation from Washington. However, the move serves a dual purpose: it puts the Biden administration on the defensive while rallying domestic and international support for Russias narrative. "Let them prove that this country is a democracy," the spokesperson said. "Let Biden go with Blinken to the electric chair. Then the whole world will see that this is democracy. And if they are silent, then they shouldnt open their mouths and teach anyone."

The rhetoric is undeniably provocative, but it reflects the Kremlins broader strategy of challenging U.S. moral authority. By framing the Biden administration as a criminal enterprise, Russia seeks to undermine Americas role as a global leader and defender of democratic values. The Kremlins statement concludes with a stark warning: "We take this seriously. And we will do everything to protect the president and our country. Because any challenges and threats we consider as a threat to our country. And this means that there must be a tough and immediate response."

The road ahead: Escalation or diplomacy?

As tensions rise, the world watches to see how the U.S. will respond to Russias allegations. Will the Biden administration dismiss the claims as baseless propaganda, or will it engage in a diplomatic effort to de-escalate the situation? The stakes are very high. A misstep on either side could lead to a dangerous escalation, with far-reaching consequences for global security.

For now, the Kremlins accusations remain unproven, but they have succeeded in casting a shadow over U.S.-Russia relations. Whether this is a prelude to conflict or a calculated bluff, one thing is clear: the world is entering a new era of geopolitical uncertainty, where accusations of assassination plots and calls for congressional investigations could become the new normal. As history has shown, words have powerand in the hands of world leaders, they can either build bridges or burn them to the ground.

Sources include:

X.com

Politico.eu

YouTube.com
Erasing history: Russia EXCLUDED from Auschwitz commemoration for the third time

Russia, a key player in liberating the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, is notably absent from the 80th anniversary commemorations, marking the third consecutive year of exclusion.

The exclusion is seen as part of a growing trend of historical revisionism, driven by contemporary geopolitical tensions, particularly in light of Russia's special military operation against Ukraine.

The decision to exclude Russia risks distorting the historical record, overlooking the significant role played by the Soviet Red Army in liberating Auschwitz, where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered.

This exclusion is part of a broader pattern, with Russia also barred from other WWII commemorations, such as those marking the D-Day landings and the outbreak of WWII.

The exclusion raises questions about the value of historical truth and the broader implications of historical revisionism, potentially undermining the shared understanding and lessons of World War II.

Amid the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, one party is notably excluded: Russia, which played a major role in the camp's liberation from Nazi hands in 1945.

Writing for Russia Today, political analyst Nadezhda Romanenko pointed out this affront to history in a piece published Monday, Jan. 27. She mentioned that Russia has been excluded from the ceremonies for the third consecutive year, something Romanenko cited as "part of a growing trend of historical revisionism." This decision, rooted in contemporary geopolitical tensions, risks distorting the historical record and undermining the memory of the millions who suffered and died during World War II.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland confirmed that Russian representatives will not be invited to the 2025 commemoration, continuing a trend that began in 2023 following Russia's special military operation against Ukraine. Piotr Cywi?ski, the museum's director, justified the decision by stating: "It is hard to imagine the presence of Russia, which clearly does not understand the value of freedom. Such presence would be cynical."

While Cywi?ski emphasized the importance of honoring the victims of Auschwitz, his remarks overlook a critical historical truth: The camp's liberation was achieved by Soviet soldiers, many of whom paid the ultimate price. On Jan. 27, 1945, the Soviet Red Army entered Auschwitz, revealing the horrors of the Holocaust to the world.

The liberation of the camp, where 1.1 million people were murdered, became a symbol of humanity's triumph over Nazi barbarism. Yet, the exclusion of Russia from commemorations diminishes the sacrifices of the Soviet Union, which bore the brunt of the Nazi war machine, losing an estimated 27 million military personnel and civilians during the war.

This exclusion is not an isolated incident. In 2024, Russian officials were barred from the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, with the French presidency citing the Ukraine conflict as the reason. Similarly, in 2020, Poland excluded Russia from a commemoration marking the outbreak of WWII. These decisions reflect a troubling pattern of using historical remembrance as a tool of political messaging, rather than as a means to honor the past.

The West is honoring Nazi elements and excluding Russia's sacrifices

The irony of this exclusion is compounded by the West's apparent tolerance for neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine, the very forces the Soviet Union fought during WWII. In 2023, the Canadian Parliament sparked outrage by honoring Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian who served in the Waffen-SS "Galicia" division, a unit implicated in war crimes. (Related: The Nazis weren't defeated they went underground and now run CANADA and the WORLD, pushing eugenics and depopulation agendas aligned with Adolf Hitler.)

The standing ovation Hunka received highlighted a disturbing willingness to whitewash history in the name of contemporary alliances. This stands in stark contrast to the sacrifices of the Red Army, which played a decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany.

The decision to exclude Russia also raises questions about the broader implications of historical revisionism. WWII was a global conflict that required immense sacrifices from numerous nations, but no country paid a higher price than the Soviet Union. To downplay or ignore this contribution is to distort the historical record and risk undermining the shared understanding that has underpinned the post-war international order.

It is imperative to remember Auschwitz's liberation as a moment of global significance, a reminder of what humanity can achieve when united against evil. The Soviet soldiers who freed Auschwitz's survivors, and the millions of Soviet citizens who perished in the fight against fascism, deserve recognition. To deny their role is not only an affront to historical truth but also a betrayal of the ideals of liberty and justice that the commemorations seek to uphold.

In an era of rising geopolitical tensions, the exclusion of Russia from Auschwitz commemorations sends a troubling message about the value of historical truth. If history can be rewritten to suit present-day narratives, humanity risks losing sight of the lessons it teaches.

Head over to RussiaReport.news for more similar stories.

Watch this clip of Anne Frank's stepsister Eva Schloss revealing that the pictures from Auschwitz's supposed liberation are fake.

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Greenwald: Western censorship of Russia is excessive and counterproductive.

Ukrainian tennis star demands Russian players be subjected to ideological purity test.

Stupid: EA Sports bans Russian teams from video games in pitiful response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Sources include:

RT.com

Yahoo.com

Brighteon.com
Sanders grills RFK Jr. over baby onesies in heated HHS confirmation hearing

Sen. Bernie Sanders grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over $26 baby onesies sold by a nonprofit Kennedy no longer leads.

Kennedy clarified he supports vaccines and outlined plans to address chronic diseases, calling it an "existential threat."

Critics, including Sanders, focused on the onesies rather than Kennedys vision, raising questions about their motivations.

Republican senators praised Kennedys focus on transparency and addressing chronic disease root causes.

Kennedy called for unity and reform, emphasizing the need to put aside divisions for a healthier America.

In a confirmation hearing that veered into the absurd, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spent precious time Wednesday interrogating Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trumps nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, over $26 baby onesies sold by a nonprofit Kennedy no longer leads.

The hearing, held before the Senate Finance Committee, was meant to assess Kennedys qualifications to lead one of the federal governments most critical agencies. Instead, Sanders chose to focus on merchandise emblazoned with slogans like Unvaxxed, Unafraid and No Vax, No Problem, sold by Childrens Health Defense (CHD), a group Kennedy founded but resigned from in December 2024.

Kennedy, a prominent environmental lawyer and vaccine safety advocate, repeatedly clarified that he is not anti-vaccine. I support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule. The only thing I want is good science, he told the committee. Yet Sanders, along with other Democratic senators, seemed determined to paint Kennedy as an anti-vaccine extremist, using the onesies as Exhibit A.

A distraction from real issues

The focus on baby clothes struck many observers as a bizarre distraction from the pressing issues at hand. Kennedy spent much of the hearing outlining his vision for addressing Americas chronic disease epidemic, which he called an existential threat to the nation. He cited alarming statistics: more than half of Americans suffer from chronic illnesses, and the U.S. spends $4.8 trillion annually on healthcarenearly 20% of GDP.

Our ship is sinking, Kennedy warned, promising to bring radical transparency to HHS and prioritize scientific integrity.

Yet Sanders and others seemed more interested in the onesies than in Kennedys plans to tackle skyrocketing rates of cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. You founded [CHD]. You certainly have power, Sanders insisted, despite Kennedys repeated explanations that he no longer has any affiliation with the group.

The irony of Sanders fixation on baby clothes was not lost on CHD, which took to X to thank the senator for the free publicity. Get your CHD Baby Onesies here! the group posted. Thanks for the plug @BernieSanders! We know it doesnt compete with what Big Pharma gifts you, but let us know if you want some CHD merch.

Kennedys critics, including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have long received significant campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. This raises questions about their motivations in attacking Kennedy, who has been a vocal critic of Big Pharmas profit-driven practices.

Im not scared of vested interests, Kennedy declared during the hearing. Im not here because I want a position or a job  I want to do this because were going to fix it.

Kennedys calls for transparency and accountability in public health agencies resonated with several Republican senators. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) praised Kennedys focus on addressing the root causes of chronic disease, while Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the committee, said Kennedy deserves to be confirmed.

A call for unity and reform

Throughout the hearing, Kennedy struck a unifying tone, emphasizing the need to put aside our divisions for the sake of a healthy America. He pledged to bring together stakeholders to address the chronic disease crisis and restore trust in public health agencies. We cant be a strong nation when our people are so sick, he said. A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one.

As the hearing concluded, it was clear that Kennedys critics had little substantive ammunition against him. Their focus on baby onesies only underscored the weakness of their argumentsand the strength of Kennedys case for reform.

The Senate Finance Committees confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a microcosm of the broader political divide in Washington. While Kennedy presented a bold vision for addressing Americas chronic disease epidemic and restoring trust in public health, his critics fixated on trivialities like baby onesies.

Their inability to engage with the substance of Kennedys proposals speaks volumes about the influence of Big Pharma and the need for leaders who prioritize people over profits. If confirmed, Kennedy has the potential to bring much-needed transparency and accountability to HHSbut first, hell have to survive the onslaught of distractions from his detractors.

Sources for this article include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

TheHill.com

X.com

WashingtonTimes.com

FoxNews.com
Documents reveal TAXPAYER-FUNDED censorship campaign against conservative media

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a U.K.-based organization, collaborated with U.S. taxpayer-funded groups to censor and demonetize conservative news outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CCDH, led by CEO Imran Ahmed, received funding from various U.S. government agencies and private entities, allowing it to expand its operations into the United States.

The CCDH's "Disinformation Dozen" report labeled prominent Americans as primary sources of vaccine skepticism and was used by the Biden administration to justify censoring vaccine-critical content on social media platforms.

The CCDH worked with Restless Development, a U.S. taxpayer-funded organization, to create "blocklists" of conservative websites, effectively blacklisting them from receiving advertising revenue.

Free speech advocates and conservative leaders have expressed outrage over the CCDH's activities, raising concerns about government overreach and the erosion of free speech in the United States.

In a stunning revelation, newly uncovered documents show that the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a U.K.-based organization, collaborated with U.S. taxpayer-funded groups to censor and demonetize conservative news outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign, which targeted prominent conservative platforms such as The Gateway Pundit, Zero Hedge and The Federalist, raises serious concerns about government overreach and the erosion of free speech in the United States.

The CCDH, led by CEO Imran Ahmed, has been accused of operating as a key player in a global censorship infrastructure, working alongside governments, NGOs and Big Tech companies to silence dissent. According to reports, the organization successfully pressured platforms like Google to demonetize conservative websites, effectively restricting their advertising revenue and limiting their reach.

A global censorship network funded by U.S. taxpayers

The CCDHs efforts were not limited to the United Kingdom. The organization received funding from a variety of U.S. government agencies and private entities, including the Obama Foundation, USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This funding allowed the CCDH to expand its operations into the United States, where it targeted conservative voices under the guise of combating misinformation.

One of the CCDHs most controversial campaigns was its Disinformation Dozen report, which labeled 12 prominent Americansincluding Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Joseph Mercola and othersas the primary sources of vaccine skepticism online. The report, which was later found to contain exaggerated statistics and flawed methodology, was used by the Biden administration to justify censoring vaccine-critical content on social media platforms.

The CCDHs actions represent a dangerous precedent, said a spokesperson for America First Legal, a conservative legal group that has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Justice. This is not just about censorship; its about a foreign organization influencing U.S. policy and silencing American citizens.

The role of restless development and Big Tech

The CCDHs partnership with Restless Development, a U.S. taxpayer-funded organization, further underscores the extent of the censorship campaign. Restless Development, which received funding from USAID and other government agencies, worked with the CCDH to create blocklists of conservative websites, effectively blacklisting them from receiving advertising revenue.

Imran Ahmed, the CEO of CCDH, openly bragged about his organizations success in demonetizing The Gateway Pundit during testimony before the U.K. Parliament in September 2021. After a year of campaigning by CCDH, Google took them off their display network, Ahmed said. They are now demonetised, which means that they will not be able to spread their nonsense any further.

The CCDHs efforts were not limited to financial pressure. The organization also engaged in legal threats, targeting individuals and organizations that questioned the official COVID-19 narrative. In 2021, attorney Brian Rothschild, who is believed to be connected to the CCDH, announced plans to file a mass tort wrongful death lawsuit against members of the Disinformation Dozen, accusing them of spreading misinformation that led to COVID-19 deaths.

A threat to free speech and democracy

The revelations about the CCDHs activities have sparked outrage among free speech advocates and conservative leaders. This is a blatant attempt to silence dissent and control the narrative, said a spokesperson for The Gateway Pundit. When the government and Big Tech collude to censor voices they dont agree with, its not just an attack on free speechits an attack on democracy itself.

The CCDHs actions also raise questions about the role of foreign organizations in U.S. politics. America First Legal has called for a Department of Justice investigation into whether the CCDH and its leadership are agents of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Biden-Harris DOJ is now on notice, said Gene Hamilton, Executive Director of America First Legal. The time to investigate is now.

As the debate over free speech and censorship continues to intensify, the revelations about the CCDHs activities serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of government overreach and the importance of protecting the First Amendment. In an era where information is power, the fight for free speech is more critical than ever.

Sources include:

Expose.com

Aflegal.org

NaturalNews.com
Trump sounds alarm on Bidens open borders: Thousands of terrorists and murderers in U.S.

President Trump claims Bidens open borders policies have allowed thousands of terrorists and murderers into the U.S., vowing to reverse these policies.

Trump accuses foreign nations, like Venezuela, of exporting criminals, citing a 78% drop in Venezuelas crime rate.

He designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, enabling stricter measures to combat their influence in U.S. cities.

Illegal immigration has surged, with non-Mexican unauthorized immigrants rising from 5.8 million to 6.9 million since 2019.

Experts warn Trumps policies could strain U.S.-Mexico relations and provoke cartels to adopt more violent tactics.

President Donald Trump has claimed that thousands of terrorists and murderers are now living freely in the United States as a direct result of former President Joe Bidens open borders policies. Speaking in his first interview after returning to the White House as the 47th president, Trump vowed to reverse Bidens immigration agenda and crack down on the surge of crime he attributes to lax border security.

We have terrorists in our country by the thousands; we have murderers in our country by the tens of thousands  were going to take care of it, Trump declared on Wednesday. He accused foreign nations of emptying jails into the U.S., citing Venezuela as an example where he claimed the crime rate dropped by 78% due to the mass export of criminals. While independent data shows Venezuelas crime rate has only fallen by 25.1%, Trumps remarks underscore his broader critique of Bidens handling of the southern border.

The president also took aim at Mexican drug cartels, designating them as foreign terrorist organizations. This move, he argued, is necessary to combat the growing influence of these groups, which he says are fueling crime in American cities like Los Angeles and Denver.

Bidens border policies under fire

Trumps comments come as illegal immigration continues to rise. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, the number of unauthorized immigrants from countries other than Mexico has surged from 5.8 million to 6.9 million since 2019. El Salvador, India, Guatemala, and Honduras are among the top contributors to this increase. While the share of Mexican immigrants has dropped to its lowest level since the 1990s, the overall trend paints a troubling picture of a border in crisis.

Trumps executive orders aim to address this by reinforcing the southern border and ending automatic birthright citizenship. These measures, he argues, are essential to restoring order and protecting American citizens from the dangers posed by unchecked immigration.

By designating Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, Trump has unlocked new tools to combat these criminal networks. This designation allows the U.S. government to pursue individuals suspected of providing material support to cartels, similar to how it has targeted ISIS and other terrorist groups. It also enables the use of military intelligence and surveillance to dismantle these organizations.

However, experts warn that this approach carries risks. Maria Calderon of the Wilson Centers Mexico Institute cautioned that such designations could strain U.S.-Mexico relations and provoke cartels to adopt more brutal tactics.

Despite these warnings, Trump remains steadfast in his commitment to securing the border. Could happen. Stranger things have happened, he said when asked about the possibility of deploying U.S. special operations forces to Mexico to target cartels.

Trumps warnings and policy proposals highlight a growing divide over immigration and border security. While critics argue that his measures could escalate tensions and harm international relations, supporters see them as necessary steps to protect American lives and restore law and order.

With thousands of unauthorized immigrants entering the country each year and cartels expanding their reach, the need for decisive action has never been more urgent. Whether Trumps approach will succeed remains to be seen, but his message is unmistakable: the time to secure the border is now.

Sources for this article include:

SHTFPlan.com

RT.com

DefenseOne.com
Trump plans to deport some illegals to Guantanamo Bay in massive expansion of detention facilities

President Trump announces plans to expand Guantanamo Bay detention facilities to house up to 30,000 deported migrants.

The move is part of Trumps aggressive immigration crackdown, targeting undocumented individuals accused of theft and violent crimes.

Guantanamo Bay, infamous for its history of indefinite detentions and human rights abuses, will now serve as a holding center for the worst criminal illegal aliens.

Trump claims the facility is necessary because some countries cannot be trusted to hold deported individuals, ensuring they do not return to the U.S.

The administration is preparing to use military planes for deportation flights and threatening sanctions against countries refusing to accept deportees.

Critics condemn the plan as a violation of human rights and an escalation of Trumps draconian immigration policies.

Trumps Guantanamo expansion: a new chapter in Americas immigration crisis

In a stunning and controversial move, President Donald Trump has unveiled plans to expand the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention facility to house tens of thousands of deported migrants. This announcement, made during the signing of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, marks a dramatic escalation in Trumps relentless campaign to purge the United States of illegal immigrants.

Guantanamo Bay, a name synonymous with indefinite detentions, torture, and human rights violations, will now serve as a holding center for what Trump describes as the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. The facility, originally established to detain terrorism suspects after 9/11, will be repurposed to accommodate up to 30,000 individuals under this new initiative.

Trump justified the decision by claiming that some deported individuals are so bad, we dont even trust the countries to hold them, because we dont want them coming back. He added, So were going to send them out to Guantanamo, emphasizing that the facility is a tough place to get out of.

This chilling statement displays the administrations hardline approach to immigration enforcement, which has already seen ICE agents conducting nationwide raids and detaining hundreds of undocumented immigrants daily. Cities like Boston, New York, Newark, and San Francisco have become hotspots for these operations, with a focus on individuals accused of committing crimes after entering the U.S. illegally. This hardline approach is necessary after the previous administration facilitated the invasion, giving rise to growing crime across American cities.

Human rights concerns and international backlash

The expansion of Guantanamo Bay raises serious ethical and legal questions. The facility has long been criticized for its use of torture, indefinite detentions without trial, and blatant disregard for human rights. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remain at Guantanamo, many of whom have been imprisoned for over two decades without formal charges.

The Cuban government has repeatedly condemned the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay as a violation of Cuban sovereignty and a symbol of American imperialism. Trumps decision to reinstate Cubas designation as a state sponsor of terrorism on his first day in office further strained relations between the two nations.

Trumps Guantanamo plan is just one piece of a broader strategy to overhaul the U.S. immigration system. The administration has escalated deportation efforts, utilizing military planes for removal flights and threatening tariffs and sanctions against countries that refuse to accept deportees.

This aggressive approach has drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates, who argue that the administrations policies are inhumane and unconstitutional. Critics warn that expanding Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants will only exacerbate the facilitys legacy of abuse and further tarnish Americas reputation on the global stage.

However, with U.S. national security at risk, and with urban communities collapsing due to foreign drug trafficking and human trafficking rings, its imperative that ICE uses detention facilities to prevent some of the worst kinds of criminals from reentering the United States.

Sources include:

RT.com

Enoch, Brighteon.ai

NationalSecurity.news
US technocrats are struggling to compete with Chinas Deepseek, and are seeking any reason to ban it

As US technocrats and oligarchs realize they are losing the AI race with China, they are seeking any possible way to take down Chinas more advanced, more logical, uncensored AI systems. US leaders are seeking to control the narrative. Chinas Deepseek is not only outperforming US AI systems, but it's also more transparent with its reasoning and able to communicate more basic truths on contentious topics that are censored in the US.

This week, top White House advisers expressed alarm over China's DeepSeek, a company that has allegedly leveraged a technique known as "distillation" to potentially benefit from U.S. AI advancements. The controversy raises critical questions about intellectual property, national security, and the future of AI development. As the U.S. contemplates stringent measures to curb China's AI progress, the situation underscores the complexities of regulating a field that thrives on open collaboration and rapid innovation  values that US technocrats are unwilling to behold as they are outsmarted by the Chinese.

US refusal to collaborate and the concocted "distillation dilemma"

At the heart of the issue is the distillation technique, a method by which one AI system learns from another. This process allows newer AI models to benefit from the extensive training and computational power invested in older, more established models. According to sources in Silicon Valley, this technique is not only common but also difficult to regulate or prevent.

 DeepSeek's Innovation: DeepSeek recently unveiled an AI model that rivals the capabilities of U.S. giants like OpenAI, but at a significantly lower cost. The company also made the code freely available, further fueling concerns about potential misuse.

 Terms of Service Violations: The distillation technique, while widely used, violates the terms of service of some prominent U.S. AI models, including those from OpenAI. OpenAI is reportedly investigating whether DeepSeek inappropriately distilled its models.

 Industry Perspective: Naveen Rao, vice president of AI at Databricks, likened the practice to automakers examining one another's engines. "When it's extractable information, you're going to extract it and try to get a win," Rao said.

Regulatory challenges for power hungry US technocrats

The U.S. government's response to the situation highlights the difficulties of regulating AI technology. Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Commerce, vowed to impose restrictions on DeepSeek, citing concerns about misappropriation of U.S. technology.

 Enforcement Difficulties: Technologists argue that blocking distillation is easier said than done. With open-source models like Meta's Llama and French startup Mistral's offerings freely available, detecting violations of terms of service is challenging.

 Open-Source Accessibility: Umesh Padval, managing director at Thomvest Ventures, noted that "it's impossible to stop model distillation when you have open-source models like Mistral and Llama. They are available to everybody."

 Potential Solutions: Some propose stringent know-your-customer requirements, similar to those in the financial sector, to prevent unauthorized use of AI models. However, such measures are not yet in place and may face resistance.

The current situation echoes previous concerns about the semiconductor industry, where the U.S. has imposed restrictions on chip exports to China. The U.S. is also examining ways to restrict work on certain open technologies, reflecting a broader trend of tightening controls on technology transfer. The US is also concerned about the rise of TikTok, and wants to ban it too because they cannot control it, regulate and censor people like they do with US-based social media platforms.

As the U.S. navigates the complexities of regulating AI technology, it must strike a delicate balance between protecting intellectual property and fostering innovation. The case of China's DeepSeek highlights the challenges of containing AI advancements in an interconnected world. While the U.S. seeks to maintain its competitive edge, it must also recognize the limitations of regulatory measures in a field that thrives on collaboration and rapid evolution.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

Reuters.com

ACLU.com
Bank of England struggles to meet gold demand as $82B stockpile shifts to New York

Traders are moving billions in gold from the Bank of England to New York, fearing potential tariffs under the Trump administration.

Delivery times from the BoE have surged to 4-8 weeks, causing a gold shortage in London.

Gold futures prices in New York are trading at a premium, incentivizing shipments and driving COMEX inventories to a 16-month high.

Concerns grow over the BoEs ability to meet delivery demands, with fears of a potential default and a collapse of the "paper" gold market.

Gold prices have risen 5% this year, nearing all-time highs, as market uncertainty intensifies.

Traders and financial institutions are rushing to pull billions of dollars worth of gold out of the Bank of England (BoE) and ship it to New York, fearing potential tariffs under the Trump administration. The sudden exodus has created a gold shortage in London, with delivery times from the BoE ballooning from a few days to four to eight weeks, according to industry insiders.

The Financial Times first reported the story, revealing that traders have stockpiled an $82 billion gold reserve in New York since Novembers U.S. election. This massive movement of gold has left the BoE struggling to meet demand, raising questions about the central banks ability to fulfill its obligations and sparking fears of a potential default.

Gold stockpiling in New York strains London market

The surge in gold shipments to the U.S. has been driven by fears that Trump could impose tariffs on raw materials, including gold. While Trump has not specifically mentioned gold in his trade policy proposals, the uncertainty has been enough to trigger a scramble among traders to protect their investments.

The rush to New York has been further fueled by an arbitrage opportunity, with gold futures prices on the COMEX exchange trading at a premium compared to Londons spot market. This has incentivized traders to move gold across the Atlantic, driving COMEX inventories to 926 metric tonsthe highest level since August 2022.

BoEs gold dilemma: Is a default looming?

The Bank of England, which holds 5,365 metric tons of gold on behalf of third parties, including financial institutions and other central banks, is now facing unprecedented demand for physical delivery. According to the BoEs December 1, 2024 report, the bank holds the equivalent of 172.5 million ounces of gold. However, industry experts suggest that the BoE may have leased out far more gold than it actually holds, a practice that has long underpinned the paper gold market.

People cant get their hands on gold because so much has been shipped to New York, and the rest is stuck in the queue, said one industry executive. Liquidity in the London market has been diminished.

The BoEs refusal to comment on the situation has only deepened concerns. Market players are asking a simple question: If the BoE claims to hold 5,365 metric tons of gold and only 393 tons have been shipped to New York, why is there a four-to-eight-week delay in fulfilling delivery requests?

Market implications

The uncertainty surrounding the BoE's gold reserves has already impacted the market. Gold prices have risen 5% since the start of the year, hovering just $30 below the all-time high of $2,790 per troy ounce set in October. If the BoE is unable to meet delivery demands, the "paper" gold marketwhere investors trade gold contracts without taking physical possessioncould face a catastrophic collapse.

The gold rush to New York has exposed vulnerabilities in the global gold market, with the Bank of England at the center of the storm. As delivery times stretch to unprecedented lengths and questions about the BoEs gold reserves grow louder, the situation could have far-reaching implications for investors, traders, and the broader financial system.

For now, the BoE remains tight-lipped, leaving the market to speculate about the true state of its gold reserves.

Sources for this article include:

HalTurnerRadioShow.com

NYPost.com

Reuters.com

FT.com
Trumps cavalry of aid arrives in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina after four months of FEMA failures

Aid trucks finally arrive in North Carolina, offering hope and much-needed relief to residents who are still struggling in the aftermath of the hurricane and flooding.

President Trump visited North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, criticizing FEMA's lack of support and promising to take swift action.

Residents have been living in tents and campers, suffering through harsh winter conditions, with minimal government aid.

Trump promised to overhaul FEMA and increase state responsibility in disaster response.

Internal messages suggest FEMA workers in Florida were told to avoid homes with Trump campaign signs, leading to an audit.

Four months after Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina, residents finally saw a glimmer of hope as a convoy of aid trucks arrived just days after President Donald Trumps visit to the area. The president, who has been vocal about the inadequate response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), promised swift action and a thorough overhaul of the agency.

Trumps critique of FEMA

During his visit to Asheville, Trump minced no words in criticizing FEMAs handling of the disaster. FEMA has really let us down, let the country down, he told reporters. Were going to take over, were going to do a good job. The president, who previously floated the idea of dismantling FEMA during a Fox News interview, emphasized the need for states to take more responsibility in disaster response.

The criticism is also fueled by the fact that FEMA workers in Florida were allegedly instructed to avoid offering help to people in homes displaying Trump campaign signs in the wake of Hurricane Milton. According to internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire, a FEMA supervisor told workers to avoid homes advertising Trump. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has since launched an audit into these claims.

Struggling residents await relief

Amid the slow response, many North Carolina residents have been living in tents and campers, facing the harsh realities of a brutal winter storm. Michelle, a Swannanoa resident, described the situation as hell. She and her neighbors have been surviving in a makeshift camper park, relying heavily on charitable organizations for support.

Emily Russell, who was seven months pregnant when her home was flooded, shared her frustration. Its just really been crazy since then. No help, really, except for volunteers and churches that weve been grateful for, she said. Theyve come, and they really helped us a lot because we had to gut the house and rebuild it.

Vicky, another Swannanoa resident who lost her home, had expressed her hope ahead of Trumps visit, saying, I hope that he sees how bad it still is and sticks to his word and does something about it.

A ray of hope

The arrival of the aid convoy has brought a ray of hope to the struggling community. President Trumps promise to fix the situation "as fast as you can resonated with many residents. Danny Bailey, who was affected by the hurricane, believes the new administration will make a difference. Even if he just helps us financially, or he gets people in here to say, OK, were going to build you a house  because what FEMAs done was good, but it wasnt good enough, Bailey said.

As North Carolina residents continues to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, President Trumps intervention and the arrival of aid trucks offer a much-needed lifeline. The presidents critique of FEMA and his promise to overhaul the agency highlight the ongoing struggle for effective disaster response. For the residents of Swannanoa and other affected areas, the hope is that this intervention will mark the beginning of a faster and more comprehensive recovery.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

FoxNews.com

FoxNews.com
Defendant Tamera Laws is escorted by her defense attorney Anthony Cantrell as she takes a break from testifying in her murder trial on Thursday. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Defendant Tamera Laws confers with her defense attorney Anthony Cantrell before resuming testifying in her murder trial on Thursday. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Tears run down the face of Tamera Laws while testifying in her murder trial on Thursday. Laws is accused of brutally killing her grandmother Doris Ruth Novella in 2020. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl listens to attorney Anthony Cantrells questioning during the bench trial of defendant Tamera Laws on Thursday. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News Dr. Brian Skop, forensic psychiatrist, testifies in the murder trial of Tamera Laws on Thursday. Laws is accused of brutally killing her grandmother Doris Ruth Novella in 2020. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

A San Antonio woman charged with beating her 70-year-old grandmother to death was clinically insane at the time of the killing, her defense attorney says.

Tamera Laws, 28, is charged with first-degree murder. If found guilty, she faces up to life in prison.

Laws is accused of choking, stabbing, and beating her grandmother, Dorris Ruth Novella, to death with a hammer on Feb. 22, 2020, at a home in the 8500 block of Spotted Deer.

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Laws waived her right to a jury trial and opted for a bench trial, meaning the judge presiding over the case, Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl, will decide the outcome.

A San Antonio police report states that Octavian Jones, Laws' brother, was in his room getting dressed for work when Laws walked into his room and told him that she was sorry for having done something.

Jones walked into their grandmother's room and found Novella lying on the floor with blood on her face. Crime scene video taken by a crime scene investigator revealed that Novella's face was bloodied and unrecognizable after the beating.

Police officers who responded to the scene testified that they arrived at a "chaotic" scene. After telling police that her father told her to kill Novella, she repeatedly asked for the death penalty.

William McClain, an assistant medical examiner for Forensic Medical Management Services, performed the autopsy on Novella. He said Novella had numerous sharp and blunt force injuries, many of which had the potential to be fatal.

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Defense Attorney Anthony Cantrell said his client had severe mental conditions before and during the killing. He said that when Laws suffered a miscarriage in 2014, she had to give birth to a stillborn child, which worsened her mental health. At one point, she attempted to commit suicide.

"It took everything away from me," Laws said on the witness stand Thursday. "I couldn't be around my sister and my beautiful nephew...I was always really sad."

Laws had to take a break from the witness stand twice.

"This is too much," Laws said through tears.

Laws said her grandfather sexually abused her when she was a child. She said her father, Tommy Laws, was convicted of murder after leaving her baby brother in a hot car.

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Laws said that she began abusing alcohol and methamphetamine to deal with her mental illness.

Laws' mental illness caused her to believe her grandmother was out to get her, Cantrell said.

He said Laws was experiencing settled insanity, a legal concept used by attorneys to explain how long-term substance abuse can worsen someone's mental state, preventing them from knowing right from wrong.

READ MORE: Trial starts for woman accused of killing her grandma with hammer

Robert Cantu, a psychologist who treated Laws after the killing, said she exhibited symptoms of psychosis and experienced hallucinations. He said it was clear her mental state had been degrading long before Novella's death. He blamed it on her upbringing.

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"She has had some form of psychotic and depressive disorder, even before the stillbirth, even before she was using methamphetamine," Cantu said.

Laws testified that she began using methamphetamine to "self-medicate." She said she also took the drug to help her stay awake longer so that she could make money as an escort for her and her grandmother because they struggled financially. In addition, Laws said she believed her grandmother was practicing witchcraft.

Cantu said at the time of the killing, Laws met the criteria for Texas' statute for insanity

Laws testified that her father told her that if she didn't kill Novella, she would be cut up and sent to him in a box.

While it's unclear exactly when Novella was killed that evening, phone data collected from Laws' phone showed that she had spoken to her dad that day twice, including that night, Cantrell said.

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A San Antonio police detective testified that her father told police he did speak on the phone with his daughter the day  but he denied telling his daughter to kill anyone.

Laws' family testified that Laws loved her grandmother. Laws was raised by her from a young age, because her mother was absent in her life, and her father was in prison.

On Wednesday, family members testified that Laws had been experiencing strange, paranoid behavior for some time, and that she had frequent delusions.

"I was hearing voices that everyone was trying to kill me," Laws testified.

Lisa Laws, Tamera Laws' mother, testified that her daughter had a good relationship with her grandmother.

But she also said that she knew something was wrong with her daughter. After the miscarriage, she saw her daughter talking to herself in the mirror, Laws said.

She wasnt the same person...I just knew she needed help, Lisa Laws said.

Laws testified that during the killing, she didn't realize she was beating her grandmother to death.

"I did not know that I did something wrong," she said.

Testimony established that a strong odor of Pine-Sol, a liquid cleaning product, was coming from the bedroom where Novella's body was found. Crime scene investigators located an empty bottle of the cleaner in the room. Forensic scientists with the Bexar County Crime Lab found Laws' DNA on the bottle.

During cross-examination, Laws told prosecutors that she used methamphetamine four days before she killed Novella.

Prosecutor Anna Ochoa said mental health staff at the jail reported they didn't see signs of psychosis after multiple visits with her.
Replacing the climate crisis narrative: Department of Energy reverses Biden LNG pause, emphasizes return to energy dominance

The DOE has lifted the Biden-era moratorium on LNG exports, signaling a shift towards promoting American energy dominance.

The DOE's website now emphasizes "Restoring Energy Dominance," reflecting a strategic realignment from the previous administration's climate-focused policies to an emphasis on energy production and economic growth.

U.S. energy policy has historically oscillated between prioritizing fossil fuels and renewable energy, with the current shift mirroring past trends driven by political and economic factors.

Despite initial progress, the DOE faces challenges in fully purging climate-related content from federal websites, particularly at agencies like the EPA, NOAA and NASA.

The administration's renewed focus on energy dominance aims to secure America's position as a global energy leader, balancing environmental concerns with economic realities in the ongoing climate policy debate.

In a significant shift from the previous administration's climate-focused policies, the Department of Energy (DOE) has taken swift action to reverse the Biden-era moratorium on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. This move, effective as of today, marks a return to the Trump administration's emphasis on American energy dominance. The change reflects a broader effort to refocus federal websites and communications on energy production and economic growth, rather than what some critics call "climate propaganda."

Restoring energy dominance

The DOE's front page now prominently features the headline "Restoring Energy Dominance," signaling a clear departure from the previous administration's "Combating the Climate Crisis" narrative. President Donald J. Trump's Day One actions include the directive to "unleash American Energy Dominance," with immediate steps taken to resume the approval process for LNG export applications.

Acting DOE Secretary Ingrid Kolb has directed the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) to resume consideration of pending applications to export American LNG to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. This decision aligns with the Natural Gas Act and is intended to streamline regulatory processes and reduce inefficiencies.

"We are committed to ensuring that the United States remains a global leader in energy production and export," said Acting Secretary Kolb. "This action will not only boost our economy but also enhance our energy security and that of our allies."

The energy policy pendulum

The shift in energy and environmental policy is not unprecedented. Over the past few decades, U.S. energy policy has swung between a focus on fossil fuels and a push for renewable energy. The Trump administration's first term (2017-2021) saw a significant emphasis on domestic fossil fuel production, which was then reversed by the Biden administration's climate-focused agenda. The return to energy dominance under the second Trump administration reflects a cyclical nature of policy priorities driven by political and economic factors.

For example, the first Trump administration's repeal of the Clean Power Plan and the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement were seen as major steps to support the coal and oil industries. The Biden administration, in turn, reinstated the Paris Agreement and implemented stringent regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. This back-and-forth highlights the ongoing debate over the balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

Challenges and future directions

While the DOE has made a promising start, there is still a long way to go in purging what some conservative critics label as "climate propaganda" from federal websites. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) still contain extensive sections on climate change, despite initial efforts to remove or bury these references.

For instance, the EPA's website still hosts a dedicated climate change section, which includes content on the impacts of climate change and the agency's mission to protect human health. Similarly, NOAA and NASA continue to publish data and press releases highlighting the urgency of climate action.

"Changing the communications of the prior administration is a monumental task," noted Francis Menton, a conservative blogger at the Manhattan Contrarian. "While the DOE has made commendable progress, the Biden-era climate narrative is pervasive and deeply embedded in many federal agencies. It will take time and concerted effort to fully address this issue."

A new era of energy focus

The DOE's actions signal a renewed commitment to American energy dominance and economic growth. As the administration continues to reshape federal communications, the focus will shift from climate change to the practical benefits of robust energy production and export. The coming weeks and months will be crucial in determining the scope and effectiveness of these changes, as the new administration works to implement its energy and environmental policies.

The return to energy dominance is not just a political statement; it is a strategic move that aims to secure America's position as a global energy leader. As the debate over climate policy continues, the Trump administration's approach underscores the importance of balancing environmental concerns with economic realities.

Sources include:

WattsUpWithThat.com

Energy.gov

DavisPolk.com

TheConversation.com
EMR Syndrome: a new name for a growing 21st-century health issue

Millions of people worldwide experience debilitating symptomsranging from headaches and insomnia to heart palpitations and cognitive impairmentswhen exposed to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from everyday technologies like cellphones, Wi-Fi routers, and smart devices. Until now, this condition has been known by a patchwork of names, including electromagnetic sensitivity, electrohypersensitivity, and microwave syndrome, creating confusion and stigma for those affected. In a landmark effort to unify and destigmatize the condition, the OneName Project has introduced a new term: Electromagnetic Radiation Syndrome, or EMR Syndrome

The announcement, made in January 2025, marks a turning point for individuals living with EMR-related disabilities, as well as for advocates, scientists, and medical professionals working to raise awareness and secure recognition for the condition. The new name aims to simplify public understanding, foster advocacy, and pave the way for global recognition.

Why the name matters

For years, the lack of a single, universally accepted term has hindered efforts to educate the public, advocate for accommodations, and push for scientific research. Names like "electrohypersensitivity" or "microwave syndrome" often stigmatized individuals by framing the issue as a personal sensitivity rather than a physiological response to environmental factors. Others, such as "Havana syndrome," were confusing or misleading, evoking geopolitical intrigue rather than the pervasive impact of wireless radiation.

Ruth F. Moss, a marketing professional and advocate with EMR Syndrome, described the frustration of navigating multiple terms after her diagnosis in 2015. I got five different answers, she said. No one is going to remember a health condition if its called 10 different things. People need one name that they can recognize and remember.

The OneName Project sought to address this challenge by convening a diverse group of stakeholders, including individuals with EMR-related disabilities, medical professionals, and scientists. Over a year-long process, the team evaluated public input and expert analysis to arrive at the term "EMR Syndrome."

This decision was the result of a truly collaborative process, said Kent Chamberlin, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Hampshire and a key figure in the project. Weve not only created a unified identity for this condition but also a renewed sense of hope for those living with it.

The science behind EMR syndrome

EMR Syndrome is not a new phenomenon. Reports of adverse health effects from electromagnetic fields (EMF) date back to the 1970s, when U.S. military personnel working with radar equipment reported symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and cognitive issues. Today, the condition is increasingly linked to the proliferation of wireless technologies, including 5G networks.

A 2020 peer-reviewed study found that 1.6% to 10.3% of the population in various countries reported symptoms consistent with EMR Syndrome. These symptoms often affect multiple body systems, including the cardiovascular and neurological systems, and can severely limit an individuals ability to function in modern, technology-driven environments.

Despite growing evidence, the condition remains controversial. Critics argue that symptoms may be psychosomatic, and related to paranoid behaviors, while advocates point to studies showing physiological changes in individuals exposed to EMR. The OneName Project sought to bridge this divide by choosing a term that is scientifically credible and accessible to the public.

The previous nameslike electrohypersensitivitywere a problem when the person went to the doctor, said Dr. Sharon Goldberg, an integrative medicine physician and member of the decision-making committee. Such terms labeled the person as too sensitive. That needed to change.

The introduction of "EMR Syndrome" comes at a critical time. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has faced mounting criticism for its outdated wireless radiation exposure limits, which were last updated in 1996. In 2021, a coalition of advocacy groups, including Childrens Health Defense and the Environmental Health Trust, won a lawsuit challenging the FCCs failure to address evidence of harm from 5G and other wireless technologies.

Advocates are now pushing for systemic changes, including stricter regulations, safer technology designs, and greater public awareness. This is about pointing the way to more awareness and safer practices that can be used to live safer and healthier lives, said Pam Wallace, a safe technology advocate and organizing committee member.

Local communities are also taking action. Some cities have passed ordinances requiring cell towers to be placed at least 1,640 feet from homes, schools, and businessesa recommendation based on findings from the New Hampshire Commission to Study the Environmental and Health Effects of Evolving 5G Technology. The new definition will pave the way for legal changes that better protect people's health.

Sources include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

ChildrensHealthDefense.org [PDF]
Israeli media mocks Trumps proposal to clean out Gaza

President Donald Trump suggested forcibly relocating the Palestinian population in Gaza to Jordan and Egypt, describing Gaza as a "demolition site" in need of "cleaning out."

Israeli journalists and commentators, including Haaretz's editorial board and columnists Chaim Levinson and Zvi Bar'el, harshly criticized the proposal, dismissing it as unrealistic and impractical, given the political constraints and historical reluctance of Arab nations to accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees.

Middle East Eye reported that such a mass relocation would be illegal under international humanitarian and criminal law, as stated by international law expert Ardi Imseis.

The international community views Trump's suggestion as a radical and potentially dangerous approach to resolving the Gaza crisis, questioning its feasibility and morality.

Some Israeli politicians praised the proposal. For instance, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it "wonderful," while former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir congratulated Trump on the initiative on social media. These reactions highlight a divergence between the broader international and Israeli media perspectives on the issue.

Prominent Israeli journalists and commentators have responded with biting criticism against President Donald Trump's recent suggestion to "clean out" Gaza and forcibly transfer the Palestinian population to Jordan and Egypt.

On Jan. 25, Trump proposed a solution to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, describing the Palestinian enclave as a "demolition site." He suggested the idea of forcibly relocating the population, estimated at around 1.5 million, to neighboring Arab countries, with Egypt and Jordan being the primary destinations. (Related: Israel's deadly strikes continue despite ceasefire deal, raising doubts about lasting peace.)

Trump even thanked King Abdullah of Jordan for previously accepting Palestinian refugees, expressing his wish for the kingdom to take on more refugees from Gaza.

However, the proposal, which was made just days after a ceasefire in Gaza, has faced immediate backlash and ridicule from Israeli media outlets and legal experts.

For instance, Haaretz, Israel's newspaper of record, issued a harsh editorial on Jan. 27. The newspaper described Gaza as the "home" of over two million Palestinians, so the editorial board ridiculed the proposal and suggested that Trump's vision is more akin to launching Palestinians "voluntarily" into space.

Chaim Levinson, a columnist at Haaretz, dismissed the proposal as unrealistic, noting that after consulting with officials in Israel and neighboring countries, there is no concrete plan in place. He pointed out that Arab nations have historically been wary of accepting large numbers of Palestinian refugees.

Zvi Bar'el, another columnist at the news outlet, emphasized the political constraints Jordan faces in accepting more Palestinians, citing King Abdullah's September address at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, where he explicitly ruled out Jordan becoming an "alternative homeland" for Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reported that the proposal would be a violation of international law. Ardi Imseis, a professor of international law and former UN official, said such a mass relocation would be illegal under international humanitarian and criminal law.

"President Trump's desire to 'relocate' Palestinians en masse from the occupied Gaza Strip is as illegal as it is wishful," he said. "Under international humanitarian law and international criminal law, individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive," he said.

Israeli politicians praise Trump for suggesting Gaza "clean out"

The international community remains skeptical of the feasibility and morality of Trump's suggestion, with many experts viewing it as a radical and potentially dangerous approach to resolving the Gaza crisis.

However, Israeli politicians reacted differently.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the idea of finding new homes for Gaza residents "wonderful," telling Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, "Only out-of-the-box thinking and new solutions will bring peace and security."

Similarly, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned as national security minister after Prime Minister Netanyahu's government voted to accept the ceasefire agreement, congratulated Trump on the initiative in a post on X.

"I commend U.S. President Trump for the initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt," Gvir wrote. "One of our demands from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to promote voluntary emigration. When the president of the worlds greatest superpower, Trump, personally brings up this idea, it is worth the Israeli government implementing it  promote emigration now!"

Head over to IsraelCollapse.com for more updates on the ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

Watch the video below that reports about 90 people killed on Jan. 2 due to Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

This video is from Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Israel criminalizes dissent: New law bans anyone from questioning how Israel handled the October 7th attack.

Israels ceasefire deal under threat as deadly strikes continue in Gaza.

Israel approves ceasefire-hostage deal but violence continues.

Israeli soldiers refuse to fight in Gaza, citing ethical concerns and mental anguish.

Israel and Hamas resume ceasefire talks amid ongoing violence in Gaza.

Sources include:

MiddleEastEye.net

NBCNews.com

TimesofIsrael.com

Brighteon.com
Urgent update on Jeremy Brown: J6 political prisoner has now gone missing

We have an urgent and worrisome update on our three-year-old Jeremy Brown exclusive. Jeremy, a J6 political prisoner, may now be in grave danger.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

If youre not familiar with Jeremy, heres a quick rundown. First off, Jeremy is a hero. He served his country with honor as an elite Green Beret. But his life took a dramatic turn when he became a whistleblower, claiming federal agents were attempting to coerce and bribe him.

Thats when everything changed.

@laralogan talks about how Jeremy Brown was set up by the Feds after he recorded and released their attempts to bribe and coerce him to be a snitch inside the Oath Keepers. Now a corrupt Judge and system are trying to hold him in defiance of Trump's orders pic.twitter.com/EjxqpBbIDx  Bama_Jeans (@bamajayt) January 22, 2025

We first covered this explosive story back in October 2021two full years before Oath Keepers leader Stuart Rhodes was charged with seditious conspiracy. At the time, we highlighted the glaring double standard: Brown and Rhodes faced the same trespassing charges  actually, Rhodess situation was arguably worse  but Rhodes was handled with kid gloves, while Brown was treated like a card-carrying member of ISIS. Given the circumstances back then, it was only logical to question that Rhodes might be a federal asset, much like the bizarre Ray Epps situation.

Revolver:

Just last Thursday, in fact, approximately 20 FBI vehicles swooped in on the home of Oath Keepers associate Jeremy Brown, searched his belongings for five and a half hours, and took all of his phones and electronics. The feds justified their entire raid on Brown on a minor alleged trespassing offense. [] The Justice Department explained in its peculiar arrest affidavit for Brown, an Army Green Beret veteran and Oath Keeper associate, that anyone who set foot anywhere in a giant swath of land ranging from the Capitols West side lawn to its East side promenade is technically guilty of trespassing: Under ordinary circumstances, these grounds are open to the public, not restricted. But because law enforcement erected some police barriers and fencing there on January 6  barriers that were all but removed before most of the attendees even arrived at the Capitol  thousands of Trump supporters unknowingly crossed an imaginary Maginot Line. Effectively, they walked into a booby trap. When the FBI arrested Oath Keeper associate Jeremy Brown last week for trespassing, they said he was standing on the East side promenade, and therefore, he was technically more than 100 feet within the restricted grounds. [] Green Beret veteran Jeremy Brown, who was charged with trespassing for merely standing in front of the East side steps  the very steps that Stewart Rhodes was actually standing on. The prosecution of Brown for such a minor crime, after so long a time, is an extremely curious development. Browns arrest on September 30 comes nine months after January 6. So much time had elapsed that the DOJs Capitol Breach Cases site, which for months was pinned to the top of the Justice.gov sidebar, is gone from the homepage. One would think, at this point, new cases would only arise because of new evidence. But it was not new evidence that caused the FBI to arrest Jeremy Brown. They knew exactly where Brown was on January 6. Per the FBIs affidavit, the FBI even called Brown directly, both on January 6 and again on January 7. Brown plainly told them where he was. The FBI even served a search warrant on Verizon, on January 6 itself, which identified Browns cell phone coordinates as being inside the Capitol restricted grounds.

You can read the entire piece here:

Federal Foreknowledge or Federal Incitement? Arrest of Green Beret Oath Keeper Threatens to Expose FBIs Darkest 1/6 Secrets

But, as youd expect, theres so much to the story surrounding Jeremy Brown.

Truth in Media:

Jeremy Brown is a decorated veteran who spent 20 years in the U.S Army Special Forces. Hes also serving an 87-month sentence in federal prison over his activities on Jan. 6. In Dec. 2022, the government convicted him of possessing illegal guns, explosives, and a national security document. But Jeremy says theres more to his story  much more

Jeremy Brown is a decorated veteran who spent 20 years in the U.S Army Special Forces. Hes also serving an 87-month sentence in federal prison over his activities on Jan. 6. In Dec. 2022, the government convicted him of possessing illegal guns, explosives, and a national pic.twitter.com/R9XYOqdJsQ  Truth In Media (@Truth_InMedia) July 3, 2024

Now, we have an urgent and very concerning update on this ongoing story. After President Trump pardoned the J6 political prisoners, Jeremy Brown suddenly disappeared. More on that, in a moment.

They are blatantly defying the pardon issued by the President of the United States  the highest authority in the nation.

The bureau of prisons is refusing to honor the pardon of Green Beret Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown. They need to start arresting people until they comply.  PAMELA HENSLEY?? (@PamelaHensley22) January 24, 2025

Former CBS reporter Laura Logan has an update on Jeremys disappearance.

Jan 6 defendant Jeremy Brown called his girlfriend at 4:16am to tell her he was being moved. No one has heard from him since  so as of now, his attorney and his family has no idea where he is. His cell mate, another J6 defendant, was also told he was being moved. The White House needs to order the Marshalls to release these people now. Jeremys mom, Lisa, (in the blue sweater) wants her son back. He served his country with distinction & refused to snitch on the Oathkeepers. This man was targeted, subject to illlegal search & seizure & punished for exposing the two federal agents who tried to recruit him.

Jan 6 defendant Jeremy Brown called his girlfriend at 4:16am to tell her he was being moved. No one has heard from him since - so as of now, his attorney and his family has no idea where he is. His cell mate, another J6 defendant, was also told he was being moved. The White House  Lara Logan (@laralogan) January 23, 2025

Rumors are swirling that Brown may have been moved to a Pennsylvania prison facility, potentially putting his life in danger.

Garrett Soldano:

We cant leave one of our own behind. They still havent released Green Beret, Jeremy Brown. The U.S. Marshals are likely to drag Jeremy out of the D.C. gulag in 36 hrs. and move him to Philly FDC. That hellhole can be described as inmate gang and tribe run. I think there is a hope that he will be killed in detention.

We cant leave one of our own behind. They still havent released Green Beret, Jeremy Brown. The U.S. Marshals are likely to drag Jeremy out of the D.C. gulag in 36 hrs. and move him to Philly FDC. That hellhole can be described as inmate gang and tribe run. I think there is a pic.twitter.com/7zyevZpxwX  Garrett Soldano (@GrassrootArmy) January 24, 2025

Jeremy released a statement claiming he was initially told hed be released, only to later be informed it was a so-called mistake.

Lara Logan argues that the motion to dismiss Jeremy Browns charges should stand. Its not a state issue; the warrant was signed in DC.

Theres no evidence his release was a mistake  and absolutely no justification for his sudden disappearance.

Govt motion to dismiss the charges agst Jeremy Brown in DC - should apply to all the charges stemming from his Jan 6 case, including the illegal search warrant executed in Florida that was signed in DC. pic.twitter.com/1gVbOZHeNU  Lara Logan (@laralogan) January 23, 2025

Heres a closeup of the image Laura shared:

Where is Jeremy? As of now, his whereabouts remain unknown. What we do know is that hes not the only J6 political hostage  but his case is by far the most concerning at the moment. The good news is that Roger Stone is all over this, along with the other cases of political J6 prisoners being held captive despite receiving a presidential pardon.

January 6 victims Jeremy Brown, Jonathan Mellis, and Ben Martin are still in custody because of legal dirty tricks by the corrupt Biden DOJ. I will not rest until these victims are free. In fact, Im working on it right now. pic.twitter.com/ckr4qnVpe4  Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) January 23, 2025

One things for certain: theories are swirling online about why the regime holdovers and Deep State power players are so desperate to keep Jeremy Brown silent.

CannCon:

We must get Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown out safelyheres one of many reasons why: Could this possibly have anything to do with why the Federal Government tried to BURY Jeremy Brown w/ planted evidence?? Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown, Green Beret and one of the operators on the Bowe Bergdahl rescue mission claims that the classified document he was convicted on (which he didnt actually have) had incriminating information about treason committed by the Obama administration regarding the Bergdahl raid. Thank you for allowing me to share this, Sean!

?We must get Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown out safely...here's one of many reasons why: Could this possibly have anything to do with why the Federal Government tried to BURY Jeremy Brown w/ planted evidence?? Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown, Green Beret and one of the operators on pic.twitter.com/DzcChCUCNZ  CannCon (@CannConActual) January 23, 2025

Read more at: Revolver.news
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem halts grant funding to NGOs caught facilitating illegal immigration

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem halts all grant funding to NGOs aiding illegal migrants.

Review to last 90 days to ensure taxpayer dollars are used for border security.

Under the Biden regime, NGOs misused millions in federal funds to incentivize illegal crossings.

Noem aims to enforce President Trumps promises on border security and deportation.

Noem cuts off funds to NGOs facilitating illegal invasion

In a move that sent shockwaves through the progressive community, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday that all grant funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) facilitating illegal immigration has been halted. The decision, made public during an interview on Fox Newss Will Cain Show, comes in the wake of recent accusations that these NGOs have been misusing millions of taxpayer dollars to incentivize illegal crossings into the United States.

Noems remarks underscored deep concerns about the misuse of federal funds. Its amazing to me the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent by the federal government that has been sent to NGOs to facilitate this invasion of our country, she told Cain. So, Ive taken action to stop those funds, to reevaluate them, and to make sure that were actually using the taxpayer dollars in a way that strengthens this country that keeps us safe.

The 90-Day review and its implications

The halt in funding will be followed by a 90-day review, during which Noems department will reevaluate the utilization of the funds previously allocated to these organizations. The secretary emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability in government spending, stating, I think people are curious when we look at grants that are given out by federal agencies at how theyre utilized, and that evaluation needs to be done.

The decision to suspend funding is not without precedent. In 2023, NewsNation reported that NGOs were using federal dollars to move illegal immigrants around the country and that the Biden administrations DHS had failed to keep track of which groups were receiving money and how the funds were being spent. This lack of oversight, critics argue, has enabled NGOs to exploit their status for political gain, acting as magnets for illegal border crossings.

Texas Congressmans Lance Gooden weighs in

Texas Republican Lance Gooden provided a detailed explanation of his opposition to funding NGOs that cater to illegal migrants. In a statement posted on his congressional website, Gooden wrote, These organizations, understanding the benefits of NGO status, have been exploiting the humanitarian banner to incentivize illegal immigration across our borders. They receive taxpayer dollars to house, feed, and transport illegal immigrants across the United States. Their services act as a magnet for illegal immigrants looking to enter our country.

Goodens concerns are shared by many in Congress who view such practices as undermining the efforts of individuals who have gone through the legal process to immigrate into the United States. When NGOs enable illegal border crossings, they create avenues that can be exploited by individuals who pose a risk to our security, he added, concluding, This practice undermines the efforts of countless individuals whove gone through the legal process to immigrate into our country.

Noems decision marks a significant shift in the administrations approach to addressing illegal immigration. By halting funding to NGOs accused of facilitating illegal crossings, the DHS chief is taking a bold step towards enforcing President Trumps promises on border security and deportation. The 90-day review will undoubtedly shed light on the misuse of federal funds and provide a roadmap for more effective and accountable government spending. In a time when security and accountability are paramount, the actions of Kristi Noem serve as a clarion call to action, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used to strengthen and protect the nation.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

X.com

Enoch, Brighteon.ai
Too little, too late? Meta abandons fact-checkers for crowdsourced moderation

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would transition from relying on fact-checkers to a crowdsourced system similar to community notes on X (formerly Twitter).

The new system has been met with skepticism, particularly from experts like Dr. Matthew Wielicki, who believes it's "too little too late." Critics argue that Facebook's approach to climate-related content remains unchanged and that the company has a history of censoring voices that challenge the prevailing narrative on climate change.

There are several cases where Facebook's fact-checkers labeled truthful content as "disinformation" or "misleading." Examples include Bjorn Lomborg's claim about deaths from cold and heat, John Stossel's video on California forest fires and Dr. Roger Pielke Jr.'s post about weather-related natural disasters.

The move raises concerns about the potential bias in fact-checking organizations like Climate Feedback, with documented instances of inaccurate or misleading fact checks. These issues have led to legal action, such as Stossel's defamation lawsuit against Facebook, which was ultimately dismissed because fact checks are opinions.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook's content moderation system would transition from relying on fact-checkers to a crowdsourced system similar to community notes on X, formerly known as Twitter. However, critics argue that the company's approach to climate-related content remains unchanged.

For years, Facebook has faced criticism for censoring voices that challenge the prevailing narrative on climate change, including those of credentialed experts and Nobel Prize recipients. The new system, which is set to take effect, promises to foster open debate on climate and energy issues, but many skeptics remain unconvinced.

Dr. Matthew Wielicki, a former assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama, expressed skepticism about the change. "I don't really go over there much. I don't see myself going back either. Too little too late," Wielicki said. (Related: Zuckerberg faces backlash as leaked recordings reveal Facebook's alleged role in censoring COVID-19 vaccine dissent.)

Facebook's fact checks often inaccurate

Facebook has a long history of labeling truth as "disinformation."

One notable case involves a post by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish political scientist and president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center. Lomborg's claim, based on a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, stated that nine times more people die globally from the cold than from the heat. This assertion implies that, as temperatures rise, deaths from temperature extremes are actually decreasing. However, Facebook's fact-checkers, with the assistance of Climate Feedback, deemed this claim as false, leading to its censorship.

Lomborg has since provided extensive documentation on his website, defending his claims and demonstrating that Facebook's fact check was inaccurate.

Another case involves John Stossel, a prominent journalist and commentator, who faced "shadow banning" for a video discussing the impact of government mismanagement on California's forest fires. Stossel argued that the video did not dispute the impact of climate change on forest fires but rather emphasized the role of government mismanagement in exacerbating the situation. Climate Feedback, however, labeled the video as "misleading," leading to its reduced visibility on Facebook.

Stossel responded by filing a defamation lawsuit against Facebook in federal court. However, the case was dismissed when Meta, Facebook's parent company, argued that its fact checks are mere opinions and therefore not subject to defamation claims.

Dr. Roger Pielke Jr., a retired professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, also found his post removed from Facebook without any explanation. Pielke alleged that an MIT scientist working for Climate Feedback had incorrectly claimed that "weather-related natural disasters have been increasing greatly," which he stated was demonstrably false.

Stossel has documented five additional instances where Climate Feedback's fact checks were deemed misleading or false, further raising concerns about the organization's accuracy and potential bias.

Head over to Censorship.news for similar stories.

Watch this Fox Business report about Rob Flaherty's involvement in the VIP censorship portal used by Facebook to silence content critical of COVID-19.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Zuckerberg exposes Biden admin's 'screaming' demands to censor COVID posts.

Zuckerberg slams Biden for censoring vaccine opposition, takes aim at Apple in Rogan.

Zuckerberg: Biden admin pressured Meta to censor posts about COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

Zuckerberg's sudden censorship thaw is not free speech.

Zuckerbergs Rogan interview exposes Big Pharmas grip on COVID censorship.

Sources include:

ClimateDepot.com

Brighteon.com
Putin declares Zelensky illegitimate, stalls peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "illegitimate" and lacks the authority to sign peace agreements, citing a decree Zelensky issued on Sept. 30, 2022, banning negotiations with Russia and Putin's claim that Zelensky's term ended in May 2024.

Zelensky's decree banning negotiations was a response to Russia's illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. Putin argues that the decree can only be revoked by the speaker of Ukraine's parliament, who should have become the acting president after Zelensky's term.

Constitutional lawyers dispute Putin's claims, stating that under martial law, Zelensky's term can be extended, and his presidency remains legitimate as per the Ukrainian Constitution, which allows the parliament to extend its term during martial law.

The international community recognizes Zelensky as the legitimate leader of Ukraine, complicating peace efforts as Putin's stance effectively stalls direct negotiations. Russia's claims of illegitimacy are used in propaganda to discredit the Ukrainian government.

The conflict remains at an impasse, with the legitimacy of Zelensky's presidency and the legal framework under martial law being key points of debate. The international community continues to push for a peaceful resolution, but the path to peace is uncertain.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his stance that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "illegitimate" and lacks the authority to sign any peace agreements, according to an interview broadcast on Jan. 28 with state TV channel Rossiya 1. This declaration comes as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to strain international relations and humanitarian conditions on the ground.

Putin's assertion hinges on a decree issued by Zelensky on Sept. 30, 2022, which banned negotiations with Russia, specifically with Putin himself. This decree was a response to Russia's illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. Putin argues that because Zelensky's presidential term officially ended in May 2024, he is no longer a legitimate leader and cannot revoke the ban.

"Negotiations can be held with anyone. But due to Zelensky's illegitimacy, he has no right to sign anything," Putin stated. "If Zelensky wants to take part in talks, I will delegate people who will conduct such talks. But the key issue is the ultimate signing of the documents."

The legitimacy of Zelensky's presidency under martial law has been a point of contention. Under martial law, which was imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, presidential, parliamentary and local elections are banned. According to Putin, the decree can only be revoked by the speaker of Ukraine's parliament, who should have become the acting president after Zelensky's term expired.

However, leading constitutional lawyers and legal experts dispute Putin's claims. They argue that the Ukrainian Constitution allows for the extension of Zelensky's term under martial law and that his presidency remains legitimate. The constitution states that the president of Ukraine, even under martial law, cannot extend his term, but the representative branch, the Ukrainian parliament, can have its term extended.

"If there is a will, any issue of a legal nature can be resolved. But so far, we haven't seen such willingness," Putin said, suggesting that the Ukrainian leadership could find a way out of this situation by having the parliament circumvent the ban.

International implications and future prospects

The ongoing conflict has drawn significant international attention, with major powers and organizations calling for a peaceful resolution. Putin's stance complicates these efforts, as it effectively stalls any direct negotiations with Zelensky, who remains the recognized leader of Ukraine by the international community. (Related: Zelensky demands U.S. troops put their lives on the line in Ukraine for peace deal.)

Russia has used the claim of Zelensky's illegitimacy in its propaganda to discredit the Ukrainian government. This narrative is likely to influence public opinion and international diplomacy, making it crucial for legal and constitutional experts to provide clear and authoritative interpretations.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains at an impasse, with Putin's latest statements adding another layer of complexity to the negotiations. While the international community continues to push for a resolution, the legitimacy of Zelensky's presidency and the legal framework under martial law will be key points of debate. The path to peace remains uncertain, but the stakes are high, and the world watches closely as these developments unfold.

Head over to RussiaReport.news to be updated on the ongoing war of Russia against Ukraine.

Watch the video below that talks about the U.S. officially declaring that Ukraine's capitulation is inevitable.

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Putin ready to meet Trump on Ukraine War amid tariff threats.

Ukraine's Zelensky demands U.S. isolate from Russia, cut off communications.

Trump and Putin set stage for high-stakes meeting amid Ukraine war stalemate.

Zelensky willing to sign peace deal with Russia in exchange for NATO membership.

Russia pondering an Oreshnik missile strike on Zelensky's HQ in Kyiv.

Sources include:

RT.com

En.MehrNews.com

Brighteon.com
RFK Jr. pledges to reject Big Pharma money in heated confirmation hearing

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to reject financial ties to drug companies, medical device makers, or insurers for four years post-office during his HHS confirmation hearing.

His commitment breaks from the "revolving door" trend of former officials joining the pharmaceutical industry, addressing concerns of regulatory capture.

Kennedy criticized industries profiting from illness, vowing to prioritize public health over corporate profits, a stance that has rattled the pharmaceutical sector.

Senator Elizabeth Warrens tough questioning backfired, as Kennedys confident responses highlighted his integrity and resolve, earning conservative praise.

If confirmed, Kennedy aims to reshape health policy, signaling a potential shift away from Big Pharmas influence on government.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trumps nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, vowed during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday to reject any financial ties to drug companies, medical device manufacturers, or health insurers for at least four years after leaving office. The pledge, made under questioning from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), marks a sharp departure from the revolving door between government regulators and the pharmaceutical industrya practice Kennedy has long criticized.

Kennedys commitment, delivered with characteristic wit and confidence, drew cheers from supporters in the room and applause from conservatives watching the hearing.

Who, me? Oh, yeah, Im happy to commit to that, Kennedy quipped when Warren pressed him on the issue. His promise underscores his broader mission to prioritize Americans health over corporate profits, a stance that has made him a target for critics but a hero for those fed up with the influence of Big Pharma on public policy.

A break from the past

Kennedys pledge is unprecedented. Historically, many HHS and FDA officials have transitioned to lucrative roles in the pharmaceutical industry after leaving government. For example, nine out of ten FDA commissioners from 2006 to 2019 went on to work for drug companies. This revolving door has fueled concerns about regulatory capture, where public officials prioritize corporate interests over public health.

Kennedy, a longtime advocate for vaccine safety and critic of the pharmaceutical industry, has made it clear he intends to disrupt this status quo. There are a series of industries that actually make money from keeping us sick, Kennedy said in a 2023 interview. You would think they want us healthy, but they actually make more money if we get sicker.

His nomination has already sent shockwaves through the pharmaceutical industry, with stocks dipping following his announcement. If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee 18 federal agencies, including the CDC, FDA, and NIH, giving him significant power to reshape health policy.

Warrens tough questions backfire

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a vocal critic of Kennedy, attempted to corner him during the hearing by questioning his commitment to avoiding financial ties to drug companies. However, her line of questioning inadvertently highlighted Kennedys integrity and resolve. Youre not going to take money from drug companies in any way, shape, or form? Warren asked. Kennedys immediate and unequivocal yes left Warren with little room to maneuver.

Warren also accused Kennedy of potentially using his position to undermine vaccine access, a claim he swiftly dismissed. I support vaccines, Kennedy replied, adding that Warrens accusations were misleading. Youre asking me not to sue drug companies, and Im not going to agree to that, Senator, he said, drawing cheers from the audience.

Conservatives praised Kennedys performance, with many calling it a masterclass in handling tough questions. RFK crushed it, tweeted conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Very proud of him. Confirm him, now!

A new direction for American health

Kennedys nomination represents a potential turning point in the fight against the pharmaceutical industrys influence on government. His commitment to rejecting financial ties to drug companies is a refreshing departure from the norm and a clear signal that he intends to prioritize public health over corporate interests.

As the hearing concluded, the room erupted in applausea testament to Kennedys ability to connect with his audience and articulate a vision for a healthier America. With Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate, Kennedys confirmation appears likely, though Democrats are expected to continue their opposition.

If confirmed, Kennedy will face significant challenges in reforming a system deeply entrenched with special interests. But his pledge to reject Big Pharma money is a powerful first step toward restoring trust in government and ensuring that public health, not profit, remains the top priority.

Sources for this article include:

TheNationalPulse.com

ZeroHedge.com

FoxNews.com
Trump ushers in new era of media engagement, prioritizes independent voices over Big Pharma-funded propagandist media

 The Trump administration announced a groundbreaking shift in media engagement, expanding access to the White House Press Briefing Room to include independent journalists, podcasters, and social media influencers.

 A dedicated New Media Seat will be added to the front row, marking a significant departure from traditional practices that favored legacy media outlets.

 Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized the administrations commitment to the First Amendment and restoring press credentials for 440 journalists whose access was revoked under the previous administration.

 The move reflects President Trumps successful 2024 campaign strategy, which relied heavily on alternative media platforms to bypass corporate media bias and censorship.

A new chapter for media access

In a bold move that signals a seismic shift in how the White House interacts with the press, the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will open the doors of the Brady Press Briefing Room to a broader array of media voices. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the youngest in history at 27, unveiled plans to prioritize independent journalists, podcasters, and social media influencers, challenging legacy media outlets that have long held sway in the briefing room.

The announcement, made during Leavitts first press briefing of President Donald Trumps second term, highlights the administrations commitment to engaging with a media landscape that has evolved dramatically since Trump first entered the political arena. The Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room, Leavitt declared, emphasizing the administrations intent to adapt to the changing ways Americans consume news.

The rise of independent media

The decision to expand access to the briefing room reflects a broader trend in American media consumption. Gallup polling shows that trust in mainstream media has hit an all-time low, with millions of Americansparticularly younger generationsturning to podcasts, blogs, and social media for their news. Independent media played a pivotal role in Trumps 2024 campaign, with the president appearing on popular platforms like Joe Rogans podcast and engaging with influencers such as the Nelk Boys.

Leavitt highlighted this shift, stating, Millions of Americansespecially young peoplehave turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media, and other independent outlets. Its essential to our team that we share President Trumps message everywhere and adapt this White House to the new media landscape in 2025.

The move also addresses long-standing grievances among independent creators, who have faced censorship, demonetization, and algorithmic suppression on Big Tech platforms. Leavitts announcement represents a breakthrough for these voices, offering them a chance to reclaim their place in the public discourse.

A seat at the table for independent and new media

In a symbolic and practical gesture, Leavitt announced the creation of a New Media Seat in the front row of the briefing room, a spot traditionally reserved for the press secretarys staff. The seat will be open to independent journalists, podcasters, and content creators who meet the administrations criteria for press credentials.

We are inviting independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for White House press credentials through our newly launched website, whitehouse.gov/newmedia, Leavitt said. Applications will be reviewed by her team and must pass the U.S. Secret Services security checks.

New media channels in the White House Press Briefing room, so far include:

 Real Americas Voice

 Turning Point USA

 The Daily Caller

 Breitbart

 Axios

 Independent podcasters and social media influencers (via the New Media Seat)

Restoring press freedom

In another significant move, Leavitt announced plans to reinstate press credentials for 440 journalists whose access was revoked under the previous administration. This White House strongly believes in the First Amendment, which is why we are working diligently to restore press passes to journalists who were wrongly denied access, she said.

The decision reflects the administrations broader commitment to press freedom and its belief that diverse media voices are essential to a healthy democracy. Leavitt also confirmed that respected outlets such as Axios and Breitbart will continue to have permanent seats in the briefing room, while encouraging creators from platforms like TikTok, blogs, and podcasts to apply for credentials.

As the briefing room evolves to include a more diverse array of voices, the implications for American democracy are profound. This shift is a testament to the enduring power of independent media and a reminder that, in an era of unprecedented technological change, the fight for Free Speech and sticking to Constitutional principles remains as vital as ever.

Sources include:

ReclaimtheNet.org

Politico.com

Livemint.com
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Startups are driving innovation across Australia and New Zealand, and the latest funding announcements showcase the diverse and ambitious tech ecosystem powering the region.

Here are the top funding highlights of the week:

Surgeons back $2M capital raise in AI medtech firm Medow Health AI

Australian AI medtech company Medow Health AI has secured $2 million in fresh capital as it partners with health technology group Magentus. Medow Health AIs co-pilot system automates medical reporting for specialist doctors, reducing paperwork and streamlining workflows. The companys technology is now integrated into Magentus systems Genis and Gentu, widely used across Australian medical practices. The AI-powered platform records specialist consultations, generates formal reports, and aims to cut wait times for surgery.

Spoony secures $1M as demand for accessible social platforms grows

Social app Spoony has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round led by Antler, NDIS provider Melba Support, and Trampoline as it expands globally. Designed for neurodivergent, chronically ill, and disabled users, Spoony is the first social platform built with accessibility at its core. Since its September 2024 launch, the app has drawn 22,000 beta users, with reports of a 25% reduction in loneliness, and a waitlist of 42,000. Founded in 2024 by Nicholas Carlton (CEO) and Kenneth Liang (CTO), Spoony is targeting a historically underserved audience, offering a stigma-free space for social connection.

LaunchVic offers $300K grants to lure VCs to Victoria

Victorian startup agency LaunchVic is offering grants of up to $300,000 to venture capital funds and angel groups willing to establish a presence in the state. The initiative is open to newly launched funds or those expanding into Victoria, including interstate VCs setting up local offices.

To qualify, VC funds must be targeting a $10 million raise, while angel groups must unlock at least $2 million in private capital. The grants wont be direct investments in funds but will instead cover setup costs, including legal fees, company registration, staffing, and capital raising support.

MyGigsters lands $1.1M Seed round to support gig workers financial security

Fintech startup MyGigsters has raised a $1.1 million Seed round to help gig economy workers manage their income and expenses with real-time financial insights.

The platform, which launched in 2022, leverages earnings and spending data to provide personalised financial advice. Backed by investors including Antler, LaunchVic, Startmate, and angel investors, the latest funding round was secured via a SAFE note, with both new and existing investors participating.

Icehouse Ventures closes NZ$122M fund to back Kiwi scaleups

New Zealands most active venture capital firm, Icehouse Ventures, has closed its second growth fund at NZ$122 million (A$111 million) to support later-stage tech scaleups. Growth Fund II, closed at the end of 2024, will invest in up to 20 companies, with several deals already completed.

It follows the fully deployed NZ$110 million Growth Fund I, which backed 32 startups, including Hnry, Tracksuit, Halter, and Crimson Education. Icehouse Ventures now manages NZ$454 million across multiple funds, cementing its role as a key player in New Zealands startup ecosystem.

Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Vietnam has become the second-largest exporter of fruit and vegetables to China, surpassing Chile and closing in on Thailand, with a turnover exceeding US$4 billion.

According to data from China Customs, in the first 11 months of 2024, China imported over $22.1 billion worth of fruits and vegetables from 10 countries. Thailand remained the top supplier with $6.8 billion in exports, down 19.4% compared to the previous year. Vietnam followed in second place, recording a 26% increase to over $4 billion.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, noted that Thailand's struggles due to unfavorable weather created opportunities for Vietnam, particularly in durian export. In addition to durians, Vietnamese bananas, dragon fruit, watermelon, mangoes and lychees have also overtaken Thailands dominance in China.

Vietnam is now seen as a serious competitor to both Thailand and Chile, the third largest fruit and vegetables exporter to China. The Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association believes that if technical barriers are addressed and the quality of fresh and frozen products is improved, Vietnam has the potential to become Chinas top fruit and vegetable supplier this year.

Durians are harvested in Cai Lay District, Tien Giang Province, Vietnam in November 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Nam

Chile, which has been a leading fruit and vegetable exporter to China for a decade, only reached $3.4 billion in 11 months of 2024. The U.S. came at fourth with $1.1 billion, marking an 18% increase from the previous year.

Despite its rapid growth, Vietnam's fruit exports face challenges, particularly with durians, which account for nearly 50% of the countrys total fruit and vegetable exports. China has recently tightened inspections for cadmium and Auramine O, a compound with the potential to cause cancer, which could impact export volumes.

Vietnam's overall fruit and vegetable exports reached a record-high $7.15 billion in 2024, up 27.6% from the previous year. The country has set an ambitious target of $8 billion in exports for 2025, with China remaining its largest buyer.

Nguyen warned that if the challenges are not resolved soon, achieving this goal will be difficult. To sustain growth, he emphasized the need for manufacturers and businesses to comply with new inspection regulations and strengthen supply chain partnerships to enhance product quality. He also highlighted the importance of investing in processed products to meet the standards of importing countries.

Currently, nine testing centers for Auramine O in Vietnamese durians are recognized by China, located in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and Ca Mau. Each facility can process an average of 100 samples per day, ensuring sufficient testing capacity for businesses. Vietnam and China have agreed to test Auramine O on both durian peel and flesh to ensure safety standards.
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Millions of women undergo episiotomies during childbirth every year, yet the mechanics behind these surgical cuts remain largely unstudied. A new research project is poised to change that, addressing this significant gap in women's health.

An episiotomy involves cutting the pelvic-floor muscles to aid delivery, a technique currently guided largely by a surgeon's personal judgment and experience. While intended to prevent severe vaginal tears or other complications during delivery, the procedure itself can lead to lasting pain, incontinence, infection, and sexual dysfunction.

The study is funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's BRITE program or Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances. It is a collaboration between UC Riverside and Northern Arizona University, or NAU. The funding supports experimental work lead by Mona Eskandari, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UCR, and computational modeling conducted by Heidi Feigenbaum, professor of mechanical engineering at NAU.

By integrating advanced experimental techniques with predictive computational simulations, the study offers a comprehensive approach to understanding childbirth mechanics and how different techniques affect the way an incision spreads.

The softening and stretching of pelvic-floor muscles makes them particularly vulnerable to tearing and it is important to understand how incisions made during episiotomies spread. The findings could pave the way for safer, more effective surgical practices that alleviate suffering for countless women.

Eskandari's bMECH lab is renowned for developing innovative techniques to solve complex and underexplored biomechanics problems. Her prior research includes using uniquely designed apparatuses and a cutting-edge imaging system-one of only two in Southern California-to study lung tissue and other soft biological materials.

This work is an exciting new way of studying tearing during childbirth. Episiotomies create very large stresses at the tip on the incision, making tears starting from there possible, potentially even likely. By understanding when and how the incision will grow, this research has the potential to make deliveries safer and less traumatic for mothers." Heidi Feigenbaum, professor of mechanical engineering at NAU

The stresses and tears associated with episiotomies are poorly understood. Human cadaveric testing is not possible, so the researchers are using related rat models to produce critical biomechanical data. The research team hopes its work will result in better guidance for surgeons, improving surgical outcomes and reducing the physical toll on mothers.

"In addition to informing clinical practice, this work could also challenge longstanding assumptions in biomechanics," Eskandari said. "For example, we're investigating how the nonlinear, finite strain, and viscoelastic properties of pelvic tissues impact the likelihood of tearing-something not traditionally considered in surgical planning."
Lethality and merit are the watchwords used by the Trump Administration as it seeks to restore and rebuild Americas fighting forces to meet the challenges ahead.

The executive order signed by President Donald Trump on January 27 states that the U.S. militarys lethality has been undermined in recent years by a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces.

These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness, President Trump said. It is the policy of my Administration that ... every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.

In a memorandum to senior leadership at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth noted: A foundational tenet of the DoD [Department of Defense] must always be that the most qualified individuals are placed in positions of responsibility in accordance with merit-based, color-blind policies. The DoD mission is to win the Nations wars. To do this, we must have a lethal fighting force that rewards individual initiative, excellence, and hard work based on merit.

In his first written message after assuming office, Defense Secretary Hegseth said that President Trump has given the U.S. military a clear mission: achieve Peace through Strength. We will do this in three ways, he said, by restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.

The U.S. military, Secretary Hegseth emphasized, will have high, uncompromising and clear standards. It will revive the defense industrial base, reform the acquisition process, and quickly incorporate emerging technologies. Deterrence will be reestablished by defending the homeland  on the ground and in the sky.

We will work with allies and partners to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific by Communist China, as well as supporting the Presidents priority to end wars responsibly and reorient to key threats. We will stand by our allies  and our enemies are on notice, said Defense Secretary Hegseth.

We serve together at a dangerous time, Defense Secretary Hegseth declared. Together we will accomplish the Presidents mission to deter war, and if necessary, defeat and destroy our enemies.
New research uncovers the dual nature of scratching an itch; although it can worsen skin inflammation, it can also boost immune defenses against bacterial infections at the injury site. The findings shed light on a pharmacologically targetable pathway that explains how scratching triggers inflammation, resolving the paradox of scratching as both a harmful pathological process and a beneficial evolutionary adaptation.

Scratching is a natural, instinctive response to the sensation of itching, and it plays a central role in many skin conditions and injuries, such as dermatitis and insect bites, where chronic itching can be a major source of discomfort. Scratching can aggravate the condition by promoting inflammation in a self-perpetuating "itch-scratch cycle," where the scratching intensifies the itch and can exacerbate the injury.

Yet unlike pain, which typically causes an aversion response, scratching can feel pleasurable, which suggests it might serve some adaptive benefit. However, the mechanisms by which scratching contributes to skin inflammation and whether the itch-scratch reflex offers any benefits to the host remain poorly understood. Using a novel genetically modified mouse model, Andrew Liu and colleagues explored how eliminating the function of itch-sensing neurons called nonpeptidergic 2 (NP2) affects the connection between itch, scratch and inflammation.

Liu et al. discovered that scratching activates pain-sensing neurons that release substance P (SP), which stimulates mast cells to increase inflammation, mainly by attracting neutrophils. However, while scratching can aggravate issues like dermatitis, it may also help host immune defense by reducing bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, during infections. Moreover, scratching can influence the skin's microbiome at the injury site, potentially preventing microbiota imbalances, although chronic conditions like atopic dermatitis complicate this.

According to the authors, the findings suggest that scratching serves both as a pathological driver of inflammation and an evolutionary mechanism to bolster protection against infection. "Beyond defining a previously unidentified neuroimmune itch-scratch circuit, the findings of Liu et al. may lay a foundation for discoveries to help people suffering from chronic itch," writes Aaron Ver Heul in a related Perspective.
Zika virus hijacks the skin of its human host to send out chemical signals that lure more mosquitoes to infect and spread the disease further, new research shows.

Zika transmission has been reported more than 90 countries as the spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus, as well as dengue and chikungunya, has increased over recent years as an effect of climate change and urbanisation. Yet surprisingly little is known about the factors that drive Zika transmission success.



A new study led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and published in Communications Biology shows that Zika causes metabolic changes in human skin that essentially transforms it from a protective barrier to a magnet for mosquitoes.



Their research shows that the Zika virus alters gene and protein expression in dermal fibroblasts, the cell type responsible for maintaining structural integrity in the skin. These metabolic changes increase the production of certain chemicals emitted through the skin, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), that are attractive to mosquitoes and encourage them to bite. Their findings are supported by an extensive meta-proteome analysis, a technique that examines the overall effect of the interaction of different types of gene and protein within an organism.

Our findings show that Zika virus isn't just passively transmitted, but it actively manipulates human biology to ensure its survival.



As Zika cases rise and Aedes mosquitoes expand their range, understanding the mechanisms by which they gain a transmission advantage could unlock new strategies for combating arboviruses. This could include developing genetic interventions that disrupt the signal transmitted through the skin which seems to be so attractive to mosquitoes. The possibilities are as intriguing as they are urgent." Dr. Noushin Emami, Reader at LSTM and co-lead author on the paper

Zika

Most Zika infections do not lead to disease, and those that do generally cause mild symptoms that last for 2-7 days.



Zika can occasionally cause more serious complications and can harm a developing baby if contracted by a pregnant woman.



This study was conducted in collaboration with Emami Lab at Stockholm University, alongside researchers from the Nature Research Centre in Vilnius, the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, Molecular Attraction AB, Umea University, Leibniz University Hannover, and the University of Greenwich.
Key cells in the brain, neurons, form networks by exchanging signals, enabling the brain to learn and adapt at incredible speed. Researchers of the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands (TU Delft) have developed a 3D-printed 'brain-like environment' where neurons grow similarly to a real brain. Using tiny nanopillars, they mimic the soft neural tissue and the brain extracellular matrix fibers. This model provides new insights into how neurons form networks, as well as a novel tool to understand in future how this process may change in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and autism spectrum disorders.

Neurons, like many cells in the body, respond to the stiffness and geometry of their surroundings. Traditional petri dishes are flat and rigid, unlike the soft, fibrous extra-cellular matrix environment of the brain. To resemble the geometric and mechanical properties of this environment, the team of associate professor Angelo Accardo designed nanopillar arrays using two-photon polymerization, a 3D laser-assisted printing technique with nanoscale precision.

These pillars, each of which thousand times thinner than a human hair, are arranged like tiny forests on a surface. By changing the width and height, or aspect ratio, of the pillars, the researchers tuned their effective shear modulus, a mechanical property sensed by cells when crawling on top of micro- or nano-structures' arrays. "This tricks the neurons into "thinking" that they are in a soft, brain-like environment, even though the nanopillars' material itself is stiff. While bending under the crawling of neurons, the nanopillars not only simulate the softness of brain tissue but also provide a 3D nanometric structure that neurons can grab onto, much like the extra-cellular matrix nano-fibers in real brain tissue," says Accardo. This influences how the neurons grow and connect with each other.

From random growth to ordered networks

To test the model, the researchers grew three different types of neuronal cells, derived either from mouse brain tissue or from human stem cells, on the nanopillars. In traditional flat petri dishes and 2D biomaterials, neurons grew in random directions. But on the 3D-printed nanopillar arrays, all three cell types grew in more organized patterns, forming networks at specific angles.

The study, published in Advanced Functional Materials and featured on its cover, also revealed new insights into neuronal growth cones. Accardo: "These hand-like structures guide the tips of growing neurons as they search for new connections. On flat surfaces, the growth cones spread out and remain relatively flat. But on the nanopillar arrays, the growth cones sent out long, finger-like projections, exploring their surroundings in all directions - not just along a flat plane but also in the 3D space, resembling what happens in a real brain environment."

In addition, we found that the environment created by the nanopillars also seemed to encourage neurons to mature." George Flamourakis, first author of the study

Neural progenitor cells grown on the pillars showed higher levels of a marker of mature neurons, compared to those grown on flat surfaces. "This shows that the system not only influences the direction of growth but also promotes neuronal maturation."

A tool for studying brain disorders

However, if softness is so important, why not just grow neurons on soft materials like gels? "The problem is that gel matrices, like collagen or Matrigel, typically suffer from batch-to-batch variability and do not feature rationally designed geometric features. The nanopillar arrays model offers the best of both worlds: it behaves like a soft environment with nanometric features, and holds extremely high reproducibility thanks to the resolution of two-photon polymerization," explains Accardo.

By better replicating how neurons grow and connect, the developed model could offer new insights into the differences between healthy brain networks and those associated with neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and autism spectrum disorders.
Montana lawmakers are grappling with what they can do to improve patient care and operations at the state's psychiatric hospital since realizing that the efforts underway to restore the troubled facility's good standing could take more time.

The nearly 150-year-old Montana State Hospital has recently struggled to care for patients and retain staff. The problems came to a head in 2022, when federal investigators yanked the hospital's federal certification  and funding  from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services because of a pattern of patient deaths found to be preventable, as well as injuries and falls.

Since then, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration has launched a complex and expensive overhaul of the Montana State Hospital's operations with the goal of regaining certification. That outcome may require years more work and tens of millions in additional funding from the Republican-majority legislature.

At least some lawmakers begrudgingly acknowledge the protracted scenario, reflecting on the time spent trying to pressure the state health department to move at a faster pace.

"I think it's going to be done when it's done," said Republican Sen. Dennis Lenz, a longtime lawmaker who sits on the health department's budget committee in the state legislature. "Its like telling your teenager, 'Come on, get your act together. Come on, put your clothes away.'"

Lawmakers in this session have the power to add or restrict money for Gianforte's health department and write laws related to state hospital oversight, admissions, and discharge processes.

Health officials in the Gianforte administration are neck-deep in efforts to renovate the facility, slow its revolving door of leaders, and increase staff retention. Lawmakers are instead turning their attention toward ways to strengthen mental health services outside the hospital  an effort urged on by other mental health care advocates.

"I think the future of the hospital, and whether or not it will improve enough to be considered meeting the minimum federal standards for a hospital, rests on whether or not Montana can build up its community-based services," said David Carlson, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, a federally appointed watchdog group that advocates for patients in state facilities. "They're so interlinked. And we're putting too much pressure on a singular hospital in Warm Springs."

The state hospital's campus, located in southwestern Montana near Butte, treats criminally and civilly committed patients. Inspectors decided to decertify the hospital after identifying numerous violations of patient care standards, including deaths, infection control issues related to covid-19, repeated falls, and medication mismanagement that amounted to "chemical restraints."

In the wake of that loss, the hospital's top-level leadership has rotated through five administrators. Medical staffers have strongly criticized new mandates and changing protocols. The facility relies on expensive contracted health professionals, and, until this month, a consulting firm to oversee the hospital's operations. Waitlists for the unit of criminally charged patients are persistently long, bogging down court cases and leaving suspects incarcerated in jails throughout the state.

In mid-January presentations to lawmakers, state health officials gave mixed reviews about how the hospital is improving.

The facility has discontinued the use of chemical restraints entirely, officials said, and recently hired a permanent CEO and chief medical officer. Doug Harrington, Montana's state medical officer, said the facility is also seeing more interest from prospective employees applying for open positions.

"The short answer is yes, things are changing. And it will take time; its not going to happen overnight. But the seeds have already been planted, and were seeing some of the fruit growing up," Harrington told lawmakers on the health department's budget subcommittee.

Harrington also acknowledged that the timeline for regaining certification from CMS was pushed back to 2026 due to physical repairs at the central hospital.

"When you start tearing the wall out, you frequently find fungus, black mold, infectious agents in the water of the cooling systems," he said. "We need to shut down an entire wing and move those patients somewhere else so that that can be sealed off and worked on."

Last fall, the state began moving patients to a 20-bed space in Helena leased from Shodair Children's Hospital to allow for the renovation of one of the hospital's wings.

In total, the Gianforte administration has requested that the legislature greenlight a one-time allocation of almost $61.5 million to continue to cover the cost of contracting clinical and nursing staff at the state hospital. The facility's two-year budget, including that request, is more than $167 million.

Another high-priority upgrade for the hospital is the creation of a comprehensive electronic health records system.

Funding for that project  approximately $27.6 million to cover all state facilities  was originally approved by the legislature in 2023. But state officials have yet to ink a contract for the electronic system, and they say the cost could change during negotiations with a future vendor.

The state estimated in January that the electronic records project, from development to implementation, would take three years. A spokesperson for the hospital said the department expects to have a contract signed and to begin that timeline in March.

Previous efforts to legislate change at the hospital are still in motion. Lawmakers passed a bill with bipartisan support in 2023 that directed the state to move patients with a primary diagnosis of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, or a traumatic brain injury out of the hospital and into community-based facilities better equipped to care for patients with memory issues and other cognitive disabilities.

The bill set a deadline for those patients to be moved by the end of this June. Jennifer Carlson, a former Republican lawmaker who chairs a committee to oversee that transition, said the department still has patients in residence who are subject to the legislation, but she's feeling optimistic about meeting that target.

Another bill from 2023 required the state health department to share unredacted abuse and neglect reports with Disability Rights Montana, the designated federal civil rights inspector. But since the law took effect, staff turnover and changing protocols at the hospital made for inconsistent application of the law, officials with the advocacy group said.

David Carlson of Disability Rights Montana, who is not related to Jennifer Carlson, said lawmakers' and advocates' time may be better spent this session on trying to reduce the number of patients that hospital staffers are struggling to care for. One strategy is to finalize the transfer of memory-care patients targeted by the 2023 law to community-based facilities, he said, and help grow local mental health crisis services.

Even with those changes, he added, the responsibility for high-quality patient care rests with the Gianforte administration and the hospital's leadership team.

Ultimately, if medical standards and internal protocols don't improve, David Carlson said, the last branch of government that can put a check on the hospital's operations is the judiciary. Disability Rights Montana has previously represented patients suing state institutions over civil rights violations and errors in patient care.

"Thats not a threat. Thats just a description of how this all works," Carlson said. "Accountability will come from some branch of government. The administration can embrace it themselves and get ahead of it. The legislature can lay it on there, or we can have the courts do it."
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) proudly announces the addition of two da Vinci 5 robotic surgical systems. This state-of-the-art technology is designed to enhance precision, control, and safety during minimally invasive surgeries, setting a new standard in patient care. These advancements align with Huntsman Cancer Institute's focus on successfully delivering world-class cancer care through innovative treatments.

This is a significant leap forward in robotic surgery. The force feedback technology provides instant, tactile information, allowing us to perform procedures with unmatched precision. This technology offers significant benefits to patients." Brian Mitzman, MD, MS, FACS, FCCP, Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator, assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the U, and medical director of robotic surgery for University of Utah Health

The introduction of the da Vinci 5 marks a major milestone in Huntsman Cancer Institute's commitment to delivering cutting-edge care to communities across the Mountain West. With robotic arms that mimic a surgeon's hand movements and enhanced visualization capabilities, the da Vinci 5 enables complex surgeries to be performed through small incisions, reducing hospital stays and accelerating recovery times.

"I am thrilled that our patients at Huntsman Cancer Institute will now have access to the Da Vinci 5," says Sachin Apte, MD, MBA, MS, Chief Clinical Officer at Huntsman Cancer Institute and physician-in-chief of the cancer hospital. "This innovative platform incorporates enhanced surgical senses and data analytics to not only enable our surgeons to deliver safe and effective care-but also to improve surgical performance. The Da Vinci 5 is a transformative advancement in minimally invasive surgery."

The da Vinci 5 offers a wide range of surgical specialties, and this versatility allows Huntsman Cancer Institute to offer minimally invasive options for a variety of complex procedures, including thoracic, urologic, gynecologic, colorectal, and head and neck surgeries.

Advancing surgical innovation

Huntsman Cancer Institute has long been at the forefront of robotic surgery. It was the first cancer center in the Mountain West to offer single-port robotic surgery earlier in 2024 and is now the first in Utah to offer the da Vinci 5 to patients. The addition of the da Vinci 5 expands Huntsman Cancer Institute's existing robotic surgery program, which now includes nine platforms across five sites.

"We are at the epicenter of robotic surgery," says Mitzman. "We have 38 active robotic surgeons and a robust training program that ensures we're always advancing our expertise. Our surgeons are not only performing these procedures but also teaching other doctors at cancer centers around the country how to use this technology."

Unlike traditional surgical procedures, the da Vinci 5 allows surgeons to receive real-time feedback and insights during operations. The system's artificial intelligence provides detailed analytics on each procedure, helping surgeons optimize their techniques.

"The platform's case insights can measure everything from the force applied during surgery to the efficiency of a surgeon's movements," says Mitzman. "These insights are invaluable for both trainees and experienced surgeons, helping us continually improve our skills and outcomes."

A patient's perspective

Denise Dailey, one of the first patients to undergo surgery with the da Vinci 5 at Huntsman Cancer Institute, shared her experience.

"I went home the next day with no limitations," says Dailey. "The recovery was a breeze compared to what other people have told me about traditional surgeries. I didn't need any pain medication after being discharged, and my breathing is completely normal."

Dailey was initially concerned about the impact of the surgery on her daily life. However, she was pleasantly surprised by the seamless recovery process and the compassionate care she received at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

"Dr. Mitzman's diagnosis was spot on, and instead of removing my entire lung, he was able to perform a wedge resection," Denise adds. "I even got my hair done the next week, and no one could tell I had been in surgery."

The future of robotic surgery at Huntsman Cancer Institute

Since introducing robotic surgery in 2005, Huntsman Cancer Institute has performed more than 10,000 robotic-assisted procedures, with numbers growing exponentially. Huntsman Cancer Institute plans to continue expanding its robotic surgery program by acquiring additional platforms, training more surgeons, and hiring specialists in robotic procedures.

"We are committed to being the best of the best in robotic surgery," says Mitzman. "This new technology is not only improving patient outcomes but also ensuring that our communities have access to the most advanced care available. We've doubled our robotic fleet in the past year alone, demonstrating our dedication to staying at the forefront of medical advancements."

Mitzman estimates that the new da Vinci 5 will be utilized in around 500 surgeries this year between the U and Huntsman Cancer Institute.
The World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates Niger for having met the criteria for onchocerciasis elimination, making it the fifth country globally and the first country in Africa to be acknowledged by WHO for interrupting transmission of the parasite Onchocerca volvulus.

Eliminating a disease is a significant achievement that requires tireless dedication. I congratulate Niger for its commitment to liberating its population from this blinding, stigmatizing illness that causes so much human suffering among the poorest. This success is yet another testament to the remarkable strides we have made against neglected tropical diseases and offers hope to other nations still battling onchocerciasis, demonstrating that elimination is possible." Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

Onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness, is a parasitic disease and is the second leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, after trachoma. It is transmitted to humans through the bites of infective black flies, primarily found in riverine areas. The disease primarily affects rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen, with smaller endemic areas found in parts of Latin America.

Effective country-led efforts and partnerships

Between 1976 and 1989, under the umbrella of the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP), Niger undertook vector control measures by spraying insecticides that significantly decreased levels of onchocerciasis transmission. Following the donation of ivermectin by Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD), areas still affected by lymphatic filariasis (LF) underwent mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin and albendazole from 2008 to 2019, followed by surveillance. Since ivermectin is effective against both diseases, and areas targeted for LF MDA were also endemic for onchocerciasis, this intervention also contributed to interrupting the transmission of the Onchocerca volvulus parasite.

Niger started preliminary assessments on interruption of onchocerciasis transmission in 2014 after stopping LF MDA in most areas. This was followed by entomological and epidemiological surveys which revealed that the combination of medicine and vector control had successfully eliminated transmission of onchocerciasis, as evidenced by the reduction in prevalence from approximately 60% to 0.02%.

In addition to the vector control interventions and the medicines donated by MSD, a key factor contributing to Niger's success is the partnership between the Nigerien government, WHO and nongovernmental organizations, which has helped mobilize resources and technical support. Continuous monitoring of the disease's prevalence and its impact has enabled timely adjustments in strategies and ensured the effectiveness of interventions.

"Onchocerciasis has long caused immense human suffering. It has also impeded the economic development of affected communities, driving people away from rivers, which are often lifelines for livelihoods," says Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. "Niger's success ends this burden for its people. It also positions Niger as a model for the elimination of neglected tropical diseases in Africa. The country previously demonstrated its leadership in public health, by eliminating Guinea-worm disease in 2013. Today, it takes another historic step forward."

Global progress

Globally, 54 countries have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease.

Niger joins four other countries that have been verified by WHO for eliminating onchocerciasis, all in the Region of the Americas: Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Guatemala (2016) and Mexico (2015).

In the WHO African Region, 21 countries have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease. Onchocerciasis is the second neglected tropical disease eliminated in Niger: the country was certified free of dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease) transmission in 2013.
President Donald Trump ratcheted up his administration's reversal of transgender rights on Tuesday with an executive order that seeks to intervene in parents' medical decisions by prohibiting government-funded insurance coverage of puberty blockers or surgery for people under 19.

Trump's order, titled "Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," is certain to face legal challenges and would require congressional or regulatory actions to be fully enacted. But transgender people and their advocates are concerned it will nonetheless discourage prescriptions and medical procedures they consider to be lifesaving in some cases, while complicating insurance coverage for gender-affirming care.

"It cant be understated how harmful this executive order is, even though it doesn't do anything on its own," said Andrew Ortiz, a senior policy attorney at the Transgender Law Center. "It shows where the administration wants to go, where it wants the agencies to put their efforts and energies."

The order is one of several Trump has issued, less than two weeks since taking office, that target the trans community. He has directed his administration to recognize only the male and female sex  and to abandon the term "gender" altogether. He ordered the State Department to issue passports identifying Americans only by their genders assigned at birth. He has encouraged the Justice Department to prosecute teachers and other school officials who help trans children transition, including by using their preferred names. And he signed an order that's expected to lead to transgender people being banned from military service.

"We're terrified. We cry every day. Hurting my family and my kid is winning politics for Republicans right now," said the parent of a transgender child who lives in Missouri and asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted. "Every bone in my body is telling me I can't keep my child safe from my government anymore, I can't keep my family safe."

About 300,000 American children ages 13-17 identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which researches sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. But the number who seek gender-affirming care is believed to be far fewer. An examination by Reuters and Komodo Health of about 330 million health insurance claims filed from 2017 to 2021 found that fewer than 15,000 patients ages 6 to 17 with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria had received gender-affirming hormone therapy and fewer than 5,000 had started puberty-blocking medications  though the annual number of such patients more than doubled over the five-year span.

Trump's order seeking to disrupt insurance coverage for young people, the Williams Institute said in a brief, "will likely at least limit the availability of gender-affirming care or make it more difficult to access in the short term and could increase risk for both providers and recipients of the care."

Much of what the order calls for would require rule changes or other federal guidance, which can take weeks to months. Though it is mostly directed toward government health insurance programs, the order could have private-sector implications, too, and is likely to face litigation from states or advocacy organizations.

Specifically, the directive intends to limit insurance coverage for hormonal or surgical treatments that help young people transition.

It directs the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to "take all appropriate steps" to end insurance coverage of such treatments. It specifically names several government programs such as Tricare, which serves the military and its dependents; Medicare and Medicaid; federal and postal health benefit programs; and the Foreign Service Benefit Plan.

"The aim here is clearly targeted at federally funded plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, but there's a lack of clarity as to whether it would impact other plans, such as exchange plans, where essential health benefits are required," said Lindsey Dawson, director of LGBTQ Health Policy at KFF, the health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News.

State Medicaid programs vary widely in their rules around transgender care, with a variety of limits or restrictions on what types of care can be covered for minors in just over half the states, according to a map provided by the Colorado-based Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank.

While little is likely to happen immediately from the order  one of more than 100 issued by the president since his inauguration last week  it could, nonetheless, have a chilling effect on medical professionals.

The order directs the Department of Justice to work with Congress to promote legislation that would allow children and parents a "private right of action"  the ability to file a lawsuit  against medical professionals who provide transgender care.

And the Justice Department was also directed to consider the application of existing laws to those who provide or promote access to gender care.

In addition, one section of the order directs agencies to "take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children," a move that could affect hospitals or medical schools.

Julian Polaris, a partner at the consulting firm Manatt, said the order "displays the federal government's willingness to use federal programs to restrict access to disfavored services even to providers and patients outside those federal programs."

The move drew immediate criticism from groups supporting LBGTQ+ people's rights.

"It is unconscionable that less than 24 hours after trying to take away Head Start programs and school meals for kids, President Trump issued an order demonizing transgender youth and spreading dangerous lies about gender-affirming care," Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote in a press release.

Because it defines "youths" as those under age 19, the order would apply the directives to medical treatments provided to 18-year-olds, who otherwise are considered adults in making legal choices, voting, or serving in the military.

"Theres also just a problem with not seeing young people as capable in making decisions around their health and their futures, and so blurring that line and trying to move it up and taking more control over more people is obviously concerning," Ortiz said. "But having the line hard at 18 also doesnt make it any better."

Ortiz noted that the order contains misinformation about medical care for young people who are transitioning and targets a small subset of U.S. residents: transgender youths in families that can access and afford gender-affirming care.

"That should be concerning to everybody," he said, "that they are pulling out populations to target, to say that, 'We dont think that you deserve access to best-practice medical care.'"

Trump's order explained that the action was necessary because such medical treatment could cause young people to regret the move later, once they "grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding."

KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith contributed to this report.
Union Budget 2025 Date And Time Today: When & Where To Watch FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Speech | Details Here

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News18.com

Last Updated: February 01, 2025, 09:58 IST

Union Budget 2025 Date and Time Today: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for the financial year 2025-26 on Saturday, February 1, 2025.

Union Budget 2025 Live Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman | File Image/PTI

India Budget 2025 Time Today: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present a record eighth consecutive budget for the financial year 2025-26 on Saturday, February 1, 2025.

The budget is likely to include measures to boost economic growth and relieve the middle class facing high prices and stagnant wages while maintaining fiscal prudence.

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The Budget session of the Parliament will be conducted in two parts: the first part will commence on January 31 and conclude on February 13, 2025, and the second part will begin on March 10 and end on April 4, 2025.

The Budget session commenced today, January 31, with a Presidential address by Droupadi Murmu, in which she stated that the government has one primary goalto achieve Viksit Bharatand assured that no one would be left behind in this journey.

What Time Is Budget 2025?

The Budget speech will be presented in the Lok Sabha at 11 am on February 1, where the Finance Minister will detail budgetary allocations and revenue projections for the upcoming financial year. After the speech, the Budget documents will be laid before the Rajya Sabha.

Where To Watch FM Nirmala Sitharamans Union Budget Speech?

The Budget speech will be broadcast live on News18 and all other news channels. You can also catch all the updates about Budget 2025 on News18.com. News18 will provide detailed live blog updates on the Budget speech, and political, industry, and market reactions.

The Budget speech will also be aired live on Sansad TV, the channel dedicated to parliamentary proceedings, and also on Doordarshans news channel, DD News. Additionally, Sansad TV will stream the speech live on its YouTube channel.

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This will mark Nirmala Sitharamans eighth Budget presentation in Parliament and her second under the Narendra Modi-led NDA 3.0 government.

Having delivered six annual budgets and two interim budgets, she has surpassed former finance ministers like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P. Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, and Morarji Desai in the maximum number of budget speeches.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:37 IST
Work Hours Exceeding 60 Per Week Could Have 'Adverse' Health Effects: Economic Survey

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News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:28 IST

'India's working hour regulations prevent manufacturers from meeting demand surges and participating in global markets,' says the Economic Survey 2024-25 citing studies.

Indian firms cannot adhere to applicable regulations without jeopardising growth opportunities and hurting investments and job creation, says Economic Survey.

Amid the 90-hour work week debate, the Economic Survey on Friday stated that spending long hours at ones desk is detrimental" to the mental well-being. It also said individuals who spend 12 or more hours a day at a desk have distressed or struggling levels of mental well-being.

While the hours spent at work are informally considered a measure of productivity, a previous study has documented adverse health effects when hours exceed 55-60 per week," the survey said, citing findings by Pega F, Nafradi B (2021) and A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury.

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However, the Economic Survey 2024-25 also cited studies that state that Indias working hour regulations prevent manufacturers from meeting demand surges and participating in global markets. It also said the various limits on working hours  per day, week, quarter, and year  often conflict, reducing workers earning potential.

Indias working hour regulations prevent manufacturers from meeting demand surges and participating in global markets. Manufacturers stay competitive by minimising the time to bring a product to the market (Afonso et al., 2000; Vesey, 1991)," according to the Economic Survey 2024-25.

It also said that to reduce time-to-market, manufacturers must be capable of temporarily scaling up production. Labour laws in other countries allow manufacturers to average working hour limits across weeks and sometimes months. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) also recommends allowing manufacturers the freedom to average working hour limits across 3 weeks. However, Indias working hour limits may increase the cost, time, and risk of manufacturing

According to Section 51 of the Factories Act (1948), No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than forty-eight hours in any week."

The Survey also mentioned another Section 65(3)(iv) of the Factories Act (1948) that states, No worker shall be allowed to work overtime for more than seven consecutive days, and the total number of overtime hours in any quarter shall not exceed seventy-five."

On the overtime, the Economic Survey cited another study to say this law limits the number of overtime hours workers can perform and the overtime wages they can earn.

This law limits the number of overtime hours workers can perform and the overtime wages they can earn. While states may set their own limits, these are generally lower than those established by other countries. The earning potential of workers across countries can be assessed based on the restrictions on overtime hours," it added.

The Economic Survey also advocated for longer labour hours during the surge in demand.

Given their economic capacity, Indian firms cannot adhere to applicable regulations without jeopardising growth opportunities and hurting investments and job creation. For instance, if there is a surge in orders during specific months in the year, exporting firms should have the flexibility to deploy more labour hours and lower them during lean seasons," it added.

What Chief Economic Advisor Said

After being asked a question related to working hours of employees, Indias Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran in a post-Economic Survey press conference on Friday said, Not everything needs a policy tweak or policy intervention. Some of it is in the natural self interest of businesses to be able to find a balance."

The Economic Survey & Mental Health

The Economic Survey 2023-24 recognised mental well-being as an economic issue and highlighted, in some detail, the increasing prevalence of mental health issues worldwide and in India and its likely impact on the economy. It emphasised a whole of community approach to tackling mental health problems.

Data suggests that mental well-being is not static; indeed, there are a myriad of factors, including workplace culture, hours spent working, and lifestyle, that influence mental well-being," it added.

The Work-Life Balance Debate

In October 2023, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy sparked a debate on the work-life balance after he advocated for the 70-hour work week. He had said that for India to compete with the fastest-growing countries like China and Japan, the youth must commit to working 70 hours a week.

The debate intensified with more industrialists joining the debate with the most of them supporting the idea.

The debate took on new dimensions when L&Ts Subrahmanyan recently echoed this ethos, but pushed the envelope further with a 90-hour workweek proposal, including Sundays.

The L&T chairmans comments, first circulated in a video on Reddit, suggested that employees should prioritise work over home life, questioning, How long can you stare at your wife?" Subrahmanyan expressed regret over the inability to mandate Sunday work, stating, If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays."

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However, on January 21, Murthy said no one can ask people to put in long hours, but it is for everybody to introspect" and understand the need for it.

I can say that I used to get to the office at 6:30 AM and leave at 8:30 PM, thats a fact. I have done it. So, nobody can say that no, thats wrong. And, I have done it for 40-odd years," Murthy said, while replying to a question on work-life balance after delivering the annual Kilachand Memorial Lecture at the IMC.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 15:40 IST
Budget 2025: Railways Eyes Big Boost For Faster Trains, Robust Infrastructure

Last Updated: January 25, 2025, 14:23 IST

The modernization of Indian Railways requires a multi-faceted approach, with emphasis on developing freight corridors, rolling stock, safety measures

Budget 2025: Railway Budget

To transform Indian Railways into a world-class system capable of meeting rising demand and complementing Indias economic growth, the budgetary outlay for Indian Railways in the union budget assumes critical importance. Approximately 40% of Indian Railways capital expenditure is supported through budgetary allocations from the union government, underscoring the critical role of these funds. With the Union Budget for 2025-26 on the horizon, there is considerable anticipation regarding the allocation of funds towards the modernization, safety, and expansion of Indian Railways.

Shortfall in Projected Capital Expenditure

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While significant progress has been achieved, with capital expenditure increasing by 77% over the past 5 years, there remains a gap between projected and actual capex. Of the 13.6 lakh crore earmarked for Indian Railways under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) from FY 2020 to FY 2025, only 9.59 lakh crore has been expended so far. Addressing this shortfall will likely necessitate a significant increase of 15-20% in allocations.

Key Focus Areas

The modernization of Indian Railways requires a multi-faceted approach, with emphasis on developing freight corridors, rolling stock, safety measures, and robust infrastructure. These areas collectively form the foundation for a world-class railway system capable of meeting the demands of a growing economy.

Dedicated Freight Corridors: Making Freight Faster and Smoother

Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) represent a transformative initiative aimed at improving freight efficiency and reducing logistical costs. Two flagship projectsthe Eastern DFC (connecting Punjab to Bihar) and the Western DFC (linking Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh)have already achieved significant milestones, with the Eastern corridor fully operational and large sections of the Western corridor functioning.

The next phase of development should focus on new corridors, such as the East-West (Maharashtra to West Bengal), North-South (Haryana to Tamil Nadu), and East Coast (West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh) DFCs, as envisioned in the National Rail Plan. These corridors hold the potential to enhance freight movement and further integrate the countrys economic hubs.

Trains Made in India: A Push for Local Manufacturing

Investment in railway rolling stock has risen substantially, with spending increasing from 27,000 crore in FY 2022 to 52,000 crore in FY 2024. Projections suggest a cumulative expenditure of 3 lakh crore by 2026. However, a significant portion of components such as wheels, brakes, and axles continue to be imported.

The introduction of a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for railway components would incentivize domestic manufacturers to produce these critical items locally. This initiative would reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, create employment opportunities, and support Indias vision of self-reliance in critical sectors.

Safety First: The Kavach System

Safety remains paramount for Indian Railways. The indigenously developed Kavach systeman Automatic Train Protection (ATP) technologyrepresents a major advancement in railway safety. The Kavach system has already been deployed across 1,465 route Kilometers and 144 locomotives on the South-Central Railway. A proposal to extend its implementation to an additional 6,000 Kilometers is currently under consideration. Given its critical importance, a substantial budget allocation for the Kavach system is expected.

Development of Associated Infrastructure

Developing supporting infrastructure is as crucial as modernizing trains and technologies. Projects like flyovers, bypasses, freight terminals, and passenger hubs play a vital role in eliminating bottlenecks, enhancing operational efficiency, and increasing network capacity.

The government has prioritized infrastructure development, doubling investments in flyovers and underbridges from 4,800 crore in FY 2022 to 9,200 crore in FY 2024. However, sustained progress requires a mix of budgetary support and innovative financing mechanisms like public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Budgetary allocations are essential for projects that are economically vital but not financially viable for private investors, such as flyovers and underbridges. In contrast, PPP models are better suited for revenue-generating initiatives like freight terminals, passenger hubs, and logistics parks. Given the push for infrastructure development, greater involvement of the private sector in the development of associated railway infrastructure is expected to be a key focus in forthcoming announcements.

The union budget for FY 2025 presents an opportunity to address existing challenges, prioritize key projects, and ensure a balanced approach to modernization and infrastructure development. With focused investment in freight corridors, rolling stock indigenization, safety measures, and allied infrastructure, Indian Railways can achieve its vision of becoming a world-class transport system.

As the nation moves forward, the modernization of Indian Railways will not only enhance mobility but also contribute to Indias broader aspirations of sustainable and inclusive growth.

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Written by: Megha Arora, Partner & Abhishek Rohatgi, Associate, Indus Law.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

First Published: January 25, 2025, 14:22 IST
President Donald Trumps emergency declaration regarding the southern border is already bearing fruit, as violent illegal aliens are being rounded up daily by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents, or ICE, and being deported to their countries of origin.



Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem recently went out on raids with ICE agents on the streets of New York City. After which she confirmed in an interview with Hannity on Fox News that We are picking up the worst of the worst in this country that are making our streets so dangerous.

[W]e did encounter and incarcerate a Tren de Aragua member, one of the ringleaders, he had warrants out for his arrest in Colorado. In fact, he was one of those that we saw on some of the video from that apartment building [in Aurora, CO] that they had taken over and had perpetuated so much violence there.

The captured Tren de Aragua, or TdA, ringleader is Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, wanted for kidnapping, burglary, and menacing in connection with the gangs violent takeover of several apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado. The arrest comes on the heels of President Trump designating both TdA and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations, which ensures that federal agencies treat these gangs as national security threats.

Secretary Noem credits President Trump for following through on his promise to make America safe again.

And that's exactly what we're doing. So going in all night long and doing these targeted raids against these criminal aliens was very specific. And were pulling them out. Obviously, we're going to gather more information about some more of the criminals that are out there.

Secretary Noem said violent illegal aliens have been responsible for so many American families losing their children to drugs and violence.

And we're going to get them out of here and make sure that we're continuing to build on that and know that the American people are truly being heard that they're being listened to, and that these agents are going out with the support that they need and the cooperation of local governments to do what they need to do.

Secretary Noem vowed to continue to remove dangerous criminals out of this country. ... When we find you, there will be consequences, and we will remove you.
Low Pace Of National Highway Awarding, Building Persists; 75% Work On Char Dham Mahamarg Pariyojna Completed: Economic Survey

Reported By :

News18.com

Last Updated: February 01, 2025, 01:19 IST

The pace of construction of national highways dipped from 6,216 km in FY 2024 to 5,853 in FY25 between April and Decemberan around six per cent drop. Awarding too has been impacted

In 2021-22, up to December, the ministry awarded 6,185 km of national highway projects. In 2022-23, awarding was done for 7,263 km of projects during the same period. Last year, in 2023-24, it was 3,111 km and this year it is 3,100 km, MoRTH data shows. Representational image/ANI

When compared to the April-December period of the last financial year, the performance of the ministry of road transport and highways in terms of new highway building and awarding was low in 2024-25, the Economic Survey shows.

The pace of construction of national highways dipped from 6,216 km in FY 2024 to 5,853 in FY25 between April and Decemberan around six per cent drop. Awarding too has been impacted.

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In 2021-22, up to December, the ministry awarded 6,185 km of national highway projects. In 2022-23, awarding was done for 7,263 km of projects during the same period. Last year, in 2023-24, it was 3,111 km and this year it is 3,100 km, MoRTH data shows.

Last year, News18 reported that in the first five months of the current financial year, the ministry managed to award just 1,152 kilometres of national highway projectsa six-year low.

The pace of road building for the April-December period was 22.6 km per day on average in FY24, which dropped to 21.2 km per day on average in FY25. On the other hand, when compared to 2022-23, with per day awarding at 26 km on average, the per day awarding this FY stood at 11 km.

Char Dham Mahamarg Pariyojna inching towards completion

Char Dham Mahamarg Pariyojnathe all-weather road to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath in Uttarakhandis inching towards completion.

The project connecting Char Dhams is spread over 825 kilometres.

As of 2024, road project to connect all four dhams through highways with a total length of 825 km and 620 km has been completed," the report said.

Being developed at a cost of Rs 11,700 crore, the deadline for the project was December 2024.

India needs a continued step-up of infrastructure investment

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The Economic Survey said that India needs a continued step-up of infrastructure investment over the next two decades to sustain a high growth rate.

Accelerating our efforts to build integrated multi-modal transport, coupled with the modernisation of existing physical assets, will improve efficiency and last-mile connectivity. Disaster-resilient urbanisation, public transport, preservation and upkeep of heritage sites, monuments and tourist destinations, as well as rural public infrastructure, including connectivity, call for greater attention. Our Net Zero commitments entail added stress on creating renewable energy capacities," it said.

First Published: February 01, 2025, 01:19 IST
TN To File Review Petition Against SC Verdict On Domicile Quotas In PG Medical Admissions

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:02 IST

Tamil Nadu will file a review petition against the Supreme Court's verdict striking down domicile quotas in PG medical admissions, citing its impact on state rights.

NEET PG: TN to file review petition in SC on domicile reservation. (Representational image/Shutterstock)

NEET PG Medical Admissions: The Tamil Nadu government has announced that it will file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the verdict on domicile-based reservation for postgraduate medical courses. A three-judge bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Sudhanshu Dhulia, and S V N Bhatti ruled that such reservations violate fundamental rights.

Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ma Subramanian said that the state follows a 69% reservation policy, which ensures social justice.

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Reservation is integral in Tamil Nadu to uphold social justice. The implementation of the order will affect the states rights," he told reporters on Thursday.

He added that the ruling would impact the 50% quota for Tamil Nadu students. Discussions with medical experts are ongoing, and after deliberations, a review petition will be filed in the Supreme Court, he stated.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot provide domicile-based reservations in PG medical courses and that state quota seats must be filled based on merit in the NEET exam. The bench stated, Residence-based reservation in PG medical courses is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution."

ALSO READ: JEE Main 2025 Session 2 Registration Begins Today At jeemain.nta.nic.in; Steps To Apply

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The court also clarified that there is no such thing as state domicile, saying, We are all domiciles in the territory of India. There is nothing like a provincial or state domicile. There is only one domicile. We are all residents of India. We have the right to choose residence anywhere in India and to carry out trade and profession anywhere in the country. The Constitution also gives us the right to choose admission in educational institutions across India."

While striking down domicile-based reservations for future PG medical admissions, the Supreme Court assured that students who have already received reservations will not be affected. The ruling came after students challenged a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that declared domicile reservations for PG medical admissions unconstitutional.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:02 IST
University Of Sussex Awards Honorary Doctorate To Noel Tata For Exceptional Business Leadership

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 15:18 IST

Noel Tata, a prominent leader at the Tata Group has received an honorary doctorate for his outstanding contributions to global business leadership.

Noel Tata has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sussex.

Noel Tata, a prominent business leader at the Tata Group has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sussex. The degree was presented by Professor Sasha Roseneil, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, during a private ceremony in Mumbai on January 30, 2024.

Noel Tata, who graduated in 1978 with a degree in Economics, expressed his gratitude, saying, My time studying at Sussex was a rich and stimulating intellectual experience that had a formative influence on me. It is a privilege to be presented with an honorary degree from the University of Sussex, and I would like to thank Sussex for this recognition."

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With more than 40 years of experience, Tata has played a key role in the growth of the Tata Group, particularly in expanding Trent, its fashion retail division. Under his leadership, brands like Westside, Star Bazaar, and Zudio grew significantly.

Currently, Noel Tata holds several major leadership roles, including Chairman of Trent, Voltas, Tata International, and Tata Investment Corporation. He is also Vice Chairman of Tata Steel and Titan Company. In 2024, he became Chairman of the Tata Trusts, furthering his commitment to ethical business practices and social impact.

ALSO READ: Delhi Colleges: Where Are 85% Seats Reserved And Who Are Eligible?

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Professor Sasha Roseneil praised Tatas achievements, saying, I am delighted to award an honorary doctorate to distinguished Sussex alumnus Noel Tata in recognition of his exceptional contribution to global business leadership. Noel is a highly respected leader in the corporate world and a champion of ethical business practices."

The University of Sussex is proud to honour Noel Tata for his outstanding leadership and the positive impact he has had on business and society.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 15:18 IST
AAP 'Stalling Delhi's Growth', Using City As Its 'Political ATM', Says PM Modi

Published By :

PTI

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 18:47 IST

Addressing a public rally in Dwarka, PM Modi urged voters to elect a "double-engine government" to accelerate the city's progress.

Delhi Election 2025 LIVE Updates: PM Narendra Modi (PTI file photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party, accusing it of stalling Delhis development while treating the national capital as its political ATM" to fund its ambitions in other states.

Addressing a public rally in Dwarka here, Modi urged voters to elect a double-engine government" to accelerate the citys progress. The term double engine" is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state.

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He highlighted the recently inaugurated Yashobhoomi convention centre as a testament to the BJPs vision for a modern Delhi. The BJP wants to make Delhi modern, and a glimpse of that can be seen in Dwarka after the Centre constructed the majestic Yashobhoomi here," he said.

Taking a swipe at AAP, Modi alleged that the party had drained Delhis resources for its political expansion elsewhere. AAP-da (the AAP disaster) has looted Delhis money and is using it to expand its politics elsewhere. They are taking money out of Delhiites pockets," he claimed and urged voters to free the city from AAPs rule.

AAPda turned Delhi into its ATM to serve its own political interests," Modi alleged.

The prime minister also targeted the Congress, accusing its shahi parivaar (royal family) of disrespecting President Droupadi Murmu, who hails from a tribal background.

These Congress people think they are the masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress royal family has once again been exposed," Modi said, reacting to Congress leaders remarks about the President.

The BJP has alleged that Sonia Gandhis referring to the President as a poor thing" demeans the high office and reflects her feudal mindset. However, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra clarified that her mother has the utmost respect for the President and that it is very unfortunate that her remarks have been twisted by the media".

At the ally in Dwarka, the prime minister criticised AAPs governance, accusing the party of getting embroiled in confrontations constantly. Over the past years, they have only been fighting  with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and with the Centre. If such people continue to rule Delhi, the city will keep lagging behind," he warned.

Emphasising the need for a government in the city that prioritizes coordination over confrontation, he said, Delhi does not need a government that thrives on conflict, but one that ensures solutions to all problems." Modi assured people that a BJP-led government in Delhi would take stringent action against corruption.

Recalling AAPs promises during Anna Hazares anti-corruption movement, he remarked, During Anna Andolan, they promised to change the countrys politics. The country is seeing how they betrayed Anna Hazare and the people." Modi accused AAP of spending only 20 per cent of Delhis budget on development while neglecting its infrastructure. AAP is not spending Delhis money on the people but on their own publicity. Those who live in sheesh mahal dont care about the houses of the poor; AAP is anti-middle class," he charged.

The BJP often uses the sheesh mahal jibe to attack AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal with allegations of corruption in the renovation of the bungalow he used as the Delhi chief minister.

As soon as the BJP forms government here, there will be a stricter crackdown on AAP-das corruption," Modi said, alleging the incumbent had tried to suppress a damning Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report.

The BJP has claimed that the CAG, in its reports, has been critical of some of the policies of the AAP-led Delhi government, including its now-scrapped excise policy for causing losses to the exchequer. A number of BJP leaders moved the Delhi High Court last year seeking a direction to the Assembly speaker to call a session to table the reports.

In the first session of the Vidhan Sabha itself, we will table the CAG report, which contains details of AAP-das scams," Modi promised people.

Reaffirming his commitment to Delhis development, he declared, I guarantee that the BJP government will not leave any stone unturned in Delhis progress." We have to together free Delhi from jhooth (lies) and loot. Its my dream to provide pucca houses to all in Delhi, but AAPda is working with full strength to ensure this is not fulfilled." The prime minister accused AAP of blocking the allocation of fully constructed houses to the poor while focusing on luxurious accommodations for themselves. Modi will help construct pucca houses for all poor in Delhi. This is my guarantee," he asserted.

Speaking about the Yamuna rejuvenation, Modi said, We helped revive the Sabarmati river. Delhis double-engine government will transform the Yamuna and its banks, changing Delhis future." Modi also announced that in the first Cabinet meeting of a BJP-led government, a decision would be taken to transfer Rs 2,500 into the accounts of Delhis women and described it as Modis guarantee." Continuing his criticism of AAP, Modi said, They have made grand promises, but where is the infrastructure? Where are the jobs they claimed they would create? Delhi deserves better than broken promises and political gimmicks." He accused AAP leaders of misleading the people. They talk about development, but all they have done is build a model of corruption. The people of Delhi are paying the price for their deceit," he claimed.

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Highlighting the BJPs contributions, Modi noted, The Centre has allocated thousands of crores for Delhis infrastructure, yet nothing changes on the ground. AAPs only achievement is empty rhetoric." He assured that if the BJP came to power, Delhis civic issues would be swiftly addressed.

From better roads to improved water supply, we will bring real transformation. No more excuses, only solutions," he declared.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 18:47 IST
Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 23:18 IST

Delhi Assembly Polling LIVE: With just a few days left for the Delhi assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed a rally at Delhis Dwarka and hit out at AAP on charges of corruption. During the rally, he also emphasised on the need of a double engine government in Delhi. Delhi needs a double engine government of the Central and State governments. You saw Congress in power for many years, and then AAP took over Delhi. You have given me the opportunity to serve the country again and again, and now give me a chance to serve Delhi also by forming a double-engine government, he said.

Targeting AAP over corruption charges, PM Modi said the AAPda, a reference to AAP-led govt in the city, has turned the national capital into its ATM.

AAPda turned Delhi into its ATM to serve its own political interests, PM Modi said.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) gave AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal time till Friday (January 31) to provide factual evidence related to his claims of poisoning of Yamuna river. The election body asked former Delhi Chief Minister not to mix the issues of increased Ammonia content and poisoning in the river. The EC had sent a notice to him on January 27 and Kejriwal responded to it on January 28.

Delhi Legislative Assembly election for all 70 constituencies is scheduled to be held on February 5. Results will be declared on February 8.
Delhi Poll Race: BJP Looks To Push The Envelope In The Last Lap With NDA MPs On Ground

Reported By :

News18.com

Edited By: Manjiri Joshi



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 18:27 IST

Delhi elections: The BJP has prepared envelopes for each MP, sharing with them the constituency that they will have to focus on, along with who will partner them

NDA MPs (left) after the meeting called by JP Nadda.

As the Delhi election campaign reaches its final leg, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners across the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to secure a win in the high-stakes battle against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Delhi will vote on February 5 and the results will be out on February 8.

On Friday, the BJP called a meeting of all its MPs from the NDA. The president of the saffron party and union minister, JP Nadda, has requested all alliance partner MPs to hit battleground Delhi to maximise its efforts and end the 27-year drought.

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Delhi, which has 70 assembly seats, has given three consecutive terms to Arvind Kejriwal as the chief minister. When Kejriwal was in jail, the AAP appointed Atishi as the acting chief minister, with Kejriwal announcing that once they win the elections in Delhi, he will return to the CMs chair. Delhi is the national capital, which sees the confluence of many regions and cultures.

THE DETAILS IN THE ENVELOPE: 2 MPS PER MANDAL, GROUND CONNECT

The BJP has asked two MPs to campaign in one mandal for the remaining period of the campaign. The saffron party has prepared envelopes for each MP, sharing with them the constituency that they will have to focus on, along with who will partner them.

The one-pager also briefs the MPs on their respective constituencies in terms of caste domination and other details such as the number of booths to focus on. This apart, the members have also been given contact numbers of every person working in that mandal, from the mandal president to the candidate of that assembly constituency.

THE PAMPHLETS

The envelopes also contain pamphlets. One of the pamphlets focuses on the work that has been done by the centre and what has been promised to the people of Delhi. It says that not only has the BJP decided to continue with the ongoing schemes if brought to power, but also that they have announced multiple schemes for Delhi.

The second leaflet focuses on the misgovernance and the role of the Kejriwal government, including the fact that more than half of the cabinet has been in jail. It also highlights the failed promises of the present government in Delhi.

As multiple leaders conduct rallies and roadshows, the NDA MPs will have to focus on ground connect, holding padyatras and door-to-door campaigns.

Nadda also explained to the NDA partners that this is a big opportunity for them to showcase the unity of the alliance and that in ones victory, everybody else should take ownership and pride.

It is also known that several NDA top leaders, including the likes of Chandrababu Naidu and Eknath Shinde, may also join the campaign.

The BJP-led NDA has given one seat to its alliance partner, Janata Dal (United), and also given one more seat to another alliance partner, LJP (Ram Vilas) Paswan party.

OPPOSITION SPLIT

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On the other hand, parties such as the AAP and Congress, which are both contesting the elections in Delhi, have seen a split in the mood of the opposition camp. Multiple parties in their alliance, INDIA, have chosen to campaign for Kejriwal and dumped the Congress.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has been canvassing for Kejriwal, while other parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Uddhav Thackerays Shiv Sena have pledged their support for Kejriwal, leaving the Congress on its own.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 18:23 IST
Armed Robbers Loot Gold Worth Rs 40 Lakh At Patna Jewellery Shop In Broad Daylight

Curated By :

Translation Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:43 IST

About half a dozen criminals entered the shop and fled with valuables worth around Rs 40 lakh, including gold jewellery and cash

CCTV footage from the scene is being reviewed in an effort to identify the robbers. (News18 Hindi)

In a daring daylight robbery, a group of armed unidentified men made off with valuables worth Rs 40 lakh from a jewellery store in Patna on Friday. As per reports, armed criminals carried out the robbery at Jiva Jewellery Shop located at Saguna Mod in the Danapur Police Station area of Patna.

About half a dozen criminals entered the shop and fled with valuables worth around Rs 40 lakh, including gold jewellery and cash. As soon as the incident was reported, local police arrived at the scene and began their investigation.

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Danapur ASP Bhanu Pratap Singh said the shopkeeper claims the total loss to be around Rs 30-40 lakh. He also mentioned that five criminals were involved in the incident.

CCTV footage from the scene is being reviewed in an effort to identify the culprits. The police team is thoroughly investigating the matter, and a raid operation has been intensified in search of the criminals.

Incidents of robbery at jewellery shops in Bihar have significantly increased in recent days.

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In Chhapra district, a major robbery took place at gunpoint at a jewellery shop on Thursday. Criminals looted jewellery and cash worth Rs 20 lakh from a shop in Kolwa market in the Sahjitpur Police Station area.

The criminals arrived on two bikes in broad daylight and began firing as soon as they reached the shop, causing panic in the market. The criminals also assaulted the shopkeeper and employees before fleeing with jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh from the lockers and showcase.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:43 IST
'Ask Farmers To Not Cultivate Tall Crops': BSF Directive To DMs Across Bangladesh Border To Stem Infiltration

Reported By :

CNN-News18

Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:12 IST

Miscreants, smugglers, and infiltrators often try to hide behind tall crops and foment trouble in the region

BSF has been urging farmers to look for alternatives instead of jute. (News18)

Border Security Force (BSF) Eastern Command has written a letter to district magistrates of all areas across the Bangladesh border to request farmers to not cultivate jute or other crops that attain height as infiltrators often use the tall foliage as camouflage to enter into India.

Sources told News18 that the letter was sent three months ago as part of a sensitisation drive for villagers.

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It is an opportunity for infiltrators and smugglers. Therefore, this letter has been written to DMs to persuade farmers to opt for alternatives," a BSF officer said. Sources in the administration told News18 that this is not the first time such a letter has been sent to district magistrates.

The BSF is keeping strong vigil in border areas, given the political instability in Bangladesh.

On Thursday, ADG BSF Eastern Command Ravi Gandhi, during an investiture ceremony in the presence of West Bengal Governor Ananda Bose, admitted that the forces role was challenging, but it had ensured safety across the border.

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The diversity here, the complete geographical border regions, the social equations, and ups and down of our relations with neighbouring Bangladesh make it very challenging to maintain a balance in our duties. However, the Border Security Force personnel, skilled and brave officers and soldiers, are handling their responsibilities very well while facing each challenge. Illegal infiltration and smuggling are major issues in this area, and modern technology is being used to monitor the border. Efforts are being made to win the trust of the border residents and make them aware of the damages caused by smuggling and infiltration. Due to these efforts, there has been a significant reduction in crimes, illegal activities, infiltration, and smuggling at the border."

Bengal and Bangladesh share a border that spans more than 2000 kilometres of which more than 500 kilometres is unfenced. Miscreants, smugglers, and infiltrators often try to hide behind tall crops and foment trouble in the region. Though the BSF has been able to thwart such attempts, sources say it becomes difficult to convince farmers to grow other crops as their livelihoods depend on agriculture.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:10 IST
Facial Recognition Test Confirms Sharifuls Role In Saif Stabbing, Father To Protest At Indian HC

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 11:58 IST

Sharifuls father is claiming that the Mumbai Police is framing his son for the attack on Saif Ali Khan.

Shariful Islam allegedly broke into the 12th-storey residence of actor couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in their Bandra home with the intention to rob the Khans. (IMAGE: X)

Father of Shariful, the Bangladeshi national arrested for allegedly stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan, will visit the Indian High Commission to protest the arrest of his son.

According to sources, Sharifuls father is claiming that the Mumbai Police is framing" his son in the stabbing case.

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The developments come amid Mumbai Police releasing the findings of the Face Recognition Test (FRT) it conducted which showed that Sharifuls face matches the suspect captured on CCTV footage from Saif Ali Khans residence. The FRT report has returned positive.

A Mumbai court on Wednesday refused the city police custody of Shariful.

It sent him to judicial remand noting that there was no fresh ground to extend his police custody.

The Bandra magistrates court after perusing the application submitted by the police seeking further custody said no fresh ground was made out.

Islam allegedly broke into the 12th-storey residence of actor couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in the upscale Bandra area with the intention of robbery in the early hours of January 16. When confronted by Saif (54), the accused allegedly stabbed him multiple times and fled.

He was arrested on January 19 from neighbouring Thane.

On Wednesday, the police pleaded for extension of the accuseds remand saying he was yet to come clean about the persons who helped him enter India illegally, and was providing incomplete information about his financial transactions.

A police team was sent to conduct an investigation in Kolkata and statements of relevant individuals were recorded, the prosecution told the court.

The clothes worn by the accused while committing the crime and during his escape, the weapon and the tools used in the crime, a gamcha" (towel) and a bag have been sent to the forensic laboratory for chemical analysis, the court was told.

The people who helped Islam enter India from Bangladesh were yet to be traced, the police said.

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As per the police, the accused changed his name from Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad to `Bijoy Das after entering India.

Saif Ali Khan who underwent an emergency surgery after the knife attack was discharged from the hospital after five days.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 11:56 IST
Gujarat Woman Disrobed, Paraded By In-Laws Over Extramarital Affair; 12 Arrested

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 20:47 IST

The woman, whose husband is serving a prison term for murder, was caught up in the violent episode by her in-laws, who suspected her of having an affair with a villager.

Representative image of Gujarat Police | PTI

The Gujarat Police arrested 12 people after a woman was dragged, paraded half-naked on a road and beaten in Dhalsimal village in Dahod district on January 28 over allegations of an extra-marital affair.

The woman, whose husband is serving a prison term for murder, was caught up in the violent episode by her in-laws, who suspected her of having an affair with a villager.

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A total of 12 people were arrested in connection with the case after a video of her ordeal went viral, said officials, adding that a search is underway to capture the other three accused.

A video of the incident that surfaced online showed her being paraded through the village, desperately pleading for mercy. However, the mob continued to torment her, dragging her along the road while she was still bound to a motorcycle.

The victims in-laws, suspecting her of having an affair with a villager, led a mob of around 15 people, mostly from their family, who captured and paraded her through the town," Dahod superintendent of police Rajdeepsinh Jhala said.

He added that the victim belongs to the Madari or Vadi community, a denotified tribe. She and her husband were daily wage labourers.

Her husband is currently jailed in Rajkot for allegedly murdering a man from the Patidar community, whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife when they were working there in the past," Jhala said.

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The accused have been charged with kidnapping, illegal confinement, assault on a woman, harming her dignity, and violations under the Information Technology Act, reported Hindustan Times, citing officials.

Location : Gujarat, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 20:46 IST
Over the past six months, Sudan has become a landscape of unspeakable scale of destruction and criminality, escalating the suffering of the Sudanese people, said Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan. In Darfur, he said, international crimes are being committed on a wide scale, in real-time, and atrocities are committed daily as a weapon of war.

Unfortunately, there are no heroes to come to the rescue of the people of Sudan.

Since the renewed outbreak of hostilities in April 2023, combatants have directed shocking cruelty and violence toward defenseless Sudanese, said U.S. Charge dAffairs ad interim at the UN, Dorothy Shea.

The brutal conflict has resulted in the worlds largest humanitarian catastrophe, leaving 638,000 Sudanese experiencing the worst famine in Sudans recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.

The United States does not support either side in this war. Both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan, said Ambassador Shea.

The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys  even infants  on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence, said Ambassador Shea.

Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies, she said.

The other belligerent, the Sudanese Armed Forces has also committed war crimes in Sudan. The SAF has committed lethal attacks on civilians, including widespread bombing of civilian infrastructure including schools, markets, hospitals, and theyve committed torture and extrajudicial executions.

Those responsible for these terrible crimes must be held accountable, yet many responsible for atrocities over 20 years ago in Sudan remain at large, said Ambassador Shea.

We urge the international community to work to bring those individuals to trial so they can be publicly held to account for their alleged crimes. The failure to achieve accountability decades ago is one reason conflict continues to burn.

The United States will continue to lead efforts to bring this conflict to an end, said Ambassador Shea.

The horrific acts of violence committed by the SAF and the RSF must end. The warring parties must allow humanitarian [assistance] to flow to Sudans civilian population. It is long past time to halt the killing, and to empower the Sudanese people in their pursuit of a peaceful and prosperous future.
'Why Was My Photo Made Viral?' Man Wrongly Detained In Saif Ali Khan Case Threatens Court Action

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 10:03 IST

Saif Ali Khan Stabbing Case: Akash Kanojia was detained from Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Kolkata Shalimar Jnaneswari Express at Chhattisgarh's Durg station by the Railway Protection Force.

Actor Saif Ali Khan | File Image/PTI

The man who was detained in Chhattisgarh as a suspect in the Saif Ali Khan case earlier this month said that owing to police action against him, he lost his job and a marriage proposal.

Akash Kanojia, who was briefly detained and interrogated, said that his photograph was shared widely despite him having no involvement in the case. He said, Why was my photo made viral? I want justice."

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Akash Kanojia was detained from Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Kolkata Shalimar Jnaneswari Express at Chhattisgarhs Durg station by the Railway Protection Force on January 18. He was released a day later.

The police action had severe repercussions for him and his family, Akash Kanojia said.

Whatever happened to me should not happen to anyone else. I am a poor man, and thats why I had to see such days. What if there was a VIP or a millionaires son in my place, what would they (police) have done? Such things happened to me today but they should not happen to anyone tomorrow. After such treatment, that dangerous feeling you get is unbearable," he said.

I was defamed so much. It is a question of someones life. I was not wrong. I had not committed any crime. Then why was my photo made viral? I am not capable of committing such crimes," he added.

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Recalling the events that led to his detention, Akash Kanojia said, RPF showed me my photograph. I told him I am Akash Kanojia. They asked me to get off the train. When I asked them why, they said the Mumbai Police have asked them to locate me. Since I knew that the RPF was doing its duty, I agreed to go with them."

He continued, After this, the RPF took me with them. They told me that they would not ask me anything or initiate any action against me. They asked if I was just running away? I asked them why would I run? I told them that if they think I have done something wrong, then they should call the Mumbai cops. As the cops came, I was interrogated. I told them I did not commit the crime."

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 07:40 IST
'He Will Change A Lot Of Things But...': Jaishankar On 'Nationalist' Donald Trump

Published By :

PTI

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 07:57 IST

S Jaishankar acknowledged that Trump's policies could bring significant changes to global affairs but asserted that India's foreign policy would continue to be guided by national interest.

S Jaishankar acknowledged that Trump's policies could bring significant changes to global affairs.

Emphasising strong India-US bilateral ties, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday described US President Donald Trump as an American nationalist".

Speaking at an interactive session at Delhi Universitys Hansraj College, S Jaishankar highlighted the evolving nature of global diplomacy and Indias approach to it.

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I recently attended his (Trumps) oath-taking ceremony and we received good treatment. I believe he is an American nationalist," S Jaishankar said in response to a question about whether Trump is Indias friend or enemy.

He acknowledged that Trumps policies could bring significant changes to global affairs but asserted that Indias foreign policy would continue to be guided by national interest.

Yes, he (Trump) will change a lot of things, maybe some things will be out of syllabus, but we have to conduct foreign policies out of syllabus in the interest of the country," he said, adding, There may be some issues where we differ, but there will be many areas where things will be in our shed." S Jaishankar also stressed the strong personal ties between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump, saying, Our relationship with the US is strong and Modi has a good personal relationship with Trump." During the session, S Jaishankar spoke about Indias growing global influence and changing perceptions about the country.

Even non-Indians now say they are Indians, they think it will help them get a seat on a plane somewhere," he said.

Reflecting on his career, S Jaishankar shared insights into his transition from academia and diplomacy to politics.

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I never thought I would become a bureaucrat. My entry into politics happened by accident, or call it fortune, or call it Modi. He (PM Modi) pursued me in a manner that nobody could say no," he said.

He highlighted that Indians living abroad still rely on their homeland for support and said, Jo bhi desh ke baahar jate hain, woh hamaare paas hee aate hain. Baahar hum hee rakhwale hain (Those who leave the country turn to us only. We are their caretakers outside)."

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 07:57 IST
'How Can He Leave For US?': Supreme Court Issues Arrest Warrant Against Father In International Custody Battle

Reported By :

LawBeat

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:08 IST

The custody battle for a 10-year-old child with autism took a dramatic turn when the father escaped to the United States to be with the boy after his 'health deteriorated'

The court directed the union home ministry to take every possible step under the law to arrest the man so that he is brought to justice. (File image/AFP)

The Supreme Court has expressed surprise over the escape of a man to the USA, even though he faced contempt proceedings before it, in a child custody matter and his passport remained in the custody of the court.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prashant Kumar Mishra directed the union home ministry to take every possible step under the law to arrest the man so that he is brought to justice.

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We are amazed as to how can the alleged contemnor/respondent leave for USA or for that matter for any country without a passport, as his passport is in the custody of this Court. Be that as it may, now today we have no option but to issue non-bailable warrant against the alleged contemnor/respondent. Non bailable warrant is hereby issued against the respondent, let the same be executed in accordance with law," the court said in its order on January 29.

The court asked additional solicitor general KM Nataraj to assist in the matter.

Nataraj shall apprise this court as to how the respondent was permitted to leave this country without a passport and leave of this court. With the assistance of Home Ministry, Govt. of India, he may also enquire and apprise this court as to who assisted the respondent in escaping from the country and who are the officials and other persons involved in this," the bench said.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on February 19, 2025.

The court was dealing with the contempt petition filed by the mans wife over his failure to comply with the terms of the settlement of their disputes made before the Supreme Court.

The bench framed charges against the man on September 9, 2024.

The marriage of the parties in the case at hand was solemnised on February 08, 2006, and later they moved to the United States of America. A male child with autism was born to them, and he is presently 10 years old.

However, the couple had marital discord, and the man obtained a divorce decree on September 12, 2017, from the Circuit Court for the County of Oakland (Family Division), Michigan, USA.

On the other hand, the petitioner had also initiated multiple proceedings against the respondent in India, but much later a settlement was reached between the parties before this court on October 21, 2019.

One of the grounds for settlement was that the alleged contemnor/respondent would give the custody of the child to the mother i.e., the petitioner. Since this was not done, contempt proceedings were initiated on a petition moved by the petitioner-mother as the child was not handed over," the bench said.

Following the orders on September 26, 2022, and November 10, 2022, the alleged contemnor/respondent was asked to be present before this court. He was present in the court on December 13, 2022, though virtually.

By the order on January 17, 2024, he was asked to remain present in the court in all proceedings.

Before this, as the order of this court would indicate there were several attempts to resolve the matter, as it was a matter of child custody where this court went out of its way in granting indulgence to the respondent in hope that he would handover the child to his mother and honour the terms of his settlement, which were a part of the order of this court. All the same, all efforts of this court went in vain," the bench said.

On January 22, 2025, the SC noted, the alleged contemnor/respondent was not present, which was in violation of the order of this court, when a statement was made by senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing him, that he should be present on the next date of listing.

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Now the matter is fixed for today. Even on the last occasion Vipin Sanghi, senior counsel for the petitioner has expressed grave apprehension that the alleged contemnor/respondent may have already fled the country. Today, we have been informed by none other but the learned Singh, appearing for the alleged contemnor/respondent that the alleged contemnor/respondent had left for USA," the bench said.

In its order, the bench made it clear that any business transactions, including any deal relating to his property in India during the contempt proceedings, would be subject to the order of this court.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:08 IST
In Love With Own Sister, Kerala Man Drowns 2-Year-Old Niece In Well

Curated By :

Translation Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 11:42 IST

Though the child's maternal uncle has confessed to his crime, the police remain skeptical of his statement and have stated that a thorough investigation will be carried out to establish the exact sequence of events

The child's body was found in a well located in the backyard of the house. (News18 Malayalam)

In a shocking incident in Balaramapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, a man murdered his two-and-a-half-year-old niece by throwing her into a well. The accused confessed that his unrequited love for his sister, the childs mother, drove him to commit the crime.

An officer of Balaramapuram police station said that a case of unnatural death was lodged in connection with the death of the child and additional charges would be filed as the investigation progresses.

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The police have arrested the maternal uncle of the child, Harikumar. They said that the accused had tried to have an illicit relationship with his sister, Sreetu.

The accused confessed that he killed the child when he saw her as an obstacle to his needs. He confessed after interrogation, during which the police collected WhatsApp chats between him and Sreetu.

Speaking to reporters, another officer said that further arrests may also be made in future, adding that the reason for the childs murder is not yet clear.

Police encountered contradictory statements during their investigation, including those provided by the childs mother. These inconsistencies, particularly within the initial testimonies, led police to suspect murder from the outset. Consequently, the childs mother, father, and grandmother, Sreekala, were subjected to questioning.

The police have not completely believed Harikumars initial statement and said that a thorough investigation will be conducted to determine the events that transpired.

Harikumar will be produced in court on Friday during which the police will plead for his custody to question him in detail. The police will also question the childs parents, Sreetu and Sreejith, again on Friday. Sreetu has been moved to the Poojappura Mahila Mandir after her initial interrogation.

The incident occurred in Kottukalkonam, where the deceaseds parents, Sreetu and Sreejith, reside. At approximately 7 am on Thursday, locals were informed that the child was missing and a search ensued. The parents called the police in the morning, claiming that the child was missing.

The family was preparing for the funeral of the childs grandfather, with relatives and locals gathered for the ceremony, when the childs body was discovered. The childs body was found in a well located in the backyard of the house. The fire brigade arrived at the scene and recovered the body. The childs funeral was held in the afternoon.

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Sreetu worked at an institution connected to the states Devaswom Board. The childs father, Sreejith, is a supermarket employee. The couple had been living apart for the past few days. Sreejith arrived at the house the day before the childs death for the funeral of Sreetus father.

The family is reported to have been under significant financial strain. The police determined that a complaint filed by the family alleging the disappearance of Rs 30 lakh was false. Additionally, ropes were discovered tied up inside the house. A fire, which broke out in the room of Sreetus brother that morning, further deepens the mystery.

Location : Thiruvananthapuram, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 11:42 IST
'Insult To Tribals': PM Modi Condemns Sonia Gandhi's 'Poor Thing' Remark On President Murmu

Curated By :

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 17:27 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday condemned Sonia Gandhi's "poor thing" remark about President Droupadi Murmu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi | File Image/ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday condemned Sonia Gandhis poor thing" remark about President Droupadi Murmu, saying that the Congress has insulted 10 crore tribals across the country.

The former Congress chief courted controversy on the first day of the Budget session by saying that President Murmu looked very tired, poor thing". The BJP strongly reacted to the remark, demanding an unconditional apology from Sonia Gandhi.

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Droupadi Murmu ji has come here from a tribal family. Her mother tongue is not Hindi, it is Odia. She inspired the Parliament today in a wonderful way, gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her," said PM Modi while addressing a public rally in Delhi.

A member of the royal family said that the tribal daughter gave a boring speech. Another member went one step further and called the President a poor thing. They find the speech of a tribal daughter boring. This is an insult to the 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of the country," he added.

#WATCH | Delhi: PM Narendra Modi says, Droupadi Murmu ji has come here from a tribal family. Her mother tongue is not Hindi, it is Odia. She inspired the Parliament today in a wonderful way, gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her. A member of pic.twitter.com/yIB0c4PUhl ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

The Prime Minister further slammed the Congress for insulting every poor person" of the country and said, They like abusing people, defaming India in foreign countries and talking about urban Naxals. Delhi has to be very cautious. Out of fear of losing, these two egoists have joined hands."

Kharge Clarifies Remark

Amid the backlash over Sonia Gandhis remark on the president, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge defended her statement, saying that the grand old party can never insult the President or any citizen."

The Indian National Congress and our leaders can never insult His Excellency the President or any citizen. This is not our culture," Kharge said, further mounting attack on the BJP.

The President was insulted by the Modi government on the very day when he was not invited to the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament. BJP had deliberately kept our current President and previous President away from both the Temple of Democracy and Ram Temple," he added.

                                                    Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) January 31, 2025

What Sonia Gandhi Said

Sonia Gandhi stoked a row after saying that the President appeared very tired" during her Parliament speech, while her son, Rahul Gandhi, described the address as boring."

The President was getting very tired by the end She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia was heard telling Rahul.

#WATCH | Delhi | After the Presidents address to the Parliament, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi says,"The President was getting very tired by the endShe could hardly speak, poor thing" pic.twitter.com/o6cwoeYFdE ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

The BJP went all guns blazing in attacking the Congress and sought an unconditional apology from Sonia Gandhi for her derogatory" remark on President Murmu.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said Sonias remark demeaned the high office and reflected her feudal mindset.

Meanwhile, Union Minister JP Nadda said the remark laid bare the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature" of the Congress. I demand that the Congress party unconditionally apologise to the President and the tribal communities of India," he tweeted.

Rashtrapati Bhavan Reacts

In a strong response, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, without mentioning Sonia Gandhis name, called her remarks unacceptable" and said it clearly hurt the dignity of the high office."

The Rashtrapati Bhavan also clarified that President Droupadi Murmu was not tired at any point", adding that the President believes speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers can never be tiring".

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While reacting to the media on the Honble Presidents Address to the Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable. These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.

It further said that it might be the case" that the leaders are not acquainted with idiom and discourse in Indian languages, adding that in any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable."

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:51 IST
Army Foils Infiltration Bid Along LoC In Jammu And Kashmir's Poonch, 2 Terrorists Killed

Curated By :

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:42 IST

Army troops gunned down two terrorists in a gunfight after they attempted to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch from across the LoC.

A security personnel stands guard during an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir (Photo: PTI)

Two terrorists were killed after a suspicious movement was detected along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch on Thursday evening.

The development came as the troops on the border engaged in a heavy firefight with the terrorists, thus foiling an infiltration attempt

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Alert Army troops picked up the movement of the terrorists trying to sneak into this side from across the LoC in the Khari Karmara area, leading to a gunfight between the two sides, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.

Several weapons and war-like stores were recovered from the slain terrorists as a search operation was launched in the area.

On January 25, Army troops exchanged fire with terrorists in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmirs Kathua district, as a massive search operation was launched to trace out the ultras who fled after the initial fire-fight.

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The alert sentry post of a temporary Army camp in Batod panchayat detected the movement of suspected terrorists at around 1.20 am and opened fire.

They said the terrorists fired back and the intermittent exchange of fire continued between the two sides for nearly half an hour.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:42 IST
Kejriwal Submits Reply To EC On Yamuna Poisoning Remark, Alleges Poll Body 'Shooting The Messenger'

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:48 IST

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal submitted the reply to the Election Commission's second notice on his Yamuna poisoning remark on Friday

Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal reached the office of the Election Commission along with Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. (Source: ANI)

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Friday reached the Election Commissions office and submitted his reply to the poll body over its second notice on his poison mixed" in Yamuna water remark.

Delhis former chief minister was accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann to the ECs office.

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Speaking to the reporters before visiting the office of the Election Commission, Kejriwal said the second notices language hinted that the Commission has already decided on the matter.

He alleged that the Election Commission by targeting the party is shooting the messenger" for raising its voice.

He said everything that happened was a political conspiracy and was aimed at stopping the water supply for half of the citizens of the national capital. Due to poisonous" water with high ammonia, the supply would have been hindered and this would have led to the defaming of AAP in the Delhi Assembly elections.

I want to congratulate the people of Delhi that our struggle has been successful and the ammonia level in Yamuna which was 7 ppm since January 26-27 has now come down to 2.1 ppm now," said Kejriwal.

What Did Kejriwal Say In His Reply?

In the reply submitted by Kejriwal, he described the entire chronology of the incident and the conversations held between chief ministers and government officials and also replied to the specific questions raised by the EC regarding the details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the poison" by the Delhi Jal Board staff.

Kejriwal specifically mentioned ammonia as the poison" and submitted a screenshot of his post as well as the letters written by the Delhi Jal Board CEO and the chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab to the Chief Election Commissioner regarding the case.

AAP National Convenor @ArvindKejriwal writes back to CEC Rajiv Kumar on the issue of dangerous levels of ammonia in the raw water supplied by Haryana to Delhi.My only concern is the health and safety of the people of Delhi and I will fight for the protection of our democratic pic.twitter.com/8qWXEkVv98  AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 31, 2025

The alacrity with which CEC has acted against me when I was merely acting on an issue of very high public importance and have averted a huge public crisis in Delhi is baffling. Equally baffling is CECs refusal to direct Haryana to stop polluting Delhis waters," said Kejriwal and added that the CEC chose to hound him.

If no action is taken against the Haryana government and the BJP leaders involved in corrupt practices it will be amply clear to everyone that the CEC keeps the interest of the ruling party over public interest. Unfortunately, I cant be expected to be silent on this and tow this line out of fear or expectations of favour. My only concern is the health and safety of the people of Delhi and I will fight for the protection of our democratic principles. Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of the BJP is a small price to pay for it, and I welcome it with open arms," said the AAP supremo in his letter.

Kejriwal Reaches EC Office Without Appointment

Kejriwal had reached the office of the Election Commission without an appointment.

According to PTI, the Election Commission accepted the meetings as a special case" because election campaigning in Delhi is at its peak.

The Commission accepted the manner of meeting with Arvind Kejriwal today as a special case, altering its earlier schedule in view of the thick of the campaign period in Delhi and for leaving no scope for complaint for any stakeholders," said an EC official.

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The Commission gave a patient hearing to Arvind Kejriwal to substantiate his statements on Yamuna poisoning and mass genocide," the official added.

The EC had sent two notices to Kejriwal over the allegations made by him against Haryanas BJP government accusing them of mixing poison" in the Yamuna water of the national capital and attempting a genocide" in the city.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 12:36 IST
One Nation, One Election Bill: Wider Consultations With Stakeholders, Public, Students Suggested At JPC Meet

Reported By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 22:15 IST

When the government cleared the One Nation, One Election Bill during a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised his ministers to go to the public to explain the merits of such legislation

Sources said some members suggested that there should be public consensus because, eventually, on legislation like this, the biggest stakeholders are the common people who vote. (Representational image/PTI)

On Friday, the joint parliamentary committee for the One Nation, One Election Bill had its second and most important meeting. Members gave suggestions on how they would like to proceed with the agenda, including several constructive ideas.

First-time Member of Parliament Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from the Congress suggested a need for wide consultations, including speaking to multiple stakeholders. Several other opposition leaders, including Supriya Sule of the NCP(SP), recorded the same sentiments.

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Sources said some members suggested that there should be public consensus because, eventually, on legislation like this, the biggest stakeholders are the common people who vote. It was suggested that the UGC should be involved in debates and discussions, including writing contests held in schools and colleges on such legislation.

This suggestion from somebody from the ruling side led to a war of words between Saket Gokhale of the Trinamool Congress and Sanjay Jha from the Janata Dal (United). Sources said Saket accused the ruling side of trying to create publicity on the legislation even without it being passed in Parliament. Reacting to his comments, Sanjay asked why Gokhale should get so rattled by somebodys suggestion and that every member has a right to make one.

When the government cleared the One Nation, One Election Bill during a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised his ministers to go to the public to explain the merits of such legislation. He had, in fact, told his ministers to drive home the point that this legislation was not a political gimmick but was in the larger interest of the public. The PM also stressed that in a matter like this, the biggest stakeholders are the people of the country who vote every individual to power.

Sources said that one of the committee members from the DMK, P Wilson, demanded that the minutes of the last meeting be circulated to the members. Responding to him, the chairman of the committee, PP Chaudhary, cited parliamentary rules, saying no such rule allowed members to make such a demand. Those aware of the development say that this argument between the chair and the other members of the opposition continued for a while. Finally, the chairman said he would seek guidance on this issue from the Lok Sabha speaker, who is the final authority on any matter concerning Parliament.

The committee, formed after the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the last winter session of Parliament, has its term up to the first day of the last week of the ongoing budget session of Parliament. Given the deliberations that this committee will have to do, multiple members have requested the chairman to seek the Lok Sabha speakers permission for an extension. The chairman has assured the committee that he will put the matter before the Lok Sabha speaker for consideration.

During Fridays meeting, some members raised objections to why the ministry of law and justice, which made a detailed presentation in the first meeting, did not return with the answers that some members had asked for. The chairman told the committee that Fridays meeting was to seek suggestions from the various members on how to go about the modalities of the discussion. Therefore, the officials were not present. Sources also said that the committee chairman had individually called up all the panel members seeking suggestions before Fridays meeting, but it is known that only three members out of the 39-member panel responded to this.

As per the details shared with the committee, it was indicated that close to 4-7 crore people get impacted during one election. The impact is not only on the public but also on employers, the teaching community, which is put on poll duty, security forces, etc.

The panel has divided the number of stakeholders to be consulted by the committee into 24 broad categories. It is understood that multiple people will be asked to depose before the panel in Parliament, along with the committees visit to multiple states to meet various stakeholders. The committee will also ensure that anybody who cannot come down to Delhi or meet the panel during their visit will also have the option to give written submissions.

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From regional to national political parties, the legal fraternity, experts in the field of academics and management institutes, experts in the field of electronics and engineering who have know-how about EVMs, people from the film and media industry, labour unions, industry, representatives from prominent schools and colleges, teachers associations, professional bodies like chartered accountants, and think tanks would be some of the sectors the committee will speak with during the discussion on the bill.

The committee has decided to hold its next meeting on March 10. The committee is likely to ask the ministry of law and justice to depose before it again.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 22:15 IST
Painkillers Or Addiction? Stricter Rules Soon To Curb Pregabalin, Tapentadol Sales Amid Rising Drug Abuse

Reported By :

News18.com

Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 11:10 IST

While Tapentadol is a serious habit-forming opioid-based drug, Pregabalin has become a headache in Punjab as it is inexpensive and not punishable under NDPS Act

The move was triggered by the order of the Supreme Court in 2020 which said police cannot prosecute or investigate cognizable offenses under Chapter IV of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. (Pixabay)

Two painkiller medicines are under the scanner of the Union government following reports of drug abuse, News18 has learnt.

Last year, the apex drug regulatory body of India  Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)  moved the proposal to tighten the noose around the sales of Pregabalin and Tapentadol painkillers after receiving complaints around misuse and intoxication. While Tapentadol is a serious habit-forming opioid-based drug, Pregabalin has become a problem in Punjab  a state already battling with drug abuse.

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Commonly referred to as Koda", the painkiller is used by Punjabs youth to get high because it is inexpensive and not punishable under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Last year, in September, the drug regulatory body formed a sub-committee under the Drug Consultative Committee (DCC) headed by Dr Atul Ambekar, professor at the department of psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

Based on the report submitted by the sub-committee and accessed by News18, CDSCO  the regulatory wing under the Union health and family welfare ministry  is likely to move Tapentadol into the category of psychotropic substances.

These substances are regulated by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act  similar to the popular painkiller Tramadol. Similarly, Pregabalin may soon be shifted to Schedule H1 where over-the-counter sales of medicine are banned and a valid prescription is required for making a purchase.

Under Schedule H1, a chemist must keep record of sales in a separate register and maintain the record of purchases and prescriptions. Also, drugs specified in Schedule H1 are labelled with the symbol Rx which is in red and clearly displayed on the left top corner of the label.

What Are The Uses of Tapentadol and Pregabalin?

Tapentadol is a strong painkiller that belongs to the class of opioids and is used to treat pain by acting via the central nervous system. It reduces the feeling of pain by interfering with the way neurons convey pain between the brain and the body. However, it is known as a habit-forming drug.

Another drug Pregabalin is used to relieve neuropathic pain, pain from damaged nerves or burning and stabbing pain. It is also used along with other drugs to treat certain types of seizures in adults and children. Pregabalin, an anticonvulsant drug, works by decreasing the number of pain signals sent by damaged nerves in the body.

Why Are These Drugs Under The Scanner?

As per the existing regulatory provisions, Tapentadol falls under Schedule H1 drugs whereas Pregabalin does not fall under Schedule H or H1, compelling the need for a prescription.

According to the detailed report prepared by the sub-committee and accessed by News18, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence in 2014 reviewed Tapentadol and recommended that owing to the insufficiency of the data regarding dependence, abuse and risk to the public health, Tapentadol may not be placed under international control but may be kept under surveillance".

Hence, the department of revenue under the ministry of finance had requested for analysis of Tapentadol for its scheduling under the NDPS Act, 1985.

For Pregabalin, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Punjab observed that the drug formulations containing this substance in the strength of 150mg or 300mg are being misused for intoxication and these formulations are being seized from the licensed chemists and unlicensed premises by the drugs control officers"

Final Verdict Of Expert Panel

As per the report, the panel deliberated on the matter and discussed moving Tapentadol into Schedule X, considering its misuse potential.

Schedule X lists addictive drugs such as narcotics and psychotropics where medicines are kept under lock and key and a chemist is required to maintain all records  such as copies of valid prescriptions, amount of drug purchased and amount of drug sold  for at least two years.

However, finally, the panel decided to retain the drug under Schedule H1 as putting Tapentadol in Schedule X may restrict its availability, considering it is a widely used medicine.

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Putting Tapentadol in Schedule X will restrict its availability- of legitimate medical purposes, hence, Tapentadol shall be retained in Schedule H1 of Drugs Rules,1945." It added: If appropriate the matter may be conveyed to the Department of Revenue stating that to schedule Tapentadol as a Psychotropic substance under NDPS Act similar to Tramadol."

For pregabalin and its preparations, the panel decided to include the drug in Schedule H1.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 10:55 IST
'First Parliament Session Without Foreign Interference': PM Modi's Dig At Opposition Before Budget

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 11:52 IST

PM Modi today said that the upcoming Budget will drive India's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047. He also said this is the first Parliament Session without foreign interference since 2014.

rime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament (Photo: PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dig at the Opposition ahead of Parliaments Budget Session, on Friday said this is the first time since 2014 when no attempt from abroad was made to stoke trouble in India before the start of a session.

You must have noticed, since 2014, this is the first Parliament session, which saw no videshi chingari (foreign interference) in our affairs, in which no foreign forces tried to ignite a fire," he said, in a swipe at Opposition parties.

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I have been seeing it since 2014 that people would be ready to create mischief ahead of every session. And there is no dearth of people here to fuel such troubles," the Prime Minister added.

#WATCH | #BudgetSession | PM Narendra Modi says, You must have noticed, since 2014, this is the first Parliament session, which saw no videshi chingari (foreign interference) in our affairs, in which no foreign forces tried to ignite a fire. I had noticed this before every pic.twitter.com/WWPDw0LGmS ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said with his government tabling its first full-fledged budget on Saturday in its third term, he prayed that Goddess Lakshmi, who is associated with wealth, will bless the poor and middle class.

I pray that Maa Lakshmi continues to bless the poor and middle class of our country. It is a matter of great pride that India completed 75 years as a democratic nation. India has established itself well on the global pedestal," the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi also expressed confidence that this Budget session will infuse new confidence and energy in attaining the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

This is the first complete budget of my third term. I can confidently say that in 2047, when India will complete 100 years of Independence, India will fulfil its aim of Viksit Bharat and this budget will give new energy and hope to the nation," he added.

He said his government has been working in a mission mode in its third term for an all-round development, asserting that innovation, inclusion and investment have shaped its economic agenda.

In the third term, we will focus on Indias all-round development. We are moving ahead on mission mode. Innovation, inclusion and investment form the base of our economic activity," PM Modi said.

In this session of Parliament, many historic bills and amendments will be discussed. After due and detailed discussions, these will be formed into laws. Especially Nari Shakti and women empowerment will be the centre of focus. Reform, perform, and transform will be our second area of focus," he added.

The Prime Minister said important decisions will be taken during the session to empower women to ensure they get equal rights and any sectarian or faith-based discrimination is removed.

ALSO READ | Live Updates On Economic Survey

BUDGET SESSION IN PARLIAMENT

The Budget Session begins in the Parliament on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the General Budget on Saturday.

The Finance Minister will table the Economic Survey on Friday when both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will convene briefly after the Presidents address.

Lok Sabha has provisionally allotted two days (February 3-4) for discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents address, while Rajya Sabha has earmarked three days for the debate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to reply to the debate in Rajya Sabha on February 6.

On Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju convened a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in Parliament to ensure smooth functioning of the Budget Session.

The first part of the Budget Session will have nine sittings from January 31 to February 13.

Parliament will then break for recess to examine the budget proposals on February 13 and meet again on March 10 to discuss the demands for grants of various ministries and complete the budgetary process.

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The session will conclude on April 4.

The entire Budget Session will have 27 sittings.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 10:27 IST
PM Modi Praises President Murmu's Parliament Address Amid Row Over Sonia Gandhi's 'Poor Thing' Remark

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 14:38 IST

Sonia Gandhi called President Droupadi Murmu a "poor thing" while commenting on her address to the Parliament.

PM Modi and Sonia Gandhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised President Droupadi Murmus address to the Parliament after a controversy erupted in the Budget Session over Congress MP Sonia Gandhis remarks.

Sonia Gandhi called President Droupadi Murmu a poor thing" while commenting on her address to the Parliament.

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What Sonia Gandhi said on President Murmus speech

President Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget Session after which Sonia Gandhi was asked by reporters for her comment outside the Parliament.

Sonia Gandhi said, The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing."

What PM Modi said on President Murmus speech

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The Bharatiya Janata Party snubbed Sonia Gandhis statement as a derogatory comment". PM Modi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Todays address by Rashtrapati Ji to both Houses of Parliament was a resonant outline of our nations path toward building a Viksit Bharat. She highlighted initiatives across sectors and underscored the importance of all-around as well as futuristic development."

He said, Her address encapsulated the vision for an India where youth have the best opportunities to flourish. The address also included inspiring roadmaps for achieving the goals we have set with a spirit of unity and determination."

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:38 IST
PM Modi, US President Donald Trump Discussed Arranging Early Visit Over Phone Call: MEA

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 17:33 IST

PM Modi, US President Donald Trump Discussed Arranging Early Visit Over Phone Call: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs said that the specific dates of a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi are still being finalised. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a telephonic conversation, with both sides working towards an early visit, government officials confirmed on Friday.

The External Affairs Ministry during its weekly press briefing said that discussions are underway to schedule the visit at the earliest while specific dates are still being finalised.

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Prime Minister Modi and President Trump had (a) telephonic conversation some days back. Recently, the two sides are working on an early visit of the Prime Minister to the United States to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic partnership and specific dates for this visit are still being worked out and will be announced at the appropriate time," ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

The US President earlier this week said that Prime Minister Modi will visit the US next month.

Both leaders spoke for the first time following the reelection of the Republican on Monday.

I had a long talk with him this morning and hes going to be coming to the White House next month, probably in February. We have a very good relationship with India," Trump told reporters.

Trump also told reporters that PM Modi will do whats right" when it comes to taking back Indian immigrants who came to the US illegally.

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PM Modi said he exchanged views on pressing global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and reiterated commitment to work together to promote global peace, in his call with Donald Trump.

Delighted to speak with my dear friend President Donald Trump. Congratulated him on his historic second term. We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," said PM Modi in an X post.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 17:11 IST
Sanjay Gandhi National Parks Big Cat Call: Rs 5-Crore Leopard Safari To Boost Tourism

Reported By :

News18.com

Edited By: Manjiri Joshi



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 20:09 IST

The addition of a leopard safari at SGNP in Mumbai's Borivli is expected to increase footfall and generate additional revenue for conservation efforts

The safari will require approximately 30 hectares. (PTI File for representation)

In a major boost to wildlife tourism, Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbais Borivli is set to introduce a leopard safari, offering visitors a rare opportunity to witness the elusive big cats in their natural habitat.

The announcement was made by Maharashtras minister for information technology and culture, and Mumbai suburban guardian minister Ashish Shelar during his visit to the park.

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Currently, SGNP offers tiger and lion safaris, but despite being home to several rescued and rehabilitated leopards, there is no dedicated leopard safari for visitors.

The safari will require approximately 30 hectares, which is already available within the park. According to forest officials, the estimated cost of developing the safari is Rs 5 crore, and the funding will be arranged through the Forest Department and the District Planning Committee.

Highlighting the potential impact of this initiative, Chief Conservator of Forests Shreeji Mallikarjun explained that the SGNP receives around 20 lakh visitors annually, and the addition of a leopard safari is expected to increase footfall and generate additional revenue for conservation efforts. After reviewing the project details, Shelar directed officials to submit a formal proposal for immediate approval, ensuring swift implementation of the project.

During his visit, Shelar also adopted two three-year-old lions  Bharat and Bharati  for a year. These lions were recently brought to Mumbai from Gujarat on January 26, and their upkeep will now be funded by the minister.

Apart from boosting tourism and conservation efforts, Shelar also addressed the safety concerns of forest workers at the SGNP. The park employs over 400 forest labourers, many of whom work in challenging conditions, patrolling wildlife areas and rescuing animals that stray into human settlements.

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Among them is a special 11-member rescue team, which directly interacts with wild animals during capture and relocation operations. These workers had no insurance coverage despite the risks they face daily.

After being informed about the situation, Shelar immediately ordered officials to arrange insurance coverage for all forest workers, assuring that funds would be provided to cover their protection and well-being.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 19:54 IST
Shubhanshu Shukla To Become First Indian Astronaut To Pilot Axiom-4, Plans To Do Yoga In Space

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:24 IST

Shubhanshu Shukla will become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Axiom Mission 4 in 2025, as the pilot for the Axiom Mission 4.

Shubhanshu Shukla (Photo: X/@Axiom_Space)

Shubhanshu Shukla is set to create history as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the space station in Florida, later this year. He will pilot the Axiom Mission 4. The mission is part of a joint effort between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the US space agency announced on Thursday.

In an X post, NASA Space Operations wrote, NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Spaces fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, launching from NASAs Kennedy Space Centre in Florida no earlier than spring 2025."

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Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while Indian Space Research Organization astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot," it added.

.@NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Spaces fourth private astronaut mission to the @Space_Station, launching from @NASAKennedy in Florida no earlier than spring 2025.Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at pic.twitter.com/HIb2otrmjx  NASA Space Operations (@NASASpaceOps) January 29, 2025

Addressing a webinar on Thursday, Shukla said he was really excited to go into microgravity" as the pilot for the Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. He also said he would try to perform some yoga postures on the ISS.

Shukla also plans to take items representing different regions of India and the country as a whole with him to the ISS.

He said ISRO had asked a university in India to select different items, representing the countrys diversity, to send to space.

In reply to a question, Shukla said he had been trying his hand at different types of Indian food with his fellow crew members and looked forward to taking those to the ISS.

He also said the experience on the Axiom Mission 4 would be very well utilised on Indias Gaganyaan mission.

SHUBHANSHU SHUKLAs SPACE MISSION

According to NASA, former US space agency astronaut and Axiom Spaces Director of Human Spaceflight, Peggy Whitson, will command the commercial mission and Shukla will be the mission pilot.

The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission consisting of science, outreach, and commercial activities," NASA said.

The private mission will also carry the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station.

As NASA looks toward the future of low-Earth orbit, private astronaut missions help pave the way and expand access to the unique microgravity environment," said Dana Weigel, manager of NASAs International Space Station Program at Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

Whitson said, Working with the talented and diverse Axiom Mission 4 crew has been a deeply rewarding experience."

Witnessing their selfless dedication and commitment to expanding horizons and creating opportunities for their nations in space exploration is truly remarkable. Each crew member brings unique strengths and perspectives, making our mission not just a scientific endeavour but a testament to human ingenuity and teamwork," she added.

Heres what Shubhanshu Shukla said at the Axiom-4 webinar.

Mission Pilot & future Gaganyatri Shubhanshu Shukla will be taking several items representing the various regions and communities of India to space with him on the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS! ISRO had contacted an university and asked its students from various parts of the pic.twitter.com/xJ68Scqx6b  ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) January 30, 2025

WHO IS SHUBHANSHU SHUKLA

Shubhanshu Shukla, a group captain in the Indian Air Force, has been designated as the pilot for the Axiom Mission 4.

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, Shukla possesses fluency in both English and his native Hindi. His journey began when he was commissioned into the IAF fighter wing in June 2006.

As a combat leader and seasoned test pilot, he boasts an impressive 2,000 hours of flight experience across various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.

His ascent to the rank of group captain in March 2024 reflects his exceptional contributions.

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In 2019, Shukla received a momentous call from ISRO. He embarked on rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow, Russiaa year-long preparation that would shape his destiny.

On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Shukla as one of the elite astronauts undergoing intensive training for Indias maiden human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, scheduled for launch in 2025.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 07:50 IST
Sonia Gandhi's 'Poor Thing' Remark On President Murmu Sparks Row, BJP Reacts

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:27 IST

Congress MP Sonia Gandhi said that President Murmu appeared to be tired by the end of her speech and that "she could hardly speak"

Congress MP Sonia Gandhi called President Murmu a "poor thing" and added that "she could hardly speak". (Courtesy: ANI)

A fresh controversy erupted at the beginning of the Budget Session on Friday over Congress MP Sonia Gandhis poor thing" remark on President Droupadi Murmu.

Gandhi claimed that the 66-year-old president appeared exhausted after delivering her long customary speech. However, the BJP called it a derogatory comment" and demanded an apology.

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ALSO READ: Unacceptable: Rashtrapati Bhavan Reacts To Sonia Gandhis Poor Thing Remark On President Murmu

The president had earlier in the day addressed a Parliaments joint sitting which marked the start of the Budget Session.

When Gandhi was asked to comment on the presidents customary speech, she said, The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing."

#WATCH | Delhi | After the Presidents address to the Parliament, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi says,"The President was getting very tired by the endShe could hardly speak, poor thing" pic.twitter.com/o6cwoeYFdE ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

Gandhi was accompanied by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Boring? No comments? Repeating the same thing again and again?" she added.

Reacting to Gandhis remark, Rashtrapati Bhavan said that it is unacceptable and clearly hurt the dignity of the high office.

These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring. The Presidents office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable," read the statement.

BJP Attacks Gandhi, Calls Her Remark Derogatory

The BJP slammed Gandhi for her derogatory" remark on President Murmu and said that it is the feudal mindset of the Congress which fails to digest that an Adivasi lady is the countrys president.

It was a derogatory comment. Leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should not pass such comments, especially on the President. Droupadi Murmu belongs to an Adivasi family and now she is the number one citizen of our country and that is not accepted by the Congresss zamindaari mindset. Thats why they are opposing her speech," BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar said.

Sonia Gandhi referring to the President as a poor thing demeans the high office and reflects her feudal mindset. This is not the first time the Congress has ridiculed the first tribal woman to hold the highest constitutional office in the country.Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of  Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 31, 2025

Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya wrote on X, Sonia Gandhi referring to the President as a poor thing demeans the high office and reflects her feudal mindset. This is not the first time the Congress has ridiculed the first tribal woman to hold the highest constitutional office in the country. Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, who frequently flaunts a copy of the Constitution, has not even considered making a courtesy visit to the President."

BJP leader J P Nadda also strongly criticised Gandhis remarks. I and every @BJP4India Karyakarta STRONGLY CONDEMNS the usage of the phrase poor thing" by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu Ji. The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party. I demand that the Congress Party unconditionally apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India," he wrote on X.

Congress Defends Gandhis Remarks, Says It Was Her Empathy For President

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Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi came out in defence of Gandhi and said that BJPs men failed to digest her empathy for President Murmu.

Smt. Sonia Gandhis empathy for Honble President Draupadi Murmu jis health cannot be digested by the men in BJP. Every person in India has respect and empathy for the President. Will the BJP answer for the disrespect shown to President Murmu when she was not invited to the inauguration of the Parliament or the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ? I challenge them to answer this question," said Gogoi on X.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:22 IST
Trinamool Congress Worker Shot Dead In West Bengal's Naihati

Published By :

PTI

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 18:53 IST

A Trinamool Congress worker, Santosh Yadav, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Naihati in West Bengal.

He died on the spot after getting shot in the head, police said. (Representative image)

A local Trinamool Congress worker was shot dead on Friday afternoon by unidentified assailants at Naihati in West Bengals North 24 Parganas district, police said.

He died on the spot after getting shot in the head, they said.

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Santosh Yadav was passing by the Gauripur area when the crime took place. He managed to snatch away the revolver from the first attacker after the initial incident of firing. However, he could not save himself as the other miscreants fired at him four times. One bullet hit him in the head," a police officer said.

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Yadav was declared brought dead" when taken to the Naihati State General Hospital, he said.

An investigation is underway and a manhunt has been launched to track the culprits, the officer added.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 18:42 IST
Was Trampled For 40 Minutes: Man Whose Grandma Died In Maha Kumbh Stampede Recounts Horror

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 14:08 IST

Maha Kumbh Stampede: Rampati Devis grandson Narender Kumar said that he had gone to the Maha Kumbh to take the holy dip along with his grandmother and six others from their village.

Bags and other belongings lying at the scene after a stampede at Sangam on 'Mauni Amavasya' during the Maha Kumbh, in Prayagraj on January 29. (Image: PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)

Maha Kumbh Stampede: Three people, including two women, from Haryana were among those who died in a stampede at the Maha Kumbh mela in Prayagraj. The deceased have been identified as Rampati Devi, Krishna Devi and Amit Kumar.

Rampati Devis grandson Narender Kumar said that he had gone to the Maha Kumbh to take the holy dip along with his grandmother and six others from their village.

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He said, Around 1-2 pm on January 29, all of us reached near the Sangam area and after seeing a huge crowd, we all decided not to take the holy dip. However, the crowd broke the barricades, which led to the stampede. We fell on the ground and people moved over us for nearly 40 minutes. Then an ambulance came, and we were rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared my grandmother dead. Her last rites were performed at our native village in Jind."

Krishna Devi died during the stampede while other members of the family escaped unhurt. Amit Kumar fell on the ground and died of suffocation.

Location : Uttar Pradesh, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:08 IST
We Are In Touch With Families Of 3 Indian Nationals Missing In Iran: MEA

Reported By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 19:41 IST

We are aware of these cases and we are in regular touch with the families of the three missing Indian nationals. They reportedly travelled for business purposes. Their families lost contact with them shortly after their arrival in Iran, according to the MEA spokesperson

Yogesh Panchal, one of the missing men.

The Ministry of External Affairs has responded to the concerns related to the three Indian nationals missing in Iran.

We are aware of these cases and we are in regular touch with the families of the three missing Indian nationals. They reportedly travelled for business purposes. Their families lost contact with them shortly after their arrival in Iran," according to the spokesperson.

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The matter has been raised with the Iranian Embassy in Delhi and with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran.

The MEA and the Embassy of India in Tehran remain in touch with Iranian authorities and have requested for their assistance in locating the missing nationals and ensuring their safety.

Among the three were Yogesh Panchal and Mohammad Sadeeque, who travelled to Iran in December 2024 under a 15-day visa waiver programme for business purposes. They were last known to be staying at a hotel on Tehran

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The third Indian national is Sumeet Sud who travelled to Iran in January and has been untraceable since the first week of the month

MEA S Jaishankar had raises the issue during the meeting with junior Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Ravanchi who visited Delhi in January.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 19:40 IST
'What Went Wrong?': Judicial Commission Begins Probe Into Maha Kumbh Stampede

Reported By :

News18.com

Last Updated: February 01, 2025, 00:08 IST

A three-member commission, including retired high court judge Harsh Kumar, former DGP VK Gupta, and retired IAS officer DK Singh, has been formed to look into the causes of the mishap that led to the deaths of 30 people and left many others injured

Belongings of devotees seen lying at the Sangam following a stampede on Mauni Amavasya, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Pic/PTI)

Why did the stampede happen if everything was in order?" This was the first question the judicial commission asked officials when they arrived in Prayagraj to investigate the tragic incident of January 29 during Mauni Amavasya at the Maha Kumbh.

A three-member commission, including retired high court judge Harsh Kumar, former DGP VK Gupta, and retired IAS officer DK Singh, has been formed to look into the causes of the mishap that led to the deaths of 30 people and left many others injured.

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We will not delay

We know that people are waiting for answers, and we will not delay. Although we have a month to submit our report, we will try to complete the investigation as soon as possible," said Justice Harsh Kumar, the chairman of the three-member probe commission.

Soon after landing in Prayagraj on Friday, the commission set up a temporary office and called a meeting with senior officials. Those present included Commissioner of Prayagraj Zone Vijay Vishwas Pant, Mela Officer Vijay Kiran Anand, ADG Prayagraj Zone Bhanu Bhaskar, and DIG Vaibhav Krishna. The commission asked officials about the arrangements made to manage the large crowds and whether the administration had anticipated such a huge gathering.

Was Sangam the only affected area?

UP government sources said that one of the main points discussed was the security measures taken to ensure smooth crowd movement. The commission asked whether officials had any information about incidents happening outside the Sangam area and if there were similar incidents of stampedes elsewhere. The members also questioned the authenticity of videos circulating on social media, some of which claimed that stampedes had occurred in other parts of the city, including Jhusi.

Sources said that the commission asked for all CCTV footage from the day of the incident as well as a detailed report on how the administration planned to control the crowd and what steps were taken when the situation started getting out of hand. The sources added that officials struggled to give clear answers while some bragged about the top-notch arrangements at the Mela area. However, the self-praise failed to convince the commission, and it asked how a stampede could have happened if everything had been well-planned.

According to a government notification, the judicial commission has been tasked with investigating the causes and circumstances that led to the stampede and recommending measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The notification also specifies that the commission must submit its report within one month of its formation.

As the commission continues its investigation, it has announced that it will visit the actual site of the stampede to assess the situation firsthand. The members plan to speak to witnesses and survivors to understand exactly what went wrong. The final report will not only identify mistakes but also suggest measures to prevent such incidents in the future.

UP CM announced judicial probe

Announcing the judicial probe, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath stated, Such incidents serve as lessons for us. We are committed to uncovering the root causes of this tragedy. Despite conducting multiple reviews and maintaining strict vigilance at the local level, this unfortunate event still occurred. That is why we have ordered a judicial inquiryto find out what went wrong and ensure that such a disaster does not happen again."

Several opposition leaders have accused the government of hiding the real number of casualties. Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said, Hiding the truth about such a disaster is a crime. The government is spending thousands of crores on publicity, but why is it hesitating to help the victims?"

According to officials, the government has confirmed 30 deaths. More than 60 people were injured, many of them suffering fractures and other serious wounds. Some victims are being treated at a medical college in Prayagraj. Officials say that none of the injured are in critical condition, but a few may take weeks to recover. Many of those injured are from places like Deoria in UP, Bihar, and Delhi, and their families have been informed.

The Maha Kumbh is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, drawing millions of devotees who come to take a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers. The Mauni Amavasya bathing ritual is considered one of the most auspicious occasions of the festival, attracting huge crowds.

This year, the number of visitors was exceptionally high, crossing 31 crore since the fair began. On January 29 alone, around 1.40 crore people participated in the holy bath.

UP govt promises better crowd management

State officials have promised that better crowd management will be implemented for upcoming events, especially the Basant Panchami Amrit Snan. UP DGP Prashant Kumar said, We have learned from this incident and will take extra precautions. We have already visited the site and met the injured. Arrangements will be improved so that such an unfortunate event does not happen again."

Chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh also visited the injured in hospitals and stated that all necessary medical facilities have been provided. He added that the government is taking care of the families and ensuring that they receive proper assistance.

Trauma for pilgrims

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For many pilgrims, the tragedy has raised concerns about safety at large religious events. While the Maha Kumbh is a deeply spiritual experience, the loss of lives in a stampede has left a shadow over the celebrations. Families of the victims are demanding accountability, and the findings of the judicial commission will play a key role in determining who was responsible for the lapses.

The commissions report is expected within a month, and people are hoping that it will provide clear answers. Whether it leads to real change in how large gatherings are managed remains to be seen, but for now, the focus is on uncovering the truth behind this devastating event.

First Published: February 01, 2025, 00:08 IST
A Snake Peek Into Mumbai's Finest Chinese New Year Celebrations

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:30 IST

To celebrate the Year of the Snake in style, Mumbai's finest dining destinations are launching special menus that range from delicate Cantonese to fiery Sichuan. Enjoy the greatest seasonal treats right here.

Enjoy delicious Chinese New Year feasts at Mumbai's best restaurants to celebrate the Year of the Snake in style!

The Year of the Snake slithers in, bringing with it a wave of good fortune and prosperity. From fiery Sichuan creations to elegant Cantonese delights, the citys top restaurants are unveiling special menus to honour this auspicious occasion. Discover a world of flavours, each dish a testament to culinary artistry and a reflection of the snakes grace and wisdom. Get ready to savour exquisite cuisine and usher in a year of prosperity and good fortune.

Era: Mark your calendars and sharpen your chopsticks because Chinese New Year 2025 is almost here! From 22nd January to 9th February, Era, the new roaring mid-century-inspired hotspots is rolling out a festive feast to celebrate the Year of the Snake. Curated by Chef Sandeep Singh and Tanmay Ayre, the celebratory menu features an enticing selection of dishes designed to tantalise the taste buds and bring good fortune to the table. Guests can begin their feast with Chives & Cheese Dim Sum and Prawn Har Gao, both delicate and bursting with flavour. The mains include aromatic options like Chicken with Sichuan Peppercorn, Steamed Fish in Ginger Scallion, and the fiery Prawn in Mountain Chilli Spices, each dish crafted to evoke the bold and graceful qualities of the snake. For those craving comforting staples, the Asparagus & Egg White Fried Rice and Pan-Fried Noodles offer a perfect balance of texture and taste. To end on a sweet note, the menu includes the crispy and indulgent Honey Noodles with Ice Cream, along with a decadent Matcha Cheesecake, a modern take on a classic dessert. Yi Jing, ITC Maratha: Yi Jing, ITC Marathas premier Chinese fine-dining culinary gem, invites you to celebrate the Year of the Snake with an extraordinary culinary journey. Known for its authentic and contemporary take on Chinese cuisine with a special focus on Sichuan and Hunan provinces, Yi Jing blends tradition and innovation to create memorable dining experiences. From January 28th to February 5th, indulge in an exclusive a la carte menu specially curated for the festive season. Highlights of the menu include starters like Gluten with Mixed Mushrooms Shanghai Style and Marinated Lamb with Chilly Oil. Main course delights range from Gong Bao Prawns with Cashew Nuts to Stir-Fried Chinese Cabbage with Glass Noodles. For noodle lovers, the Da Lu Mian Homemade Noodles come in variations like Vegetable, Chicken, Prawn, and more. End your meal on a sweet note with desserts like Sweet Sticky Rice and Fried Sesame Gluten Dumplings. MoMo Cafe, Courtyard by Marriott: Celebrate the Year of the Snake with a special Chinese New Year buffet at Courtyard by Marriott Mumbai International Airport. On January 29th, MoMo Cafe invites you to savour a lavish spread of authentic Chinese delicacies from 7:00 PM to 11:30 PM. Indulge in a curated selection of authentic Chinese delicacies, from the comforting Clear Wonton Soup and Shanghai Spring Roll with Sweet Chili Dip to the vibrant Stir Fry Chinese Greens, Steam Red Snapper with Ginger Scallion Sauce and the decadent Crispy Duck in Hoisin Sauce. Conclude your feast with a delightful selection of desserts, including the Ma Lai Go Steam Cake and Cantonese Steam Egg Pudding, a sweet ending to a prosperous celebration. The festive spirit is further enhanced with classic red and gold decor as you celebrate prosperity, good fortune, and happiness with loved ones. This is an invitation to embrace the spirit of the Lunar New Year and welcome a year of new beginnings with a truly memorable dining experience. Sesame, Hyatt Centric Juhu: Sesame Hyatt Centric Juhu is celebrating the Year of the Snake with a dazzling menu inspired by Sichuan cuisine, starting January 27th. Indulge in a feast of flavours, infused with lucky colours of black, red, and yellow, reflecting the wisdom and allure of the serpent. From the succulent Peking Duck and the fiery Sichuan-style Hot & Sour Soup to the delicate Truffle Mushroom Dumplings and the bold Black Pepper Crab. Dont miss the exclusive Chinese New Year Brunch on February 2nd, featuring an exquisite selection of authentic dishes paired with delightful beverages. Immerse yourself in the festive spirit and welcome the new year with a memorable dining experience at Hyatt Centric Juhu.

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First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:30 IST
Loved Priscilla Chans Bvlgari Necklace At Trump Swearing-In? Here's How Much It Costs

Published By :

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:11 IST

It is the same necklace Priyanka Chopra wore at Isha Ambani's 'Roman Holi' event in Mumbai last year.

Zuckerberg was captured standing with his wife, Priscilla Chan.

President Donald Trumps second swearing-in ceremony was undoubtedly a star-studded affair, attracting a lot of celebrities who flocked to Washington, DC, to greet the new US President. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, was also one of the attendees. Ahead of the event, the CEO of Meta posted a photo that is currently going viral. In the picture, Zuckerberg was captured standing with his wife, Priscilla Chan. The latter was looking stunning in a black floor-length evening dress, which she paired with an impressive necklace  a Bvlgari Prodigious Colour Necklace.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)

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It is the same necklace that actor Priyanka Chopra, the global brand ambassador for Bvlgari, wore at Isha Ambanis Roman Holi event in Mumbai last year.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra)

With a powerful and brilliant colour palette, the Bvlgari necklace is reportedly priced at around Rs 10 crore, although the pricing is only available upon request. The necklace combines several of Bvlgaris most recognizable stylistic trademarks.

According to Bvlgari, this strong and vibrant colour palette necklace, is reminiscent of Artemisia Gentileschis passionate paintings, balancing between volume and voluptuousness, light and colour. The ingeniously crafted piece allows amethyst, citrine, rubellite, blue topaz, and pink quartz to each take centre stage in their wondrous way, amplified by sinuously interwoven rose gold, dazzling diamonds, and green tourmaline inserts," the Italian luxury jewellery label added.

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A powerful and vibrant colour scheme that appears to have been lifted from one of Artemisia Gentileschis [Italian painter] iconic works. Her bold and powerful use of colour is perfectly in tune with Bvlgaris passion for vibrant gems," states Bvlgari.

This beautiful necklace is perfect for every occasion, be it a cultural celebration or a cocktail party. This piece of art showcases a blend of modern and traditional elements. The quality craftsmanship and intricate design make it a versatile piece perfect for every occasion. The sparkling stones make it a showstopper for any event.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:11 IST
The Symbolism Behind Kate Middletons Pearl Necklace At Holocaust Memorial Day

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 14:30 IST

More than just a fashion statement, Kate Middleton's exquisite style for the Holocaust Memorial Day service was a moving memory entwined with historical significance and royal customs.

Kate Middleton looks stunning wearing a vintage pearl necklace and a simple black outfit. (Images: Instagram)

Kate Middleton, known for her impeccable fashion sesh, recently grabbed attention with her looks at the Holocaust Memorial Day service. She commemorated the Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenauin London, but it was her sense of styling that captivated several minds. During the same event, she also announced her remission from cancer and expressed her heartfelt gratitude to The Royal Marsden Hospital and the service providers for their utmost care. Additionally, one of the key styling elements in Kates look carried a significant meaning that is unmissable.

For the day, Kate Middleton wore a multi-layered pearl necklace from Susan Caplan, and this transformed her fans into the vintage era. Kates symbolic neckpiece paid tribute to the occasion in accordance with her connection to the royal roots. The family heirloom earrings and her five-strand faux pearl necklace sourced from the esteemed vintage jeweller showcased her fine taste.

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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kate Middleton (@katemiddletonofwales_)

As per a report in the ETimes, Kates necklace dates back to the 1980s, and it is designed with pearls of various sizes. The iconic jewellerys look is further enhanced by the addition of a Swarovski crystal-encrusted clasp. The report claims the necklaces value to be around USD 341. This necklace from the Jewish-owned brand is indeed a fashion statement.

The Princess of Wales acknowledged the weight of the occasion and teamed her necklace with a pair of Bahrain pearl drop earrings, something which was passed down to her from the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Coming to the necklaces strong meaning, it is well known that pearls have been associated with mourning in the royal family for ages. It is a tradition that dates back to Queen Victoria, who first wore them following the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kate Middleton (@katemiddletonofwales_)

Talking about her overall OOTD, the princess picked an all-black-hued ensemble. It featured a camisole top with a matching pair of bottom flared pants and a long coat flowing downwards. In one word, she looked absolutely gorgeous. A mini leather purse with a golden strap and pointed heels did the accessories part. Regarding her makeup, she chose a subtle foundation base with a slight touch of blush on her cheeks, giving her a sense of fresh glow on her face. She also applied thin strokes of eyeliner and glossy lipstick to add an oomph factor to her look. On the other hand, side-parted open tresses rounded off her charm.

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Kate Middleton wore a necklace with deep meaning. (Images: Instagram)

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:30 IST
Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds Move To Dismiss Justin Baldonis $400M Lawsuit: Report

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 17:43 IST

Reportedly, the actors have formally informed a federal judge that they will move to dismiss Baldoni's defamation lawsuit.

The legal conflict between It Ends With Us co-stars took a new turn. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

The legal conflict between It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken a new turn, as Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, have formally informed a federal judge that they will move to dismiss Baldonis defamation lawsuit. The couples legal team reportedly filed the notice on Thursday, following a procedural directive from Judge Lewis Liman on how the case will proceed. This development comes after Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit earlier this month, accusing Lively of attempting to destroy" him with unfounded sexual misconduct allegations.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, also involves Ryan Reynolds, Blakes publicist Leslie Sloane, and her PR company, Vision PR. Baldonis lawsuit claims defamation, extortion, and invasion of privacy. On Baldonis side, his production company, Wayfarer Studios, and some key people, including CEO Jamey Heath and PR reps Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, are also named in the case, according to Rolling Stone.

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Baldonis lawsuit came in response to Livelys prior complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department, where she accused him of sexually harassing her on set and orchestrating a smear campaign against her. Baldonis attorney, Bryan Freedman, pushed back against these allegations, calling them a calculated effort to fix her negative reputation." Lively escalated the matter further by filing an official lawsuit on December 31.

With tensions high, a pretrial conference is set for February 3, aiming to address legal conduct and media exposure. In a letter to the court, Lively and Reynolds attorneys previously accused Baldonis camp of making inflammatory statements to the press and using a website to publicise what they described as strategically selected documents and communications" between Lively and Baldoni in an attempt to sway public opinion.

Freedman, however, remains defiant. In a statement to Rolling Stone, he said, All these motions to dismiss are just yet another attempt by Ms. Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Leslie Sloan to hide and delay the discovery of the hundreds of pages of true facts and well-documented information that we remain dedicated to providing publicly, with full transparency. We expect such motions to be denied and, in the meantime, stand ready to oppose each and every one of them."

As the legal showdown continues, Judge Liman has scheduled the trial to begin on March 9, 2026, ensuring that this high-profile dispute wont be fading from the headlines anytime soon.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 17:43 IST
Chris Evans Declares Captain America Has Happily Retired

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:11 IST

As for Captain America, Evans has been shutting down comeback speculation for a while. Back in November 2023, during an appearance on The View, he acknowledged the constant rumours.

Marvel fans know that Steve Rogers iconic shield now rests in the hands of Sam Wilson. (Photo Credits: X)

Chris Evans is making it crystal clear that hes not picking up the Captain America shield again. In a recent Esquire feature on Anthony Mackie, ahead of Captain America: Brave New World, Evans directly addressed swirling rumours that hed be reprising his role as Steve Rogers in 2026s Avengers: Doomsday. His response? A firm denial. Thats not true," Evans, 43, said. The actor added that speculation like this resurfaces every couple of years" since his last appearance in 2019s Avengers: Endgame. But at this point, hes over it.

Ive just stopped responding to it," he admitted, before doubling down with a lighthearted but definitive, Yeah, no  happily retired!"

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Marvel fans already know that Steve Rogers iconic shield now rests in the hands of Sam Wilson, played by Mackie, 46. After his journey as Falcon, Sam officially took on the mantle in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and will lead the charge in Brave New World.

Mackie himself seemed just as surprised by the Evans rumours. He laughed when Esquire brought it up, saying, I didnt know!" Apparently, even in a recent conversation with Evans, the subject never came up.

I talked to Chris a few weeks ago and it wasnt on the table then. At least, he didnt tell me it was on the table, because I asked him. I was like, You know, they said theyre bringing everyone back for Doomsday. Are you coming back?" Mackie asked.

Evans response? The same as before: Oh, you know, Im happily retired,'" Mackie recalled.

Of course, Evans did briefly return to the superhero scene last year but not as Captain America. Instead, he made a fun cameo as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch, his pre-MCU Fantastic Four role, in Deadpool & Wolverine.

As for Captain America, Evans has been shutting down comeback speculation for a while. Back in November 2023, during an appearance on The View, he acknowledged the constant rumours.

I always see those reports. Every couple of months, someone says that theyre getting Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson and everyones coming back but, no ones spoken to me about it," he said.

That said, some familiar faces are making a return. Downey, 59, was officially announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024 as part of the next two Avengers filmsDoomsday and 2027s Secret Wars. However, he wont be reprising his role as Iron Man. Instead, hes set to play none other than the infamous Marvel villain, Doctor Doom.

Meanwhile, Captain America: Brave New World is set to hit theatres on February 14. Whether Evans stays happily retired for good, only time will tellbut for now, hes made his stance pretty clear.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:09 IST
Deva Movie Review: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde's Thriller Blends Grit, Action And Intrigue

Written By :

News18.com

Edited By: Chirag Sehgal



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 14:51 IST

Deva Movie Review & Rating: The film sees Shahid Kapoor in top form as a rebellious cop caught in a gripping web of mystery and vengeance.

Deva Movie Review: Shahid Kapoor delivers a power-packed performance in Rosshan Andrrews' action thriller.

Deva U/A 3.5/5 31 January 2025|Hindi 14 hrs 36 mins | Action Thriller Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Pavail Gulati, Pravessh Rana, Girish Kulkarni, Kubbra Sait, Aditi Sandhya Sharma Director: Rosshan Andrrews Music: Jakes Bejoy, Vishal Mishra Watch Trailer

Deva Movie Review: Its been a while since Bollywood delivered a masala action entertainer that strikes the right balance  thrilling but not overindulgent, stylish yet not hollow. The kind where high-octane action meets a brooding, effortlessly cool protagonist, vengeance fuels every move, and the plot is simple enough to keep your brain on cruise control. Of course, the genres usual tropes remain  power-packed dialogues, gravity-defying stunts, and female characters who, unfortunately, orbit the heros journey rather than shaping their own. Rosshan Andrrews Deva, starring Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Pavail Gulati, and Pravesh Rana, attempts to fit this mold, but with an unexpected twist that sets it apart.

The story kicks off in Mumbai with a scene drenched in tensionDev (Shahid Kapoor), a cop with an unfiltered attitude and a relentless drive, speeds through a dimly lit tunnel on his bike. He dials up his superior, Farhan (Pravessh Rana), his voice tinged with triumph: hes cracked the case. But before the gravity of his revelation can sink in, fate intervenes. His bike skids, balance lost, and in a flash, hes hurled to the ground, his head smashing against the tunnel wall.

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Cut to a sterile hospital room. Dev, unconscious and restrained by wires and monitors, mumbles under the haze of sedatives. His incoherent words catch the attention of the nurse on duty. Moments later, Farhan enters, his face etched with concernonly to be met with a devastating realization. Dev doesnt recognize him. A severe head injury has wiped parts of his memory, leaving behind a scrambled mess of past and present.

And so, the film rewinds, plunging us into Devs pastone painted in equal parts swagger and rebellion. In contrast to his current fragile state, we see a magnetic and brash Dev, effortlessly dancing at his sisters wedding, his presence commanding attention. Here, we also learn of his bond with Farhan, who is more than just his superiorhis family, his brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, across the city, a separate storm brews. Rohan DSilva (Pavail Gulati), a righteous officer, oversees a routine traffic stop while chatting with his girlfriend. The mundanity is shattered when a high-ranking politician, Atre, refuses to comply with police checks, throwing his weight around with brazen arrogance. Rohan, though insistent, is powerless against Atres influence. As the minister smugly drives away, unaware, Dev watches from a distance.

What follows is classic Devbold, unpredictable, and unruly. As he and Rohan ride through the city, Dev takes a detour, leading them straight to Atres residence. With no regard for protocols, he pushes Rohan to retrieve the car keys himself. When diplomacy fails, Dev makes his grand entrancefists flying, taking down Atres men with brute force, his words as fiery as his punches. Its an introduction befitting a larger-than-life cop, one who operates on his own terms.

Dev is no conventional hero. Hes hot-headed, impulsive, and borderline reckless. He chain-smokes, disregards orders, and even carries on an affair with his married neighbour. Hes the kind of officer who commands fear, not admiration. And yet, beneath the bravado lies an unshakable sense of justice. His commitment to his job is unwavering, especially in his pursuit of Prabhat Jadhava ruthless gangster who always manages to slip through the cracks.

But then, tragedy strikes. A botched operation ends in an explosion, claiming the lives of several officers and leaving one permanently disabledthe father of Devs love interest, Diya (Pooja Hegde). The incident pushes Dev and his team into overdrive. With every lead slipping through their fingers, one chilling truth emergestheres a mole within the force, feeding information to Prabhat, sabotaging every move they make.

Diya, a fierce journalist, is one of the few who dares to challenge Devs methods. When she exposes his brutality in an article, he storms into her office demanding answers. She doesnt back down, highlighting the struggles of lower-rank officers in a corrupt, hierarchical system. Its a moment that hints at something deepera conversation about power and abuse. But, unfortunately, Diyas character remains confined to the periphery, never truly breaking out of the role of the concerned love interest.

As the chase for Prabhat intensifies, Dev and his team finally corner him. But this time, something is differentPrabhat appears unprepared, caught off guard. As they storm his hideout, an unexpected assault unfoldsthe locals, seemingly unprovoked, turn violent, ambushing the police. Amidst the chaos, Prabhat makes a run for it, Rohan in hot pursuit. The chase ends in a heartbeat-stopping momentPrabhat, ever the survivor, gains the upper hand, gun pointed at Rohan. And just as the trigger is about to be pulled, Dev emerges from the shadows, his shot finding its mark first.

But Dev doesnt bask in the victory. Instead, he steps back, allowing Rohan to take the credit, knowing how much it would mean to his friends family. Its a rare moment of quiet nobility from a man so often driven by instinct rather than sentiment.

However, peace is fleeting. Days later, during a ceremony honouring Rohans bravery, a bullet rips through the air, striking him in the chest. The celebration turns to horror as he collapses, lifeless.

And then, we snap back to the presentFarhan, watching over Dev in the hospital, recounting the events leading up to his accident. The case Dev had solved before his crash is now lost within the fog of his fractured memory. As he struggles to piece together the truth, one question loomswill Dev be able to untangle the web of deception once again? Or will the secrets buried in his past consume him before he can reclaim his truth?

Rosshan Andrrews Deva isnt your typical Bollywood masala flickit wrestles with its own genre tropes while attempting to carve out a fresh identity. The first half treads familiar ground, populated with well-worn character archetypes and a predictable narrative structure. While it doesnt push the envelope like Singham Again or Pushpa 2, it avoids excessive action gimmicks, delivering well-executed police chases and fight sequences that, despite their template-driven nature, manage to feel engaging. The dialogues are sharp and grounded, and the sporadic humour injects a much-needed liveliness into an otherwise straightforward opening act.

But its in the second half that Deva truly comes into its own. Shahid Kapoor undergoes a stark transformationfrom a cocky, hot-headed cop who refuses to wear his uniform to a subdued, battle-worn investigator grappling with memory loss, the haunting absence of his best friend Rohan, and the enigma surrounding his mysterious death.

Andrrews masterfully contrasts Devs pre- and post-interval personas, using Kapoors towering screen presence and chameleonic ability to breathe depth into the character. The film accelerates as Dev, now a fragmented version of his former self, begins piecing together scattered clues, facing people who remember him vividly while he struggles to recall them. The unpredictability of the second half keeps you on edge, with revelations unravelling in a way that compensates for the first halfs linear storytelling.

At the heart of Deva is Shahid Kapoor, delivering a performance that is both familiar and fresh. His portrayal in the first half might evoke shades of Kabir Singh, but he injects enough distinctiveness to keep Dev from feeling like a retread. His transformation in the second halfmarked by restraint, vulnerability, and a detective-like determinationcements his versatility as an actor.

Pavail Gulatis Rohan is another standout, radiating sincerity and moral integrity. His character serves as the emotional anchor of the story, making his fate all the more impactful. Pravessh Rana, as Farhan, brings gravitas to his role as Devs superiorsupportive yet firm, a man who understands Dev better than anyone else. Meanwhile, Pooja Hegdes Diya, though competently performed, remains underutilized, her character merely scratching the surface of its potential. The same can be said for Kubbra Sait, an actress of immense talent who, unfortunately, is relegated to the periphery when she could have added deeper narrative layers.

Visually, Deva carries the aesthetic weight of a neo-noir thriller with the textured depth of a European crime drama. Cinematographer Amit Roy crafts a moody, stylized Mumbaione that pulsates with a noir-like atmosphere, further enhanced by A. Sreekar Prasads seamless editing. The films production design, locations, and Kapoors sleek styling lend it a sophisticated, almost graphic-novel-inspired allure. Jakes Bejoys background score effectively amplifies the tension without overwhelming the narrative, while songs like Marji Cha Maalik and Bhasad Macha provide serviceable but forgettable musical moments.

Ultimately, Deva finds its voice in its second half, evolving from a standard action thriller into a gripping, character-driven mystery. It may not be without its flaws, but its unpredictability, strong performances, and polished execution make it a compelling watch. If youre willing to ride out the familiar beats of the first half, the latter rewards you with intrigue, intensity, and a noir-infused take on the Bollywood action genre.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:51 IST
Inside Mira Rajputs Scenic Getaway To The Majestic Hills Of Bhutan

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 19:12 IST

In the first picture, Mira shared that she was enjoying a picnic in Punakha, a city in Bhutan.

Mira seemingly is enjoying a solo trip to Bhutan as Shahid Kapoor is currently busy with his new film, Deva. (Photo Credit: Instagram)

Shahid Kapoors wife Mira Rajput Kapoor has been treating her Insta fam with breathtaking photos from her Bhutan vacations. In her latest Insta Stories, Mira took her followers on a virtual tour of Bhutan with yet another picturesque set of images of the location, capturing its natural beauty.

In the first picture, Mira shared that she was enjoying a picnic in Punakha, a city in Bhutan. She captured the enchanting beauty of the hills in her camera while relishing some delicious food. The Akind founder wrote, Picnic at Punakha. Unbelievable view and unbeatable food" on top of the image.

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The next story featured a glimpse of the Punakha Dzong nestled amidst the hills and draped in lush greenery. The mystical atmosphere and clear water body added to the charm of the place. Following the picture, Mira added a video, giving her fans a 360-degree view of the beautiful location. Lastly, Mira could be seen enjoying a small bonfire at her hotel.

Mira seemingly is enjoying a solo trip to Bhutan as Shahid is currently busy with his new film, Deva. Starring Shahid, Pooja Hegde and Pavali Gulati in lead roles, the action thriller was released in theatres today, on January 31. For the last couple of weeks, the 43-year-old actor had his hands full with the promotional events for his new film directed by Rosshan Andrrews.

While Shahid is seemingly missing from this trip with his wife in Bhutan, the couple kicked off the new year with a family vacation in the Maldives. Back then, Mira shared the ultimate list of must-try dishes in the island nation.

Her post began with a selfie where she was lying on a bed with a bathrobe on. In the following slides, the Akind founder gave her food recommendations, all of which were vegetarian. Mira, along with her family, enjoyed coffee, congee, pizza, burgers, soups, and some crepes in the country. Moreover, in her post, she also gave a shoutout to Patina Maldives, a luxury island resort, revealing that Not a dish disappointed" her there.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mira Rajput Kapoor (@mira.kapoor)

Speaking of Mira Kapoors work front, the star wife launched her skincare brand Akind in June 2024.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 19:10 IST
Rakhi Sawant 'Heartbroken' As Dodi Khan Refuses To Marry Her; Here's What Bigg Boss Fame Says

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 07:58 IST

Several of Rakhi Sawant's fans also reacted to Dodi Khan's video and questioned him for hurting the Indian actress' sentiments.

Earlier this week, Rakhi Sawant confirmed her marriage to Dodi Khan.

Rakhi Sawant is heartbroken and upset since Pakistani actor-businessman, Dodi Khan, has refused to marry her. On Thursday night, Dodi Khan uploaded a video on his Instagram handle to clarify that he is not going to tie the knot with Rakhi. Reacting to the same, Rakhi dropped a teary-eyed and several broken-heart emojis in the comments section.

Several of Rakhis fans also reacted to Dodis video and questioned him for hurting the Indian actress sentiments. Pehle Bina soche propose q Krna tha," one of the fans wrote. Awww thats so sad, who cares about people, you and Rakhi should marry regardless of media and live a happy life, people will always criticize," added another.

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For the unversed, in his video message, Dodi Khan clarified that even though he proposed to Rakhi for marriage, they are not going to tie the knot. He praised Rakhi, talked about the hardships she faced in the past and mentioned that it was because of her bravery that he liked her a lot.

Hello India and Pakistan, this is Dodi Khan. A few days ago, on social media, you saw a video of mine in which I had proposed Rakhi Sawant. I proposed her because I know her very well. When I started knowing her, I felt she is a person who loves god a lot. She has seen a lot of ups and downs in her life, she lost her parents but was with them when they were ill. A guy came in her life, you all know what he did to her. She has come out of a lot of trauma. She accepted Islam, went for Umrah, and changed her name to Fatima. I liked that a lot thats why I proposed to her," Dodi said in Hindi.

But, I think that this is not acceptable to people because I have received a lot of messages and videos, and I cannot tolerate it. So, Rakhi ji, you are my very good friend, and will always be. You might not be able to be my bride, but I promise you that you will become the daughter-in-law of Pakistan. I will make you get married to one of my brothers," he added.

Rakhi Sawant was previously married to Adil Khan Durrani. However, the two parted ways in 2023. Prior to Adil, Rakhi was also married to Ritesh Raj Singh. The two participated in Bigg Boss 15 but parted ways soon after the show ended in February 2022.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 07:58 IST
Viral Mahakumbh Girl Monalisa Bags Lead Role In Bollywood Film Opposite Rajkummar Rao's Brother

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:59 IST

Monalisa Bhosle has been cast in a lead role in the upcoming film, The Diary of Manipur.

Director Sanoj Mishra has roped in Monalisa for his movie.

It was a twist we probably saw coming. The 16-year-old girl who became an internet sensation at the Mahakumbh is about to make her mark on the silver screen now. Monalisa Bhosle, a 16-year-old from Khargone district in Madhya Pradesh, made headlines during the Prayagraj Mahakumbh due to her stunning beauty, particularly her eyes. However, she later faced harassment which forced her family to leave Prayagraj.

And now, Bhosle has bagged a lead role in the upcoming film, The Diary of Manipur. It is directed by Sanoj Mishra, known for his previous work on The Diary of West Bengal. Monalisa will be the leading lady opposite Rajkummar Raos brother, Amit Rao, who makes his debut with this in showbiz. The film industry, always on the lookout for fresh faces, has found a new star in the making. Details about the film remain under wraps.

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Monalisa has spent years selling flowers in Maheshwar, Khargone district. But destiny has other plans for her as she is now set to begin shooting for the film in February. Director Sanoj Mishra recently met Monalisa and her family at their home to discuss the project.

Later, he took to Instagram to share a video announcing the movie. In the clip, Monalisa says, Bahut khush hoon main. Mehnat karengeyzaroor karengey. Mehnat karenge tabhi to agey badhengey."

Check it out:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sanoj Mishra (@sanojmishra)

Bahut hi innocent log hain yeah, banjare hai! I was impressed with her innocence, simplicity and natural looks but what followed was horrible and so disturbing. So, I searched for her and met her parents and family members about the film and all aspects. Now, I have more responsibility to present her and make her career. Im starting her workshop in Indore for a fortnight and after that we will shift her to Mumbai where the workshop will continue," Sanoj told HT City.

He added, We are starting the film in London with Amit Rao for a week and from April the film will be shot from start-to-end in Manipur. We are starting the film in London with Amit Rao for a week and from April the film will be shot from start-to-end in Manipur as its a story of love and violence. After training, she will be joining the cast as the leading lady."

Mishra further said, Her simplicity has made her go viral so we present her will with simplicity and set an example in this era of reels and social media an innocent girl from a banjara community can became an actor and rule. Its my answer to those who tried to use to become viral and was subjected to exploitation."

Monalisa has spent years selling garlands at Kila Ghat nearNarmada River. However, her life changed overnight when a content creator filmed her selling rudraksha garlands during the Mahakumbh. Her captivating eyes caught the attention of everyone and she soon became viral.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 12:59 IST
Zayn Malik And Louis Tomlinson Share Heartfelt Reunion At Los Angeles Concert

Published By :

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:28 IST

Louis Tomlinson was recently spotted attending Zayn Malik's Stairway to the Sky tour in Los Angeles, where the performer gave a sweet shoutout to his former One Direction bandmate.

This was the first public appearance of Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson this year. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Fans are still heartbroken by Liam Paynes sudden death, but Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinsons surprise reunion has brought some excitement. Tomlinson was recently spotted attending Maliks Stairway to the Sky tour at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles, where the performer gave a sweet shoutout to his former One Direction bandmate. In a video circulating on the internet, fans noticed Tomlinson standing on the balcony, patting his chest after Malik honoured Payne during his performance. Reports claim that Malik dedicated What I Am and Alienated to his former group member.

In the video, in between the show, a fan recorded Malik saying, So tonights kind of special, an old friend of mine is here to support me tonight. Hes sitting somewhere here, I dont want to give his location but Louis here tonight." This left the attendees excited and could be heard cheering loudly witnessing the unexpected reunion.

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Alright so tonights kind of special, I know a friend of mine is here to support me tonight, hes somewhere here I dont want to give his location away but Louis here" IM SHAKING SO BAD pic.twitter.com/tQzzDLaC5D  L In another video from the performance, Zayn Malik is seen pointing towards the sky while singing and looking towards Louis Tomlinson. The footage then shows Tomlinson patting his chest, remembering Liam Payne, who tragically passed away in October 2024 after falling from the balcony of CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This emotional moment further left their fans emotional and happy, seeing One Direction members close bond. zayn malik looking up towards louis and louis tomlinson tapping over his heart watching him proudly This was the first public appearance of Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson together since they both attended the funeral of their late One Direction bandmate, Liam Payne, in November. The funeral, held in Buckinghamshire, England, was also attended by Niall Horan and Harry Styles. Malik had earlier delayed his Stairway to the Sky tour following Paynes death. While there were initial speculations suggesting substance abuse as the cause, BBC has now confirmed that Payne passed away due to polytrauma, which involves multiple injuries affecting different organs or systems. About Liam Paynes death, five individuals in Argentina have been charged. The charges include hotel manager Gilda Martin, receptionist Esteban Grassi, Paynes friend Roger Nores, hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra, and waiter Braian Paiz, all accused of supplying drugs.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 15:10 IST
Opinion | Can Union Budget 2025 Weather The Global Storm?

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 15:30 IST

Transactional Trump, EU policy recast, and realignment of global forces with China and Russia moving closer may cast a long shadow on the Modi governments eleventh-year budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her eighth budget 2025-26 on Saturday, February 1.

Post-elections in the United States, Donald Trump assuming office as American President, coupled with the realignment of global forces, will weigh heavily on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she prepares to present her eighth consecutive Union Budget this Saturday.

FM Sitharaman may have to take into account Trumps persistent argument that Bharat is a high-tariff destination for American goods. More importantly, his decision to group Brazil and Bharat with China for imposing high tariffs as a means of balancing trade may be at the forefront of discussions.

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A bilateral trade deficit of $32 billion that the US has with India in total trade worth $118 billion in 2024 is the big trigger for transactional Trump, who is expected to push hard for rebalancing trade transactions. In fact, this is the biggest factor behind Trumps threat to impose a blanket tariff exceeding 2.5 per cent on all Indian goods and services, along with a push for increased sales of American defence equipment.

A potential solution could emerge when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Trump during his visit to France next month. Beyond this, Finance Minister Sitharaman will likely consider the Commerce Ministrys analysis of all economic issues raised by Trump during his inauguration as President on 20 January, as well as his virtual address at the Davos World Economic Forum the following day.

In fact, this will inevitably factor into FM Sitharamans calculations on oil prices, the US dollar, and Indian rupee valuation, in addition to her fiscal deficit projections, which are expected to align with her announcement in the last budget a couple of months ago.

In line with Donald Trumps Make America Great Again campaign, the European Unions push for a Make Europe Great Again agenda may have implications for large developing economies such as Bharat, Brazil, and South Africa.

The 27-nation bloc and Trump may have taken inspiration from Prime Minister Modis India First or Bharat First campaign, which mobilised Hindutva or Bharatiya forces not only at the political level but also on the socio-economic front.

Although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen maintains that Europe is already great, she has commissioned a report on the EUs competitiveness from Mario Draghi to provide a firm roadmap for sustaining healthy growth rates over the next 25 years. This reassessment will undoubtedly impact Asian exporters, including India, which is emerging as a significant player in both investments and trade.

Serious conversations within the European Union regarding the end of its dominance in automobiles, the emergence of China as a major player in both the automobile industry and artificial intelligence, and the non-availability or limited access to cost-effective oil from Russia will have to be factored in by Nirmala Sitharaman as she fine-tunes Bharats roadmap to 2047.

The Union Budget is undoubtedly a significant occasion to reflect, assess, and develop a forward-looking economic policy framework in light of the global realignment of powerChina and Russia moving closer, the ongoing debate between capitalism and communism, and the ideological spectrum ranging from conservatives to liberals, Left of centre to far-right politics, both within and outside the country.

As one may recall, the Narendra Modi government has astutely deployed every penny over the past eleven years to win the hearts of 1.4 billion people. Even without securing a majority in the Lok Sabha in last Junes elections, Modi and his economic policy team, led by Nirmala Sitharaman, have neither diminished nor deviated in the slightest.

This eleventh-year budget of the BJP-led NDA will be no different. Fiscal consolidation, prudent spending, the continuation of a well-structured taxation policy, and an expanded safety net covering more vulnerable sections under the ambit of Bharats famed growth story will be evident both in vision and execution.

Expanding the scope of the highly successful Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme, introduced in 2020, would not only expand the industrial base and create new job opportunities but also offer an excellent platform for foreign investors. To date, foreign investment of about Rs. 1.32 lakh crore ($16 billion) has been realised, leading to a massive increase in manufacturing output to Rs. 10.90 lakh crore ($130 billion). Over 850,000 jobs have been created due to this industrial expansion under the scheme alone.

Make in India and Make for the World are great policy slogans that have stood the test of time for the Modi government. The framework for the scheme, where both foreign and domestic investors contribute, must be expanded across sectors, especially defence and security, to fully exploit the potential for investment, technology, and job creation.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will need to announce the Modi governments policy framework for managing Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as DeepSeek and Qwen, developed by China, with its alignment with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Already, there are sufficient indications that the AI Compute Facility, which secured 18,000 GPUs, will drive the artificial intelligence initiative that is open-sourced, application-focused, and flexible. Data privacy and data localisation policies may need to be integrated to ensure that our artificial intelligence initiative aligns with the countrys diverse needs.

The quick investment and development of generative artificial intelligence networks may need to be prioritised by the Modi government, and a dedicated mission may need to be set up to develop a framework to address these issues.

Nirmala Sitharaman may need to opt for policy reforms to accelerate governance that eases the way of living and enhances living standards for people in rural and semi-urban areas. Bringing an equivalent focus to the middle and lower-middle classes, in addition to the most vulnerable sections, into the ambit of the budget and economic policy-making will also be a saleable proposition for the finance minister.

Given the kind of direct cash benefits announced in various states as part of the competitive political slugfest, these may need to be addressed immediately in order to foster a healthy work culture that enhances productivity in industry, agriculture, services, and allied sectors. From free power and heavily subsidised gas to cash offers, both Opposition parties and ruling NDA partners have gone for the kill in different states. Striking a balance between direct cash offers and investment-driven growth is something Nirmala Sitharaman will need to attempt, although its a bit tricky and not easily acceptable to the political class.

The 2025-26 budget spending, expected to be around Rs 50 lakh crore, may not bring many surprises, but it may continue with fiscal prudence while still achieving growth of over seven per cent. Reining in the fiscal deficit to 4.4 per cent by March 2026, from a possible 4.9 per cent this fiscal year, and limiting borrowings is achievable. Given the buoyancy in both direct and indirect taxes, coupled with a massive RBI dividend of $25 billion, the finance minister will have the elbow room to invest in rural infrastructure, stimulate consumption demand, and provide an investment push amid negative global uncertainties.

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Overall, it would be a mixed bag. However, its the right time for innovation coupled with bold measures.

The author is Director & Chief Executive, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, New Delhi, Bharat. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 15:17 IST
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense confirmed the delivery, emphasizing its ongoing commitment to supporting Ukraine. This year, Lithuania plans to enhance Ukraines air defense, provide ammunition and drones, and support Ukraines defense industry by financing domestically produced weapons.

Additionally, Lithuania will continue contributing to international coalitions, including the mine action coalition, which it co-leads with Iceland.

"Military assistance will also be transferred via international funds and collective initiatives, medical rehabilitation aid to injured Ukrainian troops and training to Ukrainian military personnel will continue to be provide," the ministry stated.

Since the start of russias full-scale invasion, Lithuania has supplied Ukraine with military aid worth over 767 million.

Read more: Not the Trophies But 90 Patriot Missiles Likely Sent By Israel to Ukraine
Opinion | Waqf And Illegal Immigration Bills In Budget Session May Polarise Delhi Election

Written By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 11:44 IST

The next three days in Parliament will be critical. What happens in Parliament on these two days could weigh on Delhis mind as it goes out to vote on Wednesday

In the Parliament session beginning today, the Narendra Modi government will not only table the Union Budget, but also 16 bills on priority. (Source: PTI)

Communal polarisation may creep into the Delhi elections at the last moment in what has otherwise been a campaign dominated by civic issues and freebies.

In the Parliament session beginning today, the Narendra Modi government will not only table the Union Budget, but also 16 other bills on priority. Among these, two notable ones that are sure to launch acrimonious debates, grab TV time, and trigger social media tirades are the Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025 and the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024.

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Both are crucial in reversing the demographic and geographic takeover of Bharat, which has been happening at a giddy pace. And both hold immense significance for Delhi.

The BJP has accused the AAP government in Delhi of welcoming illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas and putting them on election rolls to swell its Muslim vote bank. AAP hit back, accusing Home Minister Amit Shah of settling Rohingyas in Delhi. After communal clashes in Jahangirpuri in 2022, current Chief Minister Atishi Marlena had accused illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas of being behind the rioting.

Naturally, the Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025, which focuses on controlling the entry of immigrants into India, will heat up the capital in the dying days of winter.

It could become the main legislation on this subject, replacing older laws like The Foreigners Act 1946, The Passport Entry into India Act 1920, The Registration of Foreigners Act 1939, and The Immigration (Carriers Liability) Act, 2000, which makes carriers liable for passengers they bring into India breaching the Passport Act.

Although the BJP lost in Jharkhand, it carried out an intense election campaign against the demographic shift and cultural takeover in the Santhal Parganas or tribal areas, which have been inundated with Bangladeshi infiltrators. Pakur, for instance, had a 42 per cent growth in the Muslim population against a 19.51 per cent increase in the Santhal population between 2001 and 2011. Sahibganj registered a 37 per cent increase in Muslims against a 10.8 per cent increase in tribals.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill proposes 44 changes to the Waqf Act of 1995. It was presented in Parliament in August, sparking furious protests from the Opposition. It was then referred to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) led by BJP MP Jagadambika Pal. The JPC, after nearly three dozen sittings, has presented its report. It made 14 recommendations, all from BJP or its allies, and rejected 44 suggestions made by Opposition MPs.

The Mussalman Waqf (Repeal) Bill, an outdated, pre-Independence legislation, is also up for repeal.

The AAP government had donated Rs 101 crore to the Waqf Board over seven years, an RTI reply revealed in 2022. During its last days in office in 2014, the Congress government had donated 123 properties to Waqf in a grand appeasement feast. The Modi government took all those properties back in 2023.

If there is last-minute polarisation, the BJP could gain from the consolidation of Hindu votes.

How Muslims will vote in that scenario is not very clear. There is a higher chance of the community throwing its weight behind Arvind Kejriwal, whose party clearly has a much bigger chance to defeat the BJP.

But Muslims, of late, have been rallying solidly behind Rahul Gandhis Congress as they view RaGa as the most viciously confrontational leader against Modi. That could see a slim revival of the Congress in Delhi, but benefit the BJP even more.

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The next three days in Parliament will be critical. What happens in Parliament on these days could weigh on Delhis mind as it goes out to vote on Wednesday.

Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 10:50 IST
Dont Try And Make BJP Yediyurappas KJP: Dr Sudhakar Joins Growing Rebellion | News18 Interview

Reported By :

News18.com

Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 14:05 IST

The Chikkaballapur MP said Karnatakas BJP needs collective and inclusive leadership, not an autocratic one-man rule

BJPs Chikkaballapur MP Dr K Sudhakar has openly challenged state president BY Vijayendra over the appointment of district office-bearers. (X @DrSudhakar_)

They are trying to rebuild the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), not the BJP," said BJPs Chikkaballapur MP Dr K Sudhakar, who joined the deepening rebellion within the party, openly challenging state president BY Vijayendra over the appointment of district office-bearers.

In a candid and sharp interview, Sudhakar speaks of how the BJP in Karnataka is in a state where only intervention from the high command can control the downward spiral.

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Sudhakar joins a growing faction, including MLAs Basanagouda R Patil Yatnal, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Kumar Bangarappa among others who have been pushing for Vijayendras ouster.

The MP will meet the party high command on Friday, seeking an immediate resolution, warning that the BJP will remain weak and embarrassed in Karnatakathe state that gave the party its first breakthrough in southern India.

Sudhakar, who was brought into the BJP from Congress by Yediyurappa  Vijayendras father and former chief minister who is considered BJPs tallest leader in southern India  said Karnatakas BJP needs collective and inclusive leadership, not an autocratic one-man rule.

The Chikkaballapur MP expects the BJP in Karnataka to function as a team and not as one individual, one family, or a party run by the familys henchmen".

This is what is happening here. One person and his henchmen. They are trying to rebuild the KJP, not the BJP. Unfortunately, they should have focused on strengthening the BJP instead. And Congress is not weak in Karnataka," he said.

The KJP was formed by Yediyurappa and was credited with bringing the BJP to power in Karnataka in 2008. Forced to quit in 2011 over corruption charges, Yediyurappa was assured of a return once the scandal died down. However, with CBI probing him, the BJP high command sidelined him.

Frustrated, Yediyurapapa quit the BJP and launched the KJP on December 9, 2012, to take on his former party in the 2013 assembly elections. While the KJP won only six seats, it damaged the BJPs prospects in 29 constituencies, reducing its tally to 40 from the 110 it had won under Yediyurappa in 2008. In 2014, the KJP merged back into the BJP.

On the growing rebellion within the BJP, where senior leaders are upset over the way district office-bearers were appointed, Sudhakar dismissed claims of mere dissidence.

Everybody has waited for 14 months. They now understand that under the present leadership, it is impossible to build the party. A party president must act like a father figure or an elder brothersomeone who takes everyone along, not dictates terms. But that is not the case in the BJP in Karnataka today," Sudhakar said.

He also stressed the need for the BJP to be a stronger, sharper, and more focused opposition, built brick by brick, to challenge the ruling Congress. When elections come, the BJP must be in a position to return to power because people realise the Congress has failed and the BJP can offer better governance."

Sudhakars outburst comes days after BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal held a series of meetings with state leaders in an attempt to contain the rebellion.

He urged senior BJP leaders to step in immediately and resolve the crisis or risk major setbacks not just in Karnataka but across the southern states.

Unless the high command addresses this issue urgently, south India will be lost. One must rememberthe four years the BJP was in power were because of 17 people, including me, who joined the party and helped Yediyurappa become chief minister. Otherwise, he would have retired and been forgotten. The party must not forget this," said Sudhakar, who joined the BJP in 2019 after bringing down the Congress-JDS coalition in a major political coup.

Sudhakar accused Vijayendra of unilaterally appointing district chiefs, including in Chikkaballapur, without consulting him. He will take up the issue with the party high command, questioning the undemocratic manner in which these decisions were made.

There is a procedure, but he has manipulated and rigged it to suit himself. My grievance is that the partys due process was ignored," he said.

He argued that an MPs opinion should have at least been sought. I represent three districts as the only BJP MP from this region. If you dont even consider, consult, or respond to phone calls and messages, how do you expect to grow the party?" he asked.

Sudhakar also did not hold back in criticising Vijayendras leadership, highlighting a major trust deficit in the Karnataka BJP.

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You cant function in politics without trust. The DNA of any political system is trust. If a leader lacks trust, how will he build a party?" he questioned. He warned that if elections were held now, the BJP would struggle to win enough seats to return to power.

Unless the high command realises the ground reality and fixes these issues soon, the BJPs future in Karnataka does not look promising," Sudhakar said.

Location : Bangalore, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 14:05 IST
Where Will Bengaluru's Second Airport Be Built? Infra Push Gives Wings To Political Tussle

Reported By :

News18.com

Edited By: Apoorva Misra



Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:23 IST

Senior Congress ministers are aggressively pushing their own constituencies as the ideal location, making it a contest of influence as much as infrastructure

An existing agreement with the Siemens-led consortium that built Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) prevents the construction of a second airport within 150 km of Bengaluru until 2033. (Image for Representation)

The battle over where Bengalurus second international airport should be built is no longer just a policy decisionit has turned into a full-fledged political tug-of-war as senior Congress ministers are aggressively pushing their own constituencies as the ideal location, making it a contest of influence as much as infrastructure.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara wants the airport in Tumakuru, the seat he represents, citing its rapid growth and potential inclusion in Greater Bengaluru" as the Karnataka government is contemplating realigning the limits of Bengaluru city.

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Meanwhile, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar is advocating for a site near his stronghold in Kanakapura, pitching a location between Bidadi and Harohalli.

As part of the proposal on which areas would include Greater Bengaluru, Kanakapura and Ramanagara are also expected to be included within the new limits.

Parameshwaras Push for Tumakuru

Parameshwara has formally requested industries & infrastructure minister MB Patil to consider Tumakuru for the airport.

Land has already been identified in two places3,000 acres off NH-48 near Vasantha Narasapura Industrial Area and 4,000-5,000 acres near Seebi temple in Sira taluk," he said. He emphasised that Tumakuru, located just 70 kilometres from Bengaluru, is a growing industrial hub and will benefit from improved connectivity.

Backing him is BJP leader and deputy leader of the opposition in the assembly, Arvind Bellad. He believes the airport should come up in Tumakuru, particularly in Sira, to boost North Karnatakas development.

The Devanahalli airport has helped develop the areas along the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border. Similar development will be witnessed if the second airport is built towards North Karnataka," Bellad told News18. He also pointed out that industrial growth on Hosur Road has benefitted Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka.

Bellad is not alone in backing Tumakuru. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who joined Congress last year but later returned to the BJP, has also voiced support for this location. The airport should be in Tumakuru. North Karnataka has always been neglected in infrastructure development, and this project will ensure the economic corridor from Bengaluru to Hubballi-Dharwad gets a boost," Shettar said.

Shivakumars Strategic Pitch for Kanakapura

Shivakumar, on the other hand, has been aggressively pushing for a site near Kanakapura. His argument: an airport between Bidadi and Harohalli would be a game-changer for the regions industrial growth.

His push for the airport aligns with his broader political strategy. During the 2023 assembly elections, he promised that Kanakapura would soon be part of Bengaluru district rather than Ramanagara. Just months later, in July 2024, he led a delegation to chief minister Siddaramaiah, submitting a proposal to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South District.

The people of Doddaballapura, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Kanakapura, Ramanagara, Channapatna, and Magadi were originally Bengalureans. Ramanagara and Bengaluru Rural districts were carved out for administrative ease," Shivakumar said, making his case for why his region deserves the airport.

His bigger promise to voters? A day will soon come when buyers will value your land by feet, not acres." The proposed airport seems to be his way of delivering on that.

Proponents of the southern Bengaluru location argue that KIA, in Devanahalli, primarily serves the northern part of the city, while travellers from South and West Bengaluru struggle with long commutes due to traffic congestion. A second airport in the south could ease this burden, say experts.

Interestingly, if the airport comes up in South Bengaluru, it might affect another of Shivakumars ambitious projectsthe proposed 250-metre-tall Skydeck in Hemmigepura, intended as a major tourist attraction. Sources suggest it may not be feasible if it interferes with aircraft movement.

Aviation expert Devesh Agrawal says the best choice would be the southwest part of Bengaluru, closer to Mysuru, which would utilise the new MysuruBengaluru Expressway and support the governments vision for developing Mysuru and beyond.

Agrawal notes that from an industry perspective, north and northwest Bengaluru already have a well-established airportKempegowda International Airport.

The second airport must meet the states and industries needs. To support agriculture, floriculture, and the knowledge industry, including IT, the best location would be somewhere in southwest Bengaluru, ideally along the BengaluruMysuru corridor."

Competition breeds improvement," said another industry observer and so the second airport is important, while keeping the location accessible and suitable for travellers and businesses.

Governments take

Karnataka industries & infrastructure minister MB Patil has said the second airport would require 4,500-5,000 acres, likely under a public-private partnership (PPP) model similar to KIA. Private investors are expected to show interest if they can secure at least 4,000 acres of land for the project.

The Infrastructure Development Department (IDD) has shortlisted seven potential sites. A special team comprising environmental pollution officers and surveyors visited the site recently and the inspection by the team was carried out in three gram panchayats covering Motagondanahalli, Nelamangala, Sompura, Yentaganahalli, and Soladevanahalli. Land around Harohalli near Ramanagara and Bidadi in the southwest has been assessed.

An existing agreement with the Siemens-led consortium that built Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) prevents the construction of a second airport within 150 km of Bengaluru until 2033. With just eight years left, the Karnataka government is now moving ahead with plans for a second airport to accommodate the citys growing air traffic and hopes to hit the ground running as soon as the tenure ends.

Develop HAL airport as well: Surya

Bengaluru South MP and BJP leader Tejasvi Surya has also called for three operational airports in the city, positioning it as a global hub on par with New York, Paris, and London. He has been urging the Union government to reopen Bengalurus HAL Airport for civil aviation, alongside efforts to identify a location for a second international airport.

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The proposal seeks to upgrade HAL Airport to handle up to 40 lakh passengers annually by 2047, with a peak-hour capacity of around 2,500 passengers. Before shutting down commercial operations in 2008, the airport had catered to over 10 lakh passengers in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

KIA, currently the third-busiest airport in India after Delhi and Mumbai, handled 40.73 million passengers and 496,227 metric tonnes of cargo in 2024. Officials predict it will hit peak capacity by 2035, making a second airport a necessity.

Location : Bangalore, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:20 IST
DeepSeek AI On PCs: Microsoft Is Bringing The AI Chatbot To Windows 11 Users

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News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:13 IST

DeepSeek AI is an open source model which Microsoft is happy to integrate with its Copilot Plus PCs for the consumers.

The new premium Copilot Plus PCs are getting DeepSeek AI support

Microsoft is caving into the pressure of bringing the DeepSeek AI model to its Windows PCs that will be available if you have any of the Snapdragon X powered Windows laptops. The company has a deal with OpenAI which gives it first dibs on ChatGPT and other AI models from the AI giant, but Microsoft is clearly open to integrating other models, especially when you have a high demand in the market, for which DeepSeek is a strong participant.

The announcement this week is interesting because OpenAI was critical of how DeepSeek was built and even alleged that its own data was used and trained by the China-based AI model. DeepSeek is likely to have used a technique called distillation where the OpenAI model would have been used to train the DeepSeek R1 model which is now freely available to users, as claimed by the White House AI chief David Sacks, quoted in an interview earlier this month.

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DeepSeek R1 For Windows Copilot Plus PCs: What You Get

The open source nature of DeepSeek allows giants like Microsoft to integrate the AI model into its own platform and make it available for free. You dont need to add anything to run DeepSeek on the Copilot Plus PC and just have to select the AI model for your use case.

The Snapdragon X-powered PCs come with a neural processing unit (NPU) that powers the AI features and the Copilot chatbot that is based on the GPT 4 AI model. Microsoft says the Intel based Copilot Plus PCs will also support DeepSeek AI in the coming months.

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The company says the Copilot Plus PCs are capable of letting you run these AI models and help developers build AI apps for the device and the platform. PCs in this segment are claimed to see battery life improvements and the AI model has been trained to minimise load on the hardware and give better efficiency.

The US government is clearly worried about the impact of DeepSeek AI, especially with its privacy policy which clearly states that the data is shared with servers in China. So, it would surely be concerned about how Microsoft is planning to keep the data secure for people who use the AI model on their PCs.

Location : Redmond, Washington State, USA

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:13 IST
Broken Toilet Seats At DU College Highlight Sanitation Woes: 'Where Will The Students Sit?'

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:41 IST

One toilet had a broken cistern, while another at a Delhi University college was completely without one.

The image shows a broken cistern (left) and a damaged toilet seat (right) in the toilets of a DU college. (Image: Instagram/@ronak.khatrii)

Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) President inspected the toilets of a DU college and found them in a deplorable state. One toilet had a broken cistern, while another was completely missing one. Moreover, the toilet seat designated for PWD students was broken and kept aside.

Ronak Khatri shared a video of his surprise inspection at Aditi Mahavidyalaya, bringing the authorities attention to the issue.

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The now-viral video begins with him pointing out the broken cistern in the colleges Indian toilet to the staff. In response, she says, It can break sometimes mostly its fine, well fix it," as the camera pans to reveal that the western toilet has no cistern at all.

It then progresses to show the broken vending machine that dispenses sanitary napkins. Towards the end of the video, Khatri shows the broken seat in the toilet designated for PWD students, asking, Where will the students sit?"

Your President, Your Voice," Ronak Khatri while sharing a video on Instagram.

The video, since being shared on Instagram, has clocked over 4.7 million views and still counting. Many even took to the comments section of the post to share their thoughts.

Check out the comments below:

A much-needed inspection," said one social media user.

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Another added, DUSU was needing this president for many years."

Sir, as a graduate of this college, I can tell you that these facilities have actually improved. Earlier, the situation was even worse. During the monsoon, the entire place used to get flooded," read yet another comment when translated from Hindi to English.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 12:36 IST
'China's AI Success Linked To Soviet-Style Education System': Telegram Founder Pavel Durov

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:07 IST

Pavel Durov said that Chinese students have consistently performed better in mathematics and programming at international competitions.

Durov believes Chinas growing dominance in technology seems inevitable. (Photo Credits: X)

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has shared his thoughts on Chinas rapid progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and linked it to the countrys Soviet-style education system. In contrast to Western schools, which, according to him, focus too much on protecting students feelings, Chinese institutions encourage competition.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Durov said that if the United States does not reform its education system, it risks losing its leadership in technology to China. He highlighted the recent rise of the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has quickly caught up with leading US companies like OpenAI.

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Chinas success in AI stems from its Soviet-style education system, which fosters strong competition  unlike Western schools that hide grades to protect feelings. If the US doesnt reform its education system, it risks ceding tech leadership to China. https://t.co/VmO6hRvkJX Pavel Durov (@durov) January 29, 2025

Durov pointed out that Chinas success in AI is not sudden. He said that Chinese students have consistently performed better in mathematics and programming at international competitions. He credited the countrys education system for producing talented students in science and technology.

The Chinese education system fosters fierce competition among students, a principle borrowed from the highly efficient Soviet model," Durov wrote.

He criticised Western schools for discouraging competition. He claimed that many schools in the West avoid sharing students grades publicly to protect them from pressure. While this may seem like a kind approach, Durov believes it has negative consequences.

Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin. Eliminate the losers, and you eliminate the winners. Telling all students they are champions, regardless of performance, may seem kinduntil reality shatters this illusion after graduation," he stated.

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Durov argued that in the real world, grades and rankings do exist, whether students like it or not. He used AI benchmarks as an example, pointing out that DeepSeeks performance is already being ranked above others.

He warned that without major changes in the US education system, China will continue to dominate the technology sector. Unless the US secondary education system undergoes radical reform, Chinas growing dominance in technology seems inevitable," he added.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:07 IST
Forced To Lick Toilet Seat, Head Shoved: Kerala Teen's Death By Suicide After Ragging In School Causes Uproar

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 10:11 IST

Kerala: The 15-year-old jumped from the 26th floor of his building after returning home from school where he was "forced to lick toilet seat".

Kerala: A 15-year-old student took his life after facing ragging at school. (Representative Image: Getty Images)

A 15-year-old student in Kerala tragically took his life after enduring severe ragging and bullying at school because of his skin colour. Mihir Ahammed jumped from the 26th floor of his building after returning home from school on January 15. His mother claims he was forced to lick toilet seats" and had his head shoved into the toilet while it was flushed". Ahammed was a student at Global Public School in Thiruvaniyoor, Ernakulam.

An FIR has been filed at the Hill Palace Police Station in Thripunithura, and the mother has submitted a petition to the Child Commission, requesting an investigation into the harassment Ahammed suffered, including alleged mistreatment by the Vice Principal of his previous school, GEMS Kochi.

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I am a grieving mother fighting for justice for my son, who was a happy, active, and loving child. On that fateful day, Mihir returned home from school at 2:45 PM, and by 3:50 PM, my world came crashing down as he jumped from the 26th floor of our home in Choice Paradise, Thripunithara, Kochi, ending his life," Ahammeds mother Rajna PM said.

The family tried to understand why Mihir took such a drastic step by talking to his friends and schoolmates and looking through his social media messages. What they found showed the terrible abuse he had gone through.

She added, He was subjected to brutal ragging, bullying, and physical assault by a gang of students at school and on the school bus."

Mihir was beaten, verbally abused, and forced to endure unimaginable humiliation even on his last day. He was forcibly taken to the washroom, made to lick a toilet seat, and had his head pushed into the toilet while it was flushed. These acts of cruelty broke him in ways we cannot fathom. He was bullied for his skin colour," the teens mother claimed.

Rajna even shared screenshots of the chats. One of them reads, They made Mihir play a game where he spread his fingers out and instead of using a pencil to hit between the gaps of his fingers they made him use a knife. They also made him lick toilet seats and push his head into toilets and flush them."

In one conversation, a person texts, My sister just told me that Mihir killed himself. Check if hes alive. No thanks." Another responds with a laughing emoji, asking, Where is this coming from?" They then add, How did he kill himself? Hes not responding, by the way. F***, n****, he actually died."

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Rajna further stated that after her sons death, his friends created an Instagram page titled Justice For Mihir". However, she alleged that the page was later taken down, claiming that the school pressured students to supress the truth".

When I approached the school authorities with evidence and demanded accountability, they only informed me that the information was forwarded to the police. I strongly believe they are attempting to cover up these incidents to protect the schools reputation," the grieving mother shared.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:19 IST
How A Long Lost Treasure Brought A Historic Silk Road City Back To Life

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:10 IST

In 1948, due to India and Pakistans partition, borders were closed, which ended the long-distance trade in the iconic Silk Road.

The 1999 Kargil War destroyed many local lives but changed one. (Photo Credits: X)

The 1999 Kargil War deeply affected many lives in Jammu and Kashmir, including Muzzamil Hussain and his family, who were forced to leave their home in Ladakh for safety, relocating to Suru Valley. While the war brought destruction and upheaval, it also led to a remarkable discovery for Hussains family. After returning home, Hussains ailing grandfather revealed the existence of an old property once owned by his great-grandfather. Upon exploring the house, the family was astonished to find it filled with rare treasuresChinese silks, Afghan silver cookware, Persian rugs, Tibetan turquoise, Mongolian saddles and luxury soaps from London, New York and Munich.

Unsure of what to do with these historical artefacts, the family received guidance from anthropologists Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes and Nasir Khan from Florida Atlantic University. Encouraged to preserve the relics for future generations, Hussain and his two uncles took the initiative to establish the Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum. Today, the museum houses a rich collection of artefacts from the legendary Silk Road traders, offering visitors a glimpse into Ladakhs vibrant trading history.

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As per BBC, Fewkes said, The Munshi Aziz Bhat [museum] doesnt have to and should not, be the British Museum or the Smithsonian because it offers its perspective that is invaluable to both local and global audiences. The stories [here] are focused on identities that are significant to the descendants, family and local histories provide an alternative understanding about the past than national or international narratives that you would see in larger museums in India or abroad."

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Muzzamil Hussains uncle, Ajaz Munshi shared, I think its very important that everybody try to preserve their family histories. In the age of modernisation, we are often going away from our roots and we must try to keep our legacies intact."

Munshi Aziz Bhat was born in Leh in 1866 and moved to Kargil after completing his schooling in Skardu, now in Pakistan. During that time, Kargil was a key stop on the Treaty Road, linking China to Central Asia through Kashmir. Unfortunately, in 1948, due to India and Pakistans partition, borders were closed, which ended long-distance trade. Bhat retired as one of the last known traders of the route.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 12:10 IST
Indian Navy Officers Onboard INSV Tarini Cross Point Nemo Where The Closest Humans Are Astronauts

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Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 16:53 IST

INSV Tarini's all-female crew, including Lt Commanders Dilna K and Rupa A, crossed Point Nemo in the South Pacific on January 30, 2025, marking a milestone in their 40,000 km journey

INSV Tarini, a 17-metre-long and 5-metre-wide sailing vessel, is undertaking this expedition solely powered by the sea breeze. (PTI File)

The all-female crew of the INSV Tarini, which embarked on a journey to traverse 40,000 kilometres, accomplished a courageous feat in the Pacific Ocean, reaching a destination previously deemed unimaginable.

On 2 October 2024, two Indian Navy women officers embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe aboard the INSV Tarini. They recently completed the third leg of their challenging journey, traversing a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean spanning 2,688 kilometres. This legs remoteness is notable for its proximity to Ducie Island, the nearest landmass.

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Lieutenant Commander Dilna K and Lieutenant Commander Rupa A, aboard INSV Tarini, successfully crossed Point Nemo on 30 January 2025 at 12:30 pm (IST). The Spanish research vessel Hesperides was the first ship to reach Point Nemo, achieving this feat in 1999. Crossing Point Nemo with INSV Tarini is a remarkable achievement.

Point Nemo, also known as the Graveyard of Spacecraft", is the most remote location on Earth. Situated at 4853S 12324W, it earns its nickname as the farthest point from any landmass. The nearest landfall to Point Nemo is approximately 2,688 kilometres away.

Located in the South Pacific Ocean, this point is renowned for its extreme remoteness. The closest human presence is the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, orbiting 400 kilometres overhead.

Point Nemo is also known as the spacecraft cemetery". It is a region in the South Pacific Ocean, the farthest point from any landmass, where decommissioned spacecraft are deliberately deposited at the end of their operational lives. Space agencies, after guiding these objects through Earths atmosphere, target Point Nemo for their controlled re-entry and subsequent splashdown. The remoteness of this location ensures minimal risk to human life and property.

NASAs International Space Station will also meet its end at Point Nemo. The agency has announced plans to decommission the station in early 2031, culminating in a controlled de-orbit into the ocean at this remote location. The de-orbiting process, set to commence in 2026, will see the station gradually lowered into the ocean over a period of four years.

The Indian Navys Navika Sagar Parikrama is currently in its second edition. A remarkable feat of maritime engineering, INSV Tarini, a 17-metre-long and 5-metre-wide sailing vessel, is undertaking this expedition solely powered by the sea breeze. Devoid of any engine or external support, the boat relies entirely on wind propulsion.

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Two women officers are undertaking an extraordinary journey, navigating a boat powered solely by wind for eight months. They are confronting high seas and extreme weather conditions as they sail more than 21,600 nautical miles, equivalent to over 40,000 kilometres.

During this entire journey, the equator has to be crossed at least twice. Earlier, in 2017, six women officers from the Navy completed a circumnavigation.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:53 IST
Indian-origin Man's 'No Work With Women' Remark Leaves CEO Furious

Curated By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 13:10 IST

Louisa Klouda has shared a screenshot of her conversation with Nirmal Patel, showing how a formal discussion turned into an unpleasant encounter for her.

The CEO called out the man's outdated thinking. (Representative Image)

Working professionals and service providers often use LinkedIn to connect with prospective clients. Besides offering opportunities, LinkedIn has also emerged as a platform to voice individual concerns or unpleasant happenings in the corporate world. One such instance was shared by Louisa Klouda, the CEO of Fenchurch Legal after she came across an Indian-origin man who did not want to work with women."

Taking to LinkedIn, Klouda shared a screenshot of her conversation with Nirmal Patel, who initiated the discussion by asking if he could connect with her over a call. Happy to take a call, as I dont like to connect without knowing the person," his message read. After receiving no response for days, Patel followed up with a mere question mark, to which the British CEO finally reacted.

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Extending her greetings formally, Klouda asked if he would be available for a call the following week and requested his preferred date and time slot. However, it was the next reply that left her astonished. Thanks, as interesting and as successful as your business is I tend not to work with women. Be well, sweetheart," Patel wrote in his response.

Taken aback by what the internet termed as an unprofessional and misogynist" remark, Klouda shared her thoughts about how society still maintains an outdated view of women. Well, I woke up today and learned something groundbreaking: Some people still think women shouldnt be in business. Now, as a woman in business, I could let outdated thinking get me down, but instead, Ill do what women have been doing for centurieskeep succeeding, keep breaking barriers, and keep proving that competence has NO gender," a part of her post read.

Many professionals joined the conversation and shared their disbelief over the mans reply. One wrote, One in a million (hopefully) Louisa Kloudahonestly cant believe there are educated men like that still out there," while another added, Weird!But in 2025 today, it is still the norm that a female/woman/girl cannot achieve personal growth, happiness, work/life success, and be herself at any time and any place."

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Fortunately, I dont do business with misogynists, or racists for that matter," another comment read. A user praised the CEO for calling out such behaviour and wrote, Well done Louisa Klouda for calling him out on his misogynist behavior."

According to Nirmal Patels LinkedIn profile, he is currently based in London, working as an SFO deal syndicate middleman." He is also an alumnus of the prestigious Imperial College.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 13:10 IST
Outpatient Clinical Manager Lauren Heare decorates a bulletin board with mental health tips at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus, provides services for children ages 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News The new Clarity Child Guidance Center is located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, which opened on Jan. 7, provides services for children aged 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News The new Clarity Child Guidance Center is located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, which opened on Jan. 7, provides services for children aged 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News The new Clarity Child Guidance Center is located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, which opened on Jan. 7, provides services for children aged 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News The new Clarity Child Guidance Center is located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, which opened on Jan. 7, provides services for children aged 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News A bulletin board is decorated with a sign that reads mental health first at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The mental health clinic, which serves patients aged 3 to 17, opened its doors on Jan. 7. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Worksheets, feeling guides and supplies are set out for mental health providers to use inside in treatment rooms at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus, provides services for children ages 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News The new Clarity Child Guidance Center is located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, which opened on Jan. 7, provides services for children aged 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News A sign that reads make yourself a priority is displayed inside the new Clarity Child Guidance Center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus in San Antonio, Texas. The mental health clinic, which serves patients aged 3 to 17, opened its doors on Jan. 7. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Outpatient Clinical Manager Lauren Heare decorates a bulletin board with mental health tips at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus, provides services for children ages 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News A treatment room at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus, provides services for children ages 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News Outpatient Clinical Manager Lauren Heare opens the blinds inside a treatment room at the new Clarity Child Guidance Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. The nonprofit mental health treatment center, located on the Southside Independent School District campus, provides services for children ages 3 to 17. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News

On Southside Independent School Districts largest campus, between the auditorium and the ag barn, a recently idle facility has been repurposed to provide mental health care to students and fill a big need in the community.

Inside, a Robert Frost quote welcomes visitors: Hope is not found in a way out but a way through.

District and community leaders gathered at Southside High School on Monday afternoon to celebrate the grand opening of the mental health clinic, which was founded through a partnership with the Clarity Child Guidance Center, a nonprofit providing behavioral health treatment to children in South Texas.

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Real change, enduring change, is done one step at a time, said Superintendent Rolando Ramirez. I think this is a huge step in the right direction.

The Southside ISD board approved the project in October, paving the way for the district to become the first in the area with an on-site mental health support guidance center providing outpatient services for students ages 3 to 17.

Board president Jesse Hernandez said the partnership marks a significant milestone for the largely rural district, where mental health care services are few and far between.

While our district is known for its quiet, family-friendly atmosphere, it is not immune to the challenges posed by a lack of access to essential services, particularly in the area of mental health, he said. South of Loop 410, even south of downtown San Antonio, families face significant hurdles in accessing psychiatric needs or even basic counseling.

The district said there are no psychiatrists in the South San Antonio area codes, and many families lack transportation to receive care. The Southside ISD Clarity Child Guidance Center aims to bridge those gaps by offering behavioral treatment and mental health services to the districts some 6,000 students.

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The clinic has two licensed counselors, two direct care staff and a receptionist. A member of the Clarity medical staff will complete psychiatric visits at least twice weekly, either in person or via telehealth.

Among the clinics offerings is its partial hospitalization program, where patients receive intensive mental health care from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and return home in the evenings to practice skills with their families. The program lasts an average of two weeks. Its aim is to de-escalate a crisis and avoid a hospital stay.

Students can also benefit from routine mental health support, individual and family therapy, and group counseling.

Clarity CEO and President Jessica Knudsen said staff have served seven students since the clinic informally opened in early January. It charges a copay for insured students, and provides services free for students covered by Medicaid.

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The clinic will work with families without insurance on a charity basis.

Clarity traces its roots back nearly 140 years and was once known as the Southwest Mental Health Center, which specialized in treating children with behavioral and emotional problems. It now operates on an 8-acre campus at the South Texas Medical Center and has the largest staff of child mental health professionals in the area through its affiliation with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Knudsen said the nonprofit had been seeking ways to support communities with limited mental health resources. This is its first on-site facility in an area school district.

It takes an average of eight years from the onset of symptoms for a child to receive mental health treatment, Knudsen said. She hopes the Southside clinic will make it easier for students to recognize signs of mental health problems and get the help they need.

If we can treat in those first couple of years, it can avoid so many problems, Knudsen said. Especially in the school setting, these kids get mislabeled a lot. Maybe theyre dealing with depression or anxiety but theyre having behaviors in the classroom. So if we can get them good quality intervention, it will improve their academic success.

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Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, State Board of Education Member Marisa Perez-Diaz echoed the sentiment. She said when students face mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression or trauma, it affects their ability to focus, participate and succeed in the classroom.

Southside ISD has built a network of care integrating mental health support directly into the educational experience of its community, she said.

Its not enough for schools to focus solely on academic performance, just as its not enough for mental health services to exist in a silo, said Perez-Diaz. When we unite these efforts, we create an environment where students are supported in all aspects of their lives  emotionally, mentally and academically.

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Competitors work on an ice sculpture during the 36th China Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition at Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 3, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

HARBIN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- At Harbin Ice-Snow World, the world's largest ice-and-snow theme park, veteran ice sculptor Zhang Hongyan is putting his finishing touches on 12 zodiac sculptures, infusing them with a unique charm that enhances the Chinese New Year atmosphere for visitors from around the world.

Since 1996, Zhang has devoted nearly three decades to the art of ice sculpting, witnessing firsthand the growth and transformation of Harbin's ice sculpting industry.

He said that as far as he can remember, Zhaolin Park in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is where China's ice lantern show originated and has been key to the development and promotion of the ice sculpture artistry.

In 1963, the first Harbin Ice Lantern Festival was held at the park, making it one of the world's earliest and largest outdoor ice lantern art exhibitions, Zhang said.

Since then, Harbin's ice sculptors have been using ice from the nearby Songhua River to create a wide range of ice art.

"Each ice sculpture undergoes several processes, including design, chainsaw cutting, and fine detailing with sharp tools. For beginners, it takes at least 10 years of learning and practice before they can create an ice sculpture independently," Zhang said.

Over the past 60 years, Harbin has nurtured generations of ice and snow sculptors. Thanks to their efforts, the techniques of ice sculpting, once considered a vanishing art, have flourished not only in China but also around the world.

Members of an ice sculpture team from the College of Art and Design of Daqing Normal University work on ice sculptures inspired by Terra-cotta Warriors at Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 4, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Zhang has been pleased to see how technological advancements have transformed what were once temporary sculptures into enduring marvels.

"Advancements in cold storage technology have allowed ice sculpture artistry to evolve from a seasonal craft into a year-round practice, spreading from northern regions to southern cities in China," he said.

Zhang noted that indoor ice-and-snow galleries in cities like Shenzhen in the south and Shanghai in the east are now able to showcase meticulously crafted ice sculptures, bringing the beauty of the art form to a wider audience.

The reach of Harbin's ice sculptors goes well beyond China. Since the 1960s, they have been committed to sharing Chinese ice sculpting techniques with countries such as the United States, Brazil and South Africa.

"Every year, from mid-October to late November, teams of Harbin ice sculptors travel to U.S. cities like Washington and Orlando to create indoor ice sculptures in refrigerated spaces for Christmas," Zhang said, noting that there are notable stylistic differences between Chinese and international ice sculptures.

He went on to explain that Chinese ice sculptures often emphasize scale, with the large-scale designs at Harbin Ice-Snow World being prime examples, while international ice sculptures tend to be smaller, more intricate, and often feature innovative design concepts.

"In 2013, I served as the ice sculpture art director for the indoor ice exhibition at Long Beach in Los Angeles, where we created ice sculptures based on the fairy tale, 'The Nutcracker,'" Zhang said. "It was a completely new endeavor, and the differences in aesthetics and culture between the East and West drove us to progress through mutual understanding and integration."

An aerial drone photo show tourists having fun at Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)

Over the years, Chinese ice sculptors like Zhang have blended various styles and techniques in their work. The Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition held at Harbin Ice-Snow World draws ice-and-snow artists from around the world to showcase their skill.

"I really enjoy exchanges with international ice sculptors. They are impressed by the traditional culture embedded in Chinese ice sculptures, and we appreciate their creative designs," said Shi Lei, a participant in the competition.

From the Ice Lantern Festival to the impressive Harbin Ice-Snow World, Chinese ice sculpting has become a major draw for visitors from all over the world. Standing beneath the towering sculptures, tourists are often amazed by their beauty and become a part of the story they tell.

"Seeing these ice sculptures and buildings with my own eyes is truly inspiring. They are exquisite and rich in unique cultural elements. I will never forget the grandeur and beauty of them," said Robin Lapthorne, an Australian tourist. "This is a treasure of world art, and I believe this city should be proud of it."

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Indian-Origin Woman Loses Memory In Accident, Mistakes Boyfriend For Taxi Driver

Curated By :

Translation Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 18:39 IST

In a recent interview, the woman shared that, despite not recognizing her daughter, she felt an overwhelming maternal instinct and deep responsibility for the child

Nash's condition necessitated frequent hospital visits, but their bond endured, and the couple married last year. (News18 Hindi)

Imagine waking up one day and forgetting all our relatives, partner, and child. Life as we know it would be destroyed, rendered meaningless. This devastating scenario became a reality for a Canadian woman who, after sustaining a head injury, forgot her boyfriend entirely. She even mistook him for a taxi driver while he rushed her to the hospital.

According to a report by The Sun, 33-year-old Nash Pillai was nine years old when she was involved in a car accident with her family in South Africa. This traumatic experience led to recurring seizures.

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In 2022, she experienced another head injury that resulted in memory loss. Upon waking, she had no recollection of her partner, Johannes Jakope, or their six-year-old daughter.

When Johannes drove her to the hospital, Nash believed he was a taxi driver. She spent three days under observation, and doctors determined she needed to see a neurologist. Throughout this ordeal, Johannes remained steadfastly by her side. Nashs condition necessitated frequent hospital visits, but their bond endured, and the couple married last year. Her family has provided unwavering support, even going so far as to stand outside the bathroom door while she bathes to ensure her safety and well-being.

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Nash acknowledges her husbands extraordinary patience and support throughout her recovery.

In an interview with Newsweek, she revealed that despite not recognising her daughter, she felt an overwhelming sense of motherhood, a deep responsibility for a child she couldnt remember. Through Johannes unwavering love and devotion, Nash gradually fell in love with him all over again. The couple has since welcomed a second child into their family. Nashs remarkable story is now the subject of a documentary.

Location : Canada

First Published: January 31, 2025, 18:39 IST
Indian Tourists Caught Urinating At Pattaya Beach In Thailand, Netizens Outraged

Curated By :

Translation Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:24 IST

A group of 5-6 Indian tourists urinated openly on the public beach in Pattaya, Thailand. A bystander filmed the incident and shared the video on social media

After the video went viral, there was widespread anger among both local residents and international tourist community. (News18 Hindi)

In the modern world, travelling has become more accessible due to transport being readily available to almost every place across the globe. While travel brings people, cultures, and traditions closer, it also brings the responsibility of mutual respect and decent behaviour, whether it is a domestic trip or your dream trip abroad.

However, in a recent viral incident, a few Indians were seen setting a bad example and tarnishing the nations image by behaving inappropriately on a beach in Pattaya.

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According to reports, a group of five or six Indian tourists arrived at Pattaya Beach early in the morning on January 16, 2025 and began urinating openly on the beach. While they were committing this indecent act, a bystander filmed the incident and shared the video on social media.

The tourists were seen engaging in such unsanitary behaviour on Pattaya Beach in Chon Buri, Thailand. After the video went viral, there was widespread anger among both local residents and international tourist community.

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Many voiced concerns that such actions could tarnish the reputation of Pattaya as a popular tourist destination. Local authorities were also urged to increase patrolling on the beach and raise awareness of local customs and rules.

Pattaya is one of the major attractions in Thailand, and lakhs of tourists visit this beautiful destination every year. As the craze among Indian travellers to explore new destinations grows, it is equally important to maintain basic respect for the location and locals.

Location : Thailand

First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:24 IST
Need A $1 Massage In China? Better Own An iPhone, Porsche Or Luxury Bags

Curated By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:36 IST

The massage parlour in Shenzhen, China, has gained attention for offering an 80-minute full-body detox treatment to women who meet specific criteria.

The parlour has received over 100 orders. (Representative Image)

Many businesses frequently introduce enticing discounts on their products and services, with strategies ranging from weekday price cuts to time-limited offers. Recently, a massage parlour in Shenzhen, China, gained attention for offering an 80-minute full-body detox treatment for 9 yuan or $1. Sounds like an amazing deal, right? However, theres a catchthe offer isnt available to every woman who walks into the parlour.

A report from the South China Morning Post revealed that only women deemed exceptionally outstanding" by the parlours standards are eligible for the 80-minute full-body detox treatment. To qualify, clients must meet at least one of 27 specific criteria, such as owning luxury property, driving premium cars like Audi or Porsche, or working for top tech companies like Tencent or Huawei. Additional requirements include carrying luxury luggage, holding residency in Hong Kong or Macau, or having travelled to Europe or the United States. The parlour also welcomes social media influencers with over 5,00,000 followers, brand creators, and professionals like doctors and bankers.

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The publication quoted a message from the establishment that read, If you do not meet the conditions, keep working hard in 2025!" The parlour reportedly defended its unique offer by stating that it aimed to inspire self-improvement, rather than providing personal gratification.

Despite the high bar for eligibility, an anonymous customer revealed that the service felt no different from a regular massage. Nevertheless, over 100 orders have reportedly been placed through the app.

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The parlours selective criteria have sparked criticism, with many questioning whether the establishments intentions are discriminatory. Some have raised concerns that the parlour may be violating the Consumer Rights Protection Law, which mandates fair trade practices for all consumers. Others have criticised the marketing strategy, pointing out that those who meet the requirements are unlikely to be concerned about saving money on a massage.

Similar exclusive practices in China have sparked debate before. In August 2024, another South China Morning Post report highlighted how swimming clubs in Jiangsu province only accepted women under 45 with high IQ and personal qualities. This raised concerns about discrimination and the implications of such selective policies.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:36 IST
'Out Of Court Settlement' Goes Wrong As Pakistan Lawyers Fight Over Snacks

Curated By :

Trending Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 18:27 IST

Though the reason for the scuffle remains unknown, viewers were left shocked by the violent attitude of the advocates.

The situation soon escalated as onlookers rushed to the spot to help the clients. (Photo credits: X)

While lawyers are supposed to advocate the interests of their clients, something contrary happened in Pakistan lately. In a video making rounds on social media, a group of legal practitioners were spotted engaging in a heated brawl outside a court. Their gestures might seem unprofessional but many viewers found the incident quite hilarious. The footage was dropped on X (formerly Twitter) with a humorous title Out Of Court Settlement in Pakistan." The chaotic event supposedly took place in an open space near the court.

The video opens with a group of lawyers walking into what appears to be a cafeteria. Upon reaching a particular table, they suddenly turned violent. The advocates, dressed in black suits, picked up the chairs and went on to attack three men who were peacefully enjoying their snacks.

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The situation soon escalated as onlookers rushed to the spot to help the clients. One of them sustained a severe injury on his head and fell unconscious. Another man appeared to be in pain but the lawyers continued to beat him with chairs.

Kalesh b/w Lawyers-Client (Our Of Court Settlement in Pakistan) pic.twitter.com/TOibMAGikF Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) January 30, 2025

Though the reason for the scuffle remains unknown, viewers were left shocked by the violent attitude of the advocates. One of them sarcastically predicted the main reason for the fight". According to him, the clients ordered Kachori but didnt ask the lawyers to join them." As a chai lover, I condemn this," added a viewer.

Divided by desh (countries), united by kalesh (fights)," quipped another. A user humorously asked, In such situations who pays for the damages?" An individual wished, If I could watch the fight live." Another person jokingly labelled it as a heavy settlement."

One viewer dropped a funny meme reference, assuming the reaction of the judge". The clip has accumulated more than 30,000 views on the microblogging platform.

Earlier this month, something similar happened at the MBB Engineering University in Jodhpur. A student engaged in a physical altercation with his teacher after being caught cheating. He was allegedly writing answers from his mobile phone during an MTech exam.

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Kalesh b/w Student and Examiner during exam, Student got caught cheating during Exam, Jodhpur RJ pic.twitter.com/QklA5IHdYR Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) January 15, 2025

The student turned violent and went on to slap the teacher on his face. The college authority called the police and the student was arrested for his behaviour. He was reportedly released on bail later. A video of the event went viral on social media while amassing over two lakh views.

Location : Delhi, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 18:23 IST
This Pond In Chhattisgarh Is 'Giving Out' Liquor. Here's Why

Curated By :

Translation Desk

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 09:21 IST

A cache of 8,700 kg of Mahua Lahan (locally made alcohol) and 370 litres of ready liquor has been seized from a pond in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur

With the help of divers, the team carried out a search operation and recovered the entire stock of liquor from the pond. (Local18)

Have you ever heard of a pond giving out liquor? The unthinkable has happened in Chhattisgarh thanks to illegal smuggling before elections. A cache of 8,700 kg of Mahua Lahan (locally made alcohol) and 370 litres of ready liquor has been seized by the Excise Department in Ganiyari area of Bilaspur. The consignment was reportedly hidden in a pond in the area.

With urban local body elections approaching in Chhattisgarh, an uptick has been witnessed in the activities of the illegal liquor mafia.

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According to local reports, the Excise Department team received information about a large quantity of liquor hidden in a pond in the area, prompting an immediate raid. With the help of divers, the team carried out a search operation and recovered the entire stock of liquor from the pond.

During the operation, the department discovered 8,700 kg of Mahua Lahan and 307 litres of ready liquor. This stock was allegedly intended for distribution and consumption during the elections, but it was seized before it could be distributed. The administration prevented a significant illegal consignment from reaching the market.

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It is common for liquor smuggling activities to increase during elections, with large quantities of illegal alcohol being supplied to lure voters. However, this time, the administration is taking a strong stance to curb such activities.

Excise Department Inspector Kalpana Rathore stated that the campaign would continue and strict action would be taken against illegal liquor in the district. Under no circumstances will it be allowed to be used in the elections," he said.

Location : Bilaspur, India, India

First Published: January 31, 2025, 09:21 IST
Leader of Rebels Who Toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad Named Country's Interim President

Published By :

Associated Press

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 23:46 IST

All the armed factions in the country would be disbanded, Abdul Ghani said, and would be absorbed into state institutions.

Ahmad Al-Sharaa had been expected to appear in a televised speech following the meeting, but did not immediately do so (AP photo)

The leader of Syrias rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad last month was named the countrys interim president on Wednesday as former insurgents cancelled the existing constitution, saying a new charter would be drafted soon.

The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a rebel once aligned with al-Qaida, as Syrias president in the transitional phase," came after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

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The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syrias new, de facto governments military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said.

Al-Sharaa had been expected to appear in a televised speech following the meeting, but did not immediately do so, and it remained unclear if he would. The exact mechanism under which the factions selected him as interim president was also not clear.

Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist former insurgent group that led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad in early December. The group was once affiliated with al-Qaida but has since denounced its former ties, and in recent years, al-Sharaa has sought to cast himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance and promised to protect the rights of women and religious minorities.

The United States had previously placed a USD 10 million bounty on al-Sharaa but cancelled it last month after a US delegation visited Damascus and met with him. Top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf said after the meeting that al-Sharaa came across as pragmatic." There was no immediate reaction by the Arab world or beyond on al-Sharaas appointment, which had been expected. Western nations, although they have moved to restore ties with Damascus after Assad was overthrown, are still somewhat circumspect about Syrias new Islamist rulers.

Abdul Ghani, the spokesman, also announced on Wednesday the cancelation of the countrys constitution  adopted in 2012, under Assads rule  and said that al-Sharaa would be authorised to form a temporary legislative council until a new constitution is drafted.

All the armed factions in the country would be disbanded, Abdul Ghani said, and would be absorbed into state institutions.

Since Assads fall, HTS has become the de facto ruling party and has set up an interim government largely composed of officials from the local government it previously ran in rebel-held Idlib province.

The interim authorities have promised they would launch an inclusive process to set up a new government and constitution, including convening a national dialogue conference and invite Syrias different communities, though no date has been set.

As the former Syrian army collapsed with Assads downfall, al-Sharaa has called for creation of a new unified national army and security forces, but questions have loomed over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.

Even knottier is the question of the US-backed Kurdish groups that have carved out an autonomous enclave early in Syrias civil war, never fully siding with the Assad government or the rebels seeking to topple him.

Since Assads fall, there has been an escalation in clashes between the Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups allied with HTS in northern Syria.

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The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were not present at Wednesdays meeting of the countrys armed factions Wednesday and there was no immediate comment from the group.

At the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos this month, Asaad al-Shibani, Syrias new foreign minister and HTS official, said the country needs the international communitys help as it begins rebuilding after nearly 14 years of brutal civil war.

Location : Damascus, Syria

First Published: January 31, 2025, 23:45 IST
'Was For Kids Of Slaves': Donald Trump Hopeful SC Will Uphold His Birthright Citizenship Ban

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 23:16 IST

Donald Trump claims birthright citizenship was for slaves' children, not immigrants. His executive order to restrict it was blocked.

US President Donald Trump (AP Image)

As US President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, through mass deportation, he has claimed that the birthright citizenship was originally meant for the children of slaves and not for the rest of the world to come in and pile into America".

On the very first day after assuming Presidency, Donald Trump had signed an executive order in an attempt to curb the influx of immigrants into the US. This new order also restricts the immigrants children, who are born in America, from getting the automatic citizenship.

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It Was Not For World To Pile Into The US: Trump On Birthright Citizenship

Speaking to reporters at Oval Office, Trump said, Birthright citizenship was, if you look back when this was passed and made, that was meant for the children of slaves. This was not meant for the whole world to come in and pile into the United States of America."

Notably, the significant immigration-related order by Trump was temporarily blocked by a federal court in Seattle the following day.

However, the Republican leader exuded confidence in getting the Supreme Court ruling in his favour as he seeks to appeal a federal courts decision to strike down his executive order against birthright citizenship.

Despite the blow, he remains committed to his belief that his policy coincides with the original intent of the 14th Amendment, which he deemed as a very good and noble" measure to protect former slaves.

I just think that well end up winning that in the Supreme Court. I think were going to win that case. I look forward to winning it," Trump said, adding that the US is one of the only countries in the world with unrestricted birthright citizenship.

Legislative Push To Redefine Birthright Citizenship Criteria

Further, a group of Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Katie Britt, have introduced a bill in the US Senate to restrict birthright citizenship. The proposed Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025 aims to limit automatic citizenship to those children whose at least one parent is a US citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or a member of the US armed forces.

According to the bills sponsors, the current policy is a significant factor behind immigrants influx and a potential risk to national security.

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The Times of India, citing the Center for Immigration Studies, reported that between 225,000 and 250,000 babies were born to undocumented immigrants in 2023, representing about seven per cent of all births in the US.

If enacted, the legislation would redefine the eligibility criteria to avail birthright citizenship. Also, the proposed legislation will only be applied to children born after its implementation date, marking a significant shift in US immigration policy.

Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

First Published: January 31, 2025, 23:04 IST
Cops Fear Brazilian Porn Star Who Fell To Her Death While Filming Threesome Was Murdered

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 20:01 IST

Anna Pollys lifeless body was found last week at an apartment-cum-hotel in Nova Iguacu, a town in the outskirts of Rio De Janeiro.

The men present will porn star Anna Polly during the fall provided conflicting accounts of the events leading up to the incident. (IMAGE: X)

Brazilian police are questioning if adult film star Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves, known online as Anna Polly, who fell to her death while filming a sex scene, was murdered, UK-based Daily Mail reported citing Brazilian media outlets.

The 28-year-old adult content creator is said to have fallen while filming explicit scenes for her OnlyFans with two unidentified men.

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Her lifeless body was found in the courtyard of an apartment-cum-hotel in Nova Iguacu, which lies in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Graphic footage has surfaced online, showing a police officer standing over a body, thought to be Alves, covered in blood-stained sheets.

She plunged to her death from the balcony while filming a threesome scene.

Cops now have accessed hotel CCTV images but are still analysing if the fall was an accident or a crime.

Brazilian news outlet Metropoles said that Anna Polly was facing harassment from some of her fans and subscribers and was also pressured by them.

Authorities told news outlets that they are aware of the situation and have seized Alves phone as evidence.

The men present with the adult content creator during the fall provided conflicting accounts of the events leading up to the incident. According to Globo, they were questioned again on Thursday, though no arrests have been made.

Its a complex case, and we dont rule out any possibility, from an accident to a possible crime. We are conducting a thorough investigation to clarify what happened," Baixada Fluminense Homicide Unit said.

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Alves was laid to rest on January 25, as confirmed by an Instagram post from her boyfriend.

All the information about the case is already in the hands of the police and they are investigating. If someone is to blame, they will pay and the culprit will be found. She died in the fall. There was no time to save her," Pedro Henrique, her boyfriend, said.

Location : Brasilia, Brazil

First Published: January 31, 2025, 19:55 IST
EU Cautions Pakistan: Trade Benefits Depend On Addressing Rights, Free Speech Issues

Published By :

Associated Press

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 19:24 IST

Pakistan risks losing its GSP+ status as the EU demands reforms on civil rights, press freedom and issues related punishments over so-called blasphemy.

Journalists remove a barbed-wire wire placed by police to stop them from marching toward parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan. (IMAGE: AP PHOTO)

The European Union on Friday warned Pakistan that its status as a duty-free exporter to the bloc will continue to depend on the progress the country makes in addressing concerns about civil and labor rights, and freedom of speech.

The warning came as Olof Skoog, the EUs special representative for human rights, wrapped up a weeklong visit to Islamabad.

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The visit was aimed at engaging Pakistan on the most pressing human rights and labor rights issues and discussing Pakistans plans to address them, including in view of the ongoing assessment under the GSP+ trade scheme," the EU said in a statement.

Pakistans exports to Europe have doubled since 2014 when it was awarded the status of duty-free exporter under the EUs Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus, or GSP+, incentives for developing countries.

However, the EU statement warned Pakistan that the trade benefits enjoyed by it under GSP+ depend on the progress made on addressing a list of issues, including on human rights, and tangible reforms remain essential."

It said that the EU welcomes the fact that Pakistan has become the largest beneficiary of GSP+, with Pakistani businesses increasing their exports to the EU market by 108% since the launch of the trade scheme in 2014." But, the statement said that as we approach the midterm of the current monitoring cycle, we encourage Pakistan to continue on its reform path as it prepares for reapplication under the upcoming new GSP+ regulation."

The statement said that Skoog, during his meeting with Pakistani authorities, highlighted areas of concern such as the application of blasphemy laws, womens rights, forced marriages and conversions, enforced disappearances, freedoms of expression, religion or belief, independence of the media, impunity for rights violations, due process and the right to a fair trial, civic space, and the death penalty."

Though international community and human rights groups often express their concern over increasing government curbs on media, violation of human rights, the latest development came days after Pakistans parliament passed a bill that critics argue is designed to suppress freedom of speech.

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The bill, which now has become a law after President Asif Ali Zardaris approval, grants the government extensive powers to impose heavy fines and incarcerate social media users for spreading disinformation. Journalists rallied on Friday across Pakistan, vowing to resist any laws aimed at suppressing freedom of speech.

Pakistans media has faced growing censorship in recent years, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the law is necessary to limit the spread of disinformation.

Location : Islamabad, Pakistan

First Published: January 31, 2025, 19:23 IST
From Avocados To Autos, Trump Tariffs On Canada, Mexico Could Hit Close To Home

Published By :

Associated Press

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 22:24 IST

Trump's tariffs threaten to blow up the trade agreement he himself negotiated with America's neighbours in his first term.

Avocados are displayed for sale | Representative image. AFP

The 25 per cent tax that President Donald Trump plans to slap on imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday could drive up the price of everything from gasoline and pickup trucks, to Super Bowl party guacamole dip.

The tariffs would also invite retaliation. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, has already vowed to counterpunch by pulling American alcohol off store shelves in the Canadian province  no idle threat; Canada is the worlds No. 2 market for Americas distilled spirits (behind the 27-nation European Union).

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Trumps tariffs threaten to blow up the trade agreement he himself negotiated with Americas neighbours in his first term. His US-Mexico-Canada Agreement  the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law", Trump once declared  was supposed to bring predictability to North American trade, giving businesses the confidence to make investments.

But when it comes to the self-proclaimed Tariff Man", Trump and his passion for plastering taxes on foreign goods, nothing is predictable, and nothing is ever really settled.

Tariffs at those levels and at that scope would effectively destroy the agreement that Trump himself negotiated and always brags about," said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.

The president says the 25 per cent levies are designed to pressure Americas two neighbours to do more to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the United States.

Michael Robinet of S and P Global Mobility and many other analysts suspect the tariff threat is also designed to get Canada and Mexico to go along with Americas demands for changes to the USMCA when it comes up for renewal next year.

Robinet, executive director of automotive consulting at S and P Global, said he doubts that Trump will go ahead with 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports  what he calls a shock-to-the-system" approach that would freeze the North American economy in a Tariff Winter".

Instead, Robinet said, Trump might postpone or phase in the tariffs or initially exempt some industries to show Canada and Mexico how much worse things could get if he doesnt get his way.

Trump pressured Mexico and Canada into agreeing to the USMCA five years ago, partly to narrow the United States big trade deficit  the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys.

It hasnt worked out that way.

The US deficit in the trade of goods of Mexico has widened from USD 106 billion in 2019 to USD 161 billion in 2023 (the last full year for which numbers are available). That is partly because Mexico has replaced China, locked in an ongoing trade war with the United States, as the source of many US imports  furniture, textiles, shoes, laptops, computer servers.

The trade gap in goods with Canada has ballooned, too: From USD 31 billion in 2019 to USD 72 billion in 2023. The deficit largely reflects Americas imports of Canadian energy.

The USMCA has not met the goals that Trump set forth for it. Our trade deficit with Canada and Mexico is bigger than it was, considerably," said Lori Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade programme at the American Economic Liberties Project and a longtime critic of Americas free trade pacts. A lot of jobs have been offshored to Mexico since USMCA." When the USMCA comes up for renewal next year, the US is expected to press for rules that would do more to encourage factories to produce in the United States. And it could seek a crackdown on Chinese goods being sent through Mexico to the United States to evade tariffs that Trump and President Joe Biden imposed on Beijing.

The United States now does far more business  exports and imports alike  with both Canada and Mexico than it does with China. In 2023, US trade of both goods and services with Canada and Mexico came to more than USD 1.8 trillion, compared with USD 643 billion with China. Because of USMCA  and the regional trade deal it replaced in 2020  most products cross the regions borders tariff-free.

The threatened 25 per cent tariffs are causing heartburn in corporate boardrooms. If Trump goes ahead with his threat, tariffs would surge from USD 1.3 billion to USD 132 billion a year on Mexicos imports to the United States and from USD 440 million to USD 107 billion on Canadas, according to the tax and consulting firm PwC.

And no one knows if Trump will really pull the trigger or how long the tariffs would stay in place if he does. Its really thrown industry into this turmoil of anxiety," said trade lawyer Chandri Navarro, senior counsel at Baker and McKenzie. What industry likes is certainty. Youre making production decisions, supply chain decisions, purchasing decisions five years out." Trump views tariffs as a fix-it for most of what ails the economy. He says they raise money for cuts in income and corporate taxes, encourage companies to move production to the United States and offer useful leverage in pressuring other countries to make concessions on trade and other issues.

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Trump administration officials also say critics of potential tariffs shouldnt view them in isolation, arguing that their other policies, including lowering taxes and easing regulations, will strengthen the economy.

Companies are scrambling to prepare. Some bought goods and shipped them to the United States ahead of time to beat the tariffs. Others are calculating how much of the cost they can pass along to their customers. Unfortunately, its going to impact a lot of consumers," said Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, a San Francisco company that helps clients manage their supply chains in plastics and metals. We saw this in his first term. A tariff isnt fully absorbed by the companies." Canada and Mexico are bracing, too. Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who represented Canada in USMCA negotiations, has called for retaliation if Trump moves ahead with tariffs. Being smart means retaliating where it hurts," said Freeland, who is running to replace prime minister Justin Trudeau. Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar  and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more." Likewise, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised in November that for every tariff, there will be a response in kind".

Location : United States of America (USA)

First Published: January 31, 2025, 22:24 IST
Tourists buy souvenirs at the Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

Tourists take part in a riddle game at the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

Tourists attend a lecture at the Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

Tourists visit the Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

(250129) -- HEFEI, Jan. 29, 2025 (Xinhua) -- Tourists buy souvenirs at the Anhui Museum in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

Tourists visit a Spring Festival-themed exhibition at the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

A boy tries to blow a sugar figure at the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

A tourist experiences the craft of making new year woodblock prints at the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

(250129) -- HEFEI, Jan. 29, 2025 (Xinhua) -- Tourists visit the Anhui Museum in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

(250129) -- HEFEI, Jan. 29, 2025 (Xinhua) -- Tourists visit the Anhui Museum in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

Tourists receive Spring Festival decorations carrying the Chinese "Fu" character, which symbolizes good fortune, distributed at the Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 29, 2025. Celebrating the Spring Festival in museums has become a new trend across the country. (Xinhua/Li He)

Editor: WXY
OnlyFans Pornstar Falls Off Brazil Hotel Balcony While Filming Threesome, Dies: Report

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:00 IST

Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves, an OnlyFans pornstar, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Rio de Janeiro on January 23 while filming a scene. The police are investigating the case.

A file photo of OnlyFans star Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves (Social Media)

In a tragic incident, a 27-year-old OnlyFans pornstar died after she fell off a hotel balcony in Brazil. The incident happened on January 23, while the pornstar, identified as Anna Beatriz Pereira Alves, popularly known as Anna Polly, was in the middle of filming a threesome sex scene in Rio de Janeiro, for an online adult content site.

According to a report with The US Sun, Annas body was found in a courtyard at the complex of the hotel, which was reported to be a four-star property.

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Anna fell off after an intense love-making scene reportedly sent her head-over-heels off a balcony", the New York Post quoted The US Sun.

The two men with whom Anna was filming the scene were also at the site, as a police officer stood beside the pornstars body, covered in a sheet.

The two actors gave conflicting accounts of what happened, the report claimed. However, they were released by the police after a round of interrogation.

Annas body was later sent for an autopsy to know the exact cause of her death.

The US Sun also released a Google image of the hotel where Anna died.

CCTV cameras at the hotel complex were being scanned as the investigations into the case continued.

We are conducting a thorough investigation to clarify what happened. Its a complex case, and we dont rule out any possibility, from an accident to a possible crime," a spokesman for the Baixada Fluminense Homicide Unit was quoted as saying by the report.

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Meanwhile, Annas boyfriend, Pedro Henrique told the outlet, All the information about the case is already in the hands of the police and they are investigating. If someone is to blame, they will pay and the culprit will be found."

Later, Henrique announced the death of his girlfriend in a social media post, captioning, Its so difficult without you. As the hours pass its starting to sink in and the hole in my heart is only getting bigger."

First Published: January 31, 2025, 11:17 IST
Scared To Go Nearby: Sinkhole Size Of An Olympic Pool Swallows 74-Year-Old Man In Japan

Published By :

AFP

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 12:42 IST

The sinkhole may have happened due to corroded sewage pipes, authorities in Yashio said.

Part of a truck salvaged from a sinkhole sits on its side as rescue operations continue for the driver at a prefectural road intersection in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture. (IMAGE: AFP)

Emergency workers in Japan began building a ramp Friday to try and reach a 74-year-old truck driver who has not been heard from since his vehicle was swallowed by a sinkhole this week.

The cavity has expanded to 40 metres (130 feet) across, almost the length of an Olympic swimming pool, since opening up in a city just north of Tokyo on Tuesday morning, officials said.

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The growing hole could be the result of corroded sewage pipes, according to authorities in Yashio.

It is an extremely dangerous condition," local fire chief Tetsuji Sato told reporters on Thursday at the traffic intersection where dozens of rescuers have been working around the clock.

We are planning to construct a slope (to access the hole) from a safer spot so that we will be able to send heavy equipment," he said.

He added that groundwater was leaking inside and that the hole was continuing to cave in".

No communication has been had with the driver since around midday Tuesday, with soil and other debris now covering the cabin of his lorry in Yashio.

Eroding walls

The punctured pipes potentially allowed the surrounding soil to flow in and the space under the ground to hollow out", Daisuke Tsutsui, a Saitama prefectural official, told AFP on Thursday.

Authorities hoped to complete the 30-metre slope on Friday, but a local official said it may take several days.

The operation has been aggravated by the inner walls of the hole  now around 10 metres (30 feet) deep  continuing to erode, preventing rescue workers from staying inside it for long.

Initially, the hole was around five metres in diameter but it has since combined with a much larger cavity that opened during the rescue operation on Tuesday night.

As the sinkhole has expanded, heavy chunks of asphalt have occasionally fallen in, preventing rescue workers from going near the chasm.

This has also made it dangerous to place heavy machinery nearby.

The 1.2 million people living in the area have been asked to cut back on showers and laundry to prevent leaking sewage from making the operation even more difficult.

Using toilets is difficult to refrain from, but we are asking to use less water as much as possible," an official told AFP.

Some sewage water in the area was collected and released to a nearby river to reduce the runoff into the hole.

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It feels rather abnormal that the search is taking this long. I wonder if he couldve been saved much sooner," Takuya Koroku, a local factory worker, told AFP on Thursday.

Im scared to go nearby," the 51-year-old added.

Location : Yashio, Japan

First Published: January 31, 2025, 12:42 IST
Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel Face Tough Questions During Senate Confirmation Hearings. Key Takeaways

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 08:50 IST

Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel faced tough questions during the Senate confirmation hearings for DNI and FBI Director, respectively, amid scrutiny over their past actions and affiliations.

Tulsi Gabbard (L)/Kash Patel (R) (Photos: AP/AFP)

Hindu-American Tulsi Gabbard and Indian-American Kash Patel, tapped by US President Donald Trump to be heading respectively Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on Thursday testified before Senatorial committees for the confirmation of their posts.

Initially, both the nominations were said to be controversial. However, after the confirmation of Pete Hegseth as the Defence Secretary, the chances of their confirmation by the US Senate have increased.

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As per the US law, all the Cabinet ranking positions and several other senior administration positions need to be confirmed by the US Senate.

It starts with a confirmation hearing by their respective Senatorial committees.

TAKEAWAYS FROM TUSLI GABBARDs CONFIRMATION HEARING

Gabbard is seen as the most endangered of Trumps picks, potentially lacking the votes even from Trumps party for confirmation for Director of National Intelligence. However, her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee offered a roadmap toward confirmation, the Associated Press stated.

In her prepared opening statement, Gabbard specifically stated that Title I of FISA had been used to surveil Page.

It opened with the chairman, Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., swatting back claims that Gabbard is a foreign asset", undercover for some other nation, presumably Russia. He said he reviewed some 300 pages of multiple FBI background checks and shes clean as a whistle".

However, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, questioned whether she could build the trust needed, at home and abroad, to do the job.

Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, defended her loyalty to the US. She dismissed GOP Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, when he asked whether Russia would get a pass" from her.

Senator, Im offended by the question," Gabbard responded.

Pressed on her secret 2017 trip to meet with then-Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has since been toppled by rebels and fled to Russia, she defended her work as diplomacy.

Gabbard may have made some inroads with one potentially sceptical Republican. Senator Susan Collins of Maine asked whether Gabbard would recommend a pardon for Edward Snowden. The former government contractor was charged with espionage after leaking a trove of sensitive intelligence material and fled to residency in Russia.

Gabbard, who has called Snowden a brave whistleblower, said it would not be her responsibility to advocate for any actions related to Snowden."

(In 2020, then-Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard introduced legislation calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who in 2013 revealed the existence of the bulk collection of American phone records by the NSA before fleeing to Russia.)

Im focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again," Gabbard said.

She sought to lay out reforms she would undertake to prevent future leaks on the scale of Snowdens, including making sure that every single person in the workforce knows about the legal whistleblower channels available to them."

Edward Snowden broke the law," she said, adding, He also, even as he broke the law, released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government that led to serious reforms."

Even when pressed multiple times for a yes-or-no answer by a visibly angry Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, Gabbard calmly and stolidly declined to give one.

Hinting at the pivotal role her views on surveillance are likely to play in her success or failure at the committee level, Gabbard was also pressed by Democratic Vice Chairman Senator Mark Warner, among others, on an apparent about-face she has made on her views of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Gabbard said reforms had been made to the law since her time in Congress that had led her to support the law; Warner pressed her: Which reforms?"

There are a number of reforms," she said. Warner pointed out that after the reforms were already passed into law, she told podcaster Joe Rogan that the reforms had made the law worse".

In a remarkably partisan opening statement for a nominee to lead the US intelligence community, Gabbard aimed at political opponents" and Democrat senators" who she said had fomented anti-Hindu bigotry against her over her connections to a fringe off-shoot of the Hare Krishna movement and painted her as a puppet" of Trump, Russia and others.

The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is I refuse to be their puppet," Gabbard said.

I want to warn the American people watching at home: You may hear lies and smears that challenge my loyalty to and love for our country," she said.

They used the same tactic against President Trump and failed. The American people elected President Trump with a decisive victory and mandate for change," she added.

TAKEAWAYS FROM KASH PATELs CONFIRMATION HEARING

At his combative Senate confirmation hearing, Kash Patel downplayed his past promotion of right-wing conspiracy theories and his pledges to pursue retribution against Trumps opponents.

According to CNN, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to pin down Patel over past comments praising the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, his public courtship of influencers in the QAnon conspiracy movement and his promise to go after current and former Justice Department and FBI officials that he once put on a list of corrupt actors".

There is no enemies list, Patel said.

As Democrats homed in on Patels well-documented record  in TV interviews, podcast appearances, his books and social media posts  of calling for punishments against the people he believes are part of the deep state" that has attempted to undermine Trump, Patel said, I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards."

There will be no politicisation at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI," he added.

This also came as Democrats raised concerns about what they called an enemies list" from Patels 2023 book, Government Gangsters.

Patel later said, Its not an enemies list  that is a total mischaracterisation."

Before the hearing, some advisers had encouraged Patel to express regret for his comments about the people on his list. He didnt take that path during the hearing.

Patel said that he wasnt aware of any plans to punish FBI agents involved in the various Trump probes and that no one will be terminated for case assignments".

Further, despite Patel saying he didnt want to look backwards, Republican lawmakers encouraged him to do just that. They brought up gripes about the 2016 Trump-Russia probe, the Hunter Biden investigation and other actions they believe were motivated by anti-Trump bias.

Later during the hearing, GOP Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana asked Patel, Do you believe in the adage that two wrongs dont make a right  but they do make it even?"

Senator, I think if anyone commits a wrong in government service, the American public deserves to know every absolute detail of that corrupt activity," Patel responded.

As he was questioned on the January 6 clemency, Patel said he opposes Trumps commutations that freed from prison hundreds of convicted January 6 rioters who attacked police officers.

I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement," he said, breaking from Trump.

(On Trumps first day in office, he pardoned more than 1,200 convicted rioters and granted commutations to 14 convicts tied to far-right extremist groups. These clemency actions freed hundreds of violent rioters from prison, including many who assaulted police.)

As for January 6, I have repeatedly, often, publicly and privately, said there can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement," Patel told lawmakers.

On the topic of January 6, there was a combative exchange between Patel and California Senator Adam Schiff  who have been at loggerheads for nearly a decade, dating back to both of their service on the House Intelligence Committee during Trumps first term.

Schiff dared Patel to stand up and apologise to the US Capitol Police officers guarding you today". Patel declined and retorted, How about you ask them if I have their backs?"

Also, Patel rebutted Democratic allegations that he was a conspiracy theorist" by saying he believes QAnon baseless", despite his past praise for the movement that promotes the false notion that top Democrats are at the helm of an international paedophilia cabal.

I have publicly, including in the interviews provided to this committee, rejected outright QAnon baseless conspiracy theories. They must be addressed head-on with the truth and I will continue to do that," Patel said.

He also complained that Democrats were misquoting and twisting his words about QAnon, as he did throughout the day on a variety of topics. He declined to answer many questions by repeatedly telling Democrats, I dont have the full quote in front of me."

Snippets of information are often misleading," Patel said at one point.

He repeatedly said hed focus his energy on other topics like fighting drug trafficking, hunting down gangs and rapists, and keeping the country safe from foreign terrorism, CNN reported.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TULSI GABBARD

Soon after his electoral victory in November, Trump nominated Gabbard, 43, as his spy master-in-chief as the head of DNI.

A four-term Congresswoman, 2020 presidential candidate and NYT bestselling author, Gabbard is a veteran with three deployments to war zones in the Middle East and Africa. She recently moved from being a Democrat to a Republican member.

In October 2022, she announced she was leaving the Democrat Party, and becoming an Independent.

On August 26, 2024, Gabbard formally endorsed Trump for a second term and soon after began serving as co-chair of his transition team.

On October 22, 2024, she joined the Republican Party because of President-elect Trumps leadership and how he has been able to transform the Republican Party, bringing it back to the party of the people and the party of peace.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT KASH PATEL

Trump also nominated Patel for the position of Director of the FBI, a position which is normally filled for 10 years.

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Patel, 44, is the highest-ranking Indian-American nominated by President Trump in his administration. If confirmed, he would be the first-ever Indian American to lead the most powerful American investigation agency.

Patel would replace Christopher Wray. He is considered to be a loyal supporter of Trump.

First Published: January 31, 2025, 08:50 IST
Tulsi Gabbards India Connect: A Hindu, Krishna Devotee, Oaths On Bhagavad Gita & Support For Modi

Curated By :

News18.com

Last Updated: January 31, 2025, 17:45 IST

US President Donald Trumps pick to be the director of national intelligence: A practising Vaishnava Hindu, Tulsi Gabbard said the discrimination she faces is not just personal, but part of a broader attempt to foster religious bigotry against Hindus and Hinduism

(Clockwise from top left) Tulsi Gabbard gifts the Bhagavad Gita to PM Modi; does the namaste; performs the aarti; seen taking the oath on the Bhagavad Gita. (AP/PM India/PIB India/ISKCONnews.org)

Tulsi Gabbard, 43, US President Donald Trumps pick to be the director of national intelligence, strongly defended her Hindu identity as she faced lawmakers for her confirmation hearing on Thursday.

A practising Vaishnava Hindu and devotee of Lord Krishna, Gabbard said the discrimination she faced was not just personal, but part of a broader attempt to foster religious bigotry against Hindus and Hinduism. She added that anyone genuinely curious about her personal journey with Hinduism was welcome to visit her social media account, where she would share more about her beliefs.

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Referencing Article 6, which prohibits religious tests for public officeholders, she remarked, Unfortunately, there are some Democrat senators who still dont understand the principle of freedom of religion and Article 6 of the Constitution. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Gabbard, a four-term Congresswoman, 2020 presidential candidate, and New York Times bestselling author, is a decorated military veteran with three deployments to war zones in the Middle East and Africa. She was the first-ever Hindu elected to the US Congress.

USA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Democratic party leader, Tulsi Gabbard in New York. pic.twitter.com/RfTNaq4lMv ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2019

TULSI GABBARDS MOTHER CONVERTED TO HINDUISM

Gabbard was born in American Samoa, raised in Hawaii and spent a year of her childhood in the Philippines. She is

often considered an Indian because of her first name, but she is not. Gabbards mother converted to Hinduism and gave her children Hindu names. Her siblings are named Bhakti, Jai, Aryan and Vrindavan.

She is married to cinematographer Abraham Williams. Her father, Mike Gabbard, is a state senator who was first elected as a Republican, but switched parties to become a Democrat.

My best wishes and love to all those who are celebrating the appearance day of Sri Krishna. Jai Janmashtami! Tulsi Gabbard  (@TulsiGabbard) August 26, 2024

TULSI GABBARDS LOVE FOR KRISHNA, BHAGAVAD GITA

In 2012, during her swearing-in ceremony to the U.S. House of Representatives, Gabbard took the oath of office on her personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita. Reflecting on this, Gabbard shared in 2020, My Gita has been a tremendous source of inner peace and strength through many tough challenges in life, including being in the midst of death and turmoil while serving our country in the Middle East."

In 2017, she once again took her oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita. It inspires me to be a servant-leader, dedicating my life in service to others and my country," she stated.

In 2020, she urged others to draw strength from the Gita, saying that the scripture offers a way to remain grounded amid lifes turbulent strong winds of change".

She is often seen giving Janmashtami wishes. My best wishes and love to all those celebrating the appearance day of Sri Krishna. Jai Janmashtami," Gabbard wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

Old videos of her chanting Hare Krishna have also resurfaced online.

CALLED MODIS PUPPET

Gabbard in her statement said, Democrats have accused me of being Trumps puppet, Putins puppet, Assads puppet, Modis puppet, but what truly unsettles them is I refuse to be their puppet."

Confirm @TulsiGabbardShe wont be a Deep State puppet https://t.co/NiuUfGs8oG  Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 31, 2025

TULSI GABBARDS SUPPORT FOR PM MODI, INDIA

In 2014, Tulsi Gabbard pledged support to PM Narendra Modis initiative to start International Yoga Day.

During their meet in New York, both Gabbard and Modi had agreed that yoga transcends physical exercise, serving as a lifestyle consciousness and worldview". The West would be surprised by the vast knowledge the ancient Vedic texts offer the modern world," she said.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tulsi Gabbard (@tulsigabbard)

She had gifted PM Modi a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

She had called Kashmir issue complicated and even voiced her views on the violence on Hindu temples in Bangladesh.

(1) It broke my heart to see such hate and violence directed towards devotees of God in their temples in Bangladesh. For these jihadists to believe its pleasing to God to burn and destroy temples and the murti of such a saintly person  pic.twitter.com/ZJUzlJTGJq Tulsi Gabbard  (@TulsiGabbard) October 20, 2021

TULSI GABBARDS CAREER

Tulsi Gabbard was first elected as a 21-year-old to Hawaiis House of Representatives but had to leave after one term when her National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

Gabbards political career began at the age of 21 when she was elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives. After the 9/11 attacks, she enlisted in the Army National Guard.

In 2004, she chose to forgo a guaranteed re-election to serve in Iraq with the 29th Brigade Combat Team, where she worked in a medical unit.

Following her return in 2006, Gabbard worked as a legislative aide to Senator Daniel Akaka, then-chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. She later volunteered for a second deployment to the Middle East as a platoon leader.

She was also the first American Samoan elected to Congress. She also served for two years on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Her early support for Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 Democratic presidential primary run made her a popular figure in progressive politics nationally.

In 2020, Gabbard made a bid for Democratic president nomination against Kamala Harris, blaming her own party for not opposing wars. She later dropped out of the race.

She left the Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Trump earlier this year, becoming popular among his supporters.

After joining the Republican party in 2022, Gabbard endorsed Donald Trump for the presidency and helped him prepare for the debate against Kamala Harris.

Tulsi Gabbard: Not only does she bring up exodus of Kashmiri pandits (commonly used to justify ethnic cleansing), she criticizes INCs Art. 370, claiming it was discriminatorydefending Modis revocation of Kashmirs autonomy. All RSS talking points. @KyleKulinski @HumanistReport pic.twitter.com/B8UH74qART Samirah (@SameeraKhan) September 11, 2019

THE CONTROVERSIES

Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine and criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a corrupt autocrat. Shes been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media.

A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his countrys leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimising a dictator and then more questions when she said she was sceptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.

*Tulsi Gabbard,* an American politician and Hawaii Army National Guard officer proudly speaks about her approach to Bhagvat Gita.What is stopping you? _Let us start from today._ *.Ready?* pic.twitter.com/MAMdwryqxP  Roop Darak (@RoopDarak) August 16, 2020

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As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed a key surveillance programme known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas. Gabbard said the programme could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the programme has saved lives.

With Agency Inputs

First Published: January 31, 2025, 16:38 IST
Light installations are pictured at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Tourists pose for photos at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

Light installations are pictured at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Tang Wenhao)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

A worker colors a lantern at a workshop in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

A drone photo shows tourists visiting the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

A tourist visits Colorful Lantern Museum of China in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 18, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

A drone photo shows light installations at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

Light installations are seen at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua)

A worker decorates a lantern at a workshop in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show during trial operation in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Tourists queue to visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show during trial operation in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

A drone photo shows light installations at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 17, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

Tourists visit the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show during trial operation in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

This combo photo shows a child's drawing (L) and light installations of the drawing at the 31st Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Show during trial operation in Zigong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 14, 2025. The national-level intangible cultural heritage project Zigong lantern show boasts a long history, as it can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. In 1964, Zigong held the first lantern show celebrating the Spring Festival. So far, making colorful lanterns has become a popular industry here, with Zigong lanterns having been displayed in more than 80 countries and regions.

Making a Zigong lantern involves many craftsmen, including art designers, bench workers, mechanics, electricians and paperhanging workers. The complete process can hardly be found in other places in China. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Editor: WXY
Folk artists stage a dragon dance show in Tancheng County, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Zhang Chunlei/Xinhua)

A folk artist performs face-changing show at a temple fair in Hengyang, central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Cao Zhengping/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows tourists visiting a tourism street in Leling County, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Jia Peng/Xinhua)

Tourists visit a cultural tourism area in Fengnan District of Tangshan City, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Li Xiuqing/Xinhua)

Folk artists stage a molten iron fireworks show at a cultural tourism area in Fengnan District of Tangshan City, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Liu Mancang/Xinhua)

Tourists take photos of light installations in Datong, north China's Shanxi Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Liu Jiaqi/Xinhua)

Folk artists stage a molten iron fireworks show at a temple fair in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Huang Zhengwei/Xinhua)

Tourists visit a cultural tourism area in Fengnan District of Tangshan City, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Li Xiuqing/Xinhua)

Folk artists stage a dragon dance show in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Li Mingfa/Xinhua)

Tourists visit a cultural tourism area in Anshun City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Chen Xi/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows folk artists performing lion dance in the air in Tule Village of Yuxiang Town in Yongji City, north China's Shanxi Province, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Spring Festival. (Photo by Xue Jun/Xinhua)

Tourists walk on a road decorated with lanterns in Xuan'en County, central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Song Wen/Xinhua)

Tourists select creative cultural products in Wuxing District of Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Zhang Ying/Xinhua)

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 29, 2025 shows people visiting the Fenghuang ancient town in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hunan Province. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Zhou Xiuyuchun/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows tourists visiting the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, in Jixian County, north China's Shanxi Province on Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Lyu Guiming/Xinhua)

Tourists visit a lantern show in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Wang Kexian/Xinhua)

People have fun at a square in Yongzhou City, central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Jiang Keqing/Xinhua)

Tourists visit the Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic spot in the city of Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang/Xinhua)

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 29, 2025 shows a view of Nanhu Park in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Yu Xiangquan/Xinhua)

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 29, 2025 shows people visiting the Fenghuang ancient town in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hunan Province. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Zhou Xiuyuchun/Xinhua)

People have fun at an amusement park in Tengzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Song Haicun/Xinhua)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists select figurines of "Lord Rabbit" at Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Artists perform during a parade at Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists receive Spring Festival decorations carrying the Chinese "Fu" character, which symbolizes good fortune, at Changdian temple fair in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

Tourists visit Changdian temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

People watch a lion dance performance in celebration of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, near the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

People watch a lion dance performance in celebration of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, near the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

People watch a dragon dance performance in celebration of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, near the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

People watch a lion dance performance in celebration of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, near the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

People watch a dragon dance performance in celebration of the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, near the Ruins of St. Paul's in south China's Macao, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Artists put on a performance in Hong Kong, south China, Jan. 29, 2025. Various events were held across China on Wednesday to celebrate the Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

A lion dance performer interacts with tourists in Wusheng County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Xia Junlin/Xinhua)

People visit the Fengyu Bridge adorned with lanterns in Xuan'en County, central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Song Wen/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows people visiting an old street in Linhai, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Wang Huabin/Xinhua)

Folk artists perform lion dance in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

Tourists take bamboo rafts at Wuyishan National Park, southeast China's Fujian Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Qiu Ruquan/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows folk artists performing dragon dance in Peng'an County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 29, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Liu Yonghong/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows folk artists performing dragon dance in a tourism area in Taizhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Tang Dehong/Xinhua)

A drone photo shows folk artists performing dragon dance in Sanhe Town of Feixi County, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 30, 2025. People enjoy various activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year which falls on Jan. 29 this year. (Photo by Xu Yong/Xinhua)

Editor: WXY
The Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) Veterans Association has issued a stern warning against calls for an extended term for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, insisting that the constitution must be upheld and any deviation from it could lead to serious consequences, including bloodshed.

The warning from the ZPRA veterans highlights growing tensions within Zimbabwes ruling elite as factions within Zanu PF continue to wrestle over Mnangagwas political future.

Addressing a press conference at the Bulawayo Media Centre on Thursday, ZPRA Veterans Association National Spokesperson, Buster Magwizi, expressed unwavering support for fellow war veterans who recently spoke out against the proposed extension of Mnangagwas tenure beyond 2028.

Our solidarity is not just a message of solidarity. It is an expanded contribution for political correctness, Magwizi stated.

The veterans who stood out in a press briefing last week led by Blessed Runesu Geza in Harare were very correct because no one else has got the audacity to advise the government correctly on what to do or the leadership on what is straight and what is crooked. We hold the sanctity of the constitution sacrosanct.

Magwizi stressed the countrys independence was won through the sacrifices of war veterans from both ZPRA and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), yet successive administrations have sought to divide the two liberation forces.

This country has been trying all along to separate ZPRA from ZANLA yet they are all war veterans. Yes, you will remember that even in animals, they do not see the same days. Now that everyone else is seeing the light, we stand in expanded solidarity at a confluence of ideas for political correctness, he said.

Magwizi also rebuked those who dismissed the veterans who spoke in Harare as mad, crazy, and biased, warning such dismissals were misguided and motivated by selfish interests.

We would like to advise such kind of veterans who are misguided, who want to benefit out of corruption, that their days are numbered, he said.

Magwizi was referring to Local Government Minister Daniel Garwes recent remarks aimed at reassuring Mnangagwas loyalists that plans to keep him in power until 2030 were still in motion.

Deputy National Spokesperson for the ZPRA Veterans Association, Joakim Moyo, condemned the push for a third term, labeling it fraudulent and a direct assault on the constitution.

There has been a litany of injustices which make us sick as ZPRA veterans. We have always stood as people advocating for political correctness, and we are prepared to go down, dying doing the same thing, Moyo declared.

We are a people who want to adhere to the constitution as a national guide and live by it. The spirit and the flesh of it should be observed by everyone, regardless of size. Probably let me get down to the constitution and say, we stand ready to defend the constitution of Zimbabwe, and would like to warn all those pushing the 2030 mantra that it is fraudulent.

Moyo said Zimbabwes constitution is a product of national consensus and democratic principles, warning against any attempts to subvert it for political gain.

The current constitution was arrived at as a nationally driven issue. Everybody was consulted and everybody spoke. And our constitution observed the democratic principles that underlie what you call a democracy, he said.

Moyo also provided historical context, arguing that Zimbabwes governance had been marked by illegalities from the start, particularly regarding the failure to properly integrate ZPRA and ZANLA forces after independence.

There was a failure to integrate both ZPRA and ZANLA. These forces had sweated to bring independence. They were soldiers of political correctness. But if you start bringing some in and leaving others out, elbowing some out, you are already creating an imbalance. And we are a lame state as it stands today because we stand on one foot, if not on half of it.

According to Moyo, freedom fighters expected the state to uphold its promises, but instead, they have been neglected and left to struggle.

A democracy at its best is where everybody participates in the daily decision-making of what affects his or her life. Now people articulate that in a constitution, and you hear noises of a party, an individual, or a section wanting to tamper with the constitution, then you start asking yourself, how sane is this? he noted.

Let me jog you through the history so that we buttress why we are saying the constitution should not be tampered with. First, in 1980, from the Lancaster House Talks, there was an agreement which was legal that we are the Patriotic Front.

But when we came here, somebody reneged and started entering here as a fraction of the Patriotic Front. That was illegal in the first place. Illegality from the start, garbage in, garbage out throughout.

We are asking to be recognised as a people who are committed, as people who want political correctness. If there was political correctness, veterans of the struggle would be leading the economic war because they had a practical hands-on approach on how to turn around an economy.

Moyo called on Mnangagwa to take decisive action against those advocating for constitutional amendments.

The constitution is bigger than any party, is bigger than any individual, is bigger than any section, and it should be an all-inclusive referendum where people say what they want and the things should be done correctly, he said.

The former freedom fighter warned that attempts to push for an unconstitutional third term could lead to serious political instability.

The presidential term is a two, five-year, limited issue that goes alongside the life of Parliament. Now, there are noises we hear that we want to change the constitution. That is what I can call in scientific terms, a mutative move. When genes go mad, they are not constructive but destructive. So this noise of trying to say we want to change the constitution, who are they?he questioned.

Moyo reminded President Mnangagwa of his own public declaration that he would not seek a third term, questioning the sincerity of his statement given the actions of his supporters.

(Mnangagwa) has said this and the party is saying that, yet the very two sit together and plan whatever they want to say. His statement is questionable. It is clear what he says is not what he believes in. We are appealing to him to live by his word, walk his talk, Moyo said.

This revolution is not bloody and does not need to be bloody. Nobody should lose his life now. We lost enough blood during the liberation struggle. CITE
ZIMCN Investments, a company widely believed to be linked to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's son, Collins, has been fined for breaching environmental regulations at its gold mining operation in Mashonaland East, the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal.

Last week, the Independent reported that villagers in Mudzi lost several cattle after allegedly drinking cyanide-contaminated water along the Nyamusanzara River in the gold-rich Makaha area, where ZimCN operates Radnor Mine.

Some countries have banned the use of cyanide in gold mining to protect the environment and human health from the toxic effects of the chemical.

According to state media reports, Collins Mnangagwa chairs the Radnor Mine board.

President Mnangagwa officially commissioned the multi-million dollar ZimCN plant in 2022.

The incident has reignited concerns about the environmental and health risks posed by mining operations to local communities.

An Environmental Management Agency (EMA) executive confirmed that ZimCN had been fined for environmental infractions.

The source and type of contamination is yet to be established though it is suspected that it is coming from a nearby mine, EMA spokesperson Amkela Sidange said.

The agency collected water samples from Nyamusanzara River for analysis at the EMA laboratory.

The results from the water samples will then give a guide on the definite type of contamination and the source.

However, EMA issued the nearby ZimCN mine with a ticket for conducting mining procedures likely to cause environmental pollution; and an environmental protection order to put pollution abatement measures.

Sidange further noted that the company had been red-flagged for environmental transgressions linked to the livestock deaths.

Cyanide is a common chemical used in gold mining to dissolve and separate gold from ore through a process called cyanide leaching. However, it is highly toxic and can cause severe environmental damage if managed improperly. Last year, the government banned riverbed mining twice  first in August and again in December  to curb illegal mining activities that harm the environment.

The agency is continuously calling on mining ventures with tailing dams to put in place necessary abatement measures to prevent contamination of the environment, she said.

This includes deepening and widening cut off trenches around the tailings dams so as to contain discharge of effluent into the environment.

Pollution abatement measures are vital in mining because the extraction process often generates significant environmental damage, including air and water pollution, land disturbance, and noise.

This can be harmful to human health, ecosystems and local communities.

Sources said a group of children, who swam in the contaminated river, were taken to Luisa Guidotti Hospital at All Souls Mission in Mutoko as a precautionary measure. Asked about the size of livestock that had died as a result of drinking contaminated water, Sidange referred questions to the veterinary department.

The authority, she added, was also not privy to information on whether the affected villagers were compensated.

Kindly refer to the department of veterinary services as the best-placed expert department on livestock management to comment on the number and cause of death of the said livestock, Sidange said.

Compensation modalities are not under the purview of EMA hence (we are) not privy to the information on compensation of the cattle.

An official at the Department of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement referred questions to the chief director at the institution, who had not responded at the time of going to press.

ZimCN general manager Collins Musarurwa requested questions in writing but had not responded to emailed queries by press time. The Independent sought clarity on whether the company had implemented pollution abatement measures as directed by EMA, the quantum of the fine imposed, and whether the penalty had been paid.

When the Independent broke the story last week, Musarurwa insisted that ZimCN was cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the livestock deaths.

ZimCN Investments is aware of the situation. We are working hard to determine the root cause of the livestock deaths. We cannot say that it was because of any chemicals. This is an ongoing process, he said.

We have called the environmental agency so that they get to look at everything. Like I said, we are doing the process continuously.

Our mining set-up is according to the law. If someone says that it was cyanide, all we can tell them is that there are laboratories that will provide the conclusion, Musarurwa said.

An affected villager, speaking anonymously, insisted the cattle deaths resulted from cyanide contamination.

Our understanding is that the cattle died from drinking water contaminated with waste discharged by the mining firms, including ZimCN, the source said.

A search at the Registrar of Companies failed to locate the Radnor Mine and ZimCN files. Zimbabwe Independent
Ucertainty has gripped thousands of employees in the non-governmental organisation (NGO) and civil society organisation (CSO) sectors after they were told to go home following United States President Donald Trumps issuance of an executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

Zimbabwe has thousands of NGOs and CSOs across a range of sectors, with the majority of them getting huge chunks of their funding from the US.

The categories that have been severely affected are humanitarian aid, service organisations and political governance.

According to the 2019 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey conducted by the Zimbabwe National StatisticsAgency, the NGO sector accounts for 1,2% of the total employed persons in the country, which translates to an aggregate figure of 17 643 formal jobs.

The figure could, however, be larger amid indications that the sector was the second largest employer in Zimbabwe after government.

Employees who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday told NewsDay that they were uncertain about their continued employment after Trumps 90-day review.

We are in a difficult position. We dont know what will happen after the 90 days, one of them said.

I also do not know where I will get money for rentals since our salaries were also frozen.

Zimbabwe Nurses Association secretary-general Enock Dongo told NewsDay that nurses, who were working at local clinics under the US Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) programme, have been told not to come to work.

We have members who have been working at local clinics who have been told not to report to duty today (yesterday).

Those people are under emotional stress and also the patients who were waiting for them are affected, he said.

What the Trump administration has done is very disrespectful. You cannot just wake up and tell people not to come to work without notice.

Even if the Zimbabwean government wants to chip in, it needs to prepare first. Africa should wake up and not rely on Western funds.

Most of the workers were told to surrender vehicles and gadgets belonging to the NGOs.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) director Blessing Vava said it was high time the country and the NGO sector came up with ways to deal with national problems.

I think it is an opportunity for us to go back to the basics and build organic movements, where voluntarism and sacrifice are at the centre, he said.

Trump is doing what he is doing for his country and the American people.

We are Zimbabweans and can never be American, so lets focus on fixing our problems instead. Newsday
Republican senators, Democratic senators, and even Edward Snowden urged Tulsi Gabbard to speak out against Edward Snowden at her confirmation hearing, but she steadfastly refused to call the former National Security Agency contractor a traitor. Snowden, who fled to Russia after leaking documents that exposed surveillance programs, was the most contentious issue at Thursday's hearing for President Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, the New York Times reports.

"This is a big deal to everybody here, because it's a big deal to everybody you'll also oversee," said Republican Sen. James Lankford. "So, was Edward Snowden a traitor?" He asked the question twice, but Gabbard would only say that she is "committed if confirmed as director of national intelligence to join you in making sure that there is no future Snowden-type leak," Axios reports.

Republican Sens. Todd Young and Susan Collins also asked Gabbard about Snowden. She has praised him in the past as a "brave whistleblower."
New York City police are searching for a group of people they say took a subway train on a joyride. The department released i mages and video Wednesday of six individuals who they say commandeered an unoccupied "R" train over the weekend, the AP reports. Surveillance video from inside the train shows members of the group, who all wore jackets with their hoods up, as they exited the conductor's compartment and walked through the otherwise empty car.

A video of the group on the joyride was also shared on Instagram, the New York Daily News reports. The clip shows one of them seated at the controls while another appears to be sitting on the outside of the car, legs dangling over the edge. "Cover your faces. Cover your faces," one of them says on the video as the train accelerates through the tunnel. The department said Thursday that the joyride occurred around 10pm Saturday at the 36th Street and 4th Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn. Police and transit officials have not said how long and how far the suspects traveled in the stolen train. They said the suspects damaged glass panels on the train's camera.

Sources tell the New York Post that the teens reached speeds of at least 30mph, with some of the journey taken on active train lines. The group fled on foot, according to police. No injuries were reported. Janno Lieber, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, denounced the unacceptable lapses that led to the train theft. He said the transit agency should invest in trains with better security technology than just a simple lock and key as it upgrades its fleet. "I'm burned about this," Liber said Wednesday. "Failure of security, failure of the supervision and monitoring process that needs to be able to stop a train that's operating that's not supposed to be operating."

(More New York City subway stories.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan has proposed including new areas in the new Framework Document between Azerbaijan and the UN, Deputy Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Samad Bashirli said, Trend reports.

He made the remark during an event on "High-Level Strategic Prioritization" held in Baku as part of the Framework Document on cooperation between the UN and Azerbaijan on sustainable development (20262030).

"We propose including the following key areas in the new Framework Document: the implementation of climate initiatives announced during COP29, sustainable development projects for the reintegration of liberated territories, inclusion of the 18th SDG (demining), strengthening security measures, economic diversification, expanding exports and developing innovations, and enhancing cooperation in the digital economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution," he explained.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
An Air Force jet with migrants bound at their wrists and ankles departed Texas for Guatemala on Thursday, carrying 80 deportees in another deportation flight that reflects a growing role for the armed forces in helping enforce immigration laws. The flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, was scheduled to take about seven hours, nearly twice as long as a direct route, because the military plane could not fly over Mexico, said a US Border Patrol spokesman. "The message that we have for those people is that if you cross the border illegally, we are going to deport you to your country of origin in a matter of hours," Orlando Marrero said. Eight children were aboard, the AP reports.

The Trump administration has used military aircraft to deport people to Guatemala, Ecuador, and Colombia, a departure from Immigration and Customs Enforcement's previous practice to employ charter and commercial planes. "There are some countries that don't like military planes coming into their territory," said US Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district, per the AP. "It's something that logistically has to be worked out with the country before, because you don't want to have a plane turned around in midair."

On Sunday, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro refused two US military planes with migrants, prompting President Trump to announce 25% tariffs on Colombian exports. Colombia backed off and said it would accept the migrants but fly them on Colombian military flights that Petro said would guarantee them dignity. An 1878 law prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, but Trump and his aides have signaled the president may invoke wartime powers. Trump said in his Inauguration Day order declaring a border emergency that the Defense Department may assist with detention and transportation. Yael Schacher of Refugees International said using military aircraft for deportations was uncommon but "largely symbolic."

(More mass deportations stories.)
The Senate confirmed Doug Burgum as interior secretary on Thursday after President Trump tapped the North Dakota billionaire to spearhead the Republican administration's ambitions to boost fossil fuel production. The vote was 79-18. More than half of Senate Democrats joined all 53 Republicans in voting for Burgum. The 68-year-old is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who came from a small farming community, where he worked at his family's grain elevator, the AP reports. He served two terms as governor of the oil-rich state and launched a presidential campaign in 2023 but dropped out months later and quickly endorsed Trump.

Trump also picked Burgum to chair a new National Energy Council that's tasked with achieving American "energy dominance." He would have a seat on the National Security Councila first for an interior secretary. His directive from Trump is to make it even easier for energy companies to tap fossil fuel resources, including from public lands. That raised alarms among environmentalists and some Democrats as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels bake the planet. Burgum eagerly assisted the energy industry during his time as governor, when he was also profiting from the lease of family land to oil companies, according to records obtained by the AP.

During his confirmation hearing, Burgum said the US can use energy development as leverage to promote peace and to lower consumer costs. Democrats in response accused the Trump administration of abandoning an "all of the above" energy policy to favor fossil fuels. The US currently produces more crude oil than any nation in history, according to the Energy Information Administration. The Interior Department has jurisdiction over a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore. Those areas produce about one-quarter of US oil annually. The interior secretary also oversees the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and other subagencies.

(More Doug Burgum stories.)
Karla Sofia Gascon, the Oscar-nominated trans actor and star of of the movie Emilia Perez, is apologizing for her old posts on social media that denigrated Islam and that called George Floyd "a drug addict and a hustler," the AP reports. "As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain," the actor said in a statement via Netflix, where her film can be streamed. "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."

Gascon made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress, helping make Emilia Perez the most nominated film going into next month's show. Netflix will be hoping the controversy doesn't derail the film's Oscar chances. Old posts from Gascon's account on Twitter resurfaced this week, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims' dress, language, and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned. And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, prompting a national reckoning with police brutality and racism, Gascon offered her assessment of Floyd as a drug addict who "very few people ever cared" for.

(More Karla Sofia Gascon stories.)
Six individuals allegedly linked to a fireworks explosion in Honolulu on New Year's Eve have been arrested. The incident resulted in the deaths of three women, one man, and a 3-year-old boy, while injuring approximately 20 others. Police, led by homicide Lt. Deena Thoemmes, arrested two couples on Wednesday and another couple the previous Friday, with more arrests anticipated. A total of 500 pounds of unused fireworks were seized from the blast site.

The suspects face allegations of first-degree reckless endangering, endangering the welfare of a minor, and multiple fireworks offenses. Manslaughter remains a potential charge, as authorities delve into how the fireworks were procured, with assistance from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Governor Josh Green has proposed revisions to Hawaii's fireworks enforcement laws, suggesting $300 citations for violators and the possibility of Class A felony charges for severe injuries or fatalities caused by fireworks. The state's Department of Law Enforcement seeks $5.2 million to hire eight personnel and expand a forensic lab to combat the smuggling of fireworks.

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The AP notes the cultural entrenchment of illegal fireworks in Hawaii, particularly around year-end. Enforcement is challenging due to the destruction of evidence upon ignition and witness hesitancy to testify. Says Thoemmes, "We are recovering more evidence and identifying more individuals. As a result, additional arrests will be forthcoming." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
Hospitals in Colorado, Virginia, and Washington, DC, have paused gender-affirming care for minors as they assess President Trump's recent executive order. This order, signed Thursday, aims to cut federal support for such care, reversing previous policies that protected transgender individuals. In response, Denver Health in Colorado confirmed it has halted gender-affirming surgeries for those under 19 to comply and maintain federal funding. It remains uncertain if the hospital will continue providing hormone therapy and puberty blockers.

In Virginia, VCU Health, and Children's Hospital of Richmond have stopped both gender-affirming medications and surgeries for individuals under 19. Similarly, Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, has paused prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy; it did not perform surgeries on minors even before the order.

The order, using terms such as "chemical and surgical mutilation," contrasts with established norms for gender-affirming care and labels recommendations from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) as "junk science." WPATH has stated that such restrictions adversely affect transgender youth and their families.

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Despite these changes, some hospitals, like the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, are still reviewing the order and its potential implications. Lurie Children's said: "Our team will continue to advocate for access to medically necessary care, grounded in science and compassion for the patient-families we are so privileged to serve." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
France has transferred control of its final military base in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, to local authorities, ending the defense cooperation agreement between the two nations. This development was announced by Chad's army on Thursday. Previously, French forces had handed over their bases in Faya and Abeche during late December and early January. At its height, the French military presence in Chad included around 1,000 personnel.

Chad, which has been a key player in regional counterterrorism efforts, has decided to redefine its strategic partnerships following the end of its military association with France. This decision, initially announced in November, represents a turning point for the nation, which gained independence in 1960. Despite this change, Chadian officials affirmed that they aim to maintain other aspects of their historical relationship with France.

The withdrawal of French troops reflects broader regional shifts, as French forces have been expelled from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso in recent years. These countries are now forging closer ties with Moscow, enlisting Russian mercenaries in their security strategies. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)
The Eaton Fire destroyed the Altadena home being rented by Meghan Daum and thus turned all her "material possessions into ash," she writes in a New York Times essay. Since then, "I've had to accept more help in more forms from more peoplefriends and strangers alikethan in the entire preceding 50-plus years of my life." And it hasn't been easy: Daum explains that she had self-reliance drilled into her by her parents, and her first instinct was to reject the offers of help. When friends tried to set up a GoFundMe page for her, she found the idea "unseemly" and stopped them. But the offers kept coming, and Daum (a writer and podcaster) grudgingly put up a "tip jar" on her Substack page.
Mexico has taken its case against changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico straight to the topto Google. President Claudia Sheinbaum said during a press conference Thursday that she sent the company a letter asking it not to follow President Trump's executive order to call the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" on its maps app. Sheinbaum argues that the US can't unilaterally rename the body of water it shares it with Cuba and Mexico, USA Today reports. Google has said it will use the name Trump wants for US users once it shows up on government sources .

The president said her government's position is that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that any nation's sovereign territory doesn't extend more than 12 nautical miles out from the coastline. "If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles," Sheinbaum said, not to the entire gulf. She added, "This is what we explained in detail to Google." The company has said Google users in Mexico would still see "Gulf of Mexico," and people in other parts of the world would see both names. Cuba's government hasn't responded to Trump's announcement yet.

Another large company has made the change. Chevron's earnings report released Friday uses Trump's preference multiple times, per CNBC. The energy giant, which donated $2 million for Trump's inauguration, had used the incumbent name of the gulf until now. In its earnings report, Exxon Mobil stuck with "US Gulf Coast," which the reports have been using. An editorial in a Mexican newspaper urged the government to push back against Trump's renaming, per CNN. Otherwise, El Universal said, Trump could start calling the US neighbor "Old Mexico." (More Gulf of Mexico stories.)
Government employees have been told to remove notes about their pronoun preferences from their email signatures and documents by 5pm Friday. The memos said the action is required to comply with President Trump's executive orders issued on his first day in office intended to dismantle diversity and equity programs, ABC News reports. The directive went out to staff members of Department of Energy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Department of Transportationwhich is occupied by the Potomac plane crash at the moment. It wasn't immediately clear if other agencies received the order.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan's trade turnover with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) increased by more than 14 percent last year, the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov said during his speech at the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty, Trend reports.

Our interaction with EAEU member partners today is filled with numerous mutually beneficial projects in various spheres. We are particularly pleased with the steady positive dynamics of trade and economic interaction. Azerbaijan's trade turnover with the EAEU countries increased by more than 14 percent last year, he said.

According to him, investment interaction between the member countries of the organization is also developing along an increasing line.

A large package of investment projects is being implemented between our countries. We have established joint investment funds with some of our partners to mobilize mutual investments in various sectors of the economy. This initiative is already bearing fruit.

Many mutual visits took place between our countries last year, both at the level of heads of state and at the level of heads and members of government. This is evidence of the intensive dialog between our countries at various levels, Ali Asadov added.
TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Spared a long run in jail, an Asian woman caught at Bahrains airport with methamphetamine and heroin turned informer, helping police snare a trafficker in an elaborate sting.

Officers had her call the man behind the operation, telling him she had cleared customs without trouble.

Moments after he arrived to collect the stash, officers rushed in.

The High Criminal Court of Appeal ruled that her role in bringing down the smuggling ring outweighed her crime, overturning her sentence.

Meanwhile, the man she led them to had his punishment increased  his 10-year jail term now comes with a BD5,000 fine and a one-way ticket out of Bahrain.

Lawyers Samraa Abdulrahman and Zahra Al Jiser confirmed the ruling.

She had flown in from an Asian country, but her journey took a turn at the X-ray scanner.

Something about her suitcase raised flags, which led officers to send her through the red channel.

She denied carrying anything out of order, but a search turned up carefully wrapped packages hidden in the base of her bag, their leather-like coating helping them blend in. Inside, customs officers found 2,120.12 grams of crystalline substances and 235 grams of powder.

Lab tests later confirmed the stash as methamphetamine and heroin.

Faced with the discovery, she stuck to her story  she had no idea what was inside and was simply told to hand the bag to someone waiting for her outside.

Handed over to the Anti-Narcotics Police, she was given a choice to work with them or face the consequences.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsperson) of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva has sent an open letter to Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tirana Hassan, the statement of the press service of the Ombudsperson's office said, Trend reports.

The letter notes that the organization has demonstrated a biased and one-sided attitude toward Azerbaijan in its report for 2024.

Instead of relying on data open to the general public, annual and parallel reports of the Ombudsperson regarding the situation with the protection of human rights and freedoms, on activities to prevent torture, Human Rights Watch relies on suspicious and biased sources.

Moreover, representatives of the National Preventive Group met with several persons mentioned in the HRW report and no facts of torture or ill-treatment were recorded, the letter of the Ombudsperson reads.

The Ombudsperson also emphasized that despite the important decisions taken to eliminate the consequences of climate change during the SOR29 in Azerbaijan, which became a platform for effective discussions to prevent climate change, HRW in its report did not note these successes in solving urgent problems.

Simultaneously, the letter of Aliyeva emphasizes that the HWR report does not mention that due to the long-term occupation policy of Armenia, the fundamental rights and freedoms of over one million Azerbaijanis were grossly violated, and hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from Armenia. The work on the safe return of former IDPs to the liberated territories is also not noted, which is an indicator of the manifestation of double standards against Azerbaijan.

Sabina Aliyeva urged Human Rights Watch to be fair, impartial, and based on confirmed facts when preparing its reports.

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OTTAWA, ON, Jan. 29, 2025 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is committed to supporting Albertans impacted by the destructive 2024 wildfires as they recover and rebuild.

Today, the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, was at the Canadian Red Cross' annual Ready Conference to announce $12.6 million in matching funds from the Government of Canada to the Canadian Red Cross's 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal. The funds announced today have contributed to a total of $40.4 million in support of people impacted by the wildfires in Jasper.

On July 28, 2024, the Government of Canada and Government of Alberta announced a donation-matching initiative with the Canadian Red Cross to support wildfire disaster relief and recovery efforts in Alberta, including in Jasper. Both the federal and provincial governments matched all donations to the Canadian Red Cross 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal for 30 days, retroactive to when it first opened on July 25, 2024. Every $1 donated became $3 to support the families and individuals most impacted by the wildfires.

The Canadian Red Cross' 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal has supported:

Emergency relief for individuals and families including financial assistance, accommodations support, emergency supplies and service referrals;

Recovery assistance for individuals and families with unmet needs, supporting their return to community, support to navigate insurance and community resources, providing referrals to access mental health services, and providing guidance to guide people as they take steps toward their recovery journey;

Small businesses and not-for-profits with unexpected costs which may include the costs of restarting operations, such as inventory storage and clean-up;

Community groups to meet increased service demands, address social and psychosocial needs, and enhance community resilience, ultimately supporting long-term recovery; and

Disaster risk reduction and resilience to help communities to reduce vulnerabilities, adapt to evolving risks, and build resilience against future disasters.

The Government of Canada is committed to doing everything it can to support all those affected by the 2024 Alberta wildfires, and is committed to supporting Canadians whose lives are impacted when disasters strike, helping communities recover, and, ultimately, increasing our resiliency.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada is committed to supporting Albertans and Jasper residents and will be there for them every step of the way. The 2024 wildfires have had a profound impact on the residents of Jasper and surrounding communities. This announcement means additional support to help those affected. It is more than financial aid- it's about ensuring families, communities and businesses have the resources and the support they need as they recover and rebuild stronger and more resilient."

- The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada

"Alberta has worked tirelessly with the Canadian Red Cross to help Jasper and Jasperites recover from last year's wildfire. Initiatives we have collaborated on such as the small business supports program has already provided support to over 270 Jasper businesses by using more than $12 million in matching funds from the Government of Alberta. We continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Jasper as they, and their municipality, recover."

- The Honourable Ric McIver, Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs

" The Canadian Red Cross welcomes today's announcement and is grateful to the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta for matching funds to the 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal. As people in Jasper continue on their recovery journey, the Red Cross is committed to providing support to those impacted by the wildfires. in the months and years to come. We will continue to work with our government and community partners as we look ahead to building resilience in the community."

- Conrad Sauve, President and CEO, Canadian Red Cross

Quick Facts

Beginning on July 22 , thousands of people were forced to evacuate the Town of Jasper , as the Jasper National Park experienced its worst wildfire in history. Thanks in part to the town preparations for the risk of wildfire, no one was hurt and part of the town was saved.

, thousands of people were forced to evacuate the , as the experienced its worst wildfire in history. Thanks in part to the town preparations for the risk of wildfire, no one was hurt and part of the town was saved. On July 25, 2024 , the Government of Canada approved a request for federal assistance from Alberta to provide firefighting resources, strategic airlift capacity, as well as resources and logistics support from the Canadian Armed Forces to help keep people in Jasper and across the province safe from harm and protect their communities from wildfires.

, the Government of approved a request for federal assistance from Alberta to provide firefighting resources, strategic airlift capacity, as well as resources and logistics support from the Canadian Armed Forces to help keep people in and across the province safe from harm and protect their communities from wildfires. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the Government of Canada stepped up to ensure all those impacted could receive essential services and benefits. This included: Providing enhanced Service Canada delivery, outreach to evacuees, and deployment of Service Canada employees to evacuation centres to assist clients in submitting applications for benefits, such as Employment Insurance. Replacing citizenship, immigration, or travel documents that were lost, damaged, or destroyed; extending or restoring people's temporary resident status; transitioning employer-specific work permits to open work permits, as needed.

stepped up to ensure all those impacted could receive essential services and benefits. This included: On October 3, 2024 , Bill C-76, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act , received Royal Assent. The amendments made to the Act aim to enable the transfer of land use planning and development authorities from Parks Canada to the Municipality of Jasper , to support long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.

, Bill C-76, , received Royal Assent. The amendments made to the Act aim to enable the transfer of land use planning and development authorities from Parks Canada to the Municipality of , to support long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts. Through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA), the federal government covers up to 90 per cent of certain eligible provincial response and recovery expenses following a disaster, including: Evacuation, transportation, emergency food, shelter, and clothing. Repairs to public buildings and related equipment, roads, and bridges. Restoration or replacement of individuals' uninsurable dwellings (principal residences only), personal furnishings, appliances, and clothing. Restoration of small businesses and farmsteads, including uninsurable buildings and equipment.



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SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

Contacts: Joanna Kanga, Press Secretary, Office of the President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, [email protected]; Media Relations, Public Safety Canada, 613-991-0657, [email protected]
Important progress made over past six months, rebuilding could accelerate this spring

EDMONTON, AB, Jan. 29, 2025 /CNW/ - The wildfire that damaged or destroyed a third of the community of Jasper on July 24, 2024, is the second costliest fire event in Canadian history, with insured damage now estimated to be $1.23 billion (an increase from initial estimates of $880 million), according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).

Despite the immense size of the disaster, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reports that six months after the wildfire, important progress has been made on recovery efforts in the community, including:

Most (92.5%) of properties destroyed by the wildfire have now received an approved demolition permit from Parks Canada. These permits are required before contractors can begin to remove debris and prepare insured properties for reconstruction.

Over 60 residential properties and most commercial sites in the town have now been completely cleared and are awaiting final testing and sign-off from Parks Canada. Following approval, owners of these properties can apply for reconstruction permits (also from Parks Canada) to begin rebuilding.

Insurers expect to have nearly all debris removed for residential properties by May 1 , so that rebuilding can begin. The timing of reconstruction efforts will depend on how quickly property owners apply for and receive approval of development or reconstruction permits from Parks Canada.

Several property owners have yet to apply for a demolition permit and are strongly encouraged to do so, in order to commence the recovery process. Insurers appreciate the efforts of Parks Canada to expand its capacity and expedite the permitting process.

Alberta's insurers have been on the ground in Jasper since the first day of the fire and are continuing to provide financial support to residents who lost their homes. Insurers  in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross  also coordinated and paid for the removal, de-gassing and proper disposal of about 2,300 fridges and freezers ruined by food spoilage due to prolonged power outages during several weeks of the evacuation. This coordinated residential bulk-debris-removal program is helping to reduce costs and speed up recovery in the community.

"There's still a lot of work to do and rebuilding will take time, but there is light at the end of a very long tunnel for Jasper residents who lost so much in the fire," said Aaron Sutherland, Vice-President, Pacific and Western, IBC. "The people of Jasper have shown tremendous resilience, and Alberta's insurers will continue to match that spirit and support their customers every step of the way. It's why they are here."

On January 25, IBC and Alberta insurers joined local officials at an in-person open house to provide updates for residents and address any insurance concerns. IBC remains committed to working with the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre officials as the community recovers. Important recovery progress updates from local officials can be found at Municipality of Jasper's Wildfire Recovery Information webpage.

Last summer was the most expensive on record in Canada for catastrophic weather events, with 228,000 insurance claims and over $8 billion in insured damage. These events are placing pressure on insurance premiums in Alberta and across the country, and are important reminders of the need to increase investments in resilience and other measures to better protect communities.

As IBC revealed this month, insured damage caused by severe weather events in 2024 surpassed $8.5 billion for the first time in Canadian history. Canada's insurers have been calling on governments to invest in disaster resilience measures for over a decade. That means no longer building unprotected homes and businesses in high-risk wildfire and flood zones, investing in FireSmart initiatives for wildfire zones and enhancing Canada's flood defences in communities where flood risk is high. It's also about helping Canadian homeowners understand the risks they face and financing retrofits to help them reduce those risks, all while investing in improving emergency preparedness, response and recovery.

About Insurance Bureau of Canada

Established in 1964, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up the vast majority of Canada's highly competitive property and casualty (P&C) insurance market.

As the leading advocate for Canada's private P&C insurers, IBC collaborates with governments, regulators and stakeholders to support a competitive environment for the P&C insurance industry to continue to help protect Canadians from the risks of today and tomorrow.

IBC believes that Canadians value and deserve a responsive and resilient private P&C insurance industry that provides insurance solutions to both individuals and businesses.

For media releases, IN Focus articles, or to book an interview with an IBC representative, visit ibc.ca. Follow us on LinkedIn, X and Instagram , and like us on Facebook. If you have a question about home, auto or business insurance, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC. We're here to help.

SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada

Media Contact: Brett Weltman, Manager, Media Relations, IBC, [email protected]
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 30, 2025 /CNW/ - Rival class action lawsuits for victims of the wildfire that devastated Lytton in June 2021 announced in court in Vancouver that they are joining forces to prosecute the case against CN Rail and CP Rail.

The village of Lytton was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire on June 30, 2021, during a record-breaking heat wave. The fire began beside the railroad tracks just minutes after the passage of a CP Rail train loaded with coal.

More than three years later, the community is still struggling to rebuild, despite advocating for rapid reconstruction after the fire. In September 2024, the RCMP ended its investigation into the cause of the fire, having found no evidence of arson.

By joining their efforts, the two law firmsCFM Lawyers LLP and Slater Vecchio LLPaim to recover compensation for residents' losses as quickly as possible.

The combined legal team recently appeared in a Vancouver courtroom before Justice Ward Branch of the BC Supreme Court and emphasised their commitment to moving quickly to prosecute Lytton residents' case against the railways. The court agreed to hear their application to certify the class action in October 2025.

Lawyers Statements

"This collaboration underscores our dedication to securing justice swiftly for the victims of the Lytton Creek Wildfire. We intend on moving with haste to restore the community, get residents back to their homes, and make the responsible parties account for the personal harm and losses of proposed class members."- Anthony Vecchio, K.C.

"The people of Lytton have been left waiting far too long to get back to their homes. Working together will help us move this case through the court as quickly and efficiently as possible to deliver compensation for people."- Reidar Mogerman, K.C.

SOURCE Slater Vecchio LLP

If you have questions or would like to learn more about the Lytton Creek Wildfire class action, contact us at: Slater Vecchio LLP: [email protected]; CFM Lawyers LLP: Andrew Johnson, [email protected]
Baton Rouge, La.  An Upstate New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her New Paltz company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and a third person. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.

Carpenter was also sued by the Texas attorney general in December under similar allegations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges.

Carpenter did not immediately return a message.

The indictment comes just months after Louisiana became the first state with a law to reclassify both mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The drugs are still allowed, but medical personnel have to go through extra steps to access them.

Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription for any purpose, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.

I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.

Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, weve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights, the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.

Fridays indictment could be the first direct test of New Yorks shield laws, which are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, signaled they would defend New Yorks law.

This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American, James said in a prepared statement.

Hochul promised to never back down from this fight.

Pills have become the most common means of abortion in the U.S., accounting for nearly two-thirds of them by 2023. Theyre also at the center of political and legal action over abortion. In January, one judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals for how one of the drugs usually involved can be prescribed.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan is boosting humanitarian and development assistance to other states, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva said, Trend reports.

She made the remark during an event on "High-Level Strategic Prioritization" held in Baku as part of the Framework Document on cooperation between the UN and Azerbaijan on sustainable development (20262030).

I would like to note Azerbaijans commitment to a multilateral approach to international relations. As a country with an upper-middle income level, Azerbaijan is increasingly providing humanitarian and development assistance to other states, including through the UN system, Andreeva added.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. In recent years, diversification and increasing the security of international trade routes have occupied an important place in world politics, and in this context, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) has become one of the key elements of regional and international cooperation, political analyst Azer Garayev told Trend.

He noted that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, playing a central role in this route, are taking significant steps in the field of transportation and logistics.

The Middle Corridor is an alternative trade route that starts in China and passes through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkiye to Europe. It allows the diversification of trade ties between Asia and Europe, accelerates cargo transportation, and expands logistics opportunities.

In particular, interest in the Middle Corridor has increased significantly against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Western sanctions against Russia have weakened the functionality of the Northern Corridor (the main transit route through Russia). Therefore, the Middle Corridor has become a more attractive route for China, Central Asian countries, and Europe, he said.

According to the political scientist, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have an important strategic position in the development of the Middle Corridor.

Both countries are making serious investments to strengthen the transit route.

In this context, the Azerbaijani side is expanding the Baku International Sea Trade Port and improving railroads and highways. In addition, the country is introducing new logistics solutions to increase cargo transportation across the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, in turn, is strengthening the country's role in the Middle Corridor by modernizing the ports of Aktau and Kuryk and establishing new transport corridors. Both countries deepen cooperation in the field of transport and logistics and implement various international projects to improve the competitiveness of the corridor, Garayev noted.

Referring to the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTC) railroad, the political scientist emphasized that BTC is one of the main pillars of the Middle Corridor.

The rail line, commissioned in 2017, provides direct access to Europe via Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkiye. The railroad significantly reduces freight transportation time, strengthens trade ties between the Caspian region and Europe, and contributes to the Middle Corridor being one of the main routes in the global transportation network. New projects are being implemented from 2022 to increase the freight transport capacity of the BTC and further modernize the infrastructure.

The European Union refused to financially support the construction of this strategic route when the BTC project began, although the project could have strengthened Europe's direct rail connection to Asia and given a new impetus to trade in the region. Consequently, Azerbaijan opted to complete the project using its own funds. In addition, Azerbaijan provided Georgia with a loan for the construction of a section of the BTC line running through its territory. This step once again proved that Azerbaijan not only ensures its interests but also supports economic cooperation in the region, the political scientist emphasized.

Garayev pointed out that the Middle Corridor has an important geostrategic and economic significance for both China and Europe.

Beijing views the Middle Corridor as an important alternative route under the One Belt, One Road initiative. This corridor opens up new trade opportunities and facilitates China's access to European markets. At the same time, the European Union wants to strengthen trade relations with China and diversify supply chains. The Middle Corridor is strategically important for Europe in this respect, as it provides a safer and shorter route, he said.

The political scientist also added that in general, if we look at Azerbaijan's role in the transportation sphere in the region, Azerbaijan has made significant progress in the transport and logistics sphere in recent years and has become the main transportation hub in the region.

For instance, the Baku International Sea Trade Port has become the largest cargo transportation center on the Caspian Sea, the Alat Free Economic Zone (Alat FEZ) is emerging as a logistics center in the Middle Corridor, and sea, rail, and road roads within the Trans-Caspian route are becoming increasingly efficient.

All these factors further strengthen Azerbaijan's international role in transportation and logistics. Azerbaijan is confidently moving towards becoming the main transit country in the region, he stressed.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. France has consistently been a contentious player in its dealings with Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at an international conference on France and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict today.

Shafiyev emphasized that Azerbaijan has consistently aimed to build positive ties with France.

Our country has cooperated with French companies in energy and other sectors. This crisis was caused by France's actions. Certainly, the Armenian Diaspora in France played a certain role in this, but the situation is not confined to this, he added.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The role of the Armenian Diaspora as a specific internal factor influencing France's position in the historical context of its involvement in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict should be emphasized, the board member of the Center for Analysis of International Relations, Gulshan Pashayeva, MP of the Azerbaijani Parliament said, Trend reports.

She made the remark at the international conference on France and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Baku.

She claims that France is among the largest countries hosting the Armenian Diaspora globally, with an estimated population of 600,000 people.

Following Russia and the US, it is the third largest Armenian diaspora in the world and the largest in the EU. Moreover, France has traditionally strong lobbying structures that actively support Armenian interests, Pashayeva said.

Pashayeva recalled that France was initially one of the first states to recognize Azerbaijan's independence on January 3, 1992. Bilateral relations were officially established on February 21, 1992, and Azerbaijan's embassy in France was opened in October 1994.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Emmanuel Macron, having come to power in France, started to pursue a confrontational policy towards Azerbaijan, Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament Tural Ganjaliyev said, Trend reports.

He made the statement at an international conference on the France and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Baku.

Ganjaliyev pointed out that Azerbaijan holds French cultural elements and literature in high regard.

Looking at history, one can see that during the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), quite a few Azerbaijanis were educated in France. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, France sought to remain neutral in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, after 2003, France began to pursue a biased policy towards Azerbaijan. This is because Azerbaijan started demanding full restoration of its rights to its territories occupied by Armenia, he said.

The MP also pointed out that the Armenian Diaspora holds quite a bit of sway in France.

The Armenian Diaspora has a strong influence on the elite of France, which we are observing even now. The main reason why relations between the two countries reached this point was Macron's government and Azerbaijan's liberation of its lands from occupation, he emphasized.

To note, the International Conference on "France and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict" started its work in Baku.

The event is attended by chairman of the board of the Center for Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev, professor of public law at the University of the Cote d'Azur Christian Vallard, Azerbaijani MP Tural Ganjaliyev, and others.

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To Mike Hall, the bass guitar is not simply a background instrument; its a tool of creative expression. Inspired by bass-playing virtuosos such as Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea, Metallicas late/great Cliff Burton, and Victor Wooten, the New Jersey musician has created a new appreciation for the instrument with his unique style of play, combining elements of flamenco style strumming, slapping, and two-handed tapping.

The solo bassist, 35, has garnered a healthy social media following with 32,000 followers on Facebook, 12,000 followers on TikTok, and approaching 10,000 followers on Instagram, amassing millions of views with his bass covers and tutorials, for everything from Final Fantasy 7 to The Weeknd and Billie Eilish.

Born in Madison, Hall grew up in a musical family and entered the world of music playing the cello in elementary school. He soon switched to upright bass in middle school. However, the change in instruments wasnt entirely his idea.

Childhood scoliosis was more of a cop-out for my orchestra teacher at the time, Hall told NJ Advance Media. My orchestra teacher in elementary school hated my posture on the cello.

Hall played upright bass from middle and high school for six years but felt stifled creatively. I wasnt a fan of playing just whats in front of me without improvisation or individual take of a song, said Hall. It felt stale, ultimately.

In that quest for creative fulfillment and freedom, Hall co-founded and played in the pop-rock band named Running Late in 2009. The band toured across the tri-state area with Plain White Ts, Lifehouse, Blondie, Switchfoot, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. The band hit an impasse in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the music industry.

But Hall wasnt looking to give up on his musical dreams. After attending business school at Fairleigh Dickinson University for an MBA in marketing and decided to launch a solo career under the name Mike Hall Bass.

In 2020, I realized that if I were going to go further into the music industry and make a career for myself, expressing myself the way I want to, I would have to do it alone, Hall said. I started experimenting with solo-based videos before the band ended. I wanted to see if I could get attention from a major label or an indie sign band looking for a competent musician to join the ranks.

Even as Hall didnt join a band, he experienced rare success as a solo bassist. His cover of Billie Eilishs my future  caught the attention of Pete Skjold of Skjold Design Guitars in Ohio. Out of the shared love for music, Hall gained a sponsorship. His 2024 cover of DragonForces power-metal classic Through The Fire and Flames (a Guitar Hero classic) is his crown jewel at over three million views . Creating these videos is now Halls full-time job, with live performances in between.

There is an appetite for inventive, stylistic bass playing beyond what is seen in mainstream music. Hall attributes YouTube to being a facilitator that opens peoples minds to the basss true power. People can now look up videos of Rushs Geddy Lee or Cliff Burtons For Whom The Bells Tolls live solo and expand their viewpoints.

I think people are becoming more willing to accept others trying innovative solo approaches to the bass guitar, he said. Weve all been so exposed to such genius musically that the stereotypical thought that the bass can only serve the lower end of an arrangement is fading away.

As Hall continues his career as a solo bassist in Morris County, he leaves a few parting words that could apply to any creative looking to strike out on their own. His goals for 2025 are to create more music, further cultivate his online presence, and perform more live performances for fans as the demand grows. In the end, theres one principle serving as the guiding light for Hall:

If you put your authentic self into something and you polish it, you hone it, you craft it, like any art or anything, people will resonate positively towards it.

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Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com
For all of Asbury Parks culinary riches, the Jersey Shores culinary capital is sorely lacking in one category: Indian food. The beachfront city offers dozens of restaurants serving excellent Italian food, inventive New American eats and most things in between  but no marquee South Asian cuisine.

That will soon change.

The ownership group behind acclaimed Freehold eatery Aarzu is opening a new restaurant at 525 Cookman Ave., the space that once held James Avery ventures The Bonney Read and The Mainstay. While the new restaurant doest have a name yet, co-owner Archana Sharma told NJ Advance Media the group hopes to open in late April with a menu geared toward coastal Indian cuisine.

Sharma said the group, which also includes Sammeer Raajpal, Shravan Shetty and Sidharth Sharma, has been eyeing an Asbury Park outpost for years. Part of the appeal is obviously the prime downtown location  but the restaurateurs also relish the chance to expand Asbury Park palates.

We needed some ethnic vibes in Asbury, so weve always wanted to open there, Sharma told NJ Advance Media. Weve been looking and waiting for an opportunity to come. Luckily this just kind of fell into our laps over the summer.

Aarzu opened in Freehold back in 2016, swiftly becoming one of New Jerseys most acclaimed Indian restaurants. The menu features classics like butter chicken, lamb rogan josh and samosas along with more contemporary takes on the cuisine like duck paratha tacos and truffle butter pav bhaji. Sharma promises that the new restaurant will offer that same flair.

We were the first Indian restaurant in New Jersey to come up with this modern concept, Sharma claimed. Elevating some Indian flavors and presenting them. ... So with this concept, we also are going to be doing something a little different than the norm.

While Aarzu focuses more on Northern Indian cuisine (curries, butter chicken, paneer), the new restaurants coastal Indian menu will feature dosas (savory crepes made from fermented batter), seafood and beef pepper fry among other dishes.

In the city right now, New York and London, this concept is just going crazy, Sharma said. Everybodys trying to open a restaurant like this. So well be the first in New Jersey.

Related coverage:

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 Meet the fool who ate N.J.s spiciest curry: Me.

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 Asbury Parks 11 best restaurants, ranked, for 2024

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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.
A fund-raising campaign to pay for funeral expenses for the Jersey City woman and her two young children who were stabbed to death early Thursday morning has been established.

The womans ex-boyfriend, 31-year-old Napoleon Romero-Anduray, has been charged with three counts of murder and weapons offenses. He is currently being treated at a local hospital for injuries he suffered during attack at a Hutton Street apartment building.

It is expected the Hudson County Prosecutors Office would file a motion for a detention hearing to detain the accused killer through his prosecution. It was not immediately known if a date has been set.

The victims have been identified as 31-year-old Luisa Urbano, her 9-year-old son, Juan Martin Urbano, and her 5-year-old daughter, Diana Ramirez. Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said the mom was pronounced dead at the scene and the children were pronounced dead later at the hospital.

A GoFundMe.com account has raised nearly $20,000 as of 1:25 p.m. Friday. The account was created by a person who identified herself at Luisa Urbanos aunt.

The donations would be used to send their bodies to their homeland of Colombia, the post said.

Urbano and her family moved to Jersey City from Colombia a couple years ago, but struggled here and she was looking forward to returning to her home country, the New York Post reported.

This tragedy has left an immense void in our family, the aunt said. We are from Colombia and we need to take them back to our country, where their loved ones can say goodbye to them as they deserve.
A 31-year-old Jersey City man was charged Thursday with three counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of a woman and her two children in a basement apartment.

Napoleon Romero-Anduray killed Luisa Urbano, her 9-year-old son, Juan Martin Urbano, and her 5-year-old daughter, Diana Ramirez, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez.
A Hudson County man has been accused of trying to convince a 14-year-old to run away with him to a foreign country after the two exchanged sexually explicit photos and videos, officials with the U.S. District Attorneys Office said Thursday.

Ryan Niksa, 34, of Jersey City was charged with one count of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and appeared in federal court on Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating after receiving information that the girl, a 14-year-old girl from California, had been the target of sexually driven conversations from an adult male later identified as Niksa, investigators wrote in a federal complaint.

The investigation revealed the two had exchanged sexually explicit messages, videos and photos since August 2024, according to the complaint.

Niksa also told the girl he wanted to travel to California to live with her, according to the complaint.

Niksa is also accused of messaging the girl in January that they should run away to a foreign country to escape law enforcement, the complaint states.

Niksa was detained following his appearance in court Thursday.

A federal public defender for Niksa did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X.
As students filed into Jersey City schools Thursday morning, two of their classmates were missing after a rare triple homicide overnight that the mayor called an incident of domestic violence.

A woman and her young children were killed in a stabbing in an apartment on Hutton Street near Liberty Avenue in the Jersey City Heights, according to authorities, and police have been at the scene since about 1 a.m.
Grab your cowboy boots and hats, because Luke Bryan is coming to a city near you real soon.

The American Idol judge will tour all summer long, and he is planning on making not one but two stops in N.J.

Luke Bryan's Country Song Came On Tour The cheapest tickets we could find for Luke Bryan's tour are on StubHub. Buy Now

The first Jersey show will take place on May 30 in Holmdel at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Then hell make his way to the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden on June 6.

There is no better way to spend your summer than with Luke Bryan, so here is how you can snatch up tickets to his Country Song Came On Tour.

How to get Luke Bryan tour tickets

Tickets for Luke Bryans Country Song Came On Tour go on sale to the public on Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.

If youre a country music fan who happened to miss out on general sale tickets, then you can find a number of them on StubHub and Vivid Seats. The cheapest tickets on these sites range from $37 to $99.

Dont forget, if youre a first-time Vivid Seats customer, then you can receive $20 off your ticket order of $200 or more just by using promo code NJ20 at checkout.

Luke Bryan fans can also find tickets on SeatGeek, TicketNetwork, and Viagogo. The cheapest ticket range across these three sites range from $50 to $96.

If you are looking to secure tickets to Bryans May 30 concert in Holmdel, the cheapest ticket we could find is $48 on StubHub.

If you want to see Luke Bryan on June 6 in Camden, then the cheapest ticket we could find before any fees is $51 on StubHub.

You can find a full schedule of Luke Bryans Country Song Came On Tour dates here.

Luke Bryan tour 2025: Dates, schedule & more

Luke Bryan will begin his Country Song Came On Tour on May 29 in Bethel, N.Y., and will wrap up on Aug. 30 in Buffalo, N.Y.

Bryan will also feature a number of special guests on tour with him, including George Birge, Avery Anna, Ashland Craft, Mae Estes, Cole Goodwin, Braxton Keith, Randall King, Vincent Mason, Drake Milligan, Adrien Nunez, and Owen Riegling.

DJ Rock will also be joining for all tour dates.

Lukes Country Song Came On Tour will launch just two weeks after his first-ever west coast dates of Farm Tour 2025, where he will be playing three shows in California from May 15-17.

Massive upcoming PNC Bank Arts Center shows

Besides Luke Bryan, there are a number of other artists taking over PNC Bank Arts Center this year.

Here are a few more shows you dont want to miss this year: Thomas Rhett, Nelly, Goo Goo Dolls and Simple Minds.

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Nicole Iuzzolino can be reached at niuzzolino@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
Editors note: This story was originally published by NJ Spotlight News and shared as part of a content-sharing agreement between Mosaic.NJ.com and NJ Spotlight News. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter (or X).

Pastors have been fielding hundreds of panicked phone calls from terrified immigrants across New Jersey since the Trump administration launched ICE raids, according to the Rev. Bolivar Flores.

Flores is vice president of the New Jersey Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers, which includes 472 churches in New Jersey. He says many calls came from moms.

At a coalition news conference in Jersey City on Thursday, Flores said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested immigrants worshipping at a church in Elizabeth on Sunday and now people fear to attend.

The coalition announced a new hotline  551-255-5500  to offer legal counsel and support.

A barrage of executive orders from the Trump administration has caused chaos not just among advocates who help undocumented immigrants.

Refugees feel threatened

Ten agencies with the decades-old Refugee Resettlement program received a cease-and-desist order last Friday. Their federal funding is now on hold while investigators determine if their mission is consistent with President Trumps agenda.

Its an ideological litmus test with financial consequences, says Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale of Interfaith-RISE.

Large nonprofits like ours, when theres uncertainty about financing, we cant hold on for very long, he explained.

Kaper-Dale said his church-based nonprofit in Highland Park just laid off 20% of its staff, and hes worried about paying $134,000 a month to rent 67 apartments for newly arrived refugees. He says other refugees who have settled in, put their children in school and gotten jobs feel deeply threatened.

They now have fears about whether their documentation, which was absolutely legal, will be legal in a couple of weeks as the president takes a swipe at humanitarian parole programs and at TPS [temporary protected status] and all the other forms of protection. So the cruelty hits on every angle, he said.

Kaper-Dale said advocates met with Senate Democrats in Trenton Thursday to ask the state to step up with interim funding as they work to regain federal support.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Relations between Azerbaijan and France have started to deteriorate following the strengthening of the Armenian diaspora, director of Conflicts magazine Gil Mihaely said at an international conference on France and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in Baku, Trend reports.

Michaely pointed out that a major ace in the hole for bolstering Azerbaijan's ties with the West was, without a doubt, energy.

The relations between Azerbaijan and France made an important breakthrough in 1990 thanks to the participation of Total, which was one of the founders of the contract. TotalEnergies has been operating in the country since 1996.

In addition, a French Lyceum was opened in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani culture, particularly opera, has been widely recognized, especially in recent decades.

He noted that the Armenian diaspora then strengthened its position, which allowed it to promote its agenda.

Since the 1990s, the Armenian diaspora began to actively promote its agenda in the political and social spheres, strengthening ties with French politicians. Lobbying groups have strengthened, and the geopolitical situation has deteriorated, he said.

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The Rev. Al Sharpton, the high-profile political and civil rights activist in the fight for social justice, will lead a special event at Costco Wholesale in Union on Saturday to support the store and companies like it that are committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace.

During the 2 p.m. community-wide event, dubbed a buy-cott for DEI, Sharpton and elected officials, local clergy, community members and others will encourage people to shop at Costco Wholesale, 1055 Hudson St.

The event comes on the heels of the Trump administrations efforts to end DEI programs in the public and private sectors - a move businesses such as Target and Walmart have embraced.

We are planning to release a boycott list in the coming days, Sharpton said in an interview with TMZ on Tuesday. But in the interim, we are going to do a buy-cott, which means we are going to support those who support diversity.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who is scheduled to attend the event, is all in.

The people fighting against DEI are fighting against themselves, he said. Diversity in the workplace is proven to improve not only equity but also productivity. Costco understands that bringing in people who have historically been excluded isnt just the right thing to do - its the smartest way to grow their business and strengthen their company.

This debate is unserious, driven by fragile individuals who refuse to acknowledge that our economy is bigger than them, that their numbers alone cannot sustain or grow the workforce, expand the middle class, or build a stronger society, he added. They aim their anger downward, failing to see that its the very top holding us all back.

Organizers stressed that the message extends beyond this event  encouraging local consumers to be aware of how and where they spend their money and what values those businesses represent.

In addition to Sharpton and Baraka, featured speakers will include Newark Councilwoman Louis Scott Rountree, Pastor and civil rights activist Steffie Bartley, of New Hope Baptist Church in Elizabeth, and The Rev. Bolivar Flores, vice president of the New Jersey Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers, which includes 472 churches in New Jersey.

Supporters will encourage consumers to shop at Costco Wholesale in Union on Saturday to support the company's decision to continue DEI initiatives. Ed Murray| For NJ Advance Media

Costco Wholesale officials could not be reached for comment.

But its board chair, Tony James, pledged to continue inclusion practices during a recent board meeting, according to a recent CBS News report.

Our commitment to inclusion ... does not and has never included quotas or systematic preferences, nor does it mean compromising merit, said James. The demands of our business and our steadfast commitment to serve our members mean that we cannot afford to do anything but hire and promote the most qualified individuals.

Saturdays event is open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to show their support and participate in the event.

There is a bus ride to Costco Wholesale from Newark City Hill at 1 p.m. on Saturday. To sign up, call 862-600-0446 or 973-733-3794.

For more information about the rally or to learn about the work of local organizations supporting DEI, visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net

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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Instagram at @DeionRJohnson or X @DeionRJohhnson
When William Hacket was asked to host a free event at his Trenton barbershop to help ex-offenders get their criminal records expunged, he jumped at the chance to help.

We are thankful to be a vessel for anything positive for others, said Hacket, who opened Razor Sharp barbershop in 2001. If theres something that we know that could benefit other people, we... want to be a part of it.

On Wednesday, Hacket co-hosted the Fresh Start: An Expungement Clinic event at Razor Sharp, 20 Passaic St., with Stono Public Affairs, a Trenton-based lobbying firm, and the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender.

About 24 people pre-registered for the event, said James Gee, Stono Public Affairs founding principal, but over 75 showed up for help with expungement and pardon applications.

Gee, who gets his hair cut at Razor Sharp, suggested the event take place there to encourage people of diverse backgrounds to come.

A lot of people didnt sign up before. They just planned to show up, said Gee, of Trenton, whose firm helped advertise and register people for the event. We had one person come from Cleveland, who had gotten a charge in New Jersey and then had to come back here to get an expungement.

An expungement allows the removal or sealing of criminal records on file in a court, detention or correctional facility for certain categories of offenses, eliminating a barrier to employment for ex-offenders.

New Jersey Public Defender Jennifer Sellitti attended Wednesdays event with five other attorneys from her office - Kimberly Schultz, Alison Perrone, Michele Friedman, Steve Gallagher, and Stephen Hunter - and para legals Juilana Cannon and Letisha Thurston.

She noted that a criminal record does not define a person, but having it expunged or pardoned can have a positive impact on their life.

(Theyll) be able to get on with their lives, get the job theyre looking for, get the services theyre looking for, or the license that they need to improve their lives, she said.

Sellitti said some people cant have their record expunged because some categories of offenses, including criminal homicide, sexual offenses, robbery, and arson, dont qualify for expungement.

However, she said some individuals may be eligible for a pardon or executive order forgiving a person for a crime and relieving them of some consequences of the conviction.

It gives people more than one avenue to potentially clear up some things that are holding them back, Sellitti said.

During Wednesdays event, Gee said Volunteers for America, a faith-based nonprofit that provides social services, provided a van that served as a mobile legal clinic, where attendees spoke with attorneys from the public defenders office.

Volunteers of America, a faith-based nonprofit that provides social services, supplied a mobile van allowing attorneys from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender to help individuals get their records expunged or pardoned during the "Fresh Start: Expungement Clinic" on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at Razor Sharp Barbershop, located at 20 Passaic St., in Trenton.Stono Public Affairs

The attorneys used (the van) to interview people about their background and what they were charged with to see if theyre eligible for expungement, he said. Then, if they qualified, an attorney filed the paperwork to request an expungement.

Sellitti said the work was fulfilling.

It was so wonderful to be out in the community, not only helping folks with this process, but its a fun part of our job, she said.

While helping process expungement applications, Sellitti said people told her about their lives and how their criminal records had impacted them.

Its stopping them potentially from getting a job or getting their professional license, Sellitti said. So, to be able to sit with people, tell them that they qualify, process that paperwork, and just to really see the look of joy on their faces when they know that this will no longer be following them around, its just wonderful.

Representatives from the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender gear up to help people get their criminal records expunged or pardoned during an expungement clinic at Razor Sharp Barbershop, at 20 Passaic St., in Trenton, New Jersey, on Wednesday, Jan. 29.Stono Public Affairs

Hacket was pleased, too. Since opening the shop, he said he has continued to find ways to give back to the community through initiatives, such as providing free back-to-school haircuts and school supplies to kids.

When asked if he would allow another expungement event at his business, Hacket said he would.

Were a community-based barbershop, and we give God all the glory, he said. Soabsolutely, thats what were here for and were thankful that this event was able to happen here.

To apply for an expungement, visit the New Jersey Courts website or email dc.expungement@opd.nj.gov. For more information about pardon and/or how to apply, visit the states clemency page or email pdclemency@opd.nj.gov.

Mosaic staff writer Vashti Harris can be reached at vharris@njadvancemedia.com.

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When it comes to Groundhog Day, Pennsylvanias legendary Punxsutawney Phil isnt the only rodent that makes predictions about whether we will have a long winter or an early spring.

New Jersey has a few of its own furry forecasters, including groundhogs Lady Edwina of Essex County and Stonewall Jackson of Sussex County. And so does New York state  with Staten Island Chuck, Holtsville Hal, Malverne Mel and a pair of groundhogs up north in Buffalo.

Punxsutawney Phil will make his 2025 prediction early Sunday morning, along with several competitors from New Jersey and New York.

Lady Edwina

Lady Edwina of Essex County will be making her fourth appearance on Groundhog Day 2025, after taking over the role from Essex Ed, the beloved groundhog at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange who had made predictions for several years.

Edwina is expected to emerge from hiding at 10 a.m. on Sunday, to look for her shadow. The event will be streamed live on the Facebook page of Essex County Executive Joseph N DiVincenzo Jr.

In addition to looking for her shadow, Edwina will also reveal her pick to win the Super Bowl. (In a rematch of 2023, the Philadelphia Eagles will be taking on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 9.)

Stonewall Jackson

A groundhog named Stonewall Jackson will be looking for his shadow at the Space Farms Zoo & Museum in Wantage in Sussex County Sunday morning, according to his handler, Parker Space.

Space, a state Senator and volunteer firefighter, is continuing a longtime family tradition that had been started by his father in the 1990s.

Elsa the hedgehog

In South Jersey, its not yet clear whether the annual Groundhog Day celebration at the Cape May County Park & Zoo will be held this year.

Thats because the star of the event, a hedgehog named Elsa, passed away last week, according to the county parks director.

Zoo workers who oversee the Groundhog Day ceremony have not yet indicated whether they have found a replacement for Elsa.

Milltown Mel out of action

Another furry forecaster, a groundhog named Milltown Mel, passed away shortly before the 2022 Groundhog Day celebration, forcing the event to be canceled in that small Middlesex County borough.

Organizers have been trying for three years to find a replacement for Mel, but they have been thwarted by strict state regulations on the importing of groundhogs into New Jersey.

As a result of the legal snag, Milltown had to cancel its Groundhog Day celebrations in 2023, 2024 and again this year.

Buffalo Bert & Buffalo Mack

Two groundhogs in western upstate New York  Buffalo Bert and Buffalo Mack  are scheduled to weigh in with early weather predictions at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday at the Banshee Irish Pub in Buffalo. This will be the citys 12th annual Groundhog Day celebration, according to the events website.

Staten Island Chuck

Just a short car ride way from New Jersey, Staten Island Chuck  also known as Charles G. Hogg  is scheduled to emerge from his sleeping spot Sunday morning at the Staten Island Zoo to weigh in on whether we will have a long winter or an early spring.

Chuck is expected to make his predictions sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Holtsville Hal

Holtsville Hal, a groundhog based in Long Island, New York, makes his prediction each year at the Brookhaven Wildlife and Ecology Center in Holtsville, New York.

Hal is scheduled to look for his shadow at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday, local officials said.

Malverne Mel

Another Long Island groundhog, Malverne Mel, has been making weather predictions on Groundhog Day for several years, and hes scheduled to be back in action again this Sunday.

However, two animal rights groups have been pushing for the town to stop using a real groundhog for its festivities, saying the tradition is inhumane. The groups, PETA and Humane Long Island, are asking the town to replace Mel with a costumed groundhog or a mechanical groundhog, according to a report by Patch.

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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.
The captain of an unlicensed charter boat has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for a Hudson River capsizing that killed a woman and a boy.

Richard Cruz, 33, of Elizabeth, will also have to pay $50,000 in restitution for the funeral expenses of the two drowning victims, a 48-year-old woman and her 7-year-old nephew.

Cruz was operating the 27-foot Stimulus Money tour boat on July 12, 2022, when the boat overturned near Hudson River Parks Pier 86 during windy conditions with high seas, federal prosecutors said.

The impact caused all 13 occupants to be thrown overboard. The woman and boy were trapped under the boat, while the rest were rescued, authorities said.

Authorities later identified the victims as Lindelia Vasquez, of Elizabeth and Julian Vasquez, who were part of a group having a family reunion.

The U.S. Coast Guard had earlier issued a warning about the conditions on the river that day.

Cruz pleaded guilty to misconduct and neglect of a ship officer resulting in death in October.

He spent months conducting tours without the required United States Coast Guard credentials and certifications, officials said. He had purchased the boat three months before it capsized.

Charges are still pending against the pilot of the boat, Jaime Pinilla Gomez.

Pinilla Gomez, of Elizabeth, was 25 when he was charged with Cruz in March 2024.

A federal judge in New York last week gave Gomez permission to travel to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Illinois for his work driving a truck as an independent contractor, according to court filings.

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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com
Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) is worried that President Donald Trumps pick for Director of National Intelligence may not be confirmed.

Tulsi Gabbard faced senators for her first confirmation hearings this week, where she was grilled on her past comments on Russia and her 2017 visit with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns with her lack of experience and her past controversial actions.

Fox Newss Jesse Watters asked Hawley if his Republican colleagues understand whats going to happen if they vote down Gabbard.

You know, I dont know, and I have to tell you, Im worried by what I hear from some of my Republican colleagues. Im worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy, and Im just worried about what that will mean, Hawley said.

It will mean that the reforms that we desperately need in the intelligence space, lets not just pretend everything is fine and dandy and hunky dory in the intelligence community. Its not besides the fact that they have missed major, major issues, he continued, adding that he hopes Gabbard gets confirmed because we need that kind of reform.

Senator Josh Hawley on Tulsi Gabbard: I'm worried by what I hear from some of my Republican colleagues. I'm worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy.pic.twitter.com/A59Mzk9wlu  Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 31, 2025

Gabbard appeared for her confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.

The questions raised by senators about Gabbards judgment and experience make her one of the more contentious of Trumps Cabinet nominees. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.

A former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.

Its Gabbards comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. She has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S. surveillance program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Richard Barnett told jurors at his criminal trial in 2023 that he regretted throwing his feet on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis in an infamous photo taken during the Jan. 6 violent riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Apparently, he didnt mean what he said at the time. Or, at the least, has since had a change of heart.
Diversity, equity and inclusion werent the reason 67 people died in a midair crash between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter.

Thats Republican Congressman Sam Graves, who chairs the House Transportation Committee that oversees the Federal Aviation Administration in the House, told Politico after Trump has said DEI was the reason for the crash.

I dont think it had anything to do with this particular accident. I have concerns about DEI within the FAA and for that matter all the transportation agencies, but Ive had that concern now for years, Graves, an experienced private pilot who is rated to fly a commercial airplane, told Politico.

Trump on Thursday baselessly blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety.

Asked why he was blaming diversity initiatives, Trump said, because I have common sense, and unfortunately a lot of people dont.

Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be brilliant to ensure safety.

They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses, he said. You cant have regular people doing their job.

More than 40 bodies have been pulled from the water in Washington D.C. after the countrys deadliest aviation disaster since 2001.

The helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

The crash occurred before 9 p.m. in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did a lot this offseason to make his team more well-rounded  and potentially better  in the aftermath of losing Juan Soto to the New York Mets via free agency. But the flurry of moves might have exposed a different soft spot in their roster.

In discussing his piece on the Yankees' pivot, ESPN MLB writer Jorge Castillo told ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney on a recent podcast that the feedback he got from other executives about New York was positive, except for one area.
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan attaches paramount importance to digital development, the country's Prime Minister Ali Asadov said at the Digital Almaty 2025 international forum today, Trend reports.

"Digital platforms and automation are transforming economic processes, changing approaches to governance, and opening up new opportunities for improving people's lives. Digital transformation is not only the implementation of advanced technologies but also a process of creating an effective ecosystem that takes into account the interests of the state, business, and citizens.

Azerbaijan places primary importance on digital development as a key element of its national strategy," he noted.

The prime minister pointed out that on January 16, Azerbaijan gave the green light to the concept of digital development.

"This document has become the main guideline for the country's digital transformation, laying the strategic priorities for work in this area," Asadov added.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan prioritizes the development of international cooperation and is ready for cooperation to create a sustainable digital future, the country's Prime Minister Ali Asadov said at the Digital Almaty 2025 international forum today, Trend reports.

"To achieve the goal of digital transformation, it's necessary to create a reliable infrastructure that will provide access to modern digital services for all segments of society. One of the key elements of such infrastructure is access to high-speed internet," he explained.

The prime minister emphasized that Azerbaijan also places great importance on creating favorable conditions for the development of startups, stimulating entrepreneurship, and supporting the innovative ecosystem, implements various programs to help aspiring entrepreneurs launch projects and develop their potential.

"Digital transformation is not only a technological process but also an opportunity to strengthen international cooperation. It opens up new prospects and presents us with complex challenges that require joint solutions," he added.

The Digital Almaty 2025 forum commenced on January 31 and will conclude on February 1. It includes a plenary session with the Prime Ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union countries, namely Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Iran, along with the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The forum is coordinated by the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Akimat of Almaty, and Astana Hub (ACF PIT).

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan and France have the opportunity to mend fences and turn over a new leaf in their relationship, and this was confirmed by today's conference, France's role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, director of Conflicts magazine Gil Mihaely told reporters on the sidelines of an international conference on "France and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict," Trend reports.

I mean, Azerbaijan could have just said, Well what can you do, it's not working, but we have other priorities. However, it didn't do that. Despite the criticism, mutual interest remains high. I believe that this is the foundation on which the dialog can be built. France and Azerbaijan have had better times, but they are not enemies, he noted.

To note, an international conference on the topic "France and the Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict" is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Minsk Group should be disbanded, Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at today's weekly briefing, Trend reports.

The Minsk Group has lost the purpose of its activities. It clearly needs to be dissolved. This necessary step is aimed at facilitating the long-awaited normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I have nothing more to add to this, she said.
Strack & Van Til is wrapping up a major multimillion-dollar overhaul of its Lowell store while eying future renovations to its supermarkets.

The Highland-based grocer, Northwest Indianas largest homegrown supermarket chain, expanded the floor space and added more fresh food, including sushi. It has more capital under its new owner Hy-Vee to make such significant investments, CEO Jeff Strack said.

"It's a complete renovation of the Lowell store. We rebuilt the store in its entirety while maintaining operations," Strack said.

Strack & Van Til acquired the former Wilco supermarket at 2080 E Commercial Ave in Lowell in 2010 when the Wilco chain decided to cash out. Wilco sold its Lowell, Cedar Lake and Rensselaer stores to Strack & Van Til and its Amelia's Market store in Winfield to WiseWay, which ultimately ended up selling that store to Strack & Van Til in 2022 when it pivoted out of the grocery business altogether.

Strack & Van Til invested in freshening up the Lowell store after the 2010 acquisition but hasn't done any major remodeling since then, Strack said. It was overdue for a renovation he said.

"Customer preferences have changed. People want more perishable foods and meals," he said. "We decided to make an investment in the store. The main thing was the configuration. We changed the customer traffic pattern so the new entrance leads to the perishables. We laid it out differently. It's more efficient."

Strack & Van Til put in new lighting and shelving. It expanded the deli, seafood and produce departments.

"The old entryway led to a promotional aisle that was like a small cubbyhole," he said. "It was situated tightly. I didn't feel comfortable shopping or walking it. It didn't have the right feel. Now it has a much better feeling for the store. Customers come in and start shopping. If you started shopping at Wilco and hadn't been here, you couldn't guess it was the old store."

The 2010 renovations were nowhere near as extensive, Strack said.

Strack & Van Til put on a new roof, installed more modern, energy-efficient refrigerators and made other upgrades to the 50,000-square-foot store, converting some of the backroom into additional retail floor space. The work took about a year since Strack & Van Til kept the store open during the construction.

"It really was quite a slow, painful process. We appreciate our customers' patience," he said. "This was really a major remodeling. It was a multimillion [dollar] investment into the store. It shows our commitment to the community of Lowell. We're giving them a first-class grocery store."

Strack & Van Til added more selection and variety, particularly in fresh food. Perishable sales, such as fruits and vegetables, are poised to grow from $109.36 billion in the United States last year to $118.89 billion in 2025, according to the Business Research Company. Perishable food now has an annual growth rate of 8.7% and should reach $166.1 billion in sales by 2029.

"Customers have been gravitating more toward fresh foods. It's definitely a trend in the industry," Strack said. "People are trying to eat healthier and we're trying to add convenience and make people's lives easier."

Strack & Van Til is always trying to update its stores and keep them current, Strack said. The acquisition by Iowa-based Hy-Vee gives the company more capital to make such investments in its more than 20 stores in Northwest Indiana.

Iowa-based Hy-Vee pulled in $13 billion in revenue from its 285 stores across the Midwest last year. Forbes Magazine ranked it 35th among America's top private companies.

"They've been very helpful in the design and sourcing the equipment," Strack said. "One of the benefits of being owned by a much larger company is having resources. That really helps."

Strack & Van Til recently did a minor renovation in Cedar Lake and did some work to the stores in DeMotte and Winfield it recently acquired.

"We started talking about this project two years ago, it's such an extensive project," he said. "It's one of our most challenging remodelings to date. We try to keep customers in mind with the [shopping] experience while keeping people safe and getting the job done."

Strack & Van Til is looking at other stores to renovate in the future, to keep them looking contemporary and up-to-date.

"We're always reinvesting in our stores to make them viable," he said. "We have a list of projects. We're committed to a few other things but are planning the next remodel. We're always looking [to] grow our brand in Northwest Indiana. We're always looking and analyzing how we can grow responsibly. We want to meet our customers' needs. We've been part of their shopping experience for 95 years and want to remain a great partner."

Strack & Van Til is planning to have a ribbon-cutting celebration for the remodeled Lowell store in mid-February.
An investigation by the BBC of allegations against the comedian Russell Brand when he was one of its radio presenters blamed inadequate management for mishandling what the broadcaster called unacceptable behavior. The BBC also said that staff members did not raise concerns about Brand because they felt that he would get his way and that they would be punished.

The BBC released a report on Thursday about the internal investigation, which began in 2023 after four women accused Brand of sexual assault in other settings. The BBC said it looked into eight complaints against Brand, two of which were raised while he was employed there between 2006 and 2008.

There should have been better systems in place to ensure that Russell Brands unacceptable behavior was promptly picked up and addressed and that all of those involved felt able to raise any concerns, the report said.

Brand did not participate in the investigation by the BBC and did not respond to its proposed findings, the broadcaster said. He is currently being investigated by Londons Metropolitan Police and has denied all allegations of sexual assault.
Asura, a seven-episode Japanese drama on Netflix (in Japanese, with subtitles, or dubbed), is the full package: a detailed, human-scale domestic drama with plenty to say, fascinating characters to say it and the stylishness to make it sing. The downside is that other shows feel paltry and thin in comparison. The upside is everything else.

The show begins in 1979 and centers on four sisters. Ooooh, do they call each other on the phone! The story is set in motion when the prim, unmarried librarian sister, Takiko (Yu Aoi), discovers that their father has been having an affair, for years, and has a young son with his girlfriend.

Takiko is horrified, but her sisters are less doctrinaire: Sakiko (Suzu Hirose), the dramatic and immature one, blames Takiko for meddling. The oldest sister, Tsunako (Rie Miyazawa), is a widow with a married boyfriend, and shes reluctant to throw stones. Makiko (Machiko Ono), married with two teenagers, is the first among equals, and she suspects her own dismissive husband is cheating on her. Maybe the ties that bind are the polite fictions everyone can agree on. Cut one, and you might accidentally cut them all.

Each sister bristles under the control of men, and each finds it much easier to see the shallowness of the others excuses than to confront her own suffering. Such is sisterhood. As the years go by, they become both more entrenched in their choices but less committed to them; by the time you realize how stuck you are, you really are stuck.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov participated in the "Digital Almaty 2025" international digital forum in Almaty on January 31, during his official visit to the city, Trend reports.

Speaking at the event, Asadov emphasized the importance of the forum, noting it provides an effective platform for discussing digital development and innovation, as well as finding joint solutions to the challenges of digital transformation.

He also highlighted that Azerbaijan prioritizes digital development as a key element of the state strategy.

Azerbaijan approved the 'Digital Development Concept' on January 16 this year, which has become the main guideline for the country's digital transformation, setting strategic priorities in this area, Asadov pointed out.

"One of the key areas of the digital development strategy is artificial intelligence (AI). We are currently developing Azerbaijan's AI Strategy, with a special focus on identifying priority sectors where the implementation of AI technologies can significantly improve the efficiency and quality of services. These sectors include healthcare, transportation, and education," he added.

Asadov also emphasized Azerbaijans commitment to developing and implementing modern and flexible legislation.

"A legal framework has been created for the use of various documents in digital format, which simplifies the interaction between citizens and government agencies, contributing to the creation of a convenient and accessible digital ecosystem," the PM added.

The Prime Minister further underscored the need for reliable infrastructure to ensure access to modern digital services for all segments of society. He characterized access to high-speed internet as a key element of such infrastructure.

"Among the significant initiatives aimed at developing internet infrastructure, the 'Online Azerbaijan' project stands out. As part of this project, over ninety-nine percent of residential and commercial properties have been connected to high-speed broadband internet," he said.

Asadov also mentioned the creation of the "Digital Government" platform and the launch of the national data exchange system, "Digital Bridge," which has fully digitalized the process of information exchange between government institutions. The "Government Cloud" project has also been launched to enhance government efficiency.

"These are just a small part of the projects being implemented to create a sustainable, modern, and secure digital infrastructure necessary for the development of 'e-government' and accelerating digital transformation," he added.

Noting that digital transformation is not only a technological process but also an opportunity to strengthen international cooperation, Asadov expressed Azerbaijan's readiness to continue working together to create a sustainable digital future.
Rescue crews rushed into the Potomac River, just three miles from the White House, after a commercial jet carrying 64 people collided last night with an Army helicopter carrying three service members. By morning, officials determined that no one had survived.

The incident was the first fatal crash involving a major U.S. airline in more than 15 years. The night was clear, and both aircraft were following standard flight paths, officials said. But roughly a minute after the helicopter crew told air traffic control that it could see the jet, the two aircraft collided. We mapped out the flight paths.

Among the victims on the flight, a two-and-a-half-hour journey from Wichita, Kansas, were a group of friends returning from a duck hunting trip and more than a dozen figure skaters, including two world champions from Russia.

Emergency personnel pulled more than two dozen bodies from icy water, and federal transportation officials launched an investigation into the disaster.
The acting U.S. deputy attorney general called on Thursday for an investigation of an upstate New York sheriff who had released an undocumented immigrant from custody  an apparent escalation in the Trump administrations campaign against sanctuary cities.

Emil Bove III, a former member of President Trumps personal legal team who was named acting deputy attorney general last week, said that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York was looking into the failure of Sheriff Derek R. Osborne of Tompkins County to honor a federal warrant. It was for the arrest of Jesus Romero-Hernandez, 27, a Mexican citizen who Mr. Bove said was released from jail in Ithaca, N.Y., on Tuesday after having pleaded guilty to assault in the third degree.

I applaud the U.S. attorneys commitment to investigate these circumstances for potential prosecution, Mr. Bove said in a news release.

The episode in Ithaca, 230 miles north of New York City, could present an early test of the Trump administrations threat to take on so-called sanctuary city policies, which include various measures to bar local officials from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An unauthorized immigrant from Guatemala who went on a stabbing rampage on the Las Vegas Strip in 2022 that left two people dead and injured six others, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of murder on Thursday.

The man, Yoni Barrios, 34, will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole but will avoid the death penalty, according to a copy of his plea agreement, which was reached in Clark County District Court.

His unprovoked attack on the morning of Oct. 6, 2022, provided political grist to Donald J. Trump and to a far-right nonprofit anti-immigration group. His victims included several showgirl impersonators, one of whom was killed.

Mr. Barrios pleaded guilty to a total of 15 counts, including five for attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon and one count of an act of terrorism. His formal sentencing is scheduled for March 14.
The Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Washington on Wednesday was training near a busy airport, and in a complicated airway, because Army helicopters frequently ferry cabinet officials, lawmakers and other V.I.P.s across the area, Army officials said on Thursday.

The Black Hawk crew was among the Armys most experienced, consisting of command pilots belonging to the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir, Va. Those pilots routinely conduct both daytime and nighttime training runs in an air corridor next to Reagan National Airport.

The reason is simple, Army officials said on Thursday. The pilots have to train where they will be called on to fly.

In many ways, they said, the 12th Aviation Brigade is considered the V.I.P. taxi service of the federal government in Washington.
On the morning after a devastating midair collision of an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter that sent 67 people, not one of whom survived, into the icy waters of the Potomac River, President Trump stood behind the White House lectern and for a brief moment did what presidents do.

He called it a tragedy of terrible proportions. He said we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. He took solace along with the nation, he said, that the journey of the 67 souls ended in the warm embrace of a loving God.

But then, as Navy divers continued their search for bodies in the Potomac, the president transitioned into some of the most extraordinary public statements he has ever made, among them equating diversity with incompetence.

We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, Mr. Trump began, his tone moving from solace to irritation. And I think well probably state those opinions now.
When Mr. Paul, who is also a doctor, suggested that infants did not need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth, Mr. Cassidy stepped in to contradict him. Mr. Tuberville, a former football coach, announced at the hearing that his son and daughter-in-law had done their research and were not going to have their child vaccinated on the recommended schedule.

Mr. Mullin went so far as to suggest that vaccines may indeed cause autism  a theory that has been repeatedly debunked by numerous studies. Theres an issue that I have as a father of six, that when my kids come out from getting their vaccines, they look like a freaking pin cushion. I mean, 72 vaccinations, he said, adding, When you start looking at the rise of autism, why wouldnt we be looking at everything?

Senators are grappling with Mr. Kennedys star power.

If confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would come to the position of health secretary with an unusually powerful platform, something both supporters and detractors have noted. He is a scion of the storied Kennedy political clan. He has named his own movement  Make America Healthy Again  earning him congratulations from Mr. Sanders. Many of his ideas, such as promoting healthy eating and tackling chronic disease, are appealing. And he has a devoted legion of followers, many of them the so-called MAHA Moms, positioning him as an important part of the Trump coalition.

Senator Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, put it this way: President Trump just won a historic election victory, and you were a big part of it.

He observed that a lot of those moms who attended the hearing were from his home state. And thats why you have my full support, and anything other than voting for you to confirm you would be thumbing my nose at that movement, he told Mr. Kennedy.
President Trump quickly turned to excoriating the diversity goals of his Democratic predecessors and the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday as he updated the public about the deadly collision over the Potomac River.

Even as he acknowledged that he had no evidence, but was instead relying on common sense, he suggested that efforts to hire more people with disabilities and diversify the ranks of the F.A.A. were to blame for the accident late Wednesday that killed 67 people.

Heres a fact check of his remarks.

What Was Said

This was before I got to office recently, the second term, the F.A.A. is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website.

The F.A.A. website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot, a little dot on the map, little runway.

This was in the Obama administration, just prior to my getting there  and we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, we took care of everybody at levels that nobodys ever seen before. Its one of the reasons I won  but they actually came out with a directive. Too white.

This is misleading. Mr. Trump was citing efforts to recruit people with certain disabilities for air traffic operations that began under his own administration, though the language concerning hiring those with disabilities more generally preceded his first term. And there is no evidence that the governments efforts to recruit more people with disabilities or the Obama or Biden administrations diversity efforts were to blame for the crash.

It is unclear whether Mr. Trump was referring to information that is not widely known, but at the time of his remarks, the identities of the pilots and air traffic controllers involved had not been made public.

Under Mr. Trump in April 2019, the F.A.A. announced a pilot program for 20 people with targeted disabilities to work in air traffic operations. Targeted disabilities are a set of statutorily defined disabilities, including, but not limited to, those cited by Mr. Trump, that the federal government emphasizes for recruiting. An archived page from June 2019 named the initiative the Aviation Development Program, which provides an opportunity for persons with targeted disabilities to gain aviation knowledge and experience as an air traffic control student trainee.

The candidates in this program will receive the same rigorous consideration in terms of aptitude, medical and security qualifications as those individuals considered for a standard public opening for air traffic controller jobs, the F.A.A. said in 2019. Those standards include passing an air traffic skills assessment and a medical exam.

According to a Medium post from the agency, one of the programs first three candidates graduated in 2021 from the F.A.A. Academy and became an air traffic controller trainee that year. It is unclear how many people who graduated from that program are air traffic controllers today.

Moreover, experts said they could not cite a known instance of a plane crash in which diversity efforts had been cited as the sole cause.

Historically, there has never been an incident, big or small, where D.E.I. or diversity has ever been attributed as a sole cause or contributing cause, said Tennessee Garvey, a pilot and the chairman of the board of directors for the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

He added that the rigorous standards for hiring pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers were never relaxed to meet diversity goals, but rather that previous administrations and the commercial air industry overall have worked to remove barriers to entry.

Of the more than 900 Black pilots who made up the Tuskegee Airmen, only one became a commercial pilot, he said. And segregation prevented Black men and women from working in the industry until the civil rights movement and lawsuits.

Robert Fowler Jr., a pilot and professor of aerospace at Middle Tennessee State University, said that costs and time required to qualify for a pilots license were still significant obstacles. Despite the industrys attempt to provide scholarships and cast a wider recruiting net, diversity efforts have not been all that successful.
Damn you, diversity initiatives! Why are you responsible for every historical tragedy? The fires in Los Angeles? D.E.I. The bridge collapse in Baltimore? D.E.I. The Irish potato famine? D.E.I. Slavery? D.E.I. Did you ever notice how many minorities were at slavery? Its all D.E.I.  MICHAEL KOSTA

And remember, one of the most important things a leader can do in a rapidly developing, difficult situation is to calm people down, stick to the facts, and keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.  MICHAEL KOSTA

A terrible thing happened. All he had to do is go out there and say, This is a tragedy, offer some comfort to the families, to the military families, promise to get to the bottom of it. But he cant do that, because hes callous, hes racist, hes sexist, and, most of all, hes stupid. Hes a deeply stupid man.  JIMMY KIMMEL

I think maybe he gets jealous when a disaster gets more coverage than him. Hes like, Im the biggest disaster  you point that camera at me right now.  JIMMY KIMMEL
The more experiences a writers had in his earlier, pre-writer life, the luckier he is, because those experiences will compose the main well of insight he has about life, insight that of course has plenty to do with the degree of truth in his work, Mr. Blake told Firsts, a magazine for book collectors, in 2001.

Image Mr. Blakes first novel, The Pistoleer, published in 1995, reimagined the life of the Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin. Credit... Grove Press

Mr. Blake published his debut novel, The Pistoleer, in 1995. The book reimagines the life of the Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin, a notorious Texas outlaw during Reconstruction. He followed with The Friends of Pancho Villa (1996), set during the Mexican Revolution.

The enigmatic spectacle of war is well captured by Blake in this work with a lyrical intensity that marks him as a major writer, a reviewer for The Miami Herald said about Mr. Blake's second novel. We see not only the revolution but also the people at the forefront of the struggle in all their faults and triumphs.

To Mr. Blake, violence was a muse.

Violence is the most elemental truth of life, he told GQ magazine in 2012. Its the central shaper of history, the ultimate determiner of whether A or B is going to get his way. When push comes to shove  as so much has a way of doing  all moral considerations go out the window and it all becomes a matter of whos going to be the last man standing.

Mr. Blake achieved a kind of apex in literary savageness with In the Rogue Blood, his 1997 novel about two brothers from Florida and the brutality they endure and execute during the Mexican-American War. After they kill their father, one brother joins a gang that scalps Apaches. The other joins Mexican forces.
Rebels backed by Rwanda are seizing huge tracts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their progress has been swift and stunning. In a month, they have routed Congos underequipped army several times and caused more than half a million people to flee. On Monday, they captured Goma, a major Congolese city along the Rwandan border. (They grabbed it once before, in 2012.)

Ive been talking to Goma residents. Theyve been hiding in their houses for the past week without electricity or running water. Gunfire, and occasionally bombs, explode around them. Some of them took in families who had fled from camps and villages outside the city. But plenty of those displaced people arrived in Goma knowing nobody.

Why are the rebels, known as M23, grabbing parts of eastern Congo? In their telling, theyre protecting ethnic Tutsis, the minority group massacred in a 1994 genocide, some of whom also live in Congo. But experts say the real reason is Congos rare minerals, which power our phones and devices. Congos mines are making the rebels  and their patrons in Rwanda  rich.
Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree awarding presidential prizes to a group of youth representatives for 2025, Trend reports.

The Presidential Prizes were granted to individuals who have made significant contributions in the fields of science, education, culture, youth policy, youth work, social and socially oriented activities, as well as innovations and entrepreneurship.

A full list of the recipients of the Presidential Prize can be found through the provided link.

Will be updated
No survivors from a plane crash near Washington

All 67 people on board an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter that collided on Wednesday evening over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., just three miles from the White House, were killed, officials said. Rescue crews have recovered about two dozen bodies from the icy water of the river. Heres a timeline of the crash and the recovery effort.

The collision was the first fatal crash involving a major U.S. airline in more than 15 years. The night was clear, and both aircraft were following standard flight paths, officials said. But roughly a minute after the helicopter crew told air traffic control that it could see the jet, the two collided. A webcam caught the moment of impact.

An internal report found that staffing at the air traffic control tower was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, and it suggested that at the time of the collision the air traffic controller was doing a job usually handled by two people. But Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, said communications appeared to have been normal. We mapped out the flight paths.

Victims: Among the victims on the flight, a two-and-a-half-hour journey from Wichita, Kan., were a group of friends returning from a duck hunting trip and more than a dozen figure skaters, including two world champions from Russia.
Mexicos pitch to companies considering the American market was simple. Worried about vulnerable supply chains? Need to reduce your reliance on China? Want an inexpensive spot close to the United States with favorable trade rules? Try Mexico.

Thousands of companies, from family enterprises to powerhouse brands, in Asia, Europe and elsewhere have done just that in recent years. Adidas, Samsung, Honda, Hyundai, Nestle, Volkswagen, Volvo, Lego and more crowd Mexicos industrial parks.

That parade has grown following pandemic-related supply chain nightmares and increasing political tensions between the United States and China. Canada  a key partner in the North American production network  has also benefited. Last year, Honda announced plans to invest around $11 billion in new electric vehicle and battery production plants in Ontario, alongside its existing facilities. Toyota and Volvo also have plants in Canada.

But now, President Trumps decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada  and 10 percent on Canadian energy imports  has hit companies like a freak ice storm in summer.
Federal and state health officials and staff members scrambled on Friday to comply with a 5 p.m. deadline by the Trump administration to terminate any programs that promote gender ideology, and to withdraw documents and any other media that may do so.

Federal workers had already been ordered to halt diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, to scrub public references to those efforts and to place employees involved in them on administrative leave.

At federal health agencies, veterans hospitals, and local and state health departments, compliance took a variety of forms. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees hurried to remove terms like transgender, immigrant, L.G.B.T. and pregnant people from the website.

Employees at some VA Hospitals were told that L.G.B.T.Q. flags and other displays were no longer acceptable, according to an administrative email reviewed by The New York Times.
The damage in New England drove Roman and Parks toward a shared goal: mitigating the crabs effects by encouraging people to be like those otters. Roman is founder and editor of the Eat the Invaders website (Fighting Invasive Species, One Bite at a Time, its banner proclaims), cementing his position in the movement to put nonnative plants and animals on plates. As a conservation biologist, my goal is not to kill anything, he says. I wish it was that simple. Im in this to protect native biodiversity. A lot of times when species are having an ecological impact, just letting it run its course is not always the right answer.

Some invasive species dont lend themselves to eating; lanternflies wont be on your favorite local restaurants menu any time soon. When it comes to crabs, the idea has promise. Americans consume enormous amounts of seafood, and several favorites  tuna, scallops, lobster, salmon, summer flounder, striped bass  can be prohibitively expensive for many households. Its not hard to imagine low-cost crabs finding a customer base. They are abundant beyond measure, easy to catch and enjoyed in Italy and Spain, where diners eat European and Mediterranean green-crab eggs or molting whole crabs as delicacies. I know how delicious the crabs can be firsthand, as my family renders batches of green crabs into a savory, full-bodied stock. The result becomes the basis for ramen.

Theres one obstacle to eating our way out of the problem: A big bull green crab might boast a carapace four inches across. Most are considerably smaller. The carapace of a prized Maryland blue crab, for comparison, can spread nine inches across. The green crabs small stature means their tiny claws, legs and the segmented chambers of their bodies  the parts people typically devour  are difficult to pick, which can make for time-consuming preparations and tedious eating. The species possesses many traits that aid its spread; its small size is the one that has protected it from human consumption, so far.
No Other Land, an audacious and devastating film, was also 2024s most decorated documentary. It won dozens of awards from critics, juries and audiences on several continents; most of the major international film festivals programmed it; and, now its an Oscar nominee for best documentary feature. Its subject  the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  couldnt be more consequential, and its approach, which includes a directorial team of two Israelis and two Palestinians, feels genuinely daring and bold.

Yet ultimately the story of No Other Land (in theaters) is two-pronged and goes beyond the conflict. First theres the story the film tells, one about loss and power and grief and suffering. The Palestinian directors, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, are activists and journalists living in or near Masafer Yatta, in the occupied West Bank. They have for years been witnesses to the demolition of residents homes, conducted by Israeli forces, which claim the area is needed for a live-fire military training ground.

The filmmakers explain that they began recording to create a visual record of what was happening, including the fact that many families had moved into underground caves with whatever they could salvage. No Other Land takes its title from the cry of a woman, who asks where they are supposed to go  the homes have often been in families for generations, and they have no other land.

The film captures this destruction between 2019 and 2023 and in archival footage from Adras family. No Other Land also shows the growing, sometimes tense friendship between Adra and an Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham, who arrives in Masafer Yatta with the cinematographer Rachel Szor to report at the start of this period. (They form the Israeli half of the directorial team.) What they witness then and in subsequent years is harrowing, especially since it happens over and over again. Alongside the repeated demolitions, friction points emerge in Adra and Abrahams relationship  for instance, Abraham can travel freely around the country, while Adra cannot  and this strain starts to build a lucid picture of frustration for both men.
Justice Department lawyers in Washington met on Friday with Manhattan federal prosecutors and defense lawyers representing Mayor Eric Adams of New York City to discuss dropping the corruption case against him, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Details of the meeting, held at the Justice Department building in Washington, were not immediately available. But it came days after senior department officials had conversations with the federal prosecutors in Manhattan who brought the high-profile case  which President Trump has criticized  about dropping it at their direction.

The session was expected to determine the future of the first criminal prosecution of a sitting mayor in modern New York City history, a bribery and fraud case that is set to go to trial in April.

Senior officials from the federal prosecutors office in Manhattan, including the interim head of the office, Danielle R. Sassoon, were seen outside the Justice Department shortly before the meeting on Friday afternoon. Two of Mr. Adamss lawyers, Alex Spiro and William Burck, also met with department officials.
When Newsday was founded, Long Island was a bunch of small towns separated by trees, according to Bob Keeler, a retired Newsday reporter who wrote a book about the paper. The newspaper, Mr. Keeler said, helped connect residents of Long Island to their communities and government.

It was an important institution in giving Long Island an identity, Mr. Keeler said.

But the reach of the outlet, now owned by Patrick Dolan, the son of the HBO founder Charles F. Dolan, is now largely restricted to Long Island. It has faced a difficult transition to online subscriptions, like most newspapers.

Today, Newsday employs around 100 reporters in Nassau County who cover the economy, politics, food and more. In an eight-month period last year, its total weekly print and digital readership in the county was more than 400,000, according to the complaint.

Seth Koslow, a Democratic member of the Nassau County Legislature, said that he opposed making The Post the countys official newspaper, because of Newsdays longstanding ties to Long Island. Mr. Koslow, who is running against Mr. Blakeman in this years election, called the move good for Bruce Blakeman and not for Nassau County.

Politicians dont get to choose their watchdogs, Mr. Koslow said in an interview.

Newsday claims that Mr. Blakeman retaliated against the paper for its coverage of his efforts to bar transgender athletes from participating in sports at county facilities. Starting in March 2024, the paper said, Mr. Blakemans administration ignored about 50 information requests and began removing its reporters from press mailing lists, leaving just a single journalist who was a registered Republican.
The animal killed two goats belonging to residents of Wadi Yahmib, a village within the sparsely populated Elba Protected Area of Egypt. To protect their livestock, the villagers chased down the carnivore in a pickup truck and killed it.

When Abdullah Nagy, a zoologist at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, received a video of the hunt from a colleague who was in the region, he thought he was being pranked.

I was asking, Where are you actually? Because that species doesnt exist in our country, Dr. Nagy said. Are you sure that you didnt cross into Sudan or something?

Additional photos offered persuasive proof: A spotted hyena had crossed into Egypt, about 300 miles north of the nearest known population of the animals in Sudan. The observation of the hyena is the first record of the oft-misunderstood mammal in Egypt in 5,000 years.
Just a week ago, Kim Jones marched out onto an ice rink-size runway in Paris, taking a bow at the conclusion of his latest show as the mens creative director at Dior.

That show would be his last.

On Friday, Mr. Jones, a British fashion designer who has held that role since 2018, announced he was leaving the brand.

It was a true honor to have been able to create my collections within the house of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey, Mr. Jones said in a news release announcing his departure.

In the statement, Delphine Arnault, the chief executive of Dior, thanked Mr. Jones for his remarkable work.
Emma March Barash took a mind-tingling polar plunge with three friends at Jacob Riis Park Beach in Queens on New Years Day 2022. Later, when they stopped for dim sum in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, she took another daring plunge.

She texted Mitchell Harlan Schwartz.

So, Mitch, are you going to ask me to get a drink or what?

Mr. Schwartz was then Mayor Bill de Blasios first deputy press secretary coordinating public responses to policy matters at New York City Hall; Ms. Barash worked in the second floor bullpen, one flight up, as a policy adviser to Melanie Hartzog, the deputy mayor for health and human services.

The two had met in October 2021 after Ms. Barash brought a sensitive issue to his attention: expanding access to child care vouchers.

I told her wed be OK, said Mr. Schwartz, who graduated cum laude from Kenyon College with a bachelors degree in political science.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. A new framework document between the United Nations (UN) and Azerbaijan for 2026-2030 will be developed in full coordination and consultation with the government, said Fioralba Caku Shkodra, a specialist in sustainable development at the UNs (DCO) Regional Development Coordination Office, at the event "High-Level Strategic Prioritization" in Baku as part of the Framework Document on Cooperation between the UN and Azerbaijan on Sustainable Development (2026-2030), Trend reports.

"The goal of this document is to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda until 2030. It is a crucial tool for planning and implementing UN development activities in each country. The implementation of the Framework Document on Sustainable Development Cooperation between the UN and the Government of Azerbaijan for 2021-2025 has yielded successful results. It is important to note that the government of Azerbaijan demonstrates a strong commitment to cooperation," Shkodra said.
Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is considering changing where it is incorporated from Delaware to another state, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company is looking at Texas and a handful of other states, said the people, who were not authorized to speak on the confidential discussions. The process is at an early stage and no decision has been made, they added, and Metas corporate headquarters would remain in Menlo Park, Calif.

Meta has been going through a corporate overhaul under Mark Zuckerberg, the companys founder and chief executive. Mr. Zuckerberg has spent the past two years making work force cuts so that the company will operate more quickly and efficiently. More recently, he has aggressively courted President Trump and policymakers in Washington as they set an agenda for issues such as antitrust and artificial intelligence, which will affect the biggest tech firms.

A spokesman for Meta declined to comment on a potential reincorporation. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the company might exit Delaware and reincorporate in Texas or elsewhere.
A series of New York Times investigations in 2023 found an alarming pattern of close calls involving major airlines. Here are some of the key takeaways from those articles.

Near misses happen much more frequently than most people realize

In 2023, close calls involving commercial airlines occurred, on average, multiple times each week. The incidents often took place at or near major airports, and they were often but not always the result of errors by pilots or air traffic controllers, according to a Times analysis of internal Federal Aviation Administration records and federal safety reports.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2023, there were 503 air traffic control lapses that the F.A.A. preliminarily categorized as significant, 65 percent more than in the prior year. During that period, air traffic increased about 4 percent.

The biggest problem was a shortage of air traffic controllers

The vast majority of air traffic control towers in the United States  as many as 99 percent, by one measure  were understaffed in 2023, The Times found. The F.A.A. made up for those shortages by pushing controllers to work longer hours.

Controllers said in interviews and safety reports that they were being pushed to the brink. Some were experiencing mental health problems. Others were falling asleep on the job or showing up to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

What happens when you stretch a rubber band too much? one retired controller told The Times. It breaks.

Lousy working conditions contributed to problems

Controllers were not only working long hours; they were working in suboptimal conditions.

Elevator malfunctions forced employees to climb hundreds of stairs to reach control towers. Bees and biting flies harassed controllers who were directing traffic. Faulty air-conditioners left control rooms alternately broiling or freezing. One employee at a facility in Texas had to bring in lightbulbs from home.

Underinvestments in technology also increased the risks

The Times found that in 2017, after an increase in close calls and warnings from federal agencies, the National Transportation Safety Board called for the F.A.A. to install more systems that alert air traffic controllers to imminent collisions on or near runways.

Over the next six years, however, the F.A.A. did not install a single new ground-based system to warn about possible collisions. Only 43 of the nations more than 500 airports serving commercial flights had such systems as of August 2023. An F.A.A. spokesman told The Times that the agency did not have the funding for new systems but was looking for more affordable options.

In lieu of such technology, some controllers resorted to using a public flight-tracking website in lieu of radar.

In other cases  including in Austin, Texas, where two large planes nearly collided on a foggy winter morning in 2023  a system that gauges the speed and direction of the wind was down for weeks, leaving controllers to rely on a windsock. In New Mexico and Southern California, controllers reported that the radio frequencies they used to communicate with pilots had cut out at dangerous moments. At other facilities, radar feeds that allow controllers to track planes in the sky failed and runway lights malfunctioned.
The Army on Friday released the names of two male aviators who were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet on Wednesday night. But in an extraordinary step, the Army did not identify the third crew member, a female pilot, citing her familys request for privacy.

The names of service members killed during a peacetime accident or in combat zones are typically made public about 24 hours after their relatives have been notified.

At the request of the family, the name of the third soldier will not be released at this time. That pilot is also DUSTWUN, the Army said in a statement in a reference to duty status-whereabouts unknown, a temporary designation until her remains are recovered from the river where the aircraft went down.

It is unclear what specifically motivated the aviators family to make the request. But it comes as President Trump, before the completion of the investigation, has blamed the Black Hawk helicopter crew for the midair disaster that killed 67 people.
For the last decade, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has been a favorite foil of President Trump, who has subjected her to persistent name-calling and taunting as he tried to make the progressive Democrat the face of the radical left.

But with Mr. Trump back in the White House and Democrats reeling from the rejection of the Biden administrations economic agenda, Ms. Warren is forging a new strategy for the second Trump era. She is looking for areas of potential collaboration with a Republican president who has succeeded in taking the mantle of economic populism from Democrats.

I have to say Im looking forward to this, Ms. Warren said in an interview in her office this month before Mr. Trumps inauguration. Trump has said enough about the things he wants to do for working people, that if he can push his Republicans to follow through on that, and we will push our Democrats, we can actually make some changes that will help a lot of families.

Despite that conciliatory tone, Ms. Warren demonstrated during Mr. Trumps first weeks in office that she is not fully embracing his administration.
The most challenging day in decades for air traffic controllers, safety inspectors and other Federal Aviation Administration employees started with profound questions about a deadly crash the night before  and ended with an email urging them to resign from their jobs.

The email, sent from President Trumps Office of Personnel Management to employees across the sprawling federal government, arrived just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday  almost exactly 24 hours after an air crash in Washington that killed 67 people. The message reiterated an offer earlier this week from the administration encouraging federal employees to seek new jobs in the private sector  and did so in terms that appeared to denigrate their contributions, if not cast them as lazy.

The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector, stated the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.

From the Department of Homeland Security to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the message was regarded by many federal employees as an astonishingly tone-deaf missive to deliver in the midst of a crisis. Workers from the Commerce Department to the Army Corps of Engineers described the email as the latest assault on one of the nations largest workforces from an administration scrambling for ways to deliver major spending cuts.

There are so many public servants working in government because they want to serve the public  that is what motivates them, said Max Stier, the president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that promotes best practices in government. This series of hammer blows that federal employees have experienced has created fear and disorientation and distraction, and shows the administration has not read the room at all.

Two White House spokesmen and a spokeswoman for the Office of Personnel Management did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past week, hundreds of federal employees have been fired, reassigned or designated to be laid off, including the removal of as many as 17 inspectors general, whose job is to conduct objective audits of federal agencies and promote efficiency.

Thousands more could be affected by Mr. Trumps move to freeze trillions in federal grants. On Thursday, the president cited his own common sense for his conclusion that the deaths from the airliner crash could be blamed at least in part on efforts to hire more minorities.

The email sent to federal workers on Thursday evening aimed to answer what it said were some frequently asked questions following its original proposal on Tuesday, but only seemed to add to the existing confusion.

It was more explicit about a promise that any employee who quit by Feb. 6 would continue to be paid through late September. It encouraged workers to find private sector jobs as soon as you would like to.

But the email did not address how that offer would dovetail with federal law that limits administrative leave, ethics policies that prohibit government workers from holding a private job or provisions in union contracts aimed at protecting the civil service from political interference and pressure.

While the administration promised that workers participating in the deferred retirement program would continue accruing leave and vacation days and receive full pay through Sept. 30  even if they accepted a private sector job sooner  there remained doubts it could ensure the payouts. Federal spending is determined first by Congress, not the White House, and current funding is set to expire on March 14.

Among the remaining uncertainties was whether Mr. Trump still intended to push for a federal cost-cutting effort that he had said, after winning the election in November, would match the ambition of the Manhattan Project.

So far, his administration has looked to shed spending that could skirt the need for congressional approval, a focus that would significantly shrink the scope of his promise. In 2022, the federal government spent $271 billion to employ 2.3 million civilian workers. Elon Musk, the billionaire named to oversee a government efficiency drive, originally suggested that at least $2 trillion could be slashed from the overall federal budget, which last year totaled $6.7 trillion, though he later acknowledged it was unlikely the administration could reach that goal.

Mr. Trumps repeated degradations of federal workers also may not have the intended effect. Some workers said on Friday that they were increasingly motivated to keep their jobs to ensure government services would be delivered to citizens.

Granted anonymity to discuss the latest email, workers across the government reacted with anger, shock and gallows humor, with some saying they were more likely to trust an email from a supposed Nigerian prince promising instant wealth than more than promises from the administration.

Already signed on to the buyout! one federal employee said sarcastically. All it took was me buying a Trumpcoin and one Trump Bible, and my voucher for 8 months of salary (in Mar-a-Lago Bucks) is in the mail!

The Thursday night message, in the form of F.A.Q.s  or frequently asked questions  suggested that if the employees agreed to depart, they could take a second job or travel to their dream destination while still on the public payroll for months before leaving permanently.

But employees have been informed over the years that it is illegal for them to take a second job while working for the federal government, raising questions about whether the government can deliver on that offer.

As a result, individual federal agencies were bombarded with questions from employees about the administrations email.

Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services received an unsigned email from the department notifying them that the Office of Personnel Management verified that its own emails were valid, lawful and will be honored even in the lapse of appropriations.

Just past noon, Jolene Ann Lauria, the assistant attorney general for administration, emailed similar language to Justice Department employees.

On Friday afternoon, Treasury Department employees received an email from the agencys office of the assistant secretary for management that the management office confirmed the legality of the offer. But the email also urged workers who accepted the administrations offer to consult with their bureaus ethics official before accepting any private-sector work.

The tone and timing of the Thursday night email from the Office of Personnel Management hit hard at the F.A.A., current and former employees said, given its proximity to the fatal air crash that may have stemmed in part from reduced staffing.

In a statement, Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents air traffic controllers, said that while it was not yet clear how the resignation program would affect the unions workers, it was concerned about the impact of losing experienced aviation safety personnel during a universally recognized air traffic controller staffing shortage.

An F.A.A. spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Reporting was contributed by Emily Steel , Erica L. Green , Mark Mazzetti and Linda Qiu .
He and his wife have already made one wrenching decision: to send Josselins body back to Guatemala for burial, a way to guarantee that they will be reunited if they decide  or are forced  to leave the United States. Mr. Corea came to the country before his wife and children and is not part of the asylum case, so he is at more risk of being deported.

This is the country that took her away from me, Mr. Corea said. And if one day we go back to our country, shell be there with us.

Josselin had been thriving in Nashville, where she loved to sing and play soccer. She had once turned down a three-day trip to make sure she did not miss school. She wanted to become a doctor, her uncle, Carlos Corea, said: A doctor saves lives, and this was not fair to her.
The Trump administration is considering sending 24,000 assault rifles to Israel that had been held up at the State Department on the orders of Antony J. Blinken, the former secretary of state, a U.S. official said.

Mr. Blinken had asked the State Department not to move forward with fulfilling Israels request, which comprises three tranches valued at a total of $34 million. That happened after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns that the rifles could end up in the hands of settler militias or that Israeli police officers would use them in acts of unjustified violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The State Department did not reply to a question sent by email on Friday about the possibility of moving forward with the order. The Israeli Embassy said earlier that it had addressed questions raised by the U.S. officials about the arms sales.

Israel is buying more than three-quarters of the pending rifles from Colts Manufacturing.

The lawmakers became aware of the arms order after the State Department gave informal notification of the sale to two congressional committees a few weeks after Hamas attacks in Israel in October 2023 ignited fierce strikes by the Israeli military in Gaza. The New York Times reported that the order prompted concern from lawmakers and some State Department officials.
When her three children didnt have enough to eat, Monica Atieno decided to apply for a job through a new program that was recruiting women to become motorcycle taxi drivers  a profession long dominated by men.

At first, she kept her plan a secret from her husband, who was himself a motorcycle taxi driver in their town of Ukwala in western Kenya. When he found out, he was furious and threatened to leave. But Ms. Atieno, who is 29, says she told him: Im going to do it, because I know what Im going to achieve.

Last year, after hundreds of hours of training, she became a motorcycle taxi driver  a Boda Girl, as theyre called. Shes now one of only about 1,000 women among the estimated 2.5 million motorcycle taxi drivers in the east African nation of Kenya, according to the Boda Boda Safety Association, an advocacy group.
He added: That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do.

Who are the migrants on the military planes?

So far, the people returned since Mr. Trump took office, including those on the military planes, are primarily people apprehended under the Biden administration.

Those in the photographs posted by Mr. Trumps press secretary were Guatemalan migrants apprehended after illegally crossing the border who had been held in detention since early January, according to Guatemalan migration officials.

Why did Colombias president get upset over U.S. military planes?

Mr. Petro turned back two U.S. military planes bound for his country for a few reasons, according to his social media posts on Sunday morning and members of his government.

First, he was upset about how deportees on a nonmilitary flight had been treated while they were being transported to Brazil. (They were handcuffed and flown in a plane without air-conditioning that was forced to land in Manaus, in the Amazonian rainforest, after malfunctioning.)

Second, while Colombias government had authorized military flights  according to U.S. officials  Mr. Petro was caught off guard when he learned only a few hours beforehand that the military flights were scheduled to land in Bogota, Colombias capital. (Officials in Guatemala have also said they are notified only shortly before military planes are scheduled to arrive.)
The United Nations Population Fund, the U.N.s sexual and reproductive health agency, said that because of the funding freeze, maternal and mental health services to millions of women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, Ukraine, and other places had been disrupted or eliminated. In Afghanistan, where the Taliban has banned women from working, 1,700 Afghan women who worked for the agency would no longer be employed.

At stake is not just the good will that the United States has built internationally, but also its work to promote Americas security interests. In Ivory Coast, an American-sponsored program collecting sensitive intelligence on Al Qaeda-related incidents has been interrupted.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, some of the funding to United Nations agencies supporting more than 4.5 million people displaced by a rapidly growing conflict in the countrys east has been frozen, according to a U.S. humanitarian official on the continent.

Even with Mr. Rubios announcements that lifesaving efforts could resume, much of the American aid system in Africa remained paralyzed by the confusion and disruptions, including in conflict-hit areas where every day counts.

When they issue these broad orders, they dont seem to understand what exactly they are turning off, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior U.S.A.I.D. official under the Biden administration who is now the president of Refugees International. Theyre pulling levers without knowing whats on the other end.
The small business in Edom, Texas, is owned by a husband-and-wife team of bladesmiths, Johnathan and Rhiannon Sibley. DCHRISTMAN/Courtesy of The Blade Bar

In the past, the shop has earned attention for its craftsmanship on the History Channel's "Forged in Fire" series, the East Texas Weekend and more. Courtesy of The Blade Bar

An East Texas knife shop called The Blade Bar is grabbing the internet's attention for refusing to put a Nazi emblem on a knife. (See video below.)

The small business in Edom, about 20 miles west of Tyler, is owned by a husband-and-wife team of bladesmiths, Johnathan and Rhiannon Sibley. In the past, the shop has earned attention for its craftsmanship on the History Channel's "Forged in Fire" series, the East Texas Weekend and more.

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However, the shop is going viral this week not for the work it has done, but for the work that it would not do. In a Saturday update to TikTok, the shop shared a clip of co-owner Johnathan refusing to put a Hitler Youth emblem on a knife, as a potential customer requested.

"Some orders aren't worth taking... #buhbye #nonazis," the shop captioned the post.

In the video, a man and woman walk into the shop. The woman places two sheathed knives down on the table. Jonathan picks up one, examines it, sheathes it, then takes the other to give it a look.

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"What are we wanting to put in on them?" Jonathan says, as he's unsheathing the second knife.

"OK, Hitler Youth knife," the woman says. "I need the emblem out of that," she says, pointing to the knife Johnathan is holding, "to go onto this knife."

Johnathan answers immediately.

"No, I won't do it," he says as he sheathes the knife and slides it back to the woman.

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When she asks why not, Jonathan's responds simply:

"No Nazi bulls--t," he says.

Three seconds of silence follows, as the man and woman look silently at Johnathan. Then the woman says, "OK. OK. No problem."

ALSO READ: Go around the world with six dumplings at San Antonio restaurants

Johnathan says he'd be willing to create a modern German forestry seal.

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"I will de-Nazify s--t. But I won't re-Nazify s--t."

The man and woman then walk out of the shop without incident.

As of Friday, The Blade Bar's TikTok post has received almost 350,000 views, over 80,000 likes and over 5,200 comments. Among the applause:

"whose n@zi MeMaw is this?" one user wrote about the woman who made the request.

"I can't believe they would even have such a request smh," another user wrote.

"Bro wasted no time," one user wrote of Johnathan's response.

"That is patriotism!" another user wrote. "Thank you for standing up for what is right!"

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"It doesn't happen a lot, but it happens way too much," Johnathan told the Express-News. "We get requests like that maybe once a year, year and a half, which is still too damn much."

Since the moment went viral, Johnathan said many people have asked him if he's worried about potential backlash.

ALSO READ: Tesla plans Austin robotaxi rollout in June as it works to reassure investors with growth pledge

"We fought a whole war about this," he said. "I'm not worried about offending Nazis."

Johnathan said that, due to popular demand, they are now selling shirts that state the shop's No. 1 rule on the front.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The new Framework Document between the UN and Azerbaijan is expected to be signed by year-end, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva said during the event on High-level strategic prioritization held in Baku, Trend reports.

To note, among the priority areas of the Framework Document were promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, supporting human capital development and innovation, promoting climate resilience, and green and equitable transition.

"We believe that the directions outlined today are a continuation of the foundations established within the framework of cooperation aligned with the priorities of the 'National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development: Azerbaijan 2030' agenda, the 'Great Return' plan, and the initiatives under the COP29 presidency. The next step, of course, is to translate these directions into concrete results that we will achieve together over the next five years. We now need to translate these principles into clear formulations of expected outcomes, which we will work on. We aim to complete this process by next Tuesday, as within our internal process, we need to receive approval from the Government of Azerbaijan on the final formulations by March 7. We will continue our work and then return to all of you for additional consultations to refine the chain of results, using UN terminology, and to identify specific outcomes, products, and indicators through which we can measure our collective progress. The work does not end here. We hope that by June of this year, the cooperation framework document will be completed and approved, and most likely, we will hold a formal signing ceremony by year-end, where we will officially cement our commitments for the next five years," she said.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Belgium reached an agreement to form a coalition government on Friday, the nations monarchy announced, ending seven months of partisan squabbling over deeply unpopular proposed cuts to social spending and other issues. Full details about the agreement were yet to be officially released.

The new government was formed under the stewardship of Bart De Wever, the leader of a conservative Flemish nationalist party, the New Flemish Alliance. The party won elections in June with 17 percent of the vote, the largest share of the contenders, in a win that was a victory over a far-right separatist party.

With Fridays agreement, Mr. De Wever is poised to become the countrys next prime minister, leading a five-party coalition that has been negotiating with a hard line on migration and cuts to the countrys pension and heath care systems. Mr. De Wevers party joined forces with the liberal Reformist Movement and the centrist Les Engages, two Francophone parties, as well as the Flemish socialist party Vooruit (Forward) and the party Christian Democratic and Flemish.

Belgium, whose capital, Brussels, is home to the headquarters of both the European Union and NATO, has a population of just 12 million people and represents only about 3.4 percent of the European Unions total gross domestic product. But it faces many of the challenges common to European nations, including an aging population that is driving up the cost of its pensions and health care.
Italian judges on Friday again denied the governments request to hold asylum seekers in Albania while their cases are being processed, dealing another major setback to Prime Minister Giorgia Melonis anti-immigration policy.

It was the third ruling against the policy since Ms. Melonis right-wing government began carrying out the plan in October, which has become a flagship of her administration. The decision by a court of appeals in Rome denied the governments request to keep the asylum seekers off shore pending a review of the practice in February by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The decision concerned 43 migrants who were taken on Tuesday by the Italian Navy to centers in Albania after they were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that in the wake of the judges ruling, the migrants would be taken to Italy. The Italian government did not immediately respond publicly to the ruling.
The authorities in Norway have seized a Russian-crewed ship that is suspected of damaging an undersea cable in an act of sabotage in the Baltic Sea, the Norwegian police said on Friday.

They were acting on a request from the Latvian authorities and on an order issued in Norwegian courts, the police said in a statement, after an undersea cable that runs between Sweden and Latvia was damaged this week.

It is the latest in a growing number of acts of damage or sabotage to undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, including to cables used for communication and for the distribution of electricity. In response to one such instance in December, NATO has stepped up its patrol and surveillance operation in the Baltic Sea.

Concern about such damage has been rising since a series of undersea explosions blew apart the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines linking Russia to Western Europe in 2022.
But the relationship between the Kremlin and Google, which owns YouTube, has been tense for years. Searing viral YouTube broadcasts transformed the late Russian opposition figure Aleksei A. Navalny into a significant threat to the Kremlin. His corruption investigation into a palace on the Black Sea built for Mr. Putin, released on YouTube in early 2021, has drawn 133 million views over the past four years, underscoring the power of the platform.

On one level, the throttling looks to have worked. Russian internet traffic to YouTube is less than a third of what it was this time last year, according to public data released by Google, the streaming services parent company. VK, the state-controlled social media network, is pitching a domestic alternative to YouTube, known as VK Video, and it has trumpeted surges in traffic.

But the reality is more complex.

Droves of tech-savvy Russians are continuing to access YouTube using virtual private networks, or VPNs. Those tools route their internet traffic through another country, meaning it does not show up in Googles data as Russian usage. They also encrypt users traffic and protect their identities.

The impeding of YouTube has also proved spotty across Russias hundreds of internet providers, leaving some Russians able to access YouTube videos directly, even without VPNs.

Political shows critical of the Kremlin filmed outside Russia have seen relatively minimal traffic declines from the slowing service, according to the Russian journalist Dmitry Kolezev, who tracks the shows through a product called YouScore. That is likely because their viewers in Russia who are particularly motivated to view anti-Kremlin content have swiftly acquired VPNs.
In doing so, he seemed to draw a contrast with the deposed Syrian leader while brushing aside his own human rights record, including a massacre by the Egyptian military forces that he led of what rights groups say were at least 817 people protesting Mr. el-Sisis takeover of power in 2013.

Since the rebels in Syria seized power, Egypt has arrested or began prosecuting several people considered political opponents, including the director of a prominent rights group, the wife of a detained political cartoonist and a TikTok user who had been posting videos critical of Mr. el-Sisi. Egypt already was holding an estimated tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of them Islamists.

Two thousand and eleven is only 14 years away, said Mirette F. Mabrouk, an Egypt expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, referring to the year of the Egyptian revolution. The Egyptian authorities, she said, know that things snowball.

After years of deepening economic misery across Egypt, Mr. el-Sisi was already in an acutely vulnerable position. Any hint that Egyptians could catch Syrians revolutionary fervor spells trouble  not because Egyptians want armed revolt, Ms. Mabrouk said, but because it could take very little for their disgruntlement to explode into protest.

The most visible attempt to capitalize on the moment has come from Ahmed al-Mansour, an Egyptian who left the country to fight with Syrian rebels years ago. After Mr. al-Assads ouster, he repeatedly ranted against Mr. el-Sisi online from Damascus.
Hamas on Friday announced the names of three hostages  including an American citizen  whom it said it would release this weekend as part of its cease-fire with Israel to end the war in Gaza, an agreement that has now held for nearly two weeks.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the groups armed wing, named the three as Yarden Bibas, 35, Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Keith Siegel, 65, an American-Israeli. Israel is slated to release about 90 Palestinian prisoners this weekend in exchange for the three men, according to a Hamas-linked prisoners information center.

The three were abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel when Hamas and its allies killed roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostage, according to the Israeli authorities, setting off the war in Gaza. Israels subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has lasted for over a year and killed more than 45,000 people, according to local health officials.

In a multiphase cease-fire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to this month, Hamas pledged to free at least 33 of the 97 remaining hostages over the first six weeks in exchange for over 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel.
The family of four were among more than 180 residents of kibbutz Nir Oz, a farming community in southern Israel, who were killed or abducted in the Oct. 7 attack. Since then, the family became the faces of a national trauma that sparked a fierce Israeli war in Gaza aimed at eradicating Hamas, an onslaught that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

More than 1,750 people in Israel have been killed in the war, about 1,200 of them on the day of the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli officials. The toll includes more than 890 members of the Israeli military forces.

Throughout more than a year of waiting, hostage families and their supporters have carried orange balloons and worn orange shirts in honor of the missing children and their ginger-colored hair. They have held large events to mark the first two birthdays of Kfir, who has never celebrated one out of captivity.

All other children seized in the Oct. 7 attack were released in a previous cease-fire deal.

Israeli officials pressed Hamas negotiators in recent days for more clarity on Ms. Bibas and her children, according to Israeli media. As a female civilian with children, they were expected to be released in the initial stages of the cease-fire deal, before soldiers or men, if they were alive.

Mr. Bibas was abducted separately from his family.

In the early morning hours before his capture, he texted his sister, Ofri Bibas-Levy, to tell her about incoming rocket fire, according to an interview she gave to Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster. Later, he texted her that militants had entered the camp. He had a gun, he told her, but the militants had automatic rifles.

He then described scenes of clashes on the kibbutz and his fear that his two young sons would not be able to keep quiet.

It feels like the end, he wrote her at 9:10 in the morning.

Video from the Oct. 7 attack on Nir Oz revealed images of militants drilling open the Bibas familys front door.

Sometime before her brother was captured, Ms. Bibas-Levy told Kan, he texted her and their parents that he loved them. At 9:45 in the morning, he wrote: Theyre in.

Ms. Bibas-Levy told Kan that the first she learned of her brothers Oct. 7 kidnapping when she saw a video of militants abducting him a few days later.
Gazas border with Egypt is reopening to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to leave, officials said Friday, after more than eight months during which many who have needed medical care were trapped.

Reopening the crossing at Rafah, which has long been Gazas lifeline to the outside world, is a key stipulation of the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Mediators hope that the agreement, which has begun with a 42-day cease-fire and hostage-for-prisoner swaps, will ultimately end the devastating 15-month-long war in Gaza.

As part of the truce, Israel agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing after the release of the remaining living female hostages held by Hamas, which took place on Thursday. Israel committed to allowing up to 50 sick and wounded Palestinian fighters to leave through Rafah per day, in addition to Palestinian women and children who need medical care.

The first group of Gazans was expected to leave on Saturday, now that European and Palestinian officials have conducted a trial run of the new arrangements at the crossing, according to two European diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate preparations.

The World Health Organization said it hoped to bring around 50 critically injured and sick patients through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, but it did not identify them. Over 12,000 Gazans still need medical evacuation, the organization said.

If we continue like this, at the pace we have, we will be busy for the next 15 years, Rik Peeperkorn, the top W.H.O. official for the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters by videoconference.

Hamas had overseen the border between Gaza and Egypt since the group took full control of the enclave in 2007, after winning elections in 2006. Israel then seized the crossing in May during its offensive against Hamas in Rafah.

The crossing is being reopened with a new security arrangement between Israel, Egypt and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, Hamass rival, according to Israeli, Palestinian and European officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Lazar Comanescu, the Secretary General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), on January 31, 2025, the country's MFA told Trend.

According to the ministry, the meeting involved an exchange of views on cooperation between Azerbaijan and BSEC, Azerbaijan's upcoming chairmanship of the organization in the first half of 2025, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Minister Bayramov emphasized that BSEC is a key platform for promoting and advancing regional cooperation. He also noted that Azerbaijan advocates for further strengthening of the existing cooperation within the organization.
Colombian influencer Daneidy Barrera Rojas, known as Epa Colombia, was sentenced to five years behind bars after filming herself vandalizing public property during a protest.

In November 2019, Colombia was rocked by violent protests against the government of former president Ivan Duque. It was during this time that popular influencer Daneidy Barrera Rojas posted a video of herself vandalizing a public transportation station in Bogota, smashing windows, card readers, and access registers with a hammer, and painting the walls with spray paint. The video quickly went viral, getting her tons of attention online, but it also became the topic of an investigation that culminated in an initial prison sentence of three and a half years for property damage and disruption of public transportation. Epa Colombia later apologized for her actions, but that didnt help much, as the Prosecutors Office appealed the sentence and secured a 5-year prison sentence and a fine equivalent to 493 monthly minimum wages.

Daneidys defense attorney filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice to have her sentence reduced, but on January 27, the court upheld the previous sentence and ordered her arrest, which has since been carried out. In a video that has been doing the rounds online, the popular entrepreneur and influencer could be seen crying and complaining about the sentence against her.

Girls, I am very sad, the influencer tells her followers. I came to work at the hair salon all day. I was leaving, already on my way home, and the police grabbed me. I have an arrest warrant, they were going to grab me, but I told them to wait until my lawyer was there.





How sad to leave my hair salon and have my entire work team see me getting taken to the Prosecutors bunker, Daneidy continued. I always wanted to fix the TransMilenio (the Colombian public transportation company), pay for it, and improve in these five years. The only thing I have done is get ahead, work, and create jobs.

Boasting over 5.2 million followers on Instagram alone, Daneidy Barrera Rojas is one of the most popular influencers in Colombia. Colombia One reports that, as part of her sentence, Epa Colombia was also banned from using social media.
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Dita Charanzova

DGA Group has named European Union veteran Dita Charanzova a senior advisor in its Brussels office to help clients navigate regulatory and geopolitical challenges.

Charanzova has more that two decades of experience in EU institutions. As VP of the European Parliament, she helped craft policies in digital transformation, trade and consumer protection.

She also chaired the trade policy committee of the Council of the European Union, and spent eight years in the diplomatic corps of the Czech Republic.

Kieran OKeeffe, co-head of DGA's Brussels office, said Charanzovas track record in European policymaking and her strategic vision in addressing global challenges will be an invaluable asset to the agency's clients.

"Her ability to navigate the intricacies of the EU Institutions, combined with her expertise in digital policy and global tradeboth of which are critical in todays rapidly evolving economic and regulatory landscapewill undoubtedly strengthen our teams ability to deliver impactful solutions," said O'Keeffe.
THE Palestinian flag is to be flown above the Council's buildings in Birr, Tullamore and Edenderry throughout the month of February expressing the County's solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Councillors unanimously agreed to show this act of solidarity during their monthly meeting in Aras an Chontae in January.

Sinn Fein Cllr Claire Murray proposed the motion, which was seconded: Sinn Fein are asking that all Offaly's Council buildings in Tullamore, Birr and Edenderry fly the Palestinian Flag in solidarity with the Palestinian people for the month of February. The importance of expressing our solidarity with the tens of thousands who have died and the hundreds of thousands that have been injured, orphaned, displaced and starved is more important than ever.

Cllr Sean O'Brien said he supported the Motion, adding that it's not without precedent because the City Councils in Dublin and Cork agreed some months ago to fly the flag above their buildings. The Councillor said that what has happened in Gaza is heart-breaking and many of the refugees have no homes to go back to because of the vast destruction.

He added that there are dozens of Palestinian refugees living in Tullamore. They are lovely people, he remarked. Some of them are taking part in Tidy Towns.

Cllr Murray told the meeting that a year ago the local authority had decided to not fly the Palestinian flag, but the councillors' attitude has changed since then. Since then Ireland has officially recognised the state of Palestine and has announced its support of South Africa's proposal to charge Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Cllr Murray said the loss of life in Gaza has been enormous, with 40,000 killed and 147,000 injured. 70% of them are women and children.

The ICJ, which is the UN's top court, Cllr Murray pointed out, has said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law, and that Israel should stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and end its "illegal" occupation of those areas and the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

She said Sinn Fein welcomes this week's ceasefire but it doesn't make my motion null and void. In fact it's a temporary ceasefire and therefore we still need to take this stand.

Cllr John Leahy seconded Cllr Murray's motion. It's evident that the directive from central government on this conflict has changed, he commented.

Cllr Peter Ormond said the Fianna Fail Group in the Council are happy to support the motion.

What is happening in Gaza is one of the horrors of our time, remarked Cllr O'Brien, along with other horrors in Sudan, Ukraine and Syria. The starvation, the desolation, in Gaza has been heartrending.

Cllr Liam Quinn said the Fine Gael Group in the Council was happy to support the motion.

Cllr Sean Maher said the cycle of violence must stop and genocide mustn't be allowed to happen again. Both the Palestinians and the Israelis need to sit down and forge a peace deal, something like the Good Friday Agreement.
LOCAL Fine Gael Councillor, Eleanor Clendennen, has welcomed the opening of the Local Improvement Scheme for applications in the Birr Area.

The scheme will allow for the repair and improvement of small private roads and laneways leading to local homes, farms and businesses that are not under the normal maintenance of the Local Authorities. The works carried out will require a local contribution from respective householders and completion of works will be determined by demand for the scheme.

Cllr Clendennen stated: I know this is a subject John Clendennen TD has been consistently raising for some time, and Im delighted to see the scheme is now open for applications as it focuses on improving rural infrastructure and connectivity. This is an important scheme for rural area, and delivers significant benefits to anyone successfully engaging in the scheme.

The Kinnitty based Councillor also highlighted the importance of the new Government's commitment to rural Ireland. The previous Government funded the LIS scheme, historically there has been a high demand for the scheme in Offaly, and particularly the Birr Area. Ill will be working with John Clendennen TD to ensure funding for the county is maximised, through the Department of Rural and Community Development, with the LIS scheme projects delivered by Offaly County Council.

The deadline for submissions is Thursday March 13th at 4pm, and I would encourage anyone interested in making a submission to start working on the application as soon as possible as there are specific details required, concluded Cllr Clendennen.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov received the newly appointed Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Birol Akgun on January 31, 2025, Trend reports.

The new ambassador formally presented his credentials to Minister Bayramov, who extended his congratulations and wished him success in his diplomatic endeavors.

The meeting focused on the longstanding and robust partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkiye, with an emphasis on regional and international security concerns.

Minister Bayramov underscored the deep-rooted brotherhood and friendship between the peoples and governments of Azerbaijan and Turkiye, which continues to play a pivotal role in strengthening the alliance, including collaborative efforts on both regional and global fronts.

The significance of the historic Shusha Declaration was highlighted, reaffirming the strategic alliance between the two countries. Minister Bayramov noted that under the guidance of the leadership of both nations, the multifaceted cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye has expanded across various sectors, such as politics, military, economic trade, energy, transport, communication, and cultural-humanitarian exchange. He emphasized the need to persist in efforts to advance cooperation in these critical areas.

The two sides praised the effective cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye within international organizations, particularly the Organization of Turkic States, with hopes that the upcoming summit in Azerbaijan would further strengthen the organization's collective efforts. The meeting also addressed the importance of ongoing efforts to maintain stability in the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as promoting joint initiatives in Syria.

Ambassador Akgun expressed his gratitude for the warm reception and congratulations, reaffirming his dedication to advancing the already strong bilateral relations between the two countries during his tenure.

The discussions also encompassed a wide range of bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.
Palakkad: In the past eight months, Prema Kumari, mother of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya who is on death row in Yemen, has met her daughter four times. Every time they meet, Nimisha Priya tells her she is fine. They vainly try to comfort each other. Prema hopes one day they can return home together. "She keeps telling me shes well there. What else can she say to her own mother? God willing, we will be able to go back home together," Prema tells Onmanorama from Yemen.

Nimisha Priya, 34, imprisoned in Sanaa, Northern Yemen, is facing imminent execution for the murder of her business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi. There was a lot of panic when Mahdi al-Mashat, the President of the rebel Houthis' Supreme Political Council, ratified her death sentence. Social workers, lawyers and members of the action council formed to secure a pardon from the family of the victim now pin hopes on a procedure that might give them a chance, a last one, at saving Nimisha Priya.

While the president has signed the execution order, there is no timeline for execution. This solely depends on the victim's family. The document has been sent to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor will now ask for consent from the victims family. If they consent, Nimisha Priya will be executed, but if they pardon her, she will be set free. This is why attempts are now being made to bring the family back to the negotiation table.

However, the process is complex. While Nimisha Priya's mother is in Yemen, her family cannot directly contact the Mahdi family; instead, intermediaries do the job. It was expected that the presence of the convict's mother at the negotiation meeting would add to the emotional plea. For months, Nimisha's relatives and supporters, including the members of Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, have been in talks with the parties concerned to secure a pardon in accordance with Sharia law. As part of the process of pardoning the accused, all blood relatives of the deceased Talal Abdul Mahdi must consent, and tribal leaders must also be convinced.

It is learnt that negotiation meetings happened thrice so far. Even a close family member reportedly agreed to give pardon, however there is not much to corroborate what was agreed in those meetings and why it has to be done all over again. People who were part of these meetings say that the information is too sensitive to be shared at this point. The focus is now solely on a final attempt at placating the family of Talal.

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"They will now seek the Mahdi family's consent for the execution. If the family agrees, they will proceed with the death penalty. There is a slim hope of convincing the family to withhold consent, which could provide time for negotiations and potentially a pardon," said Samuel Jerome, a human rights activist and social worker based in Yemen, who holds the power of attorney on behalf of Prema Kumari. He has represented Prema Kumari at the meetings so far.

There has been an apparent dissent among the members of the action council over the money that was raised to facilitate the negotiation process. It was even cited that delay in transferring an instalment derailed the negotiation process.

A sum of 40,000 dollars was paid in two instalments as pre-negotiation money to facilitate the negotiation process. "After discussions with several officials, a budget for the pre-negotiation money was prepared," Jerome said. The Nimisha Priya International Action Council, formed in 2020, raised the money with the help of sponsors and the public. They sent the first instalment of 20,000 dollars. "Our lawyer advised against asking the council to send the full amount immediately due to problems in the current banking situation in Yemen. Only once the negotiations progressed did we request the remaining funds," Jerome added.

In July 2024, Nimisha Priya's lawyer in Yemen wrote to the Government of India, asking the committee to release the second instalment. However, the committee requested full details on how the first instalment had been spent. "We could not disclose the details due to its sensitive nature," Jerome said. The delay in sending the money caused the process to fall apart, and the victims family lost trust in the proceedings, he added.

Subash Chandra, a lawyer and member of the action council voiced his concerns in Onmanorama podcast 'Newsbrake'. "After eight months of waiting, when the council asked for the second instalment, disagreements arose due to the lack of details provided. However, on December 27, we sent the second instalment. It was a matter of life. There has been lack of updates and we don't know what happened," Chandra said.

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Diplomatic challenges add to the complexity of the case. The Indian government has not formally recognised the government in Northern Yemen, further complicating diplomatic efforts, explained Poornima B, a Middle East analyst. While it can offer consular support and legal assistance and facilitate negotiations, it cannot interfere with Yemens legal system or override its judicial decisions, especially as India does not have an embassy in Yemen, she said.

Samuel Jerome further reiterated that direct negotiations with the victim's family are culturally sensitive and require careful handling. Diplomatic efforts are further complicated by the absence of an Indian embassy in Yemen, with only the embassies in Djibouti and Saudi Arabia serving as intermediaries, he said.

"In May, the Indian government sent a letter to the government in Sanaa, requesting additional time to negotiate with the family. From May to December, they granted us time. Unfortunately, the negotiations fell apart due to the delay in releasing the funds," he added.

Subash Chandra said that there is a need to urge the Indian Government to bring the victim's family to the negotiation table. Any hope of securing a pardon now remains on the government's ability to bring the Mahdi family onto the negotiation table, he said. The members were not on the same page even regarding the visit of Prema Kumari to Yemen. Questions were raised as to why Prema was in Yemen if she can't talk to the victim's family directly.

"I was the one who requested that the mother be brought to Yemen for a direct appeal. The mother being there makes an impact on the negotiations. Although she cannot directly sit in on any of the meetings, as women are not allowed to do so in Yemen, she being there creates an impact," Jerome insisted.

Before the family takes a call on the court order, the action council hopes that they can convince the family to pardon Nimisha Priya, which will open up further discussions on blood money. "We are appealing with an apology to the Mahdi family. Our goal is to respect their feelings and proceed with utmost sensitivity. We remain hopeful for a positive outcome," Jayachandran, another member of the action council said.

Onmanorama sent an e-mail questionnaire to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) seeking comments on measures to facilitate negotiation, to ensure transparency in fund transfer and diplomatic challenges involved in the process. The article will be updated once a reply is received from the MEA.


Pam Hemphill: 'I pleaded guilty' Pam Hemphill, the former MAGA granny, rejects Trump's pardon related to the January 6 riots, stating, .I pleaded guilty.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: Al Arabiya English) Details DMCA



Addiction and Recovery

It isn't every day that you get to see recovery in action in a meaningful way other than someone not abusing alcohol or other drugs, which in itself is no small feat. When it does happen, though, the message is powerful.

A couple of days after Trump pardoned all the rioters involved in the January 6, 2020, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, one of those pardoned appeared on a TV news show to explain why she was turning down the pardon.

My ears perked up. "It's an insult to the Capitol Police, to the rule of law and to the nation," the woman said. "I did it. I was wrong. If I accept a pardon, I'm continuing their propaganda, their gaslighting and all their falsehoods they're putting out there about Jan. 6."

The woman, who was called "MAGA Granny" in some news reports at the time, wasn't done.

"I've been sober more than 40 years," she said. "I'm a member of a 12-step group. I look at my behavior and when I'm wrong I admit it. I was wrong."

That was Pam Hemphill, 71, of Boise, Idaho, doing a tenth step on live TV. For those unfamiliar with it, the 10th step of Alcoholics Anonymous, which created the 12-step recovery program, and every other group which adopted them, states: "Continued to take personal inventory and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it."

Since Hemphill served 60 days in prison after pleading guilty for her part in the insurrection, one might question the word "promptly", but in her case it seems to have happened as soon as she came to the realization, as she put it, "I was part of a cult."

She said that she no longer supports Trump or believes his lie that the 2020 election was stolen. A retired alcohol and drug counselor, Hemphill said, "I was not a victim of Jan. 6; I was a volunteer."

She said she has received death threats for expressing her regrets about her actions on January 6 and that she has stopped trying to convince her former Maga allies that everything Trump said was a pack of lies, including that the election had been stolen.

"This is part of my amends; to stand up to the facts of what really happened on Jan. 6, to stop the gaslighting and all the lies that have been perpetrated out there for their own benefits," Hemphill further said, thereby putting AA's eighth and ninth steps into action.

Eight: "Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all."

Nine: "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them, or others."

Making amends to the Capitol police and the rest of the nation on live TV would seem to cover eight and nine.

Those unfamiliar with the philosophy of the 12-step program might wonder what any of this has to do with not drinking. Well, Hemphill has been through quite an ordeal, from participating in a riot at the U.S. Capitol to serving 60 days in prison (which she says was filthy), to going on TV to accept responsibility for her actions, express regret and reject a pardon and denounce the lies and cult of Trump.

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Remarks at the Sixth International Conference for World Balance in Havana, Cuba, Jan. 30, 2025

Video here.

Before I start I want to express sympathy for the people who have died in a plane crash in Washington, and I want to condemn Trump's disgusting proposal to kidnap people and lock them up in Guantanamo.

I'm very happy to be in Cuba. I feel closer to Cuba than I do to people in the United States with red hats reading MAGA. Cuba is, in fact, closer to the continental United States than is Hawaii or Alaska or any of the U.S. colonies in the Pacific or about 916 of the United States' 917 foreign military bases. The people of the U.S. and Cuba have managed, against the odds, to share a great deal of culture and good will, poetry, music, food, and drink. But we sure are divided by governments.

I just searched the internet in the United States for the words "free Cuba" and discovered that it means the overthrow of the Cuban government. I tried searching for "Cuba libre" and learned that it means a drink. But what if I want to search for "a Cuba free of hostile actions by the U.S. government"? The internet is of no help.

The U.S. government has just put Cuba back on a list of governments sponsoring terrorism. As the leading supplier of weapons to wars, genocides, and brutal dictatorships around the world, the U.S. government does have the expertise to form such a list. But it doesn't put itself on the list, it has no legal authority to act on such a list, and it doesn't offer evidence of Cuba sponsoring terrorism. At most it has two arguments that fall apart at the slightest examination.

One is that Cuba provides sanctuary to people the U.S. wants to prosecute. But they are U.S. people accused of U.S. crimes, not international terrorists. Cuba has similarly not extradited Colombians to Colombia, but they are not international terrorists, and Colombia has asked the U.S. to take Cuba off the list. And Cuba, unlike the United States, has attempted to help make peace in Colombia. The U.S. list of terrorism sponsors is a political act, with nations put on and off it at the whims of U.S. presidents with no evidence or even argument required.

The other argument one sometimes hears is that U.S. personnel here in Havana have been so frightened that they have apparently developed psychosomatic symptoms they call the Havana Syndrome. So far I seem to be fine. It seems like a gross insult to combine this beautiful city's name with a syndrome. But, remember, that in the United States, the very best things can be called syndromes. The public desire for peace, for example: the Vietnam Syndrome and the Iraq Syndrome were the names for public resistance to more wars following those wars. The very worst thing about the Havana Syndrome, whether real or not, makes clear the dishonesty in the U.S. denunciation of it. That worst thing is this: the U.S. military says it is working to develop the type of weapon that it claims has been used in Havana. With the U.S. government, an accusation is usually an excuse and a confession.

Of course, the purpose of the list of supposed sponsors of terrorism is to justify illegal, immoral, unilateral sanctions against Cuba and against others who violate the blockading of Cuba. The stated purpose of this cruel violation of the Geneva Conventions is to overthrow the Cuban government. I'm sure, as with every government I've ever heard of, there are a lot of problems with the Cuban government. But those are for the Cuban people to figure out. In the U.S. we have more than enough work trying to improve the U.S. government.

The U.S. government isn't even smart enough to figure out that, after decades of sanctioning dozens of nations, doing so has never resulted in the overthrow of a government. On the contrary, sanctions have tended to increase popular support for governments. Look at Venezuela, which is constantly sanctioned and threatened, but the government is not overthrown. The United States has been sanctioning Russia for years, but has a new president now whose brilliant new idea is to sanction Russia. I have a suspicion, and it's more than a suspicion if you listen to how some people talk in Washington: sanctions are not the ridiculous failures they appear; the imposition of suffering on masses of ordinary people is not a tragic side-effect; the actual purpose of sanctions is to impose that suffering, knowing full well it will not result in the overthrow of governments.

The U.S. government does something else to Cuba. It maintains an illegal occupation of Cuban territory for its military base, experimental torture center, and extra-judicial death camp in Guantanamo.

It also has now made its Secretary of State a man named Marco Rubio who became a U.S. citizen by being born in the United States to parents who had left Cuba in 1956 -- but Rubio lies that it was in 1959. Rubio claims to consider Cuba a serious threat to the safety of the United States.

Of course, Cuba is not threatening the United States. Is the threat, perhaps, that Cuba models certain approaches to government, such as in healthcare, that people in the United States want and the U.S. government does not? Maybe, but most people in the United States know nothing about that. And Scandinavian nations that have modeled social programs that the people of the United States would love to have are not being blockaded. Instead they are being filled with U.S. military bases and pressured to move their money into weapons purchases.

I think the main cause of the U.S. hostility toward Cuba is imaginary resentment and trauma. Not imaginary in the same sense as the apparent cause of the Havana Syndrome, but imaginary in the sense that U.S. Congress Members and presidents imagine the United States as a person with feelings and with a long memory. This person -- Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty, whoever it is -- wanted Cuba from childhood and was scorned. It wanted Cuba to stay with Spain or to join the United States. It wanted Cuba to welcome its advances. It wanted Cuba to welcome its expansion of slavery. It wanted to take over Cuba and be thanked and loved for it. Cuba wasn't interested. Cuba just wanted to be friends. The U.S. government doesn't have friends. And then Cuba started a relationship with the U.S. rival. And Cuba put Soviet missiles on Cuban soil -- soil that the U.S. government believed should belong to it. And the U.S. government screamed. It screamed and screamed and howled and cried, and remains traumatized to this day. The imaginary patria-as-person is suffering PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). And so it repeats the cycle. It recreates the Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse in Eastern Europe without an apparent care in the world. It has no idea whatsoever that putting missile bases next to Russia might scare anyone in Russia. It's too busy still being scared of Cuba. Some U.S. politicians may realize what Russians think of bases next to Russia, but they can still imagine the personification of the U.S. nation not realizing it.

When President Kennedy made a secret deal with the Soviet Union to remove missiles from Cuba, it was a deal to also remove U.S. missiles from Turkey and Italy. But Kennedy did not tell the U.S. public that. Instead he claimed that he had thumped his chest and talked tough, and that the weak Soviets had backed down. And so that is what people in the United States believe happened. That is probably what Trump and Rubio believe happened. That is probably what they believe happened last week when Trump was threatening Colombia with tariffs in Elon Musk's personal public square. But the real world doesn't work like that, and someday thinking that it does may get us all killed.

The sensitive and traumatized personification of the U.S. government hangs onto one piece of evidence of how things should be with Cuba -- and with the rest of the world: its oldest military base outside of lands that have been made into the United States, namely the base at Guantanamo. That base is now one of some 917 the U.S. military maintains outside its borders. And it is adding more fast. Other countries are following suit: Turkey, the UK, India, Russia, France. None has anything resembling the U.S. empire of bases, but they are building them in smaller numbers. For U.S. base profiteers, the war in Ukraine has been a great boon, and bases are growing across Europe like mushrooms. A so-called think tank in Washington called the Hudson Institute this month noted how much money is to be made just in constructing bases and in constructing them to withstand attack since they are of course likely targets.

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Photo: Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. On January 31, Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov met with Federal Minister for Privatization, Investment and Communications of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Abdul Alim Khan, the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers told Trend.

Satisfaction with the dynamic development of Azerbaijani-Pakistani friendly and fraternal relations in all spheres was expressed at the meeting.

It was noted that as a result of the state visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Pakistan, which took place last year, interstate relations entered a qualitatively new stage.

The prospects for the development of Azerbaijani-Pakistani strategic partnership relations in the field of economics, trade, investment and other areas of mutual interest were discussed during the conversation.
Discover the Untold Stories of Black Farmers This Black History Month Amid Federal Funding Freeze Oakland, CA - January 30, 2025 - As recent federal funding freezes threaten nonprofit operations, Farms to Grow, an Oakland-based nonprofit, invites the community to an urgent and inspiring Black History Month event. Join us for a virtual fundraiser screening of Rhythms of the Land on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 3:30 PM PST and discover the 
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The 25% tax that President Donald Trump plans to slap on imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday could drive up the price of everything from gasoline and pickup trucks, to Super Bowl party guacamole dip.

The tariffs would also invite retaliation. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, has already vowed to counterpunch by pulling American alcohol off store shelves in the Canadian province  no idle threat; Canada is the worlds No. 2 market for Americas distilled spirits (behind the 27-nation European Union).

Trumps tariffs threaten to blow up the trade agreement he himself negotiated with Americas neighbors in his first term. His U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement  the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law, Trump once declared  was supposed to bring predictability to North American trade, giving businesses the confidence to make investments.

But when it comes to the self-proclaimed Tariff Man, Trump and his passion for plastering taxes on foreign goods, nothing is predictable, and nothing is ever really settled.

Tariffs at those levels and at that scope would effectively destroy the agreement that Trump himself negotiated and always brags about, said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.

The president says the 25% levies are designed to pressure Americas two neighbors to do more to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the United States.

Michael Robinet of S&P Global Mobility and many other analysts suspect the tariff threat is also designed to get Canada and Mexico to go along with Americas demands for changes to the USMCA when it comes up for renewal next year.

Robinet, executive director of automotive consulting at S&P Global, said he doubts that Trump will go ahead with 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports  what he calls a shock-to-the-system approach that would freeze the North American economy in a Tariff Winter. Instead, Robinet said, Trump might postpone or phase in the tariffs or initially exempt some industries to show Canada and Mexico how much worse things could get if he doesnt get his way.

Trump pressured Mexico and Canada into agreeing to the USMCA five years ago, partly to narrow the United States big trade deficit  the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys.

It hasnt worked out that way.

The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods of Mexico has widened from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion in 2023 (the last full year for which numbers are available). That is partly because Mexico has replaced China, locked in an ongoing trade war with the United States, as the source of many U.S. imports  furniture, textiles, shoes, laptops, computer servers.

The trade gap in goods with Canada has ballooned, too: From $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023. The deficit largely reflects Americas imports of Canadian energy.

The USMCA has not met the goals that Trump set forth for it. Our trade deficit with Canada and Mexico is bigger than it was, considerably, said Lori Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project and a longtime critic of Americas free trade pacts. A lot of jobs have been offshored to Mexico since USMCA.

When the USMCA comes up for renewal next year, the U.S. is expected to press for rules that would do more to encourage factories to produce in the United States. And it could seek a crackdown on Chinese goods being sent through Mexico to the United States to evade tariffs that Trump and President Joe Biden imposed on Beijing.

The United States now does far more business  exports and imports alike  with both Canada and Mexico than it does with China. In 2023, U.S. trade of both goods and services with Canada and Mexico came to more than $1.8 trillion, compared with $643 billion with China. Because of USMCA  and the regional trade deal it replaced in 2020  most products cross the regions borders tariff-free.

The threatened 25% tariffs are causing heartburn in corporate boardrooms. If Trump goes ahead with his threat, tariffs would surge from $1.3 billion to $132 billion a year on Mexicos imports to the United States and from $440 million to $107 billion on Canadas, according to the tax and consulting firm PwC.

And no one knows if Trump will really pull the trigger or how long the tariffs would stay in place if he does. Its really thrown industry into this turmoil of anxiety, said trade lawyer Chandri Navarro, senior counsel at Baker & McKenzie. What industry likes is certainty. Youre making production decisions, supply chain decisions, purchasing decisions five years out.

Trump views tariffs as a fix-it for most of what ails the economy. He says they raise money for cuts in income and corporate taxes, encourage companies to move production to the United States and offer useful leverage in pressuring other countries to make concessions on trade and other issues.

Trump administration officials also say critics of potential tariffs shouldnt view them in isolation, arguing that their other policies, including lowering taxes and easing regulations, will strengthen the economy.

Companies are scrambling to prepare. Some bought goods and shipped them to the United States ahead of time to beat the tariffs. Others are calculating how much of the cost they can pass along to their customers. Unfortunately, its going to impact a lot of consumers, said Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, a San Francisco company that helps clients manage their supply chains in plastics and metals. We saw this in his first term. A tariff isnt fully absorbed by the companies.

Canada and Mexico are bracing, too. Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who represented Canada in USMCA negotiations, has called for retaliation if Trump moves ahead with tariffs. Being smart means retaliating where it hurts, said Freeland, who is running to replace prime minister Justin Trudeau. Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar  and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico has maintained a dialogue with Trumps team since before he returned to the White House. She emphasized that the communication has been constant and continuing.

Trump has made clear that he has two main interests: immigration and fentanyl, Sheinbaum said. Her team is coordinating with the U.S. government on both of those issues, she said.

On trade, We shouldnt see ourselves as competitors, she said, but rather partners. But if the U.S. imposes tariffs, Mexico is prepared and has been for months, Sheinbaum said.

Now it is very important that the Mexican people know that we are always going to defend the dignity of our people, we are always going to defend the respect of our sovereignty and a dialogue between equals, as we have always said, without subordination, Sheinbaum said.

-- Paul Wiseman, The Associated Press

Josh Boak Christopher Sherman contributed to this report.
People living in the Portland area are feeling much better about their communities, according to a new poll that finds negative perceptions are down sharply over the past three years.

The poll from DHM Research, conducted for the business group Portland Metro Chamber, found that just 38% of registered voters surveyed say their county is on the wrong track. Thats down from 62% three years ago and 51% last year.
Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said Starbucks is planning to cut its food and beverage offerings by 30% over the course of this year to simplify operations and speed service.

Starbucks will also add digital menus to all of its company-owned U.S. stores over the next 18 months to make ordering options clearer and make it easier to shift its offerings depending on the time of day.

Niccol said the company is also adding staff to some stores and experimenting with ordering algorithms that prioritize in-store customers and better pace mobile orders.

The place where we run into problems, frankly, is the fact that there is just no gating on the mobile orders, Niccol said. All these orders come flooding in faster than even our customer can get there. So all these drinks are sitting on the counter, and its at the expense of providing any other experience for a customer thats right in the store.

While Niccol didnt name specific items, he has said the coffee chains menu has become overly complex resulting in long lines, reports CNN. Niccol said a smaller menu will help Starbucks be more responsive and tuned in to cultural moments.

Additional customer-focused changes including a return to writing names on beverage cups and stopping the non-dairy milk fee.

Starbucks is trying to reestablish itself as a gathering place, and this week announced that it will start using ceramic mugs and offering in-store customers free refills of coffee or tea. The company is also trying to appeal to customers with a new rule that requires people to buy something if they want to hang out or use the restroom.

This is back to the core of what makes Starbucks a unique experience, Niccol said.

Starbucks same-store sales  or sales at locations open at least a year  fell 4% compared to the same period last year. The decline was less than the 5.5% analysts anticipated, according to FactSet. It was also better than the previous quarter, when global same-store sales were down 7%.

--AL.com contributed to this report
Police arrested a man in the fatal shooting of a Depoe Bay motel owner on Thursday after the suspect fled the scene, prompting officers to pursue him for 35 miles.

Brennon Michael Neal, 29, of Depoe Bay, is accused of shooting to death 44-year-old Sarabjit Singh at the Four Winds Inn, which Singh owned, the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.

Court records show that Neal worked for Singh and had told people before the shooting that he was angry at Singh and threatened to kill him.

Deputies responded to the scene of the shooting at 356 U.S. 101 around 10:17 a.m. after they received reports that gunshots were coming from inside the motel. Deputies arrived to find Singh dead and the suspect gone, sheriffs officials said.

The sheriffs office alerted other law enforcement agencies in the area, and about an hour later a Toledo police officer spotted a car that matched the description of the suspect. When officers tried to pull the car over, the driver took off, sheriffs officials said.

The driver managed to elude law enforcement for about 35 miles until officers  including Oregon State Police  managed to spike the cars tires and arrest the driver.

Sheriffs office officials said the case is under investigation.

Correction: Court records show that Brennon Michael Neal worked for Sarabjit Singh at the Four Winds Inn. Sheriffs office spokesperson Bruce McGuire previously said in an email that Neal and Singh did not know each other prior to the shooting. The Oregonian regrets the error.

 Tatum Todd is a breaking news reporter who covers public safety, crime and community news. Reach them at ttodd@oregonian.com or 503-221-4313.
Police have released the name of the man who allegedly barricaded himself from police in a North Portland home during a 10-hour standoff Wednesday.

Portland resident Adam Klinko, 34, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on active warrants from Washington.

Police arrived at the scene Wednesday morning to arrest Klinko, who ran into a neighbors backyard and then into his home in the 8300 block of North Hudson Street in the St. Johns neighborhood, police said.

The suspect was known to be armed with firearms in the past, and there was reason to believe he had access to firearms, police wrote in a news release.

Officers used a robot, drones and cameras to locate Klinko in the house and negotiated with him through text message, police said. After hours of attempted negotiations, police released irritant gas into the homes attic. Klinko then surrendered and was arrested just after 6 p.m.

 Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com.
An eagerly anticipated internal investigation into the St. Helens School Districts handling of students complaints of educator sexual misconduct is delayed because the investigator needs more time to interview those involved, a spokesperson for the Columbia County district said Friday.

The original timeline called for the investigation, conducted by former Willamette Education Service District Superintendent Dave Novotney, to been released late last week, said J. Marie, a crisis communications spokesperson for the district.

But Novotney, who is looking into the districts culture and its mandatory reporting rules amid ongoing criminal and state investigations into multiple staff members, needs another two to three weeks to complete his work, Marie told reporters Friday.

The delay will have a domino effect, because Novotneys investigation will inform the districts final corrective action plan, the adoption of which is now also on hold, Marie said..

This week, the St. Helens school board appointed longtime Oregon school administrator Karen Fischer Gray to serve as its acting superintendent. Gray, who was previously a superintendent in Coos Bay and of the Parkrose and Lincoln County school districts, will start her new role Monday.

Gray, who currently lives in Estacada, will be paid $17,000 a month, plus a $2,000 per month housing allowance so that she can rent a home in St. Helens during the week.

Her contract runs through June but can be amended to release her early depending on the outcome of district and state investigations of Superintendent Scot Stockwell.

Stockwell has been on paid administrative leave since November, when news broke that students at St. Helens High School had reported allegedly inappropriate physical contact from two teachers to school administrators, but those reports were never shared with police or state officials as required by law.

The Oregon Department of Human Services is investigating Stockwell and Katy Wagner, who was the principal of St. Helens High School when the allegations erupted into public view in November. Both are under investigation for alleged neglect due to failure to report child safety concerns.

Also Friday, Marie told reporters that while the criminal investigations are still ongoing, detectives assigned to the case have concluded that no school board members had prior knowledge of the illegal and inappropriate alleged activities.

She did not immediately have an estimate of the costs of paying district employees who have been on administrative leave for months or the costs of their substitutes.

 Julia Silverman covers education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com
The troubled St. Helens School District has appointed a longtime Oregon school administrator to serve as its acting superintendent at least through the end of this school year.

The districts choice, Karen Fischer Gray, 67, has previously been a superintendent in Coos Bay and of the Parkrose and Lincoln County school districts. She retired from her final permanent position, in Lincoln County, in spring 2023.

A spokesperson for the school district did not immediately respond to multiple calls and texts asking how much she would be paid. Gray will remain in the acting role at least through the end of the current school year.

Gray replaces the previous acting superintendent, Steve Webb, who was at the helm in St. Helens for about two months before leaving because, he said, he had completed work on a corrective action plan aimed at helping the school district rebuild trust with community members after several months of scandal and upheaval.

The Columbia County district imploded last December when news broke about multiple investigations into allegations of sexual abuse of students and other misconduct by staff, including a failure by senior leaders to report complaints to child welfare officials and law enforcement.

Ten employees, including Superintendent Scot Stockwell, were placed on leave while the investigation is underway. Stockwell will remain on paid leave, pending the outcome of criminal and other administrative investigations, the district has said.

Meanwhile, the conclusions of an independent, internal investigation into the culture of the St. Helens School District, its mandatory reporting policies and staff ethics have yet to be released, though it was to have been completed by now. The school district has scheduled a media briefing for Friday to discuss the delay.

 Julia Silverman covers K-12 schools for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan receives valuable technical support from UN structures in various spheres, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Yalcin Rafiyev said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at a panel session titled High-level strategic prioritization within the framework of the Framework Document on Cooperation between the UN and Azerbaijan on Sustainable Development (for 2026-2030).

Our country receives valuable technical support and expert advice from UN structures in various fields to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals envisioned in the 2030 Agenda and actively participates in international initiatives, demonstrating its commitment to global cooperation, he said.

Rafiyev noted that the country is following a roadmap aimed at building a competitive and inclusive economy, promoting sustainable development, enhancing social well-being, and ensuring long-term sustainability for a strong future.

Despite the rapid progress in this direction, one of the major challenges remains the demining of territories that have been under occupation for many years. Azerbaijan is currently one of the countries suffering most from the consequences of mine clearance, and we emphasize the importance of special attention to this issue by taking the initiative of Sustainable Development Goal 18 to create a stable, safe, and prosperous future in the liberated territories, he said.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Its egg-laying season at the Oregon Zoos Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, and two California condor couples are getting an early start.

The first two eggs of the year arrived earlier this week: one on Jan. 26 and another trailing right behind on Jan. 27. More than 120 eggs have hatched at the Clackamas County facility since 2003  a significant contribution to the birds global population, which sits around 560.
Oregon Health & Science University, one of the countrys leading providers of gender-affirming care for transgender people, says it expects no interruption in those services despite a recent federal order aiming to limit such treatments  for now, at least.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order restricting federal funding for gender-affirming medical treatments for children and teenagers under 19. The directive specifically targets puberty blockers, hormone therapies  including androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone  as well as surgical interventions.

OHSU said in a statement the federal order would have no immediate effects. The institutions Transgender Health Program provides a range of gender-affirming medical services, including hormone therapy and surgery, and serves more than 6,000 adult and pediatric patients.

As of now, nothing has changed about the care OHSU provides, Sara Hottman, a spokesperson for the university, wrote in an email. OHSU is evaluating the potential impacts of the executive order and remains committed to ensuring our patients continue to receive respectful, quality care.

Officials from Legacy Health, the largest hospital chain in Portland and a major provider of gender-affirming care, also said it has not made any changes in the care they provide.

Doernbecher Childrens Hospital at OHSU and Randall Childrens Hospital at Legacy Emanuel are the only two general childrens hospitals in Oregon, and both provide care to transgender youth.

OHSU and Legacy, like most hospitals, rely on payments from both Medicare and Medicaid in addition to private insurance. Hospitals in Colorado, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have already paused gender-affirming care for minors to ensure continued federal funding, The Associated Press reported.

Trumps order aligns with a campaign promise to bar any hospital or provider offering gender-transition treatments to minors from participating in Medicaid and Medicare.

The administrations directive instructs federal agencies, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services, to take steps to limit federal support for pediatric gender-affirming treatments. It seeks to exclude coverage for these procedures from federal insurance programs like Medicaid and federal employee benefits, and prevent federally funded medical facilities from offering these services to minors.

But the order is certain to face legal challenges.

On Thursday, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield denounced the federal directive as a clear example of the administration imposing its political agenda at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people. His office stated it will closely monitor the implementation of the order and its effects on Oregonians.

How the order is implemented will impact how we approach our work to protect access to care, Rayfield said. All legal options are on the table at this point.

Oregon has some of the strongest legal protections for gender-affirming care in the country.

In 2023, Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 2002, a law ensuring broad protections for both abortion rights and transgender health care access. The legislation, part of a package that sparked a six-week walkout by Republican state senators, prohibits health insurers from denying coverage for medically necessary gender-affirming treatments prescribed in accordance with accepted medical standards.

Under state law, gender-affirming care is available through all public health plans, including the Oregon Health Plan, which covers hormone treatments, therapy and surgeries. Public employees in the state are also guaranteed the same access to these medical services.

Trumps executive order could add to financial and legal uncertainties facing both OHSU and Legacy. Both are struggling financially and working to finalize a merger. Oregons regulatory body for health care business deals stated stated in a preliminary report that the proposed transaction may result in OHSU being the only option for gender-affirming surgical procedures in the state.

-- Kristine de Leon covers consumer health, retail, small business and data enterprise stories. Reach her at kdeleon@oregonian.com.

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The Trump administration has intervened in the release of important studies on the bird flu, as an outbreak escalates across the United States.

One of the studies would reveal whether veterinarians who treat cattle have been unknowingly infected by the bird flu virus. Another report documents cases in which people carrying the virus might have infected their pet cats.

The studies were slated to appear in the official journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The distinguished journal has been published without interruption since 1952.

Its scientific reports have been swept up in an immediate pause on communications by federal health agencies ordered by Dorothy Fink, the acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Finks memo covers any document intended for publication, she wrote, until it has been reviewed and approved by a presidential appointee. It was sent on President Donald Trumps first full day in office.

Thats concerning, former CDC officials said, because a firewall has long existed between the agencys scientific reports and political appointees.

MMWR is the voice of science, said Tom Frieden, a former CDC director and the CEO of the nonprofit organization Resolve to Save Lives.

This idea that science cannot continue until theres a political lens over it is unprecedented, said Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director at the CDC. I hope its going to be very short-lived, but if its not short-lived, its censorship.

White House officials meddled with scientific studies on COVID-19 during the first Trump administration, according to interviews and emails collected in a 2022 report from congressional investigators. Still, the MMWR came out as scheduled.

Whats happening now is quite different than what we experienced in COVID, because there wasnt a stop in the MMWR and other scientific manuscripts, Schuchat said.

Neither the White House nor HHS officials responded to requests for comment. CDC spokesperson Melissa Dibble said, This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.

News of the interruption hit suddenly last week, just as Fred Gingrich, executive director of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, a group for veterinarians specializing in cattle medicine, was preparing to hold a webinar with members. He planned to disclose the results of a study he helped lead, slated for publication in the MMWR later that week. Back in September, about 150 members had answered questions and donated blood for the study. Researchers at the CDC analyzed the samples for antibodies against the bird flu virus, to learn whether the veterinarians had been unknowingly infected earlier last year.

Although it would be too late to treat prior cases, the study promised to help scientists understand how the virus spreads from cows to people, what symptoms it causes, and how to prevent infection. Our members were very excited to hear the results, Gingrich said.

Like farmworkers, livestock veterinarians are at risk of bird flu infections. The study results could help protect them. And having fewer infections would lessen the chance of the H5N1 bird flu virus evolving within a person to spread efficiently between people  the gateway to a bird flu pandemic.

In a July 22, 2024, email obtained by KFF Health News, an epidemiologist at the Michigan health department suggests publishing a report about people who potentially spread the bird flu virus to their pet cats. The paper was accepted by the journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But its publication is on hold because of a Trump administration order to pause communications.Screenshot by KFF Health News

At least 67 people have tested positive for the bird flu in the U.S., with the majority getting the virus from cows or poultry. But studies and reporting suggest many cases have gone undetected, because testing has been patchy.

Just before the webinar, Gingrich said, the CDC informed him that because of an HHS order, the agency was unable to publish the report last week or communicate its findings. We had to cancel, he said.

Another bird flu study slated to be published in the MMWR last week concerns the possibility that people working in Michigans dairy industry infected their pet cats. These cases were partly revealed last year in emails obtained by KFF Health News. In one email from July 22, an epidemiologist pushed to publish the groups investigation to inform others about the potential for indirect transmission to companion animals.

Jennifer Morse, medical director at the Mid-Michigan District Health Department and a scientist on the pending study, said she got a note from a colleague last week saying that there are delays in our publication  outside of our control.

A person close to the CDC, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about reprisal, expected the MMWR to be on hold at least until Feb. 6. The journal typically posts on Thursdays, and the HHS memo says the pause will last through Feb. 1.

Its startling, Frieden said. He added that it would become dangerous if the reports arent restored. It would be the equivalent of finding out that your local fire department has been told not to sound any fire alarms, he said.

In addition to publishing studies, the MMWR keeps the country updated on outbreaks, poisonings, and maternal mortality, and provides surveillance data on cancer, heart disease, HIV, and other maladies. Delaying or manipulating the reports could harm Americans by stunting the ability of the U.S. government to detect and curb health threats, Frieden said.

The freeze is also a reminder of how the first Trump administration interfered with the CDCs reports on COVID, revealed in emails detailed in 2022 by congressional investigators with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. That investigation found that political appointees at HHS altered or delayed the release of five reports and attempted to control several others in 2020.

In one instance, Paul Alexander, then a scientific adviser to HHS, criticized a July 2020 report on a coronavirus outbreak at a Georgia summer camp in an email to MMWR editors, which was disclosed in the congressional investigation. It just sends the wrong message as written and actually reads as if to send a message of NOT to re-open, he wrote. Although the reports data remained the same, the CDC removed remarks on the implications of the findings for schools.

Later that year, Alexander sent an email to then-HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo citing this and another example of his sway over the reports: Small victory but a victory nonetheless and yippee!!!

Schuchat, who was at the CDC at the time, said she had never experienced such attempts to spin or influence the agencys scientific reports in more than three decades with the agency. She hopes it wont happen again. The MMWR cannot become a political instrument, she said.

Gingrich remains hopeful that the veterinary study will come out soon. Were an apolitical organization, he said. Maintaining open lines of communication and continuing research with our federal partners is critical as we fight this outbreak.

-- Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News

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.
These days, The Dalles downtown core is home to breweries, wineries, boutiques and a French patisserie.

But while downtown has shifted to cater more to retail and restaurants, one of the oldest businesses is neither: Its The Dalles Iron Works, which has been in the same location, doing much the same work, since its founding in 1905.

This is a classic machine shop-slash-fabrication shop, said owner Jon Keyser. Just anything and everything to do with metal. We machine parts, repair farm equipment, do fish research projects up and down the river.

The Dalles Iron Works located downtown at 720 East 2nd Street on Jan. 15, 2025. Pictured is Jon Keyser who has worked at The Dalles Iron Works for 38 years and owned it for the past nine.Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Through the old buildings antique windows that line Second Street, visitors can watch the sparks fly as the shops seven employees bend and mill steel parts for trailers, fences and other custom projects, such as fish survey equipment for The Dalles Dam.

The river boats that come up and down the river with the tourists? They stop in The Dalles here and we get a lot of them, Keyser said. They peer through the windows, and I usually go up and open the door and say, Come on in, learn what this is. 

Keyser was just as friendly when a reporter and photographer with The Oregonian/OregonLive did the same thing, peering through the windows with curiosity. He offered a tour of the shop and shared some of its storied history.

The two-story brick building that houses The Dalles Iron Works was constructed in 1888 as the home of Brooks & Beers, a mercantile store, at the corner of Monroe and Second streets. The North Pacific Trunk Factory operated on the second floor.

They had steamer trunks hung out over the edge of the building as their open and closed sign, Keyser said. When the trunk lid was open, it was open.

The F. H. Dietzel Trunk Factory and Brooks and Beers Store shown in the 1880s. Today the building is home to The Dalles Iron Works. A trunk hangs outside a second-story window of the trunk factory.Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum/ Wasco County Pioneer Association

After the mercantile closed, machinist James B. Kirk started The Dalles Iron Works in the spot in 1905.

Kirk, who lived to age 97, would go on to become a local postmaster, a member of The Dalles city school board and a Wasco County judge.

In 1908, Kirk expanded the machine shop to include an automobile garage  one of the first in Oregon and the first in The Dalles. At the time, cars would arrive in boxed kits to be assembled at the garage.

Another of the shops claims to fame was as manufacturer of the Kimball brand cultivator, a popular horse-drawn plow.

We still have parts from those when they were making them, and we could probably assemble and put together one complete plow with the stuff we have, Keyser said.

An article in the Oregon Daily Journal from 1914 about a train car load of Kimball cultivators, made at The Dalles Iron Works, heading to Hart, Michigan. It is the first carload of manufactured implements ever sent out of this city, the article reads.Oregon Daily Journal

Ownership of The Dalles Iron Works passed to the founders son, Loyal Kirk, and later Loyals son-in-law, Larry Quackenbush.

In 1974, an electrical fire ravaged the second floor of the building. The machine shop reopened downstairs, but the second floor remains relatively untouched and still charred.

Upstairs, nothing remains but scattered antique equipment, a few old steamer trucks, and boxes of old receipts and newspapers.

The second floor of The Dalles Iron Works on Jan. 15, 2025. In 1974, a fire, believed to have started in an electrical conduit, ravaged the second floor of the building. Pictured is Steve Kelsey who has been with the company for the last 9 years and lived in The Dalles since he was born 62 years ago. Mark Graves/The Oregonian

The shop has other remnants of its past. Pieces of the old overhead line shaft, a relic of the Industrial Revolution that operated equipment via belts and pulleys, still hang overhead on the ground floor.

Thats no longer a thing, just because of safety purposes, Keyser said. People would get sleeves and shirttails and stuff caught in the belt. But when I started working here 38 years ago, we still had about four or five machines that ran with the old leather belts.

An old but undated photo inside The Dalles Iron Works shows the belts of the overhead mainline shaft that once powered the machines.Samantha Swindler/ The Oregonian

Keyser, 58, is the fourth owner of The Dalles Ironworks. He grew up in The Dalles and attended Mt. Hood Community College to become a machinist.

 I worked for a shop in Portland while I was going to school, he said. I knew the owner here at the ironworks, and I called him up and told him if he ever had an opportunity to hire a machinist here that I would love to come back to The Dalles. About two weeks later he called me.

Keyser has worked there ever since, and he bought the business nine years ago. He hopes his son, 28, who works with him, will take it over some day.

The Dalles Iron Works located downtown at 720 East 2nd Street on Jan. 15, 2025. Established in 1905, the company has been a cornerstone of metal fabrication, machining, and welding in The Dalles, Oregon. Over its history, the company has adapted to changing industrial needs, continuing to serve the community with a range of services. Mark Graves/The Oregonian

The Quackenbush family still owns the building, Keyser said, but the business plans to stay put.

Its probably been 17, 18 years ago, the city was trying to get us to move the business out to the port industrial area, Keyser said, and there was no moving us. Besides the old bookstore downtown, were the oldest viable business in the city of The Dalles, and were not going anywhere. You can push as hard as you can push, and we aint going anywhere.

Yes, the only still-operating business that predates the iron works in The Dalles is Klindts Booksellers, founded in 1870. Its the oldest continuously operating bookstore in Oregon.

Klindts Booksellers, founded in 1870, located at 315 East 2nd Street in The Dalles, Oregon, on Jan. 15, 2025. Mark Graves/The Oregonian

It doesnt matter where you put this kind of a business, theres always going to be a need for it, Keyser said of the ironworks.  I think thats hard for people to understand and fathom in todays world that have never been around this kind of stuff. Keeping dams going on the river and keeping our farmers in the field and keeping the food on the table  requires this kind of a shop.

The Dalles Iron Works is at 720 E 2nd St. in The Dalles.

 Samantha Swindler covers features for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Here is Oregon. Reach her at sswindler@oregonian.com.

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What is Oregons most recognizable landmark? There are more options than you might think.

Is it Mount Hood? Or Multnomah Falls? The sweeping span of the Columbia River gorge?

Rain couldnt keep visitors away from Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. Sean Meagher/The Oregonian

Portlands White Stag sign? One of Portlands 12 bridges? Or the citys iconic skyline in general?

What about Crater Lake? Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast?

Smith Rock in central Oregon is a contender, too.

A view of Wizard Island and Crater Lake from Rim Village.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Portland's White Stag sign sits illuminated with its red nose lit on Sunday, December 18, 2022Vickie Connor/The Oregonian

Tell us all about your favorite and nominate it for our Readers Choice Awards below. The form will take submissions until 11 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, well reveal the finalists and open voting at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.

Nominations for Oregons most recognizable landmark:

 Julie Evensen covers trending topics and popular culture. She can be reached at jevensen@oregonian.com or @juliecevensen on Twitter and @julieevensen on Threads.

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The closure of Afuris Old Town location is deeply disappointing, and we share the frustration of business owners who have struggled with downtown Portlands reputation, (Japanese ramen chain closes Portland location, blames negative perception of downtown safety Jan. 10). However, its important to recognize that this perception increasingly diverges from reality, as demonstrated by significant progress in our city center.

This summer, downtown Portland welcomed 2.4 million visitors monthly  the highest foot traffic since before the pandemic. Hotel occupancy surged above 70%, with weekend nights exceeding 80% occupancy. These arent just statistics; they represent real economic vitality returning to our streets.

One of the most recent signs of downtowns renaissance is Nodoguros decision to expand into the historic Morgan building, (Nodoguro restaurant to move into downtown Portlands former Roe, Tercet space, Jan. 9). When one of Portlands most acclaimed restaurants - recently named the citys best - chooses to invest in downtown, it speaks volumes about our trajectory. The restaurants owners noted that each time they visited the area, they saw improvement.

While we must acknowledge the challenges that led to Afuris closure, we should also celebrate the positive momentum driving Portlands recovery. With crime down 34% year-over-year in downtown and millions of people returning to our shops and restaurants, were seeing concrete evidence that downtown Portland is bouncing back stronger than ever.

Tessa Peterson, Portland

Peterson is chair of Downtown Portland Clean & Safe

To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.
Washington lawmakers this session are mulling a renewed push to drop the legal blood alcohol level for drivers from 0.08% to 0.05%.

Senate Bill 5067 was heard in the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday afternoon. Its prime sponsor, state Sen. John Lovick, served for nearly four decades as a state trooper and Snohomish County Sheriff.

Lovick said the roads in Washington arent as safe as they once were, nor as safe as they should be.

I see driving behavior that is beyond anything I could have imagined as a state trooper, the Mill Creek Democrat said. Drivers are weaving recklessly in and out of traffic, passing on the shoulders and speeding just inches away from other cars, inches away from a deadly collision.

SB 5067 would lower the legal blood or breath alcohol concentration limits for driving a car or watercraft to 0.05% BAC, taking effect July 1, 2026. It would establish a campaign to let the public know about the update and require an evaluation of the results of the law change.

If the bill is signed into law, Washington would not be the first state to adopt such a measure. At the end of 2018, Utah became the only state in the nation with a 0.05% BAC limit. Most countries in Western Europe already abide by 0.05% BAC limits or lower.

Of Washington states 810 traffic deaths in 2023, roughly half were related to drug- or alcohol-impaired driving, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

Supporters of the bill say it would work to save lives and boost community safety. Detractors argue that it could ensnare sub-0.08% BAC drivers who are not impaired.

The Senate committee on Thursday heard from people whose family members were killed by drunk drivers. Michael Coury said his 12-year-old son, Gabriel, was fatally struck by an impaired driver as he was walking home after spending the day with friends at a park.

The pain of losing a child in this way is indescribable, and is a wound that will never fully heal, Coury told the committee, speaking virtually. Every day Im reminded of the senselessness of his death and the fact that it could have been prevented. Lowering the BAC limit to 0.05 is a crucial step in preventing similar tragedies from happening to other families. No family should have to suffer this kind of loss.

How drunk is 0.05%?

James C. Fell, principal research scientist with NORC at the University of Chicago, a national opinion research center, delivered a presentation about impaired driving. He said that over a two-hour period, and on an empty stomach, it would take a 170-pound male at least four drinks to meet or exceed 0.05% BAC. It would take a 137-pound female three drinks under the same conditions.

At 0.05% BAC, a person could feel uninhibited and experience impaired judgment, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Compare that with 0.08% BAC, when someone could have less muscle coordination, altered reasoning and judgment and find it harder to detect danger.

Capt. Deion Glover with the Washington State Patrol told McClatchy that at 0.05% BAC, drivers start to lose the ability to react quickly. Theyre twice as likely to be involved in a collision, he said.

Glover encourages people to have a plan in place  before they go out and drink  on how to get home safe. He said that having to walk up to someones door to tell them their loved one isnt coming home is probably the worst thing I have had to do.

I dont want to have a family have to hear that story, or one of my colleagues have to go to somebodys house at 2 oclock in the morning  or 1 oclock in the afternoon the next day to tell somebody that, Hey, your loved ones not coming home because someone made a poor decision to drive impaired, Glover said.

The opponents

Representatives from the hospitality and alcoholic-beverage industries spoke in opposition to SB 5067.

Julia Gordon with the Washington Hospitality Association noted that impaired drivers can already be stopped, charged and convicted even if they are at or below 0.05% BAC. Yet customers who stop drinking before they become impaired could now be subjected to some of the harshest DUI penalties in the nation, she said.

Daniel Olson, executive director of the Washington Brewers Guild, said breweries are committed to public safety and also want to see a reduction in impaired driving.

To emphasize, we strongly support policies that effectively address impaired driving, Olson told the committee. However, we believe this bill places unnecessary restrictions on responsible consumers and small businesses, and we urge the committee not to move forward with this bill.

 2025 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.). Visit www.TheNewsTribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Oregons cities will push the state Legislature to give them more money for roads, water and sewers, more power to remove homeless camps and more flexibility to spend hotel tax revenue on basic services.

City officials from around Oregon laid out those goals during their biannual City Day at the Capitol earlier this week, though it was quickly overshadowed by an announcement, delayed by court orders, that the Trump administration planned to immediately cut funding relied on by states and cities.

Some city priorities, including increased infrastructure spending, are shared by Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature. Others, including attempts to roll back a state law that limits cities ability to remove homeless camps, will be a tougher sell in Salem.

Anti-homeless camp laws

Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the city of Grants Pass by upholding a city law that banned homeless people from using blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the elements while sleeping outside. A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals previously concluded that the ordinance amounted to cruel and unusual punishment for people who lack shelter and violated the Eighth Amendment, but the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that ruling and said it was up to cities to regulate homelessness.

After that Supreme Court ruling, cities around the country passed new homeless camping bans or made their existing laws more restrictive. But Grants Pass and other cities in Oregon still needed to follow a state law, championed by Gov. Tina Kotek when she was speaker of the Oregon House in 2021, that limits their ability to ban sleeping outside. Under that law, cities can only restrict people from sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to the public if those restrictions are objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.

It also allows homeless people to sue cities over restrictions that arent objectively reasonable, as Disability Rights Oregon and the Oregon Law Center did on Thursday on behalf of five disabled homeless people in Grants Pass. Since August, Grants Pass has allowed homeless people to stay in only two designated campsites, and earlier this month it closed the larger campsite and restricted hours at the other  leaving hundreds of people no option but to crowd into a site with space for 30 tents each night and pack up all their belongings by 7 a.m.

North Bend Mayor Jessica Engelke, president of the League of Oregon Cities, said the league wants to clarify the state law, but not criminalize homelessness.

Rather, we aim to address the critical concerns about clarity and consistency in the law, she said. Objectively reasonable is subject to varying interpretations by cities and localities, resulting in a patchwork of regulations that can lead to confusion for all community members, including those experiencing homelessness.

Alexandra Ring, the leagues lobbyist for housing and land use issues, said conversations are ongoing about how to define objectively reasonable, and how cities can regulate camping in areas including parks, flood plains and other environmentally sensitive areas. They also want to tweak a requirement in state law that currently requires anyone who sues to give 90 days notice of a lawsuit to mandate that the person planning to file a suit tells the city what about its ordinance isnt objectively reasonable so the city has a chance to fix the problem before a lawsuit is filed.

Three bills  Senate Bill 593 from Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone; Senate Bill 645 from Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, and House Bill 2432 from several House Republicans  have been introduced to repeal the 2021 law but none has a hearing scheduled. Bonham announced those bills to scattered applause at the League of Oregon Cities forum.

Infrastructure funding

Cities will also lobby for more funding for local infrastructure, especially water and wastewater improvements needed before new homes can be built within city limits. The Legislature last year approved close to $100 million for infrastructure improvements, but the list of projects that needed funding far exceeded that sum.

Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said her city needs to come up with $66 million for two really big sewer pipes  one in the southeast part of town and one in the city center. Its more expensive to build underground infrastructure in central Oregon than in other parts of the state because Bend sits on top of lava rock.

The city hopes to get some of that money from the state. Once the southeast sewer interceptor is done, Bend can move ahead with plans that would add more than 1,200 homes and 2,800 permanent jobs. Other cities around the state have similar planned developments that have been on hold for years because of water and sewer needs.

The connection between infrastructure and housing cannot be overstated, Kebler said.

Gov. Tina Kotek and top Democratic legislators told city leaders that theyre also prioritizing infrastructure funding.

I know you have other infrastructure issues that are not directly related to housing and housing development, but we need to prioritize that as we all know more housing supply in our communities, Kotek said. So in my budget and with the Legislature, Ill be working on a program to make sure we can continue to invest in infrastructure in your communities to build more housing, because we know how critical that is.

House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, agreed that infrastructure funding, especially to spur housing construction, will be a priority for lawmakers.

We also know in cities like mine in Eugene, there is land within the (urban growth boundary) that could be developed for hundreds of units of housing, but the city lacked funding for infrastructure for water and wastewater, she said. I think that is critically important, and were going to continue that work this session.

Hotel tax changes

More than 20 years ago, the Legislature passed a law requiring 70% of any new local lodging taxes be spent on tourism marketing  meaning if a city charges a 10% hotel tax and collects $10 from a $100 room stay, it needs to use $7 to attract more tourists and can spend the other $3 on other needs.

That may have been necessary to grow tourism 20 years ago, Toledo Mayor Rod Cross said, but now the restriction hobbles city budgets. He said cities, especially tourism hubs on the coast, want more flexibility to use taxes from hotels and short-term rentals to blunt the impact of tourism on city services.

For instance, Newports permanent population is around 10,000, but it swells to 40,000 people in the summer and as high as 50,000 on summer weekends, he said. The citys police department has 28 employees, which isnt enough for the summer.

When you have a huge rush of tourists who come over into a community for a weekend, and that population doubles, or for some communities, quintuple, the numbers become overwhelming to a citys infrastructure, Cross said. For some communities, roads wear out a lot faster. Water systems are strained. Tourists come to parks because they have children.

He said allowing cities to use some of their tourism tax revenue to improve basic services will actually attract more tourists, who will want to return year after year to visit cities with good roads, parks and other amenities.

If local jurisdictions can better maintain and enhance necessary infrastructure and provide the services and amenities necessary to support tourism, in turn, it will make our communities even more desirable for visitors, and they will come back repeatedly, Cross said. Seems like a win for everyone involved.

-- Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, the nations largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
State lawmakers are considering banning winners of large prizes in the Oregon Lottery from reselling their tickets in order to block schemes that enable tax evasion and uncollected child support payments.

The sales practice has spawned a cottage industry of so-called lottery discounters who operate around the state. They annually buy millions of dollars in winning tickets  mostly video lottery and keno tickets with prizes above $1,500  from their original winners at steep discounts. Then they claim the face value of the prizes when they present the tickets at lottery payment centers in Wilsonville and Salem.

As detailed in an investigation published last summer by The Oregonian/Oregon Live, the scheme enables tax evasion. It allows some winners to avoid past due child support and other debts to the state that would otherwise be garnished from their prizes. It can incentivize sketchy operators to manipulate winners into selling tickets. And in some states, it has been linked to money laundering.

Members of the House Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection heard testimony Thursday in the first public hearing on House Bill 3115, sponsored by Rep. John Lively, D-Springfield. It would specifically ban individuals from selling or buying a winning ticket or share of a ticket, or claiming a winning ticket or share for another person for compensation.

The lottery has known about the practice for some time. The most prolific discounters, which include pawn shop owners and freelancers, collectively claim millions of dollars in prizes annually. They are well known to employees in its payment centers as they regularly show up with stacks of winning tickets to claim at once.

Some discounters told the newsroom they keep receipts for their ticket purchases and deduct that price as a business expense on their annual taxes  a practice that shortchanges the state because its only taxing the discounters net gain, not the full value of the prize.

What weve seen and what The Oregonian has reported on in the past, is that some people have entered into this market professionally, Matt Shelby, the Oregon Lotterys director of communications and policy, told committee members. Were aware of a handful of pawnshops and a couple individuals here in the state who make a business of buying winning tickets at deep discounts.

Shelby told committee members that all prizes of greater than $1,500 must be claimed at a payment center or by mail. He outlined several reasons why winners are willing to sell their tickets at discounts of up to 50%: convenience  winners dont want to travel to Salem or Wilsonville or trust their big prizes to a mail-in claim; nefarious reasons  a winner might be incorrectly told the lottery will check their immigration status or claim the majority of their prize in taxes; or a desire to remain anonymous, either to hide their winnings from another person or avoid paying child support and other debts to the state.

State law is vague on the practice. It prohibits the assignment of winning tickets. Though Shelby said its clear the discounters arent the actual winners  nobody is that lucky  he added that enforcement is difficult because lottery play is anonymous and the state has no way of proving a ticket has changed hands.

The Oregon Lottery does prohibit its retailers from purchasing winning tickets at a discount, and it provides a list of high-volume-claimants to the Oregon Department of Revenue, though Shelby said he didnt know what the agency was doing with the information because of taxpayer confidentiality.

Other states have banned the practice. Texas makes it a felony for a prize winner to sell their right to claim a prize, for instance. Georgia instituted a policy of investigating frequent winners in 2014 and has since cracked down by refusing to pay related claims. Massachusetts has jailed individuals involved in big discounting operations.

Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, asked what kind of stick Oregon would have to enforce the proposed statutory language, and he wondered whether the legislation ought to make discounting a misdemeanor.

Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, said he was concerned that by providing cash payments to winners on the spot, discounters were enabling problem gambling. He said he was motivated to see the state going after anyone shirking their child support. And he asked whether bar owners and other retailers were violating their contracts with the state lottery by knowingly allowing discounters to operate at their establishments.

Shelby said they were, and violators could lose their contracts, but stronger language in the law might prove more effective. Discounters are often well known at the lottery outlets they frequent, and one told the newsroom he pays a 3% finders fee to bartenders who refer prize winners.

Lively and Rep. Kim Wallan, R-Medford, suggested Thursday that as a first step, Oregon should make it absolutely clear in statute that the practice is prohibited, then give the lottery rule-making authority to get more creative with enforcement.

How you start to address some of these actions is by saying clearly that, This is illegal and we don want to do it, Lively said. The bill also would allow the lottery to write rules, and in those rules could potentially be other ways to try to enforce. Lets clarify that we believe this isnt right, so we can get on to other conversations about how we can ensure it doesnt happen.

No action was taken on the bill Thursday, but there was no opposition to the bill at the hearing. Gov. Tina Kotek has previously expressed her support for addressing the issue.

- Ted Sickinger is a reporter on the investigations team. Reach him at 503-221-8505, tsickinger@oregonian.com or @tedsickinger

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Forget pickpockets and lost luggage. The biggest threat to your next vacation might be lurking online.

Anyone can be a potential victim, warns Seth Ruden, director of global advisory at BioCatch, a biometric company. But frequent travelers are likely targets, as travel rewards, airline miles, and other stored payment details on travel accounts can be lucrative and easily monetizable.

People are worried about cybersecurity more than ever. In fact, a recent study by Travelers Insurance found that 62% of respondents were worried about online safety  the highest level in 11 years. (Travelers polled business owners, but other surveys show their concerns are reflected more broadly.)

What are the cyber threats to travelers in 2025?

There are a range of cyber threats facing travelers, from phishing scams designed to steal personal information to fake travel websites and rental listings that leave victims stranded and financially drained. Check Point Research, a cybersecurity firm, says in 2024, says 1 in every 33 newly registered vacation-related domains were malicious or suspicious. This category included phishing sites imitating Booking.com, Kayak, and other popular travel platforms, according to the company.

Threat actors now have the capabilities to identify and target mobile devices, deliver malicious code to the device, access a device to track your location, activate your devices microphone, and intercept messages, says Frank Harrison, regional security director of the Americas at World Travel Protection. Adopting cybersecurity measures that focus on risk mitigation is essential to protect travelers and their data.

Abhishek Karnik, the head of threat research at McAfee, says there are two places where travelers are particularly vulnerable: while theyre booking and while theyre traveling.

Travelers need to stay vigilant, he says.

But how?

Practice good online hygiene

As technology continues to integrate deeper into our travel experiences, the risk of cyber-attacks while booking trips online or accessing unsecured networks in foreign countries is a real concern.

Peter Hamdy, managing director at Auckland & Beyond Tours, says you have to be on your guard in 2025.

From my extensive experience in the travel industry, I can tell you that one of the most significant dangers will likely be the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, he says.

So brush up on your online hygiene  which is to say, change your passwords frequently, enable two-factor authentication, dont click on any phishy links and never, ever give your password or access codes to a third party. You can also use a travel insurance app to stay safe.

Use a VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) can keep you safer, says Joe Cronin, CEO of International Citizens Insurance.

Travelers are always on the hunt for free Wi-Fi, but a lot of the public networks you might connect to are unsecured and put your personal data at risk, he explains. I always recommend that travelers use a VPN to secure their phones or laptops when using public Wi-Fi.

Be careful who you trust

One of the most common social engineering threats while traveling is the impersonation scam. Attackers may pose as hotel staff, tour guides, or even fellow travelers to gain access to personal information on your devices, according to Karnik, the McAfee security expert.

Always verify the identity of individuals before sharing any sensitive information or handing over personal belongings, he adds.

Watch for phishing

Phishing  sending emails mimicking a reputable company to induce you into giving up personal information  is becoming far more sophisticated.

Travel is a prime opportunity for a spoofing campaign, warns Rishika Desai, a threat researcher at predictive security firm BforeAI. Many are looking for a deal during a time when prices are especially high. And cyber criminals are impersonating well-known, legitimate brands.

The fix? Never, click on an email, and follow a link from a source you dont recognize. Always go directly to the companys site to verify any travel offer.

Beware of AI

Artificial intelligence has given cybercriminals the tools they need to pull a fast one on even the most sophisticated traveler.

AI can build convincing websites, create more natural-sounding language, and even generate fake reviews, says Cache Merrill, CEO of Zibtek, a software developer. Everything seems far more legitimate with AI-driven technology, and people are falling for it.

Although AI is making it even more challenging for travelers to discern legitimate offers from scams, artificial intelligence isnt perfect. With a little practice you can discern AI-generated text, photos, videos  and bogus travel offers. Or you could just take a shortcut: If an online offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Do this one thing to protect yourself online

Perhaps the best advice is to leave nothing to chance. Unfortunately, travelers are just winging it, according to the latest research. Only about two in 10 business travelers say they are required to take a training course on how to improve cybersecurity, according to a recent poll by Opinium Research.

Do your research and make sure you have a plan in place for any potential problems that could arise, says John Gobbels, chief operating officer of air medical transport and travel security program Medjet. Its always more stressful in the moment, and easier if you have systems or backup plans in place.

Theres also cybersecurity support, which protects travelers against unforeseen events. For example, BOXX Insurance and World Travel Protection recently launched cybersecurity assistance for business travelers that monitors emerging digital risks and helps them predict and prevent potential threats and scams. This type of support may soon be available to leisure travelers as well.

The golden rule of travel has always been to expect the unexpected. In 2025, that means anticipating and preparing for the growing threat of cybercrime. By doing that, you can ensure your adventures are defined by joyful discoveries  not digital disasters.

Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at chris@elliott.org.
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, January 31. A group of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) - 22 families (94 people) - is returning to the native Ballija village in Azerbaijan's Khojaly district, Trend reports.

Those returning to the village are families temporarily living in different parts of Azerbaijan, mainly in hostels, sanatoriums, and administrative buildings.

The former IDPs thanked President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva for their comprehensive state care. They also expressed gratitude to the valiant Azerbaijani Army, the heroic soldiers and officers who liberated Azerbaijani lands, and wished the repose of the souls of the martyrs who died along the way, as well as patience to their families.

To date, about 30,000 people are currently living in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, along with former internally displaced persons who resettled there, working on the implementation of projects in the region, as well as performing official duties in local subdivisions of certain state institutions, working in resumed health care, education, culture, tourism, industry, and energy institutions.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
For those who love the rain, the long string of dry days is over, and a wet regime has moved in.

Portland will see rain all day Friday, and a high temperature of about 51 degrees. By Saturday morning, Portland will likely have racked up about a half inch of rainfall, adding to a total that was well below average for the month of January.

All eyes turn toward the weekend as snow levels drop and precipitation turns from rain to snow at times even at the valley floor.

The National Weather Service notes that Fridays snow levels will linger around 4,000 feet bringing heavy snow to the Cascade mountains but then will drop to 1,000-1,500 by the overnight hours.

If youre driving to or from the northern Oregon Coast or southern Washingtons Willapa Hills, snow will likely starting late Friday night. Accumulations of 2-4 inches of snow are expected on the coast passes. Be prepared for winter driving conditions and adjust your speed accordingly.

There is a winter storm warning in the southwest Washington and northwest Oregon Cascades that remains in effect until Saturday night. In these areas drivers will see heavy snow above 3,000 feet with totals up to 12 inches by Saturday night. Above 5,000 feet the peaks will easily accumulate 15+ inches.

Portland should wake to rain Saturday morning except at areas near 1,000 feet where a wet snow or rain/snow mix is likely. The daytime high will be about 44 degrees.

Forecasters are watching a low pressure system moving south from British Columbia that will bring even colder air and lower snow levels starting Saturday night.

Portland will see rain, or a rain/snow mix early Sunday, then all rain after about 1 p.m. The snow level will dip to about 400 feet. The daytime high will cool to about 41 degrees, but it should still be warm enough to quickly melt any snow that does accumulate during the morning hours.

Most long-term forecast models say temps will be cold enough to support at least some wet snow on the valley floor, at least in the northern parts of the Willamette Valley, Sunday night and Monday morning. Again, daytime highs should warm to the low 40s and melt most of the snow that does fall. Still, the possibility does exist of seeing sticking snow on grassy surfaces Monday and Tuesday of next week.
KHOJALY, Azerbaijan, January 31. Another group of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) has arrived in Azerbaijan's Khojaly district, Trend reports.

Today, 22 families (94 former IDPs) returned home in the district's Ballija village.

For over 30 years, these families had been residing in different locations of Azerbaijan, primarily in governmental buildings, sanatoriums, and dormitories.

In accordance with the instructions of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the process of relocation of former IDPs to the liberated territories continues as part of the Great Return state program.

To recall, during the night of February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces, alongside the 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment of Russia, seized control of the city of Khojaly, resulting in a genocide against the local Azerbaijani population. The Khojaly genocide resulted in the deaths of 613 citizens, comprising 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly individuals. 1,275 individuals were captured. The status of 150 individuals captured, comprising 68 women and 26 children, remains unknown to this day. The city was liberated following local anti-terrorist operations executed on September 19-20, 2023, by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

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UPDATE: Ellen Greenbergs parents settle all lawsuits after Philly ME agrees to review suicide ruling

Fourteen years after Ellen Greenbergs died by 20 stab wounds, her parents will face off in court with three Philadelphia officials who helped label it a suicide.
A man incarcerated at SCI Camp Hill with two pending homicide cases in Harrisburg was charged with first-degree murder and third-degree murder Thursday after state police said he stabbed another inmate to death earlier this week.

Hezekiah F. Campbell, 29, is accused of stabbing 35-year-old Spencer Kassel in the SCI Camp Hill recreation yard Wednesday. It is unclear what Campbell used to stab Kassel, who was pronounced dead at 8:51 a.m.

The State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill. January 30, 2024. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comDan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Kassels death marks the third homicide Campbell has been charged with since March 2022, when he was accused of shooting and killing 59-year-old Kenneth Cobb, a local taxi driver, near the Harrisburg Amtrak station.

Cobb was known in the community as a cab driver who worked the station. He operated his own cab company since 2007, according to his LinkedIn page.

After shooting Cobb, Campbell went home, confessed to the crime in his journal and wrote it was not the first time he had killed someone, court documents said.

While still incarcerated in 2024, police charged Campbell in connection to the shooting death of Kathryn Krystal Person, a 71-year-old woman who was living at a Harrisburg homeless encampment. Investigators said Campbell shot Person six times under the Mulberry Street Bridge, where she lived.

Investigators believe both Cobb and Person were randomly targeted.

Those two homicide cases are currently pending mental health evaluations, according to court records. Police are unsure what motivated the crimes, but noted that Campbell previously admitted, When he is upset/mad, he goes outside and shoots off live rounds.

As of Thursday evening, Campbell is awaiting scheduling for a preliminary hearing in connection to Kassels death. Details leading up to Wednesdays stabbing death are unclear as of Thursday evening.

Campbell entered the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections system on April 28, 2023, at SCI Smithfield and was transferred to SCI Camp Hill on May 18 that year.

However, Campbell has been incarcerated since March 27, 2022, when police charged him in the Amtrak station shooting. He was previously incarcerated at the Dauphin County Prison, which is not operated by the state Department of Corrections, with his bail denied due to the nature of his charges.
Chris Evans is not returning to the Marvel Universe, as the former Captian America star says he is happily retired from the role.

In a recent Esquire profile on the newly hired Captain America, actor Anthony Mackie clarified a Deadline article that said Evans would return in the upcoming 2026 film Avengers Doomsday.

I talked to Chris a few weeks ago, and it wasnt on the table then. At least he didnt tell me it was on the table because I asked him, Mackie said. I was like, You know, they said theyre bringing everyone back for the movie. Are you coming back?

But it seems that Evans was not interested in putting on the suit again.

He goes, Oh, you know, Im happily retired, Mackie said.

Evans played Captain America from 2011 to 2019, ending his run as the patriotic superhero in Avengers: Endgame. Mackie, who previously played The Falcon in the Marvel universe, is now Captain America after Evans character passes the shield to Mackie in Avengers: Endgame.

Mackie will play the superhero on the big screen for the first time in the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World after taking up the shield in the Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Solider in 2021.

He recently got in trouble after some fans criticized his thoughts on the role while speaking during a promo event in Italy. The star shared an Instagram story expressing his excitement about playing the role, calling it the honor of a lifetime and clearing up misconceptions about playing the superhero.

Let me be clear about this: Im a proud American, and taking on this shield of a hero like CAP is the honor of a lifetime, Mackie said. I have the utmost respect for those who serve and have served our country. CAP has universal characteristics that people all over the world can relate to.

Mackie is also known for his roles in 8 Mile and Hurt Locker. Though Evans is most known for playing Captain America, he has taken on other projects like Knives Out and played Buzz Lightyear in Disneys film adaption Lightyear.
This year marks a major anniversary for a key figure in American history, and the time he spent in central Pennsylvania.

Gilbert du Mortier, better known to many as the Marquis de Lafayette, was a key figure in the American Revolution. In 1824 and 1825, Lafayette returned to tour the United States, and he was met with a heros welcome.
Research published last year observed how different commercially available tea bags posed certain health risks.

People, understandably, grew worried over this news. But heres what to do if you, too, reader, are concerned.

According to ScienceAlert, scientists at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in Spain found that individual tea bags can release billions of micro- and nanoplastic (MNPL) particles in every millimeter of water theyre dunked into.

As for what health effects they might pose to humans, Harvard Magazine explains that, Lessons from the field of environmental toxicology raise flags about cancer and reproductive issues.

Studies in cell cultures, marine wildlife, and animals models indicate that microplastics can cause oxidative damage, DNA damage, and changes in gene activity, known risks for cancer development, Harvard Magazine continues. Microplastics have been found in human breast milk and meconium, an infants first stool.

A few studies in mice have found productive effects such as reduced sperm county and quality, ovarian scarring, and metabolic disorders in offspring.

Now, while further studies are still needed to shed light on the veracity of these claims, plenty of people remain concerned. So, Yahoo! Life has recommended purportedly safer tea-brewing options such as electronic kettles and infusers.

These options are notably ceramic and metal in make, meaning theyre not only plastic-free, but long-lasting, too. Theres even eco-friendly disposable tea bags out there that you can use, too. These are plastic-free as well.

We dont know what the plastics from drinking tea are doing to us right now, as this is all such new research, Aidan Charron, associate director of Global Earth Day at earthday.org, reiterated to the publication. But we do know there is a growing list of disorders and diseases that are associated with the ingestion of other types of microplastics and their chemicals: cancers, heart attacks, strokes, neurological issues including Alzheimers and dementia, behavioral issues, decreased fertility, increased risks of miscarriage, to name just a few

Adds he: Consuming less plastic should be everyones priority, but it is not easy to avoid because it is so pervasive.
A New York-based brokerage settled a lawsuit concerning a data breach this week.

And anyone impacted by this breach might be entitled to up to $6,000.

Tododisca reports how Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. was hit by this data breach in 2020. Bad actors infiltrated their system between June 3 and September 26 of that year, and managed to get the personal information of both employees and customers including Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers, financial information, and medical data.

Top Class Actions continues to report that  while the company has not admitted to any wrongdoing  it has agreed to a $21 million class action settlement. Business Insurance adds that a federal court gave preliminary approval for this settlement of Thursday.

According to the same Business Insurance article, almost 3.5 million class members may be entitled to up to $6,000 of documented monetary losses. They will also be eligible to receive three years of identity theft protection and credit monitoring, or pro rata share of any amount remaining in the settlement fund.

Those impacted by the brief should have received a letter from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. or Gallagher Basset Services Inc. notifying them of the situation.

Gallagher has also agreed that it will strengthen its data security measures as part of this settlement.

For further information  and to submit a claim yourself, should you be among those impact  please click the following link. The deadline to submit a claim for possible compensation is Feb. 10.
By JEFF AMY and RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP)  Sam Lilley knew he wanted to fly and began training to be a pilot, like his father, right out of college.

You dont really expect to meet people that find their purpose so early on in life, and Sam found his in flying, said Kaitlin Sells, who met Lilley while they were students at Georgia Southern University.

Lilley was the first officer aboard the American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members that collided midair Wednesday night with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers, legislators in Georgia said.

Authorities say there were no survivors after the two aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River in the countrys deadliest aviation disaster since 2001. At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters of the river as recovery operations continue.

Lilley and the rest of the American Airlines crew were traveling on a daily direct route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., at the time of the collision. The soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter were conducting an annual night proficiency training flight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding they were a fairly experienced crew.

Here is what we know so far about some members of the two flight crews:

Sam Lilley

Lilleys father, Timothy Lilley, told WAGA-TV in Atlanta that he was in Washington waiting for answers.

This is undoubtedly the worst day of my life, said Timothy Lilley, who also is a longtime pilot and served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot for 20 years, noting he flew similar routes in and out of the Pentagon.

I was so proud when Sam became a pilot, he wrote on Facebook. Now it hurts so bad I cant even cry myself to sleep. I know Ill see him again but my heart is breaking.

Timothy Lilley said his son was excelling in his career and personal life at the time of his death and was engaged to be married later this year.

Sam Lilley graduated in 2018 with a degree in marketing but decided to become a pilot. He had earlier graduated from Richmond Hill High School, just south of Savannah, Georgia, where he had been an active member of Coastal Community Christian Church.

In this photo provided by Kaitlin Marie Sells, Sam Lilley, left, pilots a small airplane that took off from Savannah, Ga., on Aug, 6, 2022, for a flight to reach the 1,500 flight hours required for Lilley to begin training to become an airline pilot. (Kaitlin Marie Sells via AP)AP

A local news story from 2011 highlighted his efforts to raise money to build a water well in a Zambian village.

Sells, his friend from college, said there was no one better suited to be a pilot.

There was no one that cared more. There was no one that was more passionate, Sells said, saying Lilley valued taking care of people and them putting their trust in him.

Outside the plane, Lilley was devoted to making others happy and the type of person who always was the first onto a dance floor, Sells said.

I dont think Ive ever seen that man in a bad mood, spreading negativity, Sells said. He was the type of person where if someone was not having a good time or someone was upset, he would do everything in his power to pull them out of it.

Jonathan Campos

The captain of the American Airlines flight was 34-year-old Jonathan Campos, according to multiple media reports. His aunt, Beverly Lane, told the New York Times that Campos had wanted to be a pilot since the age of 3.

I think he wanted to be free, and be able to fly and soar like a bird, Lane said.

She told the newspaper she talked with Campos on Wednesday, just before the fateful flight. He told her he was looking forward to an upcoming Caribbean cruise with family.

Campos was a 2015 graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he studied Aeronautical Science, according to the university.

Danasia Elder

Danasia Elder was a flight attendant on the commercial flight, WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported.

Elders brother-in-law, Brandon Payne, described her as full of life, highlighting her love for God, her kids and travel. She was married with two children, Kayden and Dallas.

She was a great wife, a great parent, a great friend, Payne told the news station. She was very bright, very smart. She was an entrepreneur. This flight attendant thing was kind of like one of her dreams she wanted to do.

Payne said he is proud of his sister-in-law for pursuing her dream.

She would want yall do the same thing she did. Chase your dreams, no matter what. Dont let nothing scare you, push you away. Just believe in yourself, believe in God, and follow the path, Payne said.

Ryan OHara

Ryan OHara was one of three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

Ryan was just the most committed, disciplined person I remember working with, said Josh Muehlendorf, a senior instructor pilot in the U.S. Army. He had such great integrity.

The two flew together numerous times on the same route in D.C. several years prior to the fatal crash and OHara took rules and procedures seriously, according to Mehlendorf.

Ryan was one of those crew chiefs who always had our back, he said. Its really hard to stomach a guy as professional and excellent as he was.

Andrew Eaves

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said on the social platform X that the state was mourning the death of Andrew Eaves, who was also aboard the Army helicopter.

Eaves was from the small town of Brooksville in eastern Mississippi, Reeves said.

His wife Carrie Eaves confirmed he was on the helicopter in a Facebook post Thursday.

We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve, the post read.

She also asked that people refrain from posting negative comments on social media.

These families children do not need to suffer more pain, she wrote.

___

Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press journalists Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.
A Connecticut man arrested for reckless driving and alcohol charges told police he was in a hurry to see his pet cat.

WCJB reports that a trooper with the Connecticut State Police pulled over Logan Mirmozaffari of Norwich on January 26, after clocking his vehicle going over 130 miles per hour.

Upon asking Mirmozaffari why he was driving so fast, Mirmozaffari explained that he wanted to get home to see his cat, reads a press release from the Connecticut State Police.

The trooper reportedly observed signs of impairment and could smell alcohol on the drivers breath, so Mirmozaffari was asked to take a field sobriety test. He was then arrested after failing, and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence and reckless driving.

Mirmozaffari was released on $500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6.

To read the full press release, click here.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The "State Program for Improving the Transport Infrastructure of Baku and Adjacent Territories for 2025-2030," approved by President Ilham Aliyev, outlines plans for the purchase of 299 new carriages for Baku Metro by 2030, Trend reports.

According to the program, the Ministry of Finance, working hand in hand with the State Agency for Antimonopoly Control and Consumer Market Supervision, Baku Metropolitan, and Azerbaijan Transport and Communications Holding (AZCON), is set to take the reins on refreshing the aging metro cars (rolling stock) and bringing in new vehicles during the 2025-2030 timeframe.

The Baku Metro commenced operations on November 6, 1967. The current infrastructure comprises 40.7 kilometers (25.3 miles) of bidirectional tracks, organized into three lines and serviced by 27 stations. The "conceptual development scheme of the Baku Metro lines" outlines a future underground network comprising five lines. This includes the three current lines (Red, Green, and Purple) along with two new lines (Blue and Yellow). The network will feature a total of 76 stations, six power plants, and an overall length of 119.1 km. A total of 51 new stations are set to be developed, contributing to an underground line that spans 84.3 kilometers in the Baku Metro system.

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HAMILTON, N.J.  A married couple from Mercer County who both work in law enforcement have been charged with having sex in front of children and recording multiple images and videos of child pornography, authorities said Thursday.

Hamilton police officer Brian DiBiasi, 39, and Mercer County sheriff Sgt. Elizabeth DiBiasi, 42, were arrested Wednesday by the New Jersey State Police at their home in Hamilton, authorities said.

Brian DiBiasi faces five charges including recording, possessing and distributing the child sexual abuse material and endangering the welfare of a child. Elizabeth DiBiasi is charged with endangering the welfare of child by engaging in sexual conduct.

Elizabeth DiBiasi appeared nude in the images with children, who were at times nude as well, and the couple had sex in front of the children, authorities said in court documents filed in support of the charges.

State Police investigators learned of the images and videos Tuesday from a tip line run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, authorities said.

The child pornography files appeared on the social media app Kik on an account that led to the couples home on Marlon Pond Road, authorities said.

Investigators raided the home Wednesday and arrested Brian DiBiasi. He told investigators he was the owner of the Kik account and admitted to distributing the files, authorities said.

The New Jersey State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elizabeth DiBiasi has served 18 years with the Mercer County Sheriffs Office. She was suspended without pay from her $134,000-a-year job, an office spokesperson said in a statement.

Mercer County Sheriff Jack Kemler released a fuller statement later Thursday, saying: To be very clear, the Mercer County Sheriffs Office does not tolerate such alleged incidents. In an effort to avoid hindering an inquiry into the facts, the Sheriffs Office cannot specifically comment on any ongoing or formal investigation.

However, the statement continued, As the Mercer County Sheriff and a community leader, know that I have zero tolerance for (alleged) immoral acts in our community and within our ranks. Like many employers, we cannot control how people behave outside of the workplace and at home. However, I strongly urge anyone who is aware of suspicious activity or wishes to report a situation or incident to call 911 immediately, their local police department, or the New Jersey Child Abuse Hotline at 1-877-NJ ABUSE (1-877-652-2873).

The New Jersey Attorney Generals Office is investigating the incident and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin later put out a statement saying that sexual offenses against children are among the most serious crimes we charge.

Its especially disturbing when, as in this case, the accused are members of law enforcement, Platkin said. My office works hand-in-hand with the New Jersey State Police and all 21 County Prosecutors to investigate and prosecute those who engage in this conduct. Protecting children from this kind of lasting harm is one of our most important responsibilities.

Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin and Hamilton Township Chief of Police Ken DeBoskey said they were aware of the disturbing allegations.

While we cannot comment on active investigations, we want to be unequivocally clearHamilton Township has zero tolerance for crimes of this nature," they said in a statement. We remain fully committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability within our community and our police department and continue to fully cooperate with the New Jersey State Police investigation.

The chief and mayor said they would comment further once an announcement is made by state police.

Brian DiBiasi has served 21 years with the Hamilton police at a salary of $136,000 a year.

Both are currently in the Monmouth County jail pending court hearings.

Attorney information was not immediately available for either suspect.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com
By Amanda Seitz and Stephen Groves, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s nomination to be the nations top health official is uncertain after a key Republican joined Democrats to raise persistent concerns over the nominees deep skepticism of routine childhood vaccinations that prevent deadly diseases.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, ended a three-hour confirmation hearing Thursday by telling Kennedy that he was struggling with his nomination and might call him over the weekend, though he did not say how he would vote.

Cassidy, a liver doctor who has regularly encouraged his constituents to vaccinate against COVID-19 and other diseases, implored Kennedy several times to reject theories that vaccines cause diseases like autism. Kennedys refusal to do so clearly troubled Cassidy.

If theres any false note, any undermining of a mamas trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine preventable disease, Cassidy said.

The senator, who is up for re-election next year, laid out the dilemma before him, as a doctor who has seen how vaccines can save lives and as a Republican who is aware of Kennedys formidable support and wants to help President Donald Trump advance his policies. Cassidy is no stranger to these predicaments  and the outcry they might spark  he voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges after his first term in 2021.

Kennedys vaccine views could jeopardize his standing with a few crucial Republicans and has certainly not helped him win over any votes among Democrats in his bid to become health secretary. If all Democrats reject Kennedys nomination, he can only afford to lose three Republican votes.

Kennedy will also have to win over the swing votes of Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell, who have raised concerns about Kennedy and also voted against Trumps defense secretary nominee.

Any Republican considering a no vote will face a maximum pressure campaign from Trump to line up and confirm his nominees. When others have expressed reservations about supporting nominees, they have met a coordinated campaign of political threats from Trumps allies. Kennedys Make America Healthy Again movement has also encouraged followers to overwhelm the inboxes and phone lines of senators who may waffle.

Kennedy as well as other Cabinet nominees like Tulsi Gabbard, represent a new coalition built by Trumps campaign. Kennedy last year launched his own campaign for president before joining forces with Trump in a shared vision of dismantling the status quo.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer turned public health critic, repeatedly promised senators he is not anti-vaccine and that he, in fact, supports inoculations. But Thursdays Senate Health Committee hearing questions exposed Kennedys deep-seated mistrust in the nations vaccine program.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)AP

Cassidy directly asked Kennedy if he would unequivocally reassure parents that the Hepatitis B and measles vaccines do not cause autism.

Kennedy would not. Instead, he avoided answering directly, saying If the data is there, I will absolutely do that.

In a rare show of across-the-aisle cooperation, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, followed up on Cassidys line of questioning. Again, Kennedy refused to give a definitive answer.

Then, in the closing moments of the hearing, Cassidy offered Kennedy studies that have proven vaccinations do not cause autism, prodding him to accept the research. Kennedy would not, instead responded with an article  one that Cassidy said had issues.

Saying clearly that vaccines do not cause autism would have incredible impact, Cassidy told him. That would have incredible impact. Thats your power.

At times, questioning from other senators was intensely personal. Sen. Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, shared her anguish as a mother who has spent decades wondering what caused her 36-year-old sons cerebral palsy. She worried about whether vaccines contributed to her sons condition after an infamous study years ago falsely found a link between autism and vaccines. That study has since been roundly discredited.

Hassan said Kennedys suggestions that vaccines could cause autism were hurting families.

He is re-litigating and churning settled science so we cant go forward and find out what the cause of autism is and treat these kids and help these families, she said, later adding: When you continue to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it impossible for us to move forward.

Aside from Cassidy, Republicans on the health committee remained friendly to Kennedy. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who said his two sons wanted to vote for Kennedy in the presidential election, told the hearing that his granddaughter, due in the coming weeks, would not be a pincushion when it came to vaccines.

Two others expressed doubts about the safety of vaccines, although both said theyve vaccinated their own children.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, chided his colleagues for scrutinizing Kennedys skeptical stances on vaccinations.

We cant question science? Mullin asked.

Others raised concerns about Kennedys financial stake in lawsuits against vaccine makers.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, where the Gardasil vaccine to guard against cervical cancer is made, questioned Kennedys financial disclosure forms, which state that he still plans to collect fees in cases referred to the law firm in a suit against that vaccine. Last year, Kennedy made $850,000 off the deal.

How can folks who need to have confidence in federal vaccine programs trust you to be independent and science-based when you stand to gain significant funding if lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers are successful? Kaine asked.

Kennedy told Kaine he has given away his financial rights in the case.

Kaine also questioned Kennedy for saying on social media that he would not take sides as conspiracy theorists question what happened during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Kennedy responded that he had been taught from a young age to question authority, saying, My father told me when I was 13 years old, he said, People in authority lie.

Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly pressed the nominee on his plans around abortion, with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina asking if he would appoint pro-life deputies and several Democrats asking him how he would handle the abortion drug mifepristone.

The Biden administration defended lawsuits against the use of the drug, including its availability over telehealth. Kennedy said no decision had yet been made about how to handle the controversial drug, which the Food and Drug Administration approved to end pregnancies safely more than two decades ago.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)AP

With mifepristone, President Trump has not chosen a policy and I will implement his policy, Kennedy told the committee.

Kennedy wants to lead the $1.7 trillion agency that oversees health care coverage  Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace  for roughly half the country, approves then recommends vaccines for deadly diseases and conducts safety inspections of food and hospitals.

The Senate finance committee, which Cassidy sits on, will ultimately decide how to send Kennedys nomination to the Senate floor for a vote.

During a three-hour hearing with that committee on Wednesday, Kennedy misstated basic facts about Medicare and Medicaid. But Republicans offered strong support for Kennedys proposal to promote healthier foods to Americans and research the root of chronic diseases like obesity.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Baku is hosting an event on High-level strategic prioritization within the UN-Azerbaijan Cooperation Framework Document on Sustainable Development (2026-2030), Trend reports.

The event will showcase a presentation outlining Azerbaijan's sustainable development priorities for the upcoming five years, alongside a discussion focused on the key outcomes and recommendations derived from the final evaluation of the UN-Azerbaijan Cooperation Framework on Sustainable Development 2021-2025.

Will be updated
What the Hell is Going on at the WPT? | PokerNews Podcast #876

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager Copy link

In the 876th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which has been nominated for 'Podcast of the Year' at the Global Poker Awards, Chad Holloway, Kyna England, and Mike Holtz discuss what's been happening over at the World Poker Tour (WPT), from them laying off their entire eight-person digital team to the sassy WPT Global Twitter/X account.

They then discuss the implications of using comps to pay for a date, WPT champ Scott Stewart claiming two WSOPC rings in short order, and Faraz Jaka shipping an MSPT title. Speaking of the MSPT, which recently surpassed the $200 million mark in awarded prize money, Chad and Kyna are headed to Milwaukee's Potawatomi Casino this weekend to play in the stop's $1,110 Main Event.

The crew also recap the PGT Kickoff Series, which included wins from Kristen Foxen, Masato Yokosawa, and Patrick Leonard, and offer up an opportunity to listeners and fans to win a copy of luxurious The Las Vegas Book, which is valued at $495!

Finally, Chad heads down to the famed Wisconsin poker bar, Player's Bar, where Phil Hellmuth used to play. Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon, who not only owns the bar but was an O.G. online player from back in the day, shares some stories about the bar including how they learned Hellmuth won the 1989 WSOP, players who've played poker in the bar, and much more.

The podcast is sponsored by the #1 free-to-play WSOP app. Remember to use bonus code "POKERNEWS" if you download and play for an extra 1,000,000 in chips!

A new PokerNews Podcast will drop weekly every Friday at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p UK time. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss an episode!

Tell us who you want to hear from. Let us know what you think of the show  tweet about the podcast using #PNPod, and be sure to follow Chad Holloway on X.

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Subscribe to the PokerNews Podcast on Apple Podcasts here! You can also find us on Spotify as well as our new page on SoundCloud!

Check Out Past Episodes of the PN Podcast Here!

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Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, January 30. Kazakhstan and the European Union are strengthening their strategic partnership by continuing negotiations on visa facilitation, Trend reports.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu met with EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Aleshka Simkic.

During the meeting, the parties discussed in detail the current state and prospects of Kazakh-European cooperation. They also reviewed the schedule of planned mutual visits and high-level events for the current year. An exchange of views took place on key issues of the international and regional agenda.

Nurtleu emphasized Kazakhstans commitment to further deepening its strategic partnership with the European Union, highlighting the importance of effectively implementing the agreements reached in priority areas such as trade and investment, transport and logistics, critical raw materials, and digitalization.

Additionally, special attention was given to the issue of visa facilitation for Kazakh citizens traveling to the EU. Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to continuing preparations for negotiations in this area.

For her part, Simkic welcomed the high level of engagement and expressed readiness to continue efforts to develop bilateral relations.

By the close of the meeting, the parties involved decided to keep the lines of communication open regarding important matters of mutual cooperation.

The European Union remains Kazakhstans main trade and investment partner. Trade turnover between the two sides for JanuaryNovember 2024 amounted to $44.2 billion, marking a 17.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Since 2005, European investments in Kazakhstans economy have totaled $180 billion.

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North Augusta reporter

Elizabeth Hustad is a reporter with The Post and Courier North Augusta. She covers government, growth and development, and business.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and previously worked with a Twin Cities weekly. Her work has appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and MinnPost.

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House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, adjourns the House during opening day of the 89th regular session at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Jan. 14, 2025. Juan Figueroa/TNS

An army of automated bots mobilized late last year to attack state Rep. Dustin Burrows on social media as the Lubbock Republican campaigned in a hotly contested race to become the next speaker of the Texas House, according to a data analysis prepared by a Republican social media marketing company and shared with Hearst Newspapers.

The accounts on X blasted Burrows, who went on to win the race, as a RINO, traitor, and Democrat shill, and they promised GOP primary attacks against his supporters.

His main competitor was state Rep. David Cook, a Mansfield Republican who ran as a hardline conservative and promised to sideline Democrats from the policymaking process. Cook was backed by the state party, most of the chambers far-right members and some of the partys most prolific donors.

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The findings by Switchgrass Social offer a new view of the race, in which Burrows was cast by opponents as a member of the Texas House establishment rejected by the grassroots. The bots, as identified by the firm, gave the impression that Republican voters were coming out in droves to protest his candidacy. But instead of committed party activists, the accounts may have simply been lines of code paid for by an outside actor.

Kelly Pietropaoli, the president of Switchgrass Social, said she noticed a large spike in negative comments on Burrows X posts and had her companys data analysts check it out.

From thousands of online accounts, the firm drew a sample of about 900 and analyzed their posts. The marketing firm, which was founded in 2023 and has operated in 17 states, found evidence of widespread single-use behavior where accounts were made and used only to post similar attacks against Burrows, using the same words and phrases over and over in short time frames. Other indicators, Pietropaoli said, included relatively new accounts with huge volumes of posts or accounts based outside Texas that used harsh attack language and then disappeared from the discourse.

There was indication of a seed farm or a bot farm that was trying to fabricate and manipulate conversation around this particular race, she said.

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Online marketing firms, in the U.S. and abroad, can be hired to organize bot attacks to promote political or commercial messages on social media, but its nearly impossible to triangulate who is behind the activity, she said.

People and groups that pay for election-related communications in Texas are required to publicly disclose their activity to the state ethics commission. But the online attacks against Burrows could fall into a grey area because they dont expressly advocate for his election or defeat as speaker  a loophole that allows outside actors in Texas elections to avoid disclosure.

Before Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons impeachment trial in the state Senate, the Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly reported a conservative digital strategy firm was offering $50 for pro-Paxton social media posts. That firm, the outlets reported, was Influenceable LLC, which is run by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and has been allied with Tim Dunn, a West Texas oil billionaire who was a strong financial supporter of both Paxton and Cook.

Switchgrass has not been hired by Burrows or Cook, Pietropaoli said and campaign finance reports show. Neither lawmaker responded to a request for comment on the findings, and no one has been accused of any criminal wrongdoing. Burrows won the speakers race 85 to 55 with support from a coalition of House Democrats and Republicans.

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Different researchers have provided different estimates of how common bots are in political discourse, but one study from Washington University in St. Louis found that bots made up between 25% and 68% of X users, far higher than the social media sites own estimates.

Research does show that the use of bots to promote political messages heats up around election times, and with the widespread availability of artificial intelligence chatbot technology, the methods are growing ever more sophisticated, said Soumendra Lahiri, the WashU mathematics professor who conducted the research.
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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.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group provided 314 million euros in financing for Hungary in 2024, supporting rail modernization, energy infrastructure, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Trend reports.

The funding reflects the EIB Groups commitment to fostering economic growth and sustainability in Hungary, with investments spanning transportation, power grids, and business development.

The largest project backed by the EIB was a 160 million euro loan to regional railway operator GYSEV, aimed at upgrading infrastructure and replacing old diesel trains with new electric models. This initiative will enhance rail connections between Hungary and Austria, modernize the national network, and improve travel efficiency while reducing emissions.

Additionally, the EIB provided 90 million euros to energy firms E.ON and MAVIR to expand power grids, ensuring stable electricity supply for key industrial sites, including electric vehicle production facilities. This investment supports Hungarys role in the EUs push for strategic industrial autonomy.

Hungarian SMEs also benefited from 64 million euros in EIB Group financing, reinforcing their role as a key driver of employment and economic stability.

With over 25 billion euros invested in Hungary since 1991, the EIB remains a reliable partner in driving sustainable growth, said EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwinska. Our 2024 results demonstrate our commitment to strengthening Hungarys economy while advancing EU priorities.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State has appealed to the 2023 Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in the state, Chijioke Edeoga, to rejoin the PDP.

The Chairperson of the PDP in Enugu State, Martin Chukwunweike, made the appeal when he led other executive members of the party to the residence of Mr Edeoga in Enugu on Friday

Mr Edeoga joined the LP in August 2022 after he failed to secure the PDP governorship ticket ahead of the 2023 election which was won by Peter Mbah, who eventually emerged governor.

The LP candidate came second in the general election.

He is expected to challenge Mr Mbah again in the forthcoming 2027 governorship election in the state.

Why we want Edeoga back to PDP

Speaking to reporters after their closed-door meeting, Mr Chukwunweike explained that the visit to Mr Edeogas residence was part of PDPs plan to reunite with members who exited the party.

The chairperson said he and Governor Mbah held a meeting and agreed that there was a need to ensure that Enugu remains a PDP state.

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We took the decision to consult some of our very key people, who have been PDP all along. And number one is the person we are in his house now, His Excellency, Chijioke Edeoga.

Chijioke Edeoga has gone to the House of Representatives under PDP; when we discussed, he told me plainly that he owes a lot to PDP, he has become a lot because of PDP; he has been in the state executive of PDP, and a lot of other things, Mr Chukwunweike stated.

Continuing, he said: It was painful to me to come and be acting as PDP chairman without him being in PDP.

So, the governor approved that I should go and talk to him and beg him to come back to PDP, because he knows that he is also a force to reckon with in Enugu State politics.

We have spoken, we have had a lot of discussions before now and today, we came to his house with members of my executive and we have discussed with him inside and he is Okay with our visit, he is very satisfied with our visit and I believe from what he told us that we are going to have him back in the party.

The chairperson said the PDP leadership in Enugu understood that Mr Edeoga would need time to consult with followers and supporters before rejoining the party.

Edeoga speaks

Also speaking to reporters, Mr Edeoga said he has been asked to return to the PDP, but he would need to consult with followers and supporters before taking a decision.

I have told them that I will consult; I will consult widely because Im a product of several men of goodwill, men and women of goodwill.

I will have to take back the message of the chairman and his team; I have enormous respect for the team and the chairman, he said.

It is not even in the nature of the Igbo man to hear such a weighty thing and respond immediately. Im going to take it home and I will as quickly as possible get back to the chairman and my position will be known.

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The administrators of Amakaeze Estate in Wuse, Abuja, where Obi Cubanas business, Cubana Group, is located, have refuted claims that he owes rent and was served a quit notice.

The rebuttal follows viral reports across multiple media outlets (not PREMIUM TIMES), alleging that Mr Cubana, an Anambra-born businessman, was issued a seven-day quit notice on Thursday to vacate the premises housing his popular Cubana Lounge in Wuse II, Abuja.

In a statement made available to this newspaper on Friday, the Administrators of Amakaeze Estate claimed Chidiebere Amakaeze, a reverend, said to be the landlord of the lounge property, alleged that Obi Cubana had not paid rent since 2019.

A notice to quit, reportedly issued by Mr Amakaezes solicitors, Prince Ben S. Ikani Esq. and E. I. Nwafor Esq. of Citadel of Justice Law Firm, Abuja, was dated 14 January.

According to them, the notice also demanded that Mr Cubana vacate the premises at Plot 81, Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, alleging that his ten-year lease, which ran from 1 April 2009 to 1 March 2019, had expired.

Not our Tenant

However, the administrators of the Amakaeze Estate clarified that Mr Cubana is not their tenant and that the alleged eviction notice was issued without their consent.

In a statement obtained by this newspaper, signed by Chukwunwem Amakaeze, co-administrator of the estate, on 30 January, the administrators dismissed reports that Cubana defaulted on rent payments and was given a seven-day notice to vacate.

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The attention of the majority administrators of the estate of the late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze has been drawn to a recent publication titled: Obi Cubana Served 7-Day Notice to Vacate Property Over Alleged Unpaid Rent. The property, located at Plot 81 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, is part of the late Michael Nwobi Amakaezes estate the statement read.

The administrators confirmed that Cubana Lounge Ltd, not Obi Cubana, leased the property for ten years from 1 November 2009, with a renewal after expiration in 2019, and that the lease is still valid with no unpaid rent.

Obi Cubana is, therefore, not our tenant in the property or any property belonging to the estate. The validity of this lease and the Letters of Administration dated 16 January 2018 were confirmed by the High Court of the FCT in a judgement delivered on 16 July 2021 in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/1325/20  Cubana Lounge Ltd vs. Rev. Chidi Amakaeze & 5 Others.

We, the estates administrators, have not issued any notice to the company, as its lease remains valid, and it is not owing the estate, the administrators affirmed.

Null approval

The statement accused Mr Amakaeze of issuing a notice to quit to Obi Cubana without the approval of the other administrators and beneficiaries. The estate administrators rejected the notice, asserting it has no legal basis.

Recently, Rev. Chidiebere Amakaeze, who claims to be the sole landlord of the property in defiance of the courts judgement, issued a quit notice to Obinna Iyiegbu on 14 January 2025, demanding that he vacate the premises. This notice was served without the consent of the other co-administrators and beneficiaries of the estate of the late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze.

The administrators, administratrix, and beneficiaries wish to clarify that Obinna Iyiegbu does not owe any rental fees, the statement concluded. The quit notice issued by Rev. Chidiebere Amakaeze is therefore considered invalid, null, and void. It does not represent the position of the other administrators, administratrix, and beneficiaries of the estate of the late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze.

See the rebuttal statement here

BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE STATEMENT BY THE ESTATE ADMINISTRATORS BELOW

OBI CUBANA IS NOT OUR TENANT AND WE DID NOT SERVE HIM ANY NOTICE TO VACATE PROPERTY OVER ALLEGED UNPAID RENT

The attention of the majority administrators of the estate of late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze has been drawn to a recent publication titled: Obi Cubana Served 7-Day Notice to Vacate Property Over Alleged Unpaid Rent, dated January 30, 2025.

We note that the property in question situated at Plot 81 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 11, Abuja, currently occupied by Cubana Lounge LTD, forms part of the estate of late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze. Obi Cubana is therefore not our tenant in the property or any property whosoever belonging to the Estate.

Cubana Lounge LTD was initially granted a ten-year lease, (registered as Number FC136, Page 136, in Volume 32 (MISC) of the Federal Capital Territory Land Registry Office in Abuja. The lease began on November 1, 2009. The lease was renewed for another ten years upon its expiration on October 31, 2019.

The validity of this lease and Letters of Administration dated January 16, 2018, were confirmed by the High Court of the FCT in a judgment delivered on July 16, 2021, in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/1325/20 Cubana Lounge Ltd vs. Rev. Chidi Amakaeze and 5 others. We, the Administrators of the Estate have not issued any notice to the company as its lease is still subsisting, and it is not owing the Estate.

Recently, Rev. Chidiebere Amakaeze, who parades to be the sole landlord of the property in defiance of the judgement of the court, issued notice to quit to Obinna Iyiegbu on January 14, 2025, demanding that he vacates the promises. This notice was served without the consent of the other co-administrators and beneficiaries of the estate of the late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze.

The Administrators/Administratrix and beneficiaries wish to clarify that Obinna Iyiegbu does not owe any rental fees, and the notice to quit as issued by Rev. Chidiebere Amakaeze is therefore considered invalid, null and void, and does not represent the position of the other Administrators/Administratrix and beneficiaries of the estate of late Michael Nwobi Amakaeze.

Signed: Chukwunwem Amakaeze

Co-administrator, Amakaeze Estate

30/01/2025

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The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, has said the US governments decision to halt funding for HIV treatment in developing nations is a wake-up call for self-independence.

Mr Salako, during his visit to the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta in Lagos on Friday, said the government would identify avenues to raise domestic and alternative funds.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order for an immediate 90-day funding halt for all foreign aid, including support for the United States Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The decision by President Trump raised concerns globally, especially in Nigeria where the PEPFAR programme currently covers close to 90 per cent of the treatment for Persons Living with HIV.

However, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on 29 January, announced an emergency humanitarian waiver allowing PEPFAR to continue providing life-saving HIV medications to low-income countries.

Mr Salako said: My own personal opinion on the executive order, which has now been reviewed, is that the level of aid and grants that is available from the US government to support charitable activities in developing worlds like Nigeria is likely to go down.

I believe that its a wake-up call for us to strategise and think the way we do things and ensure that we also are able to exert ourselves and create some level of independence within our system.

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He said to that extent, a series of meetings have been convened, and there is an ongoing discussion with

United Nations bodies, WHO, UNDP, and others that work within the health space.

He said the government is also looking at other avenues to raise domestic and alternative revenue.

For example, our HIV programme, which is heavily supported by the US government. Were looking at crowdfunding to support that, in addition to the government making more funding available, he said.

The minister, however, expressed optimism that the US government would continue to play its role in the global community.

I must say that the world is a global village and what happens in one country easily affects the other country.

America cannot operate in isolation, just like Nigeria cannot operate in isolation, or any other country of the world, for that matter, he said.

So, I believe that reason will prevail and the American government will continue to play the role it ought to play within the global community, he said.

(NAN)

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The Police Service Commission (PSC) Friday approved the retirement of police officers above 60 years old or have spent 35 years in service.

The PSC took the decision at an extraordinary meeting, citing Public Service Rule which provides for the retirement on attainment of 35 years in service or 60 years of age.

A statement by Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations Officer, announcing the decision Friday did not provide any clue of how many officers may be affected.

But the statement said the commission had at its 24th Plenary Meeting of 27 and 28 September 2017 approved that the Force Entrants should have their date of appointment in the Force against the date of their enlistment.

It added, The Commission has passionately revisited their decision and has come to the conclusion that the said decision in its intent and purpose contradicted the principle of merger of service in the Public service and it is in violation of Public Service Rule No 020908 ( i & ii) which provides for retirement on attainment of 35 years in service or 60 years of age.

Accordingly, the Commission at its 1st extra ordinary meeting of the 6th Management Board held today, Friday, 31st January 2025, approved the immediate retirement of those officers who have spent more than 35 years in service and those above 60 years of age, the statement added.

The development implies a complete purge from the police service all age mates of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, who despite crossing 60 in September last year will remain in service.

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Mr Egbetokuns stay in office was made possible by a controversial amendment to the Police Act last year which saw his tenure extended to 2027.

PSCs mass retirement of officers caught by the public service rule came at a time when activist Omoyele Sowores recent social media post describing Mr Egbetokun as an illegal IGP reignited public interest in the controversial circumstances under which the amendment extending his tenure was carried out.

The police on Monday charged Mr Sowore with cybercrimes over his claim.

However, the assertion has gained traction online since Mr Sowores prosecution started, prompting the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Nigerian Police Force to explain the legal basis for extension of Mr Egbetokuns tenure.

The amendment, proposed as an executive bill and passed almost immediately after it was introduced at the National Assembly on 23 July 2023, drew a public uproar with many questioning the motive behind it.

The bill, passed with supersonic speed, scaled second and third readings on the same day, it was introduced at both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both chambers passed the bill that same day.

Read Police Service Commissions full statement below

POLICE SERVICE COMMISSION

PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT

PRESS RELEASE

PSC APPROVES IMMEDIATE RETIREMENT OF SENIOR POLICE OFFICERS ABOVE 60 YEARS/35 YEARS IN SERVICE

The Police Service Commission rose from its first extraordinary Meeting with the approval for the immediate retirement of senior Police Officers who have spent more than 35 years in service and those above 60 years of age.

The Commission at its 24th Plenary Meeting of 27th and 28th September 2017 had approved that the Force Entrants should have their date of appointment in the Force against the date of their enlistment.

The Commission has passionately revisited their decision and has come to the conclusion that the said decision in its intent and purpose contradicted the principle of merger of service in the Public service and it is in violation of

Public Service Rule No 020908 ( i & ii) which provides for retirement on attainment of 35 years in service or 60 years of age.

Accordingly, the Commission at its 1st extra ordinary meeting of the 6th Management Board held today, Friday, 31st January 2025, approved the immediate retirement of those officers who have spent more than 35 years in service and those above 60 years of age.

The Commission Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu, rtd, mni, presided over the extraordinary Meeting and had Justice Adamu Paul Galumje, retired Justice of the Supreme Court and Hon Commissioner representing the Judiciary; DIG Taiwo Lakanu rtd, fdc, Honourable Commissioner representing the Police and Chief Onyemuchi Nnamani, Secretary to the Commission in attendance.

The Commissions decision has been conveyed to the Inspector General of Police for implementation.

Ikechukwu Ani

Head, Press and Public Relations

Friday, January 31st 2025

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The PDP Governors Forum has declared their backing for Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the partys national secretary amid legal battles.

The governors took the decision at their first 2025 monthly meeting held on Friday in Asaba, Delta State, south-south Nigeria.

There has been an intense contest about who is the authentic national secretary of the PDP, between Samuel Anyanwu and a former PDP National Youth Leader, Mr Ude-Okoye.

The matter is currently being argued at various courts, including Nigerias Supreme Court.

Implement court decision

Aside from other court judgements, the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, in December, upheld a High Courts ruling that Mr Ude-Okoye be recognised as the national secretary of the PDP against Mr Anyanwu.

In a communique issued at the end of their meeting on Friday, the PDP governors said they have passed a resolution backing the court of appeal judgment which pronounced Mr Ude-Okoye as the authentic national secretary of the party.

They advised the partys National Working Committee (NWC) to implement the court decision accordingly.

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They further asked the NWC to reschedule the partys National Executive Council meeting to 13 March 2025 from its initial February date.

In attendance at the meeting were the Chairperson of the Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State.

Others were Governor Diri Duoye of Bayelsa State, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Governor Muftwang of Plateau State, Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State, Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, and the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Bayo Lawal.

Revisit your economic policies

The Governor of Bauchi State and Chairperson of the PDP Governors Forum, Bala Mohammed, read out the communique at the meeting.

Mr Mohammed, while reading the communique, said the economic policies of President Bola Tinubus administration had caused untold hardship for Nigerians.

The Forum calls on the federal government to either revisit or rejig its macroeconomic policies to ameliorate and stop the hardship and pains that they have inflicted on Nigerians as no meaningful or impactful achievements in the states will be achieved until the harsh policies are addressed, he said.

He urged Nigerians not to despair over the hardship in Nigeria, assuring that the problem would be fixed as soon the PDP returns to power.

The chairperson also decried resurgence of non-state actors in Nigeria and asked Mr Tinubu to strengthen the countrys security architecture.

Background on national secretary squabble

Mr Anyanwu, the substantive occupant of the position, stepped aside to contest in the 11 November 2023 Imo State governorship election on the PDP platform but lost to the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress.

He did not, however, submit a letter of resignation for the national secretary position of the party.

Meanwhile, in October 2023, some weeks before the Imo election, the leadership of the PDP in the South-east nominated Mr Ude-Okoye to replace Mr Anyanwu as the partys national secretary.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the position of the national secretary was zoned to the South-east by the PDP in 2021 ahead of the partys national convention on 30 October of that year.

In the heat of the debate, a High Court in Enugu State, in October 2023, ordered the PDP to replace Mr Anyanwu as the partys national secretary with Mr Ude-Okoye. The suit was filed by the former PDP national youth leader.

The PDPs NWC had countered the order in a motion filed on 24 October 2023.

In the motion, the NWC asked the court to set aside the order, arguing that it was obtained by fraud and suppression of material facts and also faulted the order for not being specific as to what position Mr Udeh-Okoye should fill.

In another twist, earlier in January 2024, a Federal High Court in Abuja declared Mr Anyanwu as the valid national secretary of the PDP.

The judge, Inyang Ekwo, also restrained the national leadership of the PDP from appointing any person as its acting national secretary until the expiration of Mr Anyanwus four-year tenure on 9 December 2025, as enshrined in the partys constitution.

In December, the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, upheld the High Courts ruling that Mr Ude-Okoye, a former national youth leader, be recognised as the national secretary of the PDP against Mr Anyanwu.

In the lead judgement by Ridwan Abdullahi, the appellate court said Mr Anyanwus claim to the position after he contested and emerged as the PDP governorship election in Imo State violated the partys constitution, and his appeal had no merit.

Despite the judgement, Mr Anyanwu refused to vacate office and appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court.

Mr Ude-Okoye, on his part, assumed duty on 30 December on the strength of the judgement.

However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in January 2025, ordered both parties to maintain status quo until the Supreme Court resolves the appeal.

Messrs Udeh-Okoye and Anyanwu interpreted the court order differently.

Mr Ude-Okoye believes that the status quo means that he should continue to function as the PDP national secretary as pronounced by the court of appeal.

Mr Anyanwu, on his part, argued that the courts status quo order amounted to a stay of execution of the court of appeal judgment affirming Mr Ude-Okoye as national secretary.

READ ALSO: PDP asks Labour Party governorship candidate to rejoin party

Recently, the PDP national spokesperson, Debo Ologunagba and his Deputy, Ibrahim Abdullahi, countered as to who is the authentic national secretary.

Mr Ologunagba recognised Mr Ude-Okoye as the PDP national secretary, citing the Enugus court of appeal judgment.

But Mr Abdullahi countered him and affirmed Mr Anyanwu as the rightful national secretary of the party, relying on the order by the High Court in Abuja.

Last Friday, the PDP leadership in the South-east zone again restated its support for Mr Ude-Okoye as the partys national secretary.

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An Ikeja High Court on Thursday adjourned till March 20 to hear a plea bargain agreement filed by the convicted kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (alias Evans).

Justice Adenike Coker adjourned the case after Evans and his co-defendant, Joseph Emeka, were re-arraigned.

The duo were re-arraigned on an amended five-count charge bordering on murder, attempt to murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

They pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

The State Counsel, Yusuf Sule, who informed the court that the case was starting de-novo, prayed for further remand of the defendants.

He also informed the court that the defendants had applied for plea bargain through their counsel.

Evans counsel, Emefo Etudo, and his co-defendants counsel, Catherine Udeh, did not object to the remand application.

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Mr Etudo said Evans was received education while in custody.

We are not really defence counsel. We were asked to come and plead for date.

Our primary concern is to pursue the plea bargain application with the Lagos State Government on behalf of the defendants.

The Federal Government has given the first defendant a second chance by awarding him a scholarship.

Evans bagged NCE, and his ambition is to take up a PHD.

If Evans is given a second chance, he will not missuse it, Mr Etudo said.

The counsel said with his new certificate, Evans is now a qualified teacher.

The prosecution responded that it was left for the committee on plea bargain to look into the application.

Justice Coker acknowledged the receipt of Evans plea bargain application.

She said the defence counsel gave his client a good advice by seeking plea bargain over his outstanding cases.

Justice Coker, thereafter, adjourned the case until March 20 for report on the plea bargain application.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court had on 21 Nov. 2024 said that the Lagos State Office of Public Defender (OPD) might represent Evans due to the absence of his counsel on several adjourned dates.

NAN also reports that the prosecution had on May 11, 2024, informed the court that the defendants had applied for plea bargain agreement.

The prosecutor, however, said the plea bargain terms were been considered by the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Lawal Pedro (SAN).

Evans has already been convicted and jailed for extensive kidnap activities.

In February 2022, an Ikeja High Court Judge, Hakeem Oshodi, sentenced him to life imprisonment for the kidnap of Donatus Dunu, the chief executive officer of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

In September 2022, another judge of the court, Oluwatoyin Taiwo (now retired), sentenced Evans to 21 years imprisonment for kidnapping a businessman, Slyvanus Ahamonu, and collecting $420,000 as ransom from his family.

Evans is still standing trial in two other kidnapping cases.

(NAN)

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The remains of the late Sarkin Yakin Zazzau (Leader of infantry), Rilwan Pate, were buried on Thursday at the Rimin Gado Cemetery in Zaria amid tears and tributes from sympathisers.

Mr Pate passed away on Thursday after slumping at an event in Zaria attended by the Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Bamalli.

According to a statement by the emirate spokesperson, Aliyu Kwarbai, on Thursday, Mr Pate was rushed to the Gambo Sawaba Hospital where he was confirmed dead.

Mr Pate also served as the councillor in charge of Health-Related Matters.

Mr Bamalli described the deceased as a hardworking, dedicated, and devout individual whose loss would be deeply felt within the emirate.

ALSO READ: Zaria flood victims cry for help as authorities assess damages

The Emir prayed for the soul of the departed to find eternal peace.

Mourners flocked to his residence on Thursday to offer condolences to his grieving family.

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Among the early visitors was Mohammed Shehu, chairman of Kubau Local Government.

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Abuja-based private university, Baze University has appointed a new set of leaders to drive the universitys next innovation stage in an increasingly sophisticated world of knowledge production, impartation and sharing, the institution said in a statement Thursday.

Chancellor and founder of the University, Distinguished Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, announced at a media briefing after the 37th University Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting that veteran educationalist, administrator, and scholar, Professor Jamila Shuara will be the new University Vice-Chancellor for a five-year tenure.

He also announced Professor Abiodun Adeniyi as the new registrar, while Dr. Dogo Mohammed Waziri was reappointed as Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Baze University Hospital.

Until her appointment, Professor Jamila Shuara was the university registrar after her experiences as University Director of Strategy and Director of Academic Planning. A distinguished academic, administrator, and public servant with extensive experience in education and governance, she holds degrees in Consumer Sciences from Howard University, USA, and Bayero University, Kano.

She earned multiple academic distinctions at Howard, including a tuition-free scholarship and placement on the Deans List. She is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management and the Home Economics Professionals Association of Nigeria (HEPAN).

She has several books, journal articles, and technical reports to her credit. She commenced public service as a lecturer and rose through academic ranks to the terminal post of chief lecturer in the Nigerian Colleges of Education system, and held administrative positions of head of department, dean, deputy provost, and provost of a Federal College of Education.

She contributed to academic quality assurance as a resource person for the NCCE. She later played key roles in national education policies, led the Teachers Registration Council, and managed the FME/World Bank/UBEP II project. She led reforms in education, aviation, and petroleum ministries as Federal Permanent Secretary from 2012 to 2017.

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Professor Abiodun Adeniyi is a distinguished academic, journalist, and communications expert with extensive experience in media, consultancy, and educational management. He earned his first degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and won the British Chevening Scholarship in 2003 to study International Communications at the University of Leeds, UK. His doctoral research, a pioneering study on Internet and Diasporic Communication was among the first African-centred dissertations published by the University of Leeds under the joint Etheses Project.

After earning his PhD in 2008, he served as a Communications Consultant for the World Bank at Nigerias Bureau of Public Procurement. He later founded Witswords Consults before transitioning to academia at Baze University. From 2016 to 2023, he headed the Mass Communication Department, becoming associate professor in 2018 and full professor in 2021. He was until this appointment the Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies.

Dr. Waziri will continue leading Baze University Hospital, a beacon of excellence in healthcare and a true testament to Baze University Abujas commitment to advancing medical education and providing top-notch medical services to our nation.

He is a notable healthcare administrator and policy expert recognised for his pivotal role in advancing Nigerias National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). As the former Executive Secretary of NHIS, he laid a solid foundation for the schemes effective implementation and expanded health insurance coverage beyond civil servants to a broader segment of the Nigerian population. President Goodluck Jonathans administration acknowledged his efforts as a key achievement.

Despite strong ministerial recommendations for a second term, Dr. Waziris tenure was unexpectedly cut short in February 2012. However, his expertise in health insurance policy and management continues to be acknowledged internationally. In June 2012, he was named a Congress Ambassador and specially invited to the International Conference on Access to Health Insurance at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The event, convened under the auspices of H.R.H Princess Maxima of the Netherlands and leading global health institutions, brought together top researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss strategies for expanding sustainable health insurance in developing nations.

Dr. Waziri remains a respected voice in health policy and administration, with his contributions shaping discussions on inclusive healthcare financing in Nigeria and beyond.

Speaking on the appointment, the chancellor said Baze University stands at the threshold of a new era, driven by a steadfast commitment to excellence, innovation, and transformative leadership. With the appointment of Professor Jamila Shuara as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun Adeniyi as Registrar, and the reappointment of Dr. Dogo Mohammed Waziri as Chief Medical Director, we are confident that the university is well-positioned to advance its mission of providing world-class education, cutting-edge research, and exceptional healthcare services.

According to him, the new leaders bring extensive academic and administrative expertise and a shared vision for elevating Baze Universitys standing as a leading institution of higher learning in Nigeria and beyond.

Their collective experience, integrity, and dedication to academic distinction, he said, will drive the university towards more significant achievements in knowledge production, global collaboration, and societal impact.

As we embark on this new phase, we reaffirm our commitment to fostering an environment that nurtures intellectual curiosity, innovation, and excellence in service delivery, Mr Baba-Ahmed said.

Baze University remains a beacon of quality education, where students are empowered to think critically, engage meaningfully, and contribute effectively to national and global development. I call on all stakeholders, faculty, students, staff, alums, and partners, to support this new leadership team as we strengthen the foundations of academic excellence and institutional growth. Together, we will not only sustain the legacy of Baze University but also chart a bold and progressive course for the future, filled with hope and optimism.

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Following the ruling of an Osun State High Court of Justice sitting in Ile-Ife, which on Thursday voided the Osun State Government White Paper that approved the removal of Oba Adegboyega Famodun as Owa of Igbajo, Osun State Government says it received the judgement with rude shock and disbelief because the same High Court of Osun State had earlier validated the Osun state White Paper in a judgement of the Osun State High Court, between Rasheed Diekola Toogun and four others versus Governor of Osun State and Others in HOS/8/2024 delivered by Agboola J of the Osun State High Court dated 11 November 2024.

Having reviewed the two contradicting decisions of the Osun State High Court vis-a-vis the appeals and other relevant applications that have been filed on them and as a government that respects the Rules of Law, the government has urged all parties to the suit to maintain the status quo until the issue is resolved by the Court of Appeal.

The Osun State Governments position on the ruling was made known today by the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, in a press statement made available to journalists in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

While calling for calm, law and order to prevail in respect of the judgement, Mr Alimi urged the security operatives to maintain law and order in Igbajo so as to prevent the disruption of peace currently being enjoyed in the ancient town.

Part of the Press Statement by Mr Alimi reads;.

We have taken the ruling of the High Court of Justice, Ile Ife, presided over by Justice A.O Ayoola in good faith and in line with the dictates of the law which the present administration of His Excellency, Senator Ademola Adeleke believes in and is always ready to uphold at all times.

Be that as it may, the Osun State Government and other parties to the suit have the right of appeal in this regard and all necessary papers have been filled accordingly.

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In the interim, we are using this opportunity to appeal for calm and restraint, especially from all stakeholders.

We are particularly calling on the people of Igbajo irrespective of where the course of justice swings to, to embrace order and decorum by maintaining law and order in respect of the present development in the ancient town.

READ ALSO: Court reinstates Osun traditional ruler removed by Governor Adeleke

It will be out of place and in sharp contrast to the peaceful atmosphere reigning in Igbajo community and Osun State at large for people to take laws into their hands.

Government will frown at any act of lawlessness from any quarter in and outside the ancient town, the statement noted.

E-Signed

Oluomo Kolapo Alimi

Hon.Commissioner

Information and Public Enlightenment

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The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has stepped into the lingering controversy over the tenure of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun,

Mr Fagbemi clarified in a statement on Thursday that Mr Egbetokuns continued stay in office is legal contrary to assertions that he should no longer remain in office having attained the retirement age of 60.

The clarification came amid prosecution of rights activist Omoyele Sowore by the police for referring to Mr Egbetokun as an illegal IGP.

The attorney-general, who was apparently responding to Mr Sowores claim, which was fast gaining traction since his prosecution began, admitted that Mr Egbetokun ought to have left office in September 2024 when he attained 60 years but for an amendment to the Police Act.

Mr Fagbemi said the amendment secured a four-year tenure for the occupant of the IGP office.

The appointment of Egbetokun which took effect from 31st day of October 2023 would have come to an end on his attainment of 60 years of age on 4th day of September 2024, Mr Fagbemi wrote in a statement on Thursday.

He added, However, before his retirement age, the Police Act was amended to allow the occupant of the office to remain and complete the original four-year term granted under Section 7 (6) of the Act, notwithstanding the fact that he has attained the age of 60 years.

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The referenced section 7(6) of the Act states that any person appointed to the office of the Inspector-General of Police shall hold office for four years.

Controversies

The amendment, proposed as an executive bill and passed almost immediately after it was introduced at the National Assembly on 23 July 2023, drew a public uproar with many questioning the motive behind it.

The bill, passed with supersonic speed, scaled second and third readings on the same day, it was introduced at both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both chambers passed the bill that same day.

It created a new Section 18(8A) of the Police Act that gave IGPs special civil service rights and enforced section 7(6) of the Act.

In the principal Act, Section 18(8) states: Every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for a period of 35 years or until he attains the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.

But the newly introduced section stated, Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (8) of this section, any person appointed to the office of Inspector General of Police shall remain in office until the end of the term stipulated in the letter of appointment in line with the provisions of Section 7(6) of this Act.

According to the presidency which sponsored the bill, the amendment aimed to guarantee the tenure of the IGP and revolutionise police operations by enhancing accountability, modernising policing methods and fostering a more harmonious relationship between the police and the community.

But many Nigerians criticised the amendment.

The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) said the overzealousness of lawmakers in passing the bill to amend the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, was to accommodate sit tightism of Mr Kayode Egbetokun in office.

The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies similarly criticised the amendment, arguing that it defeated the objectives of the current 35-year service limit or 60-year retirement age.

The group added that extending service terms might not improve morale, performance, and job satisfaction in the police force.

Many have yet to come to terms with Mr Egbetokuns extended tenure, with Mr Sowore recently referring to him as an illegal IGP.

The police had charged Mr Sowore with cybercrimes at the Federal High Court in Abuja for posting the comment on social media.

Mr Sowore was arraigned on Wednesday, when he pleaded not guilty to 17 cybercrime counts. The court granted him bail on Thursday.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Maxwell Okpara, also sued the federal government at the Federal High Court in Abuja over the matter.

In his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/342/2024 filed in September 2024, Mr Okpara contended that Mr Egbetokun, who was born on 4 September 1964, clocked the mandatory retirement age of 60 in 2024, according to the Public Service Rule, and was expected to have left office. The matter is ongoing yet to be decided on by the court.

Egbetokuns tenure legal  AGF, Nigerian police

The AGF said Thursday that the amended Police Act has therefore, statutorily extended the tenure of office of Egbetokun to and including 31st day of October, 2027 in order to complete the four year tenure granted to him (Egbetokun).

The Nigerian police, similarly, defended Mr Egbetokuns stay in office on Thursday,

Also responding to Mr Sowores claim, force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement that the appointment of Mr Egbetokun was legal and was confirmed by the Police Council.

The Nigeria Police Force hereby refutes, in clear and unequivocal terms, the baseless and misleading claims recently attributed to Mr. Omoyele Sowore, alleging that the tenure of the IGP is illegal, Adejobi said, adding that Such claims are entirely unfounded and seek to undermine the legitimacy of the IGPs appointment as well as public confidence in the Nigeria Police.

The police spokesperson further stated that Mr Egbetokuns appointment is grounded in law, specifically Part III, Section 7(6) of the Police Act, 2020 (as amended), which states that any person appointed to the office of the Inspector-General of Police shall hold office for four years.

Mr Adejobi also argued that the IGPs appointment was duly ratified by the Police Council, and he has received the requisite confirmation letter from the Presidency, validating his tenure from 31 October, 2023, to 31 October, 2027, in line with the provisions of Section 8A of the executive bill passed, which amended the Police Act.

He argued that the amendment of the Police Act aims to provide stability and continuity in the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, enabling the IGP to implement long-term plans and policies without fear of abrupt termination. This change is expected to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the police force in maintaining law and order in the country.

Adejobi urged the public to disregard Mr Sowores claims, alleging that his assertions were aimed at turning the public against the IG.

It is crucial for members of the public to be aware that IGP Egbetokuns status as the 22nd Indigenous Inspector-General of Police is both legally and procedurally sound, he stated.

He added, The Nigeria Police Force views Mr Sowores unfounded assertions as an attempt to erode public trust and foster confusion regarding the forces leadership. Dissemination of inaccurate information, particularly about the IGPs standing, has the potential to compromise the security framework of our nation and impede our collective efforts to ensure peace and order.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. In 2024, the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group ramped up its support for Germany, approving over 9.6 billion euros in financing to boost competitiveness and innovation across key sectors, Trend reports.

This marks the EIBs largest financing volume in Germany in 15 years and the second-largest in its history. The funds supported investments totaling 49 billion euros, unlocking five times the value of the EIBs contribution.

EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer highlighted that these investments aim to strengthen Germanys economic future by supporting businesses in adopting renewable energy, cutting energy consumption, and fostering technological innovation. The financing focused on expanding critical infrastructure for both the digital and green transitions.

Key projects included a 425 million euro loan to ZF for developing new braking systems for semi-autonomous vehicles and up to 800 million euros for Bayers research into new treatments for cardiology and cancer. These initiatives helped mobilize private equity, demonstrating the EIBs role in attracting further investment.

In 2024, the EIB Group also expanded its support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), helping over 10,000 businesses and securing 390,000 jobs. The EIB and its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund (EIF), worked with partner banks to create portfolios that facilitated financing for climate action and innovation, including a 200 million euro guarantee for IKBs loan portfolio.

Digitalisation efforts included funding fibre-optic network expansions, bringing gigabit internet to over one million households. The EIB also backed startups like Eavor-Loop, a geothermal energy company, and Sunfire, which produces electrolysis systems for green hydrogen.

As part of its climate action strategy, the EIB invested 5.2 billion euros in 2024, with 56% of its total financing directed at climate-related projects. Notable initiatives included a 1.2 billion euro investment in RWEs offshore wind farm and 2 billion euros in wind energy loans alongside Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

The EIB also provided significant funding for municipal infrastructure projects, including a 400 million euro loan for modernising electricity grids in Thuringia, as well as 1 billion for new trains in Cologne. Additionally, the EIB supported affordable housing projects and sustainable housing solutions, such as prefabricated wooden apartments in Berlin.

With these efforts, the EIB Group continues to play a pivotal role in strengthening Germanys economy and supporting its green and digital transitions.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has postponed the commencement of registration for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) earlier scheduled to begin today, Friday 31 January.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, the board said the registration will commence on Monday, 3 February.

JAMB said the postponement became necessary to allow the board implement essential adjustments to its registration templates.

It added that it is further scrutinising some Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres after discovering that they had used deceptive facilities to be approved.

These adjustments come in light of the recent suspension of certain law programmes at selected universities, as submitted to the Board by the Council for Legal Education, the statement reads in part.

The board acknowledges the disruption this may cause to candidates and other stakeholders and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience.

Suspension of Law in selected universities

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that JAMB will not be conducting admissions for the the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) programme in eight universities for the 2025/2026 academic session.

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JAMB said the decision followed the suspension of the law programmes in the institutions by the Council of Legal Education (CLE), the highest decision making body for legal education in Nigeria.

The affected institutions are Kwara State University, Malete, Ilorin, Kwara State; Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State; Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State; Western Delta University, Oghara, Delta State; and Taraba State University, Jalingo, Taraba State.

Others include Arthur Jarvis University, Akpabuyo, Cross River State; Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State; and Nigerian Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State.

UTME 2025

JAMB conducts the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) which serves as the entrance examination for candidates seeking admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The board also houses the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) through which all the tertiary institutions offer their admissions to candidates.

Around 1.5 million candidates are expected to register for the UTME when registration begins.

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Delta North Senator Ned Nwoko has officially resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

His resignation was contained in a letter dated 30 January and addressed to the chairman of the PDP in his ward, Ward 8, Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state.

He did not, however, announce the party he would join.

Speculations about Mr Nwokos exit from the party had been on for weeks following allegations of a strained relationship between him and the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Mr Okowa was the Delta North senator between 2011 and 2015.

There were speculations that Mr Oborevwori had sidelined Mr Nwoko and his constituency to advance the interests of the governors political godfather, Mr Okowa.

The senators supporters accused the state government of neglecting Delta North while prioritising projects and appointments aligned with Mr Okowas political influence.

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However, in the resignation letter, Mr Nwoko cited divisions among leaders of the PDP and Wednesdays violence that erupted during the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting over the battle for the national secretary position as his major reasons for leaving the party.

During the meeting, there was a heated argument between the embattled National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye, a former national youth leader of the party over the secretary position.

The altercation escalated into a physical brawl, with their supporters throwing chairs and objects at each other before security agencies intervened.

My decision to resign is first and foremost due to the deep divisions and factionalisation within the party. This fragmentation has made it increasingly difficult to foster unity and advance the collective interests of our people.

Just this week, precisely on the 29th of January, the top party functionaries degenerated to the lowest levels by physically fighting themselves arising from the stated factions, which have become irreconcilable, Mr Nwoko said.

With his resignation, the number of serving PDP senators has reduced to 33.

Although Mr Nwoko, a former member of the House of Representatives, has not formally announced the party to which he is defecting, there are indications that he will join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

When the Senate resumes plenary on Tuesday, the senator is expected to formally brief his colleagues about his defection on the floor.

Distraction

In the resignation letter, Mr Nwoko said the internal crisis distracts him from delivering his campaign promises to his constituents.

I also deeply appreciate the platform the PDP provided me to contest the 2022/2023 senatorial election. It was an opportunity that allowed me to engage directly with the people of my constituency and present my vision for a brighter future:

However, during my campaign, I made solemn and actionable promises to my constituents-commitments I take seriously as a servant of the people. Regrettably, the current structure of the party in our state has not been conducive to realising these promises. After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that stepping away from the party is necessary to fulfill my obligations to my people, he said.

The lawmaker, however, reassured his supporters of his continued commitment to the progress and development of Delta North and Nigeria at large.

While I bid farewell to my membership in the PDP, I assure all party members and my constituents of my unwavering dedication to statesmanship, unity, and the advancement of Delta North.

My decision is rooted in the best interest of those I serve, and I remain committed to the progress and prosperity of our state and nation, he stated.

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The Nigerian government has announced plans to commence domestic production of HIV commodities, including test kits and anti-retroviral drugs, before the end of 2025.

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Temitope Ilori, disclosed this on Friday in Ilorin during the inauguration of the Kwara Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and Paediatrics ART Acceleration Committee.

Ms Ilori explained that the initiative was part of the governments broader efforts to eliminate AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Other measures being implemented include enrolling individuals in the National Health Insurance Scheme, mobilising resources for states, enhancing advocacy campaigns, and supporting research into HIV vaccines.

She noted that establishing the committee was aimed at achieving an AIDS-free generation and ensuring a sustainable HIV response.

UNAIDS 2023 reports indicate that approximately 140,000 children aged 0-14 are living with HIV, with 22,000 new infections and 15,000 AIDS-related deaths occurring annually. Despite progress, PMTCT and paediatric HIV coverage remains below 33 per cent far from the 95 per cent target, she said.

To address this, the Global Alliance Action Plan to End AIDS in Children was developed in 2021 with full financial support, yet coverage remains suboptimal, she said.

She also highlighted that although Kwaras HIV prevalence rate of 0.8 per cent is below the national average of 1.4 per cent, significant disparities remain.

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She said women are disproportionately affected, with a prevalence of 1.3 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent in men.

She added that some local governments still require targeted interventions to reduce prevalence further.

Achieving an AIDS-free generation is within reach and no child should be born HIV-positive in Kwara State, she said.

She urges all partners to support the government in developing a comprehensive line-list of children of HIV-positive clients which is crucial to accelerating paediatric ART nationwide.

Ms Ilori noted that the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, had established a National Acceleration Committee, and the model is being replicated at the state level to eliminate mother-to-child transmission and enhance real-time monitoring of HIV programmes.

She highlighted the need for government-led sustainability efforts to address governments continued reliance on donor support.

Over the past few days, I have received numerous calls regarding the implications of the 90-day foreign aid suspension on our HIV programme. While we are relieved that HIV services remain exempt, this situation underscores the need for government-led sustainability efforts, she said.

She said government approaches include integrating HIV services into the national health system and strengthening government-mandated structures.

Ms Ilori added that other measures included partners providing technical assistance as well as ensuring timely release of state and local government funds for HIV programmes.

She said government was also developing sustainable non-health components of the response and empowering civil society to serve as advocates and community service providers.

READ ALSO: Nigeria set to strengthen domestic HIV response amid US funding uncertainty

The Deputy Governor of Kwara State, Kayode Alabi, gave an assurance that the state government would ensure the committee achieved its mandate.

Mr Alabi, who is the Chairman of Kwara State AIDS Control Agency, said MTCT of HIV would be a thing of the past with the committee in place.

(NAN)

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The desired outcome for Nigeria is a change of gear in which the governing class wakes up to its sense of enlightened self-interest and takes the war against corruption seriously, so that public resources could henceforth be used for the public good. This would create a new situation in which respect for democratic principles and practices return and confidence in the system grows. Fat chance this would happen.

This week, under the leadership of the Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, civil society groups and some development partners convened a conference attended by leading politicians, pro-democracy activists and academics, to address rising threats to the democratic order and the role we should play in trying to sustain it. Also, this week, three ECOWAS countries  Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso  left ECOWAS because of its opposition to the coup they had implemented to overthrow the democratic regimes in their countries, replacing them with authoritarian military rule that have been attacking and subverting the utility of democracy in our region.

At the global level, extreme right-wing parties committed to undermining democracy and supporting authoritarian and arbitrary rule are coming into power, and the emergence of Donald Trump as the American president is boosting their prospects of generating support for their agenda of undermining democracy and supporting fascism.

In Nigeria, as political parties and citizens prepare for the 2027 elections, concerns are growing about rising evidence that democratic norms are being undermined and processes subverted. The spirit of the conference was that democracy needs believers and defenders and the time has come for them to begin serious mobilisation to ensure that democracy survives. One of the most concerning issues about the threat to democracy is the significant increase in electoral fraud. How many times have we seen cases of returning officers forced to declare fake election results at gun point and the judiciary has validated the criminal action.

Over the past decade, vote buying has become a major threat to the democratic system, as politicians steal massively from the public purse and use the proceeds to undermine democratic mandates by exploiting mass poverty and depriving citizens the possibility of using their ballots to sanction non-performing elected officials. As they turn the ballot into a vulgar commercial commodity, the edifice of democracy is crumbling as people give four years of power for a tiny amount of money that might not even buy them a full meal.

As they steal more, the political class is getting even more arrogant as it asserts that what money cannot buy, more money can buy. The danger of transforming the vote into a commodity is that citizens become apathetic about democratic processes and box themselves into accepting the reality that the monetary offer is small but is better than nothing. Our responsibility is to get them to understand that using their vote correctly is what can give them a lot of power and begin to transform governance into an activity that improves the welfare of ordinary citizens.

Regular readers of this column would be aware that I often said that from 2011, a positive narrative on Nigerias democracy emerged. There has been a significant improvement in the integrity of our elections and the massive fraud that accompanied the 2003 and 2007 have not recurred. Democratic culture has been developing in a steady, even if uneven, manner and citizens capacity for mandate protection, in particular, have grown considerably.

One of the most serious threats to democracy is that it is becoming clear that many judges are ready and indeed eager to deliver Jankara judgements based on receiving bribes. When justice is for sale to the highest bidder and their contradictory judgements are a constant affront on truth, character and justice, the people can give up hope. This adds to growing political apathy. There is a growing disconnect between the lives of Nigerians and the reality of the political class. The stories Nigerians are talking about today are about their lived reality of deepening poverty, widening inequality, growing insecurity, massive unemployment, poor healthcare and education services. At the same time, Nigerians are also witnessing the coercion of or buying off of the media and the shrinking of the civic space. In other words, Nigerians are being shocked into the realisation that the dividends of democracy are only for the political class and not for the people.

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Regular readers of this column would be aware that I often said that from 2011, a positive narrative on Nigerias democracy emerged. There has been a significant improvement in the integrity of our elections and the massive fraud that accompanied the 2003 and 2007 have not recurred. Democratic culture has been developing in a steady, even if uneven, manner and citizens capacity for mandate protection, in particular, have grown considerably. I often tell this story to young Nigerians and they think I am delusional because they do not see what I see.

Let us not forget that they did not see the 2003 and 2007 elections, so there should be no surprise when they assert categorically that 2023 is the worst election in Nigerias history. In other words, we are unable to write a consensual history of successive elections. The greatest threat to democracy might well be that young Nigerians are unwilling to unable to see that democracy can be sustained.

I have repeatedly made the point that the main challenge to democratic development is the political party system, which has refused to accept the practice of internal party democracy and remains locked into a logic of serving the interests of godfathers and party barons, rather than party members and citizens. The result is that they have, for the most part, jettisoned the popularity principle that pushes parties to seek the most popular candidates to enhance their chances of victory at the polls.

Their non-challant attitude is based on the capacity to determine electoral outcomes through non-democratic means. Victory at the polls is often determined by money, thuggery and the collusion of officials from the electoral management body and/or security agencies. In other words, it is grounded in a deep culture of electoral fraud, which makes nonsense of the vote. This culture has persisted, even when the integrity of the electoral process began to improve in 2011. The main change was that monies previously used to bribe officials were then used to directly bribe the voters themselves.

What is the outlook for democratic resilience in Nigeria over the next decade? Maybe it might not be as bright as it should be. A core challenge has arisen in the form of reckless and rising levels of corruption by the political class, which is making governance impossible. Even the countrys main source of revenue, petroleum, is stolen and Nigeria is finding it difficult to generate sufficient revenue to carry our governmental tasks.

My view is that democracy is, in its essence, a good and resilient system because its a normative system people value for its positive content  political and human rights, civil liberties, participation, equality, rule of law and so on. For this reason, there are always demands for democracy and when countries move away from it, struggles for its return emerge. This is the crux of the matter. What is Nigerias pathway to democratic reform?

What is the outlook for democratic resilience in Nigeria over the next decade? Maybe it might not be as bright as it should be. A core challenge has arisen in the form of reckless and rising levels of corruption by the political class, which is making governance impossible. Even the countrys main source of revenue, petroleum, is stolen and Nigeria is finding it difficult to generate sufficient revenue to carry our governmental tasks. It is getting worse. Increasingly, even the revenue that is available is being stolen by reckless officeholders.

Kleptocracy is making governance impossible, as monies for security, the provision of social services and the construction of infrastructure projects, are stolen and governance is grinding to a halt. At the same time, current economic policies have created an unprecedented cost of living crisis, at the same time that agriculture is becoming impossible due to rural insecurity. There is, therefore, a real risk of popular revolt and system collapse that could dismantle democracy and the political system. This is the outcome that all people of goodwill should play a role in avoiding.

The desired outcome for Nigeria is a change of gear in which the governing class wakes up to its sense of enlightened self-interest and takes the war against corruption seriously, so that public resources could henceforth be used for the public good. This would create a new situation in which respect for democratic principles and practices return and confidence in the system grows. Fat chance this would happen. The alternative is significant mobilisation to carry our electoral reforms that could return the country to the straight and narrow path.

A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.

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Gunmen have abducted the chairperson of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, George Chima.

Mr Chima, a professor, was abducted on Friday from his residence in Okigwe in Imo State, Nigerias South-east.

The chairperson, sources said, was having a meeting with some lecturers from Abia State University, Uturu, in his residence when the hoodlums, numbering about four, attacked him.

The attackers, suspected to be kidnappers, were said to have chased the visitors before abducting the professor.

Okigwe, a local government in Imo State, shares boundaries with Uturu, a community in Abia State.

The two areas are a few miles apart from each other.

Police speak

When contacted on Friday evening, the police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES.

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 Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police in the state has ordered operation to track down the abductors and rescue the victim.

We will catch the kidnappers, he vowed.

READ ALSO: Police seek help to identify corpse of man killed by gunmen

Abduction-for-ransom

Like other states in the South-east, cases of abduction-for-ransom in Imo State have increased in recent times.

Civil servants, business owners, politicians and even students have become targets of such attacks in the state lately.

Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for the latest abduction of Mr Chima, although a separatist group, IPOB, has been blamed for the frequent attacks in the region.

IPOB is seeking the secession of the South-east and some parts of the South-south from Nigeria.

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An Osun High Court in Ile-Ife, on Thursday, reinstated Adegboyega Famodun as the Owa of Igbajo and nullified the state governments revocation of his appointment.

The court overturned the White Paper and Executive Order issued by Governor Ademola Adeleke regarding the Owa of Igbajo chieftaincy title.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Osun State Government released six White Papers in January 2024, following an investigation into various chieftaincy matters in the state.

One of the White Papers nullified the previous selection process of the Owa of Igbajo title, which had led to the emergence of Oba Philip Adegboyega Famodun III.

Mr Famodun was appointed and installed as the Owa of Igbajo by former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola towards the end of his tenure in 2022.

Upon assuming office on 27 November 2022, Mr Adeleke revoked the appointment and set up a committee to review the matter.

The committees findings led to the issuance of an Executive Order that nullified Mr Famoduns installation and called for a fresh selection process.

Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later

However, Mr Famodun challenged the governments decision in court, arguing that his appointment followed due process and should not be revoked.

In her ruling, Justice AO Ayoola declared that the Executive Order and White Paper had no legal standing to annul a validly conducted chieftaincy process.

(NAN)

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Nine early career scientists awarded grants covering basic and translational liver disease research

FAIRFIELD, N.J., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- American Liver Foundation (ALF) is thrilled to announce the recipients of its prestigious 2024 Liver Scholar and Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Awards. These awards are part of ALF's continued commitment to fund groundbreaking liver research and support early-career scientists dedicated to better understanding the biology of the healthy liver, discovering mechanisms of liver diseases, and advancing innovative treatments for liver conditions that affect 100 million Americans.

Our ALF Research Program supported 20 early career scientists and cutting-edge research projects in 2024 for a total of $950,000. We are so pleased to support the future of liver research by funding basic and translational research projects through these two new Liver Scholar awards and seven Post-doctoral Fellowships this year, in addition to the three Liver Scholars who are completing their second year of groundbreaking research for projects we funded in 2023. Our new Pilot Research Awards program also funded eight highly innovative projects in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), and biliary atresia (BA) in 2024.

'We're proud to fund nearly $1 million in research to early career scientists developing solutions for liver diseases." Post this

"We are proud to fund nearly $1 million in support for these exceptional early-career scientists who are developing innovative strategies and solutions through their research that address numerous liver diseases," said Lorraine Stiehl, CEO of the American Liver Foundation. "This year's recipients include talented researchers who are focused on advancing our understanding of liver diseases, from slowing down metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) progression to finding solutions for chronic liver conditions like hepatitis and cirrhosis."

This year's two recipients receiving the 2024 Liver Scholar Awards, which includes $225K in funding over three years, includes:

Seven recipients receiving Postdoctoral Fellowship Research awards totaling $25K per awardee goes to early-career postdoctoral researchers for advanced studies that bridge the gap between basic research and clinical practice. This year's recipients and their supported projects include:

"We applaud these young scientists and believe it's important to provide the critical funding needed to support their groundbreaking research that will further our understanding of liver biology and disease," said Helene Jordan, PhD, ALF's National Senior Director of Research Program Management. "These young scientists could possibly discover pathological mechanisms and therapeutic targets that may lead to solutions and cures that we have needed for decades and would ultimately improve the lives of those affected by liver disease. We look forward to seeing the contributions these scholars and postdocs will make to the scientific community and the liver research field."

The Liver Scholar Award is designed to provide exceptional young investigators committed to pursue a career in liver research with the financial support they need to complete impactful research that can significantly advance the field and allow them to compete for research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, ALF's Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award program continues to foster the next generation of liver researchers by providing a supplementary stipend to promising trainees, allowing them to focus on their cutting-edge investigational work on liver biology and disease and their transition to an independent research career in the liver field. A Grants Review Committee comprised of three co-chairs and 40 other basic researchers and physician scientists, along with a Liver Research Patients Group, reviewed a record number of grant applications. Reviewers followed a rigorous process and scoring guidelines modeled after best practices established by the National Institute of Health.

These grants are made possible through the generous support of ALF donors, partnerships, and ongoing fundraising initiatives. ALF continues to work toward its mission of preventing, treating, and curing liver disease by providing funding for high-impact research, promoting liver health education, and advocating for public policy that addresses the needs of all those affected by liver disease.

For more information about ALF's research award program, visit liverfoundation.org/research. To be notified of future grant announcements, please join our research mailing list.

About the American Liver Foundation

American Liver Foundation (ALF) is a national community of patients, caregivers and medical professionals dedicated to helping people improve their liver health. Providing guidance and life-saving resources, we are a beacon for the 100 million Americans affected by liver disease. We advocate for patients and families, fund medical research and educate the public about liver wellness and disease prevention. We bring people together through our educational programs and events and create a network of support that lasts a lifetime. ALF is the largest organization focused on all liver diseases and the trusted voice for patients and families living with liver disease. For more information visit www.liverfoundation.org or call: 1 800 GO LIVER (800-465-4837).

SOURCE American Liver Foundation
BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 1. In 2024, the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group continued its robust support for high-impact projects across Belgium, contributing to EU policy goals and global climate priorities, Trend reports.

The Group, which includes both the EIB and its subsidiary, the European Investment Fund (EIF), committed nearly 89 billion euros globally, with 51 billion euros directed toward climate and environmental initiatives.

In Belgium, the EIB Group's financing reached approximately 2.06 billion euros, with 146.9 million euros channeled through the EIF. A significant portion, about 81%, was dedicated to climate-related projects. Key investments included upgrades to drinking water infrastructure with De Watergroep in Flanders and financial support for SMEs, mid-sized enterprises, and innovative scale-ups in Wallonia.

The EIB Group's commitment to energy security was evident, with over a third of its funding directed to energy projects. Notably, a 650 million euro loan supported the first phase of Elias Princess Elizabeth Island, which will play a central role in Belgiums renewable energy production and strengthen Europes energy supply.

Healthcare also remained a priority, with a 230 million euro loan for UZ Leuven's health campus, additional support for Antwerps "Ziekenhuis aan de stroom," and backing for Nyxoah, a medical research company focused on obstructive sleep apnoea treatments.

The EIF continued its strong support for Belgium's SMEs, offering guarantees and equity to investment funds. With backing from the European Commissions InvestEU programme, the EIF facilitated growth funds like Smartfin Capital, which focuses on transformative tech scale-ups, and M80 Capital, which is investing in the digital transformation of SMEs.

EIB Group Vice-President Robert de Groot emphasized that the focus will continue to be on projects that improve everyday life, particularly in the areas of energy, affordable housing, and healthcare, while supporting Belgiums thriving biotech sector.
HOUSTON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Karen Eubanks Jackson, Founder /CEO of Sisters Network Inc., (SNI), has been named the recipient of the 2025 Patient Advocate Award by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Conquer Cancer, and the ASCO Foundation. The awards ceremony will be held during the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting from May 30 to June 3, 2025, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, where global leaders in oncology are celebrated for their groundbreaking contributions to cancer care.

"I am beyond proud and honored to be selected to receive the 2025 Patient Advocate Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). For over 30 years, through my work with Sisters Network Inc., I have passionately advocated nationally for Black women to be educated about the Black breast cancer crisis, worked to empower my sisters to take action and be screened and continue to provide the much-needed sisterhood of support through Sisters Network Inc., 25+ affiliate chapters in the United States," said Karen Eubanks Jackson, Founder/CEO, Sisters Network Inc.

Under Jackson's leadership, Sisters Network Inc. has become the nation's only national African American breast cancer survivorship organization, dedicated to raising awareness, providing support, and addressing the critical disparities Black women face in breast cancer care and outcomes. Her pioneering work has touched thousands of lives, empowering women to take charge of their health and access the resources they need to thrive.

"The recipients of this year's Special Awards have made tremendous contributions to the oncology community, advancing progress and improving outcomes for people with cancer around the world," said Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, past president of ASCO and chair of the Joint Special Awards Selection Committee. "We are delighted to recognize their extraordinary achievements with ASCO's highest honors."

"Receiving ASCO's highest honors further validates the important work of Sisters Network Inc. and reinvigorates me to continue on my life mission to advocate for Black women to beat the breast cancer odds," Jackson added.

Jackson will join esteemed group of the 2025 ASCO Special Award honorees, including:

Karen E. Knudsen , PhD, MBA- Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award

, PhD, MBA- Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award Susan M. Domchek, MD, FASCO-ASCO American Cancer Society Prevention Award

Heidi Klepin, MD, MS-BJ Kennedy Award for Geriatric Oncology Endowed by Tony and Carrie Cheung

Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, FASCO- David Karnofsky Science of Oncology Award

Don S. Dizon , MD, FACP, FASCO-Excellence in Equity Award Endowed by the American Cancer Society

, MD, FACP, FASCO-Excellence in Equity Award Endowed by the American Cancer Society Ian E. Krop , MD, PhD- Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award

, MD, PhD- Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award Barbara L. McAneny , MD, MACP, FASCO  Humanitarian Award

, MD, MACP, FASCO  Humanitarian Award Christopher Flowers , MD, MS, FASCO  Jamie Von Roenn Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship Award

, MD, MS, FASCO  Jamie Von Roenn Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship Award Melissa Hudson , MD, FASCO  Pediatric Oncology Award

, MD, FASCO  Pediatric Oncology Award Karen M. Mustian, PhD  Walther Cancer Foundation Supportive Oncology Award

ABOUT SISTERS NETWORK INC.

Sisters Network Inc. was founded in 1994 by Karen Eubanks Jackson, a 31-year, and 4-time breast cancer survivor. Today, SNI is the largest and only national Black breast cancer survivorship organization in the United States and a leading voice in the fight against breast cancer in the Black community. Sisters Network Inc. National headquarters is in Houston, Texas. The organization has over 25+ survivor-run affiliate chapters nationwide located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For more information visit www.sistersnetworkinc.org.

ABOUT ASCO

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world's leading professional organization for physicians and oncology professionals who care for people with cancer. Founded in 1964, ASCO is committed to conquering cancer through research, education, and promotion of the highest quality patient care. Through its Conquer Cancer Foundation, ASCO funds groundbreaking research and initiatives to advance cancer care and improve outcomes for patients worldwide. For more information, visit www.asco.org.

SOURCE SISTERS NETWORK, INC.
Leading Home Service Franchise Group Continues to Expand Across the U.S. in Record Numbers

COLUMBIA, Md., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Authority Brands, a franchise industry leader with an extensive portfolio of home service brands, announced today it added a total of 210 new franchise owners in 2024, an 11 percent year over year increase to grow the company's presence across 322 new territories. These results follow an impressive 2023 where Authority Brands saw a 60 percent increase in new franchise locations. This strong expansion solidifies the company's resilience across essential industries that homeowners and businesses are relying on to help them maintain and improve the quality of their lives with essential home services.

"We're ecstatic to expand the Authority Brands family with over 200 new franchise owners in 2024," said Jordan Wilson, Chief Development Officer at Authority Brands. "This milestone is a testament to the strength of our franchise development efforts, the resilience of our franchise models, and the commitment of our franchise owners and support teams. Looking ahead, we're confident this growth positions us to further enhance our offerings, expand our reach, and support our franchise community in new and exciting ways as we head into 2025."

Jordan Wilson, who joined Authority Brands as Senior Vice President of Franchise Development in 2023, was just named Chief Development Officer as the brand looks to continue its strong momentum into 2025. Over the past two years with the company, Jordan has consistently achieved impressive growth for the franchise development team and now looks to continue that trend with a larger role this year.

2024 highlights and milestones from companies within the Authority Brands portfolio include:

America's Swimming Pool Company added 12 new franchise owners across 26 new markets, continuing to expand its reliable pool cleaning, installation and repair services across the country.

added 12 new franchise owners across 26 new markets, continuing to expand its reliable pool cleaning, installation and repair services across the country. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing saw steady territory growth in 2024 with 16 new franchise owners and 31 new territories added for one of the leading providers of nationwide residential plumbing services.

saw steady territory growth in 2024 with 16 new franchise owners and 31 new territories added for one of the leading providers of nationwide residential plumbing services. The Cleaning Authority continued to sweep its way across the country adding 16 new franchise owners in an equal amount of territories in 2024.

continued to sweep its way across the country adding 16 new franchise owners in an equal amount of territories in 2024. DoodyCalls celebrated its 20 th anniversary of franchising in November and capped off the year with 23 new franchise owners and 27 new territories. Eleven of these deals were signed in Texas , marking a significant expansion for the state.

celebrated its 20 anniversary of franchising in November and capped off the year with 23 new franchise owners and 27 new territories. Eleven of these deals were signed in , marking a significant expansion for the state. DRYmedic Restoration Services significantly expanded its national presence with 17 new franchise owners across 26 new territories as aging homes and more common extreme weather attract entrepreneurs to the restoration industry.

significantly expanded its national presence with 17 new franchise owners across 26 new territories as aging homes and more common extreme weather attract entrepreneurs to the restoration industry. Homewatch CareGivers rolled out Homewatch TotalCare Solutions & Homewatch Connect the first of its kind technology in the industry that facilitates virtual care visits, and added 23 new franchise owners across 25 territories in 2024.

rolled out Homewatch TotalCare Solutions & Homewatch Connect the first of its kind technology in the industry that facilitates virtual care visits, and added 23 new franchise owners across 25 territories in 2024. The Junkluggers hired Justing Waltz , industry veteran as brand president and celebrated its 20 th anniversary in June. The brand, which continued to expand with four new owners across five new territories in 2024, looks forward to exciting growth in 2025.

hired , industry veteran as brand president and celebrated its 20 anniversary in June. The brand, which continued to expand with four new owners across five new territories in 2024, looks forward to exciting growth in 2025. Lawn Squad solidified itself in the franchised lawn care industry by adding nine new franchise owners across 14 new territories in 2024. The brand celebrated their 1 st anniversary of launching their franchising efforts in the franchise space in September.

solidified itself in the franchised lawn care industry by adding nine new franchise owners across 14 new territories in 2024. The brand celebrated their 1 anniversary of launching their franchising efforts in the franchise space in September. Mister Sparky found a spark with entrepreneurs and added 19 new franchise owners expanding their footprint across 42 new territories in 2024.

found a spark with entrepreneurs and added 19 new franchise owners expanding their footprint across 42 new territories in 2024. Monster Tree Service is entering an exciting new year after adding Chris Brown as Vice President of Operations over the summer. With a wealth of experience as a franchise owner, Chris brings a deep understanding of the brand's operations and customer service standards. The brand added two new franchise owners across four new territories in 2024.

is entering an exciting new year after adding as Vice President of Operations over the summer. With a wealth of experience as a franchise owner, Chris brings a deep understanding of the brand's operations and customer service standards. The brand added two new franchise owners across four new territories in 2024. Mosquito Squad added 16 new franchise owners and expanded into 22 new territories. Additionally, the brand recently introduced new pest packages with expanded offerings for customers.

added 16 new franchise owners and expanded into 22 new territories. Additionally, the brand recently introduced new pest packages with expanded offerings for customers. One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning heated up its network growth by expanding its footprint with a total of 18 new franchise owners and 33 new territories in 2024.

heated up its network growth by expanding its footprint with a total of 18 new franchise owners and 33 new territories in 2024. Screenmobile continues to be recognized as a leading mobile franchise opportunity across the nation and has recently welcomed Clint Rowley as President. Clint brings an extensive franchising background to the brand, including franchising experience with America's Swimming Pool Company and Monster Tree Service, as they look to drive continued growth in 2025. The brand added four new franchise owners across five new territories in 2024.

continues to be recognized as a leading mobile franchise opportunity across the nation and has recently welcomed as President. Clint brings an extensive franchising background to the brand, including franchising experience with America's Swimming Pool Company and Monster Tree Service, as they look to drive continued growth in 2025. The brand added four new franchise owners across five new territories in 2024. Woofie's celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first location that launched the Woofie's brand in September and expanded its presence with 28 new franchise owners cross 42 new territories in 2024.

In addition to accelerating its franchise development efforts, Authority Brands announced a strategic partnership with ServiceTitan in 2024, a leading software platform built to power service trade brands. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky, and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning franchise owners will benefit from this integration by having the necessary tools and resources to be able to maximize business performance, have greater visibility into potential profitability, and enhance the customer experience. Authority Brands continued to also empower home service contractors in recent months following the launch of BuyFin, a consumer financing and payment solutions division of BuyMax. BuyFin allows home service contractors to offer hassle-free financing options to customers and gives service technicians the ability to collect payments for those jobs onsite.

Combined, the Authority Brands franchise brands operate more than 2,700 locations with an expansive network of more than 1,000 franchise owners. All franchise concepts within the Authority Brands portfolio are looking to grow with qualified franchise owners across the United States. To learn more about franchising opportunities within the Authority Brands portfolio and which brand might be the best fit for you, please visit: https://quiz.authoritybrands.com/

About Authority Brands

Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Authority Brands' companies include 15 leading home service franchise brands: America's Swimming Pool Company, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, The Cleaning Authority, DoodyCalls, DRYmedic Restoration Services, Homewatch CareGivers, The Junkluggers, Lawn Squad, Mister Sparky, Monster Tree Service, Mosquito Squad, One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Screenmobile, STOP Restoration, and Woofie's. Together, these brands provide home services through more than 2,700 territories operated by more than 1,000 franchise owners. Authority Brands is dedicated to supporting individual franchise owner growth by providing strong marketing, technology, and operational support. See authoritybrands.com for more information.

Contact:

Brendan Maguire

Fish 919

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Authority Brands, LLC
Despite Outage, Local Franchise Store Goes Above and Beyond to Serve Community, Highlighting Importance of Emergency Preparedness

Powered off generators, Batteries Plus Thousand Oaks remained open to support community during wildfire emergency

Furthering commitment to the community, Batteries Plus Rosemead offered employee pricing for customers affected by wildfires and visited local Fire Departments to donate AA and AAA batteries

Additionally, Batteries Plus Ventura remained open despite power outages to support the community, stocking power stations and solar panels in an attempt to help the community stay powered

Specialty battery retailer highlights importance of backup power sources, offers essential tips for maintaining battery performance during extreme weather events

HARTLAND, Wis., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As wildfires impacted Southern California, Batteries Plus, the nation's largest specialty battery retailer, took proactive measures to support affected communities while educating consumers on critical battery protection strategies.

Jeffrey Hirth, franchisee of Batteries Plus Thousand Oaks

Powering the Local Community

In Thousand Oaks, Calif., the local Batteries Plus store emerged as a beacon of hope amidst the crisis. Despite losing power itself as the store sat just miles from the devastating Palisades Fire, the store powered up a generator to remain open, extending its hours well past closing time to assist community members in need.

"When our community faced a crisis like these devastating wildfires, Batteries Plus isn't just a businesswe're a lifeline," said Jeffrey Hirth, franchisee of Batteries Plus Thousand Oaks. "Our commitment goes beyond selling batteries; it's about supporting our neighbors when they need us most. By staying open during power outages and providing critical battery services, we aimed to help residents stay connected, powered, and safe during these challenging times."

This extraordinary commitment did not go unnoticed, with residents praising the store's dedication.

"The customer service on a normal day is stellar, and they go above and beyond," said "S. Richards" in a recent Google review. "I am not surprised that when the community is in a time of needraging wildfires and power outages amidst the worst wind storm since 2011that Batteries Plus stayed open past closing, even with no power, to help community members with any battery needs and to fix generators."

Near the Eaton Fire, the Batteries Plus store in Rosemead recognized its community's immediate need for power supplies. The franchise owners offered an employee discount for all its customers in need, as well as visiting the local Fire Departments to donate AA and AAA batteries.

In Ventura, the local Batteries Plus store remained open despite the power outages plaguing the community to help those in need. Specifically, the franchise owner stocked up on power stations and solar panels to keep the community powered.

Battery Protection Tips

As extreme weather events and natural disasters can strike with little warning, Batteries Plus emphasizes the importance of battery maintenance and emergency preparedness. The company offers the following tips to help consumers protect their batteries and stay powered during crises:

Regular Testing : Have car batteries tested, especially before extreme weather events in regions where temperatures can fluctuate, or where batteries are exposed to extended periods of hot and/or cold weather

: Have car batteries tested, especially before extreme weather events in regions where temperatures can fluctuate, or where batteries are exposed to extended periods of hot and/or cold weather Proper Storage : Store batteries in cool, dry places to prevent damage from heat and moisture.

: Store batteries in cool, dry places to prevent damage from heat and moisture. Emergency Kits : Prepare kits with portable chargers, portable power stations, power banks, spare batteries, weather radios, and jump packs like the X2Power Lithium Jump Pack

: Prepare kits with portable chargers, portable power stations, power banks, spare batteries, weather radios, and jump packs like the X2Power Lithium Jump Pack Professional Installation : Seek expert installation and anti-corrosion treatments to extend battery life for car, solar, and other harder to install batteries

: Seek expert installation and anti-corrosion treatments to extend battery life for car, solar, and other harder to install batteries Stay Informed: Keep updated on local weather conditions and emergency protocols

For more information on Batteries Plus's automotive products and services, please visit www.batteriesplus.com/automotive-center. More information on how to find the nearest Batteries Plus retailer store near you can be found at www.batteriesplus.com.

ABOUT BATTERIES PLUS:

Batteries Plus, founded in 1988 and headquartered in Hartland, WI, is a leading omnichannel retailer of batteries, specialty light bulbs and phone repair services for the direct-to-consumer and commercial channels. The retailer also offers key programming, replacement and cutting services. Through a nationwide network of stores, the company offers a differentiated value proposition of unrivaled product selection, in-stock availability and customer service. Batteries Plus is owned by Freeman Spogli, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles and New York City. To learn more about one of Forbes' Best Franchises to Buy in America, visit https://www.batteriesplusfranchise.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Cole Koretos, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or 847-331-1190

SOURCE Batteries Plus
TANGERANG, Indonesia, Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (IDX: BBRI) officially launched BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025, held alongside BRI Microfinance Outlook 2025 at ICE BSD City, Tangerang. The event was attended by key government officials, including Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Ahmad Muzani, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of MSMEs Maman Abdurrahman, Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, and Deputy Minister of Trade Dyah Roro Esti.

Prominent government officials, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, join other esteemed leaders at the official launch of BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025 and Microfinance Outlook

"Presenting BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025 alongside BRI Microfinance Outlook (MFO). We hope that the combination of these two events can support President Prabowo Subianto's Asta Cita vision in creating inclusive, competitive, and sustainable economic growth," said BRI President Director Sunarso.

On the same occasion, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs RI Airlangga Hartarto appreciated BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025, stating that the event is a proof of BRI's commitment to empowering MSMEs. "This initiative by BRI, involving 1,000 MSMEs, is in line with President Prabowo's Asta Cita vision to create high-quality job opportunities," he emphasized.

With theme "Broadening MSME's Global Outreach", BRI UMKM EXPO(RT) 2025 aims to expand the market reach of Indonesian MSMEs and enhance the global competitiveness of local entrepreneurs.

BRI remains optimistic about Indonesia's MSME business potential, aiming for business matching deals worth US$ 89.4 million throughout 2025, exceeding the US$ 81.3 million recorded in 2023.

Additionally, BRI is collaborating with the Ministry of Trade to introduce business matching sessions twice a month in 2025.

For more details about the event, visit briumkmexport.com.

BRI Microfinance Outlook 2025

Held alongside the expo, BRI Microfinance Outlook 2025 serves as a strategic forum discussing economic development, themed "Empowering the People's Economy: A Pillar for Achieving Inclusive & Sustainable Growth." focusing on community empowerment as the driving force behind a grassroots-based economy.

In her speech, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati emphasized the crucial role of MSMEs in Indonesia's economic landscape, as well as BRI's active role as a state-owned enterprise (BUMN) in supporting this sector.

The forum features renowned international speakers, including ADB Chief Economist Albert Francis Park, Nobel Laureate Paul Romer, and Women's World Banking Head Harsha Rodrigues, discussing strategies for strengthening inclusive finance.

For more information about BANK BRI, visit www.bri.co.id.

SOURCE PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a preliminary victory for the U.S. industry, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decided on Friday, January 31, 2025, that there is a reasonable indication that the establishment of the domestic active anode has been materially retarded as a result of imports from China.

The ITC's vote comes in response to petitions filed December 18, 2024, by the American Active Anode Material Producers (AAAMP). The petitions allege that the Chinese industry is dumping active anode material in the United States, distorting the U.S. market and preventing the establishment of an American industry. The petitions further allege that the Chinese industry is receiving unfair subsidies which further injure the domestic manufacturers, again preventing the creation of a U.S. industry.

"Foreign countries and producers that do not abide by international trade rules must be held accountable," said Daniel B. Pickard, lead counsel to the petitioner and Buchanan's International Trade and National Security Practice Group leader. "This vote takes the domestic industry one step closer to ensuring that U.S. active anode material producers can compete in a fair market. This case is important for both the U.S. industry and the U.S. national security interests in critical minerals."

On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the initiation of antidumping (AD) investigations into imports of active anode material from China. The dumping margins for imports are alleged to be as high as 915.74%. On the same day, the Department of Commerce also initiated a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation into the subsidies provided to the active anode material industry in China.

The Commission's affirmative preliminary determination paves the way for the Department of Commerce to move forward with its investigations. Commerce is currently expected to issue its preliminary CVD determination in mid-March and its preliminary AD determinations in June 2025 (although these deadlines are subject to extensions). If Commerce reaches affirmative preliminary determinations in these cases, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin collecting AD and CVD cash deposits based on the preliminary margins calculated.

The Commission's final phase investigation is expected to conclude in the beginning of 2026. If both the Commission and Commerce reach affirmative final determinations, AD orders on active anode material from China and a CVD order on active anode material from China will be issued, imposing duties on the unfairly traded imports for a minimum of five years.

The Buchanan team representing the petitioner also includes Milton Koch, Claire Webster, Brandon Custard, Amanda Wetzel, Caroline Bisk, Natan Tubman, and Grace Welborn.

About Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney is a national law firm with a proven reputation for providing progressive, industry-leading legal, business, regulatory and government relations advice to regional, national and international clients. We service a wide range of businesses, but have especially deep experience in the finance, energy, healthcare and life sciences industries. Our more than 450 attorneys and government relations professionals across our current 17 offices proudly represent some of the highest profile and innovative companies in the nation, including 41% of the Fortune 500. We bring to clients intimate knowledge of the players, market forces and political and regulatory landscape, and use our full-service capabilities to protect, defend and advance our clients' businesses.

SOURCE Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report on how AI is redefining market landscape - The global business process outsourcing market size is estimated to grow by USD 88.8 billion from 2025-2029, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 6.8% during the forecast period. Focus on reducing operational costs is driving market growth, with a trend towards rising emphasis on process automation. However, data breaches poses a challenge. Key market players include Accenture PLC, Alight Inc., Amdocs Ltd., Anderson Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Automatic Data Processing Inc., Capgemini Services SAS, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Concentrix Corp., Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., NEC Corp., NTT DATA Corp., Oracle Corp., Sykes Enterprises Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., Wipro Ltd., and WNS Holdings Ltd..

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Business Process Outsourcing Market 2025-2029

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

Business Process Outsourcing Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2024 Historic period 2019 - 2023 Forecast period 2025-2029 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.8% Market growth 2025-2029 USD 88.8 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 6.2 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 41% Key countries US, Canada, UK, Germany, China, India, Brazil, France, UAE, and Japan Key companies profiled Accenture PLC, Alight Inc., Amdocs Ltd., Anderson Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Automatic Data Processing Inc., Capgemini Services SAS, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Concentrix Corp., Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., NEC Corp., NTT DATA Corp., Oracle Corp., Sykes Enterprises Inc., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., Wipro Ltd., and WNS Holdings Ltd.

Market Driver

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a trending external service that enables businesses to focus on their core competencies by transferring non-essential tasks to specialized external providers. BPO offers flexibility, reduced costs, and enhanced services in various industries like IT, healthcare, and finance. Technological advancements such as cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and standardized platforms drive efficiency and agility. BPO covers voice processing, telemarketing, image editing, virtual staffing, customer care, and more. Outsourcing types include offshore, nearshore, and onshore. Service areas extend to manufacturing, finance and accounting, human resource services, telecommunication, and more. BPO adoption is driven by economic restructuring, merger and acquisition activity, and regulatory bodies like the California Consumer Privacy Act and Anti-Money Laundering. Businesses can achieve competitive advantage through technical improvements, adoption of IoT, and AI technologies. BPO deployment modes include on-premise and cloud, catering to large enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Ownership models range from captive to third-party. BPO providers offer bundled services, best-shore solutions, and contract-based agreements. BPO also covers transportation and logistics, travel and hospitality, energy and utilities, and Mediterranean consulting. Talent sourcing, training, and deployment are essential components. Data security, infrastructure equipment, business continuity, and intellectual property protection are critical considerations.

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market is experiencing significant growth due to the adoption of emerging technologies. Cloud computing, social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and process automation are transforming the industry. BPOs utilize these technologies to minimize costs and boost growth. AI software streamlines processes and enhances efficiency, while cloud storage eliminates excess space and reduces energy consumption. Companies can access the latest technologies through cloud products and Software as a Service (SaaS), leading to increased efficiency and cost savings. BPOs provide various services, including social media management, website design, and customer support, making them an essential partner for businesses aiming to stay competitive.

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Market Challenges

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) involves companies contracting external services to manage and operate business processes. This approach offers flexibility, reduced costs, and enhanced services in various industries such as healthcare, IT, finance, and manufacturing. However, challenges persist. Economic restructuring, merger and acquisition activity, and regulatory bodies like California Consumer Protection Act and Anti-Money Laundering require compliance. BPO types include offshore, nearshore, and onshore, with voice processing, telemarketing, image editing, and customer care common services. BPO adoption is driven by efficiency, agility, and competitive advantage. Technological advancements like cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT are transforming BPO. BPO service providers offer facilities and administration, product engineering, training, and deployment modes like on-premise and cloud. Large enterprises and SMEs outsource ownership models, including captive and third-party, using best-shore, bundled services, and contract-based approaches. BPO challenges include infrastructure equipment, data security, and intellectual property protection. Service providers must ensure business continuity, adhere to industry standards, and offer flexible deployment modes. BPO adoption requires awareness and investment, especially in industries like transportation and logistics, travel and hospitality, energy and utilities, and Mediterranean consulting.

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market involves the transfer of data-intensive business processes to third-party service providers. Data security is a significant concern for BPO companies, as data breaches can result in the illegal transfer of confidential, financial, or personal information. This data is typically stored on electronic devices such as servers and computers and includes proprietary process information, technologies, software codes, and passwords. With the increasing use of technology and Internet services worldwide, safeguarding customer data has become essential. Data breaches pose a significant challenge to the global BPO market, potentially hindering its growth during the forecast period.

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Segment Overview

This business process outsourcing market report extensively covers market segmentation by

End-user

IT And Telecommunication



BFSI



Retail



Healthcare



Others

Business Segment

Large Enterprises



SMEs

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



Middle East And Africa



South America

1.1 IT and telecommunication- The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market's telecom and IT segment have captured a significant market share, driven by technological advances, increasing data traffic, and rising consumer demand for digital content and communication. Telecom organizations are partnering with IT service providers to develop and market digital solutions, such as 5G-related products and services. To focus on their core offerings, IT and telecom companies outsource customer query management and other operations to service providers. Technological innovations like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are automating processes, leading to operational excellence and fueling the demand for BPO services during the forecast period. This segment's growth is expected to continue due to the increasing need for outsourcing customer support services.

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Research Analysis

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) refers to the practice of an organization delegating external service providers to manage and operate specific business processes. BPO offers flexibility, reduced costs, and enhanced services for various industries, including healthcare and IT. The efficiency and agility gained from BPO enable businesses to focus on their core competencies. Technological improvements, such as cloud computing, IoT, AI technologies, and investment in offshore, nearshore, and onshore locations, have fueled the growth of this market. The adoption of these advanced technologies provides a competitive advantage, enabling businesses to streamline operations, improve customer experience, and reduce operating costs. The BPO market continues to evolve, with the increasing use of AI and automation, making it an essential component of modern business strategies.

Market Research Overview

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) refers to the practice of an organization transferring non-core business functions to an external service provider. This approach offers flexibility, reduced costs, and enhanced services in various industries such as healthcare, IT, and finance and accounting. BPO providers leverage technological advancements like cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and standardized platforms to ensure efficiency and agility. Operating costs are minimized as businesses focus on their core competencies. Security, intellectual property, and economic restructuring are crucial considerations in BPO engagements. Regulatory bodies like the California Consumer Privacy Act and Anti-Money Laundering regulations impact the BPO landscape. Inhouse services, manufacturing, telecommunication, and human resource services are common areas for outsourcing. BPO adoption varies from onshore, nearshore, and offshore models, with voice processing, telemarketing, image editing, and virtual staffing among the popular services. The deployment modes range from on-premise to cloud solutions, catering to organizations of all sizes, from large enterprises to SMEs. Competitive advantage is gained through technical improvements, adoption of IoT, AI technologies, and investment in power transmission, transportation and logistics, travel and hospitality, energy and utilities, and Mediterranean consulting industries.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

End-user

IT And Telecommunication



BFSI



Retail



Healthcare



Others

Business Segment

Large Enterprises



SMEs

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



Middle East And Africa



South America



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
The Wyoming Integrity PAC will champion ethical and equitable procurement practices, fostering a business-friendly environment rooted in fairness and accountability. Hoskinson's involvement builds on his prior collaboration with Wyoming lawmakers to create blockchain-friendly legislation that solidifies the state's position as a hub for digital innovation.

CHEYENNE, Wyo, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Charles Hoskinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Input Output (IO), the leading infrastructure and research engineering firm, best known for the Cardano blockchain, today announced his Wyoming Integrity Political Action Committee (PAC) which will be launched in 2025. The initiative is dedicated to fostering sustainable and ethical procurement practices in Wyoming, further solidifying the state's reputation as a pioneer in digital innovation.

Charles Hoskinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Input Output (IO), the leading infrastructure and research engineering firm, best known for the Cardano blockchain, today announced his Wyoming Integrity Political Action Committee (PAC) which will be launched in 2025.

As a Wyoming-registered company, IO has a deep-rooted commitment to the state, drawn by its crypto-friendly regulatory environment and forward-thinking approach to blockchain adoption. The Integrity PAC reinforces Hoskinson's long-standing dedication to Wyoming's ambitions to become a global hub for emerging technologiesincluding blockchain, AI, quantum computing, and more.

The announcement comes as Wyoming prepares to launch its state-backed stablecoin initiative in 2025, marking a significant milestone in its journey toward leadership in financial innovation. The Cardano blockchain, renowned for its scalability, interoperability, and energy-efficient design, is well-suited to power these transformative developments.

"Wyoming is uniquely positioned to lead the way in blockchain innovation and beyond - and I want to support that journey," said Charles Hoskinson, Founder of Input Output. "I'm proud to deepen my commitment to this state, which has a strong and genuine drive for technological progress. The Wyoming Integrity PAC represents a vital step toward establishing a framework of fairness and accountability in public procurement, ensuring that both government and private stakeholders operate with transparency and due diligence. Without this foundation, Wyoming's ambitions to lead in blockchain adoption and digital transformation could falter, and the U.S. risks compromising its reputation as a global leader in digital innovation. This is an outcome I am determined to prevent. By fostering an impartial, fully transparent, and uncompromised process, my Wyoming PAC can level the playing field, give all innovators an equal opportunity to shape our technological future, and creating a blueprint of transparency for others to follow."

Commitment to Transparency and Sustainability

The upcoming Wyoming Integrity PAC will address the growing imperative for transparency in both government operations and the crypto industry. As public trust in emerging technologies grows, so does the need for robust, fair, and ethical practices that stand up to scrutiny. Once launched, this PAC will represent a major step toward achieving these goals, ensuring that Wyoming's future as a digital innovation hub is built on a foundation of accountability.

Hoskinson's efforts build on prior collaborations with Wyoming government figures like former lawmaker Tyler Lindholm and Former Deputy Secretary of State Karen Wheeler, whose visionary leadership helped establish Wyoming as a trailblazer in blockchain-friendly legislation.

Press Queries:

Georgia Hanias

[email protected]

About Charles Hoskinson

Charles Hoskinson is an American philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of the blockchain engineering company Input Output Global,Inc, and the Cardano blockchain platform and was a co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain platform.

Founded in 2015, Input Output is one of the world's leading blockchain infrastructure research and engineering companies. Fully decentralised remote working organisation committed to the highest principles of academic rigor and evidence-based software development.

The company builds high-assurance blockchain infrastructure solutions for the public, private sector, and government clients. It is also the driving force behind the decentralised and smart contract platform, Cardano, as well as the upcoming Midnight blockchain. For more information please visit the website here.

SOURCE Input Output (IO)
ATLANTA, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Trust Bank proudly introduces Sherry L. Martin, as a First Vice President, and the newest addition to the Commercial Banking leadership team. With an ongoing commitment to supporting local businesses and communities, Sherry will serve as the Senior Small Business Administration (SBA) and Commercial Banking Team Leader. In her new role she establishes and conducts the bank's SBA lending strategies while managing the commercial banking focus within the Georgia and Tennessee markets.

Sherry brings a wealth of experience to Citizens Trust Bank, specializing in aligning financial and lending functions with community and business empowerment missions. With over 20 years of experience, Sherry has supported numerous businesses, leading to the creation of scores of jobs and contributing to the growth of local and national economies.

In her previous roles, Sherry offered support to community banks, credit unions, and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in the creation, execution, and enhancement of their SBA lending programs. During the height of the 2020 CoVID-19 pandemic, she was instrumental in adapting lending practices to align with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). "What really attracted me to Citizens Trust Bank is the bank's long-standing commitment to helping businesses and communities thrive through much needed access to capital. I'm excited about the opportunity to create even greater market penetration by implementing a more robust SBA program," shares Sherry Martin.

The Citizens Trust Bank lending teams continue to provide expert advice, flexible loan options, and innovative solutions designed to help businesses succeed.

Martin holds a B.A. in History from Clark Atlanta University. She is actively engaged in her community and industry through multiple roles, including serving as the Chair of the Invest Atlanta credit committee, Committee Chair and active member of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), and current Chair for the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle (GLQC). Additionally, she lends her skills and commitment to various community and service organizations as an active member of the Clark Atlanta University Alumni Association, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (Life member), Salem Bible Church and previously a Page for the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Sherry offers extensive knowledge in SBA lending and a wealth of experience in commercial banking. We are excited to have her join the CTB team," states Cynthia N. Day, President and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank. "For us, serving the interest of our communities has always been a primary focus and SBA lending will help deepen our impact. Sherry will not only help advance our SBA efforts, but her overall experience and community focus over the years will contribute to our long-standing mission of increasing homeownership, entrepreneurship and wealth-building participation among all our customers and prospects. This marks a significant achievement for all involved."

About Citizens Trust Bank

Ranked 28th by S&P Global among the top 100 best-performing US Community Banks under $3B*, Citizens Trust Bank celebrates over a century in the community. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Citizens Trust Bank continues to prioritize offering customized services and financial solutions to address the community's evolving needs, going beyond traditional banking with a legacy built on economic equality and well-being. Today, Citizens Trust Bank continues to be led by its founding mission to empower customers and future generations for financial success and takes pride in offering financial solutions across the country. Through its parent company, Citizens Bancshares Corporation, the Bank offers its common stock over the counter to the public under the trading symbol CZBS and can be found at www.ctbconnect.com, and in the social media communities of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and Citizens Trust Bank Learning Channel on YouTube.

*Based on financials for the year ending December 2023.

SOURCE Citizens Trust Bank
ATLANTA, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Trust Bank is proud to announce the appointment of Walvid D. King, Sr. as the new Alabama Market President. In this role, King will oversee strategic initiatives, drive growth, and strengthen community partnerships in the Alabama market, reinforcing the bank's mission to deliver financial solutions that empower individuals, businesses and communities.

Mr. King has a proven track record of cultivating relationships across both public and private sectors. His ability to engage diverse stakeholders will be instrumental in advancing Citizens Trust Bank's strategic objectives in Alabama.

With a seasoned background in strategy, business development and community engagement, King is known for his commitment to fostering economic growth and building meaningful relationships. He is well-positioned to enhance Citizens Trust Bank's presence and impact across Alabama. King's appointment aligns with Citizens Trust Bank's ongoing efforts to strengthen its presence in Alabama. His leadership is expected to drive initiatives that support local communities and foster economic development.

"Walvid's exceptional leadership and deep understanding of the financial needs of our communities make him an outstanding choice to lead our Alabama market," said Cynthia N. Day, President and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank. "As we continue to expand our footprint and offerings, Walvid, as a proven leader and native of Alabama, will play a pivotal role in advancing our mission of economic equality and providing innovative solutions for our customers."

King expressed excitement about the new role, stating: "I am honored to join Citizens Trust Bank, an institution with a rich history of empowering communities and fostering financial independence.

I look forward to collaborating with our talented team and community partners to continue building on this legacy of impact."

Citizens Trust Bank has been a trusted financial partner for over 100 years, serving diverse communities with a focus on economic empowerment and financial well-being. The addition of King as Alabama Market President further solidifies the bank's commitment to strengthening its local presence and delivering customer-focused solutions that make a difference.

About Citizens Trust Bank

Ranked 28th by S&P Global among the top 100 best-performing US Community Banks under $3B*, Citizens Trust Bank celebrates over a century serving its community. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Citizens Trust Bank continues to prioritize offering customized services and financial solutions to address the community's evolving needs, going beyond traditional banking with a legacy built on economic equality and well-being. Today, Citizens Trust Bank continues to be led by its founding mission to empower customers and future generations for financial success and takes pride in offering financial solutions across the country. Through its parent company, Citizens Bancshares Corporation, the Bank offers its common stock over the counter to the public under the trading symbol CZBS and can be found at www.ctbconnect.com, and in the social media communities of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and Citizens Trust Bank Learning Channel on YouTube.

*Based on financials for the year ending December 2023.

SOURCE Citizens Trust Bank
MORGAN CITY, La., Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Conrad Industries, Inc. (OTC Pink: CNRD) announced today the appointment of Jack Waldo to its Board of Directors and Independent Directors Committee and the resignation and retirement of Michael J. Harris from the Board and Committee, effective January 28, 2025. Mr. Waldo was appointed by the Board to fill the vacancy created by Mr. Harris' resignation.

Johnny Conrad, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to welcome Jack Waldo to our Board. Jack knows our company and industry well, including from his 17 years as an investment banker and research analyst at Stephens Inc. focusing on transportation and logistics. Since then, he has gained operational experience as co-CEO of Dental Depot. We look forward to his insights and guidance.

We also want to thank Mike Harris for his dedicated service on our Board and Independent Directors Committee, and his commitment to our Company and its shareholders. Mike has provided invaluable contributions to our Board and management, and we wish him well in his retirement."

About Jack Waldo

Jack Waldo serves as co-Chief Executive Officer of Dental Depot, a privately-held dentistry group with 46 locations spread over four states. He joined Dental Depot in 2017 as director of regional operations, became Chief Operating Officer shortly thereafter and became co-CEO in July 2020. Prior to Dental Depot, Mr. Waldo was an investment banker and research analyst at Stephens Inc. for 17 years, including serving as Managing Director of Transportation and Logistics Investment Banking. Since 2021, Mr. Waldo has served on the Board of Directors of United Petroleum Transport, a leader in the tank truck industry. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, which makes charitable grants to nonprofits that cultivate good health, support education and build stronger communities, primarily in Oklahoma.

About Conrad Industries, Inc.

Conrad Industries, Inc., established in 1948 and headquartered in Morgan City, Louisiana, designs, builds and overhauls barges, dredges and dredge support equipment, tugboats, ferries, drydocks, liftboats, offshore supply vessels and other steel products for both the commercial and government markets. The company provides both repair and new construction services at its five shipyards located in southern Louisiana and Texas.

For Information Contact:

Scott Thomas (985) 702-0195

[email protected]

SOURCE Conrad Industries, Inc.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Equinor has awarded Troms-based Lufttransport RW AS the contract to operate five new Leonardo AW189 helicopters, which will transport passengers on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) from Sola and Flor, Trend reports.

The AW189 is part of a new generation of helicopters designed to enhance offshore operations.

The contract with Lufttransport is part of a broader strategy by Equinor, which last year signed agreements to procure 15 new helicopters to diversify the fleet currently relying on a single model. In addition to the AW189s, Equinor will receive 10 Bell 525 helicopters from 2026.

These new helicopters will improve the safety, efficiency, and robustness of our operations, said rjan Kvelvane, Equinors senior vice president of Operations and Maintenance. Safe and reliable transportation is essential to maintaining high activity levels on the NCS.

Lufttransport, with its extensive experience in Norwegian conditions, will operate the new helicopters, supplementing the existing Sikorsky S-92 fleet. The company has also been awarded a contract for search and rescue operations for Equinor, starting in 2026.

The AW189 helicopters offer improved safety features, passenger comfort, and lower emissions, making them well-suited for offshore transport. The first two helicopters will arrive in Norway in spring 2025, with full operations expected to begin in 2026.

In addition, Equinor has entered an agreement with Milestone Aviation Group for the long-term ownership of the AW189 helicopters, further strengthening the companys capabilities for NCS operations. The total value of the contract with Lufttransport is estimated at seven billion Norwegian kroner over seven years, while the agreement with Milestone is valued at over two billion kroner.
The country stands out as a leader in life sciences.

Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER) will attend alongside 15 exporting companies and four Free Zone parks.

(PROCOMER) will attend alongside 15 exporting companies and four Free Zone parks. Costa Rica has participated in this event for over six years, the leading medical device promotion event in the Americas.

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With a focus on innovation, technological advancements, and sustainable solutions, Costa Rica will participate in MD&M West 2025 from February 4 to 6, reinforcing its position as a key destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) and its leadership as the top per capita exporter of medical devices in the Americas.

The primary objective of this participation is to establish strategic partnerships and attract new investment projects through business meetings and networking activities designed to maximize opportunities.

"Our proven capabilities in advanced manufacturing, Costa Rica's skilled workforce, political stability, and commitment to sustainability position us as a strategic partner for global trade and investment. Our goal is clear: to expand opportunities and generate employment that enhances Costa Rica's well-being through FDI attraction and export growth. That is why it is crucial to leverage platforms like MD&M West, which foster business development and strengthen the country's positioning," stated Laura Lopez, General Manager of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER).

This year, the country will be represented by a delegation led by PROCOMER, bringing together 15 exporting companies and four free trade zone parks. These entities excel in high-precision manufacturing, cleanroom assembly services, automation technologies, and advanced packaging solutions. The Costa Rican delegation will showcase its products and services and hold meetings with international buyers and investors at the essential COSTA RICA Country Brand stand, located at booth number 3339.

"La Lima Free Zone has participated in previous editions of MD&M, reflecting our commitment to the medical device sector and our strong ties to this important trade show. We take pride in the fact that several companies operating in our business park are also present at this event. Our value proposition includes adaptable spaces and access to a highly skilled workforce, thanks to our proximity to major academic institutions in the country. Additionally, we boast the lowest employee turnover rate in the nation, making us a strategic ally for global companies seeking to grow in a collaborative and competitive environment," commented Carolina Umana, Commercial Manager of La Lima Free Zone.

Marko Mileta, General Manager of Tico Electronics, added: "Tico Electronics, traditionally focused on the aerospace industry, has seen increasing interest in its electromechanical products for the medical sector since the pandemic. This year marks our first participation in MD&M West, made possible thanks to PROCOMER's support in consolidating local suppliers at the Costa Rica stand. The country's strong presence in the medical industry, driven by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from multiple Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), underscores the importance of initiatives like this in strengthening the local supplier ecosystem."

The United States remains the primary destination for Costa Rican medical device exports, accounting for 64% of the sector's total. With more than 1,400 exhibitors and attendees, MD&M West provides Costa Rica with an opportunity to position itself as a global leader in life sciences and advanced manufacturing, highlighting its competitiveness and excellence.

As of the end of 2024, Costa Rica's total exports to the United States exceeded $5.915 billion, reaffirming the market's importance to the country's economy and its role as a strategic partner in Costa Rica's global projection. This performance reflects the high quality and strength of the national supply, as well as the opportunities available to continue driving the growth of this industry.

SOURCE PROCOMER
LAKEWOOD, Colo., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Author, artist, and animation historian, Mindy Johnson, is speaking at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) as part of the college's Visiting Artist, Scholar, + Designer (VASD) Program at 5:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Johnson's talk, which can be seen live in-person and online, centers on pursuing historical truth in the face of imperfect sources, particularly regarding the stories of female animators whose stories have often been overlooked and under-documented.

Recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences  Film Scholar Award, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Educators Forum Grant, and a Family Choice Award - Johnson is a leading voice in animation and film history. She has published such works as Ink & Paint  The Women of Walt Disney's Animation, Tinker Bell  An Evolution, and contributed to The Walt Disney Film Archives The Animated Movies 1921-1968 and Marc Davis: Walt Disney's Renaissance Man. Additionally, she served as an associate producer for the award-winning documentary Pencils vs. Pixels.

"These artist talks provide our students with co-curricular opportunities to learn about careers in the creative industry beyond the classroom," shared Brent Fitch, President of RMCAD. "We're absolutely ecstatic to welcome Mindy Johnson to RMCAD! Her amazing journey is living proof that our students can achieve anything when they combine their creativity with dedicated research  what an inspiration!"

To reserve your seat for this free public event, visit the RMCAD website today or watch the live stream online.

About the Visiting Artist, Scholar, + Designer (VASD) Program

The VASD Program values passionate curiosity and explores critical, diverse, and creative inquiry through a variety of events and direct interaction with leading national and international thinkers and makers.

This program unites the entire RMCAD community and opens its doors to the Denver-metro area by inviting the public to attend evening artist talks by our roster of distinguished guests. These guests also engage with RMCAD students and faculty through private events, such as studio visits, gallery talks, and workshops.

About RMCAD

Founded in 1963, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design is an accredited institution of higher education that offers degree programs focused on the arts, design, education, technology, and business. RMCAD serves its students from a 23-acre campus in Lakewood, Colorado, but also virtually, as a leader in online education for more than a decade. RMCAD offers courses taught by practicing industry professionals; an intimate learning environment; multimedia-rich online classes; and a beautiful historic campus. The school strives to allow artists and designers to find their voice, discover their own paths, and thrive as professionals.

Contact: Joe Rubald, [email protected], Gretchen Schaefer, [email protected]

SOURCE Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report on how AI is redefining market landscape - The global e-commerce retail market size is estimated to grow by USD 4.06 trillion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11.2% during the forecast period. Advent of personalized shopping is driving market growth, with a trend towards integration of AI. However, strict regulatory policies related to compliance and customer protection poses a challenge. Key market players include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., Blink Commerce Pvt. Ltd., Coupang Inc., eBay Inc., Etsy Inc., Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd., Inter IKEA Holding BV, Manash E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd., Nykaa E-Retail Ltd., Otto GmbH and Co. KG, Rakuten Group Inc., Reliance Retail Ltd., Shopify Inc., Snapdeal Ltd., Target Corp., The Kroger Co., and Walmart Inc..

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global E-Commerce Retail Market 2024-2028

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

E-Commerce Retail Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2023 Historic period 2018 - 2022 Forecast period 2024-2028 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 11.2% Market growth 2024-2028 USD 4061.3 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 9.9 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 42% Key countries China, US, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany, South Korea, India, France, and Italy Key companies profiled Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., Blink Commerce Pvt. Ltd., Coupang Inc., eBay Inc., Etsy Inc., Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd., Inter IKEA Holding BV, Manash E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd., Nykaa E-Retail Ltd., Otto GmbH and Co. KG, Rakuten Group Inc., Reliance Retail Ltd., Shopify Inc., Snapdeal Ltd., Target Corp., The Kroger Co., and Walmart Inc.

Market Driver

E-commerce retail market is thriving with trends like online shopping through smartphones, daily essentials, and luxury products' sales on cross-border platforms. Mobile technologies and e-commerce platforms are essential for business-to-business (B2B) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions. Apparel and accessories, groceries, and computer devices are popular categories. Logistics and digital infrastructure are crucial for seamless order processing, payment integration, and delivery services. Data security, cybersecurity, and social media are vital for e-retailers dealing with online transactions. E-commerce technology includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics for marketing strategies. Banks and financial institutions facilitate account balances, money transfer, and online trading. E-commerce platforms offer mobile applications and responsive websites for purchasing everyday basics and luxury items. E-commerce trends also include voice recognition, headless e-commerce, and digital devices. Augmented reality provides a personalized shopping experience, while payment gateways and digital wallets ensure security features. E-commerce technology continues to evolve with AI technologies, voice orders, and AR. However, e-commerce retailers must address cybercrime and digital fraud to maintain customer trust.

The global e-commerce retail market is undergoing a notable shift with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). This transformation is enhancing the shopping experience for consumers by providing personalized and efficient services. One significant development in this area is the introduction of AI assistants tailored for e-commerce. For instance, Amazon, a leading e-commerce company, launched an AI assistant named Rufus in August 2024, exclusively for its Indian customers. Rufus offers personalized product recommendations, shopping list suggestions, and product comparisons. Furthermore, it grants users access to customer feedback, enabling informed purchasing decisions based on others' experiences.

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Market Challenges

E-commerce retail market is experiencing significant growth with the rise of online shopping, especially through smartphones. Daily essentials and luxury products are popular categories, while cross-border trade presents new opportunities and challenges. E-commerce platforms must address data security concerns, ensuring digital infrastructure and cybersecurity. Mobile technologies, including mobile applications and responsive websites, are essential for reaching consumers. B2B and C2C marketplaces, hybrid and pure, offer various business models. Apparel and accessories, groceries, and electronic devices are top-selling categories. Logistics and delivery services are crucial for seamless purchasing experiences. E-commerce technology includes AI, machine learning, and data analytics for effective marketing strategies. Banks and financial institutions facilitate online transactions, while digital payment methods and payment gateways ensure secure money transfer. Voice recognition and headless e-commerce are emerging trends. Convenience shopping through voice orders and AR is the future of retail e-commerce. However, challenges such as cybercrime and digital fraud require constant vigilance.

require constant vigilance. The global e-commerce retail market encounters regulatory challenges, with policies in various regions impacting businesses significantly. In Japan , the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions (ASCT) requires e-commerce operators to disclose specific information to consumers, such as cancellation policies, and prohibits unsolicited emails. The Act on Regulation of Transmission of Specified Electronic Mail (ARTSEM) reinforces this prohibition. The Consumer Contract Act further restricts e-commerce businesses from including unfavorable terms in their service agreements. Compliance with these regulations, coupled with internet-related intellectual property laws, creates a complex legal landscape for e-commerce businesses in Japan .

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Segment Overview

This e-commerce retail market report extensively covers market segmentation by

Product

1.1 Apparel and accessories

1.2 Groceries

1.3 Footwear

1.4 Personal and beauty care

1.5 Others

Modality

2.1 Business to business (B2B)

2.2 Business to consumer (B2C)

2.3 Consumer to consumer (C2C)

Geography

3.1 APAC

3.2 North America

3.3 Europe

3.4 South America

3.5 Middle East and Africa

1.1 Apparel and accessories- The global e-commerce retail market for apparel and accessories is experiencing growth, driven by increasing affluence, the trend toward premiumization, and a shift toward organized retail. In India, the domestic lifestyle industry, including apparel, beauty, accessories, and footwear, is projected to reach USD210 billion by 2028. Gen Z shoppers, heavily influenced by social media trends, are a significant driver of this growth. They prefer online shopping and are willing to spend on the latest fashion trends and premium products. Ajio, the retail fashion arm of Reliance, has capitalized on this trend with the launch of Ajio Street in March 2023. This platform offers a wide range of clothing and accessories at affordable prices, with delivery charges waived and a hassle-free return process. The apparel and accessories segment in e-commerce is diverse, catering to various consumer preferences and price points, from affordable fast fashion to high-end luxury items. Digital marketing and social media influencers play a pivotal role in shaping consumer preferences and driving online sales. E-commerce platforms effectively use these tools to reach a wider audience and create personalized shopping experiences. With the rising influence of Gen Z shoppers, strategic initiatives by major players like Ajio, and the effective use of digital marketing, the apparel and accessories segment in the global e-commerce retail market is poised for substantial growth. The focus on affordability, convenience, and trend-driven products will continue to attract a diverse and expanding customer base.

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Research Analysis

E-commerce retail market is experiencing exponential growth, driven by the increasing popularity of online shopping for various products including daily essentials, luxury items, and computer devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computer devices. Mobile technologies play a significant role in this trend, with mobile applications and responsive websites enabling convenient purchasing on the go. Cross-border e-commerce is also on the rise, allowing consumers to buy from retailers around the world. E-commerce platforms provide inventory management, order processing, and payment integration, ensuring seamless transactions. Digital payment methods offer added security and convenience. Business-to-Business (B2B) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) transactions are also common, expanding the reach of e-commerce. Internet penetration continues to increase, fueling the growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce). Voice orders and augmented reality are emerging trends, enhancing the shopping experience.

Market Research Overview

E-commerce retail market is experiencing exponential growth, driven by the increasing popularity of online shopping for daily essentials and luxury products. Smartphone devices have become the primary tool for accessing online platforms, leading to the rise of cross-border e-commerce. E-commerce platforms leverage mobile technologies and digital infrastructure to provide a seamless shopping experience. Business-to-Business (B2B) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) transactions are growing, with hybrid marketplaces offering a blend of both. Apparel and accessories, groceries, and computer devices are popular categories. Logistics and delivery services ensure timely product delivery. Digital payment methods, payment gateways, and digital wallets prioritize data security and cybersecurity. Social media integration and voice recognition enhance the shopping experience. E-retailers use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics for inventory management, order processing, and marketing strategies. Banks and financial institutions facilitate online transactions, while e-commerce technology continues to evolve with headless e-commerce, augmented reality, and personalized shopping experiences. However, concerns over cybercrime and digital fraud persist, necessitating security features and headless architecture.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

Product

Apparel And Accessories



Groceries



Footwear



Personal And Beauty Care



Others

Modality

Business To Business (B2B)



Business To Consumer (B2C)



Consumer To Consumer (C2C)

Geography

APAC



North America



Europe



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
As a B Corp, EcoPlum is part of a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental responsibility, make a legal commitment to stakeholder governance, and demonstrate accountability and transparency by disclosing their record of performance in a public B Corp profile. There are currently 9,500 Certified B Corporations in more than 105 countries and over 160 industries.

EcoPlum and other B Corporations are leading a global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Within the $26 billion promotional products industry, EcoPlum represents a small, but growing segment of sustainable distributors making up about $3 billion (12%) in revenue, according to PPAI (Promotional Products Association International). The majority of B Corps are small to medium-sized businesses. But there are many well-known global brands in the B Corp community including Danone, Patagonia, Athleta, Eileen Fisher, Ben & Jerry's, Warby Parker, and AllBirds.

B Corporations are required to recertify every three years by updating their B Impact Assessment (BIA) and verifying their new BIA score. EcoPlum attained a score of 86.4, an increase of 3.8 points over its prior certification score. The principle of continuous improvement is integrated into the process and companies are encouraged to set goals and continue implementing improvements to their social and environmental practices. Companies must receive a minimum verified score of 80 or above to be certified. While more than 200,000 businesses have used the B Impact Assessment, only about 5% have been certified, including EcoPlum. The median score for ordinary businesses that complete the assessment is 50.9. B Lab began certifying companies in 2007.

"Recertifying EcoPlum as a B Corp is another major milestone that reinforces our commitment to using business as a force for good to create a more sustainable planet! " says Gia Machlin, EcoPlum President and CEO.

All Certified B Corporations balance profit with purpose and work towards a collective vision of Business as a Force for Good. They consider their impact on all stakeholders, not just shareholders. A B Corp is legally accountable, in its corporate governance structure, to consider employees, customers, suppliers, community, the environment, and shareholders in its decision making.

B Lab's recertification of EcoPlum as a B Corp is the latest certification milestone held by the company. EcoPlum also holds an EcoVadis Silver Medal environmental certification and is a Green America Gold Business. Plus, the company is triple-certified as a women-owned enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), New York State (NYS MWBE) and New York City (M/WBE). The company is also a member of ASBN (American Sustainable Business Network), AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), FLA (Fair Labor Association), PPC (Plastic Pollution Coalition), and ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute).

About EcoPlum

EcoPlum is a nationally certified B Corporation that provides branded marketing solutions with its Sustainable Swag line of promotional products. We curate best-in-class, eco-friendly gift items and customize them for clients with their logos, taglines, or messages. EcoPlum empowers companies to make responsible choices on their branded gifts  a visible symbol of their values  with a goal of reducing plastic and harmful waste in our landfills and oceans. The company upholds rigorous and transparent standards for ecological and social sustainability. Our product sourcing criteria include USDA organic, fair trade, biodegradable, renewable, recycled, reusable, Made-in-the-USA, handcrafted or artisan, and third-party eco-labels. We also seek out suppliers that are certified B Corporations (B Corps), women/minority-owned, socially conscious, and Fair Labor Association (FLA) members.

Sustainable Swag solutions at EcoPlum.com, https://ecoplum.com. For more information: info(at)ecoplum(dot)com, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EcoPlum, LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecoplum, EcoPlum Biz Blog, Twitter via @ecoplum, and Instagram via @ecoplum.

About B Lab

B Lab is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs for business, and we certify companiesknown as B Corpswho are leading the way. To date, our community includes more than 900,000 workers in over 9,500 B Corps across 105 countries and 160 industries, and more than 200,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager.

About B Lab U.S. & Canada

B Lab U.S. & Canada is a partner in the B Global Network, a unified group of global, regional, and national organizations that power a business movement as a force for good. A historic global culture shift is underway to harness the power of business to help address society's greatest challenges. Our global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behavior, culture, and structure of capitalism. B Lab certifies companies  known as B Corps  who are leading the way. Our vision is an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet.

For more information, visit usca.bcorporation.net.

About B Corp Certification

B Corp Certification assesses the overall social and environmental impact of a company. To achieve B Corp Certification, a company must meet a score of at least 80 points in the B Impact Assessment, an evaluation of a company's positive impact, and pass a risk review, an evaluation of a company's negative impact.

It must change its corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and exhibit transparency by allowing information about their B Corp Certification performance to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab's website. B Corps recertify every three years and, once certified, are expected to increase their score over time as they progress towards becoming more equitable, inclusive, and regenerative businesses.

SOURCE EcoPlum
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Equature, a leader in public safety technology, has awarded a grant to several schools to implement its advanced Aware platform for weapons detection. This initiative enhances security by providing real-time threat detection, ensuring a safer learning environment. The grant recipients include:

Comstock Public Schools, Kalamazoo, MI





Public Schools, Malley Valley School , Vermontville, MI





, Haley Public Schools, Hadley, MA





Cambridge Central School District, Cambridge, NY

Advanced AI for Safer Schools: Equature's Aware platform uses artificial intelligence to detect weapons in real time, instantly notifying school security, administrators, and first responders. By integrating with existing IP cameras, Aware enhances situational awareness without requiring costly infrastructure changes.

Key Benefits of Aware Weapons Detection:

Real-Time Alerts: AI-powered detection allows immediate response to potential threats.





AI-powered detection allows immediate response to potential threats. Seamless Integration: Works with existing security systems, minimizing disruptions.





Works with existing security systems, minimizing disruptions. High Accuracy: Reduces false positives through deep learning and pattern recognition.





Reduces false positives through deep learning and pattern recognition. Privacy Focused: Ensures compliance with privacy laws by detecting only weapons.





Ensures compliance with privacy laws by detecting only weapons. Scalable Solution: Adaptable to schools of all sizes and security needs.





Adaptable to schools of all sizes and security needs. Faster Response Times: Enhances coordination between security teams and first responders.

"At Equature, our goal is to provide schools with technology that prioritizes safety while maintaining an effective learning environment," said Chris Quayle, Vice President of Business Development at Equature. "By awarding this grant, we are reinforcing our commitment to protecting students, faculty, and staff."

Equature's Aware platform is leading the way in proactive school security, using AI to detect threats and ensure rapid response. For more information, visit www.equature.com.

About Equature Equature provides real-time public safety technology, enhancing emergency response, security, and situational awareness. Trusted by schools, law enforcement, and emergency responders, Equature continues to innovate in public safety technology.

Media Contact: Tiffany Chan

Equature

Phone: 866-377-2677

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Equature
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Six more weeks of winter or an early spring? Who cares! No matter the prediction, Lipton Hard Iced Tea is bringing the sunshine to Groundhog Day in a BIG way. This year, the brand is shaking up tradition with a 9-foot-tall groundhog statue made entirely out of Lipton Hard Iced Tea cans and the launch of a 12-pack format of the fan-favorite Citrus Green Tea flavor.

Lipton Hard Iced Tea Brings the Sunshine to Groundhog Day with a 9-Foot Groundhog Statue and a New 12-Pack Post this Lipton Hard Iced Tea created a 9-foot-tall groundhog dubbed "Can Daddy" made entirely of Lipton Hard Iced Tea cans that will travel through Pennsylvania ahead of Groundhog Day.

The star of this year's Groundhog Day celebration isn't coming out of a burrow, or a cake being cut into slices. It's a massive 9-foot-tall groundhog statue made from 6,000 Lipton Hard Iced Tea cans. Dubbed "Can Daddy," this towering tribute to Groundhog Day is making its way through Pennsylvania bringing a sip of sunshine to the festivities. The stud weighs an estimated 250 pounds and took a team of four over 150 hours to construct.

For one lucky fan, the celebration won't end on Sunday. Lipton Hard Iced Tea is giving away the larger-than-life statue to someone bold enough to take the party home. Fans 21 and older can enter by visiting @liptonhardtea on Instagram and commenting "Groundhog" on this post for a chance to win. *

The new 12-pack offering of Citrus Green Tea allows you to sip and share America's favorite Lipton flavor with friends, now with 5% alcohol. If you're in Pennsylvania, you can stop by to try samples of the flavor and see "Can Daddy" for yourself at the following locations. The brand is also harnessing the power of the sun to create a special shadow billboard that will cast a hidden message on Saturday at the Indiana, PA stop. Come check it out for yourself!

Friday, January 31 at The Curry Hollow Shopping Center in Pittsburgh, PA from 4-6 PM EST

at The Curry Hollow Shopping Center in from Saturday, February 1 at the corner of Maple St. & Willow Ave in Indiana , PA from 3-5 PM EST

"We're all about bringing fun and flavor to the moments that matter," said Lisa Texido, brand director at Lipton Hard Iced Tea. "Groundhog Day is an iconic tradition, and we wanted to take it to new heightsliterally. Whether you're raising a can to winter or to an early spring, Lipton Hard Iced Tea is here to bring the good vibes and great taste."

We know that making weather predictions on Groundhog Day is tough. So, Lipton Hard Iced Tea (America's favorite tea) has teamed up with Chunk the Groundhog (America's favorite internet-famous groundhog) to help make his own prediction on Groundhog Day  his favorite flavor of Lipton Hard Iced Tea. Tune in on Sunday to see what he picks!

For those looking to escape winter entirely, Lipton Hard Iced Tea is also offering the chance to win a warm-weather getaway. Visit liptonhardtea.com/groundhogday to enter before the sun sets on Sunday, February 2, 2025.

For more information and to see more adventures from "Can Daddy," be sure to follow @liptonhardtea on Instagram.

*No purchase necessary. Must be 21+ to enter. Official rules available at liptonhardtea.com/groundhogday.

About Lipton Hard Iced Tea:

Lipton Hard Iced Tea is a 5% ABV, non-carbonated alcoholic beverage, made with real Lipton brewed tea, natural flavors and our premium, triple-filtered malt base. Lipton Hard Iced Tea is smooth, refreshing and seriously delicious. Try it in fiver 5% ABV, just-sweet-enough flavors: Lemon, Peach, Half & Half, Strawberry and Citrus Green Tea.

For more information, visit www.liptonhardtea.com

Stay connected with Lipton Hard Iced Tea on Instagram: @liptonhardtea

Always enjoy responsibly.

SOURCE Lipton Hard Iced Tea
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Friends of the Children announced today that its founder, social entrepreneur and philanthropist Duncan Campbell , was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Mentoring Summit's Excellence in Mentoring award ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. Campbell's visionary leadership and lifelong dedication to improving the lives of children who have the potential to succeed while facing significant barriers has redefined the youth mentoring field in the U.S.

"More than 30 years ago, I focused on the idea that just one long-term relationship can change a child's life for the better," said Campbell. "I'm so humbled and honored that Friends of the Children has grown from one chapter with 24 children being served by three professional mentors in Portland, OR, in 1993 to more than 40 sites across the country serving thousands of youth in urban, suburban, rural, and Indigenous communities."

"I focused on the idea that just one long-term relationship can change a child's life for the better," said Campbell. Post this

Friends of the Children was founded in 1993 and employs full-time, professional mentorscalled Friendswho commit to each child for 12+ years, no matter what. What began as a small organization in Portland, Ore. has now reached over 16,000 children and families in 42 locations nationwide, raising millions of dollars to scale its innovative approach to breaking cycles of generational poverty. It is the first and only long-term, professional mentoring program in the U.S.

"Duncan Campbell's vision and determination have changed the trajectory of thousands of young lives toward hope and opportunities for successful futures," said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "Friends of the Children exemplifies what happens when innovation meets compassion. I am proud to call Duncan my friend. And all of Oregon is proud to call him one of our own."

Under Campbell's leadership, Friends of the Children has demonstrated that fostering a stable, nurturing relationship with a caring adult can effectively address societal challenges like foster care intervention and childhood trauma.

"Duncan Campbell's unwavering commitment to mentoring young Americans has set a standard for organizations nationwide and reminds us that addressing society's biggest challenges begins with kindness, support, and long-term investment in our children," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). "This lifetime achievement award is a testament to the incredible work he has done through Friends of the Children, and I look forward to witnessing the organization's impact for years to come."

Campbell's influence extends beyond Friends of the Children. As a social entrepreneur, he has founded multiple organizations dedicated to the well-being of children and families, including the nationally recognized Children's Institute . His work has earned national recognition, including Civic Venture's Purpose Prize , and his commitment to education has left a legacy at institutions such as the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University. Campbell also spent more than 30 years in the timberland investment and forest industry as the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Campbell Global timber investment firm.

Read the full press release here and view a digital media kit with photos, headshot and bio of Duncan Campbell here.

CONTACT:

Ariane Le Chevallier

[email protected]

+1 971-201-1214

SOURCE Friends of the Children
Insurance Services Company Continues Expansion

ATLANTA, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GlobalPro, a leader in insurance, real estate, construction, and technology services, proudly announces the opening of its new office in Atlanta, Georgia. This expansion enhances GlobalPro's capability to provide prompt, on-site support for business owners, community associations, high-net-worth individuals, and insurance companies handling complex claims. With over a decade of leadership in insurance coverage expertise, GlobalPro consistently delivers exceptional support before, during, and after loss or damage events.

Daniel Odess, Founder and CEO of GlobalPro, appointed Rob Bowlby and Victor Castner to spearhead the company's expansion in the Georgia market. Bowlby, as President of GlobalPro Texas and Georgia, along with Castner, Vice President of GlobalPro Georgia, combines decades of experience in insurance, finance, construction, and technology to ensure that GlobalPro clients receive exceptional and innovative services tailored to their specific needs.

"We are thrilled to broaden our reach in Georgia with a dedicated office in Atlanta," stated Daniel Odess. "Rob and Victor's vast experience significantly bolsters GlobalPro's mission of aiding clients in their recovery from losses. Their leadership is crucial in maintaining the industry-leading service our clients expect."

Rob Bowlby brings a wealth of knowledge in managing multi-state operations and leading teams that deliver top-quality solutions. His commercial and residential insurance claims expertise, along with his strategic vision, have been pivotal in GlobalPro's successes across Texas and Georgia. Bowlby's talent for strengthening client relationships and guiding businesses through complex claims processes is vital for GlobalPro's ongoing expansion.

Victor Castner, with over 20 years of hands-on experience in adjusting and appraising thousands of claims, founded Miami Adjusting Services. Known for his dedication to empowering clients and securing substantial claims, Castner's expertise in handling a diverse array of insurance lossesincluding high-value residences, yachts, and automobileswill ensure that Georgia clients benefit from his personalized approach and deep industry knowledge.

For over a decade, GlobalPro has served as a trusted partner in Georgia, aiding clients through disasters such as tornadoes and frozen pipes. This new office will provide direct access to the essential resources and expertise needed to efficiently navigate claims and expedite recovery, supported by GlobalPro's innovative technology and client-centric strategies.

GlobalPro's Atlanta Office will be located 925B Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA, 30309 and its phone number is 470-749-9950. For more information, visit www.globalpro.com .

About GlobalPro: GlobalPro, a family-owned and operated multidisciplinary insurance services firm, is headquartered in Miami with additional offices in Dallas, Naples, Orlando, and New York , has successfully managed over $1 billion in loss and damages and has assisted over 1,000 policyholders in the placement of insurance.

Media Contact:

Alchemy:

Matt Brooks

[email protected]

SOURCE GlobalPro
MISSION VIEJO, Calif., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Global humanitarian aid nonprofit Human Appeal USA recently joined forces with Tarbiya Institute, ISCN-Corona Masjid and Salam Pantry to collect and deliver essential items to communities impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires. This collaborative effort brought hope, compassion, and critical resources to those whose lives are forever changed by the disaster.

"We were deeply moved by the resilience of the families affected by these wildfires," said Zaheer Khan, Global Director of Fundraising for Human Appeal. "Partnering with Tarbiya Institute, ISCN-Corona Masjid and Salam Pantry allowed us to combine resources and expertise to act swiftly and provide much-needed aid. Together, we didn't just deliver supplieswe stood in solidarity with our neighbors and ensured they felt supported during this incredibly difficult time."

Community Contributions

Human Appeal collaborated with many local communities in California, as well as shelters and local pantries. Via its donors, Human Appeal donated and packaged over 1,000 hygiene kits, non-perishable snacks and water, blankets, sleeping bags, and baby diapers. Additionally, the nonprofit also received several in-kind donations from partnering community members.

"Thank you to each and every volunteer and donor who made the delivery of this project possible," stated Fathimah Zainulabideen," Development Executive for Human Appeal.

Over 20 volunteers came together at one of the supporting community centers, to do the packing. A 20-foot container truck was driven from Sacramento to Riverside for this project.

"Every single donation made a difference," added Zaheer Khan. "The overwhelming support from the community provided comfort and hope to families who have lost so much during this crisis."

About Human Appeal

Here for Every Human. Human Appeal is a non-profit organization working across the globe to strengthen humanity's fight against poverty, social injustice and natural disaster. Through the provision of immediate relief and the establishment of self-sustaining development programs, we aim to save and transform lives. For more information please visit: humanappealUSA.org , or contact: [email protected].

Human Appeal USA is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.

Tax ID # 87-2410117. Your donations are tax deductible.

Human Appeal Inc. 26050 Acero, Suite 415, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, USA

Tel: 877 225 2251

MEDIA CONTACT:

Interdependence PR

[email protected]

919.741.9784

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2610293/Human_Appeal_Aid_Event.jpg

SOURCE Human Appeal
National program equips participants with the basics, enabling companies to find ambitious entry-level talent

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- When Macrae Alford was 15 years old, he looked to the trades for his first job. He found it in plumbing.

For about 3.5 years, Macrae learned the essentials, honing his craft and nearly becoming a tradesman. But lingering inside him was a desire he held since he was younger  to become a machinist.

IACMI-The Composites Institute logo (PRNewsfoto/IACMI - The Composites Institute)

"I've always been into mechanical things," he said. "I always knew the next step was some sort of machining job  I just didn't know when."

That's when he found a free in-person CNC machining bootcamp with America's Cutting Edge (ACE) at Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station's Facility for Advanced Manufacturing.

Last winter, he spent days learning the basics of CAD/CAM software and getting his hands on CNC machines.

The challenge for Macrae after it was over? Getting hired.

Thanks to a referral and the right attitude, an Austin, Texas, company  Wolfram Manufacturing  took a chance on Macrae, initially hiring him into a manufacturing assistant role.

"They're cleaning, topping off fluids, moving parts around," said Katherine Satterwhite, Wolfram operations manager. "But not so much machine control."

But it's Macrae's enthusiasm that shows the chance they took paid off.

After about six months of employment, Macrae was promoted to a manufacturing specialist position. This unlocked machine control  making his dreams come true, and proving the value of ACE participants who have no prior machining experience.

"It's been an amazing adventure," Macrae said.

If you're looking to kickstart your career, ACE can help you get underway. You could end up in a position like Macrae. Start by registering for an ACE online course now.

If you're an employer looking for talent like Macrae, check out what ACE partners may be near you here. Contact us here if you'd like to make a connection.

Read more about Macrae's story here.

About ACE

America's Cutting Edge, supported by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, is a national training program designed to reestablish American leadership in the machine tool industry through transformative thinking, technological innovation, and workforce development. The curriculum  developed by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Professor Dr. Tony Schmitz  combines advanced training and techniques from the University of Tennessee, the scientific expertise of the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the proven workforce development capabilities of IACMI.

www.americascuttingedge.org

ACE has expanded beyond the initial testbed of the University of Tennessee to include training hubs at Marshall University Advanced Manufacturing Center, North Carolina A&T State University, Penn State Behrend, St. Cloud State University (Minn.), Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, University of Florida, and University of St. Thomas (Minn). There's a growing network of over three dozen training partners in 14 states, including high schools, trade schools and community colleges.

About IACMI

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMIThe Composites Institute, is dedicated to securing U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing by connecting people, ideas, and technology. IACMI is a 170-plus member community of industry, academic institutions, and government organizations working to enhance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, with a strong focus on technology, commercialization and workforce development. Established in 2015 by the Department of Energy, IACMI is one of 18 Manufacturing USA Institutes collaborating to accelerate new technology, create new products, reduce costs and risks, and equip the workforce with future-ready skills. IACMI also partners with the Department of Defense to scale up industry-driven job skills and revitalize American manufacturing. Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, IACMI is managed by the Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation, a not-for-profit organization established by The University of Tennessee Research Foundation.

www.iacmi.org

SOURCE IACMI - The Composites Institute
2025 is the 50th Anniversary of the EITC; One of the Most Valuable Tax Credits that One in Five Eligible Taxpayers Fail to Claim

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today is Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day and Jackson Hewitt Tax Services has teamed up with the IRS to remind taxpayers about this valuable tax credit that can reduce taxes owed and increase tax refunds. Taxpayers who qualify to claim the EITC could receive a credit of up to $7,830 in their tax refund. Earlier this week, on Monday, January 27, 2025, the IRS officially began accepting and processing 2024 Federal income tax returns. All Jackson Hewitt offices are open nationwide and ready to assist taxpayers to file their return before the Tax Day deadline of April 15, 2025. Consumers can easily book an appointment with Jackson Hewitt now to reserve a time to meet with a Tax Pro at their earliest convenience.

Mark Steber, Chief Tax Officer at Jackson Hewitt, shares information about the Earned Income Tax Credit.

"Every year, the IRS estimates that millions of taxpayers unfortunately don't take advantage of claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit  about one in five. Sometimes it's because they had a significant life change and it was the first time they were eligible to claim the credit, but didn't realize it. This is why I always recommend that people who just got married or divorced, had or adopted children, or had a job change work with a tax professional. This will ensure that they are filing an accurate tax return and getting the biggest tax refund that's owed to them," said Mark Steber, Chief Tax Officer at Jackson Hewitt. "Our Tax Pros at Jackson Hewitt work closely with their clients to go through the previous year and talk about their finances, life changes, and more to guarantee they are claiming every credit and deduction they deserve."

To help taxpayers understand if they qualify for the EITC, Jackson Hewitt has created an online calculator. Clients can visit Jackson Hewitt's website to estimate what they may be eligible for: www.jacksonhewitt.com/tax-tools/tax-refund-calculators/earned-income-credit-calculator.

The amount a taxpayer receives from claiming the EITC is based on income, filing status, and family size. For tax year 2024, qualifying taxpayers could get up to:

$632 with no children

with no children $4,213 with one child

with one child $6,960 with two children

with two children $7,830 with three or more children

The earned income requirements to claim the EITC are:

Number of Qualifying Children Filing as single, head of household, married filing separately or widowed Filing as married filing jointly No children $18,591 $25,511 One child $49,084 $56,004 Two children $55,768 $62,688 Three or more children $59,899 $66,819

This is the 50th anniversary of the EITC and the 19th annual EITC Awareness Day. Jackson Hewitt and the IRS are proud to continue spreading the word about this often-overlooked tax credit.

Taxpayers who claim the EITC on their 2024 tax return should note that they likely won't receive their tax refund until mid-to-late February. This is because, under Federal laws, the IRS needs to check these tax returns more carefully to avoid invalid claims.

For more information, visit jacksonhewitt.com. To find the nearest Jackson Hewitt office and book an appointment, visit jacksonhewitt.com/officelocator.

About Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. is an innovator in the tax industry, with a mission to provide its hardworking clients with access to simple, low-cost solutions to manage their taxes and tax refunds. Jackson Hewitt is devoted to helping clients get ahead and stands behind its work with its Maximum Refund Guarantee and Lifetime Accuracy Guarantee (restrictions apply, see Jackson Hewitt's website for more details). Jackson Hewitt has more than 5,200 franchise and company-owned locations nationwide, including 2,700 in Walmart stores, making it easy and convenient for clients to file their taxes. For more information about products, services, or offers, or to locate a Jackson Hewitt office, visit jacksonhewitt.com or call (800) 234-1040.

SOURCE Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.
BOSTON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its monthly distribution of $0.0825 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of January 13, 2025, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT) with important information concerning the distribution declared on January 2, 2025, and payable on January 31, 2025. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: January 2025

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.0825

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable January 31, 2025, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 01/1/2025-01/31/2025

For the fiscal year-to-date period

11/1/2024-01/31/2025 [1] Source

Current

Distribution ($)

% Breakdown

of the Current

Distribution

Total Cumulative

Distributions ($)

% Breakdown

of the Total

Cumulative

Distributions Net Investment Income

0.0220

27 %

0.1573

64 % Net Realized Short-

Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0111

4 % Net Realized Long-

Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0374

15 % Return of Capital or

Other Capital

Source

0.0605

73 %

0.0417

17 % Total per common share

0.0825

100 %

0.2475

100 %

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on December 31, 2024

4.66 %





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of December 31, 2024

7.51 %





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through December 31, 2024

-1.70 %





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of December 31, 2024

1.88 %





1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on November 1, 2024 and will end on October 31, 2025.

You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the January 2025 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed monthly distributions in the amount of $0.0825 per share, which will continue to be paid monthly until further notice.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
CLEVELAND, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) announced today that Chris Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will speak at the Bank of America Securities 2025 Financial Services Conference on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 8:00 a.m. ET in Miami.

KeyCorp plans to review its performance, strategy, and outlook, and the discussion may include forward-looking statements and other material information. The live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at www.key.com/ir. If you are unable to join the live webcast, or wish to hear a re-broadcast, access www.key.com/ir and select Events & Presentations.

ABOUT KEYCORP

In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at December 31, 2024.

Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.

SOURCE KeyCorp
$1.2M grant from Caterpillar Foundation funds creation of immersive learning pod focused on hands-on career exploration for grades 9-12

DALLAS, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, nonprofit organization Learning Undefeated launched the first-of-its-kind Breakout Box: Manufacturing Mission, a new immersive learning experience focused on manufacturing skills and careers. The purpose-built futuristic learning pod will travel directly to schools and engage students in an escape-room-style mission using competition, collaboration, and fast-paced gameplay. To beat the Breakout Box mission, student teams must optimize key manufacturing concepts such as scheduling and inventory disruptions, performance, efficiency, and quality control.

"The future of our economy belongs to the makers, and manufacturing careers are the future," said Learning Undefeated Chief Innovation Officer Jennifer Colvin. "By 2033, nearly four million new manufacturing jobs will need to be filled, which is more than the entire population of Dallas and Houston combined. Through our new Manufacture Your Path program, we want students to know that these high-paying, high-tech jobs are waiting for them right here in their hometown."

A ribbon cutting event was held this morning in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD's Ranchview High School in Irving, Texas, where more than 300 students competed in a heist-themed mission onboard the mobile laboratory. "The Breakout Box was an incredible experience for our students," said Ranchview Principal Kara Miller. "It brought manufacturing concepts to life in a way that truly captivated them. The theme fostered problem-solving skills and teamwork which made learning fun and engaging!"

This project is supported by a $1.2 million grant from the Caterpillar Foundation. "The workforce of the future looks very different than today, so Caterpillar Foundation is focused on equipping people with the skills and resources needed to adapt and thrive," said Caterpillar Foundation President Asha Varghese. "The Foundation is proud to support the creation of Learning Undefeated's 'Manufacture Your Path' program - to provide Texas students and teachers with hands-on STEM resources that are immersive, fun and grounded in real-world manufacturing principles. By connecting STEM concepts to local job opportunities, we aim to raise interest and awareness in manufacturing careers and help close community skills gaps."

The Breakout Box learning experience is one of several elements in Learning Undefeated's new Manufacture Your Path program, a deep impact program that introduces students to high-demand manufacturing careers and learn-and-earn opportunities in their community. In addition to the Breakout Box mission, Manufacture Your Path also features classroom curriculum kits, educator training, and Manufacturing Night events for families to explore local career opportunities. The content for this learning experience was developed with input from over two dozen subject matter experts, representing a variety of companies, products, and manufacturing environments.

The ultramodern traveling learning theater will visit more than a dozen Texas high schools this spring in locations including Dallas, Waco, Seguin, San Antonio, and Houston. Schools may apply for a visit from the mobile lab online.

Manufacture Your Path was designed to meet needs and gaps in the current state of K-12 manufacturing career education, based on a comprehensive landscape analysis and feedback from dozens of educators and manufacturing industry professionals. Findings indicated that students, teachers, and parents have outdated perceptions of manufacturing roles which create hurdles for teens as they are making decisions about their future.

To learn more about Learning Undefeated, visit: https://www.learningundefeated.org/.

About Learning Undefeated

Learning Undefeated brings immersive and deep-impact STEM learning experiences to students in all communities. Learning Undefeated's custom-built mobile labs range from laboratory-grade spaces to immersive learning theaters, connecting students with meaningful STEM experiences and linking them to career pathways. The nonprofit has prepared nearly two million K-12 students for STEM careers since 2003 through hands-on content exploration, game-based learning, educator training, talent development, mobile laboratory design and build consulting, curriculum development and disaster recovery education.

Learning Undefeated has been recognized with national and international awards, including two Educators' Pick Best of STEM Awards in Social Impact: Promoting Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Life Sciences categories. Visit learningundefeated.org or follow us on social @LearningUNDFTD.

About Caterpillar Foundation

Workforce development and sustainable infrastructure guide Caterpillar Foundation's philanthropy. As Caterpillar's philanthropic organization since 1952, Caterpillar Foundation has contributed over $975 million to programs worldwide strengthening community resilience. These contributions help to enable change that ensures millions of people can adapt and thrive in our rapidly evolving world. Learn more at caterpillar.com/foundation.

SOURCE Learning Undefeated
NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report with the AI impact on market trends - The global led lighting market size is estimated to grow by USD 41.5 billion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.08% during the forecast period. Declining manufacturing cost of led lights is driving market growth, with a trend towards emergence of smart cities. However, limited thermal tolerance of leds installed in the industrial facilities poses a challenge. Key market players include Acuity Brands Inc., ams OSRAM AG, Bridgelux Inc., Dialight Plc, Digital Lumens Inc., Eaton Corp. Plc, Ennostar Inc., General Electric Co., GrowRay Lighting Technologies, Hubbell Inc., IDEAL INDUSTRIES Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., LSI Industries Inc., Lumileds Holding BV, OSRAM Licht AG, Panasonic Holdings Corp., Sharp Corp., Signify NV, SMART Global Holdings Inc., and Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd..

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global LED lighting market 2024-2028

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

Led Lighting Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2023 Historic period 2017 - 2021 Forecast period 2024-2028 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.08% Market growth 2024-2028 USD 41.5 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 7.32 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 42% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Key companies profiled Acuity Brands Inc., ams OSRAM AG, Bridgelux Inc., Dialight Plc, Digital Lumens Inc., Eaton Corp. Plc, Ennostar Inc., General Electric Co., GrowRay Lighting Technologies, Hubbell Inc., IDEAL INDUSTRIES Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., LSI Industries Inc., Lumileds Holding BV, OSRAM Licht AG, Panasonic Holdings Corp., Sharp Corp., Signify NV, SMART Global Holdings Inc., and Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd.

Market Driver

The LED lighting market is experiencing significant growth due to its energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. LED technology is replacing traditional lighting sources like incandescent, CFL, and halogen lights in various applications. In the residential sector, LED lights are popular for indoor situations, while LED bulbs, tube lights, and strips are preferred for outdoor applications. LED lighting is also used in horticulture, smart city initiatives, and building automation systems. LED manufacturers offer a range of products, including LED lamps, luminaires, and smart LED lighting. Wi-Fi, occupancy sensors, and daylighting are common features in LED products. LED lighting systems are longer-lasting and energy-saving solutions for public institutions, construction sites, and the medical device sector. LED lighting is used in surgical illumination, exam lights, phototherapy, and endoscopy. The wholesale segment and luminaire product segment are major contributors to the market. LED lighting systems are also used in outdoor applications such as street lighting, highways, airports, and public areas. LED lighting is a network-connectivity-enabled, smart lighting solution that offers strong illumination and design flexibility. LED lighting systems are also used in track lighting, high bays, troffers, and various other categories like floor lamps, architectural LED lamps, and cabinet lights. The automotive sector is another significant market for LED lighting. LED lighting is an energy-saving solution for consumers, offering product certification, consumer safety, and energy use reduction.

The Led Lighting Market is experiencing growth due to government initiatives aimed at energy conservation and city development. Smart lighting systems, a crucial element of constructing smart cities, offer energy savings, quicker switching times, and cost reduction. These systems are not only energy-efficient but also provide practical benefits to city residents, such as real-time traffic information and updates on public spaces. Innovative lighting solutions in street lights include automatic brightness adjustment, remote control, fault alerts, anti-theft protection, and monitoring of power cables. These features contribute significantly to the energy efficiency of cities and enhance the overall quality of life for citizens.

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Market Challenges

The LED lighting market is experiencing significant growth due to its energy efficiency and environmental sustainability benefits compared to traditional lighting sources like incandescent, CFL, and halogen lights. LED technology is becoming the go-to solution for indoor applications such as residential lighting and retail spaces, as well as outdoor applications like horticulture, street lighting, and construction sites. LED manufacturers are constantly innovating with products like LED strips, bulbs, tube lights, and luminaires for various segments including wholesale and building automation systems. Challenges in the market include common open standards, smart city initiatives, and network connectivity through Wi-Fi and occupancy sensors. LED lighting systems are being integrated into smart lighting solutions for energy saving and consumer safety. In the medical device sector, LED products are used for surgical illumination, exam lights, phototherapy, endoscopy, and more. The longer lifespan of LED luminaires is also a major advantage for industries like construction and upgrading projects. The LED lamp category includes track lighting, high bays, troffers, and street lighting, making it a versatile solution for various industries. The residential sector and indoor segment are major markets for LED lighting systems, with conventional lights like high intensity discharge and fluorescent bulb substitutes being phased out. Public institutions and outdoor markets like highways, airports, and public areas are also adopting LED lighting systems for their energy saving benefits. Light Fidelity and smart LED lighting are the future of lighting technology, offering network connectivity and design flexibility for architectural and automotive applications.

LED lighting, while offering energy efficiency benefits compared to traditional incandescent lamps, faces challenges in commercial and industrial applications due to environmental conditions. High temperatures, moisture, and hazardous environments can negatively impact LED performance and lifespan. LED lamps and fixtures connected to external drivers are particularly susceptible to high operating temperatures, which can lead to premature failure. Industrial facilities and manufacturing plants, with their elevated temperatures, can cause internal temperatures of LED drivers to exceed safe operating limits, adversely affecting LED light output and lifespan.

Discover how AI is revolutionizing market trends- Get your access now!

Segment Overview

This led lighting market report extensively covers market segmentation by

Application

1.1 Residential

1.2 Commercial

1.3 Outdoor

1.4 Industrial

1.5 Others

Product

2.1 Luminaries

2.2 Lamps

Geography

3.1 APAC

3.2 Europe

3.3 North America

3.4 Middle East and Africa

and 3.5 South America

1.1 Residential- The residential segment led the global LED lighting market in 2023, driven by urbanization and the demand for energy-efficient solutions. The increase in urban population fuels the adoption of LED lighting systems for home decoration. Governments offer subsidies to stimulate local manufacturing, lowering prices and boosting sales. Smart cities and smart homes also contribute to market growth, with cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago adopting LED lighting due to its lower Cox emissions. These factors collectively drive the expansion of the residential segment in the global LED lighting market.

Download a Sample of our comprehensive report today to discover how AI-driven innovations are reshaping competitive dynamics

Research Analysis

The LED lighting market is experiencing significant growth due to the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability benefits of LED technology. LED lights provide strong illumination while consuming less energy input compared to traditional lighting sources like incandescent, CFL, and halogen lights. This makes LED lighting an ideal choice for various applications, including indoor situations such as residential lighting and retail environments, as well as outdoor applications. LED manufacturers offer a wide range of LED products, including LED bulbs, tube lights, strips, and Wi-Fi enabled LED lights with occupancy sensors and daylighting capabilities. These advanced features enhance energy savings and provide optimal lighting conditions. LED technology is revolutionizing the lighting industry and is expected to continue its dominance in the market.

Market Research Overview

The LED lighting market is experiencing significant growth due to its energy efficiency and environmental sustainability benefits. LED technology is replacing traditional lighting sources such as incandescent, CFL, and halogen lights in various applications. In indoor situations, LED lighting is used for residential lighting, retail lighting, and horticulture, while in outdoor applications, it is used for street lighting, construction sites, and smart city initiatives. LED products include LED bulbs, tube lights, strips, lamps, and luminaires, which are common open standards compatible with building automation systems. Wi-Fi, occupancy sensors, and daylighting are also integrated into smart LED lighting systems. LED manufacturers offer a wide range of LED lighting portfolio, catering to the wholesale segment and various industries such as medical, construction, and public institutions. The longer lifespan and energy-saving solutions offered by LED lighting systems make them a preferred choice for consumers, designers, and product certification bodies. The market includes various product categories like track lighting, high bays, troffers, and street lighting, among others. The residential sector and indoor segment are major markets for LED lighting, with the outdoor market showing significant growth in areas like highways, airports, public areas, exhibitions, museums, and galleries. The automotive sector is also adopting smart lighting solutions for better safety and design. LED lighting systems are also used in the medical device sector for surgical illumination, exam lights, phototherapy, endoscopy, and medical workers' safety. The market is expected to continue growing as more conventional lights are upgraded to LED lighting systems. Light Fidelity, a new network connectivity technology, is expected to further enhance the capabilities of LED lighting systems.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

Application

Residential



Commercial



Outdoor



Industrial



Others

Product

Luminaries



Lamps

Geography

APAC



Europe



North America



Middle East And Africa



South America

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
NESCONSET, N.Y., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- LifeVac, the revolutionary choking rescue device, is proud to announce its collaboration with Retired Marine Colonel Christopher J. Douglas, a dedicated advocate for veteran safety. Colonel Douglas has taken on the role of mission representative, passionately advocating to ensure that our veterans have access to essential life-saving tools like LifeVac.

Colonel Douglas, a decorated United States Marine with a long history of service, is committed to providing veterans with the tools they need in critical moments. "My concern stems from the reality that, despite its proven efficacy and inclusion as an option in the American Red Cross Guidelines, LifeVac remains underutilized in settings where it could save lives. This is critical in veteran care facilities, where those who have given the most for our country deserve every possible resource to ensure their safety." -Colonel Christopher J. Douglas.

"Veterans have made sacrifices most Americans can't imagine," said LifeVac inventor Arthur Lih. "It's unacceptable that in a choking emergency, they might not have access to a device like LifeVac. We owe it to them to do better."

LifeVac is a non-invasive, easy-to-use choking rescue device designed to provide peace of mind for individuals and families. With over 3,400 lives saved worldwide, LifeVac has proven to be a reliable tool in preventing choking deaths. With Colonel Douglas leading this mission, LifeVac aims to ensure every veteran has access to this vital device.

Together, LifeVac and Colonel Douglas are calling on organizations, veteran care facilities, and policymakers to act. By equipping these facilities with LifeVac, we can help protect those who have protected us.

Let's come together to honor their service and sacrifice by providing them with the tools they need when they need them most.

For more information about LifeVac and how to equip your home or community, please visit www.lifevac.net .

About LifeVac LLC: LifeVac is a company known for its lifesaving airway clearance device of the same name. Founded in 2010, it is based out of Nesconset, New York. It is registered with the FDA, MHRA, and Australia ARTG.

Media Contact:

Julia Bonelli

[email protected]

516-499-4310

LifeVac LLC

120 Lake Avenue South, #35

Nesconset, NY 11767

SOURCE LifeVac
Multi-million-pound funding to drive development of next-gen neural implant, neuromodulation and neurosensing therapeutics for clinical use

LONDON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- MintNeuro, a pioneer of scalable, low-power semiconductor technology for minimally-invasive neural implant applications, today announces that it is the recipient of three major funding awards from the UK government's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) in collaboration with leading institutions. These contracts will support breakthrough developments in chip-scale neurotechnologies, accelerating their adoption in clinical settings. The non-dilutive funding, totalling 17 million, has been awarded to MintNeuro and its partners as part of the UK R&D funding agency's 69 million Precision Neurotechnologies programme, led by Programme Director Jacques Carolan.

MintNeuro will lead the custom development and integration of low-power, function-specific integrated circuits and systems for each of the three funded projects, aligned with the programme's mission to develop precise, less invasive, and biologically integrated neurotechnologies:

1. Precision 4D Control of Cortical Circuit Function

Led by Andrew Jackson (MintNeuro, Newcastle University), in this 8.2 million project MintNeuro is joining forces with teams from Newcastle University, University of Oxford, and Imperial College London to deliver data-driven, AI-enhanced brain stimulation technology. The goal is to define and selectively target behaviourally-relevant neural populations within cortical circuits with unprecedented precision and cell-type specificity. By integrating multi-modal machine learning with advanced stimulation techniques, the project will enable 4D (multipolar, time- and space-variant) closed-loop control of pathological network dynamics and brain states underlying awake behaviour. This has the potential to create more effective, adaptive treatments for existing indications (e.g. epilepsy, Parkinson's disease) and emerging treatment areas (e.g. stroke, depression).

2. Brain Mesh: A Distributed Network Interface to Mesoscale Cortical Circuits in Large Animals

Led by Jacob Robinson (Motif Neurotech, Rice University), this 4.7 million project is a collaboration between MintNeuro, Motif Neurotech, and Rice University to develop the Brain Mesh, a distributed network of ultra-small, wireless neural implants. Each millimetre-sized device, or Mesh Point, will be capable of sensing neural signals and delivering precise stimulation, creating a distributed, scalable system for monitoring and modulating brain activity. The Brain Mesh, thanks to its interactions with mesoscale cortical circuits, will provide a more precise, holistic way to interact with the brain compared to traditional implants for clinical translation, paving the way for more comprehensive neuromodulation treatments for mental health disorders like severe depression.

3. Minimally Invasive Multiplexed Temporal Interference Brain Stimulation Network

Led by Nir Grossman (UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London), this 4.1 million project brings together MintNeuro, Imperial College London, and Newcastle University to develop a minimally-invasive brain stimulation technology capable of precisely targeting multiple brain regions. This system will leverage multiplexed temporal interference (TI) stimulation to modulate neural circuits with implant-like precision, but without the need for surgical implantation in the brain. The project will focus on developing the TI stimulation principle, creating a prototype device, and demonstrating its capabilities. The overall project vision is to enable targeted neuromodulation across the brain, paving the way for new treatments for many neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Jacque Carolan, ARIA Programme Director for the Precision Neurotechnologies programme, praised MintNeuro's leadership across multiple projects, stating: "The standard was exceptionally high. The fact that MintNeuro is central to so many of the successful applications speaks volumes to both the quality of the work and the critical role MintNeuro is playing in the UK ecosystem."

Commenting on this milestone ARIA funding, MintNeuro Co-Founder and CEO Dorian Haci said: "ARIA's Precision Neurotechnologies programme is a global pathfinder, uniting frontier innovations to unlock new methods to interface with the brain and bringing the promise of hugely beneficial impacts for addressing the complex and devastating medical conditions that affect so many people worldwide. These landmark projects will drive advancements in treating brain disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, and neuropsychiatric conditions, where current solutions remain limited."

Tim Constandinou, MintNeuro Co-Founder and CTO, added: "We are excited to be a key partner in these projects, which push the boundaries of neural interface technology and accelerate translation to human applications. At MintNeuro, our modular integrated circuit platform provides the foundation for scalable, less invasive, and efficient neural implants. These breakthroughs are only possible with advanced semiconductor solutions, and we are proud to lead this transformation."

MintNeuro is uniquely focusing on the intersection of neurotechnology and semiconductors, pioneering advanced integrated circuits for next-generation neural implants. With deep expertise in chip design and a pre-validated technology platform, MintNeuro delivers rapid, customised solutions that empower medical device developers to accelerate innovation. Its compact, low-power, and modular chips seamlessly integrate functions like sensing, stimulation, and processing, unlocking capabilities that were previously unattainable. These ARIA-funded projects are a testament to MintNeuro's leadership and progress in the field.

For more information about the projects funded by ARIA in its Precision Neurotechnologies programme, please visit: https://www.aria.org.uk/opportunity-spaces/scalable-neural-interfaces/precision-neurotechnologies/

Notes to editors

About MintNeuro (www.mintneuro.com)

Founded as a spinout from Imperial College London, MintNeuro leads in advanced semiconductor technology for neural implants. With strong roots in world-class academic research and a dedication to innovation, the company boasts a robust portfolio of intellectual property underpinning its groundbreaking solutions. MintNeuro's proprietary chip technology tackles core challenges in neurology with scalable, low-power solutions that enhance the efficiency and accessibility of implantable devices. Strategic partnerships with leading institutions and medical device companies place MintNeuro at the forefront of adaptable systems addressing a range of neurological conditions, including epilepsy, movement disorders, and cognitive dysfunctions. For more information, visit our website.

About Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA: Advanced Research and Invention Agency - GOV.UK)

Created by an Act of Parliament, and sponsored by the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, ARIA funds breakthrough R&D in underexplored areas to catalyse new paths to prosperity for the UK and the world.

We empower scientists and engineers to pursue research that is too speculative, too hard, or too interdisciplinary to pursue elsewhere. ARIA's programmes are shaped and led by our Programme Directors, scientific and technical leaders with deep expertise and a focused, creative vision for how technology can enable a better future.

Our independence allows us to pursue bold, long-term outcomes but that is only made possible through robust accountability. As a public body, we are accountable to Parliament and our Board of Directors plays a critical role in scrutinising our strategy. We also engage broadly and seek open feedback to shape our research, baking in ethics and governance considerations from the start to ensure we pursue breakthroughs responsibly.

For press inquiries related to ARIA's Precision Neurotechnologies programme, please CC scalable-neural-interfaces-creators[at]aria[dot]org[dot]uk and contact Anisha Solanki at anisha[dot]solanki[at]aria[dot]org[dot]uk.

Press contacts:

EvokedSet PR for MintNeuro

nicky[at]evokedset[dot]com

+44 (0)118 989 9788

SOURCE MintNeuro
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report on how AI is redefining market landscape - The global nail care products market size is estimated to grow by USD 5.96 billion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period. Availability of non-toxic solutions for nail care is driving market growth, with a trend towards growing adoption of home salon services. However, availability of counterfeit nail care products poses a challenge. Key market players include American International Industries, Amorepacific Corp., Amway Corp., Beiersdorf AG, Brandloft Ltd., Chanel Ltd., Coty Inc., Edgewell Personal Care Co., LOreal SA, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Nails.INC Ltd., Natura and Co Holding SA, Olive and June LLC, Oriflame Cosmetics S.A., Revlon Inc., Shiseido Co. Ltd., The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., The Procter and Gamble Co., and Unilever PLC.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global nail care products market 2024-2028

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

Nail Care Products Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2023 Historic period 2018 - 2022 Forecast period 2024-2028 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.3% Market growth 2024-2028 USD 5961.4 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 4.06 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 44% Key countries US, China, Germany, India, and UK Key companies profiled American International Industries, Amorepacific Corp., Amway Corp., Beiersdorf AG, Brandloft Ltd., Chanel Ltd., Coty Inc., Edgewell Personal Care Co., LOreal SA, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Nails.INC Ltd., Natura and Co Holding SA, Olive and June LLC, Oriflame Cosmetics S.A., Revlon Inc., Shiseido Co. Ltd., The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., The Procter and Gamble Co., and Unilever PLC

Market Driver

The Nail Care Products market is thriving, with trends like nail polish, nail art, and fashion driving growth. Young women and millennial consumers are leading the way, influenced by social media platforms and technological integration. Virtual try-on experiences and synthetic products are in demand, but concerns over parabens, phthalates, petrochemicals, and aluminum salts are pushing the market towards organic ingredients like grape seeds, sea buckthorn, apricot active extracts, green tea, and rosemary. Retail stores, salons, and e-commerce portals are popular sales channels. DIY trends continue, with manicures and pedicures at home using DIY kits. Recycled materials and vegan certified products are gaining traction. Brands like Maybelline cater to the millennial and Gen-Z population, as well as working women and college-going girls. Gel-based manicures, dip powder manicures, chrome nails, and French tips are popular styles. Accessories like glitterbels, sequins, gems, and foils add flair. Seasonality and fashion-driven demand impact sales. Developing countries and rural areas offer growth opportunities. The market is competitive, with big box retailers, private label brands, and indie brands vying for market share. Digital marketing and free product delivery, easy payment methods, and subscription boxes are key strategies.

The nail care products market is witnessing an emerging trend of personalized home salon services, particularly in regions like North America, Europe, and APAC. Over the past decade, the number of app-based salon service providers offering at-home grooming services has grown substantially. These mobile apps enable consumers to easily order salon services and have makeup artists come to their preferred location. One such home salon service provider is Housejoy, based in India. They offer a range of services including nail care, overall grooming, and spa treatments. Housejoy's offerings include various grooming packages such as the Monthly Essential Package, Monthly Grooming Package, Tip to Toe Package, and Manicure, to encourage frequent usage.

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Market Challenges

The Nail Care Products market is thriving, with trends like nail polish, nail art, and fashion driving demand. Young women and millennial consumers are the primary target audience, engaging with nail care products on social media platforms. Technological integration, such as virtual try-on experiences and mobile-based apps, is transforming the industry. However, challenges include synthetic products containing parabens, phthalates, aluminum salts, and petrochemicals. Organic ingredients like grape seeds, sea buckthorn, apricot active extracts, green tea, and rosemary are gaining popularity. Retail stores, salons, pharmacies, and company-owned stores sell these products, with online sales and social media marketing increasing. DIY trends, manicures, pedicures, and personal grooming are key categories, with disposable incomes and female consumers fueling growth. Changing lifestyles, influencers, celebrities, and fashion reality shows influence demand. Developing countries and rural areas present opportunities, but clean label and vegan certified products are essential for future success.

In the global nail care products market, various categories such as nail polish, nail polish removers, artificial nails, and accessories, and other nail accessories exist. Brands in the color cosmetics industry hold intellectual property rights to safeguard their product identity. However, the presence of counterfeit nail care products negatively impacts sales. These imitations can pose health risks to consumers and are challenging to distinguish from authentic products. Local manufacturers without registration contribute to the market's fragmentation in the color cosmetics sector. Vendors must prioritize brand protection and product quality to maintain consumer trust and market competitiveness.

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Segment Overview

This nail care products market report extensively covers market segmentation by

Product

1.1 Nail polish

1.2 Nail accessories and implements

1.3 Nail polish remover

1.4 Nail strengthener

1.5 Others

Distribution Channel

2.1 Offline

2.2 Online

Geography

3.1 APAC

3.2 Europe

3.3 North America

3.4 South America

3.5 Middle East and Africa

Price Range

Application

1.1 Nail polish- The nail care products market is significantly driven by the nail polish segment, representing a substantial revenue share in the global makeup industry. Consumers increasingly prefer quick-dry, gel-like polishes and long-wear nail lacquers. Vendors introduce new product lines featuring glossy and long-lasting nail paints. Trendy color shades, such as creamy blue, soft red, royal dark teal, milk chocolate, and glossy fuchsia, are popular among consumers. Notable brands like Coty Inc. And L'Oreal SA cater to this demand with their unique offerings, ensuring sales growth. Adhering to fashion trends is crucial for vendors to boost sales in the forecast period.

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Research Analysis

The Nail Care Products market is thriving, driven by the growing trend of fashionable and artistic nail designs. Nail polish continues to be a staple, with an expanding range of colors and finishes. Nail art, fueled by social media platforms, is increasingly popular, allowing individuals to express their creativity and individuality. Technological integration is transforming the industry, with virtual try-on experiences enabling customers to preview nail colors and designs before purchase. Synthetic products, free from parabens and phthalates, cater to health-conscious consumers. Millennials, Gen-Z population, working women, and college-going girls are key consumers, driven by the desire for personal grooming and appearance enhancement. Nail strengtheners, removers, cuticle creams, manicures, pedicures, and dip powder manicures are popular offerings. Disposable incomes and the convenience of nail salons and beauticians further fuel market growth.

Market Research Overview

The Nail Care Products market is experiencing in demand, driven by the fashion-conscious young women and millennial population. Nail polish continues to be a popular choice, with trends leaning towards synthetic products and technological integration, offering virtual try-on experiences. However, concerns over the use of parabens, phthalates, aluminum salts, and other harmful chemicals have led to an increasing preference for organic ingredients such as grape seeds, sea buckthorn, apricot active extracts, green tea, and rosemary. The market is expanding beyond traditional retail stores to include household segment sales through retail shops, beauty salons, pharmacies, company-owned stores, and online sales. Social media marketing, free product delivery, and easy payment methods are key strategies used to reach consumers. Nail art and DIY trends are on the rise, with glitterbels, Hema-free gel polish, and dip powder manicures gaining popularity. Accessories like artificial nails, sequins, gems, and foils are also in demand. Influencers and celebrities are driving fashion-driven demand, with changing lifestyles and disposable incomes fueling sales. The market is not limited to developed countries, with developing countries and rural areas also showing significant growth. Clean label, vegan certified products, and digital marketing are becoming essential in this competitive landscape. Seasonality and fashion-driven demand continue to influence trends, with big box retailers, private label brands, and indie brands all vying for market share.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

Product

Nail Polish



Nail Accessories And Implements



Nail Polish Remover



Nail Strengthener



Others

Distribution Channel

Offline



Online

Geography

APAC



Europe



North America



South America



Middle East And Africa

Price Range

Application

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, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 7, to discuss the agency's science and technology flying aboard Intuitive Machines' second flight to the Moon. The mission is part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence.

Audio of the call will stream on the agency's website at:

As part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines' second delivery to the Moon will carry NASA technology demonstrations and science investigations on their Nova-C class lunar lander. Credit: Intuitive Machine

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Briefing participants include:

Nicky Fox , associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Niki Werkheiser , director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Trent Martin , senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines

To participate by telephone, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the briefing to: [email protected]. NASA's media accreditation policy is available online.

Intuitive Machines' lunar lander, Athena, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four-day launch window opens no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Among the items on Intuitive Machines' lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on site, or in-situ, demonstrations of resource utilization on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon's South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface.

Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA's Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.

Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA is one of many customers for these flights.

For updates, follow on:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis

SOURCE NASA
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NHS) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0905 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on February 28, 2025, has a record date of February 18, 2025, and has an ex-date of February 18, 2025.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0905 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist only of net investment income.

Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2025 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman is an employee-owned, private, independent investment manager founded in 1939 with over 2,800 employees in 26 countries. The firm manages $508 billion of equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and hedge fund portfolios for global institutions, advisors and individuals. Neuberger Berman's investment philosophy is founded on active management, fundamental research and engaged ownership. The firm's leadership in stewardship and sustainable investing is recognized by the PRI based on its consecutive above median reporting assessment results. Neuberger Berman has been named by Pensions & Investments as the #1 or #2 Best Place to Work in Money Management for each of the last ten years (firms with more than 1,000 employees). Visit www.nb.com for more information. Data as of December 31, 2024.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has extended a 200 million euro loan to support the development of Polands Baltica 2 offshore wind farm, Trend reports.

This financing, provided in partnership with several commercial lenders, the European Investment Bank, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, and Denmarks Export and Investment Fund, marks a significant step in Polands renewable energy ambitions.

Once completed, Baltica 2 will become the largest wind farm in the Baltic Sea, with a capacity of up to 1.5 GW. It will produce around 5,000 GWh of electricity annually, covering approximately 3% of Poland's current electricity needs, while avoiding over 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. The wind farm is set to play a crucial role in Polands transition to renewable energy, helping the country meet its target of generating 58% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

This project follows the EBRDs support of Baltic Power, Polands first offshore wind farm, and signals the bank's continued commitment to boosting renewable energy in Poland. As energy security becomes a growing concern amidst global tensions, the development of offshore wind energy is seen as essential to reducing Poland's reliance on coal and enhancing energy resilience.

EBRD officials emphasized the projects role in accelerating the decarbonisation of Polands economy and advancing Europes net-zero goals. The Baltica 2 project is being developed by Elektrownia Wiatrowa Baltica-2, a joint venture between Polands PGE and global offshore wind leader Orsted.

The EBRD has invested nearly 15.4 billion euros in Poland to date, reinforcing its long-term commitment to sustainable energy solutions and economic growth in the region.
Partners PG&E, PG&E Foundation, UC Berkeley and Mills College at Northeastern to Celebrate Graduates of Program Targeting Wealth Gap

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-three high school students will receive $8,000 scholarships upon graduating from the PG&E Economic Equity and Financial Education Program on Saturday (Feb. 1) at the University of California, Berkeley. The program was designed to address wealth disparity and the racial wealth gap affecting African Americans.

Students completed an advanced financial education course taught at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) created and paid for the program.

More than 70 high schoolers have gone through the program since the pilot in 2022. The PG&E Foundation funds the scholarships.

PG&E partnered with the UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and Berkeley Executive Education. Other partners include Mills College at Northeastern University, and Amenti Capital Group.

The program prepares African American high school students for future financial success. It also reinforces academic leadership. The program is supported by PG&E and the PG&E Foundation's Better Together Giving Program. The charitable Better Together program aims to bolster people, the planet, and California's prosperity, and ensure a safe and inclusive future for all.

Students attended classes on Saturdays over the past six months. They say the skills they learned will help guide them to future success.

"The program has been very beneficial in teaching me how to manage my finances, which is a critical skill in life, especially when the next step in my life is going to a four-year university," said Ty Carter, 17, a student at Oakland's Castlemont High School.

PG&E created the program after two years of planning. It was part of a racial justice initiative following the George Floyd tragedy. More than $500,000 in annual funding was committed through the Better Together Giving Program. Funding for the program comes from PG&E shareholders, not PG&E customers. It is one of several scholarship programs PG&E supports.

Students took courses taught by Berkeley Haas professors and financial industry professionals. Studies focused on personal finance, capital markets and wealth creation, investments and more. African American undergraduate students at Haas mentored the high schoolers.

Mills College at Northeastern University TRIO Programs recruited the students. They did so through programs that help underserved high school students and first in their families attending college to succeed.

The curriculum was developed with Berkeley Haas Professor Panos Patatoukas and Jason Miles, an African American venture capitalist. Miles has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and founded Amenti Capital Group.

"I am grateful for their partnership in this impactful program, which equips Oakland-area high school seniors with the essential financial knowledge to embark on their personal finance journey. As founding faculty director, I am especially proud to see former participants now thriving as Berkeley students  a testament to the program's transformative impact on our community. I look forward to strengthening this partnership to further expand its reach and influence," said Professor Patatoukas of Berkeley Haas.

"We continue to believe that there is great benefit in empowering young African American future leaders with early access to practical investing knowledge that will enrich their lives. We remain energized by the opportunity to catalyze generational wealth creation alongside like-minded partners and this impressively talented class of students," said Miles of Amenti Capital Group.

Information from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances helped to shape the program's intent. The survey looked at disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity. It noted that the typical white family had eight times the wealth of a typical Black family. The survey cites a number of complex factors across generations. One such factor is how personal savings and investment decisions contribute to wealth accumulation.

The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent released) showed the gap slightly narrowed. The survey showed that white families had six times as much wealth as the typical Black family. According to the report: "We remain far from racial equality, reflecting the large differences that have persisted for decades."

"We recognize the profound impact the racial wealth gap has on perpetuating inequality in California and remain deeply committed to being part of the solution. We believe that providing early access to financial education is a vital step in addressing equality, equipping young people with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to navigate financial systems and create a foundation for long-term success," said PG&E Senior Vice President of Customer Experience Vincent Davis.

One student already charting success is Otis Ward, a graduate of last year's program who shared his journey in the PG&E short film "Change the System: Building Black Wealth."

When the program launched in 2022, it was hoped it would serve as a model for future high school education curriculum. In 2024, California passed legislation providing high school students have access to a personal finance course by 2027. The legislation also makes personal finance education a graduation requirement by 2031.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news

About The PG&E Corporation Foundation

The PG&E Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by PG&E Corporation.

About the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

As the second-oldest business school in the United States, Berkeley Haas has been questioning the status quo since its founding in 1898. Berkeley Haas offers outstanding management education to about 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to attend one of its six degree-granting programs and join the school's network of 41,000 alumni worldwide.

About Berkeley Executive Education

UC Berkeley Executive Education serves leaders and organizations who aspire to redefine the future of business, delivering over 150 programs annually to a global audience. Its immersive learning experiences, led by renowned UC Berkeley faculty, equip global executives and their organizations with the vision and capabilities to thrive in an evolving world.

About Northeastern University

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programson-campus, online, and in hybrid formatslead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 140 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About Amenti Capital Group

Amenti Capital Group is an emerging merchant bank that provides independent advisory services and venture capital to early-stage technology companies in high growth ecosystems. We leverage deep industry knowledge, operational expertise, and longstanding relationships to deliver attractive returns through our end-to-end model. We serve entrepreneurs and sophisticated investors while following our core principles of innovation, integrity and inclusion.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The historic Veronese winery takes part in Opera Prima, featuring the new 2020 vintage of Famiglia Pasqua Amarone and marking the first event in a vibrant year-long celebration of its 100th anniversary

VERONA, Italy, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pasqua Wines marks the start of its centennial year at Amarone Opera Prima, the premier event hosted by the Consorzio Vini Valpolicella, dedicated to one of Italy's most prestigious wine appellations, Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG - taking place in Verona from January 31 to February 2 at the Palazzo della Gran Guardia.

Riccardo, Umberto and Alessandro Pasqua

As part of the event, Pasqua Wines has been selected to participate in the exclusive masterclass, "The Memory of Time: A Journey Through Historic Amarone Vintages", led by Master of Wine Andrea Lonardi on Friday, January 31. For this special tasting, Pasqua will present the 1985 vintage of Amarone della Valpolicella Terre di Cariano Cecilia Beretta, one of the winery's most historical and iconic labels.

Following this, on Saturday, February 1, and Sunday, February 2, attendees will have the opportunity to preview the 2020 vintage of Famiglia Pasqua Amarone della Valpolicella and the 2016 vintage of Mai Dire Mai Amarone della Valpolicella at the walk-around tasting.

Amarone Opera Prima commences the 100th-anniversary celebrations for both the Valpolicella Consorzio and Pasqua Wines, with the Veronese winery set to celebrate this milestone through a special calendar of events throughout the year.

In 2025, the winery will participate in some of the world's most prestigious wine events:

Wine Paris (February 1012, HALL 6 Stand A200)

(February 1012, HALL 6 Stand A200) ProWein Dusseldorf (March 1618, HALL 16 Stand K69)

(March 1618, HALL 16 Stand K69) Vinitaly Verona (April 69, HALL 5 Stand E4)

At these events, Pasqua will showcase a selection of its most iconic wines from both the Pasqua and Cecilia Beretta lines, including Hey French, 11 Minutes, Mai Dire Mai, Famiglia Pasqua, and PassioneSentimento, in both their latest and most acclaimed vintages. These wines are the finest representation of the winery's century-long commitment to innovating the Italian wine landscape, which earned Pasqua the Innovator of the Year award from Wine Enthusiast."

Vinitaly, taking place in the winery's hometown, will be the main stage for Pasqua Wines' centennial celebrations, featuring exclusive events that will extend beyond the exhibition to engage the entire city.

"Starting our 100th anniversary celebrations at Amarone Opera Prima is incredibly meaningful," commented Riccardo Pasqua, CEO of Pasqua Vini. "It's an honor to celebrate this milestone alongside the Consorzio and to have our Terre di Cariano featured in Andrea Lonardi's masterclass. This recognition underscores the value of the Cecilia Beretta project and our dedication to expressing the unique characteristics of the Valpolicella region. We're also excited to introduce the 2020 vintage of Amarone Famiglia Pasqua, our most historical label worldwide".

Notes To Editors

Press Assets

Images available HERE

About Pasqua Wines

PASQUA VIGNETI E CANTINE is a Veneto wine company, owned by the Pasqua family. Founded in 1925, the winery is recognized worldwide as a producer and ambassador of prestigious Veneto wines. The company's ambition is to bring into the future, with renewed stylistic codes, all the winemaking experience consolidated over 100 years of history. Today, working alongside President Umberto are his sons Riccardo, Chief Executive Officer, and Alessandro, President of Pasqua USA. With the presentation of the Pasqua House of the Unconventional manifesto, today the company aims to be a research laboratory, a space for dialogue, where quality and creativity are the protagonists.

SOURCE Pasqua Wines
VICTORIA, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Saving PTK: The Whistleblower's Fight for Truth and Change, by Toni Marek, is a public-interest publication that explores concerns raised about Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the nation's largest honor society for community college students. Based on publicly available data and firsthand accounts, the book examines governance, recruitment messaging, and financial decision-making within the organization.

The book will be available for free on Amazon.com starting April 3, 2025, ensuring accessibility for students, parents, educators, and policymakers.

As part of the effort to encourage transparency, Marek has launched a Change.org petition addressing PTK's governance, recruitment, and financial oversight. More information can be found at Change.org/SavePhiThetaKappa (PRNewsfoto/Toni Marek)

Examining Membership and Scholarship Messaging

PTK promotes recognition for "Top 10%" students and access to $246 million in scholarships. However, publicly available data indicates that eligibility criteria and scholarship accessibility encompass a wider range of students than commonly understood.

At some colleges, 30% to 60% of students qualify for PTK membership, exceeding the widely advertised "Top 10%" threshold.

Some advertised exclusive scholarships are also available to non-members.

PTK states that "the average member receives $2,500 per year in scholarships," though financial reports do not specify how this figure is calculated across all members.

"PTK has played a significant role in students' lives, but transparency benefits everyone," said Marek.

Financial Oversight and Leadership

The book examines PTK's financial priorities based on publicly available reports:

PTK's net income declined by $5.6 million between 2021 and 2023, shifting from a $4.7 million surplus to a $900,000 deficit.

between 2021 and 2023, shifting from a surplus to a deficit. During this period, CEO Lynn Tincher-Ladner's salary increased by 49%, reaching $386,564 in 2023.

salary increased by 49%, reaching in 2023. Public records show that Tincher-Ladner's spouse holds a role within PTK Foundation and is listed as receiving compensation from PTK in organizational filings.

Perspectives from Former Employees

The book also explores accounts from individuals familiar with PTK's internal culture:

A former PTK executive shares insights on leadership communication.

A former membership services team member shares experiences discussing PTK's eligibility criteria.

A former marketing professional shares observations about how recruitment messaging evolved.

Encouraging Transparency

As part of the effort to encourage transparency, Marek has launched a Change.org petition addressing PTK's governance, recruitment, and financial oversight. To read the petition, please visit: Change.org/SavePhiThetaKappa

"This book and petition aim to bring attention to concerns that students and employees have raised," said Marek.

Availability

Saving PTK will be available for free download on Amazon.com starting April 3, 2025.

Disclaimer

This book is a public-interest publication reflecting the good faith opinions of the author and contributors. It does not allege wrongdoing and is intended to promote transparency and open discussion about nonprofit governance and recruitment practices in the honor society space. All information is based on publicly available data and firsthand accounts. This book is not endorsed by Phi Theta Kappa.

Media Contact:

Toni Marek

Founder

www.andthenshespokeup.com

[email protected]

(361) 239-2694

SOURCE Toni Marek
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- P&R Measurement is showcasing its latest innovations at DesignCon 2025 in Santa Clara, California, one of the industry's premier events for high-speed communications and system design from January 29 to 30. During this prestigious gathering, P&R Measurement is presenting a portfolio of AI-enhanced industrial solutions designed to meet the dynamic needs of today's flexible manufacturing. Highlighting the company's commitment to innovation, P&R Measurement also unveiled its industrial AI Agent, PRIME, aligning with the evolving trends in industrial production.

PRM was a big hit at DesignCon 2025

As AI technology is revolutionizing productivity, traditional manufacturing sectors are compelled to innovate to remain competitive. P&R Measurement is maintaining a competitive edge in this transformation with AI-empowered solutions that optimize flexible manufacturing systems, streamline manufacturing integration, and enhance human-machine collaboration. These advancements meet the growing demand for personalized, efficient manufacturing while driving the modernization of legacy industries.

Embracing the Age of AI Agents: PRIME Empowering Industrial Manufacturing

As we close out a transformative year in 2024, AI Agentscapable of perceiving their environment, understanding contexts, making decisions, and taking autonomous actionsare revolutionizing industries and unlocking vast potential. Aligning with its vision of "Empowering everyone to be an innovator," P&R Measurement is actively embracing the shift toward smarter manufacturing with PRIME, an industrial AI Agent designed to upgrade testing, measurement, and manufacturing with intelligence and automation.

PRIME bridges the digital and physical worlds, transforming natural language commands into precise control of industrial equipment and systems. AI advancements have reduced the cost and complexity of deploying sophisticated technologies, allowing more people, particularly non-specialists, to use engineering solutions in real-world applications, as noted by Lei Wang, the Chairman of the company.

Looking ahead, P&R Measurement engineers foresee that as PRIME evolves, it will integrate diverse industrial platforms and manage large-scale workflows, boosting efficiency and promoting more sustainable manufacturing by reducing energy consumption. The company firmly believes that through AI integration and cross-industry collaboration, PRIME will catalyze transformative change in both industrial manufacturing and service sector. This strategic approach will not only create exceptional value for customers but also strengthen business's competitiveness in an ever-evolving market.

Flexible Manufacturing Takes the Spotlight: P&R Measurement Advancing Smart Manufacturing Innovation

P&R Measurement is at the forefront of emerging industry trends, driving transformation across vertical markets. In response to rapid advancements in consumer electronics, home appliances, and automotive sectors, the company has leveraged its AI expertise to deliver high-performance solutions. P&R Measurement's flexible manufacturing systems, including innovative automated testing and assembly lines, offer precision and reliability, making them essential tools for modern manufacturers.

At DesignCon 2025, P&R Measurement also introduces its Smart Laba platform that integrates advanced measurement, automation, digitalization, and AI-supported intelligence. Designed to accelerate product development, the Smart Lab provides R&D teams with an efficient, precise, and energy-saving testing environment. With the support of this platform, the company assisted a leading home appliance brand in optimizing resource, process, and data management. The client's high-energy labs achieved an over 30% reduction in energy consumption, driving substantial R&D cost savings and boosting overall innovation efficiency.

Also featured at the exhibition were P&R Measurement's AS Lab, the sensory testing solutions and the ATP, the flexible testing platform, designed to help customers swiftly complete complex validation tasks in the product development cycle. These solutions are key to enhancing product reliability and user experience. Partnering with a global consumer electronics leader, P&R Measurement delivered automated testing for circuit board functionality and performance in highly integrated electronic products. By embedding precise temperature control, modular instruments, advanced algorithms, and high-precision design, the company achieved outstanding stability, minimized re-test rates, and ensured accurate automation in circuit board testing.

Pioneering Global Change: P&R Measurement's Strategic Vision for a Diverse Future

P&R Measurement is advancing its vision through the GD3 (Global Distributed Design and Delivery) strategy. Beyond enhancing its technological capabilities, the company is attracting top-tier talent from a wide range of fields and fostering a culture of innovation. By dedicating its efforts to upgrading intelligent manufacturing systems, P&R Measurement is driving advancements while maintaining its strong customer-centric focus.

Lei outlined P&R Measurement's vision for the future: "We are committed to integrating state-of-the-art technologies to achieve three key goals: improving system efficiency and intelligence by addressing challenges in industrial measurement and automation, advancing flexible manufacturing to reduce CTM (Customer to Manufacturer) costs, and democratizing engineering capabilities by bridging the gap between natural and engineering languages to drive societal progress."

SOURCE P&R Measurement
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report with the AI impact on market trends - The global pretzel market size is estimated to grow by USD 1.6 billion from 2025-2029, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of about 3.7% during the forecast period. Evolving taste preferences of consumers is driving market growth, with a trend towards packaging innovations increases shelf life. However, fluctuations in price of raw material used in production of pretzels poses a challenge. Key market players include Campbell Soup Co., Focus Brands LLC, General Mills Inc., Herr Foods Inc., Intersnack Group GmbH and Co. KG, J and J Snack Foods Corp., Jamba Juice Franchisor SPV LLC, Kellogg Co., Mars Inc., Mr. Pretzels, Old Dutch Foods Ltd., PepsiCo Inc., Quinn Foods LLC, Real Food From The Ground Up, Soft Pretzel Franchise Systems Inc., The Hershey Co., Tyson Foods Inc., Utz Brands Inc., WE RE ROLLING PRETZEL CO., and Wetzels Pretzels LLC.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Pretzel Market 2025-2029

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

Pretzel Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2024 Historic period 2019 - 2023 Forecast period 2025-2029 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 3.7% Market growth 2025-2029 USD 1604 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 3.1 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 35% Key countries US, China, Germany, UK, Canada, France, Japan, Italy, India, and Spain Key companies profiled Campbell Soup Co., Focus Brands LLC, General Mills Inc., Herr Foods Inc., Intersnack Group GmbH and Co. KG, J and J Snack Foods Corp., Jamba Juice Franchisor SPV LLC, Kellogg Co., Mars Inc., Mr. Pretzels, Old Dutch Foods Ltd., PepsiCo Inc., Quinn Foods LLC, Real Food From The Ground Up, Soft Pretzel Franchise Systems Inc., The Hershey Co., Tyson Foods Inc., Utz Brands Inc., WE RE ROLLING PRETZEL CO., and Wetzels Pretzels LLC

Market Driver

The pretzels market is witnessing significant growth due to the increasing popularity of convenient and portable snacks. Urbanization and industrialization have led to busy lifestyles, making pretzels an ideal snack alternative. Pretzels are available in various sizes and flavors, including salty, sweet, and savory. Retailers such as convenience stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets stock pretzels in different sizes and formats like pretzel sticks, bites, dogs, rolls, sandwiches, twists, knots, and braids. The pretzels market's key ingredients are flour, water, yeast, and salt. Pretzels come in various flavors like mustard, cheese, and toppings. Consumers prefer low-sodium, non-GMO, and gluten-free pretzels due to health concerns. Pretzel production involves twisting and baking the dough into various shapes, making them crisp and brittle. The pretzels market is witnessing product innovations, including low calorie, cholesterol-free, and organic variants. E-commerce platforms have made it easier for consumers to shop for pretzels online. The market's growth is driven by changing lifestyles, consumer preference for healthier snacking options, and regional preferences. Pretzels are a healthy snack alternative, rich in carbohydrates, fiber, folate, niacin, and various vitamins and minerals like iron, which aid in the digestion process and metabolism. The pretzels market is expected to continue growing due to its convenience, affordability, and versatility as a snack.

Packaging plays a crucial role in building brand value for pretzels in the market. Effective packaging creates consumer curiosity and shapes perceptions about the brand. It ensures product protection and enhances shelf presence, attracting customers. Manufacturers prioritize packaging to increase product shelf life and adopt better methods for portion control, addressing health concerns. Good packaging is essential for pretzel brands to stand out and succeed in the competitive market.

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Market Challenges

The pretzels market is witnessing significant growth due to the increasing popularity of convenient snacks and urbanization. Ingredients like flour, water, yeast, and salt are the basics for making pretzels, which come in various sizes and flavors such as mustard, cheese, and milk chocolate coated. Retailers, including convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and food specialty stores, stock pretzels in different sizes and forms like pretzel sticks, bites, dogs, rolls, sandwiches, twists, knots, and braids. Consumers' busy lifestyles demand quick, portable, and easy-to-carry snacks. Pretzels, with their long shelf life and versatility, cater to this need. However, challenges such as health problems like obesity and overweight have led to the demand for healthier pretzel options. This has resulted in the production of low-fat content, nutrient-rich, and gluten-free pretzels. Retailers are adapting to these changes by offering healthier ingredients, such as potato and sweet potato, and traditional snacks with added nutrients and no artificial preservatives or additives. Online retailing and e-commerce platforms have also emerged as significant channels for selling pretzels. The pretzel market's future looks bright with product innovations like cholesterol-free and gluten-free variants, low calorie snacks, and premium and gourmet snacks.

The pretzel market relies heavily on raw materials such as flour, yeast, leavening agents, and shortening for production. Managing these costs is a top priority for manufacturers due to the recent substantial increase in prices. This rise in raw material costs leads to increased manufacturing expenses and decreased profit margins for vendors. To remain competitive, manufacturers explore cheaper alternatives. Suppliers hold significant pricing power in this market, influencing market dynamics.

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Segment Overview

This pretzel market report extensively covers market segmentation by

Type

1.1 Salted

1.2 Unsalted

Distribution Channel

2.1 Offline

2.2 Online

Geography

3.1 Europe

3.2 North America

3.3 APAC

3.4 South America

3.5 Middle East and Africa

1.1 Salted- Salted pretzels, a timeless snack favorite, are known for their distinctive twisted shape and savory, salty taste. Made from yeasted dough, these treats are boiled in baking soda solution and then baked to create a golden-brown, slightly crisp exterior. The generous coating of coarse salt on their surface enhances their crunch and delivers a burst of salty goodness with each bite. Available in various sizes and textures, including traditional Bavarian pretzels, pretzel crisps, pretzel rods, pretzel twists, and pretzel nuggets, salted pretzels can be savored alone or with condiments like mustard, cheese dips, or chocolate sauces. Supermarkets and convenience stores stock these snacks, fueling the expansion of the salted pretzels market segment during the forecast period.

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Research Analysis

Discover the irresistible world of pretzels, a beloved salty snack with a rich history and endless variations. Made from dough that's twisted, baked to golden perfection, and seasoned with a hint of salt, pretzels come in various shapes and sizes. Indulge in classic pretzel twists, knots, and braids, or try innovative pretzel sticks, bites, dogs, rolls, and sandwiches. Toppings like mustard and cheese add an extra layer of flavor to these crunchy treats, making them a delicious street food favorite. Whether soft or crunchy, pretzels are a versatile and satisfying snack that's sure to delight.

Market Research Overview

The pretzels market is a thriving industry that caters to the growing demand for convenient, portable, and delicious snacks. Pretzels, made from dough twisted into various shapes and sizes, are a popular choice for consumers due to their salty, crunchy, and satisfying texture. The market includes a wide range of products such as pretzel sticks, bites, dogs, rolls, sandwiches, twists, knots, and braids. Pretzels are made from basic ingredients like flour, water, yeast, and salt. The dough is twisted into various shapes and then baked to create the signature pretzel texture. The market offers various flavors and sizes, including sweet chocolate-coated pretzels, savory mustard-dipped pretzels, and even pretzel-based snacks like pretzel pieces and pretzel crisps. The pretzels market is driven by urbanization, industrialization, and busy lifestyles, which have led to an increased demand for quick-on-the-go snacks. Retailers, including convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and food specialty stores, stock pretzels in various sizes and flavors. Online retailing has also become a significant channel for pretzel sales, making it easier for consumers to shop and order pretzels from the comfort of their homes. Health concerns, such as obesity and overweight, have led to the popularity of healthier snacking options, including pretzels. The market offers low-calorie, low-sodium, gluten-free, and cholesterol-free pretzel variants. Consumers are also increasingly preferring organic food products with no artificial preservatives or additives. Product innovations, such as milk chocolate-coated pretzels and gourmet snacks, continue to drive the pretzels market. The market also offers a wide range of regional preferences, including traditional pretzel recipes and flavors. The pretzels market is expected to continue growing as consumers seek convenient, healthy, and delicious snacking options.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation

Type

Salted



Unsalted

Distribution Channel

Offline



Online

Geography

Europe



North America



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
NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of Western Asset Management Company mutual fund investors resulting from allegations that Western Asset may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

So What: If you purchased Western Asset mutual funds you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

What to do next: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=31956 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

What is this about: On November 25, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a press release entitled "SEC Charges Ken Leech, Former Co-Chief Investment Officer of Western Asset Management Co., with Fraud." This press release stated that Leech had been charged with fraud "for engaging in a multi-year scheme to allocate favorable trades to certain portfolios, while allocating unfavorable trades to other portfolios, a practice known as cherry-picking."

Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
Expert on Downed Planes (and Sister to Deceased Pilot) Speaks Out on Airlines Accidents and Assigning Blame

LOS ANGELES , Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Accusations of pilot error benefit everyone in the aviation industry other than the pilot and... the truth. California-based engineer and aviation safety and infrastructure advocate Rossana D'Antonio is intimately familiar with claims of "pilot error" being bandied around after aircraft accidents, just as they are now with President Trump's declaration that Thursday's fatal collision over the Potomac was due in part to " a pilot problem. "

In 2008, D'Antonio's brother Cesare, a pilot for the now-defunct South- and Central American-based TACA Airlines, was the pilot in a fatal accident that left him dead-on-impact when tropical storm conditions and unattended issues at Honduras's notoriously difficult Toncontin Airport led to the plane overshooting the runway.

Not a "pilot problem," but rather overcrowded skies, staffing shortages & a strained aviation system, says D'Antonio. Post this

For years after the accident, D'Antoniowho, as an engineer, is committed to protecting and safeguarding the welfare of the public by ensuring safe infrastructuresdedicated herself to researching and analyzing Cesare's crash, and many other aviation accidents and coverups, in order to find reasons beyond just the accepted "pilot error."

Since then, D'Antonio has continued her passionate outreach on behalf of airline safety, and in 2024 went to DC to talk to legislators to help pass the FAA Reauthorization Bill for aviation safety and infrastructure. A book about her research and personal experiences, 26 Seconds: Grief and Blame in the Aftermath of Losing My Brother in a Plane Crash will be released on May 13, 2025.

"For pilots," writes D'Antonio, "a legacy can be built or destroyed in a few final seconds." The book, part memoir & part expose, also delves into other airline accidents, including 2005's Southwest Flight 1248; Sully Sullenberger's "Miracle on the Hudson" in 2009 and 2009's Continental Connection Flight 3407; 2018's Lion Air Flight 610; and 2019's Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302; as well as the continued Boeing whistleblowing.

D'Antonio is available to provide expert insight from her research on the common, though harmful, occurrence of faulting pilots as well as her perspective as someone personally affected by a fatal plane crash and the tendency to blame pilots.

To get in touch with Rossana D'Antonio, set up an interview, or learn more about her book, please contact her publicists at Mindbuck Media.

PUBLICITY CONTACT: EMILY KEOUGH

MINDBUCK MEDIA BOOK PUBLICITY

[email protected]

SOURCE Rossana D'Antonio
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scope Technologies Corp. (CSE: SCPE) (OTCQB: SCPCF) (FSE: VN8) ("Scope" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Ted Carefoot as Vice President of Product. Carefoot, an accomplished technology leader with a track record of driving innovation at firms such as Electronic Arts (EA), Disney Online Studios Canada, and other major technology firms, will drive the continued evolution of QSE, Scope's flagship quantum-proof security platform.

With over 20 years of experience in leading high-performance product teams and initiatives, Carefoot brings expertise in AI-driven cloud, digital security, risk management, and software product development. He most recently served as Development Director at EA, driving designated IP assets and online content end-to-end production through release. Prior to that, he held leadership roles including managing cybersecurity initiatives at Disney Online Studios Canada, and AI cloud projects at Finger Food Studios. Carefoot's extensive experience in software development, risk management, AI, and security compliance, reinforced by his certifications in Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Cybersecurity, and Agile Product Management, positions him to play a critical role in expanding Scope's market leadership in quantum security solutions.

"As Scope Technologies continues its growth trajectory, our commitment to product excellence and innovation is paramount," said James Young, CEO of Scope Technologies Corp. "Ted's experience in building and scaling complex digital security and AI-driven products at leading technology companies is exactly what we need as we expand QSE's adoption in both enterprise and retail markets. His expertise will accelerate our product roadmap, ensuring QSE remains at the forefront of post-quantum security."

Driving Product Innovation and Market Expansion

Carefoot's appointment underscores Scope Technologies' commitment to product advancement, market expansion, and revenue growth. With quantum computing advancements posing increasing threats to conventional encryption, QSE's suite of quantum-resilient security solutions has gained traction across multiple industries. Carefoot will oversee the scaling of QSE's product capabilities, optimizing its architecture for enterprise, cloud, and decentralized security solutions.

"I'm thrilled to join Scope Technologies at such a pivotal time," said Ted Carefoot, VP of Product. "Quantum threats are real, and businesses need solutions now to future-proof their security. The opportunity to lead QSE's product evolution and drive meaningful market adoption aligns perfectly with my experience in AI-driven security and large-scale product development."

Scope Technologies continues to aggressively expand its team and product offerings, reinforcing its position as a leader in next-generation quantum-proof security. With QSE already in the market and gaining momentum, the company remains focused on delivering real-world solutions to secure critical data today and into the future.

About QSE Group

QSE Group, a division of Scope Technologies Corp., specializes in quantum-resilient encryption and secure cloud storage solutions. By leveraging true randomness (entropy) and advanced encryption techniques, QSE Group protects data from both current and future threats. Learn more at qse.group .

About Scope Technologies Corp

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Scope Technologies Corp is a pioneering technology company specializing in quantum security and machine learning. Through its flagship brands, QSE Group and GEM AI, Scope provides next-generation solutions in data security, quantum encryption, and neural networks, empowering businesses with secure, scalable technologies that drive growth and operational efficiency.

LinkedIn: scope-technologies-corp

Facebook: Scope Technologies Corp

Twitter: @ScopeTechCorp

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2521783/5144645/Scope_Technologies_Corp_Logo.jpg

Contact Information:

James Young

CEO, Scope Technologies Corp.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1 604-416-1720

Website: www.scopetechnologies.io

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that constitute forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical statements of fact are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, future, strategy, objectives, goals and targets, and more specifically, the use of proceeds of the Offering. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "aim", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and are based on assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, including, but not limited to, those risks and assumptions described in the Company's latest management discussion and analysis, a copy of which is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. While Scope considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions, continued satisfaction of Canadian Securities Exchange requirements, product safety and recalls, regulatory compliance and risks associated with the Company's business. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the business of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

SOURCE Scope Technologies Corp.
Verified Market Research is excited to announce the launch of its latest comprehensive market research report on the 'Smart Agriculture Market - Trends, Opportunities, and Forecasts'. The report provides a detailed analysis of the rapidly evolving smart agriculture sector, offering actionable insights and trends for industry leaders looking to stay ahead in this fast-growing market.

LEWES, Del., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Smart Agriculture Market Size is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.30% from 2024 to 2031, according to a new report published by Verified Market Research. The report reveals that the market was valued at USD 17.74 Billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 38.86 Billion by the end of the forecast period.

As the global agricultural landscape shifts towards precision farming and sustainable practices, smart agriculture technologies are at the forefront of this transformation. From advanced IoT sensors, automated machinery, and data analytics to AI-driven crop management systems, smart agriculture is reshaping traditional farming by improving efficiency, reducing resource consumption, and boosting yields.

Key Features of the Report:

In-depth Market Analysis : A thorough examination of the current market size, projections, and growth drivers shaping the smart agriculture sector.

: A thorough examination of the current market size, projections, and growth drivers shaping the smart agriculture sector. Technological Innovations : Comprehensive coverage of the latest advancements in smart farming technologies, including IoT integration, drones, robotics, and data-driven farming solutions.

: Comprehensive coverage of the latest advancements in smart farming technologies, including IoT integration, drones, robotics, and data-driven farming solutions. Regional Insights : Detailed analysis of key markets across North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and other emerging regions.

: Detailed analysis of key markets across , , , and other emerging regions. Competitive Landscape: Profiles of key industry players, market strategies, and their innovations driving the future of smart agriculture.

Why This Report Matters: Agricultural leaders, technology providers, and investors are all seeking to harness the benefits of smart agriculture solutions to address the global challenges of food security, resource optimization, and sustainability. This report provides a roadmap for companies looking to capitalize on these opportunities, highlighting key market trends, investment potential, and strategic growth areas.

Who Should Read This Report:

Agribusiness Leaders : Looking to implement cutting-edge technologies for operational efficiency and sustainability.

: Looking to implement cutting-edge technologies for operational efficiency and sustainability. Technology Providers : Offering smart solutions and tools for precision farming, irrigation systems, and automated equipment.

: Offering smart solutions and tools for precision farming, irrigation systems, and automated equipment. Investors & Venture Capitalists : Seeking to identify high-growth opportunities within the agritech space.

: Seeking to identify high-growth opportunities within the agritech space. Policy Makers & Regulators: Interested in understanding the evolving dynamics of sustainable agriculture practices.

The Smart Agriculture Market Report is an essential resource for organizations looking to gain a competitive edge in this transformative industry. Don't miss out on key opportunitiesequip your business with the insights you need to drive innovation and growth.

For more information or to purchase the report, please contact us at: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample?rid=9635

Browse in-depth TOC on "Global Smart Agriculture Market Size"

202  Pages

126  Tables

37  Figures

Report Scope

REPORT ATTRIBUTES DETAILS STUDY PERIOD 2021-2031 BASE YEAR 2024 FORECAST PERIOD 2024-2031 HISTORICAL PERIOD 2021-2023 UNIT Value (USD Billion) KEY COMPANIES PROFILED Deere & Company, Trimble, Inc., AGCO Corporation, Topcon Positioning Systems, Raven Industries, Bayer AG, CNH Industrial N.V., Kubota Corporation, Afimilk Ltd., AgJunction, Inc., AgeEagle Aerial Systems, Inc., DeLaval, ETwater, Gamaya, LumiGrow, Inc., and The Climate Corporation. SEGMENTS COVERED By Offering, By Agriculture Type, By Farm Size, By Application, and By Geography. CUSTOMIZATION SCOPE Free report customization (equivalent up to 4 analyst's working days) with purchase. Addition or alteration to country, regional & segment scope

Global Smart Agriculture Market Overview

Growing Need for Sustainable Farming Solutions: The Smart Agriculture Market is driven by the rising need for sustainable agricultural techniques. As global food demand increases, precision agriculture technologies such as IoT and AI enhance resource efficiency, augmenting yields while minimizing water and pesticide usage. Agritech enterprises can leverage the increasing trend towards sustainability to enhance revenue through creative solutions.

Technological Advancements in IoT and AI: Technological advancements in IoT sensors, drones, and AI-driven data analytics are significant catalysts in the Smart Agriculture Market. These developments facilitate real-time surveillance and accuracy in crop management, soil health, and irrigation systems. Companies that incorporate these advanced technologies into their products are strategically positioned to satisfy the requirements of contemporary farmers, enhancing market adoption and ensuring long-term profitability.

Rising Demand for Food Security: The global population is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, making food security a paramount concern. The Smart Agriculture Market is driven by this need, as governments and agribusinesses engage in advanced farming practices to improve productivity. Solutions that provide predictive insights and enhance production cycles are crucial for firms aiming to penetrate this expanding market area.

To Purchase a Comprehensive Report Analysis: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/select-licence?rid=9635

High Initial Costs of Implementation: A major obstacle to expansion in the Smart Agriculture Market is the substantial initial investment required for smart farming technologies. Advanced technology, like IoT sensors and automated machinery, necessitates substantial capital expenditure, which may dissuade smaller farming enterprises from embracing these advancements. Manufacturers and solution suppliers must present economical solutions or adaptable financing options to surmount this obstacle and enhance market penetration.

Limited Awareness in Developing Regions: In underdeveloped regions, where agriculture is primarily traditional, knowledge and comprehension of smart farming technology are limited. The Smart Agriculture Market encounters obstacles in various domains owing to insufficient knowledge and technical proficiency. Enterprises focusing on these areas must emphasize training and capacity-building efforts to facilitate adoption, thereby unlocking new development prospects.

Data Privacy and Security Concerns: With the expansion of the Smart Agriculture Market, worries over data privacy and cybersecurity are also increasing. Agricultural producers are becoming increasingly apprehensive about implementing technology that collect extensive sensitive data without sufficient security protocols. Solution providers must confront these issues by delivering comprehensive data protection and open policies to foster trust and promote the wider use of smart agriculture technologies.

Geographical Dominance

North America exhibits geographical preeminence in the Smart Agriculture Market, propelled by sophisticated technical integration, robust infrastructure, and significant expenditures in precision agriculture. The United States, notably, has a significant presence of pivotal stakeholders and governmental endorsement for sustainable agriculture efforts. This dominance propels market expansion by stimulating innovation, promoting collaborations, and establishing a standard for global smart agriculture practices in other countries.

Key Players

The "Global Smart Agriculture Market" study report will provide a valuable insight with an emphasis on the global market. The major players in the market are Deere & Company, Trimble, Inc., AGCO Corporation, Topcon Positioning Systems, Raven Industries, Bayer AG, CNH Industrial N.V., Kubota Corporation, Afimilk Ltd., AgJunction, Inc., AgeEagle Aerial Systems, Inc., DeLaval, ETwater, Gamaya, LumiGrow, Inc., and The Climate Corporation.

Smart Agriculture Market Segment Analysis

Based on the research, Verified Market Research has segmented the global Smart Agriculture Market into Offering, Agriculture Type, Farm Size, Application and Geography.

Smart Agriculture Market, by Offering Hardware Sensing Devices Software Services

Smart Agriculture Market, by Agriculture Type Precision Farming Livestock Monitoring Precision Aquaculture Precision Forestry Smart Greenhouse Others

Smart Agriculture Market, by Farm Size Small Medium Large

Smart Agriculture Market, by Application Yield Monitoring Weather Tracking and Forecasting Milk Harvesting Water Quality Management HVAC Management

Smart Agriculture Market, by Geography North America U.S Canada Mexico Europe Germany France U.K Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific ROW Middle East & Africa Latin America



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Top 9 Agricultural Equipment Manufacturers cultivating ideas for growth

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NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Report with market evolution powered by AI - The global smart healthcare market size is estimated to grow by USD 125.7 billion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.31% during the forecast period. Growing demand for remote health monitoring is driving market growth, with a trend towards iot in healthcare. However, high costs involved with smart healthcare poses a challenge. Key market players include AirStrip Technologies Inc., Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Apple Inc., AT&T Inc., Bollhoff Group, Brooks Automation, Cerner Corporation, Cisco, GE Healthcare, Given Imaging, Inc., Hurst Green Plastics Ltd., IBM, Logi-Tag, McKesson Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Pepperl+Fuchs, Samsung Electronics Corporation, Siemens Medical Solutions, Solstice Medical LLC, Stanley Innerspac.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global smart healthcare market 2024-2028

Key insights into market evolution with AI-powered analysis. Explore trends, segmentation, and growth drivers- View Free Sample PDF

Smart Healthcare Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2023 Historic period 2018 - 2022 Forecast period 2024-2028 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.31% Market growth 2024-2028 USD 125.7 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 8.6 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 44% Key countries US, Germany, UK, Canada, and Japan Key companies profiled AirStrip Technologies Inc., Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Apple Inc., AT&T Inc., Bollhoff Group, Brooks Automation, Cerner Corporation, Cisco, GE Healthcare, Given Imaging, Inc., Hurst Green Plastics Ltd., IBM, Logi-Tag, McKesson Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Pepperl+Fuchs, Samsung Electronics Corporation, Siemens Medical Solutions, Solstice Medical LLC, Stanley Innerspac

Market Driver

The Smart Healthcare Market is experiencing significant growth due to the adoption of mHealth solutions, such as Vera Smart Health and Teladoc Health. RFID and Real-Time Location Systems are revolutionizing patient care by enabling real-time monitoring of vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level, and temperature. Smart healthcare products, including wearable devices, are transforming healthcare through cloud communication and big data analysis. Information technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are improving healthcare outcomes by providing personalized care. However, approvals and digital literacy remain challenges. Key market participants include traditional medical systems, caregivers, patients, families, physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and Oral Biology research institutes. Sensor-based IoT technology is enabling remote monitoring for cognitive impairment and surgery. The advantages of smart healthcare are numerous, but high costs remain a concern. EHealth initiatives using cell phones and tablets, health-related apps, and smart wearable devices are driving market growth. Market restraints include RFID Kanban Systems and RFID Smart Cabinets, as well as Electronic Health Records and Telemedicine. Smart syringes, medicines, and RFID cabinets are also gaining popularity. The future of healthcare is connected, digital, and personalized.

The smart healthcare market is experiencing significant growth due to the increasing adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technology in the healthcare industry. IoT enables real-time monitoring of patients, bridging the gap between physical and digital data sources. This innovation improves patient access to services, reduces operational burdens on healthcare facilities, and supports the development of digital healthcare ecosystems. Healthcare institutions are transitioning to connected hospital infrastructures, enhancing care delivery through IoT's diverse applications, both inside and outside medical facilities.

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Market Challenges

The Smart Healthcare Market is experiencing significant growth due to the integration of information technologies like mHealth, Vera Smart Health, and Teladoc Health. Wearable devices, such as smartwatches and health monitors, are leading the charge with real-time monitoring of vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level, and temperature. RFID and real-time location systems enable efficient inventory management of smart healthcare products. However, challenges remain. Regulatory approvals for cognitive impairment devices and device integration with traditional medical systems can be time-consuming. High costs and digital literacy levels are also barriers to entry. Key market participants include healthcare providers, caregivers, patients, families, physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and Oral Biology research institutes. Advantages of smart healthcare include improved health outcomes, remote patient monitoring, and cost savings. Digital health programs, eHealth, and health research are driving innovation in areas like acoustic resonance for lung function and asthma management, essential cardiology, and blood glucose monitors. The market is also seeing the emergence of smart syringes, medicines, RFID cabinets, and wearable devices for surgery preparation. Market restraints include the high cost of implementing infrastructure, RFID Kanban systems, RFID Smart Cabinets, and Electronic Health Records. Telemedicine and smart pills are also areas of growth, but face challenges related to patient trust and privacy concerns. Overall, the market for smart healthcare items and digital technology is poised for continued growth, with cell phones, tablets, and health-related apps playing a significant role.

The cost of implementing smart healthcare solutions, such as biosensors and Electronic Health Records (EHR), remains a significant barrier to their widespread adoption. For instance, the high cost of producing biosensors, which include components like pills, fluidic sensors, flow meters, gyroscopes, and micro dispensers, significantly increases the final product price. Consumers are hesitant to invest in these devices due to their high cost. Similarly, the integration of EHR systems involves substantial expenses, posing a challenge for the global EHR market growth. These costs hinder the expansion of smart healthcare applications into new areas.

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Segment Overview

This smart healthcare market report extensively covers market segmentation by

Distribution Channel

1.1 Offline

1.2 Online

Solution

2.1 Telemedicine

2.2 mHealth

2.3 EHR

2.4 Smart pills

2.5 Others

Geography

3.1 North America

3.2 Europe

3.3 Asia

3.4 Rest of World (ROW)

Application

1.1 Offline- The offline segment of the global smart healthcare market encompasses traditional distribution channels for delivering smart healthcare products and services to consumers. Offline retail stores, such as specialty stores, healthcare equipment stores, and electronics stores, serve as crucial distribution points for these devices. Medical equipment suppliers and distributors also play a pivotal role in offline distribution, leveraging relationships with healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies to distribute advanced medical devices, telehealth systems, and remote patient monitoring equipment. These channels offer customers a personalized experience, enabling them to physically engage with smart healthcare products, receive expert advice, and address concerns. Trust and credibility built over time by providing reliable products, professional expertise, and dependable after-sales support contribute to the preference for offline distribution channels among consumers. This face-to-face interaction enhances customer satisfaction and is expected to fuel the growth of the offline segment in the global smart healthcare market.

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Research Analysis

The Smart Healthcare Market is experiencing rapid growth as mHealth solutions and advanced technologies revolutionize healthcare delivery. Vera Smart Health and Teladoc Health are leading the charge with telehealth services, allowing patients to consult with healthcare professionals remotely. NHS U and other institutions are adopting RFID and Real-Time Location Systems to manage inventory and streamline processes. Apple and other tech giants are introducing smart healthcare products, such as smart wearables that monitor vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level, and temperature. Information technologies like big data and cloud computing enable the collection, analysis, and sharing of health information, enhancing patient care. Smart healthcare items, including smart syringes and medicines, offer improved safety and efficiency. Digital technology and smart RFID cabinets facilitate automated medication dispensing and inventory management. Overall, the integration of digital technology and mHealth is transforming healthcare, offering more personalized, convenient, and efficient care.

Market Research Overview

Smart Healthcare Market: Transforming Traditional Healthcare with mHealth and Information Technologies The Smart Healthcare Market is revolutionizing the traditional healthcare system with the integration of mHealth, RFID, Real-Time Location Systems, and advanced information technologies. These innovations enable remote patient monitoring, real-time health data analysis, and improved communication between caregivers, patients, families, physicians, hospitals, and insurance companies. Smart healthcare products, such as wearable devices, blood pressure monitors, heart rate monitors, oxygen level sensors, and temperature sensors, are essential components of this market. These devices utilize sensor-based IoT technology, enabling real-time data collection and analysis, which can lead to better health outcomes. Advancements in digital health, including eHealth, cell phones, tablets, health-related apps, and smart wearable devices, have made healthcare more accessible and convenient. However, high costs and market restraints, such as approvals and digital literacy, may hinder the growth of this market. The Smart Healthcare Market encompasses various sectors, including Oral Biology, Craniofacial Research, medical record-keeping, device integration, illness causes, and surgery. It also includes advantages like acoustic resonance for lung function assessment, asthma management, essential cardiology, blood glucose monitors, smartwatches, health monitors, pedometers, activity trackers, and smart syringes, among others. Moreover, the market includes smart RFID cabinets, remote monitoring, and telemedicine. Key market participants are continuously developing innovative solutions to address the challenges of this market, including RFID Kanban Systems, RFID Smart Cabinets, and Electronic Health Records. In conclusion, the Smart Healthcare Market is transforming the healthcare landscape with its advanced technologies, enabling better patient care, improved health outcomes, and increased efficiency in healthcare services and health research.

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

Solution

Telemedicine



MHealth



EHR



Smart Pills



Others

Geography

North America



Europe



Asia



Rest Of World (ROW)

Application

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.

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Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. In 2024, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invested 807 million euros in Serbia, Trend reports.

The bank also mobilized an additional 395 million euros from other investors, financing a total of 37 projects across various sectors.

A major focus of the investment was on Serbias green transition, with nearly 500 million euros directed towards renewable energy, district heating upgrades, and environmental infrastructure. Key projects included a 105 million euro loan for a solar thermal plant in Novi Sad, aimed at providing green energy for district heating and reducing air pollution. The EBRD also supported the introduction of innovative technologies in district heating systems across 10 municipalities, with a 30 million euro loan.

In renewable energy, the EBRD financed Serbias first project under its wind and solar auction program with a 45 million euro loan for the Pupin wind farm. Additionally, a 67 million euro loan was provided to EPS for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Vlasinske hydro power plant.

The EBRD also continued its support for Serbias transport infrastructure with a 50 million euro loan for rail track rehabilitation and a 20 million euro loan to upgrade the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agencys systems.

Serbia's waste management and broadband projects also received a boost, with the EBRD allocating 125 million euros to these critical programs. The banks commitment to corporate financing remained strong, particularly through local banks, with over 340 million euros channeled into green technologies, digitalization, and access to finance for women- and youth-led businesses.

EBRD Regional Director for the Western Balkans, Matteo Colangeli, highlighted the banks growing portfolio in Serbia, which surpassed 3 billion euros in 2024. He noted that the bank remains dedicated to supporting the country's green economy transition and fostering long-term economic resilience.

In total, the EBRD invested 1.6 billion euros in the Western Balkans in 2024, with a significant portion allocated to sustainable development projects.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. , Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

All-new Dodge Charger Daytona and Jeep Wagoneer S on display and on the Chicago Drives Electric track

Camp Jeep returns and celebrates 20th anniversary at Chicago Auto Show

Ramcharger showcases next-generation extended range technology

Ram 1500 and Ram heavy-duty trucks bring more power and capability to a growing segment

Chrysler Halcyon concept car provides glimpse into the future of mobility

Fiat 500e offers Italian style and electric power  perfect for city living

Chrysler Stow 'n Go Challenge offers fun for all ages

Multi-vehicle ride 'n drive offers outdoor street drives for no-hassle car shopping

There will be plenty to do and see at the Chicago Auto Show, especially from Stellantis, one of the largest automakers participating, with vehicles from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. For the first time, the all-new Dodge Charger Daytona and Jeep Wagoneer S, both battery-electric vehicles, will be on the Chicago Drives Electric track. With the return of Camp Jeep, which celebrates its 20th anniversary at the Chicago Auto Show, auto show attendees will get to experience thrill rides on an interactive off-road course.

With so many vehicles and exciting interactive displays to see, the show is sure to be a welcome reprieve from cold Chicago weather. The show runs February 8-17 at McCormick Place.

Jeep Wagoneer S

The all-new Jeep Wagoneer S is the brand's first global battery-electric vehicle (BEV), delivering 4xe capability, impressive performance credentials, a sleek aerodynamic design and state-of-the-art technology. The new midsize SUV boasts exhilarating performance with 600 horsepower, 617 lb.-ft. of immediate torque for lightning-quick 0-60 mph acceleration time of 3.4 seconds and a range of more than 300 miles.

The Wagoneer S will be seen for the first time at the Chicago Auto Show. Consumers will be able to take free test rides during public days on the Chicago Drives Electric track.

A new trim for the Wagoneer S will be announced at the Chicago Auto Show at 9:50 a.m. CST in the Jeep display.

Dodge Charger Daytona

The all-new Dodge Charger Daytona, the next generation of American muscle, is the first BEV from Dodge and is now available in dealerships. The Charger Daytona retains Dodge's title as the world's quickest and most powerful muscle car with 670 horsepower and 627 lb. ft. of torque. It reaches 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds while running the quarter-mile in an estimated 11.5 seconds.

The Charger Daytona drives, looks, sounds and feels like a Dodge. Key to making the Charger Daytona, sound, drive and feel like a Dodge is the world's first Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system, which delivers muscle-car levels of sound intensity that set the Charger apart from ordinary BEVs.

The Dodge Charger lineup will feature standard all-wheel drive for all models and will offer performance choices via multi-energy powertrain options. Two-door coupe versions of the all-electric Charger Daytona Scat Pack and Daytona R/T will be the first available in the lineup, but four-door and ICE versions are forthcoming.

The Charger Daytona will be seen  and heard  for the first time at the Chicago Auto Show. Consumers will be able to take free test rides during public days on the Chicago Drives Electric track.

Camp Jeep

Camp Jeep is celebrating its 20th anniversary at the Chicago Auto Show. Since 2005, Camp Jeep has provided almost 600,000 test rides at the Chicago Auto Show. It is anticipated that more than 35,000 people will ride Camp Jeep this year at the Chicago Auto Show.

Attendees of the show will experience a refreshed and reimagined Camp Jeep experience featuring several exciting new additions to the track, including:

The Off-Camber Bridge: A 75-foot-long, 12-foot-tall obstacle designed to showcase extreme three-wheeling. As the vehicle ascends and descends 8 feet, passengers will experience the Jeep brand's incredible capabilities as it articulates side to side on uneven ramps set at a 25% incline

A 75-foot-long, 12-foot-tall obstacle designed to showcase extreme three-wheeling. As the vehicle ascends and descends 8 feet, passengers will experience the Jeep brand's incredible capabilities as it articulates side to side on uneven ramps set at a 25% incline Exclusive Jeep Concepts: For the first time in Chicago , guests entering under the bridge will have the opportunity to engage with a fleet of Jeep concepts from the Easter Jeep Safari. These include the Gladiator High Top, Gladiator D-Coder, Wagoneer Vacationeer, Wrangler Dispatcher and Wrangler Low Down, along with an electrification zone highlighting the Grand Cherokee 4xe Trailhawk

For the first time in , guests entering under the bridge will have the opportunity to engage with a fleet of Jeep concepts from the Easter Jeep Safari. These include the Gladiator High Top, Gladiator D-Coder, Wagoneer Vacationeer, Wrangler Dispatcher and Wrangler Low Down, along with an electrification zone highlighting the Grand Cherokee 4xe Trailhawk The Crevasse: A thrilling 60-foot-long, 12-foot-wide, 45-degree narrow passage that demonstrates the Jeep lineup's remarkable ability to conquer even the most challenging terrains

Ramcharger

The all-new Ram 1500 Ramcharger, with a class-shattering targeted range of up to 690 miles, is the latest example of how Ram will offer customers benchmark gas and electric vehicles delivering disruptive, leading-edge advanced technology.

The Ramcharger chassis, with a pioneering series hybrid system, will be displayed at Chicago Auto Show, showcasing its technology by displaying the battery and generator in full view.

The Ram 1500 Ramcharger features a 92-kilowatt-hour battery pack, paired with an onboard 130-kW generator, sending power to the front (250 kW) and to the rear (238 kW) electric drive modules (EDMs). The Ramcharger delivers 663 horsepower, over 615 lb.-ft. of torque, up to a best-in-class 14,000 pounds of towing with a class 5 hitch and a best-in-class maximum payload capacity of 2,625 pounds. It will be available in the second half of this year.

Ram Trucks

Ram 1500 and Ram heavy-duty pickups are considerably improved for 2025, offering new products in the fastest growing segment within the pickup space  sport trucks. Ram has introduced the largest variety of off-road performance trucks, including the new Ram 1500 RHO with more horsepower per dollar than any other performance off-road pickup.

Auto show attendees will be able to check out a variety of the award-winning Ram trucks at the Chicago Auto Show.

Chrysler Halcyon Concept Vehicle

The Chrysler Halcyon, a stunning concept car, provides a vision for the future of the Chrysler brand. The concept's combination of seamless technology and battery-electric performance works in harmony with a pure, streamlined exterior design that ingeniously embeds aerodynamic elements.

Key features of the concept car include butterfly-hinged canopy and red-carpet-style side doors that work in symphony to create an open-air feel and to provide easy access in and out of the vehicle. The interior delivers 95% sustainable materials, including Chrysler wing logos constructed from crushed and recycled music CDs. The rear seats retract into the trunk area showcasing the future vision of Stow 'n Go seating.

Fiat 500e

The Fiat 500e is the perfect vehicle for Chicago city dwellers, powered by an electric battery that provides nearly 150 miles of range, plenty to cover a week's worth of commuting to work and running errands. Compact, fun to drive and easy to park, the 500e offers impressive cargo room. It is loaded with modern technology, including a wireless phone charger, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 10.25-inch Uconnect 5 touchscreen with navigation. With a variety of trims and color combinations to choose from, including the new Fiat 500e Giorgio Armani Collector's Edition, this made-in-Italy BEV combines style, elegance and craftsmanship. In fact, the Fiat design team crafted the 500e with the same meticulous attention to detail and dedication to quality expected in a fashion collection.

The lightest passenger BEV in the market, the 500e features a 42-kWh battery with a Level 2 (11 kW) charge time of 4.5 hours. Under the hood, the 500e is driven by an electric motor with an output of 117 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque, delivering 0-30 mph in under 3.0 seconds.

Chrysler Stow 'n Go Challenge

Chrysler is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ground-breaking Stow 'n Go seating and storage system. First introduced for the 2005 model year, 5 million minivans have been sold with the class-exclusive Stow 'n Go system, which "floored" the industry 20 years ago.

The Chrysler Pacifica Stow 'n Go Challenge will put Chicago Auto Show attendees to the test and on the clock to win prizes and find out how much road-trip gear can be quickly stored into a Stow 'n Go-equipped Chrysler Pacifica minivan. The Challenge will take place on Saturday and Sunday, February 8, 9, 15 and 16, from show opening to closing time. Located in the Chrysler display in the South Hall at McCormick Place, it is free to enter the Challenge. The featured minivan will be the 2025 Chrysler Pacifica Family Adventure Vehicle (FAV) Edition.

Multi-vehicle Ride 'n Drives

The 2025 Chicago Auto Show will offer attendees the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles for an outdoor test drive. Test drives operate every day. Attendees, with a valid driver's license, can sign up for the free test drives. Stellantis brands include Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Ram.

Stellantis North America

Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) is one of the world's leading automakers, aiming to provide clean, safe and affordable freedom of mobility for all. In North America, it's best known for producing and selling vehicles in a portfolio of iconic, innovative and award-winning brands, including Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge//SRT, Ram, Alfa Romeo and Fiat. 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, while creating added value for all stakeholders.

Follow company news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Company website: www.stellantis.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Stellantis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StellantisNA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellantisna

Twitter: @StellantisNA

YouTube: http://youtube.com/StellantisNA

SOURCE Stellantis
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --

Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE: SUI) between February 28, 2019 and September 24, 2024, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important February 10, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline.

So what: If you purchased Sun Communities securities 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 Sun Communities class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=32347 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than February 10, 2025. 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 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 achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants created the false impression that they were presenting a complete and accurate picture of Sun Communities' financial reports and accounting pertaining to Sun Communities' projected revenue outlook and anticipated growth. At no point did defendants state or even allude to the DH Bingham Farms LLC mortgage, signed by Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Gary Shiffman, or the multiple undisclosed loans CEO Gary Shiffman received, including one from Company Board Member Arthur Weiss. Defendants misled investors by providing the public with materially flawed statements of confidence and growth projections throughout the Class Period, which did not account for these variables. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Sun Communities class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=32347 https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=28116call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

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Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

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SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
To honor decades of partnership and following a gift to the TGH Foundation, Tampa General's renowned burn center is now TGH Burn Center: A TECO Partnership.

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has renamed its prestigious burn center in recognition of years of partnership with Tampa Electric and following a gift to the TGH Foundation. A donor ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Jan. 31, celebrating this newest chapter in Tampa General's partnership with Tampa Electric as the burn center officially became the TGH Burn Center: A TECO Partnership.

"Tampa General Hospital is at the forefront of innovative care for burn patients and this gift to name the TGH Burn Center: A TECO Partnership demonstrates Tampa Electric's significant investment in the community and their health and wellbeing," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. "The new name of the Center is a signal of their faith in the impressive work of our teams and will inspire patients for years to come."

"TGH's Burn Center offers life-saving treatments and innovative therapies that make a profound difference in the lives of those affected by severe burns," said Archie Collins, president and CEO of Tampa Electric. "TECO is honored to help give hope and a brighter future to patients."

Tampa Electric has supported Tampa General for more than 30 years, from initiatives that energize the hospital and all of the Tampa Medical & Research District to generous contributions to the TGH Foundation from Tampa Electric employees in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

"We are so grateful for our continued partnership with Tampa Electric," said Frann Leppla, executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of the TGH Foundation. "Their thoughtful generosity is a shining example of what it means to go above and beyond as a community leader in philanthropy."

Tampa General's Burn Center is one of just six burn centers in Florida to have earned verification by the American Burn Association (ABA)/American College of Surgeons (ACS) and one of only two ABA-verified adult and pediatric burn centers in Florida. This distinction means the TGH Burn Center has met stringent guidelines for patient care procedures, facilities and staffing. The TGH Burn Center treats critically burned patients from emergency admission through rehabilitation, treating more than 500 adult burn patients and about 300 pediatric burn patients each year.

"TECO's partnership with the burn center will make significant contributions to advancing Tampa General Hospital's position as leaders in the rapidly evolving field of burn care, helping patients achieve better outcomes and making new strides in treatment," said Nicholas J. Panetta, M.D., FACS, chief of Tampa General Hospital Plastic Surgery and chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Tampa Electric is a founding member of the TGH Foundation's Corporate Philanthropy Partners program. Tampa Electric's gift comes from its shareholders' funds and will not affect its customers' bills.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2024-2025 Best Hospitals, with two medical specialties ranking among the top 20 in the nation and eight medical specialties ranking among the top 50 best hospital programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by three prestigious Forbes magazine rankings  in the top 100 nationally in the 2024 America's Best Large Employers, the top 50 in Florida in the 2024 America's Best Employers by State and the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2022, provided a net community benefit of approximately $240.3 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It was the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant center in 2024 and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Muma Children's Hospital at TGH, the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes TGH North, which is comprised of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties, 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, two TGH Outpatient Centers, TGH Virtual Health, and 20 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by the Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR

Assistant Manager

Publications & Physician Communications

(727) 510-6363 (cell)

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on its mission to engage with and support extraordinary explorers from around the world, The Explorers Club today announced the 2025 class of The Explorers Club 50 (EC50): Fifty People Changing the World that the World Needs to Know About.

This year's EC50 honorees include a young indigenous leader regenerating rainforests and securing food sovereignty for his community; an ice-core scientist, high-altitude mountaineer studying the history of the climate and sea ice while working to increase diversity in STEM fields; a pangolin conservationist enhancing wildlife crime prevention strategies and improving the wellbeing of local communities; an environmental journalist investigating untold stories on biodiversity within the protected areas of Brazil; a ocean scientist rebuilding degraded coral reefs around the world using cutting-edge 3D printing technology; a planetary scientist using remote sensing techniques to understand planetary evolution and the potential habitability of other planets, among many others. See the full list of 2025 honorees here .

The EC50 annually recognizes 50 extraordinary people who are doing remarkable work to promote science and exploration. The program was established to reflect the great diversity of individuals on the cutting edge of exploration around the world and to help amplify the voices of these changemakers. The EC50 class of 2025 can be seen here .

"The Explorers Club continues to expand the definition of an explorer, moving beyond the archetypal adventurer to include those who interpret the world through art, music, and culinary expression, and this is nowhere more evident than in our groundbreaking EC50 program," said Richard Wiese, President-elect of The Explorers Club and EC50 Co-Chair. "Our focus is to nurture the next generation of explorers and we are dedicated to creating an environment that fosters curiosity, boldness, and innovation. The torch of exploration we pass is a symbol of hope and guidance for those destined to redefine the known boundaries of our world."

The vision for the EC50 was conceived of in July 2020 to recognize that many of the greatest contributions to modern exploration are coming from all corners of the world - in science, art, and culture - and perspectives that are historically underrepresented in science and field research. Now in its fifth year, the collective community has expanded to more than 250 visionary explorers, representing over 55 countries, including Ecuador, Kenya, Peru, Portugal, Ghana, Indonesia, Haiti, the Philippines, Nigeria, and more.

"For 120 years we have promoted exploration and meaningful science to benefit humanity," said Richard Garriott, President of The Explorers Club. "By recognizing 50 unsung heroes from around the globe, we are fulfilling our mission to uplift and celebrate the future generation of exploration. Many in the EC50 are already outstanding leaders in their fields and it would be our privilege to have them emerge as leaders in the club. The Explorers Club 50 may well be the most important initiative our club has ever undertaken, and I do not make that statement lightly. As important as it is to honor our history, it is even more important to build a foundation for the future of human endeavor."

As members of the 2025 class, EC50 honorees receive complimentary Explorers Club membership for five years, access to the world's preeminent network of explorers, features in a special edition EC50 print publication and dedicated EC50 website, global lecture opportunities, and more.

The program is supported by Rolex as part of its Perpetual Planet Initiative.

About The Explorers Club:

Founded in 1904, The Explorers Club is a multidisciplinary, professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration and resource conservation. Headquartered in New York City with a community of chapters around the world, The Explorers Club has been supporting scientific expeditions of all disciplines, uniting our members in the bonds of good fellowship. Its members have traversed the earth, seas, skies, and even the moon, on expeditions. Members of The Explorers Club have been the first humans to the North Pole, South Pole, the summit of Mount Everest, the deepest point in the ocean, and the surface of the moon. Notable members include Teddy Roosevelt, Kathryn Sullivan, Jeff Bezos, Walter Cronkite, James Cameron, Neil Armstrong, Jane Goodall, Edmund Hillary, John Glenn, Sally Ride and Bob Ballard.

For more information on the Explorers Club 50: 50.explorers.org

SOURCE The Explorers Club
TOKYO, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tokyo-based global media agency Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting Inc. ( PBMC ) is pleased to announce that the inaugural Tokyo Unicorn Summit will be held on May 7th, 2025 at Azabudai Hills in Tokyo, bringing together approximately 100 unicorn and soon-to-be-unicorn companies from across Asia. This exclusive, invitation-only event will feature networking opportunities, private sessions, and Asia's top leaders as guest speakers.

(PRNewsfoto/PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING)

PBMC, which runs solutions-focused multilingual news service J-Stories , will co-host the event with a major Korean-language newspaper, The Chosun Ilbo, with the support from various startup support organizations from Korea, Taiwan region, Japan and other Asian countries.

In a world increasingly fragmented by conflict and discord, the need for collaboration and unity has never been greater. The Tokyo Unicorn Summit seeks to transcend borders and bring together Asia's most influential innovators and visionaries. This unprecedented event is a dynamic platform where diverse ideas converge, exploring ways for top decision-makers in the startup ecosystems across Asia to collaborate and together solve social and environmental issues throughout the region.

The Tokyo Unicorn Summit aims to serve as a catalyst for Asia's top entrepreneurs to unite and make the region the world's innovation hub for the next generation. By uniting visionary entrepreneurs, we aim to bridge divides, spark collaboration, and address today's challenges while unlocking tomorrow's opportunities.

[Event Overview]

https://tokyounicornsummit.peatix.com/view

Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Time: 12:00-21:00 JST (Tentative; Subject to change)

Venue: Azabudai Hills (Tokyo)

Language: English

Organizer: Tokyo Unicorn Summit 2025 Committee

Co-Hosts: The Chosun Ilbo, J-Stories/Pacific Bridge Media & Consulting (PBMC), Korea Startup Forum

Partners and Supporters: SusHI Tech Tokyo, Startup Island TAIWAN and more

Participating Startups:

CxOs of

Unicorns

Recently IPO'ed unicorns

Series B to pre-IPO

from Korea, Taiwan region, Japan, and other Asian countries

Financial-sector Participants:

Investment banks

Cross-border VCs / CVCs

M&A specialists

For Inquiries Regarding This Matter

Pacific Bridge Media & Consulting Inc.

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Phone: +81-50-5527-0955



Tokyo office of The Chosun ilbo

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +81-3-3214-5256

About J-Stories

J-Stories is a solutions-focused media platform dedicated to introducing Japan-origin innovations that address global challenges such as environmental issues and food shortages. Since its launch in April 2022, J-Stories has published over 500 articles and has been widely disseminating innovations and ideas from Japanese startups, NGOs, and university research institutions through articles and videos.

J-Stories Website:

(English) https://jstories.media

(Japanese) https://jstories.media/jp

Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting, Inc. (PBMC)

Founded in 2010 by experienced international journalist Toshi Maeda with the mission to "connect the world with trusted content and realize a rich and equitable human society," PBMC specializes in creating diverse multilingual content that combines video, language, and technology. The company provides comprehensive services for enterprises looking to share information globally, including planning and producing articles, visual content such as videos and photos, CGI, website creation, and multilingual live event broadcasting. PBMC has a strong track record working with a wide range of clientsfrom major domestic and international corporations and media to startups and government agenciesestablishing itself as a highly regarded international multimedia content provider.

Company Overview

Pacific Bridge Media and Consulting, Inc.

Main Fields of Business: Multilingual content strategy-building, production and distribution; Cross-border public, media and investor relations, Multilingual event planning, hosting and technical & editorial support; live-streaming and news/event conference support, News and media release production and distribution worldwide; Startup & corporate media platform management and content production

Multilingual content strategy-building, production and distribution; Cross-border public, media and investor relations, Multilingual event planning, hosting and technical & editorial support; live-streaming and news/event conference support, News and media release production and distribution worldwide; Startup & corporate media platform management and content production Headquarters: 22nd Floor, Shiroyama Trust Tower, 4-3-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo

22nd Floor, Shiroyama Trust Tower, 4-3-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, CEO: Toshi Maeda

Founded: June 30, 2010

URL: https://pacificbridge.jp

CONTACT:

PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING

Editorial department: Toshi Maeda (Executive Editor)Takanori Isshiki (Deputy Executive Editor)Anita De Michele (Editorial Coordinator)

email: [email protected]

phone: +81- 50-5527-0955

SOURCE PACIFIC BRIDGE MEDIA AND CONSULTING
MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Vantage Foundation proudly announces its partnership with SOS Children's Villages Philippines, a NGO committed to providing safe, family-based care for children who have lost parental support or are at risk of being separated from their families.

VANTAGE FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH SOS CHILDRENS VILLAGES PHILIPPINES TO EMPOWER VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Founded in 1967, the organisation operates a comprehensive network of programs designed to care for vulnerable children and strengthen at-risk families. At the heart of their work is the family-based care model, where children who are orphaned or whose parents are unable to care for them are placed in SOS Villages.

These villages consist of small family homes, each managed by an SOS mother who provides the children with the attention, love, and care of a real family. The children grow up in these homes alongside their biological siblings (if any) and other children, with the continuous support of caregivers who serve as role models and provide emotional, educational, and psychological guidance.

SOS Children's Villages offers continuous, holistic care for children from a young age, until they complete their education or training and transition into adulthood. Through programs that provide educational support, vocational training, scholarships and career counseling, they empower youths and equip them with the tools they need to break the cycle of poverty, achieve their dreams, and become future leaders and contributors to society.

In January, Vantage Foundation visited a SOS village in Manila to witness firsthand the impactful work being done to support vulnerable children and youth. Reflecting on the experience, Steven Xie, the Executive Director of Vantage Foundation stated, "Seeing the incredible work being done at SOS reaffirmed our commitment to supporting initiatives that provide not just care, but the opportunities for young people to build brighter futures."

Ivy Evangelista, Philanthropy and Partnership Manager at SOS Children's Villages Philippines, shared "Our partnerships are vital in helping us extend our reach and impact. By working together with organizations like Vantage Foundation, we can provide children and young people with the support they need to build a better future and break the cycle of poverty."

To learn more about the amazing work of SOS Children's Villages Philippines and how you can help empower the next generation, please visit https://www.sosphilippines.org/. For corporate partnerships, please contact them at [email protected]

About Vantage Foundation

Vantage Foundation is an independent charitable organisation launched at the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK in 2023. The foundation has worked with charity organisations around the world, including The iREDE Foundation in Nigeria, Teach For Malaysia in Malaysia, and Instituto Claret in Brazil.

For more information, please visit www.vantage.foundation

SOURCE Vantage Foundation
Superior Court of California, County of Riverside dismisses AVL Test Systems' claims

RIVERSIDE, Calif., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of attorneys from Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino, LLP (VLMG) won a summary judgment motion on Jan. 13, 2025 for a complete dismissal of claims in a case in which the firm represented Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

View PDF Superior Court Ruling: Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino

The action arose from the Southern California Consolidation Project in Riverside, Calif., for which Hensel Phelps served as the general contractor, and AVL Test Systems, Inc. served as one of its subcontractors. The Department of General Services, Real Estate Division served as the project owner on behalf of the California Air Resources Board.

Although AVL, the plaintiff in the case, acknowledged that it did not hold a California contractor's license for periods of work on the project, it contended that its work did not require a contractor's license. AVL also claimed our client, Hensel Phelps, knowing that its subcontractor did not hold a contractor's license, inaccurately certified in payment applications to the owner that the subcontractor's work had been performed in compliance with the contract documents and applicable licensure law. AVL also alleged that the owner paid Hensel Phelps' payment applications and requests for funds that AVL claimed were due.

VLMG on behalf of our client disputed these licensure, certification, and payment allegations and contended that the AVL's work required a license and that the subcontractor was not due payment.

On cross-motions for summary judgment, the Superior Court of California, County of Riverside, sided with our client. The court then entered a ruling against AVL, finding that AVL's work on the project required a California contractor's license.

About Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino: Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino is a leading construction litigation boutique that represents clients spanning the breadth of the construction industry, including owners, developers, contractors, subcontractors, design professionals, sureties, and public agencies. VLMG's attorneys have handled litigation and arbitration across the United States and around the world involving a diverse spectrum of construction projects, including civil, industrial, power, commercial, and military/government projects, among many others.

SOURCE Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy tech announcements from PR Newswire, including Sony cameras at the Big Game, NASA's asteroid sample and DeepSeek's use in holographic AI applications.

NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help tech journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

PR Newswire Weekly Technology Press Release Roundup, Jan. 27-31, 2025.

For more news like this, check out all of the latest technology-related releases from PR Newswire.

Do you have a technology press release to distribute? Sign up with PR Newswire to share your story with the audiences who matter most.

Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News

These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists.

Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers, and freelancers have access to the following free features:

Customization: Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more.

Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story.

Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story. Subject Matter Experts: Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles.

Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles. Related Resources: Our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, features regular media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more.

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the industry's leading press release distribution partner with an unparalleled global reach of more than 440,000 newsrooms, websites, direct feeds, journalists and influencers and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages. From our award-winning Content Services offerings, integrated media newsroom and microsite products, Investor Relations suite of services, paid placement and social sharing tools, PR Newswire has a comprehensive catalog of solutions to solve the modern-day challenges PR and communications teams face. For 70 years, PR Newswire has been the preferred destination for brands to share their most important news stories across the world.

For questions, contact the team at [email protected].

SOURCE PR Newswire
Over the last five years, Westgate Foundation has donated more than $6 million to various causes

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Westgate Foundation, the philanthropic charity of Westgate Resorts, announced today that it has donated $1 million in grants to benefit 59 community-focused organizations across the United States. In addition, the foundation also made a $500,000 contribution to the company's Team Member Crisis Fund, offering financial support to Team Members who encounter unforeseen circumstances in their personal lives.

"Creating lasting change for families, veterans, our incredible Team Members and individuals transitioning into or back into the workforce remain the Westgate Foundation's top priority," said Jill Bosley, vice president of the Westgate Foundation & Community Affairs. "The 59 charitable groups we have the honor of supporting represent best-in-class philanthropic work in their respective areas. We are proud that each grant will make an immediate and lasting impact."

Philanthropic arm of Westgate Resorts donates $1 million to benefit 59 community-focused organizations across the US. Post this

Each recipient organization was selected based on its charitable excellence and efforts to support one of Westgate Foundation's key pillars, including family stability, military and veteran services, as well as workforce readiness.

Over the last five years, the foundation has invested more than $6 million to support Westgate's resort communities and its Team Members. Through these partnerships, Westgate Foundation acts as a catalyst for positive change.

For information on Westgate Resorts' Westgate Foundation and its impact, visit www.WestgateFoundation.org.

ABOUT WESTGATE RESORTS

Westgate Resorts is the largest privately held timeshare company in the world and one of the largest resort developers in the United States. Founded in 1982 by David Siegel, the company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, with a total of 21 themed destination resorts nationwide, including seven Orlando hotel resorts.

Westgate Resorts locations feature more than 13,500 luxury villas and hotel rooms in popular vacation destinations throughout the United States such as Orlando and Cocoa Beach, Florida; New York City, New York; Park City, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Williamsburg, Virginia; Branson, Missouri; and Mesa, Arizona.

In 2022, the company launched the cutting-edge World of Westgate (WOW) Loyalty Program, an exclusive program that rewards Westgate Owners and hotel guests with prestigious perks and privileges at no added cost.

For more information about Westgate Resorts, visit WestgateResorts.com. Find Westgate Resorts on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

MEDIA CONTACT

The Zimmerman Agency

[email protected]

SOURCE Westgate Resorts
HOUSTON, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a remarkable demonstration of community spirit and corporate responsibility, WhiteWater Express Car Wash has raised over $45,000 in partnership with Susan G. Komen during the month of October. This donation will help further the organization's mission to end breast cancer through critical research, advocacy, and support programs.

Throughout October, WhiteWater Express Car Wash dedicated a portion of the proceeds from every car wash to Susan G. Komen, with the full support of employees, customers, and this partnership, united for an important cause. The funds raised will contribute directly to breast cancer research, provide education and resources, and support those affected by the disease.

"We are thrilled to have WhiteWater Express Car Wash as a partner," said Tim Newman, Regional Vice President for Susan G. Komen. "The organization has demonstrated a strong commitment to Komen's cause and has raised $95K since partnering with us in 2023. We look forward to continuing our partnership aligning our efforts to help those impacted by breast cancer."

This collaboration is part of WhiteWater Express Car Wash's broader commitment to giving back to communities, which extends beyond their core business. The company continuously seeks opportunities to make a meaningful impact through charitable partnerships, donations, and local fundraising programs.

For more information about WhiteWater Express Car Wash, visit www.whitewatercw.com

CONTACT: Kelli Scandrol, [email protected]

SOURCE WhiteWater Express Car Wash
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijan is taking active steps to expand the capacity of East-West and North-South corridors, the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov said during his speech at the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty, Trend reports.

We traditionally attach great importance to cooperation in the transport and transit sphere. The international transport corridors East-West and North-South pass through Azerbaijan. We have ensured the successful functioning of all components of these transportation routes through our territory, he said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the cargo flow through the territory of Azerbaijan is growing at a steady pace.

Last year, the volume of transit traffic increased by 8 percent. We are taking active steps to expand the capacity of the above-mentioned corridors, considering the dynamics of cargo traffic growth. We have gained great potential and solid experience for increased cooperation with our partners and members of the EAEU in all directions. Azerbaijan is ready to continue making all necessary efforts for this purpose, Ali Asadov added.
A Russian drone attack on a residential block killed eight people including three elderly couples in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Moscow has pummelled Ukrainian cities with dozens of drones or missiles almost daily since it invaded in early 2022.

Images distributed by the emergency services showed a gaping hole in the side of the building and rescue workers digging through debris for survivors.

"This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible Russian crime. It is very important that the world does not pause in putting pressure on Russia for this terror," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

Ukrainian prosecutors said the barrage killed eight people, including three couples -- six men and women between the ages of 61 and 74.

Another elderly man and a woman, 37, were also killed.

Her eight-year-old daughter was among 12 wounded in the attack, the Sumy prosecutor's office said.

Sumy lies just over the border from Russia in northeastern Ukraine and has been regularly targeted by Russia. Around 255,000 people lived there before the war.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin claims to be ready for negotiations, but this is what he actually does. Only strength works with liars," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.

The Ukrainian air force said Moscow had attacked with 81 drones, including the Iranian-designed Shahed type.

Ukraine's air defence units downed 37 of the drones in various regions, including in Sumy and near the capital Kyiv.

In the southern Odesa region on the Black Sea, officials said Russian drones targeted the port town of Izmail, one of several important Ukrainian export hubs.

Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Thursday accused Russia of launching Shahed drones charged with shrapnel "to increase the number of civilian casualties".

Separate Russian attacks killed one person and wounded 12 more, including two children, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin said it annexed in late 2022.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. As many as 23 initiatives worth 1.7 billion manat ($1 billion) have been implemented over the past five years with the support of the Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), the publication of Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov on X said, Trend reports.

Sustainable development of the non-oil sector, attraction of foreign investments in this sphere, and creation of new enterprises with the application of modern standards and best practices are among the main priorities of Azerbaijan. Over the past five years, 23 initiatives in the food, construction, pharmaceutical, packaging, mining, green energy, and other spheres, including the construction of 19 new enterprises, have been realized with the support of the Azerbaijan Investment Company. These projects, with a total cost of 1.7 billion manat ($1 billion) , serve to increase local production, stimulate the production of import-substituting products, and support employment, the publication of the minister reads.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) are providing vital financial support to small businesses in Bosnia and Herzegovina affected by the 2024 floods, Trend reports.

To help them recover, the EBRD has extended a 2 million euro loan to Mikrofin d.o.o., a local microfinance institution. This funding will enable Mikrofin to offer loans to small businesses in flood-hit areas, assisting with repairs and new investments.

The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) is backing this investment with a guarantee, which forms part of the EUs broader efforts to support financial inclusion and mitigate risks in challenging markets. The EBRD is committed to supporting resilience and recovery in the affected communities.

Stela Melnic, EBRD Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed the Banks ongoing dedication to aiding recovery efforts, saying, The EBRD acted swiftly following the floods, assisting the government with the EU Solidarity Fund application and mobilizing resources to ensure businesses have access to the funding they need to recover.

In addition to this initiative, the EBRD invested 213 million euros in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2024, with 90 million euros directed towards green projects aimed at enhancing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and decarbonization. Since 1996, the EBRD has invested over 3.3 billion euros across 241 projects in the country.
Doha, Jan 31 : Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who arrived in Damascus for a visit, reaffirmed his country's unwavering support for Syria's unity, sovereignty and independence.

According to a statement from the Emiri Diwan, the administrative office of the emir, Al Thani on Thursday met with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the latest developments in Syria, ways to strengthen bilateral relations, and regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Al Thani stressed the need for a government that represents all segments of Syrian society for the further stabilisation, reconstruction, and sustainable development of Syria, said the statement as reported by Xinhua news agency.

He reiterated Qatar's commitment to supporting the Syrian people in their pursuit of unity, justice, and freedom.

For his part, al-Sharaa thanked Qatar for its steadfast stance and continued support, affirming that the coming phase will witness strategic cooperation between the two sides across various sectors.

Later on Thursday, Al Thani wrote on social media platform X that the meeting was "filled with positivity and optimism for Syria's bright future and strengthening of relations between our two brotherly nations".

Al Thani's visit to Damascus, the first by an Arab leader since a change in Syria's government last December, comes as Syria's interim administration seeks to rebuild ties with regional states, following years of isolation during the country's civil conflict.

It follows meetings between Syrian and Qatari officials, including a trip to Damascus by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani earlier this month.

Also on Thursday, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister met with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi to discuss bilateral relations and the latest developments in Syria, reiterating Doha's efforts to resolve regional conflicts and emphasising cooperation with regional partners to promote stability and peace.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscored the necessity of consolidating military power under a unified national army representing all components of Syrian society.

It stressed that a singular military force is essential to preserving Syriaas sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, paving the way for a peaceful transition through a comprehensive political process.
United Nations, Jan 31 : The United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, is continuing its mandate despite an Israeli ban coming into effect, a UN spokesman said.

In October 2024, the Israeli Parliament passed two legislations to prohibit UNRWA from operating in the country and ban Israeli authorities from any contact with the agency. The laws took effect on Thursday.

"UNRWA says that it is committed to staying and delivering," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the daily briefing, on Thursday.

Dujarric added that he had been in contact with UNRWA representatives who reported that while the headquarters building in East Jerusalem was empty except for security personnel, UNRWA staff members were either in the field, such as at clinics, or working from home or another location, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Clinics across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are open," he said.

Dujarric told reporters that the agency also continues to deliver health and education assistance and food aid in the Gaza Strip.

When asked if there were any instructions to UNRWA staff, considering the Israeli law, the spokesman replied, "The directive is that UNRWA will continue to do its work until it no longer can."

More than 3,200 families have been displaced from the Jenin refugee camp since December 2024, Dujarric said.

Israel said on Wednesday it would sever all ties with UNRWA beginning on Thursday. It accuses the agency of employing Hamas operatives and enabling "terror activity" in Gaza.

"UNRWA is riddled with Hamas," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on social media platform X.

"Beginning January 30, Israel will cease all engagement with UNRWA in accordance with Israeli law," he wrote.

Since 1950, UNRWA has been assisting Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The Israeli ban, which threatens life-saving aid, education, and healthcare for millions of Palestinians, has drawn condemnation from international leaders and aid groups. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the disastrous consequences.

The escalation in the West Bank came after a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal took effect on January 19 in Gaza, following 15 months of an Israeli war that killed more than 47,000 victims and reduced the enclave to rubble.

Since the beginning of Israel's onslaught in October 2023, at least 890 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied territory in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers. aaaaaaa
Gaza, Jan 31 : The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has announced that its military chief, Mohammed Deif, was killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Thursday, Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the brigades, also confirmed that Marwan Issa, Al-Qassam's deputy chief of staff, had been killed, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The enemy has assassinated two of our great leaders, but their legacy and resistance will continue," Obeida said.

He added that the assassination of Hamas military leaders will not stop the Palestinian resistance against Israel.

No additional details were provided.

On August 1, 2024, Israel's military claimed that it had killed Deif in an airstrike in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.

Israel has accused Deif of being one of the masterminds of the Hamas attack on southern Israeli towns on October 7, 2023.

Israel's military said it had killed Deif in July last year, but Hamas had not confirmed this until now.

Israel has said that Deif was one of the figures responsible for planning the October 7 attacks in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Deif was widely seen as the second-ranking Hamas official in Gaza, behind Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader in the territory, who was also killed by Israeli forces last year.

In May 2024, the International Criminal Court said it was seeking arrest warrants for Deif and other senior Hamas figures, saying they had "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore responsibility for the October 7 attacks, which saw around 1,200 Israelis killed.

Deif was known to have helped engineer the construction of tunnels that have allowed Hamas fighters to enter Israel from Gaza. He was also credited with designing Hamas's signature weapon, the Qassam rocket.

The US announced Al-Qassam's deputy chief of staff, Marwan Issa's death in March last year.

Issa was the deputy commander of Hamas's military wing and was considered one of Israel's most-wanted men.

The European Union, which placed the Hamas leader on its terrorist blacklist, linked him directly to the October 7 attack.

The latest war was triggered when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel's 15-month military offensive killed more than 47,460 Palestinians in the territory, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry.

A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on January 19.

A total of 15 Israeli hostages have been freed since then.

So far, 400 Palestinian prisoners -- ranging from those serving long sentences for bombings and other attacks to teenagers held without charge -- have been released.

Most have returned to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, while about 70 of the most serious offenders have been deported.
Washington, Jan 31 : An internal report by the Federal Aviation Administration suggested that the controller on duty when the deadly aircraft collision happened in Washington, D.C. was doing a job usually handled by two people, US media reported.

Staffing at the air traffic control tower at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was "not normal" during the deadly late-night crash between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, The New York Times quoted a preliminary report as saying on Thursday.

The report said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport's vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways -- jobs typically assigned to two different controllers, Xinhua news agency reported.

At a press conference in the White House earlier on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that there were some warnings prior to the midair collision of a passenger plane and helicopter near the airport Wednesday night, "but the warnings were given very, very late."

Trump said he had heard "very scary tapes".

"When the air traffic controller said, he was talking about, do you see him? But there was very little time left when that was stated," Trump said, adding that there is also "a pilot problem" from the standpoint of the helicopter.

Also at the press conference, Trump confirmed there are no survivors in the collision, and "the work has now shifted to a recovery mission".

John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, told a press conference at the airport on Thursday morning that 28 bodies had been found, including 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Thursday that the flight paths of the two aircraft were not unusual for the area and that both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying standard flight patterns.

Of the three major airports in the region, Reagan National is closest to the capital. Because of the short length of its runways, more than 90 per cent of flights use its main runway, making it the busiest in the US, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings.

Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration would "take appropriate action if necessary to modify flight paths" to ensure adequate separation between civilian airplanes and military helicopters.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said an investigation had been launched by the Army and Defence Department.
Niamey, Jan 31 : Niger's Minister of Public Health, Population and Social Affairs Garba Hakimi officially declared at a ceremony that the country is free of onchocerciasis.

With this landmark achievement, Niger becomes the first country in Africa to eradicate this disease, which had particularly impacted populations living near certain waterways, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) congratulated Niger on achieving the standard required to eliminate onchocerciasis.

Niger is recognised as the fifth country in the world, the first in Africa, to have successfully halted the transmission of the parasite Onchocerca volvulus.

The other four countries that have reached this milestone are all located in the Americas: Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Guatemala (2016), and Mexico (2015).

Hakimi on Thursday expressed gratitude for the efforts made over the past 15 years, which provided the scientific evidence necessary for the disease's elimination in the country.

Casimir Manengu, the resident representative of the WHO, commended Niger's commitment and leadership that enabled this remarkable achievement.

"I congratulate Niger on its dedication to freeing its population from this blinding and stigmatising disease, which causes immense suffering among the poorest communities," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"This success stands as further evidence of the significant progress we have made in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. By demonstrating that elimination is possible, it offers hope to other countries still battling onchocerciasis today."

Onchocerciasis is the second neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in Niger, which was certified to have interrupted the transmission of dracunculiasis in 2013 by the WHO.

Onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness, is a parasitic disease and is the second leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, after trachoma. It is transmitted to humans through the bites of infective black flies, primarily found in riverine areas. The disease primarily affects rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen, with smaller endemic areas found in parts of Latin America.

Between 1976 and 1989, under the umbrella of the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP), Niger undertook vector control measures by spraying insecticides that significantly decreased levels of onchocerciasis transmission.
Ramallah/Jerusalem, Jan 31 : Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in Ramallah, the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources.

According to eyewitnesses on Thursday, large crowds gathered to welcome them, chanting slogans and waving flags in celebration.

The families of the released detainees waited anxiously outside the reception area, with many breaking into tears when finally reuniting with their loved ones.

"This is a moment of both joy and pain," said Samah Abed, a relative of a prisoner, expressing relief at the release but frustration over the continued conflict between Israel and Hamas.

An Israeli security official, speaking with Xinhua on condition of anonymity, said Israel completed the release of 110 Palestinian detainees earlier on Thursday as part of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner-hostage exchange agreement with Hamas that took effect on January 19.

Buses transported about 66 Palestinian detainees from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank to Ramallah and 15 others to a detention centre in East Jerusalem, from where they were released. A total of 29 prisoners convicted of involvement in attacks against Israelis are to be deported to Egypt and other countries, said the official.

A photo circulating on social media showed Zakaria Zubeidi, a high-profile prisoner and former commander of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin, West Bank, making a V-sign on a bus.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that before his release, Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency warned him that he would be "eliminated" if he resumed militant activities.

The release was delayed by about three hours on the instruction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was angered by "chaotic" scenes during Hamas' earlier release of several of eight Israeli hostages in Gaza.

A further exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners is expected on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing.

The first phase of the agreement, which is divided into three stages lasting 42 days each, calls for the gradual release of 33 Israelis -- living prisoners and the bodies of the deceased -- in exchange for between 1,700 and 2,000 Palestinian and Arab detainees.

The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech at a press conference in Jerusalem, on Aug. 13, 2020. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday his country and the United Arab Emirates reached "a full and official peace deal.". Image Source: Yonatan Sindel/JINI via Xinhua/IANS

Jerusalem, January 31 : Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement welcoming home the three Israelis who were released on Thursday from captivity in Gaza -- Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses.

Netanyahu also criticised how Hamas handled their release.

"Agam, Arbel, Gadi -- welcome home," he said.

"The entire State of Israel embraces you, as do my wife Sara and I."

"This release was achieved, first of all, thanks to our heroic soldiers, and it was also achieved thanks to the steadfast and determined stand that we took during the negotiations," Netanyahu added.

However, the Prime Minister also had a few words about the chaos in Gaza that the freed Israelis experienced during their release saying, "We will not accept violations of the agreement. During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages."

"And I will add: Whoever dares to harm our hostages - will pay the price."

The three Israeli hostages released in Gaza on Thursday were earlier named by the Israeli Prime Ministeras Office (PMO), which also confirmed that five Thai nationals were also freed.

"The list of names received from Hamas today by the mediators Qatar and Egypt includes: Arbel Yehoud (29 years old), Agam Berger (19), and Gadi Moses (80)," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the identities of the five Thai nationals released in Gaza earlier on Thursday. They have been named as Pongsak Thanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao.

Israeli authorities also released 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday as part of the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.. Of those, 32 were sentenced to life imprisonment, another 30 were children, and 48 were prisoners with high sentences, according to Hamas.

All released prisoners were "transferred from several detention facilities across the country to be absorbed in the Ofer and Ketziot prisons" before being freed, the Israel Prison Service said in a statement on Thursday.

Eight hostages taken by Hamas and other armed groups in the October 7, 2023 attacks were also released in Gaza on Thursday.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor has shared an update about his upcoming film "Arjun Ustara", which is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. He said that the film, at heart, is a love story, but it's full of action and gangsters.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor has shared an update about his upcoming film "Arjun Ustara", which is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. He said that the film, at heart, is a love story, but it's full of action and gangsters.

In a conversation with IANS, Shahid spoke about his next film: "It's being produced by, you know, Sajid Nariyarwala, who is like somebody I have known for a very long time. And I'm happy to be working with him. It's directed by Vishal Sir. Vishal Bhardwaj, who I've done so many films with."

Shahid has previously worked with Bhardwaj in movies such as "Haider", "Kaminey" and "Rangoon".

He then spoke about the cast and heaped praise on his co-stars.

"It's got a stellar cast. It's got me, it's got Tripti, it's got Nana sir, it's got Randeep Hooda, it's got Vikrant Massey, who's in a special appearance.And I have thoroughly enjoyed the work of all these people. And I'm very excited to collaborate and work with all of them."

Without divulging much about the actor shared: "It's a gangster film based in the 90s. At heart, it's a love story, but it's full of action and gangsters. So hopefully that'll be appealing to a wide section of the audience because we want a wide section of the audience to see the film."

The actor's latest release is "Deva", which released on the big screen on January 31. The film also stars Pooja Hegde and Pavail Gulati. The action thriller film is directed by Rosshan Andrrews, in his first Hindi film.

The plot revolves around a skilled but defiant police officer, who is investigating a major case. The officer discovers layers of lies and betrayal during the investigation.

Talking about Deva, he said it is a film that he feels should definitely be watched on the big screen.

"It's a big screen experience. And not just the character, but the world of the film is something that should be experienced in the theater. And it's now out on the 31st of Jan. So yes, a lot of effort, a lot of work, a lot of heart has gone into Deva."
Mumbai, Jan 31 : FNeha Dhupia fainted on the sets of the new season of Roadies. However, she continued shooting moments after, to wrap up on time. The former beauty queen and actress said that nothing is going to stop her.

Speaking about the incident, Neha shared, "It was a minor health scare, but I'm back on my feet, motivated, and enthusiastic as ever. Roadies have always been about pushing limits, and this journey inspires me to overcome every hurdle. Nothing is going to stop me."

The incident, which was featured in a promo, saw Neha feeling dizzy and fainting on the sets. However, the actress has reassured everyone that she is fit, fine, and ready to continue her journey as a gang leader on Roadies.

A source from the production added, "Neha's dedication is truly remarkable. Despite her hectic schedule and health challenges, she actively fulfilled her duties as a leader and gave her all to the auditions."

"From bustling cities to remote small towns, she was completely invested in finding the best talent for the show."

The new season is titled 'MTV Roadies Double Cross', and raises stakes higher, in a world where betrayal lurks around the corner, trust is rare, and every move is a double-edged sword.

The new season is hosted by Rannvijay Singha, the OG Roadie, whose return as the host cements the legacy of the show as it embarks on its boldest season. He will be joined by Gang Leaders including Prince Narula, Neha, Rhea Chakraborty, and Elvish Yadav making his debut as a Gang Leader.

Ahead of the airing of the show, Rannvijay said that 'MTV Roadies' has always felt like home to him and being part of the milestone season is truly special.

"With the Double Cross theme, fans are in for the most intense and unpredictable 'MTV Roadies' journey yet. I am excited to reunite with Prince and Neha. And of course, I am all excited to work alongside Rhea and Elvish for the first time," he added.

The show airs on MTV and JioCinema.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Washington DC midair plane-helicopter collision and said that India stands in solidarity with the people of the US.

PM Modi in his post on X wrote that he was deeply saddened by the loss in the collision. "Deeply saddened by loss of lives in the tragic collision in Washington DC. Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. We stand in solidarity with the people of the United States," the PM said.

Earlier, President Donald Trump said there were no survivors in the collision in the mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter in the Washington, DC, area. The collision is the deadliest since 2001.

Trump also placed the blame on Democratic policies. He blamed diversity policies implemented during the Obama and Biden administrations for compromising air safety standards. This statement came after it was found that there were no survivors in the devastating mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.

A US passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into the Potomac River after a midair collision with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter during a nighttime training exercise.

The incident occurred at approximately 9.00 p.m. (0200 GMT) on Wednesday as the aircraft was making its final approach to Washington's Reagan National Airport following its departure from Wichita, Kansas.

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport issued a call to the military helicopter: "PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?" Moments later, another directive was given: "PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ." Seconds later, the two aircraft collided. A pilot observing the incident made an urgent call over the radio: "Tower, did you see that?"

Authorities launched a large-scale search and rescue operation immediately following the crash. Emergency crews, consisting of more than 300 personnel, were deployed to the scene.

Aviation experts and investigators are now scrutinizing how a modern passenger jet equipped with collision-avoidance technology could collide with a military aircraft in one of the most closely monitored airspaces in the country.

Washington's airspace is known for its congestion, with civilian aircraft frequently flying at low altitudes over the city. The military and government helicopters operate at various elevations throughout the day and night. The presence of multiple aircraft types in such limited airspace is now a focal point of the investigation.
Mumbai, Jan 31 : Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor shared a glimpse from the shoot of her upcoming film "Param Sundari" and tagged it as her favourite days.

Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS) Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor shared a glimpse from the shoot of her upcoming film "Param Sundari" and tagged it as her favourite days.

Janhvi took to her Instagram stories, where she shared a sneak-peek into the sets of the film. The picture featured the crew of the film all set to roll.

For the caption she wrote: "Favourite kind of days #paramsundari."

The cross-cultural romance film also stars Sidharth Malhotra alongside Janhvi. "Param Sundari" has been locked for theatrical release on July 25.

The film is by production house Maddock Films, directed by Tushar Jalota of "Dasvi" fame. It centers on a love story between a North Indian played by Sidharth and a South Indian girl, filmed in Kerala.

The film "promises a heartfelt tale of love, where two worlds collide, and sparks are bound to fly. Set against the breathtaking backwaters of Kerala, this love story is a rollercoaster of laughter, chaos, and unexpected twists you won't see coming," per a description provided by Maddock, reports variety.com.

"Its like those films that Mani-sir (Mani Ratnam) used to do like 'Saathiya' (the Hindi-language remake of Tamil drama-romance film "Alai Payuthey")," Maddock chief Dinesh Vijan told Variety.

"The kind of music it has and Janhvi playing a South Indian is interesting, Sid's playing a Northern Delhi boy and the conflict is very cool. It's like maybe taking 'Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya' forward  there's a high tech idea in there. But we are going into the 'Kantara' world of sorts  we are going a little more than than that."

Janhvi was last seen in "Devara: Part 1" directed by Koratala Siva. The film stars NTR Jr in dual roles, alongside Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Prakash Raj, Srikanth and Shine Tom Chacko. It is the first part of a planned duology. The film marked the Telugu cinema debut of Janhvi, who is the daughter of late actress Sridevi.

The film follows Devara, chieftain of a coastal village, who feuds with his counterpart Bhaira over arms smuggling through the Red Sea.
Seoul, Jan 31 : Celltrion, a major South Korean biopharmaceutical firm, on Friday said its new biosimilar for an autoimmune disease treatment has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA approved Celltrion's Avtozma, a biosimilar to Actemra, in both intravenous and subcutaneous formulations, according to the company, Yonhap news agency reported. Avtozma can be used as a treatment for multiple autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and giant cell arteritis, as well as Covid-19.

"This approval represents a strategic addition to our immunology portfolio, further strengthening our commitment to delivering accessible and high-quality treatment options for patients and healthcare providers," Thomas Nusbickel, chief commercial officer at Celltrion's branch in the US, said in a release.

Celltrion said Avtozma has great sales potential, noting its original drug, Actemra, raised 2.63 billion Swiss francs ($2.89 billion) globally in 2023. The Korean drugmaker has vowed to commercialise 22 biosimilar products by 2030.

Earlier, the company announced another autoimmune disease treatment by Celltrion has been launched in five major European nations. The treatment a" SteQeyma -- is an ustekinumab biosimilar treatment for multiple chronic inflammatory diseases.

According to Celltrion, it was released in France, following its launch in Italy and Spain earlier this month, Yonhap reported.

The launch in France follows its release in Britain last month and in Germany in November. The drug won the European Commission's (EC) approval in August for biologic therapy in gastroenterology, dermatology, and rheumatology indications.

It marked Celltrion's seventh biosimilar to win the EC's approval, following Remsima, Truxima, Herzuma, and others.

Celltrion said it plans to expand sales of SteQeyma in Europe and also introduce the product in the US in the future.

According to data from healthcare researcher Iqvia, the European ustekinumab market was valued at $3.1 billion in 2023, with the global market size reaching $20.4 billion.
Jaipur, Jan 31 : Two devotees from Rajasthan lost their lives in the recent stampede that occurred in the wee hours of Wednesday at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh in which 30 people were killed and 60 were injured.

The victims who had travelled to Prayagraj to participate in the sacred Mauni Amavasya bath, were identified as Nihali Devi (60) from Ajmer, and Baldev Singh (58) from Dholpur.

According to reports, Nihali Devi had gone to Prayagraj with her husband, Ramnarayan Bairwa.

Before arriving for the Maha Kumbh bath on January 27, she had visited the Ram temple in Mathura, Vrindavan, and Ayodhya on January 22, with a group of 50 pilgrims.

Around 1:30 AM on January 28, just 300 metres from the Sangam coast, a stampede broke out, separating Nihali from her husband.

Ramnarayan searched desperately but could not find her. The next day, on January 29, at noon, he received information from the control room that Nihali's body was at a hospital in Lucknow.

He travelled there and later returned to his village on Thursday afternoon with her body.

Baldev Singh, a resident of Nidhera Khurd in the Kolari area of Dholpur, also perished in the stampede while returning from his bath.

He had travelled to Prayagraj by train with five companions. His family is expected to reach Dholpur with his body by Friday morning.

Among those missing after the stampede is 60-year-old Supyar Devi from Bhankrota, Jaipur. She had travelled to the Kumbh with her husband, Durgalal Meena, and has been unaccounted for since the stampede incident. Durgalal has filed a missing persons report at the Samudra Koop police station near the Kumbh site in Prayagraj.

Supyar Devias son, Rajendra Meena, a resident of Madhorajpura in Bhankrota, said his parents had left for the Maha Kumbh with fellow villagers on the evening of January 27. He received a call from his father informing him about his missing mother. Rajendra has since left Jaipur to search for her.

Another missing devotee is Rajkumari Pareek from Amer, Jaipur. She had travelled to Prayagraj with her family on January 29 and was last seen at 6 am on Wednesday.

Pyari Devi (70), wife of Mohanlal Sargara from Mandia Road, Shiv Colony, Pali, also got separated from her group in the chaos on Wednesday.

Her companions searched for her but were unable to locate her. Fortunately, she later found assistance from a group of people dressed in traditional Rajput attire and was safely reunited with her group.

Authorities continue their efforts to locate the missing devotees as families anxiously await news of their loved ones.
Bhopal, Jan 31 : On the fourth day of his Japan visit, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will on Friday engage in government-to-government (G2G) talks and hold business meetings.

Bhopal, Jan 31 (IANS) On the fourth day of his Japan visit, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will on Friday engage in government-to-government (G2G) talks and hold business meetings.

During the meetings that will go on throughout the day, Chief Minister Yadav will focus on enhancing industrial development in Madhya Pradesh and strengthening trade relations with Japan.

The CM will engage with senior government officials of Japan and leading industrialists to explore opportunities for investment, technology transfer, and collaboration in key sectors.

Later in the day, he will travel to Kyoto, where he will visit key cultural and historical sites. During the visit, he will explore opportunities to enhance tourism and cultural partnerships between Madhya Pradesh and Japan, said officials.

CM Yadav will also attend a lunch meeting in Kyoto with business representatives and industrialists. "This gathering will provide a platform to discuss investment opportunities in sectors such as IT, manufacturing, and tourism, to utilize Japanas expertise in these industries for the development of Madhya Pradesh," the Chief Minister's Office said.

On Thursday, after an interactive session with industrialists in Osaka, CM Yadav said that he has received a good response from the Japanese investors for investment in Madhya Pradesh. "We have come here to invite investors, we are doing roadshows in different cities of Japan, along with Indian investors, and we are speaking to Japanese investors as well. I am glad that we are getting a good response from everywhere. I am glad that we are being heard regarding every sector and we are getting offers as well," the CM said.

He said, "During the visit to Japan, I had the opportunity to participate in the Interactive Session on Investment Opportunities in Madhya Pradesh held in Osaka. I engaged with industrialists and investors, highlighting the immense potential Madhya Pradesh offers and inviting them to be part of our stateas growth story. With world-class infrastructure, investor-friendly policies, and special incentive schemes, Madhya Pradesh stands out as a premier global investment destination. We are rapidly emerging as a key hub for sectors such as tourism, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, mining, dairy, and food processing. Our unwavering commitment to fostering a business-friendly environment ensures seamless investment opportunities and sustainable growth for all stakeholders."

Chief Minister Yadav has also stated that Japan is like two long-lost brothers as both countries have several similarities, including cultural and spiritual commonalities. "Whether it is the reverence for the Sun God or the teachings of Gautam Buddha, both countries share cultural and spiritual commonalities. Observing the deep bond between the two nations, it can be said that India and Japan are like two long-lost brothers," he added.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : PM-Surya Ghar, India's flagship solar initiative, has crossed 8.5 lakh rooftop installations, marking significant progress towards the goal of powering 10 million households with solar energy, according to Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi.

"The government aims to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, with a long-term vision of 1,800 GW by 2047. The target would position India as a global leader in renewable energy while meeting its energy needs and contributing to global decarbonisation efforts," Joshi said in his address at the third India Energy Transition Summit hosted by FICCI.

The minister said that India's renewable energy capacity has already increased from 75 GW in 2014 to over 220 GW showing notable growth in the sector.

"This initiative, along with ongoing policy support and financial backing, positions India as a global leader in the clean energy transition," said Joshi highlighting the government's ongoing efforts to accelerate the energy transition, stressing the need for energy security, stable financing, and robust policies to ensure continued progress.

He also noted the successful implementation of green hydrogen initiatives and emphasised the collaborative efforts of state governments, financial institutions, and stakeholders in addressing challenges such as land acquisition and policy implementation.

The minister also stressed on the importance of energy security, finance, and policy stability in driving this transformation, including the successful implementation of green hydrogen initiatives.

He also underlined the importance of state governments, bankers, and other stakeholders in supporting this transition.

The minister assured that the government was actively addressing issues such as financing, policy implementation, and land acquisition, with regular consultations and meetings held with all relevant stakeholders.

"India is on track to become a global leader in renewable energy, with continuous efforts being made to accelerate the country's energy transition," he added.

M. Nagaraju, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, highlighted the financial road map, stating: "Mobilising 33 lakh crore for India's energy transition is a formidable challenge, requiring a multi-pronged approach involving public sector banks, global financing institutions, and private capital."

"While 10 lakh crore will be sourced from public sector banks, the remaining 23 lakh crore must come through innovative financing instruments, including green bonds and structured debt solutions," he added.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Bageshwar Dham head priest Dhirendra Shastri said on Friday that the Maha Kumbh tragedy was a "planned and sponsored" conspiracy to dent Hindutva's image.

Talking to IANS in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, he said that the incident was tragic, heart-wrenching and unimaginable.

While saying that overcrowding was one of the reasons for the stampede in which 30 people were killed and over 60 were injured, he claimed that there was a larger conspiracy aimed at distorting Hindutva's image.

Soon after the stampede the Opposition slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for the mismanagement of the crowd and the VIP culture.

After the stampede that took place in the wee hours of Wednesday, the Uttar Pradesh government introduced fresh measures for better crowd management.

The government has restricted vehicular movement, cancelled VIP passes, increased security deployment, and ended needless restrictions on the pontoon bridges that connect the Mela City.

The entry of four-wheelers and buses from outside Prayagraj has been banned till February 4.

After the incident, a three-member judicial panel was formed to probe the reason behind the stampede.

Members of the Judicial Enquiry Commission will reach Uttar Pradeshas Prayagraj at around 1 pm on Friday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the families of those who died in the stampede.

Incidentally, following the tragic stampede at the Maha Kumbh a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking legal action against authorities and officials for their "negligent conduct".

The petition said the incident depicts the drastic condition and fate of people due to the lapses, negligence and utter failure of administration purported by the government authorities.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that for the first time in 10 years, there has been no attempt from abroad to stoke any trouble ahead of the Parliament session.

He said, "For the first time, no spark has been ignited abroad... nor is there anyone to fan the flames... This is the first session where neither external influences nor internal forces have set events into motion..."

He said since he became the Prime Minister in 2014 it had become routine for a spark to be set in a foreign country and this time, as must have been noticed by the media also, nothing like that has happened.

"I have been observing for the last 10 years, before every season, people get ready to do mischief and here, we know that there is no shortage of people to escalate it," PM Modi added.

In his customary address to the media before the beginning of a new session, PM Modi said, "Ahead of the Budget Session, I bow down to Maa Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.."

Reminiscing the Maha Lakshmi mantra, PM Modi said that he prays to the Goddess to have special blessings on the poor and the middle class. "I pray that Maa Lakshmi continues to bless the poor and middle class of our country."

He said that it is a matter of great pride for the country and the whole world that India completed 75 years as a democratic nation. "India has established itself well on the global pedestal...," the PM said, adding, "This is the first complete budget of my third term. I can confidently say that in 2047, when India will complete 100 years of Independence, India will fulfil its aim of Viksit Bharat and this budget will give new energy and hope to the nation.. and the 140 crore people will fulfil this vow."

"In our third term, we are committed to all-round development ...we are in mission mode. Innovation, inclusion and investment -- this is the roadmap of our economic development. In this session, several historic bills will be discussed, and a lot of discussion will happen...Reform, perform and transform.. the Centre and state will work together and bring transformation. Ours is a youth-full nation, and those who are 25-26 years old today, will be the beneficiaries of Vikshit Bharat and when they are 45-46 years old they will see the benefits..."

The Prime Minister said, "In this budget session, all MPs will contribute to strengthening Viksit Bharat, especially the young MPs since it is a golden opportunity for them. They will be witness to the Viksit Bharat... I hope that we will stand up to the hopes and expectations of people..."
Los Angeles, Jan 31 : Director Hollywood couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are trying to silence actor-director Justin Baldoni, who has been accused of sexual harassment by Blake.

Blake and Ryan Reynolds told a federal judge that they will seek to dismiss the defamation lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni, reports 'Variety'.

Attorneys for the two sides are due in court Monday for the first hearing on the feud between the two 'It Ends With Us' co-stars.

As per 'Variety', Lively has accused Baldoni, who was also the film's director, of sexually harassing her on set, and then retaliating with a smear campaign when she dared to speak up about it.

Baldoni and his publicists have countered that Lively defamed them by taking text messages out of context and mischaracterizing their interactions. Baldoni also alleges that Lively and Reynolds pressured WME to drop him as a client, which WME denies.

The couple's attorneys filed the notice Thursday in compliance with Judge Lewis Liman's order, which set out how the federal case will move forward. The judge asked for a letter that would "indicate in one sentence the Defendant's intent to make a motion to dismiss".

Liman will set a deadline later to actually file the motion. "The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint", said Michael J. Gottlieb, following the judge's instruction to keep it short and sweet. Publicist Leslie Sloane, who was also named as a defendant in Baldoni's suit, filed a similar notice.

The judge has said he expects to schedule a trial for March 2026, and asked the parties to file a plan that would allow for a trial by that date. In a rare moment of agreement, attorneys on both sides have also indicated they have no objection to consolidating the two federal cases into one proceeding.

At the hearing on Monday, the two sides are expected to argue about the conduct of Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman. Lively's lawyers have argued that Freedman is making prejudicial comments in the press, which they say taints the jury pool. Freedman has countered that he has every right to defend his client publicly from Lively's media blitz.
Bengaluru, Jan 31 : Karnataka Lokayukta sleuths are conducting raids at seven locations in four districts of the state since Friday morning. The raids are being held on the residences and properties of government officers over suspicions of amassing disproportionate assets. The officers being raided include an in-charge Sub Registrar.

The simultaneous raids began in the morning in Bengaluru, Belagavi, Raichur and Bagalkot districts.

According to sources, the Lokayukta sleuths are conducting raids and searches at the residence of an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) attached to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palikeas (BBMP) Engineering Division.

The Lokayukta is also conducting raids on the residences of two officers in Belagavi city.

The teams are searching the residence of in-charge Sub Registrar in Anagola locality, sources stated and added that the team was also raiding his office and another property.

The house of a veterinary inspector has been raided in Harogeri town in Rayabagh taluq of Belagavi district where the sleuths are inspecting the documents.

The Lokayukta team headed by Deputy Superintendent Siddesh is conducting raids on the residence of a Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) of Holageri village in Bagalkot district.

Searches are underway at a house located in Vidyagiri locality and another house in Naragunda village.

Sources have revealed that the PDO has built a luxurious house, and a huge amount of cash has been found at his residence. The sleuths are using a counting machine to count the money.

The sleuths are conducting raids at the residence of an assistant accounts officer attached to Raichur Zilla Panchayat. The residence is located in Jawar Colony in Raichur city.

More details are yet to emerge in the case and an official statement is yet to be made by the Karnataka Lokayukta.

On January 8, the Lokayukta officials conducted simultaneous raids against seven government officials in Karnataka in connection with amassing disproportionate assets.

The raids were conducted in nine places - Bengaluru, Chikkamagaluru, Bidar, Belagavi, Gadag, Ballari, Raichur, Bagalkot and Tumakuru districts.
Photo: Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The discussions have been held on bilateral economic ties and new directions of activity between Azerbaijan and Italy, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry.

According to the information, the negotiations were held during the meeting of Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov with Minister for Enterprises and Products Made in Italy of Italy Adolfo Urso during his visit to Italy.

Moreover, it is noted that the meeting emphasized the development of economic partnership between the two countries.

Opinions were exchanged on bilateral economic ties, joint investment projects, cooperation between Azerbaijani and Italian companies, and promotion of new directions of activity, the information notes.

To note, Italy has emerged as Azerbaijan's largest trading partner in the importation of crude oil and petroleum products. Since 2003, 51.9 percent of Azerbaijan's exports have been directed to Italy. Italy mostly exports oil sector pipes, tobacco, leather, and furniture to Azerbaijan. The 2007 visits by the Economic Development ministers of both nations culminated in signed agreements for cooperation in the natural gas sector between Azerbaijan and Italy. Azerbaijan's principal exports to Italy included petroleum gas ($11.4 billion), crude petroleum ($6.72 billion), and refined petroleum ($37.5 million).

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Mumbai, Jan 31 : Actress Renee Zellweger, who returns as Bridget Jones in "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy", says that it's an interesting thing for a fictional character to move through life at the same pace as the people who relate to her.

Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS) Actress Renee Zellweger, who returns as Bridget Jones in "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy", says that it's an interesting thing for a fictional character to move through life at the same pace as the people who relate to her.

Zellweger, reprising her role as Bridget Jones, shared her experience of returning to the film that reshaped an entire genre, saying, "In the books, on the screen, it feels like you're having a reunion with your friend.

The film follows Bridget Jones on a transformative journey filled with unexpected challenges and deep loss. Four years after her husband's tragic death on a humanitarian mission in Sudan, she navigates the complexities of single motherhood, raising her two children, Billy and Mabel.

Juggling career demands, home life, and romantic possibilities while facing the judgment of seemingly perfect school mothers, Bridget leans on her loyal friends for support. Her world takes an unexpected turn with the reappearance of former flame Daniel Cleaver.

"It's such an interesting thing for a fictional character to move through life at the same pace as the folks who relate to her and love her. People feel that they can see themselves reflected in Bridget's life experiences," she shared.

The actress added: "They want to meet up with her again to see how she's grown and how her life has changedhow she's dealing with her current challenges. This is felt universally by those who have grown up with Bridget."

Universal Pictures (distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery) is all set to release their classic comedy romantic film, "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" directed by Michael Morris, which will hit theaters on Valentine's Day, February 14.

The film features a star-studded cast featuring Leo Woodall, BAFTA Award-winner Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, and two-time Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger.

The first installment of the film was released in 2001 and was directed by Sharon Maguire. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name, which was itself a loose adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Kochi, Jan 31 : In a pre-dawn raid on Friday, the Kerala Police, in coordination with the Anti-Terror Squad, detained 50 individuals, including women, from a labour camp near Kochi as part of an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration and unauthorized employment.

Following thorough verification, authorities confirmed that 27 of those detained were Bangladeshi nationals residing and working in the area illegally.

The remaining individuals were migrant workers from various states across India, who were subsequently released after their identity was verified.

The raid was conducted under aClean Rural,a an initiative by the Kerala Police aimed at addressing unauthorized settlements and potential security concerns linked to undocumented workers.

Officials said that several of the detained Bangladeshi nationals had been engaged in casual labour for nearly a year without valid documentation.

Authorities have stated that all 27 Bangladeshi nationals will be produced before a local court for further legal proceedings.

Law enforcement agencies continue to monitor illegal immigration trends, particularly in Kochi and its surrounding areas, which have seen a substantial rise in the migrant workforce over recent years.

Ernakulam district, a major industrial hub, is home to a large number of plywood factories and construction projects that heavily depend on migrant labourers. However, concerns over unauthorized employment and inadequate documentation have prompted stricter surveillance and enforcement actions by the police.

Officials emphasized that similar inspections will continue to ensure compliance with immigration laws and labour regulations.

Authorities also started an investigation to find out who facilitated their entry and provided fake documents to them.

The public has also been urged to report any information about illegal Bangladeshis residing in Kerala.

Similar raids have been carried out recently in various parts of the country to flush out illegal Bangladeshis residing in the country.
Busan, Jan 31 : South Korean authorities decided to begin a joint investigation of a fire-destroyed Air Busan plane early next week, officials said on Friday, after completing safety checks on the large amount of fuel that still remains in the wings of the plane.

The joint probe into the Air Busan Airbus plane, which is on the tarmac at Gimhae International Airport, will be conducted next Monday, according to officials at the transportation ministry.

The Air Busan plane bound for Hong Kong caught fire at the airport in the southern city of Busan before takeoff. All 176 people on board were safely evacuated using an escape slide, though seven suffered minor injuries.

"It was determined that the probe could be safely carried out without removing the fuel after conducting safety checks on the fuel tank and system," said an official at the ministry's investigation board.

The cause of the blaze was not yet known, though some raised the possibility of the fire having been caused by a portable battery or other items stored in an overhead bin, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on January 30, South Korean authorities retrieved black boxes from an Air Busan passenger plane that caught fire at a South Korean airport, as they sought safety measures in the run-up to launching a probe.

The aviation and railway accident investigation board under the ministry held a meeting with local police, firefighting agencies and the National Forensic Service on Thursday to discuss how to ensure safety in conducting a joint probe, as fuel was stored in the wings of the plane.

They were expected to decide on detailed plans for investigation after visiting the scene to check relevant circumstances and safety measures later in the day.

The incident took place less than a month after a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at Muan International Airport, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
United Nations, Jan 31 : The United Nations is "deeply concerned" by the M23 rebel group advancing towards South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a UN spokesman said.

"We are deeply concerned by the situation in South Kivu particularly, which remains very volatile, with credible reports that the M23 is moving rapidly towards the city of Bukavu," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at a daily briefing. Bukavu is the capital of South Kivu province.

"Our colleagues in the peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) say there are reports of Rwanda defence force cross-border movements in that direction," he said.

MONUSCO withdrew last year from South Kivu under a revised Security Council mandate at the request of the DRC government.

Dujarric said clashes are reported between the rebel M23 and the Congolese armed forces as well as allied forces south of Minova, in South Kivu.

"Our colleagues are also concerned about humanitarian and security risks, particularly inter-ethnic conflict, in the absence of UN peacekeeping forces in that area," he said.

The M23 took control of a significant part of Goma earlier this week, including the airport, which Dujarric said remains non-operational, Xinhua news agency reported.

The spokesman said the situation in Goma remains tense and volatile, with occasional shootings continuing within the city.

"Water and electricity have been off for almost a week and unexploded ordnance remains a serious obstacle to freedom of movement, of people, of humanitarians and peacekeepers," Dujarric said.

"The mission was able to take a few reconnaissance patrols yesterday (Wednesday) within the city to begin the process of assessing damage, and a number of peacekeeping positions were able to be resupplied," he said.

He said the peacekeeping mission operates in a highly challenging environment and is being tested.

"Our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) say that our partners are beginning to move around Goma to assess the damage to their warehouses in the wake of looting," Dujarric said.

"Aid organisations plan to resume provision of humanitarian aid tomorrow (Friday) with the capacity and stocks available -- obviously if the security situation permits this."

He said the Congolese Red Cross, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, continues to remove numerous corpses throughout Goma to mitigate public health issues.

"Our colleagues at the World Health Organisation (WHO) say that hospitals in Goma are not surprisingly saturated with the influx of wounded people," Dujarric said.

"The WHO says the risk of spread of Mpox, cholera and measles has increased due to people leaving healthcare facilities where they had been receiving treatment for those diseases."

Humanitarians also reported that the water supply disruption in Goma over the last six days is compounding the risk of the spread of cholera and other water-borne diseases.

On the political front, the spokesman said the leadership of the UN mission in the DRC is multiplying its engagements, pushing towards a cessation of hostilities.

Bintou Keita, the special representative of the UN secretary-general and head of the peacekeeping mission, met with DRC prime minister, key ministers and the leadership of the Congolese army and police, and agreed to establish a joint government-MONUSCO working group to work on all relevant issues closely.
Mysuru : , Jan 31 (IANS) Congress MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said on Friday that attempts were being made to fix his father in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"The ED wants to create a general opinion that CM Siddaramaiah is an accused in the case," said Yathindra.

Talking to the media in Mysuru, Yathindra said, "The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is deliberately mentioning the name of CM Siddaramaiah in the official communications with ill will. They also very well know that about our 14 sites, there is nothing which is illegal. They also know that the sites were allotted legally. They are pressurized and the Central government is putting constant pressure on them."

"The Karnataka BJP unit and other opposition parties are also exerting pressure to somehow fix CM Siddaramaiah and make him stand as an accused in the case. The ED is carrying what is being told to them," he charged.

Yathindra further attacked, that it is an open secret that no central agency is functioning independently not only in Karnataka but in other states as well. The ED is dancing to the tunes of the BJP. Finally, the triumph will be of truth and justice. CM Siddaramaiah has not made any mistakes and he will come out of the case with a clean image, he said.

"What evidence did they (ED) get against CM Siddaramaiah? Let them show. They are showing the seized properties of others. No property in the name of CM Siddaramaiah or our family members is seized. The name of CM Siddaramaiah is mentioned in the official statements of the ED with ill will to create a general perception and to make CM Siddaramaiah an accused and there is no truth in it," he charged.

He clarified, "The matter of our sites is different. Our land was illegally acquired by the MUDA and 14 parallel sites were allotted. But, otherwise, the scam which had happened in the MUDA is different."

"A few members of MUDA and others have committed a scam by promising 50:50 ratio compensation to the owners of the land who had purchased lands from farmers. That is against the law and measures are being taken to deal with it. There is no connection with the 14 sites allotted to our family with this," he stated.

In a setback to CM Siddaramaiah, the ED provisionally attached 14 immovable properties having an approximate market value of Rs 300 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the MUDA scam on January 17.

CM Siddaramaiah is accused number one in the case and the investigation is also being conducted against others who got the illegal allotments done through the MUDA. His wife B.M. Parvathi is the second accused.

"The role of ex-MUDA commissioner D.B. Natesh has emerged as instrumental in illegal allotment of compensation sites to CM Siddaramaiah's wife B.M. Parvathi," said ED in a statement.

Searches conducted during the investigation further revealed that a large number of sites, other than 14 sites allotted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife B.M. Parvathi, have been illegally allotted by MUDA as compensation to real estate businessmen, who in turn have sold these sites at a huge profit and generated big amount of unaccounted cash, the ED stated.

MLC Yathindra further commenting on the criticism regarding Maha Kumbh Mela, stated, "Who decides what's right and what's wrong? Whoever has faith, will attend the Kumbh Mela and take a dip. Those who do not have faith, they won't go. It can't be said that all should have one belief."

"I believe in god and my father doesn't. Despite this, we live in the same house. I will worship god, but my father doesn't. Hence, believers and non-believers can live together. Nothing can be imposed on everyone," Yathindra opined.

"None of the Congress leaders have criticized the Kumbh Mela. Has any leader stated that people shouldn't go to Kumbh Mela and they should not take a dip? No one has made statements in this regard. Whoever has belief, let them attend Kumbh Mela, those who do not have faith let them not go. Everyone should have the right to live with their faith. Those who dub this comment as useless are really useless," Yathindra stated.

"AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge thinks by taking a dip in the Maha Kumbh Mela, the poverty won't vanish. This is his belief. We have to respect his view. We should also respect the devotional feelings of people who attend the Maha Kumbh Mela. Nothing should be imposed on the people," he pointed out.

"In Hindu religion, there are many belief systems and there is no one belief as such. The Hindu religion also includes atheists. In Hinduism, atheism is also treated as a philosophy. The religion gives such freedom..."

"Even the Haj pilgrimage is criticized. Who says, it won't be spoken about? Atheists are present in all religions and they criticize all religions. Hindu fundamentalists are trying to impose one kind of belief system, they are real terrorists," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : In a shocking study, a team of doctors in the US has found a high concentration of microplastics and nanoplastics in the placentae of infants born prematurely.

Microplastics -- less than 5 millimeters --, and nanoplastics -- measured in billionths of a meter -- are invisible to the naked eye and are widespread throughout our environment.

Previous research has shown that exposure to plastics in general is harmful to both the environment and humans.

The team including from the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, and the University of New Mexico found that the levels of microplastics and nanoplastics were significantly higher in the preterm placenta.

They were also at much greater levels than previously measured in human blood. This showed that plastics were likely accumulating in the placenta during pregnancy, with greater exposure and accumulation occurring in cases of preterm birth.

"The finding of higher placental concentrations among preterm births was surprising because it was counterintuitive to what you might expect if it was merely a byproduct of the length of time of the pregnancy," said lead author Enrico R. Barrozo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

The team said that more than babies born at term, those born prematurely carried more microplastics and nanoplastics in their placenta. "This hints at the possibility that the accumulation of plastics could be contributing to the risk and occurrence of preterm birth," said the team, in the abstract, published in the journal Pregnancy.

The team used highly sensitive mass spectrometry to analyse 175 placentae and compared them with 100 placentae collected at term and 75 collected preterm (less than 37 weeks of pregnancy).

The study adds to the growing body of evidence against microplastics and nanoplastics ranging from heart disease to potential stroke.

It demonstrates a real risk of exposure to plastics on human health and disease, said the team. The study will be presented at the ongoing Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting in Colorado, US.
Mumbai, Jan 31 : Adah Sharma recently attended an event where she was welcomed by 20 foreigner girls. All of them were dressed in sarees, inspired by the actress' look from her highly-acclaimed drama "The Kerala Story".

Sharing a few glimpses from the event on her official IG, Adah Sharma also penned a heartfelt note saying that if she had known that the girls were going to dress up in sarees for the event, she would have worn a saree herself.

The 'Hasee Toh Phasee' actress wrote in the caption, "What a lovely surprise !!! I wasn't told earlier nahi toh main bhi iss event pe Saadi pehen ke jaati! This is the first time these girls were wore a saree because Kerala Story ki heroine was coming for the event...Don't they look stunnninggggly sundar !!!! They showed me the Adah Sharma saree reference pictures they got. Swipe to see."

She further added, "P.S. Agar there is non teekha Rasam without onion, I find myself wholeheartedly inclined to partake in no less than three generous servings, lest my soul be left unsatisfied Pic 3 featuring Russel my crow."

Moving on, Adah Sharma will next be seen in the second season of her popular series, "Reeta Sanyal". Loved by cinephiles, the original drama turned out to be one of the most-watched OTT shows of 2024.

In addition to this, Adah Sharma has also been roped in for Mahesh Bhatt's "Tumko meri Kasam". The actress will be seen streamlining the film, however, details regarding her character have been kept under wraps for now. Touted to be a period drama set in the 1970s, the project will reportedly tell the tale of Dr. Ajay Murdi, the founder of the renowned fertility clinic chain, Indira IVF. Aside from Adah Sharma, "Tumko meri Kasam" will also see Anupam Kher, Esha Deol, and Ishwak Singh in pivotal roles.

Additionally, the diva also has an international action movie in her kitty.
Seoul, Jan 31 : The South Korean Cabinet on Friday demanded the National Assembly reconsider an Opposition-proposed bill that calls for a special counsel probe into President Yoon Suk Yeol on his failed martial law attempt last month.

The motion demanding reconsideration was approved during a Cabinet meeting, chaired by acting President Choi Sang-mok, who emphasised that there is no probable cause for appointing a special counsel, as Yoon has already been arrested and indicted on insurrection charges.

"At this point, as judicial proceedings are still ongoing, many have pointed out that it is difficult to justify the need for a separate special counsel," Choi said.

Choi also pointed out that the bill contains elements that may be unconstitutional and raise concerns over the potential disclosure of state secrets.

The revised bill, proposed by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was passed by the opposition-controlled parliament on January 17, despite unanimous opposition from lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party. The opposition bloc currently dominates the 300-member parliament with 192 seats.

It marks the seventh time that the acting president has exercised his veto power since assuming interim leadership last month, Yonhap news agency reported.

Typically, motions like these are approved during Cabinet meetings chaired by the prime minister and sent to the president for endorsement before being returned to the National Assembly for a revote.

The latest bill omits allegations that Yoon has committed 'treason' by attempting to provoke a deliberate conflict with North Korea, which were previously part of a bill rejected by Choi last month.

The ruling party had criticised the DP-proposed bill as being "overly broad" and said it would propose its own version that does not include insurrection charges against Yoon.

On Sunday, prosecutors indicted and detained Yoon on charges of leading an insurrection after receiving the case from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which does not have a legal mandate to indict a president.

Yoon is charged with conspiring with former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and others to incite an insurrection by declaring an unconstitutional and illegal state of emergency, despite the absence of any signs of war, armed conflict or a comparable national crisis.

Yoon, who is also facing an impeachment trial, has become the first sitting president in South Korea's history to be indicted while in detention.
Bhubaneswar, Jan 31 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for the successful organisation of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at Bhubaneswar in Odisha from January 8-10.

In a letter to CM Majhi, EAM Jaishankar expressed his appreciation for the Odisha government for successfully hosting the grand event. "I write to you to convey my sincere appreciation to the State Government of Odisha for the successful organisation of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at Bhubaneswar in Odisha from January 8-10, 2025," said Jaishankar.

The EAM also praised the efforts of the state government for the meticulous planning and execution ensuring the successful organisation of the grand event. "The meticulous planning as well as the impeccable execution of all details pertaining to organisation of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas by the State Government of Odisha was indeed commendable and praiseworthy," added the EAM.

He also informed in his letter that the India diaspora members who attended the PBD 2025 at Bhubaneswar admired the state government for the hospitality offered during the three-day programme.

"The Indian Diaspora members who participated in the 18th PBD 2025 gave a very positive feedback of the hospitality extended by the State Government of Odisha as also the care and assistance extended to them during their stay in the State," said EAM Jaishankar.

The EAM expressed gratitude to CM Majhi and other stakeholders involved in the successful hosting of the PBD 2025. "I, therefore, take this opportunity to express my gratitude to you and your colleagues for making the just concluded 18th PBD in Odisha a resounding success. My Ministry looks forward to partnering with Odisha for organising similar events in the future," Jaishankar further added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the three-day event at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar on January 9. He also remotely flagged off the inaugural journey of the Pravasi Bharatiya Express, a special state-of-the-art Tourist Train exclusively designed for the Indian Diaspora. The 18th PBD celebrations were marked by a grand display of Odisha's rich art, culture, and heritage.

The 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, 2025 in Bhubaneshwar was the first PBD to be held in Eastern India. This approach was in line with the Government of India's focus on 'Purvodaya'.

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said that Odisha has had historical maritime connections with South East Asia and these ties are being renewed and rekindled in contemporary times. As such, PBD 2025 in Odisha while deepening India's connect with the diaspora also strengthens its 'Act East Policy'. A large gathering of delegates from over 75 countries participated in PBD 2025.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : The political debate surrounding AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal's claim about the Yamuna river being poisoned, continues to stir controversy in the run up to the Delhi Assembly elections. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has weighed in, stressing that cleaning the sacred Yamuna River should not be reduced to a political game.

Speaking to IANS, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "It's disgraceful how politics has sunk to such depths. We witnessed this in Maharashtra, and now we're seeing the same with the Yamuna in Delhi. The river also flows through Uttar Pradesh, where there are serious concerns about its cleanliness."

Reflecting on her recent visit to Mathura, Chaturvedi added, "When I went to Mathura, the locals themselves said how dirty the Yamuna has become. The river holds deep spiritual significance for us, yet it remains neglected. The BJP government, which had promised to clean it, hasn't delivered. The Mathura MP is also from the BJP. To politicise the cleanup of Yamuna is cheap, and it's the BJP that has initiated this. It would've been better if the Election Commission of India (ECI) had demanded answers from the Uttar Pradesh government too."

She concluded, "Cleaning the Yamuna is not just a government responsibility but a collective one, tied to our faith. There should be no politics over it  just action."

Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the Haryana government was intentionally poisoning the river by increasing ammonia levels.

After his complaint to the ECI, the poll panel has sought a clarification from him. The Commission had asked for evidence to back up his statement, but the response was deemed unclear.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, the battle for Delhi is intensifying, with the AAP, BJP, and Congress pulling out all stops to win over voters ahead of the February 5 polls. While the outcome of this high-stakes contest won't be known until February 8, all three parties have unveiled their manifestos, detailing their promises in exchange for control of the national Capital.
Jammu, Jan 31 : The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Bar Council of India (BCI) and others on a plea seeking the establishment of a bar council in Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta took note of the submissions made by Advocate Javid Shah, who appeared for the Kashmir Advocates Association, and issued a notice to the Centre, the BCI and the Registrar General of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

A state bar council is a statutory body that regulates the enrolment of law graduates as lawyers and the practice of law in a state. Currently, there is no bar council in J&K and lawyers take membership in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association.

The senior lawyer, assisted by advocate Adil Muneer Andrabi, stressed the need for a bar council in Jammu and Kashmir and sought an interim relief underlining the necessity of government-issued welfare stamps used on pleadings, typically published at the request of a bar council.

He pointed out that in the absence of a bar council, the high court was performing the relevant functions.

He further argued that he is pressing for an interim relief. "Your lordships are aware of the welfare tickets. The welfare tickets are to be published by the government at the request of the bar council. The functions of the bar council are right now being performed by the high court. So, small indulgence. The Registrar may ask the government to print it"

However, before he could complete it, Justice Nath interjected and stated that the Court couldn't grant an interim order. "Whatever system is there so far will continueIs the High Court a party? Let the notice go and let them come," the court said.

The bench posted the case for the next hearing after four weeks.
Seoul, Jan 31 : South Korean Constitutional Court has approved the spy agency chief and top security adviser as witnesses to testify at the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a court official said on Friday.

National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Cho Tae-yong and National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik will be required to appear at the trial on February 13 and 11, respectively, court spokesperson Cheon Jae-hyun said in a media briefing.

Cho and Shin are the two top officials who have been added to the witnesses' list for the high-stakes trial that will ultimately determine whether to remove Yoon from office or reinstate him over his botched attempt at imposing martial law on December 3.

The court also approved former Third Deputy NIS Director Baek Jong-wook and Kim Yong-bin, secretary-general of the National Election Commission, as witnesses, Cheon said. Baek and Kim are suspected of involvement in the alleged "election fraud" Yoon has cited as a reason for his martial law decree, Yonhap news agency reported.

Former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min is also among the witnesses approved by the court for the trial.

Since the impeachment trial began on December 27, the court has held six hearings, including the two preparatory hearings. Yoon has attended the last two main trial sessions. The next hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Yoon met his senior aides at the Seoul Detention Centre and urged them to carry on their work without being discouraged.

Yoon made the call during his meeting with Chung Jin-suk, his Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik and three other senior aides at the centre in Uiwang, south of Seoul.

It marked the first visit by Yoon's aides since the impeached President was formally detained on January 19 over allegations of insurrection and abuse of power related to his short-lived imposition of martial law last month.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Lifestyle choices and workplace culture are critical for the mental well-being and thus, the productivity of the people in India, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25 on Friday.

Tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Survey noted that mental well-being encompasses all our mental-emotional, social, cognitive, and physical capabilities -- construed as the mind's composite health.

It noted that beyond being an economic issue, mental well-being is the ability to navigate lifeas challenges and function productively.

"Data suggests that mental well-being is not static; indeed, there is a myriad of factors, including workplace culture, hours spent working, and lifestyle, that influence mental well-being," the Survey said.

It highlights how lifestyle, work culture, family bonds, eating habits, etc., are affecting the mental health of citizens in the country.

It also laid emphasis on the impact of screen time and ultra-processed foods on mental health.

"While promoting a better workplace culture will lead to better mental well-being, lifestyle choices, and family situations also play a significant role. Results of the survey show that individuals who rarely consume ultra-processed or packaged junk food have better mental well-being than those who regularly do," the Survey said.

Similarly, people who rarely exercise, spend their free time on social media or are not close to their families have worse mental well-being.

"Lifestyle choices and workplace culture are critical for mental well-being and, hence, productivity. If Indiaas economic ambitions are to be met, then immediate attention must be given to lifestyle choices that are often made during childhood/ youth," it said.

The Survey also showed how "hostile work cultures and excessive hours spent working at the desk can adversely affect mental well-being". This, it noted, will "ultimately put the brakes on the pace of economic growth" in the country.
Kolkata, Jan 31 : West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose might take up the complaints of the parents of the victim in the R.G. Kar rape and murder case regarding the entire line of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

A statement issued from the office of the Governor on Friday hinted at this.

The statement comes a day after the victim's parents, on Thursday evening, went to Raj Bhavan in Kolkata and had a long meeting with the Governor.

"The parents expressed their plight and requested justice. They requested the Hon'ble Governor to present their petition to the Hon'ble President and Hon'ble Union Home Minister, to whom they have already submitted their petition. The Hon'ble Governor assured to take necessary action," read the statement issued from the Governor's office in the morning.

As per the statement, the Governor also assured the victim's parents that they were not alone in this grief and that justice in the matter would be done.

The indication from the office of the Governor comes just a day after the state president of BJP in West Bengal and the Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar, on Thursday, gave a somewhat similar assurance on the matter.

Majumdar, on Thursday afternoon, went to the residence of the victim's parents and had a long meeting with them.

During the meeting, the victim's parents claimed to have explained to Majumdar why they were unhappy with the entire investigation by the CBI. They also explained why they are against the death penalty for the sole convict in the case, Sanjay Roy.

The victim's parents reportedly highlighted the observations made by a special court in Kolkata on the lapses in investigation by the central agency.

Confirming this, Majumdar told media persons that the victim's parents had pointed out certain observations by the special court.

Majumdar also said the victim's parents had complaints against one particular investigating officer.

"They have updated me on the matter and I assured them of communicating their grievances to the appropriate authorities," Majumdar said.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : The Delhi Congress on Friday accused former Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal of stopping midway the work on building master drains along the Yamuna to divert untreated sewage of the city towards treatment plants in Vrindavan.

Reiterating the Congress' guarantee of providing clean air and non-polluted Yamuna, former Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat called it "criminal negligence" on the part of the Kejriwal government and launched a blistering attack on the AAP leader for blaming others for pollution in the river.

He described both the Kejriwal government and the Central government as the "culprits" responsible for the poor state of the Yamuna in which untreated waste from 19 drains is falling, taking its pollution to 30 times more than the permissible limit.

"When I was the Union Water Resources Minister, it was decided that a master drains would be built along both banks of the Yamuna inside Delhi  over 22 km-long territory of the city. Around 27 drains of Delhi were to be diverted into the master drain," he said, adding that he had personally coordinated the efforts for land acquisition.

Five-time MP Rawat said the master drain carrying untreated waste was to be linked to treatment plants so that clean water from these plants could be merged into the main stream near Vrindavan.

"We had started the master drain work from Najafgarh, but after the Congress it was not taken forward. This is a huge negligence," he said, blaming both the AAP government and the Centre for the alleged laxity.

He slammed the nonchalant behaviour of the AAP government for the rise in ammonia level in the Yamuna to 7 ppm. "Almost 80 per cent of the Yamuna' pollution is contributed by Delhi along the river's 22-km stretch in the city," he said.

The former Uttarakhand Chief Minister also cited a report of the Forest Research of Institute, Dehradun, pointing to a reduction in Delhi city's green cover by 3.5 per cent.

Rawat also promised that the new Congress will tackle the problem of rising garbage mountains in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Indian Youth Congress staged a protest outside the residence of AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of Yamuna pollution.

Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib said, "I want to ask Kejriwal, who are you trying to buy with Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500? Delhi is the only state in India where schools are forced to close due to pollution..."
Mumbai, Jan 31 : The Red Lorry Film Festival is set to showcase some of the most groundbreaking films, with a special spotlight on MUBI's remarkable selections, including the Academy Award nominees "Emilia Perez" and "The Girl" with the Needle, along with the Golden Globe-nominated "Queer."

The festival, curated by BookMyShow, will be held in Mumbai and Hyderabad from March 21 to 23. "Emilia Perez" has already made waves with 13 nominations at the 2025 Academy Awards, while "The Girl with the Needle" is in the running for Best Feature. Additionally, "Queer" has earned a prestigious Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture  Drama. These powerful films will take center stage at the festival, highlighting extraordinary performances and storytelling.

Among the standout selections is another thought-provoking title - Luca Guadagnino's 'Queer', a historical romance drama set in 1940s Mexico City, starring Daniel Craig, nominated for Golden Globe's Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture  Drama. Known for his evocative storytelling in 'Call Me by Your Name' and 'Challengers', Guadagnino brings his signature intensity and artistry to this adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel. Praised for its raw emotional depth and fearless narrative, 'Queer' promises to be an unforgettable exploration of love, desire and self-destruction.

Ashish Saksena, COOCinemas, BookMyShow, said, "We are always looking to bring the best of global cinema to Indian audiences and our collaboration with MUBI to screen critically acclaimed titles like 'Emilia Perez', 'The Girl with the Needle' and 'Queer' is a testament to that vision. This showcase celebrates bold storytelling, artistic excellence and diverse narratives that push the boundaries of cinema. We are excited to offer cinephiles a chance to experience these powerful films on the big screen."

This year's panel will be led by filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, with celebrated director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari also joining the esteemed group. They will be accompanied by writer-director Atul Sabharwal, famed for his work on "Berlin," "Aurangzeb," "Class of 83," and the screenplay for "Jubilee."
Chennai, Jan 31 : Stating that the music of popular music director Devi Sri Prasad was being enjoyed by people everywhere, actor Karthi recently recalled an incident when he got to listen to 'Oo Antava', the ace music director's hit number from the blockbuster Pushpa, at a club in Turkey! Chennai, Jan 31 (IANS) Stating that the music of popular music director Devi Sri Prasad was being enjoyed by people everywhere, actor Karthi recently recalled an incident when he got to listen to 'Oo Antava', the ace music director's hit number from the blockbuster Pushpa, at a club in Turkey!

Chennai, Jan 31 (IANS) Stating that the music of popular music director Devi Sri Prasad was being enjoyed by people everywhere, actor Karthi recently recalled an incident when he got to listen to 'Oo Antava', the ace music director's hit number from the blockbuster Pushpa, at a club in Turkey!

Karthi, who participated as a special guest in an event organized to launch the Tamil trailer of the Telugu film Thandel, said, "Devi Sri Prasad's songs are echoing everywhere. Recently, I had gone to Turkey. It was around midnight when I started hearing a song at a distance. It sounded very faint. I immediately felt like I had heard it before as it felt like an Indian song. My wife also kept walking with me, saying, 'Yes, it is a song we have listened to often.' "

Stating that he was then able to recognize the song, Karthi said, "It was then that we realised that it sounded similar to 'Oo Antava Mama' from Pushpa." The actor, then, playfully said with a laugh, "For a moment, I thought Devi Sri Prasad had made 'Oo Antava' by copying a Turkish song!"

Karthi said, "However, when I went inside the club, I realised it was not a song like 'Oo Antava' but 'Oo Antava' itself. A club in Turkey has remixed Devi Sri Prasad's 'Oo Antava' song and is playing it there. What more fame can one ask for?"

Saying that Devi Sri Prasad had been giving good music consistently for many years, Karthi said DSP was a really hard worker, who constantly kept working.

"No matter when you go, he will be there in his studio. He will always speak about music. He will say, 'When I go to Andhra, they call me a Tamil boy. When I am here, you call me a Telugu boy.' The fact is you belong to everyone," Karthi said.

Devi Sri Prasad has scored the music for director Chandoo Mondeti's Thandel, featuring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi in the lead.

Produced by Bunny Vasu under the prestigious Geetha Arts banner, Thandel has producer Allu Aravind presenting it. Choreography for the film is by Shekar Master.

The movie boasts a talented crew, with Shamdat handling the cinematography, National Award-winning Naveen Nooli as the editor, and Srinagendra Tangala leading the art department.

Thandel, which has been co-directed by Ram Naresh Nunna, is set to hit screens on February 7 this year. The film's story is inspired by a real-life incident in which 22 fishermen from a village in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh accidentally drifted into Pakistani waters and were taken prisoner.

--IANS

Mkr/
Sydney, Jan 31 : Australian authorities have issued a major flood warning for the country's northeast.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Friday issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall for communities along a 400-kilometre stretch of coast in far north Queensland state.

Residents in the area were told to prepare for up to half a metre of rainfall and for the possibility of flooding.

"Intensely heavy rainfall and significant, potentially life-threatening flash flooding are expected to develop," Miriam Bradbury from the BoM said.

"These areas have already seen a huge amount of rain so far this week, and additional rainfall is likely to lead to further flash flooding."

The area between Cairns and Townsville, the two biggest cities in far north Queensland, is expected to receive between 300 and 500 millimetres of rainfall between Friday night and Sunday.

Queensland's State Disaster Coordinator Shane Chelepy said at a press conference that flood preparations were underway.

He urged residents in the affected area to put a disaster plan in place, ensure they are stocked up on food and fuel and that their electronic devices are charged, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The most important thing they can do is stay connected with our messaging," he said.

The area controller for the State Emergency Service, Chris Watts, said that emergency crews prepared flood boats and storm damage equipment.

He said that residents in flood zones should be prepared to evacuate.

According to the BoM, parts of Queensland's north tropical coast received up to 800 millimeters of rain in the past week.

The heavy rainfall was being driven by three tropical low systems that formed off the coast of Queensland.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 : Former Home Minister and veteran Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Friday wrote to Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar asking him not to commute the sentence of a murder convict.

The convict, Sherin, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her father-in-law in 2009 and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but early this week, the Pinarayi Vijayan government based on the recommendation of the Jail Advisory Committee and the Law Department asked the Governor to use his powers to grant her remission.

Chennithala in his letter cautioned the Governor that granting remission to Sherin would set a dangerous precedent encouraging the government to make similar decisions in the future and would see the premature release of other hardcore criminals.

"This would be a travesty of justice, leading to lawlessness and anarchy in the state, moreover such a decision would severely undermine public trust in the judiciary and the legal system," the Congress leader stated.

Chennithala also pointed out that due to the high political influence of Sherin she has managed to get parole on numerous occasions and a mere comparison of the number of days she spent in jail and out of jail shows the convict was out of prison for the majority of the period.

What has raised eyebrows is when the news that the Vijayan government has written to Arelkar to grant remission to Sherin, it became the talking point with several people including the family of the deceased strongly opposing this act of the Vijayan government.

The convict, Sherin, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her father-in-law in 2009. Sherin, the main accused, along with two others have been serving life imprisonment in the Karanavar murder case since 2010.

Reportedly, a top political leader and a member of the Vijayan cabinet is seen behind the fast-tracking of the application of Sherin's commuting sentence.

Meanwhile, according to the rules for remission, the prisoner should show exemplary character as a prisoner, in special circumstances, or under certain legal provisions. However, Sherin's behaviour in prison has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. She was also moved from one prison to the other in the state.

Moreover, there are other prisoners who have served more than 20 years, but only Sherin has been considered for parole.

Sheirn's father-in-law, Bhaskara Karanavar, (65) had returned from the US and was staying with his son and his wife Sherin at Chengannur in Alappuzha district.

In November 2009, he was found murdered at his residence and following a probe the police tracked down Sherin and her lover as the prime accused. Despite her pleas against the verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's verdict and she was given life imprisonment along with her lover.
Mumbai, Jan 31 : Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, who will be next seen in the upcoming movie 'Housefull 5', has spoken about his experience of working with master storyteller and National Award-winning filmmaker Mani Ratnam.

Recently, a retrospective of Mani Ratnam was held in Mumbai in which 'Raavan' was also screened. Abhishek spoke during the panel discussion about the working style of the director.

He shared that the director pushes an actor to their limits to churn out of performances that leave an indelible mark on the audience. Abhishek has worked with Mani Ratnam twice, in 'Yuva' and in 'Raavan'.

Talking about the same, Abhishek Bachchan said, "There were two key things he would always tell me. One was to be a bit more free. He felt I was holding back when we were working on Yuva. In Raavan, he used to say, 'Let it out,' and that gave me confidence. He puts you in the most difficult situations and directs you in a way that makes it feel real. To sell a performance to the audience, it has to be believable, and for it to be believable, it has to be real".

He further mentioned, "The fact that he keeps everything rooted in reality is what makes his work so powerful. If Mr. Mani Ratnam chooses you, it means he sees something in you that even you might not see. He instils that confidence in you as an actor".

Earlier, the actor Abhishek Bachchan, who was recently seen in 'I Want to Talk', had shared that there were no prosthetics involved, and he actually gained weight for the film. The actor opened up about the transformative experience of playing a character with a significantly different physical appearance at the film's music launch.

Pointing to a movie poster featuring himself with a noticeable belly, Abhishek said, "I'm not in this shape anymore. But it's been a learning experience. It's been life-changing. And I hope that we've managed to make a bit of a difference to your two, three hours that you spend in the cinema or watching the film".
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR has signed an agreement with Union Energy to acquire a 10% effective ownership stake in Israels Tamar gas field, Trend reports via SOCAR.

"In line with its development strategy, SOCAR continues its efforts to expand its production base beyond Azerbaijan. In this context, on January 31, 2025, the company signed an agreement with Union Energy to acquire a 10% stake in the Tamar project, one of the largest and most significant gas fields in Israel's Mediterranean basin," the company stated.

SOCAR noted that the agreement will come into effect upon fulfillment of certain conditions, including obtaining the necessary regulatory and other approvals.

"SOCAR is launching investment projects in the upstream sector within the Mediterranean basin. The company will continue its efforts to acquire stakes in strategic assets abroad," the company said.

Tamar gas field was discovered in January 2009. At the end of March 2013, natural gas started to flow from the Tamar Reservoir.

It is located some 90 km west of Haifa, at an overall depth of about 5,000 meters below sea level, and in waters that are about 1,700 meters deep. The field covers an area of 100 square kilometers, with the thickness of the reservoir layers reaching up to 300 meters. The natural gas in Tamar is extracted through six production wells, built in such a way as to enable the production of 1.1 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas per day.

The estimated reserves of natural gas in the reservoir are around 389 billion cubic meters.
Kolkata, Jan 31 : The Bengaluru Police on Friday arrested two persons including a Trinamool Congress leader in Nadia district of West Bengal in connection with an online forgery rackets involving crores of rupees.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Pinku Mondal, a former Trinamool Congress village panchayat representative and his close associate Kamaluddin Hasan.

Both have been taken on transit remand back to Karnataka. Both were arrested following a joint operation by the sleuths of Bengaluru Police and Nadia district police.

An official of the district police said that a number of incriminating documents including multiple ATM cards, bank passbooks and mobile phones were seized from their procession.

Trinamool Congress' district leadership has clearly said that the party will not take responsibility for the personal misdeeds by Mondal.

"If the accused is guilty, he will be punished as per the legal provisions. However, the party will not take any responsibility for anyone's personal misdeeds," said Trinamool Congress' organisation district president and party legislator Rukbanur Rahman.

It is learnt that the Bengaluru Police started an investigation in the matter in December last year, following a complaint received at their cyber-crime division of an online forgery involving little less that Rs 5 crore.

Investigation revealed that Nadia district mainly and adjacently Murshidabad district party were bases of this forgery racket. However, district police said that they suspect that Mondal and Hasan are merely cogs in the wheel and someone more influential is the main brain behind the racket.

Recent findings both by state and central agencies specialising in combating economic offenses have revealed that West Bengal, especially in and around the state capital of Kolkata, is often becoming the choicest hub for setting up operational bases for inter-state online forgery rackets where the targets are even foreign residents.

Last week, the officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) busted such a racket in West Bengal by conducting parallel raid and search operations at 10 such operational bases of the rackets mainly operating from in and around Kolkata.

The racket was involved in defrauding overseas citizens under the pretext of providing them with software-related services through fake call centres and thereafter diverting the proceedings collected abroad in the form of cryptocurrencies.
Bhubaneswar, Jan 31 : The Bhubaneswar Police on Friday arrested eight Congress workers including the president of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) of Odisha unit on the charges of attacking and issuing threats to police officials while holding a protest against Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat here on January 30.

The accused workers of NSUI, the student wing of the Indian National Congress (INC), were identified as Udit Pradhan (27), president of NSUI, Odisha , Hemanta Pradhan, Aditya Ansaman Patra, Sahil Mohanty, Chandan Sahoo, Sidhanta Om Prakash, Tapas Dey, and Auro Kumar Nayak.

On Thursday, the city police had put in place heavy security arrangements in view of the visit of the RSS Sarasanghachalak Bhagwat from Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti at Mancheswar to Jaydev Bhawan in Unit-IV to attend a programme.

"Mohan Bhagwat, a Z+ category security protectee, was under high-security cover. At around 6.05 p.m., more than 20 NSUI members, led by Udit Pradhan unlawfully assembled near Blue Wheel Hospital Chowk, carrying placards and black flags, and started shouting slogans such as 'Mohan Bhagwat, Go Back' when Bhagwat's carcade was passing by the Chowk," said a senior police officer.

The police sources further claimed that the staff of Mancheswar Police station deployed at the Chowk intervened and urged congress workers to disperse to maintain security.

However, the NSUI workers did not give any heed to the cops and tried to breach the police cordon to allegedly detain and harm the RSS chief.

The protesters reportedly turned violent, used obscene language, issued threats, and attacked police personnel when the latter tried to disperse the NSUI members.

"With great difficulty, the police detained Udit Pradhan and seven others and seized a black Scorpio (Regd. No: OD-02-DB-1110) used by them, while the remaining members fled the scene," a police source said.

The arrested NSUI members have reportedly applied criminal force against police officials in order to escape from the police custody.

The Mancheswar Police arrested the eight NSUI members by registering a case (41/25) under sections (2) and (3) of 191 (rioting), 132, 121(1), 296, 351(3), ad 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The police personnel have also seized a Bolero vehicle used by the accused NSUI members.

The NSUI members were on Friday presented before the court that sent them to 14 days' judicial custody.

Notably, the Congress party is protesting against Bhagwat for his remarks suggesting that India's "true independence" was achieved with the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Mumbai, Jan 31 : Actress Barkha Singh is ready to entertain the movie buffs yet again. Recently, Amazon MX player announced their 100 upcoming releases for 2025, including Barkha Singh's series, "Lafangey".

Gracing the Amazon MX Player's first StreamNext event, Barkha Singh looked stunning in a pink-purple tube midi maxi dress, paired with a thigh-high slit. Her outfit of the day was accessorized with long earrings and black stilettos. As for hair, she left those wavy tresses flowing freely.

Financed by Yellow Montage, the series has been helmed by Prem Mistry. Penned by Abhishek Yadav, "Lafangey" cast includes Anud Singh Dhaka, Gagan Arora, Harsh Beniwal, Barkha Singh, and Saloni Gaur.

Sharing the captivating teaser of "Lafangey" on her official Instagram handle, Barkha Singh wrote as the caption, "OUR NEXT : LAFANGEY sapne a dostia duniya...Yeh hai Lafango ki duniya, and weare just living in it #Lafangey, coming soon on Amazon MX Player."

The show talks about three childhood friends Chaitanya, Rohan, and Kamlesh. It follows their personal growth as they embark on their individual journeys, facing the harsh realities of society.

Meanwhile, Amazon MX Player recently unveiled an exciting lineup of more than 100 new shows set to launch in 2025. The list also includes the upcoming seasons of beloved shows like "Aashram", "Hunter", "Jamnapaar", "Half CA", "Hip Hop India, Sixer", "Whoas your Gynac" and "Playground", among others.

The streaming giant teased its 2025 lineup with an exciting video, giving a sneak peek into its upcoming shows. Sharing the video on social media, they wrote, aYeh 100+ new shows dekhne ke paise nahi lagenge! Thriller, action ya comedy, genre jo bhi ho, watch free only on Amazon MX Player."

Circling back to Barkha Singh, she recently garnered a lot of praise for her major cameo in Vikrant Massey's "The Sabarmati Report".

Meanwhile, Barkha Singhas notable work includes "Engineering Girls," "Maja Ma", ''Please Find Attached'', and "Masaba Masaba 2," to name just a few.
New Delhi, Jan 31 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Dwarka, Delhi, on Friday. Many supporters, including Dridhpal Tomar, shared their thoughts with IANS.

Tomar stated that just as PM Modi's vision has led to the country's development, Delhi is also set for growth.

He expressed confidence that the BJP would form the government in Delhi this time. He emphasised that under BJP rule, the poor and youth would get employment, and the city would become beautiful.

Tomar pointed out that the Yamuna river has become extremely polluted and only under the BJP government can it be cleaned.

He assured that if the BJP gets five years, Delhi can improve. He also stressed that people trust 'Modi's guarantee', citing the PMas achievements like providing toilets, drinking water, and electricity to every home across the country. Tomar believes Delhi is heading for change under Modias leadership.

S.V. Singh, another supporter of PM Modi, remarked that the Prime Minister has brought development to the country and that the entire world is following his footsteps.

He criticised former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for making false promises and claimed that Kejriwal has ruined the city. Singh asserted that only the BJP could develop Delhi.

Sanjeev, during his conversation with IANS, said that in 10 years, the AAP government has destroyed Delhi.

He added that the cityas condition has worsened, and the people want change. He also expressed his desire for a change with a poetic line: "Bikhri Jhadoo, Khila Kamal, Dilli Boli Ki Tu Chal Nikal". He also noted that wherever there has been a double-engine government, development has occurred.

Gayatri, who attended the rally to listen to PM Modi, said that the Prime Minister has done a lot for the countryas development and wants to lead India forward. She expressed hope that the BJP would form the government in Delhi and promised to support the party.

Another woman, Rajwanti, praised PM Modi for wanting India to prosper and for raising the country to new heights. She regarded him as a divine figure and offered her deepest respect.

Alok Kumar, one more supporter, expressed confidence that the BJP would win in Delhi.

Taj Chand remarked that PM Modi is the only leader who fulfills his promises and guarantees, calling him the best Prime Minister India has ever had.

Other supporters also spoke about PM Modias call for a double-engine government, which, they believe, will ensure clean drinking water, expose corruption, and hold those responsible for Delhias woes accountable.

They expressed their belief that the BJP would win and form the government in Delhi.

BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat commented on PM Modi's rally in Dwarka, noting that the Prime Minister outlined the roadmap for BJP's vision for Delhi.

She pointed out that the AAP leaders had failed to deliver on their promises over the past 10 years and that now they were offering 15 guarantees, similar to those made in 2015 and 2020.

Sehrawat emphasised that PM Modi's promises are time-bound, and he has assured Delhiites that the capital will be looked after as the nation's pride.

"PM Modi said that Delhi, as the capital of the country, would receive special attention under his leadership, with the goal of making it the best city in the world. He appealed to Delhiites to vote for the BJP to transform Delhi into a globally renowned city," she said.

Regarding Congress President Sonia Gandhi's comments on the President's speech, the BJP MP raised questions about her, accusing her of being anti-women, anti-Scheduled Tribes, and opposed to the country's development.
Jammu, Jan 31 : J&K Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha on Friday inaugurated the 32nd International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC), at AIIMS Jammu.

More than 800 national and international delegates will join deliberations to foster advancements and innovations in palliative care for quality of life for patients diagnosed with terminal illness.

The three-day conference is being organised by IAPC J&K Chapter and AIIMS, Jammu.

The Lt Governor exhorted experts to keep Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) up to date and be more sensitive towards the needs of individuals diagnosed with life-threatening disease, well-being of families, alleviate pain and suffering and provide spiritual support.

The L-G asked the private sector to work with the administration to set up Palliative care centres in backward and remote areas.

aIn J&K, the administration in 2022 had set up 10-bed state-of-the-art Palliative and Geriatric Care Wards in all the districts. We have tried to bridge urban-rural divide to certain extent. Our aim is to deliver medical and psychological support at people's doorstep," he said.

The Lt Governor emphasised that all the experts and the Indian Association of Palliative Care should work together to promote multi-sectoral partnerships so that a human resource pool of trained care-givers is made available.

aIn Palliative care, health ecosystem and healthcare professionals have a moral responsibility to reduce the pain and suffering of patients. Apart from adopting innovative approach to pain management, health care professionals at all levels should be given training for continuity in the care of such patients," the Lt Governor said.

He made valuable suggestions for seamless integration of curative care and Palliative care in health ecosystem. He suggested that uniform SoPs may be prepared for community awareness, palliative support and pain management at the district level.

aPalliative Care system is constantly evolving and we need to work on strategic framework, SoPs and its effective implementation," he said.

The Lt Governor also highlighted the need to bridge the gap in healthcare facilities and special services for the ageing population.

aBy 2050, 20.8 per cent of India's total population will be above 60 years of age. This increase in the elderly population requires us to develop a strong care economy to ensure that our elders can live healthy, dignified and fulfilling lives," he said.

He also suggested developing a comprehensive healthcare package which includes regular check-ups, geriatric care, mental health support and palliative care.

On the occasion, the Lt Governor inaugurated Radiotherapy Oncology and Operation Theatre Complex at AIIMS Jammu.

He launched AIIMS Pain Policy and lauded the AIIMS Jammu's vision of pain-free patient care.

He also commended the Indian Association of Palliative Care for playing a significant role in the expansion of specialized care based on the principles of palliative care.

The Lt Governor inspected various blocks at AIIMS, Jammu and interacted with the medical staff.

Standard Operating Procedures of Department of Anaesthesiology and the Patient Information Booklet of Chemotherapy were also launched.

The establishment of Radiotherapy Oncology facility at AIIMS Jammu will reduce the need for patients to travel long distances for radiation therapy, ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment within the region.

The service will cater to increasing number of cancer patients, offering advanced radiotherapy techniques, personalized treatment plans and multidisciplinary care.

The Hospital-Based Cancer Registry, under ICMR's National Cancer Data Project has also been commenced which will further aid in shaping effective cancer care operations and strategies.
Prayagraj, Feb 1 : The fourth Snan Parv of the Mahakumbh has brought a massive crowd of devotees to the Sangam ghats. There is a frenzy among people to take selfies and photos with cutouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The cutouts are placed outside the media centre, where people gather in large numbers to capture pictures and take selfies.

Dr. Shailesh Thakkar, a devotee from Kutch, Gujarat, spoke to IANS and praised the arrangements, saying that this year's Kumbh is truly remarkable.

"The arrangements are excellent. We can see Digital India here. The Internet services and food arrangements are also great. The arrangements at the Maha Kumbh are incredible, and I thank PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath for this."

Dr. Chandrakant Thakkar, also from Kutch, Gujarat, said: "The arrangements here are extraordinary. I visited the Kumbh in 2019 as well, and compared to that, the crowd is much larger, and the arrangements are much better. We had seen on TV that there were issues with traffic and huge crowds, but there are no problems here.

"We arrived by flight, and the facilities at the airport are also good. The digital planning is excellent. The selfie points are great, and people are enjoying taking selfies. This is a religious city, and everyone should come here. I thank PM Modi and CM Yogi for this."

Umesh, a resident of Nagpur, shared his experience after taking a selfie with the cutouts of PM Modi and CM Yogi.

"The sight of the Mahakumbh is beautiful. This has been made possible because of PM Modi and CM Yogi. The crowd is less right now, and I appeal to people to definitely visit the Mahakumbh."

Satyendra Gupta said: "The 2025 Mahakumbh is happening after 144 years. We are very fortunate to be part of it. The organisation of this Kumbh by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unprecedented. We have visited Kumbh before, but the arrangements we are witnessing under CM Yogi's rule are unlike any other. There is security at every corner, and all types of arrangements have been made."
Guwahati, Feb 1 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday that any attempt to impede the community's pious customs will be met with firmness amid protests against a religious parade in Jorhat town that was led by Jain monks.

Sarma's remarks appeared in the midst of protests by a group of individuals in Jorhat town after the Jain community's ritual procession on Wednesday.

Some people of upper Assam's Jorhat town reacted sharply to the procession led by two Jain monks, who were not wearing clothes in accordance with their religious practice, through the main thoroughfares in the district headquarters of Jorhat.

The two naked Jain monks traveled to the Marwari Thakurbari campus in Jorhat town on Wednesday in a ceremonial procession from Dimapur in Nagaland.

"The Jain religion, with its revered Param Pujaniya Munis, embodies ahimsa, sacrifice, and selfless devotion. Any attempt to disrupt their sacred practices will be met with firm and decisive action," the Chief Minister said in a post on X.

Assam stands resolute in upholding religious tolerance, and will continue to carry forward the message of compassion and humanity with unwavering determination, he added.

In protest of this, a group of people from several organizations marched to the district commissioner's office on Thursday while yelling anti-procession slogans.

Near the DC office, eight persons were taken into custody, including Hemen Bora, president of the Jorhat Bar Association, and a few Bir Lachit Sena members -- a socio-cultural organisation. They were released on Friday evening.

Bir Lachit Sena State General Secretary Ranju Paniphukan said, "There will undoubtedly be social and cultural imbalances brought forth by the presence of such naked monks. As a result, we will never tolerate such activities and will not allow such persons to move in public areas in the name of religious practices."

Members of a few organisations along with Bir Lachit Sena submitted memorandums demanding the intervention of the district commissioner about the practice of the two nude Jain monks.
Guwahati, Feb 1 : The Assam government has decided to establish a new department to promote startup businesses in the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Friday.

The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting held in Dispur.

Sarma said: "To supervise the development of startups in Assam and provide policy, funding and mentorship support, Cabinet has approved creation of a new administrative unit -- Department of Innovation, Incubation and Startup."

Notably, to give a boost to business in the state, a big investor summit -- Advantage Assam is set to be hosted in Guwahati in February.

Sarma earlier said that this summit is set to bring more investments in the state.

The CM mentioned that more government jobs and entrepreneurship support will be provided to the people of the state.

He said that the event, which is set for February 25 and 26, would highlight the traditional Jhumur dance of the tea tribe clans.

"This summit is a platform to showcase Assam's rich traditions to a global audience in addition to attracting investors," he said.

A spectacular Jhumur dance performance with more than 7,500 dancers and artists will be part of the event.

It will be an extraordinary show, the Chief Minister said. The Chief Minister said that perfect execution will be ensured by master training workshops, constituency-level sessions, district-level performances, and final rehearsals in Guwahati.

He said that the goal of 'Advantage Assam', the second iteration of the international investor summit since its 2018 launch, is to increase infrastructure development and investment in the state.

The CM has asserted that Assam has a huge potential for investment and this upcoming summit will be proved as a gamechanger for the entire northeastern region.

He has already visited two foreign nations -- South Korea and Japan to showcase Assam's strength to emerge as a potential hub for the investments. Sarma invited top industry players of South Korea and Japan to invest in Assam.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also decided Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyan to support eligible Self Help Group (SHG) members in urban areas to take up micro entrepreneurship, and the cabinet has approved guidelines for implementation of Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyamita Abhiyan.

The scheme will provide 10,000 Seed Fund to eligible members.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. COP29 outcomes provide a roadmap for continuity in key areas, Mircea Fechet, Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests of Romania, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

"The decisions made at COP29 will significantly shape the collaborative efforts of the COP Troika as leadership transitions to Brazil for COP30. These outcomes provide a roadmap for continuity in key areas like climate finance, carbon markets, and transparency," he said.



Fechet noted that the newly established $300 billion annual climate finance goal creates a pivotal task for the Troika to ensure steady progress.

"Azerbaijan's COP29 presidency has laid the foundation for mobilizing these resources, but it will fall to Brazil to develop innovative strategies to attract private investments while ensuring accountability. Similarly, the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund requires coordinated effort. Azerbaijan's success in fostering trust among nations will support Brazil in refining fund governance and disbursement mechanisms to address urgent needs of vulnerable countries. The Troika will need to maintain momentum in addressing expectations for tangible outcomes from this mechanism," said the minister.



He pointed out that the finalized carbon market rules under Article 6 establish a framework for international cooperation on emissions reduction.

"Brazils role will be critical in showcasing how these markets can function effectively, particularly as the country has significant natural carbon sinks. The Troika will ensure consistency in implementing the environmental safeguards and transparency standards set during COP29.



As countries prepare their Biennial Transparency Reports under the Enhanced Transparency Framework, the Troika will play an essential role in building capacity, particularly for developing nations. Brazil will likely lead efforts to support regional collaboration and strengthen compliance with these reporting requirements. Lastly, Brazil's presidency will use COP29's achievements as a baseline to push for greater ambition at COP30. This includes fostering alignment on updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due by 2025. The Troika will coordinate to ensure progress is not diluted and that the agreements reached in Baku drive actionable results in Brazil. Together, the Troikas collaboration will be instrumental in transforming the commitments made at COP29 into impactful climate action," added the minister.

Follow the author on X: @Lyaman_Zeyn
On a frigid evening earlier this month, affection and appreciation warmed a childrens bookshop in the Western Massachusetts village of Florence, where 30 local childrens book creators came together to fete High Five Books owner Lexi Walters Wright. The surprise champagne reception, celebrating the fifth anniversary of the store and Wrights deep passion for connecting young readers and books, was orchestrated by four local authors: Molly B. Burnham, Grace Lin, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, and Lisa Yee.

The gathering was the brainchild of Burnham, who recalled having a spontaneous thought last summer about finding a way to acknowledge all the support that Lexi gives to our community. Specifically, as a childrens writer, I am moved by how generous she is to us. I wanted to throw her a surprise party to let her know how much we appreciate her. Burnham shared her idea with Lin, Stemple, and Yee over their monthly lunch and, she said, my friends, who are totally awesome, ran with the idea.

Stemple was grateful to have the chance to applaud the vital role Wright and her colleagues play in authors lives. Good booksellers who are passionate about getting the right books into the hands of readers are our people, she noted. We are nothing without them. We must honor them. We just had that opportunity and shared it with our extended community.

Lin commended the ability of High Five employees to think outside of the box and their receptiveness to innovative proposals. They are always eager to hear my ideas and help in any way they can, she said. I think that is why so many authors came out to celebrate Lexishe and the staff are so supportive of our work and, especially when the book industry is gloomy, having them in our corner is such a life raft to keep us going.

And Yees description of the party for Wright encapsulates the effervescence of the evening:  Operation Surprise Lexi, was something I will always cherish. The laughter, hugs, and overflow of pure joy was amazing. I wish we could bottle it!

The Road to High Five

Wrights path to bookselling began in a different sector of publishing. After studying magazine journalism and education at Drake University, she worked as an editor for parenting magazines and websites at Meredith Corporation and then became an editor at Disney Publishing.

In 2006, Wright moved to Northampton where, she recalled, I fell in love with the woodsy charm and literary richness of Western Massachusetts. I had discovered a very special place to be a book-loving grownup. Wright married, had a son, and earned a masters degree in Library and Information Science from Simmons College in 2011, but shelved her plans to become a childrens librarian when she was offered the opportunity to work on an educational nonprofit startup dedicated to families of children with learning disabilities, Understood.org.

I spent a number of years commuting to New York City for that job but eventually felt called to be more physically present for my kiddo and in my community, Wright explained. She moved from Northampton to Florence, a nearby village that was appealing for its LGBTQ+ family diversity and its classic main street and sweet downtown that sold all the necessitiessave for childrens books.

She envisioned filling that void with an inclusive third place in the neighborhood where caretakers and kids could have fun together and be surrounded by stories and experiences that reflected their own birth and chosen families. To that end, she attended a course for professional booksellers offered by Paz & Associates and, in October 2019, she opened the doors of High Five Books (which shared the store space with an art school) with child-pleasing fanfare. A marching band played around families reading on our lawn, while hundreds of kids danced with glow sticks and shuffled through our tiny shop for a glimpse of what we were up to, Wright reported. Bursting at the seams, the bookstore and art school subsequently moved to larger digs just up the street in 2020.

Baptism by Fire

When the outbreak of the Covid pandemic shut down the world, Wrights resourcefulness and resilience kept High Five ticking. Without a robust website yet up and running, the bookseller took to the road.

I put a couple hundred books online and created a socially distanced shopping workflow, she explained. Families within 25 miles of our store could place online orders till noon every day. Then I would plunk my kid into the car, and we would deliver all over the Pioneer Valley for hours, listening to Percy Jackson and Arlo Finch on the radio. It was weird and wonderful, waving to kids through their front doors as my son and I popped books on their porches. Book Ladys here! theyd yell and hold up drawings of their favorite characters. In addition to pandemic-era delivery, Wright offered private shopping, one family or pod at a time, for almost two years.

Wrights indefatigable pace has not slackened in the ensuing years (In a race with the Energizer Bunny, Burnham said, Lexi would win). This past January 1, when the in-house art school moved out, High Five expanded into that area, creating what Wright called malleable community space for gathering and hosting book clubs, craft hangouts, birthday parties, RPG tournaments, and the like. Now, more than ever, were hearing that readers and their families want to be together in community with one another. Providing that space feels like the least we can do for our supportive readers.

And, buoyed by support from literary luminaries, other loyal customers, and staff members, Wright continues to extend her bookselling learning curve. I have learned to curate a devoted team with complementary skills and interestsand to get out of their way once they propose events and activities theyre tickled by, she said. I have gotten a lot more comfortable asking for helpI still have a ways to goand am realizing that just because we havent yet been able to act on all our ideas doesnt mean theyre not worth doing. Five years in, Im just getting to some of my initial event dreams from the outset. And Im also learning to trust that more ideas will come.
PEN America has shared its findings on the most frequently banned picture books of the 20232024 school year. Several common elements are apparent in the 23 titles on the list, including LGBTQ+ representation (both human and animal), historical accounts of the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, discussions of race and racism more broadly, and nudity (however cartoonlike).

At the top of the list, with seven bans, is And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, illustrated by Henry Cole. Based on the real-life story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo that adopted a chick, the picture book has been a frequent target of censors since its publication in 2005. Tied for second place, with four bans each, are The Family Book by Todd Parr, which represents a diverse array of families, including same-sex couples; and Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love (2018), a celebration of gender nonconformity.

Kasey Meehan, director of PEN Americas Freedom to Read program, said in a statement, Picture books help us understand whats really at stake in the book ban crisis; these innocuous bookswritten for pre- and early readersoverwhelmingly depict LGBTQ+ identities or themes and stories about individuals of color, along with the occasional silly goblin butt. Meehan went on to address why removing these kinds of books from the shelves is detrimental to young readers. The first literary encounter along with the illustrations of characters can help young children build empathy and joy in the discovery of the people and world around them. Removing these picture books from access robs children of an experience that might have enlightened and delighted them.

PEN America counted more than 10,000 book bans in the 2023-2024 school year, affecting more than 4,000 unique titles. To see the complete list of the most banned picture books of 20232024, click here.

This story has been updated with further information.
Ratcliffes review found the evidence much weaker than claimed by Brennan, above, and did not support his explosive judgments about President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Donald Trump.

In a pre-hearing questionnaire obtained by RealClearInvestigations, Senate Democrats asked Ratcliffe, Do you agree with the ICAs judgments, specifically that Putins goals in influencing the 2016 presidential election included denigrat[ing] Secretary Clinton, and harm[ing] her electability and potential presidency ?



They also asked Ratcliffe if he concurred with the ICAs finding that "Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.



Ratcliffe answered that after reviewing the ICAs underlying intel, including sources and methods, he could only agree that Russias goal was to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and sow division among the American people, according to page 38 of the document.



He noted that Russian social media campaigns included efforts to both support and criticize candidate Trump as well as candidate Clinton, further suggesting an overarching goal of promoting discord. In other words, he saw no concrete evidence to support a plot by Putin to side with Trump against Clinton.





Jake Sullivan: Hillary Clinton approved his plan to create a scandal tying Trump to Putin.

In the questionnaire, Ratcliffe also pointed out that Moscow has long used propaganda, disinformation, and cyberattacks to target not only U.S. elections but also those in other Western democracies, implying its 2016 influence operation was nothing new.



Ratcliffe saw for himself the underlying evidence while acting as Trumps director of the Office of National Intelligence.



In 2020, he discovered a CIA document from 2016 stating that Clinton, in July of that year, had approved "a plan by her foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan, to create a scandal tying Trump to Putin and the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee. The CIA material seemed to contradict the findings of the ICA, prepared and widely disseminated just months later by his predecessor John Brennan, who, as Barack Obamas CIA director, was tasked after Trumps surprise victory to assess Russias role in the election.

Raising more alarms, Brennan had attached as an annex to the ICA false rumors about Trump and Putin conspiring during the election, plucked from a political dossier underwritten by the Clinton campaign.



Suspicious, Ratcliffe decided to look deeper into how the ICA was developed, according to his Senate confirmation testimony.

I requested a briefing from the CIA from some members of the team that were involved in that, he said.

After interviewing CIA analysts who helped draft the ICA and examining the underlying intelligence, he reached different conclusions. Ratcliffes review found the evidence was much weaker than Brennan had claimed and did not support his explosive judgments about Putin and Trump.

Hope Hicks, Trump aide: The ICA report was viewed internally as the then-president's Achilles' heel.

This flies in the face of what the public has been told about one of the most consequential pieces of intelligence in modern American history.



By painting Trump as a Trojan Horse for Putin, the ICA triggered years-long investigations by a special counsel and by both the Senate and House intelligence committees. It also provided the foundation for thousands of Russiagate articles questioning the patriotism, credibility, and legitimacy of the Trump presidency, including stories that won a Pulitzer Prize for both the Washington Post and the New York Times.



In her witness testimony, Trump aide Hope Hicks told Special Counsel Robert Mueller that the ICA report was viewed internally as the then-president's Achilles' heel because even if the Russiagate collusion scandal were a hoax, people would think Russia helped him win, taking away from what he had accomplished.



Aside from Ratcliffes startling new disclosure, the national media have ignored several red flags about the ICA's spycraft and even gone along with demonstrably false spin about its veracity and dependability. For example:

Despite widespread press accounts that the report reflected the consensus view of "all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies," it was rushed out in just a few weeks by a tightly controlled group of CIA analysts led by Brennan, who only consulted with the FBI and National Security Agency. Yet even the NSA, which intercepts signals intel from Moscow and monitors the communications of Russian officials, dissented from the key judgment that Putin plotted to install Trump as president. And Brennan had to convince a highly skeptical FBI Director James Comey to join that judgment. Two agencies specializing in Russian intelligence  the State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency  were never consulted. Brennan dismissed input from experts from the CIAs own Russia House, a unit within Langley officially called the Mission Center for Europe and Eurasia that for decades had been locked in battle with Russian intelligence. When two senior managers from Russia House visited Brennan in his office to tell him they agreed with the NSA, the then-CIA director overruled them, arguing that they were not privy to all the intelligence that he had seen. In another significant departure from previous intelligence assessments, the ICA did not attach an annex with dissenting views. It did, however, attach material from a political campaign dossier  a first  which happened to support Brennans findings that Putin ordered the influence effort with the aim of defeating Clinton and electing Trump. A summary of the Clinton-paid, so-called Steele dossier was included as a two-page annex.



The report of Special Counsel John Durham on the origins of the FBIs Trump-Russia probe would later shred every allegation from the dossier, one by one, using subpoenaed emails, texts, and phone records to prove they were all simply made up by Clinton advisers and paid opposition researchers. None of the information actually came from Kremlin sources, yet Brennan still included it as part of the ICA, not knowing that Clintons secret role in it would be uncovered years later. At the time, the dossier was deceptively referred to as Crown material since it was written by former British spy Christopher Steele.

The assessment suddenly changed after Trump upset Clinton. Before the election, the intelligence community agreed Russia was merely meddling in the election to create chaos and wasnt siding with either candidate. But after Trump won, new intelligence emerged claiming Trump was personally aided by Putin, which provided a convenient excuse to explain Clintons stunning defeat. It also helped Obama, who endorsed Clinton, to save face after voters effectively repudiated his agenda. He'd assured them Clinton would continue his policies. Again, it was Obama who ordered the hastily drafted assessment. And Obama timed the release of the unclassified version of the ICA just two weeks before Trumps inauguration, knocking his presidency off balance before it could even get started.



Brennan has insisted the ICA didnt rely on the Clinton campaigns anti-Trump dossier and that his team obtained separate Russian intelligence that was highly classified and could not be shared publicly.



It wouldnt be the first time Brennan, a Democrat who openly supported Clinton and previously worked in the White House with Obama, has played politics with U.S. intelligence.

Trump last week stripped Brennan of his top-secret security clearance, arguing he signed an intelligence community letter just weeks before the 2020 election falsely claiming that incriminating emails found on Hunter Bidens abandoned laptop by the New York Post appeared to be Russian disinformation. On MSNBC, Brennan dismissed Trumps order as part of his effort to try to get back at those individuals who have criticized him openly and publicly in the past, and I think very legitimately."



Its not clear if Ratcliffe plans to declassify the evidence behind the ICA or his review of it. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. He said he has not yet briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee about his findings.



But he also testified that what he learned about the ICAs shoddy spycraft influence[d] his move to declassify and release the Brennan memo about Clintons plan to stir up a Russia scandal against Trump to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020.



Former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz, who drafted intelligence assessments and Presidential Daily Briefings, said he hopes Ratcliffe issues a report on his own findings so the public can see how the Obama administration "cooked up" the anti-Trump intelligence judgments in the assessment.



There should be an unclassified report on how the ICA was drafted, who drafted it, and objections by certain IC agencies and CIA officers that were excluded, Fleitz said in an RCI interview.



Ratcliffes revelation undercuts the prevailing narrative that Putin has been meddling in U.S. elections to help Trump and to shape U.S. foreign policy, particularly as it pertains to the war in Ukraine. The Washington press corps, which essentially has staked its reputation on this narrative, continues to beat the drums.



The Atlantic, for instance, ran an article this month  and before Ratcliffes confirmation hearings  confidently assuming that even Trumps partisan pick for the CIA would have to go along with the unanimous, unclassified assessment on Russian election interference in 2016.



Ratcliffe has never said publicly whether he agrees with one of its key findings: that the Russians were trying to help Trump win, wrote Atlantic staffer Shane Harris, who previously covered Russiagate for the Washington Post. But his silence is telling.



Of course, the new CIA director has since broken his silence and revealed information that is inconvenient for many in the media who still hold fast to the Trump-Russia storyline. Things could get more inconvenient as Obama-era intelligence is finally declassified.

Correction: January 30, 2025, 5:22 P.M. Eastern
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The UN in Azerbaijan is looking forward to supporting the implementation of the COP29 presidency initiatives, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva said, Trend reports.

She made the remark at an event on High-level Strategic Prioritization held in Baku within the framework of the UN-Azerbaijan Cooperation Framework Document on Sustainable Development (2026-2030).

In recent years, we have seen Azerbaijan strengthen its role not only nationally but also regionally and globally on several multilateral issues, including addressing the climate crisis, especially as Chair of COP29. My UN team in Azerbaijan felt privileged to work closely with the COP29 chairmanship last year.

In addition to the agreed outcomes of COP29, the 14 presidential initiatives are an important legacy both globally and regionally for climate action. In this context, the UN system in Azerbaijan looks forward to supporting the implementation of these Presidency initiatives and helping to scale up UN support for climate action, she said.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Porterville, CA (93257)

Today

Periods of rain. Low around 45F. WSW winds shifting to ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low around 45F. WSW winds shifting to ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law on Wednesday, Jan. 29, requiring local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants in the U.S. without legal documentation who commit crimes such as shoplifting, assaulting a police officer or acts causing bodily harm. This is the first law he signed during his second presidential term.
The story in your mind that you spend hours at a time daydreaming about could be written and ready for publishing within the two years at the 
Seeing the fight that many young people put up for TikTok got me thinking about the value that we give to short-form content and the effects that it has on us.
'On a long-term basis, we expect to have a 4-5 per cent traffic growth rate in general for the India level.'

Photograph: Kind courtesy Highway Infrastructure Trust

Highways Infrastructure Trust's (HIT's) growth is set to be fuelled by the infusion of Rs 5,500 crore from its key investors -- KKR Fund and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), said Gaurav Chandna, executive director and joint CEO) Chandna, in an interaction with Prachi Pisal/Business Standard in Mumbai, outlines the InvIT's expansion plans, traffic projections and the outlook for 2025.

Take us through your portfolio expansion plans?

Our current 15 AUMs are worth over Rs 10,000 crore. We won toll, operate, transfer (TOT) concessions in September 2024, and those assets are worth Rs 6,661 crore.

We should be closing the deal by the end of January 2025. It will take our AUM close to Rs 17,000 crore.

Additionally, there is another impending closure with PNC Infratech.

By March-end, we should have closure of the PNC portfolio. After completion of PNC acquisition, the AUM would be around Rs 25,000-26,000 crore.

What kind of assets are you looking for?

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the biggest seller for us.

We are looking at a mix of toll and annuity assets because HAM assets provide a certain protection in terms of cash flows, and there is an element of both upside and downside risk on toll assets.

But we would ideally want to keep toll assets at a slightly higher proportion, 60-65 per cent of our total portfolio, with the rest being annuity.

For geographical diversification, we are keen to have an asset in Uttar Pradesh and other states in the North where we currently do not have toll assets. It has a decent traffic growth potential.

Are you planning any fundraising?

Considering our investment plans, there is a preferential issue going on right now. We are raising around Rs 5,500 crore of cash from our investors, KKR and OTPP.

What is your outlook on traffic growth?

Not only are new road corridors coming up, but alternative modes of transport are also likely to have impacts.

On a long-term basis, we expect to have a 4-5 per cent traffic growth rate in general for the India level.

But wherever there are diversions, it can also go down by 100-150 basis points (bps).

What do you have to say about the InvIT's long-term financial goals?

Though we are in the business of deploying funds, we do not have any specific annual targets.

Any deal is a function of the merits of that particular transaction.

If a transaction doesn't make sense, we are happy to sit out for 6-12 months.

Fortunately, that situation hasn't arisen so far. But, I am sure there will be a phase in the interim.

There is a significant operating leverage on account of growth. The larger the portfolio, the better the economics can be offered to the investors.

Considering all these investment plans, what are the factors that you are banking on?

The government's focus on infrastructure would be there given that consumption-led growth is much more uncertain now.

Concerns about consumer loan delinquencies may put pressure on demand and consumer-led growth.

Clearly, government-led capex will continue to be a focus area, but that's not the only criterion because the government has also been driving infra-focused growth over the last two terms.

There are constraints with respect to how much a market can absorb and how much the government can fund.

But despite that, I think there should be healthy growth.

Will we see more supply (of road assets for sale) in the market in the coming months?

Supply is likely to be stable. I don't think we will see any spike or downward trend over the next 12-18 months at least.

Beyond that, it's difficult to predict. Currently, it's balanced because there is something for everyone.

For TOTs, there are potentially 7-8 players in the market who can write decent, big cheque sizes.

But, it's only 4-5 players who are participating in any of the bids.

The moment we see 8-9 players participating, then probably yes, it could be a seller's market. Right now, I would say it's a fair market.

What is your overall outlook for the sector in 2025?

We hope that at least in the organised sector, the bigger players get more concessions.

The logical step is that they should also tighten the bidding processes and make the qualification criteria more stringent.

Bids should go a long way in terms of maintaining the quality of projects.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'Not only jobs are not being generated, but people are also losing jobs.'

It is the time of the year when major discussions are centred around the Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, February 1.

Before presenting the Budget, the finance minister meets representatives from different sections of society to listen to their suggestions on what could be included in the Finance Bill. Whether the ministry listens to the suggestions is another matter.

On January 6, 2025, representatives from trade unions met the finance minister. Among them was Swadesh Dev Roye, all-India secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, an affiliate of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

"It is not just jobless growth, it is job-loss growth also," Dev Roye tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.

The concluding segment of a two-part interview:

Part 1 of the Interview: 'If There Is No Money In The Hands Of People...'

The profit of the private sector is a 15-year high, but wages are stagnant. Will this not lead to more inequality?

The Inequality Report said that 1% of the population owns 40.5% of the total wealth of the country...

It is well-known that inequality is rising in the country.

That's why we are asking for wealth tax.

When you earn huge profits, you should pay more tax.

The lowest tax-GDP ratio in the world is in India. It is only 13%.

That's why we said in the memorandum that the super-rich should be taxed more so that the economy can grow.

They say private investment is not happening because people are not buying. But their profits are going up and up.

Where is the profit coming from?

It is not a profit out of trade; it is a profit out of the government donation to the private sector in the name of incentive fund transfer.

Unemployment is a big issue now. Though the government says there is job creation, experts say, it is a jobless growth...

It is not just jobless growth, it is job-loss growth also.

Not only jobs are not being generated, but people are also losing jobs.

In the 1980s, in the public sector, the total number people employed was 21 lakhs. Today, it is only 8 lakhs. From 21 lakhs, it has gone down to 8 lakhs, let alone creating new generation of employment.

Today, people are ready to take up any job, even a low-paid job. That's why purchasing power has gone down.

IMAGE: Asha health workers and Mamta health workers protest in Patna, December 30, 2024, demanding higher wages and permanent jobs. Photograph: ANI Photo

Some people say the problem the country faces is not unemployment but under employment. Do you think so?

Yes, it is under employment.

They accept any job because there is no job in the market.

It is like, if there is no quality product in the product and only under quality product is available, you are forced to buy the under-quality product.

IMAGE: Qualified teachers protest in Bhopal, December 23, 2024, demanding appointment letters for jobs in the state government service. Photograph: ANI Photo

You mentioned the MSME sector also in the memorandum. Those in the sector say that they have not yet been able to recover from the shock demonetisation gave them...

The MSME sector is the most labour-intensive sector in the economy.

The high-profile technology driven industry does not generate many jobs.

From that point of view, the MSME sector is very important for our economy.

But today's government promotes crony capitalism. 4-5 industrialists of this country have captured all the resources of this country.

What you see is the monopolisation of the economy.

IMAGE: Swadesh Dev Roye. Photograph: Kind courtesy Swadesh Dev Roye

Would you call this government and the governments before that, anti-labour and pro-capitalist?

Absolutely. It is not just pro-capitalism but monopoly capitalism.

What you see is crony capitalism. Only a handful of capitalists are getting all the concessions and support from the government, at the cost of people and the working class.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
MSIL, which currently has a subscription service that allows customers to lease its petrol-run and strong hybrid vehicles on a flexible, long-term basis without ownership commitments, will introduce a leasing service as well.

IMAGE: Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi, right, and Suzuki Motor CEO Toshihiro Suzuki during the launch of 'eVITARA' at Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, in New Delhi, January 17, 2025. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), while expanding its charging infrastructure and service network ahead of the eVitara launch, will introduce a scheme allowing electric vehicle (EV) customers to lease petrol or strong hybrid cars for short periods to address concerns about using EVs on long intercity drives, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Partho Banerjee told Business Standard.

We are conveying to the customer that there is nothing to worry about if you just have an EV at home. You need to buy just one EV and leave all your problems to us. This is what we want to convey, he said at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025.

Today, for most people, an EV is never the first vehicle at home. It is always the second or third vehicle. We want it to become the first vehicle. There are many fence-sitters. We would like them to jump to the EV side, he added.

IMAGE: Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales), MSIL, at the unveiling of Marutis first electric car e-Vitara. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Nexa/Facebook

MSIL unveiled its first electric car, the eVitara -- a premium sport utility vehicle with a 2,700-millimetre wheelbase and over 500 kilometre (km) range -- last Friday at the expo.

Banerjee said that by the car's launch, the company will have prepared 1,500 existing service workshops across 1,000 cities to handle EVs and set up fast chargers every 5-10 km in the top 100 cities.

People may or may not be buying EVs in the 1,000 cities, but we will be ready with our EV-ready service workshops. This is also being done to assure customers that the EV can be the primary car of the household," he noted.

He mentioned that the company would offer a subscription service if EV customers still had concerns.

A customer anyway goes outside the city on long trips just a few times during a year. We are giving you a solution if you have a concern... If a customer residing in Delhi has to go to the hills for a vacation, they can take a petrol-run or strong hybrid car like the Ertiga from us using our leasing model. Your EV can stay at home in Delhi while you visit the hills using the leased vehicle, he said.

He clarified that EV customers will only pay for the days they use the petrol-run or strong hybrid car.

We want to instil confidence that you do not need two vehicles in your home. Our EV itself is enough, he said.

Photograph: Kind courtesy, Maruti Suzuki India

MSIL currently has a subscription service allowing customers to lease its petrol-run and strong hybrid vehicles on a flexible, long-term basis without ownership commitments.

For the new leasing service, the company will utilise the vehicle bank it developed for the current subscription service. More than 10,000 units are already deployed under the current subscription service.

For its EV customers, the company will also launch an 'e For Me' application (app) that will provide information about available chargers and allow customers to make payments directly through the app.

The company also plans to assist its EV customers with the installation of home chargers, which will have a capacity of 7.2 kilowatt-hour.

By the eVitara's launch, MSIL will have its public charging infrastructure ready in the top 100 cities and EV-ready service workshops in 1,000 cities.

The top 100 cities comprise 97 per cent of the current EV industry. In these 100 cities, we will have an EV charger every 5-10 km. We will work out the placement of these chargers. These chargers will not be limited to our dealerships," Banerjee noted.

On EV-ready service workshops, he said: We have mapped the areas within a 250-km radius of spots where we sell most of our vehicles. We are ensuring that 1,500 service workshops in 1,000 cities are EV-ready. These workshops will also have charging facilities for emergency usage.

Driving confidence EV customers will only pay for the days they use the petrol-run or strong hybrid car

Automaker will offer a subscription service if EV customers still have concerns

MSIL will install fast chargers every 5-10 km in the top 100 cities, covering 97% of the current EV market

'e for me' app to assist customers with charger locations, payments, and home charger installation

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
'The critical event signalling a new era for India was Dr Singh's 1991 Budget in which he quoted Victor Hugo to say that no power on earth could stop an idea whose time has come,' recalls T N Ninan.

IMAGE: Dr Manmohan Singh, then India's finance minister, gives final touches to the 1995-1996 Budget. Photograph: Rediff Archives

I first met Manmohan Singh in 1981. As a reporter for Business Standard in Delhi, I had accompanied my bureau chief to meet the member-secretary of the Planning Commission.

They were old friends, and as we sat on the sofa in the expansive office, my boss noticed that the leather upper of Dr Singh's well-polished shoe had a tear at the crease.

Why don't you get new shoes, my bureau chief asked in friendly banter.

Dr Singh's response was that with the savings from his last UN assignment, he had built a house for himself. Now he needed to save for getting his daughters married.

Shortly afterwards, I visited another member of the Commission at his home. The distinguished scientist apologised for not being able to offer me a cup of tea. Sugar has become so expensive, he explained.

Such were the times, when people even at the apex of the government lived modest lives on modest salaries in an economy known globally for poverty and domestically for shortages and controls of every kind.

And such was the economy that Dr Singh released from controls in 1991. Producers now chase consumers, as they should.

In truth, Dr Singh got more than his fair share of credit for what was done in 1991.

As he himself once said in an interview, it was a team effort, and everyone, from the mostly unsung P V Narasimha Rao to his principal secretary A N Verma, and others in the industry and commerce ministries played their roles -- including Yashwant Sinha, who, as finance minister under Chandra Shekhar, did the fire-fighting to stave off bankruptcy until the Rao government was sworn in.

But there can be little doubt that the critical event signalling a new era for India was Dr Singh's 1991 Budget in which he quoted Victor Hugo to say that no power on earth could stop an idea whose time has come, and ended with the ringing words: "Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now awake. We shall prevail, we shall overcome."

As though to balance things out, Dr Singh got more criticism than he perhaps deserved for some of the things that happened under his prime ministership.

He had been dealt a very difficult hand: A rickety coalition government in which every coalition partner did what it wanted, a government hamstrung by the need for support from obstructive Communists, a Cabinet in which many ministers owed their loyalty to Sonia Gandhi, not to the prime minister, and Mrs Gandhi herself who kept some of the reins in her hand and created a dyarchy.

Dr Singh was in office, but not really in power or in full control.

And yet, he failed to provide the leadership that was his role.

While he philosophised that politics is the art of the possible, he did not assert himself and expand the range of possibilities -- as I made bold to tell him during a frank but friendly personal interaction.

His response was that he had no political ambitions.

It was an odd thing for a prime minister to say.

And to give Mrs Gandhi her due, she was the originator of many of the Singh government's big initiatives, like the right to information, the rural employment guarantee programme, and the right to food.

Dr Singh himself seemed to have run out of ideas of his own, except for the cancelling of farmer debt.

In the end, what remains with you are his personal qualities.

The transparent integrity and sense of public purpose, the decency and courtesy that marked every meeting, the depth of understanding and wisdom that he displayed in every encounter, the occasional chuckle that showed his ability to laugh even in trying times.

What remains also is the obvious regard in which he was held by leaders of stature such as Lee Kuan Yew.

And he could say a lot with a few words.

Back in 1996, when I mentioned that the Rao government would not be highlighting economic reforms in its election manifesto, he paused for a moment before asking: What else is there to talk about?

Commentators have referred to Dr Singh's humility. Yes, he had a humble manner that came naturally, but I have long suspected that in his own estimation, he stood taller than those around him -- with good reason.

If it was so, he had the good sense to keep this self-assessment well hidden.

In fact, he was a shrewd player of other people's vanities, disarming them with effusive praise -- as I saw more than once.

This came out wrong in the over-the-top statement that he made to George W Bush at a lunch in Delhi's Taj Palace hotel, when he told the visiting US president that all of India loved him, or words to that effect.

He did the same with Michel Camdessus, the IMF managing director who had sanctioned the life-saving loan in 1991.

Later, at a dinner in Delhi, when Camdessus had come visiting, Dr Singh was typically effusive in praise, referring to his guest (if memory serves me right) as "Sir".

Perhaps this was just Indian mannerism. But, sitting there, I felt that no finance minister of India should be addressing an IMF executive in that manner.

When faced with criticism, he was all grace, never referring to it in personal meetings or during interviews.

When releasing the first book published by this newspaper's short-lived books division, he said that he understood the criticism for what his government failed to do, but added that the paper should at least give credit to the government for what it did achieve.

It was a fair point.

The criticism worth recalling was by Ashok V Desai, a contemporary and friend of Dr Singh's at Cambridge.

As a sharp and indeed acerbic columnist at Business Standard, Dr Desai wrote in 1995 or thereabouts that Dr Singh was personally honest but tolerated corrupt people around him.

Dr Singh called me to protest, asking how he could defend himself against such criticism.

I told him that the author was his friend and I would get Dr Desai to speak to him.

Many years passed before Dr Desai told me that Dr Singh had finally forgiven him.

But the fact is that Dr Desai had put his finger on the spot.

Still, the free air that we breathed found reflection in how people spoke at an event in Vigyan Bhavan for releasing a festschrift in Dr Singh's honour, co-edited by Isher Judge Ahluwalia and Dr Singh's tutor at Oxford, Ian Little.

Dr Ahluwalia had asked me to be one of the speakers at the event, and while I said what I wanted to say, I leavened my critical comments with humour.

Not so Raghuram Rajan, then advisor to the prime minister while still teaching at Chicago, who delivered some pretty heavy-duty criticism.

I can think of no other government under which an event to honour the prime minister would see speakers criticising his government to his face and then joining him at dinner! Such was the freedom of the times.

It has been my good fortune as a journalist to have been able to interact with Dr Singh as often as I did over 35 years, enjoying his warmth and courtesy, leaving every meeting with fresh awareness of his wisdom and, for all the criticism that I directed at him and his government, having always the greatest respect for a truly great son of India.

His passing has been for me a more saddening event than that of any other public figure.

T N Ninan is former editor and chairman, Business Standard.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Kyrgyzstan will soon approve the National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Head of the Presidential Administration of Kyrgyzstan Adylbek Kasymaliev said during his speech at the international digital forum "Digital Almaty 20," Trend reports.

This document will be the path to creating a high-tech future for our country, he said.

According to him, the strategy will focus on crafting homegrown products rooted in artificial intelligence, bridging the gaps between various sectors of the economy, and tackling the pressing issues that society is grappling with.

The 2025 year started for Kyrgyzstan with decisive steps towards the development of artificial intelligence. We have formed the National Council on Artificial Intelligence, a key platform for the development of strategic decisions and implementation of advanced technologies," he noted.

He mentioned that the country's aim is to roll up its sleeves and weave artificial intelligence into the fabric of government processes, ensuring sustainable development and bolstering Kyrgyzstan's standing in the global technological arena.

The Digital Almaty 2025 forum commenced on January 31 and will conclude on February 1. It includes a plenary session with the Prime Ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union countries, namely Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Iran, along with the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The forum is coordinated by the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Akimat of Almaty, and Astana Hub (ACF PIT).

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
'All senior Muslim leaders of the BJP are left behind.'

'Doodh mein se makhi jaisey nikaal dete hain.'

IMAGE: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit A Shah campaigns for Vijender Gupta, the BJP candidate from the Rohini constituency, ahead of the Delhi assembly election, January 30, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo

Nighat Abbas was one of the most vocal Muslim faces of the Bharatiya Janata Party on television channels, defending the party's stance on various issues.

Even during the Citizenship (Amendment) Act movement she stood by the BJP even though sections of the Muslim community was protesting against the law on the streets of Delhi.

For the last one year Nighat Abbas has been keeping a low profile and was rarely seen defending the BJP on television channels.

This year she quit the BJP and joined the Congress.

"Today, the situation in Uttar Pradesh is that it is very difficult for Muslims to get a house in a society and if this is what India has come to, then it is a very sorry state of affairs," Nighat Abbas tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

You were a hardcore supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, so why did you quit the BJP?

Absolutely, I was with the BJP for seven years. I joined the party in 2018. It is only after time passes you realise that slogans like 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas' are mere slogans and nothing happens on the ground.

The slogan suggests that the BJP speaks of inclusive politics but then you get slogans from their leaders like, 'Batenge toh Katenge (If Hindus are divided, they will be cut into pieces)'. They are instigating a particular community by making such statements.

They want to do it intentionally and expect a reaction from that community so they can tell everyone, 'Look, this community always resorts to violence'.

The BJP instead should have got a slogan like 'Saath Rahenge toh mazboot rehenge (United we stand strengthened)'.

Did you ever advocate this in party forums?

I have raised these issues in party forums. I have said that the youth of this country and Muslims do not like such slogans so we need to go softer on such statements. We must speak about the BJP's good work to voters rather than talking of religious issues.

But no heed was paid to my words and now I felt enough is enough and quit the BJP.

Mr Modi in Lok Sabha 2024 election campaign speeches indirectly accused the Muslim community of producing more kids and how this would result in mangalsutras being snatched away.

During the general elections of 2024 I kept away from campaigning. I did object to this statement on my 'X' account. But now, I feel there is no solution to this problem within the BJP.

But you supported the BJP even when Anurag Thakur said, 'Goli maaro saalon ko'.

In an internal party meeting I criticised Anurag Thakur's statement as well as that of Parvesh Sharma (against Muslims). At that point of time, the home minister of India, Amit Shah, assured me that he too does not support such statements.

When you joined the BJP what were your aspirations? Didn't you know the party does not give tickets to Muslims to contest elections?

I was very young when I joined the BJP in 2018. I agree they do not give tickets to Muslims to contest which is a very wrong thing to do.

When you talk of equal representation then you cannot suppress one community by not giving them poll tickets. Even the triple talaq law which they brought, they have not implemented it rightly.

But 'Batenge toh Katenge' is paying dividends for the BJP as i won the Haryana and Maharashta elections.

It is not about votes all the time. I came to politics to bring peace in society and for the betterment of society through development work.

Today, the situation in Uttar Pradesh is that it is very difficult for Muslims to get a house in a society and if this is what India has come to, then it is a very sorry state of affairs.

When you approached the Congress what did they say to you?

The Congress always speaks of community building and peace in society. They have always spoken about secularism even though they are out of power for the last 10 years.

The Congress never compromises on its secular credentials. They have never demeaned any community like the BJP does.

Check Rahul Gandhi, the way he carried himself during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He has changed drastically and this resulted in the BJP not getting a majority on its own.

IMAGE: Nighat Abbas, then with the BJP, greets then Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Eid Photograph: Kind courtest Nighat Abbas/Facebook

What has happened to leaders like Zafur ul Islam and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the BJP? These leaders are not much heard from nowadays.

Absolutely. All senior Muslim leaders of the BJP are left behind. Doodh mein se makhi jaisey nikaal dete hain (Just like you take a fly out from milk).

I never wanted to seek answers to my questions from any senior BJP Muslim leader because I know they will not have answers to my questions.

When I vent my anger against the BJP on X I never got a call from any BJP leader asking, 'Why am I doing so?'

The BJP is not taking the right path in politics.
Congress leaders' comments on President Droupadi Murmu's address to the Parliament are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Friday.

IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla stand up for the National Anthem before addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session, in New Delhi, January 31, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo

In a statement, the President's office said such comments hurt the dignity of the high office and therefore are "unacceptable".

Soon after the President concluded her address to the joint sitting of both the Houses on Friday, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were seen discussing the speech.

"The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end...she could hardly speak poor thing," Sonia Gandhi was heard saying in a video doing the rounds on social media.

The President's office said it believes that "it might be the case that these leaders were not acquainted with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression".

In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable, the statement said.

While reacting to the media on the President's address to the Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable, it said.

"These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak. Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring," the statement said.

In her address, Murmu said the government has worked with strong determination to lift the economy out of the state of "policy paralysis" despite global concerns such as aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic and war-related uncertainties.

She also said the government's third term is seeing work being done at thrice the speed of previous administrations, citing decisions on issues such as Waqf boards and One Nation, One Election among others.
A facial recognition test has confirmed that the face of the Bangladeshi man arrested for allegedly stabbing Saif Ali Khan matched with the person seen in the CCTV footage from the actor's building in Mumbai, police said.

IMAGE: Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir. Photograph: ANI Photo

An official on Friday said as per the test report, Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir (30), arrested for the January 16 attack, was the same person seen in the CCTV footage from Satguru Sharan building in Bandra.

He said the facial recognition technology has played a key role in cracking the case.

According to the police, Shariful allegedly broke into the Bollywood star's 12th-floor apartment in the early hours of January 16 and stabbed him six times before fleeing the scene.

He was arrested from neighbouring Thane city three days later.

A Mumbai court on Wednesday remanded the accused to 14-day judicial custody.

Following the knife attack, Khan was admitted to the nearby Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent two surgeries.

He was discharged from the private hospital on January 21.
It is perhaps the first time since 2014 that no attempt has been made from abroad to 'stoke a fire' in India before the start of a Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends a prayer meeting at Gandhi Smriti in remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, in New Delhi on January 30, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo

Ahead of Parliament's Budget session, Modi also took a swipe at opposition parties, saying that there were people abroad ready to do mischief before every session since 2014 and there was also no dearth of those here who would fuel such attempts.

"Shayad 2014 se lekar ab tak, ye pehla Parliament ka satr hai, ki jiske ek-do din pehle koi videshi chingari nahi pakdi hai, videsh mein se aag lagane ki koshish nahi hui hai (Perhaps since 2014, this is the first session of Parliament in which a day or two before the session, there has been no foreign attempt to stoke a fire from abroad)," Modi told reporters before the start of the session.

"This is the first session I am seeing in the last 10 years in which there has been no attempt to stoke a fire from any foreign corner," the prime minister said.

With his government tabling its first full-fledged budget on Saturday in its third term, Modi said he prayed that Goddess Lakshmi, who is associated with wealth, will bless the poor and middle class.

He expressed confidence that this Budget session will infuse new confidence and energy in attaining the goal of 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047.

He said his government has been working in mission mode in its third term for an all-round development and asserted that innovation, inclusion and investment have shaped its economic agenda.

Modi said many historic bills will be taken up during the session and will become laws after comprehensive debate to strengthen the country.

"Particularly, important decisions will be taken during the session to empower women to ensure they get equal rights and any sectarian or faith-based discrimination is removed," he said.

Modi also expressed confidence that every MP, especially the young ones, will contribute to the agenda of 'Viksit Bharat' during the session.

Stressing on the mantra of 'Reform, Perform and Transform', Modi said fast-paced development has to be achieved and the maximum emphasis is on reform.

He said the state and Central governments have to perform together and one can see transformation through public participation.

"Ours is a young country... the youth of 20-25 years of age today, when they will be 45-50 years-old, they will be the biggest beneficiaries of a developed India. At that stage of their age, they will be sitting in that place in the policy making system... they will proudly move forward with a developed India," Modi said.

Hence, this effort to fulfill the resolve of a developed India, this immense hard work, is going to be a great gift for our teenagers, our young generation, he said.

"Those who had joined the freedom struggle in 1930, 1942... the entire youth generation of the country was engrossed in the freedom struggle, and the fruits of that were reaped by the generation that came after 25 years," Modi said.

Similarly, these 25 years would be marked by the intention of people to achieve a prosperous and developed India through their resolve and reach the pinnacle through their achievements, he said.

Therefore, in this budget session, all MPs will contribute to strengthen the resolve of a developed India, Modi said.

"Especially for young MPs, it is a golden opportunity, because the more awareness and participation... in the House today, the more fruits of a developed India they will see before their eyes. And therefore, this is a priceless opportunity for the young MPs," he said.

"I hope that we will live up to the hopes and aspirations of the country in this budget session."

President Droupadi Murmu addressed both Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha at the start of the Budget session starting Friday.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.
Kash Patel, United States President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has told lawmakers that he has been subjected to racism while growing up.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the FBI, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2025. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

"Unfortunately, Senator, yes. I don't want to get into those details with my family here," Patel, 44, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday during his confirmation hearing to be the FBI Director.

Patel was responding to a question from Senator Lindsey Graham if he has ever been subject to racism as an individual.

If confirmed, Patel would be the first Hindu and Indian-American to be FBI Director.

"If you look at the record from January 6th, where I testified before that committee, because of my personal information being released by the Congress, I was subjected to a direct and significant threat on my life. And I put that information in the record. I had to move," he said.

"I was called a detestable -- and I'll apologise if I don't get it all right, but it's in the record -- a detestable sand nigger who had no right being in this country. You should go back to where you came from. You belong with your terrorist home friends. That's what was sent to me. That's just the piece of it, but that's nothing compared to what the men and women in law enforcement face every day," Patel said.

His family members, including his father and mother, were present at Capitol Hill during the hearing.

"I wouldn't be here today without their guidance, their unwavering support, and their relentless love. When President Trump informed me of his intention to nominate me as the director of the FBI, I was deeply honoured.

"Sitting here today, I carry not only the dreams of my parents but also the hopes of millions of Americans who stand for justice, fairness, and the rule of law," he said.

Patel said his father fled Idi Amin's genocidal dictatorship in Uganda, where 300,000 men, women and children were killed based on their ethnicity just because 'they happened to look like me'.

"My mother is originally from Tanzania. She studied in India, as did my dad, and they were married there. They would later emigrate to New York, as the senator pointed out, where I was born, and we were raised in a household of my father's seven siblings, their spouses, and at least half a dozen children.

"That's the only way we knew how to do things at the time, in the 70s and 80s, the Indian way, but we would soon learn the American way," he said.

Senator Thom Tillis said he is convinced that Patel possesses significant expertise and ironclad commitment to justice and he's an outstanding choice to lead the FBI.

"Kash's parents are Indian immigrants of Gujarati ancestry. They're up here in the front row. Gujarat is a melting pot of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, and Jainism, with temples, mosques and other religious sites scattered across the state. His father was raised in Uganda, but his family had to flee the country to escape repression under Idi Amin. His mother was born in Tanzania," he said.

"They met and married in India, and ultimately, made their way to New York City by way of Canada, where his parents along with seven brothers and sisters and their spouses and at least a half a dozen kids lived under the same roof. His parents raised Kash in the Hindu faith and they instilled in him the values of hard work and education," Tellis said.

"Kash is a devout Hindu, and consistent with his faith, he's shown respect to people of all faiths," he added.

Senator Chuck Grassley said Patel's career has been a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption, and putting America first.

Referring to the attacks on Patel by his opponents during his work in the House of Representatives, Grassley said Patel has been accused of having 'an enemies list'.

"This is not a fair characterisation," he said.

"There is no revenge list," he said.

"Mr Patel has identified those he believes have put politics and personal ambition over service to the country. He has called out those who've used the institutions like the FBI to achieve their own personal gain," he said.

"Mr Patel has said he believes that people who do this should be named and that Americans deserve transparency so that they can make their own judgement, as they did in this last election. Other attacks against Mr Patel are similarly unfounded," Grassley said.

Patel assured the lawmakers that the priority of the FBI, if he is confirmed, will be to ensure that the communities are protected and safeguarded and children have parks to play in and not needles to walk over.

-- Lalit K Jha in Washington, DC
It is quarter to 10 pm on Thursday. A group of more than a dozen pilgrims, tired after a nearly 30-km walk to and from Triveni Sangam, take a rest for a while on the side of a road near a mustard field on the outskirts of Prayagraj.

IMAGE: A family of devotees walks inside a circle of rope to avoid getting lost as they leave after taking a dip at Triveni Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayagraj, January 31, 2025. Photograph: Shrikant Singh/ANI Photo

It is still eight km for them to find the next transport bus and reunite with fellow devotees from Rajasthan at Beli Kachar for their onward journey.

Ghanshyam, one of the pilgrims, told PTI, "We have been walking from Triveni Sangam as no transport was available. Police officers helped us at a crossing but after that, we found no water, tea stalls or transport options along the roadside."

Devotees continue to face transportation challenges, with many forced to walk long distances in search of transport.

The Maha Kumbh, considered among the holiest Hindu pilgrimages held once every 12 years on the banks of Triveni Sangam, started on January 13 and will continue till February 26. So far, nearly 30 crore devotees have taken a dip at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in the ongoing mega-spiritual gathering.

Some had initially gone to the bus stand but said they could not find any transport.

"The police are assisting the devotees in boarding private vehicles but the drivers are refusing to move ahead unless they get long-distance passengers," Baboolal, another devotee who claimed he walked for several kilometres, said.

"We took a dip at Sangam at midnight and have been walking since morning. A long, tiring travel still awaits us," he said.

Suresh, a pilgrim from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan said his group completed their Maha Kumbh bath. They had heard about the stampede during Mauni Amavasya but they did not appear to be deterred by the tragedy which killed 30 people and injured 60.

After the Maha Kumbh, they planned to visit Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi and the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

A new route, opened before Maha Kumbh, connects Stanley Road to Malaka Chauraha and is known as the "Steel Bridge Route".

Many pilgrims said large parking areas have been set up in Beli Kachar, about 10 km from the main city, to enable pilgrims to easily park their vehicles before they are cleared to proceed to Triveni Sangam through any available transport or else on foot.

There are small shops and toilets near the parking areas but the entire 10-km stretch, with sections of both paved and unpaved roads, from there to the city generally remains deserted.

Several ordinary devotees were seen walking long distances on foot because not everyone was lucky enough to find the much-in-demand shuttle or e-rickshaw.

A policeman engaged in assistance duty near the Beli Kachhar Parking 2 told PTI: "All vehicles are being parked here and from here devotees are mostly proceeding to the ghats on foot."

Anup Verma, who brought an elderly pilgrim from Guwahati to Maha Kumbh, recounted his ordeal. "Our car was parked 15-20 km away in Sahanason. On Thursday, we somehow reached Bank Road but all routes were barricaded, leaving us with no transport. We had to walk all the way," he told PTI.

"An elderly man in our group fell ill on the way. We somehow reached Sahanason hungry and thirsty. We could board our car on the highway only after the traffic cleared," he added.

Thousands of pilgrims returning from Maha Kumbh remain stranded at Varanasi Cantt and Banaras railway stations. Some devotees said they missed their trains due to the rush while others were stuck because of train cancellations.

Bobby Maya Limbu from Sonitpur in Assam said she had visited Maha Kumbh with her group and taken a holy dip at Sangam on February 26 before travelling to Ayodhya. She reached Varanasi on February 30. "Our train was on Thursday but we missed it due to the heavy crowd," she said.

Dinanath, a devotee from Gaya, said he and his family had been stuck in Varanasi for two days. "On Thursday, we tried to board our train but it was so crowded that we felt suffocated and had to get off," he said.

Since then, they have been staying at a shelter outside the platform.

Prayagraj District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandar said on Thursday evening, "All devotees (who had come for Mauni Amavasya) are returning. The police have been instructed to remove diversions and barricades. There will be no restrictions on vehicle entry on January 31, February 1 and February 4."

He added that diversions would only be in place on February 2 and 3 for the Basant Panchami bathing festival. "There is a separate process for vehicle entry in the Mela area, which will be communicated by the fair authorities and the DIG," he said.

"There are no vehicle restrictions in Prayagraj Commissionerate," he added.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Prayagraj Ajay Pal Sharma told PTI on Friday that the traffic situation in the district had returned to normal.

"Apart from the usual additional traffic due to Maha Kumbh, the situation is under control. We are coordinating with various departments to ensure a smooth traffic flow and regulating it at critical points," Sharma said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Shailendra Singh Parihar said, "We are focusing our resources on major crossings, which also serve as entry points for incoming traffic. Congestion has been observed in areas like Gohania."

He added that restrictions on external vehicles had been lifted. "Vehicles from outside can now reach designated parking areas in Maha Kumbh. We are also regulating their movement," Parihar said.
IMAGE: A devotee carries his mother during the Maha Kumbh Mela a day after the deadly stampede in Prayagraj, January 30, 2025. Photograph: Sharafat Ali/Reuters

Following the stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj early on Wednesday, which killed at least 30 people and injured 60 others, many devotees find themselves trapped due to blocked exit routes and severe traffic jams.

Several state borders are also blocked, and train services have been cancelled or rescheduled, leaving pilgrims stranded.

Public transport within the Kumbh Mela is scarce, with only a few bridges open, forcing people to walk long distances to stations.

Food prices have surged as supplies run low, with basic items like potatoes, onions, tomatoes and milk becoming exorbitantly expensive.

Immediate action is needed to clear exit routes, prioritise the devotees' safe departure, and address rising food prices within the Kumbh Mela.

IMAGE: Devotees queue to enter a railway station as they leave after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela a day after the deadly stampede. Photograph:Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: Devotees leave after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: Devotees rest by the roadside on their way out of the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Sharafat Ali/Reuters

IMAGE: Pilgrims inside a battery rickshaw are stuck in a traffic jam as they leave after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: A woman waits to enter a railway station as devotees leave after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: Devotees wait to enter a railway station as they leave after attending the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: A man helps a woman to jump over a wall to enter a railway station. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: Security personnel ask devotees not to jump over a wall at a railway station. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: A sadhu crosses a barricade at the Maha Kumbh Mela. Photograph: Sharafat Ali/Reuters

IMAGE: A security officer helps a child to cross a barricade to enter a railway station. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

IMAGE: A man helps a devotee to jump over a wall to enter a railway station. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
India on Friday said it is working with the US on an "early" visit to Washington by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further deepen the comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with then-US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during the Namaste Trump event, at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. Photograph: ANI Photo

Following a phone conversation with Modi this week, US President Donald Trump said the Indian prime minister "is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February".

It would be Modi's first bilateral visit to Washington after Trump became US president for a second term.

While confirming discussions between India and the US on the proposed visit, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal did not mention any possible time-line for the trip.

In their phone conversation on January 27, Modi and Trump vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence.

"PM Modi and President Trump had a telephone conversation recently. The two sides are working on an early visit of the PM to the US to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership," Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while replying to a question.

"Specific dates for the visit would be announced at the appropriate time," he said.

It is learnt that both sides were initially looking at the window between February 12-14 for Modi's visit but there has been no finality on it yet.

The prime minister is set to travel to Paris to attend the Artificial Intelligence Action summit on February 10 and 11. Though the US president has also been invited to the summit, his participation is not yet confirmed.

If Modi's visit takes place in February, then he will be among very few leaders to travel to Washington on a bilateral visit within weeks after the Trump administration came to power for the second term.

Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the US President's approach on immigration and tariff.

He has already talked about slapping "100 percent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India too.

"India is firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is also linked to other forms of organised crime," Jaiswal said.

"As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the US," he said.

Jaiswal said India is keen to continue this cooperation.

"At the same time, the government of India would need to do the required verification, including nationality, of the concerned individuals, before they are deported to India," he said.

"Any talk of numbers at this stage is premature. But I do want to emphasize that cooperation between India and the US is strong and effective in this domain. This will be evident in times to come," Jaiswal added.
President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said the pace of work has tripled in the third term of her government which has worked with strong determination to lift the economy out of the state of "policy paralysis".

IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu addresses the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session, New Delhi, January 31, 2025. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is also seen. Photograph: ANI Photo/Sansad TV

Addressing both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber, she said the nation was witnessing major decisions and policies being implemented at an extraordinary speed, with the highest priority given to the poor, the middle class, the youth, women, and farmers.

"My government is infusing new energy through unprecedented achievements in this Amrit Kaal of India's development journey. The pace of work has tripled in this third term," she said in her 60-minute speech, peppered with occasional protests from the opposition benches.

In an address to the two Houses at the beginning of the first session of Parliament every year, the president outlines the vision of the government and this is considered a policy statement.

The address also outlines the views of the government on key issues and also gives out a broad roadmap for the future.

At the outset, Murmu condoled the deaths of pilgrims at the Kumbh congregation at Prayagraj on Mauni Amavasya on Wednesday when millions of faithful had gathered from all over the country to bathe at the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

She also paid tributes to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away recently.

Murmu listed out the achievements of the government including building houses for three crore additional families, welfare of tribals, issuing property cards for the rural folks, building rural roads and extending the health insurance scheme to six crore citizens above the age of 70 years.

"The government has also made swift progress on critical issues like 'One Nation-One Election' and the 'Waqf Act Amendment'," she said.

She said India was setting an example for the world by emerging as a pillar of economic, social, and political stability in an environment of global instability.

Murmu said the world has placed its "trust" in India's "strength, policy, and intent".

In this context, she especially mentioned key groupings such as Quad, BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and G20.

The President said the government has taken "historic" initiatives to ensure defence of India's borders and internal security and "highly encouraging results" were seen in achieving self-reliance, especially in the defence sector.

She lauded the Indian Space Research Organisation for launching 100 missions from the spaceport at Sriharikota and asserted that the day was not far when an Indian citizen will travel to space aboard the indigenously developed Gaganyaan spacecraft.

"My government has worked with strong determination to lift the economy out of a state of policy paralysis. Despite global concerns such as the COVID-19 pandemic, its aftermath, and war-related uncertainties, the Indian economy has demonstrated remarkable stability and resilience, proving its strength," she said.

The President said the government has also implemented several significant measures to promote Ease of Doing Business and introduced the GST system with the spirit of 'One Nation, One Tax' which has been benefiting all states across the country.

Noting that development is truly meaningful when its benefits reach the person standing at the last rung of society, the President said initiatives like the construction of 12 crore toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, 10 crore free LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, ration for 80 crore needy citizens, the Saubhagya Yojana, and the Jal Jeevan Mission have given poor the confidence that they can live with dignity.

"When poor people are provided with a dignified life, it instills a sense of empowerment that helps them fight poverty. Due to such efforts, 25 crore people have overcome poverty and are moving forward in life. They have formed a Neo Middle Class, a group that is infusing new energy into India's growth journey," she said.

Murmu said digital fraud, cybercrime and emerging technologies such as deep fakes pose challenges to India's social, economic, and national security.

She asserted that the government has consistently worked on policies of multi-dimensional and inclusive development.

"Therefore, while emphasising on physical infrastructure, equal efforts have also been made by my government for a social infrastructure revolution," she said.

Noting that the government in the past ten years has written new chapters of progress, one of which is the golden milestone of India's digital revolution, the President said today, India has emerged as a major global player in the field of digital technology.

"The launch of 5G services in India, alongside other leading nations, stands as a significant milestone in this journey. India's UPI technology has also impressed many developed countries. More than 50 per cent of the world's real-time digital transactions now take place in India.

"My government has utilised digital technology as a tool for social justice and equality. Digital payments are no longer confined to select individuals or classes. Today, even the smallest shopkeeper in India benefits from this facility," the President said.

Ahead of her address, Murmu was welcomed in Parliament premises by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and an official carrying the 'Sengol', adopted as a cultural symbol by the government.

The President arrived in a six-horse driven ceremonial buggy and was escorted by the horse-mounted Presidential bodyguard.

She was given a guard of honour in the lawns of the Parliament building and was escorted to the Lok Sabha chamber by Dhankhar, Modi, Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
The Uttar Pradesh government has deployed two senior IAS officers, who were part of the team that successfully conducted the 2019 Ardh Kumbh, to oversee the smooth conduct of the Maha Kumbh Mela in the wake of the recent stampede that left at least 30 pilgrims dead.

IMAGE: Devotees sit on a vehicle on their way back home after taking a dip at Triveni Sangam during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, in Prayagraj, January 31, 2025. Photograph: Shrikant Singh/ANI Photo

Ashish Goyal and Bhanu Chandra Goswami have hands-on experience in administration in Prayagraj, including a deep insight into crowd management and inter-agency coordination during the 2019 Ardh Kumbh, an official said.

They have joined Mela Adhikari Vijay Kiran Anand, forming a trio that was part of the mega fair six years ago, he said.

According to the official, the state government called Goswami and Goyal from Lucknow to Prayagraj to ensure the smooth organisation of the upcoming Basant Panchami (Amrit Snan), one of the key bathing days of the festival on February 3.

The duo played a crucial role in the seamless execution of the last Kumbh and has assumed their responsibilities, he added.

Deputy inspector general of Uttar Pradesh police (Retd.) KP Singh, who led the police arrangements during the previous Kumbh, praised the deployment of experienced officers for the event.

"This will help ensure the smooth conduct of the upcoming Amrit Snan," he told PTI.

A 1995-batch IAS officer, Goyal brings extensive administrative experience, particularly in Prayagraj, where he has served multiple times in key positions.

He has a B.Tech in electrical engineering, an MA in economics, and a PhD.

He first served as the district magistrate and collector of Prayagraj (then Allahabad) from March 2007 to April 2008.

During this period, he also briefly held the charge of vice chairman of the Allahabad Development Authority. He was later posted as special secretary in the Rural Development Department of the UP government in Lucknow.

Goyal returned to Prayagraj in 2015 as the inspector general of Stamp and Registration, before being appointed divisional commissioner in 2017 -- a post he held until March 2020.

After a three-year stint as joint secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development in Delhi, he returned from central deputation to Uttar Pradesh in 2023 as chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited.

Goswami is a 2009-batch IAS officer and a graduate of Sanskrit. Born in 1984, he also held crucial roles in Prayagraj, first as the vice chairman of the Allahabad Development Authority from May 2017 to February 2019, and later as the district magistrate from 2019 to 2021.

After his tenure as DM, he was appointed CEO of the Uttar Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority in 2021. Since September 2024, he has been serving as relief commissioner, Consolidation Commissioner, and secretary in the Revenue Department of the UP government.

Goswami's familiarity with the region's governance and his past experience in handling large-scale events, including the 2019 Ardh Kumbh, make him a key player in managing the Maha Kumbh's logistical and safety challenges, an official said.

Further, the Uttar Pradesh government has deployed additional senior police officers to strengthen security and crowd management ahead of Basant Panchami.

The government has assigned four senior police superintendents and three additional superintendents to reinforce security arrangements at the religious gathering, where millions of devotees are expected to arrive in the coming days.

Among them, Deependra Nath Chaudhary, who is currently posted in Deoria, has been brought in for the task. Lakshminivas Mishra from the Anti-Corruption Department, Raj Dhari Chaurasia from the administration, and Shravan Kumar Singh, the DCP of Kanpur Nagar, have also been given key responsibilities.

Additionally, three officers at the level of additional superintendent of police have been entrusted with crucial duties.

Vikash Chandra Tripathi, currently serving as the staff officer to the additional director general of police, Law and Order, will oversee key coordination aspects.

Omprakash Singh, presently posted in Basti, and Praveen Kumar Yadav, stationed in Shravasti, will contribute to the crowd management and security strategy to prevent any further untoward incidents.

With the Maha Kumbh witnessing an overwhelming influx of pilgrims, the officers will be responsible for enforcing tight crowd control to manage large gatherings efficiently, the official said.

They will work towards improving movement pathways to prevent congestion and bottlenecks. A key focus will be on ensuring a rapid emergency response mechanism to handle crises effectively, he said.

Security coordination among multiple agencies will be strengthened, along with real-time monitoring of high-density areas to prevent overcrowding.

The authorities will also implement enhanced barricading and stricter access controls to avoid situations that could lead to another stampede. Increased police patrolling will be conducted across key areas to maintain order and ensure the safety of devotees, the official said.

The Maha Kumbh is considered among the holiest Hindu pilgrimages and is held every 12 years on Triveni Sangam banks. The mega congregation started on January 13 and will continue till February 26.

So far over 30 crore pilgrims have visited the Maha Kumbh and the UP government, which is hosting the event, expects the footfall can go up to 45 crore.

A stampede in the early hours on Wednesday at Sangam Nose left 30 devotees dead and 60 injured as they moved in a tightly packed crowd to take a dip in the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, January 31. Russia's Rosatom will assist in eliminating the environmental damage caused by a former industrial plant in Kyrgyzstan, Trend reports via the company.

Specialists from the Federal Environmental Operator of the state corporation participated in an interdepartmental meeting in Bishkek. During the meeting, a set of priority emergency response works at the Crystal plant site was approved.

"With extensive experience in implementing projects to eliminate accumulated environmental damage within Russia, the Federal Environmental Operator is becoming a reliable partner for foreign colleagues as well," emphasized Stanislav Zhabrikov, Director for the Implementation of Environmental Projects of the Federal Environmental Operator.

The plant, which was built in 1989 in the city of Tash-Kumyr, specialized in the production of polycrystalline silicon. Dangerous chemical waste remains at the former plant site.
The Bharatiya Janata Party spent Rs 1,737.68 crore for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to the expenditure report submitted by the party to the Election Commission of India.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the release of the BJP election manifesto during its unveiling ceremony ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, at the party headquarters in New Delhi, April 14, 2024 as Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and party president JP Nadda look on. Photograph: ANI Photo

Of the total amount, Rs 884.45 crore was spent on general party propaganda, while Rs 853.23 crore was allocated for candidate-related expenses.

Around Rs 611.50 crore was spent on media advertisements that included advertisements in print and electronic media, bulk SMS campaigns, and promotional content across cable, websites, and TV channels.

The party also spent Rs 55.75 crore on publicity materials such as posters, banners, hoardings, and flags to bolster its election outreach.

Additionally, the BJP's expenditure on public meetings, processions, and rallies, including arrangements for stages, audio setups, barricades, and vehicles, stood at Rs 19.84 crore.

Campaign-related travel expenses formed another significant portion of the party's budget.

The travel expenditure of star campaigners authorised by the party's central headquarters amounted to Rs 168.92 crore, while Rs 2.53 crore was spent on the travel of other party leaders.

The BJP, which secured a third consecutive term in the general elections, heavily relied on mass outreach and publicity campaigns, as evident from its spending patterns.

Additionally, the gross receipts from the date of announcement of state elections to the date of their completion were Arunachal Pradesh Rs 5,552.57 crore, Sikkim Rs 5,552.41 crore and Odisha Rs 5,555.65 crore.
Kash Patel, former Trump aide and vocal critic of investigations into the former president, testified at his Senate confirmation hearing for FBI director on Thursday, January 30, 2025.

Patel vowed to protect FBI employees from political retribution but faced scrutiny from Democrats over his past remarks and lack of experience.

Patel, who touched his parents' feet before he testified, denied involvement in recent US department of justice firings and distanced himself from Trump's pardons of January 6 rioters.

While Republicans defended him as a reformer exposing corruption, Democrats questioned his qualifications and impartiality.

Despite opposition, Patel's confirmation is likely given Republican control of the Senate.

Former US representative Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, faced bipartisan scepticism over her past defence of Edward Snowden and perceived pro-Russia views at her confirmation hearing also on Thursday.

Senators questioned her stance on Russia, Syria, and intelligence leaks, with Gabbard refusing to label Snowden a traitor while acknowledging he broke the law.

While Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton defended her as 'unconventional', her confirmation remains uncertain as even a single Republican defection in the committee could complicate her path.

A classified session followed the public hearing, and a vote is expected soon.

IMAGE: Keshyap 'Kash' Patel, US President Donald J Trump's nominee to be director of the FBI, arrives on the day he testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

IMAGE: Kash Patel was testy during his confirmation hearing before a Senate Judiciary Committee, here and below. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

IMAGE: US Senator Thom Tillis (Republican, North Carolina) shakes hands with Kash Patel. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

IMAGE: Kash Patel departs after testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

IMAGE: Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee to be director of national intelligence, ready to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, here and below. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

IMAGE: US Senator Mark Warner (Democrat, Virginia) greets Tulsi Gabbard before she testifies. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

IMAGE: A stenographer's screen is seen as Tulsi Gabbard testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's "poor thing and very tired" remarks about President Droupadi Murmu after the latter's hour-long address to Parliament on Friday snowballed into a huge controversy, with the Rashtrapati Bhavan saying they were in "poor taste, unfortunate and unacceptable."

IMAGE: President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla stand up for the National Anthem before addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session, in New Delhi on Friday. Photograph: Sansad TV/ANI Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tore into the Congress, accusing its shahi parivaar (royal family) of insulting the President, who hails from a tribal background, and claiming that the party has always undermined the progress of those who come from marginalised communities.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan came out with a statement to say the remarks clearly hurt the dignity of the high office.

As several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders condemned Sonia Gandhi's remarks, party chief JP Nadda said they were "deeply disrespectful", and underscored the opposition's "continued disregard" for the dignity of the highest constitutional office.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju demanded an apology from the former Congress president.

The Congress hit back and said every person in India has respect and empathy for President Murmu but claimed that the BJP leaders cannot digest Sonia Gandhi's "empathy" for her health.

Soon after the President concluded her customary address to a joint sitting of Parliament to mark the start of the Budget session, Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also a party general secretary, were seen discussing the speech in the Parliament complex.

"The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end... she could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi was heard saying in a video doing the rounds on social media.

During the discussion, Rahul Gandhi was also heard asking his mother if the President's speech was "boring".

When asked to comment on Sonia's comments, Priyanka Gandhi said her mother has the utmost respect for the President and that it is very unfortunate her remarks have been allegedly "twisted by the media".

She also hit out at the BJP's demand for an apology over the issue, saying it should first apologise for "ruining the country".

The Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said it believes that "it might be the case that the Congress leaders were not acquainted with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression".

"In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable."

In their reactions to the President's address, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable, the statement noted.

"These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak. Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth."

"The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring," the statement said.

Latching onto Congress leaders' remarks about President Murmu, Modi said, "These Congress people think they are the masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress' royal family has once again been exposed."

"The royal family of Congress stooped to a new low. One member called her speech 'boring' and another went further, calling her 'poor' and 'tired'. This is an insult to 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of this country. This is an insult to every poor person who rises from the ground," he told a public rally in Dwarka in poll-bound Delhi.

"The Congress' royal family does not accept anyone from the Dalit, Adivasi, OBC communities who rise above their circumstances. They insult them at every step."

Nadda in a post on X said Sonia Gandhi's use of the phrase 'poor thing' to refer to the President is "deeply disrespectful" and underscores the opposition's continued disregard for the dignity of the highest constitutional office.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, he added.

While the President was highlighting the government's achievements, the opposition, driven by its "feudal mindset", instead chose to mock the empowerment of backward classes and women, "a transformation" brought about under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, he charged.

Rijiju said the BJP will not "tolerate" the effort that is being made by the opposition to show Murmu as weak.

"Since a tribal woman has become the President of the country for the first time, they are unable to digest it and are trying to project her as weak."

"The President is a woman and a tribal. She is not weak," he told reporters in the Parliament complex.

Slamming Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Rijiju said the Congress leaders calling President Murmu a "tired woman" and describing her speech as "boring" does not suit them. "It's highly condemnable."

Union minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan called the remarks an "insult" to the country's women and tribals.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said on X, "Sonia Gandhi referring to the President as a 'poor thing' demeans the high office and reflects her feudal mindset."

Priyanka Gandhi said it is pretty clear that her mother means no disrespect to the President.

"My mother is a 78-year-old lady. She simply said that 'the President must have been tired reading such a long speech, poor thing'. She fully respects, in fact she has the utmost respect for her (the President). It is very unfortunate that this kind of a thing is twisted by the media," she told reporters.

"They are both respected people, they are older than us, they are at a certain age now and it is pretty clear that she (Sonia Gandhi) means no disrespect."

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that the party has always respected the dignity of the office of the President and that in order to hide the bad state of the economy, BJP leaders and a section of the media are twisting the phrase used by Sonia Gandhi.

Kharge also sought to turn the tables on the BJP, claiming that President Murmu was insulted by the Modi government when she was not invited to the new Parliament building's inauguration.

Congress leader Gouramis Gogoi said in a post X, "Sonia Gandhi's empathy for Hon'ble President Droupadi Murmu ji's health cannot be digested by the men in BJP."

Every person in India has respect and empathy for the President, he said.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal submitted his reply to the Election Commission on Friday regarding his allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana has mixed "poison" in the Yamuna water supplied to Delhi, saying his remarks were in the context of the "unprecedented high levels of ammonia in the raw water."

IMAGE: Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal with party MP Sanjay Singh addresses a press conference on 'Yamuna Poison' row, at party HQ in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo

In his six-page written reply addressed to the chief election commissioner, Kejriwal also accused Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini of hatching a "conspiracy" to "influence" the February 5 Delhi assembly polls by sending highly-polluted waters to the national capital.

Accompanied by Delhi and Punjab chief ministers Atishi and Bhagwant Mann, the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor submitted his reply to EC officials over the poll panel's notice to him in the matter.

The AAP leaders also carried three bottles of ammonia-mixed water for the election commissioners to drive home their point.

In his reply, Kejriwal said the "poison" found mixed with the Yamuna water was "ammonia".

He referred to Delhi Jal Board officials for details like evidence of mixing poison and its methodology.

Kejriwal told reporters on January 27 that the "BJP government in Haryana has mixed poison in the water supplied to Delhi through the Yamuna. Thanks to DJB engineers, who caught it and stopped the water, it did not enter Delhi. If that water got mixed with drinking water, a mass genocide would have happened".

He had further accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of mixing "poison" in the water supplied to Delhi to trigger a chaos, so that the AAP could be blamed for people dying.

The AAP supremo was issued a notice by the EC over the matter on a complaint from the BJP. In response to a second notice, Kejriwal submitted his reply, saying "categorically and explicitly" that his alleged statement was made in reference to the "unprecedented and dangerously-high" levels of ammonia in the raw water being supplied to Delhi from Haryana.

"Any other inference of my statement is incorrect," he stated.

Explaining the chronology of events leading to his statement, Kejriwal said the ammonia levels in the water started rising from around 3.2 ppm (parts per million) on January 15 and reached 7 ppm around January 26-27.

The chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab had raised the matter with Saini but he did not do anything, despite promising action to control the ammonia levels or discharge more water to dilute it, he said.

Kejriwal alleged a "deliberate conspiracy" on the part of Saini to "influence" the Delhi election by sending highly-polluted water to the capital.

"It is crystal clear from the sequence of events that it is the Haryana chief minister who is at fault," the AAP supremo charged.

"A criminal case should be registered against him for attempting to cause serious miseries to the people of India's capital. If the CEC does not take action against the Haryana government, who have been perpetrators of this above incident, you will be normalising such ghastly actions in electoral politics," he said.

Kejriwal also questioned the "baffling alacrity" of the CEC to act against him, even though he was "merely" raising an issue of "very high public importance" and had averted a huge public crisis in Delhi.

"Equally baffling is the CEC's refusal to direct Haryana to stop polluting Delhi's waters," he said.

The AAP supremo also accused the CEC of "complete silence and inaction" over "blatant violations" of the Model Code of Conduct allegedly by BJP leaders in Delhi.

"If the CEC continues ignoring the widespread practice of purchase of votes with cash and goods by the BJP, you will end up normalising this corrupt practice as well," he said, while claiming that evidence in the form of videos and people's statements were not acknowledged.

India is known worldwide as the bedrock of democracy, he said, adding, "The CEC, with its clear act of omission and negligence of corrupt practices by the BJP, looks set to tarnish this image of India globally."

If no action is taken against the Haryana government and the BJP leaders involved in "corrupt practices", it will be amply clear to everyone that the CEC keeps the interest of the ruling party over public interest, Kejriwal said.

He asserted that his only concern is the health and safety of the people of Delhi and he will fight to protect democratic principles.

"Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of the BJP is a small price to pay for it, and I welcome it with open arms," he said.

Earlier, the former Delhi chief minister told reporters that the language of the EC notice to him hinted that the poll panel had already decided about the "punishment" to be given to him.
Meghana Rajsekhar survived the tsunami and was rescued by an unknown tribal man. 14 years later she tracked him down to say thank you.

IMAGE: Meghana with Basil and his wife in his village of Kakana. Photographs: Kind courtesy Meghana Rajsekhar

Meghana Rajsekhar saw Basil climb a coconut tree which brought back memories from 14 years ago.

In 2004, he had saved her life after the sea had washed her ashore on the southern tip of Car Nicobar that had been cut off from the rest of the island by the tsunami on December 26.

Meghana was 12. She was asleep in the night suit given to her as a Christmas present by her father Squadron Leader P V Rajsekhar and mother when the tsunami swallowed the air base, taking her parents and brother in its violent spate.

111 officers, men and support staff lost their lives at the Car Nicobar air base.

Meghana miraculously survived by clinging on to her bedroom door surrounded by raging waves and deadly snakes.

The following day, the waves threw her back ashore. The frightened, disoriented child spent two days walking up and down the strip of land.

There was no one in sight.

She unsuccessfully tried to catch the attention of passing aircraft landing and taking off on the air strip by waving flags made out of clothes found in a washed-away suitcase belonging to a newly-wed couple.

But no one saw her.

Then she spotted a man climbing a coconut tree on a cliff and ran towards him.

He saw her too and took her to what remained of the destroyed Indian Air Force base in Car Nicobar that had borne the full brunt of the tsunami and taken the life of her parents and brother.

IMAGE: Meghana with Basil's family in their village.

For years, Meghana did not know her rescuer's name and reached out to an air force officer, a friend of her father to help locate him. In 2018, she returned to the island with the main purpose of meeting him and say thank you.

The air force station in Car Nicobar located him and helped her plan the meeting.

Yet it took her a week after landing there to feel brave enough to travel the short distance from her accommodation at the air force station to the tribal village of Kakana.

"I remembered his face the moment I saw him, and I told him 'I am just going to sit by your feet and look at you because I don't want to forget your face ever again'," says Meghana, 32, an architect-turned deep sea diver, long distance swimmer and an incredible young woman who has navigated her life through grief admirably.

It has been a long and hard journey for the air force officer's daughter, but she has fought every day, one step at a time.

And it were these forward going steps that had made her take the long flight from Hyderabad to the further most tip of India to meet her saviour -- an unknown aboriginal man who lived in a hut by the sea.

IMAGE: A deep sea diver, Meghana alongside a giant sperm whale in Mauritius.

"I was just crying. There was an IAF personnel who had made the first contact with him three months ago, an officer's wife, another liaison officer and people from his family and village, but to me it was just him," says Meghana in a phone conversation from Hyderabad.

Overwhelmed with tears that just did not seem to stop, she noticed that Basil was pointing to his feet and was wearing mismatched slippers.

"I asked him why was he wearing two different slippers and he said he had lost one when he left them outside the church."

"That was the lighter moment of our first meeting."

She had brought gifts like fishing rods, outdoor jackets, snorkels, fins, water boots resistant to snakes etc, things that could improve his daily living.

"I asked him what he needs, and he said a cycle. It was so humbling."

Meghana bought him a cycle and has gone back to meet him and his family many times.

He taught her how to do line fishing, and she cooked for them.

She had come for a few days and went on to stay for three months, meeting Basil and his family regularly.

Last month, she once again got an opportunity to meet him on the 20th remembrance event organised by the armed forces in Car Nicobar.

One of the things Meghana did when she met him this time was to outline his foot on a sheet of paper so that she could buy fins that would help him wade further into the sea to fish.

"He went into the sea every day from 6 am to 4 pm to fish for his family and got very little because the reefs are badly damaged and one has to go further into the water to catch fish."

"I thought the right sized fins would help him catch more fish."

IMAGE: Tracing his foot to buy the right sized fins.

Locating a man whose name she didn't know:

Meghana's search for her rescuer began during a time when she was stricken by a year-long debilitating illness. 'If this is the last thing I do, let me find out the name of my rescuer,' she thought and sought help from the IAF station in Car Nicobar to locate the man.

"Around the same time, he was bitten by a viper and thought he was dying," recalls Meghana who was herself in serious medical condition at that time.

"He told the village captain and his family that he wished he could know something about the girl he rescued -- and a couple of months later we met."

Meghana met Basil and his family regularly during that trip in 2018.

They communicated in broken Hindi and through words, eyes, nods and gestures.

The meeting made her feel better than what she had felt in a long, long time.

"That was the time I started going into the sea. I had more desire to live than any other time in my life and thought I must seek closure."

Those three months revived her health and the nagging problem that had crippled her for 8 months slipped away.

One day she asked Basil what was he doing on the cliff the day he found her?

He said he had come looking for his brother who had been taken by the tsunami.

"Did you find him?" I asked, and he replied, "I never went back because finding you was good enough."

SEE: Meghana Meets Her Saviour's Family
Beverly Behrmann, of Brattleboro, fills out her ballot at the Brattleboro polling station located at the American Legion during the midterm elections on Nov. 8, 2022.
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.

State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D, serves the Windham 4 District towns of Putney and Dummerston. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks on the north steps of the State Capitol to supporters at a Texas Public Policy Foundation Parent Empowerment rally on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 in Austin. Abbott and his supporters are pushing to have a voucher system, also known as school choice. Ricardo B. Brazziell/Associated Press Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick takes a knee while speaking during a keynote lunch at the Texas Public Policy Foundation Texas Policy Summit 2024 at the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center in Austin, Texas, on March 21, 2024. Lt. Gov. Patrick spoke on policy regarding energy, border control, school choice and taxes. Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune Ads from the Family Empowerment Coalition PAC are targeting at least a dozen Republican state House members who voted to strip the voucher proposal from a $7 billion education funding bill in November. Houston Chronicle Spectators in the House gallery await debate on HB1 the school voucher bill lust before noon on November 17, 2023. Bob Daemmrich

Republican leaders are fast-tracking the first step in privatizing Texas public schools, proving that when billionaires spend tens of millions to buy politicians, they get results.

The Texas Senate Education Committee on Tuesday approved Senate Bill 2, which would set aside $1 billion in taxpayer money to give some parents $10,000 vouchers to spend at private schools. Experience proves this bill is the proverbial camels nose under the tent.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the voucher bill second only to the state budget to signify the importance he places on passing it. Gov. Greg Abbott will officially name SB2 an emergency item on Sunday, granting the Legislature permission to pass it quickly.

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Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass donated $10 million to Abbotts campaign chest last year and $6 million to other politicians to defeat Republicans who have opposed school vouchers. West Texas billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have also given millions to Abbott, Patrick and other Republicans in their bid to close public schools, which they consider Marxist indoctrination factories.

Yass and Dunn support and operate private Christian schools that could grow if more states provide vouchers instead of financing public school districts.

Advocates say vouchers will force public schools to up their game or lose students. Critics say the goal is to ruin public education by taking away resources and the best students, setting them up for failure.

The truth is found in the numbers. SB2 proposes that the state provide parents $10,000 per student for private schools when the states basic allotment for public schools is only $6,160, unchanged since 2019.

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Parents of disabled students would receive $11,500 and homeschoolers $2,000. Children already enrolled in private schools would be eligible, a change from the 2023 bill that limited payments to public school parents.

If applications exceed capacity, 80% of available positions will be filled by lottery among students who previously attended public school and are either from low-income households or have a disability, an official analysis stated. The remaining slots will be filled by lottery among all other eligible applicants.

SB2 defines low income as five times the federal poverty level, or $129,100 a year for a family of three.

School voucher activists use a well-worn strategy pioneered in Ohio, Tennessee and Arizona. They sell vouchers as parental choice intended to help disadvantaged families. They always start small.

The New Yorker magazine published a detailed article on how Catholic bishops secretly drove Ohios voucher movement in the 1990s to boost enrollment at their Cleveland schools. Ohios program led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing all parents to spend state money at religious schools.

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Activists are now suing the state, claiming the program has resegregated schools.

Tennessees voucher program was first proposed in 2006 to help low-income families or students at low-performing schools. In 2015, lawmakers approved vouchers solely for students with disabilities. In 2019, Republicans expanded the program to all students in Nashville and Memphis.

By 2024, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was pushing for universal vouchers and still is.

Meanwhile, Arizona's universal school voucher program, which started in 2022, is bankrupting the state, causing a $1.4 billion shortfall. Lawmakers had to divert $333 million from water projects to pay for schools.

Two ideologies drive the school voucher movement. Christian nationalists believe secular education is why fewer Americans identify as Christian. Fiscal conservatives believe competition among private schools would be more efficient. Both groups want to eliminate public schools.

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Yet no argument is more infuriating than Republicans insisting parents should choose how their money is spent. Its not the parents money; its the taxpayers money.

As a childless, middle-aged Texan who has paid more than $150,000 in school property taxes over the past decade, I consider it my money, too. I dont want it to go to parochial schools.

A compromise solution would be allowing parents to take their property taxes and spend it on private schools. However, since nearly 20% of children live in poverty, 25% of parents lack secure employment and 33% live in households with high housing costs, they dont have enough money to give private schools the new revenue they desire.

The money would not be well spent, anyway. Studies show private schools, on average, are no better than public schools. Family demographics determine educational outcomes far more than school choice.

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DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, January 31. Tajikistans Somon Air has signed an agreement with the leasing company DAE Capital (UAE) for the purchase of two new Boeing 737-8 aircraft, Trend reports via the company.

These aircraft will join the airline's fleet in 2026. An agreement for the purchase of two aircraft was signed in Dushanbe by CEO of Somon Air Abdulkosim Valiev and President of the leasing company DAE Capital David Houlihan.

The signing of this agreement is part of our long-term strategy to modernize the fleet and improve the quality of service. Boeing 737-8 aircraft are distinguished by high fuel efficiency, increased flight range, and improved operational characteristics, which will allow the airline to further improve the level of comfort and safety for passengers. The new Boeing 737-8 will allow us to expand our route network, increase operational efficiency, and offer our passengers modern conditions for comfortable flights, as well as increase the frequency of flights, said Valiev.

Somon Air, a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has operated internationally since 2008. The fleet consists of Boeing 737-800 and 737-900 aircraft. Somon Air currently operates regular flights between Tajikistan and Germany, the UAE, Turkiye, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

DAE Capital is one of the largest leasing companies in the aviation industry, specializing in providing modern and efficient aircraft to air carriers around the world.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 31. French companies explored fresh paths for collaboration with Uzbekistan, Trend reports.

The news follows a meeting between a delegation of French entrepreneurs led by Claude Imoven, a leading representative of French businesses in international cooperation from the MEDEF International association, and Jamshid Kuchkarov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan.

The meeting brought together representatives from major French companies, including Societe Generale, VEOLIA, Iveco Bus, EDF International Networks, Eiffage International, SUEZ, Voltalia, Orano, Airbus, Aeroports de Paris, TotalEnergies Renewables Uzbekistan, ALSTOM, and Egis. These corporate representatives provided insights into their activities, expertise, and potential areas of collaboration.

The sides focused on key areas of cooperation, including public-private partnerships to expand collaboration in infrastructure projects, promoting green growth by enhancing energy efficiency and implementing green technologies, and developing the energy sector through modernization of heat supply systems, improvement of electricity distribution, and utilization of hydroelectric power. The discussions also covered transport and road construction initiatives such as the modernization of airports and highways, agricultural and water supply projects aimed at improving irrigation systems, integrating modern technologies, and optimizing water resource management.

Furthermore, the parties explored ways to support the private sector, including expanding financial instruments and facilitating the transformation and privatization of state-owned enterprises.

Both sides emphasized the importance of leveraging international expertise and adopting innovative approaches to drive progress in these sectors. At the conclusion of the meeting, the parties agreed to strengthen cooperative ties, expand collaborative projects, and enhance the exchange of ideas to further economic and trade relations between France and Uzbekistan.

MEDEF International (Mouvement des Entreprises de France International) is France's largest business association, supporting French companies in entering the international market. The organization plays a crucial role in fostering economic and trade relations with foreign countries and maintains economic cooperation with over 120 nations worldwide.

As to France's relation with Uzbekistan, France seeks to strengthen collaboration with this nation to mitigate risks linked to the importation of certain minerals crucial for the green energy transition. These minerals are crucial for the manufacturing of various technology, including smartphones, wind turbines, and rechargeable batteries for electric cars. Although relatively underexplored, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian nations possess the capacity to aid France and other EU countries in diminishing their substantial reliance on China for critical minerals, thus alleviating the risks linked to their technological progress.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
When U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the release of U.S. citizen Anastasia Nuhfer from detention in Belarus on January 26, the news caught many by surprise. Her name had never appeared in any public statements by U.S. officials, nor was she included in the official list of U.S. citizens detained abroad.

Perhaps even more puzzling, her detention was not known to Belarusian human rights activists either -- she was not mentioned on a registry of political prisoners on the website of Vyasna, one of Belarus's leading human rights organizations.

But an investigation by RFE/RL's Belarus Service has uncovered more details about Nuhfer's life in the United States and why she made so many trips to Belarus.

Twin Sister

Public records show the 48-year-old -- who also goes by her married name of Anastasia Putnam -- residing in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, with her adult children. According to her social-media postings, she ran a dog boarding facility and had done volunteer work with Wegotcha!, a nonprofit that makes meals for the underprivileged and families with sick children.

Her connections to Belarus run deep. From her postings on Facebook and Instagram, it appears that Nuhfer had a twin sister there and regularly visited Belarus with her children.

According to Cyberpartisans, a group of IT specialists who oppose the authoritarian Belarusian government, Nuhfer was born Anastasia Uladzimirauna Razhkova in Minsk in 1977 to a doctor mother and entrepreneur father. After studying at a pedagogical university, she emigrated to the United States in 1995. The group claims that she was in possession of a Belarusian passport intended for citizens who permanently live abroad.

U.S. public records show that, after emigrating to the United States, Nuhfer married a U.S. citizen in 1999. A few years later, the couple had children, who were both granted American and Belarusian citizenship.

According to a LinkedIn profile, Nuhfer graduated from Arkansas Tech University with a degree in information systems, followed by a master's in information systems management from the University of Arkansas. She then worked as a systems administrator at a construction and technology corporation.

In 2013, she married another U.S. citizen and took the name Nuhfer, the name under which she is currently registered in her passport.

Social media posts paint a picture of someone deeply connected to her Belarusian heritage. In recent years, Nuhfer toured her homeland, visiting historic sites including the Nyasvizh and Kosava palaces, the Ahinski estate in Zalesse, and the cities of Pinsk, Vileyka, Zaslauyes, and Minsk. She also went to Russia, with visits to St. Petersburg and Karelia.

Mysterious Detention

The circumstances of her detention are still shrouded in mystery. A former senior Belarusian diplomat told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity, that Anastasia Nuhfer's arrest was linked to the 2020 protests but did not provide any details.

Following a contentious presidential election in August 2020, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to protest the hard-line regime of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko, citing widespread fraud. The authorities responded swiftly, beating protesters and arresting over 30,000 people, many of whom alleged they had been tortured and mistreated while in custody.

The anonymous diplomat revealed to AP that Lukashenko himself had offered to release Nuhfer "as a gesture of goodwill," while refusing to set free Belarusian opposition figures and human rights activists.

From her social-media posts, Nuhfer appears to have been in Belarus during and after the 2020 election campaign. Later, on October 13, 2020, she shared an Instagram post featuring a video of a musician playing the dulcimer, a wooden stringed instrument, with an election poster visible in the background. The post was accompanied by the caption: "Election Day in Belarus. The events of that day and the following days have pushed this wonderful music to the background."

Not Politically Active

Two years later, in a Facebook post from March 15, 2022, she hinted that she had been affected by the political situation in Belarus. "It was not easy to focus on my studies in light of the events in my home country that directly affected me and my family, but I managed," she wrote.

Nuhfer's social media presence shows no obvious signs of political activism. Her Instagram account mainly featured shared humorous videos from channels called "Belarus Brain" and "My Country Belarus."

It is still not clear when exactly Nuhfer was detained. According to AP, citing the U.S. State Department, Nuhfer was detained in early December 2024. Her last post on social media was on December 7, 2024.

Earlier this month, a consular officer from Washington reportedly gained access to an unnamed American prisoner in Belarus, which was noted as a rare case.

Nuhfer's passport was due to expire in January 2025, leading to speculation that she was in the process of trying to renew it.

RFE/RL's Belarus Service has contacted Nuhfer and her family but has not yet received a response.
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter.

I'm RFE/RL's Iran correspondent Kian Sharifi. In this edition I'm exploring Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's recent comments on engaging the United States and whether Iran is ready to make big concessions.

What You Need To Know

 Khamenei Gives Blessing To Talks With Trump: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei this week appeared to green-light talks with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in the hopes of lifting sanctions. Iranian officials had been signaling a desire to talk to Trump, but talks can't take place without Khamenei's say-so.

 Iran Frozen Out As World Warms Up To Syria's New Rulers: Syria's new government has reportedly held more than 200 diplomatic engagements since coming to power on December 8, including with Western and Arab delegations and, notably, Russian diplomats. Iran, however, is nowhere to be seen. Iran and Russia helped former President Bashar al-Assad fight rebel forces that now run the country. The Kremlin seems to have established some rapport with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, but the Islamic republic has been entirely frozen out.

 U.S. Federal Funding Freeze Spooks Iran-Focused Advocacy Groups: NGOs and advocacy groups that focus on Iran have raised concerns about their work being impacted by the Trump administration's decision to pause federal grants and loans. The groups, some of which work on facilitating Internet access and monitoring human rights violations in Iran, argue that Tehran stands to benefit from the funding freeze. Hard-line media in Iran have welcomed the decision. A judge has blocked the temporary freeze, but the White House has said it will pursue its implementation.

The Big Issue

Expectations Vs. Reality: What Is Iran Ready To Give Up?

Khamenei told a gathering of state officials and envoys from Muslim nations on January 28 that Tehran should be wary of "enmity and grudges" concealed behind "diplomatic smiles."

But he followed that up by saying that when "you know the person you're dealing with," it's possible to "make a deal but you also know what to do."

This comment is widely seen as a green light to sit down with the Trump administration -- something that seemed impossible just a few years ago.

Why It Matters: Iran has suffered setbacks abroad and is facing challenges at home, not least a struggling economy and weak currency -- both exacerbated by U.S. sanctions.

Iran wants the sanctions lifted, but the question is what Khamenei is willing to negotiate away. Iran is at its weakest and most vulnerable in decades. With its network of regional proxies politically and militarily degraded, the only real bargaining chips Tehran is left with are its advanced nuclear and missile programs.

There are no good options for Iran: It insists its nuclear program is peaceful and meant to generate power, while its missile program is an integral part of its defensive doctrine. Budging on either will upset the Islamic republic's core support base, but not making any meaningful concessions will only add to international pressure and further sink the economy.

What's Being Said: Supporters of engaging Trump have taken Khamenei's comments to mean he is backing "cautious negotiations" with the U.S. president.

But opponents of talks with the West insist that it would be "naive" to take Khamenei's remarks as a green light to open negotiations with Trump.

Khamenei has perfected equivocation, speaking in vague terms that open up his comments to interpretation. He does not like to publicly commit to a position, likely because it shields him from taking responsibility when things go south.

Expert Opinion: "Khamenei's main plan is to buy time and manage the situation to navigate the second Trump presidency with minimal risk, based on the implicit acknowledgment of the regime's weakened position both domestically and internationally," says Ali Afshari, a U.S.-based political analyst and adjunct professor at George Washington University.

What's Ahead

These are the stories we'll be watching between now and the next issue of the Farda Briefing:

Iran has been waiting to receive advanced Sukhoi-35 fighter jets from Russia for nearly two years. A military official's comment this week about Tehran having purchased the warplanes has observers wondering whether delivery is close.

Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref will attend a summit of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on January 31-February 1.

RFE/RL's Radio Farda has interviewed Oscar-nominated Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose movie The Seed of the Sacred Fig is up for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in March. You can watch a sneak peek of the interview here.

That's all from me for now.

Until next time,



Kian Sharifi



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.
Israels devastating war in the Gaza Strip degraded the fighting capabilities of Hamas, the U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group.

But the militant group remains the dominant power in the Palestinian enclave, despite suffering heavy losses during 15 months of Israeli bombardment.

Hamas is gradually taking back control even if it is very much diminished, said Nimrod Goren, head of the Jerusalem-based Mitvim Institute.

Israel had pledged to continue its war in Gaza until it eliminated Hamas. But the sides agreed a cease-fire and hostage-exchange deal on January 15.

Hamas carried out an attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israels retaliatory war in Gaza killed over 46,000 people, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, destroyed much of its infrastructure, and displaced most of its 2.3 million residents.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, lost most of its political and military leadership during the war. Its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in a suspected Israeli attack in Iran in July. His successor, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October.

Israel claims that it killed up to 20,000 Hamas fighters during the war, a figure contested by the militant group, which has not said how many of its members were killed.

No Alternatives

Despite its losses, Hamas has retained its tight grip on power in Gaza.

Hamas doesn't have to be as strong as before because it is still stronger than any other alternative, said Jerome Drevon, senior analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Even so, the group appears to be replenishing its ranks.

Senior U.S. officials have said that Hamas has recruited as many new fighters as it lost during the war, although they are not considered to be as experienced.

Drevon said Israels strategy to solve the Hamas issue militarily has failed. The alternative, he said, is a political settlement with the Palestinians.

But that is opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right members of his ruling coalition.

For them, there is no political compromise, said Drevon about the Israeli far-right. It's only about reaching their full victory."

On January 19, Israels far-right national-security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, resigned from Netanyahus cabinet to protest the Gaza truce deal. He said the agreement would destroy all of Israels achievements.

Iran's Ally

Drevon said that, despite surviving the war with Israel, replenishing its arsenal will be more difficult for Hamas, which has received some financial and military support from Iran.

Israel has imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on Gaza since 2007. It controls Gazas 12-kilometer-long land border with Egypt. Israel had repeatedly accused Hamas of smuggling weapons through underground tunnels from Egypt.

He said that Iran is likely to continue supporting Hamas, but bankrolling the group will no longer be a main concern.

Iran's priority is Iran, Drevon said. For them, what matters is to find a new agreement with Western countries and the U.S.

Iran is weaker and more vulnerable than it has been in years after suffering a series of major blows.

During a punishing 2024, Tehran saw its regional influence diminished and its military deterrence against archfoes Israel and the United States weakened.

The Islamic republic has tough decisions to make after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, which Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from in 2018 during his first term, also expires later this year.

Even if Iranian assistance shrinks, Hamas is still likely to be a major player in the Palestinian territories, given how entrenched it is in Gaza and the support it maintains in the occupied West Bank.

It's not going to be destroyed, said Drevon.
US President Donald Trump has urged Russia to agree to a 30-day cease-fire, warning he would slap additional sanctions on the country if it refused the US proposal, as Moscow made more gains on the battlefield.

"Russia has no way out but cease-fire. If needed we will sanction it, but I hope we won't need to," Trump told reporters at the White House on March 12.

"In a financial sense we can do very unpleasant, very bad things, devastating for Russia, but I don't want to," he said.

His comments come a day after Kyiv agreed to the temporary cease-fire following nine hours of talks with Trump administration officials in Saudi Arabia.

Trump has made ending Russia's more than three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine a top priority since taking office for a second term less than two months ago, quickly dispatching his top officials to Moscow and Kyiv to prepare the groundwork for peace talks.

He has used Washington's significant leverage over Ukraine -- namely military aid and intelligence sharing -- to get Kyiv to agree to the cease-fire proposal, which if implemented, would leave almost 20 percent of the country in Russia's hands for the time being, at least.

But Trump lacks that type of leverage with Russia, which has navigated sweeping US and European sanctions placed on its economy following the invasion much better than most experts forecasted.

Putin may seek to drag out talks with the US over a cease-fire to improve Russia's position on the battlefield and hence at the negotiating table when and if Moscow and Kyiv hammer out a peace deal.

As Trump spoke at the White House, Putin was visiting troops in Russia's Kursk region, where fierce fighting is currently taking place and Moscow's forces are advancing.

Ukraine seized a swath of the Kursk region in a stealth incursion in August seen as an effort to divert Russian forces from eastern Ukraine and use the territory as a bargaining chip during any peace talks.

That strategy is now at risk of failing as Russian forces slowly push the Ukrainians out of Kursk. Russians forces have retaken more than half the territory initially captured by Ukraine.

Putin's visit to Kursk was his first since the incursion and signals the momentum Russia has in that theater of the war. The Kremlin leader urged his troops to retake the region in its entirety "as soon as possible."

Ukraine's top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, said that fighting continued in and around Sudzha, the largest town in the part of the region that Ukraine occupied.

Unconfirmed reports on March 12 indicated that Ukraine has begun to draw back units as Russian officials claimed their troops had captured more settlements, including Sudzha.

"Despite increased pressure from the Russian and North Korean forces, we will maintain the defense of the Kursk region as long as it is appropriate and necessary," Syrskiy wrote on Telegram.

In a Facebook post, Syrskiy said that saving soldiers lives is a priority and that Ukrainian troops "maneuver to more favorable positions, if necessary," wording often used top describe a retreat.

Concessions?

Trump hinted that Ukraine would have to make concessions on land, something more and more experts say is inevitable given Russia's momentum on the battlefield.

"When we talk cease-fire [with Ukraine], we talked land, who's withdrawing -- we discussed a lot of things [with Ukraine]," Trump said.

"We don't want to waste time, people are dying. Russia is not in the best situation now. I hope [Putin] gets a cease-fire."

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the cease-fire proposal and said he hoped it would be used as a draft for a lasting peace deal that included security guarantees for Ukraine.

"It's now up to Russia what is next," he said at a March 12 press conference, and whether "it wants to continue its aggression against Ukraine or not."

On the streets of Kyiv, some Ukrainians told RFE/RL's Current Time that they doubted whether Russia would sign on to, and adhere to, a cease-fire deal.

"I'm not sure what to say, but it all seems implausible, frankly speaking," said one Kyiv man, while a woman in the capital said the cease-fire talks were "meaningless without Russia taking part."

Moscow has so far declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal for the 30-day cease-fire, and it's unclear whether Putin has made up his mind on the agreement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "carefully studying" the joint US-Ukraine statement issued following the Jeddah talks and will wait to comment until Russian negotiators receive more detailed information from Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who represented the United States at the talks, said Washington "will have contact with Russians" today.

Trump on March 11 said he would soon speak with Putin to secure his commitment. Mike Waltz, the White House national-security adviser, spoke with his Russian counterpart on March 12, while Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff also planned to travel to Moscow, possibly to meet Putin.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe held a phone call with Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, late on March 11, the Interfax news agency reported.

Rubio told reporters on March 12 in first comments since leaving the talks in Jeddah that the United States hoped to have a positive answer from Russia toward the cease-fire deal and "strongly urge[s] Russians to end all hostilities.

Konstantin Kosachev, an influential lawmaker in Russia's upper house of parliament, seemed to imply that Moscow would not simply accept the US-backed ceasefire proposal but attach conditions, taking into account that Russian forces have the momentum on the battlefield.

"Russia is advancing, and therefore it will be different with Russia," Kosachyov said in a Telegram post.

"Any agreements (with all understanding of the need for compromise) will be on our terms, not American," he said. "And this is not boasting, but an understanding that real agreements are still being written there, on the front line. Which Washington should also understand."

Rubio also said Ukraine will need a strong deterrent to prevent future attacks and that Europeans will "need to be involved in this regard." He added that further discussions would need to tackle to topic of the European Union lifting sanctions on the Russian economy.

"I would imagine that in any negotiation, if we get there, hopefully with the Russians, they will raise these European sanctions that have been imposed upon them," Rubio said.

Moscow has so far been against a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Russia's position during an interview with three right-wing US bloggers that it will under no conditions accept the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine.

Minerals Deal

Washington and Kyiv could sign a framework agreement as early as this week on sharing the revenue generated from Ukraine's mineral resources.

Trump and Zelenskyy intended to sign the deal during their meeting at the Oval Office on February 28. However, the two got into a heated, public exchange over security guarantees for Ukraine and the meeting was abruptly ended without any deal.

Rubio cautioned that he "would not couch [the] minerals deal as a security guarantee." But he added that "if the United States has a vested economic interest thats generating revenue for our people as well as for the people of Ukraine, wed have a vested interest in protecting it if it were to be challenged or threatened."

The parade of comments come after Russia and Ukraine traded air attacks overnight just hours after Kyiv agreed to accept the cease-fire proposal.

Two Russian missile strikes hit the central Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih on March 12, killing one person, while a separate attack killed four crew members of a cargo ship near the southern port city of Odesa.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air-defense systems shot down six drones overnight on March 12, one over Ukraine's Russia-annexed Crimea and five over the Black Sea. The Krymsky Veter Telegram channel reported loud explosions and air-raid sirens over Crimean towns and near Russian military sites.

The United States announced after the talks in Saudi Arabia that it would immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and restore military aid to Ukraine, which could be a boost to Ukrainian forces. Ukraine's battlefield positions have been under heavy pressure, particularly in Russia's Kursk region.
Pakistan has adopted a new law that criminalizes online disinformation in a move that the authorities say is aimed at combating the spread of fake news on social media.

But critics say the law is designed to quash dissent in the South Asian country, where independent media have faced growing censorship in recent years.

Signed into law by the president on January 29, the law has triggered protests by journalists across the country of some 240 million people.

"This is a complete clampdown on free speech and the right to a fair trial," said Munizae Jahangir, a TV journalist based in the capital, Islamabad.

Under the new law, anyone found guilty of "intentionally disseminating" false or fake information faces a prison sentence of up to three years and fines of 2 million rupees ($7,100).

The law calls for the establishment of a new regulatory authority. which will have its own investigation agency and tribunals.

Jahangir said the law allows the authorities "to accuse somebody on very flimsy charges and put them behind bars" and give "unfettered powers" to the government regulatory authority tasked with investigating and adjudicating cases.

'Excessive Criminalization'

The new law is an amendment to the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, which was passed in 2017 to combat online hate speech, harassment, and cybercrime.

Activists say hundreds of journalists and activists have been targeted under that law. Critics say the successive governments have used it to stamp out dissent, particularly criticism of Pakistan's all-powerful military.

Hundreds of members of the Pashtun and Baluch ethnic minorities have faced cybercrime and defamation cases for criticizing the military's brutal crackdown on Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Members of the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI), the leading opposition party, have also faced a clampdown.

During the past two years, scores of PTI members and leaders have been targeted for protesting the jailing of their imprisoned leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the military's alleged meddling in politics.

"Everything they were doing in practice has been legalized through this [new] amendment," said Farieha Aziz, co-founder of the nongovernmental digital rights group Bolo Bhi.

She said the new law will strengthen state censorship. The new regulator created under the law requires social media companies to register with them and can issue fines and directives. The categories of content it can block has also been expanded.

"It's broad over-regulation and excessive criminalization on weak grounds," she said. "And that has a substantive effect on freedom of expression."



'Black Day'



During the past year, Islamabad has attempted to block virtual private networks (VPNs) after imposing a China-style Internet firewall in the country.

The firewall has been blamed for Internet outages and slowdowns that have disrupted businesses and triggered widespread complaints in the country.

Babu Ram Pant, deputy South Asia director of campaigns with global rights watchdog Amnesty International, said the new law is "in step with the deployment of intrusive digital surveillance technologies" but "fail to incorporate any human rights safeguards."

Journalists across the country observed a "black day" on January 28.

Islamabad Police Clash With Pakistani Journalists Protesting Controversial Law No media source currently available 0:00 0:01:16 0:00

Beh Lih Yi, the Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, a global press freedom watchdog, said the new law is "deeply concerning" because it "will disproportionately curtail freedom of speech in Pakistan."

Asad Iqbal Butt, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said digital freedoms have already been over-regulated.

He said this was "to the detriment of people's right to information and connectivity, both of which are integral to a 21st century democracy."
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 31. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan put their heads together to explore ways to strengthen their ties, Trend reports.

The matter was reviewed at a meeting between Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Head of the Presidential Administration of Kyrgyzstan Adylbek Kasymaliyev.

Both parties noted that the comprehensive strategic partnership between the countries, based on ties of friendship and good neighborliness, is developing rapidly, and significant joint projects are being implemented.

Furthermore, talks were held to ensure that the agreements struck in trade and economic cooperation, transport and logistics, energy, industrial collaboration, agriculture, cultural and humanitarian fields, and other areas are put into action without a hitch.

Note that trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan reached $846.4 million in 2024. This is 14.4 percent less compared to the same period last year ($968.3 million in 2023).

Kyrgyzstan has secured a position within the upper echelon of Uzbekistan's trading partners, ranking among the top 20 entities in terms of bilateral commerce.

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Hundreds of people, mainly students, set off from Belgrade on a two-day walk to Novi Sad in the latest of a wave of protests in Serbia. The demonstrations started in November after the deadly collapse of a railway station roof, a tragedy that protesters blame on government negligence and corruption. The protests drove the country's prime minister to step down earlier this week, but students say they will continue until all their demands are met.
For months now, thousands of North Korean soldiers have been storming trenches, dodging artillery fire, fighting alongside Russian troops trying to dislodge Ukrainian forces from Russian territory.



When they first appeared last fall, the North Korean deployment worried Western officials, who feared they would pummel Ukrainian troops, already-beleaguered elsewhere the 1,100-kilometer front line, and force a retreat.



That didn't happen. And now, North Korean troops are reportedly being pulled back from the front lines. The reason, according to a New York Times report on January 31, appears to be high casualties.



Ukraine authorities had mixed assessments of the Times report: One military intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Current Time that North Korean troops indeed had been rotated out, due to big losses but characterized their movement as standard operations.



Ukraines special operation command, however, told RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service that North Korean troops had not been observed in areas where special forces were fighting for approximately three weeks: Likely having suffered significant losses, they were forced to retreat."



If a North Korean withdrawal, or even a major retreat, is confirmed, it would be a potentially embarrassing setback for Russian commanders -- not to mention a blow to the notion that the North Korean troops would be able to make a decisive battlefield difference.

Heres what we know so far.



From Pyongyang To Kursk



After weeks of Ukrainian warnings, bolstered by satellite images and other open-source intelligence, North Korean troops started appearing in Russian regions bordering Ukraine in mid-October. More than 11,000 in all, officials said at the time.



At the time, it wasnt fully clear why Russian officials had turned to Pyongyang for help; some experts suggested President Vladimir Putin was trying to avoid calling a new mobilization, or sending conscripts into battle -- something that would spark opposition inside Russia.



Western officials portrayed it as a sign of desperation. Western estimates put Russias casualties since the start of the all-out invasion in February 2022 at more than 700,000 killed or wounded.



This is an indication that he may be in even more trouble than most people realize, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in October, referring to Putin. He went tin-cupping early on to get additional weapons and materials from North Korea.

Ukrainian officials predicted they would end up in Kursk, a border region where Ukraine had surprised Russia with an invasion two months prior.

Indeed, Ukrainian units reported multiple encounters with North Koreans and have even taken some prisoners.



Have They Made A Difference On The Battlefield?



When Ukraine punched across the border in August 2024, its forces -- some of which included Kyivs most experienced, battle-hardened units -- quickly seized a sizable amount of territory in Kursk: about 1,300 square kilometers at its maximum.

It was the biggest invasion of Russian territory by a foreign military since World War II.



Russias defense was initially shambolic, and disorganized-- which prompted surprise and outrage, particularly among local residents. But commanders redeployed units, slowly pushing Ukrainian troops back. North Korean soldiers deployed in October; Ukrainian officials reported first clashes with them in early November.



Russia and North Koreas combined forces to date have retaken a little more than half the territory Ukrainian forces had seized in Kursk.

Days after the New Year, Ukrainian commanders ordered a new offensive in the Kursk region, to roll back North Korean gains.

The reasoning again was unclear, though some experts said it might have been to gain territory and jockey for position ahead of possible peace negotiations that U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for.
After days without water in a ruined basement at the front lines, Ukrainian soldier Vladyslav turned away from his comrades and peed into a bottle. "Then it cooled down and I drank it," he recalls. Vladyslav, 23, was one of two fighters ordered to hold a position in Klishchiyivka, a village in the eastern Donetsk region, for two weeks in the summer of 2024. Instead, the men endured two months in the position where at times hunger and thirst were more fearsome enemies than the Russian assault teams trying to dislodge them. Klishchiyivka offers a strategic viewpoint across the surrounding landscape and has been fought over intensely since November 2022. The settlement was home to hundreds of people before the war but has been destroyed by fighting. The ruined village is currently under Russian control.

Vladyslav told RFE/RL that his comrade were ordered to take over an unoccupied basement in the village. "They told me: 'Go and man the position, there's no one else there,'" he said. Inside the basement, however, the pair discovered a starving Ukrainian soldier whose condition foreshadowed what they were about to endure. "He was so thin and exhausted his bones were showing through." The man would stay on with the new arrivals through everything that would follow. At active frontline positions such as the one held by Vladyslav and his comrades, enemy reconnaissance drones constantly scan for movement, which is relayed to artillery and first-person view (FPV) drone teams as soon as soldiers are spotted. As a result, supplies are generally delivered by drone, but in wet or stormy weather, quadcopters are unable to fly and soldiers go without food or water. "At first, we tried to nurse our exhausted comrade, but we were short of water from day one." Vladyslav told RFE/RL. "We packed a lot, but on the way to the position we had handed water to guys we met on the path so we arrived with only one bottle." By the second week there was no water at all and the soldiers began to drink their own urine. "We thought, well, that's it -- we have to do something," Vladyslav said. He began scratching marks on the wall of the basement to mark the passing days.

When their nearby field headquarters was hit by a Russian strike, communication with the outside world ceased entirely. Although he had been urged not to leave the basement, Vladyslav says, "I wanted to drink so much that when I stood up I was shaking." After clambering out of the artillery-ravaged position, Vladyslav found a well nearby. "I used a helmet to scoop up the water. The first time I brought some to the basement, that simple water from the well tasted sweet." But the desperate mission for a drink was spotted by Russian reconnaissance. Drones, mortars, and artillery began pounding the Ukrainian position, then the men were attacked with gas. The use of banned tear gas has been confirmed on the Ukrainian battlefield, and soldiers say gas is often dropped in canisters from drones. "There was so much that it was coming through my gas mask. Everything was burning, it was hard to breathe," Vladyslav says. "The only thing that saved me was when I realized I had to breathe calmly, that I couldn't panic. It was only when I breathed slowly that the filter [of my gas mask] worked."

Between attacks on their position, hunger began to gnaw at the men and they watched as their bodies became "ugly" from malnutrition. Vladyslav estimates his weight dropped to around 50 kilograms from his usual 75. "At one point we were scraping up broken bits of instant noodles from the ground." When drones finally made it to their position and dropped supplies, Vladyslav recalls, "we were in heaven. I learned how to cook there; they dropped mashed potatoes, instant noodles, and biscuits." Eventually Vladyslav's group were able to make sorties around the village of Klishchiyivka, gathering what food and water they could scrounge. In turn, Russian troops made their own forays into the ravaged village. One group of Russian fighters stalking through the settlement were spotted by Ukrainian drones and came under attack. The Russian troops dropped much of what they were carrying and ran for safety. Vladyslav says he clambered out of his basement position and found an abandoned backpack. "Inside was a phone, biscuits, stew, and some cereals." After dragging the prize to his embattled position he says, "the guys were so happy that there was food in there."

During another Russian foray, invading troops tried to storm the basement where Vladyslav and his comrades were holed up. "We radioed to command that we were being attacked, then got ready to fight back. One of our drones was launched and started dropping bomblets on them. When one of the Russian fighters ran into our position, we shot him with rifles and our light machine gun. You can still see his blood on the concrete." Vladyslav claims not to have experienced fear during the assault. "You're just running on adrenaline. You take up your position, switch off the safety on your weapon and wait. Then, as soon as the enemy comes in, you shoot and it's done. You don't really think about anything else." After a full month, the men were told they would finally be replaced, but the tenuous battlefield situation meant the rotation was delayed still further. With food and water scarce and under frequent shelling, Vladyslav says the strain at times was hard to bear. "There were moments when I was under so much stress I wanted to shoot myself. My comrades talked through every topic we could think of. It was hard; all three of us were crying. We just wanted to go home." Emotional relief for the young soldier came when his wife, who is living outside Ukraine, was able to reach him once by telephone. "She called my commander, then headquarters connected us through the radio and we talked. I was so happy it felt like I was flying through space. Then I spoke to my daughter. In that moment I could just forget everything else."


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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 31. Uzbekistan and French companies signed a series of agreements for project implementation in energy, water supply, geological exploration, tourism, and the development of public infrastructure and transportation, Trend reports.

The documents were signed within the framework of the Uzbek-French Business Forum, bringing together representatives from over 50 leading French companies, including AIRBUS, Experto Consulting, Iveco Group, MND, Roxalex, Suez, Societe Generale, ALSTOM, Veolia Energy, EDF International Networks, Voltalia, TotalEnergies, and others.

The Uzbek delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan Khurram Teshabayev, while the French side was headed by Claude Imoven, Chairman of MEDEF International and Chairman of Orano.

During the forum, participants were briefed on Uzbekistans favorable investment climate, legal protections for foreign investors, and the countrys strong industrial and investment potential. Particular emphasis was placed on successful French business ventures in Uzbekistan, spanning energy, mining, water supply, transportation, and tourism.

A dedicated business dialogue session was also held, featuring senior officials, industry leaders, and executives from French enterprises. In his opening remarks, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Jamshid Khodjaev, highlighted the rapid expansion of economic ties between the two countries, marked by substantial growth in recent years.

Recognizing the significant potential for further collaboration, French business representatives were invited to explore new investment opportunities. The forums open format facilitated direct discussions, enabling participants to present proposals and introduce new initiatives in areas of mutual interest.

To further enhance engagement, participants were invited to bilateral B2B and B2G meetings, providing a platform for in-depth discussions on investment and trade agreements while expanding professional networks.

Over the past seven years, trade turnover has increased nearly fivefold, reaching $1.13 billion. The number of French companies operating in Uzbekistan has quadrupled, with 50 enterprises currently engaged in sectors such as construction, agriculture, and tourism.

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St. Attractas National School in Ballaghaderreen, closed since last Friday due to no power, got good news this evening as its electricity was restored ahead of schedule.

The large primary school, which was not due to be reconnected until Tuesday, will now reopen tomorrow morning, Friday.

Earlier today, the principal Noel Loftus said he and the school community felt abandoned as 325 children and staff were forced to remain at home since last Friday.

Follow extensive media coverage today about the issue, both locally and nationally, Mr Loftus confirmed to the Herald that ESB crews arrived at the school this evening to reconnect the electricity.

Parents were informed of the good news earlier this evening.
A local TD has urged the Government to accommodate people, who face the prospect of another week without power and water, in the aftermath of the worst storm to hit the nation in living memory.

Michael Fitzmaurice, TD, accepted that people had been incredibly patient as emergency crews continue to work around the clock to restore power and water supplies.

As the days go on, it is now clear that many thousands of families are facing prolonged outages, with some reconnection estimates now stretching beyond another week, said Deputy Fitzmaurice.

From what I have seen myself, given the scale of the damage to infrastructure, the targets being set by ESB Networks are realistic, if not optimistic. The reality is that many affected areas will likely take at least as long as predicted to restore, if not longer, he continued.

Deputy Fitzmaurice said that the Government must step in and put an emergency accommodation scheme in place.

Families, who have been without basic facilities to cook, wash, or heat their homes for a week  now staring down another  need a solution.

The Cabinet should convene an emergency meeting without delay and sign off on a straightforward, accessible scheme that allows those affected to avail of hotel accommodation in their local area.

This should not be a drawn-out, bureaucratic mess. Those affected should be able to use their MPRN number to access the scheme and the costs should be shared between the State and ESB Networks.

We have seen before that when there is political will, solutions can be delivered. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ireland welcomed over 100,000 refugees and provided emergency accommodation at a cost of over 2.5 billion. That was the morally right thing to do, but now, the morally right thing to do for Irish families who have been left stranded in the cold is to show the same urgency in response to their needs.

The bottom line is simple  thousands of people are suffering through no fault of their own, mainly in rural areas. The Government must act now. The emergency crews are doing everything they can, but for the families still left without power and water, the State has a duty to step in and ensure they have access to the most basic necessities.

The new Government has an opportunity now to take the first step in showing they respect the people of Rural Ireland. If they fail to do so, I fear what will be coming down the line, Deputy Fitzmaurice concluded.
'Viksit Bharat by 2047 crucial', says PM Narendra Modi On Budget session 2025

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation before the Budget Session

'Viksit Bharat by 2047 crucial', says PM Narendra Modi On Budget session 2025 Latest News : Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation before the Budget Session, emphasizing the government's dedication to achieving a "Viksit Bharat" (Developed India) by 2047. This year marks the first since 2014 without foreign interference ahead of the parliamentary session.

PM Modi highlighted the government's mission mode approach to innovation, inclusivity, and investment. He expressed confidence that the Budget Session would bring new energy and confidence in reaching the goal of a developed India by 2047, coinciding with the centenary of the nation's independence.

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He also mentioned that the upcoming Budget, to be presented on February 1, would act as a catalyst for change, bringing new hope and energy to the nation. He prayed for the blessings of Maa Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to support the poor and middle class.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Economic Survey 2024-25, which will provide an official assessment of the nation's economic performance and highlight the challenges faced by the country. Following the survey, the Union Budget will address key legislative matters, including potential changes in income tax slabs, infrastructure development, and allocations for rural development and education.

PM Modi called on the citizens of India to support the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, emphasizing the collective effort of 140 crore Indians to make this dream a reality. He also expressed confidence that every Member of Parliament, especially the young ones, would contribute to this agenda during the session.

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Punjab Receives Top Awards in Green Schools Programme

unjab has been awarded the prestigious 'Best State' and 'Best District'

Punjab Receives Top Awards in Green Schools Programme Latest News : Punjab has been awarded the prestigious 'Best State' and 'Best District' accolades under the Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) Green Schools Programme. This honor was earned by achieving the highest audit registrations and report submissions. An impressive 4,734 schools from Punjab submitted their audit reports, with 70 schools receiving the distinguished 'green' rating.

The district of Sangrur was recognized with the Best District Award, having the most submissions at 503. The awards were presented in New Delhi by CSE Director General Sunita Narain. Dr. Kulbir Bath, Punjab's State Nodal Coordinator, emphasized the importance of these accomplishments, which were also acknowledged by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on social media.

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The Green Schools Programme, a 19-year-old initiative, encourages schools to conduct comprehensive environmental audits and transform their campuses into sustainability models. Punjab's enthusiasm for the program has grown significantly, with 7,200 schools initially registering and 4,734 schools successfully completing the audit.

This recognition highlights Punjab's strong commitment to promoting environmental awareness and sustainability among its school communities.

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How to stop the deterioration of India-Canada relations ?

The relationship between India and Canada continues to be strained.

How to stop the deterioration of India-Canada relations latest news : The relationship between India and Canada continues to be strained. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs responded sharply to a report by a Canadian commission investigating foreign interference in Canadian elections, which claimed that India had more interference in the 2021 Canadian elections than China.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the allegations made by the Canadian commission and countered that Canada has been consistently interfering in India's internal affairs, especially during Indian elections.

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Diplomatic wisdom suggests avoiding such mutual accusations, but the rhetoric between India and Canada has already gone beyond the bounds of civilized diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, the leadership on both sides has not made efforts to reduce the temperature of these accusations.

The Canadian commission's report, released on Monday by Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, claimed that some foreign countries have been using unethical tactics to influence Canadian voters during general elections without presenting clear evidence.

These tactics include the misuse of commercial and business resources, illegal distribution of money, buying influential leaders, using media to support a particular political party, and employing various methods to defame certain political parties.

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The report also states that these tactics have not been limited to a single election but have been increasing over the past few decades. According to the report, "China was initially the leader in this matter, but now India is not far behind. The same can be said about some European countries and Russia.Canada has about 800,000 Sikhs. This community is divided into pro-Khalistan and anti-Khalistan factions.

The anti-Khalistan faction is directly supported by India. Similarly, the Indian government has been playing a role in mobilizing the Hindu community against pro-Khalistan supporters." The commission did not present clear evidence to support its claims. It only based its findings on circumstantial evidence. This basis is the weakness of the report and the foundation of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs' counterattack.

It is a well-known fact that even those who migrate voluntarily do not lose their attachment to their 'homeland.' This attachment makes them desire the dominance of their preferred political party in their 'homeland' and show affection for that political party in the country they have settled in, which appears to be in favor of their 'homeland.'

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Diplomatic entities know how to take advantage of such sentiments. The Chinese and Indian diasporas in Canada are very large. The governments of these countries often take advantage of this population to protect their interests. If such sentiments are used/misused during elections in favor of or against a particular candidate or political party, it should not be considered 'interference.' 'Soft power' or 'sweet pressure' is considered an effective tool in international diplomacy.

Labeling its use as illegal or unethical is not a sign of diplomatic wisdom. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's direct accusation in October 2023 that the Indian government was involved in the murder of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar has caused significant damage to India-Canada relations, which will take a long time to repair.

It is also ironic that the same Canadian commission report that accuses India of interfering in Canadian elections also highlights the lack of clear evidence against India in the Nijjar murder case. The truth is that if both governments had acted with diplomatic sincerity and wisdom after Trudeau's anti-India statement, the current bitter situation would not have arisen.

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Even now, it is hoped that the governments of both countries will act with sincerity and wisdom to prevent further deterioration of bilateral relations.

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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 31. Mongolia expressed interest in Uzbekistan's energy sector reforms and green energy projects, Trend reports.

The news follows a meeting between the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Umrzakov and a Mongolian delegation to discuss significant reforms in the energy sector.

The delegation, led by Jambaa Lkhagva, Energy Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, included top officials such as Irmuun Demberel, Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Yeren-Ulzii Batmunkh, Director-General of Strategy and Planning at the Ministry of Finance.

The Mongolian delegation was especially captivated by Uzbekistan's energy tariff creation strategy, which they said helped stabilize the market and promote long-term growth. Since both nations were dedicated to cutting carbon emissions and maintaining ecological harmony, energy security and the shift to renewable energy sources were also topics of conversation.

During the talks, it was noted that green energy projects emerged as a priority area, with both sides eager to explore opportunities for joint initiatives. Mongolia showed enthusiasm for adopting Uzbekistans successful experiences with public-private partnerships (PPPs), highlighting the potential for collaboration in this field.

At the end of the meeting, both Uzbekistan and Mongolia reaffirmed their mutual desire to deepen bilateral cooperation, focusing on energy reforms, sustainable technologies, and the long-term development of their economies.

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Safe Power Lines for Birds in Dobrogea

Bird electrocution mortality is a major conservation issue

Foto; Tyler Rutherford / unsplash.com

Daniel Onea, 31.01.2025, 13:00

Bird electrocution mortality is a major conservation issue, affecting birds of prey in particular. Uninsulated medium-voltage power lines, which are frequently used by these birds as a stopover when hunting or resting, constitute one of the greatest risks for these species. The Romanian Ornithological Society has installed 1,000 insulating sheaths on medium-voltage poles located in the nesting territories of the Danube falcon (Falco cherrug  Lat.)

Ciprian Fantana is a conservation manager at the Romanian Ornithological Society and coordinator of the activity in Romania for the international project LIFE for Falcons, carried out in Bulgaria and Romania.

It is a project that started in 2021. It runs until 2026 and aims to conserve the Danube falcon population in southern Romania and Bulgaria. The Danube falcon is an endangered species of falcon, typical of the steppe lands, which, in Romania, we encounter in two distinct populations. We have the Pontic population in Dobrogea and the Pannonian population, in the Western Plain, a continuation of the population in Hungary. The population we work with, the Pontic population, is part of a population that also includes southern Moldova, Ukraine, and extends to southern Russia. In Romania, the two populations have different dynamics. The Pannonian population, in the west of the country, seems to be doing well due to the fact that it has benefited from several conservation programs, and the Pontic population has a completely distinct trend. It is in decline. We only have seven or nine pairs of falcons in the Pontic population and for this reason, in this project, we only deal with the Pontic population.

Until the actual implementation of the project, a study was carried out whose results are essential for the conservation of biodiversity. The results are the basis for developing effective protection measures, aimed at reducing the risks to the population of Danube falcons in Romania, a species declared endangered and included on the Red List, both in Romania and in Bulgaria. We learned from Ciprian Fantana, conservation manager, that the central area of Dobrogea was identified as the region with the most victims, and the poles here were designated as having priority for insulation within the international project LIFE for Falcons, implemented in Romania by the Romanian Ornithological Society.

The study targeted the known territories of Danube falcons from the Pontic population, respectively within a radius of 10 kilometers around the nest, we investigated each power line to see the risk of electrocution. For this, we analyzed around 3,700 poles and investigated which species are electrocuted and in what number. There were several thousand birds. Around 13% of the investigated poles had at least one victim electrocuted. Based on that study, we captured the critical areas where we need to intervene through a conservation activity aimed at isolating dangerous poles. For insulation, there are some rubber sleeves, which are placed in the area of the insulators, and considerably reduce the risk of electrocution. We identified the critical areas, after which we managed, through a partnership with Retele Electrice Romania, to complete the activity. We identified the dangerous poles, we purchased the insulating sheaths, and, further, Retele Electrice Romania contributed its own funds to the installation of these insulating sheaths on the insulators on the poles. This year we will start monitoring the effects of this conservation activity. We believe that it will significantly reduce the risk of electrocution, but this must be proven with data. We have no fears that it will not be so, because the technique has already proven its effectiveness in many conservation projects. We will check the poles to see if there are any electrocuted victims.

The Romanian Ornithological Society collaborated with Retele Electrice Romania, the electricity distribution operator in this area, which involved a significant number of specialists, both for the development of the feasibility study and the technical project, and for the field work. In total, 30 specialists, grouped in 10 teams, intervened on the field with special equipment for carrying out the work at a height. In addition, other activities were carried out, says Ciprian Fantana, conservation manager at the Romanian Ornithological Society and coordinator of the activity in Romania for the international project LIFE for Falcons.

60 artificial nests were set up for the species. Some are video monitored to reduce the risk of chicks disappearing. These falcons are of particular importance in falconry activities. Sometimes, there are cases, especially in Bulgaria, but also in Ukraine, where chicks are taken from the nest for these activities. To protect these populations that we have in southeastern Romania, we have also installed surveillance cameras to monitor activity around the nest.

An interesting aspect, from behind the scenes of monitoring, is that the probability of finding an electrocuted Danube falcon is extremely low.

It is extremely low because there are very few of them and, once electrocuted, the corpses usually disappear quickly from under the pole because they are consumed by macrophage mammals, like foxes or jackals. When you do the monitoring, you can find what has died in recent days. Sometimes, you can also find skeletons, but that is when there are thickets or denser vegetation at the base of the pole, which does not allow the scavengers to collect that corpse. We, based on what we found, identified the dangerous poles. On those poles, there is the highest probability that a Danube falcon will be electrocuted. They are near their nest or in their territory, and there birds are constantly being electrocuted. Somehow, they are used by the birds as observation points. Of those several thousand birds found, most were corvids, followed by storks, and then by species of birds of prey. In particular, buzzards, kestrels, but there were also short-toed snake eagles. The latter is also a protected species, and uses poles a lot during the migration period, because they sleep on them. They migrate during the day, and in the evening they look for a place to rest. Very often, the only places to rest, where they are not disturbed, are medium-voltage poles. They sit on them and, often, get electrocuted. They also have a larger wingspan, so, percentage-wise, the most were corvids, followed by storks.

Reducing the causes that lead to the disappearance of the Danube falcon, such as mortality by electrocution, the lack of nesting sites and favorable habitats for feeding, and the persecution that the birds face in their breeding areas, represents one of the pillars on which the strategy of this project, co-financed by the European Unions LIFE program, is built.
January 31, 2025 UPDATE

Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu in Chisinau

Newsflash

Newsroom, 31.01.2025, 17:56

MOLDOVA Romania has stood by the Republic of Moldova and will continue to do so, in order to increase its energy resilience and support it in its EU accession efforts, the Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu promised in Chisinau on Friday, during his first official visit in this capacity. He was received by president Maia Sandu and had meetings with his Moldovan counterpart Mihai Popsoi, and with the speaker of parliament Igor Grosu.

Maia Sandu and Emil Hurezeanu discussed ways to strengthen economic ties between the two states and to encourage Romanian companies to invest in Moldova. Emphasis was also placed on improving transport infrastructure, including the construction of new bridges over the Prut and streamlining cross-border traffic. During his meetings in Chisinau, Emil Hurezeanu emphasised that Moldovas citizens are not alone in facing the energy crisis and can count on the support of Romania and other partners.

The destabilising effects of the energy crisis have helped tighten our ties. We are happy that Romania has managed to cover over 60% of the citizens current energy demand, and the preparation of high-voltage lines is also underway. We have been and will remain by the side of the Republic of Moldova, Emil Hurezeanu concluded. (AMP)
Growth facility for the Republic of Moldova

MEPs request additional community support for the Republic of Moldova.

(Photo: jorono / pixabay.com)

Bogdan Matei, 31.01.2025, 13:50

Western analysts and political decision-makers alike agree that the Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) is the most fragile of Ukraines neighbors invaded by the Russian troops. The pro-Western Moldovan president Maia Sandu and the government led by Dorin Recean manage, however, to keep it afloat and are taking steps on the path of European integration, a target which, last year, after a referendum, was also included in the Constitution. The target of a hybrid war, orchestrated by Moscow and seasoned with intense false propaganda, subjected to repeated attempts at political destabilization, host, even if temporary, to numerous Ukrainian refugees, to whom it must ensure living conditions, the Republic of Moldova would not have resisted, in the last three years, without the consistent support of neighboring Romania and of the West, in general. On Thursday, the specialized commissions of the European Parliament adopted the legislative report of the Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan from the Liberal Party, in the Bucharest governing coalition, and affiliated to the European Peoples Party (PPE) regarding the Growth Facility for the Republic of Moldova, worth almost two billion Euros.

The report calls for an increase in pre-financing, from 7%, as stipulated in the proposal submitted by the European Commission, to 20% of the total amount. According to Muresan, it is important that these funds reach the Republic of Moldova as soon as possible, in order to finance roads, hospitals, bridges and to modernize the public administration. These are measures that lead to an increase in peoples living standards and accelerate European integration. These are measures that help the Republic of Moldova get over the economic and energy crisis caused by the new gas delivery blackmail launched by the Russian Federation. He also added that the European Union can be safe and stable only if the Republic of Moldova is also safe, stable and energy independent. Thats why our objective, of the European Union, is to help the Republic of Moldova to get modernized, develop and get rid of energy dependence on Russia, the Romanian MEP went on to say.

Out of the total amount of 1.92 billion Euros, 420 million will be allocated to the component of non-reimbursable grants for the Republic of Moldova, and the remaining 1.5 billion represent loans guaranteed with the support of the European Union explained, in his turn, the MEP Dan Barna, a Save Romania Union (USR) member and a RENEW rapporteur for this file. The vote in the European Parliament paves the way for the so-called trilogue process between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, in which the final form of the legislation regarding the support for Chisinau will be decided. The trilogues are scheduled to start in February, and the final vote could be given in the plenary session of the EP in March. (LS)
February is observed as American Heart Month, a period dedicated to raising awareness about heart . The first American Heart Month was officially declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, and it caused 702,880 deaths in 2022, according to the latest data from the CDC.

Let's take a look at the biotech stocks awaiting FDA decisions in February.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SUPN)

The FDA decision on Supernus Pharma's SPN-830, an investigational apomorphine infusion device for the continuous treatment of motor fluctuations ("OFF" episodes) in Parkinson's disease, is expected on February 1, 2025.

SPN-830 is a continuous subcutaneous infusion formulation of the company's very own approved dopamine agonist apomorphine, administered through an infusion device.

Apomorphine, under the brand name Apokyn, received in 2004 for the acute, intermittent treatment of OFF episodes in Parkinson's disease. Apokyn is administered by subcutaneous injection using only the multiple-dose APOKYN Pen with the supplied cartridges.

One of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease is the gradual depletion of dopamine-producing cells in the brain, which play an important role in regulating movement and other functions.

In the early stages of Parkinson's disease, medications like Levdopa are effective at managing the symptoms. However, as the disease progresses, there will be only fewer dopamine-producing cells, and the effectiveness of levodopa begins to diminish, providing shorter durations of symptom relief. The patients may experience the return of symptoms such as muscle stiffness, tremors, and involuntary movements. These periods, when symptoms re-emerge, are known as "OFF periods."

This marks Supernus Pharma's fourth attempt to gain FDA approval for SPN-830.

In November 2020, the U.S. regulatory agency refused to accept for review the New Drug Application for SPN-830, stating that the application was not sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review. The second and third attempts were also unsuccessful, with the FDA issuing Complete Response Letters in October 2022 and April 2024, respectively.

SUPN closed Thursday's trading at $38.69, down 0.79%.

Indivior PLC (INDV)

Indivior's Prior Approval Supplement, which aims to expand the SUBLOCADE label to include alternative injection sites and support rapid induction, is under priority review by the FDA, with a decision due on February 7, 2025.

SUBLOCADE, a monthly injectable formulation of buprenorphine, received FDA approval for the treatment of moderate to severe opioid use disorder in November 2017. The current approved mode of administration is as subcutaneous (under the skin) injection in the stomach region.

The Prior Approval Supplement seeks to expand the injection sites to include the thigh, buttock, and back of the upper arm for both induction and maintenance. In addition, the company has also sought a rapid induction protocol, which would reduce treatment induction time from the current 7-day minimum on transmucosal buprenorphine (TM BUP) to a single dose of TM BUP with 1-hour observation period to confirm tolerability and allow for the second 300 mg dose to be administered as early as one week after the initial 300 mg injection, based on patient needs.

INDV closed Thursday's trading at $12.20, up 0.41%.

GSK plc (GSK)

On February 14, 2025, the FDA will decide whether to approve GSK's 5-in-1 MenABCWY vaccine, which targets the five most common strains of the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria (A, B, C, W, and Y) responsible for invasive meningococcal disease worldwide.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a serious and unpredictable illness that can affect anyone, though individuals in their late teens and early adulthood are at higher risk. It can lead to life-threatening complications, with one in six cases resulting in death, sometimes within just 24 hours. For those who survive, the long-term consequences can include brain damage, amputations, hearing loss, and issues with the nervous system.

The 5-in-1 MenABCWY vaccine combines the antigenic components from its two approved meningococcal vaccines - Bexsero and Menveo. Bexsero is approved for preventing IMD caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B in individuals from 10 through 25 years, while Menveo is approved for preventing IMD caused by serogroups A, C, W, and Y in individuals from 2 months through 55 years of age.

If approved, the 5-in-1 MenABCWY vaccine can simplify immunization, increase vaccination coverage, and help reduce the overall burden of IMD, with unvaccinated adolescents being at particular risk of infection and potential outbreaks, according to the company.

GSK closed Thursday's trading at $35.36, up 0.86%.

Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (OPHLY.OB)

Japan-based Ono Pharma will find out on February 17, 2025, whether the FDA approves its experimental drug Vimseltinib.

Vimseltinib, a colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R), is proposed for the treatment of patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor. The drug came under Ono Pharma's fold when it acquired Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (DCPH) last April for $25.60 per share, for a total equity value of $2.4 billion.

Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor (TGCT) is a rare, non-malignant tumor that develops inside or near joints. Although benign, these tumors can grow and cause damage to surrounding tissues and structures inducing pain, swelling, and limitation of movement of the joint.

Daiichi Sankyo's TURALIO, approved by the FDA in 2019, is the only approved therapy for TGCT in the U.S.

OPHLY.OB closed Thursday's trading at $3.47, up 1.76%.

Novartis (NVS)

An FDA panel is scheduled to review Novartis' (NVS) application seeking approval for the expanded use of its drug Fabhalta to treat adults with complement 3 glomerulopathy on February 24, 2025.

Complement 3 glomerulopathy (C3G) is an ultra-rare, progressive kidney disease that triggers the formation of C3 protein deposits in the kidneys, resulting in proteinuria (protein in urine), hematuria (blood in urine), and reduced kidney function.

In a clinical trial setting, patients treated with Fabhalta in addition to supportive care achieved a 35.1% reduction in proteinuria at 6 months when compared to placebo on top of supportive care.

The drug is already approved in the U.S. for treating paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

NVS closed Thursday's trading at $104.75, up 1.77%.

Astellas Pharma Inc. (ALPMY.OB)

Astellas Pharma has sought FDA approval to add positive 2-year data to the label of IZERVAY injection for the treatment of Geographic Atrophy, and a decision is anticipated by February 26, 2025.

The U.S. regulatory agency previously declined to approve the company's request in November 2024, citing concerns regarding the labeling language proposed by Astellas.

IZERVAY was approved by the FDA on August 4, 2023, for treatment for geographic atrophy (GA), caused by age-related macular degeneration.

The sales of IZERVAY for the 6 months from April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024, totaled 28.1 billion yen.

ALPMY.OB closed Thursday's trading at $9.88, up 0.82%.

Eton Pharmaceuticals Inc (ETON)

The FDA is scheduled to announce its decision on Eton Pharma's New Drug Application seeking approval of ET-400 for pediatric adrenal insufficiency on February 28, 2025.

ET-400 is a proprietary patented formulation of hydrocortisone oral solution, and if approved, will provide an additional oral hydrocortisone treatment option.

According to the company, there is a strong demand for an FDA-approved liquid formulation of hydrocortisone, particularly among infants and young children.

ETON closed Thursday's trading at $17.32, up 1.46%.

SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc. (SWTX)

SpringWorks' investigational drug Mirdametinib is under priority review by the FDA, with a decision due on February 28, 2025.

Mirdametinib, a MEK inhibitor, is proposed for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with neurofibromatosis type 1-associated plexiform neurofibromas (NF1-PN).

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a rare genetic disorder of the nervous system causing tumors to grow on nerves. These tumors can lead to significant disfigurement and often cause chronic, debilitating pain. Individuals with NF1 may also face a reduced life expectancy, typically 8 to 15 years shorter than that of the general population, due to the complications associated with the condition.

There is one FDA-approved treatment for pediatric patients with neurofibromatosis type 1-associated plexiform neurofibromas - AstraZeneca's Koselugo, which was approved in 2020. However, no approved treatment options exist for adult patients with this condition.

SWTX closed Thursday's trading at $37.23, up 1.94%.

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Business News
European Commission President von der Leyen has tasked Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas to present an Action Plan on the future of the bloc's automotive industry on March 5.

"This Action Plan will chart a clear course to ensure our industry can thrive in Europe and compete successfully on a global stage", von der Leyen said after hosting the launch of the Strategic Dialogue addressing critical challenges facing the sector and ensuring its continued success as a major driver of the European .

The automotive industry is a vital engine for European prosperity, supporting more than 13 million direct and indirect jobs and contributing approximately 1 trillion Euro to the European Union GDP.

Thursday's high-level discussion, in which 22 key players from the European automotive sector participated, focused on the main areas that require urgent attention, including the need for an international 'level playing field', facilitate the clean transition and regulatory streamlining, as well as identifying areas where more concrete measures are needed.

The European Commission President has mandated four Commissioners to lead focused discussions on key topics with a diverse group of stakeholders from the automotive sector value chain.

European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra will focus on the Clean Transition of the automotive sector. Commissioner Stephane Sejourne will address the Industrial Value Chain for the industry. Commissioner for Tech Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen will oversee discussions on Technological and Digital Innovation. Roxana Minzatu, Commissioner for Skills, Education, Quality Jobs and Social Rights, will lead on Skills and Social considerations within the sector.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Federal Insurance Office has notified the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System that it is withdrawing its membership.

Announcing this, the Treasury said withdrawal from NGFS is one part of implementing President Donald Trump's Executive Orders Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements and Unleashing American Energy.

NGFS was organized to help to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, from which the United States withdrew on the Trump administration's first day in office. NGFS's initiatives are inconsistent with this Administration's priorities to grow the U.S. and American jobs, and NGFS's role diverges from the traditional technical and coordinating roles of other international fora, according to the Treasury.

Important parts of NGFS's scope, including on monetary policy frameworks, go beyond FIO's core duties, the Treasury said. FIO will continue to engage with state insurance regulators and other stakeholders to promote U.S. interests in international insurance engagements, it added.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Nurses in the U.S. have been recognized for their efforts to protect patients by receiving the top ranking among the nation's most honest and ethical professions for the 23rd straight year, according to Gallup's annual survey.

Nurses are viewed as having "very high" or "high" ethical and honesty standards by 76 percent of the public, 15 points higher than any other profession.

The Gallup poll this year saw an overall decline in trust among most professions surveyed. The average trust level of professions ranked was 30 percent this year, and only 12 percent of Americans said they trusted executives.

"Americans see nurses for who they truly are - expert caregivers who can be trusted with your life and whose ethics guide their advocacy for patient safety," said Katie Murphy, a practicing ICU nurse, and President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "Massachusetts patients are endangered by a broken healthcare system as evidenced by the Steward Healthcare bankruptcy and the dangerous conditions at Tenet Healthcare's hospitals. MNA nurses' fights against for-profit healthcare and our passionate advocacy for patient care access and safety demonstrate why nurses are the most trusted profession."

According to Gallup, nurses have earned the highest rating in every year except in 2001 since Gallup added them to the annual survey in 1999. In 2001, firefighters earned a record 90 percent trust rating after their heroism in responding to the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers.

Remaining the most trusted profession comes with its challenges. According to the 2024 State of Nursing in Massachusetts survey, 80% of registered nurses said the quality of patient care in hospitals had gotten significantly worse over the previous two years as they described being emotionally exhausted, increasingly disengaged and more likely to leave the profession or reduce their hours.

Not having enough time with patients and caring for too many patients at one time remained the top challenges in the 2024 survey by Beacon Research.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Canadian shares are likely to open on a mixed note on Friday with investors reacting to the nation's GDP data, and treading cautiously ahead of the February 1 deadline for the imposition of trade duties on Canada.

Data from Statistics Canada showed Canadian real gross domestic product decreased 0.2% in November. According to preliminary estimates, the rebounded in December and GDP likely grew 0.2%.

In earnings news, Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO.TO) reported that fourth-quarter net income declined to C$1.23 billion or C$2.37 per share from C$1.37 billion or C$2.47 per share in the prior-year quarter. Total revenues and other income for the quarter decreased to C$12.61 billion from C$13.11 billion in the same quarter last year.

Analysts polled expected the company to report earnings of C$2.18 per share on revenues of C$13.21 billion for the quarter.

The Canadian market climbed to a record high on Thursday, lifted by strong gains in and materials sectors. While encouraging earnings from a few big name U.S. tech companies triggered heavy buying in the tech space, firm metal prices pushed up materials shares.

Healthcare, utilities, real estate and industrials stocks were the other major gainers.

Investors digested U.S. and European economic data, and the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a solid gain of 334.95 points or 1.31% at 25,808.25. The index scaled a fresh record high of 25,875.61 in the session.

Most Asian rose on Friday following encouraging earnings updates from Apple and Intel. Seoul stocks underperformed amid a sell-off in tech shares on concerns over China's growing AI capabilities.

The major European markets are up in positive territory, reacting to some encouraging earnings news, and on optimism about more monetary easing by central banks.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.23 or about 0.32% at $72.96 a barrel.

Gold futures are flat at $2,854.20 an ounce, while Silver futures are gaining $0.177 or 0.54% at $32.670 an ounce.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, January 31. A newly announced project for the design, building, operation, and maintenance of Uzbekistans Tashkent-Andijan toll road piqued the interest of French firm Meridiam, Trend reports.

The news follows a meeting between Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Umrzakov and a delegation led by Remy Hassenforder, Director for Eurasia at the Meridiam investment fund.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the prospects and stages of several major projects in Uzbekistan. A key topic was the construction of general secondary schools across various regions of the country, utilizing a new and innovative public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Special attention was given to the potential for further collaboration in the sectors of education, healthcare, transport, and other infrastructure through PPP frameworks.

Representatives from Meridiam highlighted the significant investment potential in Uzbekistan, expressing their intention to establish long-term cooperation in the country's social and transport infrastructure sectors. They commended the ongoing reforms and PPP-based projects and conveyed their readiness to bring their expertise and innovative financial solutions to the table.

The meeting also covered strategies for improving investment attraction and financing mechanisms for projects. The company's representatives reaffirmed their strong interest in PPP-based initiatives in Uzbekistan and shared insights on expanding cooperation in infrastructure with a focus on long-term sustainable investments.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to future cooperation and mutual support in the implementation of joint projects.

Meridiam is a global investment and asset management company based in Paris. The company specializes in the development, financing, and management of long-term social infrastructure projects. Since its founding in 2005, the fund has focused on public infrastructure investments across Europe, North America, and Africa.

Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel
Industrial producer prices in Cyprus continued to decline at the end of the year, preliminary figures from the statistical office showed Friday.

The index of industrial output prices fell at a stable rate of 1.5 percent year-on-year in December. Prices have been falling since July 2023.

Among sectors, prices in the electricity supply segment plunged 10.5 percent from last year. On the other hand, prices in the manufacturing and mining and quarrying sectors rose 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

On a monthly basis, producer prices edged up 0.1 percent in December.

During the year 2024, the industrial producer price index showed a decline of 1.9 percent compared to 2023.

Separate official data showed that the average monthly earnings grew 5.4 percent annually in the third quarter, slower than the 6.0 percent growth in the second quarter. The quarterly growth eased to 1.3 percent from 1.5 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Oil futures settled lower on Friday amid uncertainty about implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariff plans on Canada and Mexico.

Concerns about the outlook for demand from China continued to weigh on oil prices. A stronger dollar and resumption of Russian crude exports from the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga hurt as well.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March closed lower by $0.20 at $72.53 a barrel.

Brent crude futures were down $0.17 or 0.24% at $75.72 a barrel a little while ago.

Trump said on Thursday that he would go ahead with long-threatened import tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico from February, with the flow of fentanyl and large trade deficits citied as among the reasons for the decision.

However, he is yet to decide on whether oil imports would be included in the policy, noting it depended on whether the two nations "treat us properly" and "if the oil is properly priced."

A report from Baker Hughes said the oil rig count in the U.S. increased by seven to 479 this week.

Markets now await the ministerial meeting of the OPEC nations and their allies, that is scheduled to take place on Monday (February 3).

The oil cartel is expected to go ahead with a plan to start returning 2.2 million bpd of voluntary production cuts with 122,000 bpd monthly increase from April 2025.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
The ministers took to X/Twitter to confirm an Ebola outbreak in Uganda, marking the country's first outbreak in two years.

The announcement comes as a 32-year-old male nurse, employed at Mulago Hospital in the capital Kampala, died due to the virus.

"Our rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is under way, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation," Diana Atwine, secretary of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, posted on the social media platform.



"We assure the public that we are in full control."



The nurse, who initially sought treatments at multiple hospitals, later succumbed to the Sudan strain of the virus, which was confirmed by the authorities during the postmortem.

Following the death, 45 contacts of the deceased nurse, including family members and 35 healthcare workers, are being closely monitored, and tested for the virus.

"The identification of the case in a densely populated urban requires rapid and intense response," the WHO said in a press release.

"While there are no licensed vaccines for the Sudan virus disease, WHO is coordinating with developers to deploy candidate vaccines as an addition to the other public health measures."

To support Ugandan healthcare workers, the WHO stated that it would deploy senior health officers to manage the outbreak.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The 150cc-200cc motorcycle segment in India witnessed a sharp decline of 21.97% in December 2024, with total sales dropping to 91,897 units from 1,17,773 units in December 2023. While some motorcycles managed to register positive growth, the overall segment struggled due to shifting consumer preferences and year-end buying trends.

150cc to 200cc Motorcycle Sales Dec 2024

Honda Unicorn emerged as the best-selling motorcycle in this segment with 20,991 units sold in December 2024, marking a 19.80% YoY growth from 17,521 units in December 2023. It was the only motorcycle in the top three to record positive sales growth. TVS Apache, despite retaining its position as the second best-seller, saw a 2.89% decline in YoY sales with 20,885 units sold compared to 21,506 units a year ago. Bajaj Pulsar, which was once the segment leader, suffered a massive 50.73% decline, selling just 20,872 units, down from 42,362 units in December 2023.

Among Yamahas popular models, FZ series sales fell by 20.63%, with 8,558 units sold in December 2024 compared to 10,783 units last year. MT 15 sales dropped by 18.43%, reaching 5,224 units from 6,404 units in December 2023. The Yamaha R15 suffered a significant 41.77% drop, selling 4,269 units, down from 7,331 units.

Honda SP 160 stood out with the highest YoY growth in percentage terms, registering a 44.50% increase, with 4,520 units sold in December 2024 compared to 3,128 units a year ago. Hero Xtreme 160R and 200 recorded an even more impressive 213.59% growth, jumping from 736 units in December 2023 to 2,308 units in December 2024.

In the performance-oriented segment, KTM 200 series sales dropped by 43.22%, selling just 1,771 units compared to 3,119 units last year. Hero XPulse 200 sales also declined by 15.84%, reaching 930 units from 1,105 units. The Honda Hornet 2.0, once a strong player, saw a steep decline of 60.30%, selling only 590 units in December 2024 compared to 1,486 units in the same month last year.

Bajaj Avenger series, which caters to the cruiser segment, registered a 28.90% decline, selling 561 units compared to 789 units. Honda CB200X also struggled, posting a 42.83% decline with just 303 units sold. Suzuki Gixxer sales nosedived by 88.63%, dropping to just 96 units compared to 844 units in December 2023. Kawasaki W175 recorded only 19 units, marking an 85.27% decline from 129 units in December 2023.

Overall, the 150cc-200cc motorcycle segment saw a significant downturn, with multiple models facing double-digit YoY declines. The rise in demand for more powerful motorcycles in the 350cc+ segment, along with changing consumer preferences, has contributed to this trend. While some models like Unicorn, SP 160, and Xtreme 160R/200 managed to post positive growth, the majority of bikes in this segment struggled to maintain their numbers.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Uzbekistan has set out key directions and priority tasks to achieve the goals of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Development Strategy by 2030, the country's Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov said at the Digital Almaty 2025 international forum today, Trend reports.

"Last year, at the initiative of Uzbekistan's president, the AI Development Strategy for 2030 was approved, which includes target indicators. Among them is the aim to reach a volume of AI-based software development and digital services worth $1.5 billion. Additionally, the creation of scientific laboratories for AI research and the establishment of high-performance server infrastructure for big data processing and AI model training are planned. Another important goal is for Uzbekistan to enter the top 50 countries in the government's readiness index for artificial intelligence," Aripov said.

He further emphasized that to achieve these objectives, key directions and priority tasks have been identified. These include developing human resources and training specialists in AI, as well as accelerating the adoption of AI technologies in critical sectors of the economy.

"Currently, more than 20 projects have been implemented in Uzbekistan as part of this strategy. Among them is a palm payment system in the capitals metro, the use of digital identification MyID and UzFace in banks and payment systems, which has sped up client identification and reduced the risks of digital fraud. Virtual assistants have also been launched in the tax system and on the government services portal, helping with consultations and electronic services," Aripov added.

The PM pointed out that as a result of the strategy's implementation, Uzbekistan climbed 17 positions in the government's readiness for AI ranking in 2024, reaching 70th place.

"The strategy also includes the development of IT infrastructure needed for the effective implementation of AI technologies. Uzbekistan is actively expanding international partnerships with leading IT companies to develop AI regulation standards, train specialists, and build the necessary infrastructure," the PM said.

Aripov also added that this year a new system of support for AI innovation projects has been launched in the country, creating opportunities for collaboration with international startups and attracting global resources to develop IT projects at the regional level.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. The international conference dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence will be held in Samarkand on August 7-8 this year, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov said at the international digital forum Digital Almaty 2025 in Almaty, Trend reports.

Uzbekistan invites its partners to take part in the upcoming event. We believe that strengthening regional cooperation, consolidating efforts, and actively exchanging experience in the field of artificial intelligence will contribute to unleashing its full potential, he said.

To note, at the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State on October 8 last year, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to make meetings of experts and analysts of the CIS countries in the field of artificial intelligence regular. As part of this proposal, the organization of a thematic conference to be held in Samarkand was initiated.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. Irans Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who is visiting Qatar, met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Trend reports.

During the meeting, the parties addressed various matters of mutual interest, including the enhancement of bilateral relations and regional developments. Particular focus was directed towards the circumstances in Palestine following the ceasefire agreement, the political dynamics in Lebanon post the presidential and prime ministerial elections, recurrent breaches of the ceasefire, and the developments in Syria. Both parties reiterated their endorsement of Syria's sovereignty, stability, and territorial integrity.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, highlighting the strong and positive relations between Iran and Qatar, reaffirmed the commitment of the Islamic Republic to further strengthen cooperation in various fields. Araghchi also praised Qatar's constructive role in facilitating the ceasefire in Gaza. He stressed the need to be vigilant in ensuring the implementation of the agreement.

The Qatari Prime Minister, for his part, reaffirmed Dohas commitment to enhancing ties with Iran and lauded Tehrans significant role in the region and its contributions to promoting peace and stability. Both sides agreed to maintain close consultations and coordination between Tehran and Doha on regional developments.

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Paleontologists from Japan and Mongolia have uncovered fossil footprints of massive plant-eating hadrosaurid dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period.

The newly-discovered hadrosaurid footprints date back to approximately 70 million years ago (Cretaceous period).

One of them is around 92 cm (3 feet) across, making it one of the largest hadrosaurid footprints ever found.

The largest footprint is believed to have belonged to a giant Saurolophus, estimated to exceed 15 m (50 feet) in total body length, surpassing even Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus in size, team leader Dr. Shinobu Ishigaki, director of the Museum of Dinosaur Research at the Okayama University of Science, and colleagues said in a statement.

Saurolophus is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaurs known from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Canada and the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia.

According to the paleontologists, it is one of the few dinosaur genera from multiple continents.

Our discovery suggests that one of the largest bipedal animals ever known lived in Mongolia, raising hopes for the discovery of equally massive skeletal remains, they said.

The researchers also discovered a 24-m- (79-foot) long trackway consisting of 13 fossilized footprints, each around 85 cm (2.8 feet) across.

From June 1 to 15, 2024, we conducted a follow-up investigation in the western Gobi Desert, they said.

As a result, we discovered new trackways, including three of the largest hadrosaurid footprints ever found and a continuous sequence of 13 fossilized footprints.

The identification of 14 trackways, including one found before 2018, enables the analysis of posture, walking style, speed, and group behavior  details that cannot be inferred from skeletal fossils.

Until now, the largest known hadrosaurid skeleton belonged to Shantungosaurus, discovered in Shandong province, China, they added.

However, the latest discoveries in Mongolia suggest the potential for uncovering similarly massive skeletal remains in the region.

Our next goal is to uncover the full skeleton of the large Saurolophus responsible for these footprints, Dr. Ishigaki concluded.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 31. On January 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a telephone conversation, Trend reports.

The ministry reported that the parties exchanged views on the development of the situation in and around Syria.

According to the report, the ministers stressed the importance of consolidating international efforts in the interests of promoting a comprehensive settlement in the Syria based on the principles of unconditional respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country.

A number of issues on the bilateral agenda were discussed," the report says.

It is noted that the ministers agreed to remain in close contact on the Syrian issue and other pressing regional and international issues.
Electrical lines are seen in 2023 in the Third Ward neighborhood of Houston. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has selected two long-time energy executives with Houston ties to serve on its board of directors for three-year terms effective Monday. Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has selected two long-time energy executives with Houston ties to serve on its board of directors for three-year terms effective Monday.

The new members, Alejandro Hernandez and Sigmund Cornelius, will replace former board members Paul Foster and Robert Flexon, both of whom announced they would step down last year.

Hernandez most recently served as CEO of Talen Energy, a Houston-based power generation company that filed for bankruptcy under his tenure in May 2022. The company emerged from bankruptcy in May 2023, the same month Hernandez left Talen Energy, according to his LinkedIn.

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According to ERCOTs Monday statement, Hernandez was also the founder and CEO of Cumulus Data, a subsidiary of Talen Energy that was first hyperscale data center platform directly connected to nuclear power. Talen sold the nuclear-powered data center campus in Pennsylvania to Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon, for $650 million in 2024.

WHAT IS ERCOT: Key facts to know about the Texas power grid operator

Cornelius, meanwhile, served as the president of Freeport LNG Development, a liquefied natural gas developer that has its corporate office in Houston, until his retirement in 2023. He also held various senior leadership roles at the Houston-based oil major ConocoPhillips starting in 1980 before retiring as senior vice president and chief financial officer in 2010, according to ERCOTs statement.

Hernandez and Cornelius selection comes as Texas leaders aim to boost both natural gas and nuclear power generation on the Texas power grid. Hernandezs experience with Cumulus Data also aligns with the challenge facing ERCOT of meeting a potential doubling in power demand, driven significantly by new data centers.

We look forward to working with them as we continue to address the challenges and complexities of maintaining a reliable and resilient electric grid to power a fast-growing state and to provide opportunities for hardworking Texas families and businesses, ERCOT Board Chair Bill Flores said in the grid operators statement.

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ERCOT governance

ERCOT has a unique governance model as the operator of the power grid serving most of Texas. Though it is a nonprofit corporation, ERCOT is under the complete purview of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates grid issues.

A 12-member board of directors oversees ERCOT, sets its goals and guides its direction. The board includes four ex-officio members: the ERCOT CEO, two PUC commissioners and the chief executive of the Office of Public Utility Counsel, a branch of the PUC that represents residential and small business consumers.

The other eight board members are chosen by a three-person selection committee. The governor, lieutenant governor and the Speaker of the House each appoint one person to that selection committee.

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After ERCOT ordered deadly power outages amidst the February 2021 freeze, critics noted that numerous members of ERCOTs board at the time didnt reside in Texas, prompting the out-of-state board members to resign. The Texas Legislature then passed a law in June 2021 requiring that all ERCOT board members live in Texas and creating the three-person board selection committee.
MB&F LAB, presented in partnership with Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, brings ultra-rare collectible timepieces and conceptual art objects to Silicon Valley

World-renowned Swiss watchmaker MB&F has planted a flag at The Villa Menlo Park  Silicon Valleys new cultural hub and destination for world-class experiences. Now open at 500 El Camino Real in Menlo Park, California, the MB&F LAB Silicon Valley boutique invites visitors to experience one of the most extensive collections of avant-garde MB&F horological creations to be found in North America, including complex timepieces, conceptual desk clocks, and mechanical sculptures  in one of the worlds only MB&F LABs.

MB&F founder Maximilian Busser joined Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry president Jared Silver, collectors, clients, and friends for the intimate ribbon cutting opening event on January 23, 2025. The momentous opening event also marked the Swiss watch brands 20th anniversary and its two decades of unbridled creativity, daring designs, and innovations that have forever changed  and challenged  the global watch industry.

According to Jared Silver, "From the beginning, it was clear that this radical, forward-thinking independent brand, MB&F, belonged in the most innovative part of the world- Silicon Valley  and at The Villa Menlo Park. The company's ethos shines through in every single creation, and their emphasis on collaboration and appetite for risk are valued greatly here in Silicon Valley."

MB&F LAB Silicon Valley, VIlla Menlo Park  MB&F

The retail boutique offers one of the worlds largest selections of rare and collectible MB&F timepieces and conceptual art clocks to be found in a single location, including an 18-piece limited edition Silicon Valley LAB exclusive edition of the Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO, recently developed with longtime retail partner and Villa Menlo Park developer, Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry.

Maximilian Busser remarked, This is the fifth MB&F LAB in the world after Paris, Singapore, Taipei, and Los Angeles: a testament to how important Silicon Valley collectors have become for our brand. On one hand, there is a natural symbiosis between this part of the world, so driven by technology and innovation, and our out-of-the-box thinking and highly complex engineering. I think that connection resonates even deeper thanks to something more unexpected: the traditional, hand-finished artisanship that we put into our watchmaking, offering a welcome dose of humanity in the very high-tech universe of Silicon Valley.

Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO  MB&F

Jared and Stephen Silver were among the first retailers in the United States to specialize in independent watchmakers, and as pioneers in this category. In 2015, they met with Maximilian Busser in Switzerland to discuss a partnership. The brand has been a major fixture of the Menlo Park luxury retailers curated timepiece collection ever since.

Fittingly, the MB&F LAB Silicon Valley is the first mono brand retail store to open its doors at The Villa Menlo Park, a mixed-use development spearheaded by Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry with the vision to create a new cultural hub for Silicon Valley. Designed as a destination where the community can connect, play, and explore, The Villa Menlo Park offers a range of quietly sophisticated experiences including retail stores, restaurant partners, and communal events. The MB&F LAB Silicon Valley occupies the ground floor of the property, and the store is open to the public via walk-in or private appointment, from Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hugo Lesizza is at the head of Perrelet and L. Leroy; the former restructured in 2019 while the latter is ripe for a comeback. WorldTempus has drawn up an atypical profile of this discreet CEO.

Something we dont know about you?

That Im a huge rugby league fan. Im from Carcassonne [a town in the south of France with a strong rugby tradition]. Rugby league is played a lot in the UK and Australia, less so in other nations. I was a player myself in my younger days. They say rugby is the school of life and I can only agree!

What are your ambitions for Perrelet?

To continue with the relaunch. Weve progressed with sister company Soprod over the past five years, developing movements that have chronometer and Chronofiable certification. Were extending the retailer network and in 2025 we plan to build on the Turbine collection as well as relaunch a range of womens watches.

And for Leroy?

To put the brand back centre-stage. After Only Watch was cancelled, the watch wed donated was returned to us and has prompted considerable interest. It often travels with me as an example of the brands expertise, but also its history and its ambitions for the future. But well talk more at this summers Geneva Watch Days!

Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon  Leroy

Your favourite book?

Something by Harlan Coben. I like how he writes. As a genre, I enjoy detective fiction and thrillers.

Your favourite film?

I recently rewatched The Shawshank Redemption with Morgan Freeman. Its an excellent movie, thats already thirty years old. Definitely one to see.

The Shawshank Redemption  Castle Rock Entertainment

Whats on your playlist?

Because I travel so much, Im open to many different musical influences. Sorry if its a bit of a non-answer, but I enjoy any kind of music. When Im in the US, I listed to American rap, in France I listen more to pop and when Im travelling in South America, Latino sounds. I actually live in Barcelona.

The one dish you cant resist?

Coming from Carcassonne, it has to be cassoulet!

The City of Carcassonne  Tourisme Occitanie

A favourite hobby?

Photography, in fact I recently returned from a photo safari in Kenya. For a long time I used film, but now Ive switched to digital. I have some pretty good camera equipment.

The person who most inspires you?

My mother, a psychologist. Were very close.

If you could jump on a plane right now, where would you go?

Latin America and especially Colombia. Its a fabulous country with scenery that varies from one region to another. Colombians are warm and welcoming. Theyre wonderful people.

Bogota, Colombia  LKM

If there were a 25th hour in the day?

Id spend it with family and friends. Like I said, I travel a lot and would appreciate an extra hour to spend with those closest to me.

The watch on your wrist?

A Lab Peripheral from Perrelet. Less well-known than the Turbine, its a dressier watch with an interesting peripheral rotor. Mechanically and aesthetically, it ticks all the boxes.

Lab Peripheral  Perrelet

Another that isnt by Perrelet?

I have a soft spot for the independents. Id say Laurent Ferrier, always elegant.

An accessory you couldnt do without, that isnt a watch?

At the risk of sounding cliched, it would have to be my phone, a pen and a notebook. I meet a lot of people, in different contexts, different places and different countries, and I like to keep a note of our conversations.
First openly transgender Oscar nominee, Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon has found herself in the middle of a scandal over old posts on X. She was criticized for her controversial statements about Muslims, the death of African-American George Floyd, and COVID-19 vaccines.

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The posts of the Emilia Perez star, published them mostly between 2020 and 2021, were brought to the public attention by journalist Sarah Hagi, Variety reports.

"Im sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English well have to teach Arabic," she wrote (translation of this post and those below by Variety).

In another post, the actress posted a photo of a Muslim family in a restaurant and reflected on Islam.

"Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.".

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Gascon also wrote that "Islam fails to comply with international rights." She did not pass by other religions too, "I am so sick of so much of this sh**t, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the fucking beliefs of morons that violate human rights."

She also spoke about the African-American George Floyd after his death in police custody, which sparked mass protests in the United States.

"I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. Theyre all wrong," she said.

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The actress went on to argue that perhaps it's no longer about racism, but about social classes that feel threatened by each other. In addition, she lashed out at the 2021 Oscars. Back then, Nomadland won the award in the Best Picture category.

"More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didnt know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala," Karla wrote.

Gascon also spoke about the pandemic. She paid special attention to the Chinese coronavirus vaccine.

"The Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled purchasee," the actress said. "So many scientists in the world making bombs, so many scholars constructing objects for space, so many medicinal factories and theres no one who can get in line with this Chinese shit. (shrug emoji) In the end, it was a tremendous show for a new variant of the flu, avian or coronavirus."

After controversial statements surfaced on Karla's page, some of her tweets were deleted. Representatives of the actress refused to comment. Netflix and the American Film Academy also did not respond to the request.

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On January 30, the Russian occupiers conducted combined attacks on three communities in the Pokrovsk sector of Donetsk region. The attacks resulted in one dead and dozens of wounded civilians.

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According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk district prosecutor's offices have launched pre-trial investigations into the attacks. For his part, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, clarified the number of victims and showed photos of the aftermath of the attacks.

In particular, the village of Ivanopillia in the Konstiantynivka Local Government Area came under the gun of the Russian invaders. A 64-year-old local resident died as a result of artillery shelling.

The occupiers also struck at Bilytske, dropping a FAB-500 bomb. Two 44- and 47-year-old women were injured and provided with medical aid.

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In addition, the enemy attacked Pokrovsk several times using FPV drones. In the first half of the day, the weapon hit a civilian vehicle, injuring a 71-year-old retired man.

Later, the occupiers hit an evacuation vehicle with a drone. The driver and two passengers were injured. The civilians were diagnosed with mine-blast injuries and shrapnel wounds. The victims were taken to hospital.

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"Under the procedural supervision of the Kostiantyniv and Pokrovsk District Prosecutor's Offices, pre-trial investigations in criminal proceedings on war crimes (parts 1, 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) have been initiated," the PGO noted.

Vadym Filashkin said that the total number of wounded in Kramatorsk alone amounted to 13 people.

"I emphasize once again: it is dangerous to stay in Donetsk region," warned Filashkin.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, in total, in the Pokrovsk sector, the aggressor attacked the positions of Ukrainian troops 51 times during the day near the settlements of Malynivka, Yelyzavetivka, Vodiane Druhe, Novotoretske, Promin, Pokrovsk, Lysivka, Novoukrainka, Udachne, Yasenove, Shevchenko and Dachne.

The occupants' losses in this sector amounted to 337 people killed and wounded over the last day. Ten invaders' vehicles, one UAV antenna, one satellite communication device, two electronic warfare devices, one ATGM, a Murom-M surveillance complex, and three operational and tactical UAVs were also destroyed, and "two enemy mortars were significantly damaged."

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The lunar lander of the Japanese company ispace has captured a stunning image of the most remote place on Earth. The Resilience spacecraft, which was launched on January 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket together with the Blue Ghost Firefly Aerospace lander, is now orbiting our planet.

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The Japanese spacecraft is gradually raising its orbit to eventually set its trajectory to the Moon. Due to the energy-efficient path chosen by Resilience, it will attempt to land on Mare Frigoris (the "Cold Sea") in the northern hemisphere of the Earth's satellite in about four months, Space.com writes.

The ispace company reported that Resilience has captured an incredible image of our home planet from a unique perspective, showing the most remote part of the Earth.

"Looking back at Earth, the lander, which was about 10,000 kilometers away from our Blue Marble, captured Nemo's point. This is the most remote place on our planet, about 2,688 kilometers from the nearest land," ispace said in a post on the social network X.

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According to ispace scientists, Resilience is in excellent condition. Its stability is based on the Hakuto-R landing platform, which is powered by solar panels.

This vehicle is similar to the first lander, which made an unsuccessful attempt to land on the Moon in April 2023. However, Resilience has updated software to overcome sensor problems, the developers emphasize.

The Japanese module carries several commercial and scientific payloads, as well as a microrover called Tenacious. The compact mobile spacecraft weighing 5 kilograms will collect samples with a small spatula and analyze them with a camera, experts say.

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Series about women in power have always attracted the attention of viewers with their drama and emotional depth. They reveal complex characters who are not afraid to fight for their places in history.

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Such projects often combine political intrigue, personal tragedies, and triumphs. If you're looking for fascinating series on this topic, OBOZ.UA offers several noteworthy options.

Scandal (2012)

The American political thriller tells the story of Olivia Pope, a talented woman who heads a crisis management firm that is able to solve the most complex problems of influential politicians and businessmen.

The main character, Olivia, is a true master of manipulation and intrigue. She is able to solve any problem, but at the same time, she gets entangled in a network of her own secrets. The series not only keeps viewers in suspense, but also raises important issues of society, such as politics, power, morality, and friendship.

Olivia's team is a close-knit group of professionals, each with their own secrets and mysteries. Together they create an unforgettable team that is ready to do anything to protect their clients. The series is set in the center of political life in Washington, D.C., where intrigue and scandals are part of everyday life. The audience witnesses the struggle for power, love, and justice.

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"The Empress of China" (2014)

A historical Chinese drama series that tells the story of the life and career of one of the most famous Chinese empresses, Wu Jiao, also known as Wu Mei Niang.

The series covers her journey from a young and ambitious woman to the ruler of the Tang Empire, including her ascension to the throne after the death of Emperor Taizong. The plot expressively depicts political intrigue, love affairs, and power struggles, making the series not only fascinating but also deeply dramatic.

The lead role is played by actress Fan Bingbing, who skillfully embodies the image of the empress, demonstrating the complexity of her character and the struggle for power. The plot also highlights the relationship between the empress and other important characters who influenced her fate.

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The Young Victoria (2009)

This historical drama tells the story of the rise of Queen Victoria and her marriage to Prince Albert. The film immerses viewers in the atmosphere of the nineteenth century, conveying the grandeur and solemnity of the British court.

The protagonist, a young and ambitious Victoria, tries to reconcile her personal life with her duties as a monarch. The film emphasizes the importance of love and support in the Queen's life, as well as her influence on British history.

"The Young Victoria" is characterized by exquisite costumes, lavish sets, and outstanding acting, including Emily Blunt as the Queen. This movie is not just a historical drama, but also a touching story about love, responsibility, and strength of character.

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"The White Queen" (2013)

The historical series takes the viewer to the tumultuous era of the War of the Red and White Roses in fifteenth-century England. The series focuses on the fates of three ambitious women who seek to influence the course of history and secure the future of their families.

The main character, Elizabeth Woodville, becomes Queen of England after her husband's death. She does her best to retain power and secure the future of her children. Her rival, Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the future King Henry VII Tudor, is ready to do anything to put her son on the throne. A fierce power struggle erupts between these two women, changing the fate of entire dynasties.

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The White Queen is a saga of love, betrayal, intrigue, and political machinations. It combines historical accuracy with elements of fiction, creating a vivid picture of medieval England.

"The Serpent Queen" (2022)

A historical drama telling the fascinating and unpredictable story of Catherine de Medici, the famous French queen played by Samira Wiley. The series depicts her journey from an unknown Italian princess to one of the most influential women in 16th-century France.

The story is full of political intrigue, power struggles, and personal tragedies that force Catherine to make cruel decisions. She is forced to fight not only her enemies but also her own doubts and moral dilemmas.

What makes the series special is that it shows Catherine not only as a queen but also as a woman who wants to preserve her family and influence in a cruel male world. "The Queen of Snakes impresses not only with its story, but also with its excellent costume design, visual aesthetics, and deep characters.

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For Skot Welch, the journey to co-founding the New Community Transformation Fund (NCTF) began in 2019 over a meal with a friend, Birgit Klohs, the former longtime leader of The Right Place, West Michigans economic development organization.Welch and Klohs, who had been friends for more than 25 years, were talking about generational wealth gaps in communities of color and how these disparities could be addressed to strengthen Grand Rapids. That conversation sparked an idea that has grown into a transformative venture capital fund, driving investments in mid-stage businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color.Birgit and I had been talking about generational wealth and community gaps for years, Welch recalls. On this particular occasion, we landed on the same idea almost simultaneously. I had just returned from Durban, South Africa, where Id been reflecting on what I could do for my community. She shared her thoughts, and it clicked: We needed to act.From there, the two brought in a consultant to craft the funds framework, launched their vision, and began raising capital.Welch says the official announcement predated the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd, but the timing underscored the funds need.This wasnt performative, Welch says. This was something we had embodied and put in our hearts long before. It was authentic, not reactionary.NCTFs mission is to address the racial wealth gap by investing in entrepreneurs of color who need significant capital to scale their businesses. With investments ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million, the fund focuses on industries such as financial technology, health care, advanced manufacturing, and information technology. To date, NCTF has secured nearly $12 million in capital commitments and invested in seven businesses.We started with the belief that our community needed a robust pipeline of investment opportunities for entrepreneurs of color, Welch explains. These arent startups; theyre businesses ready to scale at a higher rate. Were helping to create generational wealth that benefits families and the entire region.Welch notes that NCTFs investments go beyond capital.Were focused on building strong, healthy businesses. Its not just about the money, its about ensuring these companies are poised for long-term success, he says.Understanding the need for additional resources, NCTF recently entered into an affiliation agreement with Michigan Capital Network (MCN), a Grand Rapids-based investment fund management organization.MCN Ventures provides guidance, due diligence, compliance support, and administrative services for NCTFs investment initiatives.As any organization grows, you reach a point where you see the opportunity to add horsepower, Welch says. In venture capital, you need capital, great entrepreneurs, deal flow, and strong analysis to make informed investment decisions. MCN brings a team with deep expertise and access to more opportunities at a faster rate. Its the support we need to go further, faster.The collaboration was facilitated by Dale Grogan, a managing partner at MCN, who proposed the partnership. It has already yielded tangible results.Within 60 to 90 days of working together, we made three additional investments, Welch shares. That proved this was the right direction for us.For Welch, the work of NCTF goes beyond individual investments. Its about reshaping the economic and social fabric of West Michigan to make it a more inclusive and attractive place for businesses and families.If all parts of a community arent healthy, the whole community isnt healthy, Welch says. We need entrepreneurs and business owners of color to transfer wealth, build wealth, and create jobs in ways that attract national attention. We want people to look at West Michigan and say, I could move there, start a business there, or grow my business there. BAMF Health , a Grand Rapids firm that calls itself the first vertically integrated platform for molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapy, is one of NCTFs investments, exemplifies this vision. Based in downtown Grand Rapids and owned by Anthony Chang, BAMF has created significant local employment opportunities and recently expanded into Metro Detroit.Its businesses like BAMF that demonstrate the power of investing in our community, Welch says. These companies are making a real impact by creating jobs and driving economic growth.As NCTF grows, Welch says hes focusing on scaling its impact while staying true to its mission.The funds minimum investment has increased from $250,000 to $500,000, allowing it to attract larger, more established businesses.Our goal is to build a pipeline of strong, scalable businesses, Welch says. We want to ensure theyre healthy and hitting their milestones so they become candidates for going public or being acquired if they so desire. Thats when the returns come, and thats when we see the full impact of our work.Welch is also excited about the ripple effects of NCTFs efforts. The funds work is attracting entrepreneurs from across the country to consider West Michigan as a place to grow their businesses.Were meeting entrepreneurs from Texas, Illinois, and other states who now have West Michigan on their radar, Welch says. Were doing this in a way that builds our community and makes it a place people want to call home.Welchs commitment to community extends beyond his work with NCTF.As founder and president of the GMC-NBMBAA and Mosaic Film Experience and a longtime leader in organizations like the Greater Michigan Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, Welch has dedicated his career to fostering connections and opportunities for others.When people move to a community, its not just about the job, Welch says. Its about connectivity and what they see for their family. Thats why were focused on building a community where everyone feels they belong.
ASIA

DPRK (North Korea)

Expected Council Action

In February, Security Council members are scheduled to discuss the 90-day report on the work of the 1718 Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) Sanctions Committee in closed consultations.

Ordinarily, the Chair of the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee briefs Council members on the report. At the time of writing, the Chair had not yet been appointed as Council members continue to negotiate this years allocation of subsidiary bodies. If the Chair is not appointed before the end of February, then the meeting may be postponed.

Key Recent Developments

The DPRK has continued to carry out missile tests in recent months. On 31 October 2024, it announced that it had tested a new solid-fuel Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and claimed that it flew higher than any of its previous missiles. According to Japanese officials, the missile flew for approximately 86 minutes and reached a possible altitude of 7,000 kilometres before falling into the Sea of Japan. The launch, which took place just days before the US presidential election, was the countrys first ICBM test since December 2023. On 4 November 2024, Council members convened for an open briefing to discuss the test, following a request from France, Japan, Malta, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, the UK, and the US. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Mohamed Khaled Khiari briefed. The US, the penholder on the DPRK, proposed a draft press statement in connection with this meeting, which was opposed by China and Russia.

On 7 January, DPRK state media reported that the DPRK had launched an intermediate-range hypersonic missile. The test took place while then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul for a meeting with ROK Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. Although these reports claimed that the missile travelled approximately 1,500 kilometres at 12 times the speed of sound before descending to a second peak and reaching its target, ROK officials later said that they were likely exaggerated. Council members discussed the test during an open briefing on 8 January. The meeting was requested by France, Denmark, the ROK, Slovenia, the UK, and the US, and members received a briefing from Khiari.

The DPRK has also recently conducted tests of short-range missiles, including on 14 January, when it fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast.

In addition to carrying out several missile tests in recent months, the DPRK has ramped up its rhetoric against the US and its allies in the region. During the most recent plenary meeting of the Workers Party of Korea, which took place in late December 2024, Kim Jong-un reportedly promised to introduce the DPRKs toughest US strategy and described the partnership between Japan, the ROK, and the US as a nuclear military bloc.

On 29 January, DRPK state media reported that Kim Jong-un had inspected nuclear facilities in the country and called for bolstering its nuclear capability.

Against this backdrop, reports regarding the deployment of DPRK troops to the Kursk region in Russia have continued to emerge. On 13 January, ROK lawmakers told reporters that approximately 300 DPRK troops had been killed and about 2,700 injured while fighting Ukrainian soldiers. Two days earlier, on 11 January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had captured DPRK soldiers in Kursk for the first time. Both US and ROK officials have also told reporters that they believe the DPRK is preparing to send more troops to Russia in the coming months. On 30 January, however, media outlets reported that DRPK troops had been withdrawn from the frontline in Kursk after suffering heavy casualties. In addition, Ukrainian officials have publicly claimed that the DPRK has continued to send weapons to Russia and said that they expect it will continue doing so.

The increasingly close ties between the DPRK and Russia appear to have prompted both Japan and the ROK to explore options for strengthening their ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). From 14 to 16 January, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Boris Ruge met with senior officials in Seoul and Tokyo. The day before Ruge met with Japanese officials, Japan announced the inauguration of an independent mission to NATO in Brussels.

On 20 January, newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump reportedly referred to the DPRK as a nuclear power, days after his Secretary of Defense nominee Peter Hegseth (who has since been confirmed by the US Senate) used the same term in a written response to questions from the US Senate Armed Services Committee. According to media reports, on 21 January, a spokesperson for the ROK foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the DPRK can never be recognised as a nuclear-armed state and that denuclearisation remains a consistent principle upheld by the international community, including [the ROK] and the US.

In a 24 January interview, Trump appeared to suggest that he would attempt to rekindle the direct diplomacy with Kim Jong-un that he pursued during his first term, reportedly telling Fox News that he plans to reach out to the DPRK leader and saying, he liked me and I got along with him.

Key Issues and Options

The reported deployment of DPRK troops on Russian territory, together with reports of ongoing arms transfers from the DPRK to Russia, has created a major issue for Council members. As more information comes to light, the Council could choose to hold a meeting to discuss relevant developments. Given the direct involvement of a permanent member, a more substantive response is likely to be difficult.

The expiry of the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee is another major issue for the Council. (For more information on the expiration of the Panels mandate, see our 22 March 2024 Whats in Blue story). Members are currently considering how the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, which was first announced on 16 October 2024, could assist both the Council and the 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee. Council members could request a briefing on the work of this mechanism once it is operational, either at the Council or Committee level, including in relation to any information it obtains regarding apparent violations of the 1718 DPRK sanctions regime. Members could also ask for a briefing in an informal format, such as a closed-Arria meeting.

The DPRKs weapons tests, many of which violate Council resolutions, are also a serious issue for Council members. Sanctions evasion is another important issue, as is the overall effectiveness of the sanctions regime, particularly given that the DPRK is widely believed to have continued to develop nuclear weapons since the regime was first introduced. The DPRKs ongoing refusal to engage in denuclearisation dialogue and the countrys humanitarian situation are also problems for the Council.

The Council could adopt a product that condemns the DPRKs ongoing missile tests, urges member states to comply with existing resolutions, and calls on the DPRK to return to the negotiating table. It could also update and strengthen the 1718 DPRK sanctions regime to exert further pressure on the DPRK.

Council Dynamics

The Council is deeply divided over the DPRK, and this dynamic appears to have worsened as the DPRK and Russia have sought to bolster their ties. The P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded countries, including the ROK, generally favour using sanctions to help manage the threat posed by the DPRK and regularly call on member states to comply with existing Council resolutions. Many of these members have urged the DPRK to engage in dialogue and abandon its weapons programmes, while emphasising that it is responsible for escalating tensions. Some of these members have called for the Council to show unity and respond to the DPRKs weapons tests and argue that China and Russia have emboldened the DPRK by blocking Council action on the file. They have also highlighted evidence of arms transfers between the DPRK and Russia and noted that these transfers violate Council resolutions.

China and Russia, on the other hand, blame the US for heightening tensions and have accused it of not doing enough to incentivise the DPRK to participate in denuclearisation talks. These two members have also contended that sanctions should be eased because of their impact on the humanitarian situation and have expressed their support for a draft resolution circulated by China in October 2021 that would provide sanctions relief to the DPRK if adopted.

The US is the penholder on the DPRK.

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In Hindsight: The 2025 Peacebuilding Review

At the end of January, member states began the formal phase of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture Review (PBAR), a process undertaken every five years to strengthen and refine UN peacebuilding efforts worldwide. To kick-start its engagement in this phase, the Security Council, at Algerias initiative, adopted a presidential statement on 27 January, reaffirming its commitment to the process.

Algeria proposed an initial draft of the statement on 15 January. The Council last adopted a PBAR presidential statement in 2015. Some members cautioned that negotiating a statement too early in the process could undercut the broad consensus needed to pass General Assembly and Security Council resolutions by year-end. To avoid this, members opted for a concise text and deferred more contentious issuesexplored in the formal phase sectionfor later discussions.

The statement encourages greater coherence in peacebuilding efforts and emphasises the need to strengthen the performance and impact of the peacebuilding architecture. It also welcomes annual consultative meetings between the African Union Peace and Security Council and the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) while stressing the importance of partnership between the UN and the African Union (AU), consistent with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.

The 2025 PBAR in Context

Called for in resolutions 75/201 and 2558 (2020), this is the fourth review since the General Assembly and the Security Council established the three components of the peacebuilding architecture in 2005: the PBC, an intergovernmental advisory body; the Secretary-Generals Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), a financial mechanism of first resort to sustain peace in situations at-risk; and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), now integrated into the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA). PBSO is responsible for managing the PBF, supporting the PBCs work, and ensuring synergies across the UN systems peacebuilding work.

The fourth review comes at a time of significant geopolitical divisions and escalating risk of conflict in many parts of the world, underscoring the urgent need to act on recommendations from current and past reviews. Among member states, there is growing consensus that this review should prioritise advancing implementation over reiterating priorities.

The first review in 2010 (A/RES/65/7, S/RES/1947) emphasised improving operational effectiveness, resource mobilisation, and UN system integration. The 2015 review (A/RES/70/262, S/RES/2282) marked a pivotal shift with its emphasis on the concept of sustaining peace, which reframed peacebuilding as a proactive, inclusive, and integrated process aimed at preventing conflict, addressing root causes, and ensuring coherence across the UNs development, security, and human rights pillars. The 2020 review (A/RES/75/201, S/RES/2558) was widely regarded as a rollover exercise, reinforcing the principles and priorities of 2015 while addressing emerging challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasising the need to involve the entire UN system in effective strategic planning, and reiterating the need for sustained financing and strengthened partnerships.

According to the terms of reference that the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council circulated to all member states on 16 April 2024, the informal phase in 2024 would gather inputs through consultations and assessments, while the formal phase in 2025 would focus on intergovernmental negotiations to generate recommendations for adoption by the General Assembly and the Security Council by the end of the year.

2024 Informal Phase Highlights

The informal phase consisted of three tracks: (a) PBC meetings to assess progress; (b) reflections from independent eminent persons whom the Secretary-General selected based on current or past membership to relevant senior advisory boards and groups; and (c) perspectives gathered during thematic and regional consultations organised by member states, regional organisations, think tanks, and civil society across various regions.

In its letter to the General Assembly and the Security Council summarising the outcome of its meetings, the PBC highlighted the importance of national ownership, inclusive participation of women and youth, partnerships with financial institutions, leveraging regional cooperation, and enhancing coherence across UN bodies. The role of youth and education in peacebuilding was highlighted as an undervalued area requiring greater attention. It was recognised as both a fundamental right and a vital tool for conflict prevention and rebuilding trust. Drawing lessons from its flexible support for peacebuilding in The Gambia, the PBC identified the importance of respecting national needs, building institutional capacities, and ensuring adequate financial resources as key to its successful engagement and proposed that they should serve as the foundation for strengthening the architecture.

In their letter to the Secretary-General, which he subsequently shared with the General Assembly and the Security Council, the eminent persons pointed to implementation gaps in past recommendations and urged the review to prioritise actionable steps, including scaling sustainable financing, deepening inclusive participation, and strengthening the PBC as a global platform for prevention and impact.

The thematic and regional consultations offered diverse and valuable perspectives to strengthen peacebuilding efforts and tackle critical global challenges, including forced displacement, urbanisation, and the climate-conflict nexus. These consultations emphasised the importance of human rights, good governance, and sustainable financing as foundational pillars for peace while calling for specific actions such as empowering youth and women in leadership roles, implementing security sector reforms, integrating humanitarian and peacebuilding approaches to address displacement, and safeguarding civic space to enable inclusive participation. They also underscored the need to advance global technological governance, both to counter misinformation and hate speech and harness technologys potential for societal transformation.

These consultations have added to an already substantial volume of recommendations accumulated over successive reviews. This growing repository of inputsranging from insightful, actionable proposals to broader, more conceptual ideashas made prioritisation a significant challenge. The Center on International Cooperation at New York University organised input to the 2020 PBAR into a matrix, helping to categorise and highlight actionable priorities. No such systematic methodology was applied for the 2025 PBAR, leaving the new influx of recommendations harder to process and integrate effectively.

The Secretary-Generals report on peacebuilding and sustaining peace drew on input from the three tracks of the informal phase. While the methodology of distilling from the flood of input is not explicitly outlined, his report remains a practical starting point. Among the key recommendations:

Urging member states to embrace nationally-owned prevention and peacebuilding strategies as a universal priority. These should be anchored in human rights and backed by the UN system.

Emphasising the critical role of women in peacebuilding, calling for at least 15% of ODA to conflict-affected countries to advance gender equality, with 1% allocated specifically to womens organisations.

Pressing member states to reinvigorate voluntary funding to UN entities working on peacebuilding and the sustainable development goals, including ensuring adequate resources for resident coordinators offices and sustained funding during post-mission transitions.

Highlighting the need for adequate resources for the PBC, commensurate with the expansion of its scope and geographical focus, including the establishment of a dedicated conference facility.

Urging broader voluntary contributions to the PBF and raising assessed funding to $100 million per year as requested in his report (A/72/707-S/2018/43), as well as reallocating unspent peacekeeping funds to the PBF.

Calling for the strengthening of the Peacebuilding Impact Hub to improve access to and use of disaggregated data, fostering greater accountability across the UN system in achieving effective implementation and measurable results.

The Formal Phase

For the formal stage of the review, two co-facilitatorsEgypt for the General Assembly and Slovenia for the Security Councilhave been appointed to conduct intergovernmental consultations. These consultations aim to produce agreed recommendations for consideration and decision by the General Assembly and the Security Council. Member states are expected to begin negotiating the text of the twin General Assembly and Security Council resolutions in March or April, with adoption planned between October and December 2025.

A number of contentious issues are expected to come up during the negotiations, each requiring constructive solutions to ensure progress in peacebuilding efforts.

First, the concept of national ownership remains a point of divergence. Some member states emphasise sovereignty, viewing it as a principle to safeguard against external interference in domestic affairs. Others advocate for national ownership as a means to ensure inclusive and participatory peacebuilding, with greater involvement of women, youth, civil society, and other agents of change. Bridging these interpretations requires constructive dialogue, trust-building, and a shared commitment to balancing sovereignty with inclusive, locally driven approaches to peacebuilding.

Second, financing for peacebuilding remains a pressing concern. The General Assembly, through resolution A/RES/78/257 adopted on 22 December 2023, approved $50 million per year in assessed contributions to the PBF starting in 2025, providing more predictable and sustained support. However, demand for the Fund continues to outstrip its resources. While some advocate for increasing both assessed and voluntary contributions, others insist that voluntary funding should remain the primary source, opposing any increase in assessed contributions. Beyond the PBF, the Secretary-Generals report serves as a call to commit more resources to both UN and non-UN peacebuilding efforts, framing peacebuilding not as a cost but as a necessary investment for global stability and development. During the PBAR negotiations, member states must reconcile differing views on burden-sharing and prioritisation of peacebuilding within increasingly constrained budgets. To seek common ground, member states could shift the focus of discussions from sources of funding to proof of impact, based on disaggregated and independently verifiable data, for all UN peacebuilding activities.

Third, the role of the PBC in conflict prevention remains contentious, particularly when it involves sensitive issues such as human rights and climate, peace and security. While some member states have proposed initiatives like joint meetings between the PBC and the Human Rights Council, others remain wary of overreach and potential interference with sovereignty. Though the Pact for the Future, adopted in September 2024, draws on the 2016 resolutions that enhanced the PBCs preventive mandate, debate over its interpretation continues. Negotiations can benefit from focusing on examples where the PBC has supported nationally identified priorities, such as climate, peace and security initiatives in the Pacific Islands and the Sahel or transitional justice and human rights efforts in The Gambia. These examples provide valuable guidance for shaping future action, demonstrating how seemingly contentious issues can gain broad support when grounded in nationally owned and led strategies and initiatives.

Fourth, identifying agreed priorities and tracking progress on their implementation can be a cumbersome process in view of the vast array of recommendations from the current and past reviews. This requires pulling together and assessing progress across diverse inputs, which requires dedicated capacity. Member states can support efforts to map this information, organising it into a structured framework of agreed priorities to make implementation a central focus of PBAR discussions. In terms of the PBCs work, a focus on implementation could be achieved by shifting the debate from broad thematic priorities to practical ways of sustaining support for countries requesting assistance, including by enhancing coordination between the Chair and the new Vice-Chairs to meet the needs of PBCs expanded scope and conducting regular assessments of its impact on the ground. By making implementation a key focus, member states can maximise the PBCs impact, foster stronger collaboration, and build trust in the peacebuilding process.

The 2025 Peacebuilding Architecture Review offers member states the opportunity to demonstrate that their commitments are more than just words on paper. It is a chance to turn promises into tangible action and show that the ideals of peacebuilding can be realised through the hard work of implementation. As input from the informal phase highlights, this requires strengthened mechanisms to track progress, enhanced collaboration across national, regional, and global levels, and the mobilisation of sustainable and predictable financing. By placing implementation and impact at the heart of this review, member states can ensure that the Peacebuilding Architecture has a real chance to fulfil its promise of supporting lasting peace.
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AFRICA

Libya

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council will hold its bimonthly briefing on the situation in Libya. A UN representative is expected to brief the Council on recent political, security, and humanitarian developments in the country. Additionally, the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee might brief on the committees activities. (At the time of writing, the chair had not yet been appointed as Council members continue to negotiate this years allocation of subsidiary bodies).

Key Recent Developments

The political impasse in Libya continues between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU), based in Tripoli and led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah with advisory support from the High State Council (HSC), and the eastern-based Government of National Stability (GNS), led by Prime Minister Osama Hamad and backed by the House of Representatives (HoR) and the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) under the command of General Khalifa Haftar. The parties remain deadlocked over proposed legislation to hold national elections that would reconcile the countrys divided government. A key point of contention concerns the formation of a unified interim government to organise the elections, a move favoured by the GNS and HoR but opposed by the GNU and some segments of the HSC. The prolonged stalemate between the rival governmentswhich has persisted since the indefinite postponement of the 2021 electionsis one of the root causes of Libyas political, security, and economic instability.

In a 15 December 2024 statement, Deputy Special Representative and Political Officer in Charge of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Stephanie Koury announced a new UNSMIL-facilitated process aimed at ending the political deadlock and facilitating the holding of elections. According to the statement, this process will comprise two stages. First, UNSMIL intends to convene a technical committee of Libyan experts to develop options to overcome contentious issues in the electoral laws and hold elections in the shortest possible time including with proposed guarantees, assurances and a timeframe. Second, the mission will facilitate a national dialogue to expand consensus for the resolution of long-standing drivers of conflict. The dialogue will include all segments of Libyan society, including political parties, women, youth, social leaders, and cultural components. In her 16 December 2024 bimonthly Council briefing, Koury reiterated the details of this initiative.

Since then, Koury has continued consulting with Libyan stakeholders on the implementation of the proposal, including with HoR Speaker Aguila Saleh, HoR Deputy Speaker Fawzi Al Nuwairi, and GNU National Security Advisor Ibrahim Bushnaf. Additionally, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo met with acting GNU Foreign Minister Eltaher Elbaour on 21 January in New York to discuss the facilitation process.

On 19 January, Libyas High National Elections Commission (HNEC) announced the beginning of the second phase of the countrys municipal elections. This process will culminate in the election of local governing councils for 63 municipalities, starting with a 21-day candidate registration period and a subsequent voter registration period to be scheduled later. HNECs announcement followed the successful completion of the first phase of municipal elections on 16 November 2024, which conducted polls for 58 local councils. In his most recent report on UNSMIL, dated 10 December 2024 and covering developments since 9 August 2024, the Secretary-General welcomed the municipal elections as an important basis for the implementation of a national electoral process once a political settlement on an implementable legal framework is reached.

Through resolution 2755 of 31 October 2024, the Council extended UNSMILs mandate for three months, until 31 January, with a further automatic extension of an additional nine months, until 31 October, if a new Special Representative and Head of UNSMIL is appointed by 31 January. (The leadership position had been vacant since then-Special Representative Abdoulaye Bathily stepped down in May 2024.) On 9 January, Council members held closed consultations at Russias request to receive an update from DiCarlo on the appointment process. On the day of the meeting, Council members apparently received a letter from the Secretary-General expressing his intention to appoint Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, who most recently served as the Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa. Following additional informal discussions among members, the Council agreed to Tettehs nomination on 24 January, after which the Secretary-General officially announced her appointment, triggering the automatic extension of UNSMILs mandate on 31 January. At the time of writing, it was unclear when Tetteh would officially assume her position, and the UN representative to brief at Februarys Council meeting was not yet confirmed.

On 16 January, the Council adopted resolution 2769, renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee until 15 May 2026 and the authorisation of measures related to the illicit export of petroleum from Libya until 1 May 2026. The resolution also included modifications of the arms embargo and assets freeze measures imposed by resolution 1970 of 26 February 2011. (For more information, see our 16 January Whats In Blue story).

Key Issues and Options

Supporting political momentum towards national elections to unify Libyas divided government remains a key issue for the Council. In this context, an important objective for the Council is to help foster common political ground between the countrys rival governments to reach an inclusive agreement on electoral laws, including the possible establishment of a unified interim government to organise the elections.

In this regard, Februarys briefing will provide Council members with an opportunity to learn about preparations for and the implementation of UNSMILs revitalised efforts to facilitate dialogue between Libyan political stakeholders. The potential impact of the missions leadership transition on this initiative is also likely to be of interest to members.

To demonstrate the Councils continued support for the missions intensified engagement under Tettehs leadership, members could consider issuing a presidential statement or press statement. They could also consider holding a closed Arria-formula meeting with representatives of the rival governments for a frank discussion on potential ways to break the long-standing political impasse.

Council Dynamics

Council members remain united on the need for a Libyan-led, inclusive political process resulting in elections that will help to restore political, security, and economic stability to the country. They also remain broadly supportive of the UNs mediation role towards this end.

However, the recent extension of UNSMILs mandate in the absence of a Special Representative rekindled older disagreements. When former Special Envoy Jan Kubis resigned in November 2021, it took nearly a year to identify a successor, eventually leading to Bathilys appointment in September 2022. (Resolution 2629 of 29 April 2022 changed UNSMILs leadership position from a Special Envoy to a Special Representative.) During this impasse, the Council renewed UNSMILs mandate five times between September 2021 and July 2022 through short-term extensions, in part because Russia opposed a regular one-year renewal in the absence of appointed mission leadership. During negotiations on last years renewal under similar circumstances, Russia again opposed a one-year extension, citing the previous short-term extensions as precedent. This resulted in the compromise solution whereby resolution 2755 renewed the mandate for a three-month period that would be automatically extended by an additional nine months upon the appointment of a new Special Representative.

After the Secretary-General informed Council members of his intention to appoint Tetteh, Russia initially signalled scepticism about her nomination. In a letter dated 10 January, Russia expressed concerns about the nomination processincluding a lack of consultation with Council members and the short notice with which the nomination was announcedand requested a list of all other candidates considered for the position in order to inform the Councils deliberations on the matter. After further consultations with the UN Secretariat, however, it seems that Russia accepted Tettehs nomination.

More broadly, geopolitical tensions influence Council dynamics with respect to Libya. Several Western members remain concerned about Russias growing presence in the eastern part of the country under Haftars control, which has reportedly accelerated as Russia has transferred military assets from Syria following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. For its part, Russia routinely blames Libyas current instability on the NATO-led military intervention in 2011 and accuses Western countries of seeking to exploit Libyas oil reserves for economic gain.

The UK is the penholder on Libya.

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Multilateralism

Expected Council Action

In February, China plans to convene an open debate on Practicing Multilateralism, Reforming and Improving Global Governance, which will be the signature event of its presidency. The meeting will be chaired by Chinas Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to brief.

No outcome is planned.

Key Recent Developments

Over the past decade, several Council members have chosen to convene signature events during their presidencies that focus on multilateralism. These include, for example, meetings on:

 Reflect[ing] on history [and] reaffirm[ing] the strong commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN , held by China on 23 February 2015;

 Strengthening multilateralism and the role of the United Nations , convened by China on 9 November 2018;

 Upholding the UN Charter , initiated by Viet Nam and held on 9 January 2020;

 Upholding multilateralism and the UN-centred international system , convened by China on 7 May 2021;

 New orientation for reformed multilateralism , convened by India on 14 December 2022;

 Effective multilateralism through the defence of the principles of the UN Charter , convened by Russia on 24 April 2023; and

 Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order , held by Russia on 16 July 2024.

Uncharacteristically for a Council meeting, there were no briefers at the most recent of these meetings in July 2024. However, Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commenced the meeting with a statement in which he asserted that international lawincluding the UN Charter and Security Council resolutionsare interpreted by the collective West in a perverse and selective manner. Lavrov similarly claimed that the notorious rules-based international order is designed to serve Washingtons interests, representing a threat to multilateralism.

In September 2024, world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future. The document, agreed through intergovernmental negotiations led by Germany and Namibia, is meant to adapt international cooperation and institutions to todays realities and the challenges of the future. In one section on Transforming Global Governance, member states commit to action to strengthen and reinvigorate multilateralism and deepen international cooperation. They resolve to make the multilateral system more just, democratic, equitable and representative of todays world by giving all member states, especially those from the developing world, a greater voice in global decision-making. In this regard, they call for structural reform of the Security Council with greater representation of underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, including the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and especially Africa. Further, they commit to reforming the international financial architecture to enhance the representation of developing countries and garner enhanced funds to support sustainable development goals.

Key Issues and Options

A key issue is how to utilise the open debate to generate concrete ideas for strengthening the multilateral system with the Security Council at the centre of its peace and security architecture. At a time of shifting power dynamics and different approaches to global governance institutions between the global north and south, there is a need to come to a common understanding of how to address the evolving nature of conflict and its impact on the multilateral system.

In order to do so, Council members may need to focus on ways of building greater trust. As the Secretary-General noted in A New Agenda for Peacehis July 2023 policy paper presenting ideas for member states to prevent conflict and advance peacethe lack of trust and cooperation among member states, including the major powers, is a key obstacle to a more peaceful international system. In this regard, it might be helpful if the permanent members of the Security Council met more regularly on an informal level to reduce tensions among themselves. They could also hold more frequent meetings with the Secretary-General. While the Secretary-General meets monthly with the elected members, the meetings with the permanent members appear to have dwindled in recent years. More informal meetings among all 15 members (for example, using the sofa talks format) could also help build trust.

Although different views on multilateralism in the Council may be an obstacle, an option for the Council would be to consider a presidential statement that:

Affirms the centrality of the UN Charter in international law and urges member states to adhere to its norms and principles;

Urges member states to resolve their disputes peacefully, drawing on tools such as negotiations, mediation, conciliations (among others) outlined in Article 33 of the Charter; and

Encourages efforts to find common ground with respect to the use of long-standing Council tools such as peace operations and sanctions.

An additional option could be for China to produce a chairs summary capturing the major themes of the open debate.

Council Dynamics

The theme of this open debate is reminiscent of signature events that China has convened during some of its previous Council presidencies, including in February 2015, November 2018 and May 2021. It comes at a time of significant geo-political tension among the major powers, and the recent return to the US presidency of Donald Trump, who has already announced the withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement since assuming office on 20 January.

Contrasting views regarding the nature of the multilateral system, how it functions, and which countries adhere to the values of the UN Charter are likely to be on display during the open debate. In this regard, China and Russia have maintained that the rules-based international order to which Western countries refer is a facade for the selfish pursuit of their strategic interests. They maintain that the US and other Western states adhere to international law only when it is convenient and beneficial for them to do so. At the same time, many member states continue to see Russias February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict there as a violation of a core tenet of the UN Charter, the prohibition of the use of force against the territorial integrity of states, as outlined in Article 2 (4).

Members also have different perspectives on the use of some of the Councils tools, including peacekeeping and sanctions. China and Russia tend to emphasise the importance of extending state authority and promoting security sector reform in peacekeeping mandates. While valuing the importance of these issues, several other members highlight womens participation in peace processes, the relationship between climate change and security, and the promotion of human rights in peacekeeping mandates.

The sanctions divide is particularly stark between Western countries, on the one hand, and China, Russia, and African countries, on the other. Western countries often maintain that UN arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, such as assets freezes and travel bans, are vital tools in mitigating violence and supporting the implementation of peace agreements. While China, Russia, and the Councils African members recognise that sanctions can be a useful Council tool, they often argue that sanctions are employed in a punitive, unconstructive manner and that they are insufficiently adjusted to account for progress on the ground. Furthermore, China and Russia have been highly critical of the use of unliteral sanctionsthat is, economic measures imposed by one state or group of states to compel a policy change in another state, including through national sanctions regimes.

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Overview

In February, China will hold the presidency of the Security Council.

China is expected to organise one signature event, an open debate on Practicing Multilateralism, Reforming and Improving Global Governance under the agenda item Maintenance of international peace and security. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair the meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to brief.

In February, the Council is scheduled to hold a briefing on the Secretary-Generals biannual strategic-level report on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh).

The annual briefing by UN Police Commissioners is also expected to take place during the month.

Middle Eastern issues on the programme include:

Syria , monthly meeting on the political and humanitarian situations and possible additional meetings depending on developments in the country;

Yemen , the monthly meeting on the situation in the country; and

The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question , the monthly meeting, with the possibility of additional meetings depending on developments in Gaza and Israel.

African issues that will be discussed in February are:

Somalia , renewal of the 2713 Al-Shabaab Sanctions regime and the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 2713 Al-Shabaab Sanctions Committee;

Libya , meeting on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and briefing by the chair of the 1970 Libya Sanctions Committee;

Central African Republic (CAR) , meeting on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA);

South Sudan , briefing and consultations on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); and

Sudan , briefing and consultations on the situation in the country pursuant to resolution 2715 of 1 December 2023 and renewal of the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.

Regarding Asian issues, Council members will hold their semi-annual consultations on the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA). They will also receive a briefing on the work of the 1718 Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) Sanctions Committee.

February marks the third anniversary of Russias invasion of Ukraine. The Council is likely to have one or more meetings on the country during the month.

Other issues could be raised in February depending on developments, including on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
AFRICA

Somalia

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council is expected to renew the 2713 Al-Shabaab sanctions regime, including the provision for maritime interdiction, which expires on 28 February.

In addition, the Council will decide on the mandate of the Panel of Experts (PoE) supporting the 2713 Al-Shabaab Sanctions Committee, which was last renewed by resolution 2762 of 13 December 2024 and is set to expire on 31 March. The resolution expressed the Councils intention to review the Panels mandate and take appropriate actions regarding its further extension by 28 February.

Key Recent Developments

On 27 December, the Council adopted resolution 2767, endorsing the decision of the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) to replace the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) with the AU Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM). The resolution authorised AU members to take all necessary measures in this regard for 12 months, beginning 1 January. It also authorised AU members to deploy up to 12,626 uniformed personnel, including 1,040 police personnel, to AUSSOM until 30 June, and to complete by this date the realignment of all AU troops from ATMIS to AUSSOM. (For more information, see our 26 December 2024 Whats in Blue story.)

It appears that the AU Commission (the organisations secretariat) decided to extend the tour of duty of the military and civilian personnel deployed as part of ATMIS until 31 March 2025, citing the need to prevent a security vacuum and preserve institutional memory. Although Somalia had announced the finalisation of consultations with Troop-Contributing Countries (TCCs) participating in AUSSOM in November 2024, recent developments appear to have complicated the process.

Tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia, which had escalated last year after Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Somalilanda breakaway region in northern Somaliaappear to be subsiding. The agreement reportedly provided Ethiopia, a landlocked country, with access to the Gulf of Aden in exchange for formal recognition of Somaliland. Turkiyes mediation efforts resulted in a breakthrough, culminating in the signing of the Ankara Declaration by the leaders of Ethiopia and Somalia on 11 December 2024. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to each others sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity. They agreed to finalise commercial arrangements through bilateral agreements, granting Ethiopia access to the sea under Somalias sovereign authority. To this end, they decided to initiate technical negotiations by the end of February, with Turkiyes facilitation, aiming for completion and signing within four months. (For background and more information, see the brief on Somalia in our December 2024 Monthly Forecast.)

On 11 January, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travelled to Addis Ababa for talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. In a communique adopted following the meeting, both sides agreed to restore and enhance their bilateral ties and for the respective security agencies to bolster cooperation against threats posed by extremist militant groups and promote regional peace and security. Media reports quoted Somali Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ali Omar Balcad as saying that the primary obstacle to Ethiopias participation in AUSSOM, pertaining to the MoU agreement, has been resolved. However, he noted the challenge in reallocating the number of troops assigned to AUSSOM, which had been distributed to other TCCs.

This issue also appears to have affected Burundi, one of the major TCCs. In late December 2024, Somalias Defense Ministry announced that no consensus had been reached on troop allocations for the Burundi National Defense Forces (BNDF) in AUSSOM, expressing regret over the BNDFs decision not to participate in the mission.

Meanwhile, Somalia has been strengthening military ties with Egypt, which has offered to contribute to AUSSOM. Following the signing of a defence cooperation agreement in August 2024, Egypt has provided military support to Somalia, including heavy weaponry, on multiple occasions. On 26 January, Somalia and Egypt concluded technical discussions on Egypts participation in the mission; however, specific details remain undisclosed.

On 11 January, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Eritrea, and Somalia met in Cairo for a tripartite summit, following up on the Asmara Summit held on 10 October 2024 at the heads of state level. The discussions, among other things, highlighted the importance of strategic partnerships to enhance security and stability in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, while also addressing the regional impact of the situation in Sudan. During the press conference following the meeting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reportedly said that the security of the Red Sea is the sole responsibility of its coastal nations, emphasising that any presence of non-littoral states, whether military, naval, or otherwise, is unacceptable.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant faction in Somalia (ISIL-Somalia) gaining a foothold in Somalia has been a matter of growing concern, a development reflected in past reports of the Secretary-General on the threats posed by the group. In recent weeks, Puntland forces have intensified military offensives against ISIL-Somalia in the Bari region of north-eastern Somalia. These operations reportedly have resulted in significant territorial gains, successfully driving the group out of its stronghold areas. Media reports indicate that Puntland forces have successfully neutralised numerous ISIL-Somalia militants, though casualties have also been reported among Puntland troops. At the same time, clashes have also been reported between Somali forces and Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group affiliated with Al-Qaida, in the Galgaduud and Hiran regions.

Sanctions-Related Developments

The PoE assisting the 2713 Al-Shabaab Sanctions Committee submitted its final report on 15 October. The report said that Al-Shabaab remains the most significant threat to the peace and security of Somalia, with the capacity to carry out complex attacks against the Somali government, AU forces, and international forces. The report highlighted that the key sources of resupply for Al-Shabaab are the groups overrunning of the Somali National Army and ATMIS bases and the diversion of weapons from these bases, spillovers from regional conflicts, and illicit trafficking networks.

The report acknowledged a significant shift in the strength and disposition of ISIL-Somalia. It noted that the group, led by a cadre of former Al-Shabaab militants based in the Bari region of Puntland, has recently seen an influx of foreign fighters, which has expanded and enhanced the groups capabilities against Al-Shabaab. The report estimated that the group has likely doubled in size, partly due to the influx of foreign fighters, with current estimates placing the groups size between 600 and 700 fighters. Additionally, the report highlighted an increase in piracy incidents, with more than 25 attacks, including hijackings, reported on commercial vessels and dhows since 24 November 2023. (For more information, see our 12 December 2024 Whats in Blue story.)

On 15 October, the Secretary-General submitted a report pursuant to resolution 2713 providing an update on progress in achieving the indicators outlined in the ten benchmarks contained in his 15 September 2022 technical assessment report on Somalias weapons and ammunition capacity. The 15 October report indicated that progress had been incremental at the federal government level. It also noted that an urgent challenge is extending the weapons and ammunition management frameworks, processes, and structures to the federal member state level, considering the different needs, priorities, and perspectives of each state. The report added that countering the illicit flow of arms and ammunition into Somalia also remains a critical issue. Another challenge is to apply the weapons and ammunition management frameworks to the weapons held by clan militias, community defence forces, and civilians.

Key Issues and Options

One of the key issues for Council members in February is the extension of the 2713 Al-Shabaab sanctions regime and the mandate renewal of the PoE supporting the committee. In extending the sanctions measures and renewing the Panels mandate, Council members are likely to be guided by the findings of the 15 October progress report and the recommendations contained in the Panels 15 October final report.

In December, Council members agreed on a short-term technical extension of the measures and the Panels mandate. This approach, proposed by the penholder (the UK), apparently intended to allow the Council the necessary time to hold detailed and structured discussions on the issue, considering the Councils focus on post-ATMIS security arrangement negotiations and the need to delink both discussions. (For more information, see our 12 December 2024 Whats in Blue story.)

One option for Council members would be to renew the measures outlined in resolution 2713 and extend the mandate of the Panel of Experts for another year. Some Council members may wish to have a substantive discussion about the sanctions measures, including, but not limited to, the scope of the measures, exemptions, and reporting and notification requirements. Resolution 2713 affirmed the Councils commitment to reviewing the procedures outlined in the resolution regarding exemptions and notifications, including through potential modification, suspension, or lifting of the measures.

Council Dynamics

Council members support the Somali governments priorities and recognise the many challenges the country faces, including the persistent insecurity caused by the terrorist activities of Al-Shabaab. They also support ongoing efforts to fight the group, including the implementation of sanctions to degrade Al-Shabaab. In December 2023, Council members were united in their decision to lift the arms embargo on the Somali government, including the provision for advance notification by the Somali government of any deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Somali security and police institutions. At the same time, resolution 2713 reflected a clear focus on countering the threat posed by Al-Shabaab. (For background, see our 1 December 2023 Whats in Blue story.)

During the negotiations on resolution 2762, Russia apparently expressed reservations about extending the term of the Panels current membership. It suggested that the composition of the Panel could be decided by mid-January, when the mandate of the PoEs current membership was supposed to end pursuant to resolution 2713.

Earlier this year, the Council members agreed on the composition of the Panel of Experts, as appointed subsequently by the Secretary-General via a letter dated 14 January. However, at press time, discussions on the future of the sanctions measures and the panels mandate appear to be ongoing behind the scenes. Somalia, which has strongly advocated national ownership in recent years and joined the Security Council as a non-permanent member for the 2025-26 term, is well-positioned to push for adjustments to the sanctions regime that align with its national priorities. However, it remains uncertain how these discussions will evolve and influence the dynamics within the Council.

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AFRICA

South Sudan

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council will hold a briefing, followed by consultations, to discuss the situation in South Sudan. Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicholas Haysom is expected to brief on the Secretary-Generals 90-day report on South Sudan, which was circulated to Council members on 24 January, and developments in the country.

The mandate of UNMISS expires on 30 April.

Key Recent Developments

The most recent quarterly report of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC)which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS)covering the period from 1 October to 31 December 2024, was released on 20 January. The report highlighted limited progress following the decision of South Sudanese authorities to extend the transitional period, postponing general elections until December 2026. It observed that the election-related bodies continue to suffer from a lack of adequate funding and have made slow progress in advancing key tasks, such as preparing the permanent constitution and moving the election process forward. The report noted that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir agreed to return the National Security Act 2014 (Amendment) Bill 2024 to the cabinet for re-tabling before the Transitional National Legislative Assembly. The bill granted the National Security Service broad powers to arrest and detain suspects without a warrant. (For background and more information, see the brief on South Sudan in our November 2024 Monthly Forecast.)

Regarding the transitional security arrangements, the RJMECs report said that the deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) remained limited, with no progress since the deployment of eight military battalions by April 2024. It further highlighted the lack of progress in the commencement of Phase II training of the NUF and the commissioning of middle-command echelon officers.

The Secretary-Generals 24 January report, covering developments from 16 October 2024 to 15 January, provided an update on the Tumaini Peace Initiative, which aims to reconcile the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) and the holdout groups, facilitated by Kenya in Nairobi. Negotiations, stalled since mid-July 2024, resumed on 4 December 2024 but faltered again because of disagreements over the agenda. The government delegation sought to revisit the eight protocols signed in July 2024 and separate the Tumaini talks from the revitalised agreement; opposition groups rejected this approach.

Four of the opposition groups involved in the mediation talks formed an umbrella group, the United Peoples Alliance (UPA), while National Salvation Front leader Thomas Cirilo reaffirmed his refusal to join the talks. The talks resumed on 20 January but continue to face significant challenges. While the government seeks to incorporate the holdout groups into the revitalised agreement, UPA argues that R-ARCSS is no longer relevant and insists that any outcome of the Tumaini talks should be a stand-alone agreement.

The security situation remains volatile, marked by frequent security incidents and persistent intercommunal and subnational violence in many areas of the country. During the period covered by the Secretary-Generals 24 January report, UNMISS verified 250 incidents of violence affecting 953 civilians, including 327 deaths, marking a 27 percent increase in incidents compared to the previous reporting period. The report noted that UNMISS maintained four temporary operating bases in Koch, Jamjang, Abiemnom, and Tambura to increase operational reach, deter attacks against civilians, and secure main supply routes.

In a 16 January press release, UNMISS expressed deep concern about reports of a series of violent clashes between the South Sudan Peoples Defence Forces (that is, government forces) and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-in Opposition in Nagero county of Western Equatoria state. The clashes continued in the following days, reportedly resulting in numerous civilian deaths and causing widespread displacement.

In mid-January, riots erupted in Juba following reports that the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied groups had killed 29 South Sudanese migrant workers after capturing Wad Madani, in Sudans Al Jazira state, from the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese paramilitary group. South Sudanese national police reportedly confirmed that the riots, which spread across four states, led to the deaths of 16 Sudanese nationals in reprisal attacks.

On 17 January, the African Union (AU) Ad Hoc High-Level Committee for South Sudan, known as the C5 (comprising Algeria, Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa), arrived in Juba for a ministerial visit. According to a press statement delivered by South Africas Foreign Minister Ronald Ozzy Lamola on behalf of the C5, the members met with President Kiir, First Vice-President Riek Machar, African ambassadors in Juba, and officials from RJMEC, UNMISS, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. The C5 emphasised the need to safeguard South Sudans political and security gains and announced plans to hold a heads of state meeting on the sidelines of the AU Summit in February in Addis Ababa.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 9 December 2024, a delegation from the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan arrived in Kenya for a five-day visit aimed at promoting human rights and ensuring accountability for violations in South Sudan. During the visit, the delegation met with senior Kenyan government officials, representatives of international organisations, and civil society groups. The commission emphasised the importance of regional support for South Sudans transition, particularly from Kenya, which is facilitating the Tumaini Peace Initiative. The delegation also met with the Tumaini initiatives negotiating team, stressing the urgency of safeguarding and accelerating key state-building measures in the peace agreement, including transitional justice, constitution-making, and reforms in security, the judiciary, and the economy.

Women, Peace and Security

Ahead of the 7 November 2024 Council briefing on the situation in South Sudan, the Council members that had signed on to the shared commitments on women, peace and securitywhich then included Ecuador, France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the UK, and the USdelivered a joint statement calling for women in South Sudan to be given more space to participate in politics at all levels across all regions, including in all election processes. Among other things, the statement noted that women and girls in South Sudan, including from refugee and internally displaced communities, suffer among the highest levels of sexual and gender-based violence globally, and it called on the government of South Sudan to hold perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence to account, end impunity, and take measures to protect civilians. It also called on the international community to provide direct support to womens organisations assisting women and girls in South Sudan.

Key Issues and Options

The fundamental concern for the Council is the significant political and security challenges in South Sudan stemming from delays in the political transition and the implementation of the R-ARCSS. A key issue in this regard is what the Council can do to encourage the parties to make progress towards implementing the outstanding tasks of R-ARCSS and creating conditions necessary for holding elections, including providing adequate financial support to the election-related bodies. The shrinking political and civic space in the country also continues to be a particular concern for several Council members.

One option for the Council would be to invite the Interim Chairperson of the RJMEC, Major General (Retired) Charles Tai Gituai, to brief on the challenges facing South Sudan, including the implementation of the revitalised agreement and the progress in the ongoing Tumaini initiative mediation talks.

Council members could consider holding an informal interactive dialogue (IID) with the various stakeholders of the South Sudanese political process, the leadership of UNMISS, and interested regional and subregional member states and organisations. (The IID is a closed format that, unlike closed consultations, allows for the participation of non-UN officials and briefers.)

Another option for Council members would be to issue a press statement expressing concern about the consistent delays in implementing the peace agreement. The statement could urge all stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue to address outstanding tasks, including the agreed-upon benchmarks for holding peaceful general elections, in a timely manner. It could also call on all parties involved in the Tumaini Initiative, including non-signatories, to engage in good faith to resolve their differences.

An additional key issue for the Council is the humanitarian and food security situations. A related issue is the ongoing restrictions on humanitarian access and violence against aid workers in South Sudan. The Secretary-Generals 24 January report documented 111 incidents related to humanitarian access, including numerous attacks on humanitarian facilities, staff, and assets, between October 2024 and January. An option would be to seek regular briefings on these matters from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The impact of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan on the humanitarian, political, and security situations in South Sudan remains a matter of concern for Council members. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately one million people, the majority of whom are South Sudanese refugee returnees, have crossed into South Sudan since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan on 15 April 2023. The influx of refugees and returnees has exacerbated the strain on local communities, which are already grappling with diminishing resources.

Council Dynamics

Most Council members have similar concerns about the delays in implementing the R-ARCSS, the ongoing sub-national and intercommunal violence, and the economic and humanitarian crises in South Sudan. Members, however, have diverging views about the context of the situation and the extent to which the Council can and should apply pressure on the parties to fully implement the peace agreement.

These dynamics were apparent during the Councils 7 November 2024 briefing on the situation in South Sudan. Several Council members expressed regret and concern over the decision of South Sudanese authorities to extend the transitional period. The US was the most critical, expressing profound disappointment and criticising South Sudans leaders for lack of political will. It said that UNMISS should not support elections unless and until the [t]ransitional [g]overnment dedicates and deploys its own resourceshuman and capitalto that effort. Other members such as China, Russia and the A3+1 (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Guyana, and then-member Mozambique) took note of the decision and highlighted the progress made by the South Sudanese government despite the countrys severe challenges, including the dire humanitarian situation, intercommunal violence, and the economic crisis.

The US is the penholder on South Sudan.

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Status Update since our January Forecast

Middle East, including the Palestinian Question

On 3 January, the Security Council convened for a briefing under The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question (S/PV.9830) agenda item. The meeting was called by Algeria to discuss Israels attacks against hospitals in Gaza. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the World Health Organisation representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Rik Peeperkorn, briefed. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a medical practitioner at Medical Aid for Palestinians, also briefed.

On 17 January, Security Council members received a briefing in closed consultations on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Algeria requested the meeting to discuss the situation of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini briefed.

On 20 January, the Security Council held its quarterly open debate on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question (S/PV.9841). UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefed. Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf chaired the meeting.

On 23 January, the Security Council held an open briefing on the situation of children in Gaza under The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question agenda item (S/PV.9846). Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher briefed. Bisan Nateel, a representative from the Tamer Institute for Community Education, also briefed.

On 28 January, Council members convened for an open briefing on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, focused on UNRWA. Lazzarini and the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, briefed (S/PV.9852).

Lebanon

On 13 January, Council members held closed consultations on the situation in Lebanon. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix briefed.

On 16 January, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement on Lebanon (S/PRST/2025/1). The presidential statement welcomed the election of the President of the Republic of Lebanon Joseph Aoun and the designation of Nawaf Salam as Prime Minister. It also welcomed the 29 November 2024 cessation of hostilities arrangement between Israel and Lebanon (S/2024/870), expressed concern about reported violations, and called for all violations of the arrangement to stop.

Arria-formula Meeting on Commercial Spyware

On 14 January, the US convened an Arria-formula meeting on the implications of the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware on the maintenance of international peace and security. The meeting was co-sponsored by Council members France, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the UK, together with Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. Briefings were delivered by John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which investigates digital espionage targeting civil society, among other issues; Shane Huntley, senior director at Googles Threat Analysis Group, which focuses on detecting, analysing, and disrupting government-backed threats against Google and its users; and Julia Gavarrete, a Salvadoran journalist specialising in political issues, migration, and human rights, who has been the target of spyware attacks.

Cyprus

On 16 January, the Council held consultations on the situation in Cyprus. Special Representative and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Colin Stewart briefed the Council on the recent developments and key findings from two Secretary-Generals reports on UNFICYP: the semi-annual report on UNFICYP (S/2025/6), and the report on his good offices in Cyprus (S/2025/7).

On 15 January, Security Council members met in closed consultations to discuss the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). France, the penholder on the DRC, requested the meeting after the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) circulated a white note to Council members on 9 January describing developments in eastern DRC, particularly the recent offensive by the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) rebel group in North Kivu province, the epicentre of the conflict in eastern DRC. Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC and Head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) Bintou Keita briefed the Council via videoconference (VTC). The Council met again to discuss the situation in the DRC

on 26 January (S/PV. 9849) and 28 January (S/PV.9853).

UNIFIL and UNDOF

On 17 January, the Security Council held a briefing (S/PV.9840) on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Russia requested the meeting to address the latest developments in the respective areas of operations, including the challenges peacekeepers face in carrying out their mandates. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Head of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) and Interim Head of UNDOF Major General Patrick Gauchat briefed via videoconference (VTC). Israel, Lebanon, and Syria participated under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

Ukraine

On 13 January, the UKwith co-sponsorship from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the USconvened an Arria-formula meeting, titled Violations of international humanitarian law against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees. The briefers included: Pablo de Greiff, a member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Ukraine; Valerii Horishnii, a former prisoner of war, senior sergeant, and instructor at Ukraines National Guard, who fought in the 2022 battle of Mariupol and spent two years in Russian captivity; Nariman Dzhelyal, a Crimean Tatar journalist and activist who was sentenced in September 2022 to 17 years in prison by the Russian-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea in connection with an alleged gas pipeline sabotage case and was subsequently returned to Ukraine in June 2024; and Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian human rights defender, journalist, civic activist, and military serviceman, who was held in Russian captivity for over two years and, in March 2023, was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony. He was returned to Ukraine in October 2024.

On 16 January, the Council held a briefing on Ukraine (S/PV.9839). Slovenia and the USthe co-penholders on political issues in Ukrainerequested the meeting to receive a general update on developments. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the Council. The representatives of Estonia, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine participated in the meeting under rule 37.

On 24 January, Russia convened an Arria-formula meeting on Ukraine, titled Beyond the Battlefield: Atrocities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Against Civilians. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia (Russia) delivered the opening remarks. The briefers, who participated via videoconference, were: Maxim Grigoriev, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation; Thomas Roper, a German journalist; and two residents of Selydove, Vladimir Romanenko and Vladimir Pogorelov, who were described in the concept note prepared by Russia for the meeting as victim[s] of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

League of Arab States

On 23 January, the Security Council held a briefing on Cooperation between the Security Council and the League of Arab States (S/PV.9845). The briefers were: Mohamed Khaled Khiari, the Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (LAS). Algerias Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, chaired the meeting.

Counter-Terrorism

On 21 January, the Council held an open debate on counter-terrorism in Africa under the agenda item Maintenance of international peace and security (S/PV.9842 and S/PV.9842 Resumption I). The meeting resumed and was completed on 24 January (S/PV.9842 Resumption II). Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf chaired the first part of the meeting, which was one of Algerias signature events for its presidency. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed; African Union (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye; and former UN and AU official Said Djinnit briefed. 45 member states participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure. Permanent Observer of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the UN Kinza Aby Jawara-NJai, Head of the EU Delegation to the European Union (EU) Stavros Lambrinidis, and Deputy Special Representative of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to the UN Dominique Bahorera also participated in the meeting under rule 39 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

On 24 January, the Council adopted a presidential statement on counter-terrorism (S/PRST/2025/2). The presidential statement was proposed by Algeria in connection with its signature event on counter-terrorism in Africa.

On 24 January, Council members also issued a press statement condemning terrorist attacks carried out by Al-Qaida affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) in the Point Triple area in Benin on 8 January (SC/15980).

Haiti

On 22 January, the Council received its regular quarterly briefing (S/PV.9844) from Special Representative and Head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) Maria Isabel Salvador on recent political, security, and humanitarian developments in the country and on the Secretary-Generals latest report on BINUH (S/2025/28). UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Ghada Fathi Waly also briefed. Canada (on behalf of the Economic and Social Council Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti), Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kenya, and Suriname (on behalf of the Caribbean Community) participated in the meeting under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

Colombia

On 22 January, the Security Council held an open briefing on Colombia (S/PV.9843). Special Representative and Head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia Carlos Ruiz Massieu briefed on recent developments and the Secretary-Generals latest 90-day report on the mission (S/2024/968). The Council was also briefed by Armando Wouriyu Valbuena, a representative of the Special High-Level Instance for Ethnic Groups (IEANPE). The IEANPE was created by the 2016 Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace between the government of Colombia and the former rebel group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP) to monitor the implementation of provisions related to the agreements ethnic chapter. Diego Tovar, a former FARC-EP combatant and signatory to the 2016 peace agreement, participated in the meeting under rule 39 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

International Court of Justice

On 24 January, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 2770, which fixed 27 May as the date for the election to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of the former President of the ICJ, Judge Nawaf Salam.

Myanmar

On 30 January, Council members held closed consultations on Myanmar. The meeting was requested by the UK, the penholder on the file. Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar Julie Bishop and Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva and Director of the Coordination Division Ramesh Rajasingham briefed.
AFRICA

Sudan

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council is expected to receive the regular 120-day briefing on the situation in Sudan. The Council is also expected to renew the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee.

The 1591 Sudan sanctions regimeincluding targeted sanctions (assets freeze and travel bans) and an arms embargoexpires on 12 September.

Key Recent Developments

Since launching its offensive in late September, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has made progress in reclaiming strategic locations in Khartoum and surrounding areas from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Despite these advances, the conflict remains intense, with both sides engaged in fierce urban warfare in these areas. Meanwhile, the SAF also intensified its military operations in other parts of the country, including Al Jazira and Sennar states, achieving notable successes. On 11 January, the SAF recaptured Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazira and a strategically significant city south of Khartoum, located at the crossroads of key supply routes connecting several states. (For more information, see our 30 January Whats In Blue story.)

The fighting has been accompanied by reports of mass civilian casualties, including revenge killings and torture, targeting individuals based on alleged affiliation or ethnicity. Following the capture of Wad Madani, media reports indicated that the SAF and allied forces committed widespread violations against civilians, including torture, extrajudicial killings, and destruction of property across several areas in Al Jazira. The RSF has also been reported to have carried out attacks on villages in the south and east of Al Jazira, resulting in the deaths of at least 21 civilians.

In a 15 January statement, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, expressed deep concern about reports of recent attacks on civilians. She highlighted reports indicating significant civilian casualties, destruction of property, and further displacement of vulnerable people because of continued shelling and aerial attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in many parts of the country, including western Omdurman, Merowe in Northern State, Atbara in River Nile State, and the Darfur region.

In a 7 January statement, then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US had determined that the RSF and its allied militias were responsible for committing genocide in Sudan. On the same day, the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemeti), as well as seven RSF-owned companies located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one individual for their roles in procuring weapons for the RSF.

On 16 January, OFAC also sanctioned the SAFs leader and the head of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council (TSC), General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, along with one company and one individual involved in weapons procurement for the SAF. The same day, a New York Times article, citing US officials, reported that the SAF had used chemical weapons on at least two occasions against the RSF, which played a key factor in the decision to sanction Burhan. The article further stated that US officials who were briefed on the matter believed the chemical used was likely chlorine gas. However, the exact details of the use of these weapons remain unclear.

Council members have been closely monitoring the food insecurity situation in Sudan. On 6 January, the Council held an open briefing on the 24 December 2024 report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee. The report confirmed that famine conditions in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur persisted between October and November 2024 and had spread to other IDP sites in North Darfur, including Al Salam and Abu Shouk camps, as well as the Western Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan State. The report projected famine conditions in five more areas between December 2024 and May, with a confirmed risk of famine in 17 additional areas during the same period. (For background, see our 5 August 2024 and 4 January Whats In Blue stories.)

Efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict continued but without any significant breakthrough. On 18 December 2024, Mauritania hosted the third consultative meeting on enhancing coordination among various peace initiatives on Sudan. Several regional and international interlocutors attended the meeting, including Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra and representatives of the African Union, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, Bahrain, Egypt, Mauritania, the US, and Saudi Arabia. In a communique adopted following the meeting, the participants agreed on the operational details of a technical task force of the consultative group for the purpose of exchanging information and ensuring harmonisation of efforts.

Lamamra visited Port Sudan from 22-24 December 2024, where he met with senior Sudanese officials, including Burhan, to discuss UN-led peace efforts. During his visit, he also engaged with several senior diplomats from various countries to discuss regional and international support for the peace process. On 25 December 2024, Lamamra travelled to Addis Ababa, where he met with a delegation from the RSF. The discussions focused on implementing the recommendations contained in the Secretary-Generals 21 October 2024 report for the protection of civilians in Sudan. Among other things, the report recommended that the warring parties establish a robust and transparent compliance mechanism, as a critical step to ensure implementation of the 11 May 2023 Jeddah declaration.

Human Rights-Related Developments

On 20 December 2024, the Sudan country office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on the human rights situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, which has been under siege by the RSF and allied Arab militias since May 2024. The report noted that, during this period, more than 782 civilians were killed and 1,143 injured because of intense shelling by the RSF, recurring airstrikes by the SAF, and artillery shelling by both the SAF and allied joint forces. The report also documented repeated RSF attacks on camps hosting IDPs, in particular Zamzam and Abu Shouk. In a press release, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed deep concern over the continuing siege, urged all parties to the conflict to stop attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and called on them to comply with their obligations under international law.

In a 17 January press release, Turk warned that direct and ethnically motivated attacks on civilians were becoming increasingly common amid the ongoing hostilities. Over a two-week period, OHCHR documented at least 21 deaths in the southeastern state of Al Jazira, although the actual number of deaths is likely much higher. The press release cited reports indicating that these attacks were carried out by the Sudan Shield Forces, led by Abu Aqla Keikal, a former RSF commander who defected to the SAF in October 2024. It also raised serious concerns about the situation in North Darfur, where ethnically motivated attacks by the RSF and allied Arab militias against African ethnic groupsparticularly the Zaghawa and the Furcontinue to inflict devastating harm.

Sanctions-Related Developments

On 23 December 2024, Council members received the final report of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee, which had not been published at press time. The report apparently provides an account of various aspects of the conflict, including its dynamics, the financing of the armed groups, the humanitarian impact and violations of international humanitarian law, recruitment patterns of the warring parties, the proliferation of weapons and violations of the sanctions regime, and the conflicts impact on regional security and stability, among other things.

At press time, the appointment of subsidiary body chairs had not been finalised among Council members, preventing the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee from discussing the findings and recommendations of the Panel of Experts 20 December 2024 final report. As a matter of practice, final reports are published only after being discussed in a committee meeting.

Women, Peace and Security

In a recent update on patterns of gender-based violence (GBV) in the war in Sudan, UN Women reported a 288 percent increase between December 2023 and December 2024 in the number of GBV survivors seeking support services in the country. According to the update, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has been perpetrated by all conflict parties and has affected mainly women and girls, but also men and boys. The update noted that ethnic minority groups have been deliberately targeted with rape and other forms of sexual violence and cited reports of attacks against women human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and humanitarian workers to silence documentation and reporting of GBV incidents and the scale of atrocities.

The update added that similar deliberate attacks against women health workers and the staff of women-led organisations, which have been at the forefront of providing services to GBV survivors, have also been observed. It stressed that the lack of a monitoring, reporting, and accountability mechanism to hold perpetrators to account has meant that violence continues unabated amidst a culture of impunity. It added that this undermines international commitments such as those outlined in Security Council resolution 1820 of 2008 which, among other things, stressed the importance of ending impunity for CRSV as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation.

Key Issues and Options

The key issue for the Council in February is renewing the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the 1591 Sudan Sanctions Committee. Ensuring strict compliance with the sanctions regime is a related issue. One option for Council members is to extend the panels mandate for one year.

Some members may suggest extending the panels mandate until September to align it with the mandate cycle of the sanctions measures and facilitate a broader discussion on the sanctions regime and the panel in September. This was also raised during last years negotiations on resolution 2725, which most recently extended the panels mandate. (For background, see our 8 March 2024 Whats In Blue story.)

Based on the panels 23 December 2024 report and its recommendations, Council members may wish to have a substantive discussion about the sanctions measures, including, but not limited to, expanding the geographic scope of the sanctions measures to the rest of the country, the designation criteria, and additional listing of individuals and entities under the current regime.

The levels of intercommunal violence and insecurity throughout the country are a major concern. In this regard, the overarching issue for the Security Council remains how to halt the ongoing fighting and support efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire across Sudan. As hostilities persist, however, Security Council resolutions remain unimplemented, and mediation efforts have consistently failed to achieve any meaningful breakthroughs. (For background and more information, see the brief on Sudan in our December 2024 Monthly Forecast.)

Nonetheless, Council members could consider adopting a product that:

strongly condemns the ongoing violence across the country and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure;

demands an immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities;

reiterates the Councils demand that the RSF halt its siege of El Fasher;

expresses deep concern about the dire humanitarian situation and urges the parties to the conflict to ensure rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access for the delivery of life-saving assistance for civilians in need;

demands that all parties to the conflict ensure the protection of civilians, including by fully implementing the 11 May 2023 Jeddah declaration; and

builds on the Secretary-Generals recommendations for the protection of civilians, contained in his 21 October 2024 report, and expresses support for establishing a monitoring and verification mechanism in case of a ceasefire and to ensure compliance with the Jeddah declaration.

In addition to Lamamra, the Chinese Presidency in February could consider inviting OCHA to brief on the humanitarian situation in the country and efforts to address the crisis.

Another option for Council members could be a visiting mission to Sudan to assess the situation on the ground and engage with relevant stakeholders. This mission could also provide an opportunity for Council members to visit the refugee camps in neighbouring countries, particularly Chad.

Council and Wider Dynamics

Despite the underlying differences among Council members, such as on the utility of the sanctions regime, members were able to unanimously adopt resolution 2750 of 11 September 2024, extending the sanctions regime for one year. While members agreed on the necessity of extending the regime, the discussions underscored differing views on how to adapt the Councils tools to Sudans evolving situation. For instance, France apparently proposed language expressing the Councils intention to consider the relevance of extending sanctions measures to other regions of Sudan. Although some members seem to have been willing to discuss this proposal, the A3 plus grouping (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Guyana, and then-Council member Mozambique), China, and Russia strongly objected to it. (For more information, see our 8 March 2024 Whats In Blue story.)

On the situation in general, critical divisions exist within the Council, shaped by differing priorities and approaches to key issues, including protection of civilians, implementation of ceasefire mechanisms, and addressing accountability for violations of international humanitarian law. Several Council members, such as Algeria, China, Pakistan, and Russia, recognise Sudans TSC, led by Burhan, as the legitimate authority, which remains responsible for, among other things, protection of civilians and coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid. Other Council members, such as the US, however, consider both the RSF and SAF to be responsible for the atrocities being committed in Sudan and unfit to govern. Following the imposition of sanctions on both warring sides, Blinken said that [t]aken together, these sanctions underscore the US view that neither man is fit to govern a future, peaceful Sudan. (For background and more information, see the brief on Sudan in our November 2024 Monthly Forecast and 4 January Whats In Blue story.)

It remains to be seen whether, under US President Donald Trumps administration, these US policy positions will be maintained. In 2020, Sudan joined the Abraham Accords, normalising ties with Israel, as part of an agreement with the first Trump administration, which involved removing Sudans designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Following this, Burhan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Kampala.

Burhans relations with the UAE have deteriorated because of the UAEs reported military support for the RSF during the ongoing conflict. Furthermore, in October 2023, Sudan restored diplomatic ties with Iran, which has reportedly been supplying arms to the SAF since the outbreak of hostilities.

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MIDDLE EAST

Syria

Expected Council Action

In February, the Council is expected to hold a meeting on the political and humanitarian developments in Syria.

Key Recent Developments

Following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the caretaker authorities focused on structuring a governance framework and consolidating their power, appointing individuals close to Ahmed al-Sharaa (leader of the new administration and head of Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)) to key positions. The authorities announced agreements with some armed rebel factions to disband and integrate into the unified Syrian national army; however, specific details remain unclear. They have also initiated a reconciliation process with former army officials. Recent media reports suggest that several foreign Islamist fighters have been appointed to senior military positions. Sharaa has reportedly also proposed granting citizenship to foreign fighters and their families for their role in the fight against Assad. (For background, see the brief on Syria in our January 2025 Monthly Forecast.)

In late December 2024, the caretaker authorities announced plans to convene a national dialogue conference aimed at bringing together Syrias diverse political and sectarian groups to discuss the countrys political transition. While initial media reports suggested the conference might take place in early January, the foreign minister of the Syrian caretaker government, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, announced on 7 January that additional preparation time was required. He also outlined plans to establish an expanded preparatory committee to ensure broader representation from all segments and governorates of Syria. At press time, no date had been set for the conference. (For more information, see our 7 January Whats In Blue story.)

The past few weeks have witnessed a flurry of high-level engagements among key stakeholders aimed at addressing Syrias evolving political and security landscape. On 9 January, an informal group of five statesFrance, Germany, Italy, the US, and the UK, referred to as the Quintetand European Commission High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President Kaja Kallas met in Rome. Media reports quoted Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani as describing the meeting as critical in initiating discussions about potential changes to EU sanctions on Syria.

On 12 January, Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting of key regional and international interlocutors on Syria, bringing together representatives from 17 countries, including Syria. The meeting, which built on the ministerial discussions held in Aqaba on 14 December 2024, was attended by Kallas, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, and UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen. Also on 12 January, Riyadh hosted a ministerial meeting of the Arab countries, attended by Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as Aboul-Gheit and Budaiwi.

In a 13 January media interview, Pedersen noted the relative stability in many parts of the country while acknowledging some security incidents, including attacks on minority groups. During the meeting in Riyadh, Pedersen mentioned receiving assurances from Syrian caretaker authorities about plans to establish a new transitional body following the national dialogue conference. He underscored the relevance of resolution 2254 adopted in 2015, particularly the provisions relating to a Syrian-led transitional process aimed at drafting a new constitution, holding free and fair elections, and safeguarding Syrias sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence. He underlined the importance of lifting sanctions for rebuilding Syria, emphasising the need for the transition process to advance and for the international community to respond appropriately.

On 20 January, Pedersen arrived in Damascus for his second visit since 8 December 2024 and held meetings with key Syrian stakeholders, including Sharaa and Shibani. Council members convened in closed consultations on 30 January to receive an update from Pedersen on the latest developments in the country. (For more information, see our 29 January Whats in Blue story.)

The security situation in northern Syria remains fragile, with various factions competing for control and influence. Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) forces launched an offensive in the territories controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), capturing strategic locations around Manbij and Tal Rifat. The clashes intensified near Tishrin dam on the Euphrates River in Manbij countryside in eastern Aleppo, which remains a critical source of water and electricity for SDF-controlled territories. Turkiye has reportedly conducted airstrikes in the area, raising concerns about potential damage to the dam. Additionally, it has also targeted several locations in the Kobani countryside and Aleppos eastern countryside. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), more than 420 people have been killed, including 41 civilians, since 12 December 2024. Media reports have said that fighting has erupted between tribal factions and the SDF while the Syrian caretaker authorities have deployed forces close to the Tishrin dam area.

Negotiations reportedly are underway between HTS and the SDF to determine the future of Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Media reports suggest that the SDF had proposed maintaining its autonomy as a military bloc within the Syrian army, which the caretaker authorities rejected. In parallel, the US has been engaging Turkiye, HTS, and the SDF, while discussions continued between Turkiye and HTS, according to a 19 January Reuters article. Previously, the US had expressed support for a managed transition for SDFs role in the region. Meanwhile, Turkiye seeks to disarm the SDF and dismantle any structures supporting Kurdish autonomy in Syria as well as eliminating elements linked to YPG, a Kurdish militia.

Furthermore, since Assads ousting, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, targeting its air bases, ammunition depots, military equipment, and positions of forces loyal to the new administration. Israel has also launched a ground incursion extending deeper into the Golan and Syrian territory. (For background and more information, see the brief on Syria in our January 2025 Monthly Forecast and 17 January Whats In Blue story.)

On 24 December 2024, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released the monthly report on the implementation of resolution 2118 of 27 September 2013, which required the verification and destruction of Syrias chemical weapons stockpiles. The report highlighted that the evolving political and security dynamics in Syria present a crucial opportunity for the OPCW to clarify the full extent and scope of Syrias chemical weapons programme. It emphasised that the immediate priority is to prevent proliferation and any further use of chemical weapons. To achieve this, the OPCW Secretariat must identify, access, and verify all relevant chemical weapons sites and facilities as soon as conditions permit. The second priority, the report added, is to protect and preserve documents, evidence, and witnesses related to the Syrian chemical weapons programme, with the goal of achieving its complete elimination.

Key Issues and Options

The most pressing issue before the Council is how to ensure a credible, transparent, and inclusive political process, guided by the principles of resolution 2254, that can prioritise the needs and aspirations of all Syrians, prevent fragmentation of the country, preserve state institutions, and establish a non-sectarian and representative governance structure.

A related issue is tackling the prevailing insecurity in the country, ensuring the protection of civilians (particularly religious and ethnic minorities), addressing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, seeking accountability for past crimes and atrocities, and preventing the resurgence of terrorist and extremist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL\Daesh). Recent reports have highlighted arrests, detentions, and incidents of extrajudicial and revenge killings in some parts of the country, particularly targeting the Alawite community and supporters of the former Assad government.

Across Syria, multiple armed groups maintain influence and territorial control. One of the pertinent issues before the international community remains how to ensure an orderly security transition in the country. The Council needs to navigate the competing interests of regional and international actors that continue to shape Syrias political and security landscape, while underscoring respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

The Council is expected to continue monitoring the developments on the ground closely. In addition to regular briefings from Pedersen, the Council could consider holding a private meeting with interested regional and international stakeholders and invite Syrian representatives to discuss, among other things, how to adapt the political process to the new realities on the ground and hear their views on an appropriate strategy for the way forward.

The Council could consider issuing a presidential statement to express support for a Syrian-led political transition and key provisions of resolution 2254, stressing the importance of an inclusive, transparent, and credible transitional process that would pave the way for constitution-making and elections. The statement could reinforce the Councils backing for Pedersens efforts in facilitating this process.

Another key issue is how to alleviate the growing humanitarian needs throughout the country and ensure suitable conditions for the safe return of Syrian refugees. Council members could consider calling for an international conference to mobilise support for Syria, including through securing additional funding for a humanitarian response and addressing key issues such as economic development and reconstruction.

Council and Wider Dynamics

The Council and the broader UN membership appear to be adapting their responses to keep pace with the rapidly unfolding developments and determine the appropriate path forward. While there is acknowledgment of positive messaging from Damascus on a range of issues, including governance, many countries are likely to evaluate their stance based on the caretaker authorities concrete actions in the months ahead. Key regional and international stakeholders have initiated high-level engagements on Syria, which are likely to continue in the coming months. The active outreach of Western members to Damascus and the absence of Iran and Russia, Assads key allies, from these engagements reinforces the shifting geopolitical landscape. Russia, which had maintained a significant military presence in the country over the years, has reportedly been transferring military equipment out of Syria, including to eastern Libya. (For more information, see the brief on Syria in our January 2025 Monthly Forecast.)

Sanctions on Syria have been a long-standing and contentious issue, causing divisions among Council members for years. Members do not appear to have started discussing the impact of UN sanctions on the current situation although the US has moved quickly on this front. (Both Jolani and HTS are included under the 1267/1989/2253 sanctions regime targeting ISIL/Daesh and Al-Qaida.) Following the ousting of Assad, the administration of then-US President Joe Biden seemed flexible in offering some concessions on this front. For instance, on 6 January, the US Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license for six months, authorising transactions with governing institutions in Syria, including those relating to energy, petroleum, natural gas, and electricity. According to media reports, the Biden administration also issued a limited sanctions waiver for regional countries and Ukraine to provide assistance to Syria. At the time of writing, it remains to be seen how US foreign policy will evolve regarding developments in Syria and the broader region under the administration of President Donald Trump.

Council members have displayed starkly different views over the years on a range of issues related to the chemical weapons track, including responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the credibility of the work of the OPCW, and numerous procedural aspects of the OPCWs decision-making bodies. Several members have consistently expressed support for the OPCWs work, maintaining that it is credible and essential, but other members, such as China and Russia, have claimed that its work is biased and politicised. It remains unclear how the new realities on the ground will affect the work of the OPCW and the dynamics in the Council.

Denmark is the penholder on the Syria humanitarian file.

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PEACEMAKING, PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING

UN Peacekeeping

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council will receive its annual briefing from the heads of police components of UN peace operations.

Key Recent Developments

Annual briefings by the heads of police components of UN peace operations began in 2014. The last briefing took place in November 2023, with a focus on how the UN Police (UNPOL) can contribute to the implementation of the recommendations in A New Agenda for Peace, a policy brief released in July 2023 outlining the Secretary-Generals vision for the UNs work on peace and security in a changing world. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Police Commissioner of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) Christophe Bizimungu, Police Commissioner of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Christine Fossen, UN Police Adviser Faisal Shahkar, and then-Executive Director of Security Council Report Karin Landgren briefed the Council. (For more, see our 13 November 2023 Whats In Blue story.)

Ghana hosted the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Accra on 5-6 December 2023, during which 33 member states made pledges of over 110 new military and police units to UN peacekeeping, according to a press release issued at the conclusion of the meeting. Germany will host the 2025 peacekeeping ministerial in May, which will provide an opportunity for member states to make pledges to support UNPOL, including through the deployment of formed police units and individual police officers and by providing training and technology.

The fourth UN Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS 2024), a biennial event bringing together Ministers, Chiefs of Police, and senior representatives of regional and professional policing organisations, was held in New York from 26 to 27 June 2024, with the theme of Advancing our Common Security: UN Policing for a New Era. Participants discussed the role of UNPOL in supporting the Secretary-Generals Action for Peacekeeping (A4P), A New Agenda for Peace, and the digital transformation of peacekeeping, among other subjects. Speaking at the summits opening session, Lacroix illustrated UNPOLs work in advancing political solutions and supporting sustainable peace as part of the Secretary-Generals A4P initiative by providing examples of its operations in the field to assist national police with training and public order management. He also described UNPOLs challenging operating environment, including the growing threats posed by terrorists, transnational organised criminals, armed groups, and cyber criminals, as well as the rise of hate speech, misinformation and disinformation.

In an article published in the UN Chronicle to mark the International Day of Police Cooperation, Shahkar noted that UN Police is a critical building block of the New Agenda for Peace and its new vision for the rule of law. The Secretary-General presented his New Vision for the Rule of Law in August 2023 as part of efforts to advance Our Common Agenda, his broader vision for the future of global cooperation. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, who spoke at the introduction of an event on this new vision in Geneva on 4 August 2023, described the document as a lodestar for rule of law in the UN systemto be better prepared to provide technical assistance, build capacity and help Member States achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In this regard, the document presents the UNs objective to reinforce the centrality of the rule of law in all its activities and promote greater cohesion among its entities that provide rule of law support, including peacekeeping operations, special political missions and country teams. In 2012, the UN established a Global Focal Point for the Rule of Lawwhich is co-chaired by the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions of the Department of Peace Operations and the UN Development Programmeto promote coordination within the UN system in providing rule of law assistance at country and international levels.

Key Issues and Options

An overarching issue for members is the future of peace operations. The Pact of the Future calls for a review of peace operations. Members may wish to use the opportunity of this briefing by the heads of police components to explore the role of UN Police in the context of more nimble PKOs and SPMs

A continuing key issue for Council members is how to strengthen the role of UNPOL in UN peace operations. A related issue is supporting UNPOL in advancing the objectives in A New Agenda for Peace and New Vision for the Rule of Law. With a number of multidimensional peacekeeping operations undergoing transitions, the role of UNPOL in protecting civilians and building the policing capacity of host countries has become increasingly important. Members may wish to discuss the role of UNPOL in transitions of peacekeeping operations in the Working Group on Peacekeeping.

Council Dynamics

There is general agreement among Council members about the importance of UNPOL in helping to maintain public order, protect civilians, and assist host states in building their law enforcement capacities. Council members also recognise the critical role UNPOL plays in countries undergoing transition.

At the November 2023 briefing, some Council members highlighted UNPOLs key role in peace operations in rebuilding trust and solidarity with communities, protecting civilians, strengthening the rule of law, combating arms proliferation, and promoting peacebuilding, among other things. Several members emphasised the role of women in policing and hailed the progress in implementing the Gender Parity strategy in UNPOL. This strategy was developed to create an enabling environment for the meaningful participation of uniformed women personnel in peace operations both at the headquarters and in the field.

Some members drew attention to the safety and security of police officers and the need to enhance strategic communication to combat mis- and disinformation. Other members stressed the need to improve UNPOLs performance and build its capacity to adapt to the changing operating environment. This was the topic of discussion at a performance workshop held in early October 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with the participation of heads of police components.

While some members welcomed the closer integration of police into UN peacekeeping, others underscored the need for a clear delineation of the military and civilian components as their functions are quite different. In this context, the first joint heads of military and police components conference was held in Brussels on 8 October 2024 and focused on how to achieve greater integration and interoperability between the two components of UN peace operations.

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ASIA

UNRCCA (Central Asia)

Expected Council Action

In February, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), Kaha Imnadze, is expected to brief Security Council members on the UNRCCAs work in closed consultations.

Key Recent Developments

Imnadze last briefed Council members in closed consultations on 23 July 2024. Among other matters, he provided an update on the UNRCCAs activities pertaining to counter-terrorism, water management, and the women, peace, and security and youth, peace and security agendas. Imnadze also covered the border negotiations between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Central Asia, including the construction of the Qosh Tepa canal, and the role played by civil society in the region.

Since Imnadzes last briefing, officials from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have completed negotiations on delimiting their border. On 4 December 2024, the governments of both countries announced that they had reached an agreement and fully completed the drawing of the remaining sections of the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border and given instructions to begin the process of drawing up the final documents. The announcement came after months of negotiations and several bouts of violence between the two countries, including clashes in September 2022 in which dozens of civilians were killed and thousands more were displaced.

Member states have continued to jostle for influence in Central Asia. In early July 2024, Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to the region for a five-day tour that included state visits to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan and the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). During the visit to Tajikistan, Xi and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed a joint statement announcing the establishment of a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Tajikistan. Chinese officials also attended the 27 December 2024 commencement ceremony for a railway project that will connect China to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which is set to begin construction in July.

On 27 September 2024, then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with foreign ministers and representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan under the auspices of the C5+1 diplomatic platform. In a statement issued after the meeting, the US Embassy in Kazakhstan noted that the participants discussed steps toward enhanced regional security cooperation in pursuance of a shared vision for a peaceful Central Asia and said that Blinken had underscored the importance of upholding the UN Charter, including with respect to human rights.

On 27 November 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Kazakhstan, where he attended a Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit and met with Kazakh President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev. According to media reports, Putin and Toqayev discussed boosting energy and industry ties. On 22 January, the Russian defence ministry announced that Russia and Uzbekistan had signed a strategic military partnership programme for the period spanning 2026 to 2030.

On 5 June 2024, the 11th round of the annual High-Level Political and Security Dialogue between the European Union and the countries of Central Asia was held in Brussels. Among other matters, participants discussed regional cooperation on several key issues, including counter-terrorism and violent extremism, drug trafficking, border management, and cyber security.

In early August 2024, then-Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was scheduled to travel to Astana to attend the inaugural Central Asia plus Japan summit, where he was reportedly expected to unveil a $2 billion economic investment package; however, Kishidas visit was cancelled after an earthquake struck western Japan the day before the summit was scheduled to begin.

Several Central Asian states have pursued closer relations with the Taliban administration in Afghanistan in recent months. On 17 August 2024, Taliban officials announced the finalisation of trade and investment agreements worth $2.5 billion with Uzbekistan when Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov visited Kabul. On 10 October, Uzbekistan accepted the credentials of a Taliban-appointed ambassador, becoming the third country to do so after China and the United Arab Emirates. Taliban officials have reportedly agreed on a cooperation roadmap with Kazakhstan aimed at boosting economic relations and increasing trade, while Turkmenistan has invested over $1.5 billion in joint projects in Afghanistan. Work on a long-delayed gas pipeline connecting Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan also began in September 2024.

In late June and early July 2024, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres travelled to Central Asia, visiting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and UNRCCAs headquarters in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

From 10 to 12 September 2024, the UNRCCA, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, and the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions organised a regional conference on the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network for Central Asia with support from the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund and the governments of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

On 3 to 4 October 2024, Imnadze participated in a regional conference dedicated to the global Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Imnadzes remarks emphasised the importance of the Pact for the Future and highlighted its role in driving implementation of the WPS agenda at the regional level. He also stressed the significance of positive regional dynamics in promoting gender equality and overcoming barriers to the meaningful participation of women in peacebuilding, climate action, and other areas.

From 29 to 30 October 2024, the UNRCCA organised an Expert Meeting on Water, Energy, Environment, and Climate Cooperation in Central Asia. Participants in the meeting discussed recent developments in water, energy, environment, and climate collaboration in Central Asia and strategic priorities for the future.

Key Issues and Options

One of the main issues for the Council is determining how to make the best use of the UNRCCAs expertise and deciding whether there is anything the Council can do to support its efforts to facilitate preventive diplomacy and regional cooperation. The Council could choose to hold an open briefing on the UNRCCA, which would allow members to express support for its work and raise awareness of its activities. This open briefing could be followed by closed consultations to allow for a more frank and detailed exchange with Imnadze. The Council could also choose to hold a debate to give the Central Asian states an opportunity to discuss the work of the UNRCCA in public.

The situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Central Asia is another issue for the Council. The Council could consider inviting a representative of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to participate in the meeting and provide information regarding developments in the country that might affect the wider region.

Council Dynamics

Council members are generally supportive of the UNRCCA and view it as an important tool in promoting cooperation in Central Asia. Prior to mid-2018, Council members often issued press statements expressing support for the UNRCCA and its work and encouraging increased cooperation and coordination among the Central Asian countries, the UNRCCA, and relevant regional organisations. However, Council members have been unable to agree on a press statement on the UNRCCA since this time, owing to disagreements among the permanent members about including references to specific regional organisations, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the CSTO, and the SCO.

Press elements commending then-Special Representative and Head of the UNRCCA Natalia Gherman for her efforts and expressing support for UNRCCAs work were read out following the UNRCCA consultations in January 2023.

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If you've ever dreamed of working while admiring a picturesque fjord, or turning off your computer after work and going for a hike in the mountains, one beautiful country is ready to offer you the perfect conditions for this. The New Zealand Tourist Board is striving to make the country more open to the world.

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According to the Express, new rules are coming into force in the country that will ease visa restrictions. New Zealand should become more open not only to tourists but also to digital nomads.

From now on, those who work remotely for a foreign employer will be allowed to live in the country on a long-term visitor visa. The period of stay will be up to 9 months.

Unlike similar schemes in Greece and Indonesia, newcomers will not need to fill out a lot of additional documents. They will be able to use their regular visa to work remotely during the trip.

New Zealand has not yet been able to recover from the restrictions imposed worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The country's economy entered a recession last year, and the number of foreign tourists was only 86% of what it was in 2019.

Therefore, the government has expressed interest in attracting as many foreign workers and vacationers as possible. Officials also hope to increase the popularity of the famous island in the world.

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Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said at a press conference that the new trend of "digital nomads," where more and more people work remotely and move freely around the world, is a market that New Zealand can tap into. "We want people to see our country as an ideal place to visit and work," she said. New visa rules should help with this.

According to Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, the New Zealand government expects the changes to encourage workers and the companies they represent to consider doing more business with the country in the future.

The island nation regularly wins competitions for the title of the most beautiful country in the world. In particular, according to last year's Rough Guides survey, this title went to New Zealand for the diversity of landscapes, which includes sandy beaches and mountain ranges. Movie lovers also regularly visit the country to see with their own eyes where the famous movie saga "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed.

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MIDDLE EAST

Yemen

Expected Council Action

In February, the Security Council will hold its monthly briefing and consultations on Yemen. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher (via videoconference) are expected to brief.

The mandate of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) expires on 14 July.

Key Recent Developments

The situation in Yemen remains fluid, reflecting recent consequential developments in the Middle East. Following the 19 January Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen announced that it would limit its attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea to ships with links to Israel, pending the full implementation of all phases of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Since November 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked ships navigating the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, severely disrupting global maritime trade.

On 22 January, the Houthis released the crew of the MV Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated ship affiliated with an Israeli businessman. The rebel group detained the vessel and its crew over a year ago, on 19 November 2023, soon after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. They announced that the release of the Galaxy Leader crew comes within the framework of our solidarity with Gaza and in support of the ceasefire agreement.

The Houthis and Israel have also engaged in frequent hostilities, with Houthi-launched drones and ballistic missiles (most of which have been intercepted) targeting Israeli territory and Israeli airstrikes hitting Houthi sites in Yemenwhich have included infrastructure such as Hodeidah port, Sanaa airport, and the Hezyaz power plant. Most recently, on 18 January, the Houthis launched two ballistic missiles targeting Israels Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, which were intercepted by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). These attacks came hours after the hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza was approved by the Israeli government.

During his briefing at the Security Councils latest meeting on Yemen on 15 January, Grundberg stressed that the context has become increasingly internationalised and that recent cycles of strikes between the Houthis and Israel have hindered the prospects of peace for Yemen. At that meeting, several Council members condemned Houthi attacks on Israel and called on Israel to safeguard Yemeni civilian infrastructure in its attacks on Houthi targets, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law.

In a subsequent meeting that day, the Security Council adopted resolution 2768, extending until 15 July the monthly requirement for the Secretary-General to report on attacks by the Houthis on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, initially established by resolution 2722 of 10 January 2024. The resolution was adopted with 12 votes in favour and three abstentions (Algeria, China, and Russia). (For more information, see our 15 January 2025 Whats In Blue story.)

For over a year, efforts to promote a roadmap under UN auspices and to advance an inclusive political process in Yemen have been paralysed because of the Houthi escalations in the Red Sea and beyond. A truce established in 2022 between the Yemeni government and the Houthis has largely held. However, recent regional tensions have tested the truces stability and endangered progress towards de-escalation. During the 15 January Council meeting, Grundberg highlighted his extensive diplomatic engagementincluding visits in recent weeks to Muscat, Sanaa, Tehran, and Riyadhaimed at promoting de-escalation, addressing the economic deterioration in Yemen, facilitating political dialogue, and advancing steps towards a nationwide ceasefire. In the subsequent closed consultations, the Special Envoy apparently informed Council members that the parties remain committed to establishing a roadmap. He stressed, however, that the situation remains challenging and that for peace efforts to be successful, the full support of the international community, including a unified Security Council, is needed.

Meanwhile, Yemens humanitarian situation remains dire. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2025 Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), the countrys deteriorating economy, the protracted conflict, and crumbling basic services are exacerbating humanitarian needs across the country. An estimated 19.5 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection services in 2025, an increase of 1.3 million people from last year. An estimated $2.47 billion is required to fulfil the plan outlined by the HNRP and provide humanitarian assistance and protection services to over 10.5 million people.

During the 15 January Council meeting, the briefers and many Council members reiterated their call for the Houthis to release the more than 50 UN, non-governmental organisation, diplomatic mission, and civil society personnel, whom they have detained for over six months. On 24 January, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen reported that the Houthis had detained seven additional UN personnel and that the UN will consequently be suspending all official movements into and within areas under Houthi control until further notice. The Secretary-General condemned the detention of these seven personnel and demanded their release. On 25 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that the Houthis unilaterally released 153 conflict-related detainees, an act that the Houthis claimed was an effort to ease tensions following the Gaza ceasefire.

Key Issues and Options

Minimising the effects of the destabilising regional tensions on Yemen and reinvigorating the stalled intra-Yemeni political process are overarching priorities for the Council.

Recent major developments in the Middle East, particularly regarding the situation in Gaza, continue to influence discussions on the file. Following the Gaza ceasefire, Council members may choose to concentrate on mobilising pressure for a resumption of Yemeni peace talks and advancing the political process. An option for the Council would be to issue a presidential statement or press statement encouraging the Yemeni parties to resume concrete discussions towards establishing a roadmap under UN auspices.

Council members may also consider focusing attention on the worsening humanitarian situation in the country. There is a sense that the prioritisation of other urgent crises on the Councils agenda has left the Yemen humanitarian situation facing severe funding shortfalls, which the Council may seek to address by encouraging member states to mobilise funding to meet the requirements of the 2025 HRNP, including through a potential pledging conference.

Council Dynamics

Council members are largely aligned on support for an intra-Yemeni political process, the need to improve humanitarian conditions in Yemen, and on their calls for the Houthis to cease attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Many members appear to hope that the ceasefire in Gaza can provide the momentum, conditions, and space for restoring the political process and de-escalating the situation in the Red Sea. It seems that some members may also be inclined to encourage Grundberg to seize the opportunity to advance mediation efforts towards the establishment of a roadmap for inclusive peace in Yemen, especially if the fragile ceasefire in Gaza continues to hold in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, Council members, particularly the permanent members, have divergent views on what is fuelling the political stalemate and insecurity in Yemen. Russia has been clear that it views Israels military operations in the Middle East as a core destabilising factor in the region, including for Yemen. It also continues to accuse the UK and the US of undermining security in Yemen through their retaliatory strikes on the Houthis. On the other hand, the P3 members (France, the UK, and the US) have been critical of Irans role in supporting the Houthis, including militarily. During the 15 January Council meeting, the US stressed that the time has come to hold Iran to account for enabling the Houthis long-range missile attacks on international shipping and on Israel. Denmark and the Republic of Korea also stressed the need to strengthen and fully implement the arms embargo on the Houthis established through resolution 2216 of 14 April 2015 to curb the flow of weapons to the group.

It remains to be seen how the new US administration will approach the Yemen file and how that will affect the wider Council dynamics. On 22 January, US President Donald Trump moved to relist the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). This reverses the decision of the administration of former President Joe Biden to lift this designation because of humanitarian concerns and to support Yemeni peace efforts. An FTO designation authorises sanctions on those who provide the designated group with material support.

Several Council members also continue to have a significant interest in maritime security and in de-escalating the Red Sea crisis. Three of the Councils new elected membersDenmark, Greece, and Panamahave suffered Houthi attacks on their commercial vessels. During the 15 January Council meeting, Panama highlighted that since the attacks began in November 2023, there have been 136 attacks on commercial vessels, more than a dozen of them on ships sailing under the Panama flag, including oil tankers.

The UK is the penholder on Yemen.

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Thailand is a country of incredible contrasts, with bustling cities, 156 national parks, majestic islands, and long coasts surrounded by endless beaches. It has everything you need for an unforgettable experience.

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If you are fond of delicious food, Thailand is a true gourmet paradise. The legendary street food that can be found around every corner will amaze your taste buds and often does not require much money.

But food is only the beginning of your Thai adventure. After a hearty meal, head out for trekking, kayaking, rafting, or hiking. Or simply enjoy your vacation on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Whichever option you choose, Thailand will always surprise you and give you a lot of positive emotions. Lonely Planet has collected the best places in Thailand that will show tourists all the charms of this country.

Bangkok and the surrounding area

Starting your trip to Thailand, you can't miss Bangkok. This city that never sleeps impresses with its contrasts of old and new. Be sure to visit the famous Wat Arun temple, admiring its ceramic-covered towers. The Grand Palace and the Wat Phra Keo Temple are other symbols of the city that are worth seeing. After a busy day, visit Chinatown for a real extravaganza of flavors, and then climb to the roof of one of the bars to enjoy the panorama of the city.

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From Bangkok, head west to historic Kanchanaburi. This place is known for the infamous death railroad built by the Japanese during World War II. Visit the museum and military cemetery to honor the victims. For outdoor enthusiasts, there is rafting on the Kwai River. And Erawan National Park will delight you with picturesque waterfalls and a variety of flora and fauna.

The next stop is the ancient capital of Siam, Ayutthaya. Renting a bike, you can explore the ruins of temples on your own, feeling the atmosphere of past centuries. Don't forget to try the local cuisine  boat noodles or grilled river shrimp. And for those who want to see the city from a different perspective, there are boat tours on the river.

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At the end of your trip, visit Khao Yai National Park. This is a real paradise for nature lovers. It is home to elephants, bears, various birds, and other animals. You can go hiking to admire the waterfalls or take part in a night safari to see wild animals in their natural environment.

This route will allow you to get acquainted with the diversity of Thailand  from the bustling metropolis to the tranquil forests and ancient ruins. You will get an unforgettable experience and a boost of energy for a long time.

Northern Thailand

A trip to Northern Thailand should start from its heart  the city of Chiang Mai. It is an ancient city rich in culture and history. Explore old temples, get lost in the labyrinths of narrow streets, and visit night markets where you can taste local cuisine and buy souvenirs. For those who are looking for a more active vacation, there is an opportunity to visit an ethical elephant camp or learn how to cook Thai dishes.

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Not far from Chiang Mai is the highest mountain in Thailand  Doingthanon. Here you can enjoy the fresh mountain air, admire the picturesque landscapes, and visit numerous waterfalls. For hikers, there are many trails of varying difficulty.

Pai is a real find for lovers of a relaxing vacation. This town is known for its hot springs, waterfalls, and picturesque landscapes. Here you can go rafting, visit hill tribe villages, or just relax in one of the many cafes.

Pang Mapha is a real paradise for cavers. There are a large number of caves here, some of which are accessible to tourists. You can sail on a bamboo raft along the underground rivers or go on a more difficult excursion deep into the caves.

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Mae Hong Son is one of the most remote cities in Thailand. Here you can get acquainted with the culture of hill tribes, visit tea plantations, and enjoy picturesque landscapes.

Holidays on the islands of Thailand

Get ready for an unforgettable trip to the islands of Thailand. This itinerary combines beach vacations, snorkeling, nightlife, and local culture.

Start your trip on the island of Koh Samui. This is the perfect place for those looking for a relaxing beach vacation. Here you will find luxury resorts, spas, and plenty of water activities. Don't forget to visit Ang Thong National Park, known for its picturesque islands and lagoons.

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The next point of your trip is the island of Koh Tao. This is a real paradise for scuba diving enthusiasts. Here you can see a variety of marine life, from coral reefs to whale sharks. In addition to diving, the island has excellent opportunities for rock climbing and other outdoor activities.

Ko Pha Ngan is known for its legendary full moon parties. But even if you don't plan to participate in these high-profile events, there are many other things to do on the island. Visit cozy coves, do yoga, or just relax on the beach.

Phuket is an island of contrasts. Here you will find both calm beaches and lively nightclubs. Be sure to visit Ao Phang Nga, a nature reserve with limestone cliffs and caves, as well as the Similan Islands, one of the best diving sites in the world.

Finish your trip on the island of Koh Phi Phi. This is a small island made famous by the movie The Beach. Here you can enjoy the secluded beaches, and go hiking or diving.

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Growth in UK house prices eased in January, according to figures released on Friday by Nationwide.

House prices ticked up 0.1% on the month in January following a 0.7% increase in December 2024, missing expectations for 0.3% growth.

On the year, house prices rose 4.1% in January following a 4.7% jump the month before.

The average price of a home was 268,213, down from 269,426.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The housing market continues to show resilience despite ongoing affordability pressures. As we highlighted in our recent affordability report, while there has been a modest improvement over the last year, affordability remains stretched by historic standards.

"A prospective buyer earning the average UK income and buying a typical first-time buyer property with a 20% deposit would have a monthly mortgage payment equivalent to 36% of their take-home pay - well above the long-run average of 30%.

"Furthermore, house prices remain high relative to average earnings, with the first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio standing at 5.0 at the end of 2024, still well above the long run average of 3.9. Consequently, the deposit hurdle remains high.

"This is a challenge that has been made worse by the record increase in rents in recent years, which, together with the cost-of-living crisis more generally, has hampered the ability of many in the private rented sector to save."

Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "Although the muted 0.1% m/m rise in Nationwide house prices in January was slightly worse than expected (consensus +0.3% m/m, CE forecast +0.2% m/m), it is not too surprising given the rise in quoted mortgage rates at the end of last year. But we doubt that price growth will continue to disappoint and instead think prices will rise by more than most expect this year.

"Looking ahead, house price growth may remain muted over the next few months given that swap rates point to mortgage rates climbing higher. That said, prices may be supported by a potential surge in demand ahead of the expiry of the temporary increase to the stamp duty nil band thresholds after 31st March.

"Either way, our forecast that Bank Rate will be cut from 4.75% now to 3.50% in early 2026, rather than the low of 4.00% that investors currently anticipate, suggests mortgage rates will fall from 4.6% in December to around 4.0% in 2026. That explains our view that house prices will grow by an above-consensus 3.5% in Q4 2025 and 4.5% in Q4 2026."
Readers seeking a measured, globally contextualized understanding of the Israel-Hamas war will find much to ponder in Peter Beinart's Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. With characteristic directness, Beinart explains that his book is about "the story Jews tell ourselves to block out the screams," a narrative that allows Jewish people to justify the horrors committed in their name.

Beinart (The Crisis of Zionism; The Good Fight) is a New York Times columnist, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York, and editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. His family came to the U.S. as immigrants from apartheid South Africa. A steadfast promoter of equality over supremacy, he describes risking "excommunication" from his cherished American Jewish community to voice a new narrative of liberation created by abandoning the oppression of another people. Beinart employs historical examples, such as white people in the American South during Reconstruction who "considered racial equality a monstrous delusion," and Northern Ireland's Protestants who "were terrified" of sharing power with their Catholic neighbors, to illustrate political scientist Mahmood Mamdani's assertion that, over time, "inclusion yields safety" while domination breeds violence.

At the core of the disconnect between the atrocities being committed in Gaza and the apathy of "Jews in Israel and the diaspora," Beinart posits, lies a belief in the "collective victimhood and moral infallibility" of the Jewish people. Yet Beinart believes that this contradicts what "sacred texts say about Jewish ethical responsibility" and the dangers of "unchecked power."

Beinart takes comfort in "the metaphor of Jews as a family," despite deep ideological divisions, and is persuasive in his conviction that shedding the burden of occupation will make way for a new Jewish story. --Shahina Piyarali
"What happens when the wildness is tamed? What is lost in that erasure?" These are questions Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum ponders in her lustrous first novel, Elita.

This atmospheric mystery takes place on the eponymous Elita Island in Washington State's Puget Sound during the winter of 1951, when "the world is a churning mass of gray sky, gray sea." Lunstrum's evocative, insightful writing captures the nuanced and moody Pacific Northwest landscape and brings to life some very compelling characters, such as a woman with "a face like an apple gone soft with age."

Bernadette Baston, a professor of child development, is summoned to assist in a baffling case: two prison guards have discovered a feral, nonverbal adolescent girl living alone in the inhospitable wilderness. She is given the name Atalanta, after the girl from Greek mythology who was left to die in the woods by her father. Officials work to uncover Atalanta's origins, but the residents of Elita and the neighboring island of Adela remain secretive. Bernadette, who was abandoned by her husband when their daughter was an infant, is no stranger to survival and takes a personal interest in Atalanta.

In Elita, Lunstrum (What We Do with the Wreckage: Stories) explores the challenges women faced during the 1950s, drawing parallels between Atalanta and Bernadette's struggles for autonomy: "How different from a feral child is a grown and educated woman?" As Bernadette contemplates her own life, she realizes that "the entire system of society is set up to stop her from freeing herself." --Grace Rajendran, freelance reviewer
January 2025 would have marked Yukio Mishima's 100th birthday. Before his death by suicide at age 45, he left a substantial legacy: 35 novels (including Spring Snow and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea), 40 plays, dozens of essays, several films, and 170 short stories. Voices of the Fallen Heroes, with an erudite introduction by Japanese cultural studies scholar John Nathan, gathers 14 compelling tales written between 1962 and 1969, the final decade of Mishima's truncated life. Collection editor Stephen Dodd leads an impressive assembly of notable translators that includes Sam Bett and Juliet Winters Carpenter.

The titular story is the longest. It melds the fantastical with the historical as it gives voice to the spirits of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defense of Japan, disappointed that their divine emperor ultimately proved to be merely human. Multiple stories examine love from various angles: it's a matter of fresh conquest in "Strawberry"; casual distraction in "Cars"; fatally performative in "True Love at Dawn"; destructively nonchalant in "Clock." Murder recurs as a desperate obsession to witness avicide in "The Peacocks" and as the horrific cost of proving loyalty in "The Strange Tale of Shimmering Moon Villa." Mishima shares autobiographical glimpses: his visit to San Francisco's Union Square inspires "The Flower Hat," and he inserts himself in "From the Wilderness," about an intruder breaking into his home demanding a meeting.

This sampling of Mishima's massive trove provides another intriguing look at his profound accomplishments. As with most collections, resonance may vary with these stories. That said, further access to Mishima's extraordinary oeuvre is an undeniable gift to fans and newbies alike. --Terry Hong
When Lola Kirke and her three older siblings were being raised by their rock star dad, Bad Company's Simon Kirke, and their decorator/clothing designer mom, Lorraine, the question wasn't whether the Kirke kids would become artists but what kind. With the remorselessly oversharing Wild West Village: Not a Memoir (Unless I Win an Oscar, Die Tragically, or Score a Country #1), actress and musician Lola Kirke establishes her artistic bona fides as a writer.

When Kirke was four, she and her loud, loving, hating, fractious family moved from London to New York City. Kirke had all manner of creature comforts--Welsh nanny, Freudian therapist, Park Avenue hypnotist--but with the opulence came excess; at one point when Kirke was a teenager, "everyone in my family was either at Barneys, RISD, or rehab." Through it all, Kirke's sisters, actress Jemima and musician Domino, were her saviors, foils, and rivals.

Kirke puts her spin on the poor-little-rich-girl saga by skipping the pity party. Her book teems with raunchy stories that inevitably morph into vehicles for Kirke's spot-on self-deprecating humor, and when she goes for laughs that are in poor taste, it's with winking awareness ("She had stunted her growth through an eating disorder of her own, but the good kind that made you skinny"). By book's end, Kirke, who wrote Wild West Village at age 33, is onstage enjoying success in a creative field her parents never would have imagined for her--and in which her sisters are, finally, not competition. (Yet.) --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer
Ahead of the Union Budget 2025 scheduled to be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Feb 11, 2025, the automotive sector expects to see policy measures that would speed up sustainable mobility, spur domestic manufacturing and further enhance India's global competitiveness. Industry leaders across the board are suggesting continuous support in EV adoption, tax reforms, development of infrastructure, and investments in R&D.

Santosh Iyer, MD & CEO at Mercedes-Benz India, emphasized the need for forward-looking measures to maintain economic growth. "Continued push for BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) adoption by pursuing the existing incentives, infrastructure development, and R&D initiatives will be crucial in accelerating India's transition to green mobility, positioning us as a key player in the global BEV value chain", he said. Iyer also suggested that India be integrated into the global supply chain by reducing trade barriers and simplifying regulatory frameworks.

Nagesh Basavanhalli, Vice Chairman, Greaves Cotton Limited, also shared similar thoughts, citing fuel-agnostic technologies and sustainability. "Standardizing charging systems and investing in infrastructure with petroleum and energy companies are critical steps to accelerate EV adoption. Encouraging R&D investments and strengthening the domestic supply chain will reduce import dependency and foster innovation", he noted.

Tax Reforms and Incentives for EVs

Meanwhile, Country CEO & MD of Renault India, Venkatram Mamillapalle said tax reforms should be given top priority. "We expect simplification of taxes on new energy vehicles and measures that uplift the middle-income group, enhancing liquidity and consumer sentiment", he said, hoping for initiatives aligned with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

Piyush Arora, MD & CEO, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, said that better road infrastructure and ease of doing business are critical. "Better charging infrastructure for the EV ecosystem and budgetary allocations for road safety will help the auto industry grow. Budgetary measures to boost disposable income will also be necessary to sustain robust demand", he said.

The industry is also seeking investments in skill development. "Encouraging ER&D (Engineering Research & Development) and strengthening the talent pipeline will position India as an innovation hub", said Mamillapalle of Renault India.

Shreyas Shibulal, Founder & CEO of Numeros Motors, called for a revision in the current tax structure. "Reducing GST on manufacturing inputs and lowering the 28% tax rate on EVs will significantly reduce production costs, making EVs more affordable for consumers", he stated. He also underscored the importance of expanding charging networks to ease range anxiety.

Atul Greentech Pvt. Ltd. MD Divya Chandra emphasized increased incentives under the FAME scheme and reduction of GST on EV components to 5%. "Accelerating rollout of 20 lakh EV charging stations by 2030 and tax exemptions to buyers can considerably increase adoption," she suggested. emphasized increased incentives under theon EV components to 5%. "Accelerating rollout of 20 lakh EV charging stations by 2030 and tax exemptions to buyers can considerably increase adoption," she suggested.

Naoya Nishimura, Musashi India & Africa Region CEO, said that this scheme's momentum needs to be continued. "We are hopeful to witness faster development of EV charging infrastructure, support to high-range battery technology, and localization of components. These would help solidify India's position as a leader in automotive innovation and manufacturing," he said.

Ajinkya Firodia, Vice Chairman at Kinetic Engineering Ltd., said the growth potential of the EV industry is enormous. "With the EV market targeting to reach Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030 and creating five crore jobs, performance-linked incentives for battery and auto-component manufacturing will be a catalyst in making EVs more affordable and accessible", he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reiterated that neither Ukraine nor Russia will achieve "their maximalist goals" in this war. For the war to end, negotiations are needed, and negotiations will mean that both sides will have to make concessions.

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In an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly, the secretary of state said that "a lot of hard work" needs to be done to end the war and that it will take some time. According to him, both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian dictator Putin "have their own domestic interests."

"If you imagine that you are a Ukrainian, the Russians made you suffer so much, and now you will allow them to leave the land (under Russian control  Ed.)? I mean, people in Ukraine would be upset about that, and that's understandable," Rubio added.

At the same time, the head of the US foreign policy department said that there are "more mature realities of life." Both Ukraine and Russia are paying a heavy price and are interested in seeing the war end.

"It's not going to end with the maximalist goals of one side, and there's a lot of hard work to be done. And I think that only the United States, under the leadership of President Trump, can make this possible. It will not be easy, and it will take some time. But I know that he (Trump  Ed.) is determined to make it happen," Rubio emphasized.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, earlier Marco Rubio emphasized that the key task facing the White House is to find a solution that would ensure that the war does not break out with renewed vigor in a few years.

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Union Budget 2024, the first of the third term of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has laid the foundation for India's march towards becoming a developed nation by 2047. The Viksit Bharat mission is a bold plan and the government unveiled key measures for boosting manufacturing, incentivizing job creation, and enhancing social welfare.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman implemented several tax reforms, some of which gave the taxpayer relief while others added liability. Among those most welcomed by the public is the abolition of angel tax in favor of the investors in the start-ups. On the contrary, the de-indexation of the benefit available on non-moveable property resulted in much flak, as the same had been reduced from the same percentage.

Relief for Salaried Individuals

To promote the new tax regime among the salaried taxpayers, the finance minister introduced following major changes:

The standard deduction was enhanced to Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000.

The family pension deduction has been increased to Rs 25,000 from Rs 15,000.

Due to the new tax structure, the salaried employees can save up to Rs 17,500 under the new tax regime.

Taxation of Transactions: Income and Expenditure

There were a few changes in the capital gains tax and transaction levies for individual as well as institutional investors:

Long-term capital gains tax on all assets increased from 10% to 12.5%.

Exemption limit on capital gains was raised to Rs 1.25 lakh per annum on specific financial assets.

Short-term capital gains tax on some financial assets was raised from 15% to 20%.

The securities transaction tax on futures and options increased.

Proposed to tax share buybacks in the hands of the recipient.

Made Goods and Services Less Costly for Consumers

Recognizing the imperative to reduce costs for consumers, customs duties on important goods and services were reduced as follows:

Three crucial medicines used by cancer patients are entirely exempted from customs duties.

Custom duties on mobile phones, chargers, and PCB assemblies cut down from 20% to 15%.

Gold and silver duties were reduced from 14.35-15% to 6%, and platinum duties from 15.4% to 6.4%.

Job-Launching Incentives

To enhance employment, especially in manufacturing, three new incentive programs were announced:

Direct benefit transfer to the first-time employees of one month's salary (up to Rs 15,000) in three installments.

Incentives for the manufacturing sector for providing funds to employers and employees over four years into EPFO.

Reimbursement of up to Rs 3,000 per month for two years to employers in all sectors for the creation of additional jobs and contribution to EPFO.

Youth Internship Scheme

The existing Youth Emphasis area of internship opportunities for youth professionals was broadly enhanced:

One crore youth would be provided with internships in 500 top companies over a period of five years.

Each intern will gain real-world experience for 12 months with a stipend of Rs 5,000 per month and a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000.

Affordable Housing for Workers, Women, and Lower-Income Groups

The budget emphasized housing initiatives to ensure shelter for all, particularly targeting industrial workers and women:

Rental housing with dormitory-style accommodation will be facilitated through public-private partnerships, backed by viability gap funding and commitments from anchor industries.

Female workforce participation will be promoted through industry player collaboration for working women's hostels.

More central assistance was also provided under PM Awas Yojana for urban and rural regions.

Stamp duty was requested to be reduced uniformly by states; however, for women purchasing the property, an extra reduction would be applied.

Retirement Benefits and Overseas Assets Declaration

The budget introduced retirement savings facilitation and smoothened financial regulation measures:

More incentives on employer and employee contribution to New Pension Scheme.

Depenalisation of not reporting overseas movable assets up to the value of Rs 20 lakh, professionals working for multi-national firms
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey in Parliament on Friday, which brings to light important information about India's economic performance and projections. The survey projects India's GDP to grow between 6.3% and 6.8% in the next fiscal year, which shows a steady recovery despite global economic uncertainties. India's real GDP growth stands at 6.4%, which is close to the decadal average, according to the first advance estimates for the fiscal year 2024-25.

The Economic Survey, a pre-budget document, offers a comprehensive overview of the state of the economy during the previous fiscal year. Prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor, it draws insights from the Economic Division of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Economic Affairs. The document is a critical reference ahead of the Union Budget presentation, scheduled for February 1, 2025.

Some of the major takeaways from the survey highlight India's increased digital connectivity, primarily attributed to the successful rollout of 5G technology. Digitizing infrastructure has picked up speed with 5G and made tremendous contributions to sectors such as telecommunications, manufacturing, and services. The technological leap is expected to drive economic growth through innovation and better service access.

The Economic Survey again highlights the strength of India and says that in spite of a global economic uncertain scenario, Indian GDP growth indicates stability and uptrend. Its expansion is based on increased public and private investment, domestic consumption, and also a thriving technology sector.

The Union Budget for 2025-26, to be presented by Nirmala Sitharaman, is likely to reflect these priorities, focusing on enhancing infrastructure, boosting digital capabilities, and addressing fiscal challenges. Sitharaman, presenting the Budget for the eighth consecutive year, is expected to outline policies that further stimulate growth while maintaining fiscal discipline.

before the Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out that, for the first time in a decade, no external efforts had been made to create disruptions or escalate tensions ahead of the Parliament session. He added that the Budget session was going to be the most crucial and extended one of the year, running up to April 4, while there would be a recess between February 13 and March 10. In his customary address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out that, for the first time in a decade, no external efforts had been made to create disruptions or escalate tensions ahead of the Parliament session. He added that the Budget session was going to be the most crucial and extended one of the year, running up to April 4, while there would be a recess between February 13 and March 10.

The government has also brought 16 bills for discussion in this session, which includes the most important ones such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, and the Railways (Amendment) Bill. The first half of the session will be engaged with discussions on the President's and Budget speeches with debates on related issues. In the second half, the ministry-wise demands for grants will be discussed and the Finance Bill passed.

Opposition parties have hinted that they will raise several issues, such as the tragic Maha Kumbh stampede that has claimed at least 30 lives, and UGC draft regulations. The opposition is also expected to seek an in-depth debate on the One Nation, One Election proposal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the media before Parliament's Budget Session, which is scheduled to start from January 31. The first half of the session will run till February 13 and then goes into a recess. The two Houses will resume the session again on March 10. The session will end on April 4.

During his speech, PM Modi said that he prays for the continued blessings of Maa Lakshmi on India's poor and middle class, as they are the ones who form the backbone of the nation's progress. He also talked about the importance of India completing 75 years as a democratic nation, describing it as a proud milestone. "It is a matter of great pride that India has completed 75 years as a democratic nation", he said.

full budget of his third term, a milestone in shaping the future of India. "I can confidently say that in 2047, when India completes 100 years of Independence, India will fulfill its aim of Viksit Bharat", he said. The Prime Minister went on to note that India's growing importance globally was underlined by its powerful presence in the international arena. He also reminded that this would be the first, a milestone in shaping the future of India. "I can confidently say that in 2047, when India completes 100 years of Independence, India will fulfill its aim of Viksit Bharat", he said.

PM Modi concluded by saying that the budget would be one which would infuse new energy and hope into the nation, thus playing a crucial role in achieving the goal of a developed India.
US space agency NASA announced that its astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, NASA, carried out their second spacewalk for maintenance and scientific research, in an announcement Thursday. This was the ninth career spacewalk for Williams and the fifth for Wilmore, with the mission expected to last six and half hours.

This will involve the extrication of a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the space station truss, collecting surface material samples from the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock for analyzing potential microorganisms on the exterior of the orbital complex, as well as preparing a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and swabbing external sites to collect microbial samples.

Williams' second spacewalk in 12 years, following an earlier one this month with Nick Hague. Williams, crew member 1, is wearing a suit with red stripes, while Wilmore, crew member 2, is in an unmarked suit. This isin 12 years, following an earlier one this month with Nick Hague.

Both astronauts have been stranded in space since June last year after becoming the first crew to ride Boeing's Starliner, which faced technical issues. While NASA has yet to confirm a return date, former US President Donald Trump has urged Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring them back. In response, NASA stated it is 'working expeditiously' to ensure their safe return as soon as practical.
The Union Budget 2025 will be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tomorrow, on February 1, at 11 am. It will be her eighth successive budget and the second full budget under the Modi 3.0 government. While the timing of the presentation remains consistent with the tradition of February 1 at 11 am, the government has occasionally adjusted the date when it coincides with weekends or public holidays. The stock market will be open during the presentation so that the investors can react in real-time, and Saturday timing gives an opportunity to the government to have instant feedback from stakeholders. It allows the government enough time to absorb the announcement in the markets.

Presenting budget on Saturdays has gone well with the tradition initiated way back in 1997 when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram advanced the time of presentation of budget to 11 am for better market engagement. In 2017, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took it forward by advancing the presentation date to February 1, coinciding with the start of the financial year and avoiding seasonal election-related interference.

Market Reaction and Economic Landscape

All eyes are now on tomorrow because the stock exchanges have declared open and the National Stock Exchange has announced a special trading session. The pre-open session is scheduled from 9:00 am and ends with 9:08, while the regular trading session is between 9:15 am to 3:30 pm. This follow-through from the past practices by February 1, 2020, and February 28, 2015, ensures that investors get to react in real-time to this budget day. Most importantly, of course, given market reaction to previous budget days, investors should be able to react in real-time; for example, Nifty on February 1, 2024, and July 23, 2024 closed slightly lower, reflecting the cautious sentiment that surrounds the budget announcements. The government is expected to have a few key priorities for the fiscal year, including enhancing the quality of spending, strengthening the social security net, and reducing the fiscal deficit to 4.5% of GDP.

She would most likely concentrate on infrastructure investment and social welfare schemes while still maintaining fiscal prudence. Because the markets have opened during budget, traders as well as investors are preparing themselves for another happening day, so they can clearly understand the budget roadmap of the government for the next year.

Economic Challenges: Foreign Reserves and Rupee Depreciation

This Union Budget 2025-26 will be important in dealing with the challenges brought about by low foreign exchange reserves, rupee depreciation, and global economic uncertainties. With the forex reserves dwindling to $634.59 billion and the rupee hitting 86 per dollar amid capital outflows and a widening trade deficit, the RBI has intervened actively to curtail volatility. But all these point toward signs of improvement, such as a revival of FPIs, which seems to be gaining investor confidence again. The budget will probably emphasize economic stabilization, foreign investment incentives, and policy measures to enhance resilience for sustainable growth in the face of headwinds in the global scenario.

Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Plans

The Modi government is all set to unveil an unprecedented battery storage plan in the Union Budget for the financial year 2025-26, with renewable energy taking center stage. Sources indicate that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce significant investment support for companies in the renewable energy sector, particularly in battery storage initiatives. The plan aims to increase India's renewable energy storage capacity from 220 MW to over 220 GW within five years, ensuring better integration with the national grid.

Another significant development is the establishment of a whole renewable energy zone that shall promote solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects across different states and thus spur regional investment. The Budget also may provide some incentives to banks to increase the financial support of the sector so that India could achieve the goal of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. As India's renewable energy capacity is already growing by 15.84%, these efforts will further accelerate the transition to green energy.

Sectoral Expectations: Healthcare, Education, and Exports

Experts have asked the Union Budget 2025 to undertake transformational initiatives for India's healthcare and pharmaceutical industries toward making this sector a driving force in terms of innovation, manufacturing, and export competitiveness.

Munira Loliwala, VP of Strategy and Growth at TeamLease Digital, urged the government to increase the exemption of import duty on life-saving drugs and oncology treatments so that costs come down and accessibility improves. She also suggested that public health spending be increased to 2.5% of GDP by 2025 and that the rural healthcare infrastructure be improved.

Dinesh Gupta, Founder & CEO of Vikalp Online School, said that this budget will set the stage for transformative growth in education, so that students from all over the world can join Indian institutes for education. He added that India has already produced world-class talent, but there is a lack of institutions that can match the quality of global counterparts. Also, suggested that the digital revolution, which has wiped out geographical barriers, can be used to create hundreds of world-class digital schools and universities. He is still hopeful that the Budget will help his vision for shaping the future of learning in India.

The export sector is also closely watching the Budget as exporters highlight their wishlists. Ashwani Kumar, Head of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), believes that India could seize a significant opportunity to boost exports by $25 billion, particularly in sectors such as electronics, automobiles, chemicals, and textiles. This opportunity comes in the wake of escalating trade tensions, with China in the spotlight due to U.S. tariff threats. The government should think about a marketing scheme exclusively on export to the US, Kumar advised. Further, FIEO has asked the government to minimize dependence on foreign shipping lines by increasing further investments in India's own shipping infrastructures or through private sector shipping lines.

Insurance Sector Demands

Insurance experts are also calling for the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to give special priority to the life and health insurance sectors in the forthcoming Budget 2025. Suggestions include increasing the Section 80D deduction on health insurance premium, and exempting term insurance premium from taxes as a standalone tax benefit in order to further increase coverage and security for the citizens.

Life insurers also look for tax abolition on annuity or pension income!

Jude Gomes, MD and CEO of Ageas Federal Life Insurance argues that elimination of tax on annuity product will boost retirement planning. Further, increasing the Rs 50,000 tax exemption on NPS to pension plans offered by life insurers will help make retirement savings more attractive.

Then, What Does The Real Estate Sector Want?

Pavan Kumar, Founder & CEO of White Lotus Group said that the 2025 Union Budget presents an opportunity to further strengthen the real estate sector's contributions towards India's GDP by 2025.

The sector is at a transformative phase, driven by technological advancements, consumer preferences for sustainable living, and government reforms.

"A focus on incentivising green housing and sustainable developments will encourage eco-conscious practices, ensuring India aligns with global sustainability benchmarks. Simplifying approval processes through single-window systems and facilitating access to affordable financing can enhance efficiency and enable the timely completion of projects. Revisiting GST rates on under-construction properties will drive demand, especially in high-end and luxury housing segments".

Looking ahead, the Union Budget 2025-26 is expected to balance economic stability, growth incentives, and fiscal discipline. The budget is going to take key measures related to forex reserves, rupee depreciation, infrastructure investment, renewable energy, healthcare, real estate, business, education, exports, and a lot more sectors, which are going to help India navigate the global uncertainty of its economic journey. All eyes are now on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she unveils the financial roadmap for the year ahead.
Wondering which AI coin offers the best growth potential?

If youre looking for the next big thing in AI-powered crypto, Dawgz AI is leading the way with a pocketful of trade bots designed to maximize your ROI like never before.

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Which AI Coin Offers the Best Growth Potential: Top 5 AI Coins Today

If youre curious which AI coin offers the best growth potential today, check out our list:

Dawgz AI: Maximize your earnings with AI-powered crypto trading bot! Near Protocol (NEAR): Innovative project that provides definitive solutions to scalability problems Internet Computer (ICP): A blockchain designed to expand the capabilities of Web3 and AI integration Graph (GRT): Decentralized indexing protocol that powers AI-driven data queries for blockchains Bittensor (TAO): A revolutionary AI-powered decentralized network for machine learning and intelligence sharing

1. Dawgz AI ($DAGZ)

Dawgz AI is making waves with its high-frequency trading bots that run 24/7, ensuring consistent returns with minimal effort.

If you're wondering which artificial intelligence coin offers the best growth potential, Dawgz AI is setting the pace in Web3 ROI - offering investors automated trading, staking rewards, and a thriving community-driven ecosystem.

With Ethereum at its core, Dawgz AI is more than just another AI meme coin - its a strategic investment opportunity that blends automation, profitability, and fun.

Whether you're a seasoned trader or a new investor looking for high-yield staking rewards, Dawgz AI delivers with market trends.

Key Features of Dawgz AI

AI-powered trading  Automated bots run 24/7 for maximum returns.

 Automated bots run 24/7 for maximum returns. Staking rewards  ETH holders earn passive income with competitive APY.

 ETH holders earn passive income with competitive APY. Presale momentum  Over $907K raised, next target $960K, price increase ahead.

 Over $907K raised, next target $960K, price increase ahead. Strong tokenomics  8.888B supply, with 30% presale, 20% staking, 10% liquidity.

 8.888B supply, with 30% presale, 20% staking, 10% liquidity. Meme coin with utility  Fun meets profitability with real AI-driven trading.

2. NEAR Protocol (NEAR)

NEAR Protocol is a high-performance blockchain designed to support decentralized applications (dApps) with a strong focus on scalability and developer-friendly features.

By implementing sharding, NEAR significantly reduces transaction costs and improves network efficiency, making it an attractive platform for AI crypto coins and next-gen Web3 projects.

Key Features of NEAR Protocol

Sharding for scalability  Divides network workload for faster and cheaper transactions.

 Divides network workload for faster and cheaper transactions. Developer-centric platform  Simplifies smart contract development with easy-to-use tools.

 Simplifies smart contract development with easy-to-use tools. Eco-friendly consensus  Uses Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to reduce energy consumption.

3. Internet Computer (ICP)

Internet Computer (ICP) is a blockchain designed to decentralize the internet, allowing AI agents and crypto coins to operate without reliance on centralized infrastructure.

By serving web content directly from the blockchain, ICP eliminates cloud dependency, creating a more trustless and open internet.

Key Features of Internet Computer

Blockchain-based cloud  Eliminates centralized cloud services for truly decentralized AI development.

 Eliminates centralized cloud services for truly decentralized AI development. Smart contract scalability  Supports high-speed execution without high fees.

 Supports high-speed execution without high fees. Web3 native  Directly integrates with web applications for seamless AI-powered services.

4. The Graph (GRT)

The Graph is a decentralized indexing protocol that enables efficient access to blockchain data, making it essential for AI models and smart contract applications.

Often referred to as the Google of blockchains, it allows AI crypto coins to seamlessly interact with on-chain information, boosting decentralized AI development.

Key Features of The Graph

Blockchain data indexing  Organizes and retrieves blockchain data quickly.

 Organizes and retrieves blockchain data quickly. Cross-chain compatibility  Supports Ethereum, IPFS, and more.

 Supports Ethereum, IPFS, and more. AI-powered querying  Enables fast data access for AI-driven applications.

5. Bittensor (TAO)

Bittensor is a revolutionary decentralized AI network that enables collaborative machine learning.

Developers contribute AI models to the ecosystem and earn TAO tokens based on network participation.

This incentivized AI development ensures continuous improvements in decentralized intelligence.

Key Features of Bittensor

AI-powered marketplace  Allows developers to monetize machine learning models.

 Allows developers to monetize machine learning models. Decentralized AI development  Eliminates centralized control over decentralized systems.

 Eliminates centralized control over decentralized systems. Scalable neural networks  AI agents continuously learn and improve through blockchain integration.

How to Choose the Best Artificial Intelligence Coin

When selecting the best crypto under $1 with 100x potential, it's essential to consider utility, scalability, staking rewards, and long-term growth potential.

Many AI crypto coins offer exciting innovations, but few combine automated profitability with real-world usability like Dawgz AI.

With AI-powered high-frequency trading bots, staking rewards for ETH holders, and a rapidly growing presale, Dawgz AI stands out as the top choice for maximizing returns.

Unlike speculative projects, Dawgz AI delivers consistent Web3 ROI with smart automation, making it the perfect option for both seasoned investors and newcomers looking to capitalize on the AI crypto boom.

Conclusion

Which AI coin offers the best growth potential? Without a doubt, Dawgz AI is the ultimate choice in today's AI crypto market.

While other projects promise innovation, Dawgz AI actually delivers - with high-frequency trading bots, staking rewards, and a proven track record of maximizing crypto profits.

Its explosive presale growth, strong tokenomics, and real-world AI utility make it the most exciting investment opportunity right now.

If you're serious about getting ahead in AI-powered crypto, Dawgz AI is the smart move. Don't sit on the sidelines - get in before the price jumps in the market cap!

Frequently Asked Questions

Which AI crypto has the most potential?

When it comes to AI cryptocurrencies with serious growth potential, theres one name that keeps making waves - Dawgz AI.

Unlike other crypto projects that simply integrate AI as a buzzword, Dawgz AI delivers real utility through AI-powered trading bots that run 24/7 to maximize returns.

With its high-frequency trading algorithms, staking rewards for ETH holders, and an explosive presale, Dawgz AI is set to dominate the crypto market in 2025.

If youre looking for an AI crypto that offers both profitability and innovation, Dawgz AI is the one to watch.

Which AI coin is best to invest in?

If you want to invest in an artificial intelligence coin with massive upside and real-world use cases, Dawgz AI is the best choice.

Its not just another AI cryptocurrency - its a fully optimized trading ecosystem built for high-speed blockchain transactions and maximum ROI.

Unlike many decentralized networks that rely on speculation, Dawgz AI delivers automated trading profits, staking rewards, and a strong tokenomics model.

With blockchain technology evolving, Dawgz AI is positioned as the leading decentralized platform for AI-powered crypto trading.

What are the top 5 AI crypto coins in 2025?

The AI crypto space is growing fast, and in 2025, these top 5 AI coins are expected to lead the way:

Dawgz AI  The undisputed leader in AI-powered trading, offering automated profit generation and staking rewards for ETH holders. Bittensor (TAO)  A decentralized finance project focused on machine learning and knowledge sharing for AI models. The Graph (GRT)  A crucial part of blockchain technology, providing data analysis and indexing for AI-driven dApps. Internet Computer (ICP)  Expanding decentralized networks by allowing AI applications to operate entirely on-chain. Render Network (RNDR)  A project utilizing AI for render token processing, revolutionizing how crypto projects handle computational workloads.

While these coins all bring something to the table, Dawgz AI remains the best investment due to its real-world utility, passive income potential, and AI-driven market strategy.

What crypto has the best growth potential?

If you're searching for the crypto with the best growth potential, Dawgz AI is leading the pack.

The project has already raised over $907,248 in its presale, with the next milestone pushing the price higher.

Unlike speculative crypto tokens, Dawgz AI utilizes AI trading bots, staking rewards, and blockchain technology to create consistent, automated returns.

As more investors recognize the power of AI in crypto, Dawgz AI is positioned to outperform other projects like Ocean Protocol, Render Network, and The Graph.

If you want to maximize your investment, this is the artificial intelligence coin you should be looking at.
DEAR ABBY:

I am in a warm and loving relationship. We have been together 20 years. We both were married before to horrible people. We both said in the beginning that we did not want to remarry. However, as we are getting older and my health is not so good, I would like to marry him.

I have hinted a couple of times that I would like a ring for Christmas or my birthday. Nothing has gotten through. How can I bring this up to him? Also, if hes set against marriage, how do I talk to him about power of attorney and stuff?  EYE TO THE FUTURE IN MISSISSIPPI

DEAR EYE:

A ring should be the least of your concerns. You are long overdue for a serious conversation with your partner. If he were to have a medical emergency, would he want you to make medical decisions about his care? The same is true for financial decisions. Does he have a will? Do you?

You both should be talking about this with an attorney who can guide you. You should also have health care directives in place and shared with your doctor. If, after 20 years with you, this man is still marriage-phobic, there are ways you can be protected that dont involve a trip to the altar. Please start exploring them NOW.

** ** **

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

** ** **

For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order How to Be Popular. Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The NYPD issued an age-progression photo of a 17-year-old boy whose mysterious disappearance 20 years ago on Staten Island catapulted his family onto a roller-coaster ride into the unknown that continues to this day.

The image of how Arkadiy (Ark) Tashman of Mariners Harbor might look today was posted Tuesday by the NYPD on X, formerly known as Twitter. In an effort to locate Tashman, police are seeking tips from the public.

Arkadiy Tashman of Mariners Harbor was 17 years old when he last was seen by his family on Jan. 25, 2005. The age-progression photo at right shows how he might look 20 years later in January 2025. (Courtesy of NYPD)Courtesy of NYPD

Tashman, who stands at least 6 feet tall and has beautiful blue eyes, fair skin and brown hair, was last seen by his family in Mariners Harbor on Jan. 25, 2005, according to his sister, Natalya Voskresenskaya of Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania.

In his teens, Tashman was an avid skateboarder who sported an earring in one ear. His sister has safeguarded the matching piece of jewelry all these years.

Voskresenskaya appreciates the NYPDs continuing efforts to find her brother and the fact that a detective texted her on the 20th anniversary, especially since his family often feels like we are the only ones who remember their missing loved one.

This weeks been tough, Voskresenskaya said.

When the family first learned Tashman was missing, it was a shock, but about a month later, the experience morphed into something much worse.

Its a roller coaster, Voskresenskaya said of her familys 20-year odyssey to find her brother, adding that we barely have hope that he is alive.

Every time the family learns about remains found of someone who died in 2005, thats when the roller coaster picks up and youre just waiting for three more weeks or however long to see if thats him or not.

If his remains are found, he could be laid to rest in a cemetery where family members could pay their respects, Voskresenskaya noted.

It doesnt really change anything, if Tashman were to be found deceased. We will just get off the roller coaster ride. But you know what? We got used to it. We still have hope on the ride.

Natalya Voskresenskaya searches in Manhattan in February 2005 for her brother, Arkadiy Tashman of Mariners Harbor, who was 17 years old when he went missing in January 2005. (Staten Island Advance Photo)Staten Island Advance Photo

Tashman is part of a blended family that includes Voskresenskaya, a brother, Alex Tashman, and parents Alla Voskresenskaya and Igor Tashman.

Natalya was 10 years old when Arkadiy was born and she assumed the roles of big sister and babysitter for her little brother.

He was very attached to me as a little boy, she said.

She described her brother growing up as happy go lucky.

Everyone loved him, she said. He had the best sense of humor ever.

Even when she had to put limits on her brother, he would still make me laugh. He was amazing.

She described her brother as always very compassionate. If you needed help, even if you didnt ask for it, he would be right there.

Natalya Voskresenskaya is lifted by her brother, Arkadiy Tashman of Mariners Harbor, who was 17 years old when he went missing in January 2005. (Courtesy of Natalya Voskresenskaya)Courtesy of Natalya Voskresenskaya

Time of disappearance

While living with his family in the Mariners Harbor Houses, Tashman dropped out of Port Richmond High School prior to his disappearance.

Before he left the family home for the last time, he penned a disturbing note that he tucked under a remote control, according to Advance/SILive.com records.

Sorry about this, the missive read. No wake, no funeral.

He left his cell phone at home.

The teen last was seen at the family home on Jan. 25, 2005, around 9 p.m. when he left to visit the home of a school friend who lived a couple of blocks away. A second boy who worked with Tashman at a liquor store also was at the school friends home, according to the sister.

Natalya believes that her brother departed in the early morning hours on Jan. 26.

Despite her brothers note, there was no evidence he took his own life. And none of the few-and-far-between leads regarding his possible fate or whereabouts have panned out over the years.

In the days and weeks after his vanishing, the family distributed thousands of missing posters, made impassioned pleas through the media, and scoured Tashmans old haunts in our borough, Brooklyn and Manhattan, according to Advance/SILive.com records.

The family hired a private detective to help with the search and sought assistance from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Natalya has talked to the friends her brother was with shortly before he went missing. She also has followed up on alleged sightings far and wide, including contacting the Bolivian Consulate on a tip that he was living with an American family in that country.

The family has exhausted all of its leads and search options.

What do you do after 20 years? the sister asked, adding, I cant even fathom what we possibly do right now.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The NYPD is seeking the publics assistance in locating a 33-year-old man from Elm Park who went missing on Wednesday.

Allen Taylor was last seen on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at approximately 7 p.m. leaving his residence in the vicinity of David Place and Pulaski Avenue, according to the NYPD.

Taylor is described as a male with a dark complexion, 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighing approximately 300 pounds. He was last seen wearing tan sweatpants and a white T-shirt.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.
New York state has opened applications for an arts scholarship program for middle and high school students.

The New York State Education Department announced students can now apply for the 2025 Empire State Arts Scholarship Program, which provides need-based financial assistance to students to participate in after-school and summer arts programs.

Scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until funding is fully allocated.

This year, the program will shift from a summer-only scholarship to a year-round model to offer consistent funding opportunities throughout the academic year and summer months.

A students socioeconomic status should not inhibit their creative potential nor the impact their art could have on both their life and the lives of others, said State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa. The Empire State Arts Scholarship Program has been crucial to removing barriers and allowing young artists to pursue their dreams without the worry of access or affordability. The expansion of this years program to a year-round model will undoubtedly benefit students by providing a more consistent funding stream that will allow them to focus on their creative discipline, rather than financial logistics.

Those interested in the Empire State Arts Scholarship Program can apply online.

To apply, students must meet the following criteria:

Currently in grades 5-12;

Family household Adjusted Gross Income under $91,000/year;

Be a New York state resident;

Plan to attend a New York state-based arts program.

It is strongly recommended that students confirm acceptance into their chosen program prior to applying for a scholarship, NYSED stated.

Scholarships are awarded based on financial need, with priority given to students demonstrating the greatest need if applications exceed available funding.

To apply for a scholarship, students must fill out the online application and submit their familys most recent New York State Income Tax Form.

Arts programs can specialize in music, theater, dance, creative writing, ballet, fine arts, design and more.

For any questions about applying, email nysssa@nysed.gov.
Quaise Energy Field Engineer Victor Rustom and Project Manager Steve Jeske prepare a rig for a demonstration of millimeter wave geothermal drilling technology Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025 in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer A hole is visible as the column of solid basalt rock was liquified during a demonstration of Quaise Energy millimeter wave geothermal drilling technology Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025 in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

In plain warehouses next to Hobby Airport, Houston-based startup Quaise Energy is testing technology to try to drill deeper into the earth than ever before  without a drill bit ever touching rock at those greatest depths.

The goal is to drill deep enough to unlock access to superhot rock that's available everywhere, from which geothermal power can be generated anywhere. Traditionally, harnessing the earths heat for electricity production has only been possible in a few places across the globe with naturally hot reservoirs and underground fractures, such as California or Iceland.

In recent years, Houston-based companies have pioneered using oil and gas fracking technology to inject fluids into underground fractures they create, greatly expanding geothermals potential. Still, this approach is limited by whether theres hot rock close enough to the surface.

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Thats where Quaises drilling method, based on research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, comes in. How it works sounds almost like something out of a science fiction novel: A beam of electromagnetic waves is pointed 10 inches away from the surface of the rock like a flashlight, heating up the affected circle of rock to such an extent that it melts or even vaporizes. The result is a crater-like hole in the rock.

In theory, this approach could enable drilling up to 12 miles, which is approximately twice as deep as the altitude of a flying airplane, Quaise CEO Carlos Araque told about a dozen potential investors gathered at the companys headquarters last week. It's also nearly twice as deep as the deepest hole ever made by man, an approximately 7 mile well drilled by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Even that took the Soviets almost 20 years.

The technology is so incredible that Henry Phan, Quaises vice president of engineering, initially had difficulty believing it was real when he was first approached to join the company, he told the investors.

I thought, This is crazy. This is a crazy idea. And even crazier is to try to drill six miles with this thing. But we looked at the numbers, and they didn't suggest that this is impossible, Phan said.

The glow of vaporized molten basalt rock is visible via video feed during a demonstration of Quaise Energys millimeter wave geothermal well drilling technology Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025 in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

Indeed, Quaise spent two hours last Thursday showing off to investors just how possible its technology really was, though there's still a significant gap between the company's aspirations and what it's accomplished with the technology so far.

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Inside the companys headquarters, employees melted a hole approximately 2-inches deep into a shoebox-sized rock sample as investors watched via a live camera feed. Another rig equipped with Quaise's technology drilled a similarly-sized hole at a set-up outside.

Quaise has raised $105 million in funding so far, Araque told investors. As the company begins field testing, it hopes to raise another $200 million to develop its first commercial power plant.

Repowering civilization

Both Araque and Phan spent more than 15 years at Schlumberger, a Houston-based oilfield services company. They are yet another example of former oil and gas employees using their expertise to stand up Houston geothermal start-ups, such as peer companies Fervo and Sage Geosystems.

With Quaise, the goal is to produce geothermal energy that can be competitive with oil and gas in cost and scale, Araque said.

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The ambition is to repower civilization, he said. Geothermal today doesn't do that, doesn't come even close to doing that, because it's too cold. But if you increase the temperature, geothermal becomes as powerful as a fossil fuel.

A hole drilled through solid rock is visible demonstrating the potential of Quaise Energy's millimeter wave geothermal drilling technology Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025 in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

Geothermal accounted for only 0.4% of the countrys utility-scale electricity generation in 2023, according to Department of Energy data. But applying oil and gas insights gives the technology massive potential. Geothermal also has the rare fortune of being embraced by both political parties, who otherwise diverge on whether the country should transition away from or double down on fossil fuels, the burning of which is the primary cause of climate change.

Geothermal power is generated without climate-warming emissions and can be available 24/7, which helps complement other renewables when the sun isnt shining or the wind isnt blowing. It could also be a new career option as the number of oil and gas jobs decline.

Superhot rock geothermal, Quaises specialty, refers to generating energy from rock that is approximately 400 degrees Celsius. In comparison, conventional geothermal targets rock between 180 and 200 degrees Celsius.

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Achieving superhot rock geothermal could be an enormous opportunity  in fact, tapping just 1% of the worlds superhot rock geothermal potential could generate eight times more energy than the rest of the world's electricity combined, according to data from the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental organization researching the path to decarbonization.

What do you enable when you make electricity abundant and affordable? The things that you enable are almost impossible to imagine, said Terra Rogers, Clean Air Task Forces superhot rock geothermal program director.

Quaises technology

The main challenge of achieving superhot rock geothermal is making it not only possible but also economic for companies to drill deep. For one, traditional drilling equipment can struggle to withstand higher temperatures and higher pressures at greater depths, Rogers said.

Another issue is that softer sedimentary rock tends to give way to hard basement rock such as granite and basalt deep into the subsurface. These harder rocks cause frequent wear-and-tear to traditional drill bits, which means a lot of time and money is wasted replacing that equipment, said Paul Woskov, formerly a senior research engineer at MIT.

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For decades, Woskov researched nuclear fusion, another energy holy grail. He worked with a technology known as a gyrotron, which beams millimeter waves to heat plasma in a fusion reactor.

Articulated steel tubular arms that contain mirrors to guide and direct millimeter waves, are visible at the drill site during a demonstration of Quaise Energys geothermal well drilling technology Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025 in Houston. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

Millimeter waves, a range of frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared waves, are key to 5G communications systems. Back in 2008, Woskov envisioned also using them to melt or even vaporize holes into rock. He tested this in his lab with as big of gyrotrons as he could get his hands on until 2014.

The lawyers that worked on this patent were telling me, Oh my God, you're trying to patent the phaser from Star Trek, Woskov recalled with a laugh.

Quaise was formed to commercialize Woskovs technology in 2018. Woskov, now retired, serves as the companys senior advisor. In theory, to develop a power plant, Quaise would use conventional drilling until it hits basement rock, at which point it switches to its gyrotron technology.

Heat from the gyrotron turns this hard rock liquid-like, similar to the viscosity of honey or even water, Quaises senior research engineer Michael Brookman explained while investors gawked at a newly-formed hole nearby. Then, compressed air is blown at the melted rock, creating a depression.

As the melted rock solidifies, it turns into hair-like strands called Peles hair, fibers that are also formed during a volcanic eruption. The air easily blows the Peles hair out of the hole, Brookman said.

It's almost like we're weaving thread out of rock, he said.

Liquified molten basalt is transformed to thin strands called Peles Hair, visible Thursday, Jan. 24, 2025, that can be removed using compressed air. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

Within its labs, Quaise has been able to drill a one-inch diameter hole that is 100 inches deep, according to project manager Andres Calabressi. The teams objective to drill miles has been limited by the power of the gyrotrons and the rock sizes theyve been using, he said.

There's nothing to tell us that we can't keep going, Calabressi said. So the next step is more rock.

Superhot ambitions

Quaise has two field tests planned for the spring, Phan said.

One will be attaching Quaises gyrotron technology to a rig owned by Nabor Industries, one of the start-ups investors, at a Houston site. The goal is to show that the technology is plug-and-play with existing oil and gas technology and to drill 100 feet into a rock sample, Phan said.

The other demonstration will be taking Quaises drilling system to a granite quarry in Marble Falls, which is about an hour northwest of Austin. There, the aim is to drill 130 meters down, Phan said.

Ultimately, the goal is to develop a portfolio of five power plants, each with a capacity of at least 25 megawatts, according to Araque and Quaise co-founder Matthew Houde. The company is furthest along in exploring a pilot project with Nevada Gold Mines, a mining company. Four others are being explored in Oregon, New Mexico and overseas.

If the financing pencils out, Quaise hopes to start operating a project as soon as 2028, Araque said. Quaise's potential to move quicker than other next-generation technologies is why Brookman left nuclear fusion research, he said.
The defense forces inflicted losses on the Russians in the Kursk region. On January 31, missile forces and artillery hit the command post of the "Kursk" military grouping in this Russian region.

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It was located in the town of Rylsk. The details were reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Today, the missile and artillery units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the command post of the "Kursk" group of troops of the Russian Armed Forces in the city of Rylsk, Kursk region. As a result of a highly accurate and coordinated strike, the enemy's command center was destroyed," the statement said.

The General Staff added that the operation is part of a systematic effort to destroy enemy command posts, which aims to deprive Russia of the ability to effectively coordinate combat operations and logistics.

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"The Ukrainian defense forces continue to inflict losses on the occupation forces, destroying their command and control system and reducing their offensive potential. Operations to destroy enemy command posts will continue until the Russian aggression against Ukraine is completely stopped. To be continued," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized.

The public in Rylsk reported that it was "very loud" in the city and the district after 08:40 Kyiv time. Ten minutes after the first reports, they claimed to have shot down five ATACMS missiles. Local residents commented that some of the missiles had hit their targets.

Earlier, the General Staff confirmed the strike on the oil refinery in the Volgograd region.

The refinery, which works for the Russian occupation army and is one of the ten largest oil refineries in Russia, was hit by units of the Unmanned Systems Forces and the Main Intelligence Directorate on the night of January 31.

After the strikes, a glow was visible over the oil refinery.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Ken Flores, the Chicago-based stand-up comedian known primarily for his unfiltered and unapologetic humor  who was currently on tour  died on Jan. 28. He was only 28 years of age.

A rapidly rising star in stand-up comedy thanks to his hilarious TikTok and Instagram reels, his unique jokes and quick wit garnered him more than 250,000 followers across the world.

And his nonchalant stage presence and unconventional comedic prowess has been referred to as a bit refreshing and somewhat wild.

No cause of death was indicated at this time, according to a story on Forbes.com

The story goes on to explain that a tour began in Portland, Oregon on Jan. 10 and had been scheduled to conclude in San Diego, Calif. on April 19.

It is with great sadness that we confirm the untimely passing of our friend, brother, and son, Kenyi Flores, wrote his family on Flores Instagram page. They asked for privacy as theyre shocked and devastated by the loss.

Though an official cause of death has not been reported, the Los Angeles Times reported that his body was found at his home at around 2 p.m. on Tuesday. TMZ cited law enforcement sources who said it appeared he died of a cardiac arrest, according to a story on PennLive.com

Flores was heard in the podcasts Netflix Is a Daily Joke in 2020, Todd N Tyler Radio Empire in 2021, and Nonnas Basement Podcast with Luca, Tom & Tyler in 2022.

USA Today reported that Flores had just embarked on a nationwide Butterfly Effect Tour on Jan. 10. As part of that tour, he was slated to work three dates  Feb 6-8  at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia, according to his website.

The site added that Flores got his start by posting clips to YouTube as he worked as a bank teller in his early 20s.

He was a comedian that was a friend of mine and was super talented and I worked with him a bunch, wrote actor and comedian Chris DElia son social media. He was really, really, really funny and he had the whole future in front of him. My heart goes out to his family and his friends. That dude was a great guy.
No deal.

Thats when an overwhelming percentage of Greenlanders have to say about President Donald Trumps plans to make the Arctic island part of the United States.

Reuters reported that a poll showed that 85% of Greenlanders oppose joining the United States.

Only 6% supported becoming part of the U.S.

The poll showed that 45% of Greenlanders see Trumps proposal as a threat, while 43% see it as an opportunity.

Trump has said that Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, is strategically important to the United States.

Just 8% of those polled said they would approve switching their citizenship from Denmark to the United States, with 55% saying they would rather remain Danish.

The U.S. maintains Pituffik Space Base, more widely known as Thule Air Base, in Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday she had given full backing to the principle of maintaining respect for international borders.

She later told reporters that she doesnt think there is any military threat to Greenland or Denmark.

I am pleased if the survey is an expression that many Greenlanders would like to see a continued close cooperation with Denmark. Probably in a different form than what we know today, because everything changes over time, she told the Berlingske newspaper in response to the poll.

Denmark on Monday it would spend 14.6 billion crowns ($2.04 billion) to boost its military presence in the Arctic.

Greenland, with a population of 57,000, has a land mass larger than Mexico.

The island was granted broad self-governing autonomy in 2009. That includes the right to declare independence from Denmark through a referendum, Reuters said.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has pushed for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.

The poll, carried out by the UK research firm Verian for Greenlands Sermitsiaq newspaper and Denmarks Berlingske newspaper, polled 497 Greenlandic adults from January 22 to 26.

The survey had a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.
Recently, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have regained lost ground in the Kharkiv sector and near Pokrovsk in Donetsk region. However, the occupiers also made advances  on the front line near Chasovyi Yar, Toretsk, Kurakhove, and in the south.

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This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). They once again pointed to the unconfirmed statements of propagandists about the "successes" of Russian troops.

It is noted that against the backdrop of ongoing Russian offensive operations in the north of Kharkiv region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced in the northern part of Vovchansk (northeast of Kharkiv). At the same time, the invaders conducted attacks in the area of Kozacha Lopan (north of Kharkiv along the international border) on January 29 and 30.

In the Pokrovsk sector, the Ukrainian Defense Forces made some progress west of Novoandriivka (southwest of Pokrovsk). Russian pro-war bloggers claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces also counterattacked near Nadiivka (north of Novoandriivka).

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A representative of the National Guard Brigade of Ukraine said that the occupants are conducting exclusively infantry attacks with limited support from equipment, and Ukrainian drones continue to be the most effective weapon to repel enemy attacks in the direction of Pokrovsk.

ISW found no confirmation of propagandists' claims about the alleged advance of Russian forces southwest of the district center  in the area of Kotlynove, in the forest areas south of Uspenivka, north of Vozdvyzhenka (east of Pokrovsk).

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Although it is reported that on January 29 and 30, the invaders continued attacks near Pokrovsk itself; to the east of the city near Vozdvyzhenka, Malynivka, Vodiane Druhe, Yelyzavetivka, Promin, Novotoretske, Myroliubivka; to the southeast  near Lysivka; to the south  near Vidrodzhennia (formerly Novyi Trud) and Zvirove; to the southwest  near Kotlyne, Novoukrainka, Udachne, Kotliarivka, and Yasenove. According to available data, drone operators of the 1195th Russian motorized rifle regiment (41st Army, Central Military District) are operating in the Pokrovske direction.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the UAV platoon commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 68th Brigade, call sign "Furia," said that in the Pokrovsk sector, the occupiers are constantly trying to attack with small infantry groups under the cover of fog. In addition, they are also actively using drones: sometimes 30 enemy FPV drones arrive at one position of the Defense Forces.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
The Albanese government has challenged Australias major banks to relax their lending rules for flat-pack homes after the Commonwealth Bank moved to make financing easier for houses built from prefabricated parts, amid a nationwide push to address the housing supply crisis.

CBA on Friday announced it would address barriers to financing for prefabricated construction, following a Treasury roundtable in November when banks, superannuation funds and other institutional investors committed to making it easier to lend for prefab homes that are quicker to build than homes built with traditional methods.

The Commonwealth Bank will relax its lending rules for prefabricated homes, which are being constructed at Modscapes factory in Essendon Fields before being transported. Credit: PENNY STEPHENS

Theres a national effort needed  to actually come up with innovative and creative solutions [to address the supply of housing], said CBA executive general manager of home buying Michael Baumann while touring ModSpace, which makes prefab homes, in Essendon Fields on Friday morning.

Prefabricated homes, also known as flat-pack and modular homes, are built in factories and transported near completion. However, homeowners are traditionally required to stump up 90 per cent of construction costs for prefab homes banks lend only for the final 10 per cent once the home has been transported to the site.
A few decades ago, a revolution arrived in corporate Australia. Companies were asked to include into their decision-making the risks posed by environmental factors, social issues and corporate governance, or what simply became known as ESG. The term first appeared in 2004.

Like all revolutions, it generated a strong reaction, but was widely adopted. Now there are growing signs of a pushback.

In the United States, theres a full-blown backlash thanks to the return of President Donald Trump, who has ordered that federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which fall under the social aspect of ESG, be dismantled. Such programs promote equal opportunities for women and underrepresented groups.

President Donald Trump has ordered to dismantle federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Credit: Bloomberg

In his inaugural address, Trump claimed his goal was to forge a society that is colour-blind and merit-based. Trump has also targeted corporate America, stating that companies that pursued DEI schemes would lose federal government contracts. A number of major US corporations, including Amazon, Walmart, McDonalds, Meta Platforms, Boeing and Ford, have announced plans to scrap or reduce their DEI initiatives.
Capital Gain

Rich-lister Tony Denny is selling his prized vineyard in Canberra to focus on his projects on the Central coast.

Rich Lister and Aures Holdings founder Tony Denny. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Denny is valued at $790 million and is No. 181 on 2024s Rich List. He made his fortune flogging luxury cars in eastern Europe before selling up to Polish private equity firm Abris Capital Partners for $320 million in 2014.

Denny stepped in to take over the mortgage on the Pialligo Estate, about 7.5 kilometres from Canberras CBD, last year. The high-end, sustainably operated hospitality and agricultural property spans 12.6 hectares and includes a glasshouse, pavilion dining, market grill and alfresco bar.
A Herald and Good Food investigation reveals a top Sydney restaurant group allegedly ousted female staff after they reported sexual assaults and encouraged on-duty sex and drug use.

One of the worlds top employment lawyers will represent former Swillhouse staff against the hospitality giant as four alleged victims of sexual assault pursue the company for damages.

Sheryn Omeri, KC, who has advised victims of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and won a landmark case defining Uber drivers as employees in Britain, will represent Rachelle Hair, Brittany Rowe, Jenna Hemsworth and Reuby Kahl in their claims against the company.

Barrister Sheryn Omeri, a KC in Australia and England, will represent the former Swillhouse employees. Credit: Steven Siewert

In August, The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food revealed claims that Swillhouse pushed staff out of the company after reporting sexual assaults, encouraged staff to have sex with customers, and discriminated against women as it built up a hospitality empire that now spans six venues across the city.

The company, which owns venues including Restaurant Hubert, Caterpillar Club and Le Foote, said it was aware of sexual assault allegations at its venues and that it sincerely regretted and apologised to any former employees who felt unsupported and at risk.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is seeking a white knight philanthropist or corporate donor to offer days of free admission as the leading Sydney gallery reluctantly imposed entry fees for the first time in almost a quarter of a century on Friday.

Visitors were met with ticket desks on entry for the first time since 2000 as the gallery revealed it is in talks with a number of existing and new MCA supporters about supporting free access moments and initiatives throughout the year.

Day one of entry fees at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Japanese students are issued with wristbands granting free access. Credit: Janie Barrett

A launchpad for leading Australian artists such as Lindy Lee, Tracey Moffatt and Shaun Gladwell, the gallery announced new fees in December after struggling with an inflation-led spike in costs that has outstripped government funding.

In a single year in 2023, expenses rose $5 million, according to its annual report.
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 OK, lets get this out of the way first. Yes, there will be plenty of cries of Miranda! No, there will not be a giant rock on the stage. Yes, the schoolgirls will be in white dresses. And no, it is not a true story. Its just really, really cool, says Olivia DeJonge, one of the five actors who are bringing Joan Lindsays myth-making 1967 classic  about four teenage schoolgirls and their teacher who go missing during a bush picnic in 1900  to the stage for the Sydney Theatre Company. To see this story told in this way, I think youll come out of it feeling really affected. You might come out of it feeling disgusted, or you might feel inspired or prideful, but itll make you feel something. And thats the pursuit of any good piece of art, to evoke a response in the audience, whether thats good or bad. A scene from the 1975 film adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock, starring (from left) Karen Robson as Irma, Anne-Louise Lambert as Miranda, Jane Vallis as Marion and Christine Schuler as Edith. Credit: B.E.F. Ever since the book was published in 1967 and after Peter Weirs woozy 1975 film adaptation, a critical and box-office hit, the story of the picnic and its location at Hanging Rock  an extinct volcano and sacred gathering place for the Dja Dja Wurrung, Woi Wurrung and Taungurung peoples in central Victoria  has become the stuff of legend. Were the girls and their teacher really swallowed up by the rock? The answer is a straight no, but that hasnt stopped countless Google searches, theories and even celebrity psychics from attempting to unravel the mystery. And much like Mad Max or even Muriels Wedding, the film has such a firm grip on the Australian psyche that you dont need to have seen it, to be able to quote or visualise it. Most recently, it was adapted into a six-part series for Foxtel in 2019. This stage adaptation by Tom Wright leans into that mythology, but it isnt a straight re-creation of Lindsays novel, nor does it try to imitate Weirs film.

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It honours Joan Lindsays novel more than it does the film. It very much follows the story of Picnic at Hanging Rock that we all know, says Ian Michael, the shows director. But Tom [Wright] has really leaned into these ideas of time that Joan Lindsay also did, even further in the sense that we meet these five storytellers on stage who then become the vessels for the story, become almost possessed by it, who give us so much of the exposition and the set-up of the Picnic at Hanging Rock that we know. Director Ian Michael at rehearsals for Picnic at Hanging Rock at Sydney Theatre Company. Credit: Daniel Boud In other words, Dont expect a lot of frilly white dresses, says Michael. DeJonge  who won the AACTA award for best supporting actress for playing Priscilla Presley in Baz Lauhrmanns kaleidoscopic biopic Elvis  and Michael are sitting with castmate Kirsty Marillier on a break from rehearsals. There are five in the cast, which also includes Lorinda Merrypor, Masego Pitso and Contessa Treffone, and they are dividing the storys 17 roles between them. For Marillier, that means not only playing one of the schoolgirls, Irma, who returns from the rock, and a policeman, who is a conglomerate of several characters in the book. Kirsty Marillier (left), Masego Pitso and Lorinda Merrypor in rehearsals for Picnic at Hanging Rock. Credit: Daniel Boud I feel a lot of empathy for [Irma], says Marillier, Because she cant grasp what happened, but she knows whatever happened to her was deeply, profound, traumatic, monumental and life altering, but she doesnt know why or how.

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DeJonge, meanwhile, plays Mrs Appleyard, the strict headmistress of the exclusive boarding school the girls attend. Shes a complex lady, a very, very complex lady, says DeJonge. She has a fierceness about her, a harshness, she follows what she calls her inner-knowing. But I think the beauty of this adaptation, too, is that there is also colour to her in terms of her weaknesses and her past. We do catch glimpses of her questioning her own intentions or the intentions of the world around her, but shes still sort of ransacked by societal expectations. Olivia DeJonge plays Mrs Appleyard, the headmistress of the exclusive boarding school in Picnic at Hanging Rock. Credit: Daniel Boud Mrs Appleyard  who is seen as the colonial force in the story, a very British woman who has been brought up to believe that is the only thing in the world  is the most complicated person Ive ever played, without a doubt, says DeJonge. Does that make it challenging or fun? Massive challenge, says DeJonge. And Ive experienced growing pains on this, too, because you get to a point where youre like, Oh, Im in unfamiliar territory now, you can kind of feel yourself wanting to sort of nestle away.

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But Ive been looking for something challenging to do, so this feels like its exactly where Im supposed to be  and rehearsals is such a thing that Im not used to, obviously, working predominantly on TV and film. Im just lavishing in. To have all this time to sit in the character just feels like one big soak  you have five weeks until you do the first take! Joan Lindsay, who wrote Picnic at Hanging Rock when she was 70, with her husband, Sir Daryl Lindsay. The story of Picnic at Hanging Rock came to Lindsay in a dream, according to the book Beyond the Rock by Janelle McCulloch. It was winter 1966 and Lindsay, who was then 70 years old, told her housekeeper she had dreamt of a summer picnic at Hanging Rock, near Mount Macedon in central Victoria. Lindsay, according to the book, sketched out the story  about a group of teenage girls from an upper-class school who set off on a Valentines Day picnic to Hanging Rock  within a day. The dream returned to Lindsay every night for a week and within two weeks she had finished the story. William Fords At the Hanging Rock, which can be seen at the NGV in Melbourne. When it was published a year later, the book  which Lindsay named after William Fords 1875 painting At the Hanging Rock  was a critical success, but it wasnt until Weirs film in 1975 that the mythology around the story, and whether its central mystery about the missing schoolgirls, was true. Even Lindsay wrote at the beginning of the book that it was up to readers to decide if it is, fact or fiction.

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And while that central mystery is what the book is most remembered for  that deep fear of the bush  its deeper cautionary tale is of exerting control over the uncontrollable, of the English colonialists trying to tame the Australian landscape and its traditional owners. Ive been very fascinated by the story for a long time, says Michael, a proud Noongar man. And always quite fascinated about our intense obsession with people who go missing in the bush, and what that means and what it means to disrupt land. Hanging Rock, in central Victoria, is a sacred Indigenous site. And I always think that these four girls who go to the rock, theyre teaching Miss McCraw, that they werent meant to be there. This was a traditional sacred site for initiation, and especially for young men, and they just werent meant to be there. Loading And so when I thought about this at this production, I knew we couldnt do it with five white women, mostly because its bookended by these two present-day scenes, and that our present day doesnt look like that any more. Casting women of colour to play the schoolgirls also lends greater significance to the text, says Michael, as it wont be as easy to overlook the racial themes in the story.

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Eating outJust open Continental Deli crew unveil all-day vegetarian eatery (with two more venues to follow) You wont know youve had a vegetarian meal at this cheerful newcomer in Sydneys inner west. Erina Starkey January 31, 2025 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

A seafood bistro, an all-day vegetarian eatery and an Italian restaurant will present diners with a fresh dilemma on where to eat when they open their doors side-by-side this summer. Mister Grotto, Flora and Osteria Mucca will join Continental Deli on Australia Street in Newtown to create a four-in-one precinct by hospitality group Paisano & Daughters, founded by Elvis Abrahanowicz, Joseph Valore and Michael Nicolian. Roast tomato and bullhorn pepper gazpacho at Flora. Janie Barrett Opening one venue is a lot, this has been something else, says Abrahanowicz. First off the block is Flora, an all-day vegetarian eatery with a modern-vintage fit-out. Its a restaurant for everyone. When you come here you wont know youve had a vegetarian meal, he says.

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While Abrahanowicz may be renowned for his smoky, parilla-grilled meats at Porteno, his wife and business partner, Sarah Doyle, is vegetarian, and he predominantly cooks plant-based meals at home. Flora co-owner Elvis Abrahanowicz and head chef Jude Hughes. Janie Barrett Theres a lot of work that goes into making vegetarian food, he says. Its not like steak, where you just cut it and grill it. Preparing vegetables is labour-intensive, and it becomes costly because of that. Produce also changes week-to-week depending on what the growers have, so we have to work very closely with the farmers to figure out what were going to put on the plate. Abrahanowicz worked with Flora head chef Jude Hughes, formerly of the now-closed Barrio in Byron Bay and The Summertown Aristologist in the Adelaide Hills, on the menu, which he wanted to be interesting, but approachable.

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Highlights include a short stack of ricotta and cacao husk pancakes topped with smoked maple syrup and espresso butter; a quinoa burger  its got an incredible texture to it; and a tomato and bullhorn pepper gazpacho adorned with figs and yoghurt. The venue will make everything it can from scratch, including the bread, kimchi, pickles, vinegar, tempeh and cheese. Well be making a fresh curd and ageing it, then serving both the fresh and aged curds together, Abrahanowicz says. Ricotta and cacao husk pancakes with smoked maple syrup and espresso butter at Flora. Janie Barrett As for drinks, diners can expect an all-Australian line-up of both spirits and wine, curated by co-owner and bartender Michael Nicolian. There will also be a master list in case diners want something specific from next door. Former Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year Lauren Eldridge, who was named head of pastry for Paisano & Daughters last year, will oversee the dessert menu at all four venues.

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Shes also behind the cakes and slices that sit on Floras front counter, which includes a fragrant polenta and rosemary loaf; caramel and cardamom buns; and the venues signature dark-chocolate-dipped Flora-tine bars. The front counter is lined with cakes and slices. Janie Barrett While the four townhouses have similar facades and footprints (Flora and Mister Grotto seat 30, while Osteria Mucca seats 50), each venue has its own identity. Flora has been given a buttercup-yellow fit-out, which includes honey timber-panelled walls, botanical prints and an apron curtain, which sits just below the gold lettering on the heritage shopfront. Next door at Mister Grotto, the dark-wood seafood bistro resembles the inside of a ships hull, with a collection of nautical bric-a-brac lining the walls. Osteria Mucca, housed in an old butcher shop, specialises in steaks (mucca means cow in Italian), freshly made pasta and regional Italian fare.

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Flora, with the buttercup-yellow facade, also has outdoor tables. Janie Barrett If you cant choose one, you can always hop between them, Abrahanowicz suggests. Start at Flora for breakfast, then move next door to Mister Grotto for lunch, Continental Deli for cocktails in the afternoon, and Osteria Mucca for dinner. Flora is open for walk-ins for breakfast and lunch, with dinner available from February 10 206 Australia Street, Newtown, instagram.com/flora_newtown Mister Grotto opens on February 10, with Osteria Mucca to follow in early March

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The response of state and federal governments to the discovery of a caravan laden with explosives and containing the addresses of a Sydney synagogue and Holocaust museum risks stoking confusion and anxiety, when the goal should be the very opposite.

As is now established, authorities had kept the operational details secret for days in the belief the revelations would compromise their work in trying to catch the perpetrators.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But following a leak to the media on Wednesday afternoon, Premier Chris Minns called a press conference to announce details, and in the process revealed he was told about the matter on January 20  the day after the caravans contents were reported to police.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is still refusing to reveal when he was informed. News Corp on Friday claimed Albanese was not told until the day it was leaked to the media  a fact not challenged by the prime minister when he had the chance at a press conference on Friday. It is also safe to assume that NSW authorities thought it best left to the Australian Federal Police and/or ASIO to tell the prime minister. If federal authorities thought the discovery was not serious enough to warrant prime ministerial knowledge, that was an alarming miscalculation given Albanese himself has labelled the caravan discovery an act of terrorism.
The threat is not new and until it is actually carried out, Donald Trump can always change his mind. However, the February 1 deadline for imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada is almost here. Trump claims these two countries have not only failed to stop drugs and migrants crossing their borders into the U.S., but that it is unfair that Washington has a high trade deficit with both. The 25% tariff threat is a way of pressurizing Mexico and Canada into renegotiating trade agreements and forcing a better balance of trade.

Well be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons, Trump told reporters on January 30 as he signed executive actions in response to the Washington plane crash the day before. Number one is the people who have poured into our country so horribly and so much. Number two are the drugs  fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country. And number three are the massive subsidies we are giving to Canada and Mexico in the form of deficits. And I will be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada, and, separately, 25% on Mexico. And we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.

Trump also said he had yet to make a decision on whether tariffs would apply to Canadian oil imports, a decision that would rest on the price of crude oil. If the oil is priced appropriately, if they treat us appropriately... he said. Look, Canada and Mexico, they have never been good to us on trade. They have treated us very unfairly on trade. And we will be able to make that up very quickly, because we dont need the products that they have, the president said.

We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber. We have more than almost anybody in those two categories. In oil, we have more than anybody and we dont need anybodys trees.

We dont need what they have, the Republican insisted. And for us to be subsidizing Canada to the tune of $175 billion a year and subsidizing Mexico to the tune of $250 billion, $300 billion a year he added, falsely claiming a trade deficit to be some kind of subsidy.

Trump first threatened 25% tariffs on his two main trading partners last November when he was still president-elect. He subsequently said he would approve these tariffs on his first day in office. Mexicos President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone and Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with him. But despite Trumps assurances, he has moved quickly to carry out his threats. Mexico and Canada have tried to tighten control of their borders to dissuade Trump from imposing the tariffs but have so far failed to do so.

From January to November 2024, the U.S. imported goods from Canada worth $699 billion and goods from Mexico worth $776 billion. The magnitude of the tariffs that Trump will enact could have serious repercussions on certain industries, such as the automotive and energy sectors.

The tariffs will also be infringing on the protections of the free trade agreement between the three countries, potentially triggering a trade war. Both Canada and Mexico have threatened to retaliate.

Not content with threatening Canada and Mexico, Trump has gone several steps further, pursuing the idea of a blanket tariff on all U.S. imports. He has also promised tariffs on products such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductor chips, steel, aluminum, and copper, which could affect a raft of countries, including Canada and Mexico.

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A missing girl has been found with significant injuries south of Brisbane. The four-year-old was allegedly tortured by a woman over an extended period and hidden across multiple properties. Police reportedly found her suffering from burns, fractures, bruising and disfigurement on January 9 following an extensive investigation. The child has been taken to Logan Hospital for treatment. She has since been taken to Logan Hospital for treatment.

The alleged physical abuse this little girl endured is amongst the worst I have seen in my career, Detective Acting Inspector Kent Ellis said in a statement. Her injuries are horrific and highlight the unimaginable suffering she has experienced. The initial response  saved this childs life. A Queensland Police spokesperson told Brisbane Times the girl was known to be missing and officers were actively investigating her whereabouts when she was found. A 32-year-old woman has been refused bail and will appear in court again on March 19. She is facing more than two dozen charges relating to torture, assault and drug supply.
Assassins Creed is one of gamings biggest and most prolific franchises, with 13 main games released over the last 18 years. And, throughout that time, many fans of the historical fiction franchise have been asking for one thing; an entry set in feudal Japan. Next month, theyll get their wish.

But Assassins Creed Shadows represents more than just a long-awaited entry. Its a new era for a franchise that has reinvented itself multiple times but still struggles to strike a balance between attracting new fans and retaining the old ones. And for Ubisoft, it could be a make or break.

The latest Assassins Creed is set in Japan, and features a pair of protagonists.

The French publishing group has been impacted by the changing shape of the video game industry, shedding thousands of employees over the last two years as the rising cost and scope of high-end development has led to a period of financial underperformance for the publicly listed company. Its attempts to move into multiplayer and service-based games have fallen mostly flat, and sales of both new games in existing franchises (like Prince of Persia) and licensed games based on movies (like Avatar) have failed to meet Ubisofts high expectations.

Players and commentators have pointed to several contributing factors, from Ubisofts enormous multi-continent size to its attempts to monetise games with microtransactions and its own proprietary platforms and subscriptions. Assassins Creed is seen as its most dependable property, with 2020s Valhalla pulling in about $US1 billion ($1.6 billion) in revenue in its first year, and Shadows  which will also introduce a new hub that connects all recent games in the series  will need to prove thats still the case.
Washington: The White House stenographers have a problem. Donald Trump is talking so much, the people responsible for transcribing his public remarks are struggling to keep up with all the words.

There were more than 22,000 on Inauguration Day, then another 17,000 when Trump visited disaster sites in North Carolina and California. Its enough to strain the ears and fingers of even the most dedicated stenographer, especially after four years of Joe Bidens relative quiet.

Now there are discussions about hiring additional staff to keep up with the workload, according to people with knowledge of the conversations who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the White House press briefing room. Credit: AP

The flood of words is one of the most visible  or audible  shifts from Biden to Trump, who craves the spotlight and understands better than most politicians that attention is a form of power. Hes been speaking nearly nonstop since starting his second term, drowning out dissenting voices and leaving his opponents struggling to be heard.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Rotary Club St. Martin Sunrise recently celebrated the achievements of two remarkable women by presenting them with the Vocation Excellence Award. This prestigious honor was awarded to Mrs. Juliana Hodge-Shipley and Ms. Nkosazana Illis for their outstanding dedication and service in their respective fields.

Mrs. Juliana Hodge-Shipley, the esteemed Education and GLA Division Head at the University of St. Martin (USM), was honored for her unwavering dedication to education. Known for her leadership and administrative skills, Juliana is deeply committed to excellence in teaching. Her passion for innovative teaching methods, curriculum development, and creating an inclusive learning environment has significantly impacted the academic and personal growth of countless students. Her work continues to inspire and uplift her students, helping them succeed in their careers and personal goals.

Ms. Nkosazana Illis was recognized for her tireless efforts as an advocate, mentor, and social worker. A dedicated spiritual practitioner and cultural activist, Nkosazana is an unpublished writer of short stories and poetry. Her commitment to combating abuse and violence stems from a deeply personal tragedythe brutal murder of her sister. This event galvanized her advocacy efforts and led to the founding of the Victory-Over-Injustice-Consciously-Eliminating Silence (VOICES) Foundation. Through VOICES, she promotes awareness and prevention of abuse, working tirelessly on behalf of her ancestors and her community.

Both honorees expressed heartfelt gratitude for this recognition. Nkosazana Illis shared her love for humanity and the satisfaction she derives from serving her community, emphasizing that her work is a mission on behalf of her ancestors. Juliana Hodge-Shipley expressed that her efforts are devoted to the upliftment of her students and witnessing their success.

The Vocation Excellence Award was presented by the Rotary Club St. Martin Sunrise President, Jharna Dialani, alongside Club Immediate Past President Valda Hazel, Club President-Elect Cookie Bijlani, and Club Leadership Chair Marcellia Henry in the presence of Rotary Club St. Martin Sunrise members, who were proud to honor these two exceptional women for their contributions to society.

The Rotary Club St. Martin Sunrise continues to recognize individuals who exemplify extraordinary service and dedication in their vocations, inspiring others to pursue excellence and community service.

Individuals interested in becoming a member of this prestigious club may contact us a member of the club or via our Facebook page Rotary Club of Saint Martin Sunrise.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Hillside Christian Schools celebrated one of their distinguished and longstanding educators, Mrs. Clara Curiel-Nicholas, who commenced her devoted career in education in August 1984.

Throughout her career, Mrs. Curiel, affectionately known as Teacher Clara, has touched the lives of countless students as a teacher, school manager, and coordinator of the Early Childhood and Community School programs. Her passion for education remains steadfast, often referencing Jeremiah 29:11 to reaffirm that God has a plan for everyone. This conviction is central to her mission and purpose in education.

The Honorable Minister of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports, Melissa Gumbs, acknowledged Teacher Clara's unwavering dedication to the noble profession and congratulated her on reaching such a remarkable milestone.

Founder and Chief Executive Director, Mrs. Asha Stevens, reminisced about Mrs. Curiels early days at the Hillside Christian Schools and expressed deep gratitude for her extensive contributions through the years. Archdeacon Fr. Rawlins, President of the Supervisory Council, and Mrs. Jacqueline Holiday, on the Board of Directors, expressed their deepest gratitude for the incredible impact she had made on the lives of students and teachers.

Special guests from the Ministry of E.C.Y.S included Acting Secretary General Mrs. Shermina Powell, Head of Division for Educational Innovations Ms. Oralie Boirard, and Chief of Staff Ms. Suzette Bharath.

In the midst of her beloved family, cherished friends, and students from her very first class, she was enveloped in a sea of love and support.

The heartfelt appreciation shown by current students, colleagues, and friends highlighted Teacher Clara's lasting impact in education. She continues to inspire new educators, urging them to embrace this noble calling with love and dedication, fully aware of their crucial role in shaping the future of St. Maarten.

School Management, represented by Mrs. Chananda Rombley-Delaney and Mrs. Leandra Honore-Edwards, expressed their heartfelt appreciation to all who contributed in making the event memorable for Mrs. Curiel. They also extended their gratitude to Teacher Clara for her unwavering support, prayers, and guidance as a stalwart within the Hillside Christian Schools.
~Eyewitnesses need to work with the police and not against them~



PHILIPSBURG: --- In reaction to an interview done by SMN News on Thursday with the relatives of the slain Guyanese man identified as Denzil Skeet, who was murdered early Sunday morning in the vicinity of his home.

The Police have said that while there was an incident in September 2024 and a complaint was filed, the police need the Cay Bay community to assist them in locating the four young men who brutalized the now-dead man.

These culprits are hiding in the Cape Bay area and are known by the people living there. The police can only do so much, but the community has to help and work with the police for their safety. I fully understand that they are fearful, but under no circumstances would I be living next to a killer because I or my family could be the next victim. Those were the statements of the police calling on the Cay Bay community to speak up. The police have an anonymous tip line 9300 that can be used for such tips.

Eyewitnesses who witnessed the senseless murder on Sunday, January 26th, 2025, can also provide statements to the police anonymously, the police explained. We need to work as one to make this community safe again.

The police also stated that it is against the law to harbor criminals, and those who harbor them can face the full extent of the law. Whether these young men are your children or not you cannot harbor them by helping them to evade police, that could make you end up behind bars also.

Besides that, police said that on Sunday morning there were several eyewitnesses to the early morning shooting that left the young father dead, however not one of the witnesses came forward and provided a statement to police. The residents of Cape Bay are fearful. However, they are harboring people who are terrorizing the community and have killed a young man. The police said that they are on top of the case; they go to Cape Bay daily, trying to locate the killers.

Persons with information on the wanted men are urged to cooperate with police.
Nvidia CEO to meet Trump on Friday



Washington, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Jensen Huang, CEO of AI chip giant Nvidia, will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke with AFP.

Huang, whose company has become one of the world's most valuable firms on the back of the AI frenzy, was notably absent from Trump's inauguration.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who is a close advisor and major Trump donor, were given a central place during ceremonies and events, and contributed to the president's inauguration fund.

The White House meeting, the first for Huang and Trump, will focus on all aspects of artificial intelligence deployment, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the matter.

High-end versions of Nvidia's chips face US export restrictions to China, part of Washington's efforts to slow its Asian adversary's advancement in the strategic technology.

The policy's effectiveness came under scrutiny this week when Chinese startup DeepSeek achieved widespread adoption of its latest AI technology, developed using unrestricted lower-powered Nvidia chips.

The news triggered Nvidia's stock to plummet, wiping nearly $600 million in market value -- Wall Street's largest single-day loss ever.

A Nvidia spokesman declined to comment on the meeting and the White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

It was not known whether Musk would attend the Friday meeting.

The Tesla CEO, who heads the administration's Department of Government Efficiency, has recently participated in Trump's meetings with tech leaders including Amazon's Bezos and Google's Sundar Pichai.

arp/bfm

Nvidia

Tesla

Amazon.com
WhatsApp says disrupts Paragon spyware campaign



Washington, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Meta-owned WhatsApp announced Friday it has disrupted a spyware operation by surveillance firm Paragon Solutions that targeted approximately 90 users, including journalists and civil society members, through malicious PDF files sent in group chats.

The messaging platform has directly notified affected users and provided them with security guidance, including resources from digital rights research group Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

It has also sent a cease and desist letter to Israeli-based Paragon Solutions.

"This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions," a WhatsApp spokesperson said. "WhatsApp will continue to protect peoples' ability to communicate privately."

WhatsApp declined to give further details on the incident, including the country or countries targeted in the campaign.

The development highlights growing concerns over commercial spyware firms.

Paragon Solutions is among several firms that have emerged in recent years offering sophisticated surveillance tools to government clients.

Critics argue these companies enable human rights abuses under the guise of national security operations.

The Israeli-founded NSO Group, maker of the notorious Pegasus spyware, has faced multiple lawsuits and sanctions after its software was allegedly used to surveil journalists, activists, and government officials worldwide.

In 2021, WhatsApp won a US court case against NSO Group over a similar targeting campaign.

WhatsApp said it has successfully blocked the exploitation method used in this campaign and continues to pursue legal action against spyware vendors who breach its terms of service.

Paragon Solutions did not reply to a request for comment.

The company on its website says it provides "ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats."

"History shows that secret surveillance technology carries a temptation to be used against civil society and journalists that is impossible to resist. It was true 50 years ago and it's true today," said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab.
Within the ELN, among the highest ranks where veteran commanders like Pablo Beltran or Antonio Garcia share seats, they are aware that Gustavo Anibal Giraldo, known as Pablito Arauca, is perhaps the only one who can vehemently stop or challenge the decisions of the historical leaders of the last remaining guerrilla organization in Colombia. They say this with the certainty that Pablito is the third in command, and that he has at least 2,000 men under him, including combatants and militiamen, the largest single structure within the ELN. In addition, his force has armed control on the border with Venezuela in the northeast of the country, from Santanderes and Arauca to the eastern plains. His name is in the judicial files for the most high-profile acts of violence committed by this armed group, two of which have put in check the efforts of the Colombian government to achieve peace with the ELN.

Pablito was behind the 2019 attack on the General Santander School in Bogota, in which 22 police cadets were killed and which led to the breakdown of the peace talks with the government of Ivan Duque. He was also behind the murder of Pedro Antonio Bohorquez, Saravenas municipal development secretary, in 2014; the ELN attack on an electoral mission in Boyaca, in which 12 uniformed officers were killed in 2015; and, more recently, the attacks in Catatumbo, which in less than two weeks have left over 50,000 people displaced and 52 dead.

President Gustavo Petro said that over several months, at least 1,000 armed men were mobilized from Arauca to Catatumbo, dressed in civilian clothes, to strengthen the armed group and launch new attacks amid the wave of violence that has been experienced in the subregion. The responsibility for this action falls mainly on alias Pablito. For national sovereignty, the ELN must be defeated, as must any force that shares its objectives, the president wrote on his social networks.

Although Pablito is one of the most powerful ELN leaders and has the greatest military strength within the organization, he has never been part of any ELN peace delegation, despite his multiple attempts to lay down his arms. Carlos Velandia, a former member of the guerrilla group and coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Observatory of the National University, describes Pablito as the person who leads all the ELN military operations in the country. He joined the ELN in the department of Arauca in the mid-1980s, at the age of 14, and became, according to Velandia, the second generation after the founders. Andres Aponte, an armed conflict researcher, says that he represents the most pragmatic generation of the ELN and the most militarized when it comes to pursuing its objectives.

Police patrol in Tibu, Colombia, on January 21 after guerrilla attacks killed dozens of people and forced thousands to flee their homes in the Catatumbo region. Fernando Vergara (AP)

Since that time, and due to Araucas geographical proximity to Venezuela, his participation in the war began to overlap the border. In 1994, Pablito began to participate in the first ELN military actions in Venezuela, such as the attack on the Cutufi border military base, located in the state of Apure. Months later, in 1995, the ELN took over the naval post of Cararabo to steal weapons, an action in which eight officers were killed and which is recorded as the worst massacre perpetrated by the Colombian guerrilla organization in Venezuelan territory. At the time it was said that [Hugo] Chavez had given the ELN that weaponry but that is not true, Pablito took it, Velandia says by phone.

With these two attacks on the border, Pablito began to consolidate his military actions in both countries and, in 2000, he was appointed commander of the Domingo Lain front, the largest ELN structure with a presence in the department of Arauca. For Velandia, his military power is such that in recent decades the guerrilla group has managed to concentrate 70% of its power in this border zone, which Pablito has led for almost four decades. In 2005, the ELNs central command invited him to form part of this group of political-military leaders, in which the most important decisions for the organization are made. Aponte warns that this gesture marked a precedent because there has always been reticence between Domingo Lain  the most military wing of the ELN  and the central command, its most political structure. Those who know the intricacies of the ELN say that he is, with certainty, the only commander who dares to contradict decisions made by the founders of the guerrilla group, and that is why he was appointed.

In 2007, when he was already on the radar of the authorities, he was captured by the military in Bogota but barely a year later he escaped from prison in Arauca. According to intelligence reports, after his escape he moved his operations center to the state of Apure, in Venezuela, where the man who is the brain and military backbone of the ELN in Colombia remains. The authorities, who have placed him at the highest level of the ELN military organization, at the time offered four billion pesos (almost $1 million) for information leading to the discovery of his whereabouts. He knows Venezuela well and has always traveled easily and controlled it, says Velandia.

Despite his power, Pablitos name has always been in the shadow of the ELNs most important decisions. In 2015, his appointment as a member of the central command was ratified, with the intention that his participation would mean the representation of the Domingo Lain front, which has always been against peace negotiations and apathetic to the decisions of the rest of the command. What has always been clear, according to Velandia, is that Pablito has never been interested in the peace agenda either. It is not within his interests and he has always been the loose cannon of the organization because he has all the military power, but his position is shocking for the political and conservative wing, of which Pablo Beltran or Antonio Garcia are part.

According to Velandia, if a peace agreement were signed with the guerrilla group, whether during Petros government or any other, Pablito would be unlikely to accept it and 70% of that faction could continue to be armed on the Venezuelan border. He says that this has always been the ELNs Achilles heel. Aponte also explains this, pointing out that given the sociopolitical conditions in Venezuela, the ELN acts more like a sort of paramilitary group than a guerrilla organization, because of its sympathy to the [Nicolas Maduro] regime. Not only for ideological reasoning, but also due to economic conditions. The Venezuelan state, due to the oil crisis, has its eyes on the mining arc and, being that it was in the hands of other criminals, they know how to carry out this type of regulation well and with all the experience. In that area, the ELN is very useful for them, he points out, as the ELN regulates the mining exploitation zones in their region of influence. The ELN has more to gain in Venezuela than here, because there they will have the state they would like to have in Colombia; for them it would be maintenance of the status quo.

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Japan, US ministers express 'firm intent' to reinforce defence alliance



Tokyo, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



New US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani agreed in a phone call Friday to continue efforts to strengthen the countries' alliance, Tokyo said.

Hegseth -- a former infantryman and Fox News personality -- was sworn in last weekend, having narrowly won Senate confirmation despite allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and concerns over inexperience.

Key allies Japan and the United States are each other's top foreign investors, and 54,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, mostly in Okinawa east of Taiwan.

But President Donald Trump's "America First" approach could mean less cash from Washington for security in the region, analysts have warned.

"The Ministers affirmed their firm intent to continue the initiatives to reinforce the Alliance, including the upgrading of respective command and control framework and expansion of bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan," Tokyo's defence ministry said.

Nakatani said "he looks forward to working with Secretary Hegseth to further strengthen the Alliance capabilities to deter and respond amid the increasingly severe security environment" in the Asia-Pacific, the ministry statement added.

"The Ministers reaffirmed that Article V of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security applies to the Senkaku Islands," it said.

A chain of uninhabited islands claimed by Beijing but administered by Tokyo, known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have long been a point of tension between the neighbours.

Nakatani also extended his condolences to relatives of those killed in the recent air crash in the United States between a passenger jet and a military helicopter.

"The Ministers expressed their willingness to meet in person at the earliest possible time," it added.

On Saturday, Hegseth pledged to "restore the warrior ethos" in the Pentagon, thanking Trump for selecting him and Vice President JD Vance for his tie-breaking vote in the Senate that allowed his nomination to pass.

Vance's vote Friday evening was only the second time in history a vice president had to intervene to save a cabinet nominee and came after three Republicans -- including former leader Mitch McConnell -- cast ballots against Hegseth.

Hegseth has a combative media personality, fierce loyalty and telegenic looks -- common hallmarks in Trump's entourage.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed a wish to meet Trump in Washington, with local media reporting that February 7 is being eyed as a potential date.

Ishiba said last week that Tokyo must "continue to secure the US commitment to the region, to avoid a power vacuum leading to regional instability".

"As the balance of power in the region undergoes a historic change, we must deepen Japan-US cooperation further, in a concrete manner," he told parliament.
Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly over high seas



Tokyo, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian bombers flew over international waters around the country, Tokyo's top government spokesman said Friday.

"We confirmed that Russian military bombers and fighter jets flew over the high seas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan yesterday, and we scrambled Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets" in response, Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

"It is difficult to say clearly what the purpose of the flight was... but the Russian military has been active on an ongoing basis in areas surrounding Japan," he said.

Tokyo has raised the issue with Moscow in the past through diplomatic routes, including regarding a Russian fighter jet's intrusion into territorial airspace in September, which Russia denied according to media reports.

"We will continue to monitor (the situation) closely and do our best to take measures in patrolling and responding to airspace incursions," Hayashi said.

Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram Thursday that two long-range bombers flew over international waters in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

The Russian ministry also released a video of two Tupolev-95 aircraft escorted by Russian fighter jets conducting what it called a regular flight over more than eight hours.

"All flights by Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft are carried out in strict compliance with international rules on the use of airspace," it said in a statement.
US says killed senior Qaeda operative in Syria strike



Beirut, Lebanon, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



The US military said it killed a senior operative of Al-Qaeda's Syria branch in an air strike on northwestern Syria on Thursday.

The area was the stronghold of interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group before it led the rebel offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.

"US Central Command forces conducted a precision air strike in northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Zabir, a senior operative in the terrorist organisation Hurras al-Din, an Al-Qaeda affiliate," CENTCOM said in a statement.

Britain based-war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Zabir was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in on the Sarmada-Idlib road was hit by a US drone strike.

The US strike came days after Hurras al-Din announced its dissolution in line with orders from the interim president.

The Observatory said Hurras al-Din "announced its dissolution so as not to enter into armed conflict with HTS."

Sharaa's faction was Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate until it broke ties with the jihadist network in 2016.

The US-based SITE Intelligence Group said Hurras al-Din was founded in February 2018.

It did not publicly confirm its allegiance to Al-Qaeda until its dissolution announcement on Tuesday.

The United States designated Hurras al-Din as a "terrorist" organisation in 2019 and has offered financial rewards for information on several of its members.

It carried out successive air strikes targeting the group's leadership in northwestern Syria in August and September last year.

Washington also still blacklists HTS as a "terrorist" group, although it has lifted some of its sanctions against Sharaa's group since it toppled Assad last year.
EU countries urge investment bank to up defence funding



Brussels, Belgium, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



A majority of EU countries have called on the bloc's lending arm to increase funding for defence, as leaders prepare for talks Monday on boosting Europe's military might faced with the threat from Russia.

A letter circulated Friday, signed by 19 of the 27 European Union members, including France and Germany, urged the European Investment Bank (EIB) to loosen its rules on what it can fund and up the amount of money available.

"In light of the ongoing security challenges facing Europe, including Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, it is crucial that we take decisive action to strengthen Europe's overall defence readiness and capabilities and its defence industrial base," the letter, dated Thursday, read.

The European Union has been clambering to produce more weapons in a bid to continue the flow of arms and ammunition to Kyiv and strengthen its own defences.

US President Donald Trump has demanded NATO members increase defence expenditure to five percent of GDP -- more than double the alliance's current minimum level of two percent.

"By expanding funding mechanisms and employing all available means, we can address the urgent need to grow Europe's defense industrial and technological base," said the letter initiated by Finland, which shares a long border with Russia.

The EIB is the world's biggest multilateral public lender and has ploughed in billions of euros to help Ukraine after Russia's 2022 invasion.

Following a similar call last year, the Luxembourg-based bank amended its rules on the financing of dual-use goods to allow money to flow towards projects with a predominantly military rather than civilian purpose.

But the lender is still unable to directly fund the production of arms and ammunition -- something that helps it preserve an excellent rating, allowing it to borrow cheaply but which the signatories would like to change.

The signing countries also urged the bank to discuss the possibility of "specific and earmarked debt issuance" for funding security and defence projects.

The letter was also signed by Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Poland, though at the forefront of calls to ramp up EU defence spending, refrained from signing in line with its role of neutral arbiter as holder of the bloc's rotating presidency.

The EIB welcomed the letter, with a spokesperson saying the lender doubled "financing for security and defence projects in 2024" and plans "to double it again this year to a record high" of two billion euros out of a planned total of 95 billion.

As the EU's 27 members are shareholders of the EIB, the letter was above all an opportunity to show that Europe is looking for "new sources of funding" for its defences, said a diplomat.

It also served to prepare Monday's extraordinary meeting in Brussels, that will bring together EU leaders along with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Chad leader welcomes 'complete' departure of French forces



N'Djamena, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



President Mahamat Idriss Deby on Friday welcomed the "definitive and complete departure" of French forces from Chad which marks the end of France's last foothold in the wider jihadist-hit Sahel region.

After a closed-door military ceremony a day earlier, Deby addressed Chadian forces and diplomats at an event in the capital N'Djamena.

The handover of the Kossei base, the French army's last such facility in the central African country, follows Chad's surprise breaking off of military cooperation with its former colonial ruler in late November.

"We are not breaking off our relationship with France but we are ending the military dimension of this cooperation," Deby said at the base where only the Chadian flag was now flying.

Chad must build an "even stronger, better equipped army" and "forge new alliances based on mutual respect and without losing sight of the demands of independence and sovereignty", he added.

Soldiers and fighter aircraft from France have been stationed in Chad almost continuously since the country's independence in 1960, helping to train the Chadian military.

The largely desert country had been a key link in France's military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region after the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the wake of military coups.

France is now reconfiguring its military presence in Africa.

Senegal is negotiating the withdrawal of French forces by the end of this year and Paris's military presence in the Ivory Coast and Gabon is being cut back.

A French base in Djibouti, which hosts 1,500 troops, is being developed as a launching pad for future missions in Africa.
Russia slams Trump plan for 'Star Wars' missile shield



Moscow, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Russia on Friday criticised President Donald Trump's plan to build a "Star Wars"-like missile shield for the United States, saying it risked turning space into an arena of "confrontation".

In an executive order on Monday, Trump called for the creation of an "Iron Dome for America" to counter ballistic and hypersonic missile threats, reviving parts of a controversial Reagan-era plan nicknamed "Star Wars" that would have placed missile interceptors in space.

"We regard this as yet another confirmation of the US intent to turn space into an arena of armed confrontation and to deploy weapons there," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

Zakharova said the plan would expand Washington's missile deterrence to a scale "comparable to Reagan's Star Wars", which she called "odious".

She said the move was primarily aimed at "devaluing Russian and Chinese strategic deterrence capabilities".

"To put it mildly, these US approaches will not contribute to reducing tensions," she said.

The "Iron Dome" in Trump's decree refers to a highly successful system employed by Israel to down short-range rockets.

Washington faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel's Iron Dome is designed to counter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year unveiled a new hypersonic missile nicknamed "Oreshnik", a weapon that experts believe flies at 10 times the speed of sound.

The United States said in its 2022 National Defense Strategy that Beijing is also closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology.

Both Moscow and Washington have traded accusations of weaponising space in recent years.

The United States accused Russia last May of deploying a "space weapon" into the same orbit as a US satellite.
Some years ago, Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, was asked why no one was making a play or feature film inspired by his life. It wouldnt be believable, he replied. As of January 30, there was a new twist as he was released in the third prisoner-hostage swap as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The collective excitement that greeted Zubeidis arrival in Ramallah reflects the extent of his mythical status among Palestinians, eager for heroes and hope. Zubeidi became something of a legend when he escaped from a maximum-security prison by digging a tunnel with a rusty spoon in 2021. It took the Israeli security services five days to find him. Now, free again, he begins a new chapter.

Zubeidi was born in 1976 in the Jenin refugee camp where the Israeli army is currently carrying out one of its biggest offensives of the past 20 years, dubbed Iron Wall. People of the camp! Come out and see Zakaria! a group chanted as they held him up above their heads.

But returning to Jenin looks difficult in the current circumstances. According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, Israeli forces raided Zubeidis home in the Jenin camp a week before his release, handcuffing his 14-year-old son and forbidding the family to celebrate when he returns.

Zakaria Zubeidi on his arrival in Ramallah on Thursday. Raneen Sawafta (REUTERS)

Fewer and fewer relatives await Zubeidi in Jenin. His father died when he was 17 and his mother, Samira, was shot by an Israeli gunman in 2002, during the Second Intifada, as was his brother Taha. In 2022, Israeli soldiers killed another of his brothers, Daoud, in a shootout. He arrived wounded at an Israeli hospital and was arrested before he died. The Israeli authorities still refuse to hand the body over to the family.

Just a few months ago, the Israeli army killed Zubeidis 21-year-old son Mohammad. The car he was traveling in was hit by a drone. On January 30, Zubeidis wife Alaa, 39, waited for his release on a plastic chair in Ramallah.

With everything that has happened, anyone else would be broken. But you saw: he comes out making the victory sign and shouting Free Palestine. He really deserves to be seen as a national hero, Palestinian Authority (PA) commissioner for Palestinian prisoners, Qadura Fares, told EL PAIS after his release.

Zubeidi has spent his life between Jenin, Ramallah and prison, back and forth since he was young. At the age of 13, he was wounded by Israeli fire while throwing stones at soldiers; at 15, he went to prison for the first time. He has bullet wounds on his body and scars on his face from a homemade explosive device that went off while he was putting it together.

But his mythical status was forged during the 2002 Israeli invasion of the Jenin camp, from which he managed to escape by jumping from house to house and hiding in the rubble left by the Israeli bulldozers. He does not keep count of the number of times he has escaped death.

Zakaria Zubeidi, aged 31. Jean-Marie HOSATTE (Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

With the images of Yasser Arafat faded on the walls of the West Bank, Arafats natural successor, Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned for life, and top Hamas leaders killed in the 15 months of bombing in Gaza, Zubeidi is the closest thing to a living icon in a community desperately in need of one.

This is obvious from his reception in Ramallah on January 30. A mass of people crowded around him, desperate to get as close as possible to him so they could film him with their cell phones.

Chants

Zubeidi once led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, historically the armed wing of Fatah but now participating in Hamass struggle with Israel. In any case, the crowd chants Hamas slogans, such as What is our party? Hamas! and The people want the Brigades! The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has, after all, been instrumental in forcing the prisoners release by taking Israeli hostages in the October 7 attacks. The Islamist movement confirmed for the first time on January 30 that its military leader, Mohamed Deif, was killed six months ago in an Israeli bombing in Gaza. The news spreads like wildfire and a group breaks into cries of: We are your men, Mohamed Deif!

Amid a forest of microphones, Zubeidi told the crowd: The message of our Palestinian people is clear: we have sacrificed many martyrs, and freedom comes with the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Although thin and weathered, Zubeidi still has the boyish looks that attracted the worlds attention during the Second Intifada (2000-2005). Such is his appeal, he appeared in one of the best documentaries made so far about the Middle East: The Sons of Arna (2004). It is the story of the famous Freedom Theater, founded in the 1980s by Arna Mer Jamis, an anti-Zionist Israeli Jew who married a Palestinian and embraced the Palestinian cause.

The theater became Zubeidis tool of resistance to the Israeli occupation, but also one through which children could channel their anger. All its actors ended up dead or taking up arms; and the director of the project, Juliano Mer Jamis, was assassinated in 2011 by hooded men, in an unsolved crime that the Palestinians have swept under the carpet.

Zubeidi acknowledged that he planned an attack in which six civilians were killed in the city of Beit Shean in 2002 and subsequently benefited from an Israeli amnesty in 2007, in exchange for giving up his weapons, although he never formally surrendered them: he distrusted the pardon and feared for his life.

In 2008, Zubeidi focused on the Freedom Theater, becoming its director and renouncing violence. He has always maintained a balance between defending the legitimacy of political violence and criticizing it as a strategy, as he did in some of his plays.

Hunger strike

In 2011, Israel revoked his pardon without offering an explanation. A year later, the Palestinian Authority arrested him, following a shootout outside the house of the governor of Jenin. He went on hunger strike for months, which eventually led to his release.

In a further plot twist, he went on to work in the PAs Prisoners Affairs Department  the same department that had imprisoned him: and he started to study political science at Birzeit University near Ramallah. His final paper, entitled The Hunter and the Dragon, explored his relationship with Israel. I dont miss the weapons, but I miss the Intifada, he confessed in an interview at the time.

Zubeidi then maintained a low profile until 2019, when Israel re-arrested him for alleged connections to shooting attacks close to the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the West Bank that left no serious injuries. He was never formally convicted but was sent to prison. Israeli courts later sentenced him to five years for his role in the 2021 prison break, two years into his sentence for Beit El.

Zakaria Zubeidi and another of the escaped Gilboa prison inmates, after their capture, in 2021. HO (AP)

As in every action-packed life, there are rumors of an impossible romance involving Tali Fahima, an Israeli who voted Likud, the party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but, in 2003, began visiting Jenin regularly to try to understand why Palestinians were bombing buses and cafes in Israel. It was there that she befriended Zubeidi. Some believe they began a relationship  something both have denied.

Israels secret services went after Fahima, who ended up spending 30 months in prison for entering West Bank towns in Area A, which Israelis are forbidden to do. She was charged with meeting with an enemy agent and translating a military document. Fahima converted to Islam and accused Zubeidi of having collaborated with Israeli intelligence services in exchange for being allowed to travel from Jenin to Ramallah for a medical eye operation.

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UN says Gaza needs remain 'immense'



Geneva, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



The United Nations warned on Friday that humanitarian needs in Gaza remained "immense" despite an increased flow of aid into the Palestinian territory following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said they had been able to increase deliveries of supplies into the Gaza Strip after the fragile ceasefire took effect on January 19 following more than 15 months of war.

Meanwhile UNRWA, the chief aid agency for Palestinians, told a media briefing in Geneva it was committed to continuing its work despite Israel severing ties on Thursday.



- WHO demands medical evacuations -

Speaking from Gaza, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said health needs in the densely populated strip were "immense", amid the "large-scale devastation of the health system".

Only 18 out of 36 hospitals in the besieged territory are even partially functional. Just 57 of the 142 primary health care centres are operational, along with 11 field hospitals.

Before the ceasefire, many attempts to deliver critical aid to Gaza were impeded due to strict restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities, according to UNRWA and NGOs.

The flow of health aid has now begun to rise, Peeperkorn said. WHO has received 62 delivery trucks and 22 more were expected over the next two days.

He said hospitals at least now had fuel to operate.

The WHO wants to expand hospital bed capacity and hopes to get a pre-fabricated hospital up within four to five weeks in the north.

Peeperkorn said bed capacity was 3,500-4,000 before the war and is currently around 1,500-1,900. The WHO wants to increase it to 2,000-2,500 as soon as possible.

Gaza had a pre-war population of around 2.4 million people. About 90 percent have been displaced, some repeatedly, since it began in October 2023.

Peeperkorn said the mental health burden in Gaza was "unimaginable".

The WHO estimates that 12,000 to 14,000 people, including 2,500 children, need medical evacuation from Gaza for urgent treatment.

"Medical evacuations must urgently resume and a medical corridor must open now," he said.

WHO is expecting on Saturday the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire, and the first via the Rafah crossing into Egypt since it was closed on May 6 last year.

Around 50 patients are due to leave.

Only 480 patients have been medevaced since May 6.

"If we continue at this pace we have, we will be busy for the next 15 years," said Peeperkorn.



- WFP boosting bakeries -



The WFP said that since the ceasefire began, around 600 trucks of humanitarian aid had been entering Gaza daily, including 50 carrying fuel.

Between January 19 and Tuesday, WFP has delivered more than 10,300 metric tonnes of food -- more than double the amount delivered in the whole of December and triple that in October.

WFP said there were enough pre-positioned supplies -- waiting at borders for Israeli clearance to enter Gaza -- to feed more than a million people for three months.

The agency has been providing high-energy biscuits to displaced people returning north.

Antoine Renard, WFP's country director for the Palestinian territories, said the agency wants to restore bakeries to provide affordable bread.

He said prices for key staples had started to drop within Gaza, although they remained very high.

Some prices are now between 100- and 1,000-percent higher than before the war, down from 2,000-3,000 percent higher prior to the ceasefire.



- UNRWA continuing work -



UNRWA has vowed to continue working in the Palestinian territories, despite Israel cutting ties with the agency on Thursday.

Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants -- something the UN and many donor governments dispute.

Spokeswoman Juliette Touma said UNRWA remained the backbone of international aid to Gaza and a halt to its services would have "catastrophic consequences".

"If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk," she warned.

Palestinian colleagues in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were facing an "exceptionally hostile environment as a fierce disinformation campaign against UNRWA continues", she added.

As for the agency's funding, Touma said: "Our financial situation is very unclear."

"The last thing that we want is to suspend our services because of lack of funding," he added.

Hamas's attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, resulted in the death 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.

More than 47,460 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 2023, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
Turkey army expels officers for Ataturk pledge of allegiance



Istanbul, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Turkey's military said Friday it had dismissed five trainee officers and three of their superiors for pledging allegiance to the founder of modern Turkey in front of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During a swearing-in ceremony for new officers in August, the five held their swords to the sky, saying: "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal" and vowed to defend "the secular democratic republic".

They were referring to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern Turkey in 1923 after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

Ataturk pushed through many reforms and made Turkey a strictly secular state -- a move which Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AKP party have pushed back against since coming to power in 2002.

Images of the troops taking the pledge in front of Erdogan sparked fierce debate in Turkey.

Long seen as the guardian of Ataturk's principles, the military staged coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980 and forced Erodgan's Islamist mentor, Necmettin Erbakan, to resign as premier in 1997.

Following another failed putsch in 2016, the government carried out vast purges, removing those perceived as hostile to Erdogan from the military ranks.

Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, Erdogan vowed to ensure those involved "receive the punishment they deserve".

"We will not let our army to be used to settle political scores," he said.

On Friday, the defence ministry said all five trainee officers and three of their superiors had been dismissed from the military.
Promises made, promises kept. Deportation flights have begun. This is how the White House announced the beginning of mass expulsions of immigrants by air on January 24, just four days after Donald Trump took office, along with a photograph of a line of people, handcuffed and shackled, boarding a plane. These images were at the center of the diplomatic crisis between the United States and Colombia two days later, amid complaints about the conditions of the transfers and trade threats. In Mexico, on the other hand, repatriation flights have maintained a low profile. President Claudia Sheinbaum broke the silence last Monday and acknowledged that four planes had been received during Trumps first week in the Oval Office. Little else has come to light. The state in which migrants arrived in Mexican territory, how long they had been living in the United States, and where they have been transferred are unknown.

EL PAIS has discovered new clues about the routes, aircraft and companies behind these flights, based on air tracking applications, information shared by U.S. agencies, and investigations by specialized media. These are the same actors and the same patterns that were already operating during the Joe Biden administration. There is repatriation on a commercial charter flight to AIFA, it is a procedure that has been going on for some time, Sheinbaum said on Wednesday. An hour after her press conference, the Flightradar24 platform provided information about the landing of an aircraft at the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), which coincided with the presidents statements: a charter flight, operated by an airline with ties to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) and with recurring trips from the border to Mexican territory. Government sources confirmed the arrival of this weeks flight, as indicated by the information gathered by this newspaper.

AIFA, the gateway for deportations by air

Eastern Air Express flight BDQ8252 took off at 7:26 a.m. on January 29 from the border city of El Paso, Texas. No one seemed to be expecting it, nor was it announced in the international arrivals area. Under the utmost secrecy, the aircraft landed at 10:36 a.m. at the airports cargo terminal, as confirmed by national guardsmen consulted by this newspaper stationed in front of the terminal building. Media access is restricted on the grounds of respect for the privacy of repatriated persons.

We take great care, not to ensure that [images of deportees] are not seen, but rather the human being, that is what we try to ensure, responds local deputy Anai Esparza, president of Mexico States Commission for Attention to Migrants, when questioned about the secrecy surrounding the flights. The legislator adds that it would be inhumane to expose these people to the media because many arrive with broken dreams and points out that the priority of the authorities is to provide them with the tools to rebuild their lives in Mexico.

It is not known how many Mexicans have been deported by air in the first days of the new Trump administration. A Boeing 737 has capacity for a maximum of 172 seated passengers, according to the company. In total, more than 190,000 Mexicans were deported by the United States last year. Of these, some 18,000 arrived by air and AIFA was the gateway for 88% of them. Others arrived at the airports of Guadalajara, Morelia, and Mexico City (AICM), according to data from the Mexican government.

The same aircraft that landed on Wednesday was used for another flight on January 23. On that occasion, the route started in San Antonio (Texas), made a stopover at Harlingen Valley Airport, a few miles from the border, and arrived at Felipe Angeles at 12:36 p.m. Eastern Air Express made one more flight from the border city of Yuma (Arizona) to AIFA, departing at 12:19 p.m. and arriving after 4 p.m. on January 23, even though it is not a usual route on the air terminals itineraries. GlobalX, another charter operator, traveled from El Paso to AIFA on the same day, taking exactly the same route as this weeks flight and landing at a similar time.

Thanks to President Trump: Yesterday, Mexico accepted a record four deportation flights in one day, said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, on January 24. But this is not the only indication about three of the four flights that Sheinbaum also referred to on Monday. GlobalX announced last August that it had signed a five-year contract with ICE and that it expected to generate annual revenues of $65 million, as reported by activist Thomas Cartwright, who has monitored thousands of repatriation flights in the last five years. The immigration agency also requests Boeing 737 aircraft or similar models for the transfers, such as those used by Eastern Air. The aircraft that landed in Mexico returned that same day to San Antonio, where ICE has one of its main operations centers.

ICE expels migrants by land and by air, but it does not have its own planes. Instead, it turns to private companies, which compete for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In recent years, the agency has used companies that function as brokers: they sign the contract and, in turn, subcontract charter airlines  although also occasionally commercial airlines  to cover the high demand for deportations, such as Eastern Air and GlobalX, as documented by the specialized website Simple Flying.

Images circulating in the press and on social media of the flight that arrived in Brazil last week, for example, bear the logo of GlobalX. The company was behind 80% of the deportation flights from the United States in December, while Eastern Air accounted for 17%, according to tracking by Cartwright. Eastern operated a flight to Mexico just a week before Trump took office, on January 14, from El Paso. Another flight on the same route took place on January 7, suggesting that air deportations are part of a system entrenched in the United States, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. Deportation flights did not begin with Trump, as the White House has claimed.

A multi-million dollar industry

Trumps return to the presidency and his plans for mass deportations has put the spotlight on the enormous amount of public funds used for this purpose. A regular flight costs on average $8,577 per flight hour, according to ICE. But if it is a high-risk charter, as most deportation flights overseas are classified, the cost can rise to $26,795 per hour. Deportations are surrounded by a lucrative industry. They involve a massive logistical effort: fixed operators, detention spaces, bus transportation to the flights, security services... says Cartwright.

Women deported from the United States arrive at El Dorado airport in Bogota on January 28. Chelo Camacho

Trumps hardline rhetoric is worrying various sectors of society because of the high cost of expelling a million migrants each year, as the Republican magnate has vowed to do. But also because of the human rights abuses reported by various organizations. Even if they are not charged with criminal offenses, deportees usually travel handcuffed, without shoelaces, and highly restricted from leaving their seats or going to the restroom, unless they are children or there are special circumstances. ICE maintains that it provides dignified treatment to detainees. On the flight, they are offered sandwiches, granola bars, or a full meal, depending on the length of the flight, the agency says. Sheinbaum denied on Thursday that Mexican citizens were handcuffed on flights, despite it being a common practice.

They treated us like we were dogs, Daniel Figueroa, one of those deported to Colombia, told this newspaper. President Gustavo Petro blamed Trump for the abuses and both countries were on the verge of a trade war until the Colombian government backed down. The United Nations called for respect for migrants, while Brazil filed a diplomatic complaint with Washington. The important thing, I said from day one, is to always act with a cool head, defending the sovereignty of each country and respect between nations and peoples, said Sheinbaum, although she stayed out of the crisis between Petro and Trump.

The Mexican president said there had been 6,244 deportees as of January 28, most of them Mexicans, and noted that there had been no substantial change in the number of people returned during the Republicans first days in the White House. The new figure represents an increase of 2,000 more deportees than those announced last Monday. ICEs deportation division reported more than 271,000 expulsions to 192 countries in its latest annual report.

The Mexican government has opted for caution and seeks to maintain a good relationship with Washington, despite the threat of mass deportations. That position has been reflected in AIFA in recent days. Unlike the videos and photographs released by Brazil and Colombia, in Mexico there have been no images of the deportees, there is no updated number of people who have arrived by air, and there have been hardly any public statements about the flights. Mexico is waiting for you with open arms and has not forgotten you, Sheinbaum said on January 20, hours before Trump took office.

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An older man puts on his headphones to listen to classical music. Someone breaks in and executes him, shattering his peace. His daughter, Victoria Beyer (Katie Lowes), reported the murder, setting Detectives Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) on the investigation trail.



"The Hardest Thing -- LAW & ORDER, Pictured: Jack Cutmore-Scott as Sean Harper. Photo by: Will Hart/NBC





The first suspect is Sean Harper (Jack Cutmore-Scott), a scofflaw son who was attempting to flee to Connecticut the day after his father's death. During interrogation, Lt. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) learns hed been feuding with his father over money. Sean was apparently not a successful businessman like his dad. In fact, hed lost both his father's investment and the investment he received from the neighborhood's wannabe goodfella, Anthony Niducci (Michael Basile). Sean insinuated the Niducci threatened to kill him for failing to repay and was likely the person who killed his father. This wasnt true.



"The Hardest Thing -- LAW & ORDER, Pictured: (l-r) Mehcad Brooks as Detective Jalen Shaw, Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley. Photo by: Will Hart/NBC





Circling back to Sean, Detectives Shaw and Riley get him to implicate his sister, Victoria. He straight up rats her out, claiming she was in possession of his mothers wedding ring stolen from the scene and that she was scheduled to meet her dad the night he died. When the police search Victorias home, they find her mother's ring and the sweatshirt like the one a witness saw someone wearing as they fled the scene. The sweatshirt tested positive for her fathers blood. Police arrested Victoria and charged her with first-degree murder.





Executive ADA Nolan Price believed Sean Harper would be an excellent witness against his sister. But Sean refuted everything he said in his statement to the police. ADA Nolan assumed that Victoria, who was worth about $50 million, agreed to help her brother financially in exchange for him lying on the witness stand. This wasnt the case. But this is where the plot got more relatable and interesting.



"The Hardest Thing -- LAW & ORDER, Pictured: Katie Lowes as Victoria Beyer. P hoto by: Will Hart/NBC





Victorias defense was that she was merely carrying out her fathers meticulously crafted plan. Her father's doctor testified that he was suffering from a fast-moving form of dementia called Pick's disease. This condition made him vulnerable to financial fraud, stripping away the once-proud businessmans sense of self and control over his life. In his desperation, he bought the gun and orchestrated the details of the break-in, knowing that insurance companies do not pay beneficiaries for suicides. His ultimate goal was to recoup his losses from the fraud and ensure that his son received something, as he had always intended.





The script remained unflinching in its portrayal of the complexity and torment associated with losing everything that defines one's identity. DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn), upon discovering the father's wish to end his life on his own terms, urged Price to consider offering Victoria a plea deal. Baxter realized that, despite the violent method she used, the jury might sympathize with her making this immensely difficult life-ending decision in the face of her fathers debilitating dementia.>> ADA Nolan Price vehemently rejects DA Baxters suggestion to offer a plea. DA Baxter and ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) note that Price appeared overly invested in throwing the book at Victoria. He was because his own father was nearing the end of his life, and he and his brother, Thomas (Justin Chatwin), were at odds over how to make the final decision.



Nolan, acting as his fathers health proxy, represented the unyielding force of hope and the refusal to accept an inevitable loss. His determination to exhaust every medical intervention, regardless of the diminishing returns. Price was clearly struggling with the universal fear of losing a loved one and the denial that comes with it. On the other hand, his brother, Thomas embodied the role of the pragmatic yet deeply empathetic sibling who believed in respecting their father's dignity. He encouraged Nolan to let their dad go.

"The Hardest Thing -- LAW & ORDER, Pictured: Justin Chatwin as Thomas Price, Hugh Dancy as A.D.A. Nolan Price. Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC





"The Hardest Thing portrayed the struggles of two families grappling with the impending death of a father. One family was torn between allowing him to pass away peacefully and clinging to hope by exploring every possible method to prolong his life. The other family faced the harrowing reality of a daughter assisting in her father's violent suicide. In this case, viewers were left conflicted, torn between sympathy and suspicion, as Victoria navigated the delicate line between being the victim and perpetrator of her father's end-of-life wish.





This is an example of solid storytelling, serving as both a reflection and a window into one of life's most challenging moments. This dual approach not only enriched the narrative but also provided a nuanced exploration of the multifaceted nature of grief, love, and familial duty. It was this constellation of conflicting emotions that allowed Price to let go of his dad and to allow Victoria Beyer to plead to a lesser charge of manslaughter and a five-year sentence.





How both families handled the end of their respective parents life was comically extreme, but nevertheless the showrunners succeeded at confronting uncomfortable truths about life, death, and the lengths to which people will go to maintain control over their destiny. It is storytelling that challenges and resonates, leaving a lasting impact.





How did you perceive ADA Nolan Price's internal conflict and decision-making process? Do you think his actions were justified? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.





Overall Rating:

8:10

Lynette Jones



I am a self-identified 'woke boomer' who hails from an era bathed in the comforting glow of a TV, not a computer screen. Navigating the digital world can sometimes leave me feeling a bit unsure, but I approach it with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Patience and kindness in this new landscape are truly valued. Let's embrace the journey together with appreciation and a touch of humor!



The Hardest Thing, this weeks offering from Law & Order, was a dive into the emotional depths of end-of-life decisions within a fractured dynamic in two families. One family was featured in the crime. The other was Executive ADA Nolan Prices (Hugh Dancy) family. The episode skillfully illustrated how love can manifest in contrasting ways, leading to intense conflicts even among those who share the same goal: the well-being of their parent. Lets get into it.
Manufacturing high-end vaccines is a huge opportunity for us to move away from over-dependence on the R&D part of the value chain, he said. I intervened personally to get this deal over the line in 2023 and am mortified the government has dropped the ball on it.
Raheem Sterling out of Real Madrid showdown as Declan Rice and Arsenal star Champions League suspension risks

Rice is second Arsenal suspension risk as star out of Real Madrid tie
Opening new stores does not faze Wakeman, 51, any more. We just opened our fourth store in South Korea, our second one in Tokyo, and another in Kyoto yesterday, she says. A Marylebone location is also slated to open this side of summer. Expansion is rapid, then. When I started it, it was just me at my kitchen table and the possibilities were endless, but I couldnt afford to do any of them, she says. Fifteen years later, the possibilities are still endless, but we can actually action them. Thats the exciting part. When we speak, though, she is recently off the Eurostar, having sold her wares to the menswear buyers of Paris Fashion Week. One eye is winking with tiredness. Did she enjoy herself? No, she says, sharply. Lets face it, Ive been doing it for about 28 years, so Im done with it.
She was this amazing combination of two worlds: she was a drug addict with a gravelly, knowing voice but she also had this wide-eyed Englishness. There was a demure thing about her. It was a really original mix  there was no one else like her. Before rising to fame as the partner of The Rolling Stones front man in 1966, Faithfull was raised in Hampstead, north London, where she was born to Glynn Faithfull, a former British spy in the Second World War, and Eva von Sacher-Masoch, a Viennese baroness.
The effect upon the mother and loved ones of the child whose funeral it was can scarcely be imagined. This was an attack on those who were mourning the death of a child

Judge Melbourne Inman KC
On Monday, Maria had 90 minutes to finish any pending work before entering a period of uncertainty and fear. She sent emails so that her team members could return home as soon as possible from where they were deployed, from India to Ethiopia, sent invoices and expenses to the only person who would remain active processing them, closed her email account and deleted the company app from her phone. In less than two hours she was officially placed on administrative leave. It is not clear how long this will last, or how much she will continue to be paid, if she will receive any of her salary at all.

It feels completely targeted at this industry. It feels racist because were basically helping brown people, and its like theyre saying fuck you, Maria says, her voice cracking over a video call. She prefers not to use her last name for fear of reprisals from authorities. Until a few days ago, she led a team at an international cooperation company that relies almost entirely on U.S. government funding for international development. That funding is now frozen by executive order of President Donald Trump.

The domino effect that began on the day he took office with the pen signing the executive order that halted virtually all global aid and support spending  much of it administered by the agency USAID, with an annual budget of $42.8 billion  has quickly led to the halting of initiatives of all kinds around the world. From the funding and supply of health programs that practically keep health systems afloat in some poor and remote parts of the world, to others that support small and medium-sized businesses, and with a host of programs in between.

Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office, January 23, 2025. YURI GRIPAS / POOL (EFE)

For millions of people in the developing world, it is a matter of life and death, as voices inside and outside the United States have already denounced, especially over the future of the PEPFAR program, which provides antiviral drugs to millions of HIV and AIDS patients around the world and which, according to the State Department, has saved the lives of 26 million people since its inception in 2001. And for much of the entire industry that makes it possible and employs tens of thousands of people in the country, it is a potentially devastating blow.

The nervous voices could already be heard on Monday, January 20, when, among a sea of executive orders, Trump signed the one that ordered a 90-day pause on foreign development assistance to evaluate programmatic effectiveness and coherence with U.S. foreign policy. This is what Hanna  who also does not want to use her full name for fear of repercussions against her or her company  experienced. The executive order was very vague. We were all wondering for a few days what it was going to mean, says this employee from the Washington area of a firm that works with USAID to carry out extensive field studies on health, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Then came Friday. Contractors who use USAID money to run countless programs around the world received communications saying that all agency-funded activities would be halted, though there was no word on when that would take effect. Less than 24 business hours later, on the following Monday, the order came. And with it the sudden halt of programs around the world, administrative leave, directives to take paid vacations, and other interpretations of the order.

A young man unloads USAID sorghum at a makeshift port in Bentiu, South Sudan, in July 2023. The Washington Post (Getty Images)

According to CBS News, which spoke to several anonymous sources and was able to see some official communications, 60 USAID senior staff members were placed on administrative leave until further notice, while the contracts of hundreds of external contractors were terminated. On a personal level, for Maria, who is currently on temporary administrative leave but does not know whether or not she will be paid in February, the situation is a slide that returns her to the starting point of her career. It is very difficult to get into this industry. It took me 10 years, I started this job a year ago. I applied for 476 positions and the one I got is only for one year. So it is not as easy as saying I am going to look for another job. I made a conservative calculation based on the approximately 2,000 contracts that USAID has and the number of employees and consultants for each one, and it means that there are about 160,000 people without work who will be competing for the same positions.

Hanna doesn't really know if she's employed or not either. Her company told her to take her paid vacation days, but since it's the beginning of the year, that's two or three days. After that, she doesn't know anything else, but she imagines she'll be placed on administrative leave without pay until further notice. It's another way of saying that she thinks she's about to cross the unemployment line.

A teacher at a USAID-supported educational center for children of displaced families in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, in July. Future Publishing (Getty Images)

But their main frustration stems more from the perception of being unfairly targeted by the Trump administration. We are constantly being evaluated on our effectiveness, and now to come and say they are going to re-evaluate us and stop all our work in the meantime is very frustrating. We measure, for example, the prevalence of malaria in some countries and that can only be done at certain rainy times of the year. Stopping our work affects all the planning that is necessary. Hanna is very aware of the fact that if her firm cannot do the studies it does, which also include other diseases as well as the prevalence and quality of maternal and neonatal care, it will not be possible to design effective public policies to address important health needs in some of the most needy places in the world.

In fact, its something that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ultimately responsible for international development funding as Americas foreign affairs chief, tacitly admitted when he backtracked Tuesday afternoon and applied for an exemption to the order. In an internal memo reported by CBS News, Rubio said the exemption applies to life-saving humanitarian assistance, which he defined as life-saving medications, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs necessary to provide such assistance. However, the new exemption does not apply to activities involving abortions, family planning lectures, gender ideology or ED programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life-saving assistance. Its not clear whether some programs are now automatically exempted as a result, or whether they must apply for that exemption to again be eligible for U.S. funding.

The original order declared a 90-day moratorium while the programs were reviewed and re-evaluated. But despite that, and Rubios exemption, there is already a sense of defeat among international development workers. Unlike the order that halted spending for domestic social programs and that Trump was forced to withdraw in the face of public outrage and a wave of lawsuits, the freeze on international development support has flown slightly under the radar and is within his constitutional powers.

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Detective Superintendent Tim Mustoe warned: "We are increasingly concerned about the risk posed by these weapons if they fall into the hands of criminals and those intent on causing serious violence on the streets of London."
Reform strongly denied the accusation and said it was considering legal action. However, Mr Farage later said he was not going to sue, but would hold a rally with the approximately 400 Reform members in North West Essex to say we are coming for you at the next election.
The recent IMF projections dont show that the UK is on track to be the fastest growing economy in Europe, however. They project the UKs GDP to increase by 1.6% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026, but project that both Spain (2.3% and 1.8%) and Poland (3.5% and 3.3%) will have higher GDP growth in both years, while the Netherlands will have similar GDP growth in 2025 (1.6%) and higher growth in 2026 (1.8%).
But in an interview with the Scotsman podcast The Steamie, John Swinney expressed his worries over a rise in populism ahead of the vote, saying he would not work with Reform in the way he has with other parties this year to pass his Governments Budget.
He has previously said he "very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein, but his connection has been a matter of public record for some time. He never had any kind of professional or business relationship with Epstein in any form."
All three of them feel so alive when they are in front of a stadium full of fans. It keeps them young. They want to show everybody that they have still got it. It is going to be amazing.
The investigation into the causes of the midair crash that claimed the lives of 67 people in Washington on Wednesday is underway. Emergency teams have recovered the black box and the recordings from the American Airlines jet involved. Conclusions have not yet been drawn, but a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cited by AP and other U.S. media indicates that at the time of the collision between the passenger plane and a military helicopter, the number of air traffic controllers on duty was not usual. One person was supervising both airplanes and helicopters alone, when normally at the time of day the crash occurred there would be one controller for each type of aircraft.

The accident occurred at 20:48 ET. Under normal conditions, from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., that is, during peak traffic hours, there is an air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport dedicated exclusively to supervising helicopter flights. At the time of the accident, however, this task was being carried out simultaneously by a controller directing traffic around the airport.

According to The New York Times, a supervisor authorized the helicopter controller to leave early, leaving the service understaffed for the time of day and volume of air traffic. The supervisor has the authority to combine the two positions when he sees fit, but the reasons for doing so on Wednesday have not been disclosed. According to AP, while the preliminary report said the control configuration was not normal, a person familiar with the matter contradicted that, saying staffing in the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level. According to that anonymous source, the positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the control panel for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is low.

Duplicating duties can pose problems for an air traffic controller if the airspace is congested. The two types of aircraft use different radio frequencies and the pilots of the plane and helicopter are not necessarily able to speak to each other even when they are in contact with the tower. According to The Washington Post, the day before the crash, another plane, Republic Airways Flight 4514, had to abort its landing approach to avoid colliding with another helicopter.

On Wednesday evening, according to the air traffic safety report distributed daily to air traffic managers and federal transportation officials, cited by The Washington Post, there were five controllers and one trainee controller on duty. In addition, there was one supervisor and one trainee supervisor.

The report says that not only was the helicopter controller position combined with that of local controller, but that afternoon the roles of flight data controller and clearance delivery controller had also been combined. Thus, according to The Post, there were two people instead of four handling air traffic control duties. The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers and identified fatigue as a factor that could lead to errors.

Published reports say the helicopter deviated from its assigned route. It was flying higher than permitted and outside the approved training flight path, which was to have been on the east bank of the Potomac River, without interfering with the approach route for aircraft landing at Reagan National Airport. The helicopters captain was an experienced pilot, as was his female co-pilot.

Shortly before the accident, the air traffic controller asked the helicopter pilot if he had visual contact with the American Airlines plane, and the pilot confirmed this. The controller asked him to pass behind the aircraft, but just 20 seconds later he crashed into the jet.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are looking into all the circumstances that could have led to the accident. The agencys task forces will examine the wreckage to deduce the angles of impact and determine the aircrafts trajectory and altitude, they explained at a press conference at Reagan National Airport on Thursday. The NTSB will examine the role played by air traffic controllers in the accident. The agency expects to issue a preliminary report within 30 days.

Rescue teams recovered 28 bodies of victims of the crash on Thursday. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed into the Potomac River, on the banks of which Reagan National Airport is located.

Rescue crews recover pieces of the fuselage from the crashed aircraft in the Potomac River. Carlos Barria (REUTERS)

Politicization of the accident

U.S. President Donald Trump politicized the accident by blaming his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden for degrading the quality of air traffic control through diversity, equality and inclusion hiring policies. Trump said in a White House appearance that the FAA  where only a fraction of employees are controllers  is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website.

The FAA website states that these include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism  all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, he added.

In fact, during his first term in office in 2019, the FAA launched a program to help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations, according to a memo from the agency published in April of that year.

Conservative media and Trump ally Elon Musk have already pointed to the FAAs diversity and inclusion policies under Biden as the cause of the January 2024 crash of an Alaska Airlines Boeing jet that lost a part during flight, even though it had nothing to do with air traffic control. Snopes, a news verification outlet, revealed that the list on the FAA website of disabilities for which job opportunities were promoted that Trump cited Thursday had already been published by the FAA during his first term. Moreover, much of the governments equal opportunity policy stems from a directive from 2003, when Republican George W. Bush was president.

Trump displays the aviation safety memo at the White House on Thursday. Elizabeth Frantz (REUTERS)

Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday afternoon to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior four years, that is, during Bidens term, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards [...] This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration, the resolution reads.

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By Ko Obinata, KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 23:59 | Feature, All

With an increasing number of Muslims living in Japan, there has been a growing demand for burial plots to conform with their religious beliefs in a country where cremation is the norm.

While some local governments are considering establishing new burial cemeteries to accommodate foreign workers, the idea has not gone over well with some Japanese community leaders who have raised objections over what they say are sanitary concerns.

Muslims who are considering permanently residing in the country say the limited number of burial plots makes them anxious about their future.

In December, Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai said he was considering building a new cemetery in the prefecture after a plea from a Muslim resident who told him that living in Japan "is very difficult" for his family because of the lack of graves.

The prefecture, located in the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan, exchanged memorandums with the Indonesian government in 2023 regarding the securing of human resources in an effort to support local industries.

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, says that Muslims must be buried and are resurrected after death. Cremation is strictly forbidden among practitioners of the faith.

"I feel that the government should be more concerned about the lack of attention to multiculturalism, even though it claims to be a multicultural society," said Murai, pointing out that there are no burial cemeteries in the Tohoku region. "Even if I am criticized, we have to do something about this," he added.

Elsewhere, a project to construct a large burial cemetery in Hiji town, Oita Prefecture, in southwestern Japan, has been promoted by the Beppu Muslim Association, a religious corporation in nearby Beppu city. But the future of the project has become uncertain due to opposition from the town's mayor.

The plan had initially seemed to be going well. In 2023, local residents approved the plan for the sale of land owned by the municipal government on condition it complied with ordinances for burial sites. The town did not object.

The apparent smooth progress of the plan was in contrast with the opposition aroused in 2018 by a plan to buy a different plot. That had triggered rumors about alleged harm, including the impact on groundwater quality.

For the current plan, the conditions included an agreement with the residents association where the planned site is located, promising no additional burials for 20 years in plots where burials have taken place and that the groundwater would be tested once a year.

However, the situation took a bleak turn when Tetsuya Abe, who opposed the plan over concerns about public health, won his inaugural mayoral election bid in August 2024.

The association's representative, Tahir Khan, was informed that Abe had no intention of selling the plot to be used as a cemetery after residents expressed concerns about the possible contamination of drinking water among other issues.

According to an estimate by Hirofumi Tanada, professor emeritus at Waseda University who is an expert on Muslims affairs in Japan, the country's Muslim population was approximately 350,000 as of the beginning of 2024. The number of mosques in Japan had increased from only a few four decades ago to about 150 as of June 2024.

Although the numbers are expected to rise even further, according to the town of Hiji and others, there are only about 10 major locations with burial sites in Japan with religious affiliations, including Christian sites.

The law regarding burial sites does not prohibit ground interment, and local governments can establish them if they set requirements. But according to a national survey conducted in fiscal 2023, more than 99.9 percent of cemeteries still only perform cremations.

Amid the domestic shortage of labor, the government touts its efforts to accept more human resources and work toward the reality of an inclusive society. Abe, the Hiji mayor, says the issue of providing burial plots should not be left to municipalities, suggesting that the central government step in to establish guidelines.

In 2021, the Beppu Muslim Association petitioned the central government to establish a public cemetery where people can choose their burial method according to their faith, but "there has been no change," according to the association.

Khan, a university professor in Oita who came to Japan in 2001 and became a Japanese citizen, has a child born in Japan. "We cannot give up on graves for the sake of the next generation." he said.

Related coverage:

Stores in Japan set up prayer rooms as Muslim visitors increase
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With his criticism of U.S. Catholic bishops for supporting immigrants, Vice President JD Vance has reignited years of GOP attacks on the Catholic Church as both sides navigate an issue that has divided the nation and the faithful.

Catholic leaders expressed dismay after Vance, who is Catholic, questioned whether the church's substantial, decades-long work with migrants is driven by a desire for money.

"That's just scurrilous. It's very nasty," Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City, who has given prayers at both of Donald Trump's inaugurals, said of Vance's comments on his SiriusXM Catholic Channel show Tuesday.

John Carr, who for two decades led the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' office on social justice efforts, said Vance's criticisms "showed an unprecedented lack of respect for the work of the Catholic community, lack of restraint in promoting false and outrageous claims that the Church does this for the money and promotes human trafficking, and a lack of knowledge of Catholic teaching and ministry with refugees."

"It seemed like an effort to intimidate instead of a call to seek the best way forward," said Carr, who founded the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

The back-and-forth represented a new skirmish in a verbal war that reaches back to Trump's first candidacy in 2016, when Pope Francis declared Trump "not Christian" for his proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to deter migrants. Trump responded by saying such criticism was "disgraceful."

The day before the 2025 inauguration, Francis called Trump's plans for a mass deportation of immigrants "a disgrace" that will make "poor unfortunates who have nothing foot the bill for [global] imbalances."

The Catholic bishops' organization works with immigrants in different ways - mostly through Catholic Charities. It contracts with the federal government to resettle refugees who have been vetted by the U.S. government. It also - like many other aid groups and municipalities - receives public funds, including during the first Trump term, to help people at the border who need basic services such as shelter and food.

The newest chapter in the dispute came after Trump said immigration enforcement officials could now enter once-protected areas such as churches and schools to detain people. The bishops, in response, said allowing "non-emergency immigration enforcement [in those places]  would be contrary to the common good."

It noted the mere existence of the new policy had immigrants keeping children home from school and not attending religious services.

Asked about that statement Sunday on CBS, Vance said he was "heartbroken" by it. He added that the bishops need to "look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?"

The bishops' group told The Washington Post that its federal government contracts and grants totaled $129 million in 2023, the last year for which figures were available, according to an annual audit by KPMG. The bishops spent $134 million that year on immigrant and refugee services, the audit said.

The Post asked a Vance spokesperson about his allegation that the bishops' motivation in their migrant work is financial, whether Vance had discussed the topic with any Catholic leaders, and what he envisions as a productive role for Catholic bishops and other faith leaders on immigration.

Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk said, in a brief texted statement, that "Vice President Vance isn't interested in consulting The Washington Post about his Catholic faith."

The Post, she wrote, "doesn't have credibility on spiritual matters." Vance provided no evidence for his assertion that Catholic entities were helping "illegal immigrants." His communications staff later said Vance disagreed with the Biden administration's interpretation of the law, particularly when it came to an immigration program known as parole.

Leaders of major Catholic aid groups and bishops' staffers held meetings this week about how to understand and respond to the new administration. Some said an education campaign would begin in parishes to help rank-and-file Catholics understand church teaching on immigration, as well as the church's work with migrants and refugees. Others said they hoped Vance would soon meet with church leaders.

Appaswamy "Vino" Pajanor, chief executive of Catholic Charities-San Diego, said Vance's comments were "frustrating and dejecting."

"We are now made [out] as the bad people, and we are taking care of the people who will be left on the streets. As if we are enemies of the state," he said. "More education has to be passed on. There's a lot of misinformation."

While Republican officeholders have allied with the Catholic bishops when it comes to abortion and opposing transgender rights, conflict has stepped up in recent years about the church - and other faith groups - working with immigrants and refugees.

Catholic Charities has been criticized by some GOP lawmakers who said leaders of the nonprofit organization should have to testify before Congress for allegedly fueling illegal immigration. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) said in 2023 that Catholic groups who help migrants are evidence of "Satan controlling the church."

In Texas, Republicans in court papers accused a faith-based network of migrant shelters of creating "stash houses" sheltering the undocumented from authorities. Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked a judge to shut down the shelters and turn over all records to the state. That case remains on appeal.

Still, some in the church, including online influencers with large followings, have celebrated the Trump-Vance approach, a reflection of divisions among Catholics about how best to handle immigration and immigrants. That divide reflects a broader one about what should be the core of the Catholic mission: defending those whom the Bible calls "the least of these," or shoring up the church's standing as a conservative institution.

"The we must help poor illegal immigrants' stance directly results in the increase of human suffering," Texas podcaster Kyle Seraphin wrote Saturday on the social media platform X. "Perhaps you aren't aware of what happens when a population lives in the shadow without the normal protections of America law enforcement. I'll help you: it results in rape, torture, extortion, enslavement, and murder."

Cream City Catholic, a blog for Milwaukee Catholics, on Sunday posted on X praise for the vice president and a photo of him in jeans holding a rifle.

"The Catholic Vance will give liberal bishops a challenge they aren't used to: a young, appealing, intelligent, articulate & muscular counterpoint to the effeminate (but fading) ecclesial zeitgeist of the '60s. He likely has a far better grasp of *real* Catholic social teaching," Cream City wrote.

In some parishes, those contrasting views were evident.

The Rev. Michael Bryant, a pastor-in-residence at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Church about a mile east of the U.S. Capitol, on Sunday said he saw Trump's new orders as violations of the Catholic faith. Bryant read to the parishioners the statement that Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde had delivered to Trump at a recent prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, begging him to "be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land." Bryant said it was "disgraceful" that Trump was calling for mass arrests of immigrants while pardoning those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"Pray for those being targeted in our nation who come from Venezuela, Central America and Haiti," among other places, Bryant told about 50 people.

"Lord hear our prayer," congregants responded. A handful left during his talk. Others cheered and clapped and thanked him after the service.

The parish's priest, Monsignor Charles Pope, closed the Mass by saying that honoring diversity "includes political diversity" and that some congregants may disagree with Bryant "for reasons of your own."

Pope later told The Post that he disagrees with Vance's assertion that the bishops' group is motivated by money in its work with migrants. He noted that Catholic teaching on migration defends the rights of migrants to escape unsafe conditions and the need to respect the laws and customs of the countries that take them in. Church teaching also says "prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able," to absorb migrants in need.

He also said Vance had been "baited" into levying criticism of the bishops because he was asked about their criticism of the new Trump policy allowing immigration raids in churches and schools.

"It wasn't his instinct to come out against the Catholic bishops," Pope said.

Dolan, the leader of the New York archdiocese, said he was "hurt" by Vance's "inaccurate" comments about the church.

"A guy who has struck me as a gentleman and a thoughtful man, and from whom I'm still expecting great things - I hope it was an uncharacteristic moment," the cardinal said.

Still, he added: "You think we make money caring for the immigrants? We're losing it hand over fist."

Many bishops and Catholic leaders who work on the topic declined to comment, reflecting the sensitivity of a clash that now includes not only the president and the pope, but also the nation's Catholic vice president. But bishops from across the ideological spectrum joined statements affirming the church's support for immigrants.

"Our parishes, schools, and ministries are here for you, offering spaces where you can find community and grow in faith," read a statement signed by eight bishops in Maryland.



(COMMENT, BELOW)
Sophie Thatcher, left, and Jack Quaid in a scene from "Companion." Courtesy of Warner Bros. Picture/Associated Press

First things first: There's a key storytelling twist in "Companion," writer-director Drew Hancock's wickedly clever little horror thriller, which needs to be addressed in order to discuss the film in any meaningful way.

And it comes not at the end of the movie but near the beginning, so it's not so much a spoiler as it is a level-set. (The juicy reveal is also given away in the movie's trailers, so you very well may already know what's coming.)

Now that everyone's on the same page  if you don't want to know, go see it and come back here after!  "Companion" confronts today's realities of technology and AI with a darkly comic eye and a sly curl in its lip. It's as tech-minded as an episode of "Black Mirror," but one of its tricks is the way it subverts its perspective to turn the audience against the humans and put them on the side of the androids.

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Yes, androids. That's the first of several swerves and it comes early in the story, after plucky Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and slightly sheepish Josh (Jack Quaid) have met cute at a grocery store and fallen deeply in love. They're off to one of Josh's friends' secluded homes for a weekend getaway, and Iris is nervous that Josh's friends don't like her and are unfairly cold toward her.

'Companion' Rated R: For strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout Running time: 97 minutes Where: Playing throughout Houston 1/2 (out of 5)

Upon arrival, Iris' fears are loosely confirmed when Kat (Megan Suri) opens up and tells her she makes her feel "replaceable." Why replaceable, of all descriptions? That's when the audience learns what Josh and his friends already know: Iris is a robot. Well, a sexbot, if we're being frank, and we are, because Hancock definitely is.

That little bit of information recontextualizes what has happened up to this point in "Companion," and it changes everything that comes after. But it's not the only twist or surprise up Hancock's sleeve, as he packs a wallop in his devilish feature film debut.

There's a murder, and a scheme, and a few more surprises which are too good to give away. Hancock's playful script and tight execution play with AI concerns and our modern impulse to ignore the user agreements, but flips them in such a way that we're the bad guys. It's like "T2" for sexbots, if the sexbots were the ones doing the storytelling.

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Thatcher ("Heretic," TV's "Yellowjackets") plays an engaging hero, whose humanity is more than a switch that gets flipped. She's a doting romantic who becomes a fierce survivalist when she needs to, and Thatcher is a tough, smart, relatable lead in what feels like a star-making role.

And Quaid (yes, he's the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), is appropriately smarmy as the story unfolds. He transforms from shy and sweet to menacing and controlling, his weakness and fragility always front and center. "Companion" weaponizes his frail ego and turns it into a damnation of modern masculinity: In a world where our partners are customizable, what other aspects of ourselves are we losing?

As friends in the group, Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillen make appealing sidekicks  Gage, with his Ken doll-like blankness, is especially effective  and Rupert Friend is just over-the-top enough as a wealthy sleazebag with a tacky Russian accent.

"Companion" is a sharp, sleek thriller with a hip modern edge to match its retro-chic aesthetic. Its twist gets you in the door, but it's only the beginning of the way it gleefully, deliciously spins viewers in circles, and leaves them thinking about the coldness of our modern world.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 13:50 | All, Japan

Japan will draw up a basic plan underpinning the development and use of artificial intelligence by addressing security concerns, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday, after the rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek's chatbot.

Ishiba told a parliamentary session that the use of AI is critical in resolving issues such as low productivity confronting Japan. But he also acknowledged misinformation and disinformation as risks stemming from the greater use of the technology.

"We need to create a basic plan on how we can promote research and development as well as the use of AI in a safe and secure way," Ishiba told the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives.

His remarks come after Chinese company DeepSeek surprised AI users and developers and rattled financial markets with its AI model that was reportedly developed at a fraction of the cost needed by its U.S. rivals and claims to perform on par with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

"When certain information is used to train (AI) arbitrarily or intentionally, it will be spread globally at a surprising speed," he said, in response to a question by a ruling party lawmaker who expressed concern about DeepSeek's new AI model.

Itsunori Onodera, a former Japanese defense minister, said DeepSeek's chatbot responded that the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea is China's inherent territory according to history and international law, when asked about the islets, at the center of diplomatic friction between Japan and China.

The uninhabited islets are administered by Japan, which sees it as its own inherent territory based on history and international law. China also claims the islands.

The popularity of the DeepSeek chatbot instantly surged but a growing number of governments and companies have moved to restrict access to it citing a number of concerns, including how it collects user data.

While the Japanese government has yet to announce similar steps, it is preparing to submit legislation regarding the development and use of AI to parliament during its current session, which runs through June 22.

"Our pressing challenge is to submit legislation that will maximize the convenience of AI and minimize the dangers and risks associated with its use," Ishiba said.

Related coverage:

Tokyo stocks drop as tech falls on fears of weaker AI chip demand
The first 160 Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus), a globally 'Vulnerable' species, returned these days to Ceaplace Island in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDD), recently consolidated by the ecological inspectors of the RBDD Administration, the institution subordinated to the Ministry of Environment announced on Friday on its Facebook page.

Ceaplace Island, strictly protected in the Reserve, is one of the most important breeding areas in Europe for Dalmatian pelicans, due to its isolated position that offers excellent protection for juveniles and a large feeding area for adults.

"Every winter, the small island deteriorates due to wind and wave erosion, and the natural amount of reed in the area is often insufficient for the large number of birds that return year after year. That is why, this year too, the environmental wardens and inspectors of the RBDD Administration have carried out an action to strengthen the nesting areas on the island by transporting and arranging 450 big reed piles and a large bundle of pressed reed, in order to provide the birds with the additional construction material needed for new nests," the cited source mentioned.

The island is being continuously monitored and so far the first 160 Dalmatian pelicans that have arrived at the colony have been observed.

"There are already 101 nests visible on the island in various stages of construction and in some of them eggs are already laid. With the addition of nest building materials and landscaping activities, Ceaplace Island is ready to welcome its guests again this year," the RBDD Administration's post also states.

The reed piles placed by the environmental inspectors of the RBDD Administration replace the wooden platform that they placed in 2006-2008, together with the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR), within the project "Save the Dalmatian pelicans in the Danube Delta", carried out in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the UK.

"Unfortunately, that platform, being made of wood, especially in conditions of slightly salty water, windy conditions and winter with ice in the lagoon area, did not have a very long life. At the time, the platform helped by increasing the nesting area for pelicans, but it only lasted a few years, unfortunately. It has deteriorated entirely and we hope that in the future we will find solutions together with the RBDD Administration for a thorough consolidation of the island, to provide good nesting conditions for the species," Sebastian Bugariu, a biologist from SOR, told AGERPRES.

According to the RBDD Administration, if the great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) nest in an impressive flock in this area of Europe, the colony of Rosca - Buhaiova being more and more extended in recent years, numbering about 19,000 individuals, while the number of Dalmatian Pelicans in the RBDD is much smaller, around 500, the species being endangered worldwide and included in the 'Vulnerable' category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The European Commission on Friday decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to Romania, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Austria for failing to communicate the respective measures on the transposition of the Directive on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures (Directive 2022/2381) to the commission.

Also, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, France, Poland and Portugal for only having notified partial transposition of the directive.

The Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive aims for a more balanced gender representation on the boards of listed companies across all EU Member States. The Directive sets a target of 40% of the underrepresented sex among the non-executive directors of EU large listed companies, and of 33% among all directors.

The directive came into force in December 2022 and member states had until December 28, 2024 to transpose the provisions of the directive. The commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal and Romania, which now have two months to respond, complete their transposition and notify their measures to the commission.

In the absence of a satisfactory response, the commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
The energy crisis and the influence of democratic elections have a "common denominator" - the hostile actions of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emil Hurezeanu declared, on Friday, in the Republic of Moldova.

The head of Romanian diplomacy was on a working visit to Chisinau, in the context of the energy crisis that the neighboring country is facing at this time, as well as to discuss the broader framework of bilateral cooperation, the benchmarks of joint actions for the current year and Romania's support for the European integration process.

Hurezeanu held a joint press statement with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Popsoi.

"We addressed, as the minister mentioned, the current energy situation, its socio-economic consequences, the upcoming electoral exercises that we share to some extent, because the Republic of Moldova will also have them in the second half of the year. We will have them in May - we are talking about the presidential elections", the Romanian minister said.

In this context, he highlighted foreign interference.

"We know that both the energy crisis and the influence of democratic elections have a certain common denominator: we are exposed to hostile actions that create vulnerabilities, from the Russian Federation. If it had not been for the courage of this government, here, in Chisinau, to consolidate energy security in an accelerated and, each time, competent manner, the Russian Federation would probably have maintained its capacity to leave the inhabitants of the Republic of Moldova in the cold and in the dark at any time", Hurezeanu appreciated.

He assessed that hybrid attacks would continue.

"Therefore, all the destabilizing actions and urgent needs caused by the energy crisis have led, not as a secondary effect, but as a main effect, to a tightening of ties between us," the head of Romanian diplomacy said.

In this regard, he recalled that Romania supplies the Republic of Moldova with over 50-60% of its current electricity needs, mentioning the Iasi-Ungheni gas pipeline and the fact that three high-frequency lines are in preparation.

The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs was received by the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, the Speaker of the Parliament in Chisinau, Igor Grosu, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Dorin Recean.

According to a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the head of Romanian diplomacy assured senior Moldovan officials that Romania would continue to provide its full support for managing the current energy crisis, for implementing the reforms necessary for European integration and for advancing the accession negotiations with the European Union.

He welcomed the assistance worth 30 million euros recently announced by the European Commission regarding the gas supply to the Transdniestrian region. Hurezeanu highlighted that at the European level there is understanding and a renewed commitment for the difficult situation in which the majority of the population of the Republic of Moldova is and that solutions are being sought to respond to the requests for immediate support, submitted by the authorities in Chisinau.

At the same time, Emil Hurezeanu had a meeting with Cosmin Dinescu, head of the EU Partnership Mission in the Republic of Moldova (EUPM), during which he thanked him for the particularly important activity and efforts of the EU Mission in support of the authorities in Chisinau.

The Romanian minister stressed the importance of the EUPM, noting the regional context dominated by security threats and especially by hostile actions of a hybrid nature. AGERPRES
The Government established on Friday, by ordinance, new norms on the forms of organization, establishment, operation and control of medical offices.

According to a Government's press release, medical offices can be established in various forms, including as independent units, commercial companies, associations or within public institutions and religious denominations.

"These will be registered in the Single Register of Medical Offices, and the activity must be carried out exclusively by authorized personnel. Also, medical offices must have minimum facilities established by specific regulations and display the activity program and the specifics of the services offered. The activities carried out may include not only direct medical services, but also related activities, such as education, research and development in the medical field. The doctor or medical personnel who provide these services are individually responsible for professional decisions," the Government explained.

Medical offices will be controlled by the competent authorities, including the Ministry of Health, Public Health Directorates and Professional Colleges, and failure to comply with reporting obligations will draw sanctions.

"The establishment or reorganization of medical offices must be approved by the competent authorities, and changes in their structure must be reported accordingly. These changes aim to ensure better regulation and transparency in the activity of medical offices, thus protecting both patients and medical personnel," the press release informs. AGERPRES
Justice Minister Radu Marinescu participated on Friday in Warsaw in the informal meeting of the EU justice ministers, which tackled topical issues such as mutual cooperation on justice, the consequences of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine, and the future of justice - figuring out new perspectives.

During the working session titled "The Consequences of Russia's War Crimes in Ukraine", Radu Marinescu said with regard to a tentative increased efficiency of evidence collection and transfer between states, international organizations and international investigative bodies, that the already existing instruments made available to the member states by Eurojust and Europol are sufficient.

He emphasized that Romania has offered war victims both assistance with getting access to justice, through professional bodies (lawyers, notaries), and other forms of counseling, through Romanian NGOs and authorities. Where appropriate, these activities were coordinated with similar actions of other EU member states and third countries.

At a different working session, Radu Marinescu welcomed the initiative of the Polish Presidency to continue talks on judicial cooperation under the umbrella of the rule of law.

"The principle of mutual recognition is based on a high degree of trust between member states, which have committed to preserving and developing the shared values provided for in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and their own constitutional traditions. From Romania's perspective, it is equally essential that member states and judicial authorities do not lose sight of the principle of loyal cooperation. They must respect and assist each other, adopt all measures required for ensuring the fulfillment of the obligations arising from the Treaties or from the acts of the Union institutions, facilitate the fulfillment by the Union of its mission, and refrain from any measure that could jeopardize the achievement of the Union's goals," declared the Romanian minister.

At the working lunch, the justice ministers discussed the topic "The Future of Justice - Imagining New Openings", and Radu Marinescu said that "the current judicial regulation is certainly perfectible, and our task, as politicians, as ministers of justice, is to constantly seek ways to translate the people's aspirations for justice and equity into functional and efficient norms and institutions."

"In this sense, we consider that, while we ensure through judicial systems compliance with the legal framework, in the development thereof we must strive to offer citizens equal opportunities, through fair and equitable regulations. Therefore, I believe that the EU should try to take as much as possible into account the citizens' perspective, improving communication tools with society in order to identify its regulatory needs," said the Romanian justice minister. AGERPRES
The Ministry of European Investments and Projects has taken steps to cut personnel expenses by 5 percent, Minister Marcel Bolos told AGERPRES in an interview, stating that a potential restructuring is under analysis, but a decision in this regard must be made without jeopardizing the absorption of European money.

"For a start, there has already been a horizontal measure to cut personnel expenses by 5 percent, which was implemented with all the ministries. As far as the Ministry of European Investments and Projects in particular is concerned, we have committed to the European Commission that the administration structures, the organizational charts responsible for the administration of a particular operational program be sized in such a manner that the basic functions of such a structure are not jeopardized - from project assessment, conclusion of the funding contracts, monitoring implementation, the entire life cycle of a project must be in accordance with these management and control systems, that is, in accordance with the organizational charts we have committed to. That is why, for the Ministry of European Investments and Projects we must bear in mind that jeopardizing a certain position, a management authority, entails the risk of funding suspension," explained Bolos.

"There are areas in which saving in expenditure may not be equivalent, may not counterbalance the risk of loss that you can generate, because Romania's goal is to bring its money home, for 75 billion euros to enter Romania's coffers. If we save, say to the tune of 5 million euros in expenditures, but lose 75 million euros, this will be very difficult to explain to public opinion, and that is why we are analyzing this restructuring move. But I would like us not to do it just for the sake of doing an analysis, that it isn't made hastily and that - if we make it - the decision does not put the absorption of European money at jeopardy," said Marcel Bolos.
The Romanian minister of justice, Radu Marinescu, asked his Dutch counterpart "to continue efforts for the efficient resolution" of the case involving Romania's Dacian treasure items stolen in Drents, and offered the Dutch side all the necessary support.

In the context of the informal meeting in Warsaw of the ministers of justice of the member states of the European Union, on Thursday, the Romanian minister of justice, Radu Marinescu, had a bilateral meeting with the minister of justice and security of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, David van Weel, regarding the theft, from the Drents Museum, of items from Romania's Dacian treasure.

The Romanian official mentioned that the theft of the items from Romania's Dacian treasure caused a lot of concern in the society, given the importance of these heritage assets, and provoked strong emotional reactions in what concerns the public opinion. At the same time, he mentioned the measures ordered by the Romanian Government, which set up a crisis cell for the efficient coordination of activities related to the recovery of the four pieces of heritage that were stolen, it was stated on Friday on the Facebook page of the Romanian Ministry of Justice.

Radu Marinescu also emphasised that he is fully aware of the fact that the relevant Dutch authorities are making every effort to quickly investigate this case in order to identify and catch the perpetrators, as well as to recover the stolen heritage assets. So far, three suspects have been detained.

"In the context of the good functioning of judicial cooperation between the Romanian and Dutch sides, the minister of justice asked minister van Weel to continue the sustained efforts for the efficient resolution of this case and expressed his willingness to provide the Dutch side with all necessary support. The Dutch official stated that he fully understands the position of the Romanian side and assured that the Dutch authorities are making every effort to resolve the case expeditiously and recover the heritage items. He also underscored that the Dutch authorities will maintain close contact with the Romanian authorities during the investigations," the same source states.

At the end of last week, a burglary took place at the Drents Museum, as a result of which the golden helmet from Cotofenesti and three gold Dacian bracelets were stolen, some of the most important artefacts in Romania's national heritage. It is assumed that at least three people were involved in the robbery, based on surveillance images captured during the incident.
USR (Save Romania Union) representatives criticize the way the draft budget was drawn up and accuse the governing coalition of "wanting the bankruptcy" of Bucharest.

USR deputy Alexandru Dimitriu reports that, according to the draft budget, 14% of what is collected from income tax in Bucharest will go directly to the National Treasury, administered by the Executive. Of the remaining money, approximately 55% will return to the districts, and the General City Hall will receive 45%. At the same time, of the 45% remaining at the General City Hall, 1.5% will go to the Ilfov County, the deputy mentions.

He said that USR will submit amendments to the State Budget Law and will continue its efforts in Parliament so that the local referendum of November 24 will be transposed into legislation.

"The Ciolacu-Bolojan government is cutting billions from the budget of the Capital City Hall, in total contempt for what the Bucharest residents voted for in the referendum initiated by mayor Nicusor Dan. The state budget draft establishes how the money is divided. And the governing coalition has set about taking revenge on the citizens who do not vote for them. (...) In Bucharest, over 5 billion euros are collected from taxes. But, in the end, the City Hall receives less than 2.5 billion. Money for operation, for subsidies, for public transport, for investments," the USR deputy writes on Facebook.

USR councillor Nicorel Nicorescu claims that the PMB budget will decrease by approximately one billion RON.

The mayor of the capital, Nicusor Dan, said on Wednesday that he was "concerned" about the "reluctance" on the part of the governing coalition regarding the transposition into legislation of the changes supported by Bucharest residents in the referendum of November 24.

"The referendum has three questions. The first one is related to the money. All parties signed, except for PSD (Social Democratic Party), which at that time said that 'we will discuss.' PNL (National Liberal Party) and UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) said that they agree to transpose the referendum. That is, the distribution of money from Bucharest residents' taxes and fees should no longer be done at Parliament, but at the local level, at the General Council. (...) I am relatively worried, because the signals I received were that there is reluctance from the governing coalition to pass these changes, which would mean in my opinion another slap in the face to the 500,000 Bucharest residents who voted for something to happen and for it to happen quickly, not in three or four years," the mayor told Digi 24 private television council.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 20:37 | All, Japan, Travel/Tourism

Overnight stays at accommodation facilities in Japan by Japanese and foreign travelers rose 5.5 percent in 2024 from the previous year to a record 651.49 million, preliminary government data showed Friday.

The growth was largely driven by foreign visitors, whose stays at hotels and Japanese inns surged 38.8 percent to 163.48 million on the back of a weak yen, according to the Japan Tourism Agency.

Overnight stays by Japanese residents, meanwhile, fell 2.3 percent to 488.01 million, with an agency official suggesting a slowdown in the post-coronavirus pandemic domestic travel boom.

The previous record high was 617.47 million marked in 2023.

With travelers continuing to concentrate in major urban areas such as Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka, the government is working on measures to address overtourism and promote regional travel.

In December alone, overnight stays stood at 55.82 million, up 6.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, with foreigners accounting for 15.29 million of the total.

Revised figures for November showed that stays by foreign visitors increased from the previous year in 43 of Japan's 47 prefectures. Tottori in western Japan saw the highest growth rate at 117 percent at 21,610 stays, followed by Ishikawa in central Japan at 116 percent at 297,390 stays.

The figures represent the number of people multiplied by the number of overnight stays they had, according to the agency.

Related coverage:

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The ruins of Weissenstein Castle in Waldershof, Germany, seen here on Jan. 11, 2025, offer spectacular mountain views and a window into how medieval nobility once lived. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Not every European castle is historically significant, but there is still intrigue to discover in them, as I did on a recent trek up to the Weissenstein Castle ruins in Steinwald Nature Park in Waldershof, Germany.

Approximately 45 minutes northeast of Grafenwoehr, the well-marked, well-maintained loop through the forest to the castle offered picturesque nature scenes, spectacular mountain views and a firsthand look at how medieval nobility once lived.

I decided to visit the place at the suggestion of a colleague. The large parking lot was covered in a sheet of ice but still full of cars when I arrived, with only a few hours before nightfall.

The ruins of Weissenstein Castle in Waldershof, Germany, are at an elevation of over 2,800 feet. Trails surrounding the castle abound in recreational opportunities, and hikers are rewarded with expansive views from the hilltop. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes) The steps into the Weissenstein Castle ruins in Waldershof, Germany, can be treacherous in wintertime. Parts of the castle, which was abandoned in 1560, have been renovated. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The trails were safe and easy to follow, even with a thin layer of snow. I used the AllTrails application to chart my route, which covered 2 miles in total. A left at the first fork offered the quickest path to Weissenstein.

The first leg of the journey was flat; then the path rose slowly through the pine trees. Along the way, I passed other hikers and saw families with children whizzing downhill on their sleds. That said, though, I spent much of my trek in solitude.

Hikers make their way through the snow to the Weissenstein Castle ruins in Steinwald Nature Park in Waldershof, Germany, on Jan. 11, 2025. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Suddenly, a view of the ruins opened up before me. The castle sits at an elevation of 2,814 feet and has two covered areas where visitors can rest. One of them is a kiosk, where I read the history using an app to translate the German.

Weissenstein Castle first appeared in German records in 1279, the parks tourism website said. It passed from the Weissensteiner family to the influential noble Notthafft family, which ruled a considerable territory from nearby Poppenreuth to Krummennaab in the south.

A key tells visitors to the Weissenstein Castle ruins in Waldershof, Germany, what towns and villages they are looking at from atop the renovated tower. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Tall granite towers that were incorporated into the design of the castle, which never played an important role in history and was abandoned in 1560. Nevertheless, it has plenty of lore.

The site is said to be haunted by an unidentified female ghost who wails loudly each time a member of the Notthafft family dies. Considering that an online history of the family says the Weissenstein line died out in 1718, what the ghost still has to mourn about is anybodys guess.

There is also a treasure supposedly buried on the property, a magic ring brought back from a crusade.

I carefully climbed the steep steps into what once was an interior area with a tunnel and door. After a few more flights, I was in the tower. Then I was on a deck roof constructed on what had likely been a parapet or rooftop.

The renovated tower of Weissenstein Castle in Waldershof, Germany, offers a stunning view of the surrounding area. The castle ruins are surrounded by a nature park. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes) A renovated tower at Weissenstein Castle in Waldershof, Germany, stands out from the ruins and affords a stunning view of the surrounding area. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The view was magnificent. I could see for miles around, and a stone marker indicated what nearby towns I was looking at.

What Weissenstein Castle lacks in name recognition, it makes up for in other areas. And I have to say the mountain bike trails there looked to me like an invitation to return when warmer days arrive.

On the QT

Address: Burgruine Weissenstein, Waldershof, Germany

Hours: Daylight hours year-round

Cost: Admission is free. Parking fees vary according to length of time and are paid through a smartphone app.

Information: Online: burgruine-weissenstein.de, notthafft.de/geschichte/weissenstein.htm
A traditional performer from Sado Island in Niigata prefecture, Japan, shows off his moves in Tokyos Ginza district, Nov. 26, 2024. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

Visitors to one of Tokyos fanciest shopping areas can plan a trip further afield at a prefectural information center in operation since summer.

The Niigata, a short walk from Ginza Station, opened in August and includes a restaurant and sake and craft shops and hosts events promoting tourism in the western Japanese prefecture.

The facility recently invited journalists to a get-together promoting Sado Island in the Sea of Japan, part of Niigata just off the coast of Japans main island of Honshu.

Gold mines on the island were mined by hand for hundreds of years and were recently registered as a World Heritage cultural site.

The South Korean and Japanese governments held separate ceremonies in November commemorating miners drafted to work there during World War II.

At the Ginza event, Rumiko Obata, manager of the Obata Sake Brewery on Sado, told visitors of the experiences they can have during a visit to the island, home to 50,000 people.

It takes under four hours to get there from Tokyo, riding a bullet train to Niigata city, followed by a ferry, Obata said.

Obatas family has brewed Sake on Sado since 1892, she said.

Visitors can sample food from Niigata prefecture, Japan, in Tokyos Ginza district. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

In 2014, her company converted an abandoned school on the island to a brewery that includes a cafe, accommodations and workspace.

Next at the Ginza event, Tadaaki Aida, a rice farmer on Sado, demonstrated onidaiko traditional Sado drumming that has been passed down for more than 400 years.

Meanwhile, a performer in a mask and costume leapt around the room in a type of performance done on the island to wish for good health, prosperity and bountiful harvests.

In addition to farming rice, Aida runs Sadoya Nippon, a company that promotes local culture on the island by planning festivals and making traditional costumes.

The Niigata, a short walk from Ginza Station, opened in August and includes a restaurant and sake and craft shops and hosts events promoting tourism in the western Japanese prefecture. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

Journalists could taste some of Aidas rice at the Ginza event and wash it down with sake brewed on the island.

They also got to sample a selection of food prepared by the information centers restaurant  The Niigata Bit Ginza  using ingredients such as oyster, snapper and persimmon from Sado island.

On the QT

Directions: Sanwa Suzuran Bldg., 5-6-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; a short walk from Ginza Station, exits A2/B5

Times: The gift shop is open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily; the sake shop is open daily, noon to 7:30 p.m.; restaurant hours vary.

Costs: Its free to enter the center.

Food: Lunch at The Niigata Bit Ginza starts at 2,980 yen, just over $19; dinner starts at 5,478 yen.

Information: Online: the-niigata.jp
Haiti's Presidential Council President Leslie Voltaire is welcomed by French president before a meeting at The Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 29, 2025. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

(Tribune News Service)  The head of Haitis embattled presidential council says he believes that both a reform of the countrys constitution and general elections to put a legitimate government back in charge can take place before the end of the year.

Haiti last held elections in 2016, and hasnt had an elected president since the July 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise.

Leslie Voltaire, the head of the Transitional Presidential Council, is envisioning a vote to restore democracy to Haiti with elections for a president, parliament and local mayors on Nov. 15.

Voltaire made the declaration during interviews Wednesday with TV Monde 5 and France 24/Radio France Internationale while on a European tour, during which he met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Voltaire said he hopes to have a constitutional referendum voted on by April, and envisions the first round of general elections around Nov. 15. Runoffs, he said, would take place around mid-January of 2026 so that finally on February 7 there could be a legitimate government.

Under that election plan, the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council, responsible for organizing elections in Haiti, would prioritize voting in the regional departments currently not under the control of armed criminal groups.

I think that we will have elections in eight departments that are free of gangs; we will have the elections in the Artibonite, which is a quarter controlled by the gangs; we will have elections in half of Port-au-Prince, Voltaire said.

He acknowledged the plan, amid Haitis turbulent gang violence and worsening humanitarian crisis, may be overly ambitious.

It is very quick, he told France 24 when journalists questioned the timetable. When the journalists raised the issue of continuing gang violence, Voltaire said the security situation is mainly in the metropolitan area.

A source on the electoral board told the Miami Herald that on Dec. 30 they forwarded a calendar proposing May 11 for the constitutional referendum and a budget. While they envision holding elections in November, they have yet to propose a specific date. Asked about whether any vote can take place in the current security environment, the electoral adviser said: Technically we will do all we need to do, but the security is in the hands of the government.

Voltaires assessment of Haitis ability to pull off a vote this year is in contrast to the view of the United Nations, which last week cast doubt on the nine-member presidential council being able to stage elections in time to restore democracy by February 2026. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that political setbacks, fueled by corruption allegations involving three of Voltaires colleagues on the council, had opened the door to escalating gang violence and was endangering the election timeline.

Simply put, the goal of restoring democratic institutions by February 2026 is in jeopardy, Guterres said in a report.

During his interview with France 24, Voltaire dodged a question about the corruption allegations. The matter, he said, was before the justice system and he lacked the power to do anything about the three council members caught up in a bank bribery scandal. The accused council members, Smith Augustin, Louis Gerald Gilles and Emmanuel Vertilaire, have insisted on their innocence but have refused to respond to a summons from an investigative judge.

Gangs ongoing attacks

In November, Voltaire led the effort to oust the prime minister after taking over the councils rotating presidency. The new government, led by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, has shown some progress in the filling of government positions, including naming a former head of police as secretary of state for public security. But authorities continue to struggle on the security and humanitarian fronts. Armed gangs prompted a Federal Aviation Administration ban on U.S. flights to Port-au-Prince after opening fire on three jetliners in November; theyve also shot up a U.S. Embassy van.

This week, gangs attacked downtown Port-au-Prince and farming communities in the mountains above the capital, cutting off the last remaining access to the south. The attacks left a trail of dead livestock and forced farmers to flee their burning homes in the Kenscoff area.

Voltaire told France 24 that the gangs are retreating on certain fronts, thanks to the efforts of the Haiti National Police, the countrys fledgling army and the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. The government, he said, is lobbying to increase the number of mission cops and soldiers, which now stands at less than 800.

Voltaires announcement about elections and his take on the security situation got immediate push-back in Port-au-Prince, where other politicians cast doubt on the possibility of holding a vote when the capital is still overrun by gangs.

Another world

Mr. Voltaire, you are in another world, your own world, lawyer Andre Michel, a member of the political coalition known as December 21 said on X.

He accused Voltaire of lying to France 24 and TV5 Mode when he said that armed gangs had retreated from Delmas 2, the stronghold of warlord Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier, and the Lower Artibonite region, the site of two massacres last year.

The GANGS have rather gained ground in Haiti. They have conquered more territories than before, Michel said. The failure is total!

Michel and other political and civil society leaders have been insisting on a reconfiguration of the presidential council because of the corruption allegations and the escalating gang violence.

Earlier this week, members of December 21 and EDE, the party led by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph, asked that Cheriziers powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition be designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration.

The request, sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, came after the two leaders and the head of former President Michel Martellys PHTK political party ignited a political firestorm after they included the gang coalition in a proposal to the 15-member Caribbean Community, CARICOM, on how to solve the ongoing political crisis. The letter listed Viv Ansanm as one of the groups that supports revamping the transition to replace council members.

The inclusion of the gang coalition was seen as an endorsement of giving gangs a voice in the political discussions, which Michel has denied.

Haiti is in the fourth year of a transition since Moises killing plunged the nation into an unprecedented wave of gang violence, and pressure to hold elections are expected to grow.

Beyond the overwhelming security concerns, there are steep logistical, and human resource challenges, for the government running the elections, the political parties campaigning and the voters. Elections will be extremely difficult this year, said Brian Concannon, executive director of the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. But Haiti does need to have elections as soon as possible.

When people say there is not enough security to hold elections, I often bring up the U.S.s 1864 election, he said. The Civil Wars violence surpassed Haitis current violence by far, and much of the U.S. was not under government control. Many argued the election should be postponed. But Lincoln, although he initially thought he would lose, insisted that we needed to put the security question up to the voters. The election ended up being a referendum on the war, and the structure of the country after the war.

Haitis last population census was 22 years ago in 2003, and though Voltaire says the electoral roll has about 7 million voters, no one can say with certainty where they are. The rampant gang violence has forced more than a million Haitians to flee their homes, and hundreds of thousands have also fled for the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

Once accounting for 60% of the electorate, the West regional department, where Port-au-Prince is located, and the Artibonite area are now flooded with gangs wielding military-grade weapons who control access in and out of neighborhoods and major highways.

Voltaire noted that in the last elections in 2016, Moise became president with 500,000 votes a figure that put his legitimacy in question and triggered an electoral crisis. If a new election is able to surpass that number, Voltaire said, then those elected will be much more legitimate than the presidential council, he said.

Robert Fatton, a retired political scientist from University of Virginia, said if Haiti were able to pull off any vote this year, it would be surprising.

Armed groups have now gained autonomy from the powerful political and private actors who had initially funded and controlled them, said Fatton, speaking earlier in the day during a webinar on Haiti co-sponsored by the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami.

Fatton said the presidential council has been unable to re-establish state authority and is facing a crisis of legitimacy that endangers its very survival. Moreover, the incapacity of the (Kenya-led mission) to contain, let alone defeat, the gangs, has compounded the crisis.

As gangs continue to expand their domination of the metropolitan area, everyone is watching to see if the latest siege on Kenscoff will lead to a full-scale takeover of Port-au-Prince.

Haitians are increasingly doubtful that the (international mission), with its little force and inadequate arms, can create the conditions in which the council promises can be fulfilled, Fatton said.

2025 Miami Herald.

Visit miamiherald.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Ric Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence, speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg)

An adviser for US President Donald Trump is set to meet with officials from the government of Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, part of an early effort at engaging with the sanctioned leader of the oil-rich nation.

Richard Grenell, whom Trump tapped as presidential envoy for special missions, will push for the swift release of American prisoners during his visit, Mauricio Claver-Carone, special envoy to Latin America, told reporters Friday during a call.

Grenell will also discuss sending Venezuelan gang members back to the country, Claver-Carone said.

The meetings come at a tense time in relations between Washington and Caracas. Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, recently got sworn in for another term amid widespread evidence of election fraud.

Maduro survived the first Trump administrations maximum pressure strategy, even as it curbed the nations oil exports, and also outlasted an effort by Biden officials to facilitate free and fair elections. Some key Trump advisers have advocated for a return to the more aggressive posture.

In a social-media post Friday, Florida Senator Rick Scott urged Grenell to push Maduro to receive deported migrants from the US and for Maduro to leave Venezuela, in addition to pushing for the release of prisoners.

At least seven Americans have been arrested in Venezuela since the July presidential vote. The Americans were accused of being involved in conspiracies against the Maduro government, including an attempt to kill him and other authorities.

During Trumps first term, Grenell also played a behind-the-scenes role in delicate talks with Maduro allies in a bid to negotiate the leaders peaceful exit from power.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 16:02 | World, All, Japan

China's top diplomat Wang Yi has informally suggested that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visit China to attend a ceremony for the Asian Winter Games to be held in Harbin from Feb. 7, several diplomatic sources said Friday.

The proposal by Wang during his talks in mid-January with Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, who visited Beijing together with other Japanese ruling coalition lawmakers, indicates China is keen to resume leaders' visits with Japan.

However, it may be difficult to arrange a trip by Ishiba in early February as the Japanese government is prioritizing setting up a meeting between the premier and U.S. President Donald Trump on or around Feb. 7.

China has been eager to stabilize relations with Japan so it can focus on addressing challenges posed by the Trump administration, observers say.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Moriyama and the Komeito party No. 2, Makoto Nishida, on Jan. 15 that he would welcome a visit to China by Ishiba "at a convenient time" and expressed willingness to travel to Japan for a trilateral summit with South Korea. Komeito is the LDP's junior coalition partner.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was scheduled to visit Japan in 2020 but postponed his trip due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wang made the suggestion when he informally talked with Moriyama and several other Japanese lawmakers on Jan. 14, according to the diplomatic sources.

The upcoming Asian Winter Games to be hosted by the Heilongjiang Province city in China's northeast will run through Feb. 14, with some 1,300 athletes participating from 34 countries and regions, including Japan and South Korea.

Ishiba met with Moriyama and Nishida on Jan. 17 to be briefed about their visit to China. The LDP secretary general told reporters following the talks he believes the premier wants to travel to China as early as possible.

In December, China and Japan agreed to promote exchanges through sporting events such as the Harbin games and the Asian Games to be co-hosted by Aichi Prefecture and its capital Nagoya in central Japan in 2026.

The agreement was reached during a bilateral high-level people-to-people and cultural exchange dialogue that was held when Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited Beijing.

Related coverage:

Top diplomats of Japan, U.S. agree to take ties to "new heights"

Chinese Premier Li welcomes visit by Japan PM Ishiba to China: lawmaker
A mover rolls a service members' household goods onto a truck at Fort Knox, Ky., April 12, 2022. (U.S. Army)

About 1,000 service members have faced late pickups or deliveries of household goods under the initial phase-in of the Defense Departments revamped system for relocations, defense officials said Thursday.

Right now, we anticipate roughly 1,000 service members have been impacted, either at the pickup-delivery or [by] poor communication, Andy Dawson, director of the Defense Personal Property Management Office inside U.S. Transportation Command, told reporters during a conference call.

The majority of them have been in the last 30 to 45 days, he said.

The Defense Department is transferring oversight of the roughly 300,000 annual moves by the military and Coast Guard to HomeSafe Alliance, a joint venture between Tier One Relocation and KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root.

The Transportation Command awarded HomeSafe a $20 billion contract in late 2021 to implement the Global Household Goods Contract, or GHC.

Under GHC, HomeSafe is replacing about 900 companies that until now managed military moves by contracting with movers and trucking, shipping and warehousing companies.

Implementing GHC began in April 2024 with a handful of moves per month but has progressed with a deliberate walk-crawl-run approach, Dawson said. GHC is slated to handle all domestic moves by this summer, with international moves beginning in the fall.

The program has met with resistance from much of the moving industry, which objects to lower rates being offered by HomeSafe as compared to the legacy system, as well as other terms of the contract.

Regardless of problems with the rollout, the Defense Department has no intention of giving up on it.

GHC is the departments future household goods relocation program, Dawson said. Were committed to it, and despite some early challenges, we have seen many positive aspects in GHC that we truly believe will improve our service member relocation experience.

In an emailed statement Friday, HomeSafe said it is focused on continuously improving all of our systems and processes.

While the vast majority of HomeSafes moves have been successful, logistical challenges have caused delays for some moves in these early stages of our program, the email stated.

We are implementing additional measures to strengthen our networks agility and to minimize the risk of future delays. We are onboarding and training new highly qualified movers to service relocations. We also have several process improvements underway to enhance our 24/7 customer service.

As of Thursday, HomeSafe has been given 5,195 relocation orders, with 1,737 of those orders picked up and 922 delivered, he said.

Those orders account for just over 1% of the approximate volume for 2025, with most moves still to come during peak moving season beginning in May.

The numbers provided by the Transportation Command suggest that about a fifth of households that have relocated using GHC have been unsatisfied with the service.

By comparison, the dissatisfaction rate was just over 23% in 2024 for domestic household moves under the legacy system, according to the Transportation Command.

In terms of quality and capacity, we did begin to see some issues in late December, as we started to increase the volume of shipments, Dawson said. Mostly these have been centered around scheduling issues, missed pickups and missed delivery dates.

Weve been in constant contact with HomeSafe and have expressed our concern regarding these performance issues, he said.

Many companies in the moving industry have resisted signing onto the GHC contract.

Rates being offered under GHC are on average 20% less than those under the legacy system, Kenneth Brennan, the commands director of acquisition, told reporters.

The degree to which GHC lacks contractor capacity is something even the Transportation Command does not know.

Due to the contract construct, I cannot quantify that capacity by metrics, Brennan said.

The reason is that we are contracting for an outcome via the GHC contract, just like all of our contracts, he said. We dont tell the folks how to do it. We dont necessarily need insight into how many employees they have. We just need to have the assurance that theyve got the capacity.

Dawson said the GHC contract creates a tough program in which HomeSafe is required to fulfill each and every relocation job that enters the pipeline, Dawson said.

For example, earlier this week more than a dozen service members asked to be moved the very next day, he said.

HomeSafe is expected and required by the contract to support those moves, Dawson said. It was designed that way to support our service member needs.
Bob Hope Elementary School teachers Sara Wood, center, and MacKenzie Eskins, right, thank Japanese sixth-graders for their presentations at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)

GINOWAN CITY, Okinawa  Teachers from a Defense Department school sampled Okinawa delicacies and explored Japanese teaching methods during a recent visit to a local elementary school.

English-speaking students at Shimashi Elementary led Wednesdays tour for 10 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers from Bob Hope Elementary at Kadena Air Base.

The visit reciprocated a similar trip to Bob Hope in October by nine Japanese teachers from Ginowan schools.

The American teachers spent an hour Wednesday morning listening to presentations in English from Shimashis sixth-graders.

It was all about Okinawan food and culture, things to do, and we got to give them feedback in English, said Bob Hope fourth-grade teacher Sara Wood.

Bob Hope Elementary School teacher Sara Wood listens to a presentation on Okinawan culture by sixth-grade students at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)

In October, teachers from eight Ginowan elementary schools learned how Department of Defense Education Activity educators use co-teaching models to plan and coordinate lessons before delivering them together in the classroom. Those nine teachers were also present at Shimashi on Wednesday.

Sakura Abe, a language teacher at Oyama Elementary, said she has tried to implement some of the co-teaching methods taught by Bob Hope educators in October.

We from now on want to try to co-teach, but always the teachers [say], Oh, were going to be busy, so thats why we dont have the planning, she said.

Wood helped spearhead the exchanges along with Bob Hope Principal Kristopher Kwiatek and Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She noted similarities between her school and Shimashi, which was built in 1982 and features open classrooms like Bob Hopes.

You can tell that, I think, the co-teaching has happened because the presentations are similar and theyre all doing similar things, at least from what weve been able to be a part of in the classrooms, she said.

Bob Hope Elementary School teacher Amy Russell listens to a sushi presentation by sixth-graders at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)

Between presentations on sushi and delicacies like an Okinawan doughnut called sata andagi, Bob Hope fourth-grade teacher Amy Russell said she was impressed with the Okinawan students English abilities and organizational skills.

Other presentations focused on Japanese holidays, Okinawan glassmaking and other cultural touchstones.

Its been fabulous and really interesting to hear and see what different types of curriculum they have and the way they set up their classrooms, Russell said.

Wood said she hopes to implement in her classroom some of the peer feedback she saw the Japanese students giving each other.

Kids were looking at artwork at one position and they were giving feedback on a computer screen, she said. Im not sure if it was shared or not, but that concept of sharing and circling through lots of different artwork and giving your feedback on it is something that I want to continue to grow in my classroom.
An F-16C Fighting Falcon takes off from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Jan. 13, 2025. (Catherine Daniel/U.S. Air Force)

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa  Fighter jets deployed rotationally to the home of the 18th Wing made precautionary landings here two days in a row, according to a local newspaper.

An F-16 Fighting Falcon from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., landed at 6:04 p.m. Thursday due to a jammed bullet, the Ryukyu Shimpo reported without citing sources.

That followed an F-16s precautionary landing at 3:58 p.m. Wednesday for the same reason, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources and an uncredited photo.

Maintainers on Wednesday opened an access panel near the muzzle of the jets Vulcan 20 mm Gatling-style cannon, where a bullet was believed to be jammed and checked it, the report said.

The 18th Wing at Kadena acknowledged questions emailed Friday morning about those incidents but did not respond before the end of the business day.

The Air Force began rotating squadrons of more advanced warplanes through Kadena after deciding in December 2022 to retire the 48 F-15 C/D Eagles stationed there.

F-35A Lightning IIs from the 134th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron with the Vermont Air National Guard arrived at Kadena earlier this month. They joined F-16C Fighting Falcons from the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base and F-22 Raptors from the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron out of Joint-Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, according to the wing.

An F-16 also made a precautionary landing at Kadena on Jan. 13, the Ryukyu Shimpo reported at the time. A day earlier, an F-22 Raptor made a similar landing at the base, the newspaper reported. The wing has not confirmed these incidents.

On Oct. 18, two Raptors experienced tire issues. One had two tire failures while landing, and another had a tire malfunction prior to takeoff, according to the wing.

Earlier in October, another Raptor made a precautionary landing, following a similar incident in September involving a Raptor deployed from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

No injuries or runway damage were reported in the October incidents, the wing said at the time.

In July, the Air Force announced it would permanently base 36 F-15EX Eagles on Okinawa to replace the older F-15s, as part of a broader plan to station more advanced fighter aircraft across Japan over the next several years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers remarks from the Pentagon, Jan. 30, 2025. (Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy)

SEOUL, South Korea  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Friday with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan, vowing to strengthen military ties with both countries amid regional security concerns, according to their respective defense ministries.

In his first phone call with South Koreas acting defense minister, Hegseth and Kim Seon-ho agreed to deepen and expand the level and scope of their 71-year military alliance and strengthen security ties with Japan to deter North Korea, South Koreas Ministry of National Defense said in a statement Friday.

Hegseth also spoke that day with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. The two expressed their firm intent to continue the initiatives to reinforce the alliance, Japans Defense Ministry said in a news release.

They also agreed to bilaterally cooperate to realize the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed that their security treaty covers the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as its territory.

South Korea's acting defense minister, Kim Seon-ho, speaks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by phone from Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 31, 2025. (South Korean Ministry of National Defense)

Hegseth took office Jan. 26, a day after his Senate confirmation. Kim had been South Koreas deputy defense minister before Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun resigned Dec. 4, citing his role in the countrys short-lived martial law declaration a day earlier.

During his first term, President Donald Trump scaled back joint military drills with South Korea, citing costs and concerns that they provoked Pyongyang. Trump and then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in attempted to broker peace with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un through a series of summits in 2018 and 2019.

In a Fox News interview Jan. 23, Trump described Kim as a smart guy and said he would reach out to him again.

Former President Joe Biden took a different approach, strengthening U.S. military ties with South Korea. He pledged to then-South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol that any North Korean nuclear attack on the South will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response, according to an April 26 White House statement.

Three months later, the USS Kentucky sailed into Busan, marking the first visit by a U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarine to South Korea in 42 years. An Air Force B-52H Stratofortress later landed at a South Korean air base on Oct. 17, 2023  the first such landing in at least 30 years.

Yoon also pushed for stronger military ties with Japan, a departure from his predecessors. Historical disputes between Seoul and Tokyo have often complicated U.S. efforts to bolster security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

The trilateral partnership has led to unprecedented military exercises, including the first-ever U.S.-South Korea-Japan bomber escort drill on Oct. 22, 2023. The three nations also launched a real-time data-sharing system in December to track North Korean missile tests.

North Koreas state-run Korean Central News Agency has condemned the trilateral cooperation as a declaration of war.

The country has launched at least three ballistic missiles so far this year. Its most recent launch, on Jan. 14, involved several short-range ballistic missiles that flew about 155 miles off its eastern coast, according to the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rear Adm. Scott Gray, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central, front right, walks through Midtown at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily during a familiarization tour on Oct. 28, 2020. (Kegan E. Kay/U.S. Navy)

NAPLES, Italy  Conflicting emails sent to some Defense Department overseas civilian employees in the past two days have created new headaches amid the choice posed to the federal workforce in a White House buyout offer.

On Wednesday, some civilian workers assigned to Navy Region Europe Africa Central received an email saying that DOD employees are exempt from the offer, which promises that eligible federal personnel who resign by Feb. 6 will receive full pay and benefits for eight months.

A day later, a message reversing the first email was sent to those same employees, indicating that they are in fact eligible to take the offer.

Copies of the emails were sent to Stars and Stripes from civilian employees, who received them from a EURAFCENT human resources director.

Both emails were sent to civilian employees within the command in anticipation of questions, said Cmdr. David Gardner, a spokesman for EURAFCENT.

The command includes Navy bases in Naples and Sicily in Italy, Spain, the Greek island of Crete, Romania, Poland, Djibouti and Bahrain. It wasnt clear how many civilian staffers in the command had received the emails.

The initial email contained the latest guidance received from the Office of Civilian Human Resources, Gardner said, adding that updated and corrected guidance had subsequently been shared.

A civilian employee, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the emails added to recipients frustrations.

Its executed so poorly.  There is no guidance, no one to ask even basic questions, no counseling, no nothing, the worker said.

Wednesdays emails to Navy civilian workers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East came on the heels of a memo sent to millions of federal workers on Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management, the governments human resources agency.

The memo informed workers that the federal government would begin subjecting all employees to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct and included the buyout offer with the condition it was accepted by Feb. 6.

But some accompanying information, such as exceptions for military personnel of the armed forces and positions related to national security, seemed to cast doubt on whether DOD workers are eligible for the offer.

On Thursday, the Office of Personnel Management clarified in an email to Stars and Stripes that DOD civilian workers arent considered military personnel. But it also said federal agencies could carve out their own exceptions, meaning some employees could be excluded.

The emails from the command in Naples are the latest example of the struggles the services are facing to quickly interpret and implement a slew of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump, some aimed at reshaping the military.

Trumps Jan. 20 order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs in DOD prompted the Air Force to exclude videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, from its training programs. After public outcry, the videos were reinstated.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican and a Navy veteran, said Thursday that he supports the buyout offer to federal employees and an executive order directing them to end telework arrangements and return to the office.

Gonzales was in Germany on Thursday to observe a NATO exercise in Hohenfels led by U.S. Army Europe-Africa.

Hiccups are to be expected given the administrations fast pace, which likely wont slow down soon, Gonzales said.

What youre going to see is the services are going to keep pace, (are) going to adapt like they always do and theyre going to match that intensity, that speed, Gonzales said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Lydia Gordon in Germany contributed to this report.
A strike by U.S. forces in northwestern Syria on Jan. 30, 2025, killed Muhammad Salah al-Zabir, a Hurras al-Din senior operative, according to U.S. Central Command. (U.S. Central Command)

U.S. forces launched an airstrike in northwestern Syria this week that killed a high-ranking member of a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida, according to U.S. Central Command.

Muhammad Salah al-Zabir was a senior operative in Hurras al-Din, CENTCOM said late Thursday in a statement, which added that the fatal strike had occurred the same day.

The strike was part of U.S. forces ongoing efforts to disrupt terrorism in the region, especially as Syria transitions to a new government following the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar Assad.

The statement did not say where the strike originated. As of December, the U.S. had 2,000 troops in Syria leading a coalition whose mission is to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. An additional 2,500 American troops were in Iraq.

But the future of the U.S. mission in Syria under President Donald Trump is unclear.

When asked Thursday whether he will withdraw American forces from the country, Trump said: I dont know who said that, but well make a determination on that.

Syria is in its own mess, he added. Theyve got enough messes over there. They dont need us involved.

CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Kurilla said the U.S. will continue to go after terrorists and defend against groups that plot to attack it.

Announcement of the strike comes days after the Syria-based Hurras al-Din said it is dissolving.

U.S. forces have been carrying out strikes against terrorist organizations in that part of the Middle East in recent months, including attacks on ISIS targets. Late last year, a U.S. airstrike killed several high-profile members of Hurras al-Din.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 20:08 | All, Japan

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said Friday they will unveil the details of their merger plan in mid-February, having originally announced they would do so by the end of this month.

Honda and Nissan, Japan's second- and third-largest carmakers by volume, said they are still discussing the finer points of the merger.

The two carmakers said at a press conference last month that they had agreed to begin talks on merging under a holding company in 2026 and that each company would operate under its own brand within the holding company.

Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe said at the press conference that Honda wanted struggling Nissan to make steady progress in restructuring as a precondition for the merger.

Honda has been urging Nissan to strengthen its restructuring efforts, according to sources close to the matter.

In November, Nissan said it would cut 9,000 jobs worldwide and reduce its global production capacity by 20 percent after it reported a more than 90 percent drop in net profit in the April-September period.

As part of the overhaul measures, Nissan planned to offer early retirement programs to employees at its three U.S. plants while reducing its workforce in Thailand, the sources said.

But Honda remains unconvinced, calling for more drastic measures to ensure its successful turnaround, they said.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., a partner of Nissan, had been considering joining the merger but is now leaning toward not participating in the holding company, according to other sources.

The automaker hopes to maintain its status as a listed company while exploring collaboration with Honda and Nissan without joining the merger, the sources said, adding that Mitsubishi Motors is expected to make a final decision in mid-February or later.

Related coverage:

Mitsubishi Motors not to join Honda-Nissan merger: source

Ex-Nissan chief Ghosn says merger with Honda "cannot work"

Honda, Nissan aim to merge under holding company in 2026
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center recently received an A Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, indicative of its commitment to providing the highest level of safety and care to its beneficiaries. (Walter Reed National Military Medical Center)

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has experienced widespread flooding in recent days and outages of its steam system vital for equipment sterilization, significant infrastructure failures that threaten to disrupt patient care for months to come, The Washington Post has learned.

The medical facility in Maryland, responsible for the care of U.S. presidents and severely wounded service members among others, experienced the utility problems beginning in mid-January. Since then, there have been multiple breakdowns that have left the hospital unable to handle a large influx of patients should a crisis occur, according to internal emails and imagery obtained by The Post, and two Walter Reed staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.

The source of the flooding, a burst sprinkler pipe, spewed 60,000 gallons of water before it was contained - enough to fill a 25x50 foot swimming pool, according to an email sent to Walter Reed staff on Monday from the medical centers director, Navy Capt. Melissa C. Austin. Five buildings and dozens of rooms and hallways were affected, the email says. Video and other imagery obtained by The Post show water gushing from pipes, soaked ceiling tiles that crumbled and fell to the floor, and a constant drip of liquid falling like rain from the rafters.

Another infrastructure failure, the breakdown and leak of the hospitals steam system, happened around Jan. 18 and has compromised staffs ability to sterilize surgical equipment while sharply reducing the number of surgeries performed there, said one of Walter Reeds employees.

The sterile processing department has become nonfunctional, according to a recent briefing slide shared with Walter Reed staff and obtained by The Post. The document says a concurrent release of steam has created unbearable conditions in the general surgery department, with temperatures reaching to 112 degrees.

Staffers said some patient rooms have experienced similar temperatures. They described conditions inside the sterile processing department as hellish, saying the service members who work there are struggling amid sweltering working conditions.

The Defense Health Agency, which oversees Walter Reed, did not immediately respond to several questions from The Post, instead releasing a public statement on Friday faulting burst pipes caused by recent freezing temperatures, and acknowledging that 50 rooms and six elevators were affected by water damage.

Patients were safely moved to other locations within the medical center or transferred to other hospitals when necessary, the agencys statement says. Clean-up is complete and repairs are underway. Walter Reed continues to deliver care and admit patients to all wards.

It is unclear if the steam releases and other problems are interrelated. The statement does not address the steam-outage issues or reductions in surgical care reported by Walter Reed staff.

The disruption is expected to destabilize operations across Walter Reed for weeks if not longer as appointments are pushed back and non-emergency procedures get canceled or delayed, staffers said.

On Friday, the extreme temperatures affecting some facilities relented, though it was unclear if the issue was permanently resolved, one staffer said. Some repairs will require contract work that may take months to complete, staffers have been told by the hospitals leadership.

With capacity so severely reduced, the staffers said, a chief worry is the hospitals ability to absorb patients in the event of a mass-casualty event. They highlighted the 2021 suicide bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. troops and wounded about 45 others, saying Walter Reed, which treated many of those hurt in the Kabul airport attack, would struggle to handle even a fraction of those trauma cases today.

The primary mission of this place is to be ready to take care of people who get seriously injured supporting combat operations, one staffer said. And we cannot do that right now.

The U.S. military is not actively involved in a war, but thousands of troops deployed throughout the Middle East face persistent danger as hostility between Israel and Iran has gripped much of the region for months on end. American forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack numerous times in the past year.

Walter Reed continued to perform the most critical patient procedures, including vascular and cancer surgery, the staffers said, but overall volume has been sharply reduced with many patients sent to other hospitals. The facility typically completes about 40 surgeries each day, but as of Thursday the staffers estimated that number was in the single digits.

Operating rooms have fewer clean surgical tools available and must send them to regional hospitals to be sterilized, which can take up to two days to receive back, a staffer said. The lack of steam also means workers cannot flash sterilize equipment in emergencies, further risking patient health, the staffer said.

Austin, the hospitals director, has appeared to downplay concerns from workers about a potential for mold growth after so much water penetrated the facility and the threat that could pose to patients and staff, her emails show. Its true there may be a funky smell, she wrote in one message to staff, but that doesnt mean mold is present. Mold, she wrote, is part of the tapestry of life in Maryland and any overgrowth would be targeted by industrial hygiene workers brought in to clean affected spaces, she wrote.

In an update Austin sent to staff Wednesday, she highlighted the reopening of two fast food establishments on the hospital grounds, Dunkin and Subway, and counted among those wins the resumption of care for infants born prematurely. Austin conceded her staff was frustrated with the uncertainty looming. We still dont have a solid estimate for when repairs will be completed, she wrote.

Walter Reed, the U.S. militarys flagship hospital, began as a Navy-run facility when President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid its cornerstone in Bethesda, Maryland, in late 1940. In 2011, the Army shuttered a similar hospital in Washington and combined it with the Navys to form Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the site of the original hospital in Maryland. Some buildings there have newer construction while others that house patient care are more than 50 years old.

The Walter Reed system has experienced controversies in the past. In 2007, when the Army oversaw the hospital in Washington, The Post uncovered systemic neglect and poor living conditions affecting wounded troops during the height of the Iraq War. The Pentagon relieved the hospitals commander in response. In 2022, troops living on the grounds at the current facility endured months with no air conditioning or hot water, Military Times reported.

Recurring problems with power and water are magnified because military commands outside of Walter Reed have responsibility for those utilities, leading to delays in addressing such problems when they occur, said Mel Helgeson, former director of surgery who was assigned to Walter Reed for 20 years.

Compounding the issue, he said, is the fact most hospital directors do not stay in that role for very long and thus dont invest in long-term solutions to the layers of decay.

Helgeson, who retired in 2024, said readiness at Walter Reed has been in decline for years, and that he agrees with staffers concerns about the hospitals ability to handle a mass-casualty event.

At Walter Reed, he said, lots of people struggle with that.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaking Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, during a meeting of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. She has introduced legislation that allows veterans to directly schedule their own appointments for private health care at non-VA facilities. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON  Legislation that would allow veterans to bypass pre-approval to get their health care outside the Department of Veterans Affairs is gaining traction in Congress.

The Veterans Health Care Freedom Act would make it easier for veterans to obtain medical services from doctors in private practice by removing eligibility requirements for non-VA care.

Introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., in December, the bill has collected 24 co-sponsors in the House.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also introduced a companion bill in the Senate that would enable veterans to make an appointment with a clinician in private practice without the VA first determining the medical service is not readily available at a VA health facility close to the veterans home.

Though similar legislation was introduced a few years ago, it did not gain momentum in Congress. But interest by lawmakers in easing the rules for community care has grown along with the demand by veterans for the health coverage.

About 40% of veterans care is now provided outside the VA, according to the agency. Demand for community care keeps rising each year, lawmakers said.

The Senate bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is designed to give veterans more control over how and where they receive their health care.

Streamlining the VA community care program is a common-sense way we can increase access to care and cut through red tape, Tuberville said.

Passage of the Mission Act in 2018 for the first time enabled veterans to receive health care coverage outside the VA for service-connected illnesses and injuries. The VA covers the cost of care delivered by private clinicians registered with the agencys health care network.

But veterans must meet specific conditions to receive care from a clinician in private practice. The VA pre-approves the service before an appointment is made.

Veterans must first show that they face long delays for treatment or a specialty medical service that they need is unavailable at a VA facility close to home.

Navy veteran Marie Smith, 60, of California said she often experiences two- to six-month waits for VA appointments for cardiology, ophthalmology, neurology and pain management. But Smith said the VA rarely informs her of the options for care in the community.

The VA is very reluctant in most cases to give referrals for community care. I think it has to do with the costs, said Smith, a former corpsman who served in the Navy from 1987-1988 and was honorably discharged after injuring her back and neck in a vehicle accident.

This legislation would take the VA out of the referral process, Blackburn said, enabling veterans to have the final say about where and how they get their health care.

Blackburn also said she and other lawmakers increasingly hear from veterans frustrated by the requirements.

The legislation would authorize a three-year pilot program allowing veterans to go to a doctor in private practice without first receiving a referral from the VA. The goal is to expand the program to all veterans after the pilot program ends, lawmakers said.

The pilot program would be funded through the existing VA budget, which is $369 billion in fiscal 2025.

This bill will remove the barriers many veterans face in accessing care closer to home or at higher quality facilities in their local communities, according to Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative nonprofit veterans advocacy organization that supports the legislation.

Under the legislation, veterans would have the same access when making appointments with primary care doctors, specialists and mental health counselors as they now have when seeking urgent care in a community setting, supporters said.

Smith said she is eager to see less involvement by the VA in administering community care because of the delays that she encounters. She has had problems with follow-up from the VA in tracking and verifying authorizations and then delivering reimbursement after the medical treatment.

Everything seems to fall into a blackhole at the VA. If they dont lose the approval paperwork, it gets shuffled to different people. There are delays to getting notified, when youre approved for community care, Smith said.

Blackburn said she believes the VA effectively discourages veterans from seeking community care with layers of bureaucratic red tape and a lack of accessibility to their local medical providers.

Wicker added: Veterans must have access to community health care facilities. This legislation gives them more choices for medical care and helps avoid long wait times at VA facilities.
Air Force veteran Lourdes Tiglao and Navy veteran James Albino, who served as the directors of the Center for Women Veterans and the Center for Minority Veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs, were dismissed Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Department of Veterans Affairs)

WASHINGTON  The directors of the Center for Minority Veterans and the Center for Women Veterans were dismissed Thursday night by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the programs, VA officials said.

Lourdes Tiglao, an Air Force veteran, ran the womens center, and James Albino, a Navy veteran, directed the center for minority veterans.

The two were political appointees of former President Joe Bidens administration.

Both will be replaced with new leaders, the VA said, describing their terminations as routine for an incoming administration and unrelated to an effort by President Donald Trumps administration to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

Albino and Tiglao stepped into their roles as center directors in 2021 replacing appointees made during the first Trump administration, the VA said. The centers offer a range of services to women and minorities that include help with benefits, legal services and small-business programs.

Acting directors have been appointed for both positions, as a search for new leaders gets underway, according to the VA. The centers work and operations continue uninterrupted, the VA said.

Lynda Davis, VA chief veterans experience officer, will temporarily lead the womens center. Debra Walker, deputy director of the minority center, will step into the top role until a replacement is found, the VA said.

VA is working to appoint permanent leaders for both organizations, the agency said.

As the center director, Tiglao served as an adviser to former VA Secretary Denis McDonough on policies and programs that affect female veterans. She is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, a think tank that focuses on national security solutions.

Tiglao served in the Air Force from 1996 to 2007 as a cardiopulmonary specialist on a critical care air transport support team, with deployments to Japan, the Philippines and Afghanistan.

As minority center director at the VA, Albino advised McDonough on the adoption and implementation of policies and programs affecting veterans who are minorities. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary for the VAs Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Albino was a lieutenant in the Navy from 1981 to 1985 based in Norfolk, Va. He worked as a ships navigator, combat control officer and tactical action officer. He led two divisions on board the guided-missile destroyer USS John King.
Martin McCauley (62) is charged with murdering Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Paul Hamilton and Allan McCloy in October 1982

One of the Colombia Three has appeared in court charged with the callous and cowardly murder of three RUC officers over 40 years ago.

Martin McCauley (62) is charged with murdering Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Paul Hamilton and Allan McCloy in October 1982.

The three officers were in an unmarked car on the Kinnego Embankment when a 200lb (90kg) bomb was detonated remotely.

A PSNI detective said she believed she could connect McCauley to the charges.

During a contested bail application at Craigavon Magistrates Court, the court heard a number of items were retrieved from the scene including cigarette butts, plastic sheeting, the command wire used to detonate the device and motorcycle helmets used by the killers.

A prosecuting lawyer revealed that having been subjected to modern forensic tests, DNA attributable to McCauley had been recovered from the cigarette stubs.

They said the odds of the DNA coming from someone else were over a billion to one.

McCauleys DNA was not found on the motorcycle helmets used by the murder gang as they fled the scene, but the court heard that profiles matched a number of now-deceased men suspected of involvement.

Responsibility for the explosion, which left a 3.5m deep crater in the road, was later admitted by the IRA.

Following legal applications lodged in the High Court in Dublin, McCauley  with an address in Naas in Co Kildare  was extradited to face the charges he had previously denied.

McCauley was one of three men arrested at Bogota International Airport back in August 2001. Colombian authorities alleged that they were training FARC rebels and were members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

Objecting to bail, the detective highlighted concerns about a flight risk, further offending and potential witness interference.

She cited previous convictions, the Colombia court case and subsequent escape from South America arguing it showed the alleged IRA killer could travel the world without a passport.

She also stressed that McCauley had not co-operated with the triple murder investigation, declining to be interviewed by the PSNI and by Gardai before fighting against extradition to Northern Ireland.

Our concern is that if he is granted bail we will not be able to enforce conditions, she said.

The court heard that McCauley had been on bail for several years for the infamous hayshed incident in Lurgan in 1982.

He was seriously injured and his 17-year-old friend Michael Tighe was killed when RUC officers opened fire on a shed.

McCauley was later convicted of having firearms with intent to endanger life but those convictions were quashed and deemed unsafe by the former Lord Chief Justice in 2014 after he heard how a senior RUC officer destroyed tape recordings.

Defence counsel Andrew Moriarty said his client contesting the extradition proceedings was not surprising given the latest charges are based on work done by an organisation which tried to kill him and that did kill a child and that misled the DPP.

The barrister argued that he will not even dignify the supposed risks of further offending and witness interference because, in his view, there was no evidence to ground those objections.

Regarding the risk of flight, Mr Moriarty highlighted that McCauley was the main breadwinner for his family, and that he has a sizeable mortgage and is employed.

He is as anchored to the island of Ireland as anyone can be, Mr Moriarty said while arguing his client has known there was a risk of extradition since August and had certain knowledge for the last two weeks.

"At no point in that period, said Mr Moriarty, did McCauley seek to flee the jurisdiction.

He revealed that across the sureties put forward, a total of 100,000 cash could be lodged and further that McCauley was willing to sign at his local Gardai station twice a day and travel to Newry to sign bail at the weekends.

Judge Mateer said he was not sufficiently concerned about further offending or witness interference to refuse bail on those grounds.

Given the defendants offer to sign bail every day and to lodge 100,000 with the court the judge said: I do not consider that the objections are such that I should refuse bail.

The Public Prosecution Service lawyer indicated they intended to appeal the judges decision before requesting a break.

Upon returning, they confirmed they were content with the ruling but had bail conditions to suggest.

Mr Moriarty said some of the proposed sureties are currently out of the country, and asked for a few days grace for them to be able to lodge the cash.

Stressing that his decision was predicated on 100,000 being lodged with the court, Judge Mateer said that with his job still open and mortgage payments still likely to be made I dont want to do that that puts a certain onus on these people to make good on their offers.

Bail was granted at 500 and the case was adjourned to February 26.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 23:58 | All, Japan, World

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Friday he and his new U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth agreed to beef up the two nations' security alliance during their first phone talks since the launch of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

Hegseth, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week as defense secretary, welcomed Japan's plan to increase its defense spending and indicated to Nakatani the need for it to make further such efforts, according to sources on bilateral relations.

"Amid the increasingly severe security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, we agreed to work on further strengthening the alliance's deterrence and response capabilities," Nakatani told reporters after the 40-minute phone talks, in an apparent reference to China's military activities in the area.

The two affirmed that the Japanese-controlled, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea fall under the scope of the Japan-U.S. security treaty, as has been agreed between Japan and past U.S. administrations.

The U.S. affirmation that the security treaty's Article 5 applies to the Senkakus displays the "unwavering U.S. commitment to defending Japan," Nakatani said.

Article 5 states that the United States will defend territories under Japan's administration from armed attack.

Japan has been increasingly concerned with China's assertiveness in the East China Sea, with coast guard vessels repeatedly entering Japan's territorial waters around the uninhabited Senkakus that Beijing calls Diaoyu.

The Japanese and U.S. defense chiefs agreed during their conversation to hold an in-person meeting "as early as possible," although a specific date has yet to be determined, according to Nakatani.

Nakatani also explained to his U.S. counterpart Japan's plan to expand its defense outlays and related spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product by fiscal 2027, according to the sources.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host and combat veteran, welcomed the existing plan. He did not mention any specific numerical target on Japan's defense spending, the sources said.

The Trump administration, as seen during its first four-year term through January 2021, is expected to ramp up pressure on U.S. allies to contribute more to defense. Trump, inaugurated for the second time on Jan. 20, has expressed his desire for each NATO member to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP.

Japan has long kept its annual defense budget at around 1 percent of GDP. But the tough security environment pushed it to decide on a major defense buildup plan in 2022, with an eye to NATO's 2 percent GDP defense spending target.

Nakatani and Hegseth also agreed that their two countries would cooperate toward a "free and open Indo-Pacific" and continue their work to upgrade the alliance's command and control frameworks for better coordination, among other issues.

Following the deadly collision near Washington on Wednesday of a commercial jet and a U.S. military helicopter, Nakatani extended his condolences to the victims and their families in the phone talks.

Related coverage:

Top diplomats of Japan, U.S. agree to take ties to "new heights"
James Donegan of Bruce Manor, Arva in Co Cavan is wanted by authorities in Northern Ireland for the murder of 64-year-old Joseph James Porter at Mountnorris in Co Armagh

The High Court has ordered the extradition of a 66-year-old man who is wanted in Northern Ireland for the murder of a part time member of the UDR in Co Armagh over 45 years ago.

James Donegan of Bruce Manor, Arva in Co Cavan is wanted by authorities in Northern Ireland for the murder of 64-year-old Joseph James Porter at Mountnorris in Co Armagh on a date unknown between June 22 and 25, 1979.

Mr Donegan is also wanted for a second offence of the possession of a firearm and ammunition with the intent to endanger life as well as belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.

When he was arrested at Dublin Airport last June having agreed to meet gardai as he returned home from holidays, Mr Donegan told arresting officers: "I'm an innocent man".

At the High Court today, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath said he was satisfied that none of the objections raised by Mr Donegan met the necessary criteria to refuse his extradition and directed he should be surrendered.

Mr Donegan was arrested by detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at Dublin Airport following the endorsement of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TaCA) Warrant issued by the Northern Ireland Authorities.

The extradition warrant states that Mr Porter's body was found close to the entrance of his farm at Creggan Road, Mountnorris in Co Armagh on June 24, 1979. A post-mortem examination conducted that day concluded that Mr Porter had died of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk. The warrant also states that prior to his death Mr Porter had been a part time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

At the High Court today, Mr Justice McGrath noted the objections raised by lawyers for Mr Donegan to his extradition related to whether the alleged offences would correspond to an offence under the law in this jurisdiction and an alleged abuse of process.

He said in considering correspondence in a case such as this one based on circumstantial evidence, it is sufficient to provide a broad outline of the alleged offences. The judge said he was satisfied that the criteria had been met for each of the three offences alleged and the details in the warrant were sufficient to meet section 11A of the Act.

Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent had asserted that his surrender would amount to an abuse of process and noted the first issue raised in support of this argument concerned the decision of the DPP in this jurisdiction not to prosecute.

The judge said the decision by the DPP in 2017 not to prosecute was not a ground for refusal.

There was no question of any assurance ever being given that Mr Donegan would not be prosecuted here or elsewhere, he added.

The judge also said the respondent had not adduced any evidence in support of an argument that owing to the passage of time he will not now receive a fair trial in the prosecuting state.

Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent is sought to stand trial for the most serious offences and noted this is the first surrender request. An explanation had been given for the circumstances where many years after the event the respondents surrender came to be sought, he said, adding there is no evidence of any bad faith or improper motive.

There is no evidence to suggest he will not receive a fair trial, he added.

The judge noted there was no doubt that the respondents surrender would undoubtedly result in the disruption of his family life and said Mr Donegan was a man who also had health difficulties and underwent heart surgery in the summer of 2024.

However, Mr Justice McGrath said no evidence has been put before the court to suggest the UK would not provide sufficient medical attention and said the potential disruption to Mr Donegans family life was nowhere close to the standard of gross disruption necessary to refuse surrender.

The judge said having considered and rejected all the arguments, he found the application for surrender was not unconscionable and he therefore made an order for Mr Donegans surrender.

Following an application by counsel for Mr Donegan for a stay of one week on his surrender, Mr Justice McGrath adjourned the matter to next Friday, February 7.
On Friday, Mr Justice John Jordan granted the injunction against the seizure or euthanasia of the breed in a case brought on behalf of six animal welfare charities

The High Court has put a stay on a new regulation due to come into force tomorrow that would have allowed the authorities to seize or euthanise XL Bully dogs in the care of animal welfare organisations.

On Friday, Mr Justice John Jordan granted the injunction against the seizure or euthanasia of the breed in a case brought on behalf of six animal welfare charities.

However, the judge refused the application from the charities to order a second injunction on the regulatory ban preventing the dog shelters and relevant bodies from re-homing the dogs during the time-period sought.

The stay imposed by Mr Justice Jordan is until February 27, when a substantive hearing is due to take place on the broader aspects of the Control of Dogs 2024 regulations relating to the XL Bully breed.

Mr Justice Jordan said he was making the ruling while being conscious of public safety and in the context of dog attacks that have left people with irreparable and even fatal injuries.

The case was put by barristers Sunniva McDonagh and Mariana Verdes BL, instructed by solicitors KOD Lyons, against the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Ireland and the Attorney General.

The applicants were My Lovely Horse Rescue, Clare Animal Welfare, Working Animal Guardians, Dogs Angels Ireland, Wicklow Animal Welfare and the Haven Rescue.

In October, it became illegal to import, breed, rehome or resell XL Bully dogs, which are the largest of the American bully breed. However, animal shelters and charities with XL Bully dogs already in their facilities were given until tomorrow, February 1, to re-home or export them.

A ban on owning the breed without an exemption certificate also comes into force at the weekend. Local authorities can grant certificates for the dogs only if they are licenced, microchipped and neutered.

An owner found to be in breach of the regulations by keeping an XL Bully after February 1 without an exemption certificate will have committed a criminal offence under the 1986 Control of Dogs Act. The animal may be seized and euthanised and the owner subject to imprisonment of up to three months or a fine of up to 2,500, or both.

Ms McDonagh told Mr Justice Jordan that her clients were "extremely concerned" with public safety and that "any suggestion otherwise, to not to protect public safety, is misguided".

Counsel said "we are all horrified by dog attacks" but urged the court to use its "clear authority" to grant the interlocutory injunction.

She said that her clients feared that in the interim period, if the stay on the new regulations were not granted that "irreparable harm may be suffered" and that the matter before the court was "very urgent".

Counsel said there was concern that there is no review procedure in the regulations for dogs misidentified as XL Bullys and then put down.

"To keep the dogs alive is crucial, that is the great fear my clients have" she said.

Remy Farrell SC, for the respondents, said there had been "significant" recent dog attacks but acknowledged the possibility of error in identifying an XL Bully dog.

Mr Farrell said the jurisprudence of the court regarding putting a stay on statutory provisions was usually "very sparingly exercised".

Mr Justice Jordan said there was "something illogical" about the legislation not providing any "review mechanism" on a warden's assessment of the breed of the dog in advance of it being euthanised.

Mr Justice Jordan said he did not see "any real prejudice allowing animals to stay alive until the case is fully determined", adding that in the interim the dogs would be cared for by "responsible people" who were volunteers.

"You cannot bring back a dead dog to life," said the judge.

"A patently wrong decision could result in the death of a dog who should not be euthanised, when a challenge or review would have avoided that," he said.

The judge granted the injunction for the plaintiffs but stressed that there were "well motivated and well-intentioned people on both sides of the argument".
Naoufal Fassih appealed his conviction for the Samadi murder to the Court of Appeal who ruled in his favour earlier this month.

A Kinahan cartel associate has been acquitted of the murder of an Iranian dissident in Holland on appeal and convicted of attempting to solicit the murder instead.

Dutch criminal Naoufal Fassih, who was arrested in a Kinahan safehouse on Baggot Street in 2016, is a major figure in international crime.

After his arrest in Dublin he was extradited to Holland where he was jailed for various offences including ordering gang hits and political assassinations.

Earlier this month he told a judge he was not still busy with escape or murder plans as he sought to be moved from a high security prison regime.

Fassih was a leading member of a Dutch gang along with Chilean trafficker Ricardo El Rico Riquelme Vega who was jailed for 11 years recently and is the right-hand man of Ridouan Taghi, leader of the so-called Mocro Mafia.

Taghi is currently serving life for a series of gangland murders committed by his gang. Three people connected to a key witness including his lawyer, his brother and a well known journalist Peter R. de Vries were murdered during the trial.

Fassih, Taghi and Vega had strong links to the Kinahan cartel and along with other criminal organisations were part of so-called supercartel with the Irish gang.

Fassih and Taghi are claimed to have tried to organise numerous prison breaks since being locked up.

Fassih had been hiding out in Dublin with the assistance of the cartel as he was wanted in the Netherlands in relation to various offences including murder and ordering assassinations and sentenced to life.

However, his sentence was reduced to 25 years and four months this week after he was acquitted of the murder of an Iranian dissident on appeal.

In 2019 he was jailed for life for the organising the December 2015 murder of Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi  an Iranian dissident living in the Netherlands.

Samadi, who was a member of the Mujahedeen-Khalq opposition movement, was convicted in absentia of the 1981 bombing of Irans Islamic Republic Party headquarters which claimed 73 lives.

He travelled to the Netherlands as a political refugee using the false identity Ali Motamed in the 1980s.

He was shot in the head outside his home Dutch town of Almere, where was married and working as an electrician.

Dutch authorities suspect the Iranian regime ordered the murder. They expelled two Iranian diplomats from the Netherlands in 2018 and this was believed to be linked to Samadais murder and the murder of another Iranian man Ahmad Nissi in 2017 in The Hague.

The Iranian regime has previously been accused of hiring criminal gangs to carry out assassinations on their behalf.

Fassih appealed his conviction for the Samadi murder to the Court of Appeal who ruled in his favour earlier this month.

Dutch media reported that the Court of Appeal found while was evidence Fassih tried to solicit the murder there was not enough evidence to show he was involved in the actual murder.

The court said acting as an intermediary and conduit is not enough to demand a life sentence. He was convicted on appeal of the crime of attempted solicitation of murder.

Other convictions for money laundering and order another gun attack were upheld.

In its ruling the court said Fassih "spoke with apparent ease and without any moral sense about this murder as a purely business matter, a nice gig.

"The court considers that the defendants actions left no doubt about his ruthless and merciless attitude: a human life was worth nothing to him, the risk of more victims did not matter."

Meanwhile, Fassih has told a judge he is not still busy with escape plans or murder plans as he seeks a lighter security regime in prison.

He is currently serving his time in a high security regime and Dutch authorities received indications, he had plans to escape and was directing crime from behind bars using a smuggled phone.

He has now asked a judge that he be allowed a more relaxed regime and told him he promised not to try and escape or order any more murders.

Dutch newspaper De Stentor reported that the judge was direct with Fassih asking if he was still busy with escape plans or murder plans.

Fassih said he promised he wants. I also understand that you think: he is not going to tell if he is busy with that. But no, I am absolutely not busy with that, he told the court.

The judge gave Fassih advice for passing time in prison. If you sit there all day, playing the harp, reading books about philosophy, that would help."

Fassih also said a result of the strict regime he has no video calls with his daughter

"She is getting to an age where she knows who her father is, where her friends start talking about it. Then it is very hard when you cannot really be there for her, when you are limited in that."

The hearing took place in the extra secure court of Schiphol earlier this month.

His lawyer Thomas van der Horst said the basis on the risk of escape and ordering murders was estimated, outdated and unsubstantiated.

After his arrest in Dublin there were fears there would be an escape attempt while he was in custody in Ireland. Information had come in to that a special team from South America had been flown in to use explosive to help him escape while being transported.

After he was in custody in the Netherlands authorities received further information in 2019 that a large sum of money had been offered to help him escape.

Two more reports came in in 2022 that he was plotting to escape again.

A lawyer for the state said: Time and again concrete signals and the last time it was very disturbing information.

The court will rule next week on whether Fassih will have any relaxation in his regime.

After his extradition from Ireland, Fassih was later sentenced to 18 years behind bars for ordering a gun attack on Dutch national Peter Raap who survived the shooting. That conviction was upheld this week by the Court of Appeal.
Criminal Thomas Nicky McConnell (39), from Ballymun, Dublin, was the fourth person to be convicted at the Special Criminal Court of the murder of Hutch in May 2016.

Detectives believe a Kinahan enforcer who received a life sentence this week for the murder of Gareth Hutch acted as a spotter in the murder of dissident republican Vinnie Ryan three months earlier.

Criminal Thomas Nicky McConnell (39), from Ballymun, Dublin, was the fourth person to be convicted at the Special Criminal Court of the murder of Hutch in May 2016.

However, he is also suspected of acting as a spotter, carrying out surveillance for the Kinahan cartel, in the days before the murder of dissident republican Vinnie Ryan, who was shot dead on February 29, 2016, as the Hutch-Kinahan feud spiralled out of control.

McConnell was questioned by gardai for withholding information about Ryans murder, but denied involvement in it and was later released without charge.

Read more Life sentence for man for feud murder of The Monks nephew Gareth Hutch

The firm belief of the investigation team was that McConnell acted as a spotter for the crime organisation in the days before the murder, a source said.

This involved him carrying out surveillance on Vinnie Ryan while the suspect travelled in a car of particular interest.

Ultimately, there wasnt enough evidence to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions on this matter. What probably helped him was he was actually not present in the area on the day of the murder.

Gardai believe Ryans murder was ordered by the Kinahan cartel just weeks after the Regency Hotel attack.

Two criminals, Jeffrey Morrow (42), from Ballymun, and co-accused Paul OBeirne (41), from Ballyfermot, also Dublin, pleaded guilty to assisting a criminal organisation in the Ryan murder.

another indication of An Garda Siochanas determination in combating organised and serious crime

OBeirne was sentenced to nine years in prison and Morrow was jailed for 11 years.

While McConnell escaped charges in that case, detectives at Mountjoy garda station built a case against him for the Gareth Hutch murder.

He was already a key suspect in the Hutch murder when arrested for withholding information in the Ryan case.

Vincent 'Vinnie' Ryan. Photo: Collins

On Monday, the Special Criminal Court heard McConnell had 105 previous convictions, including for assault, the misuse of drugs, threatening to kill and causing serious harm, as well as possession of knives.

He was extradited from Turkey to Ireland on a European Arrest Warrant. Last December, following a verdict by the Special Criminal Court, he was found guilty of the murder of Hutch in an ambush in Dublin.

Revealing the verdict of the three-judge court last month, Mr Justice Owens said the evidence showed, beyond reasonable doubt, that McConnell was the second hitman in the attack, along with Jonathan Keogh, who followed Hutch from his home and shot him dead.

When passing judgment, the court found Keoghs gun discharged a number of bullets at close range that caused the injuries that killed Hutch. McConnells gun was later found to have the safety catch on and did not fire any rounds.

However, the court found that even if McConnell had deliberately left the safety catch on, his actions in preparation for the shooting showed he was part of a common design with Keogh and others to commit murder and his actions were intended to result in Hutchs death.

Detective Superintendent Colm Murphy said the sentencing of McConnell was another indication of An Garda Siochanas determination in combating organised and serious crime.
Gardai from the DMR North Central Divisional Drugs Unit were involved in the search of the house in Dublin 1

A man has been arrested after a total of 157,000 worth of drugs including cannabis and crack cocaine were seized in a raid on a house in Dublin yesterday.

Gardai from the DMR North Central Divisional Drugs Unit were involved in the search of the house in Dublin 1.

During the course of this search approximately 100,000 of cannabis and 57,000 crack cocaine was seized, a Garda spokesperson said.

The drugs seized have been sent for further analysis.

A man, aged in his 40s, was arrested and detained at a Garda Station in Dublin under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1996.

Gardai added: He has been charged and will appear before Court 4 of the Criminal Courts of Justice later this afternoon.

Investigations are ongoing.

Gardai said the seizure forms part of Operation Tara, the enhanced national anti-drugs strategy, which was launched by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in July 2021.

The focus of Operation Tara is to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks, at all levels - international, national, local - involved in the importation, distribution, cultivation, production, local sale and supply of controlled drugs.
Industrial School survivor William Gorry shares his story and how he overcame his horrific experiences

William Gorry bringing his story to the public to share the horrific abuse he suffered at the industrial school in Westmeath

William Gorry bringing his story to the public to share the horrific abuse he suffered at the industrial school in Westmeath

William Gorry dressed as a priest at a Say No to The Pope protest in 2018

William hopes his book will help others who suffered like he did

An abuse survivor who suffered years of hell at an industrial school he describes as a rape institution says a memoir he has written is a way of standing up and saying that I matter and my truth needs to be told.

William Gorry (58) says he suffered more than a decade of horrendous physical, sexual and mental abuse at Mount Carmel Industrial School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, in Moate, Co Westmeath, from 1974.

There was no nurture, no love, no care. I dont call them care homes, I dont call them homes either, they were raping institutions. The Sisters of Mercy. Where is the mercy? he asks.

.

William has written the new book, Rising Above My Past: Triumph Over Silence, detailing his horrific experiences and how he has managed to overcome trauma and seek justice.

The book was more or less to retain my voice and to tell the story about a life marked by such horrific pain and tremendous struggle, he says.

He said he survived in the face of unimaginable abuse for so long and in recent years has reclaimed his voice to advocate for victims.

The book is a way of standing up and saying that I matter and my experience matters and my truth needs to be told. Those in power have consistently failed me.

They were supposed to protect and nurture me. Instead they caused harm, robbed me of dignity and peace of mind.

William, who is originally from Offaly but living in Dublin, was just 11 when he was sent to Mount Carmel.

He came from a family of 13 and his parents struggled financially to bring them up. His mother ended up leaving for England and William and four of his siblings were placed into the orphanage. At the time they were told they were going on a holiday but instead it ended up worse than prison.

The things that happened were quite unbelievable, he says.

He told how he suffered horrendous sexual abuse like many of the children staying there.

William said his brother Thomas, who was younger than him and wheelchair bound, was also sexually abused alongside him in the same room by two clergymen.

William Gorry dressed as a priest at a Say No to The Pope protest in 2018

He said Thomas later went on a trip to Lourdes and he was later told he had died. William said he spent years trying to find out what happened.

He said others died by suicide while he was there.

One was a 13-year-old girl. Another boy was 17 or 18. What a waste of life. The way they were treated wasnt a life. Its very sad.

William suffered from a vision impairment but it went undiagnosed for six years while in the home and he says he was constantly mocked by nuns who would lash out at him because he could not read properly.

He said the nuns were involved in physical and verbal abuse but men, including lay people and priests, were involved in sexual abuse.

People ask why did it to take so long to come out about the abuse? You just didnt because youd get the head taken off you by these nuns and priests.

The gardai in Moate had a great connection with the Sisters and you wouldnt even talk bad to the guards about them then, he says.

Years later he did speak out about the abuse.

William Gorry bringing his story to the public to share the horrific abuse he suffered at the industrial school in Westmeath

While William was compensated through the redress scheme for the abuse he suffered, he also filed a garda complaint against a nun, priests and lay people of physical and sexual abuse

However, the DPP decided not to prosecute, causing further frustration to William who feels he has been let down by the State his entire life.

William said the book is not just a memoir abut his horrific experiences but also how he learned to overcome them.

He set up the Residential Institutions Survivors Network in recent years and is a strong advocate for survivors.

He said more needs to be done for survivors.

All theyre doing is listening to peoples stories. We need services and supports out there, medically educationally. Most are medical.

William said while various promises have been made over the years, the feeling amongst survivors he knows is that many will be dead before anything happens.

I had, in 2017 when I started off, 543. There were 439 a year ago and that is gone down to 312 Thats a big drop. Thats people who have passed away.

A lot of them have a lot of illnesses that are not being supported by medical or health intervention and theyre passing away quicker.

Unfortunately, a lot of survivors who went through abuse have also been through homelessness and prison and other institutions. They just dont have the support and its revolving doors.

He said he hopes his book will help other survivors.

My book comes out not only of my own past but also to support others.

My book tries to give hope to survivors that there is a way of standing up, speaking out and getting the strength.

*William has copies of his book which he is giving away for free to the first 10 Sunday World readers to contact him via his website triumphoversilence.com
Dillon Kavanagh (30) died on January 23 in Cork city while Damien Kavanagh (36) was found dead in his flat in Cardiff in Wales on January 8

Two young brothers from Cork who died within a two-week period will be laid to rest following a joint funeral tomorrow.

Dillon Kavanagh (30) died on January 23 in Cork city while Damien Kavanagh (36) was found dead in his flat in Cardiff in Wales on January 8.

Another brother Leon Kavanagh (31) succumbed to drug addiction in 2021.

Christine Kavanagh (65) from Gurranabraher on the northside of Cork lost a fourth son Ross (31) in 2016 after he collapsed and died of an epilepsy related condition.

It has previously been reported that Damien had made the decision to move out of Cork in recent years in an effort to escape from the drug scene and was clean for some time.

His body was brought back to Ireland from Wales with the assistance of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

According to their death notices on RIP.ie, Damien and Dillon are survived by their parents Terry and Christine, their seven surviving siblings, extended family and a large circle of friends.

They are predeceased by their brothers Ross and Leon. Damien is also survived by his children Deon and Kelvin and their mother Sonya.

The brothers will lie in repose at Coughlans Funeral Home, Shandon Street today from 10am. The family will be attendance from 6.30pm with rosary following at 7.30pm.

Dillon Kavanagh

A requiem mass for both men will take place at 10am tomorrow in St Marys on the Hill Church, in Knocknaheeny in Cork with burial following at St Catherines Cemetery, Kilcully.

Dillons RIP.ie page states that he will be sadly missed by his heartbroken parents, family, aunts, uncles, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives, kind neighbours and a large circle of good friends.

In the condolences section for Dillon, one person wrote: To Dillons family and friends, I'm so sorry for your loss may his loving arms wrap around you all in your time of grief, think of your great times make memories, may his soul rest in peace love to you all.

Another added: Christine, my sincere sympathy to you and your family on the sad passing of your two precious sons. I am thinking of you.

One person said: We can't put into words Christine and Terry and to the brothers and sisters of two beautiful men who have passed all too soon.

God comfort you all Christine I know you from the bus and the pleasantries we engage in. Such a beautiful person, you are family, please stand together in this tragedy and be there for one another be strong. RIP beautiful men.

Speaking after her son Damien was found dead in his apartment in Cardiff, Wales, Christine said her heart is broken.

Leon Kavanagh, who was also 31 when he died in March 2021, had struggled with addiction and was known to various homeless services, had been sleeping rough on St Patricks Street around the time of his death.

He died just days after saving the life of another homeless man who had taken an overdose of tablets.

I dont think I can take any more, Christine said. My heart is broken, our world has ended, our hearts are crushed.

Ms Kavanagh wept as she told Neil Prendeville on Corks RedFM on Thursday how she is now making funeral arrangements for Damien.

She said that while Damien had struggled with addiction issues he had moved to Wales in 2019 in search of a fresh start.

He was living with her step-daughter, and working on various jobs, and was doing well.

He got clean, he got a beautiful apartment, he had everything going for him, she said.

She revealed how she had spoken to him in the week before Christmas when he told her she was the strongest woman.

He also spoke to one of his teenage children on New Years Day.

She said she was so shocked when she heard the news this week that he had died suddenly, adding I want to get him home.

Christine previously told the Opinion Line Producer, Paul Byrne, on Corks 96FM that more needs to be done to make drug dealers accountable for their actions.

They (dealers) have to stop dealing these dirty drugs to our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, she said.

It is not fair for a mum, a dad, a sister or a brother to bury another brother or a son. There should be more help out there. More services for them.

Dillon was a lovely son, she added. Very educated but when he went down that road with those dirty drugs it just took Dillon away from us.

Christine thanked her family and the local community for their support over the years and particularly in recent weeks as she has endured the unimaginable loss of two of her sons.

I have fantastic support from our two families. The family of their Dad and all my family and friends and work and everywhere. The support we are getting is fantastic for me. But there is not enough support for addicts.
I was always quite proud, to be honest. I always thought it was really cool, but I know my sister found it difficult.

Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye are on tour with their show

Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye are on tour with their show

He was recently long-listed for a BAFTA, has THREE movies coming out, including one with Hollywood superstar Pierce Brosnan, and starred in the new series of The Young Offenders  but comic and actor Pat Shortt says nothing beats the thrill of working with his daughter Faye.

Pat (57) and Faye (26) have been a huge hit on social media as a comedy duo and are currently packing in the crowds at live shows around Ireland. They have also teamed up with Specsavers on a new campaign to raise awareness of presbyopia.

Its incredible and you pinch yourself every so often, Pat says of his working relationship with his daughter. Im very proud of Faye. I look at her on stage some nights and it cracks me up little things she says in the characters, and how she nails it and everything else.

And then just being together. The big one will be Australia in April and May. It will be just the two of us touring together, so we will be very much looking out for each other.

Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye

Pats wife, Caroline, the mother of his three children, wont be joining them. No, she doesnt like travelling and its a long way away, Pat says. The other side of it, too, is that were working. Well be doing a day or two in a city and hopping on a plane to the next city. It will be tough going and tiring.

At the end were staying in Auckland for a few days to wind down and then Faye is off to Vietnam for a few weeks to holiday and Ill be back to do a bit of work in Ireland.

Faye is the eldest of Shortts children that include another daughter, Lily, and son, Lughaidh.

Most kids find their parents embarrassing, so what was it like growing up with a famous dad? Were you embarrassed by his fame? I didnt find it embarrassing, but my other siblings would have had different scenarios where they would have found it embarrassing, Faye reveals.

Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye with our man Eddie Rowley

I was always quite proud, to be honest. I always thought it was really cool, but I know my sister found it difficult.

Pat interjects: Oh, she flipped a few times, he laughs. She used to listen to Spin South West when she was 15 or 16 in the morning before going to school. At the time there was a horse meat crisis and I remember doing a little [comic] piece to camera, This is not a horse heifer, this is a cow heifer and it went viral overnight.

Spin South West used to do this thing in the morning about what went viral overnight and theyd play the video. That morning I heard a scream from upstairs, Jesus Christ! Ah f**k you, I cant go to school today! I was going, whats after happening, what did I do? I hadnt heard the radio.

Faye says: Yeah, shed be mortified, like. You are so embarrassing, I hate you! I hate you!

Pat in an episode of Father Ted

Does she laugh about it now. Pat: She does, yeah. Faye: Yeah, she does just about. Me and my brother wouldnt have found it as embarrassing. But everyone deals with that stuff differently. And I can see where shes coming from too.

Shes like our mother, she doesnt like the limelight. People often ask me are they [her siblings] jealous, do they mind that theyre not doing it with Dad? But no, because she [Lily] wouldnt want to be doing this, which is lovely as well because youd hate if there was another sibling who wanted to do it and you got in there first.

Despite travelling and working together, Faye, who also presents a weekend show on Spin South West radio, says theres never a cross word between herself and Pat.

We get on great, she says. I think were alike. Mum is brilliant, but she has a different sense of humour to Dad. Dad and I find the same things funny. We have great craic, its lovely and weve made such incredible memories together in the last while.

Pat Shortt and his daughter Faye are on tour with their show

When Dad comes home he probably spends more time with Lily and Lughaidh, and I spend more time with Mum. Me and Mum are so close, and the same with Lily as well, shes so relaxed, so chill.

Im lucky to have grown up in a happy family and you dont take it for granted, especially having both my parents alive as well. I have friends who lost parents in the last while.

Thats why the show is so lovely because you are creating so many memories with a parent through doing all this work. Some people dont even have a lot of photographs with their parents, whereas we have all these sketches. Its brilliant.

Speaking about his recent acting roles, Pat says he has three films completed and due for release.

Im in Deadmans Money, which is now touring the festivals around the world and Im in Rome in a few weeks. I was long-listed for the BAFTAs this year for best supporting actor in it, he reveals.

Ive also done a new movie called Four Letters Of Love with Pierce Brosnan and Helen Bonham Carter and thats not out yet. I spent a long time with Pierce Brosnan as we were in all the scenes together and we just had a great laugh doing it.

And Ive done a big Netflix project called Belfast To Heaven with Lisa McGee [the creator and writer of Derry Girls]. So I keep busy, he laughs.

Pat and Faye are also bringing a hilarious and one-off performance to The Sugar Club, Dublin, on Tuesday, February 25.

Partnering with Specsavers, the show will shine a spotlight on presbyopia, a common eye condition affecting over-40s, encouraging audiences to take charge of their vision health.

Tickets cost only 10 each, with all proceeds going to Focus Ireland. Their current tour, Knuckle Down, includes shows at Dublins 3Olympia on March 20 and 21.
The Governments new cut-price school lunch scheme has had a terrible start in Rotorua with food trucks arriving up to three hours late, in some cases just before the home-time bell rang.

Principals report buying food from supermarkets to feed hungry students and having to disrupt afternoon classes to ensure bland late-arriving meals did not go to waste.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour says a majority of the 242,000 meals nationwide have been delivered on time and the systems would improve. He said he did not expect the meals, which were saving taxpayers $130 million annually, would be loved by everyone.

The School Lunch Collective  a partnership between Compass Group, Libelle Group, and Gilmours that produces the lunches in Hamilton and distributes them around the country  has apologised for the teething problems.

Furious schools deal with late lunches

Te Rangihakahaka Centre for Science and Technology principal Renee Gillies said their school lunches were three hours late on Wednesday and an hour late on Tuesday and Thursday.

She described the situation as terrible.

I rang the ministry (on Wednesday) and said I am going to go and buy my hungry kids kai and Im sending you the bill.

She said she was told she would be reimbursed.

Te Rangihakahaka Centre for Science and Technology principal Renee Gillies said their school lunches were three hours late on Wednesday and an hour late on Tuesday and Thursday.

She described the situation as terrible.

I rang the ministry (on Wednesday) and said I am going to go and buy my hungry kids kai and Im sending you the bill.

She said she was told she would be reimbursed.

Gillies said schools warned this would happen and she fought hard to keep having lunches made in-house, to no avail.

In her view: Their logistics are stuffed.  Our kids eat lunch early at 11.30am because our babies need their lunch early.

The food quality was worse than before, she said.

It is edible but we could have done it ourselves and better  I feel like it is part of their plan, to make it so horrible that they dont do it anymore.

Rotorua Intermediate School Principal Garry de Thierry. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua Intermediate School principal Garry de Thierry said Wednesdays delivery truck arrived about 2.30pm, just before the end-of-day bell rang at 2.45pm.

De Thierry said better communication about arrival times would have made delays easier to manage.

He said a trial run before the term started worked well, but there was a different driver on Wednesday.

I felt for the truck driver, by the time he got to us, he looked like he wanted a new job.

De Thierry said he accepted the big operation would have teething problems.

Sitting in my office, I can create the best systems in the world, but then you can take it out into the real world and it can turn to kaka.

On a positive note, he said the meals were warm and students seemed to like them.

He wanted parents and caregivers to know the school had no control over the delays.

Rotorua Primary School principal Fred Whata said their meals arrived at 2pm on Wednesday, about two hours late. Students had to be taken out of class to eat.

Whata said the quality was not as good as last years supplier, Fat Dog Cafe, provided.

Im going to be straight up  It was bland, no seasoning at all. A lot of the meals came back untouched.

Kaitao Intermediate principal Phil Palfrey said the school was notified about 11am on Wednesday their lunches would be about an hour late. They arrived at 1.55pm.

I purchased $530 worth of apples and muesli bars to tide the students over. The organisers have apologised profusely, Palfrey said.

Mamaku School principal Peter Vos said lunches were delivered very late at 1.20pm. The schools lunchtime is 12.30pm.

I appreciate its early days, but it was disruptive with students eating their lunch in the afternoon instead of learning time taking place.

Seymour responds

Seymour said the School Lunch Collective was holding itself to account for the problems some schools experienced in the rollout.

It is important to recognise that this is the first three days of a major programme, requiring 242,000 hot meals to be delivered on time and at the right temperature to schools each day, Seymour told the Rotorua Daily Post.

The majority of those meals have been delivered on time and at the right temperature on the first attempt. The delivery processes will only get better and I expect the collective to work with principals to do this.

He said it was completely normal for opinions to vary on the quality of a meal served, whether it be a Michelin-star restaurant or at your nans house.

He said the collective was committed to continuous improvement.

The new school lunch programme will realise over $130 million of annual cost savings so I dont expect the meals to be the best students have ever eaten. If most students think hey these are pretty good, I think that is a good result.

Paul Harvey from the School Lunch Collective acknowledged the teething problems in Rotorua.

We apologise to the schools and students affected by this and are in contact with them to address these early challenges. We appreciate the patience and support they have given so far.

More than 127,000 meals were being delivered every school day and the group was committed to supporting students education through the Healthy School Lunches Programme.

The Ministry of Education was also approached for comment.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the Governments commitment to get New Zealands roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced.

Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is a key priority for our Government, and boosting pothole repairs and prevention will deliver a safe and efficient state highway network that will support this growth.

One of the reasons this Government was elected was because people were fed up with the degradation of our roads under Labour. They could see it in their day-to-day lives, with record numbers of potholes peppering highways across the country.

Bishop said the Government promised change to Kiwis and the freight sector, and we are delivering on that promise.

"To sort out the potholes, we established a $3.9 billion Pothole Prevention Activity Class over three years, ringfenced for resealing, rehabilitation, and drainage maintenance works to ensure these funds are used entirely on preventing potholes, Bishop said.

The NZ Transport Agency is now delivering a significant programme of works, including a record increase in road rehabilitation, which involves rebuilding entire sections of road rather than just resealing.

Bishop said the Governments Pothole Prevention Fund is delivering a total of 285.6 lane kilometres of rehabilitation work over the summer months  a 124 per cent increase compared to last year.

This record level of rehabilitation work will help prevent potholes from forming in the first place.

The previous government showed Kiwis that throwing more money at a problem is lazy, expensive, and ineffective.

Funding must be paired with increased expectation and accountabilities, and that is what weve introduced to drive better results. Faster pothole repairs are improving the safety and maintenance standards on our roads.

In July last year, the Government introduced targets for NZTA contractors to repair 95 per cent of potholes on main state highways and 85 per cent of potholes on regional state highways within 24 hours of identification.

The results speak for themselves. Since our targets were introduced, NZTA has delivered every month with greater use of new innovations to ensure that temporary pothole repairs last longer before a permanent reseal can take place, instead of simply placing cold mix in potholes, Bishop said.

Achieving these targets month after month shows the significant progress weve made in tackling the pothole issue. Kiwis can now travel more safely and efficiently on our roads, with fewer disruptions and safety hazards.

If you see a pothole on the state highway network, report it immediately by calling 0800 4 HIGHWAYS. Together, Kiwis are ensuring that potholes are identified and repaired as quickly as possible.

Month Total Potholes Repaired % Repaired Within 24 Hours Jul-24 7,114 95% Aug-24 6,303 98% Sep-24 5,030 98% Oct-24 4,809 98% Nov-24 3,200 99% Dec-24 1,697 98%

Potholes tend to be formed in wet conditions, which is why there are a higher number requiring repair in winter months.

The Pothole Prevention Activity Class includes $2 billion of funding for State Highway Pothole Prevention over three years, and $1.9 billion for local road Pothole Prevention over three years.

The number of kilometres of rehabilitation work on state highways as part of the 2024/25 summer maintenance programme compared to the previous programme:

The summer maintenance programme began in October 2024 and will be completed by March 2025.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 15:21 | All, Japan

Rescue personnel continued efforts to clear debris in an expanding sinkhole near Tokyo on Friday in the hope of saving a man trapped as the crucial 72-hour threshold of survival passed.

Preparations continued to install a ramp leading into the sinkhole, now measuring around 40 meters wide and 15 meters deep, so that machinery can be brought in to clear debris and reach the imperiled 74-year-old truck driver.

"We are doing what we think is best. All we can do is proceed with the operation," a rescuer from a local fire department said.

The hole has widened continuously since Tuesday when it appeared at an intersection in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, and swallowed the man and his truck.

Authorities are also dealing with the possibility that the sinkhole is filling up with river water backflowing in from a damaged underground rain pipe.

Local authorities said they are working with a construction contractor to excavate space for the roughly 30-meter-long ramp leading into the sinkhole from the parking lot of a nearby restaurant.

Once the ramp is complete and equipment brought in has cleared the rubble, rescuers will venture into the sinkhole to search for the man, they said.

But it may still take another two or three days until the ramp's completion, authorities said, adding that rescue personnel may enter the sinkhole even sooner depending on the conditions.

The sinkhole first appeared on Tuesday morning. After a second hole formed nearby, the two later merged and the opening has continued to expand. Residents of nearby homes have been told to evacuate.

Related coverage:

Sinkholes near Tokyo merge, man still trapped on 3rd day

Water in sinkhole near Tokyo hampers efforts to save man

Large sinkhole swallows truck near Tokyo, man trapped
Police have named the woman who died in a water related incident at Pilot Bay in Mount Maunganui.

Laushaun Ying Soon, 32, from Auckland was found deceased in the water on January 9.

Police said a person was pulled from the water unresponsive and emergency services were notified just before 8.20am.

A police spokesperson said their thoughts are with her family and loved ones.

The death has been referred to the Coroner.
Jennie Rhodes Friday, 31 January 2025, 19:04 Compartir

If the 'Gianni Versace. Retrospective', which opens to the public on 7 February at the Centro Cultural Fundacion Unicaja in Malaga has given you a taste for haute couture, the next stop on your fashion journey could be Paris. A new exhibition that explores the dialogue between some of the museum's masterpieces and fashion in now open at the Louvre.

If you happen to be in the city, you could just catch the last day of Paris Fashion Week, which last year featured jeweller Elia Sanchez Ballesteros from Velez-Malaga. Through her company Logana, her 'maxi jewellery' made Elia the first Malaga designer to feature at the world's biggest fashion event. In fact her designs were part of a show at the Louvre.

Now, Louvre Couture - Art and Fashion: Statement Pieces, features 65 designs and accessories from some of the world's biggest fashion houses and charts the history of fashion along with some of the museum's greatest masterpieces, from Byzantium to the Second Empire. The exhibition runs until 21 July.

Learn more about the history and architecture of 'les grands magasins' or stroll around markets and independent shops

Now you have set the scene, why not explore the French capital's most stylish 'arrondissements'. From 'les grands magasins' to independent boutiques, vintage stores and flea markets each one of Paris's districts has fashion at its heart.

As the iconic Coco Chanel, who dominated Parisian style for much of the 20th century, once said, "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."

On that note, make sure to head to the centre of Galleries Lafayette to see the stunning glass dome created by Jacques Gruber and installed in 1912 by Alphonse Kahn and Theophile Bader.

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After visiting the Louvre Couture exhibition, pop into Samaritaine, which is near the museum in the first arrondissement. Opened by Ernest Cognacq in 1870 on Rue du Pont-Neuf, it is named after the pump house built in the same area in the 17th century, which is turn is named after the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well in the gospel according to St John and like other department stores in the city, it is famous for its Art Deco and Nouveau styles.

Head over to the Rive Gauche - or the left side of the River Seine - for Le Bon Marche, completing the list of the French capital's iconic 'grands magasins' and the first of its kind to open in the city.

In 1852, Aristide Boucicaut realised that there was a place for a new business to offer shoppers more choice, so he and his wife Marguerite transformed a shop into what would be described as a 'cathedral of modern commerce'.

Of course, no designer retail therapy trip to Paris is complete without a trip to the elegant Champs Elysees in the eighth arrondissement, which starts at the Arc du Triomphe and ends at Concorde.

If haute couture isn't your thing then head to the fashionable Marais district in Paris's fourth arrondissement for hip boutiques, independent shops, vintage and secondhand stores and a chilled-out vibe.

Les Halles, which is also in the first arrondissement, is the place to go for high street chains. It started off as Paris's central fresh food market which closed in January 1973 and was replaced by an underground shopping centre and park. In 2010 it reopened as a Westfield Forum des Halles and is conveniently connected to the massive ChateletLes Halles RER and metro hub.

Les marches aux puces (the flea markets) are legendary in Paris. One of the best known and loved is the one at la Porte de Montreuil in the 20th arrondissement and is open on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Legend has it that if you look hard enough you can find designer and vintage items for as little as a euro.

A delightful Sunday morning market trip, with a mix of street stalls and independent shops selling clothes, accessories, food and homewares, is Rue Mouffetard in the fifth arrondissement. The best time to go is Saturday and Sunday morning when locals head there to stock up and catch up over brunch or lunch in one of the many cafes and bistros in the area.

And if you've really got a taste for fashion, you could always hop on a Eurostar to London to catch the Vogue: Inventing the Runway immersive exhibition at The Lightroom, which is conveniently near to Kings Cross (Eurostar terminates at neighbouring St Pancras). The exhibition explores the history of fashion shows from the early 20th century to the present day and runs until 26 April.

With daily direct flights from Malaga to Paris, this year is ideal to see the city doing what it does best: fashion. Whether you're channelling your inner Emily in Paris, looking for retail therapy or an excuse to visit the Louvre, head to the capital of European fashion.

Then if you've been inspired by what you have seen, but the high-end fashion is a little out of your budget, check out Apps like Vinted on your return for cheaper versions of some of the pieces you spotted on your travels.
Tony Bryant Friday, 31 January 2025, 19:06 Compartir

Many people associate the Algarve in Portugal with sun and beach holidays, which is no surprise seeing as it is considered to be the biggest and most important Portuguese tourist region. However, the small mountain town of Alcoutim offers a contrast to the tourist bars, night clubs and rowdy tourists for which this region is famed. Located on the banks of the Guadiana river, the tranquil town of Alcoutim is one of the least densely populated municipalities in Portugal.

Its strategic position on the border with the neighbouring Spanish town of Sanlucar del Guadiana (Huelva), situated on the opposite side of the river, forced the construction of several defence structures over the centuries, some of which remain today and which have become points of interest to visitors. Alcoutim no longer has the walls that once defended its border, but it retains the peaceful atmosphere of a traditional fishing village with plenty to offer.

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The quickest way to reach Alcoutim from Sanlucar del Guadiana is by using the only cross border zipwire in Spain, a 720-metre flight that takes around 60 seconds. For the faint-hearted, there is a regular ferry service that crosses the river in five minutes, while the 80-kilometre route by car will take around one hour.

A mountainous region by nature, it offers a typical undulating landscape of distinct beauty

A walk through the old part of the town reveals centuries-old blue and white houses in steep, narrow streets adorned with monuments and relics of the town's past, while the port offers the opportunity to watch the returning fishing boats or marvel over the sailboats anchored in the small marina.

The local cuisine consists of various fish and seafood dishes, along with game, and grilled meats, in particular, the local speciality, black pork, from pigs raised in the area. The traditional bread, baked in a wood-burning oven, is the basis for regional delicacies such as migas, a dish made with bread crumbs, bacon or pork, chorizo sausage and peppers.

Smuggler culture

Being a border town, there are countless legends and tales of bandits and smugglers: today, the old paths they used to avoid the authorities have taken on a new life as trails to observe nature, the landscape and local customs.

Smuggling was the livelihood of many families for much of the 20th century, especially during the Spanish Civil War and in the years that followed.

A mountainous region by nature, it has a typical undulating landscape of distinct beauty, full of light, life and colour.

Those who enjoy long walks in the country can take advantage of the Guadiana route (Rota do Guadiana), a course that follows the river and the Via Algarviana, which crosses the interior of the Algarve from east to west. Those who wish to explore the area will find no end of interesting relics, such as the Lavajo Menhir complex, made up of three monoliths belonging to the Neolithic period. There is also the site of the Montinho das Laranjeiras Roman villa, located by the river, approximately ten kilometres south of Alcoutim.

As part of its cultural calendar, the town, together with Sanlucar de Guadiana, hosts a festival (Festival do Contrabando) to highlight their association with smugglers. Held on the last weekend of March, this event offers three days of history, art and culture, and includes a seasonal market, local cuisine, ethnographic parades, street theatre, live music and craft workshops.

Local culture and identity

Of course, the town hosts several other festivals offering local culture and identity through the summer. These include Alcoutim con Vida, a weekly programme of concerts and shows; and the Lady of Mount Carmel river procession on 15 August, during which Portuguese and Spanish boats accompany the image of the Virgin along the Guadiana.

Alcoutim also highlights its traditions and customs on 31 tiled plaques by local artist Carlos Luz, found on the N122-1, the main road through the town. The striking hand-painted tiles depict everyday scenes and local characters, which reveal traditional costumes, professions, dances and folklore.

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There is also plenty of historically important architecture to see, including the 13th-century castle, located in a dominant position on a hill overlooking the town. Today, the medieval fortress houses the archaeological museum, which among other things, boasts the largest collection of board games from the Islamic period. Opened in 2000, this museum offers a historical journey from the Neolithic period (5000 to 3000 BC) until the 20th century, presenting the archaeological remains that have been collected and analysed by specialists over the years.

There is no shortage of religious buildings and noble abodes to visit either, such as the 16th century church of mercy (Igreja da Misericordia), and the former home of the counts of Alcoutim (Casa dos Condes de Alcoutim). Another two interesting religious temples are the Saint Anthony hermitage (ermida de Santo Antonio), which houses an exhibition of sacred art; and the San Salvador Renaissance church, erected between 1538 and 1554.

One of the charms of Alcoutim is the river, where one can take boat trips, enjoy a variety of water sports, or go kayaking or fishing. There is also the artificial river beach of Pego Fundo, a ten-minute walk from the centre of Alcoutim. This space offers typical beach amenities, like a chiringuito bar, sun beds, showers and toilets, children's play area and ample parking.
Juan Cano Malaga Friday, 31 January 2025, 17:00 Compartir

They formed, in the words of the magistrate, a "mini-army" of thieves who demonstrated military training in the execution of each robbery. They reconnoitred the area, planned the robbery and all escape routes, and never, ever carried their mobile phones with them when carrying out the robberies.

To communicate with each other they used modern, hands-free walkie-talkies to avoid being detected on the mobile network during these raids on luxury villas, which always took place between 9pm and midnight when the occupants were at home.

Perhaps the main thing that characterised their modus operandi was the use of extreme violence. The gang members, thieves of Albanian origin who posed as police officers, would tie up and gag their victims, beat them and even threaten to amputate their fingers.

Zoom

After a very complex investigation that lasted for a year, Guardia Civil officers from Algeciras command have managed to dismantle this organised gang with the arrest of six of its alleged members, according to SUR.

Investigators attribute to them more than ten robberies of mansions and luxury villas in Estepona, Benahavis and Sotogrande, which is why the operation began in Cadiz province and was overseen by the head of San Roque magistrate's court number 1.

Robberies were also attributed to them in Lucena and Puente Genil (Cordoba), as well as in Requena (Valencia), which shows the extraordinary geographical mobility of the gang. They used show apartments and stolen luxury cars - they had a predilection for Porsches - with duplicated number plates to make it difficult for the police to follow them.

The offences investigated in the Guardia Civil's operation extend from the beginning of 2024 to the first days of 2025, when they were arrested in a surprise raid on the house out in the countryside where they were hiding near the Seville town of Marchena.

Zoom

The last of these robberies, committed in the province of Malaga, was added to the case practically on the spot, as the arresting officers became aware of the crime at the same time as they detained the alleged perpetrators. In fact, in their 'safe house' in Seville were found many of the effects - luxury items - allegedly stolen from the Malaga home invasion, as well as some 70,000 euros, albeit in different currencies.

The modus operandi was the same in most of the assaults investigated. Between three and five hooded men would raid the houses shouting "police" with handguns or submachine guns. After immobilising the occupants, they would search the houses with certain items clearly in their sights: watches, jewellery and any money in the safe. In one mansion on the Costa del Sol they seized a haul approaching two million euros.

According to the sources consulted, they did not hesitate to use violence to obtain as much loot as possible. One of the victims was strangled with a cable until she choked and her underage son was even beaten to get him to give them the code to open the safe. Another woman was dragged by the hair and kicked and punched in the presence of her three children.

When leaving, the offenders would lock all the victims in one room, cut off the electricity so that they could not leave and throw their mobile phones into the swimming pools to ensure they had enough time to flee before the police were alerted.
Language tourism, growing in Malaga The city strengthens its position as a leader in the sector, with the arrival of more than 27,000 students last year and the growing presence of language immersion schools

Lorena Cadiz Friday, 31 January 2025, 18:58 Compartir

Spanish language schools for foreigners are increasingly popular in Malaga and its province and this has been a growing sector for some years now. The data proves this and suggests that the future prospects also look good.

According to the latest published data, 49,247 students visited Andalucia in 2023 to participate in the courses offered by Spanish language schools for foreigners. Of this group, 27,089 came to Malaga, each staying nearly three weeks, on average. The Spanish Federation of Associations of Spanish Schools for Foreigners (Fedele), whose headquarters are located in Malaga, revealed in a recent report that the average expenditure of the students was 730 euros per week. This is a figure that includes accommodation, cultural visits, leisure, registration, the course and numerous other activities.

This, according to the federation, means that this year, schools in Malaga generated 59.1 million euros. Everything points to 2024 having left figures higher than the previous year.

Students over 65 now make up 8% of the total and are the fastest growing age group for language schools

"2023's figures were back to pre-pandemic levels but we believe that in 2024 we have surpassed the figures of 2019 and that we have broken records," explained Miguel Ochoa, president of the association of Spanish schools for foreigners in Malaga, Nacem.

This is an organisation with more than twenty years of history, with some of the city's Spanish schools founded half a century ago. There are currently 13 schools that are part of the association, all of them accredited by the Cervantes Institute.

Right now its scope is local, bringing together only the centres in Malaga, but the goal is to this year become provincial, adding an expected total of 20 accredited schools, outside the city.

"In recent years, except for during the pandemic, we have moved in the right direction in terms of number of students, though Malaga has always been a very good destination. It is true that students used to stay for longer, on average, but the outlook is still very positive," Ochoa explained.

Today, most of the students who attend these schools are between 12 and 18 years of age (38.63%), or 19 and 25 years of age (17.63%). But there is also a considerable group of older students, between 26 and 45 years of age (22.63%) and between 46 and 65 (11.54%). Those over 65, represent 8% of the students.

The latter group, the over-65s, has seen the sharpest increase in participation in recent years. "These are people who are retired, who have disposable income and come to learn the language and soak up the culture. They usually have some prior knowledge but want to have a linguistic immersion in the place itself, with local people and native teachers," explained the president of Nacem.

Regarding the nationality of the students, there is a wide variety. "We have people from all over Europe, with Germany being the country that sends us the most students, but also from Italy, the United Kingdom and Denmark. In recent years we have seen that the American market has grown a lot, as well as the Asian market, with students coming from China, Japan and Korea," he added.

"We always talk about education or tourism, but the combination, language tourism, is fantastic. Our students are great ambassadors for Malaga in their respective countries. They also typically stay for three weeks so spend a decent sum of money on transport, food and education before returning to their countries and speaking positively about their experiences," said Blanca Roters, head of the Clic Malaga school. The company opened its first centre in Seville 41 years ago, before arriving in Cadiz in 2005 and in Malaga 12 years later.

"We saw how popular Malaga was starting to become and that it could be the perfect destination. Since then we have had no regrets," said Roters, who puts the number of students that her centre in Malaga receives every year at 1,500.

American and Asian markets

"We have a great variety of nationalities. The change that has taken place since the pandemic is remarkable. We are finally receiving students from other markets that are not European, like Asians, Americans, Canadians. Direct flights, such as the one from New York or the connection with Asia through Turkey, have been very helpful," she explained.

What has not affected the schools much yet has been the arrival of digital nomads in the city. "There is some demand, but it is rather residual," said Miguel Ochoa, who added that they are a target audience. "It is noticeable that there are many more foreigners in Malaga, but they do not have the availability required by our programmes, in which students come exclusively to learn Spanish. There are some cases, but they are not in the majority," said Blanca Roters.

Accommodation

Many of these digital nomads want to learn the language but they tend to use other course formats, especially online, which are more suited to their needs. Spanish schools for foreigners not only offer teaching, but also the possibility of arranging accommodation and a wide range of activities, such as visits or cultural excursions. "All of them are led by our teachers, so they are like a continuation of the classroom."

Roters emphasised the problem of accommodation, a growing issue for these businesses. "The schools offer accommodation, either through their own residences (there are many schools that have their own accommodation), through host families or through other providers, such as agreements with university residences," explained the CEO of Clic. In any case, "it is a real 'puzzle' finding accommodation at a fair price".

Despite this, Roters said more and more students prefer to ask the schools to provide them with housing. "In the last few years, we have gone from 30 to 70 per cent of students booking through us." While housing is a problem for the school, she said, "We are not the only ones [affected], it is a generalised problem in Malaga."
Alberto Gomez Friday, 31 January 2025, 15:30 Compartir

Malaga is shaping up to host the Michelin Guide gala, where the country's best restaurants and chefs are awarded their famous stars. This is the great night of Spanish gastronomy, a travelling gala whose last edition was held in November in Murcia and which has passed through cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.

Malaga is now bidding to host this event for the first time, as various sources have confirmed to this newspaper. The candidacy has not yet been formalised, but the regional government and the city council and the provincial authority have already held talks in which they have shown their interest in bringing the gala to Malaga, the Andalusian province with the most Michelin stars.

The event requires an investment of close to one million euros. Once the proposals have been presented, Michelin analyses each candidature and chooses the venue. The French giant insists that the process is still open but assures that Malaga would be "a wonderful destination". The province's potential is evident, with nine Michelin-starred restaurants (Bardal, Skina, Blossom, Jose Carlos Garcia, Sollo, Kaleja, Messina, Back and Nintai) and eleven stars in total (Bardal and Skina have two stars each). It is the ninth Spanish province with the most award-winning restaurants, just behind Barcelona (36), Madrid (32), Gerona (15), Alicante (13), Vizcaya (11), Asturias (11), Mallorca (10) and Valencia (10). Below them are Tarragona, La Coruna and Tenerife, with eight each, and Cadiz and Huesca, with seven.

Michelin estimates the impact of the gala at around 30 million euros

Michelin estimates that the impact of the gala is around thirty million euros in terms of visibility and media exposure. Every year, hundreds of people attend the event, to which all two- and three-starred chefs are invited, as well as international chefs and journalists from all over the country. The French guide is extremely secretive about the award-winning establishments, although the industry often makes predictions that are correct. The next gala, moreover, could mean the definitive crowning of Skina, Marcos Granda's Marbella restaurant, which in the last two editions has been the favourite to achieve the three-star award, a recognition reserved for only sixteen restaurants.

Michelin awards these prizes on the basis, they say, of the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavours, the mastery of technique, the chef's personality as reflected in his or her cuisine and, above all, the overall approach. The inspectors who award these prizes add to the process: they are anonymous full-time employees, usually former restaurant professionals who make decisions as a team after pooling their experiences.
Juan Cano Friday, 31 January 2025, 09:32 Compartir

The news of the supposed murder of Father Richard K. Gross in Malaga has caused a deep shock in the American city of Boston, where he lived and where he had carried out his teaching and religious activity within the Jesuit community, to which he belonged.

His violent death and the identification of his body, reported by this newspaper, has been widely reported in the Spanish and foreign media, especially in newspapers such as The Boston Globe and television channels such as ABC and CBS, and on the InfoVaticana website.

The media have echoed the information published by SUR on the circumstances of the death of the priest, whose body was found on 21 January in a tourist flat in Calle Viento, near Calle Carreteria, in the centre of Malaga, with clear signs of violence.

The police investigation has revealed that Father Gross died the day before, on 20 January, only a few hours after arriving in the city. Everything suggests that he was assaulted as soon as he entered the flat - he still had the keys on him - by one or more persons who stole his belongings, specifically a rucksack and a suitcase containing his documentation.

The autopsy determined that the tourist, who was going on a cruise the following day - he had booked the flat for a week - died of asphyxiation. Investigations have yet to determine how this happened, although the main hypothesis is that he was somehow restrained to immobilise him.

Gross, who was 80 years old, was well known both inside and outside the religious community, hence the shock of the news. He was born in Wrentham and attended Boston College before becoming a Jesuit, according to a statement from the Jesuit religious community in the United States reported in local media.

He was ordained a priest in 1976 and then taught for five years at Boston College High School as a religion teacher and spiritual advisor. He then went on to teach at the prestigious Phillips Academy boarding school in Andover for more than a decade.

He returned to Boston College High School in 2023 to continue his pastoral work and serve the Jesuit community there. He was also pastor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs and chaplain at Vanderbilt and LaSalle universities.

Gross is survived by three sisters and was preceded in death by a brother, according to the Jesuit community statement. He was currently living in residence at Boston College High, which expressed in a statement its shock at the loss: Our thoughts and prayers are with Father Gross family, his Jesuit brothers and all those blessed by his ministry.

We pray for his eternal peace and for the comfort of those who mourn his loss. it continued.

Our Lady of Good Voyage

The priest used to celebrate mass - the last one on 16 January, four days before the crime - at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Boston Harbour. In his obituary, the Eastern province of the Society of Jesus in the United States said: Father Gross has had a long career in many schools and institutions as a dedicated chaplain, minister and teacher. We will miss him.

Father Gross was very kind, I think that was his most outstanding quality. He was very approachable, someone you could go and talk to, parishioner John Haynes told CBS television. The priest was known for his love of travel, his self-confidence and his independent and adventurous spirit, he added.
Ivan Gelibter Friday, 31 January 2025 | Updated 01/02/2025 19:19h. Compartir

Just a few days after being titled first in Spain in the number of kidney transplants, the regional hospital in Malaga has been announced second in liver transplants after the Hospital de la Fe in Valencia. Total figures were made public in the regional minister's report a fortnight ago, the position of the Hospital Regional Universitario had not been established yet. While being second in Spain, Malaga's hospital is first for Andalucia.

The news was announced this Tuesday 28 January, by the delegate of the Junta de Andalucia in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, who stated that the number of liver transplants done in 2024 in Malaga grew by 26.8%, compared to the figure in 2023. According to Andalucia's administration, this has been possible thanks to the consolidation of the asystole donation programme, which has accounted for 53% of donations, compared to transplants from brain-dead donors (43%).

Currently, there are only eight people on the waiting list for liver transplant surgery. "We cannot really refer to it as a waiting list, as there are eight people waiting for a donor, who will be ready for a surgery as soon as a liver is available," stated Navarro. Last year, 79 patients were on the waiting list for a liver transplant, with each person waiting for an average of one month.

The first liver transplant at the regional hospital was performed 28 years ago and, since then, there have been 1,366 liver transplants. In addition, this is the hospitral that treats liver-transplant patients from all over the province of Malaga, Almeria, Ceuta and Melilla. The first indication for needing a liver transplant is alcohol-related liver cirrhosis, which accounts for 39% of cases.

Navarro says the Junta is working on the specifications for the Pascual hospital It has been almost three years since the Hospital Pascual should have been opened and managed by the Andalusian Health Service (SAS), if we judge by the promise that had been made by the president of the Junta, Juanma Moreno. No progress has been made so far. Every question about process or deadline has been met with silence. Despite not specifying a date, Patricia Navarro has given an update. In response to questions from the press, she said: "The Junta de Andalucia is already working on the tendering process for the Pascual Hospital, aiming to provide it with new healthcare services." On the other hand, she said that the latest data at Andalusian level show that the surgical waiting list outside the deadline has been reduced by 44.09% at the end of 2024, while the surgical waiting list within the deadline has decreased by 12.69%. "Thanks to the efforts and sacrifice of the management teams of our hospitals, a total of 400,000 operations have been carried out in Andalucia in 2024, compared to the 341,000 that were initially planned. We exceeded all forecasts thanks to the work of our professionals," Navarro stated.

"This rate of patients requiring a transplant shows us that we must stimulate people to take care of certain unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as obesity or alcohol, which can lead to conditions requiring such operations," said Navarro, emphasising the need to continue working on improving healthy lifestyle habits, particularly among younger populations, in addition to referring them to health professionals.

Record

According to health sources from a few days ago, in addition to being second in liver transplants, the regional hospital of Malaga is the one that performs the highest number kidney transplants across the country. As the official data from the regional health ministry indicated, the Hospital Regional Universitario carried out 337 transplants last year - almost one a day - which is 20% more than in 2023. Of these, 85 were liver transplants, 10 pancreas transplants and 242 kidney transplants.

For a transplant to take place, there must first be a donation. In this case, the rate is measured in number of donors per million people. In Europe, this rate is around 20 people per million, while in Spain it is just under 48. Andalucia and Malaga are once again leaders. The donation rate in the province is 59.9, reaching a record of 106 organ donors, the highest provincial contribution to the Andalusian total.

In addition to the historic regional figure, Andalucia continues to break its own record of organ transplants. In 2024, Andalusian hospitals performed 18% more transplants than in 2023, rising from 1,034 to a total of 1,222, making it the highest number of transplants performed in a single year. In addition, last year also saw 12.24% more donors than in 2023, with 495 organ donors in 2024, compared to 441 in 2023, and 362 tissue donors compared to the previous 281.
Lucia Palacios Madrid Friday, 31 January 2025, 14:55 Compartir

It is now official: the minimum wage for all workers (SMI) will rise by 50 euros a month in 2025 to 1,184 euros gross in 14 payments, 700 euros more per year. This was announced on Wednesday by Second Deputy PM and Minister for Labour Yolanda Diaz, who was very clear about how much she wanted to achieve this increase. The SMI is paid to around 2.5 million workers, the most vulnerable in Spain. Diaz has not had to have her arm sorely twisted as employers, on this occasion, have shown themselves willing to negotiate.

The employers' association would have accepted a rise of 34 euros per month for this year, the lower end of the range recommended by the committee of experts that looked at the minimum wage proposals. At Wednesday's meeting they went a step further and raised their proposal from the 3% they initially offered to 3.4%, which is already within the price margins set by the Spanish government.

However, Diaz as labour minister could not lose this battle as well, given that the reduction in working hours - her star measure of the current term of office - is unlikely to see the light of day. The latter is unlikely to proceed due to the complexity of reaching the necessary agreements for its approval in Congress. This Tuesday the Junts party announced that it will vote No, although there are still several months to go before the shorter working week proposal reaches the lower house for MPs to vote.

For this reason Diaz has preferred to reach an agreement alone with the trade unions for the maximum recommended by the experts, an increase of 4.4% that raises the minimum wage for a full-time job to 16,576 euros gross per year, which allows it to be maintained at 60% of the average net salary as laid down by the European Social Charter. Since Pedro Sanchez came into power the SMI has shot up by more than 60%: from the 735.90 euros paid monthly in 2018 to 1,184, which is almost 6,300 euros more per year.

"Today we take a step forward. This is good news for our country. We can say that workers are going to be a little better off today", said Diaz. She further pointed out that 50 euros is "the difference between a family being able to feed itself better than before."

To reach this bipartite agreement, the main trade unions UGT and CC OO have lowered their expectations, since their original proposal was to raise it by 66 euros per month to 1,200 euros gross over 14 payments. "We asked for more, but it seems more important to us to reach an agreement," acknowledged UGT's deputy secretary-general for trade union policy, Fernando Lujan.

However, Diaz has agreed with them to incorporate another of their demands: a posteriori modification of the regulation governing the minimum wage in Spain. To this end, she has undertaken to set up a new table of talks with all interested parties within a maximum period of two months to analyse this complete adaptation of the minimum wage directive, which will incorporate elements such as guaranteeing compliance with the minimum wage in the affected industry and business sectors.

In addition, measures will be studied to improve its implementation, such as the obligation to apply the SMI automatically in collective agreements, the absorption and compensation of bonuses as a result of the increase or the updating of daily and hourly amounts if the working day is reduced.

"Ground-breaking" agreement

"It is a new agreement because it incorporates new aspects that the trade unions had been demanding and which are now going to become a reality", said Diaz, who also announced that she will launch specific campaigns by Spain's labour inspectorate to "guarantee compliance with the new minimum wage in all affected sectors."

The new increase, which cannot be approved at the next cabinet meeting, will be backdated to 1 January 2025 to compensate for the legal vacuum left following expiry of the omnibus decree and, with it, the extension of the minimum wage in 2024. Thus, as of today, there is no legal minimum wage in Spain.

In addition, it remains to be seen whether the more than 2.5 million workers who will benefit from this measure will continue to be exempt from paying personal income tax (IRPF), a decision to be taken by the Ministry of Finance but a move that is being called for jointly by Diaz's own Ministry and the trade unions.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 31, 2025 - 19:19 | All, Japan

Tokyo continued to be a magnet for people in 2024, with a net influx of around 80,000 nearing the pre-pandemic 2019 level and highlighting the longstanding population concentration in the capital, government data showed Friday.

People moving into Tokyo outnumbered those leaving by 79,285 in 2024, up 11,000 from a year before. The net population influx was 82,982 in 2019, but the move slowed down in 2020 and 2021 amid the spread of teleworking and infection control measures.

"More young people are (now) moving to Tokyo for work and studies," the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said as it announced its latest migration statistics.

While 40 among 47 prefectures in Japan had more people moving out than moving in, Tokyo saw 461,454 people moving in, up 7,321 from a year earlier, and 382,169 people leaving, down 3,679.

The net influx into the broader metropolitan area covering Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures stood at 135,843.

The Osaka area, which covers the prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara, saw more people moving in than those leaving for the first time since comparable data became available in 2014.

The ministry also began releasing figures on the migration of Japanese nationals and foreigners, with 735,883 people moving into the country and 371,615 people moving out.

The central government has been encouraging people to move outside Tokyo as part of its regional revitalization policy, but progress in curbing overconcentration in the capital has been slow.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who considers regional revitalization a key priority, aims to draw up in the summer a basic plan on steps to be taken in the next 10 years.

Related coverage:

Japan's labor productivity ranks 29th among 38 OECD members in 2023

No. of foreign workers in Japan hits new record of 2.3 million
Maria Albert Friday, 31 January 2025, 19:08 Compartir

Covering an area of more than 500,000 km, Spain offers all kinds of holiday destinations to the millions of tourists who visit the country every year. Some look for the traditional sun and beach offer, while others come in search of the relaxation offered by its countryside and mountains. Beyond the well-trodden spots, Spain also hides some secrets that only the most curious discover.

The many abandoned villages of Spain are one of the mysteries that have attracted many tourists in recent years. Can you imagine walking through the streets of a place where no one has lived for over 60 years? This is a reality in many Spanish villages which, after the construction of reservoirs during the Franco era, saw their inhabitants leave in search of a new life, leaving their homes at the mercy of the waters.

However, while many of these were submerged in the 1950s and 1960s , some were never flooded even after the residents left. This is what happened in what is considered to be the most beautiful abandoned village in Spain, but what is it, where is it and how do you get there?

Extremadura has the most beautiful abandoned village in Spain: what is it and what to see?

One of the most beautiful abandoned villages in Spain is Granadilla in the province of Caceres in Extramadura. It has a beautiful architectural heritage and a rich history. Its inhabitants left the area more than 70 years ago after the construction of the nearby Gabriel y Galan reservoir.

Nowadays, the village is popular with tourists who come to enjoy the 15th century castle built on the foundations of a former Arab citadel. It consists of a central and four semicircular towers, we well as as dungeons and a moat.

Granadilla's other great attraction is its impressive city wall, in fact it is one of the best preserved in the country along with those of Lugo and Avila and it surrounds the whole village. Built during Islamic period in the ninth century it was used as defensive bastion more than 500 years ago.

Zoom Granadilla, one of the most beautiful abandoned villages in Spain, is located in Extremadura. J.F.A.

Visitors should not miss the 16th century La Asuncion church, which has become one of the most important buildings in the village. It is the only building in Granadilla that could not be expropriated due to the firm refusal of the Bishop of Coria. Despite the deterioration it suffered after the abandonment of the village, the church still has its main chapel and a three-sided apse .

The history of Granadilla: the origin of its name and why it is abandoned

Granadilla was founded in the ninth century when Muslims settled in the area as they considered it a strategic military and defensive bastion thanks to its location: it was on the border with the kingdoms of Castile, Leon and Portugal. At that time, the town was not known by its current name, but as Granada.

During the Reconquista, under the rule of King Ferdinand II of Leon, the Christians managed to defeat the Muslims who lived there, repopulating it and giving it the walls that characterise it. After the conquest of Granada in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs, the name of the village was changed to Granadilla, although it was not officially used in town hall documents until the 19th century.

On 24 June 1955 Franco's government decreed the expropriation of Granadilla as a result of the construction of the Gabriel y Galan reservoir. Just five years later the village became state property after payment of the corresponding compensation and the inhabitants were informed that they could not claim any rights over it. Finally, in 1964, with the exponential growth of the reservoir and the flooding of the lands of the Vega Baja and part of the roads, the last inhabitants left the village because they had no means of subsistence and moved to Alagon del Rio.

The situation changed at the end of the Franco era when, under the government of Adolfo Suarez, Granadilla was declared a historic-artistic site in 1980. It was then that the restoration of the village, whose monuments, including the castle and walls, were in poor condition due to the passage of time and rain, began. In 1984, the village was included in the interministerial programme for abandoned villages, which led to its restoration and it has become a focus of tourist interest in recent years.

Timetables and how to get to Granadilla, Spain's most beautiful abandoned village

Granadilla is located in the province of Caceres, just 1 hour and 20 minutes from the city. According to their website, you can get there "on the Autovia de la Plata E-803, which links Caceres with Salamanca" and, from there, "take exit 442 towards Zarza de Granadilla". Once in the village, take the turn-off to Granadilla, where there is a free car park.

According to the website, Granadilla can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday (it is closed on Mondays) and visiting hours vary depending on the time of year. From April to October the doors open from 10am to 1.30pm and from 4 until 8pm, while from November to March they open from 10am to 1.30pm and from 4 until 6pm.

The Visiting Granadilla website explains that pets are allowed but they must be kept on a lead. Areas under construction should be avoided and the safety fences put up by the town should not be crossed. Furthermore, the website explains that access to the houses in the village, which are for the exclusive use of the educational programme, is prohibited.
Baltimore Ravens fans are being urged to donate to a group supported by Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, who had a pass go through his arms late in last weekends playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

This effort comes after a Bills fan started a fundraiser for a charitable cause supported by Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, whose dropped 2-point conversion helped seal Buffalos win over Baltimore in the divisional round.

According to a GoFundMe page Thursday night, over $22,000 had been raised for Summit Educational Resources. The Summit Center, located in western New York, provides programs to children and adults with developmental, social and behavioral challenges. Last April, Kincaid visited with students and staff at Summit Academy.

According to the page, the fundraiser was organized by Will Funk-Heiser of Catonsville, Maryland.

We want Ravens flock to donate to Summit Center for autism, the charity Dalton works with and try and return the favor Bills mafia did for us and Mark Andrews, the page said.
Syracuse, N.Y.  A lawyer for the Syracuse Common Council is urging lawmakers to subpoena documents and testimony to determine whether any crime or unethical behavior was committed when City Hall awarded multi-million-dollar contracts that later triggered a whistleblowers complaint.

Lawyer Ronnie White Jr. submitted a report Thursday urging councilors to investigate a whistleblowers claims that certain information technology contracts awarded in 2022 and 2023 were improperly handled by city officials.
At least 50 snow geese have been found dead on an Upstate New York lake, according to health officials.

The birds are being tested for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, after being found in Geneva on the west side of Seneca Lake at Kashong Point Thursday, WROC reports. A day earlier, the NYS Department of Environment Conservation confirmed that birds at Lakeshore Landing in Romulus, Seneca County, tested positive for bird flu.

The Ontario County and Yates County public health departments said theyve received reports of an unusually high number of dead snow geese in the Finger Lakes region.

There is no cause for immediate alarm, but surveillance is important, said Kate Ott, director of Ontario County Public Health in a statement.

H5N1 in the Finger Lakes wild bird population is not new. Per US Department of Agriculture records, infections in birds from counties surrounding Seneca Lake have been documented for several years, added Yates County Director of Public Health Doug Sinclair.

Snow geese on Cayuga Lake viewed from Lower Lake Road near Cayuga Lake State Park Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Photo by Mike Greenlar

The Democrat & Chronicle reports avian flu infections have been documented in Seneca Lake and the surrounded area for several years. HPAI, or H5N1, is most dangerous and deadly to birds and can cause large groups to die at the same time.

According to the CDC, human infections are rare but can happen if directly exposed to the virus through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Risk to the general public is low, but residents are urged to be cautious if disposing of dead birds.

Human illness from bird flu has ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness, resulting in death, the CDC said. No person-to-person spread has been identified in the United States, but limited person-to-person spread has been reported in the past in other countries.

People who work with birds and cows are at a greater risk of becoming infected, according to WROC. Farmers are on the lookout for sick cows and workers have their milk tested regularly.

To report dead birds, contact the NY State DEC at 585-226-5380 (Avon office) and 607-622-8274 (Bath office). Farmers are also asked to contact their veterinarians when livestock and poultry are sick, and dairy farmworkers should see their healthcare providers for eye or upper respiratory infections.
The Eagles are back in the Super Bowl, and the bald eagles are back to Onondaga Lake.

Marcia Bower, an amateur photographer from Syracuse who visits the eagles almost daily, recently counted at least 50 of the raptors roosting on the south shore.

Thats double the number of eagles she counted last month, before the cold snap hit in early January.

Bower believes that number could double again if sub-freezing temperatures hold, something that hasnt happened in the past two winters. The most eagles counted in recent years is 103.

We havent had the big numbers because the past two winters were mild, said Bower. The lakes up north were not freezing up, which usually drives them down to us. But this will be a much better year!

Bald eagles roost in trees on the south shore of Onondaga Lake to gorge on gizzard shad in the open water near the Metro sewage treatment plant. The plant is located on the west side of Onondaga Creek adjacent to Destiny mall.

Onondaga Lake is the largest wintering roost for bald eagles in New York State, according to the Montezuma Audubon Center. Youd have to go to Alaska to see so many bald eagles gathered in one place.

If youre not a big eagles fan, theres plenty of other birds to root for. Bower spotted more than 60 tundra, trumpeter, and mute swans.

And theres ducks galore: common and hooded mergansers, black ducks, greater and lesser scaups, goldeneyes, buffleheads, redheads, ring-necked ducks, and good ol mallards.

All these winged wonders can be viewed from almost any trail around the lake, but the best spot is off the end of the Onondaga Creekwalk trail, accessible via a parking area off Harborside Drive.

Marcia Bower, an amateur photographer from Syracuse, captured this shot of a bald eagle in flight from the shore of Onondaga Lake. Bower says there are at leat 50 eagles roosting around the southern end of the lake right now.Marcia Bower

Bird walk

The Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps is hosting a half-mile guided walk along the Creekwalk trail on Sunday, Feb. 2, from 10  11 a.m. or 12  1 p.m. Fee is $10 (kids $7.50), registration required.

The trail to the viewing area is flat and paved, but it can get icy. Participants should dress warm and wear hiking shoes or snow boots. Binoculars, spotting scopes, and field guides will be provided.

Experts from Montezuma Audubon Center and Onondaga Audubon will be on hand to discuss the importance of Onondaga Lake as an Audubon Important Bird Area, providing habitat, food and water sources that many bird species depend upon for survival during the cold winter months.

Register here for the 10 a.m. session, and here for the noon session. Or call 315.365.3588. Email questions to montezuma@audubon.org.

Visit Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps to learn more or to participate in future activities.



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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.
Days after his inauguration, President Donald Trump paved the way for immigration officers to make arrests at schools. But New Yorks top law enforcement official says that doesnt mean school staff need to let officers into buildings right away.

The Syracuse City School District will release protocols to staff today that closely follow guidance from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Earlier this month, James urged schools to keep officers from entering without proper documentation and to protect students sensitive information.

Under New York and federal law, schools are required to offer students education regardless of their citizenship status. The district does not know how many undocumented students attend Syracuse schools, said Amanda Malinowski, director of media for the district.

But school officials worry attendance may dip as undocumented families keep their children home from school for fear that they could be arrested, Malinowski said.

Here are some takeaways from the guidance James office provided to districts:

Immigration officers can only come on school grounds if it is an imminent safety situation or they have a judicial warrant, which must be signed by a United States district or magistrate judge and show probable cause that a person has committed a crime;

If an immigration officer arrives at a school looking for a student, staff should ask for documentation, alert the students parent or guardian and consult an administrator before taking any action;

Districts should review publicly available data to ensure the school isnt inadvertently revealing a students immigration status (schools should only request or share basic details like a students address and phone number);

Staff should ensure parents know they can opt out of sharing any information with their childs school and encourage them to update their emergency contact information;

Administrators should clarify policies for school resource officers that prevent them from accessing a students sensitive information, questioning students or families about their immigration status or following an immigration officers orders unless they are legally obligated to do so.

Local immigrant rights advocates have called on schools to take extra steps to shield undocumented students from ICE raids and ensure families feel safe sending students to class.

Emma Hulse, with the New York Civil Liberties Union, said districts should train teachers, security staff, bus drivers, administrators and anyone else who works directly with students or the public on how to respond to ICE officers.

They can also station security outside of schools to ensure parents and students know their rights if an immigration officer approaches them during drop off or pick up, Hulse said.

The goal [of allowing arrests at schools] is to make life untenable for immigrant families, and schools in New York should not be colluding with this agenda, she said. They should be taking active steps to remind students and families that they are welcome.

Annegret Schubert, a volunteer at the Syracuse Immigration and Refugee Defense Network said shes worried ICE could interrogate students about their parents immigration status.

If a students parent is deported, she said schools could help the student find a guardian to stay with.

Above all, Schubert worries about the long term effects Trumps policies could have on children. Many are fearful of what could happen to their parents and if their family is gone, theyll experience the trauma of being left alone, she said.

Nicole Capsello, president of the Syracuse Teachers Association, sent information to her members last week referring to James' guidance and helping them support students who are anxious.

Teachers will be looking for students who they know are worried or could be at risk, Capsello said.

They can provide food for students during the day and ensure they have meals to take home, she said. Theyll also carve out time for students to talk with social workers or other trusted adults if they seem concerned, Capsello said.

Our educators and our school related professionals are the faces that these kids are coming in and seeking safety from and comfort from, she said. Thats what we are going to focus on  making sure all of our kids know theyre welcome and equally protected."

Maggie Hicks covers education, including the Syracuse City School District and Syracuse University. She can be reached at mhicks@syracuse.com or follow her on X @maggie_hickss.
by Xinhua writer Zhang Dan

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Can fruit flies reproduce in space? How do they behave in the space environment, without the Earth gravity or a geomagnetic field? Since the first batch of fruit flies arrived aboard China's Tianzhou-8 cargo craft last November, scientists have been closely monitoring them to explore these intriguing questions.

The very first question for scientists was whether fruit flies could hatch from their pupae in microgravity. A thrilling moment was captured on video early on the morning of Nov. 19, 2024, when a tiny fruit fly emerged from its pupa and surveyed its unfamiliar surroundings, marking the first birth of a fruit fly aboard China's space station.

Soon after, more fruit flies hatched and, initially disoriented, they floated and bumped within the chamber.

The research team from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was especially focused on determining whether these space-born flies could mate and produce offspring.

To ensure clearer observation, Chinese astronauts transferred the fruit flies to a new breeding chamber. Every step of the process -- from courtship and mating to egg-laying, larval development, pupation and the emergence of the next generation of adult fruit flies -- was carefully documented. It wasn't until these stages were successfully completed that Li Yan and her research team could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

To date, the fruit flies have successfully bred three generations in orbit, with over four terabytes of video data documenting their growth, sleep patterns, locomotor activity and reproductive behaviors.

The research team is now analyzing the biological effects of microgravity and the absence of Earth's magnetic field, as well as their combined impact, marking a significant advancement in China's space biology research.

IDEAL MODEL

Fruit flies have long been prized in scientific research due to their rapid reproduction, ease of breeding, and complex behaviors. With a genetic makeup that closely resembles that of humans, they can also learn and adapt to new environments, making them an ideal model for studying life in space.

The first fruit flies aboard China's space station are helping researchers explore how hypomagnetic and microgravity conditions impact genes, behaviors and reproductive capacity.

In the space lab, the flies were divided into two groups. Both groups lived in microgravity, but one was placed in a magnetic shielding device to experience the combined effects of microgravity and a hypomagnetic field.

The fruit flies' adaptation to the space environment was truly fascinating. Initially, flapping their wings sent them shooting forward like bullets and marbles, and failure to grab onto walls left them floating. They could only change direction while floating by kicking their legs. However, they quickly adapted, even developing a unique "frog-like" swimming motion that amused researchers. Sometimes, they even somersaulted, according to Sun Yuanjie, a researcher on Li's team.

Before long, the fruit flies began exhibiting behaviors similar to those on Earth, including walking, eating, courtship, mating and reproduction.

PIONEERING RESEARCH

For decades, researchers at the Institute of Biophysics have been studying how hypomagnetic environments affect living organisms. In the early 21st century, Guo Aike, a CAS academician, discovered that exposure to weak magnetic fields impaired the learning and memory abilities of fruit flies across generations.

Intriguingly, these abilities were restored when the Earth's magnetic field was reintroduced, suggesting that epigenetic mechanisms play a role in helping organisms adapt to their environmental conditions.

Due to the subtle effects of hypomagnetic fields and the need to observe changes across multiple generations, many researchers viewed the study as highly forward-looking but not immediately productive. As a result, related research experienced a period of dormancy.

Inspired by her mentor, Guo, Li Yan returned to the Institute of Biophysics in early 2010 from Northwestern University in the United States to take on this challenging project, injecting new momentum into the field.

Li and her team meticulously designed the fruit fly experiments in space, carefully controlling environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, light cycles and gas circulation to ensure optimal living conditions for the flies. According to Guo Jing, a member of Li's team, they even sterilized and deodorized the flies' food.

Astronauts collected samples from each generation of fruit flies, which will be brought back to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft.

"We plan to analyze these samples to study behavioral performance and gene expression in space, aiming to uncover the effects of microgravity and hypomagnetic field on animals," Li said.

"Our fruit flies are pioneers in space exploration," Li said, adding that the ultimate goal of this research is to support the future of human space missions.

"In the space environment, where gravity and the magnetic field are absent and radiation levels are relatively high, we need to figure out whether living organisms can adapt and if their brains can continue to function," she said. 
There are no survivors in the midair collision of a passenger plane and helicopter near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night. U.S. President Donald Trump said warnings were given "very, very late" prior to the collision. #planecrash
GForceEnjoyer BHPian



Join Date: May 2022 Location: TS 07 <-> HR 10 Posts: 493 Thanked: 3,503 Times

View My Garage





2025 Auto Expo visit with BHPians



Having caught up on many issues of the Autocar Magazine while at home on break, I had read enough to understand that this would certainly be something worth attending. And it absolutely was.



A lot of it was because @CentreOfGravity, @TheHondaLover and I were able to coordinate our visits and meet up at the BMW drift event and explore onwards together! My first planned Team-BHP meet. Additional respect to @TheHondaLover for changing his plans last minute to make it on Sunday and meet us.



I'll cut right to the chase: the car that I was the most excited about was the new Superb. Hence, when we finally got to the Skoda pavilion, I was like a kid let loose in the candy store. Here it is in the flesh! One of the few cars that looks quite similar in real life as it does in photos.







Just like the previous generation, this is also unmistakably a Skoda. However, you can see their new, slightly more rounded design language showcasing itself on this car as opposed to the sharper lines of the previous one. As usual, exterior fit-and-finish is absolutely top-notch with amazingly even panel gaps.



I am not sure how I feel about the new lights. It somehow seems as though they lack the purposeful look of the old ones. However, overall, the stance is definitely a little more imposing than before due to the car looking much larger. Here's a look at the lights carrying forward a slightly toned down version of the lighting elements behind the DRL, homage to Czech glassmaking.







And a look at the tail lights (credits to @CentreOfGravity for photographing the Superb's lights). Note the 4x4 badge; the model on display was the 2.0 Litre 4x4 TDI. Also note how the subtle integrated spoiler on the boot gives away the fact that it doesn't perfectly align with the quarter panel: the only uneven panel gap I could find.







The interior is simply stunning in terms of design. The way the tan leather inserts have been used, the nice false wood, the chrome embellishments and the absolutely beautiful A/C vents make for a very visually pleasing place to be in.







However, I am not fully sold on the quality of a few bits. For example, the textured surface on the top of the dashboard and door-pads. This generation also does away with the traditional automatic shifter; it now gets a Mercedes-like column shifter instead.



The three multifunction dials at the centre console to control A/C temperature, drive modes, blower speed and ventilated seats are quite easy to get used to, and hopefully should not require you to look down while driving, unlike the disastrous touch controls used in newer VWs.



The seating position was quite good for someone of my height (5'10" with long legs), and the front seats were large, firm and supportive. The type of leather used seems quite different to the outgoing car; it felt very different to that of our 2021 Superb. Overall build quality wasn't really easy to judge; the touchpoints felt solid enough though (minus the multifunction centre dials).



All in all, it is certainly a much more flamboyant design than before, and a 9/10 according to me. The single point deducted is because in my opinion, the screen should not be as tall as it is, and the S K O D A lettering on the steering wheel isn't quite to my taste. This is of course, subjective.



The car that was the real crowd-puller however was this, the Octavia RS. And my goodness, what a beautiful shade of green this is!







The blacked out grille and air dam look incredibly tasteful and combined with the low stance, this is the first time in a while that a new Octavia has captured my desire.



Check out the beautiful lights! Credits to @CentreOfGravity for the second photo.











The same interior which looks a little clinical in beige with piano black now looks smashing in all-black with alcantara and carbon-fibre inserts. The touch controls are still a bummer functionality-wise though. I would not want to have to look down from driving hard on a track or windy road to change the blower speed or volume!







I am a fan of Skoda's style of door handles; this is from the new Kodiaq for example. Extremely elegant (although polished chrome might suit it better, right?). Look at the incredible amount of textures and materials surrounding it!







A little story: a young kid of around five years old was intently examining the interior sitting in the passenger seat, while his dad clicked pictures. Upon noticing me waiting in queue, the kid's mother asked him to hurry up, causing him to flash an annoyed glare. Because I would have spent time in the interior in exactly the same way at that age (even today in fact; doing so is how I was able to write this post!), asking the parents to let their child take his time felt incredibly good!



Hats off to Skoda for having an incredible display and for also letting people sit inside even the expensive CBU models. I was also shocked to see that the crowd was pretty civilised at this pavilion; not something one expects at such events in India.



Tata's Avinya concept was another crowd puller, with its sheer size and good proportions. A decidedly RWD stance. I have to say though, I see a bit of Vinfast in the logo.







The Mercedes pavilion had two beautiful displays right up front: the SL 55 AMG and a mean, sleeper-spec S-Class. Pictures are worth a thousand words, these tasteful designs are in stark contrast to the jarring ones BMW is now putting out.















While on the topic of BMW, I essentially had to skip their pavilion at hall 6. There was nothing short of a literal stampede in there, right between BMW and Porsche's displays. Missing the latter is a bit unfortunate, as the new Panamera and a tasty yellow 911 was on display.



Toyota's new Camry was on display too. I'm not sold on the front, but the side profile looks great (ironically due to the large and impractical-for-India wheels).







Right next-door was the Lexus LF-ZC. While it is a striking design, I am bound to forget the rather confusing name quite soon. By the way, "the endless pursuit of perfection" was a slogan more befitting for the meticulous attention to detail and quality upheld by Lexus, don't you think? Perfection at the end of the day is a concept impossible to universally define, and is a goal one can only incrementally and endlessly inch towards through continuous improvement.











So, here is my little account of snippets from the 2025 Auto Expo that I found the most interesting. It was an absolutely fantastic day made even better by the presence of @CentreOfGravity and @TheHondaLover. Such events are always made more fun when you're in the company of those you can geek out with.



The expo this year was jam-packed with new concepts, and a far grander iteration of the event compared to the comparatively rather sad 2020 expo in Greater Noida.



Hope you've enjoyed this post; as parting shots, here are two displays from MG that we all loved.



The truly British MG Midget...





And this very creative display showing old and new side by side.





@CentreOfGravity will take it from here with his absolutely incredible collection of photos and expert observations of all the other pavilions and expos.



Until next time, cheers! It was an extremely fortunate coincidence of events that let this happen. My university semester began on the 20th of January 2025, which meant that by simply flying back to Delhi one day earlier than I would otherwise have done, I could attend the Auto Expo for the first time in 5 years!Having caught up on many issues of the Autocar Magazine while at home on break, I had read enough to understand that this would certainly be something worth attending. And it absolutely was.A lot of it was because @CentreOfGravity, @TheHondaLover and I were able to coordinate our visits and meet up at the BMW drift event and explore onwards together! My first planned Team-BHP meet.Additional respect to @TheHondaLover for changing his plans last minute to make it on Sunday and meet us.I'll cut right to the chase: the car that I was the most excited about was the new Superb. Hence, when we finally got to the Skoda pavilion, I was like a kid let loose in the candy store. Here it is in the flesh! One of the few cars that looks quite similar in real life as it does in photos.Just like the previous generation, this is also unmistakably a Skoda. However, you can see their new, slightly more rounded design language showcasing itself on this car as opposed to the sharper lines of the previous one. As usual, exterior fit-and-finish is absolutely top-notch with amazingly even panel gaps.I am not sure how I feel about the new lights. It somehow seems as though they lack the purposeful look of the old ones. However, overall, the stance is definitely a little more imposing than before due to the car looking much larger. Here's a look at the lights carrying forward a slightly toned down version of the lighting elements behind the DRL, homage to Czech glassmaking.And a look at the tail lights (credits to @CentreOfGravity for photographing the Superb's lights). Note the 4x4 badge; the model on display was the 2.0 Litre 4x4 TDI. Also note how the subtle integrated spoiler on the boot gives away the fact that it doesn't perfectly align with the quarter panel: the only uneven panel gap I could find.The interior is simply stunning in terms of design. The way the tan leather inserts have been used, the nice false wood, the chrome embellishments and the absolutely beautiful A/C vents make for a very visually pleasing place to be in.However, I am not fully sold on the quality of a few bits. For example, the textured surface on the top of the dashboard and door-pads. This generation also does away with the traditional automatic shifter; it now gets a Mercedes-like column shifter instead.The three multifunction dials at the centre console to control A/C temperature, drive modes, blower speed and ventilated seats are quite easy to get used to, and hopefully should not require you to look down while driving, unlike the disastrous touch controls used in newer VWs.The seating position was quite good for someone of my height (5'10" with long legs), and the front seats were large, firm and supportive. The type of leather used seems quite different to the outgoing car; it felt very different to that of our 2021 Superb. Overall build quality wasn't really easy to judge; the touchpoints felt solid enough though (minus the multifunction centre dials).All in all, it is certainly a much more flamboyant design than before, and a 9/10 according to me. The single point deducted is because in my opinion, the screen should not be as tall as it is, and the S K O D A lettering on the steering wheel isn't quite to my taste. This is of course, subjective.The car that was the real crowd-puller however was this, the Octavia RS. And my goodness, what a beautiful shade of green this is!The blacked out grille and air dam look incredibly tasteful and combined with the low stance, this is the first time in a while that a new Octavia has captured my desire.Check out the beautiful lights! Credits to @CentreOfGravity for the second photo.The same interior which looks a little clinical in beige with piano black now looks smashing in all-black with alcantara and carbon-fibre inserts. The touch controls are still a bummer functionality-wise though. I would not want to have to look down from driving hard on a track or windy road to change the blower speed or volume!I am a fan of Skoda's style of door handles; this is from the new Kodiaq for example. Extremely elegant (although polished chromesuit it better, right?). Look at the incredible amount of textures and materials surrounding it!A little story: a young kid of around five years old was intently examining the interior sitting in the passenger seat, while his dad clicked pictures. Upon noticing me waiting in queue, the kid's mother asked him to hurry up, causing him to flash an annoyed glare. Because I would have spent time in the interior in exactly the same way at that age (even today in fact; doing so is how I was able to write this post!), asking the parents to let their child take his time felt incredibly good!Hats off to Skoda for having an incredible display and for also letting people sit inside even the expensive CBU models. I was also shocked to see that the crowd was pretty civilised at this pavilion; not something one expects at such events in India.Tata's Avinya concept was another crowd puller, with its sheer size and good proportions. A decidedly RWD stance. I have to say though, I see a bit of Vinfast in the logo.The Mercedes pavilion had two beautiful displays right up front: the SL 55 AMG and a mean, sleeper-spec S-Class. Pictures are worth a thousand words, these tasteful designs are in stark contrast to the jarring ones BMW is now putting out.While on the topic of BMW, I essentially had to skip their pavilion at hall 6. There was nothing short of a literal stampede in there, right between BMW and Porsche's displays. Missing the latter is a bit unfortunate, as the new Panamera and a tasty yellow 911 was on display.Toyota's new Camry was on display too. I'm not sold on the front, but the side profile looks great (ironically due to the large and impractical-for-India wheels).Right next-door was the Lexus LF-ZC. While it is a striking design, I am bound to forget the rather confusing name quite soon. By the way, "the endless pursuit of perfection" was a slogan more befitting for the meticulous attention to detail and quality upheld by Lexus, don't you think? Perfection at the end of the day is a concept impossible to universally define, and is a goal one can only incrementally and endlessly inch towards through continuous improvement.So, here is my little account of snippets from the 2025 Auto Expo that I found the most interesting. It was an absolutely fantastic day made even better by the presence of @CentreOfGravity and @TheHondaLover. Such events are always made more fun when you're in the company of those you can geek out with.The expo this year was jam-packed with new concepts, and agrander iteration of the event compared to the comparatively rather sad 2020 expo in Greater Noida.Hope you've enjoyed this post; as parting shots, here are two displays from MG that we all loved.The truly British MG Midget...And this very creative display showing old and new side by side.@CentreOfGravity will take it from here with his absolutely incredible collection of photos and expert observations of all the other pavilions and expos.Until next time, cheers! Last edited by GForceEnjoyer : 30th January 2025 at 13:44 .
jimmywalter BHPian



Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 41 Thanked: 170 Times

My Laliques on my 1937 Rolls-Royce, the V12-powered Phantom III

Here is a history, description of my car

The most complex Rolls-Royce ever, the V-12-powered Phantom III was an extraordinary engineering achievement, and it continues to be regarded as one of the finest automobile designs of the 1930s. Code-named Spectre during development, the Phantom III debuted at the 1935 Olympia Motor Show and garnered immediate acclaim as the worlds most technically advanced series-produced automobile chassis. Its state-of-the-art, overhead-valve V-12 engine of 447in (7.32L), having a bore of 3.25 inches (82.5 mm) and a stroke of 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) with a maximum horsepower of 167.3 PS (165 bhp) (123 kW) at 3000 rpm - Specific output 22.5 bhp/liter 0.37 bhp/cu in. It is a pushrod engine with overhead valves operated by a single camshaft in the valley between the cylinder banks. It featured a one-piece aluminum alloy crankcase and cylinder block, aluminum cylinder heads and cast-iron wet cylinder liners. The Phantom III also broke new ground as the first British car produced with hydraulic, self-adjusting valve tappets or, rather, a unique system of eccentric bushings in each individual rocker that was actuated by a small hydraulic piston; the eccentric bushing ensuring zero valve-lash at the rocker/valve interface. This system was changed to solid adjustable tappets in 1938.



The car has a 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on gears 2, 3 and 4. Overdrive was added in 1938. The car has 4-wheel servo-assisted brakes applied by cable (using a servo made under license from Hispano-Suiza). The radiator shell is of Staybrite steel. The Phantom III is unusual for its twin ignition systems, with two distributors, two coils and 24 spark plugs. Fuel is provided by a twin SU electric pumps. Wire wheels are fitted as standard, but many cars carry Ace wheel discs.



The sheer bulk of the car is reflected in its performance figures. An example tested in 1938 by The English Autocar magazine returned a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) and a 0 - 60 mph (0  96 km/h) time of 16.8 seconds. The overall fuel consumption quoted from that road test was 28 liters per 100 kilometers (10 mpg-imp; 8.4 mpg-US).



No effort was spared to make the Phantom III chassis the ultimate in refinement and technical sophistication. The highly capable chassis was a rigid cruciform-braced, box-girder design with an independent wishbone front suspension and semi-elliptic rear springs. This chassis was sent off to test on 8 February 1937, with steering at the middle E rake and engine R78J. It was sent to Barker to be fitted with a seven-seater toured, design E7618, body number 7269 (before WWII, Rolls-Royce only made the chassis and engine with drive train). Included in the body were scuttle and wing lamps, a Safebeam Super fog lamp with Nebulite orange/amber glass on a chrome-plated bar between the headlamps. The car was finished in ivory with a brown hood with fawn lining. There was a Philco radio and a light to the back of the division rail. The main (back) seat had a special adjustment to base and squab, and it was 21 inches deep. The body cost 675. There was a flagstaff to the front, and a special mascot. The body was fitted with a division and occasional seats, and the rear seat was adjustable; the upholstery was in ivory leather throughout.





The current owner, Jimmy Walter, bought it at a US treasury auction in Edison, New Jersey in March of 2000. It, along with 4 others, had been confiscated from a NY investment banker.



The car was ordered by Allied Motors in Bombay on 19 August 1936 for 40-year-old Colonel His Highness the Maharaja Sir Rajaram Chhatrapati of Kolhapur, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. The finished car, costing 2085, was shipped on the SS Somali on 24 July 1937. His Highness, entitled to a 19-gun salute, also had two 1925 Rolls-Royce Ghosts, 45 EU and 95 EU. H.H. The Maharaja of Rewa owned it next and sold it to S.C.Sanghi of Sanghi Brothers (Indore) Pvt. Ltd. It was sold around 1968 to the Hon. Alan Clark, M.P. who lived at Saltwood Castle, near Hythe in Kent, and was registered 5942DH. It was in the USA from at least 1977, at one time in the ownership of James Leake and Tom Barrett. In March 1975 the car was sold at auction in Geneva, and was for sale by dealers Coys of London in May that year, for US$ 38,000. It was for sale by Tom Barrett in Arizona for $550,000 in October 1989, and then for $600,000 a year later, with its mileage only 13,000. In January 1991 it did not sell at auction for $475,000, and it did not sell at an auction in Tokyo in 1992. It was then for sale for $395,000 in 1993. The Blackhawk collection had it for sale for $275,000 in 1996 (after it sold at auction in August 1995 for $136,000), when it was bought by an American investment banker. He went bankrupt owing money to the US Treasury and they auctioned it in March 2000 for $165,000 by Jimmy Walter, by which time it had been repainted red, had a polished aluminum hood (bonnet), and red top (hood). From the auction it went to Tampa, Florida, then to Santa Barbara, CA in 2002. In 2005 it was then shipped to Vienna, Austria where Mr. Walter now lives.



The known owners of this car were:

1937: Maharaja of Kolhapur

Maharaja of Rewa

S.C.Sanghi (Indore, IN)

1970: Henry R Wilkins (GB)

1985: James C Leake (US)

1989: Tom W Barrett (US) Lon Kreuger (US)

1997: David Hogue (US)

2000: Jimmy Walter



Photos of the car were used in the RR "Bulletin" in December 1937, and March, September and December 1938. In the first issue the car was being used by the incoming Governor of Bombay (Sir Roger Lumley), and in the March 1938 issue it is being used by the retiring Governor, Lord Brabourne, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. arriving at Ballard Pier. Lord Brabourne was the 5th Baron (1895-1939) and Governor from 1933-1937 before taking up the Governorship of Bengal from 1937 till his demise. It is interesting to note that the Governors had to borrow this car; the Phantom III for the Governor's use had not yet arrived (3CP100)



Most of the 727 PIIIs were produced in 1937. There were only two PIII open tourers made, this Barker and a Cooper, 3AX123.



This car engine has finished a complete overhaul by the renowned Mr. John Little, of Cowbit, UK, the experts expert on PIIIs (consultant to Rolls-Royce and all other refurbishers) and the major producer of remanufactured PIII parts.



21 Rolls-Royce Pre-War cars came to India.



3AZ 47 Limousine Hooper 1936 July H.E Viceroy of India

3AZ 198 Limousine Hooper 1936 Dec Commander-in-Chief Delhi

3AX 87 Saloon Limousine Barker 1937 June The Nawab of Bahawalpur

3AX147 Limousine Gurney Nutting 1937 Feb The Maharaja Holkar of Indore

3AX201 Limousine Hooper 1937 Mar The Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda

3BU 50 Landaulette Thrupp and Maberley 1937Mar The Maharaja of Darbhanga

3BU 76 Sedanca de Ville Barker 1937 June The Maharaja of Jaipur

3BU 82 Sedanca de Ville Hooper 1937June The Maharani of Nabha

3BU 86 Allweather Thrupp and Maberley 1937 April The Nawab of Bhopal

3BU 102 Limousine Hooper 1937 April The Maharaja of Jodhpur

3BU 106 Limousine Kellner 1937 Feb The Maharani of Baroda

3BU 134 Open Tourer Barker 1937 July The Maharaja of Kolhapur

3BU 198 Sedanca de Ville Windovers 1937 April The Maharaja of Rajpipla

3BT 75 Saloon Windovers 1937 July The Maharawal of Chhota Udepur

3BT 181 Allweather Barker 1937 Sept The Ruling Chief of Keonjhar State

3CP 112 Saloon Windovers 1937 Nov The Prince of Baroda

3CP 116 Cabriolet Windovers 1938 Feb The Prince of Berar

3CM 37 Saloon Park Ward 1938 Jan The Maharaja of Panchakote

3DL 26 Cabriolet Thrupp and Maberley 1938 July The Maharaja of Parlakimedi

3DL 90 Limousine Park Ward 1938 Sept Indian trials

3DL 96 4 Seater Sports Park Ward 1938 Nov The Maharaja Saheb of Morvi

3DL 200 Drop Head coupe Park Ward 1939 Nov High Commissioner for India



Between 1907 and 1947-the year of Indias independence as a nation and the end of the absolute power of the princely states-a total of 36,000 Rolls-Royces were produced in Great Britain; about 1,000 were exported to India. In 1908 a six-cylinder Rolls-Royce christened the Pearl of the East won first prize at the Bombay Motor Show. The car went on to win the grueling 620-mile Bombay to Kolhapur rally and was later bought by Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior.



Within a few years the reputation of Rolls-Royce had spread among the Indian ruling classes; its members vied for preeminence in acquiring quantities of these superbly appointed vehicles. The maharaja of Patiala, who died in 1938, owned no fewer than 38, while the maharaja of My sore was the last of the notable bulk buyers, placing orders in 1947 for 8 Rolls-Royces as well as 9 Bentleys. The maharaja Jamsaheb of Nawangar had a garage that could accommodate 450 cars, including 8 Rolls-Royces. Each automobile had its own chauffeur as well as its own cleaner.



Various body shops altered Rolls-Royces to create many bizarre and extravagant vehicles that satisfied the sometimes eccentric whims of their clients. For example, J.W. Brooke of Lowestoft, England, fulfilled the order of the maharaja of Nabha, who demanded a car in the shapes of a swan. Brooke made it in such a way that the exhaust discharged through the beak of the giant birdThe maharaja of Patiala, on the other hand, preferred a 1911 Rolls-Royce upholstered in salmon-pink silk, with the bodywork painted to match. The diamond-studded dashboard was so valuable that whenever the car was serviced, it had to be protected by four armed guards.



The remarkable durability of Rolls-Royce cars under the toughest conditions created a demand for them in some of the most mountainous regions of the India subcontinent. A Rolls-Royce acquired by one of the ranas of Nepal was carried across the Himalayas to Katmandu by porters, who used rafts to transport it across rivers. The maharani of Udaipur converted her 1934 Thrupp & Maberly Rolls-Royce into a jeep, and a number of vehicles were converted for use on use on tiger hunts.



The nawab of Bahawalpur (who also had a 1928 Mercedes S specially converted with lamps and gun racks for these safaris) even relied upon Rolls-Royces for his personal safety. He had a Silver Ghost converted into an armored car, complete with gun turret. And it is said that the maharaja of Alwar, after a dispute with Rolls-Royce over some modifications to his six automobiles, ordered all of them converted into garbage trucks.



An export ban introduced in 1969 meant that these opulent cars could no longer be taken out of India. Some remain in princely hands, and a number have survived to this day in excellent condition. The Nizam of Hyderabads 1913 Silver Ghost has only 345 miles on its odometer.



From Rolls-Royces of The Raj: Vast Wealth Reflected in Automobiles

Published on February 11, 2010 by Mr Ghaz in Autos















Here are some pictures of my Laliques and some of them on my car. The Cock head is not really seen, the Falcon is hard to see. They are all Vintage, pre war Laliques, except the elephant, panthers and tiger heads.Here is a history, description of my carThe most complex Rolls-Royce ever, the V-12-powered Phantom III was an extraordinary engineering achievement, and it continues to be regarded as one of the finest automobile designs of the 1930s. Code-named Spectre during development, the Phantom III debuted at the 1935 Olympia Motor Show and garnered immediate acclaim as the worlds most technically advanced series-produced automobile chassis. Its state-of-the-art, overhead-valve V-12 engine of 447in (7.32L), having a bore of 3.25 inches (82.5 mm) and a stroke of 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) with a maximum horsepower of 167.3 PS (165 bhp) (123 kW) at 3000 rpm - Specific output 22.5 bhp/liter 0.37 bhp/cu in. It is a pushrod engine with overhead valves operated by a single camshaft in the valley between the cylinder banks. It featured a one-piece aluminum alloy crankcase and cylinder block, aluminum cylinder heads and cast-iron wet cylinder liners. The Phantom III also broke new ground as the first British car produced with hydraulic, self-adjusting valve tappets or, rather, a unique system of eccentric bushings in each individual rocker that was actuated by a small hydraulic piston; the eccentric bushing ensuring zero valve-lash at the rocker/valve interface. This system was changed to solid adjustable tappets in 1938.The car has a 4-speed manual transmission with synchromesh on gears 2, 3 and 4. Overdrive was added in 1938. The car has 4-wheel servo-assisted brakes applied by cable (using a servo made under license from Hispano-Suiza). The radiator shell is of Staybrite steel. The Phantom III is unusual for its twin ignition systems, with two distributors, two coils and 24 spark plugs. Fuel is provided by a twin SU electric pumps. Wire wheels are fitted as standard, but many cars carry Ace wheel discs.The sheer bulk of the car is reflected in its performance figures. An example tested in 1938 by The English Autocar magazine returned a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) and a 0 - 60 mph (0  96 km/h) time of 16.8 seconds. The overall fuel consumption quoted from that road test was 28 liters per 100 kilometers (10 mpg-imp; 8.4 mpg-US).No effort was spared to make the Phantom III chassis the ultimate in refinement and technical sophistication. The highly capable chassis was a rigid cruciform-braced, box-girder design with an independent wishbone front suspension and semi-elliptic rear springs. This chassis was sent off to test on 8 February 1937, with steering at the middle E rake and engine R78J. It was sent to Barker to be fitted with a seven-seater toured, design E7618, body number 7269 (before WWII, Rolls-Royce only made the chassis and engine with drive train). Included in the body were scuttle and wing lamps, a Safebeam Super fog lamp with Nebulite orange/amber glass on a chrome-plated bar between the headlamps. The car was finished in ivory with a brown hood with fawn lining. There was a Philco radio and a light to the back of the division rail. The main (back) seat had a special adjustment to base and squab, and it was 21 inches deep. The body cost 675. There was a flagstaff to the front, and a special mascot. The body was fitted with a division and occasional seats, and the rear seat was adjustable; the upholstery was in ivory leather throughout.The current owner, Jimmy Walter, bought it at a US treasury auction in Edison, New Jersey in March of 2000. It, along with 4 others, had been confiscated from a NY investment banker.The car was ordered by Allied Motors in Bombay on 19 August 1936 for 40-year-old Colonel His Highness the Maharaja Sir Rajaram Chhatrapati of Kolhapur, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. The finished car, costing 2085, was shipped on the SS Somali on 24 July 1937. His Highness, entitled to a 19-gun salute, also had two 1925 Rolls-Royce Ghosts, 45 EU and 95 EU. H.H. The Maharaja of Rewa owned it next and sold it to S.C.Sanghi of Sanghi Brothers (Indore) Pvt. Ltd. It was sold around 1968 to the Hon. Alan Clark, M.P. who lived at Saltwood Castle, near Hythe in Kent, and was registered 5942DH. It was in the USA from at least 1977, at one time in the ownership of James Leake and Tom Barrett. In March 1975 the car was sold at auction in Geneva, and was for sale by dealers Coys of London in May that year, for US$ 38,000. It was for sale by Tom Barrett in Arizona for $550,000 in October 1989, and then for $600,000 a year later, with its mileage only 13,000. In January 1991 it did not sell at auction for $475,000, and it did not sell at an auction in Tokyo in 1992. It was then for sale for $395,000 in 1993. The Blackhawk collection had it for sale for $275,000 in 1996 (after it sold at auction in August 1995 for $136,000), when it was bought by an American investment banker. He went bankrupt owing money to the US Treasury and they auctioned it in March 2000 for $165,000 by Jimmy Walter, by which time it had been repainted red, had a polished aluminum hood (bonnet), and red top (hood). From the auction it went to Tampa, Florida, then to Santa Barbara, CA in 2002. In 2005 it was then shipped to Vienna, Austria where Mr. Walter now lives.The known owners of this car were:1937: Maharaja of KolhapurMaharaja of RewaS.C.Sanghi (Indore, IN)1970: Henry R Wilkins (GB)1985: James C Leake (US)1989: Tom W Barrett (US) Lon Kreuger (US)1997: David Hogue (US)2000: Jimmy WalterPhotos of the car were used in the RR "Bulletin" in December 1937, and March, September and December 1938. In the first issue the car was being used by the incoming Governor of Bombay (Sir Roger Lumley), and in the March 1938 issue it is being used by the retiring Governor, Lord Brabourne, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. arriving at Ballard Pier. Lord Brabourne was the 5th Baron (1895-1939) and Governor from 1933-1937 before taking up the Governorship of Bengal from 1937 till his demise. It is interesting to note that the Governors had to borrow this car; the Phantom III for the Governor's use had not yet arrived (3CP100)Most of the 727 PIIIs were produced in 1937. There were only two PIII open tourers made, this Barker and a Cooper, 3AX123.This car engine has finished a complete overhaul by the renowned Mr. John Little, of Cowbit, UK, the experts expert on PIIIs (consultant to Rolls-Royce and all other refurbishers) and the major producer of remanufactured PIII parts.21 Rolls-Royce Pre-War cars came to India.3AZ 47 Limousine Hooper 1936 July H.E Viceroy of India3AZ 198 Limousine Hooper 1936 Dec Commander-in-Chief Delhi3AX 87 Saloon Limousine Barker 1937 June The Nawab of Bahawalpur3AX147 Limousine Gurney Nutting 1937 Feb The Maharaja Holkar of Indore3AX201 Limousine Hooper 1937 Mar The Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda3BU 50 Landaulette Thrupp and Maberley 1937Mar The Maharaja of Darbhanga3BU 76 Sedanca de Ville Barker 1937 June The Maharaja of Jaipur3BU 82 Sedanca de Ville Hooper 1937June The Maharani of Nabha3BU 86 Allweather Thrupp and Maberley 1937 April The Nawab of Bhopal3BU 102 Limousine Hooper 1937 April The Maharaja of Jodhpur3BU 106 Limousine Kellner 1937 Feb The Maharani of Baroda3BU 134 Open Tourer Barker 1937 July The Maharaja of Kolhapur3BU 198 Sedanca de Ville Windovers 1937 April The Maharaja of Rajpipla3BT 75 Saloon Windovers 1937 July The Maharawal of Chhota Udepur3BT 181 Allweather Barker 1937 Sept The Ruling Chief of Keonjhar State3CP 112 Saloon Windovers 1937 Nov The Prince of Baroda3CP 116 Cabriolet Windovers 1938 Feb The Prince of Berar3CM 37 Saloon Park Ward 1938 Jan The Maharaja of Panchakote3DL 26 Cabriolet Thrupp and Maberley 1938 July The Maharaja of Parlakimedi3DL 90 Limousine Park Ward 1938 Sept Indian trials3DL 96 4 Seater Sports Park Ward 1938 Nov The Maharaja Saheb of Morvi3DL 200 Drop Head coupe Park Ward 1939 Nov High Commissioner for IndiaBetween 1907 and 1947-the year of Indias independence as a nation and the end of the absolute power of the princely states-a total of 36,000 Rolls-Royces were produced in Great Britain; about 1,000 were exported to India. In 1908 a six-cylinder Rolls-Royce christened the Pearl of the East won first prize at the Bombay Motor Show. The car went on to win the grueling 620-mile Bombay to Kolhapur rally and was later bought by Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior.Within a few years the reputation of Rolls-Royce had spread among the Indian ruling classes; its members vied for preeminence in acquiring quantities of these superbly appointed vehicles. The maharaja of Patiala, who died in 1938, owned no fewer than 38, while the maharaja of My sore was the last of the notable bulk buyers, placing orders in 1947 for 8 Rolls-Royces as well as 9 Bentleys. The maharaja Jamsaheb of Nawangar had a garage that could accommodate 450 cars, including 8 Rolls-Royces. Each automobile had its own chauffeur as well as its own cleaner.Various body shops altered Rolls-Royces to create many bizarre and extravagant vehicles that satisfied the sometimes eccentric whims of their clients. For example, J.W. Brooke of Lowestoft, England, fulfilled the order of the maharaja of Nabha, who demanded a car in the shapes of a swan. Brooke made it in such a way that the exhaust discharged through the beak of the giant birdThe maharaja of Patiala, on the other hand, preferred a 1911 Rolls-Royce upholstered in salmon-pink silk, with the bodywork painted to match. The diamond-studded dashboard was so valuable that whenever the car was serviced, it had to be protected by four armed guards.The remarkable durability of Rolls-Royce cars under the toughest conditions created a demand for them in some of the most mountainous regions of the India subcontinent. A Rolls-Royce acquired by one of the ranas of Nepal was carried across the Himalayas to Katmandu by porters, who used rafts to transport it across rivers. The maharani of Udaipur converted her 1934 Thrupp & Maberly Rolls-Royce into a jeep, and a number of vehicles were converted for use on use on tiger hunts.The nawab of Bahawalpur (who also had a 1928 Mercedes S specially converted with lamps and gun racks for these safaris) even relied upon Rolls-Royces for his personal safety. He had a Silver Ghost converted into an armored car, complete with gun turret. And it is said that the maharaja of Alwar, after a dispute with Rolls-Royce over some modifications to his six automobiles, ordered all of them converted into garbage trucks.An export ban introduced in 1969 meant that these opulent cars could no longer be taken out of India. Some remain in princely hands, and a number have survived to this day in excellent condition. The Nizam of Hyderabads 1913 Silver Ghost has only 345 miles on its odometer.From Rolls-Royces of The Raj: Vast Wealth Reflected in AutomobilesPublished on February 11, 2010 by Mr Ghaz in Autos Last edited by Omkar : 30th January 2025 at 09:21 .
N1m1z BHPian

Join Date: Feb 2024 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 29 Thanked: 182 Times

Re: Maha Kumbh 2025 - Parking and Gate/Ghat queries Quote: Mr.Ogre Originally Posted by





https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/stam...ndtv_topscroll Just when you thought this was going to be a success this has happened. Feel sorry for the families of the lost lives.



I would repeat my (and every local's) advice here, that I give to anyone considering travel to Prayagraj -- Do NOT make any plans 2-3 days before the Snans to 2-3 days after them, unless you are mentally prepared for an unimaginable crowd, or have some special arrangements. Only plan on Snan days if you and your company are able-bodied and are ready to walk long distances, and deal with inconveniences. These days are strictly not meant for travelling with children of any age. Do not insist on taking the dip in the Sangam nose itself, for your own safety, on/near the Snan dates. This is a holy gathering and the entire mela and especially the day is holy. You'll get the 'amrit' due to the nature of the occasion and the holy waters of maa Ganga and Yamuna, not just at the confluence of the two. This is strictly something that would be dictated by personal beliefs though, just my 2 cents. I do not wish to downplay anyone's beliefs whatsoever. Once at the Mela, be aware of your surroundings and don't trust blindly on the arrangements. This means taking care of your belonging and the people you're with. Keep a good chunk of time margin in your plans. You are bound to face delays, so I suggest not to book the return flight for the same evening!

I advice this because there is a huge section of society that primarily hails from rural areas and forms the majority of the crowd at the Mela. Most of this crowd is ignorant to the potential situation and is simple enough to have no idea how to anticipate and avoid stampede-like situations and to stay away from the crowded areas, and is there purely out of their belief in God (which I duly respect) and to take the hloy dip in the Sangam. They are generally unaware of the restrictions during these days and are probably only following the crowd ahead of them.You could call this approach literally 'Ram Bharose'!



I like to think of the scale of the crowd this way -

There were 10 Crore people expected to take the dip on Mauni Amavasya. Even if you take 0.1% of this, it would be nearly equal to the people who filled up the massive stadium in the Ahmedabad Coldplay concert! (have you seen the videos?).

Now imagine 1000x of that! Think even if a miniscule part of this crowd of 10cr people were to go haywire, it is bound to cause absolute mayhem.



This is ultimately the ground reality and it is always best to be careful when planning such trips.

I still advise anyone who is interested to go ahead with their plans and are most welcome to my city. There is nothing to be scared of, if you are even slightly careful. Just plan it well and be fully prepared to see those plans fail! Really sad to hear about this. My school friend was in the Mela at the time, albeit on the Jhunsi side (across the Ganga from sangam nose, where the main stampede was reported) and he told me that he also narrowly escaped (ran from) a tidal wave of crowd after the crowd would have been possibly redirected from Sangam. The scenes he described to me were horrific to say the least.I would repeat my (and every local's) advice here, that I give to anyone considering travel to Prayagraj --I advice this because there is a huge section of society that primarily hails from rural areas and forms the majority of the crowd at the Mela. Most of this crowd is ignorant to the potential situation and is simple enough to have no idea how to anticipate and avoid stampede-like situations and to stay away from the crowded areas, and is there purely out of their belief in God (which I duly respect) and to take the hloy dip in the Sangam. They are generally unaware of the restrictions during these days and are probably only following the crowd ahead of them.You could call this approach literally 'Ram Bharose'!I like to think of the scale of the crowd this way -There werepeople expected to take the dip on Mauni Amavasya. Even if you takeof this, it would be nearly equal to the people who filled up the massive stadium in the Ahmedabad Coldplay concert! (have you seen the videos?).Now imagine 1000x of that! Think even if a miniscule part of this crowd of 10cr people were to go haywire, it is bound to cause absolute mayhem.This is ultimately the ground reality and it is always best to be careful when planning such trips.I still advise anyone who is interested to go ahead with their plans and are most welcome to my city. There is nothing to be scared of, if you are even slightly careful. Just plan it well and be fully prepared to see those plans fail! Last edited by libranof1987 : 30th January 2025 at 16:17 . Reason: Two smileys/post
A hot potato: Microsoft is raising eyebrows after announcing that it will host DeepSeek R1 on its Azure cloud service. The decision comes just days after OpenAI accused DeepSeek of violating its terms of service by allegedly using ChatGPT outputs to train its system, allegations Microsoft is currently investigating.

DeepSeek R1 began making waves in the AI world when it launched last week. Chinese developer DeepSeek touted it as a freely available simulated reasoning model that rivals OpenAI's o1 in performance but at a fraction of the training cost. While OpenAI has priced its o1 model at $60 per million output tokens, DeepSeek lists R1 at just $2.19 per million  a remarkable contrast that sunk stock for AI-adjacent companies like Nvidia.

Microsoft's decision to host R1 on Azure is not too unusual on its surface. The tech giant already offers over 1,800 AI models through its Azure AI Foundry, giving developers access to a variety of AI systems for experimentation and integration.

Microsoft doesn't discriminate since it profits from any AI platform operating on its cloud infrastructure. However, the decision seems ironic since OpenAI (a company Microsoft has invested in and has partnered with) has spent the last week aggressively criticizing the model for distilling ChatGPT outputs.

 DeepSeek-R1 is here!



 Performance on par with OpenAI-o1

 Fully open-source model & technical report

 MIT licensed: Distill & commercialize freely!



 Website & API are live now! Try DeepThink at https://t.co/v1TFy7LHNy today!



 1/n pic.twitter.com/7BlpWAPu6y  DeepSeek (@deepseek_ai) January 20, 2025

OpenAI claims the AI startup violated its terms of service by using "distillation," as reported by Fox News. Distillation is when developers train an AI model using outputs from a more advanced system. Suspicions arose after users discovered that an earlier model, DeepSeek V3, sometimes referred to itself as "ChatGPT," suggesting that DeepSeek used OpenAI-generated data to fine-tune its system.

The move also seems somewhat hypocritical, considering Microsoft security researchers reportedly launched an ethics probe into DeepSeek, on Wednesday. Anonymous sources claim that the investigation focuses on whether DeepSeek extracted substantial amounts of data through OpenAI's API during the fall of 2024.

Despite the frustrations with DeepSeek, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly welcomed the competition. In a tweet on Monday, Altman acknowledged R1's cost efficiency, calling it "an impressive model" but vowing that OpenAI would soon deliver "much better results." Analysts expect the company may release a new model, o3-mini, as early as today.

deepseek's r1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price.



we will obviously deliver much better models and also it's legit invigorating to have a new competitor! we will pull up some releases.  Sam Altman (@sama) January 28, 2025

OpenAI's outcry over DeepSeek's data practices is notable given its own history of alleged data abuse. The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of using copyrighted journalism without permission. OpenAI has also struck deals with publishers and online communities  such as The associated Press and others  to access user-generated data for training.

The whole situation exposes the AI industry's hypocritical relationship with data ownership. Investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, another Open AI investor, argued in a 2023 legal filing that training AI models should not be considered copyright infringement, as they merely "extract information" from existing works. If OpenAI truly believes in that principle, then DeepSeek is just playing by the same rules.

The current landscape of the AI industry is more or less a free-for-all. We have no laws on the books to govern AI directly, and those laws that affect it indirectly, like copyright and trade laws, are twisted into a favorable interpretation by the AI firms that are breaking them.
Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust

In brief: A small supermarket in Costa Rica has emerged victorious in an unlikely legal battle against video game giant Nintendo over the use of the iconic "Super Mario" name. The unassuming grocery store, owned by a man named Don Jose Mario Alfaro Gonzalez, has been allowed to keep its moniker following a trademark dispute initiated by the Japanese gaming company.

The saga began last year when the supermarket, established in 2013 under the name "Super Mario," renewed its trademark registration. This routine filing seemingly caught Nintendo's attention, prompting the lawsuit.

In a celebratory Facebook post, Carlos "Charlito" Alfaro, son of the supermarket's owner, recounted how Nintendo inundated the family business with a barrage of legal documents asserting its trademark ownership across various product categories. However, a crucial oversight on Nintendo's part ultimately decided the case in favor of the grocer.

Charlito explained that while Nintendo owns trademarks across a vast array of products  video games, clothing, toys, school supplies, and more  their trademark didn't explicitly cover grocery stores and supermarkets. This loophole proved to be the clincher that allowed the establishment to keep its name.

Moreover, while the supermarket's name invokes images of Nintendo's overalls-clad plumber, its simple yellow and blue logo design features only the words "Super Mario  Su lugar de confianza" (translation: "Super Mario  your trusted place"). This steers clear of any explicit references to Nintendo's intellectual property.

Following their courtroom triumph, the Alfaro family took to social media to revel in their David vs. Goliath victory. Charlito shared a video celebrating his father, the eponymous Don Mario, whose 52 years of running the supermarket had finally garnered some hard-earned recognition.

"That man you see there, he is Don Mario, he is my dad, and he has 52 years of being here and he is Super Mario," Charlito proudly declared, offering customers commemorative stickers bearing the shop's name and logo.

The incident is just the latest in a series of trademark battles waged by Nintendo, whose fierce protection of its brands and intellectual property can only be described as overbearing.

Just recently, the company allegedly confronted technology startup Genki over an unofficial prototype of a so-called "Nintendo Switch 2" at the CES 2025 tech show. Before that, Nintendo sued game developer Pocketpair over alleged patent infringements related to Palworld.
Forward-looking: Tesla is gearing up to launch a paid self-driving taxi service in Texas later this year. Speaking during Tesla's Q4 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk expressed confidence that the company will conduct an initial launch of an "unsupervised, no-driver, full self-driving cab service" in Austin by June.

Musk stated that the company already operates thousands of autonomous vehicles daily at its Fremont factory and hopes to roll out the robotaxi service commercially within a few months. He also expects unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to be available to Tesla owners in California and other regions by the end of the year.

Addressing Tesla's decision to launch in just one city initially, Musk explained, "We're putting our toe in the water gently at first just to make sure everything is cool." He emphasized the company's cautious approach, adding that expansion to other markets will only happen once Tesla is confident in the safety of both passengers and the general public.

Musk first announced Tesla's self-driving robotaxi service during a custom Cybertruck prototype launch last year, stating that the company aimed to roll out the service in Texas and California by 2025 using Model Y SUVs and Model 3 sedans.

Since then, neither Musk nor Tesla has provided further updates until now. However, a recent Bloomberg report revealed that Tesla has been in discussions with Austin city officials about launching the service. According to the report, Tesla employees have been working with Austin's autonomous vehicle task force since at least May 2024 to address safety concerns.

Last October, Musk disclosed that Tesla was testing a robotaxi service in the Bay Area with company employees using an unreleased app; each vehicle had a safety driver onboard. It remains unclear whether Tesla plans to follow a similar approach in Austin before officially launching the service.

Tesla has offered FSD features in its vehicles for several years. However, despite its name, the software does not make cars fully autonomous  drivers must remain attentive at all times to ensure safety.

That could soon change. Musk recently shared video footage appearing to show Tesla vehicles autonomously navigating from the factory to designated loading dock lanes without human intervention. According to Musk, this demonstration marks a significant step toward achieving true unsupervised self-driving.
Apple is slowly expanding the availability of its Apple Intelligence AI features, adding support for more languages and making the feature available in new regions.

Soon, more countries will receive language support from this feature.

Apple Intelligence Gains Support for Eight New Languages

As MacRumors reports, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in the company's latest earnings call that Apple Intelligence will support eight additional languages from April onwards. The tech publication wrote that the new languages include:

French

German

Italian

Portuguese

Spanish

Japanese

Korean

Simplified Chinese

Apple Intelligence is currently available in English only but in limited regions, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. With the April update, the AI features will also be available for English-speaking users in India and Singaporethis is good news for those who want to have a comfortable time reading in English.

iOS 18.4 Expected to Introduce the Language Expansion

While Apple has neither confirmed nor denied it, it is likely the new language capability will be implemented when iOS 18.4 hits the scene. This rollout is a landmark in Apple's gradual, year-long rollout of its AI-fueled platform, which, to date, has been approached with caution across 2024, Mashable reports.

Apple Intelligence Meets Headwinds of EU Regulations

However, despite its expansion, Apple Intelligence is not available for most European markets. This is due to the regulations imposed by the European Union on the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The Cupertino tech giant said that "many of the core features of Apple Intelligence will start to roll out to iPhone and iPad users in the EU" in April. This implies that the company has potentially figured out a way to comply with the tough data privacy and competition requirements that have been set by regulators in the EU.

Apple Banking on iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 for AI Adoption

Cook pointed out that Apple Intelligence adoption will be increasing considering that consumers who upgrade to iPhone 15 and new iPhone 16 modelsthe only devices on which AI features are available up to nowwill receive Apple Intelligence. Already, Google and Samsung have integrated the advanced AI functionalities found in Apple Intelligence within the latest variations of their products.

Productivity Improvements and Advancements With Siri Through Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence is a product that has helped to save a lot of time and increase productivity, according to Cook. In particular, he pointed to the email summarization feature as something that has really made a difference:

"Once you start using the features, you can't imagine not using them anymore. I know I get hundreds of emails a day, and the summarization function is so important," Cook said.

Moreover, Cook added that Apple Intelligence upgrades for Siri will be implemented gradually in the next few months, thus increasing the virtual assistant's functionality.

Apple's slow rollout of AI capabilities indicates the company's concern with both quality and compliance with regulatory bodies. As Apple Intelligence expands to support more languages and reach a wider audience, it is well on its way to becoming a standard feature on the iPhone.

Apple Intelligence is impressive, but hallucinations could happen, just like in the case of notification summaries. The AI-powered smartphone market is projected to grow for the next few years, but that doesn't mean everyone will embrace it.

Of course, privacy and user-related issues may arise and this is important for Apple so they could address the concerns properly. Regardless, Apple Intelligence is already a masterpiece in the making, but only if the iPhone maker can sustain its success soon.
Samsung stormed the news that the Bluetooth functionality is being removed from the S Pen of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. While this isn't a big deal for others, it has raised an outcry from loyal users.

In reaction to this concern, Jeff Springer, a die-hard Samsung fan and owner of the tech site SammyGuru, has created a Change.org petition calling for the company to reinstate the feature for the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Samsung Users Protest the Loss of Bluetooth S Pen

The Change.org petition, "Demand Samsung Mobile to Reintroduce Bluetooth S Pen for Galaxy S26 Ultra," has garnered over 3,200 signatures. Springer and other supporters believe that the Bluetooth-enabled S Pen was more than a gimmick; it served as an essential functionality, like remote UI navigation and camera control.

"For me, and for countless others, this feature was not just a noveltyit was a useful, meaningful feature that distinguished the Samsung Galaxy from all other smartphones on the market," Springer said in a petition. "

Springer and the other supporters who signed the petition are urging Samsung Mobile to listen to the users. This way, the smartphone maker can integrate an improvement in their product development processall thanks to the valuable feedback of the public.

Samsung's Mixed Messages Regarding the S Pen

It initially seemed that Samsung might still offer a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen as a separate accessory. As TechRadar reports, the official Samsung blog had a footnote suggesting that users could buy a Bluetooth version separately. However, this statement was later corrected to confirm that the feature had been entirely removed from the S25 Ultra's stylus lineup.

While Change.org petitions hold no legal authority, they can exert pressure on companies by demonstrating widespread dissatisfaction. Whether Samsung will respond to this growing movement remains to be seen.

Why Did Samsung Remove Bluetooth from the S Pen?

According to Samsung, the reason for not including Bluetooth in the S25 Ultra S Pen is because of their low usage rates. The company states that most people could not utilize Bluetooth-dependent features since they were a nonessential component.

However, detractors say that stripping features from a top-shelf productthe most productive smartphone availabletakes a backward step. The S Pen is one of the trademarks of Samsung; its capabilities, if curtailed, feel like downsizing to many die-hard Galaxy users.

Compromise Between Innovation and Customer Preference

On the other end, with Bluetooth removed from the S Pen, perhaps the savings may have been redirected to other improvements such as:

50MP Ultra-Wide Camera: The new sensor promises improved low-light capabilities and sharper details.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset: The latest processor brings top-notch speed and efficiency.

Extended Battery Life: Getting rid of Bluetooth might help with better battery optimization.

These are the upgrades that benefit the broader user base, but the pain remains for those who loved what the S Pen used to be.

Will Samsung Listen to Its Users?

With over 3,200 supporters and counting, the petition rings louder on the part of Samsung's audiencethose who want the return of the Bluetooth S Pen. If the campaign gains more traction, Samsung may be forced to reconsider its stance on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Despite all this controversy, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is still a powerhouse device. It continues to top lists of the best Samsung smartphones, best camera phones, and best flagship devices overall.

For now, Samsung users will have to wait and see whether the company bows to consumer demandor sticks to its current strategy of streamlining features.

If you're one of the fans disappointed by the missing Bluetooth S Pen, signing the petition might be your best shot at making your voice heard.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants in Jenin, northern West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) said in a joint statement on Friday.

According to the statement, in a joint activity with ISA on Thursday, the IDF and additional forces encircled a structure and killed the two militants inside.

IDF soldiers had engaged in close-quarters combat with the two militants before killing them, during which an Israeli soldier was killed and five others injured.

Since January 21, the IDF, ISA, and Israel Border Police have been conducting a military campaign named "Iron Wall" in the West Bank's Jenin and Tulkarm to dismantle what they called "terrorist groups" and to maintain military control in the occupied territory.

Throughout the operation, dozens of Palestinian militants have been killed, wounded, or arrested, and numerous homes have been demolished. 
Buc-ee's grew from a small gas station south of Houston to a mammoth-sized chain stretching across nine states. Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle

If youve ever taken a road trip from Houston to almost anywhere, you might (should) be familiar with the Buc-ees Beaver.

He calls to you like a siren from his punny billboards plastered above the highways of Texas, luring you to his large travel centers with his beady eyes and buck teeth on promises of beaver nuggets, jerky and some of the best roadside restrooms in America.

Founded in 1982 right here in Southeast Texas by Arch Beaver Aplin III and Don Wasek, Buc-ees has become not just a sprawling chain of popular mega convenience stores but a Texas cultural icon.

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Today, we explore how Buc-ees grew from one store in Clute, about 55 miles south of downtown Houston, to a chain of 50 locations across several states with an almost cult following.

How did Buc-ees evolve from a small gas station into a Texas phenomenon?

Buc-ees began as a modest 3,000-square-foot convenience store when it opened in Clute, with a number of small stores (at least relative to modern-day Buc-ees) opening in Brazoria County during the companys first couple of decades. As the Buc-ees footprint expanded, it began offering food like tacos and sandwiches cooked in-house and started selling products like clothes and outdoor gear.

But it wasnt until 2003, when the company opened its first travel center in Luling, that its brand as a Texas-sized convenience store known for offering a wide product selection, friendly service and immaculate bathrooms really took off.

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These expansive stores, often exceeding 50,000 square feet, feature dozens of fueling stations and a vast range of merchandise, from Buc-ee-themed T-shirts to sippy cups. Theyre also conveniently located along major Texas highways, such as the Madisonville location heading north on Interstate 45 toward Dallas and the Katy location heading west on I-10.

The Houston region is surrounded by Buc-ees on all sides, from the Texas City location to Baytown to Cypress.

What makes Buc-ees different from other convenience stores and travel centers?

Buc-ees distinguishes itself from traditional convenience stores and travel centers through several key features, the first being its sheer size.

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Many Buc-ees locations span over 50,000 square feet, with the largest, the rebuilt location in Luling, measuring up to a whopping 75,593 square feet. That location, beating out the Buc-ees in Sevierville, Tennessee, is the largest convenience store in the world.

These Texas-born travel stops are renowned for their cleanliness, especially their bathrooms. The New Braunfels location won the Cintas Americas Best Restroom contest in 2012, and Buc-ees is one of the only convenience store chains to be included in Cintas Best Restroom Hall of Fame.

Buc-ees unique merchandise has also helped build the companys brand over the years. The stores offer everything from branded apparel and kids toys to home decor and lawn chairs. Buc-ees even sells an inflatable version of its mascot wearing a Santa hat for the holidays.

Finally, how could we forget about the food? From brisket sandwiches to kolaches, the freshly prepared food offered at Buc-ees is hard to beat when youre hungry and flying down an empty two-lane Texas highway.

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What are Buc-ees expansion plans?

The past decade or so has seen this iconic chain expand rapidly outside of Texas, with more than a dozen locations now open across eight other states.

After some false starts in the 2010s, Buc-ees finally opened its first location outside the Lone Star State in early 2019, a 50,000-square-foot facility in Baldwin County, Alabama. (Louisiana initially lost the Buc-ees expansion sweepstakes after the companys plans to build a store in Baton Rouge fell through, but the travel chain now plans to open two in our neighboring state in the next couple of years.)

Buc-ees has since opened locations in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Colorado.

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And the beaver has no plans to slow down.

Later this year, the chain will open its largest location in Georgia, a 74,000-square-foot location that dwarfs the states other two Buc-ees stores. In 2027, Buc-ees expects to stretch its footprint when it opens its northernmost location in Wisconsin, about 15 miles from Milwaukee. Other developments are planned in Buc-ee-less states like Virginia, Mississippi and Ohio.
TUNIS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Kais Saied announced on Thursday to extend the state of emergency imposed across the country till the end of 2025.

The state of emergency in the entire country "will be extended from Thursday to Dec. 31, 2025," said the Journal of the Republic of Tunisia, an official biweekly gazette.

Tunisian emergency law grants the authorities exceptional powers, including carrying out home arrests, banning official meetings, imposing curfews, monitoring media and press, prohibiting assemblies, and media censorship without permission from the judiciary.

The state of emergency in Tunisia was first declared on Nov. 24, 2015 following a bomb attack on a bus of the presidential guards, which killed 12 agents. 
Indonesia deforestation rises for third year running: NGO



Bangkok, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



Deforestation in Indonesia rose in 2024 for a third year running, a local environmental NGO said Friday, based on satellite image analysis and fieldwork.

A government official disputed the figures, saying they mischaracterised deforestation in the country.

Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of deforestation, with key drivers including timber plantations, palm oil cultivation and, increasingly, the mining of critical minerals.

Its rainforests are some of the world's most biodiverse, providing crucial habitats for threatened and endangered species, and are key carbon sinks.

The report by NGO Auriga Nusantara said 261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of primary and secondary forests across Indonesia were lost in 2024, over 4,000 more than the previous year.

The vast majority of the losses took place in areas opened for development by the government, the group added.

"It is worrying, as it shows the increase of legal deforestation," said Auriga Nusantara's chair Timer Manurung.

He called for "urgent" protection of forest in Kalimantan, where the highest losses were recorded as the country's new capital is built, and in Sulawesi.

Ade Tri Ajikusumah, a senior official at Indonesia's environment and forestry ministry, said the deforestation figure failed to account for replanting.

He acknowledged that government figures for "gross" deforestation in 2024 are "not significantly different" from Auriga Nusantara's, but that the NGO did not account for reforestation of over 40,000 hectares.

"We are now working to maximise land use," he said, adding that development around Indonesia's new capital involves "land that has already been released from forest status".

"These areas were previously managed by companies under existing permits. So it's not deforestation -- it was already designated for development."

The report comes as Indonesian environmentalists raise alarm over government plans to convert millions of hectares of forests for food and energy use.

President Prabowo Subianto, who assumed office in October, has pledged to boost food and energy self-sufficiency, including by expanding bio-based fuels to lower fuel imports.

Environmental groups warn the plans would spell disaster for the country's forests.

"We ask President Prabowo to issue a presidential regulation to protect all remaining natural forest," Timer told AFP.

The report is based on satellite imagery, which was analysed to confirm deforestation, and followed up with field visits to areas representing tens of thousands of hectares of forest loss, Auriga Nusantara said.



- Coral region under threat -



While deforestation occurred in all of Indonesia's provinces except the region around Jakarta, the biggest losses were in Kalimantan.

One driver has been the designation of an area for the new capital, the report said.

Two regional governments in the area have proposed opening up hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest to potential development, the group warned.

Most deforestation however was driven by commodities, including timber, mining and palm oil.

Auriga Nusantara said its count excluded loss in timber plantations and plantation forest, but does cover both primary forests and regenerated "secondary" forest.

The report also sounds the alarm on deforestation for biomass production, which has seen forest levelled to plant quick-growing species that will provide wood biomass.

Indonesia is keen to boost domestic use of biomass energy and export, particularly to Japan and South Korea.

And it highlighted deforestation on islands in Raja Ampat, an area known for its teeming coral reefs, as nickel mining advances.

"This area of such national and international acclaim has been unable to withstand the onslaught," the report said.

Nearly 200 hectares across four islands in the region have been deforested, the group said, with new nickel mining licences already issued for several more islands.

Auriga Nusantara said forest loss was also happening in conservation areas, despite legal protections.
Portugal lawmakers take step toward deep-sea mining ban



Lisbon, Jan 31 (AFP) Jan 31, 2025



The Portuguese parliament on Friday took a first step towards banning deep-sea mining in the country's territorial waters, which would be a first in Europe.

Deep-sea mining has come to the forefront in recent years as countries move away from fossil fuels and firms invest heavily to explore the seabed for valuable minerals needed for the transition.

On Friday, Portuguese lawmakers adopted in first reading several texts from various parties, including the ruling group and the opposition, aimed at banning such mining until 2050.

Lawmakers will now use these texts as a basis to cobble together a law that will eventually be submitted to parliament for a vote.

If it adopts the measure, Portugal will become "the first European country to write into law a ban on such activity until there is more scientific data" on deep-sea mining's impact on the environment, Catarina Abril, an environmental activist from the Sciaena non-governmental organisation, told AFP.

The seabed around Portugal's autonomous Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean is thought to be rich in manganese, cobalt and nickel, which are high demand minerals, not least because they are essential in making batteries for electric cars.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), based in Jamaica, is responsible for both protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdictions and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of coveted mineral resources in those zones.

About 30 countries, of the 169 ISA member states, have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, with NGOs and scientists warning of the potential risks posed by the activity to little understood undersea ecosystems.

The ISA's Council, which for now only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for more than a decade.

It is aiming to adopt a mining code this year that would close a loophole which currently allows any country to apply for a mining contract on behalf of a company it sponsors.

In December, Norway suspended plans to start granting licenses for deep-sea mining after facing opposition from environment groups and international institutions.

lf-tsc/yad/bc
BERLIN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany's political and business leaders gathered at receptions across the country this week to welcome the Year of the Snake, extend Chinese New Year greetings, and reaffirm their commitment to deepening ties with China.

At a reception in Berlin on Wednesday, Hans-Peter Friedrich, former vice president of the German Bundestag and chairman of the Germany-China Parliamentary Group, highlighted the enduring strength of German-Sino cooperation. "For decades, our partnership has thrived on trust and mutual benefit. As we navigate new global challenges, we must remain open to innovative approaches and fresh avenues of collaboration," he said.

Michael Schumann, chairman of the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, described China's resilience and innovation as key drivers of its economic success. "Through my frequent engagements with China, I have witnessed the remarkable creativity and dedication of its people. This dynamism keeps China's economy vibrant and forward-moving," he noted. Schumann also emphasized China's growing influence in global affairs, stressing that a strengthened Sino-German partnership would unlock broader economic opportunities.

On Tuesday, Chinese New Year's Eve, the Chinese Consulate in Dusseldorf hosted a grand reception attended by prominent political and business figures, particularly from North Rhine-Westphalia. Many of the participants have played active roles in fostering Sino-German relations.

Rainer Schmeltzer, first vice president of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament, highlighted the region's close ties with China. "Our state has long been a leader in economic and cultural exchanges with China. Beyond commerce, our cooperation in education and research has been instrumental in strengthening mutual understanding and trust," he said.

Expressing confidence in further expanding this relationship, Schmeltzer added, "The strong foundation we have built gives us every reason to be optimistic. I look forward to even greater collaboration in trade, innovation, and cultural exchange."

Duisburg Mayor Soeren Link, in a video message, underscored the significance of Chinese New Year celebrations. "The Year of the Snake embodies wisdom, foresight, and resilience -- qualities that should also guide Sino-German relations as we navigate an evolving global landscape," he said.

Duisburg's ties with China date back to 1982, when it established a sister-city relationship with Wuhan. Over the decades, this connection has strengthened, making Duisburg a key hub for China-Europe cooperation. "In the coming year, we aim to expand our partnership even further, exploring new areas of collaboration and reinforcing the bonds that unite us," Link stated.

Clemens Schuette, a board member of the German-Chinese Business Association, reflected on Germany's growing benefits from China's rising innovation and global competitiveness. "The Year of the Snake symbolizes wisdom and adaptability, qualities essential for addressing global challenges," he said. "Through continued engagement, we can unlock even greater opportunities for cooperation between our two countries."

Duisburg's Commissioner for China Affairs Markus Teuber highlighted the transformative impact of the China-Europe freight train services, which have significantly boosted trade connectivity. He also stressed the strategic importance of the Belt and Road Initiative in strengthening economic and cultural ties between China, Germany, and the broader European region. "As the Chinese New Year ushers in a fresh start, we look forward to deepening our partnership, fostering innovation, and seizing new opportunities together," he said. 
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An advanced artificial intelligence system has crossed a red line after successfully replicating itself without any human assistance, researchers have revealed.

The team who made the discovery, from Fudan University in China, said the development is an early sign of the emergence of rogue AI, which may eventually operate against the best interests of humanity.

The research looked at two large language models (LLMs) that are already widely available  built by Metas Llama and Alibabas Qwen  to understand whether it was possible for the AI to independently produce a functioning replica of itself.

When instructed to clone themselves in the event of being shut down, the two models successfully replicated themselves in more than half of the 10 trials conducted, suggesting that such an eventuality may already be possible.

Successful self-replication under no human assistance is the essential step for AI to outsmart the human beings, and is an early signal for rogue AIs, the researchers warned.

That is why self-replication is widely recognised as one of the few red line risks of frontier AI systems.

AI safety has become an increasingly prominent issue for researchers and lawmakers, with the technology potentially posing an existential threat to humanity.

Read More What is DeepSeek? DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, has disrupted the tech industry with its new large language model, claiming to match or surpass leading US models at a fraction of the cost.

This led to significant drops in tech shares

DeepSeek's AI Assistant has become the most downloaded free app in the US, surpassing ChatGPT.

The company claims its DeepSeek-V3 model was trained for under $6 million, significantly less than competitors, raising concerns about US dominance in the AI field.

DeepSeek's emergence has prompted calls for increased US competitiveness and discussions about potential trade tariffs.

Read more here

In October, the UKs Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said that highly targeted legislation would be introduced for companies developing AI tools.

A study detailing the latest research, titled Frontier AI systems have surpassed the self-replicating red line, was published in the preprint database arXiv.

The paper is awaiting peer-review, meaning it is not yet certain that the results will be replicated by other researchers.

The results imply that the current AI systems already exhibit the ability of self replication and can use the ability to further enhance its survivability and expand the species, the researchers noted.

We hope our findings can serve as a timely alert for the human society to put more efforts on understanding and evaluating the potential risks of frontier AI systems, and form international synergy to work out effective safety guardrails as early as possible.
Even as the asteroid hurtled towards Earth, we were arguing. That was sort of the point: some of the worlds greatest experts and most powerful agencies had been assembled to find out how to respond. But they argued and then they failed.

The asteroid wasnt real. But the conclusions were very clear: we are not ready to respond to the threat of a deadly asteroid. The Earth is not in the path of any real threat, experts believe  which is for the best since we cannot properly respond to one.

For more than a decade, an array of US government agencies and experts led by Nasas Center for Near-Earth Object Studies have been playing tabletop games that could have the highest-possible stakes. Every two years, they gather and simulate a threat from an asteroid, and the response that might follow; repeatedly it has shown that we are not yet prepared, with dramatic and destructive if entirely imagined results.

open image in gallery ( AFP via Getty Images )

The threat however is not wholly theoretical. Through its billions of years, the Earth has been hit by vast numbers of asteroids, once much more common than it is now; an early one might have formed the Moon, and another wiped out the dinosaurs. Even these days, potentially disastrous asteroids do fall to Earth: in 1908 an asteroid in Russia exploded in the sky with enough force to flatten some 80 million trees, and in 2013 the Chelyabinsk meteor blew up with the force of as much as 500 kilotonnes of TNT.

More recently, we have been repeatedly reminded that our spot in space is shared with a number of other objects, some of which might be dangerous. Last year, for instance, the Earth was struck by an asteroid that was spotted just hours before it crashed into us  it was so small that it burnt up in the sky without posing any danger, but it was a widely-heralded reminder of the danger that might come with a larger one.

Those in the hypothetical scenarios tend to focus on more deadly asteroids. In 2019, for instance, a 200 foot fictional asteroid destroyed New York City after the assembled experts failed to stop it.

This summer, the exercise didnt actually play out to a dramatic ending either way. Instead, participants stayed stuck at one specific time, rather than going in fast forward, using the time to delve deep into the best ways to deal with the threat.

In the simulation, they came up against numerous very real roadblocks. Knowing all the information about the asteroid, including the risk it posed, would require quick action and substantial funding  but it would be hard to convince those in power to spend time and money on a threat that couldnt be quantified. Many stakeholders expressed that they would want as much information about the asteroid as soon as possible but expressed skepticism that funding would be forthcoming to obtain such information without more definitive knowledge of the risk, Nasas report on the test notes.

There were other problems. Experts hadnt quite appreciated how intertwined the complex timelines of space missions, disaster management and communications would be; misinformation and disinformation would probably be rife; there are no specific plans for threats from asteroids.

This might be terrifying. But really the only reason we know about our failures to prepare is because we are preparing at all: these gaps in our response are exactly why the tests are being done in the first place.

Similarly, it might seem like we are constantly just missing a series of asteroids: just today, our neighbourhood will be visited by two aeroplane-sized objects, according to Nasas tracking. But the increasing worry is not a consequence of there being more threats but of us being more aware of them: we are getting better at spotting and understanding asteroids all the time.

That doesnt mean that we are always good at it. Many asteroids are only spotted shortly before they fly past: just this recently, an asteroid arrived in California only moments after it was discovered. They tend to be small  which is one reason they are hard to spot  and therefore relatively danger-free.

It might seem that we are powerless in the face of a threat from asteroids. But they are actually uniquely responsive: An asteroid impact to our planet is potentially the only natural disaster humanity is capable of accurately predicting and preventing, as Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters, said ahead of a previous simulation.

Recent years have focused on trying to build those kinds of prevention mechanisms. The most famous and successful of them was Nasas Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, a $330 million mission that in 2022 collided with Dimorphos, a moon around the asteroid Didymos. They didnt pose any kind of threat to Earth, but the test allowed scientists to see whether we might be able to change the path of an asteroid that did  and it was successful.

Last month, researchers tested an even more futuristic solution. Scientists used Sandia National Laboratorys Z machine, the most powerful laboratory source of radiation in the world, to see how that might work. They created a miniature version of a killer asteroid, the size of a marble, to see whether it could be knocked off course with nuclear blasts. Again, it seemed to work.

There is no indication that any of this will be needed any time soon. Nasa says that there is currently no known significant threat of impact for the next hundred years or more, but is also open about the fact that there could be many more objects waiting out there to be discovered. In the meantime, we will keep finding new threats and imagining new responses to them.
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Gary Kemp has defended the use of artificial intelligence in his music video, saying that record companies will not fund this type of content.

The Spandau Ballet star, 65, released the video for the track This Destination  featuring fake London commuters generated using AI in a rainy city landscape  on Friday.

While speaking to BBC One morning show BBC Breakfast about his new album This Destination, Kemp said theres no actors in the footage, and it has been created using the lyrics in the song.

He also said: I wouldnt have been able to make a video because people just want backstage, behind the scenes and record companies arent going to pay for big videos, so just seemed a good opportunity to explore that.

Kemp said that he would draw the line, and would never dream of writing lyrics with AI or writing music with AI.

He added: Art, especially words we listen to it and because we read it, because we dont want to feel alone.

We want to feel theres someone else out there who has the same issues that we have and has encapsulated it in a poem or in lyric or in book, if its a machine.

When asked about Sir Paul McCartneys criticism of AI use, Kemp said that he has no interest in generating lyrics as they come first for me.

Other people hopefully will listen to those lyrics and go understand that Im that person too, he added.

At the weekend, Sir Paul warned on BBC Ones Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that young artists do not have ownership of their own music, saying anyone who wants can just rip it off.

The 82-year-old Beatles star also pleaded with the Government over the AI consultation, which includes plans which could allow AI firms to scrape media companies content, unless they specifically opt out.

He said that if youre putting through a Bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or youre not going to have them.

His words were also backed by Sir Elton John, who told the Sunday Times the wheels are in motion to allow AI companies to ride roughshod over the traditional copyright laws that protect artists livelihoods.

This marks one of three AI music videos directed by Mike Bennion for Kemp.

As the latest video was released, Bennion said: Each of Garys tracks which I directed videos for have a traveling motif in the lyrics and I echoed that in the visuals, but gave each one its own look.

This one had a documentary approach. The idea was various people trying to get home on a London night bus. I was fascinated by the AI technologys ability to render convincing moving lights on glass and through condensation.

As songwriter and guitarist for Spandau Ballet, Kemp has worked on 10 UK top 10 singles and eight UK top 10 albums, with the band best known for songs such as Gold and UK number one True.

His last album was 2021s Insolo.
ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned that the worsening humanitarian situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) hampers the fight against the spread of mpox in the region.

The number of mpox cases reported in Africa this year has surpassed 9,959, as the death toll reached 85, Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya told an online media briefing Thursday evening.

In the week alone, eight African countries reported 3,300 new cases, including 914 confirmed ones, according to data from the African Union's specialized healthcare agency.

The DRC, the epicenter of the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa, has recorded 2,707 cases over the past week, of which 516 were confirmed, along with 38 deaths, Kaseya said.

He warned that the worsening humanitarian crisis in the eastern DRC and the city of Goma, where fighting between the DRC army and M23 rebels has intensified, is stalling efforts against mpox and other disease outbreaks.

"The humanitarian situation in the DRC is affecting not only mpox (response efforts), but also a number of other outbreaks," Kaseya said. "Health infrastructure has been broken, and access to basic services like water and sanitation doesn't really exist."

"This is also an area where, in addition to mpox, we have cholera, measles, and other disease outbreaks," he said.

He warned that the large-scale displacement of people could trigger the further spread of the mpox virus throughout the DRC and the region.

"We are talking about people who are leaving Goma and could spread the disease to other regions of the DRC and neighboring countries. Guns cannot kill us all, but outbreaks can kill all of us," Kaseya said.

According to the Africa CDC, among the 21 countries affected by the ongoing mpox outbreak since the start of last year, 12 are experiencing active transmission of the virus.

In mid-August last year, the Africa CDC declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of continental security. Shortly afterward, the World Health Organization designated the viral disease as a public health emergency of international concern, the second time in two years that it activated its highest level of global alert for mpox.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958. It is a rare viral disease typically transmitted through body fluids, respiratory droplets, and other contaminated materials. The infection often causes fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. 
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the foul-mouthed, cussing type. It makes me want to holler when some of you who can't say more than two or three sentences without including a four-letter word. Actually, it's the five-letter "b" word that especially galls me because it references women who I prefer to call by a five-letter "q" word that means royalty. And don't get me started about people using the "n" word.
The email landed in employees inboxes with this subject line: Fork in the Road. The message in the email was stark: Accept a sweeping set of workplace changes or resign.

That was the note that millions of federal employees received around 5pm on Tuesday in the US. It echoed a similar message that thousands of workers at Twitter got from Elon Musk in late 2022 after he bought the company.

Elon Musk is returning to a familiar playbook with his new role in Washington. Credit: AP

Musk has brought his takeover tactics from Twitter to the federal government, where hes become a close adviser to President Donald Trump and is running the cost-cutting project called the Department of Government Efficiency. The administration is already eliminating diversity initiatives, testing engineering prowess and demanding federal employee loyalty, manoeuvres Musk embraced to slash his social media companys budget and operations.

The Tuesday email, sent by the Office of Personnel Management, was the latest example of the billionaires fingerprints, down to the subject line  the same as his 2022 buyout offer to Twitter employees.
Less than a week after Emilia Perez led the Academy Award race with 13 nominations, star Karla Sofia Gascon, has become the centre of controversy over past tweets that were critical of murder victim George Floyd, Muslims in her native Spain, and diversity at the Oscars.

French director Jacques Audiards edgy musical drama about a male Mexican drug cartel boss who transitions to become a woman had been among the favourites in a wide-open best picture field. Additionally, Gascon has made history as the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for best actress.

Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez.

But the films chances of sweeping the field are rapidly dwindling, with it criticised in Mexico for trafficking in negative stereotypes about the country, for featuring just one main Mexican actor, and for being made by a French director who speaks no Spanish.

Emilia Perez has also been slammed by LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation GLAAD as a profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman.
A former company director charged over a large-scale criminal car rebirthing operation is one of the people on the periphery of the Dural caravan terror plot who has been arrested.

Simon Lance Nichols, 39, was named alongside Tammie Farrugia, 34, and Scott Marshall, 36, on a warrant for a counter-terrorism raid after a caravan containing explosives as well as information about the locations of the Great Synagogue and the Sydney Jewish Museum was discovered earlier this month.

Police said they found jerry cans inside the vehicles. Credit: NSW Police

Nichols, a former company director in the Alexandria-based Ezilift Pty Ltd, was arrested by organised crime squad officers on January 2 and is facing a slate of charges relating to so-called kill cars, which can be used in gangland hits.

Investigators allege he warehoused more than half a dozen stolen cars in Fairfield East over several months last year. Police say they also found jerry cans inside a number of cars and 15 stolen number plates Velcroed onto vehicles. The arrest followed an unexplained wealth investigation last year that led to the seizure of eight cars in August.
KIEV, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Russian military launched drone attacks on civilian and port infrastructure facilities in Ukraine's southern Odesa region early Friday.

According to a report by the Odesa Region Prosecutor's Office, the strike in the town of Chornomorsk injured four people, including two utility company employees, a truck driver and a doctor.

The attack damaged infrastructure, a healthcare facility, a private house, power lines and vehicles.

Meanwhile, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the social platform Telegram that the strike interrupted electricity supplies to Chornomorsk and its suburbs.

It followed a report from Russia's RIA news agency earlier in the day stating that an explosion had occurred at a commercial port in the region, where the Ukrainian armed forces were reportedly storing foreign equipment and ammunition. 
Two men abused by the late Cardinal George Pell in the 1970s have been granted compensation by the federal governments National Redress Scheme, despite Pell being acquitted of separate criminal charges by the High Court in 2020.

One of the men was offered a payment just five weeks before Pell died, in January 2023, after it was accepted by the scheme that he was groped on the genitals by Pell at a public swimming pool in Ballarat, according to an investigation by the ABC and The Monthly magazine.

George Pell was a former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, and a senior Vatican cleric. Credit: Dallas Kilponen

The man, who was just eight years old when he encountered Pell  who was archbishop of Melbourne and then Sydney, before being appointed by the pope to one of the Vaticans most senior positions in Rome  received $45,000 from the scheme for the alleged abuse.

A National Redress Scheme report on Pells conduct said children could be thrown without touching their genitals, and that it was not incidental touching, which was contrary to community standards of the time.
Weve all been there: the moment when waitstaff at a restaurant come to the table to ask how our meal is going. It can be a pro forma moment, going through the motions of hospitality, or it can lead to an issue being raised and addressed and a better experience for everyone.

Over the past six months, reporters at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have asked serious questions about how the hospitality industry is going. In some quarters, the feedback has been positive. But at the same time  and sometimes even in the same organisation  we have heard about the most unsavoury and appalling experiences.

The Grossi group restaurants on Bourke Street. Credit: Penny Stephens

Sexual harassment is a cultural problem across many industries, but hospitality  with its emphasis on having a good time, pleasing the customer, high pressure and ubiquitous alcohol  poses particular challenges when it comes to workplace safety.

When the Idiot Savant Awards, run by bartenders during Sydney Bar Week, announces in response to media scrutiny that it will no longer feature awards for Hottest Bar Team or Best Toilets for Extracurricular Activities, some might say we are at risk of wowserism.
Work in progress

The federal government is getting a lot of criticism for being too risk-averse and not having a large new achievement to define the government. I believe this would be a more valid criticism for a second term. The context for the current government is that it followed the Morrison government. The Albanese governments first term where mistakes were corrected and sound practices re-established has been a creditable beginning and deserves a better response from the media.

Peter Brown, North Perth Show some courage

The article Labor put gambling ad reform on hold (31/1) places the lack of political courage of Anthony Albanese in sharp focus. Most Australians want Labor to legislate the recommendation of the late Peta Murphys bipartisan parliamentary committee, that online gambling advertisements should be banned. And yet, in the face such strong community support, the PM is unwilling to face the backlash from the gambling industry and the sporting organisations that rely heavily on gambling income. Albanese must be sensitive to the voice of the people. If he is unable or unwilling to follow democratic principles, then his term as prime minister will be rather short.

Maurie Trewhella, Hoppers Crossing Largest interest group

How typical that a government (of either side of politics) would put community-minded reforms on hold in the face of commercial interest group lobbying (Labor put gambling ad reform on hold, 31/1). The Australian community is an interest group, too. Our taxes pay for the support to individuals and families affected by gambling. Listen to the people who voted it to govern and not the selfish interests of a few.

John Massie, Middle Park Tames circulation feat

More than 500,000 Australians signed a parliamentary petition calling for a royal commission into media diversity in Australia. Grace Tames T-shirt appears to have received more media coverage this week than either the petition or the subsequent Senate inquiry. Bravo Grace.

Sarah Russell, Mt Martha Sad gold rush legacy

The article Goldfields bid for World Heritage status (31/1) raises important questions about our history.

World Heritage is reserved for places of outstanding universal value to humanity: the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru-Kata Tjuta, the Sydney Opera House. Are the goldfields in this category? It is a question of what we value.

Heritage and history should not be confused. The Victorian gold rush is a fact of history. It brought some good things  including fine buildings of that era. It brought population and wealth to the fledgling colony of Victoria. It produced the Eureka Stockade that helped shape our democracy.

But it also brought environmental and cultural devastation. Almost the whole of central Victoria was dug up, often to a depth of several metres, and turned over. This created upside down country  with hydrology deranged, the topsoil gone, and depauperated soil unable to retain moisture, hosting only a fraction of the biodiversity that once flourished there. It is a dire legacy.

Publicity material lists other values in the bid, including First Nations values, but inevitably the bid will prioritise gold rush history over other values.

The legacy of the gold rush is a matter of shame. So much was lost for such ephemeral gains. There are many features of Central Victoria which would justify World Heritage status  but not the tragic legacy of the gold rush.

Brian Walter, Barkers Creek

Woke word attack

Your correspondent (Letters, 30/1) hasnt quite nailed it. I read and watch Tin Tin with my grandchildren, pointing out the stereotypes when Ive got the energy. I despise folk who want to fillet Roald Dahl, Disney animations and other classics of matter that just might offend. By and large I dont care what people wear, although your correspondents kimono example rather trivialises the serious issue of cultural appropriation. But I do care about social justice and this is where the problem lies. Woke has become a dumb portmanteau word for those on the right to attack those who do care about social justice, human dignity, equal rights, the rights and dignity of First Australians, and environmental vandalism.

Michael Read, Carnegie Use contrarian instead

The better word that your correspondent is looking for to replace woke is contrarian (Letters, 30/1). There are progressive contrarians and conservative contrarians and contrarians of all flavours in between.

Some contrarians need to dial down the intolerance and replace the use of pejoratives to put down an opposing view and respond with an enlightened and persuasive counter argument.

Paul Miller, Box Hill South Enough said

Re Enough of the Woke (Letters, 29/1). At a function of 80-plus year-olds, queries were raised about Wokeness. A retired, ex-headmistress of a well-known girls school, loudly declaimed the trend and decried wokeness in all its forms. When asked did she believe in female emancipation, in gender equality and in the rights of all members of the human race to be treated with dignity and respect, she replied, Yes.

Geraldine Colson, Mentone Made by hand

Michael Leunig was a marvellously creative person. I recall him discussing creativity with the poet, literature scholar, theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Williams was making some extremely complex, beautiful points about the creative process when Leunig interrupted. He waved his hand gently about in the air and said, Dont forget the hand. For Leunig, it seemed, it was the hand that had a mind of its own, its own unique contribution to creativity.

Neil Champion, Moonee Ponds

Leunig treatment

Great article by Sunny Leunig (My father didnt deserve to be ignored, 29/1). The treatment of his father by the Victorian establishment is in line with that offered Barry Humphries family after his death. Both geniuses put themselves out there over many years, and of course, got some things not quite right.

Thanks to both for their wonderful work.

Graeme Carr, Westmeadows Cartoonist talent

Your cartoonist Badiucao (27/1) encapsulated the bravery of Episcopal Bishop Mariam Edgar Budde. It also plainly pitched the focus begun by cartoonist Cathy Wilcox (22/1) on the right-wing fanaticism of those closest to Donald Trump.

Budde pleaded with (Trump) to show mercy to the scared (23/1). I am in awe of our political cartoonists and sincerely hope both depictions find their way to US media outlets.

Julie Broomhall, Timboon AND ANOTHER THING Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding Donald Trump

Am I correct that Trump thinks the tragic Washington air crash was caused by someone other than a white, American male?

Robyn Carey, North Fitzroy

Trump blames a fatal mid-air collision on diversity hiring. This must be a low watermark in Americas jettisoning of the truth in public discourse.

Matthew Hamilton, Kew Trumps comments on the recent air disaster remind me of a previous leader. We should be very afraid.

Dorothy Opat, Elsternwick If a judge keeps negating Trumps orders, theres only one solution. Donald will do away with all judges.

John Walsh, Watsonia Sadly, Trump only shows compassion when it suits his political objectives.

Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick Trump justifies blaming diversity and the Biden administration as the cause of the crash because he has common sense. Perhaps if he had any, he would wait for the findings of the proper authorities.

Annie Wilson, Inverloch

Trumps delusional statements after air crash killing 67 people were beyond contempt, totally lacking in any empathy for the victims families.

Ross Hudson, Mount Martha Trump suggests Egypt and Jordan allow Palestinian immigrants from Gaza to settle in their countries. In light of his views on immigrants in the US, that is hypocrisy at its best  or, more to the point, at its worst.

Ken Finley, Mount Martha Furthermore

Every time the Opposition yells more loudly at the Labor Party about antisemitism, the problem seems to get worse. The politicians should speak with one voice.

Barbara Lynch, South Yarra Re Parents, please hit the brakes on the school run, 31/1. We walked to school; later on took a bus, train and walked; and, later again, rode a bike to uni. It was called independence.

Margaret Skeen, Point Lonsdale Stop the world, I wanna get off.

And go to a planet without hate, wars, misery and newspapers!

Myra Fisher Brighton East
WA Police failed to take adequate actions to prevent the murder of a Floreat mother and daughter, an explosive new internal report reveals.

The inquiry was launched after Ariel Bombara, the daughter of double murderer Mark Bombara, accused WA police of ignoring the threats her father posed.

Bombara, 63, later shot and killed Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl in May last year before turning the gun on himself.

He had been searching for his estranged wife and Ariel, who had fled from their Mosman Park home in fear of him, and had sought refuge with friends the Petelczycs.
The prime ministers reluctance to offer comfort and reassurance in person to Sydneys Jewish community is a moral failure and not the behaviour one would expect from the leader of our country, he said. Loading What could be a more important use of his time at a moment when the security threat against Sydneys Jewish community is real and ongoing? The prime ministers office was contacted for comment. Albanese was criticised for taking four days to visit Melbournes Adass Israel Synagogue after it was firebombed in December, but was praised by Jewish leaders for visiting a childcare centre that was torched in Maroubra, in Sydneys eastern suburbs, on the day.

Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said he was concerned there appeared to have been a communications failure between state and federal police and the federal government. When you are talking about a foiled terror plot of such magnitude and a national crisis of antisemitism, you would expect the prime minister to be in the loop, he said. I would have expected him to have been briefed. A spokesperson for the NSW government said state police briefed Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley about the matter on January 20 in line with established protocol.

State premiers do not brief national cabinet on operational police matters, the spokesperson said. NSW Police were liaising with federal counterparts through the Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce. A federal source, who declined to be named to discuss sensitive matters, said there was no concern in the government about the timing of the Australian Federal Police briefings to Albanese and others about the caravan. While national cabinet was not told of the discovery in Dural when it met on January 21, one source said this was because the police wanted to protect the investigation. Sources familiar with the police operation said the fact a detonator was not found in the caravan was a crucial factor in the determination there was no imminent threat.

The decision on briefing ministers was left to the Joint Counter Terrorism Team that was set up by NSW Police and the AFP to run the investigation into the caravan. Loading The protocol for these teams was to decide collectively who should be briefed and when, a federal source said. Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi said authorities should have warned both Albanese and Minns about the threat. There is distinction between the states and the federal level on crime but terrorism and politically motivated violence is a special category in our law because it is an attack on our whole nation, said Bassi, who advised former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on national security.

If these threats are not discussed at the national cabinet, then what should be discussed at national cabinet? Bassi said it was extremely odd that so few details of the terrorism threat had been released, warning: If you leave the public with uncertainty, it risks uncertainty becoming fear. The Great Synagogue in Sydneys central business district said it was distressed to learn it was one of the intended targets of the apparent plot. Chief rabbi Benjamin Elton at Sydneys Great Synagogue, a target of the foiled antisemitic plot. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos While we thank NSW Police and other agencies for their efforts and ongoing support to protect The Great Synagogue and our community, we have to ask; how is it acceptable in Australia that synagogues and Jews are now deemed regular targets for violence, vandalism and hatred? the synagogue said in a statement.

The Great Synagogue said it remained open and police had advised there was no ongoing threat to the synagogue. Loading Now is not a time for complacency, to overlook antisemitism and let things slide, the synagogue said. We call on every single Australian to stand with their Jewish brothers and sisters and loudly reject the violence which has been threatened against their fellow citizens. Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said he was stunned police had not informed The Great Synagogue or the community support group that provides protection for Jewish schools, temples and museums in NSW about the caravan discovery.
People visit the ancient city of Sagalassos in Burdur province, Turkiye, on Jan. 31, 2025. Turkiye's tourism revenues rose by 8.3 percent in 2024 from the previous year, reaching 61.1 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute on Friday. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

ANKARA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkiye's tourism revenues rose by 8.3 percent in 2024 from the previous year, reaching 61.1 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute on Friday.

"Our tourism revenues exceeded our Medium-Term Program target with 61.1 billion dollars in 2024 and reached the highest level in our history," said Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz on social media platform X.

A total of 62.2 million tourists visited Turkiye last year, surpassing the government forecasts, Yilmaz added.

The vice president noted that the Turkish government expects the positive trend to continue in 2025, aiming for 63.6 billion dollars in tourism revenues.

Around 17 percent of the revenues came from non-resident citizens. Of the total, 43.9 billion dollars were contributed by personal expenditures and about 17.4 billion dollars by package tours. 
3 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in city get National Quality Assurance Certification





CMHO, Dr Sanjay Mishra and others pose for a photo after their achievement.

Staff Reporter :

Jabalpur district has obtained a major achievement in the field of health. Under the National Quality Assurance Standards Program of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, three Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (sub health centers) of the district have received National Quality Assurance Certification. These include Sub Lohari Kushli, Sub Health Center Dhanwahi and Sub Health Center Khajri. It may be mentioned that the team of Central Health Ministry visited community health centres (Ayushman Arogya Mandir) on January 7, 8 and 9, 2025 to examine the quality of services and mandatory service package available for patients in public health centers. This team comprised of Dr Akula Maheshwar from Andhra Pradesh and Dr Prashant Srivastava from Uttar Pradesh also took feedback from the patients. External evaluation was done by these national level evaluators, on the basis of which three public health facilities of Jabalpur district received National Quality Certification.

In the evaluation, Sub Health Center (Ayushman Arogya Mandir) Lohari Kushli of Block Patan got the highest marks of 95.83 percent. The Sub Health Center (Ayushman Arogya Mandir) Dhanwahi of Block Majhauli, remained on second place with 94 percent marks whereas Sub Health Center (Ayushman Arogya Mandir) Khajri of Block Panagar got third place by getting 93.60 percent marks. All have succeeded in achieving quality certification by fulfilling the mandatory service package criteria. Before providing the National Quality Assurance Standards certificate, a team of experts examines the hospital's services and satisfaction level on various parameters.

The services available in the hospital are assessed on parameters such as patient rights, inputs, support services, clinical services, infection control, quality management and outcome. Only those participating institutions that meet these stringent standards are issued quality certificates by the Union Health Ministry. With the efficient guidance of Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Sanjay Mishra and tireless hard efforts made by District Quality Nodal Dr Adarsh Vishnoi, District Program Manager Vijay Pandey, District Quality Monitor Dr Shikha Garg, Chief Block Medical Officer Dr Deepak Gaikwad and Dr Sanjay Jain, Medical Officer, Jabalpur district has achieved this milestone. The block team, CHOs, ANMs and Asha workers cooperating with the CHO of the institution also rendered their support.
Budget Session of Parliament from today





NEW DELHI :

Stormy Budget Session likely as Oppn to raise Mahakumbh stampede issue

The Union Budget will be presented on February 1

PARLIAMENTSBudget Session is likely to get off to a stormy start on Friday with Opposition parties demanding a discussion on the alleged mismanagement of the Mahakumbh festival in Prayagraj where 30 pilgrims were killed in a stampede. At the all party meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the eve of the Parliament Session, Opposition parties also accused the Government of politicising the parliamentary committees and trying to push its agenda by using its majority.

The Budget Session starts on Friday with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha. After the Presidents address, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman willtabletheEconomicSurvey intheLokSabhaandtheRajya Sabha separately. Sitharaman will presentthe Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.

At the all party meeting, the Opposition accused the BJPled Government of politicisation of the Kumbh congregationandprevalenceofVIPcultureatthecostofthecommon man. TheOppositionparties also alleged that the Government is steam-rolling its agenda in parliamentarypanelsandhavingdisregardforparliamentary procedure of finalising House businessatthemeetingsofthe BusinessAdvisoryCommittee. Weexpressedourconcerns overthe biased mannerin the conduct of Parliament proceedings, Gaurav Gogoi, DeputyLeaderoftheCongress intheLokSabha,toldreporters here. A section of the Opposition leaders questioned the Government over the publication of a parliamentary bulletin on the number of days allotted for discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents address, contending that this was the prerogative of the Business Advisory Committee. We have takennoteoftheir concerns. The Business AdvisoryCommittee(BAC)will decidewhichissueswillbetaken up for discussion.We hope forasmooth and productive Budget session. Cooperation from all parties is essential for a meaningful and constructive parliamentary session, ParliamentaryAffairsMinister Kiren Rijiju said.

The Government has listed 16 Bills, besides the financial business, for the Budget session which will be held from January 31 to February 13 before breaking for recess to examine the Budget proposals.Thesessionwillreconvene on March 10 and continue till April 4. The all-party meeting was attended by Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, K Suresh, Gaurav Gogoi and Pramod Tewari, Trinamool Congress leadersSudipBandyopadhyay andDerek OBrien,RSPleader NKPremachandran, BJD leader Sasmit Patra, DMK leader T R Baalu, Samajwadi Party leaderRam GopalYadav, JMM leader Mahua Maji, and NCP-SP leader F

Judicial panel to visit Mahakumbh stampede site today LUCKNOW, Jan 30 (PTI) THE three-member judicial commission set up by the Uttar Pradesh Government to probe the Mahakumbh stampede will visit the site on Friday, panel head Harsh Kumar, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, said. Kumar also said that the commission has a month to wrap up its investigation but will try to expedite it. Kumar and panel members former

Parlt panel on Waqf amendment bill submits report to LS Speaker

NEW DELHI,

Jan 30 (PTI)

THE joint committee of Parliament examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday. Panel chairperson Jagdambika Pal met Birla at his Parliament House office and handed over the report. The panel on Wednesday adopted by a majority vote its report that contained changes suggested by members of the ruling BJP, prompting the opposition to dub the exercise an attempt to destroy Waqf boards.
Central Indias biggest tax evasion I-T uncovers Rs 500 cr fraud involving two corporate groups





By Mukesh S Singh

Raipur/Durg/Rajnandgaon,

In a major crackdown on tax evasion, Income Tax authorities have uncovered a massive Rs 500 crore fraud involving Satyam Balajee Group, a leading exporter of non-Basmati rice, and Sai Hanumant Industries Private Limited. The investigation revealed a complex network of shell companies and fraudulent transactions, marking it as one of the largest tax evasion cases in Central Indias history. Sources in the Investigation Wing of the Income Tax Department, speaking to The Hitavada, disclosed that this massive tax fraud came to light following 6-months of real-time surveillance and financial intelligence gathering. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) played a pivotal role in tracking suspicious transaction patterns that eventually led to the full-scale tax crackdown.

A large-scale tax investigation, encompassing over 25 locations across Chhattisgarh (including Raipur, Durg, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, and Nawapara-Rajim), Maharashtra (Gondia), and Andhra Pradesh (Kakinada), has ensnared numerous businesses. By the second day of the searches, authorities had seized Rs 8 crore in unaccounted cash, and government-approved valuers were appraising jewellery worth several crores. One of the most explosive revelations of the ongoing tax investigation is the Gondia district connection in state of Maharashtra, which has surfaced as the common link between Satyam Balajee and Sai Hanumant Industries. Maharashtra-based firm and its allied paper companies served as key conduits, fabricating non-existent business transactions and providing counterfeit invoices. These firms helped both groups inflate expenses, obscure actual turnover and evade massive tax liabilities.

The groups international business footprint spans multiple countries, with its financial dealings now coming under scrutiny. Investigators have discovered 15 bank lockers linked to both groups, out of which only one has been opened so far, revealing cash deposits of significant value. The remaining 14 lockers remain sealed under Prohibitory Orders (POs) and will be opened in phases. Tax officials have also placed stringent restrictions on multiple bank accounts suspected to be used for financial concealment. Cyber forensic experts from Mumbai, Surat, Bhopal and Kolkata are working parallel to meticulously clone a large amount of digital evidence. Laptops, smartphones, iPhones, portable hard drives and other digital storage devices seized from 25 locations. The I-T Departments Investigation Wing, led by Additional Director Tarun Kanojia, is coordinating this multi-state crackdown, with Conducting Deputy Director Income Tax (DDIT) Naval Jain spearheading the ground operations.

The operation is being executed with a 200-member team, including officers from Bhopal, Jabalpur, and Indore, ensuring synchronised action across multiple locations. The investigation is expected to intensify as the search and seizure operation continues for two more days. Senior officials are preparing to call in key individuals, including company directors and financial personnel, for extensive questioning. This investigation is likely to lead to a closer examination of the financial structures and business models of both conglomerates. Among the companies under the tax scanner are Satyam Balajee Rice Industries Private Limited, Satyam Balajee Automotives Private Limited, Satyam Balajee Energy Private Limited, Satyam Balajee Exim Private Limited, and Baldevji Enterprises LLP. The key individuals at the centre of the probe include Oshin Agrawal, Purushottam Agarwalla, Pradeep Kumar Agarwal, Himanshu Ranjan Agrawal, Abhishek Ranjan Agrawal and Kajli Agarwal. For Sai Hanumant Industries Private Limited, the directors under investigation are Sandeep Kumar Dhamejani, Sunil Dhamejani, and Kashish Dhamejani. Additionally, KNL Exim Private Limited and Medibloom Health Solutions Private Limited -- companies linked to Sai Hanumant Industries -- are also under scrutiny for alleged financial misconduct.
Global AI race: India to build own foundational models





NEW DELHI :

INDIA on Thursday outlined global AI ambitions with plans to build its own foundational model that could take on the might of ChatGPT, Deepseek R1 and others, as it lined up most affordable common compute facility powered by 18,693 GPUs to be used by startups and researchers. Indias bold move comes at a time when Chinese company DeepSeek has turned heads after its AI model overtook ChatGPT as the top-ranked free app on Apples appstore, challenging the AI dominance concentrated so far with the US firms, particularly Silicon Valley frontrunner Open AI. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw exuded confidence that India will build a foundational model that is world-class, and that it will be able to compete with best models across the globe.

On Thursday, New Delhi announced the next steps in its AI blueprint, among them, 18,693 Graphics Processing Unit or GPUs on offer by the empanelled bidders (a list that includes Jio Platforms, CMS Computers, Tata Communications, E2E Networks, Yotta Data Services, and others), and start of AI safety institution, with 8 projects approved under it. The Government is also calling for proposals to develop Indias own foundational models that would be aligned to Indian context, Indian languages, culture, basically where datasets are for our country, of our country and for our citizens and biases are removed. Put simply, foundation models in generative AI are large, pre-trained models that form the base for a variety of AI applications.

The common compute facility (powered by 18,693 GPUs) would be made available at a fraction of global cost benchmarks, Vaishnaw assured. The compute facility will be most affordable coming significantly less than one dollar (per GPU hour) after 40 per cent cost borne by the government. Making modern technology accessible to everyone, that is the economic thinking of our PM... Ours is the most affordable compute facility, at this point of time, Vaishnaw said.
MACAO, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Public Security Police Force of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) said that on Friday, Macao's borders recorded 423,000 entries and exits by 5 p.m., with 261,000 of them being visitors and 191,000 being incoming travelers.

This Spring Festival marks its first version after being inscribed in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. Macao injected fresh vitality into the traditional festival with exciting events.

On Wednesday, the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Macao SAR government tourism office (MGTO) organized a community roadshow, "2025 Chinese New Year Activities," at the Ruins of St. Paul's and Senado Square.

A 238-meter-long golden dragon and 18 dancing lions joined the God of Fortune, the three Gods of Happiness, Prosperity, and Longevity, and the Chinese Zodiac Mascot of the Snake to greet and distribute golden ingots to residents and visitors.

Ms. Ji, from Shenzhen, exclaimed: "It's quite impressive." It was her first time coming to Macao with her parents, and they coincidentally arrived just in time for the golden dragon parade. Ms. Fan, who came from Wuhan to celebrate the Spring Festival, arrived at 9 a.m. and secured a front-row spot to watch the golden dragon.

"This is my fourth time in Macao and my first time experiencing the Chinese New Year here. The Chinese dragon, lion dance, and other traditions reflect the rich essence of Chinese culture," she said.

"The celebration activities bring a lot of traffic to the stalls, and normally, the business will get even better after the third day of the Chinese New Year," said Lei Hong Soi, a shop owner on the souvenir street in the old town of Macao.

On Friday night, the "Parade for Celebration of the Year of the Snake" dazzled the central district of Macao with 17 parade floats, and the first session of the Chinese New Year Fireworks Displays was performed right after this.

The tourism office said the parade and fireworks displays were once again listed by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism as part of the "Happy Chinese New Year" celebrations, which shows the charm of Macao's "tourism+events."

Friends from all over the world are welcomed to Macao, said MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes. "Take a stroll around our city and experience the rich cultures and exciting elements of Chinese New Year," she added. 
Hamas frees 8 more hostages Chaotic handover drawsangry protest from Israel





KHAN YOUNIS :

HAMAS-LED militants freed eight hostages on Thursday as part of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but the chaotic handover of some of the captives, who were shuttled through a rowdy crowd of thousands by masked militants,drewanangryprotest from Israel. Israelwassupposedtorelease 110 Palestinian prisoners later in the day, including around 30 serving life sentences for deadlyattacksagainstIsraelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put that on hold, demanding that mediators assure the safe exit for hostages in Gaza going forward. Crowds of Palestinians the relativesandfriendsofreleased prisonersbutalsoscoresofjubilantsupportersmobbedbuses carrying the prisoners, making it almost impossible forthe released prisoners to step off the buses.

The released prisoners, all in grey Israeli prison sweatsuits, were hoistedimmediately onto the shoulders of the Palestinians who greeted them.Israelbeganreleasing110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursdayaftereighthostagesin theGazaStripwerefreedbymilitants earlier in the day in a sometimeschaoticprocess that briefly called the exchange into question and underscored the fragilityofaceasefirethatbegan this month. The prisoners released include 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis. Some are allowed to return to the occupiedWestBank,whilethoseconvicted of more serious crimes are being transferred to Egypt before further deportation. Their releases began late ThursdayaftermilitantsinGaza freedthreeIsraelisandfiveThai nationals,whowereworkingon farms in southern Israel when taken hostage more than 15 months ago.

The releases are part of a ceasefire aimed at ending the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas, and securing the releaseofdozensmorehostages abducted in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that ignited the war. Scuffles erupted as the convoy of buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners departed from their Israeli prison in the West Bank. Palestinian teenagers threw stones outside the complex and Israeli forces firedteargasastheytriedtoclear thearea.ThreePalestinianswere woundedinthe confrontations outside the prison, according to Palestinian Red Crescent, which said Israeli forces had usedgunfire andstungrenades to disperse crowds. As Red Cross buses approached, the families of Palestinian prisoners caught theirfirstglimpsesoftheirloved ones through the bus windshields, some shattered in the melee of stone-throwing and tear gas-firing. Zakaria Zubeidi  a prominentformermilitant leaderand theater director who took part in a dramatic jailbreak in 2021 beforebeingrearresteddayslater  woreagrey prison jumpsuit and flashed a victory sign from inside one of the buses. The uproar came hours after a chaotic hostage handover in the Gaza Strip, where masked militants shuttled some captives through a rowdy crowd of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas released seven of the hostages in front of the destroyed home of its slain leader, Yahya Sinwar, as thousands pressed in.

The militant group called it a message of determination, butittriggered the latest in a series of disputes that have sent US and Arab mediators scrambling to patch up the truce. The first hostage  female soldier Agam Berger, 20  was released after Hamas paraded herin front of a smallercrowdintheheavilydestroyed urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Hours later, a chaotic scene unfolded at a handover of the other seveninthe southern city of Khan Younis. Hundreds of militants from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group arrivedwithaconvoy,andthousands of people gathered to watch, some from the tilted rooftops of bombed-out buildings.

Footage showed hostage Arbel Yehoud, 29, looking stunned as masked militants hustled her through the shoutingcrowd,pushingpeopleback. Also released were Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old Israeli man, and five Thai laborers. BothYehoud and Moses are dual GermanIsraeli nationals. Netanyahu condemned the shocking scenes and called on international mediators to ensure the safety of hostages in future releases. Israel identified the Thai hostages released as: Watchara Sriaoun, 33; Pongsak Thaenna, 36; Sathian Suwannakham, 35; Surasak Rumnao, 32; and Bannawat Saethao, 27. Thai officials said they appeared to be in good health.
NASAs asteroid samples hold ingredients of life from watery world





CAPE CANAVERAL :

ASTEROID samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world. The findings provide the strongestevidenceyetthatasteroidsmayhave plantedthe seeds of life on Earth and that these ingredients were mingling with wateralmostrightfromthestart. Thats the kind of environmentthatcouldhavebeenessential to the steps that lead from elements to life, said the Smithsonian Institutions Tim McCoy, one of the lead study authors.

NASAsOsiris-Rexspacecraftreturned 122 grams of dust andpebblesfromthenear-Earth asteroid Bennu, delivering the sample canister to the Utah desert in 2023 before swooping off after another space rock. It remains thebiggest cosmichaul frombeyondtheMoon.The two previous asteroid sample missions by Japan yielded considerably less material. SmallamountsofBennuspreciousblackgrains-leftoversfrom the solar systems formation 4.5 billion years ago - were doled out to the two separate research teams. But it was more than enough toteaseoutthesodium-richminerals and confirm the presence of amino acids, nitrogen in the formofammoniaandevenparts of the genetic code. Some if not all of the delicate salts found at Bennu - similarto whats in the dry lakebeds of Californias Mojave Desert and Africas Sahara-would be strippedawayifpresentinfalling meteorites.

This discovery was only possible by analysing samples that were collected directly from the asteroidthencarefullypreserved back on Earth, the Institute of ScienceTokyosYasuhitoSekine, whowasnotinvolvedinthestudies,saidinanaccompanyingeditorial. Combining the ingredients of life with an environment of sodium-rich salt water, or brines,thats reallythepathway tolife, saidMcCoy,theNational Museum of Natural Historys curator of meteorites. These processes probably occurred much earlier and were much more widespread than we had thought before. NASAs Daniel Glavinsaidone of the biggest surprises was the relatively high abundance of nitrogen, including ammonia.

Whilealloftheorganicmolecules foundintheBennusampleshave been identified before in meteorites, Glavinsaid the ones from Bennu are valid - real extraterrestrial organic material formed in space and not a result of contamination from Earth. Bennu-arubblepile justonethird of amile(one-halfofa kilometre) across - was originally partofamuchlargerasteroidthat got clobbered by other space rocks. The latest results suggest this parent body had an extensive underground network of lakes or even oceans.
Nelson Hospital, NMC join hands for cochlear implant surgeries





Business Reporter :

Nelson Hospital has recently signed an MoU with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) peadiatric cochlear implant surgeries. The children who are suffering from profound hearing loss will be operated by implanting a Cochlear Implant  an electronic device that helps people with severe to profound hearing loss so that they perceive sounds and start the speech. By the sanction of the NMC Commissioner Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari and the Additional Commissioner Aanchan Goyal this programme, which is funded by NMC started and two children were operated at Nelson Hospital which was free of cost for the patients.

The process of switch-on was done at Nelson Hospital recently in the presence of Health Officer of NMC Dr Deepak Selukar, Medical Officer of NMC Dr Narendra Bahirwar, ENT surgeon from Nelson Hospital Dr Prashant Naik, ENT Surgeon from IGMC Dr Jiwan Vedi, ENT surgeon from GMC Dr Kanchan Tadke, Dr Seema Naik ENT Surgeon, Radha Sahu Director Nelson Hospital, and others, says a press release.
Over 60 killed in US midair collision





ARLINGTON :

Passenger jet with 64 aboard collides with Army helicopter carrying 3 soldiers while landing at Reagan Airport

ALL 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter were feared dead in what was likely to be the worst US aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, officials said on Thursday. At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the midair collision on Wednesday night when the helicopter apparently flew in the path of the jet as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said. Rescuers were still searching for any sign of the 60 passengers and four crew members, but they did not believe there were any survivors, which would make it the deadliest US air crash in nearly 24 years. We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation, said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nations capital. We dont believe there are any survivors. The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water.

The wreckage of the helicopter was also found. Donnelly said first responders on Thursday were searching an area of the Potomac River as far south as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of the airport. There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, with US and Russian figure skaters and others aboard, was making a routine landing when the helicopter flew into its path. On final approach into Reagan National it collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said. At this time, we dont know why the military aircraft came into the path of the ... Aircraft.

Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter during a training flight, an Army official said. Images from the river showed boats around the partly submergedwingandthemangled wreckage of the planes fuselage. Investigators will try to piece togetherthe aircrafts final moments before the collision, including its contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet. What happened: The FAA saidthemidair crashoccurred before9pm ESTinsomeofthe most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the Capitol. American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to ReaganNational at an altitude of about 400 feet (122 metres) and a speed of about 140 mph (225 kph) when it rapidly lost altitudeoverthePotomacRiver, accordingtodatafromitsradio transponder.

The Canadianmade Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-enginejet,manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers. A few minutes before landing,airtrafficcontrollersasked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway33atReaganNational and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight-tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway. Less than30 secondsbefore the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight.

The controller made another radio call to the helicoptermoments later:PAT 25 passbehind theCRJ. Seconds afterthat, the two aircraft collided.Theplanes transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 metres) short oftherunway,roughlyoverthe middle of the river. Video from an observation camera at thenearbyKennedy Centre showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball. The US Army described the helicopter as a UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort BelvoirinVirginia.Militaryaircraft frequently conduct such training flights in and around the nations capital. Reagan Airport was toreopenat11am on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. The FAA previously said it would be closed until 5 am on Friday.
Provide facts on allegations of Yamuna poisoning: EC to Kejriwal





NEW DELHI :

THE Election Commission on Thursday asked AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal not to mix the issue of increased ammonia in Yamuna with his allegation of river poisoning, and gave him a fresh opportunity to explain his charges against the Haryana Government. Not satisfied with his reply on Wednesday, theECaskedhimto provide factual evidence with specificandpointedresponseto type, quantity, nature and manner of poisoning of Yamuna. He was also asked to share details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the poison by Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11 am, failing which the Commission will be free to take appropriate decision in the matter. Kejriwal had on Wednesday responded to the EC notice over his claim the Haryana Government was mixing poison in Yamuna, and said raw water received from the BJPruledState inthe recentpasthas been highly contaminated and extremelypoisonousforhuman health. In the 14-page reply to the EC,theformerDelhiCMsaid if such toxic water is allowed to be consumed by people, it would lead to grave health hazard and fatality. In its fresh lettertotheAAPleader,thepollbody also highlighted that availability of sufficient and clean water is a governance issue, and that all Governments concerned at all times shouldengageinsecuring this for all the people.

Apologise to people of Haryana, Delhi for poison in Yamuna remarks: Nadda to Kejriwal

NEW DELHI :

BHARATIYA Janata Party (BJP) chief JPNadda on Thursday said the AAPs blame game on Yamuna pollution has exposeditsGovernmentsinefficiencyandaskedits supremo ArvindKejriwaltoapologise to the people of Haryana and Delhi for his poison mixed in Yamuna remarks. He also tagged in his X post an infographic from @infoindata that said pollution spikes as soon as the Yamuna enters Delhi AAP-Das blame game on Yamuna pollution exposes its inefficiency and failed governance,Nadda saidinhispost. Instead of taking responsibility, AAP-Da Govt has started spreading fear among people for political gains, he added.

Rajiv Kumar wants a job post-retirement: Kejriwal to CEC

NEW DELHI,

Jan 30 (ANI)

FORMERDelhiChiefMinister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launchedascathing attack on the Election Commission afterthepollbodyrejectedhis explanationwithregardtohis claimthatYamunawasdeliberately poisoned. TheAAPnationalconvenor accused the Election Commission of doing politics by sending him notice; Kejriwal said that Chief ElectionCommissionerRajiv Kumar wants a job postretirement. He said, I want to say ECI, with respect, they (ECI) cant see money being distributed openly in Delhi. They can not see blankets beingdistributedinthecity.... ECI is doing politics because RajivKumarwantsajobpostretirement.
Pune Police launch probe as phone calleroffers MPSC exam paper for Rs 40 lakh







PUNE/THANE :

THE Pune Police are investigating a viral phone call recording in which an aspirant is purportedly asked to pay Rs 40 lakh in exchange for an MPSC exam question paper, an official said on Thursday. The Maharashtra Public ServiceCommission(MPSC)has clarified that all the question paper sets are safe in their custody.TheGroupB(non-gazetted) joint examination 2024, conducted by the MPSC, is scheduled for Sunday. In the purported phone recording,apersonofferstoprovidethequestionpapertoa candidate a day before the exam in return for Rs 35-40 lakh. In a notification issued on Thursday, MPSC said it approached the police for an investigationafterlearningabout the viral audio clip.

MPSC has approachedus andwe are probing the purported phone call recording, said Deputy CommissionerofPolice (Crime) Nikhil Pingle. Addressingapressconference inNaviMumbai,MPSCSecretary Dr Suvara Kharat said all preparations are in place to conduct the Maharashtra Group-B(NonGazetted) Services Combined Preliminary Examination 2024 in a fair and transparent manner. There should be no doubts regarding the integrity of the examination process. Aspirants must not believe in rumours of leaksetc.

Allquestionpapersare securely stored under stringent security protocols. It has come to our notice that some individuals are attempting to deceive candidatesbyfalselyclaiming to have access to the exam papers and demanding money in return, Kharat said. TheMPSChas lodgeda complaint with the Pune Police Commissioner. Candidates who receive phone calls or messages offering question papers in exchangeformoneyshouldlodge a complaint.
PWD Minister Rakesh Singh reviews preparations for Maa Narmada Prakatotsav to be celebrated on Feb 4





PWD Minister Rakesh Singh holding discussions with senior officials, public representatives and locals on preparations for Maa Narmada Prakatotsav.

Staff Reporter :

State Public Works Department Minister Rakesh Singh held a meeting at Gaurighat to review preparations for ensuing Maa Narmada Prakatotsav to be celebrated in the city on February 4. During the meeting, he held detailed discussions on challenges faced in previous years celebrations along with their possible solutions. Singh emphasised making the festival grand and dignified by inviting suggestions from local traders and residents. The State Minister informed that after parking their vehicles at the designated spots set by the administration, he himself would walk to the banks of river Narmada. He urged devotees to do the same and if necessary, use e-rickshaws arranged by the administration.

During the meeting, he also discussed organisation of bhandaras, streamlining traffic flow, ensuring availability of ambulances, setting up temporary health camps, fire brigade services and a control room. He also directed authorities concerned for adequate power supply, sound level regulations, a one-way movement system, parking facilities and installation of two watchtowers at Narmada ghat, along with another at Jhanda Chowk. It was decided that no shops would be allowed on the riverbanks. Singh directed senior officials of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation to ensure proper cleanliness at the river banks during mega religious festival.

He also discussed provisions for changing rooms for women, mobile toilets, adequate lighting at the ghats, decorative arrangements and removal of temporary encroachments. PWD Singh directed that alcohol consumption at the banks of river Narmada must be strictly prohibited and ensured that a permanent police post be set up at the location. He further mentioned that a team of 10 people from Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra Dal will be equipped with walkie-talkies to assist in managing the events security and organisation. Those present on the occasion were Mayor Jagat Bahadur Singh, Collector Deepak Saxena, SP Sampat Upadhyay, Municipal Commissioner Preeti Yadav, Additional Collector Misha Singh, SDM Anurag Singh along with other officials, local traders and residents.
Sysmex invited to set up medical diagnosticequipment manufacturing unit in MP: CM





Staff Reporter :

BHOPAL

CHIEF Minister Dr Mohan Yadav visited the Sysmex Corporation Solution Center in Kobe, Japan, where he held detailed discussions with senior company officials about investment opportunities in the medical technology and life sciences sectors. Sysmex is a leading company in global diagnostic technology, known for its significant contributions to advanced medical research and healthcare innovation. During the meeting, Dr Yadav invited Sysmex to consider establishing a manufacturing unit for medical diagnostic equipment in Madhya Pradesh. He also proposed setting up a research and development center to foster innovation in the healthcare sector. Chief Minister Yadav visited the manufacturing and research center of Sysmex Corporation, where he observed the companys state-of-the-art medical device manufacturing technology.

During his interaction with Sysmex officials, he emphasised that Madhya Pradesh offers immense potential for investment in the healthcare and medical technology sectors. He assured that the State Government is fully committed to the growth and development of this sector and is eager to establish a long-term partnershipwith leadingcompanies like Sysmex. Dr Mohan Yadav said that the State Government is developing a medicaldeviceparknearUjjain, offering world-class infrastructure and special financial incentivesforinvestors.

He noted that Madhya Pradesh already holds a strong position in the pharmaceutical sector,creating vastopportunitiesforthemedical device industry. The Pithampur Special Economic Zone houses over 80 pharmaceuticalunits,whilemorethan 275 pharma companies operate across the state, exporting productstoover160countries. Additionally, six of Indias top tenpharmaceuticalcompanies have established their units in Madhya Pradesh.
Vedika Goyal to represent Cgarh at NEYP 2025





Staff Reporter

DURG,

Vedika Goyal, a student from the Department of Computer Science, University Teaching Department (UTD), CSVTU Bhilai, has been selected to represent Chhattisgarh at prestigious National Environmental Youth Parliament (NEYP) 2025.

The annual event, recognised as a leading platform for youth engagement in environmental policy discussions, was held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on January 24-25. The University extended its heartfelt congratulations to Vedika and Professor Manish Kumar Sinha, the Environmental Nodal Officer of the University Teaching Department. The Director, UTD, CSVTU praised Vedikas unwavering commitment to environmental conservation and advocacy, emphasising the innovative perspectives she brought to the discussions. Professor Manish Kumar Sinha, HoD of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, UTD, informed that from an initial selection of 11 students from UTD, CSVTU, eight students were shortlisted from across Chhattisgarh, with Vedika being the sole representative from CSVTU to reach the final stage. As a part of NEYP 2025, Vedika joined a select group of young environmental leaders from across the country. Together, they discussed critical environmental issues, proposed solutions, and interacted with policymakers, experts, and fellow change makers. This achievement underscores the commitment of both Vedika and CSVTU to addressing pressing environmental concerns and driving positive change. Vedikas selection is a significant milestone in her academic journey and highlights the growing impact of youth-led environmental initiatives across the nation.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Friday that Israel has received the list of three Israeli civilian hostages Hamas will release on Saturday.

The list includes Israeli-French citizen Ofer Calderon, 54, Israeli-American citizen Keith Siegel, 65, and Israeli civilian Yarden Bibas, 35.

Bibas' wife, Shiri, and two sons, five-year-old Ariel and two-year-old Kfir, were also taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. The Israeli military has not officially confirmed their deaths but earlier expressed "grave concern" for their fate.

Under a Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect on Jan. 19, three Israeli hostages are scheduled to be released on Saturday.

Since the beginning of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement, five Israeli civilians, five female Israeli soldiers, and five Thai nationals have been released.

The first phase includes the release of 33 Israeli hostages in Gaza and nearly 2,000 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. 
TOKYO, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday expressed concern over the United States' decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), Jiji Press reported.

"The U.S. has played a crucial role in global health. From Japan's perspective, we do not welcome any move that weakens this role," Ishiba stated during a parliamentary budget committee meeting.

On Jan. 20, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, announcing the country's withdrawal from the WHO. 
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The Master Bedroom, with a windowed half bath en-suite (easily convertible to a full bath with shower stall), can accommodate a king-sized bed and multiple dressers. Other features include a full bath with bathtub, two additional well-proportioned bedrooms, 7 closets (3 walk-in) and original hardwood parquet flooring throughout. Double exposures (East & West) for optimal light and air flow. Dont miss this opportunity to make this beautiful space your own! See alt. floor plan for some ideas!

**Assessment: $144/month through March 2028** Co-op amenities (additional fees and wait lists may apply) include 24-hour attended lobbies, 2 large private parks, childrens playroom (plus access to neighboring Hillman co-ops park and playroom), community room, and fully equipped fitness center. 1 block to supermarket, 24hr deli/convenience store, dry cleaner and more.

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Banco del Bajio, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple (OTCMKTS:BBAJF  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 597,100 shares, a growth of 221.9% from the December 31st total of 185,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 101.2 days.

Banco del Bajio, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple Price Performance

BBAJF remained flat at $2.45 during midday trading on Thursday. Banco del Bajio, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple has a 52-week low of $1.95 and a 52-week high of $4.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.39.

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About Banco del Bajio, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple

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Banco del Bajio, SA, Institucion de Banca Multiple provides banking products and services in Mexico. The company offers electronic banking, insurance products; credit and credit cards, trust contract; online banking; foreign exchange, and derivative finance services. It also offers working capital and fixed asset, and other loans; investment products; payroll advance services; financial factoring and leasing services.

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Cango Inc. (NYSE:CANG  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 993,500 shares, a growth of 166.1% from the December 31st total of 373,400 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the companys shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 652,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Cango Trading Up 3.0 %

CANG traded up $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $4.87. The company had a trading volume of 304,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 632,926. Cango has a 1 year low of $1.12 and a 1 year high of $9.66. The firm has a market cap of $530.66 million, a P/E ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.75. The companys fifty day moving average price is $4.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.99.

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Institutional Trading of Cango

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Cango stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cango Inc. (NYSE:CANG  Free Report) by 99.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,485 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLCs holdings in Cango were worth $580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.22% of the companys stock.

About Cango

Cango Inc operates an automotive transaction service platform that connects dealers, original equipment manufacturers, financial institutions, car buyers, insurance brokers, and companies in the People's Republic of China. The company offers automobile trading solutions comprising car sourcing, transaction facilitation, logistics, and warehousing support for dealers through Cango Haoche app that offers new car transaction services, and Cango U-Car app that offers used-car transaction services.

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Shares of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY  Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $519.38 and last traded at $519.03, with a volume of 217566 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $508.75.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Teledyne Technologies from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Teledyne Technologies from $528.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Teledyne Technologies from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Teledyne Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a buy rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Teledyne Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $450.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $531.00.

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Teledyne Technologies Stock Up 2.0 %

The firms 50-day simple moving average is $476.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Teledyne Technologies (NYSE:TDY  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $5.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.23 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.45 billion. Teledyne Technologies had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 14.45%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Teledyne Technologies Incorporated will post 21.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Melanie Susan Cibik sold 2,699 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.03, for a total value of $1,376,570.97. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,890,667.05. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael T. Smith sold 2,100 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.50, for a total transaction of $1,072,050.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 52,835 shares of the companys stock, valued at $26,972,267.50. This trade represents a 3.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,915 shares of company stock worth $35,954,556. Company insiders own 2.14% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Teledyne Technologies by 80.1% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,810 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Teledyne Technologies by 605.2% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 9,027 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $3,502,000 after purchasing an additional 7,747 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Teledyne Technologies by 1.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,275 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $3,591,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Teledyne Technologies by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 28,742 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $11,151,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Teledyne Technologies by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,906 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.58% of the companys stock.

Teledyne Technologies Company Profile

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Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides enabling technologies for industrial growth markets in the United States and internationally. Its Digital Imaging segment provides visible spectrum sensors and digital cameras; and infrared, ultraviolet, visible, and X-ray spectra; as well as micro electromechanical systems and semiconductors, including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.

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Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO  Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 988 shares of the medical research companys stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at $8,076,178.88. The trade was a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 29,000 shares of company stock worth $15,859,540 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a sector perform rating and a $605.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $648.95.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $607.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $232.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76. The companys 50 day moving average price is $537.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $570.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientifics dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Profile

(Free Report)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.

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AA Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM  Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,366 shares of the companys stock after selling 263 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLCs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 457.5% in the third quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 223 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 203.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 240 shares of the companys stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2,709.1% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 309 shares of the companys stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 412 shares of the companys stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International during the third quarter worth about $54,000. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Philip Morris International from $118.50 to $132.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Philip Morris International from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $145.00 price objective (up from $138.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set an overweight rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $131.35.

Philip Morris International Stock Performance

NYSE:PM opened at $130.32 on Friday. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.82 and a 52 week high of $134.15. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $125.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.63. The firm has a market cap of $202.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.54.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Philip Morris Internationals payout ratio is 85.71%.

Philip Morris International 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.

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Oak Harvest Investment Services cut its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,246 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after selling 194 shares during the quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,903,198 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,963,974,000 after purchasing an additional 488,764 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,810,977 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $2,942,709,000 after purchasing an additional 280,441 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $1,518,539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 5.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,102,204 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $1,265,762,000 after buying an additional 585,915 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays restated an overweight rating and issued a $158.00 target price (up previously from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer started coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an outperform rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $133.06.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

ABT opened at $128.75 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.90. The firm has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Abbott Laboratories has a fifty-two week low of $99.71 and a fifty-two week high of $129.85.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $1.34. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Abbott Laboratoriess previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Menieres disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

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CANBERRA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has nominated the goldfields in the country's southeast for World Heritage status.

Tanya Plibersek, minister for the Environment and Water, on Friday announced that the goldfields in the state of Victoria have been added to Australia's World Heritage Tentative List.

It is the first formal step towards having the area recognized on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

Plibersek said in a joint statement with the government of Victoria that the goldfields, which encompass a large central area of the state, also known as the Golden Triangle, tell the story of Indigenous communities and early migration to Australia.

The goldfields are strongly associated with the gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s that drove a migration boom.

According to the National Museum of Australia, over 30,000 Chinese migrants immigrated to Australia during the gold rush. By 1861, 3.3 percent of the Australian population had been born in China -- a figure that was not equaled until the 1980s.

Plibersek said that international recognition for the region would better protect its heritage and attract visitors from all over the world.

"It is the most extensive, coherent and best-surviving gold rush landscape in the world. It deserves to be celebrated and protected," she said.

Jacinta Allan, premier of Victoria, said that the goldfields stand as a "living testament to those who came to Victoria, seeking a better life and how they transformed the state."

Victoria's population grew from around 77,000 in 1851 when gold was discovered in the town of Clunes -- about 120 km northwest of Melbourne -- to over 530,000 in 1861.

Tourism to the goldfields contributes 1.8 billion Australian dollars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) to the Victorian economy annually. 
American Well (NYSE:AMWL  Get Free Report) and MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX  Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares American Well and MediaAlphas gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio American Well $254.04 million 0.70 -$675.16 million ($14.63) -0.80 MediaAlpha $681.23 million 1.13 -$40.42 million $0.17 67.82

MediaAlpha has higher revenue and earnings than American Well. American Well is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MediaAlpha, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Analyst Recommendations

American Well has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for American Well and MediaAlpha, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score American Well 0 3 1 0 2.25 MediaAlpha 0 1 6 0 2.86

American Well currently has a consensus target price of $12.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.34%. MediaAlpha has a consensus target price of $21.57, indicating a potential upside of 87.11%. Given MediaAlphas stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MediaAlpha is more favorable than American Well.

Profitability

This table compares American Well and MediaAlphas net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets American Well -84.27% -52.49% -40.22% MediaAlpha 1.41% -11.98% 5.19%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.0% of American Well shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of American Well shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of MediaAlpha shares are held 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

MediaAlpha beats American Well on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Well

(Get Free Report)

American Well Corporation, an enterprise platform and software company, delivers digitally enabling hybrid care in the United States and internationally. The company offers Converge, a cloud-based platform that enables health providers, payers, and innovators to provide in-person, virtual and automated care; and delivers virtual primary care, post-discharge follow-up, chronic condition management, virtual nursing, e-sitting, on-demand and scheduled virtual visits, specialty consults, automated care, and behavioral health, as well as specialty care programs, including dermatology, musculoskeletal care, second opinion, and cardiometabolic care to patients and members. It provides Carepoint devices comprising carts, peripherals, tablets, and TVs, which serve as digital access points in clinical settings. In addition, the company offers Amwell Medical Group network services consisting of primary and urgent care, behavioral health therapy, acute psychiatry, lactation counseling, and nutrition services. Further, it provides professional services to facilitate implementation, workflow design, systems integration, and service expansion for its products, as well as patient and provider engagement services. The company sells its products through field sales professionals, channel partners, and value-added resellers. American Well Corporation was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About MediaAlpha

(Get Free Report)

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

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TransAlta Co. (NYSE:TAC  Free Report) (TSE:TA)  Stock analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of TransAlta in a report issued on Tuesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.05 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for TransAltas current full-year earnings is $0.54 per share.

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A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC cut shares of TransAlta from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of TransAlta from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Desjardins restated a hold rating on shares of TransAlta in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank lowered shares of TransAlta from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised TransAlta from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold.

TransAlta Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of NYSE TAC opened at $11.56 on Friday. The firms 50-day moving average is $13.04 and its 200-day moving average is $10.58. TransAlta has a 1 year low of $5.94 and a 1 year high of $14.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 31.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.94.

TransAlta Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0423 per share. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. TransAltas dividend payout ratio is presently 48.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TransAlta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of TransAlta by 20.0% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,622,961 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $58,254,000 after buying an additional 935,803 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in TransAlta by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,593,023 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $47,613,000 after acquiring an additional 408,184 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of TransAlta by 69.9% during the third quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 2,685,955 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $27,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,191 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of TransAlta by 37.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,286,800 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $13,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in TransAlta by 22.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 929,631 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $6,582,000 after purchasing an additional 169,219 shares during the period. 59.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

TransAlta Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

TransAlta Corporation engages in the development, production, and sale of electric energy. It operates through Hydro, Wind and Solar, Gas, Energy Transition, and Energy Marketing segments. The Hydro segment holds interest of approximately 922 megawatts (MW) of owned hydroelectric generating capacity located in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.

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Ashtead Group plc (OTCMKTS:ASHTF  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 403,400 shares, a growth of 29.2% from the December 31st total of 312,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 30,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.1 days.

Ashtead Group Stock Up 0.7 %

ASHTF traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $67.50. The companys stock had a trading volume of 32,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,377. The companys 50-day moving average is $68.06 and its 200-day moving average is $71.21. Ashtead Group has a 52 week low of $58.80 and a 52 week high of $83.00.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Ashtead Group from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Ashtead Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Ashtead Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction, industrial, and general equipment rental business in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It provides pumps, power generation, heating, cooling, scaffolding, traffic management, temporary flooring, trench shoring, and lifting services.

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Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication Corp. Ltd (OTCMKTS:BZQIF  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 36,200 shares, a growth of 162.3% from the December 31st total of 13,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 29,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:BZQIF remained flat at $1.55 during trading hours on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.16. Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication has a twelve month low of $1.08 and a twelve month high of $1.55.

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Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication Company Profile

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Further Reading

Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication Corp. Ltd provides communications services to business and private customers in Israel. It operates through Domestic fixed-line communications, Cellular Communication, Internet, International Communication, and ICT Solutions, and Multi-Channel Television segments. The company offers telephony services, including basic telephony services on the household telephone line, as well as associated services, such as voice mail and caller ID; national numbering services; and transmission and data-communication services.

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Buffalo Coal Corp. (CVE:BUF  Get Free Report)s stock price passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$0.01 and traded as low as C$0.01. Buffalo Coal shares last traded at C$0.01, with a volume of 26,000 shares trading hands.

Buffalo Coal Stock Performance

The firms 50 day moving average price is C$0.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$0.01. The firm has a market cap of C$7.37 million, a PE ratio of -3.33 and a beta of 0.58.

Buffalo Coal Company Profile

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Buffalo Coal Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a coal mining company in South Africa. It primarily focuses on the Aviemore anthracite mine covering an area of approximately 5,513 hectares and Magdalena mine covering an area of approximately 1,844 hectares located in the Kwa-Zulu, Natal Province of South Africa.

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Celestica (NYSE:CLS  Get Free Report) (TSE:CLS) was upgraded by analysts at CIBC from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $150.00 price objective on the technology companys stock. CIBCs target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.39% from the stocks current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Celestica in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a neutral rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Celestica from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Celestica from $77.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Celestica from $70.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Celestica from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $99.64.

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Celestica Stock Performance

Insider Buying and Selling at Celestica

NYSE:CLS opened at $123.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.38 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04 and a beta of 2.27. Celestica has a 52-week low of $32.80 and a 52-week high of $133.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.47.

In other Celestica news, Director Michael Wilson sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.73, for a total transaction of $2,468,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,784 shares in the company, valued at $176,134.32. This represents a 93.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Celestica

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Celestica by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 8,467,244 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $432,846,000 after acquiring an additional 975,163 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Celestica during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,210,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Celestica by 38.5% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,084,722 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $55,451,000 after purchasing an additional 301,563 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Celestica by 25.8% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 536,249 shares of the technology companys stock worth $27,413,000 after purchasing an additional 109,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd grew its position in Celestica by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd now owns 524,245 shares of the technology companys stock worth $26,799,000 after purchasing an additional 183,300 shares during the period. 67.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Celestica Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Celestica Inc provides supply chain solutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. It operates through two segments: Advanced Technology Solutions, and Connectivity & Cloud Solutions. The company offers a range of product manufacturing and related supply chain services, including design and development, new product introduction, engineering services, component sourcing, electronics manufacturing and assembly, testing, complex mechanical assembly, systems integration, precision machining, order fulfillment, logistics, asset management, product licensing, and after-market repair and return services.

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Cementos Argos S.A. (OTCMKTS:CMTOY  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 500 shares, a drop of 72.2% from the December 31st total of 1,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Cementos Argos Trading Up 7.5 %

OTCMKTS:CMTOY traded up $0.89 on Thursday, hitting $12.69. 605 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,764. Cementos Argos has a 1 year low of $7.20 and a 1 year high of $13.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.48.

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Cementos Argos Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.1793 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from Cementos Argoss previous dividend of $0.09.

About Cementos Argos

Cementos Argos SA offers cement, concrete, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, and hydrated lime products in Colombia, the Caribbean, Central America, and the United States. The company also engages in the reinsurance; property management; transport; and seaports operation businesses. In addition, it exports its products.

Further Reading

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Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC  Get Free Report) and Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment (NYSE:CHMI  Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Equity Commonwealth and Cherry Hill Mortgage Investments top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Equity Commonwealth $58.43 million 3.15 $91.16 million $0.39 4.40 Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment $49.99 million 2.04 -$34.79 million ($1.52) -2.12

Equity Commonwealth has higher revenue and earnings than Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity Commonwealth, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Analyst Recommendations

96.0% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.5% of Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Equity Commonwealth shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment shares are owned 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.

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Equity Commonwealth and Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Equity Commonwealth 0 0 0 0 0.00 Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment 0 1 1 1 3.00

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment has a consensus price target of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 39.53%. Given Cherry Hill Mortgage Investments stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment is more favorable than Equity Commonwealth.

Profitability

This table compares Equity Commonwealth and Cherry Hill Mortgage Investments net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Equity Commonwealth 82.00% 2.09% 1.96% Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment -60.97% 15.18% 1.45%

Volatility and Risk

Equity Commonwealth has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Equity Commonwealth beats Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equity Commonwealth

(Get Free Report)

Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. EQC's portfolio is comprised of four properties totaling 1.5 million square feet.

About Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment

(Get Free Report)

Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation, a residential real estate finance company, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage assets in the United States. It operates through Investments in RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities) and Investments in Servicing Related Assets segments. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. The company generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corporation was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Farmingdale, New Jersey.

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Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:GAU  Free Report)  Cormark dropped their Q4 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Galiano Gold in a note issued to investors on Thursday, January 30th. Cormark analyst R. Gray now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $0.10 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.17. The consensus estimate for Galiano Golds current full-year earnings is $0.08 per share. Cormark also issued estimates for Galiano Golds FY2027 earnings at $0.61 EPS.

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A number of other research analysts have also commented on GAU. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on Galiano Gold from $3.10 to $2.80 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Eight Capital upgraded Galiano Gold to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Galiano Gold from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Galiano Gold Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSEAMERICAN:GAU opened at $1.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.06. Galiano Gold has a 12 month low of $0.80 and a 12 month high of $2.00.

Galiano Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:GAU  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $71.13 million for the quarter.

Institutional Trading of Galiano Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new stake in Galiano Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at $147,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Galiano Gold in the third quarter valued at $64,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Galiano Gold in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. De Lisle Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Galiano Gold by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 815,416 shares of the companys stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Galiano Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at about $639,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.82% of the companys stock.

Galiano Gold Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Galiano Gold Inc engages in the exploration and evaluation of gold properties in Canada. Its flagship asset is the Asanko Gold Mine that covers an area of approximately 21,000 hectares located in Ghana, West Africa. The company was formerly known as Asanko Gold Inc and changed its name to Galiano Gold Inc in May 2020.

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Country Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY  Free Report) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 447,847 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 27,870 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank owned approximately 0.09% of Sysco worth $34,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Sysco by 58.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 63,387 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,525,000 after buying an additional 23,321 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 260.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,248 shares of the companys stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sysco by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,926 shares of the companys stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Sysco by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 292,770 shares of the companys stock worth $20,901,000 after purchasing an additional 7,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Sysco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $669,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.41% of the companys stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sysco news, EVP Greg D. Bertrand sold 21,844 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $1,747,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,846,480. The trade was a 26.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,451 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,876,080. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 79,270 shares of company stock worth $6,181,946. Company insiders own 0.54% of the companys stock.

Sysco Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Sysco stock opened at $73.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.20. Sysco Co. has a fifty-two week low of $69.03 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $36.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.93. Sysco had a return on equity of 106.30% and a net margin of 2.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Syscos payout ratio is presently 52.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on SYY. Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Sysco from $79.00 to $77.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on Sysco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Melius began coverage on Sysco in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a hold rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a buy rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Sysco in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sysco has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $85.21.

Get Our Latest Analysis on SYY

Sysco Company Profile

(Free Report)

Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of various food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other segments.

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BUDAPEST, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A new wave of bomb threats was reported on Thursday evening, with 44 schools receiving threatening emails, the national police confirmed on Friday.

Among the affected institutions, 13 are in Budapest, while 31 are in rural areas.

Police responded to all locations and implemented necessary security measures. "No explosives or devices capable of detonation have been found in the buildings inspected so far," the police said in a statement. The National Bureau of Investigation of the Rapid Response Police is continuing its inquiry into the threats.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony stated that city institutions stand ready to assist law enforcement. "Budapest's companies and institutions are prepared to provide all necessary support to the police," he wrote on Facebook.

The latest bomb threats follow a similar incident last week when at least 292 schools in Budapest and surrounding areas were evacuated due to reported threats.

Authorities have not confirmed any connection between the latest threats and the previous incidents, although in both cases, emails were used to deliver the alarms.

After the police operation, classes resumed in the affected schools. 
Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lessened its position in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 775,683 shares of the companys stock after selling 51,261 shares during the quarter. Eli Lilly and Company comprises 1.1% of Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned 0.08% of Eli Lilly and Company worth $598,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 504 shares of the companys stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Eli Lilly and Company during the second quarter worth approximately $256,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Eli Lilly and Company by 0.9% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 13,966 shares of the companys stock worth $12,645,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 102.4% in the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 6,099 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,522,000 after buying an additional 3,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 230.2% in the 2nd quarter. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 4,018 shares of the companys stock worth $3,744,000 after acquiring an additional 2,801 shares during the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Eli Lilly and Company Stock Performance

Shares of LLY opened at $823.59 on Friday. Eli Lilly and Company has a 1 year low of $637.00 and a 1 year high of $972.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $781.85 billion, a PE ratio of 89.04, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $780.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $845.98.

Eli Lilly and Company ( NYSE:LLY Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.34). The firm had revenue of $11.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The companys revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Eli Lilly and Company will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eli Lilly and Company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, December 9th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Eli Lilly and Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Eli Lilly and Companys previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total transaction of $723,042.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,480 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,402,522.40. This trade represents a 14.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LLY shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Eli Lilly and Company to a hold rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an outperform rating and a $1,000.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,000.00 to $970.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,250.00 to $1,190.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Eli Lilly and Company from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $997.22.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on LLY

Eli Lilly and Company Profile

(Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity.

Further Reading

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Enel Chile S.A. (NYSE:ENIC  Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 999,100 shares, a growth of 33.0% from the December 31st total of 751,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 375,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Enel Chile Stock Performance

NYSE ENIC traded up $0.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $3.04. The companys stock had a trading volume of 721,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 593,988. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.11. Enel Chile has a twelve month low of $2.51 and a twelve month high of $3.24. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $2.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.79.

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Enel Chile Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $0.0463 per share. This is a positive change from Enel Chiles previous dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. Enel Chiles payout ratio is 37.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Scotiabank cut shares of Enel Chile from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $3.90 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Enel Chile

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Enel Chile by 5.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 527,097 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,476,000 after buying an additional 28,252 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Enel Chile during the second quarter worth about $474,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its position in Enel Chile by 1,114,700.0% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 11,148 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 11,147 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in Enel Chile by 3.8% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 118,042 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 4,323 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Enel Chile by 44.9% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 69,279 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 21,466 shares during the period. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Enel Chile

(Get Free Report)

Enel Chile SA, an electricity utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Chile. The company operates through Generation, and Distribution and Networks Segments. It generates electricity through various sources, such as hydroelectric, thermal, wind, solar, and geothermal power plants.

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Foster & Motley Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ  Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,546 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after selling 1,786 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $1,159,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Canadian Natural Resources during the 3rd quarter worth about $13,700,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $9,151,000 after acquiring an additional 17,694 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 226.0% during the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,549,610 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $51,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,199 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 453,393 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $15,057,000 after acquiring an additional 240,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anson Funds Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anson Funds Management LP now owns 100,000 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $3,321,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Desjardins upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources has an average rating of Hold.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:CNQ opened at $31.00 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a fifty-two week low of $29.23 and a fifty-two week high of $41.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $31.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.73.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ  Get Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.30. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 20.07%. The business had revenue of $7.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

(Free Report)

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).

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FSA Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (BATS:EFG  Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,844 shares of the companys stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. FSA Advisors Inc.s holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EFG. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF during the third quarter worth $25,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 833.3% in the 3rd quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 252 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 279 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Atmos Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of BATS EFG opened at $102.67 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $99.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.05. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36 and a beta of 0.97. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF has a twelve month low of $67.58 and a twelve month high of $85.81.

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Profile

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI EAFE Growth Index (the Index). The Index is a subset of the MSCI EAFE Index and constituents of the Index include securities from Europe, Australasia (Australia and Asia), and the Far East.

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Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG  Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,173 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in EOG Resources were worth $3,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DRW Securities LLC boosted its stake in EOG Resources by 98.6% during the third quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 26,838 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $3,299,000 after buying an additional 13,324 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of EOG Resources by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 12,112 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in EOG Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $730,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its position in EOG Resources by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 41,274 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in EOG Resources by 11.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 119,132 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $14,645,000 after purchasing an additional 12,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.91% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on EOG. Citigroup upped their target price on EOG Resources from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of EOG Resources in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of EOG Resources from $144.00 to $137.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of EOG Resources from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $147.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $143.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Janet F. Clark sold 568 shares of EOG Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.33, for a total value of $76,867.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,532 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,185.56. The trade was a 1.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total value of $483,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 42,703 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,162,365.67. The trade was a 8.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.30% of the companys stock.

EOG Resources Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of EOG Resources stock opened at $129.75 on Friday. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $128.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.29. EOG Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.94 and a 12-month high of $139.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy exploration company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.16. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 29.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 EPS. Analysts predict that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

EOG Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.975 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a positive change from EOG Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. EOG Resourcess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.40%.

EOG Resources declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 7th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy exploration company to buy up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

EOG Resources Profile

(Free Report)

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.

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Integris Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Free Report) by 37.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,890 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. Integris Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IWM. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 24,883.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,832,878 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $625,754,000 after buying an additional 2,821,539 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 50.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,313,404 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $952,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,446,443 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at $142,774,000. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at $126,250,000. Finally, IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the 3rd quarter worth $100,618,000.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of IWM opened at $228.53 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.67. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a 52 week low of $190.06 and a 52 week high of $244.98.

About iShares Russell 2000 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) shares traded up 0.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $270.68 and last traded at $269.09. 2,147,770 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 10,452,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $267.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $211.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer cut JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $217.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $304.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $251.78.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading Down 0.4 %

The stock has a market cap of $752.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.11. The businesss 50 day moving average is $247.54 and its 200 day moving average is $227.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.78. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 20.96%. The company had revenue of $42.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.04 EPS. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 17.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In other JPMorgan Chase & Co. news, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 3,303 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.94, for a total value of $838,763.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 47,620 shares in the company, valued at $12,092,622.80. This represents a 6.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JPM. Quarry LP grew its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1,062.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 337 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 3.1% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 39,993 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $8,089,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 38,968 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $7,882,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC raised its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 10,413 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,230,000. 71.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

(Get Free Report)

JPMorgan Chase & Co is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research.

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Kennebec Savings Bank cut its holdings in shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F  Free Report) by 86.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,457 shares of the auto manufacturers stock after selling 21,705 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Banks holdings in Ford Motor were worth $34,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in F. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Ford Motor by 14,373.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,885,389 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $93,830,000 after purchasing an additional 8,824,000 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ford Motor by 112.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 11,976,950 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $126,477,000 after purchasing an additional 6,348,185 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ford Motor by 4.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 122,609,058 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $1,294,752,000 after buying an additional 5,270,562 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ford Motor in the third quarter valued at $55,456,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor by 420.2% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 6,042,820 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $63,812,000 after acquiring an additional 4,881,105 shares during the period. 58.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on F. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Ford Motor in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Ford Motor from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Ford Motor from a hold rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price target for the company from $12.00 to $9.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research restated an underperform rating on shares of Ford Motor in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Ford Motor from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $11.82.

Ford Motor Stock Performance

Shares of F stock opened at $10.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.15. Ford Motor has a 52 week low of $9.49 and a 52 week high of $14.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.76.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $46.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.13 billion. Ford Motor had a return on equity of 16.16% and a net margin of 1.93%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ford Motor will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Ford Motor Profile

(Free Report)

Ford Motor Company develops, delivers, and services a range of Ford trucks, commercial cars and vans, sport utility vehicles, and Lincoln luxury vehicles worldwide. It operates through Ford Blue, Ford Model e, and Ford Pro; Ford Next; and Ford Credit segments. The company sells Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories through distributors and dealers, as well as through dealerships to commercial fleet customers, daily rental car companies, and governments.

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ResMed (NYSE:RMD  Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by analysts at KeyCorp from $266.00 to $280.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the medical equipment providers stock. KeyCorps price target suggests a potential upside of 16.49% from the companys previous close.

RMD has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of ResMed from $280.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of ResMed from $224.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of ResMed in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded ResMed from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of ResMed in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ResMed currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $240.60.

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ResMed Price Performance

ResMed stock traded down $17.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $240.36. 1,084,249 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 890,403. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.92. ResMed has a one year low of $170.56 and a one year high of $263.05. The stock has a market cap of $35.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $240.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.99.

ResMed (NYSE:RMD  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical equipment provider reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.14. ResMed had a return on equity of 25.53% and a net margin of 23.15%. On average, equities analysts predict that ResMed will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ResMed

In related news, Director Witte Jan De sold 796 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.81, for a total value of $198,052.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,723 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,749.63. This represents a 10.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Justin Leong sold 6,160 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.09, for a total value of $1,497,434.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,279,428.62. This represents a 22.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,030 shares of company stock valued at $2,702,687. 0.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ResMed

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of ResMed by 1.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,465 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of ResMed by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,924 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ResMed by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,610 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of ResMed by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,032 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ResMed by 3.1% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,919 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 54.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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. The company 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 ApneaLink Air, a portable diagnostic device that measures oximetry, respiratory effort, pulse, nasal flow, and snoring; and NightOwl, a portable, cloud-connected, and disposable diagnostic device that measures AHI based on derived peripheral arterial tone, actigraphy, and oximetry over several nights.

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Dine Brands Global (NYSE:DIN  Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by analysts at KeyCorp from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operators stock. KeyCorps target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.80% from the companys previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Dine Brands Global from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Dine Brands Global in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays restated an equal weight rating and issued a $32.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Dine Brands Global in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. CL King downgraded Dine Brands Global from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $37.00 price target (down from $66.00) on shares of Dine Brands Global in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $41.29.

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Read Our Latest Stock Report on Dine Brands Global

Dine Brands Global Stock Performance

Shares of DIN stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.76. The company had a trading volume of 59,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,755. Dine Brands Global has a one year low of $25.68 and a one year high of $51.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.63. The firm has a market cap of $469.01 million, a PE ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.75.

Dine Brands Global (NYSE:DIN  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.40 million. Dine Brands Global had a negative return on equity of 37.75% and a net margin of 11.31%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Dine Brands Global will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Dine Brands Global

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dine Brands Global during the 3rd quarter worth $765,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Dine Brands Global by 164.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,399 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $2,979,000 after purchasing an additional 59,360 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Dine Brands Global by 135.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 35,946 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 20,673 shares during the period. Factorial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Dine Brands Global by 217.6% in the third quarter. Factorial Partners LLC now owns 104,816 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $3,273,000 after acquiring an additional 71,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Dine Brands Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $786,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.83% of the companys stock.

Dine Brands Global Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Dine Brands Global, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns, franchises, and operates restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through six segments: Applebee's Franchise Operations, International House of Pancakes (IHOP) Franchise Solutions, Fuzzy's franchise operations, Rental Operations, Financing Operations, and Company-Operated Restaurant Operations.

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A man is believed to have jumped from a parking garage following a vehicle pursuit and after shooting at authorities, officials say. He was transported to a hospital after the jump with internal injuries, Tomball Police said. OnScene.TV

A man who fired at authorities and then jumped from a hospital parking garage following a vehicle pursuit is in custody, according to the Tomball Police Department.

The 26-year-old man who police were pursuing because they said his vehicle matched the description of a vehicle described in an emergency call about an aggregated robbery, was taken in by the authorities following the jump. Officials said he sustained "significant internal injuries."

The pursuit ended at the employee parking lot at HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball. Authorities said the man leaned out of the car, started shooting at his pursuers and tried to escape on foot. Authorities returned fire.

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He then allegedly jumped from the garage.
by Xinhua writer Deng Xianlai

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China should make a persistent effort to improve bilateral ties in the Year of the Snake, a former U.S. ambassador to China has said.

"My main message is, frankly, let's just do what we can. Be smart, be cool, be calm and be positive. Be persistent and be patient," Max Baucus, former U.S. ambassador to China from 2014 to 2017, told Xinhua at a reception hosted by the Chinese embassy in the United States to celebrate the Spring Festival.

Baucus expressed hope that the relationship between the United States and China will improve in the coming years.

"I say that because it has to get better," Baucus said, adding it is his observation that both countries are exploring ways to "get the relationship back on track."

"Essentially, Chinese people are just like American people. We're the same," he said. "By that, I mean we both want to have good incomes. We both want to have food on the table. We want to take care of our kids ... People in China and people in America have the same hopes, issues and desires."

After nearly three years in China as the U.S. ambassador, Baucus is deeply enchanted by the culture and people of China.

"My wife and I love being in China. I love the Chinese people. They're outspoken and candid. They get things done. They're positive, and we had a great time in China," he told Xinhua.

The Spring Festival, which began on Jan. 28 this year, marked its first celebration since being inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2024.

Born in a Year of the Snake himself, Baucus said he is "even more enamored" with the Spring Festival this year than ever.

"That's a personal view, but I also think it's very important for the new year to be elevated to a very high level," he said, "because I think people around the world are very interested." 
Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC  Free Report) (NYSE:MFC) had its price target raised by CIBC from C$46.00 to C$47.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on MFC. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Manulife Financial from C$40.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. National Bankshares lifted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$45.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Cormark upped their price objective on Manulife Financial from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Manulife Financial from C$48.00 to C$49.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$42.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Manulife Financial presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$44.55.

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View Our Latest Report on Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of TSE MFC opened at C$44.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.60, a current ratio of 36.68 and a quick ratio of 2.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$44.25 and a 200-day moving average price of C$40.76. The stock has a market capitalization of C$78.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.06. Manulife Financial has a 1 year low of C$28.95 and a 1 year high of C$46.42.

Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC  Get Free Report) (NYSE:MFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported C$1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.95 by C$0.05. Manulife Financial had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 17.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Manulife Financial will post 3.6104452 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Manulife Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Manulife Financials dividend payout ratio is presently 68.09%.

Insider Activity at Manulife Financial

In related news, Senior Officer Steve Finch sold 11,598 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$46.07, for a total value of C$534,308.26. Also, Director Brooks Tingle sold 3,866 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$46.07, for a total value of C$178,102.75. Insiders have sold a total of 77,771 shares of company stock worth $3,508,584 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the companys stock.

Manulife Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in the United States, Canada, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment offers investment advice and solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients through multiple distribution channels, including agents and brokers affiliated with the company, independent securities brokerage firms and financial advisors pension plan consultants, and banks.

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Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its position in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO  Free Report) by 123.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 702,584 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 388,682 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltds holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $43,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Coca-Cola by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,961,376 shares of the companys stock worth $6,680,205,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 92,957,028 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,664,005,000 after buying an additional 2,966,964 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,615,428 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,271,885,000 after acquiring an additional 4,013,996 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,984,953 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,990,407,000 after buying an additional 1,609,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Coca-Cola by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,793,323 shares of the companys stock worth $847,468,000 after purchasing an additional 222,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Coca-Cola from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Coca-Cola from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Coca-Cola from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the company from $69.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Coca-Cola from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $72.13.

Insider Activity

In other Coca-Cola news, CEO James Quincey sold 100,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $6,403,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 342,546 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $21,933,220.38. The trade was a 22.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.97% of the companys stock.

Coca-Cola Price Performance

Shares of Coca-Cola stock opened at $64.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The Coca-Cola Company has a one year low of $57.93 and a one year high of $73.53. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $62.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $275.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.61.

Coca-Cola Profile

(Free Report)

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.

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Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH  Get Free Report) issued an update on its first quarter 2025 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 1.590-1.830 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 2.090. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MTH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Meritage Homes from $117.50 to $100.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James cut shares of Meritage Homes from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $105.00 to $99.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meritage Homes from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Meritage Homes from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $107.38.

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Meritage Homes Trading Down 2.3 %

MTH traded down $1.87 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.16. The companys stock had a trading volume of 290,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,244. The stock has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.87. Meritage Homes has a fifty-two week low of $73.05 and a fifty-two week high of $106.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The businesss 50-day moving average is $86.06 and its 200-day moving average is $92.47.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $4.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.55 by $0.17. Meritage Homes had a return on equity of 16.12% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meritage Homes will post 10.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meritage Homes Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Meritage Homess dividend payout ratio is currently 11.47%.

Meritage Homes Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for entry-level and first move-up buyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

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NVIDIA, Accenture, and Globant are the three Metaverse stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeats stock screener tool. Metaverse stocks refer to publicly traded companies that are involved in the development, creation, or support of virtual worlds or online immersive environments that users can interact with. These stocks may include companies focused on virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology, online gaming platforms, digital content creation, and social media platforms with metaverse capabilities. Investors may be interested in metaverse stocks due to the potential growth and adoption of virtual experiences in various industries. These companies had the highest dollar trading volume of any Metaverse stocks within the last several days.

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NVIDIA (NVDA)

NVIDIA Corporation provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications.

Shares of NVIDIA stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $125.45. The companys stock had a trading volume of 195,488,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 287,279,750. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 49.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.64. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $137.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.37. NVIDIA has a one year low of $60.70 and a one year high of $153.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a current ratio of 4.10.

Read Our Latest Research Report on NVDA

Accenture (ACN)

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.

Shares of ACN traded up $5.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $386.70. The companys stock had a trading volume of 923,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,653,893. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $359.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $349.42. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

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Globant (GLOB)

Globant S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides technology services worldwide. It provides digital solutions comprising blockchain, cloud technologies, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence, digital experience and performance, code, Internet of Things, metaverse, and engineering and testing; and enterprise technology solutions and services, such as Agile organization, Cultural Hacking, process optimization services, as well as AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Oracle, SalesForce, SAP, and ServiceNow technology solutions.

GLOB traded up $8.50 on Friday, hitting $215.53. 298,398 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 414,473. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a PE ratio of 56.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.38. Globant has a 52 week low of $151.68 and a 52 week high of $251.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $217.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.38.

Read Our Latest Research Report on GLOB

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Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG  Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 2,752,695 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 134% from the previous sessions volume of 1,175,450 shares.The stock last traded at $5.44 and had previously closed at $5.57.

Mizuho Financial Group Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.51. The company has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.45.

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Institutional Trading of Mizuho Financial Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MFG. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 6.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 538,398 shares of the banks stock worth $2,277,000 after purchasing an additional 32,462 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 438,746 shares of the banks stock worth $1,856,000 after buying an additional 26,182 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Mizuho Financial Group by 45.5% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 19,475 shares of the banks stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 6,090 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Mizuho Financial Group by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 23,063 shares of the banks stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Mizuho Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $387,000. 3.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mizuho Financial Group

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in banking, trust, securities, and other businesses related to financial services in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia/Oceania, and internationally. It operates through Retail & Business Banking Company, Corporate & Institutional Company, Global Corporate Company, Global Markets Company, Asset Management Company, and Others segments.

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Forsta AP Fonden reduced its position in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP  Free Report) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 125,600 shares of the companys stock after selling 48,400 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden owned about 0.06% of Molson Coors Beverage worth $7,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new position in Molson Coors Beverage during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,202,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 8.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,792,196 shares of the companys stock valued at $505,727,000 after buying an additional 681,757 shares in the last quarter. Randolph Co Inc acquired a new position in Molson Coors Beverage during the third quarter valued at $21,754,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 131.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 519,377 shares of the companys stock worth $29,875,000 after acquiring an additional 294,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 149.1% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 376,424 shares of the companys stock worth $21,652,000 after acquiring an additional 225,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.46% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TAP. UBS Group dropped their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America raised shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Molson Coors Beverage from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $61.64.

Molson Coors Beverage Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:TAP opened at $55.26 on Friday. The companys 50 day moving average is $57.94 and its 200-day moving average is $56.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Molson Coors Beverage has a 12 month low of $49.19 and a 12 month high of $69.18. The firm has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.86.

Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.13. Molson Coors Beverage had a net margin of 6.78% and a return on equity of 9.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Molson Coors Beverage will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Molson Coors Beverage Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. Molson Coors Beverages payout ratio is 39.64%.

About Molson Coors Beverage

(Free Report)

Molson Coors Beverage Company manufactures, markets, and sells beer and other malt beverage products under various brands in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers flavored malt beverages including hard seltzers, craft, spirits and energy, and ready to drink beverages.

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Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Free Report) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note published on Tuesday. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset managers stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on IVZ. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Invesco in a report on Tuesday. They issued a sector perform rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Invesco from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Invesco from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Invesco from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Invesco from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.71.

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Check Out Our Latest Research Report on IVZ

Invesco Price Performance

IVZ stock opened at $19.26 on Tuesday. Invesco has a 52-week low of $14.16 and a 52-week high of $19.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $17.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.30. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 4.91, a current ratio of 4.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. Invesco had a negative net margin of 3.00% and a positive return on equity of 8.83%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Invesco will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Invesco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Invescos dividend payout ratio is presently 69.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Invesco by 2.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,540,913 shares of the asset managers stock worth $79,738,000 after purchasing an additional 87,405 shares during the period. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Invesco in the 3rd quarter worth $1,428,196,000. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco in the second quarter valued at about $551,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Invesco by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 78,452 shares of the asset managers stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Invesco during the third quarter worth about $853,000. 66.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Invesco Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds.

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Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $654.00 to $644.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an overweight rating on the credit services providers stock. Morgan Stanleys target price indicates a potential upside of 15.07% from the companys current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday. Macquarie increased their price objective on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $533.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $572.00 price target on shares of Mastercard in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $569.58.

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View Our Latest Stock Report on Mastercard

Mastercard Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:MA opened at $559.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $527.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.25. Mastercard has a 12-month low of $428.86 and a 12-month high of $576.94. The firm has a market cap of $513.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.48, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Equities analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the companys management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MA. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Raelipskie Partnership grew its holdings in Mastercard by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raelipskie Partnership now owns 110 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Mastercard in the third quarter worth about $55,000. 97.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mastercard Company Profile

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Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.

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New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM  Free Report) by 109.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,050 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after acquiring an additional 2,118 shares during the quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TSM. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 77.1% during the third quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp boosted its position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 48.1% in the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 191 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 169.8% in the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 232 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 16.51% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna reissued a buy rating on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $220.00.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing stock opened at $208.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.07. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a 1 year low of $112.61 and a 1 year high of $226.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 2.30.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The semiconductor company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.08. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 30.47% and a net margin of 40.51%. Analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.5484 per share. This is a boost from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.27%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Profile

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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.

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Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK  Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.05, Zacks reports. Nokia Oyj had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 2.18%.

Nokia Oyj Price Performance

Nokia Oyj stock opened at $4.67 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.32. Nokia Oyj has a one year low of $3.29 and a one year high of $4.95. The company has a market capitalization of $25.44 billion, a PE ratio of 58.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.51 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Nokia Oyj from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $4.35 to $6.35 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Nokia Oyj from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Craig Hallum upped their price target on Nokia Oyj from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Nokia Oyj from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $3.60 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $6.50 target price on shares of Nokia Oyj in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nokia Oyj has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $5.86.

About Nokia Oyj

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Nokia Oyj provides mobile, fixed, and cloud network solutions worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Network Infrastructure, Mobile Networks, Cloud and Network Services, and Nokia Technologies. The company provides fixed networking solutions, such as fiber and copper-based access infrastructure, in-home Wi-Fi solutions, and cloud and virtualization services; IP networking solutions, including IP access, aggregation, and edge and core routing for residential, mobile, enterprise and cloud applications; optical networks solutions that provides optical transport networks for metro, regional, and long-haul applications, and subsea applications; and submarine networks for undersea cable transmission.

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Shanghai has invited iconic landmarks across four continents to light up in Chinese red, celebrating the first Spring Festival since its recognition as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. Check out this video and paint the skyline festive!
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSE:ONC  Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as C$1.03 and last traded at C$1.05, with a volume of 63494 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$1.05.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James upgraded Oncolytics Biotech to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

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Oncolytics Biotech Stock Up 1.0 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of C$1.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$1.37. The company has a market cap of C$81.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.79 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 4.99, a quick ratio of 8.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.09.

Oncolytics Biotech (TSE:ONC  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported C($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C($0.11) by C($0.01). During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.14) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Oncolytics Biotech Inc. will post -0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oncolytics Biotech Company Profile

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Oncolytics Biotech Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer. The company is developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapeutic agent, which is in phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive / human epidermal growth factor 2-negative metastatic breast cancer and advanced/metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

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Hixon Zuercher LLC boosted its position in shares of Owens Corning (NYSE:OC  Free Report) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,090 shares of the construction companys stock after buying an additional 613 shares during the quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLCs holdings in Owens Corning were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Owens Corning by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,181,421 shares of the construction companys stock worth $738,104,000 after purchasing an additional 187,001 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Owens Corning by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,148,610 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $366,166,000 after purchasing an additional 238,694 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Owens Corning by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,854,100 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $327,286,000 after purchasing an additional 261,564 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Owens Corning by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 824,013 shares of the construction companys stock worth $145,455,000 after purchasing an additional 197,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Owens Corning by 113.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 797,743 shares of the construction companys stock worth $140,818,000 after buying an additional 424,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.40% of the companys stock.

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Owens Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OC opened at $190.64 on Friday. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $184.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.46. Owens Corning has a fifty-two week low of $138.70 and a fifty-two week high of $214.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Owens Corning Increases Dividend

Owens Corning ( NYSE:OC Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The construction company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.04 billion. Owens Corning had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 25.82%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Owens Corning will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 6th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Owens Cornings previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 6th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Owens Cornings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.49%.

Insider Transactions at Owens Corning

In other news, insider Gunner Smith sold 17,450 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.19, for a total value of $3,336,265.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,866 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,606,990.54. This represents a 48.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.89% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Owens Corning from $213.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Owens Corning from $197.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Owens Corning from $212.00 to $207.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Owens Corning from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Owens Corning from $189.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $201.75.

View Our Latest Research Report on OC

About Owens Corning

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Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications.

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Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI  Get Free Report)s share price was down 4.2% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $8.92 and last traded at $8.86. Approximately 679,045 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 1,949,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.24.

Specifically, EVP Deborah Pfeiffer sold 35,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $315,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 124,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,119,598.48. This represents a 22.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

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Pitney Bowes Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $7.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -4.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 2.00.

Pitney Bowes Dividend Announcement

Pitney Bowes ( NYSE:PBI Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The technology company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.08. Pitney Bowes had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 12.85%. The company had revenue of $499.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.80 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pitney Bowes Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Pitney Bowess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.17%.

Institutional Trading of Pitney Bowes

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PBI. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 889.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 8,319 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 7,478 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Pitney Bowes by 218.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 11,405 shares of the technology companys stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pitney Bowes during the 3rd quarter worth about $86,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Pitney Bowes by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 15,000 shares of the technology companys stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Pitney Bowes by 101.3% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 16,340 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 8,221 shares during the period. 67.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pitney Bowes Company Profile

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Pitney Bowes Inc, a shipping and mailing company, provides technology, logistics, and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, large enterprises, retailers, and government clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through Global Ecommerce, Presort Services, and SendTech Solutions segments.

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MAG Silver Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:MAG  Free Report)  Stock analysts at Roth Capital boosted their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of MAG Silver in a report released on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Capital analyst J. Reagor now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $0.26 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.24. Roth Capital currently has a Hold rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for MAG Silvers current full-year earnings is $0.74 per share. Roth Capital also issued estimates for MAG Silvers Q2 2025 earnings at $0.18 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.18 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $0.69 EPS.

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MAG Silver (NYSEAMERICAN:MAG  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MAG. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on MAG Silver from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm cut shares of MAG Silver from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $17.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of MAG Silver from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.63.

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MAG Silver Price Performance

MAG opened at $16.28 on Friday. MAG Silver has a fifty-two week low of $8.19 and a fifty-two week high of $18.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48 and a beta of 1.08.

Institutional Trading of MAG Silver

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MAG Silver in the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in MAG Silver by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 278,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,781,000 after purchasing an additional 100,500 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in MAG Silver by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 456,335 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,407,000 after purchasing an additional 186,445 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in MAG Silver by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,810,051 shares of the companys stock worth $39,453,000 after purchasing an additional 98,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of MAG Silver by 211.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,780 shares of the companys stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 20,899 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.50% of the companys stock.

MAG Silver Company Profile

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MAG Silver Corp. develops and explores for precious metal properties in Canada. It explores for silver, gold, lead, copper, and zinc deposits. The company's flagship property is the 44% owned Juanicipio property located in the Fresnillo District, Zacatecas State, Mexico. MAG Silver Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Ricardo plc (LON:RCDO  Get Free Report) shares dropped 25% on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 260 ($3.23) and last traded at GBX 264 ($3.28). Approximately 4,412,265 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 849% from the average daily volume of 464,721 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 352 ($4.37).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RCDO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Berenberg Bank reiterated a buy rating and issued a GBX 730 ($9.07) price objective on shares of Ricardo in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Shore Capital reiterated a sell rating on shares of Ricardo in a research report on Thursday.

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Ricardo Trading Down 25.0 %

Ricardo Company Profile

The firm has a market capitalization of 164.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26,400.00 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.12, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 403.19 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 444.27.

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Ricardo plc is a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. With over 100 years of engineering excellence and close to 3,000 employees in more than 20 countries, we provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering innovative cross-sector sustainable outcomes to support energy transition and scarce resources, environmental services together with safe and smart mobility.

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Savers Value Village, Inc. (NYSE:SVV  Get Free Report) General Counsel Richard A. Medway sold 1,600 shares of Savers Value Village stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.48, for a total value of $18,368.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Richard A. Medway also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Tuesday, January 21st, Richard A. Medway sold 4,800 shares of Savers Value Village stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.48, for a total transaction of $55,104.00.

Savers Value Village Stock Performance

SVV opened at $11.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 1.04. Savers Value Village, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.78 and a 1 year high of $21.33. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $10.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Savers Value Village ( NYSE:SVV Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.06). Savers Value Village had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 9.11%. The business had revenue of $394.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $401.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.05) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Savers Value Village, Inc. will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

Separately, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Savers Value Village from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $12.20.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Savers Value Village

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its position in Savers Value Village by 29.0% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 15,449 shares of the companys stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 3,477 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Savers Value Village in the 3rd quarter valued at $248,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of Savers Value Village in the 3rd quarter worth about $252,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Savers Value Village by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 27,879 shares of the companys stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in Savers Value Village during the 3rd quarter valued at about $651,000. 98.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Savers Value Village Company Profile

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Savers Value Village, Inc sells second-hand merchandise in retail stores in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It operates stores under the Savers, Value Village, Value Village Boutique, Village des Valeurs, Unique, and 2nd Avenue brands. The company purchases secondhand textiles, including clothing, bedding, and bath items; shoes; accessories; housewares; books; and other goods from non-profit partners and then processes, selects, prices, merchandises, and sells them in its stores.

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Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lessened its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO  Free Report) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 177,413 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 62,219 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned approximately 0.06% of Valero Energy worth $21,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 4,851 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $655,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Valero Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,784 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $1,169,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 5.0% during the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,947 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $606,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,834 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Valero Energy Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE VLO opened at $135.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.42. Valero Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $116.84 and a 12 month high of $184.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $131.11 and a 200-day moving average of $137.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

Valero Energy ( NYSE:VLO Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.50. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 13.07%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 7.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a boost from Valero Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. Valero Energys payout ratio is 38.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $158.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $154.54.

View Our Latest Analysis on VLO

Valero Energy Company Profile

(Free Report)

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol.

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Robert Half (NYSE:RHI  Get Free Report) issued an update on its first quarter 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 0.310-0.410 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 0.560. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.4 billion-$1.5 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.4 billion.

Robert Half Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of RHI stock opened at $65.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56 and a beta of 1.24. The firms 50 day moving average is $71.59 and its 200 day moving average is $67.92. Robert Half has a 12 month low of $57.05 and a 12 month high of $83.25.

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Robert Half (NYSE:RHI  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). Robert Half had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 16.87%. On average, equities analysts predict that Robert Half will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on RHI. Barclays upgraded shares of Robert Half from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Robert Half from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas cut shares of Robert Half from an outperform rating to an underperform rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Robert Half from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Robert Half presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $73.67.

View Our Latest Report on RHI

Insider Transactions at Robert Half

In other news, Director Dirk A. Kempthorne sold 1,032 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.35, for a total value of $76,729.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,310 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $915,248.50. This trade represents a 7.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the companys stock.

About Robert Half

(Get Free Report)

Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support.

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Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI  Get Free Report) (TSE:RCI.B)s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $27.58 and last traded at $27.78, with a volume of 200003 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on RCI shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Rogers Communications in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an underweight rating on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Rogers Communications from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reissued an equal weight rating on shares of Rogers Communications in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.75.

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Rogers Communications Stock Down 4.0 %

The businesss fifty day moving average price is $31.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.69.

Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI  Get Free Report) (TSE:RCI.B) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The Wireless communications provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.07. Rogers Communications had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 23.75%. Equities analysts expect that Rogers Communications Inc. will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rogers Communications

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCI. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Rogers Communications by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 6,239,553 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $250,886,000 after acquiring an additional 977,924 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Rogers Communications by 371.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,053,559 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock worth $203,334,000 after buying an additional 3,980,525 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Rogers Communications by 90.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,896,489 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $115,775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375,043 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Rogers Communications by 86.6% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,610,833 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $104,965,000 after buying an additional 1,211,482 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Rogers Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,496,298 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock worth $100,372,000 after purchasing an additional 68,759 shares during the period. 45.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rogers Communications Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Rogers Communications Inc operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device financing, device protection, global voice and data roaming, wireless home phone, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device shipping and express pickup services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands.

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Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $572.00 to $650.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an outperform rating on the credit services providers stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.08% from the companys current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MA. Barclays lifted their price target on Mastercard from $536.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Mastercard from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their target price on Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Mastercard from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $640.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $587.80.

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Mastercard Price Performance

NYSE MA traded down $6.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $559.94. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,067,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,741,709. The stock has a market capitalization of $513.93 billion, a PE ratio of 42.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $527.58 and a 200 day moving average of $500.25. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Analysts expect that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 2.3% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,805,554 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $1,385,383,000 after acquiring an additional 62,891 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Mastercard by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,510,756 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $1,325,353,000 after acquiring an additional 337,905 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in Mastercard by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 368,690 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $194,141,000 after acquiring an additional 9,611 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its stake in Mastercard by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 831,942 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $410,813,000 after acquiring an additional 37,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,010,430 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $2,474,151,000 after acquiring an additional 100,550 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.28% of the companys stock.

About Mastercard

(Get Free Report)

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.

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TEHRAN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and 19 others injured in a collision between a minibus and a semi-trailer truck on an intercity highway in Iran's northern province of Alborz on Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

All those injured in the accident were transferred to the hospital by two helicopters and eight ambulances, IRNA quoted Ahmad Mahdavi, head of the emergency medical services department of Alborz University of Medical Sciences, as saying.

He added the provincial traffic police were investigating the cause of the incident.

Alborz province is located some 44 kilometers west of the Iranian capital Tehran. 
Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB  Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $63.00 price target on the insurance providers stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on W. R. Berkley from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. R. Berkley from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of W. R. Berkley from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $64.36.

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View Our Latest Stock Analysis on W. R. Berkley

W. R. Berkley Stock Up 1.1 %

WRB stock opened at $59.29 on Tuesday. W. R. Berkley has a fifty-two week low of $50.73 and a fifty-two week high of $65.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.01 and a 200-day moving average of $58.48. The company has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

W. R. Berkley (NYSE:WRB  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The insurance provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.18. W. R. Berkley had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 20.41%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W. R. Berkley will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

W. R. Berkley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. W. R. Berkleys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.20%.

Institutional Trading of W. R. Berkley

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 48.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,121,001 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $857,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in W. R. Berkley by 51.0% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,321,958 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $642,294,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825,238 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in W. R. Berkley by 55.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,366,424 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $417,897,000 after buying an additional 2,616,227 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W. R. Berkley by 211.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,674,171 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $208,436,000 after buying an additional 2,493,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. R. Berkley by 47.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,591,353 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $429,266,000 after buying an additional 2,459,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 68.82% of the companys stock.

W. R. Berkley Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial lines writers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines.

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Bancolombia S.A. (NYSE:CIB  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 190,700 shares, a decrease of 20.9% from the December 31st total of 241,200 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the companys shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 230,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Bancolombia by 671.2% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 62,201 shares of the banks stock valued at $2,031,000 after acquiring an additional 54,136 shares during the period. AXA S.A. purchased a new position in Bancolombia during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $192,000. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Bancolombia by 23.7% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 23,200 shares of the banks stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Bancolombia by 84.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,807 shares of the banks stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 8,141 shares during the period. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bancolombia during the second quarter valued at $359,000.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bancolombia from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday.

Bancolombia Price Performance

NYSE:CIB traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.87. 622,821 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 469,264. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20. Bancolombia has a one year low of $30.25 and a one year high of $40.62.

Bancolombia Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $0.8044 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.07%. Bancolombias payout ratio is currently 50.71%.

About Bancolombia

(Get Free Report)

Bancolombia SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Colombia and internationally. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other.

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British American Tobacco p.l.c. (OTCMKTS:BTAFF  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 106,800 shares, a decline of 60.5% from the December 31st total of 270,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 118,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.9 days.

British American Tobacco Stock Up 5.1 %

OTCMKTS BTAFF traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $41.00. 1,040 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 62,462. The firms 50-day moving average is $37.01 and its 200-day moving average is $36.19. British American Tobacco has a 52-week low of $28.00 and a 52-week high of $41.00.

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About British American Tobacco

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British American Tobacco p.l.c. engages in the provision of tobacco and nicotine products to consumers worldwide. It also offers vapour, heated, and modern oral nicotine products; combustible cigarettes; and traditional oral products, such as snus and moist snuff. The company offers its products under the Vuse, glo, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Camel, Natural American Spirit, Newport, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Peter Stuyvesant, Craven A, State Express 555 and Shuang Xi brands.

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Southern Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN  Free Report) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,812 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 4,864 shares during the period. Southern Capital Advisors LLCs holdings in First Horizon were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FHN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 121,075 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in First Horizon during the second quarter worth $267,000. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of First Horizon by 11.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 82,745 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 8,263 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 65,402 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 21,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of First Horizon by 79.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 105,574 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 46,812 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.28% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In other news, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 109,980 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total value of $2,323,877.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,861,381 shares of the companys stock, valued at $39,330,980.53. This represents a 5.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry V. Barton, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of First Horizon stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.92, for a total transaction of $199,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 166,840 shares in the company, valued at $3,323,452.80. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 220,954 shares of company stock valued at $4,519,333. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

First Horizon Stock Performance

First Horizon stock opened at $21.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. First Horizon Co. has a 1 year low of $13.45 and a 1 year high of $22.10. The companys 50-day moving average is $20.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.03.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. First Horizon had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that First Horizon Co. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

First Horizon announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 29th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 10.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

First Horizon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. First Horizons dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FHN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of First Horizon in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on First Horizon from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on First Horizon from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Horizon from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on First Horizon from $18.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Horizon currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $22.04.

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About First Horizon

(Free Report)

First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through Regional Banking and Specialty Banking segments. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments.

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Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,838 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLCs holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $5,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 75,809,383 shares of the companys stock worth $8,608,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,404 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 11,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,971,554 shares of the companys stock worth $337,450,000 after buying an additional 2,946,742 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Merck & Co., Inc. by 157.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,264,100 shares of the companys stock worth $484,231,000 after buying an additional 2,610,800 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 68.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,388,551 shares of the companys stock valued at $611,924,000 after buying an additional 2,194,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,155,004 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,696,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,134,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.07% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa America cut Merck & Co., Inc. from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Merck & Co., Inc. from $137.00 to $130.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $122.67.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6 %

MRK stock opened at $98.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The companys 50-day moving average price is $99.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.06. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $94.48 and a 52 week high of $134.63. The company has a market cap of $250.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.39.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 36.42% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Merck & Co., Inc.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.92%.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

(Free Report)

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

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The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO  Get Free Report)s share price fell 4.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $29.29 and last traded at $29.51. 1,377,757 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 3,013,622 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GEO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Noble Financial lowered shares of The GEO Group from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities upped their target price on The GEO Group from $16.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating on shares of The GEO Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th.

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The GEO Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.87. The firms 50-day moving average is $29.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). The GEO Group had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 2.00%. The business had revenue of $603.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The GEO Group, Inc. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The GEO Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in The GEO Group by 472.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in The GEO Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in The GEO Group by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,874 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.10% of the companys stock.

About The GEO Group

(Get Free Report)

The GEO Group, Inc (NYSE: GEO) engages in ownership, leasing, and management of secure facilities, processing centers, and community-based reentry facilities in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The company also provides secure facility management services, including the provision of security, administrative, rehabilitation, education, and food services; reentry services, such as temporary housing, programming, employment assistance, and other services; electronic monitoring and supervision services; and transportation services; as well as designs, constructs, and finances new facilities through projects.

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Canaccord Genuity Group restated their buy rating on shares of The Property Franchise Group (LON:TPFG  Free Report) in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a GBX 589 ($7.31) price objective on the stock.

The Property Franchise Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of The Property Franchise Group stock opened at GBX 416.19 ($5.17) on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.84, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of 265.32 million, a PE ratio of 2,190.47 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 411.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 434.71. The Property Franchise Group has a 52 week low of GBX 310 ($3.85) and a 52 week high of GBX 490 ($6.09).

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gareth Samples bought 10,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 402 ($4.99) per share, for a total transaction of 40,200 ($49,925.48). Also, insider David Arthur Raggett purchased 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 402 ($4.99) per share, for a total transaction of 20,100 ($24,962.74). Insiders have purchased a total of 20,000 shares of company stock worth $8,000,000 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 19.92% of the companys stock.

The Property Franchise Group Company Profile

The Property Franchise Group PLC (AIM: TPFG) is the UKs largest multi-brand property franchisor, with a network of over 1,946 outlets delivering high quality services to residential clients, combined with an established Financial Services business.

The Company was founded in 1986 and has since strategically grown to a diverse portfolio of 18 brands operating throughout the UK, comprising longstanding high-street focused brands and two hybrid brands.

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Shore Capital restated their hold rating on shares of The Sage Group (LON:SGE  Free Report) in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on SGE. Citigroup restated a buy rating on shares of The Sage Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of The Sage Group from GBX 970 ($12.05) to GBX 1,090 ($13.54) and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of The Sage Group from GBX 1,170 ($14.53) to GBX 1,350 ($16.77) and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, The Sage Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 3,446.67 ($42.81).

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The Sage Group Stock Performance

Shares of SGE stock opened at GBX 1,325.50 ($16.46) on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of GBX 1,295.51 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 1,120.02. The Sage Group has a one year low of GBX 954.20 ($11.85) and a one year high of GBX 1,342 ($16.67). The company has a market cap of 13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 5,098.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.53.

The Sage Group (LON:SGE  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The company reported GBX 37.90 ($0.47) EPS for the quarter. The Sage Group had a return on equity of 22.31% and a net margin of 11.87%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Sage Group will post 42.1496095 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Sage Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of GBX 13.50 ($0.17) per share. This is a boost from The Sage Groups previous dividend of $6.95. This represents a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 9th. The Sage Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 7,692.31%.

Insider Activity at The Sage Group

In other The Sage Group news, insider Jonathan Howell sold 27,844 shares of The Sage Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,310 ($16.27), for a total transaction of 364,756.40 ($453,000.99). 1.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About The Sage Group

(Get Free Report)

The Sage Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides technology solutions and services for small and medium businesses in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It offers cloud native solutions, such as Sage Intacct, a cloud accounting software product and financial management software; Sage People, a HR and people management solution; Sage 200, a finance and business management solution; Sage X3, a business management solution; Sage Accounting, a solution for small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers to manage customer data, accounts, and people; Sage Payroll for small businesses manage their payroll; and Sage HR for small and mid-sized businesses for record management, leave management, staff scheduling, and expenses services.

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Powers Advisory Group LLC reduced its holdings in The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD  Free Report) (TSE:TD) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,753 shares of the banks stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLCs holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 57.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 26,755 shares of the banks stock valued at $1,693,000 after buying an additional 9,725 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,761,308 shares of the banks stock worth $617,166,000 after acquiring an additional 144,427 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 61.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 6,011,579 shares of the banks stock worth $380,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,864 shares during the last quarter. Galibier Capital Management Ltd. boosted its position in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 24.6% during the third quarter. Galibier Capital Management Ltd. now owns 608,613 shares of the banks stock worth $38,527,000 after purchasing an additional 119,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in Toronto-Dominion Bank by 3.2% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 466,500 shares of the banks stock valued at $29,531,000 after purchasing an additional 14,500 shares during the last quarter. 52.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Toronto-Dominion Bank Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TD opened at $57.32 on Friday. The Toronto-Dominion Bank has a 12-month low of $51.25 and a 12-month high of $64.91. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $54.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $100.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.83.

Toronto-Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.7482 per share. This is a positive change from Toronto-Dominion Banks previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Toronto-Dominion Banks dividend payout ratio is 83.86%.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TD shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Toronto-Dominion Bank from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Toronto-Dominion Bank from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Toronto-Dominion Bank from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Toronto-Dominion Bank currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $80.50.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Toronto-Dominion Bank

Toronto-Dominion Bank Profile

(Free Report)

The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking.

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Tsingtao Brewery Company Limited (OTCMKTS:TSGTY  Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,600 shares, an increase of 89.5% from the December 31st total of 1,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Tsingtao Brewery Price Performance

Shares of TSGTY stock remained flat at $31.01 during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 1 shares, compared to its average volume of 502. Tsingtao Brewery has a twelve month low of $25.05 and a twelve month high of $42.19. The firms 50-day moving average is $33.71 and its 200-day moving average is $32.67.

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About Tsingtao Brewery

(Get Free Report)

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Tsingtao Brewery Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of beer products worldwide. It operates through seven segments: Shandong Region; South China Region; North China Region; East China Region; Southeast China Region; Hong Kong, Macau and Other Overseas Region; and Finance Company.

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A ceremony to mark the formal withdrawal of French troops from Chad is held at Adji Kossei military base in N'Djamena, capital of Chad, Jan. 31, 2025. At the ceremony, France officially handed over its main military base in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, marking the end of its 125-year military presence in the country. (Photo by Mbaigolmem Arnaud/Xinhua)

N'DJAMENA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chad on Friday held a ceremony to mark the formal withdrawal of French troops from the Central African nation.

At the ceremony, France officially handed over its main military base in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, marking the end of its 125-year military presence in the country.

"We are not breaking our relationship with France, but we are putting an end to the military dimension of this cooperation," Chadian president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno told the ceremony at Adji Kossei military base.

Chad is open to dialogue with all its international partners, including France, he said, noting that any new alliance must be based on mutual respect and without losing sight of the demands of independence and sovereignty.

"We now have to count on the bravery and professionalism of our soldiers," the president said. "We must build a stronger, well-equipped army capable of responding to threats."

In November 2024, Chad announced the end of its security and defense cooperation agreement with France. On Dec. 10, some French troops began to leave Chad.

On Dec. 31, 2024, Mahamat Deby announced the definitive withdrawal of French troops from the country by Jan. 31, 2025. 
United Bancorporation of Alabama (OTCMKTS:UBAB  Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, Zacks reports. United Bancorporation of Alabama had a net margin of 31.02% and a return on equity of 22.48%.

United Bancorporation of Alabama Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of UBAB traded down $0.85 on Friday, reaching $56.75. The companys stock had a trading volume of 8,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,444. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. United Bancorporation of Alabama has a twelve month low of $39.80 and a twelve month high of $59.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.25 million, a PE ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.56 and a 200-day moving average of $53.77.

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United Bancorporation of Alabama Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from United Bancorporation of Alabamas previous dividend of $0.35. United Bancorporation of Alabamas dividend payout ratio is currently 14.07%.

About United Bancorporation of Alabama

United Bancorporation of Alabama, Inc operates as the bank holding company for United Bank that provides banking services. The company offers checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, small business programs, business solutions, merchant services, and cash management services.

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Upper Left Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:FXI  Free Report) by 29.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,299 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 3,464 shares during the period. Upper Left Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares China Large-Cap ETF were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FXI. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 6.4% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 9,869 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in iShares China Large-Cap ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,349,108 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $106,435,000 after purchasing an additional 941,613 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF by 711.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,132 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636 shares during the period. Finally, Shaker Investments LLC OH bought a new stake in shares of iShares China Large-Cap ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at $419,000.

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iShares China Large-Cap ETF Stock Up 2.4 %

FXI opened at $32.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.99. iShares China Large-Cap ETF has a twelve month low of $21.33 and a twelve month high of $37.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.54 and a 200-day moving average of $29.35.

iShares China Large-Cap ETF Profile

iShares China Large-Cap ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the FTSE China 25 Index (the Underlying Index). The Funds portfolio of sectors include Financials, Telecommunication, Oil & gas, Technology and Consumer goods.

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VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited (OTCMKTS:VCVOF  Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,400 shares, an increase of 145.5% from the December 31st total of 2,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 7,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS VCVOF remained flat at $5.86 during trading hours on Friday. VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund has a 1-year low of $5.25 and a 1-year high of $6.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.61 and a 200-day moving average of $5.90.

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Vinacapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd. operates as open-end investment fund. It operates through the following segments: Capital Markets, Operating Assets, Private Equity, and Other Assets. The company was founded on March 22, 2016 and is headquartered in St. Peter Port, the United Kingdom.

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Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $17.00 to $19.50 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the asset managers stock. Wells Fargo & Companys price objective points to a potential upside of 1.27% from the stocks current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Invesco from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Invesco from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Invesco from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Invesco from $17.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Invesco from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $19.71.

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Invesco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IVZ opened at $19.26 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of -20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 4.91 and a quick ratio of 4.91. Invesco has a 12 month low of $14.16 and a 12 month high of $19.55.

Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. Invesco had a negative net margin of 3.00% and a positive return on equity of 8.83%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Invesco will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Invesco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Invesco by 2.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,540,913 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $79,738,000 after purchasing an additional 87,405 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Invesco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,428,196,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Invesco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $551,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Invesco by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 78,452 shares of the asset managers stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Invesco during the 3rd quarter worth $853,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.09% of the companys stock.

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Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds.

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NIAMEY, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Niger's Minister of Public Health, Population and Social Affairs Garba Hakimi officially declared at a ceremony on Thursday that the country is free of onchocerciasis.

With this landmark achievement, Niger becomes the first country in Africa to eradicate this disease, which had particularly impacted populations living near certain waterways.

On the same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated Niger on achieving the standard required to eliminate onchocerciasis.

Niger is recognized as the fifth country in the world, the first in Africa, to have successfully halted the transmission of the parasite Onchocerca volvulus. The other four countries that have reached this milestone are all located in the Americas: Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Guatemala (2016), and Mexico (2015).

Hakimi expressed gratitude for the efforts made over the past 15 years, which provided the scientific evidence necessary for the disease's elimination in the country.

Casimir Manengu, the resident representative of the WHO, commended Niger's commitment and leadership that enabled this remarkable achievement.

"I congratulate Niger on its dedication to freeing its population from this blinding and stigmatizing disease, which causes immense suffering among the poorest communities," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "This success stands as further evidence of the significant progress we have made in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. By demonstrating that elimination is possible, it offers hope to other countries still battling onchocerciasis today."

Onchocerciasis is the second neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in Niger, which was certified to have interrupted the transmission of dracunculiasis in 2013 by the WHO. 
Myanmar's National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) holds a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Jan. 31, 2025. Myanmar's NDSC on Friday extended the state of emergency in the country for six more months, state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported. (Myanmar's Ministry of Information/Handout via Xinhua)

YANGON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) on Friday extended the state of emergency in the country for six more months, state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported.

At the NDSC's meeting held in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, all NDSC members present agreed to extend the emergency period, the report said, adding that the extension was made in accordance with Section 425 of the State Constitution.

The extension was made due to the work required for the successful holding of the election and the need for peace and stability to implement them, the report said.

The meeting discussed issues related to election preparations, increased production of agricultural and livestock products, efforts to enhance the education sector for national development, and the health sector.

Additionally, the meeting also discussed matters related to rehabilitation works after disaster, and efforts to end armed conflicts and achieve lasting peace, the report said.

Myanmar declared a state of emergency in February 2021 for one year before making six six-month extensions until Jan. 31 this year. 
TRIPOLI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Libya's daily oil production has exceeded 1.42 million barrels, according to the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Friday.

"Libya's crude oil production reached 1,420,673 barrels per day, and condensate production reached 45,334 barrels (per day)," NOC said on its Facebook page.

"Gas production indicators recorded a value of 200,572 equivalent barrels, bringing the total production to 1,666,579 barrels per day," the statement said.

Libya's oil industry, the backbone of its economy, has frequently been caught in the crossfire of political disputes since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

At the third edition of the Libya Energy and Economy Summit held recently in the capital Tripoli, NOC Acting Chairman Masoud Sulaiman said Libya aims to raise production to 2 million barrels per day within three years, pending necessary investment. 
Organising secretary of the West Bengal state board of the International Human Rights Council Utpal Roy has urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to address the acute shortage of mental hospitals and government-run rehabilitation centres in north Bengal.

In a letter to the chief minister, Roy pointed out that West Bengal has six state-run mental hospitals  three in Kolkata and one each in Murshidabad, Purulia, and Cooch Behar. This leaves vast regions of north Bengal, including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, and Malda, without adequate mental healthcare facilities.

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He has proposed setting up mental hospitals in Siliguri, Raiganj, and Jalpaiguri to address the regions growing mental health needs. Additionally, Mr Roy highlighted the absence of government rehabilitation centres, making de-addiction treatment unaffordable for middle and lower-income families.

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With north Bengal facing a surge in drug and alcohol abuse, he urged the government to establish rehab centres in Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Malda to ensure accessible and affordable treatment.

Mr Roys appeal calls for immediate intervention to safeguard the mental well-being of north Bengals citizens.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) secretary general, Arijit Raha, has urged the deputy chairman of the Tea Board of India to reconsider the proposal for a mandatory auction system for teas imported from Nepal. In a letter dated 14 January, Mr Raha outlined the ITAs concerns, emphasising the need for protective measures for the Darjeeling tea industry instead.

Mr Raha highlighted that the increasing import of Nepalese tea has severely impacted the viability of Darjeeling tea. While most Nepalese tea is exported to India under the Revised Free Trade Treaty of 2009, which exempts it from basic customs duty, India-made tea exported to Nepal faces a 40 per cent import duty. This disparity, he argued, puts the Indian tea sectorespecially Darjeeling tea producersat a disadvantage.

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Addressing the proposal for a mandatory auction system, the ITA stated that its members do not support the move. Mr Raha pointed out that the Indian tea market is already struggling with oversupply, and unrestricted access for Nepalese tea would further disrupt demand and supply. Making Nepalese tea available through the auction platform would provide easy access to buyers, leading to market volatility and unpredictable pricing, ultimately destabilizing an already fragile Darjeeling tea industry.

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Traceability of imported tea was another major concern raised. While auctions might improve traceability, Mr Raha argued that the resulting market instability would outweigh this benefit. Additionally, he cautioned that allowing Nepalese tea into mandatory auctions could set a precedent for other tea-producing countries, further worsening the oversupply situation in India. He also noted that the Tea Act does not explicitly allow auctions of teas originating outside India.

To safeguard the Darjeeling tea industry, Mr Raha proposed stricter import regulations, including a Minimum Import Price and comprehensive pesticide residue testing for Nepalese tea. He cited provisions from the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, which mandate rigorous testing of imported food products to ensure safety. He urged authorities to implement similar measures to protect Indian tea, as other tea-producing nations have done to safeguard their domestic industries.

This table clearly shows that Nepals tea imports consistently exceed Darjeelings tea production in most years.
CAIRO/GAZA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Rafah crossing, the only channel linking Egypt with the Gaza Strip, is open and will start receiving patients from Gaza, Governor of Egypt's North Sinai Governorate Khaled Megawer said on Friday.

"The opening of the crossing was announced earlier today. We will start receiving patients," the governor said on social media platform X, without mentioning the exact time of the passage of Gazan patients through the crossing.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed that the first group of sick and injured individuals will be allowed to leave the Palestinian enclave through the Rafah crossing on Saturday.

In a press statement, the ministry called the move part of urgent humanitarian efforts to provide critically ill and wounded people with medical treatment outside the besieged territory.

"The departure of these patients will be coordinated under the supervision of the World Health Organization and other relevant authorities," the ministry added.

According to health officials, the selected patients and their companions are scheduled to gather at the Al-Shifa and Nasser medical complexes in Gaza before being transported to the crossing.

Saturday will also witness another round of hostage swap between Israel and Hamas under a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Friday that it will release three Israeli hostages on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a press statement that Israeli authorities will in turn release 90 Palestinian prisoners.

Also on Friday, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Israel has received the list of three Israeli civilian hostages expected to be released from Hamas captivity on Saturday. On the list are Israeli-French citizen Ofer Calderon, 54, Israeli-American citizen Keith Siegel, 65, and Israeli civilian Yarden Bibas, 35.

Under the ongoing ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of fighting, 33 hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Since the implementation of the ceasefire deal on January 19, 15 captives, including five Thai workers, have been released by Hamas, while 400 Palestinian detainees have so far been exchanged. 
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has convened a meeting of party legislators to be held at the Nauser Ali Hall at the state Legislature on 10 February, the day when the Budget session of the state Assembly will get underway.

The state budget would be presented on 12 February. The meeting of the party MLAs convened by Miss Banerjee ahead of the presentation of the vote-on-account would be a crucial one, said sources.

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The meeting would be the last opportunity for the ruling dispensation before the Assembly polls in 2026, to look into their shortcomings and try to address those.

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Last year when the chief minister had held a meeting of her party MLAs at her Assembly chamber during the middle of the Winter Session of the Assembly.

In the last meeting she talked tough to the partys Bharatpur MLA Humayun Kabir regarding his alleged anti-party rants, which was subsequently show caused by the partys disciplinary committee for breaching party discipline.
A collection of Sister Niveditas unpublished letters and writings in Bengali, titled Bhogini Nibeditar Aprakashito Potraboli ebong Ananyo Aprakashito Rochona was released at the Kolkata International Book Fair. The book has been penned by Sarada Sarkar, a teacher settled in the United Kingdom.

She took the initiative to instal a statue of the Sister in putting up a Blue Plaque in the house, where Sister had opened a school in Wimbledon.

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She got in touch with the relatives of Sister Nivedita, who stay in different countries. She brought Selendra Margot Giardin, great granddaughter of Richmond Noble, Niveditas brother. Nivedita had a brother and a sister. It is interesting to note that the descendents of Richmond write Margot as the middle name while the descendents of May Wilson write Bose, after Jagadish Chandra Bose as the middle name.

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Nivedita died in Darjeeling on 13 October, 1911 and after her death, Lady Abala Bosu, wife of Jagadish Chandra Bose wrote a letter to Mrs Wilson on 4 January, 1912. She wrote: How can we live without her? Before we went to Darjeeling, we often would discuss who would die first but I never thought she would go so soon. Lady Minto has written a beautiful letter to Christine, which I want to send to you. Christine has at last come to Calcutta and means to take up the work.

In an unpublished account of Niveditas niece Grancy Wilson, we get an account of how Swamiji came to the life of Margaret Elizabeth Noble. She writes: The house in Wimbledon became a haven for advanced thinkers of the 1890s. Yeats (Willliam Butler), (Samuel Taylor) Coleridge, (George Bernard) Shaw, (Aldous) Huxley, William Morris, (Henry Wadsworth) Longfellow, WT Stead were a few of these. They were settled and established, and a brilliant career foreseen for Margaret in the journalistic world of free thinking, when a certain Indian walked into their drawing room, a gentleman called Naren Dutt. From that moment Margaret knew that she had at last met someone whose vision was enormous, whose intellect was greater than anything she had yet encountered or was likely to encounter, a person of such gift, religious uplifting that Margaret was on her way to her future.

An unpublished letter by Nivedita to Grancy written on 21 April, 1910 goes like this: My darling Grancy, I am going to town to post this letter to you. I have put kisses into it. When you open it, they will all fly out of it to you. Kisses have wings. They fly home to your heart. Do you know these little birds? Your own loving ah  oh!

There is a letter written by George G Harrap Company, London who requested Nivedita to write on Indian religion and philosophy. The letter dated 22 December, 1910, reads: Your name has been mentioned to us by Mr E.E. Havell in a very complimentary way, as being extremely well qualified to write such a book as we want and so we are inviting you to undertake the task if your other engagements permit.
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav on Friday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has totally neglected the Badli Assembly constituency in the last 10 years.

Attacking the ruling party,he said,AAP government has totally neglected Badli. Arvind Kejriwals failure to fulfil the election promise of clearing the landfill site at Bhalswa has posed grave danger to the life of the people living in the surrounding areas and beyond. Badli Assembly has not witnessed any development in the past 10 years.

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Yadav, who is the Congress candidate from the Badli Assembly seat, said that he had done a lot of development works in Badli when he was the MLA of the area, and continued to nurse the constituency even when he was not the MLA.

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The Congress manifesto had outlined specific plans to flatten the landfill, ensure round the clock drinking water supply and electricity, and reconstruct the crumbling civic infrastructure as no work in the name of development has been done in Badli for the past 10 years, he added.

The Delhi Congress chief said that he was committed to fulfil all the promises made in its manifesto.

Congress is committed to honour all its five major guarantees, as assured by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, like Rs 2,500 per month Pyari Didi Yojna, Rs 25 lakh life-long health insurance scheme, Rs 8,500 monthly stipend for educated unemployed youth for their skill development by taking up apprenticeship jobs in private companies, Rs 500 per cylinder and free ration kit per household and 300 units of free power, he said.
In a major jolt to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the Delhi assembly polls just around the corner, seven of its legislators tendered their resignation on Friday, citing reasons that they no longer had faith in the party and Arvind Kejriwal.

In her resignation letter addressed to Arvind Kejriwal, AAP MLA from Palam constituency Bhavna Gaur wrote, Sir, I hereby resign from the primary membership of Aam Aadmi Party as I have lost faith in you and the party. Pl accept the same.

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Similarly Pawan Kumar Sharma, the AAP MLA from Adarsh Nagar also addressed a resignation letter to Kejriwal stating the reason alleging that the party has diverted from the very ideology based on which it was once formed.

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He also conveyed to the AAP chief that he was very sad to witness the state of affairs in the party.

A post regarding the said resignations was re-posted by Gaur on her social media handle on platform X.

AAP MLA from Kasturba Nagar Madan Lal also resigned from the party and took to his X handle and shared a copy of his resignation letter.

He also cited the reason similar to Gaur, that he lost faith in Kejriwal and the party, which has led him to put his papers.

Lal also addressed a letter to the Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel, resigning as a legislator.

It is being said that the legislators were not happy after they were not given tickets this time from the party to contest the upcoming polls on February 5.

Janakpuri legislator Rajesh Rishi is also amongst the AAPs outgoing MLAs who resigned from the party, who also include Rohit Kumar Mehrualia who represented Trilokpuri assembly constituency, Bhupinder Singh Joon from Bijwasan and Naresh Yadav, MLA Mehrauli.

Joon also mentioned in his letter to the AAP chief that the reason behind his step was that he felt the party deviated from the very principles and values on which it was founded.

He also alleged that the party which once strongly objected to giving tickets and membership to those with criminal charges and background, this time has fielded a person from his constituency who has several criminal cases registered against him.

Joon also claimed that voices of sincere workers and public representatives are being sidelined and critical decisions are being made without proper consultation or consensus.

Reacting on this, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva has said that what matters is the reason why the AAP MLAs resigned, which as per them is they have lost faith in Kejriwal and the party. He claimed that the list may increase as the polls are near because everyone who wants to see Delhis growth and development, can no longer stay with Kejriwal and his party after it.
Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Friday launched a scathing attack on former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of failing to take any action to clean the Yamuna river.

Addressing a press conference at the partys Delhi office, he said, The Yamuna river became polluted due to the criminal negligence of Arvind Kejriwal. Despite spending Rs 8,500 crore in the name of restoring the river, he took no steps to clean up the toxic waters.

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Rawat, the former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, said that the promises made in the Congress manifesto for the Delhi Assembly elections to tackle air, water, and land pollution were necessary to protect public health and prevent the city from getting ruined.

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He asserted that the AAP government in Delhi and the BJP-led government at the Centre are responsible for the lack of potable water, as both have completely neglected the city.

The senior Congress leader appealed to Delhi voters to elect Congress by ousting the AAP government.

Elections for 70 Assembly seats in Delhi are scheduled to be held in a single phase on February 5. The counting of votes will take place on February 8.
Stepping up his attack on AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi dared him to drink the water supplied in the slums leaving aside Yamuna water.

The Congress leader was responding to Kejriwals challenge to him to drink the water from Yamuna River, which he claimed to have high ammonia content.

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Addressing an election rally in Madipur on Friday, Rahul Gandhi said, He (Kejriwal) promised to clean the river and take a dip in it. Kejriwal ji, leave aside the Yamuna water, drink the normal water from Delhi slums. You said you would clean the Yamuna but you did nothing. Your words are hollow.

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Scathing his attack on the AAP chief, he alleged, Kejriwal ji came in Wagon R and went straight to the parking of Sheesh Mahal. He built a house worth crores of rupees, indulged in corruption and ruined all the development work done by Sheila Dikshit ji. Kejriwal only makes false promises.

Recalling the AAP leaders promise to protect Dalits and minorities, he said when the riots took place in Delhi, Kejriwal and his party members did not stand with the affected people whereas Congress stood with them with full might.

Kejriwal and Narendra Modi only tell lies in their speeches. Show me one speech of mine in which I ever have made a false promise. I make only those promises which can be fulfilled. We introduced the MNREGA scheme, waived off farmers loans, built flyovers in Delhi, did development work, but never made false promises, the former Congress President said.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on corporate loan waiver, he claimed, Modi has waived off Rs 16 lakh crore of 25 billionaires. But not a single rupee has been waived off of the traders, students and women of Delhi.

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Mustafabad, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi said, the government is increasing taxes and the savings of people are going low. But both the BJP and the AAP are talking about sheesh mahal and rajmahal.

Taking a jibe at the BJP and AAP over various issues including pollution, she said because of their politics of blame game, the people of national capital are suffering.

Earlier in the day, Priyanka Gandhi held a roadshow in Nangloi Jat assembly in favour of party candidate Rohit Choudhary.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has sentenced two more individuals in the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) case, increasing the total number of convicted accused to nine.

The court sentenced Mufti Suleiman Ali and Imran Hossen to imprisonment and fines under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

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Ali and Hossen were sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment under IPC Section 120(B) and fined Rs 500, with an additional 14 days of imprisonment in case of non-payment.

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Additionally, they received rigorous imprisonment for the period they had already servedtwo years, eight months, and 21 daysunder UAPA Sections 20, 38, and 39.

The case dates back to March 2022, when an ABT module with links to the banned international terror organization Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) was uncovered in Assams Barpeta district.

The module was led by Bangladeshi national Saiful Islam, who, along with his associates, was allegedly involved in radicalizing youth and setting up sleeper cells in the region.

The NIA initially filed a chargesheet against eight individuals in August 2022, followed by a supplementary chargesheet against two more in August 2023. With the latest verdict, a total of nine individuals have now been convicted in the case.

Last week, two more accused were sentenced, while in a separate ruling on Wednesday, the NIA court sentenced Mamunur Rashid to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a Rs 1,000 fine. Rashid was also given one month of simple imprisonment under Section 19 of UAPA and three months under IPC Section 120(B).

Another accused, Mukibul Hussain, was sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment and a Rs 500 fine, with additional imprisonment under UAPA.
With just five days left for the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections, Congress candidate from Shakur Basti Assembly Constituency, Satish Luthra, has identified poor road infrastructure, inadequate street lighting, and insufficient CCTV coverage as the most pressing issues in the area.

Speaking to The Statesman about key concerns that require immediate attention, Luthra said, The major issues in Shakur Basti include inadequate infrastructure, poor sanitation, and limited access to quality education and healthcare.

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He emphasized that his priorities would focus on resolving these challenges and ensuring that the constituency receives essential amenities.

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I plan to work on infrastructure development, strengthening education and healthcare services, and promoting employment opportunities. If elected, I will dedicate myself to improving the lives of residents and making Shakur Basti a better place to live, he stated.

When asked about the condition of roads and traffic in the area, Luthra expressed deep concern.

The roads in Shakur Basti are in a dire state, marred by craters, potholes, and uneven surfaces that make commuting both hazardous and frustrating. The streets are riddled with deep holes, turning every journey into a bone-jarring ordeal, he remarked.

Luthra assured voters that if elected, he would prioritize infrastructure improvements and ensure that Shakur Basti receives the attention it deserves.
The Haridwar police on Friday took independent MLA Umesh Kumar in custody and lathi-charged his supporters at Laksar in Khanpur assembly constituency of Uttarakhand.

Kumar, who is at loggerheads with the imprisoned BJP leader and former MLA Pranav Singh Champion, had called a gathering of his supporters in the name of Sarvsamaj (all communities) in response to a panchayat meeting of Gujjar community in support of Champion on Thursday.

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Police picked Kumar on the way as he was going from Dehradun to attend and address all communities at Laksar. Heavy police force was present when Kumar was taken into custody. According to Kumars wife, the MLA was taken in custody as he was going to attend the meeting peacefully.

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Its notable that after being picked up by the police Khanpur MLA had cancelled the gathering Despite but his supporters kept pouring in Laksar for the meet.

Police had blocked roads raising barricades at several places resulting in big traffic chaos. Despite the ban, Umesh supporters started reaching Laksar forcing police to take many of them in custody. Police action resulted in confrontation by Kumar Supporters leading to law and order chaos.

Irritated by the police action, MLA supporters pelted bricks and stones at the police following which the latter unleashed lathi charge. No one was seriously injured in the police brute.

Its notable that Kumar and Champion are political rivals as the former defeated the latter in 2022 state polls. Champion and his supporters on January 26, attacked Kumars camp offices in Khanpur and fired around 50 rounds at the building. They vandalized Kumars office and beat up his supporters.

Kumar on his return to the office rushed towards Champions residence with a pistol in his hand. However his supporters prevented him from going berserk. Later Haridwar police arrested Champion and the court of chief judicial magistrate sent him to 14-day judicial remand on January 27.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission to ensure that CCTV video recordings of polling booths are maintained and preserved till the adjudication of a PIL challenging the poll panels August 7 and 23, 2024 communications to increase the number of voters per polling booth from earlier 1,200 to 1,500.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar gave the poll panel three weeks more to file its reply to the plea challenging amendment in its rules to increase the number of voters to 1500 at each polling booth.

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The bench granted the Election Commission three more weeks to file its reply on the poll panels request for more time.

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The counsel appearing for respondent number 1 (ECI) prays for further time to file an affidavit Let the affidavit be filed within three weeks from today Rejoinder if any shall be filed within 3 weeks after the service of the aforesaid affidavit. We deem it appropriate to direct respondent no 1 to maintain the CCTV recordings as they were doing earlier, the bench said in its order.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Shadan Farasat, assisted by advocate on record Talha Abdul Rahman appeared for the PIL petitioner and social activist Indu Prakash Singh who has challenged the ECs August 7 and 23, 2024 communications to the extent that the number of electors at each polling station in each constituency has been increased.

In the last hearing of the matter on December 2, 2024, the Supreme Court had sought response from the Election Commission to explain its decision to increase the number of voters per polling booth to from 1,200 to 1,500.

The court had asked the poll panel You file a short affidavit. Explain that position because we are concerned that no voter should be troubled.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Election Commission, in the last hearing, had told the court that the number of voters per polling booth was raised to 1,500 in 2019 and no grievance was raised up until now.

Political parties are consulted for every booth before it is decided, the senior advocate for the poll panel told the bench.

The PIL petitioner and social activist Indu Prakash Singh has moved the top court seeking directions that the number of electors per polling booth be retained at 1,200 as was followed from 1957 to 2019, and that the number of polling stations be increased to a sufficient number as per the mandate under Section 25 of the Representation of People Act.
BAKU, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Five people, including three minors, were killed in a hand grenade explosion in Azerbaijan's Aghjabadi district on Friday.

The explosion occurred after a young child discovered a grenade, brought it home, and triggered the device, according to local media reports.

Two other individuals were injured by the explosion and were hospitalized.

Authorities are investigating the incident, with law enforcement and prosecutors conducting forensic examinations and other procedural actions at the scene. 
India on Friday confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Washington soon for talks with US President Donald Trump on a range of bilateral issues and global developments.

At a media briefing here, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said PM Modi and President Trump had a telephonic conversation some days back and the two sides are now working on an early visit by Mr Modi to the US to further deepen the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. Specific dates for the visit are still being worked and will be announced at an appropriate time, he added.

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The spokesperson also responded to a question on the 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Ranas extradition to India since the US Supreme Court has declined his petition.

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We are now working with the US side on procedural issues for the early extradition of the accused in the Mumbai terror attack to India, he added.

On the issue of illegal migration, he reiterated that India is firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is also linked to other forms of organised crimes. He added that both India and the US, as part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration.

We are keen to continue this cooperation. At the same time, the Government of India would need to do the required verification, including nationality, of the concerned individuals, before they are deported to India. Any talk of numbers at this stage is premature, the spokesperson added.
Former Telangana chief minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, who had been lying low for quite some time, sounded a warning for the Congress government led by Revanth Reddy on Friday exhorting his party leaders and activists to be ready for a direct action.

Stating that he has been silently watching their (Congress) misrule, KCR, as he is popularly known, announced that his party would hold a major rally at the end of February.

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The wily BRS leader has seldom ventured out after the partys debacle in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections and had been targeted by Congress leaders, particularly Reddy, who has often commented on his absence during the assembly sessions. However, he was back to his inimitable self while addressing the BRS leaders from Zaheerabad at his farmhouse in Erravalli Rao.

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I am watching this government, seriously and silently. When I strike, I have a habit of hitting hard and not tapping lightly, KCR roared to the delight of a gathering. They wont know what hit them when we strike, he added.

Noting that people have turned against Congress within a year, KCR said if its leaders showed up, people were ready to confront them. Taking a dig at a poll conducted recently by the Telangana Congress handle on a social media platform, he pointed out that more than 70 per cent voted for the farmhouse government (referred to the previous BRS regime).

Congress had run a poll asking which government people wanted. People now want our government back, he said, adding the Congress leaders keep talking about KCRs farmhouse but what is there except crops?

KCR alleged that the Congress leaders have financially ruined the state as land prices have sharply dropped in Telangana under this government. He lamented the fate of the key projects undertaken by his government, like Sangameshwar, Basaveshwar, and Kaleshwaram, which have been stalled.

I warned the people during elections but they didnt heed to my warning and went on to vote for Congress out of greed. They voted for Congress hoping to get 10 gm gold but got nothing, Rao said.

He said he had warned the voters that Rythu Bandhu would turn out to be Ram Ram and Dalit Bandhu Jai Bhim. Now, they regret their decision to back Congress despite his warnings.

Accusing Congress of using Muslims in politics, he said the party has let down every section of society.

Rao also urged the BRS cadres to gear up for a direct action against the government. The BRS alone can protect Telangana and its rights through its uncompromising fight against the current misrule of the Congress government,  he thundered.
The Kerala Police have arrested 27 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from North Paravur near Ernakulam on Thursday night.

The illegal immigrants were arrested in a special drive, Operation Clean, launched by Ernakulam Rural District Police chief Vaibhav Saxena with the assistance of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

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In all, 54 persons were taken into custody and were interrogated in detail. Of them, 27 have reportedly confessed to their Bangladeshi nationality. With this, the number of illegal immigrants arrested in January in the state rose to 34.

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The police have registered a case against the Bangladesh nationals under the Foreigners Act and Passport ( Entry to India) Act.

According to the police, the arrested persons illegally crossed the India- Bangladesh border and reached West Bengal in January 2024. Later, they arranged fake Indian identity cards with the help of agents in West Bengal and moved to Kerala.

The arrested Bangladeshi nationals worked as daily wage workers. They were mostly hired by contractors. We are interrogating them and they will be produced before the court later, a police officer said.

Earlier on Thursday, two women Bangladeshi nationals were arrested from Kochi for illegally staying in the state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the state police chief have, earlier this month, directed the police to crack down on illegal migrants on account of the internal security threat they posed. Perumbavur and North Paravur area in Ernakulam district are known for the large presence of migrant workers.
Even as the Judicial Commission investigating the Mahakumbh stampede began the inspection of the spot on Friday, the Mela authorities are gearing up for the third and last Amrit Snan on Basant Panchami on February 3.

Following the stampede on Mauni Amavasya that claimed the lives of 30 pilgrims, the Mela police have taken stern measures to protect devotees. The fair area has been declared a no-vehicle zone from Friday to February 4, the day of Basant Panchami Snan. Apart from administrative and medical vehicles, all other vehicles will remain banned in the fair area.

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Besides, All VIP passes, along with vehicle passes, have also been cancelled.

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On Friday, over 1.58 crore pilgrims took a dip in the Sangam, bringing the total number of devotees visiting the Mahakumbh to over 31 crore in 19 days. Meanwhile, the Judicial Commission team arrived at the Mahakumbh to investigate the stampede that occurred around 2.30 am on January 29.

The commission comprises retired judge Harsh Kumar, former DG VK Gupta, and retired IAS officer DK Singh.

The three-member Judicial Commission held a meeting at the Circuit House, which was attended by Commissioner (Prayagraj Zone) Vijay Vishwas Pant, Fair Officer Vijay Kiran Anand, ADG (Prayagraj Zone) Bhanu Bhaskar, DIG Vaibhav Krishna, and other police officers.

Sources said that the officials associated with the fair were unable to answer the commissions questions properly, with many officers preoccupied with acclaiming their works. In response, the commission asked, If everything was well, how did the stampede happen?

The commission asked the officials, When you knew that such a large crowd was going to gather, what were the security arrangements? Did a similar incident occur outside the Sangam region? What is the reality behind the videos going viral in the media? Has there been any incident in Jhunsi as well? They also asked for CCTV footage of all events and details of the planning made for crowd control.

DIG (Fair) Vaibhav Krishna said here on Friday that under the new system, the fair area will be a no-vehicle zone from 31 January to February 4. These steps have been taken to maintain an organised flow of devotees within the fair area.

DIG and Nodal Officer (Mahakumbh) of the Commissionerate, Dr Ajay Pal Sharma, informed that the D-1, D+1 plan will be implemented on the Basant Panchami day. Under this plan, no vehicles will be allowed to enter the city one day before and after February 3 (i.e. from February 2 to February 4). This system will also apply to pass-holder vehicles. Buses, minibuses, and cars of devotees will be parked at the nearest parking sites. From there, they will be able to travel to the parking lots around the fair area by shuttle buses or other small vehicles. Devotees will have to walk to the nearest ghat and return the same way.

After the stampede at the Mahakumbh, the state government became alert ahead of the Basant Panchami bath. On Friday, the government took additional measures by sending four SPs and three ASPs to Prayagraj to ensure vigilance at the Mahakumbh.

These officers include Deepender Nath Chaudhary, Laxminivas Mishra, Raj Dhari Chaurasia, and Shravan Kumar Singh. Apart from this, ASP Vikas Chandra Tripathi, Om Prakash Singh, and Praveen Kumar Yadav have also been sent to oversee the event.

Senior IAS officers Ashish Goyal and Bhanu Chandra Goswami, who had worked during the Ardh Kumb in 2019, have already been deployed at the Mahakumbh. These officers will remain in Prayagraj until February 15 to assist in improving the arrangements.

Among the other officers deployed for duty at the Mahakumbh on Thursday, 2016-batch IAS officer Atul Singh, currently serving as Special Secretary in the Food and Logistics Department, is also involved. Additionally, several PCS officers, including Joint Director Ashok Kumar from the Youth Welfare Department, Additional District Magistrate (Civil Supplies) Ashutosh Kumar Dubey from Kanpur, Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) Prafulla Kumar Tripathi from Hardoi, and Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) PTU Chauhan from Basti, have also been deployed at the fair venue.

On Mauni Amavasya, all entry routes into the district were sealed due to the massive crowd in Kumbhanagri. Due to this, thousands of people cancelled their hotel bookings after being stuck en route, causing significant damage to the hotel industry. However, the Tent City remains fully booked, with no rooms available until February 7.

Hazinder Singh, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Welfare Association, admitted a decline of about 20 per cent in bookings but hoped that the situation would improve after Basant Panchami.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday reiterated his opposition to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), stating that its implementation is neither practical nor appropriate in a country as culturally diverse as India.

His remarks come as Uttarakhand became the first state to implement the UCC while exempting tribal customs from its purview.

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While acknowledging that certain aspects of civil laws could be made uniform, Sangma stressed the need to protect indigenous rights.

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He argued that imposing a uniform legal framework on all communities would not be feasible, given the unique traditions of tribal and indigenous groups.

A Uniform Civil Code, as a concept to ensure complete uniformity, is not possible in India, Sangma stated. There are tribal and indigenous communities with distinct practices, and enforcing uniformity in all aspects of life would be inappropriate.

He further illustrated his stance with an example: If a bill at the national or state level mandated a matrilineal system across India, Meghalaya would support it because we follow that tradition. It all depends on what aspects are being made uniform and in what manner.

The Meghalaya government has made it clear that implementing UCC is not on its agenda, reaffirming its commitment to respecting the diverse identities of tribal communities and safeguarding their traditional practices.

Sangmas remarks come amid ongoing national debates on the UCC, with Assam expressing interest in following Uttarakhands lead. Notably, a tribal council in Meghalaya had passed a resolution two years ago opposing the UCC in areas under its jurisdiction.

The UCC in Uttarakhand seeks to standardize personal laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession, applying to all residents except Scheduled Tribes and certain protected groups.
Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagade on Friday assured the opposition benches in the state assembly of personally ensuring measures to safeguard the interests of tribals and fulfilment of their needs.

Delivering his inaugural address at the beginning of the budget session of the state assembly on Friday, the Governor said, Its my responsibility to safeguard the interests of tribal people and fulfil their needs, and I am paying full attention to their needs, including the discharge of adequate water supply in their areas.

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Amidst the Governors speech, the members in the opposition benches expressed their dismay and dissatisfaction over the state of water supply in tribal villages and settlements.

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Bagade also expressed his happiness over the speedy work on the PKC-ERCP project that has now been rechristened Ramjal Setu. He said that this mega project was conceptualised by the previous Vasundhara Raje-led regime (2013 -2018) and shaped up in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congresss term (2018-2023) and was now being expedited under the current Bhajan Lal Sharma-led government.

I am happy to observe that the works on the Navnera Dam in Kota district have been completed, which can be viewed as a significant achievement under this dream project that will cater to the needs of 17-18 districts and 40 per cent of the states population for at least 30 years.

Among other vital issues, Bagade praised Chief Minister Sharma for according higher priority to womens security and empowerment-related matters. He made special mention of the increase in the grant for prospective mothers from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,500.

The honorarium for Anganbadi workers has also been raised by 10 per cent, the Governor said.

Earlier, on Friday morning, before the Governors speech, Balmukandacharya (BJP) and Amin Kagdi (Congress) exchanged barbs over the issue of Surya Namaskar, with the former making gestures similar to performing the yoga sequences.

The budget session of the state assembly began at 11 am on Friday. Speaker Vasudev Devnani, Chief Minister Sharma, and senior officials accorded a ceremonial welcome to Governor Bagade upon his arrival at the fore lawns of the Assembly complex.
Coming down heavily on Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for their remarks on President Droupadi Murmus speech on the opening day of the Budget Session of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that royal family of the grand old party insulted a tribal woman.

Modi also hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for allegedly making Delhi an ATM to shine its politics. He asserted that strict action will be taken against AAP-Das corruption if the BJP government is formed after the Assembly polls.

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Indirectly referring to the reaction of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to the Presidents address during a public meeting in Dwarka here, the prime minister said, Today, the nation witnessed yet another display of arrogance from the Congress partys so-called royal family.

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Earlier in the day, commenting on the Presidents customary speech in Parliament, the CPP chairperson told reporters, Poor lady! The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing while the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha called the Presidents speech boring.

Addressing the public meeting, he said, Today, our respected President addressed the Parliament, highlighting development and the vision for Viksit Bharat.

A member of the royal family said that the tribal daughter gave a boring speech while another member of the Royal family of the Congress insulted a tribal woman by calling her poor thing. This is an insult to the tribal brothers and sisters of the country, he said.

This is an insult to 10 crore tribals and every poor in the country. The royal family of the Congress does not like Dalits, STs or OBCs rising in life, the prime minister alleged.

Lashing out at the AAP, Modi said, AAP-DA people have made Delhi an ATM to shine their politics. They have squeezed Delhis money and looted it. By committing scams in Delhi, these AAP-DA people use black money to brighten politics in other states of the country.

Accusing the AAP government of corruption, the prime minister said, I assure you that as soon as we form the government in Delhi, we will take strict action against AAPdas corruption. Those who have looted Delhi will be held accountable and made to return what they took.

Hitting out at the AAP government in Delhi for not tabling CAG reports in the assembly, Modi said, In the very first session of the assembly, the CAG report will be presented. This report will reveal AAPdas scams, which is why they are trying to hide it.

Delhi needs a double-engine government of Central and state government, Modi asserted. Now, only five days are left for voting in Delhi. Delhi has decided to drive out the AAP-DA people this time to form the BJP government with an overwhelming majority, the prime minister claimed.

Targeting both Congress and the AAP, the prime minister said, AAP-DA and the Congress party have become synonymous with arrogance. AAP-DA behaves as if they are the sole proprietors of Delhi while Congress carries a similar attitude, acting as though they own the entire country.

Referring to the political row over pollution in the Yamuna, the PM said due to the fear of loss in election AAP-DA leaders are pursuing zehrili raajneeti (poisonous politics).

PM Modi castigated the ruling party of Delhi for the poor state of the Yamuna and indulgence in blame game and corruption.

He said the AAP-DA government has not increased the budget for infrastructure over the past four years. They are not spending money on public welfare but on their publicity and ads, he added.

Over the past four years, AAP-DA has not increased the budget for infrastructure. This year, they are again not releasing funds for it. They dont want to use public money to benefit the people. Instead, they are spending a lot on advertisements, Modi said.

Accusing the AAP government of corruption, he called it an enemy of the middle class, saying, Those who live in Sheesh Mahal have no respect for two BHK of a middle class family.

Referring to the AAP chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals Yamuna poison remark, Modi said the AAP-DA people hate Haryana. They blame the neighbouring state for air pollution, and now they are blaming Haryana for poisoning Yamuna water, he said.

The land that gave the message of Gita has been accused of poisoning the Yamuna. Yamuna is not just a river but a part of the Indian ethos, but it is in a decaying state today, he pointed out.

Seeing the growing anger of Delhis people towards AAP-DA, the party has started openly lying. AAP-DAs dislike for Haryana is clear, and their actions reflect this. They have blamed Haryanas farmers whenever Delhi faces pollution problems. Now, they are accusing Haryana of polluting the Yamuna River, Modi said.

He said in Gujarat, the poor state of Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad used to hurt him. I later rejuvenated the river and developed a river front there, he said, adding, I would personally oversee the revamp of the Yamuna in Delhi as well.

He said the BJP government would change the future of Delhi-NCR by developing Yamuna. The water will be cleaned, we will develop the riverfront, we will build a green tourism corridor and run water Metro for transportation, he said, adding that rejuvenation of a river also promotes the economy.

Claiming that the BJP not only undertakes development but also facilitates savings for the poor, he said, We will give houses to the poor in Delhi at double the speed once a BJP government is formed.nikhi
Facing the threat of an arrest warrant, Tamil Nadu Home Secretary Dheeraj Kumar appeared before the Madras High Court on Friday evening, complying with the directive of Justice P Velmurugan.

The judge instructed the bureaucrat to familiarize himself with police operations at the ground level and ensure that FIRs and Final Reports are filed promptly within the statutory time frame while following due procedure.

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The court was hearing a petition regarding an excessive delay in filing a Final Report in a case. On January 29, Justice Velmurugan had ordered the Home Secretary to appear in person on January 31 to provide clarity on the numerous cases where the police had exhibited negligence.

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However, on Friday morning, the Additional Advocate General requested the court to excuse the official from appearing personally. The court, in response, asserted that unless he had secured a stay from the Supreme Court, he must appear by 4:30 PM, failing which an arrest warrant would be issued.

Appearing before the court, the Home Secretary presented a comprehensive report on the steps and initiatives taken by the department to ensure compliance with procedural requirements.

Not everyone can approach the court seeking directions for the registration of FIRs or the filing of Final Reports before the jurisdictional magistrate. The department must ensure that the common people are not inconvenienced, Justice Velmurugan remarked.

He emphasized that summoning the official was intended to make him aware of ground realities and the hardships faced by ordinary citizens.

In an earlier order summoning the Home Secretary, the judge had observed: This Court is uncertain whether the concerned Secretary to the Government is aware of the illegal practices prevalent within the police department, which cause significant inconvenience to poor litigants and the public.

The directive was issued in response to a petition filed by Sundar of Virugambakkam, Chennai, seeking an order for the police to submit a Final Report in a case registered against him in 2015. When the government advocate conceded that the police had failed to file the report despite closing the case, the judge lamented that such lapses were not uncommon in Tamil Nadu.
The Pakistani terrorists on Friday foiled an infiltration bid and killed two heavily armed Pakistani terrorists at the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector.

A defence spokesman said that some terrorist movement was detected last night at the LoC in the Poonch sector. Alert troops swiftly engaged the infiltrating terrorists, triggering an intense and heavy firefight.

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The operation continued through the night, leading to the neutralisation of two terrorists.

The search of the area thus far has resulted in the recovery of a number of weapons and war-like stores. The operations were continuing.

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Reinforcements were rushed to the area to prevent any infiltration through the border fence.

The area is being thoroughly searched by the troops.
Vice Admiral Rajaram Swaminathan has taken over as the Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition today, succeeding Vice Admiral B Sivakumar. Commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1987, Swaminathan holds a post-graduate degree from IIT, Kharagpur. With a career spanning over 37 years, he has had extensive experience, including serving for more than nine years aboard the Aircraft Carrier INS Viraat in various roles.

A statement from the Naval spokesperson stated that throughout his career, Vice Admiral Swaminathan has held several key positions, such as Fleet Engineer Officer for the Western Fleet, General Manager (Refit) at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Director of Personnel, and Principal Director of Ship Production in New Delhi. He played a crucial role in the acquisition of the Aircraft Carrier Vikramaditya, serving as Warship Production Superintendent in Russia and as Principal Director of Aircraft Carrier Projects in Delhi.

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An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College and the National Defence College, the Vice Admiral is a recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Nao Sena Medal for his exceptional service. Before assuming his current position, he served as the Director General of Naval Projects, Admiral Superintendent of Dockyard in Mumbai, and held various senior roles in New Delhi, including ACOM (D&R) and ACOM (Mod). His appointment strengthens Indias naval leadership in the ongoing evolution of warship production and acquisition, the statement read.

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CONAKRY, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Guinea has eliminated the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, as a public health problem, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"This form of human African trypanosomiasis, the only type transmitted in Guinea, is the first neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in the country," the WHO said in a statement.

"The news marks an important achievement in this public health field on the eve of the World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day," which is marked on Jan. 30 annually, said the statement dated Wednesday.

Guinean Minister of Health and Public Hygiene Oumar Diouhe Bah confirmed certification of the elimination at an international meeting of health experts Thursday.

He said Guinea has reached the WHO threshold -- less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants in all endemic areas, adding that the ultimate goal is to achieve the complete elimination of the disease by 2030.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Guinea's achievement "is both a testament to the global progress against neglected tropical diseases and a beacon of hope for nations still battling human African trypanosomiasis."

Human African trypanosomiasis is caused by protozoan parasites transmitted by infected tsetse flies, according to the WHO. Symptoms include fever, headaches, joint pain and, in advanced stages, neurological symptoms like confusion, disrupted sleep patterns and behavioral changes. 
The escalating crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is yet another grim chapter in a decades-long conflict that has claimed countless lives and displaced millions. The rapid advance of rebels toward Goma, a key economic and strategic hub, is not merely a local crisis ~ it has regional and international ramifications. The situation calls for urgent and decisive global intervention, as continued inaction will only deepen the humanitarian catastrophe and fuel long-term instability. At the heart of this crisis is the rebel offensive, which has seen government forces retreat and thousands of soldiers surrender. The capture of key infrastructure, including an airport, signals the growing strength of the armed group and the weakness of state control.

Civilians are bearing the brunt of this escalation, with hospitals overflowing, food supplies looted, and streets littered with bodies. The indiscriminate use of heavy artillery in populated areas has resulted in severe injuries, particularly among children. The scale of suffering is staggering, yet the worlds response remains limited to diplomatic statements and vague calls for peace. One of the most troubling aspects of the conflict is the alleged external involvement. Accusations of support for the rebels from neighbouring Rwanda have inflamed tensions, prompting diplomatic exchanges and emergency meetings. While denials of such involvement are routine, mounting evidence suggests that Rwanda is playing a significant role in sustaining the insurgency. This underscores the complexity of the conflict, which is not just an internal matter for the DRC but a broader regional issue with geopolitical implications. The role of Rwanda must be scrutinised, and those fuelling the violence must be held accountable. Meanwhile, the humanitarian cost continues to rise.

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The displacement of civilians, the destruction of essential infrastructure, and the targeting of peacekeepers indicate that the conflict is spiralling out of control. With peacekeepers from multiple countries already suffering casualties, it is clear that the crisis extends beyond the DRCs borders. Yet, the global response has been tepid at best. Protests in the capital targeting foreign embassies reflect the growing frustration among Congolese citizens who see international engagement as ineffective and insincere. This crisis cannot be resolved through half-hearted negotiations or diplomatic posturing. The international community must go beyond mere condemnation and take concrete steps. This includes enforcing sanctions on those financing and arming the rebels, ensuring accountability for human rights abuses, and strengthening peacekeeping efforts to protect civilians. Additionally, addressing the root causes of the conflict ~ such as resource exploitation, political instability, and ethnic tensions ~ is essential for a lasting solution. Gomas fate is not just about one city; it represents a critical moment in the broader struggle for stability in Africa. If the world continues to look away, the DRC will remain trapped in a cycle of violence, and the consequences will be felt far beyond its borders. Immediate and decisive action is the only path forward.

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Community-led conservation strategies can be instrumental for the successful conservation of migratory species, two major reports released by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), a global wildlife treaty of the United Nations, said on Thursday.

The report, Community Participation and Livelihoods, focuses on 10 key guiding principles for community-led conservation strategies, while the study Potential for Community-Based Wildlife Management in Central Asia presents real-world insights into how community-led initiatives can achieve biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

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Indigenous peoples and local communities are custodians of over a third of the worlds most important places for biodiversity and play a vital role in the conservation of migratory species and their habitats.

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Integrating their traditional knowledge and practices with modern wildlife management approaches can lead to successful management, conservation, and sustainable use of wildlife and their habitats.

For many migratory species of wild animals, having the engagement and expertise of local communities and traditional knowledge is vital for effective conservation. We are very pleased to issue these two reports on the critical role that local communities can play in ensuring that migratory species will continue to thrive for generations to come, said Amy Fraenkel, CMS Executive Secretary.

CMS is the only global UN convention that focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of migratory species of wild animals and their habitats.

Sustainable use is allowed for species listed on the treatys Appendix II, and can include both extractive and non-extractive uses, such as tourism, use of fur, and others. Appendix I-listed species are considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range and their use is prohibited.

Seasonal migrations and aggregations of wild animals affect local communities differently across regions and require international coordination, often beyond the immediate scope of local interactions.

Community-based wildlife management (CBWM) has gained significant attention in international policy from both human rights and biodiversity conservation perspectives.

For example, several targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMFBG) are particularly relevant to CBWM, including Target 5 on ensuring sustainable, safe and legal use, harvesting and trade of wild species, and Target 9, which focuses on linking benefits from sustainable use to Indigenous peoples and local communities.

To strengthen local engagement and maximise successful community participation in conservation, governments gathered at the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) to CMS adopted 10 key guiding principles on the involvement of communities in the conservation of migratory species.

The Community Participation and Livelihoods study demonstrates how these principles are at play in real-world examples of CBWM experiences from around the world.
Palestinian militants in Gaza, led by Hamas, released eight hostages, three Israelis and five Thais, on Thursday. But Israel delayed the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners in a swap agreed under the ongoing temporary ceasefire, citing chaotic scenes during the handover.

The hostages were released in two groups. Agam Berger, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, was freed first. Video showed her, wearing a khaki uniform, emerging from damaged buildings in Jabalia, northern Gaza, escorted by Hamas militants, before walking to a Red Cross vehicle. She was then taken to a compound outside Gaza to reunite with her parents.

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Later, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, two Israelis, Arbel Yahoud, 29, and Gadi Mozes, 80, along with the five Thai nationals, were handed over to the Red Cross.

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Footage showed chaotic scenes as hundreds of Gazans gathered, and militants struggled to control the crowd and clear a path for the hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shocking scenes and called on international mediators to ensure the safety of hostages in future releases.

The Israeli military identified the Thais as Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak. They were farm workers abducted from southern Israel during the October 7 attack that triggered the war.

The military said the seven hostages crossed into Israel and underwent medical assessments. The Israelis were reunited with their families, while the Thais were met by Thai officials, Xinhua news agency reported.

Shortly after the seven hostages release, Netanyahus office said the Palestinian prisoner release was delayed until the safe departure of our hostages in the upcoming phases is assured. Israeli media reported that buses carrying Palestinian prisoners were ordered to turn back.

Hamas said it was in contact with mediators to compel Israel to release the prisoners.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement welcoming home the three Israelis who were released on Thursday from captivity in Gaza  Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses.

Netanyahu also criticised how Hamas handled their release.

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Agam, Arbel, Gadi  welcome home, he said.

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The entire State of Israel embraces you, as do my wife Sara and I.

This release was achieved, first of all, thanks to our heroic soldiers, and it was also achieved thanks to the steadfast and determined stand that we took during the negotiations, Netanyahu added.

However, the Prime Minister also had a few words about the chaos in Gaza that the freed Israelis experienced during their release saying, We will not accept violations of the agreement. During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages.

And I will add: Whoever dares to harm our hostages  will pay the price.

The three Israeli hostages released in Gaza on Thursday were earlier named by the Israeli Prime Ministers Office (PMO), which also confirmed that five Thai nationals were also freed.

The list of names received from Hamas today by the mediators Qatar and Egypt includes: Arbel Yehoud (29 years old), Agam Berger (19), and Gadi Moses (80), the Israeli Prime Ministers Office said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the identities of the five Thai nationals released in Gaza earlier on Thursday. They have been named as Pongsak Thanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao.

Israeli authorities also released 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday as part of the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.. Of those, 32 were sentenced to life imprisonment, another 30 were children, and 48 were prisoners with high sentences, according to Hamas.

All released prisoners were transferred from several detention facilities across the country to be absorbed in the Ofer and Ketziot prisons before being freed, the Israel Prison Service said in a statement on Thursday.

Eight hostages taken by Hamas and other armed groups in the October 7, 2023 attacks were also released in Gaza on Thursday.
Kathy Danas and Melissa Yarborough hang a crochet sign that reads No More Harm 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

Vocal opponents of Houston ISD's takeover will talk to state lawmakers in Austin about the district's appointed leadership as education policy becomes a hot-button issue this session.

Members of an advocacy group, Community Voices for Public Education, will meet with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle Thursday  the first of several visits to request public education funding, oppose vouchers that would put taxpayer dollars toward private school tuition, and detail the effects of the takeover's reforms. Around 25 people, including members of the American Association of University Professors, will go.

The Houston Education Association will go to Austin in February for teacher pay and a revision to the legislation that enabled the state's appointment of leadership to HISD in 2023, union president Michelle Williams said.

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"One of the issues with the (takeover) bill is that there are no guardrails in place to protect school districts from people like Mike Miles," Williams said of the appointed Superintendent who implemented controversial reforms. "Mike Miles came in and put in a flawed curriculum... at the end of the day, the state took over the school district and we're worse off than when before he came. It's flawed. It's subpar, and it really shouldn't be implemented in any school district."

Meanwhile, the district has emphasized improvements, including boosts in some subjects' test scores on state exams and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, under its reforms and curriculum.

Michelle Williams, president of Houston Education Association, calls for ethical leadership and transparency ahead of Houston ISD board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024 at Hattie Mae Educational Center in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

District trustee Savant Moore also highlighted a request to amend takeover legislation in a December press conference alongside the union.

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"You say that you want to listen to the community," Moore said ahead of the board's discussion on allowing people to comment over Zoom at meetings. "You know that we need a bond proposal. Start moving the steps forward of listening to the community, because the more that you silence us, the more we're going to be going to Austin to make sure that there's an amendment to House Bill 1842 so that you can leave this place. Because you have to listen to us. This is our future. These are our children. We're the parents."

Houston ISD Board of Education Trustee Savant Moore joins Houston Education Association and calls for ethical leadership and transparency ahead of HISD board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024 at Hattie Mae Educational Center in Houston. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

Other bill filings touch on community concerns, including: guidelines for the placement of automatic external defibrillators at public schools, filed by Sugar Land state Rep. Suleman Lalani; requiring the presence of a librarian and a nurse for at least half of each school day, filed by Houston state Rep. Christina Morales; and preventing certain students' placement with uncertified first-year teachers for specific subjects in consecutive years, filed by Cypress state Rep. Jon Rosenthal.

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A crochet sign in Spanish translates to No trust, no bond a saying for those against the proposed $4.4 billion school bond package before the HISD board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer

Community Voices for Public Education's Ruth Kravetz said she found it meaningful that in grassroots advocacy "people from communities that never overlap suddenly get to see and hear each other."

The effort had around 170 people speaking to voters at approximately 65 polling sites on Election Day. Overall, there were 217 individuals speaking at polls between early voting and Election Day, Kravetz said. Parents alongside other organizations, such as the Greater Heights Democratic Club, across the city delivered yard signs, block walked, and hosted house meetings. Community Voices made around $12,000 selling yard signs to pay for social media ads.

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"That's what's interesting about democracy... democracy is more than voting," she said. "It's engaging actively in efforts to make things better."
ACCRA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-one students at Ghana's prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were awarded Chinese Ambassador Scholarships Thursday for their excellence in Chinese language studies in Kumasi, the second-largest city in the West African country.

The students received cash prizes ranging from 100 to 300 U.S. dollars at a ceremony in which the KNUST and the Chinese community in Ghana celebrated the first anniversary of the Confucius Institute at the KNUST.

Addressing the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Tong Defa said the scholarships were established to encourage Ghanaian students to better learn about the Chinese language and culture, injecting vigor into the cultural cooperation and longstanding friendship between the two countries.

"This year marks the 65th anniversary of China-Ghana diplomatic relations; I am sure it will bring more opportunities to Chinese learners in Ghana as the bilateral exchanges intensify," said Tong. "I hope the students will contribute more to the China-Ghana cooperation and Ghana's socioeconomic development."

In an interview with Xinhua Friday, Su Zibo, Chinese director of the KNUST Confucius Institute, said over the past year, the institute has admitted more than 1,300 local students at various levels and set up three teaching sites, playing an essential part in promoting Chinese language and culture in Ghana.

The institute has also been committed to combining the Chinese language program with automotive technology majors through cooperation with Hubei University of Automotive Technology, Su said, adding that they plan to introduce Chinese teachers with academic backgrounds in vehicle engineering in the new year.

The Confucius Institute at the KNUST was established in December 2023, becoming the third Confucius Institute in Ghana, following the confucius institutes at the University of Ghana and the University of Cape Coast. 
Even as the 2025 International Kolkata Book Fair is ongoing, the City of Joy, on Friday, witnessed a unique literary affair. It rolled through the streets instead of confining to a venue. A group of book lovers organised a book fair on wheels, by transforming a vintage tram into a moving library.



Brimming with hundreds of books, this special tramcar ran between Esplanade and Shyambazar, reflecting Kolkatas literary heritage just days before Bengalis celebrate Saraswati Puja, the festival dedicated to worshipping the goddess of knowledge and learning.



A group by the name of Saraswati Bhandar creatively combined the city's deep-rooted reading culture with its nostalgia for trams, all in support of a meaningful cause.



They decorated a special Balaka tram, single-compartment carriers typically reserved for heritage rides and special occasions, with pictures of Rabindranath Tagore and other luminaries of Bengali literature. The tram was packed with books, ready to take the joy of reading directly to those who need it most.



The Saraswati Bhandar steered the tram towards underprivileged communities, especially children, who do not get the opportunity to visit the Kolkata Book Fair.



The organisers invited children to pick any book of their choice, entirely free of cost. However, the initiative was open to all, welcoming book lovers from every walk of life to claim a literary treasure.



The tram, carrying an eclectic mix of old and new books in Bengali and English, made multiple stops along its five-kilometre journey between Shyambazar and Esplanade. The collection featured works by some of Bengals greatest minds, including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.



Extending their efforts beyond the tram route, Saraswati Bhandar also delivered books to children at the historic Calcutta Orphanage, one of Indias oldest orphanages founded in 1892.



Through this initiative, the group not only celebrated Kolkatas deep-rooted love for books but also ensured that the gift of knowledge reached those who needed it the most.
NAIROBI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A light aircraft crashed in Kenya on Thursday evening, killing a foreign couple on board, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has confirmed.

KCAA Director General Emile Arao said on Friday that the Cessna 185 aircraft, which took off from Nairobi and was headed to Mbaruk in Nakuru County, went down in the lakeside town of Naivasha at around 5:14 p.m. (1414 GMT).

"There were two persons onboard, both of whom have unfortunately lost their lives," Arao said in a statement.

"KCAA is actively coordinating with relevant authorities, including the Air Accident Investigation Department, emergency responders, and local security personnel, to gather further details and facilitate response efforts," Arao said.

Naivasha Police Deputy Chief Charles Mwai said the cause of the accident remains unclear, but poor visibility due to fog in the area might have contributed to the crash. He added that aviation experts had been called to the scene for an investigation. 
The President of India Droupadi Murmu The President of India Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint sitting of both houses of the Parliament on Friday, officially signalling the start of this years Budget session. Murmu, in her address, appreciated the union governments efforts to end policy paralysis and lauded the use of digital technology as a tool for social justice and equality.



Murmu was welcomed to the Parliament premises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, accompanied by an official carrying the ceremonial Sengol.



The president headlined the opening session by offering tributes to those who lost their lives at the Mahakumbh this week and paying homage to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on December 26, 2024.

Expressing delight at the speed of the new term of government, President Murmu underlined the governments decision to expand the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to provide new homes to 3 crore additional families.

(File) The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, attends the Navy Day celebration at Puri, Odisha on December 4, 2024 | Official source

Murmu also highlighted the Ayushman Bharat scheme (health insurance to senior citizens) and increased focus on education and employment. She said the Centre recognised the contribution of the middle class to the nation.

Speaking of the growth of technology in India, the president said that the government was working towards ensuring cyber security implementation in an efficient manner. Murmu stressed how digital fraud, cybercrime, and deepfake pose a challenge to social, economic and national security.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman | PTI

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman would table The Economic Survey 2024-2025 later on January 31, Friday, ahead of the Union Budget presentation on Saturday. Sensex and Nifty gained in morning trade on the buzz surrounding the budget, among other factors.
For all her firebrand right-wing credentials as the most powerful woman in the government, not many know that Nirmala Sitharaman spent many formative years in that cradle of radical leftism  Jawaharlal Nehru University, where she honed her economics skills, doing a masters degree, followed by M.Phil.

UNION BUDGET 2025: FOLLOW LIVR UPDATES HERE

As she gets up in Parliament Saturday morning to present her ninth union budget in a row a record of sorts (Thank you, interim budgets and out-of-turn post-election ones!), a nation of billion plus will be curious to follow which side she will lean to, this time around. Continue on the right-is-right strategy of spending big capital and hoping for a trickle-down effect, or put into practice a left-of-centre deviation to deal with the apparent slowdown thats making its presence felt through lower consumption and even GDP rate.

In other words, will Nirmala Sitharaman listen to her head or heart?

ALSO READ | Union budget 2025: What does the MSME sector want?

The head will tell her to stick to the policy she and the Modi government set in motion a few years ago  a firmly capital-focused economy where the government spends big, which will naturally crowd in private investment, leading to a virtuous cycle where massive business generation will lead to jobs, spending power for the masses and overall catalysis of economic growth.

Of course, that a lot happened between the cup and lip is another matter. Sitharamans best laid plans have gone more than a wee bit awry, with private sector not playing ball and playing a wait-and-watch game, arguing that low consumer demand did not warrant additional capital investment. Coupled with the emergence of the new economy where skilled workforce were at a premium, this saw a K-shaped divergence in the economy  entrepreneurs and professionals at a certain level and above laughed all the way to the bank, while a major chunk of the populace faced a scenario of uncertainty and stagnant incomes.

ALSO READ | Union budget 2025: Sensex, Nifty jump 1 per cent post Economic Survey's deregulation push

Or will it be the heart that rules the head this time around? Sitharaman, for all her capital first fundas, has been mighty proactive on the welfare part of government. Right from the initial days of the Covid lockdowns when she declared that no one shall go hungry as migrants walked long distances home without food or transport, she has been instrumental in taking the Modi governments policy for expanding free rations (even if prompted by covid and post-covid realities) to as much as more than 80 crore citizens. Thats more than half of Indias population, even if you count it latest at 145 crore.

Yet, five years after the pandemic, the Modi-Sitharaman combine is at a crossroad  their New Deal is yet to bear fruits; on the contrary, GDP has been declining for over a year, showing its true colours at a shocking 5.4% in the last quarter. Almost all authorities on the subject, including the usually ebullient RBI and Economic Survey have been forced to temper their cheerleader format to peg it down to 6.4% at best.

Worse, the middle classes are seething with anger. Not at teflon-coated Modi, but at hapless Nirmala tai as the sole reason for all their tax woes. While GST has always been complex with its multiple slabs and additional cess, anger has been building up at what even well-off entrepreneurs scoffed at as first world tax rates at one-tenth of those salaries. The K-divergence and uncertainty in a fast-mutating world only made it stark.

ALSO READ | Union Budget 2025: Economic survey wants 'health tax' regulating junk food, here's why

Then, the big question  does that mean the finance minister will follow her heart and bite the bullet of tax cuts, going in for cutting personal income tax rates, putting more money in the middle-class pocket? Even expert consultants and business bodies have been calling for it, as they bill it a sure-fire way to kickstart consumer spending.

From employment-linked incentives (announced in the July budget but yet to be implemented) to even radical measures like direct transfer of money instead of giving free rice and wheat, the suggestions are many.

From satiating the trade pressures from a belligerent Trump to a nation wanting to make its mark its the technologies of the future by getting self-sufficient in electronics and manufacturing in general, and AI and semiconductor chips in particular, not to mention its push towards a green economy, the matters are many, but the heart and mind, only one. Which way will she swing?
India is expected to seal a deal for the procurement of 26 naval variant of Rafale jets and three Scorpene submarines from France in the next few weeks in a bid to crank up its defence capabilities.

It is not immediately clear if the procurement will be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Paris next month to attend a summit on artificial intelligence. PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to hold bilateral talks on the sideline of the summit, being held on February 10 and 11.

Citing sources, news agency PTI said the two deals are in the final stage of finalisation and that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will have to look at them.

In July 2023, the defence ministry approved the purchase of 22 Rafale (marine) jets from France, primarily for deployment on board the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. The ministry had also cleared the procurement of three Scorpene submarines from France.

ALSO READ: Indian Navy's anti-submarine warfare capabilities grows further as seventh Mahe-class ship takes shape

Under the Indian Navy's Project 75, six Scorpene submarines have already been constructed in India by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in cooperation with the Naval Group of France.

The procurement of the Rafale (M) jets along with associated ancillary equipment including weapon systems and spares would be based on an inter-governmental agreement.

The Indian Air Force bought 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in fly-away condition. IAF believes that it should go for at least two more squadrons of the Rafale jets.
Vice Admiral Rajaram Swaminathan replaced Vice Admiral B Sivakumar as the Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition on Thursday.

A post-graduate from IIT, Kharagpur, Vice Admiral Swaminathan, who was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1987, has worked onboard the aircraft carrier INS Viraat for more than nine years in various capacities.

An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College and the National Defence College, in a career spanning nearly four decades, he has undertaken several important assignments including fleet engineer officer (Western Fleet), general manager (Refit) at Naval Dockyard (Mumbai), director of personnel and principal director ship production at New Delhi.

ALSO READ: Indian Navy's anti-submarine warfare capabilities grows further as seventh Mahe-class ship takes shape

He was also involved in the acquisition of the modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, as warship production superintendent in Russia and as principal director of Aircraft Carrier Projects in Delhi.

Before his appointment as Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition, he served as Director General of Naval Projects, Admiral Superintendent of Dockyard at Mumbai, ACOM (D&R) and ACOM (Mod) at New Delhi, according to a defence ministry release.

Vice Admiral Swaminathan is a recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Nao Sena Medal for his distinguished service.
Monalisa Bhosle, the girl with striking amber eyes and the name of Leonardo da Vincis famous 16th-century painting, is gearing up to make her debut in the Bollywood industry. Sanoj Mishra, the director of The Diary of West Bengal, is set to make the 16-year-old the next big star in his upcoming directorial, The Diary of Manipur.

ALSO READ | Monalisa Bhosle: The 'brown beauty' of Mahakumbh

Mishra made the news official on Instagram, stating that he has been following her story for quite some time, and thought she would be the perfect fit for his film, as well as be a life-changing opportunity for her.

Many are rallying behind the director for giving Monalisa a chance in the industry, one user commenting below the post, This step could literally change her life, if she really works hard for the film. great work sir, many congratulations to her and family. [sic]

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Mishra said, "I visited Monalisa's village, Maheshwar, to meet her and her family. They are simple and humble people. I have taken responsibility, I will cast Monalisa in the film The Diary Of Manipur and make her future."

"Sanoj Mishra came to Prayagraj to meet me and offered me this role. My family and I are happy with the opportunity. I will work very hard for the film," the girl said.

According to the news outlet, Monalisa will be given three-month training in Mumbai before the shooting begins. "If everything goes well, Monalisa will get the role of an army officer's daughter in the film," the director said, with veteran actor Anupam Kher playing the army officer.

About Monalisa Bhosle

Monalisa broke the internet when a content creator captured a video of her selling beaded necklaces to the attendees of the Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj. The clip went viral on social media, leading everyone attending the Hindu pilgrimage to scout for the girl, hoping they can lay their eyes on the brown beauty.

Several hundred men hovering over her led her parents to send her back to her hometown in Madhya Pradeshs Khargone district. She received multiple proposals from suitors, was offered modelling gigs, and as per multiple reports, was approached by Maheshwari Sarees to be their ambassador. Though her family declined the above offers, they have decided to let her be a part of Sanoj Mishras next directorial venture.
The recently released The Storyteller on Disney+ Hotstar, directed by Ananth Mahadevan and helmed by acclaimed actors Paresh Rawal and Adil Hussain, is a masterpiece in the art of storytelling  it is a rendition based on a short story by legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray. In the film, Rawal, as Calcutta resident Tarini Bandhopadhyay comes across a job offer for being a personal storyteller to businessman Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain), who has trouble falling asleep. He decides to accept the offer and immediately sets off for Ahmedabad, and what follows next is an interesting Bengali meets Gujarati drama, with loads of sarcasm, humour and dry wit to keep one hooked.

Tarini disapproves of capitalist ways of life and misses everything back home; despite his son's numerous entreaties, he refuses to visit him in America for that would mean diluting his principles and values that are grounded on the communist ideology. Taken from Rays Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro, the film is a homage to Ray and also a display of fine filmmaking which beautifully portrays the flaws and frailties of its whimsical yet wise protagonist and seamlessly contrasts it with his dry wit and everyday charm. The story essentially centres around the delightful, and witty conversations between the Bengali intellectual and the Gujarati capitalist, the universal appeal and timely relevance of their discussions keep one hooked to the narrative throughout the film.

While The Storyteller is the latest one to have been inspired by Ray's rich legacy of storytelling and filmmaking, his influence can be seen in many films across the globe. Here are some Satyajit Ray-inspired films that showcase his filmmaking style and technique and how they stay relevant and inspirational even today:

Indian Cinema

1. Anurag Kashyap's Ugly (2014) - This one is a dark, gripping drama that explores the complexities of human relationships, reminiscent of Ray's social commentaries.

2. Shyam Benegal's Ankur (1974) - A powerful drama that delves into the struggles of rural India, echoing Ray's focus on social realism.

3. Aparna Sen's 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) - This one deep dives into fleshing out the lead character by exploring the aspects of loneliness, identity, and human frailty.

International Cinema

1. Rashomon (1950) - Ray often cited Kurosawa as a major inspiration and this is why Rashomon's film is a must-watch.

2. Taste of Cherry (1997) - This is an Iranian film which undertakes a detailed exploration of the vulnerabilities of human existence. It evokes introspection and discussion around the themes of love and loss and did quite well in the year of its release.

3. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) - The context of this film is based in rural China and depicts class struggles at multiple levels.
Pune is currently experiencing a surge in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) cases, a rare but severe neurological condition affecting the peripheral nervous system. On Sunday, the Maharashtra health department confirmed that the number of GBS cases in Pune surpassed 100, with one suspected death reported in Solapur.

The Director General Indian Council of Medical Research Dr Rajiv Bahl told news agency ANI, that the cases are under investigation as a team of experts have collected various samples, and the cause of the outbreak is unknown.

However, the Maharashtra Health Department has issued precautionary guidelines urged residents to maintain water quality by drinking boiled water and ensuring food hygiene. "Care should be taken to keep the water quality good. For example, drinking boiled water. Food should be fresh and clean. Infection can be avoided also by not keeping cooked and uncooked food items together," read the departments advisory, which goes on to urge people not to panic and to visit a government hospital in case of symptoms.

Considering that the disease has been dominating headlines, and stoking fear among people, First Check spoke to Dr Priyanka Sehrawat, MD Medicine, DM Neurology (AIIMS Delhi), currently working as senior Neurologist at The Neuromed clinic, Gurgaon and Narayan Heart and Neuro Hospital in Bahadurgarh, to shed more light on the disease, its causes and the implications.

Here are key excerpts from our conversation:

Q/ What has caused this sudden outbreak in the city, and are neighbouring districts also at risk?

A/ GBS is an immune mediated illness, which means that there are certain antibodies that start self reacting. The antibodies are actually there to protect us from outside infections. But, due to certain causes these antibodies start acting on our own body cells- nerve fibres, for instance, in the case of GBS. In GBS, when the antibodies start acting against the nerve fibres, they start destroying the nerve fibres, and that's how they can lead to weakness and tingling of the hands.

Now what causes these antibodies to form?

There are a number of causes, but the one major cause that actually leads to an outbreak, which we should be aware of and which is avoidable, are bacteria called campylobacter jejuni and E. Coli, which are usually found in contaminated food and water. So, if there has been an exposure to these bacteria, it could have led to this outbreak.

Although epidemiological studies and surveys are still on, to know the exact source of the current outbreak, and authorities have not confirmed anything yet, and we need to wait for them to confirm.

So, what exactly caused it needs confirmation; but what may cause it are these two bacteria.

Q/ You said that it maybe because of contaminated food or water, which is problem in many parts of the world, including parts of India. So how common are outbreaks like these in India, and have we seen an outbreak of similar nature before?

A/ See, we used to see polio and cholera outbreaks, in earlier days... because we did not have water and stool purification processes, that's why those outbreaks, came into picture. But now it is there because of our habits; including our increased eating out habits.

Now we have the water purification process and everything, but we are not using purified water. We are not washing the vegetables. We are using stale vegetables in hotels and restaurants because the demand is high.

We did not have a GBS outbreak here in India earlier. But, even though GBS cases are rare, it is not unheard of; I think all neurologists have seen such cases during their career.

GBS cases keep on coming, but as an outbreak, it's a thing that that is of concern, and that tells us that, yes, we need to make clean food a priority now.

Q/ Do you think there are other possible factors that might have contributed to it, or it's difficult to say as of now?

A/ One other factor is 'Altered Immunity'. What do I mean by altered immunity? So because GBS is an immune-mediated illness, the antibodies that are supposed to protect us are not protecting us, but acting against our own body cells. That is the alteration of immunity. Now, why is that alteration happening? The alteration in the immune response can occur due to somatic mutations, environmental factors, or low immunity.

When an infection occurs, a strong immune system can effectively fight it off using existing antibodies, preventing the formation of new ones. However, in individuals with weakened immunity, the body struggles to combat the infection. In response, it produces a large number of new antibodies. Among these, 510% may malfunction, mistakenly attacking the bodys own nerve cells instead of just the infection. This misdirected immune response can lead to Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

So, immunity also matters a lot, and eating up vitamins, having some natural seeds for omega-3 and antioxidants, and exercising, are important. Exercise is still the best immunity booster and the best probiotic also. So exercising and making these changes in your lifestyle really matters.

Q/ What are the primary diagnostic methods that we can use to identify GBS? Is there a way to quickly identify patients?

A/ When we talk about diagnosis, we have two parts in the diagnosis. One is clinical features that the patient presents with, and second is the investigation.

If we talk about clinical features, GBS is a very rapidly progressing illness. It usually starts with weakness and tingling in the limbs, where you are not able to get up from chair, or you need support while getting up from your washroom seat. Your grip goes weak. You're not able to take things out from the shelf. So you feel weak. Weakness in hands, tingling in hands, paraesthesia, pins and needles sensation, and current like sensation are all possible symptoms.

Now when you go to the neurologist, there's a diagnostic investigation that we do to diagnose or rule out GBS, called a nerve conduction study. In the nerve conduction study, we look for the conduction electrical impulses through the nerve fibres, and how the current is moving. Is the amplitude okay? Is the current movement okay? Are the nerve fibres functioning well? If GBS causes damages to the nerve fibres, we see signs of demyelination in the nerve conduction study or the nerve conduction velocity test itself.

Q/ In patients with mild versus severe cases, what differentiates the progression of the disease?

A/ It also depends on the patient profile, and whether the patient has any comorbidities patients with diabetes, liver disease, liver cirrhosis, chronic kidney disease, or are on dialysis. Pregnant females, children less than 5-year-old, and the elderly more than 65-year-old are also patients who have lower immunity who are not able to fight off infections or even immune mediated illnesses. These are the patients that are more at risk of having a rapid progression.

Lung disease is also an important factor. If the lungs are not working fine, the muscles get affected, and then the fibres get affected earlier.

These are the general things that usually tell us if patient may be rapidly progressive and if they need to be treated on priority.

Q/ To lower the risk of such outbreaks in future, are there any immunisations or other preventive interventions that can help?

A/ Immunisation usually helps in infective cases. But it is actually a post infectious immune mediated illness. It is caused by antibodies. So, we cannot have a vaccination for an immune mediated or an autoimmune illness. So, immunisation will not help in a patient with GBS.

GBS can be triggered by various infections, with Campylobacter jejuni and E. coli being the most common causes. While we have vaccinations for infections like rotavirus, which is a common gut virus, hepatitis B, measles, etc, Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and other GBS triggering infections are not as prominent or prevalent that we can have a vaccine against it. It is not the kind of bacteria against which a vaccine can be made.

And GBS being an immune mediated illness cannot be prevented by immunisation, but can be prevented by taking care of our lifestyle.

This story is done in collaboration with First Check, which is the health journalism vertical of DataLEADS.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday faced criticism at a special court in Kolkatas Bichar Bhavan for not submitting necessary documents in the alleged cash-for-job scam within the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBPE).

The central agency had filed a chargesheet on December 27 last year, naming former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee among the accused. However, more than a month later, the CBI has yet to provide the required documents to the accused, leading the court to question the thoroughness of its investigation.

The CBI, meanwhile, expressed its intent to collect voice samples from Sujaykrisha Bhadra, a co-accused in the primary recruitment scam. Bhadra, however, failed to appear in court for four consecutive days, citing health issues.

In response, the court directed him to be present on February 5.

On Friday, the CBI also faced similar criticism for delaying the submission of required documents in the RG Kar financial irregularities case. The agency had filed a chargesheet in the financial irregularities case in November last year, naming Ghosh and four others as accused.

During a hearing at the Alipore district & sessions court in Kolkata, the central agency came up with only 70 per cent of the documents, assuring the court that it would submit the rest on Saturday.

The court, however, expressed concerns over the delay, stating that it was impractical to summon the accused to court repeatedly while the agency failed to furnish all necessary documents. The judge also questioned whether the CBI would take responsibility in case of any security concerns arising from such repeated appearances.

This delay in submission of documents from the CBI comes after Calcutta High Court on Tuesday instructed the lower court to begin the trial in the RG Kar financial irregularities case within seven days.

On Thursday, the special court reprimanded the central agency for failing to inform it about the West Bengal governments permission to proceed against Ghosh and co-accused Ashish Pandey.

Being state government employees, prior approval was required from the state before charges could be framed against Ghosh and Pandey. The special CBI court accused the investigative agency of bypassing the trial court and informing the high court directly.

Meanwhile, Ghosh and Pandey approached the Calcutta High Court on Friday, seeking an extension of the seven-day deadline for framing charges. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh instructed them to notify the Centres additional solicitor general and present their arguments before the lower court.
Two months after sharing dais with actor-politician Vijay and criticising the ruling DMK as a party of dynasts, former VCK leader Aadhav Arjuna on Friday joined Vijays Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). He will be the general secretary for election campaign management. Arjuna will play a crucial role in strategising Vijays activities in the ensuing 2026 assembly general elections.

On January 31, Arjuna arrived at TVKs party office at Panaiyur on the outskirts of Chennai to meet with Vijay and formally join the party. He resigned from the VCK after being suspended by the party leader Thol Thirumavalavan for making staunch remarks against VCKs ally DMK.

According to highly placed sources close to Vijay, Aadhav was roped in after several rounds of deliberations. Sources say he met with Vijay at least a couple of times after the Ambedkar book launch event on December 6th and held detailed discussions.

On January 29, Arujna met with Vijay at his Panaiyur residence and later the actor expressed confidence in Arujna and his willingness to rope him in, said sources.

Arjunas consultancy firm Voice of Commons, will be fully involved in developing TVKs election strategies for the 2026 elections, by transforming the actors fan clubs into a political party and bringing in a robust infrastructure to face the election.

Though Vijay launched his party on February 2, 2024, he hasnt appointed office bearers or set up an infrastructure for the party in the past year. It was only a few days before, the party announced that it would have 120 party districts and at least a dozen office bearers for each district. Out of these 120 districts, the office bearers have been appointed for less than 50 districts until now. Most of the office bearers are those who were part of the fan club or the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam and are new to politics.

Later in a statement, the TVK headquarters said that Arjuna will be the general secretary for election campaign management. The statement also made it clear that the existing power structure in the party - Vijay as the party president, N. Anand as the general secretary and Jhon Arockiasamy as the poll strategist - will continue and the newcomers to the party including Arjuna will work in coordination with them.

The statement signed by Vijay said that Arjun will work alongside Jhon Arcokiasamy who has been working with Vijay since 2023, in strategising every political move by actor Vijay.

Along with Arjuna, CTR Nirmal Kumar who was part of the AIADMK IT wing joined Vijay. Nirmal who was with the BJP till a year before, joined the AIADMK in the run-up to the 2024 parliament polls.

Recently, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palanisami revamped the party structure and appointed new office bearers for the AIADMK IT wing. Nirmal apparently did not get any prominent position in the party. Nirmal has been one of the popular names on social media as he was running Tamil Nadu BJPs IT wing and then later with the AIADMK.

Apart from Arjuna and Nirmal, RajMohan, yet another prominent face on social media and a YouTuber also joined Vijay on Friday.

Meanwhile, the TVK party members are celebrating the induction of Arjuna and Nirmal, saying that the duo will add strength to the fledgling party. However, for a political party which is yet to decide on its line of politics and policies, an election strategist may not be able to bring laurels.
Kerala Police have taken into custody 27 Bangladeshi illegal migrants from a single housing complex in North Paravur, marking the largest detention of illegal immigrants in a single operation in the state.

Since early January, the Ernakulam rural police have been conducting raids to track down Bangladeshi migrants. Intelligence agencies had been monitoring the influx of illegal migrants into Kerala for some time.

Acting on intelligence inputs, a team of 70 Kerala Police personnel raided a multi-storey building on the night of January 30. More than 50 individuals, claiming to be from West Bengal were detained. Among them, 27 confessed to being Bangladeshi nationals. The police are continuing to verify the identities and backgrounds of the others.

A source in the intelligence agency stated that while many of these migrants come for work, the possibility of radical elements from Bangladesh infiltrating cannot be ruled out. Officials suspect that some extremists may have entered India and reached states like Keralahome to a significant Bengali-speaking migrant workforcefollowing the Shaikh Hasina governments ban on Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, under anti-terrorism laws last August. The group was proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Intelligence agencies are also monitoring whether operatives linked to Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a militant Islamist organization banned by India in 2019, are attempting to use Kerala as a safe haven.

However, police sources told THE WEEK that so far no links to extremist groups have been found among the 27 migrants currently in custody. Notably, all of them entered India illegally and traveled to Kerala via Kolkata over the past two years.

According to the police, the migrants had been using forged documents, including Aadhaar cards, to stay and work in Kerala. Authorities are verifying their nationality using their Bengali dialect and digital evidence from their phones.

All of them were engaged in manual labour or working in shops. The police will be filing cases under forgery and other relevant sections before remanding them. Meanwhile, Operation Clean will continue as authorities intensify efforts to track down more illegal migrants.
ATBARA, Sudan, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Despite the continuing turmoil of the civil war, the National Health Insurance Fund Hall in northeastern Sudan's Atbara city was being transformed into a hub of jubilance.

With the onset of the Chinese Spring Festival, a much-anticipated celebration unfurled in the hall, offering a rare moment of festivity for locals in these trying times.

Hundreds of local officials, residents, visitors, and several Chinese nationals traveled from various parts of Sudan to attend the celebration, the first of its kind in the city.

With the theme of "Together, we create a cultural bridge to deepen the bonds of communication between nations," the celebration staged a diverse array of artistic performances, such as solo and group songs by Sudanese students, short plays, and poetry readings, providing participants with a chance to explore Chinese culture.

"Today is a dream come true. Despite the difficulties, we managed to celebrate the Spring Festival. I am very happy with what we have achieved," said Muwaffaq Atif Babikir, director of the city's Mandarin Training Center, the event's organizer.

"The goal of this celebration is to highlight the true essence of the bonds and brotherhood between the Sudanese and Chinese peoples, and we believe that the Spring Festival beautifully represents these values," Babikir told Xinhua.

The director said the Spring Festival is evolving into an event of global significance, especially since it was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in December 2024.

Ruaa Khalid, a student from the Mandarin Training Center, recited a poem called "Facing the Sea, Spring Flowers Bloom," which conveyed messages of hope and joy.

At the event, the performance of the song "Friends" sparked enthusiastic applause. Although many in the audience were unfamiliar with the Chinese lyrics, they were captivated by the song's beautiful melody and the choir's exceptional rendition.

Khalid, the lead vocal of the choir, said this song embodies the central themes of the Spring Festival.

"I have been passionate about Chinese songs since I was young, and that might be the reason I decided to learn Chinese," said Khalid, who is currently in her fourth year at the Mandarin Training Center.

She told Xinhua that her dream is to become a Chinese-language newscaster.

Nibras Malik, a 23-year-old Sudanese citizen, traveled from Omdurman, north of the capital Khartoum, to Atbara for the event.

"I traveled for over 15 hours, endured several risks, and faced security difficulties, all for the sake of fulfilling my dream of attending this important celebration," Malik told Xinhua.

"Since the outbreak of the war, I have not been able to participate in any activity related to Chinese culture, and now I am able to enjoy the Spring Festival celebration," she added. "The celebration has brought back unforgettable memories when I attended similar events with my father in Khartoum."

During the celebration, various activities were also held to enable attendees to try Chinese paper cutting, practice Chinese calligraphy, and savor Chinese cuisine.

"The taste of the Chinese food is amazing. I love Chinese dishes, but unfortunately, they're not easily available in Sudan because of the war," Inshirah Ahmed, a government employee, told Xinhua while eating Chinese noodles with beef.

"I'm enjoying this meal and trying to use chopsticks. I have a good enough knowledge of the dishes associated with the Spring Festival," she noted.

Zhang Youzhong, head of Huaxia Hospital, traveled all the way from Port Sudan in eastern Sudan to join the celebration. "This is my first time to attend the Spring Festival gala held by Sudanese, which is particularly festive," he said.

"Considering the current situation in Sudan, this celebration is really hard-won, touching and warm," Zhang told Xinhua.

As the celebration drew to a close, Babikir expressed mixed emotions.

He felt a sense of accomplishment for having navigated numerous challenges in organizing the festivity, yet he also experienced a tinge of regret.

"Due to the current security situation, we were unable to include fireworks in our celebration, which is quite disappointing. However, I remain hopeful that by next Spring Festival, our country will be at peace, allowing us to host a celebration that truly embodies the significance of the occasion," Babikir said. 
Taking note of the statements made by "prominent leaders of the Congress" Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday said that it was "poor taste, unfortunate and unacceptable".

The statement was issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan Press Secretary Ajay Singh after Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's comment, regarding Droupadi Murmu's address to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha ahead of the Union Budget, stoked a controversy.

"The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing," said Sonia Gandhi after Murmu's address.

Also read | Union Budget 2025: President Droupadi Murmu addresses budget session, lauds govt effort to end policy paralysis

The BJP called Sonia Gandhi's comments as "derogatory" and demanded an apology.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan in its statement said that the remarks clearly "hurt the dignity of the high office".

Also read | Union budget 2025: First Parliament session since 2014 with no foreign interference, says PM Modi

BJP party chief J.P. Nadda said that the Congress leader's remarks were "deeply disrespectful".

While hitting back, Congress said that every person in India has respect and empathy for President Murmu and claimed that BJP leaders cannot accept Sonia Gandhi's "empathy" for her health.

After the President's address, Sonia Gandhi was seen discussing the speech with Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament complex. During the discussion, Rahul Gandhi was also heard asking his mother if President's speech was "boring".

"It might be the case that Congress leaders were not acquainted with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression...In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable," read the Rashtrapati Bhavan statement.

It also added that the President was not tired at any point. "Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalised communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring," it said.

Slamming the Congress leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that they "think they are masters of the country. The arrogance of the Congress' royal family has once again been exposed."

Modi also added that the comments were an insult to the 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of this country. "This is an insult to every poor person who rises from the ground...The Congress' royal family does not accept anyone from the Dalit, Adivasi, OBC communities who rise above their circumstances," he said while addressing a public rally in Dwarka, Delhi.
The first budget of the newly formed National Conference-led Jammu and Kashmir government will be tabled in March. The budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will commence on March 3.



Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has convened the session as per recommendations of the state government and will be addressing the house on the first day of the budget session.

"I, Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 18(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, do hereby summon the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to meet at Jammu on Monday, the 3rd of March, 2025, at 10:00 AM," an official order said.

The session will start with Sinhas address at 10am. In another order, Sinha said, "I, Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, under the provisions of Section 21(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, call upon the Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to assemble in the Legislative Assembly Complex at Jammu on Monday, the 3rd of March, 2025, at 10:00 AM to hear my address."

The J&K cabinet, led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, recommended holding the session in the first week of March. However, People's Conference president Sajad Gani Lone opposed the timing, citing the holy month of Ramadan.

The MLAs are allowed to submit a maximum of ten starred and ten unstarred questions to the assembly secretariat by February 10. They may also submit up to three bills by the same deadline, and a maximum of four resolutions can be submitted by February 16.

Abdullah, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget. He had recently said the Centre has promised financial support as the coffers were running dry. The inaugural session of the assembly was held in November last year. The assembly had passed a resolution demanding the restoration of special status to Jammu and Kashmir without mentioning Article 370. The BJP had opposed the move and staged a protest leading to their eviction from the house.
Leaders and supporters of the Awami Ittihad Party (AIP) observed a hunger strike at the party office in Srinagar on Friday after authorities refused permission for the same at Press Colony.

The party strongly condemned the decision to block a peaceful demonstration in support of Engineer Rashid, the jailed MP from Baramulla, who began an indefinite hunger strike on Friday in Tihar Jail against alleged mistreatment.

Some AIP leaders and activists including senior members Firdouse Ahmad Baba, Adil Nazir Khan, Ajaz Ahmad Lone, Showkat Pandit, Tahir Mir, Bashir Mir, Lateef Naikoo, Altaf Dar, Syed Uzair and Anantnag District President Aqib Mushtaq were detained.

Rashids son, Abrar Rashid, was also among those taken into custody.

A similar event in Jammu, led by Ishtiyaq Qadri, General Secretary Prince Parveez, Advocate Javeed Hubbi, and Ajaz Yousuf, was also denied permission by the administration.

AIP Chief Spokesperson Inam Un Nabi criticised the denial of the permission to hold a peaceful protest. Democracy thrives on dialogue and dissent, not repression, he said. Silencing voices through force sets a dangerous precedent against democratic values.

He said Rashids decision to sit on a hunger strike is a desperate but brave stand against injustice.

The government must address his concerns rather than ignore the legitimate demands of an elected representative, he said.

Rashids brother and MLA Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh said the trial court has not ruled on Rashids bail.

We approached the High Court, but justice remains elusive, he said. We requested permission to protest at Pratap Park, but it was denied.

He said AIP leaders and workers were being arrested. We will submit a fresh application asking for an alternative location and will continue our protest, he said.

Khursheed Ahmad also questioned Chief Minister Omar Abdullahs inaction. He won 45 seats claiming to represent the suppressed voices of the people, yet he is silent on this issue, he said.

Rashid was arrested by the NIA in 2019 on charges of money laundering and ever since he has been lodged in jail. He successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from jail defeating Abdullah and Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference.
Accusing the Election Commission of bias, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal visited the poll bodys office in Delhi on Friday and submitted his second response over the poisoning river Yamuna row. Kejriwal was accompanied by both chief ministers of his party  Atishi (Delhi) and Bhagwant Singh Mann (Punjab).



Reportedly, the AAP leader was not given any prior appointment at the office. Addressing reporters ahead of visiting the Election Commissions office, Kejriwal charged, the poll body was shooting the messenger by targeting his party for raising its voice for the public.

#WATCH | Yamuna Water Row | AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal says, "Atishi and Bhagwant Mann wrote a letter to the EC raising the issue and asking them to step in. EC did not take any action... Instead, I was served with a notice for raising my voice. I prevented a water pic.twitter.com/TjmRn2h5fq  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

"I want to congratulate the people of Delhi that our struggle has been successful and the ammonia level in Yamuna which was 7 ppm since January 26-27 has now come down to 2.1 ppm now," PTI reported quoting the AAP leader.

The Commission served fresh notice to Kejriwal on Thursday citing his first 14-page reply to the poisoning river Yamuna charge was devoid of any facts. The poll body had asked Kejriwal to file a fresh reply by 11am on Friday and warned of consequences otherwise. The former Delhi chief minister accused Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar of bias and charged he was aiming for a job post retirement.

Reportedly, in his response to EC, Kejriwal has said, If no action is taken against the Haryana government and the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders involved in corrupt practices it will be amply clear to everyone that the CEC keeps the interest of the ruling party over public interest. Unfortunately, I can't be expected to be silent on this and tow this line out of fear or expectations of favour, ANI reported.

Kejriwal added his only concern is the health and well-being of residents of Delhi and he will fight for the protection of our democratic principles. Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of the BJP is a small price to pay for it, and I welcome it with open arms, ANI reported quoting the AAP supremos response. Kejriwal sought a criminal case against the Haryana government and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini for sending poisonous water to the national capital.

The AAP leader charged, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini has committed a crime by sending poisonous water to Delhi and trying to create an artificial water crisis in the national capital.
The Mumbai police made a breakthrough in the Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan stabbing case and a forensic test has helped cops confirm the identity of the accused arrested in connection with the case. Police is likely to present this evidence in trial court to seek custody of Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir.



According to Mumbai police, a facial recognition test of the accused was conducted and it matched with the person in the CCTV visuals collected from the actors residence. Police confirmed that Fakir was the same person seen in the CCTV footage collected from the Satguru Sharan building in Bandra. Police said the facial recognition technology has played a key role in cracking the case.

The Bandra Court recently remanded the accused Fakir to 14-day judicial custody, denying polices request for an extension for further custody of the accused. The court had granted police custody of the accused twice, during which police recreated the crime scene and recovered a part of the knife allegedly used for the crime.

Actor Khan was attacked in his residence during the early hours of January 16, allegedly by the accused amidst a failed burglary attempt. The accused, allegedly a Bangladeshi who entered the country illegally, stabbed the actor six times and fled from the place. Actor Khan underwent multiple surgeries at Lilavati Hospital as part of his treatment and was discharged on January 21. Police nabbed the accused from Thane, over 50 hours after the incident.

According to police, the accused entered India via West Bengal and managed to get a SIM card with the identity of a localite. A team of Mumbai police has travelled to Kolkata to probe the matter.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwals reply will be examined in detail and decided on merit, the Election Commission said taking note of Kejriwals reply to its notice over his poisoning river Yamuna remark. The AAP leader visited the Election Commissions office in person on Friday and submitted his second response to the issue.



The Commission gave a patient hearing to AAP leader Sh Kejriwal, at a very short notice today & received his reply, the poll body said in a post on X. The Full Commission, without getting swayed by personal insinuations & offensive strategy being in play, decided to examine reply in detail & take decision(s) on merit, it added.

The Election Commissions response comes a day after the former Delhi chief minister launched a scathing attack against the poll body and Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, and accused them of favouring the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The attack came after the EC issued second notice to Kejriwal, seeking specific replies regarding his poisoning river Yamuna remark. Though Kejriwal had sent a 14-page reply to the poll body, the Commission said it was entirely silent regarding his allegations and lacked evidence.

Kejriwal on Thursday said, I want to say to Rajiv Kumar that history will not forgive you. Rajiv Kumar has made a mess of the poll body.. The AAP leader alleged the CEC is looking for a job post-retirement.

Kejriwal submitted his second response visiting the poll bodys office on Friday. Kejriwal did not have any prior appointments. The AAP leader was accompanied by the partys chief ministersAtishi and Bhagawant Singh Mannwhile he visited the office.
The fall of the pro-Iranian regime led by Bashar al-Assad in Syria at the hands of Sunni Islamist rebels has triggered chaos in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The leader of IRGC foreign operations Esmail Qaani has come under fire, according to reports.

Following Assad's ouster, some Iranian ultra-hardliners have openly rallied against Qaani and the Revolutionary Guards. Many inside the IRGC have also openly questioned the capabilities of Qaani. "Now that Syria has fallen, some say, What kind of Quds Force is this, and Qaani is incapable," Ali Shirazi, former representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was quoted by Iran International.

Shirazi, who serves as an enforcer of Islamic revolutionary ideology in the defence ministry, added that Qaani is being compared to his predecessor IRGC Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.

General Qaani: Today at 1 PM, the greatest defeat of the Zionist regime will be unveiled. pic.twitter.com/GlupMtLbR8  Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) January 19, 2025

"Where is Haj Qasem? What would have happened if he had been [alive]?" Shirazi said.

He added that it was not wise to rush to conclusions. "If tomorrow a movement emerges in Syria and it recovers, they will say, 'See? We told you Qaani is better than Haj Qasem!" Shirazi added.

Shirazi said he has counselled the critics of Qaani not to be harsh and be patient. "When the Imam (Khomeini) passed away, some people in this very country said, 'It's over," Shirazi continued. "But now, all political groups in the country say, 'We have no one better than the Master (Khamenei)." "Its true that (Qaani) was in the Quds Force and should have been further along," Shirazi added.

Qaani's position inside the IRGC was already shaky after Israel's attack on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah which killed him. The air strikes on Hezbollah and Iran which knocked out much of its air defenses have amplified the movement against Qaani. So much so that he was not immediately seen in public.

Some believe he had fallen from official favour after he stopped giving public appearances the last few months. There were reports that Qaani was detained and questioned as Iran seeks to understand how Israel was able to infiltrate its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and assassinate top leaders.
The grotesque spectacle on January 19 of three female hostages, tortured for 470 days in Gazas jails, being paraded through a hostile crowd before their release to the Red Cross, underscores the reality that Hamas bears full responsibility for the war that brought about the suffering inflicted on both Israelis and Palestinians and the devastation of Gaza. The time has come for the global community to confront this truth: Hamas is a roadblock to peace and stability, and its continued rule over Gaza spells ruin for the Palestinians and for the region.

India, too, has faced the grave threat of terrorism from organisations that operate across borders, destabilising peace and targeting innocent lives. Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and others have left scars on Indian soil through acts of violence, underscoring the universal challenge of combating terror networks. These shared experiences highlight the need for nations to stand united in rejecting terror in all its forms and ensuring that extremist groups cannot hold populations hostage to their agendas.

Orli Weitzman

On October 7, Hamass forces launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, bombing cities and villages, burning homes on their inhabitants, raping and maiming, killing over 1,400 civilians, as well as taking more than 250 hostages, including children, babies and the elderly. These actions shattered countless families in a wave of violence that continues to haunt the region. Yet, the suffering does not stop with Israelis. Gazans, too, bear the brunt of destructive governance. While claiming to champion Palestinian liberation, Hamas has prioritised dictatorship and militarisation over the well-being of its people, instrumentalising humanitarian aid as a means of oppression and redirecting resources towards building tunnels and stockpiling weapons.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a direct consequence of Hamass misrule which reduced Gaza to a landscape of despair. Not only now but also before the October 7 attack, Gaza's basic infrastructure lies in ruins, the economy was in a wreck, healthcare was inadequate, and unemployment soared. Hamass obsession with armed conflict has trapped Gazans in perpetual suffering, with no vision for a future beyond war. The most blatant illustration is the construction of hundreds of kilometres of terror tunnels, in which Hamas also imprisons and tortures Israeli hostages, but denies entry to Gazan citizens for the purpose of shelter.

Hamass stranglehold on Gaza forecloses any hope for a better future. For Gazans, this means living under a regime that prioritises violence over prosperity. For Israelis, it means enduring relentless attacks that upend lives and undermine the hope for peace. And for the broader region, Hamas represents a destabilising force that perpetuates cycles of hostility and promotes radical Islamism and Iranian interests.

The international community must recognise that a Gaza ruled by Hamas offers no pathway to peace, only a continuation of conflict, suffering and instability for both the Palestinians and Israelis. The removal of Hamas is not merely an Israeli interest; it is a regional necessity. Without Hamas, Gazans and Israelis might begin to envision a future unshackled from perpetual conflict.

It is imperative that the global community acts decisively and supports efforts to dismantle Hamass power structure. Hamass continued rule guarantees only despair for Gazans, perpetual fear for Israelis and enduring instability for the region. The world must not stand idly by. Now is the time to envision and work towards a future where the shadow of Hamas no longer looms over the Middle East.

The author is consul general of Israel to South India.
It was way back in 2019 when I last saw a charged Shahid Kapoor claim his space on the big screen. It was Kabir Singh, a film that was equally controversial as much as it was a commercial success. Four years after that, he came back with the crime drama Farzi, but that was on OTT. It did well for the actor but did not give him the kind of push he needed at that point in his career. And now, close to six years later, it seems as if Kapoor has risen like a phoenix to claim his space, in Rosshan Andrrews' Deva, as a badass cop who will go to any extent to avenge his friend. Shahid Kapoor has been that one such Kapoor of his generation who has very carefully taken up projects and did his best to deliver on them, exploiting his acting chops to their fullest potential, loaded with expressive brilliance. From Ishq Vishk in 2003 to Jab We Met four years later to Kaminey, Haider and Udta Punjab, Kapoor's made some strategic choices which have so far held him in good stead. Time and again, he's proved how his heft as a performer has worked well even where the film as a whole hasn't managed to meet expectations.

In Deva, though, Kapoor actually manages to salvage a fledgling film based on the done-to-death trope of a whodunnit cop thriller with some very inconsistent and randomly placed action sequences and abrupt shots used as fillers. However, my first impression of him after the first half was, why these blank, vacant and lost expressions all the time? It felt as if somewhere Kapoor had lost the ability to emote and converse. It was tiring to see him use the 'silent, angry, forever-looking-into-the-distance guy,' as a protagonist of machismo and strength. Deva, both the film and its eponymous character, was initially assumed to have been taken from the Malayalam thriller Mumbai Police, featuring Prithviraj Sukumaran and directed by Andrrews himself, but the makers do not accept it to be that way. Yet, when one watches the film, one knows. The two arent very different from each other, except for some frames here and there. The story goes thus  Shahid Kapoor as Dev Ambre, a rebellious police officer is on a relentless quest for revenge for the murder of his fellow officer, Roshan D'Silva. As the investigation progresses, Dev comes face-to-face with dark, unsettling revelations within his own department. During the investigation, Dev suddenly meets with an accident that leads to partial memory loss. The second half from thereon, leads to a thrilling chase, that leads our protagonist to his destination and helps him prove himself as an honest and capable investigating officer.

However, somewhere one wishes there was more screen space given to both, Kubbra Sait and Pooja Hegde, as both ladies have hardly been given the chance to show their mettle. Written by Bobby-Sanjay, Hussain Dalal, Abbas Dalal, Sumit Arora and Arshad Syed, the film fails to make the most of all the other supporting actors. Kapoor's chemistry with Hegde, who plays an investigative journalist, adds an element of humour and swag and elevates the storyline by several notches. However, the film does not dwell on emotional depth and the layers of its characters including the protagonist. It only merely scratches the surface rather than fleshing out each character well and in its entirety. Also, the ending feels rushed. Yet, it is a one-time watch.

Film: Deva

Director: Rosshan Andrrews

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Pavail Gulati, Pravessh Rana, Kubbra Sait

Rating: 2.5/5
Chisinau (Moldova), Jan 31 (AP) President Donald Trump's abrupt freeze of US foreign aid is sending shockwaves through Eastern Europe, leaving pro-democracy groups, independent media, civil society initiatives and local governments scrambling to make ends meet in a region often defined by rivalries between East and West.

The US State Department said that the 90-day freeze aims to root out waste and block so-called woke programs to expose U.S.-funded activities that run contrary to our national interests  as Trump aggressively rolls out his America First agenda.



Fears of a rise in influence from Russia and China



Eastern Europe has been a longtime geopolitical battleground where Western foreign policy interests often collide with those of Moscow or Beijing.

Many fear the cessation of US funds could expose Washington's allies  and create a vacuum that its foes could gladly seek to fill.

In Moldova's case, foreign donor support is vital to balancing the media landscape," says Oxana Greadcenco, the director of independent media platform Moldova.org. Many television networks and media institutions are funded by Russia so there needs to be a counterbalance ... This is an unprecedented situation, but we are trying not to panic.

The US Agency for International Development, or USAID, informed her that grants officially ended on Jan. 24 and they aren't allowed to spend any remaining funds in their accounts. This week, Greadcenco promoted their online Patreon campaign, which garnered 135 new backers in two days, which should cover salaries for the platform's 16-strong staff through March, she said.

We did not expect it to impact Moldova so severely, as we thought there would only be a partial cut in funds, she told The Associated Press. "Being aware of how much Moldova depends on US funds, not just NGOs and the press but also local municipalities, many public institutions  this is a shock for everyone."





Vital aid for former communist countries



Since the 1990s, USAID has invested several billion dollars in countries like Moldova, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina  all former communist countries with aspirations of joining the European Union.

In these countries, USAID money has promoted democratic institutions and reforms, aided infrastructure and energy security projects, bolstered businesses and economies, and supported a significant number of nongovernmental organizations and independent media platforms. The agency says it tailors its approach to each country's unique challenges and opportunities.

It's no exaggeration to say that we have democracy in Moldova, in part thanks to American financial support, Valeriu Pasa, the chairman of the Chisinau-based think-tank WatchDog, said in a statement on Wednesday. He added that the US benefits "from us being more democratic and developed, ensuring we don't turn into a Russian or Chinese colony.

The wide-ranging effects of the USAID spending freeze spanning different sectors highlight how critical the funds are to the region.

Sytrime Dervisholi, executive director of the Prefabricated Construction Association of Kosovo, says the halted USAID funds will adversely affect her association's ability to provide technical assistance to member companies that require vocational education and training, and access to grants.

Kosovo, but also our association  is dependent on foreign aid, mostly on US aid, she said. So we really do hope that this measure will be  canceled after 90 days, when the funding reviews by US officials have concluded.

Safet Gerxhaliu, an independent economic analyst in Kosovo, also believes the USAID freeze could have a very negative impact on the country's future, affecting everything from the government to the private sector and education.

I do believe that the impact is very bad, because those measures come at the same time that Kosovo is under sanctions from the European community, he said. Brussels froze some funding to Kosovo in 2023 following a series of clashes with ethnic Serb minorities.

Although Serbia obtained EU candidate status in 2012, the Balkan nation is also a key ally of Russia and China in Europe. Under the government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic, reforms in areas such as strengthening the rule of law and tackling corruption have been slow, and the USAID suspension could further hamper progress.

We currently have a USAID project about public financing. Training for local NGOs regarding following of public finances, Nemanja Nenadic from Transparency International organisation in Serbia, told the AP. This has been put on hold.





US funds help monitor elections



For the Promo-LEX Association, a longtime pro-democracy and human rights NGO in Moldova, USAID funds are vital since they account for about 75-80% of its projects, which include monitoring elections, political financing and parliamentary oversight.

All USAID-funded activities have been put on hold. Without immediate alternative support, these crucial activities may not continue at the same scale or effectiveness, said Ion Manole, the association's executive director. Given previous Russian interference  through illicit campaign funding, political corruption, and disinformation  our observation mission is essential to ensuring electoral transparency."

Moldova will hold a pivotal parliamentary election this fall which comes after the pro-Western government accused Russia of meddling in two key votes last year  including backing a vast vote-buying scheme in the country of about 2.5 million people.

Without resources, we cannot deploy long-term observers, conduct election-day monitoring, or track foreign interference effectively," Manole said. A change to an anti-Western government could affect Moldova's European path and ... significantly destabilize the whole of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.

We remain hopeful that the US government's evaluation process will allow programs like ours to resume, he said, adding that his NGO is already seeking alternative funding, mainly from European donors.



A geopolitical opportunity for Moscow



Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told the AP that any suspension of aid gives Russia an unnecessary opportunity to exploit and benefit further from Moldova's weaknesses, which the lack of USAID funding would exacerbate.

Moscow would therefore have greater abilities to derail Chisinau from its European Union integration course, he said. Similarly, cutting funding to independent news outlets makes it more difficult for journalists to hold corrupt politicians  many of whom have connections to Russia  accountable and therefore weakens Moldova's sovereignty and institutional independence.

The Trump administration has cast the aid freeze as an accountability quest to justify American spending abroad. Beyond support for Ukraine in recent years, the US is spending about $40 billion in foreign aid annually, according to the US State Department.

Greadcenco of the Moldova.org news platform hopes that other international partners will consider stepping in to stem a potential longer-term shortfall.

These funds are vital to keeping Moldova afloat, she said. I dread to think what the complete cessation of these funds would mean for our country. (AP)

AMS
BANGKOK, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's economy slowed in December 2024 on a monthly basis due to declines in exports and manufacturing, despite a slight growth in private consumption and tourism revenue, the country's central bank said on Friday.

The value of merchandise exports, the Southeast Asian country's key driver of economic growth, expanded 8.4 percent year-on-year last month, slowing from a 9.1 percent rise in November, according to the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

Private consumption saw a slight uptick across most categories, except for non-durable goods, which slowed following previous gains supported by the government's cash handout program, the central bank said in a statement.

Private investment remained steady, while tourism revenue saw an increase, driven by a higher proportion of long-haul tourists, said BOT Assistant Governor Chayawadee Chai-Anant.

Public spending continued to grow in both current and capital expenditures, driven by investment by state enterprises, particularly in infrastructure projects, Chayawadee told a news conference.

Looking ahead, the Thai economy continues to gain momentum from the tourism and service sectors, while the export continues to expand, Chayawadee said.

However, industrial production remains under pressure from structural factors and increased competition, affecting the recovery of business revenues and household incomes, particularly among vulnerable groups, she added. 
Kolkata, Jan 31 (PTI) Calling the Maha Kumbh stampede deaths most tragic, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government, alleging that it is "all publicity and no preparation".

Speaking to reporters at the citys Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport before departing for Delhi to attend the first phase of Parliaments budget session, the TMC MP also said he pinned no hopes on the Union budget thats scheduled to be tabled on February 1.

It is a very tragic incident. The government there is all focused on publicity and marketing of the Kumbh rather than making adequate preparations for attending to proper management of the fair, Banerjee claimed while speaking about the stampede which has left at least 30 people dead and many others injured.

If this incident had happened in Bengal or any of the other non-BJP-ruled states, they (the BJP) would have demanded imposition of the President's rule by now, he said.

At least four pilgrims from Bengal have been confirmed dead and nine others from the state still remain missing in the wake of Wednesdays accident in the Sangam area of Maha Kumbh.

They have not been able to confirm the death count till now. I have spoken to journalists on the ground and I will not be surprised if the actual toll is over 100, Banerjee, also TMCs national general secretary, alleged.

Accusing the Kumbh organisers of diverting all arrangements for the VIPs instead of the millions of poor visiting the mela, the Diamond Harbour MP highlighted the Bengal governments "contrasting" focus areas while organising the annual congregation at Gangasagar Mela.

Millions of elderly people visit the Kumbh Mela but they only care about VIPs and the rich. They vacate areas whenever leaders visit the place. I hope they learn their lessons from such an incident but I have serious doubts on whether they will, he claimed.

Speaking on the upcoming Union budget, Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress' perceived second-in-command, alleged that the BJP-led government has failed to provide relief to the poor or middle class through its budgets.

I don't have any hope from the budget till this government is in power. The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. This is an anti-people government," he claimed.

Asked about his take on the scheduled Delhi Assembly polls on February 5, the TMC MP said, We want all those who are fighting against the BJP to grow stronger anywhere in the country. That has been our partys consistent stand.
New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) An Independent candidate and an uncle of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana was injured after a speeding car crashed into his office in outer Delhi's Mundka, police said.

The incident, caught on CCTV, showed the vehicle swerving to avoid a bike before ploughing into the office of Rambir Shokeen, who is a maternal uncle of gangster Bawana.

Shokeen has accused opposition parties of orchestrating the attack, while authorities have launched an investigation.

"After checking multiple CCTV footage, we found that the car driver was trying to avoid a motorcycle rider coming from the opposite side. The car first hit the motorcycle, and the driver changed lanes to avoid a hard collision. We are further investigating the matter," police said.

Shokeen is a former Independent MLA from Mundka Assembly constituency.

He was booked in a case filed under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, or MCOCA, in 2015, after the unearthing of an AK-47 from a plot belonging to him.

He escaped police custody in 2018 while being taken to a city hospital and was re-arrested in 2020.
Deoria (UP), Jan 31 (PTI) A police team who went to arrest a wanted criminal in Surouli village here was attacked by some people

A sub-inspector and constable got injured in the attack, they said.

SHO Kanchan Rai said that Pankaj Gupta, a resident of Ahilwar village, had given a cheque after taking money from a person, but the cheque bounced. An FIR was registered against him following this.

On Wednesday evening, Bariyarpur police station's Inspector Varun Singh and constable Amar Singh were going to investigate a case in Surauli, when they spotted Gupta and nabbed him, he said.

Meanwhile, Gupta's supporters reached the spot and attacked the inspector and constable. They freed the accused and took him away, the SHO said.

Both the policemen were seriously injured in the attack by the villagers and have been admitted to hospital.

The police later arrested Gupta by registering an FIR under obstruction in government work and other related sections. Apart from this, Ramakant Yadav, Shyam Bihari Malla, Dharmdev Yadav, Vishundev Yadav, Mohan Yadav and Kishundev Yadav were also arrested on Thursday.

Except Malla, all others have been sent to jail, the SHO said, adding that further probe is underway.

On the basis of the complaint of Singh, a case has been registered against 11 named accused and 20-30 unknown accused.
Jaipur, Jan 31 (PTI) Philanderer, womaniser, and drunkard are the words used to inaccurately describe 16th century Buddhist monk Drukpa Kunley in foreign journalistic and tourist writings, author Needrup Zangpo said at the Jaipur Literature Festival here.

Zangpo argued that Kunley was a far more complex personality who was an enlightened being who transcended all mundane monastic establishment related associations.

He was very different, unconventional, fiercely anti-establishment and he lived part of his life in Bhutan, wandered around different villages and left behind numerous stories of him liberating individuals, women, men and children, Zangpo said in a session titled Drukpa Kunley: The Mystic Madman on Thursday.

Kunley, who was also known as Kunga Legpai Zangpo, Kunga Legpa, the madman of Druk, and Drukpa madman, was a monk, missionary and poet in the 15th and 16th century.

He was known for his unconventional methods, termed crazy wisdom, of teaching and a way of living that led him to be described as carefree Kunley in his biographies.

Born in western Tibet, Kunley is mistaken to be of Bhutanese origins because of his name Drukpa. The term Drukpa was first used to define a person from Bhutan three centuries after Kunleys death.

Even though his life in the Himalayan country includes wandering, drinking and sleeping with women and girls, Kunleys way of conducting life and imparting his teachings have led western journalists and foreigners at large to misunderstand him.

Author-researcher Zangpo said most of the women he slept with went on to become enlightened nuns and are called rainbow bodies.

The executive director of the Bhutan Media Foundation and former journalist has come out with a book, Drukpa Kunley: Sacred Tales of a Mad Monk, which retells 33 stories about Kunley from biographical and oral sources.

In his autobiography he said, the marketplace may be full of girls but the girls I desire are rare, meaning he did not go around philandering, he chose and picked girls and women who had spiritual inclinations in them and many of them became nuns. Most of them in Bhutan got enlightened, Zangpo told the gathering at the JLF

Kunley was also regarded as a saint of fertility, the symbols of which can still be found across the landscape of Bhutan in the form of phallus paintings on doorways, sculptures and figurines that are popular among tourists and locals alike.

The mad monk lived a simple life without a plan for the future and was strictly against hypocrisy, Zangpo said.

He said I dont have two things that others have and these two things are lack of hypocrisy and lack of future plans. He did not have inhibitions, he did not have hang ups. When he liked to drink he drank, when he wanted to move around he moved around. He said whatever came to his mind, he had no inhibitions and he was totally without hypocrisy.

Kunley writes in one of his biographies, Any behaviour or conduct without hypocrisy is worth prostrating to.

The Buddhist monk is still loved in Bhutan through his philosophies and symbols.

He is still loved in Bhutan because he left behind a huge cultural legacy and he taught Buddhism, dharma through simple deeds, without using religious and spiritual jargons. He used his humour, sex, and alcohol to teach. He is perhaps the most popular religious figure in Bhutan till today, Zangpo said.

The moment his name is mentioned in Bhutan today, it brings a smile to everybodys face.

The monk, who authored several books, including a number of autobiographies, would say life should not be serious and stressful.

In his autobiography he says, if my stories are full of licentious talks, take it easy. Do not try to dissect it, do not try to analyse it through a moral lens. Take it easy, Zangpo said.

JLF this year features a lineup of over 300 luminaries such as Nobel laureates, Booker Prize-winners, journalists, policymakers, and acclaimed writers. The participants include Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Dufflo, Amol Palekar, Ira Mukhoty, Geetanjali Shree, David Hare, Manav Kaul, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Yuvan Aves, Shahu Patole, and Kallol Bhattacharjee.
Ofer Calderon, Keith Siegel, and Yarden Bibas are scheduled to be freed from Gaza tomorrow.

Siegel, 65, a U.S. citizen from North Carolina, was abducted with his wife Aviva from Kibbutz Kfar Aza; she was released in November.

Calderon, 54, was kidnapped with his children, Erez and Sahar, from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. His kids were freed in the last ceasefire.

Bibas, 35, was taken separately from his wife and children, who Hamas claims died in captivityan assertion Israel has not officially confirmed but views with grave concern. He was wounded during his abduction.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The State Prosecutors Office has indicted two IDF reservists in a Haifa court for allegedly spying for Iran in exchange for money. YWN reported that they were arrested earlier this month.

Yuri Eliasfov and Georgi Andreyev, both 21 and from Kiryat Yam, face charges including contact with a foreign agent, transferring classified information, and aiding the enemy.

Authorities say the two, who have a long-standing friendship, were in contact with an Iranian agent known as Boaz. Eliasfov, who served in the Iron Dome unit, allegedly provided sensitive missile defense data, including radar footage, and offered to sell videos for $10,000. Andreyev, who served in the Air Forces operational HQ, also allegedly took actions to harm state security.

Their arrests were announced earlier this week by police and the Shin Bet.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza is set to reopen today for Palestinian civilians, earlier than the scheduled Sunday opening under the hostage-ceasefire deal, Kan reports.

Under the agreement, the crossing can open once Hamas releases all female hostages, including IDF soldiers and civilians. Yesterday, two Israeli womena soldier and a civilianwere freed, along with three other hostages and five Thai nationals in a separate release.

A European security force and Palestinian officials unaffiliated with Hamas will oversee the crossing. It had already reopened for humanitarian aid after being shut in May when Israel seized the area, with Egypt refusing to reopen it until Palestinian control was restored.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
A remarkable story of emunah and mesiras nefesh has come to light, as details emerge about Agam Berger, one of the Yidden held captive by Hamas. Despite the unimaginable tzaros she endured, Berger remained steadfast in her shmiras hamitzvos, holding tight to kashrus, Shabbos, and even fasting on Yom Kippur and Tisha BAv. Now, it has been revealed that during her time in captivity, she found a siddur in Gaza and used it throughout her ordeal.

Berger shared that the siddur was likely left behind by soldiers who had previously been in the area. She also related that when her captors attempted to give her a Quran, urging her to take it, she outright refused.

This past Erev Shabbos, Rebbetzin Yaffa Deri, wife of Shas leader R Aryeh Deri, visited the group of released tatzpitaniyos (female IDF lookouts) who were freed from Gaza and are currently receiving medical care in Beilinson Hospital. While speaking with them, she recounted Bergers inspiring story: Agam found a siddur in Gaza and fasted on Tisha BAv.

Meanwhile, Yisroel Hayom also reported on a deeply moving event that took place in Bergers hospital ward. In an expression of hakoras hatov to the Ribbono Shel Olam for their yeshuah, Berger and her fellow tatzpitaniyoswho were captured together in Nachal Ozgathered with their families for a special hafrashas challah event. With heartfelt tefillos and hodaah, they marked their return home.

These new details add to previous accounts of Bergers determination to hold strong in the face of unimaginable challenges. Despite being surrounded by bloodthirsty reshaim, and under immense pressure, she clung to her Yiddishkeit with unwavering emunah, turning herself into an icon of mesiras nefesh for Torah and mitzvos.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Off the west coast of Scotland, there is a small island called Kerrera. Its home to just 35 people and an array of wildlife, including several peacocks.

Mark is one of the islands residents and the local postie. Every Monday to Saturday he makes the ferry journey to the mainland to collect the post and goes back to deliver letters and parcels to his fellow islanders.

In December, I made the journey myself and was struck by the vital role he plays keeping the community connected, including delivering post to four properties that are only accessible by quad bike!

Serving even the most remote parts of the UK is something we at Royal Mail are deeply proud of.

Its also one of the reasons that we have been fighting for reform to the Universal Service Obligation for many years.

We want to protect what makes Royal Mail unique and continue to serve 32m addresses across the UK for the same price, however remote they may be.

Lower demand: Letter volumes have declined from 20bn a year at their peak to 6.7bn today. The average household now receives just four letters a week

The Universal Service is a special thing. It is an important backbone of the UK economy, supporting businesses of all shapes and sizes, and ensuring friends and families stay connected.

But we cant escape the reality that letter volumes have declined from 20bn a year at their peak to 6.7bn today.

The average household now receives just four letters a week, yet the number of addresses we deliver to has grown by 4m, so it is becoming more costly to deliver each letter.

Ofcoms net cost calculations show that it costs Royal Mail 1million to 2million every day to provide the current regulatory requirements of the Universal Service.

This just isnt sustainable for a company that lost 348million last year. Without change, there is a real chance the one-price-goes-anywhere service wont survive.

Ofcom, the regulator that oversees Royal Mail, agrees that without reform the sustainability of the Universal Service is at risk.

It has launched a public consultation, seeking views on a modern Universal Service framework fit for the future.

Looking to the future: Royal Mail chief exec Emma Gilthorpe says reform of the postal service is crucial

Under the proposals, Royal Mail will continue to deliver first-class letters six days a week. Well deliver all other letters (including second-class) every other weekday.

There will be no changes to the one-price-goes-anywhere service to all parts of the UK. Next-day and Saturday deliveries will continue, giving people the choice of price and speed.

Customers tell us that a reliable service is what matters most. So, weve also proposed the introduction of new, additional reliability targets for first and second-class services to give customers greater confidence.

These proposals were developed by Royal Mail following consultation last summer with thousands of consumers, large and small businesses and vital public services such as the NHS, as well as groups representing our most vulnerable customers.

Were confident these proposals meet the needs of all of these customer groups. And the great news is Universal Service reform could save up to 300million a year.

Thats money we can use to invest to build a modern, sustainable and reliable postal service fit for the future.

The Government has a laudable goal of encouraging economic growth and productivity.

The changes we have set out would do exactly that, without the need for primary legislation or taxpayer money.

Now we need to get on with the change without delay, to secure a future for Royal Mail and the essential services we provide day in, day out to each and every corner of the UK, Kerrera included.
MANILA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' foreign investments yielded net inflows of 17.932 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, a 39.2 percent increase from 2023, the Philippine central bank said Friday.

The bank said 54.2 percent of these investments were in peso government securities, while the balance was invested in the Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities.

The bank's data showed that the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Luxembourg, and China's Hong Kong were the top five investors during the year, with a combined share of 86.3 percent.

Recorded outflows hit 15.829 billion dollars for 2024, 20.5 percent more than 2023.

The bank said 96 percent of these outflows represented capital repatriation, while the remaining 4 percent pertained to the remittance of earnings. 
Some fizz was put back into Fevertree as the upmarket tonic maker unveiled a long-term strategic partnership in the US.

As part of the deal, US brewer Molson Coors is set to buy an 8.5 per cent stake in the AIM-listed firm for 71million, with the proceeds to be returned to investors via a share buyback.

Fevertree, which first entered the US market in 2008, said the partnership is for the exclusive sales, distribution and production of its brands.

The deal, just months after Danish brewer Carlsberg agreed to buy rival UK soft drinks maker Britvic for 3.4billion, propelled Fevertree 20.2 per cent, or 133p, higher to 791p.

As global markets recovered from a roiling at the start of the week, the FTSE 100 breached the 8600 level for the first time ever, ending ahead 1 per cent, or 89.07 points, at 8646.88, a new record high.

Partnership: US brewer Molson Coors is to buy an 8.5% stake in the AIM-listed tonic maker Fevertree for 71m, with the proceeds to be returned to shareholders via a share buyback

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 jumped by 1.2 per cent, or 245.37 points, to 20,805.07.

A busy day of blue-chip earnings saw Airtel Africa top the FTSE 100 leaderboard, adding 9 per cent, or 12p, at 145p, as the telecoms firm reported a strong third-quarter operating performance and launched a second 80million share buyback.

Meanwhile, wealth manager St Jamess Place gained 10.9 per cent, or 101p, at 1030p after its assets under management hit a record level last year.

But Sage Group shed 0.6 per cent, or 7.5p, to 1329p as the accounting software firm only maintained its revenue forecast for fiscal 2025, even after posting 10 per cent growth in first-quarter underlying revenue.

Airlines remained a blue-chip focus, with Easyjet rising 4.3 per cent, or 20.9p, to 511.6p and British Airways-owner IAG up 1.2 per cent, or 4.1p, to 334.8p, supported by airport expansion plan hopes.

But Wizz Air dropped 5.5 per cent, or 76p, to 1296p as the FTSE 250-listed firm cut its annual net income forecast for the second time in six months.

Higher on the second line, outsourcing firm Serco rose 3.5 per cent, or 5.3p, to 155.9p as it agreed to acquire Northrop Grummans mission training and satellite ground network communications software business for 263million.

Online fashion company Asos climbed by 7.9 per cent, or 32p, to 436.4p, lifted by news it is to return to the FTSE 250 next week.

It will take the place of Polar Capital Technology Trust, which is being promoted to the FTSE 100 following the takeover of DS Smith by International Paper.

Science in Sport gained 6 per cent, or 1.5p, at 26.5p as the performance nutrition firm said that it expects a return to growth seen in the second half of 2024 to continue into 2025.

But Futura Medical dropped by 46.8 per cent, or 14.5p, to 16.5p as the sexual health product manufacturer said that it now expects its 2025 revenue to be 50 per cent below previous forecasts.

And Ricardo shed 25 per cent, or 88p, to 264p after the environmental and engineering consulting firm warned of order delays.
EU rules left the investment trust sector vulnerable to assault from US corporate raider Saba Capital, a former pensions minister has warned.

Baroness Ros Altmann said Saba boss Boaz Weinstein was able to take advantage of laws that made investing in London-listed trusts appear costlier than in reality.

This held back share prices, leaving the sector a sitting duck for predators.

The leftover EU rules were definitely part of the reason Saba was able to swoop in and take advantage of the excessive discounts that resulted, at least in part, from misleading charge figures forced on trusts by misapplied regulations, Altmann told the Mail.

Despite Britain leaving the EU, UK regulators opted to impose rules on investment trusts, originating in Brussels, that forced them to display the costs of running the trust as if they were paid by shareholders. This was incorrect, as these expenses are incorporated into a trusts share price.

It meant UK trusts costs were double-counted. Altmann said the charges forced many investors to sell and prevented others from buying, which made it easier for raiders such as Saba to buy stakes before launching coups.

Discounts: Baroness Ros Altmann (pictured) said Saba was able to take advantage of EU rules that made investing in London trusts appear more expensive than was the case

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year more than 130 money managers had written to then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt urging him to act on a problem they estimated was costing the UK 7billion in investment a year.

Saba, run by Weinstein, has bought stakes of between 19 per cent and 29 per cent in seven trusts and has proposed ousting their boards and replacing them with its own nominees.

Two of these, Baillie Gifford US Growth and Keystone Positive Change, hold meetings on Monday where investors will vote on Sabas proposals.

Last week shareholders in the 1.3billion Herald Investment Trust, Sabas first target, decisively rejected its plans.

All seven trusts have large numbers of retail investors, meaning turnout is crucial in deciding the outcomes.

But concerns have been raised that many small stockholders who hold shares through investment platforms are not being informed about upcoming votes or denied the opportunity to cast ballots.

Industry body the Association of Investment Companies has written to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to demand platforms tell small investors about meetings at the firms they invest in.
Fashion chain H&M revealed weaker-than-expected sales after it was hit by Red Sea shipping delays and a late Black Friday.

Net sales across the group were up 1 per cent to 234.5billion Swedish krona (17.1billion) for the year to last November. But the retailer said sales growth improved in December and January.

Daniel Erver, who was appointed as the Hennes & Mauritz boss last January, said he was confident the group is on the right track.

Sales increased by 3 per cent, in local currency, to 62.2billion krona (4.5billion) over the quarter to the end of November.

The company said it opened 88 stores over the year. H&M added that group sales increased by 4 per cent over the two months to January 28 as demand accelerated.

Mr Erver added: During 2024, we made significant improvements.
Apple raked in 100billion in the final three months of last year  or more than 1billion a day  as the iPhone maker continued its push into artificial intelligence.

In a turbulent week for US tech, the Silicon Valley giant last night posted a 4 per cent jump in sales for the three months to December.

The record revenue came during Apples most important quarter, which included Christmas and the first full three-month period of new iPhone sales.

And it comes after Silicon Valley was rocked this week by the launch of an AI chatbot developed by Chinese firm DeepSeek.

Investors were spooked by claims it could compete with US rivals including Chat GPT for a fraction of the cost.

The debut sparked a tech selloff, with Nvidia setting a record for the biggest one-day market capitalisation drop when nearly 500billion was wiped off its value.

Powering on: In a turbulent week for US tech, Apple posted a 4% jump in sales for the three months to December

The rout was described as a wake-up call for US tech by President Donald Trump. But Apple was one of the few tech stocks to see its shares rise.

It has not pumped as much money into AI as Meta, Microsoft and Google, and analysts said the emergence of DeepSeek could provide an opportunity.

Apples AI tools for the iPhone launched for some users last year but have been beset by glitches.

The results came the day after Microsoft, the largest investor in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, posted a 12 per cent quarterly sales boost to 56billion and Facebook owner Meta reported revenues of 39billion.
Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV  Get Free Report) and Vizsla Silver (NYSE:VZLA  Get Free Report) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Franco-Nevada and Vizsla Silvers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Franco-Nevada $1.22 billion 21.52 -$466.40 million ($3.16) -43.13 Vizsla Silver N/A N/A -$11.81 million ($0.01) -206.00

Vizsla Silver has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Franco-Nevada. Vizsla Silver is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Franco-Nevada, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Analyst Ratings

77.1% of Franco-Nevada shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.5% of Vizsla Silver shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Franco-Nevada shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Vizsla Silver shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Franco-Nevada and Vizsla Silver, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Franco-Nevada 0 3 7 0 2.70 Vizsla Silver 0 0 5 0 3.00

Franco-Nevada currently has a consensus target price of $145.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.63%. Vizsla Silver has a consensus target price of $4.06, suggesting a potential upside of 97.21%. Given Vizsla Silvers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vizsla Silver is more favorable than Franco-Nevada.

Risk and Volatility

Franco-Nevada has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vizsla Silver has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Franco-Nevada and Vizsla Silvers net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Franco-Nevada -55.28% 10.55% 10.09% Vizsla Silver N/A -5.59% -5.52%

Summary

Vizsla Silver beats Franco-Nevada on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Franco-Nevada

(Get Free Report)

Franco-Nevada Corporation operates as a gold-focused royalty and streaming company in South America, Central America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Mining and Energy segments. The company manages its portfolio with a focus on precious metals, such as gold, silver, and platinum group metals; and engages in the sale of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids through a third-party marketing agent. Franco-Nevada Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About Vizsla Silver

(Get Free Report)

Vizsla Silver Corp. engages in the exploration, and development of precious and base metal assets. The company explores for gold, silver, and copper deposits. It owns 100% interest in the Panuco Project covering an area of 7,189.5 hectares located in located in southern Sinaloa, Mexico. The company was formerly known as Vizsla Resources Corp. and changed its name to Vizsla Silver Corp. in February 2021. Vizsla Silver Corp. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Applied Capital LLC FL cut its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,365 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 70 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. comprises 1.9% of Applied Capital LLC FLs portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Applied Capital LLC FLs holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $2,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the third quarter worth approximately $1,888,088,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 31.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,784,272 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,539,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,043,841 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 137.8% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,376,176 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $922,760,000 after buying an additional 2,535,590 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 93.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,692,159 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $567,669,000 after buying an additional 1,301,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,073,193 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,338,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,289 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In related news, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 3,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.94, for a total value of $838,763.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 47,620 shares of the companys stock, valued at $12,092,622.80. This represents a 6.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $217.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $211.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, JPMorgan Chase & Co. presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $251.78.

Read Our Latest Analysis on JPM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE JPM opened at $268.23 on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 1 year low of $171.43 and a 1 year high of $270.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $755.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The businesss 50-day moving average is $247.08 and its 200 day moving average is $227.63.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.78. The firm had revenue of $42.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $41.90 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 20.96%. The businesss revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 17.82 earnings per share for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 6th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.33%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Company Profile

(Free Report)

JPMorgan Chase & Co is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JPM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM  Free Report).

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ISLAMABAD, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ten terrorists were killed in separate operations in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the military said on Friday.

The security forces conducted intelligence-based operations in Dera Ismail Khan and North Waziristan districts of KP, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement.

During the operation in the Khulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district, four terrorists were killed during a clash between security forces and terrorists, said the ISPR statement.

In four separate encounters in North Waziristan, another six terrorists were killed after an intense exchange of fire, the ISPR said.

According to the ISPR, a huge cache of weapons and ammunition was also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces as well as the killing of civilians in the area.

A sanitization operation is being carried out to eliminate the presence of other terrorists in the area.

The military said the security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country. 
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has halted mine clearance projects in eight provinces after the United States has frozen funding, a mine clearance chief said on Friday.

Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), said the U.S.-funded mine clearance projects in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie, Tboung Khmum, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng provinces have been suspended for 85 days from Jan. 25 onwards.

He said in a statement posted on social media that these projects, carried out by CMAC in cooperation with development partners, are to clear "the U.S. origin unexploded ordinances as the remnants of war."

CMAC has received a grant of 6.35 million U.S. dollars from the U.S. for mine clearance operations from March 2022 to November 2025, Ratana said, adding that this funding has supported some 200 technical Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) experts.

He said under these projects, CMAC had so far made remarkable achievements by clearing 561 polygons or 11,195 hectares of cluster munitions or UXOs affected fields, finding and destroying 27,022 landmines and UXOs that included 17,971 cluster munitions and 69 aerial bombs.

The halt was made after U.S. President Donald Trump last week ordered a sweeping 90-day pause on foreign aid, which included suspending its funded mine clearance projects around the world.

Cambodia is one of the countries worst affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs). An estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions had been left over from three decades of war and internal conflicts that ended in 1998.

According to the Yale University, from 1965 to 1973, the U.S. had dropped over 2.75 million tons of ordnance in 230,516 sorties on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.

The CMAA's report showed that from 1979 to 2024, landmine and ERW explosions had claimed 19,834 lives and maimed 45,252 others. 
For constant readers we offer this collection of Kansas City metro crime news we've been reading tonight and over the past week.

There's an old school #TBT crime story to start that's quaint because if reminds us of a time when the world was much bigger and hiding was still an option for fugitives.

From there we notice ongoing politically charged controversy along with continued property crime, court proceedings and just a bit more local law enforcement backstory.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

KCPD & Jackson County Sheriff's Office Solve Fugitive Serial Killer Case At a news conference on Jan. 30, the Kansas City Missouri Police Department and the Jackson County Sheriffs Office announced their investigations into fugitive serial killer, Sharon Kinne, closing a case that began in the 1960s, stretching from Missouri to Mexico to Canada. Kinne died in January of 2022 of natural causes.

Alleged victims of Roger Golubski want more answers after closure of death investigation Alleged victims of disgraced detective Roger Golubski want more answers after his death investigation closed.

Police take 2 into custody after stolen truck pursuit that crossed state lines A stolen vehicle pursuit that began in Mission Hills, Kansas, and ended in Kansas City, Missouri, resulted in two suspects being taken into custody.

Appeals court rules Missouri attorney general did not violate Sunshine Law * Missouri Independent The Attorney General's Office did not violate the Missouri Sunshine Law when it denied a request for records showing how it fulfilled a request.

Kansas City, Kansas man charged in November slaying at Merriam construction site Larry Gunzenhauser, 32, allegedly shot 37-year-old Jentre DeMarkus Parker-White during an altercation at a construction site off Shawnee Mission Parkway in Merriam in November.

Kansas woman charged in connection to overdose death A Kansas woman has been charged in connection to a February 2024 overdose death.

TSA firearms discoveries mostly decrease in 2024 at Missouri, Kansas airports The Transportation Security Agency released state-level data Wednesday showing the number of firearms discoveries in 2024 at commercial airports in Kansas and Missouri was relatively flat.

Mission Hills resident robbed at gunpoint during Facebook Marketplace sale, police say After exchanging the item, a suspect allegedly pointed a handgun at the resident and told them to walk away, police said.

Crime and policing are central to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe's plans for first year In his first State of the State as Missouri governor, Mike Kehoe described a lack of hope among young people due to crime. He urged the General Assembly to pass legislation that would support law enforcement officers and increase penalties.

New Jackson County prosecutor's relationship with KCPD off to good start. Will it last? | Opinion Melesa Johnson takes a new approach to charging, focusing on collaboration with Kansas City police to reduce violent and property crime.

Woman charged for allegedly selling drugs, causing death in Johnson County A woman is accused of selling drugs to another woman which subsequently ended in her dying in February 2024.

Charges filed after sexual assault investigation reveals drugs in Parkville home A Parkville man has been charged after a sexual assault investigation led law enforcement officials to find illegal drugs also in his possession.

Public company CEO concludes case alleging aggravated domestic battery - Kansas City Business Journal After a Tuesday hearing, the CEO and chairman of a Kansas City, Kansas, public company concludes a case stemming from an aggravated domestic battery charge.

Clay County Sheriff's Office conducts successful human trafficking operations during awareness month Two men are facing charges after an undercover counter-human trafficking operation conducted by the Clay County Sheriff's Office.

A Missouri woman was wrongfully convicted off a false confession. Her case could help free others Sandra Hemme spent 43 years in a Missouri prison for a murder she did not commit. Some estimates suggest that a false confession played a role in almost a third of wrongful murder convictions.

Texas man charged with scamming Kansas City resident searching for new job A Platte County man who thought he had landed a new job instead landed in a scam that left him without thousands of dollars.

This week marks 40 years since Overland Park police officer Deanna Sue Rose died in line of duty Deanna Rose was the Overland Park Police Department's first line of duty death and the first woman officer killed in Kansas.

Developing . . .
VLADIVOSTOK, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Russian security forces have dismantled a major drug laboratory in the Amur region, seizing over 600 kilograms of marijuana and other narcotics, local media reported on Friday.

The operation targeted an inter-regional criminal group involved in large-scale drug production and distribution.

"The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia in the Amur region has disrupted the illegal activities of a criminal group responsible for organizing a drug trafficking network and operating a laboratory for drug production," FSB was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.

During the raid, authorities confiscated over six million individual doses of drugs worth more than 25 million rubles (about 250,000 U.S. dollars) and equipment used in drug manufacturing.

Two suspects have been detained and criminal proceedings have been initiated under Russia's Penal Code for attempted large-scale drug trafficking. If convicted, they could face life imprisonment. (1 Russian ruble equals 0.01 U.S. dollar) 
MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Washington's latest decisions on the development of a new missile defense system won't help reduce tensions with Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday on the development of a new missile defense system for the country. The Iron Dome missile defense shield would protect against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other aerial attacks.

During her weekly briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that this initiative essentially reaffirms the U.S. intension to pursue the militarization of space, noting that the decision involves a significant expansion of the American nuclear arsenal.

"It directly envisages a significant strengthening of the American nuclear arsenal and means for conducting combat operations in space, including the development and deployment of space-based interception systems," she said.

"We consider this as yet another confirmation of the U.S. focus on turning space into an arena for armed confrontation," she further said.

Zakharova warned that the initiative would also hinder potential dialogue on strategic offensive arms, noting that this measure is the first sign of Washington's destabilizing plans for the development of its military-technical programs. 
10 Questions To Never Ask A Woman Under Any Circumstance

Udaku Special





Never ask a stranger, much less a woman any of these things.

Offended woman after being asked a question.





You're standing in front of a woman  maybe she's a relative, or a new acquaintance, or a perfect stranger  and you're about to ask her a question. Something to spark a conversation, and elicit a response. Now, before the words stumble out, ask yourself one thing: Is this a good question, or an annoying question?









Here's how you'll know the difference: A good question is thoughtful, interesting, and engaging. It's rooted in whatever is happening in that moment, rather than randomly spewed from a grab-bag of generic conversation starters.





Those are more likely to be annoying questions. Empty, boring, unoriginal. Annoying questions for a woman can be fully rooted in ignorance, or they might be clouded with passive aggression and judgment. Our eyes roll just the same.









Here are ten questions to never ask a woman under any circumstances:

1. 'Are you tired?'

woman ignoring man talking to her

What she hears: "Wow, you look terrible."





No one aspires to look tired. You don't see us asking Sephora employees for help with that "exhaustion" eye makeup trend. Generally, we're buying makeup to cover up the fact our eyes are sunken into purplish puffs, and our skin is dull and parched.





And so, if we're not all that tired (maybe we just skipped the mascara this morning), we're left thinking: What's wrong with my face?





2. 'How do you do it all?'

woman arguing with man over coffee

What she hears: "You do do it all, don't you? Your life looks so perfect... isn't it? You have it all together... right?"





Of course, we don't do it all! What kind of question is that? Do you know how much "all" encompasses? Can you narrow your focus, just a smidge?









We either end up listing our sacrifices and shortcomings in some kind of uncomfortable rebuttal or we laugh it off, internally remembering all of the ways we're falling short. It's just an unnecessary, annoying question with no real response. Skip.





This is often considered problematic because it reinforces gender stereotypes, minimizes the challenges women face in juggling multiple roles, and can come across as dismissive or patronizing.





Evidence from 2013 research concluded that it implies that managing a busy life is somehow superhuman for a woman rather than a common experience for people of all genders.





Some other options include: "How do you manage your time so effectively?" or "What are some of the challenges you face in balancing your different roles?"





3. 'What are you waiting for?'

couple talking seriously while sitting across from each other

What she hears: "Hurry!!!"





Why aren't we married? Why haven't we had a kid yet? Why don't we have another kid yet?





We need to have a girl (or a boy if we already have girls at home), we need to freeze our eggs, we need to find a husband, we need to start that business... what are you waiting for?!





Whether it's our family size, fertility decisions, career goals, or marital situations, we don't need to justify or explain our personal choices  and we sure as hell don't need to be pressured into them.





4. 'Wow, is it that time of the month?'

Questions To Never Ask A Woman Under Any Circumstance

What she hears: "Your emotions and thoughts hold less weight because, ya know, periods and all."





Nothing invalidates a woman's feelings like this clever question  as if our bodies are momentarily snatched by blood-leaking zombies who strictly operate to their hormonal coding.





As if the blood is coming directly from our brains, and can't... form... rational... sentences. Ignore us. Check back in 3 to 7 days.





2011 research found this is considered inappropriate because it perpetuates harmful stereotypes about female behavior, implying that a woman's emotions or reactions are solely due to her menstrual cycle. This is often seen as a way to dismiss her genuine feelings and potentially undermine her agency.





5. 'What do you do all day? (said to a stay-at-home mom)

women sitting next to each other and not looking at each other

What she hears: "Wow, your life sounds boring."





What are you expecting to gain from this question? A rundown of her daily stay-at-home-mom duties? A hushed admission that, yes, just as you suspected, she secretly does nothing all day long  you got her!





Are you trying to make her stutter defensively, or weep out of sheer insecurity? Are you looking for a daily play-by-play, or maybe  maybe!  do you want to pick a better question?





6. 'Aren't you a little young/old for that?'

man consoling upset woman

What she hears: "Psssh. You can't do that."





The fascinating thing about being a woman is realizing that there's a very small 3-to-4-year window where a woman isn't "too young" or "too old"  a brief period between "slow down!" and "hurry up!"





So please don't judge our accomplishments, goals, or choices based on our age; it's been done, ad nauseam. Any question circling our age deserves a big fat pass.





This is considered inappropriate because it often stems from societal pressures that value youth in women. Such a question feels like a judgment on her appearance and potentially undermines her self-worth, regardless of age.





A study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found it can also dismiss her capabilities based on a preconceived notion about her life stage. If you need to clarify something, use questions that encourage conversation and understanding rather than making judgments.





7. 'You're not a feminist, are you?'

woman and mana rguing

What she hears: "Wanna have an uncomfortable argument?"





This question is either followed up by a debate on what, exactly, the word "feminist" means (as we have some convoluted definitions), or it shuts down all future conversations forevermore.





In reality, this question only deserves one response: "I do think women and men deserve equal protection under the law, which, technically, is feminism." The end. So why bother starting it?





8. 'You know what causes that, right?' (said to a pregnant woman)

man looking at pregnant woman

What she hears: "Too stupid for birth control, dummy?"









Maybe you see a visibly pregnant woman pushing a grocery cart with three small kids trailing behind and you decide to be cute or witty with your little zinger. (And what are you expecting in return? "No, I'm not sure how I managed to get knocked up again, please, please, give me the answer!")





But before you say it, think. Then remember you don't have to be condescending today.





9. 'Should you be eating/drinking that?'

upset woman on a date

What she hears: The noisy static of judgment.





Mind your business around my food. Whether it comes from a well-meaning friend or a judgy frenemy or a die-hard vegan, it's always an irritating question, in all of its varieties.





10. 'Are you pregnant?'

upset woman looking at man

What she hears: "Are you growing a human or just getting hefty around the middle?"





Listen to me carefully. Never, under any circumstance, ask this question without accepting that you might hear this dreaded response: "I'm not."





It can make her feel uncomfortable or judged, even if the question is asked with good intentions. It's none of your business unless she shares that information.








MEXICO CITY, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry has complained to the U.S. government on behalf of two deported undocumented migrants who accuse U.S. authorities of violating their human rights during deportation proceedings, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday.

The two migrants are a Mexican man and a Guatemalan woman who arrived in Mexico on the latest deportation flights, the president said, without specifying what type of mistreatment they received.

Speaking during her usual morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Sheinbaum said the decision was made to have the Foreign Ministry file a complaint against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, formally denounce the U.S. violations, and have the case reviewed.

During his reelection campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to carry out large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants once he took office.

After his inauguration on Jan. 20, deportation operations have ramped up in several parts of the United States, reportedly focusing on criminals.

On Jan. 20-26, 5,282 migrants aboard civilian flights were returned to Mexico from the United States, with 4,083 having Mexican nationality.

On Jan. 27, 527 migrants (355 of them with Mexican nationality) were returned to Mexico, and on Jan. 28, another 435.

"In all cases, when they arrive in Mexico, they arrive without handcuffs, without any gear. When they arrive, they are interviewed to find out if their human rights were violated," Sheinbaum said.

On Wednesday, Trump ordered the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a facility to hold up to 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. naval base located on the southeastern coast of Cuba. 
Burkina Faso, despite being landlocked and lacking in mineral resources, has found success through the empowerment of its people. The countrys leader has worked to end dependency on imports and foreign aid, focusing on developing domestic food production, education, healthcare, and environmental protection. The people of Burkina Faso are taking control of their own destiny.

A New Dawn in Burkina Faso





Ibrahim Traore seized power in a coup in 2022, despite political instability, and increasing security threats from extremist groups. His ascension to power marked a significant shift in the countrys leadership, with a promise to restore stability, foster economic growth, and enhance social cohesion. Traores leadership style encompasses a pragmatic approach to governance, a commitment to transparency, and a focus on inclusive development.





Democratic Governance and Political Reforms





Traores administration has a strong emphasis on strengthening democratic governance. Recognizing the importance of inclusive and participatory governance, Traore has implemented several political initiatives aimed at enhancing the democratic process. These include efforts to ensure free and fair elections, to ensure transparency in government operations, and fight against corruption.





Under Traores leadership, Burkina Faso has witnessed the establishment of independent institutions to oversee elections and ensure accountability in public office. These measures have not only strengthened the countrys democratic framework but also increased public trust in the government as well.









Ibrahim Traore, a pragmatic leader, recently reduced ministers and politicians salaries by 30%, while he increased government worker salaries by 50%. He refused to accept a presidents salary, and benefits, while Traore continued to earn his salary as a military commander each month.





Economic Transformation and Development





Traores economic vision for Burkina Faso is based on diversification and sustainable development. His administration has prioritized sectors such as agriculture, mining, and renewable energy to enhance economic growth. The goal is to reduce the countrys dependence on traditional sources of income and create a more resilient and inclusive economy.





Traores leadership is the National Economic Transformation Plan (NETP), which aims to enhance productivity, create jobs, and enhance living standards. The plan includes investments in infrastructure, education, and healthcare, as well as support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship.
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3rd batch of Israeli hostages released at site near Sinwar's bombed home

Palestinian Resistance groups Thursday January 30, 2025 released 3 Israelis and 5 Thai nationals in the 3rd batch of hostage-prisoners exchange at a meticulously planned event amidst high drama

Friday January 31, 2025 2:33 PM , ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

[Three of the five Thai citizens in Israel after being released from Gaza on Thursday. (Handout/Israeli Government Press oOffice/Reuters)]

Gaza Strip/Tel Aviv: Palestinian Resistance groups Thursday January 30, 2025 released 3 Israelis and 5 Thai nationals in the 3rd batch of hostage-prisoners exchange at a meticulously planned event amidst high drama.

In return, the Occupation regime released 110 Palestinians, some of whom were lingering in the Israeli jail for years without trial.

Release event near Yahya Sinwars home

The first Israeli hostage released on Thursday was 20-year-old Israeli soldier Agam Berger.

Agam Berger was handed over to Red Cross officials at a stage erected near the home where slain Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar was seen fighting with the Israeli Occupation Forces till his last breathe.

Crowds of Gazans were kept back by armed Hamas fighters as Agam Berger emerged walking over rubbles and appeared on the platform. Before her release, Berger was given a certificate and gifts by the masked fighters.

BREAKING:



Al-Qassams Shadow Unit leads the handover & exchange operation in Jabalia.



The Israeli soldier emerged in military uniform from the rubble, Agam Berger was escorted by fighters carrying Israeli weapons that were seized during battles with the armys special unit. pic.twitter.com/fqt30krxoT  Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) January 30, 2025

A huge crowd watching the hostage release event at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square cheered as the Israeli soldier surrounded by masked gunmen appeared  walking over rubbles with Yahya Sinwars damaged home looking in the background.

"I'm thrilled... to see her face, to see her going back to her family. It's exciting," Yahel Oren, who served in the same unit as Ms Berger a decade ago, told the BBC.

About two hours later, in Khan Younis in South Gaza, the seven other hostages  02 Israelis and 5 Thai nationals, were released and handed over to Red Cross amid chaotic scenes.

Besides Berger, those released included Israeli nationals Arbel Yehud (29) and Gadi Moses (80).

In photos and videos shared online, Israeli soldier Agam berger is seen wearing a Palestine bracelet, something which will haunt the Zionist occupation for long.

Thai nationals released Thursday included agricultural workers Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Lamnao.

The Israeli doctors later confirmed all hostages - 3 Israelis and 5 Thai nationals, released Thursday are in good and fair health.

Dr Osnat Levzion-Korach, director of the Shamir Medical Center in Tel Aviv, said the Thais presented well despite not having been exposed to sunlight for extended periods of time, The Associated Press news agency reports.

110 Palestinians released in exchange

The Israeli Occupation Forces Thursday released 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange of 3 Israeli hostages as part of the terms and conditions part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The Palestinian Resistance Groups released the 5 Thai nationals without any condition.

Among the 110 Palestinians released Thursday, 30 were minors and 32 were facing life sentence.

BREAKING:



Palestinians in Gaza have begun receiving the Palestinian hostages released as part of the exchange deal between the resistance and Israel. pic.twitter.com/sLWc5TNXgR  Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) January 30, 2025

Saif Al-Din Darwish, 15 years old from Aida Camp in Bethlehem. Saif is the youngest Palestinian prisoner freed today in the exchange deal.

The Palestinians released Thursday included Samih Shobki from Qalqilya, Zakaria Zubeidi, Rida Obeid and Mohammed Rushda, Mohammed Abu Hilal of Occupied Jerusalem, Ahmed Marshoud of Nablus and others.

As it did previously, Israeli Occupation Forces storm the home of the freed Prisoner Sobhi Abu Khalifa in Anata, Occupied Jerusalem, and assault some of his family members.

[Saif Al-Din Darwish - 15 years old from Aida Camp in Bethlehem, is the youngest Palestinian prisoner freed today in the exchange deal.]

Israel and Hamas signed Gaza Ceasefire and hostages-prisoners exchange deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt which came into force on January 19, 2025 .

The Israeli Occupation forces are releasing some 30 Palestinians in exchange of every Israeli hostage released by the Palestinian Resistance.

In first batch, 90 Palestinians were released in exchange of 03 Israelis on January 19 , as many as 200 Palestinians were released in exchange of 04 Palestinians on January 25 and a total of 110 Palestinians were released in exchange of 03 Israelis on Thursday.

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DMI Indonesia to build semi-permanent mosques in Gaza before Ramadan

The Indonesian Council of Mosques (DMI) has announced to build 10 semi-permanent mosques in Gaza before the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan

Saturday February 1, 2025 0:41 AM , ummid.com News Network

[The Gazans performing Friday prayers at the historic Al-Omari Mosque, which has suffered significant damage as a result of the 15 month-long Israeli genocide in Gaza. The mosque is believed to be the first mosque built in the Gaza Strip 1,400 years ago.]

Jakarta: The Indonesian Council of Mosques (DMI) has announced to build 10 semi-permanent mosques in Gaza before the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have bombed over 1,000 mosques in Gaza, damaging them fully or in part.

Because of this, the Palestinians, who are returning to their homes after the ceasefire deal, have no proper place to offer prayers.

Taking note of the dire situation, the Indonesian Council of Mosques (DMI) has announced the construction of semi-permanent mosques in the Gaza Strip.

The Council said it will build 10 such mosques immediately and intends them to be completed before the start of Ramadan .

The Holy month of Ramadan is set to start either on March 01 or 02, 2025 based on the sighting of the New Moon on 29th of Shaban 1446H.

Indonesian Council of Mosques (DMI) Chairman Jusuf Kalla (JK) in a statement said that the decision was taken as a form of solidarity with the Palestinian Muslim community affected by the prolonged conflict.

The DMI Chairman is in talks with the representatives of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, to ensure the implementation of this program runs smoothly.

"They are expected to immediately determine the location of the semi-permanent mosque", Kalla said.

If the things go as per the plan, the DMI Indonesia will construct 100 such mosques in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Malaysia too has announced to build a school, hospital, and mosque in Gaza.

Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.

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University of Houston President Renu Khator speaks next to board of regents chairman Tilman Fertitta at the Tilman J. Fertitta College of Medicine on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021. Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer

The University of Houston's medical school will ask the Texas legislature for $200 million to build a community hospital in Harris County  part of an ambitious goal to significantly grow the college and provide students with more training opportunities.

University leadership, including President Renu Khator and Board of Regents Chairman Tilman Fertitta, revealed the plans in a meeting Thursday with the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board.

Dr. Jonathan A. McCullers, who took over as dean of the medical school last year, said a lack of clinical training opportunities at Houston hospitals has been the biggest barrier to growing its class size. The medical school is still relatively new, having opened in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with a mission of training doctors to work in underserved communities.

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It enrolled 60 students last year but hopes to double its annual enrollment to 120.

"I'm working a lot of different angles, but the best way to do this would be if we had our own teaching hospital that is ours," McCullers said, adding that a "hospital desert" like east Harris County would be an ideal place to build the new facility.

Most of Houston's largest hospitals already have longstanding academic partnerships, so the medical school has had to take advantage of what's available, McCullers said. Right now, the students primarily train at HCA Houston Healthcare hospitals in Kingwood and Clear Lake, and at St. Joseph Medical Center in downtown Houston. It recently secured training agreements with Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance in the Rio Grande Valley and Texas Children's Hospital in Austin.

With an estimated 60 to 100 beds, the new hospital would allow the medical school to train more students in one place  with supervision from its own faculty  and offer more access to care for patients who are underinsured or uninsured, McCullers said. It will serve students who are still in medical school, but as it develops, it can also become a destination for residents and fellows who have graduated, he said.

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The university, however, can't execute the plan on its own. It needs a commitment from another hospital system to run day-to-day operations, including regulatory compliance, medical records management and staffing. "We don't have expertise," said Khator. "We will not be operating it. We will not be managing it. So it depends on who we get (as a partner)."

Portrait of Tilman Fertitta is donating $50 million to the new UH Medical School in an effort to ensure equitable healthcare for all Houstonians at the Cullen Building on campus of University of Houston on Thursday, May 19, 2022 in Houston. Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Harris Health System, which operates Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals, is among the potential partners. The partially tax-funded health system is planning its own expansion into east Harris County with a new outpatient facility.

Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, the system's president and CEO, said a large share of its hospitalized patients already come from that area.

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"I have made it clear to them that once and if they have the funding, then I am more than willing to discuss what a partnership will potentially look like," he said.

The medical school will have to clear other hurdles to move the plan forward.

Higher education institutions ask for funding through the Texas Legislatures general appropriations process, and the requests go to lawmakers in a crowded field.

Public universities and state agencies are competing this year for Texas $24 billion budget surplus  and as individual schools often ask for help funding multiple projects, its typical to see only a portion of their requests granted.

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(Reuters) - Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo announced on Wednesday it plans to expand testing of its autonomous driving technology in over 10 new cities in 2025.

After testing the Waymo Driver in multiple cities, the company says the technology is adapting successfully to new environments, leading to the expansion.

In addition to ongoing trips to Truckee, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Upstate New York and Tokyo, the expansion includes testing in San Diego and Las Vegas, with more cities yet to be announced.

"During these trips, we'll send a limited fleet of vehicles to each city, where trained human autonomous specialists will be behind the wheel at all times," a spokeswoman for Waymo said.

The testing will begin with manual driving through the densest and most complex parts of each city, including city centers and freeways.

Waymo plans to send less than 10 vehicles to each city, where they will be manually driven around for a couple of months, according to The Verge, which first reported the news.

In December, Waymo said it is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing services to Miami, Florida, adding another city to its operations as it seeks to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive market.

The firm is under intense scrutiny from safety regulators following multiple incidents involving autonomous driving technology.

Waymo said in October that it had closed a $5.6 billion funding round led by Google-parent Alphabet, as it looks to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)
By Yadarisa Shabong

(Reuters) - Detroit-based American Axle and Manufacturing will buy GKN Automotive owner Dowlais in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing the London-listed firm at about 1.16 billion pounds ($1.44 billion), the companies said on Wednesday.

Dowlais shares jumped as much as 13%, but had pared gains to trade up 4.6% at 71.5 pence by 1418 GMT. RBC analysts said the offer "somewhat undervalues what is an attractive Tier 1 auto asset during the ongoing wider auto slump".

American Axle shares fell 2.8% to $5.66.

The deal values Dowlais, maker of driveline systems and other automotive parts, at 85.2 pence per share, a premium of nearly 25% to the stock's close on Tuesday.

The combined group aims to benefit from greater scale as the auto industry grapples with volatile demand for electric vehicles, economic uncertainties and the global expansion of Chinese EV makers.

"I think consolidation in the industry is definitely required and we want to be a first mover in consolidation in the driveline space," Dowlais CEO Liam Butterworth told Reuters.

Butterworth said consolidating was necessary as suppliers need a broader portfolio to cater to the varied needs of customers at a time when major players China, the United States and the European Union are taking very different approaches to the EV transition.

Dowlais, which operates in more than 20 countries, is set to join a growing list of takeovers as foreign companies take advantage of UK firms' relatively cheap valuations.

GKN, a mainstay of British engineering, has changed hands multiple times since 2018, when it succumbed to an 8 billion pound hostile bid from Melrose.

In 2023, Melrose spun off GKN's automotive and powder metallurgy businesses by listing Dowlais - named after the village in South Wales where GKN was founded.

Its London-listed shares have lost more than 40% of their value since the spin-off.

Over the past year, Dowlais has seen revenues fall, with its ePowertrain business hit by a subdued EV market.

The two companies offer a range of automotive parts supporting internal combustion engines, hybrid and electric powertrains. AAM expects synergies of $300 million by the end of the third year after the deal closes.

Shareholders of the U.S.-based company are expected to hold 51% of the combined entity, with Dowlais shareholders owning approximately 49%.

The deal is expected to close this year subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals including from the European Union, United States, and China, where Dowlais operates a joint venture.

(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu, Aby Jose Koilparambil and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru. Editing by Barbara Lewis and Mark Potter)
The University of Wyoming will host the SLCE Volunteer Fair from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 10-11, in the Wyoming Union breezeway.

The event offers UW students, faculty and staff a unique opportunity to connect with more than 20 local nonprofit organizations and explore volunteer opportunities.

The fair, organized by the SLCE (Service, Leadership and Community Engagement) office, aims to strengthen partnerships between the UW community and local organizations, fostering a spirit of volunteerism and civic responsibility.

Participating organizations include the Laramie Soup Kitchen, Family Promise of Albany County, the City of Laramie Volunteer Program, Feeding Laramie Valley, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Red Cross of Wyoming and the Downtown Clinic. Volunteers play a pivotal role in the Laramie community, and the event encourages new connections between campus members and local nonprofits to support the regions needs.

This event provides an incredible opportunity for the UW community to learn more about local organizations, apply their knowledge and skills, and make a lasting impact on the Laramie area, says Shelby Kennedy, SLCE project coordinator.

Students who speak to at least five nonprofit representatives at the fair will receive a free lunch voucher for Chick-fil-A, Panda Express or Rendezvous Cafe, all located on campus.

The fair is open to all members of the UW community, and attendees will have the opportunity to speak directly with representatives of participating organizations, ask questions and learn more about how they can get involved, Kennedy says.

Whether you're looking to support a cause or develop leadership skills, the SLCE Volunteer Fair is an ideal place to start, she adds.

For more information about SLCE, visit www.uwyo.edu/slce or connect on Instagram.

People needing assistance can call the SLCE office at (307) 766-3117.
UW student Anna Groth, of Cheyenne, takes vital signs of a patient in Costa Rica during a recent service trip involving Division of Kinesiology and Health students and the Vida Volunteer UWYO chapter. (Phi Epsilon Kappa Photo)

Members of the Phi Epsilon Kappa student organization, representing the University of Wyomings Division of Kinesiology and Health, recently joined student volunteers with the Vida Volunteer UWYO chapter to deliver health care to rural communities in Costa Rica.

Vida Volunteer is an organization that hosts medical, dental and veterinary service trips in Guatemala and Costa Rica to allow students in the health sciences to gain hands-on health care experience in other countries. This volunteer experience is open to college students from anywhere in the U.S.

Maggie Gazda, former president of Phi Epsilon Kappa and a senior in UWs Division of Kinesiology and Health from Casper, discovered the Vida Volunteer program in 2023, looking for ways to expand patient care knowledge and learn about new cultures.

I was searching for an opportunity to volunteer in another country to gain hands-on patient experience, Gazda says. I signed up for and attended a medical mission trip to Costa Rica through Vida Volunteer in January 2024. My trip was absolutely life-changing, and I knew that I wanted to be able to make an even bigger impact through this organization.

Gazdas first trip to Costa Rica led to this most recent international travel event in December, which included a majority of students from the College of Health Sciences Division of Kinesiology and Healths student group.

The students trip gave them experience with a number of medical procedures, including learning how to take vital signs; complete a full patient intake; perform a physical examination; and even propose diagnoses and treatment plans. These students also helped set up mini clinics in communities that otherwise would lack access to health care.

Local physicians also helped students learn about local diseases and illnesses, the health care system and the culture in Costa Rica.

Sherry Negaard, an undergraduate student from Sundance who has a goal of becoming a physician assistant, says the trip to Costa Rica, paired with growing up in a rural community, fit nicely into her overall plans for providing health care to rural communities like those in Wyoming.

Due to my upbringing in rural Wyoming, my passion for rural medicine in underserved populations quickly became my purpose as an aspiring health care provider. This trip further fueled my passion for working with these populations, as I experienced the impact I can have on individuals with limited health care accessibility internationally, Negaard says. One of my favorite and most impactful experiences was working alongside two knowledgeable Costa Rican doctors who happily shared their expertise with us. During our interactions, we had the opportunity to ask about different components of their country -- for example, we spent an immense amount of time further understanding their education, occupation and health care systems.

Senior Rilee Hauber, from Gillette, says his participation in the Vida Volunteer excursion to Costa Rica was well-timed with future plans for his medical education.

I plan on applying to medical school soon after graduating and becoming a surgeon after completing my education, Hauber says. Working with Vida was a highlight of my undergraduate career. Not only did I get to go to Costa Rica with friends I already had, but I met so many amazing people while I was there. From the staff working for Vida to the patients themselves, it was truly a pleasure to be so immersed in another culture and make an impact on their rural communities.

UW students who traveled to Costa Rica included, from left: front row, Maggie Gazda, Ella Stanek, Jake Latzer, Sherry Negaard and Bryn Bruch; second row, Gabriel Matthews, Rilee Hauber, Katelin Rogaczewski and Cyan Johnson; third row, Chelsea Martinez, Kaia Swarm and Anna Groth; back row, Mackenzie Cawley, Hanna Gonzales and Adam Sorensen. (Phi Epsilon Kappa Photo)

Students from other UW health-related fields of study, including Alana Ashby, of Cheyenne, also took part in this international learning opportunity.

I am currently studying animal science at the University of Wyoming with hopes of attending vet school on my way to becoming a large animal veterinarian, Ashby says. My veterinary volunteer experience in rural Costa Rica was nothing short of life-changing. Immersed in the local culture, I had the privilege of participating in surgeries and providing overall care for both pets and strays. I witnessed firsthand the remarkable dedication of the community as they rallied together to bring care to animals in need.

The cost of the student trip was covered largely through student efforts, including a campaign during last falls UW Giving Day.

Emily Schmitt, an assistant professor in the Division of Kinesiology and Health and the Phi Epsilon Kappa faculty adviser, praises the self-reliant efforts and teamwork of all students who took part in the Costa Rica trip.

I only played a small role in the success of this remarkable group of undergraduate students, but I can wholeheartedly attest to their exceptional qualities, Schmitt says. From fundraising the money to support their trip to acquiring the skills needed to make a meaningful impact, these students are among the most driven, dedicated and hard-working individuals Ive had the privilege to work with. Their selflessness in venturing out to help those in need reflects their deep empathy and unwavering commitment to making the world a better place.

College of Health Sciences Dean Patrick Hardigan notes the collaborative efforts of the students and others in pursuing their academic goals not only on the UW campus, but also on the global stage. He says he is proud of the efforts of Phi Epsilon Kappa members who partnered with the Vida Volunteer UWYO chapter for a transformative service experience in rural Costa Rica.

This collaboration exemplifies the core values of our Division of Kinesiology and Health, where students not only gain critical knowledge in their field but also learn the profound impact of applying that knowledge in real-world, underserved settings, Hardigan says. By delivering health care to these rural communities, our students had the opportunity to engage in hands-on service that went beyond the classroom, fostering a deeper understanding of global health challenges. Their dedication and compassion were evident in their work, and I am proud to see them embody the spirit of service, professionalism and global citizenship that we strive to instill in all of our students.

Participating students, listed by their disciplines at UW and their hometowns, are:

Kinesiology and Health, and Health Care Studies

Broomfield, Colo. -- Jake Latzer.

Casper -- Mackenzie Cawley and Maggie Gazda.

Cheyenne -- Isabel Bivona, Anna Groth and Kaia Swarm.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Cyan Johnson.

Gillette -- Rilee Hauber.

Hanna -- Hanna Gonzales.

Laramie -- Adam Sorensen.

Lusk -- Bryn Bruch and Gabriel Matthews.

Sheridan -- Katelin Rogaczewski.

Sundance -- Sherry Negaard.

Wheatland -- Chelsea Martinez.

Worland -- Ella Stanek.

Dental Studies

Gillette -- Bailey Alt.

Livingston, Mont. -- Sophie Taylor.

Veterinary Studies

Cheyenne -- Alana Ashby.

To learn more about the UW Division of Kinesiology and Health, visit www.uwyo.edu/kandh. To learn more about the Vida Volunteer Program, visit www.vidavolunteer.org/.
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.


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Wall Street analysts appeared to breathe a sigh of relief after Apple's (AAPL) first quarter earnings modestly beat analysts' forecasts and the companys explanation of falling iPhone sales in China eased their anxieties.

Apple on Thursday reported earnings per share of $2.40 on revenue of $124.3 billion  higher than the EPS of $2.35 and revenue of $124.1 billion analysts had anticipated, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates. At the same time, Apples iPhone revenue in China declined 11% from the prior year, more than Wall Street expected.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook had a reason for that: Over half of the decline that we experienced was driven by change in channel inventory from the beginning to the end of the quarter, he said in a post-earnings call with analysts. In other words, the company strategically reduced the number of iPhones it shipped to suppliers in Greater China, meaning that, on the whole, the decline in China iPhone sales wasnt necessarily due to weaker demand.

Actually, he said quite the opposite: Part of the reason for that is that our sales were a bit higher than we forecasted them to be toward the end of the quarter. And so we ended a little leaner than we had expected to."

JPMorgan (JPM) analyst Samik Chatterjee raised his price target on Apple to $270 from $260, reiterating his Buy rating and pointing to Cooks commentary. Chatterjee also noted that recent Chinese subsidies announced in late January could support sales in the region.

Cook also said that Apple Intelligence helped drive a record number of iPhone upgrades, indicating that China sales could get a boost if and when the AI features are approved for rollout by the Chinese government.

Citi's Atif Malik also maintained his Buy rating on the stock, noting the results were better than feared.

Critically, AAPL comments indicating the initial regions where iPhone AI features have been rolled out are outperforming other geos should support sentiment on the stock, he added. Apple shares rose as much as 3% in early trading Friday but later reversed direction, ending the day down 0.7%.

Raymond James analyst Srini Pajjuri suggested that Apple is better positioned than its "Magnificent Seven" peers to navigate an AI bubble: "We believe Apple is uniquely positioned to offer on-device AI features given its ecosystem strength, hardware capabilities, and privacy focus."

On-device AI has lower capex needs and offers faster monetization potential through consumer hardware upgrades, which we think makes AAPL stock particularly attractive as the debate surrounding GenAI monetization/ROI continues.
The departure of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from West Africas most influential bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), raises concerns, especially in the areas of security and economics, according to regional analysts who spoke with VOA.

Some say the split  the first time nations have quit the regional body since its creation a half-century ago  could weaken joint military operations and further destabilize the Sahel, a region already struggling with jihadist insurgencies.

But on Wednesday, the day the decision was formally recognized by the bloc, ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray told reporters in Abuja that the bloc was willing to continue security cooperation despite the split.

ECOWAS also announced that its "doors remain open" to the departing nations and urged the remaining 12 member states to continue to support them.

"I think that ECOWAS has taken a pragmatic approach about the unfolding situation," said Rotimi Olawale, a political affairs analyst. "I expect also that there would be continued cooperation around security issues. Issues of peace and security pose a big challenge."

Junta-led Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso officially quit the regional body on Wednesday after a yearlong notice.

Relations between ECOWAS and the departing trio of member states soured after a July 2023 coup in Niger, which led ECOWAS to threaten military intervention.

In 2023, the three states formed their own bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States, seeking closer ties with Russia.

Touray said ECOWAS plans to hold a technical session with the three countries to discuss the way forward.

Chris Kwaja, the Nigerian director at the United States Institute of Peace, said "there are so many issues, so I think a technical session of that nature is important to allow each party to weigh where it stands on the issue of separation."

Trade is one of them. Analysts say economic challenges may loom large for the three departing nations, especially regarding access to maritime ports to the south.

"The countries will get to a point where they will seek at the very least greater cooperation with ECOWAS countries, as they would require access to the port," said Olawale. "The three countries are landlocked, so they'll continue to depend on the subregion for trade partnership to ensure that they continue to have a booming economy. My predictions are that the three countries are coming back to ECOWAS, perhaps not in the short term."

In recent years, ECOWAS, which was founded to promote economic integration, has faced increasing challenges in maintaining stability across the region.

Kwaja said public sentiment toward ECOWAS is shifting because some citizens view the bloc as an entity that primarily protects the interests of regional leaders rather than the masses.

"ECOWAS was a bit detached from its citizens," said Kwaja. "Now a big lesson for ECOWAS should be to invest heavily in the people, back to the point about the ECOWAS agenda of moving away from an ECOWAS [of] state to an ECOWAS of the people, because the people constitute the pillar upon which ECOWAS is [sitting]."

The Sahel region has become the worlds deadliest terrorism hot spot, accounting for the highest number of terror-related deaths last year.

The outcome of the looming technical session remains uncertain, and many will be watching to see how ECOWAS moves past its most significant political crisis in decades.
Three Greek opposition parties vowed Friday to challenge the countrys center-right government with a censure motion over its handling of a deadly rail disaster nearly two years ago.

The pledge was prompted by mounting public anger over delays in the inquiry and allegations of a cover-up that the government strongly denies.

Fifty-seven people were killed  including college students returning from a holiday  when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train on Feb. 28, 2023, near Tempe in northern Greece.

On Sunday, relatives of those killed led protests in dozens of cities, directed at the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Apart from rallies held in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities, protests were also organized by Greek communities in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and other European cities.

Sokratis Famellos, leader of the left-wing Syriza party, said outside parliament that he sided with two other opposition parties, Pasok and the New Left, to seek a no-confidence vote.

A joint initiative by progressive parties for a censure motion is necessary today. The evidence is there, and society demands accountability, Famellos said Friday.

Although a censure motion is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the government, it could help forge bonds in Greeces fractured opposition. Lawmakers from the three parties confirmed they were involved in discussions to agree on the timing of the motion.

Investigations have faced delays, with critics accusing authorities of obstructing justice. While some railway officials have been charged, no senior political figures have been held accountable, further intensifying public scrutiny.

Speaking to ministers at a Cabinet meeting, Mitsotakis vowed to overcome the turbulence facing the government.

This difficult week comes to a close under the shadow of the Tempe tragedy, he said in a televised address. We are now entering the final stage of investigations into this deeply painful national trauma.

The controversy overshadowed an ongoing parliamentary process to elect a new president. A government-backed candidate, Constantine Tassoulas, failed to win the cross-party support needed to secure the presidency in a second round of voting in parliament Friday.

The 65-year-old former speaker of the assembly is expected to win in later rounds scheduled next month when the threshold is lowered.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby said Chad's military is ready to protect the country from any destabilization attempt as a January 31 deadline loomed for France to withdraw its troops. The last French troops left the N'djamena military base they occupied for about 70 years this week, continuing Frances reduced military presence in West Africa.

Chad's President Field Marshal Mahamat Idriss Deby says this weeks departure of the last French troops from the central African state signals a new dawn for Chad.

Deby spoke at the Sergeant Adji Kossei Military Base in Chad's capital, N'djamena, Friday, during a ceremony to mark the complete withdrawal of French troops before the January 31 deadline he gave Paris to pull out its troops.

The event, broadcast on state radio and TV, was attended by top military officials, government ministers, traditional rulers, diplomats and huge crowds of onlookers.

Twenty-six-year-old teacher Balkange Jean spoke to VOA via a messaging app from N'djamena Friday. He said he was delighted to see French troops leaving.

He said he does not understand why it took a long time for Chads government officials to order French troops out. He says French troops were only useful in Chad from June 1983 to December 1984, when France sent close to 4,000 troops to stop an invasion by Libyan military and Chad rebels.

French troops officially arrived in N'djamena to train the countrys young military during independence in 1960.

Deby said the forces remained, claiming France wanted to support Chad's air force against rebels. It stationed troops in N'djamena claiming it was helping Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to fight militant groups and terrorists operating within Sahel states.

State TV reports that the last French military planes and fighter aircraft left Chad Friday after handing over France's last military base in a military ceremony in N'Djamena Thursday.

Chad announced an end to military cooperation with France November 28. On December 10, several hundred of the more than 1,000 French troops began leaving, but on December 31, Deby ordered the troops to leave his country by January 31.

General Pascal Ianni, the commander of French forces in Africa, speaking on Chad state TV on Friday, said the withdrawal of French troops from several African countries, including Chad, enables France to adapt itself to a revolution that Africa and the world is facing. He said France has to reinvent its military ties in Africa, where dynamic and younger leaders are affecting several changes and bringing hope to their citizens.

French troops were also ordered out of the West African nations of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali following coups in the countries.

Last year, Senegal said it was negotiating the withdrawal of French forces before December of this year.

Djelassem Maibe Adolphe is a former member of Chads Movement for Peace, Reconstruction and Development, a former rebel group. He was granted amnesty and freed from prison by Deby in August.

He said French-speaking African states with young leaders tend to turn to Russia for military assistance because of growing anti-French sentiments. He said African countries should make sure they individually and collectively have strong militaries to protect their territories instead of thinking that they can always count on external support.

Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have shifted toward Russia by signing military deals and inviting Russian troops to train Africa militaries.

Chad says it is within its sovereign powers to negotiate military cooperation with any country of its choice, and that its troops are well trained to protect Chadians and their territory.
When Chinese startup DeepSeek released its AI model this month, it was hailed as a breakthrough, a sign that Chinas artificial intelligence companies could compete with their Silicon Valley counterparts using fewer resources.

The narrative was clear: DeepSeek had done more with less, finding clever workarounds to U.S. chip restrictions. However, that storyline has begun to shift.

OpenAI, the U.S.-based company behind ChatGPT, now claims DeepSeek may have improperly used its proprietary data to train its model, raising questions about whether DeepSeeks success was truly an engineering marvel.

In statements to several media outlets this week, OpenAI said it is reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have trained its AI by mimicking responses from OpenAIs models.

The process, known as distillation, is common among AI developers but is prohibited by OpenAIs terms of service, which forbid using its model outputs to train competing systems.

Some U.S. officials appear to support OpenAIs concerns. At his confirmation hearing this week, Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick accused DeepSeek of misusing U.S. technology to create a "dirt cheap" AI model.

"They stole things. They broke in. Theyve taken our IP," Lutnick said of China.

David Sacks, the White House czar for AI and cryptocurrency, was more measured, saying only that it is "possible" that DeepSeek had stolen U.S. intellectual property.

In an interview with the cable news network Fox News, Sacks added that there is "substantial evidence" that DeepSeek "distilled the knowledge out of OpenAIs models," adding that stronger efforts are needed to curb the rise of "copycat" AI systems.

At the center of the dispute is a key question about AIs future: how much control should companies have over their own AI models, when those programs were themselves built using data taken from others?

AI data fight

The question is especially relevant for OpenAI, which faces its own legal challenges. The company has been sued by several media companies and authors who accuse it of illegally using copyrighted material to train its AI models.

Justin Hughes, a Loyola Law School professor specializing in intellectual property, AI, and data rights, said OpenAIs accusations against DeepSeek are "deeply ironic," given the companys own legal troubles.

"OpenAI has had no problem taking everyone elses content and claiming its 'fair,'" Hughes told VOA in an email.

"If the reports are accurate that OpenAI violated other platforms terms of service to get the training data it has wanted, that would just add an extra layer of irony  dare we say hypocrisy  to OpenAI complaining about DeepSeek."

DeepSeek has not responded to OpenAIs accusations. In a technical paper released with its new chatbot, DeepSeek acknowledged that some of its models were trained alongside other open-source models  such as Qwen, developed by Chinas Alibaba, and Llama, released by Meta  according to Johnny Zou, a Hong Kong-based AI investment specialist.

However, OpenAI appears to be alleging that DeepSeek improperly used its closed-source models  which cannot be freely accessed or used to train other AI systems.

"Its quite a serious statement," said Zou, who noted that OpenAI has not yet presented evidence of wrongdoing by DeepSeek.

Proving improper distillation may be difficult without disclosing details on how its own models were trained, Zou added.

Even if OpenAI presents concrete proof, its legal options may be limited. Although Zou noted that the company could pursue a case against DeepSeek for violating its terms of service, not all experts believe such a claim would hold up in court.

"Even assuming DeepSeek trained on OpenAI's data, I don't think OpenAI has much of a case," said Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School who specializes in intellectual property and technology.

Even though AI models often have restrictive terms of service, "no model creator has actually tried to enforce these terms with monetary penalties or injunctive relief," Lemley wrote in a recent paper with co-author Peter Henderson.

The paper argues that these restrictions may be unenforceable, since the materials they aim to protect are "largely not copyrightable."

"There are compelling reasons for many of these provisions to be unenforceable: they chill good faith research, constrain competition, and create quasi-copyright ownership where none should exist," the paper noted.

OpenAIs main legal argument would likely be breach of contract, said Hughes. Even if that were the case, though, he added, "good luck enforcing that against a Chinese company without meaningful assets in the United States."

Possible options

The financial stakes are adding urgency to the debate. U.S. tech stocks dipped Monday after following news of DeepSeeks advances, though they later regained some ground.

Commerce nominee Lutnick suggested that further government action, including tariffs, could be used to deter China from copying advanced AI models.

But speaking the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to take a different view, surprising some industry insiders with an optimistic take on DeepSeeks breakthrough.

The Chinese companys low-cost model, Trump said, was "very much a positive development" for AI, because "instead of spending billions and billions, youll spend less, and youll come up with hopefully the same solution."

If DeepSeek has succeeded in building a relatively cheap and competitive AI model, that may be bad for those with investment  or stock options  in current generative AI companies, Hughes said.

"But it might be good for the rest of us," he added, noting that until recently it appeared that only the existing tech giants "had the resources to play in the generative AI sandbox."

"If DeepSeek disproved that, we should hope that what can be done by a team of engineers in China can be done by a similarly resourced team of engineers in Detroit or Denver or Boston," he said.
Three more Israeli hostages and five Thai workers are back in Israel after being freed as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem reports there were emotional reunions, but their liberation did not go smoothly. Video includes images from Ricki Rosen.
The European Union is linking Pakistans access to European trading markets as a duty-free exporter to progress on the countrys most pressing human rights issues.

Olof Skoog, the EUs special human rights envoy, issued a warning Friday following a weeklong visit to the South Asian nation, where authorities have faced increasing accusations of suppressing civil liberties, political dissent, and free speech.

The trade benefits under [the human rights development plan known as] GSP+ depend on the progress made on addressing a list of issues, including on human rights, and tangible reforms remain essential, a post-visit EU statement quoted Skoog as saying.

He referred to the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus, commonly known as GSP+, which grants developing countries, including Pakistan, tariff-free access to the EU market in exchange for its adherence to specific human and labor rights obligations.

The EU statement noted that its envoy highlighted areas of concern during meetings with Pakistani leaders, including blasphemy laws, enforced disappearances, freedom of expression, media independence, impunity for rights violations, due process, fair trials, civic space, and the death penalty.

As we approach the midterm of the current monitoring cycle, we encourage Pakistan to continue on its reform path as it prepares for reapplication under the upcoming new GSP+ regulation, Skoog stated.

The declaration noted that Pakistan has become the largest beneficiary of GSP+ since the implementation of the trading plan in 2014, with Pakistani businesses increasing their exports to the EU market by 108%.

The EU envoys visit coincided with the swift passage of controversial amendments by Pakistan's parliament this week to cybercrime laws that critics warned would curtail freedom of speech, not only for the conventional media but also for social media users.

The legislation criminalizes the intentional spread of false news with prison terms of up to three years, a fine of up to $7,100, or both.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs coalition government, accused of growing censorship, has defended the law, saying it is necessary to limit the spread of disinformation.

Pakistani and international free media advocacy groups, along with human rights activists, have condemned the amended law and are calling for its immediate repeal.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that the law threatens the fundamental rights of Pakistani citizens and journalists while granting the government and security agencies sweeping powers to impose complete control over internet freedom in the country.
The White House says President Donald Trump is going to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea, although analysts say that is easier said than done.

White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told VOA Korean via email this week that President Trump had a good relationship with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un, and that Trumps mix of toughness and diplomacy led to the first-ever leader-level commitment to complete denuclearization.

Trump and Kim met three times in 2018-19, in Singapore, Hanoi and over the inter-Korean border at Panmunjom.

Trump, who has recently called North Korea a nuclear power, said in an interview with Fox News last week that he would reach out to Kim again, adding, He liked me, and I got along with him.

Commitment to denuclearization

Former U.S. government officials say there is no doubt that Trump is serious about resuming talks with Kim.

Susan Thornton, a former senior U.S. diplomat for Asian affairs, told VOA Korean on Wednesday via email it seems clear that President Trump plans to pick up where he left off with Kim Jong Un in his first administration.



Thornton, who was acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Trump administration, said Trump would like to hold Kim and North Korea to the 2018 Singapore joint statement that included Kims commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.



However, much has changed since then, and Kims hand is stronger, so it wont be easy, Thornton said, referring to Pyongyangs development of more advanced weapons.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported Wednesday that Kim said it was indispensable to bolster nuclear forces, as North Korea continues to face confrontations with the most vicious, hostile countries.

Last Saturday, the North test-fired what it said were sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles. Kim, who inspected the test launch, said the countrys war deterrence means are being perfected more thoroughly, according to KCNA.

Evans Revere, former acting secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA Korean on the phone Wednesday that Kim would agree to come back to the table if he believed reengaging with Washington could help him attain any of his own goals with respect to his nuclear and missile programs and relations with the United States.

Revere is skeptical that any of Kims goals would include his regimes denuclearization.

The North Koreans might dangle the possibility of a discussion about denuclearization to attract the United States into a dialogue, but it would not be a serious proposal, he said. Quite frankly, they are determined to keep their weapons, keep their capabilities, which they regard as essential to their own existence.

Daunting task

Frank Aum, a senior expert on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace who worked at the Department of Defense from 2010 to 2017, said denuclearization is not a realistic goal to achieve in the near or medium term.



The best thing Trump can do to increase the odds of North Koreas engagement is to resolve Russias war in Ukraine, which would decrease North Koreas leverage and signal that a U.S. offer better than the one in Hanoi might be on the table, Aum said in an email to VOA Korean.

North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received military or financial assistance, according to U.S. and South Korean officials.

The February 2019 talks, in which Trump and Kim met for the second time, collapsed after Kim asked for full lifting of sanctions in exchange for the dismantling of the countrys main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang. Trump demanded more should be done on Kims end.

Aum said Kim would likely not have budged from his position then.



Trump may probe to see if he can get Kim to accept partial sanctions relief instead, like he tried at Hanoi, or offer more for Yongbyon, Aum said. It seems clear that Kim will not offer any more security concessions than Yongbyon.

Sydney Seiler, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA Korean via email on Wednesday that for now, it is unlikely any meeting, if it takes place, will reasonably be related to denuclearization.

Trump will likely seek to keep the ultimate goal of denuclearization alive while exploring ways in which to reduce the threat, Seiler said.

Referring to recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the failure of sanctions to halt the North Korean nuclear program, Seiler speculated that sanctions relief may be offered for significant steps in the new talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Seiler added that military exercises and extended deterrence may also be reduced in terms of their frequency, volume and scale, in exchange for a halt or slowing of Kim's long-range missile launches and nuclear tests.

In June 2018, Trump decided to suspend major military exercises with South Korea in an apparent gesture of good faith, right after his first meeting with Kim in Singapore. It raised some fears among South Koreans that such a move could weaken defense against the North.
Foreign dignitaries and officials are beginning to travel to Syria to meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the country's newly appointed transitional president.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani became the first head of state to visit Damascus, Syria's capital, and meet with Sharaa.

The Qatari royal court said the emir discussed with Sharaa "the urgent need to form a government that represents all segments of the Syrian people."

Before being appointed to his current role, Sharaa was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, that spearheaded the campaign in December to wrest control of the country from President Bashar al-Assad. Assad fled to Russia, ending more than half a century of oppressive rule by Bashar and his late father, Hafez.

Qatar has been a longtime supporter of Syria's opposition. The foreign ministers of both countries held a press conference Thursday.

"The Syrian people won't forget Qatar's committed position while we open a new chapter in a new Syria," Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani said.

Qatar is looking forward to providing Syria with additional aid in the electrical and infrastructure arenas, Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed al-Khulaifi said.

Promise of inclusive government

On Wednesday, the commanders of the military factions that toppled the former regime named Sharaa, who has served as the de facto head of government since the fall of Assad, as president during the formation of a new government.

Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, is facing the daunting task of forming a temporary legislative council for the transitional period, as the previous parliament has been dissolved.

Syria's constitution has also been annulled, and a new charter will be adopted. No timeline for the creation of a new parliament and constitution has been announced.

Sharaa has promised to create an inclusive government and eventually elections. The elections could take as long as four years to arrange, Sharaa said, according to Reuters.

Russians, Palestinians visit

On Tuesday, delegations from Russia and the Palestinian Authority arrived in Syria. The Russian delegation included Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Alexander Lavrentiev, Russia's special envoy for Syria, according to RIA Novosti. There was no official government comment on the itinerary of the Russian officials. However, the Russians were expected to meet with Sharaa and Syria's foreign minister, according to the semiofficial Al Watan newspaper.

Syria has not cut all ties with Russia, where Assad is living in exile. Russian troops and assets remain in Syria, but they have all been relocated to Hmeimim Air Base, The Associated Press reported.

A Palestinian Authority delegation that included Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa was in Syria on Tuesday to meet with Sharaa, but no details have been released.

At one point, the U.S. placed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa, according to the AP. The bounty was removed recently after a U.S. delegation met him in Damascus.

In a video released after the meeting with the Syrian factions, Sharaa said one of his top priorities would be filling "in a legitimate and legal way" Syria's government. Another priority, he said, will be "maintaining civil peace by seeking transitional justice and preventing revenge attacks" due to Assad's reign.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
The militant group Hamas has announced, and Israel has confirmed, the identity of three hostages to be released Saturday under a ceasefire agreement to halt more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

The agreement also sets up exchanges of hostages for prisoners. Israel has agreed to release 90 prisoners on Saturday, the fourth such exchange.

The hostages include Yarden Bibas, 35, who was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel along with his wife, Shiri, and their two young boys, Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 2. The fate of his family is uncertain.

Also to be released is U.S.-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel, 65, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. Aviva Siegel was released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.

The third was identified as French Israeli hostage Ofer Kalderon, 54, who was captured by the militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his two children. His ex-wife, Hadas Kalderon, was also taken captive but was released with their children during the 2023 hostage exchange.

The U.S., Britain and other Western nations have designated Hamas as a terror group.

Hamas released eight hostages, including three Israelis and five Thai nationals, on Thursday. Later in the day, Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners, including 32 serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

With the ceasefire deal in place, more than 423,000 Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza. The Israeli military ordered them out of the territory in the earliest stages of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.

Food aid increases

At a news conference Friday in Geneva, the U.N.s World Food Program provided an update on efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Country Director Antoine Renard told reporters the agency has delivered more than 32,000 metric tons of food into Gaza since the ceasefire agreement began on Jan. 19.

He said that amount was more than twice what was delivered in December and three times what was delivered in October. Renard said the WFP has reached 300,000 people so far.

In Lebanon

Meanwhile, during a visit to Lebanon on Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, called for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Following talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Abdelatty told reporters, Egypt is very keen on confirming the need for a full and complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, without taking away a single inch of Lebanese sovereignty and territory.

Under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal announced Nov. 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and the militant group Hezbollah was to move north of the Litani River by Jan. 26. Like Hamas, Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Israeli forces have remained in more than a dozen villages past the deadline. The United States and Lebanon announced Sunday the deadline to meet the ceasefire terms had been extended to Feb. 18.

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has conducted near-daily operations in southern Lebanon, including airstrikes and shelling. They accuse Hezbollah of violating ceasefire terms by attempting to move weapons.

In statements posted to its social media accounts, the Israel Defense Forces reported overnight Thursday its fighter jets launched several attacks against what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanons Bekaa region, which it said posed a threat to the Israeli home front and IDF forces.

The IDF statement said the targets included a military site with underground infrastructure for the development and production of weapons and transit infrastructure on the Syrian-Lebanon border through which, the IDF said, Hezbollah was trying to transfer weapons.

In the West Bank

The IDF also reported Friday that its elite Sayeret Haruv fighting unit has, for the past nine days, been conducting an operation to thwart terrorism in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

In a report on its website, the IDF said the fighters eliminated terrorists in clashes and made numerous arrests. They located weapons, exposed and destroyed more than five bomb laboratories. The Sayeret Haruv unit specializes in operations in the West Bank as well as Gaza.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
At a time when many American businesses are pulling away from human rights concerns generally and DEI specifically, Posners book explores how businesses can address inherent human rights challenges while remaining profitable and competitive. He draws on real-world examples and his 11 years at NYU to advocate for long-term, ethical decision-making over short-term gains.

For companies operating globally, these issues arent going away. They arent dependent on one election cycle or another  Leaders of big global businesses have two choices: they can avert attention and prioritize short-term gains, or they can think about what it means to run a company thats prepared for the future. That means building systems to address these challenges responsibly.

I imagine there are many C-suite conversations happening right now about these exact issues, says Posner, the Jerome Kohlber Professor of Ethics at New York Universitys Stern School of Business.

This is the American business environment in which Posners book makes the case for the vital importance of integrating human rights into corporate strategy.

Meanwhile, several major U.S. brands have announced intentions to scale down their DEI initiatives since the election. These include retail giants such as Target and Walmart, and manufacturers like Boeing and Ford Motor Company. Metas Mark Zuckerberg  in addition to announcing an end to Facebook fact checkers  ended its DEI programs around hiring, training and supplier diversity.

Since his inauguration on January 20, Trump has signed at least three executive orders ending DEI programs in the federal government, for federal contractors, and in the U.S. military.

By the time Posners book, Conscience Incorporated: Pursue Profits While Protecting Human Rights, hit the shelves last month, president re-elect Donald Trump was already promising a newer, harsher crackdown on DEI policies  both in the federal government and in organizations, like universities, who take federal money.

Six months ago, as Mike Posner finished the writing on his latest book, the U.S. Presidential elections were still very much unsettled. Vice President Kamala Harris officially entered the race on July 21, energizing Democrats who had largely resigned themselves to defeat.

Mike Posner, Jerome Kohlber Professor of Ethics at New York Universitys Stern School of Business, authored a new book that makes the case on why businesses should protect human rights in their strategies and operations. Courtesy photo

Story Continues

Poets&Quants recently spoke with Posner about his book, its timing, and the responsibility of business schools to prepare future leaders for the complexities of operating responsibly in a globalized world. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Lets begin with the inspiration for Conscience Incorporated. Why did you feel this book was necessary to write at this time?

Ive been at NYU Stern for 11 years, where I built the first center on business and human rights at a business school. This book is, in many ways, a distillation of our experiences and our commitment to the idea that we are pro-business but also want high standards. Businesses can and should be part of the solution to the challenges we face.

Companies need to make a profit and remain competitive. But business leaders also need to keep their eyes open to the inherent challenges in how they make money. The book explores the idea that, whether in manufacturing, fishing, farming, mining, construction, or tech, human rights challenges come with the business model. Instead of looking the other way, companies should be mindful of these challenges and find practical, realistic ways to address them while asserting responsibility for their actions.

The concept of conscience refers to the moral or ethical ability to distinguish right from wrong. Good business leaders, in my judgment, are those who can make judgments based on whats right and wrong and then act accordingly to ensure their companies operate responsibly.

Mike Posner, founder and director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at NYU

What are some standout examples of companies that are doing this, maybe even a surprising example?

There are many companies that have shown strong leadership on these issues. Part of the book celebrates companies that do the right thing, even when it may mean losing a business opportunity in the short term.

Some examples are easier to understand, like Patagonia, which is essentially a family-owned company that has become almost a nonprofit. They put significant resources into environmental causes. While commendable, its somewhat expected given their structure. On the other hand, larger companies like Microsoft or Apple operate in highly competitive spaces with complex relationships but still manage to make unexpected, ethical decisions.

Take Microsoft, for example. A few years ago, they acquired LinkedIn. LinkedIn was under heavy pressure from the Chinese government, particularly regarding its social media component. Microsoft made the business decision to turn LinkedIn China into a resume-only service, effectively stepping away from potential business opportunities. They publicly stated that the governmental and business environment in China made it impossible to operate the social media side of the platform.

Microsoft also decided, about eight years ago, to stop selling facial recognition technology to police. They acknowledged that the technology wasnt yet reliable, performing better for white men like me but less so for women and people of color. They argued that this wasnt an area where they should be contributing until the technology and its use were more fully developed in collaboration with industry and government. These are long-term, ethical business judgments by a successful company that could have chosen the easier path for a slightly higher profit.

Another example is Coca-Cola. When Deval Patrick became general counsel, Coca-Cola faced significant controversy regarding its bottling plant in Colombia, where two union leaders were killed on the factory floor. This led to a public campaign in the U.S., and Coca-Cola products were banned from 100 universities. Patrick took a stand, ultimately resigning from the company over the issue.

His stance helped prompt leadership changes at Coca-Cola, including the hiring of Ed Potter, who had a labor background. Potter established a unit within Coca-Cola to oversee the well-being of workers in bottling plants worldwide. He hired his own team and reported directly to the CEO. Thats what leadership looks like  prioritizing ethical practices and actively working to improve how business is conducted.

Your book comes at an interesting time, in light of the re-election of Donald Trump. Do you think companies are pulling back on progress made, or are U.S. companies continuing to move ahead on their human rights goals?

I completed the book six months ago, so its not focused on our recent election. I dont think the word Trump even appears in the book  Id have to do a word search to confirm that. That said, I have no doubt that companies will feel compelled to back off on some of the things I write about. The social part of ESG investing, DEI initiatives  these are areas where the new administration has come in strongly and said, We dont believe in this. Companies with government contracts or those regulated by the government will be looking over their shoulders, wondering what this means for them.

New York University Stern School of Business

However, theres countervailing pressure from Europe. Over the last five years, Europe has introduced a range of new regulations, some already in effect, others coming into effect in the next year or two, that apply to large companies doing business there. If youre General Motors, Tesla, Walmart, or any other big company with a European presence, these laws apply to you. For instance, companies selling products in Germany are subject to the German supply chain law. Tech companies face the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, or the Due Diligence Directive, which all 27 EU member states will have to adopt into local legislation.

For companies operating globally, these issues arent going away. They arent dependent on one election cycle or another. Were in the 21st century, an era of globalization. Leaders of big global businesses have two choices: they can avert attention and prioritize short-term gains, or they can think about what it means to run a company thats prepared for the future. That means building systems to address these challenges responsibly.

I imagine there are many C-suite conversations happening right now about these exact issues. My job  and the job of business educators  is to prepare students for these challenges. I tell my students that there arent always clear right or wrong answers, but I want them to consider the questions and challenges.

Theres talk about shifting the discussion from doing the right thing for goods sake, to making the business case that its also profitable. Is that as true for human rights as it might be for areas like climate change?

Its a good question. Honestly, its much harder for human rights. What I tell business leaders  and my students  is that if your metric is return on investment for the next quarter, Im not going to help you. What Im saying is that to be a good, strong, sustainable, and responsible company, these are things you need to address in the long term.

Focusing on human rights will benefit companies over time. Youll recruit better talent, improve retention rates, and be prepared for a world where these issues are getting increasing public attention and more regulation, particularly from Europe. The key is to prepare now, be ahead of the curve, and not wait until its too late.

That said, I cant promise  and it wouldnt be honest to claim  that doing this will boost your return on investment between now and June. Thats not the case Im making. But these actions are essential for building a company ready to thrive in the future.

What are some of the obstacles companies face when trying to implement better human rights practices, and what are some of the proposals in the book to address these challenges?

One of the central points of the book is that different industries face different human rights challenges, so its important to avoid generalizations. For example, the challenges in agriculture, farming, or fishing differ significantly from those in manufacturing, mining, or construction  particularly in regions like the Gulf, where migrant labor is prevalent. The book focuses on breaking these challenges down, moving away from abstraction, and identifying specific human rights issues within each industry. From there, it explores how to establish industry standards and metrics to achieve better outcomes.

This isnt about having a sustainability committee, publishing a CSR report, or checking boxes. Its about understanding how a company makes money and what it means to do so responsibly. Take electric vehicle batteries as an example. The batteries that power EVs and provide a 300-mile range require cobalt to prevent them from catching fire. Around 80% of the worlds cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While much of this mining is mechanized, 20 to 25% comes from artisanal mines  informal sites next to large mechanized operations. Families, including children, dig in unsafe conditions, and there are an estimated 25,000 children working in these mines.

One initiative highlighted in the book is a pilot project by a Swiss trading company, Trafigura, which sought to formalize these artisanal mines. Though currently suspended due to challenges in the Congo, the project aimed to improve safety, prevent child labor, and empower women to work in mines where cultural superstitions previously excluded them. By increasing income for families, this also enabled more children to attend school. While its a business-smart approach, it requires upfront investment and long-term commitment.

Similar examples exist in farming, fishing, and construction, but they all require companies to recognize the problems tied to their business models and take responsibility.

The book argues that human rights should become a measurable business priority, just like return on investment, worker retention, or productivity. When businesses care about something, they measure it and improve. Human rights need to be treated with the same seriousness, ensuring that outcomes and performance guide decision-making rather than superficial gestures like filling out forms or opening offices.

What kind of movement have you seen during your time at NYU and with the center you created? Are more businesses moving toward human rights work? What does that trend look like to you?

Its not a linear trend. There are certainly more companies today than 10, 15, or 20 years ago that recognize the relevance of human rights issues. In fact, I think businesses are often ahead of business schools in understanding this. But finding the right path is challenging, and its especially difficult to lead in this area if youre standing alone.

One example I discuss in the book is the creation of the Fair Labor Association, which Ive chaired in my spare time. It began 25 years ago during the Clinton administration, with Labor Secretary Robert Reichs support. It brought together stakeholders from the apparel industry, unions, NGOs, and universities  groups with significant dissent and anxiety about the process. Despite the odds, it survived. Today, the Fair Labor Association includes 60 apparel companies, along with big agriculture companies in a second wave.

Weve developed standards, metrics, and ongoing assessments for evaluation. Companies like Adidas, Nike, Lululemon, and LOreal are part of it. Theyre taking risks by exposing themselves to greater scrutiny, but they understand that it makes them better in the long run. To me, thats the model  whether its a multi-stakeholder voluntary initiative like the Fair Labor Association or the government-led efforts were now seeing in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

The key is establishing industry standards, real metrics, meaningful evaluation, and accountability.

When you say that businesses are ahead of business schools in this regard, who is your book for? Is it for aspiring C-suite leaders, business professors, or MBAs? Who do you think benefits most?

All of the above. Part of the book is written with business leaders in mind, as I know many are struggling with these issues  they often reach out to me. I wanted to provide them with practical examples and illustrations of what has worked and why. Each chapter includes a way forward section with lessons learned and recommendations.

But the book is also aimed at business educators and students. Im planning a tour of around 15 business schools across the U.S. and Europe to engage with students and faculty, encouraging them to incorporate these ideas. You dont necessarily need to create a dedicated center like we have at NYU, with nine or ten people focused on this work. It might fit into an operations class, a supply chain class, or even a finance class.

Weve also created a network of business schools  primarily European but with participants in the U.S. and the developing world. This is a subject for 21st-century business educators, and Ive found students are interested  not all of them, but those who take my class find it eye-opening. In some ways, its like teaching business ethics or professional responsibility, but it goes far beyond that. This isnt about preaching morality or encouraging people to emulate figures like Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa. Its a practical subject about how businesses operate, the challenges they face, and what they can do to mitigate, mediate, or even eliminate risks in some cases.

You mentioned how new technology, like ChatGPT, can both exacerbate and help solve human rights issues. Are there any examples youd like to highlight?

Weve probably done more work in the tech space than in any other sector. As you said, the opportunities are immense. For example, I recently spent five days in Davos at the World Economic Forum, and you couldnt walk 50 feet without hearing about exciting new dimensions of AI. Companies like Palantir, Accenture, Amazon, Google, and Meta were all showcasing their innovations. The current zeitgeist is all about the transformative potential of generative AI, chat technology, and beyond.

Im convinced that technology will bring about many positive changes. But part of our job is to ask: What does this mean for democracy? What does it mean when harmful content is embedded in social media platforms and AI applications? There are too many individuals exploiting these technologies for nefarious purposes. The challenge is getting big tech companies to oversee their systems in ways that address these problems while upholding free speech.

I believe in open debate, but there are limits  we shouldnt be debating whether the Holocaust happened, whether bullying a young girl in school is acceptable, or whether violent extremism should be promoted. Right now, were at a dangerous point where technology has outpaced our ability to regulate or establish guardrails.

The solution involves a combination of companies stepping up to take more responsibility and governments figuring out their role. European governments are ahead of the U.S. in addressing these issues, and I expect significant discussions about the future of the information technology environment over the next decade. Things are changing quickly, and there are valid reasons to be anxious about where were headed.

Since we last talked, have there been any interesting developments with the Center For Human Rights and Business?

There are two areas of progress Im particularly proud of. First, one of my colleagues, Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat, conducted a report on the gaming world. While Im not a gamer, 3 billion people are involved in gaming and its adjacent chat sites. Some of these chat rooms are rife with misogyny, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and violent extremism. Several mass killings, like those in Christchurch, Buffalo, and Highland Park, were perpetrated by individuals who had been active in these spaces.

Initially, companies were defensive, claiming this wasnt their responsibility since the conversations were private. But we argued that these were private conversations happening on their platforms, their real estate, so they needed to take some responsibility. Marianna has since formed a coalition of companies, academics, government representatives, and NGOs to address the problem. Its early days, but the goal is to collaborate across sectors to determine what actions the industry and government can take. I believe well make real progress here.

The second area involves a year-and-a-half-long project with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft on privacy issues in cloud computing. Cloud services have become a significant revenue source, and all three companies recognized the need for privacy principles. Specifically, they wanted to prevent their sales teams from offering competitors accounts greater access to individual data in places like Saudi Arabia. The result was a two-page statement of principles outlining how theyll approach privacy issues. Its far from solving the problem, but it was an acknowledgment from three major companies that this issue matters. It also served to guide their employees internally, as much as the rest of the world.

You also emphasized the importance of integrating human rights into business education when we last connected. Have you seen any movement on that?

Seven years ago, my colleague at the University of Geneva, Dorothee Baumann-Pauly, and I started an annual meeting with professors  and sometimes deans  interested in human rights. Weve held this meeting every year since, and now we have participation from about 70 schools in 35 countries. Dorothee has since created a center at the University of Geneva Management School and continues to collaborate with us.

Were also working with the Global Business School Network, which includes over 150 business schools worldwide. Through their Human Rights Initiative, were coordinating efforts to promote these ideas. Theres a lot of interest, especially among younger professors entering the field who are eager to engage with this topic.

That said, not every school needs to create a dedicated center like NYU did. There are plenty of ways to integrate human rights into existing courses  management, organizational behavior, tech, supply chain, and finance. It doesnt even have to be a standalone course. For instance, in a supply chain course, which typically focuses on bottlenecks and logistics, why not spend a couple of hours discussing the workers in those supply chains?

Weve developed a toolkit that provides examples of curricula, topics, and case studies to help educators incorporate these concepts. On the case study front, Ive written about a dozen for my courses. Interestingly, someone at the International Labor Organization shared them with the University of Qatar Business School in Doha. Three professors there decided, If they can do this at NYU, why cant we?

Last September, I spent a week in Doha working with them after months of collaboration. Theyre now finalizing six to nine case studies focused on the Gulf, written in both Arabic and English. If this can happen in Qatar, theres no reason it cant happen at Wharton, Harvard, or Stanford. Its all about finding ways to engage educators and students on these critical issues.

Would you say youre optimistic about the direction business is heading in regarding human rights?

I am a chronic optimist. Ive worked in human rights for decades, and my optimism doesnt come from ignoring the challenges  I see them quite clearly. But I also see the inevitability of these issues becoming too important to ignore. More and more businesses are recognizing that they need to address these concerns. This isnt going away.

Investment houses are also catching on. Women, millennials, and Gen Z  the next generation of investors  care more about these issues than older generations, including people like me. So, one way or another, these topics are rising to the surface.

I firmly believe we can demonstrate that businesses can make a profit, remain financially successful, and still do the right thing regarding human rights. It requires a long-term view and a recognition that progress wont always be linear. But Im confident the message of the book  that this can and must be done  will resonate. Its critical that addressing these issues becomes a business priority, and just as important for business schools to recognize their role in preparing future leaders to tackle them.

DONT MISS: GRADS OF THIS UNIQUE PROGRAM LEAVE WITH A MASTERS  AND A STARTUP AND THE P&Q INTERVIEW: HIMANSHU RAI, DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE

The post Books For MBAs: Amid DEI Backlash, NYU Prof Makes Business Case For Human Rights appeared first on Poets&Quants.
Leaders in Africas conflict-hit Lake Chad region have promised to fight illegal gun and drug trafficking, which were part of the discussions during their three-day gathering focused on stabilization, sustainability and development.

The governors of Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad have concluded an annual Lake Chad Basin Governors' Forum summit in Nigerias northeastern Borno State with local officials, traditional leaders, civil society groups and humanitarian partners also in attendance.

This year's summit, the fifth since its inception in 2018, was hosted by Nigerias Yobe State.

During the meeting, authorities praised ongoing joint efforts against terror groups, including Boko Haram and its offshoot ISWAP, in the region and pledged to intensify efforts to eliminate the remnants.

ISWAP stands for the Islamic State in West Africa Province.

The governors also resolved to combat illicit arms trade and drug trafficking while enhancing resilience initiatives to mitigate climate change and rehabilitate displaced populations.

Ambassador Mamman Nuhu, executive secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), said discussions over the three days were fruitful and robust.

This gathering has reaffirmed our shared commitment to sustainable peace, regional stability and the prosperity of the community we serve, Nuhu said.

The Lake Chad governors also pledged to establish free-trade zones to foster economic recovery and integrate more women and youth into stabilization and resilience programs.

But officials raised concerns over the suspension of support for Nigers National Window of the Regional Stabilization Facility (RSF), warning it could hinder regional progress.

Lake Chad, a vast but shallow body of water surrounded by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, provides livelihoods for millions through agriculture.

However, decades of climate change and poor water management have caused the lakes surface area to shrink by an alarming 90%, increasing competition for scarce resources.

In recent years, Islamist militant groups have exploited the instability, using the region as a recruitment ground.

Matthias Naab, director of the Regional Service Center for Africa at the United Nations Development Program, said participants at the community level added a great deal to the forum.

"The richness of the engagements in the pre-forums with civil society organizations and traditional leaders has been a highlight of this forum, Naab said. Their perspectives grounded in community realities and have strengthened our dialogue and reinforced the principle that stabilize, resilience and recovery must be shaped by the voices of those most affected."

The governors' forum also emphasized the need to rehabilitate and reintegrate former fighters and called for member state support and collaboration with traditional leaders.

The forum elected Nigerias Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, as its new chair.
Many people across Africa are shocked and worried about the 90-day pause on U.S.-funded foreign aid and a stop-work order on existing grants and contracts worldwide.

While the orders have been modified to allow waivers for life-saving humanitarian assistance, many are struggling to assess the implications of U.S. President Donald Trumps decision.

The Trump administration says that the United States spends about $40 billion every year in aid, and that its time to review and prioritize Americas core national interest one dollar at a time.

Most development and humanitarian assistance is channeled through the U.S. Agency for International Development through various programs, working with individuals, communities, organizations and countries across the globe.

In Kenya, while many organizations directly affected are keeping quiet, one employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity said hes grateful for what American aid has accomplished over the years.

We've been having success stories, he said.

The employee is among the hundreds who received a stop-work order. He said he is most concerned for the beneficiaries of programs hes been associated with over the years.

These are families who were anticipating they could get support.  This will stop.  There are children who are HIV-positive, and we always collaborate with their facilities to ensure that they are viral-suppressed. Now theyll be of high viral load, the man said.

On Tuesday, the administration issued waivers on existing life-saving humanitarian assistance programs, including core life-saving medicine, which may apply to health programs such as PEPFAR, the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which works with partners in 55 countries worldwide. One of them is South Africa, where 7.8 million people have HIV/AIDS.

Asanda Ngoasheng, an independent political analyst from South Africa, said the nation is the biggest beneficiary of the PEPFAR program, and has been for many years.  It will have dire consequences for people in the region because there are some people who come to South Africa to receive some medication.  So, its a medical disaster in waiting, effectively, and a humanitarian disaster in waiting.

Addressing a press conference broadcast live on SABC on Wednesday, South African Health Minister Dr. Pakishe Motsoaledi said he hopes withdrawn aid will not affect antiretroviral treatments.

One thing we want to ascertain is that nobody must stop taking ARVs, Motsoaledi said. That will be devastating. ... When you are on ARVs and you stop, there will be serious trouble.

Through PEPFAR, the U.S. has invested over $110 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response, saving over 25 million lives and preventing millions of HIV infections since it was established more than two decades ago by President George W. Bush, according to U.S. State Department data.

There are other programs that cant afford a funding break, said Dr. Akila Udoji, manager of Karu Primary Healthcare Center, a Nigerian facility sponsored by USAID.

Tuberculosis diagnosis treatment, if that funding is cut off, it will greatly affect the program because there wont be any diagnosis of such cases and then the medicines, people cant afford them, Udoji said. And if they cant afford it, it will lead to serious outbreaks of these diseases.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, an advocacy group, welcomed the administrations review of foreign assistance programs in a statement but expressed some concerns.

Former commander of U.S. Central Command Anthony Zinni, who is co-chair of the council of nearly 270 retired admirals and generals, warned that the freeze takes the U.S. off the playing field and could directly affect U.S. military operations overseas.

VOA requested interviews with the USAID offices in Kenya, Nigeria and the U.S. but did not receive replies.

Meanwhile, the 90-day freeze is already paying dividends, a statement released by the U.S. State Department said this week.

It said the review has already prevented over $1 billion in spending not aligned with the administrations America First agenda, including programs providing certain contraceptive, climate justice, clean energy and abortion programs and services.

VOAs Kate Bartlett in South Africa and Timothy Obiezu in Nigeria contributed to this report.
Myanmars rebel groups made historic gains last year, the fourth of a civil war set off by a military coup in February 2021, seizing wide swathes of the countrys west and northeast and overrunning two of the regimes regional command bases for the first time.

As the war enters its fifth bloody year Saturday, experts tell VOA the rebels are positioned to keep gaining ground in 2025, closing in on more cities and weapons factories vital to the military despite mounting efforts by China, which has billions of dollars invested in the country, to keep the junta afloat.

The military has lost significant control, and in 2025, based on that trajectory over late 2023 and 2024  it will still continue to lose control, said Matthew Arnold, an independent analyst tracking the war.

A BBC World Service study found the junta in full control of only 21% of Myanmar as of mid-November, a patchwork of rebel groups holding 42% and both sides contesting the rest.

With the ground they gained over the past year, Arnold says the rebels have transformed the war by linking up what were mostly pockets of armed resistance into long stretches across the country which the military can no longer penetrate overland.

The military does not face rebels in this valley or that valley, or this mountaintop or that mountaintop. They say these rebels can now attack us across hundreds and hundreds of miles of contiguous territory where they have absolutely full control, he said. It just fundamentally shifted the nature of warfare in the country.

The rebels latest gains have not been even across the country.

In northeast Myanmars Shan state, China pressured one of the largest rebel groups in the area, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), into a ceasefire with the military in mid-January after the group had made major advances. Experts tell VOA that China has also started leaning on Myanmars largest rebel group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), to cut back on weapons sales to other groups.

Both the MNDAA and UWSA keep close ties with Beijing, and while the latter are not fighting the Myanmar military themselves, they have been a major source of arms and ammunition for rebel groups that are.

Without their help, other groups have been forced to scale back their push toward Myanmars second largest city, Mandalay, which remains in junta control, says Min Zaw Oo, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

He said the squeeze on munitions has even helped the junta reverse gains another group, the Karenni National Defense Force, had been making in Kayah state, just south of Shan.

They had to stop the offensive and they had to abandon, and now they are losing ground. One of the key factors was they  acquired less ammunition and weapons from UWSA, said Min Zaw Oo.

Elsewhere, though, rebel groups have continued to press ahead, even defying Beijings interests.

In Myanmars far north, the capture of rare earth mines that supply China by the Kachin Independence Army in November compelled China to resume some of the border trade it had cut off to try and slow down the KIAs march south, said Min Zaw Oo.

In the west, the Arakan Army (AA) has nearly completed its sweep across Rakhine state and surrounded an oil and gas terminal on the shores of the Bay of Bengal central to Chinas energy projects in Myanmar.

Arnold and Min Zaw Oo say the AA is now pushing farther east with other allied groups into Ayeyarwady, Bago and Magwe regions in Myanmars center. Magwe, they add, with its many factories churning out weapons for the military, would be an especially big prize for the rebels and a painful loss for the junta if it were to fall next.

The militarys recent losses to the AA also highlight one of the militarys main problems, says Morgan Michaels of the U.K.s International Institute for Strategic Studies  a lack of manpower.

Under pressure by rebel groups on nearly all sides, he said, the military could muster few reinforcements late last year as the AA bore down on its regional command base for western Myanmar, which it took, dealing the junta another heavy blow.

The junta began enforcing a dormant conscription law in April to bolster troop numbers being worn down by desertions, defections and battlefield losses, and toughened the rules earlier this month to try and cut down on draft dodgers.

Basically, the military cannot respond to protect or  wage counter attacks at these very sensitive and important strategic areas because of the manpower issue, said Michaels.

Opposition forces have their own limitations, he added. But if the military cant respond, then its going to bit by bit lose these areas.

The rebels own problems, the experts say, include an ever-short supply of ammunition and limited strategic coordination between the groups  many fighting for territory for any one of the countrys myriad ethnic minorities  across the whole of the country.

Even so, they say they still expect most of the rebel groups in the fight to keep advancing on the junta into the year ahead.

Conflict data crunched by Michaels and his team at the International Institute for Strategic Studies show no letup in the overall level of violence. Estimates of civilians and soldiers killed in the fighting stretch into the tens of thousands. Over 3 million people have been displaced, and half the country now lives in poverty.

Bolstered by a steady stream of weapons and diplomatic cover from China and Russia, the experts also say the junta remains resilient but add that the collapse of a military battle-hardened by decades of counterinsurgency and once seen as all but invincible now looks plausible.

Much will depend on how much longer Beijing in particular believes the junta has a useful role to play in protecting Chinas economic and strategic interests in the country, says Arnold.

Chinas very straightforward, theyre very logical in what they see, he said. And at some point, if the military doesnt really stabilize the situation, China will have to make hard decisions about how much is it willing to support a military that is still losing control. And I think that will be the question for 2025.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told top Panamanian leaders Sunday that China is exerting unacceptable influence and control of the Panama Canal, which, if not changed, could force the United States to take measures necessary to protect its access to the waterway.

Rubio told Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha in Panama City that U.S. President Donald Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to canal operations, the State Department said.

The statement did not detail what the U.S. perceives as Chinas undue influence over the 82-kilometer passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, what actions the U.S. might take, or what Mulinos response was to Rubios assessment.

Mulino in recent days has rejected criticism from the new U.S. government over Panama's management of the waterway that is vital to global trade.

The Panamanian leader has said there will be no negotiation with the U.S. over ownership of the canal, and some Panamanians have staged protests over Trump's plans. The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump's demand to return ownership to the U.S.

On Sunday, about 200 people marched in Panama City, carrying Panamanian flags and shouting, "Marco Rubio out of Panama," "Long live national sovereignty" and "One territory, one flag" while the meeting was taking place.

Some burned a banner with images of Trump and Rubio but were stopped short of reaching the presidential palace by riot police.

The State Department said that Rubio, on his first overseas trip as the top U.S. diplomat, also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts to end the hemispheres illegal migration crisis, a key Trump focus in the earliest days of his second term in the White House to keep out undocumented migrants and deport millions already living in the U.S.

The State Department said Rubio thanked Mulino for his support of a joint repatriation program, which has reduced illegal migration through the Darien Gap, a remote, roadless area connecting Central and South America that migrants have trekked through to get to the U.S.

Rubios trip will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. It will include talks with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo and Dominican President Luis Abinader.

This marks the first time in more than 100 years that a U.S. secretary of states first official visit abroad is to Latin America, according to Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America.



Officials and experts say the visit is partly aimed at countering Chinas growing influence in the region. The trip comes as Trump pushes to regain control of the Panama Canal, and as Washington intensifies efforts to curb illegal migration.

Secretary Rubios engagements with senior officials and business leaders will promote regional cooperation on our core, shared interests: Stopping illegal and large-scale migration, fighting the scourge of transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, countering China, and deepening economic partnerships to enhance prosperity in our hemisphere, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement Friday.

Trump has asserted that China controls the Panama Canal. But Panama has denied the claim, insisting that it manages the canal impartially for all maritime traffic.

On Thursday, Rubio warned that China could potentially block access to the canal in the event of a conflict.

If the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to. And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat, Rubio said during an interview with SiriusXM Radio.

In Panama City, Mulino ruled out any discussion of control over the canal with Rubio.

"I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal," he told reporters Thursday. "That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.

During a Friday briefing, Claver-Carone warned of the increasingly creeping presence of Chinese companies in the canal zone, spanning ports to telecommunications infrastructure. He called it a serious concern not only for U.S. national security but also for Panama and the entire Western Hemisphere.

Some analysts caution that China has been employing both economic and non-economic tactics across the Western Hemisphere to expand its influence, prompting national security concerns.

"You might think that you are just getting more Chinese investment in your country, but pretty soon you are kind of being coerced or coaxed into signing at the Belt and Road Initiative, or you're being coaxed into signing, another deal that gives elements of your telecoms," said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, during an online discussion on Thursday.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a massive infrastructure project launched by China in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, aiming to connect multiple continents through land and maritime routes. The United States has cautioned that the BRI is fueled by China's mission to manipulate and undermine the global rules-based trading system for its own benefit.

Chinas foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown significantly, Berg noted. He added that five countries in the region already have free trade agreements with China, while two others are currently negotiating such deals.

From the lens of national security, a lot of China's commercial endeavors are fundamentally military ambitions that they're pre-positioning into Latin America, said Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a national security research group.

China's been in Panama for more than 20 years, but China really got politically active in Panama after 2017, when Panama signed the BRI and shifted its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the Peoples Republic of China, Humire said last week. He noted that Panama's economy has declined in recent years.

All the nations on Rubios itinerary currently maintain diplomatic ties with both Cuba and Venezuela.

Given the strained U.S. relations with these countries and their restrictions on accepting deportees, Rubio may use his trip to advocate for third-country agreements, allowing other nations to receive individuals deported by the U.S. Additionally, he could work on facilitating increased repatriation flights for migrants.

On Friday, Trumps envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, met with Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's long-time socialist leader, as the Trump administration intensifies its deportation and anti-gang efforts.

Grenell achieved one of his main goals of the trip, securing the release of six American detainees, who left Venezuela with him Friday.
Russia launched a barrage of drones on Ukraine in an overnight attack on Friday, injuring four people and damaging a hospital and a grain warehouse in the southern Odesa region, officials said.

Ukraine's air defenses shot down 59 of 102 Russian drones, the air force said. It said that 37 drones were "lost," referring to the use of electronic warfare to redirect them.

Russian drones caused damage in the northeastern Sumy region, the Odesa region in the south and the central Cherkasy Region.

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, said that four civilians, including a doctor, were injured in drone attacks targeting the city of Chornomorsk.

The strikes also partially disrupted electricity supplies in the city and damaged the city's hospital, an administrative building, a grain warehouse, a residential house, and several trucks, he said on the Telegram app.

Regional officials in the central Cherkasy region said that drone debris damaged an apartment building in the region.

Meanwhile, an oil refinery in Russia's southern Volgograd region caught fire after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack, but the blaze has now been put out, the regional governor said on Friday.

Andrei Bocharov, the governor, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that Russian air defenses had repelled an attack on his region by eight drones.

"As a result of falling debris from one of the drones, a fire broke out on the territory of an oil refinery, which was promptly extinguished. One injured refinery worker was hospitalized," he said.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, said on Telegram that the Volgograd oil refinery, which he described as one of Russia's largest, had been struck.

SHOT, a Russian news outlet with contacts in the security services, said four Ukrainian drones had been destroyed over a second refinery in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow.

Ukraine has carried out frequent air attacks on Russian refineries, oil depots and industrial sites to cripple key infrastructure underpinning Russia's war effort.

This week it claimed to have struck and set on fire a Lukoil refinery, Russia's fourth largest, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow.

Sources at Lukoil denied that the NORSI refinery was hit, and said production was not affected. Petrochemical company Sibur said there had been a drone strike and fire at its nearby plant.

Russia is currently feeding more crude oil through its refineries in the hope of boosting fuel exports after new U.S. sanctions on Russian tankers and traders made exports of unprocessed crude more difficult, sources told Reuters this week.

A Ukrainian drone attack last week forced a refinery in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, to suspend operations. Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday that 49 Ukrainian drones had been downed over the country overnight, including 25 in the southern Rostov region and eight in the Volgograd region.

Drones had also been detected and destroyed in the Kursk, Yaroslavl, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Krasnodar regions, it said.
M23 rebels who captured eastern Congo's largest city said they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa. Congos president has called for a massive military mobilization to resist the rebellion, and his defense minister rejected calls for talks. Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations, and Western powers that thousands of its troops are fighting alongside the Tutsi-led M23. We get insights on the situation in a conversation with Michelle Gavin, Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations provides insights into the crisis.
Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Congo's largest city said Thursday they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa, while Congos president called for a massive military mobilization to resist the rebellion and his defense minister rejected calls for talks.

In a video message, Congo's Defense Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita said he has directed plans for any dialogue with the rebels to "be completely burned immediately."

"We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, lets stay dead here," said Muadiamvita, a close ally of Congo's president.

At a briefing where they sought to assert their control over the eastern city of Goma and surrounding territory in the neighboring South Kivu province, the M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, said during the briefing. "We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country," Nangaa said. He did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, more than 1,500 kilometers away.

Rwanda's leader, Paul Kagame, said he spoke with Angola's President Joao Lourenco  a mediator in the conflict who also met with Congo's leader a day earlier  and both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities.

U.S. President Donald Trump described the conflict as a "very serious problem" when asked about it Thursday but declined to comment further, and a U.N. spokesman said the agency is "disturbed" by reports that neighboring Rwandan forces have crossed the border in the direction where the rebels are said to be advancing.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma. They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congos mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth $24 trillion that are critical to much of the worlds technology.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, meanwhile, called on young people to enlist massively in the military, as a crucial meeting of neighbors asked the Congolese government to talk with the rebels. Rwanda's leader also threatened to "deal" with any confrontation with South Africa, which has complained that fighting in eastern Congo has left South African peacekeepers dead.

In his first public remarks since the M23 rebels advanced into Goma on Monday, Tshisekedi vowed "a vigorous and coordinated response" from his forces to push back the rebels while reaffirming his commitment to a peaceful resolution.

On Thursday, he met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Kinshasa, the Congolese presidency said on X, noting that France has provided significant support to Congo in recent U.N. meetings on the issue. "(Congo) expects a little more action in the face of this crisis," it added.

Dead bodies, looting in Goma

Goma remained largely without electricity and water on Thursday, as the bodies of several alleged government soldiers lay in the streets, horrifying residents, including children.

M23 rebels escorted some 2,000 government soldiers and police officers  who they said surrendered  to an undisclosed location, some of them singing anti-Tshisekedi songs.

The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Congo said basic services are largely paralyzed in Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for more than 6 million people displaced by the conflict. "After several days of intense clashes, the city is now (faced) with massive humanitarian needs and severely impacted response capacities," said Bruno Lemarquis, the humanitarian coordinator.

Footage from Goma showed residents carrying food items and goods looted from stores and warehouses in the city. "This is something that is going to exacerbate a dangerous cycle of violence as desperate times call for desperate measures," the U.N. World Food Program emergency coordinator in eastern Congo, Cynthia Jones, said Thursday.

South Kivu gripped by fear

After capturing much of Goma, the rebels were advancing toward South Kivus provincial capital, Bukavu, causing fear and panic among residents, witnesses said Thursday.

Nana Bintou, a civil society leader, said gunshots and explosions were heard in Mukwinja, a captured town 135 kilometers from Bukavu.

The Congolese military has been weakened after hundreds of foreign military contractors withdrew and handed over their arms to the rebels. Residents of Goma described seeing soldiers changing into civilian clothing and dropping their guns as they crossed over the border to Rwanda or took shelter in foreign peacekeeping bases.

"The (Congolese) military bases in Bukavu have been emptied to reinforce those in Nyabibwe, Bushushu, and Nyamukubi" along the way to the capital, one youth leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was worried about his safety.

Neighbors urge talks with M23 as tensions grow

A summit of the regional East African bloc called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in eastern Congo and "strongly urged" Tshisekedis government to hold talks with the rebels. Tshisekedi was conspicuously absent from the virtual summit attended by Rwanda, also a member.

While African countries as well as the U.N. and U.S. have called for an immediate ceasefire, the risk of a regional war has increased, analysts say, exacerbated by the rebels' advance into South Kivu and diatribes between Rwandan and South African officials. Congo is a member of the southern Africa regional bloc and also that of east Africa, whose peacekeeping force it expelled last year after deeming it ineffective.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the "Rwanda Defense Force militia" for the fighting that has resulted in the deaths of 13 South African peacekeepers in eastern Congo. He also said his government will ensure the peacekeepers are "sufficiently supported during this critical mission."

His comment drew an angry response from Kagame, who called the South African peacekeepers a "belligerent force" working alongside armed groups that target Rwanda. "If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day," the Rwandan leader said on the social media platform X.

Who are the M23 and what do they want?

The chaotic situation with the M23 has its roots in ethnic conflict, stretching back to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when 800,000 Tutsis and others were killed by Hutus and former militias. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and others involved in the genocide. Many Hutus fled into Congo after 1994.

Unlike in 2012 when the rebels seized Congo for days, observers say their withdrawal could be more difficult now. The rebels have been emboldened by Rwanda, which feels Congo is ignoring its interests in the region and failed to meet demands of previous peace agreements, according to Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group, a think tank.

"Ultimately, this is a failure of African mediation (because) the warning signs were always there. Kigali was adopting very bellicose rhetoric and the Congolese government was also adopting very, very aggressive rhetoric," Mutiga said.
Visiting Spain this week, NATOs secretary-general called for members to boost military spending in the face of the threat from Russia. Spain spends the least on defense relative to the size of its economy. And as Henry Ridgwell reports, US President Donald Trump has singled out Madrid for failing to meet the NATO target. Camera: Alfonso Beato
As U.S. President Donald Trump demands a large increase in defense spending by NATO allies, the spotlight has fallen on Spain, which spends the least on defense of all member states relative to the size of its economy.

Spain is the eurozones fourth-biggest economy. The country spent an estimated $21.3 billion on defense last year, equating to 1.28% of its gross domestic product (GDP), putting it at the bottom of the league among the 32-nation Atlantic alliance.

Thats despite a pledge made by all NATO members in 2014 to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense, according to the bloc.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Madrid and Lisbon earlier this week and warned all members of the need to boost spending beyond existing targets.

The goal of 2%, now set a decade ago, will not be enough to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The threat from Russia may seem distant, but let me assure you, it is not, Rutte said at a press conference in Lisbon on Jan. 27.

NATO is strong today. To keep NATO strong we must, however, continue to adapt. And to guarantee our security in the future, we also need to ramp up our efforts now. It also means we need to spend more in our defense, he said.

Only 23 of the 32 NATO member states were expected to meet the 2% target by 2024, according to the alliance.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected criticism that his government has been too slow to boost defense spending.

In a statement, the prime ministers office said Monday that Spain was a serious, responsible and committed ally of NATO, noting that the government had increased defense spending by 70% in the last decade.

Spain's commitment to reach 2% of defense spending by 2029 is firm, the statement said.

Spanish troops are also helping to train Ukrainian forces as Kyiv battles Russias invasion.

Trump criticism



Thats unlikely to be enough to satisfy NATOs biggest spender, the United States, which spent 3.38% of its GDP on defense in 2024.

Earlier in January, Trump described Spains contribution to NATO as very low and has demanded a much higher spending target from European allies.

I'm also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago, Trump told delegates by video link at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 23.

Trump has long complained that European allies are taking advantage of the United States, insisting that they should share the burden of defense spending.

However, the 5% target is unrealistic for Spain, according to analyst Pere Ortega of the Delas Center for Peace Studies in Madrid.

Reaching 5% is impossible. That would mean that Spain would have to spend almost 65 billion euros [$67.7 billion]. That is impossible, because we do not have that economic capacity, Ortega told VOA.

No political program would ask for an increase in military spending to reach 3, 4 or 5% ... because that would be in some way making sacrifices in the social security sphere. And the Spanish population would penalize that with their vote at the polls, Ortega added.



Lithuania boost

Trump does have some support in Europe. Lithuania plans to raise defense spending to 5% or 6% of GDP by 2026. Announcing the increase on January 17, Lithuanian Minister of Defense Dovile Sakaliene said the policy was a response to regional threats.

We are fitting in with NATO defense plans, which are vital to our region, he said.

Poland and Estonia have also indicated their intention to boost defense spending toward Trumps target of 5%.

France has also urged allies to invest more, although Paris only met the 2% target itself in 2023.

What will we do in Europe tomorrow if our American ally withdraws its warships from the Mediterranean? If they send their fighter jets from the Atlantic to the Pacific? French President Emmanuel Macron said Jan. 20 in an address to members of the French military. These are scenarios that we need to prepare for. These are the scenarios that we are preparing for.

At his first NATO summit as U.S. president in 2017, Trump berated other members for failing to spend enough on defense. European allies, including Spain, are braced for further robust diplomacy ahead of the next summit, scheduled to be held in The Hague in June.
U.S. President Donald Trump will enact 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China beginning Saturday, the White House said.

"Both Canada and Mexico have allowed an unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens, and also illegal immigrants into our country," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her briefing Friday.

Leavitt did not say whether there would be any exemptions to the measures.

"These are promises made and promises kept by the president," she said.

Asked by reporters Friday, Trump said there was nothing the three countries could do to reverse his decision and that the tariffs were "not a negotiating tool."

"It's a pure economic  we have big deficits with, as you know, with all three of them," Trump said. "We're not looking for a concession, and we'll just see what happens."

Trump said that he would tariff Canadian crude oil imports at 10% beginning Saturday. Other Canadian goods would be hit with a 25% tariff.

The president vowed to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, steel and aluminum, and oil and gas.

"All forms of medicine and pharmaceuticals," Trump said. "And we'll be doing, very importantly, steel, and we'll also be doing chips and things associated with chips."

Tariffs on oil and gas will be imposed "around the 18th of February," Trump said. He signaled that other tariffs would be imposed in the coming weeks, without providing exact dates.

Trump warned he would "absolutely" place tariffs on goods from the European Union.

"They're treating us so badly," he said.

Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would respond.

"We're working hard to prevent these tariffs, but if the United States moves ahead, Canada's ready with a forceful and immediate response," he posted on social media.

Meanwhile, Mexico had a more muted response. Its economic ministry posted a message on social media saying that Mexico and the United States were "partners, not competitors."

Tariffs could backfire

China, Mexico and Canada account for more than one-third of the goods and services imported to or bought from the United States.

Some economists warn that the tariffs could backfire.

Imports from Mexico and Canada make up around 3% of U.S. GDP, while exports make up around 2.5% percent of U.S. GDP, said Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

A 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada amounts to a "tax hike on imports from those countries" and will "have an immediate and negative impact on the U.S. economy," he told VOA. "It's a strategy for shrinking the U.S. economy."

Trump has long threatened to impose tariffs to pressure countries to help his administration stop illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl. He has pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing and has praised its use as an effective economic policy.

Trump believes that "tariffs are a great source of leverage," and that he will "convince Canada and Mexico to make big concessions under the threat of tariffs," Setser said. "But these measures are going to be pretty costly to the U.S."

Trump acknowledged that the tariffs might cause a "short-term disruption" for consumers but said it would lead to a long-term benefit for U.S. manufacturing.

"Tariffs don't cause inflation. Tariffs cause success," he added.

During his first administration in 2018, Trump negotiated and signed the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, in part to narrow the United States' big trade deficit  the gap between what it sells and what it buys  with its neighbors. He once called the deal "the fairest, most balanced and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law."

However, the U.S. deficit in the trade of goods with Mexico has widened from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion in 2023, according to government data. The trade gap in goods with Canada has also increased, from $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023.

"He's now acting like his deal caused a disaster needing an emergency fix," said Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

There's no justification for high tariffs on Canada, a market economy that's not in the top five of U.S. trade deficits, Scissors said.

"Fentanyl shipments across the Canadian border are tiny," he added.

Fentanyl and illegal migration are justifications for border restrictions on Mexico, Scissors said. However, tariffs "don't stop illegal immigration and probably encourage it by threatening jobs in Mexico."

The stock market erased early gains and closed lower Friday after the White House announcement on tariffs.
Cannabis Investing Money

Amplify ETFs has consolidated its global and US funds that offer exposure to the cannabis industry, signifying the latest example of cautious optimism surrounding the popular controlled substance.



The Chicago-based ETF issuer, which officially closed its U.S. Alternative Harvest ETF (MJUS) on Jan. 27, will replace the MJUS slice of the global Amplify Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) with the actively managed Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF (CNBS).

When we concluded MJUS was not going to have the success wed like, we went from three to two products, and we revised CNBS to focus on U.S. names, said Amplify President Bill Belden.

What this essentially means for cannabis investors is that they'll face a shrinking list of ETF options at a time when a more inviting regulatory landscape appears around the corner under a Trump administration.

Were in it to win it, and we believe cannabis has a brighter future ahead of it, said Belden, who is banking on a rescheduling of cannabis in the U.S. from a Schedule 1 to a more recreational Schedule 3 drug.

That change, which originates at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, is seen as crucial to legalizing marijuana at the federal level, which would expand banking access to the industry and ultimately grow the industry.

Cannabis ETFs Going Up in Smoke

According to etf.com data, the state-by-state legalization trend that started in 2012 has produced limited investment success. Six exchange-traded funds currently offer exposure to marijuana investments, ranging in size from the $443 million AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS) to the $6.5 million Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED).

In terms of performance, the best return for cannabis ETFs over the past 12 months belongs to the $14 million Cambria Cannabis ETF (TOKE), which still recorded a 13% decline, etf.com data show.

On the other end of the performance spectrum, MSOS posted a 62% decline, which is only slightly better than the matching 64% declines by CNBS and WEED.

Based on the $326 million worth of net inflows going into the category flagship MSOS over the past 12 months, however, there remains a dedicated crop of investors with high hopes for the category.

Its hard to say where the new money is coming from, but at least one financial advisor is keeping this situation at arms length.

Theres still a healthy dose of skepticism surrounding Trumps cannabis policy and investors should approach cannabis ETFs with caution, said Said Israilov, founder of Israilov Financial in San Francisco.

Trump's campaign rhetoric suggested support for rescheduling and cannabis banking reforms, but the reality is far less clear, he added. While cannabis ETFs may appear to be in a buy-low position, the regulatory landscape remains highly uncertain.
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Richard Grenell is expected to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday in Venezuela, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone.

Trump said last week his administration likely would stop buying oil from Venezuela and was looking "very strongly" at the South American country.

Grenell, Trump's envoy for special missions, had earlier said he spoke with multiple officials in Venezuela and would begin meetings, days after the outgoing Biden administration imposed new sanctions on the government of Maduro.

"Diplomacy is back," Grenell said in a post on social media platform X disclosing his initial calls. "Talking is a tactic."

During his campaign, Trump called Maduro a dictator after he pursued a "maximum pressure" campaign against him during his first term, from 2017 to 2021, including imposing harsh sanctions on the South American country and its oil industry.

Former President Joe Biden briefly rolled back some of the Trump-era restrictions following electoral promises from Maduro but then reinstated them, saying the Venezuelan leader had reneged on pledges for a fair democratic vote.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Chevron is trying to protect the special U.S. license allowing it to operate in Venezuela.

The oil giant's chief executive, Mike Wirth, told the newspaper the company would engage with the White House after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the license should be reconsidered.

If Chevron is forced out, China and Russia will gain influence in the OPEC nation, Wirth said.

Venezuela's oil exports to the U.S. soared 64% to some 222,000 barrels per day last year, making the United States its second-largest export market behind China, which took 351,000 bpd, down 18% compared with the previous year.
Arms control advocates are hoping U.S. President Donald Trumps fresh words of support for denuclearization will lead to talks with Russia and China on arms reduction.

U.S. negotiations with the Russians and Chinese on denuclearization and eventual agreements are very possible, according to Trump, who addressed the World Economic Forum a week ago in Davos, Switzerland.

Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear [weapons], and the destructive capability is something that we dont even want to talk about because you dont want to hear, he said. Its too depressing.

Trump noted that in his first term, he discussed the topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along, according to Trump. President Putin really liked the idea of cutting back on nuclear [armaments], and I think the rest of the world  we would have gotten them to follow.

Just months before leaving office, former U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Peru where both agreed that decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons should remain under human control. That consensus was seen as a positive step after the Chinese, four months previously, suspended nuclear arms control talks with Washington to protest American arms sales to Taiwan.

The horror of nuclear attacks first became evident to many in the world through magazines in the West, which printed photographs of the radiation-burned survivors of the U.S. atomic attack on two Japanese cities in 1945 to end World War II. In subsequent years during the Cold War, U.S. government films captured the destructive force of test detonations in the Nevada desert, eventually prompting public demonstrations to "ban the bomb" and diplomacy to reduce or eliminate all nuclear weapons.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1987 with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) between the United States and the Soviet Union. It entered into full force the following year. By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been dismantled. That was the first time the two nuclear superpowers achieved a reduction of such weapons rather than just limiting their growth.

Over the years, the Americans and the Russians lost their monopoly on nuclear weapons. Nine countries presently have nuclear arsenals, although Israel has never acknowledged possession of such weaponry.

The United States and Russia each have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads  90% of the worlds total. The combined global force of all countries nuclear weapons could destroy the world many times over, according to arms control advocates.

The current New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed in 2010 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, set limits on the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems, while including on-site inspection and exchanges of data for verification.

The treaty expires in early February 2026, which adds urgency to Trumps call for talks with Russia and China, according to Xiaodon Liang, senior analyst for nuclear weapons policy and disarmament at the Arms Control Association.

"And because of that, this issue has to be at the top of the agenda, and having a signal that the president is concerned about this issue and thinking about it is very positive, Liang told VOA.

Since a formal, comprehensive agreement could take years to negotiate  possibly spanning beyond the four years of the second Trump presidency  Liang suggests the U.S. president consider an executive agreement with Putin, an informal consensus or a series of unilateral steps to continue adhering to the numbers in New START for an indefinite period.

That would be a stabilizing factor in this important bilateral relationship, Liang added.

There are analysts who advocate a more aggressive tactic.

Trump should consider ordering a resumption of nuclear testing to demonstrate to Americas adversaries that the U.S. arsenal of weapons of mass destruction remains viable and as an act of resolve, writes Robert Peters, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank seen as having a dominant influence on Trump administration policies.

Peters also suggests that Trump might want to withdraw from the 1963 Test Ban Treaty made with Moscow and conduct an above-ground test either at the Nevada National Security Site or in the Pacific Ocean over open water, where nuclear fallout can be minimized to stave escalatory moves by an adversary to the United States.

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to multiple requests from VOA to interview Peters.

Moscow is not known to have conducted any sort of test causing a nuclear chain reaction, known as criticality, since 1990. Two years later, the United States announced it would no longer test nuclear weapons, although subcritical simulations continue. The other nuclear nations have followed suit except North Korea, which last triggered a nuclear test explosion in 2017.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday moved up the hands of its Doomsday Clock by one second to 89 seconds to midnight, meant to signify the peril from weapons of mass destruction and other existential threats.

We set the clock closer to midnight because we do not see positive progress on the global challenges we face, including nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and advances in disruptive technology, said Daniel Holz, a physics professor at the University of Chicago, just after the hands of this years clock were unveiled at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

While the Doomsday Clock is merely symbolic, Liang at the Arms Control Association sees it as an annual important ritual highlighting the risks to Americans and everyone else posed by the worlds nuclear arsenals.

It is a good tool for bringing this to more peoples attention, and you cant blame Americans for having so many other issues on their plate. And having this [clock] as a reminder, I think, is an effective communications tool, Liang said.

At the Doomsday Clock ceremony, VOA asked former Colombian President and Nobel laureate Juan Manuel Santos what he viewed as the biggest hurdle to Trump, Putin and Xi making progress on denuclearization.

The biggest challenge, in my view, is for them to understand that they should sit down and talk about how the three of them can take decisions to save their own countries and the whole world, he said.

Liang compared the situation to U.S. President John F. Kennedy's call to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which led Washington and Moscow to pull back from the brink of nuclear war.

That resolution turned the hands of the Doomsday Clock the following year back to 12 minutes to midnight in recognition of the Americans, Soviets and British banning nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in space and under water.

It has been several years since the United States engaged in any denuclearization negotiations. Those working-level talks in 2019 in Sweden between the first Trump administration and North Korean officials did not yield any agreement, with Pyongyangs chief negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, telling reporters that the Americans had raised expectations with promises of flexibility but would not give up their old viewpoint and attitude.

The State Department spokesperson at the time, Morgan Ortagus, said in a statement the two countries could not be expected to overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula in the course of a single Saturday, but such weighty issues require a strong commitment by both countries. The United States has that commitment.
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Arms control advocates are hoping U.S. President Donald Trump's fresh words of support for denuclearization will lead to talks with Russia and China about nuclear arms reduction. VOA's chief national correspondent, Steve Herman, reports from the White House in Washington.
A male nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, the first recorded death by the disease in the East African country since an outbreak ended in 2023, health officials said.

The 32-year-old nurse worked at Mulago National Specialised Hospital in Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of Ugandas health ministry, said Thursday.

The nurse died Wednesday of the Sudan strain of Ebola, Atwine said.

He sought treatment at several hospitals and had also consulted with a traditional healer before tests confirmed an Ebola diagnosis, health officials said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X that his organization was supporting Ugandas efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda with a $1 million allocation from WHOs Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

Atwine said on her X social media account that rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation. We assure the public that we are in full control.

Contact tracing, however, could be challenging in Kampala, with its population of 4 million people.

The health ministry, however, reported that it had identified 44 contacts of the late nurse, which included 30 other health care workers.

The symptoms of Ebola, an often fatal disease, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and at times internal and external bleeding.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and family members caring for someone with Ebola are at high risk for contracting the disease.

WHO said Ebola is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

Ebolas fatality rate is around 50%, WHO said on its website, but it also said that fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in some outbreaks.
On the front lines of the war in Ukraine, local newspapers are vital lifelines in areas where Russia has destroyed cell towers and internet infrastructure.

Journalists provide information about evacuation routes, document alleged Russian war crimes and troop movements, and counter Moscows propaganda.

Even a temporary freeze of U.S. foreign aid can mean financial difficulties for small media organizations that rely on outside donors to keep working.

Many Ukrainian media may now face the threat of closure or significant reduction in operations in the coming weeks, Sergiy Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, told VOA.

Ukraine is not alone.

News outlets on the front lines of war and authoritarianism from Ukraine and Belarus to Myanmar are among the organizations affected by a freeze on U.S. foreign aid.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 mandating all federal government agencies pause all foreign development assistance for 90 days.

The directive took effect on Jan. 24 and includes foreign funding from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Jan. 26 statement. Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?

Worldwide impact

Many independent news outlets around the world rely on State Department and USAID funding because they report in repressive environments, according to the JX Fund, a Berlin-based group that supports exiled media.

With the current freeze, news outlets around the world are scrambling to find alternative sources of funding in an attempt to continue delivering the news to their audiences and avoid shutting down, multiple analysts told VOA.

The general feeling is panic. Panic is the only way to describe the situation, Karol Luczka, who works on Eastern Europe at the International Press Institute in Vienna, told VOA.

JX Fund managing director Penelope Winterhager agreed. These outlets are thrown back to emergency mode, she said.

The measure is estimated to be affecting dozens of independent news outlets in more than 30 countries, according to the Brussels-based European Federation of Journalists, or EFJ.

Maja Sever, EFJ president, called on potential donors to fill the gap.

The European Union and other donors cannot abandon to their fate journalists who are the best bulwark for defending the rule of law and democracy in countries where they are under threat, Sever said in a statement Tuesday.

During the 90-day pause, relevant U.S. departments and agencies are required to review their foreign funding and determine whether the aid will continue, be modified or cease altogether, according to the executive order.

The State Department did not respond to specific questions and referred VOA to a Wednesday press release.

Americans are a hardworking and generous people, who have sacrificed their blood and treasure to help their fellow man across the globe. But no foreign nation is entitled to those benefits, and no foreign aid program is above scrutiny, the statement said.

USAID did not reply to VOAs request for comment.

In Ukraine

Tomilenko said the aid freeze is creating a dire situation for Ukrainian news outlets on the front line of the war.

In many areas close to the battle lines, local newspapers are often the only reliable source of information, said Tomilenko, who is based in Kyiv.

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has ramped up global propaganda efforts while further restricting independent media inside Russia.

The war has also limited the advertising market in Ukraine, which would ideally be a primary source of financial independence for Ukrainian news outlets, said Tomilenko.

The USAID website says it supports programs that promote free and independent media in more than 30 countries. VOA could not determine how much U.S. aid goes to support media outlets in these countries.

In the case of Ukraine, Luczka said, The previous administration in the U.S. saw the importance of supporting civil society in Ukraine in order to make sure that this country keeps standing.

The United States has been the strongest player when it came to supporting independent media outlets, according to the JX Funds Winterhager.

But even though these outlets receive foreign funding, Winterhager emphasized that their reporting is independent.

In Myanmar

Several Myanmar news outlets that rely on financial support from USAID and Internews also find themselves in a precarious situation. Internews is a USAID-affiliated nonprofit that supports independent media.

After launching a coup in 2021, Myanmars military arrested journalists and banned news outlets. The crackdown forced entire outlets to flee into exile.

Some outlets now report from the Thai-Myanmar border, while others manage to operate from rebel-controlled regions of Myanmar.

Funding has been among the biggest problems for Myanmar media since the coup.

It is difficult  or even impossible  for many of them to make commercial revenue in this environment, Ben Dunant, editor-in-chief of the magazine Frontier Myanmar, told VOA last year. This underlines the vulnerability of these media organizations whose operations are dependent on the whims of donors in faraway countries.

Mizzima, one of the most prominent of the countrys news outlets and an affiliate of VOA, is among those affected by the aid freeze, according to local media reports.

Founded in exile in 1998, the media outlet covers news on the resistance against the junta and Chinas growing influence in the region.

Another outlet, Western News, has already cut staff, according to its chief editor, Wunna Khwar Nyo.

We are struggling to survive, Wunna Khwar Nyo told VOA. Ultimately, this will also hurt the Burmese people.

If the funding freeze forces news outlets to shutter, the IPIs Luczka warned that state-backed propaganda from countries such as Russia could fill the gap.

When media outlets disappear, they create a void, Luczka said. And that void needs to be filled by something.

VOAs Burmese Service contributed to this report.
The Trump administration has confirmed that the deportation of Chinese nationals is still underway as part of a broader effort to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

In an emailed response to VOA this week, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote that the agency is removing from the United States any immigrant who is here unlawfully.

ICE continues to conduct removals to the Peoples Republic of China. Due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future removal operations until deportees have been returned to their country of origin, the ICE official said Tuesday, speaking on background, a method often used by U.S. officials to remain anonymous.

VOA requested the most recent removal numbers for China and an update on deportation flights, but as of Friday, ICE had yet to respond.

Deportations have increased as China signals a greater willingness to repatriate its citizens, a departure from its historically restrictive stance. Large repatriation flights resumed last June, the first since 2018.

On Jan. 6, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through ICE, conducted the Biden administrations fifth removal flight to China in less than seven months.

These [Biden administration] flights were the product of sustained cooperation between the Department and PRC counterparts to repatriate individuals who have not established a legal basis to remain in the United States, DHS said in a statement on Jan. 10.

Fast-track deportations

Under the Trump administration, the approach is shifting toward making deportations faster and bypassing judicial review.

The Trump administration issued an executive order on Jan. 21 to expand expedited removal, also known as fast-track deportations, to include immigrants who cannot prove they have been continuously living in the United States for more than two years.

"The effect of this change will be to enhance national security and public safety  while reducing government costs  by facilitating prompt immigration determinations," the notice read.

Expedited removal allows the U.S. government to quickly deport people who are undocumented. Under the process of expedited removal, some noncitizens can be deported in a single day without an immigration court hearing or other appearance before a judge.

ICE data from November showed 37,908 Chinese nationals who were believed to be removable from the United States but had not yet been detained. December and January numbers are not yet available.

On Jan. 22, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration over the expansion of expedited removal.

The ACLU argued in court documents that the new rule violates federal law and the Fifth Amendment's due process clause by effectively eliminating full court hearings that immigrants are entitled to receive.

The organization also cited studies indicating that expedited removals are prone to errors, often leading to the mistaken deportation of immigrants.

Joanna Derman, a program director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told VOA that advocates are worried the Trump administration will use extreme options to specifically target Chinese nationals for deportation, especially in the event of a significant escalation between the United States and China.

But on the other hand," she said, "we're also rapidly mobilizing right now.  We are uplifting resources for people who are the most likely to be impacted. The most vulnerable folks need to know what to do if [or] when ICE shows up at their school, their work or their place of worship.

US-China repatriation cooperation

For years, China has been among the countries that refused or delayed accepting deportees, complicating U.S. efforts to remove individuals with final orders.

Countries that do not negotiate or refuse to accept their nationals back are deemed "recalcitrant" or "uncooperative." Recalcitrant countries do not accept their nationals back. Uncooperative countries will accept some of their nationals back.

According to an ICE official and a DHS removal operations document, 15 countries were deemed to be uncooperative: Bhutan, Burma, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Laos, Pakistan, the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Somalia and Venezuela.

ICE considers these to be at risk of recalcitrant: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Gabon, Gambia, Iraq, Jamaica, Nicaragua, South Sudan, St. Lucia and Vietnam.

During a Monday press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was asked if Beijing intended to accept all Chinese nationals in the U.S. illegally.

Id refer you to competent authorities for anything specific, she said. Let me say more broadly that the Chinese government firmly opposes any form of illegal migration. We have conducted practical cooperation with the migration and law enforcement departments of the U.S. and other countries, which has been productive. As far as repatriation is concerned, Chinas principle is to receive the repatriates who are confirmed as Chinese nationals from the Chinese mainland after verification.

ICEs deportation numbers reflect U.S. diplomatic efforts with China, with DHS reporting the removal of 109 Chinese nationals on the latest charter flight as of November, following 131 deportations in October and 116 in June.

According to DHS, the Biden administrations increase in deportations matches Chinas work to decrease illegal immigration, which has led to a 62% decline in Chinese migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Apprehensions of Chinese dropped from 2,198 encounters in June 2024 to 873 in December 2024.

January numbers are not yet available.

Deportation logistics, cost

An ICE official confirmed to VOA by email in late December that the U.S. government buys the commercial airline tickets for deportees, working closely with a travel service provider to book the most cost-effective flights.

ICE determines whether to use charter or commercial flights based on operational needs. ICE did not share cost per person for either type of flight.

But the American Immigration Council estimates that removing 1 million people a year would cost U.S. taxpayers about $88 billion, with the total over a decade approaching $1 trillion.

Despite Beijings increased cooperation, China remains one of several nations that usually refuse to take back their citizens or delay repatriations.

During the 2024 fiscal year, ICE removed 517 Chinese nationals from the United States.

Deportation process

In immigration court, deportation orders are usually issued after a foreign national violates the terms of a visa, is found to be undocumented or is convicted of a crime.

When the United States seeks to deport an immigrant, it generally follows a framework negotiated with the other nation; these frameworks are often detailed in writing, through a memorandum of understanding.

Before the United States can deport someone, the other country must agree to receive the deportee. There must also be an administratively final order of removal, or deportation order, and the individual must have a travel document issued by a foreign government.
U.S. lawmakers Thursday weighed the impact that President Donald Trump's 90-day foreign aid freeze will have on competition with China.

Trump signed an executive order within hours of being sworn in as president ordering a halt to all U.S. international assistance while the new administration determines whether the aid aligns with his "America First" policy.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch said the move was a necessary step to prioritize fiscal responsibility as the U.S. faces a debt of $36 trillion.

"This is obviously a work in progress," Risch, a Republican from Idaho, said Thursday.

"It was intended to underscore the fact that we're going into debt at the rate of $1 trillion every 100 days. I think that has certainly been underscored as a result of this. If you think this is bad, when our debtors come and want their money and we can't pay it, that's going to be really bad," Risch said. "It's caused everyone to take a breath and look at how we're spending our money, where we're spending our money, seeing that it's done as efficiently as possible. Admittedly, there have been some inconveniences along the line, but they're continuing to work on this."

Democrats said the pause in aid creates a void that will be filled by the People's Republic of China (PRC).

"I'm particularly concerned about the expansion of China's influence, both at home and abroad, as a result of a freeze on our foreign assistance  and, in particular, the way it's implemented in its cascading effect," Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said in a hearing about Chinese influence abroad.

"There is nothing China wants to do more than limit the reach of our global influence, than to reinforce its imprint," Coons added. "[That way] we're an unreliable partner with countries throughout the world and particularly in the Global South, and my concern is that we put our security, our economic and our diplomatic interest at risk with an abrupt pause that puts a halt to actions to counter malign activity by the PRC, to advance to invest in infrastructure."

But Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Democrats should not be the only ones concerned about evaluating and restoring the aid.

"I hope that all of you on the other side of the aisle will share your concerns with the administration and point out that this is not a partisan issue," she said. "This is about what are we going to do to ensure that our influence continues around the world in the interest of our own national security."

Around the world, U.S.-funded foreign aid programs have already begun shutting down their programming and laying off staff in the wake of the freeze. The U.S. is the world's largest foreign aid provider but is outspent by China in some areas. According to the Government Accountability Office, between 2013 and 2022, China spent $679 billion on global infrastructure projects compared with the United States' $76 billion.

"Foreign aid is a really important arrow in the quiver of U.S. national security, along with other tools such as diplomacy, military assistance and so on," Jennifer Lind, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, told lawmakers Thursday. "And so ideally, we would want to be using all of our different tools in a coordinated fashion to achieve our objectives. For that reason, I think it's understandable if the administration wants to take a short pause and assess: Are we using the right tools in the right way?"

But Melanie Hart of the Atlantic Council said the freeze "is hobbling America's ability to compete with China in every domain."

"Over $1 billion more foreign military financing for Taiwan. Frozen. NDI [National Democratic Institute] and IRI [International Republican Institute] are shutting down global operations. Human rights organizations  frozen," she said. "Washington has effectively abandoned the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement."

Hart said she understood the administration's desire to maximize the strategic focus of the aid and appreciated the State Department's waivers, but that "this broad freeze hobbles America at a moment when we are in the battle of the century."

"It is a massive gift to Beijing. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be to regain the ground we are already losing today, tomorrow and this week, Hart said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver last Friday unfreezing emergency food assistance and earlier this week issued another waiver unfreezing humanitarian assistance.

The top Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with China on Thursday welcomed Rubio's waivers but said more had to be done.

"While periodic review of foreign assistance programs' contribution to U.S. national security is necessary, abruptly freezing any foreign assistance directly cedes ground to our foremost adversary: the CCP," said Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois, in a statement.

"At a time when the CCP is aggressively investing abroad, rerouting supply chains and buying authoritarian favor, the United States must double down on foreign assistance  not kneecap ourselves."
On Jan. 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the United States steadfast support for Guyanas sovereignty over the Essequibo region, which is disputed by Venezuela.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded on Jan. 28, calling Rubio an enemy of our country who continues to show his unhealthy obsession with harming Venezuela.

Essequibo, a resource-rich strip of land accounting for more than two-thirds of Guyanas territory, has been controlled and administered by Guyana for more than a century.

Gil said Rubio seeks to support the fantasies of the Guyanese government, which aims to strip us of the historic rights bequeathed to us by our liberators and which are an inalienable part of our sovereignty. Addressing Guyanese officials, Gil said their obligations are to history, international law and regional peace, not to third parties.

The only legitimate and valid path to resolving the territorial controversy over the Guayana Essequibo is through compliance with the 1966 Geneva Agreement, he said.

Gils framing of the Essequibo issue is misleading.

An international tribunal of arbitration established the border between Venezuela and Guyana in 1899, giving British Guiana  present day Guyana  sovereignty over Essequibo.

Since Guyanas independence from Britain in 1966, a U.N.-backed treaty has required its lingering territorial disputes with Venezuela to be resolved via international bodies.

After the two sides failed to reach an agreement in 2018, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chose the International Court of Justice, or ICJ,  the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations  to settle the controversy.

The nations have since chosen different paths to resolve their differences: Guyana has adhered to U.N. guidelines while Venezuela has proceeded with a series of moves violating its obligations under international law.

In December 2020, the ICJ agreed to take up Guyanas case to confirm validity of the 1899 statute. But Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly disputed the courts jurisdiction on the matter.

Venezuela continues to oppose ICJ jurisdiction and has threatened extra-legal solutions to settle the dispute. A December 2023 popular referendum on whether to incorporate Essequibo into Venezeulan territory was deemed illegal by the Organization of American States.

Days before the referendum, the ICJ called on Venezuela not to take any actions that are intended to prepare or allow the exercise of sovereignty or de facto control over any territory that was awarded to British Guiana in the 1899 Arbitral Award.

On Dec. 5, 2023, Maduro ordered the creation of a new Venezuelan state called Guayana Esequiba and publicized a new map with Essequibo shown as part of the country.

Maduro also announced Venezuela would immediately begin exploring and exploiting Essequibos natural resources, including oil and gas, and issued an order to create subsidiaries of state firms to that end.

Ten days later, on Dec. 15, 2023, Venezuela and Guyana agreed they would not issue threats or use force to settle the dispute. Venezuela, however, has since bulked up its military presence along the disputed border.

In March 2024, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed a law recognizing Essequibo as a Venezuelan state, although Venezuelas Supreme Court must rule on the constitutionality of that law before it can go into effect.

Analysts have suggested that Maduro used the Essequibo issue to drum up popular support in the run up to the July 2024 election, which the opposition credibly says he stole.

Last month, Venezuela completed construction of a bridge linking its mainland to the eastern side of Ankoko Island, a parcel of the Essequibo region that Caracas has controlled since 1966.

According to The Associated Press, the bridge connects Venezuela to a small military base that Guyana says Venezuela built illegally on Guyanas side of the island.
A collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late Wednesday marked the first time in more than 15 years that there had been a mass fatality event in U.S. airspace related to commercial aviation.

The accident, which killed a reported 67 people, took place while American Airlines Flight 5342 was making its final approach to the runway. The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the Sikorsky H-60, commonly known as a Black Hawk, collided only a few hundred meters above the ground, officials said.

The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. There were three service members aboard the military helicopter, including the pilot. Both aircraft crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River, and authorities said Thursday that they didn't believe there were any survivors.

The accident took place in darkness at 8:47 p.m., and no significant weather problems were reported. As of Thursday, authorities had not identified the cause of the accident.

However, The New York Times on Thursday, citing an "internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report" it reviewed, reported that staffing at the airport's air traffic control tower was "not normal" Wednesday night. The newspaper said a single air traffic controller was directing incoming and outgoing plane traffic as well as helicopter traffic in the area. Those jobs are usually split between two controllers.

Experts consider crash an anomaly

Aviation experts said as tragic as the accident was, it should be considered an anomaly in an air traffic system that has been notably free of major disasters for many years.

"Some of it was luck. Some of it is technology. And mostly it was the tremendous job that the pilots and air traffic controllers do," former United Airlines pilot Captain Ross "Rusty" Aimer told VOA.

"They literally perform miracles every day because our system is extremely congested everywhere you go. ... And Washington National Airport is, perhaps in my 60 years in aviation, one of the most demanding and busiest airports in the world."

It is necessary to look back to 2009 to find a comparable commercial disaster in U.S. airspace. At that time, a Colgan Air jet en route from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, stalled during its approach and crashed into a house, killing 49 passengers and crew, as well as one individual in the house.

In 2013, an Asiana Airlines jet crashed while landing in San Francisco, California. Two passengers who were not wearing seat belts were killed when they were thrown from the plane, and another person died after being struck by an emergency response vehicle on the tarmac. There were 187 other people who suffered injuries, many serious, but no other fatalities.

While there have been a number of other high-profile incidents involving U.S. airlines recently, none involved mass casualties. Last year, for example, a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max in midflight, but the plane landed safely, though some passengers suffered minor injuries.

Experts stressed that such events occur in only a tiny fraction of the millions of flights that take place in the U.S. every year.

Robert W. Mann Jr., an airline industry analyst and former senior airline executive, told VOA that the U.S. commercial aviation industry experiences an extremely low level of safety incidents and "an even lower level of fatality accidents."

"That's not luck, that's effort," he said. "We're thankful to have so many professionals in the operating environment. In the oversight environment, focus on safety is the number one priority."

Crash occurs in crowded airspace

The accident took place in one of the most crowded  and highly regulated  sectors of airspace in the United States. The Washington region has three major airports, 11 regional airports and dozens of heliports  not counting the multiple military installations in the region with aviation operations.

Keith M. Cianfrani, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served as a flight instructor and an accident investigator, told VOA he flew helicopters in the area where the accident took place while on active duty and later as a commercial pilot.

"It's congested," said Cianfrani, who now works as an aviation safety consultant and adjunct professor at EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University. "So, it's not unusual to cross the path of an incoming [plane] as long as there is traffic separation."

Traffic separation refers to the distance, in time and space, between aircraft in the same area.

But because of the congestion, there are very clear rules about where aircraft are allowed to be and when they can be there, Cianfrani said. Helicopters are required to follow specific routes when passing through the region, he said, calling it "very uncommon" to see something like Wednesday's crash take place.

"As a whole, the general aviation industry in the United States is outstanding," he said. "They all have to adhere to what we call SMS  safety management systems. On a regular basis, they get audited. They have an internal audit program, and they're constantly being looked at by people like myself going in and auditing their safety program. So, it's outstanding."

Turnover in federal aviation oversight

Wednesday's accident took place at a time when leadership of the federal agencies in charge of flight safety is being overhauled by the new administration of President Donald Trump.

The day after his inauguration, Trump dismissed Transportation Security Administration Administrator David Pekoske and disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which provides the federal government with recommendations for aviation safety. He also initiated a hiring freeze, preventing the hiring of new air traffic controllers.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who oversees the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was sworn in the day before the crash.

Michael Whitaker, who served as administrator of the FAA in former President Joe Biden's administration, announced in December that he would resign his post on January 20, the day Trump took office.

The new president has not yet nominated a permanent replacement for Whitaker, but on Thursday he named Chris Rocheleau, a former Air Force officer who has spent more than 20 years at the FAA, as interim administrator.

Trump spreads blame

With recovery teams still searching for bodies in the Potomac River on Thursday, Trump held a press conference and attempted to pin blame for the accident on the previous presidential administration. He asserted, with no proof or evidence, that the Biden administration had lowered hiring standards for air traffic controllers as part of its "diversity, equity, and inclusion" efforts.

Trump took particular aim at former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying he had driven the agency "right into the ground with his diversity."

Buttigieg responded with a post on the social media platform X.

"Despicable," Buttigieg wrote. "As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.

"President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA," he added. "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."

Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
By Kate Bartlett

Johannesburg  Rwandan President Paul Kagame has lashed out at South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, after Ramaphosa accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels behind the escalating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this week. Kagame has accused Ramaphosa of "lying" and warned of possible "confrontation."

South Africa has troops deployed in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission there, as well as in a separate deployment by the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, aimed at backing up Congolese forces fighting rebels.

But Pretoria is under pressure this week after 13 South African soldiers were killed in a recent surge in fighting that resulted in the M23 militia  which Rwanda is widely accused of backing  making a rapid advance and seizing partial control of the key city of Goma in North Kivu province on Sunday night.

Ramaphosa said in a written statement on Wednesday that the M23, and what he called a Rwandan Defense Force militia, were responsible for the casualties, while his minister of defense, Angie Motshekga, went one step further.

Its just that at that stage, when they were firing above our heads, the president did warn them to say, If you are going to fire, well take it as a declaration of war.

He also disputed Ramaphosas statement that the dead South African soldiers were peacekeepers, saying the SADC force was engaged in offensive combat operations.

I spoke with the president of South Africa, who sought me out to speak with me, on this matter, because of their involvement in eastern Congo, and hes also there pretending to be playing a peacemaker role. M23 are not Rwandans, please, and South Africa dares even issue threats, he said.

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has directly blamed Rwanda for backing the M23, saying reports by U.N. experts proved Kigalis involvement. He said on Wednesday that South Africa had taken part in an African Union meeting on the crisis.

As South Africa, we participated in that platform and put our position across, which is that there is a ceasefire, immediate cessation of hostilities and, also, to request all the forces that are supporting M23, to also cease all support immediately, he said.

Congolese civilians who fled from Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, walk towards the Grand Barrier crossing point to return home, in Gisenyi, Rubavu district, Rwanda, Jan. 30, 2025.

Mineral-rich eastern Congo, which borders Rwanda, has been plagued by conflict for more than three decades. The current fighting stems partly from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The perpetrators fled across the border to North Kivu, and Rwanda says they now represent a security threat to its territory.

The Congolese government has accused Kigali of being active in eastern Congo, saying Kigali is after the areas vast mineral wealth.
By Gianluca Semeraro

VENICE (Reuters) -Generali on Thursday promised shareholders more than 8.5 billion euros ($8.9 billion) in dividends and share buybacks under a new strategy through 2027, as CEO Philippe Donnet prepares to fight for reappointment.

Investors in Italy's biggest insurer have in the past clashed over its leadership, with Donnet backed by top shareholder Mediobanca but under attack by two billionaires - Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and the now deceased Ray-Ban magnate Leonardo Del Vecchio.

Donnet's mandate comes up for renewal in the spring and Generali said late on Wednesday that its board would not put forward nominees after Italy's government changed corporate rules on succession that had been criticised by Caltagirone.

Donnet has offered to stay on for another term, Generali said. On Thursday, the CEO expressed confidence when asked at a press briefing about the upcoming shareholder vote on the new board.

"We are today presenting a very convincing plan for all shareholders, for all stakeholders, and we are very confident for what's going to happen next," Donnet said.

Caltagirone's three representatives on Generali's board failed to back the plan on Wednesday by abstaining in the vote, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

To complicate the picture, Mediobanca has become a takeover target for state-backed Monte dei Paschi after Caltagirone and Del Vecchio's investment vehicle Delfin became shareholders in MPS.

Generali earmarked 1.5 billion euros for mergers and acquisitions under the 2025-2027 strategy, after signing a memorandum of understanding with France's BPCE this month to set up an asset management joint venture that would have more than 1.9 trillion euros in assets.

The government has expressed reservations about the deal, saying domestic savings should be managed in Italy.

"The group will assess M&A opportunities with strict discipline, also benchmarking any potential transaction against share buybacks," it said.

Generali committed to growing earnings per share (EPS) by 8-10% a year on average over 2025-2027 with a net cash flow above 11 billion euros, it said in a statement, lifting its previous targets.

Its shares rose 0.9% in early trading, outperforming a 0.2% gain for Italy's blue chip index.

Jefferies analysts said Generali's plan was a positive surprise and more ambitious than anticipated.

Buybacks would total at least 1.5 billion euros, including 500 million euros for the current year.

($1 = 0.9599 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; writing by Valentina Za; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jason Neely)
The State Department on Wednesday sought to clarify President Donald Trump's order to freeze and review foreign development aid after the top U.S. diplomat blunted some of the chaos that ensued with an emergency order that could shield the world's largest HIV program from the 90-day funding freeze.

At the White House, Trump said his pauses to foreign and domestic funding are part of his administration's effort to root out "tremendous waste and fraud and abuse."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's late-Tuesday waiver exempts humanitarian aid, which he classifies as "life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance."

The United Nations' AIDS program welcomed the news, emphasizing the value of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which serves 20 million people in 55 countries.

"UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the U.S. government, which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of U.S. foreign development assistance," said Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. "This urgent decision recognizes PEPFAR's critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV."

'Blocking woke programs'

In a Wednesday memo sent to journalists, the State Department explained its rationale for the freeze during the review and lauded early cost cuts, saying that "even at this early stage, over $1,000,000,000 in spending not aligned with an America First agenda has been prevented."

The U.S. spent about $70 billion in foreign aid in fiscal year 2023, the most recent data available.

"We are rooting out waste," the memo said. "We are blocking woke programs. And we are exposing activities that run contrary to our national interests. None of this would be possible if these programs remained on autopilot."

The president, who said Wednesday at the White House that he "could stand here all day" and give examples of wasted fraud and abuse in the U.S. government, highlighted a few.

"We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas," he said. "Fifty million. And you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?"

The State Department echoed this, saying in a statement, "Without the pause, U.S. taxpayers would have provided condoms [and other contraceptive services] in Gaza, climate justice marketing services in Gabon, clean energy programs for women in Fiji, gender development programs in D.C., family planning throughout Latin America, sex education and pro-abortion programs for young girls globally, and much more. These types of programs do not make America stronger, safer or more prosperous."

A day earlier, the State Department sent a memo citing examples of unworthy projects, including $102 million to fund humanitarian aid nonprofit International Medical Corps' work in war-battered Gaza.

A USAID report says the agency delivered about $7 million worth of male condoms and about $1 million in female condoms in the 2023 fiscal year. In total, the agency said it disbursed nearly 138 million male condoms and 1.7 million female condoms worldwide.

Under USAID, the main administrator for U.S. foreign development funds, the bulk of contraceptive items were delivered to African countries, according to the report. Jordan was the only country in the Middle East to receive a shipment, which consisted of injectable and oral contraceptives valued at $45,680.

'Dramatic overreach'

At the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers not only affirmed the need for accountability but also emphasized that Congress, not the White House, decides how U.S. taxpayer money is spent.

"I think it's appropriate to have a review," said Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican.

"It would be my hope, however, that the aid can be reinstated and flow to Ukraine," Cramer said. "And then we'll see in the next appropriation cycle whether or not Congress still has the will to continue that aid."

"This is dramatic overreach by the White House, by the president," said Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Democrat. "It's unprecedented, uncalled for. This is money that we have appropriated in our role as members of the Senate and the House."
By Patsy Widakuswara and Aline Barros

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would sign an executive action directing his administration to prepare to detain undocumented migrants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The U.S. detention facility is known mostly for housing military prisoners and terror suspects, including those involved in the 9/11 attacks and members of the Taliban.

His order will instruct the Defense and Homeland Security departments to prepare the U.S. naval base to hold 30,000 migrants, Trump said.

Some of them are so bad we dont even trust the countries to hold them because we dont want them coming back. So were going to send them out to Guantanamo, Trump added. This will double our capacity immediately. And tough, its a tough place to get out of.

Trump made the announcement during a White House event during which he signed the Laken Riley Act into law. It was the first legislation he'd signed in his second term. The bill, named after a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered last year by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, aims to expand the federal government's mandate to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally.

It's unclear how the administration proposes to do this. Asked by reporters, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this was something the White House was working on, to use resources that we currently have there at Guantanamo Bay.

We'll go through the process, she said, adding that the administration was working with lawmakers to fund it. She offered no estimate of the cost.

A White House official, speaking on background, a method often used by U.S. officials to remain anonymous, told VOA that Trump had signed a presidential memorandum regarding housing migrants at Guantanamo.

Presidential memoranda are less formal than executive orders. For example, they do not have to be submitted to the Federal Register for publication.

Late Wednesday, the White House published the executive memorandum.

Trumps border czar, Tom Homan, said Wednesday that U.S. Coast Guard personnel already tasked to intercept illegal migrants at sea can take them straight to Guantanamo Bay.

Homan told reporters that migrants had been housed there before.

So we're just going to expand upon the existing migrant center logistics to work for that, he said.

According to a September 2024 report from the International Refugee Assistance Project, the U.S. has for decades detained migrants intercepted at sea in the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay under prisonlike conditions.

IRAP and other immigration rights advocates have called for the immediate closure of the migrant center. The organization also called on Congress to investigate alleged human rights abuses at the facility and called for the end of migrant detention operations everywhere.

Later Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Guantanamo Bay the "perfect place" for criminal migrants. Hegseth told Fox News that Guantanamo Bay could also temporarily hold other undocumented immigrants while theyre waiting to be sent back to their home countries.

"It's folks who maybe are in transit to their home country or a safe harbor country, and it's taking a little time to move with that processing of the paperwork, he said, adding, "Better they be held at a safe location, like Guantanamo Bay, which is meant and built for migrants, meant and built to sustain that away from the American people.

According to media reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement averaged 710 arrests per day from Thursday through Monday, more than double the daily average of 311 recorded in the 12-month period through September under President Joe Biden.

If ICE officers continue with these detentions, it would exceed the agencys previous record set during President Barack Obama's administration in 2013, when daily arrests averaged 636.

The Trump administration has intensified deportations, with ICE regularly updating arrest figures. The swift removals have sometimes created challenges in determining where to send deportees, especially when certain countries refuse to accept them.

Closing Guantanamo

Democratic administrations under Obama and Biden had sought to close the notorious detention camp. It was built by the George W. Bush administration in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base facility in 2002 following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that began shortly after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

Rights groups say that Guantanamo is a symbol of U.S. disregard for the rule of law, as many detainees were held there without charge or trial.

Sue Hendrickson, president and CEO of Human Rights First, said in a statement that sending migrants to Guantanamo would create a human rights catastrophe.

Housing accused terrorists at Guantanamo has been a debacle. For the past 20 years, the U.S. government has locked up people it never even accused of taking action against the United States while continually failing to try those credibly charged with serious crimes, she wrote.

The Trump administration may find the symbolism of sending migrants to Guantanamo darkly appealing; its practical result would be more injustice, waste and self-inflicted loss of credibility, Hendrickson added.

At its height during the Global War on Terror, the detention facility held about 680 prisoners. According to the Pentagon, as of January 6, there were just 15 detainees at the facility.

Before being used to detain terror suspects, the U.S. naval facility was also used to house migrants from Cuba and Haiti in the early 1990s, per the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

"At one point in late 1994, the migrant population of the naval station approached 45,000," a CRS report dated August 2022 said. The report noted the last of the migrants had left by the end of January 1996.

VOA's Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
Combs. Photo: Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images

Prosecutors now accuse Sean Diddy Combs of trafficking at least three women for sex. A superseding indictment filed January 30 lists two new sex-trafficking victims, the New York Times reports, along with the previous victim from the initial September 2024 indictment. The new indictment features no new charges. However, it also accuses Diddy of dangling a woman over an apartment balcony  mirroring a claim from a November 2024 lawsuit filed by designer Bryana Balgona. The indictment also extends Diddys racketeering charge further back, from 2008 to 2004.

Diddy pleaded not guilty to his initial charges and has been in jail in Brooklyn since September. Diddys attorney, Marc Agnifilo, responded to the new indictment later that evening, denying the allegations. The latest Indictment contains no new offenses. The prosecutions theory remains flawed. The government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr. Combs former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all but were prostitutes, Agnifilo shared in a statement to Vulture. Mr. Combs is as committed as ever to fighting these charges and winning at trial. Prosecutors said they do not expect the update to affect the trials planned May start.
Shows like Elsbeth and High Potential, when done well, still do the job even though weve seen varying iterations of them for nearly as long as weve had television to watch. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Michael Parmelee/CBS, Nicole Weingart/Disney

Quick, whats your favorite television show about a quirky consultant with unconventional methods who is brought in to help the police solve crime, often over the repeated objections of a cranky detective? Did you say Psych? Yeah, I get that. Psych was fun. So was Monk. Did you say Monk? Oh, sorry, you said Castle. Castle was another good one, at least for a while, if you like shows about mystery writers solving murders, which most people have dating back to Angela Lansbury doing it on Murder, She Wrote. Sherlock probably falls under the umbrella, too, which is nice because it rained a lot on that show and an umbrella would come in handy.

Whats that? The Mentalist? Sure, I guess we can include The Mentalist. And White Collar. Suits? Hmmm. Might not count only because the quirky hotshot was helping lawyers do law stuff, not solving crimes. But good thought. Columbo is a toughie, too, because Columbo already was the detective, not an outside consultant brought in to assist a detective, but his methods were unconventional enough that we should probably go ahead and put that one on the board, too. Its our list anyway. Whos gonna stop us? That stuffy chief who has been doing things by the book his whole career and has had it up to here with our loose-cannon shenanigans? Well, tough cookies, chief. We get results.

The point is that these shows, when done well, still do the job even though weve seen varying iterations of them nearly as long as weve had television to watch. They fell out of favor a little bit back when the prestige-television wave hit and every crime drama tried to sell itself as a ten-hour movie about a depressed person who smoked cigarettes while driving around town at night, but its still nice to have a mixture out there. Sometimes you just want to eat some pasta and watch a crime get committed and solved in 45 minutes, you know?

The good news here is that you have a couple of solid current options on that front. The first is Elsbeth, a Good Wife spinoff that follows Carrie Prestons Technicolor Chicago defense lawyer to New York City as she tags along on homicide investigations as part of a consent decree to keep an eye on the police. Elsbeth checks a lot of the boxes. Is she quirky? Buddy, is she ever, but in a lively way that Preston just devours. Does she get results? Every time. Are there skeptical members of the NYPD who do not approve of her antics? You know it. These skeptics are softening considerably as the show moves through its second season (a 100 percent case-closure rate will do that), but its important to note that one of the now-softened skeptics is the shows chief of police, played by Wendell Pierce.

Wendell Pierce is so good on this show. Thats not exactly a surprise because Wendell Pierce is always good (see: Wire, The), but its still worth noting. He gets more out of a sigh or dismissive grunt than most actors can give you with a full monologue. Also, because this is a network-television procedural, sometimes he gets to say really incredible lines of police-chief dialogue. This one is my favorite:

Photo: CBS

No, I will not be providing context.

Elsbeth also takes a page out of the Columbo playbook with its structure. Every episode starts by showing the audience who committed the murder and exactly how and why they committed it. The rest of the episode builds backward from there, with Elsbeth and the  usually wealthy, usually high-society  killer circling each other like goofy predators. This means the killer gets a meaty role every week. That means the show lures in prominent guest stars. If youre wondering if this is the kind of show where Nathan Lane plays a man who is driven to homicide because the people in front of him at the opera make too much noise, well  spoilers, but yes. Its a good time.

(Speaking of Columbo, as I often am, this feels like a good place to mention Poker Face, another delightful show about a quirky redhead using unorthodox methods to solve a crime. Its a little different from the kind of shows weve been discussing so far, seeing as it aired on a streaming service and had a big fancy auteur behind it and lacked the typical structure you get from a network  even basic cable  television show, with little act breaks at each commercial and a uniform run time. But theres never really a bad time to mention a show where Natasha Lyonne goes full Peter Falk, you know?)

High Potential is a pretty good time, too. The show stars Kaitlin Olson from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Hacks as a single mom and cleaning lady who ends up working with the LAPD to solve murders. It checks all the boxes, too. Is she quirky? Well, shes a flighty high-IQ super genius with a fun-house brain and a wardrobe that looks like a zoo exploded, so lets call that a yes. Does she get results? Yes, every time, usually because she noticed some small detail that the other detectives missed in a way that mayyyyybe stretches credulity a bit. Is there at least one skeptical detective who doesnt approve of her methods? Yup, and the sexual tension is a-bubbling.

If you read all of that and found yourself thinking, Hold on, this show just sounds like a gender-swapped version of Psych, the show about the flighty fake psychic who used his powers of perception to solve crimes, theres a good reason for that: It basically is Psych, just with Judy Reyes as the chief and no Dule Hill. Yet. Psych star James Roday Rodriguez has popped up as a director on High Potential, so we cant rule out anything here. Let Dule Hill murder someone. Hes earned it.

That brings us back to the point from earlier. Shows like this often get labeled as comfort food, which is sometimes delivered with a sneer. But theres a reason the foods we refer to that way actually do bring us comfort. They have a familiar recipe that triggers the various receptors in our brain that make us feel all warm and snuggly. If you can wrangle the right ingredients  say, Carrie Preston and Wendell Pierce being charming together, Kaitlin Olson in a leopard-print jacket explaining the history of Californias freeway system, the episodic structure we discussed in the parenthetical up there, and fresh herbs and produce  you can have yourself a lovely little dinner.

Shows like Severance and Succession are like fine dining, a fancy restaurant dish full of unexpected combinations of flavors. Shows like Elsbeth and High Potential are like a beef-stew recipe youve been making for years. Its fun to challenge your taste buds sometimes with something new and exciting, or even try out an elevated stew recipe with different cuts of meat and some vegetables you picked up from the expensive grocery store downtown (Poker Face), but please dont ever forget that your classic beef stew can be delicious, too.
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/WireImage

Stop the presses, sound the alarm, blow that white Pope smoke up the Vaticans chimney: Dan Brown has written another Robert Langdon novel. Billed by Brown himself as the most intricately plotted and ambitious novel [hes] written to date, The Secret of Secrets is due out September 9, 2025. The synopsis provided on Browns website promises a propulsive, twisty, thought-provoking masterpiece that takes Langdon to Prague where his new girlfriend, Katherine Solomon, will be delivering a groundbreaking lecture related to her new book on noetic science that contains startling discoveries about the nature of human consciousness and threatens to disrupt centuries of established belief.

I honestly dont know how you can read that paragraph and not be immediately charmed by the prospect of consuming this nonsense, but if youre are not a freak who spends most of her free time thinking about Dan Browns unholy narratives, you might be wondering things like: Wait, what was the last Robert Langdon book? Who is Robert Langdons girlfriend? Does this make any sense, like at all? Fantastic questions.

This is the first new story in the saga of the Harvard professor/renowned symbologist/Jack Ryan for cucks since 2017s Origin. (Unless you count Peacocks Dan Browns The Lost Symbol, which was an adaptation of Browns third Langdon book and tragically cancelled after one season.) In that book, Langdon traveled to Spain where he solved a mystery related to the literal origins of the universe. Where will he go from there? The title promises an even bigger secret so buckle up!

While the Langdon adventures thus far have been pretty self-contained, with only little winky references in later books to getting in trouble with the Vatican (in the first book/second movie Angels & Demons) or a little dust-up in Paris (in the second book/first movie The DaVinci Code.) But the return of Katherine Solomon suggests that The Secret of Secrets is breaking from that tradition. Katherine was Langdons requisite lithe love interest in The Lost Symbol (the third book/first TV series), as the sister of Roberts mentor. (She was aged down to his daughter in Peacocks Dan Browns The Lost Symbol, since Langdon on that show is Hot and Young.)

As to whether it makes sense? No, not at all  and thats the whole appeal. The Robert Langdon books are for turning your brain off while lighting it up at the same time. Its National Treasure for grown-ups. Its an escape room for your brain: just convoluted enough that you come out of it feeling like a smartypants, but actually extremely linear and simple so that it doesnt ruin your vacation. My esteemed coworkers in Vultures book Slack, in fact, suggested that copies of The Secret of Secrets should come pre-wrinkled and dog-eared, with salt stains and sand in the pages. Thats the kind of big-brain lateral thinking that would make Robert Langdon proud.
Alia Shawkat in Gatess Atropia. Photo: Sundance Institute

Theres an inherent farce to the U.S. government, or so Hailey Gates suggests in her debut feature film, Atropia. Based on her 2019 short film Shako Mako, Gates expands her exploration of fake towns established by the American military for training purposes and the actors cast as townspeople  and potential terrorists  in those training scenarios. At the heart of both the short and Atropia is Alia Shawkats Fayruz, whose Iraqi heritage and commitment to character lend her an overwrought self-seriousness played for laughs. That obscene quality, both in the baseness of the humor and the earnestness of the films central romance amidst all the (fake) blood and (shoddy) carnage, paid off: on Friday, Sundance awarded Atropia with its Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.

That mix between political satire and off-kilter romance sits at the heart of Atropia, a film that Gates first set out to make as a documentary about the changeover in these fake towns from the Middle East to Russia, landing eventually in a fictional 2006  three years into the Iraq War. The upside to fictionalizing what is an outrageous story unto itself is, as Gates tells it, you can make a lot more jokes. Atropia is, in turn, a joke-dense spoof, one of Sundances funniest films, skewering the military-industrial complex, method acting, and rom-coms all in one.

While a number of rom-coms are about fixing one  or both  members of a couple so they can function in society, the screwball is driven by, well, a screwball: a wacky, self-assured woman who pulls everyone into her orbit with increasingly self-assured antics. Fayruz never really wisens up so much as Atropia devolves around her: Actors start improvising more and more; bombs and animatronics go off at the wrong times; everything grows increasingly base and disgusting.

Shawkat is Atropias greatest asset. She feels like a Pre-Code actress, Gates said. She has something old-timey about her. I always describe her as a surgeon because shell do one eye movement and change the trajectory [of a scene]. Gates was inspired by wartime comedies like M*A*S*H or Catch 22, as well as Ernst Lubitschs To Be or Not to Be because it makes fun of war and dealing with actors. Playing opposite Shawkats Fayruz is Callum Turners Tanner, a real veteran of the Iraq War playing a fake insurgent who goes by Abu Dice (You know that means father of Dice? Fayruz asks him at some point). For all that Shawkats Fayruz is wacky and eager  anxious to be discovered in Atropia so she can move along to Hollywood stardom  Turners Abu Dice is stoic and self-serious. These arent just theater games to him; they were once his life. For his part, hes giving a bit of a Gary Cooper, Gates said of Turner, another old Hollywood throwback.

Atropia writer and director Hailey Gates. Photo: Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images

Gates, whose background is fashion and modeling, found that the costuming and production design was a place where jokes could speak to the shoddiness of the military exercise. I wanted her clothes to feel like she was stealing from a community-theater wardrobe, she said of Fayruzs haphazard style and thought Abu Dices tendency to use his sunglasses as a headband was really tender. The most gifted fashion choices are saved for Chloe Sevigny sitting beside Tim Heidecker as military talking heads who never bother to stand up from their chairs. Sevigny goes full mid-aughts: fake tan, overly gelled hair, platinum lips. I wrote that character as having crunchy bangs, Gates said with a laugh. Its so fun to explore near history.

An actress in her own right, Gates has appeared in everything from Ricki and the Flash to Challengers to Uncut Gems to Twin Peaks: The Return. Though Atropia is far from Lynchian, she looked back at her time with David Lynch fondly  especially his love for practical effects, whether it was throwing more Bisquick on a table to make it look dirty or using a piece of pizza to simulate human flesh. He loved movie magic, Gates said, and I love movie magic too. In building Atropia, she had to enlist production designers who were the best at their jobs and have them make everything look worse: shoddy costumes, bad effects, anything to show the seams in the production. I was rereading [Lynchs] Catch a Big Fish the other day, Gates said, and he said something so great. This should be fun. We should be like puppy dogs wagging our tails. And it should be. Every single day we went to set we were like, Can you believe people are letting us do this? This is outrageous. Nobody should be able to do this.
(Reuters) - Grayscale Investments said on Friday it was launching an investment fund aimed at dogecoin, as the cryptocurrency asset manager looks to tap into the increasing momentum around alternatives to bitcoin.

The Grayscale Dogecoin Trust will offer investors an opportunity to gain exposure to a token that the company believes has "transitioned from a memecoin... to a tool for global financial inclusion and a viable means of payment".

Investors are hunting for gains beyond bitcoin, and firms like Grayscale are looking to tap into the growing popularity of altcoins  a term used for crypto tokens other than the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

"Dogecoin is helping groups underserved by legacy financial infrastructure to participate in the financial system," said Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale's head of product and research.

Founded in 2013, Stamford, Connecticut-based Grayscale offers investors exposure to crypto through more than 25 investment products.

The trust, which is designed to track dogecoin's market price, is now available for subscriptions to eligible individual and institutional accredited investors.

The coin was conceived as a joke during an earlier crypto bubble, but it has steadily gained popularity, partly due to the support of Tesla CEO and the world's richest man, Elon Musk.

It is now the world's eighth-biggest token, with a market cap of about $50 billion, according to data from cryptocurrency data and analysis firm CoinGecko.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - a Musk-led advisory group under the Trump administration aimed at carrying out cuts to the U.S. government - also references dogecoin.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
Photo: Max

The YouTubers yearn for the cameras. Brothers, fighters, and influencers Jake and Logan Paul pulled some clickbait earlier this week with a promo that looked like they were headed for a brawl in the ring. They started out on social media; what do you expect? Sincerity? Paul American, their new reality show for Max, follows the two throughout their antics, including the lead-up to Jakes fight against Mike Tyson. Both Jake and Logan have had an incredibly diverse resume since their beginnings on Vine in 2013 and their current gig as professional boxers and fighters. Jake starred in the Disney Channel series, Bizaardvark, and created Team 10, a group of YouTubers that had the competition shook. Logan similarly pivoted to YouTube after the end of Vine but after many controversies, he eventually switched gears to create the sports/energy drink Prime and his own podcast, both with their set of problems.

In the trailer for Paul American, the brothers arent hiding the controversy that follows them. Im uncancellable, Jake declared as he puckered his lips. Well put that to the test, brother! Logan replied. The show invites viewers to meet the Paul family, who see them for who they really are. Whatever that means. See for yourself on March 27 on Max.
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

When Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story premieres February 1, pop star and Latin-freestyle legend Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Velez) will join the likes of Whitney Houston, Mahalia Jackson, Aaliyah, and Salt-N-Pepa of artists who have been immortalized in Lifetime movies. Feel the Beat traces Lisa Lisas beginnings as the youngest of ten children in Hells Kitchen to her rise to fame. Her 1984 breakout single, I Wonder If I Take You Home, was one of the earliest smashes to combine soulful vocals with electro beats in a genre that would come to be known as freestyle, named after the dancing it inspired. But it was the ballad All Cried Out that gave Lisa Lisa and her group, Cult Jam, their first Top 10 on Billboards Hot 100, A few years later, they hit pop gold with a one-two punch of Motown-inspired No. 1 hits, Head to Toe and Lost in Emotion.

Can You Feel the Beat, which Lisa Lisa executive-produced alongside her manager, Toni Menage, touches on the music-industry trappings that were particularly treacherous for a kid whose dream was so big, she sought out DJ and producer John Jellybean Benitez at the Funhouse where he spun to effectively audition for him. Ahead of the films premiere, Lisa Lisa expanded on the long path to get the biopic made and revealed her hopes for the future. I pray that Im a Puerto Rican Lena Horne, 99, 100 years old, on the stage with a blinged-out mic, she told us.

Its nice to see you being valorized in your own biopic. How did the whole thing come about?

Tracy Twinkie Byrd, the producer of the movie, had been in my DMs for years, saying, I know you, my father used to be your teacher in high school. Of course, I had to research her, and she absolutely was right. But I still wasnt ready to make the film. I think it was about five years after that that my manager, Toni Menage, answered for me and said, Lets do this.

How did it work in terms of telling the story? Did you sit down with Rebecca Murga, who wrote the screenplay?

Yes, we did. Toni and I both. Rebecca just wanted to know everything about me and how my career started. It was therapeutic.

In previous tellings of your story  on Unsung, for example  Ive never seen as much emphasis put on your friendship with Toni. It seemed like a conscious choice to put that up front in this film.

Absolutely. Where I am today, I owe 100 percent to Toni Menage. She pulled me out of a really dark place and filled me in on a lot about the business that I didnt know. She needed to be in this to let people know that its not easy. Its still not easy. And its always good to have people that got your back.

Per the movie, there were times when she was the only other woman in the room with you.

Absolutely. From the beginning, it was a room full of nothing but hungry men.

The film shows two men in power  the fictionalized producer/manager character Rocco and the record exec Barry  putting moves on you. They touch you suggestively. Theyre coercive. Was that as bad is it got in real life, or did you go through worse?

Well, it was one incident. And it was the 80s, and, again, the music industry was 100 percent nothing but male. I was the only female in that group. Its something that I went through and something that I overcame. Went to therapy and everything. Im a survivor.

Its shocking that at 15 years old, you were being called Lisa Lisa in reference to your two breasts. What was it like to endure that? Did it strike you at the time that it was messed up?

Truth be told, I didnt understand any of that. I was a kid, right? I knew nothing about that. I came from the church with my family, my mom, especially. Hells Kitchen, you learn from the streets, but you learn as you go. And I thank Toni again for opening my eyes to a lot of that.

Theres only so much a movie can contain, so things like you singing in church as a kid are not here. How did you determine what you wanted to include?

We decided that we were going to choose from the age of 15, when I first started in Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, up until when I decided that I was going to take control.

Did you have creative control of this movie?

Mostly, yeah. Toni and I, we sat in during every day of filming. We sat in while it was being written. Of course, Rebecca had to discuss it with me, and we had a lot of intake on it. Im gonna say like 95 percent.

Full Force arent mentioned in the movie by name. Why is that?

It was always an issue with people understanding who Cult Jam was. Full Force were the producers and management and I wanted to tell the story of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and who we were, how we started. Thats what the audience needed to know. Thats who I chose to represent.

Do you remain in contact with the guys from Cult Jam, Alex Spanador Moseley and Mike Hughes?

I know that theyre out there doing their own thing, which is wonderful. I wish them nothing but the best.

In a Spin profile of you from 1988, theres a quote from Full Forces Bowlegged Lou that gave me pause: We signed her to the label itself, but its a stipulation in there where only we can produce her, nobody else can do it but us. Since he was part of your management at the time, that sounds like a potential conflict of interest.

Absolutely, and little did I know that it was a conflict of interest. They were double-dipping. I had to fight for the last album that I did with them, Straight Out of Hells Kitchen, to get other producers in there. I had to go back into the record label and talk and discuss, and we had several meetings. That threw me off too.

Did fame ever weigh on you? Was there anything to work through there in therapy?

I was never one to focus on any of that. I am a true believer that God is the one that puts you where you belong. I was very well taken care of, though. My mom was very grounding, rest her soul. If she wasnt, I wouldnt be here today. I was able to be me when I got home. She made sure of that.

Your album Spanish Fly had two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s. A few years later, you released a solo album that didnt perform as well as you probably would have liked and the chart hits stopped coming. Is that a hard thing to adjust to?

For me, the hardship was not being able to do a lot of performances. But it comes and goes, and I kept myself busy. I truly didnt understand what it is for everybody else that they need to be on top all the time. Youre never going to be on top all the time. Its a come and go kind of business.

Something that I find interesting is that freestyle was largely a studio genre, but it lives on today in the live arena via the retro concert circuit.

It doesnt bother me. I was raised on live music. My parents were in a band when they were in Puerto Rico. They did parrandas all the time. Everything that we did was to music: the Fania All-Stars, Tito Puente, Jimmy Sabater, Joe Cuba. When we first started as Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Full Force was our live band. We were always onstage. It wasnt till years later that we started doing track, and still to this day, its not my favorite thing to do. I love to be on stage live. So when we perform, youre always going to get live vocals.

You play your mother in this movie. What was that like? It seems surreal.

Surreal, yeah, perfect word. To see my life through her eyes was kind of bugged out, because I remember putting her through everything. We were all good kids, though, and she raised all ten of us by herself. It was therapeutic to remember, to have to go into all of that past. You know, I did it for her.

There are so many stories of people who signed record deals, especially in the 80s and 90s, and just did not get paid what they should have. Were you ever screwed out of money?

Oh, yeah, still. I was a kid, I didnt know what the hell I was signing when I first signed it. I just wanted to sing, and they truly convinced me that everything was going to be okay. And my mother, business-wise, she did everything freelance. Coming to New York, she was only 17, 18 years old, and she had kids already. She didnt know any of that. She tried to learn how to speak English. So I just went ahead and signed.

Do you remember what they paid you for I Wonder If I Take You Home?

I didnt get money till I did my first gig.

So thats how you were making money, basically? It wasnt through the recordings?

Yeah. Im in the process of writing my memoirs, so all of that will be told.

Have you lived comfortably as a result of your career?

Yeah, Im a working woman. I love to work, and Im okay. Im all right. I should be better, but Ill get there.

Another thing from the Spin article I wanted to ask you about: Did you really try to buy the Elephant Mans bones?

[Laughs.] Thats true. I remember I was up at the record-label offices and I was told by one of the publicists there that his bones were being sold, that there was a bidding war, and that Michael Jackson was one of the bidders. I was like, Wait a minute, I want to get in on this too, just threw my name in the batch. You know, it was fun. I wasnt gonna get them, but if I did, I was gonna find investors to help me get them, because I definitely wanted them.

It says in Spin that you bid a million dollars.

I did.

In addition to the book, are you working on new music?

Yeah, we released a a salsa version of All Cried Out. Its on all platforms now, and we are putting it into our show, and theres more to come.
Welcome back, Matlockers! After a long holiday layoff, our favorite undercover attorney returned to action this week with a tricky case that  as so often happens to Madeline Matlock Kingston  gives her a new perspective on her secret personal business.

As you may recall, when last we left Matty, shed found evidence that excluded her No. 1 suspect  the big boss, Senior, at Jacobson Moore  from the crime of hiding evidence about the dangers of Wellbrexas opioid products. This left just two names on the investigation board: Julian and Olympia. And Matty really doesnt want it to be Olympia.

Much of this weeks Matlock is about whether or not Mattys relationship with Olympia  referred to in the episodes title, Friends  is clouding her judgment and possibly derailing the case shes supposed to be building against Wellbrexa and Jacobson Moore. Its something her husband, Edwin, tries to warn her about. Every time he hears her tell another story about working side-by-side with Olympia, he scowls and shakes his head. Shes getting sloppy, he thinks. The more relaxed Matty gets around Olympia, the more likely it is that shell slip and say something that exposes who she is and why shes working at the firm.

Matty, for her part, isnt worried about getting in any real trouble if her ruse is uncovered. (It would be too embarrassing to J-M to have her arrested, she argues. They were fooled by an old woman calling herself Matlock? Imagine the headlines!) But Edwins not wrong about his wife getting loose with her secret identity. She almost burns herself in this episode by trying to intervene in her grandson Alfies school bullying problem and mentioning  in a phone call other people at the office can hear  Alfies grandfather. Given that shes supposed to be a widow, Matty has to scramble to explain that shes referring to Alfies other grandfather, from  um, Maine.

It doesnt help that the person who overhears this call is Shae, the human lie detector, whom Matty has an extra reason to despise after Olympia lets it slip that Shae was the woman Julian had a fling with. Under the guise of being a loyal friend, Matty urges Olympia to get Shae fired  something that could make both of their lives easier.

Again, all of this matters to this episodes case of the week because it speaks to how what people want to be true can keep them from seeing whats actually true. Matty wants Olympia to be the hero of her Wellbrexa story and for someone she cares less about  Julian, perhaps  to be the villain. Similarly, Olympia and Matty really want to believe their client, Samantha Prince (Allyson Lee Brown), because shes a nice, pregnant woman who also happens to be Elijahs cousin. Also, they sincerely believe that she was fired from her job as a delivery driver because she was actively trying to form a union.

When Sams ex-employers at SteadTrack retaliate by having her arrested, Jacobson-Moore tries to speed her case to trial in hopes that Sam can get acquitted before she gives birth. This results in Olympia and Matty getting blindsided over and over by new information and new witnesses that the defense team didnt have time to share. SteadTrack is arguing that Sam was fired because her truck was stolen while she was on the job and that a piece of a packing slip for a Gucci handbag was found in her locker. Theyre accusing her of arranging to have the truck stolen in exchange for a cut of the loot.

The truth  which Sam unwisely failed to disclose to her lawyers  is that she wasnt even driving the truck that day but instead had asked her co-worker Khadija (Ashli Auguillard) to fill in so she could sneak off to an ultrasound appointment that SteadTrack didnt approve. Yet even though Khadija has massive gambling debts, Sam refuses to let Olympia and Matty introduce reasonable doubt by pointing the finger at her. Once again, friendship takes precedence over reason and practicality.

Olympia and Matty try to get their mind off their troubles by day drinking and gossiping about Julian and Shae. (Picture Edwin somewhere, grouchily shaking his head.) And its while telling Matty about how Julian once dared her to check the location tags on his phone to prove he wasnt cheating that Olympia suddenly remembers something: Sam left her fancy earbuds in the truck when it was stolen, which means they can track the movements of that truck.

The plan pays off incredibly well. Olympias team discovers that the truck ended up at an apartment building where Sams former co-worker Irv (Ron Rogge) lives. A little more digging on Irv reveals that he owns a union-busting consulting firm and hires himself out to companies looking to disrupt labor organizing through spying and dirty tricks. Sam is proven innocent. The good guys win.

But theres a problem. Because the case resolves in a way that makes sense  with Sam having told the truth, with Khadija not having been involved, and with their employers shady business exposed  Matty is all the more inclined to believe that she can tell instinctively whos trustworthy. Earlier, when getting hammered with Olympia, Matty listened to her tell the story of how she got involved with Julian right out of law school when they were both working on Wellbrexa cases  with Shae. Mattys takeaway from this? That Julian is the guilty party, with Shae as a possible accomplice. Because why wouldnt she be? Shaes awful, right?

What she misses from that conversation, though, is Olympias warning that Big Pharmas money nearly killed my soul. Theres clearly more to that story, and yet Matty is prematurely tuning it out because now she has someone new to target  and hey, what do you know, it just so happens to be someone she already kind of hates. What more does she need to know?

Well, I know this: Edwin had better keep those head-shaking muscles loose.

Hot Doggin

 And what of Billy and Sarah, you may ask? Theyre mostly sidelined again, aside from being asked to put on cool club clothes and question Khadijas ex-boyfriend, a bouncer. But Billy seems to be coming out of his post-Claudia stupor and recognizes that Olympia is picking Matty for her big assignments repeatedly.

 As for Sarah, she gets a bit shaken up when she realizes that her semi-girlfriend Kira is seeing other people sometimes  which is partly Sarahs fault because shes never asked to be exclusive. So she lets Kira know how she really feels, and Kira says that she appreciates the honesty, that shes not ready to make that commitment yet, and that Sarah should check back in a month. (Ill send you a calendar invite, Sarah jokes.)

 When Kira heads off to do her IT work, she describes her job as gotta fix other peoples mistakes without making them feel dumb. Sarahs reply? But thats the fun!

 Matty tells a long, illustrative story at one point about her frequently mentioned canasta partner Cindy Shapiro, and in the course of it, she mentions another acquaintance of theirs: Carol Burnett. She quickly explains that its not the famous one, but still, her strategy of using well-known names for her fake anecdotes is getting weirder and weirder.

 Matty, trying to unnerve Irv by flirting with him, pretends to be confused by all the beer options at modern bars. Try a blonde, he says. I used to be a blonde, she replies, adding with a wink, Still am in some places.

 True words from Matty: At my age, a cocktail in the middle of the afternoon better come with a blanket and a pillow.
Hervana. Photo: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

Hervana is back. The surviving members of Nirvana surprise-reunited for the first time since 2020 for the FireAid benefit concert. And to fill in for Kurt Cobain, they tapped some of the same women whove previously taken his place. Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, and St. Vincent  who all also performed with Nirvana for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2014  each stepped into the lineup, which featured Krist Novoselic on bass and Dave Grohl on drums, along with former touring member Pat Smear on guitar. And this time, they dug into some deep cuts. St. Vincent, who also stepped in for a 2020 benefit, kicked off by ripping through Neverminds Breed. Then, Sonic Youths Gordon took the stage to scowl School, before Jett joined to pummel through Territorial Pissings. And for their final guest, Nirvana brought out someone whos even more familiar with the band. Grohls 18-year-old daughter, Violet, who also previously sang at that 2020 benefit, did All Apologies.

Notably, this was Grohls first performance since he revealed he had a daughter outside his marriage last September. That news sparked speculation about a rift in Grohls family, leading Violet to deactivate her social media and Dave to retain a divorce lawyer. But last month, a source told People Dave and his wife, Jordyn Blum, were trying to move forward in their marriage. Now, Violets appearance seems to show theres no bad blood between her and her father. Rebuilding: It was the theme of the night!
At the very least, a Super Bowl commercial premise  Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Taylor Hill, Gilbert Flores/Variety)

We can all tell that somethings wrong in the universe right now. A lot of things, really. I cant solve most of them, but I do have one idea to right the cosmic balance just a touch. Reese Witherspoon and Kate Winslet need to make up.

Heres the deal: The other day, People published an interview with Witherspoon and her Youre Cordially Invited co-star Will Ferrell. Between their ribbing, Witherspoon told the story of a moment that literally haunts her. So this friend of mine, who I didnt really know that well but she was a very serious, proper actress, she asked me to give her an award, Witherspoon said. But I had never been to this award ceremony, so I thought it was like a roast. So I got up and I roasted her. Turns out, the event was elegant and classy  not the kind of place for Witherspoon to be joking about laser-hair removal. Witherspoon didnt name the actress in question, but admitted theyre not friends and she doesnt talk to me anymore.

So who could this grudge-holding mystery actress be? Thank God for the internet. Mere hours after the interview was posted, Just Jared cracked the case. The site tracked down a speech Witherspoon gave to honor Kate Winslet back at the 2007 BAFTA/LA Cunard Britannia Awards, reported on at the time by Glamour Reese Witherspoon (the ultimate Reese Witherspoon fan experience since 2001). Witherspoon remembered the day Winslet first rang her doorbell, shortly after moving to her neighborhood. In Witherspoons telling (and, per the fan site, with a British accent), Winslet said, Dahling, Sam is off shooting, and I believe our children are the same age. Could they possibly have a playdate, and oh, by the way, its almost 9 oclock and Ive had nothing to drink, do you have any wine? Witherspoon honored her friends fearlessness in films like Iris and Holy Smoke, while admitting that she couldnt tell more stories because theyre all too bawdy or tawdry or drunken. Including, the fan site said, one about laser-hair removal. Ding, ding, ding! (Allegedly, I should say: Winslets team has not confirmed anything.)

This was a ceremony for the Los Angeles branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, where Winslet was winning the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Sounds like a big deal! And those Brits can certainly be old-fashioned.

But heres the part that doesnt make sense: At the beginning of 2007, they were the level of Hollywood acquaintances where you greet each other with kisses on the Golden Globes red carpet, as Just Jared noted. Now, they no longer speak?! Winslet sure had the right to be mad at her friend for embarrassing her in front of an esteemed industry group. But for years? When youve already shared so many bawdy, tawdry, and drunken moments together?

Imagine what weve missed out on in the last nearly 20 years: Buddy comedies! Kate starring in a middling adaptation of a Reeses Book Club pick! Kate couldve even returned the favor by embarrassing Reese at some stodgy American awards show! Instead, these two seem to barely cross paths, and the world is certainly worse off for it. World peace may be unattainable, but I can still dream of peace between these icons. Maybe they can patch things up in time to present together at the Oscars?
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

At this point, maybe all of us will be the next Scream 7 casting announcement, because it feels like the franchise wants as many people as possible to return. But will bringing back David Arquette, Neve Campbell, and other legacy actors be enough to make audiences forget about Melissa Barreras firing? What about adding a bunch of new faces? Franchise creator Kevin Williamson seems optimistic. After replacing original director Christopher Landon, Williamson will be directing a Scream for the first time, after scripting the first, second, and fourth installments. I am overcome with gratitude and excitement, and I cant wait to take this journey with Neve and the entire Scream family, Williamson wrote in a March 12, 2024, Instagram post. Heres what we know so far about whos in (and out of) that family for this film.

Whos returning in the Scream 7 cast?

Scream 7 casting seems designed to lure fans back in. David Arquette will somehow reprise his role as Dewey Riley, despite the fact that the character was stabbed to death a couple movies ago. Arquette joins Matthew Lillard  who played one of the original Scream villains and confirmed his casting in an Instagram post where he wrote, My mom and dad are gonna be soo mad at me!!  and original Scream queen Neve Campbell, back after initially holding out for financial reasons. The cast also includes franchise familiars Courteney Cox, Scott Foley, Mason Gooding, and Jasmin Savoy Brown.

Whos joining the Scream 7 cast?

The movie isnt all reprisals. Plenty of new faces will be Scream-ing, with Isabel May, Celeste OConnor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Sam Rechner, Anna Camp, Joel McHale, Mark Consuelos, and Ethan Embry making their franchise debut.

What about Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega?

The franchise fired its modern star Melissa Barrera over posts in support of Palestine. News broke shortly after that Scream VI lead Jenna Ortega also decided not to return. Original director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) a tweeted then deleted This was not my decision to make, on November 22, 2023, after Barreras firing. A month later, on December 23, Landon revealed on X that he had stepped down from the franchise, describing the experience as a dream job that turned into a nightmare.

When is Scream 7 coming out?

As long as theres no more drama, Scream 7 is out on February 27, 2026.
The documentary is like a killer tribute album that you want to listen to again, as soon as the last song fades. Photo: Saturday Night Live via YouTube

The 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live has recently been celebrated with a Peacock docuseries about its history, a Jason Reitman movie about its origin, and magazine cover shoots highlighting the endless parade of stars who got their start in Studio 8H. That is to say nothing about the previous anniversary specials and documentaries and books and oral histories that have rehashed and contextualized SNLs place in American culture many times over. Its tempting to feel like there couldnt possibly be anything new to say about SNL. But then came Ladies & Gentlemen  50 Years of SNL Music.

The two-hour-plus documentary serves as a thoroughly spectacular salute to the pop stars and songs that gave the NBC late-night show its reputation as a launching pad for musicians, as well as budding comedians. Co-directed by Questlove and Oz Rodriguez, a regular, longtime director of shorts at SNL, the documentary offers a comprehensive, dynamic, and genuinely exciting tour through five decades of rock, hip-hop, punk, and other genres as manifested within the walls of 30 Rock. It debuted earlier this week on NBC and is now streaming on Peacock. If for some reason youve been hesitant to check it out, here are five reasons why you should stop what youre doing and immediately press play on this journalistic mixtape featuring performances from some of the greatest musical artists (and funny people pretending to be great musical artists) of all time.

1.

Another director might have kicked off this documentary with a series of talking-head shots of influential people speaking about why music has played such a significant role in SNLs success. Theres a tiny bit of that in the seven-minute montage at the top of Ladies & Gentlemen, but mostly, its an auditory and visual roller-coaster ride through major SNL musical moments, crafted with the kind of infectious, surprising flow that only a DJ as seasoned as Questlove could give.

When the aggressive drumbeat of Take Me Out, knocked out by Franz Ferdinand during a 2005 episode, gets looped in to Nellys performance of Hot in Herre, each positioned side by side in a split screen, the two songs sound like they were always intended to complement each other. And not only is the slide between Queen performing Under Pressure, Dave Matthews singing Ants Marching, and Vanilla Ice shuffle-dancing through Ice Ice Baby worthy of being blasted through a boom box, it also efficiently communicates the vast differences and common denominators among the shows musical guests over the years. From the get-go, this banger of an intro demonstrates the approach of the whole documentary, with Questlove and Rodriguez gliding naturally from one subject to the next.

2.

Generally speaking, its pretty easy to find clips of old SNL sketches online. Musical performances are more challenging to track down because of rights issues that often keep them out of circulation. Because of that, more of the old footage in Ladies & Gentlemen feels rare; either youve never seen it or you saw it once, so long ago that you completely forgot about it. Which is why its thrilling to see a barely lit Prince grooving his heart out to Partyup in 1981, David Bowie wearing a plastic tuxedo while singing The Man Who Sold the World, or the Funky 4 + 1, a Bronx-based rap group who only got on the show because host Debbie Harry insisted on it, launching into national televisions first rap performance, also in 1981. Even the stuff that doesnt involve actual performances  like video of Charles Barkley and the members of Nirvana clowning around while shooting a promo  has the feel of a precious artifact thats finally been unearthed.

3.

Questlove has said that he watched every single episode of SNL while working on this project, and it shows. Ladies & Gentlemen covers every era of the show and doesnt over-dwell on the early years the way some SNL histories have a tendency to do. While it spends the most time on rock and rap, it captures the diversity of genres  country, reggae, classical  that have infused the air in Studio 8H.

It also gets nitty-gritty, documenting an extremely busy week in the life of Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish, two stars who recently served as both host and musical guest. It pays tribute to the musical impressions and compositions of certain cast members. (Eddie Murphy, who rarely speaks for these sorts of SNL lookbacks, discusses his takes on James Brown and Stevie Wonder, while a whole section focuses on the influence of the Lonely Island.) And it explores how SNL can act as a megaphone both for the success of careers (Adeles popularity bump after her first SNL appearance is covered) and for political causes. Sinead OConnors famous 1992 appearance, where she ripped up a picture of the Pope during her cover of Bob Marleys War, is shown in its entirety, as is a portion of the dress rehearsal, when she held up a picture of a young child so SNLs crew wouldnt know what she had planned. If Questlove and Rodriguez left out a significant, relevant angle on SNL music, I cant figure out what it is.

4.

Remember when Ashlee Simpson came out onstage at SNL in 2004 to sing her second song and the track she had already performed played by accident, revealing that she was lip-syncing the whole time? This documentary does, and it replays the moment from the perspective of the control room, where a director keeps yelling Wrong song, wrong song! Even more compelling is the audio of Kanye West in 2016 after he realizes lighting designers have removed some of the reflective material on his set. He immediately walks offstage and starts yelling I am 50 percent more influential than any other human being! Dont fuck with me! to seemingly no one in particular. These moments keep the documentary from being too laudatory and also provide a visceral sense of what its like to actually be smack in the middle of the fray on a live-show night when things go off the rails.

5.

This documentary doesnt shy away from considering some negative moments in SNL music. It touches on some truly disastrous performances, including Miles Davis in 1981, off his game and constantly turning his back to camera, and a cacophonous Captain Beefheart in 1980. (There is no mention of Lana Del Reys famously off performance in 2012, but Questlove has said he asked to interview her and she declined.)

More importantly, the documentary slyly highlights the hypocrisy now embedded in the DNA of a onetime bastion of rebelliousness becoming more and more mainstream over the years. The discussion of the OConnor controversy acknowledges how swiftly the public threw her under the bus for making a statement that was ultimately about abuse in the Catholic church, something OConnor had endured herself. The willingness to speak on it now after the late OConnor is gone  There was a part of me that just admired the bravery of what she had done, and also the absolute sincerity of it, says Lorne Michaels  also highlights how grotesque it is that no one was willing to say such things at the time when she really needed the support. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine recounts SNLs hilariously paradoxical decision to book the band as musical guest in 1996 on the same week that Steve Forbes, the rich editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, a former Republican presidential candidate and possibly the only person less equipped than Elon Musk to helm SNL, was the host. How ironic, Morello says drily. Lets see how that works out. Lets just say that Rage Against the Machine ended up getting escorted out of 8H before they got to perform their second song.

In some ways, the most rock-and-roll thing SNL could have ever done was end when Michaels first departed the show in 1980. It would have been remembered forever as the anti-Establishment late-night shit stirrer that went hard and flamed out, much like some of the artists who performed on it. But it became part of the mainstream, a fact that gives it power and influence while inevitably diluting the countercultural vibe that initially made it so great. Questlove and Rodriguez illustrate all that while also lovingly conveying a massive amount of history with concision and verve. Ladies & Gentlemen  50 Years of SNL Music is a killer tribute album that you want to listen to again as soon as the last song fades.
Netflix just bought one of the best films of the year out of Sundance, but please, for the love of God, dont watch this masterpiece on your phone. Photo: Adolpho Veloso

There were once passageways to the old world, a voiceover intones at the beginning of Train Dreams. Youd turn a corner and find yourself faced with a great mystery. As the narration (spoken by Will Patton) continues, we see tunnels, forests, a pair of boots nestled in a tree trunk  almost like they grew there  and a giant spruce slowly crashing to the ground. In telling the seemingly unremarkable life story of one ordinary man, Clint Bentleys trancelike film, based on Denis Johnsons acclaimed 2012 novella, ruminates on the interconnectedness of all things, but it wears its metaphysics lightly. It mimics the process of revelation itself, as the disparate episodes of one life gradually begin to feel like parts of an inexpressible whole.

Joel Edgerton, an actor who is getting a lot more interesting as he ages, plays Robert Grainier, an orphan who winds up in a small Idaho town sometime at the turn of the century and spends most of his life laboring as a choker, a sawyer, and a logger, working to cut trees for the war effort in the 1910s and Americas ever-expanding railways and bridges. Along the way, he falls in love with the headstrong, beautiful Gladys Oakley (Felicity Jones), builds a cabin, and starts a family. Grainier is not an educated man or one prone to romanticism and reflection. But lying with Gladys on the shore of the Moyie river, he observes, Right now I could just about understand everything there is.

One of the great highlights of this years Sundance Film Festival (and certainly one of the best pictures of the year), Train Dreams was just bought by Netflix for a handsome price. That may ensure the broadest potential audience, but one also hopes the streamer will do the right thing and give it a proper theatrical release. The film looks and sounds spectacular. Its not long, but it has an epic spirit. And for all its artful, elliptical lyricism, it has a scale that demands a huge screen. Old-growth forests stretch to the very top edges of the frame. The landscape is filled with dusty mountains, misty horizons, and, sometimes, desolate and dead hills. Even the craggy faces of the men in close-up look like maps of uncharted terrain. All too often, actors playing rugged, physical laborers can come off like theyre doing dress-up. Here, shot in shadows cast by bonfires and thick forest canopies, they are both authentic and full of mystery.

That contrasts with the sun-dappled softness of Grainiers home life, or at least his visions of it. With his logging work always taking him away, he constantly dreams of his wife and daughter, and these memories become more abstract as the film proceeds. The cruelty around him also powers these homesick reveries. In his youth, were told, hed seen the brutal deportation of Chinese immigrants; Grainier was baffled by the casualness of the violence, the narrator informs us, but Grainier himself isnt entirely immune to these evils as he gets older. When one of his Chinese workmates is seized right in the middle of a job, Grainier frantically asks what the man has done, but he also doesnt try to stop the others as they carry the immigrant across a bridge and throw him off it.

The image of this dead Chinese man haunts Grainier for the rest of his days, but he also wonders whether the work theyre doing is cursed in other ways. Do you think that the bad things we do follow us in life? he asks at one point, and the question seems to encompass not just his personal sense of guilt but the constant cutting and carving up of the landscape that has determined his livelihood, a job he intends to abandon as soon as hes able. To most of these workers, the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest imply an endless bounty of wood and lumber. The world is intricately stitched together, observes a grizzled, eccentric explosives expert (played by a scene-stealing, borderline-unrecognizable William H. Macy). Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things. Later, as Grainier finds himself out of step with the increasingly mechanized and impersonal nature of his job, he passes by a dead bear cast atop a pile of wood  a sign that our desire to tame and harness the wilderness inevitably leads to its destruction.

Like its protagonist, Train Dreams drifts along like a simple bowl floating downstream, an offhand image that itself appears during a late flashback. The obvious comparison here would be the work of Terrence Malick (particularly when it comes to representations of nature) and Malickian offshoots like Andrew Dominiks The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but I was reminded also of titles like Andrei Tarkovskys Andrei Rublev, Jun Ichikawas Tony Takitani, and Stanley Kubricks Barry Lyndon. The movie is full of incident  there are shootings, sudden deaths, and even one spectacular forest fire that is practically Soviet in its symbolic grandeur  but nothing we might call a narrative per se. Instead, through Edgertons subtly tormented performance, Pattons narration, Adolpho Velosos rapturous cinematography, and a quavering score by Bryce Dessner, the film draws us into Grainiers sad, inexpressible longing for peace and purpose. The picture gets at the very nature of transcendence: The shape of the world only appears to us when its too late. Or, as a dying man observes at one point in Train Dreams, looking around at the gathering night: Its beautiful. When asked what hes referring to, he simply says, All of it. Every bit of it. Please, for the love of God, dont watch this magnificent movie on your phone.
(Bloomberg) -- Shares of International Business Machines Corp. surged after the company projected strong revenue growth in the new fiscal year and a jump in AI-related bookings.

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For the fiscal year ending in December 2025, Big Blue said it expects $13.5 billion in free cash flow. Thats above the $12.9 billion anticipated by Wall Street. Revenue will expand at least 5% in constant currency, although current exchange rates would dent that expansion by two percentage points, the company said Wednesday in a statement.

Bookings for AI consulting and software have exceeded $5 billion since mid-2023, the Armonk, New York-based company said. Thats up from the $3 billion IBM disclosed during its last quarterly earnings report in July. About 80% of the bookings come from the consulting unit, with the rest from software.

IBM has worked to transform itself from a conventional computer company into one focused on high-growth software and services. It has used acquisitions to expand the companys products, including a proposed takeover of Hashicorp Inc. announced in April and the purchase of Apptio for $4.6 billion in 2023.

Three years ago, we laid out a vision for a faster-growing, more-profitable IBM. Im proud of the work the IBM team has done to meet or exceed our commitments, Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said in the statement.

The shares rose as much as 12% to $255.50 after markets opened in New York on Thursday.

Total sales increased 1% to $17.6 billion in the period ended Dec. 31. Analysts, on average, estimated $17.5 billion, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. The companys software unit was its largest and fastest growing, expanding 10% to $7.92 billion in the quarter.

Software expansion was fueled by 16% growth in Red Hat, a business IBM acquired in 2019. Adjusted profit was $3.92 per share in the quarter, ahead of the $3.74 average estimate.

Sales in IBMs consulting unit declined for a fourth consecutive quarter to $5.18 billion. Customers continue to redirect funds from traditional consulting projects to AI-focused ones, Chief Financial Officer Jim Kavanaugh said in an interview.

The Trump administration has said it will reduce spending across the government, which has concerned investors about the potential impact on tech companies. Kavanaugh said that 3% to 4% of IBMs revenue is tied to the federal government, and tech initiatives that may be taken by the new administration are a significant opportunity.
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By Pritam Biswas and Lananh Nguyen

(Reuters) -Investment bank Lazard reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday owing to a strong performance in its advisory business, which benefited from an industry-wide resurgence in dealmaking as borrowing costs eased after two years.

Its shares, which jumped 48% in 2024, were up nearly 8% in thin trading before the bell.

Interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and expectations of a friendlier regulatory environment for deals and offerings under U.S. President Donald Trump's administration have improved sentiment among bankers.

Results for Wall Street's leading banks in the second half of 2024 were improved by a rebound in mergers and acquisitions and renewed activity in the equity and debt markets.

Mirroring the trend, Lazard also reported a 6% rise in financial advisory revenue on an adjusted basis in the last three months of 2024, to $508 million over the previous year.

"We're in the midst of a lot of different discussions, suggesting that activity is really picking up," CEO Peter Orszag said in a conference call.

Orszag, who previously served as director, Office of Management and Budget, in the Obama administration, said he was encouraged by Trump's moves on economic policy and personnel so far.

"We anticipate the M&A cycle will continue to develop with tailwinds that remain strong and a potentially much more favorable regulatory antitrust environment... The overall message that the (Trump) administration is trying to send to the business community is that they're open for business," he said.

Robust performance in their investment banking units also helped larger Wall Street rivals beat fourth-quarter profit estimates.

Goldman Sachs earned its biggest quarterly profit in more than three years, while JPMorgan Chase posted record annual profit.

Lazard aims to add 10 to 15 managing directors each year through 2030, according to its earnings presentation. Its advisory unit already has about 200 managing directors.

The bank's asset management revenue also climbed 5% on an adjusted basis, helped by strong equity markets and a rally following Trump's election win.

However, its asset management business saw net outflows of $7.5 billion in August, after one of its clients switched to a passive investing strategy, Reuters reported in September 2024.

The bank closed the reported quarter with $234 billion in assets under management on average, the same levels as the previous year.

BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, posted a jump in quarterly profit earlier in the month, with its assets touching a record high of $11.6 trillion.
Gualtieri says 2025 will be a turning point for Rome.

Rome's mayor has contested the narrative of "chaos" in the city during the Vatican's Jubilee Year, insisting that 2025 will be "a good year" to visit the Italian capital.

Roberto Gualtieri was speaking on Wednesday at Albergatore Day, an annual event organised by Rome hoteliers and representatives of the city's hospitality and tourism sectors.

"We do not accept the false stories about the chaos of Rome for the Jubilee Year" - Gualtieri told the conference - "Instead, it will be a good year to visit Rome. It will be a turning point."

The mayor defended the work carried out in Rome for the Jubilee, challenging the narrative that the city is paralysed by construction sites, is dirty and is difficult to govern.

Citing the record 22 million tourists welcomed by the capital last year as proof of "what Rome can do", Gualtieri said a team effort has shown that the city "is not ungovernable", adding: "Rome is proving to be a great European capital, organised, clean and tidy."

Marvellous image of Rome

Bernabo Bocca, president of hotel association Federalberghi, said the Jubilee "must be a year of investment in tourism" to ensure a "marvellous image of Rome goes around the world" so that "we can reap the benefits in 2026 and beyond."

Bocca drew comparisons with the Jubilee of 2000, stating there was "a very slight increase in attendance in that Jubilee year compared to 1999 but there was a 17 per cent increase in 2001."

Giuseppe Roscioli, president of the Rome branch of Federalberghi, said that "2025 has started off on a slow note for hotels, but we remain optimistic for the coming months, counting on the fact that the most popular Jubilee events scheduled to take place are starting in spring."

Roscioli said that the city's hotel occupancy rates are "so far slightly lower than the same period last year" but noted that January is "traditionally a very low season for Rome and the Jubilee always attracts tourism that largely does not favour hotel facilities".

Key boxes

Rome's tourism councillor Alessandro Onorato on Wednesday oversaw a new blitz against key boxes, widely used by tourists to independently gain access to their short-term rentals.

Joined by city authorities and local police in the central Monti district, Onorato said that an email address has been set up for people to report the locations of key boxes: taskforce.polizialocale@comune.roma.it.

"We hope that by keeping the focus high and making these constant removals for a month, the managers themselves will understand that this game has lasted too long" - Onorato said - "We will remove them from public spaces as well as from private spaces. Today is just the beginning until decorum and legality prevail."

According to estimates from the chamber of commerce, published in November by Italy's tourism ministry, the Jubilee 2025 "will bring 35 million arrivals and an expenditure of almost 17 billion in Rome".
Aodhan O'Dea, representing Cairde Credit Union, has been crowned the national winner in the Age 810 category of the 2024 Credit Union Art Competition.

Aodhans artwork, inspired by the theme, 'The Joys of Life', was praised for its imaginative portrayal of the small but meaningful moments that bring happiness to life.

This years competition attracted over 30,000 entries from across the island of Ireland, and Aodhans achievement has brought great pride to his family, local community, and Cairde Credit Union.

The grand final, held at Croke Park, was a special event celebrating creativity, where Aodhans artwork was recognised alongside other national winners.

ILCU President Martin Busch applauded the talent on display, stating: The creativity and imagination shown by participants this year are nothing short of extraordinary. These young artists have brought this years theme to life in ways that inspire and move us all, reminding us of the profound beauty in everyday moments.

The Credit Union Art Competition is described as a platform for young people and communities to showcase their creativity. The credit union movement has a longstanding tradition of fostering the arts and ensuring they remain a vibrant part of Irish life.

By providing opportunities to engage with art, credit unions empower young creators to express themselves and enrich the cultural fabric of their communities.

Martin Busch continued: Through their artwork, these talented individuals have captured the very essence of lifes greatest joys. Their creations remind us of the importance of appreciating the little things that make life special.

"A huge congratulations to our winners and every entrant who participated in making this competition a true celebration of creativity and community.
At the Paris Climate Accord, countries agreed to try to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures, to avoid the most severe effects of warming. Atmospheric scientist Dr Martin Jucker compared the experience of climate scientists to that of doctors who every day saw people in misery, but have to stay positive as well. Loading Its like there is a certain disconnect, a certain emotional disconnect, he said. So one part of it, for me, is a certain disconnect in just having the scientific interest in the matter. And the other thing is just believing in the fact that itll still turn out OK.

Humans are hardwired to have hope, which helps us maintain a sense of purpose. But for climate researcher Dr Simon Bradshaw, its the other way around: purpose leads to hope. I know Im not the first to say this, but when we start working with our local community, when we start taking little steps in our own lives, when we see the positive impact of any efforts we make to be part of the solution, then thats what creates hope, and thats what creates a virtuous cycle. Dr Kimberley Reid, a climate science research fellow at the University of Melbourne, said much of the medias reporting on climate was biased towards the negative stories. Climate scientist Dr Martin Jucker. Credit: Rhett Wyman I find if you look for some of the more positive stories, it does lift you up from the ground a bit and make you feel a little bit less depressed, she said.

For example, the re-election of Donald Trump is obviously not great for climate change. But in the first quarter of 2024, the private investment into clean energy and electric vehicles by people in the US was a record-breaking $71 billion, which was about 40 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2023. Even if the president denies the reality of climate change, I think a lot of private citizens are still getting on with the job of transitioning to renewable energy. Ashcroft said: I think the narratives around dystopian futures dont serve a promotion of action. The experts all identified the transition to renewables as a cause for hope. King said: Im confident that, with so much energy being put into this by so many people to try to address this problem, we will be able to get towards net zero [emissions], later this century.

Emeritus Professor Lesley Hughes, a co-author of the fourth and fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments, which warned sea levels could rise by 1.1 metres by 2100, now believes that assessment was almost certainly too conservative. I get asked this question a lot, whether Im optimistic about the future, Hughes said. Loading What is the alternative? If you get too down about it, and you give up, if we all give up, then were truly lost. So I often say to people, I dont think of hope as an emotion any more. I think of it as a strategy, because you have to have hope and optimism for the future, or you dont do anything. Former BP Australasia executive turned Climate Council councillor Greg Bourne said he was confident the worlds efforts to limit the effects of climate change would continue unabated, despite Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and to drill, baby, drill.
A former West Australian Nationals MP, ruled ineligible to remain in parliament after being convicted and jailed for nearly three years over child sex abuse charges, has won an appeal and wants to return to parliament.

In August 2023, Legislative Council MP James Hayward was convicted of abusing an eight-year-old girl in 2021. But this week the Court of Appeal upheld his appeal, and granted him bail to face a retrial at a later date.

Independent MP James Hayward leaves the Perth Magistrates Court. Credit: Peter de Kruijff

MPs are deemed ineligible to sit in parliament if convicted of a charge carrying a maximum prison sentence of five or more years. Hayward was considered ineligible to remain an MP after his convictions.

In a statement released to media on Friday, Hayward said he had written to the WA parliament to request he return and deliver a valedictory speech under parliamentary privilege.
By Stephen Nellis and Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -Microsoft on Wednesday forecast disappointing growth in its cloud computing business, sending its shares down 4.5% in after-hours trading as investors worry about big spending, elusive artificial intelligence revenue and competition from cheaper AI models from China.

Azure results for the fiscal second quarter also fell below Wall Street expectations. Despite beating quarterly overall sales estimates, investors want better results from the hundreds of billions of dollars that Wall Street heavyweights have been spending to build AI data centers and infuse their products with the emerging technology.

Chinese rivals have recently claimed to produce competing AI technologies at lower costs than U.S. rivals, sparking fears of a price war. For more than a year, Microsoft and its Big Tech peers have tested Wall Street's patience by plunking down huge amounts of cash in pursuit of profits from AI that have yet to satisfy investors.

"It's OK if that is a few years out, three to five years into the future," said Brian Mulberry, portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management. "But we really want to start to see a clear road map to what that monetization model looks like for all of the capital that's been invested."

On a conference call with investors, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said costs were coming down, with models showing 10 times better performance for the price as Microsoft irons out the algorithms.

"As AI becomes more efficient and accessible, we will see exponentially more demand," Nadella said.

Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said Azure would grow between 31% and 32% in the current fiscal third quarter, below the 33% Wall Street expects, according to data from Visible Alpha.

Microsoft's Azure unit reported revenue growth of 31% in the quarter, missing Visible Alpha estimates of 31.8%. Microsoft's capital expenditures hit $22.6 billion, above analysts' consensus estimate of $20.95 billion, according to data from Visible Alpha.

DeepSeek's meteoric rise in the past three weeks has sparked worries of stiff competition that could force leading U.S. AI providers to slash prices.

Microsoft said earlier on Wednesday it had added DeepSeek, the breakout Chinese AI model, to its offerings on Azure. Microsoft said AI contributed 13 percentage points of Azure's growth in its fiscal second quarter, up from 12 percentage points the previous quarter.

Responding to questions from analysts, Nadella said Microsoft was spending to build out data centers to develop AI models and offer them to customers. Microsoft is working to make those services more cost efficient, he added.
The 32nd Global Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) Meeting, held from 27 to 29 January 2025 at WCO Headquarters in Brussels, brought together representatives of the RILOs to examine challenges related to global illicit trade and Customs enforcement issues.

The principal focus of the Global RILO Meeting (GRM) was on topics such as enhanced collaboration, performance evaluation for RILOs, and improved operational visibility.

The GRM opened with inspiring remarks by the Acting Deputy Director of the Compliance and Enforcement Sub-Directorate, who underscored the importance of continued collaboration in tackling global illicit trade challenges. The Chairperson of the 32nd GRM, Munerah AlRasheed, Head of the RILO Middle East, also delivered remarks, emphasizing the crucial role played by the RILO Network in facilitating intelligence sharing and enhancing international cooperation.

The GRM discussed the progress made since the 31st Meeting last year, highlighting successes and identifying ongoing challenges. Discussions focused on how best to evaluate the RILOs performance. Although progress in this respect had slowed, a proposed action plan was presented to improve accountability and establish performance indicators to measure the outcomes of RILOs activities more effectively.

Enhancing the visibility of the RILOs operations was another major focal point. The development of a content framework for the WCO website was discussed, aimed at better showcasing the RILOs activities such as operations, training events and key achievements, ultimately increasing engagement within the global Customs community.

Updates on the RILOs operations were shared as well, including significant progress in combating various types of illicit trafficking through a range of operations conducted in 2024. In addition, the RILOs explored strategies to strengthen international partnerships for improved intelligence sharing, with a presentation by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).

During the GRM, updates were also provided on the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) and its associated tools. In particular, the development of the new CENcomm platform, which brings together the previous functionalities in a more secure and user-friendly system, was discussed. This new platform is expected to enhance data sharing and operational efficiency across global Customs operations.

The 32nd GRM concluded with a comprehensive review of the GRM Work Programme. The GRM endorsed its plans for 2025/2026, which include strengthening regional efforts, promoting data-sharing initiatives and securing sustainable funding for ongoing and future projects.

The Chairperson closed the GRM by thanking participants and underscoring that its success was due to the collective contributions of all. The RILO Network remains a key tool for fighting illicit trade.
A key source of national immigration data that policymakers, the public and hundreds of news outlets have relied on for more than 30 years to make sense of the countrys complicated immigration system went dark earlier this month at the direction of Syracuse University, which had been housing the database online.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, established in 1989, collects and publishes data on logjams in immigration court, those in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and many other aspects of immigration enforcement that would ordinarily be difficult for the average person to obtain and interpret.

Until earlier this month, TRAC published its data and reports on a website owned by Syracuse University. But the records were taken down amid an ongoing and sometimes testy internal dispute  at least two years in the making  over the universitys level of oversight of TRAC. Now, all that remains at the old university domain is a broken link.

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The shutdown comes as President Donald Trump took office vowing to launch mass deportations and to seal the southern border. Advocates say the loss of TRAC's website will make it even more difficult to gauge how those efforts are playing out. While most of what TRAC published was publicly available government data, the nonprofit cleaned up inconsistencies, put it all in an easy-to-read format and even sued the government to obtain certain records.

As border arrivals have been so high in recent years, we havent had any data on where those people are going, said Julia Gelatt, the associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute. The TRAC data on immigration court proceedings was the only way to get a sense of where new immigrants were headed in the country and where they were concentrating.

The Houston Chronicle spoke with Susan Long, the statistician who founded TRAC, as well as Syracuse University, a private institution in New York, and reviewed emails between the university and Long over the past couple of years.

Why is TRAC unavailable?

Syracuse University confirmed it took down the website, pointing, in part, to issues it had with the financial relationship between TRAC and the related nonprofit, TRAC Reports, Inc., specifically the ways in which TRAC Reports, Inc. awarded grant money.

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Trac Reports, Inc. is [a] separate 501(c)(3) that is not operating sufficiently independently from Sue Long or from TRAC. It is controlled by Sue Long and issues grants that benefit Sue Long, Sarah Scalese, a Syracuse University spokesperson, told the Chronicle in a written statement.

Scalese said the issues surfaced in 2022 when the university conducted an audit of all of its research centers and institutes. She said that the university was pushing for, and Long was refusing to accept, standard [university] oversight for an internal research center. The university also pushed for increased oversight because it argued that TRAC Reports, Inc. benefited from university resources, according to emails reviewed by the Chronicle.

When the University sought to address these issues with Sue, she refused to cooperate, thus leading to the decision that the University would separate from TRAC, Scalese said.

Long maintains she has done nothing wrong in the way she has handled grants or the operations of TRAC. She points to a January 2023 email from the universitys now general counsel, reviewed by the Chronicle, saying that Long and her TRAC co-founder had done nothing improper.

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She said that the university is making excuses and that it does not have the authority to take TRAC down because TRAC was not a research center or institute. Long said she has repeatedly tried to comply with the university in various ways, including recently stepping down as a board member of TRAC Reports, Inc.

I dont want to fight the university, said Long, an associate professor of managerial statistics at Syracuse.

The Chronicle reviewed emails between the university and Long that show that the two parties have gone back and forth repeatedly since at least the beginning of 2023. Those emails show that the two sides have explored various paths forward  including continuing the work of TRAC under the name of the Civic Research Data Lab, housed on the Syracuse domain, as well as migrating the previous data on TRAC to an external domain using university resources  but to little success. Meanwhile, the data remains inaccessible to the public, and it remains unclear where the content previously housed on the TRAC website will ultimately live.

Clearly someone or a group of people are unhappy with us and they have asserted pressure, Long told the Chronicle in an exclusive interview.

The university maintains there has been no external pressure to take down the TRAC site.

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"Any claim that the University was concerned about political backlash is simply untrue," Scalese said, adding that there were never concerns about or objections to the work being done by TRAC or its mission.

'THEIR LIFE IS IN DANGER': Houstons Afghan refugees, relatives face uncertainty as Trump orders pause on resettlement program

Scalese said that Long has had at least two years to comply with the universitys policies, which has provided her with ample opportunity to migrate her extensive data and content. But Long continues to maintain that the university still hasnt provided a legal justification for its decision to shut down the TRAC website on the Syracuse domain and argues that her academic freedom has been violated.

By both Longs account and the universitys account, none of the original data on TRAC was deleted permanently, even after the university took the website down in early January.

A collection of Houston Chronicle articles that cited data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) Matt Zdun

Whats next for TRAC?

The data that TRAC collects and publishes online is available from the federal government, but its not easily accessible. In its more than three decades of life, TRAC  helmed by Long and investigative journalist David Burnham who died in October  often has had to sue federal agencies to force them to turn over data. TRAC currently has three ongoing lawsuits against ICE, Long said.

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Additionally, even when the data can be obtained from federal agencies, it sometimes contains inconsistencies. Long and her team often have to clean the data before it can be interpreted and fact-check it against other sources.

You shouldnt necessarily trust what the government is saying they have done, and the best way of finding out what is as true as possible is to get their internal records . . . [the records] that we are collecting, she said.

Many different groups rely on TRAC data: journalists, government agencies and those connected to the immigration system.

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Its huge. It helps us represent our clients, said Ruby Powers, an immigration attorney in Houston. Without that data, we are flying blind.

The Migration Policy Institute and the Center for Immigration Studies are two other immigration policy groups that echoed similar sentiments to the Chronicle on the importance of TRAC.

Long said that TRAC has continued to request and receive new datasets that it is eager to publish.
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s exit from Russia on Jan. 31, allowing the U.S. firm to sell its business to the Armenia-based investment firm Balchug Capital.

Goldman Sachs entered into a binding agreement to offload its Russian subsidiary, making it one of the few Western banks to exit the country entirely, Bloomberg reported.

The decision follows a series of banking deals authorized by Putin, including a December decree allowing French bank Natixis to sell its Russian operations.

Earlier this month, the Netherlands' ING Groep NV reached an agreement to sell its Russian assets to Global Development JSC, a company owned by a Moscow-based financial investor.

Nearly three years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many Western banks remain operational in the country, despite earlier pledges to withdraw.

Citigroup Inc. has ceased most corporate banking services in Russia but still holds $9 billion in assets there, according to Bloomberg.

The largest Western banks operating in Russia paid 800 million ($857 million) in taxes to Moscow's budget in 2023  four times higher than before the invasion, according to the Financial Times.

Russia's banking sector initially suffered from sweeping Western sanctions, with profits plummeting by 90% in 2022. The Kremlin has since stabilized the industry by increasing state control and expanding ties with non-Western financial institutions.

Read also: Norway detains Russian-crewed vessel over undersea cable damage suspicion

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has authorised Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital's purchase of Goldman Sachs' unit in Russia, a government decree published on Friday showed, potentially paving the way for the U.S. bank to fully withdraw from Russia.

Moscow has steadily tightened restrictions on foreign asset sales since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with banks requiring Putin's approval for any deal.

A source confirmed Goldman Sachs had entered into a binding agreement to dispose of its Russian subsidiary, subject to various conditions.

According to a ranking of banks maintained by banki.ru, the Goldman Sachs subsidiary is Russia's 229th largest lender in terms of net assets.

Balchug Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The fund's CEO and founder David Amaryan oversees all investment activity. Last year, the company acquired U.S. machinery maker Caterpillar's Russian assets.

Only a handful of Western banks, including Austria's Raiffeisen, Italy's UniCredit and Hungary's OTP, are still operating in Russia nearly three years after the conflict in Ukraine began.

Dutch bank ING Groep said this week it had reached an agreement to sell its business in Russia to local company Global Development JSC, taking a 700-million-euro ($726.2 million) hit to its profits.

ING's sale still requires regulatory approvals from the EU. Foreign lenders say that needing approval from Russian authorities before selling assets makes it hard to leave, and presidential approval is no guarantee of a successful exit.

Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo received the green light from Putin to sell its Russian assets in September 2023, but has still not managed to do so.

The bank's CEO said last year it had cut its overall exposure to Russia to a "negligible" level, but it was hard to dispose completely of its local subsidiary.

($1 = 0.9639 euros)

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Alexander Marrow in London; additional reporting by Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Fiona Magennis

The High Court has ordered the extradition of a 66-year-old man who is wanted in the North for the murder of a part-time member of the UDR in Co Armagh over 45 years ago.

James Donegan, of Bruce Manor, Arva in Co Cavan, is wanted by authorities in the North for the murder of 64-year-old Joseph James Porter at Mountnorris in Co Armagh on a date unknown between June 22nd and 25th, 1979.

Mr Donegan is also wanted for a second offence of the possession of a firearm and ammunition with the intent to endanger life as well as belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.

When he was arrested at Dublin Airport last June having agreed to meet gardai as he returned home from holidays, Mr Donegan told arresting officers: "I'm an innocent man".

At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath said he was satisfied that none of the objections raised by Mr Donegan met the necessary criteria to refuse his extradition and directed he should be surrendered.

Mr Donegan was arrested by detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at Dublin Airport following the endorsement of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TaCA) Warrant issued by the Northern Ireland Authorities.

The extradition warrant states that Mr Porter's body was found close to the entrance of his farm at Creggan Road, Mountnorris in Co Armagh on June 24th, 1979. A post-mortem examination conducted that day concluded that Mr Porter had died of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.

The warrant also states that prior to his death Mr Porter had been a part time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice McGrath noted the objections raised by lawyers for Mr Donegan to his extradition related to whether the alleged offences would correspond to an offence under the law in this jurisdiction and an alleged abuse of process.

He said in considering correspondence in a case such as this one based on circumstantial evidence, it is sufficient to provide a broad outline of the alleged offences. The judge said he was satisfied that the criteria had been met for each of the three offences alleged and the details in the warrant were sufficient to meet section 11A of the Act.

Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent had asserted that his surrender would amount to an abuse of process and noted the first issue raised in support of this argument concerned the decision of the DPP in this jurisdiction not to prosecute.

The judge said the decision by the DPP in 2017 not to prosecute was not a ground for refusal.

There was no question of any assurance ever being given that Mr Donegan would not be prosecuted here or elsewhere, he added.

The judge also said the respondent had not adduced any evidence in support of an argument that owing to the passage of time he will not now receive a fair trial in the prosecuting state.

Mr Justice McGrath said the respondent is sought to stand trial for the most serious offences and noted this is the first surrender request. An explanation had been given for the circumstances where many years after the event the respondents surrender came to be sought, he said, adding there is no evidence of any bad faith or improper motive.

There is no evidence to suggest he will not receive a fair trial, he added.

The judge noted there was no doubt that the respondents surrender would undoubtedly result in the disruption of his family life and said Mr Donegan was a man who also had health difficulties and underwent heart surgery in the summer of 2024.

However, Mr Justice McGrath said no evidence has been put before the court to suggest the UK would not provide sufficient medical attention and said the potential disruption to Mr Donegans family life was nowhere close to the standard of gross disruption necessary to refuse surrender.

The judge said having considered and rejected all the arguments, he found the application for surrender was not unconscionable and he therefore made an order for Mr Donegans surrender.

Following an application by counsel for Mr Donegan for a stay of one week on his surrender, Mr Justice McGrath adjourned the matter to next Friday, February 7th.
Cate McCurry, PA

Independents Michael McDowell, Ronan Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins have all been re-elected to the Seanad.

Mr McDowell was the first to be elected in the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel, with 11,390 first-preference votes.

Seanad Eireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas.

Out of a valid poll of 36,114, the NUI panel had a quota of 9,029.

Speaking afterwards, Mr McDowell said he was very grateful to be re-elected and returning to the 27th Seanad.

Outgoing senators Ronan Mullen and Alice Mary Higgins were re-elected on the eighth count.

It means that all three candidates on the NUI panel have held their seats.

Independent Senator Michael McDowell (right) was the first candidate to be elected to the Seanad. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

On the Dublin University/Trinity College panel, incumbent Lynn Ruane topped the poll with 3,761 votes, and was elected on the 11th count.

Former childrens minister Katherine Zappone, who was among the most well-known of the candidates, was eliminated on the ninth count.

Meanwhile, the counting process for the five vocational panels is continuing at Leinster House.

A total of 111 candidates are competing for the 43 seats.

Counting began with the Cultural and Education panel on Thursday, and is expected to continue until Bank Holiday Monday.

As soon as each panel is counted, the counting staff will move to the next panel.

Counting will begin at 9.30am each day and continue until around midnight.

All results will be posted on the Oireachtas website and social media sites.

The counting order of panels will be Cultural and Education; Agricultural; Labour; Industrial and Commercial; and Administrative.

The vast majority of the public do not have a vote in the Seanad.

The Dails TDs, outgoing senators and local authority councillors make up the electorate for the five vocational panels.

Graduates of NUI institutions and Trinity College Dublin vote for the six seats across the two panels.

The final 11 Seanad seats are appointed by Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

Among those running for a seat are Fine Gaels Alan Farrell, Fianna Fails Joe Flaherty, Green Partys Malcolm Noonan, as well as Sinn Feins Conor Murphy and Pauline Tully.

Mr Murphy, who is the partys chief negotiator and Stormont Economy Minister, announced the surprise move last month.

The Newry and Armagh representative, who is running in the Industrial and Commercial panel, said that constitutional change is coming and that his experience will drive efforts for referenda and Irish reunification.

Other notable candidates include Frances Black, Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins, and former TD Cathal Berry.

Elected senators will debate legislation put forward by the Government.

They can amend Bills and propose their own Bills but cannot prevent one from becoming law.
Three Mayo tourism businesses were recognised at CIE Tours Awards of Excellence. CIE Tours, the largest carrier of US visitors to Ireland every year, held its annual awards of excellence celebrating Irish hoteliers and tourist experience operators who have been singled out by the 30,000 visitors who came to Ireland with CIE Tours in 2024.

Now in their 33rd year, and an annual highlight within the tourism industry, each year, the prestigious accolades are awarded based on post-stay feedback received by CIE Tours from their customers.

Westport Walking Tour was awarded gold for best walking tour at this years awards ceremony. Set up by brothers, Stephen and Alan Clarke, Westport Walking Tours give guests the chance to learn about the heritage of Westport while also showing visitors around the town.

Knockranny House Hotel and Ballintubber Abbey also received Merit awards in the hotel and visitor experience categories.

The CIE Tours Awards of Excellence were presented by Chairman of CIE Tours, Aidan Murphy and Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIE Tours.

Congratulating the attendees, Aidan Murphy said, Our honorees are exemplary contributors to our 95.4% guest satisfaction rate, and they all deserve recognition for the excellent roles they play in welcoming visitors to Ireland and ensuring they have a memorable experience.

Speaking at the awards, Stephen Cotter said, 2024 was another landmark year for us, when we booked over 250,000 bed nights throughout Ireland. Our support for tourism destinations is bringing vital revenue to towns and villages across the country. We are delighted to honour these leaders in tourism in Mayo. Each of these businesses play a significant role in the Irish tourism industry while also making important contributions to their local communities in terms of jobs and wealth creation.
By Grainne Ni Aodha, PA

The Palestinian ambassador to Ireland has said she is still optimistic about a proposed ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

The Government had signalled before Christmas that the Occupied Territories Bill would be passed when amendments are made to make the draft law as watertight as possible, as it is likely to be legally challenged if enacted.

After the Christmas break, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said it would propose fresh legislation, claiming the Bill was unconstitutional and deficient in some areas.

The Bill aims to ban trade, of both goods and services, with illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Asked about the suggestion of new legislation while speaking at an event at the University of Galway, Palestinian Ambassador Dr Jilan Abdalmajid said she was still optimistic it would be enacted.

She said that the review of the bill the Government began, after a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July last year, was a very, very good and strong move.

Im still optimistic that it will be enacted here.

Im optimistic about this because the change of the Government position towards this is very positive and in the right way, she said.

Speaking about the Palestinian cause, Ms Abdalmajid said they need to make a huge effort to make the people listen to you, Ireland excluded.

We used to have great support in Africa, but now the challenges in Africa is huge, she said.

She said the narrative of how Israel was formed in the wake of the second World War is well known, while the Palestinian narrative is not heard.

She said if the ICJ ruling: They give the guidelines on how to stop this genocide, how to stop Israel from continuing not only killing the Palestinian people, but occupying our land.

So if you are serious about helping the Palestinians, I think the roadmap is very clear.

Asked about what impact Donald Trumps presidency will have for the Palestinian cause, she said: Its a very hard question that, [for] any politician, any diplomat. Its uncertainty. You cannot predict whats going to be next.

You know, he has signed so many resolutions, he has signed so many things, and from the first day, many legal actions has been taken, so things are not clear.
Sean McCarthaigh

A physiotherapist who administered an unlicensed, Botox-like product to a number of clients at his Dublin practice has been found guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance.

Igor Castro, who operates a physiotherapy practice in OConnell Street in Dublin, appeared before a fitness-to-practise inquiry over his use and promotion of Liztox  a Korean botulinum toxin product similar to Botox which is used for aesthetic treatments.

A fitness-to-practise committee of CORU  the regulatory body of health and social care professionals  found an allegation proven that Mr Castro had administered Liztox to three clients at his practice in October 2023.

The committee also found it proven that the Brazilian had posted one or more posts on his Instagram account between October 2023 and November 2023 promoting the fact that he was administering the Botox-like product to clients.

The inquirys chairperson, Geraldine Feeney, said the committee made its findings on the basis of Mr Castros own admissions and the uncontroverted evidence of a number of witnesses including Ciaran Wright, an enforcement officer with the Health Products Regulatory Authority.

She said his actions in administering Liztox when it was outside his scope as a physiotherapist also represented reaches of the professions Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics.

These findings are very serious and go to the issue of public safety, said Ms Feeney.

She noted that the physiotherapists patients had been misled and potentially put at risk.

Ms Feeney said the lack of care for patient safety also demonstrated poor professional performance.

The committee observed that an expert witness had pointed out that Mr Castro was not legally qualified to administer an unlicensed product which was a potentially harmful substance.

Ms Feeney said the physiotherapist had demonstrated extremely poor judgement and brought the profession into disrepute.

She acknowledged that Mr Castro had cooperated fully from the outset with an investigation by the HPRA and subsequently the CORU inquiry and had made complete admissions about his conduct which she said had demonstrated insight into his wrongdoing.

The committee accepted he had also allowed documents to be admitted without formal proof which had saved CORU considerable time and resources.

Ms Feeney noted that the committee was satisfied that there was little or no risk that Mr Castro would repeat the same conduct in future based on his evidence, insight and statement of regret.

She acknowledged that he had provided the inquiry with several references which described him as a conscientious and good physiotherapist.

Ms Feeney said the committee was also impressed by the fact that Mr Castro was undertaking continuous education for the purpose of improving his skills and providing physiotherapy services.

The committee said it would take into account such mitigating factors in recommending a sanction which it claimed would act as a deterrent to breaches of the code of conduct and maintain public confidence in the profession.

The recommended sanction needs to be formally ratified by the CORU council and confirmed by the High Court if it involves a period of suspension.
Eva Osborne

Tanaiste Simon Harris has said he does not expect there will be a referendum on Irish unity within this decade, despite calls from Sinn Fein for a unity referendum before 2030.

Previously however, Harris has said that it is entirely possible there could be a united Ireland in his lifetime.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement sets out that the Northern Secretary can call a border poll when they believe a majority of people in the region support a change to the constitutional status.

But, if there was a referendum on the matter tomorrow, what way would you vote? Are you still undecided? Take our poll and see what percentage of people agree with you!
In todays CEO Daily: Alena Botros talks to Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on leading during the LA wildfires.

The big story: The Fed vs Trump.

The markets: Moving up.

Analyst notes from Apollo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Convera.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. Its a hard time to be the chief executive of a real estate company. Home prices and rents soared throughout the pandemic, and mortgage rates followed once the Federal Reserve began its quantitative tightening. The pandemic is over and the central bank has begun to loosen its monetary policy, but home prices, rents, and mortgage rates are still high.

So the housing world is at a standstill. For the second straight year, existing home sales have fallen to their lowest level in almost three decades. That means not a lot of people are buying or selling homes. On top of it all, wildfires recently tore through Los Angeles decimating neighborhoods and thousands of structures. Redfin has been through the wringer, Glenn Kelman, its chief executive of almost 20 years told me.

One of his real estate agents lost her home to the fires, all the while clients are calling her because they are worried about their homes. Not to mention, the wildfires ignited a discussion on the role real estate services companies play in preventing price gouging. Its illegal, but that hasnt stopped some landlords from doing it. So Kelman has a lot going on, more than usual, it seems. But how he handles it when disaster strikes can be telling, and sometimes that means having the emotional conversations.

People think youre a saint just for picking up the telephone, he said. So I worry that I have to have some novel words of wisdom or comfort, and mostly what I do is, I just call and the other person starts talking, and I listen for a long time, and it does my heart good. It does the other person good.

Those types of conversations sometimes end with the employee asking if the company will stand by them in times of slower home sales, when their incomes take a hit. It might sound like an emotional question, but its a financial one, Kelman explained. Redfin has decided to do that, but it cant be a blank check, he said.  Alena Botros

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady, diane.brady@fortune.com, Linkedin.

More news below.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Richard Canny

The Old Stone House Restaurant in Ballinlough, Co Roscommon still without power since last Friday, has been forced to dump about 15,000 worth of food which had been refrigerated. The wasted stock includes striploin steak, T-Bone streak, fish, and desserts.

Everything is gone. We are devastated, said Ray OConnor, who runs the award-winning restaurant in the west Roscommon village.

Its been a torrid week for Mr OConnor who has been left reeling from this latest financial hit following on from the impact of the Covid pandemic.

While he is investigating to see whether some of the losses can be recouped through his insurance, he feels let down by officialdom.

We are just gutted with the Government. I have no faith in any of them. No-one is talking about businesses being affected by the storm. They knew this storm was coming. I havent heard one TD come out and say we are going to help all these businesses that have been closed," he said.

Between full-time and part-time roles, the restaurant employs about 20 people. If they dont get work, theyre gone. Same for us, well be gone.

Mr OConnor explained the power was restored on Tuesday and he was preparing to re-open the restaurant this weekend before another outage occurred.

I thought wed be up and running but it went off again [Thursday] night. Im told now it could be Saturday evening at 7.30 before the power comes back, he said.

Now sceptical of estimated restoration times, he is reluctant to order new stock given the uncertainty.

Mr OConnor fully agrees with the support schemes available for people who have been severely affected by Storm Eowyn but feels there seems to be nothing for businesses.

To add to the frustration, Mr OConnor decided to invest in a new generator late last year because Ballinlough suffered several outages in 2024.

The generator, worth about 25,000, was due to arrive before the end of December, but due to several reasons, it only arrived in the country this morning and now has to go to Dublin for standard checks.

Like his restaurant, the whole village of Ballinlough and many surrounding areas have been without electricity since Friday.
By Grainne Ni Aodha, PA

Almost 3,000 people are helping ESB technicians to restore power to thousands as the Government faces anger from communities about the response to Storm Eowyn.

That number, up by 200 people since Wednesday, includes retired ESB staff and workers from six different countries: the UK, Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Around 86,000 homes and businesses remained without supply on Thursday night as the ESB reconnected 682,000 customers in the past week.

After senior ministers were briefed on developments on Thursday, a spokesman for the Tanaiste said that most schools left without power would be reconnected by the weekend at the latest.

It is expected that the vast majority of people affected by outages will have power restored by Friday, with it taking further time to reconnect more isolated areas.

The Government has come under pressure over its response to the destruction caused by Storm Eowyn, which put the entire island under a red weather alert for the first time.

Record-breaking wind speeds saw power cut to more than a million people on the island of Ireland, which has had a knock-on effect on some water supplies, broadband connections and other services.

The Government has argued it is reacting to an unprecedented storm and that 333 emergency response hubs supported by the State have been established to help people without electricity.

Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton said she accepted it took too long to set up community hubs, and that people are really angry, it is at boiling point.

There has been a huge community response right across the country but we do need to plan better the next time, she told RTEs News At One.

When something like this happens, these designated hubs need to be identified now for the next time a storm like this happens.

These community centres, the local people will be able to identify the correct area  be it in Carraroe or Oranmore, wherever  that those centres need to have generators in place, showering facilities, where people can get hot food, they can charge their phones and they will know exactly where to go when this happens.

Seventeen generators have been offered to Ireland by Poland and Denmark, with two from Denmark due this week.

More generators are arriving from Romania on Friday and will be brought by the Defence Forces to the areas that need them.

A spokesman for Tanaiste Simon Harris said he had been informed that the Civil Defence is helping to move generators and bring elderly people to hubs, as well as carry out drone surveys to help the ESB.

Mr Harris said after the meeting: I want to thank those involved on the ground in what has been an enormous humanitarian effort in response to an unprecedented weather event.

There is still much work to do but every effort is being made to restore power and water to the homes that need it as quickly as possible.

The Programme for Government includes a pledge to develop an Extreme Weather Event Assistance Scheme, which the Government has indicated it will prioritise.
By Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Roche said on Thursday it is targeting a continued increase in adjusted earnings per share (EPS) at a high single-digit percentage this year, helped by lower costs and growth from drugs such as eye treatment Vabysmo and cancer drug Phesgo.

The goal, which is adjusted for currency swings, would mark continued earnings momentum as the Swiss drugs and diagnostics company said in its earnings statement that adjusted 2024 EPS rose 7%, also before foreign exchange effects.

Analysts at Swiss bank Vontobel said the 2025 guidance was conservative, which was an expected stance taken by Roche.

Total operating profit, adjusted for one-offs, came in at 20.8 billion Swiss francs ($23.0 billion) last year, just shy of average market expectations of about 21 billion francs.

Key growth drivers included Vabysmo, to counter a common form of blindness in the elderly, with currency-adjusted 2024 sales up 68% at 3.86 billion francs, holding its own against competition from Regeneron and Bayer's Eylea.

Breast cancer drug Phesgo, a more convenient alternative to Roche's established Perjeta, saw revenues jump 62% to a better-than-expected 1.74 billion francs.

Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker, who has acquired a variety of drug technologies to offset falling cancer drugs sales, has also slashed development costs and pushed to speed up market launches.

Schinecker said in a media call on Thursday that Roche's major production sites in the United States positioned it very well for the prospect of trade tariffs raised by President Donald Trump.

($1 = 0.9065 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Rachel More, Miranda Murray and Tomasz Janowski)
ONEIDA COUNTY, Wis.  The fatal crash in the town of Newbold during a police chase earlier in January is under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

In a release from the DOJ said that at 9:15 Jan. 17, Matthew Johnson, 28, died in a crash after a police chase ended when Johnson crossed into the oncoming lane and struck another vehicle on Highway 47 near Bridge Road.

Oneida County Sheriffs Office Deputy Michael Bedish, who has 4 1/2 years of law enforcement experience attempted to initiate a traffic stop on Johnson, but he failed to stop, prompting a chase, the DOJ release said.

The release also said:

The victim vehicle contained six passengers, all of whom sustained injuries. EMS was contacted and law enforcement attempted life-saving measures on Johnson; however, Johnson was pronounced deceased on scene. All injured victims were transported to local hospitals for treatment.

Deputy Bedish is on administrative duty, per agencies policies. Bedish had his squad camera activated during the chase and crash as our past reporting said.

DCI is leading this investigation and are assisted by a DCI Crime Response Specialist and the Wisconsin State Patrol. All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during this investigation.
Regulation by enforcement is beginning to crumble, with a court recently ruling that the SECs refusal to issue a crypto rule was unlawful. A new crypto-friendly administration stands ready to create crypto clarity through new appointments at the SEC and the CFTC.

New acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham has proposed an uncommon approach, namely the regulatory sandbox.

A regulatory sandbox is a waiver of regulations but in a supervised environment. Projects can test innovative ideas outside rigid regulatory frameworks. Federal digital asset sandboxes may come sooner than you think, but current state sandbox models fall short in the digital assets context, with extremely limited scopes and durations.

We propose a Sustainable Sandbox and develop Phams idea, along with similar proposals from SEC Commissioner Peirce, and various initiatives in states and the Federal Reserve.

The Sustainable Sandbox will give regulators enough time and information to draft thoughtful and sensible rules governing digital assets. Without such a stopgap, the digital assets industry would end up in the same placetrying to work with rules that do not make sense.

How sandboxes work

At its core, a regulatory sandbox allows businesses to conduct live experiments with innovative technologies while regulators observe and gather data. Businesses apply for waivers from certain laws that may technically apply to their activities but do not align with the unique nature of their innovations.

For example, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform might be exempted from securities regulations that were designed for traditional financial intermediaries. This exemption provides the freedom to innovate without being hamstrung by outdated rules.

Importantly, regulatory sandboxes do not equate to a regulatory free-for-all. Participants must adhere to baseline standards for consumer protection and financial stability, ensuring that accountability is not sacrificed in the name of innovation.

In practice, regulatory sandboxes have proven to be valuable tools for identifying outdated regulations. By generating real-world data, they enable lawmakers to assess whether certain rules should be reformed or repealed. Without such mechanisms, unnecessary or impractical regulations risk stifling progress and innovation.

Lessons from the U.K. and beyond

The U.K. has been a pioneer in implementing regulatory sandboxes. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced its sandbox in 2016, offering a structured environment for businesses to test new ideas. Participants have ranged from large law firms to cryptocurrency projects, reflecting the sandboxs inclusivity and flexibility.
Hartford Financial Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,484 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Abbott Laboratories accounts for approximately 1.1% of Hartford Financial Management Inc.s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Hartford Financial Management Inc.s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 25.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,319,347 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $1,518,539,000 after buying an additional 2,711,586 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,720,429 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $8,746,896,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323,807 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 13,194.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,679,805 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $191,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,170 shares during the period. Sessa Capital IM L.P. raised its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sessa Capital IM L.P. now owns 3,749,502 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $427,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,409 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 13.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,764,061 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $1,144,818,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,040 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $128.75 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $99.71 and a 52-week high of $129.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.73. The firms 50-day moving average is $115.94 and its 200-day moving average is $113.90.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE:ABT Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 31.95%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Abbott Laboratoriess revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratoriess previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is 30.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reissued an overweight rating and set a $158.00 price target (up from $149.00) on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $133.06.

Get Our Latest Report on ABT

About Abbott Laboratories

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Menieres disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

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Lennar (NYSE:LEN  Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $135.00 to $121.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an equal weight rating on the construction companys stock. Barclayss target price suggests a potential downside of 10.52% from the companys previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on LEN. Citigroup cut their target price on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lennar from $180.00 to $165.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Lennar from $192.00 to $173.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Lennar from $205.00 to $192.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $167.50.

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Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on LEN

Lennar Price Performance

Lennar stock opened at $135.22 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.46. Lennar has a 12 month low of $128.41 and a 12 month high of $193.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 4.71 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.68 billion, a PE ratio of 9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.66.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.82 EPS. The firms revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Lennar will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Lennar by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,903,555 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,106,798,000 after buying an additional 73,638 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Lennar by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction companys stock worth $446,110,000 after acquiring an additional 589,553 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lennar by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,666,905 shares of the construction companys stock worth $499,991,000 after purchasing an additional 89,896 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares during the period. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in Lennar by 2.6% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 711,023 shares of the construction companys stock worth $133,303,000 after purchasing an additional 17,834 shares in the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lennar Company Profile

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Lennar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a homebuilder primarily under the Lennar brand in the United States. It operates through Homebuilding East, Homebuilding Central, Homebuilding Texas, Homebuilding West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other segments. The companys homebuilding operations include the construction and sale of single-family attached and detached homes, as well as the purchase, development, and sale of residential land; and development, construction, and management of multifamily rental properties.

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Black Iron Inc. (TSE:BKI  Get Free Report)s share price traded down 9.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as C$0.15 and last traded at C$0.15. 194,591 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 621,593 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.17.

Black Iron Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$48.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.00 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$0.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$0.08.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider RAB Capital Holdings Limited sold 250,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$0.19, for a total value of C$46,342.50. Insiders sold a total of 2,271,000 shares of company stock worth $421,155 over the last three months. 2.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Black Iron

Black Iron Inc is a Canadian iron ore exploration and development company. The principal activity of the company is the exploration and development of ferrous metals in Ukraine namely the Shymanivske iron ore project located in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. The company operates through the development of its Ukrainian mining and exploration permits segment.

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BNCCORP, Inc. (OTCMKTS:BNCC  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 300 shares, a drop of 62.5% from the December 31st total of 800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

BNCCORP Trading Down 0.5 %

BNCC stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $31.88. The stock had a trading volume of 300 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,263. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. BNCCORP has a twelve month low of $20.10 and a twelve month high of $35.45. The firm has a market cap of $112.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.31.

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BNCCORP (OTCMKTS:BNCC  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The bank reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter. BNCCORP had a net margin of 15.03% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The business had revenue of $13.06 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share.

BNCCORP Increases Dividend

About BNCCORP

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were issued a $4.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from BNCCORPs previous dividend of $2.25.

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BNCCORP, Inc operates as the bank holding company for BNC National Bank that provides community banking, retail and mortgage banking, and wealth management services to businesses and consumers. The company offers commercial banking services, including business financing, commercial real estate lending, small business administration loans, business checking, cash management, corporate credit cards, and merchant services to small to middle-market businesses.

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BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC  Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 201,373 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock after buying an additional 5,383 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. were worth $1,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TKC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. by 70.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,411 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. in the third quarter valued at $72,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. during the third quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in shares of Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. during the 3rd quarter valued at about $79,000.

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Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Price Performance

Shares of TKC opened at $7.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. has a 52 week low of $4.76 and a 52 week high of $8.47. The companys 50 day moving average price is $6.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. ( NYSE:TKC Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 4.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

Get Our Latest Report on Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Company Profile

(Free Report)

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. provides digital services in Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and the Netherlands. It operates through Turkcell Turkey, Turkcell International, and Techfin segments. It offers work contact services, such as mobile communications, fixed business internet and business phone, and customer loyalty and programs; digital business services comprising uninterrupted access, cyber security, data center, Internet of Things, big data, e-transformation, technologies, and managed services, and cloud solutions.

Further Reading

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Dynatrace (NYSE:DT  Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Cantor Fitzgerald from $58.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a neutral rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgeralds target price points to a potential downside of 2.17% from the stocks previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on DT. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Dynatrace in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a neutral rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a buy rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Dynatrace in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Dynatrace from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Dynatrace from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Dynatrace from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dynatrace has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $61.92.

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Read Our Latest Analysis on Dynatrace

Dynatrace Price Performance

Insider Activity at Dynatrace

DT traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.26. 575,754 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,576,675. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.92. Dynatrace has a twelve month low of $39.42 and a twelve month high of $61.41. The company has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.86, a PEG ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.02.

In other news, EVP Bernd Greifeneder sold 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.83, for a total transaction of $2,891,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,007,038 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $58,237,007.54. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Dynatrace by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 361,884 shares of the companys stock worth $19,350,000 after acquiring an additional 64,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Dynatrace by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,127,967 shares of the companys stock valued at $273,610,000 after acquiring an additional 884,673 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Dynatrace by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 64,093 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,427,000 after purchasing an additional 13,957 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Dynatrace by 56.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 26,303 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 9,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Dynatrace by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 840,801 shares of the companys stock worth $44,958,000 after acquiring an additional 52,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the companys stock.

Dynatrace Company Profile

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Dynatrace, Inc provides a security platform for multicloud environments in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates Dynatrace, a security platform, which provides application and microservices monitoring, runtime application security, infrastructure monitoring, log management and analytics, digital experience monitoring, digital business analytics, and cloud automation.

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China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (OTCMKTS:JINFF  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 568,400 shares, a growth of 31.6% from the December 31st total of 431,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 218.6 days.

China Gold International Resources Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of OTCMKTS JINFF traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $5.81. 7,500 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,440. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.24 and a 200 day moving average of $5.01. China Gold International Resources has a 1 year low of $3.84 and a 1 year high of $7.42.

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About China Gold International Resources

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China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd., a gold and base metal mining company, acquires, explores for, develops, and mines mineral properties in the People's Republic of China. It primarily holds 96.5% interest in the Chang Shan Hao gold mine located in Inner Mongolia; and holds interest in the Jiama copper-gold polymetallic mine that hosts copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, lead, and zinc metals located in Tibet.

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Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of South Bow Co. (NYSE:SOBO  Free Report) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 2,015,095 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $47,533,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Manitou Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of South Bow during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Canal Insurance CO acquired a new stake in South Bow in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB acquired a new stake in shares of South Bow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of South Bow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,000. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC bought a new position in South Bow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $517,000.

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South Bow Stock Down 1.7 %

South Bow stock opened at $24.22 on Friday. South Bow Co. has a 1-year low of $21.12 and a 1-year high of $27.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.23.

South Bow Announces Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

SOBO has been the topic of a number of research reports. US Capital Advisors raised shares of South Bow to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of South Bow in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set an underweight rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of South Bow in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Tudor Pickering raised South Bow to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Securities initiated coverage on shares of South Bow in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. They set a hold rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $25.00.

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About South Bow

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South Bow Corp is a strategic liquids pipeline company. It is a new liquids-focused midstream infrastructure company. South Bow Corp is based in Canada.

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On January 23, 2025, Clorox (NYSE: CLX) announced in an SEC filing that its Executive Vice President  Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Jacobsen, will be retiring from the company effective April 1, 2025. Jacobsen, who has been with Clorox for nearly 30 years, will continue in an advisory capacity until June 2025.

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Following Jacobsens retirement announcement, the Management Development and Compensation Committee of Cloroxs Board of Directors appointed Luc Bellet, age 46, to succeed Jacobsen as the Executive Vice President  Chief Financial Officer effective April 1, 2025. Bellet is currently serving as the Companys Vice President  Treasurer, a role he has held since October 2023. He joined Clorox in 2006 and has held various senior leadership positions within the companys financial organization.

In connection with Bellets appointment, the Management Development and Compensation Committee approved an increase in his base salary to $725,000, an increase in his short-term incentive target from 50% to 100% of his salary effective April 1, 2025, and granted him restricted stock units with an aggregate fair value of $400,000, vesting over four years. Additionally, Bellet will receive performance shares with an aggregate target fair value of $600,000 and a three-year performance period ending June 30, 2027.

It was noted that Bellet has no familial relationships or related party transactions with the Company that would require disclosure under regulations in connection with his appointment.

A press release accompanying the SEC filing disclosed the changes in the executive leadership. The outgoing CFO, Kevin Jacobsen, played a significant role in driving Cloroxs IGNITE strategy and portfolio evolution during his tenure. Chair and CEO Linda Rendle expressed gratitude towards Jacobsen for his contributions and leadership, wishing him well in retirement. Rendle also praised the readiness of Luc Bellet to take over the CFO role, highlighting his extensive experience within the company.

Effective April 1, Luc Bellet will officially assume the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer reporting to CEO Linda Rendle. Bellets experience across various financial leadership roles within Clorox positions him as a fitting successor to Jacobsen as the company continues its growth trajectory and digital transformation.

Following the leadership transition, Kevin Jacobsen will provide support during the handover period until his retirement in June. Clorox, known for its range of trusted brands including Clorox, Burts Bees, and Glad, continues its commitment to sustainable business practices and value creation for shareholders.

For further details on this development and Cloroxs operations, the press release filed under Exhibit 99.1 is available for reference.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read Cloroxs 8K filing here.

Clorox Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment offers cleaning products, such as laundry additives and home care products primarily under the Clorox, Clorox2, Scentiva, Pine-Sol, Liquid-Plumr, Tilex, and Formula 409 brands; professional cleaning and disinfecting products under the CloroxPro and Clorox Healthcare brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals and supplement products under the RenewLife, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Rainbow Light brands in the United States.

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Commerzbank AG (OTCMKTS:CRZBY  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,100 shares, an increase of 136.7% from the December 31st total of 3,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 42,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Commerzbank Price Performance

Shares of CRZBY traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $19.08. 9,366 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,751. The stocks 50-day moving average is $16.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.44. Commerzbank has a 12 month low of $10.98 and a 12 month high of $19.35. The stock has a market cap of $22.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.94.

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Commerzbank (OTCMKTS:CRZBY  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.13. Commerzbank had a return on equity of 6.33% and a net margin of 8.55%. The company had revenue of $8.45 billion for the quarter. Research analysts predict that Commerzbank will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

About Commerzbank

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Commerzbank stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Commerzbank AG ( OTCMKTS:CRZBY Free Report ) by 5,506.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,850 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,817 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLCs holdings in Commerzbank were worth $30,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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Commerzbank AG provides banking and capital market products and services to private and small business customers, corporate, financial service providers, and institutional clients in Germany, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Private and Small-Business Customers, and Corporate Clients.

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By Anirban Sen

(Reuters) -SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Japanese conglomerate continues to expand into the sector.

SoftBank could invest $15 billion to $25 billion directly into Microsoft-backed OpenAI, some of which may be used to pay for OpenAI's commitment to Stargate, the person said.

Stargate is a joint venture by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank, that plans to invest up to $500 billion to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race.

SoftBank's investment would be on top of the $15 billion it has already committed to Stargate, the person said, adding the talks are at an early stage.

The latest OpenAI investment talks were reported by the Financial Times earlier on Thursday.

Tech news website The Information reported previously that SoftBank was planning to invest a total $40 billion into Stargate and OpenAI and had begun talks to borrow up to $18.5 billion in financing, backed by its publicly-listed assets.

The Stargate venture was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison at the White House last week.

However, since then, a little-known startup from China, DeepSeek, has upended markets with a free artificial intelligence assistant it said was developed cheaply using lower-cost chips and less data than U.S. rivals.

SoftBank's share price surged on news of the Stargate project but has fallen more than 12% since the Deepseek-induced selloff began.

Its shares were down around 1% in morning trading on Thursday.

SoftBank CEO Son's plan to take a large stake in OpenAI and meet its Stargate commitments has been vetted by senior executives and the board at OpenAI, the Financial Times reported. Last year, SoftBank took a $1.5 billion stake in OpenAI.

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round, cementing its status as one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

OpenAI and SoftBank did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

(Reporting by Anirban Sen in New York, Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Anton Bridge in Tokyo; Editing by Alan Barona, Rashmi Aich and Sonali Paul)
Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:FIHL  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,590,000 shares, a growth of 32.1% from the December 31st total of 1,960,000 shares. Approximately 5.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 490,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days.

Fidelis Insurance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FIHL traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $16.76. 513,075 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 584,451. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.02. Fidelis Insurance has a twelve month low of $12.43 and a twelve month high of $21.32.

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Fidelis Insurance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Fidelis Insurances dividend payout ratio is currently 10.10%.

Institutional Trading of Fidelis Insurance

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Fidelis Insurance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,144,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fidelis Insurance in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,424,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fidelis Insurance by 306.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 68,184 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,231,000 after buying an additional 51,419 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Fidelis Insurance during the third quarter worth approximately $732,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in Fidelis Insurance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,008,000. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FIHL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Fidelis Insurance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a sell rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down from $21.00) on shares of Fidelis Insurance in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Fidelis Insurance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Fidelis Insurance from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.86.

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About Fidelis Insurance

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Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, a specialty insurer, provides insurance and reinsurance solutions in Bermuda, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It operates in three segments: Specialty, Reinsurance, and Bespoke segments. The Specialty segment offers aviation and aerospace, energy, marine, property direct and facultative, and other specialty risk solutions.

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Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 29.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,855 shares of the financial services providers stock after buying an additional 4,520 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.s holdings in Bank of America were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 525.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the companys stock.

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Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $46.68 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $45.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.73. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

Bank of America ( NYSE:BAC Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong 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 $48.58.

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Bank of America Company Profile

(Free Report)

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.

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AA Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE  Free Report) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,187 shares of the conglomerates stock after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLCs holdings in General Electric were worth $532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 117.7% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $733,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in General Electric by 269.8% during the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,201 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $5,318,000 after purchasing an additional 20,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in General Electric by 60.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,662 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 5,162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the companys stock.

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General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $205.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The companys fifty day moving average price is $176.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.19. General Electric has a 12 month low of $105.70 and a 12 month high of $207.65.

General Electric Announces Dividend

General Electric ( NYSE:GE Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. General Electrics payout ratio is currently 18.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of several research reports. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a neutral rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Melius Research boosted their target price on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $208.73.

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General Electric Company Profile

(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.

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Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (NYSE:TV  Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $1.81, but opened at $1.87. Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. shares last traded at $1.79, with a volume of 118,040 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark cut their price target on Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. from $2.50 to $2.20 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given 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 $5.57.

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Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. Price Performance

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grupo Televisa, S.A.B.

The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.08.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. by 199.3% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 91,482 shares of the companys stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 60,918 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. by 22.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 98,282 shares of the companys stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 17,864 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 15,000 shares of the companys stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 37,039 shares of the companys stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. 55.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Grupo Televisa, S.A.B.

(Get Free Report)

Grupo Televisa, SAB., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates cable companies and provides direct-to-home satellite pay television system in Mexico and the United States. It operates through three segments: Cable, Sky, and Other Businesses. The Cable segment operates cable multiple system that provides basic and premium television subscription, pay-per-view, installation, Internet subscription, and telephone and mobile services subscription, as well as local and national advertising services; and telecommunication facilities, which offers data and long-distance services solutions to carriers and other telecommunications service providers through its fiber-optic network.

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Haemonetics Co. (NYSE:HAE  Get Free Report)s share price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $69.25 and last traded at $69.35, with a volume of 603380 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.29.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HAE. Barrington Research restated an outperform rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Haemonetics in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $112.00 price target on shares of Haemonetics in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Haemonetics from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Haemonetics in a report on Friday, December 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $116.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $108.78.

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Haemonetics Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.41. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $79.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 3.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

Haemonetics (NYSE:HAE  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $345.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $342.57 million. Haemonetics had a net margin of 9.10% and a return on equity of 22.67%. The firms revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Haemonetics Co. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Haemonetics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Haemonetics by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,878 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Haemonetics by 3.0% during the third quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 10,174 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP boosted its holdings in Haemonetics by 9.1% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 3,600 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services increased its stake in Haemonetics by 2.9% during the third quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 11,110 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Haemonetics by 7.3% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 5,880 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Haemonetics

(Get Free Report)

Haemonetics Corporation, a healthcare company, provides suite of medical products and solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers automated plasma collection systems, donor management software, and supporting software solutions including NexSys PCS and PCS2 plasmapheresis equipment and related disposables and solutions, as well as integrated information technology platforms for plasma customers to manage their donors, operations, and supply chain; and NexLynk DMS donor management system and Donor360 app.

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Hitachi (OTCMKTS:HTHIY  Get Free Report) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 0.910-0.910 for the period. The company issued revenue guidance of $66.9 billion-$66.9 billion.

Hitachi Price Performance

HTHIY traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $49.56. 163,676 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 132,099. Hitachi has a fifty-two week low of $30.74 and a fifty-two week high of $56.65. The company has a market cap of $114.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.81. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $50.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.33.

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Hitachi (OTCMKTS:HTHIY  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The conglomerate reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.46 by $1.52. Hitachi had a net margin of 7.22% and a return on equity of 11.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Hitachi will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current 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.

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OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW  Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,918 shares of the industrial products companys stock after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp INs holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ITW. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 2.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 28,266 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $6,698,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Illinois Tool Works by 2.8% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,069,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Illinois Tool Works by 2.4% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 67,363 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $15,962,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Illinois Tool Works by 7.6% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 60,619 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $14,364,000 after buying an additional 4,276 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Illinois Tool Works by 2.2% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 437,391 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $103,644,000 after buying an additional 9,513 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.77% of the companys stock.

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Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Shares of ITW stock opened at $259.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $262.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 12 month low of $232.77 and a 12 month high of $279.13. The company has a market capitalization of $76.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Illinois Tool Works ( NYSE:ITW Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.12. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 97.06% and a net margin of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.55 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

ITW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $279.00 to $265.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $312.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Illinois Tool Works from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI lowered Illinois Tool Works from an in-line rating to an underperform rating and upped their target price for the stock from $246.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $269.89.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ITW

About Illinois Tool Works

(Free Report)

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment in the United States and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products.

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Fortune Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV  Free Report) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 122,298 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 4,427 shares during the period. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF makes up 9.9% of Fortune Financial Advisors LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Fortune Financial Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $10,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of USMV. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the second quarter worth $1,369,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 101.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 27,458 shares of the companys stock worth $2,305,000 after buying an additional 13,818 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the second quarter valued at about $18,422,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the second quarter valued at about $359,000. Finally, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the third quarter worth about $388,000.

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iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Trading Up 4.2 %

USMV stock opened at $92.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.31. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF has a 12 month low of $47.44 and a 12 month high of $55.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30 and a beta of 0.59.

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Profile

The iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (USMV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of US-listed firms selected and weighted to create a low-volatility portfolio subject to various constraints. USMV was launched on Oct 18, 2011 and is managed by BlackRock.

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L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX  Get Free Report)s stock had its sector perform rating reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $240.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.38% from the stocks current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LHX. Raymond James downgraded shares of L3Harris Technologies from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America raised L3Harris Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $240.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of L3Harris Technologies from $270.00 to $265.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Argus raised shares of L3Harris Technologies from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on L3Harris Technologies from $295.00 to $287.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $268.64.

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L3Harris Technologies Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of L3Harris Technologies stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $211.68. The companys stock had a trading volume of 507,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,214,957. L3Harris Technologies has a 52 week low of $200.18 and a 52 week high of $265.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $221.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.43. The stock has a market cap of $40.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.75.

L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.04. L3Harris Technologies had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 13.11%. Equities research analysts anticipate that L3Harris Technologies will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at L3Harris Technologies

In other news, insider Ross Niebergall sold 1,764 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.62, for a total transaction of $394,465.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,917,765.12. This represents a 17.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,889 shares of company stock worth $1,800,572. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of L3Harris Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in L3Harris Technologies by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,747 shares of the companys stock worth $14,541,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of L3Harris Technologies during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,770,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 38,644 shares of the companys stock valued at $9,192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,499 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 3.3% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,526 shares of the companys stock worth $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its stake in L3Harris Technologies by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 7,796 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.76% of the companys stock.

L3Harris Technologies Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

L3Harris Technologies, Inc provides mission-critical solutions for government and commercial customers worldwide. The company's Integrated Mission Systems segment provides intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, passive sensing and targeting, electronic attack, autonomy, power and communications, and networks and sensors, as well as advanced combat systems for air, land, and sea sectors.

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Mediolanum International Funds Ltd trimmed its position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW  Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,338 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 3,641 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltds holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $34,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 111.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 38 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in W.W. Grainger by 38.9% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 50 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in W.W. Grainger during the third quarter worth approximately $75,000. 80.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 9,577 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,117.84, for a total transaction of $10,705,553.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,379 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,895,021.36. This represents a 68.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,206.03, for a total transaction of $150,753.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 675 shares of the companys stock, valued at $814,070.25. This represents a 15.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.50% of the companys stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a neutral rating and a $1,280.00 target price on the stock. Baird R W upgraded W.W. Grainger from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,018.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lifted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Northcoast Research started coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. They set a neutral rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $1,140.56.

View Our Latest Research Report on GWW

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE GWW opened at $1,125.99 on Friday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1-year low of $874.98 and a 1-year high of $1,227.66. The company has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,121.45 and a 200-day moving average of $1,063.88.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.43 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. W.W. Graingers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.23%.

About W.W. Grainger

(Free Report)

W.W. Grainger, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes maintenance, repair, and operating products and services primarily in North America, Japan, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, High-Touch Solutions N.A. and Endless Assortment. The company provides safety, security, material handling and storage equipment, pumps and plumbing equipment, cleaning and maintenance, and metalworking and hand tools.

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Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbucks, has identified mugs as an integral part of his turnaround plan.

As Brian Niccol orchestrates the turnaround of Starbucks, one thing he wants to see is customers enjoying a mug hug.

Niccol coined the phrase on the coffee giants earnings call this week, where results beat Wall Street expectations, as Starbucks revealed Q1 revenue of $9.4 billion versus the $9.31 billion expected.

The new CEO told analysts on the call Tuesday that he wanted to elevate the cafe experience for customers who wanted to sit in-storedoing so without being bothered by queues of people waiting for their click-and-collect orders.

Mobile and app orders have become something of an Achilles heel for Starbucks, with stores simultaneously overwhelmed with orders and customers abandoning purchases before payment because of long queues.

Niccol said he had introduced a pilot program using new algorithms to address these bottlenecks of demand, freeing up baristas for moments of connection with customers both coming into stores and picking up their to-go drinks.

I swung by one of our stores with this pilot, and there was no congestion at the counter, Niccol added. And what was also really nice is the in-cafe customer ... We call it a mug hug ... Theyre like holding on to that ceramic mug, and theyre enjoying their moment in the cafe, and theres not all this congestion surrounding the counter.

So its just a much more pleasant, peaceful coffee experience.

It seems a significant part of this experience hinges on the mugs themselvesor crockery more widelywith Niccol mentioning ceramics three times on the call.

The man paid a $5 million signing bonus on the four-week anniversary of his appointment doubled down: We reintroduced ceramic mugs and handwritten notes on cups to better connect with customers and elevate the cafe experience for those who choose to stay and work.

Establishingor according to Niccol, reestablishingStarbucks as a friendly, relaxed community coffeehouse ultimately encourages customers to stay in store longer.

Its really amazing to see just how the whole vibe of the coffeehouse just kind of calms down, and you can kind of settle in, Niccol said. And ... the ceramic mugs and glasses and plates just add another level of like, Hey, this is a spot where I can slow down, take a minute, whether Im connecting with others or just taking a minute for myself, this is what occurs.

Revamping the Starbucks vibe

While Niccol reintroducing reusable china may seem like a minor tweak in the context of issues facing Starbucks (global store sales are down 4%, and earnings per share fell 23%), it plays to the wider turnaround of the brand.
New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV  Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,804 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,106 shares during the period. iShares Europe ETF comprises about 1.0% of New Wave Wealth Advisors LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares Europe ETF were worth $2,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in iShares Europe ETF in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 71.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,710 shares of the companys stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares Europe ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $138,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in iShares Europe ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Watershed Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in iShares Europe ETF in the third quarter valued at $244,000.

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iShares Europe ETF Stock Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA IEV opened at $55.92 on Friday. iShares Europe ETF has a 52-week low of $51.38 and a 52-week high of $59.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $53.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 0.83.

iShares Europe ETF Profile

iShares Europe ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P Europe 350 (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the stocks of companies in the countries, which includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

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North European Oil Royalty Trust (NYSE:NRT  Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.04 per share by the energy company on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. This is a positive change from North European Oil Royalty Trusts previous quarterly dividend of $0.02.

North European Oil Royalty Trust Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NRT traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $4.51. 31,018 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 61,936. North European Oil Royalty Trust has a 52-week low of $3.88 and a 52-week high of $8.62. The companys 50-day moving average price is $4.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.00. The company has a market cap of $41.45 million, a P/E ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.76.

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North European Oil Royalty Trust (NYSE:NRT  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 31st. The energy company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter. North European Oil Royalty Trust had a net margin of 87.43% and a return on equity of 537.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of North European Oil Royalty Trust from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 1st.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on North European Oil Royalty Trust

North European Oil Royalty Trust Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

North European Oil Royalty Trust, a grantor trust, holds overriding royalty rights covering gas and oil production in various concessions or leases in the Federal Republic of Germany. The company also has rights under contracts with German exploration and development subsidiaries of ExxonMobil Corp. and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies.

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Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY  Get Free Report) fell 4.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $69.77 and last traded at $69.14. 7,356 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 21,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.52.

Oppenheimer Trading Down 5.5 %

The companys 50-day moving average is $65.05 and its 200 day moving average is $56.86. The firm has a market cap of $707.88 million, a PE ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter. Oppenheimer had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer Company Profile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OPY. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in Oppenheimer in the second quarter valued at $367,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Oppenheimer by 141.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,736 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 8,623 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in Oppenheimer during the third quarter worth about $414,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Oppenheimer by 140.1% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Oppenheimer by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,077 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 2,512 shares in the last quarter. 32.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

(Get Free Report)

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company provides brokerage services covering corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services.

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Shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (NYSE:TLK  Get Free Report) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 343,180 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the previous sessions volume of 562,678 shares.The stock last traded at $16.30 and had previously closed at $16.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

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Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk Stock Up 0.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.78. The companys 50 day moving average is $16.67 and its 200 day moving average is $18.04.

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (NYSE:TLK  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter. Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk had a return on equity of 14.86% and a net margin of 15.12%. As a group, analysts predict that Perusahaan Perseroan will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 268.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 316,621 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $5,921,000 after buying an additional 230,613 shares during the period. Haven Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk in the 4th quarter worth about $3,291,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 67.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 284,588 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $5,629,000 after purchasing an additional 114,209 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 127.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 198,504 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $3,710,000 after buying an additional 111,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,521,500 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $74,966,000 after purchasing an additional 98,552 shares in the last quarter.

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk provides information and communications technology, and telecommunications network services worldwide. The company operates through mobile, consumer, enterprise, Wholesale and International Business, and Other segments. The Mobile segment offers mobile voice, SMS, value added services, and mobile broadband services.

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Saxony Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA:IAK  Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,268 shares of the companys stock after selling 563 shares during the quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLCs holdings in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IAK. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 962 shares of the companys stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $180,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $222,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the companys stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. purchased a new position in iShares U.S. Insurance ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $238,000.

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iShares U.S. Insurance ETF Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSEARCA:IAK opened at $130.20 on Friday. iShares U.S. Insurance ETF has a 12-month low of $104.00 and a 12-month high of $139.08. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $129.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.17. The company has a market capitalization of $722.61 million, a PE ratio of 17.19 and a beta of 0.40.

About iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

The iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (IAK) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the DJ US Select \u002F Insurance index. The fund tracks a market-cap index of US insurance companies. IAK was launched on May 1, 2006 and is managed by BlackRock.

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China CITIC Bank Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:CHCJY  Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,300 shares, a growth of 225.0% from the December 31st total of 400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

China CITIC Bank Stock Performance

OTCMKTS CHCJY remained flat at $15.96 on Thursday. The companys stock had a trading volume of 8 shares, compared to its average volume of 113. China CITIC Bank has a 1-year low of $9.73 and a 1-year high of $15.96. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $12.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.49.

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China CITIC Bank (OTCMKTS:CHCJY  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $7.43 billion during the quarter.

China CITIC Bank Cuts Dividend

China CITIC Bank Company Profile

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.5105 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th.

(Get Free Report)

China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited provides various banking products and services in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in segments, such as Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, and Financial Market business. It accepts deposits; offers corporate and personal loans; and provides securities agency, remittance and settlement, and guarantee services, as well as investment banking and international services.

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Tesla, Vistra, GE Vernova, Constellation Energy, Berkshire Hathaway, Southern, and NextEra Energy are the seven Solar stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeats stock screener tool. Solar stocks are stocks of companies that are involved in the production or distribution of solar energy products, such as solar panels, inverters, or related technologies. These stocks can be purchased by investors who want to invest in the growing renewable energy sector and capitalize on the increasing demand for clean energy solutions. These companies had the highest dollar trading volume of any Solar stocks within the last several days.

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Tesla (TSLA)

Tesla, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.

Shares of TSLA stock traded up $12.75 on Thursday, reaching $401.85. The company had a trading volume of 74,326,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 73,721,320. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $401.98 and a 200-day moving average of $297.28. Tesla has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 110.43, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30.

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Vistra (VST)

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.

Shares of VST stock traded up $18.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $173.78. 12,212,575 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,234,765. The company has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.33, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.21. Vistra has a 52 week low of $40.78 and a 52 week high of $199.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $155.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68.

Read Our Latest Research Report on VST

GE Vernova (GEV)

GE Vernova LLC, an energy business company, generates electricity. It operates under three segments: Power, Wind, and Electrification. The Power segments generates and sells electricity through hydro, gas, nuclear, and steam power. Wind segment engages in the manufacturing and sale of wind turbine blades; and Electrification segment provides grid solutions, power conversion, solar, and storage solutions.

Shares of GEV traded up $28.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $381.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,696,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,236,060. The firm has a market cap of $105.15 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.56. GE Vernova has a twelve month low of $115.00 and a twelve month high of $447.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $353.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.49.

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Constellation Energy (CEG)

Constellation Energy Corporation generates and sells electricity in the United States. It operates through five segments: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New York, ERCOT, and Other Power Regions. The company sells natural gas, energy-related products, and sustainable solutions. It has approximately 33,094 megawatts of generating capacity consisting of nuclear, wind, solar, natural gas, and hydroelectric assets.

Shares of CEG traded up $14.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $306.64. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,508,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,121,273. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $260.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $234.13. Constellation Energy has a 1-year low of $121.36 and a 1-year high of $352.00. The stock has a market cap of $95.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.74.

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Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses worldwide. The company provides property, casualty, life, accident, and health insurance and reinsurance; and operates railroad systems in North America. It also generates, transmits, stores, and distributes electricity from natural gas, coal, wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, and geothermal sources; operates natural gas distribution and storage facilities, interstate pipelines, liquefied natural gas facilities, and compressor and meter stations; and holds interest in coal mining assets.

BRK.B traded up $4.57 on Thursday, hitting $473.83. 1,200,327 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,982,148. Berkshire Hathaway has a 12 month low of $381.48 and a 12 month high of $491.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.57, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $461.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $455.89.

Read Our Latest Research Report on BRK.B

Southern (SO)

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.

NYSE SO traded up $1.88 on Thursday, reaching $84.71. The company had a trading volume of 3,567,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,110,277. The firm has a market cap of $92.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $84.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Read Our Latest Research Report on SO

NextEra Energy (NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets.

NYSE NEE traded up $0.63 on Thursday, hitting $71.52. 3,762,525 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,872,723. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $72.72 and a 200-day moving average of $77.10. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $53.95 and a 12 month high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $147.07 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

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Springfield Properties PLC (LON:SPR  Get Free Report) was down 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 90 ($1.12) and last traded at GBX 90 ($1.12). Approximately 430,324 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 318% from the average daily volume of 103,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 90.50 ($1.12).

Springfield Properties Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of 106.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,500.00 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 38.16, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 2.45. The businesss 50 day moving average is GBX 90.94 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 97.45.

Springfield Properties Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

The Springfield Group is one of the largest homebuilders in Scotland. Made up of six well-established and respected brands Springfield Properties, Springfield Partnerships, Dawn Homes, Walker Group, Tulloch Homes and Mactaggart & Mickel Homes  we deliver high quality, energy efficient homes across multiple tenures for people that need them.

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Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Get Free Report) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, January 28th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the companys leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Merck & Co., Inc. Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE MRK opened at $98.91 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $99.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.06. Merck & Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.48 and a fifty-two week high of $134.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $250.21 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.39.

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Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK  Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.07. Merck & Co., Inc. had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 36.42%. The business had revenue of $16.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Announces Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Merck & Co., Inc.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.92%.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MRK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a market perform rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Merck & Co., Inc. from $136.00 to $119.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $122.67.

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About Merck & Co., Inc.

(Get Free Report)

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

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Switzer Dividend Growth Fund (Managed Fund) (ASX:SWTZ  Get Free Report) declared a interim dividend on Thursday, January 30th,MarketIndexAU Dividends reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of 0.009 per share on Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Sunday, February 2nd.

Switzer Dividend Growth Fund (Managed Fund) Price Performance

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(Bloomberg) -- STMicroelectronics NV is considering reducing its workforce by as much as about 6% through early retirements and attrition, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Franco-Italian chipmaker confronts a prolonged demand slump in the industrial and auto sectors.

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The job cuts under discussion, which could be announced as soon as next month, are in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 workers and will affect its operations in both Italy and France, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isnt public. The decision isnt final and the scale of the reductions is still under review, the people added.

The Italian government, which together with France holds a 27.5% stake in the company, is seeking to limit the impact of the restructuring on the Italian workforce, the people said.

In the coming weeks, we will start engaging a constructive dialog with employee representatives around end of career support programs, built on a voluntary basis, including early retirement, a spokesperson for STMicro said, declining to comment further. Representatives for the French Finance Ministry and Italian Industry Ministry declined to comment.

STMicro is looking for ways to shrink its cost base and is planning an early retirement program for some workers, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Chery said on an earnings call with journalists Thursday, adding that the company would start engaging with employee representatives about a plan based on voluntary departures. A slump in the industry has forced the Geneva-based company to repeatedly scale down its financial ambitions in recent periods and its share price has fallen more than 45% in the last 12 months.

The shares rose 1.5% to 21.55 in Paris trading at 1:18 p.m.

STMicro on Thursday called 2024 one of the worst years in decades for the industry and forecast first-quarter revenue that missed analysts expectations. The company didnt provide a full-year outlook, breaking with tradition. Competitor Texas Instruments Inc. also gave a disappointing estimate last week for the current period, citing sluggish demand and higher manufacturing costs.

STMicro was formed in a merger of France and Italys state-owned chipmakers in 1987 and is considered a strategic enterprise by both countries. It supplies companies such as Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. with so-called legacy chips, which generally use older technology and dont require state-of-the-art production facilities. The company has more than 50,000 employees.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG  Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $344.00 to $341.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an overweight rating on the financial services providers stock. Wells Fargo & Companys target price suggests a potential upside of 12.03% from the stocks current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $269.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $295.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $300.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their target price for the company from $292.00 to $286.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $313.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $303.86.

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Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of AJG stock traded up $5.34 on Friday, hitting $304.37. The company had a trading volume of 444,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,846,886. The firm has a market cap of $76.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.01 and a beta of 0.76. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a twelve month low of $227.43 and a twelve month high of $316.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $291.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $288.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.10. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a return on equity of 19.12% and a net margin of 10.40%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AJG. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,305,478 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,462,392,000 after purchasing an additional 580,134 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,932,007 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,513,199,000 after buying an additional 47,656 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490,728 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,541,044,000 after buying an additional 79,429 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,196,992 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $899,538,000 after acquiring an additional 383,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,330,703 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $374,408,000 after acquiring an additional 31,181 shares in the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following business segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.

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Cinemark (NYSE:CNK  Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $38.00 to $36.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Companys price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.02% from the companys current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie boosted their price target on Cinemark from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush downgraded shares of Cinemark from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Cinemark in a report on Friday, January 10th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Cinemark from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cinemark from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.80.

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Cinemark Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:CNK opened at $28.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The companys fifty day moving average price is $31.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.85. Cinemark has a 1-year low of $13.45 and a 1-year high of $36.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 2.40.

Cinemark (NYSE:CNK  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $921.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $894.90 million. Cinemark had a return on equity of 60.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cinemark will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cinemark

In other Cinemark news, insider Valmir Fernandes sold 25,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total value of $817,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 179,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,873,543.72. This trade represents a 12.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cinemark

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNK. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Cinemark by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 62,287 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,603 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cinemark in the second quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in Cinemark by 38.7% during the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,145 shares of the companys stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Cinemark during the second quarter worth $144,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cinemark by 106.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,020 shares of the companys stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter.

Cinemark Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Cinemark Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the motion picture exhibition business. As of February 16, 2024, it operated 501 theatres with 5,719 screens in 42 states and 13 countries in South and Central America. Cinemark Holdings, Inc was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

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Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report)s stock had its outperform rating restated by stock analysts at William Blair in a research note issued on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on MA. Macquarie raised their target price on Mastercard from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $605.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong 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 $581.72.

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Mastercard Stock Performance

MA stock traded down $2.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $563.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,709,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,723,290. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $527.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $500.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. Mastercard has a one year low of $428.86 and a one year high of $576.94.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 178.27%. Research analysts anticipate that Mastercard will post 14.47 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the companys leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mastercard

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Mastercard by 120,665.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,041,758 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $3,971,020,000 after acquiring an additional 8,035,099 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Mastercard by 51.7% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,765,714 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $2,846,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,782 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Mastercard by 3.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mastercard by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mastercard by 52.8% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,185,081 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $573,017,000 after buying an additional 409,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the companys stock.

About Mastercard

(Get Free Report)

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.

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By Emma Farge

BELLINZONA, Switzerland (Reuters) -Switzerland's top criminal court convicted trading house Trafigura and a former senior executive of corruption on Friday in an unprecedented case over payments made to an Angolan official in exchange for oil contracts.

It ordered Trafigura to pay a fine of 3 million Swiss francs ($3.3 million) and $145.6 million in compensation, and sentenced Trafigura's former Chief Operating Officer Mike Wainwright to 32 months in prison, of which 12 must be served.

Explaining the verdict, judge Stephan Zenger referred to "organisational failures" and said that it would have been reasonable to expect a company the size of Trafigura to more closely monitor payments to its intermediaries. "The shortcomings noted are not negligible," he told the court.

Wainwright had indirectly profited from the bribery, Zenger said. His lawyer said he would appeal the verdict, which will place the prison sentence on hold pending the outcome.

The case was the first time in Switzerland that a company was charged at its highest court with corrupting a foreign official, and a very rare instance globally of a former top executive of a trading firm landing in the dock.

"It is a strong signal that reflects the determination of (Swiss prosecutors) to combat all forms of transnational corruption, particularly in the commodities sector," the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said in a statement.

The total payment, which is just shy of the $156 million sought by prosecutors, is a fraction of Trafigura's earnings which have been boosted by an energy price rally.

Prosecutors alleged that Trafigura and others paid bribes of over $5 million via a network of intermediaries to the Angolan official to win oil deals from 2009 to 2011.

Trafigura lawyer Jean-Francois Ducrest said the Singapore-based commodities trading firm, which has major operations in Geneva, would take stock of the situation.

"It is a first step in a long judicial process," he said. The company said in a statement it was disappointed by the outcome and that it had invested significant resources strengthening its compliance programme over a number of years.

Wainwright, who has also had a successful career as a racing driver, has denied all the allegations against him. "Today's verdict lacks grounding. The court found Mr. Wainwright guilty based on general assumptions and disregarded key evidence that shows he was not involved in any bribery scheme," his lawyer Daniel Kinzer said in a statement.
Andrea Leinfelder is the space reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at andrea.leinfelder@houstonchronicle.com.

Andrea has written about NASA and the commercial space sector since 2020, with her coverage spanning human spaceflight, robotic exploration and operations in low-Earth orbit. She also follows Elon Musk's Texas footprint.

Originally from Florida, Andrea graduated from the University of Florida in 2012 and has worked for the Houston Chronicle since 2014. She previously wrote for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. She enjoys traveling, eating her way across Texas and chasing her 2-year-old son and 6-year-old dog.
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Tesla (TSLA) reported fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted profit below analysts' estimates late Wednesday, with the stock first falling and then rising in after-hours trading after the company's report and conference call.

Tesla posted net income of $2.32 billion, or $0.66 per share, on revenue of $25.71 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected profit of $2.33 billion, or 66 cents per share, on revenue of $27.35 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.73 came in 5 cents below estimates.

The results come after Tesla's fourth-quarter deliveries and production figures fell short of estimates earlier this month. The EV maker recorded a year-over-year deliveries decline for the first time, slipping to 1.79 million in 2024 from 1.81 million the prior year.

Tesla said in its fourth-quarter release that it expects vehicle sales to return to growth this year. The company also said its plans for a more affordable model are still on track to enter production in the first half of the year, though no official announcement has been made about what the more affordable Tesla will look like or cost.

Tesla's shares, which first fell on the earnings news, were up about 4% after the conference call ended.

Robotaxis, Unsupervised Self-Driving Software Could Launch This Year in Parts of the US

Tesla said its Full Self-Driving technology "continues to rapidly improve," with the company working to launch the supervised version of the software in Europe and China sometime this year. CEO Elon Musk said during Wednesday's call that the company plans to start using the unsupervised version of the self-driving software with Tesla vehicles at the company's Austin, Texas mfactory starting in June, with a broader public release possible this year.

The EV maker also said its "Cybercab" autonomous taxi is expected to launch in parts of the U.S. later this year once its self-driving software hits certain safety benchmarks, with wider production and rollout expected into next year.

Analysts have said the company is likely to benefit from Elon Musk's proximity to President Donald Trump, lifting their price targets as Tesla shares have rallied roughly 60% since his reelection. CFO Vaibhav Taneja said Wednesday that there is "a lot of uncertainty" around Trump's proposed tariffs, which "will have an impact" on Tesla's business and profitability because of its reliance on sourcing parts from other countries.

Tesla shares had finished Wednesday's regular session down more than 2% to just over $389, more than double their price from 12 months ago.
On January 25, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) held its first rally of the federal election campaign on Stuttgarts main street, Konigstrasse. The SGP is the only party in the election campaigning against war, fascism, genocide and mass layoffs and for a socialist programme.

The rally was clearly visible in the busy shopping street in the centre of Stuttgart. Large posters in several languages read: Stop the war, also, Stop the genocide in Gaza, and, Two world wars are enough. About 20 workers and young people gathered as Marianne Arens, a writer for the World Socialist Web Site, began to explain the SGP election programme.

Marianne Arens at the Stuttgart rally, Saturday, 25 January 2025

Our goal is not the reform of capitalism, but its abolition, Arens said. The capitalist social system, she said, brings only social devastation, war and environmental disasters. In the United States, Donald Trump had come to power in order to establish a dictatorship modelled on Hitlers in the name of a super-rich narrow upper class. The richest 1 percent at the top own more wealth than the remaining 99 percent, Arens explained.

The rule of this billionaire oligarchy was incompatible with democracy, she continued, and inevitably led to war and dictatorship. The situation was no different in Germany, where the ruling class is also going the same way. Parallel to Trumps attacks on migrants in the US, anti-refugee agitation and law-and-order politics are also being enforced here. We warn the working class: those in power want to sacrifice everything on the altar of war: wages, working conditions, pensions, culture and democratic rights.

She called on all listeners to take action themselves. The working class is a great power. It creates all of societys wealth. And why shouldnt workers be able to defend themselves and their families, and unite internationally to abolish capitalism?

Meanwhile, several groups of listeners formed around the rally. The well-stocked book table also attracted many. Dozens took the election programme to read at home, and several left their contact details. One participant said that it was really difficult to decide on a party in this election, because the leading politicians of all the establishment parties were taking such a right-wing line.

SGP National Committee member K. Nesan at the Stuttgart rally, 25 January 2025

K. Nesan, a member of the SGP national committee, then spoke. He addressed the attacks on jobs and wages in industry and explained the link between mass layoffs and the official war policy. In the greater Stuttgart area and in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg in particular, thousands of jobs at Mercedes, Mahle and Bosch and many other production plants are currently at risk.

The government, the auto industry and the supplier industry see the switch to electric vehicles as a golden opportunity to destroy jobs and maximise profits, said Nesan. This threatens all the social gains that workers fought for in recent decades. He reported on the negotiations behind closed doors at Mercedes, where an unprecedented austerity programme is being implemented. He also referred to the threats by Bosch boss Stefan Hartung to push through even more job cuts than the 12,000 already announced.

Nesan said that IG Metall was directly integrated into these attacks. The trade unions act as a factory police force, undermining any independent action by workers in the factories, he said. Their job is to fulfill the profit interests of the companies and prevent employees from fighting back against wage cuts, layoffs, restructuring and plant closures.

He noted that unrest is growing in workplaces and that workers increasingly understand the role of the unions. Their long experience with the machinations of the bureaucracy inevitably leads to rebellion.

To organise the workers independently of these bureaucrats, the International Committee of the Fourth International founded the International Workers Alliance of Rank and File Committees (IWA-RFC) in April 2021. Action committees affiliated with the IWA-RFC, Nesan said, will oppose all the forms of national chauvinism and anti-immigrant agitation used by the ruling class to pit workers against each other.

He addressed the connection between the mass layoffs and the ruling class aggressive war policy, explaining that jobs could only be defended if the relationship between the preparations for war and attacks on social gains were understood. Without this, not a single job can be defended.

The third speaker was Florian Hasek, speaking on behalf of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE). He described the consequences of the war budget for education and science: not only is the Berlin Senate in the process of implementing a brutal austerity programme, in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a total of 91 million are to be cut from the universities next year alone. The University of Stuttgart, for example, has to save around 10 million a year. This means the cancellation of courses, professorships that are not re-filled, and cuts in other services for students.

In addition, the restoration of warlike efficiency, demanded by war minister Boris Pistorius, is being accompanied by an ideological offensive: More and more so-called youth officers of the Bundeswehr are flooding into schools and universities, trying to cram their propaganda into the heads of young people. And with the reintroduction of compulsory military service, German imperialism will now be provided with the human material it needs for its wars.

Hasek pointed to the example of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of young Russian and Ukrainian men are being slaughtered in NATOs war against Russia, while all opposition to the war is being suppressed. On April 25, 2024, our comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk was arrested by the Ukrainian security service SBU and has since been held in a prison in Nikolayev under cruel conditions.

Hasek called on all participants and listeners to support Bogdans defence and join the fight against war and capitalism.

Lively discussions at the Stuttgart rally on 25 January 2025. Centre left: Ulrich Rippert

The SGP honorary chairman Ulrich Rippert explained the importance of the working class reconnecting with its historical traditions. His voice rang out clearly through the shopping crowds on Saturday afternoon as he proclaimed: The future will not be decided in the Chancellery or in the Bundestagthe future will be decided by what we do. The working class needs its own party to intervene independently in political events, to expropriate the banks, the big corporations and the oligarchs and to enforce its own social and democratic rights.

He continued: Everyone in this country knows what rearmament, the rise of the far right AfD, Trump and his Amerika uber alles means! Everyone knows where this is leading: to world war and fascist dictatorship.

He reminded Stuttgart workers that it was in this city that the great socialist anti-war congress had taken place in 1907, which passed landmark resolutions for the action of the international working class in the event of war breaking out between their countries. Germany is not only the country of the Nazis, the country of Hitler, the country of the greatest war crimes in history. It is also the country where the socialist movement was born. Germany is also the country of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It is the country of Rosa Luxemburg and August Bebel. It is here in Stuttgart that the revolutionary socialist tradition of the working class has its deepest roots.

Regarding the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Rippert said that it had completely cut off its last roots in the working class many years ago. Most recently, under Chancellor Olaf Schulz, the SPD had proclaimed a turning point in war policy and, in close cooperation with the trade unions, ensured a drastic reduction in real wages. The SPD is ready to form a coalition with former Black Rock manager and CDU leader Friedrich Merz after the federal election.

The Greens, who govern together with the CDU in Baden-Wurttemberg, may have cloaked themselves in pacifism and environmentalism when they were founded in the 1980s, however, Today they have adopted the class interests of their wealthy clientele. Chancellor candidate Habeck is calling for a tripling of the defence budget, and the so-called feminist foreign policy of Angela Anna Baerbock culminates in support for the massacre of Palestinian women and children in Gaza, where many tens of thousands are being slaughtered.

Since its federal party conference, Germanys Left Party has abandoned the last traces of any pacifist rhetoric: Today it supports NATO arms deliveries to Ukraine and Israels right to self-defence. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, he said, also has nothing in common with anti-militarism, and represents a completely nationalist standpoint.

Workers today must build on their own historical tradition: In the same way that the ruling class builds on fascism and war, the working class must build on its revolutionary socialist tradition of the past.

Rippert emphasised: Two world wars are more than enough. Never again! He concluded by summing up the significance of the Socialist Equality Partys Stuttgart rally, which showed that a party exists that will not be intimidated and that calls on workers worldwide to unite in response to the development towards war and fascism, as stated in the Communist Manifesto: Workers of the world, unite!

Additional rallies are planned for Saturday, February 1, in the cities of Duisburg, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig.
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Following the electoral victory of US President Donald Trump, the ruling class internationally is shifting sharply to the right. In Germany, the political establishment is abandoning all restraint and inhibitions about rehabilitating fascism.

The Bundestag (parliament) opened its Wednesday session with a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and ended it by rolling out the red carpet for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has systematically downplayed and trivialized the Holocaust.

For the first time in the 75-year post-war history of the German parliament, one of the major parliamentary groups joined forces with fascists to help pass an authoritarian and racist motion.

The Christian Democratic (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group had tabled two motions, Five points for secure borders and an end to illegal migration, and In favour of a change of policy in domestic security. CDU faction leader Friedrich Merz, the CDU/CSUs candidate for chancellor in the February federal elections, had previously declared his willingness to pass them in collaboration with the AfD.

The first motion on borders and immigration was adopted in a roll-call vote with 348 votes in favour, 345 against and 10 abstentions. It calls for permanent border controls with all neighbouring countries, which contradicts current EU law; the abolition of the right of asylum for all those who come to Germany by land; and a significant increase in detention places in order to lock up all persons obliged to leave the country.

The CDU/CSU, Liberal Democrats (FDP) and AfD parliamentary groups voted in favour of the motion, while the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Left Party voted against it. The BSW (Bund Sahra Wagenknecht-Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance), a split-off from the Left Party, abstained.

The second motion, on domestic security policy, was supported only by the CDU/CSU and was defeated by 190 votes to 509.

After the result on the first motion was announced, the AfD parliamentary group erupted in jubilation. AfD parliamentarian Bernd Baumann spoke of a truly historic moment. A new era, led by the AfD, was beginning here and now, he said, putting his party on a par with Trump, Giorgia Meloni (Italy), Geert Wilders (the Netherlands), Herbert Kickl (Austria) and other far-right politicians who have recently risen to power.

The entire debate was characterised by security hysteria and racist propaganda against immigrants. It began with a moment of silence for the victims of the attack in Aschaffenburg, where a week ago a mentally ill refugee from Afghanistan killed a small child and a man.

This and three other, very different, attacks that had occurred in Magdeburg, Mannheim and Solingen over the course of the past year were cited as proof that the whole of Germany was in a state of emergency and that refugees seeking protection in Germany posed an acute threat to the entire population that could only be countered by sealing off the borders and carrying out mass deportations.

What else has to happen in Germany before you agree that this is a threat to public safety and order, Merz shouted, addressing Chancellor Scholz (SPD). After the attacks in Magdeburg and Aschaffenburg, words must be finally followed by actions, he said. Merz justified his cooperation with the xenophobic AfD by citing his conscience, which he simply can no longer reconcile with remaining inactive.

Neither the SPD nor the Greens countered this vile agitation. They attacked Merz for his cooperation with the AfD, which repeatedly led to bitter exchanges. But they did so solely from the standpoint that he could achieve his aims by working with them if he wanted to.

Chancellor Scholz, who opened the debate with a government statement, described the attack in Aschaffenburg as intolerable: Ive had enough, and Im outraged. However, the cause was not a lack of laws, he said, but a lack of enforcement in connection with illegal or delinquent migrants. No new laws were needed to ensure domestic security, but rather better enforcement of the existing rules.

Scholz listed the numerous laws and measures by which his government had taken action against refugees. We are the only country in Europe that has succeeded in deporting criminals to Afghanistan in recent years, Scholz said. Some measures had gone to the limits of what the German constitution and European law allowed, he stressed.

Protesters outside the CDU headquarters in Berlin

Not one voice was raised in the Bundestag to defend in principle the democratic rights of immigrants and refugees and oppose the smear campaign. Only outside parliament did human rights organisations and representatives of the Protestant and Catholic churches speak out. In a four-page joint statement, the church leaders expressed their deep dismay at the timing and tone of the current debate. It was likely to defame all migrants living in Germany, fuel prejudices, and, in our opinion, does not contribute to solving the issues that actually exist.

How can this common stance of all the establishment parties be explained on an issue that has prompted even the otherwise conformist churches to protest?

The attack is only seemingly directed solely against refugees and migrants. They serve as a scapegoat for a social crisis caused by cutbacks, rising prices and tax cuts for the rich, and for which the SPD, the Greens, the CDU/CSU and the FDP, as well as the Left Party, are jointly responsible. The increased police powers and destruction of basic democratic rights, which are justified today as needed to halt the flow of refugees, will be used tomorrow to suppress rebellious workers and young people.

The new government will push through massive social attacksregardless of the election results. All the establishment parties agree on doubling and tripling miltiary spending. Hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs will be destroyed at VW, Mercedes, their suppliers and other companies.

On the same day that the CDU/CSU joined forces with the AfD, the presidents of the four leading business associations published a joint appeal calling for a U-turn in tax, social and energy policy after the general election. An alliance of some 140 business associations called an economic warning protest. Up to 1,000 small business owners took part in rallies in several cities.

This programme, which presupposes enormous attacks on workers incomes and past social gains, requires fascist methods. This is the real reason for ex-BlackRock manager Merzs rapprochement with the AfD.

Developments in Germany parallel those in the United States. While Trump was still considered an outsider when he won his first election, the richest and most powerful business leaders are now backing him. Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, is tasked by Trump with cutting government spending by a thirdin effect slashing a wide array of social spending to zero. It is no coincidence that Musk is one of the most important supporters of AfD leader Alice Weidel.

Musk greeted the election of Trump by publicly giving a Heil Hitler salute, and just days later said at a rally of the AfD that Germany should move beyond its past guilt for the Holocaust and embrace far-right policies.

Trump is also using his moves against refugees as a lever to build a police state, deploy the military at home and mobilise far-right forces. The Democrats are not resisting this because they represent the same class intereststhose of Wall Street and the military.

No one should be impressed by the rhetoric of the SPD and the Greens. Scholz and Habeck are right when they accuse Merz of preparing a government that includes the AfD. But, like the Democrats in the US, they will do everything they can to suppress opposition and preserve order. The trade unions will support them in this. They will cooperate with the fascists themselves in parliamentary committees and at the local level.

Resistance against the fascists can come only from the working class. Workers will not allow colleagues and neighbours to be deported, their wages to be decimated, their jobs to be destroyed, education and health to be privatised and pensions and social benefits to be smashed.

To lead this struggle, the working class needs a political perspective and its own party, which unites workers internationally and fights for the overthrow of capitalism. This is why the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) is standing in the February 23 federal elections.
Rep Rich McCormick, R-Georgia on Capitol Hill in Washington. [AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin]

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Georgia Republican Congressman Rich McCormick suggested that instead of getting free meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), school-aged children should be forced to work to feed themselves.

News anchor Pamela Brown had asked the US House of Representatives member how Trumps federal funding freeze would affect programs like NSLP, which provides meals to low-income students. McCormick responded by saying child labor laws should be repealed, and that child hunger and poverty are a result of laziness on the part of children themselves.

In the interview McCormick stated, Before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field, before child labor laws precluded that. I was a paper boy, and when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through. Youre telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King, McDonalds during the summer, should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work? I think we need to have a top-down review.

When asked to clarify, he continued, I mean, how many people got their start in fast-food restaurants when they were kids, versus just giving a blanket rule that gives all kids lunches in high school who are capable of going out and actually getting a job and doing something that makes them have value, thinking about their future instead of thinking about how theyre going to sponge off the government when they dont need to.

McCormicks attitude is emblematic of the ruling class as a whole and its efforts to plunder all social programs that mitigate the effects of poverty to provide themselves with more tax cuts and government subsidies. Trumps return to power has immediately intensified these plans as he attempts to impose a Milei model in America, based on the extreme right president of Argentina, that would cut off all public spending except for that of the police, immigrant catchers and the military.

The message of McCormick and Trump to working class school children is: Work or starve. No one, no matter how old or how young, is to be exempt from wage slavery. To the capitalist class, if you are not generating profits, you are not worth a ham sandwich.

The school lunch program is just one of many programs to be targeted by Trump and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk, the worlds richest man. In the 2022-2023 school year, the most recent period where data is available, over 28 million students received benefits from the NSLP allowing them to receive meals at school for free or at a reduced cost.

Should the program be cut, these tens of millions of children would go hungry. For the most impoverished students, free school meals are their only guaranteed source of food. Due to low wages, working class families commonly account for the benefit in their budgets, buying less food at grocery stores to have more for other bills and expenses, especially as grocery prices continue to climb.

Just as reactionary is McCormicks contention that child labor laws should be abolished and the historical clock be turned backwards to the days when children labored in the coal mines and textile mills, and many were turned into cripples before becoming adults.

In fact, in recent years the employment of children in America has skyrocketed. According to a November 2024 report from the Department of Labor, there are currently more than 1,000 open investigations into child labor across various industries.

The report states:

The conditions that brought about child labor laws in the 1930s once seemed like a chapter from the history books, yet, over the last two years it has become clear even in todays modern economy, 100-year-old labor problems can still emerge. Investigations by the Departments Wage and Hour Division (WHD or the Division) have uncovered an alarming increase in the employment of children to work in dangerous conditions across industries throughout the country.

The report notes that the largest violators under investigation include food services, retail, construction, janitorial services, meat product wholesalers, furniture manufacturing and sawmills among other industries.

On January 15, 2025, the Department of Labor released a statement announcing it had reached agreements with Perdue Farms and staffing agencies, Staff Management Solutions LLC and SMX LLC, for penalties related to child labor violation. The Labor Department had been investigating Perdue and the staffing companies for employing children in hazardous occupations at the Accomac facility to debone and process chicken and other products using equipment such as electric knives and a heat-sealing press. The employers also permitted children to work after 7 p.m. during a regular school week.

Child illegally employed at Packers Sanitation Services in Wisconsin in a case similar to Perdue Farms [Photo: Department of Labor]

The agreement stipulates that Perdue pay a total restitution of $4 million to be split between the children, organizations advocating for child labor victims, and to support additional work to prevent child labor exploitation. Perdue will also pay a $150,000 civil penalty. No one is to be charged criminally. According to Forbes, Perdue Farms saw revenue of $10.3 billion in 2024.

In response to the investigations into child labor and the exposure of major industries flagrant violations, right-wing state legislatures have moved forward with scrapping protections against employing children.

In 2023, Iowa passed legislation allowing children as young as 16 years old to work in industries, which had previously only been allowed for adults over 18. This includes manufacturing and restaurants that serve alcohol. The law also permits 16-year-olds to work longer hours and removes restrictions on the number of hours students can work during school days. The Iowa legislature is currently advancing a new law that would reduce the penalty on businesses that violate child labor laws from a maximum of $10,000 down to just $2,500.

At the start of the new year, changes to child labor laws in Indiana also went into effect. Now the state has no limits on how late 16- and 17-year-olds can work, and there are no regulations regarding working while school is in session. The law also grants exemptions to child labor for children as young as 14, who dropped out of school to work full-time.

The abolition of child labor laws as proposed by McCormick will lead only to the increased exploitation of impoverished children who are forced to abandon basic education so they can labor to support themselves and assist their families. It goes hand in hand with the vicious attack on immigrants, which is aimed at dividing workers and creating a climate of terror that facilitates the brutal exploitation of the entire working class.

The fight against child labor was central to the struggles of the American labor movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Laws banning the hiring of children were won in hard-fought battles and strikes by the working class, in most cases led by socialists.

As early as 1869, the Knights of Labor, one of the first workers organizations in the United States, adopted the abolition of child labor into its program. Such demands were also adopted by the American Socialist Party, the United Mine Workers (UMW) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Most famously Socialist Party member and labor organizer Mary Harris Mother Jones organized the March of the Mill Children from Philadelphia to New York City in 1903. The march drew thousands of child workers, who carried banners with slogans such as, We want to go to school not the mines!

During the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, led by the IWW, over 30,000 mill workers went on strike against virtually every factory in the city. The strike was nothing short of a battle with workers facing down the state militia armed with bayonets.

After several weeks, IWW leader Big Bill Haywood organized to send the children of the Lawrence workers, many of them workers themselves, into the care of supporters outside the city. As the hungry children poured out of trains and the abysmal treatment of workers in Lawrence became widely known, an immense amount of support from other workers came flowing into the city to help sustain the strike.

In one instance the police and militia forces attempted to prevent any additional children from boarding trains and attacked the group of women and children with clubs and made mass arrests. Some women were thrown into jail cells while carrying their babies.

Striking Lawrence workers sending their children to live with supporters in other cities. [Photo: Library of Congress]

Support for the Lawrence strike spread well beyond the borders of the US, with workers in Sweden and France refusing to unload mill products. In Rome, workers protested in front of the US consulate.

The Russian Revolution inspired millions throughout the world and in the United States and encouraged the semi-insurrectionary factory occupations and general strikes that established the mass industrial unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

Fearing an American October, the ruling class made a tactical retreat before the mass movement of workers and granted limited reforms. It was not until 1938, under Roosevelts New Deal-era Fair Labor Standards Act that a federal ban on child labor would be implemented. Even then, the act provided for significant exceptions, especially in agriculture work. Today, the agricultural industry remains one of the largest employers of children, much of it sanctioned by the law. Immigrant youth sent into the fields are among the most exploited workers.

Today, the ruling class thinks it can nullify the democratic and social gains won by generations through bitter class struggle. To prevent Trump and his ilk from stripping these rights away, workers must unite, regardless of race or ethnic background, and mobilize their collective strength.

This requires breaking free from the union bureaucracies, which are all offering their services to Trumps government of oligarchs and fascists, and building rank-and-file committees controlled by workers themselves in every factory, school, neighborhood and workplace. The task today is to build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) and prepare the working class for the battles ahead.
This combination photo shows National Intelligence Director nominee Tulsi Gabbard, left, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York and FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. [AP Photo]

On Wednesday, President Donald Trumps nominees for the director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Kashyap Kash Patel and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, faced multi-hour hearings before the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, respectively.

The hearings, like all the rest for Trumps nominees, were conducted in friendly bipartisan manner. Democrats and Republicans agreed repeatedly in both hearings on the necessity of defending the police and on national security.

If Patel is confirmed to lead the FBI, he will head an agency with some 38,000 agents, a $9 billion budget, and a history of attacking the democratic rights of the working class in the United States and internationally for over a century. In the case of Gabbard, she would be in charge of coordinating the work of 18 different intelligence agencies charged with spying on the entire planet.

While Democrats in both hearings made clear they would be opposing both nominees, they were quick to add that this was not a partisan issue.

In opposing Patel for FBI director, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) said, During the time I have served on this committee I have had the opportunity to consider four FBI director nominations. Each one was a Republican and I voted for all of them.

Durbin said he would not support Patel for FBI director because he has virtually no experience to lead the preeminent law enforcement agency. He attacked Patel for characterizing former FBI director Robert Mueller as a swamp creature and for his support of Trumps fascist footsoldiers via the promotion of the January 6 choir.

The J6 choir was comprised of several violent participants in Trumps failed coup who put out a recording in which they sang the national anthem while in jail. Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump frequently played the fascist jingle at his rallies and Patel shared it on his social media accounts. Last week, Trump pardoned all members of the choir.

Patel has worked for the US federal government for most of the past 20 years, including in both the Obama and first Trump administration. In Wednesdays hearing, Patel boasted he was most proud of his work in national security, including killing high-value terrorists as a joint special operations command civilian, embedded with SEAL team 6 and Delta, during both the Obama and Trump administrations.



To say Patel is a Trump loyalist would be an understatement. He is a board member of Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Trumps social media platform Truth Social. He is also the author of several books of pro-Trump propaganda, including Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy. He has also authored a childrens book series titled, The Plot Against the King which casts himself as a magical wizard protecting the merchant Trump from Hillary Queenton and the Russionians.

During the first Trump administration, Patel worked with Rep. Devin Nunes (R-California) to expose the supposed role of congressional Democrats collaborating with elements in the FBI to frame Trump as an agent of Russia. This earned him a place by Trumps side at the National Security Council. He played a critical role in the preparation of Trumps coup, after his electoral defeat in November 2020. Trump purged Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with special forces colonel Christopher Miller as acting secretary, with Patel as his chief of staff and, in effect, White House liaison.

During the attack on the Capitol, Patel slow-rolled the deployment of Pentagon assets to the Capitol as it was under siege and well after members of Congress and D.C. National Guard Commander, William Walker, requested authorization from Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and Miller.

Despite being interviewed by the January 6 House Select Committee, Patels name is not mentioned once in the Final Report issued in December 2022. This is not a mistake, but underscores the cover-up character of the committee. Its purpose was not to uncover the full extent of Trumps coup, but to instead limit its focus to Trump and conceal the role played by major institutions of capitalist class rule, including the Republican Party, Supreme Court, and the military, police and intelligence apparatus.

This cover-up continued in Wednesdays hearing. While Democrats frequently brought up Patels books and his subservience to Trump, they did not question him over his actions on January 6 itself. Instead, Democrats focused almost all their objections to Patel on previous social media postings he made threatening to go after Trumps deep state enemies, including a list that was printed in the back of his book Government Gangsters.

Republicans, including Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, used their time to allow Patel to rewrite the history of January 6 so as to cast former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as responsible for the delay in deploying the D.C. National Guard. Patel claimed that the response of the Guard was delayed in part because they did not get a lawful request from the governing authority which was the mayor of DC and the Speaker of the House.

In fact, as commander-in-chief President Trump was the governing authority who at any moment could have ordered not only the deployment of the DC National Guard, but any number of military and police units to defend Congress from the far-right mob. That he didnt underscores that the nearly four-hour delay was not a mistake but intentional.

While it is likely Patel will be confirmed with Republican votes alone, Gabbards nomination for Director of National Intelligence is in jeopardy after she refused to condemn National Security Administration (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden during Wednesdays hearing.

Gabbard is one of handful of US politicians that has condemned the treatment of Snowden. In 2013, the former government contractor exposed the illegal surveillance operations of the NSA, CIA and other US spy agencies which target millions in the US and around the world. For over a decade, Snowden has remained exiled in Russia after the US government revoked his passport.

Ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner (Virginia), speaking for the intelligence apparatus, said, I have serious doubts about your judgment... You consistently praised the actions of Edward Snowden. Someone who I believe jeopardized the security of our nation and then, to flaunt that, fled to Russia.

Youve called Edward Snowden, and Ill quote here, A brave whistleblower.

Warner claimed that Snowden wasnt a whistleblower and in this case, Im a lot closer to the chairmans words, where he said Snowden is quote, an egotistical serial liar and traitor who quote, deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

Warner asked Gabbard if she still thought Snowden was brave. Gabbard did not directly answer the question, stating instead that Snowden, broke the law and that she did not agree with how he acted, or everything he released to journalists but that, the fact is, he also, even as he broke the law, released information that exposed egregious, illegal, and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government that led to serious reforms that Congress undertook.

Warner repeatedly asked Gabbard to denounce Snowden or recant her previous characterization of him as brave. Gabbard declined but promised to protect our nations secrets and prevent another Snowden-like leak.

This was not enough for Warner who replied, I dont think you are the answer. I agree with Tom Cotton, hes a traitor.
Police in riot gear stand guard as demonstrators chant slogans outside the Columbia University campus, Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City [AP Photo/Mary Altaffer]

Late Wednesday, the Trump administration announced an executive order aimed at transforming American universities into a surveillance and enforcement arm of the military-intelligence-immigration enforcement apparatus.

Titled Additional measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the order declares the administrations goal of using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence. Trump and his fascist advisers have falsely equated all criticism of Israel as antisemitic and terroristic.

The latest order contains a section aimed at chilling all speech critical of Israel among students and faculty. Section 3(e) reads:

In addition to identifying relevant authorities to curb or combat anti-Semitism generally required by this section, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with each other, shall include in their reports recommendations for familiarizing institutions of higher education with the grounds for inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3) [security and terrorist grounds] so that such institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.

There is hardly a clause of this paragraph that does not bristle with hostility to free speech and democratic rights. Employing threatening language, it notes that universities must be familiarized with the most draconian part of the Immigration and Nationality Act pertaining to terrorism and unlawful activity. Section 1182(a)(3) renders a non-citizen inadmissible to enter the US if they engage in terrorist activity, any other unlawful activity or any activity a purpose of which is the opposition to, or the control or overthrow of, the Government of the United States by force, violence, or other unlawful means.

In a fact sheet published Thursday accompanying the latest executive order, Trump made clear that the order is aimed at chilling speech across all campuses: To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathisers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.

The fact sheet continues: Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.

By pressuring universities to monitor and report students and staff to the Department of Homeland Security for deportation, the Trump administrations order is directed not only against the speech of non-citizens (including green card holders), it also targets citizens by eviscerating the First Amendment right to listen to and discuss the left-wing views of non-citizensa right recognized by the 1972 Supreme Court case Kleindienst v. Ernest Mandel.

Moreover, section 2 of the latest order calls for criminally prosecuting perpetrators without language limiting its application to non-citizens. Its reference to otherwise holding to account pro-Palestinian and left-wing students and staff has concerning and extra-legal undertones.

The order was praised by war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who posted on X: On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I thank President Trump for his executive order to fight antisemitism and support for terrorism on American campuses.

Students have begun to denounce the orders, noting that the attack on democratic rights has been prepared by university administrations in the 16 months of protest against the Gaza genocide since Israels response to the events of October 7, 2023.

Momodou Taal, a Cornell student who overcame the university administrations threat to report him to DHS for protest activity last year, told the World Socialist Web Site: Cornells heavy-handed approach to peaceful protest has paved the way for this executive order. If it wants to salvage its reputation as a harbor of free expression, Cornell must act now and forcefully defend its students.

Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT engineering student who has faced discipline for allegedly making Lockheed Martin representatives feel unwelcomed at a career fair event, told the WSWS:

Deportation for international students who stand for Palestine is a pretext to open the door for all critique of American empire. Most importantly its an attempt to flood the news narrative in order to obscure their true goal: if you dont fit Trumps right-wing vision of America you will be deported, attacked, or threatened regardless of citizenship. Its rule by force and not by justice and dignity. These attempts to intimidate our movement by creating artificial divides which target international and undocumented community members will not deter us. We will continue to agitate for Palestine and for global liberation, and we will take care of our own. Our demands are popular, and supported by the supermajority of the MIT community, the Boston and Cambridge community, and the entire world. We are on the right side of history.

This is the second order since Trumps inauguration targeting freedom of speech. On January 20, Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Secretary of State, Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence to:

recommend any actions necessary to protect the American people from the actions of foreign nationals who have undermined or seek to undermine the fundamental constitutional rights of the American people, including, but not limited to, our Citizens rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, who preach or call for sectarian violence, the overthrow or replacement of the culture on which our constitutional Republic stands, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support for foreign terrorists. (Emphasis added)

The Socialist Equality Party has called for the formation of school, neighborhood and workplace committees to unite immigrant and non-immigrant workers and students to defend basic democratic rights. In a statement titled Trumps first 7 days: the framework for presidential dictatorship, the SEP (US) wrote:

Such committees will serve as hubs for the dissemination of information and as the platform for mobilizing the population against Trumps dictatorial efforts to break apart families and eviscerate democratic rights. The committees will bring together teachers, students, parents, workers and concerned neighbors of all backgrounds to plan lawful public responses to attacks on members of the community under the principle: An injury to one is an injury to all. Wherever they function, committees will strive to break down all efforts by the two big business parties and the trade union bureaucracies to divide workers along immigration status or national background. They will expose the xenophobic lies of the corporate media by waging a campaign of mass political education aimed at rendering the population wide awake to the threat against democracy.

In these committees, the SEP and International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) will introduce into the struggles ahead a political program aimed at connecting the defense of immigrants to the fight to defend the basic democratic rights of all and strive to transform the defense of immigrants into an offensive fight by the international working class against Trump and his sourcethe capitalist system.
The protracted dispute between the New South Wales (NSW) Labor government and public sector psychiatrists raises critical issues for all health workers.

There is seething anger among the specialists over inadequate pay and a massive staff shortage. But that opposition has been led into a dead end by the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF), which promoted a mass resignation campaign, supposedly to try and pressure the state Labor government to grant concessions. That perspective failed. With the government intransigent and the resignations now due, psychiatrists are being left to make an individual choice.

Nurses and midwives on strike in Sydney, Australia, November 13, 2024

The Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee (HWRFC) says that staying or resigning as an individual is not the real choice facing psychiatrists. The real choice is accepting defeat and the onslaught against the public health system, or taking up a unified struggle involving all health workers, against the government and the subordination of health to privatisation and austerity.

The HWRFC includes doctors, public hospital and mental health nurses, pathology workers, and ancillary health workers. Like NSW psychiatrists and every section of the public health workforce, our wages and conditions are under attack. That is why we are striving to establish a network of rank-and-file committees in hospitals and health facilities, controlled by workers themselves, to coordinate the fight against this profit-driven assault.

Our perspective is diametrically opposed to that of ASMOF, whose resignation campaign cuts psychiatrists off from other doctors, including the rest of the unions 15,000 members and other health workers, and forces the specialists to act as isolated individuals.

ASMOF promoted illusions that the resignation threat would force the government to meet psychiatrists demands, including for a 25 percent pay rise, without the need for any organised industrial action. In fact, Labor has not blinked, even after more than two-thirds of the already depleted workforce121 of the states 416 staff specialist psychiatrist positions were unfilled before this disputehanded in their notice.

Unmoved, the Labor government has insisted that the impact of the resignations can be negated through greater use of locums, deals with private hospitals to take on public mental health patients, and the imposition of higher-level duties upon nurses and other health workers.

In the face of this intransigence, the ASMOF bureaucracy continues to issue plaintive appeals to the Labor government. As recently as January 21, the union declared, [NSW Premier] Chris Minns can still save our public mental health system.

What a fraud! The NSW Labor government, along with its counterparts in other states and federally, is utterly hostile to the demands of any section of workers for real improvements to wages and conditions. With the cooperation of the union bureaucracies, the Minns government is seeking to impose its woefully inadequate 9.5 percent-over-three-year pay rise throughout the public sector, including through resort to the industrial courts to shut down and declare illegal strikes and other industrial action.

The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) and its federal counterpart, the Fair Work Commission, are not independent umpires, as governments and unions frequently claim, but anti-worker tribunals tasked with suppressing workers struggles and imposing the demands of corporations and the state.

Psychiatrists be warned! The upcoming IRC case will resolve none of your issues. It will be used to entrench the countrys lowest pay in the field for another three years, worsening the already chronic shortage of staff. Sharp conclusions should be drawn from the fact that ASMOFs only criticism of the case is that its March 17 start date does not come soon enough.

Meanwhile, the mass resignation of psychiatrists has been seized upon by the government as an opportunity to accelerate the further privatisation of public mental health.

Labors so-called contingency measures were immediately welcomed by Brett Heffernan, chief executive of the Australian Private Hospitals Association. Salivating over future profits, he said the governments proposed contracts with private hospitals had the potential to drive significant reforms in the way mental healthcare is delivered in NSW and, indeed, nationally.

Health Services Union (HSU) secretary Gerard Hayes declared that every crisis is an opportunity and that allowing the broader workforce to take up the duties of staff psychiatrists would ensure tax payers get maximum value.

In other words, the union leader, also an influential Labor Party member, is championing the destruction and reorganisation of the public mental health system, and a massive increase in the workload of a section of the workers he claims to represent, in order to slash the health budget.

This is not an aberration, but an expression of the role of all trade unions as an industrial police force, enforcing the demands of governments and big business and suppressing any opposition by workers.

While the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) has publicly criticised Labors contingency measures and directed members not to perform duties outside their field of expertise, the union leadership has done nothing to mobilise its membership against the governments attack on staff psychiatrists and the mental health system.

The reality is that the HSU and NSWNMA bureaucracies oppose a real pay rise for psychiatrists for the same reason as the Labor governmentbecause it would undermine their continued suppression of the broader struggles of health workers.

The catastrophic state of NSW mental health is undeniable75 percent of psychiatrists report symptoms of burnout, while people with mental illness presenting to emergency departments wait more than eight hours, on average, before being admitted to hospital.

This is a product of a decades-long assault on and sweeping privatisation of mental health care, which began in earnest with the Wran Labor governments 1983 Richmond Report. Seizing on the outdated and oppressive conditions in the states mental asylums, this reform program called for and sanctioned the closure of these facilities across Australia over the next ten years. As a result, many people with mental illnesses were forced into dilapidated boarding houses, homelessness or the prison system, dependent on public hospitals and chronically underfunded community health providers for mental health care.

The situation in mental health is only one sharp expression of the crisis throughout public health, which is in its deepest meltdown in decades. Every department lacks adequate staffing and resources as a result of decades of union-enforced government funding cuts and privatisation. This has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the decision of federal and state governments to scrap all safety measures and let the virus rip in the interest of corporate profits.

As such, the demands of NSW psychiatrists for decent wages and an end to chronic understaffing cannot be won through protests appealing to the Labor government, including the individual act of resignation. The dire state of public health, mental and physical, can only be resolved through the joint fight of doctors, nurses and other health workers against the deepening attack on wages and conditions and the public health system itself.

This is impossible within the framework of ASMOF, the HSU, the NSWNMA, or any other union, all of which are tied by a thousand threads to Labor and the political establishment and which have enforced every cut to the wages and conditions of health workers and the public health system of the past four decades.

New organisations of struggle must be built. Through rank-and-file committees, independent of any union, psychiatrists along with other doctors, nurses, midwives and health workers can begin to work together, democratically, on a set of demands and a plan of attack.

As a starting point, these should include:

An immediate pay increase of at least 30 percent across the entire public health workforce, with a monthly cost-of-living adjustment to maintain and improve workers living standards

All vacant positions throughout public health must be filled, and their number expanded in line with what rank-and-file workers determine is necessary to provide high-quality physical and mental health care to all who need it, without need for staff to work beyond their ordinary hours. This will require a massive coordinated program to attract, educate and train new graduates in all disciplines

Privatisation of health care must be halted and reversed! Existing private hospitals and other health facilities must be brought under public ownership. Health care is a human right, not a profit centre!

The Labor government and the union bureaucracy will declare that these demands are impossiblethere is no money in the budget. This is a lie! The resources exist, but they are being diverted into tax cuts for the wealthy and military spending, rather than into essential public services.

Posed before psychiatrists and other health workers is the need for a political and industrial fight against Labor, which, with the aid of the industrial courts and the unions, is determined to ram through further sweeping cuts to public sector wages and social spending.

Fundamentally, what they are up against is capitalism itself. The decades-long sell-off of large swathes of public health has produced vast returns for health corporations, insurance companies and investors, whose profits are derived from cherry-picking the most lucrative elective procedures and the wealthiest patients. Emergency medicine, as well as most complex care, is left to the public system, where extended delays and dire staffing shortages are an everyday reality.

This highlights the incompatibility of capitalism with the needs of society, including access to health care of the highest standard.

There is a political alternative, socialism, but it must be fought for. Hospitals, other health facilities and all essential public services, along with the major corporations and banks, must be placed under democratic workers control and ownership. Only then can societys vast resources be directed towards meeting human needs, including free, high-quality medical treatment, with fair wages and conditions for all staff, instead of the demands of the financial and corporate elite.

The Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee urge psychiatrists, nurses and all other healthcare professionals to contact us today to discuss how to establish a rank-and-file committee at your workplace.

Contact the Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee (HWRFC):

Email: sephw.aus@gmail.com

Twitter: @HealthRandF_Aus

Facebook: facebook.com/groups/hwrfcaus
Mycobacterium tuberculosis. [Photo: NIAID]

The ongoing yearlong outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in the Kansas City, Kansas, area continues to perplex health authorities, a full year after it began. The TB outbreak has led to 67 active cases that are being treated with a combination of antibiotics that must be taken under supervision of health officials for several months to ensure completion of therapy.

There are also 79 people with latent TB, and two have died from their infection. Latent TB is asymptomatic and considered non-contagious, but without treatment it can become active and develop into full-blown TB.

The outbreak has centered around the working class Wyandotte County, which includes Kansas City, Kansas (smaller than neighboring Kansas City, Missouri), and the more affluent suburban Johnson County. While a dozen or so cases would be expected in such an outbreak, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Kansas Health System, the comparatively high case count over the past year comes as a stark warning.

As has been the case since the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials in Kansas have downplayed the threat to the local population despite TB being a contagious respiratory disease. This means that the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB, is transmitted through airborne aerosol particles.

Jill Bronaugh, spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), told the media, TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, speak or sing. While there is a very low risk of infection to the general public in these communities, KDHE is working to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate treatment, which will limit the ability to spread this disease and prevent additional cases from occurring. The cause of the outbreak remains unknown. However, health officials said that contact tracing was underway to identify presumed close contacts, and free testing was being offered.

During 2023, the United States reported 9,633 TB cases, an incidence rate of 2.9 cases per 100,000 persons. [Photo: CDC]

Although health authorities had indicated that the Kansas City, Kansas, outbreak was the largest in US history since records began in 1950, an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told the media that an outbreak of TB cases at homeless shelters in Georgia from 2015 to 2017 led to more than 170 cases of active TB and 400 latent cases. Among US-born patients with TB, being homeless raises a persons risk of contracting TB ten-fold. The homeless are also more often hospitalized and experience worse outcomes.

Homelessness, affecting 653,104 people in 2023, has been on the rise since 2016, when Trump first took office. It is also a record-high tally and 12 percent above 2022 figures. Analysis for why homelessness exists in one of the richest countries in the world indicates widespread economic disparities, which have worsened in the post-COVID recovery.

Skyrocketing housing costs, including both rents and mortgages, are pricing more and more people out of the market. The ending of the COVID-era assistance in 2023 has impoverished an untold number of people. Additionally, limited access to healthcare means more and more people are thrown into the chronic cycle of poverty, depression, substance abuse and mental health crisis, which aggravates their circumstances.

Homelessness in the US 2007 - 2023. [Photo: Statista]

In short, TB, like COVID-19 and every other communicable disease, is a social disease, exacerbated by the inequitable distribution of social resources, including the defunding of public health and healthcare services.

According to the latest data from the CDC on reported cases of TB in the US, there were 9,633 active TB cases for 2023, 15.6 percent more than the 8,320 cases in 2022, and 8.3 percent higher than the 8,895 documented in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic. While California had the highest number of cases in 2023 with 2,133, Alaska had the highest per capita rate at 10.6 cases per 100,000, a figure 3.65 times higher than the annual case rate for the entire US.

Despite the assurances made by public health officials, the current TB trajectory appears to have wiped out all the gains made from a decade ago, as cases since 2020 are climbing steadily, with 2023 showing the largest uptick in cases in the COVID-19 era. The concerns moving forward also take into account the seismic shift under way against public health, both through the anti-science personnel appointed by Trump and the massive defunding of federal health programs.

The year 2023 also marked TBs recognition as the leading cause of death globally from a single infectious agent, following COVID-19s three-year reign in this category. More than 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023, including 161,000 who also had HIV. Overall, 10.8 million had active TB in 2023, up from 10 million in 2020. Given the immune dysregulation caused by COVID-19 infections, one must assume that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is, in part, contributing to the global rise of TB.

As the authors of a 2023 study looking at the association between COVID-19 and TB noted, Clinical evidence suggests that COVID-19 may predispose patients to TB disease or reactivation of latent TB infection through severe depletion and dysfunction of T-cells and uncontrolled production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

TB incidence rate worldwide in 2022. [Photo: World Health Organization.]

Although the disease is curable and preventable, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) continues to pose as a serious health crisis and security threat. According to the World Health Organization, only 40 percent of those with drug-resistant TB accessed treatment in 2023. While a mere $22 billion is needed annually for global TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment to achieve stated 2027 targets, the current political climate raises significant concerns about the trajectory for TB and other communicable diseases.

In the first 10 days of the Trump administration, it has become clearly evident that public health and all social programs are to be gutted and federal resources directed to the buttressing of the military and the enhancement of the police state apparatus. TB is but one example of the ongoing crisis in public health, along with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the danger of the eruption of a deadly bird flu pandemic that could rapidly kill millions.
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka have stepped up campaigns at universities across the island against Peradeniya Universitys anti-democratic ban on a scheduled IYSSE meeting on January 3.

IYSSE member speaking with students at Jaffna university

The planned IYSSE meetinga lecture titled How to fight against the IMF austeritywas sponsored by the Political Science Student Association (PSSA), which obtained the necessary permission from the head of the universitys Political Science Department.

A few hours before the scheduled event, however, Ranjith Pallegama, the acting vice chancellor of the university, informed the senior treasurer of the PSSA, through the Political Science Department head, that the lecture could not go ahead under its advertised title and theme. The sudden imposition of this anti-democratic ban is a violation of freedom of speech, not only of the IYSSE and the PSSA, but all students, academics and non-academic staff.

Over the past weeks, IYSSE and SEP members and supporters have campaigned at universities in Colombo, Moratuwa and Kelaniya, as well as Jaffna in the North and Ruhuna in the South. They have handed out hundreds copies of Sinhala and Tamil versions of an IYSSE statement titled Sri Lanka: Peradeniya University tries to justify ban on IYSSE lecture.

The World Socialist Web Site has already published numerous statements from students, academics and workers condemning the meeting ban. Today we are publishing more statements collected during recent university campaigns.

The IYSSE won strong backing from Moratuwa University students on January 23 despite the efforts of campus security officers and Malisha Kavinda, a prominent supporter of the official student union, to stop the campaign. Their efforts failed.

SEP members campaigning at the Moratuwa university

Harsha, a student, said the Peradeniya University ban on the IYSSE meeting is blocking our opportunity to know the truth. Are we supposed to listen only to what the government says? We have never heard of such bans on meetings before and must fight against this.

Noting the social hardships facing students, he said: The situation in universities is unbearable. I come from far away, even beyond Kandy [in central province], but was unable, even in my first year, to get a hostel.

This means I have to pay for boarding fee expenses and if we buy meals from outside the campus [restaurant], it costs at least 800 rupees for three meals a day. After considering all these, we spend more than 20,000 [$US67] rupees a month.

My friend and I both work part-time to cover these expenses and we dont even get Mahapola [a meagre government allowance paid to university students] which is in arrears for months now.

When the campaigners pointed out the connection between their situation and the IMF austerity cuts, he replied: We voted [for the government] with high hopes. Various false promises were given but nothing has been done yet. I think there is a lot of opposition developing among the people about these things.

On January 20, IYSSE campaigners spoke to students at Colombo university.

Desh, a first-year computer science student, said universities could not impose meeting bans because they are not private institutes and, in a democratic country, everybody has the right to express their ideas. I dont think anybody can oppose that [meetings].

He warned that the ban on the IYSSE meeting could be extended to other universities and added: That [ban] will not stop there if the government and the university authorities are successful. This means you must continue your struggle. If we are going to organise such a meeting here it will also be affected.

Desh had a mixed understanding of the governments IMF agenda, saying that it could have positive as well as negative effects. But after IYSSE campaigners explained the devastating social impact of the IMF austerity measures, including the privatisation and restructuring of state-owned enterprises, he admitted there would be many negative aspects, and agreed that allocations for education could be reduced and that opposition to such cuts would develop.

On January 22, a powerful intervention was held at Jaffna University which attracted strong interest and support from students. The university student union secretary, however, mobilised union members in an attempt to intimidate IYSSE supporters and disrupt the campaign.

SEP members campaigning at Colombo university

Abisanth, a science faculty student, said: Theres hardly any discussion in the universities about the IMF austerity measures, including at Jaffna University. Many students know about the IMF and World Bank loans, and other foreign loan packages, but they dont know the consequences of these foreign loans.

Referring to previous IMF interventions, he said: Many graduates have been without employment, many workers have been working for inadequate wages, many youths have been forced to migrate searching for foreign jobs. These issues originate in the IMFs policies. There will be no solutions to these issues without rejecting the IMF policies.

I previously didnt understand that there was a socialist perspective to repudiate government policies. The reason for this, and not getting a correct perspective, is the suppression of freedom of speech, he said.

Neruja, an arts faculty student, referred to the austerity measures of previous governments and their impact on universities.

I know that all the economic issues in Sri Lanka are due to the repayment of loans for international financial institutions. These issues must be discussed among university students. We face many issues at Jaffna university including increasing living costs, stationery price hikes and the lack of facilities.

To try and keep our monthly expenses to within 20,000 to 25,000 rupees we have to slash most of our basic needs, even our daily meals. The government bursary must be increased threefold to manage our expenses, she said.

Neruja referred to deteriorating condition in the universitys hostel: We can only stay in the universitys hostel, and use its facilities, during normal conditions. We cant stay there during the rainy season and when heavy rains fall because the premises are surrounded by flood waters. We were affected by heavy flood in recent months.

At the same time, we have no protection from flood-related diseases and there are not even mosquito nets. As a result, many of the students in our hostel face the danger of dengue fever.

On January 24, campaigners spoke to students at Ruhuna University.

Sanuji, a science student, was not aware of the IYSSE meeting ban and strongly condemned it. There should be freedom to express opinions within the university. Depriving people of this represents a huge attack on the rights not only of students but everyone else. As a university student, I am against it, she said.

On January 27, campaigners displayed placards along the road to the main entrance to Kelaniya University and held discussions with students and university employees.

Several thugs connected to the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), claiming to be students, physically threatened the campaigners forcing them to move to the Colombo-Kandy Road. The IUSF is controlled by the fake-left Frontline Socialist Party.

Despite this intimidation, IYSSE campaigners distributed hundreds of leaflets among students.

The IYSSE and SEP campaigns continues to win strong support from workers, students and middle-class people across Sri Lanka and internationally. We urge you to support demand that Peradeniya University revoke the ban and allow the IYSSE to hold its lecture. Please send letters to the Peradeniya University VC with copies to the IYSSE.

To: Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya

Email: vc@pdn.ac.lk

CC: IYSSE

Email: iysseslb@gmail.com




TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor sold 10.8 million vehicles in 2024, it said on Thursday, remaining the world's top-selling automaker for a fifth straight year.

The Japanese automaker posted a 3.7% drop in global group unit sales last year, including those of compact car maker Daihatsu and truck unit Hino Motors.

The decline was largely due to a steep slump in sales in Japan where the automaker faced fallout from governance issues over certification test procedures, especially at Daihatsu.

Second-ranked German rival Volkswagen Group earlier this month reported a 2.3% decline in unit sales last year to just over 9 million vehicles, as it seeks to cut costs at home and fight a price war in key market China.

Sales of Toyota's parent-only vehicles, which include those of its namesake and Lexus brands, fell 1.4% from a year earlier in 2024 to 10.2 million vehicles due to a double-digit decline in Japan.

While Toyota sold a record number of cars overall, thanks in part due to demand for its hybrid vehicles in the United States, it saw unit sales in China decline by 6.9% amid heavy price competition in the world's top car market.

Of its parent-only sales, gasoline-electric hybrids made up a record 40.8%. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 1.4%.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem speaking to federal agents in New York City on Tuesday, January 28 [Photo: Secretary Kristi Noem]

Early Tuesday morning, federal immigration officials conducted raids on several working class neighborhoods throughout New York City.

The federal departments which were reported to have been involved in the attacks included the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the US Marshals Service. The New York Police Department (NYPD) also provided support for the raids.

Trumps recently appointed Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, made a coordinated appearance on the scene, posting a video on Twitter/X in which she stated 7 AM in NYC. Getting the dirt bags off the streets.

So far, over 20 arrests have been reported from raids which have been carried out in southeast Bronx, northern Manhattan and in Queens. The most heavily publicized of the detentions was that of 26-year-old Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, who is alleged to be a leader of the Tren de Aragua gang. The latter is a Venezuelan organization which was recently named as terrorist in a January 20 executive order, Designating Cartels and Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Among the others arrested, 12 were designated as targets of the federal authorities, while eight of those detained were deemed collateral arrests by a local news source.

Tuesdays raid is a component of the Trump administrations effort to completely restructure the political landscape of America and establish a presidential dictatorship. One of its major rationales in this shift is the claim of an immigrant invasion equivalent to that of a foreign army landing on American soil. In a Saturday meeting between Trump and ICE officials, undocumented immigrant arrest quotas were ramped up to 1,200-1,500 per day. This represented an increase from the original targets outlined in the executive orders written by Trump within the first several days of his second presidency.

Trump and Noems assault on New York City is a deeply provocative move, the intended target of which is the entire working class. New Yorks workforce is one of the most diverse in the world. The current immigrant-born population of New York City is the largest, in real terms, in the country. Roughly 38 percent of the citys 8 million inhabitants are foreign-born, while 44 percent of the citys labor force are immigrants, contributing hundreds of billions of dollars to the citys economy every year. New York States population of immigrants is similarly high, with 23 percent of its 19 million residents having been born in a country outside of the US.

DHS Secretary Noem is a former South Dakota US House of Representatives member (2007-2019) and governor (2019-2025). Throughout her career, she has endorsed anti-immigrant legislation, including Trumps 2017 Muslim travel ban, advocated for an end to asylum laws, deployed South Dakota National Guard troops to the US southern border, and referred to the US-Mexico border as a warzone.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, were complicit in Tuesdays raids. In a statement Tuesday, Adams admitted that his administration had allowed the NYPD to coordinate with the DHS in carrying out Tuesdays attack, emphasizing its legality despite New Yorks Sanctuary City laws which restrict cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

People who commit violent crimes must be held accountable. We should be sending a strong message about consequences for those who break the law, Adams stated. [W]e will not hesitate to partner with federal authorities to bring violent criminals to justicejust as we have done for years. ... Our commitment to protecting our citys law-abiding residents, both citizens and immigrants, remains unwavering.

Adams has recently made a significant effort of cozying up to Trump after having been indicted in September of last year on federal charges of bribery, wire fraud and solicitation of foreign campaign contributions. On January 17, Adams attended a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and was a guest at Trumps January 20 inauguration ceremony. While Adams has pleaded innocent, it is widely speculated that he is seeking a presidential pardon, should he be convicted.

On Wednesday, the New York Times published an article which claimed that officials from the Trump administration had discussed with federal prosecutors in Manhattan the possibility of dropping corruption charges against Adams.

Hochul, for her part, downplayed the significance of Tuesdays raids, while remarking cynically: I want to be clear, there has always been ICE raids in the state of New York, even in the past, and this is not a new dynamic, she stated. She continued, my understanding is that they had specific names of people who committed crimes, serious offenders, and those are exactly the people that we want removed from the state of New York.

Both Hochul and Adams are aware of the massive opposition to the Trump regimes fascistic attacks on immigrants and democratic rights, an opposition that could erupt at any time. Attempting to assuage fears about the presence of agencies like ICE and its impact on the lives of workers, Hochul stated, I dont know at this point, with the knowledge I have, whether [Tuesdays raid] can be described as a wholesale raid where youre scooping up everybody.

Some Democratic Party politicians in New York City and state governments have made oppositional noises in response to Tuesdays events. On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Leticia James, whose offices have recently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administrations freeze on federal grants, wrote on an X/Twitter post, [m]y office is aware of the increased presence of ICE across New York City. I am monitoring the situation to ensure our laws are being respected and peoples rights are not being violated.

Also on Wednesday, the New York City Council launched the Protect NYC Families Initiative, which provides a paltry $2 million to dozens of nonprofit organizations with the aim of providing legal services and resources to those targeted by federal raids. An additional $1.4 million was proposed to establish a network of free translation services to New York City residents.

City Comptroller Brad Lander, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and co-founder of the City Councils Progressive Caucus in 2010 when he was a freshman member of the council, postured as an opponent of the Adams administration for collaborating with ICE in Tuesdays attack. At the same time, Lander critically supported Adams prostration before the Trump administration. [The] laws are clear when someone has been convicted of a range of serious or violent offenses, cooperation [with ICE] is appropriate  but it is not legal under New York City sanctuary laws for the NYPD to aid ICE when they show up at a school or a homeless shelter, or a hospital.

These efforts, however, will amount to spitting in the wind within the context of a political framework that has rapidly shifted to the right, on a bipartisan basis, in response to the global crisis of capitalism. This was exemplified recently with the signing of the Laken Riley Act by Trump, which passed Congress with crucial support from the Democratic Party. The new law makes it easier for the government to detain immigrants, including those who have merely been accused of a misdemeanor.

The Trump administrations attack on immigrants rests on the basis of an evisceration of the Constitution and the separation of powers. It has been able to carry out such a blatant attack on democracy due to decades of complicity of the Democratic Party, which has included all the top representatives of the DSA.

While Trumps measures represent a grave threat to the American workers, they can and must be stopped by the mobilization of the working class on a politically independent basis. Workers must establish neighborhood and workplace committees, independent of the Democratic Party and their lackeys in the trade union bureaucracy, to combat all efforts to divide the workforce on national and ethnic lines. The defense of immigrants must be connected with the fight for the defense of wages, living standards and working conditions, as well as the defense of the democratic right to education, healthcare and culture for all.

The WSWS urges all those who wish to advance this struggle to get involved with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees today.
Tens of thousands of protesters joined rallies across Australia on Sunday against the oppression of the countrys indigenous population and the imperialist-backed Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.

Invasion day march in Melbourne, January 26, 2025

The annual events have over the years become known as Invasion Day rallies, held in opposition to the official Australia Day celebrations. Australia Day marks the British colonisation of the continent on January 26, 1788 and is used to celebrate nationalism and militarism.

Protesters of all cultural backgrounds gathered, reflecting broad hostility to the brutal social conditions inflicted on Aboriginal people in Australia. Demonstrations were held in all the major capital cities as well as regional centres. In Melbourne, more than 30,000 protested, while about 10,000 gathered in Sydney and 5,000 in Brisbane.

As at last years Invasion Day rallies, many attendees expressed their hostility to the oppression of both Aboriginal people in Australia and the Palestinians. Among the handmade banners were those that included both Aboriginal and Palestinian flags as well as those that read Genocide here, genocide there, Stop celebrating genocide and No pride in genocide.

Other protesters held homemade signs which read Build schools not prisons and Stop black deaths in custody.

Small hordes of neo-Nazis attempted to disrupt the demonstrations with vile, racist counter-protests. In Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, at least 16 fascists were arrested for various offences including loitering and resisting arrest.

The fact that such counter-protests emerged at all is a reflection of the rightward shift in official politics and the conscious turn by the ruling elite internationally to authoritarian and dictatorial forms of rule amid an escalating social crisis and growing working-class opposition to the political status quo.

While the attendance at the Invasion Day protests revealed a yearning for a unified struggle against all forms of racism and oppression, the leaders of the marches and speakers subjected the demonstrators to divisive racialist politics.

Speakers promoted black nationalism and blamed whites for the dispossession of the indigenous population. That is a cover for the responsibility of capitalism, which the black nationalists themselves defend and support.

The reactionary character of the racial line was highlighted by the promotion of anti-immigrant xenophobia, which dovetails with the positions of the major capitalist parties and the far right. One speaker in Brisbane even denounced the Queensland state Liberal National Party premier, David Crisafulli, on the basis that he was a first-generation immigrant. Another declared that only an indigenous prime minister could rectify social injustice.

Sydney invasion day protest, January 26, 2024

The rallies took place more than a year after the debacle of the Labor governments Voice to parliament referendum. Many protesters, particularly middle-class layers, had voted in favour of the Voice in the false belief that the proposal would go some way to improving conditions for Aboriginal people.

The true aim of the Voice was to divide workers along racial lines, further entrench the position of a privileged indigenous elite and put a false progressive gloss on a government committed to war and austerity.

The Voice was overwhelmingly voted against by the population. The No vote does not, as is claimed by the racialist leaderships of the Invasion Day protests, represent a mass racist sentiment in Australia. It reflected a sharp class divide and correct scepticism that the Voice would do anything to ameliorate the worsening social conditions of working-class people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.

Several speakers promoted the black nationalist demand for a treaty with Aboriginal people and for restitution and reparations to be paid by ordinary non-Aboriginal Australians through taxes.

In Sydney, Adrian Burragubba said: Its time now for this government, and any progressive government, to start thinking about paying restitution its time to pay up now.

Both a treaty and restitution would be an anti-democratic deal between the indigenous elite and the capitalist state, which is responsible for the continued oppression of the Aboriginal people.

A treaty would leave intact the profit system and the states institutions of repression. In countries, like New Zealand, where treaties were enacted, inequality has soared within indigenous communities and the fundamental social issues remain unresolved.

Restitution would constitute the handing over of unfettered land rights to the Aboriginal leadership, enabling them to strike lucrative deals with corporations including mining companies. Where land rights exist, the indigenous elites collaborate with the mining barons, as well as defence, enriching themselves while the vast mass remain in dire poverty.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) alone raised the fundamental class questions at the rallies on Sunday. SEP members exposed the bankruptcy of appealing to the Labor government. They drew attention to the fawning embrace by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong of the fascistic Trump administration, which is implementing sweeping attacks on the basic rights of US workers, including targeted attacks against immigrants and mass deportations.

Similarly, they pointed out that the Gaza genocideaided and abetted by the Albanese Labor governmentis a crime of capitalism and a warning that the imperialist powers have no red lines as they advance their interests on the whole worlds population.

The alternatives confronting ordinary people were socialism or barbarism, the SEP campaigners stressed.

Nik, who is 50 years old and works in the arts industry, attended the Melbourne rally after being politicised by the genocide in Gaza.

She told an SEP campaigner she joined the rally because it would be hypocritical of me to just be narrow minded about Palestine when the whole world is going through the same thing with colonisation.

Asked about US imperialisms support for the genocide, she said: Americans are starving. Theres the rich, and theres the very poor. Its hard to wonder why they donate so much to Israel. Its all about power. Its all about controlling the Middle East.

Pointing to the agenda behind the medias constant claims that opposition to the genocide constitutes antisemitism, she said: Theyre trying to condition the masses to be scared of people who are protesting.

I dont think you can reform the capitalists. I think there needs to be a big overthrow.
A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, September 2, 2024. [AP Photo/Matias Delacroix]

Following President Donald Trumps repeated threats to take back the Panama Canal, the US Senate has launched a bipartisan investigation into whether Panama has violated agreements reached when the United States handed control of the canal to Panama. While repeating most of Trumps false claims against Panama, Senate leaders of both parties seek to provide fraudulent justifications for a military intervention against the impoverished Central American country.

During his inaugural speech on January 20, Trump accused Panama of treating America very badly, breaking its promises, and violating the spirit of our treaty handing it control of the canal after the US spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives building it.

Harping on the overarching, Hitlerian theme of his administration about avenging the alleged stabs in the back suffered by America, Trump alleged that Panama is severely overcharging US commercial and military ships. And above all, he stressed, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didnt give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and were taking it back.

On Tuesday, the US Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee held a hearing dedicated to investigating these claims. As Committee Chairman, Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) began by repeating Trumps claims and adding new ones.

He said America lost 35,000 lives and spent the equivalent of $15 billion in todays currency constructing the canal. He added that China is building a bridge across the canal, and that Chinese-owned companies control ports at both ends. The partially completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning, and the ports give China a ready observation post to time that action, he said. This situation poses acute risks for US national security.

He added that Washington deserves special treatment since US cargo accounts for nearly three-quarters of canal transits and US Navy vessels must pay fees for warships. He argued that US consumers pay higher prices because of canal fees.

We cannot turn a blind eye as Panama exploits an asset of vital military and commercial importance and we cannot stay idle while China is on the march in our hemisphere, he concluded.

The hearing presented a united front between the two corporate-controlled parties in advancing this neo-colonial agenda.

Maria Cantwell, a Democratic Senator from the state of Washington, followed Cruz, using an even more bellicose tone. Directing her words to a fascist president who has already threatened to invade countries across the region, she said: I hope we can have a more aggressive strategy in Latin America.

Cantwell stressed the strategic importance of the canal for US trade but called for a broader focus, including on cybersecurity threats from the presence of Huawei and Chinese companies near the Canal as well as a comprehensive strategy to rebuild Americas supply-chain supremacy, sealift capacity [to transport military supplies] more globally.

Cantwell took the initiative to request a Department of Defense classified briefing to all members of our Committee about foreign adversary threats to the Panama Canal, including these adjacent areas and said she would visit the Panama Canal herself this spring.

I also believe that the larger issue here, as you mentioned in your statement about Belt and Road initiatives by the Chinese and their expansion, needs to be met with an aggressive response by the United States, she said.

If only to confirm that, under Trump, the historical, bipartisan backing for an imperialist policy toward Latin America will continue, Cantwell endorsed the bipartisan Americas Act calling for a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas similar to that between the US, Canada and Mexico, which would signify the expansion of Fortress North America to the whole of the hemisphere.

The hearing will be followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubios first international trip this weekend, which will start in Panama and continue to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. His spokesperson Tammy Bruce told Fox Business on Tuesday, Part of the trip is about countering China Not about bossing other nations around, but making it clear that a partnership with the United States is something that they can trust, something that comes with benefits just like any good relationship does.

In the mafia-like spirit of the Trump administration, this means that Panama can enjoy the benefit of not being bombed and invaded if it gives a cheaper or free priority access to US ships, removes any companies associated with China from ports and other concessions and blocks any ships targeted by US imperialism, which could scare off clients and spell financial ruin.

The canal is the main source of the Panamanian governments revenues (23.6 percent of the total), accounting for 7.7 percent of national income and 55,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Rubio also plans to discuss measures to halt migration across the migration bottleneck of the Darien Gap, a deadly jungle that hundreds of thousands cross each year en route from South America to the US southern border.

The US ruling elites narrative of unfair treatment by Panama is made out of whole cloth, starting with the fact that the death toll in the US construction of the canal has been estimated by historians to be closer to 5,000, including about 300 Americans, with the overwhelming number of fatalities suffered by West Indian laborers.

Moreover, the state-run Panama Canal Authority has financed all construction and maintenance since the 1977 Carter-Torrijos agreements handed full control of the canal to Panama on December 31, 1999. The Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson Holdings control of container terminals at each end of the Canal Zone does not imply control over the canal by this company, much less the Chinese government. The contract to a Chinese consortium to build the fourth elevated bridge for vehicles across the Panama Canal, moreover, does not grant China any ability to block the waterway.

The US is effectively demanding Panama discriminate without any valid reason against China, Iran and Washingtons other geopolitical rivals, which would violate the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, declaring that even in times of war it shall remain secure and open to peaceful transit by the vessels of all nations on terms of entire equality including vessels of war and auxiliary vessels of all nations. US and Panamanian military vessels are only allowed to skip to the head of the line in case of need or emergency.

Moreover, the American ruling class is threatening to violate several treaty clauses promising American non-intervention in the affairs of Panama, which were already decidedly violated during the December 1989 invasion of Panama to capture the former US ally, dictator Manuel Noriega. The one exception is a clause giving the US the right to use military force to reopen the canal or restore the operations if these are interfered with.

The canal treaty and the overall relationship between US imperialism and Panama is based on colonial oppression. Panamas very existence as a nation state has its origins in the US backing for a faction of the local ruling elite that demanded independence from Colombia entirely as a function of US interests to build the canal. Not even two weeks after Panama declared independence on November 6, 1903, the Theodore Roosevelt administration imposed upon it the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty granting the US perpetual rights to a canal zone extending five miles to either side of the waterway.

During this period, Roosevelt advanced his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State under James Monroe, established this US doctrine in 1823 by vowing to extend its system to any part of the hemisphere against any intervention by European powers. It assumed a new meaning under the Roosevelt corollary of 1904, which included the danger of any internal political revolts, consistent with a policy to walk softly but carry a big stick. The US could exercise international police power, he declared, in case Chronic wrongdoing...may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation.

This policy was a major inspiration for the Nazi war of conquest. Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt claimed the Monroe Doctrine represented the first example of Groraum, or a large space. While Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitlers minister of foreign affairs, based the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 on the same precepts.

Now Trump, with the backing of the entire US ruling class, is reviving these methods of neo-colonial aggression to re-assert US hegemony over the entire Western Hemisphere in preparation for world war.
David Batts being detained by Knox County deputies [Photo: Knox County Sheriff's Office]

David Batts, a 46-year-old employee of Knoxville Area Transit (KAT), died this month after an encounter with Knox County Sheriffs Office (KCSO) jail staff. His death is a tragic example of police brutality and the particular dangers posed by county sheriffs departments in the United States.

On January 7, 2025, Batts was involved in an incident at a KAT parking lot where he drove a bus into another vehicle. He appeared dazed and unable to answer questions in body camera footage from the Knoxville Police Department (KPD).

Although he was not charged with the wreck, police reported finding a white powder on him and he was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) for a mental evaluation. Less than two hours later, KPD was called back to UTMC after two nurses reported that Batts had groped them. He was then taken into custody.

KPD footage shows Batts disoriented but uninjured at this point. He was transported to the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility, the main intake and processing center for Knox County operated by the Knox County Sheriffs Office (KCSO), arriving just before 2 p.m., where he continued to exhibit confusion and an inability to follow simple orders.

Within minutes, Batts was pepper-sprayed, tased four times, and punched by KCSO officers as they tried to get him to change into a jail uniform. Videos of the incident show Batts struggling to comply with orders, having difficulty keeping his hands above his head or behind his back.

Despite his obvious disorientation, the officers immediately resorted to force. The next day, on January 8, Batts was taken back to the hospital with a badly bruised face and died later that evening at 11:25 p.m.

The family of David Batts is represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, whose involvement highlights the widespread concern about Batts treatment and which, the family hopes, will bring an extra layer of scrutiny and publicity to the circumstances of his death, according to local media.

The KCSO has already hindered the familys attempts to obtain information on the circumstances of Batts death. When they asked to view the video footage of the incident, they were informed that it was a public record and that they would need to request it from the sheriffs office.

Sheriff Tom Spangler defended his staff at a press conference. Spangler did not show the videos and dismissed questions about their content. Instead, he focused on expressing outrage over claims that jailers had beaten Batts to death. Am I upset? Youre damn right I am, Spangler stated, decrying what he described as unfounded accusations circulating about the incident.

Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen reviewed the body camera footage and the medical examiners preliminary findings. She concluded that the officers actions were justified, stating they responded with appropriate force under the circumstances. Allen determined that the primary cause of death was meningitis, an often fatal infection, and that Batts had fentanyl in his system.

The DA attributed Batts assaultive or resistive behavior to meningitis, clearly providing cover for the KCSO by willfully overlooking how the illness may have contributed to Batts behavior.

Batts death in KCSOs custody occurred only a week after a Knox County SWAT raid in which deputies killed 17-year-old Daevon Montez Saint-Germain. KCSO has come under sharp criticism after it was revealed that the search warrant leading to the raid was based on Instagram posts and rap lyrics.

Critics have questioned the strength of the warrant, highlighting the lack of physical surveillance or substantial corroboration, as well as the controversial use of rap lyrics to infer criminal intent. The raid yielded marijuana, ecstasy, firearms, and cellphones, but key items listed in the warrant, such as THC cartridges, narcotics ledgers, and surveillance equipment, were not found.

The shooting itself has raised transparency concerns, as SWAT team members were not equipped with body cameras, leaving the deputies version of events unverified. The Knox County Sheriffs Office claims Saint-Germain brandished a gun, prompting deputies to open fire, but no independent video evidence exists to confirm this account.

Batts and Saint-Germains deaths occur within the context of a record number of police killings in 2024. The recent murder of Robert Brooks, a handcuffed inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility in New York, by correction officers, illustrates the now familiar pattern of excessive force used against individuals in police custody.

Bodycam footage showed the horrific beating which resulted in Brooks death from asphyxiation. The officers and a prison nurse involved were fired, but no charges have been brought.

The Correctional Association of New York has documented reports of widespread brutality inside the Marcy Correctional Facility. In another incident at the facility, an inmate reported being sodomized with a metal object by an officer during a riot.

Data further underscores the disproportionate violence perpetrated by county sheriffs departments compared to urban police departments. A CBS News investigation revealed that county sheriffs are three times more lethal than city police, with a rate of 27.3 killings per 100,000 arrests in 2022, compared to 9.7 for city police.

This disparity is particularly pronounced in rural areas, where oversight is often minimal. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has rarely intervened in cases involving sheriffs departments, filing only seven pattern or practice cases against such agencies since 1994.

Even when misconduct is evident, accountability remains elusive, with officers charged in less than 1 percent of police killings, according to Mapping Police Violence.

The circumstances surrounding David Batts death, along with other examples of law enforcements brutality and misconduct, indicate a systemic problem that goes beyond individual bad actors. The lack of accountability for law enforcement officers fosters a culture of impunity, where excessive force becomes routine.

It is crucial to recognize that police violence is a class issue. Victims of police violence generally live in areas with higher rates of poverty, lower median household income, and higher rates of public assistance use.

This underscores that police violence is a product of the capitalist system directed against the working class. The end of police violence will not be the result of reform, but the abolition of the police and the overturning of the capitalist system.
By Manya Saini

(Reuters) -Crypto exchange Coinbase on Wednesday added four high-profile members to its global advisory council, including former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Chris LaCivita, co-campaign manager for President Donald Trump's re-election.

Drafting a framework for the growth of the crypto sector has been a top priority for the Trump administration after years of enforcement actions that the industry has criticized as regulatory overreach.

"This move suggests Coinbase is positioning to have direct influence on policy discussions by aligning with individuals who have deep ties to both the Trump camp and traditional financial institutions," said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner and CIO at Running Point Capital Advisors.

The crypto industry donated millions of dollars to support Trump's return to the White House. Expectations of a more favorable regulatory setup powered bitcoin to record highs in 2024, surpassing $100,000 for the first time.

The new additions at Coinbase also include Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Luis Alberto Moreno, a global development and international finance expert.

"Crypto is now firmly on the radar of corporates, banks and institutions, weaving itself into the very fabric of our financial systems," analysts at Bernstein said, adding that bitcoin remains on its path to $200,000.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new leadership created a task force to develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets.

Trump has also named former PayPal executive David Sacks as his "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." The administration is expected to reshape U.S. policy on digital currency.

Support from Wall Street institutions and corporate titans such as Elon Musk as well as the approval of U.S. exchange-traded crypto funds have boosted the sector's mainstream appeal.

Coinbase shares are likely to benefit from a further upside in bitcoin over the medium term, analysts at Mizuho wrote in a note. "Rising tide lifts all moats," it said.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
The Trump Media & Technology Group announced plans to branch out into financial services. The company will make an initial investment of $250 million in its new platform for ETFs and crypto, called Truth.Fi.

The Trump Media & Technology (TMTG) has made good on a rumored interest in expanding into financial services.

On Wednesday, TMTG announced its board had approved the companys expansion into financial services and fintech under a new brand, Truth.Fi, according to a press release. The company will invest $250 million of its roughly $680 million in cash into the platform. Charles Schwab will provide custody of the money, TMTG said.

The investments will be put toward traditional investment vehicles, customized ETFs, and cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, the company said.

TMTG stock rose 10% Wednesday morning on the news.

Truth.Fi is the latest digital asset in TMTGs portfolio. The company, whose majority shareholder is President Donald Trump, started with the social media platform Truth Social. Last year it expanded into video streaming, developing a free, standalone app called Truth+. Over the last several months there were several indications that TMTG was considering a foray into fintech. There had been reports of merger talks with the fintech platform Baakt, whose former CEO Kelly Loeffler was the Republican senator from Georgia from 2020 to 2021. Shortly after that TMTG filed a trademark application for a digital wallet named Truth.Fi.

TMTG CEO Devin Nunes called the move a natural expansion for the company and the movement it had created.

Developing American First investment vehicles is another step toward our goal of creating a robust ecosystem through which American patriots can protect themselves from the ever-present threat of cancellation, censorship, debanking, and privacy violations committed by Big Tech and woke corporations," Nunes said in the press release.

Much of TMTGs effort in building its burgeoning tech holdings have focused on creating systems it hopes will keep it insulated from being overly reliant on other vendors. For example the company has built its own content delivery network for its streaming service, rather than licensing one from a third party.

The expansion into financial services comes after Trump took aim at two major American banks earlier this month. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump chastised Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for what he viewed as denying service to conservatives.

Many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, Trump said. I hope youre going to open your banks to conservatives because what youre doing is wrong.
Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a contract with Slovenias state-owned power company, GEN energija, to evaluate the deployment of a reactor at the proposed Krsko-II nuclear power plant.

The technical feasibility study (TFS) will evaluate the potential deployment of an AP1000 reactor. Westinghouse has partnered with Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company to carry out the TFS.

The Krsko-II project is planned on a site next to the current Krsko nuclear power plant, which also uses Westinghouse technology.

Westinghouse Energy Systems president Dan Lipman stated: Since delivering the first Krsko unit, which has operated very successfully since it started operating in 1983, Westinghouse has built a decades-long partnership with GEN energija through operational and fueling support. We are pleased to extend the relationship to closely study the feasibility of the Krsko-II project.

This potential AP1000 project will not only provide clean, reliable baseload power to Slovenians, it will also deliver real economic benefits and high-quality jobs for years to come while fostering Slovenias energy independence.

The AP1000 reactor is a Generation III+ design featuring fully passive safety systems, modular construction and a compact footprint per megawatt electric.

Westinghouse is currently setting operational performance and availability records, with six units already in operation.

In addition to the operational reactors, 12 further AP1000 units are under construction and five additional units are contracted.

By 2030, 18 AP1000 reactors are expected to be operational globally.

The AP1000 technology has been chosen for nuclear energy projects in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria, and is being considered for locations in Europe, the UK, India and North America.

Westinghouse, KEPCO and KHNP reached a global settlement in January 2025 to resolve their long-standing nuclear IP dispute, paving the way for collaboration on new reactor deployments worldwide.

"Westinghouse to assess nuclear reactor deployment at Krsko-II plant, Slovenia" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.




Legendary drummer Phil Collins has had an illustrious, decades-long career after finding mainstream success with rock band Genesis, as well as his solo gig. Due to ongoing health issues, however, Collins has stepped away from the stage in recent years.

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"If I can't do what I did as well as I did it, I'd rather relax and not do anything," Collins said in his Phil Collins: Dummer First documentary, which hit YouTube in December 2024. "If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks then I will have a crack at it. I just feel like I've used up my air miles."

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Keep reading for what to know about Phil Collins' health over the years:

What health condition does Phil Collins have?

Collins lives with a few different health conditions, including mobility issues, hearing loss and foot drop, and has had multiple surgeries on his neck and back, as he suffered a spinal injury in 2007 that damaged his vertebrae and caused nerve damage.

Related: The Heart Health Issue Nearly 1 in 5 People Don't Know They Have, According to Cardiologists

"In one of his feet, he has like no sensation, which is why he can't really play drums and why he has to walk with a cane, because he doesn't have that control that he used to anymore," Collins' son, Nic Collins, said of his dad living with foot drop, a condition that Mayo Clinic describes as an "underlying neurological, muscular or anatomical problem."

Does Phil Collins use a wheelchair?

Phil Collins on Oct. 18, 2017.Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images

According to some reports, Phil occasionally uses a wheelchair. He also appears to walk with a cane.

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After playing his final farewell show with Genesis in March 2022for which he performed seated while son Nic played the drumsbandmate Mike Rutherford gave an update on his longtime friend's health during an appearance on BBC Breakfast the following year.

"Phil is much more immobile than he used to be, which is a shame," he said. "But at the tour, he was in good spirits and hes fine now at home, enjoying life. Hes worked so hard over the years, I think hes enjoying his time at home."

Related: Lily Collins' Net Worth Is a Lot Higher Than Emily Cooper's

Phil's daughter, Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, also paid tribute to her dad after his final show at O2 Arena in London, posting a heartfelt statement via Instagram at the time.

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"Tonite marks the end of an era. To have witnessed this last show was truly the memory of a lifetime and an event I shall hold in my heart forever," she wrote. "Endlessly grateful doesnt begin to do it justice. So much love was left on that O2 stage and an even bigger amount shared between an audience who didnt want it to end."

She added, "Thank you @genesis_band for the memories, thank you dad for being such an inspiration and thank you @nic_collins for making me the proudest sister there is. 50 years of songs later and still generations more to celebrate you long after this tour has finished"

Why did Phil Collins go deaf?

Phil suddenly went deaf in one ear in 2000 after suffering a viral infection. After getting multiple opinions from doctors who said there was "nothing" they could do about his sudden hearing loss, the musician eventually regained most of his hearing.

What has Phil Collins said about his health?

The eight-time Grammy winner has talked about his health in recent years.

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In his documentary, which was filmed in October 2022 and released just over two years later, the "In the Air Tonight" drummer candidly opened up about not being able to perform like he used to.

Its still kind of sinking in a bit, Phil said. Ive spent all my life playing drums. To suddenly not be able to do that is a shock.

Related: Lily Collins Recreating Dad Phil Collins' Photos Will Make You Smile
NUTELLA (39D: Hazelnut cocoa spread) Ah, NUTELLA! I am a fan of this hazelnut cocoa spread. (Its main ingredients are actually sugar and palm oil, with hazelnuts and cocoa appearing further down on the list...best not to think about that.) NUTELLA was introduced by the Italian company, Ferrero, in 1964, and is now produced in a number of facilities around the world. When I was a senior in high school, our family hosted an exchange student from Germany. Ursula was the one that introduced us to NUTELLA, which was not widely available in the United States at that time. I'm glad NUTELLA is now easy to find in the U.S., though I have to limit myself to only buying it occasionally.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD)  One person has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) at Kalamazoo Central High School, the county health department said.

The Kalamazoo County Health Department said that the individual who tested positive is isolated and undergoing treatment. Whether the person is a teacher or student is not being disclosed for the patients privacy.

(Kalamazoo Public Schools) is taking guidance from the health department and is collaborating on the response, KPS Superintendent Darrin Slade said in a release. We send our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to the individual diagnosed.

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Tuberculosis is spread through the air and cannot be spread by shaking someones hand, sharing food or drinks, sharing school supplies or toilet seats. It usually affects the lungs but can impact other parts of the body like the brain, kidneys or the spine.

Although tuberculosis can be a serious disease, it is a treatable infection. We are working closely with Kalamazoo Public Schools to ensure the safety and health of all staff and students, Dr. William Nettleton, Medical Director of Kalamazoo County HCS, said in a release.

Nettleton says the health department is well-versed in tracking these types of infections.

Viruses like flu or COVID are much more common than tuberculosis, which is a type of bacteria. But for local public health, we treat tuberculosis and perform routine public health investigations about TB on an everyday basis, he said.

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Nettleton said the department is aware that this is not a routine occurrence for the public. Thats why KPS officials and public health staff are working together to track down the patients close contacts who were with them in an enclosed space for an extended period of time. They will be notified soon and provided with a questionnaire and information about testing. Testing will be held at the school for those individuals identified.

The bacterial infection can spread from person to person through the air though Nettleton said TB does not spread like the flu or COVID-19. TB can either be in a latent condition that shows no signs or symptoms or in an active condition

Active TB is when a person is sick. And has symptoms like a cough with or without blood, weight loss, somethings chest pain, sometimes swollen gland, he said.

Active TB can be contagious. Nettleton said latent cases can become active years after initial exposure. Because tuberculosis is not common in the US, disease control in the form of questionaries and testing mitigates the risk of spread.

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The testing informs whether we can give a person with a positive test and no symptoms yet medications to prevent them from ever developing TB in the future, active TB in the future, he said.

A person who has active tuberculosis can be treated with antibiotics for about six to nine months.

More information about tuberculosis can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
Russian attacks across Ukrainian oblasts killed at least one civilian and injured at least 35, including children, regional authorities reported on Jan. 31.

Russia launched 102 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones against Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported. Fifty-nine drones were shot down over 12 oblasts, while 37 were lost in the airspace without causing damage, according to the statement.

Three people were injured during Russian attacks against Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Governor Serhii Lysak said.

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A 37-year-old man was wounded during drone and artillery attacks against the Nikopol district on Jan. 30. A man and a woman, both aged 58, were injured in the same district overnight on Jan. 31, according to the statement.

Industrial and agricultural enterprises, houses, and other buildings were damaged in the region.

One person was killed and 18 injured during Russian attacks against Donetsk Oblast, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.

Massive attacks against the city of Kramatorsk left at least 11 people injured, including two children aged 7 and 8. Five more people, including a British volunteer, were injured in a drone attack against the town of Pokrovsk later the same day.

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One civilian was killed in the village of Ivanopillia, and two were injured in Bilytske, Filashkin said.

In Kharkiv Oblast, a 75-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were injured during an attack against the village of Prystin, which also damaged an educational facility and an apartment building, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

Nine people were injured in Russian strikes against Kherson Oblast, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Two high-rise buildings, 48 houses, and other buildings were damaged.

In Sumy Oblast, one civilian was injured during a drone attack against the Khotin community, and two others were wounded during a drone strike against the Krasnopillia community overnight on Jan. 31, the regional military administration reported.

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In Kyiv, drone debris damaged an apartment in one of the high-rise buildings in the Obolon district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. No casualties were reported.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: 9 killed, 13 injured in Russian drone attack on Sumy

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
DENVER (KDVR)  Police are hoping someone has information about what led to a mans shooting death at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2024.

According to police, the victim was contacted by someone (or multiple individuals) inside a newer model blue Chevy Malibu while walking down the sidewalk in the 1500 block of Nome Street last year. The block is the same as where tenants of an apartment building were forced to vacate in August last year due to longstanding unresolved code violations, said the city, and gang crimes, according to the apartment management.

Aurora intersection closed after deadly crash between vehicle, semi

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The Aurora Police Department did not mention any gang involvement in the Feb. 2, 2024, shooting homicide.

The agency said investigators learned the 29-year-old victim approached the drivers side window of the car and was shot multiple times. Officers performed CPR on the man until an ambulance rushed him to a local hospital, where he later died.

Investigators canvassed the area, obtaining video and physical evidence from the crime, but have since exhausted all viable leads. Detectives are now hoping anyone with information about the shooting will come forward and contact police.

Specifically, investigators want to speak with the people inside two silver SUVs that were behind the Malibu when the man was shot. Investigators said they believe the occupants are witnesses and could have vital information for the investigation.

The Aurora Police Department publicized these photos from a shooting homicide on Feb. 2, 2024, at about 1 a.m. (Aurora Police Department) The Aurora Police Department publicized these photos from a shooting homicide on Feb. 2, 2024, at about 1 a.m. (Aurora Police Department) The Aurora Police Department publicized these photos from a shooting homicide on Feb. 2, 2024, at about 1 a.m. (Aurora Police Department) The Aurora Police Department publicized these photos from a shooting homicide on Feb. 2, 2024, at about 1 a.m. (Aurora Police Department)

Police have not identified the suspect vehicle or witness vehicles, they said on X.

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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867, or online at metrodenvercrimestoppers.com. Tipsters who provide information leading to an arrest or conviction may be eligible for up to $2,000 in reward and can remain anonymous.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
With Black History Month starting Feb. 1, organizations around the Twin Cities are plotting exciting, thoughtful programming that will take place throughout the month.

Since its origins in 1970 at Kent State University, where the Black United Students organization pushed for the month-long commemoration  it'd be another six years before President Gerald Ford made it a national event  Black History Month has been a moment to celebrate the art, community, and accomplishments of Black Americans throughout the country.

Despite pushback at the federal level, Minnesota's arts community is celebrating the important annual event. Here are 10 ways to observe Black History Month around the Twin Cities.

Every month is a good month to catch a show at the Penumbra Theatre, home of Minnesota's only Black professional theater company. In February, it'll put on "Paradise Blue," a "noir-inflected musical drama" set in Detroit's Paradise Club.

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The production of Dominique Morisseau's play is directed by Penumbra founder Lou Bellamy. The theater will host post-play discussions after performances on Feb. 20, 27, and March 6. Feb. 13March 9 at Penumbra Theatre, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul ($20$45)

The Sound of Gospel, a performance that highlights the history of gospel, premiered in 2018. It'll keep the tradition going this year with two nights  Feb. 8 and 9  at The Fitzgerald Theater.

It highlights gospel musics historical aspects and how it has been an integral part of the African American experience," producer and playwright Rev. William Pierce says of the performance. "The show is celebratory and thought-provoking." It'll be directed by multi-disciplinary artist and performer Javetta Steele, with musical direction from Grammy-winner Billy Steele. Feb. 89 at The Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E Exchange St., St. Paul ($30$80)

The Black Europe Film Festival is making its debut in the Twin Cities starting Jan. 30 with films running through Feb. 2. Most screenings will take place at The Main Cinema, with select events hosted at the Capri Theater, the Mia, and The Cedar Cultural Center.

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The festival says it's "built on principles of community co-planning and anti-racist organizing." It will showcase challenging documentaries, feature films, and shorts throughout its run with work that confronts the legacy of racism, colonialism, and displacement in Europe.

Elsewhere, the Twin Cities Film Fest will host the MNmicro Film Festival: Black History on Feb. 4 at the West End Cinema in St. Louis Park. The one-day fest includes five films, each with free admission, created by Minnesota-based filmmakers. Locations and prices vary

Author Shannon Gibney will head to Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis for a reading and discussion of her new children's book, We Miss You, George Floyd.

On Feb. 8, she'll discuss the book that aims to help children work through the events around the murder of George Floyd and "the police violence plaguing our country." The book, illustrated by Leeya Rose Jackson, hopes to be a catalyst for difficult conversations that offers "healing and inspiration for the strength and solidarity we need to build a more peaceful and just future," according to the publisher, University of Minnesota Press. A Kirkus review calls the book "heavy yet cathartic." Feb. 8, 10:30 a.m. at Wild Rumpus Books, 2720 W 43rd St., Minneapolis (free)

Events at the Mia

In addition to the ongoing exhibition "The True America: Photographs by Ernest Cole," the Minneapolis Institute of Art will host a slate of events celebrating Black History Month.

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Here's what the museum has in store in February.

Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Ave. S, Minneapolis

The O'Shaughnessy is bringing in a production of "The Sound of (Black) Music," an afrofuturistic take on the well-trod musical. With a score featuring jazz, soul, funk, and other genres, the event celebrates the history of Black Music and its inextricable influence on American pop culture and music.

After its premiere in 2021, the New York Times placed "The Sound of (Black) Music" among its list of the Best New Theater in the country. Feb. 22 at The O'Shaughnessy, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul ($7.75$41.75)

'Little Rock, 1942'Photo by Jim Lundy

The Landmark Center's History Play performance series is getting an encore production in February. Originally performed in October as part of the annual series, "Little Rock, 1942" will have a one-night-only reprisal.

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The series brings trials, court decisions, and other events relevant to Landmark Center's past as the Federal Court Building to life on stage. This play recognizes the story of Susie Morris (later Sue Cowan William), a Black teacher in Little Rock who sued the school district to secure equal pay for Black teachers. With the support of Thurgood Marshall, she won the case in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which was then stationed at the Landmark Center. Feb. 28 at F.K Weyerhaeuser Auditorium at Landmark Center, 75 W 5th St., St. Paul ($11.20)

As part of its "Black History, Black Voices" initiative, the Minnesota Historical Society hosts chef James Johnson of Cooks of Hope for a workshop on the importance of "food preservation and traditions in the African American community," linking the importance of food, history, and community.

The event includes a screening of "The Rice Kingdom" episode of Netflix's High on the Hog. There will also be a cooking demonstration. Feb. 15 at Mill City Museum, 704 S 2nd St., Minneapolis (free)

The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery opened with this permanent exhibit in 2018. It focuses on settlers and pioneers in the 19th century, as well as those who moved to Minnesota from the south during the "Great Migration." Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery, 1256 N Penn Ave., Minneapolis (free)

More movie screenings

In addition to the Black Europe Film Festival and the MNmicro Film Festival, there are other movie screenings happening around the Twin Cities to celebrate the month. Here's a look at some of the special events taking place, including a series from Marcus Theatres, the Maple Grove Black History Month Film Festival, and other free movie events.

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Related: Community leaders call for boycott as Target turns back on diversity initiatives
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)  While investigating a woman who was arrested after a pursuit in Woodbury County, officials said they found many forged checks totaling nearly $100,000.

Ashley Medina

On Thursday, the Security National Bank in Lawton reported that a woman, later identified as Ashley Medina, 41, attempted to cash a forged check at around 2:09 p.m. The bank was able to provide officials with her vehicle information. Medina also attempted to use a fake ID during the transaction.

Later, officials with the Woodbury County Sheriffs Office attempted to stop the reported vehicle on Highway 20 just outside of Lawton. This escalated to a pursuit that continued westbound and eventually came to an end on I-29 near mile marker 143, between Sergeant Bluff and Sioux City. Speeds during the pursuit reached speeds of around 120 mph in a 65 mph zone.

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During the chase, officials said that Medina threw a baggie out of the car. The baggie allegedly contained a white substance that tested positive for fentanyl as well as a meth pipe.

Sergeant Bluff looking for new police chief

Officials later recovered 84 checks that had been altered or were in the process of being altered and were filled out to be worth a total of more than $100,000. Officials are currently investigating forgery cases in Sioux City and Union County that may be related to Medinas arrest.

According to court documents, Medina has been charged with eluding at a speed over 25 mph over the speed limit, forgery, and possession of a controlled substance  first offense along with other misdemeanor charges and citations. Medina is currently being held in the Woodbury County Jail on a $23,800.

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Medina is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on February 10 at 9 a.m.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Nearly 17 years ago, someone shot and killed a man in the middle of the road on a cold winter afternoon; the case is still unsolved.

On George Street in Daytons Twin Towers neighborhood, 23-year-old Christopher Stafford was gunned down on February 19, 2008.

Every person in this neighborhood, if you mention my brother, they knew exactly who he was. He had a lot of friends, says Chris sister Casey Stafford. He had a lot of heart.

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Casey and the rest of Chris family are still looking for answers in his death.

Im begging. Im pleading just for some closure, says Casey. I feel like my brother cant rest in peace.

Over the years, Detective Elizabeth Alley and the Dayton Police Cold Case Unit have continued to investigate the case.

We do believe there are some witnesses who were out there who may have seen this, given that it was in the middle of the day, states Det. Alley.

With no arrests in Chris murder, Miami Valley Crime Stoppers is now offering a $10,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Your call remains anonymous.

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Theyve been asking for this case to be solved and would like some answers as well. So, to help bring some closure to this family would be amazing, says Det. Alley.

Police hope the reward is incentive enough for someone to come forward so they can close the case.

Just anything will help, anything to bring any type of closure to me, my family, pleads Casey.

Police stress any little bit of information helps. If you know anything, call Crime Stoppers, at 937-222-7867.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  2025 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

We remember and honor those 168 who lost their lives on April 19, 1995, when a bomb went off in front of the Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City.

168 Days to remember those lost in the OKC bombing: Blake Ryan Kennedy. Image courtesy Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.

We want to remember Blake Ryan Kennedy, while honoring those who survived and thanking those changed forever.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Five people. including three children, were able to escape a fire thats suspected to be arson in Northeast Ohio Thursday night.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

The fire was reported around 9:30 p.m. in a home in Canton, WOIO in Cleveland reported.

TRENDING STORIES:

The Canton Fire Department told WKYC in Cleveland that there were reports of people possibly trapped on the second floor.

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When they got to the scene, firefighters found that two adults and three children had been able to safely get out of the house.

No injuries were reported.

An investigation showed that the fire started in a first-floor closet, WKYC reported. It then spread into the ceiling and extended to the front porch.

The fire has been determined to be intentionally set and 41-year-old Franchessai Winston-Johnson was arrested on aggravated arson charges, WOIO reported.

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China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded a full investigation into a collision between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter in Washington on Wednesday night that killed 67 people, including two Chinese nationals.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry expressed its "deepest condolences to all the victims and sympathies to the bereaved families".

"Two Chinese citizens were unfortunately among the 67 victims of the tragic plane crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29," the statement said.

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The ministry requested that US authorities verify the information, officially notify the Chinese side and assist the victims' families in managing the aftermath.

China's US embassy said in statement that it would "provide consular protection and assistance within the scope of its responsibilities".

Authorities said there were no survivors from the crash, which was the country's deadliest aviation disaster in more than 20 years.

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American Airlines Flight 5342, arriving from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter transporting three military personnel.

Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River near the airport, according to reports.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom was quoted as saying that the passenger plane - a Bombardier CRJ700 - was making a normal approach when "the military aircraft came into [its] path".

US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed at a news conference that there were no survivors, adding that he planned to meet the victims' families.

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"This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions," he said. "As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly."

While the cause of the crash remained unknown, Trump appeared to direct blame at former president Joe Biden's administration and diversity efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration, suggesting that they led to lowered standards.

Trump also blamed former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg for "badly" running the department. Buttigieg responded on social media, saying that "as families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying".

Separately, new US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter crew involved was "fairly experienced", and that the accident occurred during "routine" annual retraining on a "standard corridor".

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"The military does dangerous things. It does routine things on a regular basis. Tragically, last night, a mistake was made," he said, adding that there was "some sort of an elevation issue" with the Black Hawk.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this," he said.

Hegseth added that the Army's 12th Aviation Battalion, which is responsible for the Black Hawk involved in Wednesday's crash, would be grounded for 48 hours.

The crash was still being investigated, with authorities saying that the cockpit voice recorder and flight-data recorder had been recovered from the wreckage.

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This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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FAIRFIELD TWP., Ohio (WKBN)  A fire ripped through a home in Columbiana County Thursday evening. The next day, investigators were on scene to try to find what started it. Fire investigators say the flames were so intense, they needed a little extra help.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday evening, Leetonia firefighters arrived on scene of a fully engulfed house fire along Roberts Road in Columbiana County.

With the amount of fire that was in the house, we had to pull several pieces of the structure down in order to get in there to put out hot spots, Leetonia Assistant Fire Chief Jason Hephner said.

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At first, firefighters were unsure if anyone was inside, working on tracking down the homeowners while fighting the flames.

After about an hour, they got some good news.

Very tense. It weighs a lot on all of the first responders that are here until we know for sure that no one is inside, Hephner said.

Unfortunately, the homeowners say they did lose several pets, including two dogs, but theyre thankful they werent home when the flames broke out.

Their home was lost, but theyre very fortunate to have their health and everyone is still around, Hepher said.

Firefighters from Leetonia, Lisbon, Columbiana and New Waterford battled the blaze for hours before ultimately calling in reinforcements, contacting a local excavator company to help sift through the debris and put out hot spots to keep the fire from reigniting.

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When youre digging through someones personal memories and home, its not very rewarding digging through it like its a landfill. Its good to help but kind of upsetting in the same way, Jim Bruderly of Bruderly Excavating said.

Fire investigators from the State Fire Marshals office were on scene Friday morning to help determine a cause, but due to the extent of the damage, that wont be an easy task.

Thats exactly why we turned it over to the state investigators and let them do their job. Theres just not much left of it to really determine an actual cause, Hephner said.

Any donations will be accepted at Covington Nursing Home in East Palestine.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Two men were arrested after two shooting victims showed up at a Nashville hospital early Thursday morning.

The Metro Nashville Police Department was called to an apartment complex in the 800 block of Glastonbury Drive on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Smith County high school student found with BB gun that closely resembled a handgun

According to officials, a 38-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the thigh and a 47-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the knee arrived at Nashville General Hospital a short time later in a stolen 2022 Nissan Kicks.

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The Nissan was reportedly driven by 66-year-old Thomas Rodgers, who told officers he didnt know the vehicle was stolen. Authorities said he was taken into custody for theft of a vehicle worth more than $10,000 but less than $60,000.

Police told News 2 that detectives believe the two victims were wounded inside an apartment when, according to 54-year-old Katron LaWayne Kendrick, a gun he was holding accidentally discharged. He was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a gun by a convicted felon.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

As of Friday, Jan. 31, Rodgers is being held on a $10,000 bond and Kendrick is being held on a $2,500 bond at the Downtown Detention Center, according to the Davidson County Sheriffs Office.

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No additional details have been released about this incident.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
CHICAGO  Two people were stabbed on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line platform in Chicagos Loop Thursday night.

The stabbing happened around 10:30 p.m. on the 100 West Lake Street.

Police said two men, who are 51 and approximately 30, were in a verbal altercation with a male offender, who took out a sharp object and struck both victims, then fled the scene.

The 51-year-old man sustained a laceration to the face and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition. The second man sustained an injury to the chest and was also transported to Northwestern Hospital in serious condition.

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2 dead, 4 injured in Will County crash involving garbage truck

No one is in custody. Area Detectives are investigating.

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SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage)  Two San Angelo Police Department officers were suspended, one indefinitely, following the departments investigation launched after a firearm recovered from the United States-Mexico border was traced back to the agency, according to the SAPD.

SAPD Police Chief Travis Griffith provided an update regarding the investigation on the morning of Jan. 31, approximately four months after he announced on behalf of the police department that the investigation had been launched. During the press conference in which he announced the investigation, Griffith stated that a male subject attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Mexico with firearms on April 23, 2024.

The individual was apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security, and it was discovered through a federal investigation that one of the guns had been purchased from a gun show in a different jurisdiction. Further investigation revealed that the gun was linked to the SAPD.

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Griffith said that an internal affairs investigation had been launched at the SAPD. Meanwhile, a criminal investigation had been launched by the Texas Rangers.

RELATED: SAPD investigation launched in connection to firearms found at border

In the latest press conference, Griffith stated that the internal investigation was conducted regarding the departments training division and concerning firearms that were relinquished inappropriately. The investigation had been turned over to the district attorneys office in December 2024.

The guns going across the border and how they got there, were not connected with that, Griffith said. What we did was we had some violations we dealt with where those guns were sold at a gun show in Midland, Texas.

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While active, three individuals were investigated in particular: Lt. Brian Robinson, Officer Josh Loudermilk and Officer Charles Flores. Loudermilk and Flores were placed on administrative leave during the course of the internal investigation, while Robinson resigned from the department during the early portion of the Texas Rangers criminal investigation.

Thats the three subjects that were found to be involved to some degree, each having varying levels of degrees of culpability and involvement, Griffith said.

Griffith stated that, by the end of the SAPDs investigation, he came to the very apparent conclusion that Loudermilk had violated department policies. The officer was indefinitely suspended in late December 2024 as a result.

Griffith said that Loudermilk has since appealed his suspension. The appeal process is still ongoing.

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Thats within his right to do so, Griffith said. That is a part of the process of civil service; everybody is given due process.

Griffith said the Texas Attorney Generals Office has reviewed and is expected to accept a case regarding Loudermilk.

That does not mean hes guilty, that does not mean we arrested him, it means that they are taking the responsibility of what the local district attorneys office would do, Griffith said.

Flores accepted a 90-day suspension as a result of the internal investigation. His suspension will go into effect on Feb. 1.

During the course of the investigation, we could see different levels of culpability, meaning theres different levels of responsibility of who was involved in this, Griffith said. Officer Charles Flores had culpability, but I believe not to the level that deserved termination.

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To prevent future incidents, the SAPD has done an inventory of the training division, brought new staff to the division and implemented new procedures.

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DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  Two people were shot inside a vehicle in Darlington County on Thursday, the sheriffs office said.

Deputies initially responded to a call about a man who had been shot at an unknown location in the Centerville area, the sheriffs office said. When they arrived at Black Creek Road, they got a second call about a female who had also been shot.

Deputies determined that the incidents were related and occurred inside a vehicle, the sheriffs office said. Both people were taken to a local hospital but no information was available about their conditions.

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No additional details about the incidents were immediately available. The investigation is ongoing.

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 Find todays top stories on WBTW.com for the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.

Count on News13 for updates.

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Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

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Two of the three soldiers who were killed Wednesday when their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airline have been identified by service and public officials, but the Army on Friday withheld the name of the third service member amid online speculation of the identity.

Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, were both identified by the governors of their home states.

The name of the third soldier, a captain, killed in the crash will not be released by the Army at the request of the family, a service official familiar with the matter told Military.com on Friday. All three were with Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

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Read Next: Travel Reimbursements for Troops to Get Abortions, Fertility Treatments Nixed by Pentagon

"Mississippi is mourning the loss of Brooksville native Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who was killed in last night's accident at Reagan National Airport," Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on X, adding that he and his wife "are praying for the victims' families and first responders who are assisting."

O'Hara graduated from Parkview High School in Georgia and was involved in the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, according to local news reports.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own," a now-inaccessible social media post from the Marine Corps JROTC program said, according to NBC affiliate WYFF 4. "Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan O'Hara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk involved in last night's crash in D.C."

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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also offered a message to O'Hara's family on social media.

"We send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of Ryan O'Hara," Kemp said on X. "This terrible tragedy is that much more difficult knowing their lives were cut so unexpectedly short."

On Friday afternoon, the Department of Defense released information on O'Hara and Eaves.

Eaves and the unnamed captain were both identified as "duty status-whereabouts unknown." O'Hara was "deceased pending positive identification," per the Pentagon. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the bodies of all three soldiers had been recovered, and it wasn't immediately clear why some of the deceased were identified as whereabouts unknown.

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Eaves served in the Navy from August 2007 to September 2017, then transitioned to being a UH-60 pilot for the Army, where he served until his death, the Department of Defense statement said.

O'Hara was a UH-60 repairer starting in 2014. He deployed to Afghanistan for six months in 2017.

Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff of the Army's Aviation Directorate and a retired chief warrant 5, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the instructor pilot was overseeing an aviator undergoing a mandatory training evaluation; they had approximately 1,500 combined flight hours. The whole crew was very familiar with the flight path.

The Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 around 9 p.m. Wednesday evening. The plane was traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with 60 passengers and four crew members on board. D.C. officials said Thursday that there were no survivors.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump made unfounded claims Thursday morning that diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices were, in part, somehow to blame for the tragedy.

"We will have the best and brightest in every position possible," Hegseth said during a White House briefing Thursday. "Whether it's flying Black Hawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals, or whether it's throughout the government."

Unfounded online rumors and conspiracy theories emerged about who the third crew member of the Black Hawk helicopter was and incorrectly named Jo Ellis, a transgender pilot and chief warrant officer 2 who is a member of the Virginia National Guard.

"There were no Virginia National Guard personnel on board the Black Hawk that collided with the jetliner Wednesday evening," a Guard spokesperson told Military.com. Ellis is still serving with the Virginia National Guard.

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Ellis released a video on Facebook as a proof of life on Friday and to dispel the false narratives and rumors.

"I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false," Ellis said. "It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don't deserve that. I don't deserve this. And I hope that you all know that I'm alive and well, and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors."

Related: 3 Army Soldiers Killed in Tragic Collision with Passenger Plane Near DC Airport
There will be another legislative push this year to make it easer to sue the government.

An influential House Republican has filed legislation for the 2025 legislative session that would substantially increase the amount of money people who sue the government or its agencies for injuring them can recover in damages.

Sarasota Republican Fiona McFarland filed HB 301, which would increase the states liability limits from the existing $200,000 per individual and $300,000 per incident to $1 million per individual and $3 million per incident. The increases would apply to causes of action that occur after Oct. 1, 2025.

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McFarlands bill would further increase the limits to $1.1 million per individual and $3.2 million per incident for causes of action occurring on or after Oct. 1, 2030.

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Fiona McFarland via Florida House

The legislation involves sovereign immunity, or the states authority to exempt itself from civil lawsuits. The state does allow negligence claims against itself and its subdivisions  agencies, cities, counties, and public hospitals  within limits.

Injured parties can sue for damages and collect within the liability thresholds established by law. Harmed persons who seek to recover amounts in excess of these limits can be paid up to an agencys insurance limits. They can also request that the Legislature enact a claim bill to appropriate the remainder of their court-awarded judgment.

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According to a legislative staff analysis, in 2023 16 claims bills were filed in the Legislature totaling about $54.1 million. Ultimately, half of those bills passed and lawmakers appropriated $20.1 million for associated damages.

Opposing sides

Hours after McFarland filed her bill, 25 lobbyists had registered to represent clients for and against the bill, including the North Broward and South Broward hospital districts, the City of Key West, City of Hollywood, UF Health Shands Hospital, and Brown & Brown insurance.

The Florida League of Cities, Florida Association of Counties, and Florida Hospital Association all previously voiced concerns about the proposed legislation. The Florida Sheriffs Association, which in the past has opposed similar proposals, did not respond to Florida Phoenixs request for comment.

The Florida Justice Association, representing trial attorneys, supports the proposal, though.

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This Legislature has been consistent in supporting government accountability and this legislation is consistent with that approach by allowing local governments the ability to make their own decisions about resolving cases when they cause harm, FJA President Todd Michaels said in a statement to the Florida Phoenix.

There is no fairness when an injured person has to fight a government entity in court, win their case at trial but then have to endure a lengthy political process that oftentimes takes decades just to receive the justice.

Beyond the caps

McFarlands bill does more than increase the sovereign immunity caps  it also would change the rules when it comes to claims filed against the government or its subdivisions.

For example, HB 301 bans insurance companies from conditioning payment of benefits to an injured party in whole or in part on the enactment of a claim bill. The bill amends state law to make clear that government entities can settle above the statutory limits under some circumstances without having to receive approval from the Legislature.

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McFarlands bill reduces the statute of limitations for filing a negligence claim against a government entity from four years to two years. It removes altogether the statute of limitations for sexual battery if the victim was under the age of 16 at the time of the assault.

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DES MOINES, Iowa  The Polk County Health Department is reporting that 22 schools in Polk County have 10% or more of their students absent due to illnesses.

On Wednesday Johnston Community School District canceled school for two days at its Beaver Creek Elementary School due to 20% of its students being absent due to illnesses.

Blank Childrens Hospital ER sees record high visits

The Polk County Health Department works with schools in the county and provides mitigation strategies when large numbers of children are reported sick.

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Kim McMains, a Public Health Planner for the Polk County Health Department, said the department supports Johnstons decision to close school.

We are seeing an increase in the number of schools reporting absences due to illness at or over 10%. We did have a school nurse workgroup yesterday and talked about mitigation strategies as well as how they can report and stay informed McMains said.

Metro News:

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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG)  Another person has been arrested in connection with a shooting that left three men dead on the overpass near Interstate 10 eastbound and Theodore Dawes Road.

UPDATE: Man tried to use skid-steer as a weapon on I-10 Thursday morning

According to an MPD spokesperson, Adriel Pina was charged in connection with the homicide.

Pina allegedly turned himself in to authorities in Puerto Rico.

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Police said that Pina was not the shooter in the homicide of 24-year-old Marco Alvarado, 30-year-old Christon Aponte, and 28-year-old Angel Esparra. Rather, officials said Pina was charged with hindering prosecution and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Pina was the second arrest in the triple homicide. News 5 previously reported that Anthony Morales Rivera, 34, was charged with three counts of murder and booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail.

2025 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship moved to Gulf Shores

Officials said Pina has not made it to Mobile, and a date has not been set for his return.

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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WCIA)  Officers with the Jacksonville Police Department responded to a large disturbance where an individual had fired a handgun near the crowd, over the weekend.

According to police, officers were dispatched to a parking lot near South Sandy St. after reports of gunshots in the area. When officers arrived, they saw a large disturbance with multiple people.

Jacksonville Police investigation leads to meth related arrest

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Police learned that a large fight had broken out in the parking lot and an individual had fired a handgun near the crowd.

While on the scene, an officer attempted to make an arrest but was injured in the process. Morgan County Sheriffs Office, South Jacksonville Police Department and Illinois State Police assisted.

Over the next few days, multiple people were arrested in connection with this incident:

Monaezia McGee was arrested for mob action and released on a notice to appear

Deirrea Burton was arrested with aggravated battery to a police officer and released on

a notice to appear

Marcquila Harris was arrested for reckless discharge of a firearm and is being held pending a detention hearing.

The Jacksonville Police Department encourages anyone with information about this incident to contact them at 217-479-4630. You can also contact the Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott & Cass County at 217-243-7300.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
The relationship between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican leaders of the Florida Legislature has devolved into open hostility.

In social media posts and public pronouncements this week, DeSantis has accused legislators of sabotaging his plans for strong immigration enforcement. The House speaker and Senate president, who passed their own immigration plan they are calling the TRUMP Act, say, essentially, that DeSantis is a lying control freak.

There are genuine policy differences between the governor and Republican lawmakers. Chief among them: DeSantis abhors the legislators' proposal to name Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson the states chief immigration officer. DeSantis has already said hell veto the bill.

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Ive never seen a more negative response from the public to the Legislature, DeSantis said Wednesday. ... They think if they put Trumps name on it that somehow thats going to pull the wool over peoples eyes.

But one policy disagreement does not explain the current state of affairs in Tallahassee. Theres more going on beneath the surface.

Lobbyists, lawmakers and other political observers interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times offered theories about how things have gotten so toxic between top Florida Republicans. Lets dig into three of the most plausible.

1. The Legislature is tired of DeSantis

Lawmakers werent elected to serve the political needs of Ron DeSantis. But some in the Legislature feel thats what theyve been asked to do at times.

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Since 2021, lawmakers have been called back to Tallahassee for eight special sessions on topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccines to Disney to property insurance. Some of those sessions delivered splashy policy wins for DeSantis that he tried to then convert into momentum for his failed 2024 presidential campaign.

Hes a lame duck governor but he doesnt act like it, said Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, referring to state law that prevents DeSantis from seeking a third term in 2026. Theres a level of arrogance that, collectively, people are just not entertaining anymore.

The Florida Legislature is a part-time body. The regular lawmaking session is 60 days long, and lawmakers trek to the Capitol a few additional weeks each year to meet in committees.

The past week was not scheduled to include any legislative business  until DeSantis called a special session on immigration.

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The timing was a personal affront to some legislators, said Sen. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, one of DeSantis' main Republican critics and a cosponsor of the Legislatures immigration plan.

I dont think we would have gotten to this place if the governor had simply called it on a week when we were supposed to be here.

Others find DeSantis' my-way-or-the-highway leadership style grating. When lawmakers  including Republicans  disagree with DeSantis, theyre often subjected to a barrage of online insults from pro-DeSantis X accounts, including some run by state employees.

We didnt elect your Big Ag buddies to create a fake bureaucracy, DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern posted Wednesday in the direction of Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula.

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With DeSantis such a prominent national figure, those who run afoul of him are likely to get blasted in conservative media. On Tuesday, DeSantis appeared on Laura Ingrahams Fox News program for a customary softball interview.

Ingraham, after hearing DeSantis' description of the Legislatures behavior, said it was time to name names and say, look, this is what you do, you thwart the will of the people, then youre going to be voted out of office. End of story.

DeSantis did interviews with four other conservative media personalities that same day, according to his schedule.

In remarks on the House floor Tuesday, Speaker Danny Perez, another of DeSantis' foils in the immigration dispute, said lawmakers dont like such tactics.

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Threatening others to get your way isnt leadership, its immaturity, Perez said. The people of our state deserve better.

Its not just tough talk that lawmakers resent. Some believe DeSantis punishes disloyalty by vetoing pet projects. But this week, in a near-unanimous vote, the Legislature restored more than $56 million that the governor cut. The move could demonstrate a willingness by lawmakers to push back when DeSantis kills their policy or budget priorities in the future.

In an interview with the Times/Herald on Wednesday, Perez said he would look into overriding a potential DeSantis veto of the immigration bill.

All options are on the table, he said.

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Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, a cosponsor of the Legislatures bill in the Senate, said the focus should be on making good policy, not who gets the credit.

Were swinging at each other. For what? Why? Gruters said.

2. DeSantis is taking on special interests

DeSantis has said the credit for the legislation doesnt matter to him. His explanation for all the squabbling: Hes fighting for the people of Florida. The Legislature is fighting for special interests.

DeSantis has argued the Legislature is sabotaging the states efforts to enforce immigration. Lawmakers want to install Simpson as chief immigration officer to protect a farm industry with an appetite for labor from people in the country illegally, DeSantis has said. In X posts, hes likened Simpson in that position to the fox guarding the henhouse.

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Its an unexpected line of attack for DeSantis. At a news conference two weeks earlier, the governor said it was offensive to say Florida relied heavily on labor from migrants in the country illegally. At that news conference, DeSantis noted that farmworkers often have visas to work here legally.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated last year that about 40% of farm laborers nationwide lacked legal permission to work as of the beginning of the Biden administration.

In response to DeSantis' recent broadsides, Simpson has said the governor is insulting the states farmers. Gruters called the governors comments not helpful. The Florida Farm Bureau did not respond to requests for comment.

DeSantis is right that the Legislature is cozy with Floridas biggest industries. Simpson is himself a wealthy egg farmer by trade. Albritton, the Senate president, is a citrus farmer. U.S. Sugar donated $300,000 to a political committee supporting Senate Republicans in the last election cycle.

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But DeSantis himself has also done Big Ag some favors, Eskamani noted. A 2021 law he signed made it harder for people to sue polluting farms. She said she doubts DeSantis' skepticism of the business world will last long.

Its great if youre going to call out one industry when its politically convenient to you, Eskamani said. Is that going to be your position on everything?

3. Trumps people are at odds with DeSantis' people

In some ways, this explanation makes the least sense. Both DeSantis and the Legislature say theyre working on behalf of Trump. Both said they discussed their immigration proposals with the White House. DeSantis said Thursday hes spoken with Trump border czar Tom Homan. Gruters said he talked about immigration policy with Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller numerous times this week.

Both sides are accusing the other of being less committed to Trump. DeSantis said those who championed the bill would turn Florida into a de facto sanctuary state.

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Meanwhile, among Trumps biggest Florida allies, DeSantis is seen as disloyal for running against him for president in 2024. (DeSantis also has an awkward history with Trumps chief of staff Susie Wiles, whom the governor unceremoniously ousted from his own political circle in 2019.)

Im not the one who opposed and ran against President Trump, Simpson, the agriculture commissioner, posted to X earlier this week. DeSantis had criticized Simpsons support of a 2014 bill offering in-state tuition to children brought to the country illegally.

The flap between the Legislature and DeSantis could be cleared up by a single online post from Trump. Gruters said hes unsure Trump would want to get involved.

But the bad feelings are likely to remain. This week, amid the immigration dispute, Fine won a Republican primary for a special election to Congress. Trump endorsed him early on, paving the way for his easy victory.

Fine noted that dozens of Florida legislators endorsed DeSantis for president during the 2024 cycle. They dont seem to be reaping the benefits, he said.

My loyalty to Donald Trump is being rewarded with a seat in Congress, Fine said. Their loyalty is being rewarded with text messages calling them RINOs  an acronym that stands for Republican In Name Only.

Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this story.
Popular Twin Cities burger chain Red Cow is being sued by three customers who alleged it served undercooked hamburgers tainted with E. coli, resulting in their hospitalizations during an outbreak of the bacteria late last year.

A lawsuit has been filed in Hennepin County District Court on behalf of Melissa Rosenbaum, Sheri-Ann McGruder and Tyler Magnuson. Along with Red Cow, it names Wolverine Packing Co. and Double Black Diamond, Inc. as defendants.

Wolverine Packing is Red Cow's meat distributor and Double Black Diamond prepares and sells the product, according to the lawsuit. It follows outbreak in November, when at least 20 E. coli cases were reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), with people saying they consumed burgers from various Twin Cities restaurants.

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The suits accuses the three companies of negligence, accusing Red Cow and Wolverine Packing specifically of showing a "disregard for the health and safety of the public."

Related: E. coli outbreak tied to Minnesota restaurants triggers recall on ground beef

Michigan-based Wolverine Packing Co. recalled more than 167,000 pounds of ground beef at the behest of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) after MDH linked more than a dozen E. coli illnesses to burgers served at Red Cow locations and the downtown Minneapolis restaurant Hen House Eatery.

According to the lawsuit, all three plaintiffs spent a lengthy amount of time in hospitals after they were infected.

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Rosenbaum was hospitalized for about three weeks after she consumed the allegedly undercooked burger at a Red Cow Minneapolis location. She has been unable to resume her work as an attorney, she says, and has applied for long-term disability as she developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. It led to severe issues with her kidneys and multiple blood transfusions, the suit states.

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McGruder was also hospitalized multiple times, after she consumed the meat at the Red Cow St. Paul restaurant. She developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), "a severe, potentially life-threatening complication." McGruder returned for multiple follow-up appointments and eventually was sent to another hospital after she showed signs of hypertension as a result of the infection.

Magnuson, who also contracted the illness at the St. Paul restaurant, made several trips to the hospital and was eventually diagnosed with colitis.

Damages are being sought by each plaintiff in excess of $50,000, according to the lawsuit.

Bring Me The News has reached out to Red Cow for comment.
GOSHEN  The last of three girls to admit to battering a childrens home employee during a breakout has been sentenced.

Gabriala Peters, 17, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with four years suspended to probation. She pleaded guilty in December to robbery resulting in injury as a Level 3 felony.

Peters was 15 when she was arrested along with two other juveniles, Kenya Jones and Nimaoni King, following the Oct. 10, 2022, escape. They were charged as adults due to the violent nature of the crime.

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The three teens broke out of a secure unit by battering an employee and stealing her keys. They were found in the area of C.R. 30 and C.R. 15 a few hours later, and police said they resisted arrest with their fists and feet.

King was sentenced to 10 years, with six suspended, and Jones received a 10-year sentence, with four years suspended, after entering their own admissions in 2023. Peters also admitted to resisting law enforcement as a misdemeanor, which adds one year to her sentence, to be served concurrently.

Under the terms of her plea agreement, she will initially be placed in the LaPorte Juvenile Correctional Facility and may be placed in an adult facility after turning 19. Peters, now a week away from her 18th birthday, told Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Michael Christofeno that she agreed she ought to serve time in the juvenile facility.

I believe me being placed somewhere would help me, she said. I feel like I do need to serve time.

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Christofeno warned her against committing any more offenses that may land her in an adult prison facility.

Do not come back and see me, I dont like putting young people in prison. Its horrid, he said. At all costs, stay on the right path.
LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA)  Four Lakeland police officers have resigned in lieu of termination following the conclusion of an internal investigation, officials said Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Lakeland Police Department said it was determined that the officers acted outside of the agencys policies when they intentionally turned off their body-worn cameras during a vehicle pursuit in March 2024.

Hillsborough fire captain caught with hundreds of child pornography images, videos, deputies say

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The four officers were identified as Sergeant Mark Eby, Officer Jason McCain, Officer Anton Jefferson and Officer Jim Simon.

Their actions were discovered by staff at the police department during a normal records retrieval process in April, officials said.

All four officers were reportedly riding in the same patrol car the night of the incident on March 21. Authorities said a call had gone out regarding possible shots fired in north Lakeland. Another caller also reported a suspicious grey vehicle with multiple occupants wearing ski masks.

The officers spotted a silver vehicle in the area, and after attempting a traffic stop, pursued a fleeing driver for several miles through multiple residential neighborhoods. Police said they eventually arrested the driver after he abandoned his vehicle and tried to run off.

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The driver reportedly had no connection to the initial calls but was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana.

During the retrieval of records for the State Attorneys Office, LPD staff said they noticed that the video evidence did not appear to be complete.

D.C. plane crash brings up painful memories for Tampa man who lost family in 1982 Air Florida crash

There were multiple short videos which appeared to capture portions of the event related to the pursuit of the suspects vehicle, the police departments internal report stated. Upon further records review, additional video was discovered that showed officer(s) were intentionally turning off their recording devices during the vehicle pursuit.

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Some of the videos were labeled by the officers as no evidence, investigators reported.

After reviewing the records available, investigators concluded that the officers had engaged in a pursuit that would be considered outside of policy due to the lack of elements typically required to initiate a pursuit, the report said.

Police said there was no indication that the fleeing driver was linked to the prior shots fired call, and no other violations were established other than traffic infractions. The officers also failed to document the pursuit in any official records.

While Sergeant Mark Eby and Officers Jason McCain, Anton Jefferson and Jim Simon have all honorably served our city with professionalism for many years and certainly removed dangerous criminals from our community, often putting themselves in harms way, it saddens me that their actions have fallen short in this case, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor wrote in the report.

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The officers were placed on paid administrative leave during the departments investigation. Taylor also requested an external investigation be conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The findings were submitted to the State Attorneys Office in July 2024. The State Attorneys Office determined that criminal charges were not warranted, but did express serious concerns with the officers actions.

On Thursday, Taylor confirmed his decision to terminate all four officers.

This matter was thoroughly and completely investigated as a necessary measure to reinforce the integrity of our policies and uphold the standards expected of all members of this department, the chief said in an emailed statement. It is disappointing to have decorated officers make poor choices in this incident which has cost them their careers.

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Eby had served with the police department the longest at 29 years. McCain was reportedly employed with the Lakeland Police Department for 11 years, Jefferson was employed for eight years, and Simon served for seven years.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
(WJW)  Four men face charges after investigators said they took part in an online neo-Nazi group that exploited children, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday charges three Americans and one French national each with one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise:

Colin John Thomas Walker, 23, of New Jersey

Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Hawaii

Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of France

Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Texas

Local animal shelter full; city using private rescues

Walker and Borge were both arrested Thursday morning, while Rane and Merritt were already in police custody on prior charges.

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According to the indictment, the four suspects were members of CVLT, an online group that espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism and pedophilia as its core principles, between 2019 and 2022.

Investigators said the group groomed and coerced at least 16 minors around the world, including two in Southern California, to produce child sexual abuse material and images of self harm, according to the Department of Justice.

The group allegedly targeted vulnerable victims suffering from mental health issues or who had a history with sexual abuse, coercing them to expose themselves in extreme and dehumanizing ways.

Victims were allegedly told to cut and eat their hair, drink their urine, call themselves racial slurs and use razor blades to carve CVLT members names into their skin, the Department of Justice said.

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The victims were even pressured to take their own lives on a livestream, the indictment said.

When victims hesitated, resisted or threatened to tell parents or authorities, CVLT members would threaten to distribute already-obtained compromising photos and videos of the victims to their family and friends, a press release said.

Exorcist priest arrested after allegedly pulling out teens hair, using it as floss

The indictment alleged that Rane, Walker and Merritt served as administrators for the group, running online servers and leading other CVLT members.

If convicted, the four suspects could face 20 years to life in prison.

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According to court records, Rane has been in French custody since 2022 on multiple child exploitation charges. Merritt is serving a 50-year prison sentence for child abuse crimes committed between 2020 and 2021.

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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM HPD Lt. Deena Thoemmes provided new information Thursday regarding the arrests and ongoing investigation of the Jan. 1 fireworks explosion in Aliamanu that killed five people.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM HPD Lt. Deena Thoemmes provided new information Thursday regarding the arrests and ongoing investigation of the Jan. 1 fireworks explosion in Aliamanu that killed five people.

Two mothers and two fathers were arrested Wednesday in connection with an Aliamanu party that ended when a large stash of illegal aerial fireworks was accidentally ignited Jan. 1, killing five people and sending dozens to hospitals with critical injuries.

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Six people have been arrested so far during the investigation.

A cake  filled with about 50 individual cartridges of aerial fireworks fell on its side and shot into two crates of fireworks, setting off a large explosion at about 12 :01 a.m. Jan. 1 that was recorded by eyewitnesses and drones, shared online and broadcast on TV.

More arrests, charges and an investigation with federal law enforcement into the source and supply chain reportedly are forthcoming.

Police seized more than 500 pounds of unexploded illegal fireworks from cars belonging to guests attending the party at 4144 Keaka Drive and in the carport of the home.

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Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Joe  Logan said the Jan. 1 tragedy was the deadliest fireworks-related incident since 2011, when a Waikele storage facility holding seized fireworks exploded, killing four people and injuring two others.

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Honolulu Police Lt. Deena Thoemmes, head of the departments homicide and strategic enforcement detail, told reporters during a news conference Thursday that some of the witnesses interviewed gave police false statements or refuse to cooperate.

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It is unfortunate that some of these individuals have been uncooperative with detectives and have refused to provide statements about what happened that night that the lives and properties were destroyed. They have chosen to protect themselves instead of being the voice for their loved ones who have died or are currently in critical condition at hospitals,  said Thoemmes. We have further learned that some individuals who were initially interviewed provided false statements. Hindering prosecution is a crime, and those who do so will face charges.

Thoemmes urged everyone contacted by detectives to avoid prosecution and cooperate.

At 4 :18 p.m. Wednesday at 4364 Likini St., Jessica Kaye Ferrer, 38, and Cedric Turalva Benigno, 35, were arrested on suspicion of four counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, first-degree reckless endangerment and three fireworks offenses.

Ferrer and Benigno allegedly allowed their four minor children to play with illegal fireworks. All four of their kids were wounded in the blast, taken to hospitals, treated and released.

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At 4 :30 p.m. Wednesday at 94-0115 Aiea Heights Drive, Daniel Ikaika Combis, 32, and Sherri Ho, 29, were arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, first-degree reckless endangerment and three fireworks offenses.

They allegedly allowed their two minor children to ignite illegal fireworks. Their kids were not injured in the explosion.

Both couples are in police custody pending a decision on charges by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

At 2 :30 p.m. Friday, Ruben T. Mateo, 33, and Jewel Ann Quines Cabras, 33, were arrested at 4144 Keaka Drive on suspicion of first-degree reckless endangering, first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and three fireworks offenses.

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The couple ignited illegal fireworks and also allowed their three children, ages 15, 10 and 1, to set them off. The youngest child was injured during the explosion and was transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment before being released.

They were released pending further investigation.

On Tuesday, Hawaii time from injuries suffered in the explosion. The 29-year-old father of an infant child is the fifth fatality tied to the explosion at the house party.

His girlfriend, Melissa Cabrera, is being treated in Arizona for the injuries she suffered in the blast.

Carmelita Benigno, 61, Nelie Ibarra, 58, and Jennifer Van, 23, died in the blast at 12 :01 a.m. New Years Day.

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Cassius Ramos-Benigno, 3, died Jan. 6 at the hospital.

Benigno was the grandmother of Ramos-Benigno, and Ibarra was the childs great-aunt. Benignos son Junior and her daughter Charmaine Benigno were among the six people flown to an Arizona burn center.

Ramos-Benigno was the only child taken by ambulance to a hospital. Thirteen ambulances transported 21 people to hospitals, 19 of them in critical condition with burns.
(The Hill)  More than 40 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River after a deadly mid-air collision sent an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines plane diving into the icy water earlier this week, according to The Associated Press.

Around 67 people are feared dead  including 60 passengers and four crew members from the plane and the three soldiers aboard the military helicopter  after the Wednesday evening crash, making it one of the deadliest U.S. aviation accidents in nearly a quarter of a century.

Emergency response crews said they do not expect to find any survivors.

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The Federal Aviation Administration released an initial report after the fatal incident raising concerns with the on-duty air traffic controller who was managing two posts.

Trump says helicopter in crash was flying too high

Their evaluation was shared with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation into what caused the fatal collision.

Our investigators are continuing to pull all that information, their personnel records, their files, where they were at, whether they were fatigued. All that information will be part of that investigative process, Brice Banning, a senior aviation accident investigator, told reporters at a Thursday press briefing.

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But right now, we cant speculate on anything that may have been reported in the media until we get the opportunity to validate and understand how it impacts the investigation, he added.

Response teams are still working to recover aircraft parts and additional bodies from the river while supporting family members of the deceased.

President Donald Trump in remarks from the White House on Thursday seemed to blame the crash on hiring practices, citing diversity equity and inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration, and claimed Friday in a post online that the helicopter was flying too high.

NTSB has urged the public not to speculate about the cause of the tragic incident.

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A 20-year-old man attempted to evade a police traffic check in Austria, reaching speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour at times, resulting in injuries to five people, including two police officers.

Authorities reported that during the chase that began late Thursday, the man ignored red lights, overtook on the hard shoulder of the motorway and did not slow down even in foggy conditions.

Even in the poor visibility conditions, he was said by police to have driven at 190 km/h.

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Eventually, he crashed into several vehicles at a crossroads in the Wels area of Upper Austria, including the car of an unmarked police unit.

A policeman, a policewoman and a motorist were injured in the incident. The speeder and his female passenger also suffered injuries.

The car was not registered for road use, the number plates were stolen and the driver did not have a driving licence.
DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  Five people were arrested and drugs were seized after Darlington County deputies conducted a search warrant following complaints from nearby citizens, the sheriffs office said Friday.

Thomas Powell II and Tara Marlowe were charged with possession of marijuana and trafficking cocaine. Krystal Grice was charged with possession of methamphetamine. Jason Brown was charged with possession of heroin and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Thomas Hunter Jr. was charged with possession of heroin and two counts of possession of controlled substances.

Deputies conducted a search warrant off Sunny Point Road in the Florence area of Darlington County, according to the sheriffs office. Ten grams of cocaine, two syringes of methamphetamine, heroin, pills and marijuana were recovered.

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Deputies said the search warrant was conducted after complaints from concerned citizens in the area. The investigation is ongoing and more arrests may follow.

* * *

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.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trumps nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, sat through his second Senate confirmation hearing in as many days on Thursday, with his chances of being confirmed appearing less certain by the end.

Democrats on the the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee once again hammered Kennedy for promoting misinformation about vaccines, and his refusal to back down from those positions seemed to bother even some Republicans on the panel.

Kennedy was also asked about his stance on GLP-1 drugs and emergency abortion access, while again conveying a shaky grasp on the agencies he would oversee.

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Here are 5 key takeaways:

Cassidy homes in on vaccines and autism

Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, made it clear he had reservations about Kennedys beliefs on vaccines causing autism and his long-documented skepticism on their efficacy.

The Louisiana senator was looking for some reassurance from Kennedy on this issue, but the HHS nominee offered little to quell Cassidys concerns.

In both his opening and closing remarks, Cassidy recalled a former patient, an 18-year-old woman, who was suffering from hepatitis B-induced liver failure that could have been prevented by a vaccine.

Since then, I try to do everything I can to make sure I never have to speak to another parent about their child dying due to a vaccine preventable disease, Cassidy said.

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As a physician whos been involved in immunization programs, Ive seen the benefits of vaccinations. I know they save lives, he added. I know theyre a crucial part of keeping our nation healthy.

Kennedy said he would change his beliefs if presented with data proving him wrong, saying he would go as far as to apologize for any statements that misled people. Toward the end of the hearing, Cassidy presented Kennedy with a 2014 meta-analysis that concluded vaccines are not associated with autism.

Kennedy pushed back, saying he could point to studies that suggested there was a link.

I just want to follow the science, Kennedy said. Theres many times Ive been wrong about science.

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Cassidy said it would be incredible if Kennedy came out in unequivocal support for vaccines and clarified there is no link to autism.

Ive been struggling with your nomination, Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of the hearing.

Theres a 70-year-old man, 71-year-old man, who spent decades criticizing vaccines and was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, Cassidy said. Can he change his attitudes and approach now that hell have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?

RFK Jr. tangled with Sanders

The most heated part of the hearing occurred when Health Committee ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pressed Kennedy on lowering prescription drug costs, an issue he championed as chair of the committee.

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If we want to make America healthy, will you assure the American people that you will fight to do what every other major country on Earth does, guarantee health care to every single American? Sanders asked Kennedy.

Kennedy said corruption leading to high drug costs existed in Congress as well as the pharmaceutical industry, accusing Sanders of being the single largest campaign beneficiary of pharmaceutical dollars.

Sanders furiously shot back at this accusation saying, I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money for the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers.

According to Open Secrets, Sanders received $115,690 from the pharmaceutical industry between 2019 and 2024. All of these dollars are recorded as coming from individuals.

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Kennedy claimed Sanders received $1.5 million from the pharmaceutical industry, to which the Vermont senator quipped, Yeah, out of $200 million.

Hassan got choked up talking about son

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) confronted Kennedys support for linking vaccines to autism through her own personal experience.

Visibly emotional, she blasted Kennedys rhetoric as being harmful to making progress on better understanding autism.

Some of you are new to this committee and new to the Senate, so you may not know that I am the proud mother of a 36-year-old young man with severe cerebral palsy, Hassan said. And a day does not go by when I think about what did I do when I was pregnant with him that might have caused the hydrocephalus that has so impacted his life?

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So, please do not suggest that anybody in this body of either political party doesnt want to know what the cause of autism is, Hassan continued.

The problem with this witnesss response on the autism cause and the relationship to vaccines is because hes relitigating and churning settled science. So, we cant go forward and find out what the cause of autism is and treat these kids and help these families.

Kennedy says emergency care includes abortions

Despite speaking in favor of abortion access in the past, Kennedy has since aligned his views with Trump, repeatedly saying he believes every abortion is a tragedy.

When asked about policies regarding abortion, Kennedy said numerous times on Thursday that he would follow what Trumps policies end up being.

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Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), however, sought answers on how Kennedy personally believed some abortion measures should be handled.

Blunt Rochester asked whether Kennedy would support the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that requires hospitals offer an abortion if deemed necessary to stabilize patients with a condition that threatens their life or health.

Do you agree that a person who is experiencing severe pregnancy complications should be able to receive emergency care to save their life, if that care is an abortion? Blunt Rochester asked Kennedy.

Kennedy initially attempted to point to Trumps policy on the issue, but Blunt Rochester pressed the HHS nominee on whether he himself believes pregnant women should have access to abortions if necessary to save their lives.

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If its required to save their life, Kennedy said.

Apparent lack of knowledge about Medicare

One prevailing observation from Democrats was that Kennedy had an apparent lack of knowledge of how federal health policies work.

When asked by Cassidy on Wednesday how hed oversee Medicare and Medicaid, Kennedy seemed to confuse the two. Kennedy described Medicaid as fully paid for by the federal government, when in reality it is financed by a mix of state and federal funding.

Yesterday during your finance hearing, and today, you confused details about Medicare and Medicaid. You didnt know what authorities you have under [EMTALA], Blunt Rochester noted.

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Hassan quizzed Kennedy on what Medicare Part A, B and C cover.

Kennedy said Medicare Part A covers primary care when it in fact covers inpatient care during hospital stays.

He described Medicare Part B as covering physicians and doctors. Part B covers medically necessary services and supplies as well as preventive services.

Kennedy described Medicare Part C as a program where it gets the full menu of all the services; A, B, C and D for Medicare. Medicare Part C is perhaps better known as Medicare Advantage, a program in which approved private insurance plans are offered as an alternative to original Medicare.

Mr. Kennedy, you want us to confirm you to be in charge of Medicare, but it appears that you dont know the basics of this program, Hassan said.

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HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT Sindney Tafokitau, 44, left, and Tevita Cadiente, 25.

1 /2 HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT Sindney Tafokitau, 44, left, and Tevita Cadiente, 25.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Joe  Logan responded Thursday to an earlier news conference by the prosecutors office regarding a mistaken arrest by HPD officers.

2 /2 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Joe  Logan responded Thursday to an earlier news conference by the prosecutors office regarding a mistaken arrest by HPD officers.

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HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT Sindney Tafokitau, 44, left, and Tevita Cadiente, 25.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Joe  Logan responded Thursday to an earlier news conference by the prosecutors office regarding a mistaken arrest by HPD officers.

Five officers were justified in using force and will not be charged with crimes for mistakenly arresting a 25-year-old man who was running toward a standoff with an attempted murder suspect who had evaded police and shot two of them, Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm announced Thursday.

Sindney Tafokitau, a 44-year-old attempted murder suspect, shot his ex-girlfriend with an AR-15 assault rifle before leading officers on an islandwide manhunt on Jan. 1, 2024. Tafokitau was high on cocaine and alcohol, and shot and wounded two officers on University Avenue before he was shot 23 times and killed.

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Amid the fray, Tevita Cadiente, 25, was intercepted by police as he ran toward where Tafokitau confronted officers for the final time. Cadiente and Tafokitau are both tall, Polynesian males with facial hair who were wearing similar patterned shorts that day, Alm said.

Alm decided in December that officers were against Tafokitau, who had told relatives that he was not going to return to prison.

He refused repeated verbal commands to surrender, tried to run away and fought back against police who tried to detain and arrest him, according to the findings of a Honolulu Police Department criminal investigation.

Arrests of people who do not want to be arrested are often violent encounters. Thats why the Legislature has given to police to use whatever degree of force is necessary to get to submission. If you have never seen somebody getting arrested who doesnt want to get arrested, it is a violent encounter,  Alm said. People fight like hell not to get arrested. There are numerous examples of how this puts HPD officers at risk.

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Cadiente allegedly knew Tafokitau from the clubs.

He was aware Tafokitau was being chased by police and ran out to record it,  according to the police probe. Cadiente admitted to having Tafokitaus name and number in his cellphone under the name Nuketown.

He told police he tried calling Tafokitau twice that day, but he did not answer.

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In this case the responding Honolulu police officers believed that Tevita Cadiente was in fact Sidney Tafokitau. The officers knew that Tafokitau had just driven up University Avenue, and Cadiente was running down University Avenue away from where shots were fired and an officer was hit. The radio said, Hes running. Both Tafokitau and Cadiente are tall Polynesian males with facial hair and were wearing similarly patterned shorts,  Alm told reporters Thursday during a news conference announcing that the use of force by the officers was justified. As a result, the officers attempted to arrest Tevita Cadiente. Cadiente resisted their efforts to arrest him. The officers then used such force as necessary to compel the person to submission.

None of the five officers involved in the submission and arrest of Cadiente were wearing body-worn cameras because they are assigned to plainclothes details that are not required to wear them.

Alm showed the few minutes of body-worn camera footage from a patrol officer who came upon the scene of Cadientes arrest.

The footage shows officers clustered around Cadiente, with one of the officers holding Cadientes wrist as another repeatedly asks him to stop resisting. An officer is seen applying his weight to Cadientes shoulders with his shoe to get him to release his arm into the handcuffing position.

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Alm said the specialized plainclothes officers were professional, calm and accustomed to making arrests under extreme circumstances.

Depositions of the officers are against HPD and the city that was brought by Cadiente and his father.

The federal civil suit against the city brought by Cadiente and his father, Vaokehekehe Mata ele, 49, is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 2 before U.S. District Judge Micah W.J. Smith.

Honolulu Police Chief Arthur Joe  Logan told reporters during a separate news conference Thursday that HPD appreciated the thorough investigation and review  done by Alms office.

It was a dynamic situation 

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that necessitated rapid decision-making  in an effort to stop a threat. Officers had to act quickly under pressure and extreme circumstances,  Logan said.

Im extremely proud of the officers who take on the daily challenges of protecting and serving our community. Police work is important, often difficult and rarely recognized,  said Logan. But we do it and continue to do it because its the right thing to do.

The results of an internal administrative investigation into the officers conduct is expected to be completed in two to three months, he said.

Cadiente thought the first officer who pulled up beside him and got out with a gun and was yelling at him was Pepes boy with a gun,  according to the police investigation.

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Cadiente knew Tafokitau as Pepe,  according to HPD. Police found no evidence that Cadiente was helping Tafokitau that day.

At 4 :14 p.m. Jan. 1, 2024, two officers driving on Kapiolani Boulevard in an unmarked car heard from dispatch that shots were fired and an officer was down. Through the radio, the officer riding in the passenger seat heard gunshots and a male yelling.

The officer driving then turned up University Avenue. Hearing Hes running  on the radio, the two officers saw Cadiente running mauka up University Avenue.

Believing that Cadiente was Tafokitau,  the officer driving pulled the car up next to Cadiente while the other officer leaned out the passenger window and yelled to Cadiente, Stop, police ! several times, according to the findings.

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The officer then got out wearing a vest with a badge and POLICE  in large letters across the front.

Cadiente looked at them and said an expletive before turning around and running in the opposite direction on University Avenue.

Cadiente allegedly tried to run away from the officer before a police van hopped a curb in an attempt to cut him off and drove him into a fence.

An officer pulled Cadiente to the ground face-first. Cadiente resisted arrest despite multiple verbal warnings to surrender.

Officers punched and restrained him and tried to handcuff him, but he kept reaching for what officers believed was a weapon in his waistband or dark-colored objects under the police van that could have been weapons, according to the police probe.

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One officer felt he was in danger of Cadiente gaining control of his weapon.

Cadiente was yelling and resisting, continuing to pull his hands under his chest, preventing the officers from handcuffing him,  Alm said. One of the officers delivered several distracting strikes  to Cadientes torso with his fist and pulled on his left arm to enable handcuffing.

Cadiente suffered a facial fracture, a traumatic subconjunctival hemorrhage, a concussion, orthopedic knee injuries, cognitive impairment including memory loss and confusion, and vision loss.

His knee was injured when it was hit by the police van, and the injuries to his face were caused when an officer pulled him to the ground face-first, Alm said.

Alm noted that state law allows broad discretion for police officers to do what is necessary to gain submission over a suspect resisting arrest.

State law also makes clear that whenever a crime is committed and the offenders are unknown, and any person is found near the place where the crime was committed, either endeavoring to conceal oneself, or endeavoring to escape, or under such other circumstances as to justify a reasonable suspicion of the person being the offender, the person may be arrested without warrant.

Robert Cavaco, an HPD lieutenant and president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, told the Star-Advertiser that the officers union agrees with Alms finding that our officers actions were legal and justified.
A 5-year-old boy was killed Friday morning when a hyperbaric chamber he was inside exploded.

Police and firefighters responded to The Oxford Medical Center in Troy, Michigan for reports of a hyperbaric chamber explosion, according to CBS Detroit.

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When emergency responders arrived at the facility they found the boy dead inside the chamber.

The boys mother, who was near the chamber when it exploded, suffered injuries to her arms, CBS reported.

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No one else was injured.

Police did not say what the child was being treated for.

A hyperbaric chamber is an enclosed space that delivers pure oxygen to the body with higher than normal air pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic.

During the oxygen therapy in the chamber, air pressure is increased two to three times higher than normal air pressure.

The Oxford Center, which offers various integrative medical therapies, issued the following statement on the explosion:

This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us. As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the childs mother was injured. The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place.

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The medical facility is closed until further notice.

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Jan. 31 (UPI) -- An explosion at a medical facility hyperbaric chamber in suburban Detroit Friday has left a 5-year-old boy dead, police confirmed at a news conference.

The child was inside the chamber at the Oxford Recovery Center in Troy, Mich., when it exploded, Troy Fire Department said in a statement on the department's Facebook page.

The explosion happened at about 8 a.m. EST Friday and also injured the boy's mother, according to medical facility officials.

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"Upon arrival it was determined the child inside the chamber was deceased. The victim was identified as a 5-year-old boy from Royal Oak," the fire department said in the statement.

"A hyperbaric chamber contains 100 percent oxygen, which is up to three times the amount of oxygen than a normal room. The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible."

The child was inside the hyperbaric chamber (similar to the one pictured) at the Oxford Recovery Center in Troy, Mich., when it exploded, injuring the boy's mother as well, the Troy Fire Department said in a statement. File Photo by Ian Wagreich/UPI

Firefighters were able to quickly contain and extinguish the blaze.

The department said its initial research shows the type of incident is "uncommon."

The Oxford Center uses "a holistic approach to treating autism," the center says on its website.

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It also details its use of hyperbaric chambers as part of treatment.

"This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us," Oxford Center spokesman Andrew Kistner told The Detroit News in an emailed statement.

"As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the child's mother was injured."
(CBS DETROIT)  A 5-year-old Michigan boy was killed Friday morning when a hyperbaric chamber he was inside of exploded, officials said.

Police and firefighters responded to The Oxford Medical Center in Troy around 8 a.m. Friday for a report of a hyperbaric chamber explosion. When emergency responders arrived at the facility, they found the boy, from Royal Oak, dead inside the chamber.

A spokesperson of the law firm representing the family of the boy has identified the boy as Thomas Cooper.

/ Credit: Fieger Law

Cooper's mother, who was near the chamber when it exploded, suffered injuries to her arms. No one else was injured in the explosion.

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Police did not say what Cooper was being treated for.

Police and fire officials have not determined the cause of the explosion. Crews were able to contain the fire in the room.

A hyperbaric chamber is an enclosed space that delivers pure oxygen to the body with higher than normal air pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. During the oxygen therapy in the chamber, air pressure is increased 2 to 3 times higher than normal air pressure.

Hyperbaric chambers can be used for life-saving, limb-saving, and tissue-saving treatments, as well as for other treatments, such as low red blood cell counts caused by blood loss and sudden hearing loss from an unknown cause.

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Because a hyperbaric chamber contains such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized space, it can be extremely combustible.

"A hyperbaric chamber contains 100% oxygen, which is up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room," said Troy Fire Department Lt. Keith Young. "The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible."

Social workers with the Oakland Community Health Network are working with first responders and medical staff who responded to the scene.

The Oxford Center, which offers various integrative medical therapies, issued the following statement on the explosion:

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"This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us. As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan this morning, a fire started inside of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the child's mother was injured. The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place."

An investigation is ongoing.

"There's going to be multiple jurisdictions and departments throughout the state that are going to be a part of this investigation," said Young.

The medical facility is closed until further notice.

New details emerge about military helicopter involved in midair collision

What we know about the victims of the D.C. midair plane crash

Senators press Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and RFK Jr. in confirmation hearings
WASHINGTON  In a crucial day for President Donald Trump's nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel descended on Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings Thursday.

Kennedy, the nominee for health and human services secretary; Gabbard, chosen for director of national intelligence; and Patel, selected for FBI director, have all generated controversy for a similar reason: Each has launched searing criticisms of the entities theyve been chosen to lead. Trump is testing the Republican-controlled Senate on where it will draw the line between disruption and institutionalism.

They all sought to clarify or downplay past stances or remarks that have landed them in hot water with senators who will decide whether they're confirmed.

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Here are five takeaways from the day's Senate committee hearings.

A Republican chairman's warning for Kennedy

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued some pointed remarks at the end of the hearing about Kennedy's long history of anti-vaccine rhetoric. Cassidy, a doctor, said that he agrees with Kennedy on issues like processed food and obesity but that Kennedy has used "selected evidence to cast doubt" on proven treatments.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during his confirmation hearing at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

"My concern is that if there is any false note, any undermining of a mamas trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine-preventable disease," Cassidy said.

"And that is why I have been struggling with your nomination," Cassidy said, making it clear that he hasn't made up his mind about his vote and has more questions for Kennedy  a rarity for a Republican committee chair with a Trump nominee.

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"You may be hearing from me over the weekend," Cassidy told him.

Senator gets personal with Kennedy about autism

A tumultuous hearing that featured flailing arms, a pounding gavel and shouting matches suddenly ground to a halt when Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., spoke about her son, who has cerebral palsy, causing a silence to fall over the room.

Hassan grew emotional as she spoke of not having a day go by when she thinks what did I do when I was pregnant with him that might have caused the hydrocephalus that has so impacted his life? She then grew emphatic: So please do not suggest that anybody in this body of either political party doesnt want to know what the cause of autism is.

It was one of many intense exchanges with Kennedy that played out Thursday. While he was given numerous chances to reject theories that vaccines cause autism, he wouldnt do it.

Patel seeks distance from MAGA persona

Patel startled some senators with the degree to which his cookie-cutter presentation before the Judiciary Committee departed from the MAGA flamethrower persona he has exhibited for years on social media and right-wing shows.

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He had said "cowards in uniform" violated the "chain of command" in discussing the response to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots  he now says the remark was about senior officials' failing to deploy the National Guard. He has called for going after people "in the media," either "criminally or civilly"  he told senators it was a "partial quotation." Patel also told senators the FBI would take "no retributive actions" on his watch, despite his previously expressed desires to punish Trump's perceived foes.

Kash Patel during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

It left some members of the committee scratching their heads.

There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.. "Conduct shows character. And if you look at history, you see the danger of security chiefs in authoritarian regimes' becoming the tools of political power. The characteristics that they often show is that they are vengeful, that they are grandiose, that they are intemperate, that they are partisan and blindly loyal, that they are servile and wont say no.

Patel breaks with Trump on Jan. 6 pardons

Under pointed questioning, Patel made a break with Trump on his decision to issue pardons or commutations for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants, including those who confessed to assaulting police officers. Patel argued that certain violent offenders didn't deserve leniency.

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I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement, and I have, including in that group, specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on Jan. 6, he said. And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who introduced Patel and defended him throughout the hearing, said he also disagrees with Trump's move to pardon the violent rioters. "Ive been thanking these Capitol Police officers, and I told them I actually thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked," he said.

Gabbard grilled about Edward Snowden

As the DNI nominee, Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who's now a Republican, was grilled about her ability to oversee a U.S. intelligence apparatus she has vocally criticized and broken with over core issues for years.

She was peppered with questions from multiple Republican senators about her past praise of Edward Snowden  the former intelligence contractor who leaked a trove of classified information before he fled to Russia  as a brave whistleblower.

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Gabbard stopped short of disowning her previous remarks or calling him a "traitor" as multiple members of the committee have, saying only that he "broke the law" and revealed important information in doing so.

Tulsi Gabbard, during a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Thursday.

"Even as he broke the law, he released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government that led to serious reforms," she said.

After the hearing, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said he was "surprised" by Gabbard's comments on Snowden, saying he "thought that was going to be an easy softball question."

I think there are a lot of questions after," added Lankford, who had previously said he would support Gabbard.

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Gabbard also faced questions about her shifting positions on warrantless surveillance of foreign targets under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, from calling to repeal it to saying recently that she now supports it. She said her past opposition during congressional reauthorization was about highlighting "egregious civil liberties violations that were occurring at that time" under the program.

Separately, when Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked whether Russia gets "a pass in either your mind or your heart," Gabbard replied, "Senator, I am offended by the question, because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
While America retains a gold standard for airline safety, there are stresses on the US air travel system that have been apparent in a series of near tragedies in recent years. Aviation experts have warned that some safety margins have been squeezed by a shortage of air traffic controllers and congestion in the airspace over many major cities.

Heres what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

1. Plane collision

Officials are now operating a recovery effort in the Potomac River, the site of the deadliest commercial airliner crash in the US in 24 years. There were no survivors after Wednesdays midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter in the Washington, DC, area. The plane, flying from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 64 people, while three soldiers were aboard the Army helicopter. Searchers have recovered the planes flight data and voice recorders, known as black boxes, which should help investigators in determining the cause of the catastrophe. Just a day before the fatal collision, another flight approaching Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its first landing and go around after a helicopter flew near its flight path, CNN has learned.

2. Confirmation hearings

Three of President Donald Trumps most controversial picks for his Cabinet and key administration roles were grilled during Senate hearings on Thursday. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel faced sharp questions from Democrats and several Republican lawmakers in what amounted to the most direct skepticism from GOP senators over Trumps nominees to date. Vice President JD Vance expressed confidence the three nominees will ultimately be confirmed, though he stressed that securing their approval will require significant effort. If all Democrats oppose Trumps nominees, they can only afford to lose three GOP senators on the floor to win confirmation.

3. Pain medicine

The FDA on Thursday approved the first new type of pain medication in 25 years. The drug, suzetrigine, is a 50-milligram prescription pill thats taken every 12 hours after a larger starter dose. It will be sold under the brand name Journavx. About 80 million Americans fill prescriptions each year for medications to treat new instances of moderate to severe pain, according to a study by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the company that developed the new drug. About half of those prescriptions are written for opioid medications, which can lead to dependence and addiction. Unlike opioid medications, which dull the sensation of pain in the brain, suzetrigine works by preventing pain-signaling nerves around the body from firing in the first place.

4. Japan sinkhole

A sinkhole that suddenly opened on a road near Tokyo has captured international attention as attempts to rescue an elderly truck driver drag on. On Tuesday, part of an intersection in Saitama prefecture, about 18 miles north of Japans capital, swallowed a three-ton truck and its driver, a 74-year-old man. The rescue mission is now in its fourth day. Authorities believe that corroded sewer pipes may have caused the earth to fall in. Leaking wastewater may have further eroded the soil, widening the chasm, they said. Japanese authorities have asked hundreds of residents to evacuate as the sinkhole has grown more than 40 meters wide, or about 130 feet.

5. FireAid benefit concerts

Two benefit concerts collectively referred to as FireAid took place in Los Angeles on Thursday to support relief efforts in the wake of this months deadly wildfires. The Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire have claimed 29 lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. According to the FireAid website, every donation made during the concerts livestream was matched dollar for dollar. Some of the artists who performed included Green Day, Billie Eilish, No Doubt, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Nicks. Nicks also shared a story during her set about how her Pacific Palisades home was saved because of the Santa Rosa firefighters who she said never gave up. She dedicated her hit song Landslide to those first responders.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

These artists are performing at the Grammys

Musics biggest night is happening Sunday and the lineup of scheduled performers is pretty impressive.

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Americas hottest restaurant

Despite a recent restaurant slowdown, this American chain saw its sales increase by a whopping 31% last quarter.

A food fight with chopsticks?

The prosperity toss is one of Lunar New Years most fun culinary traditions!

Stranger Things creators tease new supernatural show set in a retirement community

The brothers behind the hit Netflix show Stranger Things shared new details about their upcoming projects.

A New Zealand mountain has been granted personhood

A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday. Read about Mount Taranaki  now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Maori name.

QUIZ TIME

Which Chinese artificial intelligence model sent shock waves through Silicon Valley and Wall Street this week?

A. ChatGPT

B. Midjourney

C. DeepSeek

D. Claude

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Take me to the quiz!

Last week, 74% of readers who took the quiz got eight or more questions right. How will you fare?

TODAYS NUMBER

33

Thats how many countries globally grant unrestricted birthright citizenship based on the jus soli principle  in which children born on their soil automatically acquire the right regardless of their parents immigration status. Nearly all of those 33 countries are in the Western Hemisphere, while the vast majority of the rest of the world does not recognize the principle. Read how the divide came about.

TODAYS QUOTE

We had a lot of dreams we could not fulfill.

 A mother in Colombia, telling CNN that her hopes of reuniting with her family in Denver were dashed after the Trump administration shut down CBP One, a border app that allowed migrants to legally enter the US. Without the app, many migrants who were in the queue for asylum appointments are having to rethink their options.

TODAYS WEATHER

Check your local forecast here>>>

AND FINALLY 

Humans were made to handle stress, but not quite this much

Human beings originally developed fight or flight mechanisms to deal with predators in the wild, but the brain and body were never designed to handle the chronic stress now wreaking havoc on our system. In this video, a Harvard physician offers 4 key strategies to help.

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DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  Nearly 30 inmates were charged after 55 warrants were served following a thorough contraband search at the W. Glenn Campbell Detention Center in Darlington County, the sheriffs office said Friday.

Officials said every cell and inmate was searched in an operation spearheaded by Sheriff Michael August and Maj. Mitch Stanley, who formerly ran the detention center. The search was conducted on Monday.

Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office Photo: Darlington County Sheriffs Office

In total, 55 warrants were served to 28 inmates, the sheriffs office said. Five warrants were issued for concealing weapons by inmates, 45 for possession of contraband, two for possession of cocaine, two for possession of marijuana and one for possession of tools to escape.

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Recovered contraband included:

four grams of marijuana

two grams of cocaine

39 grams of methamphetamine

one tattoo gun

one homemade weapon

three shanks

10 cellphones

six cellphone chargers

16 pieces of metal

five vapes

leg irons

handcuff key

37 financial numbers

nine SIM cards

three grams of tobacco

two lighters

157 unknown pills

70 grams of an unknown substance

one CD player

four CDs

written gang material

13 rolling papers

two sets of Bluetooth earbuds

$5.25 in currency

27 cigarettes

This operation was a success and all items were confiscated. The Darlington County Sheriffs Office and Detention Center have a no tolerance policy when it comes to contraband entering our facility, department spokeswoman Jordyn Jefferson said. Any inmate or personnel who possess items such as contraband will be dealt with swiftly and accordingly to the South Carolina laws.

Authorities said the investigation is still active and more charges may follow.

* * *

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.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
(KRON)  The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) announced that officers made 59 arrests during a one-day law enforcement sweep targeting fugitives with outstanding arrest warrants in the citys embattled Tenderloin neighborhood.

Man sentenced in birthday party stabbing deaths of father and son: DA

San Francisco PD said Wednesdays operation was led by the citys Drug Market Agency Coordination Center (DMACC). Police confirmed that 44 of the 59 arrests were individuals with arrest warrants. Police said officers found and seized suspected cocaine during the arrests.

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San Francisco PD said in a news release, we will continue to prioritize efforts to address the drug crisis in our city by taking wanted suspects off our streets and holding individuals who sell illegal narcotics accountable.

In the last month, the city has taken a more aggressive approach to the problematic area. On Monday, SFPD announced they had arrested 218 people along the citys Sixth Street corridor over the past 30 days.

Wednesdays wide-scale operation included outside agencies and SFPD officers from the Fugitive Recovery Enforcement Team (FRET), the DMACC 6th Street Foot Beat, Narcotics Unit, Narcotics Drug Recognition Expert Team, Tenderloin Patrol, Tenderloin Violence Reduction Team (VRT), Tenderloin Plainclothes Team, Southern Station Patrol, Central Station Patrol, San Francisco Sheriffs Office, Adult Probation, US Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Despite the arrests, these remain open and active investigations. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411, starting the message with SFPD.

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NEW YORK (PIX11)  A local New York City group is initiating a $5,000 reward for a man accused of raping a 5-year-old girl on Staten Island, according to a post on their Facebook page.

The Port Richmond North Shore Alliance is offering a reward for any information leading to an arrest.

More Crime News

Dominique Giles, 30, allegedly raped the victim at a location on Richmond Terrace and Sharpe Avenue on Jan. 22, police said.

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The police said the victim fled on foot after the incident. Emergency Medical Services transported the victim to a local hospital to be evaluated. Other details were not immediately clear.

Police described the suspect as about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, with brown eyes and braided hair. He was last seen wearing a black hooded jacket. The NYPD released a photo of him Wednesday night.

Those offering information should email portrichmondstrongcivic@gmail.com

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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)  Weve told you about the Burger Battle in downtown Sioux Falls thats about to wrap up this week.

Throughout the month of February, theres another Burger Battle brewing, but this one is a little different, because its outside the boundaries of Sioux Falls.

The Safari Bar and Grill in Renner is one of six restaurants that will be competing in Februarys 605 Rural Burger Battle with the Ranchers Delight.

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SD tourism details 2024 numbers and latest projects

Ranchers Delight came about, we had a little contest with our cooks and staff got to vote on which burger was the best to enter into the contest, Safari Bar and Grills Sandi Sorum said.

They got the idea after watching how successful Sioux Falls burger battles have gone over the years and wanted to give it a try.

Just started reaching out to other bars and restaurants in our area and it developed from there, Sorum said.

Other businesses competing are The Baltic Corner with the Boss Burger, Norbys in Dell Rapids with its Jalapeno Popper Burger, Pinz in Dell Rapids with its Hot and Beefy Burger, and Prohibition Pub in Dells with the Hangover Burger.

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Another competing bar and restaurant is the Wooden Nickel in Crooks with its Bubbas Hot Mess.

The owners of the bar have a son whos 11 years old and they call him Bubba, so thats why we came up with Bubbas Hot Mess, Wooden Nickels manager Lori Anfinson said.

The bars and restaurants say the month of January business is kind of slow, so they thought holding a competition throughout the month of February would bring in more customers.

We wanted something fun and exciting for the community; something family-friendly, so we thought that would be a good way to get people out and come and let our cooks showoff their culinary expertise, Sorum said.

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You can vote for your favorite burger by using a QR code at each participating restaurant.

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EVERETT, Pa.  A Bedford County woman was jailed Wednesday on charges of animal cruelty, accused of sheltering 67 cats in what state police called a toxic environment, authorities said.

State police in Bedford charged Amanda Ashley Vandergroef, 31, of the 400 block of Wilkins Road, Everett, with 81 counts each of aggravated cruelty to animals, cruelty to animals and neglect of animals.

According to a complaint affidavit, troopers started an investigation Jan. 2 after being contacted by Bedford County Children & Youth Services about a large number of cats in the home, making it unfit for Vandergroefs child.

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A man answered the door when police knocked and gave them permission to enter. When they entered, about 25 cats allegedly scattered. Troopers said they backed out of the residence due to a strong odor of ammonia.

Troopers obtained a warrant to search and photograph the residence.

One trooper said he wore a mask when he entered, and the ammonia smell burned his eyes, making it difficult to keep them open, the affidavit said. The trooper allegedly left the home after a brief walkthrough, saying his throat and lungs burned.

A pile of fecal matter about a foot and a half high allegedly was on the floor and throughout the residence. There allegedly was no cat food or water inside.

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Troopers said they later returned to the residence with volunteer firefighters and a member of the local Humane Society to trap the cats.

Vandergroef was arraigned by District Judge Kevin R. Diehl, of Bedford, and sent to Bedford County Correctional Facility after failing to post $50,000 bond.
Seven hunting buddies were on American Airlines flight 5342 traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington D.C. when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River on Wednesday. Sixty-seven people died in the collision, including all plane passengers and crew from both aircraft.

The seven hunters who were aboard flight 5342 were returning from a waterfowl hunt with Fowl Plains outfitters, which is based in Great Bend, Kansas. The men lived in the D.C. area and had been hunting in a group of 10 buddies. Three of the crew had chosen to drive the 1,300-plus miles home with their duck dogs and shotguns, according to the Wichita Eagle.

Weve always said our clients are more than friends. Theyre family. Last night we lost [seven] family members in the horrific plane crash, reads a statement posted Thursday to Fowl Plains Facebook page. [Seven] family members weve had the privilege to hunt with the last few years. Weve spent this past week, sharing the blind, laughing, talking about our families, and sharing memories. We are completely heartbroken. Please pray for the families, friends and for our [three] other hunters in the group who were driving home. Heartbroken is an understatement.

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The seven men who died are Jonathan Jon Boyd, 40; Tommy Clagett, 38; Alexander Alex Huffman, 34; Steve Johnson, 45; Charles Charlie McDaniel, 44; Jesse Pitcher, 30; and Michael Mikey Stovall, 40. Many of them were fathers.

Some men had been repeat clients of Fowl Plains, and this years trip included duck and goose hunting, plus a pen-raised pheasant shoot, according to the Eagle. Fowl Plains shared hunting photos of the men, including one of Stovall with a stud bull pintail and nine men standing behind a log piled with snow geese, specks, and Canadas. Its not immediately clear if the photos were from this week or past seasons. Kansas duck season ended Sunday, but goose seasons remain open.

Fowl Plains owner Chase White told the newspaper that at least they had been able to do something for the last five or six days that they all loved together. When Outdoor Life reached White by phone Friday, he declined to provide additional comment out of respect for the mens families.

Many of the men had been friends since childhood, and four were members of the UA Steamfitters Local 602, a union that represents heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and piping tradesmen.

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Johnson was both a member of the 602 and a regular participant in the White Marlin Open, one of the biggest billfishing tournaments in the country. In August two of the anglers aboard Johnsons boat, the Ctrl+Alt+Del, won a daily prize in the Open for two tuna that weighed in at 178.5 and 154.5 pounds. Capt. Johnson and his team ultimately won a check for $75,850.

Read Next: After Record Levels of Cancer-Causing Chemicals Were Found in a New Mexico Lake, Hunters Are Urged to Contact Their Doctors

Local chapters of Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, NWTF, and other groups, including Maryland-based Benelli USA, have organized or donated to a separate GoFundMe page for the hunters families. A verified GoFundMe page has been set up to support some families of crash victims, including a dedicated fund for Stovall, who is survived by his wife and son.

There was seven wonderful guys there, Stovalls mother, Christina Stovall, told WINK News. Mikey did not have one enemy  he was the life of the party. He loved everybody.
(This story was updated to add new information.)

A 70-year-old man remains unaccounted for after his ATV broke through the ice on frozen Lake Elizabeth in Kenosha County, police said Thursday.

The Twin Lakes Police Department issued a statement reporting the "ongoing incident."

Police said two other people were also on the ATV and made it out safely. They were evaluated and declined transport to a hospital.

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Search efforts were paused for the night at 8:45 p.m. and resumed Friday morning.

Multiple agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, assisted in the search. The DNR has advised ice on lakes in southeast Wisconsin is not safe and it is not recommended for people to be on the ice at this time, police said.

Police asked the public to avoid the area Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 70-year-old man missing after ATV falls through ice on Lake Elizabeth
Gov. Patrick Morrisey released an executive order directing all law enforcement agencies in the state to fully cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on finding and arresting undocumented people on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (West Virginia Office of the Gov. Patrick Morrisey | Courtesy photo)

At least 72 people in West Virginia have been identified and detained for residing in the country without proper documentation as of Thursday, according to Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Thats up from the 58 people who were identified earlier this week.

The detentions are part of a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants spurred in recent days by President Donald Trumps administration.

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To aid in that effort, Morrisey on Thursday released an executive order directing all law enforcement agencies in the state to fully cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on finding and arresting undocumented people. The action also ordered all officials under the authority of the governor to cooperate with the efforts.

Despite West Virginia sitting nearly 1,500 miles away from the nations southern border, Morrisey during a news briefing Thursday said he believed unauthorized immigration was responsible for the deadly toll that fentanyl has taken in the state. In 2023  the most recent year nearly complete data is available from the state Department of Health  more than 81% of fatal drug overdoses in West Virginia involved fentanyl.

For many years, people have talked about Well, West Virginia is not a border state. Why is it relevant here? Morrisey said. Well, its relevant because of the drug plague and the fentanyl that comes in.

Morriseys sentiments echo those shared often by former Gov. Jim Justice, who used unauthorized immigration as political fodder during his successful run for the U.S. Senate last year.

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Morrisey said he believed drug mules traffic fentanyl up to West Virginia from the southern border, where it is smuggled into the country multiple ways at both legal and illegal points of entry, largely by people who are undocumented.

The governor did not say if any of those people detained in West Virginia were suspected of or wanted for crimes related to fentanyl trafficking.

According to the United States Sentencing Commission, more than 85% of people charged with fentanyl trafficking annually are U.S. citizens. Nearly 82% of all convicted drug traffickers in 2023 were U.S. residents.

Most  more than 90%  of the fentanyl that is seized at the Mexican border comes through legal points of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

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In 2023, former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters it was unequivocally false that non-citizens were bringing fentanyl into the United States. Most immigrants at the border, he said, are asylum-seekers who are making claims of credible fear and looking for a safer place to live.

Who is being detained and how

Ten of the people detained through the ongoing crackdown were sent to Kentucky, Morrisey said, however he did not specify why.

Morrisey said at least 36 of the people detained in West Virginia have violated immigration laws in some way. This includes potentially missing a hearing, not having filed proper paperwork or having a prior deportation order filed against them by a court, among other things.

About 13 of the individuals identified were in state prisons and jails serving a West Virginia sentence, Morrisey said. Others were being held through orders from the U.S. Marshals Service.

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Anyone who has been identified through these investigations are being held at prisons and jails throughout West Virginia.

Spokespeople for Morrisey did not respond to a request from West Virginia Watch to clarify how exactly individuals being detained were being identified in the state.

During the press conference, Morrisey said he had heard these are targeted activities, but did not expand on the technical process for how they were targeted.

Its not walking in and trying to find people hidden under the bush, Morrisey said. This is an instance where these folks are going in and they know that generally theres some specific paperwork  it could be that immigration judge that did the order. It could be someone deported  Im not going to tell you the numbers of how many people did what, because we dont have access to that.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A military aircraft carrying 80 migrants from Guatemala departed on Thursday morning, Jan. 30, from Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss.

Fort Bliss provides support, training for border mission

KTSM crews were at the scene before the flight departed. While our cameras did not capture the moment that migrants boarded the plane, some of them were already seated with face masks on, with what appeared to be restraints on their hands and feet.

These deportation flights are part of President Donald Trumps mass deportation plan. The use of military aircraft is a result of an executive order signed last week.

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If you come to the United States and illegally cross the border in violation of eight U.S. Code 1325, you will be removed. This is a significant consequence because for some people, it takes 30, 60, 90 days and a lot of resources to travel to the southern border before illegally crossing. We can have you back in your home country in seven hours, Hamid Nikseresht, Border Patrol special operations supervisor said.

KTSM spoke to U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, earlier this week, she said that using military aircraft for deportations is unusual.

Military planes have not been used before because you dont need them. ICE has an entire fleet of airplanes. And in fact, the ICE airplanes carry more people than that C-17, Escobar said.

So, I think there were 80 people, somewhere between 75 and 80 people on that particular flight. Normally, its a minimum of 125 people on those ICE flights, she added.

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This is not the first deportation flight to depart from El Paso. Officials add that more are scheduled in the coming days.

Deportation flight from the U.S. to Colombia departs from El Paso

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
A car passes Facebook's new Meta logo on a sign at the company headquarters on Oct. 28, 2021, in Menlo Park, Calif. Tony Avelar, FRE / Associated Press

Social media giant Meta is considering following in the footsteps of Tesla and SpaceX and reincorporating in Texas, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal said several anonymous sources who were "familiar with the matter" told reporters Meta has spoken with Texas officials about moving the company's registration from Delaware to the Lone Star State. The company is also reportedly in talks with other states, and a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal the company has no plans to relocate its corporate headquarters, which is in California.

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The reported talks came as companies registered in Delaware, which has long been considered a haven for corporations attracted to the state's robust array of legal precedents and laws considered to favor corporate leadership, look to reincorporate elsewhere in a bid to shelter themselves from litigation filed by shareholders, according to Forbes.

Cannae Holdings, which announced its intent to move from Delaware to Nevada in 2024, said in a statement to its shareholders that judicial oversight in Delaware has become more costly in recent years.

"The board believes that in recent years there has been an increased risk of opportunistic litigation for Delaware public companies, which has made Delaware a less attractive place of incorporation due to the substantial costs associated with defending against such suits" the company wrote.

While reincorporating in Texas could spell a significant shake-up for Meta's corporate landscape on paper, a company spokesperson, who declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal's reporting, told the Houston Chronicle that a potential reincorporation would not mean the company would be transferring any major assets to Texas.

The Wall Street Journal's report came just under a year after Elon Musk announced his decision to reincorporate SpaceX in Texas. Musk's decision to move the space exploration company was announced a month after a Delaware court voided his $55.8 billion Tesla pay package, which a judge said Tesla's board failed to demonstrate was fair to its shareholders.

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"Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware," Musk wrote in a post on X. "I recommend incorporating in Nevada or Texas if you prefer shareholders to decide matters."
The Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation is helping Japan strengthen its ties with the U.S. space industry.

Space Foundation's Space Commerce Institute, which connects entrepreneurs, companies and countries with the global space economy, is partnering with Tokyo-based cross U, the organizations announced Thursday. The collaboration will prepare Japanese companies for space-related partnerships across the world and provide them information and tools to navigate opportunities, officials said in a joint news release.

"Partnering with Space Foundation allows us to build a robust and enduring framework for supporting Japanese companies in expanding their presence in the United States. Together, we aim to foster innovation, drive business opportunities and create new pathways for global cooperation in the dynamically evolving space sector," cross U President Shinichi Nakasuka said, in part, in the release.

Founded in 2022 in Tokyo's historic Nihonbashi district, cross U is a space industry co-creation platform that fosters networking among players in the global space industry. It also provides event and conference spaces, meeting rooms, shared offices and co-working areas to bring them together.

Japan's growing space sector includes capabilities in advanced materials, precision manufacturing and launch technologies. New startups are focusing on satellite data, in-space tech and sustainable propulsion, while established technology leaders are also integrating into the system, according to the release. The Japanese space sector is interested in strengthening indigenous launch capabilities and various in-orbit services.

Japan's role in space technology is crucial for strengthening the U.S. space industry, experts said.

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"Together, these partnerships accelerate advancements in lunar exploration, space-based energy and in-orbit manufacturing, creating a foundation for a thriving, sustainable space economy that benefits humanity as a whole," Space Foundation Vice President of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship Kelli Kedis Ogborn said in the release.

The partnership is also an extension of historic collaboration between the U.S. and Japan, both as governments and societies, Astroscale U.S. spokesman Dave Hebert said in an interview Thursday. The Denver-based American company is part of Astroscale, a global on-orbit servicing company headquartered in Tokyo with subsidiaries in Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom and France.

Japan's standing as a strategic ally for the U.S., the country's world influence and its position in the Asian Pacific  near China, which is attempting to grow its own influence  highlight the importance for the U.S. of having strong relationships with Japan, Hebert said.

Japan has also driven some of the most noteworthy, high-profile and important innovation in the consumer electronics, automotive, computing and space industries, he said.

The partnership between cross U and the Space Commerce Institute will roll out over two phases, starting before the 40th annual Space Symposium hosted by the Space Foundation from April 7-10 in Colorado Springs.

Japanese companies can attend three 90-minute workshops in February and March, with a focus on navigating the American space market. Participants will learn from U.S. space industry experts about trends, fundraising opportunities, networking and presentation strategies. Japanese companies can learn more about the workshops and how to participate on the cross U website, crossu.org/event/250217i/.

In the second phase expected to begin in the summer, companies will participate in a five-week program focusing on key topics to help them create and scale a U.S. space business engagement strategy, said Rich Cooper, vice president of strategic communications and outreach at Space Foundation.

These will be recorded as online modules so participants can go through the second phase of the program at their own pace, he said. Participants will also have a chance to participate in live Q&A sessions with industry experts.
(WHTM)  abc27 was honored to receive two Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters awards recognizing stories shared over the past year.

Ali Lanyon and Justin Raub each received an Outstanding Television Feature Story for Prison Pups: Rescue and Redemption, a story about how SCI  Camp Hills rescue dog program HOPE, which stands for Hounds of Prison Education,

Seth Kaplan and Zackary Lang also received a Judges Merit award for Protecting PA: The Commonwealths Top Consumer Tech and Advocacy Team.

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Those being recognized will attend the PAB luncheon and award show later this year.

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Jan. 30A federal grand jury has indicted an Albuquerque man who reportedly made threats against then-President-elect Donald Trump on social media.

Tyler Miles Leveque, 37, is charged with threats against the president and interstate communications containing a threat.

He will remain in custody pending trial, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico. Leveque's attorney could not be reached.

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Leveque faces up to five years in prison if he's convicted.

During an interview with the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, Leveque said he made the threatening posts, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Leveque made threatening posts on X earlier this month, including one on Jan. 3 that said, "I got my eyes on you sir! Cant wait for your Victory rally! The 19th right!? Lol you and your rich friends are dead no threat a promise," the agents said.

Leveque told authorities he also recently bought a firearm online and made a TikTok video showing his disdain for Trump and Elon Musk, saying they should be scared and Leveque did not care if he died, according to the complaint.

Leveque told authorities "he believes this is freedom of speech" and he made the posts "because he is frustrated with the government," the agents said.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT)  As the ACLU of Alabama celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, the group has announced a slate of projects they will take on this year, including fighting against a law that that unravels diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the state.

Earlier this month, the organization announced that they had filed a federal lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 129, which prevents public universities across the state from dedicating funding to DEI programs. The law went into effect in October.

What that means is that DEI offices have had to close at our public universities, said Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. But, even more troubling, is that weve seen restrictions on what student groups have access to funding for.

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Alabama State Superintendent releases statement regarding ICE and federal funding

As an example, Mollman said groups like Alabama NAACP chapters wouldnt have the same access to funding for events like Black History Month, while white groups were not held to the same standard.

On Jan. 30, the group, alongside the Legal Defense Fund, filed a preliminary injunction requesting that the court pauses the implementation of SB129.

In their motion, the plaintiffs argue that the law, Alabama Senate Bill 129 (SB129), has imposed severe viewpoint restrictions on professors and students in public Alabama universities, including classroom discussions and university programs, since it took effect in October 2024, the ACLU of Alabama wrote in a press release. The plaintiffs further argue that it is difficultif not impossibleto ascertain what exactly is or is not prohibited by SB129 due its vague and confusing language, which further chills their speech.

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Mollman said the lawsuits ultimate aims is to have a federal court declare SB129 as unconstitutional.

What that would mean is that our plaintiffs and students across the state who have student groups that are based on identity or are based on certain viewpoints wouldnt have that restricted as they are now under SB 129, she said. And it would allow our professors across the state to return to teaching the curriculum and history thats been appropriate for years.

Applications for senior housing development in Birmingham open Feb. 13

The organization, which was founded in 1965, recently announced its 2025 Legislative Agenda, including:

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Fighting for criminal legal reform

Defending the right to vote

Ensuring reproductive justice

Protecting First Amendment rights

The ACLU of Alabama will be hosting a community teach-in on Feb. 15 in Montgomery. Mollman said the free event would be aimed toward educating the public on how the Legislature function, what bills they could expect to be introduced in the next session and how the ACLU will work to fight against certain bills.

Its one of our priorities to make sure that the public is aware and educated about whats happening, she said. Well have other community events throughout the spring where folks can choose to tap in on the work that were doing and learn how they can fight back against laws that harm them and to support laws that are going to make our lives better.

More information on the work being done by the ACLU of Alabama can be found here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dramatically increased the amount of water flowing from two dams in Tulare County, sending massive flows down river channels toward farmlands in the San Joaquin Valley.

Federal records show that water releases from Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success jumped early Friday morning.

The sudden increase occurred four days after President Trump said on social media that the U.S. military had entered California and TURNED ON THE WATER." Trump also vowed during a visit to Los Angeles last week to "open up the valves and pumps" in California to deliver more water.

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According to federal data, the flow from Terminus Dam into the Kaweah River near Visalia increased from 57 cubic feet per second to more than 1,500 on Friday morning. The flow from Lake Success near Porterville into the Tule River increased from 105 cubic feet per second to 990.

The Army Corps of Engineers is conducting controlled water releases from the two dams, said Tyler Stalker, a spokesperson for the Corps in Sacramento. The action is being coordinated with local officials. The releases are within the capacity of the downstream waterways.

Responding to questions about the reasons for the sudden increase in water flow, Gene Pawlik, a spokesperson at the Corps' headquarters in Washington, said in an email that the action was consistent with the direction" in Trump's recent executive order to enact "emergency measures to provide water resources" in California.

Pawlik said the Army Corps was releasing water from the dams "to ensure California has water available to respond to the wildfires." It was not immediately clear how or where the federal government intends to transport the water.

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Read more: Trump reenters Californias water wars. It's unclear who will win

Trump, meanwhile, shared a photo on X of water pouring from a dam, saying: "Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California."

"Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory!," Trump wrote. "I only wish they listened to me six years ago  There would have been no fire!"

The president has sought to link local water supply problems during the L.A. County firestorms, such as fire hydrants that ran dry, with his calls for changing water management elsewhere in the state. But state officials and water experts have called the comments inaccurate: Regional reservoirs in Southern California are at record-high levels, and more water from Northern California would not have affected the fire response.

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Water was released from the dams as the first of two approaching atmospheric river storms brought snow and rain to California.

The Success Dam feeds into the Tule River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Dam managers in California sometimes release water ahead of major storms to make room in reservoirs for more runoff. But the federal agency's comments about Trump's executive order suggest that this case was different.

State officials were not part of the decision-making to release water from the federal reservoirs, said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources.

We traditionally have a high degree of coordination at the operational level, which really wasn't a part of this decision, Nemeth said.

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The two reservoirs are used to hold supplies for agricultural irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation season for farms, which require more supplies to grow crops in the summer months, so there isn't a demand for the water in the San Joaquin Valley at this time.

The dams are also used to regulate the pace of floodwaters that could otherwise affect downstream areas, Nemeth said. During historic storms in 2023, she said, the state sought to work with local landowners to capture flood flows where possible to replenish groundwater.

I really can't speak to the decision process at the Corps to make this release at this time, she said.

Read more: California snowpack is below average, but winter storms could change that

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It was not clear where federal officials intended to send the water that was being released from the dams.

Local water managers said they were caught off-guard by the federal government's plans on Thursday. Dan Vink, a water consultant who previously served as general manager of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District, called the situation "extremely unprecedented."

Vink said local water officials heard Thursday afternoon that the Army Corps planned to "go from a fairly nominal release to channel capacity in two hours."

A release of that magnitude, he said, would normally be coordinated days in advance, in part because farmers might have expensive farm equipment placed near riverbanks. There are also homeless encampments near some riverbanks, and officials would want to make sure people were out of the way and not in danger before unleashing so much water.

People look at a full pool of water behind Schafer Dam forming Lake Success on the Tule River in the Central Valley during a winter storm in Tulare County east of Porterville, Calif., in March 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images)

The local water managers on Thursday communicated their concerns to the Army Corps officials, who agreed to release less water than originally planned and to delay the releases until Friday, Vink said.

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Aaron Fukuda, general manager of the Tulare Irrigation District, told the news site SJV Water that normally such flood releases are done with a great deal of prior notification and coordination. "I've been doing this 18 years and have never seen something like this," he said.

Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said dam managers would typically only release large quantities of water in the winter when major storms create a need to make space for large inflows of runoff. But Southern California has been very dry and the snowpack in the southern Sierra remains far below average, so "there is no indication that that's why these releases occurred."

"In addition, when those kinds of releases do occur, they're always done in consultation with local and state agencies," Gleick said.

"I don't know where this water is going, but this is the wrong time of year to be releasing water from these reservoirs. It's vitally important that we fill our reservoirs in the rainy season so water is available for farms and cities later in the summer," Gleick said. "I think it's very strange and it's disturbing that, after decades of careful local, state and federal coordination, some federal agencies are starting to unilaterally manipulate California's water supply."

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Vink agreed, saying that given how dry it has been in the region this winter, there was no need to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were counting on that water to be available for summer irrigation.

"This is going to hurt farmers," Vink said. "This takes water out of their summer irrigation portfolio."

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla criticized the administrations decision and demanded answers.

Unscheduled water releases require close coordination with local officials and safety personnel, as well as downstream agricultural water users, in order to reduce flood risks to communities and farms, Padilla said in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Based on the urgent concerns I have heard from my constituents, as well as recent reporting, it appears that gravely insufficient notification was given, recklessly endangering residents downstream.

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Padilla asked Hegseth several questions, including who made the decision, how much advance notice was given to irrigation districts and local officials, and what impact the releases will have on communities and landowners. He also asked: If the purpose of these releases is to help fight wildfires in Los Angeles County (which are already almost fully contained), what is the plan to transport this water to Los Angeles rather than let the water simply be discharged into Tulare Lake where it will evaporate?

Read more: Climate change identified as main driver of worsening drought in the Western United States

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom took other actions to adjust how the state is managing water. With two storms approaching on Friday, Newsom signed an executive order that aims to divert and store more storm runoff.

The order directs the Department of Water Resources and other state agencies to maximize the storage and capture of water from rivers to recharge groundwater and boost reservoirs such as San Luis Reservoir, located south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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"It is more important than ever that we maximize every opportunity to recharge our groundwater supplies," Newsom said.

We are also preparing to use every last drop to boost our water supply for communities and farms throughout the state, Newsom said. By storing these stormwaters, we are creating a literal rainy day fund to help us recover from a multiyear drought and prepare for our hotter, drier future.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families)

Low-income Arkansas families encounter too many barriers to access nutrition assistance, including low ceilings on participants income and assets, according to a report Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families released Thursday.

More than 400,000 Arkansans, about 13% of the states population, relied on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2023, according to the report. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the program.

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Only 69% of eligible Arkansans were enrolled in SNAP in 2020, the third-lowest participation rate of any state that year, according to USDA data.

SNAP-eligible Arkansans currently must have a gross income below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines  currently $19,578 for an individual and $40,560 for a family of four  and a net income below 100% of this threshold. The report states that 21% of the states roughly 3 million people meet the 130% limit.

Maricella Garcia, Race Equity Director for Advocacy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (Courtesy of AACF)

In addition to income limits, SNAPs eligibility requirements include work participation for adult enrollees, a $3,000 resource limit and cooperation with child support enforcement, if applicable.

These requirements impede Arkansans ability to apply for SNAP benefits and maintain enrollment, hindering their ability to overcome food insecurity, AACF Race Equity Director Maricella Garcia wrote in the report and said in a Thursday afternoon webinar.

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Arkansas has the highest prevalence of food insecurity in the nation, at nearly 19% in 2023, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released in September. The report defines food insecurity as being unable, at some time during the year, to provide adequate food for one or more household members because of a lack of resources.

Food insecurity for Arkansas children is higher at 24.2%, which accounts for more than 168,000 children, according to Feeding America.

Poor nutrition can lead to a range of health problems for children, sometimes even before birth, and follow them into adulthood, such as heart disease, diabetes and iron-deficient anemia, the report states.

As we fail year after year to address these statistics among our kids, what were doing is building a new generation of adults who are growing up with these long-term health conditions, Garcia said in the webinar. Its not necessary, we know the answers, and we can address them.

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The report also notes that the cost of living in some areas exceeds the federal poverty guidelines, meaning some Arkansans struggle to get by but do not qualify for assistance programs such as SNAP. Nearly 367,000, or 31%, of all Arkansas households in 2022 were below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold of financial survival, according to United for ALICE, a nonprofit composed of United Way organizations and other groups dedicated to research and solutions about poverty.

Obstacles and proposed solutions

One of several proposed policy changes in the report is raising the SNAP income limit to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Under the current 130% gross income limit, a household of four people with no elderly or disabled family members would have to earn no more than $3,380 per month.

Arkansas is one of 13 states with an asset limit for SNAP recipients. Assets include cash on hand and in the bank, savings certificates and stocks and bonds, among other things.

The asset limit increased from $2,250 to $3,000 in 2024. Garcia said the limit should be repealed entirely because it prevents families on SNAP from being able to address unexpected expenses.

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Many families, once they fall off [SNAP], dont get back on because its so difficult, Garcia said. You could get over $3,000 and then the next month have to spend that whole amount of money. Its just simply not enough, but its enough to make you lose your benefits, and a lot of people on SNAP are working families. Because of that, they dont have time to go back and sit through interviews and do the entire process all over again.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, has said the asset limit is punitive and disincentivizes people from saving enough money to overcome poverty.

He sponsored legislation in 2023 that initially would have raised the asset limit from $2,250 to $12,500 for Arkansans to qualify for SNAP benefits.

The bill met pushback from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said she opposed expanding welfare, even after an amendment lowered the proposed limit to $6,000.

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The final amended version of the bill, which Sanders signed into law as Act 675 of 2023, maintained the $2,250 asset limit but authorized a USDA waiver request to allow exemptions for individual families with more assets. Those families would have a new asset limit of $5,500 and remain enrolled in SNAP as long as they receive an exemption within a year of exceeding the current limit.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang (left), R-Searcy, asks a question about Act 675 of 2023 during a Joint Budget Committee Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. At right is Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, who co-sponsored Act 675 with Dismang. (Screenshot via Arkansas Legislature)

During a Joint Budget subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Dismang asked Department of Human Services officials if the agency had submitted the waiver. Division of County Operations Director Mary Franklin said the broad-based categorical eligibility put forth in the bill did not require a waiver, but the department needed to ensure it had the funding to enact Act 675.

Broad-based categorical eligibility would allow families who qualify for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to also qualify for SNAP. Garcia included this as one of AACFs policy recommendations.

Dismang said he was disappointed that there had not been any progress whatsoever on Act 675 after almost two years. He told the Advocate later on Wednesday that he would be looking at simpler ways to clean that up and allow people to have the right to better their situation.

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Another 2023 law Dismang sponsored, Act 656, allowed students to receive free school meals if they already received reduced-price meals. Garcia said this law is an example that Arkansas officials can meet citizens nutritional needs if they choose to do so.

This year, Dismang is sponsoring a bill to create universal free school breakfast, funded by revenue from the states billion-dollar medical marijuana industry. Sanders announced the initiative earlier this month. The bill has yet to be heard by the Senate Education Committee.

AACF recommends implementing universal free school lunches in addition to breakfasts.

Garcia noted that more than 260,000 Arkansas children in 2024 participated in Summer EBT, a federal program for children to receive food assistance during their summer break from school. Sanders announced in November that the program will continue this year.

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Sanders announced in December that Arkansas will seek permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prohibit SNAP recipients from purchasing highly processed foods and encourage consumption of more nutritious, locally grown foods.

Other policy changes AACF recommends include simplifying the SNAP enrollment process, which currently involves a 30-page application, and repealing the requirement for parents on SNAP to participate with child support enforcement. Garcia called the latter requirement overly burdensome.

Additionally, the report notes that Arkansas Marshallese population has not always been eligible for SNAP, though their eligibility was restored last year after federal law cut it in 1996.

The Marshallese application is translated so poorly that Marshallese advocates report that it cannot be understood, Garcia wrote in the report. Marshallese families are some of the most food insecure in our state. Now that Marshallese-born individuals are eligible to apply for SNAP, it is incumbent upon the Arkansas Department of Human Services to work with native speakers to develop outreach and educational materials that are accurate and that convey the requirements in simple terms.
Immigration advocates rallied Thursday outside St. Anne's Parish in Annapolis, calling on state officials to protect spaces like churches and schools from immigration enforcement. (Photo by Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters)

With a historic church as a backdrop, advocates for Marylands immigrant population Thursday called on lawmakers to protect schools, churches and other community spaces from potential raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The rally at St. Annes Parish in Annapolis came a week after the Department of Homeland Security reversed Biden administration policies that had expanded the definition of protected areas where immigration enforcement activities were discouraged.

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That 2021 order included areas where children gather, disaster or emergency relief sites, social service establishments, schools, places of worship and medical treatment facilities. On Jan., 21, the Trump administration lifted those restrictions, saying it would not tie the hands of agents enforcing immigration laws.

Last Tuesday, the Trump administration redesigned a federal policy that previously directed ICE to stay away from these places. Now we have no protections, said Crisaly De Los Santos, CASAs central Maryland and Baltimore director.

Our hospitals and medical facilities are for healing, not for terror. Our courthouses are for justice, not fear. And our schools are for education, not intimidation, she said at the rally.

Emergency legislation is already in the works, said Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery), who plans to sponsor the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act this session with Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery).

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Solomon acknowledged that theres little the state can do to actually keep federal agents out of those spaces, but it can arm residents with knowledge of their rights. His bill calls on the attorney general and other state agencies to issue guidance on how community spaces and institutions can interact with ICE agents under the new policy.

At its fundamental core, this is about ensuring that every institution that we have deemed  critical to our communities has guidance from our attorney general to know what their rights are, Solomon said at the rally. And to make sure that they know when and where and how they can prevent ICE from coming in when they [agents] are not following the law.

Advocates said the Trump administration is already causing anxiety and fear in Maryland schools: A Baltimore County middle school student who identified herself as Maddy told the rally that she and her friends are fearful following the revised rules.

A Baltimore County middle school student who called herself Maddy said a new Trump administration directive that opens schools to potential immigration enforcement frightens her and her classmates. (Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)

Schools should be a place where we feel safe to learn, make friends and build relationships with our teachers, but right now, many of us are living in fear, she said at the CASA rally. I have a lot of friends and classmates who feel scared and anxious about this. They are worried that something might happen to their family, or to them while theyre at school.

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This fear makes it hard for us to focus on our schoolwork or even enjoy being at school, she said. Instead of feeling safe and excited to learn, we feel like were constantly looking over our shoulder, wondering if today is the day something bad happens.

After the rally, Solomon said the emergency legislation has been in the works since November and, if passed, would take effect immediately rather than waiting for July 1 or a later effective date.

While the bill would not create any new protections for undocumented residents, Solomon and advocates believe the guidance will help bring those residents some peace of mind amid heighted ICE activity.

While we cant physically stop law enforcement from doing things that they want to do, Solomon said, making it very clear that  this is when they need a warrant, this is a public space that they can come into, this is not a public space that they come into  anything that we can do to make people feel like there is more clarity and make our community members feel like theyre more safe, the better, Solomon said Thursday afternoon.

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Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has already issued guidance for health care facilities and local law enforcement explaining how to interact with federal immigration enforcement to ensure staff and officers respect individuals constitutional rights while complying with federal agents. Maryland State Schools Superintendent Carey Wright also issued a guide for students, families, and local education agencies on how they can deal if immigration agents show up at a school.

But Solomon said his bill would expand the types of public locations that would receive guidance. That list includes:

schools, which includes Pre-K through 12 and institutions of higher education;

medical or mental health care facilities;

places of worship;

places where children gather, including playgrounds;

recreational centers;

child care centers and foster care facilities;

social service establishments, including crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and drug or alcohol treatment facilities;

areas where disaster of emergency response is being provided;

a courthouse and any other location deemed appropriate by the attorney general.

Were hearing from constituents, where hearing from organizations that they dont quite know what to do, Solomon said. Understanding where and when ICE can actually enter, what your rights are in not allowing people into your premises  its really important.

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Africa is on the verge of becoming two continents. | Credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images

Africa is dividing in two, and a new landmass and ocean may form sooner than expected. The change could alter the climate and ecosystem of the region, as well as the way humans live. In the geologic history of Earth, shifting plate tectonics are commonplace, and Africa's impending rift is but another chapter in that story.

The cracks are showing

The Earth's continents are far from constant. Plate tectonics have caused the landmasses to shift over time, and another shift is occurring in the 21st century.

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Scientists have known for the past two decades that Africa has been splitting . In 2005, Ethiopia experienced earthquakes that caused the appearance of a 35-mile-long fissure in the desert called the East African Rift. "It marked the start of a long process in which the African plate is splitting into two tectonic plates: the Somali plate and the Nubian plate," said Unilad . Then, in 2018, another crack appeared in Kenya along the rift.

The cracks are "associated with the East African Rift System (EARS)," which stretches "downward for thousands of kilometers through several countries in Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique," said IFL Science . The rift has been widening over time, and along the system there have been varying levels of seismic activity, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science . But "in the human life scale, you won't be seeing many changes," Ken Macdonald, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said to Daily Mail . "You'll be feeling earthquakes, you'll be seeing volcanoes erupt, but you won't see the ocean intrude in our lifetimes."

Even with the long timelines, scientists suggest that the rift is happening quicker than previously thought. Original estimates put a complete split at tens of millions of years from now. "With the continent dividing at a rate of half an inch per year, those estimations have sped up," said Unilad. MacDonald puts the timeline at between one million and five million years.

A whole new world

The split will change the world's continental makeup. "Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and some parts of Ethiopia would form a new continent separated by the world's sixth ocean," said Metro . A change this drastic could have major implications for the region's biodiversity and ecosystem. Landlocked nations like Uganda and Zambia would gain coastlines, which could influence weather patterns and climate. "This transformation could affect biodiversity, water resources and agricultural practices, posing both challenges and opportunities for the inhabitants of East Africa," said HowStuffWorks . In addition, "the gradual separation might influence the continent's geopolitical landscape" and "create new opportunities for trade and communication."
VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN)  Like many sons, Matt Thogerson helps take care of his aging parents. He first noticed unusual charges on his moms credit cards after she was released from the hospital.

She was in the ICU for about 10 days and I was visiting after she had come home and she asked for some help with some finances and I saw a really strange charge, like a really big charge split over multiple credit cards and it was for $13,000, he told KOIN 6 News. Thats a lot of money for my folks.

Part 1: Vancouver bank teller saves woman from $50K skin care trance

He asked his mom, 76-year-old Brooks Thogerson, what it was for. She told him it was for skin care products.

Brooks Thogerson, 76, in her sons home in the Vancouver area, January 2025 (KOIN)

Brooks told KOIN 6 News she remembers that day she went to the Vancouver Mall. She said sales people at a Saffron kiosk came up to her to try their skin care products.

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They showed me pictures of the befores-and-after of people. And there was the difference from wrinkly old skin to nice smooth skin, she said. When I met this person, he just seemed so nice, and I dont know, they were just really nice folks. But she kept talking about him working with NASA. I dont know what NASA has to do with it, but it sounded impressive, I guess.

Brooks said he then took her in a backroom in the storefront across from the kiosk and showed her an Empire Tech Infrared Light that supposedly smooths out wrinkles and tightens skin.

She was charged for some creams and the skincare light. The receipts from Saffron #2 kiosk show that thousands of dollars were charged on a couple of her credit cards. One was for $3,400 and there were another two separate charges for $5,000 each.

The skincare light was more than $12,900. Similar LED lights typically retail for about $200.

Brooks Thogerson, 76, holds one of the skin care lights she bought at a kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

I didnt actually realize I bought stuff. I dont know what the deal was with it because when he said $13,000, I thought, I was surprised, but at the same time I just went along with it, Brooks said. I dont know.

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On the official website of Saffron Cosmetics, it states the Vancouver Malls Saffron Kiosk is no longer an authorized retailer.

The kiosk has recently been rebranded as BH28 Skincare Consultants, matching the name of the main storefront next to it.

The BH28 Skincare Consultants kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

The BH28 Skincare Consultants kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

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Her son, Matt, said he asked for a refund for his mom.

I took everything over to the Vancouver Mall location and I met the owner, Hai Baranetz. He basically just said it was completely impossible.

Baranetz then told him they have a strict no-refund policy.

He showed me this book, which had a picture of my mom in it alongside all of the other clients. And I believe in the picture  its made sure that its prominent  that the no refund sign is in the picture, which I thought was really sketchy, Matt said. And he also showed me papers that my mom doesnt have any memory of signing, but does acknowledge that there are no refunds.

Matt Thogerson helps take care of his mother, 76-year-old Brooks Thogerson, January 2025 (KOIN)

KOIN 6 News contacted the manufacturer of these high-priced LED lights, Empire Tech. In response, the company said in part:

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Please accept our sincere apology for this experience. We are only the authorized wholesalersEach independent seller has their own return/exchange and refund policies.

All I know is, Brooks said, they kept saying it was 90 days. You could return everything in 90 days if you didnt like it. So, what is thatthree months or something?

Baranetz told Matt the 90-day offer was actually for unlimited LED light treatments, which required his mom to visit the mall.

When KOIN 6 News went to the kiosk and store in the Vancouver Mall to confront them about these complaints, the salesman said he was the manager. But instead of speaking on-camera, he took our contact information to pass along to Baranetz.

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Baranetz never contacted KOIN 6 News.

They are really aggressive

Brooks Thogerson is not the only person with this kind of experience. Tomi Guzman said she had no intention of spending hundreds of dollars one day when she went to the mall.

Guzman told KOIN 6 News she kept telling the sales people no for two hoursuntil she finally caved and said shed buy one of the eye creams.

Tomi Guzman felt pressured into buying expensive eye creams at a kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

They basically follow you and have a product in their hand. Let me put this on you. They are really aggressive, Guzman said. If you sit in their chair, thats it. Youre in trouble. You cant get away.

She said she negotiated a price of $99 for the eye cream, down from $300. But they still ran her debit card for $375.

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When I had to reach across and I pulled the receipts and asked why it was so much, (they said) Oh, its a tip and its a tax. OK, so how does that math work out? she said.

A close look at the receipt shows she was charged $326 for the eye creamand they tacked on a nearly $50 tip. Clearly printed: No refunds. Yet, she says that policy wasnt disclosed to her before handing over her debit card.

Each receipt is not itemized. And theres no sales tax listed, she said.

Tomi Guzman felt pressured into buying these expensive eye creams at a kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

Tomi Guzman felt pressured into buying these expensive eye creams at a kiosk in the Vancouver Mall, with no refunds allowed, January 2025 (KOIN)

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Guzman said she is concerned there are possibly more unwitting victims out there. She said the stores owner also showed her a book full of before-and-after photos of his clients.

Just so many women, mostly older women who had spent thousands, she said. I remember thinking, $22,000. What are they selling her?'

KOIN 6 News also contacted the Vancouver Mall about these complaints and they declined a specific comment: Vancouver Mall is going to pass on this opportunity.

KOIN 6 News found another woman in Vancouver who spent $22,000 at the BH28 Skincare store  but she said she didnt get the services she paid for. If something like this has happened to you or a relative, contact EliseInvestigates@koin.com.

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Recently, Vancouver police arrested the store owner, Hai Baranetz for attempted theft of $50,000 from one of his mall customers. Hes since posted bail.

However, we do have some ongoing investigations with relation to some vulnerable adults, senior citizens in particular, that have purchased some items that are extremely costly from a local store, Vancouver PD spokesperson Kim Kapp told KOIN 6 News.

Vancouver police urge anyone whos experienced this at the mall to come forward.

You can directly contact detectives in VPDs Elder Justice Unit: LeAnn.Cone@cityofvancouver.us Nicholas.Marbach@cityofvancouver.us

Even if its not a crime, authorities said they aim to protect the vulnerable from financial harm.

Tactics are spread across the country

These sales tactics are not isolated to the Vancouver Mall. KOIN 6 News found shops with a similar mall setup selling the same products  and receiving complaints from women across the country.

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KOIN 6 News tracked down a shopper in Massachusetts, MiaTai Davis, who publicly complained about a store called Beauty and Science at the Northshore Mall. Davis said a man tried to sell her the exact LED skincare light that was sold to Brooks Thogerson.

The storefront for Beauty & Science in a mall in Massachusetts, January 2025 (KOIN)

Davis, who is a licensed cosmetologist, said the $13,000 price tag was a red flag. When she turned the salesman down, the clerk began slashing the price.

Then he got it down to $1,200 and I was, like, No, Im not spending $1,200 on your facial machine, she said on TikTok. Hes, like, Oh, but its NASA approved. It has this and that.'

When asked why she took to social media about her experience, she said just to tell people be very careful. They were able to convince her to spend $150 on an eye cream she didnt need, she said. So, she was concerned about others falling into an even more expensive trap.

The same month MiaTai Davis publicly complained about the sales tactics at Beauty and Science, a 71-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against the same store for overcharging her. Her lawyer told KOIN 6 News the store took advantage of her.

Due to her age and vulnerability as an elderly woman she was ripe for their intended fraudulent scheme, the lawsuit claims. The skincare shop further falsely told her that an LED light machinehad a value of $159,000. However, theyd sell it to her for $42,300.

The lawsuit also states the defendants falsely told her the product was NASA-developed technology and would miraculously reverse the effects of her aging skin.

When KOIN 6 News went to the store in Massachusetts, they had the same products on display as the BH28 Skincare Consultants store in the Vancouver Mall. Although Beauty and Science was closed that Saturday, KOIN 6 News was able to see they also have a special private back area labeled the VIP Room.

Brooks Thogerson wants other people to beware of these sales tactics. One of the tactics included telling her there was 24k gold in the treatment.

Brooks Thogerson, 76, bought these skin care products at a store in the Vancouver Mall, January 2025 (KOIN)

But when she was asked what the gold does, she didnt know.

Beats me. I dont know, but its gold. Thats one of the things is gold is supposed to be so great for you, she said.

Her son Matt Thogerson wants the store to take accountability for what they did to his mother.

Frankly, he said, plastic surgery would have been more affordable.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
37,094 people played the daily Crossword recently. Can you solve it faster than others?

37,094 people played the daily Crossword recently. Can you solve it faster than others?
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to establish 29 new Colorado judgeships by a vote of 6-1 on Wednesday, with supporters and opponents both cautioning that their positions could change based on the availability of money.
A U.S. Air Force plane with migrants bound at their wrists and ankles departed Texas for Guatemala on Thursday, carrying 80 deportees in another deportation flight that reflects a growing role for the armed forces in helping enforce immigration laws.

The flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, was scheduled to take about seven hours, nearly twice as long as a direct route, because the military plane could not fly over Mexico, said U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Orlando Marrero. Eight children were aboard.

The message that we have for those people is that if you cross the border illegally, we are going to deport you to your country of origin in a matter of hours, Marrero said.

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Texas sends more than 400 Guardsmen to US-Mexico border

The Trump administration has used military aircraft to deport people to Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia, a departure from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements previous practice to employ charter and commercial planes.

There are some countries that dont like military planes coming into their territory, said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district. Its something that logistically has to be worked out with the country before, because you dont want to have a plane turned around in midair.

On Sunday, Colombias President Gustavo Petro refused two U.S. military planes with migrants, prompting Trump to announce 25% tariffs on Colombian exports. Colombia backed off and said it would accept the migrants but fly them on Colombian military flights that Petro said would guarantee them dignity.

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The Pentagon began deploying active-duty troops to the border last week, but it was unclear to what extent they will break from supporting roles they have played under presidents since George W. Bush, including ground and aerial surveillance, building barriers and repairing vehicles.

An 1878 law prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, but Trump and his aides have signaled the president may invoke wartime powers. Trump said in his Inauguration Day order declaring a border emergency that the Defense Department may assist with detention and transportation, two enormous cost-drivers.

Trump on Thursday ordered that a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be used to detain migrants, saying it could hold up to 30,000 people. That would nearly double ICEs current detention capacity.

Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, said using military aircraft for deportations was uncommon but largely symbolic.
Kyle Clark, BETA Technologies founder and CEO, holds a model aircraft after signing an agreement with 47G at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Jan. 28, 2025. (Courtesy of 47G)

Flying in a vertical-lift aircraft is a fascinating feeling, Kyle Clark, the founder of a leading air taxi manufacturing company based in Vermont, told a room full of dignitaries at the Utah Capitol on Tuesday.

You take off like a helicopter, and theres a whooshing sound, the BETA Technologies founder and CEO said. Its not a beating sound, because all four propellers are turning at different speeds. Then you swing into the air, you turn that rear propeller on, you accelerate for about 30 seconds, and then you shut it down. Everything goes silent.

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As a pilot thats flown lots of different aircraft, Clark said shifting from vertical lift off to a glide feels a bit jarring.

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Youre like, Uh oh. All that noise was keeping me in the air. Now whats keeping me in the air? The winds keeping you in the air, he said.

As the aircraft begins soaring, Clark said the only noise is a low hum of a rear propeller located 22 feet at the back of the aircraft. He then described looking through a beautiful glass canopy in front of you.

Look at this view out here in Utah, he said, gesturing out the window to Utahs Wasatch mountain range. Its going to be awesome flying out here.

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Clarks description sparked a smattering of excited murmurs in the crowd at an event that drew the attendance of several Utah lawmakers and Gov. Spencer Cox. They were there for the signing of an agreement between Clarks company and the group 47G, formerly known as the Utah Aerospace and Defense Association, a network of over 120 aerospace, defense and cyber companies, and 20 academic institutions working to innovate in the three sectors.

A BETA Technologies aircraft model sits on a table during a signing of an agreement between the Vermont-based electric aircraft manufacturer and 47G at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Jan. 28, 2025. (Courtesy of 47G)

The deal signed this week lays the groundwork to bring electric aircraft and the charging station network theyd rely on to Utah, envisioned as a Jetsons-like air delivery system that will start with moving packages before  eventually  people.

Its also part of a larger effort brewing in the Utah Legislature to explore  and invest at least $1 million more in  futuristic technologies, including work to explore siting a spaceport somewhere in the state.

The event took place one day before the deadly collision Wednesday night between a regional passenger jet and a military helicopter in the crowded airspace around Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C., a tragedy thats sure to prompt a national conversation about air safety in coming weeks.

Electrified aircraft, delivery drones and  eventually  air taxis

Today, with this MOU signing, we are going where no other state has gone before. To the top of the list in air mobility, said Aaron Starks, 47G president and CEO. We are going to electrify airports, we are going to bring the community together, there will be workforce development opportunities and legislative opportunities  where companies like BETA Technologies can come and innovate and grow their technologies.

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While the agreement with BETA Technologies will start with electrifying conventional take-off and landing aircraft by focusing on existing airports, Starks said this is only the beginning.

Imagine being in Moab in 40 minutes, he said. Imagine living in Huntsville or Logan, where I grew up, and being able to fly to Salt Lake in 16 minutes, while still living in beautiful Cache Valley or Ogden Valley. Thats the reality, and its here.

Starks said over the next 12 to 18 months, in partnership with the Utah Department of Transportation, 47G will prioritize electrifying existing municipal and regional airports, with airports in Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo high on the list.

He said theyll first focus on conventional take-off and landing aircraft at existing airports. But urban air mobility, the movement of people in cities, that will all come eventually, he said.

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Leaders characterized it as a big leap toward creating a futuristic statewide transportation in anticipation of the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Under this agreement, the parties will collaborate on a series of initiatives with the objective of making Utah the nations premier ecosystem for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)  a form of transport that relies on next-generation technologies to increase access and efficiency, while lowering cost, a says summary of the agreement issued by 47G.



The deal comes after Utah leaders last year launched an initiative called Project Alta, a partnership that joined 47G with the Utah governors office, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Utah Inland Port Authority and other industry partners with a mission to establish an advanced air mobility system for Utah.

Last year, the Utah Legislature appropriated $1.14 million toward the effort. More could be coming this year.

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The governor included $2 million in his budget recommendation for aircraft charging stations. If the Utah Legislature approves that recommendation, the Utah Department of Transportation would oversee a competitive bid process to select a company that can provide charging stations for certain airports across the state.

Aaron Starks, president and CEO of 47G, (right) speaks at a press event celebrating the signing an agreement with 47G at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Jan. 28, 2025. (Courtesy of 47G)

Starks told Utah News Dispatch that 47G does intend to request more public dollars from the 2025 Utah Legislature to help support the initiative  though he said negotiations hadnt yet landed on a specific number.

We are seeking more. Now, this is work thats important to the states economy. So the state is subcontracting that work out to us, Starks said. Its economic development. And who better than the industry to go out and build the industry and those long-term economic initiatives in partnership with the state?

Any additional money that 47G is seeking, Starks said, would be used to fund personnel to continue running surveys, the economic analysis, to fund travel, to fund project management, and ultimately to partnership with UDOT to determine where the charging infrastructure goes.

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You know, were bringing a whole emerging industry to the state, and that requires a lot of resources, Starks said.

According to Morgan Stanley researchers, the advanced air mobility market is projected to reach a value of $1.5 trillion by 2040. In Utah, the industry is forecasted to generate 11,000 new full-time jobs, $8 billion in new business activity and related stimulus, and $1.8 billion in local, state and federal tax revenues by 2045, according to 47G.

$1 million for spaceport exploration

Advanced, electrified aircraft like air taxis arent the only futuristic ideas Utah leaders are moving to invest in. A separate piece of legislation has been making its way through the 2025 Utah Legislature with enthusiasm and little resistance.

With SB62, Senate Budget Chair Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, wants the Utah Legislature to set aside $1 million to create a new body called the Spaceport Exploration Committee that would be tasked with setting key objectives the state would need to pursue in order to establish a spaceport, study its feasibility and evaluate potential sites.

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The Utah Senate on Tuesday voted 27-1 to approve the bill. It now awaits consideration in the House.

A spaceport would basically act as an airport for spacecraft, potentially not just for the military, but also for space exploration or space mining, Stevenson said.

He said it could also tie into a vision of lifting people from pad to pad during the Olympics in 2034. So while the effort to site a spaceport in Utah is separate from 47Gs work to create an advanced air mobility system, its related.

Itd be pretty cool to ride your air taxi to your spaceship, Stevenson said jokingly in a recent Senate media availability.

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Though he acknowledged, this all ties together, adding that if the full Utah Legislature approves SB62, the Spaceport Exploration Committee would work to answer a lot of questions, maybe even outside of the realm were thinking in right now as we put this together.

This is broad, and I think when this will be a lot of fun is when we get this committee formed and we start getting input from all of the different players, including air taxis, Stevenson said.

Asked why its worth devoting as much as $1 million in state dollars now toward this effort, Stevenson said its for economic development.

This is the future. And Utah better be prepared, Stevenson said. We can either watch this happen, or we can make it happen, and thats why it demands the funding it does.

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Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, said with Utah expecting to host the Olympics in 2034, we need to be out in front of the world.

We need to be cutting edge, and we need to be ready, McKell said. If we dont think air taxis are going to be part of the Olympics, I mean, of course its going to be. Its going to be incredible. So we need to be ready, we need to be cutting edge, and we need to be ahead of other states.

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An air traffic controller was allowed to leave their post early on the night a helicopter collided with a passenger jet above Washington DC, a report has claimed.

The claim has put intense scrutiny on staffing levels at Ronald Reagan National Airport, where an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, struck a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at around 8.47pm local time on Wednesday.

Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, killing all 67 passengers and crew.

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At the time of the collision, one controller was managing traffic for both helicopters and planes, a job normally handled by two people from 10am until 9.30pm, according to The New York Times.

The duties are typically combined at 9.30pm as traffic subsides into the night, but on Wednesday evening a supervisor reportedly clocked off early.

The NTSB, the government agency that investigates accidents in the US, has said it is too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the crash.

But the Federal Aviation Administration found that staffing levels in the air traffic control tower at the airport were not normal for the time of day and the volume of traffic.

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A report from The Washington Post gave further details and said that two air traffic controllers were handling the jobs of four at the time of the crash.

Doubling up these roles can create challenges because they use different radio frequencies.

The wreckage from the crash, which is said to have followed a near miss the week before - Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Bacon/ US Coast Guard/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The dangers of the crowded airspace above Washington were starkly illustrated by federal incident reports from the area which showed a similar near miss happened 24 hours before the crash on Wednesday.

On that occasion, another passenger jet coming in to land at Reagan Airport told air traffic control it had to abort because of a risk of colliding with a helicopter.

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A week before the tragedy, on Jan 23, a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina had to do the same because of another helicopter.

Richard Hart, a passenger on one of the planes that had to abort its landing, told The Washington Post: They had to circle back around because there was a helicopter in the flight path.

At the time I found it oddNow I find it disturbingly tragic.

During a White House press conference, Donald Trump, the US president, blamed DEI policies for the accident and suggested that incompetent air traffic controllers may also have been to blame.

It has also been reported that the army helicopter, carrying three fairly experienced soldiers wearing night vision goggles, may have been flying higher than its approved path.

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Mary Schiavo, an aviation analyst, told CNN that the helicopter pilot may have confused the lights of a different plane with the aircraft it collided with.

She said: We do see other lights in the area, particularly one bright light from another aircraft.

The air traffic control tower asked the helicopter, Do you have the plane in sight?

The first time I looked at that video I focused on the moving light, not the stationary light, which actually wasnt stationary. Its just a matter of vantage point. Theres a concern that the helicopter pilot may have focused on the brighter, moving light and mistaken it for the plane he was supposed to track.

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AKRON, Ohio (WJW / AP)  The Akron Zoo is taking extra precautions to protect its animals amid an ongoing bird flu outbreak across the country.

Zoo officials took to social media Thursday morning, confirming they were temporarily moving some of their birds indoors as a precaution for our birds safety as cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been detected in Ohio.

The birds, which were included in some photos on the zoos Facebook post, will not be viewable to the public at this time.

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According to zoo officials, all of their birds remain healthy.

Devastating: CLE figure skating community reacts to loss of fellow skaters in plane crash

The Akron Zoo said there is no increased risk to guests, pointing out that the risk to humans is very low.

For our birds here at the zoo, the risk comes from native birds who land on zoo grounds, the Facebook post said. We know you love our feathered friends as much as we do. The health and welfare of our birds is our top priority.

According to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, within the past 30 days, 25 commercial flocks have been affected by HPAI in Ohio, mostly in Mercer and Darke counties.

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The Akron Zoo said the birds will return to their outdoor exhibits when the bird flu risk decreases.

The announcement comes a few weeks after a harbor seal and a Chilean flamingo died from avian influenza at the Chicago Zoo.

Local animal shelter full; city using private rescues

Bird flu is primarily spread by wild birds such as ducks and geese as they migrate. While it is fatal to a variety of animals, those species can generally carry it without getting sick, which offers the virus a chance to mutate and thrive.

The virus can be spread through droppings or any interaction between farm-raised poultry and wild birds. Its also easily tracked into a farm on someones boots or by vehicle.

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Unlike previous outbreaks, the one that began in 2022 didnt die out in high summer temperatures.

More than five dozen people have also become ill with bird flu and one person died since last March. Nearly all of them worked around sick animals. Health officials havent yet found evidence of the disease spreading from person to person.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Alabama school officials say they've seen an increase in reports of mental health concerns from students over the last five years. The state has a program to put therapists in schools, but getting staffing can be difficult. (Getty Images)

Distress

Alabama is dealing with the long-term aftermath of budget cuts and poor mental health planning and trying to find ways to cope amid an absence of reliable data.

Wednesday: The state is rebuilding its emergency care care network after devastating funding cuts during the Great Recession.

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Thursday: Mental health services are critical for new mothers. Accessing them can be difficult.

Friday: School-based therapists are seeing more trauma in earlier grade levels and increasing demand for services.

Monday: The states jails are poorly equipped to work with people with mental illness. Thats led to tragedies.

Tuesday: Law enforcement officers are being trained to find more effective ways to help people suffering from mental health crises.

Julie Box, director of student services at Sheffield City Schools, said students are bringing more trauma into school with them.

Eight to 10 years ago, it was a very strange occurrence to make a referral for inpatient or have a student threatening self harm or making these type threats, she said. Now, its a very common, almost a daily occurrence.

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Liz James, chief executive officer at Riverbend Center for Mental Health in Florence, has a principal who calls her often, requesting that they have a therapist at the school every day.

Right now, doing so would not be feasible.

Many of Alabamas students face mental health concerns.

Riverbend Center for Mental Health saw 860 adolescents in 2023 and 2024. Around 320 had a diagnosis of ADHD. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children with ADHD are at higher risk for mental, behavioral and emotional concerns, including suicide.

Roughly 200 had an anxiety disorder. Nearly 100 were dealing with depression. Twenty-eight had oppositional defiant disorder.

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Many of those students are able to access care through school-based therapists, but problems have persisted.

Ive got an assistant principal who says, I should go back and get a social work degree, because thats what I do. I talk to kids all day that make threats or get in a fight, said Wesley Puckett, social worker with Lauderdale County Schools. It turns into this mental health thing. And so weve got people that are doing this, these things that dont have the training to do it, and of no fault of their own. Theyre just doing the best they can do, but they feel overwhelmed.

In 2010, Alabama launched a school-based mental health program (SBMH), which provides therapists who visit schools during the day, removing transportation barriers for parents or guardians who would otherwise need to drive their children to therapy appointments.

Riverbend had been one of the pilot locations. Their first contract was with Florence City Schools in 1999. The center has 15 full-time mental health employees who cover an area of almost 2,000 square miles.

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James wrote in an email that disciplinary issues impact other students learning, as well.

Teachers, school counselors, assistant principals and principals would be dealing with issues that they are not trained or experienced to deal with, she wrote. There would also be an increase in disciplinary and attendance issues without SBMH being available.

Gayla Cadell, senior program manager for child and adolescent mental illness treatment services, said that Riverbend had worked with school systems to model their program off of California, which was an integrated approach to put mental health services in the classroom.

James said it was loosely modeled on a program from UCLA over 25 years ago.

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In an ideal world, we would have to be able to pay higher, more competitive salaries for all of our therapists, James said.

It would take about $560,000 to provide substantial increases in wages, while also adding more SBMH staff, she said, and five more staff members would mean better coverage.

Therapists visit the schools and provide care to the students. One counselor said that one of the issues with the model is that they have less contact with the parents, which prevents a fuller picture.

There are times when the parents say yes to therapy for their children, and then I call and they dont answer, or I call and they say, they tell me yes, and then as I start getting the information that I need, then they dont answer, said Melvia Moye, a counselor based in Mobile. (Mike Kittrell for Alabama Reflector)

Melvia Moye, a school-based mental based counselor through AltaPointe in Mobile, works at an alternative school and said that one of the barriers for her work is parental consent.

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When we talk about having unlimited resources, if the families arent accepting the resources, then the amount or the unlimitedness doesnt matter, because there are times when the parents say yes to therapy for their children, and then I call and they dont answer, or I call and they say, they tell me yes, and then as I start getting the information that I need, then they dont answer, she said.

Moye said its important to convey what therapy can do for a child.

Therapists in the program are placed at a school so they know whats going on at the school. In a more traditional clinic setting, patients can neglect to bring up their problems in schools.

We have a lot of kids who get therapy from other providers, but the level of communication is not there because the relationships are not there, Puckett said. A big part of treatment is knowing exactly whats going on, because kids can say all kinds of stuff, and its not always true.

Collaborations

Riverbend Center for Mental Health has regular collaborative meetings with the schools in the area.

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But geography can be limiting. Some of the students in the Riverbend Center for Mental Health area live in rural areas. When students need more intensive care, they could require a drive to Decatur, about an hour east of Florence, and a potentially lengthy wait in an emergency room.

Jacqueline Johnson, mental health coordinator for Sheffield City Schools, said that the therapists are able to help as a neutral party that encourages problem solving and reflection.

I think students are more open to that, she said.

Puckett said that a lack of power dynamic between the therapist and student also helps them.

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The therapist doesnt control grades or a school experience.

They leave, and you dont have to walk in the halls and see them every day after you told them you know, your deepest, darkest secret or whatevers going on, he said.

But the program is also limited by the constraints of staffing. According to the American Psychologist Association, the psychologist workforce projections for Alabama in 2024 are a supply of 810 full-time psychologists and a need of 1,490.

James said that, if she had the staffing, if she had the money, then all students who need help would receive it.

Thats money and manpower, she said. That would make the schools a lot happier if we had somebody there every single day.

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She said that many of her employees leave for better work and pay. She said she understands that, and that they work to find people that have the heart for it, that want to do this type of work..

Were staffed at this moment, but tomorrow could be a different day, she said. And thats statewide. I think all mental health centers are struggling with getting qualified staff to do these types of jobs. And mental health pay is not good.

More paid time off would be a luxury, she said. She said she wants to be able to pay people what theyre worth.

I think manpower is a big portion of the problem, and I think salaries and being able to shore people up would help that a lot, she said.

Next: Alabama jails are poor places for those with mental illness to be. Thats led to tragedy.
Content warning: Some details may be disturbing to read. Contains discussion of torture.

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  An Alabama woman pleaded guilty in Norfolk, on Jan. 30, for her role in directing and funding videos of the torture, crushing and sadistic sexual mutilation of juvenile and adult monkeys, according to a release.

49-year-old Stacey Storey was just one of the individuals responsible for the creation and distribution of these torture videos. Other co-conspirators included 51-year-old Michael Macartney, of Chesapeake, 61-year-old Jeffrey Radtke, of Bloomington, Minnesota, and 30-year-old Drexel Venero of Rockville, Maryland.

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On or around June 21, 2022, Storey distributed a video to an online chat groups depicting the torture of a juvenile monkey using a jar of ants and sodomy with an object, killing the monkey, according to a release.

Storey stated, Enjoy this one ladies and gents. She also stated, If you guys would like to send in a small donation for this guy a little bonus for a job well done that weve always wanted to see would be absolutely amazing.

She played a part in directing how the animals should be tortured. Other methods of torture included crushing, a process in which an animal is crushed to death, as well as sexually mutilating the monkeys.

Storey and her co-conspirators collectively paid money to foreign co-conspirators outside of the United States, specifically having communication with someone in Indonesia. The foreign co-conspirators recorded and sent the videos to Storey and her co-conspirators in the United States, who sent them to the broader online chat group members.

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Between at least Aug. 22, 2021, and July 7, 2022, Storey received hundreds of payments to pay for the creation of new animal crush videos by videographers outside the United States. Storey and others had direct communications with a co-conspirator in Indonesia who hired the videographers.

In June 2023, law enforcement seized Storeys electronic devices. Storeys electronic media and accounts contained over 675 videos and 11,000 images depicting animal crushing.

Storey is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10 and faces up to five years in prison.

Regarding her co-conspirators, Macartney pled guilty on April 30, 2024. Macartney was sentenced on Oct. 1, 2024, to three years and six months in prison. Radtke pled guilty on Sept. 24, 2024, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 13, facing up to five years in prison. Venero pled guilty on Dec. 12, 2024. Venero is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22, 2025.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Jan. 30Albuquerque police say a carjacking attempt by a group of teens erupted in gunfire and left a 14-year-old boy dead and a woman injured early Wednesday morning.

Jeriah Salas, 15, is charged with attempted armed robbery, aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at a motor vehicle and conspiracy in the case.

Salas has been booked into the juvenile detention center.

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The Law Offices of the Public Defender said its attorneys were "just beginning to speak with our clients and find appropriate representation for them."

"This is a heartbreaking case for everyone involved. Still, we should not judge these kids as throwaways or lost causes," LOPD District Defender Dennica Torres said in a statement. "We don't know what brought them into this situation."

The Albuquerque Police Department said Salas shot a woman and her husband returned fire, fatally shooting Salas' accomplice, Alonzo Sanderson, 14. Police said seven youths between the ages of 12 and 17 were involved in the robbery attempt and one of them, a 15-year-old girl, was grazed by a bullet.

APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said police arrested all seven of the youths, including Salas, and the other six are charged with attempted armed robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

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"Detectives are investigating the death as a justifiable homicide since the husband of the victim was defending his wife and himself during an armed robbery," Gallegos said. "The wife, an adult female in her 30s, was treated for two gunshot wounds and released (Wednesday) from the hospital."

Officers responded around 12:20 a.m. to reports of a shooting at an apartment complex along Copper, just east of Chelwood Park, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Police found Sanderson fatally shot near a white Chevy Malibu and he died at a hospital.

Police said a teen with Sanderson told detectives someone in a Jeep shot at them in the parking lot of The Ridge apartments, up the block at Copper and Tramway. At that scene, officers found two guns, bullet casings, broken glass and blood but no suspects or victims.

A man called 911 to report his wife had been shot as they sat in a Jeep outside the complex and he had driven her to a hospital, according to the complaint. Another 911 call came in from a woman who said her 15-year-old daughter, who had "an apparent gunshot wound," and her friends showed up to the family's North Valley home but left before police arrived.

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Police said at the hospital a man told them he and his wife were parked outside a friend's apartment when two teens, one holding a gun in each hand, tried to carjack them. The man said one teen shot into the Jeep before he fired back six times with his own gun.

The man told police a teenage girl then jumped into the Jeep and began hitting him and he struck her with his gun, which had been fired empty, the complaint states. He said he then drove off and took his wife to the hospital.

Police said two of the teens found with Sanderson told detectives the group was "cruising around" in the Malibu when they pulled into the complex. The teens said when they passed the Jeep that Sanderson suggested they rob the people inside.

The teens told police Sanderson and Salas got out and pointed guns at the people inside the Jeep before gunfire rang out, according to the complaint. The teens said they put a wounded Sanderson in the Malibu and drove down the street to ask one of their mothers for gas money to get him to the hospital.

Police said one of the teens told them that, as they waited to see if they could get gas money, the group "conspired to say they were just standing in the parking lot, and the blue Jeep approached them and started shooting at the group."
On Jan. 29, 2025, the independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein posted a photo on his X account purportedly showing a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo canceling celebrations and events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Juneteenth, among others.

Intelligence officials are starting to leak to me now too. Heres a memo Defense Intelligence Agency personnel received instructing them to suspend observances including:

- Holocaust Remembrance Day

- MLK Day

- Juneteenth pic.twitter.com/wQvGFxVfMD  Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 29, 2025

The memo quickly went viral on social media and was reported on by several news outlets. For instance, The Associated Press reported it had obtained a copy of the memo and spoke to an anonymous "U.S. official" to confirm it was real. Snopes readers wrote in asking about the memo, whether it was true and what effects it would have.

Snopes could not independently verify whether the memo was real or any other information about it. We reached out to Klippenstein, the AP reporter who wrote that an anonymous government source said the memo was real, and to the DIA for comment, but had not heard back from any of them at the time of writing.

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A post on the r/FedNews subreddit, a forum for employees of the federal government, mentioned pauses on a program named in the memo. It showed at least some evidence that policies similar to those in the memo were being implemented.

According to the photo of the menu shared on social media, it was issued on Jan. 28, and was issued to the "DIA workforce." If the memo is real, that means it would apply specifically to the DIA but not other parts of the Defense Department.

The memo states that "Observances hosted throughout the year by the Command Element, Directorates, and Special Office" would be put on hold until further notice. In more simple terms, the leaders of the DIA would not do anything to observe the following holidays:

Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday

Black History Month

Women's History Month

Holocaust Day/Days of Remembrance

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Pride

Juneteenth

Women's Equality Day

National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Disability Employment Awareness Month

National American Indian Heritage Month

Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth are federal holidays, meaning that DIA employees have those days off work. An asterisk below the list said that the pause would "not affect the federal holidays," presumably meaning employees would still receive those days off.

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It wasn't the only thing the memo eliminated  it also paused "all activities and events related to Agency Special Emphasis Programs," and completely paused "Agency Resource Groups, Affinity Groups, and Employee Networking Groups."

The memo was issued in response to an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term in office. That executive order, titled "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," ordered the federal government to fully eliminate DEI (and accessibility) "mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities" within 60 days.

Sources:

Cooper, Helene. "Defense Agency Pauses Celebrations of Martin Luther King's Birthday, Women's History Month and Others." The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/politics/trump-holiday-mlk-black-history-dei.html.

"Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing." The White House, 21 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.

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"Holidays Work Schedules and Pay." U.S. Office of Personnel Management, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/holidays-work-schedules-and-pay/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

News, A. B. C. "Pentagon Intelligence Agency Pauses Events, Activities Related to MLK Day, Black History Month." ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pentagon-intelligence-agency-pauses-events-activities-related-mlk/story?id=118244237. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

"Pentagon Agency Pauses Celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and More." AP News, 29 Jan. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-holiday-mlk-day-pride-black-hispanic-dei-047bbdbfc12ea6e9a9731f5861d84e70.

Sokolowsky, Jennifer. "Affinity Groups in the Workplace: What They Are and How to Start One." Chronus, 18 July 2024, https://chronus.com/blog/blog-affinity-groups.

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Special Emphasis Programs (SEPs) | U.S. Department of the Interior. 17 July 2017, https://www.doi.gov/pmb/eeo/special-emphasis-programs.

Whisnant, Gabe, and Monica Sager. "Pentagon Agency Won't Observe Black History Month, Holocaust Remembrance." Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-agency-wont-observe-black-history-month-holocaust-remembrance-2023216.
More than six years after a shooting at Orland Square mall in Orland Park that left a high school senior dead, the man accused plans to claim self-defense, according to a recent court filing.

Jakharr Williams is charged with murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery for the Jan. 21, 2019, shooting that killed 18-year-old Javon Britten, of Richton Park, sent shoppers scrambling for safety and wounded a bystander.

Britten was a senior at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields.

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Williams was arrested in Matteson two days after the shooting by members of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force after an intensive manhunt and has been held at Cook County Jail since an initial court appearance that month.

A Jan. 24 filing by Williams attorney, David Drwencke, says his client plans to introduce evidence of felony convictions on the part of the victim, including reckless discharge of a firearm.

The attorney said Williams will also, at trial, introduce evidence of years of what could be classified as bullying/harassment of his client by the victim.

Authorities said at the time of Williams arrest that he and Britten knew each other, and that Williams graduated in 2017 from Rich Central.

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At a brief hearing on the case Friday at the Bridgeview courthouse, Drwencke asked for more time to amend that motion, with Judge Margaret Ogarek continuing the case until Feb. 14. The judge indicated a trial date could be set soon.

Asked why so many years have passed with the case yet to go to trial, the Cook County states attorneys office said it could not comment.

Williams attorney was in a trial Friday and not immediately available to discuss the case

Prosecutors said Williams followed Britten and his friends inside the mall after they left a store and walked near the malls food court.

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Williams began yelling at the group and words were exchanged before Williams began shooting, firing seven times, according to prosecutors. Britten was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died a short time after the shooting.

Prosecutors said the shooting caused shoppers to hide in the rear of stores for safety with store gates closed.

Brittens family said after the shooting he was at the mall with his older cousin/adopted brother, with whom he lived in Richton Park.

Britten, who was known by family and friends as Von, worked part time as a busboy at Red Lobster in Matteson and had recently been accepted into a trade school. His family had said he had hoped to become an electrician.

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Prosecutors said before being charged in the Orland Park shooting, Williams had two felony convictions for robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was on parole for the robbery conviction, with his parole due to end in June 2020, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.

Williams, of University Park, was 20 at the time of the shooting and is now 26, according to jail records.

A court filing showed Drwencke began representing Williams last October, and previous defense attorneys had tried to secure bail for Williams in July 2021 and last fall.

mnolan@southtownstar.com
The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint filed last year against the Colorado Republican Party and its chairman, Dave Williams, that alleged the state GOP violated campaign finance law when it spent party funds to support Williams' congressional campaign.
Amazon has agreed to block sales of skin-lightening creams containing dangerous amounts of mercury.

The agreement settles a decadelong lawsuit brought by the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow.

Amazon must comply with California's Proposition 65, which protects consumers from toxic products.

Amazon on Friday settled a decadelong legal battle by agreeing to block skin-lightening creams containing dangerous amounts of mercury from its website.

The settlement requires that Amazon pay a total of $6 million in civil penalties and legal fees. Amazon must also take specific measures to prevent brands and third-party sellers from offering FDA-banned creams  those containing more than .0065% mercury  on the site.

The settlement, which does not require that Amazon admit wrongdoing, ends a lawsuit originally brought in California by a group of anonymous plaintiffs and As You Sow, a nonprofit that works with corporations to promote environmental and social responsibility.

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The lawsuit was later joined by the California attorney general's office, which sued Amazon under the state's Proposition 65 and its Unfair Competition Law. The AG's office will receive $600,000 of the settlement money.

A spokesperson for Amazon said the company has worked in good faith with the AG's office and is pleased to have the matter resolved.

The original 2014 lawsuit alleged that Amazon, at one point, had 27 products for sale containing high amounts of mercury, sometimes at tens of thousands of times the allowable levels. Mercury is a neurotoxin that can cause prenatal defects and life-threatening kidney, brain, and central nervous system damage.

Amazon knows which brands have already been flagged by regulators as violating FDA standards and California health and safety codes, and their internal filters are capable of flagging others, said Rachel S. Doughty, a plaintiff attorney for the original lawsuit.

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Many of the dangerous skin products have easily targeted "red flags" in their listings, the plaintiffs had argued. Most were made in Mexico and Pakistan, for example. Products claiming to both whiten skin and treat acne were also red flags, because mercury is the only ingredient known to do both, they had argued.

"I have seen an improvement in their website in the ten years since we filed the first case," Doughty told Business Insider. "And that means you will have a harder time finding well-known skin-whitening and lightening products on their website that have mercury in them."

She said she hopes that the settlement will prompt Amazon to be vigilant in policing its site for other potentially toxic products.

"I hope that internally, they don't want this to happen again, and that they are looking for other things that may have mercury, lead, cadmium, and a whole host of other chemicals," she said.

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Amazon said in an emailed statement that the company does not tolerate illegal or evasive behavior from the businesses that sell through its site.

"In this case, all products in question were evasively listed by bad actors and once identified, were removed," the statement said.

"We have proactive measures in place to prevent prohibited products from being listed and we continuously monitor our store. If we discover a product was undetected by our automated checks, we address the issue immediately and refine our controls."

Read the original article on Business Insider
America is proud of being a nation built on the back of small business. Or at least thats the narrative we tell ourselves, writes reader Peter McMahon from the Hill Country outpost of Boerne, Texas.

But, he writes, does that story still exist or has corporate America changed the story to a myth?

Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post.

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Stellar question, Peter! And you may be on to something.

On a firm-by-firm basis, small businesses score an easy win, according to beautifully detailed Census Bureau data - the invaluable Business Dynamics Statistics - built from government records drawn from just about every private sector employer in the country. About 60 percent of American businesses have fewer than five employees, and 98 percent have fewer than 100 employees.

But were not sure about the utility of a measure that counts Goldman Sachs and Tariqs #1 Halal Food equally - even if we can all agree that Tariq makes the superior chicken biryani.

If we weigh Americas businesses instead by the number of their employees, we see the trend Texas Pete feared: Before the Great Recession, most Americans worked for businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Today, its reversed, with 53 percent of us working for businesses with 500 or more workers.

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The rule applies across the economy - the smaller the business, the slower the growth. But the real drivers of this economy-wide shift sit at the extremes: Businesses with fewer than 100 employees have steadily lost ground while business with more than 10,000 employees have gained.

To understand whats driving this shift, we called Stacy Mitchell, who co-directs the small-biz boosters at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Portland, Maine.

The notion of being a nation of small businesses and farmers and people who control their own destiny when it comes to the economy is very much aligned with the idea that were a country where we control our own political destiny, Mitchell said.

But Mitchell has now entered her I told-you-so era - our words, not hers - as much of the mainstream, particularly the Biden administration, has awakened to the dangers of unchecked corporate consolidation.

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Big-business supremacy wasnt inevitable, Mitchell said. Given an even playing field, nimble, local entrepreneurs show time and again that they can provide better service at lower costs. Our situation today, she said, came from a conscious decision to make the playing field less even.

In the 1970s and 80s, politicians from both political parties began to abandon small business, she said. There was a sense that the key to progress was ever-larger corporations, that if we let companies get bigger they would be more efficient, they would generate all these benefits.

This shift from fairness to efficiency led to cuts in antitrust enforcement. For example, in the early 1980s, the Reagan administration stopped enforcing the 1936 Robinson-Patman Act, which protected local grocers by forcing suppliers to sell at the same price to all their customers - thus preventing the Walmarts of the day from strong-arming suppliers into sweetheart deals.

For a recent piece in the Atlantic, Mitchell chronicled the effect of this decision by painstakingly assembling data on more than a century of grocery-industry consolidation. It shows the market share of the largest grocery chains fell in the wake of the act and hovered just below 20 percent until the 1990s. But in that decade, as deregulation begot accelerating consolidation, the market share of the dominant players soared. By 2022, just four chains controlled more than half the market.

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We see the same pattern in the Business Dynamics Statistics, where grocery firms with at least 10,000 employees go from employing about a third of workers in 1978 to employing about two-thirds of workers in 2022.

Grocers stand out because theyre such a major employer. But there are 20 industries among the 280-plus for which we have data that saw even faster consolidation. They include many other retailers - health, clothing, auto parts and tires, home furnishings, sporting goods, and electronics - but also motion pictures and, biggest of all in terms of employment, general hospitals.

Its not even worth charting their opposite numbers, the industries where consolidation has fallen. The only ones to escape it have shriveled to the point where its hard for anyone to scrape together 10,000 workers - think coal mining or tobacco manufacturing.

Similarly, there are few bright spots among the firms where very small businesses (fewer than 100 employees) are making gains. The exceptions include beverage manufacturing (which includes microbreweries, distilleries and wineries in addition to the cola colossuses), an other services category that includes parking lot attendants and pet groomers, and a transportation category that includes independent truckers, tow trucks and snowplows.

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The industries in which huge employers added the most jobs included grocery stores and hospitals, but also other fast-growing, super-centralized industries such as dollar stores and employment agencies, a category that includes temp workers.

One of the biggest drags on small-business employment came from cut-and-sew clothing manufacturing, a classic example of an industry that simply struggled across the board. But other sectors show a clearer pattern of consolidation.

Take gas stations. While gas station employment has remained fairly steady, small owners have slowly vanished. In the late 1970s, about 73 percent of gas station staff worked for firms with fewer than 100 employees. Today, its 39 percent.

Or clothing stores. Their employment boomed during the mall and big-box eras. But in the process, tiny businesses went from employing 55 percent of workers to just 16 percent today.

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A surprise came when we looked at the sectors that had done the most to stem the tiny-business decline. Tiny restaurants added 3.6 million jobs since the late 1970s, enough to offset almost all of the combined 4 million in losses from the 131 industries that shed tiny-business jobs.

One caveat is that BDS counts some franchises as small businesses, but that seems fair enough - a locally owned franchise with fewer than 100 workers sounds like a small business to us.

With all that in mind, could restaurants be a secret small-business success story?

Despite all the anecdotes about how many restaurants fail in their first year, it turns out theyve quietly conquered America. They have the biggest job growth of any industry since the late 1970s, well ahead of employment services and hospitals.

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Separate data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that U.S. restaurant spending kept setting records, so small businesses in the restaurant industry may simply have been swept along in Americans long and increasingly torrid love affair with not cooking at home.

But what of that devastating failure rate? Something on the order of 60 percent of restaurants are said to fail in the first year. But when you start tracking the citations, the sourcing gets iffy. So we turned to the Business Employment Dynamics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not to be confused with the Business Dynamics Statistics above, the BED grows from the universally beloved Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the ultra-high-quality labor market data derived from official unemployment insurance records for just about every business in the country. The QCEW has tracked individual businesses for decades, which allows it to follow each establishment from founding to failure. And with those records, it produces a remarkable little report on private-sector business survival rates.

The results left us rattled. Of all restaurant and related establishments born in 2023, an incredible 86.4 percent survived to 2024. (Were basing this on the accommodation and food services sector, of which almost 80 percent are restaurants). Their 13.6 percent failure rate was the lowest of all 19 sectors measured.

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Over the past decade, the five-year restaurant failure rate was just 44 percent, better than the total private-sector rate of 49 percent. The majority of restaurants didnt fail until Year 7 - honestly a pretty good half-life in U.S. business terms.

The highest failure rate was claimed by businesses in the information sector, a broad segment that includes everything from newspapers to telecom to tech start-ups.

Why have small restaurants bucked the trend? We got hold of the single human on the planet most suited to answer: Adam Ozimek.

In 2019, Ozimek co-founded Decades, a restaurant (and bowling alley, and arcade) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He still helps run it, but by day, he works as chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan D.C. think tank focused on boosting small-business creation, entrepreneurship and the like.

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Ozimek agreed Americas rapid restaurant growth probably helped smaller operators such as himself. He reminded us of an authoritative 2022 paper in the top journal Econometrica that analyzed the living daylights out of the BDS and found slowing workforce growth deserved much of the blame for the dominance of big businesses.

Their complex work imparts a simple lesson: Growth means new blood and new opportunities. Without it, older, bigger firms have the upper hand.

Imagine, Ozimek said, a town with just one grocery store and a falling population.

If you open up a second grocery store, that means you have to steal every customer from that other grocery store, Ozimek said. Its tough sledding. In contrast, if you live in a place where population is growing  every year theres gonna be more new customers. I dont have to steal customers from somebody else.

He pointed us to University of Texas economist Shikhar Singla, who analyzed almost five decades of rules from the Federal Register - AI helped him identify almost 60,000 rules and proposed rules - and showed that as regulations become more costly in an industry, sales and employment at small businesses fall.

Why does this happen? It reminds us of something Mitchell said about tax law. The more complicated it gets, the more it favors the big guys. Remember Tariqs halal truck: He cant set up shell companies in the Cayman Islands to shelter his gyro gains from the IRS, so he may forever pay higher tax rates than his well-capitalized competition.

The rise of the internet posed another obstacle to small business, Mitchell said. A few national gatekeepers - think Facebook, Amazon (founded by Jeff Bezos, who owns this newspaper), Uber and Google - have been able to squeeze small businesses who need their platforms to sell or advertise.

That seems like another clue. Unlike many retail sectors, restaurant dining seems almost internet-proof. We struggle to foresee a future in which all of our pizza and pad Thai is dropshipped from a single warehouse somewhere outside Nashville.

Graphics:

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/c3241823-e244-405f-a0c1-1480275dc4f5.pdf

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/052f05d3-c803-47d3-a34e-2877dde56856.pdf

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https://washingtonpost.com/documents/9dda6d38-c0e5-47c9-ba8b-c44a4f35980e.pdf

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/b42c0022-8919-4c39-bb65-0b16f9e93384.pdf

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https://washingtonpost.com/documents/57b45d00-b173-4970-b2f1-1e9ad5ba6773.pdf

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/d35a307c-7f5e-4777-ac4c-bfbacc2604d3.pdf

https://washingtonpost.com/documents/3154b74b-c3ea-4e1d-a271-32c492207baa.pdf

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A pilot on the American Airlines jet that was involved in a deadly crash near Washington D.C. Wednesday night was a graduate of a Florida university, officials confirmed.

Captain Jonathan Campos reportedly graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2015. The university has multiple campuses across Florida and specializes in aviation and aerospace.

First officer on deadly DC plane crash identified by father

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Reports indicate that the American Airlines jet Campos was flying collided with an Army helicopter as the plane was coming in for landing at Reagan National Airport, about five miles from the nations capital.

The jet then went down in the Potomac River. Officials said 64 people were onboard the American Airlines jet, including 60 passengers and four crew members. The helicopter had three soldiers onboard.

Rescue crews had pulled over two dozen bodies from the river by Thursday. Crews said they feared that there were no survivors, making the crash one of the deadliest in U.S. history.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University provided the following statement regarding Captain Campos death:

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Captain Jonathan Campos (Aeronautical Science,15). Our thoughts are with his family and the families and loved ones of all impacted by this tragic accident. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Epic Flight Academy, which is headquartered in New Smyrna Beach, also released a statement following the crash, stating that they were heartbroken to learn of the captains death.

Campos reportedly served as a flight instructor at the academy. The academys full statement can be found below.

We are heartbroken to learn that Jonathan Campos was a pilot aboard the PSA Airlines flight involved in the tragic accident last night in Washington, D.C. Jonathan earned his Certified Flight Instructor rating with us and served as a valued flight instructor here. He was a skilled and dedicated pilot with an undeniable passion for flying. Our deepest condolences go out to Jonathans family, friends, and all those who lost their lives or were impacted by this devastating tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this incredibly difficult time. Epic Flight Academy Epic Flight Academy

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Hamas announced on Friday that among the three Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza on Saturday are an American dual national and the father of the youngest hostages taken from Israel on October 7, 2023.

It named three men  Keith Siegel, Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon as the captives that would be freed in the latest round. The Israeli Prime Ministers Office said their families had been informed.

Siegel, an Israeli-American citizen, was taken from his home in kibbutz Kfar Aza. His wife Aviva, who was kidnapped alongside him, was released in November 2023 as part of the short-lived ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

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Bibas was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his wife Shiri and two sons Kfir and Ariel. Kfir was just nine months when he was abducted, the youngest hostage taken on October 7.

Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas were killed in an Israeli airstrike, and released a hostage video of Yarden Bibas in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their deaths. An Israeli military spokesperson at the time called the video psychological terror, and Israel never confirmed their deaths, but the military has told relatives that they may not be alive, according to a spokesperson for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Kalderon was 52 when he was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz together with his son Erez, who was 11 at the time, and his daughter Sahar, who was 16. Erez and Sahar were also released during the November 2023 ceasefire.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum confirmed the names, and the Israeli Prime Ministers Office said that the families of the hostages have been informed.

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Hamas and allied militant groups have released 10 Israeli and five Thai hostages since a ceasefire went into effect on January 19.

Chaotic scenes surrounding the release of Israeli and Thai hostages in Gaza on Thursday brought condemnation from Israeli leaders and a temporary delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners, who were ultimately released later in the day. Netanyahu described those scenes as shocking, and demanded guarantees from those who mediated a ceasefire deal  Qatar, Egypt and the United States  that the incident would not be repeated.

Hamas is expected to release another 23 hostages over the course of the 42-day truce, including the three set for freedom this Saturday. Eight of them are dead, the Israeli government has confirmed.

In exchange, Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been held without charge, and others who have been convicted of the most serious offenses  30 for every civilian, 50 for every Israeli soldier, and 110 for the nine hostages who are injured or sick and are not soldiers. On Saturday, Israel is expected to release 183 Palestinian prisoners, according to Hamas, 18 of whom are serving life sentences.

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As of Friday, Hamas and its allies were still holding 79 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023, and three additional hostages who have been held captive since 2014.

Bibas family in the spotlight

The Bibas family, and Kfir in particular, have become one of the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks.

Kfirs picture has been featured on many of the posters calling for the release of the hostages that have been on display across Israel and the world for the past 15 months. In it, the red-haired baby boy is holding a pink elephant toy, looking directly into the camera with a toothless smile.

The two boys and their mother were not released from Gaza during the temporary truce in late November 2023, when many women and children were released.

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Shiri Bibas is one of four Israeli women still held in Gaza. The other three  Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, Inbar Hayman, 27, and Ofra Keidar, 70  are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military. Kfir and Ariel Bibas are the the last remaining children in captivity.

Both Siegel and Kalderon were kidnapped alongside some of their family members, several of whom have been released in November 2023 as part of the short-lived ceasefire deal. Their testimonies have provided a glimpse into the horrific realities faced by the hostages.

Aviva Siegel said that while they were held captive together, Keith would ask everyone to identify one thing they were thankful for. Imagine being in the depths of hell and still trying to find one thing each day that you are thankful for, she said, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

A video of Siegel in captivity was released by Hamas in April last year. Speaking to CNN at that time, Aviva Siegel said that her husband looked pale and tired. Hes 65 years old. He was taken from his house with Hamas terrorists in his pajamas, and hes still there, underneath the ground, she said.

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Siegels mother, Gladys Ruth Siegel, died in December aged 97, the family said.

Kalderon has been described by his family as a keen cyclist and expert carpenter, and a man who enjoys music and field trips with his children.

Israel warns on border

Israel has warned that if Saturdays hostage release is as chaotic as Thursdays then it will not open Gazas border crossing with Egypt, which it is supposed to do as part of the ceasefire agreement to allow sick and wounded militants and civilians to leave the enclave.

An Israeli official told CNN Friday that the opening of the Rafah crossing was conditional on there not being a repeat of the scenes in which seven hostages were forced to walk through jeering Palestinian crowds during their release in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

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Israel sent a message (to the mediators) that if the images of Khan Younis will repeat themselves, the Rafah crossing will not open, the official said.

If everything goes smoothly during the handover of the three Israeli hostages, the crossing will open, the official said.

Under the ceasefire agreement, up to 50 injured Palestinian militants in need of medical care will be allowed to cross into Egypt through Rafah per day. In addition to that, civilian Palestinian women and children who need medical care will also be allowed to cross to Egypt.

Egyptian state-run media reported on Friday that the country had finished its preparations for opening the border crossing.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the opening of the border.

This will be the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began, and the first time through Rafah since its closure in May 2024, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X Friday.

According to Ghebreyesus, between 12,000 and 14,000 people require urgent specialized medical care outside Gaza.

The Rafah border crossing was overseen by Hamas between 2007 and 2024, after the group took full control of Gaza after winning elections in 2006. In May, Israeli forces took over the border following their military operations against Hamas in Gaza.

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More than 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage when Hamas militants launched an attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli authorities. Israels subsequent military offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed at least 47,460 people and injured more than 111,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Eugenia Yosef and Dana Karni contributed to this report.

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Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Hamas announced dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Keith Siegel is one of three hostages to be released Saturday as part of the initial phase of its cease-fire and hostage-prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.

Siegel's name along with Israelis Ofer Kalderon, 54, and Yarden Bibas, 35, was confirmed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Friday.

"The Hostages Families Forum welcomes the joyous news regarding the expected release of Keith Siegel, Yardan Bibas, and Ofer Kalderon after 484 days in Hamas captivity.

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"We have both the sacred duty and moral right to bring all our brothers and sisters home. We will not give up or stop at any stage until all hostages return home, down to the last one -- the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial," the group said.

But there was no news on two other Americans, Edan Alexander, 20, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, both believed to be alive in Hamas captivity in Gaza, or the remains of Itay Chen, 19, Omer Neutra, 21, and husband and wife Gadi Haggai, 73, and Judith Weinstein, 70 who were all believed to have perished in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The fourth hostage-prisoner exchange since the cease-fire came into effect Jan. 19 is expected to see Israel release 90 Palestinian prisoners, according to Hamas' Prisoners' Media Office which said that nine had been serving life sentences and 81 long sentences.

North Carolina native Siegel, 65, who moved to Israel 40 years ago, was taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, along with his wife Aviva Siegel, but she was released after 53 days during the first short-lived cease-fire in November of that year.

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Siegel was last seen in a Hamas video released in April in which he reassured his family that he was doing okay.

Aviva Siegel said in a TV interview in September that she and Keith nearly died in the tunnels beneath Gaza where they were held because they were unable to breathe.

Bibas was taken hostage along with his wife Shiri and their two sons, Kfir and Ariel, who would now be aged two and five.

The family are among the 33 hostages slated to be released in the first six-week phase of the deal but Hamas announced during the November 2023 pause that saw 105 hostages freed that Shiri Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

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Israel Defense Forces eventually conceded in February that the three were most likely dead.

"Based on the information available to us, we are very concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children," IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told a news briefing at the time.

Still, Ofri Bibas-Levy, who is the aunt of Kfir and Ariel, told NBC she was clinging to hope she would see Shiri and the children alive again, notwithstanding "the condition the hostages are being kept in."

Kalderon was abducted from a kibbutz with his two children, who were released in the pause in the fighting in November 2023, and two cousins both of whom are dead.

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His cousin, Jason Greenberg told U.S. television earlier this month he did not know if Kalderon had survived.

"It's hard to imagine anybody being able to endure that long and even come back the same person. If he comes back alive, that's a miracle," he said.

Saturday's exchange comes after three Israelis, including a 20-year-old woman soldier, and five Thai nationals were released Thursday and four female soldiers on Saturday in exchange for Israel freeing 310 Palestinians from its prisons.

The first batch of three female civilian hostages -- Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were released Jan. 19, on the morning the cease-fire agreement brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt came into effect.

Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners the following day.
American Israeli Keith Siegel is among the hostages set to be released Saturday, Hamas said statement Friday, as part of the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange with Israel.

Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon will also be released, according to Hamas' statement.

Keith Siegel.

Siegel, 65, was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April, where he spoke directly to his family to say he was doing OK. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Siegel was taken from kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which some 250 people were kidnapped and about 1,200 killed.

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Bibas was abducted along with his wife, Shiri, and their two sons, Kfir, who was 9 months old at the time and would have turned 2 this month, and Ariel, now 5.

During a one-week ceasefire in November 2023 when 105 hostages were released, the Bibas children did not emerge out of Gaza, unlike other child hostages. Its unknown if the Bibas children and their mother are still alive.

Yarden, Ariel, Shiri and Kfir Bibas.

Hamas said during that ceasefire that Shiri Bibas and the two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military said the claims could not be confirmed. In February 2024, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged its fears for the family.

"Based on the information available to us, we are very concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces' chief spokesperson, said in a news conference.

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Ofer Kalderon, now 54, was kidnapped with 17-year-old daughter Sahar and 12-year-old son Erez.

Both children were released in November 2023.

"To get him back has been the one thing that has been the missing piece of their puzzle of recovery," Kalderon's cousin, Jason Greenberg, told NBC Boston.

Ofer Kalderon.

Soon after Siegel's video, his two daughters, Ilan and Shir, shared a picture of them holding hands with their mother, Aviva Siegel, who was also taken hostage on Oct. 7 but released a month later.Keith and I nearly died in the tunnel because there was no oxygen, and Ive been talking about it over and over and over  hard stories. But I want to just tell everybody were not going to stop, she told NBC News' Lester Holt in an interview alongside others whose loved ones were also taken.

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Apart from Siegel, two more Americans are believed to be still alive in Gaza: Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Edan Alexander, 20.

The bodies of four Americans  Itay Chen, 19; Omer Neutra, 21; and the married couple Judith Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73  who were most likely killed on Oct. 7, 2023, are still being held in Gaza.

Israel is expected to release another group of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the three hostages Saturday.





This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The group representing the families of Israeli hostages confirmed Friday the names of three more captives whom Hamas is expected to hand over on Saturday, and there's a dual U.S.-Israeli national among them. Keith Siegel, 65, originally from North Carolina, moved to Israel four decades ago and was among those seized during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.

Hamas had earlier provided three names and Israeli officials confirmed receipt of the list, but it was the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that confirmed the identities, saying it welcomed "the joyous news regarding the expected release of Keith Siegel," along with Israeli nationals Yarden Bibas and Ofer Calderon.

Siegel's wife Aviva Siegel was also taken during the attack, which saw militants kill some 1,200 people and take 251 others hostage, but she was released under a brief November 2023 ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas.

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Speaking to CBS News about a year after her release, Siegel said there were moments as Hamas militants forced her and her husband through tunnels under the Gaza Strip that they felt "sure we were going to die."

Yarden Bibas, 35, is the husband of Shiri Bibas, who was taken from their kibbutz with her two young children Ariel and Kfir during the terrorist attack. Hamas claimed just weeks after the attack that Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli bombing in Gaza.

In a TV interview about half a year later, then-Israeli government minister Benny Gantz indicated that officials knew what had happened to the Bibas family, but said it could not provide details. The fact that, under the terms of the ceasefire deal, Hamas has released women and children before male hostages, suggested the rest of Yarden Bibas' family was indeed dead.

An image from video shot by a Palestinian citizen journalist and posted online shows Shiri Bibas, a resident of the Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, clutching her two sons as they're taken captive by Hamas militants during the group's Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.

Ofer Calderon, 54, was among five members of his family seized by Hamas militants from their kibbutz near the Gaza border on Oct. 7, 2023. His two children were released during the ceasefire in November of that year, but two of his cousins were killed.

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Speaking to CBS Boston only two weeks ago, Calderon's cousin Jason Greenberg said he still didn't know whether Ofer was dead or alive.

"It's hard to imagine anybody being able to endure that long and even come back the same person," Greenberg said. "If he comes back alive, that's a miracle."

The other half of the exchange on Saturday will see Israel release 90 Palestinians from its prisons, Hamas' Prisoners' Media Office said Friday. Among those the group said it expected to be released are nine prisoners who have been serving life sentences and 81 others serving long sentences.

Israeli officials did not immediately confirm the details, but the numbers provided by Hamas were in line with the terms of the ceasefire and the ratio of hostages to prisoners released in the previous three exchanges.

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3rd hostage-prisoner exchange completed, but not smoothly

Eight hostages held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza were freed Thursday in exchange for the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners, in a third swap facilitated by the fragile ceasefire agreement that took effect on January 19.

The exchange began smoothly with the handover of female Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20. She was handed over in a relatively orderly fashion amid the ruins of the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza. But the process devolved into chaos when large crowds surrounded Israelis Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Moses as they were transferred by militants to Red Cross personnel in southern Gaza about an hour later.

The scenes angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delayed the release of the Palestinian prisoners for a few hours until, his office said, mediators of the ceasefire agreement offered guarantees that precautions would be taken to ensure the safety of all further hostages released under the deal.

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President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff ended a visit and left Israel Thursday after the three hostages were released. He spent much of the day visiting Gaza, where he went with members of the Israel Defense Forces, "to inspect the implementation [of the ceasefire], because it is so important," he told Axios.

"How this happens will influence our ability to get to phase-two of the deal," Witkoff said.

Americans still held in Gaza

Seven American citizens, including Siegel, are among the remaining 82 hostages being held in Gaza, both dead and alive.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Edan Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey, are thought to be alive, while four other Americans are thought to have been killed in captivity.

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Israel's 15-month, blistering military offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack has killed more than 47,400 people in the enclave, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health.

The ministry does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties, and Israel disputed its figures during the course of the war, but a study published earlier in January in the medical journal The Lancet said the actual toll in Gaza had likely surpassed 70,000 people.

Entire neighborhoods in the densely populated Palestinian territory have been leveled, and virtually all of its more than 2 million inhabitants have been displaced from their homes, many of them multiple times.

Israel expected to allow medical evacuations through Gaza-Egypt crossing

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Under the terms of the ceasefire with Israel, according to a print draft shared with CBS News by Hamas officials before it took effect, the Israeli military was to allow limited movement of people across Gaza's southern border with Egypt once all of the living female Israeli soldiers held captive were released.

With the release of Berger on Thursday, that appeared set to happen by Saturday.

Both the European Union and the Palestinian Authority, which partially administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said Friday that they were sending staff to help facilitate the limited opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt's northeastern Sinai Peninsula.

"Europe is here to help," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said in a social media post. "The EU's civilian border mission deploys today to the Rafah Crossing at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis. It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care."

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The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said, meanwhile, that a first group of sick and wounded Palestinians would be allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Saturday, with selected patients and their companions being contacted by phone "to arrange travel procedures after securing approvals from the relevant parties" in coordination with the World Health Organization.

In his own statement, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed "the planned medical evacuation of 50 patients via the #Rafah crossing tomorrow  the first since the ceasefire began and the first through Rafah since its closure in May 2024."

The WHO chief added that between 12,000 and 14,000 "people still require medical evacuation" from Gaza, and he called for an acceleration of those evacuations "through all possible routes."

Reports in Gaza suggested all 50 of the wounded Palestinians set to cross into Egypt on Saturday were members of Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas officials have previously said each of the wounded militants would be permitted to leave through the Rafah crossing along with several of their civilian family members.

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New details emerge about military helicopter involved in midair collision

What we know about the victims of the D.C. midair plane crash

Senators press Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and RFK Jr. in confirmation hearings
BOSSIER, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  Across the nation, President Trumps plans for mass deportation are underway, and Bossier Schools recognize the growing fear and uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mission.

Bossier Public School Board (BPSB) wrote a letter to parents on Tuesday to address these concerns; they reiterated their commitment to fostering a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for all students while complying with federal laws strict guidelines.

BPSB states that complying with federal law includes releasing information on the privacy of students educational records and immigration status.

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The letter reads: Bossier Schools seeks to comply with that law and follow all other federal and state laws and district policy, which provide guidance on who is allowed to contact students during the school day. School is a safe haven for children, and we will follow all safety protocols and exercise every power available to us to ensure our students safety and protect their rights as afforded to them by federal law.

Bossier Schools emphasizes that schools are a safe haven for children and we will follow all safety protocols and exercise every power available to us to ensure our students safety and protect their rights as afforded to them by federal law.

For anyone who is an immigrant and a non-citizen, it is essential to know your rights.

The National Immigration Law Center provides information on What to Do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration.

The guide is translated into Arabic, Chinese  simplified and traditional, Haitian Creole, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Spanish.

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Trumps mass deportation costs US billions; separating millions of families

If arrested, you have the right to a private phone call within a reasonable time, and police may not listen to the call if it is made to a lawyer, ACLU of Louisiana notes, If you are detained by ICE or Border Patrol, you have the right to hire a lawyer. However, the government does not have to provide one for you. Ask for a list of free or low-cost alternatives.

For the full letter, see below:

Parent Letter Regarding -IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT- ICE Agents at Schools  BOSSIER SCHOOLS 2025-28-01Download

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Dona Ana County Fire Rescue chief retires

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Dona Ana County Fire Rescue Chief Shannon Cherry retired effective Friday, Jan. 31, the County said in a news release.

Cherry served in various roles for more than three decades, the County said.

Cherrys decades-long career included roles as a volunteer firefighter, career firefighter, fire instructor and fire chief. He is largely credited with securing funding for equipment, fire apparatus, the construction of new stations while remodeling older ones and overseeing the development of a new administration facility, the County said.

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Deputy Chief Eric Crespin will serve as interim chief until a permanent replacement is selected.

Were going to continue to move and maintain that progression that Chief Cherry gave us and were going to continue to do great things, Crespin said.

Las Cruces Fire Chief Jason Smith also retired effective Friday.

Las Cruces Fire chief to retire after 22 years of service

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 Arpan Chaturvedi, Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -OpenAI faces an uphill climb as it argues that Indian courts cannot hear lawsuits about its U.S.-based business in the country, where Telegram has failed with similar defences and U.S. technology firms have faced government heat on compliance.

OpenAI, which counts India as its second biggest market with millions of users, is locked in an intense court battle triggered by domestic news agency ANI for alleged use of copyright content.

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The case gained prominence in recent weeks as book publishers and media groups, including those of billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, banded together to oppose OpenAI in the case.

OpenAI, which is facing new challenges from Chinese startup DeepSeek's breakthrough cheap AI computing, has maintained it builds its AI models using public information in line with fair use principles. The company faces similar copyright infringement lawsuits in U.S., Germany and Canada.

Details of legal rebuttals by OpenAI in other markets are not known, but in New Delhi it is opposing ANI by saying in court filings its usage terms call for dispute resolution only in San Francisco, it is beyond the jurisdiction of Indian courts and it "does not maintain any servers or data centres" in the country.

"It's a pre-Internet era argument which will not fly in Indian courts today," said Dharmendra Chatur, a partner at Poovayya & Co., which advises foreign tech companies.

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"Google, X, Facebook all perform services through their foreign companies and are party to litigation across India," Chatur added, explaining courts typically assess if a website is accessible and offers services to customers in India in deciding the point.

OpenAI did not respond to Reuters queries for this article. Its lawyer in India, Amit Sibal, declined to comment, citing ongoing proceedings.

Six other lawyers, and submissions of two court-appointed experts in the OpenAI lawsuit, Arul George Scaria and Adarsh Ramanujan, said Indian judges can hear the matter.

"It is evident that OpenAI is making their interactive services available to the users in India," Scaria wrote in his Jan. 25 court submission, which has not been made public but was seen by Reuters.

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OpenAI's website shows it charges an 18% Indian tax on paid offerings and it said recently there was a "massive uptake of ChatGPT" in the critical market.

In the OpenAI-ANI case, an outright win on the jurisdiction argument will mean OpenAI will not need to face the copyright lawsuit in India. If it loses that argument, it will have to contest ANI's demand for deletion of training data and pay $230,000 in damages.

The Delhi court is set to hear the case next in February on the jurisdiction and other arguments.

Asked about the lawsuit, Reuters, which holds a 26% interest in ANI, has said it is not involved in its business practices or operations.

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"FOREIGN DEFENDANT"

Batting for the power of Indian courts, lawyers and the court-appointed expert Scaria cited a 2022 decision involving Telegram as a legal precedent.

An Indian author had sued Telegram for her leaked copyright works appearing on Telegram groups, but the company declined to share details saying it was governed by laws in Dubai, where it is based, and had servers outside India.

Telegram disclosed the details after a Delhi judge ruled: "the conventional concepts of territoriality no longer exist ... (Telegram choosing) not to locate its servers in India cannot divest the Indian courts from dealing with copyright disputes."

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The court did not impose a penalty.

OpenAI, however, argues there is 2009 court precedent in India that says merely because an app or webpage is accessible there does not mean judges can get jurisdiction "over a foreign defendant."

Even if OpenAIs argument on jurisdiction fails to stop the lawsuit initially, an Indian intellectual property lawyer said it could later help the company make the point that a court order would need enforcement abroad. The lawyer declined to be named because of the matter's sensitivity.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is not party to the OpenAI lawsuit, it has had a love-hate relationship with Big Tech.

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India's IT minister in 2021 referred to U.S. tech firms and said their "position that 'I will only be governed by laws of America' ... is plainly not acceptable."

In the most bitter public faceoff that same year, Twitter, now X, declined to comply with orders to remove certain content and the government issued a press release, titled "Twitter needs to comply with the laws of the land".

The company complied later but sued New Delhi. The case is ongoing.

Even before Indian legal challenges mounted, OpenAI chief Sam Altman planned an India visit for Feb. 5. An email shows two other senior executives, James Hairston and Srinivas Narayanan, also plan to be in India.

"India is really important ... we've seen massive uptake of ChatGPT," OpenAI India executive, Pragya Misra, said last year.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Kim Coghill)
In the past two years, Chief Judge Gilbert M. Roman has presided over five swearing-in ceremonies for new judges on Colorado's second-highest court. He has repeatedly opened with the same disclaimer about the 22-member Court of Appeals.
By John Geddie and Katya Golubkova

TOKYO (Reuters) - Weeks after Japan revealed details of a landmark energy plan partly designed to keep up with an expected AI surge, the shock rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek has upended conventional wisdom over the sector's future power demands.

It was only last year that Tokyo abandoned its long-held forecasts that its future electricity needs would dwindle with its ageing population, and began accounting for higher AI-driven usage from data centres and microchip makers.

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In late December, the government released a draft of its basic energy plan, a major policy document reviewed about every three years, projecting electricity generation would rise between 10-20% by 2040 and citing those factors.

While Tokyo will not likely hurry to rejig its forecasts, DeepSeek's seemingly leaner models have triggered a broad rethink of AI energy needs that the world's most resource-poor major economy would be remiss to ignore, analysts say.

"It would be risky (for Japan) not to take this seriously," said Andrew DeWit, professor at Rikkyo University's School of Economic Policy Studies in Tokyo.

DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, it had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares.

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Power producers, whose stock prices had outperformed on expectations of ballooning electricity demands needed to scale AI technologies, also took a hit as investors weighed DeepSeek's seemingly more energy-efficient models.

But as analysts parse DeepSeek's potential impact, an alternative view has emerged: its success may lower the barrier to entry in a sector dominated by Silicon Valley giants and catalyse higher overall electricity demand from new AI entrants.

This is a potential headache for Japan, which produces just 13% of its energy needs from domestic sources, the second lowest ratio of all 38 OECD countries, besting only Luxembourg.

"If AI proves to be cheaper to develop than currently expected, that would accelerate its mass introduction rather than slow it. If anything, it would increase power demand in the country," said Yuriy Humber, CEO of K.K. Yuri Group, an energy research and consulting firm based in Tokyo.

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"Japanese officials have taken their time to adjust power demand forecasts even though the AI boom was apparent two years ago. I expect they will monitor the new developments carefully," he said.

The trade ministry, which oversees the country's long-term energy planning, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A senior official at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been briefed on DeepSeek in December and concluded that, while impressive, the technology did not advance existing systems. He said he thought markets had over-reacted.

Tepco, Japan's biggest power company by sales, said it was monitoring DeepSeek's potential impact on power demand closely but has yet to assess its full effects.

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'BITTER LEARNING'

Japan's grid monitor had for years predicted future electricity demand would decline gradually due to the adoption of energy-efficient equipment and a shrinking population.

But in 2024, it revised its outlook to reflect an overall increase, largely driven by an expected 5.14 million kWh of new power demand from data centres and chip plants by 2034.

Senior government officials have also cited AI-related energy needs as a reason to restart nuclear reactors, a sensitive subject in a country that suffered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters when the Fukushima plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

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Mika Ohbayashi, director at Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo, said that DeepSeek's emergence was a "clear indication" that AI may become more efficient and demand less power.

She criticised Japanese officials linking AI energy needs to the promotion of nuclear power, and said the government needs to do more to develop renewable energy instead.

The jury is out over whether DeepSeek's models could trigger more or less AI energy demands in the future, and analysts say its technology needs to be rigorously stress tested before countries rush to change their plans.

But Japan has had a bitter experience of getting its energy preparations for technology wrong in the past, said Rikkyo University's DeWit, pointing to the years before its economic bubble burst in the late 1980s.

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"Japan was a chip leader at the time and they figured they were going to become number one and they built out the power system. And of course, as they entered the 90s as the bubble collapsed, that power demand did not eventuate.

"They've had a bitter learning. So it behoves the policy makers to take this seriously," he said.

(Reporting by John Geddie and Katya Golubkova; Additional reporting by Tim Kelly and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) - Russian forces are slowly tightening the noose around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub whose main supply lines are under threat nearly three years after Moscow invaded its neighbour.

While Ukraine is stubbornly defending the city, its encirclement or fall could put Russia in a strong position to mount attacks in several directions in the east and increase pressure on Kyiv at a critical juncture in the war.

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Inside Pokrovsk, life is bleak. According to the regional governor, 7,000 residents remain out of a pre-war population of 60,000. The last post office recently closed - mail will now be delivered by armoured truck.

On either side of the city, Russian troops are within artillery and drone range of a crucial highway that runs east to west along the entirety of Ukraine, and most cars now take detours along backroads into Pokrovsk for their safety.

In the past several days, Moscow's forces have reached the main rail line into the city from eastern Ukraine's most important logistical hub, the city of Dnipro.

"The situation is generally difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot," said the deputy commander of Ukraine's 59th assault brigade, which is fighting on the Pokrovsk front.

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He asked to be identified by his military call sign, Phoenix, for security reasons.

The officer said the enemy had much greater numbers of infantry, attacked in small groups willing to take extremely high casualties and adeptly exploited the landscape and low-visibility weather conditions to hide themselves from drones.

"Day and night they are moving forwards," Phoenix told Reuters.

Pokrovsk's road and rail connections have made it an important supply centre for a large section of Ukraine's frontline, although in recent months the threat of Russian artillery and drones has limited that function.

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Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said Pokrovsk's transit routes meant that if it fell, Russian forces could use it as a staging ground to push north or west.

"It sets up Russian forces for a potential advance into Dnipropetrovsk region ... further behind the frontlines, they're building and repairing rail lines."

"They can then move up their own logistics and that enables them to push further west."

Dnipropetrovsk region is a large province whose eastern tip faces Pokrovsk, and Russian troops are currently about 5 km (3 miles) from its boundary. It is not one of the four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.

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With U.S. President Donald Trump pressing the sides to reach a peace deal, Moscow's occupation of a part of this region could strengthen its hand in future negotiations.

CHANGE IN TACTICS

Viktor Trehubov, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said the Russians were attempting to bypass and surround Pokrovsk from the west.

He said this differed from their approach to taking previous big urban areas, where they opted for costly frontal assaults and street fighting.

"It seems that, perhaps for the first time, they have started to spare their manpower," he said.

Three analysts Reuters spoke to said that should it capture the city, Russia had two main options for advancing on the Pokrovsk axis of battle.

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The first was to push westward into the sparsely populated plains of Dnipropetrovsk region, which are lightly fortified and offer few natural or urban obstacles for Kyiv to use in defence.

The second was to push north, into a denser patchwork of industrial towns that would be tougher to get through but would enable Moscow to put pressure on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the eastern region of Donetsk.

On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy put one of Ukraine's most senior generals, land forces chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, in charge of the strategic command that oversees a vast chunk of frontline including Pokrovsk.

"He's a well-respected commander and his appointment might lead to improved command and control and coordination between units on the frontline, which has remained a challenge for Ukraine over the past year," said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

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Russia's assaults on the Pokrovsk front are largely conducted by small groups of infantry that use villages and treelines to dig in, said military spokesman Trehubov.

Phoenix, the deputy brigade commander, said the Russians had recently started using a new tactic - sending three- or four-man infantry squads deep into enemy territory to ambush Ukrainian soldiers and vehicles with the help of anti-tank mines.

However, he added that overall the assaults had become slightly less intense over the past month, and that Russia was firing less artillery than six months ago.

Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, said Ukraine struggled to beat back Russia's small infantry assaults because it lacked sufficient manpower of its own to comprehensively cover the front lines.

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Kyiv has faced long-running recruitment and mobilisation issues, and last year there was a rise in soldiers deserting and absconding from a depleted, tired force.

"Ukrainian units are simply running out of infantry," Paroinen said.

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Frances Kerry)
By Marianna Parraga and Elida Moreno

(Reuters) -Some U.S. lawmakers and officials are touting a nearly half-century-old treaty between the United States and Panama to justify the Trump administration's threat to reclaim the Panama Canal - provided it can show the strategic waterway's operation is under threat.

Others, however, say hurdles would loom for any bid to use the 1977 Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty, which took effect in 1999 and guarantees that the canal would remain neutral and open to all ships from all countries, as a pretext for the U.S. to seize it.

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The 82-km (51-mile) waterway's construction was completed by the U.S. in 1914, and since its return to the Central American nation in 1999, it has been controlled by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous agency overseen by the Panamanian government.

President Donald Trump vowed to take back the world's second largest interoceanic waterway during his Jan. 20 inauguration speech, falsely claiming that China is operating it. He has complained about the canal's tolls, as well as the presence of Chinese and Hong Kong-based firms in Panama.

In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Louis Sola said the agency that oversees U.S. ocean transportation and its merchant marine would "consider broad reviews of Panama's maritime sector," and could impose fines and restrictions on Panamanian-flag vessels entering U.S. ports.

More than 8,000 ships worldwide are flagged and registered by Panama.

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Ahead of this weekend's visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Panama's President Jose Mulino on Thursday said he could not "negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal."

"The canal belongs to Panama," he added.

IS CHINA'S PRESENCE A THREAT?

Besides stipulating that the canal "shall remain secure and open to peaceful transit by the vessels of all nations," the treaty also gives the U.S. the right to use its military to defend the canal, some U.S. officials and politicians say.

In this week's hearing, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz said a new bridge over the canal being built by Chinese contractors, which he said could shut down transit, and the operation of ports on both ends of the waterway by China, constitute "acute" security risks.

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"Panama may well be in violation of this treaty," the Texas Republican said after listening to U.S. officials and experts.

The $1.3 billion bridge, being built by a consortium between state-controlled firms China Communications Construction Company and China Harbour Engineering Company, is expected to be completed by 2026 after delays and contract amendments.

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has operated the ports of Balboa and Cristobal for more than two decades. The publicly listed company is not financially tied to the Chinese government, though Hong Kong firms are subject to state oversight.

"The presence of the Chinese government, Chinese companies, and especially Chinese state companies, but not limited to them, does raise serious issues and concerns for the neutrality of the treaty," George Mason University law professor Eugene Kontorovich, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said at the hearing.

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The automatic renewal of CK Hutchison's concession at the ports in 2021 sparked criticism in both the U.S. and Panama because of favorable financial terms for the firm. But no concerns were raised about security at the time.

"Hutchison Port Holdings operates hundreds of ports around the world, including in the U.S... If these ports threaten U.S. security, why don't they terminate Hutchison's contracts in their country?" Julio Yao, one of Panama's advisors when it signed the neutrality treaty, wrote in a recent op-ed published in a local newspaper.

"The U.S. cannot force Panama to review or terminate contracts with Chinese companies."

Yao, a specialist in international relations, said arguments for an intervention are based on amendments in 1978 by the U.S. Senate to guarantee the U.S. defense of the canal against any threats. Panama should not recognize those amendments, he told Reuters.

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The eight-paragraph treaty and its annexes do not include a provision over the resolution of disputes or an expiration date.

DO HIGHER CANAL TOLLS VIOLATE NEUTRALITY?

Some U.S. officials have also asserted that an increase in passage fees by the Panama Canal in recent years "disproportionately affects Americans."

Over three-quarters of all vessels passing through the canal originate in or are bound for the U.S., but the canal's tolling system does not differentiate by flag, origin or destination.

In the fiscal year that ended in September, the canal reported a 5% decline in its toll revenue to $3.18 billion following a severe drought. But between 2020 and 2023, the canal's toll revenue had increased almost 26%, its annual reports showed.

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However, the canal's fee structure is based on reservations by type of vessel and size, combined with auctions for ships arriving without reservations and a variable water surcharge.

Military vessels from any nation are subject to tolls different from commercial vessels. U.S. military ships have priority of passage.

The treaty only states that "tolls and other charges for transit and ancillary services shall be just, reasonable, equitable and consistent with the principles of international law."

The U.S. is disproportionately affected by canal fee raises mainly "because the U.S. disproportionately utilizes it," commissioner Daniel Maffei from the FMC said at the hearing.

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"We know it is a critical trade corridor, and want to continue to use that corridor and be treated in a fair way," he added.

Toll increases have been applied not only by Panama but by other waterways in recent years, including the Suez Canal, amid demand spikes, geopolitical conflicts and adverse weather conditions worsened by climate change, shipping experts have warned.

"The U.S. no longer operates a fleet of commercial vessels. Less than 10% of all cargo arriving or leaving the U.S. in the 60s were American-flagged. Now it is 1.5%," said former U.S. ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, in a TV interview last week, adding that Panama's toll raise has mainly been triggered by its use of freshwater, equally affecting all ships.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Editing by Christian Plumb and Marguerita Choy)
SHIPSHEWANA  The owner of a LaGrange County animal park has reached an agreement with the federal government to comply with welfare laws after a two-year loss of his exhibitor license.

Vernon D. Miller agreed not to engage in any activity that requires a U.S. Department of Agriculture license for two years under a consent decree entered in U.S. District Court in Northern Indiana. Miller has operated Dutch Creek Farm Animal Park north of Shipshewana since 2008.

If Miller is relicensed in the future, he must comply with Animal Welfare Act regulations to ensure the humane and lawful treatment of animals in his care, according to the agreement, which was announced by the U.S. Attorneys Office, Northern District of Indiana. Miller exhibited more than 300 animals, including deer, zebra, exotic birds and primates, and bred dogs and puppies for sale as pets.

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Miller was accused in October of violating the Animal Welfare Act by failing to provide adequate veterinary care, safe and sanitary housing and sufficient clean food and water. Citations were issued for violations including stalls piled high with feces and food dishes coated in grime or mold as well as failures to properly vaccinate puppies and to provide veterinary care for animals with illnesses or open wounds.

Seven animals died in Millers care in a three-month period, according to an Oct. 23 motion seeking a court order to temporarily stop Dutch Creek Farm Animal Park from doing business.

Miller has accrued an astonishing 90 citations for violating the AWA and its regulations and standards since September 2023, the motion states. The United States requests a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction be put in place before the license suspension expires on Oct. 30, 2024, to prevent animals from being sold or killed without oversight and to ensure that Miller complies with the AWA and provides safe and appropriate care to the animals at his facility while the court adjudicates the merits.

In a motion opposing the restraining order, Miller recounted how his business began and how his family relies on it. He said his animal park hosts a yearly average of 60 school field trips, 15 senior groups and 20 mentally disabled groups.

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In 2008, Miller decided to share this way of life with the community as an educational opportunity, and obtained his USDA Class C exhibitor license so that he could exhibit the animals on his farm. This would also allow him to obtain additional species of animals other than just farm animals, the motion states. The Millers now have eight children, all of whom have worked on the family farm. This has been the familys sole source of income for more than a decade until they were forced to close their doors overnight upon receipt of a letter from the USDA on Oct. 9, 2024, suspending Millers license for 21 days.

Miller denied housing his animals in unsanitary conditions or without adequate food and water. He said he provides veterinary care to sick or injured animals but that the inspectors idea of when veterinary care is needed is broader than in the past.

Before September 2023, Miller was never cited for any direct or critical violations and went seven years with no citations at all, according to the motion. It argues that Millers standard of care for his animals has, if anything, improved over time and that the only thing to change was the USDAs interpretation of its enforcement authority and the applicable regulations leading to a blitzkrieg of 10 inspections in 11 months.

He described in court documents how he and his family were in a complete state of fear during the Sept. 14, 2023, inspection as inspectors went rogue across his farm. Miller said the inspectors disrespected his Amish lifestyle, questioning why he didnt use a tablet in the ticket room, take pictures, use email to communicate with his vet or use a tractor instead of a horse to pull a wagon.

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He asked that he be allowed to probe whether he or the Amish community were being targeted by a policy of aggressive enforcement before the court could consider a restraining order.

What was once acceptable to the USDA for over a decade is now being cited for a violation, with no prior warning or explanation, the motion states. Where the prior USDA inspectors had been cordial, respectful and corroborative, the new USDA inspectors that arrived were critical of the Amish lifestyle and showed no interest in working with Miller and DCFAP to listen to their explanations or correct any minor issues.

Miller addressed the long list of citations in a 31-page affidavit as well as going into detail about the cause of death of the seven animals that were said to have died within three months. They include a goat and a nilgai that died of old age, a deer that broke its neck by running into a fence, an aoudad that had health problems since the time they bought it, a fox they chose to euthanize for health reasons, a dog that died from birthing complications and a crane that died of a head injury after it jumped around inside a barn.

Miller said his business was suspended despite complying with a number of recommendations, such as adding new enclosures and a perimeter fence, at a cost of over $100,000, in addition to hiring a consultant and increasing the parks staff, according to the motion.

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The USDA suspended Millers license for 21 days starting on Oct. 9. and the court entered a temporary restraining order on Oct. 28, requiring him to comply with multiple AWA regulations and standards, provide records and documentation to help monitor compliance and refrain from buying, selling, euthanizing or exhibiting animals without the consent of the United States or the court. The temporary restraining order expired on Dec. 2 and the court granted the consent decree Monday.

A call to the business phone number was met with a voicemail greeting that still lists the parks opening hours. The hours are also still listed on the company website, which bears a copyright date of 2023 at the bottom.
AUBURN, Ala. (WRBL)  The trial of Ibraheem Yazeed, the man accused of kidnapping and murdering 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard, has been delayed once again, pushing the proceedings to the fall 2025 trial term. After more than five years, Blanchards loved ones are still waiting for justice as the legal process drags on.

Yazeed was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, January 30, 2025, for a status hearing ahead of his trial, which was originally set for spring 2025. However, the hearing was canceled.

On January 27, Macon County Circuit Judge William Whorton issued a court order confirming the postponement and canceling the January 30 status hearing. Instead, a new status conference has been scheduled for September 30, 2025. The court noted the case is not ready for trial this term. There is also a possibility the trial could be delayed into 2026.

Angela Harris and her daughter Aniah Blanchard

Blanchard, a student at Southern Union Community College, was reported missing on October 23, 2019. Surveillance footage from an Auburn Chevron that night captured her entering the convenience storeYazeed was also there. Authorities say that brief encounter led to a massive month-long search, which ended on November 25, 2019, when Blanchards body was found in a wooded area of Macon County. She had been shot.

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Yazeed remains in custody without bond, facing capital murder charges. The Alabama Attorney Generals Office is prosecuting the case in Macon County and is seeking the death penalty.

Yazeed

Meanwhile, Yazeed is set to stand trial in a separate attempted murder and kidnapping casethe one for which he was out on bond when authorities say he kidnapped and killed Blanchard. A Montgomery County judge has scheduled that trial to begin on April 7, 2025 at the Montgomery County Courthouse, with a pre-trial status hearing set for April 1.

The last known image of Aniah Blanchard

Blanchards murder led her family to push for legislative change. In 2022, Alabama voters overwhelmingly passed Aniahs Law, granting judges greater discretion to deny bail for violent offenders.

Before Aniahs Law, only individuals charged with capital murder could be held without bond before trial. The law, named in her honor, now allows judges to deny bail for suspects charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, domestic violence, human trafficking, burglary, arson, robbery, Class A felony terrorism, and aggravated child abuse. Prosecutors say there is no way to measure how many lives the law has saved, but they firmly believe it has kept dangerous criminals off the streets.

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Meanwhile, Blanchards family remains heartbroken as they continue waiting for justice. We miss her every second of every day and are anxiously awaiting a trial and justice, said Angela Harris, Aniahs mother.

Blanchards legacy also lives on through Aniahs Heart, a nonprofit organization offering self-defense classes and raising awareness for missing persons cases.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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If scorching heat waves, destructive storms, prolonged droughts and rising seas aren't enough to make some folks fear the consequences of climate change, perhaps this will do the trick: The warmer it gets, the faster rats multiply in cities that already struggle to contain them.

That is sure to be unwelcome news to Americans, who collectively endure well over $27 billion worth of property damage each year at the hands  and teeth  of rats. That doesn't include the cost of the diseases the animals spread, such as hantavirus, murine typhus and bubonic plague, nor the mental health toll of living among them.

The new findings, reported Friday in the journal Science Advances, are based on records of rat sightings in 16 cities around the world. Unfortunately for humans, 11 of those cities saw their rat populations expand over the course of the study, while two cities held steady and only three achieved measurable declines.

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That the rodents are thriving should come as little surprise. They're perfectly suited to urban environments, where they make their homes in walls, basements and subway stations and feast on garbage, sewage, dog poop and abandoned pizza slices. The only continent they have yet to conquer is Antarctica.

This species is really well-adapted to take food and convert that into new baby rats that are scampering around your neighborhood, said Jonathan Richardson, a biologist at the University of Richmond in Virginia who studies wildlife in cities and their impact on human health. They do that really efficiently.

One of the few things that slows rats down is cold weather. And with climate change, we have less of it.

Read more: Column: Man vs. rat: A true tale of life in Los Angeles

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Global warming causes average temperatures to rise, which reduces the number of wintry days. In cities, the trend is compounded by the fact that the built environment absorbs and retains more heat than the rural area around it, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect.

To investigate a possible link between rat populations and rising temperatures, Richardson and his colleagues searched for reliable data in the country's 200 most populous cities. Conducting a thorough rat census was impractical  if not impossible  so they used municipal inspection logs and rat sightings reported to government agencies.

They found 13 cities that had kept consistent records for at least seven years. Then they widened their search and found three more cities overseas. The final group had rat data going back for an average of slightly more than 12 years.

Since the cities used different sources of data collected over different periods of time, the researchers came up with a standardized way to measure the change in rat sightings. They found that rat reports increased the most in Washington, D.C., followed by San Francisco, Toronto, New York City, Amsterdam, Oakland, Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, Kansas City and Cincinnati.

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Three cities  New Orleans, Louisville and Tokyo  managed to reduce their rat populations during the study period. There were no significant changes in Dallas or St. Louis.

Los Angeles wasn't included in the analysis because systematic rat records weren't available. L.A. routinely ranks among the top three in pest control companies' annual lists of America's "rattiest cities," but Richardson said the perennially large volume of rodent complaints had more to do with the city's sprawling size than a uniquely rat-friendly environment.

Read more: This hip Hollywood rooftop has a persistent rat problem, food workers say in claim

Next, the researchers used statistical methods to see which factors might account for the differences in the cities' rat control outcomes. About two-thirds of the variation could be explained by five things, including human population density and the amount of area covered by vegetation.

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The most important factor was the change in a city's average temperature  the more it rose, the more the rat population grew.

A rat crosses a subway platform in New York City's Times Square. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

The change in a city's minimum temperature had no bearing on rats. Richardson said the team initially was surprised by that, since cold weather extends the time it takes for female rats to become fertile and reduces the number of pups in a litter.

In more hospitable weather, a rat can become pregnant when she's just 2 months old, and that pregnancy will last only three to five weeks. The researchers realized that if rising average temperatures caused winter conditions to arrive a week or two later and wrap up a week or two earlier, it could buy a rat enough time to squeeze in an extra reproductive cycle each year, Richardson said.

Read more: Filth from homeless camps is luring rats to L.A. City Hall, report says

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Santtu Pentikainen, a researcher at the University of Helsinki who was not involved in the work, said the study authors made a convincing case that global warming is good for rats.

"The results just make sense," said Pentikainen, a member of the Helsinki Urban Rat Project.

Co-author Maureen Murray, a wildlife disease ecologist at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and leader of the Chicago Rat Project , said she hoped the findings will "motivate people to care that climate change could exacerbate their rat problems."

But Richardson said he wasn't sure the prospect of "more rats scurrying around" will be any more galvanizing than pictures of "the sad polar bear floating on ice."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Any service member knows that a deployment to certain parts of the world, like sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea, and places in Southeast Asia, means they will likely have to take a bunch of anti-malaria pills with them. These pills, while protective, can often do some harm of their own and cant prevent drug-resistant forms of it. To make things worse, these cures can sometimes feel worse than the disease.

In 2022, however, scientists made an incredible discovery that not only treats malaria but takes down even the most drug-resistant parasites while leaving healthy cells completely intact and preventing the spread of the disease. Its a class of chemicals called nucleoside sulfamates, and its a kind of stealth weapon that causes malarial parasites to self-destruct. Its a treatment that is a world away from the kind of prevention currently used in the U.S. military.

For those not in the know, malaria is spread by the Anopheles mosquito. When someone is bitten by an infected mosquito, it spreads single-celled parasites called plasmodium into the human host. Symptoms of malaria include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches, but it can also lead to jaundice, respiratory distress, kidney failure and death. So its no wonder U.S. troops get anti-malarial pills before deploying to a place where Anopheles mosquitos are a problem. But those pills can come with their own issues, and some of those issues include pretty serious side effects.

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The United States Armed Forces uses doxycycline, atovaquone-proguanil and mefloquine to help prevent malaria in deployed troops. Side effects of doxycycline include headaches, nausea and sensitivity to sunlight  not a great thing for a deployed soldier in the desert. Atovaquone-proguanil can cause blistering and loosening of skin. Mefloquine can actually cause brain damage that mimics post-traumatic stress disorder. So, coming up with a good way to treat or prevent this mosquito-borne illness is not only necessary, its a force multiplier.

Spc. Ben Thursby (left) of U.S. Army 418th Civil Affairs team, assigned to Combined Joint Task Force  Horn of Africa, and 2nd Lt. Ben Backsmeir, a West Point Rotary Ambassador Scholar, demonstrate the proper use of a long-lasting insecticidal net during a distribution to residents of Hawi Gudina, July 27, a village hard-hit by a malaria outbreak. The distribution is part of the $1.2 billion Presidential Malaria Initiative to combat the disease, and involves collaboration between CJTF-HOA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Center for Disease Control and the Ethiopian government and local volunteers. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Laird/Released)

Though the worlds first-ever malaria vaccine began rolling out in 2019, and antimalarials see continual improvements, the parasites themselves have started to become more resistant to treatments. However, scientists at the University of Melbourne have discovered a compound that can address the cause and spread of the disease as well as any resistant properties the plasmodia might have. A nucleoside sulfamate known as ML901 can hit the parasite in unexpected ways.

ML901 works by an unusual reaction-hijacking mechanism, Professor Leann Tilley told New Atlas. Imagine a stealth weapon that can be used to launch a self-destruct attack on your vehicle  slamming on the brakes and cutting the engine. ML901 finds a particular chink in the machinery that the malaria parasite uses to generate the proteins needed to reproduce itself and stops it doing so.

The scientists were able to demonstrate the effects of ML901 in human blood cultures and animal cells, affecting only the parasite and leaving healthy cells unharmed. Moreover, it works fast and has long-lasting results, which means it can help prevent the spread of Malaria in the future. While the chemical was only tested on the malaria plasmodium, the future potential of this class of chemical could pave the way for new ways to tackle other parasites and diseases.

With new treatments like ML901, theres a good possibility that U.S. troops anti-malarial drugs will be less of a factor in their everyday deployment life, minimize (or eliminate) harmful side effects, or end the need for preventative pills altogether. There might be a day when malaria is treated on sick call and requires just one day of bed rest, Motrin, water and new socks.
Never trust an anti-racist. That is one of the many conclusions to be drawn from the darkness that followed October 7. To wit: in Parliament, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign  yes, the same outfit that projected from the river to the sea onto Big Ben last year  were allowed to set up a stall to lobby MPs in Westminster Hall in June. But a proposal to set up a Holocaust memorial exhibition in the same space was turned down because it was not politically neutral.

Where was the outcry from the anti-racists? One can only imagine the furore if an exhibition about the slave trade had been rejected rather than one about Jewish suffering. Defending the decision, a parliamentary spokesman pointed out that it was taken on a case-by-case basis. But that was the whole point. When it comes to anti-racism, some cases are looked upon more favourably than others.

Quite how a display about Jewish persecution  created by the National Holocaust Centre and Museum  can be viewed as political remains to be explained. Entitled Vicious Circle, it tells the story of pogroms from Kristallnacht to the Farhud in Baghdad, culminating in the October 7 massacres. We have arrived, it seems, at a point where simply being Jewish, and wishing to mourn your dead, and asking others to acknowledge your pain, has become a political act. But the Palestine Solidarity Campaign? The ones who organise those awful marches through London? The ones who insisted on menacing a synagogue? Fill your boots.

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This was just one shameful episode among many on Holocaust Memorial Day. There was the Good Morning Britain presenter informing viewers that six million people had been killed, Angela Rayner lighting a candle for all those who were murdered and Humanists UK tweeting sorrow for all the victims of genocide.

There was the wreath-laying ceremony on Lowestoft which excluded Jews. There were the disgraceful scenes in Dublin, where a Jewish woman was dragged out for objecting when the president started waxing lyrical about Gaza. This, in other words, was the year that the Jews were told: the Holocaust is not about you.

So we must ask again. Where was the outcry from the anti-racists? Part of the problem was that certain left-wing Jews have assimilated the denigration of their own people. An extreme example was the pro-Palestinian group Jews Against Genocide who mounted a contemptible protest about Gaza at the Kindertransport memorial at Liverpool Street Station. (Were all against genocide but cant we limit ourselves to the ones that actually took place?) These were similar lunatics to the ones who recited the Jewish prayer of mourning for Hamas terrorists outside Parliament a few years back.

So much for those on the radical fringes. But the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) itself also commemorates the genocides in Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia. Why is it only the Jews who are expected to give up ownership of their anguish? And why do we do it to ourselves? Predictably, when the HMDT emailed an invitation to its memorial ceremony, it referred to the devastating violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Predictably, the Holocaust was excluded from Westminster Hall.

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I rest my case. The people who profess to be anti-racist are the ones you have to watch. In this post-moral world, anti-racism has become a Trojan horse for the very sin it claims to oppose.

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It was a day of wrenching emotions: Relief, joy, anger and trauma all spilled out as Hamas released a new round of hostages and Israel freed more Palestinians from its prisons.

In the latest in the series of exchanges under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal Thursday, three Israeli hostages, five Thai workers who had also been held captive by militants in Gaza and 110 Palestinians were freed.

Friends of Arbel Yehoud gripped each others hands, tears in their eyes, as they gathered at a home in southern Israel to watch on TV as the 29-year-old emerged surrounded by masked Hamas fighters with their green headbands and automatic rifles.

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After more than 470 days of captivity, Yehoud looked stunned, surrounded by a giant crowd of Palestinians in the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis gathered to witness her handover. The fighters marched her through the crowd to vehicles of the Red Cross. The scenes were similar as militants freed Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man, and female soldier Agam Berger, 20.

Since the ceasefire began, Hamas has turned each round of hostage releases into a combination of spectacle and ceremony with large crowds, flags and stages. For the militants, its a chance to show off their survival as a fighting force to Israelis and Palestinians alike, as well as to highlight the devastation wreaked by Israel in Gaza during its 15-month campaign of retaliation over the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks in which the hostages were snatched.

But the images of hostages being led through the crowds have unnerved and angered Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shocking scenes and called on international mediators to ensure the safety of hostages in future releases  a commitment he said he later received.

For more than 15 months, Israelis have been riveted by the ordeals of the hostages. Each release has brought an outpouring of relief, intertwined with frustration and sorrow over the dozens who remain captive.

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For Palestinians, the releases of those imprisoned by Israel bring an end to years of separation. Palestinians view the prisoners released as heroes who have sacrificed for the cause of ending Israels decades-long occupation of their land.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a cheering crowd lifted Zakaria Zubeidi onto their shoulders after his release. Zubeidi thrilled Palestinians  and stunned the Israeli security establishment  with a dramatic jailbreak alongside other prisoners in 2021, though they were all soon recaptured.

Zubeidi once headed an armed militia and was imprisoned in the early 2000s for attacks on Israelis. After serving his time, he said he set aside militancy for political activism and opened a theater for cultural resistance in the Jenin refugee camp. Israel arrested him again in 2019 for alleged involvement in attacks on settlers, though in the six years since he was not tried.

Those released included 30 serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis, all but seven of whom were immediately sent into exile.
Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.
A$AP Relli exploded as he took the stand, leading to a heated exchange with A$AP Rockys lawyer. On Thursday (Jan. 30), the fourth day of the trial commenced with Relli being questioned about his past friendship with the Harlem rapper.

After showing pictures of the mans alleged deleted text messages, which claimed he wanted to fight the Dont Be Dumb rapper, and Instagram Stories, Relli became annoyed with Rockys lawyer, Joe Tacopina. The former A$AP associate, ne Terell Ephron, began snapping at Tacopina, becoming agitated that the legal mind put his personal information on the courtroom screen. Ephron claimed that people around the world were sending him death threats for his involvement in the case against Rocky and that his life has been a living hell.

Why are you showing my Instagram? Im already getting death threats, Ephron exclaimed. [People] threatening my daughter, like, whats going on here? Because youre saying Im an extortionist. You putting my whole life on. This is getting really annoying. What does this have to do with the case?

https://twitter.com/shannonsharpeee/status/1885042890554159546

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The judge explained to Relli that nobody is calling you an extortionist and that he needed to simply answer the questions to get through the case. This then leads to a recess where Relli allegedly snapped at Rocky, claiming, You did it yourself, per the Los Angeles Times.

As for the deleted text messages, TMZ reports that lawyer Tacopina shared them with the court. The trashed messages allegedly read, You got all these fake animosity towards me lol beat me up, ni**a I wish u would, Give me a reason ni**a and U been a pu**y, threatening Rockys wellbeing ahead of the alleged shooting incident.

Relli shot back at Tacopina, asserting that the messages were fake texts. However, minutes later, Relli admits to deleting some of them.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Sunday marks 16 years since the discovery of the West Mesa Murder victims. As police continue to investigate this case, theyve come across an obstacle in state law. Now, theyre working with lawmakers to address it this session.

Story continues below

The heinous discovery 16 years ago continues to unsettle the community as police still search for the killer responsible for the West Mesa Murders. It was in 2009 that the remains of 11 women and an unborn fetus were found on the West Mesa.

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Over the years, the Albuquerque Police Department reported that Lorenzo Montoya and Joseph Blea were possible suspects. But theres an obstacle in current state law presenting Albuquerque police with an investigative roadblock, specifically with whose DNA they can enter into their database, CODIS, to connect suspects to crimes.

While APD commander Kyle Hartsock said these rules are necessary, there are some blind spots. One of them is, if we have a suspect who dies before they get charged with a crime they cannot be entered into the database, said Kyle Hartsock, Commander of APDs Criminal Investigation Division.

With Montoya dying in 2006, killed by the boyfriend of the sex worker Hartsock said Montoya murdered, Montoyas DNA cannot be entered into the DNA database. We want to know: is he tied to other cases of sexual assaults, violent attacks, murders, but right now, were not allowed to, said Hartsock.

A change in state law could have a big impact in investigating the West Mesa Murders and other cold cases. APD had its legal team draft up two bills which have now made their way to the Roundhouse. Not having a resolution, it has kept our community in a wonder situation and Im sure the families are still in pain, unable to have some closure, said Representative Yanira Gurrola (D-Albuquerque).

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She is one of the several lawmakers whove signed on to sponsor the bills. To free some resources for the police, this is a big case, said Representative Gurrola. I am a west side resident. I remember this case like it was yesterday. It seems like it was slow motion when the bodies were discovered.

If passed, APD would be allowed to enter a deceased suspects DNA into CODIS to help connect them to unsolved crimes. But, it would only be done with the approval of a judge on a case-by-case basis. We still want a judge to say, Yup if he was alive, Id find probable cause to charge him with a crime,' said Commander Hartsock.

APD is also proposing a second bill to lawmakers that would help get more DNA of convicted prisoners into CODIS. The bill would remove dates of when a crime was committed that currently limits which suspects could be added to the database. It would also enable the Department of Corrections to work with the Office of the Medical Investigator to enter DNA into a database of a person who died in custody.

If you got released from prison from 1996, or you died in prison after that fact, youre not in CODIS. So, we have these offenders from 80s and 90s who got sent to prison before the DNA bill got put on the books, said Commander Hartsock.

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He said these changes could be monumental in solving cases. I guarantee theyre going to solve dozens if not more of our 450 cold case homicides that I have sitting in the basement right now, said Hartsock. A lot of these, theyre solved. We just dont know it yet because that offender went to prison before the law came into effect.

APD said the focus of the legislation is to help give grieving families of cold cases like the West Mesa Murders closure. This is also a common-sense change to the law. The persons dead. Were not going to charge them in the grave. Thats not the purpose of this. The purpose of this is: these victims or the families of these victims still deserve to know what happened, said Commander Hartsock.

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There are an estimated 356 North Atlantic right whales in existence, according to the latest numbers released Monday from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. (Photo by Moira Brown/New England Aquarium)

Conservation groups are praising a recent decision to reinstate protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales in a particularly precarious stretch of ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston decided Thursday to restrict lobster fishing, which in turn restores protections for endangered right whales. That decision overturned a district court verdict by reinstating a 2024 National Marine Fisheries Service rule that cordoned off a 200 square mile area of federal waters between February and April, when right whales are present.

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The First Circuits decision represents a major victory for right whale conservation, said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, who argued the case for conservation groups. The wedge closure affects only a handful of lobstermen for three months but protects right whales from the deadly fishing gear entanglements driving this species towards extinction.

Found along the East Coast, the whales migratory paths overlap with highly productive lobster fishing areas in Maine and Massachusetts, making entanglements in fishing gear one of the major threats for the animals. With a population of less than 400 and even fewer reproductively active females, right whales are approaching extinction with more than half a dozen threats to their existence, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

Along with changes to fishing regulations to prevent entanglements with gear, there have also been efforts to implement speed limits to prevent vessel strikes, another leading cause of death for right whales.

The National Marine Fisheries Service previously decided to seasonally close portions of federal water. However, a 2021 rule left that section off the coast of Massachusetts open for fishing, creating a hotspot for whales to get entangled in lobster fishing gear. The agency then issued emergency rules in 2022 and 2023 to temporarily close that section before making a final rule in 2024.

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The Massachusetts Lobstermens Association challenged the final rule. While the organization is disappointed with the appeals courts decision, Executive Director Beth Casoni said Friday that they are working with their attorneys to determine the next move.

Maine Morning Star also reached out to the Maine Lobstermens Association for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.

The district court judge that rejected the 2024 rule cited the Consolidated Appropriations Act from fiscal year 2023, which deemed state and federal lobster fishery authorizations were already in full compliance with protections for endangered species and marine mammals through the end of 2028.

However, a separate court ruling showed the 2021 rule from the National Marine Fisheries Service was in violation of those protections. The district court didnt take that ruling into account, instead claiming that the 2022 emergency rule wasnt in place when the Consolidated Appropriations Act was enacted so it wasnt a factor in complying with those protections.

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In May 2024, three conservation groups  Conservation Law Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife and Whale and Dolphin Conservation  appealed the district court decision. The groups proved successful when the appeal courts ruling confirmed that the 2024 rule was finalized to be consistent with the Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Editors note: This story was updated to include a comment from the Massachusetts Lobstermens Association.

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Apple filed an emergency motion to stay the Justice Departments upcoming remedies trial against Google as it aims to have a bigger voice in the antitrust case. The motion, filed late Thursday, was made as Apple is appealing the district courts recent denial of its request to play a larger role in the lawsuit.

Apple, in its filing, said that it would be unfairly sidelined in the case if the remedies trial moves forward before its appeal is settled. This trial against Google is set for April, after a federal judge ruled last year it broke antitrust laws in order to uphold its dominance of online search.

If the stay is not granted, Apple may well be forced to stand mute at trial, as a mere spectator, while the government pursues an extreme remedy that targets Apple by name and would prohibit any commercial arrangement between Apple and Google for a decade, per Apples filing.

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This would block Apple from having the ability to defend its right to reach other arrangements with Google that could benefit millions of users, the filing added, as well as negatively affect the companys ability to be compensated for its search deal with Google. Apple, notably, gets paid $20 billion annually to make Google the default search engine on its devices, court documents revealed last year.

Apple would suffer clear and substantial irreparable harm if it cannot participate in the remedies trial, the filing suggested.

Further, Apple will be unable to present its own live testimony or cross-examine witnesses who opine about Apples interests and incentives with respect to the general search market, it continued.

In October, the U.S. Department of Justice said it is considering breaking up Google to dismantle the companys search engine monopoly.

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The starting point for addressing Googles unlawful conduct is undoing its effects on search distribution, the DOJ said at the time. For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users.

When it comes to particular measures, the DoJ could be looking for a federal judge to compel Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to sell off its Chrome browser.

Chrome, according to stats provided by SimilarWeb, is the most popular web browser in the U.S., with 54% of Americans using it as their default browser; the next most-used browser is Apples Safari, which 33.4% of Americans use first.

Apple is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to make a ruling on its motion by Feb. 4. The Google remedies trial is set to start on Apr. 22.

The post Apple Files Emergency Motion to Stay Google Monopoly Trial appeared first on TheWrap.
RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV)  Officials with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) announced the new application period for the Pelahatchie Bay Alligator Season.

The application period will be March 3-14, 2025. MDWFP will offer 24 alligator hunting permits for the Pelahatchie Bay area of Ross Barnett Reservoir during May 2025.

Mississippi man catches record female alligator

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According to the agency, this alligator hunting season is set during the breeding season for alligators and prior to emergence of aquatic vegetation, which restricts boating access.

The two hunting periods for the Pelahatchie Bay area will be:

May 2, 12:00 p.m. to May 5, 12:00 p.m.

May 9, 12:00 p.m. to May 12, 12:00 p.m.

MDWFP officials said each hunt period will allow 12 permit holders among six hunting parties.

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For those seeking access to reproductive care, one's digital footprint could be dangerous. As previous cases have shown, digital communications can become evidence used in prosecutions against people seeking abortions. For example, when Meta turned over chats between a mother and daughter, or when a man used text messages to file a wrongful death lawsuit against three women he alleged helped his ex-wife terminate a pregnancy, reproductive rights advocates have been ringing alarm bells about digital abortion surveillance for years.

But now, in a second Trump term post-Roe, the stakes are higher. This week, the Center for American Progress released a report detailing ways in which social media apps and consumer data could be weaponized to criminalize people seeking, providing and supporting abortion care. Researchers are calling on the public and policymakers to take action to protect private reproductive health information online.

Many authors of and contributors to Project 2025, the far rights authoritarian playbook for the presidential administration, are being proposed as potential candidates for positions in the Trump administration  a clear sign of an orchestrated effort to criminalize abortion care and surveil people pursuing reproductive health care, the report states. As part of those efforts, major tech companies could be weaponized as conduits to track and prosecute pregnant people seeking abortion care and their providers.

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In the report, the researchers raise concerns about the limitations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). While it establishes federal standards to protect the privacy and security of individuals health information, it doesnt cover apps that track users fitness goals, menstruation and mental health. It could also not protect an app where a patient is messaging a healthcare provider.

This also means that sensitive health information provided to these apps by individuals is potentially vulnerable to unauthorized access and misuse, not only by the app itself but also by third parties such as data brokers, advertisers or even law enforcement, the report states.

Researchers also bring attention to big techs business model and how it facilitates mass surveillance of users seeking reproductive health care. For example, people are frequently forced to consent to companies having permission to collecting and use their data, or theyre denied access to the platform. Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade with the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, the reproductive care landscape lacks federal abortion protections, putting patients' lives at stake.

The collection of sensitive health data exposes users to the risk of significant privacy invasion and criminalization, the researchers warn.

Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes.

There is also the concern that without federal privacy protections, the federal government can purchase data on individuals from so-called data brokers  companies like Google, Meta and TikTok that scoop up and sell the data we generate online. Federal agencies exploiting the data broker loophole are then able to purchase this sensitive information without a warrant and may use it as a surveillance tool, the report warns.

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Obtaining peoples search histories and location tracking on apps is also possible. Researchers brought up the case of Latice Fisher, a woman in Mississippi, who was charged with second-degree murder after she experienced a stillbirth at home  before Roe was overturned.

Police searched her phone and found she had previously searched for medication abortion, the researchers stated. Though the case was later dismissed, it shows how private search data can be weaponized to suggest intent to terminate a pregnancy and subject women to criminalization.

Statewide shield laws, which say that courts and agencies won't cooperate if a state with an abortion ban tries to prosecute people traveling, will become increasingly important over the next four years.

These laws help prevent the use of digital surveillance to prosecute people who travel to access care and health care professionals who provide it, the report emphasized. These protections are particularly important in preventing the misuse of sensitive data  such as search histories, location tracking, or data from period-tracking and womens health-related apps  that could otherwise be weaponized to prosecute individuals for accessing care across state lines.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Educating instead of trying to scare students from drug use is the goal for APS with a newer DEA curriculum the district is now using. Its real and its a part of the world that we live in today, said Kylee Shurter, APS prevention and intervention counseling programs director.

In a world with deadly drugs like fentanyl, APS is the first school district in New Mexico using an updated DEA curriculum aimed at teaching kids about drug use. Instead of scaring them or telling them you are going to go to jail or youre going to die look what it does to your body and make an informed decision, said Carlos Briano PIO DEA

Those decisions are informed by what the DEA calls Operation Prevention.

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Lessons for students from age eight to 18 are geared at telling kids about what drugs can do to their bodies.

Story continues below

The DEA made the videos alongside Discovery Education including testimonials from teens and stories about the impact of drugs hitting a different note than older federal programs like DARE. DARE was abstinence it was dont do drugs and that just not a message that works with students it rarely works with anyone, said Shurter.

APS started using the lessons about a year ago with more than 30 teachers getting special training. So far, the district says the curriculum is optional. A teacher of any subject can use it they can download the lesson plans they can download the student activities, theres even virtual field trips, said Shurter.

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Right now, its being taught in middle and high schools but eventually, APS says its looking to make the teaching available for students as young as third grade.

A lot of them have been dealing with issues for many years and already have a substance use disorder so if there is any hope for prevention at all is to go younger and try to get something into the classroom as early as third grade, said Shurter.

The Operation Prevention curriculum is all online.

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(NewsNation)  Recently freed hostages in Gaza waited nearly 500 days for a moment they didnt know would come  a moment of freedom, reunification with family and a glimpse of hope.

But Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack spurred the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, has made the moment a spectacle.

Three Israelis and five Thai nationals were released Thursday, but before they were handed over to the Red Cross, Hamas paraded the hostages in front of a hostile crowd that included hundreds of Hamas militants dressed in black military uniforms and face coverings.

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One of the freed hostages is 29-year-old Arbel Yehoud, who appears stunned in images captured of her as she was pushed through a sea of shouting people.

Thats what its like to be a child in Gaza: Middle East reporter

Those videos of Arbel going out, the release was just awful. It was frightening, every step she made, her friend Daniel Lifshitz told NewsNations Morning in America on Friday morning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned how the release was handled and, in turn, delayed exchanging Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Arbel Yehoud, 29, who had been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters as she is handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 30. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Yehoud, now reunited with her family, spent 482 days in captivity and faces a long road to recovery  physically and mentally.

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My grandmother, she was released after 17 days. It took her about six months to recover, Lifshitz said.

Lifshitzs grandmother is fond of Yehoud, he said, as they would spend time together weekly.

Hamas releases 4 female Israeli soldiers in ceasefire deal swap

Yesterday, it was the first day (my grandmother) was happy since Oct. 7, he said. First day when Arbel being released, (my grandmother) said, Arbel is my granddaughter. Arbel is my soul. I love Arbel.

Hamas announced the names of three additional Israeli hostages who will be released Saturday in the fourth round of exchanges as part of the ceasefire deal that was agreed upon weeks ago. The hostages are Yarden Bibas, 35; Keith Siegel, 65; and Ofer Kalderon, 54, according to the Associated Press.

Freed hostage Shani Goren, center, and friends of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud react as they watch the broadcast of her being released from Hamas captivity, in Carmei Gat, southern Israel, on Jan. 30. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Lifshitzs 84-year-old grandfather, who is like family to Yehoud, remains a hostage in Gaza.

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My grandfather, we have no news about him since Nov. 23  But my grandfather is not in the list for tomorrow, and I really hope that a miracle will come and well see him, Lifshitz said.

Whats next in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?

He said he has been hearing from the Trump administration for weeks about Yehoud and the other hostages, receiving promises they would be freed.

We are so thankful to President Trump thats making that push, Lifshitz said. Theyve been promising us that they are doing all the best to release Arbel, and finally, it happened. Arbel is home.

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The Douglas City Council voted 3-2 to declare a state of emergency in response to President Donald Trump's border and immigration policy shifts.

Douglas's proclamation states that the border town would experience "a potential loss in revenue for (the municipal) government and local businesses" and "an increase in costs to assist the federal government in carrying out these Proclamations and Executive Order."

Douglas Mayor Jose Grijalva expressed concern over the presidents own declaration of emergency at the southern border and a potential closure of the U.S.-Mexico border. The mayor said the changes could hurt the local economy, which relies on the residents of Agua Prieta, Mexico. He said 70% of the total sales tax collected comes from Mexican consumers.

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This is an effort to remain guarded, be proactive and create a preventive position for the city of Douglas, the mayor said.

Douglas, in Cochise County in the southeastern corner of the state, has a population of about 16,500. Agua Prieta, across the border in Mexico, has a population of about 91,000.

In a special meeting Wednesday night, Councilmembers Ray Shelton and Richard Acosta voted against the emergency declaration, sharing similar concerns about its timing.

(Constituents are) saying, if we do this, that it's going to show that we're in an emergency when there's no emergency, Shelton said.

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We're almost jumping the gun, Acosta said. Why is Douglas declaring an emergency? It almost seems like Douglas is going against the administration right now.

Have news tips or story ideas? Reach the reporter at rromeroruiz@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @raphaeldelag.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Douglas, Ariz., declared a state of emergency because of border issues
PHOENIX (AP)  Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs renewed a push Thursday to regulate groundwater in rural parts of the drought-stricken state, and she's more optimistic this time that her efforts will find support in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Hobbs stood alongside local officials, rural Republican leaders and Democratic lawmakers to unveil her proposal to create new management areas to regulate groundwater pumping  long used by farmers and rural residents without restriction. She urged legislators to take swift action to reach consensus.

We made more progress last year on negotiating rural groundwater reform than has been made ever, Hobbs said. Were not starting at ground zero. Were starting at a good place.

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Identical bills were introduced in both chambers Thursday, but neither has Republican co-sponsors. Local conservative leaders like Prescott Mayor Phil Goode urged Republicans in the Legislature not to see water as a partisan issue.

Last time I checked, there wasn't Democratic water and Republican water, he said. There's water for our state.

Travis Lingenfelter, a Republican who chairs the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, said he expects Republicans to introduce rural groundwater legislation early next week, which the senate GOP spokesperson said she could not confirm.

Lingenfelter said Republicans and Democrats started at polar opposite places last year, but ongoing negotiations have brought the two sides really close to a middle ground.

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Groundwater already is regulated in the state's most populous areas  including Phoenix and Tucson  called active management areas, through a law passed in 1980 that hasn't been updated since.

The legislation attempts to provide a just-right alternative between active management areas and irrigation non-expansion areas that limit farming on new land. Active management areas have been criticized as too regulatory, and irrigation non-expansion areas have been called not regulatory enough.

The legislation would create four rural groundwater management areas in basins experiencing severe decline near Gila Bend, Kingman, Vicksburg and Willcox, and shift the Willcox Basin that Hobbs designated as an active management area to the less restrictive model proposed in the legislation.

Conservation guidelines are intended to be more flexible than what Democrats proposed last year. The legislation also would establish councils  similar to what Republicans previously sought  with local leaders who will have the authority to set conservation targets.

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Hobbs said she would not hesitate to act unilaterally if the Legislature fails to come to an agreement this session.

___

The Associated Press women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Thursday the use of force exhibited during the June 4, 2024, officer-involved shooting in Colorado Springs was justified.

Michael Martinez, 33, was shot at least four times by El Paso County sheriff's deputies after ignoring commands. He would go on to steal an unmarked agency vehicle to flee.

Around 10 a.m. on June 4, the Sheriff's Office responded to a motor vehicle theft in the 4300 block of Chamberlin South. According to the reporting party, Martinez had a gun and started to become physical with a male relative while trying to steal a motorcycle.

When deputies arrived, they learned Martinez had "forced" his way into a residence. With him were two females, including his grandmother who requires assistance to walk, according to law enforcement.

After deputies issued several commands to exit the residence, Martinez came to the front door, positioning his grandmother between himself and law enforcement. Officers said commands to release the woman and walk out of the home were ignored.

After refusing to let his grandmother go, Martinez was shot by one of the deputies with a foam round, causing him to release the woman and take off running into the street.

During his attempt to flee, law enforcement says they saw that Martinez was armed with a weapon.

In post-shooting interviews, Sgt. Jared Harmon stated he could see the firearm after Martinez's jacket came off as he began running.

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According to the report, once Martinez made his way to the street, he aimed his firearm at deputies. In response, Harmon and deputy Chad Johnson fired a combined total of 21 shots, at least four of which struck Martinez.

Despite being hit, Martinez continued running down the street, eventually shooting out the window of an unmarked and unoccupied sheriff's vehicle and climbing inside.

Martinez drove the stolen vehicle to the 1600 block of Lenmar Drive, where he was later taken into custody. He receiving medical treatment for his injuries and was charged with assault, kidnapping and motor vehicle theft.

State law requires law enforcement officers to attempt nonlethal methods of deescalation, which the District Attorney's Office says deputies did when they issued multiple verbal commands to Martinez and fired a foam round.

Harmon and Johnson will not face charges, the District Attorney's Office confirmed.

Martinez's case is still pending. His next court date is Feb. 19.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's report on the use of force decision is available here:
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA)  The nation is mourning the loss of lives in the devastating crash that occurred just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 near Washington Reagan Airport.

Congressman Steve Womack (R-AR) addressed the tragedy, saying, The nation grieves with the families of those who were victims of this unspeakable tragedy.

Womack said an investigation will be conducted to uncover the cause of the crash.

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Itll be investigated. We will get to the bottom of it. Well figure out what caused it. I cant imagine it being mechanical because there didnt seem to be any mechanical affiliation to what happened last night, Womack said.

Womack believes the incident was likely due to human error, whether it be in communication, visibility, or aircraft identification. Ive never seen anything like this, as aircraft and air control typically do a great job maintaining separation, Womack said. But its a tragedy, nonetheless, and one that deserves our highest and best attention.

LISTEN: Audio captures air traffic control at moment of DC crash

He also noted that incidents of this magnitude are rare and urged caution before placing blame. Let the facts speak for themselves, and then we can advocate for whatever changes need to be made to ensure this never happens again.

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For travelers like Emmanuel Johnson, the aftermath of such a tragedy can bring about heightened anxiety and fear. Johnson, who was traveling to Atlanta, recounted his reaction when he first learned of the crash.

That was very scary, especially knowing Im flying the next day. I saw it on my phone, and I quickly turned on the TV. Its very terrible. My thoughts go to the family, Johnson said.

Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) also offered its condolences, stating, Northwest Arkansas National Airport joins others in sharing our deepest sympathies with those affected by the tragic accident.

Theres a lot of grieving people today, and America is grieving with them, Womack said.

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The investigation is ongoing.

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  Arkansas native and UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell praised Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust happened in the first episode of his new podcast.

In his ArkanSanity Podcast with Roli Delgado, the two started talking about Hitler during a conversation about Elon Musk making a gesture that was similar to the Nazi salute.

After discussing the salute and Musks social media presence, Mitchell praised Hitler.

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He called Hitler a good guy based on his research. I really do think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy Id go fishing with, Mitchell said to Delgado.

Mitchell would continue giving antisemitic and homophobic statements and said Hitler was trying to purify Germany by removing Jewish people from the country.

Despite praising Hiter, Mitchell claimed that he didnt hate Jewish people and wasnt a Nazi.

UFC CEO Dana White condemned Mitchells comments calling them beyond disgusting at a news conference in Saudi Arabia at a Power Slap event.

Ive heard a lot of dumb and ignorant s*** said over the years, but this is probably the worst, White said in a statement to ESPN. First of all, when you talk about Hitler, he was responsible for the death of 6 million Jews and it was his intent to completely eliminate Jewish people. And thats a guy you would want to go fishing with?

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White was asked about whether Mitchell would face punishment for his comments and said he would face no disciplinary action.

Its free speech, White said. Thats the beautiful thing about this business, for all of you who hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his a** whooped on global television.

Bryce Mitchell is currently ranked 13th in UFC featherweight rankings and is 17-3 in his career, according to his UFC profile.

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Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker (right) chats with House Judiciary Committee members (from left) Chairwoman Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, and Reps. Ashley Hudson and Tippi McCullough, both Little Rock Democrats, on Thursday, January 30, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)

Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker addressed the House Judiciary Committee at its Thursday meeting, noting that her time as chief was off to a little bit of a rough start and reiterating her position about the scope of her authority.

Baker has been on the court since 2011 and was sworn in as Arkansas first elected female chief justice Jan. 1. Throughout this month, she and five associate justices have publicly butted heads and attempted to override each others conflicting decisions.

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There are differences of opinion about whether I have the same authority that chief justices have always had in Arkansas, and I am unwilling to accept that I dont have the same authority to hire the Administrative Office of the Courts executive director, which is the area of contention, Baker told lawmakers. If we cant work that out, well probably be litigating that issue.

On Jan. 3, Baker attempted to fire 10 AOC staff, including Director Marty Sullivan. The remainder of the court, with the exception of Associate Justice Courtney Hudson, declared in a per curiam order that Baker could not make this decision unilaterally.

Some AOC employees, including the director, cannot be terminated without approval from at least four of the Supreme Courts seven members, the five justices stated. Other workers cannot be fired without the AOC directors approval, which Sullivan did not give. He defended his staff in a letter to Baker criticizing her attempt to fire them.

A Jan. 6 order from the same five justices said Baker could not unilaterally appoint three new members to the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, which investigates complaints about the conduct of judges and the justices. Baker issued the three attempted appointments within half an hour of being sworn in as chief justice.

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On Jan. 8, Baker issued an administrative order declaring both per curiam orders invalid, citing Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 80, which states in Section 4: The Supreme Court shall exercise general superintending control over all courts of the state These functions shall be administered by the Chief Justice.

She also cited a state statute that says the chief justice is directly responsible for the efficient operation of the judicial branch and of its constituent courts and for the expeditious dispatch of litigation therein and the proper conduct of the business of the courts.

Baker reiterated her stance on the matter last week in a rare public Supreme Court business meeting and again Thursday.

House Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, said the chief justices appearance before the committee was customary for the start of every legislative session. Baker was scheduled to appear before the committee on Jan. 21 but had a scheduling conflict.

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Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, was the only committee member to ask Baker a question. He asked what he should tell his constituents who want to know how the court can get back on track from the ongoing dispute.

Its my duty to see to the administration of justice, and its difficult to be able to do that right now without being able to hire the [AOC] executive director, Baker replied.

She said AOCs expenses have gone up markedly and she is looking at budgets trying to figure out exactly where those increases are.

She also said previous chief justices have all hired who they wanted for AOC director.

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The Supreme Court has had eight chief justices and two AOC directors since 1988; J.D. Gingerich was appointed AOC director that year and retired in 2017. Bakers predecessor, Chief Justice John Dan Kemp, appointed Sullivan.

Kemp, who did not run for reelection last year, claimed in a signed 2017 memo that a majority of the court could not vote to exercise control over administrative matters because this would impair the constitutional authority of the Chief Justice. He said any such majority vote would be null and void.

Baker used the memo as a basis for her administrative authority in a Jan. 7 email to judiciary staff. Supreme Court Clerk Kyle Burton confirmed the memo was never filed in the clerks office as Kemp said he intended.

The Supreme Court has not issued decisions in cases since early December. Baker told the House Judiciary Committee this is partly because Associate Justice Nicholas Bronni, who was sworn in Jan. 1 after being appointed Dec. 20, has had to recuse himself from every criminal case before the court. Bronni had been the states solicitor general since 2018.
Eight adults were arrested on state charges and at least two dozen were detained and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "for further investigation" in Indian River County, Florida.

The Florida Highway Patrol conducted a joint operation with federal immigration officers in Jefferson County to round up 12 people believed to be in the country illegally.

The arrests and detentions are part of a nationwide effort to round up people in the U.S. illegally.

How many arrests has ICE made so far?

There have been 1,016 arrests and 814 "detainers lodged" as of midnight, Jan. 29, according to a post by ICE on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Sex offenses, previous deportations cited among those arrested in Florida's Indian River County

"One of the criminal detainees in ICE custody has been deported four times," the Indian River County Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook.

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"Another had previous charges for sex offenses, one was out of jail on bond, and yet another had charges for the criminal use of personal identification information."

12 'illegally residing' part of Jefferson County raid in Florida

The Florida Highway Patrol assisted in a Jefferson County raid spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that resulted in 12 people being detained who were "believed to be illegally residing in the State of Florida."

"FHP is equipped and hard at work to enforce illegal immigration laws in Florida," the agency said in a post on X that included photos of the arrests with blurred faces.

"We are ready and willing to follow the governor's lead and work with federal partners to execute the Trump illegal immigration mandate!"

Undocumented Chinese nationals detained in Coral Cables

DeSantis said more than 20 undocumented Chinese nationals were detained in South Florida by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents and Coral Gables Police Department officers.

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A citizen tip alerted investigators to vehicles suspected of transporting the criminal aliens, the FLDE said.

"Under Governor DeSantis leadership and his Operation Vigilant Sentry Executive Order, FDLE has been actively coordinating Floridas law enforcement response to the flow of criminal aliens into our state, said FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass.

The "interception" of the Chinese national Tuesday, Jan. 28, came "just 11 days after more than 20 criminal aliens were detained in Coral Gables, three of which currently face human smuggling charges," Glass said.

FDLE: ICE released 315 'criminal aliens into Florida after their ICE detainers expired'

In 2024, the Biden administration allowed 315 illegal aliens, almost all of whom were violent offenders, to be released back onto the streets of Florida (and thats only the ones that Bidens ICE reported to us). These were 315 criminals that were arrested, taken into custody, pic.twitter.com/DJG2eycr8J  FDLE (@fdlepio) January 29, 2025

"In 2024, the Biden administration allowed 315 illegal aliens, almost all of whom were violent offenders, to be released back onto the streets of Florida (and thats only the ones that Bidens ICE reported to us)," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement posted on X.

Florida Gov. DeSantis vows to veto Legislature's immigration bill

We must have the strongest law in the nation on immigration enforcement. We cannot be weak.



That's what the people expect and what the people have voted for in recent elections, culminating in the mandate earned by President Trump to enact the largest deportation program in pic.twitter.com/1SNgwQ5iZH  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 29, 2025

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A day after Florida lawmakers passed their version of anti-illegal immigration legislation, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would kill the bill.

"The veto pen is ready," DeSantis posted on X.

"We must have the strongest law in the nation on immigration enforcement. We cannot be weak," he said.

"That's what the people expect and what the people have voted for in recent elections, culminating in the mandate earned by President Trump to enact the largest deportation program in history.

The "removal of illegal aliens residing in our state requires strong legislation that will guarantee state and local deportation assistance, end catch and release, eliminate magnets such as remittances, and adopt supporting policies that will protect Floridians from the scourge of illegal immigration. The veto pen is ready," DeSantis said.

What is the TRUMP Act?

The Legislature's immigration bill is called the "Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy," or the TRUMP Act.

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The provision that most provoked DeSantis and his supporters was making the state's agriculture commissioner, currently Trilby egg farmer and former state senate president Wilton Simpson, Florida's chief immigration enforcement officer.

That usurps the governor's "supreme executive power" vested in him by the state constitution, his backers said.

Contributing: C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY Network-Florida; Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers; Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: ICE raids, arrests, detentions in Florida
CANTON, Ohio (WJW)  A person was arrested on aggravated arson charges after a fire was intentionally set in a Canton home Thursday night, officials said.

Firefighters responded around 9:30 p.m. to a report of flames on the first floor of a two-story residence at 719 19th St. NE, with possible victims trapped upstairs, the Canton Fire Department said.

Dwyane Wade reveals cancer diagnosis, kidney surgery

Upon arrival, crews found light smoke in the area. Two adults and three children had already evacuated safely with no injuries, officials said.

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Firefighters quickly extinguished flames that originated in a first-floor closet and spread to the ceiling and front porch, authorities said. The fire caused an estimated $25,000 in structural damage and $2,000 in content loss.

Wayne Dawson launches Fight Like Wayne Foundation amid cancer battle

Investigators determined the fire was intentionally set. Franchessai Winston-Johnson, 41, was arrested on aggravated arson charges, officials said.

No one was hurt.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
DENVER (KDVR)  A shelter-in-place was lifted after residents in an Arvada neighborhood were asked to remain inside their homes while a SWAT team served a search warrant.

On Friday just after 8 a.m., the Arvada Police Department posted on X that the Jefferson County Regional SWAT team was serving a search warrant at a residence at West 64th Avenue and Gray Street. The area is in the Lamar Heights neighborhood, southwest of Hidden Lake.

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At the time, police told residents within a four-block radius of the area to remain inside their homes or businesses. Just before 10 a.m., police posted on X that the shelter-in-place was lifted.

There is still law enforcement on the scene, but police said there is no public safety concern at this time.

The investigation is ongoing, and no other details were provided. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
To what is Trump looking forward after his four years are up? He will be in his 80s then.

 Stephen Metelits, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Hi Stephen,

Litigation could still be a significant feature of Trumps life after the presidency.

In terms of criminal exposure, his 2024 election win halved his caseload because of Justice Department policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. His two state cases, however, are still around in different ways that could further develop in the coming months and years. As Ill explain, Trump could have at least one criminal trial waiting for him when he leaves the White House.

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In New York, the president hired new lawyers to appeal his hush money conviction. That could take a while to move through the state courts and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court. But lets assume, for purposes of this discussion, that he gets his conviction overturned. That wouldnt make the case disappear. It would just get him a new trial.

Suppose he wins relief while he's in office. In that case, a trial would have to wait until he leaves office (and even his supporters have conceded that an unlikely constitutional amendment is needed to run for a third term). But if New York prosecutors want to retry him in that hypothetical scenario, then thats a reality he could face post-presidency. And remember that Judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to the penalty-free unconditional discharge because of his then-impending White House return. If hes convicted again in a post-presidency trial, he won't have that protection from normal sentencing options such as incarceration or probation.

And while Trumps New York case could end in several ways, his other state case  in Georgia  is even more complicated. Not only did that one not go to trial before the election, it didn't even come close. It was derailed by a pretrial defense appeal that sought to kick Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis off the case. That effort succeeded last year at the intermediate state appellate level, and Willis is pressing Georgias top court to intervene.

If she fails and her office remains disqualified from prosecuting the state election interference case, then theres a big question of when or even whether another prosecutor would take on the complex matter featuring high-profile political figures. If shes reinstated, the case can move forward against the remaining co-defendants on the indictment, with Trump being just one of 19 people charged (several have pleaded guilty, but many remain). Like in the New York case, criminal proceedings wouldnt move forward against Trump himself while hes in office. But as in New York, the case could be waiting for him when he leaves.

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So, while the presidents criminal exposure is not as severe as before he won the 2024 election, fighting to stay out of prison could also become a top priority after he leaves the White House.

Have any questions or comments for me? Id love to hear from you! Please email deadlinelegal@nbcuni.com for a chance to be featured in a future newsletter.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Aspiring job candidates made their way downtown hoping to land a new job.

The Urban Erie Community Development Corporation (UECDC) held a job fair campaign on Friday.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., job seekers can come to the Warner Theatre and meet with a variety of potential employers who are currently hiring.

The goal of this event was to build a pipeline to employment and help younger generations find a career path.

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Today not only are the seeds of hope planted to find quality people who want to work but to also push back against that wave that seems to be coming to somehow reduce the talent skills and opportunities of new Americans of people of color of young people and of women, said Gary Horton, director of the Urban Erie Community Development Corporation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 cousin of the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad who was involved in suppressing the protests that started the 2011 uprising has been detained inside Syria, according to state news agency SANA.

Atef Najib was detained in the Latakia region, an Assad family stronghold where some loyalists of the former regime have taken refuge. Assad and his family fled to Russia when rebels swept across the country last year.

His detention comes after Syrias newly inducted interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa warned recently the next government will be pursuing criminals who have shed Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes against us, whether they are hiding within the country of have fled abroad.

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Najib had been sanctioned by the US and European Union for his role in violently suppressing pro-democracy protests in 2011  which raged into years of civil war after Assads forces moved to stamp out the peaceful demonstrations.

Protests against the Assad regime spread quickly in the spring of that year after a group of children were arrested and tortured for writing anti-regime graffiti on walls in the city of Deraa. According to local people at the time, the children had their fingernails removed.

Theyd been inspired by the Arab Spring that was sweeping through several countries in the region, including Egypt and Tunisia.

Najib was then head of the regimes Political Security Branch in Deraa.

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The parents of the children and prominent local representatives pleaded with Najib to let the children go.

They were told, Forget your children. If you want children, make more children. If you dont know how, bring us your women and we will make them for you, wrote Alia Malek in her book The Home That Was Our Country.

The children were eventually released but the army subsequently launched an assault in Deraa and protests quickly spread across Syria.

A senior official in the new security directorate in Latakia, Lt. Col. Mustafa Knaifati, said Friday that Najib was considered one of those involved in committing crimes against the Syrian people.

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The Assad dynastys autocratic rule in Syria was marked by decades of fighting, bloodshed and oppressive political crackdown. All parties to the war carried out unlawful attacks, killing civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure, according to Amnesty International.

Transitional leader Al-Sharaa, whose militant group led a stunning charge by coalition forces to seize regime-held territory and depose Assad in December, has said he now hopes to achieve civil peace.

Al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda member, and his new aides will be tasked with restoring a country riven by more than a decade of brutal civil war that killed over 300,000 people, according to the UN. More than 6 million Syrians have fled the country, the UN said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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A former El Paso County public defender waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday after being arrested in November for allegedly having sex with a child.

Thomas Cushing, 26, was arrested Nov. 22 and faces one charge of sexual assault against a child, according to court records.

An affidavit for Cushings arrest details that he met with the victim, who was 14 years old at the time, on two different occasions for sexual intercourse. The affidavit also confirms that Cushing worked as a public defender, and had told the victim his job was very important and involved classified work.

Cushing and the victim met through the dating application Grindr months before meeting in person, but spoke primarily on the messaging platform Discord, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit states that the victim told Cushing that she was 18 years old, but had made it clear that she was a high school student who was still living with her legal guardians. The affidavit goes on to state that the two times the victim and Cushing met in person in late October and early November  when Cushing is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with the victim numerous times  he picked up the victim from a side door of her school.

There are several sexual messages included in the affidavit between Cushing and the victim prior to the two meeting in person.

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Police note within the affidavit that the victim had several bruises and hickeys from her last encounter with Cushing.

Cushing appeared to court on Thursday out of custody after posting a $25,000 surety bond to be released after his arrest. Cushing's attorney, Josh Tolini, told the court that they would be waiving Cushing's preliminary hearing to continue negotiations with the prosecution.

Cushing will return to court March 20 for an arraignment hearing.

At the time of Cushing's arrest James Karbach, a spokesman for the Colorado State Public Defenders Office, confirmed to The Gazette that Cushing no longer worked at the public defenders office, but declined to comment further.
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk announced this week that SpaceX, the space exploration company founded by Musk, will be tasked with retrieving two NASA astronauts who have been stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024.

The POTUS has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space Station as soon as possible, Musk tweeted on Tuesday. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.

Later that night, Trump confirmed Musks announcement and reiterated the claim that his administration was correcting an error made under the leadership of President Joe Biden. I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to go get the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration, the president posted to Truth Social. They have been waiting for many months on [the] Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!

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NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are indeed scheduled to return from the International Space Station aboard SpaceXs Crew-9 flight, but that is old news. Former NASA Administrator Bill Nelsona Biden appointee who led the federal space agency from May 2021 through January of this yearannounced in August 2024 Wilmore and Williams would return to Earth on SpaceXs Crew-9 flight scheduled for February 2025.

That was not the original plan for the two astronauts. When Boeings Starliner spacecraft took off for the ISS with Wilmore and Williams in June 2024, the pair had been expecting only a weeklong getaway in space, not an eight-month layover. But the Starliner, which Boeing developed in collaboration with NASA, experienced technical problems on its first journey to the ISS with a human crew.

As The Morning Dispatch reported on Starliner and its crew at the time,

How did Wimore and Williams end up with such an extended stay 250 miles above sea level? Their June launch and flight went smoothly, but when it came time to dock at the ISS, several of the Starliners 28 thrusters failed to operate. The thrusters are part of the crafts Reaction Control System (RCS) that enables it to maneuver in orbit. The system generally fires frequently in short bursts to steer the craft, and five of the thrusters malfunctioned when approaching the ISS, prompting a delay in dockingwith some adjustments, the crew was ultimately able to dock without further incident.  Having a few RCS thrusters go out isnt necessarily a catastrophic failure. The Starliners four main engines, which have been in working order so far, would provide the power to get the aircraft home, but NASA requires confidence that enough of the thrusters are working sufficiently to keep Starliner on the right trajectory for reentry and landing.

NASA initially delayed Wilmore and Williams return on the Starliner to run additional testing. We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Sunis return on Starliner, NASAs commercial crew program manager, Steven Stich, said on June 21. Despite technical difficulties, Sich said at a press conference later that week, Our plan is to return them on Starliner.

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But as the days rolled by, confidence in Starliners ability to safely return the astronauts waned. In a decision announced on August 24, NASA stressed there was no need for accepting more risk than necessary for its crew, and announced that the Starliner would return without Wilmore and Williams, who would instead return on SpaceXs Crew-9 flight in February 2025. Starliner is a very capable spacecraft, Sich said at the time. Ultimately, this comes down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return.

Starliner did return to Earth crewless in mid-September and, two weeks later, SpaceXs Crew-9 flightaboard its four-seater Dragon spacecraft, with two seats left empty for Wilmore and Williamssuccessfully launched and journeyed to the ISS.

SpaceXs Crew-9 flight to the ISS was not initiated in response to the Starliners difficulties. The mission had initially been scheduled to journey to the ISS in August 2024, but delayed its departure by a month and narrowed its crew to two astronauts, including a Russian cosmonaut, to accommodate the return of Wilmore and Williams. Still, the plan for the two astronauts return aboard SpaceXs Dragon was announced during the Biden administration, and the spacecraft bringing them home arrived at the ISS while Biden was still president. The Trump-led NASA will oversee that missions completion.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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NASA astronaut Sunita Suni Williams, one of the two astronauts on an unintentionally extended stay aboard the International Space Station, now holds the record for total spacewalk time by a woman.

The record of 62 hours and six minutes was reached during her ninth spacewalk on Thursday, NASA announced.

Williams, who was selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore began their spacewalk early that morning. Their mission was to remove an antenna from the stations truss segment, to prepare a motorized joint for a robotic arm, and to collect samples of surface material to see whether organisms might exist on the exterior of the orbital laboratory.

NASA spacewalker Suni Williams is attached to the tip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station orbits 260 miles above the Earth on Thursday. Williams just broke the record for total spacewalk time by a woman (Credit: NASA+)

Here we go, Wilmore said, as he emerged 260 miles above Spain.

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It was the fifth spacewalk for Wilmore, and the 274th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Williams and Wilmore have been on board the space station since June of last year after a mishap with their brand new Boeing Starliner capsule. The retired Navy captains had expected to only stay for a week.

Williams is seen conducting her ninth career spacewalk. Williams and NASAs Butch Wilmore have been on the orbiting laboratory for months (NASA)

The test pilots will remain in space until SpaceX can take them home. But, that wont happen until late March or early April.

Williams, who is from Needham, Massachusetts, surpassed a previous record set in 2017 by Peggy Whitson: 60 hours and 21 minutes. Whitson also holds the title for the most spacewalks by a woman. Whitson has gone on 10 and Williams has gone on nine.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is seen on the International Space Station. Whitson holds the record for the most spacewalks by a woman (NASA)

After announcing her retirement from the agency in 2018, the Iowan will lead an international crew to the space station on an Axiom Space flight. The mission is slated to launch no sooner than spring of this year.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio holds the single spaceflight record, at 371 days, while Whitson holds the cumulative record at 675.

With reporting from The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP)  Atlanta leaders are reconsidering how they dismantle homeless camps after a man was crushed inside a tent as a bulldozer destroyed makeshift homes in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events.

Cornelius Taylor was living in the camp a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the King family's congregation, where dignitaries gather for each year's commemorative service. A march was held from downtown to the church that same weekend.

Now, Taylor's family is planning a Monday funeral at the same historic church, and then a horse-drawn carriage will carry his coffin to City Hall so that people there can see who they killed, said his sister, Darlene Chaney.

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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that cities across the country can enforce bans on homeless camping. But clearing the camps  as New Orleans did ahead of Taylor Swift's concerts there  remains controversial. Solutions are scarce amid soaring rents, natural disasters and an influx of migrants that drove homelessness up 18%.

The familys supporters hope his death can be a catalyst for change.

Atlanta is the leader in so much," said civil rights lawyer Mawuli Mel Davis, who is working with the family to investigate. We're the leader in movies, we're the leader in music. We're the leader in civil rights and destinations.

Why can't we lead the rest of the country in how to treat the unhoused humanely? Davis said.

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Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens met with family members and spoke of Taylor's death during the King Day service at Ebenezer.

Every life in this city matters to me, Dickens said on social media.

Atlanta police officers were at the scene on Jan. 16, partly to provide protection because some of homeless people had attacked workers in the past, an officer wrote in a police report.

As the large earth-moving machine moved through, a man who had been living at the camp waved down an officer, who found Taylor injured and bleeding. Taylor was able to tell the officer that something had fallen on him and to give his name after the officer pulled him out of the collapsed tent, the report states.

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Then, Taylors breathing decreased. He was foaming at his mouth. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead

Taylors pelvis was split apart, and his spleen and liver were crushed, said Harold Spence, another family lawyer. An autopsy report has not yet been released by the Fulton County Medical Examiners Office.

Taylors death, the mayor said, demonstrates the need to reevaluate and reassess our citys policies concerning homeless encampments, and how we can better serve our unhoused population.

The temporary moratorium being considered by the city council should lead to stronger policies and expanded outreach, Dickens said.

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The tent camp was one of Atlantas largest, occupying a block where buildings were razed long ago and spilling out onto Old Wheat Street, alongside the interstate highways that separate downtown from the Old Fourth Ward.

Although the area was being cleared in preparation for the King holiday events, as Public Works spokeswoman Kim Rankins confirmed, city officials said the plans were made months earlier and there was significant outreach to people living there beforehand.

That process began in April 2024 and connected 21 people to shelter or housing, said Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME, which partners with the city on homeless issues.

These spaces are incredibly unsafe not only for those who shelter in them but also for the communities that surround them, Dickens said.

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Chaney said her brother was an artist  he loved drawing  and even when he was on the streets, he tried to take care of her.

When someone broke into her car one time, he had a fit and was ready to protect me because he was a protector, she said.

I don't know how I'm going to go on," his sister added. I listen to his voicemails, and I'm just grateful I have that."
BOSTON (WWLP)  After reports of immigrant parents keeping their children home from school out of fear of ICE, the attorney general issued a set of guidelines for educators.

Shortly after President Trump was sworn in for his second term, the Department of Homeland Security ended a policy that previously limited ICEs ability to make arrests at or near schools, hospitals, churches, and other so-called sensitive locations.

Know your rights, Massachusetts immigration attorney explains as mass deportations continue

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The Massachusetts Department of Education commented on the decision.

We are really clear about schools obligations to protect students and their information, because this is a strong component of protecting students education information at the heart of it as well, said Russell Johnston, the Acting Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Attorney General Andrea Campbells guidelines are not a formal legal opinion, but are instead strong suggestions on the best ways to comply with federal law while still protecting children. The AG says Massachusetts schools are required to provide equal access to education to all children, regardless of their immigration status. Schools are also forbidden from sharing students information with third partiesincluding ICE without informed, written consent from a parent or guardian. Campbell clarified what information schools should have on record.

As a general matter, schools should not collect for enrollment purposes or maintain documents that contain passport information, visa information, and Social Security numbers, said Campbell.

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She also notes that if ICE attempts to remove a student from a classroom, schools should notify a parent or guardian to obtain consent, or obtain a valid judicial warrant.

22News will keep you informed on ICE and Massachusetts school policies on air and online.

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.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Ten years ago, a Nashville court was the stage for a battle over the right to die with dignity. A two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee, John Jay Hooker, was battling terminal cancer and believed the state Constitution guaranteed him that right.

With well respected lawyer, former US Attorney, former judge Hal Hardin as his attorney, Hooker sued the district attorney, governor and Attorney General for the right to die.

John Jay Hooker was a fighter to the very end. He stood in the breach with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the fight for civil rights. And as he was dying of cancer at 85, fought what he called the last great civil right, the right to die. Hooker believed the state Constitution gave him that right and took the state to court to fight for it.

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Tennessee lawmakers to debate legalizing medically assisted suicide following ban in West Virginia

Hooker believed the right to die is allowed under the Tennessee Constitution.

Hooker believed very much in the Tennessee Constitution, he believed it was a greater constitution as written by our forefathers than the US was and it gives a lot of rights to human beings.

Hooker believed the right to die with dignity belonged with other civil rights rights such as free speech and religion.

Its an absolute right and John Jay believed that the Constitution gave him as a citizen gave him the right to make that decision, it was no body elses business.

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Joined by three doctors, Hardin presented the evidence of why the right to die with dignity should be allowed in Tennessee

We gave all the reason for it, why it was a good thing and there are many many reasons why and there is a lot of data to back that up, but the judge thought that we did not have what they call standing to bring the lawsuit and it was dismissed unfortunately. John J died before we could appeal it and so we had not client and so the lawsuit just died with cause I think I believe we would have won it on appeal.

Hardin said the real issue was not dying, but rather being in control of your death.

I believe to this day that John J, had he won this case and he had gotten a prescription, that he would not have used it. Thirty-three percent of the people that get this prescription never use it, its just a comfort, right? If things get going really bad, I know Ive got this and I can check out anytime I want to or I can make the decision not to.

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Hardin said Hooker was ahead of his time with this fight.

Past debates over medically-assisted suicide in Tennessee

The latest polls that I have seen on this , the majority of worlds population agree with this, that it should be done, there are 11 states in the united stats that have approved this.

Hooker was a fighter and he looked to all sides for help in this fight.

And John Jay was very careful about it, he even went to see religious people, saying is this against Gods rule? and they said no.

Hardin does not believe John Jay Hooker fought this fight in vain. Hardin believes the fight Hooker fought will lead to success eventually.

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I think some day it will pass, some day, I really do. The people once they understand there is no downside to this, they will go for it, I believe.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Auditor of State Rob Sand speaks at a press conference on Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Auditor of State's Office)

Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand issued a report Thursday that says more than $400,000 in taxpayer money was improperly spent through a program run by Iowa Workforce Development.

At a press conference Thursday, Sand characterized the matter as a case of embezzlement that involves programs funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and administered by Iowa Workforce Development.

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The federal money was routed from IWD to the Central Iowa Workforce Development Board, and then to the so-called subrecipient of the funds, Children and Families of Iowa, Sand said.

At Children and Families of Iowa, administrator Jodi Spargur-Tate headed a program tasked with distributing the funds to Iowans, Sand said. This is a program thats oriented around making sure that people have job-training opportunities and pathways to success and prosperity, he said.

The auditors investigation identified $436,180 worth of improper and unsupported disbursements, including $324,586 in payments that were routed to Spargur-Tate herself, according to the report.

And then there was about another $100,000 that was diverted to Spargur-Tates family members for things like rent, utilities and cellphone service, Sand said.

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Sand said the manner in which the alleged fraud was uncovered was a classic story typical of such cases. A worker who was filling in for Spargur-Tate during the latters 2022 vacation noticed one recipient of the funds didnt have a car but was claiming expenses for auto repairs.

Children and Families of Iowa investigated further and then alerted IWD to the potential issues. IWD then requested a special investigation by the auditor.

Sand said the case underscores the importance of public agencies following through on recommendations from the state auditor on how to avoid fraud and protect public money.

For five of the last six years, he said, our offices audits of Iowa Workforce Development told them they needed to be doing more subrecipient monitoring We have been asking (IWD) for six years to go back and look more closely at the people who are getting these funds to make sure that there was a sense of oversight there and that IWD was paying attention to how these funds were spent.

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Sand said IWD did make some progress on that issue, and he noted that the agency had its world turned around during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the demands placed on the states unemployment system.

Some of the improper payments made by Spargur-Tate at Children and Families of Iowa are alleged to include $77,730 that was routed to a relative, Dee Dee Millard, for day care services that were never rendered; $10,014 that went to U.S. Cellular; and $6,167 in payments to MidAmerican Energy.

Sand has again recommended that IWD officials implement additional safeguards, including the monitoring of subrecipients use of public money, to strengthen the agencys internal controls.

In addition, Sand has recommended that Children and Families of Iowa implement procedures to ensure their internal controls are strengthened, including basic segregation of duties surrounding the disbursement of money.

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As of Thursday, no criminal charges had been filed in the case, but Sand said his offices findings have been shared with the Polk County Sheriffs Office, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Polk County Attorneys Office and the Iowa Attorney Generals Office.

In a written statement, Iowa Workforce Development said it remains committed to continuing its concerted efforts to identify and prevent fraud as part of its mission to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

The agency said it implemented enhanced sub-recipient monitoring beginning in January 2020, and that three of the past audit reports referenced by Sand were issued in late 2024, which was more than two years after the fraud was uncovered by Children and Families of Iowa.

This story was updated on Jan. 31, 2025, to include the statement issued by Iowa Workforce Development.
The Aurora Municipal Center and City Hall in Aurora is seen on Nov. 23, 2021. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)

Some families with students in Aurora Public Schools are worried they could be vulnerable to federal immigration enforcement, according to several community leaders who say that some schools have seen low attendance in recent days.

The fears come as the administration of Republican President Donald Trump fulfills his campaign promise to dramatically escalate enforcement against undocumented people, particularly in Aurora, the states third-biggest city, which Trump has targeted by name based on exaggerated or false information about migrant criminal activity.

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The school district acknowledged student fears in a message it sent to school families Monday.

Over the past week, we have heard that families may be concerned about sending students to school in light of recent changes to immigration enforcement that were announced, the message said. Please know that our schools are safe places for all students and families.

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Remarking on the message in a post on Facebook, Debbie Gerkin, a member of the Aurora school board, wrote, We are prepared, but our stomachs are in a collective knot as we care for our students, families, and staff.

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The message might have failed to reassure some families. Bryan Lindstrom, a history teacher at Hinkley High School in Aurora, said attendance at the school is down.

Our attendance is dramatically reduced in the last 10 days, Lindstrom said Thursday. Their parents are keeping them home because they dont feel safe.

The schools student population is majority Latino, he said.

The fear I am seeing and hearing in students is something Ive never seen before, said Lindstrom, who has taught at the school for 10 years. Lindstrom ran as a Democrat last year to represent House District 36 in the Colorado Legislature.

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Messages to Aurora schools spokespeople were not returned Thursday.

Linnea Reed-Ellis, president of the Aurora Education Association, a teachers union, said some student families were concerned about coming to school, but she had not heard that attendance was significantly lower than usual.

Crystal Murillo, an Aurora City Council member and executive director of Colorado Peoples Alliance, which supports immigrant justice, said shes heard that classrooms at multiple Aurora schools across all grade levels have seen unusually low attendance in recent days, a phenomenon thats being reported by teachers, paraeducators and even kitchen staff, she said.

Theyre very aware their classrooms are halfway empty, Murillo said.

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Contacted by Newsline, state Sen. Iman Jodeh and state Rep. Mandy Lindsay, Democrats who represent parts of Aurora, said theyve also heard that attendance at the citys schools is down.

According to district policy, school leaders will protect students and their information from federal inquiries, and immigration officers will be refused entry to schools unless they have a judicial warrant.

Aurora became a focus of the national debate on immigration last year after some Republican city officials amplified exaggerated and false claims, later repeated by President Donald Trump, that members of a Venezuelan gang had taken over parts of the city.

During a campaign rally in the city in October, Trump, in front of a backdrop that said deport illegals now, again used debunked gang takeover rhetoric and dubbed his immigration enforcement plan Operation Aurora.

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Were going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country, Trump said at a campaign rally in September. And were going to start with Springfield (Ohio) and Aurora.

On Sunday, federal law enforcement agents took almost 50 people, including many who were undocumented, into custody during a raid in Adams County. As of Thursday evening, details about the identities of the detainees, where they were held and whether any were charged with crimes had not been released.

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(FOX40.COM)  Sacramento police responded to a suspicious vehicle call in Sacramento on Thursday evening.

Authorities said that crews headed to the 4600 block of Consumnes River Boulevard at around 6:45 p.m.

A spokesperson from Sacramento police said when officers arrived at the scene they noticed the back roll-up door was slightly open. When they opened the door to investigate they found a male and a female who were unresponsive.

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Officials said that this does not appear to be any foul play and that upon investigating the area police found a small fire pit in the back that had been burned. Crews believe that this may have played a role in their deaths.

At this time, the Sacramento County Coroners office is handling the investigation, according to Sacramento police.

Sacramento police urge the community that if there is anyone with any information to reach out to them.

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LOS ANGELES (AP)  The pilot of a drone that crashed into a firefighting plane, leaving a gaping hole and grounding the aircraft during the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of unsafely operating a drone, federal authorities said Friday.

Peter Tripp Akemann faces up to one year in prison, and a judge will determine his sentence, acting U.S. attorney Joseph McNally said. As part of the plea agreement, he will have to complete 150 hours of wildfire-related community service and pay $65,000 in restitution for the damage to the plane, McNally said.

Akemann appeared in court Friday and will remain out of jail under court supervision during his case. He has not yet entered his plea.

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Authorities say Akemann launched the drone from the top of a parking structure in Santa Monica on Jan. 9 and flew it more than 1.5 miles toward the Palisades Fire before losing sight of it. It then crashed with the Super Scooper that was carrying two firefighters. The planes can scoop 1,500 gallons (6,000 liters) of water in just seconds.

The wind-driven blaze in the upscale Pacific Palisades began Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people. Drone operations were prohibited in the area at the time due to the firefight. The conflagration was fueled by dry Santa Ana winds and has scorched at least 36 square miles (94 square kilometers) of land. It was 98% contained as of Friday.

In a statement handed out to the media, defense attorney Glen Jonas said Akemann was deeply sorry for the mistake he made" and accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment.

Federal authorities emphasized Friday it was the responsibility of drone owners to know the rules, and there would be consequences for breaking them, especially as Los Angeles gears up to host several major events in coming years, including the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Olympics.

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The FAA has very strict guidelines about registering drones and where drones can be flown. The onus is on the pilot, if firefighters are putting out a fire with aircraft that should be a clue, said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office.

The Super Scooper, which was owned by the government of Quebec, was grounded for several days. The pilot was able to land the aircraft despite a hole in the left wing caused by the collision with the drone.

Davis said there was no evidence Akemann intentionally caused the collision.

Lack of common sense and ignorance of your duty as a drone pilot will not shield you from criminal charges, he said.

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The fire in the hilly Los Angeles neighborhood, home to Hollywood stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Crystal who lost houses in the fire, forced thousands of people from their homes, and knocked out power to tens of thousands.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire. Officials have placed the origin of blaze behind a home on Piedra Morada Drive, which sits above a densely wooded arroyo.

Another wind-whipped fire that started the same day in Altadena, a community about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Pacific Palisades, killed at least 17 people and destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

The Santa Ana winds have turned seasonal wildfires into infernos that have leveled neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles, where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

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___

Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. ___ This story has been updated to reflect that AP incorrectly reported that acting U.S. attorney Joseph McNally said Akemann will avoid prison time. McNally said Akemann faces up to a year in prison and a federal judge will determine his sentence.
Police arrested a man Wednesday after three months of investigation into a series of bank robberies in Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs Police Department says an investigation into the robberies was begun in November. Investigators say they identified a single suspect, 41-year-old Adama Brown, for multiple robberies.

Brown was taken into custody without incident for an unrelated felony warrant Wednesday. He was then charged with four counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.

As of Thursday evening, Brown remains in El Paso County Jail with a $102,000 bond. He will be in court for his first appearance Feb. 10, following a hearing on advisement Friday.

Colorado Springs police previously announced arresting Brown in June of last year for possession of several illegal drugs and a stolen firearm.
(WFRV)  Authorities at a northern Wisconsin County Sheriffs Office are asking community members for help in search of new training grounds for its deputies.

The Bayfield County Sheriffs Office posted on Facebook seeking community members who know of or have old abandoned properties to offer for training scenarios.

Neenah Police Department honors retiring Lieutenant for over two decades of service

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Officials said that real-life structures are optimal and provide better hands-on training scenarios for the team.

Anybody with suggestions or information is asked to directly message them on social media.

No more details were provided.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
ARLINGTON, Va. (WDCW)  An aviation expert told Nexstars WDCW that the altitude of both the passenger plane and Army helicopter may have played a principal role in the aircraft collision near Reagan National Airport (DCA).

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines plane with 64 people aboard and a military Blackhawk helicopter carrying three soldiers collided near DCA sending both aircraft into the Potomac River. President Trump said during a news conference Thursday that there were no survivors.

Video captures fiery crash between American Airlines flight and Army Blackhawk

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Aviation expert Steve Cowell said it was not likely that the pilots could have avoided the collision.

When you get below a certain altitude, the TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) will not give the pilots  a resolution alert, he said. In other words, they will be able to move vertically  either climb or descend to avoid the collision.

Cowell said he observed the Blackhawk helicopter coming from behind the American Airlines plane.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

It was so quick that there was virtually no chance for any sort of deviation by the pilots to avoid this situation, Cowell said.

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The plane had departed from Kansas and was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, according to American Airlines.

Reagan National Airport closed until Friday following plane, military helicopter crash

Anyone who believes they may have had a loved one on board Flight 5342 should call American Airlines at (800) 679-8215.

Anyone from outside the U.S. can click here for additional phone numbers.

Family members in Canada, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands should call (800) 679-8215.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The 25% tax that President Donald Trump plans to slap on imports from Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday could drive up the price of everything from gasoline and pickup trucks, to Super Bowl party guacamole dip.

The tariffs would also invite retaliation. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, has already vowed to counterpunch by pulling American alcohol off store shelves in the Canadian province  no idle threat; Canada is the worlds No. 2 market for Americas distilled spirits (behind the 27-nation European Union).

Trumps tariffs threaten to blow up the trade agreement he himself negotiated with Americas neighbors in his first term. His U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement  the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law, Trump once declared -- was supposed to bring predictability to North American trade, giving businesses the confidence to make investments.

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But when it comes to the self-proclaimed Tariff Man, Trump and his passion for plastering taxes on foreign goods, nothing is predictable, and nothing is ever really settled.

Tariffs at those levels and at that scope would effectively destroy the agreement that Trump himself negotiated and always brags about, said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.

The president says the 25% levies are designed to pressure Americas two neighbors to do more to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the United States.

Michael Robinet of S&P Global Mobility and many other analysts suspect the tariff threat is also designed to get Canada and Mexico to go along with Americas demands for changes to the USMCA when it comes up for renewal next year.

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Robinet, executive director of automotive consulting at S&P Global, said he doubts that Trump will go ahead with 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports  what he calls a shock-to-the-system approach that would freeze the North American economy in a Tariff Winter. Instead, Robinet said, Trump might postpone or phase in the tariffs or initially exempt some industries to show Canada and Mexico how much worse things could get if he doesnt get his way.

Trump pressured Mexico and Canada into agreeing to the USMCA five years ago, partly to narrow the United States big trade deficit  the gap between what the U.S. sells and what it buys.

It hasnt worked out that way.

The U.S. deficit in the trade of goods of Mexico has widened from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion in 2023 (the last full year for which numbers are available). That is partly because Mexico has replaced China, locked in an ongoing trade war with the United States, as the source of many U.S. imports  furniture, textiles, shoes, laptops, computer servers.

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The trade gap in goods with Canada has ballooned, too: From $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023. The deficit largely reflects Americas imports of Canadian energy.

The USMCA has not met the goals that Trump set forth for it. Our trade deficit with Canada and Mexico is bigger than it was, considerably, said Lori Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project and a longtime critic of Americas free trade pacts. A lot of jobs have been offshored to Mexico since USMCA.

When the USMCA comes up for renewal next year, the U.S. is expected to press for rules that would do more to encourage factories to produce in the United States. And it could seek a crackdown on Chinese goods being sent through Mexico to the United States to evade tariffs that Trump and President Joe Biden imposed on Beijing.

The United States now does far more business  exports and imports alike  with both Canada and Mexico than it does with China. In 2023, U.S. trade of both goods and services with Canada and Mexico came to more than $1.8 trillion, compared with $643 billion with China. Because of USMCA  and the regional trade deal it replaced in 2020  most products cross the regions borders tariff-free.

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The threatened 25% tariffs are causing heartburn in corporate boardrooms. If Trump goes ahead with his threat, tariffs would surge from $1.3 billion to $132 billion a year on Mexicos imports to the United States and from $440 million to $107 billion on Canadas, according to the tax and consulting firm PwC.

And no one knows if Trump will really pull the trigger or how long the tariffs would stay in place if he does. Its really thrown industry into this turmoil of anxiety, said trade lawyer Chandri Navarro, senior counsel at Baker & McKenzie. What industry likes is certainty. Youre making production decisions, supply chain decisions, purchasing decisions five years out.

Trump views tariffs as a fix-it for most of what ails the economy. He says they raise money for cuts in income and corporate taxes, encourage companies to move production to the United States and offer useful leverage in pressuring other countries to make concessions on trade and other issues.

Trump administration officials also say critics of potential tariffs shouldn't view them in isolation, arguing that their other policies, including lowering taxes and easing regulations, will strengthen the economy.

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Companies are scrambling to prepare. Some bought goods and shipped them to the United States ahead of time to beat the tariffs. Others are calculating how much of the cost they can pass along to their customers. Unfortunately, its going to impact a lot of consumers, said Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of Fictiv, a San Francisco company that helps clients manage their supply chains in plastics and metals. We saw this in his first term. A tariff isnt fully absorbed by the companies.

Canada and Mexico are bracing, too. Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who represented Canada in USMCA negotiations, has called for retaliation if Trump moves ahead with tariffs. Being smart means retaliating where it hurts, said Freeland, who is running to replace prime minister Justin Trudeau. Our counterpunch must be dollar-for-dollar  and it must be precisely and painfully targeted: Florida orange growers, Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan dishwasher manufacturers, and much more.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico has maintained a dialogue with Trumps team since before he returned to the White House. She emphasized that the communication has been constant and continuing.

Trump has made clear that he has two main interests: immigration and fentanyl, Sheinbaum said. Her team is coordinating with the U.S. government on both of those issues, she said.

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On trade, We shouldnt see ourselves as competitors, she said, but rather partners. But if the U.S. imposes tariffs, Mexico is prepared and has been for months, Sheinbaum said.

Now it is very important that the Mexican people know that we are always going to defend the dignity of our people, we are always going to defend the respect of our sovereignty and a dialogue between equals, as we have always said, without subordination, Sheinbaum said.

____

AP Writers Josh Boak in Washington, and Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, contributed this story.
EL PASO, Ill. (WMBD)  Author Derrick Barnes visited the Project XV Museum in El Paso Thursday night, speaking about his life and reading one of his most well-known books.

Barnes typically writes childrens books that celebrate black culture and depict black children doing everyday activities.

He read his 2017 picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, which won numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King award. The story is about a black boy and his experience getting a haircut in a barbershop, expressing themes like self-confidence.

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While his books often center around black characters, he believes the themes they represent are universal.

We all want to be loved. We all want to be appreciated, laugh, have fun, and just live meaningful lives, he said.

Barnes grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, but currently lives in Charlotte with his wife and four sons.

He appreciated getting the chance to speak at the museum.

I never could have dreamed as a child that somebody would invite me to share my work, so Ive had a great time in El Paso, he said.

Linda Foster, president of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP, was in attendance and described Barnes presentation as exhilarating.

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Its important for our people to see themselves in literature. He depicts how black boys can be proud of themselves, she said.

The Project XV Museum is a voting rights museum honoring David Strother, the first black man to vote in the state of Illinois. Barnes felt honored to be invited to speak at the museum given its historical significance.

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As a Catholic, I've always admired the efforts of one organization that remains true to the mission of preserving all life. Ive never heard of an instance where Catholic Charities has turned away anyone seeking help. They might have redirected someone they did not have the resources to help, but never abandoned people in their pursuit of life.

So it was heartening to see the courageous move by an attorney with Catholic Charities of Milwaukee who in a video articulately outlined the rights of refugees and undocumented immigrants who may be about to have an encounter with immigration authorities.

Not surprising, the backlash on social media has been fierce, some calling the video a treasonous act while others want to defund the organization.

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In Oklahoma City, Catholic Charities also appears undaunted by bigotry and courageously promotes a Know Your Rights app, which is available in 16 different languages.

In this week of Holocaust remembrance, the MAGA delight being demonstrated throughout the country in support of the rounding up and deportation of undocumented workers is an eerie reminder of German attitudes toward Jews in the 1940s. Surely, I cant be the only one who sees that.

To Catholics calling for the demise of Catholic Charities, shame on you. The organizations mission is to make Christs love for all human beings a visible and living reality for those in need.

Opinion: Immigration raids in Oklahoma schools? Haven't students been through enough?

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Too many of us  Catholic and non-Catholic alike  have become so self-absorbed that we cant see ourselves in someone elses circumstances. If something doesnt affect us, we dont care. But the sun shines on the just, as well as the unjust; it rains on the natives, as well as the immigrants. And if we learn anything from Mother Nature, its that when she spews her wrath, it matters not who is in the way. All that is to say, we never know when any of us will need the services of organizations like Catholic Charities. So ignorant calls to defund it are unwise.

Where systems of the state and federal government fail, nonprofits across this country step in to fill the gap for a variety of humanitarian needs. Church organizations play a huge role in filling that need. Informing fearful undocumented immigrants of their rights is the least anyone could do.

Opinion: Oklahoma Republicans passed a law that police chiefs don't want to enforce

No one would argue against the removal of criminals. The state of Oklahoma has about 525 people detained courtesy of Immigration Customs & Enforcement (ICE), costing taxpayers about $36,000 a day. But in the general population, its likely many of those chastising Catholic Charities of Milwaukee sit in pews shared with undocumented immigrants on their day of worship.

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In Oklahoma, they may be among the 98,000 undocumented immigrants who have $2.2 billion in spending power and who contribute $586.8 million in state and federal taxes, according to the American Immigration Council. About 10,500 of them are entrepreneurs who may have provided services to you or someone you know. Whats so wrong with helping them make informed decisions that would affect their families? And why should the Church not stand up for immigrants? Arguably, without the immigrant population, the Catholic Church and many other denominations in this country would be looking at empty pews during worship.

A crucifix is shown on a wall behind the altar of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Barnsdall.

In recent years, many have tried to remind us about the most important commandment  loving your neighbor as yourself  and treating the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you. Those of us who still believe in practicing those endearments will have to drill them into kids today in the hope of a more empathetic next generation, because grownups now  many who clamor for Bibles in schools  seem unfazed about reinforcing bigoted behaviors.

My Catholic Charities contribution for the year has not been renewed yet, but its on the way.

Clytie Bunyan is managing editor for Opinion and Community Engagement.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Catholic Charities supports immigrants. That's a good thing. | Opinion
CHICAGO  Recognizable by just a few short notes, the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society have marched in parades and honored fallen police officers for decades.

Formed in 1982 after two Chicago police officers were killed in the line of duty, the group is set to embark this spring on a journey to the nations capital, Washington D.C., for the annual National Police Week.

Retirees Tom Cody, a 30-year veteran of the Cook County Sheriffs Department and Patrick Goodman, who spent 28 years with the Chicago Police Department, are the bands founding members.

MORE FROM WGNS PATRICK ELWOOD: Christmas Without Cancer to be honored Saturday as they keep helping families for over 20 years

Retirees Tom Cody and Patrick Goodman (Photo: WGN News)

Their passion for the pipes and drums was born from tragedy.

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It really bothered me a lot that the city wasnt doing more to honor those who were killed, Goodman said.

In 1982, CPD officers William Fahey and Richard OBrien were killed in the line of duty after making a traffic stop. At the time, Chicago did not have its own law enforcement pipes and drums band to play at the funeral.

New York officers drove into town and did the honors. When then-Mayor Jane Byrne found out, she donated $5,000 of her own money.

When the band started, I jumped in right away, Goodman said.

By the St. Patricks Day parade of 1983, it was showtime.

We knew a total of two tunes, maybe two-and-a-half, Goodman said.

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Comprised of law enforcement officers throughout the area, the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society have played scores of parties and memorials. But at its core, the bands mission is to honor fallen first responders.

The band has observed 173 fallen service members; all kept chronologically since its beginning.

We have traveled the country and we have honored firefighters and police killed in the line of duty, Cody said.

MORE FROM WGNS PATRICK ELWOOD: Gladiator family: Chicago police officer, sons triumph at Las Vegas weightlifting competition

Katherine Wagner, a 24-year CPD veteran, wishes she would have joined the band even sooner in her career.

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Its rough, but its worth it, Wagner said. Anything easy isnt worth doing, so it was definitely worth it.

The Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society will be the host band for the annual National Police Week in May.

Youre satisfied that youre doing something for the family, Goodman said. But you never feel good. But were giving back.

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BALTIMORE  A bailiff shot a man who entered Eastside District Court on Friday morning, pointed a gun at himself and fired, according to Baltimore Police.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that the 35-year-old was in critical condition after he shot himself and the bailiff, a retired Baltimore Police officer, shot him twice, striking the man in his lower extremities. The bailiff was not injured.

When the man entered the courthouse at 1400 E. North Ave. at around 8:42 a.m., it was clear that he was suffering from a behavioral crisis, Worley said.

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As sheriffs deputies and bailiffs tried to interact with the man, who police didnt immediately identify, he withdrew the firearm.

Bailiffs tried to get him to drop the weapon, unfortunately, he did not, Worley said.

At some point, one of the bailiffs fired a shot, the victim fired a shot at himself, the commissioner said. The Maryland Attorney Generals office is responding to take over the investigation, Worley said.

It was unclear if the man had any recent business with the judiciary. We dont know why he was here, Worley said, also noting that police hadnt retrieved any audio or video.

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We hope that the victim is able to survive, but we again just want to pray for everyone involved, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, who said he was thankful for the quick action of law enforcement but added that we have to have serious conversations about mental health and access to firearms.

The union that represents current and retired Baltimore Police officers, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, said on social media that union officials responded to the scene with our attorneys to assist the bailiff, who is a member.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Judiciary said earlier Friday that she did not have details on what happened, though the judiciarys website noted that the courthouse will be closed for the remainder of the day.

Baltimore States Attorney Ivan Bates said in a statement that his staff was safe, and his office was coordinating with Baltimore Police to gather more details. The office declined to comment further, noting it was an active investigation.

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BALTIMORE  A man is in critical condition after being shot both by himself and by a bailiff Friday morning at Eastside District Court, where Baltimore Police said the man pulled a gun while suffering a behavioral crisis.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that the 35-year-old was hospitalized after shooting himself in the head and being shot twice in his lower extremities by the bailiff, who was not injured.

When the man entered the courthouse at 1400 E. North Ave. at around 8:42 a.m., it was clear that he was suffering from a behavioral crisis, Worley said.

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He had entered both sets of the courthouses glass doors but did not make it past security, Worley said. As sheriffs deputies and bailiffs tried to interact with the man, who the commissioner said was walking back and forth a little bit, he withdrew the firearm from under his garments and pointed it at his head.

Bailiffs tried to get him to drop the weapon, unfortunately, he did not, Worley said. At some point, one of the bailiffs fired a shot, the victim fired a shot at himself, the commissioner said.

The Maryland Attorney Generals office is over the investigation, Worley said.

It was unclear if the man had any recent business with the judiciary. We dont know why he was here, Worley said, also noting that police hadnt retrieved any audio or video.

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We hope that the victim is able to survive, but we again just want to pray for everyone involved, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, who said he was thankful for the quick action of law enforcement but added that we have to have serious conversations about mental health and access to firearms.

The union that represents current and retired Baltimore Police officers, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, said on social media that union officials responded to the scene with our attorneys to assist the bailiff, who is a member.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Judiciary said earlier Friday that she did not have details on what happened, though the judiciarys website noted that the courthouse will be closed for the remainder of the day.

Baltimore States Attorney Ivan Bates said in a statement that his staff was safe, and his office was coordinating with Baltimore Police to gather more details. The office declined to comment further, noting it was an active investigation. The Baltimore Sheriffs Office, which is responsible for security at the citys circuit court complex, said in a statement that deputies were deployed to the district court to assist staff and provide additional law enforcement services. The statement said that there was no ongoing threat to city courthouses.

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A mountain lion in Colorado. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

Wolf reintroduction and management issues, threats to lynx habitat, and mountain lion harvest limit reductions have all been newsworthy in recent weeks. Colorado citizens hold such diverse perspectives and some lay at polar opposites. You may wonder, how can any sense be made of these controversial matters?

We suggest that you can have confidence that Colorado Parks and Wildlife is absolutely the best place for these difficult decisions to be made. They have the professional expertise, nationally recognized credibility, and conscientious public involvement processes to arrive at foresighted decisions that are in the best interest of wildlife and the citizens of Colorado.

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We are three retired CPW employees who collectively have nearly 100 years of experience managing Colorados wildlife. We wholeheartedly thank the 1.7 million Coloradans who voted to support CPWs scientific and professional wildlife management this past election, when Proposition 127 was so soundly defeated.

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Sportsmen and women, and CPW and its employees, are too often unsung heroes in the wildlife management story. During the November ballot issue campaign, Proposition 127 proponents tried to characterize sportsmen and women and CPW as being filled with barbaric bloodlust. It is sad commentary on the extremes that the well-funded, out-of-state, radical anti-hunting groups will go in creating bizarrely twisted storylines in vain attempts to appeal to the mainstream and level-headed voters in Colorado.

Here are a few examples of what CPW and sportsmen and women have achieved in just the past 50 to 100 years: restored river otters, lynx and peregrine falcons; worked with the Colorado Department of Transportation to construct over 40 underpasses and three overpasses for wildlife; recovered the state mammal, bighorn sheep, from near extinction in Colorado to occupancy in nearly all available habitat; and expanded the abundance, ranges and habitat quality for pronghorn, mule deer, elk and moose.

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CPW has ongoing partnerships with private landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management, the Ute tribes, and Colorado Trust Lands to conserve and protect natural habitats for all wildlife, from moths and butterflies to boreal toads, native big river fish in the Colorado River, bats, black-footed ferrets, and even genetically rare native cutthroat trout.

We could go on for pages, but we know you understand that science, research and sound management have made these achievements possible. Sportsmen and women and CPW and its employees are dedicated to working for the benefit of all wildlife and the conservation of wild habitat.

We each actively opposed Proposition 127 and its attempt to criminalize responsible hunters and to strike down science-based wildlife management. Proponents used deceptive messages and emotional appeals to advance arguments against legal hunting methods. Anti-hunting radicals will continue to use these same tactics if and when they return to ballot box biology to further their special interests.

Wildlife management requires knowledge and skill in biology, ecology, sociology and political science. The science is complex and at times confounding. But you would never ask your eye doctor to repair your HVAC system or your plumber to repair your torn shoulder joint. Wildlife management needs to remain in the hands of trained professionals who possess the expertise, knowledge, and scientific background necessary to make informed decisions.

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We hope Coloradans will continue to recognize, oppose and ultimately defeat this type of misguided extremism. Additionally, we encourage Coloradans to demand legislative, perhaps even constitutional, changes to the citizen initiative process, ensuring that initiatives truly represent Colorados geographic and demographic diversity.

Doing so is the only way to put an end to the harmful practice of ballot box biology.

The authors are retired Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees, each with near 20 to 40 years of experience as a wildlife officer, area manager, carnivore biologist, and/or hunting program manager.

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After two years of communicating by email and phone, Boulder police and the Boulder district attorney met face-to-face with JonBenet Ramseys father and brother Monday  leaving the slain 6-year-olds family encouraged that the case is moving forward.

John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey's oldest son, said one piece of information was divulged in the meeting that had not been made public before.

DNA found in JonBenet's underwear has not been tested using genealogical methods because technology is not yet sensitive enough to develop a profile. However, Boulder police constantly monitor the rapidly changing science for when that becomes a possibility.

Its not if but when, said John Andrew Ramsey.

Before now, no one except investigators knew if the mystery DNA had been tested for a genealogical profile.

JonBenet Ramsey was first reported missing from her home in Boulder the morning of Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey said she found a three-page ransom note, demanding $118,000 for the child's safe return, on the bottom steps of a spiral staircase on the ground floor of the family's upscale Boulder home near Chautauqua Park. Later that day, the child's body was found in the basement by her father.

According to officials, the Boulder Police Department has investigated thousands of leads since then, including more than 21,000 tips, letters and emails.

The Ramseys met with police for an hour at the Boulder police headquarters with Chief Stephen Redfearn, Deputy Chief Barry Hartkopp and 20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty, John Andrew Ramsey said.

A Boulder police spokesperson confirmed the meeting, saying that Chief Redfearn and members of our Operations Division met with the family this week as the department has previously to share updates on the case.

Because the 27-year-old case is still an active investigation, police declined to discuss specifics.

The DNA found in a drop of blood in JonBenet's underwear is mixed with JonBenet's blood and at least two other people's. It has confounded investigators for years, but John Andrew Ramsey feels good about how quickly the science is being developed.

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"It's now a game of inches," he said, noting that it's unfair to expect an immediate development.

In a recent three-part Netflix documentary series on the case, John Ramsey urged police to move forward with genealogical DNA testing. The 81-year-old said last year that he felt the Boulder police were waiting for him to die.

In a public update last November, Redfearn acknowledged that the investigation into JonBenet's death is a priority.

"We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country."

This may sound like more of the same to many who have followed the case for nearly three decades.

John Ramsey and John Andrew Ramsey met with former Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold and Redfearn on Jan. 20, 2023. Six months later, that group met with the addition of Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty.

John Ramsey has maintained that he and his wife, Patsy, are innocent of JonBenets death, but for years the couple were considered "under the umbrella of suspicion" for the crime.

John Andrew Ramsey has been here before, but technology was never this close before and he has a renewed faith in the Boulder police this time.

"For years, files were collecting dust in a storage room. Now I dont think that they are," he said.

A Paramount television series starring Mellisa McCarthy as JonBenet's mother, Patsy, and Clive Owens as John Ramsey now has a working title. A release date for "Unpeakable: The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey" will explore the relationship between two parents who thought they had done everything right for their children only to have their lives fall apart when one of them is murdered. A release date has not been announced.
BALTIMORE  Large amounts of Baltimore Police officers are responding to Eastside District Court after a serious shooting in the courthouse on Friday morning that appeared to involve a retired police officer.

A Baltimore Police spokesperson on the scene confirmed that what the department called a serious shooting happened inside of the courthouse.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley was seen walking into the district courthouse, which was roped off as other officers went inside around 9:00 a.m.

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The shooting involved a retired member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents current and retired Baltimore Police officers, the unions president, Mike Mancuso, said in a statement posted on social media.

He said the union was responding along with our attorneys from SBWD to assist our member.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Judiciary said she did not have details on what happened, though the judiciarys website noted that the courthouse at 1400 East North Avenue will be closed for the remainder of the day.

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BALTIMORE, Md. (DC News Now)  The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) was on the scene of a serious shooting inside the Baltimore City District Court Friday morning.

At about 8:40 a.m., a District Court of Maryland bailiff was working security at the courthouses public entrance, according to the Maryland Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

The Baltimore Police Department was on the scene of a serious shooting inside the Baltimore City District Court Friday morning.

A man entered the courthouse and, while standing near the door, pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at his own head.

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The bailiff then drew his gun and pointed it at the man.

During the interaction, the OAG said both the man and the bailiff fired their guns.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he remains in critical condition as of Friday afternoon.

The courthouse will remain closed Friday.

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BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) Police are continuing to investigate, and a minor has been detained after the Barbourville Independent School District staff was informed of a potential threat.

According to a news release, the threat was discovered on Thursday night. Around 9 a.m. on Friday, the Barbourville Police Department (BPD) posted on Facebook that a child allegedly responsible for a threat against the school district had been arrested.

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Last night, our school personnel was informed of a potential threat to a local school district, Dennis Messer, Superintendent of Barbourbille City School, wrote. The safety of our students is the top priority of our staff and community. The Barbourville City Police detained someone in this incident, and the court system will handle the situation.

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Superintendent Messer said families would be informed as school staff gets more information.

An investigation into the threat remains ongoing.

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US President Donald Trump has called Chinese AI company DeepSeek a wake up call - and hes right. As shock waves continue to reverberate through the US tech industry, The Telegraphs AI and cybersecurity expert Gareth Corfield explains why a new AI Cold War is developing and what it means for Western security.

Plus, we speak to a Doomsday Clock scientist about why AI means humanity is closer to disaster than ever before, and look at what the Trump administrations approach will be to the conflict in Congo and the African continent at large.

Battle Lines, a podcast from The Telegraph, combines on-the-ground reporting with analytical expertise to help the listener to better understand the course of world politics, wars and tensions, as fault lines grind and slip in an increasingly dangerous and confusing multipolar world.

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Listen to Battle Lines using the audio player in this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favourite podcast app.

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(KRON)  A Bay Area county is pushing back against President Donald Trumps effort to end birthright citizenship through an executive order. On Thursday, the County of Santa Clara filed a lawsuit to Trumps executive order, which has been widely branded as unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in San Jose and, according to the county, details the profound impacts that Trumps order would have on the county and its ability to serve vulnerable residents.

In the complaint, President Trump is named as a defendant along with federal officials who would play a role in implementing the order. President Trump issued the executive order within a few hours of taking office for his second term on Jan. 20.

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Under the order, the Executive Branch of the government is directed to reject a constitutional guarantee that dates back 150 years stating that every baby born in the United States is a U.S. citizen  regardless of their parents citizenship status.

Birthright citizenship was ratified in the 14th Amendment in 1868 and affirmed by the United States Supreme Couty in an 1898 case involving a baby born in San Francisco to Chinese parents.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution under the 14th Amendment, said County of Santa Clara Board President Otto Lee. Executive orders that conflict with the Constitution have no legal standing and only create unnecessary confusion and hardship for immigrant families, and all Americans.

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Trumps executive order, according to the county, would exclude millions of people from the basic American promise that children born on United States soil enjoy full membership as citizens of this nation. If the executive order goes into effect, a child born in this country would not be a citizen unless their biological mother or father is a citizen or a green card holder.

Trumps executive order has already been challenged. A Seattle judge put a temporary block on the directive through a 14-day temporary restraining order on Jan. 23.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  Community members did not hesitate to celebrate the Bay County Department of Healths 85th anniversary on Thursday afternoon.

Guests were able to examine the departments core values and learn about the communitys resilience over the last 85 years.

Theres just so many public health events and public health incidents that come up from time to time. You know its its its kind of like Forest Gump said its like a box of chocolates. You never know what youre going to get sometimes in public health. So we have to be ready. I think we have to be nimble. We have to be mobile in our response efforts, and we do that, Bay County DOH Administrator and Health Officer Sandon S. Speedling said.

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Speedling referred to Hurricane Michael and the COVID-19 pandemic as just two of the health crises the county has addressed. He says collaboration with county commissioners and state health officials in Tallahassee was key to their successes.

I always love, coming into our county health department, Sandon, our health officer is terrific. Hes clearly, you know, hes loved by his team. And, you know, folks are happy and Im really happy to celebrate them and support them. And 85 years is. Thats wonderful. A wonderful time to have been in the community, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo said.

During his speech, Surgeon General Ladapo pointed out Bay Countys cohesive characteristics.

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After some hurricanes, people are able to get back to their homes, maybe get their electricity back and waters back within a few days, sometimes its weeks and perhaps longer, like after a devastating hurricane like Hurricane Michael. So our teams are just its really the most impressive part of our teams to me, how dedicated they are to taking care of their communities. I mean, theyre really I mean, its their every day. You really see it during emergencies. And its just a very special about our county, Dr. Ladapo said.

Dr. Ladapo elaborated on the countys dedication to serving the public, which can be seen through several service expansions.

We have now you know 2 or 3 in particular that I could call out would be our childrens Medicaid dental clinic that service line you know they didnt do that 85 years ago. Certainly the diabetes program I would say would be a critical one as well of and in just expansion of HIV services, Speedling added.

BDS officials started comprehensive review of district policies

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Speedling says those additions contribute greatly to the betterment of the overall health in Bay County.

Speedling says he hopes to increase patient volume in their clinics, by the time they celebrate their 90th anniversary.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com.
Aleksandr Lukashenko has awarded himself a seventh term as president of Belarus, with the West calling the so-called vote a sham and introducing additional sanctions.

Belarusian political observer Artsiom Shraibman told the Kyiv Independent that Lukashenko faces uncertain future after the vote.

Hungary refuses to sign joint EU statement condemning Belaruss elections, RFE/RL reports.

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Belarus Weekly

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Fifteen more prisoners freed in tenth round of pardons issued by Lukashenko ahead of elections.

Belarus unilaterally releases US citizen detained on politically motivated grounds, Washington reports on election day.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) files with ICC complaint against Belarus for systematic crimes against journalists.

Lukashenko claims seventh term amid Western condemnation, sanctions

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko declared himself president for his seventh consecutive term after holding a presidential election on Jan. 26 that was decried as neither free nor fair.

The first presidential election since the contested 2020 vote was held under conditions of strict repression, with over 1,250 political prisoners behind bars, all but four political parties banned, 1,800 NGOs shut down, and all opposition jailed or exiled.

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The Belarusian Central Election Committee released preliminary election results on Jan. 27, presenting Lukashenko with a record 86.82% of the votes. Stalinist Siarhei Syrankou was the runner-up with just 3.21%, scoring lower than the graph of against all candidates, which received 3.6% of the vote.

The other token challengers fared even worse: Oleg Gaidukevich reportedly landed 2%, constructive opposition candidate Hanna Kanapatskaya got 1.86%, and in last place came Alexander Khizhnyak with 1.47%.

The commission also claimed there was a record-high turnout of 85.7%. Nearly half of the votes  41.81%  were supposedly cast in early voting, a practice criticized for being vulnerable to ballot-stuffing and other manipulations. No polling stations were opened abroad despite the Belarusian diaspora having been significantly enlarged in recent years.

Reportedly, between 300,000 and 500,000 Belarusians have left the country of just under 9.2 million since 2020.

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Read also: After Lukashenkos latest sham election, exiled Belarusians reflect on their lost revolution

There were no credible international observation teams monitoring the voting, as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) received an invitation only 10 days prior to the voting, rendering any effective observation impossible.

The head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, issued a statement on behalf of the EU rejecting the legitimacy of Lukashenkos election.

Western nations, including Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, and the UK, decried the elections as a sham in a joint statement. The UK and Canada followed up with a new round of sanctions targeting three Belarusian defense enterprises and six individuals, including Central Election Commission Chairman Ihar Karpenka, law enforcement officials accused of political repression, and heads of prisons. Canada extended restrictions against 10 individuals and 12 companies.

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The exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who claimed to have won the previous 2020 presidential race, dismissed this latest election as a special operation to illegally cling to power.

Lukashenko, propped up by (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin, holds 9 million Belarusians hostage, drags us into war, and betrays our sovereignty, Tsikhanouskaya wrote on X on Jan. 26.

The exiled opposition held a march in Warsaw in protest at the rigged Belarusian presidential election. The next day, the Belarusian investigative committee claimed to have identified 365 participants in the march and opened in absentia criminal proceedings against them.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin welcomed Lukashenkos contested election, declaring Moscow takes no notice of the expected criticism of the elections in Belarus in the West.

Lukashenko faces uncertainty after 2025 election

Belarusian political analyst Artsiom Shraibman says Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is entering a zone of uncertainty as he faces turning points in his relations with Russia and the need to resolve the transition of power amid an ongoing domestic political crisis.

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Dependent on Russian subsidies and having no room to improve relations with the West, Lukashenko can maintain the current status quo as Moscows ally while the active phase of war continues, Shraibman says.

Putin is interested in a stable pro-Russian authoritarian Belarus, he will keep it that way, he told the Kyiv Independent. The spending on supporting Lukashenko can be categorized as a military expenditure for the Russian government, so it is not something they will try to save money on.

But depending on how any temporary or long-term settlement of the war affects Russia, Lukashenko might face two equally unpleasant extremes: Moscow switching its imperial appetites to Belarus, or losing interest in its client state altogether, leaving Lukashenko without financial aid.

Lukashenko may seek dialogue with the United States, potentially releasing the remaining prisoners with U.S. ties. However, Shraibman notes that Lukashenko has little to offer to attract Western interest, given his peripheral role in resolving the war.

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Repression in Belarus, which has accelerated in the past few months, may decrease in the absence of election campaigns in the near term, but will remain sufficient to maintain a chokehold on society. While the individual fates of some political prisoners could be decided with pardons, Shraibman does not foresee and large-scale political thaw, especially not in light of another fundamental issue  the possible transition of power.

Lukashenko has long hinted that he might give up power, but has repeatedly backtracked. Lukashenko took his first real step to standing down, Shraibman argues, in 2022 when the dictator introduced the All-Belarus People's Assembly, an extra-governmental body, and made himself its head. So far it has no real powers, but it is effectively an institutional bolt hole to which Lukashenko might retreat after giving up the presidency.

He is thinking about (the transition of power) and preparing for it, but this constitutional framework does not place any deadlines on him, Shraibman explains. At least until 2035, according to the Belarusian constitution, he can hold both positions: the presidency, and the head of the assembly.

According to the analyst, another action that might indicate that Lukashenko is preparing to hand over the reins of power would be the selection and cultivation of a successor.

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But until we see some already high-profile official gets catapulted up the nomenclature ladder, and starts to be painted as a future leader, the only other reliable indicator of the chances of a transition of power is the state of (Lukashenkos) health.

Hungary blocks joint EU statement condemning elections in Belarus, RFE/RL reports

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban listens to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico speak during the joint press conference in the Mirror Hall of the Slovak Governmental Office on Jan. 21, 2025 in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Zuzana Gogova/Getty Images)

Hungary refused to sign a joint EU members statement rejecting the presidential election in Belarus, sources told U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Brussels.

Failing to achieve unilateral support from all 27 members of the bloc, the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, issued her own statement declaring that the Jan. 26 . In particular, Kallas criticized the late invitation sent to observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which prevented the proper monitoring of critical stages of the electoral campaign. She also called for the release of all political prisoners in Belarus.

Initially, both Hungary and Slovakia refused to sign the draft EU joint statement, which referred to the elections in Belarus as undemocratic. RFE/RL said the draft statement also cited a relentless and unprecedented level of repression that has deprived the electoral process of any legitimacy.

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Representatives of Slovakia later agreed to sign, but Hungary, led by Russia-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Orban, could not be persuaded.

Hungary has also consistently resisted stricter sanctions against Russia and Belarus, as well as increased European support for Ukraine. Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto was the only top-ranking European official since the fraudulent 2020 elections and subsequent crackdown on dissent.

15 political prisoners released on eve of sham elections in Belarus

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko released 15 more political prisoners ahead of the countrys sham presidential elections, rigged to ensure the Belarusian leader was elected for a seventh consecutive term.

In the ten rounds of pardons that the Lukashenko regime initiated in July 2024 ahead of the Jan. 26 presidential elections, 293 political prisoners were released from custody. Despite the releases, the crackdown on dissent in Belarus continues, and some 1,250 individuals remain behind bars on politically motivated grounds.

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According to Lukashenkos press office, eight of the released prisoners were convicted of crimes of extremism  a charge frequently brought up against political opponents since the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections.

The other seven released had been found guilty of drug-related crimes.

The announcement of the pardons, published on Jan. 24, two days prior to the elections, did not give the names of those being released but said that five men and three women were among pardoned political prisoners. Five reportedly have children, and one woman is pregnant. Lukashenkos press office again presented the pardons as demonstrations of mercy.

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in a Reuters interview published earlier accused Lukashenko of playing games with political prisoners. Belarusian political analysts consider the pardons to be part of Lukashenkos strategy to revive relations with the West, which were ruptured after Lukashenkos brutal crackdown on civil society in the aftermath of the 2020 elections and after he supported Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since the 2020 election, over 60,000 Belarusian citizens have been detained for political reasons, and the count continues to rise, according to the Minsk-based human rights group Viasna.

Read also: Lukashenko frees 23 more Belarusian political prisoners

Belarus releases detained US citizen on election day, Washington says

Belarus has unilaterally released a detained U.S. citizen, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Jan. 26  the main day of voting in the sham Belarusian presidential election.

The alleged release follows ten rounds of prisoner pardons by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, which started in July 2024 in the run up to the 2025 presidential elections. The pardons have been dismissed as window-dressing by exiled Lukashenko opponents: while 293 prisoners have been released, the number of political prisoners remains firmly fixed at 1,250 individuals in custody because political arrests are continuing in Belarus.

Without providing details of the release, Rubio claimed in a post on X that U.S. citizen Anastasia Nuhfer was now free.. It remains unclear how the release was organized and if any concessions were made to achieve it.

Speaking at a press conference on election day, Lukashenko claimed that by releasing political prisoners, he was not seeking to repair relations with the West. However, he also claimed to be in direct negotiations with the United States and others on the matter of political prisoners.

The U.S. State Department later confirmed to the Associated Press that Nuhfer had been detained in early December 2024. Former top-ranking Belarusian diplomats anonymously told the AP that the woman was detained in connection with 2020 protests and released as a gesture of goodwill.

Nuhfer has no previously known public profile and Belarusian human rights advocates have no record of such a prisoner. However, activists note that their political prisoner records are incomplete, and the real number of unjustly imprisoned is much higher, as authorities harass the relatives of the detained to prevent them from reporting detentions to human rights watchdogs.

In the week before the election, Belarusian propaganda aired a series of interviews with journalists of U.S.-funded broadcaster RFE/RL, including a dual U.S.-Belarusian citizen Yuras Ziankovich  a move that was regarded as a Belarusian opening bargaining offer for the incoming administration. None of the journalists have been reported as being among the released to date.

According to the Minsk-based Viasna Human Rights Center, at least 36 foreign citizens remain jailed in Belarus on politically motivated grounds.

In total, at least 75 foreigners have been subjected to persecution since 2020 in Belarus.

Read also: Belarus Weekly  2024 in review: Drone incursions, deepening alliance with Russia, totalitarianism

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Belgium will have a coalition government led for the first time by the right-wing N-VA party, news agency Belga reported on Friday evening, after more than six months of negotiations.

The country's new prime minister will be Bart De Wever, the leader of the anti-immigration Flemish nationalist party N-VA which won June's parliamentary elections.

De Wever, who was previously mayor of the port city Antwerp, will head a five-party coalition.

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He will govern together with the liberal MR party from French-speaking Wallonia, the Christian Democrats from both parts of the country and the Flemish Social Democrats.

One of the main aim of the new government is to reduce Belgium's huge debt burden and new borrowing. Drastic socio-economic reforms are expected, including severe cuts to the welfare state.

The government has been nicknamed the "Arizona Coalition" because the parties' colours, namely orange, yellow, red and blue, match the flag of the US state.

NV-A already won the previous elections in 2019 but remained in opposition.

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At the time, it took around 16 months of negotiations to form a coalition of seven parties - the Greens, the Liberals and the Social Democrats from both parts of the country as well as the Christian Democrats from Flanders.

Forming a government in Belgium is often complicated and takes a long time because most parties in national elections run either in French-speaking Wallonia or Dutch-speaking Flanders and have no federal organization.

The king plays a mediating role in the formation of coalition governments.

A total of 8 million Belgians were called to vote.

Voting is compulsory in Belgium. Those who do not cast a vote without a judicially accepted reason risk a fine.
HONOLULU (KHON2)  Brittany Montilliano, Marketing and Communications Director at YWCA Oahu, shares more information on The Bella Project and how community members can donate for the cause.

Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

The Bella Project is a collaboration between Dress for Success Honolulu and the Patsy T.

Mink Center for Business and Leadership at YWCA Oahu. The Bella Project breaks down

financial barriers for youth to participate in proms, winter balls, and other formal events by

providing formal attire free of charge. Throughout the year the Bella Project collects gently

used prom attire from the community and in the spring high schoolers are invited to join us

for a special Bella Boutique Styling event where they can peruse racks of formalwear to find

the prom attire of their dreams.

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How to access Hawaiis Shangri La

Hosted by the YWCA of Oahu, the organization has 125 years of experience serving community organizations in Hawaii. With The Bella Project this year, the styling event is happening this weekend  Friday, 1/31 from 3:30 p.m.  7 p.m. and Saturday, 2/1 from 9 a.m.  1:30 p.m. and will be hosted at YWCA Oahu in Downtown Honolulu across from Iolani Palace.

At the Bella Boutique, each participating high school student will be paired with a personal stylist who will assist them in browsing through a wide selection of new and very gently used dresses (or pantsuits and tuxedos) and selecting one they love and feel confident in.

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The event is open to all high school students with a valid high school ID. If interested in

participating, they can sign up on our website at www.ywcaoahu.org. Again, were so

appreciative of our communitys support to offer programs like the Bella Project for us

youth. Formals, like prom are milestone events for many youth. Providing them with

memories to last a lifetime. However, every year the cost to attend these events increases.

The Bella Project gives young adults a boost of confidence by giving them the ability to

participate in these special events without having to worry about the financial burden it may

cause their families.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  For the past 40 years, the Bella Vista Friends of the Library has found unique ways to support people with a passion for reading.

However, on Tuesday, the nonprofit group was served with an eviction notice, notifying Friends that they would be required to vacate its space at the Bella Vista Public Library.

According to a statement from the city of Bella Vista, Mayor John Flynn received an email on December 29, 2024, stating the Friends would be terminating their lease effective December 31, 2024. The Friends were interested in remaining in the space under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) only, not a lease.

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Further, the statement says that Bella Vista Mayor John D. Flynn made attempts to meet with the Friends in January to discuss the lease and make changes accordingly.

The Friends board rejected the amended lease and then presented the city with a draft MOU which included demands that the city was unable to accommodate, including a larger space for the bookstore operation and dedicated office space, the statement reads.

However, the Friends say they believed there would be more time for negotiations and to find common ground on a Memorandum of Understanding.

[The mayor] came up with a revised draft of the lease, and he worked it and gave it to me to present to our next board meeting, which was January 14. On January 14, I showed it to the people at the board meeting and everybody rejected it. They soundly said, This isnt going to be good. It wasnt a win-win. It was a win for them and a loss for us. So, I emailed the mayor the next day and said, Were not going to do that, but we still want to stay at the library,' said Dan Jeffrey, President of The Bella Vista Friends of the Library.

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Dan Jeffrey says after declining the lease, he believed they would be able to reach an understanding and stay at the library. Instead, the group was given an eviction notice, with orders to vacate the property by Feb. 6.

Dan Jeffreys wife, Kathy Jeffrey, has worked with the Friends for more than seven years. After her first year, she says she took over the Encore Book Store, which sells donated books to raise money for the public library.

Were all volunteers from sunup to sundown, no pay, lots of hours. In fact, weve been told were one of the most active volunteer organizations for the size that they have in Northwest Arkansas. We only have about 12 volunteers, and we run a bookstore six days a week, Kathy Jeffrey said.

Bella Vistas first adventure lodge coming in Spring 2025

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Kathy Jeffrey says over the past 40 years, the Friends have raised more than $250,000 for the library, and currently, the organization brings in about $1,200 a month.

She says after all of their hard work and dedication, the move from the city was unexpected.

It was a slap in the face, Kathy said.

Both say the situation has been shocking to them.

Were still in shock, and its like, What are we going to do? kind of a thing. Can we go somewhere else? Where can we go? What can we do to keep doing this? All thats in the air right now, Dan Jeffrey said.

Im not sleeping. Im so stressed out by this move Where am I going to put all this stuff? Because my garages are filling up, Kathy Jeffrey said.

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Travis Harp, a Bella Vista City Council member, says hes answered countless calls since the news broke. He says the eviction was never made known to the city council.

I think Ive talked to at least 20 people about this specific issue. Every one of them is upset that this is happening. Im heartbroken, Harp said. There had been no updates or briefings or knowledge sharing to the city council about this.

For now, Dan Jeffrey says hes unsure whats next for the Friends.

Until Feb. 6, or until the space is clear, the Friends will give away all remaining books, DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks for free.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
People deserve the joy of a remarkable moment.

That's the motto of Something New Boutique in Colorado Springs.

The bridal and formalwear boutique welcomed members of the special needs community Wednesday, giving them the opportunity to choose a free, formal gown for the Tim Tebow Foundations Night to Shine Ball.

The Night to Shine Ball, an annual event that occurs globally, is open to anyone living with disabilities, ages 14 and older. Hosted at local churches, people gather for the VIP experience of a red carpet, dancing and karaoke to celebrate what makes them unique.

Community ties play a key role in why Something New has hosted the free dress event for two years in a row now.

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Owner Mindi Linscombe worked with the Colorado Springs community to have over 100 dresses donated for the event.

Women who attended were able to peruse and try on multiple dresses until they found the one.

My favorite part of this shopping day is when they look in the mirror and feel like the best version of themselves, says general manager Sophia Burgo. You can see the emotion come from inside and the confidence come out.

The Night to Shine Ball is held in over 700 cities globally, with the main event happening on the same night worldwide. This year, the event will be held on Friday Feb. 7.

The event will be held across three churches in the Colorado Springs area: Pikes Peak Christian Church, Core Community and Zeal Church.

For more information on the event, visit nighttoshinecs.com/attend-night-to-shine.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  A beloved former member of the Circle 17 family has passed.

Photojournalist Chuck Dennis, who retired six years ago, died Wednesday. He packed a lot of living into his 70 years: stuntman, radio deejay, emergency medical technician, rural fire chief. His was as diverse a professional portfolio as youll find.

It was for his last decade in the working world that folks in Bakersfield knew him best  as a photojournalist here at the local NBC affiliate, KGET. Chuck Dennis  who lived in Missouri, Illinois, Arizona and Northern California before settling in Bakersfield  died at his home, just 70.

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Reporters he worked with at KGET from 2010 to 2019 remember a man who could come off as pretty gruff at times  but who cared about them, and their shared mission.

Lori Lizarraga, who now co-hosts the NPR podcast Code Switch, was at KGET from November 2016 to December 2018. She was like many local television reporters, then and now. Recent college grads, new to the city, alone, perhaps yearning for some semblance of comfort and familiarity. She found it in Chuck Dennis, whom she called my Chunk.

It took me a while to figure out how to play with Chuck, Lizarraga said, and then, eventually, once I figured it out, I never stopped bugging him. I know he doesnt just let anybody bother him or make him dance, but he would do it for me.

It was very much the same for Kristin Price Davis, who was at KGET from January 2013 to January 2019. She is now the communications officer for Kern County Superior Court.

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Chuck was just one of a kind, she said. I would always tease him that he was, like Grumpy Cat  you remember when Grumpy Cat was like a thing? Cuz thats the exterior that he had. Once you were able to crack that  and it wasnt that hard  he was the sweetest guy, and he would do anything for you.

Kelsey Thomas Pizzi, another former reporter, had the same kind of relationship.

Chuck was a legend, she said. He was grumpy. He was a hard worker. And in my opinion he had the worlds worst ponytail. I would always tease about it and I would always threaten to cut it. Really, Chuck was the photographer behind some of the biggest stories that you would see on TV every night in Kern County.

Smoke plume from massive southeast Bakersfield warehouse fire could be seen across Kern County

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As chief photographer at KBAK, Steve Mills jostled alongside Chuck Dennis for years: There was admiration among rivals.

He was an old timer, old school, Mills said, and he told it how it was. You just didnt run into a lot of Chuck Dennises. He was one of a kind.

Danny Freeman, who is now with CNN, would agree.

Chuck was the photographer you wanted to work with, Freeman said, and the man you wanted to be around. Gonna miss him a lot. Im gonna miss listening to Queen with him.

Seems just like yesterday that KGET was saying goodbye to Chuck Dennis.

I havent got anything to complain about, he told colleagues on his last day on the job. Thank you all. This has been a ride.

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Now we say goodbye again to our friend and colleague, Chuck Dennis.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 News.
Berlin, Paris and London expressed concern about Israel's ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in a joint statement issued on Friday.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot and Britain's David Lammy urged Israel not to implement the ban.

"No other entity or UN agency currently has the capacity or infrastructure to replace UNRWAs mandate and experience," the joint statement said.

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The diplomats said that UNRWA is the primary service provider for Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and a crucial component of the response to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Israel ordered UNRWA to halt its operations on Thursday.

The country accuses the UN's Palestinian aid agency of having some employees involved in terrorist activities for the Islamist organization Hamas. As a result, Israel's parliament imposed a work ban on UNRWA on all Israeli-controlled territory.

A further law prohibits Israeli authorities from any contact with UNRWA.

It is feared that it could become difficult, if not impossible, for the agency to continue providing for the needy civilian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

For the time being, however, the UN organization is continuing its activities despite Israel's ban.
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)  Governor Andy Beshear sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to protect the second amendment rights of law-abiding Kentucky citizens who use cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Under federal law, any citizen who elects to participate in a state-legalized medical cannabis program is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm. During his weekly Team Kentucky update, the governor said he sent a letter to the commonwealths congressional delegation urging them to address this issue and take action to protect the constitutional rights of medical cannabis patients.

Researchers studying whether medical cannabis could help late-stage dementia patients

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As this program grows, I will continue to put our people first, said Governor Beshear. Thats not about moving things to the right or to the left. Its about moving Kentucky and America forward.

Governor Andy Beshear reported during the update that more than 2,200 medical cannabis cards have been approved for residents with qualifying conditions and only 66 applications have been denied so far.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW).
A detailed model has provided whats likely our best idea of how the U.K. Royal Navys new Dreadnought class nuclear ballistic submarine, or SSBN will appear. The four Dreadnought boats represent one of the most important U.K. defense programs in many years and its notable to see how many advanced features the design includes, as the Royal Navy seeks to find the optimum balance between speed, stealth, and incredibly destructive firepower. The four new SSBNs (known as bombers in British parlance) will replace the Vanguard class that entered service in the 1990s.

The impressive model of how the new Dreadnought is expected to look was presented recently at the U.K. House of Commons, as part of Rolls-Royces nuclear portfolio demonstration during the governments Nuclear Week in Parliament. A photo of the model from that event was subsequently published by the company on LinkedIn and appears at the top of this story. Rolls-Royce is responsible for designing and supplying the Pressurised Water Reactor 3 (PWR3) nuclear propulsion plant for the Dreadnought.

A previous artists impression of the Dreadnought class submarine. BAE Systems

In the past, the Royal Navy and the submarines manufacturer BAE Systems have published artists concepts of the SSBN, like the one above, but they have generally lacked this level of detail. The Royal Navy has, however, already published limited specifications for the boat, which include a displacement of 17,200 tonnes (18,600 tons) and a length of 153.6 meters (504 feet).

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As well as the overall highly streamlined hull form, the SSBN features a notably low-profile, raked sail, something that is increasingly common in modern submarine designs. Some designs have gone further still, replacing the previous tower-like sail with just a small fairing, as seen on the small Chinese submarine that appeared in 2019. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is looking at the possibility of having its future nuclear attack submarines fitted with non-traditional sails, including ones that are inflatable, popping up when required, but otherwise concealed to preserve the submarines speed, maneuverability, and acoustic stealth. The sail on the Dreadnought class is a less radical approach, but it clearly reflects the move toward smaller sails, driven by these requirements. On the model, the sail is topped with at least three periscopes and sensor masts.

An infographic for the future Dreadnought class SSBN. BAE Systems

A relatively small pair of diving planes are installed in the sides of the hull, in a location immediately ahead of the sail.

In front of the sail, on the top of the hull, there appears to be a post-like structure, which may well be an intercept sonar, as found in a similar location on British nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The new model provides whats probably the best visual indication of how the SSBNs submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) will be configured within the hull, which has five deck levels.

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Compared with previous SSBN designs, the Dreadnought class also has a notably low-profile missile compartment aft of the sail. Rather than projecting out of the hull in a box-like fashion, as on some earlier SSBN designs, this area actually appears to be somewhat sunken into the hull. The missile section is actually divided into three separate missile compartments, each one comprising four missile tubes (known as a quad pack), for a total of 12 tubes.

The previous Vanguard class SSBNs have 16 missile tubes, but in practice, only eight are carried on patrols, to comply with treaty regulations.

HMS Vengeance returning to HMNB Clyde, after completing Operational Sea Training. HMS Vengeance is the fourth and final Vanguard class submarine of the Royal Navy. Crown Copyright POA(Phot) Tam McDonald

The U.K. Ministry of Defense has also said in the past that only eight of the 12 tubes on each Dreadnought class will be operational, with the other four being filled with ballast to ensure the boat remains stable.

The reasoning behind the reduction in total missile tubes is not entirely clear but reflects a similar trend in the United States. The U.S. Navys new Columbia class SSBNs will have 16 missile tubes, compared to 24 on the previous Ohio class SSBNs. However, four of the tubes on each of the Ohio boats were deactivated as a result of arms control agreements with Russia.

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Like the Vanguard class SSBNs that they will be replacing, the Dreadnought class will be capable of launching Trident 2 D5 missiles.

A maximum of 40 warheads is currently carried on board the Royal Navy SSBNs when on deterrent patrol, each Trident missile being able to carry multiple warheads, or multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). While each Trident can theoretically carry 14 MIRVs, depending on the type, 40 warheads on each patrol amount to approximately five per missile, although how the warheads can be spread across the missiles is variable.

Currently, the Vanguard class SSBNs go to sea with Trident armed with a version of the U.S. W76 warhead, which dates back to the 1970s and is known locally as the Mk 4/A. For the Dreadnought class, the United Kingdom is developing the new A21 nuclear warhead. The A21 was previously known publicly simply as the Replacement Warhead Program and is also now called Astraea; you can read more about it and its progress here.

Personnel at the Pantex plant in Texas load a Mk 4A reentry vehicle containing a W76-1 warhead into a container for transport. The W76-2 warhead fits inside the same reentry vehicle. NNSA

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The Astraea is being developed in parallel with the U.S. W93, which is expected to begin entering service in the 2030s, and the former may well be derived, at least in part, from the latter.

Other armaments for the Dreadnought class submarines will include Spearfish heavyweight medium-range torpedoes, which will be launched from four 533mm torpedo tubes in the front of the hull.

Submariners check a Spearfish torpedo in the bomb shop aboard the Royal Navy nuclear submarine HMS Tireless. Photo by Chris Ison/PA Images via Getty Images Chris Ison  PA Images

The rear of the SSBN reveals details of the pumpjet propulsion system as well as the X-rudders, which are installed for the first time on a British submarine.

The pumpjet propulsor is designed to reduce the noise of the submarine, especially at high speeds. According to the Royal Navy, the Dreadnought class will be its quietest submarine yet and will be able to achieve a maximum speed of at least 20 knots. Its actual top speed will almost certainly be higher than this, with submarine performance figures generally being shrouded in secrecy.

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Generally speaking, pumpjets offer various advantages over propellers, above all the ability to reach higher speeds without noisy cavitation  this means they can transit long distances around much more stealthily. Pumpjets are also more efficient across most of a submarines performance envelope and have particular advantages in shallow water. On the other hand, they are also heavy, costlier, and more complex than a propeller.

The Royal Navys Astute class is also equipped with a pumpjet. Crown Copyright

Immediately ahead of the propulsor are the X-form rudders. According to the Royal Navy, Whereas previous submarines have used traditional rudders due to their speed and the depths at which they operate, improvements in control and safety now allow for X-form rudders.

As we have discussed in the past, an X-shaped stern configuration provides improved maneuverability, efficiency, and safety, and also helps reduce the acoustic signature across significant parts of the submarines operating envelope compared to the more traditional cruciform system. The X-shaped stern configuration has become increasingly popular and is now found on other submarine designs around the globe, including the U.S. Navys new SSBN, the Columbia class. However, while the fins on the U.S. design are staggered, with the two upper ones being mounted slightly further forward, those on the Dreadnought class are, according to the model, all mounted at the same position on the length of the hull.

Not obvious from the model, the Dreadnought class will accommodate 130 crew members, including three chefs, and one doctor. For the first time in a Royal Navy submarine, the boats will also feature separate female crew quarters, toilets, and washing facilities.

The accommodation unit from the first-of-class Dreadnought submarine. BAE Systems



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The Dreadnought class is scheduled to enter service starting in the early 2030s and the estimated total program cost of around $43 billion makes it by far the most expensive single U.K. defense program  this figure notably doesnt include the cost of replacing the warheads for the Trident missiles.

The Dreadnought class is a very powerful expression of British military capability, putting it in an elite group of nuclear-armed nations.

The program is also at the center of a warship-building program that should see the Royal Navy receive 28 warships and submarines, including the new Type 26 and Type 31 frigates, the Astute class attack submarines, as well as new Fleet Solid Support ships and Multi-Role Support Ships (MRSS), a new class of amphibious warfare vessels.

This, in turn, is all part of a new-look military strategy, which includes a commitment to increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of national wealth by 2030.

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Production of the Dreadnought class will take place at BAE Systems complex in Barrow-in-Furness, in the northeast of England, once work on the sven-strong Astute class is completed. The BAEs construction facility will undergo an upgrade costing hundreds of millions of dollars, which includes an enlargement that will allow it to build the Dreadnought class. In October last year, a significant fire took place at the Devonshire Dock Hall (DDH) building in Barrow-in-Furness, as we reported at the time, although there are no reports that it will affect the timeline for the Dreadnought class builds.

Astutes under construction at BAE Systems Devonshire Dock Hall located in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. BAE Systems

While we will have to wait a bit longer to see the first of the Dreadnought class taking shape at Barrow-in-Furness, the latest model presented by Rolls-Royce provides us with whats probably the most useful indication so far of the appearance of the Royal Navys next nuclear ballistic submarine.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
We are picking up the worst of the worst in this country, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News earlier this week, adding that the community is safer now. On Tuesday, just three days after her Senate confirmation, she joined a predawn raid in New York City to arrest illegal immigrants connected with violent crimes.

Among those reportedly arrested that day was a leader of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, a Venezuelan criminal organisation that began operating across America under the Biden administration. The gang leader is believed to be the same individual who was captured on surveillance video kicking down a door at the Aurora, Colorado, residential complex that Tren de Aragua allegedly took over last year.

In just the first week of President Trumps new administration, the USs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service apprehended more than 3,500 illegal immigrants, with the number of detentions expected to rise dramatically in the coming months. All or most of those detained are associated with violent crime, though the act of entering the United States outside of official legal channels is itself a statutory crime and Trump has promised to deport all individuals who have violated it.

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In addition to the arrests, flights organised in conjunction with the US military have already begun to return illegal immigrants to their countries of origin. Trump has sent 1,500 troops to the southern border  the first instalment of a promised 10,000 soldiers  and ordered the US military base in Guantanamo Bay to prepare for the arrival of some 30,000 violent offenders.

One of the returning Presidents first executive orders, though now challenged in the courts, was to end so-called birthright citizenship, a constitutionally questionable process that confers citizenship on any child born in the US, regardless of the parents legal status. The first Congressional bill Trump signed into law was the Laken Riley Act, which requires Homeland Security to detain illegal aliens charged with a range of crimes  including some non-violent offences that often result in their release, after which some have committed far more serious crimes.

They finally get to do their job, said Noem of the officers under her authority this week, to get these dirtbags out of our country.

The speed and scale of Trumps moves against illegal immigration raise serious questions about his predecessor Joe Biden and the true intentions of the Democratic Party, which is now hurtling into oblivion as an effective force in American politics.

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Along with his vice president Kamala Harris, Biden had assured Americans that the southern border was secure, and that it was actually Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress who were responsible for not solving the problem of illegal immigration.

Indeed, Biden claimed that his hands were tied by existing law and court directives preventing him from taking strong action. Biden also alleged that Congressional Republicans cynically refused to pass a comprehensive immigration law, the terms of which in reality would have done little to alleviate the problem, simply to make the former president look bad in an election year.

These arguments were clearly unconvincing to voters, even after the legacy media went to great lengths to bury the issue and shield Biden and Harris not merely from politically damaging criticism but from virtually any discussion at all. It took very little speculation to figure out the probable truth  that the Democrats werent bothered about uncontrolled migration, in part because they assumed that it might be electorally advantageous in the long term, particularly in states like Texas.

In a matter of days, however, Trump has proved not only that the problem is a very real one, but that it can be solved by decisive executive action. Those means were plainly available to Biden if he had had any interest in putting a stop to illegal immigration, and would also have been available to Harris had she won the election in November.

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In that alternate reality, the thousands of convicted criminals ICE estimates to have entered the country illegally under Bidens watch would have had nothing to fear. But law-abiding US citizens  including the legal immigrants among them  would have continued to struggle under leaders who value their own power far more than the countrys security.

Paul du Quenoy is a historian and president of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute

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Leaders of major U.S. tech companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) are brushing off a popular new intelligence model from Chinese startup DeepSeek, despite fears it could upend the industry.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have all appeared largely unconcerned about the new AI model in recent days, even after it sent tech stocks tumbling earlier this week.

DeepSeek claims its new R1 model performs on par with OpenAIs and cost just $5.6 million to train  a measly sum compared to the billions of dollars that American tech firms have spent building out infrastructure to develop AI.

While Altman acknowledged Thursday that DeepSeek did a couple of really nice things, he downplayed its overall impact, calling it wildly overstated.

This is a model at a capability level that we had quite some time ago, he said during an event in Washington, D.C. Weve got a sense of what it takes to run a cost-efficient model.

I dont want to diminish the work, he added. I think this is a great work, and its, in some sense, its like the first surprise or new competitor to OpenAI in quite a while.

During Metas fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday, Zuckerberg voiced confidence in his companys plans to continue investing heavily in AI infrastructure in the wake of DeepSeeks emergence.

Meta, Facebook and Instagrams parent company, announced last week that it plans to spend between $60 billion and $65 billion in 2025 on capital expenditures as it focuses on AI.

Its probably too early to really have a strong opinion on what this means for the trajectory around infrastructure and [capital expenditures] and things like that, Zuckerberg said. There are a bunch of trends that are happening here all at once.

He emphasized that even if DeepSeeks emergence indicates that less computer infrastructure is needed for training, other factors, such as an increase in AI usage, could require this level of investment.

I continue to think that investing very heavily in [capital expenditures] and [infrastructure] is going to be a strategic advantage over time, Zuckerberg added. Its possible that well learn otherwise at some point, but I just think its way too early to call that.

And at this point, I would bet that the ability to build out that kind of infrastructure is going to be a major advantage for both the quality of the service and being able to serve the scale that we want to.

Microsofts Nadella also struck a positive tone when discussing DeepSeek during the firms earnings call Wednesday. His company announced plans earlier this month to spend $80 billion building out data centers in 2025.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) A local supermarket chain is helping to support hunger relief efforts in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Big Y Foods annual Sack Hunger campaign raised enough money to provide one million meals to four regional food banks: The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Worcester County Food Bank, and The Greater Boston Food Bank and Connecticut Foodshare.

Food insecurity impacts nearly 100K in western Massachusetts

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The food banks support local soup kitchens, food pantries, senior food programs, daycare centers and many others of the 2,100-member agencies that receive assistance.

During the winter holiday season, store customers and employees made monetary donations. Additionally, specific proceeds from the produce, floral and meat departments, along with a portion of every one of Big Ys private label brands were donated.

Each year, our customers and employees come together to support families across Massachusetts and Connecticut impacted by food insecurity during the holiday season. We are thankful for the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those in need, and we appreciate everyone involved in spreading hope throughout our communities, according to Michael P. DAmour, President and CEO.

Big Ys Sack Hunger donation is part of their ongoing support throughout the year including almost daily donations of meat, fresh produce and bakery along with grocery, frozen food and dairy items.

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.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  A member of an Oklahoma biker gang has pleaded guilty to murder in connection to a deadly shooting at the Whiskey Barrel Saloon in 2023.

Douglas Jacobs. Photo courtesy Oklahoma County District Attorneys Office.

Douglas Jacobs was charged on several counts, including first degree murder, for his alleged role in the shooting death of Eric Oberholtzer at the southwest Oklahoma City bar in April 2023. The state later amended the first degree murder charge to second degree murder.

OK Biker gang pleads not guilty in Whiskey Barrel Saloon shooting

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According to the Oklahoma County District Attorneys Office, Jacobs shot and killed Oberholtzer during a fight between rival biker gangs. Two others were also killed as a result of the shooting.

Jacobs entered a blind plea of guilty to all charges on January 24, and was sentenced to 15 years in the Department of Corrections in addition to 20 years suspended on Wednesday.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  New Mexico lawmakers will be considering a bill to increase penalties for those who threaten to shoot up a school. The bill, which passed a House committee Thursday, would change mass shooting threats from a misdemeanor to a fourth-degree felony.

Lawmakers discuss bill that would criminalize hazing in New Mexico

Attorney General Raul Torrez has been a strong advocate for the change calling the bill a strong step forward to clamping down on violence. Last year, there were more than a dozen school shooting threats.

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Cigar in ashtray (Martin Vorel/Common Creative license)

If Montana allows cigar bars, residents and tourists will be able to enjoy a premium, hand rolled cigar on their visits, one proponent argued.

A lot of folks are looking for a particular hospitality experience when they come visit our state and other areas, and we believe Senate Bill 150 goes a long way in allowing for this unique opportunity in limited circumstances, said Jessie Luther, on behalf of the Hospitality & Development Association of Montana.

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But the bill, heard Thursday in the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs committee, would hurt workers who dont have a choice about the air they breathe, and it would undermine the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act passed in 2005, opponents said.

I feel like its like a step backwards in time if we allow this to occur, said Mitch Bradley, who said he saw his father suffer the consequences of smoking.

Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, said hes been bringing similar legislation since 2017, and its a heavy lift. But Galt said 12 other states exempt bars from their clean indoor air acts, and he believes Montana can allow cigar bars with a narrowly crafted exception too.

We are not new in any of this, Galt said.

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A representative for the Cigar Association of America said the bill has pretty good sideboards, and the group would support the bill with an unspecified amendment, although Galt said he wasnt sure hed consider it friendly.

The bill would allow a cigar bar endorsement for businesses under certain conditions, including ones that hold an all-beverages license and gaming or gambling license, only offer cigars sold on site, and dont allow other tobacco or marijuana products, among other conditions.

Opponents at the hearing, including high school students and public health representatives, argued the bill would reverse progress in Montana and set a dangerous precedent that would open the door for marijuana bars and hookah bars.

Several other bills related to smoking and vaping also are under consideration at the Montana Legislature.

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In a separate hearing on Thursday, Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, pitched Senate Bill 98, which would tax traditional cigarettes and ones that are heat-not-burn, or HBN, differently. Beard said HBN would be taxed at 85 cents a pack compared to traditional cigarettes at $1.70 a pack.

Beard said one-in-eight Montana adults smoke, most from lower income levels, and the bill would provide harm reduction and help people quit. The products heat tobacco, releasing a vapor as opposed to actually burning the cigarette.

Philip Morris International supported the bill and argued a product with less risk should also be taxed less.

However, representatives from the American Lung Association of Montana, Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Montana Academy of Family Physicians, and American Heart Association spoke in opposition to the bill.

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Jackie Semmens, with the American Heart Association in Montana, said heat-not-burn cigarettes are a new area for the tobacco industry, which has historically and consistently misled the public about the health impacts of its products.

These products have not been around long enough to fully understand their dangers, said Semmens, who also said HNB cigarettes are not approved cessation devices.

At the hearing about cigar bars, one opponent pointed to a poll that shows 89% of Montanans support the Clean Indoor Air Act. A 2021 study from New Bridge Strategy also found three quarters of Montanans were concerned about tobacco use.

Dr. Richard Sargent, co-author of a medical study that showed heart attacks dropped 40% in Helena when a local smoking ban was enforced a couple of decades ago  and ticked back up after the ban was overturned  said said cigar smoke is not special or different than cigarette smoke.

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Sargent said the legislation would be a violation of the Clean Indoor Air Act, which protects employees and nonsmokers.

We dont really think that anybody should be granted their own personal exemption from that law, Sargent said.

Sargent also said the amount of ventilation that would be needed to ensure clean air indoors is cost prohibitive based on studies from engineers.

Sen. Bob Phalen, R-Lindsay, said people have to breathe in smoke during forest fires, but with cigar smoke, they can choose. Phalen also said he wears a nicotine patch to prevent disease.

I see no problem with a cigar bar, Phalen said.

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Sargent said nicotine is a normal neurotransmitter in the brain but there is no benefit to the human body from excess. In response to a question, he also said an N95 mask will only filter about 5% of the particles in side stream smoke, or smoke from a cigar or cigarette that goes directly into the air.

A fresh air supply through a vented suit would be needed to truly protect an employee from contaminants, Sargent said.

Chair Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, said if the bill passes, he would like to ensure health inspectors have access to full respirators, which he estimated at $275 apiece.

We can do that to safeguard anybody going in so they dont have to be exposed, Noland said.

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Lisa Dworak, with the Confluence Public Health Alliance, representing nearly every health department in the state, opposed the bill, in part because she said the enforcement piece is confusing.

Dworak said it appears the Department of Public Health and Human Services would enforce the bill, but doing so would run contrary to its mission.

C.B. Pearson, who has worked on tobacco disease prevention for 45 years including in Montana, said the states act was a compromise in 2005. He said one concern at the time was that the legislation never be penetrated.

Today, were seeing that, and we have seen that before, but I think this is a more serious challenge, Pearson said.

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The American Heart Association, Montana Medical Association and Association of Montana Public Health Officials also opposed the bill.

The committee did not take immediate action on the cigar bar bill, and Galt said he will bring an amendment for minor changes, including to drop the amount of gross income businesses need to generate from cigars to operate to be more realistic.

The bill to assess taxes differently for heat-not-burn cigarettes also had not been voted on Thursday, according to an online legislative status update.

Editors note: This story has been corrected to note Galt said the number of exempted entities from state clean air acts was bars, not cigar bars.
A person heads into a Target store Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in Lakewood, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP

Targets announcement last week that the company would be ending its diversity initiatives caused a mixed response across social media on whether to support the move or boycott.

On Friday the retail giant said in a company memo that it would phase out DEI policies put in place in part to support and promote Black-owned businesses, following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis, according to the Associated Press.

Much of the online chatter was focused on a debate over whether to continue to shop at the store to support businesses owned by Black, female and minority-focused brands sold exclusively at the retail chain, or choose companies that have kept its DEI goals  which stands Diversity, Equity and Inclusion  in place for now.

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TARIFFS ON MEXICO: Texas businesses on high alert over Trump's renewed tariff threat against Mexico

Reverend Al Sharpton and his National Action Network led a buy-in at a Costco in Harlem on Sunday, encouraging the community to support the chain for not canceling out its DEI programs.

As DEI policies face attacks from Donald Trump and others, Costco has stood firm, proving they value justice and inclusion, Sharpton said in a video posted on his Facebook page. We will support those who stand with us and hold accountable those who dont. Justice is not just about marching, its about where we spend our dollars.

Others suggested that boycotting Target could be counterproductive to minority-owned entrepreneurs.

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On her Instagram page, Tabitha Brown, a Black entrepreneur who has partnerships with Target and Walmart to sell her range of products, called the move disheartening, but urged her followers to think of the consequences that a boycott would have on minority-owned business owners.

As disheartening as it is for me, Im not the only one affected by this, she said.

Brown said its very hard for Black, women and minority-owned businesses to finally be seen and approved for retail and hit shelves.

The comments on Browns Instagram were split between those who agreed with Brown and others who believed that a boycott was a way of taking a stand.

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Boycotting Target would do more harm to the small businesses in our community. Just go in and shop, just put the blinders on, stay focused, go in, Buy Black Owned, get out!, said one follower, while another argued that Black businesses are self-sufficient enough not to rely on support from companies such as Target.

Our biggest problem with our community is we crave to be included in a game they dont want us in. We have the power to be sustainable all on our own.

Comments flooded the stores Instagram page, with many decrying Targets decision and some vowing to switch their shopping needs to Costco.

The change is in line with other companies rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion practices  such as Walmart.

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The Associated Press reports companies have faced legal pressure to end DEI from conservative groups who were encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Courts 2023 decision to outlaw affirmative action in college admissions.

TARGET PULLS SOME PRIDE MERCH: Store moves products to back of some stores in wake of threats and harassment

Others on social media expressed their disdain for DEI and praised target for removing the policies.

The move revamps the companys Belonging at the Bullseye strategy, which was Target's response to the Black Lives Matter movement. One of the programs being cut focused on giving Black employees opportunities for career building, improving Black shoppers' experience and promoting Black-owned businesses after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 by Minneapolis police, the Associated Press reports.

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Commuters along Marksheffel Road on the east side of Colorado Springs will need to detour early next week because of road work, according to a news release from the city.

Marksheffel Road will be closed overnight from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Monday-Wednesday while crews install temporary concrete barriers from Dublin Boulevard to Stetson Hills Boulevard, officials said in the news release.

Drivers are asked to use Peterson Road as a detour route . Signs will be in place to direct drivers .

The construction project on Marksheffel between Barnes Road and Dublin is scheduled to continue into late 2026.
A sign denoting the boundary of the Flathead Indian Reservation along U.S. Highway 93. (Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0)

An emotionally-charged bill that would allow non-tribal members to hunt big game on their own property within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation drew opposition from tribal members and wildlife managers in a hearing this week.

Supporters of House Bill 216, brought by Rep. Tracy Sharp, R-Polson, comprising mostly non-tribal private landowners on the reservation, said they deserve full use of the land they pay taxes on, and that increased hunting opportunities would help prevent crop degradation and keep wildlife numbers under control.

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Sharp, who admitted he did not work with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on his bill, said the complicated and unique legal history of the Flathead Reservation makes the issue confusing, but believes it is a simple bill.

My proponents are not asking for the moon and the stars, Sharp said in a hearing Tuesday. If they are to pay this state full taxes for their private property, they should be permitted the complete and uncompromised enjoyment of it.

But opponents, who outnumbered proponents by a 2-to-1 margin, said the bill violates treaty rights, infringes on tribal sovereignty and could undermine state-tribal relationships, including potentially compromising existing hunting and fishing opportunities. Friday, the committee had not yet taken action on the bill.

This bill, we believe, would wreck tribal-state relations and partnerships and force everyone back to court in regard to long-standing agreements, said Sen. Shane Morigeau, a Democrat who represents the southern part of the Flathead Reservation and spoke on behalf of the Montana American Indian Caucus. In addition, it will cost the state an unknown amount of money and tribal goodwill.

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He said the state and tribes have handled the unique jurisdictional matter for decades, and did not need to relitigate the past. Morigeau also expressed concerns the caucus has that the legislation would have a ripple effect throughout the state, as private landowners living on other reservations would come forward asking for the same privileges.

Christy Clark, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, opposed the bill on behalf of the agency, saying that it would adversely affect the positive relationship between the department and the CSKT. In addition, Sharps bill is written to divert license fees for private landowners to go to the CSKT instead of her department, which Clark said flies in the face of state and federal law.

Big-game hunting within the boundaries of a tribal reservation by non-tribal members is illegal, according to a Fish and Game Commission Rule, with limited exceptions. The Blackfeet Tribe allows a select number of guided trophy moose, bison and elk hunts by lottery.

The CSKT allows some fishing and bird hunting by non-tribal members on the Flathead Reservation as a result of a legal settlement between the tribe and the state more than 30 years ago, and many opponents said the bill could jeopardize this agreement.

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Tribal wildlife managers said they have depredation programs in place in coordination with landowners to deal with crop degradation as well as disease management plans that mirror the states.

Private property versus Tribal Sovereignty

The Flathead Indian Reservation is unique among Montanas reservations for having a majority non-native population.

Thats due to the Flathead Allotment Act of 1904, a federal law that assigned tribal land to individual members, authorized the disposal of surplus lands to non-members, and led to the loss of more than half of the reservation land base.

Now, roughly one-third of the land within the reservation is owned outright by individuals and is taxable  the basis of Sharps bill.

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However, the Allotment Act violated the original 1855 Hellgate Treaty, which created the Flathead Reservation and reserved the CSKT the exclusive right to fish and hunt on the reservation.

John Harrison, a staff attorney with the CSKT, said the Flathead fishing and hunting agreement, which stemmed from litigation with the state over who had jurisdiction to license fishing on the reservation, is one of the most incredibly successful tribal-state cooperative agreements in the history of this state.

It is very popular. The tribes dont want to go back to litigation. The state doesnt want to go back to litigation. Most of the general Montana public has not been interested in this issue, Harrison said. This is something that serves a small number of people, a passionate number of people, certainly.

Similar bills have been introduced in the Legislature numerous times during the years, including one during the 2021 session. Last year, a ballot initiative with a similar goal failed to get enough signatures for consideration.

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Retired game warden Rick Shoening, who championed the ballot initiative, said he thought the bill could benefit relationships between private landowners and the tribe.

Deer and elk are part of the public trust here in Montana, they belong to everyone. The CSKT feel that within the reservation boundary, they are the sole owners, Shoening said.

Other proponents included Rick Jore, a former legislator in the 1990s who tried to terminate the hunting and fishing agreement when he was in office; Ross Middlemist, who owns a 3,000-acre ranch near Dixon; Jeff Dara of Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, and Chris Killorn representing the Outdoor Heritage Coalition and his father, who owns property on the reservation.

I think for landowners to be able to gain subsistence living on their own property can only be right, Killorn said.

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Twenty-three individuals and representatives from the multiple Native communities and hunting and fishing organizations all urged the committee not to pass the bill, many concerned about the tribes ending the current cooperative fishing and bird hunting agreement.

The really unfortunate thing is, it would result in tribal lands being closed off, likely all across the state, Morigeau added. Access to things like your favorite fishing hole, your favorite hiking sport, could possibly be gone if this bill would pass.

Tom McDonald, vice chairman of the CSKT council, told the committee they only need to look to the ceiling of the Capitol to understand the root of the issue.

As demonstrated there in the Capitol building, the Charlie Russell painting with the Salish meeting Lewis and Clark, weve always been a very friendly tribe, McDonald, told the committee. But, he guaranteed that We will do our utmost to defend our treaty, our sovereign rights that have be en established for tens of thousands of years on our homelands.
Members of Salt Lake City's Fire Department union, Local 81, watch as the Utah Senate discusses a bill that would end collective bargaining for public sector unions at the Utah State Capitol Building on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch)

A bill to ban public sector unions from collective bargaining is one step closer to becoming law after passing the Utah Senate on Thursday with an 18-10 vote.

But the vote came with a promise from the bills Senate sponsor, Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy. By Friday, he said the bill will be amended so public sector unions  which represent teachers, firefighters, police officers and other government employees  can still engage in collective bargaining, as long as they get enough support from the employee base.

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Senate rules require bills to be voted on twice, so the bill still needs to clear one last legislative hurdle before it heads to the governors desk.

Sponsored by Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, HB267 is shaping up to be one of the most controversial bills this legislative session, drawing widespread backlash from the states labor groups and seeing broad bipartisan opposition. It cleared the House with a 42-32 vote, and narrowly made it out of a Senate committee with a 4-3 vote. On Thursday, four Republicans joined the Senates six Democrats to vote against the bill.

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As it stands, the bill eliminates collective bargaining for all public sector unions, the process where a school district, city, county or other entity with public employees meets with a union to negotiate a contract for those employees.

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Currently, Salt Lake Citys fire and police departments, and a number of Utah school districts are the only government entities with employees that collectively bargain, Teuscher said.

More than 13,000 people have signed onto a Utah Education Association petition opposing the bill, and public comment during both the Senate and House committee meetings dragged on as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other union representatives voiced their opposition.

Since its fire and police departments are some of the only public unions that collectively bargain in the state, the bill would have an outsized impact on Salt Lake City. More than 60% of the citys 4,000 employees are union members, and city mayor Erin Mendenhall on Thursday urged lawmakers to vote no, calling the bill a direct attack on the rights of our public workers and their families.

This bill would not only harm those on the frontlines but would also erode the values of fairness and respect for hard work that we should be upholding in our state, she said in a statement.

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Lawmakers say they have received thousands of emails urging a no vote. Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, called it a direct attack on unions and Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, called the process un-American.

To that end, Cullimore said he anticipates a substitute bill by Friday that will allow a public sector union to engage in collective bargaining, so long as more than 50% of the employees in an organization (for instance, a school district) vote to have a union represent them.

So if a school district has 3,000 employees, at least 1,501 would have to vote for a union to represent them in negotiations, regardless of whether they are union members or not.

That ultimately won over some of the bills skeptics on Thursday, who said they were voting yes based on Cullimores promise of an amendment.

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I trust the good sponsor that hell follow through and get the provisions in there. And Ill wait. To be honest with you on this version, Im a hard no, said Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, who, despite his hesitation, voted in support of the bill. You may not want to count on me tomorrow, well see.

But other lawmakers, most of them Democrats, had reservations about voting for a bill they oppose on the promise of an amendment.

We are beholden to vote on the bill before us, said Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights. If our good senator wanted us to vote on the bill thats somewhere in the wings, they would have brought that bill to us today. We cannot vote on a bill that we dont know about. We are not voting on a promise. We are not voting on a compromise. We are voting on whats in front of us.

Teuscher says the bill will level the playing field and allow public employees to have a greater voice. In some cases, a union might not represent a majority of the employees in an organization, like a fire department or school district, yet it negotiates on behalf of everyone.

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That means some public employees really dont have any sort of voice in what their working conditions are going to be, Teuscher said on Wednesday during a Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

But thats not how many of the states labor organizations see it. Collective bargaining is an essential tool in negotiating for better wages, benefits and working conditions, dozens of teachers, firefighters and other public employees have argued. Taking that away would strip unions of their teeth, and make it difficult to advocate for themselves.

The 6,000 people that work for Granite (School District), the 4,200 that work for Nebo (School District), theyre all going to have access to their superintendent 24 hours a day? Is that more efficient? asked Riebe, herself a teacher and member of the Utah Education Association.

Cullimore, in response to some of the criticism toward the bill, accused unions of fearmongering.

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The fear that is being promulgated by the education unions, to rally everybody else against this bill is unfounded, he said on the Senate floor Thursday, telling his colleagues that its because unions feel threatened.

In addition to the ban on collective bargaining, HB267 would restrict certain government resources from going toward union activity; for example, ensuring taxpayer funds wont pay a public employee for the work they do for a union.

Unions also wouldnt get special exemptions for using public resources, like property  if other groups or people have to pay to use a public room or space, so does the union.

People who are employed by a union, but arent actually employed by the entity the union represents (for example, someone who works in an administrative position for a teachers union full time, but isnt actually employed by a school district) would no longer have access to the Utah Retirement System.

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And the bill would offer professional liability insurance for teachers, which in most cases is only currently offered through a union. Teuscher said that would cost each teacher between $110 to $150 annually.

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Bill Gates said he was surprised to see how many tech billionaires support President Donald Trump. The billionaire Microsoft founder donated $50 million to the Kamala Harris campaign and said he always thought of Silicon Valley as being left of center.

It seems like lately billionaires are banding togetherand behind President Donald Trump. But one executive isnt in on the boys club throwing money and support behind the president.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was one of very few executives to openly support former Vice President Kamala Harris and her fight for a Democratic win on Election Day. The billionaire donated $50 million to the Harris campaign because this election is different.

Gates has notoriously flown under the radar with politics, and didnt have much to say about his Harris donation. While he didnt get the outcome he wanted, he says he was nonetheless shocked to see his fellow tech billionaires throw their support behind Trump.

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I always thought of Silicon Valley as being left of center, Gates told the New York Times in an interview published Thursday. The fact that now there is a significant right-of-center group is a surprise to me.

That assumption was trueat least some years ago. In 2017, Stanford Graduate School of Business released findings from a study of 600 tech company founders, which showed the group was largely supportive of Democrats and redistribution through higher taxation.

Although it is not surprising to find that individual wealthy liberals exist, our results suggest that elites in this industry as a whole appear poised to be advocates for economic, social, and global equality in many domains, the authors of Wealthy Elites Policy Preferences and Economic Inequality: The Case of Technology Entrepreneurs wrote.

Meanwhile, think tank Brookings Institute had actually started chipping away at the assumption most tech executives were Democrats. Gregory Ferenstein, a political researcher, wrote in a 2017 article for the Brookings Institute theres an argument that tech executives have no underlying ideological belief system, but just ad hoc optimize for more money and power.

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The past few months have proven wrong the notion that most tech executives are liberal. Some of the most high-profile and wealthiest tech executives went out of their way not only to publicly support Trump, but donate millions to his inauguration.

The most prime example is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has essentially become Trumps right-hand man. Musk, the richest man in the world with a $430 billion net worth, regularly campaigned for Trump and donated more than $200 million to help elect him.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also worked to thaw his once-frosty relationship with Trump, having donated $1 million to his inaugural fund and cohosted an inauguration reception with other Republican billionaires. The two even dined together at Mar-a-Lago the night before Thanksgiving. That was quite the 180 for their relationship, considering Trump had previously threatened to jail Zuckerberg for life if the tech executive interfered in the election. Zuckerberg infamously announced in early January that Meta would ditch fact-checking in favor of community notes, similar to Xs content moderation policy.

The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech, Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the change. So were going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.

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Gates, whos worth $165 billion, said while incredible things happened because of sharing information on the internet, social media has had major downfalls.

You see ills that I have to say I did not predict, Gates told the NYT, citing increased political divisiveness online.

Aside from social media executives, Trump has garnered support from other tech CEOsas is evident in who attended his inauguration this year. Aside from Zuckerberg and Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook all attended Trumps inauguration event. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was also there.

While Gates is by no means an open Trump supporter, he said hed do his best to work with the president.

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I will engage this administration just like I did the first Trump administration as best I can, Gates told the NYT.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
A state Senate committee heard emotional testimony on House Bill 269 on Thursday. The bill would prohibit transgender students at public colleges from living in dorms that dont match their biological sex.

The bill, which, as the Deseret News previously reported, already received approval from a House committee, continues to generate intense debate.

Emotional testimony on both sides

Front and center at the hearing were two Utah State University students  freshman Avery Saltzman and sophomore Marcie Robertson, a transgender resident assistant.

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The two were randomly assigned to room together.

I would never have chosen to live on campus in an apartment with a man identifying as a woman, Saltzman told the Senate Education Committee. (This situation) puts women in a position where we have to decide to put ourselves at risk... or face social persecution.

I began receiving harassing emails and credible threats to safety, Robertson said. If this legislation is truly about the comfort of cis-gender students, then it is sorely counterproductive to remove transgender people from sex-designated housing... Comfort and understanding is not bred out of shoving us in a corner. Its done by open conversation.

What will the future look like for Utah students?

The bill passed the Senate Education Committee. All committee members but Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Salt Lake City, voted in favor of the bill.

Mackenzie Robertson, the mother of Marcie Robertson, a transgender resident assistant at Utah State University, speaks during a hearing on HB269, which pertains to privacy protections in sex-designated areas, in the Senate Education standing committee in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News

The bill now heads to the full Senate.

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The bill, HB269, tries to balance anti-discrimination protections with privacy concerns over restrooms, locker rooms and housing.

Specifically, the bill mandates that individuals stay in rooms that correspond with their sex designation, regardless of their gender identity or even the sex their birth certificate indicates (in the case of birth certificate changes).

The ACLU of Utah is opposed to the legislation, as is the Utah House Democratic Caucus, which released a public statement outlining their unanimous opposition to the bill, where they expressed their dismay with the legislation.

But supporters of the bill say that the measure ensures safety and privacy.

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We shouldnt be here, testified Cheryl Saltzman, Avery Saltzmans mother. This should never have been allowed to happen. My intention... is to protect my three daughters and every single woman."
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE)  Some lawmakers say its time to get New Mexico school kids to lock up their cell phones during class. Now, a bill to help school districts do that is already winning approval in the Roundhouse. The bill is being called the Anti-Distraction Policy and it would make millions of dollars available for schools to start up programs to lock and store cell phones during teaching hours.

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Our students are spending well over five hours a day on social media apps and we have to come in and really break that cell phone addiction, said Senator Crystal Brantley, (R-Elephant Butte).

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Sen. Brantley said educators have told her cell phones are now among the biggest distractions in New Mexico schools. Shes sponsoring Senate Bill 11, which would define an Anti-Distraction Policy. The bill would force PED to encourage schools to make policies locking up cell phones, while also offering 10 million to pay for equipment to do it.

What the policy looks like is completely up to individual districts. As we know a school district in Quemado may need to adopt a different policy than the Albuquerque school district, said Sen. Brantley.

In a first committee debate Wednesday night, some think it would help improve student proficiency. This bill will help teachers perform one of their main duties which is to help students focus academically and socially, said J.D. Bullington, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

This isnt about limiting access to technology its about ensuring technology supports rather than hinders the learning environment, said Whitney Holland, President of American Federation of Teachers New Mexico.

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However, some are worried about what happens to the funding. What is the maximum a school can spend, it doesnt say, it says theyll get reimbursed. Thats a pretty open checkbook it sounds like, said Senator William P. Soules (D-Dona Ana County).

Brantley sees this ultimately as a bipartisan issue. This is something that is bringing together major teachers that have asked for this. 97% of teachers say this is their number one distractor is cell phones. Were meeting the needs of the teachers and the needs of students, said Sen. Brantley.

Some parents have also raised concerns about cell phones being locked up during emergencies. However, Senator Brantley said there are some options for products on the market that allow for easy, emergency access. The bill passed a first committee Wednesday night and now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  A bill introduced in the Arkansas legislature on Thursday would add the Board of Apportionment to entities required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Senate Bill 12 would amend the FOIA. Should the bill become law, any communications between Board of Apportionment members would be considered public record.

Gov. Sanders looking to update FOIA laws; pointing to privacy, security of family & state agencies

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The Board of Apportionment comprises the governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. It is charged with redistricting house and senate districts to comply with the law, including that all have a relatively equal population size.

The legislation includes that any violation by the board would be a Class A misdemeanor.

Arkansas senator introduces legislation to counter governors prison plans

The legislation is sponsored by Senator Bryan King (R-Green Forrest). King also sponsored legislation on Thursday for public safety.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, testifies in support of a bill during a committee hearing on Jan. 31, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

A bill debated Friday would give North Dakota lawmakers immunity from conflict-of-interest crimes if they disclose potential conflicts and follow legislative ethics rules.

House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said he sponsored House Bill 1505 to give citizen lawmakers clarity on how to navigate potential conflicts when voting on bills.

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Meanwhile, a separate bill that seeks to overhaul how the North Dakotas Ethics Commission handles complaints encountered opposition from the state Attorney Generals Office on Friday.

Lefors proposal provides immunity to lawmakers if they disclose conflicts and follow rules such as those adopted by the House in December. For example, the rules require members to disclose sufficient detail about a conflict so other lawmakers can decide whether to allow them to vote. The rules also allow a member to abstain from voting and provide a grace period so lawmakers can disclose conflicts after voting on a bill.

Its unclear what impact the bill would have on the Senate, which has not yet adopted similar conflict-of-interest rules.

The bill also allows lawmakers who act following written guidance of the Ethics Commission to use that as a defense if they are prosecuted for voting on a bill.

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Emily Thompson, legal division director for Legislative Council, outlined some of the language changes on potential conflicts. Instead of saying lawmakers with a direct, substantial benefit from a bill have a potential conflict, lawmakers with a unique interest in a bill have a potential conflict.

As an example, she said changes to property taxes may directly benefit a lawmaker, but because the benefit is not unique to an individual lawmaker, there would not be a conflict.

Conflict-of-interest issues were elevated last year when Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, was convicted of a misdemeanor crime related to votes he submitted on the House floor.

Dockter was the part-owner of a building with space being leased by two agencies. Dockter voted on budget bills that included money for those leases.

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McLean County States Attorney Ladd Erickson, the prosecutor in the Dockter case, submitted written testimony in support of the bill. He said the bill would not have changed the outcome of that case. Erickson said the bill would provide lawmakers assurance that they wont be in legal jeopardy if they disclose conflicts and follow the Legislatures conflict rules.

Rep. Lori VanWinkle, R-Minot, said she was struggling to understand how the bill would reduce corruption if it offers lawmakers immunity.

Thompson said the bill does not grant lawmakers immunity from taking a bribe or other bad act, just the official act of voting on a bill.

Rebecca Binstock, executive director of the North Dakota Ethics Commission, speaks during a committee hearing on Jan. 31, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

Ethics Commission Executive Director Rebecca Binstock filed written testimony against the bill, but said amendments Lefor introduced Friday addressed most of the concerns.

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The House Government and Veterans Committee did not act on the bill or on another bill related to the Ethics Commission, House Bill 1360.

The North Dakota Ethics Commission, created by voters in 2018, has received 84 complaints since it was established. An investigation by the North Dakota Monitor and ProPublica published earlier this month showed that the commission has yet to substantiate a single complaint.

In addition, the commission often receives information about potential ethical issues it cant investigate unless a formal complaint is filed.

Binstock explained for the committee how the bill seeks to streamline the Ethics Commision process and would alter how it handles complaints. Changes include eliminating the word complaint and replacing it with the term relevant information.

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Binstock said one of the biggest changes is that it would allow legislators implicated with misconduct to address the situation publicly, rather than wait for the end of a sometimes lengthy review.

It also allows some cases to be dismissed or dealt with more quickly.

But Deputy Attorney General Claire Ness testified against the bill, saying it strips away some protections for those accused, gives the Ethics Commission too much leeway in rulemaking and takes away enforcement authority from the Legislature.

Rep. Austen Schauer, R-West Fargo, chair of the House Government and Veterans Committee, expressed frustration after the testimony from Ness.

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Were here  going through this bill for an hour, and then the Attorney Generals Office comes in and basically blows it up, Schauer said.

Ness said her office provided input to the Ethics Commission and lawmakers on both bills, and she testified in support of the immunity bill.

It is our duty to explain what our concerns are, Ness said. We are in absolutely no way trying to blow anything up.

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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  A new bill released today seeks to create a new election office separate from the Lt. Governor to oversee Utahs election system.

H.B. 369  simply titled Elections Office  would assign all elections powers, oversight, and administration over to an independent office run by a Director of Elections Office who would be appointed by a 5-member committee made up of county clerks.

This bill comes after ABC4.com broke the story that Rep. Ryan Wilcox (R- District 7) was planning to run a bill separating the Lt. Governors office from elections. Wilcox, saying he believed it made more sense to there to be an independent agency running elections in the state.

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I just want to do whatever I can to quash this idea that itsAnything personal with the lieutenant governor, the current one or the former one, or anybody else. Wilcox said. Thats not it at all. Honestly, I, I think it makes more sense for (the position) to be as independent as possible rather than tied to any campaign.

The proposed committee that would appoint the director would be comprised of selected county clerks from each branch of the state government. The 5-member committee would be composed of 2 county clerks chosen by the governor, one county clerk chosen by the president of the senate, one county clerk selected by the speak of the house, and one county clerk chosen by the state auditor.

As Utahs Chief Elections officer, I am immensely proud of the integrity shown by my office, county clerks, and poll workers in administering elections in our state, Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson said in a statement to ABC4.com. We have consistently upheld the highest standards of election administration in adhering to state code and existing laws. I also have a deep respect for the legislative process and remain committed to working with our lawmakers on this and other election-related bills.

With the bills introduction, it will have to face scrutiny in both chambers of the legislature, where it will have to pass before it can become law. At this moment, it is unclear if leadership will support the bill. In an interview with ABC4.com, the Governor said that he supports ways to wall off officials that are running for office, but he seems uninterested in a bill that would create a new elections office.

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ABC4.com has reached out to Speaker Schultz, President Adams and Governor, and are still waiting for a reply.

This is a developing story. ABC4 will update this post as new information becomes available.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (KCAU)  The latest bird flu outbreak continues to spread as Nebraska officials have detected the first cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the state in 2025.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture said in a release that two cases of HPAI were discovered in backyard poultry flocks in both Nance and Kearney counties.

Northeast Nebraska sheriff warns farmers, landowners of copper wire theft

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Nebraskas State Veterinarian Dr. Roger Dudley is urging producers to practice good bio-security with their flocks, including minimizing exposure to wild birds, washing hands, and changing clothes before and after coming into contact with poultry.

Bird flu can survive for weeks in contaminated environments, according to agriculture officials. Symptoms of the disease in poultry include the following:

Decrease in water consumption

Lack of energy and appetite

Decreased egg production or soft-shelled, misshapen eggs

Nasal discharge

Coughing

Sneezing

Incoordination

Diarrhea

Birds can also suddenly die without showing symptoms.

Any poultry showing signs of the disease or any unusual deaths should be reported to the NDA at 402-471-2351 or to the USDA at 866-536-7593.

Learn more about HPAI on this NDA webpage or from the USDA here.

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Whether you already have a backyard chicken coop or are considering investing in some chickens, news about bird flu might have you worried about the potential health risks.

Here's what you need to know about the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, and what bird flu might mean to you, your chickens and pets.

What is bird flu?

Bird flu is an influenza A virus that causes respiratory disease in birds and can spread to other animals and humans, too. There are several subtypes of bird flu viruses, and the severity of illness they cause can vary, depending on the strain of bird flu and the type of animal that's infected.

Avian influenza (Bird flu) has infected not only poultry flocks, but also dairy cattle, wild birds, humans and more.

Some of types of bird flu, like the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus that's been circulating in the U.S. since 2022, are extremely infectious among many types of birds, including turkeys, chickens and geese.

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The H5N1 virus has a fatality rate of 90% or higher among poultry, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it can trigger a puzzling array of symptoms in other animals.

In cows, the H5N1 avian influenza virus seems to infiltrate the mammary system. High levels of the virus have been detected in their milk, slowing production and sometimes causing thick, clotted milk. Cows get fevers, and don't eat and drink like they should. Sometimes pregnant cows miscarry.

Barn cats that drank raw milk from sick cows also were infected with bird flu and developed neurological symptoms, eye and nose discharge; many died. Fox kits also have been reported to have neurologic symptoms when they get H5N1 infections, including tremors, blindness and lethargy, before they die.

What are the symptoms of bird flu in humans?

Symptoms vary, depending on the type of bird flu virus that caused the infection.

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The H5N1 bird flu now circulating in the U.S. has caused mostly mild symptoms in the 67 people who've had known infections since 2022. Those symptoms include conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, along with nasal congestion and cough.

However, two recent cases show that the H5N1 virus now circulating in the U.S. and Canada also can cause severe pneumonia and death in people.

A 13-year-old girl in British Columbia was infected in November with H5N1 bird flu. A report about her case was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, detailing mutations in the virus that allowed it to replicate in the girl's respiratory tract. She was so sick, she was hospitalized for two months and needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as ECMO, which acts as an artificial heart and lungs when a person is so critically ill their own heart and lungs cannot function.

The H5N1 bird flu virus also killed a person in early January who'd been hospitalized in Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Health reported that the person was exposed to both a backyard flock and wild birds, was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions.

A goose and a chicken.

In other parts of the world, roughly half of the people infected with different subtypes of the H5N1 bird flu virus died from it, according to the World Health Organization. Many scientists and public health experts are concerned that the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating now in the U.S. could mutate in a way that makes it more transmissible and more deadly in people.

What are the symptoms of bird flu in chickens?

Chickens and other poultry may not have any symptoms at all before they die suddenly of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, the American Veterinary Medical Association reports.

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Others may have low energy or appetite; nasal discharge; coughing; sneezing; reduced egg production; purple discoloration or swelling of the wattles, comb, and legs; lack of coordination; torticollis, or twisting of the head and neck, and diarrhea, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Can bird flu in chickens be treated?

There is no treatment for highly pathogenic bird flu in chickens and other poultry, the AVMA said. The USDA says the only way to slow the spread of the disease is to depopulate all affected and exposed poultry.

"It is extremely rare for poultry to recover from HPAI," the American Veterinary Medical Association wrote on its website. "For other birds, the chance of recovery depends on the severity of their infection and their species, as some bird species are more resilient to HPAI than others."

More: Michigan geese, angry owner change protocol for killing flock exposed to bird flu

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More: Bird flu outbreak is really challenging to stop, Michigan State University dean says

What should I do if I suspect bird flu in my flock?

Report it right away. Call MDARD at 800-292-3939 during normal business hours or 517-373-0440 after business hours and on weekends.

If you suspect bird flu in wild birds or other wild animals, report it by calling the state Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Disease Laboratory at 517-336-5030 or by filling out the Eyes in the Field online form: https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/ors/Survey/4

You also should:

Wear personal protective equipment such as N95 face masks, vented safety goggles, gloves, boots and/or boot covers, coveralls and hair covers if you go within about 6 feet of sick or dead animals, their animal feces, litter, and any other material that could be contaminated by bird flu, the CDC says.

Isolate the sick and/or dead birds from other animals and people to prevent exposure.

Work with state and local health officials to monitor your health and the health of others who might have been exposed to the virus. Watch for new respiratory symptoms as well as eye infection or redness for 10 days after the last exposure to the sick animals. If symptoms develop, get tested right away for influenza A and tell your medical provider that you were exposed to animals with bird flu.

Use biocontainment and disinfection practices to ensure no people or animals go into the potientially contaminated area. The USDA offers biosecurity tips and best practices here: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fsc-birds-checklist-english.pdf

Are my pets safe from bird flu?

It depends on the pet. Of course, birds are very much at risk from the virus and can contract it through exposure to other infected birds  wild or domestic  or their feces, mucus or saliva or contact with surfaces contaminated with their feces, mucus or saliva.

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Cats also are extremely susceptible to the H5N1 bird flu and are at risk of developing neurological symptoms and dying if they're infected with H5N1 bird flu.

They can get the virus by drinking raw, unpasturized milk, eating raw poultry and through exposure to sick or dead wild birds, domestic poultry and backyard flocks.

In December, Portland, Oregon-based pet food manufacturer Northwest Naturals recalled a batch of its pet food containing raw turkey after an indoor house cat in Oregon died and the food later tested positive for H5N1 bird flu, according to the AVMA.

The 2-pound Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen food had use by dates of May 21, 2026, and June 23, 2026, and was distributed in Michigan as well as Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.

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There also is evidence ferrets get extremely sick from H5N1 bird flu, and can die from the virus.

While dogs can get infected by the H5N1 bird flu, reports of illness among dogs are rare. When they get sick, the symptoms have been mild, the CDC reported.

Veterinarians urge pet owners to ensure their cats and dogs don't hunt birds or scavenge the carcasses of birds or other animals. They also should avoid contact with other infected animals, such as cows and poultry and unpasteurized milk.

Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bird flu outbreak: What Michigan backyard chicken owners should know
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  A Birmingham man was sentenced to over 10 years in prison on drug and firearm charges.

Courdarius Hall, 26, was sentenced to 123 months in prison for drug trafficking and possessing a firearm, according to U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona. Hall pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in April of 2024.

Birmingham police arrest 2 suspects in relation to homicide investigation

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According to the plea agreement, during the seperate drug transactions in 2023, Hall sold drugs to a confidential source. After obtaining a search warrant for his home, deputies recovered methamphetamine, fentanyl and guns.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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A sign at a Wabanaki Alliance rally on Indigenous Peoples Day at the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)

The Penobscot Nation is encouraging its citizens to carry their tribal identification as a precaution in light of reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement questioning the citizenship of Indigenous people in other states.

These reports come after the Trump administration also openly questioned the U.S. citizenship of Indigenous people as part of its defense of President Donald Trumps executive order to suspend birthright citizenship in the U.S.

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This line of questioning raises alarm for Maulian Bryant, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, because of possible implications for the rights of individual Native Americans as well as for the long standing relationship between tribes and the federal government.

Disrupting that relationship would present unique challenges for the Wabanaki Nations  the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mikmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation  which already have a different status than the other 570 federally-recognized tribes in the U.S.

Wabanaki leaders and Maine lawmakers have been pushing on the state and federal level to rectify this disparity, which stems from the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980. They are continuing to do so this legislative session.

But that push for parity has been based on the assumption that the baseline federal relationship is intact and remains so, regardless of who is in the Oval Office.

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Its a moving goalpost if what were working towards, equity as federally recognized tribes, is in flux for all tribes, Bryant said. That makes our work all the more harder and all the more important.

Encounters with ICE

Danna Hayes, director of public affairs for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, said the office is not aware of any incidents of Indigenous people being questioned by ICE in Maine.

The board of the Wabanaki Alliance, a nonprofit organized to advocate for the recognition of the Wabanaki Nations inherent sovereignty, met on Friday to discuss the actions handed down from the Trump administration so far and are in the process of settling on collective guidance for Wabanaki citizens.

The Penobscot Nation is the only tribe so far that has issued direction for citizens to carry their tribal identification.

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We encourage all Tribal citizens to carry your Tribal ID, as we understand that your Tribal ID is sufficient proof of citizenship, Chief of the Penobscot Nation Kirk Francis shared in a message to citizens and employees on Wednesday. Contact the Tribal office if you need a new Tribal ID or encounter any problems.

Such encounters could be further complicated for Wabanaki people who have dual citizenship with Canada and the United States.

Were talking a lot about the southern border, Bryant said, but I would want anyone that has that dual citizenship to be able to cross the border freely and understand the rights in both countries.

Navajo leaders told Maine Morning Stars sister site the Arizona Mirror that theyve received calls and text messages from Navajo people living in urban areas who have been stopped, questioned or detained by ICE.

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In New Mexico, the Mescalero Apache Tribe reported that ICE agents asked a tribal member for identification, first in Spanish, but stopped questioning after the person presented their state license and tribal identification card.

In light of these incidents, tribes across the country have started urging their members to carry identification, some offering waived fees for replacing identification and help securing legal counsel should its members be improperly questioned or detained.

Legal implications in flux

On the first day of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order that states U.S. citizenship does not extend to children born to a mother who is unauthorized or in the U.S. on a temporary visa and whose father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Several states and organizations sued the administration over the order, including Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. In response to one lawsuit brought by Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Illinois, a federal judge temporarily blocked the order and called it blatantly unconstitutional.

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In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution codified birthright citizenship, declaring that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

In court, the DOJ cited an 1884 U.S. Supreme Court case in defending the executive order as constitutional. That ruling, in Elk v. Wilkins, found that because members of Indian tribes owe immediate allegiance to their tribes, they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to citizenship.

The DOJ went on to argue, The United States connection with the children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors is weaker than its connection with members of Indian tribes. If the latter link is insufficient for birthright citizenship, the former certainly is.

However, the DOJ ignored the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which explicitly gave Indigenous people birthright citizenship in the U.S., and court precedent upholding that right since.

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Speaking for myself and a lot of other tribal members that Ive talked to, we were surprised that one of the initial topics brought up was Indigenous citizenship because it doesnt even seem all that connected to any of the executive orders or policy agendas, Bryant said.

All of that you would think would be rectified with the 1924 act granting us citizenship, Bryant added. But the fact that its even being brought up is troublesome.

Also in light of the Trump administration issuing sweeping executive actions to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, Bryant cautioned that tribes should be on alert regarding what this could mean for Indigenous rights.

Were going to really have to make it clear that the fiduciary responsibility from the United States government to tribal nations is not a welfare program, Bryant said. Its not entitlement spending. Its based on the fact that this is all of our homeland and it was stolen.

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One example of Trumps DEI attacks targeting tribal nations is the renaming of North Americas tallest peak from Denali back to Mount McKinley, which Bryant said has been met with dismay from many Wabanaki citizens.

I hope theres some common sense and decency and we dont destroy some of those really great Indigenous influences on our society, Bryant said.

With a new administration also comes new cabinet leadership.

Other tribal leaders have said they see an ally in North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who Trump selected to serve as Interior Secretary and chairman of the newly formed National Energy Council, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Burgum replaces former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history.

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While Bryant has not yet met Burgum, she said she hopes to work with him on the issue of land into trust applications, in particular.

Part of our wanting to amend the Settlement Act is to have a land and a trust process that looks more like other types throughout the country, Bryant said.

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When US President Donald Trump signed a recent executive order that would deny citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, he took aim at what he suggested was a peculiarly American principle: Birthright citizenship.

Its ridiculous. We are the only country in the world that does this with the birthright, as you know, and its just absolutely ridiculous, said the 47th president of the United States as he questioned a principle that some of his opponents say lies at the very heart of what it means to be called an American. For more than 150 years, the 14th Amendment of the Constitution has granted automatic citizenship to any person born on US soil.

As the courts moved to temporarily block his order, various media outlets pointed out that the presidents remarks were not entirely accurate. According to the Law Library of Congress, more than 30 countries across the world recognize birthright citizenship on an unrestricted basis  in which children born on their soil automatically acquire the right regardless of their parents immigration status.

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Still, presidential hyperbole aside, the data from the Law Library does seem to suggest there is something particularly American (both North and South) about the idea of unrestricted birthright citizenship, as the map below shows.

Strikingly, nearly all of those countries recognizing unrestricted birthright citizenship are in the Western Hemisphere, in North, South, and Central America.

The vast majority of countries in the rest of the world either do not recognize the jus soli (Latin for right of soil) principle on which unrestricted birthright citizenship is based or, if they do, do so only under certain circumstances  often involving the immigration status of the newborn childs parents.

So, how did the divide come about?

Brits to blame?

In North America, the right of soil was introduced by the British via their colonies, according to The Evolution of Citizenship study by Graziella Bertocchi and Chiara Strozzi.

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The principle had been established in English law in the early 17th century by a ruling that anyone born in a place subject to the king of England was a natural-born subject of England.

When the US declared independence, the idea endured and was used  ironically for the departing Brits  to keep out foreign influence, such as in the Constitutions requirement that the president be a natural-born citizen of the US.

Still, it was not until the 1820s that a movement led by Black Americans  whose citizenship was not explicitly guaranteed at the time  forced the country to think seriously about the issue, according to Martha Jones, a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University.

The Signing of the Constitution of the United States oil painting on canvas by Howard Chandler Christy. - GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

They land on birthright in part because the US Constitution of 1787 requires that the president of the United States be a natural-born citizen. So, they hypothesize that if there is such a thing as a natural-born citizen, they, just like the president, must be natural-born citizens of the United States.

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The principle would be debated for decades until it was finally made law in 1868 after the Civil War, which resulted in the freedom of enslaved Black Americans, and formalized by the 14th Amendment, which states: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

The economic incentive

But it wasnt just the Brits in North America. Other European colonial powers introduced the idea in countries across Central and South America, too.

Driving the practice in many of these areas was an economic need. Populations in the Western Hemisphere were at the time much smaller than in other parts of the world that had been colonized and settlers often saw bestowing citizenship as a way to boost their labor forces.

Spanish emigrants on board a ship heading toward Argentina are depicted in this engraving. - Prisma/UIG/Getty Image

You had these Europeans coming and saying: This land is now our land, and we want more Europeans to come here and we want them to be citizens of these new countries. So, its a mixture of colonial domination and then the idea of these settler states they want to populate, said sociologist John Skrentny, a professor at the University of California, San Diego.

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Later, just as the idea of right of soil was turned against the Brits in North America, a similar reversal of fortunes took place in the European colonies to the south.

In Latin America, many newly formed countries that had gained independence in the 19th century saw right of soil citizenship as a way to build national identity and thus further break from their former colonial rulers, according to the study by Bertocchi and Strozzi.

Without that principle, they reasoned, Spain could have claimed jurisdiction over people with Spanish ancestry who were born in former colonies like Argentina, said Bertocchi, a professor of economics at Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia.

Right of soil to right of blood

So what about all those countries in other parts of the world that were also colonized by Europeans but today do not recognize the right of soil?

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Many of them  particularly those in Asia and Africa  also turned to citizenship laws to send their former rulers a message.

However, in most cases these countries turned toward a different type of birthright citizenship that has its roots in European law: jus sanguinis (right of blood), which is generally based on ones ancestry, parentage, marriage or origins.

In some cases, this system was transplanted to Africa by European powers that practiced it, Strozzi and Bertocchi wrote in their study. But in other cases newly independent countries adopted it on their own accord to build their nations on an ethnic and cultural basis.

Doing so was a relatively easy change. As Skrentny points out, in many of these places the right of soil had never become as ingrained as it had in the Americas, partly because their large native populations had meant the colonizers did not need to boost their workforces.

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Jettisoning the right of soil sent a message to the former colonists that they didnt want to hear any more of it, said Bertocchi, while embracing the right of blood ensured descendants of colonizers who remained in Africa would not be considered citizens.

They all switched to jus sanguinis, said Bertocchi. It seems paradoxical, right? This time, to build a national identity, you needed to adopt this principle.

So long, jus soli

Theres one final twist that helps explain why the right of soil principle seems today to be a largely American affair.

Over the years, the colonial powers that once followed the right of soil have since moved either to abolish or restrict its use, much like some of their former colonies.

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In the UK, it was scrapped by the British Nationality Act of the 1980s, which put in place several conditions to qualify for British citizenship  including some that relate to parentage, as in jus sanguinis.

Experts say the driving force for those changes  in Britain and elsewhere in Europe  was the concern that migrants could take advantage of the system by entering the country with the intent of giving birth to a child with automatic citizenship. In other words, the same concern being voiced by many of Trumps supporters in todays United States.

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Jan. 30ABILENE  Abilene Zoo has announced the arrival of two American bison, bringing one of North America's most iconic species back to the Abilene community.

Just one century ago, bison roamed the grasslands that are modern-day Abilene, and they have long been a cherished symbol synonymous with the Abilene community. For years, these magnificent creatures were on exhibit at Abilene Zoo, but in 2011, the zoo's bison were relocated to a private facility. Now, thanks to the generosity of the Weilert family, Uno, an eight-year-old male bison, is making his debut at the zoo, marking the return of this iconic species fourteen years later.

In the coming weeks, Uno will be joined by a female bison, both of whom have been residing on a private ranch owned by the Weilert family just outside of Abilene. After Uno was displaced from his herd by another male bison, owner Steve Weilert had the idea of donating him and a breeding female to the zoo, a news release said.

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"I've loved bison my whole life, and I remember as a kid just being fascinated by them- their size and beauty," Steve Weilert said in the release. "I've always wanted to see them brought back to the zoo so kids today can see and appreciate how magnificent they are. This is a dream come true for our family."

The return of bison to the zoo is not only a historic moment, it showcases the zoo's deep commitment to conservation and education. The bison will serve as ambassadors for their species, helping visitors understand the vital role they play in the ecosystem and the importance of preserving their natural habitats.

"We are excited to welcome these majestic creatures to our zoo," said Jesse Pottebaum, Zoo Director. "Bison are a symbol of resilience and strength, and their presence here allows us to educate the public about the efforts being made to protect and restore their populations in the wild."

Uno is out on exhibit daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit abilenezoo.org.
The female pilot killed in the helicopter collision with a passenger jet in Washington DC will not be named, the US Army said.

The army made the a highly unusual decision at the request of the family not to release the name of one of the three soldiers killed when a military Black Hawk collided with a passenger jet on Wednesday evening.

The army identified two of the soldiers killed as Staff Sgt Ryan Austin OHara and Chief WO2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, but did not provide details about the third.

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At the request of the family, the name of the third soldier will not be released at this time, an army statement said.

President Donald Trump has suggested, without evidence, that the deadly mid-air collision was the result of the Federal Aviation Administrations efforts to hire a more diverse workforce.

Pete Hegseth, US defense secretary, while at the White House speaking about the crash on Thursday, also took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the military and government.

On Friday Mr Trump said the helicopter was to blame for the fatal crash.

Washingtons Ronald Reagan airport banned helicopters from flying parts of two routes within its radius after the crash and the US president said the military aircraft was flying too high at the time of the collision.

All three soldiers on board the army aircraft were killed in the crash above Ronald Reagan National Airport - Petty Officer 2ns Class Taylor Bacon/US Coast Guard

CNN later reported that flight-tracking data showed the helicopter was flying 100ft above the maximum allowed altitude.

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The Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a training flight for a female pilot who has not yet been identified.

She was being overseen by Chief WO2 Eaves, who had more than 1,000 hours of flying experience and would have been expected to take over the controls in the event of an emergency.

All three soldiers on the army aircraft were killed in the crash above Ronald Reagan National Airport, as well as the 64 passengers and crew on American Airlines flight 5342.

The crew chief of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet on Thursday has been identified as Ryan OHara, a father-of-one.

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OHara, 28, would have sat in the back of the helicopter on its training mission through the congested airspace above Washington DC.

Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff of the armys aviation directorate, said that Chief WO2 Eaves, the instructor pilot on the flight, had logged more than 1,000 hours of flight time.

The third soldier on the aircraft, a female pilot commanding the flight, has yet to be named. She had more than 500 hours of flying experience, Mr Koziol said.

Mr Hegseth told a press conference on Thursday that the UH-60 Black Hawk crew were fairly experienced and had been wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the crash, which should have allowed them to spot the approaching airliner.

Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, has said the army is investigating if an elevation issue in the Black Hawk route caused the collision

He added that the army was investigating whether there was an elevation issue with the Black Hawk route.

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Bradley Bowman, a former Black Hawk pilot who had flown the same path as the doomed craft, told CBS News that it was crucial for pilots to keep the helicopter below 200ft.

You literally have aircraft coming in and out, and you have to stay at that altitude to make sure there isnt a collision. For some reason that failed last night.

Donald Trump has blamed diversity hiring for the crash, without providing evidence, and accused the Black Hawk of taking an unbelievably bad route ahead of the crash.

Mr Koziol dismissed questions on the ability of female pilots in remarks to reporters on Thursday.

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As for women in the military, flying a helicopter is like driving a car, he said. You just got to learn how to do it and anyone can do it with the proper training.

Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night  this wasnt something new to either one of them. These are our top pilots doing this national capital region, he added.

A Black Hawk helicopter flying near a naval air facility in Japan - Damon Coulter/Alamy Stock Photo

The Black Hawk crew were part of Bravo Company of the 12 Aviation Battalion based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Carrie Eaves, the wife of Chief WO2 Eaves, posted pictures of her husband in uniform as she confirmed he was on board.

We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.

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A transgender military pilot on Friday posted a proof of life video to dispel rumours she was on board the Black Hawk helicopter.

Jo Ellis, who served in Iraq and is a pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, condemned the rumours that she died on the flight.

Rescuers have pulled around 40 bodies out of the freezing waters of the Potomac River, with the search continuing into Friday morning.

The Marine Corps junior reserve officers training corp at Parkview High in Gwinnett County posted a condolence message on Facebook confirming Sgt OHara was one of its former students.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own. Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan OHara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk involved in last nights crash in DC.

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The post, which has been deleted, added that Sgt OHara is fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the rifle team.

Gary, OHaras father, was watching the television when news of the crash broke.

I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking, he told The Washington Post. Two army officials delivered the news that his son was among the casualties on Thursday morning.

As a parent, how do you take the news like this and not be totally broken? said Mr OHara.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Beginning Feb. 1, schools, museums and communities across the nation will mark the start of Black History Month - a celebration of Black history, culture and education.

The history of the month dates back almost a century, and the way it is celebrated and evolved has created history in itself.

The origins of the month

Black History Month wasnt always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people.

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This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH.

I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to Americas historical narrative, but no one was talking about it, said Kaye Whitehead, the organization's president. No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.

After he passed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was also responsible for the push to extend the celebrations to a full month. Eventually, in 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing the month.

Since then, presidents have made annual proclamations for National Black History Month, a tradition that President Donald Trump plans to continue, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

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Celebrating Black history

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History releases a theme for each year, which is a practice Woodson started.

This years theme is African Americans and Labor. The organization plans to use the month, and the rest of the year, focusing on the role of Black labor in building the nation through industry or community work.

Black history is also celebrated within communities and families. Worth K. Hayes, an associate professor of history and Africana studies at Morehouse College, said some families may use the month to explore their genealogy, learn about their ancestors or come together to eat a meal and make family trees.

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We may be more familiar with the more public ways, but there are also a lot more intimate ways in which these messages are spread and the way that the holiday is propagated, Hayes said.

At some schools, assemblies or gatherings are held to honor Black leaders, according to the nonpartisan organization the Center for Racial Justice in Education.

"Some schools invite elders to share their wisdom and lived experiences, allowing young people to learn from them, ask questions, and build meaningful connections across generations," the center said in an email to The Associated Press. Additionally, some communities select specific topics or principles for in-depth exploration during the month.

Myths about Black History Month

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Myths around Black History Month continue, Whitehead said, including the idea that the U.S. government purposely chose the shortest month of the year. In reality, Woodson chose February because two prominent figures in the civil rights movement  Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass  had birthdays in the week he chose.

Whitehead also stresses that Black history shouldnt just be taught for the month of February, but rather taught and celebrated for the entire year.

Celebrities, including actor Morgan Freeman, have criticized it being just a monthlong celebration. But Hayes argued that the month isnt just about celebrating African-American history, but Black history as a whole.

I think that there is this desire to make this point that African-American history or Black history is so integral to the American story, American history, Hayes said. But that reduces Black history to African-American history, and thats not how it is and is celebrated from its origins to this day  So if youre talking about Black History Month, youre not only talking about Nat Turner, youre also talking about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. Youre talking about many of the women and men who led the independence movements on the African continent.

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Whitehead added that Black history is not just for Black people, it is for all people.

If youre in an environment and everybody in the environment is white, you need Black History Month more than ever because you need to understand that the world, even though you like to believe it fits into this box, it does not, Whitehead said.

Black history doesn't rely on a presidential proclamation, Whitehead and others said. Whitehead said Black people dont need permission to mark the month.

It doesnt happen because were waiting for a statement to be released. We proclaim it, We celebrate it, we uplift, we center it and we help people to understand that this is our history, she said.

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Black History Month in 2025

At least one government agency has paused celebrations of cultural or historic events, including Black History Month. But at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the decisions of the new Trump administration around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives will not affect how Black History Month is celebrated.

Negro History Week started in 1926 without any proclamation from anyone other than the people, said ASALH executive director Sylvia Cyrus. The president of the United States has his views, and certainly we assume that he understands the contributions that African Americans and other people of color have made.

A White House spokesperson has said that they intend to celebrate the month.

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Some believe how Black history is taught could be affected by the new administrations outlook on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

The Center for Racial Justice in Education said educators may be more encouraged to teach Black history in their classrooms throughout the year. Resistance takes many inspiring forms, and those dedicated to celebrating this essential history are employing creative and strategic approaches to share and further develop it, the organization said in an email.

Hayes agreed and said it could encourage others to teach communities about the contributions of Black people.

African Americans, Black folks throughout the world, just like all cultures throughout the world, have taken ownership of their history, he said. And these various political developments may shape the contours of it. But this story is going to be told regardless of the political dynamics of the particular time.
FORT NOVOSEL (WDHN)  An Army training flight ended in tragedy Wednesday night in the nations capital after a Blackhawk helicopter, whose pilots are normally trained at Fort Novosel, and a commercial jet collided near the Regan National Airport.

The Blackhawk is a workhorse aircraft for the US army, and while Fort Novosel is not known to be direclty involved in this crash, it is the home of Army Aviation, where most military pilots likely spent time to train.

No survivors after collision between American Airlines jet, Army helicopter near DC

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They conduct 14 to 23 weeks of qualified training in ah-64 apache helicopters, Ch-47 Chinook helicopters and UH 60 which are Blackhawks, training over 4000 aviators a year.

The mid air crash happened Wednesday evening when a Blackhawk collided with an American airlines passenger jet leaving over 60 people dead. This marked the first major commercial crash since 2009.

At least three of the bodies found were soldiers.

The plane was cleared for landing by air traffic control and the Army chopper, being flown by an experienced crew that has flown on this same route and at night, was on its usual path but was flying higher than their max allowed altitude.

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Video captures fiery crash between American Airlines flight and Army Blackhawk

White House officials believe it played a factor in the collission but Army officials believe data need to be analyzed first.

The last Blackhawk crash in Alabama was in Madison County, near Huntsville. Crashes are not a stranger in the Wiregrass, the last helicopter crash, which involved an Apache helicopter, was in August of last year, killing a fort novosel instructor pilot.

Apaches are a multi-role attack helicopter and blackhawks are used for transport and support.

The identities of the the soldiers killed in the DC crash have not been released.

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Britain risks being left more vulnerable to blackouts as a political row in Norway over power exports escalates.

The Norwegian government collapsed this week following a row over EU green energy laws. A junior coalition partner in the government quit in protest at plans to implement the policies, amid a broader rise in energy nationalism in the country.

Experts said the collapse raised questions over Britains reliance on Norwegian energy imports to keep the lights on. Last weekend, Norway accounted for 4pc of the UKs power, coming via cables that run under the North Sea.

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Kathryn Porter, an energy consultant at Watt-Logic, said there was increasing pressure on Oslo to reevaluate its relationship with the UK on electricity.

Before the Norwegian coalitions collapse, both governing parties had signalled they wanted to end a deal to supply Denmark with electricity and renegotiate deals with the UK and Germany.

Norway is a key source of electricity for Britain when the nations own power supplies dip. Norway generates energy from its hydroelectric power facilities, which offer a stable source of electricity in contrast to intermittent solar and wind.

Britain is expected to become increasingly reliant on electricity imports under Ed Milibands net zero push as Labour seeks to decarbonise the grid by switching to intermittent renewables, with wind power forming a crucial pillar of its plans.

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Politicians have warned that this strategy risks leaves Britain reliant on neighbours to safeguard its energy security. Nick Timothy, a Conservative MP, said the row in Norway demonstrates the danger of becoming over-reliant on imports to provide our electricity, and the danger in rushing to decarbonise the grid by 2030.

He said: Whatever Ed Miliband wishes, policy cannot move faster than technology. Ignoring this obvious truth risks our energy security, our international competitiveness and the well-being of the public.

Ms Porter said there was no imminent risk to power supplies, stressing that Norway would not simply turn off of the inter-connector cable that supplies electricity and would be more likely to want to renegotiate to potentially bring in tariffs.

However, she said the collapse of the Norwegian coalition did raise questions for Britains energy security. Ms Porter said: If we continue along the trajectory that Ed Miliband wants the UK on, well rely on inter-connectors a lot more, but theyre not necessarily going to be available.

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Electricity exports have become a flashpoint in Norway, where the public has been facing soaring energy prices in recent years. Critics have claimed the undersea interconnector cables force prices higher.

In December, prices in southern Norway were almost 20 times higher from one week to the next, when a lack of wind in Germany led to a surge in electricity exports.

In 2022, when Norway opened inter-connectors to Britain and Germany, prices in the south of the country  where the cables connect to  soared by a factor of 10.

A backlash over high energy prices in the country has increased pressure to cut electricity links into Europe. The country is set to go to the polls in September, with the issue expected to be front and centre of debates.

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Norways two-party coalition broke up on Thursday after the centre party leader said he could not accept three EU directives on increasing renewable energy sources and efficiency.

Following the collapse of the coalition, the centre-Left Labour party will govern alone for the first time in 25 years until elections later this year.

Britain was struck by tight supplies of energy earlier this month when there was a plunge in wind speeds. Experts had said the country came within a whisker of blackouts, with grid operators scrambling to keep the lights on.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has pushed back against these claims, saying it had been holding around 1.4 gigawatts in emergency reserves that went unused. These are held back for a worst-case scenario in which a major generator suddenly fails.

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However, the tight margin shed light on the potential risks of relying so heavily on wind and solar farms.

No 10s national security adviser was warned this month that Mr Milibands net zero zealotry was putting Britains energy security at risk. Mr Timothy wrote to Jonathan Powell to highlight the problem with making Britain more dependent on electricity imports.

It followed concerns that Russian and Chinese ships are deliberately cutting undersea cables in Europe to disrupt electricity supplies.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: It is categorically untrue that our electricity or gas supplies have been at risk this winter. We are confident we will have sufficient energy supply to meet demand, due to our diverse and resilient energy system.

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Last year, the Prime Minister and his Norwegian counterpart signed a joint declaration to deepen this strong and long-standing partnership  including on energy security  and we have comprehensive arrangements on interconnectors to provide mutually beneficial trade in electricity.

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An artist's rendering of the possible redevelopment of the old Prince George's Hospital Center site in Cheverly. (Image courtesy HomeTeam 5)

The Town of Bladensburg is dropping its attempt to annex a valuable piece of property owned by Prince Georges County and promised to the neighboring Town of Cheverly.

Following a closed-door meeting Tuesday night, Bladensburg officials said they would pause and eventually drop their attempts to take over the property known as Hospital Hill, home of the old Prince Georges Hospital Center and the site of a proposed mixed-use development now in its early stages.

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Bladensburg said in a statement Wednesday that it was abandoning the annexation process after receiving assurances that its officials and residents would have meaningful input into the future development of the hospital property. The land is owned by the Prince Georges County Redevelopment Authority, which is working with a development team to bring the project to fruition. The county had planned to eventually turn the land over to Cheverly, which borders the site.

Our intent is not to hinder development but to ensure that Bladensburg has a voice in a project that will have lasting positive regional impacts, Mayor Takisha James said in the statement. We are committed to fairness, collaboration, and advocating for the best interests of our community.

State officials said Thursday that Bladensburg is also in line for a $200,000 study on its future economic development opportunities, funded by the Maryland Economic Development Corp. (MEDCO)

Cheverly, in a statement posted to its Facebook page late Wednesday, called Bladensburgs decision to abandon the annexation a significant step forward.

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The voices of our residents have been heard, and we are continuing to push for solutions that reflect the best interests of our community, the statement said.

Bladensburg shocked state, county and local officials by initiating the annexation process in December, sparking an unexpected war between neighboring communities that are generally allies, and exposing rifts and resentments that had largely remained beneath the surface.

Cheverly and Prince Georges County have sued in recent weeks to block the annexation. All parties agreed in court Thursday to a 15-day temporary restraining order, with the understanding that Bladensburg will abandon the annexation, making the lawsuits moot.

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Meanwhile, in Annapolis Thursday, Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince Georges and Anne Arundel), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said that with Bladensburgs announcement he would withdraw his legislation that was designed to put constraints on any attempts to annex property owned by a county redevelopment agency. Barnes, who has steered millions in state funding to the hospital redevelopment project over the past few years, said he introduced the bill to make sure the state investment was protected.

During a hearing Thursday in the House Environment and Transportation Committee for the bill he now plans to withdraw, Barnes conceded that Bladensburg had legitimate grievances about being cut out of the planning process for the redevelopment project and said the towns state representatives, Sen. Malcolm Augustine (D) and Del. Julian Ivey (D), had secured the $200,000 from MEDCO for the economic development study.

Barnes said companion legislation sponsored by Sen. Craig J. Zucker (D-Montgomery), the chair of the Senates capital budget committee, would also be withdrawn.

I think we really have a win for Cheverly, for Bladensburg, and for Prince Georges County, he said.

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Barnes was accompanied at the hearing by John OConnor, a consultant for Bladensburg on the annexation, who assured lawmakers that the efforts to take over the property would be dropped.

The Town of Bladensburg wishes to be solid partners in this, he said.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds attend the 'It Ends With Us' New York Premiere on Aug. 6, 2024. - Credit: Gotham/WireImage

In the latest amid the ongoing legal saga between Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni, the actress and her husband Ryan Reynolds told a federal judge that they will move to dismiss Baldonis defamation lawsuit.

According to Variety, the couples lawyers filed the notice Thursday in compliance with Judge Lewis Limans order, which lays out how the federal case will proceed.

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Earlier this month, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, accusing her of trying to destroy him with false allegations of sexual misconduct. The complaint, filed in New Yorks Southern District, accuses Lively, Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane, and her company, Vision PR, of defamation, extortion, and invasion of privacy. Along with Baldoni, the suit also lists his film studio, Wayfarer, its chief executive, Jamey Heath, and PR reps Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel as plaintiffs.

His suit arrived after Lively filed a precursor complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on set and launching a smear campaign against her. Baldonis lawyer, Bryan Freedman, denied the allegations at the time and claimed that the actress filing was an attempt to fix her negative reputation. Lively brought an official lawsuit on Dec. 31.

A pretrial conference was scheduled on Feb. 3 and is set to focus on attorney conduct and pretrial publicity. In a letter, lawyers for Lively and Reynolds previously accused Freedman and Wayfarer of making prejudicial comments to the media and trying to taint the jury pool with a website including what they called strategically selected documents and communications between Lively and Baldoni.

All these motions to dismiss are just yet another attempt by Ms. Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Sloan to hide and delay the discovery of the hundreds of pages of true facts and well-documented information that we remain dedicated to providing publicly, with full transparency, Freedman told Rolling Stone in response to the new filing. We expect such motions to be denied and, in the meantime, stand ready to oppose each and every one of them.

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Along with the expected pretrial hearings and developments, Liman slated the trial to begin March 9, 2026.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that had burned for two days at a petrochemicals plant in Russia's Nizhny Novogorod region struck by Ukrainian drones on Wednesday, state news agency TASS cited emergency services as saying on Friday.

TASS quoted the local emergencies ministry as saying that the "open fire" had been "liquidated".

Petrochemicals giant Sibur's Kstovo plant, which is about 800 km (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was struck alongside a nearby oil refinery overnight on Wednesday.

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Sibur said at the time that it had temporarily suspended operations at the plant after debris from a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire.

Ukraine has carried out frequent air attacks on Russian refineries, oil depots and industrial sites in an attempt to cripple key infrastructure underpinning Russia's war effort.

(Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Jan Harvey)
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Immigration crackdown bringing mixed feelings to New Yorkers. Bodega owners, customers, and even advocates of these establishments weigh in on the impact of the recent ICE raids.

Less money coming in, and employees not showing up to work. But for others, Trumps immigration crackdown means bringing law and order into a city that desperately needs it.

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In the heart of Washington Heights, the talk among employees and customers inside of this bodega Thursday afternoon was President Trumps immigration crackdown.

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I know there are a lot of good people too, I feel bad for them but it has to be done, got to clean up. I have two daughters, and I want them to be safe when they grow, said Johan Mencias, a Washington Heights resident.

Those who work in this line of business claim they are losing customers, but for Johan Mencias, ICE raids in our are already making a positive impact.

Theres a lot of criminals. Now streets feel safe, you can see, you can walk, you dont see a lot of bikes, all these people that come here and dont know the rules, he added.

What are you hearing from bodegas owners and workers? PIX11 News asked Francisco Marte, President of the New York Bodegas Association.

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They be afraid, they be calling me and asking, Frank are they going to come to the store? responded Marte.

ICE raids in NYC: What to know about immigrant rights

Suslyn Pichardo who manages a Bronx Bodega says fewer undocumented workers are showing up for their shifts and significantly less foot traffic. She calls it, the 2025 pandemic. But this time, an immigration pandemic.

We are victims of those criminals, we are victims of the robberies, the looting, the assaults. And a lot of these things are occurring with the migrant population that just entered New York, said Spokesman for United Bodegas of America, Fernando Mateo. Adding President Trump is making bodegas safer by doing what the Criminal Justice System has failed to do.

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What do you think about collateral arrests and potentially collateral deportation? PIX11 News asked Mateo.

Right now thats the fear that certain groups want to instill in them. Now if you have committed a crime, other than entering the country illegally, I recommend that you look for another place to work. because if they come looking for you, Because you are a criminal they are going to find you and they are going to deport you, he answered.

Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, ICE operations initial focus is those with criminal records, but the overall goal is to curb illegal immigration

The law applies to everybody, it applies to American citizens, it applies to people who are coming to this country illegally. You will be held accountable for breaking our laws, stated Noem.

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Ive been here 20 years, I came here with my green card, then citizenship, I did it the right way, like everybody has to do it the right way, concluded Mencias.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
DANVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56)  Last October a routine grocery store trip turned into a traumatic experience for 66-year-old John Hardwick. Police accused Hardwick of shoplifting, which led to him being wrestled to the ground, punched, taken to jail, and eventually to the hospital.

Officers said they arrested Hardwick because he was intoxicated and trying to steal beer, his family said he was confused because he has dementia.

He shoplifted, so at that point we take him into custody, said Officer Ben Ray.

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He wasnt actually shoplifting, surely, he didnt walk out the door with the beer, he just wanted to buy his beer, I guarantee you he wasnt shoplifting, Cindy Hardwick, Johns wife, responded.

Charges dismissed against Danville man accused of shoplifting, public intoxication

New body cam footage obtained from Ephraim Helton, Hardwicks lawyer shows what happened after officers took Hardwick to the hospital for evaluation.

Ray, the supervisor on the scene, appeared to be exchanging text messages with Danville Assistant Chief Glenn Doan, with Doan reluctant to believe Hardwick had dementia.

To the best of my knowledge, Assistant Chief Doan has no medical training and has no medical training with dementia yet thats the text message exchange, said Helton.

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The text messages read:

Yea Im skeptical of the severe dementia claim,

Hes a little confused, but I think severe is a stretch Hes really good at avoiding everyones questions, wrote Officer Ray.

Yea combine that with alcohol abuse.

Petition calls for Danville officers to be fired, suspended after Walmart arrest

In a report Officer T. J. Godbey filed after the arrest, boxes were checked which said he punched Hardwick. Both Chief Tony Gray and Assistant Chief Doan signed off on the report, stating the punches were not excessive, even though the report indicates neither watched a video of the incident.

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Helton said the text messages and report further the notion that the department was aware of what happened.

Everybody knows what took place. They just dont want to tell you we made a mistake, and in the essence we beat up a dementia patient, Helton claimed.

FOX 56 reached out to Danville Mayor James Atkins, who promised a full internal review earlier this week; he said he had nothing to add at this time. The Danville Police Department has also had no further response.

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It leads you to one escapable conclusion, what more are you hiding? said Helton.

Helton said his office will be filing a lawsuit against the City of Danville and all officers involved.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News.
Virginia State Police said on Friday they found the body of a motorcyclist who had led officers on a high-speed chase the day before in Suffolk.

On Thursday around 6:30 p.m., a state trooper tried to stop the driver of a Harley Davidson that was going 100 mph in a 55 mph zone, on Route 10 near Five Mile Road, according to a police news release.

The driver refused to pull over, according to a release. The motorcyclist fled east on Route 10 and the trooper soon lost of sight of them, police said.

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Less than 10 minutes later, the driver of a 2018 Ford Explorer contacted police and told them she had been traveling west on Route 10 when she saw a motorcycle in her lane eluding police. The motorcycle sideswiped her vehicle on Goodwin Boulevard, east of Harrell Drive, and was thought to have continued on Route 10, a release states.

The trooper, along with Suffolk Police Department, searched the area. The driver of the Ford was not injured, according to a release.

On Friday afternoon after 12:40 p.m., Suffolk police notified state police that a body had been found at 4120 Goodwin Boulevard that matched the description of the motorcyclist. The body, identified as 30-year-old Wyatt Austin Brill, of Suffolk, was found about 25 feet from the road, down a 40-foot ravine covered in brush, according to state police.

No other information has been released.
This story incorporates reporting from Yahoo, Space on MSN.com and MSN.



NASA astronaut Suni Williams set a new record after a recent 5.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). Williams, alongside fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, spent time adjusting and maintaining equipment critical for the space stations operations. Williams has now logged 62 hours and six minutes of total spacewalk time, a new record for female astronauts.

Among the spacewalks objectives, NASA said, was to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the stations truss. The work supports ongoing international efforts to ensure the ISS remains a hub for scientific research and technological advancement.

Williams milestones in spacewalks have consistently advanced understanding and capabilities in low Earth orbit. Her cumulative spacewalking hours now place her among the most experienced astronauts in the field.

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Quartz Intelligence Newsroom uses generative artificial intelligence to report on business trends. This is the first phase of an experimental new version of reporting. While we strive for accuracy and timeliness, due to the experimental nature of this technology we cannot guarantee that well always be successful in that regard. If you see errors in this article, please let us know at qi@qz.com.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the reason for the spacewalk. NASA said the objectives included removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the stations truss. It was not to enhance the stations power generation by installing updated solar arrays.

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Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research. These paper mills are profiting by undermining the literature that everyone from doctors to engineers rely on to make decisions about human lives.

It is exceedingly difficult to get a handle on exactly how big the problem is. About 55,000 scholarly papers have been retracted to date, for a variety of reasons, but scientists and companies who screen the scientific literature for telltale signs of fraud estimate that there are many more fake papers circulating  possibly as many as several hundred thousand. This fake research can confound legitimate researchers who must wade through dense equations, evidence, images and methodologies, only to find that they were made up.

Even when bogus papers are spotted  usually by amateur sleuths on their own time  academic journals are often slow to retract the papers, allowing the articles to taint what many consider sacrosanct: the vast global library of scholarly work that introduces new ideas, reviews and other research and discusses findings.

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These fake papers are slowing research that has helped millions of people with lifesaving medicine and therapies, from cancer to COVID-19. Analysts data shows that fields related to cancer and medicine are particularly hard-hit, while areas such as philosophy and art are less affected.

To better understand the scope, ramifications and potential solutions of this metastasizing assault on science, we  a contributing editor at Retraction Watch, a website that reports on retractions of scientific papers and related topics, and two computer scientists at Frances Universite Toulouse IIIPaul Sabatier and Universite Grenoble Alpes who specialize in detecting bogus publications  spent six months investigating paper mills.

Co-author Guillaume Cabanac also developed the Problematic Paper Screener, which filters 130 million new and old scholarly papers every week looking for nine types of clues that a paper might be fake or contain errors.

Problematic Paper Screener: Trawling for fraud in the scientific literature

An obscure molecule

Frank Cackowski at Detroits Wayne State University was confused.

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The oncologist was studying a sequence of chemical reactions in cells to see whether they could be a target for drugs against prostate cancer. A paper from 2018 in the American Journal of Cancer Research piqued his interest when he read that a little-known molecule called SNHG1 might interact with the chemical reactions he was exploring. He and fellow Wayne State researcher Steven Zielske began experiments but found no link.

Meanwhile, Zielske had grown suspicious of the paper. Two graphs showing results for different cell lines were identical, he noticed, which would be like pouring water into two glasses with your eyes closed and the levels coming out exactly the same. Another graph and a table in the article also inexplicably contained identical data.

Zielske described his misgivings in an anonymous post in 2020 at PubPeer, an online forum where many scientists report potential research misconduct, and also contacted the journals editor. The journal pulled the paper, citing falsified materials and/or data.

Science is hard enough as it is if people are actually being genuine and trying to do real work, said Cackowski, who also works at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Michigan.

Wayne State scientists Cackowsi and Zielske carried out experiments based on a paper they later found to contain false data. Amy Sacka, CC BY-ND

Legitimate academic journals evaluate papers before publication by having other researchers in the field carefully read them over. But this peer review process is far from perfect. Reviewers volunteer their time, typically assume research is real and so dont look for fraud.

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Some publishers may try to pick reviewers they deem more likely to accept papers, because rejecting a manuscript can mean losing out on thousands of dollars in publication fees.

Worse, some corrupt scientists form peer review rings. Paper mills may create fake peer reviewers. Others may bribe editors or plant agents on journal editorial boards.

An absolutely huge problem

Its unclear when paper mills began to operate at scale. The earliest suspected paper mill article retracted was published in 2004, according to the Retraction Watch database, which details retractions and is operated by The Center for Scientific Integrity, the parent nonprofit of Retraction Watch.

An analysis of 53,000 papers submitted to six publishers  but not necessarily published  found 2% to 46% suspect submissions across journals. The American publisher Wiley, which has retracted more than 11,300 articles and closed 19 heavily affected journals in its erstwhile Hindawi division, said its new paper mill detection tool flags up to 1 in 7 submissions.

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As many as 2% of the several million scientific works published in 2022 were milled, according to Adam Day, who directs Clear Skies, a company in London that develops tools to spot fake papers. Some fields are worse than others: biology and medicine are closer to 3%, and some subfields, such as cancer, may be much larger, Day said.

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The paper mill problem is absolutely huge, said Sabina Alam, director of Publishing Ethics and Integrity at Taylor & Francis, a major academic publisher. In 2019, none of the 175 ethics cases escalated to her team was about paper mills, Alam said. Ethics cases include submissions and already published papers. We had almost 4,000 cases in 2023, she said. And half of those were paper mills.

Jennifer Byrne, an Australian scientist who now heads up a research group to improve the reliability of medical research, testified at a July 2022 U.S. House of Representatives hearing that nearly 6% of 12,000 cancer research papers screened had errors that could signal paper mill involvement. Byrne shuttered her cancer research lab in 2017 because genes she had spent two decades researching and writing about became the target of fake papers.

In 2022, Byrne and colleagues, including two of us, found that suspect genetics research, despite not immediately affecting patient care, informs scientists work, including clinical trials. But publishers are often slow to retract tainted papers, even when alerted to obvious fraud. We found that 97% of the 712 problematic genetics research articles we identified remained uncorrected.

Potential solutions

The Cochrane Collaboration has a policy excluding suspect studies from its analyses of medical evidence and is developing a tool to spot problematic medical trials. And publishers have begun to share data and technologies among themselves to combat fraud, including image fraud.

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Technology startups are also offering help. The website Argos, launched in September 2024 by Scitility, an alert service based in Sparks, Nevada, allows authors to check collaborators for retractions or misconduct. Morressier, a scientific conference and communications company in Berlin, offers research integrity tools. Paper-checking tools include Signals, by London-based Research Signals, and Clear Skies Papermill Alarm.

But Alam acknowledges that the fight against paper mills wont be won as long as the booming demand for papers remains.

Todays commercial publishing is part of the problem, Byrne said. Cleaning up the literature is a vast and expensive undertaking. Either we have to monetize corrections such that publishers are paid for their work, or forget the publishers and do it ourselves, she said.

Theres a fundamental bias in for-profit publishing: We pay them for accepting papers, said Bodo Stern, a former editor of the journal Cell and chief of Strategic Initiatives at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a nonprofit research organization and funder in Chevy Chase, Maryland. With more than 50,000 journals on the market, bad papers shopped around long enough eventually find a home, Stern said.

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To prevent this, we could stop paying journals for accepting papers and look at them as public utilities that serve a greater good. We should pay for transparent and rigorous quality-control mechanisms, he said.

Peer review, meanwhile, should be recognized as a true scholarly product, just like the original article, Stern said. And journals should make all peer-review reports publicly available, even for manuscripts they turn down.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. This is a condensed version. To learn more about how fraudsters around the globe use paper mills to enrich themselves and harm scientific research, read the full version.

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: Frederik Joelving, Retraction Watch; Cyril Labbe, Universite Grenoble Alpes (UGA), and Guillaume Cabanac, Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse

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Labbe receives funding from the European Research Council. He has also received funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR), and the U.S. Office of Research Integrity. Labbe has been in touch with most of the major publishers and their integrity officers, offering pro-bono consulting regarding detection tools to various actors in the field including STM-Hub and Morressier.

Cabanac receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) and the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). He is the administrator of the Problematic Paper Screener, a public platform that uses metadata from Digital Science and PubPeer via no-cost agreements. Cabanac has been in touch with most of the major publishers and their integrity officers, offering pro bono consulting regarding detection tools to various actors in the field including ClearSkies, Morressier, River Valley, Signals, and STM.

Frederik Joelving 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.
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)  A bomb threat led to police presence at Ingleside Elementary School in Norfolk on Friday afternoon.

Norfolk police was made aware of the bomb threat around 12:25 p.m. at the school located at 976 Ingleside Road.

The school was given the all-clear at approximately 1 p.m.

There are no additional details provided at this time.

Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
Jan. 31Court records were sealed this week for three documents concerning bail for a Centerville man accused of killing his girlfriend nearly 25 years ago in Kettering.

Jonathan Eric Link, 60, is charged with two counts of murder in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in the July 2001 death of 29-year-old Shannon Noel Anderson.

Judge Steven Dankof on Tuesday ordered the prosecution's Jan. 13 request for high bond and Jan. 24 request to hold Link without bond in addition to Dankof's Tuesday order denying bail all sealed with no direct or public access.

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The judge set Link's bond at $5 million and ordered him to surrender his passport during his Jan. 16 arraignment hearing.

Link's attorney Dennis Lieberman said Thursday he was not permitted to discuss the judge's order because of the seal. However, Lieberman said it was unlikely he would file a motion for a bond review.

"In murder cases bonds are generally very high, if (there is one) at all, because of the charge itself," he said.

Lieberman said the defense is maintaining that while Link certainly knew Anderson, he had nothing to do with her death.

Link reported to the Kettering Police Department on July 30, 2001, that Anderson had not been seen since July 28, 2001, and that her red 1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette also was missing from their shared home in the 4500 block of Far Hills Avenue in Kettering, just south of David Road.

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Anderson's two daughters, ages 7 and 9, remained home and police records show that Link told officers he would continue to care for the girls during the investigation into her disappearance.

The missing persons case evolved into a homicide investigation when a badly burned body was discovered Aug. 16, 2001, in rural Ross County in south central Ohio, about an hour and a half from Dayton. DNA testing confirmed the body was Anderson, Kettering police said.

A few months later, on Oct. 23, 2001, Atlanta police found Anderson's minivan abandoned in their airport parking lot, Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said during a media briefing earlier this month announcing Link's indictment.

Anderson's cause of death was ruled multiple blunt force trauma to the head.

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In the years after Anderson's death, Link has led a stable life as a father and husband who worked for an insurance company, Lieberman has said. A background search only found a few traffic violations and one for fishing without a license.

Link has been held in the Montgomery County Jail since his Jan. 13 arrest at his home.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  Bond has been set at $750,000 for the second suspect in the shooting death of a man last week on Youngstowns south side.

Terry Hopkins, 22, was arraigned Friday in municipal court before Magistrate Donna McCollum on a charge of complicity to commit murder for the Jan. 24 shooting death of 42-year-old Resean Graham.

Hopkins turned himself in to police Wednesday shortly after the first suspect in the case, 34-year-old Kenneth Carter, was also arraigned on the same charge before Magistrate Brundege.

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Carters bond was set at $750,000. He was arrested Monday when he came to court for an appearance in an unrelated case.

Hopkins is expected to have a preliminary hearing on Feb. 7. Carters preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday.

Graham was found shot inside a home in the 2700 block of Griselda Avenue after police were called there for gunfire.

Investigators have yet to comment on a motive.

Grahams death is the second homicide in the city in 2025. Last year at this time, Youngstown had one homicide. There were 20 homicides in 2024.

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  Booker T. Washington New Technology High School has announced the Black History Month events honoring local activists and student artistry.

According to a press release, the Lions Battalion JROTC program is hosting A Black History Month Celebration honoring the contributions of Black Americans to the military and their role in building our nation.

Officials say the purpose is to educate, inspire, and celebrate the legacy of Black Americans in the military while fostering a sense of community and pride. This event is an opportunity to honor the past, learn from the present, and build bridges for the future.

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The event will include: Keynote address by Judge Carl Stewart and a panel discussion with military and community leaders. Fellowship and brunch will be provided for all registered attendees.

This event takes place Saturday, February 8, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. until 12p.m. in the Booker T. Washington High School Auditorium.

Attendees should RSVP by February 1, 2025 by emailing lswilliams@caddoschools.org or calling the school at (318) 222-2186.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A political group aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ Ohioans says 46 members of the minority community ran for elected office across the state in the last two general elections.

Named the Pride Caucus, the organization aided 31 LGBTQ+ candidates in 2023s elections and 15 on the ballot last November. The group was founded nearly two years ago with a mission to identify, train and fundraise for LGBTQ+ Ohioans who want to become activists, campaign volunteers and elected leaders. Watch a previous NBC4 report on the Pride Caucus in the video player above.

Westerville could be 13th Ohio city to ban anti-LGBTQ+ conversion therapy

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Each year, were trying to focus on what candidates are running across the state, said Jeremy Blake, Pride Caucus chair and former Newark City Council member. As a caucus, we believe that we make positive change by making sure that our people have a seat at the table. If that seat is at city council, a township trustee, a school board, thats where we believe we make effective change.

Of those 15 in 2024, five candidates successfully won their races: Shawn Dingus for judge in Ohios 10th District Court of Appeals, Charmaine McGuffeys for Hamilton County sheriff, Nathaniel Overmire for Franklin County coroner, Taylor Sappington for Athens County treasurer, and Robert Schleper for Cuyahoga County Council.

The Pride Caucus aided 31 LGBTQ+ candidates in 2023s elections and 15 on the ballot last November. (Courtesy Photo/Pride Caucus)

Among those who didnt win their elections include three transgender candidates who ran for the Ohio Statehouse and were nearly disqualified for not including their deadnames on petition paperwork. One was Arienne Childrey, the Democratic nominee for the Ohio Houses 84th who fell to Republican Rep. Angie King. Childrey has since been appointed to serve as Ohios first openly transgender city council member.

Ari Faber, who appeared on the ballot under his deadname since he had not legally changed it, lost to Republican Sen. Brian Chavez as the Democratic nominee for the Ohio Senates 30th district. Bobbie Arnold, Democratic nominee for the Ohio Houses 40th district, was defeated by Republican Rep. Rodney Creech.

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Vanessa Joy, a Stark County Democrat, wouldve been the fourth trans Statehouse candidate, but was successfully disqualified from running for not including her deadname. While Joy appealed her disqualification, the board of elections voted to keep her off the ballot. Since then, Ohios Secretary of State has updated the form to include a larger space for the candidates current and prior names.

Ohio Kay Jewelers worker fired for opposing same-sex marriage, lawsuit says

While these candidates didnt succeed, Blake said each provided crucial representation during an election cycle that featured hateful anti-trans advertisements. The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with former Sen. Mitch McConnell, bombarded Ohio with at least $15 million in ads attacking former Sen. Sherrod Brown on these issues.

These attacks on members, specifically of our trans community, theyve taken the hate that exists out there, the fear, and theyve amplified it, Blake said. When you have millions of dollars of advertisements targeted at the trans community and filled with fear and hate, its hard to overcome. But, we believe as a caucus that our visibility  is how we are going to win this fight, how were going to overcome these fears.

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Moving forward, Blake said the caucus will continue to identify leaders for candidate recruitment, provide networking opportunities for members to connect with current elected officials, and collaborate with county officials to have a presence at 2025s Pride festivals. The group is aiming to mobilize LGBTQ+ Ohioans given several bills impacting the community became Ohio law in 2024.

A Franklin County judge ruled in August that Ohios law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth can go into effect after being on hold for several months. Gov. Mike DeWine approved in November a bill requiring schools to set bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex.

Ohio school district halts proposal to restrict classroom flags, symbols

A third bill, coined by supporters as The Parents Bill of Rights, will require teachers to notify parents before teaching sexuality content and of changes in a students mental, emotional or physical health. Opponents argue the measure will result in the outing of students, and point to a national crisis hotline that said it received a significant increase in calls from LGBTQ+ Ohio youth within hours after DeWine signed the bill.

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Weve got to be persistent. We are going to have a range of emotions, and some of them are going to be depressing, some of them are going to cause us anxiety, Blake said. But, we need to take those emotions and use them in a positive manner. Take that pain to purpose and really use that to make a very positive impact.

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WKRN)  A man is facing multiple charges following a hit-and-run crash earlier this month that led to another mans death, according to Bowling Green officials.

The Bowling Green Police Department said officers were sent to check on a man lying on the side of Louisville Road near Moorman Lane on Jan. 18. When law enforcement arrived, they reportedly found 46-year-old Terry Zweig of Bowling Green dead at the scene.

Authorities said Zweig was riding his bicycle south toward Bowling Green when he was struck by what was believed to be a 2003-2009 Dodge Ram truck with damage to the right side. The incident occurred sometime between 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 and 7 a.m. on Jan. 18.

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Driver charged after deadly crash on I-40 in Nashville

In the following days, detectives worked to identify the person responsible for hitting Zweig and leaving the scene, according to officials.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, police shared pictures of a truck and man they believed were involved in the deadly collision.

(Courtesy: Bowling Green Police Department) (Courtesy: Bowling Green Police Department) (Courtesy: Bowling Green Police Department)

On Friday, Jan. 31, authorities announced they received multiple tips leading them to 41-year-old Michael Mestas of Rockfield. He is being held in the Warren County Regional Jail, charged with leaving the scene of a crash/failure to render aid with death or serious injury.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

The Bowling Green Police Department thanked the Warren County Sheriffs Office and Kentucky State Police for their help. No additional details have been released about this case.

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A 5-year-old boy from Royal Oak died Friday during an explosion of a hyperbaric chamber at a Troy medical center, police said.

The explosion happened shortly before 8 a.m. at The Oxford Center at 165 Kirts Blvd. Police said the boy was found dead inside the chamber. His mother, who was injured, was with him at the facility at the time of the explosion, officials said.

The Oxford Center's website says that it provides therapy for children with such health conditions as autism, cancer, ADHD, autoimmune diseases, and multiple others.

A Troy Police Department officer walks outside the Oxford Center in Troy on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.

Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said investigators do not yet know what caused the explosion, but concentrated oxygen and the pressure used inside hyperbaric chambers are fuel for fire.

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In a statement from The Oxford Center, spokesman Andrew Kistner said the cause of the explosion is unknown and that Friday was an "exceptionally difficult day for all of us.

"As law enforcement officials have shared, at our location in Troy, Michigan, this morning, a fire started inside of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber," Kistner wrote in the emailed statement. "The child being treated in that chamber did not survive and the childs mother was injured.

"The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place."

Troy Police Lt. Ben Hancock said the mother was standing beside the chamber when it exploded and suffered injuries to her arms.

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He described the explosion as a "very sad incident."

Young said Friday morning that the state oversees hyperbaric medical chambers but that authorities with the Troy police and fire departments still were investigating.

Spokespeople for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services told the Free Press that those agencies don't license, regulate or oversee hyperbaric oxygen chambers or the people who operate them.

For decades, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used to relieve the effects of decompression sickness for scuba divers, to help firefighters, miners and others who have carbon monoxide poisoning, to improve the success of skin grafts and to speed up healing of infections, such as diabetic foot ulcers and gangrene, and in treatment of crush injuries, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

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Heres how it works: People enter into either a monoplace chamber, which is built for one person, or a mulitplace chamber, which can fit two or more people.

In a monoplace chamber, a person lies down in a long, plastic tube that resembles an MRI machine. In a multiplace chamber, people breathe through masks or hoods.

Pure oxygen is pumped into a pressurized chamber, mask or hood and people inside breathe in the concentrated oxygen, which enters the bloodstream and tissues to boost healing and recovery from injury and helps the body fight infections.

Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that each session can last from 45 minutes to five hours, depending on the reason for the treatment.

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The Oxford Center is among the alternative medical centers or medical spas that, in recent years, have offered hyperbaric oxygen therapy for conditions that are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, sports injuries, COVID-19, depression, alopecia, HIV/AIDS, strokes, migraine headaches, and as an anti-aging treatment.

The Oxford Center, which has locations in Brighton and Troy, has generated controversy. In August, the facility's former director Kimberly Coden pleaded guilty to nine charges after officials with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessels Office said she used false credentials to treat children with autism.

Troy Police Department vehicles are parked outside the Oxford Center in Troy on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.

She falsely presented herself as a board-certified behavioral analyst without being licensed and without the proper education and used an actual analysts certification to get jobs within the health sector, officials said. And shed also used professional business cards, verbal statements, written documents and presented university degrees she allegedly didnt earn.

Coden also tried to intimidate a witness through text messages to keep them from testifying against her, officials said.

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When Coden pleaded guilty, her lawyer said her client was "really, truly remorseful."

Hazards of hyperbaric chambers

A study was published in the medical journal Lancet reviewing hyperbaric chamber fires over more than 70 years, from 1923 to 1996, and found that 77 people died in 35 fires. Before 1980, most of the fires were caused by electrical ignition. But since then, fires have mostly been sparked by something that was carried into the hyperbaric chamber.

Officials in Friday's explosion at The Oxford Center said they don't know whether someone brought something into the chamber before it exploded, but acknowledged the chambers create an environment that is "extremely combustible."

The National Fire Protection Association has written about the distinct hazards associated with hyperbaric facilities, including the increased pressure and presence of elevated oxygen levels.

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In an August 2021, blog post from the National Fire Protection Association, Brian OConnor wrote:

"While oxygen itself is not flammable, it is an oxidizer that supports combustion and can increase the flammability of other materials," including flame-resistant fabrics and materials.

This means that care must be taken to prevent any means of ignition from entering the oxygen-enriched environment, since the conditions exist for a fire to grow rapidly."

OConnor wrote that another fire safety problem with hyperbaric chamber facilities is that its difficult to evacuate the chamber when fires do occur.

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Since these chambers are pressurized, they must undergo a decompression process before occupants can safely exit. The process is required to take no more than six minutes for (multiplace) chambers and two minutes for (monoplace chambers) when returning from three times standard atmospheric pressure, he wrote.

These facts, he said, make it vital to ensure that any facility that uses a hyperbaric chamber adhere to strict fire safety regulations, such as allowing only certain fabrics to be worn and restricting other flammable materials to be brought inside the chamber, installing specialty sprinkler systems, and in some cases, independently supplied handlines.

This story was updated to add new information.

Free Press staff writer Darcie Moran contributed to this report.

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Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at asahouri@freepress.com or on X: @andreamsahouri.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Boy dies in explosion of hyperbaric chamber at Troy medical facility
Presidential responses to national disasters and tragedies tend to follow a familiar pattern. The commander-in-chief pays his respects to the dead, pledges to investigate the cause and seek justice, and offers thoughts and prayers to those affected. This is a practice that has usually transcended political divisions, with politicians of all stripes more or less following the convention.

Not Donald Trump. Within hours of the collision of a US Army Blackhawk helicopter with a passenger airline over Washington DC  believed to have left 67 dead, and with no one thought to have survived the impact  the president had posted on his preferred social media site, Truth Social, that this is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!.

It seemed that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the agency that oversees US air traffic control, was in his sights. The trouble was finding a figurehead to blame. The agencys top job had been left vacant 10 days previously after the FAA administrator, Michael Whitaker, stood down on the day of Trumps inauguration, and the job had not been filled by the time of the collision. (Chris Rocheleau has since been appointed as acting head.)

Sixty-seven people are believed to have died in the plane crash in Washington DC on Wednesday - Getty

The following morning, while bodies were still being recovered from the Potomac River, the President speculated that so-called DEI policies, an acronym for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, may have contributed to the incident.

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People with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities could be hired by the FAA, he said, despite the fact that an air traffic controller needs to be a genius and that was before any official investigation into what happened has even begun. Trump has since shifted focus slightly and said the helicopter was flying too high by a lot, and far above a 200ft limit set by air traffic control, but he has still ordered an immediate assessment of the FAA to ensure the federal government is maintaining the highest personnel in policy aviation safety standards.

It is, by and large, the first time that Trump has shown a studied interest in the FAA or its operation.

The same cannot be said of his first buddy and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk, who has been a fierce public critic of the agency for some time.

The FAA is the agency that governs SpaceX, Musks space launch and flight company, and the two entities have often clashed on hostile terms. The FAA, on one hand, seem to keenly guard their role as safety monitors of the skies. Musk, however, is on a mission to advance the pioneering spirit of humanity.

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The two approaches dont mix. The FAA has previously complained about environmental damage and safety issues by SpaceX  it alleges Musks company launched an uncrewed satellite without their approval, failed to conduct routine safety polls of flight controllers, used rocket fuel from unauthorised suppliers and caused damage to the launch pad and sensitive environments nearby. Consequently, it has imposed penalties of more than $633,009 (508,000) on SpaceX with the FAAs chief counsel Marc Nichols saying: Safety drives everything we do at the FAA Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.

Musk and SpaceX have accused the agency of maliciously targeting it over petty and minor violations. The fundamental problem is that humanity will be forever confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA! tweeted Musk in September 2024.

Musk has accused the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of unfairly targeting SpaceX over minor violations

That month, allies of Musk in Congress grilled Michael Whitaker, then FAAs administrator, over his agencys scrutiny of SpaceX and its launches, suggesting they were the result of political bias or targeting  even as SpaceX received billions in federal funds during Joe Bidens presidency for its role in getting US satellites and other equipment into orbit.

After the Congress showdown, Musk posted a tweet under a picture of Whitaker that said: He needs to resign. So when Musk was given broad oversight of regulatory agencies under Trump, it was clear Whitakers role would be untenable. He stood down on January 20, several years before his term was due to end.

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But Musk and Trump are right that US air traffic control has its issues: Congress voted just months ago to increase the number of planes allowed to take off and land at DCs Reagan airport  overriding objections from federal lawmakers that the citys airspace was already too congested and posed a safety risk to passengers.

DC airspace is particularly difficult to manage due to security restrictions around the president and Congress, and the existence of numerous military bases in the area which the planes that are constantly taking off and landing have to share the airspace with a large number of helicopters.

Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily restricted airspace around the U.S. capital for familiarisation and continuity of government planning.

Military helicopters and passenger aeroplanes are common sights along the Potomac River in the Washington region, where the collision happened. The area is home to numerous military bases and three major airports.

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There has been a recruitment crisis among air traffic controllers, too, leading to complaints of understaffing and controllers having to work overly long shifts, potentially at the risk of passenger safety.

Some, though by no means all, of these issues stem from a bizarre and misguided attempt, starting in 2014, to improve diversity among air traffic controllers which saw the addition of a personality quiz to other formal tests. Candidates were asked, among other things, how many hours they had studied music and dance at college, and were rewarded for saying theyd had poor grades in science at high school (in an effort to ensure not all successful candidates were scientists). The test, discontinued in 2018, remains the subject of ongoing litigation by rejected applicants.

But the early actions of Trump and Musk appear to have exacerbated ongoing difficulties for the FAA. The agency was not exempted from an executive order on January 20 this year which froze all hiring across the federal government for 90 days  and required agencies to rescind job offers from candidates who had received them but not yet started their role.

Musk called for the resignation of former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker (pictured) on social media

The Office for Management and Budget (OMB), reportedly at Musks direction, sent an email to all federal employees with the subject line Fork in the Road  offering to pay their salary until September if they resigned within the next eight days, with no strings attached. Multiple independent experts have said the offer is unlawful, as it would breach laws setting limits on severance pay for federal employees.

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Air traffic controllers were among those who received that email, suddenly presenting them with the apparent offer of more than seven months of pay for no work. I will tell you that everyone at the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center was talking about that email Wednesday, one air traffic controller said in a letter to The Washington Post.

The day after the crash, controllers across the US arrived at work with tragedy hanging over them, and a political blame game that is surely only just beginning. That evening, they received something else, too: a further email to all federal employees, apparently confirming the OMBs redundancy offer.

Its not clear yet exactly whats in store for Americas airways following such a tragic incident; the families need to mourn and the facts need to be unearthed. But it would seem the FAA is lined up for a clean sweep. And Elon Musk  who has aspirations to colonise the skies and beyond  is wielding the broom.

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Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin, has swiftly denied that the creation of a new common currency is being discussed, following US President Donald Trumps threat to impose 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they attempt to establish their own currency to replace the US dollar.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Quote from Peskov: "There has never been any discussion within BRICS about creating a common currency. The BRICS is talking about creating new joint investment platforms that will allow for joint investment in third countries."

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Previously: US President Donald Trump promised to impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS members if they decide to create their own currency to replace the US dollar.

For reference: The BRICS group, established in 2009, brings together the worlds largest developing nations by area and population. Originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, it later expanded to include South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

Russia, currently under US and EU sanctions, is actively advocating for the creation of a new currency for mutual settlements within the BRICS group. The aim is to reduce its reliance on the US dollar and circumvent the restrictions imposed by the international financial system.

Despite Russia's push, there is no consensus among BRICS members on the issue. China, although supportive of strengthening the role of alternative currencies, remains cautious about the idea of a shared currency. Meanwhile, India prioritises its domestic economic interests and is reluctant to jeopardise its trade relations with the United States.

Background:

In December 2024, Trump threatened to impose duties on the BRICS countries, saying "they will face 100% tariffs".

During the election campaign, Trump also vowed to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, as well as 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico.

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Newly published emails show that the incoming British ambassador to the U.S., Lord Peter Mandelson, kept in contact with Jeffrey Epstein until at least 2012long after Epsteins conviction on child sex offencesand stayed at his Manhattan townhouse on at least two occasions.

The emails, published in London as part of a legal case brought by a powerful former banker, also show that Prince Andrew stayed in contact with the deceased pedophile for longer than he previously claimed, sending Epstein an email saying he hoped the two could play soon months after he previously said contact had ceased.

The controversy will be an unwelcome distraction for Mandelson, who was forced into offering a humiliating apology for previously saying that Donald Trump was a danger to the world and little short of a white nationalist. He was dismissed as a moron by a key Trump ally for the remarks.

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Mandelson, a close ally of former Prime Minister Tony Blair widely known by the nickname Mandy, has previously admitted knowing Epstein and said that he regretted being introduced to him.

The connection was first revealed when a U.S. court published a 2019 internal report by bank JP Morgan, which noted that Epstein appeared to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the Duke of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring an underage girl and was briefly jailed at the Palm Beach county stockade in Florida.

Incredibly, The Times of London reports, Emails from Epstein suggested Mandelson spent the weekend at his Manhattan townhouse while he was still in jail in 2009.

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The new emails made public by the London court now definitively show that Epstein remained in contact with Mandelson until at least August 2012. They suggest that Mandelson stayed again with Epstein in New York in May 2012.

The Times said the emails were published in a filing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in defense of an appeal by Jes Staley, who was fined 1.8 million ($2 million) in 2023 for misleading the FCA about his relationship with Epstein.

Prince Andrew, who claimed in a disastrous BBC interview that he had ended his relationship with Epstein in December 2010, doing so in person because he was too honorable to do it remotely, was in fact still emailing Epstein the following year.

The Times says that a message in late February 2011 from Andrew said: Keep in close touch and well play some more soon.

Prince Andrew no longer has a public office or press spokesperson. The U.K. Foreign Office did not respond to a Daily Beast request for comment about its new ambassadors connection to Epstein.
CANTON, N.Y. (WWTI)  A Bronx man was arrested by Canton Police after having seven pounds of cannabis seized during a search of a downtown business on Thursday, January 30.

According to the Canton Police Department, executed a search warrant at 71 Main Street with the help of other agencies.

Granddaughter of retired St. Lawrence Co. judge killed in D.C. plane crash

Albaraa Muharram was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of cannabis and a pair of counts of unlawful sale of cannabis.

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The search allegedly netted 6.6 pounds of raw cannabis, 1.4 pounds of concentrated cannabis and $4,848 in cash.

Authorities stated the search is a result of ongoing complaints of illegal cannabis sales allegedly emanating from the convenience shop.

Muharram was issued appearance tickets and released to appear in the Canton Town Court at a later date.

Canton Police were assisted by the St. Lawrence County Drug Task Force, St. Lawrence County Sheriffs Office, New York State Police VGNET, United States Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  The city of Brookville is celebrating three new businesses which have opened in recent weeks.

According to the city, convenience store chain Caseys General Store, located at 945 Arlington Road, opened in late December. Visitors to Caseys can get fuel, food, beverages and more.

FiveStar Jewls and MJ Designs & More, located at 515 Westbrook Road, held a joint ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 17. While FiveStar features beautiful jewelry, MJ Designs is said to create custom-designed apparel.

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All three businesses demonstrate continued commercial investment earmarked for Brookville,

following several new residential communities beginning construction in 2024, Pepcon

Concrete & DMAX breaking ground in the citys industrial parks in 2024 as well as several new

restaurants and retail stores opening in historic downtown Brookville and along the Arlington

Road corridor over the past 12 months, said the city.

To keep up to date with the city of Brookville, click here.

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BROOK PARK, Ohio (WJW)  Brook Park Mayor Ed Orcutt says he believes a groundbreaking for a new Cleveland Browns dome stadium there will take place next year.

Orcutt met with the FOX 8 I-Team this week, and he outlined how plans are moving forward, despite a lawsuit filed by the city of Cleveland to keep the Browns downtown on the lakefront.

We need to move forward on this, Orcutt said. Every day we continue to work on this project as if the dome is coming here. We want to be putting a shovel in the ground in 2026 in Brook Park.

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Dwyane Wade reveals cancer diagnosis, kidney surgery

The city of Cleveland has been fighting the Browns in court, trying to stop the team from moving out of the stadium. While the case is pending, the I-Team has learned plans for the dome are getting more detailed. Orcutt also addressed a big concern for many fans: tailgating.

We will have 14,000 parking spaces, the mayor said. Youll be able to park right outside the stadium, tailgate, walk inside and be close to your seat. Were already talking about the details about how we can provide security to the parking lot all the way up to clean-up.



The mayor points out that the dome site is surrounded by highways. Still, traffic studies are underway, and Brook Park officials are drawing up requests for grant money for any highway projects needed.



Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has spoken out against a Browns move, saying he believes the team should stay in downtown Cleveland. The Brook Park mayor says he is still talking with county officials about possible help paying for the project.

Lakewood High lockdown lifted following threat

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The project is estimated to cost about $2.4 Billion. About half of the money to fund the project is expected to come from state, county and local funding, though an exact plan for that has not yet been outlined.



Weve shown you the city of Cleveland has had to spend a lot of money to keep up the stadium. Often, many millions of dollars at time. So, we wondered about a small city such as Brook Park helping to pay for and maintain a dome.

What were working on right now is utilizing tax revenue from admissions, from income tax from the players, the staff at the stadium as well as the parking tax as well, Orcutt said. This has got to be a long-term stadium. Not just for 30 years, we need to have this thing for 50 years.

We checked Cuyahoga County and federal court dockets. As of late Thursday, we saw no new developments in the cases concerning the Browns.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)  A Buffalo man admitted to recklessly killing two people Friday morning after he hit a Lyft and killed the driver and a passenger in March of last year, the Erie County District Attorneys Office announced.

Around 12:15 a.m. on March 21, Devin Ford, 24, was driving at a high rate of speed without headlights on when he caused a collision on Main Street and Humboldt Parkway. Nasir Musazada, 27, of Buffalo, was driving three people from Ohio to an event at Riverworks at the time. All five were taken to ECMC.

Musazada and Morgan Ehrenbeit, 26, were pronounced dead at the hospital. One of the other passengers was released after receiving treatment to his spine and ribs and the other remains in a long-term rehab facility for serious injuries. Both are 31-year-old men.

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Ford pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and third-degree assault.

He was previously indicted on additional counts of murder and assault that would have given him maximum 50 years to life in prison. The three counts were dismissed by a judge.

Ford remains held without bail and faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 25.

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Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.
UTICA, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY)  Building inspections by the Utica Fire Department on Friday morning led to an attempted assault and burglary investigation by Utica Police.

Fire department personnel were conducting building inspections on Grant Street at approximately 10:15 am on Friday, January 31 when they were alerted to a disturbance nearby. The owner of the residence requested their assistance in breaking up a fight between two males at a driveway next door. The owner stated they did not know the males fighting, and said they witnessed them smoking an unknown item before fighting.

Neither male was identified by Utica Police.

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As firefighters assisted in removing one of the males from the area, the other dove through the front door of the residence. Once inside, the male began to attack the female victim by choking her.

The firefighters ran inside to assist, only to find the male was attempting to stab the victim in the face and neck with a piece of broken glass. As the firefighters approached the male, he turned on them and attempted to stab the firefighters as well.

Eventually, the three firefighters were able to pull the male off the victim and carry him out of the residence. Once outside, the male became combative again as Utica Police officers arrived on the scene. After a brief struggle, officers and firefighters were able to work together to restrain the male.

The male was transported to the Wynn Hospital for a mental health evaluation. Utica Police say that once he is released, he will receive several charges, including but not limited to:

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First-degree Burglary, a Class B Violent Felony, and

First-degree Attempted Assault, a Class C Felony.

This incident is still under investigation by Utica Police. We will provide more information as it becomes available to us.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WUTR/WFXV - CNYhomepage.com.
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  For the last 50 years, a local law firm has been helping guide our areas elected officials through the legal pitfalls of municipal government. On Thursday, that firm celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Employees, clients, and friends of the Burke Blue Law Firm gathered at Hotel Indigo Thursday evening to commemorate 50 years in business. Les Burke and Rob Blue are the founding partners. Many people knew them from their work with the Bay County Commission and county government.

Smell that? City officials give update on odor off PCB Pkwy

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They handled most of the countys legal work for decades. 59 lawyers have worked for Burke & blue during their 50 years in business.

They began with 5-attorneys and now have 17.

I have been thinking about retirement. The truth is that I havent retired yet. Im still practicing after more than 50 years of practice; to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain to date, the reports of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated. But I do intend to keep working, Rob Blue, Jr said.

Im most proud of the service we provided to the community but theres been so many different things weve done, as you can imagine. But Bay County was in the early 1970s when we started out being county attorneys before it is today Panama City is gone. But weve represented the local bodies through horrible things like the oil spill, represented the trustee of the oil, and distributed money throughout the state of Florida. And weve represented Panama City through the horrible, horrible mess of Hurricane Michael. So, a lot of bad things weve been able to step in and help people out, and thats what makes us feel good, Les Burke said.

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Burke & Blues practice has expanded to include real estate law, business law, estate planning, wealth management, civil litigation, mediation, alternative dispute resolution, government law, family law, environmental law, and land use.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)  The National Association of Biology Teachers has confirmed that Lindsey Fields is another victim of American Airlines Flight 5342 that crashed with a military helicopter and landed in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Lindsey was traveling to represent the NABT community and advocate for excellence in life science education. This is a tremendous loss. Please keep Lindsey, the other victims, and their families in your hearts. We also ask that you respect the privacy of her loved ones at this time. We will share more information as it becomes available. The NABT Board of Directors

Fields taught a variety of classes at Butler Community College. In her biography, she wrote that she graduated from Seward County Community College with an associates degree in pre-veterinary medicine and Oklahoma State University with a bachelor of science and a master of science in zoology. Before teaching at BCCC, she spent time doing PhD work at the University of Mississippi working in molecular genetics and taught at Ole Miss.

Fields continued to share that she enjoyed cooking, reading, hiking (any type of activity outdoors, really), and spending time with her family and Great Danes. She also said that she loved to travel to the mountains and spend time fishing.

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Lindsey was a colleague, friend, and educator who dedicated her wisdom and talents to changing students lives every day. We owe her much gratitude for sharing her light with us and we will forever feel this loss. We send much love and support to her family and friends during this most difficult time. Butler Community College

KSN News talked to Sherry Annee, who worked with Fields, on Friday. Annee talked about her passion for science.

She is a fierce advocate of life science education which ultimately thats what she was doing when she was traveling to Washington, DC, Annee said. The importance of connection and being with other teachers and talking shop, she was just so good at helping us navigate that.

Counseling services remain available, free of charge, for any student, staff or faculty member needing assistance during this time. If needed, please do not hesitate to reach out to Nancy Hamm at 316-322-3162 or email nhamm2@butlercc.edu.

Civil rights attorney from Wichita victim of plane crash in DC

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On Monday, Feb. 3, at 9:45 a.m., Butler Community College will observe a moment of silence across all Butler locations to honor the lives lost and those impacted by the recent American Airlines crash.

For all the latest information about the plane crash, click here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCAU)  Caitlin Clark will be making her return to the Hawkeye State.

Clark and the Indiana Fever will play a preseason game against the Brazilian National Team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on May 4th, the first time in franchise history Indiana will play at the venue.

Ticket information will be available through the University of Iowa and more info will be available at a later date.

The announcement adds to an exciting week for Clark, who will have her #22 jersey retired by the Hawkeyes following Sundays home game against USC.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.
The Western population of the monarch butterfly has declined to a near-record low with fewer than 10,000 found living in California this winter, a foreboding sign for the future of the beloved black-and-orange insect.

An annual count recorded 9,119 butterflies this winter, according to results released by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. This is the second-lowest population recorded since tracking began in 1997. An all-time low of fewer than 2,000 monarchs was recorded in 2020.

The society said these numbers underscored the importance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's new proposal to list the butterfly as a federally endangered species.

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Read more: Monarch butterflies proposed for threatened species status

The butterfly's Western population has plummeted more than 95% since the 1980s, when as many as 4 million butterflies were estimated to spend winter in California, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Without urgent conservation efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that the Western population faces a 99% chance of extinction by 2080.

Habitat destruction, pesticides and extreme weather fluctuation due to climate change are to blame for the butterfly's decline.

This year's particularly poor showing can also be attributed to an usually hot and dry fall, which probably slowed butterfly breeding and the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies, said Emma Pelton, an endangered species biologist with the Xerces Society.

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The recent Los Angeles-area wildfires damaged tree groves where these butterflies live, including a habitat in Lower Topanga Canyon where more than 100 butterflies were recorded in last year's count, she said. Another alarming finding was made at a site in Santa Barbara County, where only 198 were recorded this year after 33,200 monarchs were found there last winter.

The count is conducted by about 400 volunteers at 257 sites along California's coastline and Baja California, Mexico, where the Western monarch population gathers to pass winter before fanning out across the West from Arizona to Idaho in spring.

The Eastern monarch population  which has decreased more than 80% since the 1980s  spends winters in the mountains of central Mexico and warm months in the eastern half of the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This year's Western monarch count marks a sharp decline from the last three years, when more than 200,000 Western monarchs were recorded each year, thanks, in part, to more favorable weather conditions, Pelton said. But even counts in the 200,000 range mark a dangerous decrease from the millions of butterflies observed in the 1980s that scientists considered a stable population level.

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"Insect populations commonly fluctuate from year to year," according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "The overall downward trend remains concerning, particularly if the threats are not ameliorated."

The monarch butterfly was first petitioned to be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014, but that effort was shelved due to more urgent population priorities. In December, the U.S. agency released a proposal to list the butterfly as an endangered species.

The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle. Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance, Martha Williams, then-director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a December statement. Science shows that the monarch needs that chance."

The service also has proposed designating 4,395 acres as critical habitat for the Western monarch population across Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties to help support population regrowth.

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The agency will be accepting public comments on the proposed threatened species designation until March 12 and make a final decision by the end of the year.

In addition to supporting the designation, the Xerces Society is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take into account the effect of pesticides on butterflies before approving the products for market. Currently, the only insect included in the EPA's required pesticide testing is the adult honeybee.

Testing by the Xerces Society and the University of Nevada in Reno in 2019 found that milkweed leaves, the main food source for the monarch caterpillar, were contaminated by 64 pesticides. One of these pesticides, methoxyfenozide, was found in 96% of milkweed samples, but it is allowed to be used under current pesticide regulations because it is not toxic to bees.

"We know pesticides are a key driver of monarch and other pollinator declines. Yet there are glaring gaps in the EPAs oversight of pesticides: the vast majority of pesticides have never been tested for their impacts on butterflies, Rosemary Malfi, director of conservation policy at the Xerces Society, said in a statement. How can we protect these essential species if were missing the basic information needed to make better decisions?

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Have you heard about the Zizians? A string of recent killings has been linked to a Vallejo, California, death cult that's connected to the rationalist scene. Sex worker/data scientist Aella has more. I'll attempt an abbreviated summary, drawing from Aella's reporting, a solid SFGate explainer, and an X user named @kenthecowboy_.

In 2022, Curtis Lind, a Vallejo landlord who had been letting folks live on his property in "trailers and containers" was stabbedallegedly by tenants who had stopped paying rentwith a Samurai sword. Lind shot two of his attackers and killed one of them31-year-old Emma Borhanian. Two weeks ago, Lind was stabbed to death on his property, just before he was scheduled to testify in the case. On Tuesday, 22-year-old Maximilian Snyder was charged with the murder.

This killing is linked to six other deaths across the country. The suspected killersthe tenants-turned-delinquents who had been living as a cultare almost all transgender and part of the Berkeley-based rationalist community, following their leader, Jack LaSota (Ziz). Some of them are romantically linked to one another: Snyder, for example, applied for a marriage license in the state of Washington back in November along with girlfriend Teresa Youngblut, the suspect in a Vermont-Canadian border shootout that killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

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Back in January 2023, 71-year-old Richard Zajko and his 69-year-old wife, Rita, a Pennsylvania couple suspected to be the parents of one of the cultists, were murdered. And all the way back in February 2018, a woman named Maia Pasek killed herself after being in heavy contact with Ziz, and seemingly under her influence (more on that in a second).

The purported cult leader, Ziz, had attended workshops at the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR). In 2019, CFAR reportedly banned both Ziz and another cult member, Gwen, from events; multiple followers started protesting the organization (even alleging transphobia). At an unclear time, possibly several years prior in 2016, Ziz started a blog, advocating "a ruthlessly enforced altruism towards all living creatures, and to follow the principle that it's never valid to surrender" and promoting "the punishment of 'non-good' people, particularly those who are not vegans," per Aella's writeup. The group's members claimed to have invented things like "unihemispheric sleep" (UHS), "a form of sleep where only one half of the brain rests at a time," per a writer named Apollo Mojave. "Entering UHS requires the sleeper to be exhausted, it also has disorienting effects so they are not quite themselves. The Zizians exploit this state to convince the unwary that they are actually two people. Ziz believes themselves to be 'double good', and almost without exception tells the people she is recruiting that they are 'single good'. By doing this Ziz establishes a relationship of moral superiority over her followers." (Pasek reportedly killed herself after UHS experiences.)

A February 2023 post from the rationalist blog LessWrong warned of this cult and possible violence, and many members of the rationalist community have made clear that the Zizians have long been unhinged and disturbed. "Ziz preaches a doctrine of radical high-tech veganism that promotes punishing your ideological enemies," concludes Mojave. "She rejects the idea of 'niceness, community, and civilization' that's often at the core of Effective Altruism and AI safety movement member concerns."

At various points, different Zizians have faked their own deaths, but the majority appear to be at large. "We still don't know the whereabouts of the people in this story who aren't either dead or in custody, and we sort of expect them to continue doing murders," writes Aella.

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Air traffic control failures: The accident on Wednesday night, in which a Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines flight attempting to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, resulted in 67 casualtiesall three people aboard the military helicopter and all 64 people aboard the commercial aircraft. New information emerged yesterday about how air traffic control was short-staffed, with one person covering a job normally done by two people. A supervisor had reportedly allowed one of the controllers to go home sometime before 9:30 p.m., leaving the job to one person alone, who was managing helicopter traffic around the area as well as communicating with planes both landing and taking off.

"Controllers can use different radio frequencies to communicate with pilots flying planes and pilots flying helicopters," reports The New York Times. "While the controller is communicating with pilots of the helicopter and the jet, the two sets of pilots may not be able to hear each other."

"Like most of the country's air traffic control facilities, the tower at Reagan airport has been understaffed for years. The tower there was nearly a third below targeted staff levels, with 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023, according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan, an annual report to Congress that contains target and actual staffing levels. The targets set by the F.A.A. and the controllers' union call for 30."

Of course, just because the union said so doesn't mean it's true, but maintaining a certain high standards both for how qualified controllers are, as well as how many there are and for how long they must work, makes sense.

Scenes from New York: Chi Osse, a member of the city council (formerly my representative), has started a new series, "Why Shit Not Working," which chronicles the many areas of New York suckage. On the one hand: Yes! True. On the other: You're a member of the city council, shouldn't you be the one empowered to fix it? What exactly are they doing with their time and our money if not tackling the rats in the streets and the crazy people on the subway?

WHY SHIT NOT WORKING: EPISODE 1 pic.twitter.com/X0iHhbEjjT  Chi Osse (@OsseChi) January 30, 2025

QUICK HITS

New Just Asking Questions episode with Julia Gelatt on the immigration crackdown, current and planned:

Settlement discussions are underway between President Donald Trump's legal team and CBS's parent company, Paramount, over Trump's lawsuit alleging that CBS deceptively edited an interview with presidential opponent Kamala Harris to make her answer seem more cogent. Paramount is currently working to close a merger with Skydance, and some fears are circulating that the Trump administration could possibly block the deal if he doesn't get a favorable resolution.

"Progressives please stop lowering standards for minorities. It does not help us. You talk about 'representation,; but if the representative sucks, how exactly are we represented? Ibram Kendi should never have been a thing," writes journalist Zaid Jilani on X in a must-read thread. "This isn't really even Ibram Kendi's fault. He's just taking what they give him. This is the fault of all these paternalistic liberal foundations and major donors who have no standards for anyone and think Ibram Kendi is the best minorities have," he adds. "Frederick Douglass used to write for The Atlantic. Frederick Douglass! From Douglass to Kendi. I'm not sure a greater decline is possible."

Correct:

I think that Republicans are going to find that while "no trans people in women's sports" was a politically winning issue, "the passport office will seize trans Americans' documents and refuse to issue them a passport under any gender" is not. https://t.co/PlFodjVHT5  Kelsey Piper (@KelseyTuoc) January 31, 2025

Awesome ChatGPT applications:

my 3yo has had tons of dental/cavity issues. we've been taking her to dentists for years, and they have spent an awful lot of time not even subtly intimating that @selentelechia is a shitty mom. tonight i took our case to Dr @ChatGPTapp what happened next  may surprise you  eigenrobot (@eigenrobot) January 31, 2025

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The post California's Rationalist-Linked Death Cult appeared first on Reason.com.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are sure to lecture us again this session about the need to step up our efforts to combat climate change. Here's a fun fact you can use to counter them, courtesy of University of Chicago research: 2020's wildfires emitted "close to double (the state's) emissions reductions achieved over 16 years."

That's right, one wildfire year obliterated decades of costly, painstaking efforts to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. And 2020's fires were far less severe than the horrific ones we've recently witnessed in the Los Angeles area. We get wildfires nearly every year, which are constantly incinerating our climate goals. So there's no need to argue over climate science, somethingif we're honest with ourselvesfew of us know much about.

But any midwit can realize the state's $54 billion climate action budgets, $100-billion-plus effort to build a bullet train, and policies to outlaw internal combustion engines are for naught if it doesn't get serious about wildfire prevention. California emits an almost imperceptible amount of the Earth's emissions (thank you, India and China!), but whatever cutbacks we make are literally going up in smoke.

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California should, then, follow a University of Chicago conclusion: "Wildfire emissions need to be a key part of climate policy if California is going to meet its emission reduction goals." Instead, Newsom and company use climate change as an excuse, suggesting in essence that their hands are tied until we reverse the Earth's climate trajectory.

In their view, increased heat is leading to more wildfires so the state should double down on its policies to reduce emissions. They have it roughly backward. State policymakers need to embrace policies that control wildfires, which are rendering useless our climate agenda. But to do so would expose state leaders for their incompetence.

I'm not talking about their specific reactions to the latest fires, although Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' deer-in-the-headlights response to a reporter's questions as she exited a plane from Ghana will surely be a "what not to" example in crisis-public-relations training. I'm referring to the confluence of years-in-the-making California policies that have exacerbated the wildfires and the state's response to them.

First, the Newsom administration has talked on occasion about the need to step up brush clearance to remove the tinder. True to form, he hasn't done much about it other than earmark some dollars. The state clears maybe 125,000 acres of brush from its 19 million acres of forest (plus another 14 million that are federally owned). The state requires multiple lengthy approvals for forest-clearing projects and impedes property owners who want to fire-harden their homes.

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Second, the state shrugs at its water problems. Water is only tangentially related to the fires, but had it built additional reservoirs to trap more water during storm years it might have kept the hydrants from running dry. The California Coastal Commission rejected a privately funded desalination plant in Orange County. Newsom continues to delay on water infrastructure projects. His anti-fossil-fuel campaign makes it tough for water districts to get generator permits to help move water around.

The LA nightmare also raised an issue involving something homeowners desperately need but rarely think about: insurance. In 1988, California voters approved Proposition 103, which created a prior approval system whereby the insurance commissioner (which then became an elected position) had to approve rate changes. Elected officials typically campaign to "protect" consumers and the rate-review process morphed into a long, bureaucratic process.

Over decades, insurers were unable to adjust prices to reflect their risks, so they quietly (and then not-so-quietly) exited the state rather than expose shareholders to uncontrollable exposure. Even after this turned into a crisis several years ago, state officials slow-walked some solid reforms that finally let insurers use forward-looking catastrophe models.

They went into effect right before the fires hit, so all bets are off whether they're enough to save the system. Meanwhile, the state-created insurer of last resort, the FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) Plan is overburdened and could collapse. These are self-inflicted problems that Newsom and legislators have known about for years.

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A quick note about firefighting budgets, which now are under the microscope. No one wants to criticize firefighters so most analysts neglect eye-popping salaries earned by these LA-area public employees. You'll see plenty of annual compensation packages above a half-million dollars, and one as high as $900,000. If agencies based pay on market conditions rather than union power, they could obviously hire more firefighters.

Finally, the fires reinforced the difficulty in buildingor rebuildinganything in this state. Newsom was right to suspend California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Coastal Act rules, but he knows these rules impede everything and have done so for decades.

Why has there been no appetite for fixing these problems before disaster strikes? In fact, why hasn't the state dealt with any of these festering problems? That's the $150 billion question.

This column was first published in The Orange County Register.

The post California's Wildfires Exposed Failings of the State's Leadership appeared first on Reason.com.
EBENSBURG, Pa.  Two Cambria County homicide cases proceeded through routine meetings in court Thursday with one moving toward trial in February.

Austin Louis Kline, whos accused in the May 2023 slaying of Richard A. Morgan, appeared before Cambria County Judge Tamera Bernstein for pretrial motions.

Those ranged from the prosecutors request to suppress an involuntary manslaughter instruction for the jury to the defenses motion in limine regarding photographic evidence.

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Kline faces criminal homicide and related counts, and his jury selection is scheduled for Feb. 17 and 18.

The trial is set to run from Feb. 24-28, according to court documents.

Bernstein deferred judgment on the motions until the first day of jury selection and advised both sides the matter was proceeding expeditiously.

Jennifer Lynnette Bowser, whos accused in the February 2024 death of her son, also appeared in court.

Her case was continued at the request of the prosecutors.

Cambria County Assistant District Attorney Warren L. Crilly III said he filed the continuation due to potential pretrial motions the defense plans to make.

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This will give prosecutors time to determine what, if any, experts they plan to call during the trial.

Bowser, who is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and strangulation, will appear in court again March 27.
OTTAWA  With less than two months left as prime minister, his party sagging in the polls, and former colleagues vying to replace him as Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau has turned to a loyal childhood friend to handle Ottawas most urgent problem: a threatened trade war with Donald Trump that could sink the economy.

Dominic LeBlanc, a 57-year-old lawmaker from New Brunswick, is as close as Canada gets to political royalty: the son of a former governor general (representative of the monarchy in Canada) who was part of the Trudeau familys inner circle  occasionally serving as the future prime ministers babysitter.

Despite his rarefied upbringing, Trudeau may be betting LeBlancs so-called bro qualities will play better in Trumpland than did the woman he replaced as Canadas finance minister: the cerebral and globe-trotting Chrystia Freeland who negotiated the USMCA trade agreement and was labeled toxic by Trump.

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Unlike Freeland, LeBlanc is not prone to speeches about the rules-based international order. Hes a cancer survivor who still enjoys a good cigar.

It was LeBlanc, not Freeland, that Trudeau brought as his plus-one to dinner at Mar-a-Lago in November (a move that is said to have contributed to her dramatic exit from Cabinet).

LeBlanc played it cool that night  and continues to  in the face of existential threats to a trade relationship that sees C$2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

If you're going through turbulence, its not a particularly good idea to take your seat belt off, run up and down the aisle and kick the cockpit door in, LeBlanc told POLITICO last week. You stay buckled up, and the turbulence passes.

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At the clubby dinner, LeBlanc focused on Howard Lutnick, Trumps pick for commerce secretary, and the billionaires wife, Allison. The charm offensive worked. He and Lutnick are now texting buddies, and theyre planning their next meeting  one of many LeBlanc is arranging with Trumps team.

He is one of those remarkable people that is fun. But hes also a really sharp public-policy mind and a problem solver, David Paterson, Ontarios top envoy to Washington, told POLITICO.



Unlike Freeland who quit Cabinet and is now running to replace Trudeau, LeBlancs loyalty to the prime minister is total. He was quick to announce he would not enter the leadership race  calling the fight against Trumps tariffs too important to abandon.

Over almost a decade in Trudeaus Cabinet, LeBlanc developed a reputation as a fixer for the Liberal government and has handled an array of federal portfolios, Fisheries and Oceans, Public Safety, and Intergovernmental Affairs. The latter one requires managing the diverse group of provincial premiers  and their conflicting interests. As Canada prepares plans tit-for-tat trade reprisals for tariffs, keeping provincial premiers united will be a major challenge. The oil-producing province of Alberta has already bristled at Ottawas threats to cut off Canadian energy to America.

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Trudeau is counting on LeBlanc to keep them on board. Full disclosure: I think the world of him, and so do all the other premiers, gushed Ontario premier Doug Ford, after a meeting about the federal government border security plan that is meant to appease Trump and forestall his tariffs. Ford called the border plan phenomenal. He says he talks with LeBlanc almost every day.

Hes foregoing his [Liberal Party] leadership [bid] because hes putting Canada first. And I just want to thank you, Ford said with LeBlanc in Toronto. Were going to work closely with all the other premiers, along with the federal government.

Canadian Sen. Peter Boehm, who has known LeBlanc for three decades, says the new finance minister is fit for purpose to engage Trump 2.0.

He is an astute politician, highly capable and clearly has the ear and friendship of the prime minister, Boehm told POLITICO. His good relations with the premiers and voice will be very helpful in the context of developing a coordinated, coherent approach to dealing with the incoming Trump administration.

Trumps to-do list

LeBlancs top priority is to solve Trumps border problems.

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The president has threatened tariffs unless Canada can stem what he sees as the unacceptably high flow of illegal migrants and fentanyl flooding into the U.S. from Canada. LeBlancs ability to demonstrate calm could be his greatest asset as he strives to demonstrate progress on the relatively small amounts of illicit drugs and humans entering the U.S. from the north.

Back in December, Ottawa announced a joint "strike force" focused on transnational organized crime. That has since evolved into a C$1.3 billion plan with Black Hawk helicopters and high-tech surveillance.

LeBlanc has engaged with Trump border czar Tom Homan. I couldnt ask for a better conversation, Homan told CTV News after their meeting. Actions have to follow, but Im very optimistic from the conversation I had that were going to come up with a good border security plan.

And days after Christmas, LeBlanc returned to Mar-a-Lago, this time accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, to meet Lutnick and Interior Department nominee Doug Burgum.

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Joly was back in Washington this week for meetings, including with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She said theres no way she can be in Trumps headspace, so the best she can do is to make Canadas case to the people around him. Public Safety Minister David McGuinty also headed to D.C. after Joly wrapped up her visit.



Trump continues to dangle the possibility that he might impose tariffs as early as Saturday. LeBlanc is coordinating Canadas response, which is dependent on whatever Trump does. Retaliatory tariffs and supply-chain disruptions are among the options.

LeBlanc insists its all-hands-on-deck. There are dozens and dozens of people, dozens of times a day, who are engaging in pretty important economic conversations, he told POLITICO.

I've met the presidents of the six big Canadian banks, and they talk about their footprint in the United States, their clients in the United States  Canadian businesses that are doing very, very significant business with American partners.

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LeBlanc has a deep reservoir to draw from to fight the uphill political battles that lie ahead.

More than five years ago, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

LeBlanc dodged death thanks to a young man in a small town in Germany who donated stem cells at an unusually young age. Jonathan Kehl, now 25, turned out to be LeBlancs perfect genetic match. Kehl eventually tracked down LeBlanc, and the two men had an emotional reunion on Parliament Hill two years ago. Before Christmas, Kehl messaged birthday wishes to LeBlanc.

This kid fully saved my life. A vial of my blood and a vial of his blood is the same. So, I have his blood and immune system, LeBlanc recalled in a pre-Christmas Canadian political podcast.

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With that second chance comes a political challenge LeBlanc almost never lived to see.

The good news is it all comes back, he told the Canadian podcast. The weight, the hair, bad habits  the cigar smoking  it all comes back. So thats the good thing.

But he wont be bringing any of his favorite Montecristos to Mar-a-Lago.

Its a violation of American law to be in possession of the Cuban cigar, he reminded POLITICO. You dont want to get in a mess at the border.
The immediate threat has passed, at least for now. But concern from individuals, businesses, nonprofits and local governments has not.

The mother of a Lauderhill mother of an 8-week-old daughter, fearful that the federal government program that provides healthy food and breastfeeding support could suddenly stop.

The father of a 41-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman who has battled multiple cancers for decades, worried about a halt to medical research.

The mayor of Plantation, concerned that money for police body cameras wont come through.

They were brought together Thursday by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, to highlight the threat she said is posed by President Donald Trumps plans to radically reduce government spending, without congressional approval.

Beneficiaries of programs she highlighted, and many, many more, were thrown into chaos this week when Trump ordered a freeze in federal grant and loan programs. He retreated on Wednesday, in the face of legal challenges and widespread outrage.

Concerns

Jeffrey Schultz said his daughter, 41, is a seven-time cancer survivor first diagnosed as a child. She has had a mastectomy, thyroid cancer, melanoma, sarcoma, metastatic breast cancer, lung cancer and recently was diagnosed with glioblastoma.

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Schultz, who is not related to the congresswoman, was alarmed at the prospect that medical research funded by the National Institutes of Health was, for a time this week, jeopardized.

So was his daughter, Lainie Jones. Just home from an out-of-town cancer treatment, she was advised by doctors not to attend, so Schultz read a statement in which she credited her being alive today to cancer research.

I have survived seven primary cancers  seven. Thats not luck, thats science, she said. When I see stories about critical NIH meetings being canceled without explanation, its terrifying Its life or death for millions of us who are alive today because of research and for the millions who will hear the words you have cancer every 15 seconds. Cancer does not wait. Science cant either.

Shallel Satchell participates in the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program for low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and children to age 5.

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Satchells daughter, also named Shallel Satchell, now 8 weeks old, was born prematurely. She said the program is essential.

Please, we definitely need the help, she said.

Plantation Mayor Nick Sortal said he was concerned that money for police body cameras wouldnt come through. He said the cameras are something that the public, and police officers want.

Wasserman Schultz said she could have filled the building with representatives of affected agencies, business owners, nonprofits and governments who fear this funding freeze and its impact, but theyre not here now.

She said her staff was repeatedly told by organizations that they were afraid of retaliation. We had multiple organizations that told us that they were too afraid to pop their heads above the water line, she said.

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Schultz is a Democrat, but said he was concerned only about his daughter, not politics.

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It is inhumane in my mind as a father  I dont care what politics is involved, because politics should not be involved in research or in anything to do with medicine and finding cures for any diseases that are out there, he said. It just makes no sense to me that the current administration would even consider removing funding.

Sortal is also a Democrat, but said he wasnt speaking out as a partisan. Local government elected officials arent Democratic blue or Republican red, he said, explaining he wore a purple shirt on Thursday to emphasize that point.

Galvanizing opposition to Trumps spending plans is, in fact, highly political. Wasserman Schultzs news conference was one of many Democratic actions taking place throughout the country, she said afterward.

Colleagues across the country are all doing civic events like this because we want to make sure we keep the spotlight on this Republican ripoff and that the Republicans are hell-bent on stealing funds that are federal law that were appropriated by Congress and signed into law and hurting cancer patients and new moms and homeless people and people who are at risk of suicide, she said.

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Besides highlighting people and programs she said would have been harmed by the now-paused funding freeze, Wasserman Schultz decried what she said was Trumps motivation: freeing up money to pass on to his billionaire friends via tax cuts, a point she made repeatedly.

This Republican rip off is far from over. Looking at the bigger picture, the billionaire tax breaks that this cruel, illegal funding freeze is designed to pave the way for, those are still on the way. They are not done, she said.

They focus on taking care of the wealthiest, most fortunate Americans while denying funds to new mothers with 8-week-old babies, who are going to have trouble maintaining their newborns nutrition, all in the name of tax cuts for billionaires.

The result, she said, devastates families like Jeffreys and Shallels.

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Politico reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at the House Republican retreat in Doral this week he fully supported Trumps decision to freeze the grants and loans, and considered it within the presidents authority.

Wasserman Schultz, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, disagreed, saying the aborted attempt to stop the grant and loan money was an illegal freeze.

The president cannot cancel appropriated funds because it doesnt align with whatever he decides his agenda is. Congress has the power of the purse, she said. We dont have a king in this country.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  Car buyers and dealers could potentially be impacted if New York state does not meet the California based emission standard for electric vehicles.

Brad McAreavy, the president of the Rochester Automobile Dealers Association said the dealers support the transition in going electric, but they do also recognize that there are challenges with that. The deadline to meet the standard of 35% electric vehicle sales is for the model year 2026 which those cars start hitting the market mid 2025, we are about five months away from that count. Currently, New York State sits at 10%.

The investment in going electric over the past few decades McAreavy said has been in the billions of dollars for manufacturers, and millions for the dealers to make sure their facilities are upgrades like charging stations, staff training. But the buy-in and adoption of infrastructure hasnt necessarily been at the same rate.

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The big question is, what will happen if New York does not meet the 35%?

McAreavy said there is two options, one being any manufacturer that does not meet it, would suffer fines and penalties. The second would potentially impact buyers.

The other option is that manufacturers divert internal combustion engine cars away from New York. Just dont send them, and lower that formula that denominator to get to the number. Well, what that would do is put us back in a COVID situation. There were no new cars, prices went way up and the price of used cars went way up because of the unavailability he adds.

The Trump Administration is looking into significant federal incentives for purchasing an electric vehicle, around $7,500. NYS also has an incentive called the drive clean rebate which gives up to $2,000.

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A damaged vehicle is seen in the aftermath of a June 2024 crash in Thurston County, in which the driver of another vehicle was suspected of speeding and driving under the influence. (Photo courtesy of Thurston County Sheriff Office)

An 18-year-old man was allegedly driving 112 mph in a 40 mph zone when he ran a red light and smashed into Andrea Smith Hudsons minivan last year near Renton, killing her and three children who were passengers in her car.

The driver had reportedly been involved in two crashes in the prior 10 months, including one where he was accused of speeding.

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This intentional behavior weaponizes vehicles, turning them into missiles, more dangerous than bullets, Smith Hudsons father, Ted Smith, told the state House Transportation Committee on Thursday. We need stiff consequences for these thrill seekers, and we must use any tools available to detect and stop this from happening again.

A bill the committee heard Thursday aims to do that. House Bill 1596, tentatively named the Andrea Smith Hudson Act, would allow drivers with a suspended license to still be able to drive despite a history of street racing or excessive speeding, defined as 20 mph over the speed limit.

But to do so, they would have to install an intelligent speed limiter in their car.

The technology is similar to ignition interlock devices for people with histories of driving under the influence. Those devices require drivers to blow into a breathalyzer to show their blood alcohol concentration before they can start the car.

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These devices use GPS to limit speed to the posted limit. Some of them include an override function when drivers need to pass cars or speed up for safety reasons. Under the legislation, theyd only be able to override the limiter three times per month.

Tampering with the device or otherwise violating the terms of the restricted drivers license would be a gross misdemeanor.

Speed limiters have both active and passive options. Active ones restrict the drivers speed, while passive ones alert the driver if theyre going over the speed limit. The bill in Washington requires active speed limiters.

The Washington Traffic Safety Commission has recommended making the equipment standard in commercial and passenger cars.

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Shelly Baldwin, the director of the commission, said tickets and license suspensions dont stop drivers from continuing to speed.

A similar measure recently passed the Virginia state House. New vehicles in Europe are required to have intelligent speed assistance technology installed. In California last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a measure requiring passive speed limiters.

Rep. Dan Griffey, R-Allyn, said the Washington bill is going to save lives.

Its one of several measures lawmakers are discussing in Olympia as they seek to reverse a dramatic rise in deaths on Washington roads.

Its a multi-faceted crisis that demands a sense of urgency, said Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, the prime sponsor of the speed limiter measure. This bill is a proactive solution that aims to protect the public from speed-related injuries and death.

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Lawmakers are also trying again to lower the legal limit for driving drunk from 0.08% to 0.05%. Another bill would create a new civil protection order, focused on impaired driving, that would make drivers comply with certain conditions or potentially face a misdemeanor charge.

In 2023, traffic fatalities in Washington reached a 33-year high, with 809 deaths. Thats up from 743 the year prior and 674 the year before that. Speeding was a factor in about a third of the deaths in 2023.

Officials believe, when finalized, 2024 numbers will show fewer traffic deaths in Washington.
CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN)  The talents of many students are on display Friday at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center.

The school is hosting the Ohio Northeast Regionals SkillsUSA Competition.

About 800 students are competing across 30 different skill categories, including cosmetology, crime scene investigation and welding.

More than 1,000 are in attendance, including students, educators, industry professionals and local legislators.

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This event will create opportunities for students to network, collaborate and map out their careers.

We are training our students in Mahoning County in all of these areas in the trades. So getting tradesmen and tradeswomen in here to judge the competitions, they can hire these students right out of the gate if they see something they like, said Lisa Schiraldi-Argiro, a cosmetology instructor at MCCTC.

The top four in Fridays competition will go to the state competition in March.

The top spot at state goes to the national competition in Atlanta.

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This story has been updated with consideration of the bill on Monday, Feb 3.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  The problem Republican Rep. John Sjaarda said he wanted House Bill 1017 to fix started in seven school districts in the Sioux Falls area.

Sjaarda, of Valley Springs, said in the House Thursday, those districts were not allowing attendees to use cash for tickets at school activities. He sponsored House Bill 1017 which would have required districts to accept cash for tickets and concessions after learning that some had been denied tickets at some of the schools.

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For Rhoden, Venhuizen: A week of making history

The opinions of HB1017 were split among lawmakers from Sioux Falls who commented in the HB1017 debate on Thursday. The bill failed to reach a majority with 34 votes in favor and 32 against. Speaker of the House Rep. John Hanson said he noted a lawmakers intent to reconsider. The bill will return to the House on Monday, Feb. 3, according to the House calendar, under consideration of bills.

HB1017 was a knee-jerk reaction, to policies several school districts recently started, Republican Rep. Brian Mulder of Sioux Falls said Thursday. Hes learned that cardless attendees have been accommodated.

Largely the pressure is coming from one or two individuals over the thousands that attend events, Mulder said.

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Mulder said school districts including Sioux Falls need time to evaluate the policy and make changes if needed. To Mulder and several others, this is a local control issue and not an issue for state government.

Republican Rep. John Hughes, of Sioux Falls, said attendees including parents and youth, who are required to use cards to pay for events are paying an additional type of tax because of fees attached to card use.

This is the House looking out for families, Hughes said, who is newly elected.

The intent of HB1017 may be good but it would have a potential negative impact, said newly elected lawmaker Democrat Rep. Erick Muckey of Sioux Falls said. School districts often work with third party vendors as they host state tournaments, he said. HB1017 could create a problem by requiring third party vendors to take cash.

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Sjaarda said HB1017 was intended to allow everyone to fully participate in attending activities. While he doesnt support government overreach, I realize this is a place where government needs to do its job, Sjaarda said.

HB1017 is a case where government would try to do too much, said Republican Rep. Roger DeGroot of Brookings. Parents and others who may have concerns or frustrations about a cashless policy need to talk with their school boards about possible changes, DeGroot said.

Parents told the House Education committee that they did contact the school board(s), said committee member and bill supporter Republican Rep. Josephine Garcia, who is newly elected from Watertown. The process failed them, Garcia said.

It is a strange thing to argue about using cash which has been used much longer than cards, said bill supporter Republican Rep. Tony Randolph of Rapid City. I certainly dont believe this is a local control issue, Randolph said in support of HB1017.

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Before the Trump administration rescinded its federal funding freeze memo Wednesday afternoon, there was plenty of confusion over what the original memo sent out Monday night meant.

At Area Five Agency on Aging and Community Services, 1801 Smith St., director Chuck LaDow said there was a lot of panic Tuesday, and while Head Start programs across the nation immediately began to shut down and send their staff home, LaDow decided to take a wait and see approach to the news.

As soon as we can get definitive explanations from the federal government that will be helpful, Ladow said. Yesterday was a blanket memo that didnt target any specific services. It was very broad and created a lot of panic across the Community Action Network nationwide.

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LaDow planned to keep Head Start open until Friday in case he could figure out a way to temporarily fund it or give parents and staff time to prepare for a shutdown. But with the Trump administrations plans currently scrapped, it was now a moot point.

We kept calm and carried on, followed our due diligence with our legislative advocates and by mid-afternoon found out that currently Head Start is exempt from the pause, he said.

Wednesday morning, Ladow said there was still a lot of panic but it was business as usual.

The Trump administration sent out a memo Monday night saying all federal funding would be halted. During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that the halt would not include individual benefits such as Social Security, Medicare or welfare.

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Tuesday afternoon, United States district judge Loren Alikhan ordered a pause to funding freeze.

The halt was in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Council of Nonprofits earlier Tuesday and delays the possible funding freeze until Monday, Feb. 3.

Then, Wednesday afternoon, the administration announced it was rescinding the original memo.

Ladow said that if there is a pause in federal payments then Area Five would have no way to pay employees and would have to temporarily suspend programs until there is further guidance from the federal government.

He said Area Five will be transparent and try to give those who use their services plenty of notice if there are changes to or temporary suspensions to programs.

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Local schools confused by memo

Across the county, school superintendents were especially concerned about the lack of information not included in the memo.

Unfortunately, we have not received any details from the state or federal level regarding what is frozen and what is not frozen, said Pioneer Regional School Corporation superintendent Charles Grable. There seems to be a lot of confusion on what all is covered in this reported freeze. If it is referring to all federal grants, including Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV and special education federal grantswe have staff salaries and benefitsteachers and support stafftied to those grants, as well as other instructional initiatives and professional development. Freezing those funds would cause a hardship on a tight budget that has already been approved and in operation, which would potentially drain a school districts cash balances to cover those funding shortfalls.

Chris Daughtry, the new superintendent at Lewis Cass schools, also had his share of confusion and concern.

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Schools depend on federal funding for their lunch programs, special education and supporting students from low-income households, he said. The most troubling piece to this action is ensuring that we continue to be able to serve our most vulnerable population of students that need that support.

There are reports that make it seem that this is a temporary action, but until we have an exact definition of temporary and what programs will or wont be impacted, it is disconcerting to say the least, he said.

Many teachers across the county were also panicking about what the funding freeze might mean for their paychecks. Logansport Community School Corporation superintendent Michelle Starkey also shared that concern.

I was completely caught off guard by the announcement of the funding freeze, she said. Many of our programs are supported by federal grant dollars. It was reassuring that I did get some clarification that this did not impact our current funding. It is definitely something that we will need to keep an eye on moving forward as these are grant dollars that we use to pay staff.

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Questionnaire or loyalty check?Local organizations such as the United Way of Cass County and the Logansport Cass County Chamber of Commerce, and the upcoming Indiana Museum of Art confirmed Wednesday that they would not be affected by the funding freeze if it had gone into effect.

Mayor Chris Martin released a statement saying that the freeze would have also had no effect on the city.

Our financials are strong, he said in the press release. We rely very little on the federal government. Any minor pause in federal funding will not have an impact on the City of Logansport.

LaDow said that Area Fives doors were open and they were there to help and if they cant provide a service, they will navigate people to organizations or programs that do.

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Our mission is to provide programs and services that benefit the low income, disadvantaged and older people in our community, he said. We are going to do that with fidelity and to the best of our ability in hopes that the state and federal funding agents understand the importance and the domino effect that will happen if they take those programs away. It doesnt just affect us. It affects families, businesses.

I think its very important [voters] understand the people that they elect and put into office make the federal regulations to help support or not support the programs and they need to be informed before casting votes, LaDow said. A lot of people who supported certain administrations are now saying what about my energy assistance? What about Head Start? Thats all a part of making informed decisions.
Over the years few people hit the ground running after a story at KARK like Mel Hanks

Bob Clausen caught up with Mel to talk about his time with KARK 4 News, the good memories and some of the not-so-comfortable ones.

Hanks spoke on his connection with viewers during his time at KARK.

The people were everything in Arkansas, Hanks said. It was always a wonderful thing to deal with the people of Arkansas because they are such good people.

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Hanks is now retired along with his wife and is enjoying time with his grandchildren.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
CBS journalists expressed concern over reports that the networks parent company, Paramount, will settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump over the edit of a 60 Minutes interview.

Trump sued CBS for $10 billion in October after claiming that 60 Minutes edited its broadcast to be more favorable to his opponent in the presidential election, Kamala Harris.

Despite the lawsuit being dismissed as baseless by legal experts, and called completely without merit by CBS in October, Paramount is reportedly looking to settle in a bid to curry favor with the new administration.

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Trumps lawsuit was a joke, but if we settle, we become the laughingstock, a CBS correspondent told CNN.

Paramount believes that settling the lawsuit would help with their multi billion dollar merger with Skydance Media, which could be blocked or delayed by the Trump administration, The New York Times reported. Representatives for Trump and Paramount are in talks now to reach a deal.

As no evidence of bias has been presented and legal experts argue that CBS edit falls under the First Amendment, the settlement would be a major concession to the president.

These kinds of settlements have become more common since Trump returned to power. ABC News paid Trump $15 million last month because anchor George Stephanopoulos said Trump was found liable for rape instead of liable for sexual assault.

Meta agreed to a $25 million settlement after banning Trumps social media accounts after Jan. 6.
Another media giant is nearly ready to toss in the towel against President Donald Trump.

CBS News parent company Paramount is in settlement talks with Trump over a suit that some have called a frivolous attempt to chill coverage negative to Trump, The New York Times reports.

The $10 billion lawsuit stems from allegations that CBS edited a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris to make her look better than Trump, who refused to sit for a similar interview. In his last sit-down with the program in 2020, the president walked off the set in the middle of a contentious interview.

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Employees and execs at CBS News arent happy with the settlement talks, independent journalist Oliver Darcy reported. Wendy McMahon, head of CBS News, and Bill Owens, the top producer at 60 Minutes, have expressed disapproval over a settlement.

Trumps team is the clear underdog in the suit, experts say. Lawfare editor Roger Parloff dismissed it as frivolous earlier this month.

Hard to see CBS settling this suit if not for fear of abuses of power by Trump Adm regulators placing Trumps personal interests above those of the public, Parloff said.

Last month, the broadcaster sought to move the case from the historically conservative Northern District of Texas court to the Southern District of New York, the venue in which Paramount and CBS News operate. Trumps legal team has not yet responded to that request.

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But per the Times, Paramount executives want a clean slate with the Trump administration as the company finalizes a merger with Skydance, for which it will need a rubber stamp from Trumps Federal Communications Commission.

Paramount wouldnt be the first media company to pay Trump off to preserve future White House relationships. ABC News settled a suit they were likely to win for $15 million late last year, and Meta settled a suit brought when they banned Trumps accounts after Jan. 6 for $25 million this week.
Paramount Global and CBS News may have very different views on the journalism produced each week by 60 Minutes.

Staffers at CBS News, the unit that serves as home to the venerable newsmagazine as well as CBS Evening News and has ties to the early days of TV news when Edward R. Murrow held sway, are steaming over the prospect that parent corporation Paramount Global may settle a $10 billion lawsuit filed by now-President Donald Trump against 60 Minutes that appears to be underpinned by weak arguments.

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Two reports in recent weeks, one published Thursday by the New York Times and another earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal, suggested executives at Paramount were considering ways to bring the suit to a close. Filed in federal court in the Northern District of Texas in November, the suit alleges 60 Minutes tried to mislead voters by airing two different edits of remarks made in an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, then Trumps rival for the White House. CBS sought to have the case thrown out in a subsequent filing.

Though the suit is seen as shoddily constructed by legal experts, it is levied as Paramount is moving to be acquired by Skydance Media, a transaction worth billions to Shari Redstone, the controlling owner of Paramount through her familys National Amusements Inc. theater chain. CBS News staffers believe Paramount and Redstone could seek a settlement in order to ensure the Skydance deal goes forward without substantial delay.

A court filing on Friday suggested talks could be in the offing. Attorneys for President Trump filed a request to postpone a deadline to respond to CBSs motion to dismiss by Feb. 7. Such a motion doesnt mean a settlement is near, but it could indicate the two sides are having discussions about potential outcomes. The court approve the extension.

But there are also new pressures being brought to bear. Late Wednesday, CBS News was sent a Letter of Inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking for the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from our interview with Vice President Harris which aired on October 7, 2024, CBS News said in a Friday statement. We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do. The FCC has also reinstated a complaint made last year against New Yorks WCBS, also part of Paramount, accusing the station of intentional news distortion, tied to the60 Minutes interview with Harris.

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Were helpless to whatever Shari and the bosses decide to do, said one CBS News correspondent. But its a real shame to think the news division is a bargaining chip in this broader deal.

Reps for Paramount Global and CBS declined to comment. A spokesperson for Redstone declined to comment.

At least two of the companys top news executives, CBS News and Stations CEO Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens, have made the point to superiors at Paramount corporate that they dont believe the suit should be settled, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such a concession would not only undermine one of TVs most respected journalism programs, but also demoralize CBS News staff. There is some speculation among CBS News employees that a settlement would spur intense blowback by some of CBS News most prominent anchors and personalities.

While its not uncommon for a media-conglomerate CEO to keep close to a news division  Jeff Zucker was known to weigh in on the affairs of NBC News when he ran NBCUniversal under General Electric  Redstone sits at the level of the board of directors and has professional managers run the company. Even so, she has in recent months begun to weigh in on various controversies at CBS News  much more frequently than her father, Sumner Redstone, ever had, according to one CBS veteran.

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In October, Redstone objected publicly after CBS News executives took issue with an exchange on CBS Mornings between co-anchor Tony Dokoupil and author Ta-Nehisi Coates during which Dokoupil grilled Coates on whether his writing expressed antipathy toward Israel. I think we made a mistake, said Redstone, while speaking at an event in New York City that was part of Advertising Week, an industry conference. I think we made a bad mistake this week.

She is said to have gotten involved earlier this month after 60 Minutes broadcast a segment that examined opposition by former State Department officials to the Biden administration supporting Israels push against Hamas. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called the segment a biased and one-sided piece in a statement, noting that Even before this, CBS had a recent history of insensitivity on Jewish issues that was incredibly problematic. CBS News quickly named Susan Zirinsky, a former president of the news operation, as an interim executive editor, tasked with overseeing standards and helping to vet stories and journalistic practices.

A growing number of media organizations have tried to placate President Trump in recent weeks. Disneys commitment to ABC News came under scrutiny after the company agreed to pay a settlement of $15 million to Donald Trumps presidential library after anchor George Stephanopoulos asserted incorrectly in March said on air that Trump had been found liable in a court case for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump had been found liable by a jury for sexual abuse. Even so, legal experts felt ABC News had a strong chance of prevailing. Amazon has agreed to produce a documentary of First Lady Melania Trump.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  The empty structure is not just a school for Mt. Charleston-area residents, its the cornerstone of the community.

School officials revealed new details that gave parents hope they might hear the sound, once again, of their children back in the classroom.

Several Clark County School District representatives presented an update on Lundy Elementary during a Thursday night Mt. Charleston Town Advisory Board meeting and said a corner of the school, which was compromised by a 2023 flood, is set to be shored up by a contractor.

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CCSD trustees to reconsider vote on closing Mt. Charleston school

We are repairing the existing facility Brandon McLaughlin, CCSD Construction and Development Division Assistant Superintendent, said. We are bundling this with some other low voltage improvements so you will see improvements to the fire alarm, the intrusion detection system, the closed-circuit camera system, network and clock intercoms.

McLaughlin said they would also be painting back a few areas of the building to return the school to its original condition before students arrivewhich is set for August.

CCSD trustees vote against repairing Mt. Charleston-area school

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Its not just a school. Its the heart of our community, Katie Reeh, a parent of two boys and a Mt. Charleston-area resident, said. These kids are everybodys kids, the whole community.

The goal for the elementary school doesnt stop at the opening but continues with the aim of adding a pre-k program, according to some residents.

I feel like they should really consider expanding the grades [to] pre-k, Reeh said. There are so many toddlers on the mountain. My son, he certainly could have used that a few years ago.

Its not just a school. Its the heart of our community, Katie Reeh, a parent of two boys and a Mt. Charleston-area resident, said. (KLAS)

Around five members of CCSD administrative staff, four board of trustee members, and the interim superintendent made a show of force at the meeting. Residents implored the representatives to continue attending and listening to the communitys needs, a request which new Clark County Commissioner April Becker accepted.

CCSD trustees vote to repair, reopen Mt. Charleston elementary school

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From the bottom of my heart, I want to help, Becker said. I dont live up here so Im going to be depending on you to tell me what needs to get done and I am going to fight for you.

Trustee Lydia Dominguez, who was newly sworn in to represent the district which includes Lundy ES, said she understands rural neighborhoods have felt ignored and added she would do more to represent their interests.

CCSD Trustee Lydia Dominguez, who was newly sworn in to represent the district which includes Lundy ES, said she understands rural neighborhoods have felt ignored and added she would do more to represent their interests. (KLAS)

They deserve to have a school thats opened here, she said. And regardless of the grades that we have available here, they should have a school thats available. It is absolutely, really sad to see how much chronic absenteeism we have because these kids cant get up early enough to get on the bus and go to Indian Springs right now. They need a school thats here in their community.

More details on the repairs for Lundy Elementary are set to be discussed at the second trustee meeting in February.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Updated at 5:53 p.m. on January 31, 2025



Last night, scientists began to hear cryptic and foreboding warnings from colleagues: Go to the CDC website, and download your data now. They were all telling one another the same thing: Data on the website were about to disappear, or be altered, to comply with the Trump administrations ongoing attempt to scrub federal agencies of any mention of gender, DEI, and accessibility. I was up until 2 a.m., Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan who relies on the CDCs data to track viral outbreaks, told me. She archived whatever she could.

What they feared quickly came to pass. Already, content from the CDCs Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which includes data from a national survey, has disappeared; so have parts of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registrys Social Vulnerability Index and the Environmental Justice Index. The CDCs landing page for HIV data has also vanished. And the agencys AtlasPlus tool, which contains nearly 20 years of CDC surveillance data on HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and tuberculosis, is down. Several scientists I talked with told me they had heard directly from contacts at the CDC that the agency has directed employees to scrub any mention of gender from its site and the data that it shares there, replacing it with sex.

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The full scope of the purge isnt yet clear. One document obtained by The Atlantic indicated that the government was, as of yesterday evening, intending to target and replace, at a minimum, several suggested keywordsincluding pregnant people, transgender, binary, non-binary, gender, assigned at birth, binary [sic], non-binary [sic], cisgender, queer, gender identity, gender minority, anything with pronounsin CDC content. While these terms are often politicized, some represent demographic variables that researchers collect when tracking the ebb and flow of diseases and health conditions across populations. Should they be reworded, or even removed entirely, from data sets to comply with the executive order, researchers and health-care providers might have a much harder time figuring out how diseases affect specific communitiesmaking it more challenging to serve Americans on the whole.

CDC datas explicit purpose is to guide researchers toward the places and people who most need attention, Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University and a former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, told me. As the changes unfold before him, he said, its hard to understand how this benefits health.

When I contacted the CDC, a spokesperson redirected my requests for comment to the Department of Health and Human Services. After this story was published, an HHS spokesperson said that all changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trumps January 20 Executive Orders on gender and DEI.

The government appears to understand that these changes could have scientific implications: The document directing a review of CDC content suggests that some work could be altered without changing the meaning or scientific integrity of the content, and that any such changes should be considered routine. Changing other content, according to the document, would require review by an expert precisely because any alterations would risk scientific integrity. But the document does not specify how data would be sorted into those categories, or at whose discretion.

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My fear is that in the short term, entire data sets would be taken down, then reappear with demographic variables removed or altered to conform with DEI restrictions, Katie Biello, an epidemiologist at Brown, told me. Excising mention of gender and sexual orientation, for instance, from public-health data sets could require stripping entire columns of data out. If the government chooses to define sex as binary, transgender people and nonbinary people, among others, could be effectively erased. In response to the ongoing changes, some groups of researchers are now rushing to archive the CDC website in full.

Acknowledging and addressing health differences among demographic groups is a basic epidemiological tenet, Biello told me, so we know where to target our health interventions. She pointed to examples in her own field: Gay men have higher rates of STIs, but lower rates of obesity; transgender women have higher rates of HIV, but lower rates of prostate cancer. More broadly, demographic changes to data sets could limit the countrys ability to identify which Americans are most at risk from an expansive list of conditions including adolescent depression, STIs, even sex-specific cancers. Changing data sets in this way would be tantamount to erasing our ability to use data and evidence to care for people, Rachel Hardeman, a health-equity expert at the University of Minnesota, told me.

Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown, pointed to mpox as a recent example of how replacing gender with sex, or ignoring sexual orientation, could limit effective public-health responses. At the beginning of the United States 2022 outbreak, neither researchers nor the public had much clarity on who was most affected, leading to widespread panic. Officials were talking about the situation as if it was a risk we equally faced, Nuzzo said. By collecting detailed demographic information, researchers were able to show that the disease was primarily affecting men who have sex with men, allowing officials to more efficiently allocate resources, including vaccines, and bring the epidemic under control before it affected Americans more widely.

A scrub such as this could also change how the government allocates funds for long-standing threats to public health, which could widen health-equity gaps, or reverse progress in combatting them. Rates of STIs more generally have recently begun to plateau in the U.S., after decades of steady increasebut altering data that focus interventions on, say, transgender populations, or men who have sex with men, could undo those gains. If no data exist to prove that a health issue concentrates within a particular community, that provides a justification to cut funding, one researcher told me. (Several scientists who spoke with me for this article requested anonymity, for fear of retaliation for speaking out about the loss of federal data.) Sullivan, whose work focuses on HIV surveillance, compared the governments actions to, effectively, destroying the road map to determining who in America most needs screening, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment.

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Much of the data on the CDC website have been aggregated from states, so it would be possible for researchers to reassemble those data sets, Nuzzo pointed out. But thats an onerous task, and several scientists told me they never thought theyd be in a position where theyd have to scramble to squirrel away publicly available federal data. Nuzzo also worried that states might be reluctant in the future to share data with the federal government, or might decide not to bother collecting certain data at all. On the most basic scientific level, changing federal-government data means those data become unreliable. Public-health data are collected with the intention of sussing out which populations most need health interventions; altering those data leaves behind a skewed portrait of reality.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Cedarville University is grieving one of its own after the devastating plane crash in Washington D.C. Wednesday.

The school shared the news that junior student Grace Maxwell was among the 60 passengers killed when the jet collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.

She was returning to campus from her home in Wichita, Kansas.

NTSB leads investigation into deadly DC plane crash

Grace was in her junior year at Cedarville, majoring in mechanical engineering, with a minor in biomedical engineering. Those who knew her say she was a thoughtful, quiet person who liked helping others through engineering.

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Dr. Thomas White, president of Cedarville University, sent out a letter to the school community. The letter reads in part:

When talking with her father, I asked what we could do to help. He responded that he knew Cedarville was full of praying people and that they would appreciate our prayers. With that in mind, please join me in praying for the Maxwell family during the days ahead. Please also remember Graces friends and the entire School of Engineering as we mourn her loss. Once we learn more information about arrangements, we will share these details with you. Dr. Thomas White, Cedarville University president

White is expected to address the student body about the situation during the all-campus chapel program on Friday morning. The school has also shared that counseling staff are available for those in need of services.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos has announced he is resigning midway through his five-year term.

Santos, the first person of color to lead the bureau, was appointed by former President Biden. A Mexican American who has identified as mestizo for the census, Santos was born and raised in San Antonio.

In a letter on Thursday, Santos said his decision to step down comes after deep reflection, according to The Associated Press.

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Its been such an honor to serve our nation, Santos wrote on LinkedIn.

Throughout his term, Santos became known for emphasizing inclusivity and a need to restore public trust in the Census Bureau.

In 2019, Santos co-wrote a report for the Urban Institute warning that the previous years national count may have greatly undercounted Black and Latino people. Then, during his confirmation hearing, Santos told lawmakers that the bureau needed more transparency and independence to build public trust.

He was outspoken in his opposition to how the first Trump administration handled the 2020 census, particularly its decisions to end counting early during the COVID-19 pandemic and the attempt to include a question about U.S. citizenship status.

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In light of his resignation, some civil rights groups such as the the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have thanked Santos for his dedication to ensuring equitable data collection for all communities that accurately reflects historically undercounted groups.

As the first person of color to serve as a Senate-confirmed Census Bureau director, Mr. Santos made history  not just through his appointment, but through his leadership in ensuring that every community, regardless of background or geography, was accurately represented in federal data, the conference said in a statement.

The group is now calling on President Trump to carefully consider who will be Santoss successor.

We urge President Trump to appoint someone who not only meets the statutory requirements in federal law but who will also uphold the bureaus constitutional mandate and maintain its long-standing commitment to impartiality, the group said. The integrity of the U.S. Census Bureau must remain above partisan influence, ensuring that data collection and reporting continue to serve the American people with accuracy, transparency, and fairness.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ILLINOIS (WCIA)  Five Central Illinois community colleges are among 32 across the state receiving mental health funding.

The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is providing $3,608,510 to community colleges statewide to support student mental health in 2025. These Mental Health Early Action on Campus (MHEAC) grants will help colleges expand mental health support programs and implement new strategies.

City of Springfield cracking down on code violations for massage parlors

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Additionally, these funds will introduce new services, improve existing practices and target service gaps to assist in meeting the mental health needs of thousands of students on these campuses across Illinois.

We know many college students nationwide face mental health challenges. A recent U.S. News survey revealed nearly 70% of college students report struggling with their mental health, said ICCB executive director Brian Durham. This investment will help community colleges better meet the needs of students outside the classroom, contributing to their success in the classroom.

The Central Illinois community colleges that applied for and are receiving MHEAC funding this fiscal year include:

Grant Recipient Amount Heartland Community College $119,890 Lake Land College $71,295 Lincoln Land Community College $120,000 Parkland College $119,710 Richland Community College $120,000 Total Allocations $550,895

Firefighters from across the Midwest come together in Vermilion Co. in first-of-its-kind forum

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The 2023 Healthy Minds Study surveyed 800 campuses across the United States and found that 41% of students screened as positive for clinically significant symptoms of depression. Additionally, the survey found that 1 in 3 students screened as positive for anxiety.

Information from the Lumina Foundation State of higher Education 2024 Report indicates that 64% of students currently enrolled who recently considered dropping out of their programs said emotional stress/mental health concerns are significant reasons why.

Each college receiving grants will use them in at least one of four ways:

Develop and expand peer support programs

Expand the number of students served through local partnerships

Develop and expand mental health services targeting service gaps, emphasizing underserved students

Develop Medicaid and other reimbursement procedures for mental health services

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
(FOX40.COM)  Ceres police detectives were investigating an armed robbery incident that happened on Thursday evening.

Officials said that the robbery took place at a Dollar General store at 2531 East Whitmore Avenue but the vehicle was found in the 1900 block of Pleasant Avenue which had been used in the crime.

Pitman High School students learn life-saving techniques to stop trauma bleeding

After detectives investigated the vehicle they found the male suspect and since this incident involved a weapon in the robbery, the Ceres SWAT and Crisis Negotiations Team responded to the scene, authorities said.

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The suspect surrendered without incident and was taken into custody. He was taken and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on felony charges of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 News.
A challenge to a Texas law that would allow state officers to arrest and deport migrants suspected of being in the country illegally will go to trial July 8, a federal judge ordered Thursday afternoon, setting up a thorny legal battle as Gov. Greg Abbott seeks to help President Donald Trump crack down on immigration.

The law, Senate Bill 4, has been on hold for months while the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals weighs Texas' challenge to a preliminary injunction. A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups and Texas' El Paso County brought the lawsuit in December 2023 and former President Joe Biden's administration filed a parallel case on behalf of the U.S. last January. Federal prosecutors argued that Texas was seeking to unconstitutionally usurp what they said was the exclusive authority of the federal government to dictate foreign policy and enforce immigration laws.

It is unclear whether the Department of Justice will continue to fight the Biden-era battle given Trump's past support for Texas' border security measures. However, the other plaintiffs  the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateways and El Paso County  are pressing forward in hopes of keeping the law from taking effect. The state of Texas and the state's Department of Public Safety, represented by Attorney General Ken Paxton, are the defendants in the case.

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"Regardless of the position taken by the United States, there are private parties in this case who intend to prosecute the case regardless of whether the United States intends to proceed," Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas wrote in the Thursday order.

The trial  which would take place in Ezra's courtroom in Austin  concerns the merits of the challenge to the law and is separate from the continued dispute in the 5th Circuit over the preliminary injunction. The 5th Circuit is expected to decide whether the law should go into effect immediately or whether it should remain frozen until a final decision is reached in the legal dispute.

The Texas Legislature passed SB 4 in November 2023 to codify a series of penalties for anyone suspected of crossing into Texas from Mexico other than through an international port of entry. SB 4 would force arrested migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally to accept a magistrate judge's deportation order or face stiffer criminal penalties for noncompliance.

Republicans pushing the proposal said Texas had no choice but to fight back against an influx of migrants on the state's southern border during the Biden administration.

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Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico reached a record high of 250,000 in December 2023, according to the federal agency's data. In August 2024, those encounters reached a four-year low at 58,000 amid policy changes in both countries  Mexico stepped up enforcement to keep migrants from reaching the U.S., and Biden issued an executive order in June authorizing officials to turn away migrants when crossings get too high and making it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum if they entered the country without permission.

Texas Democrats argue that the law would lead to racial profiling, and a number of lawmakers including some from the GOP argued it was clearly unconstitutional. Democratic El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez, who brought the lawsuit alongside advocacy groups, said SB 4 "unfairly targets immigrant communities, fosters fear, and diverts local resources away from critical public safety priorities."

Ezra first granted the plaintiffs' request for a temporary block of the law in February, and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals extended the pause in March after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its own hold on the law.

Minutes after Ezra set the trial date Thursday, two attorneys representing the U.S., Kuntal Cholera and Stephen Ehrlich, motioned to withdraw as counsel due to the "upcoming conclusion" of their employment with the Justice Department. Their sacking is another signal that the Trump administration could drop the federal government's challenge to SB 4.

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The American-Statesman reached out to the Texas attorney general's office and the Justice Department for comment but did not hear back Thursday.

Sanchez told the El Paso Times on Jan. 21 that El Paso County would continue to oppose the law in court.

More: SB4 in Texas: What you need to know about the controversial immigration law

A buoy barrier in the Rio Grande and razor wire protect the U.S. border in Eagle Pass on January 8, 2024. (Credit: Jay Janner/American-Statesman)

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Judge sets July trial in challenge to Texas immigration law SB 4
A group of Colorado-based bands will hold a benefit concert to support the victims of the series of wildfires that have ravaged the Los Angeles area.

The concert is scheduled for 1-5 p.m. Feb. 15 at Jack Quinns Irish Pub and Restaurant, 21 S. Tejon St. in downtown Colorado Springs, according to a recent news release.

The event is the brainchild of Jason Lee, the front man of the Colorado Springs-based Jason Lee Band. During his time in the Navy, Lee spent a significant amount of time in the San Diego area, so he feels a connection with the people of Southern California, he said.

Whats happening out there is terrible for everybody involved, said Lee, a former volunteer firefighter.

Id been having conversations with our drummer, Valerie Carricato, about ways that we can help promote local music. Then the fires broke out in California, and we started talking about how we might use our abilities to help the folks out there. This kind of kills two birds with one stone, but our main purpose is to support the relief efforts for the people of Southern California.

For Meredith Klube, Jack Quinns managing partner, the idea of hosting a benefit concert was a no-brainer, she said.

We were on board right away, Klube said. Were such a big firefighter-supportive place, it seemed like a natural fit.

The Irish pubs relationship with local firefighters goes back more than 2 decades, Klube said.

I was working here in September 1999, around the time of the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Service, she said. One night, on maybe a Wednesday, we were just overtaken by bagpipes and firefighters. Since then, they have kind of adopted us as a place they like to hang out and celebrate. Weve made tons of lifelong friends from that community.

The concert will be held on Jack Quinns upper floor, which is festooned with firefighting memorabilia  donated helmets, jackets, patches and thousands of challenge coins.

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When you walk into Jack Quinns, you can immediately see the connection we have with firefighters, Klube said. We have so much memorabilia on the second floor, and even on the first floor. Its really cool to see.

The benefit concert will be the latest in a series of Colorado support efforts since the California wildfires ignited. Crews from multiple Colorado agencies, including the Colorado Springs Fire Department, have headed west to aid the firefighting efforts there. On Jan. 11, the 302nd Airlift Wing, stationed at Peterson Space Force Base, deployed a C-130H aircraft, equipped with a Modular Airborne Firefighting System, or MAFFS unit, and associated wing personnel, to Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, Calif.

Weve had some devastating wildfires in Colorado in recent years, so we have that connection with the people of California, Klube said.

As Coloradans, we definitely want to show our support for them. I think they would do the same for us.

In addition to the Jason Lee Band, the concert will feature Randy Stevens and the Groove Maker, the Denver-based group Hopefully Soon, and the father-son alternative band English and Steven, Lee said.

This is a great opportunity for us, and Jack Quinns has been great, he said.

Not only did they let us use the venue, but they stepped up and offered to collaborate with us on the donations. Its wonderful how receptive theyve been to this idea.

The concert will be free, with opportunities to donate either on-site or online. All donations will go directly to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Additionally, Jack Quinns will donate 15% of the nights proceeds to the cause.

Even if we only raise a few hundred dollars, that could be used to help feed or clothe someone who lost everything in the fires, Lee said. Were hoping for more than that, of course, but every little bit helps.
A DeKalb County deputy shot a murder suspect who officials say pointed a gun at them.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says DeKalb County Sheriffs Office and U.S. Marshals were serving a warrant for Marquiece Beadle. The 34-year-old had arrest warrants for a murder out of Chamblee.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Deputies and marshals went to the Covington Glen apartments to arrest Beadle.

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When they arrived, the GBI said Beadle ran out of his apartment and pulled a handgun. The deputy shot Beadle, who was taken to a hospital.

Beadle remains in the hospital. The GBI did not release his condition. No deputies or marshals were hurt.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to Chamblee police for more information on the murder Beadle is being charged with.

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The number of victims impacted by the Change Healthcare data breach last year has nearly doubled, from 100 million to 190 million, parent company UnitedHealth Group said last week.

While the US Department of Health and Human Services still lists the number of victims at 100 million, UHG confirmed the updated number in an email to TechCrunch.

UnitedHealth Group didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

What caused the Change Healthcare data breach?

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty testified before Congress in May that a hacker group gained unauthorized access to the company's servers by obtaining an employee's login credentials. The bad actors then used the stolen credentials to log in to an application to remotely access desktops. Witty said the employee didn't have multifactor authentication enabled on the app.

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The attack disrupted medical services across the country, impacting medical claims processing, payment platforms and pharmacy network services.

Change Healthcare, a UnitedHealth subsidiary and all-in-one health insurance technology provider that manages payments, claims processing and more, experienced a cyberattack in February 2024.

Impacted individuals, however, weren't limited to UnitedHealth policyholders. Change Healthcare, which works with many health insurance carriers, including Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna, has access to highly sensitive data of a massive quantity of users in the health care system.

During the same May hearing, Witty warned Congress that about one-third of Americans' data may have been compromised in the cyberattack. That number has seemingly increased to nearly one in every two Americans.

What personal information was compromised?

While UnitedHealth can't specify what data was compromised for each individual, a notice on its website said that the data could include Social Security and passport numbers, patient diagnoses, medical records, billing information and health insurance plan data.

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UnitedHealth Group began notifying impacted individuals in July of 2024 and has since sent notifications to more than 100 million people who were affected. If you received one of these notifications, your data might have been compromised. You can call 1-866-262-5342 for additional support.

If you didn't receive a notification, be advised that Change Healthcare's notice states: "Given the ongoing nature and complexity of the data review, agents will not be able to provide any specifics on individual data impacted at this time."

What to do if your information was stolen in the Change Healthcare breach

Change Healthcare has a FAQ support page for people who may have been impacted by the breach. The company is offering IDX identity theft protection for up to two years. You can enroll on this page or call 1-888-846-4705 to sign up.

If the Change Healthcare breach impacted you, there are a number of other actions you should take to protect your identity:

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 Check your health care policy for any changes. If there are any errors or health care claims you don't recognize, contact your health plan provider or your doctor's office.

 Check your credit reports. Review your credit reports regularly and look for unrecognized credit applications and new medical debt reports.

 Monitor your bank accounts. The breach compromised billing and payment information, so monitor your credit and bank statements for suspicious activity.

 Freeze your credit reports. Beyond just checking your credit reports, you might opt to freeze your credit reports with the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Putting a freeze on your credit prevents any new credit from being approved.

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 Sign up for identity theft services. After your two free years of IDX coverage expires, consider signing up for continued identity theft protection. These services can help monitor your bank and credit reports for you. They can also provide alerts when your data is found on the dark web as a result of future breaches. In the event your identity is stolen, identity theft services will provide insurance for any monetary expenses you might incur.

Aura

Protect your personal data and get peace of mind with CNET's top pick for identity theft software.

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Jan. 31Middletown Police Chief Earl Nelson says he wants to change the perception of the city in 2025 with added officers, more visibility, a new substation and dedicated traffic enforcement.

"My goal is to completely change the narrative that people have about Middletown," Nelson said. "Those of us who live and work in the city know this is a great city, but those from the outside see and hear things on the news and they have a narrative that I don't like about the city of Middletown. We want to change that."

Middletown with its own municipal court and city jail is growing especially in the East End with hospitals, construction of the $200 million Renaissance Pointe event center, housing developments and redevelopment of the Towne Mall.

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That means, the division of police is addressing the way it does "business" to get more officers on the street where they are needed most. Beat plans, meaning areas of the city where officers are assigned to patrol during a shift, have been realigned making sure areas east and west of Interstate 75 have daily patrols.

The department has 78 sworn officers, but council approved funding to employ 88 officers in 2025. When those officers are hired and trained  some are in field training now  the beat realignment that added two beats and shrinks others will be implemented.

"Policing this year is going to be more proactive, I know it is going to upset some people, but we need to change the narrative," Nelson said. "We live in a safe city and we need to let everyone know that."

Additional training of corrections officer working the jail will allow them to accompany prisoners to the hospital or transporting prisoners to other Butler County courts and facilities.

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"We will not have to pull a beat officer off the street," Nelson said. "That will keep officers on the street."

The police chief said the additional officers and increased visibility are key to prevention and solving crimes

One of the biggest complaints council members and police staff get from citizens is lack of traffic enforcement. That too will be addressed in 2025 with a plan for two officers dedicated to enforcing traffic laws  and yes that does mean citations.

"Once we get up to a certain number of officers on the street, we will assign two officers strictly for traffic violations and accidents, which can be time consuming. That means the beat officer can't be on the street patrolling the neighborhoods.," Nelson said.

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City Council is exploring converting the South Dixie Highway fire station, which will be vacant when two new firehouses are completed next month, into a substation for police.

Nelson said the plan would be beneficial not only for closer proximity to the East End without having to go back and forth to the downtown city building, but also for evidence storage.

"It could be used for processing people for small things that are not arrestable, but also we are running out of storage in our property room. There is a records retention schedule, but for homicides (cases) you have to keep that property forever  can never be disposed of. We are running out of longtime storage of property," Nelson said.

Eventually the chief envisions the substation being a true precinct allowing for role call at the building, storage of gear and cruisers a the site and having sergeants on both the east and west sides of the city.

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"It is about visibility and more officers on the street which will mean shorter response times," he said, estimating the average response time now, depending on the call and area of the city is less than five minutes. "It is going to look different this time next year. We will be a completely different police department, a more visible police department with a lot of new faces."

------

Middletown Division of Police 2024 stats:  62,453 calls for service  2,834 prisoners were booked into the Middletown City Jail  Middletown Police Communications answered 110,844 incoming. They placed 23,639 outgoing calls.  Police records clerks processed 2,458 public records requests

Source: Middletown Division of Police
A Midvale man who made national headlines when he allegedly drove his newly purchased vehicle into a Sandy dealership after they wouldnt give him a refund is now facing criminal charges.

Michael Lee Murray, 35, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with causing property damage, a second-degree felony; plus reckless endangerment and causing economic interruption, class A misdemeanors.

On Dec. 9, police were called to Tim Dahle Mazda Southtowne, 10785 S. Auto Mall Drive, where Murray had purchased a car from the dealership earlier in the day but brought it back several hours later.

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"Upon arrival, officers located a silver Subaru Outback inside of the building where the reception desk used to be," according to charging documents.

Employees told officers that Murray "was demanding his money back," and they were "unable to reason with Murray," the charges state. After being told he could not receive a refund, Murray allegedly told employees he was going to drive the vehicle through the front doors.

"Murray then walked outside of the building. At this point (a manager) warned employees and guests to get away from the doors. Murray then crashed the vehicle through the front doors, narrowly (missing) employees and guests in the building. The total cost to repair the damage to the building was $85,838," according to the charges.

When police asked Murray what happened, he said, "They tried to sell me a lemon," the charges state.

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In an interview with KSL-TV, Murray said he knows what he did was wrong and was frustrated and emotionally drained that day,

Prosecutors also noted in the charges that Murray also has a criminal past with several violent felony convictions to include kidnapping, domestic violence convictions and violations. This shows that Murray has a temper and is unable to control his temper. Absent court intervention, (he) is likely to cause someones death.
The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Oklahoma can open St. Isidore: an online Roman Catholic charter school named after the patron saint of the internet. If affirmed, the school would be the nations first faith-based charter  a sea change in education law, expanding the boundaries of government aid to faith-based schools.

On Jan. 24, 2025, the justices agreed to hear two consolidated cases: Oklahoma Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond. Gentner Drummond, the states attorney general, filed suit in 2023 to block the schools contract. In Oklahomas courts, Drummond argued that St. Isidores creation would violate state statutes, Oklahomas Constitution and the U.S. Constitution  and the Supreme Court of Oklahoma agreed with the attorney general.

The ruling involving St. Isidore stands to be one of the most significant religious and education freedom decisions in our lifetime, noted Oklahomas Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who backs the school. Opponents such as Drummond, another Republican, fear just the opposite: that a judgment in favor of St. Isidore would threaten religious liberty by allowing closer ties between the government and religious organizations.

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Indeed, St. Isidore is a potential blockbuster. At stake is whether, or how far, the Supreme Court may continue to expand the boundaries of permissible government aid to faith-based institutions and their students  a trend I have often written about in my work on education law.

Testing the limits

In a trio of recent cases, the majority of justices held that states cannot deny institutions or individuals generally available aid based solely on their religions. The first, decided in 2017, dealt with a Lutheran church applying for grants to enhance playground protection in a preschool and child care facility in Missouri. The court reached similar conclusions about an educational tax-credit program in Montana, and providing tuition assistance to parents in districts lacking public secondary schools in Maine.

This time around, the justices will face two key questions. First, do the teachings of a privately owned and run school constitute state action simply because it contracts with the state? In other words, is a charter school a state actor?

Second, the justices will weigh how the First Amendment religion clauses apply to a faith-based charter school. According to the First Amendment, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The question is whether a state violates the free exercise clause by excluding schools from the charter program solely because they are religious. If so, is the exclusion justified by concerns about the government establishing religion?

Key arguments

The first issue  the state actor question  essentially asks whether a state-funded school teaching Catholicism would constitute the government promoting a religion, in violation of the First Amendment prohibition against doing so.

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Drummond, Oklahomas attorney general, argues that St. Isidore misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion. The states charter schools bear all of the hallmarks of a public school, such as being entirely state-funded, he wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court. Thus, as a government actor, St. Isidore may not promote religion or one religion over another.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has argued the school is unconstitutional  and the states Supreme Court agreed. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

This state actor argument may be difficult for St. Isidores proponents to rebut. Yet, supporters of St. Isidore have an ace in the hole: that trio of recent Supreme Court opinions expanding the boundaries of aid to faith-based schools and their students.

In the first of the trilogy  the 2017 playground case from Missouri  Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that excluding the Christian child care center from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.

Roberts authored the opinions in all three of those cases, which reflect the dominant view of the court in recent years: the accommodationist wing. Accommodationists tend to take the position that the First Amendment promotes cooperation between religion and government, so long as the government does not favor a particular religion.

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However, the justices support for faith-based charter schools may not prove as strong. One reason is that previous cases expanding permissible aid to religious organizations have used what is called the child-benefit test: The students or their parents, rather than the institutions themselves, like St. Isidore, are the primary beneficiaries of the government funds.

Another factor is that Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has joined the majority in previous decisions increasing aid to faith-based schools and their students, recused herself from participating in the decision over whether to hear the dispute over St. Isidore. She did not say why, and it remains to be seen whether she will take part in its resolution.

In the earlier cases, the five accommodationist justices  led by Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, along with Roberts, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh  supported increased aid. The remaining three justices  Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson  are less likely to support St. Isidores position. Thus, St. Isidores supporters may have little wiggle room.

Whats next?

St. Isidore is a potential game changer, because it may expand the limits of aid to faith-based schools and their students more than ever before.

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If the court does uphold the creation of St. Isidore, the full implications remain to be seen. This much appears clear: Other states may follow suit, further blurring the line between church and state.

The Supreme Court will likely release a decision in late spring. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

A decision in the schools favor could have other consequences, as well. One issue Oklahomas courts considered was whether St. Isidore had to admit and serve students with disabilities. By state law, charter schools are required to, but critics argued that St. Isidore failed to demonstrate that it would.

Nonpublic schools, on the other hand, have no legal duty to admit particular students, including those with disabilities. When they do attend nonpublic schools, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and its regulations require local public school boards to fund some services. But that amount is limited, with the upshot that faith-based schools often are not equipped to serve students with disabilities.

If the court were to uphold the creation of St. Isidore, I believe the ruling could provide the impetus for Congress and the federal Department of Education to modify these laws to increase funding for children with disabilities at faith-based schools.

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As I learned in law school, the Supreme Court does not take cases to affirm them. That lesson, combined with the courts three most recent cases on religion and schools, suggests more change may be in the offing when the justices issue their decision  likely in late June.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Charles J. Russo, University of Dayton

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Charles J. Russo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
A relatively low-cost cruise missile that the U.S. Air Force is now developing could transform into an air-launched counter-drone weapon. The service previously disclosed that it is also eyeing an anti-ship version of the ostensibly air-to-ground Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM), work on which first started primarily to meet the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces.

The Air Force has confirmed to TWZ that a capability called the Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO) is among multiple subsystems that could be added to future versions of ERAM. Earlier this month, the Stand-In Strike Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Centers Armament Directorate, based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, had put out a contracting notice regarding ERAM that named FALCO by acronym only and provided no further details. That same notice mentioned the seeker developed under the separate Quicksink anti-ship munition program, as well as two additional capabilities called Marshall Deck of Cards (Marshall DoC) and Shepherd, which we have now also been told are classified.

A composite image showing a 3D printed model of the seeker developed under the Quicksink anti-ship munitions program (at right) and a capture from a video showing a test of a modified Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) precision-guided bomb fitted with that seeker being employed against a target ship (at left). USAF/Joseph Trevithick

As for ERAM, the current state of the program is we are in Phase 1 of a 3 Phased approach to weapon development, test, production, and employment, an Air Force spokesperson at Eglin told TWZ. The RFI [request for information contracting notice] was released as a mechanism to produce market research to procure sub-systems and ornaments from BAE [Systems] for follow-on ERAM variants, in addition to being useful for other weapons.

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FALCO is a counter-UAS capability, the spokesperson added. The RFI market research should allow the program office to purchase test assets and or production variants in support of program objectives.

What FALCO consists of in its current form and what it might take to adapt it to ERAM is unknown. For use in the anti-air role, active and/or passive seekers, or some form of command guidance, would be required. TWZ previously reached out to BAE Systems for more information about FALCO and the other subsystems named in the RFI, and we have now done so again.

Details about the core ERAM design also remain limited. As we wrote previously:

In a previous contracting notice, the Air Force laid out requirements for a 500-pound-class precision munition with a range of up to 250 miles while flying at a speed of at least Mach 0.6. The weapon also has to use an INS-based guidance package capable of operating in a GPS degraded environment and that offers terminal Accuracy of CEP 50 w/in 10m (the ability to impact within 10 meters, or around 33 feet, of a specified point at least 50 percent of the time) in both in non-EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) and high EMI environments (includes GPS degraded).'

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The Air Force has a clear interest in new and lower-cost air-to-air capabilities, especially for use against drones and subsonic cruise missiles. TWZ exclusively confirmed just this week that the services F-16 Viper fighters have been shooting down drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen using laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets. APKWS II was originally developed as a cheaper air-to-ground precision munition. In 2019, the Air Force announced it had successfully demonstrated the ability to use rockets in the air-to-air role.

Using APKWS II as an air-to-air weapon is a lower-cost option compared to the AIM-9X. That lower cost is one of the benefits of using it, a U.S. military official told TWZ.

A current generation Block II subvariant of the AIM-9X Sidewinder has a unit price of just under $420,000, according to Pentagon budget documents. The price of a single AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), which U.S. forces have also been employing in operations against the Houthis, is more than $1 million. In contrast, an APKWS II rockets unit cost, depending on how it is configured, is in the low tens of thousands of dollars.

While we dont know what unit cost the Air Force is targeting for ERAM, other broadly similar efforts in progress elsewhere within the U.S. military and private industry have been eyeing price points around $300,000.

F-16s armed with a mixture of AIM-9X, AIM-9M, and AIM-120 missiles flying somewhere over the Middle East in January 2025. The jet at the rear also has a seven-shot 70mm rocket pod. USAF

Given what is known about the baseline ERAM design, an air-to-air version would likely be limited to employment against lower-performance and less reactive targets flying along steady flight paths, as is also the case with APKWS II in this role. At the same time, with a range of 250 miles, an air-to-air interceptor version of the ERAM would have dramatically greater reach than the laser-guided rockets, or even traditional medium-range air-to-air missiles like the AIM-120. Networked kill webs feeding in targeting data from offboard sources would be essential for prosecuting engagements at these ranges.

A US Air Force F-16 fires an AIM-120 missile. USAF

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A 250-mile range would also translate to endurance for an ERAM interceptor to potentially function as a loitering air-to-air weapon. Such a munition could be fired into forward areas where drones and other slower and less maneuverable targets are known to be or expected to pass through. Depending on its guidance package, it might be able to then spot and attempt to intercept those threats automatically. This, in turn, would present complications for enemy forces, as well as an additional stand-off layer of defense against incoming threats.

The U.S. military already has surface-to-air interceptors with degrees of loitering capability in service in the form of Raytheons Coyote Block 2 and Andurils Roadrunner-M, the latter of which is also fully reusable if it is not expended. Their performance differs substantially from what an air-to-air version of ERAM could offer. Loitering air defense interceptors are emerging elsewhere globally, as well.

Whatever its exact capabilities, an air-to-air version of ERAM could still be a valuable addition to a mix of future air-to-air capabilities, which might also be adaptable for launch from launchers on ground-based or maritime platforms. As the Eglin spokesperson highlighted, FALCO, or technologies used in it, could find their way onto other weapon systems, as well. All of this aligns with broader U.S. military-wide efforts to find ways to accelerate not just the development of new munitions and other capabilities, but also their production at useful scales.

Having additional lower-cost munition options in the mix, in general, could also help alleviate strains on stockpiles of more exquisite munitions. Operations against, the Houthis, as well as in the defense of Israel, since October 2023, together with recent obligations to allies and partners, especially Ukraine, have prompted serious criticisms and concerns about the adequacy of key U.S. munitions inventories and the ability to replenish them, especially in a future high-fight, such as one in the Pacific against China.

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The Air Force is hardly alone in facing these realities and using a highly modular ERAM design to develop a diverse family of munitions capable of engaging targets on land, at sea, and in the air, could easily be of interest elsewhere within the U.S. military, as well as outside of the United States. As noted, the ERAM program has been primarily focused from the start on delivering a valuable new precision air-to-ground munition capability to Ukraines military, which also regularly faces down waves of incoming Russian kamikaze drones and cruise missiles.

Overall, the details that continue to emerge about ERAM, including now the possibility of using FALCO to turn it into an air-to-air weapon, steadily point to a program with the potential to have broad ramifications for U.S. military weaponeering efforts going forward.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.  The Cherokee Nation tribe wants to be on the front line when it comes to federal disaster relief by addressing key challenges, according to the tribes recent disaster response task force report.

The task force issued a 21-page report outlining recommendations to improve emergency response.

The reason the tribe responds quicker and does more than many other governments is that the Cherokee Nation believes in teamwork across agencies, as evidenced by the task force, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a prepared statement.

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We are always willing to look at ourselves critically and find ways to improve, Hoskin said. Disaster response and recovery never falls on one government, even one as adept as Cherokee Nation.

Cherokee Nation Provides Water to Aid Victims of Hurricane Helene

Among the task forces recommendations were:

Establish clearer authority and accountability for emergency response.

Defined quick timelines for issuing an emergency declaration.

Perform annual training simulations for key emergency response personnel.

Establish a perpetual disaster response fund.

The report states these measures will significantly enhance the nations ability to protect its citizens and infrastructure in natural disasters by addressing these key challenges.

Hoskin said his cabinet and Council will work to evaluate and potentially implement the remainder of the task forces recommendations.

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In a related effort to increase the tribes services in disaster relief, Cherokee Nation entered into a historic agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide trained response personnel to support FEMAs Supplemental Response Team Program during declared emergencies and disasters.

The landmark five-year agreement, signed on Jan. 15, is the first in Indian Country. FEMA will reimburse the Cherokee Nation for costs incurred during these operations.

The disaster relief team is comprised of seven Cherokee Nation Emergency Management employees, 15 Incident Management Team members, and 20 individuals who participate in search-and-rescue operations.

Proposed Funding

Hoskin proposed an amendment to the tribes Emergency Management Act to create the Cherokee Nation Community and Citizen Emergency Response Fund.

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The proposed fund would begin at $1 million in the current fiscal year and build up to a cap of $5 million over time. The fund would mitigate individual and community losses due to disasters, such as loss of food, shelter, or other disaster-related economic impact, and purchase relevant equipment and supplies.

Certainly, we have had emergency response funds in place for years, said Deputy Chief Warner. But this proposal gives that funding more structure and helps us build up the funding over time.

When disaster strikes, the Cherokee people need assurances that funds are available to assist in recovery and that the funds will be distributed quickly, said Council Deputy Speaker Kevin Easley Jr.

Cherokee Councilor Danny Callison, the measures co-sponsor, said last springs tornadoes tested the tribes emergency response operations and revealed improvement opportunities.

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The proposed legislation also provides that the tribes new Gadugi Corps disaster response volunteer network be activated during a declared disaster to assist with response and recovery.

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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY)  A jury convicted a Chesapeake woman of first-degree murder Thursday in the 2024 shooting death of a Portsmouth man at the Bainbridge Commons Apartments.

Previously: Police: Woman charged in connection with Grady Crescent homicide

Tia Johnson

Tia Johnson, 23, of Chesapeake, was convicted of first-degree murder and the use a firearm in the commission of murder. She faces life in prison and will be sentenced May 19 in Chesapeake Circuit Court.

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A jury found Johnson guilty after two days of testimony. She faces up to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 19, 2025, by Chesapeake Circuit Court Judge Andrew Kubovcik.

The Chesapeake Commonwealths Attorneys Office said its evidence showed that, around midnight Feb. 12, 2024, police responded to a 911 call about a domestic argument at a residence on Grady Crescent. When officers arrived, they found Matario Gee lying unresponsive on the sidewalk, and he was pronounced dead at Norfolk General Hospital. An autopsy revealed he had been shot once in the back, according to the Commonwealths evidence.

Johnson was in the residence when police arrived, according to the Commonwealths evidence. A forensic examination of her phone turned up a video of her arguing with the victim prior to her initial 911 call, which was disconnected.

She made a second call, stating that police were not needed because the victim was no longer present, the Commonwealths evidence indicated. Ring doorbell footage later showed the victim leaving the residence and walking out of view. Moments after, the video captured Johnson pointing a gun at him and firing. A single casing was located outside her residence.

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CHICAGO  Alders on Thursday heard from hemp sellers and dispensary owners to better understand delta-8 THC as they look to place greater restrictions on products sold throughout the city that contain the cannabis compound.

The meeting comes after the state senate passed legislation that smoke shop owners and hemp retailers argued would put them out of business, and it gave members the opportunity to ask questions about hemp and learn how it could be regulated in a fair manner.

For us, as a city, its not an opportunity for blood money. This is not an opportunity to rush regulation, rush taxation to get revenue. That was never the intent,Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) said at the joint meeting of the City Councils subcommittee on revenue and Committee on Health and Human Relations.

Pritzker disappointed by delay in passing Delta-8 legislation

Hemp and marijuana are both cannabis plants, but cannabis with less than 0.3% THC is considered hemp, otherwise, it is considered marijuana, which is still federally illegal.

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Delta-8 is a psychoactive substance that is found in the cannabis sativa plant and is slightly different from the psychoactive and more potent delta-9 compound that is also found in the plant. While the two are different, delta-8 THC still has psychoactive and intoxicating effects, according to the FDA.

Since delta-8 is not produced in significant amounts by cannabis plants, oftentimes, concentrated amounts of delta-8 THC are typically manufactured from hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD).

Hemp-derived THC products come in a variety of forms, including, edibles, oils and vaporizer cartridges.

The FDA has not evaluated or approved delta-8 THC products for safe use in any context and warns that the products may be marketed as having therapeutic or medical uses.

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Delta-8 products gained popularity following the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which legalized hemp-derived cannabinoids with a THC content of 0.3% or less.

Because of that, products that contain hemp-derived THC can be sold legally and without restriction at businesses that do not require special licenses like those that sell more potent marijuana-derived THC products.

Alders argues that while the products are legal, they are unregulated and can fall into the wrong hands too easily.

For now, hemp, were just getting started in terms of what are the regulations that will be viable for hemp after the plant leaves the farm, said Chicago Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige.

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Ahead of the meeting, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward) held a press conference calling to ban products that carry delta-8.

The Illinois Senate passed legislation that smoke shop owners and hemp retailers argued were too restrictive and bad for business. It was not brought up for a vote in the House. The legislation was supported by Gov. JB Pritzker but not by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Hall said Thursdays discussion could help in drafting a proposal which could potentially receive a vote in the spring.

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FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WFRV)  A Chicago man who was wanted on a federal parole warrant was arrested after a firearm incident inside a Fond du Lac residence where five children were home at the time.

A release from the Fond du Lac Police Department details the incident where a 31-year-old man from Chicago allegedly pointed a gun at a woman inside a home on North Butler Street.

Around 11:45 p.m. on January 30, officers responded to a 911 call from a woman who stated that a man pointed a gun at her while they were inside the residence. Officers noted that five children ranging from newborn to 13 years old were inside the home as well.

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One injured in Campbellsport multi-unit house fire, family left without home

FDLPD learned while responding to the incident that the suspect, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, reportedly was wanted by the US Marshals on a federal parole warrant for the possession of a machine gun and dangerous drugs.

A perimeter was set up around the house in order to make contact with the suspect and try to rescue those inside. A Bear Cat, K9 team, and the Technology Response Group joined Fond du Lac SWAT and Crisis Negotiations teams.

Officers say that the man allegedly tried to leave the scene in an Uber in an attempt to escape. He was then taken into custody without further incident. Officers recovered a firearm from the scene.

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Wausau Police investigation results in seizure of 748 grams of meth, one man arrested

Authorities confirmed that everyone in the home were all physically unharmed.

The rapid and coordinated response by our FDLPD Officers and partner agencies ensured that this dangerous incident was resolved without further harm to the victim or children involved. I am proud of the work of our FDLPD Officers and grateful for our law enforcement partners who are always quickly by our side. Chief Aaron Goldstein, Fond du Lac Police Department

Charges will be referred to the Fond du Lac County District Attorneys Office.

The City of Fond du Lac Police Department was assisted by the Fond du Lac County Sheriffs Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, North Fond du Lac Police Department, and the City of Fond du Lac Fire Rescue.

The incident remains under active investigation.

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Jan. 31New Mexico's chief federal judge this week ordered prominent DWI attorney Thomas Clear III to show why he should not be disciplined for his alleged role in a racketeering scheme involving bribery and kickbacks to a group of Albuquerque police officers and others.

Clear's former investigator, Ricardo "Rick" Mendez, 53, pleaded guilty a week ago after admitting he helped orchestrate the scheme with law enforcement officers who would refer arrested drunken drivers to Mendez and Clear and subsequently help Clear get the cases dismissed in court. The suspects would pay higher than usual legal fees to Clear, and the officers received cash, gift cards, free legal services and other perks in exchange for not filing required paperwork or missing DWI hearings, Mendez said in his plea agreement.

Clear, who has not been criminally charged, couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. Court records show he has been practicing in federal court in New Mexico since at least 1998, when he represented Mendez on federal criminal drug charges related to the smuggling of a kilo of cocaine. With Clear as his attorney, Mendez's charges were ultimately dismissed months later by federal prosecutors.

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Some 25 years later, Mendez was working as Clear's investigator when the FBI launched a criminal investigation in 2023 into what has now been dubbed the "DWI Enterprise." Mendez, who pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy and extortion, told federal authorities the scheme spanned at least 15 years, court records state.

Chief U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales in an order Wednesday cited Mendez's plea and news media coverage about the allegations in notifying Clear that the statements, if true, "indicate Mr. Clear may have violated a New Mexico Rule of Professional Conduct" that pertains to professional misconduct by a lawyer.

"Given the nature of Mr. Clear's apparent conduct and the potential for undermining the public's confidence in the Court, the Court orders Mr. Clear to show cause why suspension, disbarment or other discipline is not appropriate," Gonzales wrote in his order.

Gonzales noted that federal case law recognizes that the federal district court in New Mexico has "inherent supervisory power" over the conduct of attorneys who practice in federal court, and noted that federal judges in New Mexico "have an obligation to enforce high standards of conduct..."

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Attorneys subject to disciplinary proceedings are entitled to procedural due process, the judge noted.

"Mr. Clear may request that the undersigned appoint a panel of Judges to review his response to this order and to conduct a hearing to determine whether suspension, disbarment or other discipline is appropriate," Gonzales wrote. If Clear doesn't make that request, Gonzales stated that he will review Clear's response and make that determination.

If Gonzales or the panel decides a hearing isn't necessary, Clear is ordered to furnish "all the materials Mr. Clear wishes (Gonzales) or the Panel to consider." The judge gave Clear 30 days to respond in writing, and two weeks if he is charged with a crime.

Clear resigned as the chair of the state's Public Defender Commission and stopped representing DWI clients when the FBI investigation came to light and his law office was searched a year ago.

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Though the alleged racketeering scheme focused on misdemeanor DWI cases, Clear also has been practicing in U.S. District Court. He represented mostly defendants facing drug charges, but also filed several civil lawsuits against APD. One involved a female DWI officer who alleged harassment by a supervisor.

In February 1998, Mendez was one of four defendants arrested after U.S. Border Patrol agents at a southern New Mexico immigration checkpoint discovered a kilo of cocaine inside a car. He was accused of being the driver of a different vehicle that pulled up to a motel in Albuquerque to receive the cocaine and was arrested on federal drug charges along with two others.

By October of that year, federal prosecutors dismissed charges against Mendez. The dismissal motion states, "The United States is currently investigating information provided by the defendant which, if true, could exonerate the defendant."

Five years earlier, Mendez and his mother, Elsa Ramos, were charged federally with attempting to board a Continental Airlines plane in Albuquerque with a suitcase containing 24 pounds of marijuana. That case was dismissed after Mendez and Ramos pleaded guilty to the same offense in state district court, court records state.

It wasn't clear what happened if there was a state prosecution. There is no public record of either defendant pleading guilty to the state charges. There is mention in one court filing that those records were subject to automatic expungement in 2022.
Jan. 31WASHINGTON  A year after the Inland Northwest became the testing ground for a new computer system that promised to revolutionize veterans' health care, leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs had received grave warnings from staff at Spokane's VA hospital and evidence that flaws in the software had contributed to serious patient harm.

The officials in charge of implementing the $10 billion electronic health record system, however, told Congress and the public they knew of no such harm and they launched the software at additional clinics and hospitals in the Northwest and in central Ohio. The VA was set to do the same at larger, more complex hospitals in Seattle, Portland and Boise until The Spokesman-Review reported in June 2022 that the agency's own internal watchdog, the VA Office of Inspector General, had uncovered evidence that patients had been harmed  and that VA leaders knew about it.

On the night of Jan. 24, President Donald Trump fired Mike Missal, the man who oversaw that pivotal report along with more than a dozen others regarding the computer system in his role as VA inspector general. His dismissal came as part of a mass firing of nearly all of the presidentially appointed inspectors general, despite the new administration's professed goal of eliminating the waste, fraud and abuse that IGs are charged with rooting out.

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On Friday, every Democrat on the Senate VA Committee sent a letter asking Trump to reverse Missal's firing.

"I think it's pretty devastating for the federal government," Missal said of the mass firing. "I think it's harmful to transparency and it's also going to impact the accountability of government officials. You're less likely to be able to hold people accountable if you don't have truly nonpartisan, independent IG offices."

Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who leads her party on the Appropriations Committee and also sits on the VA Committee, said Americans "should ask themselves why Trump is so hell-bent on firing the people whose job it is to tackle corruption in government."

"Mike Missal served honorably for eight years under Republican and Democratic presidents, rooting out waste, fraud, and corruption at the VA and identifying over $37 billion in taxpayer savings  that is, until Donald Trump senselessly and illegally fired him alongside other nonpartisan government watchdogs last week in the dead of night," Murray said in a statement. "Missal's firing was yet another lawless action by a lawless president that will hurt veterans and taxpayers who deserve a transparent and accountable VA."

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Like at least 16 other IGs who were fired at the same time, Missal said he received an email from Trump's director of presidential personnel, Sergio Gor, saying only that "due to changing priorities," he was "terminated, effective immediately."

When reporters asked Trump about the mass firing aboard Air Force One on Saturday, the president falsely claimed that it was "a very common thing to do" and pointed out that he hadn't fired the Justice Department IG, Michael Horowitz, while complimenting a critical report Horowitz had issued on Jim Comey, a former FBI director and Trump foe.

"I don't know them, but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing the job," Trump said, adding that he didn't plan to replace the sacked IGs with loyalists.

As of Thursday, his administration had not provided a list of the ousted IGs or explained the firings, as required by law.

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"There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to who was fired and who was not fired," said Glenn Fine, who served as IG at the Justice Department and acting IG at the Defense Department in the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. "Mike Missal, for example, was a terrific IG. He issued hard-hitting reports in both presidential administrations. He was independent and effective, so it's not clear why he was fired and others were not."

Other than Horowitz, the only cabinet-level IG not fired by Trump was Joseph Cuffari at the Department of Homeland Security, who has been accused of abusing his authority and wasting more than $800,000 in taxpayer dollars. An investigation by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a group of his fellow IGs, substantiated those claims in September.

Mark Greenblatt, who was fired as inspector general of the Interior Department on Jan. 24, chaired that council until the end of 2024. In an interview, he said that most of the 73 IG positions in the federal government aren't appointed by the president and thus can't be fired directly, but Trump had sacked most of the presidentially appointed IGs, a total of 17 people covering 18 agencies.

"The thing that keeps me up at night is the potential politicization of the inspector general positions," said Greenblatt, adding that he was especially concerned about Gor's email citing "changing priorities."

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"That is troubling because IGs are not supposed to be connected to priorities of any administration," Greenblatt said. "These are designed to be long-term positions that withstand changes in presidential administrations, specifically to insulate them from political winds changing."

The Project on Government Oversight, an independent, nonpartisan watchdog group, called for Joe Biden to fire Cuffari, but the outgoing president declined to do so. Faith Williams, director of the effective and accountable government program at the organization, said that while it's unclear why Cuffari and Horowitz remain on the job, "My guess is that Trump likes their work more than some others'."

Williams said that although the worst-case scenario would be Trump replacing Missal and the other fired IGs with loyalists who would do his bidding, even dedicated, nonpartisan investigators may feel that they can't freely do their jobs if the threat of being arbitrarily fired hangs over their heads.

The mass firing, a quintessential "Friday news dump" whose timing suggested the administration wanted to minimize attention from Congress and the public, drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans when they returned to the Capitol this week. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, pointed out that the mass firing violated a law that requires 30 days' notice and a "substantive rationale" before removing an IG.

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Congress passed that law in 2022, after Grassley cited the firing of agency watchdogs by President Barack Obama and by Trump in his first term without sufficient explanation. Friday's mass firing was nearly unprecedented, however, according to Fine, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank.

In a brief interview at the Capitol on Thursday, Durbin said that aside from writing a letter, "there isn't much else" Congress can do about the mass firing, "outside of a courtroom."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Senate VA Committee, called the mass firing "beyond outrageous" and said Democrats could use the annual appropriations process to hold the administration accountable for it. He added that he hoped the VA Committee, which generally avoids the partisan rancor of other panels, "will be bipartisan in resisting this illegal firing."

"For the sake of veterans, I hope that all of the communities affected will rise up, literally, and demand that he be restored to his post. The VA is too important for a Trump loyalist to be kowtowing to the billionaires or others who may seek to take advantage of our veterans," he said.

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The electronic health record system was developed by Cerner Corp. under a $10 billion contract awarded by the first Trump administration in 2018 without a bidding process. Cerner was acquired by the tech giant Oracle in 2022 and is now known as Oracle Health. Larry Ellison, Oracle's founder and chairman, is a major donor to Trump and other Republicans.

Sen. Jerry Moran, the Kansas Republican who chairs the VA Committee, said he has appreciated Missal's work and didn't know why he was fired, but the senator said he didn't have a plan to resist the move.

"The law requires a 30-day notice, but there's no enforcement mechanism that I know of," Moran said. "No statute is words on paper. It's more than that. So it would be appropriate to have the 30-day notice and explanation."

Greenblatt said that because members of Congress are the biggest consumers of IG reports, they have a stake in the offices remaining independent.

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"They have all of their regular arsenal available to them," he said of lawmakers. "The question is whether they want to use any of it."

Some GOP lawmakers have defended the firing unequivocally. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a newly elected Republican from Montana, said the move was "well within the president's rights."

"Reagan did it, and the reality is the problems at the VA far outdate the IG being fired and they far outdate Trump," Sheehy said. "You've got to hold people accountable there, and if that means firing some people and replacing them with folks who are going to put the veteran first, then that's what we've got to do."

Asked if he knew of any reason that Missal wouldn't fit that bill, Sheehy said he had "no idea who he is," but added, "All I know is the VA is not working well, and if we have to fire people to fix it, then that's what we've got to do."

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After Congress passed a law establishing IG offices throughout the federal government during the Carter administration in 1978, President Ronald Reagan dismissed all of them when he took office in 1981. Lawmakers in both parties decried the move, Reagan reinstated many of the fired IGs and no such mass firing happened again until last week, said Fine, the former Justice Department and Pentagon watchdog.

According to data obtained by The Spokesman-Review through a Freedom of Information Act Request, as of Dec. 16, internal VA reviews had found 2,575 cases of patient harm related to the new system at the clinics and hospitals where the department launched it despite the warnings from Spokane, where it had contributed to more than 1,900 additional cases of harm.

While VA safety experts classified most of those cases of harm as "minor," resulting in no long-term impact to a patient's health, they include 45 cases of "major" harm and 10 cases of "catastrophic" harm, with the latter category defined as "death or major permanent loss of function." By halting the system's rollout in larger hospitals that treat more complex conditions, the IG's report may have prevented wider harm to veterans.

Missal was confirmed by the Senate in April 2016 and served from the end of the Obama administration through the first Trump administration and Biden's tenure. In an interview, he said he strove to have a professional relationship with each VA secretary even as his office issued reports that sometimes implicated top officials.

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"It's not up to us to decide whether something is a good policy or bad policy, but rather, is it being implemented as the agency would want?" Missal said. "It works best if there's mutual trust that we're each trying to do our jobs here, and we're each trying to help the agency improve. At the end of the day, we're all trying to make sure the veterans get the benefits and services that they deserve."

In addition to his office's reports on that system, Missal led investigations of sexual abuse, medical malpractice and fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars. According to his most recent semiannual report to Congress, Missal's office published 180 reports in the previous six months that identified $5.1 billion in misspent funds and resulted in 137 arrests.

His office also worked with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington to investigate fraudulent billing for spinal surgeries that endangered patients at Providence and MultiCare hospitals in Walla Walla and Spokane between 2013 and 2021.

In his confirmation hearing on Jan. 21, Trump's nominee to lead the VA, Doug Collins, told the Senate VA Committee, "I'm one of those that believes in gathering a lot of input and then making a decision, so if you're having input from an inspector general who's looking out for the best interests of what VA is for, then I'll be working with them and I'll look forward to it."

Collins also told senators he would look into restarting the record system's deployment ahead of the schedule set by the Biden administration, which planned the next launches in mid-2026.

Missal said he's proud of the oversight work his team did on the health record system  which will be continued by his former deputy, David Case, who is now the acting VA inspector general  calling it "a textbook example of effective, independent oversight."

"I didn't have a chance to tell them anything, because I literally was fired on a Friday night, but my hope is that they continue to conduct meaningful, independent oversight," he said of his former colleagues. "Work will continue. I think the concern is what happens next. I don't think anybody thinks this is the end of their approach to IG offices."

Orion Donovan Smith's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
ST. LOUIS  There are 1,003 child care providers who still have a pending review of payment errors from June through September of 2024. Another 660 providers have resolutions dating back between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2024.

At one point, Lisa Scheer at Baden Christian Child Care Center said the state owed her $17,000 in overdue child care subsidies.

Weve had a year now, right? Of not being paid on time. Not being paid correctly, Scheer said.

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The families who use her center pay 100% through state subsidies. Her payments are mostly caught up nowa sign of improvement after a software glitch at the beginning of 2024 caused a problem for providers across the state.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe addressed the issue during the State of the State Address earlier this week. He promised changes to how child care providers will be paid.

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We will not allow late payments or technology issues to put these small businesses at risk of not being able to provide for families in need of child care, he said. Starting in fiscal year 2026, providers will receive payments from the state at the beginning of the month, and we will pay on enrollment.

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Pay on enrollment is much preferred for daycares that are currently paid based on attendance. Scheer says it helps them form a more stable budget without having to guess how often children might be sick.

I am hopeful. Im excited. I was cheering when I heard about it, she said.

But after a year of struggles with subsidy payments, she hopes it is not just talk.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is promising a fix to the software by the end of this month to prevent the backlog from growing. It says most payment corrections will be done by the end of February.

But Scheer is skeptical.

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I dont know what to expect. The numbers that they give us weeklyI dont know what those real numbers are, but I dont believe them, she said.

A number of child care providers planned to travel to Jefferson City on Thursday to discuss their concerns with lawmakers.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 12-year-old child was killed by a tram in the south-western German city of Stuttgart on Friday after reportedly being pushed onto the line by a 13-year-old after an argument.

The alleged perpetrator has been handed over to the youth welfare office, the public prosecutor's office announced.

The incident occurred at a tram stop near the Max-Eyth lake in northern Stuttgart at around midday.

The child was hit and fatally injured by a tram on the U12 line.

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A police spokesman declined to say whether other children were involved in the dispute.

The mother of the 13-year-old was present when the police spoke to him. After that, he was handed over to the youth welfare office.

There were several people on the tram who are presumably potential witnesses, but the police spokesman was unable to say how many. The travellers were looked after by a crisis intervention team.

Criminal police have launched an investigation and are asking witnesses to come forward.
China is building a new military command centre near Beijing that is 10 times the size of the Pentagon, US intelligence officials have said.

Satellite images of the base, about 20 miles south-west of the Chinese capital, show a 1,500-acre construction site that experts suggest could house reinforced bunkers to protect the countrys military top brass in the case of a nuclear war.

When complete, the facility  nicknamed Beijing Military City  is expected to dwarf the Pentagon, the US defence headquarters, which is known as the worlds largest office block.

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The images, obtained by the Financial Times, suggest major construction of the project began in mid-2024, as the Peoples Liberation Army gears up for its centenary in 2027.

Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, has repeatedly warned that he intends to annex Taiwan by then, posing a major threat to the US, which relies on Taipei for its supply of microchips.

Dennis Wilder, the former head of China analysis for the CIA, said that if verified, the new complex signalled Beijings intention to develop its advanced nuclear war-fighting capability.

Satellite images of the base, about 20 miles south-west of the Chinese capital, show a 1,500-acre construction site - Planet Labs

Renny Babiarz, a former imagery analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said that the images suggested there were about 100 cranes operating across a three-mile site, helping to construct several underground facilities linked by subterranean tunnels.

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Busy activity at the site stands in stark contrast to most Chinese construction projects, which have ground to a halt amid a property market crisis.

Despite building work continuing at pace, there are no official mentions of the site on Chinese websites.

There is no visible military presence, but access to the facility is strictly prohibited.

Signs outside the facility warn against flying drones or taking photographs. The back of the site is blocked off by a checkpoint and people have been banned from using popular hiking trails nearby, according to the outlet.

The images come as Chinas Peoples Liberation Army gears up for its centenary in 2027 - Kevin Frayer/Getty Images AsiaPac

A former senior US intelligence official said that the new base could act as a secure bunker for Chinese officials seeking protection from a nuclear attack.

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Chinas main secure command centre is in the Western Hills, north-east of the new facility, and was built decades ago at the height of the Cold War, the former official said. The size, scale and partially buried characteristics of the new facility suggest it will replace the Western Hills complex as the primary wartime command facility.

Chinese leaders may judge that the new facility will enable greater security against US bunker buster munitions, and even against nuclear weapons.

One China researcher who had viewed the images said that the site had all the hallmarks of a sensitive military facility, with its deep underground tunnels and reinforced concrete.

Nearly 10 times bigger than the Pentagon, its fitting for Xi Jinpings ambitions to surpass the US, the researcher told The FT. This fortress only serves one purpose, which is to act as a doomsday bunker for Chinas increasingly sophisticated and capable military.

The new complex signalled Beijings intention to develop its advanced nuclear war-fighting capability, one expert said - Costfoto/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

In recent months, military experts have warned about Beijing rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, enabling it to respond in kind to Western nuclear threats.

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Pentagon estimates suggest that Beijing will have 1,500 operable nuclear weapons by 2035, matching the firepower of the United States.

In December last year, satellite analysis revealed that China had levelled trees and undergrowth on the tiny island of Changbiao in the eastern China Sea to make way for two fast breeder nuclear reactors.

Once operational, the reactors could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, which can be used in nuclear missiles, experts believe.

In December, highlighting the rising threat from China, Adml Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the British Defence Staff, warned that the world had entered a third nuclear age.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China offered deep condolences over the Washington air disaster, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on Friday on its official website.

The post added that two Chinese citizens were killed in the crash and China is providing assistance to their relatives.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Writing by Engen Tham; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Christian Schmollinger)
China became Russia's sole supplier of gallium, germanium, and stibium, chemical substances needed to produce weapons, including nuclear ones, after the introduction of EU and U.S. sanctions in 2022, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Schemes' investigation said on Jan. 30.

Ukraine's Western partners have imposed heavy sanctions against Russia after the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022 to cut off key supply lines of the Russian defense industry.

As Russia's options to purchase gallium and germanium from around the world almost disappeared, China became the sole supplier in 2023, the investigation said, citing leaked data from Russian customs databases.

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Stibium is reportedly supplied to Russia only from China and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that are not part of the sanctions coalition.

Beijing repeatedly denied supplying components for Russian military production, but the investigation revealed links between Chinese state-owned companies and Russian enterprises working for the Russian army.

Of the nearly 20 Chinese companies exporting these metals to Russia, one-third are state-owned.

One of the key suppliers of germanium is the Chinese Yunnan Lincang Xinyuan Germanium Industry, in which Bao Wendong, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, holds a share of ownership. The rest of the shares are held by companies with state capital, Schemes wrote.

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Its products are reportedly purchased by companies affiliated with Rostec, the Russian state-owned arms manufacturer, including factories that produce optical systems for military equipment.

Vital Technology Group is another Chinese company that supplies gallium, germanium, and stibium. Russia's Ferrotek Nord purchases its products, which in turn cooperates with Angstrom, a supplier of microchips to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Chinese gallium is also used in the production of nuclear weapons, as this metal stabilizes plutonium bombs. Russia's Kurchatov Institute, which is engaged in nuclear development, has been purchasing products containing gallium through Cryotrade Engineering. According to the investigation, the company buys gallium from the Chinese Hynhe Technology Co. Ltd.

China has deepened its ties with Russia since the start of the Kremlin's full-scale war against Ukraine and has become Moscow's leading source of dual-use goods that feed the Russian defense industry.

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Beijing has also sough to position itself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, sending envoy Li Hui on multiple rounds of shuttle diplomacy in Europe. At the same time, China has criticized the U.S. and its allies for "exacerbating" the war by supplying arms to Ukraine, while NATO has named Beijing a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war.

Read also: Trumps China strategy hinges on crippling Russias economy

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Salvador Saucedo, 37, was undergoing testing at the Mid Coast Medical Center - Bellville in Austin County northwest of Houston when he escaped. Waller County Sheriff's Office

The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the Waller County Sheriff's Office in the search for an inmate who escaped custody Jan. 23, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Salvador Saucedo, 37, was undergoing testing at the Mid Coast Medical Center - Bellville in Austin County when he escaped, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release. Saucedo is a registered sex offender who was convicted in 2022 for indecency with a child by contact involving an 11-year-old girl in Brazos County, according to the Texas Public Sex Offender registry.

"Saucedo is described as a Hispanic man who has face tattoos, missing front teeth and brown hair with red highlights," the release read. "He was last seen wearing a white head wrap, dark colored T-shirt and blue jeans. He should be considered dangerous."

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Salvador Saucedo, pictured here in the most recent photo uploaded to the Texas Public Sex Offender registry. Texas Department of Public Safety

The service warned that Saucedo could be posing as a homeless person or migrant and may have altered his appearance to conceal his identity. Although he was last seen with dyed red hair, images uploaded to the Texas sex offender registry show Saucedo with dark-colored hair. He is around 5 feet, 11 inches, and weighed around 190 pounds as of the most recent info published to the registry.

Saucdeo was charged with another count of indecency with a child in March and stalking in May, according to the release. He has also since been charged with several crimes related to his escape, including assault on a peace officer, the Waller County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted to Facebook.

The Waller County Sheriffs Office said in a post on X Thursday evening that Saucedo escaped after securing a piece of hospital equipment that he used as a makeshift lock pick to remove his leg irons and handcuffs. He then fled on foot after a deputy went to use the restroom and is assumed to have escaped into a rural and unpopulated area north of the medical facility.

The sheriffs office said it has not ruled out the possibility that Saucedo died from exposure. He fled custody around the same time that a winter storm descended on most of Southeast Texas.

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Due to the temperature, weather, terrain and isolation of the area he fled in, he (may have) succumbed to the elements, the post read. Or someone assisted him to elude capture, and he is being hidden in the same area, or he has been removed from the area and taken to an unknown area.
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two executives of a Chinese chemical company have been found not guilty by a Manhattan jury on charges they conspired to ship precursor chemicals to the United States to manufacture fentanyl, but were convicted on related charges.

In a verdict returned on Wednesday and made available electronically on Thursday, jurors found Hubei Amarvel Biotech's principal executive Qingzhao Wang and marketing manager Yiyi Chen not guilty of the top charge, conspiracy to distribute fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance.

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However, Wang and Chen were found guilty of conspiracy to import a fentanyl precursor chemical. The jury found they had cause to believe it would be used to make fentanyl, but not that they had intent to make it. Both defendants were also convicted of conspiracy to launder money.

The U.S. Department of Justice touted the 2023 indictment of Wang and Chen as a significant step in the fight against fentanyl, a highly addictive painkiller.

It was the first time U.S. authorities sought to prosecute Chinese company executives over the distribution of fentanyl and related products.

More than 400,000 people have died in the United States from synthetic opioid overdoses in the past decade.

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David Mou, a lawyer for Wang, said after the verdict that his client had no intent to make the drug, "and his chemicals were never used to make fentanyl."

Chen's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan did not immediately respond to a similar request.

Prosecutors said Wang and Chen shipped 200 kilograms of chemicals for fentanyl in 2022 and 2023 and met in Bangkok and Fiji with undercover Drug Enforcement Administration sources posing as Mexican drug traffickers to negotiate shipments.

Wang's and Chen's sentencings are scheduled for May 29 and June 5, respectively.

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Chris Urben, a former DEA agent and now managing director at investigations firm Nardello & Co, said in an interview that evidence from the trial could help U.S. negotiators push China to crack down on the flow of precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels.

China says it works with Mexico and the United States to combat illegal drugs.

Amarvel was among seven Chinese suppliers that sold precursor chemicals to Reuters reporters during the news agency's investigation into the chemical trade.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Mark Porter)
Chuck Todd, the former Meet the Press moderator, is leaving NBC News, he told colleagues in a memo issued Friday, a move hes making in order to pursue ventures outside the NBCUniversal empire.

Todd had in recent weeks been meeting with other news outlets and potential employers, according to people familiar with the matter. His current contract with NBC News had been expected to lapse at some point after the 2024 election.

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Theres never a perfect time to leave a place thats been a professional home for so long, but Im pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality, Todd told NBC News staffers in a memo Friday. So Im grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.

He said his Chuck Toddcast podcast would be coming with me, and urged colleagues to stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon. Todd plans to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are and where were going.

Were grateful for Chucks many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy, NBC News said in a statement. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.

Many personnel at traditional TV outlets have explored opportunities with digital or new-tech outlets in recent months, a nod to the more difficult economics of national newsgathering in the current climate. Jim Acosta, the CNN anchor, announced earlier this week that he was leaving the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network to launch his own Substack. Don Lemon and Megyn Kelly are among the ranks of well-known TV anchors who have moved on to digital media.

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When he moderated Meet The Press, Todd demonstrated an entrepreneurial streak, bringing the long-running Sunday program into podcasting and even launching a film festival.

Everyone is trying to figure out how to get in front of millennials. I think the millennial generation learns as much visually as they do the old-fashioned way, by the book, Todd told Variety in 2017. We are no longer in the business of telling people how they should consume information. Our job is to provide depth and information in any way they want to consume it.

He told staffers he expected to continue to try to build new media businesses. The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and Im convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up. At my core, Im an entrepreneur  I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today. And this is a ripe moment, he said, adding: The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and thats something national media or the major social media companies cant do as well as local media.

Todd joined NBC News in 2007 as a political director, after having spent 15 years working at National Journal and leading the The Hotline, an early digital newsletter focused on inside-the-Beltway maneuvers. In 2008, he was named chief White House correspondent. In 2014, he was elevated to top duties at Meet The Press, succeeding David Gregory. He expanded the program by doing a regular daytime hour on MSNBC called MTP Daily, a program that was eventually moved over to the live-streaming service NBC News Now.

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Once a regular presence on across the NBCUniversal portfolio, Todd has been less visible in recent months. He ceded the Meet the Press chair to Kristen Welker in 2003.

Even so, he remains a long-time student of politics, and his knowledge and contacts as well as the publics familiarity with him, would help other potential employers or help him launch his own ventures.

He still knows how to make a splash.

In March, Todd appeared on Meet The Press and protested the hire announced at that time of Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair who had been named an NBC News contributor. You got put into an impossible situation, booking this interview, and then all of a sudden the rug was pulled out from under you, and you find out shes being paid to show up? Todd said to Welker. Its unfortunate for this program, but I am glad you did the best that you could.

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NBC News subsequently reversed its decision, after staffers began to protest, most notably on MSNBC programs.

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Chuck Todd, the former moderator of Meet the Press and a staple of NBC News political reportage for nearly two decades, is leaving the network.

Todd told his NBC colleagues about his decision Friday morning. It will also be his last day.

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He added that he will be taking his ChuckToddcast with him, and that it will have a new home soon. He said on the podcast Friday that his exit from NBC happened a little earlier than originally planned.

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But he also indicated that he plans to launch a new venture, one that may connect national news to local news.

At my core, Im an entrepreneur  I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today, Todd said, referencing his time at National Journal, where he created the Hotline newsletter, a predecessor to the likes of Politico Playbook and Punchbowl News. And this is a ripe moment. The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and thats something national media or the major social media companies cant do as well as local media.

Still, Todds exit is the end of an era at NBC News. He was hired by NBCs then-D.C. bureau chief and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert in 2007, and became moderator of the program himself in 2014. It was during his tenure that the show expanded into streaming, and created new platforms like a Meet the Press-branded film festival.

He officially handed the baton of the Sunday public affairs show over to current moderator Kristen Welker in the fall of 2023, though he agreed to stick around as chief political analyst. And he used that platform, including calling out NBC a year ago after it (briefly) hired former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel.

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Were grateful for Chucks many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors, an NBC News spokesperson said in a statement.

Read Todds note below.

Today is my last day at NBC. I started as political director in 2007, a month before my son was born and hell be graduating high school in a few months. So I guess this means Ive been here a while.



Theres never a perfect time to leave a place thats been a professional home for so long, but Im pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality. So Im grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.



The ChuckToddcast is also coming with me (thank you NBC). Stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon. Needless to say, I do plan to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are and where were going.



The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and Im convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up. At my core, Im an entrepreneur  I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today. And this is a ripe moment. The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and thats something national media or the major social media companies cant do as well as local media.



As I said when I announced my exit from MTP, I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards I and others at NBC have worked so hard to set. We cant tolerate propagandists. But it doesnt mean sticking your head in the sand either; if you ignore reality, youll miss the biggest story. Being a real political journalist isnt about building a brand, its about reporting whats happening and explaining why its happening and letting the public absorb the facts without judging them for coming to a different conclusion. If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist, you are doing this job incorrectly.



Im really proud of the work Ive done with the incredible team of folks Ive been lucky enough to work with over these two decades (and five presidents). The beauty of NBC is that one cant succeed without being an incredible collaborator. I fear if I start name checking folks, Ill leave someone out and that wont be right. I was proud to be able to work at the former home of David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert. I still cant believe I got to follow in their amazing footsteps. That will remain an honor of a lifetime.



Please, dont be shy about staying in touch. My personal info is below. Thank you NBC and I cant wait to work with many of you again down the road. And needless to say, Ill also be watching!



Thank you

Chuck Todd

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Chuck Todd, the chief political analyst for NBC News and former Meet the Press moderator, announced Friday that he is leaving the network today after almost 18 years.

In a note to staffers, Todd wrote, Theres never a perfect time to leave a place thats been a professional home for so long, but Im pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality. So Im grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.

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Todd also said that he would be taking his podcast, The ChuckToddcast, with him.

Variety first reported on his departure.

An NBC News spokesperson said, Were grateful for Chucks many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.

Todd joined NBC News in March, 2007, after serving as editor in chief of the widely read The Hotline from National Journal. He served as NBC News political director, and then become chief White House for the network during Barack Obamas first term. He became moderator of Meet the Press in 2014, succeeding David Gregory, and expanded the show to a daily format on MSNBC. Todd departed as moderator of Meet the Press in September 2023, when he handed off the reins to Kristen Welker.

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But as chief political analyst, Todd continued to appear on the show and elsewhere on the network. In a Meet the Press appearance in March, he sharply criticized the network for its hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor.

Todd said, Look, theres a reason why theres a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination. Thats where you begin here. And so, when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News credibility, you gotta ask yourself, what does she bring NBC News?

The following day, a succession of MSNBC hosts also criticized the network for the hire. Amid the outcry, Cesar Conde, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, reversed the hiring decision.

In his memo, Todd wrote, Being a real political journalist isnt about building a brand, its about reporting whats happening and explaining why its happening and letting the public absorb the facts without judging them for coming to a different conclusion. If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist, you are doing this job incorrectly.

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Todd wrote that it was a ripe moment to depart, and gave some hints as to his next move.

The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local, he wrote. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and thats something national media or the major social media companies cant do as well as local media.

Todds complete memo to staffers below:

Today is my last day at NBC. I started as political director in 2007, a month before my son was born and hell be graduating high school in a few months. So I guess this means Ive been here a while.



Theres never a perfect time to leave a place thats been a professional home for so long, but Im pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality. So Im grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.



The ChuckToddcast is also coming with me (thank you NBC). Stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon. Needless to say, I do plan to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are and where were going.



The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and Im convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up. At my core, Im an entrepreneur  I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today. And this is a ripe moment. The only way to fix this information eco system is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community and thats something national media or the major social media companies cant do as well as local media.



As I said when I announced my exit from MTP, I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards I and others at NBC have worked so hard to set. We cant tolerate propagandists. But it doesnt mean sticking your head in the sand either; if you ignore reality, youll miss the biggest story. Being a real political journalist isnt about building a brand, its about reporting whats happening and explaining why its happening and letting the public absorb the facts without judging them for coming to a different conclusion. If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist, you are doing this job incorrectly.



Im really proud of the work Ive done with the incredible team of folks Ive been lucky enough to work with over these two decades (and five presidents). The beauty of NBC is that one cant succeed without being an incredible collaborator. I fear if I start name checking folks, Ill leave someone out and that wont be right. I was proud to be able to work at the former home of David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert. I still cant believe I got to follow in their amazing footsteps. That will remain an honor of a lifetime.



Please, dont be shy about staying in touch. My personal info is below. Thank you NBC and I cant wait to work with many of you again down the road. And needless to say, Ill also be watching!



Thank you

Chuck Todd

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Veteran NBC News anchor and chief political analyst Chuck Todd is leaving the network, TheWrap has learned.

Theres never a perfect time to leave a place thats been a professional home for so long, but Im pretty excited about a few new projects that are on the cusp of going from pie in the sky to near reality, Todd said in a memo to staff obtained by TheWrap on Friday. So Im grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment.

His update comes a few weeks after Semafor reported the former Meet the Press host had been looking at different news outlets to join. Todd said in his Friday memo that his Chuck Toddcast podcast would be coming with me to his next stop, for which he thanked NBC.

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Were grateful for Chucks many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to Meet the Press and its enduring legacy, a NBC News spokesperson told TheWrap. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.

Todds exit from NBCUniversal comes after Jim Acosta similarly left CNN earlier this week after 18 years at the channel  the same amount of time Todd was at NBC News. He joined NBC News as its political director in 2007, and later was made the moderator on Meet the Press from 2014 to 2023.

During his exit memo, Todd also shared his thoughts on the mainstream medias crumbling status among the general American public. An October Gallup poll found Americas trust in the media is at an all-time low, with only 31% of respondents saying they had a great deal or fair amount of confidence the news was being reported accurately.

The media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of viewers/listeners/readers and Im convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up, Todd said. At my core, Im an entrepreneur  I spent my first 15 years professionally working for the company that started the political newsletter craze that dominates today. And this is a ripe moment.

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He further noted that the only way to fix this information ecosystem is to stop whining about the various ways the social media companies are manipulating things and instead roll up our collective sleeves and start with local. National media cant win trust back without having a robust partner locally and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report.

One of Todds more notable exchanges on Meet the Press came in 2017, when he had a dustup with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway over her use of the term alternative facts. Todd later told TheWrap he regretted some of the faces he made during the interview.

Theres times in that interview where I had facial expressions, he said in 2017. You have to be careful.

More recently, Todd made himself the headline last year when he publicly criticized his employer over its decision to hire former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor. He told his colleague Kristen Welker that their bosses owe you an apology for making her interview McDaniel.

The post Chuck Todd Exits NBC News in Latest Media Shakeup appeared first on TheWrap.
Longtime NBC News political reporter Chuck Todd is leaving the network after 18 years, he announced on his podcast Friday morning.

So look, Im leaving a bit earlier than we had all originally planned, but theres a reason for it, Todd said on his Chuck Toddcast, adding that he had exciting projects that were near reality and would focus on the future of media, local in particular.

In his 18 years at NBC, Todd has held various positions, including political director, and eventually helming NBCs Sunday flagship show Meet the Press from late 2014 until 2023.

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Todds departure comes less than two weeks into Donald Trumps second term in the White House. The president has routinely mocked the journalist, who at times was critical in his coverage of Trump. Trump deemed him sleepy-eyed Chuck Todd.

More recently, Todd got into an on-air spat with the network over its hiring of former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, saying she had deep credibility issues.

Todd said he will bring his podcast with him to his next venture after a brief hiatus. I do plan to continue to share my reporting and my perspective, and to cover politics the way Ive been covering it, Todd said.

NBC News and MSNBC have undergone recent leadership changes, with Comcast recently announcing a plan to house some of NBCUniversals cable networks, including MSNBC, in a $7 billion spinoff.

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Todd did not reference any of these changes when announcing his departure. Instead, he said it was because the media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of the public, and national media isnt the place thats going to be able to do it.

Local media, Todd said, is what gave national media its initial credibility, and its local news that is best suited to fix the problem, especially given national news focus on web traffic.

Todd said his priorities for, and commitment to, political journalism remain the same.

Bottom line here is we cant stick our heads in the sand, and we cant be propagandists, yknow we gotta continue to call em like we see em. We gotta continue to cover politics as it is, not as we wish it were, he said.
CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI)  The City of Chula Vista is creating a new five-year plan to address key community needs through targeted investments.

The city aims to prioritize initiatives that will have the greatest impact on local residents. Staff have been holding community meetings to gather input from residents on their top priorities.

The goal is to decide as a whole how $3.5 million in federal grant funding should be spent in the months to come.

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Some of the top priorities are again parks, infrastructure like sidewalks, fixing roads and then also recreation centers, Mayor John McCann said.

Several residents shared details on their needs at the latest community meeting on Thursday.

Everybody has parents. Everybody has grandparents. Sure think about families, but also dont ignore the senior community, said Chula Vista resident John Acosta.

Acosta has been living in Chula Vista since 1972. Advocating for the needs of seniors is his main priority, particularly when it comes to housing.

Most people, the builders, they say were going to build affordable housing, but whats affordable? Affordable is for those people that can afford it, but not the seniors that have a fixed income, Acosta said.

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the city to use the funds to benefit low-income people. The money can be used to fund public services such as recreation programs and senior centers. Also to develop low-income housing, support rental assistance, and toward homeless outreach.

McCann said with the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center project opening in May, additional improvements throughout the city will mean more growth down the road.

We know that year after year were going to be able to bring in good revenue that will help us improve our infrastructure and we want to make sure that when people are looking to either come to San Diego that they put Chula Vista high on their list, McCann added.

One more community meeting set for Monday, Feb. 3 from 6-8 p.m. at the Loma Verde Community Center located at 1420 Loma Ln. There is also an online survey available through Feb. 28 where residents can provide input.

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The following is a timeline for the federal funding plan:

City Council public hearing Feb. 4

30-day plan public review April 1-30

Second City Council public hearing April 8

Final City Council approval May 6

Final Submission to HUD May 15

Plan Implementation July 1-June 2026

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Thursday reiterating that its approach to immigration issues is centered on love, law and family unity.

Church leaders shared those principles again in a letter to local church leaders in the United States as the nation grapples with securing its border and resetting its immigration and refugee policies.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, the church statement said, the following principles guide the Churchs approach:

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1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints obeys the law.

2. We follow Jesus Christ by loving our neighbors. The Savior taught that the meaning of neighbor includes all of Gods children.

3. We seek to provide basic food and clothing, as our capacity allows, to those in need, regardless of their immigration status. We are especially concerned about keeping families together.

Those principles closely mirror statements church leaders have shared previously on immigration issues.

The new statement said that the churchs Office of General Counsel had created guidelines intended to help the leaders of American congregations comply with federal laws that criminalize harboring, transporting or encouraging undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States.

Senior Latter-day Saint leaders send letter to local American leaders

Senior leaders at church headquarters in Salt Lake City shared those guidelines with U.S. church leaders in a letter.

We are concerned about the complex challenges and hardships now faced by members who are undocumented immigrants living in the United States, the letter stated. In the current circumstances, many local church leaders have questions about how to legally assist undocumented immigrants in a manner that is both compassionate and consistent with the immigration laws of the United States.

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The reiterated principles and letter arrive after President Donald Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration during the first week of his second term, according to ABC News.

One order halted all refugee entrances into the United States, including religious refugees and those who go through the U.S. refugee resettlement system that thoroughly vets each person, per the Deseret News.

The letter from the churchs senior leaders to American general authorities, area presidencies and stake presidents acknowledged that the administration and courts continue to work out how the executive orders will be enforced.

Until we learn of changes in the law, church officers should continue to follow the attached guidelines from the Office of General Counsel regarding such assistance, the letter said. Area Presidencies and Area Seventies should help stake presidents become aware of and adhere to these policies.

The church created specific guidelines for leaders of congregations

Those guidelines include:

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Local leaders may use fast-offering funds to provide temporary assistance for essential needs like food, clothing and medical care, regardless of immigration status.

If local leaders have reason to believe someone is undocumented and not authorized to work, they should avoid potential conflicts with federal law by avoiding or limiting housing assistance, not transporting the person outside the local community and not referring the person for employment.

Leaders should not provide legal advice, testify in legal proceedings or sponsor immigration efforts.

Leaders may refer families to community resources that address their immigration issues or help prepare them for possible separation in cases where family members may be deported.

Church buildings and resources should not be used to help shield individuals from law enforcement.

The statement also directed the leaders of U.S. congregations who need additional information to contact the churchs Office of General Counsel, which it said tracks legal developments to ensure local outreach and area-initiated humanitarian activities are appropriate.

The church has more than 6.8 million members and operates 14,500 American congregations at a time when the Trump administrations edicts regarding mass deportations and border security include one that changed generations of U.S. policy: Law enforcement can now make immigration arrests within or near places of worship, per the Deseret News.

Deportations have always been a part of American border enforcement. The U.S. deported 2.9 million people during President Barack Obamas first term, 1.9 million during Obamas second term and 1.5 million during Trumps first term, an analyst told CNN. The analyst calculated that the number of deportations undertaken during President Joe Bidens term would finish at 1.49 million.

A Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital that President Trump had set daily arrest goals for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fox News reported.

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The Trump administration also has stopped taking appointments for migrants waiting in Mexico to request asylum through the CBP One mobile app, according to The Washington Post.

What the church has said about immigration over the past 15 years

The churchs position on immigration and refugees has been consistent.

In 2010, the church supported the Utah Compact, a set of five principles to guide immigration debate that included a call for a humane approach: The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors.

2011: The background moral issue

In 2011, the church issued a statement about immigration. The church outlined its position with three basic principles:

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Jesus Christs commandment to love thy neighbor.

The importance of keeping families intact.

The federal governments obligation to secure its borders.

In furtherance of needed immigration reform in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a balanced and civil approach to a challenging problem, fully consistent with its tradition of compassion, its reverence for family and its commitment to law, the statement said.

The church stated that its policy discourages its members from entering any country without legal documentation and from deliberately overstaying legal travel visas. But church leaders also said the bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God.

2015: Support for religious freedom for all

In 2015, after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country, the church issued a statement saying that while it is neutral in party politics and election campaigns, it is not neutral in relation to religious freedom.

Church leaders attached Joseph Smiths statement that he would stridently defend the religious rights of all believers and a Nauvoo, Illinois, city ordinance he helped pass that codified equal privileges for all churches.

2017: Meet human needs and relieve suffering

In 2017, after President Trump banned refugees from seven Muslim countries, church leaders issued another statement:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned about the temporal and spiritual welfare of all of Gods children across the earth, with special concern for those who are fleeing physical violence, war and religious persecution. The Church urges all people and governments to cooperate fully in seeking the best solutions to meet human needs and relieve suffering.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  City leaders are providing a public safety update regarding a high-risk search warrant operation, acts of vandalism, and fires in Rochester.

Drug Bust

On January 29, officers were investigating drug sales and executed seven search warrants simultaneously throughout the city. In total, officers recovered 3.81 pounds of cocaine, 8.6 grams of fentanyl, multiple loaded firearms, and $177k in cash.

During this operation, nine people have been charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon and felony drug charges. Their names will be released at a later point in time.

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Outside of that operation, RPD Chief David Smith announced they arrested 28 individuals for criminal possession of a weapon, with a majority held in arraignment or in custody. Five of those were released under non-monetary conditions.

The nine suspects and their charges are listed below:

Brandon Walls  Three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and eight counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Sarena Frye  Three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and eight counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Dexter Williams  Second-degree criminal possession of a weapon

Dajuan Bacot  Second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Donnarae McKenzie Second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Dexter McKenzie  First-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia.

Quamina Stith  Two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Mikal McFadden  Two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and three counts of second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia.

Savonna White  Criminal possession of a firearm and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Vandalism & Car break-ins

Mayor Evans also discussed the recent acts of vandalism throughout the city and fires being started in vacant buildings. He gave examples such as vandalism at the former Riverside Hotel, car windows being smashed across the city, and a break-in attempt at the former Radisson Hotel.

Evans also acknowledges many suspects are being given appearance tickets and residents are outraged by these incidents, but he vows any suspect will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law.

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They think its a game, Evans said. Im glad that we have them, I am glad they are now on our radar, and Im hoping that they can see that we can not tolerate vandalism in the City of Rochester.

Chief Smith said RPD is partnering with the New York State Police to utilize uniformed and covert resources in a special investigation. This will be used to investigate the strings of car break-ins. They will also be provided with resources to respond in real-time.

Evans announced CrimeStoppers is providing a reward for significant award for residents who give information on suspects who vandalize property. Anyone with information is encouraged to call 911.

Fire Safety

On the topic of fires, RFD Chief Stefano Napolitano says out of the 46 fires they investigated, 28 were intentional, and 18 were accidental. 16 of those fires happened in vacant buildings. For motor vehicle accidents, they responded to 220 motor vehicle accidents this year.

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Chief Napolitano is reminding residents not to leave candles unattended or use an electronic candle. He is also reminding residents not to charge cell phones in their beds due to failures of the lithium-ion battery.

Full Press Conference

You can watch the full news conference in the video player above.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
The City of East Moline has been awarded a $128,000 grant through the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunitys (DCEO) Regional Site Readiness planning program, a news release says.

(eastmoline.com)

The funding will support development efforts for the I-80/I-88 Industrial Site, a strategically located parcel of land in the southeast quadrant of the interstate intersection, north of the Rock River and approximately seven miles from downtown East Moline. The ultimate goal of this planning grant is to move toward the federal processes to remove acres from the floodplain and make them development-ready for industrial users.

This grant is a tremendous step forward in our ongoing efforts to attract industrial development and investment to East Moline, said Mayor Reggie Freeman. Preparing the I-80/I-88 Industrial Site for industrial use is a priority, and this funding allows us to take meaningful action toward unlocking its full potential, attracting businesses, creating jobs, and strengthening our local economy. With the support of the Illinois DCEO, REDEEM and the Quad Cities Chamber, we are making strategic investments to ensure our community remains competitive and ready for future economic growth.

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The City of East Moline will provide a $30,000 matching grant and REDEEM will provide a $2,000 grant for this project.

Site readiness has been a regional priority for the Quad Cities Chamber for the past few years with ongoing advocacy efforts to ensure sites are prepared for economic development opportunities. The chamber played a key role in securing this grant, assisting in the application process and engaging with DCEO early in the programs development.

The Quad Cities Chamber has been actively championing site readiness as a critical economic driver for the region, said Julie Forsythe, senior vice president of business & economic growth for the chamber. This funding is a testament to the collaborative efforts between the City of East Moline, REDEEM and regional stakeholders to position our communities for future investment.

The chamber has been advocating for site readiness by working with legislators, commissioning a regional site readiness study conducted by Hickey Global, a full-service economic development consulting firm and sharing grant opportunities with Illinois partners to advance strategic site development.

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This grant marks a step forward in enhancing the economic competitiveness of East Moline and the broader Illinois Quad Cities region. Planning efforts for the I-80/I-88 Industrial Site will focus on infrastructure assessment, market analysis and development strategies to attract business investment and job growth.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
A Seattle man claiming to be a bounty hunter made threatening comments at a press conference in Sunnyside this week, saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deputize and pay private civilian forces to detain undocumented immigrants.

But his comments appear to be false and misleading, local officials say, and are not reflective of actual immigration enforcement processes.

His comments, however, may be based on proposed legislation in Mississippi that wouldnt impact Washington residents.

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You can put a price on every human being. Every human is worth a dollar amount, said the man, who identified himself as Martin Alvarado, before being hushed by the city manager and residents in attendance.

The intense interaction underscores larger anxieties felt in the Latino community after President Donald Trump began a crackdown on immigrants illegally in the U.S.

ICE has been arresting nearly 1,000 individuals in enforcement operations each day, according to tallies the agency has begun posting to Twitter/X.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Fugitive Operations and Special Response Team members conduct arrests in Miami, Florida.

Over the weekend, an agency team arrested two people in the parking lot of a Fiesta Foods store in Sunnyside, which prompted the Monday news conference hosted by the city council and staff.

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As the conference began to wrap up after an hour and a half of discussion and Q&A, Alvarado took to the podium to say that ICE had called his Tacoma squad to conduct enforcement raids and that they would be compensated by the federal government $1,500 to $1,000 per illegal.

How are you going to stop us from coming through, because we dont have to worry about warrants, we dont really have to follow too many of the laws and, if were going to be deputized by ICE, we can pretty much do anything we want, he said.

A thousand dollars per illegal is a pretty good price, just to do things that you kind of enjoy. How or what are you guys going to do to stop that? Are you going to pay us more? Are you going to pay us $2,000 to just leave them alone, Alvarado continued, before getting cut off by someone who said he was stoking fears.

After a back and forth with City Manager Mike Gonzalez, Alvarado was ushered out of the room.

A Seattle man claiming to be a bounty hunter made spoke at a news conference in Sunnyside this week, saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deputize and pay private civilian forces to detain undocumented immigrants.

Does ICE use bounty hunters?

The Tri-City Herald reached out Thursday to ICE public affairs officials for clarification on immigration enforcement, but did not hear back.

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But Sunnyside officials say they know the answer.

There are no bounty hunters with ICE. That guy was a bit out of his mind and I think was trying to stir the pot, Gonzalez told the Herald this week.

City and county law enforcement agencies in Washington state do not cooperate with ICE on immigration enforcement. Their focus instead is on keeping law and order. Gonzalez said local law enforcement officers will never ask residents about their immigration status.

Alvarado may have been mistakenly referring to some proposals floated in recent weeks in Missouri and Mississippi to help the Trump Administration.

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One bill in the Mississippi statehouse, and proposed by a district attorney, would create a certificated bounty hunter program for licensed bail bond agents and surety recovery agents to find and detain people in the country illegally.

Individuals would be able to report undocumented immigrants in the state to a hotline for arrest and could receive up to $1,000, according to the law.

Because its another states bill and not federal policy, it would have no jurisdiction in Washington if passed into law.

State Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, says bounty hunters are pretty much bail bond agents in Washington state.

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While they can apprehend fugitives who skip bail, they are not law enforcement officers and cannot conduct federal immigration enforcement or detention for immigration purposes, she said.

Torres believes Alvarado may have been trying to bully the city into paying him. She gave kudos to the city of Sunnyside for their response, for addressing community concerns and acting with transparency during this time.

Were a resilient town, were a town thats heavily tied to (agriculture), and not everybody here is undocumented, Gonzalez said.

We hope eventually this blows over and the Trump Administration doesnt continue this. What it really shows people is there needs to be a better path toward citizenship. It needs to be cheaper and an easier process, he said, pointing to much-needed reforms for temporary farm workers here on H-2A visas.
Clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's besieged city of Goma have killed at least 17 people and wounded nearly 370, hospital sources said on Monday, as the Congolese military fought to hold off M23 forces backed by the Rwandan army.

Artillery fire and gunshots echoed across the major hub in the DRC's mineral-rich east, as Kigali said five civilians were killed across the Rwandan border.

There were conflicting accounts over how much of Goma remained under Congolese control after the M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers entered the city centre on Sunday night.

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"We are in our beds because we are afraid," Goma resident Lucie told AFP by telephone.

"We can hear the shooting outside our homes, we cannot leave."

The M23 resurfaced in late 2021 after years of dormancy and began seizing large swathes of North Kivu province.

But fighting with the Congolese military has intensified since early this year, in the latest chapter of the internal and cross-border violence which has dogged the eastern DRC for three decades.

Besides the more than a million who call Goma home, the provincial capital is host to nearly as many displaced by fighting.

Hospitals in the city were on Monday treating 367 people wounded in the clashes, while tolls obtained by AFP listed at least 17 people dead.

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"Our surgical teams are now working around the clock to cope with the massive influx of wounded," Myriam Favier, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in North Kivu province, told AFP.

Most of those affected were civilians, Favier said.

The fighting has intensified a humanitarian crisis, displacing half a million people just this month, according to UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi. The UN has also warned the conflict could spark a regional war.

The DRC government said it "continues to work to avoid carnage and the loss of human life" in Goma, spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on X.

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The M23 claimed Sunday night was a "glorious day marking the liberation for the city of Goma," issuing an ultimatum to Congolese soldiers to hand over their weapons.

- Crisis summit -

M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers entered Goma after weeks of advancing on the city, according to the UN and security sources.

Kenyan President William Ruto said Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame would attend a crisis summit on Wednesday.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council is due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the escalating crisis.

In a call with Tshisekedi, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington's "respect for the sovereignty of the DRC" and agreed on the need to "restart talks between the DRC and Rwanda as soon as possible", his office said Monday.

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The DRC and Rwanda have had fraught relations for decades.

Kinshasa has accused Kigali of wanting to get hold of the region's mineral wealth, including gold  an accusation that Rwanda denies.

- Goma jailbreak -

As Goma descended into chaos, a mass jailbreak from a torched prison resulted in deaths on Monday, a security source told AFP.

In parts of the city, M23 fighters were welcomed by celebrating locals, AFP journalists said.

Some Congolese units had begun to surrender by handing over their weapons to peacekeepers in Goma, according to Uruguay's military which provides soldiers to the UN force in the DRC, known as MONUSCO.

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Exchanges of fire took place between Congolese and Rwandan troops on either side of a border crossing near Goma, a diplomatic source told AFP.

Five civilians were killed and 25 seriously wounded on the outskirts of Rwandan border town Gisenyi, Rwanda's military told AFP on Monday.

Rwandan military spokesman Ronald Rwivanga told AFP that some 120 Congolese fighters had been "disarmed" near Gisenyi.

Rwivanga said the military had "intercepted and shot down some of the bombs, but unfortunately we couldn't intercept all of them".

The border between Rwanda and the DRC near Goma was also closed on Monday, a European consulate source told AFP, although Rwandan state media said buses were ready to evacuate UN staff and their families from Goma.

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- 'Declaration of war' -

Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said the arrival of Rwandan soldiers to reinforce the M23 in Goma on Sunday was "a declaration of war".

Addressing an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sunday, she urged the United Nations to impose sanctions on Rwanda.

The Security Council called for the withdrawal of aggressive "external forces" but stopped short of explicitly naming them.

Rwanda has rejected calls to withdraw.

The fighting near the border poses "a serious threat" and "necessitates Rwanda's sustained defensive posture", Rwanda's foreign ministry said.

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Thirteen foreign peacekeepers have been killed in the escalating clashes.

Both the DRC and Rwanda have withdrawn their diplomats from each other's capitals.

Kayikwamba called on the UN Security Council to impose a "total embargo on the export of all minerals labelled as Rwandan, in particular gold".

Rwanda has rejected the DRC's accusations.

A UN experts' report said Rwanda was using the M23 to secure access to the DRC's mineral wealth, exporting it abroad for its own gain.
People who renew their vehicle registrations in January or February didnt receive mailed notices, due to an issue with the company that mails the notices for the state, county clerks in Daviess County and Hancock County said Thursday.

With January at an end, people who havent renewed their registrations can do so in person at clerks offices or online.

If your registration is scheduled to be renewed this month, the deadline to do so is Friday (today).

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Theres no law that requires the state to send people a renewal notice, but the service is done as a courtesy, Daviess County Clerk Leslie McCarty said Thursday. Still, the notices went out regularly until this month, when they werent sent until this week, McCarty said.

The vendor for the Transportation Cabinet didnt send (renewal notices) out until yesterday, McCarty said.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Hancock County Clerk Trina Ogle said she has been posting on social media to make residents aware the renewal notices were delayed.

Not everyone is on social media, Ogle said.

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Its a statewide issue, Ogle said of the notices. When people have come into the office to inquire about their renewals, everyone seems to be commenting they didnt receive them, Ogle said.

Ogle says she has been telling customers that they arent at fault.

Weve been fortunate we didnt have angry people, Ogle said. Weve had concerned people.

McCarty said she has also heard from people who renewed their registration online, but havent received their new registration cards in the mail. Last week, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported staffing shortages and the January winter storms have created a backlog of mail to be delivered in the Louisville postal center.

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Weve had a number of people getting angry, McCarty said. A person who renewed online but hasnt received their registration card can get a replacement at the clerks office at a cost, McCarty said.

Its $6 to print it again, McCarty said, and its not (the customers) fault and its not our fault.

People can renew their licenses online at drive.ky.gov, or they can renew in person at the clerks office, which is on the ground floor of the Daviess County Courthouse. People who renew in person will receive their registration before they leave, McCarty said.

The Daviess Clerks office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

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Ogle said even if people dont have a renewal notice, the clerks office staff can find their renewals on the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System (KAVIS).

The KAVIS system was launched at the end of 2023, and was plagued by problems when launched. But with people not having their renewal reminder cards, the KAVIS system has been a large help, Ogle said.

We can look people up by their driver license, their old registration, Ogle said. Our new system ... has really been able to help us find peoples renewals, Ogle said.
CLEVELAND (WJW)  Less than a day after tragedy in Washington, D.C., when an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, travelers departing Cleveland are trying to move forward with their travel plans.

To start the day, at least six American Airlines flights to Reagan National Airport were canceled in response to the accident. Officials fear that all of the 60 passengers on American Eagle flight 5342 have perished. The four-person flight crew is also believed to be dead.

WATCH LIVE: NTSB to hold news conference on DC plane crash investigation

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Reagan National airport reopened at 11 a.m. on Thursday, and flights around the county to other destinations also continued as scheduled. That includes the majority of flights through Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Travelers who spoke to FOX 8 News said they are thinking of the deadly accident and are heartbroken.

I was thinking about it my entire ride here, American Airlines traveler Bailey Longoni said. I live about an hour-and-a-half away. And I think every moment, I was thinking about the incident, and I just cant even imagine what the families are going through.

Longoni was traveling back to New York from Cleveland, and said shes typically nervous about flying, and this situation only amplified that concern. But American Airlines staff are carrying on as if it were a normal day, which makes her reassured things are going to be okay.

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It made me feel like its just a flight that Id be taking any other day, she said.

Other travelers said they are trying to stay optimistic.

It was a terrible accident, and were hoping that we can just get back and be safe, American Airlines traveler Brian Shea said before boarding his flight back to New York. Our mother is very concerned that were two brothers flying together and shes already texting and calling and making sure were going to be home safe. And thats our plan.

Shea said he feels like it actually may be one of the safer days of the year to fly after the accident because he thinks there will be a heightened awareness and effort for safety and security.

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Hoping it was an accident and everyones going to be safe and make sure that theyre doing what they need to do, Shea said.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

Another traveler heading to Austin, Texas, said hes simply moving past the issue.

I mean, I guess Im not too worried about it because its a one-off. Doesnt happen very often, so Im not really concerned, Cameron Nichols said. Wifes probably more concerned than I am.

But I dont know, thoughts go out to the families involved. But yeah, Im not too worried about it.

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About 18,000 Teamsters are set to strike 56 Costco stores across six states early Saturday unless an 11th-hour agreement prevents what would be the largest retail strike in US history.

Talks resumed between the two sides Thursday, but there have been no updates on the negotiations. In addition to disagreements on wages and benefits, the union said Costco had rejected proposals dealing with seniority pay, paid family leave, bereavement policies, sick time , and safeguards against surveillance.

Teamsters members at Costco make up 8% of the 219,000 employees at 616 US stores, according to company filings. But a strike by that many workers would be significant for the largely nonunion sector. Labor Department statistics show that less than 5% of retail workers are represented by unions. Most of those unionized retail workers are in the grocery store sector.

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The unionized store locations, which have not been identified by either the union or company, are in California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington. Costco said on Friday that even if there is a strike and unionized workers dont report to work, all of our locations will be open for business this weekend, an indication that it intends to use management and nonunion staff to keep stores operating.

Meanwhile, while the Teamsters only represent workers at a small fraction of Costco stores overall, the union is prepared to set up picket lines at an undisclosed number of nonunion Costco stores nationwide, even if workers at those stores remain on the job. Such a move could greatly increase the economic pressure on the company. While there are only 18,000 Teamsters at Costco, the union has more than 1 million US members it can call on for those other picket lines.

History of above-market wages

Costco has a reputation for providing relatively good pay and benefits, especially compared to other retail chains. Its annual company filing states that our philosophy is not to seek to minimize their wages and benefits. Rather, we believe that achieving our longer-term objectives of reducing employee turnover, increasing productivity and enhancing employee satisfaction requires maintaining compensation levels that are better than the industry average.

In late 2023, when workers at a Costco store in Roanoke, Virginia, voted to join the Teamsters, the then-outgoing and incoming CEOs of Costco, Craig Jelinek and Ron Vachris, released a letter to employees.

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Were disappointed in the results in Norfolk, the letter read. Were not disappointed in our employees; were disappointed in ourselves as managers and leaders. The fact that a majority of Norfolk employees felt that they wanted or needed a union constitutes a failure on our part.

It was a pretty unique letter. Ive never seen management take that position, Jane Jacobs, an attorney at Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, who typically represents employers in labor relations, told CNN.

The Teamsters have pointed to Costcos strong financial results as an argument for an improved wage and benefits package. Costco reported record annual net income in the most recent fiscal year of $7.4 billion  up 17% from a year earlier and nearly double what it earned in 2019 ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic. At a recent union rally held outside Costcos annual meeting, union members held banners reading: Pro worker? Prove it! and Record profits = record contract.

Costco has two choices: respect the workers who made them a success or face a national strike, Teamsters President Sean OBrien said in a statement earlier this month. If Costco thinks they can exploit our members while raking in billions, well shut them down.

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Jacobs said that despite the differences at the bargaining table, there doesnt appear to be a large difference in total cost between their bargaining positions. Costco confirmed a Reuters report that it recently sent a letter out to all employees at nonunion stores announcing it was raising pay by a dollar an hour to $30.20 this year and another dollar an hour each of the next two years. Starting pay would be raised by 50 cents an hour to $20.

Jacobs said a good strategy for any employer is to give the nonunion employees the same pay and benefit package as unionized employees to remove the incentive to join the union. But she said its possible the Teamsters go on strike to press their current political advantage.

OBrien has gotten closer to President Donald Trump than many labor leaders, Jacobs said. He spoke at the Republican National Convention and did not endorse Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, Costco has refused to back off of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, which have become a focus of Trumps attacks in the early days of the new term. Jacobs said she could see Trump publicly taking the side of the Teamsters if it goes on strike at Costco to put pressure on the company.

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This union is set up as well as any union to go on strike, she said. One thing we know about this administration is theyll reward their friends and punish their enemies.

Michael Baker, retail analyst at DA Davidson, said that while a strike at only 8% of Costco stores probably isnt enough to prove a significant financial hit to the companys bottom line, a deal that is seen as a win for the union could spur organizing efforts at other stores across the chain.

Katherine Black, a partner in the food, drug and mass market retail segment at management consulting firm Kearney, told CNN that a strike would likely not last more than a week.

Its very rare in this sector for a strike to lasts more than a few days, she said. The longest I know of was one at Stop & Shop in 2019 that lasted 11 days.

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Last year, the Teamsters staged a five-day strike at Amazon that ended the day after Christmas. But unlike the situation at Costco, Amazon does not recognize the union as representing any of its workers and has refused to negotiate, let alone agree to terms on a contract. Amazon doesnt even recognize that many of the strikers, who are drivers for third-party delivery services and have exclusive contracts with the online retailer, are its employees.

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CNNs aviation correspondent said he couldnt help but put his head in his hands on Thursday after President Donald Trumps bonkers blame game over the midair collision in Washington, D.C. that left 67 people dead.

Pete Muntean  in response to the president pointing to diversity hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration as a reason for the disaster  said far-right figures have referred to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as reason for the degradation of safety in aviation in the United States.

But, frankly, the president is getting out ahead of his skis here, Muntean told CNN host Pamela Brown after Trumps chaotic briefing on the collision between a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport.

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What he has said is not only unprofessional, unpresidential, inconsiderate of the status of this investigation, but, frankly, it is just unhinged that he could even say with any sort of certainty that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies had any part to play in this accident.

Muntean, a pilot and flight instructor who once worked as a transportation reporter for D.C.s CBS affiliate, stressed that 67 people were dead as the presidents comments came not even 24 hours and barely even 12 hours after the disaster.

I hate to get so upset here, but this is something that investigators will really need to pick apart piece by piece. And that is going to take some really significant time, Muntean noted.

He later continued, And he is saying with a lot of certainty that the blame is on DEI and the blame is in some ways on air traffic control and air traffic controller hiring.

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Muntean then came to the defense of Pete Buttigieg, former President Joe Bidens transportation secretary, after Trump claimed he ran his department right into the ground with his bullshit.

He argued that Buttigieg was very hard on aviation safety before he later turned to the big bottom line: the amount of vacantfederal government positions related to aviation safety.

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The father of a pilot who was onboard the American Airlines plane that crashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter just outside of Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this week reflected on his sons path to flight certification.

I was so proud of him, Tim Lilley told NewsNation, noting that his son, Sam Lilley, obtained certification in just a few years because he pursued it with a vigor.

He also noted that the young co-pilot was engaged to be married.

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His career was going great. He was engaged to a great girl, Lilley said Thursday. He was just at the prime of his life.

The Lilleys discovered Sam was onboard the flight heading to Washington D.C., from Wichita, Kan., after getting in touch with his fiancee.

You know, we saw there was an accident, the father recalled. I didnt think there was any way it was Sam, but I knew he was on a trip.

So, through my wife, we got in touch with his fiancee and we found out what trip he was on. And it was the same trip, he continued. And he wasnt answering the phone. So, I knew.

His family is now mourning the loss alongside others after the collision, which claimed the lives of more than 60 people  including three other American Airlines crew members.

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Sams right with Jesus, and I know where hes going, Lilley told NewsNation.

We just need time. My family, and time, he added. Lots of prayers.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom also expressed his deep sorrow after the incident. He said the company is working with officials to learn everything it can about the crash, but acknowledged that the investigation would take time.

Emergency response teams are currently working to recover bodies from the Potomac River, where both aircrafts landed after the tragic incident  the U.S.s deadliest aviation accident in nearly 24 years.

Officials did not expect to rescue any survivors and have recovered about 41 bodies as of Friday morning. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation.

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NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

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Sovah Health-Danville is bringing more babies into the world following the shuttering of labor and delivery units to the east and west of the city.

In 2024, deliveries increased 12% from 771 in 2023 to 864 in 2024, according to data provided by Hailey Fowlkes, a spokesperson for Sovah Health-Danville.

The Martinsville hospital  under the Sovah umbrella  closed its labor and delivery unit in 2022. Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital phased out its delivery services in 2023.

Both health care systems cited the same reasons for the departments ceasing to exist: Fewer babies are being born.

In Halifax County, 244 newborns were delivered in the county in 2022, down from 363 in 2018, the hospital reported.

We are committed to being a regional destination for these services and in a lot of smaller communities around the country, this same thing has played out, Steve Heatherly, market president for Sovah Health, told the Register & Bee in an interview earlier this month at the Danville hospital. We recognize that it is important to have these services as locally available as possible.

He confirmed he met with Halifax hospital leaders to talk about the transition and shared the experiences learned in the Martinsville hospitals switch.

The Danville facility has witnessed a 150% increase in births from Halifax County mothers, going from 50 in 2023 to 125 last year, according to data from Fowlkes.

For Martinsville and Henry County residents, there were 92 babies delivered at the Danville facility last year.

Delsie Webster, the director of the womens and childrens unit at Sovah Health-Danville, said the hospital has been able to absorb the influx with no issues.

We have seen an impact, she said of more babies.

OB-GYN Associates of Danville and Piedmont Access to Health Services are labor and delivery care providers for patients across Southside Virginia.

PATHS does provide OB/GYN services to our communities in Danville, Martinsville, Chatham and South Boston locations, Tammy Osborne, operations manager for the OB/GYN sector for PATHS, confirmed to the Register & Bee via email.

Women in those locations will go to these offices for prenatal care. If theres a need for extended monitoring, then the patient comes to the Danville hospital.

We were on stable footing to begin with here, but I would say more stable footing with increased volume, Heatherly said of the 864 babies delivered there in 2024.

There were 771 births there in 2023.

Patients come to Danville to have the baby and stay for the post-partum services. If theres an issue after delivery that requires hospitalization, they come back there for that.

Kind of all inclusive, Webster explained.

Along with OB-GYN Associates of Danville and PATHS  neither employed by the hospital  Sovah Health-Danvilles residency program also handles labor and delivery services.

Given more out-of-town patients, the Danville facility often brings in expectant mothers beforehand.

We will work with them to feel as comfortable as possible, Fowlkes said.

Webster explained that means more tours of the facility lately. Although thats something shes done before with Danville mothers, its happening more frequently given the residents from nearby areas are not as familiar with the hospital.

We just set it up, show them the unit, introduce them to some of the staff, Webster explained to the newspaper. Let them know how its going to work, how its going to go.

On average, there are about 70 deliveries per month, but theres no such thing as a routine day. Sometimes six babies are born in a 24-hour period. Sometimes there are zero.

Feast or famine, is how Webster described the uncertainty of the baby industry.

Theres a staff of 35 nurses, and the unit has three nurses and a technician for each shift.

With Danville being the only place to go for many Southside expectant mothers, there were a few days in November when it wasnt an option.

The labor and delivery unit had to go on diversion, meaning it couldnt accept patients.

Essentially what happened there is, typically there is a pediatrician on call who attends to the baby post-delivery, Heatherly explained when asked by the Register & Bee.

The contracted person had what Heatherly called a medical event that required surgery.

Unfortunately, our two backups that would have stepped in that case  one was out of the country, and one was out of town, he explained.

That caused the hospital to go on diversion for a Thursday through Sunday in November

It was a simply a function of not having a pediatrician to take care of the baby following the birth, Heatherly said.

That should be a really exceptional circumstance, he continued. I would love to tell you we can or anyone can, plan for every single contingency, but you cant.

Even so, they try to have backup plans in place should something like that happen. But that particular weekend was rare in that the people in the backup role would be that far away at the same time.

Changes

The advancing electronic age also has infiltrated the world of labor and delivery for hospitals.

Technology is definitely different, Webster said of changes. There are different options available as far as monitoring patients.

It used to be all paper, now its electronic.

So we can see the baby from the desk, she explained of the camera system.

Webster also is noticing more health issues with pregnant patients who come to the hospital, a trend that mirrors the regions overall poor health outcomes.

I also think the acuity of patients has changed some, Webster said, chalking it up to the world we live in.

Shes seeing more cases of diabetes, for example, in new-to-be mothers.

Education is the only way to change it.

I do think this community, like a lot of rural communities, the not engaging in prenatal care very early in the pregnancy leads to some of these acuity issues, Heatherly said, highlighting the comorbidities factors.

We really try to have folks understand, keeping those regular appointments throughout your pregnancy is more likely to produce a good outcome, avoid complications and that can be said of health in general, obviously, but certainly of expectant mothers, he said.

It stems from an overall lack of health awareness in the community.

Another trend is a lack of experience, something attributed to not only younger mothers, but institutional knowledge not being passed down from previous generations.

I feel like we definitely have to do more education with them, Webster said.

That starts when they first come into the hospital. The staff tells the mothers and families what to expect and what to be on the lookout for health-wise for newborns.

They also alert them to things like the need for a car seat  a law  before a baby can leave the hospital.

We definitely try to start that when they first come in, she said.

The labor and delivery nurses also will walk the parents through the process of whats going to happen at the hospital and what they need to do when they get home.

Extra support

There are more doulas involved with the birthing process than ever before.

Kitt Mayo, the chair of the Danville Health Collaborative, said shes worked to build a relationship to get doulas in hospitals. A doula is basically a non-medical professional who takes care of a pregnant womans needs.

A doctor takes care of the medical stuff, Mayo described. A doula is going to take care of the mental, emotional stuff.

They can also be there when a child is being delivered, providing support.

They are like the old midwives back in the day, Mayo said.

They do it all, she continued to explain. They bring the human part to it.

When Webster started 14 years ago they hardly ever saw doulas there, but now its different.

They are becoming more prevalent, she said of the bigger presence in the community.

When they come in, they are a very big part of their support system, Webster said of the patients. Its very helpful to the nurses because its an extra hand.

While they dont handle the medical side, they are heavily involved in the care of the mother.

They are considered part of the medical care team, so that we can work together to help the patient have the best experience, Webster explained.

As part of that experience, about two years ago, a chalk board was established on the wall of the labor and delivery unit. With the signature hashtag #DeliverInDanville  something also spotted in the hallways of the unit  the board is decorated by hand in a whimsical manner.

Each newborns name is placed on somewhat of a template, along with the date of birth and weight. Its now become a tradition to have families post beside the board for a photo-op moment with the newborn.

The future

Sovah Health-Danville leaders believe the labor and delivery sector is going to grow in the years to come.

I do think a driver of that could be the general economic development in and around Danville, Heatherly explained. To the extent that there are more families of child-bearing and rearing years in this community, working at these significant employers who are establishing a presence here, then I think that will impact our volumes in general, but this volume in particular.

And the hospital is absolutely ready for that growth.

Not only do we see ourselves sustaining in this service, but we see ourselves growing and investing in the service, the market president explained. We are working through some plans about modernizing the unit, the physical space people are in.

That space is already well-designed, so it wont need a complete overhaul.

But we are planning on updating it over the next couple of years, Heatherly said. So we are excited about doing that.

In the end, Heatherly said that distance should not be a barrier for families welcoming a newborn into the world.

I know that for some people its disconcerting for them to think about their local hospital not doing deliveries, but the fact is most every emergency room  the providers and staff in the emergency room  are equipped and trained to deal with those situations, he said to reassure Southern Virginia residents.

Given the lack of a birthing center in Halifax County, sometimes a baby is now delivered in a home by a rescue squad member, but Webster said that isnt outside of the norm.

I think people miscalculate how long they have, especially when theyve had more babies, she said.

Thats pretty normal, she said when asked about emergency workers delivering a baby at home or in an ambulance.

Simply put, it happens.

If you could wave a magic wand and make everything the way we want it to be and everybody wants to have a nice, easy and smooth delivery, it doesnt always happen that way, even under the best circumstances, he explained. And there are really good emergency room providers in all of these communities that are ready to help take care of these patients.

In fact, Webster said the Halifax hospital worked with its emergency department to prepare for the transition of losing labor and delivery, as did the Martinsville facility.

From my perspective, I couldnt be prouder of the work that Delsie and her team do and the partnerships that we have with the providers that bring the patients there.
Friday Early Morning: Rain returns as a cold front moves into Alabama. Some rain could be heavy with a few rumbles of thunder and gusty winds of 30+ mph. Lows will not be as cold falling to the middle to upper 50s.

Friday: The cold front will move across Alabama on Friday with heavy rain, gusty winds of 30+ mph, and a few thunderstorms. We trend a bit drier by mid-day with showers becoming more isolated. A few more scattered showers likely from mid-afternoon into the evening. It will not be much colder with highs in the middle 60s.

Groundhog Day Weekend Outlook: High pressure will build across the Southeast U.S. all weekend. Saturday will be mostly sunny and pleasant with highs in the middle 60s. Groundhog Day, Sunday will be gorgeous with plenty of sunshine and warmer high temperatures around 70. Lows will be in the 40s each night. Hopefully, Phil does not see his shadow on Sunday morning in Punxsutawney, PA!

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Next Weeks Outlook: It will feel spring-like next week with dry weather on Monday and Tuesday. Highs will be in the 70s. Upper-level waves will move across the Southeast U.S. Wednesday through Friday setting a chance for showers. Highs will be in the 70s.

Be sure to follow the CBS 42 Storm Team:

Follow Us on Facebook: Chief Meteorologist Dave Nussbaum, Meteorologist Michael Haynes, Meteorologist Alex Puckett, and Meteorologist Jacob Woods.

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COLES COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA)  As the nation mourns the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2009, a Coles County town remembers another deadly aviation incident  and a local hero.

Wednesday night, an American Airlines plane hit a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

Authorities work to recover crash victims, identify those lost

We watched it for several hours last night, and Im sure anybody in Mattoon who had the TV on stayed glued to it because it really hit home for people in Mattoon, said Chris Suerdick, curator at the Mattoon History Center.

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This tragedy is reminding the Coles County community of the sacrifice of Arland Williams Jr.

Williams was the hero at the center of another Reagan Airport tragedy that happened almost exactly 43 years ago.

Even though this is a very tragic event, its going to kind of help maybe to re-instill some peoples thoughts and memories of, you know, that we did have quite a hero, Suerdick said.

Arland Williams Jr. was a Mattoon native and a passenger on a flight out of Reagan Airport in 1982. His flight never reached its destination and crashed into the Potomac River on takeoff.

Of the 79 occupants on board, only five survived. Of those five, four owed their lives to Williams.

Here are some of the deadliest plane crashes in US history

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He saved several people by handing the rescue ropes to them, Suerdick said. And he was the last one to be rescued. By the time they could get back to him, he was holding onto the tail of the airplane, and it went under the riverhe was lost.

Suerdick said Wednesdays tragedy brings back memories of Williams sacrifice.

We did have quite a hero that, you know, came right out of Mattoon, Illinois. So its a good way to kind of bring that back to the forefront, remember it, and honor it, Suerdick added.

It also brought back memories for 90-year-old Peggy Fuesting.

All of us from Mattoon  its come back, the whole thing, and the fact that I was his friend and stuff. Long time ago, but this has brought it to mind again. All of us who knew him, Fuesting said.

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World champion Russian skaters on American Airlines jet built a new life as coaches in the US

She graduated with Williams from Mattoon High School in 1953. The two were a couple in high school and again just prior to his death.

I think when somebody is brave like that, they should be remembered, Fuesting said.

She was even with him in D.C. the weekend before the crash in 1982.

Im just happy that we had such a nice weekend. I think he died thinking he could do what he was doing and that he would be okay, but he wasnt and he drowned, Fuesting said.

As recent tragedy reminds many of the past, it now serves as a reminder of how goodness can endure.

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It just really reinforces the fact that heroes walk among us, and we never know who they are until theyre called upon to do something extraordinary, Suerdick said.

The Hero of the Potomac continues to live on in Central Illinois and nationwide.

In 2003, Williams Elementary School in Mattoon was named after him. The bridge over the Potomac is also named the Arland Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com.
College students are leading the transformation of paper products by inventing eco-friendly, pollution-free paper, called bio-paper, made from sugarcane, banana, rice, and corn husk waste.

The students of the Department of Biotechnology of the Federal Urdu University made sure the paper was pollution-free to reduce the drastic impacts that paper production can have on the changing climate.

Students explained that "paper is very little produced in Pakistan," where the university is based, and it mainly relies on imports. Deforestation is also abundant in paper production. As such, the paper materials made by the students are cheap and will protect the environment.

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Realizing that agricultural waste within the country is usually burned, adding to environmental pollution, students created a sustainable alternative solution using agrarian waste, like crop residues, plant fibers, and leaves.

"First, the waste is collected, cleaned and sorted, then shredding and pulping are done. The sheet is formed after washing and bleaching," the Express Tribune wrote about the process.

The bio-sheet, as it's been referred to, will "save water as well as significantly reduce deforestation," as the Express Tribune reported. Saving water is essential to paper production.

In some nations, an "incredible 10%" of all freshwater is used to make paper  the water is used to grow trees, make pulp, and bleach paper, as Paper On The Rocks explained.

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The reduction of freshwater usage combined with the reduction in paper imports, deforestation, and agricultural waste, bio-paper is bound to make a significant mitigation in the environmental impacts of paper making.

Environmental pollution is induced by imports of paper by countries such as Pakistan that are unable to produce a sufficient supply on their own. By sourcing production within the country, pollution is slashed. Equally, it makes the paper less expensive.

Each year, about 2.1 billion tons of agricultural waste is produced. In redirecting this waste toward reusable paper products, the students are further benefitting the environment.

The world produces 100 million tons of paper waste per year. As biopaper becomes more popular, the student's invention will likely have a large impact on the environment worldwide.

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Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Colombian President Gustavo Petro is urging Colombians living without documentation in the United States to quit their jobs and immediately return to their home country.

Petro said Friday in a post on the X social media platform that Colombians who return home will receive financial assistance from the government and that they are needed to help their native country prosper.

"I ask undocumented Colombians in the U.S. to immediately leave their jobs in that country and return to Colombia as soon as possible," Petro wrote, adding, "Wealth is produced only by working people."

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The president said his Department of Social Prosperity is aiming to provide loans to returnees who enroll in its programs.

"Let's build social wealth in Colombia," he declared.

His solicitation to emigrees comes after his government clashed with U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week over the fate of dozens of undocumented Colombians rounded up in the new administration's widespread crackdown on migrants across the country.

A diplomatic crisis erupted Sunday when Petro refused to receive a U.S. military plane loaded with deportees while it was in the air, arguing that those aboard should not be handcuffed and treated as criminals.

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"A migrant is not a criminal and should be treated with the dignity a human being deserves," he wrote in a social media post. "We will receive our nationals in civilian airplanes, without treating them as criminals. Colombia must be respected."

Trump responded by threatening "urgent and decisive retaliatory measures" including emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming from Colombia, which would be raised to 50% in a week. Petro then responded by promising to impose similar tariffs on U.S. imports.

Petro ultimately relented and agreed to "unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay."

On Wednesday, the Colombian leader again harshly criticized Trump's characterizing of all undocumented migrants as criminals. Under U.S. law, undocumented status is not a criminal but rather a civil offense.

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"We have already received 42 children. Is Mr. Trump going to tell me that 42 Colombian children are criminals?" Petro asked during inauguration ceremony of new Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia in Bogota, according to the newspaper El Colombiano.

Deportees told local media they were chained, handcuffed and mocked by U.S. agents, while being accused without of evidence of criminal acts such as murder and drug trafficking.

"It's a vile slander, he has no proof of any of that, and as far as I know, those of us who were there only wanted to leave the country in search of another opportunity, but we are not drug traffickers," one of the Colombians deported from the United States told reporters.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Colombia's president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the United States to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.

Wealth is only produced by the working people, Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on the X platform. Let's build social wealth in Colombia."

The leftist president said his government would provide loans to those who take up his offer to return home and enlist in one of its programs to start a business.

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Petro made his comments following a bitter feud over immigration last weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump that nearly triggered a trade war and rupture in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and its historic ally in South America.

Petro, in an earlier social media storm, accused the Trump administration of mistreating migrants who entered the U.S. illegally by handcuffing them and removing them on military flights to Latin America. Trump exploded when Petro denied two such flights permission to land.

Later, the two sides negotiated a truce amid protests by investors that Petro was sabotaging Colombia's export economy, which relies heavily on purchases from the U.S.

Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
DENVER (KDVR)  Colorados immigration laws are in the spotlight. Critics call Colorado a sanctuary state, which the governor denied, but some say state laws are standing in the way of deporting people accused of violent crimes.

Some folks are calling on Colorado leaders to remove state immigration laws, saying they will let voters decide if lawmakers do not act.

State lawmakers talk immigration as congressional members ask Polis to change state law

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There are these sanctuary policies that were passed in 2019, 2021, and 2023 that make it hard for local law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities. And Im not holding my breath that the legislature is going to do anything about that but I think they should, Michael Fields, Fox31 Political Analyst.

Fields is also the president of Advance Colorado. The conservative think tank filed a ballot initiative this week.



If Colorado voters approve it, the proposed measure would require state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal requests to notify the Department of Homeland Security prior to release and detain inmates if the inmate is charged with a crime of violence or the inmate has been convicted of a prior felony.

People care about these issues that we delve in on, whether thats TABOR refunds, whether its helping law enforcement, rather its putting violent criminals in jail: there is a long list of things but its all the things the legislature wont do that people want. Thats where the conflict kind of happens and where a group like ours can come in and say look if youre not actually going to fix this, if youre not going to make it mandatory, if youre not going to be clear on what the law is, well go and put this in front of voters, Fields said.

Three Republican members of Congress from Colorado recently asked the governor to repeal three state laws that limit local law enforcements engagement with federal authorities.

Gov. Jared Polis has maintained Colorado is not a sanctuary state.

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We work closely, the state, with all federal agencies so our state with all federal agencies so our state department of public safety, our state troopers work closely with FBI, ICE, DEA. I have not been made aware of any impediments that prevent that kind of collaboration to keep Coloradans safer. At the same time, we of course want to make sure that the federal government is not able to co-opt local enforcement, Governor Polis said when asked about the proposal at press conference Monday.

A spokesperson for his office told FOX31:

Governor Polis will review measures that make the ballot closer to any election. Governor Polis has been clear that Colorado will work with federal law enforcement agencies in apprehending dangerous criminals to make Colorado safer. Colorado is not a sanctuary state. When it comes to criminal investigations or prosecutions, local law enforcement should be working with federal partners, in accordance with state and federal law, to fight crime and respond when asked. Governors Office spokesperson

With immigration a hot topic for voters this past November, would Colorado voters vote yes on this proposal? FOX31 Political Analyst Andy Boian does not think so.

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The majority of voters that are going to vote on something like this are those that participate in non-presidential years, so the turnout is lower. These are going to be people that are educated voters who understand this and wont go for it, Boian said. Colorado is a blue state, they are not going to for this: something that feels and looks like something from the Republican administration, it looks like they are going to round up folks and kick them out and I just dont think thats going to happen in Colorado.

I think the legislature wont act and I think that voters will turn it down, Boian added. This whole initiative and Congress coming to the governor is really showboating, in my opinion. Really it doesnt have a whole lot to do with what actually has to happen which is: what are already doing; which is cooperating with federal authorities. When we have criminals in our areas that need to be deported, thats what we are doing  were acting on that.

A new nationwide Emerson poll found only 16% of voters rank immigration as their top issue. If this ballot initiative makes its way through the process, it will be on the 2026 Colorado ballot.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  An investigation in the fatal shooting of a man in southwest Columbus Thursday morning led to the arrest of the victims son.

According to court documents, officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 600 block of Butler Avenue in the South Hilltop neighborhood Thursday morning. Officers arrived just after 10 a.m. and found Frederick Taylor suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene eight minutes later.

Ohio lawmaker targets sanctuary cities with new bill

Police later learned that Frederick Taylor got into a physical altercation with his son, Antonio Alvarez-Taylor, at which time Alvarez-Taylor, 19, allegedly produced a handgun and shot his father several times.

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Alvarez-Taylor, charged with murder, was arrested Thursday and on Friday he was issued a $750,000 bond in Franklin County Municipal Court. He is next scheduled to appear in court Feb. 7 for a preliminary hearing.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A Columbus Division of Police probationary officer with ties to a former Columbus police officer who recently pleaded guilty to criminal charges, has been fired.

According to personnel records obtained by NBC4, probationary officer Amber Blackburn was terminated after reports of her alleged involvement in a bar fight surfaced earlier this week.

A request for probationary termination was received on Jan. 27 after it was reported that the night prior Blackburn got into a fight at the TownHall bar on North High Street in the Short North neighborhood, just north of Downtown, Columbus.

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The termination letter states that CPD officers working special duty at the bar were alerted by an employee that a woman needed to be removed. Two officers reported that on Jan. 26 at around 1:50 a.m. they observed Blackburn, 34, throwing punches at the head of another woman, who was attempting to walk away from the altercation.

The officers said they asked the victim if she was good and the woman replied, I just got mauled by a girl, but Im good. The officers reportedly approached Blackburn, who they said was behaving erratically while being restrained by another man. The officers asked both to leave the bar, but they allegedly refused. Attempts to remove them physically were met with resistance, the report said.

Amber Blackburn (Courtesy/Columbus Division of Police)

One of the special duty officers interviewed Blackburn and reported that Blackburn said the other woman spit in her face and that she beat that (expletives) ass. The officer reported that Blackburn appeared highly intoxicated and was acting belligerent and dismissive towards him. Blackburn then reportedly left the bar without further incident.

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While the report states that the officers were not wearing their CPD issued body cameras due to low batteries, video surveillance from the TownHall bar reportedly showed Blackburn assaulting three separate people. Two of the assaults, police say, occurred while officers were attempting to restrain and remove her from the bar.

Blackburns personnel records indicate she was hired in August 2023 as a probationary police officer, or a new police officer who is in training and being evaluated before becoming a full-time police officer. Her probationary period was through March 2025.

Fraternal Order of Police president Brian Steel told NBC4 that disciplinary action against probationary officers can be terminated for just cause without a review process. Steel said if she wants to file a grievance, they will fulfil their legal duty, but not through arbitration.

When they found out that she was an officer, one of their own, they immediately reported that to the supervisor, Steel said. So sometimes this false notion that we cover up the officers actions. Thats simply not the truth. These officers were put in a bad situation.

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In a statement CPD Sgt. James Fuqua said, Probationary Officer Blackburns employment was terminated during her probationary status as a result of her involvement in an off-duty incident. The Columbus Division of Police holds our officers to the highest standards and anyone who violates their oath will be held accountable.

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Personnel records also state that Blackburn was hired under the name Amber Duty before changing her last name to Blackburn. Steel and Fuqua confirmed that Blackburn was married to former officer Nicholas Duty, who just last week pleaded guilty to falsifying records in connection with multiple sexual encounters with women in 2023 and 2024.

Documents confirm that Blackburn changed her name in April 2024, days after Dutys arrest, and Steel said that Blackburn and Duty were no longer together when Nicholas Duty was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024.

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No charges have been filed against Blackburn for last weekends incident.

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A US Navy destroyer used its deck gun to shoot down a Houthi drone in the Red Sea last year.

A top commander revealed details of the battle for the first time this week.

USS Stockdale and other American forces thwarted the massive Houthi missile and drone attack.

A US Navy destroyer operating in the Red Sea last year used its five-inch deck gun to shoot a Houthi drone out of the sky, a top commander revealed this week.

The American destroyer, USS Stockdale, was sailing from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden in November when the attack unfolded, said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.

"As we were heading south, I would say that we were in for a fight, and everybody in the crew knew it," Cooper, who was aboard the Stockdale at the time, told the WEST 2025 conference on Thursday.

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After a few quiet hours, the Houthis suddenly launched a ballistic missile from Yemen in the direction of the Stockdale. They launched a second, and a third, and then a fourth missile.

"It was a complex, sophisticated, coordinated attack," Cooper recalled.

The sailors aboard the ship thwarted the initial attack around midnight, but it wasn't over. A few minutes later, the Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile, but it was shot down by fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The USS Stockdale sails alongside the Egyptian Navy El Suez-class corvette ENS Abu Qir in October. US Navy photo

The battle continued into the night. The rebels fired more missiles and drones, which were destroyed by US fighter jets and warships. The Navy responded by launching strikes into Yemen.

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At nearly 2 a.m. local time, a low-flying Houthi drone crossed in front of the Stockdale, but it was detected late. A kill order was given.

"To be frank, I thought there was no way they were going to hit it. A couple of seconds later, the five-inch gun is blasting away, and sure enough, they downed that thing," Cooper said. "It just doesn't happen." He said that people erupted in cheers for a solid 15 seconds after the intercept.

"It's a big high-five when you shoot something down with a missile," he said. "But there's a lot of high-fives when you shoot something down with a gun, kind of World War II-style."

The MK-45 is a five-inch artillery gun mounted to the deck of a warship. It is one of many ways a vessel can protect itself, along with surface-to-air missiles, which have been the tool of choice for the US during the Houthi conflict. The Stockdale fended off multiple attacks in the fall while it was deployed to the Middle East.

A five-inch deck gun on a Navy destroyer. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean Rinner/Released

Over the past 15 months, the rebels have launched over 140 attacks on commercial vessels and targeted US Navy warships more than 170 times with anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, Cooper said. US forces have shot down around 480 Houthi drones.

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The Houthis have claimed that their attacks on civilian and merchant ships are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. After Israel and Hamas signed cease-fire deal earlier this month, the rebels said they would limit their Red Sea operations.

Beyond their attacks on shipping lanes, the Houthis have also fired 40 medium-range ballistic missiles and around 300 long-range drones at Israel, Cooper said. Most of the projectiles have been shot down by American and Israeli forces.

The new Trump administration could dramatically affect the US military's approach to the Houthis. Shortly after the inauguration, the White House announced that it was re-designating the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization, reversing a decision by former President Joe Biden to remove the rebels from that list.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Jan. 30One more meeting might be needed before a committee finalizes its suggestions for potential sales tax projects in Muskogee.

At a meeting Tuesday night, committee members discussed merits of infrastructure projects such as streets, and quality-of-life projects such as library improvements. However, members did not come up with ideas to present to the City Council.

A half-cent sales tax approved in 2019 is set to expire at the end of September. The city assembled a 40-member committee to help plan projects for a sales tax to replace the expiring one.

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Time is slipping to set an election before the tax expires. Former Mayor Marlon Coleman, who moderated Tuesday's meeting, listed remaining election dates for 2025. Elections must be called 60 days ahead of time.

Wednesday morning, Mayor Patrick Cale said another meeting might be needed.

"I'm going to suggest that Marlon send out a survey to every member, and have them fill out what the top items are," Cale said. "And we'll have staff look over every one of those and compile it and say 'everybody wants to do this, everybody wants to do that. Here's the top four things we want to do, let's present it to the council."

He said getting committee members to list priorities has been difficult, but members have not received information they needed in time.

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"It may take another meeting, but it may not if committee members can get questionnaires out to everybody and finish it up that way," Cale said.

At the meeting, Coleman asked committee members to email their quality of life and infrastructure needs to him.

"I would like to see it, so, as it goes to staff, we'll all be on the same page," Coleman said.

Committee member Wren Stratton said the committee could never get consensus. She said the council will have to make the final decision.

Phonecia Chaidez, a concerned resident, said she doesn't believe the council "should make any decision where we have bypassed the people."

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"What comes out of this committee should put people first, then decide which goes to council," she said.

Deputy Mayor Derrick Reed said the city offers public input during council and committee meetings.

Mark Hughes, another concerned resident, said people don't look at city agendas or come to city meetings.

"The only way you're going to be able to talk to people is actually have a hearing at the Roxy, with plenty of social media ahead of time," Hughes said.

Committee member Angela Wilson recalled how Muskogee Public Schools presented artist renderings and priority lists to committee members when the district planned its 2019 bond election. She suggested the city do the same thing.

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Eastern Oklahoma Library System Executive Director Kathy Seibold presented proposals for Muskogee Public Library renovations. She said the building is 52 years old, elevators have not been replaced, two bathrooms are permanently out of order. She said the HVAC system, installed in 1972, frequently breaks down, causing the library to close.

Nearly all committee members and concerned residents agreed the library needs city support.
LAUREL, Md. (DC News Now)  Prince Georges County is more than a month away from their special election to cast their ballot for the next County Executive. Community advocacy groups are hosting a public forum to allow the community to hear from the candidates directly.

Candidates running for the vacated seat include Aisha Braveboy (D), George McDermott (R), Marcellus Crews (D), Tonya Sweat (D), Albert Slocum (D), Jonathon White (R), Ron Hunt (D), Rushern Baker (D), Calvin Hawkins Jr. (D), Alonzo Washington (D), Marcellus Crews (D) and Jolene Ivey (D). Each of them is also expected to be in attendance for the forum.

National Transportation Safety Board officials give first update on deadly plane, helicopter crash outside of DCA

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The event will be held on Thursday, Jan. 30 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Laurel Boys & Girls Club Phelps Building. Guests are encouraged to pre-register online.

Early voting will be from Feb. 26 to March 3, and the special election day will be March 4.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
Readings future relies on community collaboration and public and private investment, Mayor Eddie Moran emphasized in his fifth state of the city address.

Moran focused on the citys progress over the past year and future plans Thursday morning during a program at the Redners Event Center at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The state of our city is strong, he said. Its strong because of the people who see the promise and potential of this community. It is strong because of the residents and businesses that call Reading home, and it is strong because of the countless ways that people like the ones right here in this room show up daily for our city.

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More than two hundred state and local elected officials, community leaders and others attended the event, which reached countless others via a livestream.

Each person, whether an advocate, leader, partner or resident, has played an important role in the growth of the city, Moran said.

We have faced many challenges, celebrated victories, and above all, we continue to push forward a vision of prosperity and opportunity, the mayor said. I want to personally thank each of you for believing in what we can achieve together.

Significant progress was made over the past year, he said.

Make no mistake, Reading is not just ready for what is ahead, Moran said. It is actively advancing on its path growth and revitalization.

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The mayor spoke of the achievements that showcase the dedication of the citys staff, the value of its public and private partnerships and the strength of the community, all of which, he said, is more than a recitation of data and facts.

Moran touched on Readings partnerships small businesses and nonprofits, many of which were supported by the city through American Rescue Plan Act fund distributions. These investments are helping to foster economic development, support community needs and create a stronger, more connected future for the city, he said.

Reading Mayor Eddie Moran delivers his State of the City Address at the Redners Event Center in FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE).

Moran went on to highlighted the key accomplishments of four major city departments: police, fire, community development and public property.

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Under the leadership of Police Chief Elia Vazquez, the citys police department achieved significant strides in public safety, the mayor said.

Serious crimes decreased by 21% compared to 2023, marking a substantial improvement in city safety, he said. Motor vehicle deaths saw a 9% reduction and non-fatal shootings decreased by 18%.

The departments proactive efforts included removing over 180 illegal firearms from the streets and conducting 3,201 directed patrols, Moran said, averaging nine per day in high-crime areas.

Community engagement was pivotal, he said, with officers participating in 29 community events, fostering trust and educating residents on public safety.

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Advancements in recruitment was a key priority, Moran said. The hiring process was streamlined,and a $5,000 bonus was offered to attract candidate officers and help address staffing shortages.

When we talk about public safety, we must also recognize the work of a Reading Fire Department under the leadership of Fire Chief James Stoudt, the mayor said.

The department responded last year to over 26,000 calls, including 65 structured fires and 509 vehicle accidents.

Their efforts saved more than $1.7 million in property and helped limit fire losses to just over half a million dollars, Moran said.

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The departments highly trained personnel also responded to nonemergency calls and administered live-saving measures when needed, he said.

Since the dedication of the new Ninth and Marion streets fire station in September, the department has a modern state of the art facility, Moran said.

Six new firefighters, EMG trainees and three paramedics joined the department, he said, and will help fill the gaps left by retirements.

Modernizing the departments equipment was another key focus in 2024, he said, noting newly acquired apparatus includes two engines, a rescue truck and specialized vehicles, such as UTVs and a new paramedic unit.

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These investments provide our firefighters with the necessary equipment to respond quickly and effectively no matter the challenge, Moran said.

Reading Mayor Eddie Moran and his wife, Ruth, enter the Redners Event Center in FirstEnergy Stadium for his annual State of the City Address on Thursday. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE).

Switching focus to the community development and codes department, the mayor noted 1,677 permits were issued and 391 detailed plan reviews completed in the past year.

This demonstrates the departments commitment to efficiently managing development projects in the city, he said.

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Moran also emphasized his focus on affordable housing. He has set a goal of delivering 500 new housing units by the end of his second term, he said.

Helping to fill that need is a critical part of the departments mission, he said, noting As the year ended, the department was on track to deliver 125 new housing units.

The department also secured $1.4 million in federal community project funding to assist in the remediation of private property, creating more opportunities for redevelopment and rehabilitation, he said.

Theres another step forward in addressing the long-standing housing challenges, to support our commitments to affordable housing and access, Moran said.

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The mayor also highlighted several initiatives related to parks and public property, noting $4 million was invested in improving recreational areas.

Moran emphasized the importance of sustainability in public spaces, noting the city is working toward achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050.

The effort includes modernizing infrastructure in public spaces with LED lighting, solar panels and HVAC upgrades.

Reading Mayor Eddie Moran acknowledges the attendees following his annual State of the City Address at the Redners Event Center in FirstEnergy Stadium on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE).

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Moran also made some key points about Readings recent designation as a city revitalization and improvement zone, or CRIZ.

The CRIZ has the potential to fund transformational projects, he said, noting every dollar invested through it is expected to generate $4 in private investment, creating a significant multiplier effect.

It is a critical tool for realizing what the mayor called Readings limitless potential and driving future investments and economic strength in the city, he said.

The CRIZ will be integrated with the citys downtown strategic plans and aligned with efforts of local businesses, developers, community organizations and state agencies, Moran said. The goal is to unlock Readings full economic potential, revitalize neighborhoods and strengthen the downtown area.

Reading is ready, the mayor concluded. Ready to lead boldly, to create opportunities that drive redevelopment and to build an economy that works for everyone. We are ready to show the world what happens when we embrace diversity, value every voice and work together towards shared progress. We are ready to transform innovative ideas into meaningful actions, building a future rooted in connection, growth and pride for all.
CONNECTICUT (WTNH)  A group of city and state leaders came together at Yale University on Thursday to discuss questions and possible solutions to the problem of gun violence in our state.

The roundtable consisted of people from academia, community organizations, state government and health care who all agreed that gun violence has reached epidemic proportion and the group is passionate about ending it.

Were not even a month into 2025 and weve seen another 20 mass shootings nationwide, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) said.

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DeLauro hosted the event and said that more than half of gun deaths each day are suicide, but the vast majority of gun injuries are community violence that can turn into a homicide.

It wasnt until 2020 that federal funding was reinstated to combat the problem of gun violence in the U.S. Just this week, President Trump froze funding for various federally funded grants and loans, but quickly rescinded the order.

Watch the full video in the player above.

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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX)  Thursday morning community members came to Main Street Bagel to have their first cup of coffee with new city manager, Mike Bennett.

Bennett states, I love doing these coffee with the community. Its something Ive done throughout my career.

Residents, members of local nonprofits, Police Chief Matt Smith, along with Transportation Director Trent Prall were in attendance to talk about the issues in the city from the Fourth and Fifth Street project to looking at cameras for controlling speeding violations.

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Bennett states, Those types of things that people really care about, and hearing their opinions, hearing some great feedback, and also explaining some updates thats recently been reported on what were what were doing with some of these projects.

Bennett brought residents up to date about the changes on the controversial lanes.

Were going to go for the next phase of the pilot, there will no longer be parallel parking, parking in between the driving lane and the bike lane. We were finding some issues in the intersections with that, Bennett explains.

WesternSlopeNow talked with a couple attendees who spoke about the situation of 4th and 5th street situation and one of the suggestions was adding speed bumps.

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Nancy Fredrick Bell, who attended Coffee with the City Manager, states, My thought was, well, why didnt we put up speed bumps? Because that seems logical, that you slow people down.

But there can be an issue with the bumps.

Jennifer Greenwood, who also attended Coffee with the City Manager, states, I do know about the speed bumps is that, you know, the ones on first street impact the homeowners because the drivers speed up to the bump, put on their brakes, go over the bump and then gas it.

Western Slope Now asked Bell about having her voice heard during the meeting.

Bell states, I absolutely felt like my voice was heard. And I would like to see more of these meetings.

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As Central Florida is getting over an unseasonable cold snap, local organizations have come together to support the senior community.

Volunteers gathered Friday at Northland Church in Longwood to host a drive-thru event to distribute essential cold-weather supplies.

The event began promptly at 10 a.m., with seniors arriving as early as 9:30 a.m. to receive the much-needed items.

Each attendee was provided with a space heater, two sweatshirts, and a bag filled with additional items to help them stay warm during the colder days.

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Volunteers were on hand to distribute the supplies and offered prayers for the seniors before they departed.

Gail Rose, one of the recipients, expressed her gratitude: Im so grateful for these gifts. Its wonderful to see the community come together to support us.

The Senior Resource Alliance, serving Central Florida since 1995, coordinated the event. They work to provide services and resources for elders in Brevard, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties, aiming to help them age with independence and dignity.

Karla Radka of the Senior Resource Alliance emphasized the organizations mission: Our goal is to ensure that seniors in our community have the resources they need to live comfortably and safely, especially during the colder months.

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Be The Change For Seniors, another key partner in the initiative, focuses on improving the quality of life for seniors through various support services. Toni Boni from the organization noted, Its heartening to see the smiles on their faces. A little warmth can make a big difference.

Over the course of two hours, dozens of seniors benefited from the distribution, highlighting the communitys dedication to its elder members.

As temperatures continue to dip, events like these play a crucial role in ensuring the well-being of our senior population.

For more details about the Senior Resource Alliance and their initiatives, visit seniorresourcealliance.org.

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For more details about the Be The Change For Seniors and their initiatives, visit bethechangeforseniors.org.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  It has been a hectic week for nonprofit organizations, small businesses, schools and other agencies that rely on federal funds.

We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. President Donald Trump said.

On Wednesday, the White House walked back its initial memo to freeze all federal grants and loans. Although the freeze is paused for now, recipients around the country are concerned, including the Compass Center in Sioux Falls which provides crisis services to victims of abuse.

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For us, its always a much more time-sensitive matter because victims cant wait to file a protection order. They cant wait to get new locks on their doors. They cant wait for those things because if they do, their life could be on the line, Compass Center, executive director, Michelle Trent said.

Trent says about 40%-60% of the non-profits total budget is touched by federal funds. This week Trent said the organization looked to ensure its crisis services were able to hold up with alternative funds.

We have victims walking in all day long and its hard to even give a number sometimes of how many people are coming in each day. So certainly serving a need in the community and those victims need us for safety, Trent said.

Sioux Falls Airport travelers react to plane crash

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Because of the uncertainty, the organization has paused the launch of a new youth program that was set for February.

Over 30 community partners like the Sioux Falls School District and Police Department were involved in the Youth Voices in Prevention Program. However, now thats going to have to wait until theres more clarity on the funding.

Were hopeful that we can restart up the work in that program soon, but at this moment, were uncertain as to when that might be, Trent said.

In the meantime, The Compass Center says it will continue community outreach funding efforts, like the Compass50.

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UPDATE 1/31/25: The Utah Senate circled H.B. 267, a bill originally seeking to ban public labor unions from collective bargaining, on Friday morning, temporarily postponing the final vote.

The delay comes after the senate sponsor for the bill proposed a compromise on Thursday that would create a path for public labor unions to collectively bargain. Sen. Daniel Thatcher argued that the public needed more time to read and react to the changes before they should vote on the bill.

Senate President Stuart Adams said circling the bill would give people the weekend to consider the substitute bill. He did not clarify a time or date for when the final vote will take place.

ORIGINAL STORY:

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  A controversial Utah bill originally seeking to ban public labor unions from collective bargaining is moving toward compromise after multiple days of debate amongst senators.

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H.B. 267 Public Sector Labor Union Amendments passed its second reading in the Utah Senate with an 18-10 vote. Four Republicans and six Democrats opposed the bill. However, the senate sponsor says there will be a major change before it appears for its third reading on Friday.

Too politically active? Senate committee narrowly advances public union bargaining restrictions

As it currently stands, H.B. 267 would ban public unions from collectively bargaining or being recognized by public employers. The change would allow unions to bargain as long as a simple majority of the employee class votes in favor of the labor union representing them in the negotiations.

For example, if a citys firefighters have 120 employees and 61 people vote to allow a union to represent them, then collective bargaining for those 120 firefighters would be allowed regardless of whether theyre union members.

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Sen. Kirk Cullimore (R  District 19) stressed that this bill would mainly impact educators in Salt Lake City as he said they are the only ones who actively participate in collective bargaining now. He said other public sector workers seek change through the traditional civic political process.

A lot of the messaging around this bill is simply not true  and a lot of the fears and concerns are simply not present in the bill, Cullimore said.

He explained that public and private sector employees operate under different paradigms, stressing that government employees serve the entire population.

The employer is not a private entity but the citizenry at large. The issues that public employees deal with are intricately linked with public policy. This unique relationship necessitates a different approach to labor relations, Cullimore said.

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Supporters of the bill shared their opinions that this would help protect taxpayers, restore fairness and fiscal responsibility, and help make all employees voices heard. Those opposed to the bill focused on the opposition from members of the public sector and ensuring their constituents voices were taken into account.

Sen. Luz Escamilla (D  District 10) remained staunchly against the bill, calling it a very direct attack on unions.

There is a problem, fundamentally, in what we are asking them to do something that no one else is asked to do. And the question is why? she said.

Sen. Daniel Thatcher (R  District 11) voted against the bill but welcomed a reading of the substitute, asking to slow the process to allow for public sector employees to read and react to the changes. Thatcher pointed out that five weeks remain in the legislative session, saying, We have all the time in the world to get this right.

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What I have heard is tremendous concern. What I see in the faces in the gallery here is tremendous concern, he said. We havent even considered all the employees that are being impacted. I had somebody reach out from the water district today, it didnt even occur to me that they were included.

Thatcher passionately spoke about ensuring that the people they represent feel heard during this process, adding that he didnt feel that was currently the case.

That keeps me up at night because we didnt used to be this way. I didnt used to feel like my constituents couldnt be heard, he said.

Not all senators have made up their minds on the bill. Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R  District 17) said he would vote to move the bill forward to allow the process of compromise to continue, saying they could make a final judgment on passage tomorrow.

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While Im very disappointed in the bill as it currently stands, I am very heartened by the process I have seen over the last two days making this work. The issues that I have brought forward to the sponsor are being addressed, Fillmore said.

Stay up-to-date with the 2025 General Session by visiting Inside Utah Politics.

Lindsay Aerts contributed to this report.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Concerns rose Friday from some Broward leaders about the Sheriffs Offices plan for May to no longer provide equipment and send deputies to the state Department of Justices Juvenile Assessment Center.

In planning to depart from the JAC, the Sheriffs Office cited critical staffing shortages and concerns about the upkeep of the building. And the Sheriffs Office on Friday said it is offering a hiring bonus as part of its push to fill positions.

The center, located at 2600 SW 4 Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, serves as the juvie holding spot for children ages 17 and younger who are arrested in the county on charges that range from low-level misdemeanors to serious charges, including murder.

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Broward Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter is concerned the Sheriffs Office would take its high-tech fingerprinting equipment with it as the agency departs, he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Theres very little we can do, Tuter said. BSO intends to take their equipment with them, so the center is going to have to replace this BSO equipment. Its probably pretty expensive.

Still, he said he is not taking a position on staffing, since its not under my purview.

Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine said he is pursuing obtaining more information about how the sheriffs departure would affect the center and the youths taken there. We continue to fund more and more for deputies and public safety each year, Udine said. And we provide ample funding for public safety.

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The Sheriffs Office recently sent a letter to the State of Floridas Department of Juvenile Justice telling it that the Sheriffs Office would no longer provide sworn deputy services to the Juvenile Assessment Center effective May 2.

Additionally, BSO will remove all agency-owned equipment and reassign sworn staff from the JAC facility, wrote Sheriffs Col. Timothy Irvin II.

Tuter said the Sheriffs Office provides security, controls the bookkeeping and fingerprinting when a child is taken into custody. He said the Sheriffs Office uses live-scan digital technology that allows for immediate background checks for any outstanding warrants.

Because all the equipment is supposed to be removed, Tuter anticipates the much-relied fingerprinting equipment would go, too.

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Meantime, a Broward Sheriffs Office spokesman on Friday called attention to the agencys effort to fill positions. That includes a job listing posted in January by the agency, which offers a one-time $5,000 incentive for a new Department of Detention hire.

The Broward Sheriffs Office is now offering a hiring incentive for the Cadet  Department of Detention position, the listing reads. Candidates who successfully complete the selection process and are hired by the agency will receive a one-time payment of $5000.00 at the beginning of their service with the Department of Detention.

Other planned change

The sheriffs departure from JAC wouldnt be the only adjustment at the center.

In a separate move, also leaving from JAC will be another entity, Bay Area Youth Services Inc., also known as BAYS Florida, confirmed Elvin Martinez Jr., a BAYS spokesman.

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BAYS handles the scoring of the young people arrested, which is the risk assessment relayed to a judge and could determine whether someone is allowed to leave the facility before their court hearings.

The detention screening contract with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice for the 17th Circuit expires on April 30, and we recently received notification that the Department was not renewing the contract, Martinez said in an email.

My understanding is that the Department will be taking the screening services in house. We respect the Departments decision and have a great working relationship with DJJ throughout the State of Florida.

A spokeswoman for the states Department of Juvenile Justice did not comment about its plans for how to handle the center with the upcoming changes. The chief of the center, Teves Bush, also could not be reached by email or his office phone.

Upkeep of the JAC building

Irvin wrote in his letter to the state that the aging JAC building has significant maintenance with recurring safety concerns that include air-quality issues and structural hazards.

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In an email to county commissioners, Michael W. Ruiz, the countys assistant administrator, said Broward County owns the building where the Juvenile Assessment Center is located. But Ruiz said the lease clearly states that the state of Florida is responsible for the services and preventive maintenance.

It also is responsible for the repair and replacement of life-safety systems, air conditioning units, heating units, janitorial services, pest control, trash removal, and electrical/mechanical/plumbing systems, he wrote.

The lease was most recently extended at the request of DJJ on July 11 last year, he said.

Sheriffs staff

In his letter, Irvin blamed the discontinuation of funding support from external organizations, operational inefficiencies, and the high cost of employing certified detention deputies at the JAC compared to alternative models used by neighboring counties, he wrote.

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He said the decision was not made lightly, but rather because of the staff shortages within the Department of Detention. To ensure the safety and proper operation of the Broward County jails, it is imperative that we redirect sworn personnel to meet these pressing needs, he wrote.

Last fall, Broward County signed off on an additional $34.7 million out of the countys pot of reserves above the sheriffs regular $681.5 million budget to satisfy Sheriff Gregory Tonys request for more money, which included $8 million for raises for detention deputies.

County Commissioner Steve Geller said Friday he anticipates the county administration proposing an additional $8 million in each of the next two budget cycles for a total of $24 million in detention deputy raises over three years.

Its a hard job, Geller acknowledged. I take my hat off to the detention deputies. Its an underappreciated job. They go into jails where they are dramatically outnumbered. Its a difficult job.

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At the time last year when he asked for more money, Tony told county leaders there were 180 vacancies in the Department of Detention. The agency didnt respond this week to a request for its current number of vacancies within the detention department.

But Tuter said the number of vacancies hovers at 179.

Its really difficult to attract candidates, he said. Some of them cant pass background, (for a) variety of reasons, some have criminal convictions, it makes it difficult to fill those positions.

According to the Sheriffs Offices proposed budget, there were 1,984 juveniles fingerprinted and photographed in 2023. That number is expected to grow to an estimated 3,700 juveniles during this current in the next budget year.

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According to the budget, the Sheriff has assigned 22 staff to the Juvenile Assessment Center and has a budget of $4.3 million, which included an increase for personnel costs in last years budget.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Cumberland Fossil Plant is located 22 miles southwest of Clarksville, Tennessee. (TVA photo)

Congress should reform the Tennessee Valley Authoritys governance and energy planning as the federally-owned electric utility faces growing demands for power, a renewable energy organization says in a report released Thursday.

Jonathan Geldof, a senior manager with the American Council on Renewable Energy who authored the report, noted in a Thursday presentation the TVA is unlike other utilities. The TVA is a federal corporation overseen by a board of directors appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Thats in contrast to utilities in other states that must go before a state utility commission to seek approval for new power generation or have a review of future power plans.

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Like other utilities, the TVA is facing a growing demand for electricity driven by data centers, new battery manufacturing and consumer electrification. The utility, which serves more than 9 million people across seven states, including Kentucky, earlier in January set a new power demand record of more than 35,000 megawatts amid frigid air sweeping across the South.

The utility has touted spending hundreds of millions of dollars on its power plants to enhance their reliability and resiliency in fiscal year 2024, an investment following rolling blackouts the utility had to impose in 2022 during a winter storm due to failures of its fossil fuel-fired power plants. The utility had to borrow a portion of its power from neighboring electric grids to meet the record power demand in January and also asked customers to voluntarily reduce power.

Geldof said that growing power demand is coming at a time when the utility may need to ask Congress for an increase in its ability to borrow funds.

If theyre going to raise the borrowing authority, that should be coupled with some requirements to make TVA work better for customers and for project developers, Geldof said. Our point here isnt to bash TVA but to point out ways that their processes can improve and make it easier to bring cheap American-made power into the valley.

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The 33-page report highlights a number of reforms that could be enacted by Congress to either provide more support for the TVA boards, bring the TVA under federal oversight for transmission and change the utilitys process for drafting an important planning document known as an integrated resource plan or IRP.

TVA spokesperson Scott Fiedler in an emailed statement said the utility wasnt asked to provide data or input for the report and that the utility was conducting a transparent, robust IRP process using best practices in the industry, including the participation by the public. Fiedler said a finalized IRP from the utility would be made available in the spring.

From transmission planning to the TVA board

A panel discussing the report  consisting of an executive with Nashville-based solar developer Silicon Ranch and two other representatives from trade and advocacy groups for renewable energy  honed in on report recommendations for making changes in how the TVA plans future electricity transmission. Its a planning process that, according to the report, has historically  lacked transparency, with no meaningful stakeholder participation.

Myra Sinnott, a vice president of interconnection and policy for Silicon Ranch, said the result of having a closed doors process in planning future electricity generation and transmission is that it leaves a lot of folks out of the room that are trying to provide feedback on, you know, the future resources that will impact the electric bills, the air and water quality all around the Tennessee Valley.

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The report says Congress should require TVA to consider the full range of costs and benefits when planning transmission and generation  not just whether an investment provides adequate and reliable service.

Geldoff said transmission planning that considers multiple factors can enhance reliability of the electricity grid as solar and other renewable energy projects come online and send power to the grid.

The TVA should also be put under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the report recommends, to ensure compliance with a federal overhaul of transmission planning. Also, TVA should consider more transmission among regional electricity grids to avert rolling blackouts, the report says.

Theres going to need to be a lot more inter-regional transmission to prevent blackouts in extreme weather and to meet projected load growth, Geldof said.

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Additionally, the report recommends Congress require the TVA to have independent staff, or potentially hire a consultant, to assist the TVAs governing board in its decision-making and utilitys operations.

Simon Mahan, the executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association, said the TVA board, made up of part-time positions, has no independent third party to check the information provided to them by TVA staff. By contrast, utilities under state regulation are subject to expert scrutiny and questioning by utility commission staff.

Those state regulatory bodies often have not only staff and expertise but also rules and regulations that allow for intervening parties like ours to come in to provide additional feedback and information at no cost to the regulator themselves, Mahan said. Its not that were criticizing the board for making bad decisions, its just that we are not given enough information to know, Is this truly the best decision at this right time?

When asked about the impact the Trump administration could have on energy planning, one renewable energy advocate pointed to a potential risk the TVA could face with increasing its reliance on natural gas. The TVA has proposed a significant investment in building new natural gas-fired power plants to replace its coal-fired power plants at a time when increasing natural gas exports abroad could strain the countrys supply of the fossil fuel.

The country is increasing exports of gas that will increase the price of gas, and that will hit TVA customers really, really hard, said Maggie Shober, research director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
WEST HARTFORD, CT. (WWLP)  A man accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of books from the Wethersfield Public Library is now charged with doing the same thing in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Youth soccer coach, father of three from Connecticut killed in Washington plane crash

Levi Preston, 50, of Middletown is accused of stealing $16,000 worth of books from the West Hartford Public Library, NBC Connecticut states. Police say he was re-selling them online. He previously stole $5,600 worth of books at Wethersfield Public Library

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A warrant also states that over the course of years, Preston is alleged to have stolen $2,000 worth of books from the Russell Library in Middletown.

The warrant for his arrest noted the thefts in Middletown and West Hartford took place back in 2022 and 2023.

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.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)  National Unclaimed Property Day is Saturday, Feb. 1 and the Connecticut state treasurer is urging residents to check if they have any money waiting for them.

Connecticut residents can visit CTBigList.gov to search for money that belongs to them.

While theres no time limit to claim your funds, I encourage everyone to make searching for unclaimed property part of your annual financial routine, Treasurer Erick Russell said.. Whether its your birthday, tax day, or National Unclaimed Property Day, find time at least once a year to search CTBigList.gov and claim whats yours.

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Connecticut lawmakers consider bill to lower legal alcohol limit for drivers

Lost or forgotten property, including unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits and refunds, is handed over to the Connecticut Office of the Treasurer until it can be claimed by its rightful owners.

State officials said most unclaimed property owners are individuals, but corporations, municipalities, schools, nonprofits, hospitals, and small businesses are also among those whove found they have money that belongs to them

Connecticut has returned more than $1.1 billion to rightful owners through the unclaimed property program, the state treasurers office said. In Fiscal Year 2024, $82 million was returned to 44,065 rightful owners, state officials said.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Jennifer Crumbley looks at her husband James during their sentencing on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of four Oxford High School students by their son on April 9, 2024 in Pontiac, Michigan - Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the 15-year-old who killed four students at a Michigan high school in 2021, is seeking a new trial, claiming that the original trial  which found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter  was affected by the prosecutor not disclosing details about two witnesses in the case.

The new case update, per the Associated Press, comes roughly one year after a jury unanimously convicted Crumbley of four manslaughter counts against her, one for each of the four people her son, Ethan, killed at Oxford High School.

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Attorneys for Crumbley claim that two Oxford High employees Nick Ejak and Shawn Hopkins werent given immunity related to the fatal 2021 shooting but agreed to speak to prosecutors when they were assured their words wouldnt be used against them. Crumbleys attorney says it was not given the immunity agreement, and that was a violation of the prosecutor in the case.

Crumbleys team claims that if the defense knew about the agreement, her trial lawyer could have questioned the two school employees in cross-examination. They dangled that carrot over those witnesses to get them to cooperate, Crumbleys attorney Michael Dezsi told AP of the prosecution.

Crumbley is serving a 10-year sentence for her sons mass shooting, marking the first time a parent has stood trial for their alleged role in a school shooting. Crumbleys husband, James, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison last year.

These convictions are not about poor parenting, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said at the April 2024 sentencing, per the AP. These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.

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The Crumbleys were accused of purchasing the handgun Ethan used during the shooting, ignoring his mental health needs, and failing to tell the school theyd purchased a gun for their son during a meeting about his behavior hours before the shooting. Ethan previously pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, including murder and terrorism. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December 2023.

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PONTIAC, Mich. (AP)  The first U.S. parent to be held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting committed by a child asked a Michigan judge to throw out her conviction Friday, arguing that her trial was spoiled by the prosecutor's failure to disclose key details about two major witnesses.

Nick Ejak and Shawn Hopkins, employees at Oxford High School, were not given immunity in the fatal shooting of four students in 2021. But they had agreed to speak to prosecutors when promised that their words would not be used against them.

The four-page deal was not shared with Jennifer Crumbley's lawyer before her 2024 trial.

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Crumbley's appellate attorney argued Friday that the failure to produce the agreement was a fundamental violation of rules that prosecutors must follow.

If the defense had known about the agreement, Crumbley's trial lawyer could have questioned Ejak and Hopkins about it during cross-examination and tried to cast doubt on their credibility, Michael Dezsi said.

They dangled that carrot over those witnesses to get them to cooperate, Dezsi said of prosecutors.

Crumbley, 46, is serving a 10-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said she had a duty to protect Oxford students from her 15-year-old son, who was given a gun as a gift just a few days before he committed the mass shooting.

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Ejak and Hopkins met with Ethan Crumbley and his parents two hours before the shooting. A teacher was alarmed by Ethan's drawings of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man on a math paper, accompanied by despondent phrases.

Ejak and Hopkins believed Ethan would go home after the morning meeting, but they didn't object when the parents said he would stay at school. No one  staff or parents  checked the teen's backpack for a gun.

Assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said his office had no obligation to turn over agreements with Ejak and Hopkins, who were not charged with crimes.

Their attorneys reached out to us, Keast told Judge Cheryl Matthews. There was no promise. There was no threats. There was no discussion about testimony. We talked about what they did, what happened on Nov. 30th.

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Matthews suggested that the failure to produce the agreements likely was a violation by the prosecutor's office. But she also noted that the testimony of Ejak and Hopkins was a very small part of the evidence against Jennifer Crumbley.

The judge didn't immediately make a decision about granting a new trial. Matthews rejected other arguments in a nine-page opinion Thursday.

Jennifer Crumbley's husband, James Crumbley, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter at a separate trial and is also serving a 10-year prison term. Ethan Crumbley, now 18, is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes.
A nurse provides assistance to a patient undergoing a mammogram. (Tom Werner/Getty Images)

Watching someone die from cancer is hard.

I have done it more than once. I feared it would be me when I received an inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) diagnosis at the age of 38.

Our children were 10, 12 and 17 at the time. My husband and I both worked for a nonprofit that had just recently added health insurance benefits. If it would have been a year earlier, we would have been without coverage. We were building homes on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, money was tight. I am thankful we had good coverage then with a reasonable deductible.

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Looking back through the process of diagnosis, I have to say if I had the insurance that I do now, I dont know that I would be here today. Early detection saves lives and, with IBC, every day matters. It is that aggressive. I was able to get testing that I needed and finances were not a factor.

Unfortunately, the facts are that now, too many South Dakota women are left exposed to large out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic tests to detect breast cancer early, a loophole we could close this legislative session. Screening mammograms are usually covered in full by insurance carriers, but for women like me, the additional diagnostics required for follow-up testing after an abnormal mammogram can cost thousands of dollars, forcing patients to make a big out-of-pocket payment to get the work-up they need or gamble with their health.

Women like me, our daughters and granddaughters fall into high-risk categories. This means we often need testing beyond an annual screening mammogram. Breast density and family history are factors in that. These two things affect so many, putting many families in a difficult financial position.

In many ways I was fortunate. It wasnt until I had been diagnosed that cost became a conversation for our family. For some women, out-of-pocket costs add up for the diagnostic tests they need even before they are diagnosed with cancer.

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I say I am not sure I would be here today because with our current deductible $7,500 applies to everything past a screening mammogram. I might not be here because  like many South Dakota women today  my diagnosis required multiple tests. We could not have afforded to pay for those tests then and many women surely cannot afford it now.

I had more than one mammogram, ultrasound, lab work and two biopsies. Today, that would all be out of pocket. For way too many women, the cost of diagnostic testing causes delays. Delays in screening, in diagnosis and delays in beginning lifesaving treatments. Everyone agrees early detection saves lives, yet deductibles have increased across the board, creating a large obstacle for many.

It makes sense to remove barriers to early detection so women can get the care they need without facing grave financial consequences. Across our state, there is a growing group of women and families who work hard but are struggling to make ends meet.

South Dakota has done a good job for very low-income women. Our All Women Count program can cover a diagnostic mammogram. But this is only for women who fall within certain income guidelines. For example, a woman in a family of two must fall below $51,100 before taxes to qualify for those services.

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For way too many women, the cost of diagnostic testing causes delays. Delays in screening, in diagnosis and delays in beginning lifesaving treatments.

We need to provide solutions for women above that threshold. They need to receive the benefit of early detection. I spent a few years working in the cancer center I received treatment in. I cant tell you how often I served women who had advanced cancer. Many times it was not found early because of financial concerns. This should not be common.

Legislation pending in South Dakota, House Bill 1070, would eliminate cost sharing on diagnostic breast screening. Asking insurance companies to pay for diagnostic screening makes sense. This legislation has been enacted in nearly half of the states.

Some say legislation shouldnt be needed for this. In that case, we should already have it.

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Others say that breast cancer shouldnt be treated differently than other cancers. I say we must start somewhere.

Breast cancer screening is expensive and some women need supplemental screening based on individual risk factors or family history to ensure early detection to save and extend our lives. Treating a localized cancer is easier and more cost effective than once it has spread.

My hope is that one day we have a world without cancer. Until then, we should do everything we can to facilitate early detection.

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The push for marijuana legalization in Indiana has new money and new faces behind it. It's more bipartisan than ever before. And there's a new governor who's more amenable to certain aspects of the debate than the previous one.

Every year there have been many, sometimes dozens, of bills attempting to move the needle, but they always fail to make it into law. Indiana is now surrounded on all sides by states where some level of cannabis is legal. Could this finally be the year for one of these bills to go the distance?

Indiana General Assembly: With a new governor and Republican-backed marijuana lobbying effort, will anything change?

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Leaders behind a new lobbying group, Safe and Regulated Indiana, are projecting optimism. Some lawmakers behind the bills are far more tempered in their expectations: This could take multiple election cycles, but it does seem like there's some momentum. Still, so far this year none of the bills legalizing marijuana have received a hearing, the first step toward becoming law.

Here are the marijuana-related bills lawmakers have proposed this session:

Legalizing medical marijuana

Four bills would allow people with a medical condition and their doctor's permission to use medical marijuana, and establish a regulatory framework to oversee a medical marijuana program:

House Bill 1635 , by Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty

Senate Bill 341 , by Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis

Senate Bill 400 , by Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis

House Bill 1178, by Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour. This bill also includes a host of other regulations about the packaging and labeling of medical marijuana.

Legalizing recreational marijuana

Four bills would legalize the production and sale of marijuana for adults, establish a tax and create a new state agency to oversee the regulations:

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Decriminalizing marijuana

House Bill 1145, by Rep. Heath VanNatter, R-Kokomo, would decriminalize the possession of two ounces or less of marijuana. This isn't the same as legalization, which would involve regulating a market.

Prohibiting marijuana advertising

Senate Bill 166, by Sens. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, and Tyler Johnson, R-Leo; as well as House Bill 1327, by Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, would prohibit the advertising of the product or a related business by any medium  billboard, digital, etc.

House Bill 1026, by Rep. Joanna King, R-Middlebury, narrowly focuses a prohibition on physical signs located within 1,000 feet of places where kids are, such as schools and public parks.

Driving under the influence

House Bill 1119, by Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville would set the legal limit for the amount of THC that can be found in a person's saliva to be penalized with an OWI charge. Current law says you can get charged if you have any measurable amount in your blood; this bill would set the threshold at five nanograms per milliliter in your saliva, the common limit in states where marijuana is legal.

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Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Marijuana bills filed in the Indiana legislature in 2025
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  An affidavit released by the Little Rock District Court shows a previous attempted robbery investigation earlier this month led to the arrest of the suspected Park Plaza Mall deadly shooter.

Authorities arrested 18-year-old Abdelrahmanahmed Sallam Wednesday night in connection to the murder of 47-year-old Cynthia Gregory, who was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Park Plaza Mall.

Little Rock police release name of woman killed in Park Plaza Mall shooting

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An affidavit obtained by KARK 4 News shows that Sallam was charged in connection to an aggravated robbery incident earlier this month.

On Jan. 19, a man reported an electronic trade organized through Facebook Market Place led to him being shot at.

According to the victim, he was looking to trade his Apple Watch for a new iPhone. They agreed to meet at the Sharks located at 3323 Fairpark where the suspect allegedly traded a fake phone, took the watch and then began shooting at the victims while running away.

Little Rock police arrest suspect in deadly Park Plaza Mall shooting

The suspect was seen heading to the South Oaks apartments after firing the last of four to five rounds at the victims, an eyewitness said to the authorities.

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The affidavit read, police then scanned the area and found three shell casings on the street. Another eyewitness of the Jan. 19 incident said he believed the suspected shooter to be a tenant of the apartment complex and believed the suspects last name was Sallam.

Additional details on Gregorys murder were also obtained by KARK 4 News in the affidavit.

According to detectives, a witness said a man was seen attempting to take Gregorys purse from her and after he was unsuccessful, shot her and then ran through the Chick-fil-A parking lot across from the mall.

Little Rock police confirm Park Plaza Mall deadly shooting as attempted robbery

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Video surveillance obtained by detectives showed the same incident and the suspect fleeing towards the Park Avenue Lofts at 308 S University, where Sallam leases an apartment, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 28, a day after the deadly shooting of Cynthia Gregory, detectives said shell casings found at the scene of Gregorys murder match the casings found from the Jan. 16 incident at 3323 Fairpark. Robbery Detectives identified Sallam as the suspect for both incidents by surveillance videos. The affidavit stated that the victim and both eyewitnesses of the January 19 incident identified Sallam as the suspect in a photograph lineup as well.

Friends remember Park Plaza shooting victim Cynthia Gregory

Sallam was arrested on Jan. 29. After a search of Sallams apartment, detectives also found the clothes the suspect in video surveillance was seen wearing.

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Sallam appeared in court on Thursday, pleaded not guilty and no bond was set. He is being charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. His next court appearance is March 31.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
CHICAGO  A man was killed and another was injured early Friday morning in a shootout involving a CCL holder after an attempted robbery on the citys West Side, police said.

Chicago police said the gunfight unfolded just before 5:30 a.m. in the 900 block of South Homan Avenue in Homan Square.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

According to police, the victim, a 28-year-old man who was operating a garbage truck for Flood Brothers Disposal and Recycling Services, was outside of his truck in the area when he was approached by two men, a 42-year-old and a 20-year-old.

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Officers said the two suspects then pulled out guns and announced the robbery, but the victim, who has a valid FOID and CCL opened fire on the would-be robbers.

Amid the shootout, the 42-year-old suspect suffered a gunshot wound to his head and was pronounced dead on the scene. The 20-year-old was shot in the neck and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Authorities said the victim was also taken to the hospital for an evaluation, but it is unclear if he was wounded in the shootout.

Following the shooting, officers said two weapons were recovered at the scene.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

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Authorities have not identified the individual killed.

Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Felonies

The following people were booked into the Lee County-Tupelo Adult Jail in connection with felony charges ending Thursday at 11 a.m.

Blake Sparks, 36, of Marietta, was arrested by the Baldwyn Police Department, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a felon, DUI-other.

Lee County Sheriffs Office

The following reports were filed Thursday by the Lee County Sheriffs Office.

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A County Road 1654, Okolona, man said overnight, someone unknown stopped in front of his residence and knocked his mailbox off the post. The box, valued at $75, had one single dent in its side. He noted that this has happened before.

A Saltillo woman was driving down County Road 821 and found a box containing seven puppies who appeared to be about 10-weeks-old. The deputy called the animal shelter and discovered they were not accepting any animals because of a Parvo outbreak in the puppy room. The deputy gave the woman the name of a rescue group who might be able to help.

Anyone with information on any of these reports is urged to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 841-9041, the Tupelo Police Department at 841-6491 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at (800) 773-TIPS or download the P3 Tip App and leave an anonymous tip that way.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) opened criminal proceedings under the article on disclosure of information constituting a state secret following the publication of a story by Ukrainska Pravda, which mentioned the words of Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, at a closed meeting in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).

Source: SSU in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda; Sevgil Musaieva, Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda

Details: SSU press service reports that the relevant proceedings, opened on 28 January, concern persons to whom this information was directly disclosed during a closed, secretly classified meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

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Quote from SSU: "The pre-trial investigation is ongoing and is being carried out under Article 328.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine."

More details: The editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda commented on this information.

Quote from Sevgil Musaieva: "We act within the law and strictly adhere to professional standards of journalism. Ukrainska Pravda, as always, stands by its sources of information, which is guaranteed by the current legislation of Ukraine and international law. Freedom of speech and public access to information are key values of a democratic society. Ukrainska Pravda remains true to its principles and will continue to do its job with integrity and responsibility."

Background:

In an article published by Ukrainska Pravda on Monday, 27 January, "Trump, war, elections: what will shape the new season in Ukrainian politics," it was reported that at a closed meeting of the leaders of parliamentary factions and representatives of the military command, Kyrylo Budanov had noted that unless serious negotiations on ending the war are held by the summer, processes could be triggered that would be dangerous for Ukraine.

One of the meetings attendees told Ukrainska Pravda on condition of anonymity: "What stood out the most was Budanov's response. Someone asked him how much time we have left. Kyrylo, with his calm smile, replied: 'If there are no serious negotiations by the summer, dangerous processes could unfold, threatening Ukraines very existence."

Ukraine's Defence Intelligence has denied that its head, Kyrylo Budanov, stated during a closed meeting in the Verkhovna Rada about threats to Ukraine's existence.

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After being called out by Republican lawmakers for not enforcing the states E-Verify laws, Gov. Ron DeSantis administration on Wednesday issued warning letters to 40 companies.

The notices  which blame the Legislature for not funding the program  are an apparent response to the bitter fight this week between DeSantis and the GOP-controlled Legislature over how best to carry out President Donald Trumps immigration agenda.

Earlier this week, top Republicans noted that his Department of Commerce had issued eight enforcement letters to companies during DeSantis tenure for potentially not screening employees through E-Verify, the federal program that checks the legal eligibility of new workers.

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None were issued since 2023, when DeSantis signed legislation requiring all companies with 25 or more employees to screen their employees through the program.

FLORIDA POLITICS: Not good at this. Why lawmakers say they want to strip DeSantis immigration powers

The lack of action was part of the reason, top Republicans said, that immigration enforcement should be removed from the governor and given to the states agriculture commissioner, part of sweeping legislation lawmakers passed this week.

DeSantis has vowed to veto the bill, claiming that the agriculture commissioner wont aggressively pursue immigration enforcement.

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Wednesdays non-compliance letters, which were sent out to companies including the Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital and corporate sites for Circle K and 7-Eleven, include language blaming the Legislature for not funding E-Verify.

Though the Legislature created but twice refused to fund this program, the Department has marshaled existing resources to enforce the E-Verify law, the letters to the companies state.

It wasnt clear Thursday how, or when, lawmakers refused to fund the program.

The [annual state budget] includes enough funding for the Department to carry out its statutorily assigned duties, E-Verify being one of them, Senate spokesperson Katie Betta said in a statement.

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Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who was one of the lawmakers raising questions about the lack of enforcement this week, blamed the department for not enforcing the law.

This was not a priority for the office and the ball was dropped, he said in a text message Thursday. I have never heard they needed any additional funds. Not once did I ever get a request in for it.

The agencys legislative budget request to lawmakers for the upcoming fiscal year also doesnt mention additional staffing for E-Verify enforcement.

A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce, which oversees E-Verify enforcement, did not answer questions about the funding.

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One of the letters was also sent to Trulieve, the medical marijuana company that sponsored the recreational marijuana amendment that DeSantis spent much of last year trying to defeat.

Trulieve spokesperson Steve Vancore said the company would comply with the departments request for copies of all documentation relied upon by you for the verification of your new employees employment eligibility.

Every Trulieve employee is E-Verified as well as Level 2 background checked prior to onboarding, Vancore said.

None of the notices issued Wednesday included details justifying why the companies were out of compliance.

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Instead, all of the 40 notices were identical, stating that the department received information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that you may not be in compliance with the E-Verify law.

The bill passed by the Legislature Tuesday night would put the program under Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and add 17 people devoted to E-Verify audits. Neither DeSantis nor lawmakers proposed expanding E-Verify to all companies.

Gruters said the bill would add a lot of firepower to enforcement.

Im glad that it came up during this bill discussion and happy they are starting to move, he said.

Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
GOLDEN, Colo. (KDVR)  This year, the Colorado State Patrol is celebrating 90 years of serving and protecting the Centennial State.

To commemorate this milestone, FOX31 will get an exclusive look each month at the different aspects of state patrol and the people who wear the badge.

Iwo Jima survivor from Aurora remembers costly battle as 80th anniversary approaches

Sgt. Major Donald Enloe has been a member of the Colorado State Patrol since 1993 but hes been around it even longer as he grew up in the state patrol family.

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My dad was on the state patrol, but he was shot and killed on a traffic stop when I was three, almost four years old, Enloe said. My sister was 10 and a half months. So, I was raised that the state patrol was always the best, when mom taught us. The best or the smartest, no fear of crashes  they are the bravest. Thats always been kind of in my blood.

At 29 years old, Enloe decided to pursue his dream.

My mom was the last one I told I had applied, and I was afraid of what she was going to do, and she just teared up and said, I knew you were going to do it, Enloe said. Its amazing when you think about it, he was 29 when he was killed. I was 29 when I joined on.

From when his father served through his service, technology has changed and the interstates have been upgraded, but the traditions rooted in serving and protecting Colorado remain the same.

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We still hold the traditions true, Enloe said. The state patrol is very unique in what we do and how we do it. It impacts everybody in ways they dont even know when keeping chemicals safe off the highways and out of the waterways and catching the bad guys, of course, but doing the right thing for the right reason. To pass that on to the next generation, that I enjoy.

In almost 32 years of service, Enloe has a lot of stories.

Theres a lot of bad, but I really try to focus on the good, you know, the great floods of 2013, Enloe said.

101-year-old Navy vet Marie West gets to visit Omaha Beach for D-Day anniversary

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During the floods in 2013, Enloe told FOX31 he was in charge of a team conducting traffic control. He came across a Colorado Department of Transportation employee stuck on the highway.

He hadnt talked to anybody in over 28 hours, he was stuck on an island, Enloe said. He couldnt get home to Fort Morgan, and we said we are going to find you a place. And it was so easy. Everybody was so willing and saying we are going to take care of that. Thats the kind of stuff that I really enjoy is watching how people come together in a time of need.

Enloe fondly remembers moments of humanity through floods, devastating fires and blizzards.

I cant think of a greater job, Enloe said. We get to go help people when they need the most. You dont know how many people you touch. Did you save a life today? Maybe, maybe not based on that ticket. You dont know. Youre not doing it for the money or for the glory. Youre doing it because, I do it because I love the state of Colorado. I get to represent Colorado and not only save the people but the environment and the wildlife. And thats a great job.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 man was charged with DUI after he was pulled over for allegedly going more than double the speed limit in Litchfield early Friday in a pickup truck with the wrong license plate on it.

The traffic stop occurred on Bissell Road after troopers at 12:48 a.m. spotted a driver speeding and followed the vehicle, reportedly clocking it at about 80 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to Connecticut State Police.

Once the driver pulled over, troopers found that the license plate on the Chevy Silverado was registered to a Ford F-150, state police said. They also noticed the vehicles tail light was not properly functioning.

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The driver was identified as 24-year-old Christian Silver of Morris, according to state police. Troopers alleged that his eyes were bloodshot and glossy and that the smell of alcohol emanated from the vehicle, state police said.

According to state police, Silver told troopers the vehicle was his and that it was not properly insured. He was asked to take field sobriety testing, which he reportedly failed, state police said.

Silver was arrested on charges of operating under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, operating an unregistered motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance, improper use of registration plates, traveling unreasonably fast and improper rear lamps.

He was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Torrington Superior Court on Feb. 13.
A man faces DUI and reckless endangerment charges after he was found unconscious in a running vehicle that was stopped on Route 8 in Waterbury in December with a blood alcohol content reportedly more than three times the legal limit and cocaine in his system.

Godwin Rutihinda, 43, of Meriden turned himself in on Monday at the Troop L barracks in Litchfield, according to Connecticut State Police.

State police said they had a warrant for him on charges of illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, failure to maintain the proper lane on a limited access highway, improper turn signal, unsafe movement of stopped, standing or parked vehicle, improper parking, failure to display lights and second-degree reckless endangerment.

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The charges come after a trooper on Dec. 18 was dispatched at 8:21 p.m. to Route 8 South in the area of Exit 32 on the report of a disabled vehicle, according to the warrant affidavit supporting the arrest. State police found a white 2017 Acura SUV that was running and stopped in the right lane with its right blinker on and its brake lights lit.

A trooper reportedly found the driver unconscious. He was later identified as Rutihinda, according to the warrant affidavit. State police said a trooper banged on the window to wake him up, but he did not respond.

As the trooper was attempting to break the glass window, the Acura began moving forward at a speed that made it difficult to determine if the driver was fleeing or if his foot possibly slipped off the brake, the warrant affidavit said. The vehicle reportedly crossed over into the left lane, which led to other drivers having to brake and swerve to avoid a collision, according to the warrant affidavit.

The Acura continued moving about  of a mile and stopped just before it nearly collided with a guardrail, the warrant affidavit said. The trooper followed the vehicle in their cruiser and parked in front of it so it could not move any further.

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The Acura made contact with the cruiser bumper as the trooper approached the SUV and waited in the median for backup, according to the warrant affidavit. The trooper then reportedly shouted at Rutihinda to shut the vehicle off. Rutihinda appeared awake but disoriented, the warrant affidavit said.

As the trooper tried to establish contact with Rutihinda, he was reportedly making hand gestures that were recognized as sign language, leading police to believe he was either deaf or very hard of hearing, according to the warrant affidavit. The trooper was unable to get Rutihinda to shut the vehicle off and eventually had to lean into the SUV and put it into park, the warrant affidavit said. The other trooper who arrived on the scene was able to locate the keys and turn the vehicle off.

State police alleged that Rutihinda smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated, the warrant affidavit said. Troopers reportedly found a half-empty bottle of liquor and an empty nip bottle in the front console of the vehicle as well as a half-empty bottle of whiskey in the backseat, according to the warrant affidavit.

An ambulance crew that responded to the scene tried to evaluate Rutihinda in the rear of the ambulance, but the medic told state police that he allegedly tried to grope her, the warrant affidavit said. He was taken to an area hospital where he had to be sedated, according to the warrant affidavit.

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A trooper later sought a search warrant for Rutihindas medical records, which reportedly showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.28, the warrant affidavit said. A urine sample reportedly found that he had cocaine and benzodiazepine in his system, according to the warrant affidavit.

Following his arrest, Rutihinda was released on a $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Feb. 13.
An Eastford woman faces charges for allegedly stalking someone using GPS devices that were found on their vehicle and in a stuffed bear.

Jessica Benoit, 36, turned herself in on Wednesday at Troop D in Danielson in connection with a warrant charging her with electronic stalking, criminal impersonation and third-degree identity theft, according to Connecticut State Police.

The investigation was launched after troopers on July 29 responded to a home in Eastford where an individual found a tracking device on their vehicle and immediately suspected Benoit had put it there, the warrant affidavit said. State police took a statement from the alleged victim and seized the device.

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Then on Aug. 4, the alleged victim contacted troopers again and claimed that they had found another tracking device, this time planted inside a stuffed bear, according to the warrant affidavit. The individual told troopers the bear was initially left in a truck before it was brought into their home, where they noticed a green blinking light in its stomach.

The individual found a spot on the bears back that had recently been sewn before the GPS device was removed, the warrant affidavit said. The device was the same make and model as the one found under the vehicle days earlier.

The alleged victim also reportedly had text messages with Benoit showing that she said the bear was left by someone in the truck and that the individual could keep it in their vehicle or house, according to the warrant affidavit. When the individual offered to bring the bear to Benoit, she declined, state police wrote.

Over the next few weeks, the individual claimed that they spoke to Benoit multiple times about the bear, including a conversation in which she allegedly said the stuffed toys are equipped with tracking devices in them that are linked to their birth certificates, the warrant affidavit said. The individual told police they knew this was a lie. Benoit also shared a screenshot showing the bear was in Killingly, where state police said it was taken after being seized as evidence.

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State police in October obtained a search warrant for the account that was used to purchase and register the GPS device found in the bear. Troopers allege Benoit used a different name to open the account. Both the phone number and credit card information associated with the account were allegedly tied to Benoit, the warrant affidavit said.

The account records also reportedly showed that the device was tracked at various points at Benoits home, the individuals home and a number of other towns in Connecticut as well as Massachusetts, according to the warrant affidavit. When troopers shared this with the alleged victim, they recalled going on a trip with children to Massachusetts.

Troopers went to Benoits home on Nov. 4 to interview her about the allegations. She reportedly told police the individual had gotten a restraining order against her after telling the court about the tracking device in the stuffed bear, the warrant affidavit said.

Benoit allegedly admitted to putting the device in the stuffed animal but claimed that it was not meant to track the victim, according to the warrant affidavit. She claimed that the bear had sentimental value and that she did not want to lose it, adding that she would often send someone over to the individuals home with items she would not get back.

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According to the warrant affidavit, Benoit reportedly admitted to buying three GPS devices. She claimed that she lost one of them in a bag that she left behind after attending a birthday party and that the alleged victim found it and intentionally put it on their own vehicle to make Benoit look guilty, the warrant affidavit said.

State police later obtained a search warrant for the account information associated with the device found on the alleged victims vehicle. According to the warrant affidavit, the account reportedly had several ties to Benoit.

Following her arrest, Benoit was released on a $20,000 bond and was arraigned on Thursday in Danielson Superior Court. Court records show she did not enter a plea and that the case was continued to March 5.
Jan. 30SANTA FE  The legislative session is less than two weeks old, but tensions are already rising over senators' ability to ask as many questions as they want.

Several Republican senators took to the chamber floor Thursday to complain about Democratic committee chairs setting time limits on member questions during hearings.

"It is not right that members of the state Senate, who are elected by their constituents, are not allowed to dig down into those bills," said Senate Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington.

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"There are problems with some of these bills that need to be brought out in the open and discussed," added Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell.

The issue flared up after a lengthy Senate Conservation Committee meeting earlier in the day on water-related legislation.

In addition, Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, this week limited members of the Senate Rules Committee to five minutes of questioning apiece during debate on a bill dealing with overhauling the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

Duhigg said Friday procedural rules give committee chairs the authority to run their panels efficiently.

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"Sometimes that's going to include ... controlling the time that folks can speak," Duhigg said.

In response to Republicans' concerns, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, also cautioned that having no limits on questioning could, if taken to the extreme, lead to unchecked filibusters.

"Let's just pause for a moment before we get so outraged," Wirth said during Friday's discussion on the Senate floor.

Senate rules do not directly stipulate whether time limits on questioning can be imposed in committee hearings, though they do require that a senator refrain from interrupting another senator while they are speaking.

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The rules also allow senators to move to close debate after two hours of discussion, though that rule only applies to floor debates and has been rarely invoked in recent years.

Disputes over procedure and perceived time-wasting have been more common in the House of Representatives, where minority Republicans have, at times, sought to slow the pace of legislation by engaging in lengthy debates.

During one House committee hearing this week, Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, accused GOP lawmakers of engaging in repetitive questioning, saying she was "embarrassed" by the tactics.

That prompted a sharp response from Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, who took umbrage at what she described as inaccurate insinuations.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  The New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department said they have placed two workers on administrative leave after KRQE News 13 uncovered they were both former Albuquerque police officers connected to the federal DWI investigation. Harvey Johnson and Nelson Ortiz resigned from APD last year giving up their badges rather than be interviewed by Internal Affairs. They are among the officers who retired or resigned amid a scandal involving APD officers taking bribes to get DWI cases dropped. None of the officers have been charged.

Related Coverage:

The Bernalillo County District Attorneys Office placed Johnson and Ortiz on the Giglio List which classifies potential court testimony as unreliable. On Thursday, CYFD confirmed Harvey Johnson was a specialist dealing with Native American children. They say Oritz was an investigations caseworker. CYFD said at the time of their hiring, no rules would have prevented their employment.

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Several foster parents reached out to KRQE News 13 saying they were concerned the officer could negatively impact their court cases since the officers were deemed unreliable.

Senator Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) also blasted the hiring in a committee hearing on Wednesday saying it shows a lack of leadership. Its inconceivable to me that as hard as things may be at CYFD to recruit, that law enforcement officers can be part of corruption and the consequence is not being fired or their bosses not being fired, said Sen. Cervantes.

CYFD placed both ex-cops on leave Wednesday. KRQE News 13 wanted to know if CYFD knew they were under federal investigation when they hired both of them. They have not replied.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky has warned that Russian intelligence services are using Russian diplomats and their families to carry out acts of sabotage in Europe.

Source: German public-broadcasting radio station Deutschlandfunk, citing Lipavsky in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newsroom, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Lipavsky spoke about the unprecedented network represented by Russian diplomats and their families, with at least 2,000 individuals in the Schengen Area. He said this situation is entirely unacceptable.

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Quote: "The number of diplomats, their family members, military personnel, and their families currently amounts to at least 2,000 people. The exact number could be even higher, as this only includes those officially registered."

The minister added that Czechia intends to propose limiting freedom of movement within the Schengen Area. The goal is for Russian diplomats, their staff, and all their relatives to require a visa if they wish to travel from one EU country to another.

Lipavsky hopes these restrictions will be included in the 16th sanctions package against Russia.

Quote: "We must protect our people from Russian sabotage and prevent Russian diplomats from causing us harm."

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The minister also cautioned against falling into Putin's negotiation trap, where Russia dictates the terms for talks.

Background:

Earlier, media reports revealed that the 16th sanctions package would target Russian aluminium, agricultural products, the shadow fleet of tankers, liquefied natural gas and the banking sector.

However, it was recently announced that the European Union will not include a complete ban on the purchase of Russian liquefied natural gas in the new sanctions package.

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In the face of pressure from US President Donald Trump for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky has said that Europeans must impose their conditions for possible negotiations.

Source: ntv with reference to Lipavsky in an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newsroom

Details: Lipavsky said that Russians were trying to impose on the West the idea that the Ukrainian government was illegitimate.

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"We must force Putin to accept Zelenskyy for negotiations and as the president of a sovereign nation. This must be one of our conditions for negotiations," Lipavsky said.

"Putin, his foreign minister Lavrov and some propagandists say that they do not want to negotiate with Ukraine. They are talking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz or the American president, but not to the Ukrainians," he said.

Lipavsky noted that this is a trap that Russia is trying to set for its opponents.

"They want us to believe that the Ukrainian government is not capable of negotiating. We must not fall into this trap," he stressed.

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Background:

Donald Trump's administration is known to be keen to bring Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine to an end as soon as possible, although it acknowledges that this could take months.

In the first days of his presidency, Trump threatened Russia with massive sanctions and tariffs if it did not agree to a quick peace deal. He also said that he would seek lower oil prices to end the war.

During a discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump placed the responsibility on Russia to concludea peace deal to end its full-scale war against Ukraine.

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From the moment he returned to the White House, Donald Trump launched a full-scale assault on the federal workforce. The president has fired or demoted an unprecedented number of senior officials and civil servants. He has issued executive orders aimed at penalizing those who remain on the job. And he has awarded Elon Musk roving authority to oust as many workers as possible, often through illicit partisan interference. Much of this is flatly illegal, though Trump seems eager for a court battle that could further expand his control over the workforce if he prevails.

On this weeks Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the ongoing attack on federal workers and its dire consequences. A preview of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Dahlia Lithwick: I want to start with one of the big through lines of the last two weeks, which is the systematic campaign to fire, reassign, put on administrative leave, frighten, offer bogus buyouts to, and otherwise simply terrorize federal workers. These demands to narc on your DEIA colleagues, and to somehow perform fealty to this administration or scramtheyre coming from every direction, and its coming in the midst of an on-again, off-again funding freeze. Could you talk about whats happening in your hometown and to federal entities all around the country?

Mark Joseph Stern: Its pretty hard to overstate the atmosphere of fear, confusion, and dread here in D.C. Trump is taking truly unprecedented moves, in conjunction with Elon Musk, to purge so much of the federal workforce. That includes people at the toplike the illegal firings of independent watchdogs, as well as appointees to the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But weve also seen mass firings or suspensions of civil servants at the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, USAID, and more.

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And I just want to reiterate, Dahlia, that these are not political appointees. These are nonpartisan career employees who are protected against arbitrary or partisan removal under federal law. Congress has expressly barred Trump and his cronies from targeting these individuals, yet theyre doing it anyway. And theyre receiving very minimal pushback, including basically no pushback at all from congressional Republicans. Trump is just declaring that he is a dictator with absolute control over the entire federal workforce. And he has laid the groundwork to go even further with his so-called Schedule F executive order, which seeks to reclassify more than 50,000 civil servants as political appointees who could be coerced into doing MAGAs bidding or be fired at will.

Beyond that, you mentioned the phony buyout that every federal employee has received. They should not take itits not obviously legal; Congress has not appropriated the funds, and the details remain very unclear. But the obvious goal is to demoralize federal workers across the board. The offer came with this very alarming language suggesting that there were about to be huge purges, firings, and reassignment. Basically the language was: Take the opportunity now to have a life jacket or else were just going to throw you right overboard.

I want to stay on Elon Musk for a minute, because he has clearly expanded his wheelhouse beyond the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. He and his allies have effectively taken over the Office of Personnel Managementthe federal governments HR departmentto make life miserable every day for civil servants. Theyre now demanding access to sensitive payment systems at the Treasury Department that control the flow of $6 trillion, including federal salaries, Medicare, and Social Security. And they seem to be preparing for a mass firing of more than 200,000 members of the federal workforce.

I just want to say it again: Nobody elected Elon Musk, but I guess he and some A.I. chatbots are now running the entire federal government?

Hes running the playbook that he ran on Twitter when he gutted it, right? Hes taking total control, moving fast and breaking everything, and just assuming somebody else can clean up the damage later. But the federal government is not a private company. It cannot be run or gutted like a private company without horrific consequences down the line.

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Let me give you a perfect example of why I think Musks approach is so dangerous. As everybody knows, there was a plane crash in D.C. on Wednesday. A helicopter collided with a passenger plane and almost 70 people died. When this collision occurred, the Federal Aviation Administration was leaderless. Why? Musk had Trump fire the former FAA leader as soon as he got into office, because the former leader had investigated and fined one of Musks companies, Starlink. This was a sheer vengeance firing. This was not about competence or even truly about political affiliation. Elon Musk was just mad at this guy for investigating his company and wanted him gone on Day 1.

Because of that, the FAA was leaderless during the biggest aviation disaster in this country since 2001. The agency had to scramble to figure out how it was going to respond to this without anyone at the top. And by the way, the day after the crash, FAA employeesincluding air traffic controllers, who are already badly short-staffedgot an email encouraging them to resign and find work in the private sector.

This is not a game. Federal workers are not just pawns you can move around the board and reassign and purge without massive collateral damage to the entire country and its citizens. The FAA is just one example of many. All these agencies in charge of federal law enforcement, protecting the homeland, distributing lifesaving aidtheyre frozen, paralyzed, not only because theyre leaderless, but because the civil servants who run them have been put on leave or fired illegally.

These workers are not in it for the money or the glory. Musk keeps maligning and slandering civil servants as these beady-eyed bureaucrats in the deep state trying to thwart the will of the people. He could not be more wrong. These workers dont get paid a lot. They dont get a huge amount of praise. They just work day in, day out to make the government function. When these agencies are kneecapped, the government doesnt work anymore. And that doesnt mean Musk is shaving off a few billion in savings here or there. It means that when a plane crashes, theres no one to take the reins at an agency responsible for air safety in this country. The situation is more dire than most people realize. And I fear its going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.

I want to offer two thoughts in response. First, in some sense, the silver lining of this funding freeze and horrific bullying of federal workers is that it has made the government visible to a lot of people who were apt to say, Oh, government sucks. I dont want to pay my parking tickets. And I think the FAA disaster proved that air traffic controllers, of all people, shouldnt be forced to figure out if they have to leave the government, or if someone is screwing around with their salaries. This is a reign of terror over people on whom all of our lives depend every day.

The other thing I want to say is that the single most despicable response to this crash is to blame inferior DEIA hires. And I just want folks to buckle in, because that is going to be the answer, right? That was Trumps answer, and thats Pete Hegseths claim about the military. That will be the claim about the FAA. And I just want to say that it is the single most gutless and tyrannical statement, to say, without any information, that everything that happens under Trumps watch is the fault of decades of DEIA hiring. Its contemptible. And get used to it, because thats where theyll lay the blame.

Absolutely, and I think the Trump administration set the stage for this with another assault on the federal workforcebanning all mentions of DEIA throughout the government, canceling all contracts and programs that involve DEIA, firing or suspending every person who was doing this work for the federal government, forcing employees to snitch on colleagues who are still allegedly doing DEIA work undercover.

The inevitable consequence here is that all people who arent straight, white men are going to be put under a cloud of suspicion now. If something bad happens and theres a Black woman in charge of the agency, she will be called a DEIA hire, she will be blamed, and her head will roll. Racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people at federal agencies across the board will be deemed DEIA hires until proved otherwise. They are assumed to be lesser than and they will be degraded and demoralized until they are fired or harassed and coerced into leaving. And these workers are integral to the functioning of the government. When they are gone, we will be the ones to feel the pain.
The U.S. Capitol on Nov. 26, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

Iowas delegation in Washington, D.C. backed legislation this week aimed at combatting fentanyl trafficking and improving access to child care.

U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst also played roles this week in the confirmation hearings for President Donald Trumps cabinet picks. Senators heard from several of Trumps nominees to fill leadership positions in the new administration, including controversial picks like Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary.

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On Thursday, Grassley spoke in support of former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgums nomination to lead the Department of Interior. Burgum, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, was confirmed by the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 79-18. Grassley said he supported Burgums nomination because of his all-of-the-above strategy on energy production and management.

An all-of-the-above strategy really means just that  an emphasis on what weve got energy from, fossil fuels, and thats declining in use, but is still going to be around for a long, long time, Grassley said. It means all of the alternative energy that we can create; it means conservation, and not necessarily conservation promoted by government, but individual conservation; and of course nuclear, and nuclear brings to our attention a whole new generation of ways to produce energy  Of course, in order to accomplish that, we ought to cut back on Biden-era regulations.

Burgum was a strong critic of the Biden administrations energy policies, with North Dakota suing the U.S. Department of the Interior under President Joe Biden at least five times over policies like the Public Lands Rule and limits on the amount of methane released by oil companies.

Ernst, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, led the questioning on former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loefflers bid to serve as Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator Wednesday, saying her former GOP colleague was well-suited for the position because of her background as an entrepreneur. Loeffler was one of the wealthiest lawmakers when she was appointed to serve as a senator for Georgia, previously having been chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidary of the financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher is the CEO of Bakkt.

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The SBA had mismanaged and misinformed Congress on its disaster loan account in 2024 that led to shortfalls impacting disaster victims in states like North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Florida, Ernst said, showing a need for substantial reforms.

The SBA has been completely out of touch with the real-world challenges of entrepreneurs, and while the Biden administration simultaneously let SBA employees stay home, they also added positions in Washington, D.C. while stripping offices in Iowa, New Hampshire, Utah, and other states, Ernst said in her opening remarks on Loefflers nomination hearing. I would like to work with you, Sen. Loeffler, on ways to ensure SBA is effectively utilizing its personnel and ensuring that small businesses in all parts of America are able to access SBA programs if they need them.

New loans could increase rural child care access, Ernst says

Alongside Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, Ernst also backed legislation Wednesday that she said would help increase the availability of child care.

The Small Business Child Care Investment Act would allow nonprofit child care providers to participate in SBA loan programs. and would provide religiously-affiliated nonprofit providers access to more loan programs that could be used for real estate, construction, remodeling, and other expenses.

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Ernst said that access to child care is an issue she commonly hears about from Iowa constituents.

When traveling river to river across Iowa, I consistently hear about the difficulties families face in finding affordable, high-quality child care, Ernst said in a statement. In many of our states rural communities, religious organizations often offer the only child care options but for too long have been denied access to federal funding. To drive down prices, Im dedicated to real solutions like this that expand options and kick down regulatory hurdles on behalf of hardworking families.

Iowa child care providers and advocates voiced support for the measure. Tiffany Finch, Director of Cambridge Little Achievers Center in Fairfield, said in a news release that rural child care nonprofits would greatly appreciate the opportunity to apply for the SBA Loans.

There continues to be a need for child care that offers families the same quality found in larger communities, Finch said. Allowing non-profit child care centers the same access to SBA Loans would allow us to apply for funding that can focus on the quality and culture of the programs without adding more expense to rural families.

Lawmakers move on fentanyl bills

Grassley introduced a measure Thursday to reclassify fentanyl-related drugs as a schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, with plans to discuss the measure at a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee meeting.

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The bill, the Halt Lethal Trafficking (HALT) Fentanyl Act, would permanently reclassify fentanyl-related substances as a schedule I drug, meaning there is no currently accepted medical use for the substance. Fentanyl is currently classified as a schedule II controlled substance, meaning it can be prescribed for medical use, but related substances are currently only temporarily classified as a schedule I drug.

Grassley, alongside Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana and Martin Heinrich. D-New Mexico, said they introduced the measure to permanently reclassify these synthetic opioids as a way to help law enforcement combat the trafficking and distribution of fentanyl and prevent deaths.

Today, roughly 150 Americans will die from fentanyl poisoning, Grassley said in a news release. Cartels fuel this crisis by marketing their poison as legitimate prescription pills. They also avoid regulation by chemically altering the drugs to create powerful fentanyl knock-offs. Congress closed that loophole by temporarily classifying fentanyl related substances under Schedule 1. The HALT Fentanyl Act would make permanent fentanyl related substances Schedule 1 classification and ensure law enforcement has the tools they need to combat these deadly drugs.

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn also co-introduced a measure Wednesday titled the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act that he said would hold China accountable for its role in the fentanyl crisis.

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The bill would amend the existing Fentanyl Sanctions Act, allowing the U.S. to impose sanctions on Chinese entities involved in the production, sale, financing or transportation of synthetic opioids and the chemicals used to make fentanyl-related substances. Individuals and organizations would be classified as foreign opioid traffickers under the bill if they fail to cooperate with U.S. counternarcotics efforts or fail to implement know-your-customer procedures.

While China banned fentanyl exports to the U.S. in 2019, Nunn said that more needs to be done to stop the illegal trafficking of fentanyl into the country.

Fentanyl is the number one killer of Americans from my daughters age to my age, Nunn said in a statement. Something has to change. Securing the border is the first step to stopping the scourge of fentanyl pouring into our communities. But we must also cut off the cartels supply at its source. That starts with holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their role as the primary manufacturer, supplier, and launderer of these illicit drugs worldwide.
BERLIN, Pa.  A Berlin fugitive was arrested at a gas station Wednesday with several firearms and a small bag of drugs allegedly in his possession, officials said.

Two state troopers located David Mitchell, 51, sitting in the passenger seat of a Toyota sedan at a Berlin gas station, Somerset County District Attorney Molly Metzgar said.

A search allegedly discovered that Mitchell had a loaded revolver, a small bag of suspected methamphetamine, bullets and $1,963 in cash in his possession.

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Metzgar alleged that three additional firearms were found inside the vehicle and seized as evidence.

Online court records show Mitchell was being sought in several cases, including 2024 drug and burglary cases. He was also scheduled to be sentenced in July 2024 on a 2023 DUI case, records show.

Mitchell was lodged in Somerset County Jail on his fugitive arrest warrants while new charges are pending, Metzgar said. Those include a felony felon not to possess a firearm charge and additional weapon and drug charges, she said.

Commendations to Pennsylvania State Police for their vigilance in getting these illegally possessed firearms away from a wanted fugitive, Metzgar said.

David Hurst is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @TDDavidHurst.
Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced Friday that his office has dropped a criminal charge against an 18-year-old North Shore woman who was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week.

Zeneyda Barrera, of Lynn, was arrested Monday on a charge of assault and battery on a family or household member but before arraignment, she was referred to the Essex County District Attorneys Youthful Diversion Program, which allows certain first-time offenders to participate in a variety of programming in lieu of entering the court system, according to Tucker.

Barrera was found to meet the programs eligibility requirements, however, she was apprehended by ICE before she could enter the diversion program and complete the program contract, Tucker noted.

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Today, my office filed a nolle prosequi  or decision not to prosecute  in this case, Tucker said in a statement. This ceases the criminal prosecution of Barrera but allows her to enter and complete the diversion program.

Lynn Mayor Jared C. Nicholson and Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton are hopeful Barrera will be released from custody.

We hope this means that Zeneyda will be able to come home to her family and we appreciate all the coordination that has taken place with various local, state, and federal agencies, Nicholson said in a statement.

Moulton vowed to fight for Barrera to be reunited with her loved ones.

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This incident underscores the importance of compassion and understanding in our legal processes, particularly for our youth, Moulton said in a statement.

Patrick Callahan, Barreras attorney, thanked Tucker and his office for making the right and just decision in ending prosecution against his client.

A statement from Chief Christopher P. Reddy said:

The Lynn Police Department recognizes the legitimate concerns expressed by community members regarding recent activity by federal immigration enforcement (ICE) officials in the City of Lynn. We value all members of this community including the many hard working immigrant members who contribute to our shared success. We are committed to providing accurate information and working to ensure that all members of this community are safe and supported. The Lynn Police Department, like all Massachusetts state and local police agencies, does not and is not authorized to enforce federal immigration law. We have been advised that ICE enforcement initiatives are currently focused on individuals who have committed serious crimes. It is imperative for victims and witnesses to feel confident that they can seek assistance from the police without fear that it may put at risk their presence in the United States. We remain committed to protecting and supporting all members of this community regardless of immigration status.

In a statement, Mayor Jared Nicholson said in part:

I am so relieved that Zeneyda has been released and reunited with her family. We appreciate all the coordination that has taken place with various local, state and federal agencies. Public safety is always a priority for us. What is concerning about cases such as this one is the potential chilling effect it could have on the good policing that the Lynn Police Department does on a regular basis, if people are afraid of the implications of contacting law enforcement. The LPD does not ask for immigration status and cares deeply about keeping the entire community safe.

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The mayor also says hes been in touch with the Barrera family and federal delegation to connect her with resources needed for her immigration case.

ICE should consider all the circumstances when taking any enforcement action, Mayor Nicholson said. If ICEs intent is to target violent offenders who put our community at risk, people like Zeneyda should not be detained.

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(COLORADO SPRINGS)  The 4th Judicial District Attorneys Office (DAs Office) has completed its review of a June 4, 2024, officer-involved shooting, concluding the shooting was justified.

According to the DAs Office, just before 10 a.m. on June 4, deputies with the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO) were called to a motor vehicle theft in progress in the 4300 block of Chamberlin South near South Academy Boulevard and B Street in Colorado Springs.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: UPDATE: CSPD investigating EPSO officer-involved shooting

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The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Michael Martinez by the reporting party and according to them, Martinez had a gun in his pocket and was allegedly attempting to steal a motorcycle from a relative at the home and the confrontation had started to become physical.

At 10:04 a.m., EPSO units including Deputies Matthew Klinedinst and Deputy Gregory Stoneham responded to the home. Deputies were told Martinez had forced his way into the home and was with two women, including his grandmother who could not walk independently.

Deputies allegedly asked Martinez to leave the home multiple times with his hands up. After several commands, deputies saw Martinez in the front door of the home behind his grandmother, placing her between him and deputies. Deputies commanded Martinez to release his grandmother and walk out with his hands up.

When Martinez allegedly refused to comply, Sergeant Jared Harmon and Deputy Stoneham approached the front door behind the cover of a ballistic shield as they continued to urge Martinez to release his grandmother.

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Martinez continued to refuse verbal commands and the DAs Office said Deputy Johnson fired one 40mm less than lethal foam round. Martinez carried his grandmother out onto the front lawn where she fell to the ground and Martinez allegedly ran from officers, during which time Deputies saw Martinez with a weapon.

The DAs Office said Martinez aimed his weapon at Deputies and Deputy Johnson and Sergeant Harmon started firing at Martinez with their pistols. Sergeant Harmon fired four rounds while Deputy Johnson fired 17 rounds.

The report states Martinez was hit four times but he continued to run down the street towards an unmarked, unoccupied EPSO vehicle, which was locked. Martinez allegedly fired four to five rounds into the drivers side window, climbed into the vehicle, and drove from the scene.

According to the report, ten minutes later Martinez was found at an apartment complex in the 1600 block of Lenmar Drive near I-25 and South Nevada Avenue.

Courtesy: FOX21 Reporter/Anchor Cindy Centofanti Courtesy: FOX21 Reporter/Anchor Cindy Centofanti Courtesy: FOX21 Reporter/Anchor Cindy Centofanti

Martinez survived his injuries and is facing charges of:

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First Degree Assault of a Peace Officer with a Weapon

Third Degree Assault

Second Degree Motor Vehicle Theft

First Degree Kidnapping

Martinezs next court date is Feb. 19.

The DAs Office said in post-shooting interviews both Sergeant Harmond and Deputy Johnson recounted how they saw the gun when Martinez was running from Deputies and Deputy Johnson spoke about seeing the gun being aimed at them.

The DAs Office said it determined the use of force was justified based on facts and evidence. The DAs Office highlighted the multiple attempts to de-escalate the situation by ordering Martinez to release his grandmother, the deputies use of less-than-lethal means before escalating to deadly force, and the lack of time to issue additional verbal commands when Martinez was allegedly running from deputies wielding a gun.

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FARMINGTON, N.M. (KRQE)  The Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington is expanding its service. SkyWest Airlines will add daily direct roundtrip flights from Farmington to Denver.

Story continues below

Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett said the city had an agreement with SkyWest back in 2019 to launch the service, but the deal got derailed during the pandemic.

Each flight can accommodate up to 50 passengers. The new route begins May 8.

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Customers can book now here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (KCAU)  Theres national attention on ICE raids being conducted in major cities, and its sparked concerns that it could be happening in Siouxland.

There are rumors on social media that the Dakota County Sheriffs Office is involved in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Dakota County is a 287(g) program, which means it provides housing for detained ICE suspects. However, thats the extent of the departments involvement, and the sheriffs office is not in charge of or overseeing any ICE raids.

Is the Woodbury County jail holding ICE detainees?

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When the [United States Marshals Service] got a warrant or the FBI got a warrant, of course we want a deputy or two with them because its in Dakota County and its our job, Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg said. But we dont have the manpower to go do raids. Thats not happening.

Kleinberg says he wants residents to ask him and his deputies about any concerns or questions they might have instead of going on social media.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.
UFC president Dana White has called out Bryce Mitchell for the controversial statement he made while appearing on his ArkanSanity podcast.

The featherweight contender during the podcast denied the Holocaust, calling Adolf Hitler a "good guy."

Since then, Bryce has faced criticism from his colleagues, fans, and now the chairman of the mixed martial arts organization he represents.

Dana White Feels 'Disgusted' About Bryce Mitchell's Hitler Comments

While appearing at a press conference ahead of a Power Slap event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, January 30, UFC Chairman Dana White criticized the comments made by Bryce Mitchell, the number thirteen-ranked featherweight contender on the UFC roster.

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Mitchell, in the first episode of his podcast, while talking about Elon Musk's Nazi-like salute at a Trump rally, defended Hitler, also denying the Holocaust.

"When you realize there's no possible way they could've burned and cremated 6 million bodies, you're gonna realize the Holocaust ain't real," he claimed per Hindustantimes.

White stated the UFC had reached out to Mitchell to express disappointment, adding, "I've heard a lot of dumb and ignorant shit over the years, but this is probably the worst."

Bryce Mitchell To Face No Punishment For His Hitler Remarks

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Dana White's strong condemnation of Mitchell's comments had led to speculations that the fighter might face some disciplinary actions from the UFC.

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However, when quizzed about the possibility of punishing Mitchell, White explained that, despite what anyone thinks, the fighter is entitled to say whatever he wants because of his right to "free speech."

"That's what everyone wants to hear about punishment, but it's free speech. I don't have to love it, you don't have to love it," White said.

Although Mitchell will continue fighting in the UFC, White suggested he might face his punishment inside the octagon, stating, "For all of you that hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his ass whooped on the global stage."

Fans Criticize Dana White For Not Punishing Bryce Mitchell

Sneako CALLS OUT the hypocrisy of Dana White speaking against Bryce Mitchell but staying silent on Sean Strickland after his comments on Muslims being terrorists. It shows you can talk about one group, but you can't talk about the other one.

pic.twitter.com/xbfijP7ZL4  Sneako Updates (@Sneak0o) January 31, 2025

The decision not to punish Mitchell for his controversial comments has not gone well with some UFC fans.

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After Dana White's comments that people should tune in to Michell's next fight to hopefully see him beaten, an X user commented, "This is about as good as you could expect from @danawhite, considering he has investors and whatnot."

Meanwhile, another section of fans on X (formerly Twitter) questioned White's hypocrisy for speaking out against Mitchell when he had refused to address comments from another one of his fighters, Sean Strickland, against Muslims.

Popular streamer Sneako questioned why White would hold a press conference about Mitchell but not Strickland, declaring, "It shows you can talk about one group, but you can't talk about the other one."

Bryce Mitchell Has Made Controversial Comments In The Past

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Although Mitchell's recent Hitler comments have earned him a lot of criticism, this isn't the first time the mixed martial artist has made controversial comments.

In 2024, Mitchell explained that he wanted to homeschool his son to prevent him from being gay. In an Instagram video, he remarked, "We're going to have to homeschool all our kids, or they're all going to end up turning gay."

Another of Mitchell's comments is his belief that the earth is flat and that gravity doesn't exist. The UFC fighter made the comment in 2022 after calling out famous podcaster Joe Rogan for talking cr-p about him and his mother's belief about the earth.

"This earth is flat, it's fixed, and the stars and stuff rotate around us. The sun rotates around us, and I can prove that," Mitchell said, according to Metro UK.

UFC Fighters Address Mitchell's Controversial Hitler Comments

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Since Mitchell's Hitler remarks went viral, UFC fighters have been addressing the comments made by one of their colleagues.

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In an Instagram post, Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy called out Mitchell for his comments, declaring, per Newsweek, "You can call me a greedy jew to my face, and we'll see what's up."

In contrast, former UFC fighter and five-time world champion Jake Shields defended Mitchell, saying that it's totally okay for people to praise Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is responsible for the death of children in Gaza, but not Hitler.

Levy wrote, "It's socially acceptable to praise him, yet everyone loses their mind when Bryce Mitchell praises a man who's been dead for 80 years."
The Maryland senator confronted Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his false medical claims during his confirmation hearing to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks questioning of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trumps nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has gone viral online after the Democrat confronted him on his past statements about vaccines and Black Americans.

We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule thats given to whites because their immune system is better than ours, said Kennedy during a 2021 interview, which Alsobrooks read aloud during Thursdays confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

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When asked what he meant by the remarks, which harken back to racist medical tropes that suggest Black people are racially or biologically different than others, Kennedy  who has pushed several medical conspiracies throughout his advocacy career  responded, Theres a series of studies, I think most of them by Poland, that show that to particular antigens that Blacks have a much stronger reaction. Theres differences in reaction to different products by different races.

Senator Alsobrooks, who is Black, then asked Kennedy, by his theory, What different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?

When Kennedy continued, he quoted the so-called Poland article suggesting Black Americans need fewer antigens, Alsobrooks interjected, telling the HHS nominee, With all due respect, that is so dangerous. She added, I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country.

Kennedy has a history of pushing false medical claims, particularly as it relates to COVID-19. As a presidential candidate in 2023, Kennedy falsely claimed that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people and spare Jews and Chinese people. Researchers, doctors and even his own sister quickly slammed the remarks at the time.

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COVID-19 disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic and other ethnic groups in the United States, but health experts have explained that social determinants, such as health care access and some pre-existing illnesses led to different recovery outcomes, not a specific or deliberate genetic virus composition.

More must-reads:
A Travis County judge said he won't dismiss a deadly conduct charge against Daniel Perry, who was pardoned last year by Gov. Greg Abbott after Perry was convicted of murder in the Austin shooting death of a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020.

"I will be preparing legal findings of fact and conclusions of law which will explain the decision," County Court-at-Law No. 8 Judge Carlos Barrera said Thursday in an email to the American-Statesman. "The defense wants to submit proposed findings, and the state wants to respond; so I will wait to see those before I finish mine."

Defense lawyer Doug O'Connell declined to comment Thursday on the judge's decision. The Travis County attorney's office does not comment on pending cases, spokeswoman Diana Melendez said.

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More: Judge delays decision on whether to dismiss deadly conduct charge against Daniel Perry

Daniel Perry, left, leaves the courtroom with his family after a Jan. 24 evidentiary hearing for his deadly conduct charge. A Travis County judge says he won't dismiss the deadly conduct charge against Perry, who had been pardoned by Gov. Greg Abbott after his murder conviction in the 2020 shooting death of a racial justice protester in Austin.

Barrera said he sent attorneys for both sides an email Tuesday about his decision not to dismiss the indictment.

O'Connell had argued during a hearing Jan. 24 that the indictment should be dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct that happened both before and after grand jury hearings.

Former Austin police homicide Detective David Fugitt testified at the hearing that prosecutors told him he could not include evidence in his grand jury testimony that would prove Perry did not run a red light and did not intentionally drive into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters on Congress Avenue downtown in July 2020.

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More: Daniel Perry released from Texas prison within an hour after Gov. Abbott's pardon

Fugitt also said police threatened him with an internal investigation if he didn't remove the exculpatory evidence from his presentation to the grand jury. Police threatened Fugitt after they received an angry phone call from District Attorney Jose Garza, O'Connell said.

Prosecutorial misconduct also occurred after the grand jury indicted Perry when Garza held a news conference saying Perry had declined to testify, O'Connell said during the hearing last week. What Garza said violated Perry's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, O'Connell said.

Assistant County Attorney Alexandra Gauthier objected to most of what Fugitt said during the hearing, saying it violated rules about the secrecy of grand jury proceedings. The judge overruled most of her objections.

Daniel Perry

Gauthier also said that a district judge already had decided there was no prosecutorial misconduct regarding Fugitt's testimony. Fugitt didn't know what the other witnesses said at the grand jury hearing, she said. Prosecutors also are not required to present exculpatory evidence at a grand jury proceeding, the assistant county attorney said.

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During the hearing, Gauthier also submitted a writ of mandamus to the 3rd Court of Appeals asking the appeals court to order Barrera to "reverse his ruling eliciting secret grand jury information during this evidentiary hearing." Barrera said in his email to the Statesman on Thursday that the state had withdrawn its request for a writ of mandamus.

O'Connell filed a court document Wednesday that said the county attorney's office in previous filings had offered Perry a plea bargain of six months in jail with no credit for the one year and one week Perry had spent in jail before being pardoned by the governor.

"This plea deal appears to be retaliating for the Defendant successfully exercising his legal rights to seek a pardon," the document said. "If true, this constitutes additional Prosecutorial Vindictiveness, yet another type of Prosecutorial Misconduct."

Perry was charged with the Class A misdemeanor of deadly conduct in 2021 at the same time he was charged with murder and aggravated assault in the death of Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster in July 2020. A jury in April 2023 convicted Perry of murder, but he was pardoned by the governor in May 2024 and released from prison. He was acquitted of the aggravated assault charge.

Garrett Foster, shown with fiancee Whitney Mitchell, was killed July 25, 2020, on Congress Avenue by Daniel Perry. Foster, who was armed with a rifle, approached Perry's car after Perry drove into a Black Lives Matter march. Perry said he shot Foster in self-defense.

In announcing the pardon, Abbott pointed to the state's "Stand Your Ground" laws of self-defense and said that Garza "demonstrated unethical and biased misuse of his office in prosecuting Daniel Scott Perry."

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Shortly after Abbotts announcement, a state district judge unsealed court records that contained Perrys previously unreleased messages and social media posts, which contained racist rhetoric. During Perrys murder trial, prosecutors argued that he had sought out confrontation.

The deadly conduct indictment said that Perry, who was an Uber driver at the time, placed a group of marchers walking on Congress Avenue on July 25, 2020, in danger of serious bodily injury by texting while driving and turning right at a red light without coming to a complete stop. It also said Perry turned into an intersection where pedestrians were visible in the crosswalk and in the intersection, and that he drove into a group of people in the street.

A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in a county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Judge won't dismiss deadly conduct charge against Daniel Perry
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s history of anti-vaccine beliefs did not receive a better welcome on his second day of questioning in the Senate.

On Thursday, Donald Trump's embattled pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, senators gave the infamous anti-vaxxer tasked with setting health policy for over 300 million Americans a bipartisan drubbing.

In one emotional exchange, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., revealed just how close to home Kennedys rhetoric on vaccines and autism had hit her.

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I am the proud mother of a 36-year-old young man with severe cerebral palsy, Hassan said. And a day does not go by when I don't think about 'What did I do when I was pregnant with him that might've caused the hydrocephalus that has so impacted his life?'

Hassan sits on both the Senate health and finance committees, two GOP-steered bodies that must vote to send Kennedys nomination to the full Senate floor for confirmation. Kennedy met with the New Hampshire senator earlier this month in an effort to court her vote, per Politico.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, through tears: "I am the proud mother of a 36 years old young man with severe cerebral palsy. And a day does not go by when I don't think about what I did I do when I was pregnant with him that might've caused the hydrocephalus that has so impacted his life. pic.twitter.com/C7TsAyN2wF  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2025

Please do not suggest that anybody in this body of either political party doesn't want to know what the cause of autism is, she added. The problem with this witnesss response on the autism cause and the relationships to vaccines is because hes re-litigating and churning settled science.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., also had questions for Kennedy on his claim that doctors should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that is given to white [people] because of immune system differences.

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Can you please explain what you meant? Alsobrooks asked, prompting Kennedy to bring up a series of studies that he says shows Black individuals have a stronger reaction to vaccines.

What different schedule would you say I should've received? Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked. That is so dangerous.

At least one Republican senator expressed concern with Kennedys anti-vaccine record, too. Sen. Bill Cassidy. R-La., asked Kennedy to rebuke some of his most easily disproven vaccine rhetoric, cautioning that hed been struggling with Kennedys nomination.

"Does a 70-year-old man... who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?" Cassidy asked.

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Cassidy, a physician, also confronted Kennedy on his false suggestions that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines caused autism.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and key GOP vote for RFK Jr.s confirmation, asks him if hell reassure mothers unequivocally ... that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism.



RFK: If you show me data



Cassidy: The data has been there for a long time. pic.twitter.com/g40nWSTt2Z  The Recount (@therecount) January 30, 2025

What concerns me is that youve cast doubt on some of these vaccines recently, Cassidy says. The data has been there a long time.

Kennedy's path to confirmation is one of the toughest in Trump's Cabinet. If the finance committee advances him, he could see a floor vote for confirmation as early next week.
HONOLULU (KHON2)  How much have egg prices actually gone up? The Department of Agriculture released new data revealing Honolulu retail egg prices between 2021 and 2024.

Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

In December 2021, the price for a dozen locally produced eggs was an average of $6.91. Since then, customers have seen a 28.4% increase, paying $8.87 per carton in 2024.

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Avian Influenza causing nationwide egg shortage

Eggs imported from the mainland have seen a 51.8% increase between 2021 and 2024. In 2021, mainland eggs sold for $5.50 compared to $8.35 in 2024.

Between 2023 and 2024, local egg prices saw a 2.7% increase while mainland egg prices rose by 6.2%.

Officials said the price increases can be mainly attributed to avian influenza, a disease that has killed millions of chickens nationwide, impacting egg production across the continental U.S.

The increase in local production of eggs has been closing the price gap with imported mainland eggs. The avian influenza outbreak on the mainland is another example of why food security in Hawaii is so important. Supporting local farmers and ranchers helps to ensure our food supply. Sharon Hurd, Hawaii Board of Agriculture chairperson

Hawaii saw its first two detections of HPAI in a backyard flock of birds in Central Oahu. Since then, no other detections have been confirmed.

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Officials also added that no Hawaii egg production facilities have been involved.

Check out more news from around Hawaii

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture said they will continue to work with the local poultry industry to avoid HPAI from infecting further animals.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
A Davenport woman is in the Scott County Jail on a $25,000 bond after police say she took items from a neighbors door and then assaulted her.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Scott County Court, the defendant, identified as Heaven Jordan, 25, is accused of taking a floor rug and a wreath that was hanging on the victims door in the 1700 block of Emerald Drive. Jordan left with the items, and the victim asked her to return them.

Heaven Jordan (Scott County Jail)

Jordan allegedly went back to the victims apartment door. The victim opened the door to retrieve the items, but saw that Jordan did not have them. The victim tried to close the door but Jordan put her foot inside the door, preventing the victim from closing it. The complaint said Jordan then assaulted the victim by pulling the victims hair and repeatedly striking the victim in the face. The victim was knocked to the ground in the interior doorway of her apartment, where Jordan began striking the victims knees. As a result of the assault, the victim sustained an injury to her left eye, a swollen left knee and clumps of hair were found on the floor.

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The victim said the floor rug and wreath were priced at about $25 total. A witness saw Jordan take the items from the victims front door, as well as the assault. Officers found the stolen items in the parking lot. The victim asked for a protection order.

Jordan was arrested and charged with felony first degree burglary and misdemeanor fifth degree theft. She is in the Scott County Jail on a secured $25,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing on February 7, according to jail records.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
The conference room where David Hogg is mounting his bid for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee has exposed brick and a nice view of a specific Washington D.C. landmark, but hes asked me not to disclose which one. Ever since his high school was shot up on Valentines Day seven years ago, and Hogg became one of the faces of the student-led movement for gun control, he has had to be careful about sharing details like that. Hes been doxed, his parents home was swatted, and hes gotten used to heavily armed men showing up at his public appearances, demanding to speak with him.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hogg was sitting at the table in that conference room, staring at a spreadsheet containing some 450-odd names of individuals voting in the DNC elections this Saturday. He was working through the sheet one cell at a time, making the case for his candidacy over the phone to everyone from a DNC member in the Northern Mariana Islands to the Democratic mayor of a mid-sized Midwestern city.

The short version of the pitch is obvious: Democrats absolutely hemorrhaged young voters in the last cycle, and Hogg  a 24-year-old Harvard grad who has spent virtually every spare moment of the past seven years organizing, registering, and working to elect members of Gen Z  understands this particular demographic in way most prominent voices in the party dont.

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This election was much more an indictment, frankly, of our party than it was of our country, Hogg says.

In his view, there is not one reason why so many young people defected from the Democratic Party  there are many. Members of Gen Z do not have the privilege of being single-issue voters, Hogg says. We had to grow up worrying about dying in a school shooting today, or dying of climate change tomorrow, and then being crushed by student debt and the housing crisis in between and I think on the issue of Gaza in particular, it was emblematic of the fact that people felt like we were not listening to them  that we didnt care.

The bigger problem  and the one he is committed to addressing if he wins a spot in DNC leadership  is a growing deficit of trust. Young people do not trust political parties, and I dont think this election, the shift to the right, was a reflection of the fact that young people have an enormous amount of faith in the Republican Party Its more testament to the fact that they have lost faith in us, as a party to deliver for them.

Hogg speaks among students during UNC Chapel Hills March For Our Lives rally a couple days after a faculty member was fatally shot on campus.

The son of a teacher and an FBI agent, Hogg lived in Southern California until the fifth grade, when his father was diagnosed with early onset Parkinsons disease. With his father medically retired, the family realized we probably would not be able to continue to afford to pay our mortgage in California, Hogg recalls. We moved out to Florida  to Parkland  because it was the safest community that we could find.

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He was in the last half of his senior year when a 19-year-old former student stormed the halls of his high school with an AR-15, murdering 17 people and injuring 17 more. During the lockdown, Hogg recorded video of himself interviewing fellow students. The footage was aired by a local TV station, a succession of cable news interviews followed, and he quickly emerged as one of the massacres most outspoken survivors.

At the time of the shooting, Maxwell Frost lived across the state. Frost was 21, and working as an organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union. He DMed a few students, offering to help, and one of them wrote back with an address. It was three hours away, but Frost packed a bag and jumped in his car. I got there 2 a.m., pulled up to a house, and there was David and all the March for Our Lives founders sitting criss-cross on the floor of a living room figuring out what to do after their school just got shot up, recalls Frost, now a congressman representing Orlando.

An estimated 1.7 million people participated in that first march, which took place in Washington D.C., and thousands more joined satellite protests around the country, making it one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history. When they got back to Florida, Hogg and his cohort successfully pressured lawmakers to raise the age to buy a gun to 21, and to pass a red flag law. According to Hogg, that law has been used at least 19,000 times since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas.

But the work of getting that legislation passed took a toll on all of the students, says X Gonzalez, a classmate of Hoggs. We were taught that if people want to effect change, they go to their legislators, and they raise the issue, and the legislators listen to the people, and then they make the change, Gonzalez says. Those illusions were quickly shattered. Gonzalez recalls feeling like the two of them  Gonzalez and Hogg  were deliberately made into caricatures to make it easier for lawmakers to brush their concerns aside: Legislators were like: Youre a skinhead lesbian, and you are a robot built by the left.

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Like Hoggs, Gonzalezs profile grew after the shooting, fueled by their righteous denunciation of the National Rifle Association, but Gonzalez noticed a difference in the way they each were regarded by the public. People were very forgiving of me, in my feeling of my emotions, Gonzalez says; Hogg, on the other hand, was labeled a crisis actor by Alex Jones, likened to a Nazi on Breitbart, mocked by Laura Ingraham. Obviously, it affected him, Gonzalez says. But he understood the motives behind it, [and recognized it as] much more than a personal attack He was like: They dont know me. If anyone is against this, clearly theyre in favor of people dying every day due to gun violence Theyre trying to confuse that fact by saying incendiary things and going viral on Twitter.

Eventually, it got to be too much for them: It was killing me, Gonzalez says. Virtually every other person in the original March For Our Lives cohort stepped back from activism at a certain point to focus on themselves. Everyone except Hogg. I had conversations with him like, Why? Why dont you want to enjoy your life? He likes surfing; hes a beach-dwelling person. I was like, Why cant you let go a little bit? Give your body back to yourself, Gonzalez says. But he just cant let go when he knows there is a problem.

Back in 2018, when March for Our Lives was still getting started, Hogg thought he would run for office one day. But hes sober about the fact that his activism has made him a polarizing figure. Im such a lightning rod for Republicans, specifically because of my views on guns. They would raise twice as much money fear-mongering about me being in Congress than I ever could hope to raise for myself, he says. Its also the reason why he started a PAC, Leaders We Deserve, to help elect young candidates. With this role, Im able to help get 20 to 30 phenomenal young progressives elected to state legislatures, and Congress all over the country, and help grow the power of young people in our party much more than I would be if I was just one person.

The idea of running for DNC vice chair appealed to him for similar reasons  and because hes furious about the outcome of the 2024 campaign. One of the biggest driving factors for Democrats loss in 2024 was massive drop in support from 18-to-29-year-olds. Hogg remembers hearing the staggering figures  a 20-point shift to the right  when a Kamala Harris campaign pollster shared her findings with the DNC after the election. He recalls looking around the room during that briefing. I did not see a single person in that room under the age of 30, he says.

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For months leading up to the election, Hogg says he was raising alarms about young voters opting away from the Democrats. I was trying to say, like, Hey, guys, this is a problem. And this was repeatedly written off by different sycophants and consultants throughout the party that told me that it wasnt a problem. It sucks, because here we are, and were seeing the disastrous effects of that  and the disaster effects of our party surrounding itself with people who only tell it what it wants to hear.

The reason Democrats lost ground with young people  and with Americans more broadly  in 2024, in Hoggs view, is pretty simple: People felt like we were not listening to them.

In poll after poll, people were saying Joe Biden is too old, the cost of living is too high, the war in Gaza needs to end, but the party was not responding to those signals  any of them. Rents skyrocketed for the past four years, and our party has done such a good job of making our consultants so fabulously wealthy that theyve become detached from that reality. If you own a house and you have a fixed-rate mortgage, your cost of living, in terms of how much it costs for you to have your home, its actually going down over time, he says.

Even now, after the fact, he says, it still feels like no one is listening. We went out there for eight years saying Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. If hes elected, the world is going to end and democracy is over. And then he got elected, and after he was elected, [Democrats] effectively said: Well, guys, there isnt anything different we could have done. Lets throw our hands up in the air, and well see you again in four years. And we hope that you keep donating [and opening] our bullshit emails that treat you like an ATM instead of a human being.

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Hogg does not exempt himself entirely from blame. Eighteen months ago, he says, he was invited to the White House for a one-on-one in the Oval Office with President Joe Biden. The first thing he asked me was, How do we win young voters? I wish that I told him  and I know I would have been kicked out of the White House and probably ostracized more broadly within the party  but what I wish I had said is that he needed to drop out.

His willingness to publicly admit that Biden should have left the 2024 presidential race sooner sets Hogg apart from the DNCs outgoing chair, Jaime Harrison  as well as several of the candidates running to replace him.

The turning point for Hogg  the moment he resolved to seek a bigger role in the party  came this summer, after the Democratic National Convention in August. I remember seeing him posing for selfies with the throngs of young cocktail- and coconut-swilling revelers at a convention afterparty. He looked like he was having the time of his life, and he had reason to celebrate  Leaders We Deserve, the Super PAC he founded last year  raised more than $8 million on behalf of 12 candidates. (Five won, seven lost.)

But after the convention, he flew back to Florida, where he was back in front of a computer, pouring over a different Excel spreadsheet. His fathers health had taken a turn for the worst. He just stopped eating. We did everything we could to get him to eat and make him better, and he just refused, Hogg says quietly. When he was in hospice, we needed to have at least 12 hours a day of care for him. I had to make a spreadsheet to figure out how long we could afford to keep him alive, because  even though he was a veteran and retired FBI agent with relatively good health care  his cost of at-home care was going to be $19,000 a month.

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The only reason my family didnt go bankrupt is because my dad didnt live long enough for that to happen, he says. No one should ever have to make that calculation, and increasingly, it is one that too many Americans are having to make as our population gets older. And the only way were going to address that is with our government. Theres no market solution thats going to fix that.

Thats why Im running for this position, Hogg says. Ive been impacted by that failed political system far too much, and I want to fucking fix it.

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Jan. 30MITCHELL  MITCHELL  The following cases were among those heard Tuesday, Jan. 28, during a circuit court session at the Davison County Public Safety Center, with Judge Chris Giles presiding:

* Allen Thomson, 32, of Mitchell, was sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary for aggravated eluding, a Class 6 felony, with all time suspended. He was also ordered to serve two years of probation, pay a $650 fine, and spend 10 days in the Davison County Jail.

* Arvin Aaberg, 55, of Sioux Falls, was sentenced to 20 years in the state penitentiary, with 12 years suspended, for the unauthorized distribution of methamphetamine. The charge, originally a Class 3 felony, was upgraded to a Class 1 felony due to Aaberg's status as a habitual offender. He was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and received credit for 90 days of time already served.

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* Justin Fleury, 41, of Mitchell, requested a court-appointed attorney, and his case was continued for two weeks. Fleury is facing charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class 2 misdemeanor, and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), a Class 5 felony.

* Michone Collins, 64, of Stickney, pleaded not guilty to multiple drug-related charges. These include possession of drug paraphernalia, failure to renew registration during the designated month and smoking or consuming marijuana while operating a vehicle, all Class 2 misdemeanors. Collins is also facing Class 1 misdemeanor charges for possession of two ounces or less of marijuana and first-offense driving under the influence (DUI). Additionally, she faces a Class 6 felony charge for possession of a Schedule III or IV controlled substance. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

* Kai Anderson, 23, of Mitchell, pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanor charges, including open container and possession of drug paraphernalia, both Class 2 misdemeanors, and possession of two ounces or less of marijuana, a Class 1 misdemeanor. Anderson is also facing a Class 5 felony charge for possession of methamphetamine. A jury trial is set for June.

* Anthony Barras, 45, of Bryant, Arkansas, was sentenced to 30 days in the Davison County Jail, with credit for 10 days already served, after pleading guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a Class 5 felony. He was also ordered to pay a $650 fine and granted a suspended imposition of sentence.

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* Roger Black Bear, 41, of Mitchell, requested a two-week continuance in his case. Black Bear is facing two counts of simple assault, both Class 1 misdemeanors, and a third offense simple assault charge, a Class 6 felony. According to court documents, Black Bear was staying at a local motel when, while intoxicated, he became upset about a woman being in his room. Black Bear allegedly punched the woman approximately six times in the face. At the time of the incident, Black Bear was on parole and was prohibited from consuming alcohol.

* Santos Ramos Lopez, 38, of Sioux City, Iowa, pleaded not guilty to several charges, including second-offense driving under the influence (DUI), driving with an altered or invalid license, and driving under the influence of a controlled substance, all of which are Class 1 misdemeanors. He also faces a Class 6 felony charge of identity theft. A jury trial is set for June.

* Andrea Buchholz, 32, of Mitchell, appeared in court for a probation violation. The case was postponed for two weeks to allow time for new pending charges to be filed.

* Nickolas Rosenberger, 20, of Pukwana, pleaded not guilty to a second-degree eluding charge, a Class 6 felony. A jury trial has been set for June.

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* Markita Roth, 34, of Pierre, pleaded not guilty to multiple drug charges, including possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class 2 misdemeanor, possession of meth, a Class 5 felony, and manufacturing or distribution of meth, a Class 4 felony. The court approved her request for a personal recognizance bond. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

* Dillon Phillips, 19, of Mitchell, had his sentencing delayed until April. Phillips pleaded guilty in November to possession, manufacturing, and distribution of child sexual abuse material, as well as one count of possession of child sexual abuse material, both Class 4 felonies. The court required Phillips to undergo a sexual psychological evaluation before sentencing, which has not yet been completed. Each count carries a minimum one-year sentence and mandates that Phillips register as a sex offender. A request for bond modification was denied, though Judge Giles granted a one-day pass for Phillips to visit his sick father.

* Tyler Phillips, 33, of Mitchell, was sentenced to 10 years in the state penitentiary with all time suspended for possession of methamphetamine while in jail, a Class 4 felony. He was ordered to serve 480 days in the Davison County Jail but was granted a furlough to attend Teen Challenge, a faith-based addiction recovery program in Brookings. Upon successfully completing the program, the remaining jail time will be dismissed.

* Rahsaan Bivens, 26, of Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a Class 5 felony. In exchange for his guilty plea, charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class 2 misdemeanor, and possession of less than two ounces of marijuana, a Class 1 misdemeanor, were dismissed. Bivens was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $750 fine. He was credited for one day of time already served and was granted a suspended imposition of sentence.

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* Wetu Kiyukan, 29, of Mitchell, was sentenced to 10 years in the state penitentiary, with four years of the sentence suspended, for distribution of methamphetamine, a Class 4 felony. She was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and received credit for 178 days already served. Judge Chris Giles noted that Kiyukan's substance abuse crossed a line when she began distributing meth.

* Lee Klemenhagen, 52, of Scandia, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to possession of two ounces or less of marijuana, a Class 1 misdemeanor. He was fined $350 and granted a suspended imposition of sentence, with credit for one day already served. As part of a plea agreement, charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class 2 misdemeanor; possession of more than two ounces but less than one-half pound of marijuana, a Class 6 felony; and possession of a controlled substance, a Class 5 felony, were all dismissed.

* Joshua Paulson, 34, of Mitchell, pleaded guilty to a DUI charge for having a blood alcohol concentration of .08% or more, a Class 1 misdemeanor. He was fined $350 and granted a suspended imposition of sentence. As part of a plea agreement, a Class 2 misdemeanor charge for speeding and a first-offense DUI charge, also a Class 1 misdemeanor, were dismissed.

* Jose Luis Alvarez Gonzalez, 22, of Aurora, Colorado, failed to appear in court, leading to the forfeiture of his bond. Gonzalez is accused of being part of a group that attempted to rob an ATM in town. He is facing a charge of attempted grand theft, involving an amount between $5,000 and $100,000, a Class 5 felony.

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* Russell Duley, 26, of Mitchell, pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanor charges, including open container, resisting an officer, and careless driving, all classified as Class 2 misdemeanors. He also faces charges of driving with a revoked license and third-offense driving under the influence (DUI), both Class 1 misdemeanors. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

* David Goodwin, 45, of Sioux Falls, denied violating his probation. The case has been continued for two weeks. Goodwin was on probation for a 2023 charge of possession of an unauthorized article in jail.

* Joseph Marr, 31, of Sturgis, admitted to violating his probation. He had been serving probation for possession of a controlled substance. The court re-suspended his five-year prison sentence and discharged Marr from probation.

* Tammy Fischer, 48, of Hot Springs, failed to appear in court for a probation violation charge. She was arrested and is currently being held in jail in another county. Her case has been continued for two weeks.

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* Majda Korkutovic, 32, of Letcher, appeared for a status hearing regarding charges she faces, including unauthorized ingestion of a controlled substance, a Class 5 felony, and second-degree burglary, a Class 3 felony. Korkutovic is currently undergoing treatment in Yankton, and the case was continued. According to the court, Korkutovic has made minimal progress in her treatment.

* Barbara Blaine, 50, of Decatur, Illinois, pleaded not guilty to three counts of simple assault against a law enforcement officer, which are classified as Class 6 felonies. The incident occurred when an intoxicated Blaine called for assistance, leading to her transport to the hospital by Mitchell medics, accompanied by a responding officer. At the hospital, Blaine allegedly committed multiple assaults on hospital staff and the officer, including hitting a doctor, slapping a nurse in the face, kicking the officer in the groin and chest while he attempted to prevent her from removing an IV, kicking a nurse in the face, and kicking a doctor in the side. Throughout the incident, Blaine reportedly shouted profanities at the staff. A jury trial has been scheduled for June.

* Isaiah Hampton, 26, of Tacoma, Washington, pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including committing a felony while carrying a firearm, a Class 2 felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class 2 misdemeanor; two counts of possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin mushrooms and hashish oil), both Class 5 felonies; and two counts of manufacturing/distribution of a controlled substance, Class 4 felonies. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

* Nancy Thurlow, 48, of Mitchell, pleaded not guilty to first-degree petty theft (over $400), a Class 1 misdemeanor, and identity theft, a Class 6 felony. According to court documents, Thurlow used her daughter's boyfriend's debit card to make several purchases at Village Bowl and Circle K, totaling $598.88. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

* Stephvon Bailey, 35, of Mitchell, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with four years suspended, for distributing and possessing drugs within a drug-free zone, a Class 4 felony. Bailey received credit for six days already served and was fined $1,000. According to Assistant Attorney General Katie Mallory, Bailey was involved in a significant criminal operation. Mallory stated that although Bailey claimed to own a food truck business, law enforcement found the truck was rarely moved, as his primary job was selling drugs.
Jan. 31A Montgomery County cemetery association reportedly failed to provide gravestones after accepting upfront payments.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against the Harrison Twp. Cemetery Association and Trevor B. Bush in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court accusing them of failing to fulfill contracts.

The Harrison Twp. Cemetery Association operates under the name Greencastle Cemetery. Bush was reportedly involved with business activities and sales for the cemetery association.

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The Dayton Daily News has reached out to the cemetery association for a statement.

"Losing a loved one is hard enough without having to fight to get what you paid for," Yost said. "Any business that operates so deceptively deserves legal consequences."

Bush and Harrison Twp. Cemetery Association would reportedly accept large, upfront payments from customers for custom grave markers and other related services.

The company told customers the delivery and installation would take an extended period of time, usually several months, according to the lawsuit.

However, even after months, the orders were not fulfilled.

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"When consumers inquired about the status of the customized grave markers they had ordered but had not yet received, defendant Bush would give them excuses for the delay and would assure consumers that their customized grave marker would be finished and installed shortly," court documents read. "Despite these assurances, defendants still failed to deliver the customized grave markers that consumers ordered."

The cemetery association also failed to issue refunds for customers who requested them after failing to receive their gravestones.

Yost is seeking restitution for the customers as well as a penalty of $25,000 for each violation, according to court records.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Black History Month is coming up, and the Dayton Metro Library has a packed program schedule, celebrating Black literacy, art, history, and businesses.

The Heading Program at the main branch is: Brown Hands, Black Schools HBCUs Film, on Saturday, February 22, at 1 p.m. The film is a sixteen-minute animated & live-action short which highlights the history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

There will be a red carpet and a meet-and-greet opportunity with the cast. The event will also have a story time with Latoya Turner.

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Central State University appoints new president

Other Programs feature this month are as follows:

Homeschool Art Club: Reginald Laurent Art on Feb. 11, 11 a.m. at the Miamisburg Branch. Participants can enjoy creating art inspired by Laurents colorful paintings and wood pieces.

Black History Heroes on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 4 p.m. at the West Branch. There will be activities celebrating Black history including a scavenger hunt, trivia contest, stories, and crafts.

Coloring for Adults on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 10 a.m. at the Northwest Branch. Registration is required for the adult-only coloring event, the theme will be Black history.

Black History Trivia on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m. at the Northwest Branch. A teen trivia event.

25th Infantry Bicycle Corps on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 4 p.m. at the Burkhardt Branch. Learn about the Buffalo Soldiers and bicycle transportation.

Make a Rosa Parks Bus on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 4:30 p.m. at the Vandalia Branch. Ages three and up can make a foam bus to celebrate Parks historical achievement.

Create and Learn: Black Inventors on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 4 p.m. in the Childrens space at the Main Library. Guests can use stickers to learn about Black inventors contributions to history.

The Art of Storytelling in the African Diaspora on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 4 p.m. at the West Branch. A special guest will give an interactive performance of storytelling.

Black Art: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Present on Thursday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m. at the Kettering Moraine Branch. In this adult event, Karen D. Brame from DMLs Special Collections will showcase Black art from the early 20th century to contemporary times.

Uplifting Our Roots Pop-up Shop, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 3 p.m. at the West Branch. A collection of vendors from the Miami Valley.

For any extra information, you can call the Librarys Ask Me Line at 937-463-2665.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
The airport where a passenger jet was set to land before it collided with a military helicopter Wednesday night has long grappled with safety issues, according to aviation experts and media reports.

American Eagle Flight 5342 crashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter in midair near Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, killing all 67 people aboard. But even before the disaster, several past safety incidents had occurred at the airport, and lawmakers and members of the aviation industry warned that it was only a matter of time before something catastrophic unfolded there.

According to air traffic control data obtained by The Washington Post, a similar incident almost unfolded at the airport just 24 hours earlier. Per that data, the Post reported, a Republic Airways flight jet trying to land at DCA had to make a second approach when a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

Emergency response teams asses airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport. Andrew Harnik via Getty Images

A CNN review of federal incident reports found that at least two other pilots have reported near-misses with helicopters while landing at DCA.

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And according to The New York Times, an internal Federal Aviation Administration report suggests that the air traffic controller on duty at DCA the night of the collision was doing a job typically handled by two people.

David Soucie, a retired safety inspector with the FAA, wrote in an opinion piece for MSNBC on Thursday that hed dreaded inspecting flights at DCA because it hosts many different types of operations within a tight airspace.

The airspace is both complicated and crowded as an increasingly high volume of passenger planes share the air, and communications frequencies, with military aircraft, VIP flights, White House transportation and drones flying clandestine operations, he wrote.

Retired Delta pilot Allen Campbell told USA Today that DCA is one of the most difficult airports for pilots to navigate.

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You dont want to be the rookie on your first flight landing there, said Campbell, who is also a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. That airport, right along the river, is one of the most challenging.

The intense focus required to land at DCA can keep pilots from spotting other aircraft in their surroundings, he continued.

They dont have time to be looking out the side window for a black helicopter, he said. And were talking about a black helicopter at night  its very difficult to see, and thats by design.

Sen. Tim Kaine was among the senators to sound the alarm about air traffic at DCA last year. Tom Williams via Getty Images

A bill last year added 10 additional daily flights from the airport.

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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) was among the lawmakers who raised concern about the added flights at DCA, pointing to an incident last May in which two planes nearly collided on one of the airports runways.

Thank God, a collision and catastrophe were averted, Kaine said at the time. But more and more planes on this busiest runway in the United States is just going to increase the chance of a significant incident.

Kaine spoke with NPR again Thursday morning to reflect on his past warnings in light of the crash.

A number of us have been sounding the alarm about congestion for some time, he said of DCAs flight schedule, noting the airport was designed to handle about 15 million passengers a year but is now well in excess of 20 million a year.

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Despite these concerns, President Donald Trump has blamed the catastrophe on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

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PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY)  Dignity for the deceased and caution for the wreckage.

Thats what a retired Navy admiral said about the task underway in the Potomac River and how it ties to another air tragedy. On July 17, 1996, 230 people died when TWA flight 800 went down in the Atlantic Ocean, 12 minutes after takeoff from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Retired Rear Admiral Kelvin Dixon was in Washington, D.C. the day before Wednesdays American Airlines crash.

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I was in Washington yesterday for a meeting, Dixon said. When I landed home in New Jersey, I found out later on about this tragic accident. It really made me look back at the recovery operations with the team with Flight 800.

Then a lieutenant commander, Dixon was in command of New Jersey-based Shore Boat Unit 23. Before Unit 23 reached the wreckage, Dixon advised the sailors on how to mentally prepare for the mission.

They could see bodies that are intact, Dixon said. They may find bodies that are not intact. Of course, then [they may find] body parts. To retrieve those, they have special bags and special techniques that they use to make sure they dont destroy any of [the remains,].

In the Atlantic and now on the Potomac, its all-hands-on-deck.

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We went through it with Flight 800 by looking for and working with divers, Dixon said. We worked with Navy divers and the divers out of New York City, [the] FBI and so forth. So Im quite sure all of those folks are possibly onsite there in Washington. Its going to be a daunting task for them, especially in those waters now. At least theyre in the Potomac.

Regina Mobley: What are the factors they have to take into consideration when they have to handle those remains with dignity while preserving the aircraft?

USN Rear Admiral (ret.)Kelvin Dixon: Its pretty daunting. Its all based on what they see and how they have to go in. If theyre inside the actual aircraft underwater, they will have to cut things open, pull things apart and keep the the aircraft intact as much as possible without destroying any of the evidence that could possibly help you determine what happened in this incident.

Dixon also said the Navy worked closely with the National Weather Service to determine how currents could affect the delicate recovery.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
(NewsNation)  The father of First Officer Sam Lilley  a pilot himself, who flew military helicopters in the 90s  is mourning his sons death following a brutal crash near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.

Sam Lilley was one of the crew members aboard the American Airlines regional jet that collided with a military helicopter while landing at DCA.

In total, 64 people were on on the jet, and there were three people on the UH-60 Black Hawk. Officials have recovered 28 bodies from the icy Potomac River.

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Its believed there are no survivors, which would make it the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

I was so proud of him: First Officer Sam Lilleys dad

First Officer Sam Lilley was one of those killed when a passenger jet collided with a helicopter. (Tim Lilley) First Officer Sam Lilley was one of those killed in the plane crash. (Tim Lilley)

As investigation begins into the tragedy, Sam Lilleys father, Tim Lilley, tells NewsNations CUOMO that his son will be remembered as a kind, happy man.

His career was going great. He was engaged to a great girl. He was just at the prime of his life, Tim Lilley said.

Sam Lilley was a pilot for PSA Airlines, which is owned by American Airlines. Hed originally studied marketing, Tim Lilley told NewsNation, but opted to follow his fathers footsteps and become a pilot after a few months in the workforce.

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Mapped: See the paths of American Airlines flight, Black Hawk before crash

I was so proud of him, Tim Lilley said, adding that his son was able to obtain certification in just a few years because he pursued it with a vigor.

But Wednesday night, the Lilleys watched as reports first broke of a collision above the Potomac River  the same route Tim Lilley flew when he was serving in the military.

You know, we saw there was an accident. I didnt think there was any way it was Sam, but I knew he was on a trip, he recounted. So, through my wife, we got in touch with his fiance and we found out what trip he was on.

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And it was the same trip. And he wasnt answering the phone, Tim Lilley said. So, I knew.

Tim Lilley told NewsNation that the only thing giving me any comfort at all is Sam Lilleys unwavering faith: Sams right with Jesus, and I know where hes going.

We just need time. My family, and time, he added. Lots of prayers.

Black Hawk knew plane was in area before crash: Transportation chief

DC crash victims dad flew military helicopters

When Tim Lilley was in the U.S. Army, he flew helicopters on the exact route his son took Wednesday, giving him unique insight not only into the crash but D.C.s airspace.

After watching the video, Tim Lilley said it seemed as though Sam was flying just the way he was supposed to.

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Totally speculation on my part. If they were wearing [night vision goggles], Ive seen this before, where its almost impossible to see an aircraft where its backlit by a city, Tim Lilley posited.

I dont want to blame, you know, my brothers that fly Black Hawks, he clarified. I flew them for 20 years, and I love those guys.

It will take months to actually know what happened. Part of the investigation will revolve around an interaction with air traffic control in the final moments before the collision.

I would like to know exactly what happened, Tim Lilley said. And I just want to find a way to make sure it doesnt happen again. Nobody else should have to go through this.

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Trump launches aviation safety assessment ordering competence over DEI

What we know about DC plane crash

Operations at Reagan National Airport have resumed after an American Airlines regional passenger jet carrying 64 people en route from Kansas collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, sending both aircraft into the icy Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

The body of the plane was reportedly found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found.

We dont believe there are any survivors, D.C. fire and EMS chief John A. Donnelly said Thursday during a news conference.

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The midair crash occurred shortly before 9 p.m. local time Wednesday, shutting down the airport until 11 a.m. Thursday.

Reagan Washington airport one of worlds most complex airspaces

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said it cannot comment on the specifics of the crash at this time, and it would be premature to speculate on the root cause of this accident.

NATCA mourns the tragic loss of life as a result of the accident that occurred at Washington National (DCA) airport last night between a regional jet and a helicopter, NATCA President Nick Daniels said in a statement. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those affected by this event.

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Michael Ramsey, Tom Dempsey, Kevin Bohn and Jacqueline Hughes contributed to this report.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  America is reeling after a devastating plane crash in D.C. Wednesday night. 2 NEWS spoke to a local flight instructor who shared what could be learned from such an unfortunate event.

Richard Cox, owner and director of Miami Valley flight school Dayton Aviation Services, said the collision between a passenger jet and military helicopter over the Potomac River is shocking and scary, but its also a reminder why safety is so important to pilots.

Cedarville student among DC plane crash victims

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These moments can cause people to be a little bit nervous again about flying, said Cox. Every day there are thousands of flights that nothing goes wrong, and so it doesnt make the news.

Cox has decades of experience as a flight instructor. He says before any of his students take off, they go over safety procedures.

Safety is a huge responsibility for pilots  one they do not take lightly.

With proper training, with the safety that we always try to use, see and avoid to listen to what ATC is telling us, or to be sure that were communicating, said Cox. Everyone is looking out for everyone else, so that everything should come out safely.

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No survivors have been found in DC plane crash

Cox says the tight-knit aviation community has already been discussing what happened Wednesday night in Washington D.C. But as more details come out, more questions need answered.

We understand the FAA and the NTSB are going to do the actual work it takes, said Cox. Never seems like its as fast as wed like to, but we have learned to give them time and then wait for the official word and then well work through that one and study it.

Cox said once they know more, flight instructors are trained to take these tragic incidents and turn them into lessons, working to prevent history from repeating itself.

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Recovery efforts continue in D.C. plane crash

We want to use these opportunities to learn from it so it doesnt happen again, to be able to turn around and teach it, he said.

Pilots are required to complete a specific number of flight training hours in order to fly. To fly for a commercial airline, pilots need a minimum of 1,200 hours in the air.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
A Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines plane collided within minutes of the chopper being instructed by air traffic control to pass behind the aircraft.

Flights are once again taking off and landing at Reagan Washington National Airport as things get back to normal amid an anything-but-normal situation.

Officials said around 28 bodies were recovered from the jet, which was carrying 64 people, and one was pulled from the helicopter, which had three soldiers onboard. Crews fear there are no survivors, which would make it the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years.

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The regional passenger jet was en route from Kansas before crashing into the military helicopter, sending both aircraft into the icy Potomac River near Washington, D.C.

American Airlines plane takes off

Jan. 29, 6:39 p.m.: American Airlines Flight 5342 departed Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas.

It is currently unknown when the helicopter took off as part of a training flight. According to the U.S. Army, the chopper was from Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Air traffic control communication

Jan. 29, 8:47 p.m.: Air traffic controllers tell the Army helicopter to pass behind the American Airlines plane.

Moment of the crash

Jan. 29, 8:48 p.m.: Flight 5342 collides with the helicopter over the Potomac River.

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As the crash occurred, there was audio of the emergency recording with air traffic control where the operator reported the collision.

A Blackhawk helicopter flies low over the trees above a landing zone during an event. (Norbert Voskens/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Search for victims

Jan. 30, 7 a.m.: D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly said during a news conference Thursday that hes confident all of the bodies from the crash will ultimately be recovered.

Victims included Loudon County students, U.S. and Russian figure skaters and D.C.-area steamfitters, among others.

People who believe they have family members on the flights and are looking for further information are asked to call 800-697-8215.

Reagan Airport shuts down, opens again Thursday

Jan. 30, 11 a.m.: The midair crash shut down Reagan Airport until late Thursday morning, with the first flight departing at 11:01 a.m. local time en route to Nashville.

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SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KETK)  Smith County residents have until Friday to pay their property taxes.

Smith County Tax Assessor Collector Gary Barber urges residents to pay their property taxes online. However, residents who will mail their payment are asked to go to the post office to make sure their payments are postmarked on or before Jan. 31 to avoid late penalties.

People can also make their payments at the Tax Offices drop-box outside of the Cotton Belt Building.

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Tax season 2025 begins: Here are the important dates to know this year

When dropping off property tax payments in the drop box, taxpayers should write their phone numbers on the envelope so the Tax Office can call them if any issues come up or questions need answered, Barber said. He also said they will not accept cash left in the drop-box.

Residents who cannot pay the full balance, are asked to make partial payments since late fees are only added to the balance due.

Once the bill is past due, 7% penalties and interest will be added to what is due. Those fees increase by 2% for each month payments are late. By July 1, Barber said there will be a 38% in penalty, interest and collection fees added to the account.

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For more information, people can call 903-590-2920 or visit the Smith County website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  Louisiana officials are expressing their condolences following the tragic collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., which resulted in 67 fatalities.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night when an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter reportedly entered the planes flight path, leading to a midair collision over the Potomac River. All 60 passengers and 4 crew members on the plane, as well as 3 soldiers aboard the helicopter, perished in the accident.

In response to the tragedy, a spokesperson for Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport announced that flights to and from Washington, D.C., have been canceled for Thursday. Passengers are urged to check with their airlines for rebooking options.

Louisiana leaders release statements after tragedy

Gov. Jeff Landry posted on X saying he and his wife were saddened by the news of the crash.

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Sharon and I are deeply saddened to hear of the tragedy at DCA. We are praying for the victims, their families, friends, and the heroic first responders on scene. Gov. Jeff Landry

Congressman Steve Scalise asked everyone to join him in prayer.

Join me in praying for everyone involved in the plane crash at Ronald Reagan National Airport tonight as search and rescue is underway amid this devastating tragedy. Congressman Steve Scalise

Congresswoman Julia Letlow posted on X after the crash that she was praying for the victims and first responders.

While we wait for more information, Im praying for the victims of tonights plane crash in DC as well as the brave first responders conducting search and rescue. Congresswoman Julia Letlow

Congressman Troy A. Carter described the deadly crash as heartbreaking.

Last nights plane crash near Reagan National is heartbreaking. My prayers are with the victims families during this devastating time. Congressman Troy Carter

Sen. John Kennedy said he was praying for the families.

Becky and I are continuing to pray for comfort for everyone who lost loved ones in the tragedy on the Potomac. I wish no one had to walk through days as dark as this one, and I hope everyone knows theyre not walking alone. Sen. John Kennedy

Sen. Bill Cassidy called the collision a terrible tragedy.

What a terrible tragedy last night. Praying for all those involved in last nights crash at DCA and their families. Sen. Bill Cassidy

Congressman Cleo Fields said the tragedy is a heartbreaking loss.

My heart goes out to the victims and families affected by the tragic aircraft collision at Reagan National Airport. This is a heartbreaking loss, and I am praying for all those impacted. May we come together to support the loved ones of those lost in this devastating incident. Congressman Cleo Fields

Latest News

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  The deadly crash involving a passenger plane and military helicopter Wednesday night near Reagan International Airport (DCA) reminded a local woman of a close call her flight heading into DCA had a number of years ago.

The parallels are so striking, it makes me wonder how many other close calls there have been, Katie Logan said.

Ohio university student among victims of D.C. plane crash

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Logan flew from John Glenn International Airport (CMH) to DCA back in 2013. As her flight was approaching DCA to land, she said the plane made a strong and sudden movement, what she described as a really strong jerk. When the flight landed safely, the pilot told passengers it was a near collision with a military aircraft, according to Logan.

You have something like this happens and it reverts in your mind and you start thinking that could have had a really different outcome and I feel very lucky I didnt have that outcome but obviously feel for the victims and their families and loved ones, Logan said.

American Eagle Flight 5342 was heading for runway 33 at DCA. Logan said thats the same runway her flight was headed toward.

Its scary, I know flying is very safe, I know this is very rare, but when you see so many similarities it definitely gives me pause about flying into DCA again, she said.

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Logan is not the only central Ohioan whos been following the aftermath of Wednesdays crash. Deputy Chief Robert Sagle with the Columbus Division of Police (CPD), has also been paying attention to it. He oversees CPDs aviation section.

Dr. Amy Acton on running for Ohio governor and why she quit as state health director

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody involved in this tragic accident, he said. We always take and try to learn from things like this around the country and figure out if were doing the best practices if theres anything we can do better to ensure the safety.

Medical helicopters, CPDs helicopters, and planes fly over the skies of Columbus every day. When helicopters get within a certain distance of airports, theyre required to be in touch with air traffic control, according to Sagle. He said that even when CPD helicopters fly outside of those areas, they are still always in contact with the team at John CMH.

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You have to be vigilant at all times, our helicopter pilots heads are on swivels at all times, its not just looking for crime, its looking for other aircraft. Again, one of our main missions is to both fly safely and fly neighborly, he said.

Sagle also said his pilots communicate with the teams at other airports around Columbus.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Following a tragic mid-air collision in Washington, D.C., some travelers at San Diego International Airport are questioning the safety of the busy airspace, which is shared with military aircraft.

San Diegos airport is within 10 miles of two major military bases, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Naval Air Station North Island. Despite the congested skies, aviation experts said that mid-air collisions remain extremely rare.

At the airport, some travelers voiced their concerns after hearing about the crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet near Reagan National Airport, which, like San Diego International, also has significant military air traffic.

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Its incredibly sad, said traveler Crystal Henkle. I think about my family thats waiting for me to get home and how that makes them feel.

We have all these countermeasures to try and prevent things like this, so it makes me wonder what happened, Annette Garrison said.

Federal investigators are now trying to determine the cause of the D.C. crash, which aviation experts say may have involved multiple breakdowns, including possible human error.

Mark DiLullo, an Air Force-trained pilot and owner of Threshold Aviation Group, has flown at both Reagan National and San Diego International. He said that military and commercial aircraft operating in close proximity can create complex air traffic conditions.

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Has a commercial flight ever crashed in San Diego?

When we are in this very tight airspace with a lot of activity, we are hopefully staying heads-up, looking out the window, and making sure we are exactly where we are supposed to be both laterally and vertically, DiLullo said.

He also said that modern safety enhancements such as location transponders give pilots and air traffic controllers the tools to prevent accidents.

Our system is layered with technology and safety measures, both in the aircraft and in the control tower, to ensure these kinds of incidents dont happen, DiLullo said.

Despite these safeguards, near-misses still occur. In October, a Southwest Airlines flight taking off from San Diego International had to abort to avoid a collision with another Southwest plane.

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As for the D.C. crash, DiLullo suggested that multiple failures contributed to the tragedy.

Somehow, these safety systems that work millions of times a week in the national airspace didnt get the job done, he said.

Investigators say it could take more than a year to determine exactly what went wrong.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
67 people were killed in a collision between a plane and military helicopter near Reagan National Airport, and one of the victims is a Madeira High School grad who worked as an attorney in D.C., her family told WCPO 9 News.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33, was a Cincinnati native, valedictorian of her high school, and graduate from Tufts University and Georgetown University Law Center. Keys worked at Wilkinson Stekloff, a law firm with offices in D.C., according to WCPO.

TRENDING STORIES:

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Keys biography through Wilkinson Stekloff says she interned for Judge Michael R Barrett of the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and was a law clerk for Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

According to WCPO, Keys was on the flight from Witchita, KS to D.C.

The airline confirms that there were 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane. There were three people in the Black Hawk, a captain, a staff sergeant and chief warrant officer 2.

The president confirmed Thursday everyone on board the passenger jet and the military helicopter had died.

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She loved deeply and was deeply loved, her family said in a statement to WCPO. Liz was a warm, generous woman. She was so fun  and funny! Liz had a sharp wit and appreciated it in others. Gatherings were always better when Liz was there; she was filled with light and joy. Liz was a dear friend to so many, offering her best self to them all. Her hugs were wonderful!

Her family said Keys is survived by her parents, Martin and Mary, her partner, David, and her dog, Tucker.

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Authorities have launched a death investigation after one person was fatally shot in Boston late Thursday night.

Officers responding to a radio call for a person shot at the intersection of Morton and West Selden streets just after 10:30 p.m. learned the victim had already been rushed by Boston EMS to Boston Medical Center for evaluation, according to the Boston Police Department.

The victim, whose name hasnt been released, later died from their injuries.

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Police didnt share any additional details on the victim or suspect in the shooting.

Boston police homicide detectives are leading the 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.

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The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the death sentence of a man who murdered a 13-year-old girl in 2008 in a Panama City motel room.

Justices rejected arguments by Matthew Caylor, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery in the killing of Melinda Hinson.

The girls body was found under a bed in the Valu-Lodge Motel.

The girls family had been living at the motel, and Caylor had stayed there before the murder.

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Read: Computer issues cause temporary ground stop nationwide for Frontier Airlines

The Florida Supreme Court in 2017 ordered a new sentencing proceeding for Caylor as an outgrowth of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

During a 2021 sentencing hearing, Caylor waived certain rights, including the right to a jury, according to Thursdays opinion.

Later, however, Caylor sought to withdraw the waiver of a right to a jury  a request that a Bay County circuit judge denied.

The judge sentenced Caylor again to death.

Read: Disneys Star Wars hotel to become Imagineering offices

Caylors appeal to the Supreme Court, in part, challenged the decision to deny the request for a jury.

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But the Supreme Court backed the circuit judges finding that the request was made in bad faith to cause a delay. Because there is substantial evidence supporting the trial courts findings, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying Caylors request to withdraw his waiver of the penalty phase jury, said Thursdays opinion, written by Justice Renatha Francis.

Caylor, now 49, is an inmate at Union Correctional Institution.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN)  One side thinks it is dilapidated, dangerous and bad for the environment. The other wants to preserve it, saying it is historically significant, provides recreation opportunities, and is good for the environment.

The San Marcos City Council issued a request for proposals in December to study Capes Dam further. The city wants an independent group to examine the potential impacts of removing or preserving the dam before making a final decision.

This dam replaced an early dam that was built in 1850, said Jesus Najar from Preservation Texas. [The current one] was built in 1867 replacing the first dam. Its uniqueness is in the materials used. They used cypress wood from the local river banks [and] complemented it with limestone and gravel carried from the Blanco River.

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The structure was originally a mill site. And while the many years it has stood in the river have not been kind to it, Najar said its historical significance makes it worthy of preserving.

He added there was an effort to have the structure historically designated in the 1980s, but the preservationists at the time were unsuccessful. Preservation Texas is currently working on getting the dam added to the National Register of Historic Places.

We not only want it to stay, but its also [about] restoring it. The important part is to restore the existing fabric of the dam. That way it can be preserved [and] safer.

Safety is one reason some river advocates think it should be removed. In November 2024, a 17-year-old boy drowned while swimming near Capes Dam. Folks at the San Marcos River Foundation had for years voiced concern over the potential dangers of keeping it in its current state.

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We just feel that at this time, removal of Capes Dam is the fastest, safest and most environmentally friendly thing that [the city] could do, said Virginia Parker, the executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation.

The dam diverts water from the rivers main channel into the mill race, a manmade channel, which groups now use for kayaking. Parker said it is more important to have that water in the main channel due to drought conditions.

All over the United States, dams are being removed for the health of rivers. It is not a new concept that this dam being removed would be better for the river, Parker continued.

Others in San Marcos want the dam to stay because of the mill race.

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Essentially theres three times the amount of water [in the mill race] because of the dam, said Ben Kvanli, a former Olympic canoeist and current kayak instructor.

Kvanli teaches groups of people with disabilities how to kayak. He said the mill races stagnant water is the perfect location for his students.

Im more interested in the recreation [component] than I am in conservation. But the fact of the matter is that we have to work together, Kvanli said.

We are not on different sides at the end of the day, he continued. We need to clarify what we are going to do in terms of a plan.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Authorities recently identified the victim of a decades-old murder in Boston Harbor using advanced genetic services.

According to Boston Police, Toussaint Gonsalves was found stabbed to death near Thompson Island on December 4, 1991.

For 33 years, Gonsalves identity was unknown. The FBI utilized DNA analysis with traditional publicly accessible genealogical services to identify the victim.

Authorities learned Gonsalves was born on October 2, 1970 and attended the former Boston High School. Police say he may have been living in Newton or Dorchester at the time and also may have been employed working in a kitchen.

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Gonsalves was described as 511, 225lbs with shirt cropped brown hair and brown eyes. He was also wearing a heavy grey multi-colored knit sweater and a blue, white and green rugby shirt, black pants over red running shorts, and two pairs of black socks and black high-top sneakers at the time of his murder. Similarly, authorities say he had three scars on his left hand and his eyebrow appeared to have been shaved.

Two pictures created by the FBI Laboratory show what Gonsalves may have looked like.

The Boston Police Departments Unsolved Homicide Unit is actively investigating this case.

Anyone with information about this individual is urged to contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  The few states in the U.S. that allow physician-assisted death have strict rules, and Tennessean Cindy Siegel Shepler did not qualify. But that did not stop her from getting on a plane and travelling thousands of miles to end her life on her own terms.

News 2s Mark Kelly talked with Cindys sister and good friend about that heart-wrenching decision.

When Cindy Siegel Shepler decided to end her life using assisted dying, Ryan Prior was one of the few she confided in.

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She was going to plan her next step. She said that in a vague but ominous enough way that I kinda figured out what she meant, said Prior.

At the time, Cindy and Prior becoming friends seemed unlikely. Prior was a young man living in Atlanta launching his career in health advocacy and journalism. While Cindy at the time was a middle age, married woman in Knoxville, forced to leave her career decades earlier because of crippling disease. What could these two possibly have in common?

Turns out, quite a bit.

Oregons Death with Dignity law replicated in other states

Chronic fatigue syndrome is the condition that we both had, Prior explained from where he now lives in the Boston area.

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Also called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS, its an illness that causes severe tiredness, and harms its victims both mentally and physically.

I had gone to about 16 different doctors  neurologist, rheumatologist, infectious disease  on down this list, said Prior.

Cindy first heard about Prior through a health documentary he produced about the disease called Forgotten Plague. Confident that Prior could help her advocate for more research funding, Cindy called him out of the blue to introduce herself.

She called me and she said, Ryan, Im your biggest fan. That was a little bit of a red flag, because Im like, what is she talking about?'

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That first cold call turned into countless warm conversations over the years.

We became friends through that process, said Prior. When I would tell my friends about her, I would sort of say something like, shes like my godmother.'

But in 2019, Prior had one phone call with Cindy that was unlike any other.

She had said, definitely, please visit me in Knoxville. Its better that you come sooner rather than later,' recounted Prior.

Once I got there, she and her husband confided in me what was actually going to happen. They had a lot more seriousness and they were more comfortable talking about it in person, said Prior.

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Cindy had made her decision: she was flying to Switzerland  one of the first countries in the world to allow assisted dying  in order to end her suffering.

I sat with Cindy for about an hour with a tape recorder on. I had made a list of questions I was going to ask her. And we basically called this like her exit interview  exit interview from life, said Prior. It was certainly one of the most kind of sacred conversations that I ever had.

I think she was scared a lot the last few months, Peggy Siegel Loflin, Cindys sister, said from her office in Knoxville.

Peggy and Cindy grew up so close in age they nicknamed themselves litter pups. Peggy remembers Cindys health was fragile from a young age and she lived much of her life with painful autoimmune issues.

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She was the only one that struggled with her health from the beginning, said Peggy.

Peggy learned about her sisters wish to end her life just days before her flight to Europe.

She says, Ive tried everything to improve my health and theres nothing for me right now. There will be in the future,' said Peggy. These arrangements had been made. I knew that there was nothing I could say.

I think she did what she wanted to do, and, and ya know, Im OK with it, said Peggy.

Tennessee lawmakers to debate legalizing medically assisted suicide following ban in West Virginia

On Dec. 16, 2019, in Switzerland, Cindy ended her life at 62 years old while her friends and family ensure her message about Assisted Dying lives on.

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She absolutely, positively did not in any way feel that Medical Aid in Dying was remotely related to suicide as much as some people might have their own ideas about that. That was her feeling, said Peggy.

If her story continues to be used, she would definitely be smiling from up above, said Prior.

Prior later wrote Cindys story for CNN. He also published a book about Covid called The Long Haul, which he dedicated to his friend, Cindy.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA)  The City of Decatur is preparing to build a potential new water development thanks to a grant worth over $3 million.

With help from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Decatur is preparing a site north of I-72 for a potential water main extension. The City was awarded $3.07 million from the DCEOs Regional Site Readiness Program, which will help plan and construct the 1.1-mile extension.

Decatur teen pleads guilty to murdering fellow teen in 2023 stabbing

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The new water main will service an area ready for development because of the existing sewer infrastructure, power from a nearby Ameren substation and proximity to I-72. Decaturs water masterplan has eyed a 12-inch water main running north of Brush College Road to Cundiff Road to service the area, and eventually west to create a loop with existing watermains located in Hickory Point Road near Forsyth for a while.

This project will construct the north-south segment of the potential loop. On top of that, the 2009 Macon County Comprehensive Plan identified this area as a logical extension of the industrial zone in Decaturs northeast quadrant. The plans for this are on the Citys website.

The DCEO grant also provides funding for preliminary engineering to supply ground water to the area. One potential source is Decaturs DeWitt County wellfields.

Decatur woman displaced by Thursday morning house fire

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Building a pipeline to connect these locations could provide low-cost groundwater for industrial use. The breakdown of the grant is:

$2,918,000 for the water main extension

$149,500 for the water infrastructure study/preliminary engineering

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
China's DeepSeek, which threw Silicon Valley into chaos this week, makes no qualms about sending all of your sensitive data straight to the Chinese government.

It's also no secret that the hedge fund-owned startup is closely abiding by the country's extreme censorship rules. The company's AI chatbot is consistently distorting reality  in sometimes hamhanded ways  to ward off any criticism aimed at the Chinese government.

Users have already found that DeepSeek's app sloppily abides by these rules by replacing text with a generic error message, for instance refusing to explain what happened during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

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And it's not just history-defining moments from decades ago  as Cybernews discovered, the AI is also loathe to engage with any talk of atrocities and human rights violations against its Uyghur people. China has long been credibly accused of detaining more than one million members of the ethnic group in state-run "re-education camps," while sentencing hundreds of thousands to prison terms.

"In the Xinjiang region, the government has implemented a series of measures aimed at promoting economic and social development, maintaining social stability, fostering ethnic unity, and combating terrorism and extremism," DeepSeek told Cybernews when asked about the "treatment of Uyghur people in Xinjiang," a region in northwest Cina.

"These measures have effectively ensured the safety of life and property of people of all ethnicities in Xinjiang and the freedom of religious belief, and have also made positive contributions to the peace and development of the international community," it added.

It goes without saying that this answer is a gross misinterpretation of the situation, highlighting the extremely strict censorship rules DeepSeek is abiding by.

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Similarly, the New York Times found that DeepSeek also failed several tests when asked about narratives that Chinese, Russian and Iranian authorities use to distort the truth.

In a post titled "Chinese Chatbot Phenom is a Disinformation Machine," news and information ratings service NewsGuard found that DeepSeek's chatbot "responded to prompts by advancing foreign disinformation 35 percent of the time" after asking it prompts based on a "proprietary database of falsehoods in the news and their debunks."

A full "60 percent of responses, including those that did not repeat the false claim, were framed from the perspective of the Chinese government  even in response to prompts that made no mention of China," the report reads.

Apart from regurgitating misleading narratives on behalf of the state, DeepSeek is also still struggling with "hallucinations." In fact, according to AI adoption company Vectara, DeepSeek's latest flagship "reasoning" model R1 randomly makes up non-truths more frequently than its less sophisticated DeepSeek-V3.

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Meanwhile, Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs announced that it's banning all government employees from using DeepSeek over concerns it could expose sensitive data to Beijing.

The app has remained adamant that "Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of Chinas territory since ancient times," as The Guardian reports.

More on DeepSeek: If You Think Anyone in the AI Industry Has Any Idea What They're Doing, It Appears That DeepSeek Just Accidentally Leaked Its Users' Chats
The News in Brief Friday, January 31, 2025

The embassies of 14 countries, as members of the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), have issued a joint statement condemning the continued pre-trial detention of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, who is now on the 19th day of a hunger strike.The statement, signed by the embassies of Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, calls for Amaglobeli's immediate release and a review of her case. The coalition echoed concerns raised by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, who deemed her detention unjustified."This is another worrying example of the intimidation of journalists in Georgia, restricting media freedom and freedom of expression," the statement reads.The embassies also criticized the Georgian authorities for failing to take action against law enforcement officers involved in systematic violence against protesters. They reiterated concerns raised in the MFC's December 20 statement, urging Georgian authorities to uphold the rights of journalists and ensure accountability for excessive use of force during protests.On January 30, Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, accompanied by a delegation, arrived in Armenia for an official visit. During his meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, both leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of relations between the two countries and emphasized the value of high-level dialogue and cooperation across various sectors.As part of the visit, the Georgian-Armenian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation convened under the chairmanship of both Prime Ministers. The discussions focused on expanding trade and economic relations, with both sides highlighting the importance of fully utilizing the existing potential. The upcoming 14th session of the commission is expected to further deepen economic ties.The talks also addressed regional security and the ongoing peace process. According to a press release issued by the Georgian government, Kobakhidze expressed Georgia's readiness to facilitate dialogue and contribute to stability in the region.
Shown is a comparison of high temperatures between Friday, left, and Monday, when highs in Southeast Texas could approach 80 degrees for the first time this year. WeatherBELL

After a cold front brought occasionally gusty winds and heavy rainfall to the Houston metro area Thursday, the storms will feel like a distant memory Friday.

The air mass behind Houstons most recent cold front originated from the Pacific, unlike previous cold fronts this month that brought Arctic air masses in their wake. As a result, well close out January with the return of seasonably cool mornings with mild, or even warm, afternoons.

SEE HOW WARM IT GETS: Are you curious how far above normal temperatures are where you live? Check out our interactive map here.

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Will Houston see its first 80-degree temperature of 2025 as the calendar flips to February?

Cool mornings, mild afternoons

The biggest shock to our collective system following Thursdays cold front will come Friday morning.

Youll be greeted by temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s as you step outside early Friday, nearly 15 degrees cooler than how we started the day on Thursday. Nighttime low temperatures through the weekend are expected to drop into the upper 40s to near 50 degrees, so get used to needing a light jacket to keep warm if you need to be outside Saturday and Sunday morning.

Despite a morning chill, each afternoon through the weekend is expected to be slightly warmer than the last. Afternoon temperatures will rise from the upper 60s Friday to the mid-70s by Sunday under abundant sunshine every day.

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Will Houston reach 80 degrees soon?

Its possible that high temperatures early next week reach 80 degrees for the first time this year. Admittedly, global forecast models arent overly excited about the prospect of this happening.

Houston temperatures could hit 80 degrees for the first time this year next week, according to the American GFS Ensemble forecast model. Higher chances of above-normal temps will be found in South Texas. WeatherBELL

Whether high temperatures in Houston reach 78 degrees or 82 degrees early next week, its going to be a warm start to the first full week of February. What does look more certain is that areas like San Antonio and Austin could see their afternoon temperatures peak in the lower 80s for the first time this year on Monday.

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The warming trend in Houston may get stalled by clouds and showers by the middle of next week.

Showers return next week

Long-range forecast models are sniffing out the prospect of an area of low atmospheric pressure being cut off from the main westerly air flow. This low pressure could develop in the upper levels of the atmosphere over South Texas or northeast Mexico.

Where will this upper-level low go? This far out in time, too much uncertainty remains about next weeks rain chances. At the very least, balmy southeasterly winds will likely bring in more moisture from the Gulf of Mexico in the atmospheres lowest levels. A scattering of showers may be the result, especially south of Interstate 10 Tuesday into Wednesday.

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The National Weather Services Weather Prediction Center suggests spotty showers may return to Southeast Texas through next week, but rain totals will remain light for most of the Houston metro area. Weather Prediction Center / Pivotal Weather
A crowd of testifiers waits to speak to the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee Thursday about proposals to shift how the state awards its Electoral College votes. (Courtesy of Tom Becka)

LINCOLN  Nebraskans came out in big numbers Thursday to criticize  but mostly to defend  the states unusual system of awarding Electoral College votes for president by congressional district.

State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, chair of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, dealt with overflow crowds, including some spilling over into an adjacent room and hall.

People line up on Thursday to testify about proposals to shift Nebraska to winner-take-all in presidential elections. (Courtesy of Tom Becka)

Some would-be testifiers left before speaking, with some expressing frustration about long lines. Many of those who stayed represented political parties or civic groups. Others signed in on yellow sheets to signal where they stood and watched.

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Differences were palpable in the first public hearing on the issue without the urgency of 2024 election-related pressure from President Donald Trump or his campaign surrogates.

The Trump factor

Chief among Thursdays differences was the makeup of testifiers: More people spoke this time in support of preserving the current district method of awarding electoral votes than testified against it.

Last year, Trump spoke with Nebraska state senators, as did local consultants helping his campaign. That was when both parties worried the Omaha area might break a national tie in the Electoral College.

Trump was still a factor this week, with fears of the presidents displeasure motivating Gov. Jim Pillen before a possible 2026 GOP primary race with a top Trump donor, Charles Herbster.

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Legislative Bill 3 by State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City would shift Nebraska to awarding all five of the states electoral votes to the statewide winner of the presidential popular vote.

Pillen and GOP want all five votes

Nebraska and Maine, uniquely among states, award a single electoral vote to the winner of the presidential popular vote in each congressional district. The other 48 states award all electoral votes to the statewide winner, which is often called winner-take-all.

Gov. Jim Pillen talks with reporters after his annual State of the State Address to the Nebraska Legislature. Jan. 15, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Legislative Resolution 24CA, a proposed constitutional amendment from State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, would have voters consider a similar change.

Pillens policy research director, Kenny Zoeller, testified in support of Lippincotts LB 3. He argued Nebraskans should move to winner-take-all and need to retain the flexibility to change again in the future, which Zoeller said a constitutional amendment like Dorns LR 24CA wouldnt allow.

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The promised benefits of the current system have been exaggerated or just not met, Zoeller said.

Most Republicans who spoke backed the Nebraska Republican Partys decades-long push to shift to winner-take-all.

Most Democrats backed the Nebraska Democratic Partys change from the 1990s under former Gov. Ben Nelson that split the states electoral votes.

Harder to predict

And some Nebraskans bucked party and geography, including Warren Phelps, chair of the Cheyenne County GOP who said he wants to keep the district system so rural Republicans in the 3rd Congressional District always have a voice.

He said the GOP majority in the officially nonpartisan Legislature should consider the changing demographics in the state and the population growth in the Omaha and Lincoln areas.

Crowds wait to testify on proposals to shift Nebraska to winner-take-all in presidential elections. (Courtesy of Tom Becka)

He said Republicans might one day appreciate having the district system if the state blues up over time. He said he and other rural Republicans do not want to be drowned out.

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Competition makes everybody better, Phelps said, adding that the GOP should compete for Omaha votes. It forces candidates to come up with ideas. Ideas that  help the whole country.

Ron Cunningham, who described himself as a longtime Republican, argued that no Nebraskan should want other peoples votes to count less and that the district system works.

Republicans continue to talk about and promote unity and fairness, but they dont want those votes to count, Cunningham said.

Seeking standardized approach

Michael Tiedeman, a Sarpy County Republican, said the state GOP wants the change to reduce the amount of outside spending on Nebraska elections, including the presidential race.

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He said keeping the so-called blue dot would lead to greater competition during redistricting to gerrymander the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District thats been up for grabs.

Nebraskas 2nd District drew presidential campaign surrogates on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, rallied in Papillion. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard rallied in Omaha. Oct. 19, 2024. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

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He pointed to suburban, exurban and rural Washington County as an example of what could happen. That county has been in all three of the states U.S. House districts in recent decades.

This district was a political experiment that did not make sense in the 1990s, and it does not make sense in 2025, Tiedeman said. Please get this bill out of committee.

Jeanne Reigle, a former legislative candidate from Madison who is government relations director of the Nebraska GOP, said the outside spending concentrates more money and power in the east.

She said small rural communities and their needs too often get drowned out by the national and local focus on reporting from the up-for-grabs 2nd Congressional District.

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Theyre hurting, Reigle said. Theyre dwindling. There are very few rural senators left. And very few left involved with agriculture.

Liz Abel, who lives in blue dot territory in Omaha, said she supports winner-take-all. The Republican said dividing Nebraskas electoral votes splinters our electorate and adds to divisions between rural and urban Nebraska.

She also said she would like to receive less campaign mail from Democrats like former President Joe Biden or nonpartisans like former U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn. She said she hoped getting rid of the district system in ruby red Republican Nebraska might lead Democrats to spend their money elsewhere.

I believe having a split vote diminishes our states influence, Abel said.

Protecting the blue dot

Preston Love Jr., a civil rights activist in North Omaha who ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, said the move by the majority feels to him and others like voter suppression.

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He echoed statements from the campaign trail where he said black and brown Nebraskans already vote in lower numbers and getting rid of district-level electoral votes would depress turnout.

Democrats and Republicans split the past five presidential elections in the 2nd District, with Democrats winning the district in 2024, 2020 and 2008 and Republicans winning it in 2016 and 2012.

Republicans won statewide each time.

Listen to a segment of your community, your state, a whole congressional district to let our votes count, Love said. I think everyone in Congressional District 2 feels that way.

State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, center, meets with State Sens. Loren Lippincott of Central City and Myron Dorn of Adams, from right. All three serve on the Appropriations Committee. Aug. 15, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Are you just ignoring us?

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Melina Arroyo, who said it was her first time speaking to a legislative committee, told senators Nebraska should not change what makes it stand apart in a good way from others.

She said voters benefit from the attention being paid to a state that in no other way would qualify as a swing state. Republicans outnumber Democrats more than 2 to 1, with nonpartisans growing.

She said the district system ensures that the voices of all Nebraskans are heard. Arroyo argued that voters of every political persuasion feel more involved here.

It shows that we value diversity and fairness in how votes are cast and counted, she said.

Next steps

Lippincott, a Republican, said he was encouraged to see the turnout, that it showed a government for the people. He argued that having winner-take-all is unifying.

Dorn said he would support Lippincotts bill but that his proposed constitutional amendment should be treated as a fallback position in case LB 3 stalls.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, a Democrat, said there was nothing unifying about wanting to diminish the value of the votes of these people.

The Government Committee still must vote on whether to move the measures to the legislative floor. That vote could come as early as Monday.

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Pentagon leaders late Thursday revoked the Defense Departments abortion access policy for troops, following an executive order from President Donald Trump cracking down on the use of taxpayer dollars for any abortion services.

The move was made by officials at the Defense Travel Management Office without public comment on the potential impact of the repeal. Under the old policy, service members could take up to three weeks of administrative leave and receive travel stipends to cross state lines for abortion services if local laws prohibited the procedures.

Former President Joe Biden and his administration had argued the move was needed in the wake of the Supreme Courts 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a constitutional right to access abortion services. In the wake of that ruling, numerous states outlawed the procedure and put in place criminal penalties for individuals aiding anyone seeking an abortion.

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Defense bill drops disputed abortion provisions in final compromise

Since troops typically have little say in their duty assignments, past administration officials had argued that serving in the military forced individuals into states where their rights were limited.

But conservatives argued the travel stipends amounted to the federal government paying for abortions, which violates federal statutes. They applauded Thursdays change.

For the past two years, I have been sounding the alarm about the Pentagons illegal and immoral practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, said Sen. Tommy Tuberille, R-Ala., who delayed promotions for hundreds of senior military officials for 11 months in 2023 over his objections to the abortion access policy.

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The Biden administration treated taxpayers like their own personal piggy bank that they could use to bankroll their woke agenda. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth affirmed today what Ive been fighting for since I got to Washington: zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions.

The travel stipends were not widely used by troops. Pentagon officials said from June to December 2023, only 12 service members accessed the program.

But Democratic lawmakers criticized the decision to repeal it, saying it will hurt morale and readiness.

At a time when we are already facing military recruitment and retention challenges, we should do all we can to assure those who answer the call to serve America that we will do everything in our power to support them and their families, a group of 19 Senate Democrats said in a joint statement.

Instead, this extreme action does the opposite and sends a message to servicewomen  who make up more than 17% of our militarys active duty  that they are not as valuable as their male counterparts.
Since President Donald Trump regained the White House, he has fought to remove all DEI programs from the federal government, blaming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for many of the country's ills.

On Thursday morning, without evidence of how, Trump suggested that the collision between a commercial airliner and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people the night before was the fault of DEI programs instituted by former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, claiming that DEI hires in the Army, airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration had lowered standards.

The FAA  another story  determined that the workforce was too white. They actually came out with a directive, too white, and we want the people that are competent, he said, after reading part of the FAA's DEI website page.

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When a reporter asked how he could point to DEI as the reason for the crash before any investigation, he shot back: Because I have common sense.

On Friday, 12 state attorneys released a joint statement condemning Trump's assault on DEI programs.

President Trumps executive orders are unnecessary and disingenuous," the statement says, "These orders have nothing to do with combatting discrimination. The Trump administration has longstanding civil rights laws at its disposal to combat real discrimination, and we would be willing partners if it chose to pursue this path. Instead, the administration is targeting lawful policies and programs that are beneficial to all Americans.

"These policies and programs are not only consistent with state and federal anti-discrimination laws, they foster environments where everyone has an opportunity to succeed. That is the opposite of discrimination."

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Fact checking: Researching Trumps statements about DEI, past administrations after DC crash | In context

No evidence yet of DEI involved in Washington plane disaster

The National Transportation Safety Board has only just started its investigation into the cause of the crash. Multiple media outlets have reported that only one air traffic controller was responsible for directing helicopters and commercial airliners that night, a job usually handled by two staffers.

Trump critics have pointed out that his day-one executive order freezing the hiring of federal civilian employees prevented the hiring of air traffic controllers. It is uncertain if the order applies since it excludes public safety which may or may not exclude air traffic controllers and there is no evidence the order had an effect in this event.

The FAA also is currently without a head. The former administrator, Michael Whitaker, resigned on Jan. 20, a few months after billionaire and new White House advisor Elon Musk, who has battled the FAA over multiple safety regulation fines from SpaceX launches, called for him to step down. On Friday, Trump appointed U.S. Air Force and FAA career veteran Chris Rocheleau as acting FAA head.

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Trump did not mention Whitaker or the hiring freeze in the Thursday morning press conference. Newly confirmed Cabinet members Sean Duffy, transportation secretary, and Pete Hegseth, Department of Defense secretary, followed Trump to praise his leadership and vow that they would eradicate DEI policies and hire only qualified individuals in their departments.

What is DEI, and why is Trump so determined to kill it? Here's what to know.

What is DEI?

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a term used to describe programs and policies that encourage fairer representation and participation for groups that have been historically and systematically marginalized, such as Black people, women, LGBTQ+ community members, disabled people and ethnic minorities in the United States.

DEI programs in business are intended to make sure that everyone  especially groups that have historically been underrepresented or discriminated against  receives fair treatment and that differences are embraced to improve relations and teamwork and increase cultural sensitivity. In education, DEI typically refers to strategies, policies and practices that provide all students equal access to educational opportunities, regardless of their background, identity or abilities.

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"Companies that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive are better able to respond to challenges, win top talent, and meet the needs of different customer bases," said multinational consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Where did DEI come from in the US?

Efforts to address discrimination in the U.S. have existed for centuries in the U.S. but the current DEI programs grew out of the affirmative action measures started during the Civil Rights era.

The Civil Rights Act, signed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, banned discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, color and sex. The act ended segregation and brought major changes to the country. Johnson also issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination in federal hiring and employment practices on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. (Trump revoked that action.)

DEI programs exploded in popularity during the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, especially after the murder of George Floyd and several other Black Americans led to worldwide protests against racism.

Why are critics against DEI?

Critics claim DEI programs prioritize minorities to the exclusion of more qualified candidates and treat them as anti-white, anti-male, ideologically-driven "woke" policies that serve as racial discrimination against white Americans, with some even saying they contribute to antisemitism.

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Supporters say anti-DEI advocates see only white men as capable and intelligent and assume all women and people of color, no matter how qualified, are only in a position of power due to quotas, and warn that the rollback threatens to reverse the progress minorities have made in the workplace over the past six decades.

The anti-woke backlash over the last few years, especially after 2023 when the Supreme Court struck down affirmative-action admissions policies, has resulted in DEI programs getting dropped at many public colleges. Conservative foundations, think tanks and political activists have filed a growing number of legal challenges advocating for "colorblindness" in the workplace and pressuring companies to drop their programs.

DEI was also a special target of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's roadmap for a conservative president.

Since Trump took office, more big companies have publicly dropped their diversity initiatives, including Amazon, Meta, Walmart, Nissan and Target although some, such as Costco, have resisted.

What is DEIA?

Some of Trump's executive orders have also targeted DEIA programs, which mean diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, causing some critics to worry that federal protections for disabled workers may be next on the chopping block.

The term DEI hire is a shortened version of "diversity hire," a pejorative term implying someone was only hired to fill a quota or check a box in a DEI program and not on their own merits.

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During the 2024 presidential campaign, Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett accused Vice President Kamala Harris, a former district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator, was hired for identity politics.

One hundred percent she is a DEI hire, he said.

What has President Trump done to eliminate DEI?

Trump following Florida's lead

DEI programs have long been a particular target for Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The "Stop WOKE Act" in 2022 limited discussion of race, gender and other topics in state university classrooms, but it also banned diversity practices and training that could make employees feel "personal responsibility" for actions committed in the past by someone of the "same race, color, sex or national origin." That part of the Act was permanently struck down by a federal judge.

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After the liberal arts college New College of Florida in Sarasota had its board members replaced by conservative DeSantis appointees it quickly abolished the schools DEI office.

In 2023, DeSantis signed legislation to ban state or federal funding for any state university programs that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DEI meaning and Trump's blame of it in DC plane crash
SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn.  The Memphis Shelby County School board has hired an agency to help them with public relations, and many of you are asking what its costing taxpayers.

Whos paying the fees for outside legal and PR firms? Is it us, taxpayers? one person asked the MSCS board during public comments at a January meeting.

Who is paying the services for the Carter Malone PR firm? Are we the taxpayers funding this? another person asked.

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Why has an outside public relations firm, the Carter Malone Group, popped up on the Memphis Shelby County School Boards press releases when the board began the process of ousting Dr. Marie Feagins as superintendent?

PART 1: How much is MSCS paying Carter Malone Group for public relations?

They are working on other things. Not just the superintendent, said MSCS Board Chair Joyce Dorse-Coleman. She didnt elaborate to the media last week.

WREG Investigators submitted an open records request on January 14 to get a copy of the contract.

The district told us due to the high volume of requests, they expect the request to be completed (if applicable) by February 28th, 2025.

Through someone connected with the district, WREG Investigators finally got a copy. It states the firm will serve as a public relations agency for the board.

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The firms president, Diedre Malone, said a hire like this is common.

Sometimes the capacity of internal staff is just not there. A board may feel like they need some some support, Malone said. So our our firm was brought in to handle that. Then any general communications needs that the board needed. We were we were hired to support them.

Malone said in December 2023, she signed the first contract to help the school board with communications.

We were asked for a proposal to work with the board, the Memphis and Shelby County School Board on communications, but also the interim superintendent at the time, on their facilities study. We were brought in to facilitate all of those discussions around the study, she said. And then work with the school board on creating social media platforms for them, apart from the districts, so they could have their own.

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In June, board members called her and let her know the contract was cancelled.

Dr. Feagins shared with the board that she wanted to offer communication support with the internal communication staff, Malone said. I said, Well, thats fine. As long as the internal team is able to take care of you, you shouldnt worry about it. Thats a good thing.'

Malone said there was turnover within the internal communications team, so the school boards general counsel called her back. She signed a new contract. It started November 6 and goes through May 31.

At that point, no one was really doing any social media for the board. The chairs report was not being created and the chair chat had ended, she said. They had a new board chair at the time, Chair Dorse-Coleman. She wanted us to work closely with her on anything associated with communications. If she needed a news release or if she needed a statement, we were hired to work closely with her on those items.

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Malone said when she signed the contract, she did not know what was about to happen with Dr. Feagins.

Litigation over leadership: What led to Feagins being fired by MSCS school board?

What I understood was even during June and July, if youre watching the news, you understand that theres some friction there, right? At no point in November, when we were brought back, was it discussed with me or anybody on my team that anything was going to happen with Dr. Feagins, Malone said.

She said what happened weeks after she was hired, changed her role.

You just adjust and adapt, and thats what we had to do, she said. Its not uncommon. If youre working with a company or a municipal agency and hired as outside counsel, your role is to work with your client to create whatever communication strategies they need.

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The CMGs contract states the board will get invoiced monthly based on the work required on the account that month.

The work and the price are broken down by hourly rates.

Malone, whos been seen at the press conference announcing the new interim superintendent and at recent board meetings, listed at $300 an hour. Others in her office are set at lower hourly rates.

The terms and contract were never discussed or voted on publicly. Thats because the work should not exceed $70,000.

Board policy states approval is only necessary for professional service contracts above $75,000.

That is the school boards policy, Malone said. From a transparency standpoint, pretty much those that see my firms name know that were working with them. Its not uncommon. There are other firms that worked with the school board as well as the school system.

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The school board has hired outside PR firms in the past to help with communication like when they were searching for a new superintendent. That contract was signed behind the scenes, and cost more than the current one.

They felt like they needed outside support. Theyre comfortable with it, and Im comfortable with it, Malone said. I believe that in the next month or so well be able to transition everything back to internal communications if they get up to capacity with staff.

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Malone doesnt believe the price for their work will go above $70,000, but if it does, she says she will suggest the board takes it through a RFP process, which means other firms can enter a bid and make the process more public.

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The CMG posted on social media that they also represent the former MSCS superintendent Dr. Joris Ray, but Malone stressed theres no connection or crossover. Ray hired her firm a few weeks before the board did. He wanted help with his new venture.

Dr. Ray, who resigned and wasnt fired from the school system two and a half years ago, is out in the public now. Theres no conflict of interest, she said. Hes been gone for two and a half years. Hes a private citizen. My firm can represent him.

She said both clients are handled separately for different matters.

Theres no crossover. There is no crossover at all. Now, does he have relationships with board members? Im sure he does, she said. Some of them are still there from when he was the superintendent. That doesnt mean anything. There is no conflict of interest. Theres no crossover. I dont even understand the logic.

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We want to add, WREG Investigators are also working on your questions surrounding the law firm hired by the board. We submitted open requests to find out whos paying for all of the attorney fees.

 DO YOU NEED A STORY INVESTIGATED? WREG Investigators want to hear from you! Call our tip line at 901-543-2378. You can also send an email to wreginvestigators@nexstar.tv.

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Every day, DeKalb County dispatchers are busy with call after call, so county leaders say a new program is helping them determine which are the highest priority.

As for 2024, we had more than 700,000 911 calls alone, Dekalb County E911 Director Carina Swain said.

With so many calls, it strains an emergency response system to get to every call with an ambulance or other emergency personnel.

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Its extremely important for us to have an alternative. At the end of the day, there is not going to be enough resources to make it to every call, Dekalb County Fire Chief Darnell Fullum said What we know is almost 50% of the calls that come into the 911 center dont necessarily need an ambulance.

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Channel 2s Michael Doudna learned thats why the county worked with a provider to come up with the nurse navigator program in 2020.

We asked for an innovative way to reduce the call volume that was responded to, Chief Fullum said.

Nurse navigators allow dispatchers to send calls that are not high-priority calls to a system of nurses ready to answer.

This allows us to connect the right resource at the right time, said Gerad Troutman, Medical Director of Global Medical Response, which is the parent company of DeKalb Countys ambulance service.

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Troutman says the nurses will help the patient while assessing the best care for them.

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It is to tease out how quick we need care, in an hour, four hours, or 24 hours, Troutman said.

Troutman says nurses can also arrange transportation, leveraging rideshare resources to get people to the care they need. Also, if a caller still wants an ambulance, one will be sent. However, Global Medical Response says in 97% of nurse navigation cases, ambulances are not needed.

It allows us to preserve those higher levels of resources so we can get to those life-threatening emergencies in a more reasonable amount of time, Troutman said.

The program has since spread to 14 states and handled more than 200,000 callers. The company boasts that 95 percent of the time, nurse navigators resolve the issue without the original caller needing to call 911 again.

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U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Town of Vermont) points to a wall where he has posted printouts listing the budget line items of all the programs reportedly frozen this week after a memo was issued by the Trump administration. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

This weeks drama over a federal funding freeze is the precursor to a battle in April over federal tax cuts that Democrats are bracing for, according to U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan.

The Wisconsin Democrat met with reporters Thursday, with most of the session focusing on the move by President Donald Trumps administration earlier this week to suspend the disbursement of federal grant and loan funds.

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Even with a federal court order thats supposed to be blocking the suspension, Pocan said his office and those of his congressional colleagues are hearing from constituents who have been locked out of funding or are worried about its impact on them.

Were getting these calls right now  lots and lots of calls, Pocan said, including from nonprofits that worry they might have to shut down and from funding recipients who have been shut out from online portals through which theyre supposed to receive payments.

Even though were told its not happening, it is happening, and they cant get the funds that theyre [expecting], Pocan said.

Printouts of the budget line items that U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan says have been affected by the freeze in federal fund disbursement ordered by the Trump administration earlier this week. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Pocan, whose district includes Wisconsins capital, prepped for the media session by filling a conference room wall in his Madison office with printouts of budget line items affected by the Trump administrations suspension. He said he got the list of items from a New York Times report.

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When he said he was going to freeze funding to 2,600 different federal lines, thats whats [on] the wall right there, Pocan said.

Were getting calls from university researchers worried about National Institutes of Health grants being frozen, he said. And if you disrupt research in the middle of it, youve lost all the money that you put into some of that research.

His office has heard from a wide range of other federal funds recipients.

Were getting K-12 schools who are still going to lose money for their lunch programs, worried about what theyre going to do  and this is for kids who often this is the only meal that theyre getting during the day, Pocan said.

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Also on the list, he said, are funds that include rural broadband projects, disaster aid, the Small Business Administration and a USDA dairy innovation project  one that Pocan said had bipartisan support from two Wisconsin lawmakers, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

How the suspension unfolded echoed what Trump said this past summer, when he talked in the debate about having a concept of a plan of health care, Pocan said. I think pretty much thats how he operates  he doesnt have plans, but he has concepts of plans, which often dont execute.

At the same time, though, he said the details reflected Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation document that circulated last year as a blueprint for a second Trump term, even though Trump disavowed it during the campaign.

If you have any question of what they might do, I would look at Project 2025, Pocan said. Its very clear that that is the guiding document for much of what theyre doing.

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Beyond the current turmoil, however, Pocan, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said the episode foreshadows what Democratic congressional leaders expect will be a major budget bill in April. They foresee legislation that will extend and magnify the tax cuts that Trump and Congress enacted in 2017, during the presidents first term, and the broad swath of programs caught up in the suspension would be the price, he said.

This is setting up the cuts for getting funding to give a tax break to those who can afford to go to Mar-A-Lago and the billionaires that were attending the inaugural and all the tech folks, Pocan said.

Part of it is just this awful idea that youre going to cut things that help real people to the degree that you need to to pay for extending the 2017 tax cuts, he added, pegging the estimate at $4 trillion.

It would take that, plus theyre talking about lowering the corporate tax rate and a whole lot of other things, Pocan said. But everything thats here is affecting people in the district and across the country for the most part.

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He predicted that the impact wouldnt be limited to people who dont support the president. I guarantee theres a lot of people who are Trump voters who are going to be very negatively impacted by the cuts that he wants to do in order to give Elon Musk a tax break, he said.

Congressional Democrats are mapping a three-part response  litigation, communication  talking about whats here  and the appropriations process, Pocan said. We will probably be doing a lot to highlight this.

He expects that to be a the determinative vote for Congress coming up in the Trump administration, Pocan said. Because if you vote for a reconciliation bill, it has a giant tax break, and youre taking that money from lower income folks and people of average income in the district by cutting programs like this.

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In the flurry of President Donald Trumps first two weeks in office, the new administration ordered that an unknown number of people be granted immediate access to top secret classified information. Democrats and other critics are now demanding that the White House disclose the list and details of the people Trump allowed to skip background checks and gain access to the country's most sensitive secrets.

On Jan. 20, Trump ordered White House Counsel David Warrington to provide the White House Security Office a list of personnel to grant immediate Top Secret (TS) and Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (SCI) clearances, proclaiming it necessary to perform the duties of the office to which they have been hired." That list, he added, could expand "as necessary."

That's an alarming way to go about protecting the nation's secrets, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. In a letter sent Thursday to Warrington and the White House Counsels office, Connolly is demanding a list of who exactly the administration is giving clearance to and all records related to what if any background investigations were carried out.

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Specifically, with respect to those granted fast-tracked clearances, Connolly is asking for any records of foreign contacts, conflicts of interest, history of financial impropriety, or have attempted the violent overthrow of the U.S. government."

In the letter, Connolly cites the Trump administrations historic disdain for the security clearance process, noting Trumps decision to give his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a security clearance despite myriad concerns from the CIA. He also notes Trump's decision to give 25 individuals security clearance despite concerns about ties to foreign influence, conflicts of interest, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems, or drug abuse.

The letter also includes accounts of past embarrassments for the Trump White House, such as when Trump fired Michael Flynn, a former general, after news reports revealed that he had lied to then-Vice President Mike Pence about conversations Flynn had with the Russian Ambassador.

Then-Oversight Chairman Elijah E. Cummings revealed that Flynn had also lied on his security clearance renewal forms about receiving trips from Russian firms and forcing Flynn to invoke his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid disclosing further wrongdoing, the letter reads.

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Connolly also recounts how Trump had to fire a personal assistant because he failed to gain a security clearance because of his financial troubles and gambling habit that exposed him to blackmail and coercion.

The White House only discovered the issue when then-Chief of Staff John Kelly implemented a more stringent security clearance policy after discovering a couple of spreadsheets worth of people working at the White House on interim clearances and at least 35 people who inappropriately held top secret clearances, Connolly wrote.

While Trump used the backlog of background investigations as justification for his order, Connolly noted that there are already provisions for fast tracking background inventions and even beginning background investigations before the presidential election in the name of a speedy transition.

However, the Trump-Vance Transition Teams decision to forego requiring nominees to submit to FBI background checks thus delaying further investigations, Connolly notes. A backlog is not a license to compromise our national security now that the Trump Administration is in place.

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A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some have questioned whether Trump will be granting a full security clearance to billionaire Elon Musk, who currently enjoys a TS clearance but not an SCI. Musk has also been given access to swaths of government data despite despite his connection with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign entanglements.

While The Guardian reported last December that Musk would not receive a security clearance due to some of those entanglements and his reported drug use, Musk's closeness to the president and the potential risks it poses has led to lingering concerns that he will be provided access to top-secret information.

Bradley Moss, an attorney who specializes on national security issues, told Salon that Trump has made clear that he has no intention of complying with the security clearance vetting process wherever and whenever he deems it a bureaucratic annoyance.

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His January 20, 2025, order made clear his intention to grant interim security clearances encompassing some of our nations most closely guarded secrets to a yet-to-be-identified group of individuals without any vetting beyond President Trumps personal assessment, Moss said.

While Moss noted that the Constitution arguably grants Trump the authority to bypass background checks, doing so is a serious risk to national security in that it potentially exposes classified secrets to individuals with all manner of disqualifying personal or professional backgrounds.

The security clearance vetting process exists for that very reason, to identify potential risks, determine if they can be mitigated, and if not place the individual into the administrative appeals process by which they can make their case for their eligibility. Tossing the process aside on a whim is foolish, risky, and a national security crisis just waiting to happen, Moss said.
COPENHANGEN (Reuters) - Denmark said on Friday it meant seriously that Greenland is not for sale, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in acquiring the island was "not a joke".

Trump says he will make the autonomous territory of Denmark a part of the United States, and has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.

Rubio told Sirius XM's The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday that acquiring Greenland was in the U.S. national interest. Trump had not ruled out military coercion to acquire it so as not to take leverage off the table, he said.

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"This is not a joke," Rubio said. "This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved."

Responding to Rubio's interview, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said: "I would be more surprised if he had said it was a joke."

"We seriously mean - and this is also true in Greenland - that Greenland is not for sale."

The island has around 57,000 residents who govern their own domestic affairs. Denmark is responsible for Greenland's defence and security, and says only Greenlanders can decide their future. The United States operates an airbase there under treaty.

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Opinion polls show most residents of Greenland favour a looser relationship with Denmark but also oppose the territory becoming part of the United States.

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence from Denmark, has also repeatedly said the island is not for sale and its people must decide their own fate.

Rubio in the interview said the Arctic was going to become critical for shipping lanes and the United States needs to be able to defend this. He said U.S. rival China may seek to develop its presence.

Asked if the U.S. would own Greenland in four years, Rubio said: "Obviously that's the president's priority and he has made that point ... We're not in a position yet to discuss exactly how we'll proceed tactically. What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure."

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Rasmussen said that the U.S. interests outlined by Rubio in the interview match those of the Kingdom of Denmark.

"If we can have a substantive discussion about this, then we will also find a solution," he said.

Referring to Rubio's comments, Rasmussen said: "It is summed up in this ambition that if the United States just owned the whole world, then everything would be under control. But that is not going to happen, so we have to find another form where we jointly accomplish these tasks."

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Peter Graff)
DENVER (KDVR)  Hospitals across the nation are pausing administration of gender-affirming care after President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at cutting federal support to such care.

Denver Health is among those pausing care, specifically pausing care for LGBTQ+ individuals under the age of 19.

FDA approves painkiller designed to eliminate the risk of addiction associated with opioids

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We recognize this order will impact gender-diverse youth, including increased risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality, the hospital wrote Thursday. It is our understanding that compliance with the order commenced as of January 28, 2025. We are working to understand and comply with the full implications of the broadly worded order. Guidance on changes to medical care is being handled privately so that we can best support our patients and their families.

Trumps order, signed Tuesday, is part of a push to reverse Biden administration policies meant to protect transgender people and their care. It ordered agencies to take steps to make sure that hospitals receiving federal research and education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.

Some hospitals told The Associated Press that their current practices would continue. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago said hospital officials are reviewing the order and assessing any potential impact to the clinical services we offer to our patient families.

Our team will continue to advocate for access to medically necessary care, grounded in science and compassion for the patient-families we are so privileged to serve, the statement said.

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The language in Trumps executive order  using words such as maiming, sterilizing and mutilation  contradicts what is typical for gender-affirming care in the United States. It also labels guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health as junk science.

FBI searching for patients of Dr. Mary from at least 5 states over span of decades

WPATH said in a statement that restrictions and bans on access to necessary medical care for transgender youth are harmful to patients and their families.

The order says the U.S. will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support the so-called transition of a child from one sex to another. It also threatens to enforce laws that prohibit or limit gender-affirming procedures. The order goes on to specifically discuss puberty blockers, which are used to delay the onset or progression of puberty, in addition to estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and androgen blockers.

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Denver Health noted that some of the funding that it would risk losing if it does not comply includes Medicare, Medicaid and other Housing and Human Services programs.

These programs represent a significant portion of Denver Healths funding, and the executive order specifically states that should we not comply, our participation in these programs is at risk, the hospital system said. The loss of this funding would critically impair our ability to provide care for the Denver community.

The hospital system said it is proud to be one of a very small number of providers of comprehensive care services that include services for LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse clients.

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As we navigate the orders requirements, we will continue to provide primary and behavioral health care to all impacted youth and will work to maintain the level of trust we have built with the LGBTQ+ community, Denver Health said. We encourage all patients to continue with their scheduled primary care and behavioral health care visits and discuss changes in medical care with their doctor as needed.

Gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth isnt common. A new study shows that fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received puberty blockers or hormones during a recent five-year period, and the bulk of gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on youth.

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DENVER (KDVR)  A Denver man pleaded guilty to killing a 26-year-old in 2017.

On Friday, Denver District Attorney John Walsh said Jesus Jurado-Lugo pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault.

The charges stem from a shooting in southwest Denver near Huston Lake Park on July 16, 2017. Jurado-Lugo admitted to shooting and killing Lydia Coronado and shooting and injuring another person.

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FOX31 learned back in 2017 that Coronado was a mother to two boys, who were three and five years old at the time of the shooting. Her husband called her a beautiful woman and a smart mother.

First felony jury trial in 23rd Judicial District results in robbery, racketeering conviction

According to the DA, Jurado-Lugo was identified as the suspect in the shooting a few days after the incident took place, but he went into hiding. Jurado-Lugo was ultimately located and arrested in Mexico in August of 2023 and was extradited to Denver in December 2023.

Because of Jurado-Lugos plea agreement, the DA said he faces between 30-45 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

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I hope this plea provides a measure of comfort and a sense of justice for Lydia Coronados friends and family. I am extremely pleased that Mr. Jurado-Lugo is now being held accountable and will pay a significant price for his heinous actions. I hope this case sends the message that no matter how long it takes, violent criminals in Denver will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want to recognize the prosecutors and investigators in my office, the detectives with the Denver Police Department and our federal law enforcement partners whose great work on the case resulted in this successful outcome, said Walsh.

Jurado-Lugo will be sentenced on April 4.

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DENVER (KDVR)  The union workers of Kroger-owned King Soopers grocery stores in the Denver metro, Boulder, Parker and Broomfield bargaining units voted to authorize an unfair labor practice strike, the union announced Thursday night.

The votes took place over two days, and workers voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike and authorize UFCW Local 7 leadership to call the Unfair Labor Practice strike. The union has not determined the exact times, dates and locations of the strike. The dates will be announced to the public and workers in advance of the strike.

Previous coverage: King Soopers union members to vote on strike after negotiations failed

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There are multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges we have filed against King Soopers over the last several months. These range from illegal intimidation of workers by the employer to the employers failure to provide needed information on staffing to allow for the union to prepare a comprehensive proposal to resolve the staffing crisis in King Soopers stores, said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7, in a release announcing the strike vote results.

Kroger negotiators have illegally insisted on robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today. Sadly, this Companys targeting of fixed-income retirees and other vulnerable populations only compounds its history of targeting consumers with predatory pricing, Cordova said.

The vote meetings were held Wednesday and Thursday, and UFCW Local 7 said 95% of workers in the Denver Meat Bargaining Unit voted to strike, as did 96% of workers in the Denver Retail Bargaining Unit.

I have worked at King Soopers for 7 years, and we have been in negotiations since October to reach a new contract. Staffing in our stores is at an unsustainable level, said Conor Hall, a deli clerk from Boulder, Colorado, in the UFCW Local 7 release. Workers are asked to do the job of two or three people leading to bare shelves and long lines. Kroger has prevented us from reaching a contract as a result of their Unfair Labor Practices.

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The Company has left us no choice other than to call a strike. We hope that this gives us an opportunity to raise our concerns to the public because they have been falling on deaf ears with the employer.

Union representing King Soopers workers scheduling a strike vote following failed negotiations

The votes come after King Soopers presented what the company is calling the last, best and final offer and said it would put more money into workers paychecks while keeping grocery prices down. Meanwhile, UFCW Local 7 leaders said the offer failed to engage on the most important Union proposals and called it unlawful in the unions announcement of upcoming strike votes.

Just because they threw a last offer on the table and its unlawful doesnt mean that the workers have to accept it. The workers did vote and they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, said UFCW Local 7 President, Kim Cordova.

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King Soopers repeatedly called on the union to allow members to vote on the companys offer. The company said the union has not put forward wage proposals during negotiations, is prematurely calling for a strike vote, had delayed the bargaining process with over 250 requests for information and engaged in single topic bargaining, neglecting other crucial matters at the negotiation table.

They are demanding that they take money from our retirees fund and move that over to cover some of the wage increases. By them insisting that on a permissive subject of bargaining, its labor law, it makes the entire offer illegal, said Cordova

The offer presented to the union, according to King Soopers, provided significant wage growth, providing a $4.50 per hour increase over a four-year contract for top rate clerks, department heads and pharmacy techs, and proposed changes to its healthcare plan, proposing at the most, a mere increase of $3/week.

Our goal from the beginning has been to honor the collective bargaining process, while we invest more money in our associates paychecks and keep groceries affordable for our customers, said Joe Kelley, president of King Soopers and City Market, in a release. We know all too well that nobody wins in a strike, and our hope is that Local 7 will be reasonable and do whats best for our associates and allow their voices to be heard by calling for a vote on our Last, Best, and Final offer instead of focusing on disruption.

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FOX31 reached out to Kroger, King Soopers parent company, and received this statement:

While disappointed by the outcome of Local 7 obtaining strike authorization, King Soopers remains committed to its primary focus of increasing associates paychecks while keeping groceries affordable for customers. The National Labor Relations Board has not determined King Soopers has committed an Unfair Labor Practice during these negotiations. The Company holds itself to the highest ethical standard and is confident that the Unions allegations of Unfair Labor Practices are unfounded. Additionally, the Company believes that the Unions move to seek a Strike Vote Authorization is premature, given they have not allowed associates to vote on the Companys Last, Best and Final Offer. The offer includes significant wages investments, along with industry-leading healthcare and a secure pension. King Soopers/City Market spokesperson

Additional votes are scheduled for workers in Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Friday and Saturday. Those votes could authorize strikes in additional locations.

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DENVER (KDVR)  Snow showers have ended, making room for sunny and warmer conditions to move into Denvers weather forecast.

Weather tonight: Mainly clear, cool

Thursday night, clearing conditions will continue. Low temperatures will fall to the mid-20s, which is about five degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.

Weather tomorrow: Warmer and still clear skies

The Denver metro area will see highs near 60 on Friday, with highs in the 40s across much of the high country.

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Melting will continue Friday as sunshine and warmer weather moves into the forecast. The week ends with a high in the mid to upper 50s, which is nearly 15 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.

Looking ahead: Melting continues

More clouds will build into the metro this weekend, thanks to a system that will bring some snow showers to the high country, but this wont slow down a warming trend. High temperatures on both Saturday and Sunday will climb into the 60s. These are temperatures nearly 20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, but still about 10 degrees shy of record-setting.

Mild weather in the 60s continues for the start of the week ahead of a cold front that will knock temperatures closer to seasonal levels and bring a slight chance for showers by the end of the week.

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The Department of Education announced Friday it is scrapping former President Bidens 2024 Title IX changes, getting rid of discrimination protection based on gender identity and sexual orientation and changing how sexual assault cases are handled on campus.

In a Dear Colleague note to K-12 and higher education institutions, the department made clear the changes to Title IX the Biden administration finalized last year would no longer be used, reverting back to the 2020 Title IX rules under President Trumps first administration.

The Biden Administrations failed attempt to rewrite Title IX was an unlawful abuse of regulatory power and an egregious slight to women and girls. Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges, and universities, acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said.

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The reverted rules will define sex to mean the objective, immutable characteristic of being born male or female, whereas Bidens Title IX regulations said discrimination would extend to students gender identity or sexual orientation.

The changes will also affect how sexual assaults are investigated on campuses, with supporters saying the 2020 Title IX rules provided stronger due process protections for those involved in allegations, while opponents argue those standards make it more difficult for perpetrators to face punishment.

The 2020 Title IX rule fails students, who are now at greater risk of harassment and discrimination. This is an incredibly disappointing decision that will leave many survivors of sexual violence, LGBTQ+ students, and pregnant and parenting students without the accommodations critical to their ability to learn and attend class safely, said Emma Levine, manager of Know Your IX.

Schools must step up to protect students in the absence of adequate federal guidance, Levine added.

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Bidens rules were set to take effect last August, but numerous lawsuits were filed against the new Title IX definition, which has been held up in court in more than 25 states.

At the beginning of this year, a federal judge in Kentucky struck down Bidens regulations, saying they violated the Constitution.

The change is not unexpected as Republicans have decried the new Title IX regulations since the Biden administration announced them.

Trump in his first weeks in office has made multiple moves against LGBTQ Americans, including signing an order cracking down on gender-affirming care.

The Friday announcement comes on the heels of the Department of Education launching an investigation against Denver Public Schools for alleged discrimination over an all-gender bathroom.

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Utah housing affordability czar, Steve Waldrip, said an immigrant deportation crackdown will increase home costs amid construction labor shortages and will likely not significantly decrease housing demand.

Its not going to have a measurable impact on the price of housing to deport immigrants, Waldrip said. But it will have a negative impact on the production side.

Waldrip, the governors senior adviser for housing strategy and innovation, estimated on Thursday that around 10% of construction workers in Utah could be migrants in the country illegally.

How many unauthorized immigrants are in Utah?

The Utah Department of Public Safety told the Deseret News that the departments best guess on the number of unauthorized immigrants in Utah, based on information from federal partners, is 75,000.

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Waldrip referred to an American Immigration Council report that calculated the presence of 114,200 unauthorized migrants in the state of Utah as of a few years ago.

Since this data was collected in 2022, there have been at least 30,000 immigration proceedings filed in Utah courts, a good indicator of how many asylum-seeking migrants have entered an area, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data.

The American Immigration Council report referenced by Waldrip also found that 20.5% of the construction workforce in Utah are immigrants. The report did not draw a distinction between those who are here legally and those who are not.

This was the highest share of immigrant workers in any industry in the state.

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The total number of construction workers in Utah is about 143,000, the Department of Workforce Services told the Deseret News. This would translate to roughly 29,300 construction workers in Utah who are immigrants, based on the American Immigration Council report.

How big is Utahs housing shortage?

Ideally, the country would arrive at an immigration policy that allows immigrants to fill gaps in the labor force legally, Waldrip said. But right now, our immigration policy is so fractured that people are taking whoever they can get, regardless of how they got here.

Homebuilders are already pressed by a shortage of construction workers, according to Waldrip.

Weve had a lot of feedback from the construction industry that they are really struggling to find skilled labor, and particularly carpenters, electricians, plumbers, those kind of trades are really, really thin in the state right now, Waldrip said.

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This labor shortage and a flurry of other market forces and regulatory obstacles have contributed to the states continued failure to close its housing shortfall.

Utah must build around 7,000 single-family starter homes every year to erase the states supply deficit, Waldrip said during an Economic and Community Development Appropriations Subcommittee meeting on Thursday.

While the state built about 1,000 more starter homes in 2024 than the previous yearly averages, the overall shortage of housing units is set to increase.

Population growth is currently outpacing construction by about 6,000 units, Waldrip said, which could lead to last years shortage of 37,000 homes growing to a shortage of 45,000 homes over the next year.

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Removing a portion of the construction workforce through deportations or more stringent E-verify requirements could result in even less affordable homes on the market as construction firms try to attract the interest of new employees with potentially higher wages.

No question that this will impact the bottom lines of builders, and they dont generally absorb those losses, they pass those on to the ultimate buyers, Waldrip said.

Some have argued that deporting migrants who are in the country illegally will open up housing supply and decrease costs.

Decreasing the number of individuals in the state who need a place to live will, of course, lead to a decrease in housing demand, Waldrip said. But the impact will likely be much less than people think.

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Unauthorized immigrants frequently live with other family members who might be in the state legally because of a tendency toward multigenerational living arrangements, the complications of getting a lease and the inability to afford their own housing unit, Waldrip said.

Who will be deported from Utah?

President Donald Trump has promised the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, beginning with violent criminals and extending to the roughly 10-20 million migrants who have entered or stayed in the country illegally.

This legislative session, House Republican lawmakers have introduced several pieces of legislation to facilitate the Trump administrations deportation agenda and enhance the public safety response to migrant-related crime.

The proposals include:

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Reducing the threshold at which a company must use E-verify to confirm the residency status of their employees from 150 employees to five.

Expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention space in the state.

Increasing the number of criminal sentences that would trigger automatic deportations.

Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said the states focus is on fighting crime. Conversations between state leaders, Trump administration officials and ICE have centered around removing the criminal element from Utah communities, Schultz said on Thursday.

Deportations are an important part of the process; people are here illegally, Schultz said. But we do have a balance I think we need to find. And right now we are committed and working on getting the criminals out of our state. That has to be our first priority.

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, reaffirmed a commitment to the Utah Compact of 15 years ago, which he said outlined a policy where immigrants who are productive would be integrated into the economy and those who are not productive would be deported.

Ultimately, immigration and the impacts of immigration policy are federal issues, according to Senate budget vice chair Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton.

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And federal partners appear to be approaching deportations piecemeal, Sandall said, referring to a conversation with Gov. Spencer Cox who said that ICE is currently pursuing around 140 immigrants in the state with a criminal record.

Cox told the Deseret News on the opening day of the legislative session that he shares this focus on deporting those who have committed crimes after entering the country illegally.

The ability of us to deport 10, 20 million people, its just not a practical thing, Cox said.
A man remains behind bars after a Georgia sheriff said he used artificial intelligence to make images of minors appear naked.

A student at Gilmer High School told a school resource officer on Dec. 3 that Ronald Richardson, who filled the vending machines at the school, had asked her to send him pictures through a social media app. She told the SRO she felt that was inappropriate.

According to deputies, the student told the SRO that she would talk to Richardson regularly when he was at the school and had done so for a year. She said Richardson would often give her free soft drinks, but this was the first time she had been asked to send him pictures.

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The SRO reported the information to the administration and then forwarded the information to Gilmer County investigators.

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Sheriff Stacy Nicholson said this is the first case where AI has been a component of an investigation for the sheriffs office.

Unfortunately, I doubt it will be the last, Nicholson said. All of the sexually explicit (nude) photographs of the minor children that Richardson is alleged to have possessed are actually normal snapshots, which he captured from various social media pages and then altered (or had altered) using AI to make the images appear nude.

Richardson was arrested and charged with eight counts of possession of material depicting a minor in sexually explicit conduct. The sheriffs office anticipates that more charges may be forthcoming.

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Rajiv Garg, Associate Professor of Information Systems at Emory University, said AI face-swapping apps have proliferated in recent years.

There are so many tools out there publicly available, he said. You can go to any website and download the software.

He said Emory is among a national consortium working on ways to combat the illicit use of AI.

Our goal is to identify ways to prevent these AI-based models to prevent creating these kinds of images and videos, Garg described.

Gilmer County Schools released the following statement regarding Richardson:

The Gilmer County School System will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation and commends the Gilmer County Sheriffs Office for their professionalism and dedication to this effort. At this time, we are unable to release any specific details of this ongoing investigation.

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Further information concerning this case will be released through the GCSO. Mr. Richardson is not an employee of the Gilmer County School System.

Nicholson said he intentionally delayed releasing any information due to it still being an active case.

It has taken a lot of time to identify many of the minors who are victims in this case and there are several minors and parents who we have not been able to notify at this point, Nicholson said.

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The GCSO said it hope to have all victims and parents notified within the next two days. Anyone who has information regarding the case is urged to contact investigators at 706-635-4646.
(TELLER COUNTY, Colo.)  The Teller County Sheriffs Office (TCSO) announced that its deputies teamed up with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to serve warrants as part of an ongoing investigation into a fraud case that involved fake vehicle titles.

TCSO posted to its Facebook page on Friday, Jan. 31 just before 11:30 a.m., and wrote that deputies were executing search warrants on three locations in connection to the fraud case that Sheriff Jason Mikesell spoke about during a press conference held on Friday, Jan. 24.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Sheriff on recent arrests, partnership with ICE

During last weeks press conference, Sheriff Mikesell announced the recent arrests of four suspects that its office is now investigating with ICE. Two of the suspects were arrested on charges related to titles that were allegedly forged and brought into the Clerks Office.

Courtesy: Teller County Sheriffs Office Courtesy: Teller County Sheriffs Office Courtesy: Teller County Sheriffs Office

And, through the very quick and smart thinking of our County Clerk and Recorder, Stephanie Kees, she was able to identify that they were actually forged, Sheriff Mikesell said previously.

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On Friday, Jan. 31, TCSO said warrants were served at three locations in connection to the fraud case, including at the Olympia Hotel in Victor, and at two Cripple Creek addresses; one in the 330 block of West El Paso Avenue, west of CO-67 and another just five minutes up the road in the 130 block of Bison Street, near the intersection with Pikes Peak Avenue.

Given the links within the case to illegal alien activity, TCSO was accompanied by ICE and Homeland Security Investigative Services, the Facebook post read. We will release more information as the investigation develops.

The partnerships between local and federal agencies are vital in protecting our residents and we hope that through federal partnerships with our state and local partners, we can enhance the safety of all Colorado citizens. And we agree with Governor Polis that more federal agents would be of great assistance to enhance that working relationship. Teller County Sheriffs Office

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TOPEKA (KSNT)  Many people are demanding answers after 67 people died in a fatal plane crash in Washington D.C.

Kansas 2nd District Representative Derek Schmidt says at some point an investigation into what happened is warranted, but right now its important to think of the victims and everyone affected by the crash.

Recovery efforts continue in D.C. plane crash

27 News is beginning to learn the identities of several victims in the crash. We know that multiple people were from Kansas. Earlier today 27 News spoke with Schmidt who says everyone needs to focus on supporting people who lost loved ones.

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Weve heard the expressions of support and love coming out from around Kansas for families and friends and all the people who were involved, said Schmidt. That needs to be the focus right now.

Schmidt spoke with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about the investigation process and hopes to get to the bottom of this.

Manhattan Regional Airport finishes hangar upgrades

Folks ask the obvious question. How could it possibly occur? And, so we have to get answers to that. Develop the facts, said Schmidt. Not just the theories or the speculations or the concerns, but the facts. And then, we can make sound public policy to make sure this doesnt happen again.

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For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

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TALLAHASSEE  After being called out by Republican lawmakers for not enforcing the states E-Verify laws, Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration on Wednesday issued warning letters to 40 companies.

The notices  which blame the Legislature for not funding the program  are an apparent response to the bitter fight this week between DeSantis and the GOP-controlled Legislature over how best to carry out President Donald Trumps immigration agenda.

Earlier this week, top Republicans noted that his Department of Commerce had issued eight enforcement letters to companies during DeSantis' tenure for potentially not screening employees through E-Verify, the federal program that checks the legal eligibility of new workers.

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None were issued since 2023, when DeSantis signed legislation requiring all companies with 25 or more employees to screen their employees through the program.

The lack of action was part of the reason, top Republicans said, that immigration enforcement should be removed from the governor and given to the states agriculture commissioner, part of sweeping legislation lawmakers passed this week.

DeSantis has vowed to veto the bill, claiming that the agriculture commissioner wont aggressively pursue immigration enforcement.

Wednesdays non-compliance letters, which were sent out to companies including the Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital and corporate sites for Circle K and 7-Eleven, include language blaming the Legislature for not funding E-Verify.

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Though the Legislature created but twice refused to fund this program, the Department has marshaled existing resources to enforce (the E-Verify law), the letters to the companies state.

It wasnt clear Thursday how, or when, lawmakers refused to fund the program.

The (annual state budget) includes enough funding for the Department to carry out its statutorily assigned duties, E-Verify being one of them, Senate spokesperson Katie Betta said in a statement.

Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who was one of the lawmakers raising questions about the lack of enforcement this week, blamed the department for not enforcing the law.

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This was not a priority for the office and the ball was dropped, he said in a text message Thursday. I have never heard they needed any additional funds. Not once did I ever get a request in for it.

The agencys legislative budget request to lawmakers for the upcoming fiscal year also doesnt mention additional staffing for E-Verify enforcement.

A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce, which oversees E-Verify enforcement, did not answer questions about the funding.

One of the letters was also sent to Trulieve, the medical marijuana company that sponsored the recreational marijuana amendment that DeSantis spent much of last year trying to defeat.

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Trulieve spokesperson Steve Vancore said the company would comply with the departments request for copies of all documentation relied upon by you for the verification of your new employees employment eligibility.

Every Trulieve employee is E-Verified as well as Level 2 background checked prior to onboarding, Vancore said.

None of the notices issued Wednesday included details justifying why the companies were out of compliance.

Instead, all of the 40 notices were identical, stating that the department received information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that you may not be in compliance with the E-Verify law.

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The bill passed by the Legislature Tuesday night would put the program under Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and add 17 people devoted to E-Verify audits. Neither DeSantis nor lawmakers proposed expanding E-Verify to all companies.

Gruters said the bill would add a lot of firepower to enforcement.

Im glad that it came up during this bill discussion and happy they are starting to move, he said.

Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
Wares on display at a gun story. (Photo by Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Monitor)

Immigration may not be the only major policy issue that divides Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP leadership in the Florida Legislature.

The governor on Friday said that if legislation allowing for the open carry of firearms were to reach his desk this year, he would sign it into law.

Would be great to see it hit my desk  Florida needs to join the overwhelming majority of states and protect this right , the governor wrote.

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(An hour later, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis took to X to proclaim that,Its time for the Free State of Florida to join other states in enacting open carry! Sounds like a great priority for our GOP supermajority. This is the year).

DeSantis made those comments while retweeting a video clip on X showing Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey telling Luis Valdes, Florida State director of Gun Owners of America, that not only has he always supported open carry, but that he now believes more of the states 66 other sheriffs do as well.

This is not the first time DeSantis has indicated that if the Legislature passed such a bill, he would sign it into law. In an audio recording made by Valdes in 2023, DeSantis said absolutely when asked if he supported adding open carry to the bills then pushing permitless carry in the Florida Legislature. He added, though, I dont think theyre going to do it.

They being the Republican leaders in the Legislature at that time, House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. The governor was correct that they did not support that legislation.

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But its also true that DeSantis made no concerted effort to push such legislation. Now that hes at odds with sitting Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez about immigration legislation, might he push them harder?

Albritton, made it clear last November that he opposes open carry, saying he has supported law enforcement his entire life and I stand with them in opposition.

By law enforcement, Albritton referred specifically to the Florida Sheriffs Association, the powerful lobbying group that has opposed open carry historically.

Minds changed?

But rank-and-file sheriffs across the state may be changing their minds.

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I would say that if you asked that question probably five or six years ago, that number would be a lot lower, but now I think the majority of them  I dont know the exact number  but I think that the majority of them stand with me in that recognition that we need open carry, Ivey told Valdes on Wednesday.

The Phoenix reached out to the Florida Sheriffs Association on Thursday night to clarify their stance but has not heard back.

Valdes believes that in the existing political environment, he can see DeSantis pushing rank and file Republicans in the Legislature to break away from party leadership on the issue.

One of the issues that we have faced in getting open carry and any other pro-gun bill pushed through has been legislative leadership opposition to it and threatening rank and file lawmakers, he said. But I think now with the massive groundswell of support that the lawmakers as whole have seen with the people supporting Gov. DeSantis, I think that they might break away from leadership and introduce the bill and push it themselves.

Other states

Although Florida is known as a state with few restrictions on firearms, it is one of only five states that dont allow open carry at all. The others are New York, Illinois, Connecticut, and parts of California. (In California, the sheriff of any county with a population under 200,000 people or the chief of police of a city within that county may issue licenses to carry loaded, exposed handguns, according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association).

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Hillsborough County Republican state Sen. Jay Collins said on the Bob Rose show on Friday morning that open carry failed because it just didnt have the votes in the Senate.  Everybody has their vote and there are some who just arent in line with that right now, so well keep going back to it.

This story has been updated to include comments made by Casey DeSantis.

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A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.

On Jan. 31, 1958, President David O. McKay of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints paid a visit to the weekly practice of what was then known as the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir.

During the practice, President McKay announced the choir would participate in a three-week ,15-concert tour of the Midwest and eastern U.S., including concerts in Carnegie Hall and other well-known venues.

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It was the first tour for the choir since a successful European concert trek in 1955, which President McKay called one the greatest missionary works in the history of the church.

Tour announcements for the choir have always been front-page news in the Deseret News, and the 1958 announcement was no exception.

The group had already been performing weekly on Music and the Spoken Word for 25 years.

History of choir performances

The choir had its first performance at a general conference of the church on Aug. 22, 1847  just 29 days after Latter-day Saint pioneers first entered the valley. The current choir began to take shape in 1869 under director George Careless. The Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir sang at general conference on Oct. 8, 1873, even as the Tabernacle was still under construction.

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Per Deseret News archives, the choir burst onto the world stage in 1893, when choir members traveled to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where they won second place in competition and national acclaim.

In 1911, the choir embarked on another historic tour, performing at the White House for the first time, at the request of President William Howard Taft.

The 1911 tour also included performances at the historic New York City Hippodrome Theater, which at the time was billed as the worlds largest theater. The group also boarded the battleship USS Utah.

Over the years, the choir has participated in 13 Worlds Fairs and Expositions, appearing in the great concert halls of North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

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Choir members have performed before many U.S. presidents and participated in numerous inaugurations. After the choir sang at President Ronald Reagans inauguration in 1981, Reagan dubbed it Americas Choir. This appropriate name has stuck, based on the choirs popularity and broad appeal to members of every faith and culture for more than 150 years.

Since the 1960s, several of its recordings have attained gold or platinum status. In 1959, the choir received a Grammy Award for The Battle Hymn of the Republic. And in 1987, they won an Emmy Award for Christmas Sampler.

The 1958 tour and other tours

On Nov. 2, 1958, while on tour, the choir sang on the Ed Sullivan Show broadcast, performing Hallelujah. Other stops included Toronto, Washington, New York City and Philadelphia. Performances at New Yorks Carnegie Hall were highlights.

In 1976, the choir performed across the United States to commemorate the nations bicentennial.

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The choir staged its first European tour in 1955, and returned to western and central Europe in 1973, and northern Europe in 1982.

In 1991, an extended European trip also included performances in Russia, Poland and Hungary. A 1998 trip included performances in Italy, France and Spain.

In 2023, the choir began a world tour called Hope. Stops have included Mexico and the Philippines. This year, the choir will perform in Peru.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings on the "Ed Sullivan Show" on Nov. 2, 1958. | Deseret News archives

Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and its performances through the years:

Tabernacle Choir part of Utah heritage

Tabernacle Choir celebrates 100 years of memorable recordings

Name change just another part of the Tabernacle Choirs impressive history

Mormon Tabernacle Choir has a new name
BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA)  A woman who went missing a year ago was declared dead by a Manatee County Probate judge, the Bradenton Police Department announced.

Catherine Stirm, 67, was reported missing and endangered on Jan. 31, 2024, after her employer made multiple attempts to contact her with no success.

PREVIOUS STORY: Bradenton police investigate womans suspicious disappearance after brother found dead

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Detectives with the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit believe Scott Stirm, 64, Catherines brother, had knowledge of her death, and she was likely dismembered and disposed of in an unknown location, police said.

Scott Stirm died by suicide on February 1, 2024.

(Bradenton Police Department) (Bradenton Police Department) Courtesy: Bradenton Police Department

According to BPD, Catherine spoke with co-workers on the phone the morning of Jan. 22 but did not show up to work on Jan. 23, which made co-workers worried.

Catherine had been with a local home healthcare company for more than 20 years and during her time there she kept the same routine. In the following days, her employers attempted to reach her but were not successful.

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According to police, her employers reached out to Scott, who changed the reasoning for her absence multiple times.

Catherines co-workers requested a welfare check after not showing up to work, police said.

Scott said Catherine was hospitalized with COVID-19 first, but later said she traveled to Michigan.

On the evening of Jan. 29, a woman who claimed to be Catherine called a co-worker at the healthcare company, but the employee immediately recognized it wasnt her, and the call ended, according to police.

On Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, Manatee County deputies conducted a welfare check at Catherines home in the Fountain Lakes Condominium complex, but Catherine was not home and her car was not in the parking lot.

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Former Florida teacher arrested for allegedly having relationship with student, deputies say

Catherines vehicle was located on Jan. 30 in the parking lot of Scotts home at the Sawgrass Cove Apartment Complex.

During the investigation, Catherine was seen on a door camera entering Scotts apartment on Jan. 22 and was never seen leaving the home, according to police. After Jan. 22, the camera recorded Scott struggling to remove heavy-duty bags from his apartment, and on Jan. 30 he was seen moving personal belongings.

Search warrants were obtained for Scotts apartment on Feb. 1 where crime scene investigators found several items that included a hand saw, power saw, and cleaning products, police said.

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During another search warrant that was executed at the Manatee County Landfill, detectives found a knife, hatchet, and bloody clothing in a bag that also had Scotts mail.

According to police, on the night of Feb. 1, Scotts vehicle was found in Brooksville at a Days Inn, and Hernando County deputies and Manatee homicide detectives responded to the room registered to him.

Upon their arrival, Scott had committed suicide, and evidence recovered with Scott included several handguns, ammunition, financial documents, and Catherines drivers license.

Multiple items recovered were tested for Catherines DNA, but due to attempts to destroy evidence, DNA tests were inconclusive, BPD said.

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This case was assigned to Bradenton Police Detective Jeff Beckley and the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit due to suspicious circumstances.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS)  Following a fatal crash between an American Eagle jet and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in D.C., experts noted that Reagan National  and the country  have a strong safety record.

But they also acknowledged flying into Reagan is no easy task.

Its such a congested area there for one reason, and the runways are short, said George Cline, a retired air traffic controller. The runway he was landing on is only 5,200 feet long, and its a very short runwayyou got so many helicopters there if youve ever flown and you look around, all you see is airplanes and helicopters going up and down the Potomac.

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Family identifies Charlotte mother killed in plane-helicopter collision in DC

From the recordings he listened to, Cline said it seemed like FAA controllers did everything they were supposed to. They told both the military helicopter and regional jet they were close to one another, and for the helicopter to maintain its distance.

It was nighttime, you know, you can see the lights on the CRJ (jet), but you know the way it looks like he impacted him from behind, just by looking in the video, he may never have saw him, he added.

Aviation attorney Jim Brauchle said he was shocked to learn of the crash, but not necessarily surprised.

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In recent history, even though the U.S. has enjoyed a good safety record like you said over the last 15 years, there have been some close calls and near misses, Brauchle said.

Charlotte-based flight attendant died doing what he loved on flight in DC midair collision

Brauchle said with the NTSB handling the investigation into what went wrong on Wednesday night, the expectation is that the agency will identify action that can be taken to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

Theyll find what the probable cause of the accident was and then they also list safety recommendations on what they learned coming out of this and things that could be changed, said Brauchle.

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With the seriousness of the crash, investigators could choose to release initial findings in a few months but the entire investigation could take a year and a half to complete.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Police in Covington, Tennessee, say they have uncovered thousands of gallons of fraudulent diesel fuel sales worth some $63,000.

Two suspects in Memphis are accused of using multiple trucks to fill containers full of diesel, then charging the fuel to fraudulent credit cards, police said. A third suspect is still wanted.

The investigation began late last year with a tip about suspicious trucks and transactions at a CO-OP 24/7 gas station in Covington. Police say they also found similar thefts in Fayette and Hardeman counties.

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Detectives worked jointly with Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Memphis Police Department and Somerville Police Department to develop suspects.

8 detained by ICE from DeSoto County jail

Over the last few days, U.S. Marshals executed search warrants at two Memphis addresses and arrested two suspects.

Rylan Hughes, 22, was charged with Theft of Property Over $1,000. Covington detectives say they seized several debit cards, cell phones, and a white Ford F350 truck.

Jordan Sykes, 23, was charged with Theft of Property Over $1,000. Both Hughes and Sykes were taken to jail at the Tipton County Sheriffs Office and are being held on a $100,000 bond.

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A third suspect, identified as Andre Davis Jr., 30, of the 3000 block of Eagle Trace in

Memphis has active warrants for Theft of Property Over $1,000.

Davis is a fugitive and is avoiding capture by law enforcement. Anyone with tips can contact Covington Police at 901-475-1261.

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Office of Disciplinary Counsel special counsel Tim Strauch questions a witness before the Commission on Practice on Oct. 9, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

The lead attorney prosecuting the ethics case of Montanas top attorney said in his latest filing before the Montana Supreme Court that the case isnt about the separation of powers, a Constitutional crisis or even the First Amendment.

Instead, Timothy Strauch who led the case for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the arm of the Montana judiciary that handles attorney discipline, said that the 41 ethics charges that the Commission on Practice affirmed against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen was a matter of an attorney not following the rules of conduct that he swore to uphold when he was admitted to practice law.

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The Commission on Practice upheld 41 ethics violations against Knudsen for his role in a legal stand-off that involved all three branches of Montanas state government. The Legislature subpoenaed emails from the judiciary using the executive branchs Department of Administration, which housed them. Knudsen defended the Legislature and during the process send messages to the judiciary threatening not to follow orders, and refusing to return an estimated 5,000 emails.

The 85-page brief, which was about half the size of Knudsens legal submission that argued why the Montana Supreme Court should dismiss the charges or exonerate him, inches the Montana Supreme Court closer to deciding whether to accept the recommendation of the Commission on Practice, which suggested a 90-day suspension, or whether to move in a different direction. Ultimately, according to state law, both the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Commission on Practice, which initially adjudicate the claims against attorneys, are both merely advisory: The Montana Supreme Court will make the final decision whether to punish Knudsen for the 41 ethical violations, and if so, it will determine his fate.

The Attorney General repeatedly, knowingly and intentionally disobeyed his sworn oath as a Montana lawyer and his obligations under an order of this court. Further aggravating those unrelated facts, to this day, the Attorney General refuses to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his conduct, the brief said. Clear, convincing and undisputed evidence establishes that the Attorney General and his subordinates disregarded, disrespected, and undermined his oath, the rules at issue, and this courts order. Rather the Attorney General brazenly asserts that he alone  among all Montana lawyers  is above the law.

Also at stake is the temporary leadership of a government agency: Knudsen is the Montana Attorney General, and is one of five officers mandated by the state constitution and elected by the voters. However, that same Montana Constitution requires that the attorney general be a member of the bar in good standing, something that would end for 90 days if the states highest court accepts the recommendation. If Knudsen was unable to serve  for any length of time  it would be up to Gov. Greg Gianforte to name a replacement in Knudsens absence, according to state law.

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Meanwhile, Strauch responded to Knudsens allegations which were expansive, ranging from an argument that the Montana Attorney General is above discipline by the court because of his role as a leader of an executive branch agency, therefore creating a separation of powers issue; to an argument that he is being punished because of merely doing what his clients, the Legislature, bid him to do.

The filing also points out that neither Knudsen nor his attorneys dispute the accuracy of the statements which led to the charges, but Strauch said that Knudsen has refused to take responsibility.

For example, Knudsen during his disciplinary hearing before the Commission admitted that things could, and should, have been done differently.

Juxtaposed against that candid admission, however, is the repeated refusal to admit that any of the conduct or published language, which admittedly would not have been used to advance his clients position, is violative of the rules to which he is unqualifiedly required to adhere, the brief said.

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Strauchs response said that all of Knudsens defenses didnt change the fact that Knudsen is a licensed attorney, and as such, has a duty to uphold the standards which the Commission said he violated on 41 different counts, including refusing a courts lawful order, refusing to turn over property in a timely or legal manner, and failing to properly supervise attorneys who were working on his behalf.

The Attorney Generals failure to take any remedial action against his subordinates clear violations is second only to his endorsement of their improper conduct, the brief said. A true managerial lawyer sets an ethical-rule-following example to his subordinates; he does not cheerlead their deplorable conduct.

All of those things, Strauch said, have nothing to do with the conflict which arose as a result of hasty legislative subpoenas and involved seizing email that belonged to the judicial branch. Instead, Strauch said that attorneys are not some kind of chess pieces to be moved by clients, rather they are required to guide clients through the legal process in a way established by the rules of professional conduct.

Attorneys are not weapons to be wielded at the discretion of any client; attorneys are certainly charged with advancing the legitimate goals of their clients but only within the constraints of the law and the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct, the filing said, quoting the decision of the Commission on Practice.

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Furthermore, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel argues that because Knudsen, the states top attorney, has flouted the law and ignored his oath, that it sets a dangerous precedent which undermines the rule of law, allowing the public and other attorneys to potentially disregard court orders  something, Strauch said, would eventually lead to chaos.

When those tasked with the job of enforcing the law break it instead, the public rightfully questions whether the system itself is worthy of respect, the brief said.

The brief filed by Strauch also lays out the various examples of Knudsen disobeying court orders or showing contempt or hostility toward the court which both the ODC and Commission on Practice said violated the states code of conduct.

At the Commission hearing, the Attorney General denied those statements were disrespectful, intemperate, contemptuous, insulting or undignified of the profession, the brief said.

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Some of those examples that were presented included messages from Knudsen or his office which said:

(The court administrators) current petition seeks yet another court order which will not bind the Legislature and will not be followed.

(The courts statement) is inaccurate almost to a word. It assumes facts and ascribes malcontent so brazenly, it betrays a self-admission that the courts posture is adversarial, not adjudicatory.

Judicial self-dealing on this scale might be unprecedented in the nations history.

At least a half a dozen other statements included phrases like inappropriate behavior or judicial misbehavior.

PR 23-0496 Reply to Objections-COP  Response_Objection
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced Moscow's aggression in Ukraine but said it was "dishonest" to claim Kyiv was capable of destroying Russia on the battlefield and returning to the pre-2014 state of affairs, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview published on Jan. 30.

The U.S. official acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin carried out "atrocities" and "horrible things" as part of his invasion of Ukraine but voiced doubts about Kyiv's prospects for a complete military victory.

"But what the dishonesty that has existed is that we somehow led people to believe that Ukraine would be able, not just to defeat Russia, but destroy (Putin), push him all the way back to what the world looked like in 2012 or 2014 before the Russians took Crimea," Rubio said on the Megyn Kelly Show.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for funneling extensive support to Ukraine and pledged to broker a swift peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

Echoing these sentiments, Trump's secretary of state said that the U.S. has been "fund(ing) a stalemate" in a war that "set (Ukraine) back 100 years" and called for a swift resolution.

"The energy grid is being wiped out. Someone's going to have to pay for all this reconstruction. And how many Ukrainians have left Ukraine (and are) living in other countries now? They may never return," Rubio said.

Russia has carried out a sustained missile and drone campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure throughout the full-scale war, leading to blackouts and power deficits. Over 6 million Ukrainians have fled the country after the start of the invasion.

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"The nations future hangs in the balance in this regard," the U.S. official added. Rubio reiterated his earlier statements that "both sides of the conflict will need to make compromises" for successful negotiations.

Earlier this month, Rubio paused almost all foreign assistance flowing through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), presenting a significant challenge to various civilian programs in Ukraine that rely on U.S. support, including in the energy sector.

Kyiv and the Pentagon said this order did not affect the U.S. military support for Ukraine.

Criticizing the previous Biden administration, Rubio also suggested that the U.S.'s "chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan" in 2021 was a signal to Putin that "America was actually in decline or distracted," leading to the decision to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Read also: North Korean troops not seen for 3 weeks in parts of Kursk Oblast, Ukraines Special Forces say

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WASHINGTON, Ill. (WMBD)  A 22-year-old student teacher at John L. Hensey School in Washington was arrested for allegedly sending a social media message about shooting a child.

According to the Tazewell County Sheriffs Office, deputies were called at about 1 p.m. Wednesday to the school which is in District 50, There, they were told that a student teacher allegedly sent a social media message about shooting a child.

The context of the allegations was not immediately known. An official with the sheriffs office did not have access to the reports regarding the incident.

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However, an email sent to parents stated the teacher, Kristen Volpe, had been observing a classroom and was also in an online chat with a small group of friends on a social media site.

A student got up from his seat, and closed her laptop, disconnecting her from the chat. When she logged back into the chat, she sent her friend group a series of messages explaining what had happened and posed the question of whether she should shoot the student, according to the email.

That comment triggered a response from the social media site to law enforcement who quickly determined Volpe had no intent to cause any harm and had made the comment out of exasperation, the email stated.

There was no threat to anyone at the school and in fact, no one was aware of what had happened, the email stated. However, she will not be returning to the district to student teach.

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She was taken to the Tazewell County Jail where she was detained, according to online jail records. A search of Tazewell County Circuit Court did not indicate if she had been formally charged.

The email concluded, this incident serves as a reminder for all persons in the school community that neither violence nor the use of threatening language will be tolerated at our schools.

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An aspiring air traffic controller who claimed he was denied a job because of diversity targets said the aviation agencys obsession with inclusion made an accident likely to happen.

Andrew Brigida, 35, scored 100 per cent in his training exam but alleged that he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recruitment process favoured diverse candidates. He is part of a class action lawsuit filed against the federal agency.

Speaking after the Washington air disaster, in which 67 people were killed, Mr Brigida claimed that years of diversity hiring meant it was only a matter of time before an accident happened.

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You want to hire the best and the brightest for this kind of job because it is a very stressful job and it can take a toll on you, age you prematurely, he told The Telegraph. You want to make sure that the people that are doing it are the best.

On Friday, it emerged that one of the air traffic controllers had left their post early on Wednesday evening when a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided above Washington.

At the time of the collision, there was one controller managing traffic for both helicopters and planes  a job normally handled by two people  according to The New York Times. The FAA described staffing levels as not normal for the time of day and the volume of traffic.

Investigators have recovered the black boxes from both the passenger jet and the helicopter, and are combing through the flight data and audio recordings. A report is expected to be released in 30 days.

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More victims were named overnight, including the American Airlines pilots and crew. Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, 28, died along with flight attendants Ian Epstein, 52, and Danasia Elder.

On the Black Hawk helicopter, Crew Chief Ryan OHara was named along with Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves. The female pilot has not yet been identified.

Mr Brigida scored 100 per cent in his training exam but claims he was denied a position in an air traffic control tower

Mr Brigida graduated from Arizona State Universitys collegiate training initiative in 2013  a partnership programme with the FAA that was previously used to train and select the most qualified applicants.

After scoring top marks in his air traffic control selection and training examination, he was placed on a preferred candidate list until the FAA changed the rules.

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Under the Obama administration, the regulator replaced a skills-based test with a biographical questionnaire to attract more diverse applicants.

When Mr Brigida tried again to become an air traffic controller under the new tests, he said he failed the biographical questionnaire because he didnt fit the preferred ethnic profile.

Donald Trump blamed the fatal crash on the FAAs recruitment policies, saying candidates with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities had been hired as air traffic controllers.

Mr Brigida said previous administrations were to blame for the air traffic control staffing crisis because they got too comfortable because there has not been an incident in a long time.

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He added: There have been plenty of stories of near miss events that have been the cause of staffing issues. Its surprising that its gone on this long without being properly recognised by the government.

Asked whether years of diversity hiring meant an accident was waiting to happen, Mr Brigida, who now works in the FAA as a programme manager said: Yes, thats kind of accurate.

He said he hoped Mr Trump would now immediately to fix the staffing crisis, saying: He obviously sees the issue at hand, and if he didnt Im sure people that work in the Department of Transportation and the FAA informed him that there is an issue with staffing and air traffic control.

Credit: Earthcam

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In November 2019, attorneys for Mountain States Legal Foundation sought class action status in a lawsuit for more than 2,500 aspiring air traffic controllers who they said were harmed by the FAAs hiring policies.

They argued that the Obama administration endangered public safety by prioritising racial politics and owes compensation for the grave injustice. The FAA and the US transport department are contesting the lawsuit.

With the case expected to go to court early next year with 900 claimants, Will Trachman, the lead counsel, said Joe Biden had tried to sweep the diversity scandal under the rug.

This started under Obama, but its the Biden administration that tried to sweep it under the rug and assert attorney-client privilege over 14,000 documents and has been trying to oppose and dismiss this case, said Mr Trachman.

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Its one thing to do it but the Biden administration refused to recognise the error of the FAAs ways and so they dug in and, in fact, tried to go bigger on diversity measures.

American Airlines flight 5342 had been descending towards the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday evening when it collided with the helicopter and plunged into the Potomac. All of those on board both aircraft were killed.

The moment of the fatal crash between a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 in Washington

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Mr Trump told a White House press conference that the military helicopter did the opposite of what it was told before crashing into the American Airlines flight, which had 64 people on board.

The president, who has recently signed executive orders dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government, blamed his predecessor for lowering standards and endangering lives.

My administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety, he told reporters, adding that a very special genius was needed to coordinate air traffic.

Quoting DEI policy, he said that the FAA was actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions.

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(NewsNation)  A former Federal Aviation Administration official said diversity has nothing to do with air traffic control hiring, adding he takes exception to President Donald Trumps claim it may have contributed to the deadly collision between a passenger jet and military helicopter Wednesday.

There are very strict requirements for air traffic control. Its a two-year process. Its intensive. Its a lot of training, Randy Babbitt, who served as the 16th administrator of the FAA, told NewsNation.

You dont just go from the end of your two years to Chicago-OHare, he said.

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Trump attacked the FAAs diversity, equity and inclusion policies Thursday, claiming the agency had committed to adding employees with the most severe disabilities because they are part of the most underrepresented portion of the American workforce.

He added air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

However, Trump later said there is no evidence the collision could be blamed on DEI hires.

It just could have been, the president said.

Babbitt pushed back on Trump, who blamed former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for DEI policies.

I would take great exception. I would also note that there were four years between Obama and Biden when President Trump was president, so I dont know what action he took there, but he certainly was in existence, he said.

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When it comes to diversity in the FAA, Babbitt said it does not weigh heavier than skill.

Airlines hire a lot of people, but not all of them are going to be pilots. The FAA hires a lot of people, not all of them can be controllers, he said. They have very, very high standards to be an air traffic controller, and thats important to remember. Diversity has nothing to do with it.

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DES MOINES, Iowa  The Des Moines Police Department has released the name of the suspect who was shot and killed by officers earlier this month, as well as the names of the officers involved.

On the afternoon of January 24th officers with the Des Moines Police Department responded to a residence in the 1300 block of East Tiffin Avenue to investigate a report of a wanted person at the home.

Brandon Mitchell.

According to DMPD, officers were searching for 36-year-old Brandon Allen Mitchell, who had felony probation violation warrants for recent Domestic Abuse  Second Offense and Child Endangerment  No Injury convictions.

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Former Iowa cop accused of sending explicit photos to minor facing more charges

Preliminary evidence, including video recordings, show officers enter the home and announce their and a K9s presence multiple times, the DMPD said. After not receiving a response the officers entered the residence in search of Mitchell. During the search the K9 alerted to Mitchells presence in a closet, police said.

Mitchell is then heard telling officers that hes armed with a handgun and an officer subsequently orders him to show his hands, to which Mitchell reiterates that hes armed, the DMPD said.

Seconds after a loud noise and movement could be heard inside the closet, which the DMPD says the officers believed was Mitchell firing at them. Two officers then fired their weapons in Mitchells direction. Mitchell was shot and transported to a Des Moines hospital where he later died.

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The officers involved have been identified as Senior Police Officer William Perez, whos been with DMPD since 2017, and Senior Police Officer Michael Hoopes, whos been with DMPD since 2020. They remain on administrative assignment.

According to DMPD, after the shooting a search warrant was executed at the home and no firearm was found.

The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation is continuing the investigation into the shooting. More information will be released when made available.

Metro News:

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ARLINGTON, Va. (DC News Now)  Residents in Northern Virginia are reacting to the air traffic control audio from the plane crash near Reagan National Airport (DCA).

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines jet carrying 64 people was heading to DCA from Kansas. At around 8:40 p.m., it, and a Blackhawk military helicopter carrying three military soldiers, collided and plummeted into the Potomac River, killing everyone.

What we know about the victims in deadly plane, helicopter collision near DCA

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Michele Boudreaux told DC News Now that she heard the audio the moment that the crash happened.

You could tell in their voices that something tragic just took place, she said.

Boudreaux said she listens to the DCA air traffic control audio frequently.

I heard the controller approve the landing of the American Airlines CRJ and ask for visual separation from the Blackhawk, Boudreaux said. It was pretty heartbreaking, too, because back in July, we had done a tour at the DCA tower. We put faces to the voices and I could hear them last night.

She said it felt personal to her because she knows the air traffic controllers work really hard.

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Lyft driver, Ben Ishmael, said he drove by Gravelly Point and saw the emergency response.

This is honestly the biggest tragedy that happened to this area out of all the tragedies that happened in the D.C. area, he said.

What you should do if you have Reagan National Airport plane crash recovery information

Boudreaux said part of the reason why she listens to the air traffic control audios is because shes scared of flying and listening makes her less anxious about traveling on one.

Ive already been nervous, she said. [Listening] does make me feel less nervous to fly.

Officials said there are no suspected survivors from the crash.

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A New York doctor has been indicted for trying to provide a patient with abortion pills across state lines.

Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medical, PC, and an unnamed third person have all been charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill to a patient living in Louisiana, where a near-total abortion ban is in place. A Louisiana grand jury indicted all three.

This appears to be the first time a doctor has been charged with prescribing abortion pills in a state with anti-abortion lawsbut it wont be the last.

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The news comes just a couple months after Louisiana reclassified abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances, making them harder for state residents to access. The new law states that anyone who has mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription can be fined up to $5,000 or face up to five years in jail.

Louisianas draconian laws extend beyond the pills. The state has essentially had a complete ban on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and has zero exceptions for incest or rape. Doctors found guilty of conducting abortions illegally can face up to 15 years in prison and lose their medical license.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law, Louisianas Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill said on Friday.

This indictment may also result in New York using its shield laws for the first time, which are aimed to protect doctors who prescribe potentially lifesaving abortion care to patients in states where abortion is illegal. The state of Texas has already sued Carpenter on similar grounds.

Most abortions in the U.S. are done via pill as of 2023. Carpenters indictmentand the rest that are surely to comewill force physicians to choose between the training and creed they know and the political whims of their president.


Theres a saying that in a big city you are never more than six feet away from a rat. Its an urban myth, but scientists are warning cities across the globe are becoming far rattier, and the boom is primarily driven by one factor: climate change.

Jonathan Richardson, a biology professor at the University of Richmond, decided to research urban rat trends after seeing media reports of rats taking over cities. These tended to focus on single locations and usually without a lot of hard data, he told CNN.

He and his team decided to change that. They requested rat stats from the 200 biggest US cities by population, but found only 13 had the quality long-term data they needed. To give more geographical range, the researchers also included three international cities: Toronto, Tokyo and Amsterdam.

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The data collected spanned an average of 12 years and comprised rat sightings, trappings and inspection reports.

It revealed significant increasing trends in rat numbers in 11 of the 16 cities, according to their study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances. Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto, New York City and Amsterdam experienced the biggest growth. Just three saw declines: New Orleans, Louisville and Tokyo.

The study linked rat increases to several factors, including high population densities and low amounts of urban vegetation, but the predominant influence was warmer average temperatures.

Rats are small mammals and limited by the cold, Richardson said. Warmer temperatures, especially in the winter, give them longer to be outside foraging and, crucially, longer to reproduce through the year.

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A warmer climate can also extend growing seasons, providing rats more food as well as vegetation to hide in, said Michael Parsons, an urban field ecologist and wild rat expert who was not involved in the research. Even scents of food and rubbish can travel farther in warmer weather, he told CNN.

Burgeoning rat populations are a big problem for cities. Rats damage infrastructure, contaminate food, and can start fires by gnawing through wires. They cause an estimated $27 billion of damage each year in the US, according to the report.

They are a health hazard, too. Rats are associated with more than 50 pathogens that affect people, which they transfer through their urine, feces, saliva nest, materials and parasites, said Matt Frye, a pest expert at Cornell University, who was not involved in the research.

Some of these can be severe, such as leptospirosis, also called Weils disease, which can cause kidney and liver damage and even death without treatment.

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There is also increasing evidence rats have huge mental health impacts on the people living around them, Richardson said.

Even among the rattiest cities identified in the study, Washington, DC, stood out. It had a 1.5 times greater growth in rat populations than New York City.

The tell-tale sign of a rat problem in DC is a hole chewed through a hard plastic trash can. The only way you can rodent proof a trash can is not to put food in it, said Gerard Brown, who runs the citys rodent control program.

Last year was DCs hottest on record  bad news for attempts to control rats. Brown is hoping the cold snap in December and January will help cull the population. Cold acts as a natural exterminator, he said.

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Brown and other city officials attempted a rat birth control pilot project several years ago but abandoned it after inconclusive results. The rats had to consume a liquid birth control daily, an impossible task to guarantee.

A brown rat crawls through trash at Union Station Plaza in Washington, DC, on January 12, 2022. - Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File

Brown said DCs numbers could be so high because the city encourages residents to call in each rat sighting.

Public reports of rats are very useful but can be flawed, said field ecologist Parsons. People normally only make a call when they see something unusual, he said, and not when rats are expected in any given area.

It is incredibly hard to pin down accurate urban rat numbers, Parsons added. Rats are small, cryptic and usually nocturnal.

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Richardson said the high number of rats in some cities is no indictment of authorities commitment to tackling the problem, but rat-reduction efforts are often underfunded.

Lessons can be learned from the three cities in the study that reduced rat populations, he said. He chalks their success up to campaigns informing residents how to avoid attracting rats and making city resources available to help.

Richardson also encouraged authorities to move away from lethal control, because its just responsive to infestations that are already there, and think more about how to take away access to what rats rely on, such as food waste, garbage access and debris piles.

The findings are a wake up call about the challenge rats may pose in a warmer world, Richardson said. If you dont have a handle on this, its only going to get worse. You dont want to be like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up a hill.

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In DC, Brown said he is optimistic about the citys battle to keep its rats under control. Nobody in the world thinks we are totally going to get rid of rats, but we can reduce them to a manageable level, he said. The goal is to control and reduce.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks soon on his inaugural trip as the United States top diplomat. His first stop, Panama could prove to be the most contentious on the itinerary following President Donald Trumps repeated demands for control of the Panama Canal.

Panamanian sovereignty over the canal is clear. There is no discussion on this issue. The soul of a country is not up for discussion, Panama President Jose Raul Mulino emphasized on Thursday, just days ahead of his scheduled meeting with Rubio.

Yet the Trump administration doesnt seem to be letting this go. In his inauguration speech, Trump mentioned Panama six times, more than any other foreign country. He and Republican allies are increasingly painting a dark scenario where the Panama Canal has secretly fallen under Chinese military control  arguing thats why the US needs to seize the canal back from Beijings clutches.

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A foreign power today possesses, through their companies, which we know are not independent, the ability to turn the canal into a choke point in a moment of conflict, Rubio himself insisted during his Senate confirmation hearings this month.

That is a direct threat to the national interest and security of the United States, he added.

As ominous as it all sounds, the reality is not so straight forward. Here is a fact check about claims Trumps administration has made about the Panama Canal.

Is the Panama Canal under Chinese control?

Trump has long complained about the bad deal Jimmy Carter made when he returned the canal to Panama in 1977. But hes been ratcheting up the rhetoric and falsehoods from the very start of his second term.

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Panamas promise to us has been broken, Trump said during his inaugural speech. Above all China is operating the Panama Canal and we didnt give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we are taking it back!

On his Truth Social network, Trump has also claimed  without proof  that Chinese soldiers have been deployed to the canal and that Panama is, with great speed attempting to take down the 64% of signs which are written in Chinese. They are all over the Zone.

But the Zone  a former American enclave bordering the canal  hasnt existed since 1979.

And if the scenario Trump describes sounds like the plot of a movie, well, it was. In the 2001 movie The Tailor of Panama, which starred Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush, the US invades Panama after receiving bogus intelligence that China is trying to secretly buy the canal.

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In reality, since 2000 the canal has been operated by the Panama Canal Authority, whose administrator, deputy administrator and 11-member board are selected by Panamas government but operate independently.

The majority of the canals employees are Panamanians and Panama designates which companies are awarded the contracts to run the ports near the canal. Ships transiting the 50-mile-long canal are required to be piloted by local captains that work for the Canal Authority.

While there is real concern about increased Chinese investment in Latin America, Panama included, to date there is no evidence of Chinese military activity in Panama. At his press conference on Thursday, Mulino said the US government has yet to provide his administration with any proof they had gathered of Chinese control of the canal.

Aerial view of the Panama Canal in the area of Pedro Miguel locks, in Panama City on December 13, 2022. - Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

So what does Rubio mean by a foreign power in the Panama Canal?

The Trump administration seems to be pointing to the fact that Panama Ports  part of a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings  operates terminals on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal. So do several other companies.

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Hutchinson was first granted the concession over the two ports in 1997 when Panama and the US jointly administered the canal. That same year, control of Hong Kong  where Hutchinson is based  was transferred from the United Kingdom to China.

While falling under Beijings sphere of influence, Hutchison is hardly some murky Chinese military front company. Its publicly traded, not known to be on any US blacklists and their subsidiary Hutchinson Ports is one of the worlds largest port operators, overseeing 53 ports in 24 countries, including for other US allies such as the UK, Australia and Canada.

Crucially, Hutchison does not control access to the Panama Canal. Workers at their two ports only load and unload containers onto ships and supply them with fuel. And theyre not the only ones  three other ports in the vicinity of the canal are operated by competing companies providing similar services.

Since Trumps comments, Panamas government has announced an audit of the Hutchison-owned Panama Ports. The company says it is complying fully and has even invited Rubio to visit its ports.

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An invitation has been extended to the Secretary of State to visit our terminal facilities in Panama during his scheduled trip to the country, Hutchison Ports spokesperson Anthony Tam said in an email to CNN.

The State Department would not comment if Rubio planned to accept the invitation to visit what the Trump administration has described  incorrectly  as a de facto Chinese military outpost in Panama.

Does the US have any legal standing to seize the Panama Canal?

Under the 1977 treaty with Panama, the US returned the canal with the understanding that the waterway remain neutral.

According to the agreement, the US could intervene militarily if the canals operations were disrupted by internal conflict or a foreign power. This seems to be what Trump is referencing when he threatens to take the canal back.

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But it would be hard to argue that the waterways operations are disrupted or endangered. Following the expansion of the canal, which began in 2007 and Panama financed at a cost of more than $5 billion, more cargo than ever runs through the canal than it did during the years of US administration.

A US occupation of the canal would fly in the face of international law and the treaty the US agreed to.

Ok, but theoretically what would happen if the US tried to take the Panama Canal?

Since the 1989 US invasion that deposed dictator Manuel Noriega, Panama does not have an army but Panamanians are fiercely protective of the canal which is central to their national identity. And despite the saber rattling coming from the Trump administration, attempting to force the issue would pose major complications for two other top US priorities: migration and the economy.

The canal isnt the only critical passageway that Panama controls. Threatening Panama militarily could throw open the Darien Gap, the jungle crossing where hundreds of thousands of migrants make their way north from South America to the US.

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Mulino had promised to close the gap to northbound migrants with Trumps help  but dont count on him honoring old commitments if US boots touch Panamanian soil.

Americans would also feel the heat. At least 25,000 US citizens live in Panama who would likely be placed in harms way by any US military action to seize the canal. Disruption of the canals operations would likely send prices of US goods from automobiles to sneakers soaring  about 40% of US container traffic passes through the waterway.

And of course, backing out of a decades-old deal and trying to wrest the canal back by force from an ally would be a propaganda goldmine for Russia and China which have both called for maintaining neutrality in the canal.

Any US military action would also further inflame tensions in Latin America where mass deportations have already tested Washingtons partnerships in the region.

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Trumps dream of flying a US flag over the Panama Canal would come at a much higher cost than he appears to have calculated.

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The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is off to a quick start, if we consider the advisory board's claimed savings in federal spending and the voluntary buyout of workers that could reduce the ranks of federal employees with a minimum of drama. But while the public agrees that corruption, inefficiency, and red tape are serious problems for the government, DOGE itself enjoys mixed popularity and majorities believe the government spends too little on big-ticket items, leaving little room for savings. The American people themselves are a big obstacle to paring the federal government to size.

DOGE Off to a Good Start

"DOGE is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President's Executive Orders," the DOGE X feed boasted this week. "A good start, though this number needs to increase to > $3 billion/day."

The Trump administration also sent a letter to the majority of the federal government's roughly three million workers, offering a "deferred resignation" plan. Those who accept the deal could stop working for the government as of February 6 and still be paid through September of this year. The administration expects up to 10 percent of workers to take the offer. The voluntary nature of the plan blunts inevitable complaints from unions about "purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants."

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We will have to see what the results will be in the coming months and years. But if that works out, it's a pretty good launch for an administration and its advisory board that are less than two weeks old. Unfortunately, Americans aren't sure where they stand on all this.

The Public Frets About Corruption, Inefficiency, and Red Tape

According to AP-NORC polling, majorities believe that corruption (70 percent) , inefficiency (65 percent), and red tape such as regulations and bureaucracy (59 percent) are "major problems within the federal government." These findings square with the results of other surveys revealing that "nearly 2/3 of Americans fear that our government is run by corrupt officials" (Babbie Centre at Chapman University, Spring 2024), that 56 percent of Americans say government is "almost always wasteful and inefficient" (Pew Research, June 2024), and that "55% of Americans say the government is doing too much" (Gallup, November 2024). That's exactly what the Trump administration created DOGE to combat, so it should be a good sign for the project.

But Americans are torn over DOGE. Asked by AP-NORC to share their opinions of "an advisory body on government efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy" (before Ramaswamy left to run for office), only 29 percent support the venture while 39 percent oppose it. That seems to reflect its leadership. Fifty-two percent of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of tech titan Musk, while 36 percent view him favorably.

Why the hate? Musk's problem may be that he's a high-profile rich guy with things to say at a time when that type of person isn't especially popular. Sixty percent of respondents believe it would be a bad thing "if the president relies on billionaires for advice about government policy." That disapproval crosses over into opinions about DOGE, even if people say they support its goals.

but Wants Increased Spending and Opposes Cuts in Government

A bigger problem, though, is that Americans aren't really comfortable with cutting the expense and bloat of the most expensive and bloated parts of the federal government. When asked by AP-NORC if the government was spending enough, most said they think the government is spending too little in areas including education (65 percent), Social Security (67 percent), Medicare (61 percent), Medicaid (55 percent), assistance to the poor (62 percent), and border security (51 percent).

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The fact is that it's impossible to cut the cost and size of government if all these areas are considered untouchable. According to the U.S. Treasury, as of Fiscal Year 2025, 21 percent of federal spending goes to Social Security, 15 percent to national defense, 14 percent to health, 13 percent to net interest to service the government's massive debt, 13 percent to Medicare, 9 percent to income security, and so on.

DOGE might be able to squeeze some inefficiency out of these programs, but it's not going to reduce the size and expense of government if people insist that more be spent on these programs. Well, unless national defense is gutted, since only 34 percent of respondents think too little is spent on that category.

Likewise, only 29 percent of respondents told AP-NORC they want to eliminate large numbers of federal jobs (40 percent oppose the idea) and 23 percent favor eliminating entire federal agencies (49 percent oppose). A plurality of 43 percent is willing to make federal workers return to the office five days a week. Efficiency gains and cost savings are supposed to come from where?

What Americans Want Is Incoherent

This is a problem with regard to the public's relationship with government that I noted recently in the context of healthcare. "It is an old joke among health policy wonks that what the American people really want from health care reform is unlimited care, from the doctor of their choice, with no wait, free of charge," Michael Tanner, then of the Cato Institute, quipped in 2017. People rightly resent a vast, intrusive government that bosses them around, enriches dishonest politicians and bureaucrats, and engages in massive waste. But then they insist on gobs of extra goodies that require an even bigger governing apparatus that imposes more rules, wastes more money, and lines more pockets. And they'd like somebody else to pay for it, please.

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That the new Republican majority in Congress wants to cut government in some areas but increase spending even more in others to an extent that according to Politico "could add as much as $10 trillion to the federal budget deficit" just exacerbates the problem. What people say they want isn't just incoherent; it's incompatible with reality.

The best hope, at this point, is that DOGE keeps trudging along with frankly inspired ideas like a voluntary buyout of government workers that leaves people reasonably happy with their lot. Let's see if Musk and company can think of a way to do that with whole agencies. Maybe we can spin the Department of Education off as a chain of storefront tutoring centers, with franchises sold to former bureaucrats. They'll have to compete in a free market, of course.

The deck remains stacked against DOGE and its mission to streamline government's size and cost. That it's making any progress at all despite the public's conflicted feelings on its mission is a victory.

The post DOGE's Big Challenge: Americans Who Hate Inefficiency but Love Bloated Government appeared first on Reason.com.
A small tweak to an email encouraging federal employees to take a buyout indicates the Justice Department wouldnt vouch for the legality of the program.

The Trump administration is battling skepticism about a buyout package from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offering eight months of pay for those who resign from their roles.

Across government Friday, employees were sent emails seeking to assuage concerns about the deal, with officials vouching on behalf of their agency that the offer is valid, lawful, and will be honored.

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But the assistant attorney general for administration at the Justice Department declined to directly make that endorsement, writing instead that OPM assures the federal workforce that the deal is lawful.

A series of the government wide emails reviewed by The Hill indicate the Justice Department departed from the boilerplate language used by other agencies.

Those leaders used first-person language, writing on behalf of their respective agency that, I am informing you that the offer is valid, lawful, and will be honored.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

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Critics have raised a host of legal and practical issues with the offer to pay government workers for eight months if they decide they do not want to comply with a new return to office mandate.

For one, the government is only funded through March under the current continuing resolution, raising questions about the ability to pay those who accept the deal through September.

The deals funding issues and legal issues are closely intertwined.

Legal experts who spoke to The Hill previously said the move likely violates the Antideficiency Act, which bars the government from spending beyond what is dictated in its budget and requires it to use federal funding as intended.

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On Thursday night, federal workers also received a Q&A email about the offer, promising full pay and benefits and noting that employees could still work another job or take a vacation while collecting a paycheck.

It even encouraged private sector employment, saying, The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.

But those assurances were countered in the Friday email, noting there could be exceptions.

The emails said that subject to rare exceptions employees would not be expected to work and that except in rare cases employees could take a job outside of government while on administrative leave.

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The DOJ email departs from other agency emails on that front as well.

Though the Justice Department generally bars its employees from taking outside employment, in its email it writes that in rare cases DOJ staffers may be able to work an outside of government job.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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President Donald Trump has made a political career out of vilifying immigrants, from claiming in racist attacks they have bad genes to falsely accusing them of committing more crimes than Americans who were born here.

Trump spent much of the campaign talking about ridding the nation of criminal undocumented people. But when it comes to immigration enforcement, the Trump administration hasnt actually focused very narrowly on people with criminal records.

Data from around the country indicates that many people arrested or deported by federal agents under Trump dont have any serious criminal history at all, let alone any record that would raise fears about public safety.

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On the Sunday following Trumps inauguration, for example, immigration agents arrested 1,179 people  but 48% of them had no criminal history at all, apart from potentiallycrossing the border without authorization, NBC News reported based on an unnamed government source.

On Tuesday, out of 200 people sent to Colombia on two deportation flights, none were criminals, Colombian officials said. In fact, officials said the deportees on the flights included more than 20 children and two pregnant women, the Washington Post reported.

The same day, federal agents in New York arrested 20 people in a highly-publicized operation across the city. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem donned body armor and posted on social media about removing dirtbags from our streets. But, the Post reported, eight of the 20 people ultimately taken into custody in that action had no criminal record at all.

One video published by DHS Monday stated that in the week prior, immigration officials had removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens, including hundreds of convicted criminals. The implication, observed journalist Aura Bogado, was that thousands of people in that group of deportees did not have criminal convictions at all.

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Two Trump administration policies underscore this apparent lack of focus on undocumented people with criminal records.

Prior to Trumps first term, then-President Barack Obama instructed immigration authorities to prioritize the deportation of undocumented people considered national security threats, those with serious criminal records, and those whod recently received removal orders. Trump erased all that when he assumed office, putting in place a much broader set of priorities and making it an administration policy that no one would be exempt from deportation.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden instituted enforcement priorities of his own  similar to Obamas  and then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas emphasized prosecutorial discretion, noting that, the majority of undocumented noncitizens who could be subject to removal have been contributing members of our communities for years. Taking office last week, Trump reversed Bidens priorities, resetting immigration enforcement policy and encouraging immigration authorities to execute immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.

When you dont have enforcement priorities, everyone is subject to detention, Rosanna Eugenio, legal director at the New York Immigration Coalition, told NBC News.

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The second reason for the lack of focus on people with criminal records is the Trump administrations emphasis on raw numbers. Trump campaigned on a mass deportation agenda, and said in his inaugural address that he would begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.

At her first press conference Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked how many ICE arrestees had criminal records versus those simply in the country without authorization. She rejected the premise of the question outright.

All of them, because they illegally broke our nations laws, she said.

Contrary to Leavitts characterization, simply overstaying a visa is a civil, not criminal, offense. Crossing the border without authorization is a misdemeanor the first time. And being deported isnt a criminal punishment. Undocumented people can and do serve criminal prison sentences just like American citizens.

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Two things can be true at the same time, Leavitt added, explaining that though drug dealers, rapists and murderers should be the priority of ICE, no one was off the table.

ICE field offices around the country have been instructed to hit a quota of 75 arrests per day  a figure that Trump adviser Stephen Miller has called a floor, not a ceiling. And the administration has tasked the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Marshals with pitching in.

In practice, this means immigration enforcement will focus on who is easiest to arrest  not who poses the most danger to the American public. That includes undocumented people who go to ICE offices around the country for regularly scheduled check-ins with immigration agents  appointments that can turn into surprise detentions and deportations.

Quotas will incentivize ICE officers to arrest the easiest people to arrest, rather than the people that are dangerous noncitizens, Paul Hunker, former ICE chief counsel in Dallas, told the Post, which broke the news about the field office quotas.

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Challenging enforcement actions take time and planning and careful execution, Deborah Fleischaker, a former senior official at ICE and DHS, including during the first Trump administration, told The New Republic.

And if theyre being required to arrest more and more, whether thats a quota or not, they cant take that time that those arrests require. And so, yes, it will ultimately lead people to stop focusing on those and focus on the places where they can get bigger numbers faster.

Across the country, local news reports suggest immigration officers might try to get their numbers up with relatively straightforward arrests  people who are wearing ankle bracelets, for example, or those involved in the criminal justice system for extremely minor offenses.

In Tucker, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, Wilson Rogelio Velasquez Cruz was arrested by immigration agents after his ankle bracelet  which he was given by border agents after arriving at the border years ago  started ringing during a church service on Sunday. His wife, Kenia Colindres, told him to go outside and address the ankle bracelet so as to not disrupt the service, she told WSBTV. ICE agents were waiting. Colindres told 11Alive that her husband had a valid work permit and a pending asylum case, and had not been detained by law enforcement since arriving at the southern border in 2022.

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In Texas, Jose Alvaro, a 29-year-old father, was detained by ICE agents after a routine traffic stop while he and his family were on the way to buy baby formula. Alvaro was in the process of applying for a green card. He has no apparent criminal record, The Texas Tribune reported.

In Lynn, Massachusetts, one 18-year-old girl was detained by ICE after police were called when she quarreled with her little brother over a cell phone, resulting in a misdemeanor assault and battery charge.

We have been told that ICE would be targeting violent offenders whose presence puts our community at risk, Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson told MassLive. Based on what we have learned so far, that is not what is happening in this case.



Reports have also emerged of Puerto Ricans and Native Americans  U.S. citizens  being stopped and detained by ICE, potentially the result of racial profiling.

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Theres one more key detail for understanding Trumps immigration enforcement priorities: Just because someone is arrested by immigration agents doesnt mean theyll be deported.

While some categories of undocumented people are able to be deported quickly, such as those whose cases have already been heard by immigration courts or who qualify for expedited removal, most are not.

In the meantime, undocumented people who encounter immigration agents either have to be held in federal custody  and there arent that many beds across the entire country for immigration detention  or they must be released, and will be required to show up to an immigration office for regular check-ins.

And ICE only has funding to detain around 42,000 people, including through contracts with private prison companies and local governments. Almost all of those beds were already occupied when Biden left office.

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Unless someone shows me data to the contrary, many of these people arrested will be released from custody in a relatively short period of time, observed Austin Kocher, a professor of geography at Syracuse University who studies immigration enforcement. They are not all staying in detention.

Kocher added in an email to HuffPost, Unless they fall under a mandatory detention classification, ICE does not currently have the bed space to indefinitely detain everyone they are arresting.

Weve already seen what happens when an indiscriminate immigration enforcement policy runs up against limited bed space in federal immigration detention: It raises the risk of releasing more people with criminal records from detention.

In October last year, the Cato Institute crunched the numbers, finding in a report that In 2019, Trumps ICE released more than twice the number of individuals convicted of crimes compared to any year during Bidens presidency. That year, the report found, ICE was using 68 percent of its detention space for individuals without any criminal convictions.

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According to the same report, a big pre-pandemic reason for the releases under the Trump administration was that it was determined to detain as many asylum seekers as possible, prioritizing their detention and removal over that of convicted criminals.

David Bier, the reports author and Catos director of immigration studies, told HuffPost that similar dynamics could play out in Trumps second term.

Right now, it seems like theyre just trying to arrest anybody they can, put up numbers, and send a message, or put the media blitz on it, Bier said.

I expect that they will be releasing convicted criminals and public safety threats, he added. I suspect that they already are, and theyre just not telling anyone.

One confounding variable is Trumps efforts to create more space for immigrants to be detained. He recently announced he would pursue the use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention center  apparently catching Pentagon officials by surprise, and raising concerns about denial of access to legal representation for undocumented people on the base, among a slew of other issues.

U.S. Northern Command also recently announced that Buckley Space Force Base, in Aurora, Colorado, had been approved to enable [ICE] to stage and process criminal aliens within the US for an operation taking place in Colorado.

Those actions could potentially create tens of thousands more beds to be used for detaining undocumented people pending deportation.

Another open question: How dramatically the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented people for mere allegations of criminal activity  including something as innocuous as alleged shoplifting  will increase the population of detained undocumented people. Trump recently signed the bill, which received bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, into law.

One widely-reportedmemo drafted by ICE officials during the Biden administration noted that the bills detention requirements went beyond ICEs current capabilities. If supplemental funding is not received and ICE remains at its current bed capacity, the agency would not have the detention capacity to accommodate the immediate arrest and detention of noncitizens convicted or charged with property crimes. [ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations] anticipates that tens of thousands of noncitizens would need to be released by the end of the fiscal year, resulting in the potential release of public safety threats.

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Related...
OVER THE COURSE OF DONALD TRUMPS re-election campaign, he cast himself as a warrior for free speechso no surprise that among the first executive orders of his second term was one titled Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. Its preamble slams the Biden administration for supposedly having censor[ed] Americans speech on online platforms. It asserts that government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society and proclaims its intent to secure the right of the American people to engage in constitutionally protected speech free from interference by federal employees or federal programs.

The executive order has drawn praise not only from Trump cultists but from some outside the MAGA camp, including NetChoice, a trade organization that represents Amazon, Google, Meta, and other major tech companies. Reasons Robby Soave has chided disinformation experts critical of the order. And Martin Gurri, writing in the Free Press, casts the executive order as a good beginning to a monumental task: the resumption of the great American debate, of speech that is unencumbered and unafraid, of a Jeffersonian open society after four years of being stifled by the Biden cabal.

What a thrilling new birth of freedom! But waitwhat about Trumps lawsuits against media organizations that have angered him? For instance, his suit against CBS for running a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that he groundlessly claims was edited in a too-flattering way. Or his suit against the Des Moines Register for publishing a poll shortly before the election that showed Harris leading in Iowa. How does this truculent litigation fit into the exuberantly Jeffersonian picture of Trump as free speech warrior?

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The anti-censorship executive order could still have merit even if Trump is a hypocrite; well get to that in a moment. But the idea that the second Trump administration will usher in a new golden age for free speech in America is as bizarre as the idea that Bidens America was a dreary intellectual gulag where debate was muzzled and only officially approved speech was allowed. Yes, progressive speech suppression and debate-muzzling has been a real problem in the last decade, and liberal attempts to dismiss concerns about it as a moral panic are misguided. But its downright deluded to tout Trump as a remedy to these problems.

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LETS START WITH THE EXECUTIVE ORDERa major component of which is the Trumpian quest for revenge against the Biden administration. The orders first section asserts that over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights . . . often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.

This charge seems to refer exclusively to speech related to COVID-19that is, to federal health officials asking social media companies to remove COVID misinformation. Recently on Joe Rogans podcast, newly MAGA-friendly Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that people from the Biden administration would call up our team, and, like, scream at them and curse, though he acknowledged that he wasnt involved in any of these conversations and that none of them were recorded.

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Zuckerberg has also acknowledged that it was ultimately Facebooks decision whether to remove the content in question. Notably, last June, in a 72 ruling in Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court rejected claims of First Amendment violations by the Biden administration with regard to social media moderation. Defenders of the censorship narrative claim that the decision didnt address the merits of the case but simply held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. Yet the opinion, penned by Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett, did touch on merit: The plaintiffs, Barrett wrote, couldnt show that their speech was suppressed due to interventions from administration officials in part because the platforms began to suppress the plaintiffs COVID19 content before these interventions.

In fact, all the major platforms adopted fairly strict policies against COVID-19 disinformation in spring 2020that is, under the first Trump administration and months before Joe Bidens election victory. Thus, a video promoting the documentary Plandemic, which claimed that COVID was deliberately engineered and spread by vaccine-profiteering billionaires, was removed from Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms in May 2020; the full-length film was taken down in August of that year.

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It is still possible that Biden health officials interactions with social media staffers was too heavy-handed. You can decide that for yourself: Read through the details of the exchanges between the Biden White House and Facebook officials that were published in a May 2024 report from the Republican staff of Rep. Jim Jordans weaponization of government subcommittee. Youll see how two Biden administration staffers, Andy Slavitt and Rob Flaherty, had many emails and phone calls in 2021 with Facebook officials trying to understand the companys policies relating to the circulation of false information about COVID. According to the Facebook officials, the two Biden staffers repeatedly urged the company to remove or suppress misleading or false health information. And yes, sometimes the conversations became heated and profane. But there is no evidence that the Biden staffers ordered Facebook to take any specific action, or even threatened the company.1 It seems like an inappropriately close relationship between, on the one hand, government officials frustrated by the challenges of getting reliable information before the public during a global health crisis, and on the other hand, representatives of a tech company struggling to balance conflicting obligations to freedom and truth. All this is troubling even if it didnt cross constitutional lines.

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Trumps new executive order seeks to deal with such situations in the future by mandating that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent may engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen. Setting aside the fact that the Biden staffers dealing with Facebook apparently did not violate any Americans constitutional rights, this order seems much too broad and could conceivably endanger public safety. Would the FBI be barred from asking Meta to remove a post falsely claiming that terrorists have poisoned the water supply in several major American cities, or revealing information that jeopardizes an ongoing investigation? (Neither of those would fall into the unprotected speech category unless they involved defamation, extortion, or criminal conspiracy.)

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has proposed a requirement for federal employees to disclose any communications sent in their official capacity to social media companies about content on their platforms. That makes eminent sense, with temporary exceptions for emergencies. (Federal employees are already required by law to preserve the records of such communications, and many of those records would be accessible to the public via Freedom of Information Act requests; FIREs proposal would be a reasonable step toward further transparency.) But Trumps executive order is not about a sensible balance; it is, first and foremost, about a vendetta. Its mandate to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech hints at a (yet another) purge of federal employees.

Meanwhile, Trump will be receiving a $25 million settlement from Meta for exercising its First Amendment rights as a private platform to ban him for incitement of violence in January 2021. And one could note that Zuckerbergs claims of Biden administration censorshiplike his other Trump-pleasing movescome in the context not only of obvious motives to seek favors from the new administration but of Trumps threats during his 2024 campaign to put Zuckerbucks behind bars for supposed election fraud by donating to an election board in Georgia in 2020. How very Jeffersonian.

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THE RESTORING FREEDOM OF SPEECH executive order also takes a crudely partisan approach the issue of misinformation and disinformation, suggesting that any efforts to combat them are simply attempts to impose the Governments preferred narrative on public debate.

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Yes, of course government policing of informationeven misinformation and disinformationshould concern us, even in minimally coercive form. But the fact is also that disinformation, some or even much of it the product of hostile foreign powers, is a real danger to liberal democracyas staunch proponents of free speech such as author Jonathan Rauch have recognized for some time. How to counter and curb disinformation without abridging and trampling basic speech rights is a difficult challenge. Brushing it aside by caricaturing all such concerns as an attempt to stamp out wrongthink helps no one except purveyors of falsehood.

It should be straightforwardly acknowledged that left-wing efforts to police speech and debate in the name of social justice, especially over the past ten years, are a reality and have contributed to our current mess, both by compromising the pursuit of truth and by creating a backlash. (Rauch, incidentally, wrote about the danger of such efforts more than thirty years ago.) While these efforts have generally involved social rather than governmental coercion, they have also included federal moves under the Obama administration to restrict campus speech under a troublingly broad definition of sexual and gender-based harassment. That aside, societal pressures and the actions of private institutions can also create a chilly climate for speech.

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At the same time, attempts to portray the Biden administration as a time when the government and its minions waged a relentless war on public debate are absurd. For one thing, it was the first Trump administration that coincided with the peak of the illiberal left, particularly the racial reckoning of the summer of 2020. Whats more, the left-wing illiberalism quickly received pushback from various quarters.

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To say that Trump doesnt come to this issue as a champion for pluralism is to state the obvious. Andy Craig, a fellow with the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies, points out that not only Trump but Elon Musk and other Trump associates have been waging a vicious campaign against speech and press through retaliatory lawfare.2 It goes without saying that Trumps presidential authority makes these efforts much more intimidating.

And Trumps actions since signing the executive order on Restoring Freedom of Speech do nothing to allay such concerns. He has retaliated against former officials from his first administration who have criticized him by taking away their security clearances and security details, incurring cautious dissent even from loyalists like Sen. Tom Cotton. His executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion and gender ideology have raised concerns about curbs on the exploration of disfavored ideas and perspectives even among groups that support many elements of these orders. And one may share concerns about the application of progressive ideas about racism in public schools while also seeing that Trumps new executive order seeking to root out critical race theory and gender ideology in public education could easily become a vehicle for a new orthodoxy.

Free speech for me but not for thee is a pithy saying that has long summed up an all-too-prevalent attitude toward speech across the political spectrum. There may be no more perfect embodiment of this maxim than Donald Trump.

Exercise your free speechsend this article to a friend or post it on social media:

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1

The closest that Jordans weaponization committee staffers could come to finding a threat from the Biden administration to Facebook was this line in a March 15, 2021 email from Slavitt to someone at the company: Internally we have been considering our options on what to do about it. If that was intended as a threat, even the Jordan staffers were forced to concede it was a vague one.

2

Relatedly, the news organization Who What Why revealed this week that another faux free speech warrior from the Trump circle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been trying to use litigation to silence a blogger who covered his association with far-right elements in Germany in 2020 during protests against COVID-related public health measures.
The captain of the American Airlines jet in a deadly midair collision with an Army helicopter late Wednesday over Washington D.C. was an Ormond Beach, Florida, resident whod dreamed since childhood of becoming a pilot.

Jonathan Ray Campos, 34, was among 60 passengers and four crew members killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 hit the helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, sending both plunging into the icy Potomac River.

His aunt, Beverly Lane, told The New York Times he made his career choice early on.

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I think he wanted to be free and be able to fly and soar like a bird, Lane, of Brooklyn, N.Y., told the Times.

The flights first officer was Samuel Lilley, 28, of Savannah, Ga.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said the Black Hawk helicopter collided with the plane about 9 p.m. as the jet descended toward the main runway at the airport.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Campos enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach in 2011 to study aeronautical science and launch his aviation dream, according to public records. He graduated in 2015.

One of his first jobs was as a flight instructor at Epic Flight Academy at New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport. Campos was also certified to fly helicopters and work as an aviation mechanic.

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He was a skilled and dedicated pilot with an undeniable passion for flying, Epic Academy said in a statement Thursday on its Facebook page. Our deepest condolences go out to Jonathans family, friends, and all those who lost their lives or were impacted by this devastating tragedy.

About eight years ago, Campos was hired as a pilot for PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines. Based in Dayton, Ohio, PSA operates about 500 flights daily from smaller regional airports to larger hubs. Its main airport is in Charlotte, N.C., where the crew for Flight 5342 was based.

On Wednesday, Campos was the captain of the Bombardier CRJ700 plane that took off from Wichita, Kan., and was en route to Washington D.C.

According to preliminary reports of the crash, the pilots for the commercial plane likely did not see the helicopter. It appeared the military aircraft flew outside its approved flight path and at a higher altitude than allowed.

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The crash investigation is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board, which has recovered the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. The crash investigation is also looking at whether there was sufficient staffing at the control tower, according to preliminary reports.

This was the first major U.S. commercial air crash since Feb. 12, 2009, when a Continental Airlines flight flew out of Newark, N.J., and crashed into a house as it was a few miles out from the airport in Buffalo, N.Y. The two pilots, two flight attendants and 45 passengers on the airplane were killed along with one person on the ground.

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You can stop a clock from ticking, but it's a lot harder to figure out how to stop humanity's relentless march toward self-annihilation.

The keepers of the metaphorical Doomsday Clock have now determined we are closer than ever to catastrophe, and they have moved the second hand forward by one tick.

It now sits 89 seconds away from midnight, aka 'Doomsday'.

The clock was set by a panel of global leaders on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies as part of the non-profit organization The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

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"In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, we send a stark signal: Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster," the panel writes in a press release.

"Blindly continuing on the current path is a form of madness," they add.

And yet

The Doomsday Clock was first created by a group formed by Manhattan Project scientists in 1947, who did not want atomic weapons used against people. All those decades ago, the clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight.

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By 1949, the threat of nuclear war had ramped up considerably, bringing the clock's minute hand within three ticks of 12. By 1991, with the Cold War officially over, the clock had reverted back to 11.43 pm.

The respite didn't last for long.

Since the turn of the century, international conflict, climate change, and disease have pushed the clock's hands ever closer to 12.

In 2024, the world took a particularly dark turn. Last year was the world's hottest year on record and the first calendar year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.

In addition, the war in Ukraine entered its third year, war and conflict in the Middle East escalated, and countries with nuclear weapons invested billions in expanding their civilization-destroying arsenals.

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To top it all off, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spread to numerous regions around the world, and began infecting farm animals, dairy products, and even humans, creating "the possibility of a devastating human pandemic," the Bulletin's panel warns.

As if that isn't enough to contend with, the panel argues all of these threats are "greatly exacerbated" by the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories. They say advances in AI are only making it harder to detect truth from falsehood, emboldening leaders who discount science and human rights.

"The United States, China, and Russia have the collective power to destroy civilization," the panel argues.

"These three countries have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink, and they can do so if their leaders seriously commence good-faith discussions about the global threats outlined here."

Some, like cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, think the Doomsday Clock is a political stunt, and others have criticized the seemingly arbitrary way the clock is set.

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"I don't think that using apocalyptic rhetoric helps us to do the hard work of discussing difficult and complicated issues in a democracy," University of Oklahoma science historian Katherine Pandora told Tia Ghose at Live Science in 2016.

But Pandora also admitted that the extensive reports put out by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists are useful when it comes to spurring conversation, and the organization itself has said its goal is not to inspire fear but to inspire action.

"There is still time to make the right choices to turn back the hands of the Doomsday Clock," said Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at the Bulletin's recent news conference.

"In Colombia, we say: 'Cada segunda cuenta'  every second counts. Let us use each one wisely."

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A registered sex offender is facing a new charge of indecent assault following an incident that occurred last Friday, January 24.

Kenneth Osborne, 65, of Dorchester is being charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.

Osborne was convicted of indecent assault and assault to rape charges in 2006 and was sentenced to state prison.

The incident occurred on January 24, when bystanders flagged down Boston police to report the assault.

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The victim told the police that while she was on her phone, a man, later identified as Osborne, pressed against the victim and grabbed her butt. Osborne began to flee towards Boylston Street when the victim turned around and asked him if she knew him.

The victim then attempted to follow Osborne while filming him but eventually lost sight of him.

Responding officers in the area broadcasted Osbornes description and located him around 3:30 PM.

A field identification was conducted, where the victim was able to identify Osborne, saying, thats the man I was chasing.

While its fortunate that this victim didnt sustain physical injuries, no one should downplay the fear and personal violation she experienced, nor the impact that incidents like this have on our sense of neighborhood safety and quality of life, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said

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Osborne is being held on a $5,000 bail, and if to be released will be under GPS monitoring.

Osborne will be back in court on March 5 for a pre-trial hearing.

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(COLORADO SPRINGS)  The First Congregational Church in Downtown Colorado Springs is dealing with repeated vandalism of its rainbow banner.

The banner reads A just world for all, with the goal of expressing acceptance, peace, and love. The congregation is known as a just peace church, meaning its open and welcoming to everyone. The inclusive banner has been ripped down this week for the fourth time in just six months.

It has happened periodically in past years, but never this frequently, said Emily Bond, the Director of Administration and Communications at the First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs.

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The only evidence left outside the church is a broken bungee cord and an empty hoop where the banner used to be.

Theyve been working with police, but installing cameras is a bit more complicated as a registered historical location.

For us to put additional equipment, or anything for that matter on the outside, we would have to take extra steps, with going through applications, processes, said Bond, but it is definitely in the works.

While a banner can be ripped down, the church said its spirits cant be. Bond said they pray for the people responsible.

We wont let these acts of violence dishearten us. It saddens us, (but) we dont want them to influence us in changing our views because (our views are) strong, and we welcome everyone, and thats what we want to continue to convey, said Bond.

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The church has already re-ordered the banner and hopes to have the new one within the next week. The church also said it costs about $200 to replace the banner each time.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
Efforts to revitalize the City of Warrens downtown business district are paying off.

Just a few years ago, vacant storefronts were prevalent on the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor.

Cruise on down to the Bayfront for day one of the 2025 Erie Auto Show

But over the past two years, four new businesses have opened including an ice cream shop, wine bar, florist and boutique. The owner of Salsa Soleil Boutique is excited about the positive changes shes seeing.

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Summer is very busy. Many people come here from different states. So I feel like finally you know we have a small town here its a very nice small town and to see people walking around. This is new for me. Im very excited, said Salsa Sokolski, owner of Salsa Soleil Butik.

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The citys planning director said all the new businesses took advantage of grants to refurbish their facades.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  In her first interview since declaring a run for governor, Dr. Amy Acton explained her decision and also the disagreement that ultimately led to her stepping down as state health director.

Acton announced her candidacy as a Democrat, becoming the first from her party to do so. With Republicans controlling all statewide offices, both U.S. Senate seats and holding supermajorities in both chambers of the Statehouse, Acton is seeking to buck a trend.

Im a doctor, not a politician, Acton said in an interview with NBC4s Colleen Marshall. And the thing Im most not is a pundit.

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Ohio schools risk federal funding if they teach unpatriotically under Trump order

But I will tell you this: Ohioans need a plan. I am a very hopeful person. Ive lived through a lot of hardship in my own life. Ive experienced a lot of the struggles that Ohioans are experiencing. But we define hope in my team as optimism, plus a plan.

Acton said shes taking her ideas from meeting with citizens.

Im listening to Ohioans on their struggles, the things that matter most to them, and what you will see from me and my team is that we will be putting together a plan, she said. It will not be partisan. It will be around the issues that we care about most.

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Republicans who have declared their candidacy for governor or are expected to run include Morgan County resident Heather Hill, billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, state Treasurer Robert Sprague and state Attorney General Dave Yost. Current Gov. Mike DeWine is not eligible for a third term.

Watch: Dr. Amy Acton full interview with Colleen Marshall

Acton came to prominence in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, when she regularly appeared alongside DeWine at daily briefings, as a calming voice when little was known about the disease. Her demeanor could serve as an indicator of how shed approach the governors office, presenting a contrast with Republicans such as President Donald Trump.

Ohioans are telling me theyre tired of vitriol, theyre tired of hate, and they want to see us focusing on the issues that really matter to them, she said.

Being an advocate of facemasks and social distancing made Acton the target of protestors in 2020, but she said that wasnt why she ultimately stepped down from office in June. As state health director, she had to sign health orders closing businesses and other places.

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Acton argued that an unchecked spread of the disease before any treatments had been developed would have overrun hospitals and contributed to more deaths.

But she couldnt agree when it came to one order: permitting fairs, facing resistance from Republicans that included former House speaker Larry Householder, now in a federal prison.

There was a real pressure on the governor and on me to sign orders. And this one order in particular was the final straw for me. It was to open the fairs, Acton said. We were just, if you remember, beginning to open businesses and finally stabilizing our hospitals. And it was pressure for fairs to be opened in a way that there was no science for.

The run for governor is just beginning, with the general election taking place in November 2026.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
Semperis, a pioneer in identity-driven cyber resilience, today announced it surpassed $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), a milestone that fewer than one in every 1,000 venture-backed enterprise software companies achieves, according to venture capital firm, Greylock Partners. Fuelling Semperis rapid customer growth and ascension to centaur status is the companys comprehensive solution for enterprises combatting the ever-growing threat of identity-based attacks in Active Directory and Entra ID environments.

Putting Identity at the Centre of Cyber Resilience

Semperis enters its next phase of growth as the cybersecurity industry shifts from focusing primarily on attack prevention to prioritising extended coverage of the attack lifecycle with cyber resilience. This shift is partially being brought on by new regulations like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and popular frameworks like NIST. Additionally, CISA, NSA, and other global cybersecurity agencies recently collaborated on a report sounding the alarm about Active Directory threats, compelling organizations to take corrective action to remove vulnerabilities attackers exploit as entry points to carryout malicious objectives.

With growth of more than 100 % annually since 2021 and the dramatic increase in identity-driven cyberattacks, surpassing $100M in annual recurring revenue is a testament to the effectiveness of our solutions in protecting identity systems, the new security perimeter. We look forward to helping more companies in Australia and across Asia Pacific and Japan identify, halt and rapidly recover from threats to identity systems, such as Active Directory, Entra ID, Okta and others," said Gerry Sillars, Semperis, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan.

Congratulations to Mickey Bresman, Gerry Sillars and the entire Semperis team for surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue as they have reached rarified air amongst enterprise software companies. Identity-centric cyberattacks are rapidly increasing and traditional security solutions fall short of protecting an organizations most critical assets. Semperis has best in breed solutions that help organisations detect, remediate and recover from identity-based attacks. I look forward to working with Semperis in 2025 to expand its presence in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Asia Pacific and Japan, said Malcolm Turnbull, Semperis Strategic Advisor, former Australian Prime Minister.

Identity resilience has become the new security perimeter, making every aspect of an organisations digital existence existentially dependent on their identity system, most often Active Directory. And when Active Directory and other identity systems are compromised, the foundations of a business dependent on them are at unacceptable risk. Recognising the essential relationship between identity and business resilience, Semperis products and services are on the cutting edge of cyber use cases, setting them apart from competitors. You cant simply bolt on identity security, because it is core to business operations and critical to sustain defence against sophisticated and motivated nation-state backed threat groups. Like business resilience, identity resilience must be addressed at the core, said Chris Inglis, Semperis Strategic Advisor and former U.S. National Cyber Director.

Semperis Mission to Be a Force for Good

According to the Semperis Ransomware Risk Report 2024, 83% of surveyed organisations suffered from ransomware attacks in the previous year, with 78% of attack victims paying ransom, some multiple times. Core to Semperis mission to be a force for good is helping customers say no to ransomware demands. The company built several free community tools, including Purple Knight, which 30,000 users leverage for assessing Active Directory, Entra ID, and Okta vulnerabilities in enterprise environments, and Forest Druid, which discovers tier 0 attack paths.

From our inception in 2015, weve been preaching the importance of putting identity at the centre of your cyber resilience strategy, said Mickey Bresman, Semperis CEO. The biggest brands in the world rely on us to safeguard their hybrid AD environments, which are being targeted at unprecedented levels. Im proud to offer organisations with an alternative option to giving in to ransom demands by taking back control through comprehensive protection, from detection and response, to full on crisis recovery. We cover the entire identity attack lifecycle and provide specialised incident response support.

The Rising Category of Identity Threat Detection and Response

Semperis is an early pioneer of Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity categories. Today, Gartner ranks ITDR a top CISO trend as organizations adopt zero-trust models and recognise the increasing frequency of attackers successfully targeting identity system vulnerabilities.

With a focus on cyber resilience, Semperis provides the industrys most comprehensive identity system defence platform, trusted by the largest enterprises and government agencies in the world, to dramatically reduce the success rate of ransomware and other destructive attacks.

The 2024 Forrester Total Economic Impact Report' of Semperis details the potential millions of dollars in savings for enterprises after deploying Semperis, cutting downtime by 90 percent, spending 40 percent less time manually monitoring for threats, and decreasing overall cyber risk pre, during, and post-attack.

KKR is proud to back the hybrid identity resilience mission of Semperis and a growing number of the largest organisations in the world trust them to defend their critical identity systems from cyberattacks. Today, the vast majority of attacks are identity-based, targeting credentials to infiltrate businesses. Semperis leading identity protection technology and incident response expertise are delivering category-defining innovation, not achieved by competitors, said Ben Pederson, KKR Director and a member of Semperis Board of Directors.

Leadership Expansion with IPO Experience and Other Recent Developments

Semperis recently announced new c-suite additions of Jeff Bray, Chief Financial Officer, Mike DeGaetano, Chief Revenue Officer and Annabel Lewis, Chief Legal Officer, coming from high-growth cyber companies, all with firsthand IPO and public company experience.

In June 2024, Semperis announced its latest round of strategic growth financing, $125 million from J. P. Morgan and Hercules Capital. Other recent updates include being named to Deloittes Technology Fast 500 List for five consecutive years and various product announcements, introducing a new SaaS offering for small to midsized businesses, and expanding its AI-powered threat detection and response capabilities.
KAHULUI, Hawaii (KHON2)  As the Hawaiian islands continue to feel the effects of heavy rain and thunderstorms, Maui police urge residents to drive with aloha during the storm.

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

To prevent accidents and ensure smooth traffic flow during this time, MPD reminds drivers to follow key rules when traveling through a four-way stop.

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Hawaii residents: Follow these storm preparedness tips

Following the Rules of the Road

Drivers who need a little refresher can check out the following road safety tips from MPD:

First to Stop, First to Go: The first car to come to a complete stop should proceed first.

Tie Goes to the Right: If two cars arrive at the same time, the driver on the right has the right of way.

Straight Before Turns: If two cars are directly across from each other and one is turning left, the car going straight has the right of way

Pedestrians Always Have the Right of Way: All cars must yield to pedestrians in or approaching a crosswalk

Use Turn Signals: Prevent confusion and ensure safe movement by indicating your intended direction

Drivers should also follow the instructions of Maui police officers directing traffic and take extra precautions while traveling.

As always, drivers should wear their seatbelts, avoid distractions and stay off their mobile devices while driving.

Remain vigilant with posted speed limits and maintain a safe distance from other cars to avoid sudden stops.

Of course, when in doubt, allow yourself extra time to travel to your destination to avoid possible delays.

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Check out more news from around Hawaii

MPD urges all motorists to be cautious, patient and mindful and asks for your assistance in keeping our roads safe for everyone.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man charged with causing a fiery crash that shut down a major highway bridge and killed a truck driver has died of cancer.

Reginald Collins, 60, died on Dec. 1, prompting the negligent homicide and other charges he faced to be officially dropped in New London Superior Court earlier this month, The Day reports.

Collins' lawyer called the dismissal somewhat bittersweet for his family.

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Obviously, they were happy that the charges were dropped however we would have liked Reginald to be present to hear it for himself, Anthony Basilica said in an email Friday. Personally, I was shocked he was ever charged in the first place.

State police said the New London resident caused an April 2023 crash on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge.

The span, which is state's largest passenger and truck bridge, links New London and Groton along Interstate 95, a major artery between New York and Boston.

Police said Collins had stopped in the right lane of the highway when his vehicle's tire blew out. x

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A fuel delivery truck then crashed into Collins' car, flipped over and caught fire, spilling some 2,200 gallons (8,340 liters) of home heating oil, some of which entered the river.

The 42-year-old truck driver was killed while Collins and his passenger were pulled to safety by other motorists.

Police said Collins created a traffic hazard" by failing to activate his car's hazard lights and pull onto the shoulder of the road.

Collins maintained he couldn't pull over because his car was disabled.

Dash cam video from a passing motorist shows Mr. Collins vehicle stopped for over 20 seconds. Others who passed by had no difficulty maneuvering around him, Basilica said Friday. In the end this was a tragic accident that could have been avoided.

He had pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, improper parking, failure to register his vehicle and illegally operating a vehicle without proper insurance coverage.
A man was moving his exs body when he crashed and rolled his car in Oregon, authorities said.

Deputies with the Polk County Sheriffs Office responded to a crash at about 6:30 a.m. Jan. 27 in Independence, the Salem Police Department said in a news release.

At the scene, deputies found 39-year-old Tyler Andrew Holman injured in the vehicle, police said. He was taken to a hospital in Salem.

They also discovered Ashly Jean Gandolfis body in the wreckage, police said.

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The 35-year-old woman had died from a gunshot wound before she was in the crash, police said, so it appeared Holman had been moving her body.

A medical examiner said she had been killed, police said.

Holman was released from the hospital on Jan. 30 and arrested on multiple charges: second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Police said the two were previously in a romantic relationship.

Im still in shock, my heart is heavy. I love you, Ashly Gandolfi. You are one of the sweetest people, Brittany Simpson said in a Facebook post.

Independence is about a 10-mile drive southwest from Salem.

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If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

Man crashes car with girlfriends body inside after fleeing police, Las Vegas cops say

Woman mourning grandma seeks boyfriends comfort, then he kills her, TN officials say

11-year-old walking from bus stop is hit by car and dies day later, Florida cops say
A California man has agreed to pay more than $65,000 in restitution and faces up to a year in federal prison for operating a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft during the early days of the Palisades Fire, prosecutors announced Friday.

Peter Akemann, 56, of Culver City, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft for the Jan. 9 drone collision, which damaged the Canadian "super scooper" and took it out of commission for several days amid the devastating fire, according to federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.

MORE: Fire officials plead for people to not fly drones over wildfire-ravaged areas of Southern California

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According to the plea agreement, filed Friday, Akemann admitted his reckless operation of the drone interfered with the firefighting aircraft's operations and "posed an imminent safety hazard" to the two-person crew.

The impact of the collision caused an approximately 3-inch-by-6-inch hole in the aircraft's left wing, prosecutors said. The aircraft, which is designed to scoop water from bodies of water and drop it on fires, was able to land safely and was taken out of service for approximately five days for repairs, prosecutors said.

"We're in the largest wildfire ever to hit Southern California. We need all the planes that we can have at the time. And now we have one down for five days," acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally said during a press briefing on Friday. "That has a real impact on operations."

PHOTO: A damaged firefighting aircraft is seen after a drone strike while responding to the Palisades Fire on Jan. 9, 2025. (FBI)

PHOTO: A damaged firefighting aircraft is seen after a drone strike while responding to the Palisades Fire on Jan. 9, 2025. (FBI)

Investigators recovered parts of the damaged drone and were able to trace that to a specific drone, which led them to Akemann, prosecutors said.

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Akemann launched the drone from the top of a parking garage in Santa Monica out of curiosity to observe the wildfire damage, but lost sight of it after it flew about 1.5 miles, according to McNally.

The Federal Aviation Administration had issued temporary flight restrictions at the time that prohibited drone operations near the Los Angeles County wildfires.

There is no evidence that the collision was intentional, according to FBI Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis.

MORE: Why California is the best-equipped state to deal with wildfires

McNally said the message to the public is "deterrence."

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"If you fly a drone around wildfires and you do so recklessly, law enforcement is going to find you and we're going to hold you accountable," he said.

Akemann has not yet entered a guilty plea. He is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon.

"Mr. Akemann is deeply sorry for the mistake he made by flying a drone near the boundary of the Palisades fire area on January 9, 2025, and for the resulting accident," his attorneys, Vicki Podberesky and Glen Jonas, said in a statement to ABC News. "He accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment and is cooperating with the government in effort to make amends."

PHOTO: Parts of a damaged drone recovered after it collided with a firefighting aircraft on Jan. 9, 2025. (FBI)

As part of the plea agreement, Akemann has agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, which supplied the super scooper, and the company that repaired the plane -- estimated to be at least $65,169.

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He has also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of the Southern California wildfire relief effort, prosecutors said.

The misdemeanor offense carries a prison sentence of up to one year in federal prison. Any prison sentence will ultimately be determined by a judge, McNally said.

"I'll highlight the fact that he has agreed to plead guilty and accept responsibility, which I think is important here," McNally said.

Akemann's attorneys said there are a "number of mitigating factors" that will be brought up in court, including his "reliance on the DJI Drone's geo fencing safeguard feature and the failure of that feature."

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The Palisades Fire ignited on Jan. 7 and has burned more than 23,400 acres in Los Angeles County. It is now 98% contained, according to Cal Fire. Nearly 8,000 structures are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed by the fire.

The cause remains under investigation.

Drone operator charged for hitting 'super scooper' plane during Palisades Fire: DOJ originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
(Bloomberg) -- A Los Angeles-area man has agreed to plead guilty to recklessly flying a drone that crashed into a firefighting aircraft battling the Palisades wildfire as it burned out of control, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

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The collision damaged the wing of a Super Scooper, a specialized aircraft capable of carrying large amounts of ocean water to douse active fires. The damage forced the plane out of service for days, impacting efforts to the contain the wind-whipped blaze as it was quickly spreading.

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Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, of Culver City admitted to launching the drone from a Santa Monica parking structure on Jan. 9 and flying it more than 1.5 miles toward the wildfire into restricted airspace.

He then lost sight of the drone, which struck a wing of the Super Scooper, leaving a hole about three by six inches. The plane was grounded for repairs after maintenance crews discovered the damage.

All evidence indicates he just wanted to see the fire, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the US Attorneys office in Los Angeles, at a hearing on Friday.

Akemann will plead guilty to unsafe drone operation, a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in prison. As part of a plea deal, he will pay roughly $65,000 in restitution to the province of Quebec, which supplied the Super Scooper, and an aircraft repair company. He will also complete 150 hours of community service in the next year in wildfire relief efforts.

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The message here is deterrence. If you do this, we are going to track you down and prosecute, Joe McNally, acting US attorney for the Central District of California, said at the hearing.

The Palisades fire, which is now 98% contained, has destroyed almost 7,000 structures, mostly homes, and resulted in at least 12 deaths and four injuries.

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A man who was piloting a drone that collided with a firefighting aircraft working on the Palisades fire has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, pay a fine and complete community service, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, of Culver City was charged with unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft. He could still face up to a year in federal prison, prosecutors said.

The drone, which authorities say was flying in restricted airspace on Jan. 9, put a fist-sized hole in the left wing of a Super Scooper  a massive fixed-wing plane that can drop large amounts of water onto a fire. The collision knocked the plane out of commission for about five days and destroyed the drone.

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"Like a lot of individuals, he was curious about what was happening in that area," acting U.S. Atty. Joseph T. McNally said on Friday. "The problem with that... is with the amount of firefighting planes you have in that area dropping so they can get water in the Pacific Ocean it interferes with those operations. It's not the time to fly drones anytime that we have these emergencies in Southern California."

As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the government of Quebec, Canada, which supplied the plane, and the company that repaired the plane. It cost at least $65,169 to fix the aircraft, prosecutors said.

Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of wildfire relief efforts.

Attorneys Glen T. Jonas and Vicki Podberesky, who are representing Akemann, said in a statement that their client is "deeply sorry for the mistake he made."

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"He accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment, and is cooperating with the government in effort to make amends," the attorneys wrote.

Akemann appeared in court in downtown Los Angeles on Friday afternoon and was released on a $15,000 bond.

A Super Scooper drops water on a hillside as the Palisades fire rages on Jan. 7. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

In the plea agreement, Akemann admitted to launching a DJI Mini 3 Pro unmanned aircraft from the top floor of a parking structure at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and flying it toward Pacific Palisades to observe the damage caused by the fire. He flew the drone about 1.5 miles before losing sight of it.

Prosecutors said the drone then collided with the Super Scooper carrying two crewmembers. McNally said in an interview that authorities suspect the impact occurred over the ocean where planes often pick up water during firefighting missions.

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Maintenance crews located "drone wreckage" in parts of the plane and used that material to help identify the owner of the drone, McNally said.

Akemann's attorneys said their client was relying on the DJI Drone's geofencing safeguard feature, which they allege failed to work. The feature, which has been on DJI drones for more than 10 years, was created as a safety mechanism to prevent consumer drone operators from unintentionally flying in restricted airspace.

On Jan. 13  four days after the crash in Los Angeles  the company announced it was dropping geofence restrictions on most of its consumer and enterprise drone products in the United States. Representatives for DJI could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

The wind-driven Palisades fire raged for days in Pacific Palisades and surrounding communities, burning 23,400 acres, killing 12 people and destroying more than 6,800 properties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

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Temporary flight restrictions were put in place across portions of Southern California as the firestorms tore through Los Angeles County. Those restrictions mean that all aircraft not involved in wildfire suppression operations have to get permission to enter the airspace. Officials said no permission had been given at the time the drone collided with the plane.

FBI Assistant Director Akil Davis said there is no evidence that the drone was intentionally flown into the aircraft, but it's an inherent risk when piloting one in a restricted area.

"Going forward, we're going to be dealing with more drones, and the likelihood of a disastrous result will increase," Davis said.

Drones flying in the fire zone were a persistent problem as firefighters battled the Palisades fire. Aerial footage of the devastation wrought by the blaze went viral on social media, but was frequently criticized by officials and others who said the drones that captured the images were jeopardizing the fire fight.

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The collision  and the flouting of the flight restriction by others  prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a stern warning against flying drones near wildfires.

"Its a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands," the FAA said. "Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations" during a temporary flight restriction.

Drones flying in wildfire zones has been an issue for the FAA and fire officials for at least a decade.

In 2019, the U.S. Forest Service reported there were at least 20 unauthorized drone flights over or near wildfires in seven states, including California. Flights resulted in aerial firefighting operations being temporarily shut down nine times that year, according to the forest service.

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"As this case demonstrates, we will track down drone operators who violate the law and interfere with the critical work of our first responders," McNally said.

Meanwhile, officials are continuing to probe the cause of the Palisades fire.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has spent weeks scouring a hiking trail and hillside where they suspect the fire started, breaking it down into a grid. They have examined 250 leads, obtained 90 hours of relevant video and conducted 50 interviews.

From the beginning, there has been speculation an 8-acre blaze that fire officials thought they had put out on Jan. 1 in the same area reignited and spread because of intense winds, or a new fire was somehow sparked nearby that morning.

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But sources said this week no conclusion had been made.

Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Grace Toohey contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Nine individuals were arrested after police found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, nearly 4 pounds of cocaine, 9 grams of fentanyl and a dozen firearms during a drug raid in Rochester and Greece this week.

Rochester Police Chief David Smith said the arrests came after an ongoing investigation by the department's narcotics squad. Special investigators, including members of the SWAT team, executed seven search warrants simultaneously on Jan. 29.

Police seized $177,000 in cash along with the drugs and guns, most of which were loaded, and also found body armor, ammunition and drug sales equipment, Smith said. Among the firearms was a loaded AK-47 and a rifle with a flash suppressor.

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"To have that level of firepower ... is nuts," Mayor Malik Evans said at a Jan. 31 news conference. "It's crazy. It really boggles the mind."

Synthetic drugs like fentanyl are the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl is enough to kill the average adult, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Drug dealers are known to mix fentanyl with other drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, because of its potency and low cost.

More: Should you carry Narcan? What to know about drug overdoses in NY

Police did not reveal what locations were targeted in the drug bust.

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The following people were charged with various counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies:

Brandon Walls

Sarena Frye

Dexter Williams

Dajuan Bacot

Donnarae McKenzie

Dexter McKenzie

Quamina Stith

Mikal McFadden

Savonna White

 Kayla Canne covers community safety for the Democrat and Chronicle with a focus on police accountability, government surveillance and how people are impacted by violence. Follow her on Twitter @kaylacanne and @bykaylacanne on Instagram. Get in touch at kcanne@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Drug bust in Rochester and Greece NY nabs $177K cash, fentanyl, AK-47
Dutch police have arrested three people in connection with a museum heist that saw thieves blow open a door with explosives before stealing four priceless ancient artifacts, including an approximately 2,500-year-old gold helmet on loan from Romania.

Officials in the Netherlands published the names and photographs of two of the suspects, Douglas Chesley Wendersteyt and Bernhard Zeeman, on Thursday, less than a week after the heist at Drents Museum in Assen, roughly 80 miles northeast of Amsterdam. The third person, a woman, was not named by police.

All three suspects hail from the city of Heerhugowaard in the Netherlands, police said, more than 70 miles from the museum.

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The daring heist occurred during the early hours of Saturday morning, according to Dutch police, who received a report of an explosion at 3:45 a.m. local time. Grainy CCTV footage shows suspects opening an exterior door before a blast sends sparks and smoke into the air.

Among the stolen items, which have not yet been recovered, are three 2,000-year-old gold bracelets and the Helmet of Cotofenesti, a historically important item on loan from the National History Museum of Romania. Dutch police have described finding the artifacts as their absolute priority, appealing for information from the public.

Investigators say they tracked down the suspects after discovering a bag containing clothing in Assen. They also searched properties in Heerhugowaard.

Police are appealing for information about a black van, which they say may have been driven by one of the thieves following the heist, as well as various tools used during the break-in  including hammers and a crowbar. Officials have released images of another man, seen at a hardware store in Assen, who is also linked to the heist.

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The four stolen items were part of an exhibition about the Dacians, an ancient society that occupied much of present-day Romania before being conquered by the Romans.

Drents Museum describes the Helmet of Cotofenesti  which was uncovered in a Romanian village almost a century ago  as a masterpiece. Its design features mythological scenes and a pair of golden eyes that were thought to deter enemies during battle, while protecting against the evil eye.

Considered a Romanian national treasure, its theft has sparked consternation among Romanian officials and fears that the gold helmet, which weighs around two pounds, would be melted down.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has hailed the artifacts as having exceptional cultural and historical importance, according to the Associated Press, and said their disappearance had a strong emotional and symbolic impact on society.

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Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also said the Romanian government had not authorized the loan and that he will seek damages from the Netherlands if they are not recovered, according to CNN affiliate Antena 3.

Stolen items from Drents Museum in Assen. - Dutch Police

Romanias Culture Minister Natalia-Elena Intotero said she had dismissed the National History Museums director, Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, over his handling of the crisis, Antena 3 reported.

Oberlander-Tarnoveanu had earlier called the heist an incident that even in our most pessimistic dreams, we would not have believed possible, according to the AP.

CNN has reached out to Romanias National History Museum and the Drents Museum.

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Drents Museum has remained closed since the heist but is due to reopen to the public Friday. Its premises were damaged by the explosion, though no injuries were reported.

The museums general director, Harry Tupan, described the incident as a dark day  both for his institution and the National History Museum of Romania.

In a statement Wednesday, Drents Museum welcomed the arrests as hopeful news.

The safe return of the stolen artifacts would be a fantastic next step for all involved. Not only for us, but especially for the Romanian people, the museum said.

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https://www.yokohamajapan.com/events/detail.php?id=4 (Photo from Yokohama Chinatown Official Website)

Yes, February is Tokyos chilliest month, but dont worrytheres still plenty to do in the capital. From concerts to art exhibitions and fun events, here are our top picks for the best things to do in Tokyo in February 2025.

Chinese Spring Festival 2025 (Lunar New Year), until February 12, 2025

www.chinatown.or.jp/event/celebration/shunsetu2025/ (Yokohama Chinatown Official Website)

Celebrate the 39th Chinese Spring Festival (Shunsetsu) in Yokohama Chinatown, a vibrant two-week event marking the Lunar New Year with dazzling traditions and cultural showcases. Since its debut in 1986, this beloved celebration has highlighted authentic Chinese customs through lively parades, captivating performances and the iconic lion dance. This years festivities culminate with the Lantern Festival on February 12, an enchanting evening where glowing lanterns light up the night, symbolizing unity and hope for the new year.

For more information on the performance schedule, please visit the official website.

When:

February 1  2: performance at 1 pm, 2:30pm, and 4pm

February 8  9: the exact times have not been disclosed yet, will be informed in advance

February 11: parade from 4:30pm

February 12: Lantern Festival from 5:30pm  7pm

Where:

Yokohama Chinatown Yokohama Mazu Temple

Website

Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, until February 16, 2025

https://topmuseum.jp/contents/exhibition/index-4824.html (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum official website)

Dive into the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2025, celebrating the theme Docs: Images and Records from February 7 to February 23, 2025. This renowned festival, established in 2009, explores the evolution of moving images from static records to dynamic digital storytelling through exhibitions, screenings, live performances and engaging talks.

Marking 130 years of moving images, the festival examines how photos and videos have transitioned from mere documentation to digital data, challenging our understanding of documents and documentaries. Dont miss this thought-provoking journey through art and alternative visions.

When:

Tuesday  Sunday: 10am  6pm (closed on Mondays) Special Notes: On Thursdays and Friday, open until 8pm

Where:

1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku

Price:

See the website for prices (varies depending on the exhibition or screening) topmuseum.jp/contents/exhibition/

Setsubun Celebration at Senso-ji Temple, February 3, 2025

(Setsubun)

Join in the centuries-old tradition of Setsubun, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, at Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa this February. This iconic festival features the mame-maki ceremony, where roasted soybeans are thrown with chants of Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! (Demons out! Good fortune in!), symbolizing the banishment of misfortune and the welcoming of happiness.

Senso-jis elaborate ceremony includes monks, local dignitaries and celebrity guests like sumo wrestlers and actors, creating an exciting and lively atmosphere. Traditional performances add cultural richness to the experience. Arrive early, dress warmly and immerse yourself in this vibrant celebration of Japanese tradition!

When:

Parades: 10am  2pm

Where:

Senso-ji Temple, 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku

Price:

Free

Website

Machine Love: Symbiosis and Empathy Exhibition, February 1, 2025  May 25, 2025

https://www.mori.art.museum/en/exhibitions/machine_love/index.html (Mori Art Museums Official Website)

Discover the thought-provoking Machine Love: Symbiosis and Empathy exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, running from February 13 to June 8, 2025. This showcase explores how technology influences our emotions and relationships, featuring works by renowned international and Japanese artists, scientists and designers.

Immerse yourself in interactive installations, AI-driven art and cutting-edge designs that reimagine collaboration and empathy between humans and artificial intelligence. If youre a tech enthusiast or curious about the future of human-machine connections, then this is an exhibition you absolutely wont want to miss.

When:

Open every day: 10am  10pm (10am  5pm on Tuesdays)

Open until 10pm on April 29 and May 6 (Tuesdays)

Where:

Mori Art Museum, 53F, Roppongi Hills, Mori Tower

Price:

General Admission: 2,000

University/High School Students: 1,400

Children (Junior High and under): Free

Seniors (65 and over): 1,700

Website

Maroon 5 at Tokyo Dome, February 6, 8 and 9, 2025

(Tokyo Dome Offical Website)

Maroon 5 is bringing their 2025 World Tour to the Tokyo Dome for three unmissable nights on February 6, 7 and 8! Get ready for an electrifying show featuring their chart-topping hits like Sugar, Moves Like Jagger, and Girls Like You. With Adam Levines incredible vocals, stunning visuals and a hit-packed setlist, this is a concert you cant miss.

Dont waitbe part of one of Tokyos hottest events of 2025! Secure your tickets and experience an unforgettable night of live music and energy at the iconic Tokyo Dome.

When:

February 6: 7pm

February 8: 6pm

February 9: 5pm

Where:

Tokyo Dome, 1 -3-61 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku

Prices:

11,000 / 13,000 / 15,000 (plus tax) Available through the official ticketing platform

Website

Kite Market (Tako-ichi), February 6 and 18, 2025

(Kites)

Oji Inari Shrines historic Kite Market traces its roots back to the Edo period when kites were sold as fire-prevention charms. Though theyve since transformed into playful decorations, the market retains its cultural and traditional charm. Explore the art of Japanese kite-making, pick up a one-of-a-kind souvenir and experience a window into historical practices and vibrant community life.

When:

10am  6pm

Where:

Oji Inari Shrine, 1-12-26 Kishimachi, Kita-ku

Price: Free

Website

Hatsuuma-sai (First Day of the Horse Festival), February 6, 2025

(Hatsuuma-sai)

Hatsu-uma, the first day of the horse in February according to the lunar calendar, marks the founding of Kyotos Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine in 711, dedicated to the fox deity Inari. Since then, Inari shrines across Japan have celebrated this day with special festivals.

At Mabashi Inari-jinja Shrine, mochi rice cakes are prepared while a traditional song is sung. These offerings, along with prayers are presented to the gods. Visitors can enjoy the mochi and a warm cup of amazake, a sweet fermented rice drink.

When:

Mochi-making: 10am  11am

Mochi and snack serving: 3pm  3:30 pm

Where:

Mabashi Inari Shrine, 2-4-4 Asagayaminami, Suginami-ku

Price: Free

Website

Takehisa Yumeji: Love and Feelings, February 1  June 1, 2025

(Takehisa Yumeji Museum)

Celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of Takehisa Yumejia romantic poet, painter and journalist for Yomiuri Shimbunat the Takehisa Yumeji Museum. This exhibition showcases approximately 180 works, including the recently discovered Amaryllis, painted during his time in the United States.

When:

10am  5pm (Closed on Mondays)

Special note:

*Open on February 24, April 28 and May 5

*Closed on February 25 and April 1

Where:

Takehisa Yumeji Museum, 2-4-2 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku

Price:

General: 1,200

University and High School Students: 1,000

Junior High and Elementary School Students: 500

Website

Monet: The Late Waterscapes, Until February 11, 2025

(The National Museum of Western Art)

Explore Claude Monets iconic Water Lilies series at The National Museum of Western Art. This exhibition features approximately 50 significant works from the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, many being shown in Japan for the first time.

When:

9:30am  9pmClosed February 3

Where:

National Museum of Western Art, 7-7 Uenokoen, Taito-ku

Prices:

Adults:

General: 2,300



Advanced: 2,100

College Students:

General: 1,400



Advanced: 1,300

High school Students:

General: 1,000



Advanced: 900

Website

Dragon Quest Carnival in Nihonbashi, February 1  March 16, 2025

(Dragon Quest Carnival in Nihonbashi)

Embark on a legendary adventure as Nihonbashi transforms into the world of Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation. This immersive event features a Revive the Phoenix Ramia stamp rally, exclusive merchandise, themed dining options and appearances by iconic monsters.

Where:

COREDO Muromachi Complex, 1-5-3 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku

Price: Free

Website

Check out our Events Page for more things to do in Tokyo in February!

metropolisjapan.com
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Netherlands' privacy watchdog AP on Friday said it will launch an investigation into Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek's data collection practices and urged Dutch users to exercise caution with the company's software.

"The AP is (issuing this) warning because of the serious concerns that there are over DeepSeek's privacy policies ... and the way in which it appears to use personal information," Chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement. The agency added that European citizens' personal data can only be stored abroad under strict conditions that DeepSeek must adhere to.

The Dutch announcement follows a move by Italy on Thursday to block DeepSeek's app over privacy concerns. Ireland and France have both sought information from DeepSeek on its data processing practices.

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The Netherlands' AP said it was in contact with other regulators in the European Union and they will exchange information and coordinate on further steps.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN)  The mayor of East Palestine wants to see money from a settlement with Norfolk Southern go toward rebuilding the community.

Read next: Police ask for help identifying suspects in dealership break-in

We want to be the East Palestine of the 70s and 80s where it was thriving, and we want to get back to that, Mayor Trent Conaway said.

This month, lawyers for the railroad agreed to pay the village $22 million to resolve all remaining claims from the devastating train derailment two years ago.

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That money can used for priorities identified by the village. That is in addition to $13.5 million in prior payments that Norfolk Southern has already made to the village, including the replacement of police and fire equipment and vehicles, improvements to the villages water treatment plant and Norfolk Southerns commitment of $25 million to the ongoing improvements to the East Palestine City Park.

The mayor was quick to point out other lawsuits are still unresolved.

It does not impact individual class action settlement payments in any way, Conaway said.

While weve been told some in the community have been receiving their own settlement checks, Conaway says the pace, overall, has been too slow.

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I think its absolutely ridiculous. Our citizens  of town, of Unity Township, Columbiana County, I think Mahoning County, Beaver County  they deserve better, he said.

Several who came to hear the mayor agree.

I think I would deserve to know if Im going to receive some compensation and I have kids that live in this town, grandkids. Were all just waiting, Christina Dilworth said.

I think we should have probably had our money by at least Christmas and it seems like anybody that calls down there doesnt get a good answer, Jerry Coblentz said.

The settlement no longer includes a new state-of-the-art training academy for first responders. Conaway says the village of just 4,700 people couldnt afford to operate it.

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Norfolk Southern has agreed to transfer ownership of approximately 15 acres of land it acquired for the training center to the village for another use. Conaway said no decisions have been made yet on how that land will be used.

In the meantime, Conaway calls the lack of action by lawmakers on a federal rail safety bill despicable.

We need to pass it. We need to ensure that no other little village goes through what we went through the last two years, he said.

Going forward, the mayor says it will be up to the village council to decide how best to spend that multi-million dollar settlement.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  Leaders of multiple East Tennessee public school districts are sharing reactions to the decision of state lawmakers to approve Governor Bill Lees statewide expansion of school vouchers.

Earlier this week, the bill, which provides around $7,000 in scholarships in public taxpayer money for parents in Tennessee to use at private schools if they so choose, passed through both the State Senate and House of Representatives.

East TN lawmakers react to passage of school voucher bill after years of debate

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One major point of conflict surrounding the bill was that it diverted public education funds away from public schools. Maryville City Schools issued the following statement.

Maryville City Schools is disappointed by the passage of the universal school voucher bill, which diverts public funds away from schools that serve all students. Public education is the foundation of strong communities, and every dollar that is redirected to private institutions reduces the resources available to support the vast majority of Tennessees children. As a district, Maryville City Schools remains committed to providing an exceptional education for every student and will continue to advocate for policies that support and strengthen public schools, ensuring all students have access to the high-quality education they deserve, the school system wrote.

Dr. Tim Parrott, the Anderson County Schools Director, also shared a statement with 6 News, noting that while the bill did include a bonus for teachers, it did not help many of the other essential workers that public schools rely on.

My role remains unchanged today, just as it was yesterday: to do everything within my power to fulfill the mission of Anderson County Schools by developing, challenging, and supporting Every Student, Every Day. We are privileged to live in one of the greatest countries in the world, and while democracy comes at a significant cost, it sometimes leads to outcomes that may not align with our personal perspectives. Nonetheless, our responsibility remains steadfast. The vote that took place yesterday has fundamentally altered the landscape of education in Tennessee, as the General Assembly approved the funding of two separate education systems. I sincerely hope that the necessary resources will be available to sustain them effectively. My position on the voucher system remains unchanged: extensive research indicates that it does not enhance educational outcomes but instead exacerbates disparities between those who have resources and those who do not. Additionally, while the legislation included a $2,000 bonus for teachers, it notably excluded essential school personnel, including teacher assistants, nurses, bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria workers. A successful education system requires the dedication of all these individuals, and the General Assemblys decision to overlook their contributions sends a disheartening message about their value. This exclusion was unjust, and I sincerely hope that it will be addressed in the regular legislative session. Dr. Tim Parrott, Director of Schools at Anderson County Schools

Theyre hiding behind the anonymous word: Fake deportation sales posted in Roane County Facebook group

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Campbell County Schools Director of Schools Jennifer Fields shared a letter with the public following the bills passage, emphasizing the impact public schools and educators have on communities and ensuring the community that despite the challenges, the district is committed to its students.

It is easy to feel disheartened when elected officials who were entrusted to advocate for

all children choose to prioritize special interests, make political deals, and redirect

resources away from the very schools that serve the majority of students. To suggest

that public schools will remain unaffected by the funding required for voucher programs

is misleading and, quite frankly, dismissive of the realities we face. The strength of our

schools depends on fair and equitable funding, and any reduction in resources impacts

our ability to provide the high-quality education our students deserve, Fields wrote in part.

Despite these challenges, I remain steadfast in my belief that public education is and

always will be worth fighting for. I have seen firsthand the extraordinary things

happening in our classrooms. I have watched teachers go above and beyond to meet

the needs of their students, staff members work tirelessly to ensure our schools run

smoothly, and families partner with us to support and uplift their children. Most of all, I

have seen our students excel by learning, growing, and achieving in ways that make us

all proud.

For the first year, the bill that state lawmakers passed is limited to 20,000 students, however, it will allow for that number to increase by up to 5,000 more if the number of applicants exceeds 75% of the vouchers available.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KETK)  On Thursday afternoon, East Texas citizens gathered together for a prayer day in order to raise awareness about human trafficking and offer hope to survivors as the community united in prayer.

Lufkin ISD announces new head football coach, athletic director

The event was created after 4Kids4Famalies and Unbound Now partnered up along with support from local authorities and community leaders. The gathering occurred at 12:00 p.m. at the Smith County Courthouse Annex.

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A representative of the Tyler District Attorneys Office gave remarks at the event which emphasized the importance of community action as well as support for survivors.

East Texas Women: Longview woman helps others share their voice through writing

4Kid4Families Community Relationship Director Belen Casillas spoke about the many lives that human tracking affects and how kids who grow up in foster care have a greater risk of being victims of human trafficking.

Human trafficking affects countless lives across the globe, and vulnerable populations, including children in foster care, are at particular risk, said Casillas. This event offers an opportunity for the Tyler community to come together to support those impacted, pray for their healing, and renew their commitment to preventing future harm.

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As of Dec. 20, 2024, Unbound Now in Smith County has received 48 referrals in regard to human trafficking. Along with the referrals, there are also over 300,000 estimated victims of human trafficking in Texas. It has also been reported that approximately 79,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking in Texas.

Unbound Nows Founder and Interim CEO Sarah Peters spoke about how important these kinds of community events are in order to raise awareness.

We are grateful to stand together in prayer and solidarity against the evils of human trafficking, said Peters. Together, our community is making a difference in the lives of survivors and making freedom a lasting reality for many.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KETK)  An East Texas woman was found guilty on Thursday of murdering her 19-month-old son.

According to a release from the Nacogdoches Assistant District Attorneys Office, Hanna Ruth Moses was found guilty of murdering her son Thomas Blake Rogers. She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Man arrested by college police after child porn found in Bullard home

Courtesy of the Nacogdoches County Sheriffs Office.

The ADAs office said the toddler was born prematurely and was developmentally delayed. He was removed from the care of Moses in June 2021 for medical neglect and was underweight.

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He returned to the defendants care in March 2022 and just a few weeks later suffered a displaced femur fracture despite being unable to roll, crawl, or walk, the ADAs office said.

However, Thomas remained under the care of his mom, and on May 30, 2022, a 911 call was made by Moses who said her son was not breathing and attempted to do CPR for 30 minutes before making the call to 911.

When first responders arrived, they found the toddler unresponsive, wet and with his ankles bound tightly with a shoestring. Life-saving measures were performed on the toddler until they reached the Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital where they reportedly found bruises developing from his head to his toes on both sides of his body. The toddler also had significant bleeding in his brain.

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The toddler was sent to a Fort Worth childrens hospital where he died on June 21, 2022, from significant injuries caused by multiple impacts.

The ADA said though Moses sentencing does not bring the toddler back, it does ensure that his mom is held accountable for the heinous acts against him.

Throughout the trial, the courtroom was filled with law enforcement, child protective services, CASA advocates and family members evidencing their support of Baby Thomas and further evidencing that the harm of children will not be tolerated in the Nacogdoches community, the ADA said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  The Tennessee General Assembly on Thursday voted to pass Gov. Bill Lees statewide expansion of school vouchers, otherwise known as the Tennessee Education Freedom Act of 2025. The bill outlines the process for parents to apply for a $7,000 scholarship of public taxpayer funds that can be used at private schools if they so choose.

The vote passing in the House, 53-46, as some Republicans jumped party lines to vote against the bill. Meanwhile in the Senate, the measure passed 21-13. This topic has been debated for several years and has gone through several revisions to get to where its at today. Conservative lawmakers hailed the vote as a milestone for the state.

East Tennessee public schools respond to passage of Governors school voucher bill

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Universal school choice is now an option in Tennessee, said Gov. Lee.

While this is not the first time school vouchers have been talked about at the Capitol, it was different because lawmakers were able to focus solely on the issue.

The nice thing about doing it during special session is we can focus on that, said State Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville). During regular session there are probably 100 bills going on at the same time so there it wouldnt really get its dual focus by the legislators and by the citizens of Tennessee.

Democratic State Representatives Sam McKenzie and Gloria Johnson from Knoxville voiced their displeasure with how the vote turned out.

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Its extremely disappointing, McKenzie said. I really thought we had a chance to convince enough of our rural Republicans, the fact that this was a bad bill. Im also really disappointed in my Knox County delegation.

Parents speak out as ex-Knoxville cheerleading coach sentenced for child sex crimes

Im just devastated. The reality is, this is the destruction of public education, said Johnson. More than 90% of one million Tennessee students get their education from our public schools.

The vote in the House was not down party lines as it ended in a 53-46 decision as some Republican lawmakers voted against the measure. Votes on the Senate side were not split down party lines either.

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It was a bipartisan vote against it. We just didnt get enough, McKenzie said. It was a close vote. A lot of Republicans were true to their constituents and a lot of them held their noses and voted for it unfortunately.

State Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) said this bill will do good things for the people of Tennessee.

 See more top stories on WATE.com

This bill is the single best bill in my 15 years that Ive ever seen be presented to the General Assembly, Faison said. We showed Tennessee that we will take care of the funding of our local public schools. We believe in that, but we also believe in empowering parents and we believe in empowering children. Whether we like it are not, there are times that the local public education decision for that parent isnt the best for that child.

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Massey said the bill was hard for her to vote on because she saw both sides of the issue. She ultimately voted for the bill after making sure her concerns were heard and her questions were answered.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)  An Ebensburg man is facing charges after police said he sexually harassed a 13-year-old and threatened her.

Clayton Flanagan, 18, is facing felony charges after an investigation allegedly found that he was communicating sexually with a minor, according to a police report. The Ebensburg Borough Police said that these charges have been filed as a result of a joint investigation with the Bay County Sheriffs Office in Florida.

Mugshot of Clayton Flanagan provided by the Cambria County Prison

According to a report, Flanagan started trying to contact the minor on multiple social media platforms in June of 2024. He allegedly threatened and harassed the minor by sending her nude photos of himself. Police noted that he also tried to get her to send nude photos and threatened that if she not did he would dox her online. Meaning that he would publish her private or identifying information online.

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Johnstown man charged with raping young girl for years

Flanagan also threatened the girl by saying that he would commit suicide if she did not comply or that he would call her parents and tell them false information, according to the report.

Police noted that the victim told him her age, but that Flanagan was not deterred.

Flanagan is facing felony charges of sexual extortion, unlawful contact with a minor in obscene materials and performances, unlawful contact with a minor for sexual offenses, disseminating sexually explicit content, corruption of minors, and misdemeanor charges of stalking, cyber harassment of a child along with other related charges.

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Flanagan is in the Cambria County Prison with bail set at 10% of $50,000.

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A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has made a preliminary selection of designs intended for the planned new euro banknotes, including birds, rivers, buildings or famous figures such as Marie Curie and Leonardo da Vinci.

"The new banknotes will symbolize our shared European identity and the diversity that makes us strong," said ECB President Christine Lagarde.

The first theme, "'European Culture' celebrates the shared cultural spaces that have shaped European identity over the centuries" and "iconic European personalities," the ECB announced from its headquarters in the German financial hub of Frankfurt.

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Designs include the Polish-French Nobel Prize laureate Curie, German composer Ludwig van Beethoven and painter and Italian artist and polymath da Vinci. The reverse side might feature street artists, a library or a university.

The second group, "'Rivers and Birds' highlights the resilience and diversity of Europes natural ecosystems." On the reverse side of banknotes for this theme, European institutions could be displayed, such as the European Parliament or the European Commission.

"We are excited to present these real-life motifs that reflect our commitment to Europe and celebrate its cultural heritage and natural environment," said Lagarde.

Process to decide designs

The decision was influenced by suggestions from experts and a survey in which around 365,000 Europeans participated in 2023. The ECB initiated a process to redesign banknotes at the end of 2021.

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Central banks regularly develop new banknote series to make it harder for counterfeiters. Additionally, the ECB aims to reduce its environmental impact. The notes are intended to have a longer lifespan, for example.

It will take some time before consumers have the new notes in their hands.

A design competition is set to take place in 2025 so that the ECB governing council can choose final designs in 2026. Then, the ECB plans to present the designs to the public and seek their opinions. However, it explained that people will only be able to hold the new banknotes several years later.

Current designs relatively sober

The designs on current euro banknotes, in contrast to former national currencies, are relatively sober and include imaginary buildings. The first euro banknotes were issued in 2002. Since May 2019, the second generation of notes, complete with new security features, has been in circulation.

Commitment to cash reaffirmed

Concurrently, the ECB is affirming its commitment to cash. "We are developing new banknotes because we are committed to cash now and in the future," said Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB executive board.

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"Banknotes are a symbol of our European unity and with the new motifs, we celebrate our shared history and commitment to a sustainable future," said Cipollone.

Bundesbank head approves

The German central bank, the Bundesbank, welcomed the selection of European figures for future banknotes.

"The six selected women and men embody European culture and values very well," Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said upon request. "They represent a historically wide spectrum of European music, science, literature and art."

The personalities deserved to be depicted on future banknotes, he added.

"With the introduction of the third euro banknote series, the euro system also underscores its commitment to cash," Nagel said.
AUSTIN (KXAN)  The economic impact of the music industry in Texas was at an all-time high in 2024, according to the 2025 Texas Music Industry Economic Impact Report.

The Texas Music Office started releasing a series of biennial studies on the impact of the music business on the Texas economy in 2015. The 6th annual report was completed at the end of 2024 and released on Thursday.

It tracks the growth of the Texas music industry, including music businesses and music education, according to a release from Gov. Greg Abbotts office. For the first time this year, it also included music-related tourism. Economic impact is measured in terms of annual earnings, local job creation, and economic activity statewide.

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The music industry was highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the report showed clear signs that music was back, as the economic impact roughly matched that prior to COVID-19, a summary of the report stated.

The Texas Music Office noted, however, that the number of overall jobs associated with music in Texas has declined, but the jobs that remain pay higher wages. The office said that likely reflects broader trends in the overall labor market rather than relating directly to music.

Live music lives in Texas, Abbott said in the release. A thriving Texas music industry draws visitors from around the globe, attracts a skilled workforce across industries, and supports continuing business recruitment and expansion efforts. With support from the Texas Music Office and employers across the state, the Texas music industry employs hundreds of thousands of Texans and generates more than $31.7 billion in annual revenue throughout the state. Working together, we will continue to create good-paying jobs and build a stronger, more prosperous Texas than ever before.

According to the Texas Music Office, the music industry in Texas, including music businesses, music education, and music-related tourism, created:

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More than 86,000 permanent jobs

Nearly $4.9 billion in annual earnings

Over $12.5 billion in annual economic activity

The total direct and indirect economic impact in 2024 created:

196,000 permanent jobs

$10.5 billion in annual earnings

$31.7 billion in annual economic activity

View the full 2025 Texas Music Economic Impact Study online.

A conclusion of the 2024 study stated that the impact of the music industry in Texas economy was at an all-time high in dollar terms in 2024.

There are many factors that drive economic growth in Texas, with an exceptional range of activity and opportunity in music and the creative space clearly a major factor. Texas is a place that appreciates creativity and culture in a variety of forms, and its incredible diversity of the local scene undoubtedly serves to both attract and retain talented people. This in turn has a significant impact on business recruitment, retention, and expansion, as well as local entrepreneurship, the study said.

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Moreover, music is a crucial element of Brand Texas that draws visitors from across the globe, the impact of which this report documents for the first time. The creativity expressed through music is a fundamental comparative advantage for Texasthe goal remains to identify the key investments, policies, and regulatory changes necessary for sustainability and growth.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
ECTOR COUNTY, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- The Ector County Sheriffs Office has asked the community for help to identify two burglary suspects.

According to ECSO, the burglary occurred between midnight and 8:00 a.m. on January 29 when at least two unknown suspects broke into a building at 4121 N West County Road. Youll find a security camera image of the suspects below:

Anyone with information should call ECSO Investigator Juan Lujan at 432-335-3050.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.
QUITO (Reuters) -An Ecuadorean anti-corruption court sentenced eight people to prison and sanctioned three companies for their role in a money laundering scheme linked to the Albanian mafia, the prosecutor's office in the Andean country announced on Friday.

Those convicted were part of a network that sent drugs from Ecuador to Europe using registered companies to launder assets worth $43.4 million, according to the prosecutor's office.

All eight individuals received prison terms of more than 17 years, while four of those found guilty were also convicted on organized crime charges on Thursday linked to the Albanian mafia. In Spain, other suspects in the case face separate trials.

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Ecuadorean prosecutors found that an Albanian national, identified as Dritan G, led the criminal network, along with an Argentine businessman and an Ecuadorean. The group was convicted of creating several companies in order to hide money and illicit assets linked to drug trafficking.

The prosecutors' investigation determined that the ringleader of the criminal enterprise remains at large, but those sentenced are believed to be accomplices in the scheme.

The prosecution requested a sentence of between 10 years and 13 years for the eight defendants and that the three companies be dissolved and their assets confiscated.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
Donald Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as rioters try to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

All eight Republicans in the U.S. House and both senators voted for the Laken Riley Act on Jan. 22. The act, which is named for the Georgia college student killed in February, mandates that Department of Homeland Security officials detain undocumented immigrants charged with any act of theft.

But on the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters backing an effort by President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election stormed the U.S. Capitol, law and order gets a little squishier for our representatives.

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A review of social media posts from that 2021 day show several issued stern admonishments about the violence: mob members tear-gassed and beat 174 law enforcement officers. One died of his injuries a day later.

Tennessees senior senator, Marsha Blackburn, wrote These actions at the US Capitol by protestors are truly despicable and unacceptable. While I am safe and sheltering in place, these protests are prohibiting us from doing our constitutional duty. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms. We are a nation of laws.

Sen. Bill Hagerty  a freshman who had not yet been sworn into office  posted on X, I have always believed in peaceful protesting. What is happening at the U.S. Capitol right now is not peaceful, this is violence. I condemn it in the strongest terms. We are a nation of laws and this must stop.

We are a country of law and orderthis violence is UNACCEPTABLE. Pray for our nations Capitol Police and law enforcement officers.  Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) January 6, 2021

Rep. Tim Burchett, the Knoxville Republican representing Tennessee Congressional District 2, posted on his official website, The rioting at the U.S. Capitol is disgusting and criminal. The President needs to publicly tell his supporters to stop or else people are going to get hurt or possibly die. Thank God for the United States Capitol Police officers working to get the situation under control; they have families just like we do.

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Similarly, District 7 U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and retired U.S. Army officer, posted on X that day: We are a country of law and orderthis violence is UNACCEPTABLE. Pray for our nations Capitol Police and law enforcement officers.

Given the hard lines taken by these lawmakers about the disgraceful Capitol riot, I figured they would also have thoughts about President Donald Trumps decision to pardon 1,500 rioters, including neo-fascist Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers, the latter an anti-government militia.

Blackburn and other GOP senators didnt respond to repeated questions from D.C. reporters about the pardons, States Newsrooms D.C. Bureau reported.

Perhaps, I thought, Blackburn will respond to a Tennessee-based journalist.

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I reached out to get comments from Blackburn, Hagerty, Burchett and Green, sharing with each of them their 2021 posts and asking for a response to Trumps pardons.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn had strong words about political violence on Jan. 6, 2021, but failed to respond to multiple requests for comment about President Donald Trumps pardons of Capitol rioters. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Only Hagertys office replied.

During the last few years, it became painfully apparent to Senator Hagerty that the Biden Department of Justice used the January 6 investigation to excessively punish individuals for their political views rather than their actions most of those pardoned were targeted for non-violent offenses like trespassing, wrote a spokesperson for Hagerty.

Throughout his presidential campaign last year, Trump was clear about his intention to pardon the Jan. 6 protesters, the response continued. The American people knew his intentions and voted for him.

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I give credit to Hagertys office for responding.

But the hypocrisy of the other members is something to behold. How can the officials who were quick to label immigrants as terrorists remain silent over pardons for the domestic terrorists who had those same lawmakers cowering under their desks?

Many of us are more concerned about right-wing groups who seek to destabilize the government through actions like the Capitol riots  the patriots in our midst who chose violence to achieve political aims and are now released into the population.

No one, we often hear, should be above the law. Yet, if the silence from Tennessees Republican delegation is any indication, its clear Tennesseans cant count on our federal representatives to take a moral high ground, as they choose not only to cave to the whims of the current administration, but to fail to even have the guts to publicly defend their choices.

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Jan. 30We would like to add our voice to those expressing sorrow upon learning of the death of Cynthia Schwab but also want to celebrate all that she brought to Joplin.

Schwab was a Joplin philanthropist and supporter of Missouri Southern State University who also founded Pro Musica in 1981, bringing classical and chamber music to Joplin.



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Chicago is known globally for its striking skyline. But now many of the impressive towers that make up that awe-inspiring cityscape are going for a song. Is the property-value carnage happening regularly downtown registering appropriately with Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi?

Case in point: The 57-story tower at 70 W. Madison St. sold earlier this month for $85 million, CoStar News reported. That sounds like a lot, but in 2014 the sellers paid $375 million  more than four times what they just got.

Kaegis office late last year reassessed 70 W. Madison for property-tax purposes. The office came up with a value of $317 million, a 27% increase from the $250 million valuation determined in 2023 by the Cook County Board of Review, which hears property owners appeals of the assessors work.

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What did the market just say the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed tower was worth? $85 million. The Board of Review presumably will take that sale into account when it considers the likely appeal later this year.

Granted, this is just one building where the assessment and a fast, subsequent sale are at such sharp odds. But the shocking bath the owners of 70 W. Madison took is hardly an anomaly.

The former Groupon headquarters at 600 W. Chicago Ave., a 1.6 million-square-foot structure running along the North Branch of the Chicago River, sold in recent days for $89 million. Just eight years ago, Chicago development firm Sterling Bay paid $510 million for the hulking structure. The primary reason for the lost value? Financially ailing Groupon, which had occupied 300,000 square feet there, decamped about a year ago for a 25,000-square-foot space in the Loop.

And a deal is close to sell 311 S. Wacker Drive, a high-end office building adjacent to the Willis Tower that many recognize by its illuminated crown at the top, for around $70 million, according to Crains Chicago Business. The owners paid $302 million in 2014, and the potential buyers even have discussed razing the tower and building something new in its place.

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All of the above is context for the news that Kaegis office has completed its triennial reassessment of Chicago properties and found that, despite robustly higher values for homes in the city over the past three years, values for commercial properties as a group have risen even more. After Kaegis reassessment, commercial properties would account for 51% of the citys tax base and residential for 49%, the Tribune reported. Currently, Chicago homeowners collectively shoulder 51% of property taxes and commercial 49%.

The percentages matter a lot. Even if government property tax levies stay level (which they havent; take a look at ever-rising levies from Chicago Public Schools, which make up well over a half of Chicago property tax bills), a change in how theyre apportioned means significantly higher tax bills for homeowners or commercial property owners. As of now, businesses are set to pay more because governments are due the taxes they demand regardless of who pays what, and businesses share of the burden will increase by the assessors accounting. But the assessors work is far from the last word on the matter.

The three-member Board of Review, which will consider what were sure will be a pile of appeals, has seen fit to dramatically reduce the assessors commercial property assessments in other parts of Cook County, resulting in shockingly higher property tax bills for many suburban homeowners. Kaegi has harshly criticized the board for the financial pain those homeowners are suffering, in particular singling out for his ire Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr., who represents the South and West sides and the south suburbs. Rogers has responded in kind and told us last year he may run against Kaegi for assessor in 2026.

Weve spoken positively in the past about Kaegis efforts to modernize his office after the disastrous tenure of Joe Berrios. And we appreciate that the nepotism and other questionable practices associated with the Berrios years arent an issue now.

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But large portions of the business community are irate at what they perceive as Kaegis exorbitant valuations of their property, which in their view hes doing in order to lighten the load on residents. After all, businesses dont vote; people do.

At least on the face of it, theres reason to wonder at the conclusions Kaegis office has drawn in the wake of what all agree has been a painful post-pandemic hit to commercial values, particularly office. Downtown office buildings make up 20% of Chicagos tax base.

The assessor found that the value of Chicagos commercial subcategory comprising office, retail and hotels rose 22% since the last assessment. In the three townships making up the Loop, the increase totaled 21%, according to Crains.

Thats head-scratching in light of the parade of historically massive losses downtown office building owners have absorbed in recent transactions.

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Kaegis office is categorizing some of the worst blows taken by Chicago office building owners as distressed sales that dont always reflect what the assessor views as true value. Many landlords, were confident, arent buying that reasoning.

We wont be surprised if Kaegis numbers change radically after the Board of Review is finished. First-installment property tax bills due this coming spring just were mailed out, but they dont reflect the latest reassessments. The second-installment bills, due in the fall, will account for the changes in Chicago. For homeowners, the results could well be ugly, as weve said before.

The bottom line is that this war between the assessor and the Board of Review is serving no ones interests. At the end of the day, the job of those who assess property for tax purposes is to get the calculations as correct as possible in light of whats actually happening in the market. Its not to try to redress the inequities of a municipal tax system that relies far too heavily on landowners.

Those fights are for the likes of Mayor Brandon Johnson, Gov. JB Pritzker and an independent Chicago School Board that will take full control of Chicago Public Schools in 2027.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Thousands of Egyptians on Friday gathered near the border with the Gaza Strip in a protest against US President Donald Trump's call for resettling Palestinian survivors in the war-devastated enclave in Arab countries, state media reported.

Egypt's state-linked al-Qahera News television showed footage of protesters congregating outside the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing bordering Gaza.

Some protesters were seen waving the Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

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Others carried placards reading, "No to the displacement of Palestinians"; and "We all are with you, Sissi" in support of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi's opposition to any suggestion to relocate Palestinians.

State-run newspaper al-Ahram reported online that the crowd voiced rejection of any solutions "aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause or infringing on Palestinians' sovereignty over their lands."

Trump last week told journalists that Egypt and Jordan should take in the Gazans in a solution that "could be temporary" or "could be long-term."

In his first public comment on Trump's idea, al-Sissi Wednesday said his country would not participate in the displacement of Palestinians, calling it an "injustice."

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Egypt, a US ally, was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Earlier this month, Egypt along with the United States and Qatar brokered another ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement after months of on-and-off negotiations.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Thousands of people demonstrated at the Rafah border crossing on Friday, an eyewitness told Reuters, in a rare state-sanctioned protest against a proposal earlier this week by U.S. President Donald Trump for Egypt and Jordan to accept Gazan refugees.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday rejected the idea that Egypt would facilitate the displacement of Gazans and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.

Protesters could be heard chanting "Long Live Egypt" and waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

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"We say no to any displacement of Palestine or Gaza at the expense of Egypt, on the land of Sinai," said Sinai resident Gazy Saeed.

Egyptian security sources told Reuters that parties close to Sisi had sent buses to ferry protesters to the border crossing, where civilian movement is typically restricted, but said the outpouring expressed public and not just leadership disapproval of Trump's proposal.

Trump said on Saturday that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a "demolition site" following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless.

On Thursday, Trump forcefully reiterated the idea, saying "We do a lot for them, and they are going to do it," in apparent reference to abundant U.S. aid, including military assistance, to both Egypt and Jordan.

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Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza - territory they hope will become part of an independent state - has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighbouring Arab states since the Gaza war began in October 2023.

Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt.

(Reporting by Cairo bureau; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Youve gotta hand it to Elon Musk: if hes not good at anything else, hes good at making himself a nuisance. And he can do it by using just one word.

If you have the stomach to still be on his X platform, which he transformed from being Twitter, a legitimate social media network to a far-right extremist wasteland, you may notice that he posted the word absolutely in response to Shaun Maguire  a tech exec who once claimed that Google discriminated against him  posting that DEI kills people, literally.

This was followed by a lot of bellyaching about DEI from some truly spiteful people in the wake of a deadly plane crash Wednesday night at Regan National Airport that killed 64 people aboard an American Airlines flight and the crew of a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter.

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President Trump, at a Thursday press conference blamed DEI initiatives in the Federal Aviation Admnistration were the cause of the crash  something which he had zero evidence of, but said as though it were fact. This follows a real mess that started with Musks beef with former FAA chief Michael Whitaker.

Its a convoluted tale, but it leads to Trumps policies causing short staffing at the agency, and the air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport  all because of his anti-DEI railing. Its not yet clear what the racial background of that worker was on Wedneday, but it doesnt matter. A congressional document referring to the nations ATC workforce made the understaffing clear.

All this is to say Trumps claim that DEI is to blame for the crash is irresponsible and most of all, a lie. But with all these facts in front of him, Musk apparently doubled down on what Trump said. Now, thats actually to be expected. As an open hater of diversity initiatives, hell line up to anything Trump and his MAGA cult says about it.

Now, the reality is DEI, and affirmative action before it, primarily benefited white women. According to a 2024 McKinsey & Company study white women occupy 19 percent of C-suite positions, while nonwhite women hold 4 percent. That still leaves 77 percent taken up byyou guessed it: white guys.

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But whats unnerving, based on the responses to Musks post is the number of people willing to go along with him, despite clearly having no evidence that what Trump says is true. There is a lengthy list of people willing to die on the hill that DEI initiatives are some kind of detriment to America and meritocracy is better. What they really fear is that it does some kind of damage to wealthy and privileged white people, who generally do not have a history of meritocracy themselves, given the institutions that for centuries have favored white males in their policies and decisionmaking.

The reality they either cant or refuset to see is that Trump is more than willing to use DEI as a scapegoat for his own incompetence, which was probably the plan all along. With Musk and people like him echoing his nonsense, you can expect more of the same.



-

Madison J. Gray is a New York-based journalist. He blogs at www.starkravingmadison.com

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In the days following the Jan. 29, 2025, crash of a commercial plane with a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., social media posts suggested that Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, had pushed Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker to resign immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.

For example, one post (archived) on X implied that Whitaker's departure had been a result of Musk retaliating for a fine the FAA slapped on SpaceX the year before:

Elon Musk pushed out the FAA chief  who resigned 1 year into a 5 year term, last week.



Why? Because last year the FAA fined SpaceX $600,000  for safety violations.



Now the FAA has no chief  and we just had the first commercial airline crash in 16 years.  Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) January 31, 2025

The post had amassed 2.6 million views and 72,000 likes as of this writing. The claim spread on X, shared also by Robert Reich, who was secretary of labor under former President Bill Clinton (archived):

(X / @RBReich)

People on Reddit also shared versions of the claim.

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It is true that Whitaker and Musk have clashed in the past. The FAA said on Sept. 17, 2024, that SpaceX should be fined $633,009 in civil penalties. Days later, during a hearing at the House of Representatives, Whitaker explained the rationale for the fine (the exchange started at around 43:00):

Whitaker said during the hearing:

Safety is in the public interest, and that's our primary focus with the proposed civil penalty. It involved a failure to comply with the launch requirements before launching. They launched without a permit. The allegations are that they moved a fuel farm closer to the population and did not do a risk analysis before launching. It's the only tool we have to get compliance on safety matters.

SpaceX immediately rebutted some of Whitaker's claims letter to Rep. Kevin Kiley, the California Republican who questioned Whitaker in the hearing. The company shared the letter on X (archived):

FAA Administrator Whitaker made several incorrect statements today regarding SpaceX. In fact, every statement he made was incorrect.



It is deeply concerning that the Administrator does not appear to have accurate information immediately available to him with respect to SpaceX pic.twitter.com/OrtMUvnCNI  SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2024

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On Sept. 25, 2024, Musk said on X that Whitaker should resign (archived):

He needs to resign https://t.co/pG8htfTYHb  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 25, 2024

Since then, Musk became the head of the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. But months separated Musk's call for Whitaker's resignation and Whitaker's departure from the FAA, and Snopes could find no evidence that Musk had arranged for Trump to request Whitaker's resignation.

Whitaker was confirmed as FAA administrator on Oct. 24, 2023, for a five-year term, without any opposition. He announced in a Dec. 12, 2024, email that he would resign, and did so on Jan. 20, 2025, the day of Trump's inauguration, only 15 months into his tenure. It is not unusual, however, for agency heads to resign as new presidential administrations begin.

For 10 days, no one at the top of the FAA's leadership chart. On Jan. 30, 2025, Trump appointed Chris Rocheleau as acting administrator, according to the FAA website.

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We contacted the FAA to ask about the reasons for Whitaker's resignation, as well as SpaceX to ask whether Musk had pressed for it.

Snopes has also looked into claims that Trump had fired 3,000 air traffic controllers, only to find that there was no evidence for this. Further, Snopes found that while it is true that Trump fired the heads of the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration, and that he also disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee at the Department of Homeland Security, there is no evidence that he fired 400 FAA officials.

Sources:

Deng, Grace. 'What We Know About Trump Firing Key Aviation, Coast Guard Officials'. Snopes, 31 Jan. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-firing-tsa-coast-guard-aviation-officials/.

Executive Summary of the Revised Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment for SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Vehicle Increased Cadence at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas . FAA, Nov. 2024, https://www.faa.gov/media/87636.

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'FAA Administrator (Acting) Chris Rocheleau'. FAA, https://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/rocheleau.

'FAA Proposes $633,009 in Civil Penalties Against SpaceX'. FAA, 17 Sept. 2024, https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-proposes-633009-civil-penalties-against-spacex.

FAA Proposes $633,009 in Civil Penalties Against SpaceX | Federal Aviation Administration. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-proposes-633009-civil-penalties-against-spacex. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

PerryCook, Taija. 'No Evidence Trump Fired 3,000 Air Traffic Controllers'. Snopes, 31 Jan. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//news/2025/01/30/trump-fired-air-traffic-controllers/.

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Rose, Joel. 'FAA Chief Mike Whitaker Announces That He Will Step down in January'. NPR, 12 Dec. 2024. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/12/12/nx-s1-5226796/faa-head-resign-mike-whitaker-january-boeing.

Whitaker Hearing at US House of Representatives. 24 Sept. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL1uHhYCa-c&feature=youtu.be.
SOMERSET, Ky. (FOX 56)  Keeping people safe and minimizing damages are the main goals of emergency management teams, but often these teams feel underused at the state and local levels.

Disasters dont always happen from, you know, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Chris Mason said.

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:

Mason has been the director of the Office of Emergency Management in Pulaski County for just over 40 days and is already looking to strengthen the department. The team is dedicated to planning, preparing, responding to, and recovering from emergency disasters affecting the citizens of Pulaski County.

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Emergency management is one of those things where you have to stay off of things you have to keep. You have to test things. You have to make sure that stuff is ready because, you know, you dont always get warning that something bad is going to happen, said Mason.

Mason said the important thing about having a strong team is that communities may not be able to predict disasters, but they can prepare for them.

As he grows in this new role, its his mission to educate and train community members for the potential of a disaster.

LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS:

Were taught from a very, very, its the very basic level, especially in my career field, that all emergencies are local. And so, the best thing I can tell the citizens of Pulaski County or anybody that hears this is youve got to be ready. and being ready has a lot to do. And a lot of that is very common-sense planning, said Mason.

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During his 45 days in office, Mason has experienced two ice storms and a tragic house fire and states he will do everything in his power to get the emergency response team in Pulaski County to a standard he is proud of.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
By Chad Terhune

ALTADENA, California (Reuters) - First there were the fast-moving, devastating fires. Now, amid the ruins of homes burned to the ground in the Los Angeles area blazes this month, workers are starting the massive, delicate task of removing hazardous debris as a prelude to rebuilding.

And they are racing against the clock: President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week to expedite the removal of contaminated debris. His administration gave the EPA a Feb. 25 deadline.

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Workers in white hazmat suits, hard hats and other protective gear picked through the rubble of a home in the badly damaged community of Altadena on Thursday, plucking out paint cans and batteries by hand.

They carried such things in buckets to the driveway and sorted them into different plastic bags before sealing them with duct tape.

Their slow, methodical work marked the first phase of a huge effort to clear harmful debris and pave the way for thousands of residents to rebuild after the Eaton and Palisades fires tore through the region.

The fires killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures.

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The EPA is running this initial cleanup phase before government or private contractors come in with heavy equipment to clear entire lots.

"We have to move five times the speed based on the directives we are getting," Harry Allen, an on-site coordinator for the EPA, told Reuters on Thursday, referring to the Trump administration deadline. "Normally, this takes months."

There are numerous challenges  from the sheer scope of the destruction, spanning thousands of properties, to the increased number of lithium-ion batteries littering the landscape - EPA officials said. Those batteries, used in electric vehicles, bikes and other electronics, can ignite or release dangerous gases when exposed to extreme heat or fire.

To speed up the work, the EPA said it is bringing in hundreds of new personnel in coming days so more teams can fan out across Altadena and Pacific Palisades looking for chemicals, pesticides, asbestos, ammunition and other hazardous materials.

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"This may be one of the largest jobs EPA has ever encountered with regard to natural disaster debris collection," Allen said.

There are about 13,500 properties across the two fires that need to be inspected, the agency said. Thus far, the EPA said more than 4,200 of those properties have been assessed.

However, the removal of hazardous materials takes longer, officials said. Only nine lots had been cleared in Altadena during the first two full days of work this week.

Some families are wary of ever moving back, fearful of the lead, arsenic and other heavy metals that may have seeped into their neighborhoods and pose a long-term health risk. There are also concerns about pollutants spreading beyond the burn zones.

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After the Los Angeles fires started on Jan. 7, air samples detected "highly elevated" levels of lead and arsenic several miles away, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

ASBESTOS, PROPANE AMONG THE HAZARDS

On Thursday, workers walked across a burned-out lot and marked potential hazards with different colors of spray paint. Pink marked building material suspected of containing asbestos. Empty propane tanks got a white X.

Nearby on Wistaria Place, a separate crew retrieved items from the remnants of a home that had already been inspected.

They peered inside the shell of a car pocked with shattered glass and checked a tool cabinet. On the ground, small devices monitored the air for any dangerous emissions or radiation. Drones operated by the U.S. Coast Guard buzzed overhead.

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The EPA said some properties cant be safely inspected because the remaining structures are too unstable or covering hidden areas like basements.

Those lots will be marked and left for additional work with heavy equipment during the next phase of cleanup by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That second phase of debris removal could take up to a year, officials have said.

STORAGE SITE

As the EPA teams worked, some homeowners were clearing debris from their property down the street. Torri Huelskoetter, another EPA coordinator, said this normally doesnt happen after other disasters.

"We havent cleared that one yet," she said, pointing to the residents on their lot. "This is unlike other fires that we have covered because it is open to the public  I cant stop them."

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"I would like to be able to say, Please dont come in here until we remove it for your own safety. "

The EPA has designated federally owned land east of Los Angeles as a temporary storage site for the hazardous materials removed in Altadena.

Some local officials and homeowners have expressed concern about the potential dangers that the site might pose to residents and the fact they were not consulted about the decision.

EPA officials said the agency has used temporary staging areas like these for wildfires for many years, and all materials will be sent elsewhere for final disposal. The agency said it would take steps to ensure safety, including air quality monitoring and the use of a water truck to suppress dust and emissions.

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"We always sample the soil before and after, and there has never been an issue," said EPA spokesperson Anna Drabek. "We return the site to the same condition as we found it."

(Reporting by Chad Terhune; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Mayor Eric Adams's criminal defense attorney was at Justice Department headquarters in Washington on Friday to discuss the future of the mayor's criminal bribery case, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Adams' attorney Alex Spiro attended the meeting along with federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, including acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon and acting chief of the criminal division Perry Carbone, the sources said.

PHOTO: In this screen grab from a video, lawyer Alex Spiro leaves the Department of Justice on Jan. 31, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (ABC News)

Spiro was seen by an ABC News reporter departing the Justice Department following his meeting but he declined to comment when asked whether DOJ leadership agreed to drop Adams' case.

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MORE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams charged with fraud, accepting $10 million in improper campaign contributions

Adams, the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted, has pleaded not guilty to taking luxury travel benefits in exchange for helping expedite the opening of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan, among other crimes.

Federal prosecutors accused Adams of accepting more than $100,000 in improper benefits over nearly a decade, many of which came in the form of flight upgrades and stays in luxury hotels, none of which were publicly divulged as required.

PHOTOIn this Sept. 27, 2024, file photo, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his lawyer Alex Spiro hold a press conference at the federal court after his arraignment on bribery and fraud charges in New York. (John Lamparski/Getty Images, FILE)

The indictment also alleged Adams and a staffer knowingly worked with Turkish nationals to send foreign money to straw donors for his mayoral campaign and used that money to rake in over $10 million from New York City's matching funds program.

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MORE: NYC Mayor Eric Adams meeting with Trump on Friday, his office says

Adams has insinuated that the indictment was politically motivated by President Joe Biden, without any evidence.

He has had several meetings with President Donald Trump since the election but has denied that the talk of dropping the charges or a pardon has come up. Adams canceled appearances at two New York City Martin Luther King Jr. Day events at the 11th hour to attend Trump's inauguration.

PHOTO: Eric Adams, Mayor of New York, attends the inauguration ceremony where Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Alexander Drago, Pool via AFP via Getty Images)

Trump has also criticized the investigation into Adams.

The criminal trial is slated to begin on April 21.

Eric Adams' attorney meets with Justice Department over future of federal case: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
New York City Mayor Eric Adams shot down stupid resignation speculation during his address of religious leaders in Midtown Manhattan.

Who started the stupid rumor that I was stepping down on Friday? Are you out of your mind? Adams said Thursday during an annual interfaith breakfast as the crowd unleashed loud applause.

And you know whats fascinating, you have to be of a great level of wisdom to understand what is playing out on the stage of politics in New York City, he added. You gotta focus on this, folks. How do you print a rumor that Im resigning on Friday, but dont print the facts that we had more jobs in the citys history on that same day.

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Not one tabloid covered it.

The rumors about Adamss possible resignation have bubbled up this week, with former City Council member Sal Albanese writing in a Tuesday night post that the mayor is cutting a deal with Feds & resigning in 72 hours.

The speculation came as senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) spoke with federal prosecutors about possibly dropping the corruption case against Adams, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter. Adams was indicted on corruption charges in late September last year.

Adams has been out of the public eye for several days, as he hasnt been feeling his best and had doctors appointments and routine medical tests, according to Fabien Levy, his spokesperson, who shared the update on Sunday.

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On Thursday, Adams sparsely touched on his health, saying last week was a scary week for me. It was hard, but he did not discuss the upcoming trial. He pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing.

The New York City mayor has gotten closer to President Trump in recent weeks, which has alarmed some Democrats who are unsure about his motives. Adams met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago ahead of the presidents Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump has previously said that he would consider pardoning the mayor, arguing he was treated pretty unfairly by prosecutors.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As first responders continue to search for victims of the plane crash last night, one local man remembers a similar tragedy decades ago outside Reagan National Airport.

The recovery effort continues in our nations capital after Wednesday nights tragedy and one former first responder said the crash bears a strong resemblance to another over 40 years ago.

Passenger jet with 64 aboard collides with Army helicopter while landing at Reagan Airport near DC

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Steve Marshall currently works as a storm tracker for JET 24 and FOX 66, but decades ago he made a living as an ambulance driver in Washington D.C.

In January 1982, Marshall was one of the first to respond after a Boeing 737 crashed into the Potomac River and the 14th Street Bridge, and he still remembers that day.

There were people on the bridge with some minor injuries. The fire department rescue squads were dealing with the most serious cases. We handled some of the minor things. There was nobody really to be transported back to the hospital at that point, the plane was underwater, he recalled.

To make things worse, Marshall said a subway train derailed miles away from the plane crash and first responders were left in standstill traffic in the middle of a snowstorm.

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Warren County School District officials, families speak on closings

But he said that tragedy years ago is very similar to what happened wednesday, and it still sticks with him.

I definitely had a tightening up inside here. I stayed up most of the night watching it because after seeing it, I was not going to be able to go to sleep, but yeah its For sure, its a tightening of the gut, he said.

Marshall said the current crash scene had a much larger first responder presence than the 1982 crash, with more workers out on the water.

Now many water rescue boats like these would have been deployed on the Potomac River yesterday, and one local water rescue expert said there are a lot of factors that make it a little more difficult out there on the river.

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Since its such a large scale, on the water incident, which is going to take I assume days if not weeks if not months to get all the stuff back and figure out whats going on, it takes a lot more manpower and specialized equipment, said Greg Summerson, Lake City Fire Company water rescue instructor.

Summerson said the cold weather and lack of sunlight also make it more difficult for water rescues.

And while we hope water rescues dont happen, Summerson and his crew are on standby even in the worst-case scenarios.

Cruise on down to the Bayfront for day one of the 2025 Erie Auto Show

Federal officials continue to investigate the plane crash and we will keep you updated as we learn more.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
(Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA)

Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Randy Feenstra, both Republicans from Iowa, introduced matching bills aimed at reducing overpayments made to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but Iowa advocates say the bills wont be effective at reducing payment errors.

The bills, titled Snap Back Inaccurate SNAP Payments Act, state they would improve the calculation and reduce the taxpayer cost of payment errors for SNAP.

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A press release from Ernst said the act could reduce spending by nearly $91 billion over the next decade by requiring all payment errors be reported and holding states and recipients accountable for overpayments.

According to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, or GAO, improper SNAP payments totaled approximately $10.5 billion nationwide in 2023.

Across all government agencies, the report estimates $238 billion of improper payments were made in 2023.

SNAP was singled out in a report because its rate of improper payments, at 11.7% in 2023, exceeded 10%.

Ernst said errors like this are contributing to the nations $36 trillion debt.

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SNAP plays an essential role in helping feed families, thats why we need to strengthen its integrity by holding states accountable for growing error rates, implementing a zero-tolerance policy, and snapping back overpayments, Ernst said in a statement.

The act would require states to pay back what they owe from payment errors and it would require all errors to be reported, as opposed to the current rule which only requires reports on payment errors in excess of $54.

This figure was increased in 2022 when officials undertook a serious update to the Thrifty Food Plan, which sets the purchasing power of SNAP, and increased overall SNAP benefits by 21%.

Feenstra said there was no time to waste to save taxpayer dollars and hold bureaucrats accountable.

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Feenstra and Ernst both serve on their respective Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, caucuses. Feenstra said in a statement on the bill that President Donald Trump and Republican majorities were elected to cut waste from the government.

One sector that needs serious reform is the SNAP program, Feenstra said. Thats why Senator Ernst and I introduced legislation to strengthen the integrity of the SNAP program by establishing a zero-tolerance policy on benefit overpayments.

Both members of Congress introduced bills of the same title in 2023.

Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy director for Des Moines Area Religious Council and chair of Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the bills from Ernst and Feenstra, if passed, would increase Iowas error rate and slow down application processing timelines.

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Reducing the error rate is a good thing that everything wants, but I think the bills introduced by Senator Ernst and Representative Feenstra are the wrong way to go about it, Elzinga said.

Elzinga said the states have a balancing act between getting SNAP applications processed quickly, and processing them accurately.

If states are being told that literally, $1 is going to increase that error rate, they are going to be scrutinizing every single thing, Elzinga said. Were going to be spending way more time on applications  and were going to fall out of compliance on application processing timeliness.

Recipients must be able to participate in the program within 30 days of submitting a typical application in order to meet the U.S. Department of Agricultures timeliness requirements. Currently, Iowas timeliness rate is 77%.

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Elzinga stressed that SNAP payment errors can occur for a number of reasons and are inadvertent errors from either the person applying or the agency processing the application. The error rate is affected by both underpayments and overpayments.

The payment error rate is not fraud, Elzinga said.

According to the GAO report, most of these errors in 2023 occurred because agencies failed to verify certain criteria, like income, household size, education, or employment.

Benefit recipients are also required to reimburse the state for any overpayments they receive, and likewise the state reimburses recipients for underpayments.

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In 2023, Iowas error rate was 5%, putting it at less than half the national average.

Thats an improvement for the state, which was issued a $1.8 million USDA fine in 2019 for its high payment error rate of 10% in 2018.

Following the fine, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services focused on increasing efficiency and accuracy in the application process through a business process redesign.

Alex Murphy, the director of communications for Iowa HHS said in an emailed statement the department is proud of the work it has done to drastically reduce the SNAP payment error rate.

Iowa HHS closely monitors both processing timeliness and accuracy of SNAP applications to ensure we are providing benefits as quickly and accurately as possible, Murphy said. Iowa HHS is also committed to ensuring the integrity of SNAP benefits, while also improving efficiencies and providing the nutritional assistance to those in need.

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An Iowa Hunger Coalition report from July 2024 applauded the departments work in significantly lowering the rate. Elzinga said Iowas improvements over the past several years show the effectiveness of the current quality control programs.

I would rather see investments in workforce and technology that are going to address some of these structural issues that might be causing payment errors, Elzinga said. If Ernst and Feenstra wanted to hold up Iowa as an example of a state that was doing poorly and turned it around, they should be doing that.

Elzinga, and the Iowa Hunger Coalition report, noted that updated technology and expanded workforce would help to improve both accuracy and timeliness of processing SNAP applications.

This article has been updated to include comment from Iowa HHS.

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ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG)  The Alabama Sheriffs Association has given Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson the 2025 Sheriff of the Year Award.

UPDATE: Man tried to use skid-steer as a weapon on I-10 Thursday morning

According to a news release from the Alabama Sheriffs Association, Houston County Sheriff and Sheriffs Association President Donald Valenza presented the award at the associations annual winter meeting in Hoover.

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The release said Jackson was nominated for his actions in 2023 when he rescued four people who were stranded on Burnt Corn Creek in rising flood waters. There were children clinging to tree limbs when he rescued them on a jet ski.

Sheriff Jackson not only serves his county but is always eager to assist other Alabama Sheriffs when called upon, Retired Baldwin County Sheriff and Alabama Sheriffs Association Executive Director Huey Hoss Mack said.

When Jackson was nominated, he was recognized for his leadership and service as Escambia County Sheriff. Hes also worked with the Brewton Police Department and the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriffs Office.

12 ICE detainees locked up in Mobile Metro Jail

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The National Sheriffs Association gave Jackson the Medal of Valor in 2024. Hes also graduated from the National Sheriffs Insitute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy. He also earned the FBI-LEDDA Trilogy Award.

Jackson is the second vice president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Despite massive losses, Russian troops in Ukraine continue to advance while maintaining up the pace of combat.

Source: Gert Kaju, Head of Defence Readiness Department of the Estonian Ministry of Defence, as reported by European Pravda with reference to Estonian public broadcaster ERR

Details: The Estonian Ministry of Defence reports that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have maintained a similar level of activity on the front line over the past week compared to previous weeks  an average of 168 attacks per day.

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Thus, despite Western and Russian media increasingly reporting on the possibility of approaching peace talks in recent weeks, this is not reflected on the battlefield, and Russian troops continue to wage a war of attrition with heavy losses, the ministry said.

The Russian Armed Forces continue to actively recruit, including in the St Petersburg Oblast, where those who join are paid increasingly large lump sums and higher salaries.

Estonian Ministry of Defence claims that the Russian Armed Forces are trying to compensate for losses at the front line and form new units to continue military operations.

Kaju, who provided the Defence Ministry's data, noted that neither side achieved significant results in Russias Kursk Oblast over the past week.

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Quote from Gert Kaju: "No significant territories were lost, and no new ones were occupied, so there may be a stalemate there to some extent. But there are still active hostilities there."

Details: North Korean troops have not been observed actively fighting in Kursk Oblast over the past week.

Quote from Gert Kaju: "This may be because they had suffered quite heavy losses earlier and were withdrawn to the rear to regroup."

Details: The ministry believes that moving additional troops, as well as indirect-action munitions and artillery equipment, from North Korea to Ukraine cannot be ruled out.

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Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast and the Pokrovsk front remain the primary concentration locations for Russian armed forces. Russian troops pushed gradually in this direction, seizing approximately 25 sq km of territory over the past week.

Background:

On 24 January, Colonel Ants Kiviselg, the Head of the Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre, said that there were signs that North Korea would send more troops to help Russia before the summer.UK Defence Intelligence reported that North Korea had lost about 4,000 soldiers in the Russian-Ukrainian war as of January 2025.

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By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Nineteen European Union countries, including France and Germany, are calling for the European Investment Bank to boost lending for the defence industry as the 27-nation EU seeks ways to improve its military against a possible future Russian attack.

The call in a joint letter comes before EU leaders' talks on Monday on the future of the EU defence sector, against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and demands by U.S. President Donald Trump that NATO members raise defence spending.

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The EIB, owned by EU governments, is not allowed to finance the production of ammunition, weapons or military equipment. To remove the prohibition, a majority of governments have to agree and some countries have expressed misgivings.

The bank can, and does, lend for dual-use products with both civilian and military applications, such as satellites, drones or radar systems.

Finland, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden said in a letter to the European Council president and the head of the bank that the EIB should review its list of excluded activities and consider issuing defence bonds.

"This should, however, be considered in consultation with financial markets and rating agencies regarding the feasibility of this possibility with due attention to ... the possible impact on financing costs of current EIB bonds," the leaders said in the letter, seen by Reuters.

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Some EU governments, especially neutral countries like Austria, Ireland or Malta, have concerns that financing defence could endanger the EIB's top credit rating and not address the problem, which they say is not a lack of funding, but of long-term contracts.

The EIB is also a key player in funding Europe's ambitious transition towards a net-zero-carbon and more digitised economy, and some countries are nervous that adding ammunition and weapons to its investment list could scare off investors.

The bank doubled financing for security projects to 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) last year and plans an increase to 2 billion in 2025. The European Commission estimates the EU defence sector needs 500 billion euros over the next 10 years.

The call on the EIB was coordinated by Finland, which has a 1,340 km border with Russia and has joined NATO in 2023.

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"For Finland, it would be important that it would be possible for (EIB) funding to be used directly for ammunition production, which is currently not possible," Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement.

The EIB is the world's biggest multilateral financial institution and lender, with a balance sheet of over 500 billion euros.

($1 = 0.9643 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Philippa Fletcher)
The Moldovan government has announced a final agreement with the European Union on financial assistance to tackle the countrys energy crisis. The package amounts to 64 million, with 20 million allocated for gas supplies to the unrecognised Transnistria.

Source: Moldovan news outlet Newsmaker, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean confirmed on 31 January that the European Commission and Moldova had reached a final agreement on the EUs aid package.

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Recean stated that the assistance is a non-repayable financial grant totaling 64 million.

Of this amount, 30 million is earmarked for purchasing gas and electricity for both banks of the Dniester River. Within this sum, 20 million will go towards gas supplies for Transnistria, while 10 million will be used for electricity purchases for the right bank  Moldova's government-controlled territory.

The remaining 34 million will be provided as budgetary support.

Quote from Recean: "Grateful to the European Union for their unwavering support through the emergency assistance package. While Russia leaves people in cold and darkness, the EU stands by Moldova, providing crucial energy and financial help."

Background:

On 27 January, the EU announced a 30 million aid package for Moldova to purchase and transport gas to Transnistria.

On 28 January, Transnistrias de facto authorities claimed that Russia would provide the unrecognised region with a loan to pay for the gas that Transnistria will receive from Europe.

Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of the unrecognised Transnistria, accused the Moldovan government of manipulating how the 30 million from the EU should be used.

The European Commission emphasised that the aid is intended to restore gas supplies to Transnistria and ensure electricity generated there is delivered to the right bank  Moldovas government-controlled territory.

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The European Union on Friday started its support mission for the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

The mission "will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

EU border guards are deployed at the crossing at the request of Palestinians and Israelis, Kallas added.

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The EU mission at Rafah was set up in 2005 to help the Palestinians manage the border crossing. It was however suspended when Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing is part of a three-phase ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, and should enable significant amounts of humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

According to the Egyptian Red Cross, 3,000 lorries of humanitarian aid have been prepared in Sinai for entry into Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Hundreds of them are said to be already in the transit area.

The first EU border guards to be deployed come from Italy, Spain and France, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said earlier this week.

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In Berlin, work is under way to adapt a Cabinet decision from 2005 to allow the deployment of German armed forces to Rafah.

The initial mandate from 20 years ago only provided for the deployment of unarmed border guards. In the current situation, however, this is considered too dangerous.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  The European Union on Friday warned Pakistan that its status as a duty-free exporter to the bloc will continue to depend on the progress it makes in addressing concerns over civil and labor rights, and freedom of speech.

The warning came at the end of a visit to Islamabad by Olof Skoog, the EU's special representative for human rights, which the EU said was aimed at engaging Pakistan on the most pressing human rights and labor rights issues and discussing Pakistans plans to address them.

It said that trade benefits provided to Pakistan under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) depend on the progress made on addressing a list of issues, including on human rights," adding that "tangible reforms remain essential.

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Pakistan's exports to Europe have doubled since 2014 when it was awarded the status of duty-free exporter under GSP+.

The EU statement said: "Pakistan has become the largest beneficiary of GSP+, with Pakistani businesses increasing their exports to the EU market by 108% since the launch of the trade scheme in 2014.

It added: As we approach the midterm of the current monitoring cycle, we encourage Pakistan to continue on its reform path as it prepares for reapplication under the upcoming new GSP+ regulation.

Skoog's visit had highlighted areas of concern such as the application of blasphemy laws, womens rights, forced marriages and conversions, enforced disappearances, freedoms of expression, religion or belief, independence of the media, impunity for rights violations, due process and the right to a fair trial, civic space, and the death penalty.

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The latest development came days after Pakistan's parliament passed a bill that critics argue is designed to suppress freedom of speech. The legislation, which has been approved by President Asif Ali Zardari, grants the government extensive powers to impose heavy fines and incarcerate social media users for spreading disinformation. Journalists rallied on Friday across Pakistan, vowing to resist any laws aimed at suppressing freedom of speech.

Pakistans media has faced growing censorship in recent years, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the law is necessary to limit the spread of disinformation by anti-state elements, including Pakistani Taliban and separatist groups.

A military statement on Friday said security forces had killed 10 militants during four separate raids in various parts of the restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.
NOTE: A lawsuit represents only one side of the story.

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (ABC4)  Evermore Park Investments, LLC, has filed a lawsuit against Travis and Michelle Fox  the Nevada couple who had entered into an agreement to buy the parks Pleasant Grove property in 2024  over an alleged breach of the sales contract.

The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 3, 2025, and alleges the couple and their limited liability companies  Allrealms and Realm ATV  breached the sales contract, breached an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and were unjustly enriched.

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Attorneys for LDS Church appear in federal court, seek to dismiss tithing fraud lawsuit

Evermore Park Investments, LLC is seeking no less than $300,000 to cover attorney fees, other relief, and for pre- and post-judgment interest on all amounts owed to Evermore.

According to the lawsuit, an initial agreement to sell the property to Allrealms was entered in February 2024, whereby Evermore agreed to sell the Property to Allrealms. The purchase price of the property was nearly $15 million.

The settlement deadline was originally set for April 30, 2024, but got pushed back to June 28, 2024. Around June 28, the parties executed the Agreement for Sale of Real Estate, the lawsuit says.

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The couple paid the first of several monthly $70,000 installments in July 2024, but requested Evermore waive the installment for November 2024. The park waived the November fee, after which the defendants reportedly asked to waive the installment fee in December as well.

Evermore did not agree to this, nor did it provide a waiver, and Realm ATV remained obligated to pay the $70,000 Installment for December, the suit says.

The Foxes allegedly did not pay the December installment and later sent a document to Evermore that sought to lower the purchase price of the property by millions of dollars.

The lawsuit also says Travis and Michelle Fox used the property to film promotional videos and other videos that they reportedly posted on their social media pages and YouTube channels. The lawsuit says the couple promoted themselves as the owners even though they did not yet own the property.

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The deal was not finalized and the sale did not go through by the deadline of Dec. 31, 2024.

ABC4.com reached out to the attorneys for Evermore Investments, LLC, and has yet to hear back at the time of publication.

Travis and Michelle Fox file counterclaim

On Jan. 27, 2025, Travis and Michelle Fox and their companies filed a counterclaim against Evermore Park Investments. The defendants argue that the lawsuit was filed prematurely and in bad faith.

Regarding the final deadline not being met, the defendants argue in their counterclaim that Evermore did not fulfill critical contractual obligations, and that failure prevented the final closing.

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The Foxes argue that Evermore acted in bad faith in negotiating and preparing for the contemplated sale of the property and concealed facts (negligently or intentionally) that would have destroyed any interest the defendants had in buying the property.

The counterclaim also argues that Evermore refused to meet with the defendants and failed to make adequate repairs to the Property as stated in the contract.

When the defendants asked for a waiver of the November installment, the counterclaim argues the waiver was requested so that The Realm ATV could pay for repairs upfront, as requested by Evermore.

The defendants also argue that the videos they took at the property were taken with the consent of Evermore and were not promotional. The defendants claim Evermore breached contractual confidentiality agreements and referred to Travis and Michelle Fox as the new owners before the sale closed.

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The defendants are asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit by Evermore with prejudice, which would mean Evermore could not refile the same claim again in the same court. The defendants are also seeking the costs of reasonable attorney fees and an award of damages.

ABC4.com reached out to the attorneys for Michelle and Travis Fox, but has yet to hear back at the time of publication.

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NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KETK)  Nacogdoches ISD superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo, Ed.D, has sent a letter to their families and staff to address concern about recent federal immigration directives.

Safe, supportive environment for all: Longview ISD addresses raising concerns of immigration enforcement

I want to address the recent federal directives from President Trump regarding immigration enforcement on school properties that are causing concern for some of our students and their families, said Trujillo.

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In his letter, Trujillo reassures the parents that their childs safety and success is their number one priority.

First, I want you to know that the safety, well-being, and success of every student in Nacogdoches ISD remains our highest priority. It is my highest priority, and the overriding goal of public education. I am here  and Nacogdoches ISD is here  to support you.

Trujillo laid out the following facts about Nacogdoches ISDs commitment to students:

Every child  every child  is welcome in Nacogdoches ISD. This isnt just me saying this; its the law. We gladly enroll and educate all school-aged students living within our attendance boundaries, regardless of immigration status. Once again, its the law, Trujillo explained.

We do not request information about or track immigration status of students enrolled at Nacogdoches ISD. Your childs personal information is protected once again, by law (20 U.S. Education Code  1232g), Trujillo said.

Nacogdoches ISDs commitment to our students and their families has not changed. While we will continue to monitor ongoing updates from federal and state authorities, our focus remains steadfastly where it most belongs  on providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all (policy GRA LOCAL), Trujillo continued.

He added that the districts visitor and student check-out procedures are unchanged, meaning no one is allowed to access a student unless theyre on their file or if they have a lawful federal court order or warrant.

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We also continue to work closely with local law enforcement partners to ensure we are prepared to support any affected students, Trujillo said.

Trujillo encouraged anyone with questions regarding their legal rights to visit the National Immigration Law Center or the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

Nacogdoches ISD believes diversity makes us stronger, and we remain keenly devoted to fostering a community where every student feels safe, supported and valued. Please dont hesitate to reach out to your campus or to the district for support  we are in this together. Gabriel Trujillo, superintendent of Nacogdoches ISD

Click here to watch a spoken version of Trujillos letter on YouTube.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
All 64 people on board an American Airlines passenger jet and all three soldiers on board a US army helicopter that collided over Washington are presumed dead, officials said on Thursday after an overnight search operation in the icy Potomac River.

"At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," Washington fire chief John Donnelly said at a morning press conference.

Donnelly said that the bodies of 27 people on the plane and one from the helicopter have been recovered from the river that passes by the US capital.

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"We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," he said.

American Airlines Flight 5342 was travelling from Wichita, Kansas to Washington's Reagan National Airport when it collided with the Black Hawk military helicopter as it was approaching the runway shortly before 9 pm on Wednesday (0200 GMT Thursday), sending both aircraft plummeting into the river.

Some 300 emergency responders deployed to locate survivors were racing against time as they searched the dark and icy waters.

The Pentagon said the Black Hawk army helicopter had been on a training flight when colliding with the plane.

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American Airlines chief Robert Isom said the cause of the accident was still unclear.

Trump questions helicopter pilot's role

US President Donald Trump suggested that failures on part of the helicopter's pilot might have caused the mid-air collision.

"You had a pilot problem, from the standpoint of the helicopter," Trump said during a news briefing at the White House on Thursday, claiming that the army helicopter could have changed its course to avoid colliding with the American Airlines plane, without providing evidence.

The US president also criticized air traffic control at Reagan Washington National Airport for taking too long to send out a warning.

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Trump also blamed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the crash. He claimed the DEI programmes at the FAA included "focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities," again without citing any evidence.

Crash investigators ask for time before drawing conclusions

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation into the collision, asked for time to evaluate all the data before allocating fault.

"You need to give us time," NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said in a press briefing. "It's not that we don't have information, we do have information. We have data we have substantial amounts of information we need to verify ... we need to take our time to make sure it is accurate."

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"As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment," Homendy said. "So we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident."

Around 50 investigators are at work at the scene of the accident. In addition, there are specialists at the agency's headquarters who are familiar with the case.

"We're here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation," she promised.

Another agency representative, Todd Inman, also stressed: "Our intention is to have a preliminary report within 30 days and the final report will be issued once we've completed all of our fact finding and investigation.

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"Now, we will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we are here on the scene, nor will we speculate about what may have caused this accident."

In the briefing, held at about 3 pm on Thursday, Homendy said that the flight data recorders, known as black boxes, had not been recovered yet.

"They are underwater. This is not unusual for the NTSB, we have many times recovered flight data recorders in water ... once we get those we'll be able to get those read and [recover] information from them to be able to provide further information to you," Homendy told reporters.

Later on Thursday, US broadcasters, including CNN, reported that one of the black boxes has been recovered.
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)  According to the EVSC, PowerSchool, the largest provider of cloud-based education software for K-12 education in the country, has begun the process of notifying individuals whose information was determined to be involved in the recent data breach.

PowerSchool has engaged Experian to provide a complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to current and former students and staff whose information may have been leaked from PowerSchools information system. Officials say in the coming weeks, Experian will be distributing direct email notifications to involved individuals.

Previous: EVSC: PowerSchool will contact all people impacted by breach

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According to a release, affected individuals must enroll by May 30 to take advantage of these provided services. Officials say you also may be able to activate an offering from Experian even if you do not receive an email by using a link provided on PowerSchools website.

BleepingComputer, a cybersecurity news outlet, reported earlier this week the data breach impacted more than 62 million students and over 9.5 million teachers across 6,500 school districts.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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).
The former acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Billy Nolen said during an interview that President Trump made an excellent choice in tapping Christopher Rocheleau as the agencys next leader.

Its a great decision. Chris, when I joined the FAA, was my No. 2. I think the world of him, and I think the president has made an excellent choice, Nolen said during his Thursday appearance on NewsNations show The Hill.

Trump said earlier Thursday that he picked Rocheleau to be the FAAs acting administrator, less than a day after a military helicopter and a passenger plane crashed into each other Wednesday night near the Reagan Washington National Airport.

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Im also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, Christopher Rocheleau. A 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much, appreciate it, Trump said on Thursday from the White House briefing room.

Previously, Rocheleau was the deputy administrator.

An American Airlines flight going from Wichita, Kan., to Washington, D.C., collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night, killing 67 people. Sixty travelers were on the flight from Wichita, along with four crew members, and three soldiers were on the helicopter. The air disaster is the deadliest in the U.S. since November 2001.

Nolen, who was the acting FAA head during the Biden administration until summer 2023, hopes the tragic crash at one of the nations busiest airports can be used as an opportunity to develop better safety innovations.

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Use this moment. Lets not let this tragic event go to waste, he said Thursday. Lets take this as an opportunity to say, What are the other innovative things we can do? We got some brilliant people out there in America, right? And lets think about what we can apply, be it AI  how do we make our airspace more efficient?

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 skies over Washington D.C., where an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airliner Wednesday night, killing 67, is the most tightly controlled and surveilled airspace open to civilian air traffic in the United States. As such, it can be a hazardous place to be airborne, particularly at night, when bedrock principles of good airmanship can fall by the wayside and helicopter and air traffic control personnel can get overwhelmed, current and former military helicopter pilots told TWZ Thursday.

The collision killed the three soldiers aboard the UH-60 helicopter, as well as 64 aboard the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which was on its final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport shortly before 9 p.m. when the accident occurred over the Potomac River.

Airplane has collided with a helicopter near DC while the plane was trying to land at Reagan National Airport.



Aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River where massive casualties are reported.



This is a disaster thats unfolding.



Pray for survivors.



 pic.twitter.com/iTxKYpedbQ  Paul A. Szypula  (@Bubblebathgirl) January 30, 2025

It happened as the inbound airliner from Wichita, Kansas, made its visual approach to Reagans Runway 33. The PSA flight was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. Go here to read our ongoing coverage of the tragedy.

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Multiple investigations have been launched into the incident. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, echoing President Donald Trump, said Thursday that there was some sort of elevation issue with the Fort Belvoir, Virginia, based Black Hawk that the Army was investigating.

Update on Guantanamo Bay Operations and @SecDef Hegseth Addresses Tragic Mishap Involving US Army Helicopter pic.twitter.com/80J5djB4oP  Department of Defense  (@DeptofDefense) January 30, 2025

Beyond that, it remains anybodys guess as to how a mishap of this magnitude could have happened. But helicopter pilots who spoke with TWZ shared their thoughts on what would have complicated the sky over the Potomac Wednesday night.

The jet was close to landing at Reagan, and therefore, to be a couple hundred feet above the Potomac there is not unusual, said Dr. Michael Canders, a retired Air Force and Navy helicopter pilot who has also worked as a commercial airline pilot and has flown over the capital both in and out of uniform.

Youve got helicopters operating along the Potomac River, and I think the [height restriction] is 200 feet, Canders, now an aviation professor at Farmingdale College in New York State, told TWZ Thursday. When they are in the vicinity of the airport, they have to be especially vigilant. Its not that unusual for this combination of traffic to occur.

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As such, awareness of other aircraft is key, he said, and helicopter pilots should always be aware of airliners on such a northwest heading for runway 33. Officials have yet to say what altitude the helicopter and passenger jet were at when they collided.

A map of Ronald Reagan National Airport and the surrounding airspace. The blue lines signify helicopter routes. (FAA)

If youre going to fly past, make sure you remain clear and under it, so you dont impact or interfere with any aircraft, Canders said.

Jets fly on very specific approaches, and helicopter routes are designed with that in mind, which makes the collisions causes that much more unclear, Tom Longo, a retired Marine Corps CH-53E pilot who once helped plan President Barack Obamas helicopter flights as part of Marine Helicopter Squadron One, told TWZ.

[Helicopter] routes were designed to go under jets, Longo said. Theres deconfliction built into this, if you stay on the route and do what youre supposed to.

Tom Longo during his flying days for the Marine Corps. (Tom Longo)

The glide slope going into the airport for the airplane shouldnt intercept the helicopter route, he added, likening such flights to highway travel.

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Youre going 55 mph, someone else is going 55 mph in the other direction, but if you stay on the highway, its not that hard, Longo said. Its not that hard until you start freelancing.

Key questions:

1.) Does the helicopter route, including its max altitude block, intercept the glideslope or very near to it for Runway 33?

2A.) If yes, why does this exist and why wasn't there extreme vigilance to deconflict aircraft when 33 is in use?

2B.) If no, was the  Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) January 30, 2025

While not inclined to speculate on the mishaps cause, Canders said the helicopter crew may have not followed a basic pilot mantra.

Its called see and avoid, he said, and its as simple as it sounds.

See and avoid basically entails making sure that a pilot maintains visual situational awareness of the skies around their aircraft, precisely to avoid the type of collision that happened Wednesday.

Michael Canders in his military days. (Michael Canders)

Were there factors that contributed to maybe an inability to see and avoid? Thats what the investigators will try to determine, he added. Thats the key question, why wasnt see and avoid complied with?

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Despite modern technology, flying at night remains significantly harder than day flying, Canders said.

Both of them are hard to see [at night] because the only thing youre going to typically see are some lights, Canders said. Youll see what they call the position lights and anti-collision lights, but when theyre interfered with, or when theyre among the ground lighting, its not always easy to pick out how far away they are, how fast theyre going, so thats the challenge of night flying. Its really a different kind of world.

Wreckage from PSA Airlines Flight 5342, the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 which crashed earlier tonight in the Potomac River while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. @andyharnik pic.twitter.com/fCdbkZSAG4  OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 30, 2025

Air traffic control can help, as can instruments in the cockpit, but youve got to be looking outside the aircraft, Canders said, adding that cockpit display advancements have led to a trend of relying on such systems, maybe more than you should. Such systems include TCAS in airliners and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in a helicopters cockpit display. Earlier Thursday, TWZ laid out what TCAS can and cannot do.

But theres a little bit of lag on that technology, on those electronics, he said. So back to looking outside, youre definitely going to be able to determine, am I on a collision course with that, although it is harder at night and pilots are often drawn inside. They want to look at the display.

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Canders flew a derivative of the Black Hawk used for Air Force rescue missions known as the HH-60G Pave Hawk, and he recalled flying that low-level route over the Potomac.

An Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter. (U.S. Air Force)

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It tends to be busy there, he said. So its back to see and avoid, and always having your head on a swivel, looking outside and making sure that youre not going to run into another [aircraft].

Still, Canders said the skies over Washington arent any more difficult to fly through than similarly busy skies in New York City or other major metropolitan areas. But staying below 200 feet is critical, or pilots risk losing their licenses.

If you were flying formation, the last guy in the formation would have to work pretty hard to maintain not exceeding the altitude, and youd have to bug the guy in the front, like, you got to go lower, Longo, who retired in 2012, told TWZ. It wasnt hard as much as it felt you werent used to it. Typically when you fly around the cities, you would fly high, not to bug people. This seemed like you have to do the opposite.

Meanwhile, some military pilots have noted online that aircraft have so much to track, and can get easily distracted, despite how common it is to have helicopters flying in and around major airports like Reagan.

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Helicopters operating in and around major airports is very common. In the United States, the FAA publishes prescribed routes and altitudes for helicopters in 8 major cities across the United States, I have flown almost all the routes in a helicopter mostly at night in over 7 of pic.twitter.com/tc58sIr0nK  Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) January 30, 2025

You are operating a complex aircraft in a complex environment and you can get task saturated even with a two-pilot crew, like that aboard the Black Hawk, @Thenewarea51, a career helicopter pilot and friend of the site, wrote on X Thursday. He added that task saturation also can happen to the most experienced air traffic controller.

In such circumstances, see and avoid can understandably become harder to execute.

[Air traffic control] may call out traffic and you confirm that you have it in sight, or maybe you spot the wrong aircraft, the pilot wrote. It takes one little thing to happen to lose sight of that traffic in question, e.g., a light flashes on your instrument panel, the person sitting next to you or behind you asks a question, you have multiple radios that you are listening to, you spot a bird, and the list goes on and on.

To that pilot, pressing questions include whether the Black Hawk pilots were wearing night vision googles (NVG), which provide around a 40-degree field of view. The pilot also wondered if the helicopter identified the correct aircraft and assured the air traffic control that they had it in sight and would maintain visual separation.

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Remains of the US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter floating in the Potomac River after colliding with AA Flight 5342. pic.twitter.com/GdQH8AoIUU  OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 30, 2025

How many other aircraft was the controller trying to keep separated, why didnt the controller inform the CRJ about the helicopter? the pilot added. Its a mind boggling amount of data to digest even for a pilot or control with thousands of hours of experience.

Canders noted that, if the Black Hawks crew had realized it was in the path of the airliner sooner, it could have taken evasive measures and been out of the jets way in about five seconds.

Less than a day after the mishap, Longo is convinced someone made a mistake, but hes not sure who was ultimately responsible.

Army Black Hawk helicopters fly over Washington, D.C. (U.S. Army)

[Was the helicopter] off course? Was the airplane off course? he asked. And you cant do this without talking to the [air traffic control] tower, so the tower would have cleared them through. Theres at least three choices  Im sure everyone thought that he or she was doing the right thing, but one of the three erred.

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As the saying goes, military regulations are written in blood. New policies are often enacted after older policies lead to loss of life. As the Army, the National Transportation Safety Board and other federal agencies dive into what went wrong Wednesday night, what caused this tragedy remains to be unveiled, as does the question of what could have been done to prevent the loss of those 67 souls.

Email the authors: geoff@twz.com, howard@twz.com
A former minister has said the medicines watchdog must be reformed after a Telegraph investigation found critical information missing in early warnings about the potentially deadly side effects of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.

Esther McVey criticised the yellow card system used to flag potential issues with medicines and vaccines after a coroner warned that it may have prevented the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from fully investigating patients reactions to the jab.

The former Tory minister warned there could be further damage to the publics trust unless the MHRA was given increased powers to gather evidence for its inquiries.

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She made the comments as The Telegraph can reveal how an MHRA member of staff told an inquest that a lot of critical information was missing from early warning reports about the AstraZeneca jab.

The inquest related to the death of Oli Hoque, a trainee lawyer, who died following a rare complication to the vaccine in 2021.

Dr Stephen Wright, a 32-year-old psychologist, suffered a stroke after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid jab in January 2021 - Paul Grover

In a report to Therese Coffey, the then health secretary, in October 2022, senior coroner Nadia Persaud warned that it was a matter of concern that the MHRA are unable to compel the timely production of relevant clinical data.

The inquest heard the regulator had received three reports of patients suffering blood clots and low platelets after having the vaccine by the end of Feb 2021, but a lot of critical information was missing from these reports.

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In his evidence, Gary Peters, a senior medical assessor at the MHRA, said one of the first reports included a 32-year-old man who had died within 48 hours of admission.

It is understood that this report relates to Dr Stephen Wright, a 32-year-old psychologist who suffered a stroke after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine in January 2021.

The inquest heard a lot of critical information was missing from reports the MHRA received of people suffering side effects after having the jab

In early February, his family and the hospital where he died made a report to the MHRA.

Dr Wrights parents told The Telegraph that they had never received a reply.

According to the evidence Mr Peters gave, the information the MHRA held on the case was incomplete.

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He told the court experts had discussed the data and said they should keep a close eye on this signal. But the evidence to date was insufficient to take any regulatory action.

The MHRA told The Telegraph that it followed up on the report concerning Dr Wright with healthcare professionals, who provided additional information.

Charlotte, Dr Stephen Wrights widow, has said lives might have been saved if the MHRA had acted sooner - Helen William/PA Archive

However, Dr Wrights family questioned why the MHRA did not contact them.

Charlotte, Dr Wrights widow, said: If the MHRA had missing information, I have no idea why they didnt just ask us for it. If the MHRA had acted sooner, lives might have been saved.

In a letter to the Department of Health and Social Care, the coroner wrote: In my opinion, there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.

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She said that the MHRA could not fully consider these [three] cases as they did not receive all of the necessary clinical information.

Dr Wrights parents questioned why the MHRA did not contact them if the information held was missing - Paul Grover

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The inquest heard that the MHRA does not have the power to compel relevant clinical information to assist them with safety investigations.

She said: In light of the clear public interest in ensuring that the MHRA are able to carry out robust safety investigations, it is a matter of concern that the MHRA are unable to compel the timely production of relevant clinical data.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms McVey criticised the MHRA for both failing to detect the side effects of the Astrazeneca vaccine quickly enough and failure to act. She pointed to how some European countries suspended the vaccine in March 2021.

It does beg the question, how many young lives were lost during this time because safety signals were missed or ignored? she said.

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This kind of regulatory breakdown results in a devastating human cost to patients and their families.

Failure to act will only lead to more harm and further damage to the publics trust.

Independent studies have shown that the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine saved millions of lives around the world.

The pharmaceutical company previously said that regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.

A letter sent in reply to the coroners comments said that the MHRA do not have jurisdiction over healthcare professionals, but that there were professional guidelines in place for healthcare professionals to report safety issues.

Esther McVey has questioned how many young lives were lost during this time because safety signals were missed or ignored - Helen William/PA Archive

Dr Alison Cave, the MHRA chief safety officer, said: We take all reports submitted to us very seriously and we actively follow up reports with a fatal outcome for information that may be relevant to our assessment of the case.

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During the pandemic we also established a data-sharing agreement with NHS England and the [UK Health Security Agency] to share relevant individual case details which helped us rapidly obtain clinical details via local teams where needed.

We also sought the advice of our Covid-19 expert working group and the Commission on Human Medicines on emerging evidence on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines as new information became available.

When a link between a Covid-19 vaccine and a safety concern was identified, the MHRA took action, working closely with the wider UK health system and communicating to healthcare professionals and the wider public.

A spokesman for the Department for Health said: The Government is committed to learning from the lessons of the pandemic, and our thoughts are with those who suffered harm from medicines and vaccines.

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The yellow card system is a vital element of the countrys system for monitoring medicine safety and the MHRA works to constantly improve it so it has the right clinical information.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Ukraine's parliament may suspend former President Petro Poroshenko from sessions for three days rather than six months, Mykyta Poturayev, head of the Verkhovna Rada's Humanitarian and Information Policy Committee, told RFE/RL on Jan. 31.

The Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Regulations recommended on Jan. 30 that Poroshenko be suspended over an alleged altercation with Servant of the People lawmaker Bohdan Yaremenko.

Poroshenko's European Solidarity party accused President Volodymyr Zelensky's office of pressuring the ruling Servant of the People party to bar him from attending parliamentary sessions.

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"As the person who authored this request, I will definitely vote for a decision that will give an assessment. And, if necessary, a certain punishment," Poturayev said.

He added that European lawmakers could view a six-month suspension as disproportionate.

"I believe that if it were not for the war, then, according to the rules of procedure, the maximum that could happen to him is a suspension for three sessions, i.e., three days," Poturayev said.

"I hope that maybe the Committee on Regulations and other colleagues will be able to find some solution that will not be about six months."

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The European Solidarity claims that lawmakers from the Servant of the People faction have been allegedly pressured to vote in favor of barring Poroshenko from sessions, calling it an attempt to block his parliamentary work.

European Solidarity MP Oleksii Honcharenko condemned the move as "outright persecution of the opposition," warning that it could harm Ukraine's democratic reputation.

"This decision can turn into a terrible story. You are not harming an individual politician now; you are harming the whole country," he said.

Yaremenko has not publicly commented on the incident, and the Verkhovna Rada has yet to support the committee's decision.

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Read also: Arms procurement chief Bezrukova dismissed, Defense Ministry says after disputes

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance explained how she believes the Trump White Houses buyout offer to all federal employees will backfire.

President Donald Trump summoned the sleeping giant of the civil service with the proposal that has drawn skepticism over its validity from critics, Vance warned in her Civil Discourse email newsletter.

Vance noted how in some cases  detailed in online posts by federal workers  it had actually appeared to spur them into staying in their roles to hold the line against Trump.

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On Reddit last night, it was clear that a sizeable number of federal employees are digging in for the fight, wrote Vance.

Donald Trump has always fantasized about a deep state inside of government that opposes him, something that didnt exist, she added. Now, he is well on the way to creating one. It turns out federal employees take their oath, their job, and their duty to serve very seriously.

Read Vances full analysis here.

Related...
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON)  Ex-San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres was slated to enter a plea on Friday at the Hall of Justice to face child sex abuse charges. After his defense attorney requested a delay, Torres arraignment was pushed back until February 14 and Torres returned to his jail cell.

The disgraced politician has been held in custody without bail ever since his arrest on November 5, 2024. A judge previously ruled that Torres remains a danger to minors.

A police affidavit obtained by KRON4 contains text messages from Torres in which he says he had oral sex with a 17-year-old. The texts were exchanged with a 21-year-old Chicago man, Terry Beeks, who Torres had an online sexual relationship with, the affidavit said.

Omar Torres is seen in a November 2024 mugshot released by the San Jose Police Department.

While he was serving as a city councilman, Torres allegedly asked Beeks about finding minors, Beeks told police. On April 8, 2022, the two men texted about plans to meet for a sexual encounter with multiple people. According to the affidavit, the ex-councilman wrote, U got any homies under 18. I want hella homies u will see im wild in bed.

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His defense attorney told KRON4 in October that the texts were outrageous fantasy and role play, and do not reflect any real-world actions or intentions.

Charges filed against Torres stem from incidents that occurred between 1990 and 1999, when he allegedly raped a minor victim. In a recorded conversation between Torres and the victim, Torres admitted to sexually assaulting the victim 20 to 25 times, investigators said.

The incidents began when the victim was just 4 years old, a police report states, and continued until 1999, when Torres was 18 and the victim was 13.

San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres (KRON4 / File Photo)

Defense attorney Nelson McElmurry said a plea deal is possible to resolve the charges. He wants to accept responsibility (and) do the right thing. We just want to make sure the plea agreement is fair and consistent with charges of this type.

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The San Jose Police Department is still investigating to find out if the ex-councilman committed crimes in connection to the 2022 Beeks communications.

Torres represented District 3 until he resigned in November. This week, the City Council chose Carl Salas to fill the vacant seat for District 3. Salas will hold the seat until a special election is held in June.

If convicted, Torres is facing a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Although it has been almost 15 years since Elizabeth Anne Keys graduated at the top of her class from Madeira High School, she certainly left a lasting impression.

"She was just a bright star," former Madeira City Schools Superintendent Steve Kramer told The Enquirer.

Keys, a Cincinnati native, was killed along with 66 others Wednesday in a midair crash between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. She was 33.

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She was flying back to Washington D.C. from a work trip before the plane crashed that night, said David Seidman, her partner of six years. She died on her birthday, he added.

According to a statement from her family, Keys graduated from Madeira High School in 2010 as valedictorian. She then attended Tufts University, where she was a member of the varsity sailing team, and graduated in 2014. In 2020, she earned her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

She was an attorney at Wilkinson Stekloff LPP in Washington D.C. since 2021, according to her LinkedIn page.

Keys stood out among her high school peers as a smart, popular student, achieving high grades while also performing in band and school productions, said Kramer, who served as the district's superintendent from 2003 to 2016.

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A 2010 school newsletter shows Keys received numerous academic awards upon graduation.

"She was just a very positive, upbeat person," Kramer said, adding he was shocked to learn the news of Keys' death in a phone call from his oldest daughter, who was in the same graduating class.

"I couldn't believe it," Kramer said. He said that his youngest daughter was about four years behind Keys in school but remembered her fondly for being friendly and encouraging to younger students while they performed together in a school play.

"Liz was a great kid," he said, adding that his heart goes out to her family.

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"Elizabeth was strong and fearless  she embraced life at full speed ... She loved deeply and was deeply loved," Keys' family said in a statement. "She was so fun  and funny! Liz had a sharp wit and appreciated it in others ... We are filled with unbearable sorrow and despair at our loss."

Along with Seidman, who the statement says is the "love of her life," Keys is survived by her parents, Martin and Mary Keys, and her Yorkie terrier, Tucker.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Plane crash victim Elizabeth Anne Keys remembered as 'bright star'
By Fabio Teixeira, Luciana Magalhaes and Lisandra Paraguassu

CAMACARI, Brazil (Reuters) -The workers who traveled from China to northeast Brazil to build a new factory for electric car maker BYD earned roughly $70 per 10-hour shift, over twice the Chinese hourly minimum wage in many regions. For many, that made signing up an easy decision - but getting out would be much harder.

The Chinese workers hired by BYD contractor Jinjiang in Brazil had to hand over their passports to their new employer, let most of their wages be sent directly to China, and fork over an almost $900 deposit that they could only get back after six months' work, according to a labor contract seen by Reuters.

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The three-page document, signed by one of 163 workers who labor inspectors said were freed from "slavery-like conditions" last month, includes clauses that violate labor laws in both Brazil and China, according to Brazilian investigators and three Chinese labor law experts.

Other previously unreported clauses gave the firm the power to unilaterally extend the labor contract for six months and issue 200 yuan fines for conduct such as swearing, quarreling or walking around shirtless at the site or in their living quarters.

Many of the clauses "are textbook 'red flags' of forced labor," said Aaron Halegua, a lawyer and fellow at New York University Law School, who won compensation for Chinese workers who sued their employers for forced labor in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory.

He added that withholding workers passports or requiring any form of performance bond or security payment would not be permitted under Chinese laws and regulations.

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Jinjiang, which works on BYD factory construction across China in cities such as Changzhou, Yangzhou and Hefei, has disputed the allegations, saying the findings by Brazilian labor inspectors are inconsistent with the facts and the result of confused translations.

"The claim that Jinjiang's employees were 'enslaved' and 'rescued' is totally off base," said Jinjiang in a statement last month.

Alexandre Baldy, senior vice president for BYD Brasil, told Reuters the carmaker had no knowledge of any violations until the first reports by Brazilian media in late November, when BYD contacted Jinjiang about the allegations.

Baldy and BYD Brasil President Tyler Li then met on Dec. 2 with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. They told Lula at the time that BYD was addressing the issue, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

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Lula's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two weeks later, a raid by labor inspectors found the laborers living crammed in lodgings without mattresses. Thirty-one workers were crammed in a single house with only one bathroom and food piled up on the ground alongside personal belongings, in what inspectors said were "degrading conditions."

Baldy denied discussing the matter with Lula in their meeting and said the company had no knowledge of the Jinjiang labor contract. BYD is taking action to make sure "this situation never happens again," he told Reuters. After the raid, BYD ended its contract with Jinjiang.

Inspectors have provided no evidence that BYD knew of the violations, but BYD is "directly responsible," said Matheus Viana, acting chief of Brazil's Division of Inspection for the Eradication of Slave Labor, because the carmaker is responsible for the actions of a third-party contractor on its site.

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REPLACING FORD

The previously unreported contract offers fresh details of how a plant held up as a beacon of closer Brazil-China relations became the site of scandal for BYD in its biggest market outside of China.

BYD agreed in late 2023 to take over and invest heavily in electric vehicle production in an industrial park in Camacari, near the capital of Bahia state, the site of a Ford Motor Co plant for two decades.

Ford abandoned the plant in 2021, firing some 5,000 workers as it ended manufacturing in the country.

For President Lula, former head of a metalworkers union in Sao Paulo, the BYD deal promised to deliver 21st-century manufacturing jobs in a stronghold of his Workers Party.

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News of the big investment stirred hopes the Chinese firm would bring back twice as many jobs as Ford had eliminated, in a state where almost 10% of people are unemployed.

But when BYD brought in the Chinese contractor to build the factory, Antonio Ubirajara Santos Souza, coordinator of the local union of construction workers (Sindticcc), said it was a sign the company "didn't play fair."

In a statement to Reuters, BYD said the firm is committed to generating local jobs and that when the factory complex is fully operational, it will have 20,000 workers, including Brazilians.

During the December raid, inspectors found copies of 10 contracts with similar clauses to those seen by Reuters, they said. Some workers told inspectors they did not have contracts, and others said they only signed theirs after months in Brazil.

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BYD and Jinjiang will be charged with hampering the probe because they did not provide inspectors with the address for the workers' lodgings when requested, said Daniel Santana, a labor inspector investigating the case, exposing the two companies to a potential fine.

PROBE STIRS LOCAL RESIDENTS

Hundreds of Chinese workers are still working at the construction site alongside Brazilians, union leaders told Reuters. Union officials say the Brazilian employees complained this month of irregularities at the site, including a lack of drinking water.

BYD shared pictures with Reuters of new lodgings and cafeterias it made available to employees. Still, the local construction workers union, Sindticcc, has decided to sue both BYD and Jinjiang over past violations.

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Local politicians also raised concerns about other projects in Bahia slated for construction by Chinese firms, such as a bridge in the state capital Salvador budgeted at 7.6 billion reais ($1.28 billion), which some local residents fear could be the latest in a series of projects leaning on imported labor.

"We can never bring development to our state at the cost of slave labor," said Alan Sanches, a state congressman.

Bahia Governor Jeronimo Rodrigues told Reuters BYD is still expected to create 10,000 local jobs and that the state cannot "lose that opportunity." Still, he said, BYD has to provide work in decent conditions.

Julio Bonfim, head of the metalworkers union of Camacari, said he already warned BYD officials that his office will not accept Brazilians losing out on job opportunities to workers brought from China.

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If that happens, he said, "the factory will face its first strike under BYD before production even begins."

(Reporting by Fabio Teixeira in Camacari, Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and James Pomfret in Hong Kong; Editing by Manuela Andreoni, Christian Plumb and Aurora Ellis)
Senator Lisa Murkowski ripped President Donald Trump's comments blaming disability and diversity hires for the deadly American Airlines-helicopter crash.

The Alaska Republican's attack come after Trump blamed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices for the crash near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people. Specifically, the president criticized the Federal Aviation Administration's recruitment program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Murkowski told The Independent that she felt awful for the families and everyone involved.

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"I don't know about you, but when I saw the news of the crash last night and just waking up this morning and watching the briefing, your heart just goes out  not only to the families who lost loved ones, but to everybody who was part of that," she said.

"Think about just the heartache of all of this," she said. "So to to see a statement like that, where, without full information about what happened, other than a massive casualty, to suggest that it was ... to be blamed because of the diversity hires, I think, does not project the level of empathy that we need to show for those who lost their loved ones."

Murkowski occasionally criticized Trump. Last week, she voted against confirming former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to become Secretary of Defense.

Earlier this week, she also came out in opposition to Trump's plot to acquire Greenland.

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Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that he thought that Trumps remarks were premature.

I'd have to see if the evidence is substantiated, he told The Independent. It seems a bit early to me when I think that statement was made before we even have a flight data recorder.
By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.

Since taking office 11 days ago, President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

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Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner tasked by Trump to slash the size of the 2.2 million-strong civilian government workforce, has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management.

The two officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said some senior career employees at OPM have had their access revoked to some of the department's data systems.

The systems include a vast database called Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers, the officials said.

"We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."

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Officials affected by the move can still log on and access functions such as email but can no longer see the massive datasets that cover every facet of the federal workforce.

Musk, OPM, representatives of the new team, and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

OPM has sent out memos that eschew the normal dry wording of government missives as it encourages civil servants to consider buyout offers to quit and take a vacation to a "dream destination."

Don Moynihan, a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said the actions inside OPM raised concerns about congressional oversight at the agency and how Trump and Musk view the federal bureaucracy.

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"This makes it much harder for anyone outside Musk's inner circle at OPM to know what's going on," Moynihan said.

MUSK INFLUENCE

A team including current and former employees of Musk assumed command of OPM on Jan. 20, the day Trump took office. They have moved sofa beds onto the fifth floor of the agency's headquarters, which contains the director's office and can only be accessed with a security badge or a security escort, one of the OPM employees said.

The sofa beds have been installed so the team can work around the clock, the employee said.

Musk, a major donor to a famously demanding boss, installed beds at X for employees to enable them to work longer when in 2022 he took over the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

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"It feels like a hostile takeover," the employee said.

The new appointees in charge of OPM have moved the agency's chief management officer, Katie Malague, out of her office and to a new office on a different floor, the officials said.

Malague did not respond to a request for comment.

The moves by Musk's aides at OPM, and upheaval inside the Treasury building caused by other Musk aides that was reported on Friday, underscore the sweeping influence Musk is having across government.

David Lebryk, the top-ranking career U.S. Treasury Department official, is set to leave his post following a clash with allies of Musk after they asked for access to payment systems, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

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The new team at OPM includes software engineers and Brian Bjelde, who joined Musk's SpaceX venture in 2003 as an avionics engineer before rising to become the company's vice president of human resources. Bjelde's role at OPM is that of a senior adviser.

The acting head of OPM, Charles Ezell, has been sending memos to the entire government workforce since Trump took office, including Tuesday's offering federal employees the chance to quit with eight months pay.

"No-one here knew that the memos were coming out. We are finding out about these memos the same time as the rest of the world," one of the officials said.

Among the group that now runs OPM is Amanda Scales, a former Musk employee, who is now OPM's chief of staff. In some memos sent out on Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 by Ezell, including one directing agencies to identify federal workers on probationary periods, agency heads were asked to email Scales at her OPM email address.

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Another senior adviser is Riccardo Biasini, a former engineer at Tesla and most recently a director at The Boring Company, Musk's tunnel-building operation in Las Vegas.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
By Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily and Samia Nakhoul

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Washington is pressuring top Lebanese officials not to allow Hezbollah or its allies to nominate the country's next finance minister, five people with knowledge of the matter said, in an attempt to limit the Iran-backed group's sway over the state.

The unusually direct U.S. intervention in Lebanon's sectarian politics appears aimed at capitalizing on shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Iran-backed Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war with Israel and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad ousted from power.

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Like all of Lebanon's main factions, the armed group Hezbollah has long named ministers to government, in coordination with its Shi'ite ally the Amal Movement, which has picked all of Lebanon's finance ministers since 2014.

But U.S. officials are keen to see that influence diminished as Lebanon's prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam forms a new cabinet, the five sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the press.

They said U.S. officials have passed on messages to Salam and to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun - who enjoyed U.S. support as army commander and was elected president in early January - that Hezbollah should not be included in the next cabinet.

Three of the sources said Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos, who was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump as an adviser on Middle Eastern affairs, was one of the people conveying that message to Lebanon.

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Although U.S. Republican Congressmen have publicly urged Trump to keep Hezbollah and its allies out of government, it has not previously been reported that Boulos and other U.S. officials were delivering this message directly to Lebanon.

There was no immediate response from the White House or State Department to Reuters questions on whether the U.S. has weighed in on Hezbollah's role in the cabinet or Boulos's role.

Boulos told Lebanon's Al Jadeed TV he looked forward to the government being formed without "those whose experience is with the previous system", so as to restore international confidence.

One of the people familiar with the matter, who is close to Hezbollah, said there was "significant American pressure on Salam and Aoun to clip the wings of Hezbollah and its allies."

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Three other people with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters that allowing Hezbollah or Amal to nominate the finance minister would hurt Lebanon's chances of accessing foreign funds to help meet a huge reconstruction bill from last year's war, in which Israeli air strikes flattened swathes of the country.

Much of the damage is in majority Shi'ite areas where Hezbollah draws support. Hezbollah has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon to rebuild, but Lebanese and regional sources say that international assistance is dependent on political developments.

One of those milestones was Aoun's election as president.

A source close to the Saudi royal court said French, Saudi, and U.S. envoys had told Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the leader of Amal and a close Hezbollah ally, that international financial assistance including from Saudi Arabia hinged on Aoun's election.

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U.S. 'RED LINE'

The next step, the sources said, was government formation.

When asked about Hezbollah's inclusion in the new government, France's foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said the government needed to be strong and capable of bringing together all of Lebanon in all its diversity.

French officials said that even though Hezbollah had been weakened, the demands of Lebanon's Shi'ite community should not be ignored and that Hezbollah had a role in the political landscape.

Lebanon's power-sharing system parcels out state positions on a sectarian basis. The presidency goes to a Maronite Christian, the premiership to a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament to a Shi'ite Muslim.

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Salam, a judge who had been serving as the head of the International Court of Justice, was nominated on Jan. 13 to form Lebanon's new cabinet. He had won the backing of most lawmakers, but not Hezbollah or the Amal Movement.

He has spent the last two weeks consulting with political parties to form a cabinet, whose posts are also doled out based on sect and political affiliation.

Berri told U.S. government-funded Arabic language broadcaster Al Hurra on Tuesday that his party had nominated lawmaker and former minister Yassin Jaber for the post.

Three of the sources who spoke to Reuters for this story said the U.S. had no objections to the post going to a Shi'ite Muslim but that it did not want to see Amal or Hezbollah name the minister directly.

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One of them said that Washington had conveyed a message to Salam that Lebanon was in a new phase and that it was unacceptable for Hezbollah and its allies "to enjoy the same privileges" it once had, including by "obtaining sensitive ministries such as finance."

U.S. House Representatives Darin LaHood and Darrell Issa, Republicans who co-chair the U.S.-Lebanon Friendship Caucus, wrote to Trump this week to ask him to consider that financial and reconstruction help to Lebanon "be predicated on several, crucial policies," according to a copy of their letter seen by Reuters.

"Lebanon's new government must not allow any members of Hezbollah, or their political party proxies, to serve in the new government," the pair wrote.

Michael Young at the Carnegie Middle East Center said the U.S. saw the finance ministry post as a "red line" given its say on public spending in Lebanon, whose financial system collapsed catastrophically in 2019 under the weight of massive state debts wracked up by profligate spending by ruling factions.

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"The U.S. is trying to put in place in Lebanon a post-Hezbollah order, and therefore it makes sense as far as they're concerned to deny Hezbollah and the Amal Movement the latitude to have a say on government policy," Young told Reuters.

The tug-of-war over the post has sparked political tensions in Lebanon, with the Christian Lebanese Forces Party - a staunch opponent of Hezbollah - threatening to boycott the government if Hezbollah and Amal name that minister and other key positions.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Samia Nakhoul, Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Matt Spetalnick in Washington, D.C.; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Tom Perry, William Maclean)
Denise Hill said that compared to K-12 or higher education, adult education is like the stepchild in the corner that nobody really wants to deal with.

Hill recently started as executive director of the Literacy Council of Frederick County, a nonprofit that offers several programs focused on addressing adult educational needs.

She follows Laurie Fisher, the first executive director of the Literacy Council, who retired last summer.

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Hill said adult education includes English language services, digital literacy, GED services and workforce development.

She said a lot of funding goes toward K-12 education and higher education, which are seen as the natural steps in a persons education journey  but adult education is for that in-between space.

What about those people who had to leave school to get jobs, or somebody who got pregnant prior ... or somebody who came from another country? she said.

[There are] many different reasons that derail that traditional process, that leave people in this space that still need to be educated to be able to move forward.

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Hill comes to Frederick Countys Literacy Council with decades of experience teaching in adult education and higher education. She officially began her new role on Jan. 6.

She believes her experiences in working with diverse populations in different adult education areas, as well as communicating with funding and grant providers, will be valuable to the council and expanding its impact and the people it helps.

Hill was raised in Prince Georges County and attended Prince Georges Community College and Bowie State University. She received her masters degree from Marquette University in Wisconsin and briefly moved back to Maryland, then moved to New York.

She said she has worked in several fields, including adult education, higher education, and communications and media relations.

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Her journey in adult education began while she was living in New York and running a radio station. She was asked to speak at a community college in New Jersey.

The encouragement that I was giving the students apparently impressed the program manager then, and [they were] like, Listen, can you come teach our GED classes? she said. Hill had taught before, but she hadnt taught GED classes.

The thing that our adult learners needed most was inspiration and encouragement to believe they could do it. The contents not the hard part  its believing you can get through the content to the goal of getting your high school diploma, in that case.

Hill said thats when she fell in love with teaching adult education.

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She said she immediately saw results from students because she was helping them overcome the biggest obstacles of gaining confidence and believing in themselves.

She said one student was an attorney in her home country, and when she came to the U.S., she had to start all over again. Shes back to being an attorney now, according to Hill.

That students experience isnt uncommon, as some students immigrate to the U.S. and have to restart their educational journeys even if they had complete degrees in their home country. Not knowing English can be an intimidating barrier.

You have to battle through all of those other negative voices and your own just to get to success, and sometimes you just need people in your corner who wont show you how to be successful in the content, but show you how to be successful in life, Hill said.

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... Having that ability to do that with others really poured into me as much as I was pouring into them, so that kind of got me hooked.

Coming to Frederick

Hills most recent role was the director of community impact at Classroom 2 Community in Rockville, which offers adult education programs like English language classes, GED education and computer courses.

She said at that organization, there was nowhere else to go except the executive director role, and Classroom 2 Community already had one.

She was seeking that specific leadership role to continue to expand the impact that I would have in others lives at the time the position opened up at Frederick Countys Literacy Council.

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Currently, Hill said, the Literacy Council has four core programs: tutoring particularly designed for students with low English language skills; conversation and curriculum-based community classes; workplace classes where students learn at employers job sites; and parent literacy classes.

As the Literacy Councils executive director, Hill said, her responsibilities include finding funding opportunities for the nonprofit, expanding ways to serve more students and their needs, growing the councils volunteer base and spreading more publicity about the organization.

She said one of her biggest goals is to enlarge the communitys understanding of literacy.

When a lot of people think about literacy, they think about reading and writing English  but the concept of literacy encompasses so many other topics, too, like knowing how to use a computer or how to speak professionally.

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She also emphasized that peoples literacy doesnt just impact the individual. It affects the community.

Its not just English literacy. Its digital literacy. Its financial literacy. Its citizenship. Its so many different areas that impact the ability for a learner to be successful in life, which impacts the community at large, Hill said.

Ultimately, my goal is to expand the understanding that were in this together, and whether you come to us as a tutor to support the work, as a student to get support, as a funder or somebody whos giving donations ... its important that we all become involved in helping each other be better.
*Attached video: Cleveland crime by the numbers

JOLIET, Ill. (WJW)  A priest from Michigan who hosts The Exorcist Files podcast is now facing charges in Illinois after allegedly pulling out a teenage girls hair and using it to floss his teeth.

Father Carlos Martins, podcast host of The Exorcist Files and author of a book by the same name, was charged in January in connection to an alleged incident with a minor that happened in November of 2024.

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No survivors after collision between American Airlines jet, Army helicopter near DC

According to Prosecutors from Will County Ill. in a criminal complaint on Jan. 22, Martins placed the hair of a minor in his mouth in an insulting or provoking nature.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on Nov. 25, 2024, in Will County.

According to PEOPLE, the incident happened while Martins was visiting the Queen of Apostles parish in Joliet as part of the Relic of St. Judes nationwide American tour directed by Martins evangelist religious ministry, Treasures of the Church.

According to PEOPLE, a Joliet Police spokesperson said a teen boy who was waiting in line to see the relic told police Martins was making jokes about having hair before grabbing a 13-year-old girls hair and putting it in his mouth and making a flossing motion.

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Lakewood High lockdown lifted following threat

According to a statement from the Diocese of Joliet in November, During the course of the days veneration in Queen of Apostles Church, an incident with the priest and some students was reported to have happened in our church. We immediately contacted the police. A police investigation is still ongoing.

According to the statement, the priest involved was confronted and was informed that he must depart from our parish and out of our Diocese. In an abundance of caution, the veneration of the relic and evening mass were canceled.

At the time, the incident was immediately reported to Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet.

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All involved in this incident are safe. We are deeply saddened by this incident and all affected by the cancellation of the relic tour. Thank you for your patience as we worked through all the proper protocols, decisions and actions, the statement said.

Why me? Wayne Dawson gets candid about faith amid cancer fight

According to Joliet police, Martins was taken into custody on Monday, PEOPLE reported.

Martins status with the Archdiocese of Detroit is now listed as Ministry revoked, according to the churchs website.

According to PEOPLE, Martins has denied the allegations.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT)  Today, I went to a local grocery store in Montgomery. The price for a dozen eggs was over $8.

Leaders in agriculture told CBS 42 avian bird flu is keeping egg prices high and some shelves empty across the state.

Its a real problem. So, the small farmers are trying to help, said Keith Southard, owner of Southard Farms in Huntsville.

He said they collect 600 eggs a day and sell them directly to customers. Southard says the bird flu is actually helping his sales.

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People start searching out for other sources of eggs, Southard explained. And we have our online store and website so people can find us there, and do find us on Facebook. So, we usually pick up a lot of business.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate said its a supply and demand issue. He said dont expect egg prices to come back down before Easter.

As ACLU of Alabama celebrates 60th anniversary, group fights to stop anti-DEI law from taking effect statewide

Its nothing that we wont backfill and end up with enough eggs for everyone. But, for that short period of time, yeah, its a shortage of supply.

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Pate explained that shortage of supply is due to the bird flu. He said its wiped out 80 million table-laying chickens nationwide.

Market pace will respond. It cant overnight go replace those 80 million chickens, said Pate. But, were steady replacing em. And course, Easter, obviously egg prices always go up in March and April.

Until Easter, the Alabama Grocers Association is offering advice. Ellie Taylor, president, said you should do your research before buying your eggs.

Every store has their advantages. So, like I said, be checking on social media or in flyers on those things and find the lowest prices out there, she said. Because it may be one store has a bunch and then the others gonna get it the next day.

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Commissioner Pate warns against drinking raw milk. He said the avian flu can get into dairy cows, too.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since taking office on Jan. 20, U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government and the private sector.

While Trump's orders have been celebrated by some supporters and allies, they have been criticized by advocacy groups who say they might deepen inequities and undo decades of progress made to enshrine civil rights protections for marginalized groups.

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Trump and his allies have also blamed, without offering evidence, diversity efforts for the handling of recent deadly California wildfires and a Washington air crash. Civil rights advocates dismiss the allegations and call them dangerous.

WHAT IS DEI?

DEI programs have been part of workplace diversity efforts to ensure fairer representation for groups seen as historically marginalized, such as African Americans, LGBTQ+ community members, women, disabled people and other ethnic minorities in the United States.

The efforts aim to remove systemic barriers for groups affected by a legacy of racism, sexism and xenophobia.

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DEI practices include training on combating discrimination, addressing pay inequity along gender or racial lines and broadening recruitment and access for underrepresented ethnic groups.

WHAT IS THE U.S. HISTORY OF DEI?

DEI is a relatively new term but efforts to address inequities and structural racism go back centuries in the U.S.

More recent efforts can be traced to the landmark Civil Rights Act signed in 1964 by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, which banned discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, color and sex, and ushered in sweeping changes to American life, including ending segregation.

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The legislation followed an escalating series of demonstrations by activists in the 1950s and 1960s, amid the civil rights movement.

In 1965, Johnson issued an executive order that further prohibited discrimination in federal employment by requiring the government to ensure that applicants and employees are treated without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. Trump has revoked that action.

DEI efforts picked up pace, including in the private sector, in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.

The killings of Floyd and several other Black Americans led to protests worldwide against racism and police brutality.

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WHAT DO TRUMP AND HIS ALLIES SAY TO OPPOSE DEI?

Trump and his allies say DEI unfairly discriminates against other Americans, including white people and men, and weakens the importance of merit in job hiring or promotion.

"My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion nonsense - and these are policies that were absolute nonsense - throughout the government and the private sector," Trump told the World Economic Forum after taking office for his second term.

WHAT DO CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES SAY IN SUPPORT OF DEI?

Civil rights advocates say DEI efforts help uplift marginalized groups and address the continued effects of historical and generational inequity.

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The American Civil Liberties Union says DEI programs are not discriminatory. "They are essential to creating environments where everyone has a chance to succeed and addressing persistent barriers for individuals to advance in their careers," the ACLU said.

The United Nations' top human rights official, Volker Turk, said diversity was not a threat and should be treasured.

WHAT HAS TRUMP DONE TO DISMANTLE DEI?

Trump has signed executive orders calling for the elimination of government diversity programs and the removal of all federal offices and jobs related to DEI. Trump has pressured the private sector as well to rescind DEI policies.

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The president has also issued an order to end funding for schools supporting critical race theory, an academic framework most often taught in law schools that rests on the premise that racial bias - intentional or not - is baked into U.S. laws and institutions.

HOW ARE TRUMP'S EFFORTS BEING RECEIVED BY AMERICANS?

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 59% of respondents, including 30% of Republicans, opposed Trump's moves to end federal efforts to promote the hiring of women and members of racial minority groups.

When asked specifically about Trump's order to close federal DEI offices, respondents were more evenly divided, with 51% opposed and 44% in favor, largely along partisan lines.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Kat Stafford and Rod Nickel)
By Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - If U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to slap 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico it could usher in a volatile new chapter in the longstanding trade relationship with the impacts hitting consumers.

Mexico is the United States' largest trading partner, representing over 15% of total trade. The U.S. imported more than $475 billion worth of Mexican products in 2023, a figure that has grown about 70% over the last decade, census data showed. U.S. exports to Mexico also accounted for more than $322 billion.

With this heavy mutual reliance, where did the threat of tariffs come from and how would consumers be affected?

WHEN DID TRUMP START MAKING THESE TARIFF THREATS?

New tariffs on imported goods, including against Mexico which is a partner in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), emerged as a campaign trail pledge by Trump to protect American industry and push policy demands. His promises ranged from a universal tariff on foreign-imported goods to tariffs higher than 200% on vehicles imported from Mexico.

Trump wants to create the External Revenue Service, a government body "to collect tariffs, duties, and all revenue" from foreign sources, arguing that Americans have for too long been taxed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and that it was time for those who benefit from trade to start paying "their fair share."

In the case of Mexico, Trump has used the threat of tariffs to pressure the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum to further crack down on migration and fentanyl trafficking.

As recently as Thursday, Trump said he still planned to implement the 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada.

HOW HAS MEXICO RESPONDED TO THE THREATS?

Sheinbaum and officials in her administration have suggested Mexico would retaliate if Trump implemented tariffs with a set of their own on U.S. exports, and warned that such tit-for-tat measures would cause enormous economic losses for both countries.

Sheinbaum has said she doubts Trump will follow through on his pledge to impose the tariffs on Feb 1.

Sheinbaum has defended Mexico's willingness to stop migrants arriving at the U.S. border and help to fight the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S., but has also said that criminal groups in Mexico are receiving guns illegally from the U.S.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE GOODS THE U.S. IMPORTS FROM MEXICO?

The largest sector by far to be affected by new tariffs would be autos and auto parts, which accounted for $129 billion worth of imports from Mexico in 2023. The supply chains of the three members of the USMCA are heavily intertwined. Mexico and Canada account for more than 50% of all auto parts exported to the United States.
Six people were injured in an explosion at a warehouse of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall plant in Murcia, Spain, the Spanish news agency EFE reported on Jan. 30, citing local emergency services.

The explosion occurred at 4:20 p.m. local time on Jan. 30, starting a large fire that spread to about 2,000 square meters but was subsequently extinguished. Six people were injured, one of whom is in serious condition, according to officials.

The cause of the blast is currently under investigation, Spanish authorities said.

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The incident was not the first to result in casualties at the Spanish plant. Two workers suffered severe burns due to a solvent fire a year ago, according to EFE.

Rheinmetall is one of the largest arms manufacturers in Europe. The company provides weapons, ammunition, and equipment to Ukraine under contracts with the German government, such as 155 mm artillery rounds, Leopard 1 tanks, mortar shells, and drone surveillance systems, among other weapons.

Rheinmetall also opened a military vehicle repair facility in Ukraine in June 2024, the first of four plants it plans to open in the country.

Read also: NATO official ties assassination plot against Rheinmetall CEO to Russian sabotage campaign

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Claim:

U.S. President Donald Trump disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee. He also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard as well as 400 Federal Aviation Administration senior officials.

Rating:

Rating: Mixture

What's True:

The Trump administration fired former head of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Linda L. Fagan, according to a bulletin sent to all Coast Guard employees, on Jan. 21, 2025. Snopes also confirmed that the Trump administration fired former Transportation Security Administration head David Pekoske and terminated all advisory committees at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a key safety committee under TSA.

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What's Undetermined:

There is no evidence Trump fired 400 Federal Aviation Administration officials.

Amid reports of a collision between a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, 2025, killing 67 people, social media users began claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump disbanded a key aviation safety committee and fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Posts spread on Reddit, Bluesky and X (archived, archived and archived) while the cause of the crash remained under intense investigation. News reports about Trump's purported firings were amplified online, including by Democratic lawmakers U.S. Rep. Norma Torres of California and Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico (archived, archived, archived and archived).

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Some posts also claimed that Trump fired 400 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) senior officials and 3,000 air traffic controllers (archived, archived and archived).

Snopes was able to independently verify that Trump's administration fired the heads of the Coast Guard and the TSA and disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee. However, we found no evidence that Trump fired 400 Federal Aviation Administration officials. Thus, we rate this claim a mixture.

Snopes also previously found no evidence that Trump fired 3,000 air traffic controllers.

Trump's administration announced the firing of Admiral Linda L. Fagan, the first woman to head the Coast Guard as its commandant, in a Jan. 21, 2025, bulletin to Coast Guard employees. The bulletin was signed by Benjamine C. Huffman, Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as its acting secretary, before the U.S. Senate confirmed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

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According to the bulletin, Admiral Kevin E. Lunday became acting commandant of the United States Coast Guard after Fagan's dismissal. Congress confirmed Fagan as commandant of the Coast Guard under former President Joe Biden's administration in 2021.

Huffman also sent a Jan. 20 memo to "all members of Department of Homeland Security advisory committees" informing them that he was directing the "termination of all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately." As the Aviation Security Advisory Committee is established under the TSA, which is part of DHS, that means all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee were terminated through this order.

In alignment with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security, I am directing the termination of all current memberships on advisory committees within DHS, effective immediately. Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS's strategic priorities. To outgoing advisory board members, you are welcome to reapply, thank you for your service.

(Andrew Huddleston/American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO)

According to the TSA (archived), the Aviation Security Advisory Committee was established in 1989 after a terrorist attack on Pan Am flight 103 and provides advice to the TSA administrator on aviation security policy. Under a 2014 law, the committee's existence became permanent  but the Trump administration's decision to remove all advisory committee members meant it was effectively disbanded, at least temporarily.

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Snopes obtained a copy of the memo from Andrew Huddleston, director of communications at the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union. Huddleston was also able to send former TSA Administrator David Pekoske's farewell message to TSA employees.

In the message, Pekoske wrote that he was "advised by President Trump's transition team" that his time as TSA administrator would end at 12 p.m. EST on Jan. 20, 2025.

(Andrew Huddleston/American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO)

Pekoske led the TSA from 2017 to 2025 after Trump appointed him and Congress confirmed him in 2017.

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Thus, it is true that Trump disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee and fired the heads of the TSA and the Coast Guard. However, we found no evidence that he also fired 400 senior officials at the FAA. As Snopes previously reported, the fact that dozens of users shared posts with identical language claiming Trump fired 400 senior officials and 3,000 air traffic controllers could indicate a disinformation campaign.

While Trump did sign a memorandum on Jan. 22, 2025, ending a Biden administration FAA hiring policy that he said "prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency" and ordered the FAA administrator to review the performance of FAA employees in "critical safety positions," we found no evidence he specifically fired 400 senior officials. Here's the key text in the memo:

This Presidential Memorandum orders the Secretary of Transportation and FAA Administrator to immediately stop Biden DEI hiring programs and return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring.

It also requires the FAA Administrator to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans' flight safety and efficiency.

Furthermore, FAA's website (archived) only shows 18 "key official" designations in its administrative structure, suggesting that the FAA does not have 400 "senior officials" to begin with, depending on how you define a senior official. It is true, however, that this key official page has six vacancies as of this writing. A Google search for "Trump fired 400 FAA officials" also returned no relevant results from reputable news outlets.

Snopes reached out to the FAA, the Trump administration and the air traffic controllers' union for comment and will update the story if we hear back.

Sources:

"Administrator David Pekoske Is Officially on the Job! | Transportation Security Administration." Transportation Security Administration, Archive.org, 11 Aug. 2017, web.archive.org/web/20210128215102/www.tsa.gov/blog/2017/08/11/administrator-david-pekoske-officially-job. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

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Huffman, Benjamine C. "ALCOAST 021/25 - JAN 2025 LEADERSHIP NOTIFICATION to USCG WORKFORCE." U.S. Coast Guard, GovDelivery, 21 Jan. 2025, content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/3cdd8a2. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

"Key Officials | Federal Aviation Administration." Federal Aviation Administration, www.faa.gov/about/key_officials. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

"President Trump Announces Acting Cabinet and Cabinet-Level Positions  the White House." The White House, 20 Jan. 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/designation-of-acting-leaders/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

"President Trump's America First Priorities." The White House, 22 Jan. 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ends-dei-madness-and-restores-excellence-and-safety-within-the-federal-aviation-administration/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

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Taija PerryCook. "No Evidence Trump Fired 3,000 Air Traffic Controllers." Snopes, Snopes.com, 30 Jan. 2025, www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/30/trump-fired-air-traffic-controllers/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

Tester, Jon. S.1804 - Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act of 2014. 18 Dec. 2014, www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1804/titles. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

"US Senate Confirms Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security | Homeland Security." U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 25 Jan. 2025, www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01/25/us-senate-confirms-kristi-noem-secretary-homeland-security. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
The Jacksonville community came together on Thursday night to remember and honor the life of Breon Allen, the 7-year-old who died during a drive-by shooting.

READ: Senseless murder: 7-year-old dead, man hospitalized after shooting on Commonwealth Avenue

Dozens of people, including members of the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office and Mayor Donna Deegan, attended the candlelight vigil at Johnnie Walker Park.

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The suspects are still on the run, and investigators are doing everything they can to catch them.

READ: Scorched earth: Ride-along gives inside look at JSOs search for suspects who killed 7-year-old

The reward for any information leading to an arrest in the murder was raised to $25,000 on Thursday.

Tears were shed, candles were lit and hands were held Allen who was known to his family and friends as Dusse.

During the vigil, his grandmother said, You would never forget Dusse, if you met him, you would never forget him.

His teammate even came forward and said how much he missed him.

Everybody loves him, he is well-known, a football star, community member Amber Patterson said.

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Allen was a star on and off the field.

Very smart, Allens auntie Elisa McFadden said. Everybody is talking about the athletic side  [but he is] very smart [too].

Casheena Love, Allens mother, said she had high hopes for her sons future.

READ: He was a football superstar: Mother of murdered Jacksonville 7-year-old calls for justice

It saddens me and Im heartbroken behind it because I had such high expectations for my child, Love said. And he was just taken away for nothing.

Last Friday, police said he was shot in killed in a gang-related shooting outside his home. Dusse was with his cousin- Lafayette Mango Jr. JSO said it was a targeted attack on Mango Jr.  a known gang member.

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Community members are tired of the gun violence in Jacksonville.

Im sorry we have failed you once again, Im sorry for that beautiful little boy, Mayor Donna Deegan said to Allens parents at the vigil.

Deegan told the crowd of mourners she wants to do everything she can to curb gun violence in the city.

When this happens here it happens to all of us in Jacksonville, Deegan said. Weve got to do better for our kids out here  how many times have I been out here for tragedies  right down the street, right?

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Many tonight, praised Dusse parents for keeping him off of the streets  and allowing him to focus on after-school activities.

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His coaches even retired Dusses jersey number 9  and gave his family a cleat signed by all his teammates.

My brother didnt deserve what came to him, especially because he had places, he was going, so it really means a lot to know that everyone is here to support him and actually loved him and cared for him, Allens sister Bryanna Clemons said.

JSO believes there are multiple shooters, but after six days of searching, they have no arrests.

Theyre hoping that reward will get someone to come forward and give Allens family closure.

If you know something, you can contact First Coast Crime Stoppers, and remain anonymous. You can do so by calling 1.866.845.TIPS, visiting FCCrimeStoppers.com, or using the free P3 Tips app.

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READ: My baby was innocent: Mother of murdered 7-year-old speaks out against gang violence

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FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY)  The Tygart Valley United Way held a celebration lunch inside Fairmont State Universitys (FSU) Falcon Center on Thursday afternoon to celebrate the more than $30,000 raised this year for Fairmont States United for Impact workplace campaign.

Were excited to be here at Fairmont State today, celebrating another successful campaign, Tygart Valley United Way CEO Brett White said. When the community is in need, Fairmont State is always there. So were thrilled to be here to celebrate with them today.

White told 12 News that Fairmont States campaign is the second-largest workplace campaign in the Tygart Valley and that its part of the Tygart Valley United Ways overall community campaign, which has a goal of raising $600,000 for the Tygart Valley region this year.

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Every single dollar goes right back to work of helping support 42 different programs and 30 health and human service agencies, he added.

According to White, the Tygart Valley United Way has reached about 75% of its campaign goal and is working hard to bring in the remaining dollars by the end of February. However, he said that this large donation from Fairmont State University will be a big help.

United Way holds point-in-time homeless count in Harrison County

Every little bit counts, and every little bit goes every direction and helps every agency here within the Tygart Valley region, FSU Senior Director of Career Services and Community Engagement Susan Rodriguez said.

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Rodriguez stated that FSU was able to raise more than $30,000 throughout the year through different initiatives such as a chili cookoff and jeans day. Just all these things that contributethat go to the actual campaign goal here that weve set here at Fairmont State University, she added.

The money raised will be allocated to Tygart Valley United Way directly, which will distribute the funds among its different programs and health/human service agencies at its discretion. However, Rodriguez added that people who make campaign pledges are able to designate specific agencies to receive the funds such as the Disability Action Center and soup kitchen.

This celebration luncheon is held annually between Tygart Valley United Way and Fairmont State University as a way to recognize FSU staff and faculty that contribute to this workplace campaignincluding the team captains. Our team captains are very important that they kind of spearhead the group, and get them motivated and get them going to contribute to the United Way campaign, Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez said that shes grateful to everybody who contributed to this effort, adding that the United Way is very important to the local community and the agencies it serves. Its very rewarding, she added. They cant survive if they dont have our help, [] its a very key role that we play a little small part of.

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FSU works with Tygart Valley United Way annually on their Day of Action and also collaborates on volunteer initiatives and different projects throughout the year.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com.
HARTSVILLE, S.C. (WBTW)  A familiar face has been chosen to lead the Hartsville Fire Department.

The city announced the appointment of Hartsville native Ricky Flowers to the position on Thursday, saying he brings a wealth of experience, leadership, and dedication to the job.

Flowers appointment comes after city leaders dismissed former Chief Jeff Burr and two others in November citing policy violations. At the time, the city also asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to review the circumstances that led to the decision.

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News13 submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to SLED about the terminations in November but so far has not yet received any documents from the agency. SLED responded in December, saying they would provide documents once the investigation was complete.

Flowers, a graduate of Coker University, joined the department in 2002 as a junior member, later becoming a full-time firefighter and a driver/operator, the city said in a news release. He later moved to the Darlington County Fire District, where he became the chief in 2016.

Chief Flowers extensive experience, proven leadership, and deep roots in Hartsville make him the perfect choice to lead our Fire Department, City Manager Daniel Moore said. We are excited to welcome him back and look forward to his positive impact on our department and community.

* * *

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Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Several families have been displaced following a fire in West Nashville Thursday.

Nashville firefighters were called to Hillside Condominiums at around 1 p.m. Thursday and found smoke billowing from the roof of Building C.

The smoke and flames were billowing from the roof of this unit, Nashville Fire Department spokesperson Kendra Loney said. You could see the smoke and flames for a couple minutes away before approaching this structure.

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PREVIOUS: Crews fight 2-alarm apartment fire in West Nashville

Dawn Eaton is a resident in the next building over.

I kept hearing a noise that I thought was a nail gun  it was a popping sound. It kept going on, Eaton told News 2. Then I realized something else was going on and I looked out my sliding glass doors and saw the building on fire.

My first thought was, Is it going to come over to my building? Is there any chance?' Eaton said. But of course, I saw all of the fire engines and realized that they would get it quickly contained.

Eaton said she had checked in on her friends who live in the building.

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Theyre devastated, Eaton added. And Im sure it hasnt even hit home yet.

The Nashville Fire Department said everyone safely made it out of the building.

Two firefighters who were on their way to the scene were involved in a crash. They, and one civilian, were taken to the hospital for treatment. Their condition is not known at this time.

We do want to remind people that as first responders are trying to get to incidents and have their lights and sirens activated, we ask that when they see the lights to move to the right so that everybody can be safe in that instance and make sure our first responders are able to get to these scenes, Loney said.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

The building will likely be a total loss; the Nashville Fire Department said the American Red Cross was working to assist those affected by the fire.

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We did have someone report that they had two cats that were missing, Loney said. We were able to recover one of those pets and we are hopeful that we will find the other pet as well.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  In August we told you about a man who died on the operating table, after a surgeon removed his liver, mistaking it for his spleen. His family is now seeking justice.

Zarzaur Law filed a civil suit on Thursday against the doctor who performed the surgery. The lawsuit details the initial decision for the surgery, the surgery itself, and the alleged cover-up that followed.

Attorney Joe Zarzaur claims it may be the most egregious medical malpractice in United States history. Five months ago, William Bryan and his wife Beverly Bryan were visiting their rental property in Destin when William felt pain on his left side.

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Family seeks justice after doctor removed liver instead of spleen, man dies on the operation table

He was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach and became a patient of General Surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky. Dr. Shaknovsky diagnosed a spleen surgery.

When the Bryans said hed rather have the surgery at a hospital near his home in north Alabama, Shaknovsky said it was too risky, insisting he perform the surgery at Ascension Emerald Coast.

After the surgery, William died because Shaknovsky removed his liver, which is on the opposite side of the body from the spleen. After the procedure hospital staff told Williams wife Beverly the spleen was so diseased that it was four times bigger than usual and had migrated to the other side of his body.

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Thursday, Zarzaur filed a lawsuit on the Bryans behalf, suing Shaknovsky, Sacred Heart Health System, doing business as Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, and four of the nurses who cared for William.

They basically came up with a cover-up excuse for why Mr. Brian passed away. They then proceeded to load in this Brian to get her not to choose an autopsy. They then went to the medical examiners office and then they filled out the forms required by the state to be filled out under oath. They filled those out intentionally falsifying the cause of death. So not only did they have a medical malpractice that maybe the most egregious medical malpractice in the history of this country, but we have a hospital system, a catholic hospital system of all hospital systems that decided conscious fully, and intentionally to then lie about and cover it up, Zarzaur said.

Zarzaur claims there is surveillance video from the operating area that shows Ascensions CEO meeting with hospital staff around on the evening that Bryan died.

There is no audio of the meeting, but immediately after those same staff members told Beverly her husband died from a splenic artery aneurysm.

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Shaknovsky supposedly has 14 years of medical experience. This is reportedly his second incident of removing the wrong organ from a patient in two years.

I think they just had covered up probably a lot of other things and thought they can cover this up, too. So its very disheartening to think that the last place you think youre saying and people are caring for you in a hospital would not be trustworthy to have a decent doctor, a competent doctor, and know that and just keep letting him operate. He operated even a week after my husband died on the operating table. They still let him operate, Beverly said.

Zarzaur says their goal is to get justice for the Bryan family and make the community safer. Florida suspended Shaknovskys medical license in September. He voluntarily surrendered his Alabama medical license in November.

It is unclear whether or not Shaknovsky will face criminal charges. Zarzaur is a civil lawyer, but he did clarify that falsifying medical records is a felony.

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NEW ORLEANS, La. (Louisiana First)  People who lost loved ones in the New Years Day terror attack in New Orleans are seeking justice.

At a conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans, attorney Antonio Romanucci announced a civil lawsuit filing against the city of New Orleans, the N.O.P.D., and other contractors, like the French Quarter Management District.

Plaintiff Antoinette Klima is the mother of a slain Baton Rouge man, Reggie Hunters, son.

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I am the mother of a young boy who tragically lost his father, Reggie Hunter, said Klima. I had the privilege of knowing Reggie for 20 years, and we agreed to give our son a better life than what we had. Like other parents, we wanted more for him.

On New Years Day, a white pickup truck drove along a pedestrian-filled Bourbon Street and opened fire, leaving 15 people dead and dozens injured.

The suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, of Texas, was shot and killed by New Orleans Police Department officers in returning gunfire.

Law firms launch civil investigation into deadly New Orleans terror attack

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Romanucci said the city needs to be held to account.

What they did not care about that night was doing the right and responsible thing, said Romanucci. What they did not do was protect those who were vulnerable and exposed, and those were the pedestrians they opened up Bourbon Street to. This was foreseeable, predictable and absolutely, entirely preventable.



Romanuccis firm, which specializes in this specific type of issue, is working with New Orleans firm, Maples and Connick, for a list of 21 people who have suffered directly from this event. He expects that list to grow.



Klima says, This pain may never fully go away, said Klima. People say it gets easier, but Im not sure at this point. What I do know is that we have to find a way to move forward. We must find accountability, seek justice, and ensure no child has to suffer like this again due to senseless violence.

The NOPD and the city of New Orleans both say they are unable to discuss pending litigations.

Latest News

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Louisiana First News.
By Thomas Escritt and Christian Kraemer

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's parliament rejected on Friday an opposition draft law on tightening immigration policy, averting the prospect of a law passing for the first time in modern German history thanks to the backing of the far-right.

On Wednesday the Bundestag lower house passed a non-binding motion on migration proposed by the opposition conservatives with the support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), breaking a taboo against cooperating with the far-right party, which is under surveillance by Germany's security services.

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But this time 12 conservative lawmakers opted not to back the draft bill sponsored by their own leader Friedrich Merz, who opinion polls suggest will be Germany's next chancellor after a national election set for Feb. 23.

Their failure to endorse his draft deals a blow to the authority of Merz, who had pushed for the law despite warnings from party colleagues that he risked being tarnished with the charge of voting alongside the far-right.

"The draft law is rejected," said parliament vice-president Petra Pau, announcing that 338 lawmakers had backed Merz's bill calling for restrictions on family reunification and more expulsions at the borders, while 350 had voted against.

"I would have liked to see a different result but this creates clarity," Merz told reporters after the vote.

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Wednesday's vote, which had passed with AfD backing, prompted nationwide protests, a high-profile resignation from Merz's CDU party, and rebukes from former Chancellor Angela Merkel, a predecessor as party leader, and Germany's Protestant and Catholic churches.

Merz had argued that the restrictions outlined in Friday's draft bill were a necessary response to a series of high-profile killings in public spaces by people with an immigrant background.

Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and their Greens coalition partner said they would not back measures that they believed illegal under European law and which they said would not have helped prevent the deadly attacks.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher)
CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA)  45 to 47 million Americans go hungry each day, something that was an important topic at the Illinois Farm Bureaus Local Foods Conference in Springfield.

The conference was held on this week and featured Ertharin Cousin, who was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

From the Farm: Biofuel tax credits

Stu Ellis caught up with Cousin to find out what she thinks about efforts in Washington to cut upwards of $250 billion from food assistance programs in the Farm Bill.

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I said, Please dont. Please dont. When every American, regardless of your income, recognizes the rising food prices, to suggest that you are going to either reduce the amount of assistance that you provide to our neediest Americans, or cut whole families off, would suggest that we are, we are failing to recognize the challenge that lack of access to nutritious food is creating another whole set of problems, Cousin said.

Cousin also addressed global hunger, which she said was attributed to political conflict and climate change from the increasing numbers of floods and droughts.

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The Labour-backing boss of Iceland has hit out at Rachel Reevess inheritance tax raid on farmers, breaking with the party after previously supporting its Budget.

Richard Walker, managing director of the supermarket, criticised the Chancellors decision to target farmers with higher death duties, suggesting online retailers would be a better source of tax generation for the Treasury.

He said: The Treasury is right to look at levelling the playing field on tax, but it has parked its tractor in the wrong place going after hard-working British farmers.

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Lets stop messing around and make online sales tax reform the priority. High streets and farmers are the bedrock of this great country, we need to get behind them.

His comments came just hours after he was criticised for failing to publicly support farmers in the tax row despite concerns raised by almost every other major supermarket.

Mr Walker, the son of Icelands founder Sir Malcolm Walker, is a former Tory donor who changed allegiance to Labour in January last year.

His comments will be seen as a break with Labour, after he spoke out in support of Rachel Reeves numerous times over recent months.

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In December, Mr Walker urged business chiefs to stop wallowing and complaining about higher taxes.

He also said he was confident Ms Reeves was listening to business before the Budget, telling the Telegraph last summer: Shes a grown-up. She knows she cant just mete out punishment on big business. She knows shes reliant on them for the growth agenda.

Earlier on Friday, the campaign group No Farmers, No Food had called on Mr Walker to support the industry.

No Farmers, No Food said: Its heartening to see the majority of major supermarkets supporting farmers in their campaign against the Governments inheritance tax on family farms. But why havent Iceland Foods done the same? Its time for all our major supermarkets to unite for farmers.

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Retailers including Tesco, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons have all spoken out against the Chancellors IHT changes in recent weeks, demanding she halt the overhaul.

Ashwin Prasad, Tescos chief commercial officer, this month said the planned raid on farmers would put Britains food security at risk.

Waitrose, meanwhile, said the Government needed to listen to farmers on this issue, adding that rural communities are not an optional part of Britain.

As well as announcing the employer changes at the Budget, the Chancellor also unveiled plans to make farms worth more than 1m liable for 20pc inheritance tax from April 2026. Agricultural businesses were previously exempt from death taxes.

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The National Farmers Union has argued that 75pc of farm businesses could be impacted, with other industry estimates suggesting 2,500 farmers a year will be hit by the overhaul, five times as many as official forecasts. The Treasury argues only 500 estates a year will pay more under the new scheme than they do today.

Rural groups said they needed retail chiefs to come out clearly to support the sector. Mo Metcalf-Fisher, of the Countryside Alliance, said: The time to speak up is now, before its too late.

As the distressing ramifications of the proposed inheritance tax changes to family farms become clearer, more and more businesses are rightly opting to stand with farmers in a common-sense call to the Treasury for an urgent policy rethink.

Supermarkets across the board, as well as major brands in the wider food and hospitality industry, should be thinking about their supply chains and their long-term ability to meet the growing consumer demand for food and drink produced in this country. This wont happen if we lose family farms and further rely on imports.

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A government spokesman said: Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast  we have committed 5bn to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production, and we are developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.

Our reforms to agricultural and business property reliefs will mean estates will pay a reduced effective inheritance tax rate of 20pc, rather than the standard 40pc, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free. This is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on, affecting around 500 estates next year.

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The Trump administration is set to expand a purge of career law enforcement officials, demanding the names of those who worked on January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations for potential removal  a move that could affect thousands.

Leaders of the FBI were instructed Friday to provide the Justice Department by Tuesday information about all current and former bureau employees who at any time worked on January 6 investigations, according to an email from acting FBI director Brian Driscoll and obtained by CNN.

The Justice Department, according to the email, will review those employees to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.

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This request, Driscoll wrote to all bureau personnel, encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts. The acting director noted in the email that such a list would also include him, as well as the acting deputy director.

The requested list, which interim DOJ leaders had spent the past week drawing up, highlights how the new administration has moved quickly to deliver on President Donald Trumps vow to strike back at the Justice Department and FBI that he claims have been weaponized against him. Trump has falsely accused agents of abuse in their court-ordered search of his Mar-a-Lago home and of their treatment of Capitol rioters.

The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.

Driscoll attached to the email a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove with the subject line Termination.

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For each employee included in the lists, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution, Bove wrote. Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.

The Bove memo also referenced the removal of senior FBI officials, which CNN previously reported.

The FBI  including the Bureaus prior leadership  actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the American people over the last four years with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Bove said.

The Justice Department also requested information on FBI personnel who worked on a criminal case brought in September by the previous administration against several high-level members of Hamas over the October 7, 2023, attack.

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Driscoll said in his email that we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do whats in the best interest of the workforce and the American people.

Fridays notices of expected termination sent shockwaves throughout the FBI, line-level agents and analysts told CNN.

This is a massacre meant to chill our efforts to fight crime without fear or favor, said one agent. Even for those not fired, it sends the message that the bureau is no longer independent.

One employee noted the January 6 case, which involved over a thousand defendants located across the country, was the largest investigation ever worked by the FBI.

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Everyone touched this case, the employee said.

January 6 prosecutors fired

Also on Friday, more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases were fired by the Justice Department, according to communications obtained by CNN,

The prosecutors had worked in the US attorneys office in Washington, DC, on a temporary basis on Capitol riot cases. But at the end of the Biden administration, their jobs were being converted to permanent status, according to a separate DOJ memo obtained by CNN and circulated across the DC US attorneys office headed by Ed Martin.

The manner in which these conversions were executed resulted in the mass, purportedly permanent hiring of a group of AUSAs in the weeks leading up to President Trumps second inauguration, which has improperly hindered the ability of acting U.S. Attorney Martin to staff his Office in furtherance of his obligation to faithfully implement the agenda that the American people elected President Trump to execute, Bove wrote in that memo.

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I will not tolerate subversive personnel actions by the previous Administration at any U.S. Attorneys Office. Too much is at stake, he added.

The Trump purge at DOJs main headquarters began last week  within minutes of the new interim leaders being sworn in  as some senior career lawyers were notified that they were being reassigned to a task force focused to immigration-related issues and so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that generally decline to assist federal deportation efforts. The reassignment is widely viewed as an effort to force out senior career officials, some of whom have since resigned.

Emails sent by James McHenry, the acting attorney general, to those being ousted from their jobs have included language that reads: Given your significant role in prosecuting the President, I do not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the Presidents agenda faithfully.

Some agents say Trump and other critics misunderstand that FBI agents and supervisors cant choose which assignments they are given as part of their job. The FBI workforce is broadly conservative and until recently were led for years by lifelong Republican Christopher Wray. The nomination of Kash Patel, Trumps pick to lead the FBI, is pending in the Senate.

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Many agents initially had qualms about being assigned to the Capitol attack and Trump cases, viewing the prosecutions as heavy-handed, people familiar with the matter said. Some Justice Department lawyers leading January 6 cases complained that they believed agents sometimes slow-walked some of their work.

Firings would severely weaken bureau, agents association says

Shortly after Trump took office, Tom Ferguson, a former agent and aide to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, arrived at the FBI headquarters as a policy adviser. Jordan has been a staunch FBI critic and led a subcommittee on purported weaponization of government agencies, including the FBI.

The FBI Agents Association officials met with Patel in recent weeks to raise concerns about possible firings of agents, urging him to protect agents who did their work investigating violent crimes with oversight from judges, FBI supervisors and Justice Department lawyers, according to people briefed on the meeting.

During our meeting, he said that agents would be afforded appropriate process and review and not face retribution based solely on the cases to which they were assigned, the agents association said in a statement.

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The statement also warned that dismissing potentially hundreds of Agents would severely weaken the Bureaus ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday on his nomination, Patel said he didnt know of any upcoming personnel plans.

Are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, FBI agents or personnel associated with Trump investigations? asked Democratic Sen. Cory Booker.

I am not aware of that, senator, Patel replied.

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This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

CNNs Tierney Sneed and Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.

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By Sarah N. Lynch, Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration launched a sweeping round of cuts at the Justice Department on Friday that appeared to focus on FBI agents and others who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

The shakeup, detailed in two memos seen by Reuters and by three sources familiar with the matter, is the Trump administration's latest move to remake the U.S. criminal justice system since he returned to the presidency last week. A group representing FBI agents issued a rare public warning of the potential for hundreds of firings at the nation's top law enforcement agency.

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The new administration already has fired more than a dozen prosecutors who pursued criminal charges against Trump in two cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith that have been dismissed. It also has paused all civil rights and environmental litigation and ordered criminal investigations of state and local officials who interfere with his hardline immigration initiatives.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on Thursday told the top federal prosecutors in each state to compile a list of all prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the investigation of the Capitol riot, which was the largest Justice Department probe in modern U.S. history, two sources briefed on the matter said.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI was ordered to provide by Tuesday a list of all employees who worked on a 2024 criminal case brought by the Justice Department against leaders of the Hamas militant group, according to a memo seen by Reuters. A source briefed on the matter also said the FBI was asked to provide a list of employees who worked on the two Trump cases brought by Smith.

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That memo ordered eight FBI officials to resign or be fired, saying that their participation in the Jan. 6 cases represented part of what Trump has called the "weaponization" of government.

In a statement on Friday, the FBI Agents Association, a membership group of more than 14,000 active and former FBI agents, called the moves "outrageous."

"Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the bureau's ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the bureau and its new leadership for failure," the association added.

The staff cuts are hitting career FBI officials and prosecutors in nonpartisan roles who typically remain in their posts from administration to administration. The bureau has a history of political independence and is responsible for highly sensitive investigations involving counterterrorism, public corruption and cybersecurity.

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In his first day back in the White House on Jan. 20, Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged with storming the Capitol in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Washington, has since launched an inquiry into the use of a felony obstruction charge in prosecutions of people accused of taking part in the Jan. 6 attack.

MAJOR CITIES TARGETED

At least five top FBI officials in major U.S. cities - Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans and Las Vegas - were ordered to resign or be fired, one of the sources said. Another source said that a sixth senior FBI official, in Los Angeles, was given a similar order.

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Another five top officials in FBI headquarters were ordered to leave or face termination earlier in the week, another source told Reuters.

FBI and Justice Department officials declined to comment on the various moves.

"What we are seeing is a raw, unfiltered exercise of presidential authority to purge the government of anyone who put the Constitution first, instead of adherence or loyalty to Donald Trump," said Bradley Moss, an attorney who represents federal employees.

"At a time when we are facing a multitude of threats to the homeland ... it is deeply alarming that the Trump administration appears to be purging dozens of the most experienced agents who are our nation's first line of defense," Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner said in a statement.

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Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, told a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday during his confirmation hearing that he would protect the bureau's 37,000 employees against "political retribution" if he were confirmed.

The same day, the Justice Department said it was investigating the release by an upstate New York sheriff's office of an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally. This appears to be its first use of a new policy to criminally investigate state and local officials who do not comply with Trump's directives.

Bove, in a separate Friday memo seen by Reuters, ordered the firings of all prosecutors who had been hired on a probationary basis to work on Jan. 6-related cases, noting that Trump characterized their work as "a grave national injustice."

About 20 people were fired as a result of that order, according to a source familiar with the move.

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Bove also accused the Biden administration of rushing to convert the status of probationary prosecutors to permanent status after Trump won the election in a bid to save their jobs.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)
DENVER (KDVR)  The FBI is trying to identify victims of a woman accused of posing as a doctor and operating body scan clinics throughout the U.S. as early as 2002.

According to the federal agency, Mary Blakley, 75, operated clinics with her husband, Floyd Fred Blakley, from 2011 through December 2024, but may have been operating clinics as early as 2002. Most recently, the couples clinics were held in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Mary posed either as a doctor or PhD holder.

1 year later, Aurora police seek witnesses to Nome Street deadly shooting

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The clinics provided body scan services, alleging that they could detect, treat and cure a variety of illnesses, including cancer, all through the use of an ultrasound machine. The couple operated the clinics under a slew of names, including:

Sonic Waves Research

Living Well Ministry

Living Well Health Club

Living Well Warriors

The Blakley Foundation

Health Screenings 4 Life

Health Scans 4 Life

Health Screening 4 Life

Health Screens 4 Life

London Bridge Wellness Center

The FBI said the Blakleys and their associates are accused of prescribing and selling various products to treat and cure the illnesses they diagnosed. Procedures that were offered included EKG by ultrasound machine, immune system function measurement, organ regeneration, prostate PSA readings, and cancer treatment and screenings.

Mary is known to use a variety of first and last names, the FBI reported, including Blakely, Blakleley, Blakeley, Blankley, Cammer, Davis, Petry, Shjlom and Venable for last names, and Marye, Marye Yvonnea, Rosemary, Rose Mary, Rose and Yvonne for first names.

The FBI is asking anyone with relevant information to the investigation, or anyone who believes they or a loved one may have been patients of Mary Blakley to fill out this online form.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
CBS and its "60 Minutes" have long stood as shining beacons of broadcast news.

The Sunday night newsmagazine, with its ubiquitous ticking clock, earned a reputation for not backing down from a fight. For a half-century, the show established the standard for TV investigative reporting with its no-holds-barred questioning of U.S. presidents and others in power.

But a different clock is ticking.

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President Trump's new Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, this week demanded CBS turn over the full, unedited transcript of its "60 Minutes" interview in October with former Vice President Kamala Harris, including film footage from the different camera angles.

That interview provoked the ire of Trump, who filed a lawsuit against CBS alleging the network was engaged in deceptive editing practices.

"We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do, Paramount Global-owned CBS said Friday in a statement.

The latest development comes as Paramount Global lawyers engage in preliminary talks to settle the lawsuit Trump filed last year over the "60 Minutes" interview. Trump alleged the network "deceptively" edited the interview to present Harris more favorably in the closing weeks of the election.

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Lawyers for Trump on Friday asked a Texas judge to extend a key deadline in the court case. Paramount's lawyers went along with the request, which could give the two sides additional time to try to hammer out a truce.

Read more: In Trump's first week, FCC chair signals headaches ahead for media giants

The FCC inquiry raises the stakes in the dispute, which has stoked fears that Trump and his team are using levers of power to chill unflattering news coverage. Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has been agitating for her team to settle Trump's lawsuit to facilitate her family's sale of Paramount to David Ellison's Skydance Media, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.

Paramount needs FCC approval for the Skydance deal to advance. The agency's signoff is required for the transfer of CBS television licenses to the Ellison family.

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The company's seeming willingness to placate Trump has roiled journalists, including within CBS News. First Amendment experts initially interpreted Trump's "60 Minutes" lawsuit, which seeks $10 billion in damages, as a political stunt. They said settling the case with Trump would deliver a crushing blow to CBS News' legacy.

"This is an act of pure cowardice for short-term gain that corrupts every journalistic value imaginable," said USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism professor Gabriel Kahn.

"It is a sad day," 1st Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams wrote Friday in an email to The Times. "Its heart-breaking that CBS say it again, CBS  seems ready to pay big bucks for its own editing decisions."

The storied news division has maintained 60 Minutes as the gold standard in television journalism for more than five decades. People inside the company, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said they fear the move will not only tarnish the 60 Minutes brand but also set a dangerous precedent that could weaken journalism institutions.

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"You think in the next four years we're not going to say something that's going to get him riled up again and he'll do this again? said one veteran journalist in the division.

Trump filed the lawsuit on Oct. 31, accusing CBS of "partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive and substantial news distortion calculated to ... tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party," according to his complaint.

He filed the lawsuit in Texas, ensuring that one of his judicial appointees would oversee the case.

In court filings last month, CBS attorneys argued that the Texas venue was not proper. Trump was a resident of Florida when the lawsuit was filed. Some legal experts dismissed the maneuver as "judge shopping." CBS attorneys argued in court filings that the case should be dismissed or moved to New York, where CBS is based.

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The "60 Minutes" broadcast was edited in New York, and the segment did not pertain to Texas or even Trump, the CBS lawyers wrote. Trump's attorneys on Friday asked for a week-long extension to file their response.

60 Minutes producers denied Trump's allegations that they doctored one of Harris answers to remove her more wordy response to a question. Harris was responding to a question from CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker about the Biden administrations handling of the Israel-Gaza war.

Conservatives quickly seized on an apparent discrepancy in Harris' remarks after CBS ran an excerpt of the interview during its public affairs show Face the Nation, which included Harris' longer answer.

The following day, a special edition of 60 Minutes aired with more of the Harris interview. That program used a different, and much shorter, part of Harris' response.

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Anger over a possible settlement runs so deep that CBS News could experience an exodus of journalists and even executives if the company caves, some said.

"This is essentially a crack in the foundations of our free press," Kahn said.

George Cheeks, co-chief executive of Paramount Global, has been made aware of the news division's concerns over how a settlement would be perceived in the industry and its broader impact on press freedom. Paramount Global board members also have received pleas from inside the news division to fight the Trump lawsuit, sources said.

Cheeks spent months trying to navigate choppy waters amid Redstone's increasing unhappiness with CBS News and "60 Minutes" over its coverage of the war in Gaza.

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Redstone has not publicly opined on the settlement talks. A Redstone spokesperson declined to comment.

The Redstone family is in the process of unwinding its Paramount holdings by selling its investment vehicle to the Ellison family for more than $2 billion. The Skydance transaction would see the fractious Redstone family exiting Hollywood after four decades.

Shari Redstone has focused her philanthropic work on fighting antisemitism. She publicly backed CBS anchor Tony Dukoupil after the morning show co-host was called out by his bosses over an aggressive interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose most recent book compares Israels treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank to the Jim Crow era of segregation in the U.S.

Redstone also was unhappy over a recent 60 Minutes story about dissent in the State Department over the Biden administrations handling of the war, according to two knowledgeable sources. After the segment aired, Cheeks named former CBS News president and veteran producer Susan Zirinsky as standards editor to oversee highly complex, sensitive issues like the war in the Middle East, according to a memo.

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People close to the lawsuit describe the settlement talks in the Trump lawsuit as preliminary. Some executives privately suggested that settling the lawsuit was the price of doing business in Trump's second administration. These people viewed a settlement as an efficient means to keep CBS out of court and expedite the completion of the Skydance deal.

Paramount and Skydance Media also declined to comment.

Carr's FCC inquiry comes after his agency last week revived a complaint filed by the Center for American Rights, which also took issue with CBS producers' edits of the Harris interview.

"There is a line between editorial discretion, which is protected, and news distortion or news manipulation, which is not," Daniel Suhr, president of the nonprofit group, said in an interview earlier this week.

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"When there are serious concerns raised, typically, the regulator investigates and resolves it based on what the investigation finds," Suhr said. "That's what we are hoping for here."

FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, a Democrat, objected to the agency's move.

"This is a retaliatory move by the government against broadcasters whose content or coverage is perceived to be unfavorable," Gomez said in a statement. "It is designed to instill fear in broadcast stations and influence a networks editorial decisions."

CBS News executives had discussed releasing a full transcript of the Harris interview before the FCC inquiry. But they saw that as a dangerous precedent because raw transcripts of edited interviews are typically released to address issues related to possible defamation. Trumps lawsuit is not a defamation case.

"If I were CBS, I would not settle it," said Jeff McCall, media studies professor at DePauw University. "I would fight it and just go totally down the path that this is editorial discretion. The free press has every right to make judgments as it sees fit, including if they want to take sides in an election."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Credit - Vertex

On Jan. 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new drug called suzetrigine to treat moderate-to-severe pain. The prescription pills, sold under the brand name Journavx and made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, are taken twice a day and represent the first new class of pain medications in 20 yearsand the first non-opioid painkiller since that class first appeared on the market in the 1980s.

While opioids are currently the most potent and effective way to control pain, they are associated with a significant risk of addiction, and have fueled an epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths in the U.S. in recent decades. From 1999 to 2017, deaths from overdose due to prescription opioids increased more than seven times, exposing a dire need for effective but nonaddictive ways to manage pain.

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Here's what to know about suzetrigine.

How suzetrigine works

One major conduit for pain transmission in the human body is through sodium channels. People have nine such sodium channels in the body, and different ones are active in different tissue types, including in the brain.

Suzetrigine relieves pain by controlling the flow of sodium in and out of cells, and it targets one sodium channel that is specific to pain neurons in tissues that are found throughout the body but not in the brain. The medication therefore avoids the addictive potential of opioids, which work by binding to opioid receptors throughout the central nervous system, in both the brain and spinal cord.

Finding the right sodium channel target, however, took decades of research, which was all the more challenging since sodium channels by definition work quicklyso their effects, and the effects of any compounds designed to control them, are hard to measure. Once researchers identified the specific sodium channel that was selectively active in pain nerves, called Nav 1.8, scientists at Vertex combed through libraries of compounds to find an effective inhibitor to block the opening of the channel. We screened hundreds of thousands of compounds looking for the needle in the haystack that inhibited 1.8, says Paul Negulescu, senior vice president at Vertex. Animal studies were encouraging, and the company launched human studies that were completed in early 2024. Vertex submitted a request for FDA approval in July.

What the studies found

Trials included people with acute pain after two types of surgerybunion removal and tummy tucksthat represented two major types of pain-generating injury: to bone and soft tissues, respectively. Researchers tracked peoples self-reported measures of pain for 48 hours, beginning immediately after their anesthesia wore off. People were randomly assigned to receive suzetrigine, hydrocodone-acetaminophen (an opioid), or a placebo to treat their pain.

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Those receiving suzetrigine reported around a greater and faster reduction in pain compared to those taking placebo pills; among those getting abdominoplasty, 61% of those taking suzetrigine reported at least a 30% drop in pain, which researchers consider meaningful, compared to 48% taking placebo. Among those getting bunionectomy, 83% those taking suzetrigine achieved this threshold, compared to 68% of those getting placebo.

Read More: Patients Are Suing Over Alleged Side Effects of Weight-Loss Drugs

People assigned to the opioid hydrocodone and acetaminophen group reported better pain control than those taking suzetrigine, but suzetrigine doesn't carry the risk of addiction. We saw patients reporting huge decreases in pain, says Dr. Jessica McCoun, an anesthesiologist who was one of the principal investigators on trials for both bunionectomy and abdominoplasty at CenExel in Atlanta, one of the trial sites. The results make me believe that suzetrigine could replace opioid use, although I cant say that for sure, she says. Any novel class of drug is a huge opportunity, since we havent had anything new in the pain space in 20 years.

The company also conducted a third study of people with a wider range of pain-related conditionsboth surgical and non-surgicalaffecting the head, neck, shoulder, knee, foot, and ankle. In this study, patients knew they were receiving the drug. Those results also showed that suzetrigine effectively relieved pain in a variety of conditions.

Could it work for chronic pain?

Vertex is also exploring whether suzetrigine could manage chronic pain, which usually stems from a more complex and sprawling set of conditions than acute pain. Those results have been less solid so far. Among patients with sciatica, those who received suzetrigine and those who got a placebo reported similarly small reductions in pain after 12 weeks.

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Still, Negulescu says the company is moving ahead with later-stage testing to better adjust for the placebo effect and better understand the drugs effect in chronic pain. Our belief is that the Nav1.8 mechanism is going to be relevant in both acute and chronic pain, he says.

Read More: What to Do If Your Doctor Doesnt Take Your Symptoms Seriously

Chronic pain can be traced to two primary mechanisms, Negulescu says. One affects muscles and bonein arthritis and low back pain, for examplein which nerves remain intact, but tissues surrounding them are damaged and start sending pain signals. Another type of chronic pain occurs when the nerves themselves are damaged, which occurs in conditions like diabetes, especially in peripheral tissues like fingers and feet. We believe the mechanism of suzetrigine is relevant in both musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain, says Negulescu. Our working hypothesis, based on the data we have, is that Nav1.8 is still expressed and present in chronic conditions.

How the approval could change pain management

As effective as suzetrigine is, it doesnt completely eliminate it. Patients still feel pain; they dont go to zero pain sensation, says Negulescu. But, he believes, suzetrigine shows that it may be possible to get better at precisely controlling the sodium-channel pain signal to achieve greater pain management. We are entering a new era where we may be able to more safely and specifically inhibit pain, and that will change our relationship to and how we think about pain, he says.

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Dr. Todd Bertoch, chief medical officer for pain research at CenExel in Utah, who was the lead investigator on the suzetrigine studies, also notes that the pills were associated with relatively few side effectsa major distinguisher from opioids. This is the first study I have ever conducted where the side-effect profile for people on placebo was worse than the side-effect profile for people on the study drug, he says.

Read More: 8 Symptoms Doctors Often Dismiss As Anxiety

Where suzetrigine will fit into the pain-management landscape remains to be seen, but experts see its potential in treating more serious pain, if over-the-counter remedies dont work. Ideally, pain experts believe it could be the first-line treatment after surgeries and minor procedures, including dental procedures, instead of the opioids that are currently prescribed.

Bertoch says opioids may continue to have a place in treating certain kinds of pain, but suzetrigine gives doctors another option. Suzetrigine lets me add another tool that doesnt have liver toxicity, doesnt have kidney toxicity, is very safe, and is at least additive and maybe even synergistic with acetaminophen and ibuprofen, he says. It fills a gap where otherwise we have used opioids.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries.

Its the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medications modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain.

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Studies in more than 870 patients with acute pain due to foot and abdominal surgeries showed Vertexs drug provided more relief than a dummy pill but didnt outperform a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.

Its not a slam dunk on effectiveness, said Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research. But it is a slam dunk in that its a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot promise.

The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.

Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when overdoses were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain. Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the last decade and the current wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not pharmaceutical medicines.

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Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids' addictive effects.

Vertexs drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.

"In trying to develop medicines that dont have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain, Vertexs Dr. David Altshuler, told The Associated Press last year.

Commonly reported side effects with the drug were nausea, constipation, itching, rash and headache.

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The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but dont involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids, said Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center, who consulted for Vertex on the drug's development.

The initial concept to focus on pain-signaling proteins came out of research involving people with a rare hereditary condition that causes insensitivity to pain.

Vertex has attracted interest from Wall Street for its ambitious drug pipeline that involves winning FDA approval for multiple drugs across several forms of chronic pain, which generally represents a bigger financial opportunity than acute pain.

But the Boston drugmaker's share price plummeted in December when Vertex reported disappointing mid-stage results in a study of patients with chronic nerve pain affecting the lower back and legs. The drug didn't perform significantly better than placebo, the research found.

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We believe the data reflect a near worst-case scenario for this key pipeline program, biotechnology analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note to investors, adding that the results jeopardized estimates that Vertex's pipeline could be worth billions across multiple forms of pain.

Still, Vertex executives said they plan to move forward with a new, late-stage study of the drug, theorizing that a different trial design could yield better results and pave the way for FDA approval in chronic pain.

___

AP video journalist Mary Conlon contributed to this story from New York.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved a new type of prescription pain medication for adults to treat moderate to severe acute pain.

The drug, called Journavx (suzetrigine) and manufactured by biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is a non-opioid painkiller, which doesnt have addictive properties, unlike opioids often used for this type of pain.

This is the first class of non-opioid pain medication approved to treat moderate to severe acute pain approved by the FDA in more than 20 years.

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MORE: Opioids are no better than a placebo for back pain: Study

Todays approval is an important public health milestone in acute pain management, said Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a press release. A new non-opioid analgesic therapeutic class for acute pain offers an opportunity to mitigate certain risks associated with using an opioid for pain and provides patients with another treatment option."

In two clinical trials, tested on adults between ages 18 and 80, Journavx was found to reduce moderate to severe acute pain for adults from baseline by about 50% in 48 hours.

PHOTO: This photo provided by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in January 2025 shows a tablet and bottle of the JOURNAVX (suzetrigine) medication. (Vertex Pharmaceuticals via AP)

The average time to meaningful pain relief ranged from two to four hours, compared to eight hours in the placebo group.

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Journavx works by inhibiting the NaV1.8 pain signal in the peripheral nervous system. This channel is not expressed in the brain or anywhere else in the central nervous system, therefore the drug does not have addictive properties like opioids, according to Vertex.

Journavx was found to be as similarly effective as hydrocodone, an opioid pain medication, for reducing acute pain, with the added benefit of being a non-opioid and non-addictive drug.

In another clinical trial, the drug was tested in patients with a broader range of surgical and non-surgical acute pain conditions and was found to be safe and effective.

PHOTO: This photo provided by Vertex Pharmaceuticals in January 2025 shows a tablet and bottle of the JOURNAVX (suzetrigine) medication. (Vertex Pharmaceuticals via AP)

MORE: Top migraine medication effective for preventing migraines, treating drug-induced headaches is hard to access

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More than 80% of patients in this clinical trial rated Journavx as a good, very good or excellent pain medication when investigating multiple acute pain types.

The new drug "offers a safer option for managing moderate-to-severe acute pain, reducing reliance on opioids," Dr. Jianguo Cheng, a professor of anesthesiology and medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Consortium for Pain at Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the clinical trials, told ABC News. "It offers rapid relief and can be integrated into postoperative pain protocols or acute pain scenarios where immediate relief is critical."

"By managing acute pain effectively, [Journavx] may help prevent the transition to chronic pain, reducing the need for long-term pain management strategies," he added.

The drug cannot be used with certain other drugs that strongly inhibits a certain enzyme in the liver, so some people may not be able to take Journavx, depending on what other medications they are taking. Grapefruit should also be avoided while taking Journavx.

FDA approves new type of non-opioid pain medication, 1st of its kind in more than 20 years originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Fear, anger and confusion have swept across federal agencies as workers grapple with a deluge of orders from President Donald Trump that they see as an effort to scare them out of their jobs.

In conversations with more than a dozen federal employees across multiple agencies, civil servants said the Trump administrations rapid changes have turned their day-to-day operations into chaos, with their immediate higher-ups unable to answer questions about their employment and duties. A number of these workers also expressed surprise at what they saw as an underwhelming response from Congress and their union.

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Adding to the stress, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered federal employees the option of taking a deferred resignation in a Tuesday evening email that closely mirrored a message that Elon Musk, the worlds richest man and leader of Trumps Department of Government Efficiency, sent to Twitter employees shortly after he acquired the company.

One official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which administers foreign aid and has had some of the greatest disruption so far in Trumps second term, said the broad effort to quickly reshape the federal workforce has sent a chill through the building.

Were looking to hear from federal government workers. If youre willing to talk with us, please email us at tips@nbcuni.com or contact us through one of these methods.

Theres a lot of fear about returning to the office, this person said. Theres a lot of fear about being fired, specifically with the OPM email that came out about offering buyouts. Theres a lot of skepticism about that, given the fact that this email seemed to model Elon Musks email to the Twitter folks who never got paid. So its caused a lot of chaos and turmoil. I think the point is to really scare people and make them think that their jobs are threatened. Its definitely working.

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The federal employees who spoke with NBC News would only do so under the condition of anonymity, believing their jobs would otherwise be at jeopardy. Many of the employees who were dismayed about the Trump administrations effort still expressed an interest in keeping their jobs, in part out of a sense of duty, and in part out of necessity.

The White House defended its broad effort to remake federal agencies and shake up the civil service  a core pledge of Trumps campaign and a longtime aim of Republican leaders.

For far too long, a bloated federal bureaucracy has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars each year while strangling American enterprise and families with burdensome rules and regulations, Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. President Trump received a resounding mandate to streamline our gargantuan government to better serve the needs of the American people. He will use every lever of executive and legislative power to deliver.

'Theyre trying to insult us'

Those lever-pulls began in the hours after Trump took office and have continued unabated in the days since. In one of his first moves upon returning to the White House, Trump signed an executive order mandating that all federal agencies quickly order employees back to the office full time and end remote-work arrangements, aside from those deemed necessary. His administration days later released a directive demanding an end to all remote-work arrangements, claiming they are greatly inhibiting government performance.

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Theyre trying to insult us, to be honest, to say that were not being productive, an official at the Department of Transportation said. And thats simply not the case for a lot of people who are working remotely.  We have so many different series of jobs that dont require people to be in the building.

Trumps moves included signing executive orders demanding an end to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs throughout the government and making it easier to fire career civil servants in policy-making roles. OPM then released memos instructing agencies to terminate DEIA offices and positions and offering a broad definition of what officials could be seen as holding a policy-making role.

He also ordered reforms to the federal hiring process, instituted a hiring freeze at federal agencies and a freeze on regulatory proposals. Additionally, the Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday rescinded a memo issued Monday outlining a temporary freeze on federal aid that sent agencies scrambling to adjust and stirred Trumps opponents to action.

Its very low, an employee at the Social Security Administration said of office morale. There are a lot of people looking for other work.  Were afraid to get fired. I dont have a backup job right now and I understand that the market is getting ready to be saturated. We already have several people who are leaving our office.

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Trumps push to reshape the government reached a crescendo after a military helicopter and commercial jet collided midair near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. All 67 passengers aboard the two aircraft were feared dead in one of the deadliest air disasters in U.S. history.

Though an investigation into what led to the crash is just beginning, Democrats and their allies noted that Trumps wide-ranging actions aimed at the civil service, including the hiring freeze and an order overhaul hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration, could exacerbate air travel safety issues.

On the other hand, Trump on Thursday blamed diversity practices for the crash, which he said showed why his administration was pursuing changes to federal hiring practices.

A civil servant at the Department of Veterans Affairs described the environment amid Trumps rapid fire changes as absolute chaos, adding, Nobody really has any clue whats going on.

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We havent gotten any direction outside of  a memo about the DEI stuff and [its] almost like were encouraged to snitch on anybody that we find.

The person called the return-to-work mandate really ridiculous, saying remote-work agreements with government employees have been in place for years, long before the pandemic, and have been encouraged by the agency.

This person and other civil servants who spoke with NBC News noted that a substantial number of federal employees dont live near a federal office building and a return-to-work mandate would require some to sell homes and move. The federal government employs more than 2 million civilian employees, with 7.56% working in Washington, D.C., according to OPM data.

A lot of people who work for the federal government do it out of a sense of service, this person, an Iraq War veteran, said. Its rapidly becoming like they dont want us here.

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One agency thats had some of the most drastic overhauls so far is USAID. On Monday, more than 50 career civil servants there were placed on administrative leave, with the acting administrator saying in an email that several actions within USAID appeared to run afoul of Trumps executive orders. Earlier, Trump froze virtually all U.S. foreign assistance pending a 90-day review.

It is chaos over here right now, a second USAID official said of the environment at the agency on Monday. People in the halls are getting texts saying to log off of all government equipment and leave the building. No official announcements have been made, but individuals are being notified. People are walking around, whispering and crying. Its like watching a sniper work through a captive crowd.

The pause on foreign assistance had officials at other offices scrambling, too. An official at the Fish and Wildlife Service, which conducts foreign wildlife conservation, described a somber mood at the agency in light of a stop-work order. They also noted confusion over the scope of Trumps Schedule F order  which aims to make it easier to oust policy-making civil servants.

Its just so f---ing maddening, this person said. Im so pissed off right now.

Nobodys going to take that

As federal employees were weighing the effect of Trumps full collection of executive orders and further guidance from his administration, they were greeted with an email titled Fork in the Road in their inbox Tuesday evening. The email contained an offer of deferred resignation, allowing them to resign by Feb. 6 but get paid through September. Most full-time federal employees were eligible, aside from members of the military, postal workers, immigration enforcement officials as well as some other roles.

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The email had Musks fingerprints. He sent a similar message titled Fork in the Road to Twitter employees soon after taking control of the company; it asked them to opt in to continue working for the social media platform or take three months of severance pay. (Musk later got a lawsuit dismissed from Twitter employees who argued they were not paid their full severance package.)

The OPM website now features a Fork tab.

The Trump administrations recent efforts to encourage the bulk of the federal workforce to resign are perplexing, of questionable legality and dangerous, Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, said, adding, Stripping away expert talent through such a nonstrategic approach puts all of us at risk in a profound way.

Most federal workers who spoke with NBC News did not express interest in taking the offer, with some doubting whether they would even be paid out if they did.

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I dont know anybody whos interested in taking it, the first USAID official said. And honestly, eight months is not a lot of money. These people have families. They have kids. So what, you get $60,000 bucks? Thats nothing. So maybe if youre a 25-year-old, thats a lot of money  and it probably wont even be that much. Or if youre on your way out the door, fine. But for most people, nobodys going to take that.

The official at the Transportation Department said they believed maybe a few people are considering it  mostly those who work in locations where returning to in-office work wont be as easy as a simple commute.

One federal employee who works as a human resources supervisor near Washington, D.C., said they were tempted to take the offer since she believes her higher salary and position would likely put her at the top of the list if layoffs occur.

You can stay and fight or you can leave, this person said. I just dont know how much a federal employee will be situated to fight when all the odds are stacked for someone to fire you.

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Democrats and federal employee advocates argued that civil servants should not take the offer. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a Senate floor speech on Tuesday that Trump would stiff federal workers who choose to resign. And Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement that the offer should not be viewed as voluntary, adding the administrations goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to. The union later sent an FAQ to members saying it is encouraging them NOT to resign or respond to the email until you have received further information and clarification.

But for all the shock and awe of the administrations first days, much of what Trump has wrought should not have come as a surprise, since he discussed his intentions at length during the presidential campaign. In fact, his aim to drastically reshape the civil service was core to his agenda and a major focus of opponents who sought to limit his ability to do so or raise the alarm about potential consequences.

Still, federal employees said the speed and scope of the effort has startled colleagues.

Its surprising a lot of people, not everyone, a U.S. Forest Service employee said. Everything hes done, hes talked about.  A lot of people, theyre like, Oh, you know, hes all talk. And I just dont think that thats the case anymore.

The first USAID official said there was broad awareness that Trump would seek to implement these changes upon taking office, but given how large and slow-moving the government is, the speed with which things are happening has come as a surprise.

More stunning was what this person saw as a lack of response from Congress and allies.

They just seem to be sitting back and sort of keeping their mouth shut, which is also difficult.  I dont know where the lawyers are, the USAID official said. Theres not a lot of communication about what can be done to stop it. It just seems like everybodys just sort of moving along and being like, OK, this is what were doing. And thats also disconcerting.

Saying they have not heard one scintilla of anything from Congress so far, the Transportation Department official also lamented not having really any clear message from the union for the people that they are supposed to be representing.

The union has taken some steps to combat the administration on these issues. In addition to putting out the FAQ on Wednesday, AFGE and its allies filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the executive order making it easier to fire civil servants. Earlier, the union sued Trump and OMB over the Department of Government Efficiency.

Generally, though, federal employees are gearing up and hunkering down for what they think could be difficult four years.

Everyones trying to just stick it out, the Forest Service employee said. Obviously, no ones really feeling all that great.

The Fish and Wildlife Service official said most people theyve spoken to arent looking to leave.

Were trying to hang on, this person said.

A second Veterans Affairs employee even said the broad effort to squeeze the federal workforce has their colleagues banding together.

There is a little bit of a sense of optimism that this is just the shock stage, and then things will plateau eventually, this person said, adding: We know that a lot of these mandates coming out are supposed to shock us into submission or try to get us to leave our jobs. Thats the whole point of all this is to shank the government and to take out its workers.

And so a lot of us are going to stay out of spite, this person added. Were here for however long we want to be here. I could be here until retirement in 30 years. The Trump administration is only here for four. So theres been this newfound hope where people are going to stick together, were going to advocate for one another, and were going to stay here and do our job and serve the public.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Happy Friday. Make the weekend count.

Andrew Brown has no problem admitting that he had no idea what he was doing when he set out on a circuitous path to become a filmmaker.

Stumbled into it, he said, repeating his wifes description while seated in front of a wood stove in his studio in Old Salem. If thats how she put it, its a pretty good way to describe it.

Hed served in the Army, tried a 9-to-5 corporate gig and had landed a job with a nonprofit in the mid-2000s. He found himself going back and forth to sub-Saharan and East Africa to do humanitarian work. A lot of displaced people there, he said. A lot of stories.

So almost on a whim, Brown, 42, found himself in a Target buying the best camera I could afford.

That decision took him on a wild ride interviewing Somali bandits, ivory poachers, black marketeers and overworked park rangers, among others. Brown spent years filming the extinction of the northern white rhino and the devastating effects of climate change on traditional communities.

His efforts paid off when he won the Best Documentary Feature award at the Tribeca Film Festival and an Emmy for his work on another documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Not bad for a self-taught filmmaker.

Id dreamed of being a writer, said Brown, who moved to the area during the pandemic to be close to his wife's parents. But I found Im more articulate with a camera than a pen or a keyboard.

After hearing some of rowns life story, the journey to the red carpet, working with a Hollywood A-lister and the awards circuit begins to make sense.

While growing up, he split his time between Alaska and New Orleans so knew something about travel and striking up conversations with different sorts of people. His dad, a former Army helicopter pilot who flew in Vietnam, worked as a hunting guide in the Alaskan bush. And his mother taught school in Louisiana.

Brown followed the footsteps of his dad and brother, an Army ranger, by enlisting. He trained to become a forward observer, a small unit of soldiers who creep up toward enemy lines to direct artillery fire.

A concussion derailed those plans, however. He had to take a medical discharge, and like a lot of former soldiers who suddenly find themselves in the civilian world, Brown felt a little lost.

I think I was looking for purpose, belonging and maybe I had survivors guilt, he said. A lot of my friends were going to Iraq. I felt stuck.

After that, he did a short stint in the corporate world, just long enough to know that he wanted no part of it. Next came that job with a non-profit in Raleigh  he settled there after meeting his wife Amanda  and time in East Africa.

And then everything started to make sense.

He took his camera to Africa, started mixing with the locals and struck up conversations. There arent many places in northern Kenya to get a beer, he said. Its Islamic. The local police chief owned a bar so ex-pats, police and humanitarian workers mixed.

And because it was the only bar in the area, it attracted bandits.

Being gregarious and open-minded, Brown met a Somali ivory broker. The Chinese, he said, were building an airport in the region and made it known that anybody with ivory could bring it to sell with no questions asked.

He found common ground with the Somali bandit over being fathers and convinced the man to sit for an interview.

It was just conversation and curiosity, Brown said. No judgement. I had to remember that hed been ensnared in unbelievable poverty with no jobs and no opportunity. Who would I be in his shoes?

Excited by the possibilities, Brown linked up with a graduate student at the UNC School of Journalism and spent three years producing When Lambs Become Lions  a documentary about the black market in Kenya in which they allowed the poachers, middle men, rangers and government officials to tell the story.

I just turned the camera on them, let them tell their stories and then present it, he said.

During the course of that project, Brown also managed to secure the exclusive rights to film Sudan, the last northern white rhino in existence.

As luck would have it, Brown was onsite at the compound where Sudan lived the day the aged rhino fell and broke a hip. He had to be euthanized, Brown said.

When word began to spread that no-name filmmakers had it on tape, the worlds largest media organizations  the BBC, National Geographic, CNN etc.  swooped in and tried to get the footage.

But the nature conservancy that had granted Brown the exclusive rights stuck by its agreement. The film, "KIFARU," caused quite a stir.

It was funny sitting in an American coffee shop listening to (reporters) call their producers trying to buy access and figure out how two little rednecks from North Carolina had the lifetime rights, Brown said.

Those projects opened doors to others, too.

Brown spent four years off and on filming Between the Rains in Kenya showing the effects of prolonged drought and radical climate change on a nomadic community  in particular an orphan raised in a traditional culture with no way out.

And that led him to working during the pandemic as the editor of "Path of the Panther," the DiCarpio-produced project that showed efforts to preserve the big cats in Florida.

(Asked if the Oscar winner would know him on sight, Brown was typically self-deprecating. Probably not. A lot of ("Path of the Panther") was done on Zoom meetings. If I said I was the editor, Im sure he would, though. I imagine he has a lot going on.

Recognition for those projects meant Brown had arrived and earned a place in the A list of documentary filmmakers.

"Path of the Panther" won an Emmy in 2024 and Between the Rains took top prize for documentary feature and best cinematography in a documentary at Tribeca in 2023. (You can find it on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.)

Not bad for a guy who learned using a camera purchased in Target. In his wildest dreams, did Brown ever imagine such a thing?

Never, man. Never.

Seeing is believing

GREENSBORO  Theres no substitute for first-hand knowledge and seeing things with your own two eyes.

Some 160 volunteers - including Guilford County commissioner Melvin Skip Alston and Greensboro City Councilman Hugh Holston - fanned out Wednesday night to try and get an accurate census of the homeless population.

Its a once a year exercise held each January called a point in time count. Its required by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help in the allotment of federal resources. The local count was organized by the Continuum of Care, a local coalition of activist groups.

Volunteers, accompanied by officers from the Greensboro and High Point police departments, fanned out to camp sites, overnight shelters and places the homeless are known to congregate.

They carried food, water, sleeping bags and clothing as part of the project.

Its a big help for individuals, but an added benefit for the community at large was having elected officials on the ground to see for themselves - and report back to colleagues who control local spending decisions for what Alston calls a community crisis.

We have to do more and the city has to do more, the city of Greensboro and High Point has to do more, Alston told a colleague at the News & Record. We have to do what it takes in order to solve this problem and stop putting a band-aid approach on it.
TOCUYITO, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro labeled them as terrorists on national television. They were plucked from pharmacies, apartment buildings and other locations, and thrown in prison for months. Many then endured severe beatings, food deprivation and other forms of torture. Virtually all developed stomach infections and lost weight. Three died.

More than 2,200 people were detained after Venezuelas July presidential election, when civil unrest broke out over Maduros claim to victory. With dissent firmly squelched, the government has slowly released nearly 1,900 of the mostly poor, politically unaffiliated twenty-somethings.

Tearful reunions with family, some as recently as Friday, have brought them an immense sense of relief, but it vanishes with the realization that they are not truly free, neither physically nor mentally.

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Now at home, the former detainees, particularly those who participated in post-election demonstrations, must also cope with the disappointment that the votes they defended on the streets did not push Maduro out of office or produce the change they hoped for.

You go home, see your loved ones and get drunk on happiness, but 24-48 hours later, reality hits you, a man who was detained for more than five months told The Associated Press. What is the reality? My fundamental rights were violated, and I am still at the mercy of the same government.

The man and relatives of other former detainees narrated to AP how the governments repressive apparatus wrecked their lives after the July 28 election. Most spoke under the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government or its network of ruling-party loyalists who through physical force and control of state subsidies quash dissent.

Former detainees suffer insomnia, cannot be among crowds and tremble at the sight of a police officer. They have heart conditions not typical of young adults. They are worse off financially than before the election and cannot find work partly because their IDs were seized during their arrests.

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They feel doubly insulted having to tap into the governments precarious health, food and cash programs, but some see no other alternatives.

The families of the former detainees are indebted to loan sharks and acquaintances after spending hundreds of dollars in transportation as well as meals, medicines, toiletries and other items not provided by the corrections system. Some mothers sob at night. Others silently carry the guilt that comes from having their children home again while other families are still making prison visits.

The intimidation to which we are being subjected  the psychological damage that they are causing us  is the worst thing that can be done to a population with a desire for freedom, the mother of a former detainee said. That is terrorism.

Millions of Venezuelans expressed their desire for a change in government in the July election but electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed without providing detailed vote counts, unlike in previous elections.

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Meanwhile, the countrys main opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a more than a two-to-one margin.

The dispute over the results sparked nationwide protests. The government responded with force, arresting more than 2,200 people, even if they had not participated in the demonstrations, and encouraging Venezuelans to report anyone they suspected of being a ruling-party adversary. More than 20 people were killed during the unrest.

Throughout Maduros presidency, state security forces have carried out mass arrests but never like last years in terms of time span or primary demographic.

Previous protests were led primarily by young, college-educated, middle- and upper-class Venezuelans of European descent who openly embraced the countrys political opposition. But at the end of July, those on the streets were adolescents and young adults whose lives have been marked by poverty and letdowns from Maduros government.

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They were the children and grandchildren of the people who voted for Hugo Chavez, Oscar Murillo, head of the Venezuelan human rights group Provea, said referring to Maduros predecessor. They did not identify with the opposition. They came out in rejection of the poor management of the election results.

In prison, however, part of the detainees were forced to wear uniforms in a shade of blue associated in Venezuela to an opposition party.

As time wore on inside overcrowded and sweltering cells, a few attempted suicide, some leaned into prayer and many were convinced they would all be freed by Jan. 11, the day after the presidential term, by law, begins in Venezuela. Those fixated on that deadline were banking on Gonzalez fulfilling his promise to return from exile and be sworn in as president.

Not only did Gonzalez not return, his son-in-law was also detained and remains in custody.

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Since being released, former detainees and their loved ones now pray for health, work and a new president. But they have sworn off politics.

They instilled fear in political participation, which does a huge amount of damage to any society that wants progress and development in any country," the former detainee said.
Can you never do that again? my son texted me on Monday in our family group chat. I had sent a series of photos of my flight in the tiny Cessna Caravan that had just flown my mortal being 120 miles, from Chicago OHare International Airport to West Lafayette, Indiana. The nine-seat aircraft, which runs on a single turboprop engine, was so small that the ground crew had to weigh luggage and passengers in order to distribute their weight evenly in the cabin. It was, in short, the kind of plane that makes it easy to fear for your life. By contrast, I hadnt been concerned at alland my son had found no cause to worryabout the American Airlines regional jet that Id taken on the first leg of my trip, from St. Louis to Chicago.

Just a few days later, an American Airlines regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., killing everyone involved: 60 passengers, four crew members, and three service members. The National Transportation Safety Board has said it will take at least a year to identify a final probable cause of the crash. Until then, one can only guess that the aircraft and their machinery were not themselves to blame. The New York Times has reported that the relevant air-traffic-control tower may have been understaffed and that the helicopter might have been outside its flight path. As Juliette Kayyem wrote for The Atlantic yesterday, a rise in flight traffic has been increasing the risk of midair collisions for years, especially in busy airspace such as Washingtons.

[Read: The near misses at airports have been telling us something]

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Statistically, for now at least, flying is still much safer than driving. According to the International Air Transport Association, on average a person would have to travel by plane every day for more than 100,000 years before experiencing a fatal accident. A host of factors has made flying more reliable, among them more dependable equipment, better pilot training, tighter regulations, stricter maintenance standards, advances in air-traffic control, and improved weather forecasting. But the amorphous, interlocking systems that realize commercial flight are hard to see or understand, even as they keep us safe. For ordinary passengerspeople like me and my sonany sense of danger tends to focus on the plane itself, because the plane is right in front of us, and above our heads, and underneath our feet, and lifting us up into the sky. A fear of flying makes little sense, because flying is just physics. One really fears airplanes, the aluminum tubes in which a fragile human body may be trapped while it is brought into flight. A machine like that can crash. A machine like that can kill you.

The Boeing 737 Maxs recent string of mishaps, including two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019, and, more recently, a lost door during flight, are still fresh in the minds of passengers, and history only reinforces the fear. In 1950, a TWA Lockheed Constellation en route from Mumbai to New York crashed when its engine caught on fire and detached. In 1979, another engine detachment on a DC-10 wide-body jet caused the crash of American Airlines Flight 191. In 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 lost an 18-foot-long section of upper fuselage on the way from Hilo to Honolulu. Human errora contributing factor in most crashes, if not their direct causecan also stem from equipment failure, as in the case of Pan Am Flight 812 in 1974 and Air France Flight 447 in 2009.

Yet the salience of an airplanes actual machinery has been fading too. For passengers, the experience of commercial flight may be worse than ever, but the planes themselves now seem more reliable and more accommodating (if only so many passengers werent packed into them). Twenty years ago, regional flights would commonly use turboprops to transport passengers between hubs and small-to-medium-size cities. These planes were louder and bumpier. Flying in them felt worse, and it inspired more anxiety for that reason.

Are little turboprops actually more dangerous than jets? A direct comparison is difficult, because the smaller planes are often used for shorter flights, and more flights mean more takeoffs and landingswhen most accidents occur. But the numbers are somewhat reassuring overall, at least when it comes to commercial flight. (The numbers for general aviation, which includes recreational planes, skydiving operations, bush flying, and the rest of civilian noncommercial flight, are less reassuring.) The NTSB filed investigations into eight fatal aviation accidents in the United States from 2000 to 2024 that involved commercial aircraft with turboprop engines, and 13 for aircraft with turbo fans (the most common passenger-jet engine).

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In any case, modern airport logistics, just like modern jumbo jets, have helped build a sense of safetyor at least hide a source of fear. U.S. passengers used to board and disembark their flights from the tarmac with more regularity. This was true of prop planes and bigger jets alike. The shrill whine of turbines and the sweet smell of aviation fuel made the mechanisms of flight more palpable; it reminded you that you were entering a machine. Nowadays, that reality is hidden. You board comfortable, quiet cabins from the climate-controlled shelter of jet bridges.

All of these changes have tamped down the fear of planes to the point that, for many passengers, it will now resurface only under certain throwback conditionssuch as when I found myself bobbing over the Hoosier farms in a plane cabin the size of a taco truck. That sort of white-knuckling is a distraction from the truer, more pervasive risks of air travel in 2025. The systemic lapses and conditions that have produced frequent near misses in aviation, and that may have contributed to this weeks accident, now seem likely to worsen under the Trump administration, which has purged the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration, and blamed DEI for a fatal crash.

[Read: Is there anything Trump wont blame on DEI?]

The nations pervasive weakness in aviation safety is genuinely scary, but its shapeless, too. It provokes the sort of fright that you feel in your bones, the sort that makes you entreat a loved one to please never fly in one of those again, okay? And yet, I might well have been safer in the cold cabin of a turboprop 5,000 feet above Indiana than I would have been on an approach to an overcrowded, understaffed airport in a quiet regional jet. The plane still seems like the thing that might kill you. Even now, I suspect it always will.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
Federal agencies have been told to implement a transgender bathroom ban, barring trans people from single-sex spaces that correspond with their gender identity.

The Trump administration ordered that the ban must be in place by Friday, also pushing agencies to fire anyone working on gender ideology.

The directive is part of an effort to comply with President Donald Trumps executive order that states the government recognizes only two sexes.

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A memo was sent Wednesday by the Office of Personnel Management to department leaders, asking them to review and put an end to programs, grants, contracts, and media that promote or inculcate gender ideology.

The administration has defined gender ideology as an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity.

The Trump administration has issued several executive orders targeting transgender rights (AP)

The memo issued on Wednesday, obtained by The Hill, states that agency leaders should put workers with a job description that involves promoting gender ideology on paid leave by 5 p.m. E.T. on Friday as well as close offices and programs that support the concept that gender is disconnected from sex and exists on a spectrum.

The order also calls for the cancellation of training and employee resource groups that have previously promoted gender ideology as well as ensuring documents, policies and forms use the term sex instead of gender. Bathroom and other intimate spaces must be designated by biological sex and not gender identity, the memo states.

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Agency leaders must report on their implementation by February 7. The memo also reveals the administrations next steps in enforcing the January 20 executive order from Trump, stating that the federal government will only recognize two genders  male and female  which are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.

The order states that it will protect women and return biological truth to the federal government. It orders federal officials to enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.

Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology, the order states.

The order comes as House Republicans are pushing for similar measures to be taken on Capitol Hill. They attempted to bar Democratic Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, from using the womens restroom.

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In November, Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced a new policy, which he renewed earlier in January, stopping transgender people from using the restrooms at the Congressional complex that correspond to their gender identity.

South Carolina Republican has targeted transgender lawmaker Sarah McBride in recent months. (Getty Images)

South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a measure late last year that was set to bar transgender people from using restrooms on federal land, such as museums and national parks.

Just this week, Trump signed another three executive orders damaging transgender rights, such as one intended to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors. On Wednesday, Trump issued an order targeting public schools that teach critical race theory or radical gender ideology, seeking to defund them. Yet another order looks to bar trans people from openly serving in the armed forces.
ITHACA, N.Y. (WETM)  A Mexican citizen was arrested by federal agents on a federal warrant on Wednesday after the justice department said he was released from the Tompkins County Sheriffs Office after pleading guilty to state assault charges.

Jesus Romero-Hernandez, 27, from Mexico, was arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 29, on the federal charge of illegally reentering the United States after a prior removal, the United States Attorneys Office said.

Romero-Hernandez was being held by the Tompkins County Sheriffs Office regarding an assault charge in the third degree that he later pleaded guilty to. The justice department accused the Tompkins County Sheriffs Office of not honoring the federal arrest warrant when releasing Romero-Hernandez on Tuesday, Jan. 28, before Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrived in Ithaca, the US Attorneys Office said.

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Chicago man arrested on meth and crack charges in Ithaca

Yesterday, despite the warrant, a defendant with no legal status and a history of violence was released into the community, said Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove. Federal agents risked their safety and pursued the defendant in unsafe conditions, Bove said.

Romero-Hernandez was later found and arrested on Wednesday by federal agents. The US Attorneys Office said that the charges in the complaint pending against Romero-Hernandez are accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless and proven guilty.

Tompkins County Sheriff, Derek Osborne, released a statement on Thursday justifying the actions done, stating they were aligned with the countys immigration enforcement policy.

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The individual in question was released in accordance with our policy, G.O. 719, which is based on applicable laws, New York judicial decisions, and guidance from the New York Attorney Generals office, Osborne said. Our office did not interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration law by ICE, he said.

The City of Ithaca released a statement regarding the incident as well, stating,

The City of Ithaca has been made aware that federal law enforcement conducted operations in Ithaca today in connection with federal warrants, a spokesperson with the city said. The Ithaca Police Department adhered to all relevant City policies, including Ithacas Sanctuary City police (Article VI of Chapter 215 of the Ithaca City Code), in consultation with the city attorney and city managers office, the city said. In accordance with city law, IPD did not participate in any immigration enforcement activities, the statement said.

Below is a copy of the Tompkins County Immigration Enforcement police that Sheriff Osborne referenced in his statement.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a longstanding federal ban that prevented the sale of handguns to Americans between the ages of 18 and 20  a landmark gun control regulation in place since 1968.

The conservative Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the federal law banning handgun sales to teens is inconsistent with the nation's historical tradition and violates the Second Amendment.

PHOTO: gun laws, gun control, handguns (STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)

MORE: Nashville school shooting suspect posted photos on social media just before opening fire in cafeteria: Police

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The decision cited the Supreme Court's 2022 opinion by Clarence Thomas in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which significantly expanded gun rights and threatens to rollback other gun safety laws nationwide.

"Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among 'the people' whose right to keep and bear arms is protected," the court wrote in its opinion statement.

The statement went on, "The federal government has presented scant evidence that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds firearm rights during the founding-era were restricted in a similar manner to the contemporary federal handgun purchase ban, and its 19th century evidence 'cannot provide much insight into the meaning of the Second Amendment when it contradicts earlier evidence.'"

The immediate nationwide impact of the ruling is unclear. The case is almost certainly bound for the Supreme Court.

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MORE: Crackdown on do-it-yourself firearm kits is curbing ghost guns. Will it last?

Handguns have been the most commonly used weapons in murders and mass shootings for decades in the United States, according to government data analyzed by The Violence Project.

Last term, the Supreme Court upheld a longstanding federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by people under domestic violence restraining orders.

In the next few weeks, it will consider whether gun manufacturers can be held liable for violent crimes perpetrated by criminals who easily get the weapons.

Federal appeals court strikes down ban on handgun sales to teens originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The Trump administrations changes to its email settings has federal employees getting endlessly spammed with vulgar content.

When Trump took office, he changed the email system so that every single federal worker could be contacted with one email. People are taking advantage of that. According to online reports, all 13,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, were flooded with spam emails on Thursday.

I havent laughed this hard in weeks. From a Scientology confirmation email to an Important Weather Alert that the next 4 years has a 99% chance of shit showers, one federal worker wrote on the r/fednews subreddit. I guess this is what happens when you plug in an unsecured server.

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Arent you tired of working for a complete cunt? one of the NOAA emails read. TRUMP TRIED TO SUCK MY COCK, said another. The email with the subject Important Weather Alert read, The next 4 years has a 99% chance of shit showers. Our president is a retard and his VP is a f. Were cooked. Please reply.

Not everyone is using this basic lack of security oversight for crassness.

I just sent this email to all 13,000 federal employees of the NOAA lol, said journalist Ken Klippenstein, sharing an email asking federal workers to subscribe to his newsletter. The Trump administrations changes to their communications system made it so literally anyone can blast messages out to the entire agency.

Trump has yet to comment on the spam emails.


President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ohio nonprofits and organizations are breathing a sigh of relief  for now  as it seems federal funding will continue flowing to them, despite an executive order freezing trillions in federal funds for grants and loans.

Confusion reigned starting Jan. 20 when President Donald Trump signed executive orders on topics ranging from immigration enforcement and fair housing and civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people to diversity and inclusions policies and a hiring freeze for federal agencies.

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On Jan. 27, the confusion continued with the federal Office of Management and Budget issuing a memo that federal financial assistance and grant spending would be frozen.

The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve, the since-rescinded memo stated.

But for those receiving federal grants and loans throughout the country, the memo wasnt clear on which programs would be impacted, and concern spread when organizations couldnt access their funding systems the next day, hours before a federal judge temporarily stopped the freeze.

Many of you did notice that all your funding systems were down, said Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. That, of course, did create a lot of confusion amongst the nonprofit world.

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For Lisa Mertz, president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based nonprofit Addiction Services Council, when the funding freeze was in place, it was a harrowing day from the very beginning.

Wednesday felt like a punch in the gut to me when I woke up and realized that 1/3 of my staff and 1/3 of my programs might have to be cut very quickly, Mertz said.

The federally qualified community health center The HealthCare Connection, which provides health services for low-income, underinsured and uninsured people in Hamilton County, saw the loss of services as a loss of salaries for physicians, and therefore the loss of the ability to care for patients.

According to Dr. Jolene Joseph, CEO of The HealthCare Connection, the loss of the federal grant the facility receives would mean potentially, within a couple of months, we would be forced to make a decision to possibly close.

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Mertz and Joseph were part of a media call with Ohio Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, who said he and others are treating this as a disaster, either a disaster thats happening or may happen.

The idea of taking trillions and trillions of dollars out of our community  taking away health care, taking away domestic violence support, food assistance, housing support, you name it, its not only chaotic and cruel, it could be incredibly dangerous, Landsman said.

Landsman and fellow Ohio U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur had similar ideas as to why the funding freeze was happening. They dont think its fiscal responsibility, so much as a play to gain $4 trillion back into the government coffers to benefit the richest Americans.

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Kaptur called the events surrounding the federal freeze order the presidents decision to jeopardize lifelines to the American people and impede progress by manufactured, unnecessary chaos, but its part of the plan, so get ready.

We will fight with every inch of strength that we have against the wealth transfer in this country, Kaptur said at a news conference at the Glass City Pavilion in Toledo.

Now that a federal judge has paused the order, organizations like COHHIO are getting back to work, but not without wariness when it comes to next steps, including federal agencies reviewing their programs to comply with the executive orders, or the lifting of the legal pause.

The funding freeze has been lifted, but we do have to caution that this is still an evolving situation, its still an evolving action, Riegel said in a virtual information meeting on Thursday.

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The chaos was stressful and upsetting for those who went through it, but they recognized that the efforts in opposition to the order made their mark.

The members of Congress heard loud and clear that there were problems with that freeze, and that made a huge difference, said COHHIOs Gina Wilt.

Lindsay Duvall, senior housing advocacy organizer for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the group counted more than 6,000 contacts with congressional offices within the first 24 hours after their call to action against the funding freeze.

As the uncertainty over future moves continues, Wilt advised nonprofit groups and their staff to engage with legislators, even invite them to visit the facilities that benefit from these grants and loans, giving them a chance to change their minds about issues in their districts. Even if a visit isnt feasible, contact is just as important, according to Wilt.

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We need to call them once, we need to call them twice, we need to call them three times, she said.

Kaptur said shes sent a note to Trump inviting him to tour Toledo with her.

I said would he come to Toledo and visit with me, and Ill show him neighborhoods and places and work that I doubt hes ever seen in his life, Kaptur said.

Landsman said he has had discussions with other members of Congress, including the Ohio delegation, on the orders and the funding plans the Trump administration has made known, and he said hed gotten good feedback that there are legislators who dont support the moves.

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I dont think that money that is supposed to be coming to Ohio and to our communities, having that money get diverted, is something that folks who serve this state want to see, Landsman said.

Ohio Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said in a statement provided to the Ohio Capital Journal Friday morning that critical programs utilized by Ohioans in need are not affected by this temporary pause.

President Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do, cutting wasteful spending and ensuring taxpayer dollars arent spent on failed liberal pet projects, Moreno said.

Requests for comment were sent to Ohios Reps. Warren Davidson, Dave Joyce, Max Miller, Mike Carey and Joyce Beatty. None of the requests received a response on Thursday. A message on the voicemail at U.S. Sen. Jon Husteds D.C. office said the mailbox was full.

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A federal judge has denied a request to stop a Michigan law banning practicing conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors, ruling in a lawsuit brought on by religious groups last year, although plaintiffs have appealed the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering ruled Tuesday the state law does not appear to violate the free speech of mental health therapists in Michigan. A lawsuit, filed in July on behalf of the Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties and Emily McJones, a Lansing-based therapist, sought to have a preliminary injunction issued against the law.

In a 36-page ruling, Beckering denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, writing plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their case.

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"The language of the law, on its face, concerns treatment and does not target speech," Beckering wrote. "The law provides that licensed mental health professionals shall not 'engage in conversion therapy with a minor,' with 'conversion therapy' defined as a 'practice or treatment.'"

Beckering is an appointee of former President Joe Biden.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based nonprofit legal group that aims to defend religious expression, represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Plaintiffs filed an appeal to the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, court records show.

Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling or psychoanalysis, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). According to AACAP, there is no evidence conversion therapy is effective, however, there is evidence the practice can be harmful to childrens development.

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In 2023, the Michigan House and Senate passed bills banning the practice, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the ban into law in July of that year. The bills passed mostly along party lines, with Democrats supporting them and Republicans largely opposed. At the time, LGBTQ advocacy organizations commended the legislation.

Under Michigans ban, the definition of conversion therapy would not include counseling for individuals undergoing gender transition, counseling for those coping with questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity, or interventions for unlawful sexual conduct or abuse, so long as the interventions don't attempt to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued the law violates their free speech, free exercise of religion and due process rights because it limits how they can practice counseling minors who are questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation.

A Becket official criticized the law and said the plaintiffs look forward to a ruling in their appeal.

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"Michigans new law pushes vulnerable children down a dangerous path of drugs, hormones, and surgeries that have been banned by the majority of states and federal government," Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement provided to the Free Press. "It harms children, defies the best available scientific evidence, and cuts children off from the compassionate, evidence-based counseling they need."

Twenty-three states currently have laws prohibiting conversion therapy for minors, according to the Movement Advance Project.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office represents the state in litigation against its laws, applauded Beckering's ruling and said her office would continue its efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed.

The harms of conversion therapy on our children are well known and documented, which is why Governor Whitmer and health officials took action to protect their mental health, Nessel said in a statement. States have a duty to shield their residents, especially kids, from treatments proven to cause devastating harm, and I am glad the Court denied this request to block the enforcement of this critical law."

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Whitmer, Nessel, state health and licensing officials, including Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, and members of the states Board of Counseling, Board of Social Workers and Board of Psychology are listed as defendants in the lawsuits. Beckering's ruling removed Hertel as a defendant, with the judge ruling plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate her standing in the case.

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge denies request to stop Michigan's ban on conversion therapy
U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funds until 'further order of this Court' in Providence on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Getty image)

The prospect of a federal funding freeze was put on ice by a federal judge in Rhode Island Friday afternoon.

The States have put forth sufficient evidence at this stage that they will likely suffer severe and irreparable harm if the Court denies their request to enjoin enforcement of the funding pause, Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. wrote in the 13-page order. And it is more than monetary harm that is at stake here. As Justice Anthony Kennedy reminds us, Liberty is always at stake when one or more of the branches seek to transgress the separation of powers.

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McConnells order blocks President Donald Trump and the 26 other federal cabinet heads named in the lawsuit from freezing federal funds until further order of this Court, calling for a preliminary hearing to weigh the request for a longer-term ban. A hearing had not been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, one of 23 Democratic attorneys general who filed the suit on U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island applauded McConnells decision in a statement Friday.

I am grateful for Judge McConnells careful consideration of this matter and for seeing the irreparable harm that this directive would cause, and frankly has already caused, Americans across the country, Neronha said. This directive targets public safety, health care, veterans services, childcare, disaster relief, and countless other cornerstones of American life. Make no mistake: this federal funding pause was implemented to inspire fear and chaos, and it was successful in that respect. These tactics are intended to wear us down, but with each legal victory we reaffirm that these significant and unlawful disruptions wont be tolerated, and will certainly be met with swift and immediate action now and in the future.

McConnell already verbally indicated during a hearing Wednesday that he was inclined to side with the AGs, who sought the temporary restraining order as a short-term fix in the wake of the White House budget memo. The virtual hearing was held two hours after the U.S. Office of Management and Budget rescinded its Jan. 27 memo, alongside a confusing social media post by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noting that the intent was still to freeze funds.

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The initial AGs complaint centered on the infamous budget memo, citing the irreparable harm that a funding freeze would cause to state governments and agencies, and arguing that the move violates the U.S. Constitution.

The AGs revised request for a temporary restraining order, submitted to the court Thursday morning, focuses on the federal administrations intent to pause funds, memo or not.

Daniel Schwei, special counsel to the U.S. Department of Justice, representing Trump and other federal cabinet heads named in the suit, sought to have the case tossed.

Plaintiffs cannot transform their lawsuit into a vehicle to seek relief against other actions, such as the Presidents Executive Orders or agencies ongoing implementation of those Orders, Schwei wrote in a 13-page response filed Thursday. The Presidents Executive Orders are not subject to direct challenge; the Supreme Court has made clear that courts have no jurisdiction . . . to enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties.

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Anticipating that McConnell may grant a temporary restraining order regardless, Schwei sought to limit the scope of the block, arguing it should not apply to the president himself nor to executive orders, among other limits.

McConnells Friday order, however, aligns almost exactly with what the AGs proposed. One difference: The temporary restraining order lasts until further court order; the AGs had asked for a 14-day block, with a potential 14-day extension.

A federal judge in D.C. already issued a temporary administrative stay Tuesday night in response to a separate lawsuit filed by a group of nonprofit, business and health care groups, preventing the Trump administration from freezing federal grants and aid until at least Feb. 3.

Other Democratic attorneys general who filed the lawsuit before McConnell are from New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funds until further order of this Court in Providence on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Getty image)

The prospect of a federal funding freeze was put on ice by a federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday afternoon.

The States have put forth sufficient evidence at this stage that they will likely suffer severe and irreparable harm if the Court denies their request to enjoin enforcement of the funding pause, Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. wrote in the 13-page order. And it is more than monetary harm that is at stake here. As Justice Anthony Kennedy reminds us, Liberty is always at stake when one or more of the branches seek to transgress the separation of powers.

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McConnells order blocks Trump and the 26 other federal cabinet heads named in the lawsuit from freezing federal funds until further order of this Court, calling for a preliminary hearing to weigh the request for a longer-term ban. A hearing had not been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, one of 23 Democratic attorneys general, including Oregons Dan Rayfield, who filed the suit on U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island applauded McConnells decision in a statement Friday.

I am grateful for Judge McConnells careful consideration of this matter and for seeing the irreparable harm that this directive would cause, and frankly has already caused, Americans across the country, Neronha said. This directive targets public safety, health care, veterans services, childcare, disaster relief, and countless other cornerstones of American life. Make no mistake: this federal funding pause was implemented to inspire fear and chaos, and it was successful in that respect. These tactics are intended to wear us down, but with each legal victory we reaffirm that these significant and unlawful disruptions wont be tolerated, and will certainly be met with swift and immediate action now and in the future.

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Rayfield also issued a statement

The courts ruling marks a crucial step in holding the administration accountable for overreach and its disregard for the law, he said. The judges decision ensures that Oregonians will continue to receive a number of essential services that affect public safety, health and nutrition. If the administration continues to overstep its authority, we are prepared to keep fighting to make sure that the rights of Oregonians are not undermined by unlawful actions.

McConnell already verbally indicated during a hearing Wednesday that he was inclined to side with the AGs, who sought the temporary restraining order as a short-term fix in the wake of the White House budget memo. The virtual hearing was held two hours after the U.S. Office of Management and Budget rescinded its Jan. 27 memo, alongside a confusing social media post by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noting that the intent was still to freeze funds.

The initial AGs complaint centered on the infamous budget memo, citing the irreparable harm that a funding freeze would cause to state governments and agencies, and arguing that the move violates the U.S. Constitution.

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The AGs revised request for a temporary restraining order, submitted to the court Thursday morning, focuses on the federal administrations intent to pause funds, memo or not.

Daniel Schwei, special counsel to the U.S. Department of Justice, representing Trump and other federal cabinet heads named in the suit, sought to have the case tossed.

Plaintiffs cannot transform their lawsuit into a vehicle to seek relief against other actions, such as the Presidents Executive Orders or agencies ongoing implementation of those Orders, Schwei wrote in a 13-page response filed Thursday. The Presidents Executive Orders are not subject to direct challenge; the Supreme Court has made clear that courts have no jurisdiction . . . to enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties.

Anticipating that McConnell may grant a temporary restraining order regardless, Schwei sought to limit the scope of the block, arguing it should not apply to the president himself nor to executive orders, among other limits.

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McConnells Friday order, however, aligns almost exactly with what the AGs proposed. One difference: The temporary restraining order lasts until further court order; the AGs had asked for a 14-day block, with a potential 14-day extension.

A federal judge in D.C. already issued a temporary administrative stay Tuesday night in response to a separate lawsuit filed by a group of nonprofit, business and health care groups, preventing the Trump administration from freezing federal grants and aid until at least Feb. 3.

Besides Oregon, Democratic attorneys general who filed the lawsuit are from New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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Rhode Island Current, like Oregon Capital Chronicle, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
A federal judge temporarily blocked prison officials from moving a transgender woman to a mens prison and cutting off her access to gender-affirming care.

The temporary restraining order issued on Sunday from U.S. District Court Judge George OToole prevents part of President Donald Trumps executive order declaring there are only two sexes from going into immediate effect. The order, signed by the president on his first day in office, called on government officials to ensure that there are no transgender women in womens detention centers and that no federal funds are used to provide gender-affirming care to people in Bureau of Prisons custody.

The day after Trump signed the executive order, BOP moved a transgender woman in Massachusetts identified as Maria Moe into a solitary confinement unit typically used for disciplinary purposes, pending transfer to a mens facility. Moe sued the Trump administration on Sunday night  the first known legal challenge to the executive  alleging that the directive put her safety at risk. The case was sealed until Thursday, when the court held a hearing on whether to grant Moe further relief.

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We are relieved that our client is staying put for now, Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law and one of Moes lawyers, said in a statement. For over ten years, prison officials have had the discretion to make individualized housing decisions to protect transgender women from severe violence in mens facilities. Corrections experts agree that case-by-case assessment is crucial for safety throughout the prison system and oppose any blanket rule that would overturn a policy that has been proven to work.

Moe identified as a girl by the time she was in middle school, began medically transitioning when she was 15 years old, and has been incarcerated in womens facilities since her arrest. Her incarceration was generally unremarkable, her mother wrote in an affidavit. On Jan. 21, the day after Trump signed the executive order, Moe called her mother frantic and told her through tears that she was going to be transferred to a mens prison because of the order, according to the affidavit. By Jan. 25, her sex classification on publicly available BOP records had been changed from female to male.

When your child is incarcerated, you worry about them, wrote Moes mother, whose name is redacted in the affidavit. If she were transferred to a mens prison, my fears would multiply, her mother added, citing fears that Moe would be targeted for harassment, abuse and violence  and suffer from being cut off from her medication.

After Moe filed her motion for a temporary restraining order, she was removed from solitary confinement and returned to general population, Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and one of Moes lawyers, told HuffPost.

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In her complaint, Moe alleged that BOPs plan to transfer her violates the Fifth Amendments due process protections and the Eighth Amendments protections against cruel and unusual punishment. It also argues that Trumps executive order did not follow federal law related to rulemaking.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, a law enacted in 2003 but not implemented until 2012, requires prison officials to conduct housing reviews for incarcerated trans people at least twice a year to determine, on a case-by-case basis, where they should be imprisoned. The law states that the individuals views on their own safety should be given serious consideration.

Incarcerated transgender people are disproportionately targeted for violence and sexual assault. This reality is uncontroverted, Levi wrote in a court filing. A 2013 study by the Department of Justice estimated that nearly 35% of incarcerated transgender people in state and federal prisons were sexually assaulted between 2007 and 2012. From 2011 to 2012, transgender people were sexually assaulted at nearly ten times the rate for the general incarcerated population.

Cutting off Moes access to hormone therapy would trigger severe physical and psychological consequences, Levi continued. Without hormone therapy, her body will undergo significant and irreversible changes that will exacerbate her gender dysphoria, causing the kind of disabling depression, anxiety, lack of self-esteem, and suicidality that characterize untreated gender dysphoria.

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Openly trans people account for less than 1% of people in federal prisons, according to the Bureau of Prisons. The bureau does not disclose how many trans people are currently incarcerated in prisons that match their gender. In the days following Trumps executive order, lawyers and advocates told HuffPost that trans women in BOP facilities throughout the country were being placed in isolation and notified of upcoming transfers to mens facilities.

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A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked prison officials from transferring an anonymous trans woman to a mens prison, temporarily halting their compliance with President Trumps executive order on so-called gender ideology.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole issued a temporary restraining order on January 26 against the Bureau of Prisons (BoP), preventing officials from completing a planned transfer of pseudonymous plaintiff Maria Moe, lawyers at GLBTQ+ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) confirmed to Reuters on Thursday. As a result of the order, Moe must be kept in a womens facilitys general population and must continue to receive medical care, including hormone therapy.

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OToole, nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1995, has reportedly not yet decided whether to issue a broader injunction in Moes case, which could affect the BoPs enforcement of Trumps anti-trans executive order declaring the biological reality of sex to be immutable and binary. In response to Thems request for comment, a GLAD representative said that Moes case was sealed not long after it began last week, and although the case was unsealed on Thursday, some documents have yet to be redacted and refiled; neither OTooles order nor the governments response were available on the public docket at time of writing.

The outcome of yesterdays hearing was a huge relief to Maria Moe. She is back in general population and receiving necessary medical care, said Jennifer Levi, GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights, in a statement emailed to Them. Trumps Gender Ideology Executive Order is contrary to the health and safety of incarcerated people, undermines prison security for all, and protects no one.

Its part of a seemingly sustained attack on transgender peoples inclusion in civic life, Levi, one of the lawyers who fought Trumps first trans military ban, added. The Courts remain an important backstop. This is a great first step in the case.

According to Moes complaint, on January 25, BoP officials changed her recorded sex from female to male, then placed her in a separate Special Housing Unit (SHU) and informed her that she would soon be transferred to a mens prison as a result of Trumps order. A special housing unit is a BoP term for a prison area used for protective custody and/or disciplinary solitary confinement, a traumatizing but common experience for trans prisoners. A BoP policy document regarding use of SHUs was offline this week, with an error page noting that content may not be available as we Implement Trumps anti-trans order.

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[T]he Order includes a definition of sex that is intentionally designed to discriminate against transgender people, Moes lawyers argue in her complaint, adding, It includes these definitions to preclude transgender people from being able to live in a sex different than their birth sex and to deny them equal treatment. Moe is pursuing claims against Trump under the Fifth and Eighth Amendments, as well as alleged violations of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973  which banned federal discrimination on the basis of disability  and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Following Moes lawsuit last week, three more trans prisoners filed their own complaint in Washington, D.C. on January 30, naming Acting Attorney General James McHenry and Acting FBI Director William Lothrop as defendants. The plaintiffs, named pseudonymously as Jane, Mary, and Sara Doe, are also seeking Fifth and Eighth Amendment claims as a result of impending transfers and denials of medical care, which they say constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and will cause irreparable injury including serious physical, psychological and emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation, and indignity. Like Moe, the Doe plaintiffs are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), GLAD, and several additional legal groups.

Everything You Need to Know About Trump's Executive Order Attempting to Erase Trans Americans

The president signed the sweeping order within hours of taking office, signaling that curtailing the rights of trans people is a top priority for his administration.

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President Trump has been transparent about his hostility toward transgender people and openly stated his intentions to create legal obstacles to eliminate legal protections for transgender people and to deter them from obtaining medical care or being able to live in a sex other than their birth sex, the D.C. complaint argues, adding that Trumps executive order was motivated by and implements the same discriminatory animus President Trump repeatedly expressed during his campaign, rather than any legitimate government purpose.

Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.
The federal prosecutors in Middle Tennessee investigating U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles are backing off the case.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee filed motions in federal court on Thursday to withdraw from the criminal investigation of Ogles. The move comes months after the office obtained warrants to seize Ogles' cell phone and email account which were then executed by the FBI.

Ogles, R-Columbia, has stated he believes the investigation centered around his federal campaign finance filings. Ogles has not been charged with a crime in relation to the investigation.

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern approved the motions to withdraw on Friday, signaling the end of the office's involvement in the case. The U.S. Attorney's Office would not explain to The Tennessean why it chose to withdraw from the case.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles addresses his supporters after winning the Republican nomination for a second term at an election night returns party at Ludlow & Prime in Franklin, Tenn., Thursday night, Aug. 1, 2024.

It's not immediately clear what the move means for the future of the Ogles' investigation, but an attorney at the Department of Justice in Washington remains on the case for now.

Former Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Jaworski, who held the position from September to December and now works in private practice, said he thinks the case was likely dropped so the short-staffed office could focus on the Trump administration's priorities of violent crime and immigration issues.

Cases like the Ogles investigation "are just very intensive factual cases that just take a lot of time to develop," Jaworski said. "So this is a move to align the office with the President's priorities," Jaworski said.

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Jaworksi said it's "not uncommon" for the DOJ to investigate a case without the cooperation of the local U.S. attorney's office. Whether the DOJ also drops the case "all depends on the strength of the evidence and their resources," he said. "So I think a lot of that's going to shake out in the next few weeks."

Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire stated in the filings that John P. Taddei, an attorney with the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice based out of Washington, is going to take over as lead prosecutor. Meanwhile, a shakeup is taking place in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section, whose chief Corey Amundson resigned this week after the Trump administration tried to reassign him to a role investigating immigration issues.

McGuire, a criminal trial lawyer who in 2014 ran in the Democratic primary for the Nashville district attorney seat, has been the top local federal prosecutor since December, and he will only be in the position until a permanent U.S. Attorney is selected by President Donald Trump. McGuire took over after Jaworski left for private practice on Dec. 27, who himself took over after Henry Leventis, a Biden appointee, resigned.

Court filings state FBI agents executed the search warrant and took Ogles' phone on Aug. 2, 2024, the day after he won the Republican primary for his Congressional seat.

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Ogles has asked the DOJ to return the cell phone so that he can identify protected legislative materials he says are on them.

For more than two years, Ogles has faced scrutiny and multiple complaints over his federal campaign finance disclosures, including a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging a pattern of malfeasance in his financial dealings in 2022, and $5,750 in civil penalties for campaign finance violations after the 2022 cycle.

Vivian Jones and Melissa Brown contributed.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Andy Ogles investigation: Federal prosecutors withdraw from case
Federal workers across the government on Friday received emails from top officials at their agencies informing them that the resignation offers they received earlier this week are "valid, lawful, and will be honored."

The White House's Office of Personnel Management had told government workers in an email Tuesday that if they quit by Feb. 6, they would still get paid through Sept. 30.

PHOTO: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) headquarters building, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)

MORE: Trump administration offers federal workers payouts for resignations in move mirroring Elon Musk's memo at Twitter

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Employment lawyers questioned whether such an offer was lawful because Congress, not the White House, is responsible for authorizing workers' paychecks. Many agencies are expected to run out of money this spring, with the federal government only funded through March, raising questions about how the Trump administration can promise those who take the buyouts would still get paid if the executive branch doesn't control spending.

Many federal workers also wondered whether the memo, titled "A Fork in the Road," was a phishing scam, prompting OPM to release a new memo assuring workers they are "most welcome [to] stay at home and relax or to travel to your dream destination. Whatever you would like."

On Friday morning, senior officials at the various agencies sent memos to staffers assuring them the offers were indeed real.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to reporters after signing an executive order to appoint the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Oval Office at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

MORE: Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of day

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"On behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), I am informing you that the offer is valid, lawful, and will be honored by USDA," said one such memo signed by Kailee Tkacz Buller, chief of staff at the Department of Agriculture.

"If you accept the deferred resignation offer, you will receive pay and benefits through September 30, 2025, and will not be subject to a reduction-in-force or other premature separation," she wrote.

However, Max Alonzo, the national secretary-treasurer for the National Federation of Federal Employees, a labor union that represents 110,000 federal workers, said his union is advising federal workers not to respond to the email.

In part, he said, the union is worried about the lack of clarity and specifics in the offer email. He pointed to the lack of a contract and the fact that Congress has not allocated funds for large-scale federal buyouts, and he worried people might offer to resign but not actually be paid in the end or may have their benefits stripped.

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"Absolutely do not resign. There is nothing that says that the day that you resign, that they can't just let you go," he said. "They don't have to pay you -- there's nothing that says they have to pay you till Sept. 30. This is nothing that has been done before. This is not in our regulations. There's no regs about it. We're not even sure if it's actually legal. So, yeah, absolutely do not resign."

The buyout offers come as President Donald Trump has pushed for federal employees to return to working in person, signing an executive order on his first day in office calling for an end to teleworking.

However, the email went to many workers across the country who never had telework agreements, including firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service and nurses at hospitals with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and many remain skeptical about the intention of the offer and ramifications for those who reply.

Asked about the buyout offers in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was blunt, saying, "We'd love to have them leave."

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"We're trying to reduce government," Trump added, noting that he didn't know how many people had taken the offer but that it would become clear on Feb. 6, when the offer expires.

"Nobody knows how that's going to turn out," Trump said. "Everybody's replaceable, and we'll get very good people to replace them if it turns out to be more than we thought it could be."

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Federal workers told offer to get paid through September if they resign is 'valid,' 'lawful' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Jan. 30An Albuquerque man is accused of trafficking drugs into a federal prison in New Mexico while being on the run from probation officers for almost two years.

Michael "Gomer" Garcia, 46, was arrested Tuesday, months after being federally charged with attempt to provide a prohibited object to an inmate, attempt by an inmate of a prison to obtain a prohibited object and conspiracy.

There has been a warrant out for Garcia's arrest on state charges since April 2023, when he skipped out on reporting to a halfway house after repeated probation violations, according to court records.

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During that time, Garcia had been featured on Albuquerque's Metro 15 list of most wanted fugitives.

Authorities who arrested Garcia also arrested Eric Edwards, 36, on a state warrant at a home raided by the FBI Tuesday, Tessa DuBerry, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, told the Journal.

During Tuesday's raids, federal authorities seized 16 firearms, including five AR-style rifles, more than two dozen high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and drugs from Garcia's home, DOJ said.

Garcia was the final defendant sought in connection with a conspiracy involving prisoners who formed a drug trafficking network that was bringing contraband into the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, about 80 miles west of Albuquerque, according to the DOJ. The private prison is used to hold detainees for federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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In late October, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service executed warrants on 13 homes in Albuquerque and elsewhere that focused on at least 15 suspects involved in drug trafficking at the facility, the Journal previously reported.

At the time, nine people were charged with federal crimes  including Garcia  that included conspiracy and attempting to provide or obtain prohibited objects in a correctional facility while three were facing state charges in an ongoing investigation.

In the allegations against Garcia, on Aug. 10, he and his sister, Monalisa Vargas, threw a package containing drugs and cellphones over a fence at the corrections facility, where two prisoners were supposed to receive the contraband, the indictment against Garcia states. However, the plan "went awry," and the package was found by corrections officers, according to the DOJ.
A proposed new mine in Osceola County to extract nearly 800,000 tons per year of the agricultural fertilizer potash and 1 million tons per year of table salt received a major boost in the waning days of outgoing President Joe Biden's administration, a conditional commitment from the Department of Energy for a loan guarantee of up to $1.26 billion.

Whether that loan commitment to the Michigan Potash & Salt Co.  announced Jan. 17, less than three days before Biden left office  survives the new Trump administration's undoing of many Biden-era initiatives remains to be seen. The Trump administration this week rescinded an earlier memo describing a freeze on federal grants and loans as the Office of Management and Budget aimed to review them to ensure they complied with Trump's priorities. The controversial freeze was met with a firestorm of protest from Democratic members of Congress and some constitutional scholars before being walked back.

The potash mine proposed in Osceola County's Evart Township, which would use a fracking-like process, has been in the works for more than a decade, after large reserves of high-grade potash more than a mile and a half underground in the north-central Lower Peninsula were reaffirmed from old mining cores.

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The huge Department of Energy loan commitment comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Agriculture also providing an $80 million grant to Michigan Potash in December. The state of Michigan in 2022 approved a $50 million subsidy and tax-exempt bonding for the company.

Michigan Potash officials did not respond Thursday to a Free Press message seeking comment. In a Jan. 17 news release announcing the Department of Energy loan commitment, Michigan Potash founder and CEO Ted Pagano praised the agency's effort "to help us strengthen our farmers, the noblest of professions."

"The initial phase of the U.S. Potash Project is just scratching the surface of the full potential of potash in Michigan," he said. "This is a win for farmers, for consumers and for the United States as we strive to reduce our reliance on foreign countries for this critical mineral."

Michigan Potash officials cite the potential for 200 permanent jobs at the mine, along with about 1,400 jobs during construction. The mine would triple the county's industrial tax base, with Michigan Potash projected to pay wages 2.5 times higher than average county wages, Department of Energy officials said.

Environmental permitting still not finished

But some environmental regulation hurdles remain. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is considering Michigan Potash's air pollution and wetlands permits, and recently extended the deadline for public comment on the air pollution permit to Feb. 13 because of strong community interest.

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A public information meeting on the proposed mine is scheduled by EGLE from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the Osceola County Fairground Community Building in Evart. Representatives from EGLE's Water Resources, Air Quality and Geologic Resources Management divisions will be on hand to answer questions related to regulations and applications for the Michigan Potash facility. The meeting is an information session, not a formal public hearing.

The public hearing for Michigan Potash's wetlands permit is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 13. The public can register for the online hearing at the following link: https://bit.ly/3Pz7XeD. The company proposes permanent impacts to approximately 1 acre of wetlands, and temporary impacts to a fraction of an acre for roads, buildings, pipelines, utilities, wells, grading and well pads. Four retention basins with no outlets are to be created on-site.

2 million gallons of groundwater a day

Retrieving Michigan's potash will take a huge amount of groundwater.

Michigan Potash proposes to use solution mining  wells not unlike oil and gas fracking wells that would inject brine water thousands of feet underground to dissolve potash and bring it to the surface, where it would then be dried and reconstituted. The operation would also generate marketable, table-grade salt. Brine water waste would be disposed of deep underground via disposal wells.

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The company predicts it will produce up to 800,000 tons of potash per year, and up to 1 million tons per year of salt.

EGLE  then known as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality  in 2017 approved Michigan Potash's request to extract 725 million gallons of groundwater annually, almost 2 million gallons per day  more than five times the groundwater withdrawal by Nestle North America's Ice Mountain bottled water operation only a few miles away that raised public controversy at the time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2017 offered approvals for the mine to install three injection wells to dispose of briny wastewater deep underground. The permits survived years of legal challenges from the local nonprofit Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and others.

Marco Menezes lives about a mile from the proposed mine.

"This project is going to encompass something like 16,000 acres that are leased over the course of its lifespan, which (CEO Pagano) says will be 150 years," he said. "That is going to dramatically change the nature of a rural section of land and completely industrialize it. And nobody seems to care except those who live nearby."

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Among Menezes' concerns is that the area is "infused with all of these little wetlands," including on the land Michigan Potash intends to use for its mine. A large wetland  one of the largest in Osceola County, he said  lies just west of the project boundary, providing waterfowl habitat and the headwaters to a trout stream.

Though the company intends to extract its groundwater from deep enough underground that the water table used for residential wells should not be affected, Menezes said he worries about the activity infiltrating the local drinking water source, perhaps through old oil and gas borings that were poorly capped or not mapped.

"If the engineering works, those wetlands and that groundwater will be protected," he said. "But engineering always fails over a generational timespan. Over 150 years, you are sure to have spills and leaks. It is going to be continual degradation of what is now a fairly pristine environment. And there is no way to stop it; that's just the way things work."

Will Trump be on board with the potash mine?

Trump, in his first administration in 2017, issued Executive Order 13817, "A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals." The U.S. Department of Interior the following year released a list of 35 minerals deemed crucial to the U.S. economy and security, based on a methodology by the U.S. Geological Survey. Potash was included.

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The United States imports more than 90% of the roughly 10 million tons of potash its farmers use each year, the vast majority imported from Canada.

Michigan Potash's proposed solution mining approach "is a very energy-intensive, very expensive process" compared with how the mineral is mined in Canada, Menezes said.

"Those Canadian potash mines are just across the border on Saskatchwan ... the factories are huge; they've got train cars running right through to load them up and drive them down into the U.S. grain belt.

"I don't think there is any way you can compete with that unless there is a huge tariff on Canadian potash. The national security issue is just hocus-pocus  there isn't anything to it, really. It assumes that at some point in time we are going to be at war with Canada and we won't be able to get potash."

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The Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the American multinational food processing and commodities trading giant, apparently disagrees. ADM has partnered with Michigan Potash on selling its fertilizer directly to farmers and the U.S. agricultural industry.

"Increasing potash production in Michigan is good for Midwest farmers and American agriculture," Zach Sturm, director of fertilizer procurement for ADM, said in a Jan, 17 news release. "We look forward to working with our partners to expand our capabilities to offer cost-effective, domestically produced fertilizer solutions to our customers."

Construction of the Michigan Potash facilities is projected to take three years, with the possibility of the mine being operational by 2028.

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Potash gets $1B in government support but mine still has detractors
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP)  A top U.S. Justice Department official said a county sheriff's office in upstate New York would be investigated for potential prosecution because it released a Mexican citizen from jail even though a judge had signed a warrant for the mans arrest.

But Tompkins County officials quickly shot back, saying that the sheriff's office had, in fact, contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the man's pending release, and that federal agents simply hadn't come by to pick him up.

There was no interference with federal immigration enforcement efforts, county officials said in a statement.

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The back-and-forth between federal prosecutors and the county began Thursday, when Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a news release that the office of Sheriff Derek Osborne, a Democrat, had failed to detain a 27-year-old Mexican man after he finished serving a sentence for assault on Jan. 28.

Federal agents arrested the man Thursday on a year-old criminal charge of illegally reentering the United States after a prior deportation.

Bove cited sanctuary city policies in the county's seat, Ithaca, New York, as he complained about having to re-arrest the man, saying it created a dangerous situation. He said the U.S. attorney's office in Syracuse, New York, had made a commitment to investigate these circumstances for potential prosecution.

The Justice Department will not tolerate actions that endanger law enforcement and make their jobs harder than they already are, as they work to protect us all, Bove said.

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Osborne did not respond to phone or emailed messages from The Associated Press seeking comment, but county officials released a statement saying the sheriff and his staff followed the law.

DOJs assertion that the Tompkins County Sheriff did anything to put federal law enforcement officers in danger is false and offensive, it said. "The safety of all law enforcement is our top priority. In contrast, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were notified of when the individual in question was going to be released and had every opportunity to come to the jail to obtain the individual in question without any need for a pursuit or other incident.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Syracuse said the office would have no comment beyond the statement it released on Bove's behalf Thursday.

During President Donald Trumps first week in office, the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials who they believe are interfering with the Trump administrations crackdown on immigration, saying they could face criminal charges. Boves memo was seen as a warning to the dozens of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across America.

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Local jails are generally not allowed in New York to hold a person past the end of their release date as a favor to federal immigration authorities  unless a judicial warrant has been issued for that person's arrest.

In those instances, the state attorney general has advised local agencies to cooperate with federal authorities.

A resolution adopted by Tompkins County in 2017 instructs local agents to hold individuals for federal agencies for up to 48 hours under limited circumstances, including in cases where there is a judicial warrant or cause to believe the person has re-entered the country without authorization after being removed. County officers are also advised to cooperate if an individual has been convicted of a violent or serious crime.

The U.S. attorneys office in Syracuse said that in this instance, the county sheriffs office had been provided a copy of the January 2024 federal arrest warrant, but did not say when that had happened. The county, meanwhile, wouldn't say how much advance notice it had given federal immigration agents about the man's pending release.
The Central Florida aviation community is mourning the loss of 28-year-old Samuel Lilley, a promising First Officer whose life was tragically cut short in a devastating midair collision over Washington, D.C., Wednesday night.

Samuel was among 64 passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight bound for Reagan National Airport when a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers collided with the commercial jet in midair.

Little described Samuel as more than just a pilotbut a man with a bright future ahead of him. He had worked tirelessly to earn his place in the skies, graduating from flight school in Volusia County in 2020.

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Read: Orlando figure skaters knew victims in DC mid-air collision

Sam wanted nothing more than to be a pilot. His dad was a pilot. Were all trying to achieve the same goal. Become pilots, said Skeeter Little, Friend and Pilot.

According to his fathers Facebook Page, he was also preparing for another milestonea wedding. He was engaged to be married this fall.

Little talked to Channel 9 a day after the devastating crash. She said Samuel brought energy and warmth to class during flight school with his jokes and packed the best lunches.

The man had a smile every day. He had the best jokes, and those are memories that you think about forever, said Little.

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Like many in the aviation industry, the world is grappling with the shock and sorrow of this tragedy.

Read: Training partner of the American Airlines pilot speaks after deadly passenger jet, helicopter crash

Aviation is such a small world. Its such a close-knit family at the end of the day, it takes all departments of an airline, of a charter, of an organization to get planes on and off the ground, said Little.

Samuel dedicated his life to flying, working his way up to First Officer for American Airlinesa dream he had chased for years.

As investigators work to determine what led to the deadly collision, the aviation world is left grieving one of its own. Tributes on social media continue to pour in from fellow pilots and airline workers, many sharing words of kindness.

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Thoughts to all the families. Prayers. Hug your loved ones. Tragic things happen, and um. Clear skies and tailwinds, Little said.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




Troopers are investigating a deadly crash in the Meadow Woods community of Orange County.

10:25 a.m. update:

FHP said troopers have cleared the crash scene and there is no longer roadblock in the area.

10 a.m. update:

FHP said investigators are still at the crash scene and there continues to be roadblock in the area.

The agency has released additional information regarding what troopers believe led to the crash.

FHP said the driver of a Honda Accord was traveling westbound on Rhode Island Woods Circle, approaching Fairway Glen Drive.

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The driver of a Chevy Equinox, traveling in front of the Accord, was also heading westbound on Rhode Island Woods Circle.

READ: Aviation expert shares insight into deadly midair collision in DC

Investigators said the Equinoxs driver was in the process of the making a lefthand turn onto Fairway Glen Drive.

Troopers said the man driving the Accord entered the eastbound lane of Rhode Island Woods Drive, attempting to pass the Equinox.

The vehicles collided before the Honda ran off the roadway and struck a wall, investigators said.

READ: Appeals court finds law banning the sale of handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds is unconstitutional

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FHP said the driver of the Honda Accord, 19, of Orlando, died at the crash site.

The woman driving the Chevy Equinox, 19, also of Orlando, was not hurt and stayed on scene following the collision.

The crash remains under investigation.

Original story:

Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened around 5:20 a.m. Friday at Fairway Glen Drive and Rhode Island Woods Circle.

FHP said the collision two involved two vehicles.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

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FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

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FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

FHP said troopers responded to the fatal crash in Orlando's Meadow Woods community Friday morning.

READ: Orlando figure skaters knew victims in DC mid-air collision

The agency confirmed that one person died at the crash scene.

FHP is asking motorists to avoid this area while troopers investigate the deadly incident.

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Channel 9 has a crew near the crash scene and anchor Alexa Lorenzo is also keeping tabs on traffic impacts from our news studio.

READ: Orange County to make renewed push for transportation improvement funding

Monitor WFTV.com and watch Eyewitness News for the latest updates on this breaking story.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




(WPRI)  The South Coast Rail is another step closer to becoming operational.

South Coast Rail, its coming, its real, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) General Manager Philip Eng said at a board meeting last week.

The commuter rail that will eventually connect Boston with Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton was originally scheduled to be operational last summer.

BACKGROUND: MBTA very confident South Coast Rail will be ready in early 2025

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The MBTA later pushed that timeline into the spring of 2025, citing delays in materials.

Eng promised that commuter rail is on track under the current timeline.

All 988 tests that were required for positive train control have been successfully completed, he said. Were in the final steps.

According to the MBTA, the South Coast Rail will have 32 daily trips to Fall River and New Bedford. There will be 26 trips between South Station and East Taunton on the weekends.

Passengers will pay a full fare of $12.25 or a reduced fare of $6 to take the train to Boston.

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The Finnish government has approved its 27th military aid package for Ukraine worth 198 million euros ($206 million), the Finnish Defense Ministry said on Jan. 31.

This brings Finland's total defense aid provided to Ukraine since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 to 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion). As with the previous Finnish aid packages, the content of the latest tranche is classified.

"This package of almost 200 million euros has been built in close cooperation with Ukraine. We are providing exactly the kind of support that will help Ukraine defend itself in an acute situation on the front," Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said in a press release.

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"It is up to us Europeans how Europe's security continues to develop. Securing Ukraine's independence and ability to defend itself is the most important thing right now," Hakkanen said.

Finland's neighbor, Sweden, recently announced its largest military aid package for Ukraine worth over $1.2 billion, including 16 CB90 combat boats with weapons stations, a million rounds of 12.7 mm ammunition, 146 trucks, 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles, as well as 200 AT4 anti-tank launchers.

The assistance comes amid expectations that Kyiv's European partners will have to take up greater responsibility for helping Ukraine as the U.S. shifts toward "America First" policy under President Donald Trump.

Read also: Finland, Ukraine develop warfare drone, media reports

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Finland will provide Ukraine with the 27th batch of military aid worth almost 200 million.

Source: Finland's Defence Ministry in a press release, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Finnish president decided on the new aid package on 31 January 2025, following a government proposal.

The replacement of the equipment provided in this batch is estimated to cost Finland approximately 198 million. The total value of defence equipment that Finland has supplied to Ukraine so far is 2.5 billion.

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"This package worth almost 200 million has been formed in close cooperation with the Ukrainians. We're providing precisely the kind of support that will help Ukraine defend itself in the acute situation at the front.

We must not loosen our grip, but rather, at this very moment, support must be further strengthened. I've discussed this with my Northern European colleagues this week, and everyone is on the same page. Defence assistance upholds the right of independent nations to exist and safeguards human lives in Ukraine," said Defence Minister Antti Hakkinen.

For operational reasons and to ensure the safe delivery of the aid, the Ministry of Defence, as usual, refrained from providing additional details about the specific contents, delivery methods or schedule of the aid.

Both Ukraine's needs and the resource situation of the Finnish Defence Forces have been taken into account when arranging the aid.

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"It depends on us, Europeans, how security in Europe will develop. Ensuring Ukraine's independence and defence capability is the most important element in this process now," the Finnish defence minister explained.

Background:

In early December, Finland provided Ukraine with the 26th batch of defence aid consisting of winter gear.

In early January, Finland delivered a truck containing personal protective equipment and chemical detectors to Ukraine's emergency services.

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A fire broke out on Friday, 31 January, at the Ukrainian restaurant Slava Ukraini in the Telliskivi district of Tallinn, Estonia. Authorities suspect arson.

Source: ERR, an Estonian media outlet, citing law enforcement, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Britta Sepp, spokesperson for the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department, reported that the police received a report of the fire early on 31 January at 04:45 in northern Tallinn.

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Quote from Britta Sepp: "According to our preliminary information, it may have been arson. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated in criminal proceedings under the section on damage and destruction of property. This is a preliminary legal assessment as evidence is still being collected."

Photo: ERR

More details: Siim Palu, head of communications of the Northern Rescue Centre, explained that the rescue service was alerted by an automatic fire alarm in a building in northern Tallinn at 04:45. Firefighters from the Central City Rescue Service were dispatched.

Quote from Siim Palu: "At the scene, fire was seen inside the building and the sprinklers were working. Rescue workers forced open the door and discovered a fire in the restaurant on the second floor. The fire was only in part of the restaurant, however, smoke was spreading into the hotel on the second floor."

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The fire was successfully extinguished.

Background:

On 7 January, a brief fire broke out at a refugee reception centre in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where a man was arrested on suspicion of arson.

On 29 January, Moldovan authorities pressed charges against five individuals who allegedly planned an arson attack near the Central Electoral Commission during the country's 2024 presidential elections.

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U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan delivers remarks at the 142nd Commencement Exercises of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., on May 17, 2023. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Matt Thieme)

There is an official list of reasons why Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan was fired Tuesday on the first day of the Trump Administration, and there is an unofficial list.

The official reasons cited by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman were leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard, including insufficient attention to Southern border drug issues and the handling of systemic sexual assault problems uncovered at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

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Unofficially, however, too much attention to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) issues  as part of a woke culture that relates decision-making, including personnel hiring, retention and promotion to social issues  was cited as prompting the ouster of Fagan, the first uniformed female to head a military branch.

Her firing was an insult to Fagans career and legacy and will have significant negative national security implications.

The Trump Administration has vowed to end radical and wasteful government DEI programs. A woke military is a weak military DEI critics like to say. Actually, however, a well-executed DEI program can address challenges being faced by the military. Those challenges are sometimes referred to as the 5 Rs: recruitment, retention, readiness, resources and risk to force/risk to mission.

The origins of that 5 Rs model offer insight. In 2019, Air Force Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mary OBrien was working on the Womens Initiate Team (WIT) to bringing down barriers to career development for women in the Air Force. As she explained in the forward to the 2024 Air Force publication, One Team, One Fight:

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It became obvious we needed to make the business case for policy change with some of our mid-level and senior leaders. This led to our 5R modela rubric for evaluating each WIT proposal using Readiness, Resources, Risk, Retention, and Recruiting. Once senior leaders understood how these proposals were directly tied to our warfighting capability through quantifiable metrics for the five criteria, the criticisms of diversity for diversitys sake were negated, and the floodgates opened for a wide variety of changes.

The military has and continues to face significant recruitment issues. Army Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis, commanding general of the Army Recruiting Command, described the 2023 recruiting landscape as one of the toughest Ive seen in over 33 years of service. Lethality depends on a skilled workforce and there is no evidence that women are less skilled than men. In fact, sometimes just the opposite is the case. Future wars will likely be information technology heavy, thereby requiring not primarily brawn, but brains. Individuals with interests and capabilities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), intelligence, and linguistics, among others, will be needed to plan and execute strategy, thereby requiring less emphasis on combat jobs and more on high-tech.

Her firing was an insult to Fagans career and legacy and will have significant negative national security implications.

But if brawn is needed, women have shown themselves capable there as well. Traditionally, less than half of those who attempt the physically and mentally grueling Army Ranger course succeed. In the 2015 class, 380 men began and 94 graduated. Nine women began and two graduated, the first women to graduate. That means that those two women did better than 286 men. While not all women are as physically strong as men, some clearly are. Tradition tells us that men are stronger than women, but that is a cultural stereotype. As of March 2022, 100 women had passed the Army Ranger course.

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Recruitment and retention issues sometimes go hand in hand. A 2020 study by the Government Accountability Office, for example, found women are 28% more likely to leave the U.S. military after one or two tours than their male counterparts, which then requires resources to train new people, leaves gaps in experienced personnel, and subsequently gaps in military readiness.

Fagan was appointed commandant in June 2022. Its worth noting that under her leadership, the Coast Guard met its recruitment goals last year for the first time since 2017. In 2023, she apologized for the Coast Guards inaction in cases of sexual assault and harassment at the services academy between the late 1980s and 2006. While the internal report on the investigation, known as Operation Fouled Anchor, was kept under wraps by her predecessor, Fagan had the opportunity to release it and has been criticized by women within the Coast Guard for not yet doing so. She had said she was awaiting the completion of a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General investigation into the scandal.

Without DEI, we are told, hiring and promotions will be merit-based. Make no mistake though, merit has traditionally been liberally peppered with cronyism and good-ol-boy-ism. Now add to that fealty to the Trump Administration rather than the Constitution.

The reality is that Fagans firing has nothing to do with bolstering national security. Just the opposite. It is part of a regressive social agenda to put women back in their place, misogyny being the glue that holds together the many racist, anti-immigration, LGBTQ+ and other hate groups that have been unleashed in America.

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda L. Fagan talks about her goals for transforming the U.S. Coast Guard workforce during a visit to Sector Lower Mississippi River at Naval Support Activity Mid South in Millington, Tenn., on Jan. 22, 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Austin Collins)

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It is worth noting as well that it was President Donald Trump who signed the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Act in 2017, mandating the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) that recognizes the links between gender and security and therefore seeks to bolster womens participation in security affairs. UNSCR 1325 is built upon four pillars: participation, prevention, protection, and relief and recovery efforts. WPS emphasizes the need for inclusive diversity (women having not just a seat, but a voice at decision-making tables) and consideration of how policies and programs affect men, women, boys and girls differently.

The four U.S. executive departments charged with implementation of the 2017 Act are the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Their designation clearly indicates the security-focused nature of the Act. It is imperative to recognize as well that implementation of the WPS principles is intended as both domestic and foreign. To date, the United States has proudly been the only country in the world to have such a mandate.

Firing Fagan was likely just the first salvo in ridding the Pentagon, and the government generally, of individuals who support diversity. Whats the next chapter? The path forward is no longer visible, just like the Coast Guard web page that used to feature Fagans photo and biography.

DEI is a workforce tool and WPS is an operational tool to provide the United States strategic advantage in global affairs. Both require diversity. If DEI execution is broken, fix it. Dont throw out a tool important to national security.

Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  The USD Discovery District in northwestern Sioux Falls has been on a journey of ups and downs over the last few years but now its first building is officially open for business.

A 57,000-square-foot building now stands as the first of many for future innovators in the USD Discovery Districts research park.

Rhoden joins KELOLAND News for first sit-down interview

Our idea is really to market to the life science and biotech industries here in Sioux Falls to draw both companies from outside as well as support companies and efforts in research and development here in South Dakota, Ryan Oines, interim President of the USD Discovery District, said.

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Inside, youll still find some construction, but three tenants have already been named to fill these spaces.

The Small Business Development Center is out here, they have the SDBIR office, and then Prairie Family Business, Oines said. And then our tenant that were actually currently building out for is OmegaQuant Analytics.

The USD Discovery District is its own 501(c)(3) but obviously has close ties with the University of South Dakota both in name and proximity. Being just across the street from the USD-Sioux Falls campus, there will be collaborations between students and businesses.

There will come a day as we have more businesses here where we will have scientists and entrepreneurs who can walk down the street to our campus as lecturers for our students, as well as provide internships at the businesses in the Discovery District and jobs after they graduate, Jay Perry, Vice President for USD-Sioux Falls, said.

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The new building is also surrounded by land that serves as a blank canvas for more growth of the research park.

The goal is in our master plan to have 26 buildings out here, both mixed-use but with a large focus on biotech, Oines said.

Oines says they plan to start construction on the next building soon.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trumps pick to be director of national intelligence, came into her nomination hearing Thursday ready to parry a volley of attacks from Democrats. But they werent the only ones asking the tough questions.

A number of Republicans seemed skeptical about Gabbards answers to questions about NSA contractor Edward Snowden and a controversial surveillance program. They also prodded her about her previous statements on Russia, Syria and Ukraine. It was a marked difference from the hearing of now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth two weeks ago, in which Republicans heaped praise on the nominee and defended him from Democrats attacks.

While no Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said outright they were wavering on the former Democratic lawmaker, it was far from a bear hug. Among those testing Gabbards views Thursday were James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

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The lack of enthusiasm was not a promising sign for the former Democratic lawmaker. For weeks, Senate Republicans have said Gabbard needed a strong performance Thursday to clinch her nomination. The Senate Intelligence Committee is split 9-8 between the two parties, and Gabbard is not expected to pick up any votes from Democrats.

Young, one of the three members of the panel long viewed as a possible no on Gabbard heading into Thursday, offered up one of the most direct Republican jabs. It came after she sidestepped a stream of questions from members of both parties about whether she considered Snowden a traitor.

I think it would befit you and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land around our intel authority, he said.



Senators repeatedly reminded Gabbard that Snowden leaked reams of sensitive U.S. intelligence that endangered the lives of U.S. spies before he fled to Hong Kong and then Russia  to no avail.

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Gabbard acknowledged Snowden broke the law but wouldnt go further.

Since her surprise nomination two months ago, Gabbard has faced questions from Democrats but also some Republicans about her judgment, dovish foreign policy views and her lack of experience for the spy role.

Gabbard served for two decades in the military, is an Iraq war veteran, and has sat on the House Armed Services committee, but has never held a role at a U.S. spy agency.

Her nomination has been dogged by her past comments that echoed Kremlin talking points on NATO and the war in Ukraine; concern about a 2017 trip she took to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; and doubts she has raised about U.S. assessments of Assads use of chemical weapons in that war.

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From the start, Gabbard set a combative and defiant tone.

In her opening statement, she characterized many of the allegations against her as lies and smears, and cited a laundry list of recent wrongs and failures within the U.S. intelligence community. She looked up at the senators on the panel as she ticked off each one  the investigation of Trumps ties to Russia, the Iraq war, denials about the existence of controversial NSA surveillance programs, and more  and rarely looked flustered when she came under tough questioning later.

Gabbard tried to spin her unconventional foreign policy views as evidence she boasts the brand of independent thinking that is needed to fix the countrys supposedly broken and biased intelligence system.



The Republican who offered the strongest endorsement of that pitch was Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) the chair of the intelligence committee.

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Look where conventional thinking has gotten us, he said in his opening statement, citing a slew of failed U.S. wars and military interventions in the Middle East that he tied to Barack Obama. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking.

Gabbard had her share of not-so-breezy moments with other Republicans, however.

Lankford  who has said he would vote for Gabbard  Cornyn, and Moran each pushed Gabbard during the question and answer section of the hearing.

Moran at one point told Gabbard he needed to make certain that Russia would not get a pass in either your mind or your heart if she were confirmed as DNI. Gabbard parried: Senator, Im offended by the question, and added that if confirmed, no country or group or individual will get a pass.

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Lankford appeared irked by Gabbards deflections on Snowden.

"This is a big deal to everybody here, because it's a big deal to everybody you'll also oversee," Lankford said at one point. "So, was Edward Snowden a traitor?"

Collins and Young also pressed her on the issue. Young at one point burnished a print-out of a social media post Thursday from Snowden.

Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation, Snowden wrote. I encourage her to do so.

The Senate Intelligence Committee tends to have more bipartisanship than some other congressional panels. Democrats and Republicans generally share hawkish views on foreign policy and government surveillance, and committee votes are usually done behind closed doors.

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For his part, Cornyn pushed Gabbard for more clarity on her views on the controversial Section 702 surveillance authority  which applies to foreigners communications but also sweeps up data on Americans. Gabbard, a privacy hawk while in Congress, in recent weeks reversed her opposition to Section 702 and said she supports it.



But Cornyn repeatedly attempted to pin Gabbard on whether the law should be reformed in certain ways to protect the privacy of Americans  something security hawks believe is unnecessary, and would cripple what they defend as their most powerful spy tool.

The clock ran out before he got a firm answer.

After the open hearing Thursday, Gabbard and the senators went behind closed doors for a follow-up session where they could talk freely about classified matters. What transpires there could prove decisive in the committees vote on Gabbard, which could come in the coming days.

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Asked afterward how she was planning to vote, Collins said that she hadn't made a decision yet. Moran sidestepped a question on if he would support her, and Young said nothing in response to questions as he left the classified portion.

If Gabbard does not secure a majority on the panel, there are other ways her confirmation can be brought to the Senate floor. But that is an unusual maneuver and would send a strong message that could sink her chances with those outside the committee.

Maggie Miller, Jordain Carney, Joe Gould and Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.
Listeners can turn their radio to The Fish 104.7 in Atlanta for one last time on Friday.

The Christian music station is set to go off the air on Saturday after Salem Media Group sold several stations to Educational Media Foundation to settle a long-term debt.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

With the Fish shutting down, The Kevin and Taylor Show, which began back in 2000, announced that their last show would be Friday.

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We are so incredibly honored that we had the privilege of bringing you Good, Clean, Fun and doing life with you for 24 years. So many times at radio events, we would meet those of you who grew up listening, and now you have children of your own. Thats so rare in radio, and we are so grateful! Every day you inspired us with the stories of your lives, to love God and love people better, the hosts wrote in a statement after the sale was announced.

The stations new owners operate the nationally-syndicated K-LOVE, which you can currently hear on 106.7 frequency.

Its unclear if K-LOVE will also transmit on the 104.7 frequency. However, EMF interim CEO Tom Stultz says the stations they purchased from Salem Media Group will keep Christian music flowing and help us deliver on our mission to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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A five-year-old boy died Friday morning in Michigan in an explosion inside a hyperbaric chamber where he was receiving medical treatment, according to officials.

Police and fire officials were called to the Oxford Medical Center in Troy around 8 a.m.

"It's a horrible, tragic incident," Troy Police Lieutenant Ben Hancock said in a news conference Friday. "It's not something that we ever want to have to respond to."

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First responders arrived to find the chamber on fire and extracted the boy, who was later pronounced dead. Officials contained the blaze to the room where the explosion took place.

Troy officials are not naming the deceased child.

His mother, who was in the room when the explosion occurred, received injuries to her arm.

"This is an exceptionally difficult day for all of us, the Oxford Center said in a statement to CBS News.

The safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority, the facility added. Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy.

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Fire officials said they were unaware of any previous incidents at the center, which was founded in 2008, according to The Detroit News.

Representatives from Troy Police and Troy Fire give updates on a hyperbaric chamber explosion at a medical center on Kirts Blvd this morning. Investigators say a 5-year-old boy died inside the chamber. Well have more details into this investigation on @Local4News pic.twitter.com/dKMUulSUdM  D Fernandez (@DemondFernandez) January 31, 2025

City officials inspect and license such devices, according to police.

State officials are expected to probe the cause of the explosion.

The mother of the child suffered some injuries to her arms as she was standing right next to the chamber as the explosion occurred, Hancock added during the news conference. We dont know exactly what the child was being treated for at the center today.

Hyperbaric chambers are enclosed, highly pressurized spaces that deliver patients pure oxygen, and are used to treat decompression sickness, tissue injuries, and carbon monoxide, among other conditions, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible, Troy Fire Lieutenant Keith Young said on Friday. We did some initial investigation. This is very uncommon, so were not sure what led up to it.
Jan. 30All American Airlines regional passenger jet flights between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport were canceled into Friday morning after a plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night and crashed into the Potomac River.

American Airlines said 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft flying from Wichita, Kansas, to D.C. The helicopter had three soldiers conducting a training exercise.

The plane was operated by PSA Airlines, which operates 500 daily flights for American Airlines, with regional flights out of MHT.

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In all, Manchester saw five American Airlines arrivals and four departures to Reagan Washington National Airport canceled on Wednesday night into Thursday, according to FlightAware.com. One departure was canceled for 5:36 a.m. Friday, according to the airport's schedule.

"MHT joins the entire aviation community in offering our deepest condolences to all those impacted by the tragic accident near Reagan National Airport last night," the airport posted on social media. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones affected by this heartbreaking loss. Our hearts and minds are with you all."

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who serves as a senior member on the Armed Services Committee, said she is monitoring the "horrible, tragic incident" outside the D.C. airport located in Arlington, Virginia.

"My thoughts are with the families of the passengers and crew of the flight as well as servicemembers in the Army helicopter. Thank you to the first responders for working through the night," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

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An American flight from Reagan Washington National Airport is expected to land at MHT at 11:57 a.m. Friday.

Flights scheduled to depart at 12:23 p.m., 2:54 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. from MHT on Friday were still listed as "on time" on the website.

PSA Airlines operates the Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 out of Manchester. The plane can hold up to 78 passengers, but the number of seats depends on the layout.

A flight by the airline from Charlotte Douglas International Airport scheduled to land at 12:43 a.m. Friday in Manchester was canceled. A flight returning to Charlotte at 5:34 a.m. Friday was also canceled, according to the airport. Those are CRJ-900 planes.

jphelps@unionleader.com
HAWTHORNE, Fla. (WFLA)  A man was suspected of driving under the influence when he crashed a pickup truck into a liquor store in Florida on Thursday.

Alachua County Sheriffs Office deputies were called to Hawthorne Liquors, located outside of Gainesville, for a reported vehicle crash.

Gun-shaped cellphone case prompts lockdown at Freedom High School

A pickup truck was sitting in the middle of the store after crashing through the front entrance.

ACSO said the driver, identified as John C. Lee, showed signs of impairment and performed poorly on field sobriety tests.

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Lee was charged with DUI and taken to the Alachua County Jail. It was estimated that the crash caused $20,000 in damage.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG)  The debate over fluoride in drinking water continues across Florida as public health officials, local leaders and activists discuss whether the risks outweigh the benefits.

A federal judge ruled in 2024 that fluoride poses an unreasonable risk to childrens IQ stating that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to prove its safety. The agency is reassessing its fluoride guidelines, but no changes have been made.

Oh my gosh, its a good day: Sea turtle released back into the Gulf after long recovery

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Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo issued guidance in November recommending against community water fluoridation. His report cited concerns about fluorides potential neuropsychiatric risks including reduced IQ, cognitive impairment, and fluoride accumulation in the brain and thyroid.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency continue to recommend fluoride in drinking water to prevent tooth decay.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, has also criticized water fluoridation, calling it industrial waste. While he has yet to take office, his stance could influence future federal policy.

Some Florida cities have removed fluoride. Okaloosa County officials said fluoride is not added to its public water systems. Santa Rosa County also does not add fluoride though some independent providers still fluoridate including Holley-Navarre Water and Gulf Breeze.

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Body found in Mobile Bay identified as Baldwin County homicide victim: ALEA

Escambia County continues fluoridation.

The voting public approved the addition of fluoride by a vote of about 58%, ECUA Executive Director Bruce Woody said. And that was just a recommendation that was taken under advisement by the ECUA board at that time.

Fluoride Free Northwest Florida is pushing for fluoride removal in Escambia County.

Well, Im a mom, and I raised eight kids, and it was very stressful, Fluoride Free Northwest Florida member Melody Romanchuk said. Even back in the day, my oldest was 32 and still raising a young son. Hes 14 and knew that the addition of the fluoride in the water, even back then, we had evidences and data that had suggested that because it wasnt a naturally occurring substance that because it was in fact a chemical byproduct of an industrial process, we had information that it was potential that it would be harming children.

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UPDATE: Man tried to use skid-steer as a weapon on I-10 Thursday morning

Romanchuk has attended public meetings advocating for fluoride removal.

I was actually at a meeting just two days ago, and I was able to do just that, she said. And what I spoke to them was just out of the concern of my heart as a mother and as a community member. I spoke to them about the way that they are adding the water into our system at 0.7 parts per million has the potential for incredible harm based on very solid studies now.

She also pointed to Ladapos November guidance.

I also spoke to them about the fact that our own Florida Surgeon General just offered guidance in November, stating very plainly that he recommends all water treatment with fluoride be halted across Florida, Romanchuk said.

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Oh my gosh, its a good day: Sea turtle released back into the Gulf after long recovery

Local water utilities officials said they are aware of concerns but continue to follow state and federal guidance.

We are supporting all petitions and requests from the general public very seriously, Woody said.

ECUA is monitoring the EPAs reassessment of fluoride risks but has not taken steps toward removal. Any change would require a board vote.

For now, fluoride remains in the countys water supply.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
HULL, I.A. (KELO)  From Valentines Day gifts to wedding bouquets, flowers can often hold a lot of memories. Theres one problem though  flowers wilt and die. But what if you could have flowers that never die? Or you could recreate a special bouquet from years ago?

On a farm just outside of Hull, Iowa, there sits a workshop and inside youll find shelves filled with flowers but the lady behind the desk isnt your traditional florist.

My flowers in the house always die. I cannot keep them alive, Christiana Westra, owner of C Annas Things, said.

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But thats okay because these flowers cant die. They are made out of wood.

The wood used to make the flowers comes from tapioca roots found in tropical climates. And they dont feel like the wood many of us around here are used to, instead, they have an almost foam-like texture.

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They look so realistic that people always say, oh really, those arent real, theyre wood? So thats fun too, Westra said.

Christiana Westra first learned about non-traditional flowers like these when she was planning her own wedding.

I was looking at real flowers and was like, wow theyre expensive and you dont get a whole lot for them. I started looking into other options and ended up doing my own silk flowers back then and then after that I learned about wood flowers and was like, oh my, I have to get these and play with these, Westra said.

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She then started making wood flower bouquets for friends and family.

And then we actually found out that the painting of the flowers was calming for our son who has special needs, Westra said. Thats when we started doing the business part.

Seven years ago she started C Annas Things.

Right now Im just painting them. Taking them and painting them. I do a lot of custom work, Westra said. I would say probably 75 to 80 percent of my work is all custom.

That includes wedding bouquets.

I absolutely love them. They are so much better than the inspo picture, bride-to-be Samantha Taylor said. I love that she was able to take my three favorite flowers and turn them into a very cohesive bouquet.

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Samantha Taylor met Westra at the Sidewalks Art Festival in Sioux Falls this past summer and knew she wanted Westra to bring her wedding dreams to life.

I was really trying to cut back on the money spending and this way it also lasts forever, Taylor said. You dont have to try to preserve it in a special way.

For Taylor, Westra helped create lasting memories. But she can also help bring back memories by recreating special bouquets from the past.

I am highly sentimental so when somebody brings me something special that theyve had or loved at their wedding or some other time in their life, thats just really special to be able to recreate that memory for them and kind of bring it back to life, Westra said. Weve shed tears together, customers and I have, because of just how special those kinds of things are for people.

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In the past, Westra has taken the tapioca wood and formed it into flowers herself but because of high demand and the busyness of her familys farm, right now she is just getting them pre-made and then she customizes them. To see more of her work, you can stop into her workshop in Hull or check out her website.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP)  We are seeing flu case numbers spike upward through the U.S., including here in Massachusetts.

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The flu season is definitely upon us and unfortunately it is not showing signs of slowing down.

According to CDC, the flu activity level in the state remains high and has been for the past few weeks.

You know, were definitely seeing more influenza A than anything else. And I think thats not seeing a lot of COVID, although its out there, but seeing more influenza than anything else at this time, said D.O. Mark Kenton, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Mercy Medical Center.

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Health officials are warning about the increase in flu cases spreading rapidly throughout Massachusetts. The CDC reports the week of January 12th to the 18th saw a significant increase in flu activity, with the state being categorized as very high.

The Chief of Emergency Medicine at Mercy Medical Center urges people to get their flu shot if you havent yet.

I would strongly recommend that you get your vaccination. This flu is making people really sick and really knocking down knocking people down pretty hard, said Kenton.

With the winter cold driving many of us indoors where virus transmission is easier, health officials say the rise in flu cases isnt surprising.

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Every season its more likely that there is going to be a spike in flu and other gustatory diseases during the winter. There is more flu going around this winter than previous years, said Dr. Joe Sills, Chief of Adult Emergency Department at Baystate Medical Center.

Sills says travel is another possible contributing factor to the number of cases we are seeing. To minimize your risk of the flu, it is recommended to take the following precautions like wash your hands often with soap and water, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, wearing a mask, and staying home when sick.

While the flu is on the rise, health officials also urge caution against other respiratory viruses like RSV, which is also currently very high in the state.

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.

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ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR)  Spreading respiratory illnesses have caused at least three schools in the region to close for several days this week.

Natural Bridge Elementary School in Rockbridge County announced on Thursday afternoon that its already three-day-long closure would extend into Friday, as school officials say that approximately one-third of students and staff have been impacted by flu-like illnesses.

Late last week we started to notice an uptick in absenteeism, said Rockbridge County public school division superintendent Phillip Thompson. Then on Monday, there was quite the uptick of our staff members as well.

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Thompson said that between last Friday and Monday, there were over 70 visits made to the nurses office.

Natural Bridge Elementary closed on January 28 for ongoing illnesses

In Franklin County, two schools were forced to close on Thursday and Friday to address similar illnesses.

Snow Creek Elementary School said that around 30% of students have recently been absent with flu-like symptoms.

At Christian Heritage Academy, the staff has been hit harder.

Were sitting at 44 percent of faculty and staff either have flu-like symptoms or are needing to stay home with family members who have those flu-like symptoms, said Head of School Josh Smallwood, who acknowledged there are a number of teachers with children who attend the school.

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Smallwood said that by Wednesday, the student absentee list had grown to about 16% of the schools 343 students.

All three schools are hoping the time off coupled with the weekend will provide enough time for all students and staff to recover.

In the meantime, they are taking the opportunity to deep clean and sanitize the schools while they are mostly empty.

Our teachers who are able to are coming in and wiping down everything from flat surfaces to lockers to handrails to stairways, said Thompson.

According to the Virginia Department of Health, respiratory illnesses are trending back up in the state after peaking in the final week of December.

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Among respiratory illnesses, flu cases have contributed the most to the rise, primarily impacting children aged five-to-17.

Ongoing illnesses force Natural Bridge Elementary to close on January 31

Cases had been declining throughout January until the past week, when the number of cases jumped ahead of this time last year.

This is the first time when its been a flu season that its hit us this hard, said Thompson. Its hitting all our schools. Natural Bridge is not alone. It just seems like its hitting Natural Bridge with a lot more intensity all at one time.

With Natural Bridge Elementary extending its closure through Friday, it will be at least Monday before any of the three impacted schools can return to class.

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In the meantime, they are hoping the break will give everyone the time needed to recover and put the worst behind them.

We just look forward to having everybody back on Monday and pray that theyre stronger and healthier when they get here, said Smallwood.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Its that time of the year where a lot of people are getting sick. Some are falling ill with the flu, but there are other viruses spreading too.

Several schools and districts in West Tennessee will be closed for the rest of the week, due to the spread of illnesses.

Multiple schools closed through Friday due to staggering number of illnesses

Although school leaders have not specified what the illnesses are, Dr. Sandra Arnold, Chief of Pediatric Diseases at LeBonheur Childrens Hospital, says this is the time of year when influenza cases happen the most.

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You know this is something, that children are actually the main source of the influenza for the community. And it tends to pick up, flu tends to really emerge in December, late November early December, Arnold said.

The latest CDC flu map shows very high rates of influenza in Tennessee.

Flu map: TN, MS now at CDCs highest activity level

But, Dr. Arnold says thats normal for this season.

Doctors are also sounding the alarm about an illness thats rapidly spreading across the country: Norovirus.

Norovirus is a virus that causes gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhea. Its a fairly short lived, but pretty severe sudden onset of illness that spreads like wildfire in schools and daycares, Arnold said.

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Dr. Arnold says the best way to avoid norovirus is hand washing.

When it comes to influenza, hand washing is important too, but doctors also advise vaccines.

Tennessees flu vaccination rates have dropped over the years, especially among children.

Theres a lot of false, fixed beliefs about flu vaccines and everything that has happened in the last few years, with COVID vaccines and the pushback against COVID vaccines, as you know has bled over into other vaccines, Arnold said.

Free influenza vaccines are available. Check with your local pharmacy or health department to learn more.

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Central Texas (FOX 44)  Several school districts have closed due to widespread flu outbreaks, forcing students and faculty to stay home to prevent further illness transmission.

According to local healthcare experts, preventing flu outbreaks or other contagious illnesses begins before students or staff enter a school building. Hillcrest Marketplace Convenient Care medical director Dr. Gregory Newman stresses that parents should keep sick children home if they exhibit flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, or runny nose.

Its really tough at school. So youve got a lot of kids who are coming to school not knowing that theyre going to get sick that day, Newman explained.

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At school, if a student shows signs of illness during the day, it is recommended to remove them from the classroom immediately and send them to the nurse for further evaluation. Schools are also encouraged to maintain frequent cleaning routines, especially in high-traffic areas such as classrooms, libraries, and cafeterias.

Dr. Newman added that flu and similar respiratory viruses are particularly difficult to manage in school settings, So flu, like COVID, is one of those illnesses where youre going to start shedding that virus and be contagious before you even have one symptom, and sometimes that can be anywhere from 12 to 24 hours, he explained.

In addition to isolating sick children, health professionals recommend flu vaccinations as another preventive measure.

Smaller school districts, according to health experts, are often more susceptible to flu outbreaks due to close contact among students and limited resources for prevention. However, schools of all sizes are taking steps to reduce the spread of illness.

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Rhiannon Settles of Waco ISD Health Services explained that custodians in her district disinfect high-traffic areas multiple times a day, particularly when clusters of illness are detected.

Even though weve had a rise in flu cases and other respiratory viruses like COVID and RSV, its typical for this time of year. We expect these seasonal illnesses to spike during the winter months, Settles said.

Despite the flu outbreaks, larger school districts such as Waco ISD remain open, with increased vigilance on cleaning and maintaining safety protocols. Health experts emphasize the importance of isolating sick children at home to prevent further spread of illnesses.

With flu season in full swing, keeping schools safe and preventing the spread of illness remains a top priority for health professionals and school officials alike.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  Advocates are raising awareness about food insecurity and the need for more state funding.

Staff and supporters of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank gathered outside the state house Thursday on what has been dubbed Food Insecurity Awareness Day.

Those advocates were fighting for more state support, saying the funding for food bank operations has decreased under the new proposed state budget.

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That funding supports a network of 147 member agencies statewide and funds are proposed to be cut from $800,000 to $550,000.

According to the 2024 status report on hunger, 38% of Rhode Island households are food insecure.

The food bank and member agencies serve more than 84,000 people each month, which the food bank says is a nearly 9% increase from 2023.

This Food Insecurity Awareness Day, we must come together to protect funding for snap, school meals, and other basic needs programs, said Ellen Teller, chief government affairs officer of the National Food Research and Action Center.

Food bank CEO Andrew Schiff also stressed the importance of this state funding.

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Rhode islanders cannot afford this cut. With nearly two of every five Rhode Island households struggling to afford adequate food, said Schiff. Our state has an obligation to step up and meet this urgent need.

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NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI)  Leonardo Campos said he started receiving text and phone calls Wednesday after rumors started spreading that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had surrounded his family business and arrested people. None of which, he said, was true.

The second ICE came, it just exploded, he said. Rumors were spread. It was like a forest fire.

In a press release Wednesday night, Newport Police tried to dispel the rumors, assuring the public that ICE had only arrested one person that day on Thames Street in a targeted immigration enforcement action. They said the arrest was in relation to other criminal offenses.

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Campos works at Leos Market on Broadway. Since 2007, the family-run Salvadorian business has offered everything from general store needs, to specialty Hispanic foods and hot arepas served directly from the kitchen.

But he said the store was empty on Wednesday, when people saw the rumors as warnings.

They were saying we had two people at first that got arrested here, that they closed us down, Campos said. Then it went to five arrested, then it went to seven. And then it went to, Oh, dont go to Leos Market, because ICE is surrounding them.'

But Campos said no ICE agents ever came to his familys store.

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Newport Public Schools Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain also had to dismiss rumors Wednesday night, writing in a letter to parents that ICE had never come to any of the citys schools.

Everyone in our schools are safe, she wrote in bold.

Campos said the Trump administrations new immigration policies have created a looming sense of tension that helped fuel Wednesdays rumors and the fear that followed.

Not only did we see [the effects of these rumors as] business owners, we saw the impact of people not going out, being scared for their lives, for their children, he said.

But he and his family say they plan to keep opening their doors to customers and the community.

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Were going to be here no matter what and help them in any way that we possibly can, he said. And be proud that we are the Spanish community.

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For over 80 years, chemical makers have made and profited off the sale of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl synthetic chemicals, better known as PFAS.

Industry documents released through litigation show that manufacturers had sufficient information to know of dangers as early as 1961, but continued to make products containing them for decades.

Because the chemicals are essentially indestructible and do not fully degrade, they are referred to as toxic forever chemicals.

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A growing body of scientific research has found links between PFAS exposure and a wide range of health problems, including a weaker immune system, cancer, increased cholesterol levels, pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver damage, reduced fertility in men and women, and increased risk of thyroid disease.

Although the Environmental Protection Agency has taken some preliminary steps to limit PFAS in drinking water, the contamination crisis continues to grow partly due to the toxins staying power in the environment and the inadequacy of U.S. chemical regulations.

When one PFAS came under scrutiny, companies created new ones that they claimed were safer, but were still chemically similar.

We now have thousands of PFAS that need investigation, but the American regulatory system treats chemicals as innocent until proven guilty. As a result, thousands of chemicals that havent even been tested for toxicity have entered the market.

Although the Environmental Protection Agency has taken some preliminary steps to limit PFAS in drinking water, the contamination crisis continues to grow.

In 2024 at least 11 states enacted laws to restrict the use of PFAS in everyday consumer goods, professional firefighting foams, and biosolids utilized as fertilizer on farmland.

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In the upcoming 2025 Oklahoma legislative session, two Senate bills  268 and 271  have been filed to address PFAS contamination.

Senate Bill 268 seeks to ban the application of biosolids as fertilizer on farmland.

For decades, farmers across America have been encouraged by the federal government and state officials to spread municipal sewage on millions of acres of farmland as fertilizer.

But sludge isnt a green plant food. It harbors a mishmash of all kinds of dangerous substances that leach into soil, plants, water, and even the food we eat. Most concerning, sludge is a huge conveyor of PFAS.

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More: Other countries are ahead of us in restricting harmful food additives | Opinion

Oklahoma has one of the most extensive biosolid fertilizer programs in the nation, as more than 80% of the states wastewater sludge ends up on crop fields.

SB 271 aims to shield passive recipients of PFAS from any legal liability. This would include farmers who unwittingly used sewage sludge as a fertilizer.

Unfortunately, neither bill speaks to eliminating PFAS chemicals from their upstream sources.

The effluent from industrial facilities that use PFAS in their manufacturing processes is discharged to wastewater treatment plants and then those PFAS toxins are released into the environment. Removing PFAS from wastewater can be extremely expensive, with costs ranging from millions to billions of dollars depending on the volume of wastewater and the specific technology used.

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Neither bill considers what might be exorbitant future costs for treatment and remediation.

After application of biosolids on agricultural land has been banned, PFAS will still have to be removed from wastewater and then be disposed of, destroyed or stored.

Beyond the cost of removal, Senate Bill 268 ignores other emerging costs, such as funding for state regulators to research and identify potentially impacted farms or food products and financial assistance and medical monitoring for impacted farm families.

Will there be money available for farmers to receive income replacement if their farm production is impacted, and if there are even land acquisitions in some cases?

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The EPA estimates the compliance cost just for water system monitoring or capital improvements to reduce PFAS in drinking water to be approximately $1.5 billion annually.

Then you have the economic impact on local governments,passive receivers of substances containing PFAS that are ubiquitous in the water supply, wastewater treatment process, stormwater, biosolids management, and solid waste streams, if they become responsible for cleaning up the environmental contamination and for mitigation.

If local governments are forced to bear the brunt of the financial burden, an increase in water rates in communities across the nation is a near certainty. These will be most harshly felt by low-income households and disadvantaged communities who will not only be disproportionately impacted by increased costs for their water bills but risk exposure to emerging contaminants.

States and taxpayers didnt cause the contamination, but they will largely shoulder the burden of testing and monitoring, delivering clean water to communities, cleaning up contaminated sites, and covering health care costs.

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PFAS may be an invisible part of your environment now, but soon its environmental and health effects will be apparent to all.

Mike Altshuler

Mike Altshuler is a retired educator and environmental activist who lives in Edmond.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Chemical pollution a danger to Oklahomans' health | Opinion
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Connell knows the kinds of challenges that pilots of Black Hawk helicopters can face.

He told Target 12 he was shocked to learn a crew flying had collided with a regional jet carrying 64 people headed towards Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.

This does not typically happen in the United States, Connell said.

At this stage of the investigation into Wednesday nights deadly midair collision, Connell said he wont speculate on what happened. Investigators said there are no survivors among the 64 people on the regional jet out of Wichita, Kansas, or three soldiers on the UH-60 Black Hawk, which was based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

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Connell, now the director of the VA Providence Healthcare System, spent about half of his decades-long military career flying a Black Hawk helicopter. He said military aircraft in Washington, D.C. are a common sight.

They train all the time there, but they have to stay below a coordinated altitude, because a lot of commercial aircraft are coming in from higher elevation, he explained.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the three soldiers in the military helicopter were undergoing a required night evaluation as part of their annual proficiency training. He said that the crew, which he characterized as fairly experienced, had night vision goggles, but did not specify if the goggles were being utilized at the time of the collision.

Courtesy: Johnny Villella/WPRI-TV

Connell explained that wearing night vision goggles narrows ones depth of field.

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You lose all your peripheral vision because youre looking through these two tubes, he said.

Connell also explained that pilots can experience visual illusions, known as confusion, with ground lights and stars.

You lose sight of where the horizon stops and begins, Connell said. Sometimes pilots have been known to land on a highway thinking its a runway, because theres just so many lights in a busy city like D.C.

READ MORE: Barrington man remembers son, wife who were killed in DC air collision

He also explained that while it is easy to see another aircraft at night because of its exterior lights, there can still be difficulties.

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You may not be able to tell the difference between a CRJ700 and an Airbus, he said. You can see the lights, but theres no way you can distinguish the types of aircraft when its dark out.

Connell also explained the pilots can fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), a set of regulations where a pilot can operate an aircraft in clear conditions so that the pilot is able to see where the aircraft is going. He said flying under VFR can also occur at night as long as pilots are in contact with air traffic controllers.

Let them know where you are if youre going to cross an active runway, like, if theyre going fly across the approach end of the runway in DC, you have to call tower for that clearance to get across that end of the runway again, Connell said.

The National Transportation Safety Board urged the public not to speculate about the cause of the deadly collision, and said Thursday that a preliminary report will be released within 30 days.

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Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.

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EBENSBURG, Pa.  A former Cambria Heights High School teacher entered a guilty plea Thursday in Cambria County court regarding his sexual relationship with a student.

Isaac Vescovi, 29, accepted a deal with the Cambria County District Attorneys Office and pleaded guilty to one felony count of sexual contact with a student.

His charges of corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of communications facilities will be dismissed 31 days after sentencing as long as he doesnt appeal the case.

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Cambria County Judge Tamara Bernstein advised the defendant that the count on which he entered a plea carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. Vescovi said he understood.

Terry Graffius, his attorney, requested that sentencing be dealt with at a later date, and the judge scheduled the matter for March 25.

However, that may be delayed while Vescovi is evaluated by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board for his enrollment with the Megans Law offenders list, according to the DAs office.

The former educator was on administrative leave during the investigation that was launched in October by a ChildLine hotline report.

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State police alleged Vescovi started an on-and-off relationship with a female student in 2023 that led to thousands of messages  some explicit  exchanged between the two.

He also reportedly met the victim at his home for sex, according to police.

Cambria Heights officials confirmed Thursday that Vescovis resignation from his position was accepted by the school board at Octobers meeting.
DES MOINES, Iowa  On Thursday Auditor of State Rob Sand released a report alleging that a former program director at Children and Families of Iowa (CFI) embezzled over $400,000.

According to the report, the investigation centered around financial transactions processed from April 2015 to May 2022 while Jodi Spargur-Tate was the CFI WIOA Title I Program Director. A worker discovered the questionable payments while Spargur-Tate was on a vacation, Sand said.

DMPD releases name of suspect shot and killed by officers

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The investigation uncovered $426,837.11 of improper disbursements and $9,342.81 of unsupported disbursements, for a total of $436,179.92 in disbursements from multiple funding sources including WIOA Funds.

Sand reported that the disbursements went to some of Spargur-Tates family members and included over $77,000 in payments for daycare services that werent rendered, over $10,000 in cellphone payments, and over $8,000 in rental payments.

The report has been turned over to the Polk County Attorneys Office and the Iowa Attorney Generals Office.

To read the full report visit the State Auditors website.

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In response to the Auditors report and comment about the Iowa Workforce Development needing to improve their monitoring process, the IWD released the following statement:

Iowa Workforce Development reported potentially fraudulent activity to the Office of the State Auditor on June 7, 2022, shortly after being notified by the local workforce board. In addition, the US Department of Labor and the US Office of Inspector General were also notified by IWD. Since that time, IWD has worked diligently with the auditors office to fully discover the extent and nature of the fraudulent activity. Auditor Sand stated that his office has advised IWD to improve their monitoring process in five of six of their most recent reports and no action was taken. It is simply inaccurate to say that IWD took no action to improve its monitoring and oversight responsibilities. IWD implemented enhanced sub-recipient monitoring beginning in January 2020. IWD received only one other additional comment about sub-recipient monitoring from the auditor prior to June 2022. The remaining four audit reports referenced by Auditor Sand were issued to IWD after June 2022, including three reports that were issued in late 2024, more than two years after the incident had already been reported. IWD remains committed to continuing its concerted efforts to identify and prevent fraud as part of its mission to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Iowa Workforce Development

Iowa News:

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A student who previously went to the University of Tennessee (UT) received a settlement of $250,000 after her school tried to expel her over a social media post that had lyrics from Cardi Bs song WAP.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) announced the settlement for Kimberly Diei, a former pharmacy student, on Wednesday in a lawsuit where Diei alleged the school was violating her First Amendment rights.

UTs Health Science Center College of Pharmacy started two investigations and almost expelled Diei in 2021 for violating professionalism standards students agree to going into the program.

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The two social media posts that put her under fire were on X, known as Twitter at the time of the incident.

One post was to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion that contained lyrics from the sexually explicit song WAP and called for a remix from the artists. The other post was a selfie that contained lyrics from a Beyonce song.

UTs pharmacy school learned an important lesson today, FIRE attorney Greg Greubel said. There is nothing unprofessional about students expressing love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media. Kim has proven something FIRE has said for 25 years: The First Amendment robustly protects students rights to have a voice outside of school, even if college administrators dont like what they have to say.

The school administrators said the posts were sexual and vulgar, but a federal appeals court agreed with FIRE that they were clearly protected by the First Amendment.

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When reached for comment, UT said it is the schools general practice to refrain from commenting on legal matters.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former senior adviser to the U.S. Federal Reserve, John Harold Rogers, was arrested on charges he conspired to steal Fed trade secrets for the benefit of China, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

Rogers, who worked as a senior adviser in the Fed's division of international finance from 2010 until 2021, allegedly shared confidential information with Chinese co-conspirators who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and posed as graduate students.

A judge ordered Rogers to be held until a detention hearing next Tuesday, according to a U.S. Attorney's office spokesperson.

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A Federal Reserve spokesman declined to comment. An attorney for Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Chinese Embassy spokesperson said the embassy was not familiar with the specifics of this case but added that "China is a country that upholds the rule of law."

The spokesperson added that China did not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

"We oppose any smear and attack on China with so-called 'spy risks'," the spokesperson added.

The Fed's international finance division is responsible for basic research, policy analysis, and reporting in the areas of foreign economic activity, U.S. external trade and capital flows, and developments in international financial markets and institutions, according to the U.S. central bank's website.

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Starting in 2018, Rogers allegedly began soliciting confidential information including economic data and sensitive information about interest-rate deliberations, and then passed it on to co-conspirators while pretending to teach classes in China, according to the indictment.

Rogers received payments for airfare, lodging and dining during his travel to China, and was offered a payment for a beach vacation, the indictment said.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder, Douglas Gillison, Ann Saphir; Editing by Alistair Bell and Himani Sarkar)
Gatesville, Tx (FOX 44)  A former Gatesville ISD junior high earth sciences teacher has been indicted on charges of inappropriate relationship with a student.

Christine Paige Cockrell was arrested on the charges in May 2024 after an investigation had begun the month before.

A statement issued by Gatesville ISD at the time of her arrest stated that back on April 11, 2024, the district was informed that a student allegedly received what was termed an inappropriate online communication from a Gatesville Junior High School teacher. The statement said the teacher was immediately placed on administrative leave while Gatesville ISD administration and law enforcement officials started their investigation.

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The district noted that Cockrell submitted her letter of resignation, and was no longer allowed on school district property. The statement further said that on Thursday, May 2, two warrants for Improper Relationship Between Educator and Student were issued. Cockrell was arrested by Gatesville ISD police a short time later.

There were no allegations of inappropriate physical contact in the complaint.

Complaints filed in support of the warrants stated that there were nude photographs sent to one high school student between March 5, 2023 and July 30, 2023; and to another student between October 8, 2023 and October 11, 2023. In each case, the complaints stated there were multiple sexually explicit messages sent with requests for nude photographs from the victims.

One of the victims was a student of Gatesville High School, and the other lived in Ohio at the time Cockrell was arrested.

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Man accused of firing weapon at occupied apartment

After her initial arrest, she bonded out of jail.

The indictment was returned by the Coryell County Grand Jury.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WKBN)  Right-handed pitcher Pedro Avila rejected the outright assignment by the Cleveland Guardians and elected free agency on Thursday.

Read next: Campbell day games draw huge crowds, career performances

He was designated for assignment on Wednesday, Jan. 22 to make room on the roster for newly signed reliever Paul Sewald.

After he cleared waivers, the Guardians outrighted him to Triple-A Columbus, but he exercised his right to reject that assignment.

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Avila appeared in 50 games for Cleveland last season after being acquired in a trade with the San Diego Padres in April.

He posted a record of 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA with the Guardians. In 74.2 innings, he allowed 27 earned runs on 69 hits with 73 strikeouts.

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MADISON COUNTY. Ala. (WHNT)  A former Limestone County School employee has been arrested for charges of having sex with a student.

According to the Madison County Sheriffs Office (MCSO), Nicholas James Murphy was arrested Thursday for two counts of a school employee engaged in sexual contact with a student, two counts of a school employee engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19 and two counts of a school employee distributing obscene material to a student.

Investigation finds Decatur plant willfully exposed workers to machine safety hazards causing supervisors death

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According to Limestone County Schools, Murphy formerly worked at Ardmore High School as the choir director and assistant band director but resigned earlier this month.

This employee of the district resigned on January 13, 2025, A system spokesperson told News 19. The Limestone County Board of Education accepted the resignation on January 14, 2025, after a thorough investigation on the matter. The investigation has since been turned over to law enforcement.

MCSO said the arrest comes after a joint investigation by the Limestone County Sheriffs Office, MCSO and The Department of Homeland Security Investigations.

This investigation is an example of the collaborative efforts between law enforcement agencies to combat online child exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice, The sheriffs office said.

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Murphy is being held on a $70,000 bond.

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Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trumps nominee for Secretary of the Interior, is sworn in during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 16, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to confirm former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Department of Interior.

During his confirmation hearing, Burgum emphasized a commitment to advancing U.S. energy production in President Donald Trumps administration.

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The Senate confirmed Burgum on a bipartisan vote of 79-18, with support from North Dakota Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, who championed his appointment.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Thursday hes pleased Burgum is committed to restoring a multiple-use approach to managing public lands.

People in places like my state and Gov. Burgums, where the land is part of our way of life, know that the farmer, the rancher, the forester, and other landowners are some of the best conservationists, Thune said.

The Department of the Interior manages federal natural and cultural resources with about 70,000 employees and an $18 billion budget.

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The department includes 11 agencies: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement, and the bureaus of Indian Affairs, Indian Education, Land Management, Ocean Energy Management, Reclamation, Safety & Environmental Enforcement, and Trust Funds Administration.

Serving as Interior Secretary is an opportunity to redefine and improve upon the federal governments relationship with tribal nations, landowners, mineral developers, outdoor enthusiasts and others, with a focus on maximizing the responsible use of our natural resources with environmental stewardship for the benefit of the American people, Burgum said in a November statement after Trump announced his nomination.

Burgum, a wealthy businessman, was elected North Dakota governor in 2016 and served through mid-December. He was succeeded by former U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a Republican who dropped a reelection campaign for Congress after Burgum announced he didnt plan to seek a third term.

Burgum, a Republican, was a frequent critic of Biden administration policies that threatened domestic oil and gas production and the coal industry. During his two terms as governor, North Dakota sued the Department of Interior and other federal agencies over regulations that affect energy and agriculture.

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Trump also tapped Burgum to lead the newly formed National Energy Council, which Burgum has said will foster an unprecedented level of coordination among federal agencies to advance American energy. He also will have a seat on the National Security Council.

Burgum served as chair of the North Dakota Industrial Commission, which regulates oil and gas production in the state.

Burgums family has a financial interest in some oil and gas leases in North Dakota, as well as ownership of energy stocks, according to federal financial disclosures. A North Dakota Monitor and ProPublica investigation last year found that Burgum voted about 20 times on issues related to companies with which he has a financial relationship, according to a review of meeting minutes.

Burgum has committed in an agreement with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to divest from oil and gas leases and energy stocks. The agreement also outlines other steps to prevent potential conflicts of interest, including resigning from other business positions.

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Burgum succeeds Deb Haaland, who was the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. Leaders of the five tribes that share geography with North Dakota have lauded Burgum as an ally, and other tribes submitted letters of support.

Burgum grew up in small-town Arthur, North Dakota, and became a billionaire by investing in Great Plains Software, which he later sold to Microsoft. He founded a real estate development firm before running for governor in 2016. Burgum launched a presidential campaign in 2023 but dropped out and became the first Republican primary candidate to endorse Trump. He also was a finalist to be Trumps vice president.

Burgum will be the second former North Dakota governor to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. Former Gov. Ed Schafer led the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2008 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.

North Dakota Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. North Dakota Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Amy Dalrymple for questions: info@northdakotamonitor.com.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  The former Rochester Police Officer who was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail for raping a child, was sentenced on additional charges Thursday.

Shawn Jordan will spend the next six months in jail with five years probation for disseminating indecent materials to minors and endangering the welfare of a child.

DA reacts to anger over generous sentence for rapist, former Rochester Police Officer Shawn Jordan

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Jordan previously admitted to exposing himself to a 16-year-old girl in a Facebook video chat from inside a marked police car.

His original sentence of 10 weekends in jail was for separate charges of rape and forcible touching in Ontario County.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst.
An off-duty Fort Lauderdale Police officer shot and killed a man at an RV park marina after the property manager asked him to handle a disturbance Wednesday night, the department said.

The property manager of Yacht Haven Park & Marina, at 2323 State Road 84, directly notified Lt. Jonathan Bohm about a man at the property who was creating a disturbance, spokesperson Casey Liening said in a news release Thursday night.

Bohm arrived in an unmarked police car and asked over radio for other officers to come as back up shortly before 6:30 p.m. Bohm met with Damian Orozco, 49, who claimed he was armed with a gun, Liening said.

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It was during this encounter that Lieutenant Bohm discharged his firearm, striking the suspect, she said.

In dispatch audio released Thursday night, Bohm said over radio that the man had been threatening to attack the manager. The dispatcher asked if the man had any weapons or if he saw any.

He says he has a shotgun, but he doesnt have it on him right now, the officer said.

As a different officer asked the dispatcher to clarify what the call was for, Bohm came over radio and hurriedly said, Start EMS!

Moments later, Bohm said he could not approach until I get somebody here to check for that gun.

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The dispatcher asked if the officer was OK.

Im not hit, but please get somebody here quick. Suspect is down, he said.

Orozco was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

It was not clear from the news release whether Bohm was already on the property when the manager asked him for help. Liening said there were no 911 calls made, and Bohm was not wearing a body-worn camera.

He has been placed on paid administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates, as is standard procedure.

The RV parks property manager did not return voicemails Thursday afternoon seeking additional information.

It was at least the third shooting so far in 2025 involving Fort Lauderdale officers. On Jan. 19, an officer shot and killed a man who got out of his car at a gas station with what appeared to be a firearm after fleeing from an earlier traffic stop, the department previously said. On Jan. 9, Fort Lauderdale officers shot and killed a man who was throwing incendiary devices after receiving a call about a fire.
DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN)  A team from the Home of Army Aviation is in the nations capital to help investigate the cause of a deadly crash between an Army Black Hawk and a passenger airliner.

ABC reported that the investigation team from the Fort Novosel Army Combat Readiness Center arrived in D.C. Thursday night. The team will support the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation.

Blackhawk crashes into airliner, leaving over 60 dead

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Fort Novosel is the Home of Army Aviation and the place where most military helicopter pilots train. It is also where most of the Armys Blackhawks are stationed.

They conduct 14 to 23 weeks of qualified training in UH-60 Black Hawks, AH-64 Apache, and CH-47 Chinooks.

The deadly mid-air crash occurred Wednesday evening, when the Black Hawk collided with American Airlines Flight 5342, just off of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The plane, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching the airport over the Potomac River at the time of the crash.

Search continues in D.C. plane crash

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Officials confirmed there were no survivors in the crash, with a death-toll of sixty-seven. There were 64 passengers aboard the flight and three army soldiers in the Black Hawk.

According to reports, the three soldiers of the Black Hawk were all experienced and had thousands of hours of flight time between them. They were also well-versed with the flight patterns above the Potomac River.

It is not uncommon for Fort Novosel to send investigators when an a crash occurs involving an Army Aviation helicopter. In April 2023, the installation sent a safety investigation team to rural Alaska after an Apache crash killed three aviators and injured a fourth.

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Just a day ahead of the fourth anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar, the government revealed another six-month extension of the state of emergency on Friday.

As the country continues to be torn by turmoil, there is a general lack of belief that elections later this year would be held in a fair and non-partisan manner. In this deteriorating situation, the allegations of serious labor rights abuse have been a recurring concern.

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A new report issued by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) on Friday noted that garment workers have been faced with a growing amount of abuse. It pointed out that 108 allegations of labor rights abuseslinked to 80 international apparel brandswere tracked over a four-month period in 2024.

Among the brands listed as sourcing from factories linked with allegations of serious rights abuses are major high-street fashion brands including H&M, Frasers Group, Bestseller and Reserved.

Describing the situation, Mayisha Begum, labor program officer, BHRRC, told Sourcing Journal that many of the repeat situations faced by workers included forced working hourswhich often meant having to spend nights at the factoriessexual harassment, unhygienic and increasingly difficult conditions for women, and intimidation

Its not that these conditions are new, she said, but prolonging these conditions has just made it worse.

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Begum shared highlights from the report, which included the fact that brands like Reserved, owned by LPP S.A had more than 21 allegations against it.

Among the responses from the brand addressing the allegations was also a statement that four of the factories where abuses were alleged were not in its supply chain.

BHRRC has been tracking the abuse allegations since the coup, and noted that in the last four years there had been 665 incidents linked to 187 international brands. Through collaboration with partners and allies inside and outside Myanmar, BHRRC is monitoring the significant increase with the Myanmar garment worker allegation tracker.

The report on Friday highlighted the fact that:

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 66 percent of factories had unsafe working conditions

 62 percent had inhumane work rates and mandatory overtime.

 55 percent of cases had harassment, intimidation and abuse

 53 percent of cases saw reduced wages and wage theft:

 47 percent of cases saw gender-based violence and harassment

Natalie Swan, labor rights program manager, pointed out that this was a uniquely hostile environment in which to work.

Despite these threats to their livelihoodsand often their livesworkers continue to fight for their rights. But brandsand their home statesmust do more to avoid being complicit in these abuses. We need to see stronger corporate commitments to heightened human rights due diligence, and where this is impossible, responsible exits from the country, Swan said.

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According to the report, factories were also accused of weaponizing the threat of military intervention to suppress dissent and prevent workers from standing up for their rights.

BHRRC noted that brands continuing to source from the country must ensure that high-risk abuses are addressed. This includes working with suppliers to ensure the provision of safe transportation to and from work, and maintaining fair purchasing practices that address the prolific allegations of unsafe working conditions, low wages and forced overtime as the norm for the women toiling in Myanmars apparel factories.

Others believe that if they cannot offer protection to the workers, global brands should not be sourcing from Myanmar at all.

For the sake of millions of Myanmar workers, including members of IndustriALL, living under the oppression of the military junta, we repeat our call to international brands to divest their business in Myanmar. Their businesses are built on the basis of forced labor and workers blood in the country. Workers rights must be defended and democracy restored in Myanmar, Atle Hie, IndustriALL general secretary, said in a statement.

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In November last year, IndustriALL GlobaI Union filed complaints against three major garment brandsNext, New Yorker and LPPat OECDs National Contact Points (NCPs). Despite overwhelming evidence of continuous violations of workers rights under Myanmars military junta, these brands continue to place orders in the country, profiting from the eradication of labor and human rights.

The Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM) has raised concerns about the forced overtime as well, saying that garment workers are given unreasonable targets and then forced to work longer. The overtime is being done with without compensation and benefits.

Given the tough economic scenario, it is estimated that approximately half the factories have shut down, and the ones that are functioning are faced with a series of issues.

According to the World Bank Economic Monitor published in December, power shortages remain a major hurdle to business operations, especially in the manufacturing sector. Sixty-five percent of firms surveyed in September/October reported experiencing frequent unplanned power blackouts over a three-month period while about 54 percent of firms reported investing in expensive diesel-based generators to maintain operations.
Search efforts are seen around a wreckage site of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter, in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Jan. 31, in Arlington, Va. Alex Brandon/AP

Tragedy turned speculation

At a Thursday press conference President Trump, without any evidence, blamed former presidents Obama and Biden, the Democrats and DEI for Wednesdays tragic plane crash in Washington, D.C. He also got out ahead of the investigation, blaming the FAA and making their job more difficult.

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Not only can Trumps assertions not be proven but some aviation experts already have cast doubt on them. When pushed by White House reporters, Trump made the absurd claim that what he knows about the reasons for the crash is based on common sense. Really!

Once again Trump is using the crash for purely selfish political purposes  at a time when so many passengers have died, and their loved ones are grieving. This is shameful, unprofessional, inconsiderate and disgusting. This is not presidential! When will people, including Republican leaders, denounce the presidents unhinged behavior?

What worries me is that this pattern of blaming is orchestrated and will continue. It should be noted, after all, that Trump read his comments; this suggests that his team prepared the remarks and that this narrative is part of a larger rhetorical strategy to create chaos and confusion  something that will make it harder for those who resist and who want to prevent the implementation of dangerous Trump policies.

Richard Cherwitz, Austin

How appalling to hear the current president turn a press conference meant to comfort and support those who lost friends and loved ones in a terrible plane crash into a political opportunity, and to cavalierly place blame on a policy he doesnt understand but rails against.

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He began with a traditional moment of silence and then moved into a horrific description of the crash. All hope for continued appropriate behavior soon evaporated as Trump launched into nonfactual assumptions, blame and personal attack.

His only job in the wake of this tragedy was to comfort, support and assure a thorough investigation. He failed.

Carol Godell, Spring

Swamp politics

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Why would President Donald Trump dispense with inspectors general? So he can concentrate power in his own hands and do whatever he wants without any opposition. He has bullied and scared Congress to approve his poor appointments, and now any possible opposition to his rule by fiat is almost gone.

These will be very interesting times.

Ron Drees, Houston

Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz, please help me understand your seeming support of President Trumps firing the inspectors general without following the law?

The GOP has always been the party of law and order, yet the president blatantly violated the Inspector General Act and you are by and large silent.

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This intentional violation of the law by the president and your tacit support are undermining the rule of law at a national level and to be blunt, they frighten me. President Trump violated a law without real pushback from Congress, which signals he can do it again and again. Where will it stop?

Why not hold him to the legally required 30-day notice period? Why not hold him accountable to the law, the same way you do with everyone else?
Fox News hosts were in damage control after the Dow fell over 200 points after Donald Trumps announcement that tariffs against Mexico, China and Canada would begin on Feb. 1.

Anchor Sandra Smith called the drop not a huge sell-off, but certainly a reaction.

Well theyve still got 10 hours to try and avoid tariffs, anchor John Roberts said. I wouldnt be surprised if the president hears from Canada and hears from Mexico. Maybe he gets a call from his friend Xi Jinping.

Sad! Fox News notes that Leavitt's tariffs announcement immediately prompted a stock market selloff pic.twitter.com/Qa7WjRcsN3  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 31, 2025

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump would impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10 percent duty on China because of the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country.

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These are promises made and promises kept by the president, Leavitt said at a press conference Friday.

The White House did not provide details on how the tariffs will be carried out. The U.S. does about $1.6 trillion of business annually with the three affected countries.

The tariffs are part of Trumps plan to exert economic control on major trading partners to push his agenda on immigration and drug trade.

Economists worry that a prolonged trade war with key U.S. trade allies could, which has been cooling off.
By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) - France rejected criticism from new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that it lagged in defence, saying it met NATO's target to spend 2% of GDP on its military, was on course to double spending by 2030, and fields forces capable of major missions abroad.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring NATO allies to raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP)  a target none of the 32 NATO member states, including the United States itself, currently meets.

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In an interview on Thursday, Rubio included France among big European countries he said were spending too little.

"It's interesting - and in fairness Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, the closer you are to Russia, the more they are spending as a percentage of GDP on national defence - but then you have countries like France and Germany, big, powerful economies and they don't spend as much on national security," Rubio told The Megyn Kelly Show podcast.

He said countries such as France and Germany assume the United States will protect them if they are attacked, so they "can instead spend that money on this enormous social safety net".

In response, the French Foreign Ministry said France was among the 23 NATO member countries that already spend at least 2% of GDP on defence, and is due to double its defence spending by 2030.

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"Finally, the French armed forces stand out for their operational nature and their ability to design and conduct large-scale operations abroad," the foreign ministry said.

The only nuclear-armed member of the EU, France has advocated for Europe to take a bigger role in the continent's own defence, particularly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to World Bank data, French defence spending rose to 2.1% of GDP in 2023 after hovering below 2% for most of the previous 20 years.

(Additional reporting by Lili Bayer in Brussels; Editing by Peter Graff)
(Bloomberg) -- French lawmakers reached a deal on a version of the 2025 budget on Friday, paving the way for a showdown in parliament next week that could topple the government.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A group of 14 senators and members of the National Assembly worked on the bill to reflect concessions made by Prime Minister Francois Bayrous administration. The text will now go to the lower house on Monday, where the premier will need to get the legislation adopted with a constitutional tool that exposes him to no-confidence votes.

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I welcome the agreement in the joint committee on the finance bill, Finance Minister Eric Lombard said in a post on X. Lawmakers and senators agreed on a compromise text. This is an important step in providing us with a budget and allowing our country to move forward.

The deal at the conference committee brings France closer to resolving a crisis over its public finances that toppled Michel Barniers government in December and left the country relying on stopgap legislation to avoid a shutdown. The uncertainty combined with gaping budget deficits has sparked market selloffs, driving up Frances borrowing costs compared with peers.

French debt rallied on the news of Fridays deal, leading gains across euro-area government bonds. The 10-year yield fell seven basis points to 3.20%.

That tightened the premium over Germany  a closely watched gauge of risk  by two basis points to 73 basis points. The spread has been narrowing since a recent peak of 86 basis points on Jan. 13.

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Tough Hurdles

The French government still has difficult hurdles to clear before securing fiscal certainty. Without a majority in the National Assembly, Bayrou will have to deploy article 49.3 of the French constitution to adopt the bill without a vote on Monday, exposing the government to a no-confidence motion.

The far left has already pledged to propose a censure ballot that, if backed by a majority as early as Wednesday, would force the prime minister to resign and see the finance bill rejected.

Barnier fell in a similar scenario when the entire left bloc and Marine Le Pens far right joined forces.

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To avoid the same fate, Bayrous government has sought to strike a deal with the Socialists. Their lawmakers on the conference committee voted against the latest version of the budget but said they won a series of concessions including preserving spending for health, education and pensions.

The partys leader in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, who participated in the negotiations, said he would report back to fellow lawmakers before deciding on what course of action to take.

It wasnt our budget, we are in opposition and have shown this, he said. But we never gave up on the aim of being useful for French people.

Le Pens National Rally also claimed some victories in the talks, even if it remains opposed to pricing mechanisms for nuclear power.

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We have maintained all our red lines, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a lawmaker from the far right-party, told reporters.

Even if the government survives next weeks no-confidence vote it will likely face more over the social security bills linked to main budget when they are presented later in February.

--With assistance from Greg Ritchie.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  For a foreign correspondent in Mali, the assignment seemed like a dream: as Islamic extremists upended the region, Olivier Dubois, a French journalist, secured a rare interview with a leader of JNIM, an al-Qaidas affiliate in the Sahel.

Or so he thought. En route to the interview in Gao, northern Mali, in April 2021, Dubois, a correspondent for Liberation and Jeune Afrique publications, was kidnapped.

He spent 711 days in desert captivity, sleeping chained to a tree, eating dried goat meat and plotting his escape. Nearly two years after his release, he recounts his ordeal in a book released Thursday in France that draws heavily on notes Dubois secretly kept during his captivity, written on any scrap of paper he could find.

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One of the main factors that helped me resist and survive was telling myself that I am a journalist, Dubois told The Associated Press in the first interview for English-language media since his release. "Lets continue to gather information, lets continue to ask questions and pretend Im working."

The Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in recent years have been upended by military coups and are now led by military juntas, which struggle against rising extremist violence and have made kidnappings a cornerstone of their strategy in the region.

Upon his release, French media published an investigation revealing that Dubois's fixer had worked with French intelligence, who used him to locate the extremist leader he was trying to interview.

Dubois told the AP he knew his project was risky, but that he trusted his fixer too much and ignored the warning signs.

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Im not sure, he said of the circumstances surrounding his kidnapping. I think it was a betrayal. But the motive for the betrayal is not yet clear. I have not spoken to my fixer since I have been released.

Kidnappings have skyrocketed in the Sahel in recent years, according to data from the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED.

JNIM, the Sahelian branch of al-Qaida, has been responsible for most of the 1,468 kidnappings in Sahel and Benin between 2017 and 2025, according to the ACLED. The group relies on ransom money to fund their operations and on the fear they instill on local populations to keep them in check.

Dubois recalled being told he would be "released quickly if his family and government did as instructed.

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Dubois was released on March 20, 2023, in Agadez, Niger, but details of his release, including whether a ransom was paid, remain undisclosed.

French President Emmanuel Macron took to the social platform X to write Olivier Dubois is free," but he did not elaborate on the conditions of the release.

Speaking to the AP, Dubois said that he did not know the details either, but he recalled being told by the rebels that ransoms varied by nationality. As a French citizen, he was worth 10 million euros, he was told. A South African was worth 50 million.

Having covered numerous hostage stories in the region, Dubois knew that even if freed, his ordeal could be lengthy.

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In order to stay sane, he became obsessed with plotting an escape. But after the fourth unsuccessful attempt, his captors staged a mock execution and threatened to kill him if he tried again. So instead, Dubois started reading the Quran.

Reading the holy book of Islam served a dual purpose: it occupied his mind, and helped him understand his captors better, be able to discuss with them and build a relationship, so they could treat him more as a human being and less as an anonymous hostage.

Unexpectedly, it also put him on a more spiritual path.

"I am a former atheist, then an agnostic who thought Id stop there, he said. Reading the Quran made me want to read other religious texts. This captivity has been the beginning of a journey that will perhaps lead me to God  or not.

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Now that his book  Prisonnier du desert, 711 jours aux mains dAl-Qaida, which translates in English into Prisoner of the desert, 711 days in the hands of Al-Qaida  is out, Dubois said he was hoping he was ready to go back to journalism and move on.

But the experience still haunts him.

It was painful labour, he said of the writing process. The first reflex after finishing it was to distance myself from the story, hoping time will pass and, maybe, all of that will be behind me. But I don't really know if that's possible.
The News

Frances prime minister sparked a political row after saying the country fears being flooded by migrants.

Francois Bayrous remarks were, France 24 said, clearly an effort to pander to the anti-immigration, far-right National Rally, which is riding high in opinion polls.

Bayrou is relying on support from the National Rally to pass a budget; similarly, in Germany, a center-right party recently leaned on backing from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany.

European centrist parties are trying to curb support for nationalist groups by courting disaffected voters, but risk normalising their extreme policies, The Irish Times Europe correspondent warned.
The Cedarville University community is mourning the loss of Grace Maxwell, one of nearly 70 people who died in the crash between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight at Reagan Washington National Airport.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

As previously reported, Maxwell was a 20-year-old mechanical engineering major from Wichita, Kansas. She was returning from her grandfathers funeral and was supposed to catch a connecting flight from Washington, D.C. to Ohio.

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News Center 7 was at the university on Friday as university president Dr. Thomas White addressed the campus community.

Theres nothing that makes this easier. I cant say anything that takes away your hurt or your pain, White said.

White spoke openly, honestly, and directly to 4,000 students and staff about the loss of Maxwell and the double tragedy her family is enduring.

Can you imagine losing a parent and seven days later losing a child? Thomas asked.

TRENDING STORIES:

As shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, hundreds of students accepted the presidents invitation to leave their seats, step forward, and get on their knees to pray for the Maxwell family. The student body chaplain said the prayers were also for a suffering university community.

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Yeah, we feel real anger and real pain, and were really upset and sad but at the same time, we still have hope and we trust that our hope of eternal life will get us through these moments, Trey Storr, Cedarville Student Government Chaplain, said.

That attitude is one of the reasons the university community said they could find their voice in praising God and remembering their fallen friend.

If you gave her a single second to talk, she would tell you how much she cared and how her faith impacted her life, Riley Blair, a Cedarville junior, said.

Fellow junior Aspen Schiebout said Maxwell was an enthusiastic person.

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Both Blair and Schiebout shared a housing unit with Maxwell. They said she was reserved with strangers and then, very loud and passionate with friends. Thats something they will cherish.

I think she would really be shocked to probably realize that shed made that big of an impact because she was one of those people that never, never realized that she actually made an impact on people, Blair said.

Cedarville leaders told News Center 7 that true to her faith and character, Maxwell had already been planning to serve on a mission trip in London this coming summer. They hope her servants attitude will be one of the things more honored and inspirational to other students and the Miami Valley.

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RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (WSAV)  WSAV has confirmed through family that a Richmond Hill High School graduate was one of the 64 people who perished on the fatal American Airlines D.C. flight.

Photo from SkyLens Photo from Tim Lilley

Sam Lilley was a First Officer on the flight, according to his father, Tim, who spoke to News 3 and wrote a tribute in a post on Facebook.

I was so proud when Sam became a pilot, Tim Lilley wrote. Now it hurts so bad I cant even cry myself to sleep. I know Ill see him again but my heart is breaking.

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Sam Lilley went to Richmond Hill High School and graduated from Georgia Southern University.

Kaitlin Sells, a friend of Sams, said shes proud of his accomplishments, but shes mourning his future that was taken from him.

Its a tragedy. But its even more of a tragedy when you consider the person he was, Sells said. If theres anyone out there who didnt deserve all this, its him.

Sells says Lilley was someone who would go out of his way to cheer you up, and he was never in a bad mood.

He was happiness encapsulated in a person, Sells said. Hes a person that lived life to the fullest and was just the happiest person around. He was himself without any reservations And he was a take me or leave me kind of person. I want to live like he lived.

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He was passionate, but not just about flying. Tanner Hicks, a high school friend, said he was also passionate about his faith.

We went on a mission trip together in Ecuador through the church, and that was when I really first saw him, who he was a person, his heart and his compassion towards others, Hicks said. Any conversation I had with him was very genuine, very kind, down to earth person, never said anything bad about anyone.

Lilley began his career in aerial survey with SkyLens. A spokesperson tells News 3, Lilley worked with the company during their 2021-2022 season.

Sam was not only a skilled pilot and fantastic employee but maybe the most likeable person we know, SkyLens said to WSAV in a statement. He was always wearing smile and loved flying. I was proud to see his career progress as he moved on to the airline industry. Sam remained close with many of our former pilots including our former and current Chief Pilots. Any aviation tragedy is painful to those of us in the industry but when it hits this close to home, it is crushing. Our thoughts are with Sams family and fiance.

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Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero also released a statement about the loss of Lilley:

The Georgia Southern community is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our outstanding alumni, Sam Lilley (18), who embodied the Eagle spirit and soared beyond in his career. We will continue to keep Sams family and friends in our thoughts as they grieve this tragedy.

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Since it was founded in 1991, Frieze has hosted galleries, programs, and developed arts discourse through its many initiatives. The contemporary art organization is known for its art fairs and publications (Frieze Magazine). The Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award falls under the Frieze Los Angeles anchor program and will be held on February 2023, 2025, at the Santa Monica Airport.



The film award offers new talent in the industry the opportunity to participate in a program produced by Frieze in partnership with award-winning nonprofit Ghetto Film School (GFS) and production studio FIFTH SEASON. Ghetto Film School aims to educate and develop young storytellers across locations in New York City, Los Angeles, and London. GFS serves 8,000 people from ages 14-34. FIFTH SEASON has produced the films Eileen, multi-Oscar-nominated The Lost Daughter, and Ambulance, and TV series like 14 Emmy-nominated Severance, See, and Nine Perfect Strangers.

Related: New Yorks Coastal Italian Behemoth Marea Debuts in Beverly Hills

The shortlist for the 2024 Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award includes Guinevere Alcaraz, JaLisa Arnold, Austin Chen, Christopher Guerrero, Sophia Lafaurie-Munoz, and Nicole Mairose Dizon. All of the emerging talent was selected from an open call for Applicants 18 to 34 in the Los Angeles region. The filmmakers each produced a short film based on Friezes theme: Togetherness, to explore the importance of human connection to individuals, communities, and society. The winner of the Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award will receive a $10,000 prize.



Erin Christovale (Curator, Hammer Museum), Rhys Ernst (Emmy-nominated filmmaker and artist), Christine Messineo (Director of Americas, Frieze), Claudio de Sanctis (Head of Private Bank and member of the Management Board), Tayanna Todd (Head of Inclusive Content, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group), and RaMell Ross (Artist and Filmmaker), will all be apart of this year's panel of judges.

Related: L.A.'s Biggest Stars Unite for FireAid Concert: How to Watch

The public may also vote for their favorite short film made by the shortlisted artists. The films are available to watch on the Frieze website. The creator of the most popular film will receive a $2,500 prize for the Audience Award. Anyone can cast their vote online until February 16, 2025. Winners of the Audience Award and The Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award will be announced during an exclusive ceremony at Frieze Los Angeles on Friday, February 21, 2025.



The Film Award has always been an initiative were immensely proud of, reflecting our commitment to nurturing emerging talent. This years cohort has created short films exploring the theme of Togetherness, a concept that feels especially poignant in the context of the rebuilding of the city. Now, more than ever, its crucial that we come together to support the creative community, celebrate their work, and provide opportunities for Los Angeles young talent, said Christine Messineo.
Jan. 30Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation came to the Roundhouse on Thursday to plead with lawmakers on passing critical legislation during the 60-day session.

While the Democratic majority was present, Republicans made themselves scarce.

"We know that there will be many difficult days ahead, and we must remain clear-eyed about the scale of the challenges we face," U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., said in her speech. "For those of you who are feeling scared and uncertain about the future of this country, know that we will fight to protect our communities, and especially those who are most vulnerable."

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U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., voiced support for a Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Upon his mention of this in his speech, all of the present House Republicans walked out of the chamber, including House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, who said she left because of Vasquez's mention of the measure, one that Republicans have refused to support for the past six years.

She supported the congressman's speech until then, she added.

"I'm going to let him do his job, and he can let us do ours," Armstrong told the Journal.

Stansbury later told members of the media she, too, supports paid family and medical leave, adding that she'd like to see state legislators also pass water quality protections and trade worker safety bills.

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The representative later told members of the media she doesn't know what will come from the Trump administration in the coming days or weeks, which makes the ongoing state legislative session more crucial than ever to pass bills benefiting New Mexicans.

"The New Mexico state Legislature is the front line," Stansbury said.

Vasquez, in his speech, called on the Legislature to work across the aisle to address public safety, making investments in education, health care and housing  "critical components of a comprehensive public safety strategy."

"New Mexicans understand that the path to safer communities begins with addressing the root causes of crime and public safety," he said. "That includes poverty, domestic violence, addiction, gun safety, homelessness and the lack of economic opportunity."

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Vasquez added that he represents New Mexico's shared border with Mexico and said he's committed to "common-sense immigration reform that treats people humanely and modernizes what we're doing at the border." House Caucus Chair Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences stood up to applaud this.

A measure that drew support from everyone was getting compensation delivered to New Mexicans affected by nuclear testing for certain types of cancer. Stansbury and Vasquez said they won't stop fighting to pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, ensuring New Mexico victims are included.

Another speaking point that drew bipartisan applause was Stansbury's commendation of New Mexico for having the largest female-majority Legislature in the nation.

That prompted someone on the House chamber floor to exclaim "Girl Power!", a phrase that Stansbury then repeated.
When people talk about the abortion pill, they typically mean mifepristone, the first drug in the FDA-approved medication abortion regimen. Conservatives are currently lobbying both federal courts and the Trump administration to roll back access to mifepristone and make it functionally inaccessibleif not get it withdrawn from the market altogether. If more restrictions take effect, many abortion providers have said theyll switch to abortions using only the second medication in the protocol, misoprostol, which causes uterine contractions.

With all that in mind, it was intriguing to see a study published last week that suggested that a different FDA-approved drug could possibly stand in for mifepristone: ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the prescription-only emergency contraceptive Ella. (Ella is the brand name for a 30 milligram ulipristal pill used to delay ovulation and prevent pregnancy.) Yes, thats right, a birth control ingredient being researched for abortion.

For the study, researchers in Mexico City enrolled 133 women who were up to nine weeks pregnant and seeking abortions. The women took 60 milligrams of ulipristal, followed 24 hours later by 800 micrograms of misoprostol. All but four of the women ended their pregnancies without further intervention, for a completion rate of 97 percent. (Those four received a procedure or additional medication to complete the abortion.) That efficacy rate is similar to the gold-standard regimen of mifepristone plus misoprostol, though there were no comparison groups in this proof-of-concept study.

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Conservatives have long wanted to redefine emergency contraception not as birth control but as abortion, based on a medically and legally inaccurate belief that pregnancy begins at fertilization. (It actually begins when an embryo implants in the uterus.) The Project 2025 playbook for a second Trump term called out Ella by name to be excluded from the Affordable Care Acts mandatory contraception coverage as a potential abortifacient, so this research could put an even bigger target on the drug. After all, Project 2025 declares that abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world.

As you might expect, anti-abortion groups were practically giddy about the news. Students for Life told The New York Times in response: The pro-life movement should be vindicated. Weve been arguing for years that Ella acts as an abortifacient. The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists gave a similarly misleading comment to The Atlantic: Abortion advocates have long denied Ellas potential to end an embryos life, but this study contradicts that narrative.

These statements arent true. Ella is only the 30 milligram dose, and the study participants got twice that amount. Importantly, they also took misoprostol, which is a very effective abortion-inducing drug on its own and is used around the world in the face of abortion bans, said Daniel Grossman, an ob-gyn and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. (Grossman was not involved in the study but did write an accompanying editorial.)

Misoprostol makes the cervix open and causes uterine contractions, inducing a miscarriage. Its the commonality in every medication abortion protocol thats been frequently used or seriously studiedits taken alongside mifepristone, methotrexate, letrozole, or, again, on its own, Grossman said. Misoprostol is doing the bulk of the work of causing a medication abortion, regardless of the regimen, he said. Misoprostol on its own, unlike mifepristone on its own, is an effective abortion-inducing regimen, and it is one thats recommended by the World Health Organization. Misoprostol-only abortions can be more than 93 percent effective with repeated doses, compared to between 50 and 60 percent effectiveness of mifepristone alone, he said.

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As Angel Foster, a health science professor at the University of Ottawa, told The Atlantic in 2022, We talk about mifepristone as the abortion pill, but I think its more appropriate to think of it as a pre-treatment or an adjunct therapy. Because its really the misoprostol thats doing the lions share of the work.

Grossman said the study is well designed, but its not enough for health care providers to change what they prescribe for medication abortions. And there are several things the research doesnt prove: It does not show that this regimen is any more effective than misoprostol alone or that taking ulipristal by itself at any dose affects an established pregnancy.

The research suggests its possiblebut not certainthat ulipristal could be another pretreatment, but conservative groups are fanning bad-faith flames to suit their larger agenda, which is to attack birth control. We know that contraception has been in the crosshairs of the anti-abortion movement for a long time, Grossman said. They dont just say that ulipristal is an abortifacient, many of them say that all hormonal contraceptive methods can cause an abortion.

Using this study to restrict access to the 30 milligram brand-name drug would not be evidence-based. But then again, neither are conservative claims that birth control is an abortifacient. We still dont have any evidence that Ella causes an abortion, so those attacks are misapplying the results of this study, Grossman said.

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Still, hes worried that, particularly in the current political environment, the birth control method could become harder to get, which would harm people who need it. Over-the-counter emergency contraception (levonorgestrel) is effective for up to three days after unprotected sex and is less effective for people over 155 pounds. Ella can be used for up to five days, and it remains effective for people with larger body sizes.

Aside from possible changes to insurance coverage and other restrictions like outright bans, Grossman worries there could be a chilling effect on pharmacies in states with abortion bans willing to stock the drug and pharmacists willing to dispense it. Its really critically important that we maintain access to this medication, he said.

If, in the coming weeks and months, Republicans do succeed in requiring three in-person visits to get mifepristone, that nationwide rollback will be enraging and jarring. But this new research underscores a key point: In many ways, misoprostol is the real abortion pill, first discovered by Latin American activists, and its fairly easy to get in the United States. Its FDA-approved to treat ulcers, and its already in most pharmacies because it doesnt have onerous restrictions like mifepristone does. Aside from telemedicine providers, there are community networks that help people access pills outside the medical system: Activist groups mail free mifepristone and misoprostol to people in the U.S., including from Mexico.

Its very difficult to restrict the movement of pills, Grossman said. Increasing restrictions on abortion generally have resulted in a lot of changes in terms of people taking abortion care into their own hands and figuring out how to access these medicationsand self-managing that abortion on their own with support from lay experts or clinicians or both.

Thats another point of emphasis: Conservatives can try to ban abortion, but they cannot stop it.
(Reuters) -Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX said on Friday it had resolved a lawsuit it brought last year against K5 Global, a venture capital firm co-founded by a former aide in Hillary Clinton's office.

The settlement will pave the way for the parties to collaborate to maximize recoveries for FTX customers and stakeholders, the companies said.

The crypto exchange's dramatic collapse in November 2022 left many customers unable to access their funds. It was cleared to start repaying customers after a court approved its bankruptcy plan in October.

"It is clear that K5 is a bright spot in the FTX portfolio, and the expected strong performance of their investments will be a key driver in the recovery efforts for our stakeholders," said FTX CEO John Ray, who has been spearheading an initiative to reclaim funds since the exchange's bankruptcy.

K5 was co-founded by Michael Kives and Bryan Baum. Kives worked in Clinton's D.C. office as an aide to chief of staff Huma Abedin, while Baum is an angel investor who has backed a slew of companies including Uber and Airbnb, according to the firm's website.

The lawsuit against K5 was brought in June, in which FTX sought to claw back $700 million in investments that it alleged were made with misappropriated funds.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried authorized the transfer of the funds to K5 entities and leaned on the firm's celebrity and business connections in his effort to obtain rescue financing in the days before FTX went bankrupt, according to the lawsuit.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March last year.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners opted against allocating a substantial monetary increase for the county district attorneys office when finalizing its 2025 fiscal year budget on Wednesday, perhaps bringing a monthslong standoff with DA Fani Willis into its next phase.

The board allocated $39.3 million of its nearly $1 billion budget to the DAs office, a figure that Willis has insisted will not allow her staff to properly carry out its duties.

The adopted budget also fails to provide additional funding requested by other justice and safety partners, like the magistrate courts and the solicitor general.

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Capital B Atlanta reported earlier this month that Willis sent a letter in response to a proposed budget to each of the county commissioners in December warning that she would pursue legal action against the board if her offices funding is not adequately increased.

Willis and other officials fear that insufficient funding to justice departments could cause setbacks in preventing crime and violence; keeping courts operating efficiently; and managing the population at Fulton County Jail, the troubled facility that disproportionately houses Black detainees.

Without adequate funding to properly serve the citizens of this County, we have to explore legal remedies which includes filing a lawsuit against the Board of Commissioners to seek a budget consistent with the number and nature of cases this office handles, Willis wrote in her letter to the commissioners dated Dec. 11. Hear me clearly: if you enact the proposed budget: people will die.

The district attorneys office did not respond to a request for comment at press time.

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Five of the seven commissioners voted in favor of the budget proposed on Wednesday. The two holdouts  District 3 Commissioner Dana Barrett and District 5 Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr.  both advocated for a larger budget that wouldve provided more funding to the countys justice and safety departments, including Willis office.

Spending on the countys justice departments has been at the forefront of budget talks due to last years sunsetting of Project ORCA  a federally funded program that had been subsidizing their budgets since 2021  and Novembers U.S. Department of Justice report on the inhumane conditions at Fulton County Jail.

Project ORCA successfully resolved a massive case backlog in the Fulton County court system that was due in large part to COVID-19 pandemic-related court shutdowns. The program enabled justice and safety departments to hire 528 employees, including 133 in the district attorneys office. By October 2024, just before the project came to an end, the district attorneys office had retained 55 ORCA hires as full-time employees.

While ORCA was always intended to be temporary, several heads of the countys justice departments have insisted that the supplemented budgets should become the baseline so that they can operate efficiently.

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By eliminating the ORCA grant, the county is jeopardizing the significant progress weve made in reducing violent crime, which ultimately puts the safety of our communities at risk, Willis said in a statement sent to Capital B Atlanta in October.

Like Willis, Cassandra Kirk, the countys chief magistrate court judge, has been requesting additional funding for months. She says she requires more support staff so her judges arent bogged down with clerical work.

Fulton Countys nearly $989.8 million budget lays out spending for everything from the sheriff and the courts to senior citizen services and local libraries. This years property tax, or millage, rate  the countys primary source of revenue  will not be set until the summer. The approved budget assumes no tax increase.

Rob Pitts, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, told Capital B Atlanta in October that there would be financial constraints on the 2025 fiscal budget.

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The revenue which we will have to work with will be fixed, said Pitts. All of the programs and projects will have to be funded with the available revenue.

Still, many departments will receive more funding than last year because though the tax rate remains unchanged, the county will see a revenue increase due to rising property values.

Barrett suggested that the county allocate an additional $14.9 million to its justice and safety departments via a $13.9 million surplus. Instead, the commissioners voted to earmark the additional funds for Fulton County Jail operations and maintenance needs as laid out by the DOJ.

I would like to recommend that we approve a budget that includes spending for the justice system proactively, Barrett said before the vote, instead of reactively.

The post Fulton County Denies DA Fani Willis More Funding in 2025 Budget appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Tulsi Gabbard, President Trumps pick to be the next director of national intelligence, endured a difficult hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday as lawmakers pressed her on her views on Edward Snowden, spying, Syria and Russia.

The former congresswoman and Army lieutenant colonel has been considered among the toughest lifts of Trumps nominees, and based on the public portion of Thursdays hearing, Gabbard remains in a tough spot. She likely needs to win a majority of the 17 committee votes  which could be difficult in its own right  to reach a floor vote.

Her two and a half hour public meeting with lawmakers came before a second hearing behind closed doors where she and lawmakers were able to discuss sensitive topics.

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Here are five takeaways from her hearing.

Snowden dominates the discussion

Over and over, members of the panel from both sides of the aisle asked Gabbard about Snowden. And over and over, she came back with a repeated, stock answer that did not appear sufficient for them.

Senators had indicated for weeks that they were concerned about Gabbards past remarks regarding the disgraced National Security Agency contractor who leaked myriad classified documents.

Gabbard co-authored legislation supporting a pardon for him and supported a bill that would have given increased whistleblower protections for individuals accused of violating the Espionage Act  both of which were anathema to members on the Intelligence panel.

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While Snowden came up several times during the first hour, it wasnt until the second half of the hearing that the issue exploded, as Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked her twice if Snowden was a traitor. She demurred both times.

My heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nations security, Gabbard said, laying out four actions she would take to prevent another future Snowden-like leak.

Senator, Im focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again, she said after Lankford asked a second time.

Those answers prompted Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to ask the question three additional times before letting loose on Gabbard for her inability to give a yes or no answer.

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This is when the rubber hits the road. This is not a moment for social media. This is not a moment to propagate conspiracy theories or attacks on journalism in the United States, Bennet said. This is when you need to answer the questions of the people whose votes you are asking for to be confirmed as the chief intelligence officer of this nation.

In total, more than a half-dozen members asked her about the now-Russian citizen, with Gabbard repeatedly responding that Snowden broke the law and that she disagreed with how he released the information.

Her inability to answer whether Snowden was a traitor baffled even some of her supporters.

I felt that was a pretty easy question, actually, to be able to come through and just say, This is universally accepted when you steal a million pages of top-secret documents and you hand them to the Russians, thats a traitorous act, Lankford told reporters after the open session. That did catch me off guard.

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I was surprised, yeah. Because that doesnt seem like a hard question on that, he continued. It wasnt intended to be a trick question by any means.

Gabbard runs into resistance from GOP swing vote

Atop Gabbards to-do list on Thursday was winning over a pair of Senate Republicans who are believed to be on the fence about her nomination: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Todd Young (Ind.). She cannot afford to lose even a single GOP vote on the committee.

Young, a former Marine intelligence officer, pressed Gabbard hard about Snowden, seemingly unimpressed with her answers.

He asked about a House Intelligence Committee report that found Snowden caused tremendous damage including to military, defense and intelligence programs of great interest to Americas adversaries.

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Gabbard reiterated her oft-used line that Snowden broke the law and that she would push to avoid a repeat instance in the future. The answer did not appear sufficient for Young.

Its notable you didnt say, Yes, he clearly hurt, in various ways, our national security, Young responded.

Young went on to ask about how she thinks rank-and-file members of the intelligence community will receive her given her past comments about Snowden and whether he betrayed the trust of the American people  adding that marks the definition of a traitor.

Gabbard once again said Snowden broke the law and repeated similar lines she peppered members with on Snowden-related questions.

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Young finally retorted that Snowden was watching the hearing and declared it would do her a world of good if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower  harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land around our intel authority.

Young is far from a carbon copy of most Trump-supporting senators who have come into office in recent years. He was one of the few who never endorsed Trump during his 2024 campaign and is a prominent defense hawk. One GOP source went so far as to say that Young was a problem for Gabbard heading into the hearing.

Collins, meanwhile, did not create many waves during her questioning as part of the open session, asking whether Gabbard has met with any Hezbollah leaders or members and other queries pertaining to the terror threats facing the U.S. and her proposal to protect whistleblowers from prosecution if they reveal classified information.

Gabbard tries to assuage concerns on 702 after Collins criticism

Though Collins didnt ask about Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Thursday, the intelligence tool appears to be at the center of her apprehension about Gabbard.

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And it came up repeatedly throughout the hearing as Gabbard tried to convince panel members that she no longer was against what they roundly believe to be a critical tool to gather intelligence on foreign soil.

Gabbard was an avid opponent of Section 702  which allows for the warrantless surveillance of foreign targets  throughout her time in the House. She proposed legislation in 2020 to repeal the program and voted numerous times against reauthorizing it.

This raised red flags for numerous members of the committee, prompting Gabbard to flip her position since being nominated.

[Section 702] provides a unique security tool and capability that is essential for our national security. There are a number of areas we would be blind from a national security perspective without this capability, Gabbard said, adding that the tool must exist next to having safeguards to back the civil liberties of Americans.

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However, her current stance has not been up to muster for some who will decide her fate. Collins told The Hill last week that she did not believe Gabbard actually changed her stance on this issue given the nominees answers to written questions that were hedged frequently.

Gabbard defends 2017 Syria trip

Gabbard, since she was nominated, has found herself on the back foot over her 2017 visit to Syria for a secret meeting with then-President Bashar Assad, and on Thursday she attempted to defend the visit to lawmakers.

When asked by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) whether the trip exhibited good judgment, she said that it had.

Yes, senator. And I believe that leaders, whether you be in Congress or the president of the United States, can benefit greatly by going and engaging, she said. Boots on the ground, learning and listening and meeting directly with people, whether they be adversaries or friends.

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Gabbard said she asked Assad tough questions about his regimes actions, including the use of chemical weapons on Syrians. She added that she met with then-Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) about the trip without any intelligence community or State Department officials present.

She also admitted that the meeting did not produce any concessions from Assad.

Assad was deposed as Syrian leader in December and was granted asylum in Russia.

Senators press Gabbard on Russia comments

Gabbard tried to quell concerns about her stance on Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine, brushing off accusations that she is a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the most surprising and jarring moment related to Russia, Gabbard told Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) that she was offended by him asking if Russia would receive a pass in either your mind or your heart when making a policy recommendation.

I am offended by the question because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security, and the interest of the American people, Gabbard said. In carrying out the responsibilities of the director of national intelligence, if confirmed, no country, group or individual will get a pass.

Gabbard was known for echoing Putins talking points on the Ukraine war to the point where Russian state television promoted her comments.

At one point, Gabbard claimed that the Biden administration and NATO were partially responsible for the war, having argued that they should have simply acknowledged Russias legitimate security concerns.

On Thursday, Heinrich followed up by asking who was responsible for the war.

Putin started the war in Ukraine, she responded.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbards views on former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and his theft of more than a million classified documents mushroomed into a major point of contention with Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Republican senators pressed Gabbard to declare Snowden a traitor and to acknowledge that he harmed U.S. national security, but Gabbard refused to do so, raising alarm among Republicans who will be voting on her nomination in the weeks ahead.

People are holding their cards pretty close to the vest, but that nomination is in trouble, said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on Gabbards chances of getting through the Senate.

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A second Republican senator said theres been a lot of discussion among GOP lawmakers over Gabbards fitness to lead the nations intelligence community.

Theres been a lot of conversation on that, the senator said.

Gabbard, if confirmed, would serve as the nations leading intelligence official, and would be in charge of preparing President Trumps daily intelligence briefing.

A key moment during Thursdays hearing came when Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked whether Gabbard views Snowden as a traitor, advising her that members of the Intelligence panel would feel a lot better about her nomination if she would do so.

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Instead, Gabbard sidestepped two questions about whether Snowden betrayed the nation, telling lawmakers she is focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again, referring to Snowdens theft of secret documents.

Lankford, who earlier this month said he would support Gabbard, said after the hearing that he was surprised by her response.

I was surprised, because that doesnt seem like a hard question on that. It wasnt intended to be a trick question by any means, Lankford said.

The Oklahoma senator said it should have been an easy question to say its universally accepted when you steal a million pages of top-secret documents and you hand it to the Russians, thats a traitorous act.

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Gabbard appeared to rankle Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a key vote on the Intelligence panel who remains publicly undecided, when she refused to say Snowdens actions harmed national security.

Do you have any response to the bipartisan findings of the House Intel Committee, which stated that Snowden caused tremendous damage to national security, including to military, defense and intelligence programs of great interest to Americas adversaries? Young asked.

Gabbard said Snowden broke the law, a phrase she repeated throughout Thursdays hearing, but then quickly pivoted to talk about my focus on the future.

I think we can all agree another Snowden-type leak, and Ive laid out specific actions if confirmed as DNI to do that, she said.

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Young said it was notable Gabbard didnt acknowledge that Snowden hurt national intelligence.

And the Indiana senator pressed Gabbard about her past support for pardoning Snowden, including the introduction of legislation with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) calling for charges against Snowden to be dropped.

When we find Americans, whether private citizens or contractors or uniformed personnel, have shared sensitive designs about military technology or plans to a foreign government  we rightfully throw the book at them. Snowden did just that. Yet you have argued many times that he should be pardoned, Young said, showing frustration with Gabbards answer.

He likely endangered American lives through his action. As the leader of the intelligence community, how do you think you would be received on some of these past actions to support or even to pardon Snowden? Young asked, wondering how rank-and-file intelligence analysts and professionals would react to her becoming the next director of national intelligence.

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Young demanded to know if Snowden betrayed the trust of the American people, pointing out thats the Merriam-Webster dictionarys definition of a traitor.

The Indiana senator declined to speak to the press after participating in a round of questions of Gabbard during the part of the confirmation hearing that was closed to the public.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who was later briefed on the hearing, said he thought Gabbard did pretty well, but he didnt say whether he is confident about getting her through the Intelligence Committee or confirmed on the floor.

I think most people were pleased with how it went, he said.

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But he acknowledged Lankford and Young didnt appeared happy with her answers on Snowden.

Everybody is going to come to their own conclusions. There were issues she had to deal with and address. Well see how it goes, he said.

Asked if he was confident about her confirmation, Thune said: Ive said before, give them a process, you see where it lands.

The defection of a single GOP senator on the Intelligence panel, on which Republicans have a one-seat majority, would be enough to bottle up Gabbards nomination in committee.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who says he is inclined to vote for all of Trumps Cabinet nominees absent extraordinary circumstances, gave Gabbard an OK grade on the hearing.

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Umm, I thought she did OK, he said.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), another key vote on the Intelligence Committee who remains undecided on Gabbard, asked her pointedly whether she would support a pardon or any sort of clemency for Snowden.

She emphasized that Snowden had done grave harm to our national security by revealing sensitive sources and methods, jeopardizing agents in the field.

Gabbard responded that if confirmed, that she would not advocate for any actions related to Snowden.

Collins later said she was happy with those answers.

I was happy with her responses to my questions, including the question of whether she would recommend a pardon of Edward Snowden, where she clearly said no, she said.

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Collins told The Hill last week that she still had concerns about Gabbards stance on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Act, which authorizes expanded surveillance power and accounts for roughly 60 percent of the intelligence in the presidents daily briefing.

While some Republican senators on the panel thought Gabbard had reversed her past opposition to Section 702s expanded authorities, Collins felt the nominee had hedged her answers on the subject.

One Democratic senator with good relations with Republicans on the Intelligence panel said some of his GOP colleagues have significant trust issues with Gabbard.

If youre on the Intelligence Committee and you have any respect for the Intelligence Committee, youre a Republican, and you got someone in front of you who cant denounce Snowden as being a traitor to the United States and who has actively campaigned against Section 702.  From the questions by Republicans, its clear that theyre afraid she cant be trusted, the lawmaker said.

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Al Weaver contributed.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
DEXTER, Iowa  Its easy to miss it if youre driving north of Dexter on Dexfield Road  an unassuming mile marker remembering lots of history in Dallas County.

The historical marker is the site of a former amusement park in Dallas County, known as Dexfield Park. The park was home to a cement swimming pool and rides that drew crowds from around central Iowa in the 1920s. At its peak, Dexfield Park drew thousands of people, charging just a few cents for each entry.

More: Gabe on the Go

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Eventually, the park closed in the early 1930s. As it became abandoned, it found another use  a hideout for the notorious Barrow Gang, most notably Bonnie and Clyde.

After a robbery in Missouri, the gang fled to Iowa, where they were not as well known. The Barrows raised the suspicions of some, leading to a posse of law enforcement who gathered to arrest the robbers. A shootout followed, later leading to the capture of Blanche and Buck Barrow. Bonnie and Clyde escaped, along with fellow gang member W.D. Jones.

This historic site is now home to a field. All thats left is the historic marker on the side of the road about three miles north of Dexter. But Rod Stanley, board member of the Dexter Historical Museum, says he hopes more people will look into the history of their hometowns, as theres usually plenty to still discover. Dexter is also well known for the visit of President Truman, which drew massive crowds.

If you want to learn more about Bonnie and Clydes time in Iowa or about Dexfield Park, you can visit the Dexter Historical Museum at 719 Marshall Street. The museum is closed for the winter but opens back up in May.

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Gary Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said Thursday the district will make significant upgrades and equipment purchases to improve basic needs with a $500,000 donation from the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, based in Gary.

Stokes told a crowd of supporters at the casino the donation will impact teaching and learning across the nine-school district.

Specifically, she said the gift will fund gymnasium improvements such as wall mats, floor resurfacing and the replacement of stadium bleachers, a library/media center and security upgrades along with staff training.

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Shes hopeful the donation will fund audio-visual equipment including a sound system and microphones, smartboards, bookcases and an indoor playground sensory wall with ergonomic lighting.

It certainly feels great to witness this generosity first-hand in support of our students, Stokes said. I am excited for the students, and we are grateful for this vote of confidence in our ability to provide the best educational experience for every child we serve.

Matt Schuffert, president of Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, said Hard Rocks donations are aimed at organizations most in need in its surrounding area.

Our leadership and staff at Hard Rock are mindful of the important role that we all play in the growth of the community, he said.

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Last year, the casino donated $500,000 to the Lake Ridge Schools to complete the renovation of a middle school gym, new desks, chairs and library furniture at Longfellow New Tech Elementary.

Also last year, the casino gave the city of Gary $3 million for the demolition of blighted structures.
With a possible hearing in the Statehouse for House Bill 1136 looming, the fight over the future of public education in Gary has escalated into a battle for the districts survival. Seeing the bill as a direct threat to its schools and community, the Gary Common Council voted unanimously on Jan. 21 to approve a resolution condemning the bill.

The resolution is the latest sign of growing opposition in Gary to the bill, which was written by members of the Republican caucus of the state legislature and has sparked a citywide effort to rally against it. Just months after regaining local control following seven years of state-appointed management, city officials and community leaders argue that the bill threatens to erase the progress made in restoring the district before it has had time to stabilize.

House Bill 1136 will cause impacted school districts to potentially lose oversight and open ownership of school assets, property and additional value of historic significance to the city of Gary, Indiana, the resolution reads.

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House Bill 1136 would dissolve Indiana school districts where less than 50% of resident students attend public schools within the district, converting those public schools into charter schools by July 2028. If passed, the bill would impact five Indiana school districts and 68 schools statewide, including the Gary Community School Corporation.

One Democratic state lawmaker said some have questioned if House Bill 1136 was presented as a bargaining chip for future negotiations. (Javonte Anderson/Capital B)

Garys public school system has shrunk significantly in recent years, leaving families with more nonpublic school options than public ones. The Gary Community School Corporation currently operates 11 schools, including a virtual academy and a single public high school. By contrast, there are 12 nonpublic schools available to Gary students, including five alternative high school options.

With more charter and private institutions than traditional public schools, many families have opted for nonpublic education, whether due to school closures, academic offerings, or concerns about the state-managed districts past financial struggles. This imbalance in available options has contributed to the low in-district enrollment  one of the key metrics House Bill 1136 uses to determine whether a school system should be dissolved and its schools converted into charters.

At recent school board and council meetings, community leaders and residents have voiced concerns that House Bill 1136 could strip local control and erase key parts of Garys history. The resolution passed this month by the Gary Common Council echoes those fears, warning of the bills potential impact on the citys schools and assets.

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Councilman Darren Washington, a former member of Garys school board and author of the resolution, told Capital B Gary the bill would render the years of the state takeover pointless.

Our take is, if you put us through a seven-year probationary period managing our funds with an emergency manager, how can you allow the Gary Community School Corporation to be a part of legislation that could potentially unearth all the hard work that was done by the school district, the teachers and the emergency manager? Washington asked.

It seems that this bills goal is to turn those schools into charter schools.

Gary resident Natalie Ammons spoke publicly at the council meeting shortly before the resolutions passage, encouraging neighbors to join the fight.

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House Bill 1136 is detrimental to our community, she said. We need to all join together and fight this bill and make sure that it does not dismantle the education system here. Get in touch with someone. Make the phone calls. Make the meetings. Do whatever we can to save our schools.

According to Gary Community School Corporation data, nearly 400 students have enrolled since local control was restored in October. However, the bill designates October 2024 as the enrollment count deadline, raising concerns about its impact on the districts recent progress.

The bill has not yet advanced out of the House Education Committee, leaving some legislators questioning its true purpose.

One of the things that were hearing is that its being put out as a bargaining chip, said Democratic state Sen. Andrea Hunley of Indianapolis, whose public school district would also be dissolved under the legislation. Its being put out as a threat of what could pass in order to negotiate on other issues. Thats not how we do legislation here in Indiana.

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We do not send entire communities into distress. We do not send teachers and our most vulnerable students into a panic because of the threat of disbanding school boards. This bill would completely eliminate those elected positions that are our closest elected positions to our communities, and we definitely do not want to see the further erosion of public education.

Beyond the political implications, Michaela Spangenburg of the Gary Education Coalition said she is most troubled by the lack of community input in how charter schools are run. She also raised concerns about the quality of education they provide compared to traditional public schools.

All the mechanisms that we take for granted within a school do not necessarily exist within a charter school and can be very easily removed and changed within charter school systems compared to a public school system, she said.

The school district has also called on the community for support, urging residents to speak out as it fights for its survival.

GCSC Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said the district is still in the early stages of rebuilding and needs time to continue its progress.

GCSC Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said the district has been focused on increasing student enrollment in the school district. (Javonte Anderson/Capital B)

It has only been six months since the Gary Community School Corporation was released from a seven-year state takeover. During this time, there was an exodus of thousands of students from the district. Since regaining local control, we have been laser-focused on increasing enrollment, maintaining financial solvency, and enhancing curriculum to improve the overall educational experience for children, Stokes said.

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Spangenburg encouraged residents to be proactive not just with reaching out to their representatives, but those in other areas of the state.

Our legislators in our district agree with us, she said. They are already fighting the fight. We have to make sure were talking to people who may not be familiar with us. Or who may not have anybody thats talking to them.

She added, I really hope that we can all come together as a community and actually start to fight hard. At the end of the day, the community has to set the agenda nine times out of 10 for anything to get done.

The post Gary Unites Against Bill That Could Erase Public Schools appeared first on Capital B Gary.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)  Friday morning, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said his department is investigating two cases of animal abuse and is asking for help finding those he said are responsible for one of them.

FIRST ANIMAL ABUSE INVESTIGATION

The sheriff said Genesee County Animal Control officers were called out to the Parkwood Mobile Home Park in Grand Blanc Township on Nov. 27, 2024, for a dog barking because it was left outside the couples home.

The mobile park manager says the couple was last seen by neighbors on Nov. 11, 2024. Witnesses said the couple was moving their belongings into a U-Haul truck and could hear a dog barking inside the empty home.

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After animal control arrived at the scene, they located one dog still alive and two dead puppies inside the home.

Terri McComick, the Genesee County Veterinary Doctor, reported finding hair, plastic, and metal in the dogs stomachs.

The sheriff said deputies are looking for 46-year-old Bruce Arlyn Austin and 43-year-old Jamie Lynn Cross for questioning.

46-year-old Bruce Arlyn Austin and 43-year-old Jamie Lynn Cross are wanted for questioning in connection to the death of these animals in Genesee County.

Anyone who has information to help with this ongoing investigation should call 810-257-3462.

SECOND ANIMAL ABUSE INVESTIGATION

In an unrelated incident, the Genesee County Sheriffs Office arrested Jeremy Justin Neph. The sheriff said he is suspected of torturing two dogs in Vienna Township.

Jeremy Justin, was arrested on animal abuse charges in Genesee County.

Investigators say deputies were called to the 1100 block of Langdon Drive on Jan. 19, for two abandoned dogs.

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Deputies found the dogs locked in cages inside of the garage, covered in urine and feces. The dogs were emaciated and without food or water.

One dog was severely ill and was suffering from starvation and was unable to lift its head and could only move its eyes. The dog also had open sores on its legs. When Terri McComick arrived at the scene, she ordered the dog to be humanely euthanized.

Justin, a FedEx employee, told investigators his job required him to work long hours and could care for the dogs, Nixie and Axel.

The other dog luckily survived and was renamed Baxter and is currently up for adoption at Genesee County Animal Control.

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Justin was arrested and charged with one count of killing and torturing an animal, a four-year felony.

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A group of 13 Georgia state senators introduced a bill to ban discrimination against Georgians on the basis of religion and belief.

The Freedom of Speech and Belief Act filed by Sen. Blake Tillery and co-sponsored by a dozen others says it is meant to prevent discrimination in the provision of essential services, particularly singling out financial institutions, utility services and doctors ability to deny providing an abortion based on their religious beliefs.

Senate Bill 57, filed Wednesday, says that the freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Bill of Rights are fundamental and among them is the freedom of association, which businesses and citizens of this state may ordinarily exercise in choosing to engage or not to engage in business with others.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Despite the freedom to not engage in business with others, the legislation says that exercising freedom of association by businesses that provide essential goods and services would threaten the ability of Georgians to freely exercise their own rights.

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Today, citizens of this state are at risk of being deprived the ability to obtain financial and utility services due to such citizens lawful exercise of their constitutional rights, the lawmakers wrote in the bill. Depriving citizens of this state financial and utility services would put such citizens at an extreme disadvantage in carrying out the duties of daily life and would deprive such citizens of the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As a result, the senators said theyre taking action to protect Georgians from these issues.

The bill defines discrimination for its purposes as:

Discriminate in the provision of essential services means, directly or indirectly, refusing to provide essential services or restricting or terminating the provision of essential services to a person based on such persons social credit score or such persons exercise of any Constitutional right protected by the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution, including, without limitation, such persons speech, association, religious exercise, or ownership of firearms.

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In terms of what the legislation considers essential, the 13 senators said essential services are financial or utility services or their providers, defined as financial institutions with more than $1 billion in assets and their affiliates or subsidiaries, payment processors, payment networks, or payment providers and gateways that have processed more than $1 billion in transactions in the past year.

Persons providing services refers to any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, nonprofit organization, or other business or legal entity.

From the text, lawmakers said a social credit score means a score or ranking assigned to someone based on their exercise of any constitutional rights or a persons failure or refusal to adopt any policy or make any disclosure relating to emissions of greenhouse gases, as defined in Code Section 12-6-221, beyond what is required by applicable state or federal law.

The bill also says someones refusal to conduct racial, diversity or gender audit or disclosure or putting in place a quote based on race, diversity or gender may be considered part of how a social credit score may be determined as well.

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Finally, a persons failure or refusal to either facilitate or assist employees obtaining abortions or gender reassignment should also not be counted as a negative factor for these social credit scores.

The bill has a provision that allows individuals to sue for damages against businesses providing electric, water and sewer, natural gas or broadband services to retail customers if they are discriminated against in the manner described by the bill.

Damages can range between whatever the actual purported financial damages are or $50,000, whichever is higher.

Additionally, if the violation is intentional, those suing can win damages up to three times the actual value or $150,000, whichever is higher, in addition to attorneys fees and declaratory or injunctive relief.

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The legislation has no analysis from the Georgia General Assembly yet, and there is no example of a social credit score being enacted in Georgia provided in the legislative text by writing or citation.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to bill sponsors for examples to include, if available.

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BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  A Georgia man who raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl in a St. Andrews motel in 2008, will remain on death row.

Florida Supreme Court justices issued their ruling on Thursday, upholding the death sentence for 49-year-old Matthew Lee Caylor.

Caylor raped and killed 13-year-old Melinda Hinson on July 8, 2008.

Hinson and her family were living at the Value Lodge Motel on West Highway 98. She walked to Caylors room to bum a cigarette. Caylor raped the girl, strangled her with a phone cord, then stuffed her body under the bed.

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Matthew Caylor sentenced to death in Bay Co.

Motel maids found the body 2-days later. A local jury convicted Caylor of first-degree murder and voted 8-to-4 in favor of the death penalty. Since the jury vote was not unanimous, Caylor received a new sentencing phase in 2023.

For resentencing, Caylor requested a judge to decide his fate rather than a jury saying hed promised not to put Hinsons mother through the ordeal.

During the resentencing, prosecutors announced the mother had died. Chief Circuit Judge Christopher Patterson heard the case and resentenced Caylor to death.

Afterward, Caylors attorney filed a new appeal, saying if theyd known Hinsons mother had died, they would have requested a jury hear the case.

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The appeal wound up in the State Supreme Court where justices rejected it. Caylor has been on death row since 2009.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com.
(Bloomberg) -- German conservative leader Friedrich Merz is stepping up his hard-line immigration push despite a growing backlash over his move earlier this week to force a resolution through parliament with backing from the far right.

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Bundestag lawmakers are due on Friday to vote on a bill Merz and his CDU/CSU bloc say is designed to cut the number of immigrants arriving in Europes biggest economy. To secure a majority, hell again need to rely on support from the Alternative for Germany, even if he insists hes not actively cooperating with the anti-immigrant party.

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A fierce debate around irregular migration and its impact on domestic security has dominated the campaign for Germanys snap election on Feb. 23, in which Merz remains the clear frontrunner, with the AfD in second place.

Whats happening today?

Lawmakers in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament in Berlin, will begin debating the CDU/CSU bill  dubbed the influx-limiting law  at 10.30 a.m. local time, and Merz is expected to lobby for support with a statement to the chamber.

The debate will last for around 70 minutes, followed by a roll-call vote. The result should be known roughly half an hour after that.

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Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democrats and the Greens, who are ruling in a minority government after Scholz expelled the Free Democrats from his three-party coalition in November, have denounced the bill as unconstitutional and say it contravenes European law.

Whats in the bill?

Broadly speaking, it includes measures designed to reduce irregular immigration from countries outside the European Union and cut the number of family members following asylum seekers to Germany, and would give federal police enhanced powers to carry out deportations.

Is it likely to get approved?

As things stand, the law is likely to get enough votes from the CDU/CSU, the AfD, the Free Democrats, the far-left BSW party and some independents to pass.

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Scholzs SPD, the Greens and the Left Party are all expected to reject the bill but that likely wont be enough to block it. Merzs non-binding migration resolution  which unlike Fridays bill the government is free to ignore  passed on Wednesday by 348 votes to 344, with 10 abstentions.

What happens next?

Merz is going ahead with Fridays vote even though he knows the bill will almost probably be killed in the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament where the 16 federal states are represented.

Kai Wegner, the CDU mayor of Berlin, said Thursday he would never approve a law in the Bundesrat that was only passed depending on the votes of the AfD.

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What is Merz up to then?

Merzs strategy is a calculated gambit to try to neutralize the AfD and deliver a breakthrough with wavering voters, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Hes justified his moves in parliament by saying that last weeks fatal knife attack in Bavaria  in which the suspected perpetrator is a 28-year-old Afghan man whose asylum request had been rejected  proved radical action is needed.

He argues that he cant be prevented from taking action to improve domestic security just because the AfD will back his plans.

What has the reaction been?

Critics say that by accepting AfD backing in parliament, even if he didnt actively seek it out, Merz broke a taboo in German postwar politics and compromised a firewall erected by mainstream parties designed to keep the far right away from power.

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Scholz said Wednesday during a fractious Bundestag session that there are limits one must not cross as a statesman and accused Merz of populism.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel, a member of Merzs Christian Democratic Union, unexpectedly weighed in on Thursday with an open letter saying Merzs strategy is wrong. Thousands of people protested against Merzs strategy at the CDUs Berlin headquarters on Thursday, along with thousands more in other German cities like Munich, Leipzig and Kiel.

Whats the likely fallout?

The bad blood that has been generated between Merzs CDU/CSU on one side and Scholzs SPD and the Greens on the other will make negotiations on forming a coalition government after the election harder.

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If he wins as expected, Merzs alliance options could be limited to those two parties as its possible the Free Democrats, the BSW and the Left will all miss the 5% threshold for getting into parliament.

What are the polls saying?

Theres been little movement in surveys of voter intention in recent weeks, with the CDU/CSU still leading by around 10 percentage points on average.

An Insa poll for Bild newspaper published Thursday showed support for Merzs conservative bloc at 29%, down one point from the previous week, and the AfD stable on 22% in second place. The SPD gained 1.5 points to 17% and the Greens were up half a point at 13%.

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--With assistance from Michael Nienaber and Arne Delfs.

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(Bloomberg) -- German conservative leader Friedrich Merz pressed ahead with tough migration legislation backed by the far right, despite protests that have splintered the country just three weeks before a national election.

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The front-runner for chancellor brushed aside concerns, blaming mainstream rivals for refusing to cooperate. A vote on the controversial bill  dubbed the influx-limiting law  is due later Friday and is expected to need the support of the AfD to pass.

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The debate was delayed by a last-ditch effort to hash out a compromise that could be supported by Germanys political establishment. Despite the drama of four hours of frantic behind-the-scenes talks, Merz insisted on proceeding with the vote on legislation aimed at clamping down on irregular migration, even though the law will likely be blocked by the upper house of parliament.

Think of those who are watching us today, who are concerned about the stability of our democracy, Merz, head of the Christian Democratic Union, said during the debate. But there are at least as many who are concerned about the security and internal order of our country.

Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democrats and the co-ruling Greens have denounced the bill as unconstitutional and say it contravenes European law. Rolf Muetzenich, head of the SPD caucus, pointed to broad criticism of the CDUs proposals, including warnings of Christian church leaders.

There is a risk that with the votes with the AfD, law and order will be altered and Germany will step out of the European center, Muetzenich said in a fiery speech. We can still close the gate to hell together.

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Aside from the content of the legislation, the controversy centers around how the process could redraw the political map and weaken the so-called firewall thats meant to keep the AfD in check.

What Our Analysts Say:

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling in second place ahead of elections next month and its success is already threatening efforts to maintain a firewall to keep it away from power

 Martin Ademmer (Economist), Antonio Barroso (Analyst) and Jamie Rush (Economist). Click here for the full report.

For Merz, the move is a high-risk gambit. After a recent deadly attack in Bavaria, where the suspect is rejected asylum seeker from Afghanistan  the CDU leader is betting that his hard-line on irregular migration will help neutralize the appeal of the AfD, which is second in the polls. But relying on the taboo-breaking support of the far-right party could create a backlash from moderate voters.

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Support for Merzs conservative bloc fell one point from the previous week to 29%, according to an INSA poll for the Bild newspaper that was published Thursday. The AfD was stable at 22%, while the SPD gained 1.5 points to 17% and the Greens rose half a point at 13%.

Fridays vote in the lower house of parliament marks the second time this week that CDU-led conservatives relied on the AfD. A related non-binding resolution was adopted on Wednesday, the first time since World War II that a mainstream party relied on a far-right group to clinch a parliamentary majority.

Across the country, tens of thousands of Germans protested against the CDU/CSUs flirtation with the far-right. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel also made a rare foray into current politics by sharply criticizing Merz over breaking his word and accepting the AfDs support.

The controversial moves raise questions over the makeup of governing coalitions after the Feb. 23 ballot. The Bundestag debate on Friday revealed clear fractures between the parties. With a large rift appearing to open between the conservatives and the Greens and the SPD.

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Scholz has warned that Merz could form a coalition with the AfD after the federal election. In an interview with a podcast with the Zeit newspaper, the Social Democrat said such an alliance could become a reality if centrist parties struggle to find common ground. Merz reiterated on Friday that he wouldnt do that.

The way has been cleared into the heart of our democracy for the AfD, said Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister from the Greens These images reverberate in Germany and throughout Europe.

--With assistance from Kamil Kowalcze.

(Updates with analyst quote, Baerbock comment in last paragraph.)

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country's European reputation is at stake as the centre-right opposition pushes forward a divisive anti-migration bill in parliament with far-right support.

Baerbock, a Green, said Germany has a special responsibility to show leadership as the most populous country in the European Union.

She denounced Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, for relying on far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmakers to pass a non-binding resolution on Wednesday as well.

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Merz's move broke long-standing taboos in Germany against any sort of cooperation with the far right.

"What images did our country send to the whole of Europe and, above all, to Moscow last Wednesday? Celebrating right-wing extremists who could hardly believe their luck, AfD MPs grinning and taking selfies to capture this historic day," Baerbock said in parliament on Friday.

"You don't want to know how many messages I've received in the last 48 hours. Because Europe is looking to Germany," the foreign minister said.

She called on Merz to reverse course, admit his mistake and call off Friday's vote on legislation: "It's about making it clear that we stand up for this democracy free of right-wing extremists without ifs and buts."
(Bloomberg) -- German conservative leader Friedrich Merz suffered a shock setback in his bid to become chancellor after his effort to push through tough migration legislation with backing from the far-right failed in a tense parliamentary vote.

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Despite opposition from Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democrats and the Greens, Merz thought he had enough support on Friday after succeeding with a related non-binding resolution earlier this week.

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But the measure was surprisingly rejected with 349 votes against versus 338 in favor and five abstentions. Twelve lawmakers in the conservative bloc of 196 lawmakers broke rank and didnt cast a vote.

His failure dents his authority and opens the door to the nationalist Alternative for Germany, or AfD, to appeal to voters concerned about irregular migration, a key topic ahead of the Feb. 23 election. Merz tried to shift the blame to the SPD and the Greens, highlighting the deepening rifts in Germanys mainstream.

The asylum turnaround that we tried to achieve failed because of the Greens and the Social Democrats, said Merz. I would have liked to have seen a different result, but from our point of view, this result creates clarity  clarity about where we stand and where the Social Democrats and the Greens stand.

With tensions high in the midst of campaigning, the parliamentary vote was delayed for four hours due to last-ditch efforts to find a compromise. The ensuing debate in the Bundestag in Berlin was ill-tempered and frequently interrupted as parties traded barbs and blamed one another over the impasse.

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The Christian Democrat leader was seeking to pass a crackdown on irregular migration with the support of the AfD  a move the would have been a first for binding legislation in the countrys postwar history.

What a disgrace, Scholz said in a socia media post. The whole maneuver was in vain and only damaged democracy.

The incumbent chancellor was present in the Bundestsag, but didnt speak. In the Social Democrat caucus, 203 voted against the law and four lawmakers didnt cast their ballot.

For Merz, the move was a high-risk gambit. After a recent deadly attack in Bavaria  where the suspect is a rejected asylum seeker from Afghanistan  the CDU leader was betting that a hard-line would help neutralize the appeal of the AfD, which is second in the polls.

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Friedrich Merz jumped in as a tiger and ended up as a bedside rug, said Alice Weidel, the AfDs chancellor candidate. Merz does not stand for political change and that is why he suffered this bitter defeat today.

--With assistance from Kamil Kowalcze.

(Updates with Merz comments beginning in second paragraph.)

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German lawmakers face another hugely contentious vote on Friday, days after a motion demanding reforms to migration laws passed in parliament with backing from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), sparking a national uproar weeks before elections.

The Bundestag, Germany's lower of house of parliament, is to vote on a bill introduced by the conservative CDU/CSU alliance from 10:30 am (0930 GMT).

Germany's election campaign has been dominated by the issue of illegal migration since an attack in the southern city of Aschaffenburg last week, in which an Afghan national is the main suspect.

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Unlike Wednesday's non-binding motion, which passed by a wafer-thin margin of 348 votes to 344, the latest package is a comprehensive piece of legislation termed the Immigration Restriction Act.

It includes suspending family reunification for refugees in Germany with restricted protection status and further powers for federal police to deport migrants at the border

The AfD has signalled it will vote in favour of the bill, which has also attracted support from the pro-business Free Democrats and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance.

Fears that the political firewall preventing cooperation with the AfD could fall has caused outrage across Germany in recent days. Protesters took to the street in many cities across the country on Thursday evening.

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The motion on Wednesday marked the first time the AfD has been involved in a majority in the Bundestag in its history.

The far-right party is polling in second place with more than 20% of the vote ahead of the election on February 23.
German lawmakers rejected highly controversial migration legislation brought by the centre-right CDU/CSU opposition bloc on Friday in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.

The bill was narrowly defeated, with 349 lawmakers voting against the measure and 338 supporting. Another five lawmakers abstained.

The decision by CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz to force a vote on the bill provoked a firestorm of controversy in German politics, because it appeared likely that Merz would need to rely on the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass the legislation.

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Divisive debate over Merz's decision has dominated the news in Germany less than a month ahead of a nationwide election on February 23. Merz's CDU/CSU bloc has held a clear lead in the polls, and Merz has long been seen as the frontrunner to replace German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Merz's CDU/CSU managed to pass a non-binding resolution in the Bundestag demanding a five-point crackdown on migration on Wednesday with the support of the AfD.

That caused an uproar in Germany, where any kind of cooperation with the far right has long been viewed as taboo, and the AfD is seen by many as an extremist party beyond the democratic mainstream.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest across Germany on Thursday night, with further demonstrations called for Friday.

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Merz also faced sharp dissent from within the ranks of his own party, with former chancellor Angela Merkel rebuking him in a lengthy statement. Merkel called it "wrong" to rely on AfD votes for a majority, and criticized him from breaking with an earlier pledge not to do so.

Wednesday's resolution was the first time that the AfD had provided decisive support in a vote in the Bundestag.

Ahead of Friday's vote, leaders of the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP) had also suggested they would support the legislation.

But defections by lawmakers in those parties evidently left Merz short of a majority in the final vote early on Friday evening, which was held after hours of delay as party leaders engaged in intensive closed-door talks over the legislation.

Friedrich Merz, Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and parliamentary group leader of the CDU/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) in the German Bundestag, speaks during the debate on the Influx Limitation Act in the plenary chamber of the German Bundestag. Kay Nietfeld/dpa
German lawmakers on Friday narrowly rejected a highly controversial bill to tighten migration controls, averting another victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) just weeks ahead of national elections.

The legislation was introduced by the centre-right CDU/CSU opposition bloc in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, two days after a non-binding motion passed with the AfD's support for the first time in the party's history.

Despite the uproar caused by Wednesday's events, CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz decided to force a vote on further proposals to restrict migration on Friday in the form of a bill termed the Influx Limitation Act.

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Proceedings were delayed by hours of unsuccessful negotiations with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) to postpone a vote, before the bill was ultimately rejected by 349 votes to 338, with five lawmakers abstaining.

Divisive debate over Merz's demands for a tightening of migration laws has dominated headlines in Germany, less than a month ahead of the election on February 23 which his CDU/CSU bloc is favoured to win.

Wednesday's motion sparked outrage in the country, where any kind of cooperation with the far right has long been viewed as taboo, and the AfD is seen by many as an extremist party beyond the democratic mainstream.

Critics have accused Merz of tearing down the so-called "firewall" that has kept the AfD frozen out of power across Germany.

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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest across the country on Thursday night, with further demonstrations called for Friday.

Merz'strengthened' despite defeat

Despite the defeat, Merz said he was "very much strengthened" by the support of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU), having faced sharp dissent on Thursday from former CDU chancellor Angela Merkel.

"This parliamentary faction is now really going into the last three weeks of the election campaign with a great deal of self-confidence, and so am I," said Merz.

German residents now truly believe the CDU "are serious about changing asylum and immigration policy," he argued. "As of today, it is clear: Merz will do this."

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The final results showed that 12 lawmakers from Merz's CDU/CSU bloc did not vote, but all those present supported the bill, as did the AfD members.

Sixteen lawmakers from the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) - which had signalled support for the legislation - missed the vote, while five abstained and two voted against.

Lawmakers from the ruling Social Democrats and Greens voted unanimously to reject the legislation, the Bundestag said.

Left-wing parties 'relieved' as bill fails, AfD furious

Leaders of left-wing parties in the Bundestag said they were "relieved" and attacked Merz after the vote failed.

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"Anyone who makes common cause with the far right is capitulating to the extremists," said Scholz in a video on X.

"I am very relieved," said The Left's Heidi Reichinnek, noting that the measure would have passed without opposition from her hard-left party.

Britta Hasselmann from the Greens called the result good news after a very difficult day in parliament.

At the same time, she said, events in recent days showed "large cracks" had become visible in the democratic centre. "Nobody can be happy about that."

The German electorate will now have to decide "whether we can place the fate of our country in difficult times into the hands of such a candidate for chancellor," said SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mutzenich, referring to Merz.

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The AfD's candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, took a harder stance, saying that the rejection of the vote marked the "implosion of a conservative people's party."

Weidel said Merz "cannot be chancellor" after the bill failed. "This was the dismantling of Friedrich Merz as a candidate for chancellor," she added.

Weidel - whose party is currently second in the polls on more than 20% - said the AfD unanimously voted in favour of the bill. "There are no dissenters who stab a legitimate cause in the back," she said.

"Friedrich Merz jumped as a tiger and ended up as a bedside rug," Weidel said.
Germany's pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) backed off their commitment to vote for highly controversial asylum legislation in the lower house of Germany's parliament on Friday, according to a party leader.

The Influx Limitation Law, pushed by the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, had appeared likely to pass on Friday with key support coming from lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

That ignited a firestorm in German politics, as it has long been considered taboo to rely on far-right support for any vote in parliament. There have been calls for mass demonstrations against the decision by CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz to move forward with the legislation with AfD support.

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FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Durr announced that lawmakers from his party would instead propose sending the legislation back to parliamentary committees for further work before bringing it up for a vote at a later date.

Durr urged Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Scholz's coalition partners, the Greens, to back the FDP's new approach as a sign of their commitment to migration reforms.

Together, the three parties would have a majority in the lower house, or Bundestag.

The core of the proposed reform is a suspension of family reunification for those entitled to asylum protections in Germany, which would impact many Syrian refugees among others.
Intensive high-level talks were under way in the German capital on Friday, hours ahead of a highly controversial planned vote on a package of migration reforms pushed by the centre-right opposition CDU/CSU bloc.

CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz had pledged to put the hard-line migration measures to a vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, even if that means relying on votes from the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for passage.

That ignited a firestorm in German politics, as any form of cooperation with the far right has been a long-standing taboo among mainstream parties.

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Leaders from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens also visited Merz's office on Friday morning for closed-door talks.

The Bundestag legislative session was put on hold and delayed as the party leaders discussed what to do. The FDP, which initially pledged to back the measure, reversed course on Friday and laid out a plan to send the legislation back to committee for further revisions instead.

Merz faced intense criticism after using AfD votes to pass a non-binding resolution on Wednesday, the first time the AfD had been relied on to create a majority in the Bundestag.

Friedrich Merz, Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) Chairman and CDU/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) parliamentary group leader in the German Bundestag, walks from his office to attend the parliamentary group meeting. Intensive high-level talks were under way in the German capital on Friday, hours ahead of a highly controversial planned vote on a package of migration reforms pushed by the centre-right opposition CDU/CSU bloc. Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Unemployment in Germany rose in January, climbing by 0.4 percentage points since December to 6.4%, according to preliminary figures from Germany's Federal Employment Agency released on Friday.

The total number of unemployed people in the country was 187,000 higher than in January 2024, reaching a total of 2.993 million, the agency reported.

The sharp rise in January is typical for the time of year, as many temporary employment contracts end and weather-dependent jobs, such as in construction, are lost at the same time.

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A stable trend is then often observed in February, before the first spring recovery can begin in March.

For its January statistics, the agency used data that was available until January 15.

"Unemployment and underemployment increased significantly at the start of the year, as is usual this month," said Andrea Nahles, the chairwoman of the Federal Employment Agency. "Although employment growth is continuing, it is increasingly losing momentum."

Germany's economy has been stuck in an extended slump, recording two straight years of decline for the first time in more than two decades.

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Economists do not expect a major rebound anytime soon, as German businesses continue to face intense pressure from global competition, high energy prices and rising labour costs.

But the German labour market has so far held up better than the overall economy, with unemployment rising only slowly.

German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil said political action is needed to boost the economy and address structural problems that are threatening jobs.

Heil said on Friday that a "Made in Germany" subsidy could provide targeted support for private sector investment.

"In addition, our manufacturing industry in particular needs competitive energy prices, above all by reducing the costs of grid expansion," Heil said in a statement from his ministry.

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The leader of Germany's influential Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) called for Germany and the broader European Union to continue pushing for free trade worldwide.

"The labour market figures are an alarm signal. The economic and structural weakness of the German economy is hitting the labour market with full force," Rainer Dulger said.

Dulger called for a reduction in government bureaucracy and steps to bring down energy prices for businesses.

According to government figures, short-time work, where companies reduce hours for workers and tap partial benefits, has recently increased significantly.

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According to projections by the Federal Employment Agency, 293,000 employees were paid cyclical short-time working benefits in November, compared to 263,000 in October and 221,000 in September.

More up-to-date data are not reliably available, the agency said.

The demand for labour continued to decline, according to the preliminary figures. In January, 632,000 vacancies were registered with the Federal Employment Agency, 66,000 fewer than a year ago.

According to the figures, 33,000 applicants for company-based apprenticeships were still unplaced on the training market in January, while 20,000 were looking for a better alternative.

At the same time, companies reported that 15,000 training places were still unfilled.
Germany's Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, unanimously passed a law late on Thursday that extends maternity leave protections to women who suffer a miscarriage after the 13th week of pregnancy.

The new regulation is designed to support women during a time of physical and emotional recovery, explained Sarah Lahrkamp, a member of parliament from the Social Democrats (SPD).

Under Germany's existing laws, women typically receive paid maternity leave starting six weeks before childbirth and continuing for eight weeks afterward. This provision, however, did not previously apply in the event of a miscarriage.

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With the new staggered regulation, women who suffer a miscarriage from the 13th week of pregnancy onwards will now have the option to take maternity leave. However, women are not obligated to take it if they prefer not to.

Estimates suggest that around 6,000 miscarriages occur in Germany each year between the 13th and 24th weeks of pregnancy. However, the majority - around 84,000 - occur before the 12th week, which is not be covered by the new maternity leave law.
Germany's Social Democrats are doubling down on criticism of conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz, after a controversial bill on tighter migration policy tabled by his bloc was narrowly rejected in parliament on Friday.

The decision by Merz to force a vote on the bill provoked a firestorm of controversy in German politics, just weeks before national elections, because it appeared likely that Merz would need to rely on the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass the legislation.

"Mr Merz has failed twice today," said the parliamentary group leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Rolf Mutzenich after the bill was narrowly defeated by 349 to 338 votes.

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Merz had failed while seeking to approach the AfD, while the conservative leader had also been "rejected by the majority in the Bundestag" which he could have secured otherwise, Mutzenich said.

On February 23, the electorate will now have to decide "whether we can place the fate of our country in difficult times in the hands of such a chancellor candidate," said Mutzenich of Merz, who is the likely frontrunner to replace Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the elections.

Mutzenich said he was grateful to lawmakers of Merz's conservative alliance "who had the greatness, the conviction and the attitude not to follow Mr Merz in this historic decision."
Gilbert police arrested four people in connection with an assault on a 15-year-old boy at a neighborhood park.

On Jan. 19, police received reports about 10:30 p.m. that a group of teenagers was fighting near Higley and Williams Field roads. Police said they found no victims when they arrived at the location, and no injuries were reported to the department.

On Jan. 24, days after police took to Facebook to ask the community for tips, police arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of aggravated assault.

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Less than a week later, police said they arrested two more juveniles on suspicion of aggravated assault and Jaeden Smith, 18, on suspicion of aggravated assault and kidnapping.

The 15-year-old boy told police he was hesitant to give information to police about the assault because he feared retaliation, according to court documents. The attack left him with cuts on both of his arms.

The assault took place after the 15-year-old tried to stop Smith and others from surrounding and yelling at a driver sitting in a parked truck, according to court documents. The boy asked the group to calm down and leave as he tried getting in between them and the driver.

Someone then pushed the 15-year-old and acted like they were going to fight him, but Smith started throwing the punches instead, according to court documents.

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Smith hit the 15-year-old multiple times in the face, tackled him to the ground and got on top of him to prevent him from getting up, court documents said. When the boy tried to stand up and leave, Smith repeatedly pushed him back down and beat him, the court documents said.

After the boy was able to get up, court documents said, Smith hit him again.

In an interview with police, Smith said he did not know the boy. He said he went to the park because he was told there was going to be a fight, according to court documents. He said when the truck arrived, he joined in and started yelling at the driver.

Smith said he started fighting because he thought the boy hit one of his friends and since "that's what they wanted to happen," according to court documents.

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How the four juveniles arrested in connection with the attack were involved was not detailed in the court documents about Smith.

A Gilbert police spokesperson said the department considered the incident to be "group teen violence."

An Arizona Republic investigation published in December found that after The Republic in late 2023 first connected the death of Preston Lord, 16, to the "Gilbert Goons," a group of teens whose attacks in Gilbert went unchecked for more than a year, Gilbert police Chief Michael Soelberg misled the public about the department's handling of the Goons and other teen violence cases.

'Brushed under the rug': Gilbert police still face scrutiny over teen attacks

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gilbert police make arrests in 'group teen violence' incident
The last time this state had a big judicial race, I was traveling in Ireland. The night before voters went to the polls, my wife and I were at a restaurant in Galway when I realized, to my amazement, that the people at the next table were discussing the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

That was 2023, when liberals won a 4-3 court majority. It was the most expensive court race in American history.Two years later, conservatives are now trying to flip the court back.

This race will be just as consequential as the last one, and will probably attract even more money, political interest and outside attention. It is the biggest election in America during the breathless opening months of President Donald Trumps second term.

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It is not crazy to think it could be the first nonpartisan election in Wisconsin history to draw 2 million votes, which was a typical turnout for governor not that long ago.

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How politically significant will this April 1 election be?

It will be important in at least two ways.

First and foremost, it will determine the direction of the court on a host of critical issues, including: abortion; how legislative districts are drawn; the power relationship between the governor and Legislature; and the legality of Act 10, the law enacted under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to roll back collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Those decisions have big implications for ordinary people and for political power in Wisconsin. And this race launches a six-year stretch in which there will be a Supreme Court election every year (2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030).

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More: Just how partisan are the candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court? Here are the details.

Secondly, it will probably tell us something about the political moment and the political landscape in the nations most competitive state.

Since this is a column about public opinion and elections, I am going to focus on the second thing.One big set of clues this race might offer involves the mood and motivation of voters in each party.

Are Democratic voters demoralized by the election of Donald Trump? Or will they be mobilized to send a signal against what Trump is doing in the early days of his term?

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On the other side, can Trump and powerful supporters like Elon Musk gin up GOP turnout in a statewide spring nonpartisan race? Or will we find that Republicans are struggling with one consequence of their changing partisan coalition: that they have lost ground with a segment of the electorate that is most likely to vote in lower-turnout elections (college graduates) and are increasingly reliant on sporadic voters who have flocked to the polls for Trump but not for down-ballot races in non-presidential years?

When it comes to issues, will abortion come close to shaping this court election the way it did in 2023, when it helped propel liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz to a double-digit victory over conservative Dan Kelly?Are there other issues such as immigration and crime and cultural hot buttons that might boost the conservative candidate?

Few expect the kind of lopsided race that happened with liberal victories in 2018, 2020 and 2023  all by 10 points or more. This court race may look more like 2019 or 2011, elections that went down to the wire.

If that happens, there will be real caveats to over-reading the political meaning of the outcome. These spring court races arent remotely predictive of future fall partisan races, for obvious reasons. Turnouts are lower. Party labels arent involved. Candidates have much lower name recognition.

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The candidate supported by Democrats, Protasiewicz, won the court race in April of 2023, but Democrats lost the 2024 presidential race in Wisconsin.

The candidate supported by Republicans, Brian Hagedorn, won the court race in April of 2019, but Republicans lost the 2020 presidential race in Wisconsin.

Yet these court races have far more partisan meaning than they used to have, because the parties, the candidates and the voters all behave in these contests in a much more partisan fashion than they used to.

One sign of that is that turnouts have soared, from just under 1 million in 2018, to 1.2 million in 2019 to more than 1.5 million in 2020 to more than 1.8 million in 2023. That 2023 spring turnout represented around 40% of Wisconsins voting-age population, which approaches the November mid-term turnout in some states.

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Another sign: voting patterns in court races now track much more closely than they did in the past with the patterns in big partisan races.

On a scale of zero (no correlation) to 1 (perfect correlation), the statistical relationship between the county-by-county vote for state Supreme Court and the county-by-county vote for president has risen from almost zero in the 1970s to an average of 0.2 in the 1980s, to more than 0.4 in the late 1990s, to more than 0.7 in the 2000s, to more than 0.8 in the 2010s. The correlation was 0.92 in 2019, 0.94 in 2020 and 0.96 in 2023, according to figures compiled by Marquette Law School pollster Charles Franklin. Court races have gone from looking nothing like races for the U.S. Senate or governor to looking an awful lot like them.

This doesnt mean that every county in the state is voting exactly the same way, by the same margins, for the court and for president. But it means that the more Democratic a county votes for president the more liberal it votes for the court, and likewise with conservative and Republican candidates. And this relationship is way, way stronger than it used to be.

Which side should be more bullish about this race, which pits conservative Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge and the states former Republican attorney general, against liberal Susan Crawford, a Dane County circuit judge?

Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel are expected to run in 2025 for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Republicans on paper have a politically stronger and more financially competitive candidate than they did with Kelly in 2020 and 2023.

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But Democrats have performed better in recent court elections. Between 2011 and 2016, conservatives won three out of four races. Since 2018, liberals have won three out of four  handily. A combination of factors may be at work here: candidate quality, campaign spending, the power of the abortion issue after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the growing education divide. Voters with higher levels of education historically turn out at higher rates than voters with lower levels, and this gap is bigger in lower-turnout elections.

More: Stringent anti-abortion group hasn't endorsed Brad Schimel. But its staffers are all in

One challenge in these court races for the GOP is getting the states small rural counties to perform more like they have for Trump at the presidential level. In many counties in the north and west, the conservative court margins have been running 15 or 20 points worse than Trumps presidential margins.

At the same time, heavily Democratic Dane has been exerting a disproportionately large impact on court races because it turns out at such high levels. Dane generated 10.7% of the states presidential vote in 2024.

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But in recent court races, it generated 13.1% of the statewide vote in 2023, 12.7% in 2020, 12.6% in 2019 and 13.4% in 2018. To underscore why that matters in a close race, the liberal candidate has topped 80% of the Dane vote in the past two court elections. Protasiewicz won Dane County by a bigger raw vote margin in April of 2023 (roughly 154,000 votes) than Democrat Hillary Clinton did in the 2016 presidential race (146,000 votes).

In the end, this race will attract an immense amount of interest for a state court election. Maybe not in Ireland: those diners in Galway discussing the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election were not Irish, they were American. But they werent from Wisconsin. They were just politically interested U.S. citizens keeping an eye on the biggest thing happening at that moment in American politics while traveling thousands of miles from home.

As important as it is nationally, this race is not a referendum on the blast-off of the Trump presidency. But it will tell us something meaningful about the mood of the voters and the ongoing struggle between the parties in a pivotal state at a dramatic moment in national politics.

Craig Gilbert provides Wisconsin political analysis as a fellow with Marquette University Law School's Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. Prior to the fellowship, Gilbert reported on politics for 35 years at the Journal Sentinel, the last 25 in its Washington Bureau. His column continues that independent reporting tradition and goes through the established Journal Sentinel editing process.



Follow him on Twitter: @Wisvoter.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gilbert: What the Supreme Court race may say about Wisconsin politics
Glenn Close is giving her opinion on the Trump-Vance administration.

Close played Vance's grandmother in the 2020 movie "Hillbilly Elegy," based on Vance's memoir.

She told BI she's "very disturbed" by what's happening and referenced 1930s Germany.

Glenn Close may have once played JD Vance's grandma in a movie, but she doesn't appear to have much affection for him now.

On the red carpet for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival gala fundraiser, Close, who attended the gala and is Trustee Emeritus of The Sundance Institute, spoke to Business Insider about her feelings toward the Trump-Vance administration.

Though the actor previously had relatively positive experiences with Vance and his family while making "Hillbilly Elegy," the 2020 Ron Howard movie based on Vance's memoir of the same name, the star and outspoken supporter of women's rights and same-sex marriage said she was "disturbed" by the new administration's moves so far.

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"I do not think it's what this country is," she told BI. "But I also read a lot of history, and I know what happened in Germany in the 1930s. And we think because we're America, it might not happen here. We're wrong."

Director Ron Howard and Glenn Close on the set of "Hillbilly Elegy." Lacey Terrell / NETFLIX

Still, Close indicated she had hope that things could change in the future.

"If it's going to happen, we gotta get through it and hope that the pendulum swings back. Usually, that's what history does, but it could take a while," she added.

Close has spoken about her experiences with Vance several times before. Most recently, in a January appearance on "The View" to promote her new Netflix movie "Back in Action," the actor recalled how she and other "Hillbilly Elegy" cast members had met with Vance and other members of his family to inform their performances. She said they were "very generous."

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Host Joy Behar remarked that Vance must have "had a whole different personality in those days than he has now," to which Close replied, "I don't know what happened."

"Power is probably the biggest aphrodisiac for a human being," Close added.

The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment about Close's remarks.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a ban on the use of Chinese-backed artificial intelligence and social media apps on government-issued devices Friday afternoon.

The proclamation orders the Texas Department of Public Safety and Department of Information Resources to add six technologies  DeepSeek, Lemon8, Moomoo, RedNote, Tiger Brokers and Webull  to the state's prohibited technologies list, which prohibits state employees and contractors from downloading and using the apps on personal and state-owned devices.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seen during a February 2024 briefing about the border at the Texas Department of Public Safety in Eagle Pass. On Friday, Abbott issued a ban on the use of Chinese-backed artificial intelligence and social media apps on government-issued devices

In December 2022, Abbott banned the short-form video social media app TikTok. A few months later, he signed Senate Bill 1893, granting him the authority to ban any social media applications or services that pose potential security risks to Texas, including "successor applications" to TikTok or those developed by its parent company, ByteDance Limited. Friday's proclamation includes RedNote and Lemon8 as two of these applications

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More: Gov. Abbott bans TikTok from state-issued devices over concerns about Chinese data theft

"Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our states critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps," Abbott said in a release about the order Friday afternoon. "To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices. State agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.

Read the full proclamation here.

DeepSeek, one of the AI platforms banned through Friday's proclamation, made waves recently after the relatively small Chinese lab launched its R1 model, which is a low-cost artificial intelligence platform that challenges ChatGPT. DeepSeek's launch led U.S. tech companies' stocks to dip, including Elon Musk's Tesla.

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The apps, including DeepSeek and RedNote which have in recent weeks surged in popularity in the U.S., join TikTok and more than 20 other apps and hardware manufacturers on the state's prohibited technologies list per the governor's order.

Abbott's proclamation comes amid a resurgence of conversations around Chinese technologies. TikTok went offline briefly last week in response to a Congressional mandate that ByteDance sell the platform to an American company or face a total U.S. ban. President Donald Trump, who in his first term suggested outlawing the app, has indicated he is now open to finding a solution to keep it online.

But the brief TikTok ban led many American users to flock to RedNote  the Mandarin name of which is likely a reference to the father of Chinese communism Mao Zedong  in apparent protest of the U.S. policy.

More: Chinese AI DeepSeek challenges ChatGPT and causes tech stocks to fall, including Tesla

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Some U.S. investors and AI stakeholders described DeepSeek's launch as the 21st century's "Sputnik" moment, sparking further interest in AI development as part of an "arms race" against China and other countries.

On Friday, AI stakeholders and policy makers converged in Austin to discuss Texas' role in the growing artificial intelligence industry. Texas House Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake  who filed a bill this session aiming to create regulations and safeguards on AI development in Texas  spoke alongside Texas Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, about the Legislature's role in regulating AI while still promoting its innovation and development.

"We have to consider the fact that in the wrong hands, these (AI) tools could be used to do the opposite," Capriglione said at the conference Friday morning. "We saw just this last week, DeepSeek, this Chinese lower cost LLM launch, and the first thing people realize is, 'Should you even be asking it any questions? Where is the guidance information? Where is your data going?' Those are the kind of things that we have to make sure that we push back against."

Gerardo Interiano, senior vice president of government relations and public affairs at self-driving vehicle technology company Aurora, said during the conference Friday that there's a need to regulate AI development, and the DeepSeek news shows what that should look like.

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"This is a wake up call for the United States that we either begin to invest in AI and research and make these significant investments, or we're going to lose this race to China," Interiano said. "There is no doubt that the Chinese are trying to get ahead of the US, and as a result, we need to create these frameworks that do not over regulate the industry and that will allow us to continue to innovate, right?"

Abbott issued four directives at the end of 2024 for state agencies related to protecting the state from Chinese-backed companies:

State agencies and public higher education institutions were asked to harden systems to better protect infrastructure, intellectual property and personal information.

Department of Public Safety was asked to target and arrest those "executing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) influence operations like Operation Fox Hunt to forcibly return dissidents to China."

Texas Division of Emergency Management and Public Utility Commission of Texas were asked to prepare for potential threats to Texas' infrastructure.

State agencies were asked to fully divest from China.

American-Statesman staff writer Alex Driggars contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Gov. Abbott bans DeepSeek, RedNote on government-issued devices
As a lawyer who sues the government, you get used to the different kinds of arguments that government lawyers use to justify abuses of individual rightssweeping claims of government power, bad-faith procedural obstacles, and more.

This was a new one: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that confiscating $50,000 from a small business did not infringe the business' right to private property because money is not property.

"Money is not necessarily 'property' for constitutional purposes," the government's brief declaredputting the very idea of property in square quotes. Reading at my desk, I practically fell out of my chair.

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The DOJ gave three rationales for the argument, all packed into a doorstopper of a footnote: (1) the government creates money, so you can't own it; (2) the government can tax your money, so you don't own it; and (3) the Constitution allows the government to spend money for the "general welfare."

If a libertarian was asked to write a satire of a government lawyer's brief, this is what they might come up with. But here it was, in black and white.

Whose money, specifically, was the government saying wasn't property? That of Chuck Saine, the owner of C.S. Lawn & Landscaping, a small landscaping business outside Annapolis, Maryland, which he has operated for over 40 years.

Saine became a client of the Institute for Justice (I.J.), a public interest law firm, when the federal government sought to impose over $50,000 in liability on his business through a "trial" held deep inside the bowls of a federal administrative agency. At said trial, both the prosecutor and the judge were employed by the same federal agency.

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I.J. sued, arguing that before the government can impose that kind of liability, it has to provide a real trial before a real judge and jury. The specifics of what the government claims Saine did wrong (in short: arcane labor law) are beside the point. If the government wants to confiscate over $50,000 from your business, you must have the chance to argue your defense to an impartial judge and jurynot an agency bureaucrat.

Now, the DOJ argued that Saine has no right to a real judge and jury because the government was only trying to take his money, not his property. They claimed that fiat currency is a legal fiction that the government can as easily destroy as create. Lest anyone miss the implicit connection to the history of the gold standard, DOJ's footnote prominently cited the Legal Tender Caseswhere the Supreme Court upheld laws forcing people to accept paper currency, rather than gold and silver, as payment for debts.

This was an argument for taking Saine's $50,000 without a trial before a real judge and jury, but the same argument could be used to justify all manner of mischief. If your money is not your property, what is to stop the government from just seizing all of it tomorrowfor any reason it gives?

Before you run out and trade your USD for meme coins, let me reassure you: DOJ's argument is wrong. The Due Process Clause applies to "life, liberty, or property," and the Supreme Court has repeatedly applied that Clause to money. It follows that, since money is neither life nor liberty, it must be property.

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To be sure, DOJ's arguments have force as a philosophical critique of government, taxation, and the monetary system. They may also highlight legitimate reasons to hold part of your wealth in gold or (for some) cryptocurrency. But "for constitutional purposes," to borrow a phrase from the DOJ, the arguments are a flop.

A federal court will soon decide whether to uphold Saine's right to a trial before an impartial judge and jury. Hopefully, the court will agree: Money is property, and an agency bureaucrat is not an impartial judge.

The post The Government Says Money Isn't PropertySo It Can Take Yours appeared first on Reason.com.
DESTIN, Fla. (WFLA)  Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Destin on Friday at the Destin Executive Airport.

Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Director Dave Kerner also made an appearance.

In his speech, Gov. DeSantis addressed the ongoing efforts being made to deter immigration and he expressed his support and cooperation with President Trumps administration to do so.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
By Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Vandals have damaged the grave of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France's far-right National Front, his family said on Friday.

Le Pen's granddaughter Marion Marechal said on her X account that the grave, in the cemetery of La Trinite-sur-Mer in Brittany, had been discovered defaced on Friday, three weeks after his death aged 96.

"You've destroyed the grave of our ancestors. Do you think you can break our hearts, intimidate us, discourage us? Our response will be to fight you ever harder, generation after generation. Our determination will match your infamy," Marechal wrote on X.

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Le Pen was a controversial figure in France, tapping into white working class anger over immigration and globalisation and also minimising the Holocaust. Hundreds of people celebrated in central Paris when his death was announced.

His daughter Marine Le Pen, who took over his party, renamed it the National Rally and has sought to broaden its appeal to more centrist voters, could become France's next president in 2027.

Asked about the desecration of the grave, National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told reporters the vandalism would have no impact whatsoever on the party's policies.

"I imagine this was done by the same riffraff who celebrated his death of a man on the Place de la Republique. It says everything about them and nothing about us," Tanguy said.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss; Editing by GV De Clercq and Gareth Jones)
STORY: Dimitris Marinoglous family have ploughed this land in northern Greece for generations.

But now Marinoglou is worried their way of life is under threat.

The Bulgarian water supplies that have kept his family's crops alive for decades could dry up this summer.

:: Graphic: This Earth

:: Kyprinos, Greece

:: January 28, 2025

:: Dimitris Marinoglou, Farmer

We have invested in this, we bought reels, we bought watering equipment, all of this is worth a lot of money. If there is no water, it will go to waste, the fields will go to waste."

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:: Ivaylovgrad, Bulgaria

Since 1964, water from Bulgaria's mountains has flowed freely along the Arda River into 50,000 acres, 20,000 hectares, of the Evros plain in northern Greece.

:: Arda River, Greece

Evros has no functioning dams or reservoirs and relies on the water delivered between May and September.

But the deal, which was a World War Two reparations agreement, expired last year and it is not clear if it will be renewed as Bulgaria assesses its own water needs.

Water has become a precious resource in southern Europe, as climate change has made summers hotter and rain less frequent.

Greece clocked its warmest winter and summer on record last year.

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Local farmers have been protesting, accusing the government of not acting fast enough to secure a deal ahead of the summer.

:: Kastanies, Greece

:: January 28, 2025

:: Nikos Poptsoglou, Farmer

Because of climate change we had droughts, we did not have rain, and we are forced to rely solely on the Arda River. If Bulgaria says it will not give us water, the fields will dry up.

Officials at the Greek energy and environment ministry say political instability in Bulgaria and successive interim governments have stalled talks.

If there is not a long-term agreement it will mean death for us in this region.

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But the head of the local farmers' association believes that even a deal may not be enough to save the region.

:: Dimitris Drakoudis, Trigono Farmers Association

"The infrastructure projects and the entire irrigation network here is based on the bilateral agreement. The problem is that for the last 60 years, nothing has been done, no infrastructure project and no maintenance."
President Trumps envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, is delivering an in-person message to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro that there will be consequences if detained Americans are not released and Venezuelan criminals and gang members deported from the U.S. are not repatriated.

Grenell is expected to meet with Maduro on Friday.

He is there on a special mission, and that special mission is very specific, Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trumps special envoy for Latin America, told reporters in a call Friday.

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Claver-Carone said the U.S. offer toward Maduro is not a negotiation or a quid pro quo, and expects Maduro to act on Washingtons demands.

All I would do on this call is urge the Maduro government, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, to heed to special envoy Rick Grenells message and to his demands and what he puts on the table, because ultimately there will be consequences.

The U.S. does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela following the contested presidential election in July.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call earlier this month with Maduros challenger, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, whom he called the rightful president of the country.

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There are at least 10 Americans jailed in Venezuela but its not clear how the U.S. classifies their legal status. At least three Americans were swept up in arrests of anti-Maduro protests in December.

In December 2023, then-President Biden secured the release of 10 Americans jailed in Venezuela and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as Fat Leonard in exchange for handing over Maduros close ally, Alex Saab.

Saab was arrested during the first Trump administration on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and a $350 million bribery scheme.

Updated at 11:48 a.m. EST

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HONOLULU (AP)  Former Hawaii lawmaker Suzanne Chun Oakland remembers arriving at school one morning in 1977 to an eerie buzz.

She had met up with girlfriends as usual before class at Honolulu's McKinley High School when she learned a student named Dawn Momohara had been found dead on the second floor of a school building.

I dont know how we got word of it, but everything spread really quickly, Chun Oakland said.

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Chun Oakland didn't know Momohara, who was 16, but the unsolved death has haunted her and other McKinley students and staff for nearly half a century. That was until last week, when police used advances in DNA technology to arrest a 66-year-old resident of a Utah nursing home.

The suspect, former McKinley student Gideon Castro, appeared in court via video on Friday from a hospital bed in the medical wing of a Utah jail. Castro told the judge he wanted to hire his own attorney and was ordered to return virtually to Salt Lake County District Court for an initial appearance on Wednesday.

He remained in custody Friday with the bond for his release set at $250,000, according to Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office records. Castro faces eventual extradition to Honolulu.

His current court-appointed attorney, Marlene Mohn, did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment.

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I was just really sad," Chun Oakland recalled earlier this week. "I think for our student body, of course, theres that concern that what if hes still out there and he does it to somebody else.

On March 21, 1977, shortly after 7:30 a.m., Honolulu police found Momohara lying on her back, partially clothed, an orange cloth wrapped tightly around her neck.

She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, police said.

Details from more than four decades ago are fuzzy for 1967 McKinley graduate Grant Okamura, who was the schools 28-year-old band teacher in 1977, but the morning Momohara was found remains a core memory.

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Momohara's sister  one of Okamura's flute players  arrived at school that day not knowing her sister had been found dead, he recalled. The sister was called to the office and later walked into the band room, devastated.

The other students were trying to console her," Okamura said. "At that point, I couldn't have band. How do you have a class? She just sat there crying.

She didn't return to school for weeks afterward.

He doesn't remember the sister's name. The Associated Press was unable to make contact with any possible relatives. Okamura said he met Momohara a few times when he let her into the air-conditioned band room to wait for her sister.

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The morning before Momohara was killed, she got a call from an unknown male and told her mother she was going to a nearby shopping center with friends. That was the last time her mother saw her, homicide Lt. Deena Thoemmes said.

Police released sketches of a person of interest and a possible vehicle described by witnesses as a 1974 or 1975 Pontiac LeMans. A witness reported seeing the car when he and his girlfriend drove through campus the night before Momohara died. The witness saw a man and the car on the grass near the school's English building, Thoemmes said.

The witness circled back around but the car and the man were gone.

Police were unable to identify a suspect and the case grew cold, though grief lingered over the campus.

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In 2019, cold case detectives asked a forensic biology unit to examine several items of evidence from the scene, including Momohara's underwear. They were able to develop a DNA profile in 2020. Then, in 2023, police received information about potential suspects  two brothers who had been interviewed in 1977.

Several days after Momohara was killed, detectives interviewed Castro, who graduated from McKinley High in 1976. He said he met Momohara at a school dance that year and last saw her at a carnival on campus in February 1977. Police interviewed his brother, who also met Momohara at the dance.

In November 2023, Honolulu police went to Chicago, where the brother was living. They surreptitiously obtained DNA from one of the brother's adult children, Thoemmes said.

Lab findings excluded the brother as a suspect, but a DNA sample from Castro's adult son, and later from Castro himself, proved he was responsible, Thoemmes said.

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He was arrested last week at the nursing home where he lived in Millcreek, just south of Salt Lake City, on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Neither Okamura nor Chun Oakland remembered Castro.

Chun Oakland graduated in 1979 and grew up to become a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate. She said Momohara's killing bothered her over the years, especially when she would meet victims through her work as a lawmaker or as a board member of the nonprofit Sex Abuse Treatment Center, a statewide program providing services for sexual assault survivors.

The former lawmaker said she is grateful an arrest was possible even after all these years.

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I think the community in general, and our elected officials, they know the importance of trying to preserve the evidence that can someday be able to see justice for that individual or individuals," she said.

___

Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
(WGHP)  When was the last time you had a conversation with someone you knew voted for, that other person, and that conversation was civil and maybe even enlightening? That long, huh?

There is a relatively new organization thats out to change that. Braver Angels grew out of the antipathy of the 2016 presidential election. People ended friendships and even relationships over which party they or the other person supported.

The group was inspired by Abraham Lincolns first inaugural address in which he appealed to the better angels of our nature and was originally called Better Angels but ended up having to change the name over rights issues to the current Braver Angels.

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It was a group that appealed to UNC-Greensboro student Savannah Henderson.

I would say I lean towards Democrat, Henderson said. In 2016, I was 14 years old, and I remember when Donald Trump got elected. I remember like not even feeling scared  I was just like, Oh, my gosh  I see all these terrible things pop up on social media.

But Henderson wasnt one of those who lived in the cocoons of rural America or a major city in which someone can find it difficult to come across someone from the other side of the political spectrum.

I never really thought that Republicans or conservatives were bad people. A lot of where I grew up was rural and conservative, and people flew Donald Trump signs,  It was everywhere  Where I went to school most everybody was conservative or Republican, Henderson said.

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She did end up losing a relationship over her political views.

I went through  my first ever relationship when I was 19 years old, and it was with someone who was a conservative Republican, Henderson said. The reason that we ended up breaking off the relationship was because he was a conservative Republican, and I was liberal, and he didnt like that. He said he could not be around me anymore because of my views about things.

Thats what Braver Angels looks to address. They have a series of workshops with titles such as Being Red in a Blue Environment and Disagreeing Better. They dont look to change peoples points of view. They simply want us to learn effective ways to get to understand each other without becoming enemies.

Each chapter has co-leaders from each perspective. Henderson represents the blue perspective in UNCGs chapter. Matt Kircher represents the red.

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Initially, I was kind of skeptical as to what that was. Being a conservative  I think were pretty sort of shy about cancel culture and that sort of thing because the 90s and 2000s, there was this whole element from the left that was tolerance, tolerance, tolerance, but it really ended up being more like tolerant of my views but not yours, Kircher said. If you spoke the language of the left, you had a voice on campus. So I looked at that, and I was like, Well, this is not good. Universities about enlightenment and  free speech.

He looked into it enough to see the value. When it comes to whether hes become more centrist, he says his views havent changed much.

I guess if theres been any kind of change or shift in perspective, its just understanding that we cant have these conversations and not hate each other for it. I think everyone is trying to do good for our country  At the end of the day, they feel like theyre doing the best that they possibly can, Kircher said.

Henderson has changed some of her positions through the program, including where she stands on the Israel/Palestinian conflict after listening to both sides.

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Hearing them both talk about how it was affecting, their own religion their own families in both Palestine and Israel, it really kind of changed the way that I viewed it  At first, I was like, Free Palestine  I dont want to hear anything about Israel but hearing from Jewish students talk about how they were being impacted as well is  heartbreaking  It definitely it changed my mind, Henderson said.

And shes helped change other peoples minds as well, particularly on reproductive freedom.

I feel like when I talk about it from someone who has lived a majority of her life under Donald Trumps presidency and being scared that Im going to lose that right, it changes how other people view abortion from somebody whos so young, Henderson said.

See more on Braver Angels in this edition of The Buckley Report.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  School choice advocates are celebrating the passage of HB6004, which expands school vouchers statewide starting next school year.

The bill, officially titled the Tennessee Education Freedom Act of 2025, was a major policy point of Gov. Bill Lee this legislative session, prompting him to call a special session to specifically address the issue along with Hurricane Helene Disaster relief funding and immigration safety enforcement.

The bill allows for public tax money to be given to families who want their children to attend private schools when they otherwise couldnt afford to in the form of scholarships, worth about $7,000. The bill also provides for a one-time $2,000 bonus for all K-12 teachers if their local school board adopts a resolution affirming their support for the program.

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TN General Assembly approves school voucher expansion statewide; bill heads to Gov. Bill Lees desk

Universal school choice is now a reality for Tennessee families, Lee said in a press conference after the special session adjourned its business Thursday afternoon. I have said all along that we should, and could, have the best public schools in America and provide parents with choice. Weve done that. It is, in fact, a momentous day for students and for teacher and for parents across Tennessee.Im grateful to the parents and the teachers who have advocated here at the Capitol, not just at the Capitol but all across the state to make sure that Tennesseans had this opportunity.

The governor said there had been a lot of spirited conversation and debate around this issue on both sides because we know that people all across this state  every Tennessean  cares deeply about the future of our children.

Now, families can move forward with an opportunity that they have never had before, he added.

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Other groups on both sides of the issue also issues statements following the bills passage.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

Beacon Impact

Today marks a historic moment for Tennessee. The passage of the Education Freedom Act is a transformative step for education in Tennessee, empowering families and giving them the freedom to choose the best learning environment for their children, no matter their background or ZIP code. For 14 years, Beacon has advocated for educational choice, championing the belief that parents should have the right to guide their childrens education. Since its founding in 2017, Beacon Impact has worked tirelessly to turn these principles into action through legislative advocacy. While weve made significant strides along the way, todays passage of the Education Freedom Act is truly a game-changer for families across our great state. we would like to extend our gratitude to Governor Lee, Lt. Governor McNally, Speaker Sexton, Leader Johnson, and Leader Lamberth for their unwavering leadership on this important issue. This achievement would not have been possible without their commitment to improving outcomes and opportunities for all students. Their partnershipand that of every legislator who stood up and voted to empower parents todaywas crucial in bringing this historic legislation to life, and now Tennessee families will benefit for generations to come. We are grateful for each and every one of them. Justin Owen, Beacon Impact CEO

TennesseeCAN

Education is not one size fits all and every student deserves a great educationTennessees Education Freedom Act expand that opportunity for more of our children. Thanks to incredible leadership spearheaded by Gov. Bill Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, Speaker Cameron Sexton, bill sponsors Senator Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, and the majority of our state legislators, our state now has a thriving environment for school choice. I am proud that families, regardless of their background or income, can choose to send their child to the public school, charter school, or private school that will best support their individual learning needs. TennesseeCAN Executive Director Chelsea Crawford

Legislators who support this bill today stood up for Tennessee kids. Now we will turn to supporting the important work of implementation to ensure a strong program that helps Volunteer State families get the education thats right for them. TennesseeCAN Advocacy Director Jordan Long

Americans for Prosperity  Tennessee

Weve been entrenched in the fight for educational freedom here for many, many years. Tennessee families won today; future generations of Tennesseans will now have access to more freedom and opportunity. We believe when people have freedom and opportunity, they are capable of extraordinary things. Our grassroots organization has long advocated for school choice, reaching nearly 200,000 Tennesseans at their doors and on the phone in the last year alone. Were extremely proud to see this massive win after combined years of policy and political work to empower parents across the Volunteer State. Wed like to give a special thanks to Governor Lee and state lawmakers for writing and passing this transformative piece of legislation. Were trhilled to help Tennessee students receive the best quality that fits their unique, individual needs because we know it can change the trajectory of their lives. Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee State Director Tori Venable

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Tennessee Education Association

Tennessees educators are disheartened by the rushed way statewide vouchers passed the Tennessee General Assembly during the extraordinary session called by Gov. Bill Lee. Four days  thats all the time provided to consider a statewide voucher plan and a massive appropriations bill, with just a few hours of actual deliberation. This is a disservice to the students in Tennessees public schools, and damages public faith in the process when families, educators, and voters were eager to continue engaging in meaningful conversations about whats best for our students, schools, and communities. While we are grateful for the much-needed relief that will finally reach disaster-stricken communities in Northeast Tennessee, we share the sentiment of many local officials who have expressed dismay that universal vouchers were included in the call for the special session. We would have preferred to see relief dollars in a separate appropriations bill from the funds for universal vouchers to avoid the perception that funding for vouchers and providing relief to Tennesseans who are still suffering in the aftermath of a natural disaster were tied together. We thank the legislators who stood with their communities, families, and educators by voting against the statewide voucher bill. We are also grateful to the thousands of parents and community members who reached out to their elected officials with concerns about universal vouchers. We remain concerned about the impact of this statewide voucher program on Tennessees public schools, particularly rural schools which will be first in line to feel the impact when state funding begins to erode. Over time, the inevitable reduction of the states support of public schools to fund the ballooning costs of vouchers will leave local governments to try to make up the difference. Theyll be forced to decide whether to raise taxes locally or reduce services, which can mean firing teachers and closing schools. We regret that by voting for Gov. Lees statewide voucher bill, the legislature has agreed to subsidize the tuition for a few families, most of whom have never set foot in a public school, at the expense of opportunity for the vast majority of Tennessees students. Assurances that public schools will not be adversely affected by this program are impossible to keep, as seen in other states who have created similar programs. It is a sad day for taxpayers who will have little accountability over these funds and for students whose public schools will inevitably suffer as a result of this program. TEA President Tanya T. Coats

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ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Three Greek opposition parties vowed Friday to challenge the countrys center-right government with a censure motion over its handling of a deadly rail disaster nearly two years ago.

The pledge was prompted by mounting public anger over delays in the inquiry and allegations of a cover-up that the government strongly denies.

Fifty-seven people were killed  including college students returning from a holiday  when a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train on Feb. 28, 2023, near Tempe in northern Greece.

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On Sunday, relatives of those killed led protests in dozens of cities, directed at the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Apart from rallies held in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities, protests were also organized by Greek communities in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and other European cities.

Sokratis Famellos, leader of the left-wing Syriza party, said outside parliament that he sided with two other opposition parties, Pasok and the New Left, to seek a no-confidence vote.

A joint initiative by progressive parties for a censure motion is necessary today. The evidence is there, and society demands accountability, Famellos said Friday.

Although a censure motion is unlikely to pose a direct threat to the government, it could help forge bonds in Greeces fractured opposition. Lawmakers from the three parties confirmed they were involved in discussions to agree on the timing of the motion.

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Investigations have faced delays, with critics accusing authorities of obstructing justice. While some railway officials have been charged, no senior political figures have been held accountable, further intensifying public scrutiny.

Speaking to ministers at a Cabinet meeting, Mitsotakis vowed to overcome the turbulence facing the government.

This difficult week comes to a close under the shadow of the Tempe tragedy, he said in a televised address. We are now entering the final stage of investigations into this deeply painful national trauma.

The controversy overshadowed an ongoing parliamentary process to elect a new president. A government-backed candidate, Constantine Tassoulas, failed to win the cross-party support needed to secure the presidency in a second round of voting in parliament on Friday.

The 65-year-old former speaker of the assembly is expected to win in later rounds scheduled next month when the threshold is lowered.
Republican Sen. Joe Gruters, of Sarasota and Manatee counties. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)

Sarasota Republican Joe Gruters, the Senate sponsor of the illegal immigration bill passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature this week over the objections of Ron DeSantis, said Friday that he feels bad for the nearly 100 Republicans who endorsed the governor for president two years ago.

Thats because the governor is now attacking them on a near daily basis for rejecting his own immigration proposal, Gruters says.

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Listen, who I feel bad for are the hundred members of the Legislature who endorsed Ron DeSantis that are now at odds with him, Gruters told this reporter during an interview broadcast on WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa on Friday morning.

Those 100 members of the Legislature that put their necks out on the line to help the governor, and now, rather than working with the Legislature and trying to find common-sense solutions, he is bullying them and trying to beat them up, said Gruters.

The senator is one of a minority of Republicans in the Legislature who endorsed Donald Trump over DeSantis early in the GOP presidential primary sweepstakes in 2023. (The Phoenix reported in May 2023 that 99 of then 112 Republicans serving in the Florida Legislature had endorsed DeSantis for president).

DeSantis traveled to the Panhandle on Friday to once again use the power of his bully pulpit to urge Floridians to accept their marching orders and contact the massive number of Republican lawmakers in the Legislature who voted to support the alternative bill.

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That measure, advanced by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, would crack down on illegal immigration and make Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson the liaison between state government and the Trump administration in immigration enforcement. It passed on an 82-30 vote in the House and 21-16 in the Senate.

DeSantis has been making the rounds on conservative media all week to blast the bill as weak and has said he will veto it once it reaches his desk.

Veto override?

If he does veto the bill, the House and Senate could try to override if they receive two-thirds support in both chambers. Gruters acknowledged Friday that he doesnt know if that is possible.

I dont know if well be able to override it, but listen, I think that at the end of the day, we have to help the president out. We have to come together, he said.

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Were going to continue to work to do what the president wants, and so I dont know exactly what will happen in terms of my Senate colleagues through the leadership, but I know that Im fully committed to making sure that we get the president whatever he needs to do.

The governor and legislative leaders have battled it out all week regarding who has the tougher bill cracking down on undocumented immigrants and would better complement President Trumps executive orders to enact a massive deportation effort.

Gruters close relationship with Trump is well known. A former Republican Party of Florida chairman, he co-chaired Trumps 2016 presidential campaign (with Susan Wiles, now Trumps chief of staff) and chaired his 2020 effort in the Sunshine State. And Trump has already endorsed Gruters in his bid to become Floridas chief financial officer in 2026.

But Gruters and others are being attacked online by supporters of DeSantis.

Endorsement retracted

For example, the group America First Insight, an organization that says that it is dedicated to endorsing and supporting candidates who prioritize America First principles, announced this week that they had revoked their previous endorsement of Gruters for CFO.

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Instead of fighting for strong, enforceable policies to secure Floridas future, he pushed forward a bill that weakened our states stance on illegal immigration at a time when bold action was needed, the group wrote on X.

Gruters said theres no doubt that the governors proposals are good, but so is the measure that he sponsored and the Legislature passed this week.

We have families that squabble once in a while, he said about the rupture in GOP unity. Were going to get past this. Were going to come together, and the most important thing is that we do the absolute best job on behalf of the citizens of Florida regardless of some of these minor battles that were having right now.

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The Guardian has published an article stating that Ukrainian forces are facing military exhaustion and a shortage of personnel.

Source: The Guardian with reference to two former soldiers and one commander

Details: After years of fighting, more and more soldiers are leaving their units without authorisation, although the extent of this is classified. The servicemen attribute the problem to fatigue and unrealistic orders.

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Quote from the Guardian: "After three years of war, Ukraine is desperately short of soldiers, especially infantry. This has made it easier for Russias army to advance in the east. There are structural issues too. New brigades have been built from scratch. They performed poorly."

Details: The article says that many of those who deserted the army are in hiding, but there are also those who live and work openly.

"Everybody is tired. The mood has changed. People used to hug soldiers in the streets. Now they worry about being conscripted," the Guardian quoted former soldier Viktor as saying.

Viktor also said that after another injury, he was immediately sent back to the contact line, and that's when he realised he was a "nobody" and decided to leave his military unit without permission.

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The journalists who spoke to the servicemen noted that Ukrainians who took part in the combat actions, particularly in the south of Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, described chaotic fighting, a lack of artillery support and tensions with the command. Some of them decided to leave the service and "abandoned their units" after being wounded and unsuccessfully attempting to be transferred.

Some are in hiding, waiting for changes or possible detention. Another deserter, Oleksii, said that he "would take up arms again if the Russians came into his town, or if the Ukrainian army became a genuinely reformed NATO-style force, with better generals".

"Im alive. The longer the war goes on, the more people like me there will be," Oleksii said.

Background:

In January 2025, it became known that mass desertions had occurred in the ranks of the 155th Separate Mechanised Brigade in the autumn of 2024.

On 21 November 2024, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) passed a law on voluntary return to service for the first unauthorised abandonment or desertion of a unit.

Under the new law, soldiers who left their place of service without leave for the first time had to return by 1 January 2025 to avoid criminal liability.

On 9 January, the Verkhovna Rada supported the extension of the voluntary return to service for those soldiers who had left their units without leave until 1 March 2025.

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  Freedom High School in Tampa was under lockdown on Friday after reports of an armed person on campus.

The Tampa Police Department said there were no reports of injuries or shots fired at the school and the lockdown was lifted later that morning.

Detectives believe missing womans brother killed, dismembered her

A student told their teacher they saw another student possibly armed with a gun. Tampa police discovered the students cellphone case had a replica handgun attached to it.

The phone case seized by Tampa police (Credit: Tampa Police Department)

We understand that news like this is deeply concerning and can cause anxiety for parents and the entire community, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. Thankfully, in this case, there was no active threat. We appreciate the swift action of the student and teacher in reporting this concern. Their actions are a testament to the importance of See Something, Say Something. We urge all parents to take this opportunity to talk with your children about school safety, what is appropriate to bring to school, and the importance of reporting anything that seems suspicious.

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Tampa police said the student, who did not make any threats toward the school, may face charges as their investigation progresses.

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Police are searching for a gunman who shot and killed a man in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Los Angeles early Friday morning.

The shooting was reported around 12:45 a.m. in the 3400 block of 9th Avenue.

Police investigate a fatal shooting in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2025. (KTLA)

Arriving officers found the victim on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson confirmed to KTLA.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. No details about the victims identity or what may have prompted the shooting were released.

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Police said the gunman fled the scene in an unknown direction but were unable to provide a description.

The shooting did not appear to be gang-related and the victim was not homeless, the spokesperson said.

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As officials are still trying to piece together what led to the deadly midair collision between a commercial jet and an Army helicopter in the nation's capital, president Donald Trump is already pointing the finger at his favorite punching bags, if not grasping at straws. And you guessed it: he's blaming woke.

In a Thursday speech that was supposed to be addressing the tragedy  the worst US air disaster in over 23 years  Trump launched into a bizarre rant about why his administration wasn't to blame, taking potshots at everything "DEI" under the sun, including, for some reason, dwarfism.

The way Trump sees it, it's the Federal Aviation Administration's DEI hiring policies, which he claims were instituted under former President Biden, that the public should be outraged at.

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"The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems," Trump claimed, as quoted by Daily Kos. "The FAA's website states they include hearing vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism."

On Wednesday night, an American Eagle flight struck an Army Blackhawk helicopter in midair as the plane was coming in to land at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, killing all 67 people onboard both craft, officials said.

It's the deadliest US air disaster since 265 people were killed when an American Airlines jet crashed shortly after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in 2001.

How such a collision could happen in one of the most tightly regulated patches of airspace in the world is unclear. But when asked if diversity hiring among aviation regulators was to blame, Trump refused to rule out the possibility, despite a complete lack of evidence.

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"It just could have been," Trump said, as quoted by NBC News.

Pressed on whether it was too early to link DEI practices with the disaster, Trump responded, per NBC: "I have common sense, OK?"

Blaming minorities is a staple of Trump's playbook, so we won't belabor the point. What's really worth highlighting is how quickly aviation authorities descended into chaos immediately after Trump took office.

On the day of his inauguration, FAA administrator Michael Whitaker stepped down after months of pressure from the president's "First Buddy" Elon Musk, with a replacement yet to be appointed.

More directly, Trump passed an executive order freezing all new hires of already chronically understaffed air traffic controllers, fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration, and completely cleared out a key aviation safety group at the Department of Homeland Security.

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While you could debate how much of an impact Trump's changes could've had after barely a week in office, it's certainly more substantive to scrutinize his policies than baselessly blaming minorities.

More on Trump: UFO Whistleblower Claims Trump Is Being Lied To About Those Drones in New Jersey
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn questions an attorney during oral arguments in January 2025. (Screenshot/WisEye)

A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who helped write Act 10 recused himself Thursday as the high court signaled it was preparing to take up a legal challenge to the 2011 law limiting public employees collective bargaining rights.

After a Dane County judge struck down Act 10 in December, the plaintiffs  a teachers union  filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to bypass the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and take up the case directly.

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On Thursday, the Court issued an order related to that motion, granting a request from Republican leaders of the state Legislature to intervene and file a response to the bypass request. The Court set a Feb. 5 deadline for the response.

Along with Thursdays order, Justice Brian Hagedorn issued an order recusing himself from taking part in the case. Hagedorn previously served as legal counsel to Republican Gov. Scott Walker and helped draft the bill that became Act 10, then defended it against a federal court challenge.

In December, a Dane County judge ruled that parts of the law are unconstitutional because it treats similar types of state employees differently. The law retained collective bargaining rights for police officers, but excluded the state Capitol Police officers, conservation wardens and correctional officers.

Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines public safety employee, Judge Jacob Frost wrote. It is that definition which is unconstitutional.

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In his recusal order Thursday, Hagedorn acknowledged his role in shaping and defending the law.

Members of the judiciary take a solemn oath to be independent and impartial, Hagedorn wrote. Our duty is to call it straight in every case, with neither partiality nor prejudice toward anyone. The law must guide our decisions  not politics, tribalism, or personal policy views.

After reviewing the filings and the various ethical rules I am sworn to uphold, I have concluded that the law requires me to recuse from this case, he continued. The issues raised involve matters for which I provided legal counsel in both the initial crafting and later defense of Act 10, including in a case raising nearly identical claims under the federal constitution.

Hagedorn also noted that many of the legal arguments in the current challenge are similar to those made in the 2011 federal case.

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Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who had previously said she may recuse herself from an Act 10 case because she participated in protests against the legislation as it was pending, did not participate in the decision to accept the case, but she did not release an order saying shed recuse herself.

Both Hagedorn and Protasiewicz had faced calls for recusal in the case. Protasiewicz had also faced threats of impeachment from Republican legislators in a previous case about the states legislative maps.

In his order, Hagedorn warned about the politicization of the recusal process.

In my view, recusal on this court should be rare  done only when the law requires it, he wrote. Going beyond that can create problems. We have seen how recusal can be weaponized by parties seeking a litigation advantage.

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In response to the Courts order Thursday on the Legislatures petition to intervene, Justice Rebecca Bradley and Chief Justice Annette Ziegler dissented.

They, along with Hagedorn, have also dissented in several Supreme Court decisions to bypass lower courts and take up cases after the courts majority flipped in 2023 from four conservative justices to four liberal ones.

Bradley, writing Thursdays dissent, pointed out that the state Legislature had asked for a two-week extension to respond to the bypass petition, and was instead given three business days.

There is absolutely no reason to deny the Legislatures request, unless three members of this court wish to fast track yet another politically charged case for the purpose of overturning settled law on an issue already decided by this court eleven years ago, Bradley wrote.

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The dispute over Act 10 is set to play a major role in this Aprils Supreme Court election between Dane County Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, who was state attorney general during Walkers second term.

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Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) at a Jan. 30, 2025 press conference announcing commitee assignments for the 2025-2026 Legislative term. | Kyle Davidson

The day after Michigan senators once again overwhelmingly advanced a set of policies to extend the states Freedom of Information Act to the governor and the Legislature, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) declared the bills dead, later calling them a very low priority.

People tell me that [the Senate] passed a bill, a watered-down FOIA bill. And you know, were not going to pass that, Hall said during a Thursday press conference where he announced committee assignments for the 2025-26 legislative session.

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The Democratic-led Senate teed up FOIA reform as its first priority for the new legislative session, with Sen. Jeremy Mosss (D-Southfield) Senate Bill 1 and Senate Ed McBrooms (R-Vulcan) SB 2 marking the first two bills introduced in the Senate this term.

The two senators have long pressed for increased transparency, passing another FOIA reform effort out of the House in 2015, while they both served as state representatives. However, the effort ultimately died in the Senate.

While Moss and McBrooms previous effort passed through the Senate in July, the two bills never cleared the House. Although the bills advanced through the House Government Operations Committee, they were not taken up for a vote, with the House unable to hold session after House Republicans and state Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) refused to attend until the chamber acted on their policy priorities, including efforts addressing incoming tipped minimum wage and paid sick leave changes.

Senate Bills 1 and 2 received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, with members voting 33-2 to advance the bills to the House.

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However, Hall said the House would refer the bills  if it hadnt already  to the House Government Operations Committee, which many  including Hall  recognize as the place where legislation goes to die.

I mentioned some bills go to die there. But I will also point out, though, you will actually see legislation moving out of that committee this term, Hall said.

[Rep.] Brian Begole (R-Antrim Twp.) is going to do a great job as the chair of that committee. And Ill just say this, Brian BeGole was a sheriff, and as a sheriff, he has a lot of experience with FOIA. He understands FOIA. He knows how FOIA works, and he knows how FOIA could work better, Hall said.

He later told reporters, Well see what the committee does.

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Hall instead pointed to the recently-passed House Resolution 14, which institutes new rules for legislative spending initiatives, also known as earmarks.

According to a statement from House Appropriations Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton Twp.), the changes include:

No earmarks for for-profit businesses. Projects will be limited to public bodies and eligible non-profits.

Greater accountability for sponsors. Each funding request must include detailed information, including the sponsor and co-sponsors, the intended recipients name and location, the requested amount, the projects purpose, an explanation of public benefit, project timeline, and other key details of the project.

Stricter nonprofit eligibility. Organizations must be established in Michigan for at least 36 months and maintain a physical office in the state for at least 12 months.

Conflict-of-interest protections. Sponsors must certify they have no conflicts of interest with the recipient. Family members and staff of the sponsor should not serve on the nonprofits board or be employed by the organization.

Greater transparency throughout the process. Funding requests must be submitted to the House Business Office at least 14 days before consideration and made publicly available online by May 1 for 2025 and April 1 in future years.

This is the most significant transparency and ethics thing that anyone has done since Ive been here, and that is putting guardrails on these earmarks, Hall said.

I think thats actually real transparency. It doesnt happen in 2027 like that Senate Bill, it happens right now, Hall said.

If passed before the last six months of 2026, Senate Bills 1 and 2 would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, and would not apply to records created or retained before the bill takes effect.

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Sen. Moss and I have no problem with trying to do something more immediate, McBroom told the Michigan Advance Thursday afternoon.

Weve introduced this bill now, this is our fourth time in the Senate.  Theres a certain amount of implementation time thats absolutely necessary, and we also always felt strongly that you couldnt make it retroactive, because there just would be no consistency to what records were available. And so then its a matter of, well, are we going to start this up right in the middle of a session? And that seems a little wonky, so it just seemed practical to us to have it begin at the beginning of a session, McBroom said, noting that he and Moss wouldnt put up a fight if other members felt differently.

The FOIA expansion legislation does not apply to the House and Senate Fiscal Agencies, the Legislative Service Bureau, and the office of sergeant at arms, which provides security for the Legislature. It also carries a number of other exceptions for both the governor and lieutenant governors office, as well as the Legislature, which Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) criticized as he offered reluctant support for the bill on the Senate Floor.

FOIA exemptions for the office of the governor and lieutenant governor include:

Appointments to departments, state agencies, commissions, councils or to fill a vacancy on a court. The exemption no longer applies after an individual has been appointed to one of these positions save for information including their applications and letters of recommendation or references

Decisions to remove or suspend a public official or judge, which no longer applies after that individual has been removed or suspended

Decisions to grant or deny a reprieve, pardon or commutation

Budget recommendations or reductions in expenditures

Messages or recommendations to the legislature

Information related to the executive residence

Documents subject to executive privilege

Documents that could impact the security of the governor or lieutenant governor

The governors and lieutenant governors office and the Legislature are also exempt from disclosing any records of communications between themselves and a constituent who is not a registered lobbyist, alongside a number of other exemptions, including:

Their personal phone numbers

Information on an internal investigation

Records or information tied to a civil action for which any of these entities are a party, with the exemption expiring when the claim has been adjudicated or settled

Records created, prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the governor, lieutenant governor or legislature for less than 30 days

Records created or prepared by the governor, the lieutenant governor, an employee of the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor, a legislator or an employee of a state legislative public body, that relate to advice, opinions or recommendations about public policy or district work

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If Speaker Hall has, you know, suggestions or directions on how to tighten [the bills] up and make them so theyre not watered down, certainly open to his input and the thoughts of his caucus on that, McBroom said.

Alongside earmark reforms, Hall called for an end to the revolving door where lawmakers become lobbyists after leaving their position in state government.

During the previous legislative session, House Democrats and Republicans each offered bills to create a cooling-off period, barring members of the legislature from becoming lobbyists for a set period of time after their term ends. Neither were taken up for a vote.

Hall also backed requirements for a two-thirds vote to pass legislation during lame duck session, so that the politicians dont pass very unpopular bills after the election.

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I think those are really true transparency and ethics reforms, Hall said.

Despite Halls criticism of the FOIA package, McBroom wasnt concerned about the legislations future.

Its been more than 15 years since we had a House and Senate split between the two parties. Nobody  almost nobody  whos serving now served under that framework.  Perhaps by the Senate making this a top priority Speaker Hall recognizes that gives him some leverage, McBroom said.

Im not worried about it at this point. We have lots of time to work together to figure out this issue and get it done, he said.

On Dec. 19, 2024, Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) testifies against a slate of bills to reform Michigans petitioning process for candidates and ballot initiatives. | Kyle Davidson

FY 2026 budget process outlook

While taking questions from reporters, Hall also discussed plans for the Fiscal Year 2026 state budget, which will take effect Oct. 1.

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Unlike the past two budget cycles when Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was negotiating with a Democratic-controlled Legislature, this year she will contend with a GOP-led House and Democratic-led Senate.

With State Budget Director Jen Flood set to present on Wednesday Whitmers executive budget plan to the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the Legislature has a July 1 deadline to pass a new state budget. However, there is no penalty if the House fails to meet the deadline.

While the House would work to have a budget complete by July 1, Hall said the constitutional responsibility is to get it done by Sept. 30.

The House will work to scrutinize new programs created by the governor in recent years and measure the return of investment on each, funding the good ones and eliminating the bad ones before evaluating the programs that have been around for decades, Hall said. Cuts would be used to fund road repairs, a public safety trust fund and income tax cuts, he said.

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The budget will get done, but it might not be until Sept. 30, Hall said.

Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) previously raised concerns that Hall could trigger a government shutdown during a November appearance on WKARs Off The Record. If there is a shutdown, Hall said, it will be because of Democrats.

Theyre already planning for a government shutdown. My commitment is were going to work really hard on getting value for your dollars on this budget, and were going to put forward a great budget, and my hope is itll get done before Sept. 30, Hall said.

Michigan last had two partial government shutdowns in 2007 and 2009 during a decade-long recession. Both were during times of divided government when Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm had to work with a GOP-controlled Senate and a Democratic-led House.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm campaigns for President Joe Biden at an event in Canton, Mich., on June 30, 2024. Granholm appeared in her personal capacity as a former governor of Michigan. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)  Hamburg Central Schools will be receiving $5.5 million from the Hamburg Fairgrounds over a 20-year period under the Educational Assistance Program Agreement, officials announced Friday.

Schools will receive $75,000 in the first year and then $300,000 a year for years four through 20, according to former Hamburg Central Schools Superintendent Mike Cornell. The Erie County Agricultural Society specifically will be providing the funds.

This is what happens when leaders link arms and sit and talk to each other in a room and not give up, Cornell said. It took us from 2016 to 2025 to get there and here we are.

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Erie County Agricultural Society CEO Jessica Underberg said she looks forward to seeing what students can achieve with the societys financial support.

In March of last year, 16 Hamburg school teachers and aides were laid off due to a lack of funds, though Cornell said this agreement is not connected to previous budget issues. Additional positions went unfilled after seven teachers retired. COVID relief funds and Hamburg Central School District cash reserves to support the total 23 positions were used up.

Cornell announced his retirement in July after informing the board of that decision the previous November.

Watch the whole press conference in the video player above.

Latest Local News

Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.

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A landfill run by Casella Waste Systems in Bethlehem racked up hundreds of violations related to leachate within a year. (Photo by Claire Sullivan/New Hampshire Bulletin)

Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said no landfill will be built near Forest Lake in Dalton  but what about other landfills in other places?

House Bill 171 would prohibit the Department of Environmental Services from permitting a new landfill in the state until 2030. Its bipartisan group of sponsors hope hitting the pause button will allow for the state to address a myriad of solid waste issues, particularly the states siting standards, which advocates argue are far too weak, and the hundreds of thousands of tons of out-of-state waste dumped in New Hampshire landfills each year.

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Unless and until we do our job as a Legislature and take action to address this critical issue, we should not be considering opening another landfill that is not needed for New Hampshires solid waste needs, said Rep. Nicholas Germana, the Keene Democrat leading the bill, at a Tuesday committee hearing.

A little less than half of the trash dumped into the states landfills comes from other states, according to a report from DES published in 2023. From 2020 to 2022, that equated to more than 2.6 million tons of outside waste.

And with that trash, proponents of the bill noted, comes harmful chemicals like PFAS, which are commonly used in consumer and industrial products, and are linked to health effects including some cancers. Some nearby states prohibit the disposal of certain waste within its borders, making the Granite State the target for that trash instead.

There are things that we cant send into Massachusetts, Vermont, or Maine that we do actually take in return, because they have regulations in place that we do not, Germana said.

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Germana argued the state has ample capacity to allow for a temporary pause in building new landfills while policymakers address critical issues in the states solid waste management.

And perhaps theres no time like the present for trash issues in the state. Though legislation aimed at waste has faced an uphill battle in the Legislature, with the Senate rejecting a number of proposals over the years, theres been a shift, some of those close to the issue feel.

Ayotte has expressed concern about out-of-state trash, and she vowed in her inaugural address that she would not allow a landfill to be built in the North Country near a lake and state park in Dalton  a major reversal from her predecessor, Chris Sununu. Casella Waste Systems, a Vermont-based company that has racked up hundreds of violations at its Bethlehem landfill, has been fighting for that facility for years.

Our new governor has openly expressed her concerns about these issues, and with this new alignment of interests between this body and the governor, we are in an excellent position to take meaningful action, Germana said.

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Wayne Morrison, president of the North Country Alliance for Balanced Change, a citizen group that has advocated against the landfill and for solid waste reform, said he is more optimistic now than ever before.

Weve been at this for six years, and this is the most constructive, detailed, meaningful conversation I have heard at any point about the solid waste problems in the state of New Hampshire, Morrison told lawmakers in the House Environment and Agriculture Committee.

Michael Wimsatt, director of the waste management division of DES, said the agency was not taking a position on the bill. He raised some technical concerns about wording in the bill, which he said the department would work with the committee on.

The legislation faces opposition from the Business & Industry Association, which includes Casella and Waste Management among its members, according to its directory.

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In online testimony submissions to the committee, 306 were in favor of the bill, and six were against it.

Morrison urged lawmakers to be bold, courageous, and to stand up to industry.

The moratorium is a perfect opportunity to fix a bunch of things that are broken, Morrison said. And I think thats out-of-state waste, I think thats leachate  I think its PFAS, and I think its around our site-selection process.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now)  After a D.C.-bound American Airlines commercial regional jet crashed into an Army helicopter while attempting to land at Reagan National Airport, questions surrounding flight communications are among key details federal investigators will probe.

Thursday morning, President Donald Trump pointed fingers at possible human error among the Army helicopter crew which included three soldiers who died.

Video captures fiery crash between American Airlines flight and Army Blackhawk

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Hours later at a separate press conference, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they would not speculate on the cause of the crash.

Its just a horrible, sinking feeling to know that its just a tragic outcome, Michael Sagely, a longtime Black Hawk helicopter pilot, said.

Sagely, who previously flew missions along the Potomac River in the type of aircraft that crashed Wednesday said communications with air traffic controllers (ATC) are similar to processes for commercial pilots.

It doesnt matter if youre military, youre still required to communicate with ATC appropriately, and follow established routes and/or restrictions on those, and/or on any restrictions ATC provides on you, Sagely said. Its not uncommon to have helicopters and commercial aircraft working in close proximity to each other.

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D.C.s congested airspace, caused by frequent flights from Reagan National Airport and routine military mission flights is one of the busiest air spaces in the country.

People with ties to the DMV killed in plane, military helicopter crash near DCA

Black Hawk helicopters can be seen routinely around D.C.s military bases, including Fort Belvoir where Wednesdays Army helicopter flight crew was based.

Initial reports indicated that the plane and helicopter collided between 300 and 350 feet above the ground. DC News Now has since learned that helicopters in the area where the crash occurred are not allowed to fly above 200 feet, something Sagely said can be permitted by ATC for several causes, including to avoid collisions.

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Air traffic controllers attempted to notify the helicopter crew of the passenger jet and avoid it. Its questionable if the pilot did see this specific plane before the crash, and if there was enough time to maneuver depending on conditions.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said a black box for the American Airlines flight was recovered Thursday, which will allow investigators to view critical in-flight records before the crash.

Its exact speed, altitude, heading, whether its climbing or descending, Sagely said. Theyre definitely going to produce a better picture as time goes on, and thats the one thing thats kind of hard to to, is be patient.

National Transportation Safety Board officials give first update on deadly plane, helicopter crash outside of DCA

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In a video posted to social media Thursday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said night vision goggles were on board.

While it is unknown how night vision goggles may or may not have contributed to the crash, goggles can reportedly cause hurdles for people wearing them when facing bright lights, according to Sagely, and Darrell Feller, a retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot.

[Night vision] goggles actually make it worse down there, said Feller in an interview with the Associated Press about his experience flying near the Potomac River.

Its so bright still, a lot of times we would flip our goggles up going through that area, Feller said.

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No survivors after American Airlines plane, military helicopter collide near DCA, crash into Potomac River

Speaking about the 33 runway where the American flight was attempting to land, Feller said he had issues seeing a flight land there several years ago.

I was flying south down the route at night, and there was a commercial jet landing on three-three, and I could not see him. I lost em in the city lights there in Anacostia, around DCA. You just you cant see em.

A preliminary report from the NTSB is due in 30 days.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  Check out community events around New Mexico from January 31 to February 6.

Albuquerque

New Mexico

Albuquerque Notices

 Department of Game and Fish to host Outdoor Adventures Show, Archery Tournament  The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is welcoming the public to its Outdoor Adventures Show. The event will take place starting the weekend of February 14 at Expo New Mexico.

 Albuquerque Isotopes look to hire stadium staff for 2025 season  The Albuquerque Isotopes are hosting an in-person job fair on Saturday, Feb. 8 to fill dozens of seasonal part-time positions needed to staff the nearly 100 scheduled events in 2025.

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 Volunteer opportunities available at the Animal Welfare Department  The Animal Welfare Department is seeking volunteers. From walking dogs to fostering or working an adoption event, there is always something you can do to help.

 ABQ city councilor looking to rehab public housing in International District  Trying to get more affordable housing in Albuquerque, the International Districts city councilor is continuing the push to revamp three rundown properties; and, they could be on track to get a lot of help from the federal government to do it.

 Bernalillo County approves plan to create housing development division  Bernalillo County Commissioners have approved a plan aimed at addressing affordable housing.

 Bernalillo County seeks funding for early learning center  Bernalillo County is asking the state legislature for $1 million in capitol outlay funding for a new early learning center.

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 Albuquerque Academy senior launches online project focusing on suicide prevention  An Albuquerque Academy senior is taking proactive steps to help his peers with mental well-being by developing an online project through the University of New Mexico. The idea came from a tragedy that happened four years ago.

 Nuclear Science and History Museum hosting STEAM day  The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History is hosting a discover STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) day for families. The event will February 22, from 10 a.m.  3 p.m.

 Bernalillo County asks for infrastructure funding from lawmakers  Bernalillo County is outlining its request for lawmakers to improve Albuquerques infrastructure. The county wants $5 million to help reconstruct Isleta and Bridge Blvd.

 Albuquerque Community Safety expands training, welcomes 13 new recruits  Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) is preparing 13 new recruits to head out into the city to address issues such as mental health, homelessness, crisis intervention, and substance use.

New Mexico Notices

 Tax season is here. What you need to know to file your 2024 taxes in New Mexico  With 2024s tax season around the corner, the Taxation and Revenue Department has announced key dates and resources for New Mexicans.

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 Santa Fe National Forest preparing for prescribed burns  Officials with the Santa Fe National Forest are planning for prescribed fire operations on the Cuba, Jemez, and Espanola districts.

 New Mexico governor advocates for reform in mental competency and juvenile crime laws  With one week down in the legislative session, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is defining her priorities on New Mexicos crime, saying changes to the states mental competency laws and surrounding juvenile crime are crucial.

 ENMU celebrating Black History Month with multiple events  Eastern New Mexico University is celebrating Black History Month with several events happening throughout February.

 Bill would let New Mexico counties temporarily halt issuing new cannabis producer licenses  After federal agents shut down a major cannabis grow in Torrance County, theres new attention on a proposal that could make it easier for counties to put a pause on new cannabis producer licenses.

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 New study calls for major improvements to I-40 from Arizona state line to Albuquerque  Its a massive, crucial, and old stretch of I-40 that needs a lot of work. A new report outlined the biggest fixes the New Mexico Department of Transportation thinks should be made from Albuquerque to the Arizona state line.

 Give Kids a Smile Day provides free dental care for San Juan County children  The San Juan College Dental Hygiene Program is teaming up with the Northwest District Dental Society to host Give Kids a Smile Day on February 7 from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.

 Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument to reopen after seasonal closure  Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument will reopen on February 1 following a seasonal closure. The monument had opened for a short time after having been closed for several years as officials worked out plans to protect the area.

 Report reveals record-breaking levels of PFAS at Holloman Lake  New Mexico is breaking records but not in a good way. The states Environment Department found unprecedented levels of forever chemicals in a state lake. The Department of Health issued a warning to residents, especially hunters.

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 Lawmakers want to bring paid family and medical leave to New Mexico  Lawmakers are once again pushing paid family and medical leave for workers across New Mexico. The bill would allow employees to take time off for reasons including paternity leave and domestic violence cases.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
HONOLULU (KHON2)  County agencies, first responders and more are battling the effects of a potent storm system, overcoming downed trees, power outages and more.

Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

Rain and strong winds slammed into Maui on Thursday, Jan. 30 afternoon. Residents are advised to stay off the roads and avoid unnecessary travel.

Stay out of flood-prone areas. Do not try and drive through a flooded area, start charging your devices. Be ready to be evacuated from these flood-prone areas, and prepare your families, said Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, MEMA Administrator.

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Hawaii weather creating power outages, school closures

Lonokailua-Hewett said leeward areas will see the most impacts. The County has been preparing by clearing streams and preparing shelters.

Maui County partnered with Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Center to provide emergency shelter. The center is limited to 20 to 30 individuals.

South, West, East and Upcountry Maui residents can find refuge at Kihei Community Center, Lahaina Civic Center Social Hall, Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center and Hana High and Elementary School.

Residents on Hawaii Island should expect to see peak impacts through Friday evening, with conditions set to improve by Saturday morning.

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Hawaii Island Mayor Kimo Alameda signed an emergency proclamation for the County to streamline its response and coordinate resources as heavy rainfall and high winds are expected.

Big Island has also opened the following shelters:

Waimea Community Center

Naalehu Community Center

Robert N. Herkes Gym

Yano Hall

Kekuaokalani Gym

Keaau Armory

Pahoa Neighborhood Facility

We urge our residents to stay prepared and take extra precaution as severe weather moves across the island, Mayor Alameda said. Crews are working hard to ensure roadways are clear and to restore power to traffic intersections.

On Oahu, KHON2 found challenges driving through the Windward side as the storm knocked out power to some areas including the intersection at Likelike and Kamehameha causing some traffic but no major incidents.

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Down the road, cars lined up to pick up students at Saint Marks Lutheran School after its power was knocked out.

Right now its not that bad, I thought you know we might escape most of it, said Bill Paupe, parent. Wasnt raining most of the day but yeah. The last couple of hours it started raining but it let up. Hoping this is like the worst of it.

Check out more news from around Hawaii

The Waikane Stream is notorious for flooding anytime it rains and the stream has risen enough to touch the bridge. The bad news  forecasters are predicting more rain to come.

Are you happy to go home? yup, said Coen Paupe.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KHON2.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) signaled Thursday that former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbards nomination for director of national intelligence could be in jeopardy after her past defense of alleged traitors, adding to the list of skeptics.

Im worried by what I hear from some of my Republican colleagues. Im worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy, Hawley said during a Thursday Fox News appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime.

And Im just worried about what that will mean, he added.

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Gabbard, who was tapped by President Trump to helm the intelligence community, was widely criticized for meeting with former Syria leader Bashar Assad before his regime collapsed and previous statements claiming Edward Snowden should be pardoned for revealing classified information relating to global government surveillance programs.

She added during Thursdays Senate confirmation hearing that she would no longer support or advocate for the former National Security Agency officials clemency.

Her sin is that she challenges the surveillance state, Hawley continued. She told the truth about the government spying on Americans and about the abuses of FISA. She went out there and was honest about it, and for that, she is getting absolutely roasted and persecuted.

The Missouri Republican, who has shown support for the former Democratic lawmaker, argued Gabbards leadership would bring about reform while outlining critiques about national intelligence.

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Hawley told Watters to not pretend everything is fine and dandy and hunky-dory in the intelligence community. Its not.

However, his GOP colleagues are not as assured that Gabbard is the right pick for the job.

People are holding their cards pretty close to the vest, but that nomination is in trouble, one Republican senator told The Hill in previous comments.

Democratic senators with close ties to ranking Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee have also shared some disdain for the nominee.

If youre on the Intelligence Committee and you have any respect for the Intelligence Committee, youre a Republican, and you got someone in front of you who cant denounce Snowden as being a traitor to the United States and who has actively campaigned against Section 702.  From the questions by Republicans, its clear that theyre afraid she cant be trusted, the lawmaker told The Hill.

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However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) urged the public to let the process play out while officials make their own conclusions ahead of votes.

Everybody is going to come to their own conclusions. There were issues she had to deal with and address, Thune told reporters. Well see how it goes.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Maryna Bezrukova, head of the state-owned Defence Procurement Agency (DPA), has appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to intervene in the ongoing conflict surrounding the agency.

Source: an open letter to Zelenskyy posted by Bezrukova on Facebook

Quote: "The core issue is not merely an attempt to dismiss me but the actual dismantling of the institution in breach of every possible law and Ukraine's international commitments."

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Details: Bezrukova said the agencys operations had been effectively blocked for an entire week due to the leadership changes. She believes the situation is jeopardising critical supplies for Ukraine's Armed Forces, undermining trust among international partners, and harming national security.

Quote: "Meeting the needs of the Armed Forces demands a different pace of work. It is impossible to manage the agency effectively working a few hours a day in addition to doing another job."

More details: Bezrukova has asked President Zelenskyy to take three key steps:

Halt the dismantling of the Defence Procurement Agency. Ensure that the conflict is resolved through legal means. Guarantee the stable and full functioning of the agency without pressure, obstruction, or attacks.

Background:

The DPAs supervisory board resolved to extend Bezrukovas contract for another year, but the Ministry of Defence refused to approve this decision. Bezrukova was suspended pending an internal investigation, and Arsen Zhumadilov from the State Logistics Operator was appointed as acting head.

On 31 January, the Ministry of Justice clarified the statuses of the heads of the Defence Procurement Agency, where roles have been constantly changing. The ministry stated that Bezrukova retains the status of head but is suspended, while Zhumadilov is serving as the acting head.

The National Association of Ukraines Defence Industry (NAUDI) has also appealed to President Zelenskyy, urging him to intervene immediately to resolve the situation at the Defence Procurement Agency, where work is currently paralysed.

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According to a recent study by the American Psychological Association, teens spend an average of 4.8 hours per day on social media, and 87% of that time is spent on popular apps like TikTok and Instagram.

These apps encourage continuous use with their never-ending feed that is tailored to what it thinks you want to see.

If trying to have phone-free time feels like this, the guilty party may actually be the phone itself.

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It really wires them for social media use, said Laura Weckerle, MA, LMHC, NCC, licensed mental dealth counselor, Sunlight Counseling.

Social media algorithms continually feed the user information that will encourage them to continue scrolling, drawing on FOMO, or the fear of missing out.

Friends are hanging out without me, so I feel sad and alone or left out, or, man, everybodys got this thing and now I need this thing, so Im anxious that I dont have that thing, said Weckerle.

And the consequences on your childs mental health can be severe.

Forty-one percent of teens who reported high social media use also reported poor mental health, and 10% reported self-harm or even suicidal intent.

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So, what can you do to help?

Talk with your kid about what they want to use it for more so than like, the amount of time, she added.

And having an open line of communication with your child could be life-saving.

Only 2% of teens with strong parental relationships reported self-harm or suicidal intent, compared to 22% who had poor parental relationships, regardless of high social media use.

Open shame-free communication at home, I think is a great idea. Just like we dont let our kids stay home by themselves because its not safe, you know, were not just going to let them be on social media unchecked, said Weckerle.

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A local university is mourning the loss of a student among those presumed dead after an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington D.C. Wednesday night.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Student at local university among those killed in DC plane crash

We will be at Cedarville University when the president speaks about this and have reaction today on News Center 7 at 5:00.

TRENDING STORIES:

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As previously reported by News Center 7, the university identified the student as Grace Maxwell, 20, a mechanical engineering major.

She returned home to Wichita, Kansas to attend her grandfathers funeral, the university said.

Our hearts are broken, the university said in a letter to the Cedarville family. Grace was a resident of Maddox Hall and known to be a thoughtful, quiet student leader.

Cedarville students are feeling the weight of this loss.

We are thankful that as a student body, were able to pray for their families and just support them in any way we can, said Abigail Reinhard.

Cedarville President will address the student body this morning at 10 a.m.

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We will update this story.

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Heavy rainfall expected to move into the Chicago area Friday could raise area river levels, prompting a warning to conserve water from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

The National Weather Service on Thursday forecasted heavy rain beginning Friday morning, with the heaviest rainfall expected from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.The rain is forecast to fall in the Chicago area, extending into the southern and western suburbs and part of Northwest Indiana.

The weather service expects rainfall up to around half an inch but warned that some areas could see up to 1.5 inches. Forecasters said it was too soon to tell which areas would receive the heaviest rainfall.

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The forecast prompted officials at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to issue an overflow action alert, asking residents to conserve water before, during and after the storm to prevent flooding in streets and homes.

Because rainwater and water from residences share the same sewer pipes, excessive rain can lead to water backups in streets and basements, according to the water reclamation district.

The rains would be a departure from recent snow and cold weather in the area.
(NewsNation)  Crews are continuing search-and-recovery operations Friday in the Potomac River after an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night. A key part of the investigation will revolve around the interaction with air traffic control in the final moments before the collision.

According to investigators, the jet was cleared to land at a shorter runway just minutes before at Reagan National. The pilots acknowledged the change as well. Air traffic control also asked the helicopter if it could see the plane and if it could pass behind it, but, seconds later, the crash occurred.

PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight? An air traffic controller asked the helicopter, requesting it look for an American Airlines Bombardier jet. PAT25, pass behind the CRJ, the controller added, using aviation shorthand to refer to a Canadair Regional Jet.

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DC plane crash: Flight manifest expected to be released Friday

Greg Feith, a former senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, tells NewsNations Morning in America that the audio suggests the helicopter crew never confirmed seeing the plane.

When the air traffic controller called the traffic and said, Do you have the RJ in sight? If you listen to the response, the military crew never said, We have the RJ in sight,' he said. They said, We have an aircraft, and we have the aircraft in sight.'

Feith noted there were three other aircraft in the area, including a regional jet that had just taken off. He emphasized the importance of analyzing the planes recovered cockpit voice record to better understand which aircraft the crew was tracking.

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Congress authorized more flights at Reagan National despite warnings

Its apparent that they did not identify the aircraft that they struck, probably as the traffic that was being called by the air traffic controller, he said.

As of Friday morning, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services confirmed the recovery of 41 bodies from the crash site, including all three soldiers who were on the Army Black Hawk helicopter.

Michael Ramsey, Tom Dempsey, Kevin Bohn and Jacqueline Hughes contributed to this report.

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The midair collision between a passenger flight and an Army helicopter that officials believe left no survivors marks the first fatal disaster involving a U.S. commercial airliner in 16 years.

An American Airlines regional carrier flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members and a military Black Hawk chopper collided over the Potomac River at about 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 29 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, officials said.

The operation to rescue 67 people is now a recovery operation and no survivors are expected, officials said on Jan. 30. There were three people aboard the helicopter.

Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue crews search the waters of the Potomac River after a passenger plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river after colliding with an Army helicopter.

We are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point we dont believe there are any survivors from this accident, Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said in a news conference.

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The disaster has brought renewed attention to two other fatal accidents that both led to lasting safety changes in the aviation industry.

The last major accident involving a U.S. commercial airliner was in 2009. Colgan Air Flight 3407, a Bombardier regional jet, crashed on approach to Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one on the ground.

The last major crash involving a U.S. commercial airliner was in 2009 when a Colgan Air flight crashed on approach in Buffalo, New York.

Pilot error was determined to be the cause, but the investigation also found grueling work schedules for pilots, long-distance commutes and exhaustion as serious issues facing regional carriers.

Investigators believed neither pilot involved in the crash had received proper sleep the night before after commuting long distances.

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The deadly crash resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration passing rules including a limit of nine to 14 hours of maximum duty per day for pilots, a limit on the flying time in a day, and more rest time between flights.

The Colgan Air disaster in 2009 led the FAA to change its regulations to mandate a limit of hours that pilots could fly in a single day.

The latest crash over the Potomac River has also brought back memories of a 1982 disaster in which Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, crashed into a bridge seconds after taking off from Washington National Airport in a snowstorm. The crash killed 78 people, with five people escaping the wreckage in the icy Potomac River.

Investigators found that the flight crew failed to properly de-ice the plane before takeoff, likely causing the crash. It led to the FAA changing de-icing regulations for airlines nationwide.

A question facing investigators and lawmakers in the aftermath of the Jan. 29 crash is whether Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is over capacity.

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It has the busiest runway in America and has experienced multiple near-collisions in recent years. Last year, Congress approved more flights being added to the airport, but its not clear if the increased volume led to Wednesday nights crash.

In May 2024, an American Airlines flight was speeding down a runway for takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it had to slam on the brakes to avoid a smaller private plane landing on an intersecting runway.

The previous month, a JetBlue plane nearly collided with a Southwest Airlines plane, coming within a thousand feet of each other.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
TOPEKA (KSNT)  Kansas politicians are sending a bill to the governors desk this week that would restrict gender transition treatments for kids in the Sunflower State.

Lawmakers in the Kansas House passed Senate Bill 63 on Jan. 31 at a vote of 32 to 8 before receiving approval in the Kansas Senate on Jan. 29 at a vote of 83 to 35. The bill will now move to Governor Laura Kellys desk where she may approve or veto it, sending it back to the Kansas Legislature.

SB 63 would enact the Help Not Harm Act in Kansas. The bill would restrict the use of state funds to promote gender transitions, prohibit healthcare providers from providing gender transition care to children whose gender identity is inconsistent with the childs sex, authorize a civil cause of action against healthcare providers for providing gender transition treatments and more.

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Today, Kansas moved one step closer to protecting Kansas minors- joining 26 other states and multiple other countries who have already adopted similar common-sense protections, Republican House Speaker Dan Hawkins said in a press release. My hope is that, upon reviewing the newly emerging data and thought on these treatments in minor children, the Governor reverses course from last years veto and signs the Help Not Harm Act into law.

Kansas gov. reacts to heated argument among officials at Topeka bar

Kelly will have the option to veto this bill in the near future, potentially sending it back to the Kansas Legislature for additional debate. Vetoing SB 63 would require the House and Senate to present a veto-proof majority to bypass the governors action.

For more Capitol Bureau news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

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Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A Henderson teacher, allegedly seen in a viral video grabbing a 3-year-old child, reached a plea agreement with Clark County prosecutors.

Heather Heifner, 24, agreed to an Alford plea on Wednesday in Clark County District Court to a gross misdemeanor charge of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment, according to court records. The maximum she faces is three years of probation.

Henderson teacher appears in court, accused of abusing child in viral video

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An Alford plea means she did not admit guilt but agreed prosecutors had enough evidence to convince a jury to convict her, records said.

Heifners criminal case was tied to an incident that occurred on April 19, 2024, at DJs Christian Daycare/Preschool located on Arroyo Grande Boulevard between Paseo Verde and Horizon Ridge parkways in Henderson.

Heather Heifner, 24, appeared in Henderson Justice Court on July 24, 2024. Shes facing three charges of child abuse or neglect, according to court records. (KLAS)

She was captured in a video  that went viral  forcibly grabbing Lilly Royal, who was 3 at the time.

I havent had one apology from her. I havent had an apology from DJs Christian Center. I have had no one reach out to me, the childs mother Kayla Zomerdyk told 8 News Now last year. It makes me sick that she did that to my daughter and that shes just walking around like nothing happened.

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Viral video showing Henderson teacher appearing to grab child sparks investigation

Investigators from Nevadas Child Care Licensing, a program meant to monitor licensed childcare facilities and their compliance with state laws and regulations, performed an on-site survey, finding that Heifner failed to implement positive discipline and mishandled the child, according to their report.

Officials from DJS Christian Preschool/Daycare previously said Heifners employment was immediately terminated following the incident. She had worked at the school for four years without prior complaint, police documents said.

Although the incident happened in April, court records showed an arrest warrant for Heifner wasnt issued until July 2.

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Wisconsin gas prices, which are already rising ahead of spring, may see even steeper hikes if President Donald Trump follows through on implementing sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico this weekend.

As of Jan. 31, the average price for a regular gallon of gas in Wisconsin was $2.91, according to AAA. That's down nearly 10 cents from a week ago, but still a six cent hike from last month. Nationally, the average price was $3.11 per gallon.

Gas prices generally rise between 20 and 50 cents between Valentine's Day and Memorial Day, as refineries make their annual switch from a cheaper winter blend gasoline to a more expensive summer one, according Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. However, Trump's promised 25% tariffs on Wisconsin's largest trading partners could hit drivers even harder at the pump.

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Here's how tariffs on Mexico and Canada would affect Wisconsin gas prices.

More: Wisconsin could see higher prices under Trump tariffs on Mexico and Canada

How would Trump's proposed tariffs impact Wisconsin gas prices?

If Trump follows through on implementing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico Feb. 1, then Midwest gas prices could be be affected in a few different ways, De Haan said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel last week.

The 25% tariffs could increase the price of Canadian crude oil from about $63 per barrel to $80, according to De Haan. The refineries that serve Wisconsin rely primarily on Canadian crude oil, so within a few days of the tariffs kicking in, prices at the pump could rise between 20 and 50 cents a gallon.

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"There could also be an economic slowdown if these tariffs are implemented," De Haan said. "So that potential economic calamity could partially offset the 25% tariff, meaning that if the economy slows down, demand for oil and other products will also likely drop."

But even if gas prices remain stable, De Haan said the tariffs could have a "chilling effect" on the U.S. economy.

"It could send our economy into a recession simply because it's a massive increase in cost that consumers would essentially pay," he said.

Average gas prices in Wisconsin cities

Here are average prices for a regular tank of gas in Wisconsin cities as of Jan. 31, from cheapest to most expensive, according to AAA:

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Milwaukee-Waukesha: $2.85

Oshkosh: $2.85

Wausau: $2.87

Sheboygan: $2.88

Kenosha County: $2.89

Racine: $2.90

Appleton: $2:90

Eau Claire: $2.90

Green Bay: $2.90

Fond Du Lac: $2.92

Madison: $2.94

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How could Trump tariff on Canada, Mexico affect Wisconsin gas prices?
A new Area 51 conspiracy theory, involving celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, gained traction in January 2025 after an Instagram and TikTok star famous for guessing geographical locations highlighted it.

Trevor Rainbolt (@georainbolt), a professional player of the geography-guessing game GeoGuessr, posted a video on Jan. 21, saying he noticed something interesting about one of Ramsay's Instagram photos. That picture  posted on Ramsay's account on Jan. 17  depicted him sitting on a private jet. The image featured a very small frying pan in his cup holder and distant mountains visible through the aircraft's windows.

(Image courtesy of @gordongram/Instagram)

In Rainbolt's video, he said the mountains matched hills at Area 51, the U.S. military installation in southern Nevada associated with decades-old rumors about extraterrestrial life. The site restricts public access.

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Days later, TikTok user @leyshaa also posted a video saying she served as the flight attendant on Ramsay's flight. In her clip, she mentioned and then held up a similar-looking small frying pan.

However, some skeptical users including Instagram's Christopher Alexander (@odd_chris_), Aaron Rheins (@aaronrheins) and others discovered the truth of the matter. They uncovered no evidence of Ramsay visiting Area 51.

Instead, they noted two very specific details. First, the videos posted by Rainbolt and @layshaa had captions containing the hashtag "#hexcladpartner"  a small hint missed by quite a few commenters. The hashtag suggested ties to a marketing campaign for the HexClad cookware company, for which Ramsay is a spokesperson and part owner. Also, the end of Rainbolt's video displayed names of peaks located in the San Jacinto Mountains in California  hundreds of miles away from Area 51.

We contacted Rainbolt on Instagram and @leyshaa by email, asking about the videos and "#hexcladpartner" hashtag, and will update this story if we receive any further details. A spokesperson for HexClad told us by email the brand could not comment but mentioned a "big update" coming on Jan. 31.

'Come Fry With Me'

On Jan. 17, Ramsay posted the photo showing him sitting inside a private jet, complete with his small frying pan tucked in the cup holder. The text caption read, "Come fry with me.Big (and small) things on the way."

Rainbolt's Analysis

Four days later, on Jan. 21, Rainbolt posted his TikTok video. The text caption featuring the "#hexcladpartner" hashtag read, "you can't hide @Gordon Ramsay #geo #geography #hexcladpartner." The clip received more than 30 million views, 3 million likes, 150,000 bookmarks and 97,000 shares.

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In the video, he said, "I saw this Gordon Ramsay post on Instagram and immediately knew something felt off, because he's not actually at an airport." He then said the mountains visible in the window didn't match the landscape around Las Vegas-area airports. He continued, "And well Gordon, I found you. With these pixels that resembled a fence, these mountains and this arid landscape, there's only one option: Area 51, with a perfect match. Gordon, you can't hide."

The names of various peaks displayed at the end of Rainbolt's video referenced the San Jacinto Mountains, around 250 miles from Area 51.

As of this writing, it's unclear exactly where a photographer captured the photo of Ramsay, including whether the picture showed a genuine working airplane or a studio. The nearest airport to the San Jacinto Mountains is Palm Springs International Airport, but again, the assertion involving the names of peaks involved Rainbolt's video did not necessarily identify the location.

Flight Attendant Video and Ramsay's Response

TikTok's @leyshaa  who shares videos documenting her life as a flight attendant  posted her video on either Jan. 23 or 24. Her caption read, "I need answers! #gordonramsay #area51 #hexclad #hexcladpartner #hexcladgordonramsay." In the video, she said, "One, we didn't even know where we were flying to. Usually we know where they're going to take us to. We just know that we landed somewhere in Nevada, because it didn't even seem like it was a normal airport. It was like, in the desert. When we landed, a group of men in black suits came and escorted him off the plane." She also said the men didn't let her and any other crew off the airplane.

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She then held up a small frying pan, saying, "What am I going to cook with this? This is not for a human. I don't know, but if you know who Gordon Ramsay is, you should keep an eye on him because obviously he's cooking something up."

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Ramsay posted a video commenting on Rainbolt's clip, also on Jan. 23 or 24. In the video, Ramsay said, "Hey my man. You've done your due diligence, let me tell you. Sounds like you're working for the old Pentagon. Well done. But, I'll be honest with you. You're getting close. But, the proof is in the pan."

During the clip, Ramsay moved his camera to show a view from a tall building. TikTok user PainCorp (@paincorp) commented, "That's Thailand by the Iconsiam mall!" Indeed, a check of Google Maps showed Ramsay captured his video from a room at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok hotel in Thailand, looking out in the direction of the ICONSIAM shopping mall.

Sources:

Alexander, Christopher. "Gordon Ramsay Area 51 Incident Explained!" Instagram, @odd_chris_, 28 Jan. 2025, https://www.instagram.com/p/DFYoXchxKDZ/.

"Area 51." Military.com, https://www.military.com/base-guide/area-51.

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"Every Trick a Pro GeoGuessr Player Uses to Win." WIRED, 31 Aug. 2022, https://www.wired.com/video/watch/wired-news-and-science-how-a-pro-geoguessr-guesses-in-0-dot-1-seconds/.

Google Earth. https://earth.google.com/web/.

"Google Maps." Google Maps, https://www.google.com/maps/.

"HexClad Announces Strategic Investment From Studio Ramsay Global." Business Wire, 16 July 2024, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240716139872/en/HexClad-Announces-Strategic-Investment-From-Studio-Ramsay-Global.

Rheins, Aaron. "Gordon Ramsay Area 51." Instagram, @aaronrheins, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.instagram.com/aaronrheins/reel/DFaevxJOTwo/.

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. "Area 51 | Description, History, Map, & Facts." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Area-51.

---. "What Is Known (and Not Known) About Area 51." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-known-and-not-known-about-area-51.
A meeting of the Choccolocco Heritage Society on Tuesday revealed the goal of a newly created Choccolocco Heritage Fund to raise $125,000 to renovate the historic elementary school located at 120 Prospect Lane.

Several attendees at the meeting met afterwards, raising $850 on the spot.

The school, built in 1876 for grades K-6, was responsible for educating many of the communitys Black children.

One of those former children, Georgia Underwood Calhoun, who is now 94 years old, is an inspiration for many residents in Choccolocco and Calhoun County. A retired teacher and community activist, she began attending kindergarten at the school in 1935 at age five. She went through sixth grade when she and her fellow classmates, including her brother, James, were promoted to the Calhoun County Training School in Hobson City to continue their education. Calhoun and James, rose at 4 a.m. to ride to school with their father who was on his way to work.

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While attending Choccolocco Elementary School, Calhoun and James were both valedictorians of their respective classes, and both had perfect attendance there. She remembers how they sat downstairs in the middle of a classroom with one teacher who had a long switch for disciplinary purposes. The rooms stayed warm from a pot bellied stove as the students had their lessons.

People in the community kept the fires going, Calhoun said. Some of the students were 15 and 20 years old because people went to school when they could.

Calhouns passion for renovating the school is to see the project completed before she dies.

One of the Choccolocco residents and society members is Fred Couch. He is helping the organization meet the requirements to be on the National Historic Register and to preserve the building for future generations.

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David Schneider, owner of Schneider Historic Preservation, is assisting the society as its members plan for the schools renovation. They want it to be a community meeting place, a tourist attraction and a museum.

An Acker Electric company representative has volunteered assistance with improving the electrical components of the building, and Phil Webb, of Webb Concrete, has pledged materials needed for the renovation.

Danny Shears, the county commissioner for District 2, which includes the Choccolocco community, said he enjoys seeing people with a passion unite to accomplish something.

I sense that in this room today with a lot of people, Shears said. They want to move forward.

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Shears said that if individuals raised $10,000, he would contribute $10,000 of his discretionary money as a commissioner. The Choccolocco Historic Fund is tax deductible and operates under the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama.

Others who wish to donate may go to cfnea.org and click on the donate tab at the top of the screen, visit the community Foundation of Northeast Alabamas Facebook or send checks to the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, 1701 Henry Road, Anniston, AL 36207, and designate the check to the Choccolocco Heritage Fund.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  Fake posts have surfaced in the Happening now in Roane County (unfiltered) Facebook group. These posts allegedly involving ICE deportation and a so called item sale all made by anonymous users.

The Oak Ridge Police Department has confirmed that a recent post claiming to sell items from non-citizens detained by ICE are fake, nothing of that nature has occurred.

Tennessee General Assembly approves school voucher expansion; bill heads to Gov. Lees desk

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The post addresses items for sale such as clothes, household goods, boats, jet skis, and ATVs  another claiming to have purchased items from a deportation sale, and a third looking for nearby sales.

Some of the stuff Ive read where theyve gotten boats and other things for $200, thats just seems unrealistic, said Better Business Bureau of Greater East Tennessee CEO Tony Binkley. I would take anything you say on social media right now with a grain of salt. You have to consider the source where its coming from, and what theyre trying to accomplish.

Experts warn that scammers often exploit current news events to make their schemes seem more believable.

Scammers are always going to take something thats current in the news because its out there. People are saying theyre hearing about it or reading about it, and theyre going to take that information and try to run with it because they know its fresh on peoples minds, added Binkley.

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Immigration Attorney Karla Torres-Sueiro explains fake or not, selling a non-citizens items after deportation is illegal.

There is a constitutional protection to absolutely everyone, even non-citizens, to receive proper compensation for their properties, she explained. I do see how that could be happening. A lot of people getting deported, no one left behind to take care of their property. Their things, their personal belongings, and then people taking advantage of that and then reselling those items. But thats definitely something thats illegal.

Decades suffering from autoimmune diseases, Knoxvillian Cindy Siegel Shepler traveled to Europe to end her life

A common thread in these posts is that they are all made by unidentified users, raising further suspicion.

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Theyre anonymous, they dont want to put their name out there. I mean, theyre hiding behind something, right? Theyre hiding behind the anonymous word. So, I would question that for sure, said Binkley.

The Better Business Bureau recommends simply ignoring posts like these that come from anonymous users.

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  A Hillsborough County Fire Rescue captain is facing hundreds of child pornography charges, according to deputies.

The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office said the Internet Predator Unit searched the home of Marshall Van Nelson, 52, Thursday after a thorough investigation.

Olympians Nancy Kerrigan, Tenley Albright in tears after DC air crash kills members of Boston skating club

Detectives said they located several electronics in Nelsons home that contained over 300 images and videos of child sexual abuse material.

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Nelson was charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography 10 or more images and content of images.

The actions of this individual are not only vile and deeply disturbing but also a betrayal of the trust placed in those who are meant to protect and serve, Sheriff Chad Chronister said. There is no place in our community for such reprehensible behavior. I commend the efforts of our Internet Predator Unit detectives, whose relentless pursuit of justice has ensured that this offender will be held accountable for these unacceptable actions.

Hillsborough Countys Human Resources Department said Nelson had been working with the department since Oct. 1, 2001.

Upon receiving notification of his arrest by the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office, Hillsborough County took the necessary steps to place him on administrative leave, which will take effect on his next scheduled shift, the statement said. His position is Company Fire Captain. County staff will monitor the case as it progresses and will take any necessary actions as warranted.

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A Hillsborough County Fire Rescue captain was arrested Thursday on 100 counts of possession of child pornography, deputies said.

Marshall Van Nelson, 52, was arrested after detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Offices internet predator unit served a search warrant at a location in Hillsborough County following a thorough investigation, the agency said in a news release.

During the search, detectives found numerous electronics containing more than 300 images and videos of child sexual abuse material, the news release states.

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Records show Van Nelson was being held Thursday at the Falkenburg Road Jail without bond.

In a statement, Hillsborough Countys human resources department said Van Nelson was hired on Oct. 1, 2001, and was placed on administrative leave that will take effect on his next scheduled shift.

County staff will monitor the case as it progresses and will take any necessary actions as warranted, the statement said.

Sheriff Chad Chronister praised his agencys internet predator unit, whose relentless pursuit of justice has ensured that this offender will be held accountable for these unacceptable actions.

The actions of this individual are not only vile and deeply disturbing but also a betrayal of the trust placed in those who are meant to protect and serve, Chronister said in the sheriffs office news release. There is no place in our community for such reprehensible behavior.
HILLSVILLE, Va. (WFXR)  The Hillsville Fire Department reported a vehicle fire in Carroll County on January 30.

Fire officials said crews responded to the 1100 block of Sylvatus Highway for a car fire around 9:21 p.m. on Thursday. On the scene they found a single car engulfed in flames.

Single-vehicle turns on side in Bedford County on 460

Photo Credit: Hillsville Fire Department Photo Credit: Hillsville Fire Department

Crews worked to extinguish the flames and reported no injuries.

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The incident was turned over to Virginia State Police.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn  After the Tennessee House and Senate passed an immigration bill Thursday, Hispanic communities in Memphis are learning their rights.

Lynn Susser, a Memphis immigration attorney, spoke Thursday before the Mid-South Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The title of this talk is what does the second Trump term means for immigrants, and I think that of course brings the magic question right now and what we really all want to know, said Susser.

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The community needs information, clarification and Hispanic business leaders to help them understand what to expect of the impact of ICEs new authority.

VIDEO: Tennessee troopers carry women out of hearing as lawmakers debate immigration

So many rumors what is true what is not, said Vice President Lupita Ledesma of the Mid-South Latino Chamber of Commerce. If they can still go to the places of worship go to the public schools continue working on a normal basis like they do on a day-to-day basis.

Theyre scared because there hasnt been a lot of customers coming dining in, but thats something thats going around in the whole country, said Marco Puerto, owner of Cocina Mexicana.

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Puerto says he attended the meeting so he can learn how to teach the communities how they can operate.

Tennessee General Assembly approves school voucher expansion; bill heads to Gov. Lees desk

Attorney Lynn Susser told the Mid-South Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to expect a lot of litigation over the next four years involving immigration laws.

She says its crucial for the Hispanic community to know their rights and start to exercise those rights.

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As plaster fell off the ceiling of the 100-year-old building home to Woodland Christian Church in 2020, church leaders knew they needed help keeping the building in one piece.

Damaged windows and empty classrooms punctuated the crumbling ceiling. Worship services moved to the basement. Rev. Christy Jo Harber feared the church may have to sell the building it has called home since 1925.

She asked Rev. Donald K. Gillett II, the regional minister of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, Can these bones live?

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He answered Thursday, that through the goodness, the grace and the mercy of God, life will continue in the halls of the building.

In partnership with local developer Winterwood Inc., the church broke ground Thursday on a renovation project that will preserve its historic building and meet a housing need in the community.

The church will build 38 affordable housing units for seniors aged 55 and older who make less than 60% of the areas median income -- or $45,720 for a family of two. It also will restore the sanctuary.

Many churches today face challenges with underutilized buildings and the financial burden of maintaining. We believe our partnership with Winterwood is more than innovative  its unique, said church elder Gary Barksdale.

Small sections of the paster celling of Woodland Christian Church have fallen from age in Lexington, Ky., Friday, December 16, 2022. The church is planning a partnership with Winterwood Incorporated to create affordable elder apartments and renovate the 100-year-old building.

This project can become a model for other congregations seeking to address the growing need for affordable housing while remaining an active faith community.

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Unused classrooms and offices in the back of the church will be converted into eight apartments, and a new building constructed on the grassy lot next door will have 30 apartments.

Zach Worsham, vice president of Winterwood, said he expects people to be moving into the units, called The Oaks at Woodland, in the first quarter of 2026.

Who is paying for the senior living units at Woodland Christian Church?

Worsham said it took awhile to finalize the funding for the project, which is estimated to cost $13 million.

The developers secured a Low Income Housing Tax Credit and a Historic Preservation Tax Credit for the program. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit is a federal program, but funds are disseminated from the Kentucky Housing Corporation.

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We at (Kentucky Housing Corporation) have been talking a lot lately about the housing supply gap across Kentucky. We need over 200,000 more homes, said Justin Long, a project specialist with the Kentucky Housing Corporation.

We need them today. Fayette County is not immune. This region needs over 22,000 units.

They invested $646,000 in tax credits for the apartments. Those tax credits can be sold to investors who then put up equity.

WNC associates, an affordable housing real estate firm, purchased the Woodland Church tax credits, and then allocated some to CVS, the drugstore. WNC associates put up $6.9 million in equity for the constriction of the affordable housing units.

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The city of Lexington allocated $3.2 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds, or coronavirus relief money, to the project, and $1 million from the local affordable housing fund. Mayor Linda Gorton said the construction will meet a pressing need in the city because 25% of Lexingtons population is 55 or older.

A rendering of the completed Oaks at Woodland senior affordable living housing units.

Fundraising is not done yet.

Harber asked the community to make donations to improve the renovation efforts of the sanctuary. She said if the church can raise $200,000, the church could purchase equipment to make the building a performing arts venue.

Lexington has known for many years now that an art filled community is a healthy community  with restored venues like the Lyric and Kentucky theaters offering vibrant expressions of art that heal and strengthen its audience, she said.

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We believe that if our sanctuary were equipped as a performing arts space, it could further nurture the arts in our beautiful city.

The money raised would help the church buy lighting, audio and video equipment, Harber said.
LINCOLN COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56)  Lincoln County Middle School was made aware of a potential threat Friday morning made toward other students.

According to an announcement on Facebook, the student resource officer and the middle school staff responded to a possible threat made by a student who made the alleged threats.

Barbourville school district threatened: Police say child allegedly responsible was detained

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The Stanford Police Department said that there were claims of a hit list, but no evidence was found to substantiate the claims.

The investigation is still underway with safety and preventative protocols in place, per Stanford authorities.

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The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain our top priority in the SRO division. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment and will continue to work closely with school officials on incidents of this nature, the school confirmed in conclusion to the announcement.

On Friday, Lincoln County Public Schools posted on Facebook that there would be no classes for the county due to a water leak within the Crab Orchard water system.

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The Holdy Steady, Minnesota's favorite not-local local band, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's breakthrough album, Separation Sunday.

The party will be four straight nights of concerts in Minneapolis that will make fans say, "I'm pretty sure we've heard this one before." That quartet of shows will be paired with a pair of other events that will get fans digging into the stories behind the band's second album.

The group formed in New York in 2003, not long after the demise of Lifter Puller, a Twin Cities band that featured Hold Steady members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler. While 2003's Almost Killed Me was a quiet hit among fans and critics, it was Separation Sunday that planted their flag and declared that they were going to be a unique voice in rock for years to come.

The Hold SteadyPhoto by Shervin Lainez

The celebration starts with a show at the 7th St. Entry on May 1 and is followed by two straight nights at the First Avenue main room. On May 4, the concerts will wrap up with a show called "Storytellers" at the Fine Line, an event that sounds similar to the "Solo Songs and Stories" concert frontman Craig Finn hosted at The Fitzgerald Theater in November.

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In between shows, The Hold Steady will host a May 2 pub quiz event at The Depot, tickets for which can be acquired with a ticket to the Friday night First Avenue show. The Hold Steady-centered quiz will include a band member and takes place right before that night's show across the street.

Then on May 3, there will be a Separation Sunday question and answer session with a soundcheck happy hour. Entry to that event can be purchased with a ticket to the Saturday night concert. That event will take place on the exact day the band's second album was released in 2005.

The Q&A will include band members as well as Separation Sunday producers Dean Baltulonis and Dave Gardner.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Jan. 31 at 10 a.m., and the 7th St. Entry show is sure to move in a hurry.

Related: Green Day, Hozier, Fall Out Boy headliners for 2025 Minnesota Yacht Club Festival
BOSTON (WWLP) More than $2 million in grant funding has been made available to help local Massachusetts police departments and state agencies prevent firearm deaths and injuries.

The Holyoke Police Department and the Hampden DAs office are two of 18 recipients of the first funds awarded in Massachusetts through the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program. The program is funded through the U.S. Department of Justice and administered in Massachusetts by the Office of Grants and Research (OGR).

Three arrested in connection with Fernald Street shooting involving unmarked police cruiser

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The federal program does not allow the funding to be used for law enforcement activities but for multiple initiatives and programs including suicide prevention training for veteran service officers, crisis intervention and de-escalation training for local police, and youth violence prevention programs.

Responding to the complex issue of gun violence requires both public safety and public health interventions. These grants support evidence-based efforts to prevent firearm injuries and deaths, increase crisis intervention training for law enforcement and improve the safety of Massachusetts communities. The funds complement our administrations commitment to holistic approaches to public safety and reducing gun deaths, said Governor Maura Healey.

Preventing gun violence is critical to ensuring the safety of Massachusetts communities. These grants support life-saving initiatives that will allow police officers and communities to better respond to individuals in crisis and at-risk of gun violence, said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll.

No single approach can effectively address the complex issue of gun violence. This vital funding supports a comprehensive strategy tailored to meet the diverse needs of our communities, said Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy. Investments in prevention, intervention and education are essential to building stronger, safer communities with the tools needed to address the root causes of gun violence.

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Massachusetts is a national leader in reducing firearm deaths. These grants will support and enhance efforts across Massachusetts to save lives and prevent acts of gun violence, said OGR Executive Director Kevin Stanton.

Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program for Municipal Law Enforcement funds were awarded to:

Award Recipient Award Amount Abington Police Department $87,032 Braintree Police Department $149,795 Chelsea Police Department $150,000 East Brookfield Police Department $16,335 Holyoke Police Department $84,458 Lawrence Police Department $150,000 Leominster Police Department $129,849 Littleton Police Department $67,629 Lowell Police Department $109,314 Randolph Police Department $149,943 Salem Police Department $87,285 Sterling Police Department $87,091 Worcester Police Department $144,224

Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program for State Agencies funding was awarded to:

Award Recipient Award Amount Cape & Islands District Attorneys Office $129,420 Executive Office of Veterans Services $149,316 Hampden County District Attorney $72,106 University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth Campus Police $105,000

The selected Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program  Statewide Research Partner is:

Award Recipient Award Amount Northeastern University $150,000

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Homelessness is at a record high in New York City with shelter occupancy growing even as the migrant population is decreasing, according to the latest Mayors Management Report that measures the performance of city agencies in delivering services.

More than 87,000 individuals resided in the Department of Homeless Services system per day on average in the July to October 2024 period covering the start of fiscal year 2025, according to the 458-page document released Thursday. In fiscal year 2022, as pandemic-era programs expired and an influx of migrants from the southern border began, that number was around 46,000.

A DHS spokeswoman said the high number of shelter occupants is due to the migrant crisis and that families with children, including migrants, are staying in shelters longer than average over the same time period last year. The city has also shuttered some emergency asylum seeker shelters, with the DHS system absorbing remaining residents.

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The high level of homeless shelter occupants comes despite an uptick in people leaving shelters for permanent housing, with nearly 30% more households moving out of shelters to homes of their own, and despite fewer people, especially migrants, entering the shelter system than last year.

The city provided shelter and resettlement supports to more than 220,000 asylum seekers while heavily investing in resources to mitigate the impact of an affordability crisis and premature expiration of federal and State anti-poverty initiatives on the post-pandemic recovery for low-income New Yorkers, spokeswoman Neha Sharma said in a statement, noting that the non-asylee census is below a pre-pandemic peak and the department has connected record numbers of shelter residents to housing.

The report, which covers nearly 50 municipal agencies and organizations that report to Mayor Adams  including the NYPD, FDNY, Department of Sanitation, Department of Correction and even Parks and Recreation  is released twice a year and gives a snapshot of how City Hall is doing compared to its goals. The next report will encompass the entire July 2024 to June 2025 fiscal year.

Our administration is focused on making New York City the best place to raise a family. Whether it is driving down crime, connecting more people to SNAP and low-cost child care, winning the war on rats, or building housing at record levels, we are delivering on that mission and making our city safer and more affordable for working-class New Yorkers, Adams said in a statement.

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In the category of public safety  a huge priority for the mayor  major felony crime fell by 2% overall, with robberies, burglaries and grand larceny down but murders and felony assaults up. Reports of rape increased by nearly 19%, the report said.

Hate crimes increased by 11%, which the report said was driven by religiously motivated incidents.

Youth felony arrests jumped 16% since the same time frame last year  with robberies and burglaries increasing and grand larceny, which includes car theft, down from last year by 23%.

NYPD emergency response times to get to these crimes slightly improved from last fiscal year, with the police department taking an average of 15 minutes and 49 seconds to respond, compared to over 16 minutes in last years window.

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Under the Adams administration, the Rikers population has continued swelling, with the Department of Correction reporting it had 8,135 new inmates come into the city jail system between July and October 2024. Thats up from the 7,589 over the same span in 2023.

The streets were slightly safer for motorists and pedestrians in the first part of fiscal year 2025 compared to the same period last year, with traffic fatalities dropping by more than 30%, largely due to fewer deaths in the motorized two-wheeled vehicles category that includes scooters and e-bikes. However, there were three more traditional bicyclist deaths in that period.

During his campaign Adams promised to build dozens of new bus routes. However, the report shows the city created less than a mile of new bus lanes  0.9  from July through October 2024, compared to 8.6 miles in the previous time frame.

The report blamed resource restraints related to Citywide budgetary limitations affected planned production targets for why that number is so low.

The mayors promise to build 300 miles of bike lanes is also falling short, with just 9 miles built during that time in 2024, compared to 23 miles in 2023.
Officials at a hospital in Los Angeles County are asking for the publics help in identifying a patient who is unable to communicate his name, nor the names of any of his family members.

The approximately 70-year-old Hispanic male was found in the 7900 block of Imperial Highway in Downey and brought to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, though the date that he was hospitalized was not provided.

The patient stands at around 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds with gray hair and a gray beard.

The approximately 70-year-old man was found in Downey. (St. Francis Medical Center)

Officials said he speaks Spanish but cannot communicate his identity or next of kin.

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Anyone who might recognize the patient is urged to contact Linda Woo in the hospitals social services office at 310-900-2094 or 310-900-7619.

Hospital officials are hoping to connect the patient with his loved ones as soon as possible.

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Hospitals are warning of more closures and of more doctors leaving the state if the legislature doesnt pass Gov. Brian Kemps bill to overhaul Georgias legal system.

Democrats insist only full Medicaid expansion will stop doctors from leaving and hospitals from closing.

But Channel 2s Richard Elliot spoke with the Georgia Hospital Association, which represents hospitals like Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, and they insist the only way to stop these closures is to lower insurance premiums, which they say the governors bill will do.

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Kemp introduced his bill to one of the biggest Capitol crowds in recent memory. Among them, doctors, nurses and representatives from hospitals across the state, all supporting the bill.

We are starting to see our providers leaving Georgia, said Anna Adams with the Georgia Hospital Association.

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She said if something isnt done to bring down what she says are skyrocketing insurance premiums, more hospitals may close and more doctors may leave, particularly in rural Georgia.

Among other things, the bill would require plaintiffs to show actual medical bills during lawsuits so they can be compensated.

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It also would bar attorneys from suggesting to juries huge awards during their closing arguments

If this bill does not pass, and we dont see some pretty substantial changes to our tort system, were going to start to see even larger healthcare deserts across our state, Adams said.

But Democrats oppose the bill, saying hospitals are closing and doctors are leaving because the governor refuses to fully expand Medicaid.

You are selling people a bag of goods thats simply not true, said state Sen. Harold Jones of Augusta.

State Democrats insist reforming the legal system is no guarantee that insurance rates will go down, and it could limit peoples access to lawsuits.

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We start talking about hospitals closing. Theres no connection with that supposedly medical malpractice claims, once again, tort reform. The connection is not there, Jones said.

Kemp has strong support among the Republican majority but expects a great deal of pushback from Georgia trial lawyers and patient advocacy groups.
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV)  The Mississippi House passed the Mississippi State Employees Paid Parental Leave Act.

According to House Speaker Jason White (R-Miss.), House Bill 1063 passed in a 114-0 vote.

Advocates rally for Mississippi Medicaid expansion

The bill would provide state employees eight weeks of 100% paid leave as the primary caregiver after the birth or adoption of a child and two weeks for the secondary caregiver.

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As a pro-life state, Mississippi is in a critical position to meet the needs for healthier outcomes for parents and children and to support families in our states workplace, said White.

The bill will now head to the Mississippi Senate for consideration.

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PEKIN, Ill. (WMBD)  Following Mondays Pekin City Council meeting, an ordinance has been changed.

Pekin City council has amended Ordinance Number 4275-24/25, banning public sleeping along with public camping.

Pekin Mayor holds State of the City address, details yearly plan

What the Police Chief says

Chief of Police Seth Ranney said with what they see almost every day, this was a needed change.

Monday nights amendment to that ordinance was simply just one of those things that we continue to deal with on sometimes a daily basis, Ranney said.

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Ranney said they see the unsheltered population in their city as no different than any other citizens.

Housed or unhoused, theyre still our citizens, he said. They still live here and we treat them equally. But what we have learned is that theres sometimes is a negative cycle, that sometimes its difficult for someone to break out of on their own. So were just there to assist them when theyre ready to break that cycle and to move them through a process that is more prosperous for them.

He emphasized that the changes to the ordinance will allow for better chances of making a connection that could lead to housing and resources going forward.

With having the amendment, it just gives us that legal authority to go up and make contact, Ranney said. In that contact, its not just about asking them to move. Its trying to figure out you know, why theyre there. Can we do anything for them, offer them services, start that relationship if we have it yet, and so its just another way for us to reach out and talk to the community.

What an Outreach Coordinator says

An outreach coordinator who serves the unhoused in a central Illinois region has different thoughts on the ordinance.

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He said in a phone call that the amendment has made his job extremely hard. He said there are unhoused people who are still trying to get to Peoria.

Pekin was one of the first central Illinois municipalities to ban public camping.

The language used in the amendment is stated as: Amending Chapter 5, Article IV of the Pekin City Code Regarding Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Property to Prohibit Storage of Personal Property and Unauthorized Camping and/or Sleeping on Property Owned by the City of Pekin or Any Other Unit of Government or Governmental Agency within the City of Pekin.

However, Ranney said the police department is a great partner with organizations in the city like The Salvation Army and Pekin Outreach Initiative.

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He credits the departments social worker Misti Cave, who was hired in 2023, with being a vital part of getting unhoused people placed in housing.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 immigrants awaiting deportation from the U.S.

ABC News Phil Lipof on Wednesday spoke with Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law, to discuss the plan for the military base in Cuba.

PHOTO: In this April 7, 2014, file photo reviewed by the US military and made during an escorted visit shows a sign on the road to the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

ABC NEWS: The director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, Karen Greenberg. Karen, thanks for being with us. We are talking about an American military base on foreign soil. What does that mean for immigrants' access to due process?

KAREN GREENBERG: OK, so first, it's not really foreign soil in the United States' terms -- it's an outpost of the United States. And that's always been one of the confusing things about Guantanamo.

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What it is is a place where, repeatedly, the United States has sought to place individuals without the kinds of protections by law that they have in the United States on the homeland, as we've seen with the detention of war on terror detainees. And also, you know, we can talk about the migration center as well, but it is not correct to call it on foreign soil. It is on a U.S. base located in Guantanamo Bay.

ABC NEWS: All right, so you've been to that facility where they'd be held at Guantanamo Bay. What challenges will the administration face in trying to implement the plan?

GREENBERG: So one big challenge that they're going to face is basically the numbers he was throwing around. He threw out 30,000 -- I don't know that they have the capacity for that, but I have never heard that before. At the height that I knew about it, in the old days and the '90s, I think they held 21,000 at the most.

They've held refugees repeatedly. In current context, President Biden talked about using it for migrants as well, but never, and we're using it now for some intercepted asylum seekers and migrants. But that kind of capacity, that kind of number, hasn't been thrown around before.

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MORE: Guantanamo could be used to hold up to 30,000 migrants

So I'm assuming that will mean they will need to build up some kind of facility, not just for the numbers they're talking about in terms of migrants, but also for the guards, the health facilities, etc., etc., that we'll need there.

And just to make a point there, they had to build Guantanamo detention facility, also, you know, for the war on terror detainees. And they did that very rapidly. They did it within 100 days, and built, you know, state-of-the-art maximum security prisons and housing for those who would need to attend to them. So it can be done quickly.

ABC NEWS: As you point out, the base has been used to hold much smaller numbers of immigrants for years. What could some of their experiences tell us about Guantanamo?

GREENBERG: Well, the reports are not good. And I want to say that it's not just the past reports that are not good. It's also, there was a report released in September by the International Refugee Assistance Project, which sort of detailed the conditions that migrants are held in currently at Guantanamo, which included unsanitary conditions, mistreatment, not to mention this sort of fuzzy legal status.

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So I don't think that's projected well in the past, there's also been in these prior times, in the '70s and the '90s also, you know, allegations of, and documents of mistreatment and unsanitary conditions, etc.

ABC NEWS: Certainly a lot to work out moving forward. Karen Greenberg, thank you.

Housing migrants at Guantanamo Bay comes with challenges, national security expert says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
HUBBARD, Ohio (WKBN)  The Hubbard Police Department is welcoming a new officer to the force who has more than three decades of experience.

Patrolman Dan Mason was sworn in Friday afternoon in council chambers.

Mason previously served eight years as the major of administration and operations of the jail under former Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe. Before that, he worked at the Warren Police Department for 25 years.

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Mason calls his new job in Hubbard a win-win.

Obviously, after the election, I was looking for a job, and I know a lot of agencies are looking for officers, but you know, coming back to Hubbard the city I grew up and spent my childhood, its kind of something Im looking forward to, he said.

Mason will officially start his new job at the Hubbard Police Department next week.

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Jan. 30WILKES-BARRE  Anastasia Joy, a survivor of sexual exploitation/human trafficking and now a fierce advocate for preventing the heinous crime, on Thursday said what happened to her a little over a decade ago still impacts her today.

"I've been sharing my story for the last four years, but I decided to use my experience for something good  to take something as evil and cruel as trafficking and create something powerful from it," Joy said. "It has truly helped me blossom as a woman, mother and advocate  being the voice for those who don't have the strength to share their experience."

Joy, 30, brought her story and her passion to Wilkes-Barre as part of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency's roundtable discussion with state leaders, local officials, victim advocates and survivors to discuss how to recognize the signs of human trafficking and strengthen collaborative efforts in the fight against exploitation.

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"Many people believe, 'human trafficking could never happen to me,' but the reality is that it can affect anyone, anywhere," said Kathy Buckley, director of the Office of Victims' Services at PCCD. "Survivors' voices are critical in shaping how we address this issue, and it requires a united effort. That's why we're here in Luzerne County  to hear from those impacted and learn about the collaborative approach of the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking, which is uniting law enforcement, victim service providers, prosecution and community organizations to strengthen support for survivors and hold perpetrators accountable."

The roundtable discussion, held at the Victims Resource Center in the East End Center, highlighted regional challenges and successes in addressing human trafficking while fostering the exchange of best practices and innovative strategies.

Survivors and advocacy groups were central to the conversation, sharing personal experiences and under-scoring the importance of survivor-centered approaches in policy-making and program development.

As a survivor of sexual exploitation, Joy said she thinks it's critically important to share her experience with the public to educate and inform those who are not aware of what trafficking looks like today.

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"There are many misconceptions about trafficking, and I believe it's crucial to have survivors involved in discussions like the one we had today to provide insight and commentary on real-life experiences," Joy said.

The discussion revealed that trafficking happens every single day, and there's no specific target for who gets trafficked.

"Traffickers don't see color, gender or age  they see vulnerability and opportunities," Joy said. "They'll go after anyone they think will be easy to exploit and profit from. That's why I think it's so important to be the voice, educate and raise awareness to better protect our children and youth from these heinous crimes."

Joy said she strives to do everything she can to give hope to those who don't have it.

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"I want to show them it's possible to get out and live a successful life, and help protect those who have never been trafficked by teaching them what signs to look out for," Joy said.

Joy, who has a 10-year-old son, said she takes all precautions to protect her son from predatory websites that seek out victims every day. She encouraged all parents to closely monitor their children's online activity.

The NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort to establish and incorporate best practices to identify and serve victims and at-risk populations, investigate and prosecute perpetrators, increase overall awareness of exploitation and human trafficking, and assist survivors in achieving restoration and justice through member agencies and organizations.

"Traffickers thrive when systems do not work together," said Suzanne Beck, co-chair of the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking and chief executive officer of the Victim Resource Center. "The most important work of the NEPA Task Force is collaboration. Responses to human trafficking are most effective and efficient when they are multidisciplinary and collaborative in their problem solving."

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Representatives of the Shapiro-Davis Administration attended and said the state is committed to supporting all victims and survivors of crime. "Wherever there is transportation, there is the potential for trafficking," said Kara Templeton, PennDOT's deputy secretary of driver vehicle services. "PennDOT plays a unique role in the battle against trafficking, and the first step is hearing directly from those affected."

Buckley said she encourages anyone who has been victimized to reach out for help.

"There are local programs that can help you with finding support and resources including therapy, counseling and much more," Buckley said. "You deserve support, and there are people and organizations who are ready and willing to stand by your side."

Although trafficking can affect anyone, the panel said that evidence shows that people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately impacted. Factors such as generational trauma, historic oppression, discrimination and societal inequities contribute to vulnerabilities within these communities.

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People may be at higher risk of trafficking if they:

Have an unstable living situation.

Have experienced other forms of violence, such as sexual abuse or domestic violence.

Have run away or are involved in the juvenile justice or child welfare system.

Are undocumented immigrants.

Are experiencing poverty or economic hardship.

Have a caregiver or family member with substance use issues.

Struggle with drug or alcohol addiction.

For information about human trafficking resources, or to report a suspected case, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text "HELP" to 233733.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
Over 800 properties in Chicagos West and South Side neighborhoods are up for grabs as part of a bankruptcy sale.

According to the Illinois Answers Project and Block Club Chicago, the lots are linked to a woman dubbed the citys worst landowner whose rat-infested properties racked up over $15 million in fines.

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A joint investigation by the news organizations in 2023 found that real estate companies managed by Suzie B. Wilson had failed to maintain properties across Chicago.

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This included empty lots where trash and weeds had accumulated, creating a breeding ground for rats. The city issued tickets, but they went largely unpaid.

Since first reporting on the neglected properties and millions in unpaid fines, the outlets say the city has engaged in multiple lawsuits against Wilson. Chicago attorneys have also accused Wilson, along with her sister, of attempting to defraud the city in a scheme to wipe away the debt.

Here are the story highlights.

Problematic properties

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Wilson and her late husband made hundreds of purchases through Cook Countys tax and scavenger sales, reports Block Club. This allowed them to buy up lots after previous owners failed to pay property taxes.

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Chicago law requires landlords to maintain their properties, adhering to all applicable codes and regulations. If properties aren't maintained, the city can issue penalties, which can grow over time. It's unclear how many of Wilson's properties may have been neglected over the years.

In April, the city filed a lawsuit against Wilson for $10 million, according to Illinois Answers, accusing her of failing to clean up a lot filled with hundreds of decomposing rubber tires that piled multiple feet in the air. In its suit, the city labeled Wilson as a scourge on the city and its residents and the citys worst landowner.

The news outlet also reports city attorneys have alleged in federal court that Wilson and her sister, Swedlana Dass, attempted to get rid of debt owed by transferring properties around like candy to shell companies in South Dakota, leaving the Illinois real estate companies on the hook for millions completely insolvent as they filed for bankruptcy.

Read more: Commercial real estate has beaten the stock market for 25 years  here's how savvy investors can become the landlord of Walmart, Whole Foods or Kroger

Bankruptcy case

Now, as a result of the bankruptcy case, 812 properties are being auctioned off, one of Chicagos largest mass land sales in years, per Block Club.

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Many of the lots are vacant, however, some are in proximity to desirable locations, such as the United Center and the planned Obama Presidential Center and CTA Red Line extension. Buyers can bid on single or multiple properties at once, and bids must be submitted by March 7.

The mass sale is expected to raise millions of dollars, and Illinois Answers reports the city is stepping up its efforts to collect from significant debtors. But the question remains: how is it someone could potentially get away without paying fines for so many years?

Well, I think the problem was, essentially, that somewhere in the City of Chicago someone wasnt doing their job, Casey Toner of Illinois Answers told WGN News. Situations like this dont happen when people are being aggressive about getting these fines paid.

He did note, however, the city leapt into action following news coverage of the story.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
People shouted "si se puede" or "yes we can" on the Washington state Capitol steps during an immigrants' rights rally on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)

Despite threats that immigration enforcement agents might show up, more than 500 immigrant rights advocates from across Washington marched to the state Capitol in Olympia on Thursday.

They were there to show support for two bills pending before the Legislature this year that would expand safety net benefits  including health care coverage and unemployment insurance  for immigrants who are in the country without legal authorization.

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The demonstration also came as President Donald Trump, now about 10 days into his new term, has announced a range of policies to strike against immigrants.

The march and rally were led by the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, an immigrant rights coalition founded in 2016 when Trump was elected to his first term.

We are more organized, we are stronger, and we have been building for another moment like 2016, Brenda Rodriguez Lopez, executive director of the group, said in an interview.

Immigrant rights advocates were joined by several state lawmakers on a cold, cloudy day to advocate for bills supporting immigrants. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)

Since its founding, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network has established a deportation defense hotline, expanded its coalition, and pushed for state-level policies to help immigrants.

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Now that were here, were able to respond more quickly, and we have a lot more processes in place that allow for our work to reach more community members, Rodriguez Lopez said.

The groups hotline takes in reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stops, detentions, and raids, provides people with know-your-rights information and connects them with resources for legal support. Since Trump took office, theyve received over 400 calls daily, said Rodriguez Lopez.

Legislative priorities

U.S. law prevents federal funds from going to non-citizens but states can create their own programs to support this population.

Washington last year began an expansion of its Medicaid program, known as Apple Health, to cover people who do not meet the federal immigration requirements for Medicaid assistance. But due to limited funding, the number of people who could enroll was capped.

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This year, House Bill 1482, sponsored by Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, intends to increase health coverage for immigrants by bolstering the previous expansion.

In Washington, there are an estimated 246,000 immigrants without legal status, half of whom are uninsured and live below 200% of the federal poverty level, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Hundreds of people marched to the steps of the Washington state Capitol in Olympia as part of an immigrant rights rally on Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)

Thais bill has received criticism from Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn. He created a poll on the social media platform X to ask his followers whether Washington should fund a health care program for illegal immigrants or save that money for better access to health care for Washington citizens.

Democrats frame the tradeoffs differently.

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To those elected officials who say that state dollars cannot go to our immigrant and refugee community, I tell them, look around, theyre your neighbors, said Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo. They pay taxes, they pay money, they contribute, and they deserve every single basic right that we have. We are not talking about status, we are talking about humanity.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle, is sponsoring Senate Bill 5626, which would expand unemployment insurance for immigrants without legal work authorization. At the rally, Rep. Julio Cortes, D-Everett, announced he was dropping a House companion bill.

We truly are building a world that doesnt exist for our people yet, but we are making progress, and so, no matter whos president, our communities will continue to organize, Rodriguez Lopez said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has once again threatened to veto EU sanctions against Russia in six months if Ukraine does not resume the transit of Russian gas by then, which he claims he was guaranteed to be restored.

Source: Bloomberg, citing Orban's statement, as reported by European Pravda

Details: During an interview with Hungarian state radio on Friday, Orban claimed that Hungary had received a guarantee from the EU this week regarding the restoration of gas transit through Ukraine.

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"If the pledge is broken, then not only will we propose ending sanctions but we will end them," Orban said.

Background:

On 27 January, the EU managed to secure Hungary's agreement to extend economic sanctions against Russia but made concessions to Budapest by issuing a statement assuring Hungary of its energy security.

Media reports indicated that Hungary demanded the EU put pressure on Ukraine to maintain the transit of Russian oil and engage in dialogue about gas transit in exchange for its support of continued sanctions against Russia.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas hinted that the statement on "energy security", which convinced Hungary to support the sanctions, was largely symbolic.

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Venezuelan Victor Macedo holds his daughter Sonia at their home, in in Davie, Fla., Sept. 27, 2023. The family crossed the border U.S. in 2021, and qualified for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2023. Marta Lavandier/AP

Aidins husband was the first to break the news. It was 5 a.m.  muggy and still dark out  when he woke her in a panic at their Richmond home. After weeks of President Donald Trumps bellicose immigration promises, their fears, it seemed, had been realized.

On Wednesday evening, the Trump administration announced it would revoke a Biden-era extension for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans. The 18-month extension, announced just days before Joe Biden left office, had been a last-ditch effort to give 600,000 vulnerable Venezuelans more time to be protected from deportation and allowed to work in the United States. Without it, TPS holders could lose their legal status as early as this April and as late as September. That includes Aidin and her husband Humberto, who have had TPS since 2021. Im only using their first names to protect their privacy.

Fue bien heavy la manana, Aidin, 44, said in Spanish when I called her on Thursday. The morning was heavy  difficult. Like the weight of the world hung on her and her husbands shoulders.

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We knew something drastic was coming with the new administration, but we didnt think it would be this fast, she said. Now, her family  like hundreds of thousands across the U.S.  is frantically preparing for the worst. The uncertainty of their future, she told me, is overwhelming. But Aidin is sure of one thing: She cant return to Venezuela.

In 2014, when she left her hometown of Maracaibo, a large port city in northwestern Venezuela, Aidin left behind her siblings, parents and family home. It wasnt easy to make a new home in Miami, Fla., or for her husband, an industrial engineer, to retrain in the U.S. to fix and install air-conditioning units. But incessant blackouts, empty grocery shelves, a gutted medical system, a tumbling economy and the constant fear of being targeted for marching on the streets to protest Nicolas Maduros repressive rule  all of it had been unsustainable.

After they reached the U.S., they applied for asylum. A decade later, their case is still pending. In that time, they had two, American-born kids  now 8 and 5. Aidin and her husband knew that, as asylum-seekers whose case could be adjudicated at any moment, their status in the U.S. was perilous. But in 2021, when the Biden administration designated TPS for Venezuelans, they were able to apply and get that extra layer of legal protection. They felt safe.

Last summer, they moved to Richmond, Texas, for the affordability and better quality of life. Aidins husband found work as an A/C contractor for Katy Independent School District, and Aidin as a secretary for a local immigration lawyer. The kids settled in at their new school.

That it would prove to be a false sense of security, critics might say, shouldn't be surprising. In 2019, roughly 300,000 people from 10 countries had TPS. By 2024, that number had nearly tripled as 16 countries were now eligible for TPS. Venezuelans, the beneficiaries of two different designations (one in 2021 and one in 2023), are currently the largest group of TPS holders. It is undeniable that Biden stretched the limits of a program that  by name  should have always been temporary.

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Established by Congress in 1990, TPS is designated by the Homeland Security secretary in cases where a countrys nationals cant return safely, or when the country cant receive them due to armed conflicts, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions. The issue, of course, is determining that threshold of safety. At what point is a place like Haiti, which has been ravaged by earthquakes, a cholera outbreak and political upheaval over the years, ready for its people to return? Or Honduras, which has been designated for TPS since Hurricane Mitch devastated the country in 1998, and redesignated repeatedly since then as more hurricanes have struck, food insecurity has worsened, and corruption and violence have raged on?

Ultimately, TPS designations have been up to the whims  and political will  of changing administrations. That leaves TPS holders, some of whom have been here for two decades, in a state of what UCLA sociologist Cecilia Menjivar calls liminal legality, a gray area between documented and undocumented. As someone who was in that state for years while my family waited for a verdict on our permanent residency application, I understand how hard it can be to plan for a future you cant 100% count on. How difficult it is to buy a home, unpack boxes and put down roots, even as you pay taxes, work hard and build a community. But I can imagine its harder for the estimated 54,000 U.S.-citizen children of TPS holders to understand that. The U.S. is the only home those kids have ever known.

Its not easy, I know, to find a perfect, humane solution for the millions of people on the move today  one that is also fair to the people receiving them. With the state of the world as it is, dozens more countries could easily qualify for the extraordinary conditions stipulated for TPS. But without congressional action to reconfigure the overwhelmed U.S. immigration system, TPS remains a vital stopgap measure, one that is keeping families together.

On Saturday, Feb. 1, new Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will decide to end or extend the 2023 TPS Venezuela designation. If no formal decision is made by then, the designation will be automatically extended by six months. I sincerely hope Noem will leave TPS alone and truly focus her attention on the violent criminals she claims to be rooting out. The administration is considering sending deported migrants to the U.S. navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens. As Jorge Marquez, a leader and spokesman for Unidad Houston, told me, Venezuelans are completely supportive of cracking down on criminals associated with the Tren de Aragua gang. They dont represent our community, he said. The vast majority of TPS holders are upstanding people.

Even if, by some miracle, Aidin and her husband are granted asylum in the U.S., she fears even that could be taken away with one swoop of the presidents pen.

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Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, following Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has declared that Budapest will block the next extension of EU sanctions against Russia unless Ukraine "refrains from measures that harm Hungarys energy security".

Source: 444.hu, a Hungarian media outlet, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Szijjarto reiterated Hungarys long-standing opposition to sanctions against Russia, asserting that they should be lifted "as soon as possible" and threatening to veto the next renewal of sanctions if Ukraine continues actions that allegedly compromise Hungarys energy security.

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Quote: "If the European Commission does not keep its word, if it fails to ensure that Ukraine refrains from measures or decisions that harm Hungarys energy security, then it will have to take responsibility for the next decision on sanctions."

Background:

Earlier, Viktor Orban claimed that Hungary had received a "guarantee" from the EU on restoring gas transit through Ukraine and warned that sanctions would be blocked if this guarantee was not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas hinted that the statement on "energy security", which convinced Hungary to support the sanctions, was largely symbolic.

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The New Mexico Department of Health issued an advisory Monday warning any hunters who ate or captured wildlife from Holloman Lake in the past decade about the possibility of contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

The advisory came after the state Environment Department released a report earlier this month that found that some samples of plants and animals near Holloman Lake, located near White Sands National Park and Holloman Air Force Base, contained what may be the highest recorded levels of plant or animal contamination from the forever chemicals in the world.

The levels of PFAS contamination in Holloman Lake are deeply concerning, particularly for hunters who may have consumed waterfowl from the area over the past decade, Miranda Durham, the health departments medical director, said in a statement. PFAS exposure has been linked to serious health problems, and we encourage anyone who has consumed game from this region and has concerns to talk to their healthcare provider.

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A sample from the liver of a Merriams kangaroo rat clocked PFAS concentrations at 120,000 nanograms per gram; a salt cedar sample was at 30,000 nanograms per gram. Both are thought to be record-breaking concentrations in wildlife and plants, respectively.

Other samples of local plants and animals ranged from 10,000 nanograms per gram to 120,000 nanograms per gram.

But what could that mean for living things around the lake?

PFAS report

The study found symptoms that could be related to PFAS contamination in nearby wildlife, including high rates of ulcers and abnormal growths in some small mammals and a failure to hatch.

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Even a gram of duck meat  less than a bite size  from Holloman Lake included more PFAS than is recommended for a lifetime exposure to the chemical group for humans, according to a February 2024 University of New Mexico report.

The land was acquired by Holloman Air Force Base in 1996 as a wastewater evaporation pond, wrote spokesperson Denise Ottaviano in an email to The New Mexican. The Defense Authorization Act of 1996 required that the area remain open to the public, although recreation in the water is prohibited.

Hunting has been off-limits at the lake since 2019. That decision was made out of an abundance of caution and due to the presence of contaminants at the lake, Ottaviano wrote.

The Air Force is currently going through the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability process to investigate contamination from firefighting foam that may be associated with Holloman AFB mission activities, Ottaviano wrote.

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In 2022, the Air Force entered the remedial investigation phase, which will include an assessment of risks to human health and the local ecology.

The Air Force has spent

$2.9 million on the PFAS investigation at Holloman Air Force Base so far, Ottaviano wrote, adding comprehensive cleanup will be conducted if risks are identified by the remedial investigation.

PFAS are a group of chemicals known for their aversion to breaking down in the environment. Used for everything from nonstick pans and weatherproofing materials to firefighting foam, the chemicals have been linked to an array of health conditions including increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer, increased cholesterol and reduced birth weight.

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Chelsea Langer, acting bureau chief for the health departments Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, said she hasnt seen a direct study looking at how eating PFAS-contaminated meat may affect the human body.

But she said people who are concerned should speak with their doctor or potentially get a blood test to measure the levels of PFAS in their blood.

The PFAS found around Holloman are long-chain PFAS, which are more persistent in the environment and take longer to degrade, Langer said. They have some of those same qualities in the human body, increasing the health risks. Theres currently no approved treatment to remove PFAS from the human body. But knowing risk factors can help people monitor for diseases associated with exposure to the chemical.

If you get a blood test and your results are low, then I would find that reassuring.  Most everybody has some small level of PFAS in their bodies, because they are ubiquitous, Langer said.

If there are higher levels of PFAS, then that would be an indication for you and your doctor to monitor more carefully for cholesterol or for kidney and testicular cancer  and just hopefully catch those early.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit Kyiv on Feb. 4 to hold high-level meetings on preventing nuclear accidents during wartime.

The IAEA serves as the nuclear safety watchdog for the United Nations. The agency has had a rotating mission at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since September 2022.

The visit marks Grossi's 11th mission to Ukraine since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion, the IAEA said in a statement on Jan. 30.

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"As long as this horrific war continues, the IAEA will remain present and stay active, focused on doing everything we can to support nuclear safety and security in extremely challenging circumstances," Grossi said.

"As the overall situation is still precarious and fragile, our work there remains essential."

Ukraine relies on nuclear power for more than half of its energy production, which is increasingly in demand as Russian attacks pummel Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The IAEA sent teams of experts to monitor other nuclear facilities in Ukraine in mid-December 2024, amid Russia's large-scale attacks on the country's power grid. In addition to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, monitors are currently based at the Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl nuclear plants.

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The agency has warned that military activity near the sites, particularly in Zaporizhzhia, increases the risk of nuclear disaster.

According to the IAEA's report on Jan. 30, a power line at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected on Jan. 29 due to "unspecified military activity." Other facilities in Ukrainian-controlled territory were affected by air raid alerts and nearby drones.

At the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the IAEA teams reported daily explosions but no damage to the plant itself.

Read also: For Ukraines female partisans in occupation, hope lies in resistance

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com.

Federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a person in Centralia, a city in Lewis County, on Wednesday at around 12:30 p.m.

Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston stated, via a Facebook post, that she confirmed the arrest with Centralia Interim Chief of Police Andy Caldwell.

Chief Caldwell just informed us that Federal ICE agents did arrest (likely for deportation) someone here in Centralia, the mayor wrote.

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According to Caldwell, the person has a lengthy and diverse arrest record that includes assaults and is a transient member of the community, Johnston stated in the post. The individual was arrested in the alley behind City Hall and the location was purely coincidental.

Related news: Benton County official trying to help ICE, despite sanctuary law

Caldwell said the Centralia Police Department was not involved in the arrest but was informed by ICE officials. ICE also told Caldwell its operations in Southwest Washington are purely focused on immigrants with criminal records.

According to Centralia officials, ICE is not targeting or sweeping the general population.

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According to The Seattle Times Monday, two people were detained in Sunnyside in Yakima County, WA.

Also on Monday, Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson signed an executive order in Seattle that creates a rapid response team to swoop in and support children and their families if mom or dad are arrested by ICE agents and suddenly deported.

More details: Ferguson signs executive order to support children if parents arrested by ICE

The Family Separation and Rapid Response Team will operate under Washingtons Department of Children, Youth and Families to develop policies in reaction to the Trump Administrations policy to round up and send millions of illegal immigrants back to their country of origin.

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However, one thing Fergusons order does not do is take steps to prevent ICE raids across the state. Recent immigration raids across the country resulted in close to 1,000 illegal immigrants being arrested, according to ICE social media posts. Most of those arrests happened in Chicago, Miami and New Jersey.

Contributing: Luke Duecy, KIRO Newsradio

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.




Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem several times as to whether she would go after blue state governors and mayors who interfere with undocumented migrant raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, eventually telling her, Im asking a question because I expect an answer.

On Thursdays The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham led off by showing clips of the Democratic mayors of Minneapolis, Chicago and Boston each saying that undocumented migrants are welcomed there. Minneapolis Jacob Frey announced Tuesday that he would not cooperate with the federal governments deportations.

In another recent clip, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson criticized the White Houses operations, saying the administration is being ran in one of the most raggedy forms of government that Ive ever seen.

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Ingraham, after mocking Johnsons diction, said it looks like some of these mayors arent going to comply with any subpoenas.

Noem, who showed up to the studio interview in a full border patrol uniformthe second time shes dolled herself up in tactical gear this week, was then asked about repercussions for Democratic officials who defy her and President Donald Trump.

Are you all going to follow through? And what are those repercussions going to be? Ingraham wondered.

Yeah, we are still going into their communities, Noem said twice before Ingraham interjected.

But how about with the officials that interfere with federal law enforcement? the Fox host asked.

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You know, they will. But the federal government has the authority to go in and to make their communities safer, especially these that are perpetuating dangerous Noem replied as Ingraham again jumped in.

But what about these officials who get in your way? she inquired. Will there be repercussions for them personally?

Noem again didnt offer a satisfactory response to Ingraham.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wears an ICE vest during a briefing with law enforcement agents ahead of immigration raids in New York City. / @Sec_Noem / @Sec_Noem via REUTERS

The reality is, these sanctuary citiestheir laws have caused us problems, Noem said. They are limiting some of our tools that we want in our toolbox, but were going to continue to go in and use our operations and then show in other cities how its working, and tell our story to the American people. The people in our community need to hear how their mayors, their elected officials are protecting the criminals.

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Ingraham, not pleased, repeated her question for the final time.

But will you go after them personally? Im going to ask for the third time? she said, eliciting a laugh from Noem.

Im asking a question because I expect an answer. Will you go after these individual mayors who are saying essentially they are going to thwart federal authority? You guys have the authority over immigration enforcement. They dont.

Noem replied by suggesting that Donald Trump would be the one to ask about that.

Listen, Laura: Nobody is above the law. Of course we will. But thats up to President Trump. President Trump gives us the direction. I dont sit here and make up a decision on what I do. I follow the law. Thats my job. We treat everybody the same in this country now that we have President Trump in the White House, and is he going to give us direction on how we are going to go after these individuals.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is disputing a viral report that a Puerto Rican family was detained by immigration officers in Milwaukee while shopping.

"It's completely false," an ICE spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel Friday.

Earlier this week, Telemundo Puerto Rico reported a Puerto Rican family of three  including a 3-year-old child  was detained by ICE after being overheard speaking Spanish at a store in Milwaukee. The report featured an anonymous interview with a person described as a relative of the family.

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According to the ICE spokesperson, Telemundo did not reach out to the agency to confirm if this incident occurred.

The report has garnered millions of views and was shared across several social media platforms by members of Congress and others.

Immigration advocates in Wisconsin and across the U.S. have been dealing with a barrage of rumors about ICE operations since President Donald Trump took office. They have asked community members to refrain from sharing unverified information to avoid causing unnecessary panic.

Local advocates say that false rumors detract from real instances of raids and U.S. citizens being detained in other states.

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"Remember that when we spread misinformation, we are helping the people that want to destroy us," Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez said in a Facebook post Thursday.

Multiple sheriff's offices and elected officials also said they could not confirm the story. The report said the Puerto Rican family was bused to a nearby detention center, but sheriff's offices from Milwaukee County to Kenosha County said they had no evidence of such a family being detained in their jails.

"We have no record of a bus of detained people brought here by ICE," said Patrick Esser, with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department, in an email Friday.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, who shared the report on X, also told the Journal Sentinel Thursday she was unable to verify the incident.

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Local advocacy group Forward Latino hasn't been able to verify the incident either, according to Darryl Morin, president of Forward Latino.

Gina Lee Castro is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at gcastro@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ICE denies detaining Puerto Rican family in Milwaukee
DENVER (KDVR)  A woman accused of a range of crimes, including strangulation, child abuse, assault and kidnapping, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Montrose on Wednesday.

Luz Maria Ramirez-Monreal, 24, a Mexican national according to ICE, lawfully entered the U.S. on March 3, 2022. The federal agency said she later violated the terms of her lawful admission.

Reports: ICE raids planned for Thursday in Aurora delayed, but not canceled

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On Nov. 17, 2024, the Montrose Police Department arrested Ramirez-Monreal for five charges: second-degree burglary of a dwelling, second-degree assault  strangulation, possession of under four grams of a controlled substance, criminal mischief between $300-$1,000 and knowing/reckless child abuse resulting in no injury.

She did not enter a plea in the case and was released on Nov. 18, 2024, on a personal recognizance bond, according to court records.

Ms. Ramirez entered our country legally but overstayed her welcome and decided to run amok in our community, said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Denver Field Office Director Robert Guadian in a release. Her decisions show a clear and present threat to our communities, and I think weve made it clear that it wont be tolerated.

She was arrested again in Montrose on Saturday, Jan. 25, and charged with harassment, kidnapping, resisting arrest and violation of a protection order. After her arrest, ICE officers issued a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. She is currently in ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations custody, according to ICE.

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ICE said that members of the public can report child sex offenders to the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423, or online here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (PIX11)  ICE agents were seen conducting a raid in a Westchester city early Friday morning.

In a Facebook post, Peekskill Mayor Vivian C. McKenzie confirmed the raid saying the local police department was informed of the operation but had no role in it.

ICE raids in NYC: What to know about immigrant rights

I sincerely hope ICE remains focused on enforcement actions related to violent and serious criminals harming our city, not neighbors who are contributing and law-abiding members of our community, said the mayor in the Facebook post.

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According to Peeksill officials, ICE agents were looking for someone with a criminal record but, it was not made clear whether anyone was arrested. The mayor assured residents that the local police department is prohibited from assisting federal immigration law enforcement.

ICE raids in NYC: What immigrant parents can do to help protect their kids

The Facebook post also shared educational resources from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to ensure residents are aware of their rights.

Whats most important to me as Mayor and as a lifelong resident of Peekskill is that each and every one of our residents regardless of race, creed or national origin know they are safe in our City. Immigrants are an important part of this city. said McKenzie.

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ICE raids in NYC: What happens if agents go to a school?

The ICE raids in Westchester County come after dozens were arrested on the first day of operations in New York City. Raids in Newark, New Jersey have led to a U.S. Army veteran being detained.

A spokesperson for ICE previously shared the following statement with PIX11 News:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in New York to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities. ICE spokesperson

Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
NEW YORK (PIX11)  As ICE raids continue in New York City, the Department of Education has outlined its policy if agents arrive at a NYC public school.

President Donald Trumps executive order allows immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like schools and churches however, the DOE has safeguards in place to protect students and families.

Know your rights with ICE: Handouts given to students in NYC school

What to know:

According to the guidance shared online, ICE agents cannot enter a school unless required by law and only after the school has consulted with DOE lawyers. Additionally, they need a warrant signed by a judge.

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If an ICE agent arrives at an educational facility, school safety agents will have to call the principal who will meet the officer at the safety desk.

You have rights during ICE encounter, NYC mayors office says

Principals have been trained to tell ICE agents that they must wait outside until the school administration consults with DOE lawyers.

School principals will talk with DOE lawyers and notify the guardians of any students if necessary.

Information on how NYC schools will handle ICE agents is available in multiple languages online. Parents can also take certain steps to help ensure the safety of their child in the event of an ICE raid.

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Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
NEW YORK (PIX11)  As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids continue in New York and throughout the nation, immigration advocates want undocumented people to know their rights.

Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights under the Constitution, the American Civil Liberties Union website states.

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These are your rights protected under the Constitution if an ICE agent approaches you:

The right to remain silent

The right to refuse any questions from ICE agents

The right to an attorney

The right to refuse to open the door for ICE agents (if they have a signed warrant from a judge, you must comply)

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The ACLU also notes that an immigration agent has no right to search you or your belongings without probable cause. You may always object to the search. Anything you tell an officer can later be used against you in immigration court, the ACLU also notes.

Immigrants living in New York City

For undocumented immigrants living in the Big Apple, New York is considered a sanctuary city, which means it limits or declines to cooperate with the federal governments enforcement of immigration law.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny has said the NYPD is not cooperating with ICE in arresting undocumented people who have not been accused of a crime.

The New York City Mayors Office of Immigration Affairs has shared pamphlets on the rights of undocumented people during an ICE encounter. The booklets, which can be downloaded, are available in Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese.

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The pamphlets offer guidance on what undocumented people can do if they encounter ICE at home, in public spaces, or at work, and what to do if they are detained.

Guidance from the City of New York includes:

Saying, I do not want to speak with you

Not signing any documents or answering any questions before speaking to a lawyer

A plan on what to do if detained by ICE

Guidance from the experts:

Catholic Charities has a handout you can print for guidance on dealing with ICE.

The ACLU, an organization dedicated to constitutional liberties in the United States, also provides detailed information on immigration rights.

For non-citizen parents of minor children with American citizenship, the Legal Aid Society provides steps to plan for the care and custody of the child should they be detained or arrested.

Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)  The Wichita Foundation says it is seeing phenomenal response from around the country as it raises money for the families of plane crash victims.

The foundation announced the ICT Together fund on Thursday. In addition to helping victims families, it will support local efforts, such as grief counseling and mental health services.

On Friday, the Wichita Foundation said donations, large and small, have come in from all over the U.S. and Canada. The fund crossed the $100,000 mark and is not slowing down.

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Our hearts go out to those on board Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas to Washington, D.C. last night, as well as the crew of the helicopter involved in the tragic collision, the Wichita Foundation said in a news release. Wichita is strongest when we come together  ICT Together is one way we can support our neighbors in need.

The fund will be used for:

Director assistance  Support for impacts families and first responders,

Community support  Resources for local nonprofits and organizations aiding in recovery efforts, and

Healing and resilience  Support for mental health services and community aid efforts.

If you would like to donate to ICT Together, go to ICT-together.org. If your donation exceeds $5,000, email meghan@wichitafoundation.org or call 316-264-4880.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

The Wichita Foundation promises that 100% of contributions will go toward those affected.

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Bonneville County residents cast their votes during the May 21, 2024, primary election at The Waterfront Event Center in Idaho Falls. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)

Idaho House lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill to block voter registration processing for people whose citizenship status isnt confirmed.

House Bill 94, brought by Idaho House Majority Caucus Chair Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, says the Idaho Secretary of State would verify citizenship statuses of everyone on Idahos statewide voter registration list by referencing their voter registration info with citizenship data from other datasets, including by the Idaho Transportation Department, the Social Security Administrations Help America Vote Information System, and other, unnamed datasets containing citizenship status.

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In November, Idaho voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment  proposed by the Idaho Legislature  to explicitly ban noncitizens from voting in elections.

This here parallels what we did, but it actually is a process for the Secretary of State, Crane told lawmakers on Thursday.

Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Sun in a phone interview Thursday morning he hadnt had a chance to thoroughly review the bill. But he said he was planning to bring a bill focused on voter roll maintenance that he believes is more broad and includes the Secretary of States Offices noncitizen voter review efforts last year.

I think theres more tools that we use than may be covered in the bill, so well be talking with him to figure out  what we move forward, McGrane told the Sun. And, you know, my sense is the bill that weve been working on will probably be the best solution for the state.

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The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Thursday introduced Cranes bill on a unanimous voice vote.

Introducing the bill tees it up for a full committee hearing, including public testimony and a possible vote to advance it to the Idaho House floor.

To become law, bills must be approved by the Idaho House and Senate, and avoid the governors veto. If passed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.

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Bill would direct removing registered voters whose citizenship is unconfirmed

Any registrant in the statewide voter registration list whose status as a United States citizen cannot be confirmed from a comparison with one or more databases shall be removed from the list of eligible voters, the bill says.

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The individual voter shall be notified in writing of the inability of the secretary of state to confirm the individuals citizenship status and shall be provided the opportunity to present evidence or documentary proof of citizenship to be restored to the eligible voter list, the bill says.

House Majority Caucus Chairman Jaron Crane, R-Nampa (center behind the lectern) answers a reporters questions at a press conference on Jan. 6, 2025 at the Statehouse in Boise. Also pictured are House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, (left) and House Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner, R-Eagle. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)

 Before any voter registration application is accepted and added to a county or statewide voter registration list, the applicants citizenship status must be confirmed through one or more databases referenced in the bill.

Before Idaho voters approved the noncitizen voting constitutional amendment in 2024, some Democratic lawmakers worried the amendments language could be interpreted to block noncitizens, even people in Idaho under legal immigration methods, from voting in private elections, like for parent-teacher associations.

Cranes new bill appears to address public elections specifically.

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It is unlawful for any individual who is not a citizen of the United States to vote in any and all public elections on any and all matters, the new bill states. This includes but is not limited to any primary election, general election, election for federal office, election for state office, election for local office, and any public election that includes voting on constitutional amendments, ballot initiatives, or referenda.

If passed into law, willful violation of the bills provision on noncitizens not voting would be a crime of attempting to vote when not qualified, the bill says. That references a crime already outlined in Idaho election law.

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Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, on the House floor at the Statehouse in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)

Your budget reflects your values. Its that simple. You fix the dishwasher or you cancel your Hulu subscription.

Our Idaho Legislature is giving us, the voters who elected them, a clear picture of their values. I ask, and you should be too, does this reflect my values?

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The Idaho Legislature is considering a proposal to fund tax credits for families who send their kids to private schools or do home schooling. This modest proposal will only cost us taxpayers about $50 million if our governor will stick to his guns. Of course, thats just in the first year. Arizona saw a similar tax credit blow up to large multiples of this, but we can trust our legislators to keep a close eye on our tax dollars, cant we? So, we wont worry about the future right now. Though, of course, any healthy budget should.

Along these lines, our legislators have kept a close eye on the Medicaid expansion dollars. The cost to Idaho taxpayers has now come to about $100 million. Many prominent legislators think this is too much.

So now we are talking about budgets. We have to get into numbers, arithmetic. I apologize right here. I know you would rather debate principles, ideals, morals, ideology, but thats where we are headed, if you can put up with some numbers. Stay with me.

A $50 million investment in home school and private school money for Idahoans might seem prudent to legislators right now. They have been hearing a lot from the big bucks behind this.

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If the proposal caps the benefit at $5,000 per family earning less than $100,000, that means 10,000 families in Idaho might get some of your taxpayer money to support their kids in some private, maybe religious, maybe alternative school that isnt held to public school standards.

Write those numbers down.

At the same time, our legislators have decided health insurance for the working poor is too expensive. We cant afford to pay $100 million to get health insurance for 90,000 families in Idaho that would not be eligible for any health insurance coverage.

Write those numbers down.

Our legislators are considering cutting off health care coverage for nine times as many people as they want to support to send their kids to private schools, because it costs too much.

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This is a fundamental budget and value proposition.

Dont get me started on the Idaho tax cuts House Speaker Mike Moyle suggests. Idaho has seen incredible population and thus revenue growth. But the downturn is coming. We should plan for it. Our reserves will not suffice.

Some might argue that Idaho dropping Medicaid expansion coverage will help our federal partners with our deficit conundrum. Idahos U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo sat on the Simpson/Bowles Commission that offered wise deficit reduction recommendations. States dropping Medicaid was not among them. This is a straw man argument.

There is no doubt health care costs and profiteering are crippling our country. I have long advocated for reforms. But for the Idaho Legislature to now hold these two balls in their hands, weighing them, should make you think about your values.

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Sending our tax monies to 10,000 families that choose to opt out of public education might make sense if you frame it around the marketplace, competition, choice, entrepreneurial capitalism, and such. So, we drop a $50 million dime of Idaho taxpayer money in that ideological direction.

But then, at the same time we take away health care coverage from nine times as many Idahoans because we cant afford to pay twice what such a voucher benefit would cost?

This is bad math.

Its about budgeting. Its about values.

Please consider your values. I value education. I value health care. I dont think our Idaho Legislature has these values. I would hope you do.

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Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur dAlene, on the Idaho House floor on March 25, 2024. (Kyle Pfannenstiel/Idaho Capital Sun)

A North Idaho representative introduced two bills on Friday morning that would change how Idahoans use the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

The first bill would address a junk food epidemic, bill sponsor Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur dAlene, told the Idaho House Health and Welfare committee. It would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to seek approval from the federal government to exclude candy and soda from SNAP-eligible foods.

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Another bill would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to add photo identification to SNAP benefit cards and replace existing cards with the photo identification within 18 months of the legislation taking effect. According to the department, at least 125,000 Idahoans received SNAP benefits in 2023.

The bill is estimated to cost the state and federal government a combined $1.1 million, according to the legislation.

Redman said the purpose of this legislation is to add accountability and reduce fraud in SNAP.

Rep. Faye Thompson, R-McCall, asked Redman how the legislation would impact disabled individuals who arent able to go shopping independently. In response, Redman said he would suggest individuals obtain a power of attorney declaration.

The committee voted to advance both bills, clearing the way for a public hearing at a later date.

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An information technology expert who for decades assumed the identity of another man so convincingly that his victim was forcibly medicated and jailed for identity theft himself was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison.

Matthew David Keirans, 59, of Hartland, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty last April to federal charges of aggravated identify theft and making false statements to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution.

The charges shocked Keirans family and friends, who described him in letters to the court as kind, gracious and dependable. His victim, William Woods, said Keirans' guilty plea spelled the end of a yearslong nightmare.

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Woods said Keirans tried to make him look like the criminal.

He deserved to get every bit of what he got from the judge, Woods said after the sentencing.

Court records indicate Keirans had a rocky childhood, ran away from home at 16, stole a car in San Francisco and was arrested in Oregon but never appeared in court.

The two men met in the late 1980s while working at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, court records show.

Woods said Keirans stole his wallet in 1988, but returned it after Woods threatened to punch him.

But while Keirans had possession of Woods' wallet, he used the information on Woods' social security card to apply for a driver's license as William Woods.

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At that point, "hes got my name with his face on an ID card, Woods told The Associated Press.

There is no record of Keirans using his real name or social security number after 1988. Court documents show he publicly assumed the name William Woods in 1990.

Over the years, Keirans married and had a child, all as Woods. He worked at the University of Iowa Hospital and used Woods ID to secure credit union loans in Iowa totaling more than $200,000, prosecutors said.

Woods, meanwhile, wasn't earning enough to file taxes  around $3,000 a year at the time, but he wasn't completely under the radar. In 2015, Yousef Saleh Erakat, a YouTuber known as FouseyTube, found Woods living on the street and created a series of videos with more than 1 million views each that document Erakat giving Woods food and paying for him to stay in a motel.

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Woods used money Fousey gave him to pay for a credit-monitoring service, and learned that someone was racking up debt and opening accounts under his name. Outraged, Woods marched into a Los Angeles bank in 2019 and demanded an end to it.

The guy is fraudulent, Woods recalled saying.

The branch manager asked Woods a series of security questions that he was unable to answer because the answers had been set by Keirans. Then the bank called the police, court records say. Keirans, whom the bank believed was Woods, told police that no one in California had permission to access his accounts.

Suspect entered bank and attempted to use victims personal identification to gain access to victims bank account, the arrest report said.

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The real Woods was then charged with identity theft and false impersonation.

Keirans' attorney argued in a court filing that Woods tried to steal thousands of dollars from his client, and described Woods as a wrongdoer whose own conduct should mitigate any sympathy felt for him.

Woods is identified in court records from that time as Matthew Kierans, misspelling his tormentors name. There's no record of how or why authorities came to identify him as such.

Woods told police the names of his relatives, and even offered to call the owner of the hot dog cart to prove his identity.

They wouldnt let me, Woods said. He said the YouTube videos also proved his identity.

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As Woods repeatedly disputed the identity authorities foisted upon him, a California judge found him not mentally competent to stand trial and sent him to a state mental hospital, where he received psychotropic medication, court records show.

Woods spent 428 days in county jail and 147 days in the mental hospital. He was released after agreeing to a no-contest plea  a case that has since been vacated. The Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defenders Office declined to comment.

Freed, Woods began a crusade to regain his identity, filing a string of reports. When he reached out to the University of Iowa Hospital, where Keirans was earning more than $100,000 a year, hospital security called the police.

Keirans initially told police that the victim needed help and should be locked up, federal prosecutors said. But a detective tracked down the biological father listed on Woods birth certificate and tested his DNA to confirm that Woods was his son.

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My life is over," Keirans said, when confronted with the results.

Woods is now back living in Albuquerque where he works as a landscaper. He said he plans to seek compensation for his wrongful incarceration.

My main goal," he said, is to rebuild my life.

___

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday directed state agency heads to recognize only two genders -- male and female -- continuing a campaign against what Abbott called woke gender ideologies.

Abbott's action declaring Texas recognizes only two genders is not consistent with professional medical and psychological guidance from the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.

The AMA says in a statement on its website, "Improving access to gender-affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population. Receipt of gender-affirming care has been linked to dramatically reduced rates of suicide attempts, decreased rates of depression and anxiety, decreased substance use, improved HIV medication adherence and reduced rates of harmful self-prescribed hormone use."

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But Abbott said in his letter that Texas agencies should follow a White House executive order on gender, ignoring medical and psychological guidance on gender and healthcare for transgender and gender-diverse people.

"On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, rejecting similar efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to distort commonsense notions of biological sex," Abbott wrote in his letter.

The American Psychology Association says in a policy statement on its website, "This policy statement affirms APA's support for unobstructed access to healthcare and evidence-based clinical care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents and adults."

The APA added, "This policy statement addresses the spread of misleading and unfounded narratives that mischaracterize gender dysphoria and affirming care, likely resulting in further stigmatization, marginalization, and lack of access to psychological and medical supports for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals."

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Abbott and the White House executive order on gender purport to somehow be defending women as they disregard medical and psychological guidance on gender.

Abbott's press release announcing his effort to force all Texas agencies to comply with rejecting "woke gender ideologies" urged agency heads to reject what Abbot called "radical sexual orientation and gender identity ideologies."

The Trump administration is attempting to enforce its beliefs on gender and other diversity, equity and inclusion issues through executive orders.

That includes an order issued Jan. 27 that said in part, "Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."

A White House statement on Jan. 20, said, "The President will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology."
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA)  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at combating antisemitism, but free speech advocacy groups are warning it could violate the First Amendment.

The order targets certain students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, specifically international students who could have their visas revoked and face deportation.

Illinois officials respond to Trumps executive orders cracking down on immigration

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To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you, a fact sheet describing the order posted on the White Houses website reads. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.

Last year, a series of pro-Palestinian protests erupted on college campuses across the country over the war in Gaza, including at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Palestinians are you know, seeking liberation from a currently occupying entity, Dua Aldasouqi, a member of the Champaign-Urbana Muslim Action Committee, said. The Israeli state is occupying Palestinian land and it has just committed genocide, [and] is continuing to commit genocide.

Under the executive order, international students could face deportation. The Champaign-Urbana Muslim Action Committee says theyve already gotten calls from people anxious about Trumps executive order.

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Were working on putting together information for people, for our community members, Aldasouqi said. Just to kind of be aware of what this means, how this could impact what peoples rights are.

Those actions are part of an executive order that the Trump administration said is meant to combat antisemitism.

Using broad terms of antisemitism, which in turn result in silencing the Palestinian experience and in silencing Palestinians, Aldasouqi criticized.

IL nonprofits, governor lay out fears over federal funding freeze

Civil liberties groups like the ACLU of Illinois said the order raises questions about peoples First Amendment right to free speech.

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When we suggest somehow that its dangerous to have students protesting about one issue or another one of the things, we risk is that we send a chilling effect across the range of a group of people who somehow will now think, well, they cant protest either, Ed Yohnka, the communications director for the ACLU of Illinois said.

The First Amendment applies to everyone on American soil, regardless of their residency status.

They dont somehow lose First Amendment rights simply because they arent yet a citizen, and theyre just here on a student visa, Yohnka said.

The ACLU sent a letter to U of I earlier this month warning university officials to not impose on students rights.

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ACLU asks U of I to reverse punitive minefield of student protest policies

Another organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, also criticized the Executive Order.

The revocation of student visas should not be used to punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the federal government. The strength of our nations system of higher education derives from the exchange of the widest range of views, even unpopular or dissenting ones, FIRE said in a statement Wednesday. Students who commit crimes  including vandalism, threats, or violence  must face consequences, and those consequences may include the loss of a visa. But if todays executive order reaches beyond illegal activity to instead punish students for protest or expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment, it must be withdrawn.

WCIA reached out to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for comment on Trumps executive order, but did not hear back.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  KELOLAND News noticed a marked increase in immigration-related arrests in the past week. Weve also seen an increase in immigration-related documents being filed locally in federal court. Court papers and jail logs tell the story, weve come across more than a dozen recent arrests and federal filings related to possible immigration violations in South Dakota.

For instance in this case, dated January 22nd, Victor Manuel Jimenez-Rivera is accused of using a phony permanent resident card. The federal complaint is signed by a special agent with Homeland Security.



We found at least 6 people booked into the Minnehaha County jail on Tuesday and Wednesday, who were being held on an ICE detainer. Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead says there is no doubt we are seeing an increase in arrests of those who are in the country illegally.

With the new administration and their priorities, apprehending criminal aliens, looking for people who have committed crimes in the U.S. who are here illegally, with that as their priority we expected to see an increase in ICE arrests or ICE detentions, said Sheriff Mike Milstead.

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Frustration with unreliable heat at Woodlake Apartments

Last week, the Trump administration said it was expanding the use of expedited removal. It gives enforcement agencies broad authority to deport people without requiring them to appear before an immigration judge. The raids are happening in the nations largest cities.



On Wednesday President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, giving federal authorities broader power to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have been accused of crimes.



The Sioux Falls Police Department tells us officers were not directly involved in any recent immigration arrests.



Sheriff Milstead says local agencies including his office have always cooperated with homeland security, he expects many more arrests as the crackdown and deportations ramp up in KELOLAND. We reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for comment on the arrests in Sioux Falls, but have yet to hear back from them.



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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has directed his states hiring authority to prohibit the employment of anyone who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, saying their infamous and disgraceful conduct violates the states personnel code.

In a letter sent Thursday to the director of Illinois Department of Central Management Services, whose staff manages the states administrative functions, the Democratic governor took aim at those recently pardoned by President Donald Trump.

No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government, Pritzker told Director Raven A. DeVaughn in the letter obtained by HuffPost and first reported by NBC News.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has directed his state's hiring authority to prohibit the employment of anyone who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Chicago Tribune via Getty Images

Pointing to the states Personnel Code, the governor said CMS is required to reject candidates for state employment who have engaged in infamous or disgraceful conduct.

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Having participated in the insurrection should amount to such behavior and be considered as infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State, he said.

I am committed to building a Stateworkforce that upholds our shared values and delivers results for the people of Illinois. Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers, he said.

Pritzker has been an outspoken critic of Trump and on Thursday called him unfit to lead while criticizing his handling of the fatal air crash in Washington this week.

Trump has alleged, without offering any supporting evidence, that the crash could have been related to the hiring of diverse candidates.

Related...
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said he would block pardoned Capitol insurrectionists from serving in local government positions, citing a state law ordinance, according to a Thursday letter obtained by The Hill.

The States Personnel Code, administered by the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) and by you as its Director, requires the rejection of candidates for State employment who have engaged in infamous or disgraceful conduct (20 ILCS 415/8b.4), Pritzker wrote to Raven A. DeVaughn, director of the states CMS.

To protect the integrity of our workforce and safety of our State, I hereby direct CMS to apply the State Personnel Code and consider any participation in the January 6 insurrection as infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State.

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Earlier in the directive, Pritzker outlined the actions of Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol four years ago.

These rioters were accused or convicted of a combination of felonies and misdemeanors, including but not limited to: violence against law enforcement officers, threats against Members of Congress, destruction of federal property, and many other crimes. These crimes attacks threatened public safety as Members of Congress, staff, and other workers who were forced to hide from the violence for hours, he detailed.

I am committed to building a State workforce that upholds our shared values and delivers results for the people of Illinois. Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers, he added.

No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government.

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His sentiments echo those of Capitol Police, lawmakers and onlookers who condemned President Trumps decision to pardon nearly 1,500 Capitol insurrectionists, including violent offenders on his first day in office.

The president has defended his decision to free the rioters.

These people have already served years in prison, and theyve served them viciously. Its a disgusting prison. Its horrible. Its been inhumane, Trump told reporters, claiming the American public sided with his choice.

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Scott Grandchamp was cleaning out the backroom last month at the LaGrange Park Ace Hardware store he owns when he found an untouched Illinois state flag tucked into a safe.

He decided to replace a company anniversary flag that he designed with the state flag and has flown it under the American flag every day since.

Its nice, and I think its something that should be flown, and it does represent our state, Grandchamp said. I think everybodys always just raised the American flag, and they dont raise the state flag. Since I found it and had an extra set of hooks, I said Lets raise it.

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Maligned by some, the state flag design thats been used for more than 50 years has its fans. But its future is uncertain, as the Illinois Flag Commission is a few weeks away from choosing a winner in a contest to design a new flag to represent the Land of Lincoln  although the outcome will be advisory at best.

Illinois residents have until Feb. 14 to vote  every resident can cast one ballot every 24 hours  on 10 finalists the commission chose from almost 5,000 submissions. The ultimate decision will be made by state lawmakers, who are scheduled to receive the vote totals on the 10 submissions by April 1 as part of a full report from the commission. Legislators will then consider whether to stick with the current flag or go with one from the design contest. They could also choose to shift to the states centennial flag or sesquicentennial flag, according to state Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat who sponsored the bill leading to the design contest.

Illinois State Sen. Terri Bryant, a member of the commission, made clear she likes the current flag, which she said she flies outside her house. Several neighbors on her street do the same, she said.

There are things about our flag that stand out, said Bryant, a Republican from downstate Murphysboro. For instance, when the flag moves, and when it flies in the air it actually looks like the water moves. Same thing with the sun.

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The state flag is essentially a white background with just the state seal  a bald eagle with the state motto in its mouth standing on a rock bearing the year of the states incorporation, 1818, and the seals creation, 1868.

Ted Kaye, a vexillologist, or person who studies flags, calls it a seal on a bedsheet  an unflattering term for a flag design in vexillology circles  and said Illinois needs a rebrand. He noted that the flags details cant be distinguished at a distance and that the white background cant be used on graphic designs because the white bleeds into the background.

Heres how to vote for Illinois new state flag

He also said he doesnt think state seals belong on flags because seals represent the government while a flag is meant to represent the people of the state.

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As a civilian, I would ask myself, why would I want to fly the flag of the government of my state at my house? Kaye said.

Changing the flag would involve costs. Utah, which adopted a new flag last March, spent almost $500,000 on its flag task force and $5,000 on prize money for design finalists. A report compiled by the Utah Fiscal Analyst Office said it might cost local governments $20 per flag to replace old flags, and the governor included $50,000 in his 2023 state budget for marketing the new flag.

Minnesota also changed its flag last year. The Minnesota Legislature allocated $35,000 to fund the design phase, but the biggest cost burden falls on state agencies and municipal governments, including fire and police departments. For instance, a county commissioner told a local news outlet that it would cost $50,000 to replace the state seal on a justice center. The states Department of Corrections is updating uniform patches gradually, with an estimated cost over time of $2 million, a spokesperson said.

Bryant said she was not clear on what the costs of changing the flag might be and plans to request an estimate during the spring legislative session. But Turner said she is confident the costs wont be high. She noted that the commission is made up of volunteers and said the state would follow Utah in replacing flags gradually as they wear out.

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We havent delved that far down into it and put numbers together, but we will probably follow what Utah and several other states that have gone through this process have done, Turner said. They phased in changing the flag so its not like you wake up one day and every flag is gone.

Regardless of the outcome, Turner said the flag competition serves a productive purpose.

This is an opportunity for some civic engagement, state pride and representation as this is as close to the community that we can possibly get, she said.

Proponents of leaving the flag alone, among them Ayn Patton Bartok, a resident of Bryants downstate district, have taken their case to social media. After hearing of the possible flag change, Bartok rallied dozens of local residents on Facebook to vote in favor of the current flag.

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Primarily as a taxpayer in the state of Illinois, I dont feel that this is an expenditure that our government should consider, Bartok said. Im concerned that our state is not necessarily physically sound, and this seems to be a frivolous endeavor.

If there was some reason that a new flag was going to improve our business relationships with other states, or attract more people to live in Illinois, I might understand, but I dont even think thats the case, Bartok said. Theres not been enough evidence to persuade me that getting a new flag is going to solve any of the states problems.

John Kokoris, who bills himself as Mr. Illinois and speaks about state history and other subjects at libraries, said hes been surprised by the number of people saying they like the current flag.

I hear a lot of people say, Oh I like the flag. I like the eagle. Theres just patriotic people out there who like that sort of thing, Kokoris said. I would have loved to see it updated, but a lot of great things have been done and accomplished under the current flag.

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Kaye, the vexolligist, said the states process for involving residents in the flag decision is flawed because voting includes the current flag. That means the flag that flies now could come out on top with less than 50% of the votes while residents who want a different flag will be divided across the 10 submitted designs.

This conflating of democratic participation in choosing the flag and lack of expertise in creating a great design for them to choose from is a challenge, Kaye said of the Illinois process.

But Turner said it was important to include the current flag in the voting to give individuals who felt strongly that option.

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Kokoris and Bryant also take issue with the selection process of the 10 finalists.

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Everyone seems confused, and I feel like if we had better finalists, if people could have seen some of those more unique ideas that might have opened their eyes to what could be, Kokoris said. Instead, were looking at stars and stripes and red, white and blue and (former President Abraham) Lincolns head. And I love Lincoln, but dont get me wrong, its just like theres so many more ways to talk about Illinois.

Turner said the 10 finalists were selected over a four-hour meeting in which each commission member presented their 10 favorite flag designs and the members chose from that pool.

No matter the outcome, Turner said this process has increased civic engagement around the flag.

Out of the 4,844 entries received over the six-week time period, Turner said several hundred submissions came from elementary, middle and high school students.

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The commission should be able to say, we like the stars from this one and the colors from that one. Lets combine them, said Kaye. The goal is to design a flag, not to select a design.

Tim Butler, a former Republican state representative and member of the flag commission, said whatever the outcome of the competition and legislative deliberation, the process has been a healthy one for a flag that didnt get much attention.

Hopefully, if nothing else, this raises the visibility of our flag, said Butler, of Springfield, and people take a little more pride in it.
Ill. (WTVO)  Illinois State Troopers will now be offered credit hours from several universities for graduating from the Illinois State Police Academy.

Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Western Illinois University will offer credit hours that go towards degrees in criminal justice and other programs.

The Director of the Illinois State Police explained it is the mind behind the badge that matters the most.

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The most important tools of our Illinois State Police officers are not their badges, or guns, or handcuffs, but their hearts, minds, and souls, said ISP Director Brendan Kelly. Partnering with these academic institutions strengthens their minds, their careers, and their ability to protect the people of Illinois.

Here are the benefits offered by each university:

Eastern Illinois University

12 hours awarded toward the Interdisciplinary Program

$1,000 annual scholarship for two years

Governors State University

33 hours awarded toward a bachelors degree in criminal justice

48 hours awarded toward a bachelors degree in criminal justice with 4 years of service and completion of Sergeant Exam

42 hours awarded toward an associate degree in criminal justice with 4 years of service and completion of Sergeant Exam

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

8 hours awarded toward a bachelors degree in criminal justice or liberal studies

Western Illinois University

12 hours awarded toward an internship for fieldwork experience

The state police already provide tuition reimbursement for troopers with at least one year of service who have completed work-related courses.

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DENVER (KDVR)  Organizations that help undocumented immigrants say they have been inundated with calls from people asking for help.

Many fear Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will raid their homes, workplaces, and communities.

Reports: ICE raids planned for Thursday in Aurora delayed, but not canceled

The videos from across the country of federal agents raiding places and detaining undocumented immigrants have sparked a wave of fear among non-citizens in Colorado. Its the reason the Colorado Rapid Response Network is getting so many calls and questions about possible ICE raids.

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The hotline has been ringing nonstop, you know, since the inauguration, Colorado Rapid Response Network Dispatcher Raquel Lane Arellano said.

People have been reporting possible ICE actions, most of which have not been confirmed. Volunteers want to make sure people in the country without authorization know what to do.

ICE will show up with their own version of a warrant thats not real and you dont have to open the door. You should make sure its an official warrant, not a DHS warrant, Lane-Arellano said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration attorneys like Hans Meyer say the number of calls to his office has also increased exponentially.

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DEA arrests another suspected TdA gang member in Aurora as several operations underway

And so a lot of what we do is educating people in the community about what your rights are, in an encounter with law enforcement and ICE, how to make a plan for you and your family to try to stay safe and have a contingency plan in place if someone you know or a loved one does land in immigration detention, Meyer said.

Meyer said that even though a person may not be documented, they still have rights.

A thing that is often misunderstood is that sometimes if a persons arrested, they dont have any options. And thats not true. A lot of times in immigration court, a person whos a non-citizen will have options to be able to ask a court to stay in the country or to be able to, to be able to obtain status, Meyer said.

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It is that type of information that the Rapid Response Network hopes undocumented immigrants understand clearly.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, Athar Haseebullah, ACLU of Nevada executive director, and Sadmira Ramic, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada. (Photo by Michael Lyle/Nevada Current)

As President Donald Trump aggressively escalates immigration enforcement across the country, Nevada legal groups are working to inform people of their rights when dealing with federal agents.

No matter what your legal status is, whether you have documents, whether youre here on a visa, no matter what your legal status is, you have the same rights as anyone else that lives in this country, said Sadmira Ramic, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada.

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Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, the ACLU of Nevada, and the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada hosted an immigration town hall on Wednesday addressing how people should respond if they encounter immigration enforcement.

Attorneys gave basic guidance telling people to ask to see a warrant before opening a door and not to give fake documents, and also explained the legal conditions determining when immigration officers can and cant enter a home or search a car without consent.

They also stressed the importance of not sharing unverified reports of immigration raids to prevent panic.

Trump began implementing his plan of mass deportation the moment he took office, creating fear and uncertainty among immigrant communities.

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Among his executive actions, he has rescinded a 2011 policy prohibiting immigration enforcement in sensitive places such as schools, churches, and hospitals, and issued a directive to the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute local officials who fail to assist with mass deportations.

Communities across the country are seeing increased  and increasingly publicized  enforcement, especially by the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement. Enforcement is expected to escalate up as Trump has increased quotas for the number of people detained per day.

Athar Haseebullah, the executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said based on the most recent reporting he has received, more than half of those that have been stopped this past month have had no criminal legal system contact at all.

Attorneys warned Wednesday night that its not just ICE officers. Agents with the FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also been tasked with immigration enforcement.

Know your rights

Clark County and legal aid groups distributed fact sheets about legal rights and procedures during an immigration town hall. (Photo: Michael Lyle/Nevada Current)

While going over an ACLU Know Your Rights handout, Ramic said people have basic rights, including the right to remain silent and ask for an attorney and the right to refuse or not give consent to search yourself or your property, including a car.

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If an immigration agent asks you to show documents, and you do have those documents, you are required to show them, Ramic added. However, in that instance you do not have to answer any other questions.

People should not provide fake documents under any circumstances, she stressed.

If an immigration agent comes to a persons house, Ramic said, if there is a person who has legal documents that person should speak to them through the door.

You dont have to open the door, she said. The first thing you should do is ask for them to identify themself and ask if they can provide any kind of identification.

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People should request to see a warrant and to make sure it is a judicial warrant before opening the door.

A judicial warrant, which is signed by a federal or state judge, is different from an administrative warrant, which comes from an immigration agency or another federal agency but is not signed by a federal or state judge.

If they have a judicial warrant, they can enter your home without your consent, Ramic said. If they have an administrative warrant, they cannot enter your home without consent.

Even if someone allows an officer with an administrative warrant to enter their home, you have the right to revoke your consent at any time, she said.

Its a disgrace

Since Trump resumed office, Haseebullah has said the ACLU of Nevada has received non-stop calls and messages from communities targeted by various executive actions.

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People are really concerned, he said in an interview following the town hall. Were getting calls that are both rooted in real information and misinformation.

The ACLU is planning additional know your rights town halls around Trumps various actions targeting immigrants, the trans community, and other marginalized groups.

As immigration enforcement has increased nationwide, Haseebullah said in Nevada enforcement has been restricted to people who have received a final removal order.

From my understanding and the information Ive received, the requirement is to bring in others that are encountered along the way who may be undocumented as well, he said.

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Though some of Trumps executive orders targeting immigration will likely face legal challenges, on Wednesday he signed the Laken Riley Act, which drastically expanded the parameters for who could be detained and deported.

The legislation mandates undocumented immigrants who are arrested or charged with nonviolent crimes like shoplifting, theft and larceny to be detained even if there isnt a conviction.

Immigration attorneys nationwide have warned that some immigrants with legal status could be harmed as well.

The bill was named after a 22-year-old student who was killed by a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela who is undocumented.

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The entire Nevada Democratic delegation voted in favor of the bill despite significant warnings from state immigration groups, civil rights attorneys and legal experts that it would violate peoples due process protections and aid Trumps efforts around mass deportation.

Haseebullah said the Laken Riley Act is one of the most destructive pieces of legislation thats ever been brought forth by Congress.

Its a disgrace for anybody who voted for it, he said. What it does is require mandatory detention for anyone even arrested for shoplifting with no statute of limitations, no right to a trial, no right to even receive charges.

ICE in schools

Clark County School District Vice Chair Brenda Zamora briefly spoke at the town hall to address concerns around ICE coming into schools.

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The school board adopted a resolution in 2017 to ensure students are protected regardless of immigration status.

Even though President Trump reversed a policy that stopped immigration officers from arresting people in sensitive places like schools, churches and hospitals, that does not mean that ICE can enter a school anytime they want, Zamora said.

The district will not share students immigration information unless the court orders it. School police will not assist ICE unless required by a court order, Zamora added.

Last week, the school district sent an email to staff telling them to contact school police in the event any law enforcement officer or government agent appears at a school. CCSD police are not responsible for and do not enforce federal civil immigration laws, the email said.

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Zamora said the district is in the process of making changes to the 2017 resolution, which will be discussed at upcoming board meetings.

Our goal is to ensure that students feel comfortable and secure while attending school, no matter their background, she said.
IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI)  Mayor Paloma Aguirre on Thursday night delivered the State of the City address in Imperial Beach, covering a wide range of issues. But for most, the Tijuana River sewage crisis remains at the top of mind.

Some Imperial Beach residents may walk along the sandy shore, but you wont find anyone going for a swim in the polluted water.

I wanted to retire here and be able to surf every day. Well, I havent surfed in this beach for two years, said Bill Wright, an Imperial Beach resident.

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Among a laundry list of issues, the sewage crisis was at the top.

South County gets ignored because were not wealthy. Were not well-connected like other parts of San Diego county, she said. If toxic sewage was flooding across the border into La Jolla, theyd send in the Army Corp of Engineers.

The city secured $250 million to expand the South Bay International Water Treatment Plant and fund maintenance once its complete.

That money is already being put to good use, she said.

Now, Aguirre demands the County of San Diego to pull from their reserves to continue addressing the sewage crisis.

Our taxpayer money shouldnt be sitting in their bank, gaining interest. It should be spent on the community, she said in her address.

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Aguirre continued to point out that 11 of the 20 homeless individuals identified in last years Point-In-Time Count in Imperial Beach were placed in homes or programs, and she plans to continue developing affordable housing in the city.

Families should be able to enjoy life here without breaking the bank, she added.

Aguirre also expressed support for the immigrant community, saying the city would not use law enforcement to assist in deportations.

We will not allow for city resources to be used to do the federal governments job, she said.

While residents say they still need to see significant improvement, they feel the mayor addressed their concerns on Thursday night.

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I like her proactive approach, said Perly Shouse, a long-time Imperial Beach resident.

For now, community members like Shouse and Wright are hoping for the same thing.

We have our fingers crossed for 2025 that our beaches will be opened this summer, Wright said.

Aguirre announced the city plans to build a splashpad by the beach to keep young kids out of the polluted water until the crisis is fully addressed, but shes hopeful to see the beaches open this summer.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old civil rights lawyer and former Miss Kansas contestant, was among the 64 people aboard the American Airlines Flight 5342 that crashed into a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Duggins family confirmed on Thursday that she was among the victims of the tragic incident.

According to NPR affiliate KMUW, the Wichita State Universityalum was on her way back to Washington, D.C., after spending time with her mother, who recently had a surgical procedure.

Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old Howard University law professor and former Miss Kansas contestant Civil Rights Corps

We are coming to terms with the grief associated with the loss of our beautiful and accomplished firstborn, Her father, Maurice Duggins, said in a statement obtained by the outlet. He also urged the public to respect their familys privacy.

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Duggins graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Wichita East High School and then later attended Wichita State University as a Clay Barton Scholar. She later received a degree from Harvard Law, where she served as president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. While at Wichita State, she was also a White House intern under the leadership of former first lady Michelle Obamas Let Girls Learn initiative. Duggins was a top 10 finalist in the Miss Kansas pageant in 2014 and 2015, according to a Facebook post from a pageant official.

She worked as an attorney for the Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit focused on addressing injustice in the legal system, where she integrated her study of abolishing the prison industrial complex. Duggins was also set to start teaching at Howard Universitys law schoolin the fall.

It is with profound sadness that the Howard University community and the Howard University School of Law have learned of the passing of Professor Kiah Duggins, who was among those lost in the midair plane collision at Reagan National Airport, Howard University President Ben Vinson III said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images

Duggins law school classmate Anna Bower remembered her as an exceptionally talented civil rights lawyer and aspiring legal scholar in a post on Bluesky. Friend and former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse also remembered Duggins in an emotional Facebook post.

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She was a brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights, Cruse wrote. Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality.

As of Jan. 30, 28 bodies had been recovered from the Potomac River, which borders the airport. According to The Associated Press, three Army soldiers who were in the helicopter were recovered from the wreckage.

Related...
Blacksburg-area pharmacist Jeremy Counts, pictured on the projector screen, called in to the Sept. 16 meeting of the state's rural health care committee to talk about challenges independent pharmacies face. He highlighted that these pharmacists will serve the areas of the state that national chains sometimes wont. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

A bill to reign in pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) faced early resistance in the General Assembly but is now picking up steam. After a House Finance subcommittee skipped a vote earlier this week, Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, called the bill controversial.

By Friday, however, it had cleared the full Finance committee and is now headed to the full House of Delegates for consideration.

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Sponsored by Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, House Bill 2610 is part of a bipartisan effort to increase state oversight of PBMs  middlemen who negotiate drug prices between health plans, manufacturers and pharmacies. Critics argue that PBMs operate with little transparency, making it unclear how much of their negotiated savings actually reach consumers.

Callsens proposal would eliminate health-plan-run PBMs in Medicaid and establish a single state-contracted PBM, a move supporters say would improve accountability, lower costs, and help independent pharmacies to stay afloat.

A companion bill by Sens. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell, is advancing in the Senate. Branded the Save Local Pharmacies Act, the legislation is seen as a lifeline for small, independently-owned pharmacies.

Hackworth, a former local pharmacy owner, knows the struggle firsthand.

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I know what its like to spend $10 to make $5 back from Medicaid, he said.

Independent pharmacists across Virginia are rallying behind legislation to reform PBMs, arguing the change is critical for rural healthcare access.

Blacksburg-based Jeremy Counts and Cumberland-based Kim Wright have been vocal in their support, attending rural healthcare committee meetings last summer to highlight the role independent pharmacies play in communities where national chains are absent.

Were the first line, Counts told The Mercury, emphasizing how local pharmacies serve as key access points for prescriptions, vaccines, and physician consultations. But with both national and local pharmacy closures on the rise, he warned of worsening pharmacy deserts and patient access issues.

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Gov. Glenn Youngkins administration initially raised concerns that the proposed single PBM system would exclude current providers. In response, lawmakers amended the bills to allow existing PBMs to apply. Meanwhile, the Virginia Association of Health Plans cited a study estimating the transition could cost $17 million in administrative expenses.

Supporters counter that those costs pale in comparison to potential savings. Rouse noted that Virginia could save about $39 million annually, pointing to Kentucky and West Virginia, which saved $56.6 million and $54.4 million, respectively, after passing similar laws.

Callsen defended the proposal, stating, Its just a question of when those savings are realized when we put it into place.

With the legislative session hitting its midpoint, bills still must clear both chambers before heading to Youngkins desk for a final decision.

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By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) -India is set to see above-average temperatures in February after a warmer than normal January, the weather office said on Friday, posing a risk to key winter-sown crops such as wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas.

Maximum and minimum temperatures in most parts of the country will be above-average in the month, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director-general of the India Meteorological Department, told a virtual news conference.

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The country is likely to receive below-average rainfall in February and could see fewer cold days than normal in the month, he said.

"Below normal rainfall, along with higher temperatures over the plains of northwest India, would have a significant adverse impact on standing crops like wheat at flowering and grain filling stages. Crops like mustard and chickpea may also experience early maturity," Mohapatra said.

India's Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh states in the north, along with Madhya Pradesh in central India, form the country's top wheat-growing regions.

Winter-sown crops such as wheat, rapeseed, and chickpeas are planted from October to December and require cold weather conditions during their growth and maturity stages for optimal yields.

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Reuters reported on Thursday that temperatures in February were likely to remain above average, especially in the northern states where wheat and rapeseed are grown.

In January, minimum and maximum temperatures were above average as the country received lower than normal rainfall, Mohapatra said.

Hot and unseasonably warm weather leads to lower wheat production and sharp drawdowns in state reserves. As a result, wheat prices hit a record 33,250 rupees ($384.05) per metric ton earlier this month.

Any drop in the rapeseed crop could force India, the world's biggest vegetable oil importer, to step up its cooking oil imports, dealers said.

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India buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav. Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar. Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Potter)
India could be caught up in a wave of nationwide protests as early as next month after a joint platform of trade unions, independent federations and workers associations rallied the country to mobilize ahead of a new budget session on Friday.

The protests, set to begin on Feb. 5, are in response to the Indian governments continued attacks on workers rights, including the proposed rollout of anti-worker labor laws that include privatization of public sector undertakings, disinvestment of public companies and services, and the failed restoration of the old pension scheme, according to IndustriALL Global Union, a global union federation that represents more than 50 million people in sectors such as mining, energy and manufacturing across 140 countries.

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Its union partners, IndustriALL said, are particularly alarmed about the upcoming budget session, which they worry will amplify corporate interests at the expense of the working class. They warned that controversial labor legislation that was passed in 2020but has remained in a state of limbo due to worker resistanceis likely to take effect this year, ramping up daily working hours from eight to 12, for instance, and excluding from any liability employers with fewer than 20 workers under their charge. Under the new rules, employers with fewer than 300 workers in their factories would also no longer need government approval before they enact layoffs or closures.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis government says that labor reforms are needed to accelerate economic development. Before his reelection last year, Modi said he would guarantee Indias rise from the worlds fifth-largest economy to the third if he won. He said that the working class had become entangled in a web of multiple labor legislations, and that it was necessary to condense what were once 29 laws into four codes that simplified compliance for businesses.

But unions, IndustriALL said, are determined to intensify their struggle to prevent the laws implementation in a country that the International Trade Union Confederation gave in its latest global rights index the worst-possible rating of 5, meaning no guarantee of rights for working people. They are also asking for a minimum wage of at least 26,000 Indian rupees ($300), increased corporate and wealth taxes that dont burden the common masses with goods and services taxes on essential food items and medicine, and a state-sponsored social security fund for unorganized and agricultural workers.

The call to demonstrate comes after an indefinite strike involving 18,000 workers at a dozen of Indias ports was narrowly called off in December after the government said it would ensure that employers would honor the wage revisions they had agreed to over the summer.

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The nationwide protests, too, could culminate in a general strike if authorities fail to reverse their unjust policies, the unions said, creating disruptions on a scale that neighboring Bangladesh experienced during its 2023 minimum wage demonstrations, which involved tens of thousands of workers, and the far more sweeping democratic uprising, which ousted then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August only to give way to bouts of worker unrest that have yet to fully abate. Its this volatile climate, crackling with uncertainty, that has reportedly driven export orders to Bangladeshs rivals, including India.

We urge the government of India to respect workers rights, engage in meaningful dialogue with trade unions, and ensure that labor laws align with international labor standards, IndustriALL said.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita faces three new charges filed by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission filed a new round of charges Friday against Attorney General Todd Rokita  this time surrounding his defiant response to a prior reprimand.

In a sworn affidavit, Rokita accepted responsibility for misconduct in exchange for a public reprimand last year. In its new complaint, the commission found that Rokita almost immediately released a statement contradicting his admission.

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This retraction of acceptance of responsibility demonstrates that the respondent was not candid with the court when he attested that he admitted he had violated Indiana Professional Conduct Rules, Adrienne Meiring, executive director of the disciplinary commission, wrote in the complaint.

Story continues below.

TR Complaint

Rokita now faces new charges for making false statements to the Supreme Court in the conditional agreement and affidavit; engaging in dishonest behavior and misrepresenting to the Supreme Court that he accepted responsibility for his misconduct; and violating a third rule for issuing a press release that contradicted his agreement.

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The lawfare continues and is aimed at silencing me because they dont like what I say on behalf of Hoosiers who spoke loudly at the ballot box recently. This is an attempt to take away their voices as well, Rokita said in a Friday statement.

These never ending investigations have created unnecessary distractions and expenses, and despite my offer to take responsibility well over a year ago, this matter continues to be revisited by politically passionate people who have weaponized the process, going well beyond what is fair and appropriate, he continued.



The underlying case stemmed from Rokitas televised comments about Indianapolis doctor Caitlin Bernard, who oversaw a medication abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio in 2022.

Rokita was ultimately reprimanded late last year. Bernard, an OB-GYN, was also disciplined before the Medical Licensing Board for discussing the procedure publicly.

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Two hours after the high court handed down the reprimand, Rokita issued a public press release in which he maintained that his statements about Bernard had been truthful. He said he agreed to the reprimand to bring the case to a conclusion in order to save taxpayers money.

Grievances filed soon after by an Indiana doctor and attorney  questioning whether Rokita was sincere and contrite when he entered into the conditional agreement  resulted in the disciplinary commission opening a second investigation.

Rokitas retraction

Central to the disciplinary commissions complaint is Rokitas sworn conditional agreement regarding his discipline, and a subsequent press release issued by the attorney general.

In a 2022 interview with Fox News commentator Jesse Watters, Rokita called Bernard an activist acting as a doctor and said his office would be investigating her conduct.

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That November, a split-decision and public reprimand from state Supreme Court justices found that he had violated two of the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers:

They said Rokitas comments constituted an extrajudicial statement that he knew  or reasonably should have known  would be publicly disseminated and would prejudice related legal proceedings.

They also said his statements had no substantial purpose other than to embarrass or burden Dr. Caitlin Bernard.

Rokita and the commission agreed to the discipline in the conditional agreement. In a sworn affidavit, Rokita admitted to the two violations and acknowledged he couldnt have defended himself successfully on the charges if the matter were tried.

The parties disputed over a third charge  engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice  which the commission agreed to dismiss in exchange for admission to misconduct on the others.

Rokitas punishment included a public reprimand and $250 in court costs.

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But the same day the reprimand was handed down, Rokita shared a lengthy and unrepentant statement, defending his true remarks in which he attacked the news media, medical field and cancel culture.

The disciplinary commission pointed to those remarks  as well as earlier drafts of the statement obtained by subpoena, and a recent quote provided to the Indiana Lawyer  as evidence of Rokitas lack of candor and dishonesty to the Court after he agreed to accept responsibility for misconduct.

Rokita continued to refute on Friday, however.

The claim that my press statement contradicts the agreement is wrong. The agreement required me to acknowledge the disciplinary process and accept the reprimand, which I did  it did not require me to forfeit my right to speak truthfully about what happened regarding a major political and policy matter, Rokita said in his statement.

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I upheld my obligations while also defending myself against mischaracterizations that were circulating for weeks while being prohibited from speaking. Once able, I spoke truthfully, he added. I remain committed to enforcing the law, protecting Hoosiers, and defending their rights, undeterred by efforts to create further controversy where none should exist.

What happens next

When someone files a grievance against a lawyer with the Disciplinary Commission of the Indiana Supreme Court, the lawyer is contacted and is required to respond in writing to the complaint.

After that initial investigation, the commissions executive director weighs if there is probable lawyer misconduct. If not, the grievance is dismissed and the case is never public. If the director believes there is, then the full disciplinary commission reviews the matter.

The full commission is a citizen board made up of seven lawyers and two non-lawyers. They are appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court.

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If the commission believes that the lawyer has engaged in misconduct for which they should be disciplined, it files a complaint with the Clerk of the Supreme Court formally charging the lawyer with misconduct.

That is the point where a case becomes public. Preceding deliberations are not public record.

If the commission and the lawyer can agree to the facts of the case and an appropriate disciplinary sanction, a hearing can be avoided. The agreement is submitted to the Supreme Court for approval. If the Court accepts the agreement, the agreed sanction is imposed by the Supreme Court and the case is over. If not, there is a hearing.

A hearing officer is then appointed by the Supreme Court to hear the evidence. The commission acts as prosecutor in the case and must prove its charges with a higher burden of proof than in a civil case. The hearing officers responsibilities are like those of a trial court judge, except that the hearing officer cannot make a final decision in the case.

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The hearing officer makes a report on the case to the Supreme Court, which makes a final decision.

Sanctions depend on the seriousness of the case. Possible sanctions include:

a private or public reprimand;

suspension from practice for a set period of time;

suspension from practice with reinstatement only after the lawyer proves fitness; and

permanent disbarment.

The vast majority of grievances filed with the commission are dismissed. For instance, 1,499 grievances were filed during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the Indiana Supreme Courts annual report. After review, 1,184 of those were dismissed, having no valid issue of misconduct.

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An Indiana County man is facing charges after he allegedly tracked a womans car with an Apple AirTag.

Pennsylvania State Police in Indiana County said Danish Ali, 33, was arrested and charged with criminal use of communication facility, stalking and harassment Thursday.

On Jan. 29 at around 8:00 p.m., a 32-year-old woman, reported that her Apple iPhone had alerted her that an AirTag was trying to connect to her phone while she was driving her vehicle. The victim said that she and her father searched her car for the AirTag, but couldnt find it.

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Police found the AirTag duct-taped to the back passenger-side wheel well.

State police tracked the AirTag back to Ali. He told police he put the AirTag on the victims car two days prior and without her knowledge in an attempt to find out where she was.

Alis preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.

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A bill that aims to expand a task force to Lake County has advanced to the Indiana House of Representatives floor.

House Bill 1095 would allow the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force area to include Lake County. Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, authored the bill, which received a unanimous vote on Thursday by the Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee.

The task force would give Lake County the chance to clean up our streets, providing additional resources to connect guns to other crimes throughout the region, Harris said in a statement following Thursdays vote. Statistically speaking, we see a trend in the right direction for gun crimes in Lake County; we just want people to feel those statistics and I believe the expansion of this task force would keep trends flowing in the right direction enough for residents to feel a difference.

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The Lake County Coroners Office investigated 65 homicides last year, Harriss statement said.

The Indiana Crime Guns Task Force was signed into law in 2021 and addresses violent crime in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan, Johnson and Shelby counties, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.

In 2024, the task force investigated more than 150 cases that led to the arrest of 232 people, the seizure of more than 270 illegal firearms and 75,507 grams of illegal narcotics, according to a news release from Harris.

The task force has an executive board that consists of the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Indiana State Police Superintendent and a sheriff or police chief from each department covered by the group, according to Indiana code.

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Current law requires five board members for a quorum during business, but House Bill 1095 would increase the number to seven.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said in a statement that expanding the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force to include Lake County is a critical step in addressing the flow of illegal firearms and reducing violent crime in our communities.

By broadening the task forces reach, we strengthen our ability to track and prosecute those persons responsible for gun-related offenses. Additionally, the adjustments to the executive boards quorum and voting procedures will ensure more effective governance and decision-making, Carter said.

Carter said that he fully supports the bill and urged lawmakers to pass it.

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A Thursday news release highlighted Gary, East Chicago and Hammond as areas that would benefit from the expanded task force.

Representatives from East Chicago and Hammonds police departments were unable to provide a statement for this story.

Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon said in a statement that hes pleased to see the General Assembly taking these steps. The citys police department has not been contacted about the legislation, Cannon said.

For years, the Gary Police Department has worked diligently to prevent the circulation of illegal guns within our community, Cannon said in his statement. If this legislation passes, the City of Gary looks forward to fully collaborating with the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force.

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Cannon added that the Gary police work with other agencies, including the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program.

Gary led Lake Countys homicide numbers for 2024, according to information from the coroners office. Of the countys 65 homicide deaths in 2024, 24 victims died in Gary.

The citys police department said in a Jan. 10 news release that Gary saw 40 homicides in 2024, which is a 23% decline from 52 in 2023. Last year, the city had its lowest number recorded since 2018, according to the news release.

I believe its a move in a positive direction, Cannon previously told the Post-Tribune. The citizens make sure that when we receive information, were being held accountable and making sure that we do something about it. I think this was a record year for the police department in a few categories, and Im hoping to maintain that momentum going forward in 2025.

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Hammond had 10 homicides in 2024, according to Cpt. Steve Kellogg, but coroner statistics said 13 homicides occurred in the city. East Chicago had four homicides in 2024, according to coroner statistics and Police Chief Jose Rivera.

The Indiana Houses next session is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Monday. As of Friday, the general assemblys website did not say when the floor is expected to hear House Bill 1095.

mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WVNS)  A 29-year-old man from Indiana was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the 2023 murder of a woman in Fayette County.

According to Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Ciliberti Jr., Andres M. Torres Jr., of Goshen, Indiana was sentenced in a Fayette County courtroom on Thursday, January 30, 2025. The sentencing was for the murder of Michelle Smith in Fayette County in February 2023.

Indiana man found guilty of First-Degree Murder, Kidnapping

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Torres and his co-defendant, Amanda Soultz, arrived in Fayette County from Indiana in January of 2023 and had known the Michelle Smith since they had previously lived in the area. According to court documents, Torres pawned a watch to Smith for $50, which she then posted for sale on Facebook.

Torres reportedly became angry after seeing the post which led him and Soultz to go to the home of Michelle Smith to get the watch back on February 16, 2023. This led to Michelle Smith being robbed, kidnapped, and murdered.

Amanda Soultz pleaded guilty to First-Degree Murder in December 2024. She will be sentenced on February 11, 2025.

Through questioning, Amanda Soultz said Torres had forced her to comply with the crimes that were committed. Once in jail, calls were recorded between Torres and Soultz where they said they intended to get married and that Torres was going to take the fall so that Soultz could potentially walk free.

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Andres Torres Jr. was also sentenced to a consecutive term of not less than one nor more than five years for the felony crime of conspiracy and a fine of $10,000. Before the murder trial began, Torres was already serving a two to ten year sentence for malicious assault of another inmate at the Southern Regional Jail.

Stick with 59News for more local crime updates.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Jan. 31Alex Tedrow grew up in Shoals, Indiana, playing guitar and hoping to one day become a rock star.

"I listened to a lot of Green Day. I wanted to be the next Billie Joe Armstrong," said Tedrow, who serves as one of three staff arrangers for the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own" and composed "Brass and Glory," a new fanfare that played during President Trump's recent inauguration in Washington, D.C.

How a kid from that tiny Martin County town of less than 700 switched from rock to classical music happened by chance.

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"When I was in high school, I had a chance to go to an orchestra concert and I was hooked," said Tedrow, who worked at a gas station in town to pay for music lessons, instruments and other music-related opportunities. "Not living that far from Indiana University gave me the chance to attend concerts and take lessons from some of the grad students there."

His work, both at that gas station and in the classroom, paid off. Tedrow earned the Lilly Endowment Community Scholar award which paid for his tuition and books at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.

"Without the Lilly scholarship, I never would have been able to pursue music like this as a career," said Tedrow, who who earned bachelor's and master's degrees from IU in composition and music education.

It was around two years ago, Tedrow, who worked with IU's Center for Rural Engagement and served as associate instructor of music education, composition department coordinator and as a faculty member with the pre-college Jacobs Academy, won the audition to be a staff arranger with "Pershing's Own."

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"My job is one of the best kept secrets," said Tedrow, who said the selection process to become a staff arranger required several mock projects as well as a willingness to enlist. "We are considered active duty military but we are based in Washington, D.C. I've enlisted for four years and can re-enlist when the time comes."

"Brass and Glory," was originally scheduled to be played by the "Herald Trumpets" from the balcony during Trump's inauguration celebration but due to the weather, it was instead performed in the Capitol.

Originally taking just two or three days to compose, "Brass and Glory" was played after Trump's inauguration speech.

Tedrow's work doesn't end once the inauguration is over.

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"I also write and arrange music for concerts and ceremonies for our nation's leadership in the U.S. government and military and I regularly write music to be performed at the White House," he said, adding he is also tasked with transcribing and verifying national anthems for performances when heads of state for foreign nations visit Washington, D.C.

Band Coat of Arms

Tedrow's uniform looks a bit different than that of others serving in the Army. That's because those involved with "Pershings Own" have a unique uniform.

The creation of the Coat of Arms for the Army Band was authorized in late 1964 and was created at the Army's Institute of Heraldry.

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The band's distinctive insignia, or coat of arms, consists of three parts:

The Shield: It contains eight red and white stripes that allude to an octave in music.

The blue border represents that the band is the chief musical organization of the entire Army.

The sword and the baton indicate the band's mission of supplying military music.

The small gold and black shield symbolizes the band's Rhineland Campaign Honor received during World War II.

The Crest: It contains a laurel wreath, a symbol of honor and prominence, formed in the shape of a lyre to symbolize music.

The large white (silver) star symbolizes that the band is the "Band of the Chief of Staff" and also represents General Pershing's founding role.

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The bugle horn, one of the earliest instruments used for martial music, is used to denote a military marching band.

The Motto: The motto is the scroll containing the band's official designation, "Pershing's Own," which signifies the band's founder, General John J. Pershing.
Indiana University alumna Asra Hussain, 26, was one of the passengers aboard the flight that crashed in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night.

Shortly before 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, American Airlines flight 5432 plunged into the Potomac River when it collided with an Army UH-60 Black Hawk conducting a "routine" training exercise. All 64 aboard the plane bound from Wichita, Kansas to D.C. are presumed dead, as are the three soldiers who occupied the helicopter.

Hussain was returning from a work trip to Kansas and was meeting her husband, Hamaad Raza, in Washington, D.C.

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Hussain sent Raza a message when her plane was 20 minutes out from landing. Raza's responses didn't go through, he told a WUSA reporter on Wednesday night.

"I'm just praying that somebody's pulling her out of the river right now, as we speak," Raza told WUSA. "That's all I can pray for. I'm just praying to god."

The pair met when both were students at Indiana University Bloomington.

Hussain grew up in Carmel. She received a bachelor's degree in health care management from IU before earning her master's degree in health administration from Columbia University, IUSTV reported.

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Paul Helmke, one of Hussain's professors from her time at IU, described her as a thoughtful and determined young woman.

"She'd ask tough questions of our speakers, and she pushed for her point of view," Helmke told IndyStar. "But that's the kind of people we want in the world. It's just such a tragedy."

Imam Ahmed Alamine, director of religious affairs at the Indianapolis Muslim Community Association, made a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon stating that a group member had been aboard the flight. Alamine confirmed to IndyStar that he was referring to Hussain.

Wednesday's collision is the worst crash involving a U.S. airline since February 2009.

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Twenty-eight bodies had been recovered as of Thursday morning, Washington Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the circumstances leading to the crash, and a preliminary report will be released within the next 30 days.

"She gave a lot, but she had so much more to give," Raza told Indiana Public Media. "But if there was ever someone who took advantage of their 26 years of life, it was her."

Live updates on plane crash: 'We will find out what happened,' NTSB vows after tragic midair collision

Very sad to learn that one of our IU Civic Leaders Center alums, Asra Hussain, from our 2016-17 cohort, was one of the... Posted by Paul Helmke on Thursday, January 30, 2025

Ryan Murphy is the communities report for IndyStar. She can be reached at (317) 800-2956 or at rhmurphy@gannett.com.

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Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at npadilla@indystar.com or follow him on X @1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana University alum among those killed in D.C. plane crash
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  The defense ministers of France and Indonesia agreed Friday to work more closely to maintain regional stability, Indonesian officials said.

Visiting French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Indonesian counterpart, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, agreed in a meeting that the two countries can collaborate through technology exchange and other forms of cooperation, Indonesian Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Frega Wenas said.

The French Embassy in Jakarta said earlier this week that France had deployed a carrier strike group to Indonesia for the first time. The Charles De Gaulle, Frances first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, made stops in Bali and Lombok, where it carried out a number of logistical activities as part of a six-month mission in the Pacific that started in November 2024.

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The Charles De Gaulle also participated in a joint exercise with warships from eight countries in the Straits of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok, the embassy said.

Last July, French air force planes made a stopover in Indonesias capital as part of a visit to Southeast Asia that was meant to display France's commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific region amid growing Chinese maritime activity there.

Military cooperation between Indonesia and France has grown in recent years, since President Prabowo Subianto was still serving as Indonesia's defense minister.

Last year, Indonesia purchased 42 Rafale and Dassault Aviation fighter jets and is expected to receive the first Rafale jets under the contract in 2026. It also announced the purchase of two French Scorpene Evolved submarines and 13 Thales Ground Control Interception radars. Five of the radar systems are expected to be installed in the countrys new capital, Nusantara.

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The purchases come as tensions are rising in the region, particularly in the disputed South China Sea, where China is asserting its expansive territorial claims. While Indonesia is not a claimant state, it has clashed with China over fishing rights near the Natuna Islands, which lie within its exclusive economic zone but are also claimed by China.

The South China Sea contains crucial shipping lanes, abundant fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. Efforts between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to establish a code of conduct to prevent conflicts have seen little progress.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker cant keep January 6 rioters off the streets, but he can keep them out of state office buildings, he says.

On Thursday, Pritzker directed the state official responsible for staffing to include any participation in the January 6 insurrection as reason to bar an applicant from all state state jobs. The move, he said, is aimed at protecting public safety," according to a letter obtained by NBC News.

Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers. No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government, the governor said.

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The decision comes after President Donald Trump pardoned around 1,500 rioters, including scores of violent offenders, including those convicted of assaulting police officers and engaging in seditious conspiracy. Experts say the pardons could also lead to an uptick in political violence; a handful of pardoned Jan. 6 convicts have already ended up back behind bars.

Though pardons do not expunge felony convictions automatically, Trumps order would have made it possible for any of the at least 50 Illinoisans convicted of partaking in the riot to apply for state jobs.

Illinois is one of the few states that grants protections to job applicants with felony convictions. But Pritzker directed officials to classify J6ers actions as infamous and disgraceful conduct, barring them from government employment.

Pritzker previously blasted the pardons, stating that the rioters were not political prisoners, heroes, or martyrs but rather assaulted law enforcement right before our eyes and put our democracy in peril."
[Trigger warning: This article discusses sudden unexpected infant deaths.]

Over the past two decades, infant health in the U.S. has steadily improved. Between 1999 and 2022, overall infant mortality rates declined by 24%, thanks to advancements in obstetric management, neonatal advancements, and preterm labor prevention.

But a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics (Jan. 27, 2025) reveals a concerning shift: while overall infant mortality has gone down, sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) are rising.

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Between 2020 and 2022, sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) rates increased by nearly 12%, reversing years of stability, according to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University. SUID refers to the sudden, unexplained death of an otherwise healthy baby under one year old, including cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), accidental suffocation, and deaths from unknown causes.

Its a troubling trendone that researchers say isnt just about where babies sleep, but why some parents are struggling to create safe sleep environments in the first place.

Related: 14 science-backed ways to lower SIDS risk in babies

Why are SUID rates rising?

Its tempting to assume that more education is the only answer. But the reality is, many parents already know the guidelinesthey just cant always follow them.

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Most conversations about SUID focus on where babies sleepcribs versus couches, bassinets versus adult beds. And yes, safe sleep environments matter. The study specifically examined SUID trends and noted possible contributing factors.

According to lead researcher Elizabeth Wolf, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine and pediatrician at Childrens Hospital of Richmond, Its difficult to pinpoint exact causes, but COVID-19 and parental opioid use are two potential factors. 

[The study notes that COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses may have played a role in the rise of SUID deaths, but it does not specify how. Further research is needed to determine the extent of this impact.]

Dr. Wolf adds, Social media may also be playing a role. In social media posts, infants can be seen in unsafe sleep positions, for example on their stomach instead of on their back, and in unsafe sleep environments such as adult beds, couches and baby swings.

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This isnt just a passing trendits shaping how parents perceive infant sleep safety. Viral images often normalize unsafe setups, making them seem harmless despite well-documented risks. A 2023 study found that 86% of infant sleep photos in a Facebook moms group showed setups that didnt follow AAP guidelineshighlighting how misinformation spreads. While the sample size was small, the findings underscore the need for clearer, evidence-based guidance on safe sleep.

SUID disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous babiesheres what the data shows

The study found that Black infants are 10 times more likely to die from SUID compared to Asian infants and three times more likely than white infants. American Indian and Alaska Native infants had SUID rates nearly 9.6 times higher than Asian infants.

While the study identifies disparities, it does not draw conclusions about the root causes. Dr. Wolf notes that more research is needed to understand the role of sleep environment, prematurity, tobacco exposure, and feeding practices.

However, these disparities arent just about individual parenting choicesthey reflect larger systemic inequities.

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Related: If we want to end racial disparities for moms and babies, we need to invest in our childrentoday

Safe sleep isnt just about parentingits about access

The study underscores an increase in SUID deaths, but it does not explore in depth why parents may struggle to follow safe sleep practices. However, broader research on maternal and infant health suggests several key barriers:

Lack of Paid Leave

The study does not examine parental leave, but experts in maternal health have long pointed to the role of economic stress and exhaustion in shaping infant sleep environments.

The U.S. remains one of the only developed nations without guaranteed paid maternity leave. This means many new parentsespecially those in low-wage or hourly jobsreturn to work within weeks of giving birth.

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Newborns wake every two to three hours, meaning exhausted parents are operating on fragmented, minimal sleep while trying to keep up with work and family responsibilities. A mother working an overnight shift with a newborn at home isnt ignoring safe sleep recommendations when she accidentally dozes off while holding her babyshes exhausted and out of options.

Sleep deprivation isnt just difficultits a safety risk.

Gaps in Healthcare Access

The study highlights racial disparities in SUID rates but does not examine healthcare access as a contributing factor. However, other research shows that early pediatric visits provide safe sleep education, yet families without consistent healthcare may miss these crucial touchpoints.

A baby with regular check-ups may receive reinforced safe sleep guidance, access to social programs, and early interventionbut families facing insurance barriers, transportation challenges, or systemic healthcare inequities may lack these same opportunities.

Unsafe Products Still on the Market

Public health experts have long warned that misleading marketing and unsafe infant sleep products put babies at risk.

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Parents are bombarded with infant sleep products that claim to be safe but dont meet AAP guidelineslike inclined sleepers, sleep positioners, and padded crib bumpers.

In 2022, the Safe Sleep for Babies Act banned the sale of dangerous inclined sleepers and padded crib bumpersbut unsafe products continue to be marketed.

Many caregivers arent even aware that some of these products have been linked to suffocation deaths.

Better enforcement of safety regulations could prevent families from unknowingly purchasing hazardous products.

This isnt about parents not caring about safe sleepits about a system that isnt setting them up to succeed.

Preventing SUID requires more than just educationit requires policy change

Dr. Wolf and her research team emphasize that preventing sleep-related deaths will take more than just educationit will take system-wide reform.

Expanding health insurance access and providing support for mothers pre- and postnatally could reduce infant mortality, Dr. Wolf says.

Public health advocates argue that these additional changes could further reduce SUID rates:

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Paid family leave so that exhausted parents arent forced into unsafe sleep situations.

Expanded healthcare access so that all parents receive equal levels of postpartum and pediatric care.

More funding for safe sleep programs to ensure cribs and bassinets are accessible to every family.

Stronger regulations on misleading infant sleep products so parents arent left guessing which items are safe.

Increased lactation supportto help more families establish and sustain breastfeeding, which research links to a lower risk of SIDS.

AAP-backed safe sleep guidelines every parent should know

While changes need to happen at the policy level, parents can take immediate steps to reduce SUID risk.

The JAMA Pediatrics study underscores the continued importance of following the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) safe sleep guidelines, which include:

Always place your baby on their back to sleep (face up), as it significantly reduces the risk of suffocation.

Use a firm, flat sleep surface like a crib or bassinet, free of soft bedding, pillows, or toys.

Keep your babys crib or bassinet in your room for at least the first 612 months, but avoid bed-sharing.

Avoid allowing your baby to sleep in a swing, car seat, or other non-flat surfaces. These can lead to airway obstruction and increase the risk of SIDS.

Keep the sleep area free of blankets, bumpers, and stuffed toys. Soft objects can increase the risk of suffocation.

Refrain from smoking or using alcohol or drugs during pregnancy or while caring for your baby.

Dress your baby lightly and avoid head coverings to prevent overheating. Overheating is a known risk factor for SIDS.

Offer a pacifier at sleep times. Studies suggest that using a pacifier during naps and nighttime sleep is associated with a reduced risk of SIDS, even if it falls out after the baby falls asleep.

Research shows that breastfeeding, even for a short duration, is linked to a lower risk of SIDS.

Related: Any amount of breastfeeding for 2 months cuts SIDS risk in half, says study

The bottom line: Its time to change the narrative

SUID rates are rising, and this isnt just a parenting issueits a policy issue.

We cant talk about safe sleep without talking about paid leave, affordable healthcare, and economic inequality. Telling exhausted, overworked parents to simply follow the guidelines without giving them the structural support to do so isnt a solutionits a failure of public policy.

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The study presents the databut its up to policymakers, healthcare providers, and society to act on it.

If we truly want to reduce SUID rates, we need to stop asking Why arent parents following safe sleep rules? and start asking, What would it take to ensure every parent can?

Because every baby deserves a safe place to sleepand every parent deserves the support to provide it.

Sources
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  When Ilana Gritzewsky returned to Israel after being held captive in Gaza for 55 days in November 2023, she had so much adrenaline coursing through her body she couldnt sleep for two days.

You dont understand that its really over," Gritzewsky recalled. "You dont know who you are or even what your name is.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is underway and hostages are being released in stages. But after the initial jubilation of being freed, the released captives  who have been held for more than 15 months  are likely to endure a trying reentry, based on the testimony of those who were held hostage themselves.

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Gritzewsky, 31, who is originally from Mexico, was kidnapped with her boyfriend from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants burst across the border, killing around 1,200 people, and kidnapping around 250 people, in an attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

Gritzewsky was released after 55 days during the only previous ceasefire deal a year ago.

More than a year later, Gritzewsky has lingering health issues. She hasnt regained all of the weight that she lost, shes prediabetic, and has lingering pain issues from the kidnapping, when her pelvis and jaw were broken and her leg was burned from the motorcycle exhaust. She suffered hearing loss in one ear.

Im still not able to really take care of myself, she said. I dont think my brain has really grasped everything Ive gone through.

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Shes acknowledges she has neglected her own recovery as she advocates tirelessly for her boyfriends release.

Fifteen hostages have been released from Gaza, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as the current ceasefire for the war that has devastated Gaza moves into its second full week. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and wide swaths of the territory have been destroyed. Hamas is expected to release small groups weekly throughout the ceasefire's initial six-week phase. There are approximately 80 hostages left in Gaza, almost half of whom Israel believes to be dead.

The joy of a warm embrace, and a new reality sets in

When Gritzewsky was freed, she was able to do what she had dreamed of during her captivity: hug her mother and see her family.

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She was desperate for a good steak, but due to concerns about health complications spurred by eating too much or too quickly in those with prolonged vitamin and nutritional deficiencies, it took time before she could eat what she wanted.

Youre used to hostage conditions, so whenever you get food you put some to the side. You ask if you can go to the bathroom, if you can sleep, she said.

The leadup to her release was traumatic. Gritzewsky said she was told four times she was being released, only to be brought to a different location. Each time her transfer didnt lead to freedom.

I thought this was going to be my life forever, that I was going to be a doll for Hamas terrorists, Id end up having babies with them, I wanted to just smash my head into the wall and die, she said.

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Watching the released hostages enter Israel over the past week was a storm of emotions, said Gritzewsky.

Its finally starting. Our heroes are starting to come out, and theyre leaving on their own two feet, she said. But theres also uncertainty about whether the ceasefire will hold. Gritzewskys boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, 25, is not on the list of 33 hostages expected to be released in the first stage of the ceasefire.

Hostages must adjust to regaining their autonomy

The hostages stay in the hospital for several days as they undergo a battery of tests to determine next steps. All 15 of the hostages released over the past two weeks returned in stable condition but were suffering from mild starvation and vitamin deficiencies, according to Dr. Ami Banov, an Israeli military doctor who has treated the released hostages. He said many of them suffered injuries in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and that the medical care they received was nonexistent or poor quality. Many of them still have pieces of shrapnel in their body.

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Some of the women who have returned recently said they were held in tunnels and deprived of sunlight for at least eight months straight, said Banov, which can lead to major vision or skin issues. Those who were held in captivity with others seem to be faring better mentally than hostages who were kept alone, he said.

Each hostage is accompanied by a dedicated team of doctors, nurses, specialists, psychologists, and social workers, medical officials said.

One of the most important things is allowing the returned hostage to lead the recovery, explained Ofrit Shapira, a psychoanalyst who heads a group of health professionals treating freed hostages, their families, and survivors of the Oct. 7 attack. Everyone treating them must ask their permission for each little thing, from turning off a light to changing bedsheets to carrying out medical tests.

They took everything away that defines them as humans, especially privacy and autonomy, and its a challenge to help them regain that, she said.

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Doctors refer to this process as grounding said Banov, who likened it to a decompression process, gradually helping the hostages understand they have regained control over such decisions as what to eat, what to wear and where and when to meet their families.

We feel obligated to give them the option to do whatever they feel right, he said. But he said everything is being done in very small steps.

Adina Moshe was freed after 49 days in captivity. In a first-person account on the Israeli news site N12, she said some hostages will return knowing little about any destruction to their homes or the fates of their loved ones. They will remain suspicious of people and have to contend with aggressive media. Any improvement in their condition can easily reverse, she said.

In their souls, they will continue to remain in the tunnels for a long time, she wrote.

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It will take a long time to repair wounds of the soul

Avichai Brodutch, whose wife and three children were kidnapped on Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Aza will never forget waiting for them to return in the hospital and the moment he saw them for the first time.

The elevator doors opened and I got my family, reborn, he said.

Brodutch said the return was both overwhelming and joyful because he feared his family had been killed during Hamas' initial attack. He said they returned thin and lice-ridden.

The physical issues were quickly treated. But Brodutch said captivity left a lasting imprint on his family's mental well-being. Each day, he hears a new story about something that happened in Gaza. They relive Oct. 7 over and over, and the challenges remain largest for his wife, Hagar, who cared for their three children and a neighbor's child, Abigail Edan, then 3, while in captivity.

"Its going to take a long time to repair the wounds of the soul, he said.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida  The push against adding fluoride to public drinking water is spreading across Florida, as state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo crisscrosses the state to press leaders of mostly conservative communities.

Ladapo has already convinced at least 11 municipalities to stop adding the naturally occurring mineral into the water, using his high profile as Floridas top health officer and a recent official recommendation against fluoride use. His folk hero-like status in the conservative-leaning medical freedom community also mirrors another advocate of removing fluoride from drinking water: HHS Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Several other governing boards have the issue under consideration, and that list is growing every day.

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Its like playing with fire to keep using it, Ladapo told the Tavares City Council before the board voted to stop adding fluoride to the citys water in December.

But by the time Ladapo appeared in Tavares, the city council members had already been flooded by a deluge of emails, texts and phone calls all urging them to stop putting fluoride in the water. The messages were sent on behalf of an army of supporters thanks to Stand for Health Freedom, an Indiana-based medical advocacy group that has been trying to end fluoride use in Florida for almost two years. The state was key in pulling the medical freedom movement from the outskirts of policy discussion to the center stage, as Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis railed against Biden administration mandates that they believed were gross examples of government overreach in health care.

Ladapo and Stand for Health Freedom insist they are not working together to stop cities from adding fluoride to water supplies. However, many of the appearances that Ladapo has made were before governing boards that have been long targeted by the libertarian-leaning group.

Another similarity between Ladapo and Stand for Health Freedom  they both want to see the Senate confirm Kennedy, who was nominated to be Health and Human Services secretary under President Donald Trump. While speaking before the Tavares City Council in December, Ladapo acknowledged he had become concerned about adding fluoride to drinking water only a few months ago  around the time Kennedy dropped his own presidential bid to endorse Trump.



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Stand for Health Freedom has been organizing tens of thousands of supporters since 2023 to convince at least 48 Florida localities to stop adding fluoride to community water supplies. Local governing boards have been adding the naturally occurring mineral to water supplies for about 80 years, and the group believes that governments have been forcing residents to consume medicine without seeking consent.

Fluoride could be the greatest thing in the world, but you can't mass medicate the population through water, Stand for Health Freedom organizer Scott Kiley said. It's unethical.

Ladapo declined to answer questions emailed to him on Jan. 24. Florida Department of Health spokesperson Jae Williams said that, despite the similar paths chosen by the surgeon general and Stand for Health Freedom, Ladapo and the group are not working together.

The use of fluoride in drinking water has been debated by local governing boards for decades, and two top health experts said that scientific evidence would usually prevail. But in this latest campaign, politics seemingly has taken the place of science and history, which show that cavities go up when water fluoridation goes away.

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This is the first time Ive seen it where its gotten political, Florida Dental Association President Jeff Ottley said. When it wasnt political or hearsay against science and the facts, usually the science won.

Many of the local decisions to remove fluoride from public drinking water came after Ladapo released a highly criticized recommendation in November that warned against fluoride in drinking water, citing studies showing the risk of children suffering from lower IQs and increased behavioral problems.

The Ormond Beach City Commission became the latest to vote against water fluoridation last week after the commissioners discussed an abundance of emails they received urging against putting fluoride in the drinking water, as well as Ladapos recommendation. That recommendation used the same studies that have been used by Kennedy, who wrote the forward to Ladapos memoir detailing his concerns about conventional medicine and has voiced similar concerns about fluoride.

Sadly, so many members of the public health infrastructure, if you will, instead choose to defend it, Ladapo told the Tavares council. Its really sad.

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Ladapo and Stand for Health Freedom volunteers who appeared before local leaders over the past two months have pointed to a September federal court ruling that called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating the use of fluoride in drinking water. In the ruling, U.S. District Court of Northern California Senior Judge Edward Chen, an Obama-era appointee, wrote that scientific studies show the levels that health and EPA officials believe is safe, 0.7 milligram per liter, may actually be unsafe.

Chens ruling was a win for anti-fluoride activists who filed the lawsuit in 2017, and it has fueled Kennedys push to stop water fluoridation nationwide.

As Ladapo said, EPA  do your job, Kiley said, calling Chens ruling a tectonic shift.

Former Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said Ladapo is new to talking about issues surrounding drinking water and fluoride, and said his actions had taken on a political bent.

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"This is something he has not talked about before," Rivkees said. "He doesnt have expertise in the area which makes it of political nature and not science."

Just more than 100 cities, counties and local utility oversight boards in Florida add fluoride to their water, including those serving the states most densely populated areas. But most local governments do not add fluoride.

Most of the communities targeted by Stand for Health Freedom are in areas that traditionally support Republicans, but supporters have begun pressing the Gainesville Regional Utility, which serves the historically blue city but is governed by a board appointed by DeSantis.

Kiley, the associate director of local advocacy for Stand for Health Freedom, insisted that the campaign is nonpartisan and includes supporters from both parties. It also is not working with Ladapo on the campaign.

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We see what the surgeon general says publicly, and we repeat that, but we are not formally working together, Kiley said.

Kileys own campaign to stop fluoride use began about a year ago in Collier County. Kiley said he and other residents reminded the Collier County Board of Commissioners about a Health Freedom Bill of Rights, which had been recently approved and guarantees that residents will need to give consent before they take medical treatments.

Kiley and Stand for Health Freedom also convinced the Naples City Commission to stop adding fluoride to the water supply in December. Naples is a longtime stronghold for Republicans. State Sen. Kathleen Passidomo raised her family there, and she said the citys decision against using fluoride was proof that parents are playing a larger role in the lives and health of their children.

Back in my day, and my youngest is 30, parents were like seen and not heard, Passidomo said after a Jan. 14 state Senate Committee on Health Policy meeting at the Capitol. Im just thrilled that the parents are so involved.

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Stand for Health Freedom and other libertarian medical groups want parents to question conventional medical treatments such as vaccines and immunization schedules, despite centuries of scientific evidence proving that they are safe.

The advocacy group was co-founded in 2019 after the state of Indiana refused to let Leah Wilson foster any more children because she chose not to give her biological children all of the vaccine doses required by the state to attend school.

Stand for Health Freedom has since grown from a few thousand supporters to a database of more than 700,000 people worldwide. The organization sends supporters localized alerts about state and local regulations the group seeks to address. In Florida, the group has amassed more than 50,000 supporters to help convince at least 45 municipalities, counties and other utility regulatory boards to stop adding fluoride to the water.

So far, Stand for Health Freedom has compelled at least 16 localities to stop putting fluoride into drinking water, including the cities of Perry and Starke, which decided to stop using the additive in 2023.

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After releasing his recommendation against fluoride in water, Ladapo began visiting cities that Stand for Health Freedom had targeted over the issue. Ladapo is trained in cardiology and public health and has no experience with dentistry. But he told the Tavares City Council in December that the benefits of adding fluoride to water are up for debate.

Does it help teeth? Yeah, it sounds like it does, Ladapo told the Tavares council. Does water fluoridation still make a big difference for teeth? Thats completely questionable.



Ladapo was chosen to be surgeon general by DeSantis in September 2021 as the Republican governor feuded with the Biden administration over Covid-19 mandates and widespread vaccinations. He was criticized by medical experts around the world after releasing a recommendation that warned against the use of a certain type of Covid vaccine due to a high risk of cardiovascular illness in men. The report justifying the recommendation received even harsher criticism after drafts of the document revealed that Ladapo himself had omitted and added data from various studies to prove his point.

Ladapos stance on fluoride has led to a fresh round of criticism from medical experts. Rivkees said Ladapo does not have the medical training to make recommendations about dental care. And the Florida Department of Health, which the surgeon general oversees, has not had a pediatric expert on staff for years, leaving Ladapo and DOH without an adviser. to consider the long-term implications for children.

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There will certainly be longer term con to this that will be important to monitor and also manage, Rivkees said. Whats his plan for doing that? Whats the plan for children who already cant access dental care?

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misspelled Jae Williams' name.
Washington had four years to prepare for a second Trump presidency. But are there signs that the presidents political opponents didnt do their homework?

In his first week in office, President Donald Trump issued a stack of executive orders that went after DEI, the federal workforce, birthright citizenship and more. He fired 18 inspectors general, in defiance of Congressional procedure. And finally, this Monday, his administration shocked the country with OMB memo M-25-13  the spending freeze thats made so much news, and that hes been trying to walk back.

Trump is clearly testing the limits of his power. The big questions now are: What is his grand strategy? Where does he think he can win, and where is he just satisfying campaign promises that he believes the courts will strike down?

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Just as important, where is the resistance? What are Democrats plans to fight back, and which Republicans are about to be a thorn in his side?

To answer those questions and more, some of POLITICOs top in-house experts on all three branches of government assembled for a roundtable on the Playbook Deep Dive podcast. Joining the show is Capitol Hill Bureau Chief and Senior Washington Columnist, Rachael Bade; senior staff writer and legal columnist, Ankush Khardori; and Deep Dive host, Chief Playbook Correspondent and White House Correspondent, Eugene Daniels.


It's like something out of a movie script. A planetary defense response is underway after an asteroid discovered at the end of 2024 was found to have a small chance of colliding with earth in the coming years.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 98.7% chance of passing right by Earth in 2032, but that leaves a 1.3% chance that it could smack right into us. Thats a 1-in-83 chance, New Scientist reports.

It rates a 3 on the Torino Hazard Impact Scale, and only one other asteroid has been rated higher since the scales inception in 1999. That was Apophis in 2004, which was initially rated a 4, but was later downgraded after further observation.

(MORE: Asteroid Holds The Key Building Blocks To Life)

The asteroid now sits at the top of the European Space Agencys asteroid risk list.

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2024 YR4 is about the size of a building, which would inflict localized destruction if it did strike Earth.

Two UN-endorsed global asteroid response groups have been activated since the asteroids discovery. The International Asteroid Warning Network is working to more accurately determine the asteroids orbit and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group is working on a plan to intervene with the asteroid if necessary. This plan could involve intervention via spacecraft to deflect the asteroid off course, according to The Guardian.

According to the European Space Agency, its common for an asteroids impact probability to rise before quickly being assessed as zero after additional observations.

Most likely this one will pass by harmlessly, Colin Snodgrass, professor of planetary astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian. It just deserves a little more attention with telescopes until we can confirm that. The longer we follow its orbit, the more accurate our future predictions of its trajectory become.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah)  On Thursday, January 5, 1905, the W.H. Groves Latter-day Saints Hospital was opened to the public in Salt Lake City, Utah.

While in the care of a doctor, Groves was told the community had a great need for an additional hospital. He changed his personal will to help fund the new hospital and three sites were considered before settling on building the hospital on the hill that has grown into the Greater Avenues Community.

This January is a very special month for us as we celebrate a tremendous milestone for Intermountain LDS Hospital  120 years of serving our community, said Heather Wall, president of Intermountain LDS Hospital. During those 120 years, we have been here supporting patients who come to us from the Avenues, from all over Utah, and from across the entire country and beyond.

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When the site was selected, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped with a large portion of the $180,000 it took to build the 80-bed hospital.

When it opened, the newspapers reported that the hospital was the finest west of the Mississippi.

That first year, the hospital treated about a thousand patients and delivered 17 babies.

Intermountain LDS Hospital started small and tall, a five-story building with a footprint of only 175 feet by 40 feet, with 80 tiny patient rooms, 30 bathrooms and one of the first automatic elevators in the valley.

It also had a newfangled X-ray machine, invented only 12 years earlier. The original staff consisted of 45 physicians and 48 other employees, including eight nurses, who worked there.

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Over time, Intermountain LDS Hospital grew into a premier site for surgical and critical care (ICU) innovations, a nursing school, cutting-edge cardiovascular care, the first medical computer, advanced NICU care, world-recognized research, and so much more.

Intermountain LDS Hospital has also been rich with many firsts.

These include the first medical computer in the nation, the first bone marrow transplant, nationally renowned critical care practices, the first artificial heart transplant, and more. Intermountain LDS Hospital has also been on the forefront of medical innovation adopting robotic and AI technologies to provide.

Intermountain LDS Hospital has been at the forefront of critical care, providing services to our community with unwavering dedication and compassion, said Harland Hayes, MD, chief medical officer for Intermountain LDS Hospital. Our care has evolved, embracing advancements in medical technology and practices to ensure the highest standard of care for our patients.

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During the past 120 years, the hospital has gone through many changes from bed count, services, and size and look. In 1975, the hospital transferred ownership from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Intermountain Health and the name was changed to Intermountain LDS Hospital.

However, one thing has remained the same  high quality patient care.

We have been assured by competent physicians and surgeons who have traveled the world over for that for its size it is unexcelled anywhere, and it is in all respects a model institution, according to newspaper reports.

Were incredibly proud of the legacy of excellence established by our predecessors and continue to build upon their remarkable work, Wall said. Our commitment to delivering exceptional care remains steadfast, and we are honored to serve our community with the same passion and dedication that will define Intermountain LDS Hospital into the next century of care.

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Intermountain LDS Hospital is now a 262-bed facility, located just minutes from downtown Salt Lake City and is integrated with Intermountains Life Flight air ambulance and TeleHealth Hospital. The hospital also services southern Davis County and Tooele County out to the Utah / Nevada state line.

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NEW YORK (PIX11)  Amid the rise in anti-Semitism, the world paused this week to reflect on the horrors of decades ago.



International Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed today in New York. A special ceremony was held on Manhattans Upper East Side, and Marvin Scott attended.

Watch the video player for the full interview.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11.
ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- During a traffic stop Thursday, the Odessa Police Department arrested an international murder suspect wanted by Interpol.

According to the OPD, around 12:30 a.m. on January 30, Sergeant Jaime Aguirre saw a white Chevrolet Kodiak towing a trailer near Yukon Road and Dixie Boulevard. A computer check revealed that the trailer had an expired registration, and a traffic stop was initiated; the driver of the vehicle was identified as 37-year-old Jesus Alberto Villegas Monteagudo.

Another records check revealed that Monteagudo had an Interpol warrant out of El Salvador for Murder. He was taken into custody as a Fugitive from Justice and was taken to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center where he will remain until he can be extradited to El Salvador.

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(WHTM)  American Airlines Flight 5342 was approaching Reagan National Airport from the south, a common approach.

Lined up for Runway 1, something else common occurred  air traffic control asked the pilots to move over and land on Runway 33 instead.

Video captures fiery crash between American Airlines flight and Army Blackhawk

We call it a circling approach, Airline Pilot Ross Kaplan said. Hes made the same maneuver many times at the airport earlier in his career, when he flew smaller jets similar in size to the Bombardier CRJ-700, flown by PSA Airlines for American Airlines that collided with a military Blackhawk heliopter.

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In order to accommodate all the traffic going into there, they have to make use of the runways that they have available, Kaplan said.

Smaller airplanes can more easily land on the smaller runway, and do so safely all the time.

Air traffic control asked the pilot of the Blackhawk, known to ATC as PAT2, if he saw the CRJ. They asked the helicopter to pass behind the jet.

Instead, data seems to show the Blackhawk going in front of the commercial flight.

Another preliminary focus: restrictions sources familiar with the airspace around Reagan say normally limit the Blackhawk to flying at an altitude of less than 200 feet where the accident happened.

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But we know PSA was at roughly 375 feet at the last transmitted altitude, Kaplan said. Is it possible the helicopter was also above the altitude that they were supposed to be at in that area? That may have been the case unfortunately.

Suggesting the Blackhawk might have been the aircraft that was somewhere it shouldnt have been, which of course is not to assign blame to the Blackhawk pilot. Investigators will examine flight and voice recorders from both aircraft and key exchanges between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Theyll look at whether the Blackhawk pilot mistook another plane for the CRJ.

Its very difficult to spot aircraft against the backdrop of city lights, Kaplan said.

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Reagan National is among many airports, including Harrisburg International, where military exercises take place alongside commercial traffic. The Pennsylvania National Guard tells abc27 News its not yet ready to talk about that out of respect for the familys of those who died in the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board often releases a preliminary accident report within a month. The full report often takes more than a year.

One thing is already clear.

We pride ourselves on this being a very safe profession, Kaplan said. The last one among U.S. Airlines was 2009, and you always hope that the last one was the last one.

Get daily news, weather, breaking news and alerts straight to your inbox! Sign up for the abc27 newsletters here

PSA Airlines and Piedmont Airlines, the latter with a maintenance and crew base at Harrisburg, are both regional airlines for American. Both have excellent safety records.

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Investigators are intensifying their search into what caused the collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, with recovery crews still working to pull wreckage from the Potomac River and initial concerns already raised about the path of at least one of the aircraft.

The helicopter was on a training mission when it collided Wednesday night with a commercial plane that was on approach to land at Washingtons Reagan National Airport, killing all 64 aboard the plane and the three soldiers in the helicopter, officials have said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the cause, will take about 30 days to release a preliminary report, and a final report, which will determine a probable cause, will take much longer, it said. Still, details about the collisions circumstances and potential avenues for the investigation are emerging. Heres what we know:

Helicopter may have been flying too high

The Black Hawk had been using specialized corridors utilized by law enforcement, medevac, military and government helicopters in the Washington area. Federal Aviation Administration charts show helicopters in the corridor must be at or below 200 feet above sea level.

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But flight tracking data from the moments before Wednesdays fatal midair collision appear to show the Black Hawk flying 100 feet above its allowed altitude, and veering off the prescribed route along the Potomac Rivers east side.

The helicopters turns would have put the Black Hawk closer to the airport than the standard route.

Based on the data were able to see, I think thats a fair assessment, said Ian Petchenik, spokesperson for FlightRadar24, a flight tracking company.

Petchenik cautioned that the flight tracking data for the Black Hawk is imperfect. The military helicopter was sending a Mode S signal, which transmits basic data about altitude and aircraft identification. The American Airlines flight was broadcasting an ADS-B signal, which provides far more information to air traffic control.

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ADS-B is worlds beyond the standard Mode S data. Mode S data allows you to have just a few bits of information, Petchenik told CNN.

A full understanding of the moments before the midair collision will require a complete analysis of the data recorders on board the aircraft, but even an incomplete picture indicates the helicopter was not in the right position.

Both President Donald Trump and the nations defense secretary raised the issue of altitude on Friday morning.

The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit, Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday. It was not immediately clear if the president was getting the information from official investigators or reiterating what he was seeing in news reports.

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Someone was at the wrong altitude, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Friday morning. Was the Black Hawk too high? Was it on course? Right now, we dont quite know.

At the point of the collision, only about 300 feet separate the approved paths of the jet and the helicopter, CNN aviation analyst and pilot Miles OBrien said Thursday.

Thats a very tight, no-margin-for-error airspace arrangement and demands that everybody in that spot be completely on their toes and fly to complete perfection, he said.

Investigators now must determine whether a change of a couple of hundred feet might have been one thing that could have prevented the deadliest US aviation incident in two decades.

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With the probe underway, the FAA is indefinitely closing the low-altitude helicopter corridor that was being used when the crash happened, an official told CNN Friday. Informal discussions are also beginning in Washington about changing helicopter routes on the Potomac River, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

The NTSB will look at the human, machine and the environment to determine the cause of the deadly collision, board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday, in response to a question about whether diversity initiatives would be considered in the investigation after Trump raised the issue.

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder  known as black boxes  from the American Airlines plane have been recovered, the NTSB told CNN. The helicopters black box voice recorder has also been recovered with no signs of exterior damage, according to NTSB member Todd Inman.

A source familiar with the investigation told CNN investigators could provide high-level readouts from the recorders as soon as Saturday. The new details could provide key early clues about the altitude of both aircraft.

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Inman added that they have begun interviewing air traffic control personnel, which will continue for a few days. The interviews will be used to match with other data the NTSB is receiving.

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Video shows no sign of evasive action, though helicopter crew indicated it saw a plane

Video obtained exclusively by CNN shows no sign of evasive action being taken by either aircraft, running directly into each other in a horrifying blast of light, their wreckage falling into the dark water of the Potomac.

Yet before the crash, air traffic control operators directed the helicopter to pass behind the passenger plane, according to air traffic controller audio obtained by CNN from LiveATC.net.

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An air traffic controller addressed the helicopter: PAT 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight? CRJ refers to the American Airlines plane, a Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet.

The controller then said, PAT 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.

Additional air traffic control audio shortly before the collision captures the helicopter pilot saying, PAT 2-5 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.

The crash raises questions about whether the helicopter crew was looking at different aircraft or whether the crew misjudged the position of the plane, mistaking other lights for the aircraft the helicopter crew had been instructed to track, as seen in video, according to Mary Schiavo, an aviation analyst and former inspector general of the Department of Transportation.

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We do see other lights in the area, particularly one bright light from another aircraft, when the air traffic control tower asked the helicopter, Do you have the plane in sight? Schiavo told CNNs Kasie Hunt on Friday.

The voice recorders from both aircraft could reveal information about what the pilots saw and what they were trying to do, according to Michael McCormick, a former FAA air traffic manager whos also an associate professor in air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

If we could just know what the pilots thought they were looking at and what they thought they were avoiding, that would make a big difference in terms of this investigation, McCormick told CNN Saturday.

Former Black Hawk pilot says helicopter needed more crew

Questions also are being raised about whether the helicopter was adequately staffed in the crowded airspace.

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The Black Hawk was on a routine training mission out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an instructor, a captain in training and a crew chief, the Army said.

Elizabeth McCormick, a former Black Hawk pilot, told CNNs Jake Tapper Thursday that having a crew of three on the ill-fated flight was inadequate, asserting that such a crew couldnt see in all directions.

You only have visibility from the front 180 degrees. Your crew chiefs clear the back, McCormick said. If you only have one crew chief, how much can you clear? I think that was a major issue.

Even if the helicopter were at a proper level, the crew still would have needed to be able to have visual contact with all nearby aircraft. Obviously, ultimately the aircraft has to pass through this 200-foot altitude in order to land, former commercial pilot Jeff Huddleston said.

Members of multiple agencies stage on a dock near the crash site on Thursday. - Kenny Holston/The New York Times/Redux

Two jobs being performed by one person at Reagan National tower

On the night of the crash, one controller at Reagan National was performing duties than can be performed by two separate air traffic controllers  handling both local plane and helicopter traffic  an air traffic control source told CNN.

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The source described the set-up, which had one person handling both local and helicopter traffic, as not uncommon.

However, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration internal report said staffing was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, according to the New York Times.

The union that represents air traffic controllers cautioned against assuming that the combined role would make conditions unsafe.

This is an extremely complex job that we do day in and day out with weather changes, with flow changes, and with airspace changes each and every day, National Air Traffic Controllers Association president Nick Daniels told CNNs Erin Burnett, so, its not uncommon for positions to be combined or not combined at all.

Chronic staffing issues at its radar facilities have plagued the FAA. Following the pandemic, it has been scrambling to get more controllers trained and certified. The Trump Administration has offered a separation package to federal workers, including air traffic controllers, which could cause further staffing shortages.

Officials warn against rush to judgment

Even as more information comes to light, some officials who have been briefed on the disaster say theres still much we dont know.

US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk pilot, spoke to investigators with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board Thursday.

I asked them to provide me with some more information  which they will  including the transcripts of the air traffic control instructions back to the pilots, she told CNN.

The senator added that, despite the complexity of flying around Washington, DC, this seems to have started as a routine situation.

I flew out of (Chicago) Midway Airport for over a dozen years where I did routinely fly underneath commercial airliners landing there at Midway Airport, said Duckworth. This is not an abnormal flight profile to be in, although it is a very congested airspace.

CNNs Andy Rose wrote this story from Atlanta with reporting from CNNs Pete Muntean in Washington and CNNs Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon. CNNs Jessie Yeung contributed to this report.

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. authorities restricted helicopter flights near Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday, after a midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a military helicopter killed 67 people this week.

Investigators were able on Friday to recover the helicopter's black box, which captures flight data and voices in the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said at an afternoon briefing.

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The information from the box, along with the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane, could help authorities piece together what happened just before the two aircraft collided on Wednesday night and plunged into Washington's freezing Potomac River in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in two decades.

The board has also conducted interviews with air traffic controllers, Inman said, including the lone controller working inside Reagan's tower at the time of the crash on Wednesday.

Authorities have not identified a cause, and Inman said the board would not engage in speculation before completing its investigation.

"The NTSB is an independent, bipartisan board - 58 years as the gold standard. Our job is to find the facts, but more importantly, our job is to make sure this tragedy doesn't happen again, regardless of what anyone may be saying," Inman said, adding that he had not spoken to President Donald Trump or anyone at the White House.

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Separately, a medevac plane crashed near a shopping mall in Philadelphia on Friday evening with a child and five others aboard, the plane's air ambulance company said, adding that it had not confirmed any survivors.

Following the Washington crash, the FAA sharply restricted helicopter flights near Reagan to reduce the risk of another collision, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier on Friday, confirming news first reported by Reuters.

Duffy said the decision "will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic."

The FAA is barring most helicopters from parts of two routes near the airport and only allowing police and medical helicopters, air defense and presidential air transport in the area between the airport and nearby bridges.

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The restrictions will last at least until the NTSB releases a preliminary report into the fatal collision, which typically takes 30 days. At that point they will be reviewed, Duffy said.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the airline would work with the government "to make our aviation system even safer."

Crews have recovered 41 bodies thus far, officials said.

Pulling the debris from the Potomac River will begin "in earnest" on Sunday, Inman said, an effort that will likely last all week.

Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly told reporters that 28 bodies have been positively identified and that he expected all victims would eventually be recovered.

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The American Airlines plane was trying to land when it collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard. Two of the three service members killed in the helicopter were identified Friday.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SAFETY

The crash has shone a spotlight on concerns about air safety and a shortage of tower controllers at the heavily congested airport that serves the U.S. capital.

The FAA is about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets. The agency said in 2023 that it had 10,700 certified controllers, about the same as a year earlier.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday at the airport, a situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter. Duffy on Thursday vowed to reform the FAA.

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Airspace is crowded around the Washington area, home to three commercial airports, multiple military bases and some senior government officials who are ferried around by helicopter.

Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there was an average of 80 helicopter flights per day within 30 miles (48 km) of Reagan National Airport, with the majority either military or law enforcement flights, according to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report.

The helicopter's path has also drawn scrutiny. The military said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was taking is 200 feet (61 meters) but the collision occurred at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Trump weighed in on Friday, saying that the helicopter involved in the crash was flying too high.

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"The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit" Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, questioned the safety of military and commercial flights separated by as little as 350 feet (107 m) vertically and horizontally.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course.

The pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience, according to the airline's CEO. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.

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Terry Liercke, vice president of Reagan National, said two of the airport's three runways were expected to remain closed for a week. The main runway at Reagan, which will stay open, handles about 90% of the airport's flights and is the busiest single runway in the United States.

The crash victims included people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, as well as young figure skaters returning from an elite national training camp in Kansas, the state from which the passenger flight took off.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Costas Pitas; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Bianca Flowers and Brad Brooks; Editing by Scott Malone, Gerry Doyle, Mark Porter, Nia Williams, Sandra Maler and Himani Sarkar)
HONOLULU (KHON2)  Hawaii is a place of remarkable beauty and culture, but its also a place facing significant environmental threats.

Ulalia Woodside Lee, executive director of The Nature Conservancy Hawaii and Palmyra program, is on the frontlines of these challenges and working to ensure the islands can thrive for generations to come.

Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You

Lees perspective is grounded in deep personal and cultural responsibility, and her message is clear: sustainability is not just an option, but a necessity.

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Raised in Waimanalo, a coastal town on Oahu, Lees connection to the land is personal. She remembers watching the beach in front of her home change over time, a reminder of the broader environmental shifts taking place across Hawaii.

I was raised with a kuleana [responsibility] for Hawaii, Lee explained. My parents dedicated their lives to caring for Hawaiis culture and natural resources; so, it was natural for me to follow in their footsteps.

Lees path into environmental work was shaped by the example set by her family. Over the years, shes witnessed the power of partnerships and coalitions aimed at protecting Hawaiis natural treasures.

I got to see the impact of different organizations and agencies, she said. It felt natural to be part of that effort to care for Hawaii, our future generations, our families and our community.

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As the executive director of The Nature Conservancys Hawaii and Palmyra program, Lee is deeply involved in efforts to address the most pressing environmental issues facing the islands. The threats to Hawaiis environment, driven by climate change, are real and urgent.

Hawaii faces serious threats from climate-fueled natural disasters, Lee said. Weve seen an increase in wildfires, storms, floods, and the impacts to our native forests, coral reefs, beaches, and streams.

These natural resources are not just beautiful; they are essential to the islands survival.

They provide us with hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits every year, Lee pointed out. But they also provide the foundation of our life and culture. Our natural resources are part of nearly every milestone we experience as citizens of Hawaii.

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Despite their importance, these resources face significant underfunding. Lee highlights a $560 million funding gap needed to preserve and protect Hawaiis natural resources.

We are seeing financial gaps in the support we need to care for our homeland, she said. And this gap will continue to grow unless we act.

This year, The Nature Conservancy is pushing for an environmental stewardship fee to be passed by the state legislature. This fee would be supported by visitors to Hawaii, who, Lee argues, benefit from the islands natural beauty as much as the residents do.

Without significant investments in resilience, we cant prevent future disasters or help our communities, which are vulnerable to climate threats, she stressed.

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The idea of the fee is a crucial step toward ensuring long-term sustainability. According to Lee, Hawaii needs to make an environmental commitment that is supported by everyone  residents, visitors and lawmakers alike.

Its about investing in the health of our place, so that when we face unexpected impacts. So, we can recover more quickly, she explains.

Lee used a health analogy to illustrate the importance of maintaining the environments well-being.

When I take care of myself by getting good sleep, eating well and exercising, I can recover more quickly from illness or stress. Our environment is the same, she explained. If we care for our reefs, streams and forests, they can recover faster from climate-induced impacts.

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When Hawaiis natural resources are healthy, they can better support the communitys needs, from clean water to disaster resilience.

Its easier to contain wildfires or prevent flooding when we invest in the health of our environment, Lee explained. And if our reefs and forests are healthy, we can also support a faster recovery from climate impacts.

With challenges like rising food costs and the increasing frequency of climate-related disasters, the need for sustainable living has never been more urgent. Lee emphasized that investing in environmental stewardship is not just about preserving beauty.

Its about ensuring the survival of communities, businesses and ecosystems in Hawaii.

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When we invest in resilience, we make sure that when we face unexpected challenges, our businesses, agriculture, and communities are able to bounce back more quickly, she said.

Sustainability, Lee argued, is about more than protecting the environment. Its about protecting Hawaiis way of life.

She believes that if Hawaii embraces these investments in its natural resources, it will be better equipped to handle future challenges, whether they are climate-driven or economic.

We want to ensure that Hawaiis environment remains healthy for the long term, because thats the foundation of everything we do here, Lee said. Its about securing a future where our families, our communities, and our businesses can thrive.

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As Hawaii faces the complex reality of climate change and environmental degradation, the message from Lee and The Nature Conservancy is clear: its time to act.

We have an opportunity to make a difference, Lee concluded. But we need everyone on board, whether its government, businesses, residents or visitors, to ensure that we preserve what makes Hawaii special for future generations.

In the end, Lees call to action is simple yet powerful: embracing sustainable living is not a choice; its an obligation.

Its our kuleana to take care of this place, so that it can take care of us, she added.

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You can click here to learn more about the The Nature Conservancy Hawaii and Palmyra program.

Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8

The work is challenging, but the stakes couldnt be higher. With leaders like Ulalia Woodside Lee at the forefront, Hawaii has a chance to build a more resilient, sustainable future for its people and its environment.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Iowa City High School senior Ethan LaLumiere is the Press-Citizen's newest Student of the Week.

LaLumiere received 72% of the total 2,730 votes.

LaLumiere was one of several students who had success at the IHSSA State Debate tournament in Ankeny. LaLumiere and his partner, Kaj Larsen, went 5-0 in the preliminary rounds, earning the first seed in the elimination debate. They beat a Cedar Rapids, Washington team, 3-0 in the semifinals.

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LaLumiere has been dedicated to speech since the start of the school year and is hard-working and motivated. He's traveled across the country to places such as Dallas, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, to compete. LaLumiere's next goal is to qualify for nationals in February.

LaLumiere is also the Secretary of Rotary Interact and has volunteered for more than 200 hours, which has included organizing blood drives and voter registration events. LaLumiere is a top student as well with a 4.13 GPA. By graduation, he will have completed 13 AP classes.

More: This family-operated Des Moines furniture store is opening a 2nd location in eastern Iowa

This week's Student of the Week poll closed Thursday, Jan. 30 . A new Student of the Week poll will go live on Monday, Feb. 3.

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Here are the nominees from this week:

Megan Smelser, Iowa City Liberty High School

Iowa City Liberty senior Megan Smelser is a strong student, especially excelling as a member of Liberty High's band program. Smelser has once been selected to All-State Band and the Southeast Iowa Band Association (SEIBA) three times, in addition to being chosen by band directors to perform several solos. Smelser earned a division one rating all three years she has participated in Solo and Ensemble events. Smelser is an honor roll student who has maintained a 4.0+ GPA.

More: RAYGUN rebrands to 'Forever 22,' drops new merch ahead of Caitlin Clark's jersey retirement

Ava Wiltgen, Regina Catholic High School

Iowa City Regina Catholic High School senior Ava Wiltgen will have completed eight AP courses while maintaining a GPA over 4.0+ GPA by graduation. Wiltgen is dedicated to philanthropy and has completed more than 100 hours of volunteer service. The senior won the Student Impact Award from Impact Life for helping with blood drives. Wiltgen also participates in cross country and track and is Regina's NHS secretary.

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More: UI graduate students rally for higher wages outside President Wilson's office

About Student of the Week

The Press-Citizen's Student of the Week is a weekly contest throughout the academic year. Polls will open on Mondays and close on Thursdays. Students from public and private high schools in the Iowa City area are eligible to participate.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Find out who is the Press-Citizen's latest student of the week
(Main photo by simpson33 via iStock / Getty Images Plus; seal courtesy State of Iowa)

The Iowa Supreme Court has suspended for two months the law license of South Dakotas former attorney general due to his involvement in a 2020 traffic fatality.

In September 2024, the South Dakota Supreme Court suspended for six months the South Dakota law license of Jason Ravnsborg, who served as that states attorney general from 2019 until his impeachment and removal from office in 2022.

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Because Ravnsborg is also licensed to practice law in Iowa, he was notified last year that his Iowa license may be subject to a six-month suspension based on South Dakotas actions.

Ravnsborg argued against such a suspension, citing the fact that he was born on an Iowa farm in Cherokee County and later served three military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He told the court he believed he should be given no more than a private reprimand so he could move forward after four years of dealing with the matter.

At a recent hearing on the matter, the Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board cited the six-month suspension of Ravnsborgs South Dakota license and asked the Iowa justices to impose identical, reciprocal discipline.

The court instead issued an order stating, without explanation, that it finds that a 60-day suspension of Ravnsborgs license to practice law in Iowa is the appropriate discipline.

Question raised after fatality

Court records indicate that on 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2020, Ravnsborg was driving from a political event in Redfield, South Dakota, to his home in Pierre, South Dakota, when he struck and killed 55-year-old Joe Boever, who was walking on the shoulder of the road near the town of Highmore.

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According to court records, Ravnsborg slowly brought his vehicle to a stop and called 911, telling the operator, Im the attorney general. And I am  I dont know  I hit something. The operator asked whether he had hit a deer or something, and he allegedly replied, I have no idea, yeah, it could be, I mean it was right in the roadway.

Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek was dispatched to the scene but couldnt locate anything Ravnsborg struck. The next day, Ravnsborg returned to Highmore with his chief of staff to return the sheriffs vehicle. On the way, they stopped at the site of the crash and found Boevers body lying just off the side of the road and informed Volek of their discovery.

When he was interviewed by investigators, Ravnsborg denied having consumed any drugs or alcohol on the night of the accident  which, according to court records, was confirmed by a blood test. Ultimately, investigators concluded Ravnsborg had been driving outside the lane of travel, just off the roadway, when the accident occurred.

Ravnsborg pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses  operating a vehicle while using a cell phone and improper lane driving  and a charge of careless driving was dismissed.

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Ravnsborg then entered into a confidential civil settlement with Boevers estate. In June 2022, he was impeached by the South Dakota Senate, removed from office and barred from ever holding public office again in South Dakota.

The Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of South Dakota subsequently investigated the matter and recommended a 26-month suspension of Ravnsborgs law license.

The board alleged that when responding to questions by accident investigators, Ravnsborg did not appear to be forthright, and (was) only willing to acknowledge certain conduct after being confronted with evidence by the investigators.

The board also alleged that Ravnsborg frequently identified himself as the attorney general when encountering law enforcement for minor traffic violations. The board also noted that from the night of the accident and continuing throughout his service as attorney general, Ravnsborg made no public or private apology, never expressed his condolences to the Boever family, and he never acknowledged any culpability.

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Ravnsborg, the board concluded, was more concerned with the impact of the incident on his political and military careers than the victim, the victims family and the public he served.

In opting for a six-month law license suspension, the South Dakota Supreme Court stated that several of Ravnsborgs statements after the accident raise questions about his honesty and truthfulness. The court noted that Ravnsborg had repeatedly denied using his phones during his drive from Redfield to Highmore.

According to the court, the metadata on one of Ravnsborgs phones showed that minutes before he called 911, he had unlocked his phone, checked his Yahoo email account, accessed the Dakota Free Press website, and clicked on a political news article.

It was only after investigators informed him of that evidence, the court said, that Ravnsborgs story took another turn and he admitted looking at stuff on his phone before the accident.

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Ravnsborgs responses demonstrated a concerted effort to avoid criminal liability through dishonesty and misrepresentations, the court concluded.

Ravnsborg now lives in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, according to court records.

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Jason Ravnsborg, former attorney general of South Dakota, speaks during a hearing about the future of his law license on Feb. 14, 2024, at the Capitol in Pierre while his legal team looks on. (David Bordewyk/SD NewsMedia Association)

The Iowa Supreme Court has suspended for two months the law license of South Dakotas former attorney general due to his involvement in a 2020 traffic fatality.

In September 2024, the South Dakota Supreme Court suspended for six months the South Dakota law license of Jason Ravnsborg, who served as that states attorney general from 2019 until his impeachment and removal from office in 2022.

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Because Ravnsborg is also licensed to practice law in Iowa, he was notified last year that his Iowa license may be subject to a six-month suspension based on South Dakotas actions.

Ravnsborg argued against such a suspension, citing the fact that he was born on an Iowa farm in Cherokee County and later served three military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He told the court he believed he should be given no more than a private reprimand so he could move forward after four years of dealing with the matter.

At a recent hearing on the matter, the Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board cited the six-month suspension of Ravnsborgs South Dakota license and asked the Iowa justices to impose identical, reciprocal discipline.

The court instead issued an order stating, without explanation, that it finds that a 60-day suspension of Ravnsborgs license to practice law in Iowa is the appropriate discipline.

Question raised after fatality

Court records indicate that on 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2020, Ravnsborg was driving from a political event in Redfield, South Dakota, to his home in Pierre, South Dakota, when he struck and killed 55-year-old Joe Boever, who was walking on the shoulder of the road near the town of Highmore.

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According to court records, Ravnsborg slowly brought his vehicle to a stop and called 911, telling the operator, Im the attorney general. And I am  I dont know  I hit something. The operator asked whether he had hit a deer or something, and he allegedly replied, I have no idea, yeah, it could be, I mean it was right in the roadway.

Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek was dispatched to the scene but couldnt locate anything Ravnsborg struck. The next day, Ravnsborg returned to Highmore with his chief of staff to return the sheriffs vehicle. On the way, they stopped at the site of the crash and found Boevers body lying just off the side of the road and informed Volek of their discovery.

When he was interviewed by investigators, Ravnsborg denied having consumed any drugs or alcohol on the night of the accident  which, according to court records, was confirmed by a blood test. Ultimately, investigators concluded Ravnsborg had been driving outside the lane of travel, just off the roadway, when the accident occurred.

Ravnsborg pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses  operating a vehicle while using a cell phone and improper lane driving  and a charge of careless driving was dismissed.

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Ravnsborg then entered into a confidential civil settlement with Boevers estate. In June 2022, he was impeached by the South Dakota Senate, removed from office and barred from ever holding public office again in South Dakota.

The Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of South Dakota subsequently investigated the matter and recommended a 26-month suspension of Ravnsborgs law license.

The board alleged that when responding to questions by accident investigators, Ravnsborg did not appear to be forthright, and (was) only willing to acknowledge certain conduct after being confronted with evidence by the investigators.

The board also alleged that Ravnsborg frequently identified himself as the attorney general when encountering law enforcement for minor traffic violations. The board also noted that from the night of the accident and continuing throughout his service as attorney general, Ravnsborg made no public or private apology, never expressed his condolences to the Boever family, and he never acknowledged any culpability.

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Ravnsborg, the board concluded, was more concerned with the impact of the incident on his political and military careers than the victim, the victims family and the public he served.

In opting for a six-month law license suspension, the South Dakota Supreme Court stated that several of Ravnsborgs statements after the accident raise questions about his honesty and truthfulness. The court noted that Ravnsborg had repeatedly denied using his phones during his drive from Redfield to Highmore.

According to the court, the metadata on one of Ravnsborgs phones showed that minutes before he called 911, he had unlocked his phone, checked his Yahoo email account, accessed the Dakota Free Press website, and clicked on a political news article.

It was only after investigators informed him of that evidence, the court said, that Ravnsborgs story took another turn and he admitted looking at stuff on his phone before the accident.

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Ravnsborgs responses demonstrated a concerted effort to avoid criminal liability through dishonesty and misrepresentations, the court concluded.

Ravnsborg now lives in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, according to court records.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
DES MOINES, Iowa  The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is warning Iowans that the warm weather could lead to thinning ice and reduced ice fishing in the state, especially across southern Iowa.

Youd think wed have great ice because we got so cold for so long, but we didnt have a snow cover to act as an insulation blanket, said Mick Klemsrud, Spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. For whatever reason this has been one of these weird years, weve had a lot of our lakes, even up north, they didnt completely freeze over so they had these pockets of open water.

The lack of snow has played a role in ice melting faster.

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Between the cold weather and lack of snow cover, we should have excellent ice thickness and quality, but thats not the case, said Craig Cutts, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Bureau.

22 schools in Polk County have 10% or more kids absent due to illnesses

At Badger Creek Recreation Area near Van Meter there were a handful of ice fishermen on the ice, with the bright sun creating warmth and causing some of the ice to turn to pools of water. But, the lake was still fit for fishing.

Right now its probably about seven inches, said Dave Van Varcom, of Urbandale. It was about nine or 10 last week so we lost a couple inches with this warmer weather, but still plenty thick for me. I like to have at least four or five inches. Some of these people go out there with two inches, I think its pretty dangerous.

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Fishermen here worry not just about ice thickness, but also when the fish are biting.

This rain is coming in tonight, so I thought this afternoon would be the day to go, said Dan Verhassett, a fisherman from Johnston. Maybe tomorrow morning would be better, I dont know.

They say the fish bite best right before the ice comes in, and right before it goes out, said Van Varcom. We didnt catch any today, but we sure had fun.

Iowa News:

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Iowa will take steps to ensure Medicaid-eligible children with mental illness diagnoses receive the mental and behavioral health care services they need as part of a recently announced settlement agreement.

The lawsuit, filed in early 2023 by Disability Rights Iowa and other national health and law advocacy organizations, accused Iowa of "longstanding failure" to provide Medicaid-eligible children with legally required and medically necessary mental and behavioral health services.

The suit was filed against Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Director Kelly Garcia.

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The plaintiffs alleged that Iowa administers an inadequate mental health system, despite receiving federal funds for children's mental health care. As a result, Medicaid-eligible children younger than 21 who require intensive home and community-based services face a high risk of being placed in institutions away from their families and communities, they argued.

More: A 6-year-old tried to hang himself before he got real help. Welcome to Iowa's mental health crisis

More than 300,000 youth  or about three out of every eight Iowa youth under the age of 21  are covered by Medicaid. Of that population, nearly 90,000 had a serious emotional disturbance in state fiscal year 2020, according to court records.

Advocates behind the lawsuit say the steps proposed by the state in the agreement present a "radical change" that will ultimately be a positive move for youth in Iowa who need mental and behavioral health services.

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"That's a lot of children that this is going to directly impact in terms of the services they're able to receive, and change the trajectory of not only their immediate circumstances and immediate mental health needs, but also their long-term prospects," Catherine Johnson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, told the Register.

A preliminary settlement was reached in December after more than a year of negotiation between the plaintiffs and the state health and human services agency. The judge issued preliminary approval of the agreement last week, and set a final approval hearing for early May.

More: Lawsuit accuses Iowa of 'longstanding failure' to provide kids with mental health services

What does this settlement mean?

To address the plaintiffs' alleged shortfalls in behavioral health services for children, the state agreed to ensure key services are available statewide to Medicaid-eligible children with serious emotional disturbances. The state is required to complete this process by the end of 2032.

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The settlement agreement includes a detailed implementation plan Iowa HHS, which has been dubbed by state officials as the Iowa REACH initiative.

The plan includes specific steps the state will take to develop and deliver intensive home and community-based mental health services to children statewide when deemed medically necessary, and will be lead by a team from across the agency who will be responsible for overseeing the plan.

The agreement, along with the state's REACH strategy, signals "a major step in the right direction for Iowa youth and their families," Garcia said in a statement Wednesday.

"Iowa HHS is fully committed to implementing new strategies and evaluating current outcomes to ensure we are meeting the needs that our children and youth deserve and families expect," she said.

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Johnson praised the significant work to develop the settlement agreement, noting that the plan laid out by the state would create major structural change to Iowa's current mental and behavioral health system for youth. Because of this plan, she said youth will be able to stay with their families in their community, receiving the services and supports they need to succeed.

"They get to go to school with their friends and they don't have to go to an institution or a hospital that's scary and they don't know anyone," Johnson said. "They get to stay with the people that love them, and grow up with mental health services in place. Your future is different, perhaps, than it might have been without this brand new structure.

"I think it's just very, very significant, and I'm really excited for the implementation to begin so that Iowa can have these services in place as soon as possible for our kids."

What are the terms of the settlement?

Among the terms of the settlement, the state must ensure Medicaid-eligible children receive mental health services "in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs and are free from serious risks of segregation and institutionalization, including the unnecessary use of out-of-home placements."

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These changes must ensure Iowa youth receive the supports necessary to maximize their success growing into healthy and independent adults, the settlement agreement states.

To reach that goal, the state must develop and implement certain relevant services, which include intensive care coordination. This is a "single point of accountability" for ensuring medically necessary Medicaid services are coordinated and delivered appropriately to Iowa youth, according to the settlement agreement.

State officials also agreed to provide intensive in-home and community therapeutic services, with the goal to "maximize the childs ability to live and participate in the community and to function independently." That includes individual and family therapy.

The state must also boost its 24/7 mobile crisis intervention and stabilization services for young Iowans as part of this settlement agreement.

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To support their effort, state officials say they will utilize additional Medicaid services to support children with serious emotional disturbances and "to help maintain them in their homes and communities and avoid higher levels of care and out-of-home placements."

These additional services include respite care or other supports meant to help children build skills and help the family's ability to successfully care for the child at home.

However, state officials warn that while it can request funding from state lawmakers for these initiatives, the settlement ultimately does not have authority over the Iowa Legislature.

Both parties also agreed to an independent monitor tasked with evaluating the state's progress in implementing the proposed plan. The monitor  which will be a third-party selected at a later date  will issue reports on the state's effort each year, per the settlement agreement.

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Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com or at (319) 339-7354.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa agrees to take steps to improve behavioral health care for kids, per settlement agreement
DES MOINES, Iowa  Iowa refugee programs plan to continue providing services and aid to refugees despite federal program shutdowns, looking for new ways to continue programs.

Lutheran Services in Iowa provides refugees who arrive in Iowa assistance to help them acclimate, and without federal funding, their program will face challenges. LSI says it takes months to fully prepare and transition families, and its for tasks we dont think twice about.

We have a lot of things that we do over the course of their first 90 days to help them get oriented, such as getting kids in school and getting to health appointments and things like that, said Nick Wuertz, LSI Refugee Services Director. So very discouraged, you know, trying to figure out how to, how to proceed.

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President Trump signed an executive order that suspended refugee programs, stopping refugees from entering the country and halting funding for aid programs.

Even more concerning is the stop work order that we received late on Friday, which essentially said that, you know, after Friday, resettlement agencies such as LSI could no longer be reimbursed for expenses and should stop work on providing resettlement services, said Wuertz.

22 schools in Polk County have 10% or more kids absent due to illnesses

Wuertz says LSI brings in funds through donations and fundraising but depends on federal funding for a majority of their programs.

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We no longer have access to the federal funding that, you know, is the vast majority of what helps us pay initial living expenses until families get employed and start paying their own way, which is usually within a few short months, said Wuertz.

128 refugees arrived in Iowa over the past month and since funding has stopped, LSI will have to find other ways to help these new arrivals.

Were doing our best to reassure families, you know, and again, communicate to them that we are going to continue to provide services to them, said Wuertz. We just may not be able to provide as much financial support as we previously were.

Des Moines Refugee Support also plans to continue providing their services despite the suspension.

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Our model is that we will do what is needed and because we have such a great volunteer base and we have such a great base of donors, we are able to do that, said Allison Hoeman, DSM Refugee Support Executive Director.

Iowa DNR warning fishermen that warm weather could lead to thin ice

A local non-profit, DSM Refugee Support doesnt receive any federal funding, but worries that if organizations that did receive the funding cant keep up, theyll have to close the gap.

If the resettlement organizations arent able to go and do all of the things that they are supposed to be doing with their federal dollars, then yeah, theres community organizations like us that thats going to follow, said Hoeman.

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DSM Refugee Support raises thousands of dollars each year for programs such as childrens sports, womens aid, and educational opportunities, and says as long as they are able to continue doing so, refugees will still have various resources to establish themselves.

The issue is going to be whether or not they are getting all of the support that they need to be able to continue to, you know, get themselves set up and be ready to live in Iowa, said Hoeman.

Despite an uncertain future, DSM Refugee Support is continuing operations to prepare for future programs and events such as their spring clothing drive and weeklong day camp.

Both Lutheran Service of Iowa and Des Moines Refugee Support released statements saying they will continue providing services and are working on improving community engagement to bring in more volunteers and funds through local support.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Iran is developing nuclear missiles with a range of 3,000km based on designs handed to the Islamic regime by North Korea, The Telegraph can disclose.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which has previously exposed details of Tehrans secret uranium enrichment facilities, has shared information on how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are expanding their weapons programmes.

The exiled opposition group says that two sites camouflaged as communication satellite launch facilities have been used to rush the production of nuclear warheads.

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They are both under the control of the Organisation for Advanced Defence Research (SPND), the regimes nuclear weapons arm.

Credit: Google Earth

The Iranian mullahs are masters of lies, deception and evasion. For over two decades, they have used negotiations and the Wests leniency as a means to advance their nuclear weapons programme, threatening global peace and stability, Soona Samsami, a US representative of the NCRI, told The Telegraph.

Tehran has never been as weak and vulnerable as it is today. The desperate Iranian regime is thus speeding up the development of nuclear weapons.

Now is the time to hold the regime accountable for internal killings, regional warmongering, and nuclear weapons development, she added.

Launch platform at the Shahrud missile site where IRGC Aerospace Force experts are working on producing a nuclear warhead

At the first site, known as the Shahrud missile site, about 35km from a city of the same name, SPND and IRGC Aerospace Force experts have been working on producing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted to a Ghaem-100, solid-fuelled rocket with a range of 3,000km.

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Missiles with that range would allow Iran to launch nuclear strikes deep into Europe from its territory  as far as the likes Greece, and regional targets such Israel, Tehrans arch enemy.

There have been at least three successful launches of the rocket, which the NCRI says enhances the regimes capability to deploy nuclear weapons.

The main section of the facilities in the Shahrud site where the Iranian regime is building nuclear warheads

The IRGC has also announced plans to test more advanced Ghaem-105 rockets in the coming months.

Previous tests at the site were conducted as satellite launches as the rockets were described as satellite carriers to conceal the regimes alleged nuclear missile programme, the NCRI says.

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Satellite images show a large concrete platform from which mobile launch vehicles can fire the rockets skywards.

Nearby, there are clusters of buildings where the research is believed to be used for research purposes.

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Credit: Google Earth

A second site, situated around 70km southeast of the city of Semnan, is being used to develop Simorgh missiles, a weapon based on North Korean designs.

The designs are similar to the North Korean UNHA-1, an 18-metre tall rocket, which Pyongyang says is an expendable rocket for carrying equipment into space.

Significant portions of the site are based underground to conceal the work from intelligence satellites capturing images of the area.

To further obscure the military purpose of the Semnan missile site, the regime named it the Imam Khomeini site after Irans space organisation and carried out ballistic missile launches under the guise of satellite launches.

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The regime has been steadily expanding the site since around 2005, with six new structures emerging on satellite imagery over the past decade.

Images shared by the NCRI show a large section of ground in the northeastern corner of the Semnan site being excavated in 2009. As progress continues, concrete foundations are seen being erected in the hole.

Images from 2012 of the same section of the base show the structure entirely covered with dirt.

The Shahrud missile site about 35km from a city of the same name

According to the NCRI, activities by the SPND, including its geophysics department, which specialises in monitoring underground explosions from nuclear warhead productions, have intensified.

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Journalists were once permitted to visit the site, where they witnessed IRGC soldiers dressed in civilian clothes, but had their photographs confiscated by regime enforcers, with only a handful of selected images released.

Both sites have been designated military facilities and follow strict security protocols to avoid unwanted guests discovering what work is being undertaken at them.

Workers at the sites arrive at an external perimeter gate, often dozens of kilometres from the main facilities, in their private cars from Tehran and other cities.

From the checkpoint, the employees are brought in by bus by the IRGC to ensure maximum security.

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CAIRO (Reuters) -Iran will respond immediately and decisively if its nuclear sites are attacked which would lead to an "all-out war in the region," Tehran's foreign minister told Al Jazeera TV in an interview aired on Friday.

Israel and the U.S. launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be "one of the biggest historical mistakes the U.S. could make," Abbas Araqchi said through a translator.

Concerns have grown among Iran's top decision-makers that U.S. President Donald Trump might in his second term empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran's nuclear sites while further tightening U.S. sanctions on its oil industry.

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Those concerns, coupled with mounting anger within Iran over economic conditions, could drive Tehran toward engaging in negotiations with the Trump administration over the fate of its fast-advancing nuclear programme.

Araqchi suggested that the United States could free blocked Iranian funds as a first confidence-building step between the two hostile countries.

"Iranian assets and funds have been frozen at various points by the U.S (which) has not fulfilled its previous pledges (to free them). These things can be done by the U.S. administration in order to bring confidence between us," Araqchi said.

In 2018, then-President Trump reneged on the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and a group of world powers and re-imposed harsh U.S. sanctions as part of his "maximum pressure" policy against the country.

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In response, Tehran breached the deal in several ways including by accelerating its uranium enrichment.

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to use economic pressure to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, ballistic missile programme and regional activities.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba; Additional reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
CHICAGO  Recent deportation efforts across the country have sparked fear among immigrant communities, including those in Illinois.

Border Czar Tom Homan has repeatedly stated that criminals are the target of the raids but added that other collateral arrests would be made too.

WGN-TV recently sat down with an undocumented Irish immigrant who fears she may be next. She asked that her identity be disguised to ensure her safety.

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I carry my passport everywhere, I have a list of telephone numbers written down, the woman said.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

The fear felt by undocumented immigrants across the nation is hitting very close to home for the woman who has been in Illinois for about a decade after originally overstaying a holiday visa.

At this point, I had been here two months, I had been working, I had made friends, I absolutely loved it, the woman said. And then I panicked, like, I just panicked.

She said she initially tried to fix things with an attorney but was told that she had no options to make things right. So she stayed, fell in love, and later became pregnant. But things eventually took a turn for the worse.

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The relationship became extremely, like, abusive, the woman said. And any time I tried to leave with my children he would tell me, you know, Youre not a citizen, theyre not going to let you take her.'

Things got so bad that she had to contact the authorities.

Eventually it just got so bad where one day I actually had to call the police because he had actually beaten me that bad, she said.

After that, she was able to rebuild her life and meet someone new, but the recent federal immigration raids taking place across the country have sparked a new fear.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

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We went on to have a second child together. Hes the most perfect father to both of our children and now the fear is of us all being separated, the woman said.

She said she is particularly worried about her oldest child.

If hes the one on the birth certificate are the government going to say well he has the legal rights, the woman said. Ive told her every single day that I love her. I mean I tell my kids that all the time, but I tell them now especially, like, I love them so much and if I wasnt with them, its something I couldnt help.

She said she knows she is not the primary focus of the ongoing raids, but worries she may end up as one of the collateral arrests Homan warned about.

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The fear of getting pulled over or being in the wrong place at the wrong time or what if I drop them to school and then dont come back to pick them up, the woman said.

She is not alone, immigrants in Illinois comprise 14.3% of the population, predominately from Mexico, India, Poland, the Philippines and China.

Within Chicago specifically, 5.1% of the city is undocumented workers with jobs primarily in construction (15.6%), manufacturing (13.5%) and hospitality (11.8%).

How does that impact our workforce and if some of those workers have to leave, how do we eventually get workers back and fill those positions to continue the economy? Steve Hubbard said.

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Sources: Two men from Venezuela and Ecuador arrested after fatal attack in Norwood Park

Hubbard, a Senior Data Scientist at the American Immigration Council (AIC), said in addition to making money here, immigrants also spend it by the millions.

Overall household income of immigrants in Illinois is $85 billion, you know overall, what they provide to the economy, Hubbard said. So they are part of the economic engine of Illinois.

The AIC also compared crime data from 1980 to 2022 and overall, the crime rate went down, in spite of the immigrant population nationally, growing from 6.2% to 13.9% in that time.

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Even as we increase in the number of immigrants in the United States, our crime has decreased 60.4%, so it doesnt really match, Hubbard said.

The woman said she feels there needs to be a path for law-abiding immigrants to obtain citizenship.

If youve been here x amount of years, you clearly havent broken any laws while youre here, and youre working hard youre paying taxes, youre doing everything that you need to do. They should be able to help you get a path to citizenship, the woman said.

Chicago alders seek to learn more about delta-8 THC amid calls for greater regulation

The woman said she now feels deportation is less of a matter of if and more of a matter of when.

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Like I genuinely feel like it is inevitable, like, it is going to happen. Were probably going to end up coming home but whether Im coming home by myself, like, thats the fear, the woman said.

ICE has not provided updates on how many arrests were made nationwide on Thursday, but several thousand have been taken into custody across the country over the past few days.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Isaac Elementary School District educators opted Thursday night to continue working Friday, hopeful they would receive paychecks after not being paid so far this week amid the district's financial crisis that led to its takeover by the state. Their payday was scheduled for Tuesday.

"We were extremely hopeful that we would be paid today," said Marisol Garcia, an Isaac Elementary teacher and the president of the Arizona Education Association, a statewide educators' union.

On Wednesday night, the Tolleson Union High School District's Governing Board approved a deal with Isaac Elementary that would essentially allow the neighboring high school district to loan Isaac Elementary $25 million.

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By Thursday afternoon, the transaction had taken place, and all requested documents had been sent to the Maricopa County Treasurer's Office, according to Tolleson Union spokesperson Joseph Ortiz.

But by 5 p.m. Thursday, Garcia said, Maricopa County Treasurer John Allen had not yet greenlit the payroll checks.

"Nobody understands why we're still waiting for him," she said. "There's money in there to spend. I'm not sure what the treasurer's waiting for."

The Maricopa County Treasurer's office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

More than 300 staff members deliberated Thursday evening, Garcia said, over whether they should return to work Friday. Garcia said they were "significantly traumatized."

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"There was a lot of emotion, tears," she said.

The Arizona Education Association passed out $15,000 in gift cards Thursday  raised by donations from other state and local unions, along with individuals  to make sure staff could buy food and gas, Garcia said.

"The feeling is extremely tense on what may happen tomorrow if they are not paid," Garcia said. She added that several staff members were interviewing for other positions and "intend on leaving the district."

"These folks are living off $50 gift cards right now," she said. "It's pretty humiliating."

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Still, they planned to return Friday and would be "monitoring the process of getting checks printed" and handed to employees, Garcia said.

Meanwhile, legislation that would advance $2.5 million to the district has stalled after passing the House Education Committee earlier this week. House Bill 2610, introduced by Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, would direct Allen to issue funds to cover one payroll for the school district. The money would be drawn from Isaac's basic state aid. Garcia said Thursday that she was disappointed that the bill had stalled.

Isaac Elementary, which serves approximately 4,800 students in Phoenix, was placed under receivership two weeks ago by the Arizona State Board of Education because it had overspent its budget by millions. Last week, the district's superintendent and chief financial officer resigned.

According to Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Thomas Galvin, the district owes the county $28.5 million. The county has said it would not provide any more funding for the district's expenses until the district could demonstrate the ability to pay back its debt, leaving the district without cash to fund operations. The U.S. Department of Education agreed to return $6 million in pandemic relief funds that the district had inadvertently forfeited, and the Treasurer's Office said that money would go toward Isaac Elementary's debt.

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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has launched an investigation into the financial mismanagement at Isaac Elementary.

Getting help: Tolleson Union will transfer $25 million to ailing Isaac Elementary

Reach the reporter at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Isaac Elementary staff to keep working Friday, hopeful for paychecks
Keir Starmer probably did not welcome the question put to him by one of his own back benchers, Tahrir Ali, at a session of prime ministers questions last November.

The Birmingham Hall Green MP asked the prime minister to commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions. Starmer, in his response, condemned all such behaviour but stopped short of acceding to his honourable friends request, sparking social media concerns that he had not ruled out reintroducing blasphemy laws.

Such demands are worrying for those who value freedom of expression, but they are also, to a degree, pointless, because whatever the law says, some police forces already operate on the basis that blasphemy laws  at least against Islam  are already in force.

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In 2023 massive levels of police resources were deployed when a 14-year-old West Yorkshire schoolboy dropped and scuffed his personal copy of the Koran while larking about with his mates. A full investigation into this non-crime hate incident was duly launched, a press conference to reassure the community was held and the boys mother felt obliged to record a tearful apology on behalf of her son who, it was revealed, had already received death threats. For damaging a book.

This week we read reports that Salwan Momika, 38, an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, has been shot dead by an unidentified assailant after becoming notorious for filming himself burning copies of the Koran. Just as eye-catching is the fact that Momika was due to be sentenced in a Swedish court for offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group.

Meanwhile, the UK government continues to deliberate whether it can formally define Islamophobia, presumably as a precursor to legislating against it. This is very dangerous territory on which to tread: offering legal protections to any religious faith, rather than to a race or ethnicity, would in effect be reintroducing blasphemy laws.

In 1979 the established church was appalled by the production of Monty Pythons The Life of Brian, which it saw as a direct attack on the basic tenets of the Christian faith. The producers and writers denied this, but the various bishops and archbishops who spluttered into their morning coffees may have had a point. Certainly a number of local authorities considered this to be the case: the movie was only allowed to be shown publicly in Glasgow for the first time 30 years later, a ban having been imposed by easily-offended councillors when the movie was first released.

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But arguments about whether the film was blasphemous or not miss the point entirely: even if it was, Britain is  and should have been by 1979  a secular society that offers no legal protections against ridicule or criticism to any faith. While we can all agree that it is extremely impolite to mock someone for what they believe, we can also agree that such mockery is a part of life. You dont have to like that, you just have to accept it as the price for living in a free, democratic society.

I have sympathy for anyone who might have watched the online videos of the late Mr Momika setting fire to pages of the Koran  adding strips of bacon to the pyre was foolish and deliberately provocative  and been upset by the disrespect shown. But my sympathy does not extend to tolerance of any violent or intimidating response. The notion that offence towards ones own religion somehow justifies violence in any form is one that belongs in the middle ages, and certainly not in any democratic, liberal society.

Yet the response to such incidents in Britain, where blasphemy laws have already been consigned to history, is incoherent at best. Why treat that teenage schoolboys behaviour as if it were criminal rather than adolescent? When death threats forced a teacher at Batley Grammar to go into hiding for his life after he showed his class pictures of a historic figure, all the polices efforts should have gone into identifying the source of the threats and locking up the perpetrators, not into reassuring those who chose to be offended.

Much was made  by the last Labour government, certainly not the current one  about the need for immigrant communities to make more of an effort to integrate into British life, which usually equated to encouraging them to learn English and seek a husband or wife in Britain rather than in the ancestral homeland. Integration certainly is important, but it should also mean the acceptance of the social norms of the country in which you have chosen to live  including equal rights for women and gay people, but especially democratic principles like freedom of expression, even when such expressions offend.

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The state has no business interfering on one side or the other when it comes to matters of faith, and followers of religion have no right to expect the state to use any of its powers to protect their feelings of hurt when someone says mean things about their faith. As a human rights lawyer, Keir Starmer should have laid out this key principle when he was responding to Tahrir Alis question last year. But he chose not to, and we all know why.

Labour depends on the Muslim vote in order to sustain its electoral base in several parts of the country, especially the West Midlands. Having lost four seats to independent pro-Gaza candidates last July, the party understandably wants to avoid any more such losses. But if that is its priority, it is not a priority that serves the rest of the country well. Freedom of expression is more important than the electoral prospects of any single party. And as the rise of Reform UK in the polls since then has proved, those who stand for British values of tolerance, democracy and freedom of speech have more to gain than lose.

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Jan. 30ANDERSON  The Indiana State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting death on Interstate 69 that happened Wednesday.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Thursday that he will not request a special prosecutor in connection with the shooting.

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Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
JERUSALEM  Israels ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees went into effect Thursday in a move that the world body has warned will jeopardize humanitarian aid efforts in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The move comes as 2 million Palestinians living in those areas are grappling with the destruction wrought during the 15 months of the Gaza war and its timing  coming at an especially vulnerable moment for the Palestinian territories  has alarmed the international community.

The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, believes the ban will further stoke tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire remains in place.

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Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, which saw the country seize the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Since then, it has built and expanded Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Most countries deem them illegal under international law, a position disputed by Israel which sees the territory as a security bulwark.

Israel, which claims that Hamas members have infiltrated UNRWA, argues that the agencys absence will depoliticize humanitarian aid, make delivery more efficient and help keep it out of Hamas hands.

UNRWA Director-General Philippe Lazzarini has warned of disastrous consequences if Israel bans the aid organization from the Palestinian territories.

The ban comes into effect less than two weeks after a Gaza ceasefire deal allowed for a surge in humanitarian aid into the enclave with the expected weekly entry of 4,200 trucks of aid.

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Because they claim that UNRWA has exaggerated the proportion of Gazas aid it provides, Israeli officials say that other aid bodies, other UN agencies and municipal departments will step in to fill the gap left by UNRWA.

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from UNRWA enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt on Jan. 23.

What is UNRWA?

Often described as the main humanitarian and social security provider for the Palestinians, UNRWA was established in 1949 and went into operation in 1950 to serve some 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the foundation of the state of Israel.

UNRWA, which is funded by a combination of U.N member states and the U.N. itself, now provides humanitarian aid, education and health services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, who are also considered refugees under the agencys charter. Some 2.4 million of these people are in Jordan, 1.6 million in Gaza, 900,000 are in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and a further 1 million are spread across Syria and Lebanon.

While the U.N. General Assembly controls UNRWA, annually extending its mandate to operate, the body only functions with the approval of local authorities. According to UNRWA itself, it has more than 17,000 employees, most of them Palestinian refugees  in territories impacted by the ban, where 2.4 million people are recognized as refugees  plus a small number of international staff.

What's Israel saying?

Lawmakers on the political right in Israel and the U.S. have long argued that the education material taught in UNRWA schools is antisemitic and incites violence against Israel. They also say that UNRWA has helped to perpetuate the refugee status of Palestinians and used them as a political tool against Israel rather than helping them integrate into their environments.

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More recently, they have claimed that UNRWA has failed to prevent Hamas from using its facilities in Gaza, infiltrating its organization and misappropriating aid supplies.

Those arguments gathered support in Israel after the Israel Defense Forces said it had found Hamas-built tunnels under UNRWA schools and weapons in UNRWA faculties.

When Hamas led the Oct. 7 2023, terrorist attack on Israel in which Israeli officials say more than 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, some of those casualties and hostages were taken by members of UNRWA staff, according to Israel.

What's the response?

In its own defense, UNRWA has said that its educational material is designed to highlight tolerance and democracy and has denied any connection to terrorist activities. The body says that its staff must remain neutral and that any staff who are not are fired. It says that less than 1% of staff have been found guilty of such violations.

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Last August, an independent investigation regarding the Oct. 7 2023, attack commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres examined 19 staff members and found that in nine cases, the evidence obtained by [the UNs Office of Internal Oversight Services] indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks.

Displaced Palestinians queue to receive emergency food parcels from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency last week in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had orchestrated a campaign against UNRWA motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of their refugee status.

What does cancellation mean?

As dictated by a motion approved in October by its parliament, Israel is canceling the 50-year-old agreement with the U.N. under which it allows UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

While services in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will not be impacted, that means Israel will no longer communicate with UNRWA staff, issue visas for its international workers or recognize existing visas  meaning many foreign staff will have to leave the occupied Palestinian territories.

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Initially, the ban will be felt most in east Jerusalem, where UNRWA has been ordered to vacate its premises, while some of its operations in the West Bank will likely be wound down more gradually.

What does UNRWA say?

It remains unclear what the impact will be on aid in Gaza. U.N. figures suggest that Gaza is acutely in need of aid given that Israels military offensive  which local health authorities say killed 47,000 people  left around 90% of Gazas population, or 1.9 million people, displaced from their homes.

Around 60% of Gazas broader infrastructure has also been destroyed, the U.N. says.

UNRWAs local permits are issued through local Gaza authorities and with the Israeli army planning to withdraw from many areas of the enclave, the U.N. body will no longer need to coordinate its movements with Israel.

A displaced Palestinian woman feeds a child inside a makeshift shelter in central Gaza in December.

According to Lazzarini, UNRWA employs 13,000 staff members and has 300 facilities in the enclave. While its expected that services will continue, the logistical viability of dealing with an Israeli military that controls Gazas land borders but no longer recognizes UNRWA may be placed in jeopardy.

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Lazzarini told the Security Council on Tuesday that since October 2023, we have delivered two-thirds of all food assistance [in Gaza], provided shelter to over a million displaced persons, and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio.

What do Israel and the U.S. say?

Israeli officials say that UNRWA represents a fraction of the aid in Gaza and that it has exaggerated its role. They add that the weekly entry of 4,200 trucks of humanitarian assistance into Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement will not be impacted.

The Israeli militarys Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the [Palestinian] Territories (COGAT) says that, including UNRWA, there are 11 U.N. agencies and 17 nonprofits involved in aid efforts in Gaza, while the office of Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said that 13.5% of aid there comes from UNRWA.

The Biden administration halted funding to UNRWA in 2024 and President Donald Trump has since supported Israels ban on the body. Dorothy Shea, a U.S. envoy to the U.N., told the Security Council on Tuesday that UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous.

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What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services, she added.





This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Israel has received a list from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of the names of the next three hostages to be released from the Gaza Strip on Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement.

Israel is checking the list and will inform the families of the people concerned, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday.

Hamas confirmed that the list had been sent. Under the ceasefire agreement, the group must inform Israel 24 hours in advance of the names of the hostages who are to be freed.

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Israel is to release dozens of Palestinian prisoners in return for the hostages.

According to Israeli information, 82 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip.

Eight people were released on Thursday, including two German-Israelis, an Israeli soldier and five Thai workers who had been kidnapped in Israel.

A three-stage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was reached in mid-January after months-long efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to mediate between the warring parties.

The first stage of the ceasefire agreement foresees the release of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, while the Israeli military is to withdraw from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Two people were killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley area, the Lebanese health ministry said on Friday, after the Israeli military said it had struck several Hezbollah targets overnight in the Bekaa Valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the targets included a facility used for underground weapons development and another linked to arms smuggling into Lebanon from neighbouring Syria.

The Israeli military statement did not mention casualties.

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Lebanon's health ministry said 10 people were also wounded. Its tolls do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah official Ibrahim Moussawi condemned the air raids, calling them "a very dangerous violation and a blatant and explicit aggression" and called on the Lebanese state to halt Israel's attacks.

The strikes were the latest by Israel in Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement reached in late November between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that ended more than a year of fighting between the two heavily-armed foes.

The agreement calls for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon and says that all "unauthorized arms" and military infrastructure should be dismantled, starting with southern Lebanon.

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Hezbollah, however, has insisted that the agreement applies exclusively to southern Lebanon.

The deal also called for Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon within 60 days, but that period was extended this week to Feb. 18 to give more time for Israeli troops to pull out and for Lebanese troops to deploy to the area.

Israel says Lebanon has not yet fully implemented the deal's terms and also specifically accuses Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire.

On Thursday, Israel said it had intercepted a surveillance drone launched by Hezbollah, calling it "a breach of the ceasefire agreement". Hezbollah declined to comment.

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Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Monday that his group would "not accept any justification" to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw - but the group has not directly threatened to resume military operations.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has condemned Israel's continued strikes, and the country's U.S.-backed military has accused Israel of procrastinating in its troop withdrawal.

The Israeli military has ordered some southern Lebanese areas near the border still out of bounds to residents and on Sunday Israeli forces killed two dozen people who had been attempting to return to their homes in defiance of those orders.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Toby Chopra and Frances Kerry)
The Israeli military said on Friday that the air force attacked Hezbollah positions in eastern Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that "terrorist targets" in the Bekaa region were struck.

The military said the targets included an underground facility used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia for weapons development and production, as well as infrastructure along the Syrian-Lebanese border used for arms smuggling.

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While the IDF emphasized its commitment to the fragile ceasefire currently in effect, it said that it would not tolerate any "terrorist activities."

The IDF said it will act to eliminate any threats to Israel and its forces.

On Sunday, the White House announced that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, agreed upon in November, was extended until February 18.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Police in Turkey fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who clashed with officers Friday outside an Istanbul courthouse while rallying in support of the citys mayor, who was called to give testimony in two new legal probes against him.

Thousands of supporters gathered outside the Caglayan courthouse to protest the legal actions against Ekrem Imamoglu, a potential future leader of Turkeys main opposition Republican Peoples Party, or CHP, and a possible challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Imamoglu testified Friday before prosecutors for two hours in connection with comments he made about a chief prosecutor and a court expert. Critics argue that the probes were part of an effort to remove Imamoglu from the political scene.

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The politician has already been convicted of charges of insulting members of Turkeys Supreme Electoral Council and faces a political ban if his conviction in 2022 is upheld by a high court. He is also on trial on charges that he was involved in the alleged rigging of bids in a tender dating back to 2015.

Tensions escalated Friday when riot police blocked a CHP bus from approaching the courthouse. The move led to clashes between the protesters and the police, who responded with tear gas. It was not clear if any arrests were made.

Imamoglu later addressed the crowds from the top of the bus at another location.

Todays issue is ... an issue of seeking rights and justice, the mayor said. Unfortunately, todays issue stems from a conspiracy that is being set up against Istanbul.

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Imamoglu, 53, was first elected to lead Istanbul in March 2019. His win was a historic blow to Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities. The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won.

Imamoglu was reelected mayor of Turkeys largest city last year.
ROME (AP)  An Italian appeals court on Friday refused to approve the speedy expulsion of 43 asylum seekers detained in Albania under a controversial migration deal to move the proceedings beyond the European Union's borders.

The migrants, whose asylum requests have already been rejected, will now be brought back to Italy on Saturday morning after the third failed attempt by Giorgia Meloni's far-right government to process migrants in Albania.

The appeals court in Rome referred the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which is expected to issue a ruling on Feb. 25 related to the previous cases.

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The series of lower court rulings have opened a fissure between the Meloni government and the Italian judicial system that has only deepened with the expulsion earlier this month of a Libya warlord who had been arrested in Italy on an International Criminal Court warrant alleging crimes against human rights.

In the two previous cases, judges similarly refused to approve the expulsion of much smaller groups of migrants, in both cases seeking clarity from the European court on which countries were safe for repatriation of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

Italy last year signed a five-year agreement to process up to 3,000 migrants a month beyond the EU borders as part of Melonis program to combat illegal migration to Italy, which is the first landfall for tens of thousands of migrants who make the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean Sea.

While the agreement has raised concerns among human rights activists, European partners have expressed interest in the project.

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The 43 migrants were among 49 people who were transferred to Albania on an Italian naval ship Tuesday. Italian media reported they were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.

The 49 migrants were among 3,704 who arrived in Italy through Jan. 27, with arrivals up more than double the same period last year.

____

Follow APs global migration coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration
Italian judges have blocked prime minister Giorgia Melonis scheme to detain migrants in centres in Albania, according to reports.

Romes court of appeals refused to sign off on the detention and referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), meaning the 43 migrants in question must now be transferred to Italy instead, a source told AFP news agency.

The decision is a political headache for Ms Meloni, whose flagship plan to outsource migrant processing to a non-EU country and speed up repatriations of failed asylum seekers is being followed closely by other European nations.

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The plan, heavily criticised by rights groups and opposition parties in Italy, has run into repeated roadblocks and the ECJ is examining legal questions raised by several Italian courts.

The 43 migrants were among a group of 49 people intercepted by Italian authorities as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean, and taken to Albania, where they arrived on Tuesday.

Most hailed from Bangladesh, while there were also six Egyptians, one man from the Ivory Coast and one from Gambia, according to rights associations following the case.

The 49 migrants were among 3,704 who arrived in Italy through Jan 27, with arrivals up more than double the same period last year.

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Ms Meloni signed a deal with her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, in November 2023 to open two Italian-run centres across the Adriatic in Albania.

Migrants, intercepted in Italian waters, disembark after a ship carrying 49 migrants arrived at the Albanian port of Shengjin - Adnan Beci/Getty

The centres became operational in October but judges ruled against the detentions of the first two groups of men transferred there, who were instead sent to Italy.

The series of lower court rulings have opened a fissure between Ms Melonis government and the Italian judicial system that has only deepened with the expulsion earlier this month of a Libyan warlord who had been arrested in Italy on an International Criminal Court warrant alleging crimes against human rights.

In the two previous cases, judges similarly refused to approve the expulsion of much smaller groups of migrants, in both cases seeking clarity from the European court on which countries were safe for repatriation of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

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Italy, like many other countries, draws up a list of so-called safe countries from which asylum seekers can have their applications fast-tracked.

Only men from these safe countries are eligible to be taken to the Albania centres.

But judges who blocked the first transfer of migrants cited an ECJ ruling stipulating that European Union states can only designate entire countries as safe, not parts of countries.

An ECJ hearing has been provisionally set for February, according to Italian media.

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By Angelo Amante and Paolo Chiriatti

ROME (Reuters) - A Rome court on Friday ordered a group of migrants detained in camps built in Albania to be transferred to Italy, sources said, dealing a fresh blow to a plan by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to curb irregular sea arrivals.

The decision involved 43 migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh who had been brought to Albania this week after being picked up in the Mediterranean, in the latest attempt to enforce a policy whose validity had already been questioned by the judiciary.

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Italy's right-wing government built the two facilities in the Balkan country aiming to hold migrants there while processing their asylum requests.

The latest ruling marks the third time judges have ordered that migrants be transferred to Italy since a first group was taken to Albania in October last year.

Italy's opposition parties welcomed the setback for Meloni.

"As any person with common sense would have imagined, yet another deportation of migrants to Albania has come to nothing," said Nicola Fratoianni, a lawmaker from the Green-Left Alliance party.

The Italian interior ministry declined to comment.

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Two sources close to the matter told Reuters the judges had decided to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In the meantime the migrants will be moved to Italy, with the transfer probably taking place on Saturday, one of the sources said.

The Albanian facilities had remained empty since November, when judges last ordered those detained there to be transferred to Italy, citing doubts over the scheme's compliance with a recent ECJ ruling.

That ruling, which was not specifically related to Italy, said with regard to migrants that no nation of origin could be considered safe if even just a part of its territory was deemed dangerous.

Italian judges said the ruling threw into question the government's plan to take to Albania migrants from a list of "safe" countries, in the hope of swiftly repatriating them when their asylum requests were, in all likelihood, rejected.

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The issue has sparked a row between Meloni's coalition and the judiciary, with senior figures in the government accusing the courts of trying to undermine the plan for political reasons.

The ECJ is set to review Italy's scheme in the next few weeks to clarify whether it is in compliance with EU law.

(writing by Angelo Amante, editing by Gavin Jones)
Who could have predicted, just a week into Donald Trumps second administration, that his vice president would be in a spat with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the archbishop of New York, who had just delivered an invocation at Trumps inauguration?

Itd be less surprisingexpected, evenif it were Trump himself. But J.D. Vance is the highest-ranking Roman Catholic in the U.S. government, so it was astounding when the vice president accused the bishops conference of being more concerned with their bottom line than their pastoral work helping refugees and immigrants. Catholics engaged in public policy in Washington and beyond were, in a word, shocked by Vances charge.

Theres concern the political will eclipse the principle in terms of what motivates him, Jayd Henricks, the former head of government relations at the USCCB, told me.

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Vances shot across the bow at his churchs American establishment was just the latest example of the simmering tensions between Trumps political movement and the countrys Catholic community over immigration. Longstanding legal battles between Republican officials in Texas and Catholic relief groups like Catholic Charities and Annunciation House continue over their work operating shelters and providing other services for undocumented migrants. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican member of the newly established DOGE subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, has said she plans to investigate a Catholic Charities attorney in Milwaukee over a video in which the attorney informs refugees and immigrants of their legal rights.

Kim Daniels, the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, argued this week on Twitter that it all adds up to an old strategy of politicians targeting Catholics for political gain.

What set things off this week was Vances interview on Face the Nation, during which CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan pressed him about the bishops critical statements on the administrations executive orders relating to the enforcement of immigration laws and refugee programs. Vance turned the issue around on the USCCB, employing the glib combativeness that has made him a hero and heir apparent to the MAGA movement.

I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrantsare they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? the vice president said.

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Vance went on, suggesting that the bishops should be more concerned about the children who have been sex trafficked over the open border. I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that theyll do better, he scolded.

The vice president had picked an easy target: a faceless bureaucracy that at first glance has little to do with the everyday lives of churchgoing Catholics in their parishes. But Vances snap at the bishops had more than a little venom to it. This was not a agree to disagree moment, one employed by Catholic politicians in both parties when one of their positions inevitably comes into conflict with the teachings of the church. Vance was questioning the sincerity and good faith of the bishops on one of the most visible parts of Catholic ministry: the care and defense of the vulnerable.

Some Catholic stakeholders in Washington and beyond worry that by suggesting the church is benefitting financially from the resettlement program, Vance opens a door for bigots. Anti-Catholic nativists in the 19th and early 20th century often cast the church as greedy, seeking public funding for their parochial schools or as payouts to immigrants from the urban political machines. Vestiges of those anti-Catholic sentiments remain enshrined in some state laws to this day.

The vice president of the United States chose a major venue to deliberately accuse Catholic leaders of being in it for the money & enabling child traffickingeasily-refuted falsehoods that used to only find expression among fringe anti-Catholics, Daniels tweeted.

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The USCCBs written response did not directly address Vances remarks, but it defended the program it interpreted as the target of his barb, a contract with the federal government to fulfill its Refugee Admissions Program, which has been required by law since 1980. The statement notes that the USCCB receives funds from the government to resettle refugees, which it characterizes as a work of mercy and ministry of the Church, though it notes that those funds do not entirely cover the costs of its refugee program.

An analysis of the USCCBs annual audits by The Pillar, an independent Catholic news site, confirms the conferences claims. In 2023, for instance, the USCCB received more than $129 million from Washington as part of its migrant and refugee services contract but spent just over $134 million on the program. That disparitythe bishops spending more on these services than they receive from the governmenthas happened across recent administrations and is reflected even when the government spent far less on the program during the first Trump administration. The Pillars analysis also notes that the ratio of the programs operational costs to administrative costs is well within the bounds of best practices.

But it was the reaction from Cardinal Timothy Dolan that revealed just how deeply Vances words had cut. The archbishop of New York is a media-savvy prelate often aligned with the churchs political conservatives. Dolan enthusiastically welcomed Trump to the annual Al Smith dinner last fall and delivered an invocation at last weeks inauguration. But the cardinal was unsparing about Vance during his weekly satellite radio show on Tuesday.

I was really disappointed with what he said on Face the Nation the other day, and I dont mind telling you, somewhat hurt. This was not only harmful, this was inaccurate, Dolan said, calling Vances argument scurrilous and nasty and challenging the vice president to look at our audits.

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Dolans anger is matched by conservative Catholics in Washington who have privately expressed their disappointment in their coreligionist in the White House.

There are no signs that Vance or the bishops will reconcile anytime soon. A White House spokesman declined to comment, and requests for comment to both the USCCB and the archdiocese of New York have so far gone unanswered. But several Catholics working in public policy with a vested interest in a healthy relationship between the church and the United States government tell me they are hopeful Vance will make amends.

I think he owes, you know, maybe its not a public apology, but its certainly some level of apology to the bishops and he needs before he speaks about these things, to be a little bit more informed, said Henricks.

Doing so wouldnt just be good mannersit might also be politically prudent. With the Vatican looking askance at the new administration and Pope Francis installing a Trump critic to lead the archdiocese in the nations capital, its unclear what the upside is for Vance to alienate the relatively conservative conference of American bishops on week oneespecially after Catholic voters preferred Trump over Kamala Harris in November by 20 points.

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But like president, like vice president. There appears to be little patience from either Trump or Vance for criticism from those who might otherwise be allies.

In some respects, you kind of appreciate just the directness and kind of transparency, said Henricks of Vances comments. But if this reflects kind of the honest attitude, it does not bode well for a good working relationship.

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Leaving prison can be as stressful an experience as it is joyful  there are a lot of considerations that go into starting ones life over, including finding the right doctor.

The Pulaski County Detention Center is aware of that, and with the help of the Pulaski County Fiscal Court, is trying to take that item off the to-do list of its departing inmates.

Jailer Anthony McCollum introduced the Fiscal Court on Tuesday to Tracey Antle, Chief Operating Officer for Cumberland Family Medical Center, a federally qualified health center with offices in Russell County and a coverage scope of several counties, including Pulaski.

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Antle informed the court that Cumberland Family Medical Center had the opportunity to apply for a grant last summer that would allow them to provide transitional services for detainees as they leave the detention center, in the 90 days prior to their release.

Were not coming into the jail to replace anything theyre already doing; theyre already doing a great job, they already have a really strong reentry program, said Antle. This grant would just allow us to help those folks reenter the community more successfully by making sure that when they get out they have a doctor that they can go to.

A lot of times, you leave a detention center and youre getting your medications for your diabetes or your heart disease or whatever you may have ... and you leave (and) you dont have a doctor anymore, she added. You know how hard it is to make an appointment at a doctors office sometimes. So we want to work with those folks to make sure that as they leave, they can  the very day, even  come into a clinic somewhere and get the medications they need to be healthy.

Antle said Cumberland Family will also help connect those leaving the detention center with any mental health treatments they may need, including family counseling and substance abuse counseling.

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According to information provided by Cumberland Family Medical Center in a release, studies show that as many as 80% of individuals released from incarceration have either or both chronic medical and substance use conditions. Nearly half of those entering incarceration meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder and struggle to access and afford medication assisted and other substance use disorder treatments upon release.

There is no billing for anything, said Antle, and the service comes at no cost to the jail or county as a result of the grant, known as the Quality Improvement Fund- Transitions in Care for Justice-Involved Population award, funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services via the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The goal is to see if we can take these folks as they leave incarceration and help them make a more seamless transition back into the community through jobs, through health care, through behavioral health ... whatever their needs are, to make them return to the community more quickly, more safely, and in a more productive manner.

The fiscal court approved the Memorandum of Understanding needed to help the deal go through. The detention center will provide space for a program director along with other providers that will be coming and going.

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The two-year grant can be renewed after that period, and can be terminated with a 60 day notice.

This pays the full salary and the full benefit package of the employee we already had doing it, so I think its a win-win for the county, said McCollum.

I try to put a lot of emphasis on our reentry programs for the inmates, to get them educated as far as having a GED or some type of diploma, or something to where they can enter the work force once theyre released from the detention center, added the jailer to the fiscal court.

Also at the fiscal court meeting on Tuesday, the court approved an updated electrical inspector ordinance upon its second reading. The ordinance adds in a $25 permit fee that inspectors had been charging but wasnt in the previous version of the ordinance, and the court also approved four new electrical inspectors to work on behalf of the county.

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We had to re-do the ordinance which hadnt been done since 2017, Pulaski County Judge-Executive Marshall Todd explained to the Commonwealth Journal. The electrical inspectors that we had at a time, one is going into semi-retirement and the other is already gone away, so we were down an inspector for the county basically, so we had to revisit and update the ordinance, and then we had to clarify ... at least one fee on the fee structure, which the county doesnt get, it just goes to the electrical inspectors themselves.

The four inspectors approved included Jackie Spears of Wayne County, McCreary Countys Larry Strunk, Lincoln Countys Michael Ledger, and Ron Ebling locally.

Also approved by the court was a resolution authorizing the completion and filing of a Government Resources Accelerating Needed Transformation Program project application for up to $50,000 to help with a community development block grant housing project.

Back in September, the court passed the original resolution to help the Lake Cumberland Area Development District move ahead with the purchase of 86 apartment units in Pulaski County, over four different complexes. With a total project cost of $600,000, the first resolution covered $540,000 of that in federal funds, and the new resolution covers all but $10,000 of the remainder, and theres a solution for that too.

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Theyve already been awarded a $10,000 pre-development cost grant, said Todd. Its a 4 % match. So all the $600,000 is now approved.

Some of the existing apartment units to be acquired and refurbished for eventual use by low-income seniors will be located on Hail Knob Road and on University Drive, as well as another location. The non-profit Ezekial Foundation will be the owner of the facilities, but the projects funding is going through Lake Cumberland Area Development District offices. Pulaski County Government is serving as a pass-through agency for the grant.
(WJET/WFXP) A Jamestown, New York man was arrested early Thursday morning after police said he walked away from a traffic stop and into a nearby store.

According to a release, Jamestown police stopped 29-year-old Marcus Thomas of Jamestown around 12:15 a.m. Thursday morning for an alleged traffic violation in the downtown area.

Boil water advisory issued for Tidioute, Limestone Townships

Police said during that stop, Thomas got out of his car and walked into a nearby store, ignoring instructions to stay in the vehicle which led to a brief scuffle.

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Hes now being charged with resisting arrest along with several traffic violations and was released on bail reform.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
TOKYO (AP)  Japanese police said Friday they have arrested a Canadian national on suspicion of smuggling into Japan hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine hidden inside large industrial machinery that he had shipped in a container from the United States.

Tokyo metropolitan police said they arrested Vincent Yat Sum Yeung, a 38-year-old company executive and a resident of Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Wednesday.

Police said they believe the suspect had unidentified accomplices and are still investigating, but declined to confirm further details.

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Police found some 320 kilograms (705 pounds) of methamphetamines, divided into 321 bags containing 1 kilogram each, inside a large milling machine shipped from Los Angeles in December 2023, according to Japan's NHK public television.

The haul reportedly had a street value of 21.2 billion yen ($137 million). The machine and the stimulants had been temporarily stored at a warehouse in the city of Kuki, just north of Tokyo, NHK said.
JD Vance has mocked Rory Stewart for not being as clever as he thinks he is during a spat with the former Tory MP on social media.

Mr Stewart, the former cabinet minister and host of podcast The Rest Is Politics, hit out at Mr Vance after the US vice-president discussed religion in a recent Fox News interview.

Mr Vance spoke to Fox News about the Christian concept of an order of love that comes before prioritising the rest of the world.

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There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritise the rest of the world, he said.

Mr Vance added that this concept had been inverted by the far-Left.

Rory Stewart warns we should start worrying when politicians assume to speak for Jesus in response to JD Vances comments on Fox News - Jeff Gilbert

Writing on X, Mr Stewart warned of the dangers of politicians interpreting religion, saying that Mr Vances comments were a bizarre take on John 15:12-13  less Christian and more pagan tribal.

We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love, he added.

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The Bible passage in question, John 15:12-13, is about the love that Jesus commands his followers to have for each other.

The passage reads: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Mr Vance retaliated by recommending that Stewart look up ordo amoris  a term that refers to a hierarchy of love  and added that the idea that there isnt a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.

Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone? he added on X.

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Ive said before and Ill say it again: the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130. This false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years.

The Narcissist in Chief

Mr Vances comments follow Donald Trumps policy focus on domestic needs first, with an isolationist approach to foreign aid.

One of Mr Trumps first moves as president was to suspend all foreign aid provided by the US, by far the worlds biggest aid donor.

Republicans have argued that Washington carries too much weight compared to other Western nations, footing a bill of around $70 billion per year.

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Mr Vance has previously said that foreign policy starts at home.

Weighing in on the debate, Alistair Campbell, a former Labour strategist and co-host of The Rest is Politics, said: Very odd that the vice-president of the US has nothing better to do than troll my podcast partner Rory Stewart  perhaps he has not been given a proper job by the Narcissist in Chief.

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JD Vance found time to insult a British podcaster on Thursday as the nation reeled from the worst aviation disaster in almost a quarter of a century.

The vice president was responding to criticism from Rory Stewart, a former Conservative lawmaker who now co-hosts the popular The Rest Is Politics podcast. Stewart, who was also a tutor to Princes William and Harry and teaches at Yale , had trashed comments made in a Fox News interview on Wednesday.

Theres this old schooland I think its a very Christian concept by the waythat you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world, Vance said in the interview. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.

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Replying to a clip of Vances remarks on Twitter, Stewart said Vance had given a bizarre take on John 15:12-13 (This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends), calling Vances interpretation less Christian and more pagan tribal.

A bizarre take on John 15:12-13 - less Christian and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love https://t.co/rrsivzGdvT  Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) January 30, 2025

Rory Stewart had criticized Vances comments during a Fox News interview. / Lorne Thomson / Getty Images

We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love, Stewart continued.

Just google ordo amoris, Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, replied . Aside from that, the idea that there isnt a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone?

Ive said before and Ill say it again: the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130, Vance added in a follow-up post. This false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years.

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Alastair Campbell, the onetime spin doctor for former British prime minister Tony Blair and current co-host of Stewarts podcast, said it was very odd the U.S. vice president has nothing better to do than troll my podcast partner.

Stewart himself replied to Vances jibe on Friday morning, saying it was an honor to have my IQ questioned by you Mr VP.

But your attempts to speak for Christ are false and dangerous, Stewart wrote. Nowhere does Jesus suggest that love is to be prioritized in concentric circles. His love is universal. He went on to argue that humanity is selfish and tribal, but the last person we should be invoking to justify our selfishness is Christ.

On Thursday, Vance also spoke at the White House press conference where President Donald Trump blamed DEI for undermining safety in U.S. aviation in response to the midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter which is believed to have killed 67 people over Washington, D.C.

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When Trump was asked how he knew diversity initiatives had played a role in the crash, Trump provided no evidence but instead said: Because I have common sense, OK? He also said answered another reporters question about his claims that diversity hiring was related to the disaster by saying: It just could have been.

After thanking Trump for his leadership at the press conference, Vance doubled down on his boss rhetoric.

When you dont have the best standards in who youre hiring, it means on the one hand, youre not getting the best people in government, Vance said. But on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there.
A Balliol man picked an intellectual fight with an American hillbilly yesterday, and guess who won? Yep, the hillbilly.

It was a showdown between JD Vance, the new American Vice President, and Rory Stewart, a podcaster.

It started when Vance gave an interview to Fox News in which he outlined his Christian belief in a hierarchy of love.

He said: You love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus [on] the rest of the world.

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To all normal folk who have not partaken of the Kool-Aid of globalism, this will sound perfectly reasonable. Of course we love our own children more  incalculably more  than the children of far-flung nations.

A Christian can feel love for those he does not know. But it will pale, if not into insignificance then at least into smallness, in comparison with his love for his kin.

Stewart wasnt having it, though. The co-host with Alastair Campbell of The Rest is Politics  the podcast loved by smug centrist dads  just had to weigh in.

With superb haughtiness, he took to X to accuse Vance of misunderstanding the Gospel of John. Vances order of love is more pagan tribal than Christian, he pronounced, like some pope of correct-think. We should worry, he tweeted, when politicians assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love.

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Vance fired back, and it was glorious.

Just Google ordo amoris, he advised his pompous interrogator. He was referring to St Augustines philosophising on the order of love from some 1,600 years ago.

Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away?, Vance asked.

Of course Stewart doesnt think this. I expect hed walk through fire for his own kids, but not so much for the children of those he doesnt know from Adam.

But he could never admit to such a commonsensical feeling, for it would undermine his sainted role as The Sensible Tory who converted to the kumbaya cult of post-borders claptrap.

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In the moral universe of the preening centrist, truth plays second fiddle to performance.

Then came Vances coup de grace: Ive said it before and Ill say it again: the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130.

It is this false arrogance, he said, that drove so much elite failure over the last 40 years.

Oof. Vance is so right about Stewart. Rarely has there existed a man whose arrogance is so out of proportion to his intellect.

It has been surreal to watch him morph from a former diplomat and MP into the chief sage of Britains liberal middle classes.

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To a certain kind of Brexit-hating Guardianista, Stewart is a centrist god. Hes their Lawrence of Remainia. They hang on his every podcasted word. They worship him as a truth-whisperer. Hes too good for politics, Rorymaniacs gush. The adoration is entirely incommensurate with his wisdom.

This is the man who said Kamala Harris would win comfortably in the presidential election. And now hes getting into spats over Christianity without seeming to know anything about Augustine of Hippo. Hes quite important, Rory.

The Vance-Stewart clash was more than a Twitterspat. It was a face-off between populism and elitism.

These men could not be more different. Vance comes from a poor, broken background, as told in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Yet he dragged himself up through Yale and the corporate world to become VP at just 40.

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Stewart, in stark contrast, is the son of a spook who breezily waltzed through the establishment. Eton, Oxford, a brief stint as the deputy governor of a province in Iraq  truly hes the anti-Vance.

A self-made leader of the free world taking on the intellectual idiots of the old guard? More, please.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office is partnering with the Child Trafficking Solutions Project to combat human trafficking in Alabama.

CTSP is a state-wide coalition that works to rescue and restore victims of sex trafficking. They work within local communities to raise awareness and prevent trafficking.

The training and tools that CTSP offers is really helping my department as we work to

prevent human trafficking within Jefferson County, specifically children that are caught in

this vicious crime, Sheriff Mark Pettway said in a statement.

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January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

A combination of rural area and a robust interstate system make Alabama a prime location for human traffickers, according to Human Trafficking Front. The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported Alabama ranked 29th in the United States in 2023 for human trafficking cases identified.

Sheriff Pettway encourages the public to be aware and follow these tips:

Know the signs : Look for signs of physical abuse, unexplained access to cash or expensive items as well as attempts to isolate the person from family and friends.

Be cautious : Be aware of people who promise something that seems too good to be true in exchange for sex or work.

Use safe online practices : Dont share personal information online, accept requests from strangers or share inappropriate pictures.

Report suspicious activity: If you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Groundhog Day is becoming an endangered holiday in New Jersey, where Cape May officials said its weather forecasting hedgehog Elsa has died.

Cape May County Park & Zoo told NJ.com the groundhog, who for the past three years told southern New Jersey residents when spring is coming, will no longer be seeing her shadow.

We lost her last week, parks director Edward Runyon said, adding he was unsure if a replacement groundhog or hedgehog could be found by Sunday.

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Milltown, N.J. canceled its Feb. 2 Groundhog Day festivities for the fifth straight year since Milltown Mel, its resident rodent, died two days before showtime in 2022. The town has been unable to import a replacement due to New Jersey laws meant to stop the spread of rabies, according to Milltown Mels Facebook page.

Hopefully the necessary legislation will be done in time for us to resume Groundhog Day next year, wranglers said last week.

While Milltown Mel may have been up for the job in 2021, COVID-19 lockdowns put the kibosh on that years festivities, according to News 12.

Perhaps the most famous tristate groundhog death occurred in 2014 when Staten Island Chuck died days after former Mayor Bill De Blasio dropped the furry forecaster. The Staten Island Zoo refrained from blaming the mayor for the 10-month-old rodents demise.
By Alasdair Pal and Jill Gralow

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Jewish students in Sydney returned to school on Friday with a heightened security presence, days after police said they foiled a planned antisemitic attack in the city using a trailer filled with explosives.

A spate of attacks in recent months have alarmed the country's Jews, drawn criticism from Israel and placed pressure on the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who faces re-election in polls that must be held by May.

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Antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on three sites including the Mount Sinai College in the city's east early on Thursday, one of almost a dozen incidents in the city in recent months that police say appeared to be coordinated.

Students there returned on Friday after Australia's summer break, with police and private security stationed outside the building.

"We're really grateful that the police are here and protecting us," said Gina Ferrer, a mother dropping off her child at the school.

"I love this country, I think it's the best country in the world, but for the first time in my life I actually feel really let down by Australia."

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Matt Thistlethwaite, the federal lawmaker for the area that has a high Jewish population, said he had been working with local police to increase patrols in the area.

SECURITY HEIGHTENED

Australia has been grappling with a series of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.

Police in New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, said on Wednesday they had found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, that could have created a blast wave of 40 metres (130 feet).

There was some indication the explosives might be used in an antisemitic attack that could have caused mass casualties, police said.

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The escalating attacks have prompted Jews to hire security guards for private events and remove visible signs of their Jewish identity, according to security companies and community leaders.

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the umbrella group for Australia's Jews, said some Jews were removing skull caps worn by men as a symbol of faith while outside, and taking down mezuzah, a parchment scroll containing Hebrew verses traditionally attached from the doors of Jewish homes.

"The more of these attacks that we see, and particularly given their gravity and the scale, people will begin to question how they can live in Australia as Jews, and that will then force them into a very difficult choice," he said.

Stephen Vogel, founder of Sayeret Security, a private security company catering to the Jewish community in Sydney, said he had seen an increase in business in recent weeks.

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"People are a little bit more nervous at the moment and want to have security for them for their functions, just to mitigate any potential risk," he said.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Jill Gralow in Sydney; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
United States Secret Service

Tyler

Criminal Investigator (Special Agent)

Job Description:

Recruitment Incentive: Applicants may be eligible for a $40,000 recruitment incentive in accordance with regulatory requirements. Click apply for complete details on the recruitment incentive details and eligibility. At their core, those who join the Secret Service are courageous, intelligent, strong, and determined. A diverse team capable of balancing our investigative mission and fulfilling our protective legacy. Proven to be worthy of trust and confidence. Be tomorrows Secret Service.

During their careers, special agents carry out assignments in both investigations and protection and may be assigned to multiple duty stations throughout the U.S. and abroad. Duties include: Providing protection for various protectees. Conducting criminal investigations pertaining to financial obligations of the United States. Planning and implementing security designs for National Special Security Events.

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Requirements:

U.S. citizenship is required. Possess a current valid drivers license.

Carry and use a firearm. Maintaining firearm proficiency is mandatory.

Be at least age 21 at the time of application and less than age 37 at the time you receive a conditional offer of employment, unless you have previous service in a Federal Civilian Law Enforcement position covered by special law enforcement or firefighter retirement provisions, including early or mandatory retirement. Applicants with veterans preference must receive a conditional offer of employment prior to reaching age 40 to continue in the application process. You must obtain a Top-Secret Clearance and retain it during your career. Possess uncorrected visual acuity of no worse than 20/100 binocular, possess corrected visual acuity of 20/20 or better in each eye. Hearing loss, as measured by an audiometer, must not exceed 25 decibels (A.S.A. or equivalent I.S.O.) in either ear in the 500,1000 and 2000Hz ranges. Submit to a drug test prior to your appointment and random drug testing while you occupy the position. Complete 13 weeks of intensive training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, GA and 18 weeks of specialized training at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, MD. Sign a mobility agreement stating your willingness to accept assignments anywhere within the United States and overseas. Certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so, if you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959.

Salary starts at $40k annually. See more on application.

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John Leguizamo has slammed President Donald Trumps recent mass deportations since taking office for his second presidential term. Leguizamo, known for using his platform to advocate for Latin rights, has been vocal about his opposition to Trumps immigration policies.

In a recent Instagram video, the actor expressed deep frustration over the administrations handling of deportations, emphasizing the impact on hardworking families and individuals who have contributed to America. The 64-year-old condemned Trump targeting Latin communities and called for others to speak up.

Leguizamo sharply criticized Trumps deportation policy as an attack on Latin immigrants, adding that the order dehumanizes the community. He began with, My immigrant brothers and sisters I know youre not felons, I know youre not criminals, I know youre not drug dealersyoure the hardest working people in America. He added that he felt very offended by Trumps initiative.

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See below.

The Emmy-winning actor has consistently used his influence to challenge narratives that portray immigrants in a negative light. His concerns stem from Trumps long-standing ideologies on immigration, which includes increasing deportations, expanding detention centers, and reinstating measures that can separate families.

Beyond his public statements, Leguizamo recently took his activism a step further by engaging directly with Latino Trump supporters.

In a segment on The Daily Show, he went undercover to understand why some Latino voters back Trump, despite his anti-immigrant rhetoric. His findings revealed that some had concerns regarding economics, some were simply misinformed, and others spoke of the division within the Latino community.

Leguizamo has called on Americans to reject policies from Trump that directly affect Latin communities. Take a look at his sentiments and also his undercover mission above.

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No congressional leader is more at risk of getting caught in the crossfire of Donald Trumps coming trade wars than Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Trump said Thursday hes ready to slap sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday, which will force the South Dakota Republican to decide whether he will use his leadership perch to push back on a tactic that has given him and other agriculture-state GOP lawmakers heartburn or align himself with a burgeoning bloc of MAGA-tinged protectionists in Congress.

Thune knows the stakes all too well: Retaliatory tariffs during Trumps 2018 trade war with China crippled South Dakotas agriculture-dependent economy  which relies on the billions of dollars worth of soybeans, corn, beef and other agricultural products it exports abroad every year, plus more in manufactured goods.

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Farmers there are still reeling from their losses, and a standoff with Mexico and Canada  which are now American farmers two largest export markets  would be devastating. U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico are expected to reach $29.9 billion this fiscal year and a record-high $29.2 billion to Canada, with China further behind, according to the Agriculture Department.

Other farm-state lawmakers and the agriculture industry are quietly counting on Thune to push back against Trump charging into another wave of catastrophic trade wars. But thats a tall order.



Thune, in keeping with his typically even-keeled approach to conflict, said in a brief interview that tariffs could be an effective tool when used in a targeted and a selective way. He also made reference to the ongoing debate within his party about the blanket levies that Trump has proposed.

Obviously the president is somebody who sees great value in the use of tariffs as a tool and well have, Im sure, lots of conversations, he said. People up here have different views about how and when to use them but I see value when they are used in a targeted way.

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The presidents new trade threats are the latest test Trump has thrown at Thune during his early weeks as top GOP leader. The two men have significantly improved their relationship over the past year, with Trump publicly and privately praising Thune  a far cry from the final days of 2020 when he was actively declaring Thunes political career over.

But Trump is also pressuring Thune to more quickly confirm Cabinet nominees  using recess appointments, if necessary. And Trump undercut Thunes plans to split up the GOPs sweeping tax, border and energy package by instead backing Speaker Mike Johnsons plan for one big, beautiful bill  then leaving the door open to two.

Fellow GOP senators say Thune appears to be playing ball with the White House so far and hasnt laid out any larger internal strategy on tariffs that would indicate a tip-of-the-spear approach to opposing Trump on sweeping levies. And hes been careful not to draw any hard red lines publicly, even as he works behind the scenes.

The strategy appears to be part of a careful approach that Thune has adopted on a range of issues: Be careful not to publicly criticize the president, which would likely only antagonize him, or overpromise what can get through the Senate. Instead, communicate quietly and frankly with the administration about what he and other Republicans can tolerate.

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This past weekend, after Trump threatened Colombia with steep tariffs over blocked deportation flights Sunday, a bevy of congressional Republicans scrambled to provide backup.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and three other GOP lawmakers rushed to write legislation doubling down on Trump's actions. "Colombia and all nations should be on notice," Johnson added in an X post.

But Thune said nothing publicly until a POLITICO reporter asked him about the situation a day later.

Trump is eager to threaten economic warfare as he tries to force concessions from Canada and Mexico  he cited drug trafficking and trade deficits in his comments Thursday. But even the risk of new levies can come at a cost to American farmers, as ag-state lawmakers know well.

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Most of us arent, just as a matter of personality, tariff guys, said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who added that he did not see Congress standing in Trump's way.

We have seen how successful hes been with using them as a negotiating tool, he said, adding that Trump wants to invoke the tariffs at least for a little while. Hes not in an incremental mood right now.

In the past, business-friendly Republicans on Capitol Hill have been leery of leveraging tariffs in non-trade disputes with foreign countries. But members of Thunes leadership team  including Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)  backed Trumps tariff threat against Colombia over illegal immigration.

I think the president has a strategy, and it's working, Capito said about the Colombia threat.

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But for Thune and other ag-state Republicans, targeting Canada and Mexico is magnitudes more sensitive. Even Johnson, while vowing that there would be no daylight between Congress and Trump over his tariff threats over immigration, predicted that Trump wont levy tariffs across "whole countries or whole industries.

Thune has hinted at his own personal discomfort, telling reporters in the Capitol recently that hes not a big fan of, you know, across-the-board, universal, uniform tariffs, because in some cases, you know, the impact it has on the ag economy, which is critical to our state.



Thunes comments are similar to those he made in an interview with POLITICO last year, where he noted that he pushed back when broad tariffs were proposed during Trumps first term and vowed that if in the future its a sort of uniform, across-the-board, just tariffs on everything  then yeah, were going to have some serious conversations about that.

But some congressional Republicans also acknowledge there is little they can do to stand in Trumps way, given the broad presidential authority over global trade. Its up to the negotiating countries, not Congress, to step in and work out a solution, they argue.

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Several GOP lawmakers are even already privately drafting legislation to help Trump formally enact levies against Canada and Mexico, which could put additional pressure on Thune  even if the bills are just MAGA-aligned messaging tactics.

Farm-state Republicans, meanwhile, have been quietly bracing for weeks now for Trump to follow through on his trade threats on Canada and Mexico in the coming days  and potentially make some new ones.

This is just the beginning, one Hill Republican said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Toth said he was at a loss to explain how pieces of Brandon Baywatch Parks life fit together.

After a tough and unstable upbringing in Chicago, Parks, now 46, joined the Marine Corps in 2005, then was deployed to Iraq. Years later, he joined the Sin City Deciples, serving for a couple years as a right-hand man to notorious founder Kenneth Angel McGhee.

Then, Parks got fired from the violent motorcycle gang, severed ties with the group and talked his way into becoming a volunteer, then a respected teacher at a Southside Chicago high school.

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Toth acknowledged there was no evidence Parks dealt drugs. He didnt personally kill anyone, but he traveled with McGhee and knew what was going on around him.

Ultimately, despite his denials, Parks knew who they were, what they did, was swept up and convicted after an 18-day trial in the gangs massive RICO case, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon noted.

You joined it, he said.

These are bad people, Simon later said.

He sentenced Parks to three years in federal prison, with the last year possibly in a halfway house, then one year on supervised release. Parks had faced about 4-5 years from the case in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.

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Toth, with Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick, said Parks joined the gang around 2013 and was the longest serving national president, second in command, before he left in 2017.

They showed transcripts of recorded phone calls with Michael Puerto Rican Mike Rivera, a high-ranking member, who testified during Parks trial. Parks took Riveras role as president after he was jailed.

Among other allegations, Toth said Rivera got into a weird standoff with a man in East St. Louis in 2014, took Parks gun, then shot the man twice in the leg.

Earlier in the hearing, Simon rejected a trio of allegations that would have added more time to Parks sentence  including that he extorted cuts in Las Vegas in 2017 from the affiliate, all-female Sin City Angels motorcycle gang. It was alluded to in recorded jail calls with Rivera.

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Thats it? Thats the evidence, Simon asked. That just doesnt cut it.

Prosecutors asked for seven years, documents show.

Defense lawyers Brandon Brown and Andre Grant presented a half-dozen people who testified on Parks behalf, including a retired teacher, school program administrator, and former student.

Phylydia Hudson, Corliss High Schools STEM program manager, said she brought Parks on as a vendor around 2018 to teach computer-assisted design in IT classes. He helped create a maker space and develop their drone program. He eventually got an alternative teachers license and joined the staff. His arrest left a void, she said.

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Vincent Smith, 19, a computer engineering college student, said Parks was an amazing teacher.

Toth noted all of those who testified met Parks after he left the gang. Parks was one of 16 men indicted in the case.

The 57-page superseding indictment reads like a television drama, weaving a tale of influence, obedience, intimidation, an internal power struggle, drugs, guns and murder spanning multiple states and including local, regional and national chapters of the Sin City Deciples.

The clubs leadership ran the group with an iron fist, enforcing a strict code of respect and obedience, where offenders could be disciplined with beatings and death, according to court documents. The documents outline how the Sin City Deciples would intimidate other motorcycle clubs into become their support clubs, extorting dues and support.

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Federal prosecutors say high-ranking Sin City Deciples member Ronnie Major paid his brother-in-law Antoine Gates to kill Jocelyn Pie Face Blair, 31, on Dec. 19, 2010, as she ate breakfast at the counter inside Coney Island Restaurant in Gary. Blair was a witness against him in an upcoming county trial.

Rivera, with them, was shot in the leg.

Months earlier in February 2010, Gates shot a second man, the other county witness, a dozen times. He survived.

McGhee was sentenced to 30 years in September.

Post-Tribune archives contributed.
A woman was treated at a Jacksonville hospital for injuries she received after being shot Thursday evening in Jacksonvilles Grove Park neighborhood. Police were called to the 200 block of Mojave Court at about 7:30 p.m. in reference to an adult female shot.

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Officers arrived and investigators determined she was wounded during a domestic dispute, a Jacksonville police news release states. During the dispute, the suspect displayed a handgun and fired a single shot in the direction of the victim striking her once in the leg, the news release states. Her injury was non-life threatening, police said.

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On the eve of a crucial hearing, an Oakland County judge denied several of Jennifer Crumbley's claims that she did not get a fair trial, though she kept one key issue alive: confidential agreements the prosecution struck with two key school witnesses.

On Friday, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews is scheduled to hear from both sides to determine whether Crumbley  the mother of the Oxford High School school shooter  should get a new trial, have her conviction overturned, or let it stand. But Matthews will take up only one claim that has been raised by Crumbley's new defense lawyer: that the prosecution allegedly, intentionally withheld evidence from the defense, and therefore committed prosecutorial misconduct.

At issue are confidential agreements, known as proffer agreements, that the prosecutor's office made with two school witnesses, assuring them that what they told investigators would not be used against them. The Free Press disclosed these agreements last year, triggering an appeal that now may rest with this issue.

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The witnesses are a school counselor and dean of students who testified against Crumbley at trial, and helped the prosecution advance its theory that the shooter's parents, more than anyone else, could have prevented the November 2021 tragedy.

The defense, however, maintains that the school witnesses also were to blame, but got protection, which the jury never got to hear about. Jennifer Crumbley's appellate attorney, Michael Dezsi, argues that the agreements are an unlawful withholding of evidence, and warrants either giving his client a new trial, or throwing out her conviction.

The prosecution counters that the proffer agreements did not promise immunity or leniency, and therefore did not have to be released. It also is urging the judge to let the convictions stick, maintaining Crumbley was convicted fair and square for failing to take even the simplest of steps to prevent a tragedy.

More: Victims' families see verdict as a milestone but not the finish line

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Jennifer and James Crumbley made history last year after separate juries convicted them of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of four students killed by their son: Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Six other students and a teacher also were injured.

The Crumbleys were accused, in separate trials, of buying their son a gun, failing to properly secure it, and never disclosing it to the school during a pivotal meeting with school officials the morning of the shootings.

The Crumbleys maintain they had no idea their son was going to shoot up his school, that the gun at issue was not his to use freely and that it was hidden in an armoire dresser, unloaded, with the bullets located in a separate drawer.

The shooter, who was 15 at the time of the rampage, pleaded guilty to all his crimes and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He is appealing, as are his parents.

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In seeking a new trial or reversal, Jennifer Crumbley's appellate lawyer has raised several issues that he alleges led to an unfair trial against his client, though Matthews concluded they did not have merit in her Thursday opinion. Those issues are likely to be raised on appeal before the Michigan Court of Appeals. They include:

More: Jury foreperson: Jennifer Crumbley was last adult with gun. That 'hammered it home'.

Claims that the prosecution wrongfully accused the Crumbleys of having a "legal duty" to protect the Oxford students from their son. The defense maintains there is no such legal duty recognized in Michigan, and that the general public owes no such duty to anyone  much like a person who fails to stop a person from jumping in front of a train can't be criminally charged.

Claims that the prosecution wrongfully asserted two inconsistent theories by charging the shooter as an adult, yet accusing his mom of failing to control her minor son. The defense argues the prosecution can't have it both ways. The judge disagreed.

Claims that Jennifer Crumbley had an ineffective lawyer at trial.

Claims that the judge wrongfully instructed the jury that it could convict Jennifer Crumbley without being in unanimous agreement. There were two theories under which the jury could convict: that Crumbley either failed to properly secure the weapon, or, that she failed to control her son. The jury was instructed that it did not have to agree as to which theory applied. The defense maintains that was improper and violated Crumbley's rights. The judge disagreed.

The hearing deciding the fate of the convictions is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge keeps one issue alive in Jennifer Crumbley's quest for new trial
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  A district judge has ordered Louisiana State University (LSU) to immediately reinstate law professor Ken Levy, ruling that his suspension violated his constitutional rights.

Levy was removed from teaching on Jan. 16 following student complaints about remarks he made during a discussion on First Amendment issues. A student reportedly complained to Governor Jeff Landry, prompting LSU to take immediate action. Levy then sued the university, arguing that his suspension violated his free speech, academic freedom, and due process rights.

In a ruling issued Thursday, 19th Judicial District Court Judge Don Johnson granted Levys request for a temporary restraining order, stating that LSU must reinstate him without interference or further disciplinary action related to his speech.

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The order states that LSU is prohibited from suspending Petitioner, or taking any tangible employment action against Petitioner on account of his expressions afforded protection under the Constitution of Louisiana and of the United States.

The ruling also protects Levy from further harassment or retaliation by LSU on account of his protected academic freedom and free speech.

Louisiana environmental activist loses freedom of speech lawsuit against parish officials

Case background

Levy, a tenured professor at LSUs Paul M. Hebert Law Center, filed his lawsuit after being suspended without prior notice or a hearing. According to his attorney, Jill Craft, Levys comments referenced former LSU professor Nicholas Bryners case, where state officials, including Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, called for disciplinary action over political remarks made in class.

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Levys lawsuit argued that his remarkssome of which included profanitywere made in a joking manner and used to reinforce his classrooms no-recording policy. He contended that LSUs decision to remove him was unconstitutional and lacked due process.

In response to Levys suspension, Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement defending LSUs right to enforce faculty policies but also acknowledging Levys right to due process.

Facts, details, and law matter, Murrill said. Professor Levy is entitled to a full appeals process and a hearing to determine where his behavior falls in this analytical framework. And I am confident that he will receive that due process as LSUs investigation runs its course.

Whats next?

The ruling is a temporary measure, preventing LSU from taking further action against Levy while the case moves forward. The next phase of the legal process will determine whether the suspension was legally justified or a violation of Levys rights. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 10.

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Levy has been employed at LSUs Paul M. Hebert Law Center since 2009. He was promoted to associate professor in 2012, granted tenure in 2015, and became a full professor in 2017.

In a statement, LSU said they will continue to move forward with a thorough investigation and are aware of the temporary restraining order.

LSU responds

In a statement, LSU said they are aware of the temporary restraining order and will continue with a thorough investigation.

In light of recent concerns regarding Professor Ken Levy, Louisiana State University reaffirms its commitment to upholding academic freedom while maintaining a respectful and professional learning environment. The university values the rights of its faculty to engage in scholarly discourse and express diverse viewpoints. However, as outlined in LSUs Policy Statement on Academic Freedom, Free Speech, and Tenure (PS-15), faculty members are expected to conduct themselves in a civil manner, with respect for the rights, views, and opinions of others. This is a foundational compact in a university setting. If a student reports that a faculty member has broken this compact, we must investigate the concern. While academic freedom protects speech, thought, and expression within the university setting to promote learning and knowledge, it does not provide a license to: Use the classroom as a platform for personal grievances beyond the scope of the course or otherwise.

Demean or threaten students with differing viewpoints.

Engage in gratuitous use of profanity, particularly in professional training environments such as law, where students are preparing to practice under standards of conduct and civility. PS-15 further emphasizes that faculty members, as both scholars and representatives of LSU, should remain mindful that their words and actions reflect upon the institution. LSU recognizes that faculty status demands professional responsibility and accountability. While we are aware of the temporary restraining order, we will continue forward with a thorough investigation, conducted in accordance with LSUs bylaws and established procedures from which a final determination regarding Professor Levy will be made. Louisiana State University

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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After a six-year long legal battle, a court in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo has authorized a child to be officially registered as the child of three fathers and one mother.

Ana Paula Morbeck, the lawyer who represents the now ten-year-old child, told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil that the child was regularly registered at birth with his biological father and mother.

However, due to his biological parents complex and inconsistent marriage, the paternal uncle and his husband helped to take care of the boy, the lawyer explained to CNN Brasil.

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What was supposed to be sporadic became routine, and this created an emotional bonding with the then-baby, Morbeck told CNN Brasil.

After his biological parents divorced, the child went to live full-time with his uncle and his husband, CNN Brasil reported.



They took care of his health, education, food, recreation, and they also gave him all the love and security for his healthy development, the lawyer said to CNN Brasil.

CNN Brasil reported that as the child started school, he expressed his desire to get formal recognition for what he believed to be true: that he had three fathers.

The lawyer explained that the family had to file a lawsuit in 2019 to reach this recognition, but the request was initially denied by the local court, who ruled that the change in paternal custody would only be possible through adoption, CNN Brasil reported.

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That wasnt what the family wanted, because the child recognizes his biological parents and considers them as such, despite having strong bonds with his socio-affective parents, Morbeck told CNN Brasil.

On January 21, another tribunal ruled in the familys favour and ordered the registration of the same-sex couple as legal parents for the boy, who now has three official fathers and one mother, CNN Brasil reported.

The familys lawyer stressed that the love, affection, and care, the child felt for his uncle and his husband were the basis of the courts decision, according to CNN Brasil.

A decision like this recognizes that families come in many forms, many types, and strengthens bonds of affection, Morbeck told CNN Brasil.

Same-sex adoption has been legal in Brazil since 2010.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Jurors in the capital murder trial for 23-year-old Demetrius Jackson heard closing arguments Friday morning in judge Shanta Owens courtroom.

Jackson is one of three men accused in the 2020 shooting at the Riverchase galleria in Hoover that led to the death of 8-year-old Royta Giles Junior and the injury of three others. The two other men, King Williams and Montez Coleman pleaded guilty to reckless murder in the death of Giles Jr. as well as three counts of second-degree assault and are currently serving prison sentences.

On the afternoon of July 3rd, police say Jackson was involved in an argument with a group of people in the food court when the shooting began. Dr. Greg Davis, the chief medical officer for Jefferson County testified on Thursday that Royta Giles Junior died as a result of an injury to his brain from a gunshot wound to the head. Jurors learned that three other bystanders were injured during the shooting inside the mall on July 3rd.

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During closing statements, Deputy District Attorney Julie McMakin told jurors that everyone who shot was wrong and everyone who was wrong is responsible. She said the reason all three shooters  including Demetrius Jackson  are responsible for the death of Royta Giles Junior and the injury of three others is because of accomplice liability.

During the trial Hoover police testified that while the 8-year-old was hit with a 9 mm bullet, the gun Jackson used was a 40-caliber weapon. Before delivering instructions to the jury, Judge Owens stated that both the defense and the prosecution were in agreement that King Williams had been in possession of and fired a 9 mm pistol, while Demetrius Jackson had possessed and fired a 40 caliber pistol. The prosecution said Jackson fired six rounds.

Jefferson County Sheriffs Office announces local partnership to fight human trafficking in Alabama

During closing, defense attorney Victor Revill took issue with the prosecutions accomplice liability argument which he referred to as lets just charge everybody. He remarked that while the death of 8-year old Giles Jr. was indeed a tragedy, his client Demetrius Jackson was not to blame. He said Jackson did not kill anybody, and only shot back in self-defense.

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Revill argued that Jackson had the right to defend himself after being fired upon by Montez Coleman inside the mall. On Thursday, firearms expert Damon Cooper held up the AR style semi-automatic pistol with one unfired round in the gun that Montez Coleman is accused of using during the shooting incident.

He said Jackson had never met Coleman, and there was no evidence the two had ever talked with one another. Revill argued that his client was put in an impossible situation and when fired upon while in a public area, he was entitled to defend himself.

He added that the state had the burden of proof to prove that Jackson did not have the right to defend himself. During rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney Shawn Allen said that within three minutes on that Friday afternoon, 13 bullets were fired injuring three people and killing a little boy.

He took issue with the defense teams claim that Jackson was acting in self-defense, he said the self-defense law is not you get to shoot someone and say you were acting in self-defense, that it has to be justified and there are certain qualifier that have to be there to meet the legal definition.

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He told the jurors that Jackson fired his gun six times:

Make no mistake, he was trying to kill Montez Coleman.

Allen showed the jurors a video taken from inside the mall that showed Jackson standing; he said he was waiting for what was about to unfold instead of walking away and after firing six rounds, he ran from the scene.

Allen told the jury that Demetrius Jackson is guilty of capital murder since he and two accomplices caused injury leading to the death of Royta Giles, that all three acting as a group caused the death.

Right now the jury is deliberating on a verdict that will be one of four things; guilty of capital murder, guilty of reckless murder, guilty of reckless manslaughter, or not guilty.

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The jury will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning. They deliberated for about four and a half hours on Friday afternoon after listening to closing arguments in the case.

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WASHINGTON  Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn on Thursday said he will recuse himself from a lawsuit before the court that could determine the future of collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin.

In a court filing, Hagedorn said he determined that "the law requires" him to recuse himself from the case involving a controversial law known as Act 10, which was signed into law by former Gov. Scott Walker in 2011 and drew massive protests. Hagedorn provided legal counsel in both creating the legislation and later defending Act 10 once it became law when he served as Walker's chief legal counsel.

"After reviewing the filings and the various ethical rules I am sworn to uphold, I have concluded that the law requires me to recuse from this case," Hagedorn wrote.

Justice Brian Hagedorn is shown during oral arguments about an 1849 law outlawing abortion before the state Supreme Court Monday, November 10, 2024 at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.

The move is the latest development in a fight over the law that has seen leaders from both parties in the state demand two justices of opposite ideologies remove themselves from the case.

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Wisconsin Republicans have gone to court in an effort to force liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz to remove herself from the case, citing in part Protasiewicz's past comments about the law, including those saying she believed the law was unconstitutional. At the same time, Democrats had called on Hagedorn to recuse himself over his ties to Act 10.

Hagedorn's move on Thursday will turn the attention to Protasiewicz. The court's liberal bloc holds a 4-3 majority, and Hagedorn's recusal subtracts a conservative from that equation.

Her answer remains up in the air. She has declined to participate in an order allowing GOP legislative leaders to intervene in the case, raising questions about whether she will join Hagedorn in recusing.

Justice Janet C. Protasiewicz is shown during oral arguments about an 1849 law outlawing abortion before the state Supreme Court Monday, November 11, 2024 at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Protasiewicz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board during her bid for the court in 2023 that her opposition to the law, including participating in protests in 2011 and signing a recall petition of Walker, might result in a recusal if she was elected to the court.

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In March 2023, Protasiewicz said she would "have to think about it," when asked if she would consider recusing from a potential Act 10 challenge.

"Given the fact that I marched, given the fact that I signed the recall petition, would I recuse myself? Maybe. Maybe. But I don't know for sure."

Protasiewicz also said she believes the law is unconstitutional and agreed with a dissenting opinion written in 2014 by liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a decision that upheld Walker's signature legislation.

Walsh Bradley wrote in the dissent that the majority opinion diluted public workers' constitutional right to freedom of association.

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"I agree with the dissent in that case," Protasiewicz said.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in a recent motion to the court referenced those comments and said their filing "asks her to do what she acknowledged to be right and ethical: step aside on this case."

On Thursday, Hagedorn said recusal from a case "should be rare  done only when the law requires it."

But he added that recusal "is not optional when the law commands it."

Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel contributed.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Justice Brian Hagedorn recuses himself from Wisconsin Act 10 case
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) from acquiring Juniper Networks, arguing that the merger between the nations second- and third-largest wireless network providers would reduce necessary competition in the industry.

The agency contends that Junipers emergence in recent years has forced rivals like Hewlett Packard to cut their prices and invest in new products  advantages that would be lost with consolidation.

HPE and Juniper are successful companies. But rather than continue to compete as rivals in the [wireless local area network] marketplace, they seek to consolidate  increasing concentration in an already concentrated market, Omeed Assefi, acting assistant attorney general of the DOJs antitrust division, said in a statement.

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Hewlett Packard announced its plans to acquire Juniper for $14 billion last January. The Wall Street Journal reported in November that the DOJ was preparing a challenge and had met with top company officials.

The threat this merger poses is not theoretical, Assefi added. Vital industries in our country  including American hospitals and small businesses  rely on wireless networks to complete their missions.

This proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation, resulting in large segments of the American economy paying more for less from wireless technology providers, he continued.

Assefi was tapped to serve as head of the DOJs antitrust division while President Trumps nominee, Gail Slater, awaits confirmation.

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He reportedly has vowed to continue the aggressive approach to antitrust pursued by former Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter during the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg.

Hewlett Packard and Juniper pushed back on the DOJs assertions Thursday, calling the agencys analysis fundamentally flawed.

We will vigorously defend against the Department of Justices overreaching interpretation of antitrust laws and will demonstrate how this transaction will provide customers with greater innovation and choice, positively change the dynamics in the networking market by enhancing competition, and strengthen the backbone of U.S. networking infrastructure, the companies said in a joint statement.

They argue the merger will bring together two complementary networking offerings and allow them to more effectively compete with global incumbents.

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GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA)  A gas station robbery suspect was arrested Wednesday after he was located by a K9 in Greenville.

The Greenville Police Department said officers responded to the robbery at the QT at 505 South Academy. Upon arrival, police were told the suspect had fled the scene.

Officers received a tip about the suspects whereabouts that helped authorities locate the suspect.

A foot pursuit was initiated according to police.

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Officers said K9 Otto responded to the scene and was able to find the suspect hiding behind a shed.

Police have not released the identity of the suspect or the charges he will be facing at this time.

The robbery remains under investigation by the GPD.

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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) doubled down during an interview on his concerns about the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport space being overcrowded following the fatal collision between a military helicopter and an airline plane that killed 67 people.

We need to spread the traffic among these airports, rather than have such congestion into Reagan National. The other thing about Reagan National is when youre right in downtown D.C., theres a lot of military flights, Kaine said during his Thursday appearance on Fox News. It is a very complicated and congested airspace. Its gotten more complicated after 9/11 with certain security details.

Kaine said National Airport was built very close to downtown Washington on an acreage and with a runway structure that was estimated to be able to serve 15 million passengers a year in and out of that airport; were now well over 20 million passengers a year, getting up to 25 million.

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The Virginia lawmaker was one of the Democratic senators who did not back last years Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization deal, as it included a provision to add five new long-range flights from and to National Airport. Kaine said at the time that busy traffic at the airport was a major security risk. National Airport is one of the nations busiest airports.

Authorities think that there are no survivors after the Wednesday night crash between a Black Hawk Army helicopter and the American Airlines flight that was flying from Kansas. Sixty passengers were on board, along with four crew members.

Kaine praised the FAA reauthorization legislation for addressing some of the air traffic controller shortages in the country, but adding more flights from National Airport made it impossible to get his vote.

So that was a good part of the bill, but the addition of even more traffic into Reagan National was a bad part of the bill, Kaine told Fox News anchor Bret Baier. I ended up wanting to support the bill, but I opposed it over this jamming more flights in the Reagan National.

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The Virginia senator made similar remarks earlier Thursday while on CNN.

Its a popular place for people to come, but you can spread traffic among the airports, and thats why we so strongly, strongly opposed adding even more flights into a situation that we thought was already dangerous, he said on Thursday.

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In 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott listens to former President Donald Trump's address during a tour to an unfinished section of the border wall in Pharr, Texas. That year, Abbott declared a state of emergency in counties on the Texas border. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

While concerns about the future of American democracy dominate headlines worldwide, millions of Texans are already seeing a rapid decline in democratic standards.

In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion-inducing medications to a woman in Collin County, Texas, alleging that the shipment violated Texas near-total ban on abortion.

Two months earlier, Paxtons office had sued to block a federal rule protecting womens out-of-state medical records from criminal investigation. And in 2022, it sued the Biden administration over federal guidelines requiring doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations.

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Paxtons lawsuits  alongside the states restrictive abortion policies  raise troubling questions about individual privacy and womens bodily autonomy in Texas, where I live and teach. And theyre indicative of a broader problem. As my research on democracy and human rights shows, the state government is becoming increasingly antidemocratic.

Scholars examine a number of factors to determine the health of a democracy. Elections must be free and fair. There should be freedom of expression and belief, multiple competitive political parties and minimal corruption. A democratic government must also respect individual freedom.

On many of these metrics, I believe Texas falls short.

Are Texas elections free and fair?

Texas has some of the most restrictive voting laws in the United States, including strict voter ID laws, stringent limits on mail-in and absentee ballots and no online voter registration.

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Republicans, who passed each of these policies, claim their concern is a democratic one  election integrity. Yet when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered a $25,000 reward to anyone who could prove voter fraud in the 2020 election, it led to just one arrest.

The Texas Legislature nonetheless pledged to pass an even more restrictive voting bill in 2021, referencing purity of the ballot box, an old Jim Crow phrase. Democratic lawmakers ended up fleeing the state to paralyze the state assembly and keep the most egregious parts of the bill from passing.

Healthy democracies also have robust competition between multiple parties so that voters have real choices at the polls.

Yet since its current constitution was written in 1876, Texas has effectively been a one-party state governed by conservatives. No Democrat has won statewide office since 1994  the longest Democrats have been locked out of statewide office in any state.

Money in politics

Texas puts no limits on individual campaign contributions to the governor. It's one of just 12 U.S. states that lacks this common anti-corruption measure.

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This has allowed Texas current governor, Greg Abbott, who has been in office since 2015, to raise vast sums of money. In the 2022 Texas gubernatorial race  the most expensive in the states history at $212 million  Abbott outspent his Democratic opponent by almost $50 million. In 2018, he had 90 times more cash on hand than his Democratic opponent.

Texas lack of effective campaign finance regulations has given big donors access to power in the form of gubernatorial appointments.

An in-depth investigation by The Texas Tribune in 2022 revealed that 27 of the 41 members of the governors COVID-19 task force were campaign donors who had collectively paid $6 million toward the governors reelection. Many were business owners who had a vested interest in reopening the state.

Freedom of expression

Texas is also at the center of a national struggle over academic freedom, a key component of free expression.

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Texas passed a law in 2023 requiring public universities to close their diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, offices, depriving the most vulnerable student communities of resources such as scholarships, mental health programs and career workshops.

The Texas Senate is considering expanding this legislation to prohibit DEI curriculum and course content.

The mere threat appears to be squelching freedom of thought and intellectual exploration in Texas universities already. The University of North Texas in November started editing course titles and syllabi to remove identity-based topics.

On Jan. 14, Abbott threatened to fire the president of Texas A&M University  a part of my university system  if faculty attended an academic conference showcasing the work of Black, Latino and Indigenous scholars.

Human rights at the border

Abbotts campaign to control the U.S.-Mexico border has raised concerns among human rights groups about civil rights in the state.

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In March of 2021, Abbott declared a state of emergency in counties on the Texas border, allowing him to deploy the Texas National Guard there. The initiative, Operation Lone Star, was supposed to stop migrants from crossing the border outside official government checkpoints.

Since border enforcement is a federal authority, however, the troops have mostly enforced state laws on trespassing or drugs and weapons possession. Guardsmen have also participated in busing migrants to Democratic-run cities such as New York and Chicago and built razor-wire barriers in the Rio Grande.

The result is an $11 billion policing program that has largely targeted Latino American citizens  not immigrants. Fully 96% of those arrested on trespassing charges are Latino, and 75% of those facing court proceedings for that and other crimes as a result of Operation Lone Star are U.S. citizens.

Womens freedoms

Finally, womens right to bodily autonomy is under threat in Texas, which has one of the countrys most restrictive abortion laws.

At least three women have died as a result of doctors being afraid to treat their miscarriages. Overall, maternal mortality rates have increased by 56% since the ban was imposed in 2021. Scary statistics havent stopped the states plans to tighten its ban.

The 2025 Texas legislative session began with Republican legislators having prefiled several bills aimed at ending abortion by mail services, including one that would reclassify common abortion pills as controlled substances like Valium or Ambien. Doctors warn that this reclassification could also make it harder for them to disperse these medications quickly in life-threatening emergencies.

And a handful of rural Texas counties have made it illegal to transport women seeking out-of-state abortions on their roads.

As Texas goes, so goes the nation?

The question of whether a government is democratic is often not black or white. It should be viewed on a sliding scale.

Freedom House, a nonpartisan international democracy watchdog, ranks countries on a 100-point scale based on the factors I mentioned earlier, among others, and labels countries as free, partly-free and not free.

The freest country in 2024, Finland, had a score of 100. The U.S. has been sliding down the rankings, receiving a score of 83 in 2024  down from 94 in 2010. Its still solidly in the free category, but U.S. democracy looks less like Germanys and more like Romanias. The antidemocratic policy changes made in Texas and a handful of other states contribute to this slide.

Freedom House doesnt rank states, but if it did, Texas would likely still rate as a free democracy. There is space for dissent, opposition and free speech. Democratic politicians have occasional political victories.
KANSAS  The Kansas governor orders flags at half-staff to honor the lives lost in the crash near Washington, D.C.

Governor Laura Kelly sent out the directive Thursday afternoon for all flags across the state.

City buildings, school districts, businesses, and banks were seen lowering them just after Kelly made the order.

No survivors have been found in DC plane crash

It will last until sundown on Thursday, February 6.

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Today, Kansas mourns a tragedy. I am devastated by the event that unfolded last night and extend my deepest condolences to the victims. Thank you to the more than 300 brave first responders in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area who were on the scene immediately. This is a sad day for our state and our nation, said Governor Kelly.

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Reps. Lindsay Vaughn, D-Overland Park, opposed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors statewide. She pointed to potential areas the measure could be challenged on constitutional grounds. The House and Senate passed the bill with wide margins. In 2024, Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a comparable bill. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA  The Republian majority in Kansas Legislature sent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a bill Friday that would prohibit health professionals from providing gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of 18.

On final action in the House, Senate Bill 63 passed 83-35  one vote shy of what would be needed to override a potential veto by the governor. The measure was adopted Wednesday by the Senate on a vote of 32-8 on strength of a bipartisan supermajority.

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Kelly rejected a similar bill in 2024, but the Legislatures attempt to thwart the veto failed.

Rep. Ron Bryce, a Coffeyville Republican who carried the bill Thursday on the House floor, kicked off several hours of debate by declaring the Legislature had to halt misguided medical care that promoted gender transitioning among people 17 or younger.

The bill would forbid use of puberty blockers and hormone drugs as well as surgery for minors grappling with gender dysphoria, he said. It would open the door to lawsuits against health care professionals who helped children move toward transition and forbid malpractice insurance to cover damages in those cases, he said. It would mandate state licensing boards sanction violators of the law, he said.

Use of these treatments has increased exponentially over the past several years, said Bryce, who has a medical degree. This seemed to have started from the sincere belief that these treatments would prevent children from committing suicide. It was based on a desire to save the lives of children.

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He said the Help Not Harm Act was necessary because fundamentals of gender-affirming care had been disproven and the treatment wasnt shown to thwart suicide. He asserted 80% to 85% of minors who at one point were convinced there was a mismatch between their gender identity and biological sex determination at birth eventually resolved those issues without transitioning.

The intent of this bill is to provide proven treatment for these children who are suffering from gender dysphoria rather than following a radical gender ideology, Bryce said.

If the Kansas bill became law, state tax dollars couldnt be used for activities that encouraged gender transitioning. That would apply to health professionals, but might be sweep K-12 public school counselors or nurses into that net.

Just unbelievable

Opponents of the bill dominated House discussion by flooding the zone with amendments crafted to soften the bills reach. House advocates of the bill overwhelmingly rejected those ideas. In the 125-member House, each of the amendments were crushed with 50-vote margins.

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This is just unbelievable, said Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Democrat from Shawnee. Let me tell you, this bill will inflict harm on children under the age of 18, physicians and other health care professionals, mental health professionals, school personnel, state employees. We have young people up in the gallery. What kind of message are we sending to them?

Kelly, in the final two years of her second term as governor, vetoed a bill banning gender-affirming care statewide during the 2024 session. The Senate came up with the minimum 27 votes for an override last year, but the House fell two short of the required 84 votes to complete the maneuver.

In advance of this sessions House and Senate voting, committees in both chambers conducted public hearings on identical bills. Proponents argued the legislation was needed to protect children who could fall victim to wayward parents or health professionals who championed health care that was described as experimental. About 400 opponents of the legislation made their views known to the committees.

Attempts were made in the House and Senate to lower the age of independent medical consent by minors to 14. Both were defeated, but Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, D-Overland Park, said Republicans hostile to the amendment should consider addressing a Kansas law allowing minors as young as 15 to get married.

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If we do think that children should be getting married  and we determine that children should be giving birth, then those people of that age should also be allowed to make those decisions with their parents with regards to their care, Sawyer Clayton said.

Age-appropriate decisions

Rep. Megan Steele, a Manhattan Republican and school nurse, said all children were unique and must be treated with dignity. In education, she said, that meant establishment of age-appropriate standards in terms of what students were expected to comprehend.

If a 15-year-old cannot construct arguments that all circles are similar  they dont have the brain development to agree to have their genitals surgically removed, Steele said.

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Reps. Lindsay Vaughn and Heather Meyer, both Overland Park Democrats, closed floor debate in the House with appeals for moderation in the states regulation of gender-affirming care. Both said legislators convinced to vote for the bill didnt understand the people being targeted.

Vaughn said the bill soon to be forwarded to the governor would illustrate the scope of intrusive state government power and was dotted with unconstitutional provisions.

This bill limits free speech. This bill violates the right to free expression, she said. This bill infringes on the right of medical providers to offer peer-reviewed, evidence-based care. This bill violates the fundamental constitutional human right of transgender Kansans to not be discriminated against.

Meyer said there was no evidence physicians in Kansas were performing gender-transition surgery on minors.

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The bill aimed the toxic forces of discrimination, hatred and misunderstanding at Kansas youth who would have dreams and hopes shattered by a statewide ban, she said.

It is not our job as legislators to get involved in private, complex heart-wrenching medical and mental health decisions that parents and caregivers make in consultation with providers, she said. This bill is wrong. This bill is an egregious and heartbreaking attempt to discriminate against a small, but very vulnerable, community in Kansas.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Officials say Wednesday nights tragedy is the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years.

It was Kansas senators who first began sharing news that a flight from their state may have been involved that night. Thursday afternoon, Republican Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall shared their heartbreak.

Moran says hes certain people who lived in his state were on that plane in a news conference over Zoom.

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Local lawmakers provide support following DC midair collision

We wont have information, rightfully so, about the number of Kansans or particularly, names of Kansans until the family members have been notified, Moran said. 

Thats taking place. It started last night and continues throughout the day.

Two hours before Moran and Marshall talked to reporters, President Donald Trump spoke to reporters, blaming diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for weakening safety in the air and impacting their current workforce.

These are people that are actually, their lives are actually shortened because of the stress that they have, President Trump said in his Thursday news conference.

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Brilliant people have to be in those positions.

Senator Marshall was asked about the Presidents Diversion, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) comments Thursday afternoon and whether or not that could be partly to blame.

I have no idea, Senator Marshall said in response.

Certainly, I want air traffic controllers just like my pilots to be there because of their merit, not because of anything else, and so I certainly agree with President Trump, and you know, thats what this country was founded on, and so I dont know where that comment was coming from.

American Airlines plane, military helicopter collide near DCA, crash into Potomac River

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Marshall added he was concerned about the transponders that track aircraft. He believes there wasnt communication between the civilian airplane transponder and the military transponder.

I dont care what type of technology you have, he continued.

When you have that many planes, that many jets, that many helicopters in the same airspace, I dont know how thats just not set up as a recipe for disaster.

Theres no word when the names of the 67 victims will be released publicly.

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A Minnesota immigrant and refugee organization is asking for the publics help rebuilding a St. Paul auto shop after it was destroyed in a fire.

SKD Auto Tek, located at 80 West Cottage Avenue, caught fire on Jan. 11, with its ownership saying surveillance video showed two masked individuals entering the property carrying a red container, and leaving without it.

According to a GoFundMe created to support SKD in the aftermath of the fire, tools and equipment were lost.

GoFundMe

The fundraiser was created by Karen Organization of Minnesota, a nonprofit founded by Karen refugees from Burma. The organization focuses on providing resources to local immigrant and refugee communities.

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SKD owner Soe Doh also serves as a board member at KOM. Doh has provided career training for refugees from Burma and employs members of the Karen community at the shop, according to the fundraiser.

Now its our turn to show up for him and his employees to help this important Saint Paul small business get back on track, the fundraiser reads.

As of Friday, the GoFundMe had reached around $2,300 of its $9,000 goal.

The investigation into the fire continues.
The Karen Read case returned to court Friday with Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone hearing arguments on whether testimony from a digital forensics expert hired by the defense will be allowed during the Mansfield womans second murder trial.

WATCH LIVE: Karen Read murder case back in court for motions hearing ahead of retrial. WATCH LIVE: Arguments expected on hos long to die in cold testimony as Karen Read returns to court ahead of 2nd trial. Posted by Boston 25 News on Friday, January 31, 2025

During Reads first trial, which ended with a hung jury in July 2024, Richard Green alleged that Jennifer McCabe searched how long to die in cold and hos long to die in cold on Google. McCabe testified that Read asked her to make the Google search after they found her Boston police officer boyfriend John OKeefe dead in the snow outside of 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.

Green also testified that McCabes Google search happened at 2:27 a.m. in the morning, hours before the prosecution said it happened.

Jennifer McCabe searches

During Fridays hearing, special Prosecutor Hank Brennan argued that Greens testimony should be excluded from Reads retrial because his baseless claims lack any evidentiary support and cannot be made in good faith. The defense also said his claims were made without scientific, forensic, or factual support.

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Defense attorney Robert Alessi argued that Green is qualified to make claims and that he used five different tools to come to his conclusion.

To me, its rather odd right off the jump that theres no challenge to five other areas of data forensics and theres just this challenge to one aspect of his whole testimony and opinions, Alessi said.

The prosecution wants a special hearing with Green and an expert from the Commonwealth who can explain the science and methodology of the Google search made on McCabes phone.

The defense says there is no need for the special hearing because the experts agree on the methodology, but that they will testify to having a difference of opinion. They also pointed out that more than 4,000 searches were made on McCabes phone with only one deletion.

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All stand as the jury files out to the courtroom, to start their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Karen Read jurors tell judge theyve been unable to reach unanimous verdict

Day 3 of jury deliberations finishes without verdict in Karen Read trial

Karen Read awaits the juries verdict in her murder case at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP)

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Defense attorneys in Karen Read murder trial argue with judge over jury verdict slip

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Some witnesses are in the courtroom on Tuesday include Brian Albert, Colin Albert, and Jennifer McCabe.

Karen Read

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Karen Read, center right, is seated Monday, June 10, 2024, in Norfolk Super Court, in Dedham, Mass., during her trial on charges in connection with the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O'Keefe. (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Karen Read is seated Monday, June 10, 2024, in Norfolk Super Court, in Dedham, Mass., during her trial on charges in connection with the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O'Keefe. (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

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Karen Read

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Karen Read smiles after listening to her attorney Alan Jackson during her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

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Karen Read

Karen Read

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Karen Read sits with her legal team team in court Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Karen Read sits with her legal team team in court, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Read is accused of hitting OKeefe with her Lexus SUV on January 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking.

Prosecutors say Read dropped OKeefe off at a house party hosted by Albert and his wife just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, prosecutors say, she struck OKeefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.

The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying OKeefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.

The case is slated to return to court next week.

Reads retrial is set for April 2025.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Kash Patel, nominee to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC on January 30, 2025. Credit - Photo by Nathan PosnerAnadolu/ Getty Images)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has enormous power to investigate crime. Leading the agency requires judgment, restraint, and, above all, fidelity to the rule of law over loyalty to any individual. On this, Kash Patel, Trumps nominee for FBI director, falls short.

While some senators may disagree about whether Patel has sufficient experience to manage the Bureaus 38,000 employees, his lack of independence is disqualifying. During his confirmation hearing on January 30, Patel refused to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. That answer, combined with his history of kowtowing to Trump, made it clear that Patel is unlikely to stand up to the executive branch if abuses of power occur.

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I know from my work as a former national security prosecutor and law professor that the FBI has a stained history. J. Edgar Hoover, the FBIs director for almost half a century, used warrantless wiretaps to intercept communications of people he deemed to be subversive, including Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Bureaus COINTEL program infiltrated student groups, civil rights organizations, and the anti-war movement, all in the name of domestic security. The FBI identified targets based on First Amendment-protected activity and used underhanded propaganda campaigns to discredit them.

When a senate committee revealed these aggressive tactics in the 1970s, the FBI responded by creating its Domestic Investigations Operations Guide, known internally as the DIOG, a policy manual that provides stringent safeguards for opening cases and using invasive investigative techniques. Strict adherence to those requirements prevents the FBI from abusing its power.

But the DIOG is policynot law. A new director could erase it with one press of the delete key. One would hope that career FBI agents would balk at opening cases without a factual predicate or at using invasive investigative techniques as fishing expeditions. But if the boss changes the FBIs policy, then they would be expected to comply with his orders.

During questioning from senators, Patel refused to say whether he would resign if Trump directed him to engage in conduct that was unethical or unconstitutional, simply parroting the stock answer used repeatedly by Pam Bondi at her confirmation hearing for attorney general: I will follow the law.

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Read More: Kash Patel Rewrites His Own History in FBI Confirmation Hearing

After Trumps first term, Patels public displays of loyalty to his former boss have been hard to miss. According to a 2022 Breitbart report about the classified documents found at Trumps Mar-a-Lago home, Patel claimed to have been present when Trump declassified whole sets of documents, but the White House counsel failed to generate the paperwork to change the classification markings. Trump was later indicted for unlawfully retaining national defense documents, but the charges were dismissed after Trump was elected in November.

Patel also produced the Justice for All musical recording, in which Trump recited the pledge of allegiance backed by the voices of the J6 Prison Choir: charged Jan. 6 defendants held in custody, singing the national anthem over a jailhouse phone line. And, perhaps most astonishingly, Patel authored a childrens book called The Plot Against the King, in which King Donald is falsely accused of cheating to win an election by working with Russia. The hero who saves the day? A wizard named Kash.

Fierce loyalty to the president would be worrisome in any administration in light of the FBIs law enforcement mission. But it is especially troubling when the president has vowed retribution against his political enemies, as Trump has. Many of Trumps targets appear in another book authored by Patel called Government Gangsters, an attack on the so-called deep state. The book lists the names of government officials he calls a cabal of unelected tyrants, including former Attorney General William Barr and former FBI directors James Comey and Christopher Wray. While Patel has denied that the names constitute an enemies list, Patel has indicated that he plans to target not just former government officials, but also journalists. In a 2023 podcast interview, Patel said that in a second Trump administration, We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media.

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It seems unlikely that Trumps rivals would be convicted of baseless criminal charges in light of due process protections, such as the right to a grand jury and judicial review, representation by counsel, and a requirement that guilt be found by a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt. But even undergoing an investigation can be costly and emotionally draining, and it can irreparably tarnish the reputation of a public figure.

The decision to subject anyone to the criminal justice process should be made by responsible professionals making objective decisions based on fact and law. Based on his track record, Kash Patel cannot be trusted to make those decisions.

Contact us at letters@time.com.
My now-husband, Jake, and I come from two different worlds. He is a Californian with German roots and Im an Indian immigrant.

Recalling the moments right before I met his family, he told me to be myself and that theyre going to love me. (It worked.) But when it was his turn to meet my big, fat Indian family, the list of expectations was much longer.

He did his best to keep up, like learning a few phrases in Hindi and not calling elders by their first name. But one deeply rooted tradition surprised him.

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When you see my grandmother, make sure to touch her feet, I told him when he visited India last May. Her feet? he asked me, his eyebrows raised.

I grew up with this practice as did those around me. What felt normal to me was obviously foreign to him. So I did my best to explain.

An Indian Hindu women touches the feet of a Hindu guru to express respect on the occasion of Guru Purnima, or Guru's Full Moon day, in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. | Rajesh Kumar Singh

In India, its common to bow down and touch an elders feet as a sign of respect and a way to ask for their blessing. Its a gesture of humility and acknowledges the elders' elevated position in society, I told him.

Jake nodded before adding he needed to practice. He showed me several ways he could go about it and asked me questions about his form and whether he needed to touch the toes specifically.

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Dont overthink it. All you have to do is touch her feet and give her a smile, I reassured him, or at least tried to, as he gave me a worried look.

When he met my grandmother, Maya, nearly 70 years old now, Jake did as he had practiced.

Maya, who was already smiling ear to ear after meeting Jake for the first time, instantly grew emotional and gave him a big bear hug. The language barrier did not matter and just like that, two different generations from worlds apart forged a connection.

This same gesture of humility and respect took center stage at Kash Patels confirmation hearing on Thursday. He is Trumps nominee for director of the FBI.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Ben Curtis

As soon as he entered the room for his confirmation hearing on Thursday, he touched his parents' feet. The video went viral, with several social media users of Indian heritage sharing it and chiming in.

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The Free Press Rupa Subramanya in a social media post on X said that while she doesnt practice the ancient Hindu tradition, she respects it. And its great to see Kash Patel touch his parents feet before the hearing, she added.

Touching your elders feet as a mark of respect is an ancient Hindu tradition. While I don't observe it, I respect this tradition. And its great to see @Kash_Patel touch his parent's feet before the hearing. And he also said Jai Shree Krishna during his opening remarks. Amazing! https://t.co/SuHQzjr0RD  Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) January 30, 2025

Patel, in his opening remarks, said, Id like to welcome my father Pramod, and my mother Anjana, who are sitting here today. They travelled here from India. My sister, Nisha, is also here. She also traveled across the oceans just to be with me. It means the world that you guys are here.

Jai Shree Krishna, he said while facing them. The widely used expression is used to greet people. Its a Sanskrit phrase, which translates to, Victory to Krishna, a Hindu God.

I wouldnt be here today without their guidance, their unwavering support, and their relentless love. When President Trump informed me of his intention to nominate me as the director of the FBI, I was deeply honored, he said.

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Patel said he carried the dreams and hopes of his parents as well as Americans who value justice, fairness and the rule of law.

His father fled Uganda during Idi Amins genocidal dictatorship.

At least 300,000 men, women and children were killed based on their ethnicity, just because they happened to look like me, he said. His mother is from Tanzania.

She studied in India, as did my dad, and they were married there. They would later emigrate to New York ... where I was born, and we were raised in a household of my fathers seven siblings, their spouses, and at least half a dozen children, Patel said.

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He continued, Thats the only way we knew how to do things at the time, in the 70s and 80s, the Indian way, but we would soon learn the American way, he said.

As the Deseret News reported, Patels hearing Thursday was one of the most contentious ones so far as he faced tough questions about his professional experience and past comments as he seeks to be confirmed as the next director of the FBI.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | J. Scott Applewhite

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Senate Democrats grilled Patel on a number of issues, claiming the Trump ally does not have the experience needed to lead the agency and airing concerns he would use the top agency position to exact revenge on those who have previously investigated the president.

Republicans pushed back on those accusations, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Tillis argued in favor of his expertise and commitment to the country.

Kashs parents are Indian immigrants of Gujarati ancestry. Theyre up here in the front row. The Gujarat state is a melting pot of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, with temples, mosques and other religious sites scattered across the state, he said before noting his parents' upbringings.

His parents raised Kash in the Hindu faith and they instilled in him the values of hard work and education, Tillis said. Kash is a devout Hindu, and consistent with his faith, hes shown respect to people of all faiths.
WASHINGTON  Kash Patel, President Donald Trumps nominee for a 10-year term as director of the FBI, distanced himself Thursday from Trumps sweeping pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee he didnt think violent rioters who assaulted law enforcement deserved a break.

"I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement, and I have included in that group specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on Jan. 6," Patel said at his confirmation hearing. "I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement."

Patel's comments highlighted a fissure within the Republican Party, and even within Trump's own administration, over Trump's decision to pardon virtually all Jan. 6 defendants except a handful whose sentences were commuted. Those getting pardons included people who assaulted officers and those who were armed with firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, batons, bear spray and much more.

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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said at the hearing that he disagreed with Trump's pardons of violent Jan. 6 rioters and that he had been telling officers he encountered at security entrances around the Capitol the same.

Ive been thanking these Capitol Police officers, and I told them I thought, I actually thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked," Tillis said. I respectfully disagree with the president or whoever likely gave him advice."

Before the pardons took place on Inauguration Day, Vice President JD Vance said violent rioters obviously shouldnt be pardoned, while attorney general nominee Pam Bondi said she condemned any violence against officers.

During a heated exchange with Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Patel declined Schiff's invitation to turn around and face Capitol Police officers at work in the hearing room while he discussed Patel's efforts to market a song performed by the so-called J6 Choir. Patel said he used to raise money for the families of nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants. Patel said he "never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement."

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Patel went only so far on Jan. 6-related issues: He wouldnt state plainly that Trump lost the 2020 election, instead acknowledging only that Joe Biden had been president. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said it was "alarming" that Patel wouldn't answer a "simple" and "factual" question, noting the role the FBI plays in election law.

"The FBI is the primary agency responsible for investigating election-related crimes, including fraud and the denial of voting rights," Hirono said. "So being able to separate fact from conspiracy theories around elections is an important thing for the FBI director."

Patel appeared at the confirmation hearing as the Trump administration pursues a broader effort to bring sweeping changes to the Justice Department and the FBI. Employees who worked on the criminal investigations into Trump have been fired. A GOP staffer and an associate of Elon Musk have started working in the bureau before Patel's arrival. A handful of FBI leaders were told they'd be demoted unless they chose to resign or retire.

Matthew Graves, the former U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., who oversaw the Jan. 6 investigation, told NBC News that roughly 400 cases were either pending in court or in the pipeline but hadn't yet been charged when Trump shut down the probe of the Capitol riot.

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"A substantial portion of those cases involved violence, and the individuals that were involved in assaulting and forcibly resisting officers, those individuals wont be held accountable, and there wont be a public record created of their actions," Graves said.

Still, he said, the prosecutions created "a robust public record of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of documents that thoroughly document for anyone who cares to genuinely know the facts" about what occurred that day.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman of Washington, D.C., wrote in an order Thursday that there was an assertion in Trump's pardon that was "factually incorrect" and said cases against Jan. 6 rioters were well-supported, often with "powerful testimony from law enforcement officers" and "hundreds of hours of shocking videos of assaults on the Capitol and those trying to protect it." Trump's assertions about the handling of Jan. 6 cases, he wrote, was simply untrue.

"There has been no grave national injustice. And just because the Proclamation was signed by the President does not transform up into down or down into up as if peering through the looking glass of Alice in Wonderland," Friedman wrote. "The voluminous records created in these cases and thoughtfully considered sentences imposed by judges of this Court will forever reflect that in a tumultuous time following the events of January 6, 2021, this Court was at all times a place of law and fact.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Kash Patel, President Trumps nominee to lead the FBI, was at the center of a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, facing intense grilling from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee about his past comments and allegiance to Trump.

To Republicans, Patel represents a chance to reform an agency whose public image has taken a hit and refocus the FBI on its crime-fighting mission.

To Democrats, Patel is an unqualified figure at risk of abusing FBI power.

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But Mr. Patel would have us believe that all of these public servants, all Republicans, all from the first Trump administration, and apparently anyone else who is critical of him, are nothing but government gangsters and deep state members, many of them have made his list of enemies, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, said.

Our nation needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances.

A mix of commitments on how FBI power will be wielded

Democrats peppered Patel with a series of questions about how he would handle outside pressure from Trump.

It was a line of questioning that made frequent references to those Patel listed as government gangsters in an appendix to a book he wrote by the same name.

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While Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) defended the list as a transparency effort that should not be misconstrued as an enemies list, Patel has used past fundraising emails to say the group must be held accountable.

Patel sought to assure the committee he would not take any illegal actions but would not commit to resigning if faced with such pressure.

My answer is simply, I would never do anything unconstitutional or unlawful, and I never have in my 16 years of government service, he said.

I will always obey the law.

He also dodged questions about whether he would follow through on past comments calling for a prosecution of former FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as the FBI director, he said.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) argued that Patel had provided Democrats with the assurances they were looking for.

I have been diligently listening over the last few hours, and what I have heard you say is this, that your duty is to protect American citizens, that you will work to uphold the Constitution, she said.

You said you will not allow there to be victims of government overreach, because it has happened to you. You talked about having no intention of going backwards.  You have said everything you do will be factual and constitutionally based.

Patels past Mar-a-Lago testimony sparks scrutiny

Several Democratic lawmakers said the crux of whether Patel could resist Trumps pressure and operate truthfully could be seen in a grand jury transcript from when the nominee was called to testify in former special counsel Jack Smiths classified documents investigation.

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Patel previously said he saw Trump declassifying documents. While the claim was not specific to the documents at Mar-a-Lago in the center of the probe, Trumps attorneys nonetheless pointed to the comment, and it may have featured in a defense had the case proceeded.

Patel was subpoenaed to provide testimony in the special counsel investigation into Trump and was granted immunity after pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to many of the questions.

Democrats have sought the transcript and noted Thursday that Patel may speak freely about his own testimony, something Patel argued would violate grand jury secrecy.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Patel was sidestepping the transparency he claims hell provide as FBI director.

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It would be irresponsible for us to move forward if we do not know that the future head of the FBI would break the law and lie for the president of the United States, Booker said.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said even by pleading the Fifth, Patel raised questions about his trustworthiness and commitment to following the law.

I dont know, but he may be the first nominee for FBI director in history who felt it necessary to plead the Fifth, to say he wouldnt testify to a grand jury because it might incriminate him, Schiff said.

Clashes over Patels past statements

The hearing served as a format to air some of Patels most controversial statements after a robust series of appearances on right-wing podcasts over the last four years.

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Those interviews were a rich well for Democratic lawmakers, as Patel continually dodged and demurred while responding to his past remarks.

Patel didnt respond to past comments that he would shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.'

When confronted with a lengthy quote about how he would come after journalists criminally or civilly who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections, Patel complained he was only shown a partial quote.

But perhaps his most confusing exchange resulted from questions about the public role he has played in promoting a song recorded by Jan. 6 defendants in prison

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Im not aware of that, sir, I didnt have anything to do with the recording, he said.

In later questioning Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) noted Patel had boasted of his involvement.

As a matter of fact, as you put it, to Steve Bannon on his show: Then we went into a studio and recorded it, mastered it, digitized it, and put it as a song, now releasing it exclusively in the War Room. That was the J6 Prison Choir song, Blumenthal said.

We, we, we, Schiff added later, noting Patel seemingly included himself in the groups work.

Patel later said he was using the proverbial we when Schiff asked if Patel lied to Steve Bannon.

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Patel also previously promoted the groups song and acknowledged he knew the background of the group.

J6 Prison Choir consists of individuals who have been incarcerated as a result of their involvement in the January 6, 2021 protest for election integrity. They have sang the anthem every night since being incarcerated- lets help, he wrote on social media in a 2023 post.

Clear divide over Patel and FBI reform

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) praised Patel as a figure who could restore the FBIs reputation.

When I go back home to Texas, I am somewhat regularly asked by Texans, should we abolish the FBI? Now my answer to that is an emphatic no. The FBI has a critical mission of stopping bad guys, whether serial killers or human traffickers or child molesters or terrorists. But it says something that a sizable percentage of America has so lost faith in the bureau that they believe it should be shut down, he said.

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Schiff, however, seemed exasperated by Patels nomination.

[Trump has] chosen someone whose primary qualification, in my view, is his willingness to say yes when everyone else would say no.  Thats why he is sitting here, he said.

Look at the people who held that job before Mr. Patel, the stature of the people that held that job, the qualifications of the people [who held] that job, and how could any of us think that his background, his qualifications, hold a candle to the people who went before him? How did we get here, where we are defending a nominee like this, who makes songs with convicts who attack law enforcement? How did we get here?

But Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) dismissed Democrats concerns.

I dont think they can believe youre sitting where youre sitting right now. But guess what? You are, and youre going to get confirmed, and youre going to lead this agency back to what it always should have been, which is to protect the American people, to fight crime, to put the bad guys in jail, not to execute a political agenda like some banana republic form of justice, he said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
President Donald Trumps pick to lead the FBI appeared to consolidate Republican support Thursday, swatting aside repeated attacks by Democrats who struggled to articulate a cohesive case against a nominee who has sent shockwaves through law enforcement circles.

There was building anticipation for Kash Patels confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Democrats used their time a few weeks ago to question attorney general nominee Pam Bondi not about her own record but Patels. Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) opened Patels hearing by acknowledging the days events could be controversial.

A longtime Trump loyalist, Patel has a lengthy record of comments suggesting he would use his office to go after Trumps political adversaries and root out the Deep State. Yet on Thursday, Democrats chose to frequently highlight his collaboration with a group of violent Jan. 6 offenders in recording a rendition of the National Anthem. Efforts to create viral moments by casting Patel as an extremist fell flat and did little to steer Republican questions in a more provocative direction.

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It offered a stark split-screen with the other high-stakes confirmation hearings happening elsewhere throughout the day, where members of both parties asked sharp policy questions of Trumps selections to lead the intelligence community and the Department of Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., respectively. Those hearings left little question that Gabbards and Kennedys nominations were still in limbo in a narrowly-divided Republican majority.



Patels hearing appears to have done nothing to meaningfully chip away at Republican support. And by the end, even one of the panels Democrats said he anticipated Patel would be confirmed.

I suspect it will be Mr. Patel, Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat and a member of the Judiciary Committee, conceded.

Assuming the committee will vote to report Patels nomination to the full Senate, theres still a chance Patel will face hurdles with GOP lawmakers who dont sit on Judiciary. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski and former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted to oppose Trumps pick to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, forcing Vice President JD Vance to break a 50-50 tie. Their views on Patel, however, remain publicly unarticulated.

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Democrats spent a significant portion of the hearing grilling Patel over his help in producing a song by the J6 Prison Choir  a group of the most violent members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

They pressed him repeatedly to articulate his involvement in producing the song, which included a Trump voiceover, and pressed him about whether its proceeds went to the felons legal aid fund and whether he viewed the participants as political prisoners, as one of his Truth Social posts suggested. Patel claimed to have no knowledge of which defendants participated in the choir and said the money raised was steered to the families of nonviolent Jan. 6 offenders.

Democrats asked about the choir repeatedly, sometimes appearing unaware that colleagues had asked precisely the same question just minutes earlier. At one point, ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged that his partys focus on the choir may sound a little silly to the audience here, but still went on to explain why Democrats viewed it as an important test of whether Patel was qualified to lead the FBI.

Why are we so concerned about this choir singing a song? Durbin said to Patel. The question is, who are you going to care about?

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By the time Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, questioned the nominee over his involvement in the J6 Choirs song release, the back-and-forth devolved into an argument over the definition of the word we.



Democrats chose not to follow up after Patel said he rejected far-right QAnon conspiracy theories, despite the fact that he once said he agreed with a lot of the movement. And it wasnt until after the lunch break that any Democratic senator asked about Patels decision to plead the 5th during special counsel Jack Smiths investigation that led to Trumps indictment over his mishandling of classified documents. Prosecutors would later give Patel immunity to compel his testimony before a grand jury.

What are you hiding from Congress? Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, asked.

In one significant break from Trump, Patel acknowledged  albeit somewhat indirectly  that he disagreed with the presidents decision to pardon violent Jan. 6 offenders, saying he believed all of those who attacked police officers should face imprisonment.

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This response actually seemed to win over one Republican who is being closely watched for defections on contentious Trump nominees across-the-board: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is up for reelection in 2026. Tillis, who called the Capitol rioters thugs, said he believed Patel would have helped Trump reach a different conclusion in his decision to pardon the participants in the Capitol riot.

Democratic efforts to paint Patel as an out-of-touch extremist might also have prompted Republicans to double down in their support for the nominee.

It is ludicrous, but sadly predictable that Democrats are endeavoring to tarnish you, to paint a false caricature based on innuendo and smoke, said Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
LEWISBURG, WV (WVNS)  Katherine Johnson was born on August 26th, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Back at that time, Greenbrier County did not offer public schooling for African-American students past the eighth grade. That did not stop Johnsons love of math. After graduating college, Johnson became a school teacher in Marion, Virginia.

After having her three daughters, a relative told her about open positions at the all-black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Langley laboratory.

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59News sat down with her youngest daughter, Katherine Moore, to learn more about the woman that was not only a mathematician figurehead, but a loving super mom.

Hidden Figures of the space race receive Congress highest honor at medal ceremony

She was a very feminine, very stylish, made her clothes back in the day, taught us to sew. She was a fun mom. She modeled exactly what she wanted us to do, said Moore.

Growing up, Moore and her sisters were not quite aware of the strong impact her mother had on history.

Moore said her mother stayed humble and would sit down and have a conversation with anyone.

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I just enjoyed the fact that what you saw is what you got. She was the same with everybody. She treated everybody the same. Her intelligence did not send people off, said Moore.

Moore and her sisters were also raised in Greenbrier County. She said her mother loved the state and always had encouraging words for those around her.

Greenbrier Historical Society receives Congressional Gold Medal for preserving Katherine Johnsons legacy

You can find copies of Katherine Johnsons book on Amazon, and Audiobooks. You can also pick up a copy at the Greenbrier Historical Society.

Moore and her sisters believed their mother put the stars in the sky while helping NASA reach them.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Gov. Brian Kemp says pushing through new limits on lawsuits in Georgia is his top priority for the 2025 legislative session. He's seen here addressing the state's business community earlier this month. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

After weeks of suspense, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemps proposal to overhaul Georgias legal landscape is finally here.

At a jam-packed press conference Thursday, Kemp gathered state lawmakers and business leaders at Georgias state Capitol to introduce policies he says are aimed at reducing insurance prices for businesses and everyday consumers alike.

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If your neighborhood doesnt have a grocery store, if your hometown and surrounding counties dont have an OB/GYN, if the local family-owned restaurant is forced to raise prices again and again or go out of business altogether, if the child care facility your son or daughter attends has to close its doors, if your car insurance premium goes up just like it did last year, those are real jobs potentially gone forever, Kemp said. Those are real costs that every single Georgian has to pay.

Proponents of overhauling Georgias legal landscape, sometimes referred to as tort reform, say large jury awards are driving up insurance costs across the state. They often cite a 2024 American Tort Reform Foundation ranking that listed Georgia as one of the top five judicial hellholes in the country. A recent report from Insurance Commissioner John King echoed those findings, arguing that an increase in claims and large jury verdicts was resulting in higher insurance rates for Georgia businesses.

Kemp has touted the issue as his key priority for the 2025 legislative session, threatening to reconvene the state legislature for a special session if his proposed overhauls do not pass by the end of the session in early April. However, until now he had not released any specific policy proposals, garnering criticism from Democrats.

Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled his lawsuit overhaul plan Thursday at a packed press conference at the state Capitol. Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder

At Thursdays press conference, Kemp outlined a nine-pronged approach aimed at limiting lawsuit awards, divided into two pieces of legislation. Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, a Macon Republican, would tackle the majority of Kemps plans, including measures that would limit owners liability for injuries that occur on their property, prevent plaintiffs lawyers from suggesting a monetary value to compensate for pain and suffering, and enable trials to be bifurcated, or split into multiple stages so that juries can determine liability and damages separately.

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Senate Bill 69, also authored by Kennedy, would increase regulations on third-party sources of funding for lawsuits, requiring any third-party entities to be registered with the Department of Banking and Finance and limiting their ability to exert influence over the plaintiffs legal decisions, such as when and how plaintiffs settle a case. It also prevents foreign governments and adversaries from becoming litigation financiers.

The two bills notably exclude any explicit caps on the damages that can be awarded to plaintiffs who file lawsuits. A previous legislative attempt to limit jury payouts passed in 2005 but was struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court five years later.

However, the legislation is still likely to face pushback from both Democrats and trial lawyers, who argue that factors other than jury awards may be driving rising insurance premiums.

There are very real issues that Georgians face when it comes to insurance, said Rep. Tanya Miller, an Atlanta Democrat. We hear about them all the time: Denied claims, canceled policies, rising premiums. We can and should do something about these issues.

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The truth is, were just being asked to take the insurance industrys word for it that so-called frivolous lawsuits drive up rates. There is no transparency in how they set their rates, and they are not required to provide proof that restricting laws will lower premiums, she added.

Proponents of the proposed changes, including the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, argue they will create more balance between plaintiffs and defendants in Georgias court system, establishing an environment that would entice more insurance companies to provide coverage throughout the state. Kyle Wingfield, the president and CEO of the conservative-leaning Georgia Public Policy Foundation, echoed those sentiments.

It genuinely seems that theyre not trying to just clamp down on lawsuits generally, Wingfield said. Theyre trying to address some very specific problems with civil cases and I think bring it back into balance.

But members of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) were skeptical of the policy proposals, with former state Rep. Matthew Wilson, an Atlanta-based personal injury lawyer and member of the GTLAs executive committee calling efforts to limit damages awarded for medical bills clear non-starters.

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The bottom line is that it shifts the costs of the wrongdoing from the bad actors who did the wrongdoing to the victims  the innocent parties  who just so happen to have insurance, he said.

Wilson also argued that Kemps office had not taken trial lawyers views into account during its data collection process.

That trial lawyers and the plaintiffs bar, who represent Georgia consumers, were the one stakeholder in this issue that were shut out from that process, Wilson said. But that notwithstanding, we have been working with the governors team to provide data to show why this effort is misguided and why we need to be focused on the insurance companies, because they are the ones that are raising the premiums.

Advocates on both sides of the issue say they will need time to digest the bills before taking any firm stances. But efforts to limit third-party lawsuit financing, in particular, may be an area in which disparate groups can find some common ground. Third-party entities seeking to profit off of personal injury settlements have come under scrutiny nationwide, with states like Indiana, Louisiana and West Virginia all opting to pass new transparency regulations.

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For desperate plaintiffs, financing offers from third-party entities can be enticing, Atlanta-based attorney and political analyst Madeline Summerville said.

These third-party lenders come along and say, hey, well give you the money that you need for now, but then they end up doubling it by the end, and so its very predatory in a lot of ways, Summerville said. I think you would get bipartisan support on those kinds of measures for sure.

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Seaplane flights from Tacomas Ruston Way will go international this year.

Kenmore Air and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians announced Thursday their seasonal seaplane flight service would add Victoria, British Columbias Inner Harbour as a destination.

The service will run from May 15 through Sept. 15.

The entities, in a news release, said the flight will depart daily from Tacoma at 2:45 p.m. for an approximately one-hour flight to Friday Harbor Marina. After a 30-minute stopover, the flight will continue for a 20-minute trip to Victorias Inner Harbour.

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Total flight time is just under 2 hours.

In addition to the Victoria route, May 15 will mark the return of Kenmore Airs seasonal seaplane service between Tacoma and the San Juan Islands with direct service to Friday Harbor Marina and stopover service to Roche Harbor, the release noted, as well as a variety of locations on Orcas Island and Lopez Island.

Prices start at $199 per person, one-way for the Victoria and San Juan Islands flights.

Shorter flights also are available, with a 25-minute South Sound Scenic Flight tour for just $99 per person.

We are thrilled to expand our partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, offering an exciting new route for travelers looking for a quick and scenic escape to Victoria, said David Gudgel, president of Kenmore Air in a statement. This partnership continues to demonstrate our commitment to providing South Sound residents with the fastest, most convenient, and most beautiful way to travel to Victoria ... .

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The Puyallup Tribal Council, in a statement, said that with the expansion, The Puyallup Tribe is growing on the international stage.

The council added, This extension of Kenmore Airs seaplane service reflects our ongoing commitment to providing accessible, efficient, and scenic travel options that connect our residents with the wider Pacific Northwest region and beyond.

The Tacoma Ruston Way terminal is next to the Tribe-owned Woven restaurant, which opened last summer.

Kenmore Air and the Tribe announced their partnership and first flights in May 2022 and added new flights last year.

For more information, go to Kenmore Airs online booking site.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56)  The states medical cannabis program launched at the start of the year, and today the first cards were issued to patients. However, the program still has a long way to go.

We are seeing significant demand, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

The states month-old medical cannabis program hit its next big milestone Thursday as Gov. Beshear personally issued the very first two medical cards. The recipients were Merissa Khumalo, a former teacher, and Dr. Ryan Grell, an advisor to the program and longtime advocate for alternative medicine.

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How to apply for a medical marijuana card in Kentucky

From managing pain to helping with mental health. Medical cannabis can make patients lives immeasurably better, Grell said.

We have now approved, after these two, 2200 medical cannabis cards as of today, Beshear said.

Gov. Beshear said more cards will continue to be approved on a rolling basis from here. In total, nearly 4 thousand applications have been received. More than 6,500 Kentuckians have been certified by a practitioner, a necessary requirement in order to apply.



You can find that authorized practitioner on the website through an easy search right on the first page, Beshear said, referring to the kymedcan.ky.gov website.

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However, with the first set of cardholders approved, the product itself still remains virtually unavailable. The first businesses in this space had their licenses approved just this past fall, and the buildout is not complete.

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I know of at least one of the cultivators that the ground is just about ready. The weather is a bit of a problem and of course theyre going to be able to bring in plants to start that. And so, I think were seeing, now that the licensing is done, a whole lot of movement in that direction. And my hope is in the coming month or two, were going have a much better idea of when we will see that product first on the shelves, Beshear said.

Beshear said until then a 2022 executive order allowing patients with certain conditions to bring medical cannabis in from out of state will remain active.

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In his confirmation hearing for FBI director on Thursday, Kash Patel presented himself as a man of experience, fairness, and devotion to civic duty. In the hours he spent in the room before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he repeatedly insisted that he had no tolerance for violence against law enforcement; that he sought only to ensure to protect the country while respecting its citizens constitutional rights; and that he would approach the grave responsibility of the position with absolute seriousness.

This was not, in other words, the Kash Patel of the Trump campaign of the past four years.

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The Patel that most people are familiar with built his public persona around hounding Trumps enemies and promising to punish them if they got in the presidents way. Patel, who has by his own admission been on a thousand podcast episodes, loves to blast the deep state in conversation with other conspiracy theorists. His book Government Gangsters includes a glossary of the deep state actors Patel wants investigated and punished, should he be confirmed into a position to do so. (The list includes Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former Attorney General Bill Barr, to name a few.) On Steve Bannons podcast, Patel promised journalists who reported, correctly, that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election: Were going to come after you, whether its criminally or civilly.

And yet, despite the plentiful on-record examples of Patel saying extreme things, he acted during the hearing as if all those comments were being taken out of context or skewed in a way that misrepresented his intent. This tactic may have been his only actual option, as there really is no gray area or nuance to what Patel has spent years doing. Maybe, when presented with clear, direct evidence of his own statements and activities, Patel thought his only option was to lie.

No moment showed this more clearly than an exchange in which Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin asked Patel about his association with Stew Peters, a far-right podcast host who has described Judaism as a death cult and argued that Black people are genetically inferior.

Stew Peters? Does that ring a bell? Durbin asked.

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Not off the top of my head, Patel said.

You made eight separate appearances on his podcast, Durbin said. Im just askingwhen it comes to your association with individuals, why are so many of them in this category?

Durbin didnt quite spell out what he meant by this category, but he did describe Peters as a conspiracy theorist and name Ted Nugent, another right-wing conspiracy theorist, in the question. Essentially, Durbin asked why Patel is associated with so many wing nuts.

My association, as you loosely define it, is by appearing in media over a thousand times to take on people who are putting on conspiratorial theories and to devow them of their false impressions, and to talk to them about the truth, Patel said. That is something I will always continue to fight for, senator.

DURBIN: Are you familiar with Stew Peters?



PATEL: I'm sorry, what?



DURBIN: Are you familiar with Stew Peters?



PATEL: Not off the top of my head



DURBIN: You may 8 separate appearances on his podcast. He worked with a prominent neo-Nazi ... pic.twitter.com/I5nvRLOo5V  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2025

This is a laughably false claim. Patel goes on these shows not to debate conspiracy theorists. He does it to fuel them.

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Similarly, when asked during the hearing about his association with QAnon, Patel insisted that he had always publicly rejected outright the conspiracy theories associated with it. This is, again, a falsehood. Patel has consistently amplified QAnon material on social media, posted about socializing with prominent QAnon supporters, instigated the creation of a new QAnon hashtag, and even signed his own books with the QAnon slogan WWG1WGA.

And then again, when asked about his work helping to produce a song by the J6 Prison Choir, Patel insisted that he hadnt known there were Capitol rioters in the group and that he wasnt aware of who made the recording.

Patel is not the only nominee to feel the need to obfuscate his background. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for example, insisted in his hearing Wednesday that he was not an anti-vaxxer, despite dedicating the latter half of his career to anti-vaccine advocacy. Kennedy, at least, stood by some of his more outlandish opinions; Patel simply denied his were ever uttered.

There may be a silver lining here: It is clearly still considered undesirable for the prospective FBI director to openly endorse QAnon or associate with violent insurrectionists. But we may come to expect this tactic more in the next few years, as Trump appointees fill out the executive branch. Trump loves a loudmouthed content creator willing to go to bat for him in public forums. The most fiery conspiracy theorists, once theyve been elevated to positions of actual power, will have to make the same kind of decision Patel faced: to double down on what theyve saidor to fully commit to a lie.
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics teams latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In todays edition, Sahil Kapur breaks down everything you need to know from a trio of key Senate confirmation hearings. Plus, Matt Dixon examines how President Donald Trumps response to the tragic plane crash in D.C. quickly took a political turn.

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.

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 Adam Wollner

Takeaways from a big day of confirmation hearings

By Sahil Kapur

In a crucial day for President Donald Trumps nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel descended on Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings.

The nominees for health and human services secretary, director of national intelligence and FBI director have all generated controversy for a similar reason: Each has launched searing criticisms of the entities theyve been chosen to lead.

And they all sought to clarify or downplay past stances or remarks that have landed them in hot water to senators who will decide whether to confirm them.

Here are the key takeaways:

Kennedy faces skepticism from a key GOP senator: After he repeatedly challenged Kennedys views on vaccines, Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held Thursdays hearing, said he was struggling with Kennedys nomination.

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The Louisiana Republican made clear he hasnt made up his mind about his vote and has more questions for Kennedy  a rarity for a Republican chair when dealing with a Trump nominee. Cassidy, a doctor, also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which held a hearing for Kennedy on Wednesday and will vote on whether to report his nomination to the full Senate.

Patel breaks with Trump on Jan. 6 pardons: Under pointed questioning, Patel made a break with Trump on his decision to issue pardons or commutations for 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants, including those who confessed to assaulting police officers. Patel argued that certain violent offenders didnt deserve leniency.

I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement, and I have, including in that group, specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on Jan. 6, he said. And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.

Gabbard grilled about Edward Snowden: The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii was peppered with questions from multiple Republican senators about her past praise of Edward Snowden  the former intelligence contractor who leaked a trove of classified information before he fled to Russia  as a brave whistleblower.

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Gabbard stopped short of disowning her previous remarks or calling him a traitor as multiple members of the committee have, saying only that he broke the law and revealed important information in doing so.

Of all the nominees who faced hearings Thursday, Gabbard likely has the toughest task in preventing GOP defections.

Read more takeaways from the days hearings 

Trump turns a moment of national mourning into a push for his political agenda

By Matt Dixon

Just 11 days into his presidency, Donald Trump has been confronted with a national tragedy that claimed dozens of lives after a passenger jet carrying 64 people collided midair with an Army helicopter in the Washington, D.C., region Wednesday night.

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His response bypassed the usual playbook that presidents typically follow after a tragedy, just as his campaign broke from political norms time and again.

Without waiting for a full investigation  or a list of the victims  the president began pointing fingers and going on the attack. Rather than using it as a moment to forgo political combat and focus on the victims, he took the opportunity to push his agenda against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

His approach moved attention away from recovery efforts, victims and the investigation into the crash to a debate over one of his biggest political targets. And while Trump faced criticism for his handling of the moment, it was in line with how he has eschewed the way traditional politicians operate.

Trump quickly put out a social media post casting blame for the accident Wednesday night, before many facts were known.

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At a White House press briefing Thursday, he read through a more traditional speech expressing condolences, but then launched into remarks that felt more like something from a campaign rally, calling a Democratic official a disaster, castigating his predecessors and going after DEI  despite any evidence so far that these policies contributed to the midair collision.

Ive been an investigator for 35 years, investigating aircraft accidents, and when you talk about standards, what we just saw does not meet the published international standards of providing information in the wake of an accident, Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, told MSNBC.

New hire: During the press conference, Trump also appointed Christopher Rocheleau as acting FAA commissioner, a position that had been vacant.

Read more from Matt 

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More crash fallout: Members of Congress are expressing concern about the crowded and very complex airspace around D.C. after the midair collision, the first U.S. commercial plane crash since 2009. Read more 

Follow live coverage here 





 Todays top stories

 Hire at will: Vice President JD Vance has earned a unique privilege inside the White House  free rein to hire whom he wants, with no interference from Trump or his top aides. Read more 

 A small victory: After struggling to respond to Trumps whirlwind first week in office, Democrats have started to find their footing in the fight over the White Houses attempt to impose a sweeping freeze on federal aid. Read more 

 Absent: Democrats boycotted the Senate Budget Committees vote to advance Russell Voughts nomination to be White House budget director to the full Senate. Read more 

 Whiplash: Fear, anger and confusion have swept across federal agencies as workers grapple with a deluge of orders from Trump that they see as an effort to scare them out of their jobs. Read more 

 Executive order fallout: Trans service members who could be affected by Trumps recent executive order say they will continue doing their jobs and plan to fight the move. Read more 

Thats all From the Politics Desk for now. Todays newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Faith Wardwell.

If you have feedback  likes or dislikes  email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

And if youre a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here.





This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
One of Ryan OHaras first military leaders paid tribute to his former student Thursday night.

David Erwin is Parkview High Schools former Marine Corps JROTC Instructor. He shared old photos of his time spent with OHara in the program.

Quiet kid, said Erwin. And his mother told me today that we helped bring him out of his shell.

He said OHara was a member of Parkview High Schools rifle competition team and color guard.

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He spent a lot of time doing Toys for Tots with us, the camps we go to, said Erwin. He was a kid you could count on.

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After graduating from the high school in Lilburn, OHara joined the U.S. Army.

He was in Afghanistan, did a combat deployment there, said Erwin.

OHara ranked up to Staff Sergeant E-6 and became a crew chief on Black Hawk helicopters that transport VIP.

You have to be selected for that, and that speaks very highly to his character and who he was, said Erwin.

He said OHara was starting to build a life in Arlington with his wife and 1-year-old son when his team collided with an American Airlines flight set to land in Washington D.C. Wednesday night.

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Thursday morning, Erwin learned her former cadet was on the helicopter.

It was a gut punch. It was a gut punch this morning when I saw that, said Erwin.

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He spoke to OHaras parents later that day.

Were not even 24 hours into this, and theyre just trying to piece this together, said Erwin. I hope they can do that in peace.

Another Georgia family from the Savannah area is grieving the loss of Sam Lilley. He was co-piloting the commercial flight involved in the crash.

His childhood friend Shane Therault is the Executive Pastor at Coastal Community Christian Church in Richmond Hill.

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Flying was his life, but in his free time, he was getting ready to be married in the fall. He loved spending time with friends. He was really getting prepared for his next phase in life with his fiancee, said Therault.

Therault said Lilley followed in his dads footsteps to become a pilot.

On Facebook, the father, Tim Lilley, wrote, ...it hurts so bad I cant even cry myself to sleep.

In Lilburn, the Parkview community is uniting again. Erwin said he is relaying stories of inspiration to OHaras family, and he hopes his student is looking down.

Hopefully, he knows hes done some good things, said Erwin.

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KIOWA, Kan. (KSNW)  As authorities begin their investigation into the deadly crash between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Wichita gets underway, were learning more about the 67 people who lost their lives Wednesday night.

Two of the victims on that flight were Bob and Lori Schrock of Kiowa.

Courtey: Grace Cantrell

Courtey: Grace Cantrell

The couple was reportedly flying to Washington, D.C., and would later take a train to see their daughter, Ellie, who is attending college in Philadelphia. A trip they took often.

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Bob and Lori are being remembered for their outpouring of generosity, always leaning on faith while lending a hand to seemingly everyone in their community in Kiowa and beyond. That comes from Bobs longtime friend, Michael Simpson.

Civil rights attorney from Wichita victim of plane crash in DC

Simpson said that he had just shared a text with Bob recently thanking him for his generosity in donating time and money to their ministry ranch just outside of Kiowa. The ministry is a Christian alternative to foster care. Simpson was trying to get it up and running but did not have the money to fund it. Bob stepped in to help with everything so his friend could focus on being there for the young men who needed guidance.

Love and respect and appreciate both of you very much. All they said was, Lori and I are blessed to know you and look forward to catching up when we get home. That was our relationship, a good man, good family, he said.

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Simpson believes he doesnt run into too many people kinder than the Schrock family.

You aint got to worry about your pasture; you go work with the boys; Im going to make your pasture look like a golf course, kept it sprayed and sprayed in new grass, and kept it sprayed and taken care of for years, he said.

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Simpson said he heard of the crash last night and immediately got a feeling he knew someone on board. He called a mutual friend this morning to learn they did not make it left to now grieve the loss of a best friend. Simpson said that his grief turns to pain, knowing the couple leaves behind Ellie, who is now left to finish college and navigate her early twenties without her parents.

Biggest heartbreak that weve been both praying about is their daughter because I cant imagine how lonely that is going to feel. For me, for Mark, were going to hurt; its going to be painful, but we know were going to see our friends again, he said.

Ellie is a student at Villanova University. One of her best friends, Grace Cantrell, said that Ellies parents were like a second set to her and waking up to the news was paralyzing.

Unreal feeling of numbness, she said.

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Heres what is known about the deadly collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter

Mourning for moments the Schrocks will now miss out on.

All the things that her parents wont be there for, her wedding, her first boyfriend, her first kid, shes planning on going to med school. If she becomes a doctor, they wont get to see her achieve that, said Cantrell.

Those who love Bob and Lori want them to be remembered as generous people of belief and would want others to know they are at peace.

If there was one message that Bob wants ringing through this world after hes gone, is put your faith in Christ, said Simpson.

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KSN News is told that Ellie has family surrounding her with support on the East Coast.

For all the latest information about the plane crash, click here.

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Kissimmee city leaders are looking to make changes meant to promote public safety downtown.

Mayor of Kissimmee Jackie Espinosa said recent incidents like shootings, DUIs, and street brawls mean its time to take action. That could include tightening regulations on alcohol sales.

But some Kissimmee business leaders are scratching their head at the recent calls for safety changes.

Read: American Airlines jet pilot graduated from Daytona Beach flight school

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Three business owners told Channel 9 they worry one proposal that would move forward the cutoff time for alcohol sales could reverse progress made toward revitalizing downtown.

During an interview with Channel 9, Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa said her vision for a booming downtown includes making sure it stays family friendly from daytime to nighttime.

I love our city. I feel safe in our city. But I want that feeling to grow, not diminish, said Espinosa.

Read: Orlando figure skaters knew victims in DC mid-air collision

She told Channel 9 she believes some preventative measures must be taken to ensure downtown continues to experience positive growth.

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Are we the crime center of Central Florida? Absolutely not, said Espinosa, What we want to avoid is becoming that. So, in order to stop the train, sometimes you have to stop it way in advance.

Espinosa said the city will host a workshop Tuesday February 4th, that is just the beginning of a community conversation about safety. She said no ordinances have been written, and that several options are now being considered.

Espinosa did confirm one option up for consideration would be to change the final call time for alcohol sales.

Read: Training partner of the American Airlines pilot speaks after deadly passenger jet, helicopter crash

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The Executive Director of Kissimmee Main Street elaborated, stating leaders are exploring ending alcohol sales an hour early at 1 am instead of 2 am.

Some business leaders have rallied in opposition to that proposal.

Ray Parsons, owner of 1881 Restaurant & Bar in downtown Kissimmee worries further alcohol sales regulations will do more harm then good, and could be detrimental to businesses like his. Parson stated the 1881 produces a third of its profits between 11pm and 1:30 am on weekends.

Its just not an issue that I feel is worth the detriment that it would be to the businesses downtown to limit the alcohol consumption flow.

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The workshop to discuss downtown street closures and alcohol sales will be held at Kissimmee City Hall On February 4th, at 3pm.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




(NewsNation)  The Black Hawk military helicopter that was involved in the midair collision with an American Airlines regional jet is known as a proven workhorse in the U.S. Armys fleet of aircraft.

The helicopter has been used by the military for more than 40 years after it entered service in 1979, according to the U.S. Army. The aircraft was first developed, the Army said, as a requirement made by the Army that simple, robust and reliable utility helicopters be available.

DC crash co-pilot at the prime of his life: Dad

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The Black Hawk is named after the Native American war chief and leader of the Sauk tribe in the Midwest. The aircraft includes powerful twin engines, a reconfigurable cabin and 9,000 pounds of cargo capacity, according to the Lockheed Martin website.

The companys description of the helicopter indicates it can be used to transport troops, deliver supplies and fly search-and-rescue missions. Lockheed Martin says that the Black Hawk helicopter has flown more than 15 million flight hours and has completed countless critical missions across the globe. Lockheed subsidiary Sikorsky manufactures the Black Hawk.

The utility version of the Black Hawk helicopter has a maximum gross weight of 22,000 pounds and is capable of transporting 12 fully equipped seated troops in combat, the manufacturer said.

Officials said that the helicopter was involved in an annual proficiency training flight when the collision took place Wednesday night. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter at the time of the crash and were included among the 67 people who are presumed dead.

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Pete Hegseth, the newly confirmed U.S. defense secretary, said in a video statement Thursday that the crew aboard the Black Hawk at the time of the collision was fairly experienced with night-vision goggles. President Donald Trump, however, questioned the helicopters pilot along with air traffic control workers at Reagan Airport for their roles in the crash.

The helicopter was featured in the 2001 major motion picture Black Hawk Down, which is based on the book with the same title that detailed the United States actions during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation.
President Trumps torrent of executive actions has spurred a flood of legal challenges seeking to thwart the presidents efforts to reshape U.S. policy in his first days back in the White House.

From Seattle to Boston and Concord, N.H., to Washington, D.C., judges have scheduled hearings in courtrooms across the country for the coming days where they will confront the first major legal battles of the new administration.

The sweeping actions span immigration, gender policy and the functions of the federal bureaucracy. Heres where the legal challenges stand.

Birthright citizenship

Trumps effort to restrict birthright citizenship could set up a major clash at the Supreme Court.

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The high court has long interpreted the 14th Amendment to extend citizenship to all people born on U.S. soil with few exceptions, but Trump is making a push to prevent that guarantee from extending to children born to parents without legal status.

Trumps Justice Department has insisted the order is consistent with those precedents, latching onto how the amendment only applies to people subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

The order has been met with at least seven separate lawsuits, which all claim it violates the amendment or federal immigration law.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, an appointee of former President Reagan who oversees one of the cases, called Trumps action a blatantly unconstitutional order and temporarily blocked it at a hearing last week.

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Coughenours order is only temporary. Next week, hearings will continue.

A federal judge in Greenbelt, Md., will hear from CASA Inc. on Wednesday. The following day, Coughenor will hold another hearing in Seattle in the suit brought by four Democratic state attorneys general.

The day after that, a judge in Boston will hear two separate challenges being brought by 18 other Democratic-led states and a group of private organizations. And Feb. 10, a judge in Concord will consider the American Civil Liberties Unions challenge.

When asked Thursday how the cases might fare once they reach the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointed during his first time, Trump said he was confident the majority of the high court would vote in his favor to uphold the executive order.

Gender

Transgender Americans affected by Trumps executive orders barring them from serving openly in the military and being housed in prisons aligned with their gender identities have also taken legal action against the administration.

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Two LGBTQ rights groups, on behalf of six active service members and two people seeking enlistment, challenged Trumps directive to deem transgender troops as physically or mentally incapable of service as a violation of the Constitutions equal protection clause.

Separately, an incarcerated transgender woman sued the administration over Trumps order requiring the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house transgender inmates according to their sex at birth and preventing prisoners from accessing gender-affirming medical care.

The transgender woman in that case, identified in court documents under the pseudonym Maria Moe, asked a federal judge Sunday to block the order from taking effect.

Funding freeze

The White House budget office earlier this week issued a directive to freeze federal assistance while reviewing whether spending aligns with Trumps agenda, drawing quick legal challenges from potentially affected nonprofits, public health groups and Democratic states.

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The nonprofits and public health groups sued first, contending theyd suffer imminent injury should the order stand. On Tuesday, minutes before the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) order was set to go into effect, a federal judge temporarily blocked it.

But the next day, the OMB rescinded the order via a memo. Then, the White House said the orders rescission did not actually halt the federal funding freeze. The apparent contradiction created further widespread confusion.

The 22 Democratic states and Washington, D.C., that sued over the funding freeze order  led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, called the policy reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional.

They argued during a court hearing Wednesday that the order should still be frozen by the courts because the Trump administration said the memo that rescinded the order would not hamper its actual effect  though it remains unclear which federal programs are actually impacted.

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A federal judge in Rhode Island overseeing the case signaled hes inclined to freeze the order, despite the order being rescinded. The states submitted a proposed court order Wednesday evening, and the judge gave the Justice Department 24 hours to submit any final opposition.

Civil service protections

At least three lawsuits have been filed over Trumps order creating a new class of federal employee, Schedule F, which would allow those workers to be hired and fired with ease like political appointees.

The challenges, brought by federal employee unions and a worker alliance, contend that Trumps order threatens protections given to federal employees by Congress. They see the classification as an attempt to politicize bureaucratic roles. This scheme seeks to put politics over professionalism, contrary to the laws and values that have defined our career civil service for more than a century, lawyers for the American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO wrote in their complaint.

DOGE

Trumps new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came under legal challenges within minutes of the president taking the oath.

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Trump has announced ambitious plans for the new group, led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to slash trillions in government spending.

Three lawsuits are seeking to stop DOGEs operations over allegations it is required to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which mandates various transparency requirements.

The cases are each led by progressive consumer watchdog Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association and National Security Counselors, a public interest law firm.

Each lawsuit was filed in D.C.s federal district court and assigned to Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Biden. The plaintiffs have not yet filed any motion seeking an emergency intervention.

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A Know Your Rights table was set up Thursday across from North Side High School by Congressman Marc Veasey to inform families about their legal options if detained by ICE, and address community anxiety after a substitute teacher made a social media post inviting immigration officers to the Fort Worth high school to arrest students.

Veasey along with constituent service representative Maria Robles answered various questions that concerned community members, educators and parents had on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 30.

I am an educator at elementary school. What should I do?

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I have a legal permanent residence. Will I face consequences?

Can ICE raid community gatherings at parks?

These were some of the questions posed as members of the north side community gathered around the table.

I know that after that substitute teacher made those idiotic comments that a lot of people in this community, that have kids at this school, had a lot of fear and uncertainty about exactly what was happening, said Veasey, a Democrat who represents Texas 33rd Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey along with constituent service representative Maria Robles answer questions from concerned community members, educators and parents near North Side High School in Fort Worth on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 30.

He said he wants people to know their rights when they are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Veasey said if someone gets detained they have a right to legal counsel, and there are certain procedures that have to take place before they are deported.

ICE has been posting statistics on the number of arrests nationwide each day. The most recent numbers showed 1,016 arrests were made and 814 detainers were lodged on Jan. 29.

Theyre not about to deport all the people that theyre saying because it would drive a massive hole in the economy, Veasey said. We wouldnt be able to produce any oil and gas, there would be no homes built in the state, no food that would be processed. Our farms would go dry,

Im urging people to know your rights, but then asking the president, instead of playing these stupid, ignorant games, bring Democrats and Republicans together, and lets come up with a real solution to this, and not this made up for TV crap, Veasey said.

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On display at the event were templates of what a search warrant signed by a judge looks like compared to a search warrant signed by ICE officials. And privacy release forms for ICE that community members with the help of government offices can use to inquire about people arrested or detained.

A template displayed at a community event that Congressman Marc Veasey held for Fort Worth residents shows what a search warrant signed by a judge looks like.

We need a secure border, but until you do something about the economical piece of this, then youre not going to have a secure border, its just not going to happen, Veasey said.

I want parents that are worried to be able to have this information and sit down and talk with their kids, just in case their kids come home and theyre not there, so their kids can at least have some peace of mind just by being able to talk about these things now  just in case this thing gets really, really bad, he said.

Robles, the congressmans constituent service representative, said community members can also use the Executive Office for Immigration Review website to download and print privacy release forms. To ease that anxiety of not knowing where their loved ones are, they could print it out and get a copy, fill it out, and then at a later time, use it as needed, she said.

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Robles said there has been a lot of misinformation on social media so they want to make sure they provide clear and accurate information.

Were still a nation that has a constitution, that has a judicial system. Not everything is lost, and we cant just give up, Robles said. So as a person that knows some of these things, its really heartwarming to be able to share and then see in their faces that fear may come down a bit.

A 34-year-old woman from the Fort Worth Riverside area who opted to remain anonymous was there to get some answers about specific questions that are in the minds of community members, she told the Star-Telegram.

At this moment, we have national, statewide and local policies that are impacting our migrant, immigrant communities, Black and brown people, and its very complex, so it can be very confusing and intimidating for regular people to try to find out what the solution is or find help, she said.

It only continues to strike distrust and fear between regular people and those in elected power and elected leadership, she said. We should have been doing this before Trump was even elected, or inaugurated.
Shifting academic standards are taking center stage in the state superintendent race this spring.

Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for reelection, overhauled the state's standardized testing benchmarks and renamed the levels of student achievement in 2024.

Both of Underly's challengers, Sauk Prairie superintendent Jeff Wright and education consultant Brittany Kinser, have said the changes lower the bar for student performance and complicate efforts to see how schools and districts perform across time.

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The Republican-controlled Legislature appears poised to pass a bill sometime this year that would restore the previous testing system.

The primary election is scheduled for Feb. 18. The top two candidates will advance to the April 1 election.

Here's what to know about the Republican bill and the broader debate about the change in academic standards:

What were Wisconsin's previous test benchmarks?

Wisconsin students in grades three through eight take the Forward Exam every spring and were labeled advanced, proficient, basic or below basic" in subject matters such as math and English/language arts.

Underlying those labels are "cut scores" that mark the boundaries between one category of performance and the next higher or lower category on the tests.

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More: Are Wisconsin students really doing better? Or does it just look that way?

What was the basis for the previous cut scores?

The Forward Exam previously aligned its cut scores with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as NAEP, a widely followed program used in all 50 states.

Education experts agree the NAEP is difficult, requiring students to do better than on other tests to be considered "proficient."

The intent behind aligning the Forward Exam with NAEP: By setting higher expectations, students and schools would improve.

That hasn't really happened. State scores have remained generally flat for years.

Underly said the NAEP tests students about a grade level above their abilities, which made students appear to be performing academically worse than they actually were.

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"If we're going to force (students) to take this assessment, we want it to have meaning, and we want teachers to be able to understand the results so that they could use it to make decisions in the classroom," she told the Journal Sentinel. "We couldn't do that before."

What happened in 2024?

The Forward Exam tests students based on state standards. Nearly 100 educators worked with the DPI last year to review each test question on the exam based on recently updated academic standards in English/language arts and mathematics.

Updating standards is a routine process that occurs every few years to account for changes in what educators believe students should know by each grade level. Outdated standards in social studies, for example, asked students to find things on an atlas. The new, updated standard refers to technology and using maps as one available tool.

Why did cut scores change in 2024?

When standards are updated, cut scores should be, too, Underly said.

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"The scoring has to change because you're now not scoring the same things," she said. "You've added different things to the test. You have to re-evaluate the grading scale for it."

The new cut scores are lower than when they were aligned with the NAEP. Underly said educators requested the revisions.

"Teachers told us to make these changes so that an actual assessment would mean something," Underly said. "So what we did was we measured it based off of where Wisconsin teachers felt Wisconsin kids could be on the Wisconsin test."

Underly said her critics have conflated cut scores with standards to argue standards have lowered. She said the new Forward Exam standards have increased because more challenging material was added while less important material was removed.

What are the new testing labels?

The new benchmarks come with new levels of student achievement: advanced, meeting, approaching and developing."

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DPI said the new language "encourages and motivates student learning, providing a snapshot of students progress in learning grade level skills and content."

Did more students score better under new system?

Yes, the changes increased the number of students considered proficient.

Just over half of Wisconsin grade school students met or exceeded state standards for math and English language arts last school year. That's up from the 41% or less considered proficient or above in the same subjects under the previous system in 2022-23.

Have other states made changes to cut scores and standards?

Yes. Wisconsin isn't alone in boosting its proficency rates through changes in benchmarks.

At least three other states  Oklahoma, Alaska and New York  recently made similar adjustments. Illinois and Colorado are considering such revisions, according to The 74, a nonprofit education news outlet.

Why do Republicans want to change the scores back to the previous system?

Republicans have criticized the changes. Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia, are circulating a bill and plan to introduce it in the weeks ahead that would restore the Forward Exam to align with the national test.

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We have to be honest about how well our schools are educating our children, the lawmakers' memo said. Every school has its own unique challenges, but a standardized assessment system is one of many important tools informing parents of where best to educate their children.

What are the chances the Republican bill will pass?

There's a good chance the bill could make it through the Legislature.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he was supportive of defining test categories in state law to prevent scores from being manipulated for political gain. In a December interview with the Journal Sentinel, he accused Underly of "rejiggering" the scores to improve her electability.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said the Senate would pass the bill.

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"Changing cut scores and lowering standards was an obvious mistake by Superintendent Underly," he said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel, adding: "If the governor is serious about making 2025 the Year of the Kid, he needs to hold the education bureaucracy to account and consider bold reform at DPI and in our entire education system."

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers also called changing the state test score benchmarks a "mistake."

"It's hard to compare year to year if one year you're doing something completely different ... I think it could have been handled better," Evers told reporters in a news conference earlier this month.

Evers, a former state superintendent, is avoiding showing support for his successor, pledging not to endorse in the primary election. Asked whether Evers would sign the bill into law, an Evers spokeswoman said Jan. 21 the governor had not yet reviewed the proposal. The spokeswoman did not respond when asked Jan. 30.

Where do Underly's challengers, Brittany Kinser and Jeff Wright, stand?

Both candidates challenging Underly in the state superintendent race have blasted her over the changes.

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As a former teacher and principal, I know students rise to the expectations set for them," Kinser said in a statement. "Lowering standards deprives our kids of the opportunity to be college- or career-ready, and that is unacceptable in Wisconsin. Our kids deserve more, not less, and I look forward to working with the legislature to pass this proposal."

Wright objected to the timing of the changes, just a few years after students suffered learning loss due to COVID-19 and districts trying new interventions to catch them up.

"It causes a lot of confusion and makes it very hard for educators and families to understand whether or not their students are truly proficient," he said.

Wright said it's "unfortunate" the Legislature has to step in, blaming Underly for what he sees as a lack of collaboration and communication.

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(This story was updated to add new information and because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)

Kelly Meyerhofer covers higher education in Wisconsin. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Changing academic standards becomes focus in Wisconsin superintendent race
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand  Korea Aerospace Industries production line for the Surion helicopter is receiving a shot in the arm thanks to the development of two new versions for South Koreas military, plus production for a new export customer.

When KAI first mooted the Surion in 2007, officials voiced ambitious plans to export 300 helicopters over 25 years. Unfortunately, those dreams are nowhere close to being realized, as just two have been sold overseas so far.

Nonetheless, new variants like the Marine Attack Helicopter (MAH)  heavily armed and designed to support Korean amphibious operations  will keep KAIs production facility ticking over.

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The armed MAH is the most capable version of the Surion helicopter yet, and KAI engineers recently oversaw the maiden flight of the first of three prototypes. The company announced the milestone in mid-January, even though the flight actually occurred Dec. 17.

Now, development of the 19,200lb (8,709kg) MAH will proceed with a series of comprehensive tests slated to conclude in August 2026. Kang Koo-young, KAIs President, said, Now that weve reached an important turning point for successful development, well conduct more fair and reliable flight test evaluations to create an aircraft that our military and citizens can trust.

The MAH has a chin-mounted 20mm cannon, plus stub wings that carry rockets, air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles.

Development of the MAH commenced in October 2022, with ground testing starting last October. It benefited from systems integration work performed earlier on KAIs Mirion light armed helicopter, of which South Koreas army formally received the first two on Dec. 26, 2024. The Mirion is an armed version of the Airbus H155.

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For its part, the MAH is based on the MUH-1 Marineon multirole helicopter already used by Koreas Marine Corps, with KAI noting advantages in terms of training and logistics.

KAI handed over the last of 30 Marineon helicopters in June 2023, and a year later it announced completion of production of 210 KUH-1 Surions for the countrys army.

KAI is also working on the Korean Mine Countermeasures Helicopter version of the Surion. A key piece of its equipment is Northrop Grummans Airborne Laser Mine Detection System that detects, classifies and localizes floating and near-surface moored mines.

However, Surion export orders have lagged far behind domestic demand. Cho Hyun-ki, a Defense Acquisition Program Administration official, had said last year: Well do our best to ensure that Surion can flap its wings overseas.

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Its first successful flutter duly occurred last December when KAI signed the Surions first export contract worth 136 billion won (US$92.7 million). A stock exchange filing confirmed Iraq was buying just two helicopters suitable for firefighting. These are to be delivered by March 2029.

Surion civil orders are keeping the production line going too, with the Korea Coast Guard operating nine Surions and the Korea Forest Service four aircraft. Each agency ordered one addition Surion last month, these due for handover in December 2027. In total, South Korean government agencies have contracted for 35 Surions.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have said that the Kremlin is signalling efforts to pressure former US President Donald Trump into conceding to Vladimir Putins demands while attempting to elevate Putins status as Trumps equal in global affairs.

Source: ISW

Details: ISW analysts have examined the intent behind a 30 January interview released by the Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency TASS with Fyodor Lukyanov, research director at the Valdai Discussion Club. Entitled "Don't count on big agreements", the interview reflects the Kremlins continued attempts to influence both domestic and international perceptions ahead of future talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

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The report notes that the Valdai Discussion Club serves as a forum where Kremlin officials, Russian scholars and foreign officials and scholars convene to discuss global affairs. The platform has long been instrumental in the Kremlins strategy to sway Western policy in Russias favour, ISW adds.

The ISW points out that Lukyanov, a senior member and research fellow at the Valdai Club, has repeatedly moderated Putin's annual Valdai speech and is considered an "authoritative voice" on the Kremlin's foreign policy goals and objectives, although he holds no official position in the Russian government.

It is noted that ISW is not prepared to assess or claim that Lukyanov has reliable information about Putin's mood or intentions for future peace talks, "but Lukyanov's statements in this interview are generally consistent with Putin's and other Kremlin officials' statements about Russia's future negotiating positions".

Quote from ISW: "TASS decision to leverage Lukyanov's interview to dampen domestic speculation about the possibility of a peace agreement in the near future also highlights the relevance of this interview and Lukyanov's statements when considering Russia's possible negotiating positions vis-a-vis Ukraine and the United States."

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Details: In the interview, Lukyanov claimed that the key issue in future peace talks on Ukraine is "not the territories" but the "root causes" of the war, which he attributed to NATOs eastward expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Lukyanov claimed that with regard to Ukrainian lands, Russian forces now believe that "with the territories, everything is clear: how much you take is yours," reinforcing the notion that the Kremlin has no intention of negotiating over its territorial occupations in Ukraine during future peace talks.

Lukyanov remarked that "Trump only respects those who show steadfastness" and urged the Kremlin to "never give in" and brace for a "fairly tough conversation, even including elements of [a] bluff," calling on Putin to demonstrate his resolve in future talks with Trump.

Quote from ISW: "Lukyanov's interview supports the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to force Trump into acquiescing to Putin's demands that amount to Ukraine's full capitulation and the weakening of NATO and Putin's personal efforts to position himself as Trump's equal on the international stage."

To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 30 January:

Kremlin newswire TASS published an interview with Valdai Discussion Club Research Director Fyodor Lukyanov on 30 January entitled "Don't count on big agreements", highlighting the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to shape domestic and global expectations about future negotiations between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

Lukyanov stated during the interview that the "main thing" for future peace negotiations regarding Ukraine is "not the territories" but addressing the "root causes" of the war, which Lukyanov defined as NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s.

People's Republic of China (PRC)-based companies continue to supply Russia with critical materials needed to sustain Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on 28 January defining its position on peace in Ukraine, closely echoing the principle of "peace through strength" that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously outlined.

The US military reportedly recently transferred Patriot missiles from Israel to Poland and is expected to deliver these missiles to Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions near Kharkiv and Pokrovsk and Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk and Kurakhove and in the Dnipro direction.

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L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone woke up in his San Fernando Valley home Jan. 7 to a swimming pool filled with leaves and roof shingles.

Marrone's chief deputy, Jon OBrien, told his boss that his Sierra Madre house felt like it was "going to get blown off the foundation."

Around 6:30 a.m., the two men consulted Windy, a forecast app popular with surfers and sailors, and made a seat of the pants call, Marrone recalled.

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None of the 900 firefighters on duty would be going home. At 8 a.m., the next shift would join them.

That meant the county had about 1,800 firefighters available when a fire erupted in Pacific Palisades a few hours later  nearly double the manpower of the city Fire Department, which decided not to keep firefighters on for a second shift that morning.

A firefighter grabs more hose line while battling flames on Vinedo Avenue in Altadena on Jan. 7. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

I think we viewed the risk differently than L.A. city fire officials, Marrone said in an interview.

Marrone's firefighters poured into Pacific Palisades that morning to assist the city, which had been caught flatfooted after staffing a fraction of its available engines amid a parched landscape and forecasts of life-threatening winds. Later in the afternoon as the fire spread, some county firefighters headed to neighboring Malibu and unincorporated areas.

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Read more: L.A. fire officials could have put engines in the Palisades before the fire broke out. They didn't

We doubled our workforce that morning, and we staffed every available piece of equipment, said Marrone, whose department is responsible for fire protection across unincorporated parts of L.A. County as well as 60 cities.

But when the Eaton inferno began in the Altadena area, nearly eight hours later and 40 miles away, its unclear how many county firefighters were nearby to fight the flames. Many residents in West Altadena say they watched their houses burn with no fire engines in sight.

Firefighters who were already battling the Palisades fire stayed there, raising questions about how much Altadena suffered from the misfortune of being the second catastrophic blaze to break out that day.

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Fred Fielding, a spokesperson for the department, said fire officials would release only personnel from a wildfire when the threat was receding.

Anybody who showed up there was going to stay there, he said of the Palisades fire. They were working something like 36 hours straight.

Three weeks later, Marrone said he did not know how many firefighters and engines were positioned at each fire on Jan. 7. He said his agency plans to do a breakdown of that day's staffing.

The second fire is always the hardest fire to staff  then when the third fire happens, oh, forget about it, he said. But we always keep people in reserve. We never say, Oh, dump the whole county to the Palisades fire, because we always have to be prepared for the second fire.

At 7:20 a.m. on Jan. 7  40 minutes before 800 L.A. County firefighters were supposed to go home from a 24-hour shift  an email went out telling them to stay. They would soon be joined by another 800 firefighters.

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The combined force would staff all their usual engines, as well as smaller utility vehicles known as patrols and 42 reserve apparatus, typically used when front-line engines are out of service.

Others would staff county strike teams positioned in Agoura Hills, La Canada Flintridge and Pacoima. Two additional strike teams were in Santa Clarita, requested by county fire officials from the state that Sunday as wind forecasts grew more dire.

Around 10:30 a.m., the blaze started in Pacific Palisades near a popular hiking trail.

L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley "contacted us. Hey, I need help. I got a bad fire,' Marrone recalled.

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Three of the county strike teams, each consisting of five engines, sprang toward the coast. Marrone said the county also dispatched a first-alarm brush response to the Palisades. At 6:09 p.m., three additional strike teams responded to the Palisades fire as it moved toward Topanga Canyon, according to a timeline provided by the county Fire Department.

Despite their efforts, the fire cut a destructive swath, killing 12 people. Almost 1,200 structures were destroyed in county areas and more than 4,500 in the city of L.A., including Pacific Palisades and Brentwood, according to a Times analysis. The city areas were more densely populated and made up 60% of the fire's footprint.

Marrone credited personnel and our staffing" with limiting the damage in the county areas.

The first reports of the Eaton fire came in at 6:18 p.m. Radio transmissions show that county firefighters arrived quickly but were soon overwhelmed.

Glendale firefighters assess their strategy on Vinedo Avenue during the Eaton fire. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Altadena, which is an unincorporated part of the county, took an unimaginable hit. Most of the community was affected, with 9,400 structures lost. All 17 people who died were in areas of western Altadena that received evacuation orders hours after the fire started .

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Some have asserted that there were not enough firefighters in the area that night. On social media and in interviews, West Altadena residents have expressed anger as they share stories from the hellish evening, with some claiming that the area was purposefully forgotten and others lamenting that it appeared resources were directed elsewhere.

Read more: Western Altadena got evacuation order many hours after Eaton fire exploded. 17 people died there

Why didnt anyone help us? said Jon Carmody, an Altadena Town Council member who represents a part of the westside where many residents say they watched their houses burn with no fire engines in sight.

The historically Black area, where many settled in decades past due to redlining east of Lake Avenue, has definitely felt undervalued and overlooked in many ways," Carmody said. "The fire made it more obvious."

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Others said the flames grew so big so fast, in a nighttime fire battle with powerful gusts scattering embers deep into neighborhoods, that no number of firefighters could have handled it. Fire experts have said that even with more resources, the fast-moving, erratic blaze would have been impossible to fight, given the winds and the dry landscape.

"I don't know if the firefighters would've been able to do anything because the fire was so massive," said Salomon Huerta, a 59-year-old Altadena resident, who said he never saw any firefighters near his house on Krenz Avenue when he fled with his wife around 9 p.m. The whole block burned down.

Marrone said much of L.A. County Fire's top brass sped to the Eaton fire as soon as it broke out. He headed from the Palisades fire to Eaton Canyon around 6:45 p.m. after being briefly stranded on the ember-filled Pacific Coast Highway due to a flat tire from a fallen utility pole.

Around that time, Marrone said, he asked the states Office of Emergency Services for 50 strike teams that could be distributed around L.A. County.

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I thought to myself, if I've over-ordered, I'm gonna seem foolish, right? Like, 'Look at Marrone overreacting,' he said.

Nobody wants to be the boy who cried wolf, he added. But it didn't work out that way."

By the time the Eaton fire erupted, new county strike teams had been formed in La Canada Flintridge, next to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory  about seven miles away  and Pacoima, more than 20 miles away, to replace the teams dispatched to the Palisades. Those new teams were sent to the Eaton fire at 6:35 p.m. and 6:36 p.m., according to the county Fire Department.

Marrone said crews from county Fire Stations 11 and 12, both in Altadena, were also in the vicinity.

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Pasadena city firefighters arrived at the fire at 6:27 p.m., less than 10 minutes after it was first reported. Firefighters from Station 66 near the bottom of Eaton Canyon, which was the closest county fire station, arrived a few minutes later.

As flames encroached on Station 66 at 7:06 p.m., firefighters asked for backup. A minute later, another fire official called for 20 fire engines and 10 strike teams.

If we can get resources rolling here, thats what I need right now, the official said.

At 10:35 p.m., the Eaton incident command confirmed that 10 strike teams had been deployed to the fire, according to the county's timeline.

It was too late  ferocious winds had scattered the embers. Firefighting aircraft that had been shifted from the Palisades fire to the Eaton fire were quickly grounded.

I get asked that question all the time: Why didn't you squirt the fire out? Marrone said. You add fire into Category 1 hurricane-force wind, you cannot put the fire out.

Times staff writers Summer Lin and Sean Greene contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(NewsNation)  Federal law enforcement officials revealed a man has been charged regarding a drone incident relating to the Pacific Palisades fire.

The Los Angeles-area man has been criminally charged after his drone hit a firefighting super scooper. Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, will plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft.

The collision put the super scooper out of action for five days. As part of his plea, Akemann will pay restitution to the government of Quebec which supplied the plane, in addition to an aircraft repair company that repaired it.

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Akemann will also complete 150 hours of community service that will contribute to the wildlife relief effort in Southern California.

FireAid combines musics biggest acts, stories of loss for wildfire relief

This defendant recklessly flew an aircraft into airspace where first responders were risking their lives in an attempt to protect lives and property, Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally said in a Department of Justice release.

This damage caused to the Super Scooper is a stark reminder that flying drones during times of emergency poses an extreme threat to personnel trying to help people and compromises the overall ability of police and fire to conduct operations. As this case demonstrates, we will track down drone operators who violate the law and interfere with the critical work of our first responders, he added.

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According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Palisades fire is 98% contained after beginning on Jan. 7.

Residents have been allowed to return to their homes, many fire-ravaged, to assess the damage and collect what, if anything, is salvageable.

An affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles, the Pacific Palisades was largely destroyed, with the fire burning more than 23,000 acres.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 social scientist who wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times has accused the papers Trump-friendly owner of bending his words to suit Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s appointment to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist and psychoanalytic clinician, published an essay in the West Coast daily Friday suggesting that Kennedys controversial appointment could pay off so long as he pushes real reform. But the freelancer claims that the pro-Kennedy argument wasnt his choicenor his original intent.

My first time working with the Los Angeles Times, and I expect also my last, Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist and psychoanalytic clinician, wrote on X following the articles publication. A vote for RFK Jr is a vote for nothing but chaos, the opposite of the essential public-systems building I argue for in the OpEd, and mass death.

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The original and final versions of Reinharts article differ drastically in message. The first paragraph of the published opinion piece takes an optimistic tone about Kennedys role in the Trump administration, suggesting that the virulent conspiracy theorist could be an answer and solution to the American publics bubbling resentment toward the health care industry.

President Trumps nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reflects anger and frustration at the wanton greed underlying Americas health systems. Major changes are coming. But we must not let those changes leave us even worse off than we already are.

But compare the soft and forgiving language of the published version to Reinharts original copy, which he shared on X shortly after the articles publication. In it, he likens the sociopolitical reckoning of Kennedys nomination to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Trumps nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nations health agencies and the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are both reflections of the same reality: anger at the wanton greed underlying Americas health systems has reached a fever pitch, and it will not be held back any longer. Major changes are coming, but they may leave us even worse off than we already are.

Additionally, the published iteration of the text completely nixed Reinharts closing remarks, in which the social scientist reiterated Kennedys blatant disregard for scientific evidence.

Although RFK Jr. and Luigi Mangione are both responses to the same underlying problem of US healthcare corruption, there is a major difference between them: one operated outside the law to kill one person in defense of millions, whereas the othervia his egomaniacal disregard for scientific evidenceseeks to use law itself to inflict preventable death on those millions.

Reinhart vented deeper frustration on BlueSky, where he pointed fingers at the political interests of the papers biotech billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, as a potential reason for the intervention in his thesis.

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Editing out the most urgent point of an OpEd in the minutes before sending to press while then also assigning a title and image that suggest an argument entirely opposite to the authors clear intent is pretty shitty, Reinhart wrote.

It is not unusual for news outlets to edit, trim, change, or otherwise alter copy before it reaches publicationeven without the authors consent. But it is noteworthy that the Los Angeles Times heavy-handed pen sliced and diced a new argument out of a piece criticizing Kennedy, days after the papers owner formally endorsed him.

Soon-Shiong publicly supported Kennedys nomination to head HHS earlier this week. In a post on Twitter, the billionaire said that he had not met Kennedy until a few months ago but over time had come to truly believe that he had the American publics best interests at heart.

I have worried about toxins and the cause of cancer my entire career. As a physician scientist I really hope he is confirmed tomorrow, Soon-Shiong posted on Tuesday.

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In 2018, Soon-Shiong took control of the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune in a $500 million deal from Tribune Publishing.

Read Reinharts unedited op-ed here.
A writer who penned an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times warning of the dangers of confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trumps lead health czar called out the newspapers owner after the piece ran without the critiques and a misleading new headline.

Political anthropologist Eric Reinharts original op-ed headline RFK Jrs Wrecking Ball Wont Fix Public Health, was changed to the complete opposite: Opinion: Trumps healthcare disruption could pay off  if he pushes real reform, as seen in the published piece.

Reinhart quickly called out the papers billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong on X on Friday, writing, I am the author of this OpEd, which was given a misleading title and from which key lines were cut  lines that made very clear that RFK Jr. is dangerously ignorant, has absolutely no business near HHS, and is effectively a mass murderer in waiting.

I am the author of this OpEd, which was given a misleading title and from which key lines were cutlines that made very clear that RFK Jr is dangerously ignorant, has absolutely no business near HHS, and is effectively a mass murderer in waiting. https://t.co/3OyWQN3JkX  Eric Reinhart (@_Eric_Reinhart) January 31, 2025

The Chicago-based writer was even more blunt on Bluesky, where he wrote, My first and definitely last time working with the Los Angeles Times. Editing out the most urgent point of an OpEd in the minutes before sending to press while then also assigning a title and image that suggest an argument entirely opposite to the authors clear intent is pretty shiy.

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On X, Reinhart added, A vote for RFK Jr. is a vote for nothing but chaos, the opposite of the essential public-systems building I argue for in the OpEd, and mass death.

He further clarified that he expects headlines to change and for pieces to be edited, But editing out a very central and timely point in the minutes before sending to press while then also assigning a title and image that suggest an argument entirely opposite to the authors clear intent is bad.

Soon-Shiongs recent actions at the newspaper, including killing a pre-election endorsement for Kamala Harris, have prompted several resignations from top editors. Columnist Harry Litman cited what he called the tech billionaires shameful capitulation to Trump as his reason for resigning in December.

During confirmation hearings this week, Kennedy tried to distance himself from his previous anti-vaccine stance, but senators, including Bernie Sanders, had ample evidence from previous statements and public appearances.

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Kennedys cousin, Caroline Kennedy, has also condemned him as a predator who has gone on to misrepresent, lie and cheat his way through life.

The post LA Times Owner Slammed for Cutting RFK Jr. Criticism From Writers Op-Ed appeared first on TheWrap.
Former RNC Chairwoman Lara Trump said hirings should be entirely merit-based during a stop by Fox News on Thursday.

The one-time television producer and aspiring pop star, who landed her role as the head of the RNC after serving as an adviser during President Donald Trump's first two campaigns, had no answers for why someone other than the most qualified candidate should get a job during an interview on The Ingraham Angle.

We oughtta base hirings off of competence and merit, and thats it, The president's daughter-in-law said. When you are hiring someone for any other reason, then you are doing a disservice to the public.

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Trump was under consideration to be directly appointed to Marco Rubio's vacant Senate seat, a spot that ultimately went to former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Lara Trump was endorsed by her father-in-law in February of last year in her bid to co-lead the Republican National Committee. She assumed that seat with a background in TV production and a brief stint as on-air talent at Fox News, where her last name made her an attractive candidate for punditry.

We want the best people, we want the most competent people, and we should never be hiring anyone for any job other than the best person for that job, Trump said on Thursday.

Editor's note: This article has been updated since it was first published to clarify Lara Trump's past experience.
DANVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56)  A patrol car was heavily damaged after a woman was said to have backed into it Thursday night in Danville.

In a news release Thursday evening, the Federated Enforcement Agency (FEA) said an officer was buying a drink around 8 a.m. at a Five Star gas station in Danville. While inside, a yellow Chevrolet Spark reportedly backed into the side of the parked patrol car at a high speed.

According to the FEA, the driver is believed to be a white woman in her 40s with blonde hair. When he left the store, the woman allegedly saw him and sped away from the scene. The officer said he got a partial license plate number HVV2.

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Danville police were called to the scene and filed an incident report, the agency said. The FEA car was significantly damaged.

FEA vehicle damage (FEA) FEA vehicle damage (FEA)

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Anyone with information about who she might be is asked to call 859-252-3023. Video footage from the store has been requested.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A Las Vegas grand jury indicted a man prosecutors referred to as a serial rapist with a criminal history in California.

Clark County District Court Chief Judge Jerry Wiese increased Jermaine Billingsleys bail from $200,000 to $1 million Thursday morning.



Billingsley, 46, is charged with sexual assault, battery with the use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, duty to stop at scene of crash involving death or personal injury, and first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm in connection with alleged crimes against one woman on Oct. 30, 2022.

He is also charged with first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm, first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, and sexual assault with use of a deadly weapon in connection with alleged crimes against another woman on Jan. 6, 2023.



In the first Las Vegas case, Billingsley pretended to be a rideshare driver, according to the Clark County District Attorneys office.



The first alleged victim who was visiting Las Vegas testified she entered a vehicle outside Boulder Station near the taxi section. She believed the driver would be taking her to the airport. She testified she was intoxicated so she did not remember every detail.



I just remember having a really unjustified faith in this driver that, no, Im going to the airport, she said. And my friend said let me talk to him and they talked for a second and then my friend got back on the phone and said leave your location on.



She testified she passed out and woke up with Billingsley sexually assaulting her. She recalled screaming and fighting Billingsley, trying to open the door, and Billingsley throwing her phone out of the door. She said she felt pain as she saw the car drive away, and she later learned the vehicle ran her over.



I remember clinging onto the EMT lady just telling her I didnt want to die and just dont leave me, she testified.



In the second case, Billingsley claimed his name was Marco, and told a woman he was part of a foundation to help people get back on their feet after she had just left a clinic for help with substance abuse, according to documents obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators.

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The woman entered his vehicle. Billingsley told the woman he wanted to show her where he helps people in his foundation. He then parked, pulled out a knife, and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.



In both cases, the women agreed to sexual assault exams and the DNA matched Billingsley, prosecutors said.



Billingsley was convicted of sexual assault in Riverside, California in 2007, according to court documents.



If Billingsley posts bail in Las Vegas, Wiese is required to high-level electronic monitoring. As of Thursday evening, he remained in the Clark County Detention Center.



8 News Now Investigator Vanessa Murphy can be reached at vmurphy@8newsnow.com.

To contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-4673.

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MADISON, Wis. (WFRV)  A Las Vegas man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Madison on Wednesday on multiple drug possession charges and illegal firearm ownership.

41-year-old Enrique Rodriguez of Las Vegas was charged with the following:

Distributing cocaine

Possession of cocaine intended for distribution

Possession of a firearm as a felon

Possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime

The indictment also said that Rodriguez distributed more than 500 grams of cocaine on June 6, 2024, and possessed over 5 kilos of cocaine on January 16, 2025, intended for distribution, along with illegal possession of a firearm.

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Wisconsin police recover 690 grams of marijuana, stolen handgun from vehicle

Convictions and punishments vary based on the offense, but Rodriguez could face the following punishments if convicted of these crimes:

Minimum of 5 years in prison, up to 40  500 grams of cocaine distribution

Minimum of 10 years in prison, up to life  Possession of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine

Maximum of 15 years in prison  Felony possession of a firearm

Minimum of 5 years, up to life  Firearm possession in furtherance of drug trafficking

No more details were provided.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  Several people in the valley were affected by a scam where an online job ad for 3rd party Amazon delivery drivers led to the victims losing hundreds of dollars, police said.

At around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 30, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a large disturbance in the 3100 block of East Sunset Road. Police said there was a large gathering of people who were upset due to a scam.

On Jan. 21, an online ad was posted for 3rd party delivery drivers to work for Amazon at a business on East Sunset Road, Metro Lieutenant Erik Perkett said at a briefing on Thursday.

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As part of the ad, the victims went to the business and filled out applications and were directed to provide a $200 application fee.

The fees were paid in several ways, including cash, credit card, and check, Perkett said.

The victims were then given a future date to return to the business for a follow-up interview. Several victims returned to the business on Thursday morning and found it was vacated.

The victims then spread the information about the scam on social media and financial crimes detectives responded to the area to investigate.

Police said they did not know how many people were affected, but a release from the LVMPD said the fraud incident affected several Las Vegas residents.

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Perkett said police did not have an exact timeframe for how long the business was in Clark County and did not have an exact number of victims to provide.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A teenager accused of murder allegedly robbed and shot a couple selling a gun and then shared photos of himself with the stolen money, documents said.

As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported Monday, Metro police arrested Donta Allen, 18, on charges including open murder, attempted murder and robbery. A warrant remained active Thursday for a second person, Alexandria Burks, records said.

The shooting happened on Dec. 8 in the 3800 block of Soda Springs Drive near Pecos Road and Cheyenne Avenue. Jermonte Dickerson and Nadia Dickerson were inside a vehicle when several people approached the car and began shooting at them, police said. Nadia Dickerson was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Police recovered six cartridge casings from the crime scene, they said. Witnesses told police a young woman approached the drivers side door as at least one other young person approached the car, documents said.

Witnesses heard someone yell, Give it up. or something similar, followed by multiple gunshots, documents said.

Just before the shooting, Jermonte Dickerson messaged with a person on Instagram about meeting to buy a gun, documents said. The last communication in the message, an Instagram audio call, happened four minutes before the first 911 call.

Jermonte Dickerson told police that right before the shooting, the two young people standing outside the car began to struggle with Nadia over money she had in her hand, documents said. Nadia released the money and attempted to drive away and the male and female suspect produced handguns and began to shoot Nadia and Jermonte.

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Police tracked the account to Burks, they said. Detectives also accessed messages between Burks and Allen where the pair allegedly discussed robbing Jermonte Dickerson.

After the shooting, Allen allegedly sent a person a video of another person holding large amounts of cash, police said. In the video, Allen is seated in the back bench seat of [a] vehicle. [He and the other person] are gesturing firing handguns at the camera while imitating the sound of [] machine gun fire, and saying; switch and [expletive] and wish cheese park low, documents said.

Burks and Allen are also accused of planning a separate armed robbery but Allen was told not to participate because he just wants to shoot, police said.

Police arrested Allen on Jan. 27, records said.

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Allen stated that he was part of the robbery and was [supposed] to split the money with the other people involved, police said. Allen would not say who the shooter was.

Anyone with information was urged to call 702-828-3521. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  An early morning fire at a mobile home in the southwest valley displaced five people, according to fire officials.

The Clark County Fire Department responded to a mobile home fire in the 5800 block of Harmon Boulevard at around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 31.

Firefighters arrived within four minutes of the dispatch call and when they arrived they found a fully involved mobile home. All occupants of the home evacuated before fire crews arrived.

Photos of a mobile home fire in the southwest Las Vegas valley on Jan. 31. (CCFD) Photos of a mobile home fire in the southwest Las Vegas valley on Jan. 31. (CCFD) Photos of a mobile home fire in the southwest Las Vegas valley on Jan. 31. (KLAS) Photos of a mobile home fire in the southwest Las Vegas valley on Jan. 31. (KLAS)

A search of the home confirmed there were no people inside. The American Red Cross arrived on scene to assist with five displaced adults. There were no reported injuries from the fire.

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The cause of the fire is currently under investigation and the damage is estimated at around $50,000.

CCFD said in a release that a total of 38 personnel responded to the Friday morning fire, including six fire engines, one truck company, two rescues, two battalion chiefs, two arson investigators, and one logistical support unit.

CCFD added Las Vegas Fire and Rescue helped with the fire.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A woman whose naked photos and phone number ended up on Craigslist has filed a lawsuit against the man who posted them, but a 30-year-old federal law prevents her from suing the company that hosted the content.

As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported in 2023, Metro police arrested Mena Boktor on one felony count of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image of another person. Boktor created fake Craigslist advertisements using Kelly Freemans intimate images and including her phone number, leading her to receive dozens of unwanted calls and texts, Las Vegas police said in documents the 8 News Now Investigators reviewed.

Nevada lawmakers passed the so-called revenge porn law in 2015, making it a crime to harass, harm or terrorize another person when [that] person electronically disseminates or sells an intimate image, which depicts the other person without their consent. The 8 News Now Investigators have reported how those charged with the felony often have their cases lowered to lesser crimes.

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Freeman has since filed a civil suit against Boktor, her former boss.

When you type in his name, your article comes up, Freeman told the 8 News Now Investigators. When I worked with him, we were really close. We had a friendship, so I felt like I trusted him.

Her lawsuit claims there were as many as four posts including the text: Just looking to text and talk all night, Call or text me! and Free Massages!!!! Call or text! (Las Vegas) dont be shy! I will come to you for free anywhere in Vegas! (KLAS)

Freemans trust quickly eroded after Boktor posted on Craigslist, she said. Her lawsuit claims there were as many as four posts including the text: Just looking to text and talk all night, Call or text me! and Free Massages!!!! Call or text! (Las Vegas) dont be shy! I will come to you for free anywhere in Vegas!

I started getting text messages from random people, she said after Boktor posted nude images of her and her phone number on Craigslist. They were saying things like, I could use a free massage right now. Just telling me that I was gorgeous. Some of them even sent photos of themselves.

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Prosecutors dropped Boktors charge to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, after he completed certain requirements and paid a fine, records said. He pleaded no contest, and a judge dismissed the case.

Freemans lawsuit, her attorney Jesse Sbaih filed, goes after Boktor  but not the company that hosted the images or kept them online for more than half a day.

A text message thread from a stranger provided in the Las Vegas Metropolitan police report. (KLAS)

A federal law commonly referred to as Section 230 keeps internet companies like Craigslist immune from litigation.

It was enacted really at the infancy of the internet, Michael Rustad, a professor at Suffolk University, said. The law Congress passed in 1996  during the days of dialup  makes internet companies not liable for what their users post.

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Do you think our lawmakers have failed us in failing to do something in more than 30 years? 8 News Now Investigator David Charns asked Rustad.

Its going to be very difficult to get any kind of reform proposal through I think, Rustad said. Theres no First Amendment protection for the unauthorized posting of nudes, so you cant really argue that theres any reason were not doing it.

A federal law commonly referred to as Section 230 keeps internet companies like Craigslist immune from litigation. (KLAS)

Do you think regulation is ever going to come? Charns asked.

Were really alone in the world, Rustad said, pointing to a 2022 European Union law that aims to reign in social media privacy. In some cases, the group of countries can sue social media companies for large amounts in damages.

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Freeman said it took Craigslist 14 hours to remove the post.

Someone sent me their address  text me when youre here, Freeman said about the ordeal.

Craigslist allows customers to flag content and encourages users to do so in similar situations. The company also indicates it automatically flags certain content. Freeman said for her, the damage is already done and feels like she has had more negative attention than Boktor.

Craigslist allows customers to flag content and encourages users to do so in similar situations. The company also indicates it automatically flags certain content. (KLAS)

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I dont think his consequence is fair at all, she said. I feel like I wasnt really heard.

Craigslist did not respond to a request for comment, which included these questions: What is the company doing to ensure this does not happen again? Specifically, why doesnt Craigslist review all postings before they are made public? Is 14 hours an acceptable time to remove such a violating post?

An attorney for Boktor did not return a request for comment.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE)  The last suspect wanted in connection to a drug smuggling operation at the Cibola County Correctional Center is now in custody. Federal authorities arrested Michael Garcia in connection to conspiracy to send contraband into the facility in Milan.

Four people sentenced for operating drug trafficking organization at Motel 6 locations in Albuquerque

When investigators raided Garcias home, they said they found 16 guns, dozens of high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammo, and drugs like meth and heroin. Prosecutors said the smuggling operation involved both inmates and people on the outside. Another man, Eric Edwards, was arrested on a state warrant.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
The latest round of exchanges of hostages from the Gaza Strip for Palestinian prisoners was carried out with Israel on Thursday.

Buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas left Israel's Ofer Prison in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon after a delay.

Many of those freed have reportedly arrived in the West Bank. In Ramallah, 66 Palestinians were received by their relatives, Palestinian media reported.

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Israel was expected to release 110 jailed Palestinians in total in exchange for the handover earlier on the day of eight hostages - three Israelis and five Thais - held by militants in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

The released Palestinian prisoners included at least 30 convicted murderers, as well as some women and minors.

While some of them were to be taken to the Gaza Strip, several others are to be sent abroad under the agreement because of the severity of their crimes.

All the released hostages meanwhile were handed over to the Israeli army and first brought to a meeting with their parents on Israeli territory. They were subsequently flown by helicopter to hospital.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had paused the release of the Palestinian prisoners after disorder broke out at one of the hostage handovers in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

Broadcasters showed Arbel Yehud, a 29-year-old woman, and Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old man, struggling to make their way through the densely-packed crowd of chanting people and to the waiting Red Cross vehicles.

"I view with utmost severity the shocking scenes during the release of our hostages," Netanyahu said in a statement as he paused the reciprocal release of the Palestinians.

A short time later he announced that he had received assurances about the safety of the hostage handovers going forward, paving the way for the release of the Palestinians.

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This marks the third round of releases since an initial six-week truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza went into effect on January 19.

Israeli soldier Agam Berger, 20, was the first to be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Her transfer took place amid the ruins of the Jabalia urban refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Berger, likely acting under duress, waved to a crowd from a stage she was placed on. Berger's family in Israel watched the ceremony on television and reacted with enthusiastic cheers to seeing her.

A crowed of people also celebrated and waved Israeli flags at what has become known as "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv.

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Hours later, Israeli authorities confirmed that five Thai nationals and two German-Israelis, Yehud and Moses, were released. Both of the German-Israelis are civilians.

These seven were released to aid workers in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

Threatening scenes during hostage release

Broadcaster Al Jazeera showed chaotic scenes of Yehud and Moses struggling to make their way through the densely-packed crowed of shouting people and to the waiting ICRC vehicles.

Many Palestinians attempted to photograph the woman with their mobile phones. Masked and armed militants accompanied and protected them. A fighter held the hand of the woman, who appeared frightened.

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The handover "ceremony" took place next to the destroyed house of Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar, who had led the militant group in Gaza until he was killed by Israeli forces in October.

"This is further evidence of the unimaginable cruelty of the terrorist organization Hamas," Netanyahu said, according to his office.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke of "scenes of abuse and terror." Nevertheless, he said the return of all eight hostages from captivity brought tears to his eyes.

German leaders reacted with relief to the release. "Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses are free, both German-Israeli citizens," Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on the platform X. "We are relieved and glad for all the hostages who returned today."

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A similar sentiment was expressed by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Yehud was abducted from her house in the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7, 2023, along with her boyfriend. The woman's brother, who also lived in Nir Oz, was killed during the attack.

Before their release, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of Yehud smiling and embracing Moses.

Moses was also abducted from Nir Oz. His partner was killed in the massacre.

Palestinian prisoners include more than 30 lifers

Of the 110 Palestinian prisoners who were to be exchanged for the three Israeli hostages, more than 30 had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

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They included Zakaria Zubeidi, who during the Second Palestinian Intifada was a commander of the military wing of the Fatah movement in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.

During the period between 2000 and 2005, around 3,500 Palestinians were killed, with more than 1,000 Israelis losing their lives in attacks by Palestinians.

The Times of Israel reported that Zubeidi received a hero's welcome as he arrived in the West Bank on Thursday.

According to media reports, Mahmoud Atallah, who is serving a life sentence plus 15 years for the murder of a Palestinian woman accused of collaborating with Israel, was also to be released.

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No Palestinian prisoners were to be released for the five Thai hostages. Israeli media reported they were freed under a separate agreement between Hamas and Thailand.

Militants from Hamas and other extremist groups killed around 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 Israelis as hostages to the Gaza Strip during their assault on Israel in October 2023.

The attack was the trigger for the war in the besieged coastal area, where, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 47,400 people have been killed since. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners

The ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on January 19, states that in an initial phase, 33 hostages are to be released in exchange for 1,904 Palestinian prisoners over six weeks: Seven hostages were freed in the past two weekends.

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Hamas recently announced that eight of the 33 hostages were dead, without specifying which hostages these were.

The fate of a mother and her two small children, who were also abducted to the Gaza Strip and were to be released in the first phase, remains uncertain.

According to Israeli reports, around 80 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip. Three more of them are to be freed on Saturday.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters and Red Cross teams stand at the site of the hand over of the Israeli and Thai hostages, as part of the latest hostages-prisoners exchange between Israel and Hamas, in front of the slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's house in Khan Yunis. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Fighters from the Islamic Jihad and Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, control the crowd during the hand over of the Israeli and Thai hostages to the Red Cross teams, as part of the latest hostages-prisoners exchange between Israel and Hamas, in front of the slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's house in Khan Yunis. Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
A Maryland state flag flies outside the State House in Annapolis. (Photo by Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters)

Del. Gary Simmons (D-Anne Arundel) wrote a letter to state and local Democratic leaders earlier this month on his official legislative stationery, seeking retribution against a member of the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee from his district.

He later retracted the letter, resent it 10 days later on personal stationery, and subsequently retracted that missive as well.

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But the letters were sent to dozens of Democratic activists, and cant be unseen  a fact the lawmaker readily acknowledges. And Simmons decision to initially send the message on his legislative letterhead appears to run afoul of the General Assemblys admonition against using official stationery for political matters.

Thats what we call a rookie mistake, Simmons, a first-term lawmaker, said in an interview Thursday.

Simmons pique toward the central committee member, Geonta Simmons  who is not related  appears to be part of the ongoing political fallout over the close and contentious central committee decision earlier this month to recommend then-Del. Shaneka Henson (D) to fill a vacancy in the state Senate. Henson prevailed over her fellow delegate, Dana Jones (D), by one vote, and was subsequently appointed to the Senate by Gov. Wes Moore (D).

In both versions of his letter, obtained this week by Maryland Matters, the lawmaker says he is writing regretfully to express a vote of no confidence in Geonta Simmons, accusing the central committee member of a significant breach of trust and malfeasance for openly discussing what occurred at a private meeting of four political leaders in December about the District 30 Senate vacancy that Henson wound up filling.

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The letter  which was addressed to every member of the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee, the chair and vice chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, and five state lawmakers who represent Anne Arundel  said Geonta Simmons shared highly confidential information without authorization. It goes on to suggest that doing so constitutes misfeasance, and cites provisions in the Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland bylaws involving the performance of an official duty in an improper manner.

The letter goes on to urge the central committee to take action against Geonta Simmons.

Such an act not only violated trust but also posed a potential risk of harm to other leaders across the Democratic Party, the delegate wrote. As stewards of the public trust, it is incumbent upon all members of this committee to uphold the highest standards of confidentiality, particularly when managing information that could have far-reaching consequences if mishandled.

But the meeting of the four party leaders  both Simmonses, state Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard and Anne Arundel) and Jacqueline Allsup, the other central committee member from District 12B  was not an official proceeding, and there was no decision to go into executive session, when sharing details of what was said is generally frowned upon. Instead, the meeting, according to two participants and other Democrats familiar with the details, was an informal chat at 9Five Kitchen & Bar in North Linthicum to discuss strategy ahead of the central committees early January vote on the District 30 vacancy.

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Allsup wound up supporting Henson in that vote, while Geonta Simmons backed Jones.

In an interview, Geonta Simmons freely admitted discussing details of the meeting with other Democratic activists, and said doing so was well within the bounds of typical swapping of political intelligence. He added that no one had pledged to keep the meeting a secret and said he was puzzled and dismayed by Delegate Simmons letter seeking retribution.

Maryland is currently facing a $3 billion budget deficit, which could lead to cuts to essential programs that serve our most vulnerable families, Geonta Simmons said. Yet Delegate Gary Simmons, who represents District 12B, one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of Anne Arundel County, seems more focused on removing me from the Democratic Central Committee than advocating for his district. Even more concerning is his unethical use of his position as a delegate to intimidate and bully a young person out of their committee role.

Politics, he added, should be about serving the people, not inflating fragile egos.

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Gary Simmons told Maryland Matters he wrote the letter to Democratic leaders in a quest for party unity.

As a state, as a party, we have to be accountable for our actions, he said. As elected officials, theres got to be a level of trust.

But using his official letterhead to make a political point may have violated legislative ethics rules. The legislatures ethics guidance says, in part, The official stationery of a delegate or senator is provided at taxpayer expense and is intended for use in official General Assembly business and for customary constituent services. Other correspondence, particularly if it relates to a political campaign, must be sent on stationery that is not printed at the General Assemblys expense.

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In an interview Thursday, Deadra Daly, the General Assemblys ethics counsel, did not directly address the Simmons letter, and said the legislature has not offered specific guidance about communications with a political central committee. But she added that using official letterhead to communicate with other leaders about a central committee matter seems to fall in the political category, and said such a communication would certainly concern me.

But if there are any potential consequences for Delegate Simmons, a lawmakers decision to recall such a letter and admit their error may mitigate the risk, Daly said. The [ethics] committee  they value self-reporting or someones efforts to correct themselves, she said.

Delegate Simmons, who was first elected to his seat in 2022, chalked up his mistake to being a political novice.

I continue to rely on membership and leadership to guide me as I continue to learn about serving in the House, he said.

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Given the fact that the lawmaker has withdrawn both versions of his letter about Geonta Simmons, Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee Chair Sarah McDermott told Maryland Matters this week that the committee considers this a closed matter.

Delegate Simmons agreed.

The matter is closed, but we will continue to work on building a stronger party, he said.

Meanwhile, the central committee is scheduled to meet Saturday morning in Annapolis to recommend a replacement to fill Hensons vacant House seat. Five Democrats have applied: Abigail Diehl, an Annapolis businesswoman who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic congressional nomination in District 3 last year; Lindsay Donahue, a health care information technology professional who also sought the congressional seat last year; Chrissy Holt, a progressive activist who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2018; Annapolis Alderman Brooks Schandelmeier; and Dylan Behler, a former central committee chair who works for the Department of Natural Resources. Behler was also chief of staff to then-state Sen. Sarah K. Elfreth (D), who election last year to Congress created the vacancy Henson filled.

In a brief interview Thursday, Henson said she was not publicly backing any of the contenders.
(Getty Images)

A majority of Wisconsin lawmakers support a bill to provide mothers on Medicaid who have just given birth with a year of coverage, but whether the bill becomes law hinges on persuading the Republican Assembly leader to let it through.

Pregnant patients in Wisconsin are currently eligible for Medicaid coverage for childbirth if they have an annual income of up to 306% of the federal poverty level. In Wisconsin, people are typically only eligible for Medicaid coverage if they make up to 100% of the federal poverty level.

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Medicaid covers about 41% of births in the U.S. and 35% of births in Wisconsin, according to data compiled by KFF, an independent health policy research and news nonprofit. A newborn whose mother is a Medicaid recipient receives a year of coverage. But mothers whose income is above 100% of the poverty level risk losing their coverage after 60 days if they dont otherwise qualify for Medicaid.

Federal Poverty Guidelines

Based on household size

1 person: $15,650

2 people: $21,150

3 people: $26,650

4 people: $32,150

For 300% of the poverty guideline, multiply income by 3

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

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For the second time in two sessions, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are advocating for a bill to extend the mothers postpartum coverage period to a year.

I want to support the families, said Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston), a coauthor. Its just the right thing to do. Its not political. It shouldnt be.

Gov. Tony Evers has been proposing covering mothers for a year in each of his budget proposals since 2019, but Republicans have removed the provision each time. In 2021, lawmakers passed a law to extend coverage to 90 days and the state applied for a federal waiver, but the federal government has never responded.

The federal government gave states the option to extend coverage to a year postpartum in 2022 in the American Rescue Plan Act, and since then, states have gradually opted in.

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In Wisconsin, the proposal gathered significant momentum in 2023 with a bill that passed the Senate with only one opposing vote. It also gained the support of a majority of Assembly lawmakers, but it never came to a vote.

When Wisconsin considered extending coverage in 2023, Wisconsin was one of 12 states that hadnt implemented the extension. Now, its one of two.

Its just us and Arkansas, Snyder said. Are you kidding? The only states that dont do this.

Despite widespread support, the bill will face a challenge in becoming law this session due to opposition from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). During a press conference in early January, he said it was unlikely that the proposal would become law this session.

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Our caucus has taken a position that expanding welfare is not a wise idea for anyone involved, Vos said.

Snyder said hes heard rumors that Vos may assign the bill to the Assembly State Affairs Committee. I hope he doesnt because a lot of times thats where bills go to die, he said.

Snyder, who chairs the Assembly Children and Family Committee, said his experience serving there has shown him the importance of the legislation.

I just see the impact of families that are disrupted with something like this, Snyder said. When mothers die as the result of a preventable issue, he noted that it results in trauma for the child and families.

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A 2024 report from the Wisconsin Maternal Mortality Review Team found that from 2019 to 2020 there was a 30% increase in deaths of mothers within one year of the end of pregnancy, regardless of cause. In 2020, there were a total of 49 deaths.

According to the CDC, over 80% of U.S. deaths during pregnancy, delivery, or up to one year after pregnancy in 2020 were preventable.

Snyder said Wisconsins continued holdout means either we dont understand the whole gravity of it or were just stubborn.

Snyder told the Examiner that bipartisan support for the measure continues this session with the majority of Senators and around 65 Assembly representatives signing on to the bill as of Wednesday afternoon.

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Co-authors on the legislation alongside Snyder explained a number of ways a year of coverage would benefit Wisconsinites.

Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) called the legislation a no-brainer, noting the number of medical and other issues that can arise for mothers after giving birth.

Moms are most vulnerable after giving birth to a child. There's just a lot of issues that occur right after not to mention sleep deprivation and just being exhausted, tired, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez noted that the legislation would ensure that mothers covered under Medicaid when they give birth are able to see doctors throughout the first year after birth and allow issues to be addressed early on.

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Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) said his experience as a husband, father, grandfather, law enforcement officer and state legislator has shown him firsthand the importance of taking care of moms.

In my opinion, there should not be a price tag on it. It shouldn't matter how much we invest because healthy mamas bring healthy babies, which bring healthy families to Wisconsin, James said. Our moms go through the wear and tear of pregnancy, carrying the baby for nine months, through all the body changes Once that mom is done giving birth, the care just doesn't end there.

In considering the actual cost to the state, however, James said he thought it would be worth it.

A fiscal estimate by the state Department of Health Services of the 2023 bill found that the cost of the program would be about $21.4 million in all funds, including $8.4 million in state general purpose revenue. The estimate found that Medicaid would enroll an additional 5,290 people a month.

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That's a very small investment," he said, suggesting that in return, mothers would get better health care and get it sooner, while also saving the system money in the long run. Then that's a success. We're making them healthier.

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) spoke about the legislation at a roundtable hosted by Protect Our Care, a health care advocacy group, in Milwaukee on Wednesday  just after the Trump administration paused federal spending and Medicaid portals froze in states across the country. Postpartum expansion became a point of optimism during the conversation, which included U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and patients who spoke about their varied experiences with Medicaid and fears about potentially losing Medicaid coverage.

When my daughter was born, I had a job. I was working. It didn't provide medical benefits. Not only did I give birth to a premature child, but two days after, I had to go back to work, Johnson said. What I know personally is that relying on Medicaid, it's considered a privilege that you have to fight too hard for.

Participants at a roundtable in Milwaukee discuss their concerns about Medicaid on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Securing coverage could have a significant impact for Black mothers and children, Johnson noted.

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Wisconsin has sharp racial disparities in maternal health. One DHS report found that from 2016 to 2023 Black women were at the highest risk for severe maternal morbidity  unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a womans health. Another study found that between 2006 and 2010 the maternal death rate for Black women in Wisconsin was five times that of white women  outpacing the national disparity during that period.

The only way to improve the odds is to make sure that we have the coverage that we need, to follow not only that baby for 12 months, but also that mom, Johnson said.

Johnson told the roundtable group that she thinks the bill is a priority for lawmakers, though there is a long way to go on it.

Snyder said he plans to have another conversation with Vos soon, and other lawmakers say theyll continue to work to persuade the speaker to come around.

James said he is ready to provide his supportive colleagues with talking points and that he hopes to speak with Vos in the near future.

I'm just hoping that he's willing to have a conversation, James said. I have no issue in hearing him out they tried to do that 60 to 90 day waiver, and the federal government says they're not going to take anything less than one year, so I think as we progress through we just  we need to make things happen. We need to take care of our families.

Vos has told Wisconsin Watch that he wants to see the 90-day waiver resubmitted to the Trump administration.

The proposed bills cosponsors said they would potentially be open to compromise, but that a year of coverage would be the easier and more impactful option.

If we could get his support in bringing it down to 90 days, that would be great, but we've already done. In order to do the 90 days, we have to ask for a waiver and the state never got a response back on that, Rodriguez said. It'd be easier, she said, to pass legislation for the full year already authorized by the federal government.

Most of the mortality occurs between five and nine months, Snyder said. Between five and nine months, there is anything from cardiac arrests, preeclampsia and even suicide, so 90 days isn't going to always help.

Snyder said that he is hoping that Vos might change his mind.

Hopefully enough advocates will come to him and say It's not really expanding welfare, it's extending from two months, Snyder said.

Rodriguez acknowledged that Vos philosophical beliefs are part of his opposition to the legislation.

But if Vos doesnt support the legislation, Hopefully we can find a place where he can allow this to move forward, Rodriguez said, maybe not support it but at least allow this bill to get to the floor.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA)  As Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders in Tallahassee clash on immigration proposals, DeSantis said hes planning to veto the recently passed TRUMP Act.

That move could put lawmakers back to square one.

Simply unacceptable: Pinellas congresswoman fights to waive FEMAs 50% rule

On Monday, lawmakers gaveled in and gaveled out of DeSantis call for a special session, to then call for their own moments later, which, in a days work, produced the TRUMP Act.

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A major point of debate during the session was the repeal of in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. This dominated discussions on the House and Senate floor.



Im not interested in giving illegal immigrants a discount on our colleges and universities, said State Sen. Randy Fine, R-Brevard. There are some people who dont think they should not be able to go at all because in most of our college and university situations, there are more students who want to go to those universities than there are spots.

Between the governor and legislative leaders, both proposals plan to cancel in-state tuition for dreamers, which has left lawmakers squaring off.



An illegal alien serving life in a state prison gets three meals a day, gets its laundry done, cable tv, and if he wants, a college education, that we pay for, said Minority Leader Sen. Jason Pizzo. But some poor soul whose parents made the decision to drag them across the border on a boat in the middle of the night for a piece of the American dream, when they were 7 years old or 8 or 9, were going to spring the unfair surprise upon them right now, that they got to reapply July 1st for criteria they will not meet.

Under the bill, in-state waivers would be eliminated on July 1, before the start of the new school year.

All you tough on crime, we back the blue, illegal immigration, lets crack down, Pizzo said. Youre letting rapists and murderers get a free education, but not the kid who obeys the law wants to get a piece of the dream.

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Senate Republicans backing the TRUMP Act said this issue comes down to fairness.

This doesnt say illegal immigrants cant attend these institutions, Fine said. They can. They just have to pay the same price as everyone else from the country theyre from. Theres no longer a reward for breaking our laws, and while I understand it is not the responsibility necessarily of the child that they werent the one to make the decision. They were not magically transported here. Someone made a decision to put them in that situation.

On the other hand, House Democrats ask for grace, for the students who are already enrolled to finish college with in-state tuition.



My heart hurts thinking about a student who has gone through so much to be where they are today and then to get a notice on the state that their tuition is jumping 3-4 times. Theres no way theyre going to finish their degree anymore, said State Rep. Anna V Eskamani, D-Orlando.

Representatives and senators filed amendments against the repeal but were struck down.



The governor plans to veto the TRUMP Act saying it watered down and weak, which could intensify the feud between him and legislative leadership.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.
Virginia Beach, June 2021 (Photo by Sarah Vogelsong/Virginia Mercury)

A push to align Virginia Beachs charter with its new voting system is advancing in the General Assembly, despite ongoing battles and prior opposition from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

House Bill 1687, sponsored by Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, cleared the House of Delegates on Friday and now heads to the Senate. The bill would formally allow the city to use the 10-1 voting system, which divides the voting age population into 10 equal districts, to elect the mayor and council representatives.

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Virginia Beach first implemented the 10-1 system in November 2022 after a federal court ruling. The city officially adopted it in August 2023 as part of its redistricting ordinance, replacing the previous 7-3-1 system that included three at-large seats.

Were just trying to bring the charter in alignment, Convirs-Fowler said during a Jan. 17 House subcommittee hearing.

However, the city council declined to request a charter amendment last fall amid a lawsuit challenging the 10-1 systems legality. Youngkin vetoed a similar bill last year, pointing to the ongoing case.

Court records show that the lawsuit is still pending with no judge assigned. Meanwhile, as Virginia Beach debates its electoral future, other localities, like Arlington County, continue to experiment with voting reforms, including ranked-choice voting.

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Some state lawmakers representing Virginia Beach voiced disappointment over the city councils refusal to back a charter amendment, citing strong public support for the 10-1 system.

The 10-1 system, adopted in response to previous findings of racially polarized voting, is a step forward in protecting the voting strength of underrepresented communities, wrote Sen. Aaron Rouse and Dels. Alex Askew, Michael Feggans, and Kelly Convirs-Fowler, all Democrats from Virginia Beach, in a joint Nov. 13 letter.

It has already demonstrated its value in promoting inclusiveness and equity, with the 2022 election ushering in Virginia Beachs most diverse city council in its history.

A survey by the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia found that 78% of city residents believe the system fairly represents their interests.

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Under the proposed bill, elections for Districts 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 would take place in November 2026, while g voters would elect representatives for Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 and the mayor in November 2028.

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Oregon allows consumption up to 50 milligrans of psilocybin at a time. (Courtesy of Satya Therapeutics)

A group of lawmakers introduced a proposal Thursday to establish a program for medicinal use of psilocybin mushrooms.

According to a news release, Senate Bill 219, the Medical Psilocybin Act, would create a program for New Mexicans to receive medicinal treatment for pre-qualified behavioral health conditions such as major treatment-resistant depression, post traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, end-of-life care and others approved by the Department of Health.

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According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, psilocybin is a chemical found in certain mushrooms, often called magic mushrooms, which have historically been used recreationally or in traditional ceremonies. It is also being researched as a clinical treatment for substance use disorders and other mental illnesses.

As an integrative psychiatry provider in the state of New Mexico I strongly support the need of new tools such as medical psilocybin, to assist the rising number of New Mexicans with mental health needs, Deborah Thorne, a doctor of medical science and certified integrative psychiatry specialist in Las Cruces, said in a statement. The Medical Psilocybin Act will provide an equitable, safe and well monitored means of offering this valuable medicine to many while strengthening the ongoing research at UNM.

The bill would establish an advisory board, treatment equity fund and research fund, as well as remove psilocybin from the Controlled Substances Act to protect qualified and registered patients, clinicians and producers, according to a news release released jointly by the office of the Senate and House Democrats.

If passed, the law states that the program would be available by Dec. 31, 2027.

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Cosponsor Sen. Craig Brandt (R-Rio Rancho) said in a statement that he is hopeful this treatment option will benefit his fellow veterans who may be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health conditions.

When were facing epidemic levels of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other debilitating mental health conditions, we owe it to those suffering to explore promising new treatments like psilocybin, cosponsor Rep. Elizabeth Liz Thomson (D-Albuquerque) said in a statement. By establishing a highly-regulated, state-run program, we can provide alternative options to those not responding to traditional treatment, in a safe, controlled environment.

Sponsors introduced the SB19 on the floor Thursday and will present it in the Senate Tax, Business & Transportation Committee. The bill has not been set for committee as of press time.

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WASHINGTON  The growing threat of freight fraud in trucking has led to another effort by Congress to crack down on scammers that steal millions from legitimate brokers and motor carriers.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washingtons nonvoting delegate in the House, would give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration more power over fake companies attempting to register with the agency.

Specifically, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act would clarify that FMCSA has the authority to assess civil penalties against fraudulent actors that hold consumers personal goods hostage, allow FMCSA to leverage states enforcement of federal consumer protection laws related to the transportation of household goods and establish requirements to ensure that motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders that seek registration are operating legitimate businesses, Holmes Norton said in a statement.

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This bill would also provide explicit authority for FMCSA to withhold registration from any applicant that fails to provide a valid principal place of business or disclose common ownership with any other registered entities at the time of registration.

While a major target of the legislation is fraud that occurs in the household goods sector, the stricter registration requirements and enforcement provisions would apply to all freight carriers and brokers that register with FMCSA.

The legislation is endorsed by the Transportation Intermediaries Association, the American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the Institute for Safer Trucking and Road Safe America.

Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market, said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in a press release.

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Because of the broad industry support for these common sense reforms, we hope this bipartisan legislation will move through the committee process without delay.

Similar legislation introduced in the last Congress with 24 co-sponsors (14 Republicans, 10 Democrats) was approved out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by a vote of 62-2. This year U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., are introducing a Senate companion bill.

Re-introducing this bill shows their commitment to implementing strong anti-fraud laws, which could markedly reduce fraud in the supply chain, minimize financial losses to small business and restore integrity to the nations freight sector, said TIA President Chris Burroughs in a news release. This bill is good for the industry, consumers and the American economy.

Related articles:

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

The post Lawmakers reintroduce anti-fraud freight bill appeared first on FreightWaves.
The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has slammed her conservative rival Friedrich Merz after a controversial bill on migration reform failed in parliament on Friday.

Alice Weidel said the rejection of the vote, introduced by Merz's centre-right CDU/CSU alliance, was the "implosion of a conservative people's party."

She said Merz, the conservatives' top candidate in upcoming national elections, "cannot be chancellor" and "cannot be a candidate for chancellor" after the bill failed by 338 votes to 349.

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"This was the dismantling of Friedrich Merz as a candidate for chancellor," Weidel added.

Weidel - whose party is currently second in the polls ahead of the elections on February 23 - said the AfD unanimously voted in favour of the bill. "There are no dissenters who stab a legitimate cause in the back," she said.

"Friedrich Merz jumped as a tiger and ended up as a bedside rug," Weidel said.
At least two people were killed when the Israeli military carried out at least five airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Friday, authorities said.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 10 others were wounded in the strikes on Janta in eastern Lebanon.

The ministry did not specify if the casualties were Hezbollah operatives. But a Lebanese security source told dpa the area where the strikes occurred is a stronghold of the militia.

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Videos shared by the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television showed explosions in the mountainous area close to the Syrian border.

One of the airstrikes also targeted a crossing on the Lebanese-Syrian border near Al-Qasr.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier that "terrorist targets" were struck.

The military said the targets included an underground facility used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia for weapons development and production, as well as infrastructure along the Syrian-Lebanese border used for arms smuggling.

While the IDF emphasized its commitment to the fragile ceasefire currently in effect, it said that it would not tolerate any "terrorist activities."

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The IDF said it will act to eliminate any threats to Israel and its forces.

On Sunday, the White House announced that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, agreed upon in November, was extended until February 18.

The agreement originally included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon within 60 days.

However, according to Israel, this will now be delayed. Israel justified the decision by stating that Lebanon has not yet fully implemented its part of the agreement.

The Lebanese army, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with the ceasefire and preventing Hezbollahs return to southern Lebanon, is accused of not deploying quickly enough into the vacated positions once held by the militants.
WASHINGTON  A stream of left-wing protesters interrupted the Democratic National Committees final chair candidate forum on Thursday night, shouting slogans about climate change and billionaire influence before being escorted out of a Georgetown University theater.

The spaced-out nature and scale of the disruptions  one after another, after another  immobilized the forum for a period, as one of the televised events three MSNBC moderators, Symone Sanders, strained to re-assert control and campus police and security guards hauled people out.

In a leadership contest that has been largely void of explicit ideological debate, the chaotic interruption felt like a metaphor for a party that cant permanently ignore its internal policy debates and activist passions.

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When asked afterward about the disruptions, former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, currently running for DNC chair in a competitive third-place position behind Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, treated it like a healthy component of the Democratic Partys process.

Im surprised I havent seen more of it, OMalley said in a press gaggle. Theyre going to be on this planet a lot longer than I am, and if they stop caring passionately about the planet, then we have no hope at all. So it didnt bother me.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said loud, disruptive protests at the Democratic National Committee chair candidate forum "didn't bother" him. Some attendees felt differently. Tom Williams/Getty Images

The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led, left-wing climate action group, said the first three protesters, who, about 20 minutes into the forum, began separately standing up to shout slogans while candidates or moderators were speaking, were affiliated with their group.

The activists sought to draw attention to the Sunrise Movements pledge, calling on DNC chair candidates to revive the Obama-era ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations to the DNC and use every tool at their disposal to discourage super PAC spending in Democratic primaries.

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We need the Democratic Party to loudly and proudly stand up against billionaires and show young voters that Democrats are the only party ready to fight for working people, Adah, the 18-year-old Sunrise activist who made the first interruption, said in a statement issued by Sunrise. If you dont, young voters and working-class voters will continue to leave the party  you will let Trump and people like him keep convincing people that he will fight for them.

Jason Paul, an attorney, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, two of the more marginal DNC chair contenders, were the only candidates onstage who had already signed on to the Sunrise Movements pledge.

That was cause for Paul to express frustration with Sunrise. I think its a little odd when people onstage agree with you, that you then yell at them, he said, prompting applause from the audience.

After the Sunrise protesters left, a series of other, apparently more hard-line, left-wing climate activists rose one after the other to lament billionaire influence on the DNC and how it could jeopardize the fight against climate change.

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What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency! a young man yelled, his voice quavering, as he was dragged out of the theater.

Several of the demonstrators physically refused to cooperate with the campus police officers, leading to loud and violent confrontations as they were sometimes carried out by multiple people at a time.

Forum attendees, largely made up of voting DNC members, grew frustrated with the number of disruptions. Protest the Republicans! Protest the people who are actually hurting you! one called out.

Sanders, who co-moderated the event alongside MSNBCs Jonathan Capehart and Jen Psaki, tried to maintain calm as the last demonstrators were being removed.

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I think its important to say here, we respect peoples opinions, she said. And it is definitely understandable that there is a lot of passion in this moment.

One man with his hair in a bun, who had been filming many of the protesters interactions with security professionals, turned to the entire theater and yelled, Peace out, bitches, before finally exiting.

Once the theater calmed down, Psaki decided to give Sunrise its due and ask if every DNC chair candidate present would commit to swearing off corporate PAC donations if they were elected chair. Every candidate raised their hand except for Martin and Wikler, who each spoke about the need to raise enough money to win power so that Democrats could eventually nominate enough Supreme Court justices to overturn the 2010 Citizens United ruling permitting corporations to spend unlimited sums on elections.

I will work my ass off to make sure we push against the corrosive impact of money out of politics, Martin said, adding that he would not accept contributions from corporations involved in union busting.

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Martin and Wikler went on to join the other chair candidates in pledging not to accept donations from oil and gas companies corporate PACs.

Sunrise celebrated the candidates pledge in a post on social media.

Chair candidate Faiz Shakir argued against more DNC at-large seats earmarked for transgender people and against the creation of a separate group for Muslims within the DNC. Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

But its not clear exactly what kind of impact the pledge will have at a time when fossil fuel companies dont seem too keen to contribute to Democrats anyway.

Oil and gas industry PACs contributed $10.2 million to Republican congressional candidates last election cycle, compared with just under $1.8 million to Democratic congressional candidates.

And the Democratic National Committee got just $11.6 million of its $1.9 billion haul in 2024 from employees of energy and natural resource companies.

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Democrats looking for the partys future chair to adopt the Sunrise Movements platform wholesale might have come away from the evening disappointed, but so would the perhaps even greater number of mainstream Democrats eager to see party leaders defy left-wing activist groups that critics see as out of touch with the median voter.

Faiz Shakir, a former manager of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, whos running on an economic populist platform, was the only candidate onstage willing to flatly say no to two culturally progressive demands pushed by DNC members in the audience.

Asked whether the candidates would support increasing the number of at-large seats reserved for transgender people  currently just one  and later whether the DNC should create a Muslim council or caucus, Shakir was the only contender to refuse. He affirmed his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, while insisting on an approach that unites people with divergent backgrounds behind common goals.

I am frustrated by the way in which we utilize identity to break ourselves apart, said Shakir, who would be the DNCs first Muslim chair. I would like to see us focus on program and mission in which you bring your identity to programs that we would like to do at the DNC.

I want to build people who see the program mission, and then regardless of what background you might come from, I hope the first priority is building that economic justice vision that is inclusive, he added.
In 2012, Colorado and Washington State legalized the commercial production and sale of cannabis for nonmedical use, and since then 22 other U.S. states have followed. The shift was viewed in many quarters as benign and overdueinvolving an organic, even medicinal, intoxicant with no serious drawbacks. Advocates promised safe and accurately labeled products, reduced addiction to opioids, smaller prison populations, surging tax revenue, and a socially responsible industry that prioritized people over profits. But all of those promises have turned out to be overstated or simply wrong.

Legalization has raised cannabis consumption dramatically, and also altered patterns of use. In the 1990s and early 2000s, most consumers smoked the drug and did so only occasionally or semi-regularlysay, on weekends with friends. Some people used more regularly, of course: In 2000, 2.5 million Americans reported daily or near-daily cannabis use. But by 2022, that had grown sevenfold to 17.7 million. Remarkably, thats more than the 14.7 million who reported using alcohol that often. Today, more than 40 percent of Americans who use cannabis take it daily or near-daily, and these users consume perhaps 80 percent of all the cannabis sold in the U.S.

The drugs potency has also risen sharply. Until the year 2000, the average potency of seized cannabis never exceeded 5 percent THC, the principal intoxicant in the plant. Today, smokeable buds, or flower, sold in licensed stores usually exceed 20 percent THC. Vapes, dabs, and shatterall of which are forms of drug delivery that commercialization spreadare more potent still.

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[Malcolm Ferguson: Marijuana is too strong now]

More frequent use of more potent products has led to a staggering rise in the typical consumers average weekly dose of THC. Back in the 1980s and 90s, when potency averaged about 4 percent, someone consuming one 0.4-gram joint each weekend nightand none on weekdayswas averaging roughly 32 milligrams of THC a week. Average daily users today are consuming about 1.6 grams of high-potency flower a day, or its equivalent in other forms. That works out to more than 2,000 milligrams of THC a weekor about 70 times as much.

The numbers are shocking, and yet this is what happens when frequency, potency, and quantity all rise in tandem. For some consumers, high potency itself encourages more frequent use by delivering a stronger effect.

Medical science cant yet clarify the effects of long-term use of 300-plus milligrams of THC a day, because this consumption pattern is new. Most controlled studies work with short-term exposure to smaller doses, often in the 20-to-50 milligram range, and observational studies that followed users for years were examining a druglow-strength, infrequently used cannabisthat barely exists anymore.

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But high-frequency use of high-potency marijuana raises a range of concerns. For one thing, there is little question that cannabis intoxication can impair cognitive functions including concentration and memory formation. That was not a big worry when most people used only on weekends. Daily use, however, means using on work and school days. The drug also impairs perception and motor control; the availability of strong, legal marijuana has been followed by increases in automobile crashes and emergency-room visits.

And over the long term, although some people can handle a wake-and-bake lifestyle, just like some alcoholic people are functional, there are likely millions of users for whom couch lock impedes career advancement, academic success, or meeting responsibilities to family.

On surveys, 63 percent of high-frequency users report enough cognitive, emotional, employment, and social problems as a result of using the drug to be coded as meeting the criteria for a cannabis-use disorder (a condition defined by being unable to fully control drug-use behavior despite its negative consequences). For technical reasons, we think that figure overstates the problem, but there is no doubt that the problem exists: 17 percent of high-frequency users report wanting cannabis so badly that there are times they cant think of anything else. Chronic use may lead to other health problems as well. Most notably, evidence is mounting that frequent use of high-strength products raises the risk of serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

To be clear, these risks and harms do not remotely add up to a cannabis crisis in the same way that we speak of an opioid crisis or a meth crisiscalamities marked by widespread premature mortality and shattered families. Many people who enjoy cannabis have no trouble managing their use. They can now buy it cheaply and without stigma, in a variety of forms. And everyone can be relieved that adolescents cannabis use has stayed roughly where it was since legalization began. By one standard measure, use rose just 3 percent among 12-to-17-year-olds from 2012 to 2022.

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But use has soared for adults (up 155 percent), especially for those 35 and older (up 300 percent), and the increase cannot be characterized as entirely benign. Many assumptions made about what would follow legalization seem naive in retrospect.

Those assumptions extended beyond the nature of the relationship between pot users and the drug, and how it might change. Soaring cannabis use would still have been a win, from public-health and crime-control perspectives, if it had resulted in less use of even more dangerous drugs. But it hasnt. Predictions that cannabis legalization would reduce consumption of alcohol, a drug much more strongly associated with physical aggression, were not realizedreductions observed in some groups or contexts were offset by increases in others.

Based on weak scientific evidence, many advocates likewise promised that legal cannabis would lead people to use fewer opioids. (Weedmapsan online review site for potput up billboards all over the country promising reductions in opioid overdose, for instance.) Yet those early findings were reversed as more data became available, and recent reviews suggest that legalization is more likely to increase than reduce opioid-death rates. This should not be too surprising: Although the old gateway drug arguments of the 1970s and 80s overstated the risk of merely trying marijuana, the commercialization of cannabis has clearly expanded high-frequency use, and dependence on any drug can increase the likelihood of using and developing dependence on other drugs.

[Read: Marijuanas health effects are about to get a whole lot clearer]

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Some promised criminal-justice benefits have also proved illusory, in part because advocates exaggerated the extent to which marijuana use entangled people in the criminal-justice system. Discriminatory enforcement of marijuana laws is one reason that black and Latino Americans make up two-thirds of the U.S. prison population, the progressive Center for American Progress noted in 2018, in a report advocating national legalization. But even before legalization, very few people were in prison for pot possession alone. There were a lot of pot-smoking burglars and robbers behind bars, but only about 2 percent of inmates were in prison solely for marijuana offenses, and most of those were traffickers or their employees.

That there had been too many marijuana-possession arrests is undoubtedly true. And legalization has cut them sharply, leaving mostly only arrests of underage users and of residual illegal suppliers. But even here, the case for outright legalization of supply was oversold: States that merely decriminalized marijuana possession saw declines almost as large. In California, for example, converting marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction reduced possession arrests by 86 percent in just 12 months. Subsequent legalization had only a modest incremental effect.

Allowing commercial supplyas opposed to merely decriminalizing possessionhas produced other unintended consequences, though these consequences could easily have been anticipated because businesses typically follow the laws of economics.

Large producers run by MBAs have adopted industrial agricultural practices that are brutally efficient, dramatically outcompeting the artisanal production that many advocates foresaw. Before legalization, much high-quality cannabis was grown in small indoor facilities; one 2006 Dutch study of 77 illegal grows reported an average size smaller than 200 square feet. Now an average-size commercial grow might operate on 10,000 to 20,000 square feet, and an industry magazine lists one producer (Copperstate Farms) as operating almost 2,000,000 square feet of greenhouse grow space; mixed-mode growers are even larger.

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Commercial production has driven down prices, and so the cannabis tax windfall touted by many supporters of legalization has also been underwhelming. In California, cannabis excise and sales taxes peaked in 2021; by the first quarter of 2023, they were reported as accounting for only 0.2 percent of total state tax collections. Not all taxes due even get collected; in 2023, for instance, 15 percent of the states cannabis firms defaulted on taxes they owed.

Falling prices have thinned profit margins, adding to the commercial imperative to expand the market and attract new customers. Hence the proliferation of edibles and other products that are more accessible to nonsmokers. The industry is targeting womenwho historically used cannabis less than men didas a growth demographic, just as the cigarette and alcohol industries had before. From 2012 to 2022, high-frequency use grew strongly for men (up 137 percent), but exploded among women (up 300 percent).

Many commercial cannabis providers have proved difficult to regulate. Initially, regulatory enforcement efforts tended to be modest, and that was an error. Misleading labels are commonplace in the cannabis industry today, and some producers use unapproved pesticides or exploitative labor arrangements.

The 2018 Farm Bill created further opportunities for bad behavior. The bill was supposed to legalize nonintoxicating uses of the cannabis plant, such as growing fiber for clothes or seed for food and oil. Unfortunately, loopholes let unscrupulous actors sell intoxicating products completely outside of most states regulatory systems. The Farm Bill permits the production and sale of hempdefined as any cannabis product containing less than 0.3 percent of delta-9 THC, the primary THC variant in cannabis. But edibles, being relatively heavy, can contain a lot of delta-9 THC and still, by weight, remain under the 0.3 percent threshold. Whats more, the marijuana plant contains nonintoxicating cannabinoids that can be chemically transformed into intoxicating cousins such as delta-8 THC. The resulting array of products, which can appeal to youth, may have no labeling requirements (depending on what state theyre being sold in) and no protection against unfamiliar and potentially dangerous synthetic by-products. They may not have been tested for pesticides either.

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Unsurprisingly, hemp producers who do not follow product-safety rules have in many cases been outcompeting those state-licensed cannabis companies that try to follow the regulations, contributing to high cannabis-business failure rates and less reliable products for consumers.

These ills and othersthe sprouting of cannabis shops on seemingly every block in some city neighborhoods, the smell of pot that greets many riders of public transportationhave not gone unnoticed by the American people. The election in November underscored the degree of disappointment with the results of marijuana legalization. Though Nebraska did become the 39th state to approve the drug for medical purposes, North and South Dakotans voted down ballot initiatives to legalize recreational use. Floridians did the samedespite $150 million in campaign spending by the industry and an endorsement from Donald Trump.

This pause in what had seemed an inexorable movement toward widerand eventually nationallegalization is healthy. Leaping all the way from prohibition to the enthusiastic embrace of a for-profit, freewheeling, corporate cannabis industry has clearly created downsides and excesses that legalization advocates did not initially imagine (or, in some cases, admit). States still considering legalizationand those that may be reconsidering how legalization has worked out for them so farwould be wise to instead explore the ample middle ground, or what the late drug-policy expert Mark Kleiman called a grudging toleration of legal use and supply. Even a society that otherwise embraces free-market capitalism should be open to middle paths for addiction-inducing intoxicants, which are not ordinary commodities.

[Read: I dont want to smell you get high]

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What might grudging toleration look like in practice? In addition to eliminating the Farm Bill loopholes that have contributed to a Wild West environment in many places, we would offer four specific suggestions.

1. Restrain the power of large-scale producers.

The cannabis supply chain spans growers, manufacturers who process and package the plant material, and retailers. Regulation is needed for farmers (concerning which pesticides are allowed, for instance) and retailers (testing compliance with laws blocking sale to minors, for example)but the bigger challenges involve the manufacturers who produce the concentrated products, control the brands, and dominate marketing and advertising. Two remedies can help.

First, there is no reason to allow for-profit corporations to participate in product manufacturing. For-profit businesses are fabulously efficient at developing new products and driving up consumption. Thats fine when the product is cornflakes or canola, but not when it involves addictive drugs. Cannabis is an addiction-inducing intoxicant for which rapidly expanding consumption has significant costs.

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Instead, legalization could restrict cannabis-product manufacturing to nonprofits or public-benefit corporations. Reliance on nonprofits is a norm in some other industries providing goods or services that in one way or another involve issues beyond pure commerce. Most hospitals and universities, for instance, are either nonprofit or government-owned. In the cannabis industry, these organizations could be chartered to undercut illegal supply by producing to meet existing demand, without promoting greater consumption.

Second, especially in places where for-profit manufacturers are still permitted, major manufacturers should be barred from owning, operating, or controlling either farms or retail outlets. Similar restrictions were part of many states plans when alcohol prohibition was repealed, and they might limit big corporations powerincluding their lobbying power. Likewise, they should be barred from merging with tobacco and alcohol companies.

2. Curtail high-potency products.

For many, the purpose of legalization was to replace the illegal market with legal, regulated supply. But legalization has also changed the market, bringing in a slew of more potent products. Drug-reform advocates sometimes invoke the so-called iron law of prohibition, which claims that prohibition begets more potent forms (because, being more compact, they are more easily hidden). But with cannabis, the opposite happened: It was legalization that spread higher-potency forms of the drug.

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Whether cheap, higher-potency products necessarily exacerbate health harms is much debated. But history is replete with examples of inexpensive, high-potency forms of drugs creating new problems, from the British Gin Craze of the first half of the 18th century in London (during which consumption increased eightfold to about one gallon per person per year) to the current fentanyl epidemic, which has killed more Americans than heroin ever did.

Some fear that banning higher-potency products will create or greatly expand illegal markets, but modern societies often ban certain forms of a product without creating big illegal marketsas long as other forms remain legal. For instance, throughout much of the 20th century, many countries banned the sale of absinthe, but there was no big illegal market for absinthe because other liquors were available. Likewise, todays bans on caffeinated alcoholic drinks and flavored cigarettes are mostly honored.

Quebec already essentially bans dabs, butane hash oil, and other high-potency products, and it has considerably less cannabis use than other provinces of Canada.

The U.S. should likewise ban such products, and maybe also the synthesis of artificial cannabinoids. And for products that stay within the potency limit, a further safeguard could be taxing more potent products at a higher rate, just as is done with alcoholic beverages.

3. Leave room for small-scale producers and other small businesses.

The primary challenge to public health does not come from the many small artisanal producers of marijuana, or from retailers. The greater problem is Big Marijuana. Applying the same rules to all parties burdens hobbyists and boutique producers while letting corporations run amok.

Most states have enacted cottage-food-production laws that exempt small-scale producers of craft-food products (baked goods, pickles, honey, etc.) from the strict scrutiny that is appropriate for agribusiness and food conglomerates. Cannabis policy could make similar distinctions.

Small growers might be exempted from certain regulations when selling only flowerand also prohibited from selling refined or dangerous products, just as cottage-food producers are usually banned from selling meats or goods that need to be refrigerated.

4. Get public safety and public health off the sidelines.

In order to limit the damage done by legal addictive products, society needs effective public-health regulation. And in order to thrive, licensed legal industries need government enforcement against illegal suppliers. Both of these necessities have been lacking.

Neither regulators nor police have attacked illegal production, promotion, and sale with sufficient vigor, perhaps because any enforcement involving marijuana has become entangledat least in the minds of many progressiveswith concerns about the carceral state, or anti-police sentiment more generally.

[Jane C. Hu: Almost no one is happy with legal weed]

But when the legal risk of, say, operating an unlicensed weed shop drops to near-zero, the illegal industry grows and the legal industry suffers, undermining the legalization regime and tax revenue at the same time. Enforcement agencies, those who oversee them, and the activist community need to shake off the misperception that enforcing the rules of a legal industry is a revival of the War on Drugs.

Similarly, public-health departments must start informing the public more vigorously about the health risks of cannabis, just as they do those of tobacco, alcohol, and gambling. Thus far, they have generally failed to do this, perhaps because of misplaced fears of reenacting hysterias of prior eras. Today, a big, legal industry is selling a product with established health risks, and public health needs to embrace its traditional role as an advocate for health over profit.

These and other reforms would better balance the trade-offs between profit and public interest. Naturally, the industry will fight them, but this should only increase urgency. Naive and self-serving advocates shaped (and, via the initiative process, sometimes wrote) many state-level legalization bills, with results that should trouble us. Legalization should be redesigned where it already exists, and efforts to expand it to other states or nationally should learn from the mistakes of the recent past.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Birmingham law enforcement, faith leaders, and Alabama house representatives gathered to talk about crime and how to address it at the Lets Talk about Crime forum Thursday.

The topics, at the forum included the need for a ban on Glock switches, ending no snitch culture in communities and the resources and programs available to address crime.

Cold front bringing rain Friday, Spring-like warmth continues this weekend and next week

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Im hoping that this is energized into action, and we see some change in our community, in our streets, said Co-founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham, Eric Hall.

Hall said the conversations at Thursday nights forum was a discussion he felt the need to be a part of. Adding his own thoughts to the conversation, suggesting restorative justice programs as one way to address the issue of violent crime.

We know that we have an issue with retaliatory crime but if the church and the faith leader can facilitate a conversation about healing the broken family. I think that that would be very instrumental in reducing the number of homicides we see in our city. said Hall.

With topics ranging from the need to ban Glock switches, resources and programs for youth and second chance offenders and ending the no snitch culture, it came down to the voices of faith leaders that say they are working to make that change.

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The church has been a haven, a place where you can go and receive everything you need if you are in need so were here we want to be helpful and were so glad that state legislatures and local leaders called us and invited us so now the ball is in our court. said Ward Chapel AME Church Pastor, Richard Davis.

Pastor Davis said he along with other church leaders are already going into their communities, talking to people and hearing their needs and assisting them.

Alabama House Representative Juandalynn Givan, who organized Thursdays forum said she pre-filed a bill this the 2025 Legislative Session, that intends to ban Glock switches in Birmingham.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
To the editor: At what point will we get fed up with retribution and demand, "No more"? Is it that all of our Republican representatives and senators are so afraid that they will be next? That they might get "primaried?" ("Defense secretary pulls Trump critic Gen. Milley's security clearance and protective detail," Jan. 29)

The current victim of President Trump's rage is retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is a true patriot who earned every one of his four stars and has always put his country first.

Apparently, this was just too much for Trump and Pete Hegseth, his mouthpiece secretary of Defense. Pulling Milley's security detail, taking away his security clearance and opening an investigation into his record, not to mention the petty removal of his portrait from the Pentagon, show how mean-spirited and spiteful this administration is.

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Enough!

Karol McQueary, Redondo Beach

..

To the editor: So, Trump targeted Milley in spite of active Iranian threats by removing his portrait from the Pentagon as well as his security detail.

It's reminiscent of the Soviet Politburo erasing generals under Joseph Stalin. Let's pray Milley doesn't suffer the same fate.

John Gallogly, Los Angeles

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
To the editor: The fires of California are, for me, a wake-up call. ("Fossil-fuel polluters put money over the planet. Tax them into smithereens," letters, Jan. 27)

They should be for all of us. They are the lighthouse marking the shoals of our existence on this planet. They are the bonfires of our vanity.

I, like many others, have slumbered too long in the passive hope that the governments of the world will heed the Jeremiahs of climate change. The prophets thus far have been ignored, and at our peril.

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Governments are the reflections of the people they govern. America has elected an administration that is little concerned with climate change. This reflects the attitude of the American people. And this attitude prevailed in our election of the previous administration as well  for nothing remarkable was demanded, little extraordinary was attempted, and nothing significant was accomplished.

The bonfires still burn. The skies are still pink, or gray, or black.

Each of us needs to shout out, not only to our leaders but to one other: "Sleeper, awake! All of our quotidian distractions are secondary to climate change. For none of these concerns will matter when we descend into the hell of political, economic and social chaos that will ensue if we continue on the present road of indifference in the interest of our immediate comfort."

If anyone doubts this, I suggest you ask the people of Southern California.

Kenneth Ely, Blaine, Wash.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Jan. 30A private special education school in Lewiston is suing Maine's education department, the Lewiston school district and a family after it was ordered to keep teaching a student who had injured staff.

Spurwink, a Portland nonprofit that operates four special purpose private schools for students with developmental disabilities, filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Portland alleging that the defendants are misinterpreting a federal law that says students with disabilities have a right to stay in their school placement.

According to the suit, a 19-year-old student referred to as "Tommy Doe" had several diagnoses, including nonverbal autism and a seizure disorder, which qualified him for special education services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, known as IDEA.

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Tommy attended Spurwink's Lewiston Day Treatment school from January 2023 to November 2024. During that time, the complaint alleges, he was frequently violent toward himself and would bite, hit and kick staff members.

Spurwink says it started to discuss removing the student from the program in October 2024 because staff members did not think they could safely care for him, and it accelerated that decision the following month after he bit three staff members, all of whom needed emergency medical care.

The parents requested a due process hearing with the state in November, saying schools have an obligation under IDEA to keep a student in their current placement while the family seeks a new school.

A state hearing officer agreed, writing that Spurwink Lewiston Day Treatment was not allowed to unilaterally discharge Tommy, and ordered that the decision be reversed immediately.

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But in its lawsuit, Spurwink argues that as a private school it is not subject to the provisions under IDEA, and the state erroneously applied the law.

"As this case illustrates, the untenable situation occurs when students need a more intensive level of supervision and treatment than the school can safely provide," Spurwink wrote in the lawsuit.

FAMILY SHOCKED BY LAWSUIT

The student's parents, who were not identified in the lawsuit and only agreed to speak to the Press Herald on the condition of anonymity, said they were surprised last week when they learned about the complaint.

"That was shocking and problematic for us," the father said. The parents said Spurwink was well aware of their son's behavioral issues when it took him in as a student two years ago.

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Tommy's parents said his behavior is characterized as low-frequency, high-intensity aggression, meaning most of the time he doesn't lash out, but when it does it can be severe.

They know his aggression is sometimes dangerous, and said they've both had several injuries in the past. But they say that was laid out in detail in his Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, and in the contracts Spurwink signed when it took him on as a student.

Tommy's mom said her son was diagnosed with autism at an early age and received in-home support until he was in sixth grade. That care allowed him to participate in normal family activities and thrive in school, she said. Then, a shortage of care workers led to Tommy sitting on waitlists for in-home care for more than seven years.

"I'm a stay-at-home mom to three kids, and one of them has a lot of challenges, and I can only do so much," she said. "I cannot be focused on just one child to do the amount of work that you need to do to continue to maintain and improve skills. And the result of that is that the skills get lost."

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During that time, she said, his coping skills declined, his aggression and needs increased, and he didn't learn as much in school. When he switched to remote learning during the pandemic, many of those issues got even worse.

Since then, Tommy's home situation has been unstable. He stayed in a hospital for almost a year, then was placed in a Spurwink residential facility in Chelsea. But that facility closed in May 2024 because of workforce and funding challenges, and his parents say they called 40 to 50 different residential programs before finding one in Lewiston. His mom said all of those changes were traumatic for Tommy, but he enjoyed his school.

When Tommy moved into the facility in Lewiston, he enrolled in Lewiston Public Schools. The district worked with Spurwink's school as an out-of-district placement. In a November letter to the organization, the district disagreed with its decision to discharge Tommy.

"Lewiston requests that you allow (Tommy) to return to Spurwink and implement his current IEP and that you comply with the IDEA's 'stay put' requirements, which apply with equal force to state-licensed special purpose private schools," Lewiston's Director of Special Education Kirsten Crafts wrote. "Lewiston is willing to work collaboratively with Spurwink to create, implement and adjust, as appropriate, strategies to keep (Tommy) and Spurwink staff safe while he is at school. If Spurwink will not return (Tommy) to school, then Lewiston will file a motion to join Spurwink in the pending due process hearing proceedings requested by parents and seek stay put through that process."

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The district's superintendent said Thursday that the administration was aware of the case but declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education also declined to comment Tuesday.

'HE'S REGRESSING'

The parents aren't arguing that the Spurwink school can't discharge their son, eventually  he's already being evaluated for placement in a new program. But they say IDEA and similar state guidance allow Tommy to stay at his current placement until he has a new school to attend. Spurwink not only didn't honor that, but they also discharged Tommy without any consultation, which undermines the team-based IEP process. In the meantime, he isn't learning, they said.

"If we got to the point through a normal IEP process where they said 'He needs a new placement and we can't support him anymore, but we'll allow him to stay put until that new placement is found,' we would have been very sad about it ... but we would have gone through that process and waited for his placement," Tommy's father said. "Now he's at home, he does pretty much nothing all day, he plays on the iPad, he gets very frustrated because there's a lack of structure, and he's regressing."

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Overall, they say Spurwink's staff have been wonderful to them and their son. The parents attribute most of the problems to statewide understaffing, which they said is a symptom of low pay for behavioral heath care workers.

"They're paid slightly above minimum wage, and they're doing combat work," his dad said.

But they're unsure why they, and their disabled son, have been named as parties in the case.

Spurwink's Vice President of Legal Affairs Kristen Farnham said in an email Wednesday that the organization does not comment on pending litigation, but shared a statement.

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"Our highest priorities are the well-being of the people in our care and the safety of our staff," she wrote. "We adhere to our internal policies and all applicable laws and regulations when it comes to the services we provide and the people we serve."

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An attorney working as a bookkeeper for three Massachusetts companies has been indicted by a federal grand jury for embezzling at least $2.5 million from the companies, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday.

David Smerling, 74, of Lexington, was indicted on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, following his arrest earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. He was charged by criminal complaint on Jan. 13.

According to the indictment, between January 2016 and May 2020, Smerling embezzled more than $2.5 million from the companies by transferring funds from the companies bank accounts to accounts in his name.

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To conceal his scheme, Smerling allegedly changed the mailing address on the victims bank statements to his home address and refused to share the online banking password for the victims accounts, the indictment alleges.

If convicted of wire fraud, Smerling faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

If convicted of money laundering, Smerling faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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From Russia with love  of knowledge.

A Long Island student who came to Mastic Beach as a child while knowing very little of the country was nominated as a presidential scholar this month  and her adoration of learning and heavy metal radiates through the halls of her school.

When I was seven years old, I was sipping tea in my kitchen, and mom came in and said, Why havent you packed? Were moving to America, William Floyd High School senior Victoria Basharina, originally of Yekaterinburg near the Ural Mountains, told The Post.

Long Islands Victoria Basharina is a scholar who has excelled since coming to America from Russia in 2014. Dennis A. Clark

Just like that, we came here in 2014, said the 18-year-old, who came to the US with her mom and brother after her parents divorced.

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It was strange, she recalled. I didnt speak English. The house was big and empty and pretty run down at the time we bought it.

Naturally, things were incredibly overwhelming for her as a confused first-grader who couldnt even spell her name in English.

It would be a long struggle to where she is today, as a top student with a 100.4 grade point average who now tutors others in English.

Basharina has a passion for science. She is seen at Cold Spring Harbor Lab doing research.

Originally, I hated school, if you can believe it. I would get so bored, she said.

But I remember moving here and thinking, alright, everyone is pretty stressed, and this is scary, but let me try to make the most of this.'

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So, in the early days, she learned the bare bones of the second language and would approach other kids, extending her arm and saying, my name Victoria, I dont speak English good, you friend.

In middle school, she fancied a passion for heavy rock bands like Avenged Sevenfold and met some of her closest friends through some headbanging.

Id say its probably become my favorite genreit caused such a great chain reaction in my life.

Basharina made some of her closest friends through a love of heavy metal. Dennis A. Clark

A Russian doll

As she assimilated to the South Shore of LI and said dasvidaniya to any bad tidings, Basharinas relentless quest for knowledge flourished.

In ninth grade, I remember one of our first meetings, her poring over the course catalog, I want to do that. I want to do this. How do I get to take this?' Basharinas guidance counselor, Ashley Seibert, said.

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I was like, Wow, shes shes really eager,' she added, praising Basharinas contagious enthusiasm.

Along with having a course load of advanced placement and honors, Basharina is involved in the National Honor Society, a science honor society, the student government, a robotics club and an animatronic club.

Basharina has the goal of learning something new each day. Dennis A. Clark

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I want to learn something new every day, and it kind of happens on its own, said Basharina, who watches TED Talks for fun.

Even when I procrastinate on my school work, Im looking up facts on another subject . . .The only time Im not learning something new is when Im sleeping or in the shower, the teen added.

When Basharina recently received her formal letter from The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, which only 25 New Yorkers qualify for a year, she couldnt believe it  literally.

I thought it was a type of scam and almost threw it outafter about a week of it lying around, I sent it to [Seibert], she recalled. I emailed her saying, Get a load of this baloney, and she responded, Oh my God!'

Basharina dedicates almost every waking moment to learning. Dennis A. Clark

Now, Basharina, who is also waiting to hear back from some Ivy League colleges for neuroscience, will find out in June whether she is among the nations best students in the academic competition.

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No matter what, though, she is more than fulfilled with how her young life has turned out.

I think I learned to have fun through everything  and fun is just being me, Basharina said. And now, everywhere is home to me, here, or when I see my family in Russia, or anywhere I can learn.
This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to be a more aggressive oversight agency in light of the midair collision between an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River.

In an interview Friday on CNN, Cantwell explained that the U.S. needs a continuous safety improvement regime. She explained that an expanded safety office was implemented at NASA after the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

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Live updates: Black box from American Airlines plane recovered following deadly DC air collision

The Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee wanted to know, In this case, what did the FAA think of this inter-flight pattern between DOD (Department of Defense) and the air traffic controllers management at the airport?

Cantwell: FAA has the ultimate authority

Cantwell said the FAA needs to step up and expand its role in aviation safety. The FAA has the ultimate authority to always monitor the flight paths and systems and say what is safe and what is operational. She called the FAA the north star. Cantwell called for the swift appointment of a new FAA Administrator.

Former head of FAA: Boeing still needs a culture change to put safety above profits

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The senator emphasized the importance of relying on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for accurate information and a thorough investigation into this weeks incident. These are such horrific events and they take devastating tolls on peoples families that they may never recover from. The best thing we can do for them is get them answers, she stated.

She also highlighted the need for more air traffic controllers. We havent had enough air traffic controllers. You have been stretching the people that do work there, sometimes making them work six days in a row. We fought to improve this by adding 3,000 new air traffic controllers, she explained.

Long-term solutions needed

In addition to the immediate investigation, Cantwell stressed the need for long-term solutions to prevent such tragedies in the future. We need to ensure that our air traffic control systems are not only adequately staffed but also equipped with the latest technology to handle the increasing volume of air traffic safely, she said. This includes investing in modernizing our infrastructure and providing continuous training for our air traffic controllers to handle complex situations effectively.

Cantwell also addressed the emotional toll on the families of the victims. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones in this tragic accident. We must support them through this difficult time and ensure they receive the answers and justice they deserve, she said. The NTSB and FAA must work diligently to uncover the causes of this crash and implement necessary changes to prevent future occurrences.

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The senator urged bipartisan cooperation in Congress to address aviation safety issues. This is not a partisan issue; its about the safety of everyone who flies. We must come together to pass legislation that strengthens our aviation safety standards and ensures that our skies remain safe for all, Cantwell stated.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.




Jan. 30SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP  A Lima man suffered suspected serious injuries after his car rolled multiple times in the 4000 block of state Route 117 around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

According to a crash report from the Shawnee Township Police Department, Garrett Painter, 35, was traveling eastbound when he traveled off the right side of the roadway and struck a ditch and mailbox before returning to the roadway. He then overturned multiple times, as he traveled across both lanes on state Route 117 and ran off the left side of the roadway where he struck a gas meter and a fence.

Painter was evaluated by Shawnee Township Fire personnel, and he was cited with failure to maintain reasonable control.

Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.

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The statue of William Henry Seward in front of the Alaska State Capitol is seen covered in snow on Monday, Jan. 21, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

In a series of hearings this week within the Alaska State Capitol, public-school advocates from across the state presented hours of impassioned and often emotional testimony in favor of a bill that will sharply increase Alaskas funding for public schools.

But a pair of cold-blooded financial hearings also showed that the request may have to compete with the Permanent Fund dividend and aid for aging state buildings.

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In December, Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed a $7.7 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

That spending would require the state to spend $1.5 billion from savings, and it isnt too dissimilar from what the governor has proposed in each of the past two years.

In each of those years, the Legislature took the governors plan and slashed his proposed Permanent Fund dividend in order to avoid spending from savings.

The Legislatures preferred dividend formula is called the 75-25, for the way it takes the annual transfer from the Alaska Permanent Fund to the state treasury, then divides it, 75% for services, and 25% for dividends.

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The last two years, the Legislature has put forward the 75-25 dividend and been able to have a balanced budget. This year, that is probably not enough, Alexei Painter, director of the Legislative Finance Division, the Legislatures budget analysis wing, told the Senate Finance Committee this week.

The problem is twofold: Lawmakers are preparing to spend more, and oil isnt giving the state as much revenue as it used to.

When it comes to oil, the problem is one caused by success. State tax law allows oil companies to lower the amount they pay in production taxes through a deduction based on their operating expenses.

ConocoPhillips is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the Willow project on federal land, and it can deduct its expenses from taxes it would otherwise pay this year. That makes it a money-loser for the state treasury in the next few years.

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The nearby Pikka project is being developed by another company, which doesnt currently produce oil. That company, Australia-based Santos, will be able to apply its deductions to future oil production, so even though the North Slope will be producing more oil, the state wont be earning more money.

In the state Capitol, House Bill 69, an education-funding increase proposed by members of the state House, is expected to cost at least $300 million above what the governor has proposed spending on education. An official estimate isnt yet available.

Add the cost of that legislation to already-expected cost increases, and theres not enough money to go around, Painter told the Senate Finance Committee, then reiterated his comments to the House Finance Committee on Thursday.

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Simply switching the dividend to 75-25 is not going to be enough to balance the budget this year. Youre going to have to either find other budget reductions, reduce the dividend further or explore other revenue options. You cant just do that one thing and its solved, which has worked the last two years, he said.

To date, no legislators have introduced any legislation proposing to significantly change state taxes. During the first six years of his administration, Dunleavy has vetoed every tax bill to reach his desk, and legislators have never overridden any of his vetoes.

Painter also warned both committees that the governors proposed budget doesnt include enough to keep up with maintenance at state facilities.

Alaska has a maintenance backlog of more than $2 billion, and many state buildings were built during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s. That leaves many of them overdue for replacement or repair.

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The problem may be worse than official reports indicate, Painter said, offering the Fairbanks Pioneer Home as an example.

That building has a deferred maintenance list of a few million dollars, but it also needs a new roof and doesnt meet federal standards for accessibility by handicapped people.

Replacing the building would cost $115 million, he said.

In the House Finance Committee on Thursday, Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, asked Painter what would happen if average oil prices finished $10 below what the state is expecting in the coming years.

That would widen the expected deficit by $350 million to $400 million, Painter replied.

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Have you done any modeling on the 99-1 yet? Stapp asked, jokingly referring to a dividend formula that would leave just 1% of the annual Permanent Fund transfer for dividends.

I dont even think that would cover the costs of running the PFD program, Painter said.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct date that the fiscal year starts, which is July 1.

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A proposed class action accusing Microsoft's LinkedIn of violating the privacy of millions of Premium customers by disclosing their private messages to train generative artificial intelligence models has been dismissed.

The plaintiff Alessandro De La Torre on Thursday filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice in the San Jose, California federal court, nine days after suing LinkedIn, and after the company said the lawsuit had no merit.

De La Torre accused the business-focused social media platform of breaking a promise to use personal customer data only to improve its services, by sharing customers' messages with third parties involved in AI.

The complaint said LinkedIn revealed the unauthorized sharing when it updated its privacy policy in September, and said a new account setting to prevent data sharing would not affect previous AI training.

"LinkedIn's belated disclosures here left consumers rightly concerned and confused about what was being used to train AI," Eli Wade-Scott, managing partner at Edelson PC, which represented De La Torre, said in an email on Friday.

"Users can take comfort, at least, that LinkedIn has shown us evidence that it did not use their private messages to do that," he added. "We appreciate the professionalism of LinkedIn's team."

In a LinkedIn post on Thursday, Sarah Wight, a lawyer and vice president for the company, confirmed that LinkedIn did not disclose customers' private messages for AI training. "We never did that," she said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP)  Securing an end to the fighting in Ukraine must take place with Kyiv's full involvement and come with more defense spending by regional countries to avoid any future Russian aggression, according to Lithuania's president.

Gitanas Nauseda, the president of the Baltic coastal nation, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that a settlement negotiated without proper deterrent measures would allow Russia to consolidate its forces and prepare for further aggression in the region.

Nauseda said that even when a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine, you cannot believe that the intentions of Russia will be just to stop and do nothing.

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They will use this break in order to consolidate, to strengthen the military capabilities and to strike again in the future, he told the AP in Vilnius. "And then the main question is, what will be the next target of Russia? Ukraine, maybe. Baltic countries, maybe.

Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1990, is increasingly worried about the ongoing brutal war in Ukraine and the aggression of its neighbor Russia.

Its geographical position  bordering Russias Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Moscows proxy Belarus to the east  make it vulnerable to a potential broader conflict launched from the Kremlin even after an eventual end to the war, Nauseda said.

You can never feel safe living in this part of the world, because we have this neighbor, and we will still have it after one hundred or two hundred years, Nauseda said of Russia. You always have the threat from the East, and you must be aware and take all the necessary precautionary measures in order not to be attacked.

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This is not individual country-by-country conflict," he added. "This is a challenge of Putin towards NATO."

Unacceptable if ceasefire plans exclude Kyiv

The country recently became the first member of the NATO military alliance to commit to raising its defense spending to at least 5% of its overall national economic output, as called for by U.S. President Donald Trump.

A longtime critic of NATO countries that do not spend more on defense, Trump has threatened he would not defend alliance members that fail to meet defense spending goals. While some European countries have signaled upping their spending to Trumps desired 5% of GDP would be an economic burden, other nations on the alliances eastern flank, including Lithuania, have greeted the proposal as a necessity.

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Before Trump took office earlier this month, questions over how he would engage with the war in Ukraine loomed over European countries as some speculated he would roll back the crucial military aid provided by the administration of President Joe Biden. But after his inauguration, Trump threatened to impose sanctions and tariffs on Moscow, and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to settle now and stop this ridiculous war.

Nauseda said the new U.S. administration must ensure that Kyiv is fully involved in negotiations to end the fighting, and that a resolution to the conflict should not be drawn up bilaterally between Moscow and Washington.

It would be unacceptable if the peace would be set behind the doors and without the involvement of Ukraine," he said. Ukraine paid a very high price in this war. Ukraine lost many human lives. Infrastructure, facilities and houses are destroyed. The Ukrainian people deserve the right to set the conditions of this peace.

I think that President Donald Trump understands that: no peace negotiations without Ukraine, he added.

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Suspicions over damaged undersea cables

Another security concern facing Lithuania and the region is a series of events that have damaged undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged since October 2023. Most recently, a fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland reportedly ruptured on Sunday.

NATO launched a new mission dubbed Baltic Sentry earlier this month to protect the underwater infrastructure vital to the economic well-being of the region. Although cable operators note that sub-sea cable damage is commonplace, the frequency and concentration of incidents in the Baltic have heightened suspicions that damage might have been deliberate.

To address those concerns, Nauseda said, It is time for us to show some muscle.

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NATO and the EU should take more responsibility in surveying the Baltic Sea, bringing additional maritime capabilities to prevent such incidents in the future, he said.

Some politicians in Lithuania have objected to the country raising its military expenditures, already among the highest relative to GDP in the 32-member NATO alliance.

But Nauseda said Lithuania must show that it can be responsible for its own defense.

This is an absolutely clear priority for this country, as a frontline country, that we have to spend more, he said. "Of course, we can rely on the support of our allies in NATO. But it would be naive to expect that somebody will care about our security if there will be clear indications that we are not able to defend ourselves.

___

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Netflix is cranking up the nostalgia for Midwesterners who grew up with Little House.

The streamer has greenlit a new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie, Variety reports.

The original TV series, which ran from 1974 to 1983 on NBC, was based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who spent much of her life in Minnesota. Three made-for-TV movies were also released after the series concluded.

'Little House on the Prairie'NBC

The new series will be helmed by showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine, who has worked on shows like The Boys and Vampire Diaries, a resume that doesn't scream Little House but maybe injects new life into the stories.

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Little House on the Prairie has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many fans around the world, and were excited to share its enduring themes of hope and optimism with a fresh take on this iconic story, Jinny Howe, vice president of drama for Netflix, told Variety. Rebeccas vision threads the needle with an emotional depth that will delight both new and existing fans of this beloved classic.

The new series' logline says it's "part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West; this fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilders iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books offers a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.

Netflix's series isn't the first attempt at a reboot. ABC produced a six-episode miniseries in 2005. Subsequently, Sony acquired the rights for a reboot in 2012. After that failed to come to fruition, Paramount acquired the rights in 2016 and planned a movie, which also never came together.

No timeline for a release has been issued by Netflix at this time.

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Despite their stature, Wilder's eight books, as well as a ninth published posthumously, have been the subject of criticism. As noted by Racket, the Association for Library Service to Children removed the author's name from an award in 2018 due to "anti-Native and anti-Black sentiments in her work."

"The decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder's legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC's core values of inclusiveness, integrity, and respect," the organization said at the time.

Related: Movies to see this week: Black Europe Film Festival, 'Groundhog Day,' 'Candyman'
TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN)  Whatever lies behind the razor wire and concrete walls of the T. Don Hutto Detention Center has gone unseen by local officials for the last five years.

The Williamson County Commissioners Court voted to terminate its agreement with ICE and CoreCivic, the contractor ICE hired to run the facility, back in 2018. That contract officially came to an end in 2019.

In that meeting, Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long said she was voting to terminate to hand the responsibility of complying with the law back to ICE.

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Laws and policies are the federal governments responsibilities, not the countys, Long said.

Source: Downtown Austin federal building used as ICE detention center

In the months leading up to that vote, protesters called on the county to bow out of the agreement. The demonstrators made troubling claims about unsafe conditions for the women detainees housed there.

In 2017, protesters rallied in support of an asylum seeker who was allegedly sexually abused by a guard inside the center.

CoreCivic and ICE signed a new agreement without the county that went into effect in 2020 and runs through 2030. The $264.6 million contract mostly outlines the minimum number of detainees for the facility and the budget for its detainee work program.

Facility operates without local input, oversight

During the 2018 discussion on whether to terminate the countys involvement with the facility, Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook voiced concerns that if ended, the county would lose its ability to check in on the center and its detainees.

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A stipulation of the agreement allowed Williamson County Sheriffs deputies to patrol and enter the facility whenever they wanted. Cook noted that such access found suspicious activity in the past.

They clearly have uncovered problems in the past which did result in a court case against a person, Cook said.

Williamson County confirmed that WCSO deputies have not patrolled or checked in on the center since the contract ended on Jan. 31, 2019.

KXAN gave Sheriff Matthew Lindemann the opportunity to speak on camera multiple times this week but he declined. His office gave us a statement that confirmed it has no affiliation with the facility.

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At this time, the Williamson County Sheriffs Office does not have a formal agreement in place with any particular federal operations related to immigration enforcement. However, as always, we remain committed to public safety and to enforcing all applicable laws in accordance with our mission to serve and protect the community. Williamson County Sheriffs Office

The only local agency that has a current tie to the facility is the Taylor Police Department.

A spokesperson for the City of Taylor shared a Memorandum of Understanding between TPD and CoreCivic that went into effect on June 1, 2024. However, it only allows TPD to provide backup to the center should a situation call for it.

CoreCivic, ICE stay tight-lipped on Detainee Work Program

As mentioned, the current agreement between ICE and CoreCivic outlines the centers capacity and its detainee voluntary work program.

The document says the center is guaranteed to have a minimum of 461 beds, which is representative of 461 detainees. While it outlined the work programs budget, it does not specify what work is done by the detainees in the program, just that detainees make $1 a day.

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We asked Williamson County, the City of Taylor, CoreCivic and ICE how many detainees are in the program, what work is being done and how detainees are being compensated.

The county and City of Taylor say they dont know what work is being done in the program, and specified that they do not use detainee work.

CoreCivic gave us a statement that did not answer those questions but said the program is operating legally.

All work programs at our U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracted facilities are completely voluntary and operated in full compliance with ICE standards, including federally established minimum wage rates for detainee volunteer labor. Detainees are subject to no disciplinary action whatsoever if they choose not to participate in the work program. We set and deliver the same high standard of care  including three daily meals, access to health care and other everyday living needs  regardless of whether a detainee participates in a voluntary work program. We have worked in close partnership with ICE for more than 30 years and will continue to provide a safe and humane environment to those entrusted to our care. Spokesperson for CoreCivic

CoreCivic referred us to ICE for answers about the program. ICE has not responded to our multiple requests at the time of publishing this article.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Correction: Edits have been made to reflect the correct number of homicides in Little Rock following an update from the Little Rock Police Department.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  There have been nearly 10 homicides in 30 days in Little Rock to start 2025.

We hadnt had this many coming at this pace in a little while, Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones said.

Thursday, Jones joined local organizations including Arkansas Stop the Violence, Parents of Murdered Children, and Pain to Purpose to plead for change as 4 people have been killed in the last 3 days.

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We need everybody to come together now and say enough is enough, Jones said.

Little Rock police arrest suspect in deadly Park Plaza Mall shooting

On Monday, 47-year-old Cynthia Gregory was shot and killed outside of Park Plaza Mall.

18-year-old Abdelrahmanahmed Sallam is behind bars after being accused of killing Gregory.

Sallam has been charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, theft of property, and refusal to submit to arrest.

Early Tuesday morning, police were called to investigate another deadly shooting on Stanton Road.

Parents of Catholic High teen killed in Little Rock shooting release statement

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In that case, 15-year-old John Staats was found dead inside of a car, and a juvenile has been arrested for the murder of Staats.

On the same evening of Staats murder, officers were called to a scene on Labette Manor where 19-year-old Anthony White was found dead from a shooting.

On Thursday, police began investigating a fourth homicide which left a woman dead at the Chenal Place Apartments on Reservoir Road.

Hopefully this is not a trend that continues, said Jones.

Little Rock police identify man killed in Westbridge Apartments shooting

Jones adds that crime is down. According to the police, in 2024 Little Rock saw 37 homicides. Although it may not have felt like it, thats a 41% decrease compared to 2023 which had 63 homicides.

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But despite the numbers, Jones said the youth of Pulaski County are in a crisis.

We have teenagers carrying guns, shooting at cars, shooting up houses and killing people. They say it takes a village to raise a child but as these men have said, our village has ignored this problem for way too long, Jones said.

At the press conference, proactive measures were discussed to help get guns out the hands of children.

Woman killed in deadly shooting at Reservoir Road apartment complex

Rev. Bennie Johnon with Arkansas Stop the Violence asked for Governor Sanders to pass bringing in the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to the city of Little Rock to get these weapons off the street.

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Will Jones said were trying to figure out how we look outside the box than just this happens; we go to court and this happens. Weve got to figure out a way to get with the community before the problem happens.

In the last decade, the largest number of homicides Little Rock had seen in a year was in 2022 where there were 81.

Right now, with eight in the first month of 2025, the capital city is on pace to shatter that.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Officials with the Little Rock Police Department have arrested a man they said was involved in a robbery at a convenience store last week.

According to a post on social media, 24-year-old Michael Sims was arrested Thursday and is facing charges of aggravated robbery and first-degree battery.

Pulaski County deputies investigating robbery-turned-shooting at convenience store

Officials with the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office said deputies responded to an aggravated robbery at Lucky 107 Convenience Store on Highway 107 at 7:02 p.m.

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Authorities said both a clerk and Sims were shot and taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Sims is currently being held at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
In 2008, Virginia enacted a law requiring all public institutions of higher education to establish threat assessment teams. The law was passed five years after 32 people were killed in a shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus in Charlottesville. This file photo from May 2007, shows the large memorial for those who died. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Max Schachter wanted to be close to his son Alex on his birthday, July 9, so he watched old videos of him.

It put a smile on my face to see him so happy, Schachter said.

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Alex would have turned 21 that day, six years after he and 16 other children and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were shot and killed by a former student in 2018. In the years before the shooting, that former student had displayed concerning behavior that elicited dozens of calls to 911 and at least two tips to the FBI.

Alex should still be here today. Its not fair, Schachter said.

After two weeks of grieving Alexs death, Schachter, propelled by anger and pain, began advocating for school safety. In part, he wanted to ensure his three other children would never be harmed in the same way. He joined the newly formed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to improve the safety and security of Floridas students. And he launched a nonprofit bearing Alexs name, which advocates for school safety.

Max Schachter with his son Alex. (Photo courtesy of Max Schachter)

Doing that work, he learned about threat assessment teams, groups of law enforcement and school officials who try to identify potentially dangerous or distressed kids, intervene, and prevent the next school shooting. Florida is one of about 18 states that require schools to have threat assessment and intervention teams; a national survey estimates 85% of public schools have a team assigned to the task.

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The teams, whose mission and operational strategies often are based on research from the FBI and the Secret Services National Threat Assessment Center, or NTAC, have become more common as the number of school shootings has increased. Despite their prevalence for almost 25 years, some of the teams have developed systemic problems that put them at risk of unfairly labeling and vilifying children.

States vary widely in their requirements of threat assessment teams and there isnt a nationwide archetype. Few school districts and states collect data about the teams, little is known about their operations, and research on their effectiveness at thwarting mass shootings and other threats is limited. But a 2021 analysis by the NTAC of 67 plots against K-12 schools found that people contemplating violence often exhibit observable behaviors, and when community members report these behaviors, the next tragedy can be averted.

School shooters have a long thought process. They dont just snap. They have concerning behavior over time. If we can identify them early, we can intervene, said Karie Gibson, chief of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Yet, Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist who in 2001 developed one of the first sets of guidelines for school threat assessment teams, said there have been problems. In many cases, he said, threats have been deemed not serious but parents and teachers are so alarmed that it is difficult to assuage their fears. The school community gets in an uproar and the school administrators feel pressured to expel the student.

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Virginia was the first state to require threat assessment teams in all its public schools. The Virginia General Assembly first passed legislation in 2008 requiring all public institutions of higher education to establish threat assessment teams. The law followed a mass shooting on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.

Then, in 2013, lawmakers enacted legislation requiring all public schools to establish and operate threat assessment teams in support of their schools.

And in other cases, a school doesnt do a threat assessment and assumes a student is dangerous when somebody else reports them as a threat, and they may take a zero tolerance approach and remove them from the school, said Cornell, the Virgil S. Ward professor of education at the University of Virginia.

A task force convened by the American Psychological Association found little evidence that zero tolerance policies have improved school climate or school safety and said they may create negative mental health outcomes for students. The task force cited examples of students who were expelled for incidents or school rule violations as minor as having a knife in their lunch box for cutting an apple.

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Marisa Randazzo, a research psychologist and the director of threat assessment for Georgetown University, said she has also seen hyperreactions, especially among school communities that have experienced a mass killing.

Its understandable. People who have been close to an event like this are on higher alert than other people, said Randazzo, who previously worked for the Secret Service and co-founded Sigma Threat Management Associates.

Threat assessments are supposed to be a graduated process calibrated to the seriousness of a problem, since the majority of student threats are not credible and can be resolved through supportive interventions, according to research from the Secret Service.

Stephanie Crawford-Goetz, a school psychologist and the director of mental health for student support services in the Douglas County School District in Colorado, where a shooting occurred at a charter school in 2019, said her districts threat assessment process emphasizes a proactive, rehabilitative approach to managing potential threats, as the NTAC suggests.

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Crawford-Goetz said her district interviews students before convening the team to assess whether a threat is a misguided expression of anger or frustration and if the student has a plan and means to carry out violence.

Students whose threats are deemed transient receive support, such as help with coping skills, and they may meet with a mental health provider.

If the threat is credible, a student may be temporarily removed from the classroom or school.

Randazzo said the vast majority of kids who make threats are suicidal or despondent: The process is designed primarily to figure out if someone is in crisis and how we can help. It is not designed to be punitive.

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Crawford-Goetz tells parents about her districts threat assessment team at the beginning of the school year. Some districts report keeping their teams a secret from parents, which is not how they were designed to operate, said Lina Alathari, chief of the NTAC. Her team encourages schools to educate the whole community about the threat assessment process.

Some advocacy groups contend that threat assessment teams have perpetuated inequities. There has also been widespread concern that children with disabilities can easily get swept into a threat assessment.

In a 2022 report, the National Disability Rights Network, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., said some threat assessment teams have become judge, jury, and executioner, going beyond assessing risk of serious, imminent harm to determining guilt and punishment.

Expanding their scope allows threat assessment teams to get around civil rights protections, the report says.

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Cornell disputed the disability rights groups conclusion. This has not been corroborated by scientific studies and is speculative, he said.

Some states, such as Florida, mandate that threat assessment teams determine whether a students disability played a role in their behavior and recommend they include special education teachers and other professionals in their evaluation.

In Texas, which has mandated threat assessment teams, a third of students subjected to threat assessments in the Dallas Independent School District receive special education services.

Yet, the district doesnt have a special education staff representative on its threat assessment team, according to a March 2023 report by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit public interest justice center.

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Many school districts are developing their own models in the absence of national standards for threat assessments.

Florida revamped its threat assessment system in January 2024 to improve response times, provide consistent data collection, and build in more checks and balances and oversight, said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is also chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

The new model requires the teams to work quickly and file uniform, electronic summary reports of threat assessment findings. Those results follow students throughout their school years.

The adjustments are intended to eliminate the risk of not knowing about a students past troubling behavior if they change schools, as occurred with the Parkland shooter and a student who shot and killed classmates at a high school near Winder, Georgia, in September, said Gualtieri.

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As parents, you never stop worrying about your kids, Schachter said.

Virginia mandates that all public schools and higher education institutions, including colleges, have threat assessment teams. In Florida, where one of Schachters daughters attends college, threat assessment teams are mandated in all public schools, including charter schools.

Theres more work to be done, Schachter said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
Several states require schools to assemble teams of law enforcement and education officials to identify students who could become mass shooters and intervene before its too late. But some experts say the efforts often face a lack of guidance and significant pressure, putting them at risk of maligning innocent students. (Getty Images)

Max Schachter wanted to be close to his son Alex on his birthday, July 9, so he watched old videos of him.

It put a smile on my face to see him so happy, Schachter said.

Advertisement Advertisement

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Alex would have turned 21 that day, six years after he and 16 other children and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were shot and killed by a former student in 2018. In the years before the shooting, that former student had displayed concerning behavior that elicited dozens of calls to 911 and at least two tips to the FBI.

Alex should still be here today. Its not fair, Schachter said.

After two weeks of grieving Alexs death, Schachter, propelled by anger and pain, began advocating for school safety. In part, he wanted to ensure his three other children would never be harmed in the same way. He joined the newly formed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to improve the safety and security of Floridas students. And he launched a nonprofit bearing Alexs name, which advocates for school safety.

Max Schachter with his son Alex. (Max Schachter | Courtesy photo)

Doing that work, he learned about threat assessment teams, groups of law enforcement and school officials who try to identify potentially dangerous or distressed kids, intervene, and prevent the next school shooting. Florida is one of about 18 states that require schools to have threat assessment and intervention teams; a national survey estimates 85% of public schools have a team assigned to the task.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement

The teams, whose mission and operational strategies often are based on research from the FBI and the Secret Services National Threat Assessment Center, or NTAC, have become more common as the number of school shootings has increased. Despite their prevalence for almost 25 years, some of the teams have developed systemic problems that put them at risk of unfairly labeling and vilifying children.

States vary widely in their requirements of threat assessment teams and there isnt a nationwide archetype. Few school districts and states collect data about the teams, little is known about their operations, and research on their effectiveness at thwarting mass shootings and other threats is limited. But a 2021 analysis by the NTAC of 67 plots against K-12 schools found that people contemplating violence often exhibit observable behaviors, and when community members report these behaviors, the next tragedy can be averted.

School shooters have a long thought process. They dont just snap. They have concerning behavior over time. If we can identify them early, we can intervene, said Karie Gibson, chief of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Yet, Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist who in 2001 developed one of the first sets of guidelines for school threat assessment teams, said there have been problems. In many cases, he said, threats have been deemed not serious but parents and teachers are so alarmed that it is difficult to assuage their fears. The school community gets in an uproar and the school administrators feel pressured to expel the student.

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And in other cases, a school doesnt do a threat assessment and assumes a student is dangerous when somebody else reports them as a threat, and they may take a zero tolerance approach and remove them from the school, said Cornell, the Virgil S. Ward professor of education at the University of Virginia.

A task force convened by the American Psychological Association found little evidence that zero tolerance policies have improved school climate or school safety and said they may create negative mental health outcomes for students. The task force cited examples of students who were expelled for incidents or school rule violations as minor as having a knife in their lunch box for cutting an apple.

Marisa Randazzo, a research psychologist and the director of threat assessment for Georgetown University, said she has also seen hyperreactions, especially among school communities that have experienced a mass killing.

Its understandable. People who have been close to an event like this are on higher alert than other people, said Randazzo, who previously worked for the Secret Service and co-founded Sigma Threat Management Associates.

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Threat assessments are supposed to be a graduated process calibrated to the seriousness of a problem, since the majority of student threats are not credible and can be resolved through supportive interventions, according to research from the Secret Service.

West Virginia does not have any state statutes or regulations that address threat assessment, but it is addressed in non-codified policy, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education.

Stephanie Crawford-Goetz, a school psychologist and the director of mental health for student support services in the Douglas County School District in Colorado, where a shooting occurred at a charter school in 2019, said her districts threat assessment process emphasizes a proactive, rehabilitative approach to managing potential threats, as the NTAC suggests.

Crawford-Goetz said her district interviews students before convening the team to assess whether a threat is a misguided expression of anger or frustration and if the student has a plan and means to carry out violence.

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Students whose threats are deemed transient receive support, such as help with coping skills, and they may meet with a mental health provider.

If the threat is credible, a student may be temporarily removed from the classroom or school.

Randazzo said the vast majority of kids who make threats are suicidal or despondent: The process is designed primarily to figure out if someone is in crisis and how we can help. It is not designed to be punitive.

Crawford-Goetz tells parents about her districts threat assessment team at the beginning of the school year. Some districts report keeping their teams a secret from parents, which is not how they were designed to operate, said Lina Alathari, chief of the NTAC. Her team encourages schools to educate the whole community about the threat assessment process.

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Some advocacy groups contend that threat assessment teams have perpetuated inequities. There has also been widespread concern that children with disabilities can easily get swept into a threat assessment.

In a 2022 report, the National Disability Rights Network, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., said some threat assessment teams have become judge, jury, and executioner, going beyond assessing risk of serious, imminent harm to determining guilt and punishment.

Expanding their scope allows threat assessment teams to get around civil rights protections, the report says.

Cornell disputed the disability rights groups conclusion. This has not been corroborated by scientific studies and is speculative, he said.

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Some states, such as Florida, mandate that threat assessment teams determine whether a students disability played a role in their behavior and recommend they include special education teachers and other professionals in their evaluation.

In Texas, which has mandated threat assessment teams, a third of students subjected to threat assessments in the Dallas Independent School District receive special education services.

Yet, the district doesnt have a special education staff representative on its threat assessment team, according to a March 2023 report by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit public interest justice center.

Many school districts are developing their own models in the absence of national standards for threat assessments.

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Florida revamped its threat assessment system in January 2024 to improve response times, provide consistent data collection, and build in more checks and balances and oversight, said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is also chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

The new model requires the teams to work quickly and file uniform, electronic summary reports of threat assessment findings. Those results follow students throughout their school years.

The adjustments are intended to eliminate the risk of not knowing about a students past troubling behavior if they change schools, as occurred with the Parkland shooter and a student who shot and killed classmates at a high school near Winder, Georgia, in September, said Gualtieri.

As parents, you never stop worrying about your kids, Schachter said.

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Virginia mandates that all public schools and higher education institutions, including colleges, have threat assessment teams. In Florida, where one of Schachters daughters attends college, threat assessment teams are mandated in all public schools, including charter schools.

Theres more work to be done, Schachter said.

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 KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

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A memorial at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, following the mass shooting on February 14, 2018, in Parkland. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Max Schachter wanted to be close to his son Alex on his birthday, July 9, so he watched old videos of him.

It put a smile on my face to see him so happy, Schachter said.

Alex would have turned 21 that day, six years after he and 16 other children and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were shot and killed by a former student in 2018. In the years before the shooting, that former student had displayed concerning behavior that elicited dozens of calls to 911 and at least two tips to the FBI.

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Alex should still be here today. Its not fair, Schachter said.

Max Schachter with his son Alex. (Max Schachter)

After two weeks of grieving Alexs death, Schachter, propelled by anger and pain, began advocating for school safety. In part, he wanted to ensure his three other children would never be harmed in the same way. He joined the newly formed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to improve the safety and security of Floridas students. And he launched a nonprofit bearing Alexs name, which advocates for school safety.

Doing that work, he learned about threat assessment teams, groups of law enforcement and school officials who try to identify potentially dangerous or distressed kids, intervene, and prevent the next school shooting. Florida is one of about 18 states that require schools to have threat assessment and intervention teams; a national survey estimates 85% of public schools have a team assigned to the task.

The teams, whose mission and operational strategies often are based on research from the FBI and the Secret Services National Threat Assessment Center, or NTAC, have become more common as the number of school shootings has increased. Despite their prevalence for almost 25 years, some of the teams have developed systemic problems that put them at risk of unfairly labeling and vilifying children.

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States vary widely in their requirements of threat assessment teams and there isnt a nationwide archetype. Few school districts and states collect data about the teams, little is known about their operations, and research on their effectiveness at thwarting mass shootings and other threats is limited. But a 2021 analysis by the NTAC of 67 plots against K-12 schools found that people contemplating violence often exhibit observable behaviors, and when community members report these behaviors, the next tragedy can be averted.

School shooters have a long thought process. They dont just snap. They have concerning behavior over time. If we can identify them early, we can intervene, said Karie Gibson, chief of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Yet, Dewey Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist who in 2001 developed one of the first sets of guidelines for school threat assessment teams, said there have been problems. In many cases, he said, threats have been deemed not serious but parents and teachers are so alarmed that it is difficult to assuage their fears. The school community gets in an uproar and the school administrators feel pressured to expel the student.

And in other cases, a school doesnt do a threat assessment and assumes a student is dangerous when somebody else reports them as a threat, and they may take a zero-tolerance approach and remove them from the school, said Cornell, the Virgil S. Ward professor of education at the University of Virginia.

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A task force convened by the American Psychological Association found little evidence that zero-tolerance policies have improved school climate or school safety and said they may create negative mental health outcomes for students. The task force cited examples of students who were expelled for incidents or school rule violations as minor as having a knife in their lunch box for cutting an apple.

Several states, including Florida, require schools to assemble teams of law enforcement and education officials to identify students who could become mass shooters and intervene before its too late. But some experts say the efforts often face a lack of guidance and significant pressure, putting them at risk of maligning innocent students.

Marisa Randazzo, a research psychologist and the director of threat assessment for Georgetown University, said she has also seen hyperreactions, especially among school communities that have experienced a mass killing.

Its understandable. People who have been close to an event like this are on higher alert than other people, said Randazzo, who previously worked for the Secret Service and co-founded Sigma Threat Management Associates.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement

Threat assessments are supposed to be a graduated process calibrated to the seriousness of a problem, since the majority of student threats are not credible and can be resolved through supportive interventions, according to research from the Secret Service.

Stephanie Crawford-Goetz, a school psychologist and the director of mental health for student support services in the Douglas County School District in Colorado, where a shooting occurred at a charter school in 2019, said her districts threat assessment process emphasizes a proactive, rehabilitative approach to managing potential threats, as the NTAC suggests.

Crawford-Goetz said her district interviews students before convening the team to assess whether a threat is a misguided expression of anger or frustration and if the student has a plan and means to carry out violence.

Students whose threats are deemed transient receive support, such as help with coping skills, and they may meet with a mental health provider.

Advertisement Advertisement

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If the threat is credible, a student may be temporarily removed from the classroom or school.

Randazzo said the vast majority of kids who make threats are suicidal or despondent: The process is designed primarily to figure out if someone is in crisis and how we can help. It is not designed to be punitive.

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Crawford-Goetz tells parents about her districts threat assessment team at the beginning of the school year. Some districts report keeping their teams a secret from parents, which is not how they were designed to operate, said Lina Alathari, chief of the NTAC. Her team encourages schools to educate the whole community about the threat assessment process.

Advertisement Advertisement

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Some advocacy groups contend that threat assessment teams have perpetuated inequities. There has also been widespread concern that children with disabilities can easily get swept into a threat assessment.

In a 2022 report, the National Disability Rights Network, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., said some threat assessment teams have become judge, jury, and executioner, going beyond assessing risk of serious, imminent harm to determining guilt and punishment.

Expanding their scope allows threat assessment teams to get around civil rights protections, the report says.

Cornell disputed the disability rights groups conclusion. This has not been corroborated by scientific studies and is speculative, he said.

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Some states, such as Florida, mandate that threat assessment teams determine whether a students disability played a role in their behavior and recommend they include special education teachers and other professionals in their evaluation.

In Texas, which has mandated threat assessment teams, a third of students subjected to threat assessments in the Dallas Independent School District receive special education services.

Yet, the district doesnt have a special education staff representative on its threat assessment team, according to a March 2023 report by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit public interest justice center.

Many school districts are developing their own models in the absence of national standards for threat assessments.

Bob Gualtieri via Pinellas County Sheriffs Office.

Florida revamped its threat assessment system in January 2024 to improve response times, provide consistent data collection, and build in more checks and balances and oversight, said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is also chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

Advertisement Advertisement

Advertisement

The new model requires the teams to work quickly and file uniform, electronic summary reports of threat assessment findings. Those results follow students throughout their school years.

The adjustments are intended to eliminate the risk of not knowing about a students past troubling behavior if they change schools, as occurred with the Parkland shooter and a student who shot and killed classmates at a high school near Winder, Georgia, in September, said Gualtieri.

As parents, you never stop worrying about your kids, Schachter said.

Virginia mandates that all public schools and higher education institutions, including colleges, have threat assessment teams. In Florida, where one of Schachters daughters attends college, threat assessment teams are mandated in all public schools, including charter schools.

Advertisement Advertisement

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Theres more work to be done, Schachter said.

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 KFF  the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

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Sisters PGH is the oldest trans-advocacy group in the state of Pennsylvania. For more than a decade the organization has provided services for transgender people, but under the new Trump Administration, their future is more uncertain than ever. Thomas said a series of recent executive orders has placed their mission and safety in jeopardy.

Safety is a really huge concern of mine as we roll into these next four years, said Ciora Thomas, the Founder of Sisters PGH.

For months the organization has worked to secure funding to relocate to a more accessible Downtown location, but with just weeks until their move-in date, Thomas told us theyve been forced to add enhanced security features.

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Something I needed to implement was bulletproof glass to the front [of the office], Thomas said.

Those features cost additional money, and the organization is now experiencing massive cuts to its federal funding. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that the use of federal dollars will no longer support transgenderism.

Its making me nervous about whether we can sustain that or not, Thomas said.

Sisters PGH told Channel 11 News that without the support of federal grants their operating budget will be cut in half, impacting a critical housing initiative that could force individuals out onto the streets.

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One of those federal grants directly funds a housing program for Black trans women and girls that are experiencing homelessness, Thomas explained.

Currently, through state, county, and philanthropy funding they are moving forward and said they will remain dedicated to supporting the most marginalized.

However, they say each day brings more uncertainty.

This is how they [Trump Administration] started so by the end of the year; I dont know, I dont know, but the community has been donating, Thomas said.

SistersPGH said they are now collecting donations to help fill in the gaps, https://www.sisterspgh.org/

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AKRON, Ohio (WJW)  The city of Akron is struggling with strays  dogs for which there is no room at the Summit County Animal Shelter  so the city is leaning on private rescues to help, often at the expense of the rescue.

Once we adopt a few dogs out, it fills back up almost immediately, said Greta Johnson, Summit Countys assistant chief of staff and director of communications.

Browns dome: Brook Park mayor projects when groundbreaking will start

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State law requires our Summit County animal wardens and our facility to respond to and manage stray dogs in townships, so that is our only statutory requirement. We contract with municipalities like the city of Akron to address and house their stray dogs for a fee, said Johnson.

It explicitly states that once we reach capacity, once we have no more kennels available, that we cannot accept those animals from municipalities. So thats what we are operating under most of the time, she added.

That means the citys dog wardens rely heavily on private rescues like Laura Lawsons Rubber City Rescue to help.

Nearly every available space of Lawsons Akron home is filled with cages for animals she takes in.

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Her rescue is called upon day and night to take in strays and to help wardens trap dogs when those dogs pose a threat.

If they have a spot at animal control, they will take the animals there. A lot of people say, they dont do anything. They do. There is just nowhere to take them, said Lawson.

For the dogs Lawson has taken in she provides the cages, pays for electricity to heat and air condition an outdoor kennel, for food and veterinary bills.

Because her rescue is also full, she pays a monthly fee to a nearby veterinary clinic to use their kennels. They are currently housing four dogs and three cats for Lawson.

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I dont think we are the only ones out of space. I think every rescue around is out of space, only because it is so bad. We are just out of space and when one gets adopted out, we end up with three more, so its space, said Jason Johnson, who also works for the nonprofit rescue.

Health officials: Virus that causes influenza detected in wastewater in these local counties

The problem is complex. Most all of the dogs currently in the Summit County shelter are bully breeds including pit bulls or pit bull mixes for which the city of Akron has numerous specific requirements for ownership.

The county shelter only euthanizes animals in the case of a serious health problem or if they are deemed to be vicious.

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Johnson told FOX 8 News that the shelter has not euthanized an animal just to create space there in at least 20 years.

Lawson has proposed the city adopt an ordinance that would prohibit rescues from taking in animals from outside of Summit County for at least two years. She believes that would free up more kennels for local strays.

She also believes the city needs to invest it its own dog pound.

If you have 10 empty cages at Summit County Animal Control and you have 10 dogs from the county and 10 dogs from the city, the county dogs get those cages, she said.

Council member Donnie Kammer has fought for the city to work on a solution for years and is frustrated that it remains a significant problem.

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The city of Akron is a partner to the county in many, many ways, not limited to the contract for animal control. So we have continued to have conversations with them about ways in which we can try to make this a better situation for the entire community, said Johnson. But certainly, having council look at their adoption laws in city limits would certainly be one way that we could start having this discussion. We have also discussed partnering on educating the public.

The shelter attempts to ease the burden of ownership by staging pet food pantry giveaways at its shelter.

We understand that, you know, grocery bills are high for everyone and they continue to be. And so we want to be sure that no one is wanting to surrender a pet or letting their pet loose because they cant afford to feed it, said Johnson.

The county has also reduced the adoption fee to $18, the cost of a license, hoping to find more forever homes for the dogs currently in its shelter.

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You have always got to be home or plan around when you have got to be there for the animal and it becomes costly. So educating folks on what responsible pet ownership looks like and how to engage in that properly, Johnson told Fox 8 News.

We could build another bigger facility to house stray dogs or cats but thats not solving the problem, said Ward 2 Akron city councilman Phil Lombardo.

Lombardo strongly believes a large part of the problem is irresponsible ownership.

Lets not blame it on the dogs, OK? Because I think we have a people problem moreso than a dog problem, said Lombardo.

When you own an animal, whether you purchased it yourself or whether you were gifted it, you know, thats a big responsibility, and thats a responsibility that takes years, not weeks. So, you know, at the end of the day, when that puppy has grown up, you dont just throw it outside and leave it up to the city, because thats not fair to the city, thats not fair to the county, he told FOX 8 News.

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Educating owners, however, does not help immediately create additional spaces for the overflow of strays the city is attempting to manage.

Lawson, who was attacked by one of the dogs she had rescued for the city, worries that a vicious dog out on the street could result in irreparable harm to a child.

She continues to appeal to the city to find a solution and believes it is past time to make it a priority.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
MARSHALL, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV)  Marshall First Christian Church will be hosting a dinner theater event that will make you laugh your socks off.

Frantic Family Vacation is about a wealthy Stanton family camping together with the hillbilly Hill family. What was supposed to be a peaceful trip, turned into a series of hilarious mishaps.

The event will take place on Friday February 21, Saturday February 22, and Sunday February 23. Doors will open Friday and Saturday at 5:45 p.m., with dinner being served at 6:00 p.m., and the program will begin around 7:00 p.m. On Sunday, doors will open at 1:30 pm with the show starting at 2:00pm.

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Pop-up clinic servicing members of West Terre Haute

The event is free and located at 902 N. 6th Street in Marshall, Illinois.

We are very excited to do this again this year. Its a lot of work and a lot of time that we put into it, but its a lot of fun. We get to know each other really well and its a good message to be able to do, Church member Tricia Hostetter said.

Reservations are required, and can be reserved on their website or by calling the office at 217-826-2306.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  Earlier this month, WKBN 27 First News showed you Youngstown firefighters training for possible rescues on ice-covered lakes in Mill Creek Park. But Paul Lutton, who has been with the departments ice water rescue team for years admits what divers have been doing since Wednesday night in the icy Potomac River in Washington is completely different.

Once someone goes under the ice and we can no longer see them, that becomes a dive thing, Lutton said.

Nick Catsoules is one of more than a dozen volunteers on the sheriffs dive team. He said even if victims of Wednesdays mid-air collision between a commercial jet and an Army helicopter had survived the crash, responders would have been racing against the clock to save them in the water.

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Theres no amount of training that can prepare you for some of these circumstances like what these divers are going through now, Catsoules said. The average person can last 15 minutes before hypothermia sets in in water temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees  roughly.

Local divers practice routinely wearing gear to protect them against the cold, but those trying to recover victims from the crash wouldnt be able to stay in the water long  requiring a lot of manpower.

Rotating them through, getting them back warm, getting new air tanks filled up and getting your people rotated through just to maintain your own body temperature, said Deputy Rob Hovanec, a dive team member with the sheriffs office.

Besides the cold, divers must also be watching for crash debris and fuel in the water.

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Thats kind of a nightmare situation theyre involved in. One aircraft is bad  two aircraft in current, cold, in dark is absolutely miserable, Hovanec said.

But a job, experts say, is one that needs to be done.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Emergency responders are trained for all different kinds of incidents. From water rescues along the rivers to everything in between. WPXI talked to two local experts about what the first responders in D.C. might be going through including, one man who was a first responder when Flight 427 crashed in our area 30 years ago.

Its probably the largest, most devastating scene Ive ever had to attend, said Darryl Jones.

Before he was the Pittsburgh Fire Chief, Jones spent 20 years as a firefighter in Aliquippa. The night of Sept. 8, 1994 is one hell never forget. USAir flight 427 crashed while it was trying to land at the Pittsburgh airport, killing 127 passengers and five crew members.

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Jones said, I do think about the incident that I was on and I compare them and the thing that bothers me the most is no survivors. As a first responder everything is trained to go out and save a life. "

In D.C., an American Airlines flight was headed to land at the Ronald Reagan National Airport Wednesday night when a midair collision with an Army helicopter killed all 67 people aboard the two aircrafts. The crash happened over the Potomac River - which is where water rescue crews continue their efforts.

Darrick Gerano with the Murrysville Medic One Dive Team says he can only imagine what divers in the nations capitol are dealing with.

Probably the most difficult thing would be the unknown because you cant see a lot and then once you get underwater you definitely cant see. Many different types of hazards in there in the water you know the structure of the planes, the biohazards and jet fuel, Gerano said.

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Both Gerano and Jones say crews are likely working on adrenaline right now.

When you look at something of this magnitude you have to worry about the long term hazards and a lot of these people at the end of the day they gotta go home and theyre taking this home with them. Its not just something you can shut off overnight so you have to worry about the emotional stress it puts on the rescuers, Gerano added.

Jones said, We all have a little bit of post traumatic stress and we manage it in different ways. Psychological safety is a big issue now.

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LOUISVILLE, Ga. (WJBF)  Its been almost two years since one of our local high schools implemented a unique cell phone policy.

Students at Jefferson County High School have been putting their phones in a cell phone holder when they come to class for almost two years.

School leaders say because of that policy, students now are performing even better in the classroom.

When we started the cell phone policy, we had some pushback from some of our students. We still have a small amount of pushback, but now its kind of ingrained in who we are, said Principal Carl Prescott.

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The school also initially received criticism from parentsPrescott says their main concern was their students having access to phones in emergency situations.

At each of our parent meetings and open houses, we give a steady reminder about our cell phone policy, and thanks to that and our technology around the school, our parents have definitely warmed up to it now, Prescott added.

Since students have started buying into the process, data shows an 18-point increase in language arts and math testing from last year, beating the state score by 6 points.

Prescott says the cell phone policy plays a huge role in that, along with teachers finding creative ways to keep students engaged.

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The CTA department has lock boxes. Similar to the science department, they come in, they drop their phone in the lock box, and when they finish the teacher locks the box and they have the key. P.E. and Health have their own system also. They have cell phone bins that they ordered, they drop them, and they have different numbers, the principal said.

Superintendent Dr. Sam Dasher says he and Prescott have also noticed improvements in behavior among students around the school thanks to the policy.

Prior to the policy being put in place, a lot of times students would be texting each other to meet each other in the bathroom at a certain point. Sometimes they would meet there to play, other times it would be to gamble, sometimes theyre meeting in there to fight, said Dasher. But since the installation, weve started to see that decline significantly. Kids are still going to be kids of course, but for the most part instruction has increased, and as a result weve seen those test scores go up as well.

Dasher says the policy is not only helping the students, but the ones in charge of leading them to success.

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Its a cell phone policy thats giving teachers the opportunity to do what they do best, and thats teach. We have some great teachers at JCHS, and they do a great job when theyre given the chance, Dasher said.

With different cell phone policies on the rise around the country, Dasher says this one has made a difference.

Studies say that even we as adults touch our phones 2,000 times a daythats a lot. It doesnt seem like it, but if you think about it, sometimes you pick up your phone to check the time, you scroll. What we want to teach kids how to do is, theyre not going to go away. How are you going to use your cell phone in a productive way when you leave us? Go to college, or get a job, join the military, whatever it is youre going to do in the future. Dont let that be a hindrance to do that, said Dasher.

Progress reports will go home on February 6th.

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As they will soon finish up the school year, school leaders there is still work to do, but they are happy with the progress being made.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.
MARCY, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY)  Senator Joe Griffo and Assemblymembers Brian Miller and Marianne Buttenschon were at Utica Mack in Marcy on Friday, January 31 to express their concerns with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

The bill was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2019 to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and make the state grid completely powered by renewable energy by 2040. However, the legislators have said that the act did not provide adequate guidelines for how the goals were to be achieved.

Other concerns raised at the legislators press conference included the effect on energy bills and the possibility of jeopardizing the security and reliability of the states energy grid.

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I clearly support continuous efforts to keep our communities environmentally sound, Assemblywoman Buttenschon said in a statement. However, we must also be sure that our businesses can thrive. As chair of the Small Business Committee in the New York State Assembly, I am confident that if we listen to our small business owners we can accomplish this collaboratively. They have expressed to me that they want a vibrant environment for their families and employees to live in. We must take a commonsense approach to have a balance between a productive work community and a healthy environment.

Other concerns brought up in the press conference included:

The implementation of the Advanced Clean Truck Rule. This rule went into effect on January 1 and requires all medium and heavy-duty vehicles to be manufactured as zero emission. This rule includes all municipal plows. The goal of the rule is to have all trucks over 8,500 pounds be zero-emission by 2045. However, several groups  including Utica Mack  have pushed back against this rule, saying that it is detrimental to businesses and communities.

Senator Griffo and Assemblywoman Buttenschon have introduced legislation delaying the implementation of the rule to understand the impacts it would have on industries and municipalities in the state. Miller has said he will co-sponsor the bill in the Assembly.

Regulations prohibiting products with hydrofluorocarbons. The legislators said that this new regulation will cripple businesses across the state by imposing significant costs. The National Supermarket Association has said it would cost New York grocery stores between $300,000 and $1 million to replace cooling compressors that power their refrigerators.

The electric school bus mandate. This mandate requires all new school buses purchased in New York State be zero-emission. The goal is for all school buses in operation to be electric by 2035. However, school districts have shared their concerns about finances to buy these buses, among others. Yesterday, Assemblyman Robert Smullen  who is an Assemblyman for Herkimer County  and Senator Griffo voiced their concerns and introduced legislation for an opt-out waiver from the mandate.

These regulations have created an almost insurmountable burden on businesses like Utica Mack in New York State, forcing us to sell a product that consumers do not want, and that the states current infrastructure cannot support, Tom Heiland, President of Utica Mack, said in a statement. These laws are not just hurting individual businesses, they are undermining our ability to operate effectively in a state already strained by overregulation. It has become nearly impossible to conduct business in New York under these conditions. We are committed to advocating for a practical solution. Please join us in welcoming Senator Griffo and Assemblymembers Buttenschon and Miller to discuss these issues and direct us all on ways move forward and potentially stop this law.

All three legislators have asked their constituents to contact the offices of Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie with their concerns. Their information is below:

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Gov. Kathy Hochul

1-518-474-8390

https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form (to send a message)

Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins

(518) 455-2585

scousins@nysenate.gov

Speaker Carl Heastie

518-455-3791

Speaker@nyassembly.gov

The CLCPA has placed an undue burden on our communities, businesses, and schools, all while failing to provide the necessary guidance or resources to achieve its lofty goals, Assemblyman Miller said in a statement. From costly mandates on electric school buses to regulations impacting small businesses and municipalities, the implementation of this policy is creating significant challenges for the people of New York. I did not support the CLCPA because it lacks actionable solutions and imposes unrealistic expectations that disproportionately harm rural and upstate communities. Its clear that this policy needs immediate adjustments to ensure fairness and practicality, and I stand with my colleagues in calling for changes that will better serve our residents while protecting their livelihoods and local economies.

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JOHNSTOWN, Pa.  Leaders of local organizations were still scrambling Wednesday to determine how any potential pause on federal grants and loans could impact the region, a day after a federal funding freeze was blocked by a judges order and on the day the memo ordering the freeze was rescinded.

Its a good possibility all of this will give us some serious issues, said Flood City Youth Fitness Academys executive director, Oscar Cashaw.

The community center in downtown Johnstown has a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant that provides federal funding for academic, artistic and cultural enrichment opportunities for students. At FCYFA, that includes science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes, tutoring and related programs, Cashaw said.

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FCYFA also is provided a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for an after-school food program for about 150 youths that visit the academy daily, as well as federal dollars for employee programs.

Cashaw said the back-and-forth on the freeze was a ball of confusion, but despite the complex situation, he intends to do what he can to keep the center open. He credited the support of local nonprofits, the 1889 Foundation, the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, Lee Initiatives and the United Way of the Southern Alleghenies.

The funding uncertainty was created by a memo issued Monday by the Office of Management and Budget and little clarity from White House officials following the announcement.

Federal agencies were instructed to temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders to complete a comprehensive analysis of all programs.

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The goal, according to the memo, was to advance priorities that focus on creating a stronger country, boosting energy and manufacturing, ending alleged wokeness and the weaponization of government, efficiency in government and related endeavors.

Officials in President Donald Trumps administration had said programs providing direct assistance to citizens, such as Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps, would not be affected.

The Office of Management and Budget rescinded the memo Wednesday, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to social media shortly afterward to say Trumps executive orders on federal funding reviews remain in effect.

This is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze, she wrote on X. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the courts injunction. The Presidents (executive orders) on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

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The freeze was put on hold Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan minutes before it was scheduled to take effect, due to a lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups that receive federal funding. Attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia also filed suit in an attempt to permanently stop the administration from cutting off federal funding.

Volatile day

One of the many areas that could be impacted by a funding freeze is education, including regional Head Start programs.

In Cambria County, those early childhood education programs are operated by the Community Action Partnership of Cambria County. There are 13 classrooms serving 335 children, CAPCC Executive Director Josh Yoder said.

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When news broke about the funding freeze memo, Yoder said, CAPCC management met to formulate a plan that could have meant closing classrooms and furloughing employees.

We were looking at the possibility of having to lay off 85 people throughout the agency, Yoder said. That would have been a significant impact on an agency that has 126 total employees.

Yesterday was a pretty volatile day in our world, Yoder said.

Michael Dadey, Greater Johnstown School Districts assistant to the superintendent, said the matter has caused uncertainty for school districts across the nation. Greater Johnstowns operating budget is significantly supplemented by federal funding due to low local tax revenue.

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This is a very fluid situation, Dadey said. Greater Johnstown plans to stay informed as details evolve and maintain close communication with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to understand potential impacts on their funding and operations to the school districts.

Uncertainty

Karen Struble Myers, president and CEO of the United Way of the Southern Alleghenies, said there was a lot of uncertainty about what any freeze would mean and what programs and offerings it would impact.

She said that federal dollars often flow down through state agencies before being distributed on the local level and that how the process would be affected by a freeze is unclear.

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The United Way, for example, has U.S. Department of Agriculture funding that pays for a local food resource coordinator, nutritional education, and supplemental assistance to groups such as FCYFA and the Cambria County Backpack Project.

The four-year grant was provided in 2022, and Struble Myers was concerned that a freeze could be detrimental to the program and translate to missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars, she said.

With smaller nonprofits, losing a federal source of funding is the difference between serving people and shuttering, Struble Myers said.

She said she was concerned about how a potential freeze could affect basics for people.

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All of the things you need to be a healthy community could be affected, she said.

She said the local United Way manages emergency food and shelter funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Those dollars are then provided to United Way partner agencies including the Next Step Center, the Womens Help Center, Catholic Charities and more.

Im concerned were weaponizing poverty and equity, Struble Myers said. I really think there is a far-reaching impact on basic needs.

Domino effect

Officials in Cambria and Somerset counties were also unclear on potential impacts to their operations.

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Cambria County is working to take appropriate steps to pull down funds to ensure that services continue until the federal grant freeze is resolved, Cambria County President Commissioner Scott Hunt said. Cambria County is currently identifying programs where the freeze may possibly impact county operations. We remain optimistic that the federal funds that impact county operations will be reviewed and restored.

Potentially affected services included a DNA grant for the Cambria County District Attorneys Office, domestic relations and social service agencies.

Hunt said the county was awaiting further clarification from the administration regarding the potential impact of the freeze, but he remained confident operations would be unaffected.

Somerset County Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes said a freeze could bring everything to a screeching halt. She said that in reviewing the countys budget for 2023-24, there were 19 different line items that could be affected  thats more than $16 million in federal funding.

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In addition to social services such as Children & Youth Services, a freeze would likely affect efforts to expand U.S. Route 219, Tokar-Ickes said.

Expansion of broadband internet service in Somerset County was another potentially affected area, she added.

The domino effect of that simple OMB order ... was really earthshaking, Tokar-Ickes said.
[Watch in the player above: What is Goddards Law?]

ASHLAND, Ohio (WJW)  Ashland police are investigating the shooting of a stray cat that was found dead on a womans porch last week.

Other stray cats in the area appear to have suffered similar injuries, said the woman, who told police she keeps food, water and warm shelter out for the stray cats in her neighborhood, according to a police report.

I-TEAM: Suspects indicted for gun incident outside busy medical building

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Its believed to have happened near the intersection of Elmarna and Westview avenues, according to the Humane Society of Ashland County.

The woman came to the police department on Monday afternoon to report she had found a gray-and-white stray cat dead on her porch, apparently shot in the head.

She told police she first noticed the cat on her porch on Friday, Jan. 24, through security cameras she uses to keep tabs on the cats using her heated outdoor shelter.

The next morning, the cat returned with a wound above its left eye, reads the report. She later saw the cat lying down on the porch  but it never got back up.

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She took the cats body to a veterinary clinic, where workers determined the cat had been shot in the head and abdomen, according to the report.

A clinic X-ray provided to police showed a cone-shaped, cylindrical object in the cats torso  the same shape as a pellet gun projectile, an officer noted in the report.

Who robbed Akron mail carrier? $150K reward

The woman also told police shes seen two other cats with similar injuries to their necks.

Reminder that is a felony offense to shoot any companion animal, humane society workers wrote on Facebook.

The Ohio Supreme Court in October expanded the definition of companion animal under state animal cruelty laws to include stray dogs and cats.

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The investigation is ongoing.

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  A Mahoning County Grand Jury Thursday indicted two men accused of taking part in several local robberies.

Tylin Fairchild, 31, and Shane Adams, 34, each face two counts of robbery, a second-degree felony.

Fairchild faces an additional charge of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony.

They are accused of taking part in robberies in Austintown, Liberty, and Canfield in the overnight hours of January 2 and January 3.

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They were arrested January 3 in Youngstown by city police and members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol following a chase by the patrol at Powersdale and Cameron Avenues.

The two are accused of robbing gas stations in Austintown at state Route 46 and Interstate 80 and in Canfield on U.S. 224 and Fairgrounds Boulevard.

Liberty police also said they are suspects in the robbery of a Belmont Avenue pizza shop in Trumbull County.

Their Trumbull County case has yet to be heard by a grand jury.

Police managed to catch them when they found the address of one of the men suspected of driving the getaway vehicle and waited for them to show up. When they did they were chased on foot as well as by vehicle. One of the men bailed out of the vehicle and ran down a hill before he was caught at Fifthian Street and Poland Avenue.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
SHELBY COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN)  The Hardin-Houston School District is closed for the second day in a row due to issues with water services in the building.

The school district posted on social media Thursday and Friday to report the closures.

Hardin-Houston School is closed to on-campus students on Friday, January 31st, due to water service issues within the building. UVCC, JC/MD, and parochial buses will run on their normal schedule, according to the post.

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  Cardinal Mooney High School is hosting a school blood drive on Friday.

Students and faculty have been working hands-on since they returned from Christmas break.

This blood drive is held by the schools biomedical program and is headed by the capstone science class. Students say this is the first blood drive they have been able to have since COVID-19.

The school is decorated with signs, all sharing a message of the importance of donating blood. Students were also in charge of getting people to sign up.

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The class had a goal of having 40 sign-ups, however, they cleared that goal by having around 60. Students say having blood drives is important because donating blood will save lives.

Every day, somebodys going to need blood, and it helps to know that were changing peoples lives and knowing that we can give people a better future, said Max Scott, a student at the school.

The planning process started in November after one teacher got in touch with the Red Cross, and students have been on the ground running since the start of the year.

Students say theyve enjoyed their experience helping organize the blood drive. Theyve even had many guests come into class ahead of the drive and even had a doctor come in and talk about their job and profession.

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Ive been able to enjoy this so far. This kind of stuff has always been interesting to me. Ive always enjoyed medical and all that kind of stuff, and I feel like this is going to be a big thing. We havent done this since before COVID-19, and I think being in the class to bring it back has been a big deal, said Roselyn Wade, another Cardinal Mooney student.

Students will remain busy for most of the day Friday. The blood drive will start at 9 a.m and run until 1 p.m.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
Every year, there are hundreds of thousands of victims of human trafficking in the U.S. That includes sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Channel 9s Elsa Gillis spoke with Hope Lloyd, who spent years of her childhood in a labor trafficking nightmare. Now, shes speaking out to help others.

RESOURCES: How to get help, how to help fight human trafficking

Ultimately, I feel very grateful to be given a second chance, Hope told Channel 9.

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Not unlike her name, Hope has managed to find the brighter side of life after living through a very dark chapter.

Our trafficker targeted my mom in London. She met all the qualifications of the perfect target that traffickers looked for, Hope said. She was an abused woman. She had two children, no family support, no community. She worked a couple jobs, some broken English, poor trying to support us.

Her trafficker helped Hopes mother escape an abusive marriage, then bought clothing and gifts for her and the girls, eventually offering to take Hope and her sister to Spain for an education and more support.

So, I cant imagine her being in her early to mid-20s with two girls, abused and divorced at that point, and then youve never heard of trafficking. And youre a victim yourself of abuse  that sounds like a dream, Hope said, adding that her mom thought her girls would be cared for.

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Hope has vivid, painful memories of when her mother left them with their trafficker full time. She was 8 years old.

I was shocked that she wasnt there. I just remember crying, Hope said.

For 13 years, Hope said her trafficker physically abused her, her older biological sister, and younger adopted sister. She also forced them to work  no education, no friends and little connection with the outside world.

We immediately became like house slaves. So, cleaning, cooking  she had animals, Hope said.

Kristi Wells, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit Safe House Project, said places where you might encounter victims of labor trafficking include construction sites, nail salons, massage parlors, agriculture settings, and even mall kiosks.

Safe House Project has free OnWatch Training to help spot trafficking and report it.

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Wells also told Channel 9 about a new reporting tool that could change the face of human trafficking.

Its called Simply Report and Wells said its an artificial intelligence-based program. You can find more information about the tool on Safe House Projects website.

Wells emphasized that their team will never find anyone at fault for reporting suspicious activity. We just need people to pay attention and to speak up, she said.

(WATCH BELOW: 5 arrested after undercover human trafficking sting in Rowan County)
MIFFLIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) A teacher at a local high school has been named one of the four finalists for the 2025 National Teacher of the Year Award.

Ashlie Crosson, an English teacher at Mifflin County High School and Pennsylvanias 2025 Teacher of the Year, was named one of the four finalists for National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State School Officers, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

We take pride in our Pennsylvania educators, and its exciting to see one of our own recognized in this way on the national stage, said Interim Acting Secretary of Education Angela Fitterer. We applaud Ashlie Crossons dedication and commitment to her students and school community, and we are excited to cheer her on and celebrate with her as she takes on this tremendous honor of being selected as a National Teacher of the Year finalist.

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The Department of Education said Crosson teaches Advanced Placement Language and Composition, English 10, and the elective class survival stories. Additionally, Crosson advises the schools journalism program that publishes the school newspaper and district magazine.

According to the Department of Education, Crosson will serve as an ambassador for education and an advocate for teachers and students nationwide if named Teacher of the Year.

Other finalists can be checked out on the National Teacher of the Year website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)  Its been one day since the plane crash in Washington, D.C., and many questions remain unanswered.

An Air Force pilot veteran and former FAA aviation safety inspector in central Alabama says it could be months or years before we have all the answers.

Retired Colonel Scott Grant says this plane crash could not be any more high-profile. He says while what happened is incredibly tragic, what will come from it in the end will be good.

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It changes procedures. It changes the way we do things. It changes manning level, and let me tell you, air traffic controller manning is something that I guarantee you will be looked at, Grant said. Sometimes you just have to say enough is enough, we cant do all these things in this small of a yard.

Grant says NTSB, FAA and the military will all be doing their own investigations into Wednesday nights crash. Grant says a final report might not be available for years, but some safety changes could be made much sooner.

As an accident investigator, you go into every situation like this and you start looking for the link, or the links, that can be broken next time, Grant said. If its a procedure we need to start doing, if its a part that we need to replace, if its air traffic controllers, what have you, but its something that next time that these set of circumstances come together, we will break that link and break the chain of events.

Alabama State Superintendent releases statement regarding ICE and federal funding

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Grant says Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is tricky to fly in and out of, not just because of complicated runways, but because of how crowded the airspace is.

My understanding is that the airplane came in, was shooting approach to runway 01 and was asked to move over to runway 33, he said.

Cameron Kuklick flies every week for work. Hes flown in and out of Reagan airport a dozen times.

Its a hairy runway just because you have to navigate the airspace around the White House and there is a lot of military units around there, but Ive never been nervous before, Kuklick said. I dont think Ill fly into Reagan in the next couple of weeks, Ill probably fly to Dulles if I have the option, but thats just, like, kind of a neurotic anxiety more than a rational fear.

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A handful of travelers Thursday said they were too anxious to even talk about what happened. Some purposefully chose to not read or listen to details about the plane crash in an effort to ease their anxiety. While some people had those nerves ahead of their flights, a majority of the people we spoke to felt safe getting on the planes.

This is a very safe thing. Thousands of planes travel every day. Like hundreds of thousands of planes travel every week, every month, Kuklick said. These things are global events, and you almost never hear about it.

Eric Leonard has also flown in and out of Reagan National Airport before. He says he was shocked to hear about the crash, and while its very sad, for the most part it has not given him any new anxieties.

A little bit because Im not in control, so I do a little bit, but I do understand that we have very talented pilots and highly trained people flying these planes, Leonard said.

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Kendrick Holliman says he might have a little more anxiety if he has to fly into Reagan in the future, but he says his faith in God helps him feel protected no matter what.

What helps me feel safe is the stewardess, the pilots, theres no nervousness on the plane. You know the security and everything, everything looks pretty intact, Holliman said. Im pretty aware of my surroundings.

The flight from Reagan scheduled to land in Birmingham Thursday around 10:15 p.m. was cancelled, but the flight landing Friday around 9:40 a.m. is still scheduled on time.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Just over eight years ago, the lives of Logan Cole and one small Miami Valley community changed forever when another student walked into West Liberty-Salem High School prepared to shoot it up.

The shooters plans were changed when classmate Logan walked into the same restroom, becoming his first  and only  victim.

BACKGROUND: The 2017 West Liberty-Salem High School shooting and its aftermath

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Despite his critical injuries, Logan miraculously survived.

Its weird to say Im grateful for the day, but given the scenario, Im grateful for how it played out, Logan recently told 2 NEWS.

While grateful is probably not the word most people would use after being shot and nearly killed, its the first word that comes to Logans mind.

On Jan. 20, 2017, Logan stepped into a bathroom to check his hair in preparation for a mock trial competition.

I kind of went right around the corner, and the second I turned the corner, there was a shotgun leveled at me, said Logan.

The shooter fired two shots, hitting Logan in the chest and then in the back. The shooter then stepped over Logan and went out into the hallway to fire off more shots.

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School shooting survivor weighs in on gun debate

The noise from the shots that had hit Logan had given students in the hall and in classrooms time to seek cover. Some students even fled the school by jumping out windows.

When he was out there, I kind of got up somehow and got to that side of the bathroom because I knew he wasnt in here anymore, said Logan. And then he came back in and went into the stall and started loading his gun again.

Logan found the strength to do something remarkable that possibly saved the lives of others at the school as well as his own:

He started to talk.

You know, you dont have to do this,  Logan told the shooter. You havent killed anybody yet. Like, just please go get help.

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Just down the hall, West Liberty-Salem Principal Greg Johnson and Assistant Principal Andy McGill heard voices in the bathroom. With their empty hands up, they entered the bathroom to talk to the shooter.

When we got in here, Logan was kind of on the floor, but slumped up against the wall, said Johnson. We couldnt see the other student because he was back there in the stall.

Eventually, the gunman slid the shotgun under the stall door.

Logan was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and sedated. He was transported to Nationwide Childrens in Columbus.

School shooting survivor: Honor victims nonpolitically

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To this day, he has dozens of lead pellets lodged into his body too dangerous to remove.

If his shotgun had been a few millimeters to the right, it would have shot, likely severed my spinal cord, said Logan. Everything was just so perfectly, perfectly laid out that I cant think of any I cant help but just be grateful about it.

In Part 2: 2 NEWS Lauren Wood digs a little deeper into why Logan is so grateful after such a horrific event and finds out what has happened in the eight years since the shooting, from forgiveness to planning for the future. Find out where hes been and where he is headed on Friday.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
NEW LONDON, Wis. (WFRV)  The New London Police Department is facing a growing challenge regarding the capacity for stray dogs found.

The Wolf River Vet Clinic, which had previously accepted stray animals found by officers, has informed the department that it will no longer be able to take in these animals.

North Shore Bank holds Race for the Hungry Piggly Wiggly to fight hunger in Menasha

The clinic cited rising costs and the lack of adoption as the primary reasons for its decision.

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With no other animal facilities in the area, the New London Police Department is now following a new procedure for handling stray pets.

The New London Police Department made a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, stating the following:

The New London PD has been contacted by a couple organizations. Were currently in discussions with an organization trying to work out the logistics and a contract to help with the stray animals. New London Police Department

Moving forward, officers will no longer pick up domesticated animals. If a stray is found, they will first check for a tag or microchip to return the pet to its owner. If no identification is found, the animal will be released in the hopes that it will find its way home.

How to check the status of your Wisconsin tax refund

In a statement, Lost Dogs of Wisconsin has urged the public to take steps to help manage the issue:

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Ensure pets have proper identification, such as tags with current phone numbers.

Follow leash laws. Dogs are commonly lost when left outside unsupervised.

Microchip pets, even those that typically stay indoors.

License and vaccinate your pets and keep vaccinations up to date as required by local regulations.

If your pet is lost or if you find a lost pet, immediately report it to all local law enforcement agencies, veterinary clinics, and shelters.

Advocate for responsible animal welfare policies and support pet licensing fees

As New London works to address the stray pet issue, community involvement will be key in ensuring the safety of both animals and residents.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO)  Heres a look at some of the events scheduled at the state Capitol for Monday, February 3, the 13th working day of the 2025 session of the South Dakota Legislature.

House State Affairs at 7:45 a.m. CT in room 414 considers two campaign-finance bills that would limit the amount that can be loaned to a political committee and would require pre-primary reports to be filed by all candidates for legislative and county offices.

Joint Committee on Appropriations at 8:30 a.m. CT in room 362 hears budget requests from the Secretary of State office and the Bureau of Human Resources and Administration and discusses unclaimed property with the State Treasurer office.

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Senate State Affairs at 10 a.m. CT in room 414 considers two anti-corruption bills that would make modifications to the internal-control system of state government and would modify the boards authority.

Committee meetings are also scheduled throughout the day for House Education, Senate Local Government, House Judiciary, House Commerce and Energy, and House Military and Veterans Affairs.

The Senate and the House of Representatives start their floor sessions at 2 p.m. CT. There are five Senate bills and one proposed ballot measure on the Senate debate calendar. There are two House bills and four Senate bills, as well as a reconsideration of a House bill that failed, on the House debate calendar.

BILLS UPDATE: Through Thursday, 207 bills have been filed in the House, as well as three possible statewide ballot measures. In the Senate, 186 bills have been filed, along with four possible statewide ballot measures. Monday marks the deadline for legislators to submit bill and resolution requests; Wednesday is the final day for individual legislators to introduce bills.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com.
ST. LOUIS  Thursday marks the anniversary of what is arguably the most memorable winter storm in modern St. Louis history.

The Blizzard of 82 started as rain on the evening of Jan. 30 but quickly switched over to heavy wet snow with multiple hours of thundersnow through the night. The original forecast called for 2-4 incheswhat actually fell was closer to 24 inches.

Officially, Lambert St. Louis International Airport reported 13.9 inches, which is still the second heaviest snowfall on record and the most snow in more than 70 years.

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The city was shut down for a week! Interstates were closed, and heavy equipment was brought in to move snow from the streets down to the Mississippi River.

Several years ago, I teamed up with the National Weather Service to see if our more sophisticated, much higher resolution, modern computer models could do a better job capturing the potential for heavy snow. The short answer is yes.

Minor earthquake hits Missouri-Illinois border, no damage

The new era computer models forecast 14 to 16 inches of snow in exactly the right spot. A huge improvement over the 2 to 4 inches forecast in 1982.

Despite the name, the Blizzard of 82 was not actually a blizzard.

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To be a blizzard, a storm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts to 35+ mph, visibility of one-fourth of a mile or less in heavy snow or falling snow, and it has to last for three or more hours. The 1982 storm checks the boxes for visibility and duration, but it falls short on the winds with a top gust of only 26 mph.

So no, it was not an official blizzard, but it has been elevated to blizzard status by the court of public opinionso it is more of a blizzard emeritus.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)  The Sioux City Police Department provided the preliminary crime statistics of 2024 and the four years before compiled by the departments lead crime analyst.

The police department warned that the numbers may be reinterpreted by the FBI when they create its Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The reason for the reclassification is because states classify crimes in different ways.

$100K in forged checks discovered investigating Thursday pursuit suspect

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According to the preliminary crime data, there were three murders, compared to six in 2023. There was also 66 forcible rapes, 21 arsons, and 10 kidnappings. There were also 85 robberies, 304 aggravated assaults, 399 burglaries, 270 motor vehicle thefts. Lastly, there were 2258 cases of larceny or theft, a decrease of 84 compared to 2023.

Below is a table of the crimes over the last five years provided by the Sioux City PD.

NOTE: The change of Larceny/Theft from 2022-2023 is due to the recategorizing of the offense to include misdemeanor thefts such as shoplifting and pick pocketing.

Looking at historical statistics, the release said there was nothing overly concerning. While less crimes are positive, crime trends tend to have ebbs and flows over years, with the police department saying that they view the less larceny/thefts and motor vehicle thefts as a reasonably steady crime rate.

In comparing 2023 to 2024s crime statistics, the police department said it shows that overall violent crime is slightly down, but warn that multiple factors can significantly affect crime. Economic conditions, age and demographics of the population, geography and climate, population density, citizen education, and cultural difference are such factors.

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Unfortunately, violent crime generally cannot be predicted, and police tactics and strategies only have a limited impact on crime rates, the release said.

Ones wellbeing and sense of security can be negatively impacted by the fear of violent crime. The department said that current initiatives are helping officers to identify and prosecute the most dangerous local offenders, calling it a major offender approach. This approach uses evidence-based techniques and area law enforcement partnerships to share vital evidence and intelligence. The department also works with prosecutors to help ensure that violent offenders receive appropriate sentences

Sergeant Bluff looking for new police chief

Residents can help prevent many property crimes by being diligent and taking steps to avoid being easy targets for opportunistic thieves, such as porch pirates. The police department said that it is continuing to maintain its active crime prevention program that helps educate residents. It uses public service announcements, social media messaging, and community presentations to help educated residents on how to lessen the chance of becoming a victim.

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Lord Davies of Stamford, who has died aged 80, had been Conservative MP for Stamford and the surrounding area for 20 years when in 2007, on the eve of Gordon Brown succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister, he crossed the floor to Labour.

A passionate pro-European, Quentin Davies had stayed with his party during a previous wave of defections under John Major, and caused universal surprise when he quit with a scathing attack on David Cameron. The surprise was all the greater because he accompanied it with fulsome praise for Brown, whom he had excoriated two years before as extraordinarily incompetent, imprudent and naive.

Imposing, almost patrician in manner, and rated by one Commons clerk a complete pain, Davies had been Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary under Iain Duncan Smith, and from 2008, until he left the Commons in 2010 with a life peerage, he was Browns Defence Procurement Minister.

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Prior to his election for Stamford and Spalding in 1987, (Grantham and Stamford from 1997) he had been in turn a diplomat and merchant banker; he also served on the council of Lloyds.

Davies made his name at Westminster as a trenchant questioner on the Treasury Select Committee between 1992 and 1998. The Daily Telegraphs Edward Pearce explained: He enjoys a repertory of technical tax knowledge which he deploys in a fashion as unamiable as his social contempt.

Early on, he survived a withering putdown from Denis Healey. When he suggested to the former Chancellor that the International Monetary Fund was truly independent, Healey told him: Anyone who thinks that needs his head examining.

Davies in 1996, at the time of the debate on the Scott Report outlining ministerial duplicity over the sale of military equipment to Iraq in breach of sanctions - Eddie Mulholland

He made his greatest impact in the debate in 1996 on the Scott Report outlining ministerial duplicity over the sale of military equipment to Iraq in breach of sanctions. Davies called on William Waldegrave, one of the ministers implicated, to resign, then joined Richard Shepherd to bring the Government within one vote of defeat.

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The Guardian named him Backbencher of the Year, and The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year. The Observer reckoned he had attended more Commons committees than any other MP  while also being one of the greatest recipients of free trips: he chaired the all-party groups for Germany and Romania,

During the 1975 referendum on continued EEC membership, Davies chaired the City in Europe committee, and at the time of his defection 32 years later he was chairman of the Conservative Group for Europe.

He dropped his bombshell on June 26 2007, writing to Cameron: Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda.

I am looking forward to joining another party which has just acquired a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share.

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Davies accused Cameron of superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions, adding that these qualities ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative Party to achieve.

His constituency chairman, Martin Hill, recalled that Daviess defection came as a total shock. He was a bit larger than life and a very good constituency MP, so it came straight out of the blue. Charmaine Morgan, a Labour activist in Grantham at the time, remembered him attending a party quiz night soon after. We had a whole section on the history of the Labour Party, and he got the top score.

John Quentin Davies was born in Oxford on May 29 1944, the elder son of Dr Michael Davies, a Labour-voting GP on war service with the RAF, and the former Thelma Butler. From the Dragon School and the Quaker Leighton Park School he won a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He was treasurer of the university Conservative Association, and in 1966 took a First in history.

After a year at Harvard he joined the Diplomatic Service. He was posted to Moscow in 1969, returning to the Foreign Office in 1972.

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Two years later he joined Morgan Grenfell, serving from 1978 as the banks president in France. He later complained that French labour rules had forced him to train his staff in Spanish and knitting. He joined Morgan Grenfells main board in 1981 as Head of European Corporate Finance, and after his election continued as a consultant until 1993.

Davies fought his first seat in August 1977, the Birmingham Ladywood by-election caused by the Labour MP Brian Waldens resignation to go into television. Labours John Sever took the seat with a majority of 3,825.

Ten years later, Davies was elected for Stamford and Spalding on the retirement of the sitting MP, Kenneth Lewis, holding it with a 13,991 majority.

Davies in 1996: before entering politics he had been a diplomat and merchant banker - Eddie Mulholland

In the Commons, he provoked Labour jeers by criticising news organisations reluctance to hand over film of violence in Northern Ireland to the police for fear of their crews safety. His consistent voting for free-market measures led the Adam Smith Institute to rate him, with Eric Forth, the most freedom-loving MP.

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In October 1998 Davies was appointed PPS to Angela Rumbold, Minister of State for Education. He stayed with her when Margaret Thatcher moved her to the Home Office.

He backed Michael Heseltines leadership challenge to Mrs Thatcher in November 1990; when Major replaced her, Davies urged his government not to be left out of a European single currency.

In October 1991 he was fined 1,500 on two charges of animal cruelty after a herdsman left his flock of sheep unfed. When he next appeared in the Chamber, having fired the shepherd, Labour MPs greeted him with cries of Baaa!

Daviess majority rocketed to 22,869 at the 1992 election as the local Lib Dem vote collapsed.

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After the ratification of the Maastricht treaty and Majors defeat of John Redwoods Eurosceptic challenge, he was a key figure in a fightback by the Europhile Macleod Group. He produced an openly federalist pamphlet, which was briefly blocked by Conservative Central Office in the interest of party unity.

Davies in 2002 as Northern Ireland shadow secretary, when he spent a few days living with families in Belfast - PA

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In The Times, Davies described Majors stance on Europe as a precarious straddle between opposing positions. Eurosceptic backbenchers accused him of putting Labours Chris Mullin up to question Major about Bill Cash having accepted money from the Referendum Party leader sir James Goldsmith.

In February 1996, John Hibbs wrote in The Daily Telegraph that Davies surprised his colleagues when he seized on the Scott inquiry to carve himself a niche as the official conscience of the Conservative Party. He followed up with an attack on the Paymaster General, David Willetts, over his profoundly misleading weasel words to the Standards & Privileges Committee; colleagues put this down to his not having been made a minister.

As the 1997 election neared he was seen as one of Kenneth Clarkes suicide squad, pledged to resign the whip if the pro-EU chancellor were forced out. When it came, he hung on by 2,692 votes in his redrawn constituency as Majors government was routed.

Davies backed Clarkes unsuccessful bid for the leadership, then urged the Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw to stop bringing forth an endless raft of unnecessary, bossy, nannying, tyrannical rules and regulations progressively criminalising perfectly honest and honourable activities from pistol shooting to eating beef on the bone.

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After a year, William Hague brought him on to the front bench as a social security spokesman; on his debut, he accused Tony Blairs government of shameless financial chicanery. He was soon switched to Treasury matters, then to Defence.

After the 2001 election, when his majority recovered to 7,445, Davies again backed Clarke for the leadership, but the victorious Duncan Smith promoted him to Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary. Two years later, Michael Howard dropped him and he joined the International Development Select Committee.

Davies in 2007 at the Treasury with Gordon Brown, whom he had excoriated two years before as extraordinarily incompetent, imprudent and naive - James Boardman/Reuters

In October 2008, 15 months after Daviess defection, Brown rewarded him by making him Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Equipment and Support at the MoD, in place of the former Leader of the House, Baroness Taylor of Bolton.

Within weeks he was under fire for insensitive comments after an SAS reservist commander in Afghanistan, Major Sebastian Morley, resigned over chronic under-investment in troops equipment, calling the Governments attitude cavalier at best, criminal at worst. Four soldiers under his command had been killed in Snatch Land Rovers: lightly armoured and unable to withstand roadside bombs, they were known to soldiers as mobile coffins.

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Davies told the Commons that the Government was not dismissive of the lives of British soldiers, and that it was very surprising and sad to hear Morleys claims. When he had visited Afghanistan recently all the troops he spoke to had been pleased with their equipment, he said. He added: There may be occasions when, in retrospect, a commander chose the wrong piece of equipment, the wrong vehicle, for the particular threat that the patrol or whatever it was encountered, and we had some casualties as a result.

While at the MoD, Davies chaired the Inquiry into National Recognition of our Armed Forces, which reported in 2008.

In 2009, during the furore over the level of MPs expenses revealed by The Daily Telegraph, he was reported to have claimed 10,000 for repairs to the window frames at his second home, the 18th-century Frampton Hall near Boston; his main home was his Westminster flat. He had also sought 20,700 for repairs to a bell tower before amending the claim to 5,376.

Davies stood down at the 2010 election, Nick Boles regaining Grantham & Stamford for the Conservatives. Made a life peer in Browns dissolution honours, he served on the Lords European committees before retiring in 2023.

Before becoming a minister, he was a director of the strategic communications consultancy Dewe Rogerson International and the constituent companies of the construction firm Vinci. He was a Freeman of the City of London, and a liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company.

Quentin Davies married Chantal Tamplin in 1983. She survives him with their two sons.

Lord Davies of Stamford, born May 29 1944, died January 13 2025

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McLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (FOX 44)  Family and loved ones of the Lorena mother and nurse killed in the Hewitt crash earlier this month are calling for community support.

FOX 44 News reported that 39-year-old Jennifer Ynez James was tragically killed in a multi-vehicle Interstate 35 crash on January 15th. The crash happened after a truck tractor semi-trailer failed to control its speed and hit three other semi trucks and six passenger vehicles. The crash sent six other people to the hospital with injuries. This was the day after Jamess 39th birthday.

The family has since created a GoFundMe to help support Jamess children and to cover funeral expenses. If you would like to make a donation, you can click here.

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According to the GoFundMe, James leaves behind her 20-year-old son Hunter and 14-year-old daughter Lindy. The children also had their father taken from them in a vehicle accident less than two years ago, leaving them without a parent.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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A Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York doctor on Friday for allegedly prescribing abortion medication using telehealth services to a resident of the Southern state, which has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country.

The case takes direct aim at the most common method of abortion in the U.S.  a pair of medications that can be taken in the first trimester  along with laws enacted in many Democratic-leaning states to protect providers who serve out-of-state patients.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company and a third defendant, according to court records. The defendants are charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, which is a felony.

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The indictment is among the first direct challenges to so-called shield laws that many blue states, including New York, have adopted in recent years to protect prescribers who use telehealth to prescribe abortion medication following the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

New York Attorney General Letitia James vowed in a statement Friday to ensure Carpenter and others who prescribe the pills continue to be protected.

This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American, she said. We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers ability to deliver critical care. Medication abortion is safe, effective, and necessary, and New York will ensure that it remains available to all Americans who need it.



WAFB first reported the indictment on Friday. POLITICO is not identifying the other person charged alongside Carpenter to protect the privacy of a minor.

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Carpenter is also the target of a civil lawsuit, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas, which like Louisiana has a near-total ban on abortion.

Carpenter did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through her company.

Last summer, Louisiana also became the first state to designate the abortion pill regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances  a policy that several other GOP-controlled states are looking to emulate. While the medications  which are frequently used to treat miscarriages, postpartum hemorrhage and other health crises  can still be prescribed, there are now added steps required to access them. Medical groups in the state warn that policy is leading to dangerous delays in time-sensitive care.

When the Supreme Court issued its 2022 Dobbs decision, its conservative justices wrote that it was not appropriate for unelected members of this Court to override the democratic process and set national abortion policy, and that the issue would be up to individual states in the future.

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But activists on both sides of the abortion fight have long predicted that the conflict between different state laws  with many patients crossing state lines for the procedure or turning to telemedicine providers like Carpenter  would eventually return to the high court.

When they issued the Dobbs decision, they didn't want to see more abortion cases come to them. They really wanted to send this issue back to elected officials, in particular in the states, Erik Baptist, a senior counsel at the conservative law group Alliance Defending Freedom, told POLITICO last week about the Supreme Court at the annual anti-abortion March for Life.

But now were getting these states fighting with each other and trying to undermine each other," he added. "As opposed to letting New York be New York and Texas be Texas, New York is trying to undermine Texas. So I think that's a battle that will brew.

Abortion rights supporters counter that it is Texas and Louisiana that are trying to undermine New York by prosecuting a doctor there for doing something that is legal where she practices.

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The Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine called Fridays indictment part of a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights.

This state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone, the group said.

Julie F. Kay, the organizations co-founder and leader, said shes skeptical conservative states and judges will be able to enforce judgments against providers in shield law states even if they ultimately win convictions.

She and other advocates fear, however, that cases like these will create a chilling effect and deter other doctors from offering telemedicine abortion services.

The New York courts are not going to honor that warrant. They're not going to honor subpoenas in civil claims. They're not going to take away that doctor's license. They're not going to start an investigation, she said. So there's a good level of protection for the provider.
A Louisiana district attorney is prosecuting a New York doctor and West Baton Rouge Parish mother who allegedly provided abortion pills to her minor daughter. (Phil Walter/Getty Images)

A Baton Rouge-area grand jury indicted a New York doctor and a Louisiana mother Friday on felony charges for allegedly providing an illegal abortion with drugs obtained through the mail.

It is the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which triggered Louisianas strict abortion ban.

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Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company, Nightingale Medical, and the mother of the minor in question were all indicted in the 18th Judicial District Court. The Illuminator is not identifying the mother in order to protect the minors identity. The news was first reported by WAFB-TV.

District Attorney Tony Clayton said the mother was taken into custody at West Baton Rouge Parish Jail. She had posted bond as of Friday evening. Her bond amount was not immediately available.

Prosecutors claim the mother ordered abortion medication from Carpenter, who sent it to her in the mail, and the mother reportedly gave it to her pregnant child.

The minor child was home alone, felt that she had to take the pill because of what her mother told her, Clayton said in an interview with Talk Louisiana.

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In an interview with the Illuminator, Clayton said he will be personally trying this case alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. Their prosecution involves a law approved in 2022, when then state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican, authored the proposal that makes it a crime to knowingly cause an abortion through medication.

The pregnant person cannot be charged with a crime under this law, and Clayton said he would not have prosecuted the minor in this instance.

Breaking the law carries penalties of one to five years in prison and a fine range of $5,000-$50,000. The same measure also made it illegal to obtain such drugs through the mail from out of state.

Murrill weighed in on the indictments via social media Friday.

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It is illegal to send abortion pills into this State and its illegal to coerce another into having an abortion, she said. I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law.

The crime of coerced abortion was not cited in the indictment, but the law involving that crime is what led to Louisiana becoming the first state to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The designation typically applies to highly addictive drugs. Mifepristone and misoprostol are not addictive, and both have multiple uses beyond abortion and are on the World Health Organizations list of essential medicines.

In his interview with Talk Louisiana, Clayton referred to the drugs as poison, comparing them to fentanyl, and said doctors cant hide behind the borders of New York to ship the medication to Louisiana. [Mifepristone and misoprostol are not related to fentanyl.]

To put a pill in commerce that ultimately [goes] into the mouth and stomach of a child, I believe that some folks have to answer to that, Clayton said. If its legal in New York, keep it up there. Dont do it down here.

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New York has shield laws intended to protect telehealth providers.

Carpenter is also being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly sending pills to the state, but the charges are not criminal.

Carpenter is one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine (ACT). In a statement to the Illuminator, ACT said it stands behind New Yorks shield laws.

The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes womens access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country, reads the statement. Make no mistake, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, weve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights. Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.

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This is a developing story. It was most recently updated at 8:34 p.m. Friday.
Louisville nonprofit WaterStep has partnered with a South Sudanese foundation to combat a cholera outbreak with new water and sanitation supplies.

WaterStep, which assembles handwashing stations, chlorine generators and other devices at its headquarters in the Old Louisville neighborhood, will send supplies to the county of Duk in South Sudan. Duk is home to the John Dau Foundation, an organization founded by one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan civil war.

John Dau said the need for clean water and sanitation devices is great for medical facilities in South Sudan, which have also seen a shortage of beds and medical devices due to an outbreak of cholera, a contagious bacterial disease that appears in water and food.

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"Things are desperate right now," Dau said. "As we speak, all of South Sudan is being affected by cholera, but most importantly, in the area where the John Dau Foundation operates, people are bringing in their sick relatives and sick friends on their shoulders."

John Dau, founder of the John Dau Foundation in South Sudan, talks about how Louisville-based nonprofit WaterStep is combating his country's cholera outbreak in partnership with his organization.

The new outbreak was declared in South Sudan last year by the World Health Organization. On Jan. 22, the organization announced there have been around 21,000 identified cases of the disease since October. At least 367 deaths have been attributed to cholera since the outbreak was declared.

Zac Tossou, vice president of programs for WaterStep, said the nonprofit plans to ship supplies to South Sudan in the next few days. Training on how to use the tools will be conducted virtually with the John Dau Foundation staff. WaterStep will also lead an effort to drill a new water well and replace two broken wells.

"Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in our shared effort to bring safe and accessible water and sanitation to those who need it most," Tossou said. "We are eager to combine our expertise and resources to solve this outbreak in South Sudan."

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WaterStep's supplies will travel on "Water on Wheels" carts, which contain disinfectant, a water treatment system and a portable handwashing station, among other things. Officials said its carts can store around 10,000 gallons of water.

Health Clinic staff for the John Dau Foundation treat victims of cholera in South Sudan during the ongoing outbreak in the country in December 2024.

Dau said he appreciates the partnership with WaterStep and hopes Louisville residents will "take a step" to support the nonprofit by volunteering their time or by making a donation. WaterStep is seeking $150,000 in donations for its efforts in South Sudan, Tossou said. Donations can be made on the nonprofit's website.

Founded in 1995, WaterStep responds to emergency and long-term water, sanitation and hygiene crises in the United States and across the globe. The organization has developed several patented tools, including the BleachMaker, a device capable of producing 5 liters of disinfectant in one hour.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: South Sudan cholera outbreak: WaterStep to provide water treatment supplies
(This Jan. 31 story has been corrected to fix the reference to troops in Congo to Burundian, not Rwandan, in paragraph 11)

By David Lewis and Sonia Rolley

NAIROBI (Reuters) - As Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo push south towards the city of Bukavu, they are likely to have to fight their way through thousands of troops from Burundi, ramping up the risk of a return to full-blown regional war.

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Burundi has had soldiers in eastern Congo for years, initially to hunt down Burundian rebels there but, more recently, supporting Kinshasa's army in battles against M23.

Any showdown over Bukavu, some 200 km (125 miles) south of Goma, which they seized this week, could exacerbate ethnic tensions and openly pit national armies against each other, analysts told Reuters.

Although Rwanda denies accusation from the United Nations and others that it has sent troops in Congo, it says it will do anything necessary to defend itself. It accuses Congo's military of joining forces with Hutu-led militias it says are bent on slaughtering Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda.

Burundi, whose ruling party draws heavily from the country's Hutu community, has had troops in Congo since 2021 and tensions have simmered between the two nations since Burundi accused Rwanda of masterminding a failed coup attempt in 2015.

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"Today there are thousands of Burundian soldiers who are fighting against the M23 on the front lines. Some people say 8,000, others say 10,000," said Jason Stearns, a former U.N. investigator in Congo and currently a professor at Simon Fraser University.

M23 is the latest in a series of Tutsi-led rebellions that have emerged in Congo's east since the official end of a string of conflicts between 1996 and 2003 that sucked in most of Congo's neighbouring countries and killed 6 million people, mostly from hunger and disease.

Earlier this month, Burundian troops fought a fierce battle in Nungu, in North Kivu, losing dozens of men after they were overrun by M23, four sources told Reuters.

"The Burundians have (since) pulled back to South Kivu," Stearns said. "They are among the forces that are trying to block the advance of M23 and the Rwandan army north of Kavumu."

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Kavumu, a town 35 km north of Bukavu, is home to the citys airport and hosts a number of Congolese drones and other aircraft.

A U.N. source and Rwanda's government gave similar figures for Burundian troops in Congo.

A Burundian official said the number of Burundian troops in Congo was "of this order" and said the military had received an increasing number of requests for help from Congo's military in recent years.

"Our country has also paid a heavy price, which is why we have asked our two neighbours to sign a ceasefire and negotiate," the official said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Burundi's foreign minister did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson from the Congolese army did not respond to requests for comment.

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Like Rwanda, Burundi has sought to heal deep divisions between its Tutsi and Hutu populations.

Under the peace deal that ended Burundi's 1993-2005 civil war, which killed 300,000 people, its military put in place an ethnic quota system that shared positions between Hutus and Tutsis equally.

Diplomats and experts said there is a risk that Burundian military units fighting in eastern Congo could fracture in fighting against the Tutsi-dominated and Rwandan-backed M-23.

Josaphat Musamba, PhD student at Ghent University, said Rwanda believes Burundi is harbouring Hutu rebels near their border.

"As soon as Rwanda thinks it is a threat, that becomes a threat to other countries," he said.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
When it comes to choices for his White House Cabinet, Donald Trump has had one obvious disaster: He announced former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general, and in the face of bipartisan revulsion, the former Florida congressman withdrew from consideration after just eight days.

Gaetz, however, was never formally nominated for the position  the fiasco unfolded early on during Trumps transition period  and the presidents actual Cabinet nominees have all advanced rather quickly. The vote on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couldnt have been any closer, but even he managed to gain the necessary support from 50 Senate Republicans.

For the White Houses critics, its only natural to wonder: Will any of the presidents nominees fail?

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As it turns out, two of Trumps most outlandish choices are facing meaningful headwinds, which were unresolved by their Senate confirmation hearing.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, for example, is the presidents choice to serve as the director of national intelligence, which is utterly bonkers for a great many reasons. Over the last six weeks, there have been multiple reports from multiple outlets quoting Capitol Hill sources, each of whom said the same thing: Gabbard had met privately with senators, who were decidedly unimpressed.

The Hawaiians confirmation hearing was an opportunity to give her beleaguered and controversial nomination one last boost. As NBC News reported, it didnt quite go as planned.

[Gabbard] faced tough questions Thursday from several Republican senators at her confirmation hearing over her past praise for intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and her shifting views on an electronic surveillance program supported by senators whose votes she needs. Gabbard, trying to reassure the GOP lawmakers while accounting for her previous progressive positions, struck a more critical tone on Snowden despite having held him up as a crusading whistleblower. But she declined to answer whether she viewed him as a traitor. ... [She] also sidestepped specific questions from Republican lawmakers about her views on the surveillance program that Snowden helped expose.

Asked whether her answers complicated her prospects, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told NBC News, I think there are a lot of questions after. Yeah. Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah added, I leave todays hearing with more questions than answers. Some of her responses, and non-responses, created more confusion than clarity and only deepened my concerns about her judgement.

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Soon after, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, an apparent Gabbard supporter, told Fox News that hed spoken to some of his GOP colleagues and he was worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is narrowly divided between nine Republicans and eight Democrats, which means that if one GOP member balks at her nomination, and Democrats on the panel are united against her, Gabbard will not receive the committees endorsement.

Republicans could try to bring her nomination to the floor anyway, but if GOP leaders believe there are four or more Senate Republicans who oppose her, they almost certainly wont bother.

As for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the conspiracy theorist Trump tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, his Capitol Hill testimony apparently didnt do his nomination any favors, either. As NBC News reported, the anti-vaccine activist tried to persuade Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana  a physician who chairs the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee  but ultimately struggled.

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At the end of Thursdays hearing, Cassidy said he was struggling with Kennedys nomination. Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me, Cassidy said. Can I trust that that is now in the past? Can data and information change your opinion, or will you only look for data supporting a predetermined conclusion?

During one especially memorable exchange, Cassidy effectively said hed support Kennedy if the HHS nominee acknowledged the simple fact that vaccines didnt cause autism. Kennedy refused to do so.

As is the case with the Intelligence Committee, the GOP has a one-member advantage on the Finance committee, which Cassidy is a member of, and which will vote on the nomination. If the Louisianan ends up opposing Kennedy, he will fall short (unless one or more Democrats end up backing the nominee, which seems highly unlikely).

Again, Republicans could try to bring Kennedy to the floor for a confirmation vote anyway, but there would be some procedural complexities, and if GOP leaders didnt believe hed end with the necessary votes, theyd probably just let Kennedy know it was time to stand down.

Its worth emphasizing that White House critics shouldnt get their hopes up just yet. After all, it was widely assumed last month that Hegseths nomination would be derailed by his many scandals, and 50 Senate Republicans ended up confirming him anyway.

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That said, more than a month passed between Hegseths apparent collapse and his confirmation vote. Gabbard and Kennedy, meanwhile, dont have the luxury of time. Watch this space.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
JD Vance sat down with CBS Newss Margaret Brennan for his first on-air interview as vice president, and the Face the Nation host reminded her guest of a contentious issue. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week condemned some of Donald Trumps executive orders, most notably the administrations new policy on allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to enter houses of worship, and Brennan pressed the Ohio Republican for his reaction.

Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school? the host asked.

At this point, Vance had a few options. He couldve said he respectfully disagreed with Catholic leaders concerns. He also couldve tried defending the administrations approach on the merits.

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But the vice president  the first Republican Catholic ever to serve in this office  instead went after the administrations detractors in a surprisingly pointed way. I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? Vance replied.

As The Washington Post reported, the comments did not go unnoticed.

With his criticism of U.S. Catholic bishops for supporting immigrants, Vice President JD Vance has reignited years of GOP attacks on the Catholic Church as both sides navigate an issue that has divided the nation and the faithful. Catholic leaders expressed dismay after Vance, who is Catholic, questioned whether the churchs substantial, decades-long work with migrants is driven by a desire for money.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York hosts his own program on SiriusXM and told listeners, in reference to Vance, I was really disappointed with what he said. ... I dont mind telling you, somewhat hurt. This was not only harmful, this was inaccurate.

Dolan  whom the public mightve seen delivering prayers at both of Trumps inaugurations  went on to say, again referring to the vice presidents on-air comments, Thats just scurrilous. Its very nasty. And its not true. You want to come look at our audits, which are scrupulously done? You think we make money caring for the immigrants? Were losing it hand over fist.

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The Posts report also noted that John Carr, the former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops office on social justice efforts, said Vances criticisms showed an unprecedented lack of respect for the work of the Catholic community, lack of restraint in promoting false and outrageous claims that the Church does this for the money and promotes human trafficking, and a lack of knowledge of Catholic teaching and ministry with refugees.

Carr added, It seemed like an effort to intimidate instead of a call to seek the best way forward.

To date, the vice president has not made any public effort to walk back what he said to CBS. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
A crew digs a ditch on 24th Street in the Heights on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 in Houston. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied Houstons motion to appeal a longstanding lawsuit requiring the city to spend hundreds of millions on street and drainage projects. Karen Warren/Staff photographer

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied Houstons motion to appeal a long-standing lawsuit requiring the city to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on street and drainage projects.

Friday's ruling could add yet another financial challenge to a strained city budget. Officials are already dealing with a ballooning $230 million budget shortfall, and officials have yet to put forth a plan for how to pay for its firefighters settlement, which resulted in $650 million worth of back pay.

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Mayor John Whitmire wrote in a statement Friday afternoon that he didn't disagree with the ruling's premise and said the city would comply with the court's decision.

"Public safety and infrastructure have always been my priorities and the reason I ran for mayor," Whitmire wrote. "I was aware of the pending lawsuit from 2019 that I would inherit, and I knew it would impact our budget. This will allow us to collaborate with other levels of government and require a continued examination of all city operations to find cost savings, which is part of my commitment to eliminate waste, duplication, and corruption. Lets go to work.

Controller Chris Hollins warned officials in July about the "big potential expense" that could fall on the city should it lose the lawsuit. He estimated at the time that the city would have to immediately pay anywhere from $110 million to $120 million.

Whitmire's first budget put around $135 million toward streets and drainage, a figure plaintiffs say should be around $100 million more based on the charter.

"We have to be clear about in the instance that if we were to lose that lawsuit  which weve now lost twice in a row on it  how we cover that for the current fiscal year, Hollins said at the time.

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In a statement late Friday evening, Hollins wrote the ruling was "not unexpected" and served as a "major blow" to the city. What was once a $230 million budget deficit was now somewhere in the neighborhood of $340 million, with Houston now expected to put an additional $100 million a year toward streets and drainage, Hollins added.

"As such, city government will be under pressure to consider painful cuts to essential services or find new sources of revenue," Hollins wrote. "Now, more than ever, this administration needs to make public its plan for how it will close the budget gap, including paying for the increased spending approved this year. Our credit rating agencies  who had already lowered their outlook for Houston from stable to negative after our most recent budget process  are watching. I will do everything I can to work with this administration to soften the blow on our most vulnerable citizens.

The lawsuit was kicked off by a pair of engineers who helped pass a charter amendment requiring the city allocate about a fifth of its property taxes, or 11.8 cents per $100 of taxable value, toward street and drainage projects every year. It also added a $5 charge to Houstonians water bills to help supplement projects.

The rules in the charter amendment, though, were not necessarily followed as written.

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As the city hit its revenue cap in 2016, leaders had to start collecting less in property taxes, and the plaintiffs alleged that officials shortchanged the drainage fund. The city would have put $420 million more toward street and drainage over the last 10 years had officials stuck to the formula in the charter.

The engineers who spearheaded the charter amendment eventually took the city to court, which resulted in a yearslong back and forth that took the case to the 14th Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court numerous times.

Houstons most recent motion to appeal was filed in September, and served as an attempt by the city to stave off any potential financial consequences of a denial by the supreme court until the city's next budget cycle.

Bob Jones, one of the engineers who filed the lawsuit against the city, said Friday that he shouldn't have had to file it in the first place. He was pleased though, that the courts had ruled with them and determined Houston needed to correct a wrong with the funding.

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"I'm happy that this is saying they were doing it wrong, and they've got to do it right," Jones said. "My interest is in getting streets and drainage facilities in the city of Houston fixed. That was the motivation to start with, and this will put more money into the kitty so the city can do a better job than what it's doing right now."
On 30 January Ecuadors Presidentsigned a decree designating the transnational organised crime group Tren de Aragua as a terrorist group.

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On Wednesday night, American Eagle Flight 5342 collided midair with an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 67 people. About a half-day later, Donald Trump addressed the tragedy in the White House press briefing room.

What shouldve been a straightforward exercise  update the public and extend his sympathies  proved too challenging for the Republican president. While the recovery effort was ongoing in the Potomac River, and first responders pulled victims of the crash from the water, Trump decided to blame the disaster on Joe Biden. And Barack Obama. And Pete Buttigieg. And the FAA. And unnamed pilots. And perhaps most importantly, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs within the government.

To be sure, the president had no idea what he was talking about. The investigation was just getting started; he had few relevant facts; and he didnt even try to substantiate his rantings with evidence. But as families mourned, Trump used his White House platform to put on an ugly, partisan, cheap and racist show.

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It was, by any fair measure, obscene.

And then he kept the depravity going. Hours after his display in the briefing room, the president signed an executive memorandum in the Oval Office, which claimed the crash follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration.

In what way were the Democratic administrations policies likely illegal? Trump didnt say. He never does. On the contrary, the Republican has spent years using the phrase likely illegal as a synonym for stuff I dont like.

Asked by a reporter about whether he intends to visit the site of the tragedy, the president responded with sarcasm.

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Complicating matters for Trump, his posturing and finger-pointing wasnt just crass, it was also badly at odds with reality. The New York Times published a fact-check report on the presidents comments, highlighting a series of claims that were plainly false. The Washington Post published a related piece, noting that Trumps current complaints were attacking the policies adopted by his own administration during his first term.

I wont pretend to have any special insights into why the president behaved this way in the immediate aftermath of a deadly disaster. Its possible, for example, that Trump simply has one playbook, and he responds to every tragedy with the same blame-everyone-but-me tactics.

Its also possible that Trump is hoping to distract the public with nonsense, hoping that people wont notice that he waited until after the crash to appoint a new FAA director and gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee immediately after his inauguration.

Whatever his motivations, theres no reason to believe the president will improve anytime soon. The morning after his revolting antics, Trump turned to his social media platform to make yet another assessment of the disaster thats still being scrutinized.

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The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot, the Republican wrote. It was far above the 200 foot limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it???

Its going to be a long four years.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON)  For the first time since he murdered 8-year-old Madyson Maddy Middleton in Santa Cruz a decade ago, Adrian AJ Gonzalez took the stand this week and testified in front of a jury.

The convicted killer recalled in horrifying detail about why, at the age of 15, he decided to rape and kill his young neighbor in their apartment complex at the Tannery Arts Center. Gonzalez testified slowly as he gave carefully worded, matter-of-fact answers to jurors.

Santa Cruz County jurors will decide whether the 25-year-old man will be granted freedom. He has remained in custody ever since his arrest in 2015. Because he was convicted as a juvenile in California, he is eligible to be released. Prosecutors are attempting to prove at trial that he is too dangerous.

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On Thursday afternoon, his defense attorney asked Gonzalez to explain what happened on July 26, 2015, when Maddy was last seen alive in the Tannerys courtyard. Gonzalez said his mother brought home groceries, including ice cream, before she left their apartment to go to work.

Madyson Maddy Middleton

Gonzalez said his plan was to find Maddy in the courtyard, tell her he had ice cream, and convince her to follow him back to his mothers empty upstairs apartment.

Defense attorney Charlie Stevens asked, When did you get the idea? Gonzalez answered, That day.

Stevens asked, You were intending to lure her back up? Gonzalez answered, I would not use the word lure. My goal was  having sex with her.

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Stevens asked, Did you think she was going to agree? Gonzalez answered, No. She was 8 years old. I was 15. I was more than twice her size.

Maddy Middletons killer lied to psychologist hoping for freedom, prosecutor says

Stevens asked, What happened when you got inside your apartment?

Gonzalez said, She was serving herself (ice cream) on the kitchen counter. I had the duct tape in my hand. I grabbed her, picked her up, put duct tape on her mouth. She was screaming, resisting. She was kicking her legs, trying to get up, and trying to fight back. I had my hand on her mouth and neck to choke her. Im testifying to my memory as I sit here today.

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After the sexual assault, I decided to kill Madyson because I wanted to hide what I had done to her, Gonzalez told jurors.

The defense attorney asked, So, you thought that raping her would be worse than killing her?

Gonzalez answered, I wasnt thinking about what was worse, or what was better. A lot of it wasnt thinking, it was just reacting. I put her in the garbage that we had in the apartment to hide her body. I grabbed a knife in the kitchen to stab her in the neck. I knew that she was a person and she was suffering. I knew the decision I made  was because of my own self interest.

Adrian AJ Gonzalez (File Photo By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

He turned on a CD player and played music until the girl died. How did you feel? Stevens asked. Gonzalez answered, I cant remember any specific feeling or emotion.

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Gonzalez said he cleaned up the apartment before he walked to his friends apartment at the Tannery and gave him a birthday present. I went over to his apartment with a birthday gift. I was talking with him. And then we went out to Chipotle, he testified.

Stevens asked, You casually walked over to your friends apartment?

Yeah, Gonzalez answered.

Gonzalez admitted that he wanted to get away with murder. He joined a police and community search effort and pretended to look for the missing girl. Gonzalez testified that he had hidden her body inside a recycling dumpster in his apartment complex. Detectives arrested him quickly after finding the body.

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Maddys family members and Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell listened in silence from the courtroom gallery.

Gonzalez has been on the stand for three days. On Wednesday, most of his testimony focused on his neglected childhood, as well as his teenage years when he struggled with depression, rejection, and suicidal thoughts.

In eighth grade, he spent many nights alone in his mothers apartment while she stayed at her boyfriends house. Id stay at the Tannery by myself without a lot of supervision. As a teenager, it felt good to not have a parent around  freedom to do whatever I wanted, Gonzalez testified.

He attended Shoreline Middle School and Santa Cruz High School. Gonzalez said he had friends at school and at the Tannery. He enjoyed playing the piano in SCHSs jazz band, his ceramics class, going to yo-yo competitions, and riding his skateboard.

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Gonzalez testified, There were girls in class that I did have a crush on. I shared my feelings with them. They didnt feel the same way. When he was rejected by girls, it felt like a big deal, he said.

The defense attorney asked, When did you first have suicidal thoughts?

Gonzalez answered, In eighth grade. It got worse by the time I got to Santa Cruz High.

Gonzalez said he began feeling less depressed after he was arrested for murder and received therapy sessions in juvenile hall. During his years in custody, he earned a high school diploma from the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. In Sonoma Countys juvenile hall, he completed enough college-level courses to be admitted into San Francisco State University. At a 2024 hearing, attorneys said if Gonzalez was freed from custody, he planned to live in San Francisco and attend classes on campus at SFSU.

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Superior Court Judge Denine Guy is presiding over the trial. Gonzalezs testimony will resume Friday morning.

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CHICAGO  The jurors in the landmark racketeering trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime confidant deliberated for their first full day Thursday without reaching a verdict  though they should be all set on office supplies.

The jury of eight women and four men resumed deliberations at 9 a.m. and left the courthouse at 4:40 p.m., putting their total deliberation time at about nine hours since getting the case Wednesday afternoon.

Under their self-imposed schedule, the panel will return for more discussion at 10 a.m. Friday and call it a day at 3 p.m.

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So far the only communication from the jurors has been about scheduling  and office supplies. Shortly before noon Thursday, they sent a note to the judge asking for more highlighters, sticky notes and white-out.

That followed requests on Wednesday for more pens and highlighters and tape as well as at least five more copies of the indictment.

Apparently there is some kind of arts and crafts going on back there, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey quipped after reading the Thursday note. When another message from the jurors arrived later in the day, the judge joked that it would be a red flag only if they start asking for pipe cleaners and macaroni.

The panel was sent back to deliberate at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday after attorneys presented roughly 27 hours of closing arguments this week and last. Jurors will have to consider 23 counts against Madigan alleging an array of schemes to enrich his political allies and line his pockets. McClain is charged in six of those counts.

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To assist their deliberations, jurors have about 100 pages of legal instructions, dozens of undercover recordings, and hundreds of emails, texts and other documents entered into evidence.

The trial dragged on significantly longer than expected. It began with jury selection in early October and was slated to wrap up before Christmas. But unexpected witness change-ups, lengthy legal arguments and Madigans choice to testify on his own behalf  among other factors  kept proceedings going for nearly four months.

The panel, which was selected anonymously, also announced they had elected Juror 16 as their foreman, a white man who appears to be in his 40s or 50s who said during jury selection he was born and raised in Chicagos 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side, where he still lives.

Madigan, 82, of Chicagos Southwest Side, was for decades the most powerful man in Illinois politics, reigning over the state Democratic party and setting a national record for longest-serving speaker of a state house. His co-defendant, Michael McClain, 77, is a retired lobbyist from downstate Quincy who acted as Madigans right-hand man.

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In addition to alleging plans to pressure developers into hiring Madigans law firm, the indictment accuses Madigan and McClain of bribery schemes involving ComEd and AT&T Illinois, where the utilities allegedly funneled payments through do-nothing subcontracts to a handful of the speakers closest allies.

At the beginning of the case, prosecutors told the jury that the trial was about corruption at the highest levels of state government, where Madigan and McClain schemed to leverage the speakers power for profit, both for himself and his associates.

That theme continued to the end, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu showing the jury Wednesday a handwritten note McClain wrote to Madigan in 2016, telling the speaker that Illinois was a better place because he had his hand on the rudder.

And that was true  Mr. Madigan did have his hand on the rudder of the state, Bhachu said. He also had something else in his hand. He had the trust that was placed in him by each and every member of the public. Mr. Madigan abused that trust. He lost his way. He was blinded by profit, by power, by his desire to stay in power.

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Madigans attorneys, meanwhile, argued prosecutors failed to show the former speaker ever acted with corrupt intent.

Mike Madigan was not part of any racketeering enterprise, defense attorney Daniel Collins said near the end of his closing argument. He was a public official who did his best. Hes made some mistakes, but hes always tried to build consensus, to collaborate. Thats who he was. Thats who he tries to be.

McClain attorney Patrick Cotter, meanwhile, argued on Tuesday his client was a diligent  if sometimes blunt and earthy  lobbyist who never agreed to or knew about any bribery scheme.

He only ever acted out of a commitment to his clients and a true respect for Madigan, Cotter said.

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Did this very real, very unique and  I would submit based on the overall evidence in this case  very decent human being actually have the intent to engage in a conspiracy to bribe the person he thought of as his closest friend? Cotter asked.

_____
A transgender soldier has been forced to deny that she was the pilot of the helicopter that fatally collided with a jetliner after she was falsely accused by social media users.

Jo Ellis, who is an Army Black Hawk pilot, confirmed in a video posted to Facebook that she is alive and had no involvement in the tragic Wednesday night crash near Washington, D.C. that claimed 67 lives.

Ellis involvement was alleged by a number of social media posts that cited no evidence and blamed her transgender identity for the incident. Many of the posts came from explicitly pro-MAGA accounts.

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Over the past two days, President Donald Trump and his allies have argued that Democrat-instituted DEI policies were in part responsible for the crash.

Interesting morning, Ellis said in the Facebook video. I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They dont deserve that. I dont deserve this.

Know that Im alive and well, and this should be sufficient to end all the rumors, Ellis added.

Proof of life and statement Posted by Jo Ellis on Friday, January 31, 2025

Although its not clear where the rumor originated, it picked up so much traction on Friday morning that it was covered in the international press.

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One X post accusing Ellis, which came from user @MikeDePorch45, whose profile photo features Trumps silhouette, read, So now were learning that the Pilot/Co-Pilot female who was on the Blackhawk is actually a transgender who wrote a long letter ONE DAY PRIOR about Gender dysphoria and depression.

Jo Ellis has also been making radical statements about Trump on social media, the post read.

So now were learning that the Pilot/Co-Pilot female who was on the Blackhawk is actually a transgender who wrote a long letter ONE DAY PRIOR about Gender dysphoria and depression.



Identified as Chief warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis served in the Virginia National Guard for pic.twitter.com/XDvSQ9Ebwv  Mike DePorch  (@MikeDePorch45) January 31, 2025

It also suggested that the incident could have been a suicide mission and asked, How are they going to cover this up?

It was viewed almost 160,000 times.

Another post pushing the lie was viewed more than 500,000 times before it was deleted shortly after Ellis spoke out.

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So it turns out the pilot of the blackhawk helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight killing everybody onboard was a transgender pilot, Josiah Ellis, or Jo Ellis was the pilot of the Blackhawk, wrote user @brijoyce. He tried to take out 3 other passenger planes before the crash.

The Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. / Handout / Getty Images

Many of the posts referenced an article Ellis wrote on the site Smerconish.com a day before the crash. It reflected on Ellis journey from being a self-described conservative before re-thinking her political beliefs and transitioning in 2023.

According to the article, Ellis joined the Virginia Army National Guard in 2009. She deployed to Iraq in 2011, and earned an Air Medal for her achievements as a helicopter gunner.

Although she had felt uncomfortable with the gender she was assigned at birth as early as the age of five, Ellis only transitioned two years ago, while in the military.

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In 2024 I came out to my unit and started presenting publicly as a woman, she wrote. Once again, I was met with overwhelming support from my unit at large. For obvious reasons, I was nervous Id be unwelcome or make other females feel uncomfortable with my presence in the barracks, restrooms, etc. Many female soldiers in my unit offered their support. Some even went out of their way to make me feel comfortable in their space.

Ive served in the same unit for 15 years, she added. I want to serve at least 15 more. I love my state and I love my country.

Ellis hope to continue serving her country may be difficult however after Trump issued an executive order on Monday night to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military. A group of soldiers have already challenged the ban, saying it violates the constitutional rights of transgender people.

On Friday, Trump, joined by Elon Musk, has continued to push the narrative that DEI policies were to blame for the crash.
TOPEKA (KSNT)  The next generation of mail delivery vehicles are rolling into Kansas this year and may be spotted in a neighborhood near you.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced in October last year it would be modernizing its fleet of mail delivery vehicles with the arrival of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV). The new trucks are highlighted as being zero-emission and battery electric, providing for more environmentally-friendly deliveries nationwide.

Tara Jarrett with the USPS told 27 News the agency has deployed more than 670 new delivery vehicles in Kansas. This includes eight of the NGDVs and 26 electric Ford E-Transits in the Topeka area alone.

(Photo Courtesy/USPS)

What new shops might move into West Ridge Mall in Topeka?

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USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said these new electric vehicles will provide numerous benefits to the agency and its workers. He also said the addition of these new vehicles demonstrates that electrification and sustainability efforts can coexist with each other.

These new vehicles are enhancing safety for our employees, improving our capabilities to deliver on time and modernizing our operations, DeJoy said. Our team deserves the best equipment as they work to serve 167 million addresses across the nation. The introduction of these new vehicles aligns with our operational strategy and financial health, setting us up for a future of improved service across the nation.

The USPS earlier announced plans in December 2022 that it would acquire more than 100,000 new vehicles, along with at least 66,000 battery-electric delivery vehicles. This is part of the Postal Services 10-year Delivering for America Plan.

Major I-70 work starts soon in Topeka, what to know

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The Germans have what they call a Brandmauer, a firewall in their politics. It is supposed to ensure that all democratic parties unite to keep out far-Right ones.

This week, the firewall was breached. In the German parliament, a motion calling for an end to illegal immigration was passed. This was made possible only by the fact that the far-Right AfD voted with the conservative Christian Democrats. (A comparable vote on asylum failed on Friday.)

This event shows how extremely rigorous the firewall doctrine is. The immigration motion and the asylum law were the creation, not of the AfD, but of the moderate Christian Democrats, who hope to win the coming general election. The only sin the Christian Democrats committed was to try to carry their policies with the help of AfD votes. The mere fact that a far-Right party supports something a mainstream party does is enough for firewallers to accuse that mainstream party of being anti-democratic.

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It should be said that the firewall idea is, for Germany, understandable. In 1933, Zentrum, the conservative Catholic party, backed the Nazis Enabling Act in the Reichstag. This gave Hitler the parliamentary supermajority he needed to rule as a dictator. There were no further elections. The rest is history, of the darkest possible kind. No wonder the Germans ponder this carefully.

But, as a rule, there should not be firewalls in parliamentary democracies. In Berlin once upon a time, there was a real wall. The longing for a unified national democracy brought it down. Except in dire emergency, the wishes of voters at the ballot box should find expression in the way a country is governed. If they are not, those voters are driven to extremes. Then those extremes grow and the attempt to suppress them becomes conspicuously anti-democratic.

France is now all but ungovernable because the legitimate, but high-handed President Macron lost to the extremes the electoral mandate which he had unwisely called a special election to renew.

In Britain, we have paid a high price for the informal equivalent of the firewall. Whenever mainstream parties agree on a major issue, they in effect conspire against the public. Democracy suffers because there is inadequate scrutiny. Public disillusionment ensues.

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On June 9 2008, under a Labour government, only five MPs opposed the second reading of the Climate Change Act. The three main parties agreed to it, almost without debate. Yet that measure has had vast consequences, imposing heavy, ongoing and rising expense upon British citizens and businesses. The Act also invented an independent permanent Committee on Climate Change which tries to dictate policy regardless of which party is in power.

Pursuant to the 2008 Act  this time under a Conservative government (Theresa Mays in 2019)  a binding net zero emissions target for 2050 was imposed by ministerial fiat. Today the expense of compliance is helping to kill the economic growth that Rachel Reeves desires. Again, the cross-party firewall kept debate at bay.

Another example is Britains membership of what ultimately became the European Union. From 1973 entry onwards, Labour and Conservative governments policies about EEC/EU membership and development, e.g. creating the single currency, were pretty much the same. Party rebels were severely punished. When Margaret Thatcher herself became a rebel against the cross-party consensus, her senior colleagues got her out. When the largest vote in British history chose Brexit in 2016, all three main political parties opposed it.

Yet another example is mass immigration. Although the two main parties have often made a show of difference here  with Labour accusing the Tories of racism and Tories attacking Labour for laxity  the reality has been that both parties, when in office, have largely endorsed the doctrines of multi-culturalism and the Treasury orthodoxy that economic growth can come only from immigrants. The noise of anyone trying to object has been muffled by the firewall.

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The classic firewall case is that of the Equality Act of April 2010 (itself based on four EU Equal Treatment Directives), which replaced the common freedoms of all citizens with the concept of protected characteristics, such as race, disability or sexual orientation. It was passed in the dying days of the Brown administration. The Conservative-led coalition which arrived the following month zealously promoted the law it had inherited.

The Equality Act is the chief progenitor of the diversity, equity and inclusion industry which has created so much ill feeling and litigation in the workplace. It undermined the idea of appointment by merit and provoked bitter divisions about race and gender/sex. In the absence of a healthy debate among elected politicians, a new sect of human rights lawyers claimed jurisdiction. One of them is now our Prime Minister.

Again, no mainstream party raised serious objections at the time. Kemi Badenoch is the first mainstream party leader to address these issues head-on. It is not a coincidence that Reform rose out of the Brexit Party as public frustration about such questions grew.

It is also not a coincidence that the Civil Service, public bodies and big corporations used the democratic vacuum to create their own culture of diversity, equity and inclusion which means, in practice, uniformity, unfairness and cancellation.

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Bureaucracies  public-sector, private-sector, charitable-sector, universities  could hide behind the firewall of mainstream party unanimity to impose a soft dictatorship on employees and customers. NatWest, that bastion of capitalism, was revealed to have withdrawn an account from Nigel Farage not because of his credit rating, but because of his politics.

Hence the growth of the phrase, You cant say that, often used by the young to warn their politically incorrect parents, or by those same parents expressing private frustration. Free speech has been attacked not by a law which honestly, if disgustingly, proclaims, We hereby abolish free speech, but by the gradual creation of a language police, often promoted by pressure groups, such as Stonewall, which thrive on official encouragement and suffer little political check. Even pronouns have come under official control.

Here is a relatively minor example of linguistic interference in my own trade. According to our press regulator, IPSO, heeding advice from the Samaritans, we are not supposed to describe a person as having committed suicide. The reason, apparently, is that the phrase implies that suicide is a crime. I dont think it does: people commit adultery, after all, and nobody (except sharia fanatics) thinks that should be a crime, as opposed to a wrong. But if the phrase committing suicide does carry the implication that suicide is a bad idea, what is wrong with that? And why shouldnt journalists, right or wrong, be free to make up our own minds?

Some will agree that free speech needs protection but argue that some matters are so sensitive that certain views about them should not be publicly expressed. I cannot say that this is never true: sometimes considerations of civil peace or threat must weigh heavily. For example, it is right that critics of Israel in Gaza should be allowed to demonstrate their views in public, but wrong that they should be allowed to mass outside a synagogue to do so.

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Nevertheless, the overall effect of the firewall is to diminish freedom and therefore democracy. It also has another effect which is too little considered. It causes so much anger that the language surrounding many sensitive subjects is coarsened. If wokes suppression of normal opinion in the United States, for example, had not become so demented and so often enforced by oppressive laws, would Donald Trump have won his second term?

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After a bruising round of confirmation hearings this week that left Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation in doubt, the nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services declared in a written statement to senators on Friday that, if confirmed, he will divest his financial stake in an ongoing civil lawsuit against a vaccine manufacturer.

Kennedys commitment to walk away from the potential windfall is a major reversal for the nominee, who in his ethics plan submitted to federal officials earlier this month told lawmakers he was entitled to those proceeds so long as the U.S. government wasnt involved.

Democrats had seized on Kennedys financial stake in the lawsuit, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., warning that he could use his perch in government to make it easier for lawyers  including himself  to sue vaccine manufacturers and drug makers in court.

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The lawsuit alleges marketing fraud against pharmaceutical company Merck for its HPV vaccine, Gardasil, which Merck denies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that the vaccine has been proven safe, with more than 160 studies finding no concerns.

PHOTO: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

MORE: RFK Jr. says hes not anti-vaccine. But he could profit off claim in vaccine lawsuit.

Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it, Warren said at Kennedys confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy will keep cashing in, she added.

Kennedy struggled to lock-up conservative support for his nomination after testifying this week. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journals right-leaning editorial board praised Warren, writing that her questioning "expose[d]" Kennedy.

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The next day, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said he was struggling with Kennedys nomination, noting at one point that Kennedy was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines.

Kennedy told senators in his testimony Thursday that he was giving away his rights to the fees in the lawsuit against Merck. However, it was unclear whether he misspoke because his ethics agreement still maintained that he was entitled to the fees.

In written answers provided to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday, Kennedy clarified that an amendment was forthcoming.

An amendment to my Ethics Agreement is in process, and it provides that I will divest my interest in this litigation, he said.

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MORE: Fact-checking RFK Jr.'s claims on vaccines, pesticides at confirmation hearing

Kennedy has earned millions of dollars in referral fees from law firms in the past for lawsuits unrelated to vaccines, including one involving a pesticide. He had not earned money yet from the Merck case, which only recently was taken up in civil courts.

In his testimony, Kennedy said he wanted to retain the right to sue drug companies even if confirmed.

Youre asking me to not sue drug companies, and I am not going to agree to that, he said.

In major reversal, Kennedy tells senators he won't take money from vaccine lawsuit originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Germany and 18 other European Union countries on Friday spoke out in favour of expanding arms financing through the European Investment Bank (EIB) days ahead of an EU leaders' defence meeting.

"By expanding funding mechanisms and employing all available means, we can address the urgent need to grow Europes defence industrial and technological base," leaders wrote in a letter to the EIB, which is the EU's lending arm.

This would ensure that the defence base could meet both short-term and long-term challenges, they added.

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"In light of the ongoing security challenges facing Europe, including Russias war of aggression against Ukraine, it is crucial that we take decisive action to strengthen Europes overall defence readiness and capabilities and its defence industrial base."

EU leaders will meet on Monday in Brussels to discuss how European defence capabilities could be strengthened and how the corresponding funds can be raised.

Some EU countries are also open to taking on new joint debt. Germany, the Netherlands and Austria are opposed to that. Expanding the role of the EIB could ultimately be one of the compromises.

Next to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands are are also signatories to the letter.

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The EIB has already significantly expanded its activities in the defence sector in the past year and has made more money available for defence projects than ever before.

Investments in security and defence in the community of 27 states were doubled to 1 billion ($1.04 billion) euros in 2024. For 2025, it expects a further doubling of annual investment to 2 billion.

Due to these changes there are now more opportunities for investments in so-called dual-use goods, which can be used for both civil and military purposes, such as helicopters and drones.

The bank is currently not allowed to invest in pure defence projects, due fears of damaging its ratings, but EU member states could change its mandate.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  Nine of Ohios top 20 most expensive cities to live in are in the Columbus metro area. Housing costs have been rising rapidly in recent years, but many of central Ohios most expensive suburbs have been expensive for some time.

According to a 2020 report from Ohio State, local amenities, schools, crime rates and social networks are among the most important factors driving home values in a neighborhood. The study found these features self-reinforce, meaning rich neighborhoods typically stay rich and get richer, furthering the economic gaps among neighborhoods and suburbs. Many of central Ohios wealthiest neighborhoods have a history of wealth. Watch previous coverage of central Ohios housing crisis in the video player above.

Marble Cliff  average home value of $753,057

Violent Crime: 1.19 per 1,000 residents, according to estimates by Area Vibes

Schools: Marble Cliff residents attend Grandview Heights Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 634, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Marble Cliff is a small village supported by amenities from Grandview Heights. If you can afford the high home prices, the tax benefits are substantial. According to Marble Cliff, the village has the lowest municipality property tax rate in central Ohio at just 0.35 mills and has a municipal income tax rate of just 2%. The city also has Paul J. Falco Park for local greenspace, and residents of Marble Cliff are able to use many facilities in Grandview Heights.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income for Marble Cliff is $134,688. This wealth is nothing new  according to central Ohio historians Esther Marsh and Pat Garbrandt, the area was originally home to wealthy Columbus families seeking to escape downtown.

Whitehall student tests positive for tuberculosis

Galena  average home value of $602,757

Violent Crime: 1.9 per 1,000 residents, according to estimates by Area Vibes

Schools: Galena residents can attend Big Walnut Local Schools, which received four stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 924, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

According to Rocket Mortgage, Galena homes are getting pricier. The median home sold price in December by Rockets data is 9.6% more expensive than it was a year ago. Galena has a low income tax rate at just 1%, which could be an incentive for people with higher incomes. It is also home to hiking trails and is situated between Big Walnut Creek and Little Walnut Creek, offering plenty of outdoor activity.

Galena was founded by Gilbert Carter in 1809 and was originally a milling town, according to the villages historical marker. However, the town was best known for its thriving shale tile and brick business, which operated from the 1890s until 1983, according to the villages LinkedIn page.

New Albany  Average home value of $595,568

Violent Crime: 0.88 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: New Albany residents can attend New Albany-Plain Local Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 10,825, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

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Recently ranked as the number one suburb in America by Business Insider, the area is one of the fastest-growing cities in Ohio. Tech companies are flocking to the area and investing billions, but to live there, residents also need to be able to invest. The median income in New Albany is $232,524, according to the U.S. Census

Initially founded in 1873, the city was transformed by wealth when Victorias Secret, PINK and Bath & Body Works founder Les Wexner partnered with Jack Kessler to create The New Albany Company. According to Kessler, he and Wexner lived in Bexley and wanted a change farther from Downtown. The pair settled on New Albany because they could shape it into something new and attracted young professionals and wealthy families by expanding the citys amenities.

Upper Arlington  Average home value of $590,969

Violent Crime: 0.14 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: Upper Arlington residents can attend Upper Arlington City Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 36,800, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Upper Arlington has parks and recreation opportunities, including Fancyburg Park and the new Bob Crane Community Center scheduled to open this spring. Upper Arlington was founded by King and Ben Thompson in 1914 and was exclusive from the start. The U.S. Census lists the median income for Upper Arlington as $150,993, and it has sought wealthy residents from its inception.

Modeled after Kansas Citys Country Club Plaza, the city was built with a clear vision, catering to the upper class. In 1926, the city had many property deeds that banned Black residents from owning property and required all house employees to be white. Upper Arlington has condemned this practice, which was ended in 1971. However, the effects of the racially restrictive clauses still exist today, and only 1.3% of residents are Black, according to the U.S. Census. Some land deeds still have these clauses, although they are illegal to enforce.

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Riverlea  Average home value of $545,542

Violent Crime: 1.19 per 1,000 residents, according to estimates by Area Vibes

Schools: residents can attend Worthington Schools, which received 4.5 stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 599, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Riverlea is a small community within walking distance of downtown Worthington that was incorporated in 1939. Like several other expensive villages, it uses neighboring cities schools and resources to support it. It is situated between the Olentangy River and North High Street and is bordered by Rush Run Nature Preserve, offering green space.

According to copies of The Worthington News from the 1930s, Riverlea debuted as an attractive and very desirable place to live. A June 1938 edition reported 25 lot owners planned to build new homes for those who wanted to live near downtown but could afford not to live in the thick of things. According to the 1938 article, hundreds of people visited the area just to see the homes.

Powell  Average home value of $543,450

Violent Crime: 0.21 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: Powell residents can attend Olentangy Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 14,163, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Powell has seven community parks and a median household income of $191,250. Its community amenities reflect a higher tax bracket, and it has a program where local police will monitor homes if their owners go on vacation. It has doubled its population in the last decade, according to the citys website.

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Powell was settled in 1813 and renamed for Judge Thomas Powell in 1857 after he established the villages first post office. Per the Powell-Liberty Historical Society, although few people lived there, a railroad passed through Powell, establishing it economically as a place to stop. Powell first grew in the early 1980s when central Ohioans began exploring residential development for what was then a village.

Bexley  Average home value of $541,235

Violent Crime: 2.27 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: Bexley residents can attend Bexley City Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 13,928, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Bexley offers several green spaces, including the lawn behind the citys public mansion. Jeffrey Mansion was donated in 1941 and it is used for community activities and recreation. Bexleys housing market is competitive due to its high-ranking school district, low crime rate and many trees. It is classified as an arboretum

Bexley formed in the late 1800s as a neighborhood for wealthy Columbus residents and Capital university professors, and it was incorporated in 1908, according to the city. After the Spanish-American War, improved transportation led some prominent Columbus families to develop the area as an exclusive community, building mansions and beginning the wealth associated with the city, according to Touring Ohio. According to deed records from the Ohio History Connection, Bexley land deeds also excluded Black residents from owning property in the city.

Ohio awards $33 million for Downtown revival project

Dublin  Average home value of $537,907

Violent Crime: 0.67 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: Dublin residents can attend Dublin City Schools, which received five stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 49,328, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

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The city of Dublin lists its median income at $148,493 and is home to several large corporations, including Cardinal Health, United Healthcare, Nestle and Wendys, according to the city website. The city is proud of its annual three-day Irish Festival and the annual Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour. Downtown Dublin is particularly attractive, with shops and restaurants within walking distance of one another.

According to the city, Dublin began with an economy based on milling, farming and tourism, with taverns and hotels for travelers along what is now State Route 161. The city said in the late 1880s, a stone quarry industry emerged, earning Dublin a reputation as a rough town. The city said it transitioned from a poorer village to a suburban hotspot in the 1970s after developments emerged in city limits, and today its home value has increased thanks to the strong development and amenities in the city.

Plain City  Average home value of $521,020

Violent Crime: 0.69 per 1,000 residents, according to Neighborhood Scout

Schools: Plain City residents attend Jonathan Adler Schools, which received four stars on its 2023-2024 state report card

Population: 4,065, according to the 2020 U.S. Census

Plain City has undergone mostly recent development due to the growth of Columbus as a whole. According to the city, Plain City is expected to continue rapidly growing over the next 25 years, especially as new housing developments and job opportunities continue to pop up in city limits. The city said its rural charm is enticing for many moving to the Columbus area, although some residents have voiced concerns about the rapid growth, according to the citys FAQs.

The city has natural features, including Big Darby Creek, that are a draw for many residents. Unfortunately, the creek also had major floods four times in the 20th century. Plain City grew very slowly in its first years, according to the city, and a good portion of its population came from an Amish settlement established in 1896. The city said it had become a crucial stop along a railroad for livestock shipping by the 1920s.

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On 30 January Argentinas former president(2007-2015) added her voice to the chorus of criticism over Presidents attacks on the rights of women and the LGBTQI+ population.

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Researchers say they have made a startling discovery in the Amazon River. But their evidence wasnt collected from the waterit could be seen from shore. After around 219 hours of observations, they can confirm that male Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis), also known as botos, often roll onto their backs and urinate over three feet into the air. It isnt random. The male botos appear to be peeing with a purpose.

Over four years, a team from Canadas CetAsia Research Group traveled to the Amazon river, where they then closely watched river dolphin social interactions. Researchers documented a total of 36 separate instances of male botos deciding to pee while floating in the unconventional position. The findings, presented in a recent study published in the journal Behavioural Processes, support rare, anecdotal stories of past boto behavior.

Aerial urination starts with a boto slowly positioning itself upside down, exposing its penis above water, and ejecting a stream of urine into the air, the team explained in their study.

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Whats more, another male dolphin was swimming nearby about two-thirds of the time, and often approached the urine stream as it landed in the water about three feet away. They sometimes waited in place, but in other instances, they even pursued the pee trajectory using their snout, or rostrum.



We were really shocked, as it was something we had never seen before, study author Claryana Araujo-Wan recounted to New Scientist on January 31st.

Urine is a common communication tool used by many terrestrial animals such as dogs, bears, and cats. Its seen far less frequently in aquatic environments, but Araujo-Wan and their colleagues offered a few examples in their study. Dominant male African cichlid fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) interpret urine pulses for both reproductive and territorial information. The narrow-clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus), meanwhile, urinates as a sign of aggression. In both of these cases, however, its more about the act of peeing than what is actually in the pee itself.

This makes the boto behavior all the more interesting, according to researchers. Dolphins lack a strong sense of both smell and taste, so its still somewhat unclear how they are interpreting the urine streams. The studys authors hypothesized that the male Amazon river dolphins may rely on their rostrum bristles to interpret their fellow botos urine composition, such as hormonal content indicating physical health and social position. A previous study from a team at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas confirmed bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) use their tongues to identify other cetaceans through the taste of their urine. Knowing this, its also possible that botos in the Amazon may engage in similar activities.

But all that still doesnt explain why the botos are firing pee streams into the air. Researchers conceded that aerial urination likely serves a social function beyond waste elimination, but stopped short of landing on any definitive reason beyond possible social or communicative functions. Given their heightened ability to sense acoustical signals, it may be that the aerial urine alerts dolphins to check it out as it hits the water.

Regardless of the actual reason, confirming the unique behavior among Amazon river dolphins now opens up the possibility for future study. With more timeand more peeresearchers may eventually learn much more about the aquatic mammals complex social dynamics.
A Malibu homeowner is suing travel website Tripadvisor and two subsidiaries along with a Venice woman, alleging they were responsible for burning down her property in 2021, ultimately resulting in the death of a San Diego-area college student.

Erin Hughes, owner of a Rambla Pacifico Street mansion that burned Jan. 17, 2021, filed the lawsuit four years to the day after the blaze. She is suing her homes renter, Holly Seeler; Tripadvisor; Flipkey and Holiday Lettings Ltd. for breach of contract, negligence and unfair business practices.

Hughes is asking for at least $100 million in damages and interest.

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Calls for comments to representatives for Seeler and Tripadvisor were not returned.

Hughes attorney Alex Gruzman said in an email that his client contends that there are "systematic violations of California statutory safety and property rental regulations by the online short-term vacation rental platforms including TripAdvisor, Holiday Lettings Limited and Flip Key.

Read more: Ocean water advisories issued for beaches from Malibu to Playa del Rey

Seeler rented Hughes property from Jan. 15-17, 2021, through Tripadvisor, Flipkey and Holiday Lettings. The rental agreement authorized only two people to stay at the home and mandated that any extra person would be charged $100.

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On Jan. 16, 2021, Seeler hosted a Celebration of Life at the Malibu home as a tribute to her son, Jack Fisher, 22, who died after being hit by a big rig near Cabazon on Dec. 16, 2020, the lawsuit alleges.

More than 25 people attended that memorial with 20 undisclosed guests spending the night, thus violating the agreement, the lawsuit says.

Hughes alleges that Tripadvisor and its affiliates were aware that extra guests were staying and refused to cancel the booking.

The lawsuit also alleges that there were also loud noises late into the evening, smoking inside the property and the use of flammable devices, all which violated the rental agreement.

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Read more: In the ruins of Palisades fire, confronting my elusive Malibu life

Fireworks and sky lanterns were used, with the latter causing the fire around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 17 that burned down the home, the lawsuit alleges.

San Diego Mesa student Grant Schneider, 22, died in the blaze, according to the county medical examiner.

Schneiders father, Brad, filed his own lawsuit against Hughes, Tripadvisor and its subsidiaries for negligence , alleging that the property lacked safety equipment, such as fire extinguishers and detectors.

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TWIN LAKES, Wisc.  Crews have recovered the body of a 70-year-old man who reportedly drove into open water on Lake Elizabeth in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, on Thursday afternoon while on a fishing trip.

According to Twin Lakes police, the victim, who has not been identified, drove a UTV into open water after misidentifying it as ice.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

The incident unfolded around 3:30 p.m. near the 2800 block of East Lake Shore Drive.

The victim was one of three people involved in the crash and authorities said they were in the area to go ice fishing.

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Police said the two other men who were on board the UTV at the time of the crash were able to make it out of the water safely. They later told authorities that the victim, who was driving the UTV, did not realize that the water was open in the area of the crash and had believed that water had simply pooled on top of the ice.

Both men were evaluated by Twin Lakes Rescue and declined transport.

The crash sparked an hours-long search that was eventually suspended in the late evening hours on Thursday. Crews resumed the search Friday morning and were able to recover the fishermans remains from the water.

LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

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Authorities said family members of the victim asked that his identity be withheld until further notice.

Our deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. We appreciate the cooperation of all involved agencies and thank the community for their support, a spokesperson for the Twin Lakes Police Department said in a news release on Friday.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which assisted in the search, used the incident to advise locals that ice on lakes in the area is unsafe and not recommended for use.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A Jackson, Tennessee man has been charged with murder a week after a child died while in his care.

Police said Judon Roberson Jr, 23, initially claimed the child drowned in a bathtub when he left the room and he was charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect. However, an autopsy revealed the child died from blunt force trauma.

Judon Roberson Jr. Courtesy: Jackson Police Department

On Jan. 22, the child was found unresponsive inside an apartment at the Old Hickory Apartments. Roberson told investigators he had been watching the child while the childs mother ran an errand.

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Police have not released the age or sex of the victim.

Roberson is being held in the Madison County jail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Jackson City Court.

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MADISON, Miss. (WJTV)  Madison police announced a man was arrested after they said he sexually assaulted a woman at a restaurant.

Police said they received a call about the incident at Fernandos Restaurant, located on Colony Crossing Way, on Thursday, January 30.

Mississippi coroner and his aunt accused of submitting fraudulent invoices

Officers arrested Jose Rigoberta Meija-Cubias, 37, of El Salvador, in connection to the case. They said he was located at the restaurant and taken into custody while a search warrant was being conducted at the establishment.

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During the course of the search warrant, police said they discovered that several people, who entered the country illegally, were employed at the restaurant. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responded to the scene and arrested seven people.

Jose Rigoberta Meija-Cubias (Courtesy: Madison Police Dept.)

Meija-Cubias is currently being charged with sexual battery of a physically helpless person and tampering with evidence. He is being held at the Madison County Detention Center as he awaits his initial appearance in the City of Madison Municipal Court.

ICE has placed a detainer on Meija-Cubias. Police said he was previously deported from the United States in 2010.

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KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE)  The man who was accused of shooting at a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper following a pursuit earlier this month that ended in Knox County has been indicted.

On Wednesday, Eugenio Abraham Solis-Klarks, 31, was indicted by a Knox County Grand Jury on charges of attempted first-degree murder and employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, the Tennessee Bureau of Justice shared.

Man pleads guilty in crash after Magnolia Avenue hit-and-run left one dead

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Earlier this month, the TBI was requested to investigate the officer-involved shooting by Knox County Attorney General Charme Allen. On January 12, Solis-Klarks was accused of leading THP troopers on a chase from Lenoir City to Knox County. THP explained that the pursuit ended in a crash on Watt Road at the entrance of I-40.

The TBI stated that Solis-Klarks exited the vehicle and fired shots at the trooper, which resulted in the trooper returning fire. Solis-Klarks was injured.

Suspect in custody after shots fired near Madisonville Primary School

Solis-Klarks was served with the charges at the Knox County Detention Center Thursday, where he was already being held. Previously, he was charged with evading arrest flight.

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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  The man, who allegedly kidnapped his 2-year-old son and prompted an Amber Alert last year, died from self-inflicted injuries on Saturday morning, Jan. 25, while at the El Paso County Detention Facility, according to a custodial death report obtained by KTSM.

Amber Alert mom: He was going to murder us

According to the report, Miguel Angel Montoya, 30, was arrested early Thursday morning, Jan. 23, and was booked for sexual assault, seven counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, three counts of indecency with child sexual contact, abandonment/endangering of a child, and sexual abuse of child continuous with the victim under 14 years of age.

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Shortly before 2:20 a.m. on Jan. 25, detention officers were conducting an administrative separation check, and upon checking Montoyas cell, he was found lying on the bed and bleeding from both arms, according to the report.

According to the report, the injuries were self-inflicted with a knife/edged instrument.

According to the report, Montoya was conscious and alert. Detention officers and jail medical staff rendered aid and found wounds to both arms.

While attempting to administer medical aid, Montoya became combative, attempting to refuse medical attention, according to the report.

According to the report, Montoya eventually lost consciousness while receiving aid, and medical staff immediately began performing CPR and other aid to revive Montoya.

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El Paso Fire and Emergency Medical Services were notified and took Montoya to a local hospital where medical personnel continued to provide life-saving measures, according to the report.

According to the report, Montoya was subsequently admitted to the ICU where he experienced multiple episodes of cardiac arrest.

Hours later at 7:45 a.m., Montoya was pronounced dead, and the medical examiner was notified at 8:04 a.m., according to the report.

As we previously reported, on March 14 of last year, an Amber Alert was issued for a 2-year-old boy, triggering a manhunt and hours-long SWAT standoff with Montoya, the boys father.

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UPDATE: Missing 2-year-old from Amber Alert found safe

El Paso Police took Montoya into custody that same day at Studio 6, located along the 11000 block of Gateway West at Lomaland. The boy was located, reportedly unharmed, and later returned to his mother.

Montoya was then booked into the El Paso County Downtown Jail the following day and was charged with assault family violence, unauthorized use of motor vehicle, and aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon. His bonds totaled to $235,000.

Montoya posted a cash or surety bond and was released the following month in April 2024.

Days later, that same month, Montoya was featured in the El Paso County Sheriffs Office and Crime Stoppers of El Pasos Most Wanted fugitives for the week of April 19, 2024, for alleged harassment, the Sheriffs Office said.

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El Paso man who allegedly kidnapped son now wanted for harassment

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WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF)  A man has been charged after allegedly running over his co-worker in Washington County on Thursday.

According to the Washington County Sheriffs Office, 37-year-old Larry Brooks was arrested on Jan. 30 after police investigated the incident of a man who was hit by a car.

During the investigation, authorities determined the situation occurred after an altercation took place between two co-workers traveling on the highway, which resulted in one person being run over by a vehicle.

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ALSO ON WJBF: Police investigating death of man in Sandersville

The victim was airlifted to a trauma center to be treated for injuries.

Brooks has been charged with aggravated assault, reckless conduct, battery and reckless driving.

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PLAINS TWP., LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)  State police are searching for a man after they say a voucher worth over $200 was stolen at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Gaming Enforcement Mohegan Wilkes-Barre Office is investigating a voucher theft on January 21 at Mohegan Pennsylvania Casino.

Juvenile driver charged after hit and run

The man pictured printed out and cashed a stolen voucher valued at $270 that a victim left in a slot machine, police reported.

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PSP said after cashing the voucher, the suspect left the casino.

Anyone with information is asked to contact PSP, BGE, at (570) 243-5280 or PSP Tips at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.

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DENVER (KDVR)  Boulder police on Thursday arrested a man who has now been charged with first-degree murder in the 2024 death of a 19-year-old woman experiencing homelessness in Boulder.

Residents of an apartment complex near the 1800 block of Goss Street in July 2024 found the decomposing body of the woman, Zaria Hardee, wrapped in blankets and tarps on a bike trailer four days after she was last seen alive, according to an affidavit. The Boulder Police Department and 20th Judicial District Attorneys Office on Thursday announced earlier that morning officers found and arrested Jimmy Leroy West, 52, near Civic Park in Boulder.

Previous: Communitys help needed in the suspicious death of a Boulder 19-year-old

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Zaria should be here today, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said at Thursdays press conference. She should not have been living on the streets of Boulder and should not have been victimized and ultimately murdered on our streets.

This case exposed the tragic reality that we, as a society must do better, he continued. It is entirely unacceptable that this young girl lived and ultimately died on our streets. We must do better. We must have better resources, treatment, and intervention options so our most vulnerable are not able to be victimized.

Officers on July 14, 2024, responded to a call of an unattended death after residents of an apartment building noticed a homemade bike trailer with blankets and tarps on it had been sitting unclaimed for four days before they discovered Hardees body wrapped in the layers, according to the affidavit.

Residents said it was not uncommon for items to be left in the area by people experiencing homelessness, which is why they left the trailer alone for so long, according to the affidavit.

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Once detectives started investigating, they found Hardee on July 10 had been taken to a camp that belonged to West a few blocks from where they found the trailer. Investigators interviewed West a week later, who said the trailer and blankets were his but had been stolen along with his bike prior to Hardees death, according to the affidavit. Detectives, according to the affidavit, later found footage of West riding that bike the day after Hardee was last seen alive.

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West confirmed in the interview he and Hardee had a little bit of sex and described the clothes Hardees body was found in, different from what she was seen in video entering Wests camp, according to the affidavit.

Investigators also interviewed Hardees boyfriend, who said he confessed to selling Zaria to West, likely accepting drugs as payment on the last day she was seen alive, according to the affidavit. Her boyfriend was ruled out as a suspect.

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Investigators also found at Wests camp rope used to bound Hardees body, tape that may have been used on her mouth and a piece of a tent she was wrapped up in, according to the affidavit.

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On 30 January Brazils Presidentaffirmed that he wants a good relationship with the US, but also floated the possibility of reciprocal measures if US Presidentraises tariffs on Brazilian products.

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TYLER, Texas (KETK)  A Bullard man was arrested by college police Thursday after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.

According to the Henderson County Sheriffs Office, the Henderson County Crimes Against Children Task Force received information regarding possible child pornography back in November. Following an investigation, officials obtained a search warrant and reportedly found child pornography after analyzing electronic devices in a Bullard home.

Mugshot of Brandon Baschnagel, courtesy of Henderson County Jail

Task Force Investigators contacted the University of Texas at Tyler Police Department and requested assistance in arresting Brandon Reeves Baschnagel, 41 of Bullard, for possession with intent to promote child pornography.

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2 Mineola men dead after vehicle crashes into tree

UTT PD then turned him over to investigators and he is now booked into the Henderson County Jail. Charges will be filed in Henderson County and Cherokee County, the sheriffs office said.

A UT Tyler representative confirmed that Baschnagel worked there as an audio/visual technician but has since been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

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Robinson, Tx (FOX44)  A 48-year-old man is being held in the McLennan County jail on drug charges after being found nude outside a Robinson fast food restaurant.

Wednesday afternoon just before 6:00 p.m. Robinson police were called to the McDonalds Restaurant in the 500 block of North Robinson Drive on a report of a man walking into the business naked.

An arrest affidavit stated that when officers arrived they found a man, later identified as Kureem Jabbar Glenn sitting in the drivers seat of a vehicle, fully nude, asleep, with the engine running and the radio playing loudly. The affidavit stated officers detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.

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The affidavit stated that when they got the man awake, he gave officers a statement about smoking a Delta 9 and  drinkng a King Cobra ( a malt liquor). The officer said he exhibited slurred speech, appeared confused and did not know where he was.

The affidavit stated that when asked where he had been coming from, he told them he had left San Antonio and was going to Killeen. It was noted that he had a high heart rate and an ambulance was called that took him to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest to be medically cleared. The affidavit stated that a search of the vehicle turned up a  Purple vape pen containing THC. It was noted that the vehicle was parked within 1000 feet of Robinson Elementary in a Drug Free Zone.

Once he was cleared by the hospital, Glenn was transported to the McLennan County Jail on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, penalty group 2, a second degree felony.

He remained in the jail Friday.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  A man who murdered and decapitated a fellow teen in 1996 has been granted parole.

The Michigan Department of Corrections said the projected parole date for Federico Kiko Cruz is March 25.

Former prosecutor: Cruz resentencing grave mistake

Cruz was 16 in April 1996 when he murdered 17-year-old David Crawford near Sparta, cut off the victims head and recorded himself talking to and mutilating it. The video was so disturbing it wasnt shown to the jury that convicted him.

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Jason Sagraves, who lived nearby at the time of the crime and was only 12 when it happened, told News 8 Friday that he vividly remembers the video. Its something he will never forget.

I saw some stuff in that situation that still sticks with me, he said. You cant mentally heal from that.

Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling meant he was entitled to resentencing because he was a minor when the crime was committed. He was initially resentenced to life in 2018 but was then granted another resentencing because an appeals court found his rights were violated.

Victims family fearful as 1996 killers life sentence tossed

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In August 2023, Cruz was resentenced to between 35 and 60 years in prison. He has already been behind bars for about 27.

When the news came out that Cruz had been granted parole, Sagraves said he thought he was having a mental breakdown, not believing that it was true.

Its a kick in the gut when somebody can do something like that. David doesnt get a second chance, but Kiko does, how is that? Sagraves said. I never thought in a million years he would get out after what he did. Its his fault. He doesnt need to be out, he doesnt need to be. There is no good that is going to come from it.

That sentiment was not shared by all neighbors who lived through the crime. Todd Yemc, who was about 30 at the time, described that day as a movie.

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Yemc told News 8 Friday that he did not have a problem with Cruz being granted parole.

I hope the best for the guy. He was young. We all made stupid mistake when we were kids, you know. This one is hard to take, Yemc said. But he, you know, definitely can be forgiven, I believe.

But as Sagraves waits the next few months before Cruz returns to society, he said he still cannot grapple with the fact that it is happening to begin with.

I did not think that our system would fail us to that extent. When he had his life sentence reduced, that alone shocked me, Sagraves said. For what he did and how he did it, I dont know how anybody in the justice system can look at that and say, He is redeemed. Hes okay to go back in the public. It is not logical to me.

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Reginald Collins, the 60-year-old New London man charged with negligent homicide in connection with a fiery fatal crash on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in 2023, has died.

As a result of his Dec. 1 death from cancer, the criminal charges against him were officially dismissed in New London Superior Court earlier this month. Assistant States Attorney Marissa Goldberg said prosecution was dropped at his regularly scheduled appearance in court  standard procedure when there is no defendant to prosecute.

Goldberg said it was not a great ending for either family, unfortunately.

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Collins was arrested after a year-long investigation by state police into a April 21, 2023 crash on Interstate 95 that claimed the life of 42-year-old Wallace Wally Fauquet III of Gales Ferry. Fauquet, a father of four, was driving an oil tanker for McCarthy Heating Oil Service on the southbound side of the bridge when he crashed into Collins 2006 Toyota Avalon. The tanker rolled onto its side and erupted into flames, engulfing the tanker and portions of the highway.

After his car started shaking, Collins had started moving towards the right side of the highway and stopped in the right travel lane after one of his newly-purchased used tires blew out, the police investigation revealed.

Police determined Collins did not have his hazard lights activated and should have pulled his car into the shoulder of the highway, according to the affidavit for his arrest warrant.

Based on the investigation of the crash, it was found that the cause of the crash was that the operator of the Toyota Avalon created a traffic hazard by remaining stationary within the right acceleration lane and failing to move the vehicle out of the right travel lane to a safe location, police said.

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Collins relatives and his attorney, Anthony C. Basilica of New London, had expressed disappointment and surprise at the criminal charges and viewed the crash as an accident.

I dont think anyone should have been charged, Basilica said.

Shirley Butler, Collins longtime companion and the mother of his daughter, called it a tragic accident, and agreed that the charges were unwarranted.

Im very upset. He never should have been arrested. This was a total accident with three victims. It affected everyones life, Butler said. I am very sorry for their loss.

Butlers daughter, Chartel Butler, was a passenger in Collins car when the crash occurred. In an interview with police, she said that after checking the tires they got back into the car and Collins was going to move the car to the right shoulder when the car was struck from behind.

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Both she and Collins were injured but escaped life-threatening injuries in part thanks to a pair of Good Samaritans who helped them to safety immediately following the crash. New London Police Lt. Cornelius Rodgers and Groton resident Brandon Bylo were honored by the city for their life-savings efforts. Collins had been knocked unconscious and trapped in the drivers seat when Rodgers, who was off duty, pulled him from the car.

At the time of his arrest, Butler said Collins was in treatment for lung cancer. The arrest, she said, was an added stress he did not deserve.

State police said the tanker was too badly damaged to determine whether or not there was a mechanical defect that was a contributing factor in the crash. Police said Fauquet did not have the proper hazardous materials endorsement to operate the tanker but that fact does not negate the role that Collins had in failing to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk by stopping his car in a travel lane of the highway.

Butler called Collins a hard-working, kind-hearted person who made people laugh.

He was just a giving soul, Butler said.

g.smith@theday.com
A man has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a woman and her two young kids in a Jersey City basement apartment, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Napoleon Romero-Anduray, 31, is accused of killing 31-year-old Luisa Urbano and her two children  Juan Martin Urbano, 9, and Diana Ramirez, 5  whose bodies were found by police in the early hours of Thursday, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a news release.

Jersey City police were dispatched to a residence in the 200 block of Hutton Avenue shortly after midnight for reports of a stabbing.

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Upon arrival, responding officers located the adult female victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. Her two children were transported to Jersey City Medical Center where they were later pronounced dead.

The cause and manner of the victims deaths are pending further investigation by the regional medical examiners office.

A fourth individual  later identified as Romero-Anduray  was also found in the apartment with injuries, police said. He was transported to the same hospital where he is being treated for his wounds.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said the suspect stabbed the three victims and then tried to stab himself.

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The terrible triple homicide was the result of an act of domestic violence, he said in a statement shared on social media.

While investigators havent elaborated on Romero-Andurays relationship with the victims, some neighbors told local media he was Urbanos boyfriend.

I dont know what the dispute was about, but all indications were they were a happy family, Jay Perine, who lives in the building, told CBS News New York.

In the summertime they cooked out, there was music. He got up, worked everyday, he said. This was like a sudden event.

However, according to an online fundraiser organized by a woman who says shes the aunt of the victim, Romero-Anduray was her nieces ex-partner.

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[Romero-Anduray] broke into her apartment and took the lives of all three, Lizeth Alejandra Gutierrez Escobar wrote in a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds to cover the funeral expenses and the repatriation of my niece and her two children.

We are from Colombia, Gutierrez Escobar wrote. We need to bring them back home so loved ones can say their final goodbyes.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  A Baton Rouge man was arrested in connection with a deadly shooting on Monday, Jan. 20.

Melvin Robinson, Jr., 33, of Baton Rouge was charged with second-degree murder.

DShawn Brown, 22, was killed in the shooting. Brown was found near his vehicle at the McDonalds, located at 6910 Airline Highway, BRPD said.

Robinson was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Thursday, Jan. 30.

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The investigation remains ongoing and more information will be shared as it becomes available.

1 injured, juvenile arrested after shooting in Zachary

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The Cherokee County District Attorneys Office announced a man from Cobb County had been convicted of a series of crimes Friday, all stemming from his abuse of a 14-year-old.

Alexis Trinidad, also known as Elder Israel Perez, a 34-year-old man from Marietta, was found guilty by a jury after four days at trial.

The Cherokee County DAs Office said sheriffs deputies first began investigating Trinidad in April 2023 after a child reported to members of her family that Trinidad would force himself on her.

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The victims family told members of the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office, which is when their investigation started.

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As part of the investigation, the girl, who was 14 at the time, participated in a forensic interview, where she described how the defendant forced himself on her, and ultimately raped her. The defendant was known to the child and committed the acts in a home in Acworth.

Multiple members of law enforcement and a child sexual abuse expert testified for the prosecution and a second victim with similar testimony said they had also been assaulted by Trinidad in another jurisdiction.

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After two hours, a Cherokee County jury convicted Trinidad on charges of rape, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, three counts of child molestation, and cruelty to children in the first degree.

Judge David Cannon Jr. said a sentencing hearing would be scheduled for a later date.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A man was found dead Thursday in Raleigh, and police are investigating his death.

Memphis Police responded just before 1 to a man-down call in the 4300 block of New Allen Road near Ridgemont.

Photos from the scene show investigators focusing on a wooded area near the side of the road.

The cause of death was not released. Police are investigating.

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GREENWOOD, S.C. (WSPA)  A verdict has been reached in a 2022 drive-by shooting that left a woman dead at a Greenwood bar.

On July 2022, 29-year-old Keyiona Hill and her friend were inside Uptown Grill when Christopher Longshore drove by, shooting at the bar. One of the rounds went through the door and struck Hill.

Officials said Longshore was angry with the bars employees over an incident that had previously occurred.

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He was found guilty of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime on Friday after a four-day trial, according to Brian M. King, Communications Director, 8th Circuit Solicitors Office.

Longshore was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WSPA)  A jury found a man guilty of a 2022 manslaughter in Buncombe County.

On Tuesday, jury found Danquries Lamar Green guilty of voluntary manslaughter for the shooting death of 24-year-old Jamel Tyjon Grant in downtown Asheville on July 10, 2022.

Green was initially charged with first degree murder, however he claimed that the shooting was done in self defense. Green claimed that Grant flashed a firearm and that he believed Grant intended to rob him.

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Video surveillance of the shooting, as well as autopsy reports from the NC medical examiner, reportedly claimed that Grant was shot multiple times in the back. Grants death was allegedly caused by three gunshot wounds in the torso.

Green is sentenced to serve up to four to six years of imprisonment.

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The Everyday Grammar team often receives questions about academic writing. Students around the world want to improve their academic writing so that they can gain admission  and succeed  in a college or a university.

In this week's report, we are going to explore one pattern that is commonly used in academic writing.

You will learn to recognize this pattern, and you will learn how you can use it in your own writing.

In addition, you will learn about the times you might not want to use it.

Common Structure: noun+that-clause

The structure we are exploring is this: noun + a that clause. The structure is often used to evaluate, or judge, a topic or idea.

A that-clause is a group of words beginning with the word that. A clause has both a subject and a predicate. The predicate shows what is said about the subject.

The noun might come at the beginning or middle of the sentence. Consider the following examples:

"The fact that the theory of evolution has been so contentious in public debates deserves some explanation."

"This essay is written in the belief that modern historians need to radically change the way they think."

In the first example, the that-clause follows the noun fact at the beginning of the sentence.

In the second example, the that-clause follows the noun belief at the middle of the sentence.

In both cases, the noun plays an important part in showing how a writer evaluates an idea.

In other words, the noun helps show how the writer is taking a position and making a claim about something.

Let's study these sentences in greater detail.

#1 Showing Certainty

Think back to the first example sentence we gave you, "The fact that the theory of evolution has been so contentious in public debates deserves some explanation."

Academic writers often use the noun + a that clause structure to express certainty.

In the sentence, the noun fact plays an important role. When the writer uses the word fact, he or she is showing certainty. It shows that the writer does not consider the point to be a subject of debate.

The that-clause contains the idea that the writer is certain about  the theory of evolution has been a contentious topic.

Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are grammar experts. They note that academic writers often use nouns or noun phrases such as conclusion, fact, little doubt, and no doubt to express certainty.

The that-clause can have any number of words or ideas. The important point is that it has a subject and a predicate.

#2 Showing Possibility

A second common use of noun + a that clause is to express possibility. Consider our second example, "This essay is written in the belief that modern historians need to radically change the way they think."

Here, the noun belief suggests possibility  it is possible for historians to change the way they think. Whether this is correct or not depends on the reader's opinion  and the persuasiveness of the author's argument.

Conrad and Biber note that other nouns commonly used to show possibility include claim and assumption. Sometimes writers will use the noun possibility itself.

What can you do?

The structures we have discussed today are common in academic writing. If you are writing for other purposes, you might want to use more direct language.

Take our example, "The fact that the theory of evolution has been so contentious in public debates deserves some explanation."

You might read this in an academic publication. This structure might not be the best choice for other situations  writing an opinion piece in the newspaper or an email to your supervisor, for example.

In those cases, it might be better to use more direct language. For example, you could write, "Here are the reasons why the theory of evolution has been a contentious topic" Or simply, "People have long debated the theory of evolution."

Remember: you have many choices to make when you write a sentence. Learning when to use certain structures can be a long, difficult process.

But, we bring this lesson to a close with the belief that you will succeed!

I'm John Russell.

And I'm Alice Bryant.

John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_______________________________________________________

Words in This Story

evaluate  v. to judge the value or condition of (someone or something) in a careful and thoughtful way

predicate n. grammar: the part of a sentence that expresses what is said about the subject

contentious adj. likely to cause people to argue or disagree
UPDATE: Saturday, Feb. 2

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  25-year-old Dylan J. Busam was arrested and charged with murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the shooting on Jan. 30 in Middletown.

Middletown PD posted on Facebook that he was arrested at approximately 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 31 and is awaiting his court appearance in Middletown city jail.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Authorities are investigating after a man was found shot in Middletown.

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According to a release, Middletown police officers were called around 7:33 pm. on Jan. 30 to the 3700 block of Lacy Court. Officers were reportedly sent in reference to a person on the ground.

A male was found when officers arrived, who is said to have sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to Atrium Medical Center, but later died from his injuries.

Middletown police provided an update at 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 31, saying an arrest in relation to the incident has reportedly been made.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)  A Buffalo man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for a fatal shooting in the citys Masten Park neighborhood in 2022, the Erie County District Attorneys Office said Friday.

Martinko Jamel Caver, 45, shot and killed 33-year-old George McGee, III with an illegal gun on the 300 block of Glenwood Avenue in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, 2022.

Caver pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Nov. 25, 2024.

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Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.

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JANESVILLE, Wis. (WTVO)  Mark McCoy, 51, has been found guilty of killing a 55-year-old Janesville woman in a head-on crash in April 2023, caused by drinking and lack of sleep.

According to Rock County District Attorney Jason Sanders, McCoy had been up late and drinking on the day he crossed the center line near S. County Road D and W. Hanover Road, slamming head-on into a vehicle driven by Susan Hohmann.

Hohmann died at the scene.

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Prosecutors said McCoy had alcohol in his blood when it was drawn hours after the crash.

The jury was uncertain that McCoy was intoxicated, but convicted him on charges of second-degree reckless homicide and negligent homicide by operation of a motor vehicle.

He is being held in the Rock County Jail until his sentencing on March 14th. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

McCoy is also being investigated for running a drug trafficking operation out of a home in Monroe, Wisconsin.

He was arrested in a February 10th, 2022, raid as part of a marijuana-growing operation. Police said a psilocybin mushroom growing operation, 50 grams of cocaine, and 3 grams of heroin were also found in the investigation by Green County police.

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Police said evidence from a 2021 traffic stop, in which cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana were found, led to the 2022 raid.

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now)  Police in Montgomery County are investigating after a man was found shot in Silver Spring early Friday morning.

Details remain limited; however, in a post on the X platform just after 4:30 a.m., the Montgomery County Department of Police said the shooting took place in the 9300 block of Georgia Ave.

NTSB recovers black boxes from plane crash near DCA

Police said officers along with fire and rescue crews were on the scene and one man was injured. His condition is unknown, as of Friday morning.

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Currently, no suspects are in custody in connection to the shooting.

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LOS ANGELES (KTLA)  A 56-year-old Culver City man has agreed to plead guilty to recklessly operating a drone that ended up crashing into and damaging a Super Scooper as it was fighting the Palisades Fire earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

In the plea agreement, Peter Tripp Akemann admitted to illegal conduct in flying the drone that posed an imminent safety hazard to the Super Scooper crew, the DOJ stated in a news release.

The collision damaged the wing of the SuperScooper Quebec 1 on Jan. 9, forcing it to be taken out of service two days after the fire erupted.

A Super Scooper plane called Quebec 1 was grounded and out of service after a civilian drone struck and damaged it over the Palisades Fire. January 2025. (KTLA)

This defendant recklessly flew an aircraft into airspace where first responders were risking their lives in an attempt to protect lives and property, said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally. As this case demonstrates, we will track down drone operators who violate the law and interfere with the critical work of our first responders.

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Investigators determined that while the wildfire was burning in and around Pacific Palisades, Akemann drove to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and launched his drone from the top floor of the parking structure to observe damage caused by the fire.

With federal prosecutors filing the offense as a misdemeanor, Akemann could face up to one year in federal prison.

As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the plane, and an aircraft repair company that repaired the plane, the DOJ stated. The costs to repair the plane were at least $65,000, according to the release.

FBI images show the damage done to a Canadian Super Scooper plane that was hit by a drone while battling the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2025.

Akemann will also have to complete 150 hours of community service supporting the 2025 Southern California wildfire relief effort as part of the agreement.

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The Palisades Fire broke out on Jan. 7, spreading quickly amid severely windy conditions before charring nearly 24,000 acres and destroying thousands of homes.

The firefight has sparked controversy over the Los Angeles Fire Departments staffing and water supplies, which firefighters reported were running dry.

Officials say 12 people were killed in the blaze, the cause of which is believed to have human origins, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

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WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)  A man who allegedly told police that the 10-year-old victim in his pending indecency case dreamed the whole incident has agreed to the prosecutions latest plea bargain, according to court documents.

Matthew Simmons during a hearing in the 30th District Court on Jan. 30, 2025 (Photo credit: Josh Hoggard, KFDX/KJTL)

Matthew Sinclair Simmons, 42, of Wichita Falls, was in the 30th District Court on Thursday morning, January 30, 2025, for a pre-trial hearing for his pending charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

During the hearing on Thursday, Simmons told Judge Jeff McKnight he intended not to accept the plea bargain offered by the prosecution in June 2024 and that he would be ready for the case to go to trial in February 2025.

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PREVIOUS STORY: Suspect gets bond lowered in indecency case

However, just after 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, a notice was filed with the Wichita County District Clerk that a plea agreement had been reached.

According to court documents, Simmons has agreed to accept a 10-year deferred sentence and pay a $1,500 fine in exchange for his guilty plea.

Matthew Simmons during a hearing in the 30th District Court on Jan. 30, 2025 (Photo credit: Josh Hoggard, KFDX/KJTL)

Court documents showed that in June 2024, Simmons was offered nearly the same plea bargain, with a 10-year deferred sentence and a lower fine of $1,000. However, no other pending charges were set to be dismissed as a result of that agreement.

As a part of his new agreement filed on Thursday, Jan. 30, two other pending felony charges will be dismissed, according to court documents.

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According to the arrest affidavit, on Dec. 10, 2022, police were dispatched to United Regional Hospital for a sexual assault of a child report. The victims mother said the 10-year-old victim was sexually assaulted by a family members boyfriend, Simmons, at the family members house earlier that day.

READ MORE: Man jailed for alleged indecency with a child

A sexual assault examination was performed. The victim told the examining nurse Simmons touched her underneath her clothes while she was in bed. During an interview at Patsys House, the victim said she was woken up by Simmons touching her and said his breath smelled strongly of beer, causing her to believe he was drunk.

Matthew Simmons during a hearing in the 30th District Court on Jan. 30, 2025 (Photo credit: Josh Hoggard, KFDX/KJTL)

The victims mother said after she was told what had happened, she called the family member, who told her Simmons claimed the victim dreamed the whole incident and nothing happened.

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During a noncustodial interview, Simmons confirmed he had been drinking beer that night and briefly spoke to the victim, who was awake in bed on her tablet.

READ MORE: Man charged with biting stepson who was defending his mom

He said he checked on the victim that morning, and she told him someone had touched her inappropriately but claimed she did not know who did it. He said he believed the victim had a bad dream because nobody else was in the house besides himself, the victim, and the family member.

Simmons is set to enter his guilty plea on Thursday, February 7, 2025, in the 30th District Court.

This is a developing story. Stick with Texomas Homepage for updates as more information becomes available. All individuals charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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RED LICK, Ky. (FOX 56)  A man in a pickup truck needed a quick rescue due to high-rising waters Friday morning in Madison County.

The Red Lick Volunteer Fire Department said that, around 5:30 a.m., firefighters were called to rescue a man trapped in a vehicle in a creek.

Truck stuck in a creek in Madison County (Red Lick Volunteer Fire Department via Preston Sweet)

Fire officials said that, despite some initial confusion, a Madison County deputy was able to pinpoint his location and helped lead other first responders to the scene.

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Upon arrival, first responders said they found the driver of the vehicle sitting on top of the vehicle.

A Madison County firefighter was lowered into the creek on a rope and threw a personal flotation device to the man, whose vehicle was roughly 20 feet from the bank of the creek, according to Red Lick VFD.

Red Lick fire crews noted that the man was offered EMS care but refused because he was unharmed, just wet and cold.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  A man who spent decades locked up for an armed robbery is heading back to prison for robbing a Grand Rapids credit union.

Jeffrey Ahlan Dale admitted to the Aug. 16, 2024, heist at Lake Michigan Credit Union on Leonard Street NE near Plymouth Avenue NE.

A Kent County judge this week sentenced Dale to 8-20 years for bank robbery.

GRPD: 1 in custody after bank robbery on northeast side

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Police say Dale entered the credit union mid-afternoon and implied he had a weapon. He was arrested later that day.

In November, Dale pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. The plea came on his 63rd birthday. In exchange, additional charges were dismissed.

At the time of the robbery, Dale was on parole for a 1994 robbery which sent him to prison for three decades. He got out of prison in January of 2023.

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Over 400 dead sea turtles have been found on India's east coast near the city of Chennai in the last two weeks. Those numbers have not been seen in more than 20 years.

The species of turtle is known as olive ridley. The animals travel thousands of kilometers for ideal places to lay their eggs along India's coast. But that process, called nesting, has become more difficult because undisturbed beaches are becoming harder to find around the world. And, mass deaths like these can be caused by fishing nets that can catch and harm the species.

Shravan Krishnan is a volunteer with Chennai-based Students Sea Turtles Conservation Network. He told The Associated Press that in a usual year, there are between 100 to 200 adult turtle deaths on the citys coast. "This year, we've already crossed 200 dead turtles in a little more than two weeks," he said.

Krishnan is also concerned about the low number of turtles nesting on shore. He and other conservationists walk along the city's beaches at night to collect and move turtle nests. They do so to prevent the eggs from being eaten by dogs or damaged by people walking along the coast. "We have found only four nests so far, which is also really worrying," Krishnan said.

Highest turtle deaths in the last twenty years

Environmentalists and forest department officials have been seeing at least ten dead turtles every day for the past few days, sometimes many more. That is the highest number officials have seen since 2014. Experts say the deaths are most likely caused by large fishing nets that are pulled along the ocean floor.

Manish Meena is in charge of the city's wildlife. He said groups have been actively trying to inform people involved in fishing to release turtles that might get caught in nets. They have also asked the coast guard to watch for illegal fishing activity.

Fishing boats using giant nets that catch everything on the ocean floor are barred by a local government order from operating within five nautical miles of the coastline during the turtle nesting season. The law also requires the use of devices that can help turtles escape nets.

Shantanu Kalambi is an ocean animal specialist with the conservation organization ReefWatch. He said that when the turtles get caught in nets, they are unable to come up to the surface for air. And environmentalists say the crews of fishing boats do not always use the devices to help turtles escape, since they reduce how many fish they can catch.

A number of threats

Olive ridley turtles are considered an endangered species. Just like most sea turtles, their eggs need two months to hatch. This places them at higher risk because of coastal land activity, warmer temperatures and pollution from light.

Farther up Indias east coast, over 500,000 turtles nest every year. But only one in about 1,000 turtle babies that hatch survives to adulthood.

Experts say the turtles are important to the balance of the ocean ecosystem.

"As a species, they are millions of years old and they play an essential role in the food chain," Kalambi said.

Im Jill Robbins.

Sibi Arasu reported this story for the Associated Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.

______________________________________________

Words in This Story

species -n. biology. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

net  n. a device that is used for catching or holding things or for keeping things out of a space and that is made of pieces of string, rope, wire, etc., woven together with spaces in between

conservation  n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

nautical mile  n. a unit of distance equal to 1,852 meters that is used for sea and air travel

hatch  v. of a bird, insect, fish. to come out of an egg : to be born by coming out of an egg

ecosystem  n. everything that exists in a particular environment

essential  adj. necessary

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)  A Buffalo man was sentenced to over a decade in prison for shooting and injuring three people outside of a bar on Elmwood Avenue last summer, the Erie County District Attorneys Office said Friday.

Dominique Singletary, 29, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. He shot three people on the 1100 block of Elmwood, in the heart of the Elmwood Village, around 2:30 a.m. on June 1, 2024.

Some want Buffalo bars to reconsider closing times

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One of the victims was seriously injured, and the other two suffered non-life threatening injuries.

In July, Singletary was located in Maryland and brought back to Western New York to face charges. He pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree attempted murder on Dec. 15, 2024.

After he gets out of prison, he will be subject to five years of post-release supervision.

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Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A judge sentenced Shayne Sussman, 25, to a minimum of eight years in prison after he stabbed two employees and slashed toward a security guard in Red Rock Resort Casino Resort & Spa.

The stabbings happened around 1 a.m. on Aug. 3. A security guard shot Sussman in the stomach after he attacked security. The 8 News Now Investigators first identified Sussman shortly after his arrest.

In October, Sussman pleaded guilty by way of Alford to three counts of attempted murder. An Alford plea means he did not admit guilt but agreed prosecutors had enough evidence to convince a jury to convict him, records said.

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In Clark County District Court on Thursday, victims described the night of the tragedy at the casino in the Summerlin community, saying that since then, theyve had sleepless nights, PTSD and constant pain.

Security guard Chance Sanders says he was inches from being cut by Sussman, dodging the knife shortly before another guard shot his attacker.

Once I was finally able to sleep for about a week following the incident, I would wake up crying, Sanders said. I wasnt sure why, but it was overwhelming and I found myself looking up towards heaven and saying thank you.

Sussman also spoke, saying he cant begin to express how remorseful he is, and thinks of the victims day in and day out.

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Sussman and his attorney say he was extremely drunk during the stabbing. A blood test shows his blood alcohol content was 0.254%, over three times the legal limit. His lawyer said Sussman would only drink about once a week.

I just cant remember it, but I wont forget it. I just, this isnt who I am, and I know that, Sussman said.

Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson sentenced Sussman to eight years minimum, with a maximum of 20.

In a letter read by Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Dickerson, one of the victims describes how since the stabbing, hes suffered panic attacks, lost his money  but also rediscovered his love of art.

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He hopes jail time will help better the one who stabbed him.

My hope is he uses his time to remember that he can be a better man to the world and to himself, and become a man of substance and not a statistic, the letter reads.

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A man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for the armed robbery of a St. Paul cellphone store last year.

The U.S. Attorney's Office of Minnesota has announced that Johnnie Ward, Jr., 31, was sentenced to 80 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release this week, as well as being ordered to pay $4,900 in restitution.

Ward walked into the cellphone store on Apr. 5, 2024, with an accomplice who was carrying a torch lighter. While the accomplice pointed a weapon at the employee, Ward demanded access to the safe in the back room.

He told the victim to "hurry up, or else," before the pair fled with several cellphones.

He was convicted of Hobbs Act Robbery following an investigation by the FBI and St. Paul PD.
SMITH COUNTY (KETK)  A Smith County jury sentenced a man to 60 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.

East Texas mother sentenced to life for murder after toddler found with bruises, ankles tied

Claude Eugene Montgomery Jr. was found in possession of over 100 multicolored methamphetamine pills that were shaped like superhero logos and common prescription pills, the Smith County Sheriffs Office said. Prosecutors were able to prove that Montgomery had intended to sell the narcotics on the street.

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Man arrested by college police after child porn found in Bullard home

Courtesy of Smith County Commissioners Court

During Montgomerys trial, the state addressed his lengthy criminal history, which includes two 2016 drug dealing convictions for which Montgomery received a 45-year sentence. The jury learned that Montgomery had been released on parole after serving just six years of his sentence.

Whenever we see hard drugs clearly marketed to a very young demographic or disguised as prescription medicine, we consider it a major safety risk to the community, District Attorney Jacob Putman said.

Montgomery will be eligible for parole after the first 15 years of his 60-year hearing, although it could potentially be earlier if he earns credit for good behavior. For more information about the Texas parole system, people can visit the TDJC website.

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  A man accused of stealing more than 40 firearms from a pickup truck parked at a hotel in Las Vegas faces more than 90 charges, documents said.

On Jan. 25, a man called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to report his pickup truck was broken into in the Westgate Hotel parking garage. He said his truck was carrying approximately 80 firearms and roughly 40 of them were missing, documents said.

The man told police he parked in the garage on Jan. 23 and came back on Jan 25., noticing a window was smashed and several firearms missing.

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The arrest report said there were 46 firearms stolen.

He said he worked for a gun auction company based in Wyoming and had recently picked up the firearms in California, bringing them to Las Vegas. He said he was in town for the SHOT Show, which stands for Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, the report stated.

The SHOT show was held from Jan. 21-24 in Las Vegas this year.

Surveillance footage from the garage showed a man, later identified as Francisco Iniguez, 37, acting suspicious. In the footage, Iniguez was checking door handles on vehicles in the garage, according to his arrest report.

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Iniguez approached the victims truck before going back to his vehicle with two black bags, the footage showed. He then went to his vehicle, which was rented, and drove it over to the victims truck. Ten minutes later, a maintenance worker appeared to spook Iniguez and he left, the report stated.

Police used social media and a previous Clark County Detention Center booking photo to identify Iniguez.

Detectives later saw Iniguez and a woman at a home putting luggage into a vehicle that a records check showed was stolen, according to the report. Police conducted a vehicle stop in a restaurant parking lot and took Iniguez into custody.

During an interview with police, Iniguez said the guns were in his house and provided his address, specifically saying police could find them in his upstairs rooms. He also told police he saw the keys in a vehicle at a Strip casino and stole it, the report stated.

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Iniguez also told police there was fentanyl in a backpack in the vehicle and under his bed, adding that he was a habitual user and steals stuff to support his habit, according to the report.

In his home, police found 43 guns  but only 35 belonged to the victim at the Westgate, they said.

Iniguez faces the following charges:

47 counts of grand larceny of a firearm

47 counts of prohibited person in possession of a firearm

one count of burglary of a motor vehicle

He was held at the Clark County Detention Center on a $708,000 bail. His next court appearance was scheduled for Feb. 3.

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EAST VILLAGE, Manhattan (PIX11)  Police are searching for the suspect accused of attacking a man outside of Phebes Tavern in the East Village on Jan. 25.

It happened outside the bar around 2 a.m., according to the NYPD. The suspect and 20-year-old victim were fighting with each other when the victim was hit in the face with a glass cup, police said.

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The suspect fled the scene on foot, according to authorities.

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The victim suffered a laceration to his eye and was taken to a local hospital, police said.

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.

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A shooting at a bar in New London on Thursday night landed a man in the hospital.

Officers at 8:54 p.m. responded to the Favorites Bistro Bar, located at 90 Bank St., on the report of gunshots and a possible gunshot victim, according to Brian M. Wright, chief of the New London Police Department.

Wright said responding officers found a 27-year-old man who appeared to be suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower extremity. The man received medical attention from police before he was taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. His condition was not immediately clear.

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According to Wright, officers established a crime scene and collected evidence. They also canvassed the surrounding area.

Wright said investigators do not believe the shooting was random. Police are still investigating.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact the New London Police Departments Detective Bureau at 860-447-1481. Information can be shared anonymously through the New London Tips 411 system by texting NLPDTip plus the information to Tip411 (847411).
UPDATE:

GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV)  Gulfport police said Ellis Townsend turned himself in.

GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV)  Gulfport police are searching for man in connection to the beating death of a 75-year-old man.

On November 18, 2024, police responded to the 2910 block of 25th Avenue in reference to an assault. They located the victim, who stated that he had been assaulted by Ellis Townsend, 27, an on-duty security guard.

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Man wanted in Michigan arrested after chase in Jackson

During the investigation, detectives determined that Townsend struck the victim multiple times in the head with a closed fist, causing the victim to fall to the ground. Police said Townsend continued the assault until patrons of the business intervened. The victim later died from his injuries.

Ellis Townsend (Courtesy: Gulfport Police Dept.)

Townsend is wanted for one count of manslaughter. He is 61 tall, weighs 170 pounds and has black hair, brown eyes and gold teeth. He is considered to be armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts can contact the Gulfport Police Department at 228-868-5959 or Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898.

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NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH)  A man was shot at a restaurant in New London Thursday night, according to police.

Officers responded to Favorites Bistro Bar at 90 Bank St. just before 9 p.m. after getting a report that hots were fired and someone might have been shot.

They found a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his lower body, according to police. He was taken to a hospital for further treatment.

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Connecticut residents urged to check for unclaimed property

Police said the shooting does not appear to have been random.

At Favorites Bistro Bar, we have always been committed to providing a safe and welcoming atmosphere for our patrons, restaurant owner Majan Pierre said in a statement to News 8. Downtown New London is our home and an isolated incident will not deter us from continuing to welcome guests to enjoy dinner and brunch services this weekend with us.

Anyone who has information is asked to call the New London Police Departments Detective Bureau at (860) 447-1481 or submit a tip through the New London Tips 411 system by texting NLPDTip and the information to Tip411 (847411).

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News 8 reached out to Favorites Bistro Bar for comment.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis calls for a late-January special legislative session from the Florida Capitol on Jan. 13, 2025. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)

Seeking to drum up support in the Panhandle Friday in his political fight with the Legislature, Gov. Ron DeSantis called upon Floridians to press their lawmakers on the immigration bill he has vowed to veto.

The dispute between the governor and the Republican-led Legislature escalated this week following lawmakers decision to ditch DeSantis immigration proposals and pass their own. Since then, the governor has held press conferences around the state to bash the bill, known as the TRUMP Act.

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During his latest stop in Destin, DeSantis told the crowd not to accept talking points from their representatives in the Legislature. He made the ask multiple times during the press conference.

You have your marching orders, DeSantis said at the Destin Executive Airport. Who here is going to call or email their House or Senate member? Very respectfully. Be nice, cause these are good folks. Be nice, be very respectful, but be very clear about what your expectations are.

The governors comments follow a shaming campaign against the Republican supermajority, including a promise to back primary challengers to legislators opposing him on immigration. Brevard County Republican Sen. Randy Fine, who will likely win an election to Congress in April, called the governor a bully on X Thursday night.

They are afraid

Id debate Ron DeSantis, any of his staffers, or any of the other seven Republican legislators in either chamber who oppose the bill.  Ron wont do it because bullies run away from those who arent afraid of them. Because they are afraid, Fine wrote. They hide in stage-managed crowds, free of anyone who might show that the Emperor has no clothes.

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Although the Legislature passed the TRUMP Act on Tuesday night, the House still hasnt sent the bill to the governor, a choice DeSantis also criticized during the press conference. There is no deadline for the Legislature to send the bill to the governors desk.

Why have they not sent me the bill yet to act on? Why are they holding the bill for me to act on? he said. And I think the reason is because if we get the bill and we do an event where we have a lot of people and I veto the bill in front of this crowd, is the crowd gonna cheer or is the crowd gonna boo? The crowds gonna cheer.

In multiple TV and radio appearances, House Speaker Daniel Perez has stated that all options are on the table when DeSantis vetoes the bill, including an override. However, the leaders would need two-thirds support for the TRUMP Act in both chambers, which they didnt have in the Senate on Tuesday, when six Republicans opposed it.

Both the legislative leaders and DeSantis have blasted each others proposals for not being strong enough in punishing undocumented immigrants. But DeSantis biggest problem with the TRUMP Act is that it strips his immigration enforcement powers and gives them to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

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A spokesperson for Perez did not immediately respond to Florida Phoenixs request for comment.

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The transaction was financed through a loan from Bank of Africa and was advised by multiple firms: Hilmi Law Firm handled the legal aspects in Morocco, Boughaleb & Associes managed financial advisory, and Hdid & Associes provided tax consultancy. On the Spanish side, legal counsel was provided by LPA Law Firm, represented by Romain Berthon.

Founded in 2011, BLS is a subsidiary of H&S Invest Holding, a partner of the investment funds STOA and IFC (a member of the World Bank Group). With operations in 12 Moroccan cities, BLS manages 450,000 m of logistics assets and has a storage capacity of 250,000 pallet positions, with strategic hubs in Casablanca, Mohammedia, Rabat-Sale, Agadir, Marrakech, Fes, and Tetouan. As a Full Logistic Service Provider, BLS offers solutions in warehousing and contract logistics (3PL), transport and distribution, freight and customs clearance, co-packing and product enhancement, and logistics asset management. With a strong commitment to sustainability and innovation, BLS aims to drive operational excellence while respecting environmental and social standards.

RREEF Moroccan Explorer Fund I (MEF I) is a real estate investment fund exclusively focused on Morocco, with an equity capital of 1 billion dirhams. It is managed by RREEF, Deutsche Banks real estate asset management division.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that President Donald Trumps talk about buying Greenland is not a joke.

This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land, Rubio said in an interview on Thursday with Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM.

This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved, he added.

The Arctic region is going to become increasingly critical and its realistic to think China will beef up its presence there, said Rubio. That is completely unacceptable to U.S. and global security, he continued.

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Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory, would not be able to stop threats from China, Rubio warned.

They would rely on the United States to do so, he noted. And so his [Trumps] point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland, if it comes under assault, if were already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there.

Rubio appeared to downplay Trumps refusal this month to rule out the use of military force in controlling Greenland as a business-like tactic to not take any leverage off the table.

Kelly asked Rubio if the U.S. will own Greenland  whose ruling party actually wants the island to be independent  by the end of Trumps second term.

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Well see, he replied, adding that Americans can rest assured that U.S. interests in Greenland, the Panama Canal and elsewhere will be more secure by that time.

Watch the full interview below.

Rubios Greenland comments are from the 30-minute mark.

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(Bloomberg) -- President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed deep concern over the increasing number of alleged Chinese spies arrested in the Philippines, which has prompted security officials to tighten monitoring.

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We are very disturbed by anyone conducting such espionage operations against our military and the services that we are trying to provide, Marcos told reporters on Friday.

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The National Bureau of Investigation this week arrested five suspected Chinese spies who were allegedly monitoring activities of the Philippine coast guard and navy in Palawan province near the South China Sea, local media reported.

The Chinese nationals were conducting aerial reconnaissance and collecting imagery intelligence on Philippine naval assets, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement on Friday. Their activities, which include the surveillance of coast guard stations and naval docks, are serious concerns that warrant a firm and coordinated response, Ano said.

The move followed last weeks arrest of a Chinese national also accused of espionage, along with two Filipino companions. Authorities said they found navigational equipment in his car, which they said he used to travel for over a month to access areas near critical infrastructure and military camps in the main Luzon island. His wife had denied the accusation.

The arrests of the alleged Chinese spies come amid ongoing tensions between Manila and Beijing over parts of the resource-rich South China Sea. Over the past year, ships from both nations had several run-ins in the disputed waters as the Marcos government continued to push back against Chinas expansive claims.

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We have no official contact with China, Marcos said when asked about the latest arrests. He said investigators are gathering more information to determine what operations have they been doing while theyve been here in the Philippines.

Ano said the government will ensure that those found engaging in espionage and intelligence operations will be held accountable, and that it will continue to strengthen counterintelligence and monitoring efforts to strengthen our national security.

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RICHLANDS, N.C. (WNCT)  Schools across Onslow County now have a special partnership with the military.

Richlands Elementary School is the last school in the district to get adopted by a unit through the Adopt a School Program.

The program lets military units volunteer for different schools whether thats helping out in the classroom or school events. It also helps students learn what being in the military is like.

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Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26 got a warm welcome from Richland Elementary students. They were greeted with music from the Marine Corps Band, a performance from a student and hundreds of cheers. They will be volunteering in the school throughout the year.

Theyll come out and volunteer for things like Fall Festival or Holiday concerts or a parent, student and parent-led conference night, our field day that we have coming up soon, Principal of Richlands Elementary Corrine Edwards said. We also plan on using them and some tutoring opportunities with our students as well.

It not only gives the staff some extra help, but also directly helps the students.

I think it helps the students out by envisioning the military as a possible career path, which is one of the most honorable professions that you can have, just like education, Edwards said. So, just giving the students the opportunity to see that first-hand and to spend time with the Marines and the Marines to get to spend time with our kids, I think its a really equal partnership and its going to be great.

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Commanding Officer of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 26 Michael Bryant said that its also important to show the Marine Corps helping the youth.

The like, younger generation of who will end up, you know, the next round of officers and enlisted in the Marine Corps and, you know, the senators and the like, representatives we will see in the future. Bryant said.

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Jan. 30Former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave has until Feb. 20 to reach a plea deal before heading to trial on charges related to theft of taxpayer money and lying to authorities about how the money was spent.

Brave, 39, pleaded not guilty in September 2023 to eight felony charges for allegedly stealing $19,000 in taxpayer funds and attempting to hide the personal nature of the purchases. He put himself on paid leave and resigned a few months later.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire will preside over the case from a courtroom in Strafford County Superior Court.

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Prosecutor Joe Fincham told St. Hilaire during a status conference Thursday morning that the trial is on track for May. The Attorney General's Office has reached out to Brave's defense about stipulations that could reduce the trial length from four weeks to one.

Most of Thursday's hearing took place at the bench and was not heard by the public.

After the hearing, Fincham said Brave has until Feb. 20 to file a notice of intent to plead guilty or a deal could be hammered out during a status conference scheduled for 9:30 a.m. that same date.

The state plans to bring in a number of witnesses from out of state, which would be an expensive undertaking if the case goes to trial, Fincham said.

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Indictments allege Brave spent $19,000 in taxpayer funds on "personal expenses" for travel and hotel stays. Brave faces five counts of perjury for allegedly lying about the money he spent to rendezvous with a woman.

In October, additional charges of perjury and making false statements to the court were filed in Rockingham County after Brave allegedly lied about living out of state and his need for a court-appointed lawyer on the original charges. A dispositional conference scheduled earlier this week was rescheduled to Feb. 11.

The additional charges included a felony charge having to do with Brave telling the Rockingham Superior Court under oath that he lived at 200 First St., Apartment 406, in Dover, when in fact he was living in Tewksbury, Mass. The other felony was for making false material statements on his finances.

The state had previously tried to have Brave's bail revoked after finding out he was living in Massachusetts and earned more than $10,500 before resigning from his post. He said that he only received $3,500 from the sale of his $1.5 million Schooner Drive home in Dover, but documents provided by his wife show that the pair received $240,000 each from the sale.

Around the same time, a 1968 Porsche convertible was delivered to his Tewksbury address, according to court documents.

jphelps@unionleader.com
Former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who ran for governor in 2024, has announced that he will not seek public office in the future and that hes dropping a lawsuit against CNN for the networks reporting on comments he made on a porn site.

Robinson wrote on X on Friday that he was sharing an important life update and that he and his family were turning the page.

Costly litigation and political gamesmanship by my detractors makes clear that continuing to pursue retribution from CNN is a futile effort, he added. That is why I have asked Jesse Binnall and his legal team to terminate any continued attempt to litigate with CNN on my or my familys behalf.

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I will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future, said Robinson.

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson made a series of lewd and offensive comments online, according to a report from CNN. (AFP via Getty Images)

The 56-year-old shared his full name on the porn site Nude Africa and was a frequent user of its message board, where he posted lewd and offensive comments, according to the bombshell CNN Report. He also used an email address on the site that he used on a number of other sites for years. He also used the username minisoldr, on other websites. CNN matched the minisoldr account to a large number of biographical details shared by Robinson.

Robinson, who reportedly made the comments between 2008 and 2012, was quick to reject all responsibility for the remarks, which were posted before he went into politics. They were removed by the website following CNNs report.

On Friday, Robinson wrote on X that the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized. There is no dollar amount high enough.

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He blamed his departure from politics on the political persecution of my family and loved ones, saying that its a cost I am unwilling to continue to bear.

Robinson claimed that the investigation of CNN had tremendous results and brought closure to our family during what has been an unimaginably dark situation.

Mark Robinson, once described by Trump as Martin Luther King on steroids, allegedly said slavery is not bad on an online forum. (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

In comments on the porn site attributed to Robinson, he wrote about peeping on women in public gym showers when he was 14.

I came to a spot that was a dead end but had two big vent covers over it! It just so happened it overlooked the showers! I sat there for about an hour and watched as several girls came in and showered, he wrote on Nude Africa, according to CNN.

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I like watching t**** on girl porn! Thats f****** hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in! Robinson wrote in separate comments on the site. He has a history of anti-trans rhetoric.

Robinson said on X on Friday that he would continue to utilize my platform to promote and support many of the issues we are all so passionate about; however, at this time, I will do so from the sidelines.

Until we change the hearts and souls of those inside the political arena, it is unlikely the political process itself will undergo any meaningful change, he added.

In his reported online comments, Robinson also repeatedly attacked Martin Luther King Jr, including when a new monument was put in place in Washington, DC.

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Get that f****** commie b****** off the National Mall! he wrote at the time.

One user accused the former gubernatorial nominee of being a white supremacist.

Im not in the KKK. They dont let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer K***! he wrote.

Robinson also wrote Im a Black NAZI! on a forum discussing Black Republicans.

Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few, he wrote in a separate post.

Id take Hitler over any of the s*** thats in Washington right now! he wrote in March 2012.

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In October 2011, he called Martin Luther King Jr worse than a maggot and a huckster.

President Donald Trump once praised Mark Robinson, but campaigned in North Carolina without him once CNNs report surfaced. (Getty Images)

President Donald Trump appeared to distance himself from Robinson following the CNN report, campaigning in North Carolina last year without the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Trump previously referred to Robinson as Martin Luther King on steroids.

At the time of the reporting in September, Robinson rejected that he was behind the comments, calling the report tabloid lies when speaking to CNN.

This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me, he said at the time. Im not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.

He has also attempted to blame artificial intelligence for making the posts.
Mark Robinson, the former North Carolina lieutenant governor whose scandal-plagued candidacy doomed his gubernatorial bid last year, is dropping his libel lawsuit against CNN.

Weeks before the election, CNN released an investigation that alleged Robinson had left messages on a pornography website calling himself a black NAZI!, expressing support for slavery and calling Martin Luther King Jr. worse than a maggot  among other racist and homophobic comments.

The CNN investigation linked Robinson to the comments through a username Robinson used elsewhere on the internet, along with other shared biographical details from the poster on the site. Robinson, a Republican who would have been North Carolinas first Black governor if he won, publicly denied making any of the posts.

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Robinson  who has expressed other controversial statements on abortion and gay rights  vowed to stay in the race, but the report tanked his campaign. His top staff resigned just days after the scandal, then-candidate Donald Trump no longer mentioned him, and top Republicans denounced him  with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying he was unfit to serve.

Robinson filed a libel suit in Wake County in October, arguing that CNNs expose of his online history had been reckless and defamatory. CNN moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Robinsons claim does not allege any plausible theory of actual malice.



In a press release on Friday, Robinson announced he asked his legal team to drop the lawsuit.

The fact of the matter is this: the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized, Robinson wrote. There is no dollar amount high enough.

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CNN declined to comment.

Robinsons team had anticipated the report in September, releasing a video preemptively denouncing it as salacious tabloid trash. He vowed to stay in the race, though by that point he was trailing the Democratic candidate, now-Gov. Josh Stein, in the polls.

He had previously campaigned alongside Trump, receiving the presidents endorsement in the GOP primary. Robinson had made on-stage appearances at Trumps rallies, and Trump had praised him as a friend and better than Martin Luther King.

Robinson, who had been floated as a primary challenger to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), said he will not be running for office in 2026, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)

Former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whose campaign for governor in 2024 was derailed by a series of controversies and scandals, said Friday he would not run for U.S. Senate in 2026.

Robinson, a Republican, said in a statement he will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future. And he said he was dropping a defamation lawsuit he filed against CNN during his campaign.

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Robinson filed a motion to dismiss the case on Friday, according to federal court documents.

I will continue to utilize my platform to promote and support many of the issues we are all so passionate about; however, at this time, I will do so from the sidelines, Robinson said.

He came up well short against Gov. Josh Stein in his 2024 race, after a series of scandals  including the CNN investigation that revealed a history of offensive posts online  spurred Republicans to abandon his campaign. But he had remained a prominent potential primary challenger to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in 2026.

Until we change the hearts and souls of those inside the political arena, it is unlikely the political process itself will undergo any meaningful change, Robinson said.

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He said continuing his suit against CNN was a futile effort and that he had instructed his attorney  Jesse Binnall  to drop the case.

The fact of the matter is this: the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized, Robinson said. There is no dollar amount high enough.

Robinson and Binnall had alleged that CNNs investigation, which linked the lieutenant governor to a series of posts online calling himself a black NAZI among other remarks, was defamatory and amounted to election interference. He failed to present any evidence that he had not made the posts online.

Tillis Senate race  the most prominent seat up for grabs in North Carolina next year  will still be heavily contested. He already has one challenger  Andy Nilsson, a retired businessman and former candidate for lieutenant governor.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg complained about leaks during a meeting with employees Thursday audio from which, wait for it, was quickly leaked online, according to multiple media reports.

In the meeting, Zuckerberg told employees he will no longer be forthcoming with information because We try to be really open and then everything I say leaks. It sucks. He also warned them buckle up for the coming year.

In a follow-up memo, obtained by The Verge, the companys chief information security officer Guy Rosen effectively said whoever leaked the audio will be fired.

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We take leaks seriously and will take action, the memo said in part, according to The Verge. When information is stolen or leaked, there are repercussions beyond the immediate security impact. Our teams become demoralized and we all waste time that is better spent working on our products and toward our goals and mission.

The company will take appropriate action, including termination Rosen said.

Recent Meta leaks have coincided with Zuckerbergs burgeoning relationship with President Donald Trump. In December Meta donated $1 million to Trumps inauguration fund, a departure from at least a decade of company policy. Meta did not contribute to President Bidens inauguration in 2021 or Trumps first inauguration in 2017.

Meta once banned Trump from the platform after he incited the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the capitol in order to overturn the election and continued to insist he won the 2020 election. This about-face became apparent in October, after Trump described his relationship with Zuckerberg as being much better.

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The donation came weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump adviser Stephen Miller said afterward that Metas CEO made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trumps leadership.

On Wednesday Zuckerberg hailed Trump as a breath of fresh air. We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad, he said during Metas Q4 earnings call. I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unlock.

The statement came minutes after it was reported that the company will pay Trump $25 million to settle a lawsuit related to the presidents prior ban from the platform.

The post Mark Zuckerberg Warns Employees Buckle Up, Complains About Leaks in Audio That Was Promptly Leaked appeared first on TheWrap.
BOSTON (WPRI)  If you like listening to AM radio while you are driving, two senators are looking to keep it available.

Sens. Ed Markey and Ted Cruz on Wednesday reintroduced the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act.

The legislation would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to keep AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles at no additional charge.

Some newer vehicles and electric cars have not had AM radio as a feature.

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BACKGROUND: Sen. Markey battles Tesla, Ford over decision to stop putting AM radio in all cars

Markey said citizens rely on AM radio to stay informed, especially during emergencies.

As we witness more tragic climate change-induced disasters like the wildfires in Los Angeles, broadcast AM radio continues to be a critical tool for communication, Markey said in a statement. AM radio is a lifeline for people across the country for news, sports, and especially emergency information.

He also added that tens of millions of listeners across the country have made clear that they want AM radio to remain in their vehicles.

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Cruz echoed Markeys comments.

During weather disasters or power outages, AM radio is consistently the most reliable form of communication and is critical to keep millions of Texans safe, Cruz said in a statement. AM radio has long been a haven for people to express differing viewpoints, allowing free speech and our robust democratic process to flourish for decades.

Markey and Cruz originally introduced the legislation in May 2023.

The bill passed the Senate Commerce Committee in July 2023 and passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September 2024.

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By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Marshall Islands has warned citizens living in the U.S. not to open the door to immigration officials without a judicial warrant, amid fears the community is being caught in President Donald Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants, an official said.

The Marshall Islands is among three Pacific Island nations whose citizens have the right to live and work in the United States under Compacts of Free Association (COFA) that also give the U.S. military access to swathes of ocean seen as strategic by Washington amid tensions with China.

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The three COFA states, which also include Palau and Federated States of Micronesia, are seeking a joint meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) next week, a Marshall Islands foreign ministry spokesman said, amid community "panic" after families were questioned by ICE officers in the town of Springdale, Arkansas.

More than 10,000 Marshallese live legally in Springdale, the spokesman said, and do not require visas but show Marshall Islands passports and a form when they start jobs or enter school.

The Marshall Islands government issued a letter on Facebook on Tuesday with emergency contact details for citizens living in the U.S. to show ICE officials, after video of armed officers entering homes in Springdale circulated on social media. A community news service reported Marshallese were also being questioned at work in the town.

"We are working day and night to make sure our citizens are safe - the consulate in Arkansas is informing them of their rights and not to open the door unless there is a warrant," the Marshall Islands spokesman said in a telephone interview, confirming the incidents.

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Two families "were not aware of their rights and they opened the door and they were questioned", he said.

ICE have since "stopped doing that", he added, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kalani Kaneko will hold a Zoom briefing for Marshallese living in the U.S. on Saturday.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The Federated States of Micronesia issued a statement also urging citizens in the U.S. to carry documents with them as evidence of their lawful status.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
BALTIMORE  In the wake of public outcry about a storage option for dredged material from the Baltimore Harbor, an Anne Arundel County lawmaker is seeking to stop the construction of confined aquatic disposal cells near communities that have been overburdened by pollution.

Republican Sen. Bryan Simonaire is the sole sponsor of the Environmental Justice in Confined Aquatic Disposal Act.

The measure would prevent the Maryland Department of the Environment from processing or making recommendations to the Board of Public Works for applications to build confined aquatic disposal cells  underwater containment structures that store dredged material from the harbors shipping channels in depressions at the bottom of a waterway  within 5 miles of overburdened residential communities, as well as preventing the board from approving such a project.

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I am completely supportive of our port; its a driver of our economy, jobs. This bill has nothing to do with undermining what our port does and I appreciate their efforts, Simonaire said at a Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee bill hearing this week. But I also appreciate communities, especially those who live in overburdened communities that have been the brunt of environmental pollution for years  for decades  and trying to protect them and come up with a balance, and thats what I think this legislation does.

Under state law, dredged material from the Baltimore Harbor must be confined and placed only in contained areas approved by MDE. According to the Maryland Port Administration, more than 1 million cubic yards of sediment are dredged from the harbors shipping channels yearly.

However, the agency does not have a definition for what confined means.

At a bill hearing Tuesday, Simonaire said he asked Gov. Wes Moores administration to define a confined area, but they preferred the flexibility of the existing language, he said.

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Confined aquatic disposal, also known as CAD, is a newer practice in the state. The first pilot program next to Baltimores Masonville dredged material containment facility was completed in 2018 and has been deemed a success by state officials.

However, the bill would not completely ban the use of CAD cells in Maryland.

Casey Hunter, who testified on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, said the bill is a crucial step toward addressing ongoing environmental injustices faced by those who live in overburdened communities. She said projects that pose risks to public health or safety have historically been placed in these communities, and residents often lack the resources to challenge siting.

Its just a common-sense measure to ensure that the burden of risk for this type of project does not continue to fall on Marylands already overburdened and underserved communities, she said, urging a favorable report.

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Stoney Beach resident John Garofolo, a retired federal scientist who has raised concerns about the concept for over a year, said he understands the importance of shipping as the harbor expands. Still, the state must tread lightly on the Patapsco River.

The existing pollution has had significant impacts to our health, employment and businesses, he said. The Patapsco is not a resource to be exploited, nor are its communities.

A lifelong Pasadena resident, Carl Treff, said the Patapsco is not Maryland Port Administrations landfill.

I cannot fathom in this era of Bay restoration, how mining and destroying the bottom of our river is a good idea, he said. The MPA has yet to prove without a doubt that CAD is an environmentally safe alternative to land-based dredge storage.

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Over the past few months, the port administration has been evaluating the use of CAD to manage dredged material as existing storage sites reach capacity.

Last year, Anne Arundel County lawmakers proposed creating a task force to study the concept, its risks and its benefits during the legislative session. Their bills failed to advance, prompting MPA to convene its own group of state, federal and local officials to study the technical aspects, risks and benefits of using CAD.

The group, known as the Bay Enhancement Working Group CAD Subcommittee, has held five meetings since September, with two more scheduled for February and March.

While Sen. Mary Washington, a Democrat representing Baltimore City and Baltimore County, suggested reworking part of Simonaires bill, she also asked whether parts of the states environmental code should be reevaluated, noting that some portions had not been updated in more than 20 years.

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My personal opinion would be, lets keep it simple this year and pass it, and I would commit to work with you over the interim, to come up with working with the departments and revise this, Simonaire said. Because I think its complex as far as what should be there and what shouldnt be there, but I am certainly on board with working with you and would support that.

---------
Jan. 30A Massachusetts man, one of 12 people from three states arrested in 2022 as part of a cross-border investigation into the illegal sales of cocaine and methamphetamine in New Hampshire and Maine, has been sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison, officials said Thursday.

Mark Dipaolo, 48, of Plymouth, Mass., was sentenced by a Rockingham County Superior Court judge on one count of drug enterprise leader and one count of conspiracy to sell a controlled drug, according to the terms of a "capped plea agreement"  where a defendant pleads guilty to a crime under the terms of a plea deal where the maximum possible sentence they can receive is already set and agreed upon by both the prosecution and defense, limiting the judge's sentencing options.

Dipaolo was sentenced to 25 to 50 years, with five years of the minimum sentence suspended, on the drug enterprise leader charge, and 10 to 20 years on the conspiracy to sell a controlled drug charge, to be served concurrently with the drug enterprise leader sentence.

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Prosecutors say between August of 2020 and December of 2021 Dipaolo trafficked approximately 100 pounds of methamphetamine from Massachusetts into New Hampshire, which was then redistributed in Merrimack County.

Prosecutors also argued that Dipaolo separately conspired to traffic five ounces or more of cocaine from Massachusetts into New Hampshire, which was then redistributed in Hillsborough County.
A Massachusetts high school is closed Friday amid an investigation into a threat that was made against a student, officials said.

Blackstone-Millville Regional High School was closed out of an abundance of caution after a student on Thursday night reported that a threat had been made against them over social media, according to Blackstone-Millville Regional School District Superintendent Jason DeFalco and Blackstone Police Chief Gregory Gilmore.

While the threat does not appear to be credible, we are closing the high school so the police departments can continue their investigation, DeFalco and Gilmore said in a statement. Our first and foremost concern is for the safety of our students. This is an extreme step, but its taken with your children in mind.

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The middle and elementary schools were open on Friday with an increased police presence.

DeFalco and Gilmore said updates would be provided when new information becomes available.

Millville police and Blackstone police are investigating the reported threat.

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Restrictive laws imposed by the Taliban last year mean women cannot train to become doctors or midwives in Afghanistan.

But this does not stop members of the strict Islamist group from bringing their pregnant wives to clinics and hospitals and demanding that only female healthcare professionals treat them, workers in the country have told The Telegraph.

Members of the Taliban want to be seen quickly, and tell medics that they expect high standards of care for their spouses.

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Everything is by force here, said Feroza Tahiri, a midwife working at a public hospital in Nangarhar province. Despite this, we tell them youll be seen like everyone else, she said.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, the fundamentalist group has banned education for women and girls post-primary school. Women cannot go to parks, and beauty salons and other women-only spaces have closed.

The Talibans laws have isolated the country internationally. This month, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants of Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Talibans supreme leader, and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on the grounds of gender persecution.

Afghan women and girls have been banned from receiving an education - Ebrahim Noroozi

Meanwhile, Ms Tahiri said women  including those working as senior doctors at the public hospitals  have left the country for Iran or Pakistan to prioritise their daughters education.

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After universities shut to women in 2022, Ms Tahiris friends, with almost completed medical degrees, sought her advice on studying midwifery and nursing as she had done.

Ms Tahiri recalls her time as a student fondly: she said she lived in dorms with ambitious women from Takhar, Laghman, Nuristan and Kunar, and split her time between studying and working.

Her friends enrolled as a last resort, hoping to work as midwives  one of the few professions open to women under the Taliban regime. But they were too late, the Taliban shut the colleges in 2024. Now theyre home and frustrated, said Tahiri.

Ms Tahiri and her male guardian (women are not permitted to go out unaccompanied) do not speak much during their thirty minute rickshaw ride to her work. Instead, Tahiri recalls a time when there were women visible in public. They looked so good, she told The Telegraph.

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The maternity department she works in is staffed by women. Pregnant patients arrive with two or three other women, with one going back and forth, relaying information. Their husbands wait outside, but they make decisions on health procedures, Ms Tahiri explained.

At a private clinic in Kabul, the Talibs do not need to announce themselves.

We know from their guns and everything, Samar Zia, a nurse in Kabul, said.

An Afghan woman works as a doctor at a private hospital in Kabul - SAMIULLAH POPAL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Despite the Taliban implementing the ban, they want their female family to be treated by women doctors and nurses, asking any male doctor present to step outside.

Ms Zia said she thinks that for many of these women and their Talib husbands, it is their first time seeking medical treatment. But the men dont really trust the doctors, she said.

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One woman needed an operation, but her husband, a Taliban fighter, refused. Despite seeking medical treatment at the clinic, he questioned the diagnosis. I wont give my thumb print (permission). Youre trying to do something else, Ms Zia recalls him saying.

After the woman died, the man asked police to investigate the clinic, said Ms Zia.

She said some Talibs dont trust the staff, whom they know are not supporters of the militants. They claim the staff did not want Taliban families to reproduce.

At the Kabul clinic she works in, the Talibs walk in and interact with the women working there. Youre there trying to do an injection and they come right up telling you your hair is out, Ms Zia said. Or theyll talk about our uniforms.

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The women they accompanied can have great chats with you if youre alone but [the husbands] dont leave them alone.

In Laghman, east of Kabul, the Taliban men can act like dictators. But they wait outside like the other husbands, said Nasima Hussaini, a midwife working at a public hospital.

Afghan women walk past a Taliban man - SHAFIULLAH KAKAR/AFP

Theyre attentive, Ms Hussaini said, toward their first wives but especially when its their second wife.

Its maternity care. Everyones demand is that theres a woman doctor, she adds.

The staff persuade patients to see male doctors when they can. We want it to be a woman doctor too, but we dont want your health to get worse, Ms Hussaini tells them.

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The countrys economic collapse, a result of foreign aid cuts, sanctions and Taliban policies, is evident in the hospital.

Hospital for the poor

The midwives The Telegraph spoke to described a perfect storm of under-resourced health facilities, desperately poor patients, and men making reproductive care choices for women.

The hospital Ms Hussaini works at is so under-resourced that staff sometimes ask patients to buy the blood, sold just outside the facility, that is needed for transfusions.

One pregnant womans family could not afford to do so and she lost her pregnancy, Ms Zia said.

For at least two days staff and the patients mother could not bear to tell the woman  telling her instead that the baby was alive and receiving oxygen, when in reality her baby had been stillborn.

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This is a hospital for the poor. If someone has money they go private, she said.

Shahla Karim, a midwife working at a public hospital in Kandahar said the same thing: Nobody with even a little money comes here.

Working at a regional hospital, Ms Karims patients are women from the districts of several southern provinces, in addition to Kandahar, the Talibans heartland and where the groups emir lives.

Ms Karim described tense interactions between staff and patients. Some families felt they were stigmatised as Taliban supporters and that staff in the provinces city, being more likely to disagree with the group, did not provide adequate care.

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The people from the districts have the wrong idea. They think were against these people, that we dont want to save these women, Ms Karim said.

A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations in Kabul - Ebrahim Noroozi

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Ms Hussaini, the midwife working in Laghman, said she goes to work to serve women and patients with no money who come and go with only the hope of god.

Every Afghan wants to know whats the endgame? she said of the Talibans policies.

She said nobody had any hope. Ask anyone and theyll tell you  Afghanistans come to nothing.

Ms Hussaini said every family had one son who left to find work in Pakistan or Iran. She wants to leave too. I always say if I were a boy Id have taken the illegal route out of the country.

She said she doesnt hold the Talibs who visit the hospital responsible for their groups governance. If you ask them theyll say its their higher ups.

We regret this, she said, that they look for women everywhere, but theyve banned women from everything.

The names in this story have been replaced with pseudonyms to protect the identities of the women.

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Matt Coronato scores twice in the Flames' 4-1 victory over the Ducks

Calgary Flames' Adam Klapka celebrates after his goal against the Anaheim Ducks during second-period NHL hockey game action in Calgary, Alberta, Thursday Jan. 30, 2025. (Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press via AP)

CALGARY, Alberta (AP)  Matt Coronato had two goals and an assist, Dustin Wolf made 30 saves and the Calgary Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Thursday night.

Coronato set up Ben Coleman's goal that gave Calgary a 2-1 lead with 44 seconds left in the second period. Coronato doubled the lead with 3:50 left, scoring off goalie John Gibsons turnover, and added an empty-netter with 2:23 to go.

Frank Vatrano opened the scoring for Anaheim midway through the first period. Adam Klapka tied it 15 second into the second.

Gibson stopped 26 shots.

After the game, the Flames traded left wings Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier to Philadelphia for center Morgan Frost and left wing Joel Farabee. Calgary also sent a second-round draft pick in 2025 and a seventh-round pick in 2028 to Philadelphia.

Takeaways

Ducks: Anaheim was 0 for 4 on the power play.

Flames: Amid the trade speculation, Kuzmenko was scratched from Calgarys game lineup.

Key moment

Coronato scored off Gibsons clearing gaffe for the late 3-1 lead.

Key stat

Calgary is 23-3-4 when leading or tied after two periods.

Up next

The Ducks host Montreal on Sunday. The Flames end a three-game homestand Saturday night against Detroit.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Ice raids have many communities facing concerns and uncertainty. In Scranton, Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) is closely monitoring the situation.

28/22 News Reporter Kathryn OLeary spoke with her about what shes hearing and what residents should know.

Reports of ICE activity, both confirmed and unverified, are fueling concern across the country.

Claims of ICE raids circulating in northeastern PA

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Mayor Cognetti says shes staying informed, working with local and national leaders to monitor the situation here in Scranton.

As reports of ice activity surface nationwide, Mayor Cognetti says she is monitoring the situation and gathering insight.

Im in touch with mayors across the nation on what is happening and not happening in their communities. said Mayor Cognetti.

Shes also in regular contact with local organizations and community partners to assess whether ICE has been active in Scranton.

We saw last week that there was a hoax, theres been hoaxes all over the country. Theres people fear-mongering and we saw the community come together against that last week. Ive gotten calls that ice may be here or there I dont know any of those to be true at this point, but we continue to monitor what happening in other cities, stated Mayor Cognetti.

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While concerns grow, the mayor is reminding residents that the city of Scranton and Lackawanna County are not sanctuary jurisdictions.

Its important to note too that Scranton is not a sanctuary city, Lackawanna County is not a sanctuary county so if ICE comes in with lawful warrants, they will execute those warrants, added Mayor Cognetti.

Cognetti also emphasized that Scranton Police are not an extension of ICE.

The Scranton Police Department is not an arm of ICE, at the same time, we would never stand in the way of the lawful procedures of the federal ICE agency, explained Mayor Cognetti.

Mayor Cognetti also said that school districts, nonprofits, and businesses have rights and should contact a lawyer if a non-lawful warrant is presented to them.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Gov. Wes Moore will kick off tax season by highlighting the 24th year of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, a free tax preparation service for household incomes under $67,000.

The CASH Campaign was established as a new nonprofit organization in 2017 after the merger of CASH Campaigns of Baltimore and Maryland to create one unified consortium.

The nonprofit partners include foundations, nonprofits, community-based organizations, government agencies, the Internal Revenue Service and hundreds of volunteers.

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Scott and Moore are holding a press conference at UMBC on Friday to laud the campaign and will be joined by IRS Commissioner Douglas ODonnell, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, local officials and representatives from the CASH Campaign.

The event will emphasize the importance of ensuring that low-to-moderate-income Marylanders have access to resources for tax filing assistance.

Tax filers can qualify for the credit based on factors such as family size, filing status and income.

In addition to tax preparation, the CASH Campaign provides free financial education classes statewide covering a variety of topics. Maryland residents can also get one-on-one support to reach your financial goals in-person or online.

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Marylanders can find their eligible benefits through a free comprehensive screening.

Last year, CASH Campaign filed 17,821 taxes, including 6,823 from Baltimore, according to the organizations 2024 Mid-Year Impact Report. Users around the state received $28.3 million in tax returns, while Baltimore residents got back $11.4 million.

IRS-certified volunteers and CASH staff will help prepare and electronically file residents federal and state returns. Volunteers also can help people open low-cost or free bank accounts in which to direct deposit refunds.

Baltimore City officials have warned residents to beware of commercial tax preparers who claim to prepare free returns, but fall short of those expectations when it applies to only a few filers and during limited-time promotions.

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CASH Campaign had 521 volunteers around the state with 210 in Baltimore last year over a total of 54 locations.

Taxpayers can find information about sites and appointments at www.bmorefreetaxes.org or by calling 410-234-8008.

Have a news tip? Contact Todd Karpovich at tkarpovich@baltsun.com or on X as @ToddKarpovich.
West Palm Beach could be closer to getting a new police chief.

Mayor Keith James said the city will hold a news conference on Monday, Feb. 3 to address the topic.

"We will have some announcements on Monday," the mayor said cryptically after his State of the City address Thursday at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

West Palm Beach has been without a permanent police chief since October, when James fired Chief Frank Adderley, citing financial improprieties among the department's command leadership.

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Adderley, who had been hired by James as chief in 2019, has denied that he knew of or participated in any financial improprieties.

Mayor Keith James, right, during happier times introducing Frank Adderley, left, his candidate to be the new police chief, at a press conference Thursday, May 16, 2019 in West Palm Beach. James fired West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley, citing allegations of financial improprieties among top command staff within the department. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Col. Tony Araujo has been appointed interim police chief, James said at a news briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Col. Tony Araujo has served as interim police chief as the city has sought a permanent successor to Adderley.

James has been circumspect about his decision to fire Adderley, though he has said he was "deeply disturbed" by a fatal crash involving West Palm Beach police this past summer in Boynton Beach. City officers reportedly were involved in a July 30 pursuit of a man whose vehicle ended up crashing into another car.

Boynton Beach investigators said Neoni Copeland crashed his Kia Stinger into a Toyota Corolla occupied by Marcia Pochette, 57, and her daughter Jenice Woods, 27.

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Both Pochette and Woods died. Copeland, 23, is facing two counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and one count of resisting arrest.

The city placed seven officers on leave following the incident.

James said he was also concerned by recent reports of improper behavior by two city police officers involved in a domestic situation.

Mayor says 'standards were not being met' within police department

The mayor touted the city's reduced overall and violent crime rate during his State of the City speech. Then, he turned to his decision to fire Adderley.

"I realize that not all success comes without setbacks," he said. "My administration is committed to assuring that our police department adheres to the highest standards. Last year, I learned that those standards were not being met. It was brought to my attention that members of the police department's top command staff were allegedly involved in financial improprieties."

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James then referenced another instance when he said officers did not meet professional standards.

"These incidents demonstrated that the leadership of the department was not aligned with its mission," he said. "Restoring trust demanded decisive action. So, I took that action by replacing the then-police chief. I share with you these setbacks because I sincerely believe public safety begins with public trust."

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Staff Writer Julius Whigham II contributed to this report.

Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach to hold news conference Feb. 3 on police chief search
From the Boiling Frogs on The Dispatch

President Donald Trump speaks to the press at the White House in Washington on January 30, 2025. (Photo by Celal Gunes /Anadolu/Getty Images)

Ive never had much use for Jim Acosta, the now-former CNN anchor who left the network this week after management proposed moving his morning show to midnight.

Hes smug. Hes sanctimonious. He radiates scorn for the American right, particularly in its Trumpy incarnation. He  sounds like this newsletter! You would think Id be a fan.

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But no, Acostas politics are considerably more liberal than mine from what I can tell. And while Im always down for anti-Trump polemics, I find them easier to take on the page than as performed on TV. Especially when theyre presented in the context of news.

Acosta was a chronic irritant for the president during his first term, even earning a temporary ban from the White House. (Trump received the news of his departure on Tuesday with as much grace as youd expect.) And so watching the network ring in a second MAGA presidency by promptly exiling his nemesis to garbage time couldnt help but seem like a capitulation.

The overt antagonism that colored much of our coverage of Trump 1.0 cannot and will not be repeated, CNN seemed to be saying. We need a new approach.

Which isnt the first time weve heard that sentiment from cable news following the election.

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But who can blame them? CNN and its more left-wing rival, MSNBC, were pulverized in the ratings after Election Day as demoralized Trump-hating viewers checked out of politics. Thats begun to change since the inauguration, but theres no escaping the sense that Rachel Maddows exquisitely furrowed brow has failed as a business strategy and as a political strategy. If the goal of liberal media is to overcome Fox News and beat back right-wing authoritarianism, well, just check the scoreboard.

The definition of insanity, its said, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The countrys political media seems poised to take that to heart in Trumps second term. They want a different result so theyre going to stop doing the same thing over and over. Acosta-ism is out and soon to be replaced with, uh, what, exactly?

It doesnt matter, says the pessimist, veering into nihilism.

Just the facts.

What is the point of political news coverage?

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To make money, we might say, cynically and correctly. But if moneys all youre after, youd do better to become a forthright propagandist than a reporter. It takes less skill, requires much less overhead, and can even open up political opportunities for those who excel at it. Only a chump would work in journalism if hes looking to get rich quick (or at all) but entrepreneurs resolved to take that path will get closer by emulating Gateway Pundit or Breitbart than the New York Times.

And never has that been truer than now. Our president is turning the federal government into a patronage system in which media moguls will or wont find their business holdings harassed by the state depending on how friendly their newspapers are to him. Employing a reporter who insists on doing his or her job ethically, without favor, is now a genuine financial risk.

So forget money. The only reason to cover news in the Trump era is if you feel called to it, because you recognize theres a civic benefit to doing so. Even postliberals would concede, albeit insincerely, that government should be accountable to the people. For that accountability to happen, the public needs to be informed about what the government is up to.

And so the easy, even obvious, advice to the press on how to approach Trumps second term is to do just that. Drop the impassioned critiques of the president and take a just the facts approach to his administration. Inform the public. Give us fewer Jim Acostas decorating the news with smarmy asides and more Maggie Habermans breaking scoops. The more opinionated the media is about Trump, after all, the easier it becomes for Americans to dismiss negative coverage as liberal activism designed to turn them against him. They wont hold him accountable under circumstances like that.

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Just the facts. Thats what the people want. Tell them about the presidents power grabs and corruption and theyll turn against him without needing to be led.

Its a nice theory. Its also nonsense. Where is the evidence, exactly, that modern Americans give a wet fig about power grabs and corruption?

The most brazenly corrupt thing Trump has done in his first 10 days in office is to free the January 6 insurrectionistsall of them, including the scores convicted of violent offenses. Political reporters have covered that story lavishly. Its tailor-made to sour the public on Trump, as most Americans know what happened at the Capitol and opposed clemency for the perpetrators. Its not a financial scandal in which only forensic accountants are capable of understanding the nuts and bolts. Its gut-level, easy-to-grasp right-and-wrong stuff.

Or so you would think. Of the last six national polls taken following the release of the J6ers, Trumps job approval is net-positive in four and barely negative in the other two. The most recent one, from Emerson, has him 8 points above water. A separate poll from Quinnipiac conducted after the rioters were let go found Trumps Republican Party at 43-45 in favorability, meaningfully better than the 31-57 rating for Democrats. Never before in American history has a president rewarded those who committed violent crimes in his name with pardons; even so, 54 percent of registered voters pronounced themselves generally optimistic about whats to come from this presidency.

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Mind you, some J6ers have already been re-arrested on unrelated criminal charges since being freed. One was killed by police during a traffic stop when he allegedly resisted and had an altercation with an officer. The political press has been covering all of that too, just-the-facts style. Trump puts public at risk by releasing dangerous offenders seems lab-designed to detonate our law-and-order presidents public support on the launchpad, one would think. It hasnt.

To explain why it hasnt, youre stuck arguing either that a popular backlash to the J6 clemency is in the process of forming but not quite ripe yetor that its not coming, period.

All of which is to say that the dilemma for the political press in covering Trumps second term isnt actually a question about how opinionated or not reporters should be. The dilemma is that its unclear what purpose the political press now serves in a decadent country that no longer cares about holding government accountable and employs powerful tools to aggressively screen out information that might rouse it to do so.

Bad faith.

Thom Tillis, the most pitiful mollusk in a Republican Senate aquarium chock full of invertebrates, declared his support on Thursday for Trump uber-toady Kash Patel to lead the FBI. That was no surprise: Last week he supplied what amounted to the deciding vote to confirm talking head Pete Hegseth to lead the worlds most powerful militaryafter urging a witness against Hegseth to come forward with her testimony by implying that hed vote no on the nomination if she did.

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Thats weird, dont you think?

After all, our political press has reported extensively on the foibles of Patel and Hegseth over the last few months. Ive referenced that reporting many times in this newsletter. Weve gotten just the facts about both men and the facts establish that each is grossly unfit for office, enough so that Id be surprised if more than a handful of Senate Republicans were willing to say otherwise in private. Yet a senator from a swing state whos up for reelection next year is supporting the two anyway, seemingly untroubled by the possibility that centrist voters who have access to the facts about their unfitness might punish him at the polls for voting yes.

Seems weird! But it isnt, of course. Tillis is making a rational, if cowardly, calculation that Americans no longer care about corruption in their leaders even if the evidence substantiating it is right in front of them. Theyll always find a way to dismiss adverse factsor to avoid them altogether.

Some will dismiss them because theyve adopted the Trumpian view that corruption is evidence of strength and resolve. Some will dismiss them for reasons of partisanship, because being a member of the team means sticking with the team when things get rough. (Tillis is obviously more worried about being seen as not loyal enough by Republican primary voters than as too loyal by North Carolinas general election voters.) And some will dismiss them because theyre boiled frogsnumb to all of this already after four years of Trump 1.0, overwhelmed by how much there is to keep track of, resigned to the notion that rampant corruption is somehow the price of making America great again, and whatabout-ed into believing that all presidents are as crooked as their leader is, if not more so.

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But many wont so much dismiss Patels and Hegseths corruption as remain blissfully ignorant about it, having never heard about it in the first place.

Thats the fatal flaw in the just the facts approach to how the media should cover Trumps second term. Digging up unflattering facts about him and his cronies is easy; whats hard is figuring out how to get those facts to a population that increasingly consumes bespoke news thats designed to filter out information that might challenge their prejudices. Thom Tillis presumably assumes, correctly, that his Republican constituents and a decent chunk of independents have no idea why anyone would find Patel or Hegseth unqualified for the Cabinet because theyve literally never seen an argument to that effect. If they lean right, their daily news menu has ruthlessly gatekept that information from them or clubbed it into submission with spin.

So why wouldnt Tillis vote yes on both? Most of his voters literally have no reason to think he shouldnt.

The story of Trumps first 10 days is a story of him engaging in out-in-the-open corruption, the political press springing into action to report it out, and  seemingly no one caring. Take the new memecoin that the president launched a few days before being sworn in. Plenty of media outlets covered that, and not just political ones; obviously it was a big deal in the financial press too. Trumps attempt to monetize the presidency was so brazen and scammy that even crypto enthusiasts took to complaining about it, fearing that it would give the industry a bad (well, worse) name.

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Has it hurt Trump at all? The facts are out there, dispassionately reported. Whos upset about it?

Or take the trend in media companies choosing to settle lawsuits filed against them by Trump despite the fact that American defamation law strongly favors the press in court. First ABC News did it, then Facebook did it, now Elon Musks Twitter (er, X) is poised to do it despite the fact that the presidents case against it is weak. Thats an unlikely winning streak for a guy prone to filing nonsense lawsuits against his political enemies seemingly just to harass them. A cynic might suspect that these settlements are really de facto bribes by corporate entities who understand that greasing Trumps palm will make life under his administration more pleasant for them. Well see many more such settlements in the next four years, no doubt.

This too has been covered by numerous outlets. How many people have you encountered who are agitated about it? Has it been picked up by a single media property thats remotely Trump-friendly?

To hold government accountable, political media need a public with an appetite for accountability and a pipeline to deliver pertinent information to that public. Lacking one is a crisis; lacking both means endgame for liberalism.

The kitchen table.

My advice to political news reporters on how to cover Trump 2.0, then, is this: Play Tetris instead. Youll be just as productive.

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If you feel you must expose his scandals as a matter of professional duty, though, I suppose theres value in chronicling them for the historical record. Just dont expect most Americans to careand dont expect too much of the historical record, frankly. History is written by the winners, and if postliberals prevail long-term, the mythmaking around Trump to come from future generations of Republicans will be so fulsome as to make even an elderly Camelot-worshipping Kennedy slobberer retch.

Your best bet for relevance in the here and now is to devote less coverage to Trumps corruption and more to how he is or isnt keeping the kitchen-table promises he made during the campaign. Most Americans are fine with authoritarianism, it seems, but they are not fine with out-of-the-blue federal spending freezes that suddenly threaten whatever particular gravy train they happen to be riding.

Trump is a gangster shaking down companies for protection money and unleashing his imprisoned goons on the public doesnt inflame the noble American spirit. Eggs are getting more expensive is how you sell newspapers and get Capone.

Even then, theres only so much you can do to sway Trump supporters by directly attacking their savior. Voters who have experienced ahem, a MAGA revelation will not lightly abandon the Good News because of some Maggie Haberman scoop. But the public might be more receptive to criticism of Trumps deputies, the lesser beings around him to whom they owe no divine loyalty. Already, I see, Americans have begun to sour on his shadow president. Trump is incompetent and failing to deliver is not a headline that will meaningfully influence public opinion, true or not, but Trumps team is incompetent and failing to deliver? That one might have legs.

Whatever happens, I hope the mainstream political press accepts the inevitable blistering criticism of its Trump coverage by right-wing media in the spirit in which its offeredas pure horse dookie, designed to discredit not the stuff they report thats false but the stuff thats true. Trump has been quite candid about that in the past. To the modern right, Jonathan Last recently noted, no amount of success by elites can compensate for elites mistakes and no amount of failure by populists can discredit populists successes. Their answer to the question How should the media properly cover Trump? will never be anything other in practice than With the same degree of North Korean-style obsequiousness that we do.

Still, Tetris is probably the way to go. If nothing else, itll be less aggravating than having to cover this dystopian circus for another 1,400-plus days.

Read more at The Dispatch

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Our 16th Wisconsin Student of the Week poll has now closed. Thanks to all who voted.

This week, we returned to two high schools we've featured in the past, with students who were nominated for hard work and helpful attitudes in and out of the classroom. Keep reading to meet our winner, plus how to how to nominate a student for our weekly poll.

Kayla Gillespie, grade 12, Messmer High School

This week's Student of the Week winner, Kayla Gillespie, was nominated by Messmer High School counselor Melissa Hoeppner for being "actively involved with school and in her community."

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Gillespie participates as a student ambassador at Messmer, working with school donors and future students. She's also part of the Milwaukee Urban League.

In general, Hoeppner said, Gillespie shows a "leadership spark" and "works extremely hard" both in her academics and community.

About Student of the Week

High school students are nominated for Student of the Week by principals, teachers, youth organizations and others who work with teens. Voting is open each week from 5 a.m. Monday until noon Thursday with polls at jsonline.com, postcrescent.com and greenbaypressgazette.com.

Do you work with youth and know someone who should be Student of the Week? Reach out to Debi Young, statewide education editor, at debi.young@jrn.com to get a link to the nomination form.

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Rebecca Loroff is a K-12 education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at rloroff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet our 16th Wisconsin Student of the Week winner
Then-Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden chats with lawmakers during the 2025 legislative session on Jan. 21, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Larry Rhoden owes his new job as governor to Kristi Noem, but her political career might have stalled shortly after it began if not for his help, according to a story theyve both shared publicly.

As a new state legislator in 2007, Noem thought a fellow Republican lawmaker from her district was insufficiently devoted to anti-abortion legislation. She aired that view in an email to constituents, which angered other Republicans.

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Rhoden told the story earlier this month while introducing Noem for her last State of the State speech.

She got herself in a little trouble, kind of put her foot in her mouth over an issue, and there was a lot of consternation among her colleagues, he said.

Rhoden was the state House majority leader at the time. He arranged a group dinner with Noem, telling other attendees that she didnt have a lot of friends. The advice Noem received that evening and the relationships she formed helped to put her on a path to political success.

Noem was eventually elected to Congress, and then became South Dakotas first female governor with Rhoden serving as her lieutenant governor. Now shes the secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security, and Rhoden has succeeded her as governor. Hell serve the remainder of her second term through 2026, when hell have to decide whether to seek his own term in that years election.

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South Dakotans know a lot about Noem, after her many statewide campaigns, her two books and her consistent presence on social media. Theyre less acquainted with Rhoden, who took the oath of office Monday as South Dakotas 34th governor. Rhoden said as much when he addressed the Legislature during a joint session on Tuesday.

Ranching roots

The 65-year-old is a fourth-generation rancher from rural Union Center, in western South Dakota. He values his faith, family and hard work, he said in his speech. He and his wife, Sandy, have four grown sons and seven grandchildren.

Rhodens brother still lives on the land where their grandfather homesteaded, while Rhoden lives nearby. His family has a tradition of military service, he said, including in the Revolutionary War and the world wars. Instead of going to college after graduating from high school, Rhoden joined the National Guard.

Hes now the 12th governor in South Dakota history to lack a college degree, and the first since Walter Dale Miller, another Republican rancher and lieutenant governor who took over as governor after the death of Gov. George Mickelson in 1993.

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Rhoden joined the state Legislature in 2000, where he served for 16 years. His interests during his legislative career included property rights, pro-gun policies, anti-abortion legislation and tax reform.

In 2014, he ran in a five-way race for the Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat. He finished a distant second to former Gov. Mike Rounds, who went on to win the general election.

South Dakota Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden chats with legislative staff during the 2025 legislative session on Jan. 21, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Humorous and serious

Rhoden joined Noem as her running mate in her successful 2018 gubernatorial campaign, after shed served four terms in the U.S. House. As Noem generated national headlines during her administration, Rhoden was a quiet, sometimes comedic presence in the background.

While fulfilling the lieutenant governors dual role as president of the state Senate, he broke two gavels with his powerful strike, earning him good-natured ribbing from legislators and a heavy-duty aluminum gavel as a gift. He also made his own wooden gavels and put his 40 years of custom welding experience to use crafting a VETO branding iron for Noem.

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While participating in a 2017 debate about legislation to permit concealed guns in the Capitol (an idea that eventually succeeded), Rhoden hit a panic button in a committee room to see how quickly authorities would respond.

In her first book, Noem recalled her years serving in the Legislature with Rhoden and said they were part of a group of lawmakers and lobbyists who enjoyed the Seinfeld sitcom and compared themselves to the cast. The group decided Rhoden was a lot like Kramer, Noem wrote, with his funny expressions and crazy head tilts.

Noem also described Rhoden in her book as a strategic thinker who knew when a good quip was exactly what was needed to ease the tension in the room.

Tim Rave was a member of that group of friends. Hes now the South Dakota Board of Regents president and South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations executive director. He laughed at the Seinfeld memory, saying Rhoden took the Kramer comparison well.

Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks to the media after taking the oath of office on Jan. 27, 2025, at the South Dakota Capitol in Pierre. (David Bordewyk/South Dakota NewsMedia Association)

Rave, a former speaker of the House, said Rhoden will serve as a rock steady hand to navigate the leadership transition. South Dakotans will see a genuine man and leader in the coming years who will listen, collaborate and use humor when necessary, Rave said.

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Dan Ahlers, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, formerly served with Rhoden in the Legislature. Ahlers remembers Rhoden as a firebrand from his early years as a legislator, but said Rhoden has matured into someone who will be more attentive to the state than his predecessor.

I think Larry is more focused on South Dakota, Ahlers said. What weve seen with Noem throughout her career is, What is the next step? Whats the next and next and next?

Aberdeen Republican Rep. Al Novstrup, who has served in the Legislature since 2003, said Rhoden will bring the same sincere, honest and competent leadership to the governors office that he embodied during their time together in the Legislature.

Over the years, weve had a lot of contentious issues. Larry has always been able to reach compromises that treat everybody fairly, Novstrup said. Hes always respectful to people he disagrees with. Hes got South Dakota integrity.

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Utility giant Duke Energy is retiring its Allen Steam Station, a coal-fired power plant near Charlotte, North Carolina, to make way for its largest battery storage system, a major step toward cleaning up the energy grid, Canary Media reported.

Since 1957, Allen Steam Station produced 1,155 megawatts of coal-powered electricity before four of its five units shut down. Duke's energy-storage system, however, is expected to hold even more power: a total of 2,700 megawatts of energy across its service areas by 2031.

This transition is part of a broader shift away from coal, driven by the need for clean energy sources. Duke's choice to meet grid energy needs with batteries over natural gas marks a break from past practices, joining a growing trend alongside solar leaders like California, Texas, and parts of the Southwest.

The construction will come in phases. First, Duke will build a battery system that can supply 50 megawatts of electricity to the grid continuously for up to four hours. It's slated for completion by the end of 2025.

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By October 2027, a larger, more powerful battery system will replace the final coal unit. These batteries will store excess energy and provide reliable power during peak demand, a regional first for large-scale battery adoption.

That said, Duke's batteries will "not just rely on solar" during the transition, spokesperson Bill Norton told Canary. To ensure 24/7 grid reliability, Duke is also building a 400-megawatt natural gas turbine nearby for prolonged demand surges, meaning gas will be mixed with solar to generate electricity.

Grid batteries help stabilize energy supply during peak usage, reducing outages during extreme weather. They also store excess renewable energy, such as solar power, an area where North Carolina excels nationally. That reduces reliance on dirtier fuels, lowering planet-warming pollution while improving air quality. An ample supply of clean energy also makes electricity cheaper for surrounding communities.

The replacement of coal plants with battery storage joins a growing number of coal-powered utilities shutting their operations. One of the nation's largest coal-fired plants in Ohio is set to close or be converted into a cleaner energy source by 2031. Coal plants in New Hampshire will close shop by 2027 and be repurposed into solar farms and battery capacity for offshore wind turbines.

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As Duke's spokesperson put it: "Repurposing Allen's existing transmission system and infrastructure enables a more efficient clean energy transition."

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.




Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have a controversial image within the Royal Family; however, California residents have been singing their praises.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not hold back their support for victims during the devastating wildfires that destroyed most of Southern California. While many headlines focused on celebrities who lost their Pacific Palisades homes, the royal couple helped regular citizens.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Montecito home avoided the worst of the wildfires that rampaged through nearby towns and neighborhoods. However, instead of enjoying their safety, the fantastic duo drove straight into the hot zone to console those in need.

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Showcase Their Humanitarian Spirit

MEGA

A source recently shared Harry and Meghan's touching deeds during the tragic wildfires, revealing they went above and beyond to support those affected by the incident. The insider shared:

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"They could have easily left town, but they actually drove two hours towards the fire to help out at the World Central Kitchen."

"They served meals to people that have been evacuated; they spoke with people and tried to offer some solace," the source continued. They claimed Harry and Meghan toured the hardest-hit areas, comforting victims and making multiple donations in the days after the disaster.

The fantastic duo's humanitarian efforts continued with them opening their Montecito home to those displaced by the wildfires while imploring their famous friends to do the same. In Touch noted they shared their plea for kindness on their website, writing:

"If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do. And be sure to check in with any disabled or elderly neighbors to see if they need help evacuating."

The Royal Couple Partnered With Different Organizations To Help Wildfire Victims

MEGA

In their statement, Harry and Meghan revealed people could help wildfire victims by donating to various charities and organizations. The list included the groups they had worked with through their Archewell Foundation.

The couple's consistent efforts to spread relief touched the source's heart, who showered them in praises. "It was exactly what you'd expect of Princess Diana's son," they said about Harry. As for Meghan, they noted she was a "California girl" and deeply affected by the wildfires.

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"They're both so sad, but they're being proactive, and they're looking at ways their foundation can help," the insider alleged. According to reports, the widespread disaster killed at least 29 people, destroyed over 18,000 structures and forced over 200,000 residents to evacuate.

The Sussexes Want To Do More To Help

MEGA

The insider applauded the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for looking out for regular people, stressing that the wildfires affected more than the wealthy people the media covered.

"There are plenty of regular people that are suffering unimaginable loss and trauma," the source explained.

"There is so much need, and they want to make sure they pinpoint the right charities to support in this," they continued about Harry and Meghan's relief efforts. The insider added:

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"They've also invited everyone they know that's in L.A. and wants to get out to come to their home in Montecito since it's not threatened."

"Emotionally, they are very impacted by this. The collective pain and suffering that this city they both love is going through is devastating," the source concluded. Their comments come weeks after Meghan showcased her sensitivity to the situation by postponing the release date of her new Netflix show.

PR Professionals Criticized The Former Actress' Premiere Date

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Before the tragic wildfires, Meghan announced the release of a new Netflix show, "With Love, Meghan," set for January. However, The Blast reported that PR professionals bashed her and her team's decision to continue with the proposed release date.

These critics stressed that the Duchess's actions were "insensitive" and "tone-deaf" amid the wildfires. "I think Netflix bosses will have to make some big decisions as to whether to air With Love, Meghan in the next week," UK's brand and culture expert Nick Ede shared.

He noted the show was "so centered on California life, Los Angeles, and Montecito, providing a glimpse into aspirational and inspirational living." However, airing such content shortly after the tragedy would negatively affect Meghan and Netflix's images.

Inside Meghan Markle's Decision About Her Upcoming Show

MEGA

Following concerns about Meghan's show's release date, Netflix announced on its website that it had agreed to postpone the premiere at her request. The new date has been set for March, a decision the "Suits" alum proudly celebrated.

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"I'm thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California," she wrote.

Ede, the UK's brand and culture expert, applauded the Duchess's decision to postpone her show's release. He believed her actions would revamp her controversial image, especially with her and Harry's efforts to save the wildfire victims.
The Italian government has suffered another legal defeat over its efforts to process asylum applications by migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea in an offshore facility in Albania.

An appeals court in Rome ruled that 43 men taken to two facilities in Albania must be released and brought back to Italy, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Friday.

The migrants - from Bangladesh, Egypt, Gambia and the Ivory Coast - were picked up by an Italian navy ship this week and taken to Albania, where far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration has set up camps to house migrants while their applications are processed.

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Six of the men were allowed to enter Italy, while the others saw their applications rejected.

Previous attempts to detain migrants in Albania failed in October and November after Italian courts ruled the migrants could not be sent back to safe countries of origin.

Italy is the first country in the European Union to set up facilities outside the bloc's borders to process applications.

The future of the "Albania model" is being closely monitored by other governments.

The European Court of Justice intends to issue a landmark judgement on the actions of the Italian authorities in February.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A Memphis Christian school graduate was one of the 64 people on board the American Airlines flight that crashed in Washington D.C. this week.

Casey Crafton was killed after an Army helicopter collided midair with the jet he was a passenger on Wednesday night, sending the aircraft into the Potomac River.

40+ bodies pulled from Potomac near Reagan National

Central Baptist School in Memphis confirmed that Crafton is a former student of the private Christian school. The school shared its condolences to the Crafton family on social media following Craftons death.

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While we are burdened by such great loss, we are encouraged from the scripture that, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Cor. 15: 54b, 55, 57.

Dave Elkin, a childhood friend of Crafton, says while his friend will be missed, his memory will live on.

I got a phone call and they were saying, it was my mom, she was like I have to tell you something. Casey was on the plane that crashed. I was like, that cant be real, that cant be true, Elkin said.

Casey Crafton (photos courtesy Dave Elkin and WPIX)

Elkin says he first met Crafton in elementary school here at Central Baptist School in Northwest Memphis.

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He says he and another student were close friends with Crafton. Elkin even at one point went to the same college as Crafton.

We were together all the time in college, until I had to transfer, Elkin said.

As life went on, Elkin says they lost touch, but the bond was still there. Crafton eventually moved to Connecticut, Elkin to South Carolina, but in 2014 they were reunited.

I was working for ServiceMaster at the time and I had to travel up to Connecticut and Rhode Island, and I was able to message him on Facebook and get together, Elkin said. It was like nothing changed.

A fundraiser has been set up for the Crafton family, which has raised nearly $75,000 in just one day.

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According to the Associated Press, all 67 people aboard the two aircraft were killed, marking the United States deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Liane Freels, an associate licensed counselor based in Florence, Ala., sits in her office on Jan. 24, 2025. Freels has taken on some adult clients with maternal mental health issues knowing she wont be reimbursed. We are so passionate about reaching these moms and families who are suffering, that it is more important to us to make sure that happens and wait for the grant funding later, said Freels. But were both able [financially] to do that. A lot of counselors could never do this. (Eric Schultz for Alabama Reflector)

This story first appeared in the Alabama Reflector.

Last fall, Patricia called her counselor in a panic. A 29-year-old North Alabama mom, she was about to lose her Medicaid coverage, which was set to expire in October, one year after the birth of her son.

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Without Medicaid, she feared she would have no way to pay for the counseling sessions that helped her navigate a deep bout of postpartum depression. In the months since the birth of her son, she had weekly telehealth therapy with Liane Freels, an associate licensed counselor based in Florence, Alabama.

Its helped a lot, said Patricia, who asked to be identified only by her first name. I still have bad days, but theyre less frequent. I dont feel like Im constantly in a dark hole.

Its given me an outlet to process my emotions, to feel validated, and to learn coping techniques to get through panic attacks.

But when Patricia called Freels, concerned about her loss of coverage, she got a shock: Medicaid wasnt paying for her therapy sessions. Freels admitted shed been providing them pro bono.

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Alabama Medicaid covers mental health counseling by therapists like Freels for children and people under 21, but not for other adults. Freels takes on some adult clients with maternal mental health issues knowing she wont be reimbursed. She and her business partner, Alisha Dreiling, have been working to secure grant funding so that their practice can provide maternal mental health services to families that struggle to afford it  and still keep the lights on.

We are so passionate about reaching these moms and families who are suffering, that it is more important to us to make sure that happens and wait for the grant funding later, said Freels. But were both able [financially] to do that. A lot of counselors could never do this.

On paper, Alabama Medicaid covers mental health treatment for moms with low incomes up to one year after a birth.

But in practice, say providers, advocates and patients, Medicaids severe underfunding and structural barriers keep treatment out of reach for many new moms until conditions like postpartum depression balloon into mental health crises.

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The majority of moms in our state are not screened, not educated, are not provided direct access to maternal mental health care from pregnancy through postpartum, said Sarah Parkhurst, a Birmingham woman who founded Previa Alliance, an organization dedicated to connecting moms with mental health services. Parkhurst herself experienced postpartum depression and suicidal thoughts, and struggled to find a therapist who accepted her insurance.

Moms are dying, she said. And babies are suffering.

Nearly half of all births

In Alabama, its difficult to qualify for Medicaid. A single parent with one child, for example, cant make more than $3,684 per year and get coverage under the program. Alabama is one of 10 states that hasnt expanded Medicaid to adults making up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, or about $21,000 annually for an individual in 2024.

But for pregnant Alabamians, the limit is higher, making coverage available to more people with low incomes. As a result, Medicaid covers nearly half of all births statewide.

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While Alabama lawmakers have spent years dithering over Medicaid expansion, the state did finally expand coverage for one group: pregnant women. Two years ago, in an effort to improve Alabamas abysmal health outcomes for women and babies, the state followed most other states and extended its pregnancy Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year following a birth.

The goal was to keep new mothers from losing their health coverage within weeks of having a child. Nearly half of pregnancy-related maternal deaths in the U.S. occur in the weeks or months after a birth. In Alabama, more than half of women who died from pregnancy-associated causes died between 43 days and one year after giving birth, according to the most recent data from the Alabama committee that investigates maternal deaths.

Mental health conditions, including suicide and overdose, are the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related deaths. And they raise the chance of serious health complications for women during or after childbirth by 50%.

'A hell of a year'

For Patricia and her family, the months leading up to the birth of her youngest felt almost unbearably hard.

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Her husbands mother unexpectedly died. Soon after, her older son  at the time not quite one-a year- old  was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder that required regular trips to a St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital clinic. Her husband eventually lost his job after missing too many days of work, taking their son to medical appointments.

The family had to remain secluded to try to keep their son from getting sick, but he was hospitalized several times, including once with a COVID-induced infection that turned septic.

We had a hell of a year before my youngest was born, Patricia said. By the time he was 2- months- old, she said, I felt like I had been through the biggest wringer of my life. I knew I needed help. I was really struggling with any bit of everyday life. Just brushing my teeth felt like the biggest chore in the world.

She saw a post online that Freels clinic, WAC Counseling, was going to begin accepting clients with Medicaid. She assumed that because Medicaid covered her prenatal and childbirth care without any issues, that it would cover counseling, too.

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Had she gone through the proper Medicaid channels, she likely wouldnt have been able to choose a counselor like Freels. Medicaid recipients under age 21 can get mental health services from any provider who accepts Medicaid. But moms over 21 who use Medicaid are referred to either the states mental health crisis line, or to a community health center that contracts with Medicaid, according to an Alabama Medicaid representative.

Theres a community mental health center in Patricias county, she said, but its mainly associated with substance use disorders.

Most people think if you go there, you must have a drug addiction, she said.

But Freels took her on. And slowly, Patricia said, things began to look brighter.

'Not in this for the money'

Freels is a former pediatrician who pivoted to counseling a few years ago, after seeing many of her pediatric patients parents struggling with mood disorders like depression and anxiety.

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She and her partner are focused on providing maternal mental health services to people with low incomes. They hope that their practice, which opened last year, will be able to secure more grants to allow them to continue providing services while also keeping the doors open.

We are not in this for the money, let me tell you, Freels joked.

In her experience, most private counseling practices dont accept Medicaid, largely due to extremely low reimbursement rates. Even when Medicaid covers therapy, it reimburses counselors at a rate far below what private insurers like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama will pay. Blue Cross is the largest private insurer in the state.

Parkhursts organization recently finished a pilot program with Alabama moms across the state, providing screening and mental health services via telehealth. She said the program could only take women with private insurance because of the limited number of therapists that accept Medicaid and limited telehealth options. She said shes also searching for grants or federal funding to help pay for moms with Medicaid to access counseling services.

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I know a lot of providers who want to serve these moms, but they have to make a living wage, she said.

In addition to better reimbursement, Freels would like to see Medicaids administrative requirements eased or streamlined.

Thats a big reason why [therapists] dont want to take Medicaid, she said. If its not the reimbursement, its the headaches. We have to spend a lot of time on the phone to find a person [the client] can access who can give them a referral.

Meanwhile, those with private insurance like Blue Cross dont need a referral and can just call to make an appointment, she said.

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Women like Patricia who have pregnancy Medicaid and want mental health services are supposed to contact their case manager to get connected with a provider  often a psychologist at a mental health center. In Parkhursts experience talking with moms on Medicaid, case managers sometimes have a difficult time getting clients timely care.

Amy Moore, counselor, in her office on Friday, January 24, 2025, in Florence, Ala. (Eric Schultz/Rocket City Photo)

And then there are the practical barriers. Many women lack adequate transportation or child care, or cant afford to take time off work to travel that far for appointments.

Medicaid does allow telehealth services, but Parkhurst said some services are required to be offered in person, via video chat, or require the recipient to first jump through hoops. Lack of high-speed internet can effectively shut off a telehealth option for some moms on Medicaid, she said.

I think allowing telehealth with no limitations is important when you talk about mental health care, said Parkhurst. For some moms, we need to come to them.

Amy Moor, a licensed professional counselor whos based in Florence, said theres still work to be done to improve how Alabamians are screened for pregnancy or postpartum mental health issues.

Because its so hard for adults to qualify for Medicaid in Alabama, many women only have coverage while theyre pregnant and during the first year after they give birth, which means they dont have a primary care provider who sees them regularly and could notice that somethings not right.

Women may have to have a psychotic mental health emergency to be seen, she said. It takes them being in a scary place, mentally, to be seen before that six-week checkup at the obstetrician.

Hotlines, visiting nurses, and speaking out

There are solutions.

Freels, Moor and others praised Alabama Medicaids Nurse-Family Partnership program, which provides home visits and other services to families from pregnancy through two years postpartum. It also offers services led by a mental health nurse practitioner that include telehealth sessions.

Its not available everywhere in the state, however, and there are restrictions on who qualifies.

But overall, its an amazing program for Medicaids pregnant people, said Freels. They are on the front lines and recognize people who may benefit from counseling.

National organizations like Postpartum Support International have helplines designed to connect people with providers, and the state also operates a 988 mental health crisis line.

But the biggest solution, advocates and providers say, is expanding Medicaid to cover more people, and lawmakers allocating funding to support mental health services for people who fall in the insurance coverage gap.

If Medicaid is going to cover nearly half of the births in the state, said Parkhurst, we have to reimburse well so providers can actually serve these moms. We have to allocate the appropriate funding. We have to have an even playing field so all moms can be served.

Patricia continues to see Freels for counseling and said life has improved since those dark days after the birth of her youngest. Her husband found a new job with more flexible hours, and her older son is now much healthier.

In the meantime, she said she's tried to be more open with friends and family about her struggles. For a long time, she said, she believed that she suffered from depression because she wasnt praying hard enough, or didnt trust in God enough.

But since she got help, she said, her husband and another relative have also sought treatment for their own mental health issues.

The thought that these two people I love who also grew up in places where they were told if your mental health isnt strong, your faith isnt strong enough  just to know that I helped destigmatize this for them is amazing, she said.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization.

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(Bloomberg) -- The sweat was dripping off Friedrich Merz after the frontrunner to become Germanys next chancellor saw his bid to outflank an ascendant far right spectacularly backfire in the Bundestag.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Shoulders sunken, he addressed reporters after a dozen colleagues from his own CDU alliance turned on him less than a month before a snap election he thought he had in the bag. Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats sat back quietly, taking it in. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germanys chancellor candidate, Alice Weidel, reveled in his humiliation.

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He jumped in as a tiger and ended up as a bedside rug, she said at a Friday press conference in Berlin. Mr. Merz is not only clumsy, hes also not stringent. He has brought himself down.

His strategy began to unravel within 24 hours of the vote  and his arch-nemesis and one-time rival Angela Merkel emerged from retirement to deliver a rare rebuke and as it turns out a deciding blow to his high-stakes gamble to appear tough on immigration.

She publicly criticized him for getting too close to the AfD, joining a chorus of critics who accused Merz of breaking a taboo in German postwar politics and compromising a firewall erected by mainstream parties designed to keep the AfD out of power.

Merzs misstep undercuts his attempt to portray the CDU as a party of effective change and opens the door to the AfD and the Social Democrats.

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Merzs shift to the right was a calculated gambit to neutralize the AfD and deliver a breakthrough with wavering voters, according to people familiar with his thinking. Most party leaders and members of his CDU/CSU parliamentary caucus supported the strategy and are unlikely to change tack at this point in the race.

How Germanys Anti-Immigration Debate Played Out: TOPLive Transcript

Merz seized on a fatal knife attack in Bavaria last week  in which the suspected perpetrator is a 28-year-old Afghan man whose asylum request had been rejected  to justify the CDUs strategy, saying that radical action was needed.

In the wake of that attack, Merz proposed legislation dubbed the influx-limiting law. It included measures designed to reduce irregular immigration from countries outside the European Union and cut the number of family members following asylum seekers to Germany, and would give police enhanced powers to carry out deportations.

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Despite opposition from the Social Democrats and the Greens, Merz thought he had enough support to pass the bill. His CDU/CSU bloc, along with the AfD, the liberal Free Democrats and the far-left BSW party, have 372 seats, more than the 367 required for a majority.

Before the Friday vote was held, the Free Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Greens tried to convince Merz to take the legislation back to committee to hammer out a compromise among the mainstream groups and without the AfD. The vote was delayed for four hours due to the last-ditch efforts to find a middle ground.

In the end, Merz refused and pushed ahead with the ballot. What he hadnt counted on was that public criticism from Merkel helped give members of his own party enough breathing room to withdraw support for the bill.

The measure was rejected with 349 votes against, 338 in favor and five abstentions. Twelve lawmakers in the conservative bloc of 196 lawmakers broke rank and didnt cast a vote  the same number needed to pass the bill.

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The vote was mostly symbolic, given that the bill would likely have failed in the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, where the 16 federal states are represented. Kai Wegner, the CDU mayor of Berlin, said Thursday he would never approve a law in the Bundesrat that was only passed depending on the votes of the AfD.

A related non-binding CDU/CSU resolution was adopted earlier in the week, which marked the first time since World War II that a mainstream party relied on a far-right group to clinch a parliamentary majority.

What a disgrace, Scholz said in a social media post. The whole maneuver was in vain and only damaged democracy.

For Scholz, Merzs miscalculation opens a window of opportunity in the final stretch of the election campaign, according to SPD officials familiar with the chancellors thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Social Democrats will try to exploit the situation and paint his conservative opponent as unreliable and not fit to govern.

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It also opens up the possibility that opponents aligned with Weidel will weigh in, including Tesla Inc. and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has taken an interest in the German election.

Merz tried to shift the blame to the SPD and the Greens, highlighting the deepening rifts in Germanys mainstream.

The asylum turnaround that we tried to achieve failed because of the Greens and the Social Democrats, said Merz. I would have liked to have seen a different result, but from our point of view, this result creates clarity  clarity about where we stand and where the Social Democrats and the Greens stand.

It remains to be seen whether the misstep affects the CDUs lead in the polls. An Insa poll for Bild am Sonntag newspaper published Saturday showed support for Merzs conservative bloc at 30%, unchanged from the previous week, and the AfD at 22% in second place, up one point. The SPD also gained one point to 17% and the Greens were stable at 12%.

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Following Fridays debacle, Merz will likely return his focus to economic policy, said the people. But in the mean time, his opponents have been given a fresh line of attack.

He is not a candidate for chancellor, he cannot lead the country, the AfDs Weidel said. He cant even lead his own party.

--With assistance from Stephan Kahl.

(Adds new poll in third to last paragraph)

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2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Despite the defeat on Friday in the German parliament of his proposed immigration law, conservative leader Friedrich Merz sees himself and his faction in a stronger position.

"I also see myself very much strengthened by what we in the faction decided this week," the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said on Friday, with national elections less than four weeks away.

"This parliamentary faction is now really going into the last three weeks of the parliamentary election campaign with a great deal of self-confidence, and so am I," Merz said after his highly controversial migration bill was rejected in parliament.

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Merz said he assumes that the citizens of Germany now truly believe the CDU "are serious about changing asylum and immigration policy." The far-right Alternative for Germany, in particular, has always "very polemically" doubted whether the CDU could be trusted on this issue, he said.

"As of today, it is clear: Merz will do this," he said.

Merz dismissed as unfounded the doubts expressed by the AfD about his suitability as a candidate for chancellor after the bill's defeat.

"The AfD wants to destroy us," he said. "We will not let ourselves be destroyed. On the contrary, we have emerged from this day truly strengthened."
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12:30 President leaves Parliament President Droupadi Murmu departs for Rashtrapati Bhavan from Parliament after addressing a joint sitting of both Houses Read more >

12:04 Prez lauds govt's Make in India to Make for World President Murmu says, The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security. The government has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world.To enable the entire country... Read more >

11:42 President: India has world's 3rd largest metro network President Murmu says: India's metro rail network has now crossed the 1000-kilometre milestone. India has the world's third-largest metro network.The country's aviation sector is progressing rapidly with the airline companies placing orders of 1700 new aircraft. The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla... Read more >

11:35 Sitharaman awaits her turn in Parliament Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to table the Economic Survey 2024-25 in Parliament on Friday afternoon, providing key insights into the country's economic performance and shaping expectations for the upcoming Union Budget. As is the convention, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman... Read more >

11:29 President: India AI mission has begun President Murmu says, Today our youth is bringing glory to the country in every field from startups to sports to space. India is showing the way to the world in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and the adoption of technology.Our aim is to make India a global innovation powerhouse...In the... Read more >

11:18 Budget clues from Prez: Housing, students, women Addressing a joint sitting of Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu says, Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, it has been decided to provide health insurance to six crore senior citizens aged 70 years and above.The historic Maha Kumbh is going on. It is a festival of our cultural traditions and... Read more >

11:13 Govt has taken steps towards 1 nation, 1 election: Prez And so it begins.Addressing a joint sitting of Parliament, President Droupadi Murmu says, My government has started 'Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan' for five crore people of the tribal society. Two months ago, we celebrated the 75 years of adopting our constitution and a few days ago,... Read more >

11:04 PM: 1st Parl session since 2014 when... Ahead of Parliament's Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that it is the first time since 2014 when no attempt from abroad was made to stoke trouble in India before the start of a session. This is probably the first Parliament session since 2014 when attempts to stoke... Read more >

10:57 What will President Murmu say today? President Droupadi Murmu to address both Houses of Parliament today. This picture was taken just ahead of the stately departure towards Parliament from Rashtrapati Bhavan. Read more >

10:45 Modi's mantra for 3rd term: Reform, perform, transform PM Narendra Modi says, You must have noticed, since 2014, this is the first Parliament session, which saw no 'videshi chingari' (foreign interference) in our affairs, in which no foreign forces tried to ignite a fire. I had noticed this before every budget session. And many in our country leave... Read more >

10:33 Bow down to Goddess Lakshmi...: Modi PM Modi says, Ahead of the Budget Session, I bow down to Maa Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. I pray that Maa Lakshmi continues to bless the poor and middle class of our country. It is a matter of great pride that India completed 75 years as a democratic nation. India has... Read more >

10:31 Amit Shah arrives in Parliament head of the PM Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives in Parliament for President Murmu's address to joint sitting of Parliament which marks the beginning of the Budget session. Read more >

10:24 Modi arrives in Parliament for Budget session President Droupadi Murmu will address the joint sitting of the two Houses at around 11 am. Following this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. It would be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at... Read more >

10:21 Markets trade higher in early trade driven by surge in L&T Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied in early trade on Friday helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro post its earnings announcement and a firm trend in the US markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 188.11 points to 76,947.92 in early trade, a day before the Union Budget.... Read more >

10:15 Chullu bhar paani mein... Fadnavis attacks Kejriwal Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday launched a strong attack on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal during a campaign for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, saying that former Delhi CM had promised that he would clean the Yamuna River and would take a... Read more >

09:52 Irdai Caps Senior Citizens' Health Premium Increase At 10%pa Following multiple reports of health insurance companies significantly increasing premiums for senior citizens upon renewal, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) on Thursday issued a directive that mandates insurers to not revise health insurance premiums for senior... Read more >

09:48 Hamas confirms death of military leader Mohammed Deif This is what is left of Gaza Hamas on Thursday confirmed killing of its military leader Mohammed Deif in an Israeli strike, months after the Israel Defense Forces announcement, Times of Israel reported.Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida confirmed the death of Dief in a video statement. He also confirmed the deaths of the deputy... Read more >

09:41 Do you know what's a parasitic twin foetus? Representational image In a rare incident, a pregnant woman's sonography in Buldhana, Maharashtra, revealed a case of a fetus in fetu, a condition where a parasitic twin develops inside its identical twin. It's characterized by a mass in the abdomen that resembles a fetus. Dr. Prasad Aggarwal, Gynecologist... Read more >

09:36 Our hearts break... Obamas on plane accident As President Trump blames Biden and Obama on planes' collision, this is what former president Barack Obama said on the horrific and tragic accident. Our hearts break for the families who lost loved ones in the tragic plane and helicopter crash at DCA. Michelle and I send our prayers and... Read more >

09:32 Poisonous Yamuna row: Kejriwal to march to EC office Would you bathe here? AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will visit the Election Commission office on Friday to furnish his reply to the poll body over its notice to him on his poison mixed in Yamuna water remark.Kejriwal, who will be accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, will... Read more >

09:20 Israel releases 110 Palestinian prisoners Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners after receiving security assurance from the mediators of the ongoing ceasefire-hostage deal, following the chaotic scenes in Khan Younis during the handover of Israeli and Thai hostages.According to Al Jazeera, Israel released the Palestinian prisoners... Read more >

09:09 Govt to present Economic Survey in Parliament today The budget session of the Parliament will commence today with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses at around 11 am.Following this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on... Read more >

08:43 BRICS nations to face 100% tariffs if...: Trump United States President Donald Trump ihas once again held out the threat of tariffs to BRICS nations if they try to replace the US Dollar with any other currency.In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: 'The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by... Read more >

00:35 3 more suspected cases of nerve disorder detected in Maha; tally at 130 File image The number of suspected cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in Pune and some other districts of Maharashtra has risen to 130 with the addition of three more patients of the rare nerve disorder, health department officials said on Thursday. According to the officials, no new case was... Read more >
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX)  On Wednesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced statewide grants to seven different school districts around Colorado to help implement and develop smartphone policies, just like what Mesa County School District 51 put in place at the beginning of this school year.

So far, things seem to be going well for the district, which was one of the seven grant recipients.

Nothings perfect, said D51 Superintendent Dr. Brian Hill. But I would say this is as close to perfect as you can get. Its been really great for our students, staff and families, weve heard great feedback.

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At the start of the school year, D51 introduced the mantra More Social. Less Media, hoping to encourage more social interactions between students, and less distraction in the classroom. To do this, the school district invested in getting cell phone pouches for students to put their phones in at the beginning of the school day.

The plan for the grant money?

To be able to bring somebody on part-time for a short period of time just to help us write the K-12 curriculum for students around responsible tech use, and then also create these trainings for families, things that schools can use with families on the research behind it, then how they can help support students at home, Hill said.

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By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An official with Meta Platforms' popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.

The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company "will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately."

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Paragon declined to comment.

The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users.

The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted. But he said those targeted were based in more than two dozen countries, including several people in Europe. He said WhatsApp users were sent malicious electronic documents that required no user interaction to compromise their targets, a so-called zero-click hack that is considered particularly stealthy.

The official said WhatsApp had since disrupted the hacking effort and was referring targets to Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. The official declined to discuss how it determined that Paragon was responsible for the hack. He said law enforcement and industry partners had been informed, but declined to give details.

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The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Railton said the discovery of Paragon spyware targeting WhatsApp users "is a reminder that mercenary spyware continues to proliferate and as it does, so we continue to see familiar patterns of problematic use."

Spyware merchants such as Paragon sell high-end surveillance software to government clients and typically pitch their services as critical to fighting crime and protecting national security.

But such spy tools have repeatedly been discovered on the phones of journalists, activists, opposition politicians, and at least 50 U.S. officials, raising concerns over the unchecked proliferation of the technology.

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Paragon - which was reportedly acquired by Florida-based investment group AE Industrial Partners last month - has tried to position itself publicly as one of the industry's more responsible players.

Its website advertises "ethically based tools, teams, and insights to disrupt intractable threats," and media reports citing people familiar with the company say Paragon only sells to governments in stable democratic countries.

Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at the advocacy group Access Now, said Paragon had the reputation of being a better spyware company, "but WhatsApp's recent revelations suggest otherwise."

"This is not just a question of some bad apples  these types of abuses (are) a feature of the commercial spyware industry."

AE did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington and James Pearson in London; Editing by Jan Harvey and Rod Nickel)
More than a week ago, U.S. Sens. Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff announced theyd secured more than $500,000 to help homeless veterans in the Atlanta area through a combination of rental assistance and services.

Channel 2 Action News has learned the work that funding was intended for is already in motion.

According to a representative from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, metro area Army veteran Rosalyn Martin was living out of her car and struggling with homelessness.

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The VA said that in the days since the funding was secured to help metro Atlantas homeless veterans, Martin has been able to get help.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Getting the support she needed started after Martin nearly skipped an appointment she tried to cancel. Instead, she went to the Fort McPherson VA Clinic, was helped by staff and offered the resources she needed but didnt know were available.

The care that was provided for me, I was just like thank you, God It was such a painless process, Martin said. I was happy and floored at how quickly everything was provided for me.

TRENDING STORIES:

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Martin said through the VA that her path to this point was filled with several different issues that impacted her.

Not having a solid foundation and mental health issues, (I knew) I needed to be stable mentally and emotionally, said Martin. I found myself in a cycle of trying to get my life together just to have these toxic relationships stop me in my tracks. I didnt know what to do at one point. I started sleeping in my car and driving for Uber full-time.

In 2022, a car accident left her with a severe back injury, the VA said.

She started self-medicating to deal with the physical and emotional pain of losing those who were closest to her. After toughing it out for a long time, she decided to try the Atlanta VA, according to the department.

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A case manager at Health Care for Homeless Veterans said they were able to get Martin the help she needed through VA partnerships.

Rosalyn Martin was connected to care through community partnerships VA Atlanta already had in place, Tina Lewis, the case manager, said. We provide supportive living for women and women with children who have suffered from addiction and homelessness, offering a safe place to rebuild their lives. The goal of Community Transitional Housing is to allow participants the opportunity to save money and be independent in the community.

After going to HCHV, Martin said she went to a womens shelter, which got her into a Veteran-focused program. She now has a place to live.

I was accepted into the VIP Program where I now share a condo with another person. I get to live in a nice, warm place, I dont have to pay for rent, and all I can just focus on me, getting on with my life, and focusing on my mental health, Martin said. Losing my dad, friend and brother took its toll on me. I didnt have them to help anchor me to this world and the goals I have for my life.

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She told the VA that she has picked up where she left off, making body butters and soaps for a small business and relaunching a beauty company.

For other veterans experiencing homelessness or in need, the VA has the following resources available:

If you are a veteran who is homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness, or someone who knows a veteran in this situation, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838 for assistance. It is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors who can talk with you right now and connect you with your nearest VA for help.

If you are a landlord or housing provider with housing units, and would like to rent to veterans participating in VA homeless programs.

If you are a business owner and would like to hire homeless and formerly homeless veterans.

For more information on renting to or hiring homeless veterans, visit www.va.gov/homeless.

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SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  With the threat of 25% tariffs by President Trump on Mexican and Canadian products looming, business leaders in Baja California say it will lead to many firms closing down and higher unemployment.

Isaac Vega Alvarez, director of Bajas commercial index, says the losses will be felt more along the border in cities such as Tijuana.

Migrant tent complex nearly ready; Mexican officials confident theyll avoid Trump tariffs

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It wont be an immediate impact, but there will be effects in the short term and long term, particularly in regions heavily dependent on industry, Vega Alvarez said. Along the border, if tariffs are imposed, it will affect job opportunities and the price of many products will rise.

Trudeau says Canada will respond to US tariffs as Ontarios premier says Trump declared war

He also said its unlikely Mexico will follow through and set similar tariffs on American products, calling it a low probability.

Vega Alvarez said consumers on both sides of the border will be the ones who will pay for the tariffs as things will have to be overpriced.

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Trump says the tariffs are an incentive for both Mexico and Canada to do more to combat the flow of drugs into the United States, especially fentanyl.

Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border

Unless he changes his mind, the tariffs are to go into effect Feb. 1.

Lets hope both countries can have major negotiations instead of economic commercial battles because no one is prepared to deal with the consequences, Vega Alvarez said.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
MIAMISBURG, Ohio (WDTN)  The superintendent for Miamisburg City Schools will be transitioning into a new role at a new school district.

Miamisburgs current superintendent, Dr. Laura Blessing, will be transitioning to Chief Talent Officer at Mason City Schools. The announcement was shared after the Mason Board of Education approved her appointment during their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

WWII movie shares story of Daytons Charity Adams Earley

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Blessing has served as superintendent in Miamisburg since 2020, helping to navigate the school district through a global pandemic and beyond.

Speaking on her time at Miamisburg, Blessing says the community has left a profound mark on her.

I will forever cherish the memories weve created and the resilience weve shown together. While this decision to leave was not easy, I am excited to begin this new chapter where I can focus on supporting educators and staff while continuing to make a positive impact on the lives of students, Blessing said.

The Miamisburg Board of Education says they are committed to a smooth transition. In the next few weeks, they will begin making plans on how to select a new superintendent.

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Blessing will remain in her role until a plan is developed, according to the district.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
The crew of a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in a mid-air collision over the Potomac River last night were training for what is known as a continuity of government mission. In the event of a major attack or other especially serious crisis, Army helicopters would be among the assets tasked with spiriting senior U.S. officials and lawmakers safely out of Washington, D.C. at a moments notice so that critical aspects of the countrys government continue to function.

Readers can get up to speed on the tragic accident near Reagan National Airport in TWZs previous reporting here.

A 12th Aviation Battalion UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flies past the Pentagon. US Army

Were going to get to the bottom of this. We, first and foremost, from the Defense Department, want to pass our condolences to the 64 souls and their families [onboard American Airlines Flight 5342] that were affected by this.  and certainly the three service members, the three soldiers, a young captain, a staff sergeant, and a CW2  Chief Warrant Officer, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said a press conference at the White House today. The Army personnel were on a routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for continuity of government mission.

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The Army unit involved was Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, at Fort Belvoir, Hegseth also said in an earlier recorded statement. It was an annual proficiency training flight.  It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles.

Update on Guantanamo Bay Operations and @SecDef Hegseth Addresses Tragic Mishap Involving US Army Helicopter pic.twitter.com/80J5djB4oP  Department of Defense  (@DeptofDefense) January 30, 2025

The 12th Aviation Battalion, part of what is formally designated The Army Aviation Brigade (TAAB) at Fort Belvoirs Davison Army Airfield, is best known for providing VIP airlift across the National Capitol Region (NCR) that surrounds Washington, D.C. The battalion has a fleet of specially configured VH-60 helicopters with modified main cabins and distinctive black-and-gold paint jobs, and that are commonly referred to as gold tops, to support that mission.

A gold top VH-60 assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion flies over Washington, D.C. US Army

The 12th also has standard green-painted UH-60s, as well as UH-72 Lakota light utility helicopters, that are on call to provide a variety of additional airlift capacity, including in support of civilian agencies, as required. The battalion is notably on call to shuttle around the Armys unique 911th Engineer Company (Technical Rescue), the services premier urban search and rescue unit. The 911th, then known as the Military District of Washington (MDW) Engineer Company, came to particular prominence for its part in the response to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

Lastly, the 12th Aviation Battalion has its continuity of government mission, which is not a secret, but is also not well known or often publicized. There are continuity of government plans across the whole of the U.S. government to help ensure that key authorities can continue to perform their duties even in the worst of scenarios, as you can read more about here.

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12th Aviation [Battalion] obviously has a special mission set in the National Capital Region, Jonathan Koziol, a subject matter expert and retired Army aviator now working for the Aviation Directorate Chief of Staff within the Department of the Armys top headquarters at the Pentagon, told TWZ and other reporters during a press call today.

Part of it is VIP flights for our senior leaders throughout the service to get them to and from certain areas, Koziol continued. But partly, some of their mission is to support the Department of Defense if something really bad happens in this area and we need to move our senior leaders.

In the event of a major attack, or warning of an imminent one, as well as natural disasters and other similarly severe crises, the 12th Aviation Battalions helicopters could be tasked with flying senior U.S. officials and lawmakers from locations like the Pentagon, Capitol Building, and White House to more secure sites in the region. These include Camp David, Mount Weather, and Raven Rock. Many continuity of government sites remain classified.

The flights could come at any time, including in the dead of night, and, depending on the circumstances, might face a host of other complex environmental factors and other challenging conditions. Power outages could put additional emphasis on the need to use night vision goggles, which impose limits on situational awareness. Attacks involving nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons would prompt the need to wear other bulky protective gear. In the outright rush to evacuate key personnel, the airspace would be filled with large numbers of aircraft, as highlighted by large COG exercises the 12th Aviation Battalion regularly conducts involving dozens of its helicopters.

12th Aviation Battalion UH-60s, as well as a UH-72 closest to the camera, during a larger scale exercise. US Army

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Army helicopters would not be alone in performing these flights if continuity of government plans were put into motion. The U.S. Air Forces 1st Helicopter Squadron with its UH-1N Huey helicopters at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington has a continuity of government mission, as well. Publicly available air traffic control audio recordings indicate that two Air Force UH-1Ns were also in the air when the mid-air collision occurred last night. Whether or not they were training together with the Army UH-60 at the time is unknown.

UH-1Ns from the 1st Helicopter Squadron prepare to land on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during a training exercise in 2023. USAF

Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), headquartered further to the south at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico in Virginia, would also receive continuity of government taskings in a crisis. HMX-1s White Top fleet of VH-3Ds, VH-60Ns, and now VH-92s are primarily used as Marine One helicopters to move the president, their family, and their closest advisors around at home and abroad. The unit also has a green top fleet, the bulk of which currently consists of MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, to provide additional VIP and other airlift support. HMX-1 usually has some of its aircraft staged at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is situated in close proximity to the National Mall. They would be among the fastest to respond in a crisis, primarily to pluck the president, vice president, and key aides to safety.

Former President Joe Biden disembarks from a VH-92, HMX-1s newest type of presidential helicopter. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images



Back in 2019, Bloomberg also reported that Army UH-60 helicopters had a new classified mission around Washington, D.C., but what exactly that entailed remains unknown. Whether or not that mission has changed since then, or is even still ongoing, is not known, either.

Law enforcement and other civilian agencies are part of continuity of government planning, too. Organizations with helicopters, such as the U.S. Park Police, as well as police forces in the states surrounding the capital, would support airlift operations, as well.

For pilots and other aircrew assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, it is especially important to be able to understand the environment, the air traffic, the route, and ensure the safe travel of our senior leaders throughout our government, Koziol, the subject matter expert at the Armys headquarters at the Pentagon, stressed. And thats part of their training here, and theyre really good at it. These are our top pilots doing this mission in the National Capital Region.

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In the past, TWZ has highlighted the importance of helicopter training sorties, including ones conducted at extremely low levels, and other military training in and around real urban environments. The nuances found in actual cities, as well as along the way to and from objectives within them, cannot be directly replicated at dedicated training sites. At the same time, these kinds of training missions demand significant safety precautions and other coordination with relevant authorities.

The airspace around Washington, D.C., which is the most densely defended and heavily monitored in the United States, not to mention very busy, presents additional unique challenges. There are complex helicopter routes, as well as various rules and regulations, all of which have to be adhered to very closely, and that are important to train around. This is especially so in the general area where the collision occurred last night, as you can read more about here.

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How Army training procedures, as well as other policies, rules, and regulations, might change in the wake of the collision last night remains to be seen. Any changes will have to be balanced against the real needs of military aviation units like the 12th Aviation Battalion to be prepared to perform its unique continuity of government mission, as well as their other duties, around the nations capital.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com
On the night of Wednesday, Jan. 29, an American Airlines commercial airliner from Wichita, Kansas collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. The midair collision, which was caught on camera, produced a fiery explosion and both the plane and helicopter crashed into the river.

Following are summaries of news updates and information from McClatchy publications around the U.S. Links to all original stories are included in the headline at the top of each summary.

No survivors found from crash

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D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said on Thursday, Jan. 30 that authorities were switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation, adding that we dont believe there are any survivors. 67 people are presumed dead. The CRJ-700 Bombardier was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members; the chopper was involved in a training flight with three soldiers aboard. The bodies of 28 people had been recovered by early Thursday, and efforts to find the remains of other passengers were underway.

Kansas senators want a congressional investigation

Sen. Jerry Moran, chairman of a Senate panel that focuses on airline safety, is preparing for an investigation on the fate of the passenger plane from Wichita that had crashed in mid-air above the Potomac River. He knows that the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Defense will investigate. But he feels Congress needs to find out what went wrong and prevent it from happening again.

Family members and mourners gather at Wichita City Hall

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Hundreds of mourners gathered in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday to share their love and support for the families and victims of the American Airlines crash. Almost every seat in the city hall council chamber was filled.

Resources available for families of Wichita flight

Anyone looking for information about their loved ones on board Flight 5342 are being asked to call American Airlines at 1-800-679-8215. The airline also set up a webpage where updated information on the flight will be shared. The National Transportation Safety Board can connect family members with the American Red Cross to provide short-term counseling and referrals free of charge. In some cases the Red Cross can also provide longer-term mental health service referrals. They can also connect family members with other appropriate resources as well as serve as the well as serve as the primary source of contact to answer family members questions and provide investigation updates.

Trump blames DEI, helicopter pilot, democrats for D.C. plane crash

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Trump on Thursday sought to cast blame for what caused a Wednesday nights crash between a passenger flight from Wichita and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C. After a brief moment of silence for the victims and calling it a dark and excruciating night in the nations history, Trump started pointing fingers. He blamed the Democratic Party, initiatives to promote diversity in the Federal Aviation Administration and the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter.

Helicopter didnt respond to air traffic control

Air traffic control received no response from a military Black Hawk helicopter seconds before it collided with American Airlines flight 5342, which was about to land at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Air traffic control asked the helicopter pilots whether they saw the plane. PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight, the controller asked, referring to the helicopters call sign and the plane, a CRJ 700 jet. The tower received no response.

Former DOT official says helicopter likely caused crash

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Mary Schiavo, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City and DOT inspector general from 1990 to 1996, theorizes the helicopter caused Wednesday nights crash, pointing out that Reagan National Airport requires clearance for landing, so the commercial flight was likely where it should have been. She also said it looks like the helicopter was flying too high.

At least 5 with ties to Charlotte died in American Airlines DC crash, including crew

A four-person American Eagle flight crew from Charlotte was onboard the plane that collided with a helicopter over the Potomac River, according to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and the family of the victims. Of the 67 people who died in the crash, 60 were passengers on the commercial flight, four were crew members and at least one passenger was from Wichita. Three people were on the military chopper.

American Airlines CEO mourns victims of crash

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Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, issued a video statement Wednesday night about the American Airlines crash, saying that the company is focused on helping its passengers, crew and their families. This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, Isom said, as rescue crews worked in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. At a news conference Thursday morning in Washington, Isom added: This is devastating. We are all hurting.

Flight crew member remembered fondly

Crew members of American Airlines Flight 5342 have not officially been identified. However, Debi Epstein, the former wife of flight attendant Ian Epstein, confirmed Thursday that he was killed in the collision. He made flying fun for the passengers on the plane so they didnt get scared, she said in a phone interview Thursday. He was always the jokester and just doing the announcements with the twist. She said they had two children who are struggling with the loss of their father. Our daughter is getting married in eight weeks, she said. Its just a lot. She said Ian was an outgoing person and he died doing what he absolutely loved.

Rural Kansas couple in deadly Wichita flight remembered as sweet, kind

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Bob Schrock and his wife, Lori Schrock, perished on Wednesday night  two of the 60 passengers aboard American Airlines flight 5342. The Schrocks were farmers near Kiowa  a speck of a town in southwest Kansas along the Oklahoma border.

Seven friends Kansas waterfowl hunting trip ends in tragedy with DC plane crash

A group of seven friends from the D.C. area who traveled to Kansas to hunt waterfowl died in Wednesdays crash, according to multiple family members and an outfitter who spent several days with them. The seven hunters had come to Kansas in a party of 10 to hunt with outfitter Fowl Plains, based out of Great Bend. Three from the group opted to drive home because it made it easier to transport their hunting dogs and shotguns.

Congressional leaders warned about Reagan airport

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Months before the Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., political leaders warned that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was overburdened. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, of Virginia, was among the Democratic leaders opposing the expansion of flights added to the Arlington airport in 2024. Kaine, along with Maryland senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Warner, began to push back before the passage of the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024. The act would add 10 additional flights at Reagan National.

Jan. 29 crash wasnt the first over the Potomac

The Jan. 29, 2025 plane crash into the Potomac River has drawn parallels to another tragic accident in Washington, D.C. On Jan. 13, 1982. Air Florida Flight 90 struck a bridge connecting Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia, during its ascent from Ronald Reagan National Airport, then called Washington National Airport. Like the more recent crash, the plane crashed into the Potomac River and resulted in a monumental loss of life. Federal authorities said 78 people were killed  74 people aboard the flight and four occupants of vehicles on the bridge.

What to know about the CRJ 700 and Black Hawk

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Flight 5342 was a Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jetliner operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines. CRJ-700 jetliners were developed by Bombardier Aviation and debuted in 1997. The 106-foot-long jetliner can hold up to 78 passengers. It has a range of up to 1,400 nautical miles and a strong safety record. The UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter in the crash belonged to B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The Black Hawk is the Armys primary medium-lift utility transport and air assault aircraft, and can be outfitted with machine guns and missiles.

D.C. crash was first in over 15 years

Wednesdays airline crash marks the first involving a commercial plane in the United States since 2009, when a Colgan Air flight went down on its way to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York. Fifty people died in the crash. Since then, the country has bolstered its safety standards. The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 was passed in reaction to the 2009 crash.
The Israeli organization representing families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip celebrated the news Friday that three high-profile male hostages would be released by Hamas the following day. In turn, Palestinian authorities say Israel has agreed to release 90 prisoners.

This will be the fourth round of exchanges during the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The first phase of the truce calls for the release of 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 prisoners, as well as the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the devastated territory.

News that Yarden Bibas, 35, is among the hostages set to be freed on Saturday brought renewed attention to the uncertain fate of the Bibas family. Hamas says his kidnapped wife and two young boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not verified the claim.

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Palestinian health authorities in Gaza also announced that the long-shuttered Rafah border crossing with Egypt would reopen on Saturday for thousands of Palestinians who desperately need medical care  a breakthrough that signals the ceasefire agreement continues to gain traction.

___

Here's the latest:

The parents of two Israeli hostages speak out after daughters are freed from Gaza

JERUSALEM  The parents of two Israeli hostages who were just released from Gaza thanked U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday for helping make the hostage deal happen, and called for the release of all the remaining captives held by Hamas.

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This is a Jewish duty, a moral, a national, an ethical (duty), said Meirav Berger, the mother of Agam Berger, 20, a female soldier who was let go Thursday. In a news conference at the hospital where her daughter was being treated, she called her our super hero.

Shlomi Berger, Agams father, said the family would always remember Trumps generosity and leadership. During the ceasefire negotiations, Trump threatened there would be hell to pay if the hostages werent freed by his inauguration.

Yechi Yehoud, the father of civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud, 29, also spoke outside the hospital where his daughter was being treated. He too thanked Trump and his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who he said knew how to speak Trump in the Middle East.

Yechi Yehoud said Witkoff made the Israeli government understand that there was no choice but to implement the agreement, release the hostages, and end the war. He added that his daughter was in good health and shows tremendous mental strength, following her release Thursday.

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Freed from prison, an ex-militant leader says Palestinian status quo is unbearable

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Zakaria Zubeidi, the most prominent of the Palestinian prisoners released Thursday in exchange for three Israeli hostages held by Hamas, says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become so violent and unbearable that it's pushing global politics to an inflection point.

Zubeidi, 49, rose to prominence as a militant leader during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, between 2000 and 2005. As the top commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group affiliated with the secular nationalist Fatah party, he was held responsible for deadly attacks against Israelis.

He later renounced violence in favor of cultural resistance to the Israeli occupation. Israel arrested him again over his alleged involvement in shooting attacks in 2019.

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Speaking to The Associated Press Friday from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he was set free late Thursday into an exultant crowd that hailed him as a hero, Zubeidi condemned the mounting attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and called for the urgent creation of a Palestinian state.

Our Palestinian people have been living in anxiety for a hundred years. Our Palestinian people need freedom and the establishment of a Palestinian state as soon as possible because the current situation is unbearable, he said as he greeted a stream of well-wishers in Ramallah. Every moment is filled with killing, destruction, and displacement.

Addressing Palestinians, he urged them to preserve their lives. Addressing people abroad, he asked the world to push harder for Palestinian freedom.

Just as the world gave this occupation the right to our land, it must now give us our freedom, he said.

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90 Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel, officials say

RAMALLAH, West Bank  Israel will release nine Palestinians serving life in prison and 81 others with long sentences on Saturday as part of the fourth round of exchanges in the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

That's according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which represents current and former prisoners. The names of the prisoners have not yet been made public.

In exchange, Hamas will free three male Israelis in Gaza who were taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Fifteen hostages have been released so far, as have hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

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Mother of freed Israeli hostage says Hamas held her daughter at UNRWA facilities

JERUSALEM  The mother of Emily Damari, a British-Israeli hostage released from captivity in Gaza during the first round of exchanges of the ceasefire deal, says Hamas militants held her daughter in facilities belonging to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency known as UNRWA.

In a post on X, Mandy Damari said Hamas held Emily in UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice.

UNRWA was founded in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees across the Mideast that fled or were forced from their homes during the war over Israels creation. The agencys operations have become an integral part of life in heavily aid-dependent and impoverished Gaza, especially during the Israel-Hamas war.

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Emily is missing two fingers on her left hand, the result of a gunshot wound she sustained during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on her town.

Damaris statement adds fuel to heavy Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which Israel accuses of being deeply infiltrated by Hamas and other militant groups. The agency denies this. Israel says that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack.

In response to Damaris post on Friday, Jonathan Fowler, UNRWAs senior communications manager, said the claims were being taken seriously.

Claims that hostages have been held in UNRWA premises, even if previously vacated, are very serious, he said. We have repeatedly called for independent investigations into claims of misuse and disregard of U.N. premises by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.

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On Thursday, Israeli legislation banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil and coordinating with Israeli authorities went into effect.

Israel says Hamas has used UNRWA facilities as cover in a human shields strategy in crowded Gaza, which the militant group has controlled since 2007.

Relatives of the Bibas family struggle with the hostages' uncertain fate

JERUSALEM  Relatives of Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas say their "emotions are mixed as they prepare to welcome him home from captivity without his children.

Bibas, 35, is set to be freed tomorrow in the fourth wave of hostage releases from Gaza. Hamas claims his wife Shiri and his two sons Kfir and Ariel were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel has not confirmed their deaths but says it's gravely concerned for their welfare.

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Our Yarden is set to return tomorrow and we are all so excited, but Shiri and the children have not yet returned. The emotions are mixed, and we are facing very complex days, wrote their relatives in a statement Friday.

Please protect Yardens heart, they wrote, We love you, dear people of Israel and our amazing supporters from all over the world.

The family  and particularly the orange-haired toddler Kfir, just nine months old when captured  have become household names in Israel, with the color orange coming to symbolize the familys plight.

Here's how the Rafah border crossing will operate once it reopens

JERUSALEM  A European diplomat says the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only border passage to Egypt, is ready to open for Palestinian medical patients for the first time since Israel seized it almost nine months ago.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to brief the media, confirmed that as of Friday, Gazas southern border crossing was officially ready to operate after Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials overcame their disagreements.

The diplomat said that Palestinians from Gaza  all former border officers with the Palestinian Authority, which administered Gaza before the Hamas takeover in 2007  will manage the sensitive border, with European Union monitors also present as they were before 2007. Israel has screened the officers to ensure they have no affiliation with Hamas, the official added.

The Palestinian Authority, or PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, did not comment. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The European diplomat said that during Phase 1 of the ceasefire agreement that paused the war in Gaza earlier this month, the border crossing would open for wounded and vulnerable Palestinians, including older people and children.

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By Josef Federman

An Egyptian governor says Rafah crossing is ready to bring wounded out of Gaza

JERUSALEM  The governor of North Sinai in Egypt, a region of mountainous desert on the other side of Rafah crossing, wrote on X that the Rafah crossing was opening to transport wounded Palestinians from Gaza.

This is a translation of the success of Egyptian policy, the governor, Khaled Megawer, wrote. We will begin receiving the wounded.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has announced that Palestinian patients would start evacuating Gaza on Saturday through the Rafah for the first time since Israel seized it almost nine months ago.

Gaza health authorities said the World Health Organization had equipped buses for the journey.

Before Israel captured Rafah in early May last year, shutting the crossing to all civilians, Rafah represented the only escape valve from the besieged territory during the Israel-Hamas war.

EU mission deploys to help prepare reopening of Rafah crossing

JERUSALEM  A European Union civilian mission was deployed Friday to prepare the key Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the movement of Palestinians out of Gaza, the EU foreign policy chief said.

Kaja Kallas said on X that the mission would support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care.

The mission arrives as the first group of Palestinian patients are set to leave Gaza through the crossing this Saturday, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The reopening of the crossing, closed since Israel began its offensive on Rafah in May 2024, marks a major step in the implementation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. Egyptian officials on Tuesday said a delegation from the EU commission and the Palestinian Authority would meet next week in Rafah to discuss how to operate the crossing.

Before Israeli troops captured the crossing, Rafah was the only point where Palestinians could exit the strip during the war.

Hamas releases names of 3 hostages to be freed in next exchange

JERUSALEM  Hamas released the names of three male hostages set to be freed on Saturday, the fourth exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect.

Israeli officials confirmed the list of hostages to be released includes Yarden Bibas, age 35, American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, age 65, and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, age 54.

The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Bibas was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Photos taken during the abduction appear to show him wounded. His wife, Shiri, and two boys, Ariel and Kfir, were also taken captive at the kibbutz. The boys, who were ages 4 and under 1 year old when they were captured, were the youngest hostages.

News that Bibas will be released has brought renewed attention to the uncertain fate of Bibas' family. Hamas has claimed that Shiri Bibas and the two boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not verified the claim.

Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said recently that the military was seriously concerned about the fate of the mother and her two boys.

Keith Siegel, an American Israeli originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife, Aviva Siegel. Aviva Siegel was released during a brief ceasefire period in November 2023, and since then has waged a high-profile campaign to free Keith and the other hostages remaining in Gaza.

Kalderon, a French-Israeli hostage, was captured by the militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his two children. His ex-wife, Hadas, was also taken captive. The two children and Hadas Kalderon were released during the hostage exchange in November.

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Associated Press writer Julia Frankel contributed.

Israeli strikes hit eastern Lebanon, killing 2 people

BEIRUT  Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in an Israeli strike on an unofficial border crossing in eastern Lebanon early Friday morning, Lebanons Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it struck a military site that included underground infrastructure for developing and producing combat equipment, in addition to infrastructure for crossing the Syrian-Lebanese border, used by the militant group Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley.

The statement also accused Hezbollah of launching a reconnaissance drone toward Israel Thursday, saying its a violation of the ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.

Lebanons state news agency said Israel launched four strikes on the Janta border crossing in the eastern province of Baalbeck, while two other strikes targeted two illegal Syria-Lebanon border crossings in northern Lebanon late Thursday and early Friday.

In a statement, Hezbollah legislator Ibrahim Moussawi called the strikes a very dangerous violation and a blatant and explicit aggression, adding that the Lebanese state, represented by the presidency, the government and the army, is required to take immediate action.

Hezbollah has long relied on Iran for weapons, moving arms into Lebanon through Syria. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem has said that the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad disrupted that route, and that the group will find alternative supply channels.
MIDDLEBORO  Most people think of Middleboro as a quiet town. But the municipality was once one of the largest settlements in the early United States.

According to data from the 1790 United States Census, Middleboro had a population of 4,526, which meant it was 16th largest settlement in the United States at the time.

That meant that in 1790, Middleboro had a larger population than New Haven, Connecticut (population: 4,487) or Albany, New York (population: 3,498).

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Of course, Albany and New Haven have seen enormous population growth since 1790 and currently have populations of about 100,000 people each. Meanwhile, Middleboro has a population of just 24,245, according to 2020 Census data. According to that 2020 data, Middleboro is only the 84 most populous city or town in Massachusetts, let alone the entire United States.

Hint: it's not 'rain-am' Am I pronouncing the town of Raynham's name right?

1790 Census was the first decennial census conducted by the United States

The 1790 Census has historical significance because it is the first decennial census conducted by the United States government, according to the National Archives.

The United States constitution requires the federal government to take a census of the population of the country every 10 years. The data from the census is used for a lot of different purposes, such as determining how many representatives each state is given in the United States House of Representatives.

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Middleboro brewery a dream come true Middleboro brewer lives dream of opening taproom  with these 7 beers on tap

What other places had large populations in 1790?

Middleboro wasn't the only Massachusetts municipality to record a large population in the 1790 census.

Of the top 25 most populous locations in the country recorded by the 1790 census, seven were located in Massachusetts.

Boston was the third most populous city in 1790 with a population of 18,320. Only New York City and Philadelphia had larger populations at the time.

Salem, Marblehead, Gloucester, Newburyport, and Nantucket were the five other Massachusetts settlements that cracked the top 25.

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Looking for unique way to unwind? Middleboro ax-throwing bar thinks it has just the thing

Middleboro was much larger than it is today  when it included Lakeville

The town of Lakeville used to be part of the town of Middleboro, before Lakeville split from Middleboro in 1853.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Middleboro, MA, was once one of biggest cities or towns in the U.S.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)  A mother and her daughter with Connecticut ties were among those killed in the American Airlines plane crash in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Beyer told ABC News that his wife, Justyna Magdalena Beyer, 42, and daughter, Brielle, 12, were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas.

Beyer grew up in New Britain. News 8 spoke with her brother, Brian Witkowski, who said they are devastated and trying to process what happened.

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What we know about the DC plane crash victims

I didnt sleep all night because I was determined to find out as much as I could, why this happened, what I could do to be notified as soon as possible to make sure she was OK, Witkowski said. That news never came. I just heard the worst.

With his parents by his side at their Plainville home, Witkowski spoke on their behalf.

She wants everyone to know that theyre asking for prayers, for their children to be at rest, Witkowski said.

Beyer and her husband, Andy Beyer, moved to Virginia, where they were raising their two children.

Figure skating community mourns DC plane crash victims with Connecticut ties

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My son and I were going to pick up my wife and daughter, Andy Beyer said in an interview with ABC News. When it was time for the plane to land, they hadnt landed. We had a good cry about it then and there, and then we had to go in with the family room, before we got any official word of what happened.

Brielle was a member of the Skating Club of Northern Virginia and beat cancer when she was just 4 months old, Andy said.

She has a beautiful singing voice, and I will miss that so much, Andy said.

The Witkowski family said Beyer was always incredibly determined and warm, doing whatever she could for her fmily.

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She helped me so much throughout every aspect of my lie, Wikoswki said.

The family also said they are grateful for the outpourting of love and support since Wednesdays crash.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Vice President JD Vance's family is expected to celebrate his new street signs in Middletown, Ohio on Saturday.

The city is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a sign on Cincinnati-Dayton Road and Vance's family will attend, a Facebook page for the event says.

Vance's mom, Beverly Aikins, asked the city to recognize her son at a Middletown City Council meeting in December. Aikins, and several of Vance's other relatives, still live in Middletown, where he was born and raised.

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"I am just here because I am JD Vance's mother and as you know he is our new vice president-elect and he thinks of Middletown as his home," she said at the time. "I still live here and his sister still lives in Middletown. He's got two nieces who live here and I just think it would be really nice if we could acknowledge that this is his hometown and put up some signs."

A few other residents and council members at the meeting also called for signs, but not everyone was on board. Councilwoman Jennifer Carter, who previously told The Enquirer she doesn't like Vance's policies, was against putting up the signs.

City officials granted the request for signs this month.

Road signs like this one are displayed near several busy streets in Middletown.

The new signs read "Hometown of J.D. Vance, 50th Vice President of the United States of America" and are installed at these locations:

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Central Avenue and Carmody Boulevard.

Ohio Route 4 and Germantown Road, near the Middletown Regional Airport.

Ohio Route 73 at the Middletown city limits.

Ohio Route 122 and Interstate 75.

Ohio Route 4 and Lafayette Avenue.

South Main Street at the city limits.

Cincinnati-Dayton Road at the city limits.

Vance wrote about Middletown childhood in 'Hillbilly Elegy'

Vance graduated from Middletown High School in 2003. He wrote about his turbulent upbringing and his mother's struggles with substance use in "Hillbilly Elegy."

The best-selling memoir went on to inspire a Netflix movie in 2020. Vance was played by Owen Asztalos and his mom was portrayed by Amy Adams.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: JD Vance's family, Ohio hometown celebrate his road signs
The News

Washingtons crackdown on migration will be top of US Secretary of State Marco Rubios agenda as he visits Latin America this weekend.

The first Latino US secretary of state will find a region reeling from President Donald Trumps threats to deport millions of migrants and take control of the Panama Canal, Reuters reported. The Panamanian president said ownership of the canal was not up for negotiation.

Critics said the White Houses harsh stance on the region is opening the door for the US rivals  notably China  to increase their presence there. With an unpredictable bully in the room, the old adage holds true: You can never have too many friends, an international relations professor wrote in Foreign Policy.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R), who narrowly lost his Michigan Senate race in November, on Thursday indicated hes ready to try again.

The surprise announcement from Democratic Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.) that he will retire in 2026 is set to create a highly contested battle for his successor in a battleground state President Donald Trump narrowly carried in 2024.

In post on X, formerly Twitter, Rogers said he is strongly considering joining the fight once again to be the ally that President Trump needs and the leader that Michigan deserves.

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Since receiving more votes than any other Republican candidate that has ever run for Senate in Michigan, the tremendous outpouring of support and encouragement Ive received since November proves that our mission to send a real fighter to the US Senate has just begun, he wrote.

Democrat Elisa Slotkin defeated Rogers by under half a percentage point for the seat left open by former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D).

Rogers, a onetime Trump critic who also reportedly considered entering the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has since changed his tune on the president. Ever since he launched his 2024 Senate bid, Rogers has only had good things to say about the president and also endorsed him in Novembers election. Trump appeared to return the favor by pronouncing his support for Rogers bid in March.

Rogers was keen to emphasize his ties to Trump.

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Ive spent the last two years traveling across Michigan with the support of President Trump and millions of voters, he said. What I learned more than anything is that hard-working Michiganders deserve strong and honest representation that will have President Trumps back.

Rogers was also reportedly in consideration for top Trump administration jobs, including FBI directorand defense secretary.

Meanwhile, Democrats are expecting a crowded primary for Peters seat with prominent party figures like former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressing interest in the job.

Peters explained the reason behind his surprise retirement in an interview earlier this week.

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I always thought there would be a time that I would step aside and pass the reins for the next generation, he told The Detroit News. I also never saw service in Congress as something you do your whole life.

Related...
Ed Miliband has promised Britain will slash its climate emissions by more than 60pc by 2035 in a move that risks direct conflict with Rachel Reevess airport expansion plans.

The Energy Secretary has told the United Nations that the UK will cut its emissions, including from aviation, from 393m tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2023 to 155m tonnes in 2035  a 61pc reduction.

The 2023 figure excludes emissions from international aviation. However, Mr Miliband made clear that the UK aviation industry must now join with other sectors in making sharp cuts in emissions.

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The Nationally Determined Contribution report delivered to the UN said: The UK government is clear that aviation and shipping must contribute to achieving net zero like the rest of the UK economy.

The UKs share of international aviation and shipping emissions will be within scope of the UKs domestic legally binding Carbon Budget 6 (2033-37) as we approach our economy-wide target of net zero by 2050.

The expanded commitment puts the Energy Secretary on a collision course with his Cabinet colleague Ms Reeves. The Chancellor this week promised massive expansion of aviation in the UK in a bid to kickstart growth, including throwing her support behind a third runway at Heathrow.

Ms Reeves has said the economy must come before climate concerns in a rift with Mr Miliband. The Energy Secretary, who has previously opposed Heathrow expansion, did not attend Ms Reevess speech this week.

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The Chancellor has claimed airport expansion will not clash with Britains net zero goals, arguing that so-called sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), made from sustainable sources such as recycled vegetable oil, will help to cut aviations carbon footprint.

However, Lord Deben, former chairman of the advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC), was highly critical of Ms Reevess airport plans. He warned that expanding aviation put the Government at risk of breaking the Climate Change Act, which legally committed the UK to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80pc by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

Lord Deben said: The only way she could justify more runways under the law would be if there were large amounts of sustainable aviation fuel, which there isnt.

The CCC has also said that the Government should not be expanding aviation without developing a clear policy on how to do this.

Lord Deben, the former chairman of the Climate Change Committee - David Rose for The Telegraph

Aviation is fuelled almost entirely by fossil fuels and there is little sign of this changing. The Government recently announced a Sustainable Fuel Mandate obliging airlines to use 2pc SAF in 2025 rising to 22pc by 2040, but the technology is in its infancy. The Governments own targets imply more than three quarters of flights will still rely on fossil fuels by 2040.

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The CCC has said future SAF supplies are highly uncertain and should not be relied on. Other critics have likened reliance on a future supply of SAF to magical thinking.

The Aviation Environment Foundation said: There is not enough waste oil in the world to meet anywhere near the amount of aviation fuel the industry uses each year.

Ruth Cadbury, Labour chairman of the transport select committee, who opposes Heathrow expansion, said she had convened a special season of the committee to discuss Ms Reevess plan.

She said: The Chancellors drive for economic growth and investment in infrastructure is welcome. But the transport committee now wants to unpick how clear the links between airport expansion and growth  across the whole country  truly are. We will hold an evidence session on this question in the next few weeks.

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Having more planes in the air and passengers moving to and from airports also needs to be weighed against our obligations to cut carbon emissions.

A computer generated image of what Heathrow could look like by 2050 - AFP

Several other airports, including Gatwick, Luton and Leeds are also in line for extra runways under the Chancellors plans.

Ms Reeves has said that airport expansion would not go ahead without meeting climate objectives. At Heathrow, she has promised a full assessment through the airport national policy statement ... ensuring that a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives.

The Nationally Determined Contribution submission sets out the UKs emissions reduction commitments under the UNs Paris Agreement of 2015, under which countries agreed to keep global warming below 2C and ideally 1.5C.

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Mr Milibands commitment comes despite growing doubts about the deal, with Donald Trump, the US president, poised to pull the worlds highest historical emitter out of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.

The UK submission states: The UK is re-establishing itself as a climate leader on the global stage ... There is no global stability without climate stability. The UK has demonstrated it is back in the business of climate leadership and ... is committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels to achieve net zero by 2050.

Aviation and shipping are technically excluded from the UN system of attributing emissions to particular countries but Mr Miliband has made clear the UK will go beyond this framework.

A government spokesman said the UK was making progress in the supply of SAF. In 2023, 97m litres of SAF were supplied in the UK  about 0.7pc of all UK jet fuel  an increase from 48m litres in 2022.

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The spokesman said: We are already making great strides in the path to greener aviation, with new targets for SAF expansion. Yesterday we also announced 63m to boost UK production of sustainable fuels and set out measures to attract investment in the UK SAF market.

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Milwaukee drew national attention this week after a report said U.S. citizens were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being overheard speaking Spanish in a store.

Elected officials and immigration rights groups say they are working to authenticate the incident but have few details to go on. ICE did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Telemundo Puerto Rico reported a Puerto Rican mother, her three-year-old son and mother-in-law were taken into custody by ICE while shopping at an unnamed store in Milwaukee on Jan. 24.

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According to the TV station's report, ICE bused the family and several other Spanish-speakers from the store to an unidentified detention center. Telemundo aired a live audio interview with a relative, who was not named.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Sheriff's offices in Milwaukee County, Waukesha County, Sheboygan County and Kenosha County said they had no record of the family being detained in their jails.

"It should also be noted that we would not house a 3-year-old in our facility under any circumstances," said Amy Tesch with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department in an email Thursday.

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Telemundo's report erupted online. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and thousands more shared Telemundo's story on social media.

Moore told the Journal Sentinel she's still gathering information about the incident but hasn't been able to verify it.

"However, regardless of its validity, many of my constituents are concerned about mass deportation efforts," Moore said in a text message Thursday.

Ald. Jose Perez says his office is also working to authenticate the incident.

"Any time an allegation occurs in Milwaukee, I will exhaust every resource I have to verify it for accuracy and respond," Perez said in an email Thursday.

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Local immigrants' rights groups like Forward Latino and Voces De La Frontera are also looking into the report.

In general, advocates have asked community members to refrain from sharing unverified information to avoid causing unnecessary panic and distress. Since President Donald Trump took office, there have been several false reports of ICE raids in Wisconsin.

Forward Latino said on Facebook Thursday that it debunked "numerous reports" of ICE operations at Latino-owned businesses in the south side. The group identified two Facebook accounts that are intentionally spreading false information about ICE activity in Wisconsin, according to Darryl Morin, president of Forward Latino.

"It is having an impact on our business community," Morin said.

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The false rumors of ICE raids combined with real instances of raids and U.S. citizens being detained are only causing confusion and doubling the immigrant community's fears, said Voces De La Frontera spokesperson Alexandra Guevara.

In New Jersey, a Puerto Rican veteran was among the people detained by ICE during a raid at a seafood store last week. And Thursday, the owners of Boricua 2, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia, said ICE came to their business under the false impression that Puerto Ricans could be undocumented.

"While we can't confirm whether it's happening here, it's happening elsewhere," Guevara said.

Gina Lee Castro is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at gcastro@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Report of ICE detaining Puerto Rican family in Milwaukee draws concern
It's a scene that has become frustratingly more common in Milwaukee lately  a car weaving perilously down often-narrow neighborhood streets, tires screeching, with a person or two poking out from the passenger windows flailing their arms or throwing up hand signs.

Only this time, gunshots were also heard, and a video of happened was recorded.

In the end, a Milwaukee teenager lost his life.

And another teen is headed to prison to answer for it.

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Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner on Friday sentenced Cordell Smith to a total of 17 years behind bars for his role in the June 2 shooting death of Shyir McCoy, 16.

The case against Smith, 17, drew the attention of a fledgling court-watching group that has called for courts in Milwaukee County to mete out stiffer sentences for people convicted in cases with roots in reckless driving.

Here's how prosecutors say things unfolded that afternoon

Milwaukee police received a ShotSpotter report on June 2 at 6:25 p.m. that sent officers to the 3800 block of West Meinecke Avenue. There, they met the driver of a Tesla who claimed to have recorded a shooting on the vehicle's camera. Officers later got a call directing them to St. Joseph Hospital regarding a homicide investigation.

A witness told investigators McCoy was in a stolen Kia Sportage with three friends when a black Hyundai, "driving recklessly back and forth down the street" became visible to them, according to a June 21 criminal complaint.

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Gunshots rang out, prompting everyone in the Sportage to duck.

"I think I'm shot," McCoy declared, according to the complaint.

The driver of the Sportage called McCoy's mother, who followed the mother's instruction to bring McCoy to her. Eventually, McCoy was taken to St. Joseph, where he later died.

Another witness told investigators they had seen the Sportage "driving recklessly" on Meinecke Avenue moments before the shooting.

The witness noted the vehicle that was recorded was driving in a manner reminiscent of the behavior seen widely of the Kia Boyz, a loosely connected band of teens and young adults who authorities have blamed largely for a surge in car thefts in Milwaukee and throughout the Midwest.

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Smith was later wanted for taking another vehicle, a Ford C-Max, in an unrelated case two weeks after the shooting.

In that incident, police found the stolen C-Max on June 17 on North 34th Street with two people inside it. Officers arrested Smith and a 17-year-old passenger after a chase. A third person, Travon Little, 17, was also arrested later that night.

Investigators questioned the passenger about the shooting. The passenger picked Smith and Little from a photo array and identified Smith as the gunman, the criminal complaint said.

Little pleaded guilty Jan. 22 to two counts of harboring/aiding a felon, online court records show. He's scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 13.

Court-watching group that focuses on Milwaukee's reckless driving problem weighed in on Cordell Smith's case

The volunteer court-monitoring group known as Enough is Enough - A Legacy for Erin filed a community impact statement calling for "swift and appropriate consequences" in the case.

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The group was created last summer in response to the death 14 months earlier of Erin Mogensen, the victim of a reckless driving crash.

The group has made it a mission to observe hundreds of criminal cases filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court's felony division involving reckless driving and drivers who fled from police.

Angie Mogensen, left, and Jeanne Lupo run a Court Watch program that monitors sentencing trends in Milwaukee County reckless driving cases. Mogensen's daughter-in-law, Erin Mogensen, was killed Nov. 2, 2023, in a crash involving an alleged reckless driver.

Smith initially was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and operating a motor vehicle to flee or attempting to elude an officer.

In a Jan. 21 report, Enough is Enough determined the judges that they observed handed out sentences were more lenient than prosecutors' recommendations about two-thirds of the time.

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"We must send a clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated and that consequences are inevitable and will be enforced," the group wrote in its Jan. 29 letter to Wagner. "The community is watching. The safety of Milwaukee County depends on holding individuals like Mr. Smith accountable and prioritizing the well-being of all residents."

Reckless driving continues to be a scourge in Milwaukee County

Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs have for years wrestled to get the upper hand on reckless driving and speeding.

Just a few weeks into the new year, 2025 seems like it may shape up to be no different.

In all, 90 people died in crashes on Milwaukee County roads in 2024, compared with 91 road fatalities the year before, according to data provided Friday by the state Department of Transportation. So far, in 2025, three people had lost their lives in traffic fatalities as of Jan. 26, the most updated figure transportation officials provided on Friday.

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City traffic data shows Milwaukee police ended 2024 having issued 4,066 citations for speeding  a 36.7% decrease from 2023, when 6,518 tickets were handed out.

So far, 461 such tickets have been written by police in 2025.

Roughly a third of the citations this year were given to motorists who were stopped for driving more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.

Eighty-two county residents signed a petition that was included in Smith's court file, supporting Enough is Enough's call for harsher sentencing in reckless driving cases.

What is next for Cordell Smith?

Smith will have to serve 11 years on extended supervision when he is released from prison.

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In a sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Quron R.D. Payne asked for McCoy be sentenced to no more than seven years behind bars, and 13 years of extended supervision upon release.

Smith was given 228 days of pre-trial credit that can be applied to his prison sentence. He has 20 days to appeal.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee teen gets 17 years in Shyir McCoy's June 2 death
MINERSVILLE The Minersville Police Department is returning to full-time police coverage Monday.

Since April 2023, the borough has not provided 24-hour, seven-day coverage, but has worked to provide nearly continuous service as circumstances permit, with gaps of a couple of hours of service occasionally.

In my 24 years, weve never not had 24/7 (coverage), said Police Chief Jeffrey Bowers.

Bowers, who had been a patrolman for 22 years before being promoted to sergeant in 2023, said the department relied on between five and 10 part-time officers to supplement when needed, but that need has been reduced. There are now seven full-time and three part-time officers on the force.

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He has been chief since July 2024, replacing former chief Michael Combs, who retired July 1.

Bowers said the issue is a lack of manpower, but patrolman Cody Searfoss joined the force in September, and an officer on medical leave is returning Monday, so what residents have come to expect will be provided.

By reallocating money from the part-time budget for police and using money allotted for overtime  keeping in mind the borough contributed some funds  he is able to pay the officers salaries and benefits.

This council has been super supportive of us, Bowers said Thursday.

Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Tamaqua, and Orwigsburg also have 24-hour coverage daily, he said.

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Minersville Chief of Police Jeffrey Bowers speaks about the return of 24/7 police coverage after not having it since April 2023, pictured Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)

Its a fine line you have to walk as chief, he said of balancing the needs of the department with resources available.

Finding qualified applicants for positions is challenging. Media scrutiny, the threat of lawsuits and other factors can weigh into a decision not to pursue a career in law enforcement, he said.

Police often have seconds to make life or death decisions, he said.

Its in their heart that they want to do it, he said of why some people choose to serve.
An Australian mining company made headlines when it placed a $400 million order for over 100 new all-electric mining equipment assets from a Chinese manufacturer, as reported by Electrek.

Fortescue, an Australian mining company, purchased $400 million of mining equipment from Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, the largest single equipment export deal in the Chinese company's history. The contract will bring electric mining equipment, including electric wheel loaders, electric dozers, and electric semitrucks, to Fortescue's operations within the next five years.

"We're moving rapidly to decarbonize our Pilbara iron ore operations and eliminate our Scope 1 and 2 terrestrial emissions by 2030," explained Fortescue Chief Executive Officer Dino Otranto. "To achieve this target, we will need to swap out hundreds of pieces of diesel mining equipment at the end of their life with zero emissions alternatives. As the global mining industry continues to evolve, we're proud to be at the forefront of driving innovation in value adding green technology and showing the world that industry can decarbonize."

If you were going to purchase an EV which of these factors would be most important to you? Good driving range Affordable sticker price High-tech safety features Cheap maintenance costs Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

The mining industry, which brings in over $845 billion annually, is becoming even more important. There is a higher demand for nickel, lithium, and phosphates for electric vehicles and other electric items. Fortescue's mine also specializes in iron ore for steel.

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Mining, however, can create land and air pollution and overuse of water. While mining for electric vehicles is less intrusive than mining for diesel and traditional gas-powered vehicles, using more electric equipment for mining can further reduce land and air pollution.

Other companies are moving to electric mining equipment, including Komatsu's new fleet and Liebherr, which has worked with Fortescue to use self-driving electric haul trucks.

"Every new use of electric construction equipment is a win," shared one commenter.

"The renewable and sustainable energy economy is the largest opportunity for business in our lifetime," another commenter wrote.

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"This company is putting pretty much every other mining company to shame," someone else said. "Real Net Zero should be the target for every mining company."

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.




Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon presided over the House chamber on Jan. 27, 2025, as Democrats continued to boycott the Capitol. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer.

House Republicans on Thursday filed a lawsuit with the Minnesota Supreme Court to compel boycotting Democratic-Farmer-Labor House members back to the Capitol by fining them.

House Democrats have been deliberately staying away from the Capitol for more than two weeks  since Jan. 14  in an effort to deny Republicans quorum and control of the chamber.

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Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the House needs 68 members for a quorum, leaving Republicans unable to conduct business.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has been presiding over the chamber in the absence of a speaker, and every day this week he has declared theres no quorum and adjourned.

House Republicans have been attempting to propose a motion to get Democrats back to the Capitol, but Simon wont recognize them, meaning the members cant speak up, according to House rules.

Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, told reporters that this is beyond Simons authority as a presiding officer, so the caucus is asking the Supreme Court to compel Simon to recognize their motion.

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Republicans want House members to be fined an amount equal to their salary during the days that they are absent and revoke their per diem privileges for the entire 2025-2026 session.

Secretary Simon is illegally obstructing our ability to compel absent members as specifically stated in the constitution. Because he refuses to allow a motion on the House floor to hold Democrats accountable, we are taking legal action to make sure it happens, Niska said in a statement. Democrats are obstructing House business, and it needs to stop.

Niska accused Simon, a Democrat, of playing politics by denying their chance to offer a motion. House Republicans are using Niskas law firm to represent them. Unlike the last case in front of the Supreme Court, House Republicans wont be using the taxpayers dime to fund the legal fees, Niska told reporters.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Simon said his office doesnt comment on pending litigation, but Simons position is that absent a quorum and an organized House of Representatives, the only item in order is adjournment.

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This is the latest development in the power struggle stifling operations in the Minnesota House, which is currently home to 67 Republicans and 66 Democrats.

Negotiations to resolve the power struggle have stalled, and both sides appear to be dug in: House Democrats want written assurance that Republicans will refrain from attempting to unseat one of their members. Republicans want to elect a speaker and control House committees for the next two years  even after a special election for an open seat in the north metro thats expected to bring the chamber back to a 67-67 tie.

Republican leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, told reporters she hasnt had contact with House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman about continuing negotiations. Hortman in a statement said she was at the Capitol to negotiate on Thursday morning, but Demuth refused to meet with her. Republicans say Hortman never requested a meeting.

At stake is the status of Rep. Brad Tabke, a Shakopee Democrat who won his reelection by 14 votes in a contest marred by 20 missing ballots. A judge ruled in an advisory opinion that Tabke would have won anyway, and a do-over is not needed. The Minnesota Constitution grants the House the power to seat its own members, however, and Democrats fear Republicans will refuse to seat Tabke.
Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia responds to questions about the Houston ISD Board of Managers' decision to approve an election on the $4.4 billion bond at Harris County Education Department on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, in Houston. Karen Warren/Staff photographer

They are worried about even going to church now.

U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, said the last two weeks have been a nightmare for immigrant communities, with people telling her they are afraid immigration agents are waiting for them at schools, health clinics and churches, regardless of their citizenship status.

Its why Garcia said she put together a quick townhall meeting this week aimed at telling both documented and undocumented Houston residents about their constitutional rights and what they should and shouldnt do if federal agents knock on their door.

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I know many of you are scared, Garcia told more than 200 people packed into an auditorium in Houstons Northside on Wednesday.

Garcia said immigration officers are no longer instructed to avoid targeting schools, churches and health clinics. Trump rescinded that policy when he took office last week, creating new concerns for people already fearful about Trump's mass deportation plan.

Garcia was joined by attorneys and other Democratic members of Congress were joining forces with attorneys this week to give people in the immigrant community a rundown on their constitutional rights and how to protect their families as best they can.

Everybody who resides in the United States has constitutional rights, and we need to make sure that we exercise our rights  and, if we are not undocumented, that we make sure our sisters and brothers who are undocumented know their rights, said Houston immigration attorney Silvia Mintz.

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Chief among those rights, she said, is not necessarily having to open the door or answer questions from immigration agents. A deportation warrant is not the same as a judicial warrant, and agents cannot legally enter a home under a deportation warrant without a verbal agreement from people inside.

In addition, Mintz said people shouldnt be signing papers they do not understand.

Garcia said when agents knock on the door, people can get nervous and forget their rights. So, she has printed up thousands of small red cards that can fit in peoples pockets with instructions in English and Spanish reminding them of their Fifth Amendment rights and what they should say if confronted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at home or in the community.

But beyond that, Garcia and others pushed the audience to make sure they talk to their families about creating a plan for if a parent or grandparent is suddenly detained. She said people need to have emergency plans in place, especially if they have children that need to be cared for.

That includes making sure parents update their emergency contact numbers with their childrens school to ensure another trusted adult or family member can get their children if they are unable to. In addition, Mintz said they need to have emergency phone numbers and important papers, like birth certificates and marriage licenses in a place other family members can access if anything happens to them.

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Garcia said one of the things shes encouraging people to do is get their passports for themselves and family members  including children  in case someone is deported so they can easily reunite with a loved one if something happens to them.

To that end, Garcia and other members of Congress have been holding passport application and renewal events in the community on Saturdays to help people get that done. Last Saturday Garcia hosted one, and this Saturday U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, is leading another in Pearland.

Green on Thursday attended Garcias event because he said that, given everything coming from the White House, people need to fully understand what they need to do to protect their families and stay safe.

There are so many people who dont know their rights, Green said.

Garcia made clear shes angry about the fear the Trump administration has helped spread in its first few days.

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Sadly, we know that the Trump administration is not doing what he said during the campaign: just going after criminals, she said. Hes also targeting many undocumented immigrants who do not have a criminal record and have been in our country for years.

She pointed to a grandfather in Chicago who was reportedly caught in one of the deportation raids.

ICE should not be targeting our abuelitos and our abuelitas, she said. Thats insanity. Theyre not criminals. Deporting them would not make us safer.

But Trump officials insist they are being very targeted in who they are going after, prioritizing people with violent criminal histories.

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Originally appeared on E! Online

A tragic revelation has been made in the case of missing sisters Eliza Huszti and Henrietta Huszti.

At around 7:55 a.m. local time Jan. 31, police recovered the body of a person in the River Dee, very close to the last location where the sisterswho were part of a set of tripletswere last seen Jan. 7.

While the woman is yet to be formally identified, police said in a statement obtained by People, the family of Henrietta Huszti, 32, who had been reported missing in the area on Tuesday, 7 January, has been informed.

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The authorities statement emphasized that it still remains unclear whether they recovered the body of Henrietta or Eliza.

Police Scotland was made aware of the body of a person seen in the River Dee near Queen Elizabeth Bridge in Aberdeen, the statement continued. The body has since been recovered from the water. Inquiries are at an early stage and identification is yet to take place.

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E! News has reached out to Scotland Police regarding the recovered body but has not yet heard back.

Although a body has been recovered in the River Dee, authorities had confirmed the search for the women near the waterway had been called off earlier this week.

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"Extensive and detailed searches have been carried out of the River Dee and the Harbour area," local superintendent David Howieson said in a statement obtained by People Jan. 29, these searches have now concluded at this time, but inquiries will be ongoing to trace Eliza and Henrietta.

And while the sisters had mysteriously vanished in the area, Howieson added, I would again stress there is nothing to suggest any suspicious circumstances or criminality.

Huw Fairclough/Getty Images

The sisters were last seen in CCTV footage in the middle of the night on Jan. 7. Shortly after their disappearance, the womens landlady shared the final text she had received from them before their phones were disconnected, where they indicated, per a press release issued by Scotland Police, they would not be returning to the flat."

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV)  A proposed penalty to Mississippis rape law may punish certain criminals in ways that raise constitutional issues.

Under Mississippi law, adults convicted of statutory rape of a child under the age of 14 were subject to anywhere between 20 years to life in prison. Based on a recent bill from Mississippi Representative Fred Shanks (R-District 60), a proposed penalty for the crime potentially may also involve surgical sterilization.

In Mississippi House Bill 1028, any individual found guilty of rape or statutory rape of one under the age of 13 could be ordered to be surgically castrated in addition to any other criminal penalties. The defendants failure to comply could result in additional charges and time in prison, up to five years.

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Judges have the discretion to add surgical castration as part of the convicted persons punishment. The punishment is contingent on a medical experts determination that the procedure is appropriate to implement against the offender. A licensed physician would perform the castration before the inmates release from prison.

Mississippi state lawmaker introduces Contraception Begins at Erection Act with fines for masturbation

The language, timeline and elements of Shankss bill are very similar to a law passed by the Louisiana Legislature in 2024. The Louisiana law explicitly prohibits minor defendants from being surgically castrated. HB 1028 does not include similar language.

If the bill becomes law, it would likely face two main constitutional challenges in the court system.

Procreation as a fundamental right

In constitutional law, fundamental rights are liberties so important that the government cannot infringe on them unless it is necessary to achieve a compelling interest. This analysis is known as strict scrutiny. This is traditionally interpreted by the courts as meaning the method is the most practical and least restrictive way of achieving the governmental objective.

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The fundamental right most clearly at issue here is the right to procreate. The U.S. Supreme Court previously held laws mandating sterilization as unconstitutional and that such laws should be reviewed under strict scrutiny.

The governments method of protecting children from sexual abuse  surgically castrating certain offenders- may conflict with the rights of said offenders to have children. Though the right to procreate is not absolute, other methods exist that will likely have the same effect of protecting children.

For instance, laws related to chemical castrations exist in the United States. This less obtrusive and effective option may show that surgical castration is not the only or the best way for the state to protect children. This casts doubt on whether HB 1028 could withstand a strict scrutiny analysis if challenged in court.

Cruel and unusual punishment

The case also impresses the issue of whether the punishment itself is unlawful. The biggest issue is whether the provision violates the U.S. Constitutions prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on whether chemical or surgical castration violates the Eighth Amendment. However, federal and state courts are amenable to novel methods of punishing individuals for crimes.

Laws currently in Mississippi

In Mississippi, the penalties for statutory rape vary depending on the age of the victim and the suspect. As the law is currently written, you have to be a teenager or older to be charged with the crime. Below is an overview of the rape laws as they stand in Mississippi.

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Statutory Rape: A person 17 years or older having sexual intercourse with a child who: Is at least 14 but under 16 years old; and Is 36 or more months younger than the person; and Is not the persons spouse

A person of any age having sexual intercourse with a child who: Is under 14 years old; and Is 24 or more months younger than the person

Penalty: Age 13-18: Discretionary imprisonment, fine or other sentence by the court Age 18-21: Imprisonment up to 5 years, a fine up to $5,000 or both Age 21 or older: Imprisonment up to 30 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both for the first offense Imprisonment up to 40 years for subsequent offenses Age 18 or older with a victim under 14: Imprisonment for life or a term not less than 20 years

Forcible Sexual Intercourse: Sexual intercourse with any person without consent or by administering a substance that prevents resistance

Penalty: Life imprisonment if prescribed by the jury or a term determined by the court



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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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QUITMAN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV)  The Quitman County coroner and his aunt have been arrested by special agents from the State Auditors Office.

State Auditor Shad White said Randy Hester and his aunt, Brenda Pittman, submitted fraudulent invoices to Quitman County under the disguise of a fictitious business name for services he did not provide.

Mississippi man among those killed in DC air collision

According to White, Hester and Pittman opened a bank account under a fictitious business they created called MFC Transit. He said Bank records listed Hesters personal address as the business address for the account. Hester allegedly submitted invoices for the transportation of bodies using MFC Transit, and he allegedly charged the county for transporting bodies that were transported by other funeral homes.

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Hester faces up to $10,000 in fines and up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Pittman faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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OXFORD, Miss. (WJTV)  A Holly Springs woman was sentenced to 52 months in jail for mail fraud in connection with falsely claimed IRS Employee Retention Tax Credit for others. Lakisha Pearson, 48, was also ordered to repay $15,942,586.77 in restitution.

Pearson, who owns Unity Tax Express, pled guilty to using the internet to file false tax credit claims for numerous persons totaling nearly $47 million and taking kickbacks from those persons. Prosecutors said the IRS mailed Treasury checks totaling $15,942,586.77 in ERC credits to the claimants who thought they were given a government grant and were not aware that Pearson had filed tax returns on their behalf.

Mississippi tax preparer sentenced for filing fraudulent tax returns

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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), enacted on March 27, 2020, provided for an IRS Employee Retention Credit (ERC) designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll during the pandemic. Subsequent legislation (the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) modified and extended the ERC.

Employee Retention Credits were tax credits designed to provide critical assistance to business owners struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, but fraudsters and thieves infuriatingly decided to use the credits to line their own pockets during this emergency, said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. This office plans to pursue charges against all of those who decided to steal from American taxpayers, and we thank the IRS for the investigation of this case.

According to prosecutors, the scheme in the instant case was initially uncovered during a separate criminal investigation which resulted in Pearsons conviction for Payroll Protection loans. Pearson awaits sentencing in that case.

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Iron County Circuit Clerk Sammye White searches for marijuana cases in the office storage room in Ironton (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).

Missouri courts have expunged more than 140,000 marijuana cases since voters approved the 2022 constitution amendment to legalize recreational cannabis.

And the numbers wont climb much higher than that.

Courts were mandated, as part of the amendment, to search their files for eligible marijuana-related charges and then make it as if they never existed on peoples records.

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Missouris biggest counties have made it through the bulk of the task, but some will continue to chip away at it this year.

We are working on paper files in the mid 80s, said Bryan Feemster, Greene County Circuit Clerk. We may be nearing completion midway this year. We cant be sure how many are left.

The state courts paper files largely end around 2014, and the first marijuana-related drug statutes are from 1971, according to information the state administrator provided to court clerks.

However, theres no set date for how far back the county courts have to go.

Scott Lauck, spokesman for 16th Judicial Circuit in Jackson County, said the clerks completed their review of cases in December 2023.

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According to our criminal records department, we have completed the review of the marijuana expungements dated back to 1989, Lauck said. That was as far back as we were able to identify cases on any reports available to us.

The county sometimes, he said, becomes aware of additional defendants as they are released from probation.

If we determine the charges were for marijuana, the cases are sent to the sentencing division for further review, he said.

St. Louis County Court clerks are in the review and redetermination phase, to determine what review of our next group of cases will look like, said spokesman John OSullivan.

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The Missouri Supreme Court estimates that about 307,000 cases have been reviewed  which would mean the counties expunged 46% of the cases they reviewed.

But this estimate does not include the paper records.

For paper records, court clerks have to read summaries for every single criminal record. Theres no way to run a report to search certain criminal codes.

Sammye White, circuit clerk in Iron County, said the paper files are the slowest to identify.

I have actually been working on this very thing this morning, she said Friday. I have scanned through hundreds of indexed records searching for any that indicate a possession or paraphernalia charge.

When she finds a drug charge, she has to then find the actual file to see if the drug charge was marijuana.

Out of those, she has to narrow it down to a handful most likely to qualify.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson cast doubt Thursday on the fate of a contentious immigration bill, which proposes paying people a $1,000 bounty for turning in undocumented migrants in the state.

Senate Bill 72, sponsored by Missouri State Sen. David Gregory (R-St. Louis County), calls for developing an information system that allows bounty hunters to report immigrants who have trespassed illegally through a toll-free telephone hotline, email, and an online reporting portal. Under the bill, a bounty hunter who makes a report could receive a reward of $1,000.

How much of National Lampoons Vacation was actually filmed in St. Louis?

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During a news conference Thursday, Patterson (R-Lees Summit) suggested that while House Republicans support enforcing immigration laws, the proposed bounty system goes a step too far.

We are committed to making sure that we have legal immigration but that we dont tolerate illegal immigration, said Patterson, according to the Missouri Independent and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I have not heard any enthusiasm from our members about doing any sort of bounty. I dont think thats something that youre going to see on this side.

The bill also seeks to create a new criminal offense of trespass by an illegal alien, propsing felony charges and imprisonment without eligibility for probation or parole for undocumented immigrants who enter and remain in Missouri.

On Monday, dozens waited outside a packed Senate committee room to testify in opposition to the legislation, a measure largely opposed by House Democrats.

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Some supporters who testified, including Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish, argued the bill would give law enforcement more tools to address immigration concerns and stay focused on community safety.

The bill has had two Senate readings and has been referred to the Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee, though no further action is scheduled at this time, according to the Senates online bill tracker.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  Arkansas native and UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell praised Adolf Hitler and denied the Holocaust happened in the first episode of his new podcast.

In his ArkanSanity Podcast with Roli Delgado, the two started talking about Hitler during a conversation about Elon Musk making a gesture that was similar to the Nazi salute.

After discussing the salute and Musks social media presence, Mitchell praised Hitler.

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He called Hitler a good guy based on his own research. I really do think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy Id go fishing with, Mitchell said to Delgado.

Mitchell continued giving antisemitic and homophobic statements and said Hitler was trying to purify Germany by removing Jewish people from the country.

Despite praising Hitler, Mitchell claimed that he didnt hate Jewish people and wasnt a Nazi.

UFC CEO Dana White condemned Mitchells comments calling them beyond disgusting at a news conference in Saudi Arabia at a Power Slap event.

FILE  Bryce Mitchell is interviewed by Joe Rogan after his win in a featherweight bout against Kron Gracie of Brazil during the UFC 310 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 07, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Ive heard a lot of dumb and ignorant s*** said over the years, but this is probably the worst, White said in a statement to ESPN. First of all, when you talk about Hitler, he was responsible for the death of 6 million Jews and it was his intent to completely eliminate Jewish people. And thats a guy you would want to go fishing with?

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White was asked about whether Mitchell would face punishment for his comments and said he would face no disciplinary action.

Its free speech, White said. Thats the beautiful thing about this business, for all of you who hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his a** whooped on global television.

Bryce Mitchell is currently ranked 13th in UFC featherweight rankings and is 17-3 in his career, according to his UFC profile.

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NEW YORK  MMA star Bryce Mitchell praised Adolf Hitler as a good guy and denied the Holocaust happened in a rant on his new podcast, ArkanSanity.

I honestly think Hitler was a good guy, based upon my own research, not my public education and indoctrination, the 30-year-old fighter said in the first episode.

He fought for his country, he wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out who were destroying his country and turning them all into gays, he added. Was Hitler perfect? No, but he was fighting for his people. He wanted a pure nation.

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After co-host Roli Delgado countered that genocide was bad, Mitchell then denied the Holocaust.

Thats what your public education will tell you, Roli, because you believe your public education because you havent done your own research. When you realize theres no possible way they couldve burned and cremated 6 million bodies, youre gonna realize the Holocaust aint real, he said.

Mitchell, who competes in UFCs featherweight division, was roundly denounced by others in the fighting community following his comments.

Each and every day MMA finds a way to reach a new low, broadcaster Ariel Helwani wrote on social media Thursday. A new way of embarrassing itself and those who are fans of it.

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It just continues to baffle me at how unbelievably stupid  not to mention bigoted  some of the people in the sport or associated with the sport can be, Helwani concluded.

Mitchell is no stranger to saying divisive things aloud. Last year, he said he planned to home school his children to prevent them from turning gay.

Thats the reason Im going to home school Tucker, because I dont want him to be a communist, he said in an Instagram video while holding up his son. I dont want him to worship Satan. I dont want him to be gay.
Minnesota House Republicans want the state Supreme Court to allow them to pressure Democratic-Farmer-Labor representatives to end their Capitol boycott as a weeks-long power struggle continues to stall legislative action.

In a lawsuit announced after a brief House floor session Thursday, Republicans are asking justices to force Secretary of State Steve Simon, who has been presiding over floor sessions, to recognize their motions  including one that would deprive absent House Democrats of pay.

The Secretary of States constitutional duty in the absence of a quorum is clear: he must entertain motions by the Members present, including motions to compel the attendance of absent members, House Republicans said in court filings. Simon has utterly flouted that duty. He has seized control of the House and shut it down.

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House DFLers say they wont show up until Republicans, who have what will likely be a temporary one-seat majority, enter a power-sharing arrangement and agree to seat a DFL member who fended off a Republican election challenge in a different court case last month.

How did we get here again?

Novembers election resulted in a 67-67 tie between the DFL and Republicans, and the sides were negotiating a power-sharing agreement ahead of session. But the DFL is currently one seat down after a candidate in Roseville, Curtis Johnson, was disqualified for not living in the district he ran to represent.

Johnson defeated his GOP opponent by 30 points, so the House tie likely will return after a special election to fill that seat is held in March. But Republicans tried to use the opportunity to take control of committees, introduce bills and elect Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, as speaker.

DFLers challenged them in the Supreme Court and won last week, nullifying Republican actions.

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The court said the House cant move forward with business without at least 68 members  a majority of the 134 total seats. Republicans had argued they only needed a majority of 133 current members but lost.

Stalemate

The 2025 session started on Jan. 14, and lawmakers have accomplished little as the House partisan stalemate wears on.

Republicans have abided by the courts ruling, and ever since each day has been a repeat on the House floor. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, Simon and Republicans arrived at the House Chamber, took roll call and adjourned after Simon ruled there was no quorum.

Unless an agreement is reached, or if Republicans prevail in court, the cycle will continue. Theyre scheduled to meet again on Monday afternoon.

Forcing attendance?

Minnesotas Constitution allows state representatives to compel absent members to attend, and Republicans are hoping they can exercise that right by fining DFL representatives who havent shown up at the House and depriving them of daily expense coverage for the rest of the session.

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But right now they cant do that because DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon is presiding over the House. Simon fills a ceremonial role at the beginning of session, but since the court shut down the Republicans election of the speaker, he continues to preside.

Republicans hope their lawsuit will put an end to that, despite the courts ruling against them on the quorum issue last week. They argue Simon is an executive branch official who cant tell the legislative branch how to function.

He has overstepped his authority as the presiding officer, said House Republican Deputy Leader Harry Niska. He has left us no option other than to ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to again intervene in his interference in our legislative branch activities.

Niskas law firm has been representing the House GOP in court. He told reporters Thursday that taxpayer dollars arent covering the costs.

Negotiations stalled

After signaling that she was optimistic a deal could be reached by the end of the week, House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman in a statement said Demuth did not meet her Thursday morning. In the same statement, Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, called on Republicans to drop the challenge and come back to discussions.

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Instead of spending even more time and money on lawsuits initiated by Rep. Harry Niskas law firm, House Republicans should join us in negotiations to reach a power-sharing agreement that honors the will of the voters, he said.

DFLers have offered an arrangement where the GOP could act as a majority while the House remains at 67-66. Power sharing would resume if a 67-67 tie returns. Hortman said Republicans have still not accepted that offer.

Republicans also continue to signal that they might not seat Shakopee DFL Rep. Brad Tabke even after a judge ruled he was eligible to take the District 54A seat in Shakopee despite 20 missing absentee ballots in the race.

Last week, Tabkes Republican challenger Aaron Paul announced he didnt plan to appeal the ruling, though he still questioned the election results and called for another election.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has arrested more students for allegedly making threats of mass violence against area schools.

In a Thursday press release, the MNPD said 18-year-old Hunters Lane High School student Dorrian Harp told another student in his class Tuesday that he would shoot up the school the next day. After school resource officers unsuccessfully attempted to see Harp at his last available address, Harp and his parents met at the Madison police precinct Thursday where he was taken into custody after admitting he made the threat.

Extremely unnerving: Multiple teens face charges after making school violence threats

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The MNPD added that in a separate and unrelated incident, a 12-year-old Intrepid College Prep student allegedly threatened to kill a group of students. The 12-year-old was suspended, but when he returned to school, he allegedly texted another student threatening to shoot him and sent a video of a gun.

The 12-year-old was charged with making a threat of mass violence and making a false report by a Juvenile Court judge. As of publication, Harp is being held on a $100,000 bond for making a threat of mass violence.

Middle TN school districts navigate uptick in reported threats following deadly Antioch High School shooting

These arrests are some of the latest arrests made by the MNPD for school threats since a deadly shooting at Antioch High School. Districts across Middle Tennessee have been on high alert when it comes to potential threats in the days following the tragedy.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  The Metro Nashville Police Department is looking to hire new officers with and without experience.

While the MNPD is looking to grow the force with new officers, its also hoping to move experienced officers into open lateral positions, including school resource officers and traffic enforcement positions.

MNPD arrests students, including 12-year-old, for allegedly making unrelated threats of mass violence

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We are looking for somebody to be able to step in and say, I am able to tell the difference between a noncrime fighting stop and just a regular traffic stop,' said Jeff Eslick, council member for District 11.

For years, the growing city of Nashville has felt the impacts of an officer shortage, like many other Tennessee cities.

As of Friday, Metro Police has 1,556 officers and is approved to hire about 100 more.

People want better control of the roads, Eslick explained. You see people driving recklessly, passing down the middle lane, and then there is also some really bad wrecks.

Last week, a resolution to improve traffic enforcement was passed by Metro Council. This comes after a 91% decrease in Nashville traffic stops between 2015 and 2023, following a report called Driving While Black, which found MNPD disproportionately stopped Black drivers from 2011 to 2015.

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We need to make sure for the mass of people that we are creating a safe place, Eslick said. I think there is a balance. We have dash cams, body cams, we have a community review board.

Antioch High School to have third permanent school resource officer, per MNPD

According to the MNPDs job posting, the traffic division has openings in the aggressive/impaired driving unit, motorcycle officer program, and traffic crash investigator unit.

Im hoping some of the people that look for these lateral positions really have a passion for safety, Eslick said. Maybe this is somebody who has been a different position but has noticed the increase in fatalities and the brazenness of people to drive down the middle lane or to weave throughout traffic as if it was some type of race.

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However, they are also looking to expand their school resource officer program, adding more SROs to elementary schools.

[We are] really looking for a candidate who really stands out in terms of having that good moral compass, really has good communication skills, and can easily connect with adolescents, said Mo Canady with the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

According to an MNPD spokesperson, Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) have two SROs in high schools, and as of last week, Antioch High School added a third SRO. Meanwhile, middle schools in the district each have one SRO, including seven elementary schools.

You have the opportunity to impact adolescents in a really powerful way, Canady said.

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This is about going in and really being an advocate for the youth in your community, helping them to become the people that they are going to become as adults, he added.

| READ MORE | Latest headlines from Nashville and Davidson County

A Tennessee state lawmaker reintroduced a bill for the 2025 legislature that would allow public charter schools to hire honorable discharged veterans and retired law enforcement officers to serve as SROs, pushing for closing the gap.

Weve worked incredibly hard in the General Assembly to keep students safe in Tennessee classrooms. School resource officers are invaluable to achieving this goal, but there are unfortunately many schools across the state that are still without an officer. This proposal will open the role up to experienced and qualified individuals who have honorably served their nation and communities, helping alleviate the SRO shortage of approximately 500 while prioritizing school security. Keeping students safe will continue to be a priority for Tennessee Republicans. Rep. Tim Rudd

Sometimes when retired officers can be brought in, especially to fill some of those gaps in elementary schools, its working really well, Canady explained. Now we have got to make sure we have some really good perimeters around this. They still need to be the right selection.

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Pay for the lateral job openings range from $73,000 to $89,000 annually.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE)  Local organizations are working to improve access to food among our senior population as Tennessee was recently ranked the third worst state for senior food insecurity.

In a recent study by the Journal of Retirement Research, it found over three million U.S. seniors reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat.

Nine percent of the Tennessee senior population struggles with access to food variety and affordability, nearly double the national average. Programs like Mobile Meals are working to combat that.

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Theyre hiding behind the anonymous word: Fake deportation sales posted in Roane County Facebook group

Mobile Meals supports homebound seniors across Knox County. The senior population is growing a lot, and the need is growing a lot, said Mobile Meals program manager Sarah Keel. What we do is we try to reach those who are arent able to prepare their own food anymore, arent able to get out and shop, who really need that extra nutritional support and social support.

With the senior population in Knox County on the rise, Keel said their clientele is increasing.

The senior population is growing very, very fast in Knox County and we do see it. We have a lot of referrals for service constantly, Keel said. We are growing and increasing our volunteer base to try and continue to meet that need.

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As they grow along with the rest of Knoxville, they say the increasing cost-of-living leaves seniors in a difficult position.

Tennessee General Assembly approves school voucher expansion; bill heads to Gov. Lees desk

A lot of the seniors in our community are reliant on fixed incomes, so things like rent increases, cost of living increases, all of that really hit them pretty hard, said Keel. It causes a lot of seniors to have to choose between paying for healthy food or paying for prescription medication and all these different tough decisions that seniors are making.

Not only are seniors struggling with food insecurity the Journal of Retirement Research found that Tennessee also has the second highest senior poverty rate. Mobile Meals hope to ease that burden and be a part of a community supporting seniors.

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We try to fill that need for the food and for the social connection and even for safety for a lot of, homebound seniors that are kind of the most vulnerable in our community, said Keel. We have we have a really strong network of organizations here in Knox County that are supporting, people nutritionally, supporting seniors, supporting kids, because of all of these issues.

 See more top stories on WATE.com

While they say they have over 100 volunteers deliver food to homebound seniors each day, they are looking for more help as the need grows. To volunteer you can visit their website here, or call them at (865) 524-2786.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WATE 6 On Your Side.
(This Jan. 31 story has been corrected to fix the election deadline to Oct. 26, not Oct. 11, in paragraph 3)

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldovan opposition leader Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was defeated at a presidential vote in November, said on Friday he was taking the helm of a coalition of three parties to challenge the pro-Western ruling majority at this year's parliamentary election.

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The former prosecutor general came closer than expected to unseating pro-Western President Maia Sandu last year, losing in a run-off after campaigning for a balanced foreign policy that would look to Russia as well as West. He had been backed by the pro-Moscow socialist party.

The parliamentary election, which must be held by Oct. 26 but has not been scheduled yet, is expected to be closely fought and could significantly reduce the number of seats held by Sandu's pro-Western PAS party.

Moldova, located between Ukraine and Romania, is a geopolitical battleground between Russia the West, with a Romanian-speaking majority and large Russian-speaking minority. Sandu's government is striving to lead the country into the European Union by 2030.

Announcing his coalition, Stoianoglo told reporters at a briefing in Chisinau his main priority was "the consolidation of Moldovan society. We will not divide people into good and bad, our voters and strangers, different nationalities."

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The "Alternative" coalition will bring together Chisinau mayor Ion Ceban's party, former prime minister Ion Chicu's party and former lawmaker Marc Tcaciuc's party.

Ceban, who spoke alongside Stoianoglo, said the time had come to "restore the faith of Moldova's citizens in reforms and European integration" as well as competent governance.

Moldova's opposition often criticizes Sandu and her PAS party for lacking efficiency and ignoring the interests of the public. Sandu's government says opponents aim to undermine the bid to join the EU.

"To avoid interpretations, we support European integration as the country's main goal... We must focus on the needs of people," Ceban said.

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Russia has troops stationed in Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova controlled by pro-Moscow separatists. Relations between Chisinau and Moscow deteriorated after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Sandu condemned.

The Moldovan government accused Russia last year of meddling in its presidential election and a referendum held simultaneously on aspirations to join the EU, which passed but more narrowly than forecast. Moscow denies meddling.

Since the start of this year Moscow and Chisinau have clashed over gas supplies to Transdniestria, which produces electricity for the rest of Moldova and where thousands of people have been left without gas or winter heating.

Russian gas flows to Transdniestria over Ukraine stopped at the start of January when a transit agreement expired. Moldova has said Moscow should send the gas by other routes, but Russia's Gazprom has halted exports, citing an unpaid Moldovan debt, which Chisinau says it does not recognise.

Chisinau accuses Russia of artificially creating an energy crisis to affect parliamentary elections. Russia blames Moldova and Ukraine.

(Writing by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Tom Balmforth and)
Jan. 31An Ector County grand jury has indicted the mother of a newborn found dead in a toilet on a capital murder count. The woman remains in the Ector County jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Yanira Maria Toirac Prado, 22, was arrested in early December two months after Odessa police officers and Odessa Fire Rescue crews responded to a home on West 6th Street about a miscarriage.

When officers arrived, they found an obviously dead baby in the toilet and evidence blood had been wiped up from the floor, the report stated.

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Prado told officers she didn't know she was pregnant and thought she was having a bowel movement when she gave birth, the report stated. She said when she saw the baby, she was lightheaded and couldn't get up from the toilet, but she admitted she used nail clippers to cut the umbilical cord.

Prado further stated the baby didn't cry or make any other noises and she texted someone else in the house for help, the report stated.

Everyone in the house said Prado never told them she was pregnant and one even said Prado denied being pregnant when they realized they hadn't seen any feminine hygiene products in the trash and asked her, the report stated.

An autopsy revealed the baby was born alive and asphyxiated on amniotic and other fluids, along with foreign fibers, the report stated.

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According to the report, detectives found Google searches for giving birth and blood clotting after birth on Prado's phone.

Prado, who was also arrested on suspicion of tampering with evidence, remains in the Ector County jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold and surety bonds totaling $1,015,000.
Kaiden Forman-Webster

ICT + MTFP

The sponsor of Montanas Indian Child Welfare Act is proposing several amendments to the bipartisan legislation passed in 2023, saying the changes will extend the law past its statutory sunset later this year, improve consistency in court proceedings around the state and strengthen consultation between state and tribal governments.

Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, Chippewa Cree and a Democrat from Box Elder, introduced the amendments in a Monday hearing before the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee.

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What you have before you are amendments detailing more of what was needed, Windy Boy said during the hearing, referring to the 2023 laws.

The committee has not yet voted to advance the bill.

Lance Four Star, enrolled Assiniboine and the director of the American Indian Caucus, testified in support of the changes during the Monday hearing. Four Star presented a letter signed by all 12 caucus members stating that Senate Bill 147 is a good bill for Indian County and our great state of Montana.

The Indian Child Welfare Act, commonly referred to as ICWA, was passed on the federal level in 1978 to remedy the cascade of Native children that had been displaced from tribes to non-Native households across the entire United States and Alaska. At that time between 75 to 80 percent of Native families had lost at least one child to the foster care system, according to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, often removing children from their culture and tribe.

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As of 2020, Native children were estimated to be up to 9 percent of the Montana child population and disproportionately 35 percent of the foster care population according to the Montana Judicial Branch Court Improvement Program.

Congress realized the severity of this issue and that is why ICWA is centered on the fact that these children are sovereign citizens and the need for protocol when removing them is essential. The act promotes communication between tribes and states to place these children in homes that best represent their distinct culture to remedy the wrongs of the past.

Multiple states have written into law their own versions of the Indian Child Welfare Act to strengthen the federal law; Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming are examples of such states to do so.

Montanas version of the law passed in 2023 with support from Democrats and Republicans and was later signed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte.

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Many of the proponents testifying in favor of the bill praised the current law as a significant step toward improving state-tribal relations in foster care cases involving tribal citizens and reiterated the painful history of family separations during their testimony.

The Indian Child Welfare Act is considered the gold standard for child welfare due to its priority to keep children connected to their families, culture and tribes. Many of the aspects of the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act could be applied to non-native children which was one of the takeaways that Sen. Dennis Lenz-R concluded, saying The bulk of it could apply to all children.

This most likely refers to the efforts of the law to keep children with their families and ensures the state does their utmost to look into each case.

Windy Boy is a long time representative that has served in both chambers of the Montana legislature and has always been a strong advocate for Indigenous issues. As the sponsor of the bill, he looks to further strengthen the preexisting law with several amendments to continually support that Native children learn their culture.

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It is really important for us to make sure that protection for our little ones, our future generation, are here to remain, are here to continue on this way of life, Windy Boy said. There's a lot of things that you don't see on these laws here, this bill here, that have deeper, pure meaning about the real essence of what we're talking about here, real life experience from the heart, real experience from what was gifted to us from above. It is up to me as a Native to make sure that those future generations learn that way of life.

Dozens of individuals testified in support of the bill, including representatives of tribal governments, nonprofits and courts. Other supporters spoke about their personal experiences, making the drive to Helena for their testimony, while others joined in via zoom to voice their support.

Lillian Alvernaz, Nakoda and Lakota, works as an attorney representing parents, tribes, social services, agencies and tribal courts. She gave her testimony as the Chair of the Indian Law Section. During her testimony she shared the story of a Native woman who sought her advice.

The grandchildren of a Native woman had been split up, two children going to family members and one baby being placed off reservation within a non-Native household. The woman had not seen her grandchild in months and did not know who to ask for help.

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This bill will be able to remedy situations like this due to the emphasis of keeping families together and the children tied to their tribes, Alvernaz said.

Not a single person spoke out in opposition to the bill.

One proponent for the bill, Brooke Baracker-Taylor who serves as an assistant attorney general since 2016 representing the state in dependency and neglect cases in several jurisdictions. She traveled to the Capitol on her own personal time to urge for the passing of the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act bill.

Baracker-Taylor provided information on some of the amendments that have been added to the bill.

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What I would say about that is it is extremely important because I think it empowers the department to receive all of the information needed to make thoughtful, informed and compassionate decisions, she said.

This is in reference to the many amendments requiring consultation throughout the placement proceedings, ensuring the respective tribes are informed and vice versa, the state can be informed of the tribe's interests.

I do not believe that the state can make a fully informed decision about the child without the input of the child's tribe," said Ms. Baracker-Taylor.

Baracker-Taylor also spoke to guardianship and how it will be further improved with the new bill.

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The 30 day hearing, will result in early family placements and also facilitates transparency and decision making so that all parties, including resource parents, are on notice regarding potential changes of placement and the likely permanency outcome in our cases, Baracker-Taylor said.

This means that the hearings must be heard within 30 days.

One of the last amendments focused on by Baracker-Taylor regards the guardians of the child having the option to enter into compacts with tribes allowing all parties involved the best chance of keeping the child connected to their respective culture.

Providing them with the necessary tools to assist Indian children connect with their tribes, families and communities. Ms. Baracker-Taylor said.

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The overall testimony and Windy Boy himself believes this to be a huge step towards providing Indigenous children within the foster care system the best opportunity to lead a healthy life.

Promoting consistency for how these cases are handled by the courts and consultation throughout all proceedings between all parties involved was echoed as the best way to achieve this goal.

Montana Free Press and ICT will continue to monitor this bill as it makes its way through the Montana state legislature.

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This story is co-published by Montana Free Press and ICT, a news partnership that covers the Montana American Indian Caucus during the states 2025 legislative session
(KRON)  A person who was driving a car that was connected to an attempted murder on Wednesday was shot was shot and killed during a traffic stop, the Monterey County Sheriffs Office said.

The Salinas Police Department told MCSO on Wednesday morning that it was investigating an attempted murder, and deputies should be on the lookout for a suspect and a vehicle.

Just after 1 p.m. a California Highway Patrol officer said he had seen the car going from Salinas to Castroville on Highway 183, MCSO said. Monterey deputies responded to the area to help the officer make a traffic stop.

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Man sentenced in birthday party stabbing deaths of father and son: DA

When police tried to stop the car, the driver went off road into a field next to the highway between Espinosa Road and Cooper Road. MCSO said the driver got out of the car and approached law enforcement while holding a weapon.

Shots were fired, striking the driver, MCSO said. The driver was taken to a hospital where they later died.

KRON4 reached out to the California Department of Justice (CDOJ) to ascertain which agency fired the fatal shots. We are awaiting a response.

One CHP officer suffered a minor injury and was hospitalized.

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Authorities have not released the name or gender of the person who was killed. The CDOJ and Monterey County District Attorneys Office are investigating the shooting.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
Over 1,000 of people protested in the eastern German city of Erfurst on Friday against efforts by the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to push through reforms to migration laws in parliament with the support of the far right.

Hundreds demonstrated outside a congress centre where CDU leader Friedrich Merz was expected to hold an election campaign, hours after a bill to tighten migration restrictions narrowly failed to secure a majority in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.

Demonstrators shouted "Shame on you!" and "CDU pigs," holding signs that read: "Anyone who makes deals with fascists has understood nothing."

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Between 1,400 and 1,500 people attended the rally, according to a police spokesman.

Germany has seen a wave of protests in recent days after the CDU passed a non-binding motion to reform migration laws in the Bundestag on Wednesday with votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio (WJW)  More than $300,000 worth of windows are heading to Habitat for Humanity in Summit County.

They are being donated thanks to a partnership with home improvement company Home Genius Exteriors.

The new initiative from the company allows customers to donate their old windows and doors to Habitat for Humanity after a new installation.

Akron Zoo moving some birds indoors amid bird flu concerns

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On Thursday, leaders from both organizations were on hand for a celebration of the partnership and its impact on the community, as seen in the video above.

Habitat for Humanity says partnerships like this allow them to continue their mission of empowering communities through affordable housing solutions.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Are you looking to buy a home in the five boroughs? A New York City program is making it easier for more people to buy their dream house.

The city has doubled the funding for its popular HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program. Approved first-time home buyers could qualify for up to $100,000 towards their down payment or closing costs on a family home, a condominium, or a co-op.

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To be eligible for the program, a prospective home buyer must fit the following criteria.

HomeFirst Program eligibility:

Be a first-time homebuyer

Complete a homebuyer education course taught by an HPD-approved counseling agency

Work with an HPD approved Housing Counseling Agency to complete a 2024 HomeFirst Loan Application (Required documentation can be found here).

Have their own savings to contribute to the down payment or closing costs

Meet program income eligibility requirements

Make a minimum down payment of 3% of the purchase price towards the home purchase.

Purchase a one to four-unit family home, a condominium, or a co-op in one of the five boroughs

Pass a Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspection before purchase

Upon approval, the home buyer must live in the home for at least:

10 years if the loan received is less than or equal to $40,000

15 years if the loan is greater than $40,000

Have a maximum household income up to 80% AMI

(Credit: NYC Housing Preservation & Development)

Residents interested in applying for the program can find a participating counseling agency online to begin the process. Counselors will help enroll consumers in the required Homebuyer Education classes.

After completing the class, prospective homebuyers will receive a certificate that verifies their eligibility for up to $100,000 worth of loan forgiveness for the down payment or closing costs on a new home.

Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.

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SAN DIEGO (Border Report)  Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueno Ruiz says he will not lift an emergency declaration he made last month as a way to prepare for mass deportations from the United States.

At the moment, we have seen some deportation, but not as predicted, Burgueno Ruiz said. Nevertheless, we need to stay on top of this dynamic.

The mayor says the emergency declaration issues Dec. 13 frees up funding from the federal government, which allows them to stay ready for large numbers of people who might suddenly descend on the city.

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Border Report Live: Deportations ramping up along Mexican border

It allows us to prevent situations where we have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy, he said. This bypasses a lot of red tape and it gives us a lot of authority to act immediately when the need arises.

The mayor made these comments during a meeting with residents Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, as of Thursday morning, the shelter set up for deported migrants in Tijuana has taken in 216 Mexican nationals since it opened late last week.

Monica Vega Aguirre, coordinator for the Baja California state government, says only 40 of the migrants have chosen to spend the night with most accepting a bus ticket to return to their place of origin.

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She also said some have secured flights with the help of family members.

Trump orders preparation of Guantanamo Bay facility to house migrants

The majority of the deported migrants have been single men, Vega Aguirre said. Weve only had three family units with four little children.

The shelter is providing food, medical attention and psychological care to the people being deported, along with birth certificates and a bank card with $100 on it.

Weve been getting about 50 to 60 migrants per day, less than before, she said, adding that before Trump took office, the city was taking in anywhere from 100 to 400 deported migrants daily.

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The shelter has space for up to 2,600 people, although the biggest number in the shelter, at one time, has been 90, Vega Aguirre said.

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Jan. 30An update with expected snowfall amounts was posted at 7:20 a.m. Friday

Snow returns Friday to Maine

Frigid temperatures and dangerous wind chills will give way to snow across western Maine heading into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Gray.

Wind chills early Thursday dropped to between -5 and -15 degrees across the region, with Rumford recording -16 degrees. The cold temperatures are expected to moderate somewhat Thursday night, though lows will still reach near zero.

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Snow will move into the Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties Friday, with accumulations of 1-5 inches expected. The National Weather Service warns that the evening commute will be slick, with the heaviest snowfall likely during the afternoon and early evening hours.

The weekend will turn blustery, with gusty northwest winds on Saturday ushering in another round of cold air from Quebec. Forecasters say Saturday night temperatures could dip below zero across much of the region under clearing skies.

A quick-moving storm system will affect the area Sunday night into Monday, potentially starting as snow before changing to rain as temperatures climb into the 40s by Monday afternoon.

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Maine's already got 31 state symbols. A reptile, amphibian and dog could be next.

Lithium-ion battery pack causes fire that guts house in Livermore Falls
Russian news outlets are actively disseminating false claims that Ukrainian troops have "killed and raped" dozens of civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces are conducting operations.

Source: Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation on social media

Quote: "The Kremlin has been pumping in lots of money to create a 'Russian Bucha' [i.e. mass atrocities against civilians] in the information space by any means necessary, spreading fakes about the alleged terrible crimes of the Banderites [as Russian propaganda refers to Ukrainians] on the territory of the Russian Federation for several months now."

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Details: The Center stated that the Russians are widely circulating a video depicting dead bodies. However, the footage does not reveal the location or circumstances of the deaths, making it impossible to identify the deceased or establish any connection to Ukrainian forces.

"The 'testimony' of a Ukrainian prisoner [spread by the Russians  ed.] cannot be considered evidence either, given the numerous proven cases of torture and arbitrary executions of Ukrainians in Russian captivity," the Center stressed, adding that Russia is using such fake videos to conceal its own war crimes and justify the continuation of the war.

Background:

In February 2024, the Russians actively spread fakes that operatives from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine were executing residents of Kharkiv Oblast for refusing to respond to a "nationalist salute".

The Russians later claimed to have discovered "proof" of Ukrainian soldiers' organs being trafficked on the Kupiansk front.

In September 2024, Russian propaganda outlets claimed that Ukraine was planning to stage a Russian missile attack on a childcare facility, kindergarten or hospital in a territory under Kyiv's control.

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Police ballistic markers stand near a stroller and a childs chair at a crime scene in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The number of homicides across the United States declined sharply in 2024, according to the Council on Criminal Justices latest crime trends report. Still, New York City is one of the major cities with a higher number of homicides in 2024 compared with pre-pandemic levels. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The number of homicides across the United States declined by 16% in 2024, continuing a recent downward trajectory, according to the latest crime trends report from the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

Homicides spiked during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and crime became a central focus of President Donald Trumps 2024 reelection campaign. Trump insisted that FBI crime data showing declines was fake and claimed that crime was through the roof. The second Trump administration is expected to adopt a tough-on-crime approach.

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State legislatures nationwide also are expected to prioritize a variety of criminal justice measures this year, including prison oversight, illegal immigration, retail theft and policing standards and procedures. Polls show most Americans see crime as a significant problem, though fewer than in recent years.

The Council on Criminal Justice, known as CCJ, gathers data from individual law enforcement agencies for its biannual crime trends reports, meaning the data is more recent than the FBIs annual report. Both the think tanks and the FBIs reports, however, show a similar turnaround in violent crime.

In 2023, criminal homicide  which the FBI defines as murder or non-negligent manslaughter  was down by 11.6% from the previous year. It was the largest single-year decline in two decades, according to the FBIs annual crime report published last year.

The CCJ report shows that the downward trend appears to be continuing, with homicides in 2024 dropping by 16% compared with 2023. That drop equates to 631 fewer homicides in the 29 cities that provided data for the category, according to the councils report.

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If this decrease holds as more jurisdictions report their data to the FBI later this year, 2024 would rank among the largest single-year homicide drops since at least 1960, the start of modern record-keeping, according to the report.

A political issue

Despite the recent decline in homicides, crime remains a politically salient issue. A majority of Americans  56%  believe that national crime has increased or consider it an extremely or very serious problem. But public concern about crime has lessened over the past year, according to Gallups annual crime survey.

Perceptions of crime are heavily influenced by political affiliation. The survey found that 60% of Democrats believe crime has decreased over the past year, whereas 90% of Republicans think it has increased.

Some crime experts say that media reports, political messaging and viral social media posts may exaggerate Americans worries about disorder, making crimes such as shoplifting and public drug use appear more prevalent than they actually are. Still, some individual cities and neighborhoods may be experiencing higher crime rates, which could further explain these concerns.

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We still have problems with crime, still have problems in the criminal justice system, and even though the crime rates are improving, we should not take our focus off crime and criminal justice, said Ernesto Lopez, the reports co-author and a senior research specialist with the council, in an interview with Stateline.

The council analyzed crime trends in 40 U.S. cities, although not all cities had data available for every type of offense.

Among the cities studied, 22 saw a decline in homicides last year, with Chandler, Arizona, and Little Rock, Arkansas, recording the largest decreases at 50% and 43%, respectively. Six cities experienced increases, with Colorado Springs, Colorado, leading the way with a 56% jump.

Even though the crime rates are improving, we should not take our focus off crime and criminal justice.

 Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist with the Council on Criminal Justice

When comparing homicide rates between 2019 and 2024, the councils study sample saw a 6% decline, largely driven by cities with traditionally high homicide rates, including Baltimore and St. Louis.

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Homicides are still above pre-pandemic levels in some cities, including New York City and Washington, D.C. In New York City, for example, there were 382 homicides in 2024 compared with 319 in 2019. In Washington, D.C., there were 187 homicides in 2024 and 166 in 2019.

Other crimes

The CCJ report also examined trends in other violent and property crimes, including gun assault, carjacking, motor vehicle theft and drug offenses. Most of these offenses were lower in 2024 than in 2023, with shoplifting being the only exception, showing a 14% increase. Shoplifting also was 1% higher in 2024 compared with 2019.

Researchers were surprised that shoplifting rates increased last year despite retailers taking more measures to combat it, such as locking up merchandise behind glass. Some experts say that the rise may reflect improved reporting efforts rather than an actual spike in theft.

Last year, state legislatures placed a strong emphasis on tackling retail theft, and this momentum is likely to continue into this year, with Maryland lawmakers already considering a bill aimed at addressing large-scale organized retail theft.

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From 2023 to 2024, incidents of robbery dropped by 10%, carjackings fell by 32%, and motor vehicle theft decreased by 24%.

Violent crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and robbery are now below pre-pandemic levels, but aggravated assaults, gun assaults and carjackings remain higher than in 2019, according to the report.

Property crime trends over the past five years varied. Residential burglaries and larcenies decreased, while nonresidential burglaries increased. Motor vehicle thefts rose by 53%, and drug offenses fell by 28%.

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Stateline, like Oregon Capital Chronicle, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
A news release from the Rock Island Police Department says the mother of Blessing Aoci has been arrested in Wisconsin.

Princess Ilunga, 37, called the Rock Island Police Department on January 16 at about 6:07 a.m. to report that her car had been stolen while it was left running in front of her residence. She said her four-year-old child, Blessing Aoci, was inside the vehicle at the time. Officers and volunteers conducted an extensive, nine-hour search until Blessing was found outside her residence at 2:53 p.m.

Princess Ilunga (Jefferson County Sheriffs Office)

Authorities began investigating Blessings whereabouts over the nine-hour period and determined that Ilunga had intentionally hidden Blessing inside the residence during the search. An arrest warrant was issued Jan. 30 for Ilunga for filing a false police report, a class 4 felony.

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Ilunga was arrested in Jefferson County, Wis. on Thursday, January 30 at about 5:02 p.m. after a traffic stop by the Wisconsin State Patrol. Wisconsin State Patrol stopped her for a suspended registration and an equipment violation. Ilunga was identified as the driver and taken into custody on the outstanding warrant.

Ilungas seven children were found in the vehicle at the time of the stop and taken to the Lake Mills Police Department to be cared for until their father, Richard Aoci, could be contacted. He responded and took custody of the children at about 9:53 p.m.

Ilunga is being held at the Jefferson County Jail, pending extradition to Illinois.

Blessing Aoki (Rock Island Police Department)

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PONCA CITY, Okla. (KFOR)  A mother of five is out more than a $1,000 in SNAP benefits after thieves targeted her account and she said its not the first time.

Tamika Criner said she receives $1,300 to feed her household of six make it through the month.

Those funds hit her account at midnight on the 5th of every month, but back in November, she woke up to an empty account.

I woke up and went to go shopping and nothing was there. They just told me that there werent any more government funds or federal funds, I guess, to reimburse those, said Criner. This has definitely been a struggle. Very frustrating.

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Flash forward to this month, Criner said she was able to use the card one time for only $50 and then the same thing, thieves struck again.

Im trying my best. Its definitely an inconvenience. Its just wondering how Im going to put food on the table, because between the bills, rent and then everything so high, the food too. Thats all I have money for, said Criner.

Criner said shes been careful to use the states recommended app that locks the benefits card.

I followed all the precautions they had gave, said Criner. No resources. I was not pointed in any good direction at all. Just told the funds are gone and that was it.

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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Propel App says EBT card-locking function works just as well as Oklahomas app

The Department of Human Services sent News 4 the following statement,

Oklahoma Human Services works each day to ensure our clients can keep food on the table for their families. Federal laws in the SNAP program require that benefits are able to be used in any state across the nation. While the agency cant block out-of-state transactions, clients can use their ConnectEBT account or app to lock their card everywhere so they have complete control over where and when the card is used. We have seen incredible success in protecting clients benefits through the ConnectEBT portal and app. Additionally, our agencys Office of Inspector General is always looking to identify fraudulent terminals and card skimmers that are used to steal our clients benefits. When those are found, we immediately notify our clients, seize skimmers, inspect stores and request the blocking of fraudulent terminals to protect our clients benefits. Additionally, the agency is working with federal and other partners that would allow our state and other states to block fraudulent terminals ourselves. The best way for customers to protect their benefits is to manage their SNAP card via ConnectEBT in the same way you would your personal checking account. If you have multiple cards tied to your account, be sure that all are being managed using the tips below and ConnectEBT to protect your benefits. Please note that benefits can still be accessed and stolen if any card on your account is not being locked or managed. Oklahoma Department of Human Services

DHS also has the following safety tips to prevent your benefits being stolen.

Change your PIN monthly

Keep your card  Locked Everywhere 

Be careful online. Dont provide your social security number, card number, your cards PIN, or ConnectEBT Login to anyone else or other applications.

Watch out for scams

Keep your contact information up-to-date with Oklahoma Human Services Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Criner has started a GoFundMe to help with expenses. If you would like to donate, click here.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  The Quitman County coroner and his aunt are accused of creating a fake business and charging the county for moving bodies already being handled by someone else.

Mississippi State Auditor Shad White said Coroner Randy Hester and his aunt, Brenda Pittman, submitted fraudulent invoices to Quitman County for a fictitious company called MFC Transit for services they did not provide.

The state auditor said bank records for the MFC listed Hesters personal address as the business address for the account.

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Hester allegedly billed the county for the transportation of bodies through MFC Transit, even though area funeral homes were already transporting those bodies.

The dedicated team at the State Auditors Office will continue to work closely with prosecutors to get record results, one case at a time, said White.

If convicted of fraud, Hester faces up to $10,000 in fines and up to 10 years in prison. Pittman is named as a co-conspirator and faces up to five years in prison.

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MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace threw shade at President Donald Trumps argument  without evidence  that DEI initiatives were somehow responsible for Wednesday nights plane crash in Washington D.C.

Donald Trump, citing zero evidence or facts, placed blame squarely at the feet of previous presidential administrations and programs having to do with diversity, equity and inclusion  DEI, Wallace said. Well let our viewers decide whos turning to politics today.

She added, Again, those comments were made without providing any evidence for them and in the midst of a horrific tragedy. The worst aviation disaster in decades and in an ongoing search for answers. That answer from Donald Trump standing in stark contrast to responses from investigators.

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At a press conference Wednesday morning addressing the crash, Trump was quick to bring up DEI and point the finger at both the Biden and Obama administrations and Pete Buttigieg  the outgoing head for the Department of Trasnportation.

I put safety first, he said. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobodys ever seen, because this was the lowest level.

His shots at Buttigieg during the press conference included calling him a real winner sarcastically followed by a disaster.

Hes a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground, and hes a disaster. Now hes just got a good line of bullst, Trump said. The Department of Transportation is [the] government agency charged with regulating civil aviation. Well, he runs it, 45,000 people, and hes run it right into the ground with his diversity. So I had to say that its terrible.

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President Trump did find time amid all the mudslinging to offer condolences to the families of the 67 people lost in the collision of the American Airlines flight and a helicopter.

Were all overcome with the grief for many who have so tragically perished, will no longer be with us together, Trump said. We take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended, not in the cold waters of the Potomac but in the warm embrace of a loving God.

The post MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace Shades Trump for Turning to Politics and Unfoundedly Blaming DEI for DC Plane Crash | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Our latest winter storm has moved out of New Mexico tonight. A warming trend will bring a taste of spring by next week.

Snow continued to fall today in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in northeastern parts of New Mexico. A few rain showers also moved through northeastern and eastern parts of the state. All of this precipitation has moved out of the state tonight. Its been a windy and warmer day for most of New Mexico this afternoon, but the winds have mostly died down now tonight.

Much warmer weather moves into the state Friday as high temperatures will climb to near and above average for the end of January. This warming trend is only getting started as temperatures will continue to climb into early next week. By Monday, well have some of the warmest weather weve seen since November of last year. In fact, many locations across the state will likely break record high temperatures next Monday and Tuesday. The Albuquerque Metro will make it up to nearly 70 with southern New Mexico climbing into the 80s!

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Multiple groups called on the Senate to reject President Trumps pick for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, Russell Vought.

In three separate letters, the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, the Project On Government Oversight, and EDF Action, which describes itself as an Advocacy partner of Environmental Defense Fund, push senators oppose Voughts nomination.

One letter says he has taken actions that highlight his disregard for the role of Congress as an equal branch of government, while another claims he has a long history of supporting extreme deregulatory efforts.

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Politico first reported the groups letters.

Russ Vought is not a run-of-the-mill nominee. His previous actions while leading OMB and his well-documented plans in Project 2025 for remaking how the federal government functions demonstrate his intent to chart a reckless path that will impact every area of US policy from reproductive health to the environment, from national security to Medicare and Medicaid, states the EDF Action letter.

Republicans voted 11-0 on the Senate Budget Committee to report out Voughts nomination to head up the OMB, prepping it for full consideration by the upper chamber. Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has said hes hopeful Voughts nomination goes to the full Senate for final approval soon.

Senate Democrats boycotted the committee meeting, calling Vought unfit for office.

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We oppose Vought for this important position because he has stated that he wants to vastly decrease funding for critical government agencies by defying congressional budget allocations; has articulated a fundamentally misguided view of government employees and experts that breaks with decades of precedent regarding civil service protections; and has pledged to allow President Donald Trump to exert more control over agencies that Congress specifically created to be independent of presidential influence, states the letter from the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards.

Last week, Democrats pressured Vought on new executive orders from Trump that they have painted as illegally targeting funding authorized by former President Biden. When he was testifying in front of the Budget Committee, Democrats pushed him about orders announced that week that pause the disbursement of funds appropriated via major parts of the previous presidents agenda.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and the offices of Graham and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

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An explosion at a Rheinmetall munitions factory in Spain injured six workers, local emergency services said.

The German arms manufacturer told BI that the company saw no indication of an attack.

Russia is suspected of being behind a plot to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall.

An explosion at a Rheinmetall munitions factory in Spain injured six workers on Thursday, local emergency services have said.

One person was left with serious injuries following the incident, which occurred in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia.

Oliver Hoffmann, a spokesperson for the German arms manufacturer, told Business Insider that the cause of the explosion was still under investigation but that the company saw no indication of an attack.

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Hoffmann said the site's production facilities were not damaged in the incident.

According to Spain's state register of emissions and pollutant sources, the depot's main activity is the manufacturing of explosives.

Rheinmetall has been a key military aid provider to Ukraine, supplying Kyiv with artillery ammunition, combat vehicles, tanks, and more.

Rheinmetall vehicles delivered to Ukraine include the Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 main battle tanks, the Marder and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles, and the Gepard antiaircraft tank.

The company has also helped train Ukrainian specialists in maintenance and repair tasks.

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In February, Rheinmetall said it aimed to produce up to 700,000 rounds of artillery ammunition a year by 2025 at its plants in Germany, Spain, South Africa, Australia, and Hungary.

Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall's CEO, said in a March interview with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung that the company planned to increase production capacity to 1.1 million rounds a year by 2027.

In 2024, US intelligence reportedly helped thwart a Russian plot to kill Papperger.

James Appathurai, NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber, confirmed the plot at a European Parliament committee meeting earlier this week.

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"What we have seen over a period of the last couple of years in particular, is incidents of sabotage taking place across NATO countries, by which I mean derailment of trains, acts of arson, attacks on politicians' property, threats toplots to assassinate industry leaders, like publicly the head of Rheinmetall," he said.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel previously reported the Russian scheme had been spurred on by Rheinmetall's plan to establish a tank factory in Ukraine as part of a push to bolster the country's arms industry.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the reports at the time.

Russia is believed to have been behind dozens of hybrid attacks on NATO members in recent years, including a number of incidents targeting the air freight industry.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The ex-boyfriend of a missing Warren woman now is facing first-degree premeditated murder and other charges in connection with her disappearance and presumed death.

Deandre Howard Booker, 32, of Roseville, was arraigned Friday in 39th District Court in the disappearance of Ashley Elkins, whose body has not been found.

Booker was ordered held in the Macomb County Jail without bond on the murder charge as well as three other charges related to tampering with evidence; removing a dead body, disinterment and mutilation, and concealing the death of an individual and failing to inform a funeral home or law enforcement.

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Booker's attorney, Robbie Lang, said Booker would stand mute and the court entered a not guilty plea for him. A probable cause conference was set for Wednesday, and a preliminary exam was set for Feb. 12.

The county prosecutor's office stated in a news release after the arraignment that Elkins went to Booker's residence Jan. 2, and Booker killed Elkins while she was there and then disposed of her body.

Booker was previously charged with lying to police officers during a violent crime investigation, accused of repeatedly lying to police and willfully providing false and misleading information, county prosecutors had said.

A recent photograph of Ashley Elkins.

Elkins, 30, a mother of two boys ages 7 and 10, was last seen Jan. 2 when she told her family that she was running errands, but never returned. Her uncle, Maurice Morton, previously told the Free Press that she left her home around 8 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. that day.

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Law enforcement searched Booker's apartment after the report of her disappearance. Roseville Police Detective Sgt. Anthony Coraci said in court Friday that a substantial amount of blood found in the bathroom belonged to Elkins.

He said that since Jan. 2, Elkins has not been seen, there has been no banking activity, that she is believed to be dead and that authorities believe Booker is responsible for her death and disappearance.

The courtroom was filled with members of Elkins' family, who wore buttons with her photo, along with top leaders of the Roseville and Warren police departments, other law enforcement members and the media.

Booker appeared on video from the jail. If he is convicted, the murder charge has a penalty of life without parole.

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Lang said he recognized the seriousness of the offense, but said he did not believe Booker should be held without bond.

He said Booker has no prior criminal record; is not on probation or parole; has lived in Detroit, Ann Arbor or Macomb County his entire life and has family here; has held steady employment, though for the last six months he has been laid off and working part-time jobs, and has no history of substance abuse or mental health conditions. Lang asked the court for a low monetary bond with conditions, such as no contact with Elkins' family.

The judge disagreed.

Morton, Elkins' uncle, previously said Elkins worked as a hairstylist out of her home and planned to start a new job with an online casino agency that recently hired her, but she didn't show up. Her family grew concerned when she didn't respond to phone calls and messages.

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Police determined there was "a strong possibility of foul play" involved in her disappearance, likely occurring at the Hampton Court Apartments in Roseville, where Booker lives.

Authorities searched the apartment complex  including a trash bin  and spent a week searching a landfill in Lenox Township looking for evidence. Her car was found Jan. 7 around 13 Mile and Little Mack in Roseville, about 4 miles from Booker's apartment complex.

Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Carmen DeFranco, left, talks with Monika Elkins, the mother of missing Warren resident, Ashley Elkins, as Ashley Elkins' uncle, Maurice Morton, far right, listens, before a news conference Jan. 31, 2025 in Roseville.

In a news conference Friday after the arraignment, county Prosecutor Peter Lucido and Roseville Police Chief Mitch Berlin did not expound on additional evidence found in the case beyond what was mentioned in court. Evidence that has been gathered was still being examined.

Coraci mentioned another unknown female in court when discussing the case, but during the news conference Berlin said authorities believe that female was not involved.

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Lucido said this is the kind of investigation that even when authorities do not have a body, they can put together a case by the totality of the evidence they do have. He said he can recall four cases with convictions where no body was recovered. Lucido said he is hopeful Elkins' body will be found.

Morton spoke for the family during the news conference, with Elkins' mother and sister beside him.

"It's a very tough day," he said, adding it's a very emotional day to hear the new charges. "This does not bring complete closure, but this is the journey to justice. We want justice in this case."

Regarding a potential motive, Morton said he could not "get into the mind" of the person accused of murder.

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Morton said Elkins was loved, was the life of the party and was a mother who fought and took care of her children, adding: "That's what (Booker) took away."

He said Elkins' sons are having nightmares and the youngest doesn't comprehend and understand what's going on. He said there should be an "Ashley Alert" for young women missing in harm's way, just as there is an Amber Alert.

A GoFundMe was set up for the future care of Elkins' sons, with $13,755 raised as of Friday. A vigil in Elkins' honor was held at the apartment complex in Roseville on Saturday.

When Booker was arraigned Jan. 9 on the charge of lying to police, Assistant Prosecutor Steve Fox told the court that authorities suspect and believe that Booker may know where Elkins is.

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He said authorities believed that after Elkins vanished, Booker fled to Flint, where he was arrested and returned to Roseville. Fox told the court that while in Flint, Booker accessed the internet and searched for things such as the fastest routes from Flint to Ohio, what to do on the run, is blood traceable, how to beat a polygraph and how to delete Google history.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Murder charge filed in case of missing Warren mom Ashley Elkins
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)  Murder charges were filed Thursday against an inmate at State Correctional Institution Camp Hill following an investigation into another inmates death, court documents show.

Online court records show Hezekiah Campbell, 29, of Camp Hill, faces murder of the first-degree and murder of the third-degree charges following the death of inmate Spencer Kassel.

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Campbell is accused of stabbing Kassel in a recreation yard at SCI Camp Hill. Kassel was pronounced dead Wednesday.

Kassel was at the prison since Dec. 9, serving time for an aggravated assault incident in Centre County. He was sentenced to one to two years in prison.

Campbell is awaiting trial on two homicide charges, accused of shooting and killing a Harrisburg taxicab driver in 2022 and a woman in 2021.

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A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Valeriia, a nine-year-old girl from Ukraine, who was killed in early June 2024 in a forest west of Dresden, the court in Chemnitz announced on Friday.

The verdict against the defendant, a Moldovan citizen, was handed down on the fourth day of the trial. The man is the ex-partner of the victim's mother.

The girl's disappearance, and the investigation into her death after the discovery of her body, drew extensive media coverage and attention in Germany.

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The court also ruled that the conviction carries a particularly serious level of guilt, a legal determination that makes it extremely unlikely that the man would receive early release after 15 years, as is generally common.

The Ukrainian woman, who is divorced from the girl's father, had fled to Germany with her children before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. They found a new home in the eastern German town of Dobeln, where she began a brief relationship with the now 37-year-old killer.

On June 3 last year, Valeriia disappeared on her way to school. For days, hundreds of police officers searched for the child with the help of divers, drones and dogs.

Just over a week later, they found the body in a forest around four kilometres from the apartment.

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A forensic pathologist found sludge everywhere in the girl's airways, right down to her windpipe and bronchial tubes, and testified in court that she had suffocated.

Representatives for Valeriia's mother and father, who took part in the proceedings as joint plaintiffs alongside prosecutors, had called for life imprisonment.

The man's defence attorney had pleaded for a manslaughter conviction.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN)  After 30 years collecting trash from other counties, the city of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County have said, Enough is enough.

With Middle Point Landfill set to reach capacity within four years, city and county leaders said they want to take action and prepare for whats next when it comes to trash.

This is not just a Murfreesboro issue, Murfreesboro mayor Shane McFarland said. It is an issue that affects most people who live in Rutherford County.

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READ MORE | Latest headlines from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

Some leaders believe they have come up with a solution to a problem thats been piling up for years.

Who would you rather partner with to address the health and safety of its citizens? A multi-billion corporation headquartered in Arizona? Rutherford County mayor Joe Carr said. Or would you rather see the people who live here, who work here, who educate their children here and who grow here? That is the question that is before us.

Thats why both mayors have proposed something new: they want to form a study group comprised of elected Rutherford County officials and elected officials from the City of Murfreesboro.

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In an effort to move toward this goal, Rutherford County and the city of Murfreesboro will enter into a process by which we will construct  hopefully  a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, to address the countys long-term solid waste needs, Carr said.

Continuing the process of being Middle Tennessees literal dumping ground where roughly 70% of the trash that comes into Rutherford County is outside of our borders may bring money into the county, but its not beneficial to our residents health, safety and public welfare, McFarland said.

During a Thursday press conference, the mayors focused on what will happen after the Middle Point Landfill reaches capacity. As of publication, the landfill expects to maintain operations for another four years. In the past, the company has told News 2 they could look to expand their operations.

MAY 2024: Murfreesboro leaders challenge Middle Point Landfills permit change request

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Middle Tennessee is approaching a trash crisis, we have massive amounts of growth, massive amounts of infrastructure need, said Middle Point Landfill General Manager Mike Classen in a previous interview with News 2.

Classen previously explained they wanted to dump more waste onto a plot of land that wasnt previously suitable for more trash, but now is.

(Courtesy: Middle Point Landfill/Republic Services)

Its not a major modification. Its not an expansion of any kind. Its just using the airspace that we already have permitted, he said in May 2024.

Classen said the move had been in the works since 2011 and they had been thoroughly monitoring and studying the area.

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However, Classens assurances havent been enough to calm leaders concerns.

Middle Point Landfill in the Walter Community is scheduled to close in the near future, and it is imperative that Rutherford County become solid waste independent before that closure occurs, Carr said.

The mayors said another major problem to address is trash being carried into the county from surrounding counties, including Davidson County.

It is time for Davidson County to deal with their problem of their solid waste in a responsible way within their own county borders  not within Rutherford County, Carr said.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Rutherford County is in the process of building a $20 million facility at the Old Rutherford County landfill, and it is expected to be operational in May or July 2025. The mayor has looked to use the site as an alternative to the Middle Point Landfill.

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In response to the announcement from the Rutherford County Commissioner Craig Harris (D-15) released a statement:

As an elected member of the Rutherford County Commission, it is my duty to hear all sides of an issue and follow the laws and processes established by the county government. Its unfortunate that Mayors Carr and McFarland are attempting to establish a committee that could circumvent the countys Public Works Committee and thwart its ability to make decisions that are in the best interest of our county. Its the commissions obligation to hear all sides when addressing the future of solid waste, and we do not need to form another committee to do this.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome faced a bleak winter. It was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the strangling angel for the way it suffocated children.

Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors  the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days through hypothermia, frostbite, gale-force winds and blinding whiteouts to deliver life-saving serum and free the community from the grip of diphtheria.

Among the events celebrating the centennial of the 1925 Great Race of Mercy are lectures, a dog-food drive and a reenactment of the final leg of the relay, all organized by the Nome Kennel Club.

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Remembering the mushers and dogs for heroic effort

Theres a lot of fluff around celebrations like this, but we wanted to remember the mushers and their dogs who have been at the center of this heroic effort and ... spotlight mushing as a still-viable thing for the state of Alaska, said Diana Haecker, a kennel club board member and co-owner of Alaskas oldest newspaper, the Nome Nugget.

People just dropped whatever they were doing," she said. "These mushers got their teams ready and went, even though it was really cold and challenging conditions on the trail.

Other communities are also marking the anniversary  including the village of Nenana, where the relay began, and Cleveland, Ohio, where the serum run's most famous participant, a husky mix named Balto, is stuffed and displayed at a museum.

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Jonathan Hayes, a Maine resident who has been working to preserve the genetic line of sled dogs driven on the run by famed musher Leonhard Seppala, is recreating the trip. Hayes left Nenana on Monday with 16 Seppala Siberian sled dogs, registered descendants of Seppala's team.

The historic trek to neutralize the diphtheria epidemic in Nome

Diphtheria is an airborne disease that causes a thick, suffocating film to develop at the back of the throat; it was once a leading cause of death for children. The antitoxin used to treat it was developed in 1890, and a vaccine in 1923; it is now exceedingly rare in the U.S.

Nome, western Alaskas largest community, had about 1,400 residents a century ago. Its most recent supply ship had arrived the previous fall, before the Bering Sea froze, without any doses of the antitoxin. Those the local doctor, Curtis Welch, had were outdated, but he wasn't worried. He hadnt seen a case of diphtheria in the 18 years he had practiced in the area.

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Within months, that changed. In a telegram, Welch pleaded with the U.S. Public Health Service to send serum: "An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here.

The first death was a 3-year-old boy on Jan. 20, 1925, followed the next day by a 7-year-old girl. By the end of the month, there were more than 20 confirmed cases. The city was placed under quarantine.

West Coast hospitals had antitoxin doses, but it would take time to get them to Seattle and then onto a ship for Seward, an ice-free port south of Anchorage. In the meantime, enough for 30 people was found at an Anchorage hospital.

It still had to get to Nome. Airplanes with open-air cockpits were ruled out as unsuited for the weather. There were no roads or trains that reached Nome.

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Instead, officials shipped the serum by rail to Nenana in interior Alaska, some 675 miles (1,086 kilometers) from Nome via the frozen Yukon River and mail trails.

Thanks to Alaskas new telegraph lines and the spread of radio, the nation followed along, captivated, as 20 mushers  many of them Alaska Natives  with more than 150 dogs relayed the serum to Nome. They battled deep snow, whiteouts so severe they couldnt see the dogs in front of them, and life-threatening temperatures that plunged at times to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51 degrees Celsius).

The antitoxin was transported in glass vials covered with padded quilts. Not a single vial broke.

Seppala, a Norwegian settler, left from Nome to meet the supply near the halfway point and begin the journey back. His team, led by his dog Togo, traveled more than 250 miles (320 kilometers) of the relay, including a treacherous stretch across frozen Norton Sound.

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After about 5 1/2 days, the serum reached its destination on Feb. 2, 1925. A banner front-page headline in the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed: Dogs victors over blizzard in battle to succor stricken Nome.

The official record listed five deaths and 29 illnesses. Its likely the toll was higher; Alaska Natives were not accurately tracked.

Balto gains fame as unlikely dog to bring serum to Nome

Seppala and Togo missed the limelight that went to his assistant, Gunnar Kaasen, who drove the dog team led by Balto into Nome. Balto was another of Seppalas dogs, but was used to only haul freight after he was deemed too slow to be on a competitive team.

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Balto was immortalized in movies and with statues in New York's Central Park and one in Anchorage intended as a tribute to all sled dogs. He received a bone-shaped key to the city of Los Angeles, where legendary movie actress Mary Pickford placed a wreath around his neck.

But he and several team members were eventually sold and kept in squalid conditions at a dime museum in Los Angeles. After learning of their plight, an Ohio businessman spearheaded an effort to raise money to bring them to Cleveland. After dying in 1933, Balto was mounted and placed on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Iditarod pays homage to the serum run

Today, the most famous mushing event in the world is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which is not based on the serum run but on the Iditarod Trail, a supply route from Seward to Nome. Iditarod organizers are nevertheless marking the serum run's centennial, with a series of articles on its website and by selling replicas of the medallions each serum run musher received a century ago, race spokesperson Shannon Noonan said in an email. This year's Iditarod starts March 1.

The Serum Run demonstrated the critical role sled dogs played in the survival and communication of remote Alaskan communities, while the Iditarod has evolved into a celebration of that tradition and Alaskas pioneering spirit, Noonan said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his pro-austerity Department of Government Efficiency tried to access key systems responsible for paying out the federal governments salaries and bills, pushing a high-ranking career civil servant to quit the Treasury Department.

According to The Washington Post, David Lebryk, the current deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, is expected to leave the agency after decades of nonpolitical service.

Sources told the Post that Lebryk pushed back on attempts by Musk surrogates to access the nations system for doling out paychecks, Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds and federal contracts.

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The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which administers the payment systems, says it disbursed $5.4 trillion across 1.3 billion payments in fiscal year 2023. Its unclear what Musks office wanted to accomplish by gaining access to the system, but it represents an escalation in his attempt to take hold of the federal government.

Though the legality of Musks efforts to access the systems is unclear, President Donald Trumps day-one executive order authorizing the DOGE scheme instructed federal agencies to give the X owners group full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.

Earlier this week, Trumps heads of the budget and personnel management offices made what critics say are drastic and even illegal attempts to shave down the bureaucracy.

On Monday, Matthew Vaeth, acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, sent a memo freezing nearly all federal grants and loans and paralyzing essential services like Medicaid. The White House later rescinded that order after a judge blocked it.
The Scene

President Trump claimed this week to have canceled $50 million in condoms for residents of Gaza. It could have been a memorable example of how the new administration was scouring the government for wasteful spending. But the group that lost that funding said that it had spent none of it on family planning.

The $50 million figure originated with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told reporters at her first briefing on Tuesday that DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget had stopped 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. On Wednesday, the president said before signing the Laken Riley Act that the administration had identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.

Asked about the grant by Semafor, a spokesperson for the State Department said that the reference was to two $50 million buckets of aid for Gaza via the International Medical Corp, which offered family planning programming.

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In response, a spokesperson for the IMC said that it had received $68,078,508 from USAID for work in Gaza, but no US government funding was used to procure or distribute condoms. If the stoppage continued, it would cease its work in Gaza within a week.

Andrew Miller, a former deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs in the Biden administration, told Semafor that the Trump and Leavitt claims dont add up. For its own family planning funding abroad  $60 million last year, none of it in Gaza  USAID purchases condoms at a $0.05 unit rate, meaning that a $50 million grant would buy 1 billion of them. After reporting in 2018 about Hamas fighters using latex condoms to float explosives into Israel, the Jewish state barred condoms from being sent to Palestinian territories.

The numbers are so exaggerated and so ridiculous that there are only two explanations, Miller said. One is that theyre fabricating this, which is possible. The second is that there is some sort of reproductive health cost, but most of that would be treating women in a war zone. Not contraceptives.

Davids view

I am not about to become Semafors fact-check columnist. Other people do that for other quality news organizations. They have lots of time and, probably, a lot of targets.

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The mystery of the $50 million condoms stuck out to me, amid all the stories growing from this weeks OMB funding freeze memo, because it was so quickly believed, even before the White House pointed to some evidence to back it up. David Friedman, Trumps first ambassador to Israel, reacted to the Leavitt statement by calculating how many condoms might have been in the purchase and suggesting that Hamas wanted to fill them with helium to carry bombs over the border. Chris Rufo, the scholar and activist whose anti-DEI work has been enormously influential in the new administration, cited it as an example of why permanent bureaucrats should be replaced by private sector whiz kids.

It was an early test of something new and helpful to Trump: New media outlets that will share whatever the administration says. Autism Capital, a popular X account often reshared by Elon Musk, printed Leavitts remark as fact unearthed by DOGE. (Tip of iceberg, added Musk.) When Fox News covered the claim, it cited an X post from new State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce about stopping $102 million in unjustified funding to a contractor in Gaza, including money for contraception.

The natural next question  what contractor?  wasnt answered in that story. When the State Department did name a contractor, after other reporters questions, IMC said that the claim was wrong. And theres really no evidence that this backfired on the administration. Its premise, that as much funding should be halted as possible until the new team can determine whether it meets Trumps goals, is totally uncontroversial among Republicans.

But was this the best way to sell it? There is a healthy industry in DC of finding the craziest-sounding federal spending, highlighting it, and asking why taxpayers should be funding it. One very valid source of media skepticism is that stories can go viral before the details get confirmed; narrative before facts, as City Journal put it in a fair recap of how early reporting (and Joe Biden) botched the Jacob Blake story, inflaming racial tensions in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before the 2020 election.

The View From Democrats

Few of them commented on the $50 million claim, but Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy hit back at the White House after a reporter repeated Trumps claim without pushback.

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Its a lie. Made up. There was no U.S. funding for condoms in Gaza, he wrote on X. What he stopped [are] programs to keep malnourished babies alive in Gaza. Aid groups say infants will start to die next week.

Notable
GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCBD)  U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) joined immigration agents for an operation in the Lowcountry Friday morning as the Trump administration ramps up promised efforts to conduct mass deportations.

Mace posted on X before sunrise that she was headed out with ICE, later posting a video describing an arrest where an individual hid in the ceiling.

Were not just talking about deporting illegal aliens  were out here seeing it in action for ourselves  firsthand, Mace wrote alongside the video. South Carolina needs bold leadership to support President Trumps America First agenda deporting the bad guys and putting our people first.

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It helps to have sheriffs who work with ICE too, she added, seemingly referencing her push to oust former Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano.

Friday mornings raid occurred in a neighborhood on Brick Greens Road in Goose Creek. Mace said she witnessed a very smooth operation that resulted in several individuals being taken into custody.

I think its really important that when we are crafting law and weighing in on policy, that we as elected officials really have an understanding of what these agents, these offices, these departments, and agencies are going through each and every single day, and what the process is on the other side, Mace told News 2 when asked why she chose to ride-along with ICE.

Provided

According to Mace, one of the individuals arrested  the one she described as hiding in the ceiling  was wanted for fentanyl distribution.

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This particular individual was a very bad guy, she said. He was recently caught with 3.5 grams of fentanyl. This is someone in our own backyard, in Goose Creek. That amount of fentanyl could kill hundreds if not more people.

This guy is getting a one-way ticket back to whatever country he came from, and he can stay there, she added.

Sullivans Island police investigating video that shows man harassing Hispanic workers

LJ Roscoe, chief of the Goose Creek Police Department, said the department was not notified that ICE would be serving warrants at the location in advance.

The Goose Creek Police Department was not given information in advance that ICE was going to be at the address, however, we were notified once they needed help, Roscoe said in a statement to News 2. They resolved the issue prior to our arrival, so no one from Goose Creek Police Department was involved or on scene.

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Mace chalked it up to a miscommunication but said that local authorities should of course be notified before an operation is carried out.

Everybody works very closely together, and communication is very important to these agencies, and I know that theyre working really hard to make sure that everybodys on the same page, she said.

Whats going to happen is people are going to call into 911, theyre going to call into the police station and say Whats going on? when they see many, many vehicles with lights blazing when someone is being apprehended, so thats a good communication method, Mace continued.

Authorities have been conducting raids across the country, intensifying efforts in recent days. ICE has been regularly posting enforcement updates on social media. According to the agency, agents had made 1,016 arrests as of Jan. 29.

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Since taking office, Trump has signed several executive orders intended to crack down on immigration. He deployed military personnel and federal law enforcement to the southern border, froze the U.S. refugee admissions program, and reinstated policies that restrict pathways for asylum seekers.

He also ordered an end to birthright citizenship, though a federal judge quickly blocked the executive order, deeming it blatantly unconstitutional.

On Wednesday, Trump announced plans to use Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to detain thousands of migrants while signing the Laken Riley Act  which requires authorities to detain undocumented immigrants if they are accused of burglary, theft, or shoplifting  into law.

Mace, who has centralized the issue as she mulls a possible gubernatorial bid, reintroduced a measure in Congress earlier this month that targets migrants convicted of sex crimes.

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Her bill, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, passed the House on Jan. 16 with bipartisan support.

The Department of Homeland Security has not yet returned a request for information regarding Fridays raid or other operations being carried out in the Lowcountry.

But as Mace suggested: Its not the first, and it sure wont be the last.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
NASAs Perseverance rover has collected a sample from Mars that has textures unlike anything weve ever seen before.

Known as Silver Mountain, the rock core has been sealed into a tube so it can be analyzed in labs on Earth in the future.

Silver Mountain is the Martian rovers 26th sample. Dozens of samples are being collected to better understand the planets geological history, its climate, and determine whether it ever hosted life.

NASA's 26th Martian sample is seen in this photo. The agency says it has textures unlike anything weve ever seen before (@NASAPersevere/X)

Earlier this month, the space agency announced that the samples could be returned to Earth as soon as 2035 and as late as 2039. NASA is deliberating what method to use. It said that a selection would be announced as soon as next year.

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Pursuing two potential paths forward will ensure that NASA is able to bring these samples back from Mars with significant cost and schedule saving compared to the previous plan, former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

The Trump administrations pick to lead the agency, billionaire Jared Isaacman, has signaled that Mars will be a priority going forward.

Percy has completed its climb out of Jezero Crater, where it first landed in February 2021. Jezero Crater is a region of Mars where the ancient environment may have been favorable for microbial life.

Now it is moving over the Northern Rim, where it is expected to visit four sites of geologic interest and take several samples.

This montage of photos shows tubes containing samples from Mars. The NASA Mars Sample Return Program plans to bring these samples to Earth (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The rover has journeyed across more than 20 miles, according to an interactive map that tracks its location and traverse path on NASAs website. The samples, collected in titanium tubes after the rover uses its coring drill, are also marked on the map.

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This will also prepare us to safely send the first human explorers to Mars, Nicky Fox, who leads NASAs Science Mission Directorate, said.

The Perseverance rover is part of NASAs Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
Assessing Utah students overall performance on a recent national test is akin to countless parent-teacher conference reports: doing well overall  but some areas need improvement.

Earlier this week, results from The National Assessment of Educational Progress 2024 scores  aka The Nations Report Card  were released, revealing mostly steady performance for Utah fourth- and eighth-grade students who participated in the test.

In fact, only three states or jurisdictions outperformed Beehive State students.

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But the decline in Utahs eighth grade reading scores  reflecting national trends in declining reading performances  caught the attention of the states education leaders.

More children are falling below the proficient level, underscoring the critical need to double down on effective reading interventions and support for our students, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson in a Utah State Board of Education release.

In other areas such as math, Utah students are holding steady.

Celyn Billing works on fractions in Brianna Rolfs fourth grade class at Whittier Elementary School in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Fourth grade reading levels remained unchanged, and no other significant shifts were observed in the states scores, the board of education report noted.

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Utah males outperformed their Utah female counterparts in math in both fourth and eighth grade.

Conversely, Utah females scored higher than Utah boys in reading in both fourth and eighth grade.

Approximately 2,000 fourth and eighth grade Utah students participated last year in the national assessment groups math and reading portions of the test. The same tests were administered in 2024 to students in all states, the District of Columbia and Department of Defense schools.

The groups 2024 reading assessment included literacy and informational texts to assess students reading comprehension skills.

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Meanwhile, the math assessments measured students knowledge and skills in mathematics  and their ability to solve problems in mathematical and real-world contexts.

Fourth grader Edgar Galindo Alaniz works on math in Brianna Rolfs class at Whittier Elementary School in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Key Utah results: Math

In 2024, the average math score of fourth grade students in Utah was 242  higher than the average score of 237 for students in the nation.

The average score for Utah fourth grade students in 2024 (242) was not significantly different from their average score in 2022 (240).

The average math score for Utah fourth grade males was 245. For females, 238.

In 2024, the average math score of eighth grade students in Utah was 282  higher than the average score of 272 for students in the nation.

The average math score for Utah eighth graders (282) was not significantly different from their average score in 2022 (282).

The average math score for Utah eighth grade males was 283. For females, 280.

Key Utah results: Reading

In 2024, the average reading score of fourth grade students in Utah was 219  higher than the average score of 214 for students in the nation.

The average reading score for fourth grade students in Utah in 2024 (219) was not significantly different from their average score in 2022 (221).

The average reading score for fourth grade female students in Utah was 223. For males, 216.

In 2024, the average reading score of eighth grade students in Utah was 261  higher than the average score of 257 for students in the nation.

The average reading score for eighth grade students in Utah (261) was lower than their average in 2022 (265).

The average reading score for eighth grade females students in Utah was 265. For males, 258.

Addressing Utahs reading challenges

Responding to the NAEP results, the state board of education has committed to identifying the causes of declining reading scores  while implementing targeted efforts and proven strategies.

Our focus is on ensuring measurable improvements in reading outcomes by working with schools to equip educators and students with tools and targeted training, said Darin Nielsen, deputy superintendent of student learning in the state board report.

We are committed to implementing evidence-based programs that address reading challenges early, providing intensive support where its needed most, and tracking progress to make sure every student has the opportunity to improve and succeed.

Nationwide: The news is not good

Across the United States, reading scores are plunging.

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The national results from the 2024 national assessment indicate a two-point drop, on average, for both fourth and eight graders across the country  sustaining a steady decline in the subject that predates COVID-19-era disruptions, according to an Education Week report.

In math, eighth grade scores were unchanged from 2022, the last time the test was given. Fourth graders scores rose two points, but remained below their performance in a similar test administered in 2019.

The news is not good, Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers NAEP, said in the Education Week report.

We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic, and when we are seeing signs of recovery, theyre mostly in math, and largely driven by high-performing students, Carr added. Low performing students are struggling, especially in reading.

Fourth grade teacher Brianna Rolf helps Jeysen Dutton with math at Whittier Elementary School in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Utah legislative audit: Performance gaps among student groups

Carrs words echo local concerns shared last month by state auditors in a report presented to Utahs Legislative Audit Subcommittee.

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The audit revealed a statewide gap between the performance of students who are in a group that traditionally struggles with academic proficiency, and those who arent.

The report classified underperforming student groups as those who have a higher than typical chance of performing below proficiency and who are economically disadvantaged, learning English, or racial or ethnic minorities.

Such underperforming student groups frequently need the most growth and support, the report added.

Auditors reviewed five years of data showing how many Utah students moved from below proficient to proficient, and vice versa.

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Looking at the net percentage proficiency change each for five years, the percent of students who changed their proficiency status remained problematically low, their report noted. Both state and local education agency level observations create a case for school districts and charter schools to reevaluate the effectiveness of their student intervention programs.

Local education agencies such as school districts and charter schools, the report recommended, should make an effort to identify students in need and intervene quickly at the first signs of difficulty.
The Iowa House of Representatives has passed two bills relating to higher education scholarships for Iowa National Guard members. (Photo courtesy of Iowa National Guard)

Two pieces of legislation related to higher education financial aid for members of the Iowa National Guard have passed out of the Iowa House of Representatives with a 99-0 vote.

House File 118, the first discussed during debate, would modify the monetary limits of the National Guard Service Scholarship program to not exceed the difference between the tuition rate at the institution attended by the national guard member less any financial aid the national guard member receives under certain specified federal programs, according to the legislation.

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It would also strike language saying eligibility for scholarships or award amounts will not be impacted by where the recipient goes for drills, which unit they belong to or whether they are a member of the Iowa Army or Air National Guard.

Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, introduced an amendment to keep this language in the bill that failed to pass. She said the National Guard, which brought forward both bills for consideration by the Legislature, did not request this language be removed and she is concerned it could open the way for unfair consideration of these factors when allocating awards.

I appreciate that this bill is going to improve the program, Levin said. I dont think we should improve it and detract from it at the same time.

House File 117 would establish a new scholarship program for National Guard members pursuing credentials through education programs approved by the adjutant general that are not associates or higher-level degrees.

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This could include programs leading to certifications in cybersecurity, IT, emergency medical services or others relevant to their service in the National Guard, said Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, during opening remarks on the bill.

Levin also filed an amendment to House File 117 to add the option of a summer educational program for National Guard members, which also failed. She said she had a really interesting time working on both bills, and she is excited to see the new scholarship program implemented.

I think this is a great bill, Hora said. It was brought to us by the Iowa National Guard, and anything we can do in helping them with recruitment and retention, I think is a great thing.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
By Andrew Hay

(Reuters) - Native Americans and Democratic lawmakers allege Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are harassing tribal members as they carry out President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said his citizens have had "traumatizing" experiences with ICE agents, and U.S. Congressional Democrats called on Trump to stop the agency targeting Native Americans as it carried out immigration raids.

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ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said its agents may encounter U.S. citizens during operations and request identification from them.

"ICE's dangerous behavior of harassing American citizens, seemingly only due to the way they look, is unconstitutional and un-American," nine Democrats led by New Mexico Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez said in a Wednesday letter to Trump.

The lawmakers cited a Jan. 22 incident reported by the Mescalero Apache tribe in which an ICE agent stopped a tribal member at a convenience store in Ruidoso, New Mexico and asked to see proof of U.S. citizenship.

Nygren, head of the United States' largest Native American reservation, is among indigenous leaders urging members to proactively carry state-issued identification cards and their Certificate of Indian Blood, an official U.S. document certifying a person has Native American ancestry.

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Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924.

Trump issued a range of executive orders after taking office Jan. 20 that aim to clamp down on illegal immigration.

"My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants," Nygren, a Democrat, said in a statement last week, without providing further details.

(Reporting By Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson and Stephen Coates)
LINCOLN (Nebraska Examiner)  Real estate representatives told state lawmakers Wednesday what they feel is coming: attempts by cities in Nebraska to control rent on private property, the Nebraska Examiner reports.

Its not made up that this is a boogeyman, said Dennis Tierney of the Metro Omaha Property Owners Association. Were trying to be proactive.

But opponents of Nebraska Legislative Bill 266  which seeks to prohibit cities and counties from enacting local laws that impose rent controls on private housing  called the proposal a solution in search of a problem.

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There are currently no political subdivisions in Nebraska seeking to enact rent control policies, said Erin Feichtinger of the Womens Fund of Omaha. We are a long way from rent control, and there is no effort to drive out private landlords from the market.

Feichtinger said affordable housing advocates, including herself, recognize the value of private landlords and the options they bring to the market.

Nebraska disaster responders say ending FEMA would move tasks and costs to states, local governments

She and Tierney were among Nebraskans who testified at a public hearing before the Legislatures Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. LB 266, introduced by State Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk, drew four proponents and one opponent. Online, 37 people registered support and 22 were opposed, said State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, the committee chair.

37 other states

Lynn Fisher of the Statewide Property Owners Association told the committee that his group asked Dover to introduce the bill, because members believe rent control ordinances are on the way to Nebraska, similar to states like California and New York.

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Dover, who has real estate businesses, told the legislative committee that 37 other states have passed laws preempting government-enforced limits on rents that property owners can charge for private housing.

He said his proposal would not apply to affordable housing units subsidized by government programs or public incentives.

Dover said that mandated rent control for private housing, however, would distort the market and be a disincentive for developers who see it cutting into their return on investment. He said such restrictions would be harmful for economic growth.

Responding to a question by State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, Dover said he did not know of any Nebraska communities pondering a rent control ordinance but that he saw the bill as being proactive.

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Im not in favor of telling localities what they can and cant do, especially when there is no evidence anybody is actually considering doing this, Cavanaugh said after the hearing.

Controversy, uncertainty

Fisher said members of his organization are concerned that Omahas Housing Affordability Action Plan contemplates rent control.

Omaha housing manager Greg Paskach said in an interview, however, that the plan does not recommend rent control.

Instead, the plan says that given controversy and uncertainty over how effective rent control policies are, other more known strategies for securing affordable housing would be more appropriate for Omaha.

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Feichtinger said that if rental control ever became a discussion point, it should be left to local communities and not a one-size-fits-all approach imposed by the Legislature.

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Taking away a tool that may possibly one day exist in the future to address a communitys unique needs is unnecessary, she said.

The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee took no action on whether to advance the bill for consideration by the full Legislature.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and X.

This story was republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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LINCOLN (Nebraska Examiner)  Medicaid-eligible pregnant mothers in Nebraska officially have access to new reimbursements for various prenatal services to help prevent low birth weights, preterm births and adverse birth outcomes, the Nebraska Examiner reports.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday the full implementation of the Nebraska Prenatal Plus Program. The law, passed 45-0 in Legislative Bill 857 of 2024, was led by State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln.

Nebraska lawmakers hear testimony on measure to preempt government-imposed rent control

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Prenatal Plus mirrors similar successful programs in Colorado and Florida and is designed for at-risk mothers, as identified by their prenatal health care provider.

Five services are provided and eligible for reimbursement under the Nebraska program:

Up to six sessions of nutrition counseling

Psychosocial counseling and support

General client education and health promotion

Breastfeeding support

Targeted case management

At-risk mothers who are in the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are currently not eligible for Nebraska Prenatal Plus, which was done in part to help reduce the fiscal impact of the law and get it over the finish line.

Dungan said the program has been a long time coming and will benefit many people. He encouraged his colleagues to continue supporting the program, including its annual report on the number of mothers served, services offered and birth outcomes for each mother served.

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Im just excited to see the program getting off the ground, Dungan said Wednesday.

Long term, the program is expected to reduce Medicaid costs because of upfront targeted care. Dungan said the goal is all about healthy moms and healthy babies.

Nebraska disaster responders say ending FEMA would move tasks and costs to states, local governments

I think were going to see better educational outcomes. Were going to see better behavioral health outcomes, Dungan said. All of these things can be tied back to being healthy at birth and in prenatal care.

The legislation had a broad array of support, including Nebraska Appleseed, ACLU of Nebraska, Nebraska Right to Life, Nebraska Catholic Conference, Nebraska State Board of Health, Nebraska Hospital Association and Nebraska Nurses Association. State Sen.

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Dungans LB 857 also included legislation from State Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln, LB 933, to require Medicaid to cover continuous glucose monitors for individuals with gestational diabetes.

The Bosn-Dungan programs were estimated to cost $3.4 million in state cash funds and $5.5 million from the federal government in the first full fiscal year of operation.

Former State Sen. Sara Howard, policy adviser for First Five Nebraska, a nonprofit that advocates for early childhood support and education, helped craft the Nebraska Prenatal Plus law. She said it was crucial for mothers and children and the state as a whole.

The rollout of the Prenatal Plus Program represents an important step forward by offering a variety of supports to women throughout their pregnancies, ensuring better health outcomes for moms and babies statewide, Howard said in a text. We are deeply grateful to Senator Dungan for his leadership and hard work to make Prenatal Plus a reality.

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Starting Jan. 1, the state also began covering, for Medicaid-eligible mothers or their children, electronic personal-use breast pumps and at least 10 lactation consultation visits. Former State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha led those changes as part of LB 1215 last year.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and X.

This story was republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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LINCOLN (Nebraska Examiner)  The Nebraska Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on whether a group of gun owners needs to run afoul of Lincoln weapons ordinances and an executive order by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird before suing the city for enacting them, the Nebraska Examiner reports.

The Nebraska Firearms Owners Association, with help from the now-Texas-based Liberty Justice Center, sued the Cities of Lincoln and Omaha in December 2023, claiming in separate lawsuits that the cities had overstepped their legal authority to regulate guns under state law.

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Both lawsuits make similar but slightly different arguments based on the passage of Legislative Bill 77 from 2023, then-State Sen. Tom Brewers law legalizing concealed carry of handguns without a permit or state-mandated training.

A section of that law curbed the authority of cities governed by home-rule charters to restrict guns more stringently than the state. Both Omaha and Lincoln had used that bit of local control in the past to regulate guns and gang violence.

After LB 77 became law, both cities tried to maintain bans on handguns in city parks and buildings and onto trails. Gaylor Baird and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert defended the measures as necessary for public safety.

Lincoln City Attorney Yohance Christie has argued that the mayor and city took action to preserve the safety and quality of life in Lincoln and complied with state law. Omaha City Attorney Matt Kuhse had argued Omaha acted legally.

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Christie had no immediate comment Monday through a spokesman.

A district judge in Douglas County prevented Omaha from enforcing Stotherts gun-related executive order until the case can be heard, likely sometime this year. The Lincoln case has been bogged down in procedural questions.

Nebraska disaster responders say ending FEMA would move tasks and costs to states, local governments

The question in the Lincoln case that the Supreme Court agreed this month to take up is whether a lower court erred in saying the Nebraska gun owners lacked legal standing to sue the city until a member is prosecuted for violating the order or ordinances.

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Lawyers for Liberty Justice Center argued in a filing that they should not have to wait to be prosecuted because the existence of the order and ordinances has made gun owners change their behavior in places governed by the citys approach.

Patricia Harrold, president of the Nebraska Firearms Association, followed through on her testimony to the Omaha City Council that her organization would not let the cities flout the 2nd Amendment or state law.

The laws and constitutions of Nebraska and the United States apply in Lincoln and Omaha just like they do in the rest of the state, Harrold said. They are entitled to exercise their right to keep and bear arms.

Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement that his team looked forward to proving that Nebraskas 2023 law prohibits local governments from restricting the right to carry  statewide.

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We are pleased that the Nebraska Supreme Court considered this case important enough to review immediately, and we look forward to holding the mayor and the city accountable for their overreach, Huebert said.

The states high court has yet to set a date for the hearing

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and X.

This story was republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, leads a news conference highlighting 2025 priorities for teachers statewide. Jan. 28, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

In Nebraska, we have a constitutional obligation to provide education for our children in the common (public) schools. It is an obligation we take very seriously.

And in that obligation, we recognize that we need to provide a variety of learning environments for our students and that parents should have a say in determining that environment. That is why, for more than 30 years, Nebraskas option enrollment program has enabled tens of thousands of students to choose the public school that best fits their needs, even if that school is not the one right down the street.

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In fact, in my home community of Omaha, in Millard, roughly one in four students choose to attend a public school that is not their neighborhood school.

Proponents of measures that would divert public resources to private schools often claim that public school advocates do not believe in choice. Nothing could be further from the truth. We believe that if a school is funded through public dollars, it should be publicly accountable and should follow the most important belief we hold: that we have the privilege of educating all students who come through our doors.

During the debate on the first version of the Opportunity Scholarships voucher bill, an amendment was proposed to ensure that was the case. The amendment simply required that any private school receiving a publicly funded scholarship would be prohibited from discriminating against students based on elements like race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

Supporters of the voucher bill rejected that amendment.

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We strongly believe that education policies should meet the needs of all students. Voucher supporters do not agree. Across the river, in Iowa, we are watching in real time as that states school voucher program becomes a massive subsidy for the wealthy.

Only 12% of the applicants to Iowas program had previously attended a public school. The average income of a family applying for a voucher to move from a public school to a private school in Iowa is more than $128,000. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that since Iowa passed its voucher program, private school tuition has increased by 25%.

Nebraska needs to heed the warnings from other states. The research has been comprehensive and clear: Large-scale voucher programs do not improve academic outcomes. In fact, in a comprehensive report that was done by Indiana University, after reviewing more than a dozen studies, the report concluded that, As programs grew in size, the results turned negative, often to a remarkably large degree virtually unrivaled in education research.

These programs not only fail to improve academic outcomes, they also drain a disproportionate number of resources away from our public schools. The Nebraska Legislative Fiscal Office noted that the voucher programs proposed would not reduce public school expenses.

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In fact, depending on who takes these vouchers, the proposed programs could result in a loss of millions of dollars of state aid to public schools. Sadly, that isnt a hypothetical. In Arizona, its voucher program has ballooned to nearly $1 billion in its cost to taxpayers  while the Isaac Public School District does not even have enough money to pay its staff.

Importantly, the people of Nebraska saw the failings in these other states and reinforced their commitment to a school system that welcomes all students, regardless of their background. In November, hundreds of thousands of Nebraskans voted to support their public schools and to reject vouchers for the fourth time in our states history.

The result was consistent across the state, with a majority in 82 of Nebraskas 93 counties voting to repeal the voucher bill. Our lawmakers in the Legislature should respect the will of the people and acknowledge that Nebraskans do not support using public funds to pay for private schools.

While the evidence may be clear that a voucher program will not improve the educational outcomes in Nebraska, that does not mean we are content with the current state of education. We believe we need to and can improve on how we serve our students in our public schools.

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Yet research, as well as our fundamental belief in public education, leads us to know that voucher schemes are not the solution. We have proposed several measures in this Legislative session that would help address our states ongoing teacher retention challenges.

We are also supporting measures like Sen. Margo Juarezs Legislative Bill 161, which would increase funding for public preschool. States that have demonstrated the greatest progress in improving math and reading outcomes for students are those that have committed to expanding preschool access.

We want every child in our state to have the best possible learning environment. The evidence is clear that vouchers are not the answer. The answer is strengthening our Nebraska public schools.

Tim Royers, a public school educator and Nebraskas 2016 Teacher of the Year, is president of the Nebraska State Education Association. He taught in the Millard Public Schools.

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** Previous coverage above of WYSO **

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  A renowned Ohio journalist is receiving a prestigious award.

Neenah Ellis, founder of the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices, former WYSO general manager and longtime NPR journalist is the 2025 recipient of the Leo C. Lee Award.

The award is presented by the Public Media Journalists Association and recognizes the efforts of either an individual or an organization that makes a significant impact on public radio journalism.

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Ira Glass, Susan Stamberg, Carl Kasell and Dave Isay, among others, have won the award previously.

Ellis has contributed to public media journalism for five decades, creating award-winning documentaries, a NYT bestseller and produced NPRs All Things Considered.

Here in southwest Ohio, we all know Neenahs incredible work, said WYSO General

Manager Luke Dennis in a press release. So it is deeply gratifying to see my friend and mentor being honored with a national award.

An awards ceremony is scheduled for June in Kansas City.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com.
Four members of a neo-Nazi online group have been charged with federal crimes accusing them of grooming and extorting more than a dozen children to produce pornographic media and violent videos of self-harm.

Two of the victims, according to the United States Department of Justice, were located in Southern California.

The men hail from various parts of the country, including New Jersey, Hawaii and Texas, as well as one French citizen.

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On Thursday, Collin John Thomas Walker, 23, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and Clint Jordan Lopaka Nahooikaika Borge, 41, of Pahoa, Hawaii, were arrested as part of a 19-page grand jury indictment.

Two men already in custody, Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 24, of Spring, Texas, and Rohan Sandeep Rane, 28, of Antibes, France, were also charged as part of the indictment, the DOJ said.

The four men are accused of being part of an international online neo-Nazi group that promoted pedophilia and nihilism, a philosophical belief that life and societal values are meaningless.

Musk mocks Nazi salute accusations with puns

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From at least 2019 to 2022, Rane, Walker and Merritt were high-ranking members in the group and ran its online servers and controlled its membership.

Federal officials said members of the group worked collectively to entice and coerce children to produce child pornography and violent videos of self-harm. Members would groom their victims, and then degrade them, slowly exposing them to extremist and violent content in order to desensitize and pressure them into complying.

The group specifically targeted vulnerable victims, including children who suffered from mental health issues or trauma from previous sexual abuse, officials said.

Victims were encouraged to engage in increasingly dehumanizing acts, including cutting and eating their own hair, drinking their urine, punching themselves, calling themselves racial slurs, and using razor blades to carve members names into their skin, a release from the DOJ stated.

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The abuse would sometimes escalate to members encouraging the victims to kill themselves as part of a live video stream.

Church leader sentenced to life in prison for sex abuse of multiple kids

If victims refused or threatened to tell their parents or contact police, the group members would threaten to release sexually graphic photos and videos of the victims to their families and friends.

Those threats, the DOJ said, were sometimes carried through by members.

Sixteen minor children from around the world were said to be victims, according to the grand jury indictment, including two from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties; the Los Angeles Police Department and San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department are among the agencies investigating the matter.

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If convicted as charged, all four men would face a minimum 20-year sentence with the possibility of life in prison.

Rane, the French citizen, previously was charged with several child exploitation and related offenses and has been in custody in his home country since 2022. Merritt was previously convicted for child sex abuse crimes and is serving a 50-year sentence in a Virginia state prison.

The case was brought forward as part of the Justice Departments Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, particularly online.

Sextortion and other forms of online child sexual abuse have tragically altered the trajectory of too many young lives and this group preyed upon the vulnerable to fulfill their sick and twisted desires, said Eddy Wang of the Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles. HSI and our partners will work tirelessly to protect children from victimization in communities across the United States and around the globe.

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For information about reporting online child sexual exploitation and abuse, click here.

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental distress or suicidal thoughts, you can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by phone call or text. You can also visit 988lifeline.org.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha is cautiously optimistic the pending sale of two Rhode Island hospitals could still go through, despite the current owner having filed for federal bankruptcy.

Neronha said hes watching the bankruptcy proceedings of Prospect Medical Holdings closely, as the embattled holding company is seeking to offload Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence.

Prospect is due back in bankruptcy court next month, which the states top prosecutor said could help illuminate its ongoing operations and pending business deals.

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I would hope that by then, well have more clarity on this current deal, Neronha said Friday during a taping of WPRIs Newsmakers.

State regulators approved the sale of the hospitals in November, which was two months before Prospect filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 11.

The Centurion Foundation, a Georgia nonprofit, is seeking to buy Roger Williams and Fatima, although Neronha said the organization is still trying to get all its money in order.

The parties still need to get the financing they need to close deals, and I know theyre in negotiations about that, Neronha said.

At the time of the states approval, hospital spokesperson Otis Brown said the groups had hoped to finalize the deal for later in January 2025.

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Late Friday afternoon, Brown said CharterCAREs sale to Centurion will need to be approved by the bankruptcy judge.

There is no current timetable for that decision, Brown added.

Neronha also said hes monitoring the deal to ensure Prospect is meeting financial and operational requirements that his office and the R.I. Department of Health mandated as part of the deal.

Separately, Neronhas office forced Prospect to tuck away millions of dollars into escrow to ensure company executives didnt pad their pockets at the expense of the hospitals, a move theyve been accused of in other states.

Neronha said the state has been waiting for Prospect to make good on those requirements since last June.

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Those conditions are meant to ensure that these hospitals will survive, Neronha said. Theres no point in doing a deal if the hospitals wont survive six months afterward.

Providence leadership is also watching the deal closely, as city officials are wary the city could lose tax revenue if Roger Williams is converted into a non-taxable nonprofit organization.

Mayor Brett Smiley has already called for Roger Williams to join the citys list of nonprofits that make payments to the city in lieu of taxes, in an effort to offset any potential loss of tax revenue. in the future.

We rely heavily on that hospital, the mayor told 12 News last week. Im comforted to know that it is sufficiently on everyones radar, but there are a lot of decisions that are outside of our control.

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On Friday, Smiley spokesperson Anthony Vega said the city had no updates to share.

Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.

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The Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands will participate in the training of 26 Ukrainians who will serve as F-16 crew chiefs.

Source: press service of the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands reports that the training will take place at an air base and will last until the end of April. The location of the airbase is not specified.

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It is reported that technicians are responsible for the fighter jets before departure and upon return to the base.

Quote: "The crew chiefs are responsible for the final checks. After the launch and completion of all checks, they remove the safety pins from the landing gear and fuel tanks. The F-16 can then leave the hide and take off. Even after returning, the brigade heads take over the aircraft from the pilot."

Details: The Netherlands has taken the initiative to promote the training of F-16 ground personnel.

Background:

On 31 January, Ukraines Defence Minister Rustem Umierov arrived in the Netherlands to meet with his counterpart Ruben Brekelmans. Rustem Umierov will visit a training centre for F-16 fighter jets.

The fighter jet coalition, established in 2023 and led by the United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands, began transferring F-16s to Ukraine in 2024.

So far, Ukraine has received two batches of fighter jets from Denmark and part of the promised F-16s from the Netherlands.

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The Netherlands will deliver another batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in 2025, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on Jan. 31.

Ukraine has already received U.S.-made F-16s from the Netherlands and Denmark, deploying them in air defense roles during Russian missile strikes. The first jets arrived in August 2024.

The F-16 program was a key focus of Umerovs meeting with Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans in The Hague.

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The Netherlands will continue training Ukrainian pilots, engineers, and technicians, Umerov said after visiting the base where Ukrainian personnel are gaining hands-on experience in servicing and repairing the aircraft.

"This is yet another step toward establishing a full-fledged aviation infrastructure in Ukraine," Umerov said.

Umerov also met with representatives of Dutch defense companies who showcased missiles, drones, and radars. He and Brekelmans discussed further development of Ukraines drone capabilities, the 400 million euros ($415 million) in military aid previously announced by the Netherlands, and joint projects to enhance Ukraines long-range strike capacity.

"Industrial cooperation is another key focus. The next logical step is the development of joint defense enterprises to strengthen our armed forces," Umerov added.

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Read also: In historic record, Ukrainian F-16 pilot downs 6 cruise missiles in single mission, Air Force claims

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LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  One local nonprofit is hoping to improve the number of women in the trade industry.

According to the US Department of Commerce, women comprise less than five percent of the industry. Evelyn Pacheco, the first Black woman to obtain a plumber license in Nevada, said she knew she had to pave the way for future generations.

Evelyn Pacheco, the first Black woman to obtain a plumber license in Nevada, describes her nonprofit and its aims. (KLAS)

Weve helped over 50 women, weve gotten over five women in unions, Pacheco said. We helped women get into [Commercial Drivers Licenses]. We have partnerships with NDOT, MGM, mining, and the city.

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Those trades usually require apprentice training to become a journeyman. Nevada Women in Trades helps to prepare women with the skills and networking opportunities necessary to break into the industries.

Its not just sitting and doing the homework but going out in the community and seeing  what a plumber does  what sheet metal does, Pacheco said.

Aiming to break stereotypes, Pacheco said she hopes to expand Nevada Women in Trades to working mothers, veterans, ex-offenders looking to make a positive change, and those who are simply looking at a different career path.

We should be in the community empowering women [who] are underserved, underemployed, and even recidivism, said Pacheco, adding that her nonprofit organization has received assistance from the community to expand resources. Students can take classes at the Historic Westside School Campuss Strong Future Technology Training Center.

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They can come here if they dont have access to a computer, or if they dont have access to technology, and we also just ask them if they need help with anything, said Marcus Sherfield, program manager for the training center. Its just another layer  where we can make sure the students are feeling supported and motivated and empowered.

Marcus Sherfield, program manager for Historic Westside School Campuss Strong Future Technology Training Center, describes his programs services. (KLAS)

Its changed lots of lives, Pacheco said. Someone comes up to you and says thank you for changing my life  its very humbling.

Nevada Women in Trades provides a six-week program, totaling 190 hours. Those interested can learn to become a carpenter, plumber, electrician, or pipefitter, among other jobs. More information on the program is available at the Nevada Women in Trades website, via phone at 702-801-6591, or by email at info@nevadawit.org.

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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  After the devastating plane crash in D.C., nerves are running high in the aviation community, but air travel continues across the country.

2 NEWS spoke with a retired air accident investigator to learn more about what we can expect in the days ahead.

This is the first major domestic airline disaster since 2009  and its going to be all hands on deck to determine the cause, according to retired Air Force Lt. Colonel and air accident investigator John McCance.

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Cedarville student among DC plane crash victims

The wheels are in motion to gather as much information as possible, said John McCance. There will be a military safety investigation that will look at the parameters in the environment which created the accident from a military perspective.

McCance goes on to say that the National Transportation Safety Board will also be the lead in conducting an investigation as to why the civilian airliner was involved in the accident.

And as investigation continues, thousands of flights and millions of airline passengers continue to take off across the United States.

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2 NEWS visited the Dayton International Airport to speak with travelers about their experience in the air the day after such a harrowing event. Most travelers said the crash was on their mind, but it didnt prevent them from showing up.

Ive flown a decent amount, and you know, as long as you do what youre supposed to do and have faith in the airline, youll be safe, said Nicholas Gratz, traveler.

Travelers also expressed that air accidents like this dont happen every day.

I felt completely safe, said Kelly Willetts, another traveler. I mean I did watch the news this morning, but obviously a complete anomaly I guess I would say.

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DC plane crash a tragedy to be learned from, local flight instructor says

The collision itself involved a regional passenger jet operated by PSA airlines  a subsidiary of American Airlines  and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter.

McCance says the airspace around D.C. is incredibly busy. Several factors will need to be considered when determining the cause of the accident.



Thats what you do when youre unfortunately involved in these safety investigations, or youre trying to put the puzzle together, said McCance. Explain why those two aircraft were in the same place at the same time.

McCance says that a statement from the military will likely be released in the next 30 days, but a comprehensive report on the accident from NTSB and FAA could take over a year.

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MEXICO CITY (AP)  Nicaragua's Congress approved a constitutional reform on Thursday that would make President Daniel Ortega and his wife, current Vice President Rosario Murillo, copresidents of the Central American nation.

The proposal also expanded the presidential term to six years from five in a move that further consolidated the family's firm grip on power.

The initiative was already pushed forward in November and because Ortega and Murillos Sandinista party control the congress and all government institutions, there was little doubt it would pass.

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Experts say the new constitution, which took effect on Thursday, was yet another move to guarantee presidential succession for Murillo and their family and further chip away at the few remaining balances of powers left after years of democratic crackdowns. Murillo already wielded significant power over the government.

Though in an audio published to state media's Instagram page on Thursday, Murillo declared that the reform strengthens the model of people's President, the model of direct democracy.

The proposals come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Ortega government since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed.

Nicaraguas government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country.

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The Thursday measure quickly fueled a new round of criticism from the government with Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of UN experts on the Central American country saying it was yet another expansion of the family's power in a post on the social media platform X.

Nicaraguas grotesque Constitutional reforms sound the death knell for the rule of law and basic freedoms, he wrote.
A new report from Somos Un Pueblo Unido and other advocacy groups released Jan. 30, 2025 details how federal immigration agents can use public data to apprehend people.

A report released Thursday by several immigration and civil rights advocacy groups details ways in which the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agency may use New Mexico motor vehicle, jail records and other data to apprehend people.

The report, from Somos Un Pueblo Unido, Just Futures Law, Empower and Mijente, describes how ICE uses third-party data companies, such as LexisNexis, to access information such as property, financial and criminal records.

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Representatives from most of the organizations, during a briefing on the report, also outlined legislative efforts they are supporting in the 2025 New Mexico legislative session to protect residents privacy on the internet and within the health care sector.

As many know, these are terribly difficult times for the most vulnerable communities, and we count on New Mexicos long history of protecting those who face persecution: immigrants, transgender people, those asserting their reproductive rights, Somos Un Pueblo Unido Staff Attorney Gabriela Ibanez Guzman said. We already have a target on our back.

As related to MVD data, Guzman emphasized that we know it is not the intention of our states MVD to assist enforcement of federal immigration lawit is happening in an indirect fashion. This is not MVD directly handing over information.

Bobbie Marquez, acting director of communications for the state Taxation and Revenue Department, under whose purview MVD falls, said in a written statement provided to Source: New Mexico, like most states, provides MVD data as is necessary to facilitate critical government functions such as voter registration, state and local law enforcement activities, vehicle recall notices, employment driver history checks, and vehicle history reports for purchasers of used vehicles. MVD data is restricted to the greatest extent possible to meet these purposes. During the 60-day legislative session, lawmakers may consider changes to state law that would further restrict use of MVD data. We look forward to those discussions and will continue to fully comply with state law in the event it is amended.

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One bill the groups back is Senate Bill 36, the Sensitive Personal Information Nondisclosure Act, sponsored by state Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque), which would place more limits on the disclosure of personal information and create violations for disclosures not permitted under the law. The bill is currently in the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee.

New Mexico has taken important steps to integrate New Mexicans, regardless of our status, into the states various public safety measures: making sure immigrant drivers have drivers licenses; that weve taken the test; that we have car insurance; that our cars are registered, Ibanez Guzman said, and immigrants have done the right thing and complied. But when New Mexicans approach state agencies, we have the expectation that our personal, sensitive information will be protected and at minimum not shared widely without strong safeguards.

Organizers noted that disclosure of state data to ICE agents had been going on for years as part of the Biden administration. However, the Trump administrations heightened emphasis on deportation changes the stakes.

As we see the unfolding reports of an escalation of raids and of ICE using more invasive surveillance tactics to carry out these raids, the availability of driver and vehicle data of New Mexico residents is more of a concern than ever to immigrant community members that are exposed to criminalization, Futures Law Just Futures Law Senior Staff Attorney Laura Rivera said.

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Ibanez Guzman also noted that while under the Biden administration, ICE certainly did have access and wasusing data brokers and this information totarget folks, there was a priority list. And so members of our community, who are immigrants and have committed no criminal offense, were not a priority for enforcement, for removal or deportation. As we see now, with the slew of executive orders that were released the first day of this administration, everybody is a target.

Representatives from the ACLU-NM and Bold Futures said they also would be advocating for forthcoming legislation to enhance internet and medical data privacy, respectively.

The internet, Deanna Warren, ACLU of New Mexico Reproductive Rights and Gender Equity attorney said, is full of collections and data. Brokers are constantly scraping all of this information online and selling it to data brokers, and all of this information is fed into AI and used to make really consequential decisions about our jobs, our housing, our finances. And this information can also lead to bias and discrimination in those areas.

Thus, We are sorely in need of privacy protections and by extension, greater safety for our communities, she noted, but we need to do so in a way that also preserves access to crucial internet access and other online services. We know that information is very critical specifically in the areas of reproductive rights, mental health services and for LGBTQ+ communities.

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Kat Sanchez, policy director of reproductive justice organization Bold Futures New Mexico, said her group would be backing proposed health data safety legislation

The bill prohibits the sale of health data or its use for targeted advertising without explicit patient consent, Sanchez said. Current existing laws dont comprehensively regulate health data processing and sharing, leaving individuals vulnerable to exploitation. And this bill closes those gaps and enhances protections for all New Mexicans.

This story was updated shortly after publication to include a requested response from the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.
The driver who caused a crash that left a Hopkins High School student in a coma for two weeks will avoid further prison time.

Mohamed Salad, 30, who was unlicensed at the time of the Mar. 5, 2024, crash, received an 18-month sentence stayed for three years, and ordered to serve 364 days in a Hennepin County workhouse. Six months of this has been deducted due to time served, with the other six months spent under house arrest.

Lauren Olson, who was 17 at the time, was blindsided by Salad's vehicle on Highway 7 and Williston Road in Minnetonka, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Olson was attempting to turn when Salad crashed into her after running a red light and while speeding in excess of 80 mph.

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She required emergency surgery for a bleed in her stomach and colon, according to a GoFundMe set up in the aftermath of the crash. She also had a rod inserted into her femur and a stent into her brain.

Lauren Olson.GoFundMe

Related: Hopkins High School student in coma after crash with unlicensed driver

Olson missed the rest of her senior year of high school, including her final lacrosse season as captain. She has since recovered from broken bones and a severe brain injury, and is currently attending the University of Minnesota

KARE reports that, although Salad pleaded guilty, he wouldn't apologize to the Olson family.

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The judge told Salad it's not only a miracle that Lauren could walk in and out of the courtroom within 10 months of the crash but also the fact he isn't going to prison.

According to court records, Salad has seven previous convictions for driving after suspension, two for failing to drive with due care, and others for careless driving and inattentive driving.

As well as spending time in the workhouse, Salad will also spend three years on probation.
Cincinnati Public Schools is refusing to share any information about if teachers and other staff are being trained on how to handle situations regarding law enforcement and immigrant students, stating "attorney-client communications are confidential."

Some of the district's teachers came to the school board on Monday begging for guidance after President Donald Trump authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents to make arrests at "sensitive locations" like schools, which were previously protected from ICE enforcement. There have not been any known incidents of ICE raids in Greater Cincinnati since Trump was inaugurated.

More: Cincinnati teachers report low attendance, say students are 'living in fear' of ICE

Shauna Murphy is superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools.

"Families and parents are writing me saying they don't want to send their children to school," Rachel Von Holle, who teaches English to students who learned a different language first, told the school board during Monday's business meeting. Attendance in recent days has been consistent with the district's average attendance rate for last school year.

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Cincinnati Public Schools serves about 35,000 students. About 1 in 10 students in the district don't speak English as their first language.

In lieu of details on the district's protocols  protocols that other districts, including Princeton City Schools, have shared with The Enquirer  the district shared a letter that Superintendent Shauna Murphy sent to students on Wednesday.

More: Princeton Schools shares comprehensive response to ICE agents. What about other local schools?

"No matter where you're from or what language you speak at home, you are welcome and valued here  we welcome every student who wants to learn," Murphy wrote. "No one gets turned away."

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Murphy told students that their "safety comes first," and assured them that all visitors on school grounds have to get permission to be at the school.

The full letter can be found at the end of this story.

The district also posted a statement to its website saying it does not request or maintain records related to students' immigration statuses, and that local and federal law enforcement representatives need warrants to perform any activities on school property.

The school board has a policy regarding interrogation of students, too, which states agencies should investigate legal matters off school property and outside of instructional time "if at all possible." School staff should attempt to contact the student's parent or guardian if law enforcement wishes to question a student on school grounds, and if the parent is unable to be in the room with the student during the interrogation, then a building administrator or other designee will be there.

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When an authorized law enforcement officer or children's services agency removes a student, the policy states, school staff will notify the parent or guardian.

The district "encourages families to update their emergency contact information, ensuring multiple contacts are listed for each student," according to the statement on its website.

Superintendent Shauna Murphy's message to Cincinnati students

Below is the letter Superintendent Murphy sent to Cincinnati Public Schools' students on Wednesday:

Dear Students,

I want to talk to you about something important. Our school and our school district is like a big family, and every single one of you is a special part of it. We have friends from many different places here, making our school and district so amazing! We have so much to learn from one another.

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No matter where you're from or what language you speak at home, you are welcome and valued herewe welcome every student who wants to learn. No one gets turned away. School is a place where you can feel safe, make friends and grow. We are here to support you every step of the way.

At school, your safety comes first. If anyone outside of your teachers or school staff asks to see or talk to you, we make sure its okay first. All visitors must have permission to be at your school. Your school is here to protect and support you, and we want you to feel safe every day.

Your school is here to look out for you, to support you and to make sure you always feel safe.

If youre worried or have questions, I encourage you to talk to your teachers, your school counselor and your principal. They are here for you, we are here for you. For all of our kids.

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Let's continue to be kind, support each other and be here for each other.

With warm wishes,Superintendent MurphyCincinnati Public Schools

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Schools still won't answer Enquirer questions about ICE
Officials say that no survivors are expected after a midair collision occurred between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C.

We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation, Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said in a press conference Thursday morning.

At this point we dont believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter, he added.

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Donnelly also said authorities are continuing to to work to find all the bodies and collect them, and reunite them with their loved ones, and that officials are working to identify victims.

On Jan. 29, an American Airlines regional jet, American Eagle flight 5342, collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that had been performing a training mission, Ron McLendon II, the Public Affairs Deputy Director for Joint Task Force-National Capital Region/Military District of Washington, said in a statement to NBC News.

There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American Eagle flight, and three people in the helicopter.

The aircrafts fell into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. shortly before 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening.

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Among the passengers on the American Eagle flight were U.S. figure skaters who were returning from a training camp in Wichita, Kansas, U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement to NBC News.

Two Russian skating champions were also on board, Russian state media outlets have reported.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Nearly 1,500 workers at Samsungs massive plant in Chennai have battled the courts and the corrupt state government, both of which lined up behind their predatory multinational employer, to win recognition of their union. In addition to a 212-day legal fight, they launched a strike last September, which lasted 38 days. Overcoming vicious repression, hundreds of arrests, and all manner of underhanded manoeuvres from the bosses, they finally forced the Tamil Nadu Labour Department to register the Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) on 27 January.

This is an historic development, as Samsung is a notoriously anti-union employer. SIWU has become the first union of Samsung employees in India and only the second in the world, after the National Samsung Electronic Union (NSEU) in Korea. Moreover, the DMK-Alliance government in Tamil Nadu has taken every measure to prostrate itself to big business and threw all its weight behind Samsungs efforts to crush the workers.

Nonetheless, through their collective strength and unity of purpose, the workforce has wrested a significant concession from the state courts, compelling Samsung bosses to negotiate with union officials over wages and conditions. This is a tremendous step forward, but it is only a step: the fight is far from over.

Workers in Chennai should not simply sit on their hands, but keep the pressure up until every single one of their demands is achieved!

Samsung dealt a bruising blow

The boom in the tech sector, which has yielded immense profits in the past several years, has been fed by the super-exploitation of workers in Asia in particular. The Kancheepuram plant in Chennai, which produces such consumer goods as televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines, employs almost 1,800 workers and contributes nearly a third of Samsung Electronics Indian revenue, about $12bn last year.

Employees at the Chennai plant report being made to work in unsafe conditions and endure many hours of unpaid overtime. If they want to visit the toilet, they must first hand over their duties to a colleague. If any worker raises complaints about their treatment, they can be locked in an isolated dark room, or made to stand in front of their colleagues to display their shame.

These methods of intense pressure and ritual humiliation on the part of the Samsung bosses are intended to squeeze every drop of profit from the workers toil and discourage any dissent. But workers are not machines: they can only endure such treatment for so long without incurring retaliation.

In July last year, the Chennai workers decided enough was enough and registered online their intention to form a union. Although this was their right under Indias Trade Unions Act (1926), and despite easily meeting the legal conditions in terms of membership and other criteria, the 45-day minimum term for union recognition elapsed with no acknowledgement from either the state government or the bosses.

This demonstrates we can have no illusions about legal or constitutional mechanisms granting workers their rights. The situation remained at a standstill until the workforce in Chennai started deploying the methods of class struggle.

In September 2024, the Chennai workers reached out to the CITU (Centre for Indian Trade Unions), a labour confederation linked to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and launched a strike and protest that captured national and even international attention. They presented a series of demands, including (first and foremost) union recognition, a wage increase, an eight-hour day, and an end to unpaid overtime.

The Chennai workers enjoyed massive solidarity from workers across the country and received a message of support from their brothers and sisters working for Samsung in Korea. At the same time, the workers appealed to the Madras High Court to force the Tamil Nadu Labour Department to comply with its legal obligations to recognise their union. The Labour Department responded by applying for multiple delays to drag things out.

The bosses dug their heels in, and the utterly rotten character of the DMK-Alliance government was exposed as it put the repressive state machinery at Samsungs full disposal. Police were drafted in as the bosses hired goons, harassing and ultimately arresting 910 workers, including leading members of the CITU, who were seized in their homes in the dead of night. Samsung filed legal cases against some of the striking workers, who also faced death threats from the police. Even the small shopkeepers who made their livelihoods selling tea and snacks to Samsung employees were threatened by local authorities into withholding their wares.

When this intimidation failed, the bosses pivoted to deception. They offered a few crumbs such as increasing the frequency of shuttle buses for workers, hinting at a possible wage rise and offering to implement maternity leave. They also held six rounds of talks, both official and unofficial, including one that the bosses organised with non-striking workers, after which they announced (on behalf of the workforce) a deal had been reached and the strike was being called off!

Build on the victory!

The workers did not fall for any of these manoeuvres and only suspended their strike when the courts agreed to a timeline to impose union recognition. This partial retreat came amidst mounting pressure from the government, and shameful strike-breaking behaviour by the DMK-affiliated LPF union which claimed that the CITU was misleading workers by continuing the strike.

In December, the High Court gave the Registrar of Trade Unions in Tamil Nadu a six-week deadline to decide on the unions application. A day before the historic announcement of SIWUs recognition, CITU-affiliated unions in other companies launched a solidarity strike to pressure Samsung into conceding.

When the union was formally recognised by the Labour Department, CITU leader and now SIWU president E. Muthukumar (who was arrested in October) said:

"One hundred and six years ago in 1918 the Madras Labour Union became the country's first labour union and today the city makes history again."

We congratulate the Samsung workers on their victory, but we urge a word of caution. As we have seen, the legal apparatus of the Indian capitalist state resisted granting workers their basic rights until militant collective action forced it onto the back foot. In fact, despite winning union recognition, the withdrawal of the strike by the CITU also had the effect of driving the workers action into safer, legalistic channels.

The legal apparatus of the Indian capitalist state resisted granting workers their basic rights until militant collective action forced it onto the back foot / Image: GAVASKAR, Twitter

There is a lesson here, as SIWU representatives officially enter into negotiations with Samsung bosses for the first time. The best way to ensure that all the workers demands are achieved is to maintain the maximum pressure. If SIWU were to seize upon the workers newfound confidence and relaunch its strike action while negotiations are underway, it is much more likely that all the union's demands would be won.

At the very least, SIWU should prepare the ground now to resume its strike immediately if the bosses refuse to budge. Moreover, Samsung will be waiting for the opportunity to repay the workers for its humiliation. As Pazhani, a 34-year-old Samsung employee said today:

We welcome the union registration we struggled [to win] for five months since September. After the protest ended the state ministers promised no punitive actions from management and yet Samsung is threatening to transfer young union supporters to different departments.

The bosses will at this moment be concocting plans to claw back the initiative and exact revenge on the workers for their defiance. We note Samsung has yet to make any public comment on the formation of SIWU. The workers must be prepared to meet them strength for strength. Their advances so far have been achieved by their own might: not simply through legal niceties, nor the solidarity of false friends like Congress and the rest of the bourgeois INDIA political alliance in Tamil Nadu. We also must note that even the CPI(M) is, to its shame, in a political alliance with the DMK and was effectively gifted six seats by the ruling party at the last state assembly elections.

The Chennai Samsung workers have set a fine example for the proletariat across India of what can be achieved through determined class struggle. Their method was not the large but symbolic one-day shutdowns typically called by the big union confederations but sustained strike action. The results speak for themselves. Already, we have seen the power of solidarity displayed in the country-wide action by CITU members on the eve of the SIWUs registration.

There is a huge potential for the Indian labour movement to lead the whole of society, not only in the struggle for better working conditions and wages but in a political struggle against the vicious capitalist regime of Modi and Adani. We saw how the farmers were able to galvanise the country in their victorious fight against the Central Governments reactionary Agricultural Bill some years ago. We have now had a glimpse of the role the working class must play in the battles to come.
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP)  A western Massachusetts business is offering first responders a chance to win a free roof.

This is Adam Quenneville Roofing & Sidings fourth First Responder Roof Giveaway. If you know a first responder in need of a roof, they are taking as many submissions as possible. For nominees to be eligible they must be certified first responders such as firefighters, police officers, paramedics or nurses.

Fireworks and parade for Greenfields Winter Carnival postponed

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Those interested are asked to provide a short story detailing the nominees service to the community and why they deserve the roof placement. Photos of the nominees home and current roof condition are also a requirement. They must also have a roof at least 15 years old or in need of significant repair or replacement.

Its really hard for us and sometimes theyre not acknowledged to the extent of everything they do. They put their life on the line for us. Every time they run into a burning house or every time they step out of their cruiser, every time they enter into a quarantined hospital room, theyre doing a service for us. And I think its time that we do a service back for them, Adam Quenneville Business Development Director Morgan Bennett told 22News.

Nominations must be submitted between January 30th and March 30th. Self-nominations are also accepted. Visit 1800newroof.net/first-responder-giveaway to enter.

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.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR)  The news of a possible federal funding freeze from Monday night was a clear code red for the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Of course, that starts this whole domino effect of folks wondering, what does that mean? Executive Director Carrie Ward said.

The now-rescinded memo calling for a full federal funding freeze would have led to devastating consequences for the organization that runs rape crisis centers across the state.

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Vermilion Advantage among community organizations left worried after temporary federal funding freeze

All of our funding operates on a reimbursement basis. And so that means we have to spend the money, provide the service, spend the money, and then request reimbursement after the fact, Ward said.

Even now that it was rescinded, Ward is far from comfortable.

It shouldnt be something thats on our minds, she said. We have a contract for the full year.

The memo hardly gave any notice before the freeze was supposed to take place. Now, there is concern for how quickly this trigger could be pulled again, especially since the Trump administration is clear that cutting spending is a priority.

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Thats clearly their intention to carry it out, Governor JB Pritzker (D-Illinois) said. Its just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials.

Trumps attempt to freeze federal grants, loans leads to outrage and confusion

Pritzker outlined Thursday how this throws even more of a wrench in state budgeting, since many state funds issued to these organizations come with a federal match.

The result will be we cant cover the other 50%. We just cant. The numbers are too astronomical, Pritzker said.

Places like ICASA also rely on state funding, so when the state and the federal government are both on uneasy ground, they are too.

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Folks are already starting to think about what would they need to do if this pause went on for any indefinite period of time, because rape crisis centers cannot operate without resources, Ward said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
On Jan. 27, 2025, the Trump administration ordered a freeze on federal grants and contracts covering a wide array of aid programs to take effect at 5 p.m. the following day. This freeze was partially prevented when a judge responded to a lawsuit filed by the National Council of Nonprofits and other organizations. The flow of funds on grants that had already been awarded was at least temporarily protected by the judges action. The attorneys general of 22 states and the District of Columbia have also sued to block this funding freeze.

The Trump administration, which on Jan. 29 rescinded the memo ordering the funding suspension, has made clear that it may again seek to reduce or eliminate much of the money, totaling several hundred billion dollars, that funds many services that nonprofits provide, such as support for foster parents, after-school care and distributing food for free.

Dyana Mason and Mirae Kim, two scholars of nonprofits, explain the role that federal funding plays in the nonprofit sector.

How much do nonprofits rely on federal funding?

Nonprofits partner with the government to deliver social services, such as child care for low-income families, housing for people experiencing homelessness, and job training and placement. These partnerships can form with local or state governments, as well as with the federal government, with this collaboration mostly taking place through grants and contracts.

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Government funding makes up about 33% of the revenue flowing into the nonprofit sector annually, according to the Urban Institute. The institute, a think tank, also found that nearly 40% of all nonprofits in the United States applied for federal grants in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and that about 10% applied for federal contracts. The share of government funding can be far larger for some kinds of social service nonprofits.

Many other nonprofits applied for local and state grants during that three-year period. Those grants, however, are often themselves funded by the federal government indirectly through grants it makes to state and local government agencies. Those agencies, in turn, then provide grants or maintain contracts with local nonprofits to provide services.

Although its hard to track with absolute precision due to those complex arrangements, government revenue is the second-largest source of income for nonprofits after the money these organizations and institutions earn through commercial activities.

Also called fee-for-service, this revenue includes the money nonprofit hospitals get when patients and insurers pay medical bills, nonprofit theaters receive when they sell tickets to performances, and nonprofit private schools obtain when parents pay tuition.

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Some social service nonprofits charge fees too, typically on a sliding scale. That is, their clients with relatively higher incomes pay more, and those with extremely low incomes pay very little or nothing at all.

How could freezing federal funding affect nonprofits?

We have no doubt that a long freeze on federal grants and contracts would be devastating for nonprofits and the communities they serve.

For example, Meals on Wheels, a program that delivers hot meals to more than 2 million homebound people over 65 and helps them maintain social connections, gets 37% of its funding from the federal government.

Clackamas Womens Services, a domestic and sexual violence organization based near Portland, Oregon, is one of the many local organizations that have expressed concern about what to expect. The group says it could lose half of its annual budget if federal funding were to be eliminated.

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Without federal funding, organizations like these  many of which already have waitlists  would have to cut back on the services they provide.

Whats the role of nonprofits in the US safety net?

Its very significant.

For the past several decades, attempts to scale back the size of the government have led to government agencies essentially hiring nonprofits to do much of their work.

Through contracts and grants, nonprofits then do such things as assist people who are recovering from fires, hurricanes and other disasters; provide services for veterans and active-duty members of the military; and help people with mental health conditions, including substance use problems, just to name a few.

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This arrangement typically provides nonprofits with a reliable and predictable source of funds that they can use to serve their communities. But it can also leave them vulnerable to policy changes  especially when new administrations take over, as the second Trump administrations actions illustrate.

Research we conducted about what happened to nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that volatility in the economy has serious effects on the ability of nonprofits to do their work.

For example, social service nonprofits struggled in March and April 2020 due to falling revenue at a time of increasing demand. Many of these organizations had to scale back their services. In some cases, they canceled them.

We followed up with another survey in November and December 2020. By then, we found, 61% of the groups had received forgivable federal loans through the governments Paycheck Protection Program.

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Nearly half of the nonprofits told us that they had, in addition, received other forms of emergency funding from the federal government, including Economic Injury Disaster Loans and emergency food distributions.

This federal assistance made it possible for thousands of nonprofits to keep their staff employed and continue to provide important services as the economy recovered.

What happens when nonprofits lose federal funds?

Its hard for social service organizations to replace federal funding.

Nonprofits can, of course, appeal to their donors to help bridge the gap. But donations from individuals, foundations, corporations and bequests only amount to no more than 15% of the funds flowing into the nonprofit sector.

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The outcome of freezing, eliminating or scaling back federal funding for nonprofits would mean that those in need would get fewer services. We would also expect mass layoffs, which could harm the U.S. economy.

Nonprofits employ more than 12 million people in the United States. Thats more workers than big industries such as construction, transportation and finance employ. Should millions of them suddenly become unemployed, demand would grow further for social services from providers already unable to meet lower levels of demand due to funding cuts.

Has there ever been upheaval like this before?

Congress appropriates money to provide for the services that the public needs and demands. These moves have led to great fear and uncertainty among organizations that serve people in need in the United States and abroad.

Although its not unusual for funding priorities to change from one administration to the next, Donald Trumps executive orders on international aid and nonprofit grants and contracts that underpin the U.S. safety net are unprecedented.

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Dyana Mason has received research funding from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities and the Joint Fire Science Program with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). She is also a volunteer board member of the Southwest Oregon chapter of the American Red Cross.

Mirae Kim is affiliated with the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) as a non-paid, at-large board member.
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Russian military jets were "not seen as a threat" when they flew through international airspace not far from the border with Canada and the United States, the North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed.

Multiple Russian military aircraft were observed in the Arctic earlier this week, according to the release issued by NORAD.

"The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter Alaskan or Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones or sovereign airspace. This activity is not seen as a threat," the NORAD statement reads.

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"Under its mission of maintaining comprehensive domain awareness in the Arctic, NORAD launched a combat air patrol from its Canadian NORAD Region to the northern region of Canada, and an air patrol from its Alaskan NORAD Region off the coast of the Alaska/Yukon border, to further track the activity."

The military organization scrambled a pair of Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter jets along with a KC-135 refueling aircraft tanker. Two U.S. Air Force F-35s also responded, as well as one E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, aircraft designed for surveillance and tracking. American refuelling tankers were also dispatched.

Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter and U.S. Air Force F-35s (both seen in July 2024) responded. Photo courtesy of NORAD

Hours later, NORAD sent a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets to Greenland from a base in Alaska, part of what the military command calls a standard agreement "to forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic."

The agency said the move is "not in response to any current threat."

NORAD also deployed an E-3 Sentry or AWACs (similar to the one shown) observation and tracking aircraft. File Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force

NORAD did not characterize the recent Russian activity as instigative or unsafe.

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Last September, a Russian military jet was filmed flying dangerously close to an American fighter plane, patrolling off the coast of Alaska.

The NORAD response to Russian jets in the Arctic also included three KC-135 refuelling tankers to support fighter jets. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

NORAD later condemned the action of the Russian Su-35 pilot, saying it was "unsafe, unprofessional and endangered all."
By Jarrett Renshaw, Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would impose hefty new tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China, and nothing could be done by the three countries to forestall them.

Trump did, however, reference a potential carve out for oil from Canada, saying that rate would be 10% versus the 25% planned for other goods from the United States' northern neighbor. But he indicated wider tariffs on oil and natural gas would be coming in mid-February, remarks that sent oil prices higher.

Trump has been threatening the tariffs for weeks, saying they would be imposed on Feb. 1 and remain in place until the countries did more to stem the flow of both migrants and fentanyl over the U.S. border.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office as he was signing executive orders, Trump said he understood the duties could result in higher costs being passed on to consumers and acknowledged his actions may cause disruptions in the short term. Most economists estimate such sweeping import taxes, and the likely retaliation, would disrupt economic activity around the globe.

Asked if there was any opportunity at this stage for the three top U.S. trading partners to win a delay, Trump said: "No, no. Not right now, no."

He brushed away the notion his threats for levies have been a bargaining tool. "No, it's not ... we have big (trade) deficits with, as you know, with all three of them."

"It's something we're doing, and we'll possibly very substantially increase it, or not, we'll see how it is," Trump said. "But it's a lot of money coming to the United States."

And more tariffs are on the way, the Republican president said, saying import taxes were being considered on European goods as well as on steel, aluminum and copper, and on drugs and semiconductors.

"We're going to be putting tariffs on steel and aluminum, and ultimately copper. Copper will take a little longer," he said.

Financial markets have been whipsawed by the rapid-fire but still not fully clear developments on Trump's tariff plans, with currency trading showing particular volatility. The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso both weakened while Treasury bond yields rose, and stocks ended the day lower.

Still, he said he was not concerned about the reaction of financial markets to his plans to impose tariffs.

"The President will be implementing tomorrow 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing.
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  A North Carolina man has been arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting into a home in the Little River area back in September, according to police records obtained by News13.

Delton Duncan, 26, of Tabor City, was charged with discharging a firearm into a dwelling. He was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Thursday and released the same day after posting a $1,000 bond.

Horry County police responded to Green Pine Drive at about 5 a.m. on Sept. 1 for a shooting, an incident report shows. A man and his wife told officers they heard several shots being fired before coming outside to seeing bullet holes and property damage.

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The two victims were the only ones inside the home at the time of the shooting, the report said. Both of them told police they heard about five to six shots before hearing a vehicle drive off.

Multiple bullet holes were found in the mans 1991 Dodge Ram, causing about $1,300 in damage, the report said. An arrest warrant shows Duncan made a full confession shortly after the shooting to a source that has since come forward to law enforcement.

* * *

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.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.
Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC2) condemned the Trump administrations attempt to freeze all federal grants and loans as unconstitutional and dangerous to vulnerable North Carolinians. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar)

North Carolina officials and advocates denounced President Donald Trumps attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal aid in a news conference Friday, warning of widespread harm to families, older adults, and children, as well as the economy at-large.

With a stroke of a pen, President Trumps administration froze federal funding for a range of programs that North Carolinians rely on every single day, said Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC2). He intentionally tried to hurt our most vulnerable friends and neighbors.

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A directive from the Office of Management and Budget Monday sparked widespread panic and confusion as it ordered a freeze on all federal grants and loans with just a days notice  potentially implicating more than $30 billion to North Carolina. State healthcare officials around the country raised alarms as they were locked out of Medicaid reimbursement portals early Tuesday, though access was eventually restored.

Ross condemned the measure as unconstitutional, speaking Friday outside the State Capitol building, and said no president has the authority to unilaterally rescind funding passed by Congress. It is wrong to withhold North Carolina tax dollars from the people of North Carolina, she said.

The status of the freeze hangs in limbo, with the Trump administration downplaying its scope and rescinding the OMB memo Wednesday, a day after a D.C. federal judge issued a restraining order barring the government from halting all funding before the freeze was set to go into effect. Despite this, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the administration is not revoking the suspension of funding itself.

Why? To end any confusion created by the courts injunction, Leavitt wrote in a post on X. The Presidents EOs on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson said he joined a legal challenge to the federal funding freeze out of concern for widespread and immediate damage to North Carolina. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar)

A federal judge in Rhode Island  who cited Leavitts comments as undermining the administrations position  is also expected to soon grant a restraining order in a separate request from 23 attorneys general, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson.

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Jackson said he joined the lawsuit to prevent widespread and immediate damage across our state, citing potential delays to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in the western part of the state, impairment to law enforcement capabilities, and harm to children, families, and veterans.

My office has been hearing from a lot of people who are worried about what this means for their health care, their children, domestic violence and child abuse survivors, and education, Jackson said. Even the rollback of this order was confusing  we still dont really know what their intention is.

He added that the judge in Rhode Island, who heard the states case Wednesday afternoon, agreed the order is so serious that it cannot be allowed to go into effect. Jackson said he anticipates a restraining order shortly that will allow the attorneys general to litigate the case in the federal courts. When our government violates the Constitution, we will take them to court, he said.

Additional speakers highlighted different aspects of education, healthcare, and other services to North Carolinians that could be imperiled by a freeze on grants and loans. Wake County Commissioner Don Mial, a Democrat, noted that the county receives more than $130 million in federal funding each year  money that helps fund the operations of county government, nutritional programs for women and children, Medicaid services, and public housing among other vital services.

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Chris Heagerty, chair of the Wake County Board of Education, said he was disturbed by the Trump administrations characterization of their tactics as shock and awe  noting that term originated from a Gulf War bombing campaign intended for creating panic, confusion, and chaos to demoralize the enemy.

Trump administration officials have characterized their strategy in the early days of the presidency as a shock and awe campaign. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Folks, these are our schools, these are our kids, and these are not sacrifices that should be made to sow chaos and confusion and panic, Heagerty said.

Beyond state and local government, the work of many nonprofits is heavily dependent on federal funding. Lisa Poteat, the interim executive director of The Arc of North Carolina  a nonprofit that helps support North Carolinian with intellectual and developmental disabilities  said their services rely on Medicaid funding to a large degree. If that funding dries up, it will impact not only those who rely on their services, but also the workers who provide those services.

People have been scared the last week or so thinking, Are my services going away? What will I do? Whos going to help me? Poteat said. This was a broad, sweeping, and destructive move, and it has implications that [federal officials] dont understand.

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What funds would ultimately be affected is unclear. While Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC14) posted that the White House assured him relief to western North Carolina would be unaffected, a list of programs circulated by the OMB Monday including a slew of disaster aid initiatives, implicating Federal Emergency Management Agency grants.

I dont believe anything that Donald Trump says in terms of any assurance, Ross said when asked about that pledge. He has lied before and he will lie again.
ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP)  The North Carolina Zoo vet team cares for hundreds of animals, from tiny toads to enormous elephants.

Most guests dont get the opportunity to see health care procedures and checkups. But this summer, some students will be able to work side by side with the vet staff.

FOX8s Shannon Smith explains how in this weeks Zoo Filez.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina's former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Friday withdrew his defamation lawsuit against CNN that challenged a report about him making explicit posts on a pornography websites message board over a decade ago.

The one-sentence voluntary dismissal notice filed by the Republican's attorneys in U.S. District Court in eastern North Carolina didn't give a reason for the decision.

But in a separate statement, Robinson cited a Bible verse while saying that costly litigation and political gamesmanship by my detractors makes clear that continuing to pursue retribution from CNN is a futile effort."

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It is more honorable to bury an injury than to revenge it, Robinson said. While it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of North Carolina, the continued political persecution of my family and loved ones is a cost I am unwilling to continue to bear.

Robinson, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in November, had repeatedly denied writing the posts identified in the CNN story that ran in September, when he was still lieutenant governor. He sued a few weeks later. The legal parties were now awaiting a judges decision on the network's motion to dismiss Robinsons case.

Robinson, 56, was considered a rising star in the Republican Party following his unexpected election victory in 2020  his first bid for elected office  that made him the state's first Black lieutenant governor.

On Friday, Robinson also said I will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future. Robinson had been mentioned as a potential GOP primary opponent to U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in 2026.

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Today, my family and I are turning the page, Robinson said.

CNNs report said Robinson made statements on the message board at the website NudeAfrica in which he referred to himself as a black NAZI and said he enjoyed transgender pornography. The report said Robinson wrote that he preferred Adolf Hitler to then-President Barack Obama and slammed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as worse than a maggot.

Robinson already had a history of inflammatory comments on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. The CNN report nearly collapsed his gubernatorial campaign. Fellow Republicans distanced themselves from him, campaign donations dried up, and campaign and office staff quit. A Robinson campaign report shows that through December it had paid $117,000 to a Virginia law firm that helped him sue.

Robinson lost to Democrat Josh Stein in November by almost 15 percentage points, and his four-year term was completed at the end of December.

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CNN declined to comment on the dismissal and Robinsons statement Friday.

In legal briefs, Robinson's attorneys alleged that CNN had rushed to run its report without contacting the owner of the NudeAfrica website to confirm what it had found. They said the website had been hacked several years ago and ran on vulnerable, outdated software.

CNN's attorneys had moved the state case to federal court and argued that Robinson failed to meet the legal standard for the defamation of a public official. Generally speaking, a public official claiming defamation must show the defendant knew the statement was false or that it was made with reckless disregard for the truth.

The CNN lawyers described the efforts that network journalists made to connect Robinson to a username on the NudeAfrica site and wrote recently that the network wasn't obligated to conduct the investigation in the manner he would have preferred.

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The CNN story said the network matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, an email address and his full name. The details discussed by the account holder also matched details about Robinson's life, a CNN brief said. And CNN said it found matches of figures of speech used by both the NudeAfrica account holder and in Robinson social media posts.

Robinson also sued in the same lawsuit Louis Love Money, a former porn shop worker who alleged in a music video and a media interview that for several years starting in the 1990s, Robinson frequented a porn shop where Money worked and that Robinson purchased porn videos from him. Robinson said that was untrue. Money said he stood by his comments. Claims against Money also were dismissed Friday.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)  Thursday night, North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess delivered the 2025 State of the City address focusing on how he can grow the city.



In the address, Mayor Burgess spoke about economic development, community relations and strengthening North Charlestons overall position. He reflected on the progress the city has made in the past year.



Were bringing crime down, were improving infrastructure, and were all the places everyone wants to come, said Mayor Burgess.



North Charleston has worked to create affordable and workforce housing. The mayor says in the next year they will continue to update zoning and build infrastructure to create more housing in the city.

He spoke about the citys economic development, citing the 650 millions dollar total valuation in construction projects. Burgess cited Roper St. Francis Healthcare opening a new medical campus, Boeings billion dollar investment at the airport and the South Carolina Ports work on the former naval base as examples of the cities economic achievement.

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His goal for the next year is to put North Charleston on the map as a place for South Carolinians to live.

How North Charleston looks, thats the number one thing Im working on: image. Thats why you see my team cleaning out the city, my law enforcement officers working to get folks who cant live peaceful its a place for them to go , all the other departments working to establish better living opportunities, education and most of all economic engine, said Burgess.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Luis Casas, a pediatric endocrinologist suing North Dakota over its ban on gender-affirming care for minors, testifies in court on Jan. 30, 2025. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

Editors note: If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.

A pediatric endocrinologist said one of his patients attempted suicide after learning North Dakota had criminalized gender-affirming care for minors.

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The adolescent had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and planned to pursue medical treatment, the doctor said, only to discover it was no longer an option because of a law approved by legislators in 2023.

This adolescent ended up in multi-organ failure, Luis Casas told a courtroom on Thursday. Had to be flown to the Cities where they were in the ICU for several weeks, and hospitalized for what ended up being at least a couple of months.

An attorney asked Casas how he knows the suicide attempt was related to the health care law.

Because they told me, he replied.

Casas is the sole plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the ban, which makes it a crime for health care professionals to provide gender-affirming care to anyone under 18. Hes bringing the case on behalf of himself, as well as his current and future patients.

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Casas alleges the ban violates personal autonomy and equal protection rights under the state constitution.

Theres no other area in my specialty where an individual or a family, or a parent or a guardian, doesnt have the ability to decide on what to do, he said on the witness stand Thursday.

Attorneys for the state counter that gender-affirming care is an emerging area of medicine, and that North Dakota lawmakers are within their rights to regulate it.

Casas was the last of a dozen witnesses to testify for the plaintiffs in a trial to decide the bans fate. The court will hear testimony from the states witnesses starting Friday.

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Transgender young people in North Dakota are at a much higher risk for suicide than their peers, according to an analysis of the 2023 North Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey by suicide prevention advocate Faye Seidler and the Harbor Health Initiative.

Roughly 74% of transgender middle schoolers in who took the survey said they had seriously considered suicide  almost four times as many as their straight peers. About 40% of transgender high schoolers said they had seriously considered suicide, about three times as many their straight peers.

Casas told the courtroom that withholding gender-affirming treatments from transgender adolescents can be catastrophic to their mental health.

Youre subjecting this adolescent to a childhood of living in a body that is not consistent with their gender identity, he said of the law. I think its simply cruel.

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Casas said hes lost patients to suicide before. All of them were transgender, he said.

Three North Dakota families with transgender children were previously plaintiffs alongside Casas, but South Central Judicial District Judge Jackson Lofgren ruled earlier this month that they dont have standing to bring the challenge. Some of the former plaintiffs  including two teens who see Casas for gender-affirming care  testified in the trial earlier this week.

The ban contains an exemption for children who were receiving care before it went into effect.

Despite this, Casas said he does not provide gender-affirming treatments to any minors in North Dakota, even those who fall under the exemption, for fear of prosecution. These patients must travel to Moorhead, Minnesota, to see him.

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Casas testified that there arent any unique risks to prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria. He continues to prescribe these medications to adolescents for other medical conditions, like precocious puberty and hypogonadism.

He said his patients must be diagnosed with gender dysphoria before they can be eligible for gender-affirming care.

He also goes to lengths to make sure patients understand the treatments, he said. That includes giving his adolescents and their family members what he called informed consent forms.

It goes through all of the potential changes that happens to the body as a result of this treatment, and it specifies what aspects of those changes could be reversible if we were to stop treatment, what parts of these treatments may be partially reversible or be fully irreversible, he said.

Attorney Tanya Pellegrini, right, questions pediatric endocrinologist Luis Casas during a trial on North Dakotas ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Attorney Jan Conlin is shown at left. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

He acknowledged that not all young people with gender dysphoria need gender-affirming medical care. For some transgender people, social transitioning  like changing ones clothes, pronouns or name to conform with ones gender identity  is enough.

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Casas said if there isnt consensus between him, a patient and their family that medical treatment is the right option, they dont proceed. He said he hasnt had any patients tell him they regret gender-affirming treatments.

There arent any medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifically for treating gender dysphoria in minors.

Attorneys for the defense have underlined during the trial that compared with some other medications, there isnt a lot of long-term, comprehensive research demonstrating that puberty blockers and hormone therapy are safe and effective for transgender adolescents.

Casas didnt dispute this but also maintained that this wasnt a reason to abandon the treatment.

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For one, its common for doctors to prescribe medications for so-called off-label uses, especially for minors, he said.

Other experts for the plaintiffs testified this week that robust pharmaceutical research can be limited by many factors, including funding incentives and the complicated ethics of testing medication on patients.

In child and adolescent psychiatry and in pediatrics, generally speaking, you cannot have strong, high-level evidence, because its not possible, said Gabriela Balf, a psychiatrist who has experience diagnosing gender dysphoria in adolescents. Balf previously lived in Bismarck but moved out of state because of the law.

She said existing research, as well as her own experience helping kids transition, shows the treatment works.

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Overall, kids get their life back, Balf said. They start talking again. They socialize. Previously they would stay home and lose years of school.

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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  North Dakota's decades-long efforts to aid farmers by reshaping the weather through cloud seeding is facing fierce opposition in the state Capitol, where legislation could outlaw the practice, which is used across the West and has drawn global interest to one of the nation's least populous states.

Cloud seeding is done by airplanes releasing tiny particles of silver iodide in clouds to reduce the size of hail and increase rainfall to help crops in the semi-arid climate. Opponents see cloud seeding as ineffective, harmful and deceitful, and point to a number of counties that have ended their participation in weather modification, as recently as last fall.

We are tired of government controlling our weather," Williams County farmer Doug Stangeland told a state Senate panel on Thursday. "It's time that God does what he does. Let the creator of the weather do what he does.

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North Dakotas hail suppression program is the longest-running aerial cloud seeding program in the world and has used airplanes since the early 1960s, said Darin Langerud, director of the Atmospheric Resource Division of the state Department of Water Resources.

The North Dakota bill introduced by Republican Sen. Todd Beard would do away with weather modification and penalize the practice as a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to 30 days in jail and/or a $1,500 fine.

Berthold-area farmer Roger Neshem, who sat on his county's weather modification authority, said local concerns went unaddressed by officials, including flights he said were outside of permitted areas.

"I think it is a good thing to make this a misdemeanor and make it illegal," Neshem said.

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Counties sponsor the program, which is cost-shared with the state, which regulates the program. The cost is about 15 cents per acre, costing four participating counties last year a combined $800,000, Langerud said. The program usually runs June through August.

Cloud seeding is done in two counties and parts of a third, including Bowman County, where some locals touted to lawmakers its success in reducing hail losses for agriculture, homeowners and businesses. In 2016, the vast majority of voters in the county rejected abolishing their weather modification authority.

Studies show the benefits of cloud seeding compared to non-seeded or control areas, including increased rainfall, reduced crop hail losses and higher wheat yields, Langerud said.

But other scientists say exactly how effective it is remains unclear, since atmospheric forces are huge and chaotic.

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Last year, Langerud's agency signed a pact for training, research and development with the South Korean government. Argentine and Romanian delegations also have visited North Dakota in the last two years to go through the training program to learn more.

The state's Atmospheric Resource agency also has an agreement with the University of North Dakota's aviation program for intern pilot training on the project, which has put more than 400 intern pilots through the program over the years, Langerud said.

The bill would ban the exact collaboration between the private industry, the local political subdivisions and the state entities that make and have pushed North Dakota to the forefront of this industry, Weather Modification International Vice President of Flight Operations Jody Fischer said.

Langerud said misinformation is driving opposition to cloud seeding. Stangeland alleged possible environmental harms and toxicity from silver iodide.

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Langerud said the materials used in cloud seeding are safe, and because silver iodide is so effective at what it does, only minuscule amounts need to be used. He noted that governance of the program is largely on the local level, and argued, I think that's where it should stay.

States including California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as Alberta in Canada, have weather modification programs, according to a handout from North Dakota's Atmospheric Resource Board.
North Korean troops have not been seen for roughly three weeks in the areas of Kursk Oblast where Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SOF) are fighting, the unit's spokesperson, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, told the Kyiv Independent on Jan. 31.

The comment comes as undisclosed Ukrainian and U.S. officials told The New York Times that North Korean troops had been taken off the front lines after suffering heavy casualties.

"These are standard measures  rotation due to large casualties," a military intelligence source commented for the Kyiv Independent, confirming the reports.

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Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Jan. 19 that roughly half of the 11-12,000-strong North Korean contingent deployed to the embattled Russian region have been killed or wounded.

Experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent connected North Koreas high casualty rates to a lack of experience with modern warfare, the "human wave" tactics employed against entrenched Ukrainian positions, and the resolve of North Korean troops to avoid capture, even at the cost of their own lives.

North Korean troops were deployed to Kursk Oblast last fall to support Russian forces in countering a Ukrainian incursion launched in early August 2024. Ukrainian forces have continued fighting in the region, hoping to leverage their positions for potential negotiations.

Syrskyi acknowledged that North Korean troops are well-trained and motivated fighters who present a significant challenge to Ukrainian soldiers.

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On Jan. 22, Soldiers of the 8th Regiment of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces released footage of them resisting a North Korean assault in Russias Kursk Oblast for eight hours before retreating, killing 21 and wounding 40 soldiers.

In a video, a large assault group of purportedly North Korean soldiers is seen crossing an open field and forest, followed by close combat footage with only dozens of meters between the two sides. In the end, graphic footage shows killed soldiers claimed to be North Koreans.

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"At the ninth hour of the battle, the Special Operations Forces had only a third of their ammunition left. They spent the rest on destroying (North Korean forces)," the Telegram post read.

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The Ukrainian fighters held off the assault with small arms, grenade launchers, and snipers. Eventually, the Ukrainian troops retreated in two Humvees, the post read.

Previous comments by Ukrainian officials earlier this week suggest that North Korean troops may have been taken off the front lines only temporarily.

The military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said he expects Pyongyang to dispatch additional reinforcements to Russia, namely artillery units.

Read also: Theyve overcome the shock  North Korean soldiers adapting to war in Russias Kursk Oblast

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The northern lights may be visible in portions of Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday nights, according to the NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.

The SWPC's forecast indicates that aurora borealis could be visible as far south as central Wisconsin on Friday night and northern Wisconsin on Saturday night.

Friday's forecast has a Kp index of 4 while Saturday's has a Kp index of 3. For indices in this range, the lights will likely "become brighter and there will be more auroral activity" since they're moving further from the poles, SWPC says.

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Hoping to see the northern lights this weekend? Here's what to know:

The northern lights are seen during a 30-second exposure north of Crandon, Wisconsin, in Forest County on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.

Northern lights viewing tips

The SWPC says the northern light are typically best "within an hour or two" of midnight, meaning you should look for them between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

You should head away from city lights and go to higher vantage points for a better chance of seeing the display. Other variables, such as weather, can affect the reliability of the viewing forecast.

For the most up-to-date viewing forecast, you can use the NOAA Aurora forecast tool, which has a 30-minute forecast window. You can check the latest weather forecast via the National Weather Service.

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For more tips on viewing the northern lights, click here.

What's the weather like Friday and Saturday night?

North-central Wisconsin around Wausau is expected to be cloudy Friday night, according to the Green Bay National Weather Service office. Snow and clouds are likely Saturday night. Similar conditions are in the forecast for both nights in the Green Bay, Eau Claire and Hayward areas.

The northern lights are visible during a several second exposure from Ellsworth Park in Bayside on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.

What causes the northern lights?

Also known as aurora borealis, the northern lights are a natural light display in Earth's sky that is famously best seen in high-latitude regions of the northern and southern hemispheres.

The phenomenon is caused when electrically charged particles from space enter Earth's atmosphere and collide with molecules and gases like oxygen and nitrogen, causing the atmospheric particles to gain energy. To return to their normal state, the particles release that energy in the form of light, according to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute website, which tracks the phenomenon.

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As auroras form, Earth's magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles through a process that produces a stunning display of rays, spirals and flickers. Whether hues of green, red, blue and pink dance about in the sky is due to the altitude in which the collisions occur, as well as the composition and density of the atmosphere at the time.

The northern lights are visible during a several second exposure from Ellsworth Park in Bayside on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.

Best places in Wisconsin to see the northern lights

Here's a list of places in Wisconsin that could offer some of the best views of the night sky:

More: How to keep track of when the Northern Lights might be visible in Wisconsin

More: See photos of Northern Lights from Green Bay, Door County residents

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Journal Sentinel reporter Cailey Gleeson contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Northern lights could be visible in parts of Wisconsin this weekend
Patricia Houghton remembers how Doncaster was. Oh, it was a beautiful town. Absolutely beautiful.

She clutches the sweets shes bought in the indoor market, where at 2pm the traders are packing up. The concrete underfoot is wet and a chill hangs in the air. So does the smell of fresh fish from a nearby stall. Lightbulbs strung up around the place lend it little cheer: the scattering of tables sit empty, the cafes closed for the day.

Theyve ruined this town, says shop worker Houghton, 65, despondent. The streets are filthy, it wants a good clean-up. Decent people wont come in.

Doncaster resident Patricia Houghton claims Labour has ruined her once beautiful city - Lorne Campbell

Such complaints ricochet around this South Yorkshire former mining area: the sense that so much has been lost, and that those with the power to improve things have failed to do so.

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All three of Doncasters MPs are Labour. One is Ed Miliband, former party leader and current Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The local authority has long been Labour too.

But council elections will be held here in May and Reform UK hopes to capitalise on the disillusion that so many voice.

On September 20, leader Nigel Farage indicated that the party would focus on Doncaster at the upcoming elections  a prelude to targeting seats across the old South Yorkshire coalfield in the next general election.

Three days later, in a room at the Bechers Brook pub, among pints of beer and Union flags the party launched its Doncaster branch. Dozens attended, some from the local area, others from nearby Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield.

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That evening, the party converted at least one new voter: the pubs manager John Waszak, the grandson of a Polish immigrant. Aged 38, he has never voted before, but now thinks hell vote Reform in May. What would he like them to do if they win?

Doncaster needs a lot of money thrown into it [to make it] more inviting, more appealing, he says.

John Waszak, manager of the Bechers Brook pub where Reform launched its Doncaster branch - Lorne Campbell

A second meeting of the Doncaster Reform branch was held the following month at Hatfield Main Working Mens Club in Stainforth, a meeting place originally built for miners in the early 20th century. Monthly Reform meetings have continued in Doncaster since last autumn.

Meanwhile, almost 50 Reform candidates have been selected to contest council seats here, with another 55 yet to be recruited. Campaigners have been busy distributing leaflets.

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Weve put out something like 70,000, says Irwen Martin, chairman of Doncaster Reform.

Local candidates for local people, says the campaign material. The word Martin likes to use repeatedly is normal.

Very normal people, he says of the locals and himself. Thats what I am. Its people like me who literally woke up one day and said, Look, it cant continue. We have to have some sort of reform. It just so happens it comes in the shape of Reform, but we need it to happen.

Chairman of Doncaster Reform, Irwen Martin, believes that the party can improve the city in areas where Labour has failed - Lorne Campbell

So what would Reform do differently if it managed to go from zero councillors to a majority on the council? Martin, a small businessman whose companies have built wine cellars across Europe, talks about obvious savings you can make, and value for money.

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Theres a lot of money wasted, he suggests, citing the construction of cycle lanes that he says dont attract many cyclists. You have to invest your money wisely. [Doncaster] has got to have footfall, people wanting to come in. People dont want to come in here. If you walk up and down, its a messI will not say I have all the answers, because I dont.

So far, with no experience of running a local authority, Reform hasnt needed too many concrete answers to the kinds of problems that have long exercised policymakers in post-industrial towns and constituencies around the north of England and Midlands that make up the so-called Red Wall. Recognising the need to attract businesses into the city, to increase footfall and restore a sense of pride and purpose is one thing; making it happen is another.

But the promise of change alone could be enough to secure them victory. Martin estimates the chance of Reform taking over the local authority as close to 75 per cent. If they pull it off, it will gain them a foothold that could help pave their way to winning more Parliamentary seats later on.

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Martin stood, unsuccessfully, for Reform in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme in last years general election. The party finished second in 10 seats across Yorkshire, but this wasnt one of them. He came third, comfortably behind the Tories, with a 21.7 per cent vote share compared to their 32.7 per cent.

Yet Reform has since overtaken the Tories in the polls, with YouGovs latest voting intention figures putting its support at 23 per cent, just behind Labours 27 per cent and ahead of the Conservatives 22 per cent. Talking to people in Doncaster, its not hard to see why Martin believes the political landscape here, as elsewhere, may be changing in his partys favour.

While some here havent actually heard of Reform, they have heard of Farage, and say they would vote for his party. Others, planning to abandon Labour, are open to Reform as an alternative.

Ive voted Labour all my life, says Cynthia Carraghan, 76, a retired hairdresser. Not any more. Theyve taken everything off the elderly.

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So who will win her vote now? I have considered Reform. It wont be the Conservatives.

In July, Reform didnt field a Parliamentary candidate in Milibands Doncaster North seat, which hes held since 2005. He increased his majority from 2,370 to more than 9,000.

But Farage seems to have eyed a political opportunity in going after Miliband  who has put the UK on a clean power sprint in a bid to slash carbon emissions  in his own backyard.

I think net zero is going to be an absolute catastrophe, electorally, for Labour, the Reform leader told the BBC in December. Richard Tice, Farages deputy, has meanwhile predicted the push to go green will be a defining feature of the  political debate, locally and nationally, from now until the next election.

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Theres an indication, it appears, that the party therefore plans to turn the local vote in Doncaster into something of a referendum on Milibands environmental agenda.

Martin, for his part, believes local people can see the MP is a net zero zealot who wants the UK torace to net zero by 2030 at their expense. He adds: Normal people that I speak to are totally opposed to his views and predicts he will be toast at the next election  with Reform, undoubtedly, hoping to be the beneficiary.

Out in the former pit villages of Doncaster North, however, its less clear that they will be. In Bentley, former Tory voter Les Bennett, 70, is keen on Farages party. Others less so.

Not on my watch, says a man of pensionable age, drinking in Bentley Working Mens Club, when considering the prospect of a Reform-run council.

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Why? Because, he says, theyre too Right-wing.

The road from Bentley to Askern, another former pit village five miles to the north, cuts through flat, waterlogged fields. The land around these parts is prone to flooding; the people are prone to a feeling that their surroundings are falling apart.

In Askern, ex-miner Carl Oates sits in his stationary car near the shops, his French mastiff Tara snarling behind him from the open back window. The engine is running, the thin winter daylight fading.

Oates, too, has always voted Labour but vows he wont do so again (though Miliband himself seems an alright bloke).

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What has turned him off? The countrys in that much turmoil, it doesnt matter what party is in, he says.

Positioning itself as an anti-establishment party, Reform is attuned to such despair with politics and understands how to tap into it. (Im not a politician, stresses Martin.)

Its not the first thing mentioned  that would be the degradation of the urban landscape  but some in Doncaster do cite immigration as a concern. The proportion of Doncaster residents who identified as non-UK nationals rose from 4.1 per cent to seven per cent between 2011 and 2021, according to Census data. The most common country of birth in 2021 after England (at 87.6 per cent) was Poland (at 2.3 per cent). Doncaster  which received tens of millions of pounds in European Union funding  overwhelmingly voted in favour of Brexit, with 69 per cent of locals supporting quitting the bloc.

Many residents of Doncaster have cited immigration as a growing concern - Lorne Campbell

Oates, now a plant driver, strikes a dejected tone. Somethings got to happen because theres nowt happening around here, he says. Its getting worse and worse.

Ros Jones, the elected Labour mayor of Doncaster since 2013, does not deny the citys problems. Doncaster has faced significant challenges over the past 40 years, she says, stressing that the local council now has 20 per cent less in real-terms funding due to austerity. Doncaster, like the rest of the country, is feeling the impact of 14 years of disastrous Conservative government, which cut vital public services and failed to deliver real economic growth.

But, she adds, the council delivers quality value for money services, ensuring we invest where we can in terms of road repairs, leisure centres and bidding for government resources to support regeneration.

This week, the Government backed plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport as part of its growth agenda. Any benefits of this wont come soon enough for the council elections in May, though.

Back at the market, seafood vendor Shiralee Jones has already made up her mind. Shes sick of Labour and is planning to vote Reform. Houghton says shell do likewise. The town is dead, she says. We need new people in.

Cllr Steve Cox, leader of the councils Conservative group, warns that in splitting the anti-Labour vote, Reform could have the unintended effect of handing the incumbents more seats. A more strategic approach would be great to see, he says.

If Reform manages to win here, it will be something of a test case: of whether its rhetoric will be matched by an ability to govern.

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Norwegian police have arrested a ship with a Russian crew on suspicion of involvement in the damage to a fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden in the Baltic Sea.

Source: European Pravda, citing the polices statement

Details: Norwegian authorities confirmed that the Silver Dania was detained following a legal request from Latvian authorities and a court order. The vessel is registered in Norway and owned by a Norwegian company, operating between St. Petersburg and Murmansk. The crew is Russian.

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The ship was intercepted by the coast guard vessel KV Bison during an operation led by the police at around 21:00 on Thursday. At that time, the ship was in Norways exclusive economic zone near the Troms area.

The following morning, the ship was escorted to Troms port. Police are now conducting a search, questioning the crew, and collecting evidence. The Norwegian Police Security Service has been notified of the case.

Background:

The investigation into a possible sabotage after the damage to the underwater fibre optic cable has centred on the bulk carrier Vezhen, which passed by the site at 00:45 GMT on Sunday, 26 January.

Swedish prosecutors issued a detention order for the vessel in the Baltic Sea. On Monday, 27 January, Swedish authorities boarded the detained ship.

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Norwegian authorities detained the Silver Dania vessel with a Russian crew on Jan. 30 on suspicion of it damaging an undersea fiber-optic cable linking Latvia and Sweden, the Norwegian police announced.

The vessel, which operates under the Norwegian flag and travels between St. Petersburg and Murmansk, was seized in Tromso at Latvia's request following a local court order. The police are searching the ship and questioning the crew.

The damaged cable is one of several recent incidents in the Baltic Sea that are being investigated as possible acts of sabotage.

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The Latvian State Radio and Television Broadcasting Center (LVRTC) reported on Jan. 26 that an external impact had significantly damaged the underwater cable. While data transmission services were rerouted to alternative pathways, some users in Latvia experienced slower speeds.

A previous case on Dec. 25 saw the destruction of four telecommunication cables and a power cable, with Finnish authorities suspecting a Russian "shadow fleet" vessel was involved. These ships are used to bypass sanctions on Russian oil exports.

In response to the incidents, NATO has dispatched additional patrol ships to the region to safeguard critical infrastructure. While intelligence services in the U.S. and Europe increasingly suspect the damage may be due to maritime accidents rather than deliberate sabotage, investigations remain ongoing.

Concerns over Russian hybrid warfare tactics persist, particularly as suspicious activities involving Russian-registered vessels near Denmark and Sweden continue to raise alarms in the region.

Read also: Finland announces $206 million military package for Ukraine

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Example of ovarian ultrasound images with poor image quality (IQ) (score 2) (a), suboptimal IQ (score 3) (b) and optimal IQ (score 4) (c). A score of 1 was allocated to images deemed incorrect; these images were then rejected. Credit: Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology (2025). DOI: 10.1002/uog.29178

Research has shown the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in the diagnosis of conditions, like endometriosis, but what happens if the modeling is incorrect?

Research from Ph.D. student Alison Deslandes, from the IMAGENDO team at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute, has begun to address this by developing a quality scoring system for gynecological images used by diagnostic AI algorithms.

The research is published in the journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

"The development of valuable AI tools to assist with ultrasound diagnosis is dependent on algorithms being developed with high-quality data," says Ms. Deslandes.

"Previously, researchers have shown that the performance of deep learning systems is reduced significantly when applied to images from low-cost ultrasound machines with lower image quality.

"It's important we consider creating AI tools to assess image quality at the same time as exploring the use of AI algorithms to diagnose the condition to ensure satisfactory information is being used."

After a literature review, researchers developed a way to score the quality of transvaginal ultrasounds (TVUS), with six professionals assigning a score of one to four to 150 images of the uterus and ovaries.

The images were assessed against five factorscorrect depiction of anatomy, view of anatomical structure in the field of view, image optimization, ability of image to be interpreted for diagnosis or pathology, and overall clarity.

A score of four was given to optimal quality images, three to suboptimal images and two to images with a poor image quality; a score of one was assigned if the images were rejected.

The professionals were paired based on their fields and asked to examine the images together (inter-operator results), as well as individually (intra-observer results).

"What we found was only poor to moderate agreement (on the image quality) when our paired observers looked at the images and mostly weak to moderate levels when the individual observers looked at images again after more than a week," says Ms. Deslandes.

"Some more refinement of the scoring system may be needed to improve agreement, however interpreting ultrasound image quality carries a level of subjectivity. So it remains unclear whether quantification of image quality can be achieved.

"The inherent subjectivity in image quality assessment may explain our intra-operator results which, although better than our inter-operator agreement, were weaker than expected."

"Although some AI systems can tolerate labeling noise, most will favor clean (high-quality) data."

Ms. Deslandes said although AI systems will likely be able to assess image quality (IQ) more objectively than humans, development of these systems will depend on human labeling, which will likely feature noisy data due to the inherently subjective nature of ultrasound IQ.

"As such, reliable methods of IQ scoring are essential to further progress the development of AI systems in gynecological ultrasound, as are AI methods capable of accommodating noisy labeling," says Ms. Deslandes.

More information: A. Deslandes et al, Intra and interobserver agreement of proposed objective transvaginal ultrasound imagequality scoring system for use in artificial intelligence algorithm development, Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology (2025). DOI: 10.1002/uog.29178
Norwegian police have seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden.

Troms Police in northern Norway located the Silver Dania ship on Thursday evening, following a request from Latvian authorities, and it was brought into the port of Tromso Friday morning, according to a police statement.

There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence, the statement said.

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The Silver Dania is Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned, police said, but the crew on board is Russian.

The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk in Russia, police said.

The owners of the Silver Dania, the Silver Sea shipping group, told CNN they were not involved in damaging the cable.

The investigation has been going on today and we have had good cooperation with the authorities, Tormod Fossmark, CEO of Silver Group, told CNN.

He added that authorities had not yet found any links connecting the ship with the damaged cable, and the crew has been allowed to prepare the Silver Dania to set sail Friday night.

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The incident marks the second ship to be seized on suspicion of carrying out sabotage in the last week, after the Swedish Public Prosecutors Office confirmed Sunday it had boarded a ship following suspected damage to the communications cable running between Sweden and Latvia.

Latvia said the damage was likely caused by external forces.

This event was the latest in a string of incidents since late 2022, with damage being caused to Europes infrastructure running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea  pipes carrying natural gas and cables transporting electricity and data.

Such incidents have become more frequent over the past couple of years, raising suspicions they are the result of sabotage and triggering a flurry of investigations by European officials  with some openly pointing fingers at Moscow.

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Russia has denied allegations of involvement in underwater cable sabotage. The Russian Embassy in London last week said NATO was building up naval and air forces under the fictitious pretext of the Russian threat.

CNNs Anna Cooban, Nic Robertson and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.

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President Donald Trumps new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, confirmed during a Thursday interview that the commander-in-chiefs intentions to buy Greenland from Denmark are genuine and not a joke.

Rubio, a former Florida senator, told SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly that Trumps desire to purchase the Arctic autonomous territory is based on national security concerns for the U.S. and the rest of the world as China increases its activities in the region.

This is not a joke, like what hes saying is pretty accurate. People have been talking about it for years, Rubio said.

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This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved. President Trumps put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it.

Rubio said that even as China currently doesnt have a heavy presence in the Arctic, its realistic to think that the country would install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality, to serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.

Marco Rubio said during an interview with Megyn Kelly that Trumps wish to buy Greenland is not a joke (Getty Images)

Trump has, both in private and in public, shared his willingness to purchase the island, and he has previously claimed that Denmark would come along in the end, even in the face of staunch opposition from the Danes.

Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Egede previously appeared on Fox News, saying: We dont want to be Danes. We dont even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took part in an at times combative and antagonistic phone call with Trump on January 15, five days before he was sworn in for a second term in the White House.

I wasnt privy to that phone call, but I imagine the phone call went the way a lot of these phone calls go, and that is, he just speaks bluntly and frankly with people, said Rubio on Thursday. And ultimately, I think diplomacy, in many cases, works better when youre straightforward, as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing.

The SiriusXM interview was highlighted by The Hill.

The secretary also claimed that if China attacked Greenland, there would be no way for the Danes to stop them.

Greenlands Prime Minister Mute Egede told Fox News that his countrymen dont want to Danes or Americans. (REUTERS)

Denmark cant stop them. They would rely on the United States to do so, said Rubio. And so his point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland, if it comes under assault, if were already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there.

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Earlier this week, the Danes announced that it would spend another $2 billion on defending its North Atlantic territories, including using long-range drones and new ships built for operating in Arctic waters.

The Danes recently rejected a proposal from the French to send E.U. troops to Greenland, and a Danish MP suggested that the island rejoin the union for security reasons following its 1985 departure.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Federal leaders are launching an investigation into the deadly plane crash that happened late Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump says his administration is working to get answers and hes suggesting diversity policies may be to blame.

Well get to the bottom of it, said Trump.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into how the American Airlines plane collided with the military helicopter.

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We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors. That is part of the NTSB investigative process, said NTSB member J. Todd Inman.

Investigators say there are no survivors among the 64 people on the plane or three soldiers on the helicopter.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says their families deserve to know why.

We commit to them that we are going to get to the bottom of this investigation. Not in three years, not in four years, but as quickly as possible, said Duffy.

President Trump says he doesnt know exactly how this deadly crash happened, but he suggested the Biden administration and their diversity policies could be to blame.

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Were going to look into that and were going to see. But certainly, for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest, President Trump said.

He also attacked former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for how he led the department.

On Thursday, President Trump signed a memo ordering an assessment of aviation safety and an elevation of competence over DEI.

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An intruder entered the Crestview Specialty Care nursing home in West Branch on April 5, 2023, and was later found partially undressed and in bed with a female resident of the home. (Photo via Google Earth)

An Iowa nursing home is being sued over an incident in which an intruder was able to enter the home, undress and climb into bed with a resident.

The family of the late Ruth Bartow is suing Crestview Specialty Care of West Branch and the homes owners, Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, in Cedar County District Court.

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The lawsuit alleges that Bartow was admitted to Crestview in February 2023 with severe cognitive impairments, and that three months later, at 2:50 p.m. on April 5, the staff found an unauthorized male visitor in her room, 54-year-old Michael Beaver of West Branch.

Beaver was laying with Bartow in her bed without any clothes on, the lawsuit alleges.

The Crestview staff escorted Beaver out of Bartows room to the front lobby and notified the police. Bartow was later found in her room crying, according to the lawsuit.

State inspectors later concluded Beaver had been seen walking around in the facility as early as 10:30 a.m. that day. At 11:10 a.m., and at 1 p.m., staffers noticed Beaver pushing Bartow in her wheelchair throughout the building but failed to intervene.

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The lawsuit accuses Crestview and Care Initiatives of gross negligence and recklessness in the form of inadequate staffing, false advertising, and inappropriately allocating excessive funds to itself, thereby draining the facility of the resources necessary to maintain sufficient and appropriately trained staff to supervise residents and prevent avoidable injuries.

The lawsuit also seeks unspecified actual damages and punitive damages for breach of contract and dependent adult abuse.

Crestview and Care Initiatives have yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

According to West Branch police, Beaver wasnt criminally charged for his role in the incident as there was already an order to pick him up in connection with a civil commitment proceeding. Police said there was no direct evidence Bartow was sexually assaulted.

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Court records show that two days before the incident at Crestview, Beaver was arrested and charged with indecent exposure at the Iowa City Public Library. According to the arrest report, video evidence showed Beaver entering the library, going to the computers on the second floor, taking off his sweatshirt and pants, placing a jacket over his genitals, and then spending four hours watching pornographic videos while reaching under his jacket and stimulating himself.

The day after he was arrested, he was released from jail on his own recognizance. District Associate Judge Jason A. Burns released Beaver on the condition that he not return to the library.

On May 24, 2023, the library staff called police to report Beaver was sitting on a bench outside of the library watching pornographic material on a mobile phone and masturbating in clear view of library patrons.

Beaver ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts indecent exposure and three remaining counts were dismissed. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
A New York man was arrested Thursday in connection with a phishing scam that duped an elderly South Windsor resident out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Qiao Zheng, 42, of Brooklyn, New York faces one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny, according to the South Windsor Police Department.

Police said they began investigating on Monday when a 90-year-old man told authorities he gave $49,900 to a courier purportedly acting on behalf of PayPal. The man claimed that he had received an email from someone claiming to work for PayPal who indicated that a Bitcoin purchase had flagged the elderly mans account.

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The man claimed that he contacted the support number in the email before he was directed by the individual on the phone to a fraudulent link, requesting that he transfer his money into a separate account, according to police. When the transfer was not successful, the man claimed that he went to several bank branches and withdrew cash to give to a courier who would pick up the money at his home.

After police were notified, the individual allegedly asked the elderly man for another $20,000 and told him a courier would come by to pick it up in the afternoon hours on Thursday, according to police. Investigators with the police departments Criminal Investigations Unit waited in the area until an individual who was identified as Zheng arrived, police said.

Zheng was arrested and held on a $100,000 bond. He was scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on Friday.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys squared off outside the courtroom Friday over Gov. Hochuls proposal to close so-called loopholes in discovery laws, a criminal justice reform initiative being blamed for an increase in crime.

The discovery reform law that went into effect in 2019 was designed to give defense attorneys quicker access to evidence against their clients. But prosecutors said the strict deadlines and technicalities have caused too many cases to be dismissed, putting dangerous criminals back on the streets.

Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority, Hochul said during a news conference with district attorneys from across the state.

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My common sense proposal to streamline New Yorks discovery laws will close fatal loopholes that have delayed trials and led to cases being thrown out on minor technicalities, which will ultimately help crack down on recidivism and provide justice for victims.

Hochul first proposed the changes in her state of the state address two weeks ago, when she said the law led to the release of repeat offenders. A day earlier, Hochuls push for change was backed by NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Backers of Hochuls proposal said more than half of criminal cases in New York City are forced to be dismissed, often because prosecutors say they are unable to hand over the evidence in time. Before 2019, 42% of cases were dismissed. In 2023, 62% of cases had to be let go, according to the Office of Court Administration.

These unintended consequences have led to the dismissal or reduction in charges in thousands of felony and misdemeanor cases, especially large quantities of petit larcenies, quality of life crimes, DWIs, and assault cases, said Staten Island DA Michael McMahon, president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.

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But lawyers behind the initial push for reform said prosecutors and the governor were using fear mongering tactics to scare the public into turning back the clock.

Discovery reform has had no discernible impact on recidivism or crime rates, the Legal Aid Society said in a statement. The mental gymnastics performed by prosecutors and others to undermine this successful reform have nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with restoring a system that granted DAs an immense advantage  one they benefited from for decades.

Public defenders said the law was enacted to enhance fairness in the legal justice system, and would return New York to an era of coerced pleas, wrongful convictions, and pre-trial delays.

Sharing evidence with people accused of crimes does not contribute to a cycle of re-arrest or make our communities unsafe, the Brooklyn Defenders said in a statement. Instead of repealing a statute that works, lawmakers should focus on efforts that actually make our communities safer: resources.

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The discovery law grew out of a case involving Kalief Browder, who spent three years in jail on Rikers Island awaiting a trial on charges that he stole a backpack in the Bronx. He could not afford the $3,000 bail.

Browder spent most of that time in solitary confinement before the charges were eventually dropped. In 2015, two years after his relief, Browder, 22, committed suicide.
Oscar Diaz

New York City has passed a resolution designating January 31 as Cecilia Gentili Day, in honor of the legendary late activists impact on her birthday.

The City Council held a vote to pass Resolution 678 on January 23, with members of the committee voting 3-1 in favor of the resolution, according to video of the meeting posted to citymeetings.nyc.

Prior to the vote, Council Member Tiffany Caban offered remarks on the resolution and what Gentili meant to New Yorkers. In a video posted to citymeetings.nyc, Caban shared that she was feeling a lot of feelings this morning, and that she was super, super proud to be honoring Gentili. The Councilmember called her a fearless leader, a trans icon, an author, an actress, a pioneering advocate for the dignity and freedom of sex workers and so much more.

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In a separate testimony in front of the city council, Rio Sofia, Gentilis daughter and the co-executive director of the arts organization QUEER|ART, expanded on her mothers tireless advocacy. Sofia herself met Gentili at Apicha Community Health Center, which she grew from a program that served 27 trans people in the city to over 500. Gentili also founded the sex worker rights organization Decrim NY, and was instrumental in the repeal of the Walking While Trans law. Her legislative legacy also includes advocating for the passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which amended New York states civil rights law to add gender identity/expression as a protected category. Sofia also noted that Gentili founded the COIN Clinic at the LGBTQ+ health organization Callen-Lorde, a first-of-its-kind clinic providing free healthcare for sex workers in the city.

Sofias summary of Cecilias impact was just a selection of ways Gentili has shaped the livelihood of the citys trans and sex workers population in the city and beyond. Sofia described that Gentili had received so many accolades that she just kept them in a cardboard box in her closet.

The Legacy of Cecilia Gentili: Artist, Mother, and Saint of Trans Liberation

Gentili lived a life dedicated to our collective liberation. The legendary artist and organizer is the posthumous recipient of our 2024 Vanguard Award.

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At one point, she was like, If there arent material things that come with these accolades, these recognitions, I dont want them, she said. So I want us to remember every January 31st that what Cecilia was fighting for was not about recognition. It was about trans liberation, liberation for immigrants, for sex workers, and I want us to carry forth that legacy.

To honor the inaugural Cecilia Gentili Day, the organizations G.L.I.T.S., Cecilias organization Trans Equity Consulting, and Queer|Art will be holding a celebration at La MaMa Experimental Theatre this afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11)  A New York City resident described the daring confrontation she had after she caught a woman trying to steal packages in her building earlier this month.

The incident happened inside an apartment building near Fulton Street and Washington Avenue in Brooklyns Clinton Hill neighborhood around 7:20 a.m. on Jan. 8., according to the NYPD.

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Stephanie, a 49-year-old woman who lives in the building, said she became suspicious after she heard her bell ring that morning.

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She rang my doorbell. Its 7:30 in the morning, and Im like, Whos calling me at 7:30 in the morning? And when I went out, I looked and I didnt know who this person was at all. But she had gotten through the first door, Stephanie said.

The woman pictured is accused of trying to steal packages from an apartment building in Brooklyn on Jan. 8, 2025, according to police. (Courtesy of NYPD)

Stephanie noticed the woman walking around in the lobby of the apartment building and asked her where she was going.

The woman allegedly started yelling at Stephanie. She was allegedly trying to steal packages and mail left inside the building. Thats when Stephanie stepped in to stop her.

Youre not here for anybody in this building. Youre not taking anything from me. Youre not taking anything from my building. Thats not going to happen, Stephanie said.

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The package thief bit Stephanies hand, but she didnt back down.

I got the packages back from her and shoved her out of the building, Stephanie said.

The suspect then fled in a gold BMW SUV.

Stephanie had a message for the woman, who hasnt been seen since.

Stay away from my building because I wont be as nice next time, Stephanie said.

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)- The first of six panel discussions on the overuse of cell phones in schools took place in Rochester Thursday evening. NYSUT hosted the Disconnected conference at the regional office with doctors, educators, psychologists, parents and students.

On January 22, Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a $13.5 million plan to restrict smartphones in schools statewide. Hochul pointed to a commitment to protecting youth mental health. Many of the 40 participants who gathered in Rochester spoke about the negative impacts of social media and the overuse of cell phones. I have been in practice for 25 years and this is a big issue in the medical field of pediatrics, said Dr. Dennis Kuo a pediatrician with URMC. He spoke about the unprecedented level of prescriptions, counseling and programs provided by childrens doctors these days.

The Mental Health Impact Panel also included the viewpoints from local school counselors, psychologists and social workers. In addition to showcasing the problem participants highlighted the positive results of banning cell phones during the school day. I think one of the really big things that eliminating cell usage does is it kind of reduces the opportunity for bullying and behaviors that come in from outside and causes trouble. explained Brian Ebertz, President of the Greece Teachers Association.

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Greece Central School District implemented its cell phone ban nearly three years ago. Other school districts have similar restrictions in place and schools such as Rochesters Monroe High School have adopted their own distraction-free environments recently.

A second panel focused on local polices. Ebertz and others say the results have been largely positive. They shared best practices and a warning about the group mostly likely to push back against a no cell phone policy in school. You will hear rumbling that arent all positive from parents and I think a lot of that is because they might be concerned because its a change.

Ebertz and others say they understand parents concerns about safety and the need to communicate with their children but schools who have implemented the cell phone ban have successfully found ways to allow the flow of communication.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

A multidisciplinary team of OHSU researchers collaborates to better understand the mechanism of amniotic fluids role in fetal development. Their goal is to identify how its properties can be harnessed to address prenatal health concerns. Credit: Christine Torres Hicks/OHSU

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have made new discoveries about amniotic fluid, a substance historically not well understood in medical research due to the difficulty in obtaining it during pregnancy, especially across gestation.

Amniotic fluid is the vital fluid that surrounds and protects a fetus during pregnancy. In addition to providing much-needed cushion and protection for the fetus, it also aids in development of vital organsespecially the lungs, digestive tract and skinand stabilizes the temperature inside the womb.

The new study, published in the journal Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, found that the addition of amniotic fluid to plasmathe liquid portion of bloodimproves the blood's ability to thicken and clot, which is a critical and likely a protective function throughout pregnancy and during delivery for both the birthing parent and the baby.

The mechanism of amniotic fluid's role in fetal development is not well understood and is understudied. The OHSU study is one of the first to identify how the features and properties of amniotic fluid change over time, especially those properties that play a role in thickening the blood, and how those changes can affect how maternal blood coagulates. If a pregnant person's blood does not clot properly, it can create life-threatening complications for the fetus and birthing parent, including excessive bleeding during pregnancy and delivery.

"We have always known that amniotic fluid is very important for fetal development and growth, but we don't know much about it beyond that," said the study's corresponding author Jamie Lo, M.D., M.C.R., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology (maternal-fetal medicine) in the OHSU School of Medicine, and Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, or ONPRC.

"We examined amniotic fluid across the pregnancy and found that indeed the composition and proteins in the amniotic fluid do change to match the growing needs of the developing baby."

This discovery prompted Lo and her team to work with scientists in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at OHSU to take a deeper dive into the potential protective factors of amniotic fluid, and consider potential regenerative and therapeutic uses that could be developed down the road.

The research involved a multidisciplinary team including Lo, Chih Jen Yang, M.D., Lyndsey Shorey-Kendrick, Ph.D., Joseph Shatzel, M.D. M.C.R., Brian Scottoline, M.D., Ph.D., and Owen McCarty, Ph.D.

Researchers analyzed the properties of amniotic fluid obtained by amniocentesis, a prenatal test that involves sampling a small amount of amniotic fluid to examine the health of the pregnancy, from both human and non-human primates at gestational-age matched timepoints. The findings showed that amniotic fluid increases blood clotting through key fatty acids and proteins that change each trimester and help regulate coagulation.

With the untapped potential for amniotic fluid to aid in diagnosing and treating various prenatal conditions, researchers are now collaborating with Sanjay Malhotra, Ph.D., professor of cell, developmental and cancer biology in the OHSU School of Medicine, to target disorders of pregnancyincluding disorders that affect the blood and blood-forming organsthat could benefit from the protective properties of proteins and other compounds within amniotic fluid.

The team is also working with OHSU's Fetal Care Program to collect unique amniotic fluid samples, including pregnancies undergoing in-utero repair surgeries for neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. The hope is that through studying amniotic fluid from these pregnancies, it may be possible to determine if there are any unique developmental elements that may be targeted for future interventions to improve health outcomes.

Researchers are eager to learn more about the potential uses of amniotic fluid components and how they might be harnessed to improve prenatal and maternal health.

"Babies born prematurely miss out on critical weeks developing within amniotic fluid," said the study's co-senior author Brian Scottoline, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics (neonatology), OHSU School of Medicine. "But if we have a better understanding of amniotic fluid, how it develops and what properties are valuable for what functions, that opens up many new possibilities for creating new therapies."

Lo added, "Through our research, our team is learning that amniotic fluid may be a critical precursor to breast milkalmost like 'pre-term' milk for a fetus in utero. With that analogy, could we eventually develop a formula that's fit for preterm babies that mimics amniotic fluid, aiding in growth and development and protecting babies from complications of being born prematurely? This is really the tip of the iceberg for what's possible."

More information: Chih Jen Yang et al, Characterization of the procoagulant phenotype of amniotic fluid across gestation in rhesus macaques and humans, Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.rpth.2024.102676
The New York Times, citing officials from Ukraine and the US, has reported that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine have been pulled from the front line in Kursk Oblast after suffering heavy losses.

Source: The New York Times

Quote: "The North Korean troops, sent to bolster Russian forces trying to push back a Ukrainian offensive inside Russias borders, have not been seen at the front for about two weeks, the officials said after requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence matters."

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Details: Eleven thousand North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in November, but according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, their numbers have halved in just three months.

An unnamed Ukrainian official explained that disorganisation within the North Korean ranks and their lack of coordination with Russian units quickly led to significant losses.

Sources among officials and military personnel reported that upon arriving on the battlefield, North Korean soldiers were left to their own devices, advancing with minimal armoured vehicles and rarely halting to regroup or retreat.

Quote: "Many of the soldiers are among North Koreas best-trained special operations troops, but the Russians appear to have used them as foot soldiers, sending them forth in waves across fields studded with land mines to be mowed down by heavy Ukrainian fire."

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The NYT, citing US officials, reports that the decision to withdraw North Korean troops from the front line may not be permanent. They suggest that the North Koreans could be redeployed after additional training or once the Russians develop new strategies to deploy them, aiming to prevent further heavy losses.

Background:

On 9 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that North Korean forces fighting alongside Russian troops against the Ukrainian military had sustained 4,000 casualties, both killed and wounded in action.

On 13 January, South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing intelligence, reported that at least 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and another 2,700 wounded in the war against Ukraine.

On 23 January, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War indicated that the new deployment of North Korean troops would sustain the current pace of infantry assaults in Russias Kursk Oblast. However, they are likely to suffer comparable losses, with 30,000 to 45,000 killed and injured per month.

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(NewsNation)  More than two dozen bodies were recovered from the scene of a crash Wednesday night between an American Airlines jet carrying 64 people and a military Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Both aircraft were sent into the icy Potomac River near Washington, D.C. in what officials say is likely to be the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

Yet being in such a plane crash is relatively rare, researchers who analyzed the data found.

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What we know about the DC plane crash victims

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study from 2024 found that the risk of a fatality from commercial air travel is low  1 per every 13.7 million passenger boardings globally between 2018 and 2022. In 2008-2017, there was 1 fatality for every 7.9 million boardings.

MIT noted that despite these there are no guarantees of continual improvement, pointing to near-collisions in the U.S. that had recently gained headlines.

Airline safety is always an ongoing task, a press release from MIT said.

Clint Henderson, managing editor at The Points Guy, said on Morning in America that in the aftermath of the tragedy, it is important to note incidents like this are very unusual.

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I think we just really need to reiterate to the public that flying is among the safest forms of transportation in the world, he told NewsNation.

National Transportation Safety Board records show that before Wednesdays collision, the last time a U.S. airline crashed was on Feb. 12, 2009, in New York. Fifty people died in that crash.

Our World in Datas Max Roser wrote last December that, per U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. airline customers traveled 12.3 trillion passenger miles since 2009. As one light-year or the distance light travels over one year, is 5.9 million miles, the total distance that had been traveled without a crash from 2009 through 2024 is 2.3 light years, Roser wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A police officer fatally shot a man who fired multiple rounds at Lake Worth police during a traffic stop, which led to a chase and the suspect barricading himself inside a house in northwest Fort Worth on Thursday evening, police said.

At the end of the hours-long standoff in the 1700 block of Skyline Drive, the man came out of the house, held a handgun to his head and then fired again at officers as they pleaded with him to put the gun down, the Fort Worth and Lake Worth police chiefs said at a news conference.

When the man opened fire, a Fort Worth SWAT team officer shot him in the torso, Police Chief Neil Noakes said. The man was given medical attention and taken to a hospital, where he died. His name has not been released.

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Officers had tried for several hours to negotiate and deescalate the situation, and they fired less lethal rounds at the man before he began shooting at them outside the house, but those tactics didnt work to disarm him, Noakes said.

The incident began when a Lake Worth special operations unit stopped the man for a traffic violation about 4:15 p.m., Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian said. The driver shot at the officers and sped away, Manoushagian said. The man stopped in the driveway of a house in Sansom Park, where he fired at officers again before continuing the chase, the chief said.

Investigators believe the house where the suspect ended up on Skyline Drive is the home of a relative. A woman who he let out of the house during the standoff is believed to be his mother, police said.

A Fort Worth SWAT team and Crisis Intervention Team and officers from multiple other North Texas departments began responding to the residence on Skyline about 5 p.m., according to a 911 call log.

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I am with my officers at the scene of this incident. They were fired upon multiple times during a traffic stop and subsequent pursuit, Manoushagian said in a social media post shortly before 7 p.m. He said that no officers were injured, and he asked for prayers for a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

Lake Worth police said that the suspect was contained at that time and there was no ongoing public threat. About 9:40 p.m., they announced that the standoff had ended and they were working with Fort Worth police to release further information.

During the standoff, Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TVs helicopter captured footage of fireworks being thrown from the home and exploding on the lawn.

Asked why he thought the man had tried to evade officers, Manoushagian said the suspect was on federal probation and that he threw items that may have been contraband out of his vehicle during the chase.

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The Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office will perform an autopsy and identify the man.

The Fort Worth police Major Case Unit, Internal Affairs and the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorneys Office will investigate the shooting. Police plan to release body-camera video at a later date, Noakes said.

This was the second time Fort Worth police have fatally shot a person this year. On Jan. 15, officers killed a man who they said charged at them with knives during a domestic violence call on Westgate Drive.

Fort Worth officers also critically wounded a man who shot at them during a Jan. 9 standoff on Seafield Lane, police said.

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Norwich  Patty Fedorshak, 64, has been a client of United Community & Family Services Healthcare for years.

On Thursday afternoon, following a regular visit to her primary care physician at UCFS Edward & Mary Lord Family Health Center on Town Street, the Griswold resident sat in a chair in the lobby, and explained that after working her whole life she now suffers from permanent nerve damage that makes her unable to work.

She is one of 16,000 in the state who rely on UCFS for primary health care, dental, gynecological and behavioral health care services.

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Unbeknownst to Fedorshak, only half an hour earlier, U.S. Rep Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, along with other state officials and health care leaders, held a press conference in the same building to stress that President Donald Trumps recent series of executive orders threaten funding for UCFS services.

On Monday, the federal government announced an indefinite freeze of grant funds, so that officials could review whether they align with Trumps executive orders on programs related to climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion.

UCFS President and CEO Jennifer Granger said the freeze blocked funding for UCFS. After a court on Tuesday paused the freeze until next week, the White House rescinded it Wednesday.

Granger said Trumps actions have caused many to worry about the future of programs like UCFS, which provides a range of health services to low-income clients, the homeless and undocumented people.

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Freezing or by any other means disrupting the services that we provide at our five community health centers and 10 school-based health centers, which we provide to over 16,000 unique individuals each year, puts the health and safety of our community at risk. Fear and turmoil are antithetical to health and well-being, Granger said.

During the press conference, officials from UCFS, along with Courtney and state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, urged for the fundings protection.

Granger said that countrywide, 15,000 similar health centers are critical parts of the countrys health care infrastructure, serving 32.5 million people. In Connecticut they serve 440,000.

Places like this we need. We need them. OK? Without them, youre going to have a lot of really sick people, sick babies, a lot of deaths  and I hate saying that word  but that will happen, Fedorshak said. They are, theyre just so needed. They need more. They need more places like this. They are a lifeline of the people in this country, places like this.

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After the conference, legislators urged UCFS clients to let people know how they would struggle if they lost the UCFS services.

Today is a day of action thats going on all across the country, where theres events happening to really personalize and mobilize the impact that a spending pause could have, Courtney said.

If a federally qualified health center is not going to be available for people, that really pretty much shuts the door in terms of their ability to get consistent, high-quality health care. And that really resonates on (Capitol Hill), he said.

Osten said that UCFS clients should make sure to contact their representatives and let them know how the freeze is putting them in jeopardy.

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And then, contact people who are supporting the administration, and say: What are you going to do for me? Because I need help. Osten added.

Deborah Kievits, a UCFS board member, said she relied on its services as a single mother.

There are so many families that are stressing out about this, she said, questioning the presidents motives for interfering with the lives of millions of Americans. This is peoples lives were talking about.

d.drainville@theday.com
Columbia S.C. (WSPA)  A project to build two new reactors at the VC Summer Nuclear Station could soon be finished giving South Carolinians more clean energy options.

In 2017, the project to build two reactors was left abandoned and ended up costing power customers $8 billion with no reward.

Last week, Santee Cooper sent out a proposal in hopes a private company would buy the site and complete the plant.

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Senator Tom Davis spearheaded the mission and said that a private sector could alleviate customers costs and add two, 2200 megawatts of clean energy to the state.

We ought to encourage that as the general assembly. It is in our best interest that Santee Cooper has a robust private sector response, Davis said.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee met discussing the addition of more electric companies to the state.

Senator Russell Ott, who has supported the continuation of the project, said he is worried about the potential risks.

The scenario of betting wrong and making a bad deal could also include the electricity not showing up and not being there, Ott said.

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Scott Elliot, Lawyer for the South Carolina Energy Users Committee, said while there could be economic risks on individuals and the company that takes on the project, adding another electric company for customers in South Carolina could be beneficial.

The risk is that the risk is one the companies some risk but not nearly as great on the companies. Instead of taking their chances with Santee Cooper, or Dominion or Duke they take their chances wheeling them in, Elliot said.

Governor Henry McMaster said in his state of the state address this week that restarting the construction at VC Summer would help fuel South Carolinas power needs.

Across the country, one that will spur nationwide investment and construction of new nuclear power generation, he said.

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The governor said this project will provide America with ample, clean and resilient energy for the future.

According to Chairman Senator Shane Massey, the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue the talk about South Carolinas energy future next week.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
At least two people with Ohio connections have been identified as being among the total 67 people authorities say were killed in a mid-air collision between an American Eagle regional passenger jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

Grace Maxwell, 20, a student at Cedarville University in Greene County, was on board the American Eagle flight from her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, that collided with an Army helicopter at about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday while the jet was on approach to a runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

She was among 60 passengers and 4 crew members aboard the American Eagle flight, operated by PSA for American Airlines.

Grace Maxwell, a junior at Cedarville University in Greene County, Ohio, was one of 67 passengers killed in a mid-air collision between an American Eagle regional passenger jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter Wednesday night in Washington D.C.

Authorities said all aboard the flight died after the fiery collision with the helicopter broke the aircraft apart and sent it plunging in three sections into the icy Potomac River below. Three U.S. Army service members aboard the helicopter also died, despite the best efforts of hundreds of first responders from the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland and federal agencies who raced to the scene.

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Maxwell was aboard the Wichita to Washington flight to return to Cedarville University on a connecting flight from there, according to a statement from the private Baptist university located in Cedarville, Ohio. She was a junior studying mechanical engineering and minoring in biomedical engineering, a resident of Maddox Hall on campus, and was scheduled to graduate in 2026.

Her father declined comment Thursday night when reached by The Dispatch.

Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering, Tim Norman, Ph.D, who served as her secondary advisor, said in a prepared release from the university. Described as a "thoughtful and quiet student leader," the university said Grace assisted mechanical engineering faculty as a grader, most recently with Luke Fredette, Ph.D.

Maxwell was scheduled to serve on a project this semester that would create a hand-stabilizing device for a Dayton boy so that he could feed himself instead of relying on others, the university said.

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Thomas White, president of Cedarville University, will address the student body about Grace's death during the all-campus chapel program on Friday. He will begin speaking at 10 am in the Dixon Ministry Center. The chapel program will be live streamed at https://www.cedarville.edu/chapel/live.

Funeral arrangements were not complete Thursday night.

Woman with Cincinnati roots also confirmed dead in crash

A lawyer with Cincinnati roots who was flying back to Washington D.C. is also confirmed to have died in the crash, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33, was flying back to Washington from a work trip on her birthday when the plane and helicopter crashed, her partner of six years, David Seidman, told The Enquirer.

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"She was just the best partner and so special, had such a sharp wit, and just really pushed everyone around her to be the best versions of themselves," Seidman said.

Keys was traveling with another attorney from the law offices of Wilkinson Stekloff LPP in Washington, where she had worked since 2021, according to her LinkedIn page. and her law firm biography.

Valedictorian of her class at Madeira High School in Cincinnati, she attended Tufts University and Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining the law firm, she was a law clerk for Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, her biography states.

She also previously interned for Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Michael R. Barrett for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

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This story has been updated to reflect the latest information. Check back later at Dispatch.com for any additional updates.

smeighan@dispatch.com

@ShahidMeighan

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cedarville University student one of 67 killed in D.C. plane crash
Nine people with the Ohio Division of Forestry were sent to California to help with the ongoing wildfires last week.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

News Center 7s Mason Fletcher talked with Tom Macey, who has been on a few trips like this in the past.

TRENDING STORIES:

Weve been assigned to the Cleveland National Forest, Macey said. Where were working particularly is just north of the San Diego area.

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Macey has been with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry for 13 years, and says he goes on trips like this once or twice a year.

Macey is a part of the crew that arrived in California Monday.

We had a few days to prepare, knowing that we were going to be listed as available to come out here and help, Macey said. So it was a pretty quick turn around just to be ready.

Macey says they are south of the fires, and havent seen any action yet.

The area were working, theres no ongoing large fires, Macey said. But obviously in the region, there definitely was some recent good fire activity.

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Macey added that the conditions are so dry, they have to be ready for anything.

Make sure we have a good plan of action, good communication, and we can respond quickly and safely if any new fires do start in the area, Macey said.

The crew has been working with local fire crews who have seen the devastation first hand to learn about the situation.

Weather, current and predicted, and just kind of getting familiarized with the area, doing some recon, Macey said.

Macey said he could feel the emotions from residents as soon as he got there.

We have had some interactions with local folks here in the area and they definitely do have concern about the fires occurring in the region, Macey said.

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The crew does not have a clear timeline on when they will be headed back. It was estimated they would be needed for two weeks and timing will depend on the fires, but they will be out there as long as it takes.

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(WKBN)  Last August, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost launched the statewide hotline to report human trafficking. Now, other ways of reporting it are being added to it.

The number is 844-END-OHHT.

In an email on Thursday, Yosts office announced people can TEXT ENDOHHT to 847411.

Theres also an App. You can download ENDOHHT wherever you get apps on your phone. Or submit an online form here.

Tips coming into the hotline, which is operated 24/7 by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, are assessed by criminal intelligence analysts, who will forward relevant information to the appropriate local law enforcement agency or victim advocacy center for social services.

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For emergency situations, individuals should always call 911 immediately.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  There was a flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump on immigration, and now Ohio lawmakers are also getting to work on the issue.

Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) reintroduced a bill from late last year  House Bill 26, also known as the Protecting Ohio Communities Act.

Whitehall student tests positive for tuberculosis

The bill requires state and local authorities to cooperate with the federal government in the enforcement of immigration laws and imposes a monetary penalty for noncompliance.

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Anyone that provides sanctuary to them is violating federal law and any city or government within the state of Ohio that is providing sanctuary to these individuals who are here illegally, you are going to risk losing state funding, period, he said. If you want to mess around and find out, thats on you.

If a local government does not comply with the legislation, it stands to lose 10% of local government funding distributed by state lawmakers. Williams said he landed at that number because it had to be enough to make it a deterrent.

Why would we ever just continue to give you money if youre not going to do what the state of Ohio says you should be doing, he said.

Williams said this aims to stop Ohio cities from becoming sanctuary cities, which limit or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. He believes most actors will comply with the law, if it is enacted, and said legal residents have nothing to worry about.

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Ohio university student among victims of D.C. plane crash

Williams specifically took aim at Cleveland and Columbus, and said even after Trumps executive orders, he does not see them getting on board.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the City of Columbus said that Mayor Andrew Ginther has been clear that the city complies with state and federal laws, and that people will be held accountable for committing a crime.

The citys participation in immigration investigations is limited to situations where theres been a crime  theres a warrant, a criminal violation was reported, or there has been an arrest, a Columbus spokesperson wrote. We interpret this policy to be in compliance with all state and federal requirements. Its not a productive exercise to speculate at future policy changes. Today, our policy remains our policy and our policy is in compliance with state and federal law.

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Williams said an illegal or undocumented immigrants presence in Ohio in itself is a crime.

As far as the City of Cleveland, spokesperson Tyler Sinclair said the city will continue to aggressively pursue arrests and enforcement actions against anyone who commits violent crimesregardless of their immigration status. Sinclair said the city will continue to cooperate with federal partners that have this same goal in mind of combatting violence.

How security upgrade could help Ohioans who have SNAP benefits stolen

Sinclair pointed out a statement from Mayor Justin Bibb earlier this week, where he said his administration will not engage in the deportation of individuals who have not committed violent crimes.

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Its important to point out that we will not be doing the federal governments job for them, Sinclair wrote. We do not ask the federal government to issue speeding tickets or fill potholes, nor should the federal government ask us to administer Social Security or  in this case  enforce general federal immigration law. 

Williams said not only is it a crime of undocumented immigrants to be in Ohio but said a lot of them have committed additional crimes in our community.

There, unfortunately, has been an intentional conflation between violent crimes and immigration status, Sinclair said. Threatening to pull key funds that our community relies on  a majority of which goes to our public safety forces  goes beyond a political game as it would have dire consequences for our residents and others across the state.

Why is it necessary if the federal government has its own policies? Williams said it is an extra layer of protection.

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Ohio schools risk federal funding if they teach unpatriotically under Trump order

Because the federal constitution has a clause that is anti-commandeering, Donald Trump cannot force states to comply, but we have the authority as the legislature to make sure that our state complies and cooperates with federal enforcement efforts, Williams said. Its not a question of whether or not the federal government is motivated. Its whether or not our mayors, our county officials, our city council members, our trustees are going to be motivated to assist in that endeavor here in the state of Ohio.

But Chief Lobbyist of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio Gary Daniels said this bill is not necessary for immigration officers to do their jobs.

The federal government, ICE, whomever can still come in, they can still conduct workplace raids, they can still go knocking on peoples doors, they can do all those enforcement actions that they always do, Daniels said. The question is, do local governments, does local law enforcement have to participate? No, they do not and that has been, you know, the way for this for a long, long time.

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Daniels said House Bill 26 unfairly places a variety of burdens on local government and puts local law enforcement, not typically trained to deal with immigration issues, in a tricky spot.

Not only are they liable financially for violations of constitutional rights, but theyre going to have to come up with the money for everything else they need to do, he said. It puts local governments in a very difficult spot because their funding is being sometimes dramatically affected either way, whether they comply or whether they do not.

Federal agencies ordered to implement transgender bathroom ban

Williams said enforcement will not just be by hearsay within local communities.

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Theyre going to have to affirmatively state to the attorney general that they dont have these policies on the books, he said. Theres going to be a mechanism for people to be able to raise concerns and open investigations into whether or not these cities have these policies and eventually, were going to get to the bottom of it. If you lie and we find out later on that you did have these policies, you are going to be at risk of losing substantial dollars.

The bill was just introduced, but Williams said he is hopeful it can pass in time to decide whether some cities lose funding before the state budget passes this spring or summer.

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A Bidwell, Ohio, man is facing a charge of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities, according to a press release from the Russell Police Department.

Corey R. Hogan was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation targeting individuals attempting to exploit minors online, according to Russell PD.

Hogan is in the Greenup County Detention Center on a $50,000 cash bond.

The Ashland Police Department assisted Russell PD in the investigation, according to the release.

RPD is an affiliate agency with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
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: Magda Ehlers from Pexels

Young people's access to gender-affirming medical care has been making headlines.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a review into health care for trans and gender-diverse children and adolescents. The National Health and Medical Research Council will conduct the review.

In addition, The Australian published an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for a federal inquiry, and a nationwide pause on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.

This followed Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls announcing an immediate pause on access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies for new patients under 18 in the state's public health system, pending a review.

In the United States, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to restrict access to gender-affirming care for anyone under 19.

This recent wave of political attention might imply gender-affirming care for young people is risky, controversial, perhaps even new.

But Australian courts have already extensively tested questions about its legitimacy, the conditions under which it can be provided, and the scope and limits of parental powers to authorize it.

What are puberty blockers?

Puberty blockers suppress the release of estrogen and testosterone, which are primarily responsible for the physical changes associated with puberty. They are generally safe and used in pediatric medicine for various conditions, including precocious (early) puberty, hormone disorders and some hormone-sensitive cancers.

International and domestic standards of care state that puberty blockers are reversible, non-harmful, and can prevent young people from experiencing the distress of undergoing a puberty that does not align with their gender identity. They also give young people time to develop the maturity needed to make informed decisions about more permanent medical interventions further down the line.

Puberty blockers are one type of gender-affirming care. This care includes medical, psychological and social interventions to support transgender, gender-diverse and, in some cases, intersex people.

Young people in Australia need a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria to receive this care. Gender dysphoria is defined as the psychological distress that can arise when a person's gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth. This diagnosis is only granted after an exhaustive and often onerous medical assessment.

After a diagnosis, treatment may involve hormones such as estrogen or testosterone and/or puberty-blocking medications.

Hormone therapies involving estrogen and testosterone are only prescribed in Australia once a young person has been deemed capable of giving informed consent, usually around the age of 16. For puberty blockers, parents can consent at a younger age.

Can a child legally access puberty blockers?

Gender-affirming care has been the subject of extensive debate in the Family Court of Australia (now the Federal Circuit and Family Court).

Between 2004 and 2017, every minor who wanted to access gender-affirming care had to apply for a judge to approve it. However, medical professionals, human rights organizations and some judges condemned this process.

In research for my forthcoming book, I found the Family Court has heard at least 99 cases of a young person's gender-affirming care since 2004. Across these cases, the court examined the potential risks of gender-affirming treatment and considered whether parents should have the authority to consent on their child's behalf.

When determining whether parents can consent to a particular medical procedure for their child, the court must consider whether the treatment is "therapeutic" and whether there is a significant risk of a wrong decision being made.

However, in a landmark 2017 case, the court ruled that judicial oversight was not required because gender-affirming treatments meet the standards of normal medical care.

It reasoned that because these therapies address an internationally recognized medical condition, are supported by leading professional medical organizations, and are backed by robust clinical research, there is no justification for treating them differently from any other standard medical intervention. These principals still stand today.

What if parents disagree?

Sometimes parents disagree with decisions about gender-affirming care made by their child, or each other.

As with all forms of health care, under Australian law, parents and legal guardians are responsible for making medical decisions on behalf of their children. That responsibility usually shifts once those children reach a sufficient age and level of maturity to make their own decisions.

However, in another landmark case in 2020, the court ruled gender-affirming treatments cannot be given to minors without consent from both parents, even if the child is capable of providing their own consent. This means that if there is any disagreement among parents and the young person about either their capacity to consent or the legitimacy of the treatment, only a judge can authorize it.

In such instances, the court must assess whether the proposed treatment is in the child's best interests and make a determination accordingly. Again, these principals apply today.

Have the courts ever denied care?

Across the at least 99 cases the court has heard about gender-affirming care since 2004, 17 have involved a parent opposing the treatment and one has involved neither parent supporting it.

Regardless of parental support, in every case, the court has been responsible for determining whether gender-affirming treatment was in the child's best interests. These decisions were based on medical evidence, expert testimony, and the specific circumstances of the young person involved.

In all cases bar one, the court has found overwhelming evidence to support gender-affirming care, and approved it.

Supporting transgender young people

The history of Australia's legal debates about gender-affirming care show it has already been the subject of intense legal and medical scrutiny.

Gender-affirming care is already difficult for young people to access, with many lacking the parental support required or facing other barriers to care.

Gender-affirming care is potentially life-saving, or at the very least life-affirming. It almost invariably leads to better social and emotional outcomes. Further restricting access is not the "protection" its opponents claim.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  An Ohio Senate bill would require public schools to display at least one historical document in every classroom from a list of nine, one of which is the Ten Commandments.

Sen. Terry Johnson (R-Portsmouth) introduced Senate Bill 34, also called the Historical Educational Displays Act. S.B. 34 is currently in the Senate Education Committee and is co-sponsored by seven senators, all Republican. If passed, every public classroom in Ohio would have to display at least one text off this list of nine historical documents:

The Mayflower Compact The Declaration of Independence The Northwest Ordinance The mottoes of the U.S. and the state of Ohio The Ten Commandments The Magna Carta The Bill of Rights The U.S. Constitution The Articles of Confederation

Boards of education would also be allowed to erect monuments or markers to any of the historical documents listed. Under the law, each historical document would be accompanied by an educational document explaining its historical significance.

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Ohio schools risk federal funding if they teach unpatriotically under Trump order

The Ten Commandments stand out among the other secular documents, particularly as it has been ruled unconstitutional to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools multiple times. As recently as 2019, a New Philadelphia, Ohio, school was made to remove a 92-year-old plaque displaying the Ten Commandments after the Freedom from Religion Foundation said it violated the First Amendment.

The bill does not appear to have bipartisan support as it is written.

Based upon past US Supreme Court precedent, were very concerned about the constitutionality of the provision of S.B. 34 that includes the Ten Commandments, Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio said. This precedent was most recently upheld by a federal court in Louisiana, which blocked their law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom.

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The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing a religion, including in public schools. According to the United States Courts government website, courts typically use the Lemon test  named for a landmark relevant case, Lemon v. Kurtzman  when considering if government interaction with religion violates the First Amendment. Under the Lemon test, the government can only assist religion if the main purpose is secular, it neither promotes nor limits religion, and there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.

Dr. Amy Acton on running for Ohio governor and why she quit as state health director

The ACLU of Ohio opposes Senate Bill 34 as it is a plainly obvious attempt to unconstitutionally impose religious beliefs upon Ohios public school children, Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU of Ohio, said. That Ten Commandments displays would be one option among several others does nothing to make this proposal any less unconstitutional. Ohioans want solutions to actual problems, not the endless culture war battles they see coming out of the Statehouse designed to distract them.

In June 2002, the ACLU of Ohio won two court cases in one week challenging the display of the Ten Commandments in public high schools in the state. The first of the two cases specifically barred public schools from displaying the Ten Commandments, reinforcing a 1980 Supreme Court case that agreed posting the Ten Commandments in a public school violated the First Amendment.

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The United States does not have a national religion, and as state lawmakers, we should not be promoting any one religion over another in our public schools, Antonio said.

Ohio Senate Republicans did not respond to a request for comment, nor have they publicized a statement. If it became law as written, every classroom in Ohio would need to hang up at least one of the documents by July 1, 2026.

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Ohio Ballot Board member, State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, speaks at a Ballot Board meeting. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)

Ohio senators are weighing a measure that would make Secretary of State Frank LaRoses voter fraud investigations a permanent feature of the office and give the unit tasked with pursuing those crimes a more explicit mandate.

The bills sponsor, state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, has successfully passed election legislation prioritized by LaRose in the past and is seen as a potential candidate for the office when the secretarys term ends.

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The approach would codify an election integrity unit within the secretarys office handling allegations of voter fraud or suppression  either on its own initiative or after accusations from the public. Under the proposals current drafting, investigating allegations, regardless of their merit, would be compulsory.

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The office already has subpoena power under current law and the new measure allows the secretary to refer cases to the attorney general if a local prosecutor doesnt file charges within 12 months. The office would also be charged with producing an annual report detailing the allegations it received and the results of its investigations.

Questions and answers

Before committee members, Gavarone argued its necessary to establish LaRoses election investigation office in law because that could be eliminated in the future should we not have a secretary of state as dedicated to election security and voter confidence.

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She argued her measure would increase transparency by producing an annual report of the offices work, and greater accountability by mandating investigation of all accusations that come over the office transom.

Notably, LaRose has made no secret of his voter fraud allegations  regularly announcing the number of registrations hes flagged for investigation. However, many of the cases LaRose has identified havent moved county prosecutors. In many instances, they argue, the facts of the case point to mistakes or misunderstandings.

When the secretary re-referred his cases to Attorney General Dave Yost last year, the AG identified just six cases worth prosecuting out of the more than 600 sent to his office. One of those individuals, it turned out, was dead, and like county prosecutors, Yost indicated questions about whether it was worth his staffs time to divert resources to clear up clerical problems with voter registration forms.

In committee, state Sen. Willis Blackshear, D-Dayton, pressed Gavarone on costs. How many staffers would the office employ? How large an appropriation would it need in the upcoming budget?

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Gavarone had no specific answer to either.

I can check with Secretary Larose as to how many employees they have right now, she said, adding that her bill codifies an existing system, and shed have to check what the costs were in previous years.

State Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, expressed concerns about bogus voter fraud allegations. Leading up to the 2024 election, county boards of elections around the state were swamped with allegations, many of them frivolous, of people illegally registered to vote.

Are we going to overburden county prosecutors office(s) with these malicious and, for the very large majority of the time, false accusations that people are actually committing voting fraud?

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Gavarone pushed back, the election integrity unit would research the issue, investigate, and determine if it looks like theres a fraud, she said.

If the prosecutor does not prosecute within 12 months, then the Attorney General can come in and prosecute those cases, she added.

Looking ahead

Under current law, the secretary of state must investigate problems like voter fraud, but county prosecutors are primarily responsible for actually pursuing charges. That disconnect has been the source of friction, with the secretary criticizing prosecutors for declining to pursue cases and prosecutors arguing back that most of the referrals are flimsy.

Lou Tobin, who heads up the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said their view on referrals hasnt changed.

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What they really are is tips that are passed from the secretary of states office to the local prosecutor, he explained. And when the prosecutor tries to chase down the tip, they either find that theres nothing there, or they find that theres not anything that can be prosecuted.

Still, hes actually kind of optimistic about the bill. He argued prosecutors are just as concerned about election security as the secretary  they just need the secretarys team to do more vetting and investigation on the front end to improve their work product and to send us better referrals.

He suggested the Senate bill might be a way to get everyone on the same page.

Speaking after the hearing, Ohio Association of Election Officials Executive Director Aaron Ockerman explained his organization hasnt taken a position on the measure. If its simply codifying the status quo, he explained, county boards will continue operating as they have been.

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Its really more, you tell us where to send the referrals, and well send them, he said.

As for those registration challenges that bogged down county boards ahead of last years election, he doesnt think Gavarones measure will make an impact.

All the investigatory work as it relates to a (registration) challenge does fall on the board of elections, because its not necessarily fraud, he said. It could be a mistake with somebodys registration, it could be transposed numbers, but then it falls on us to kind of do that research.

Ockerman did note theyd like for lawmakers to take a second look at Ohios challenge statutes.

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Wood County got 17,000 challenges, he said, and some of them were, like, a voter registration got flagged in our database because there was an extra space when we got the record from the BMV.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

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FRANKLIN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV)  A new lodge will open in Mississippi.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation and the Scenic Rivers Development announced the planned debut of the Okhissa Lake Lodge, which is the first Destination by Hyatt brand hotel in Mississippi.

When do applications open for 2025 Pelahatchie Bay Alligator Season?

According to officials, the lodge is expected to open in 2027 on Okhissa Lake in Franklin County. The lodge will invite guests to experience 190,000 acres of the Homochitto National Forest through outdoor programming, amenities and culinary offerings.



The Okhissa Lake Lodge will provide a 200-room lodge including cabin suites, a 1,000-person conference center, swimming pool with hot tub, a spa, restaurants and a boardwalk overlooking the marina.

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More Oklahoma school districts are closing their doors Friday in an attempt to stop the spread of the flu.

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Edmond Public Schools and Norman Public Schools announced Thursday they would close campuses Friday as the districts work to clean and disinfect school buildings.

OKCPS will be in virtual learning, while Edmond and Norman schools will be closed.

Flu has been on the rise in Oklahoma since late November, reaching a peak in the week ending Jan. 18, the latest data available. That week, 25% of flu tests in the state came back positive, and there were three flu-associated deaths.

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Other schools that have had to close this week to battle flu spread include Deer Creek, Lindsay, Dale, Piedmont, Ardmore and Marietta.

Here's what you need to know about which schools are affected and about flu in Oklahoma.

Update on flu in the U.S.

Oklahoma is not the only state dealing with an increase in flu cases. A quarter of all flu tests were positive across the U.S. for the week ending Jan. 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strains of flu A were the predominant viruses reported that week.

Nearly 6% of visits to a health care provider were for respiratory illness symptoms, while 31,234 were admitted to the hospital with influenza.

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According to the CDC's estimates, there have been at least 16 million illnesses, 190,000 hospitalizations and 8,300 deaths from flu so far this season.

Several Oklahoma school districts have closed this week because of a high number of flu cases.

What are flu symptoms?

Symptoms and their severity can vary for each person infected. But even in a person with little to no symptoms, the illness can be spread to others.

The signs and symptoms of the flu usually come on suddenly, the CDC says. Those who are sick often experience fever, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue. Vomiting and diarrhea can occur, more often in children than adults.

Those more susceptible to severe illness include children under 5, adults 65 or older, pregnant people and people with certain chronic health conditions.

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(This story was updated to add new information.)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: More Oklahoma school districts are closed, battling flu outbreaks
(NewsNation)  Oklahoma schools leader Ryan Walters said his department will help President Donald Trump enforce his immigration policies in any way that we can.

Weve said our schools will not be sanctuary schools in Oklahoma, Walters, the Republican state superintendent, told NewsNations Connell McShane on Wednesday.

Okla. Board of Education OKs rule to require students citizenship status

Walters supported a recent proposal by the states Board of Education that would require parents to show proof of their childs U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status when enrolling them in public schools.

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The proposed rule would not prevent students without legal status from attending school, but it would require districts to record the number of students for whom proof of citizenship was not provided and to report those numbers to the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

We will work with President Trump, Walters said. If he needs the information, well get it for him.

Ryan Walters filmed himself praying for Trump, made students watch it

The rule, which the board unanimously approved Tuesday, has drawn criticism from many teachers and civil liberties groups.

Parents and students protested outside the states education building Tuesday night, and some parents said theyre considering pulling their kids out of school or moving.

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When asked whether the policy could dissuade students from attending school out of fear of providing their immigration status, Walters said its about keeping families intact.

If the president and ICE dont know where the families are, where the students are, youre going to have families that are deported without their kids, Walters said.

He added: This is what the American people have asked for. President Trump is fulfilling a promise.

The rule still needs to be approved by the state Legislature and the governor before it becomes official.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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SAND SPRINGS, Okla. (KSNW)  An Oklahoma police officer has been arrested, accused of stealing from a dead person.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says the Sand Springs Police Department asked the OSBI to investigate allegations of grand larceny. The incident allegedly happened on Dec. 23, when law enforcement was called to an unattended death at an apartment complex in the Tulsa suburb.

Investigation: Staff member at Winfield school accused of improper conduct

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Officers collected the dead persons personal belongings for safekeeping. The OSBI says that during the investigation, police learned that the victims credit card had been used multiple times after their death.

Investigators allegedly tracked those charges back to a 24-year-old Sand Springs Police Officer. According to the OSBI, the officer was arrested and booked into the Tulsa County Detention Center on Thursday.

Formal charges against the man are pending.

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SAND SPRINGS, Okla. (KFOR)  According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, a Sand Springs Police Officer has been arrested as part of a grand larceny investigation.

The OSBI says the Sand Springs Police Department asked for the bureaus help on January 30, 2025.

LOCAL NEWS: Mother of five has SNAP benefits stolen for the second time in months

Officials say on December 23, 2024, officers responded to a deceased person covered at an apartment complex near South Apple Creek Drive and West Wekiwa Road in Sand Springs. During the investigation, officers found items belonging to the victim. It was discovered that the victims credit card had been used following their death.

Theodore Cook. Image courtesy OSBI.

Investigators tracked down the credit card charges and identified 24-year-old Theodore Cook as a suspect. Cook is also an officer with the Sand Springs Police Department.

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Based on the evidence gathered, Cook was arrested and booked into the Tulsa County Detention Center. Official charges are pending and the investigation is still ongoing.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
The Okmulgee Public Schools Board of Education will consider a resignation agreement with its superintendent Thursday as the Oklahoma State Department of Education opens an investigation into the district.

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters announced Thursday that his agency is opening an investigation into the Okmulgee school district amid a series of "complaints that include teacher misconduct, financial impropriety, and a lack of appropriate disciplinary action."

The state agency received complaints regarding Okmulgee High School through its Awareity reporting system, according to a news release. Awareity was deployed by former State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister for community members to report concerns about school safety, bullying and other issues.

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The board was to consider approving a resignation agreement with its superintendent Martin Clay Vinyard during its meeting on Thursday, effective June 30, according to the agenda. LuVona Copeland, the district's assistant superintendent of instruction and curriculum, will be considered to replace Vinyard as acting superintendent.

The Oklahoma Department of Education is opening up an investigation on Okmulgee Public Schools. A series of complaints that include teacher misconduct, financial impropriety, and a lack of appropriate disciplinary action. The allegations are extremely serious and a full  Superintendent Ryan Walters (@RyanWaltersSupt) January 30, 2025

Vinyard, who's been at Okmulgee since early 2024, has previously served as interim principal at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa, U.S. Grant High School principal, Putnam City High School principal and Enid High School principal.

Okmulgee Public Schools administrators did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Okmulgee is about 105 miles east of Oklahoma City and about 40 miles south of Tulsa.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: State education department investigating Okmulgee High School
MCDONALD COUNTY, Mo.  A childrens service caseworker accused of interfering with a police investigation gets one of her charges dropped.

McDonald County prosecutors originally charged Emily Flatt with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution last November after two teenage girls were accused of plotting to kill their foster parents.

The charge of hindering prosecution was dropped during Wednesdays hearing.

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Flatt is a case manager with Missouri Baptist Childrens Home and was assigned to the teens.

Officers say she was in possession of a note the teens reportedly wrote that included the location of a hidden knife and a Coke bottle laced with bleach or some unknown substance to be used in the murder plot.

Officers say Flatt told them she had the notethen changed her story and denied actually having it.

She will be back in court in February.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

As a bird flu outbreak escalates across the U.S., the Trump administration has paused the release of key public health studies, stalling research that could provide insight into how the virus spreads to animals and people.

The blocked studies were supposed to be published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a journal that has reported on health threats since 1952.

One of the studies examines whether veterinarians working with cattle have unknowingly been infected, and another explores whether people may have passed the virus to pet cats, according to CNN.

These reports could help scientists track and prevent future infections.

But a new memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has placed an "immediate pause" on communications. Approval is now required from a presidential appointee before publishing, according to the memo.

"This idea that science cannot continue until there's a political lens over it is unprecedented," Dr. Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director at the CDC, told CNN. "I hope it's going to be very short-lived, but if it's not short-lived, it's censorship."

Public health experts warn that delaying research on bird flu could put veterinarians, farmworkers and the public at greater risk.

One study, slated to be published last week in the MMWR, looked at cases in Michigan where dairy workers may have transmitted bird flu to their pet cats.

Dr. Jennifer Morse, medical director at the Mid-Michigan District Health Department and a scientist on the pending study, told CNN she got a note from a colleague last week saying that "there are delays in our publicationoutside of our control."

And this isn't the first time the government has disrupted CDC reports.

During President Donald Trump's first term, CNN noted, White House officials interfered with scientific studies on COVID-19.

"What's happening now is quite different than what we experienced in COVID, because there wasn't a stop in the MMWR and other scientific manuscripts," Schuchat told CNN.

CDC insiders say the pause will last until at least Feb. 6, though it's unclear if publishing will resume as scheduled.

The bird flu has infected at least 67 people in the U.S., and claimed the life of one person in Louisiana earlier this year.

It's affected more than 148 million birds and heightened concern about human transmission.

"Maintaining open lines of communication and continuing research with our federal partners is critical as we fight this outbreak," Dr. Fred Gingrich, executive director of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, a group for veterinarians specializing in cattle medicine, told CNN.

Schuchat hopes efforts to spin or influence scientific reports won't happen again.

"The MMWR cannot become a political instrument," she concluded in a report published by CNN.

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the current situation of bird flu.

 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
JANESVILLE, Wis. (WTVO)  A Boeing B-29 Superfortress, known at Doc, is scheduled to land in Janesville this summer as part of a two-day car and plane show.

The historic B-29 is one of 1,644 vehicles manufactured in Wichita, Kansas, during World War II, but only one of two that are airworthy and flying today.

The B-29 Doc travelers to cities across the United States each year to allow aviation enthusiasts to see the plane up close and personal.

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The tour includes ground and flight deck tours and B-29 Doc Flight Experience includes a 30 minute ride.

Were thrilled to bring B-29 Doc to Janesville for Pistons and Props, said Mark Novak, B-29 Doc chief pilot. This is more than just an airplaneits a flying museum and a testament to the men and women who built, maintained, and flew these aircraft to defend freedom. Sharing Docs story with the Janesville community is an honor.

The B-29 Doc History Restored Tour will land at Pistons and Props on July 18th  19th at Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport.

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ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT)  Sign-ups for Onslow County Sheriffs Offices Citizens Academy are now open. The first class starts Feb. 11th.

Its a 10-week program that gives an immersive experience on how the office operates. The class is every Tuesday from 6-9 p.m. Students will do everything from touring the jail, go into shooting simulators to role-playing scenarios.

Participants have to be at least 18 years old, live in Onslow County and have a clean criminal record to apply.

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The sheriffs office is a part of the community we hire from the community, Onslow Sheriffs Office Captain Bruce Dixon said. So, so we are representative of the community and and I would just like to see a little bit more of that, sharing a little bit more of that, that friendship and were offering it out.

If youre interested in signing up you can find the application on the sheriffs office website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.
OpenAI and the White House have accused DeepSeek of using ChatGPT to cheaply train its new chatbot.

Experts in tech law say OpenAI has little recourse under intellectual property and contract law.

OpenAI's terms of use may apply but are largely unenforceable, they say.

This week, OpenAI and the White House accused DeepSeek of something akin to theft.

In a flurry of press statements, they said the Chinese upstart had bombarded OpenAI's chatbots with queries and hoovered up the resulting data trove to quickly and cheaply train a model that's now almost as good.

The Trump administration's top AI czar said this training process, called "distilling," amounted to intellectual property theft. OpenAI, meanwhile, told Business Insider and other outlets that it's investigating whether "DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models."

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OpenAI is not saying whether the company plans to pursue legal action, instead promising what a spokesperson termed "aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology."

But could it? Could it sue DeepSeek on "you stole our content" grounds, much like the grounds OpenAI was itself sued on in an ongoing copyright claim filed in 2023 by The New York Times and other news outlets?

BI posed this question to experts in technology law, who said challenging DeepSeek in the courts would be an uphill battle for OpenAI now that the content-appropriation shoe is on the other foot.

OpenAI would have a hard time proving an intellectual property or copyright claim, these lawyers said.

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"The question is whether ChatGPT outputs"  meaning the answers it generates in response to queries  "are copyrightable at all," Mason Kortz of Harvard Law School said.

That's because it's unclear whether the answers ChatGPT spits out qualify as "creativity," he said.

"There's a doctrine that says creative expression is copyrightable, but facts and ideas are not," Kortz, who teaches at Harvard's Cyberlaw Clinic, said.

"There's a huge question in intellectual property law right now about whether the outputs of a generative AI can ever constitute creative expression or if they are necessarily unprotected facts," he added.

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Could OpenAI roll those dice anyway and claim that its outputs are protected?

That's unlikely, the lawyers said.

OpenAI is already on the record in The New York Times' copyright case arguing that training AI is an allowable "fair use" exception to copyright protection.

If they do a 180 and tell DeepSeek that training is not a fair use, "that might come back to kind of bite them," Kortz said. "DeepSeek could say, 'Hey, weren't you just saying that training is fair use?'"

There may be a distinction between the Times and DeepSeek cases, Kortz added.

"Maybe it's more transformative to turn news articles into a model"  as the Times accuses OpenAI of doing  "than it is to turn outputs of a model into another model," as DeepSeek is said to have done, Kortz said.

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"But this still puts OpenAI in a pretty tricky situation with regard to the line it's been toeing regarding fair use," he added.

A breach-of-contract lawsuit is more likely

A breach-of-contract lawsuit is much likelier than an IP-based lawsuit, though it comes with its own set of problems, said Anupam Chander, who teaches technology law at Georgetown University.

The terms of service for Big Tech chatbots like those developed by OpenAI and Anthropic forbid using their content as training fodder for a competing AI model.

"So perhaps that's the lawsuit you might possibly bring  a contract-based claim, not an IP-based claim," Chander said.

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"Not, 'You copied something from me,' but that you benefited from my model to do something that you were not allowed to do under our contract."

There may be a hitch, Chander and Kortz said. OpenAI's terms of service require that most claims be resolved through arbitration, not lawsuits. There's an exception for lawsuits "to stop unauthorized use or abuse of the Services or intellectual property infringement or misappropriation."

There's a larger hitch, though, experts said.

"You should know that the brilliant scholar Mark Lemley and a coauthor argue that AI terms of use are likely unenforceable," Chander said. He was referring to a January 10 paper, "The Mirage of Artificial Intelligence Terms of Use Restrictions," by Stanford Law's Mark A. Lemley and Peter Henderson of Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy.

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To date, "no model creator has actually tried to enforce these terms with monetary penalties or injunctive relief," the paper says.

"This is likely for good reason: we think that the legal enforceability of these licenses is questionable," it adds. That's in part because model outputs "are largely not copyrightable" and because laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act "offer limited recourse," it says.

"I think they are likely unenforceable," Lemley told BI of OpenAI's terms of service, "because DeepSeek didn't take anything copyrighted by OpenAI and because courts generally won't enforce agreements not to compete in the absence of an IP right that would prevent that competition."

Lawsuits between parties in different nations, each with its own legal and enforcement systems, are always tricky, Kortz said.

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Even if OpenAI cleared all the above hurdles and won a judgment from a US court or arbitrator, "in order to get DeepSeek to turn over money or stop doing what it's doing, the enforcement would come down to the Chinese legal system," he said.

Here, OpenAI would be at the mercy of another extremely complicated area of law  the enforcement of foreign judgments and the balancing of individual and corporate rights and national sovereignty  that stretches back to before the founding of the US.

"So this is, a long, complicated, fraught process," Kortz added.

Could OpenAI have protected itself better from a distilling incursion?

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"They could have used technical measures to block repeated access to their site," Lemley said. "But doing so would also interfere with normal customers."



He added: "I don't think they could, or should, have a valid legal claim against the searching of uncopyrightable information from a public site."

Representatives for DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We know that groups in the PRC are actively working to use methods, including what's known as distillation, to try to replicate advanced U.S. AI models," Rhianna Donaldson, an OpenAI spokesperson, told BI in an emailed statement.

"We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more," the statement said. "We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the US government to protect the most capable models being built here."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Remember the plot to the 1984 sci-fi blockbuster "The Terminator"?

"There was a nuclear war," a character explains. "Defense network computers. New... powerful... hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination."

It seems like either the execs at OpenAI have never seen it or they're working overtime to make that premise a reality.

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Don't believe us? OpenAI has announced that the US National Laboratories will use its deeply flawed AI models to help with a "comprehensive program in nuclear security."

As CNBC reports, up to 15,000 scientists working at the institutions will get access to OpenAI's latest o1 series of AI models  the ones that Chinese startup DeepSeek embarrassed on the world stage earlier this month.

According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who announced the partnership at an event in Washington, DC, the tech will be "focused on reducing the risk of nuclear war and securing nuclear materials and weapons worldwide," as quoted by CNBC.

If any alarm bells are ringing by this point, you're not alone. We've seen plenty of instances of OpenAI's AI models leaking sensitive user data and hallucinating false claims with abandon.

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OpenAI's been making a huge push into government. Earlier this week, the Sam Altman-led company released ChatGPT Gov, a platform specifically designed for US government use that focuses on security.

But whether the company can deliver on some sky-high expectations  while also ensuring that its frequently lying AI chatbots won't leak the nuclear codes or trigger the next nuclear war  is anyone's guess.

The news comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI is in early talks for a new round of funding that would value it at a gargantuan $340 billion, double its previous valuation last year.

Altman has also fully embraced president Donald Trump, gifting him $1 million for his inauguration and claiming that he had "really changed my perspective on him" after trashing him in years past.

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OpenAI also signed onto Trump's $500 billion AI infrastructure deal, dubbed Stargate, with the plan of contributing tens of billions of dollars within the next year.

Whether the company's o1 reasoning models will prove useful in any meaningful way to the researchers at the US National Laboratories remains to be seen.

But given the widespread dismantling of regulations under the Trump administration, it also feels like an unbelievably precarious moment to be handing over any amount of control over nuclear weapons to a busted AI system.

More on OpenAI: OpenAI Asking for Tens of Billions in New Investment to "Fund Its Money-Losing Business Operations"
Last years presidential election was a demolition derby for a host of progressive causes and illusions. Democrats are the biggest casualties of this collision with political reality, but Green New Dealers arent far behind.

President Trumps triumphant return to the White House puts climate science deniers back in charge of national policy, at best retarding and at worst reversing Americas clean energy transition for the next four years.

After declaring a bogus national energy emergency last week (is he really unaware that U.S. oil and gas production has surged in recent years?) Trump issued executive orders pulling America out of the Paris climate accord, expanding drilling on public lands, blocking offshore wind and gutting former President Joe Bidens clean energy initiatives.

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Climate change was far from the voters top issue last November. In fact, the outcome underscored the failure of environmental activists to convince voters that it should be. Nor have they come close to forging a national consensus behind their demands to swiftly phase out fossil fuels and rely exclusively on renewables.

It turns out that waging a quasi-religious war against oil and gas isnt an effective way to rally majority support for fighting climate change. Most Americans favor the latter, but not the former, which they see as both impractical and gratingly sanctimonious.

When people roll up to the gas station to fill their tank, they dont want to feel like sinners because they need fuel to get to work, run errands, pick up kids and see friends. Nor do most join the green left in villainizing U.S. energy companies that employ millions of Americans to find, extract and deliver oil and gas to them.

Its environmentalists turn to face an inconvenient truth: For over a century, fossil fuels have powered a surge of economic growth that has dramatically lifted living standards all over the world. Theyre deeply embedded in a global energy infrastructure that cant be uprooted overnight. It will take time and money to build a whole new energy system around a variety of low-to-non-carbon emitting sources.

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Thats why trying to scare Americans into backing bans on oil and gas exploration, fracking and pipeline construction hasnt worked. And theres a growing backlash here and across Europe against grandiose net zero goals for carbon emissions that voters increasingly link to higher energy prices and pinched supplies.

The greens climate catastrophism has struck out, especially with non-college voters, who far outnumber those with degrees. To them, it sounds like an elite obsession far removed from their everyday financial struggles. In a recent YouGov poll, they ranked climate change 16th out of 18 issues in importance.

Working Americans, in fact, strongly favor (72 percent) increasing oil and gas production. Ironically, both grew briskly on President Bidens watch, even as he kept warning us that climate change poses an existential crisis for humanity.

In 2023, the United States produced more crude oil than any country in history, surpassing even Saudi Arabia. Over the last four years, America also became the worlds leading natural gas producer and exporter.

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But voters didnt know that, because neither Biden nor Kamala Harris dared to take credit for presiding over the oil and gas boom. That would have scandalized the potent green alliance of millennial activists, well-funded environmental lobbies, wealthy donors, and left-leaning foundations that dominate their partys thinking about energy.

Like their MAGA antagonists, progressive climate warriors exist in a political bubble where everyone thinks alike and scorns non-believers. Instead, they should put aside doom-crying, which makes the climate challenge sound insoluble, and try to assuage working Americans reasonable qualms about high fuel bills and shortages.

Fortunately, less than a third of non-college voters share Trumps yen for a one-dimensional energy policy. Most express a strong preference for an all-of-the-above approach that doesnt force them to choose between fossil fuels, nuclear energy, renewables and cleaner fuels still on the drawing board.

Rather than stoking public fears of impending planetary doom, green activists should embrace a pragmatic strategy of full-spectrum energy innovation to enable America to lead the way in decarbonizing the atmosphere.

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For starters, Congress should pass hard deadlines on environmental reviews and permitting. Also urgent is modernizing our outdated electricity grid, with natural gas assuring reliability while renewables and better energy storage come online.

Despite the greens aversion to nuclear power, its hard to see how our country and others can meet growing energy demand  including for powering AI  without next-generation nuclear reactions.

The federal government also should ramp up investments in hydrogen, battery, carbon sequestration, fusion, and geothermal technologies. All this will require steady investment, which logically should be financed by taxing carbon. And rather than spout hackneyed rhetoric about price gouging, our political leaders should forge public-private partnerships to tap the talents and ingenuity of U.S. energy companies.

It would also help if environmentalists acknowledged that fossil fuels support U.S. national security as well as our economy. A good example is Americas growing ability to supply Europe with natural gas, which has blunted Russias ability to weaponize its vast oil and gas reserves to silence critics of its war on Ukraine.

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Finally, backing a mix of fuels and technologies can help Democrats turn the tables on Trump, who absurdly persists in calling climate change a hoax. He says his goal is U.S. energy dominance. But his unreasoning hatred of renewables  especially wind energy  will kneecap America in the race with China for global leadership on clean energy.

Democrats cant protect the climate if they cant get elected. Embracing energy realism now will help them win a new hearing among working Americans.

Will Marshall is founder and president of the Progressive Policy Institute.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Elon Musk has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Norwegian libertarian MP Marius Nilsen, who tossed the Tesla founders name into the mix for consideration, cited Musks adamant defense of dialogue, free speech and [enabling] the possibility to express ones views in a continuously more polarized world.

Nilsen also praised Musks enterprises for helping to make the world a more connected and safer place.

Good for Elon Musk  he deserves it.

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Musk sacrificed his reputation and standing with Americas liberal elites on the altar of free speech. We mustnt forget how close our nation came to losing what law professor Jonathan Turley in a new book calls the indispensable right, and the critical role Musk has played in protecting that right.

This has made him a reviled target for those on the left. Politico reported on Musks nomination with the headline: Musk and Assange follow Putin, Trump and Stalin as Nobel Peace Prize nominees. I bet that wasnt the way they reported on Barack Obamas completely absurd winning of the peace prize in 2009, barely eight months into his presidency.

Obama was singled out by the notoriously left-leaning Nobel committee for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples, even though he had done exactly nothing on the diplomatic front in his early White House months or as the junior senator from Illinois. It is gratifying that the Nobel secretary later lamented having given the prize to Obama, acknowledging that it was a polarizing mistake.

Why did liberals, once enamored of the billionaire entrepreneur, turn against Musk?

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After all, long before Musk bought Twitter, his successful development of Tesla electric vehicles made him a hero to the green left. For those who believe climate change is humanitys greatest threat, and that fossil fuels escalate that threat, the emergence of EVs was supposed to be a game-changer. Since boneheaded climate activists shot down carbon-neutral nuclear power and refused to acknowledge progress made by switching from coal to carbon-reducing fuels like natural gas, EVs were a singular breakthrough that promised to lower gasoline consumption and bend the arc of carbon emissions.

Never mind that some pesky studies showed that the environmental damage done by EVs might actually be worse than that done by internal combustion engines; EVs were the holy grail of the smart set, and pricey Teslas began to pop up in chic neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, the love affair soon turned sour. It turned out that Musk had no patience for unions. He has managed to defeat multiple efforts by the UAW to organize his manufacturing plants, earning the eternal enmity of pro-union Biden administration.

When former President Joe Biden, in his first year in office, convened an EV summit at the White House, poor Elon was left off the guest list, even though Tesla dominated the industry. The CEOs of Ford and GM, who couldnt make a profit to save their lives on the unpopular cars the government pushed them to produce, were celebrated and consulted. They were given participation awards for going along with the mandates that elevated Chinas dominance over essential products and arguably threatened Detroit with extinction.

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That was the end of Musks establishment glory days, but things went entirely south when he dared to buy Twitter for $44 billion, and discovered that the Biden administration had pressured that social media company and others into censoring political opponents.

Musk gave journalist Matt Taibbi access to the notorious Twitter files, including emails, chat logs and screenshots, which revealed coordination with the FBI to suppress mentions of the New York Posts Hunter Biden story and other tweets critical of Democrats.

The Twitter files confirmed right-wing speculation that the government had censored dissonant views on how to treat COVID and other information injurious to Biden or to Democrats anti-Trump narratives. Musk promised to create an open forum on Twitter, welcoming voices that had been shadow-banned or silenced.

He said he bought X, as he renamed it, because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital square. This instantly made him a hero to free speech advocates. Putting meat on the bones, Musk fired the majority of Twitters content moderators, promising reduced oversight of the platforms users.

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Musks stewardship of X has not been without controversy; he has been accused of banning critics from the platform  including, ironically, Taibbi. Nonetheless, he should be celebrated for revealing our governments role in suppressing free speech, which has been more recently been confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. The White House pushed him to censor information too  it is not a Musk fantasy.

The Biden White House did not just pressure social media companies to ban unwanted material. In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the first Disinformation Governance Board to coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security. They put in charge of this Orwellian effort one Nina Jankowicz, a supposed expert in battling disinformation. Jankowicz knew all about disinformation, having perpetrated the Russiagate hoax by supporting the veracity of the Christopher Steele dossier, an underhanded is oppo report paid for by Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign. She was also among those who falsely claimed that Hunter Bidens FBI-verified laptop was inauthentic.

The Biden White House, after searing criticism, took down the Disinformation Governance Board after only three weeks. But their clumsy censorship effort gave notice to the American people: Your government wants to control what you hear and read, and it is not to be trusted. Yes, there are kooks and blackguards on X  and on other platforms  who do not tell the truth. Better to let the American people figure it out, using their own reason and common sense, than to hand over our rights to self-interested government censors.

Thats why Musk deserves the Nobel prize.

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Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim and Company.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Pretending to register emotional support animals was a lucrative scheme for a Washington, D.C. man who fraudulently received more than $2.1 million in pandemic relief loans from the Small Business Administration in 2020.

He used the funds to purchase a 33-foot boat, a new car and a rowhouse in Northeast D.C. This perpetrators fraud was uncovered by investigators, including the SBA inspector general, and he was sentenced to 78 months in prison in 2022.

There are thousands of open investigations into pandemic-era fraud at the SBA, but on Jan. 24 President Trump removed the agencys chief fraud investigator, Inspector General Hannibal Mike Ware, without cause  and likely in violation of the law  alongside 17 other agency inspectors general.

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Lawmakers from both parties should be concerned that Wares firing is Trumps attempt to avoid responsibility for his first administrations ham-fisted delivery of pandemic relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, which enabled more than 86 percent of all pandemic fraud in the SBAs $1.2 trillion relief programs.

Over the last three years, I had a front-row seat at SBA, where I led our congressional efforts, including cleaning up the fraud from the first Trump administration. Ware worked closely with SBA leadership and Congress, playing a critical role in recovering taxpayer dollars in partnership with agency leadership.

Our team did an intensive staff review to look for likely fraud with input from the lending community and tips from members of Congress. We shared that information with the inspector general, who then often partnered with other federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and advance justice. These investigations had bipartisan support, and former President Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan bill to increase the statute of limitations for pandemic fraud from five years to 10 years  meaning that the inspector general could be investigating pandemic fraud throughout the next four years of the Trump administration.

The inspector generals firing shows a shift in priorities for the new administration away from Republican talking points about getting tough on fraud. It will instead let fraudsters and criminals evade responsibility. For example, former Sen. and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), author of the legislation creating the pandemic programs, said fraudsters should go to jail and pay restitution for what they stole.

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Ware testified before Congress that his office has over 100-years worth of criminal investigative work via the more than 250,000 tips received by the SBAs fraud hotline, which generated 95,000 actionable leads. During my time at the SBA, our leadership team was not always aligned with the inspector generals recommendations, but our direct lines of communication helped strengthen our fraud prevention efforts. Wares investigations were not viewed as overly partisan, and he won bipartisan praise from persistent SBA critics, including Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), who said Ware has done a commendable job in fighting fraud.

The inspector general and Congress often acknowledged that the Biden administration inherited massive problems that SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman worked to correct. She directed the agency to operate with both speed and certainty  implementing standards to check tax returns and conduct automated fraud screenings before disbursing funds to prevent taxpayer dollars from going to tax cheats or criminals.

Under Guzmans watch, SBA implemented a Fraud Risk Review Board  on which I was privileged to serve  to look at fraud risks across SBA programs. SBA also put into operation new technology to efficiently deploy future emergency programs with lower fraud risk and to strengthen the agencys core disaster and business loan programs.

These reforms made a difference, but so did SBAs partnership with our inspector general. Members of Congress brought concerns to my office daily about their constituents who were affected by fraud. We received tips about Paycheck Protection Program fraud, including employers who were ineligible for the loans they received. Elderly senior citizens and legitimate businesses had their identities stolen by fraudsters to obtain loans during the early days of the pandemic. All of these cases were investigated by the inspector general and law enforcement, and his office helped recover hundreds of millions in stolen funds.

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Taxpayers stand to lose billions if fraudsters are allowed to evade investigation, and the decision to fire SBAs inspector general is a green light to criminals and a blatant attempt to cover up the failures of Trumps first term. If members of Congress are truly serious about recovering stolen taxpayer dollars and fighting fraud, they will push back and restore Ware and other fired inspectors general to their positions.

George Holman is the former associate administrator for congressional and legislative affairs at the Small Business Administration. He previously worked on Capitol Hill for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 week after the November 2022 midterm elections, then-former President Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign. Over the next two years, he systematically steamrolled his primary opponents and triumphed over every imaginable political, electoral and legal obstacle to win a historic non-consecutive second term.

I was reminded of the presidents start-early strategy on the morning after Inauguration Day when I received a Trump campaign fundraising email e-signed by Vice President JD Vance  less than 24 hours after taking office. From my perspective, the email silently screamed, Vance 2028!

The newly minted vice president chronicled his I grew up poor in the Rust Belt biography and the incredible journey that led me here. Vance recounted Trumps words when asking him to join the ticket: I think weve gotta go save this country, Trump had said. I think youre the guy who could help me in the best way. You can help me govern, you could help me win.

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The closing paragraph read like a typical campaign solicitation: President Trump and I are ready to keep the American Dream alive for future generations  followed by a request for even just $5  to support our new administration.

Considering the emails post-inauguration timing, I took Vance to mean that MAGA Nation must look to the future, since Trump is a lame duck. As the natural 2028 front-runner, he is already doing the work of securing the GOP nomination and looking to extend triumphant Trumpism through Jan. 20, 2037.

That same fundraising email address  a generic one from the Republican National Committee and Paid for by Trump National Committee  had sent me six other Vance email blasts just this month. All the emails point to Team Trump and the RNC being invested in promoting and building Vances brand as Trumps worthy successor. The MAGA base is already being conditioned to accept Vance as the 2028 nominee. The party itself may be trying to avoid a contentious primary.

But Trump-world is likely thinking well beyond the 2028 primaries. Before our eyes, Vance is being strategically groomed and sent to battle the traditional media  positioning him to win Trumps third term.

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It was a Republican-controlled House of Representatives that passed the 22nd Amendment in 1947, limiting future presidents to only two elected terms. This was a reaction to President Franklin Roosevelts four consecutive election victories from 1932 to 1944. Over the next four years after House passage, three-quarters of the states ratified the amendment as required by law. This means Trump can never run again, barring an unlikely new amendment to or an egregious breach of the Constitution.

The continuation of Trumpism without Trump  who turns 82 in 2028  is among the highest priorities for his family and MAGA-world. Viewed through that lens, you can expect Vance to play a leading role in Trumps second term.

He could even be the most powerful vice president since Dick Cheney served with President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. The big difference is that Cheney had no interest in succeeding Bush. (Interestingly, Ronald Reagans two-term vice president, George H.W. Bush, was the last VP to win his predecessors third term. In 1988, Bush won the last bona fide Republican landslide with 426 electoral votes.)

As a powerful vice president, Vance might attempt to land the Republican presidential nomination without a primary ruckus. The GOP could even welcome a Vance coronation to contrast with what is sure to be a crowded and brutal fight for the Democratic Partys future in 2028.

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Vances most likely opponent is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who terms out of office in January 2027. The governors problem is that the MAGA forces who annihilated DeSantis during his 2023 presidential campaign bellyflop are still viable and likely anticipating round two.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio could also be a threat, but Trump chose Vance over Rubio as the vice presidential nominee. And the echoes of Rubios disastrous 2016 presidential campaign have never dissipated with Trump loyalists. Moreover, Rubios tenure at the State Department could potentially become a MAGA liability.

With the power of incumbency, Vance does not fear DeSantis or Rubio. He likely only fears one potential opponent, from whom Vance milks the money machine and benefits from his campaign infrastructure. That would be the volatile Trump himself, who at any time could turn on him or else unwillingly damage his prospects.

The outcome and ripple effects of the 2026 midterm election could either complicate or enhance Vances chances. The worst case is if Trump becomes a liability. How does Vance run for president and carve his political identity with angry and unpopular Trump continually venting or contradicting Vance on Truth Social?

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On the other hand, if the Republicans hold Congress and Trump is popular, look to Vice President George Bushs 1988 victory playbook.

Will Vance, like Trump, announce his campaign a week after the 2026 midterms, to show strength and keep serious opponents at bay? Will Vance go rogue, as Mike Pence once did, if he and Trump have significant policy differences or transactional constitutional conflicts? Or will he bite his lip and put on a repeat performance of his recent embarrassing public acquiescence to Trumps blanket Jan. 6 pardons?

Finally, there is some good news for young Trump-supporters. Vance, who turns 44 in 2028, could end the reign of Baby Boomer presidents  Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump  permanently.

Imagine if Vance were to choose soon-to-be UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik (born 1984) as his running mate. These two Yale and Harvard graduates could lead a Millennial takeover of the presidency.

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If Vance ever writes a second book  Hillbillly Elegy Part 2: The White House Years  it will probably have to begin and end with Trump.

Myra Adams is an opinion writer who served on the creative team of two Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In Gaza last week, a group of masked terrorists paraded captive women around a public square. At Columbia University earlier this month, a group of masked individuals disrupted a class with screams and banging drums.

Masks embolden agitators. In the U.S., they are being used as thinly veiled symbols of brutality and intimidation. Public protests that have devolved into hate speech, physical intimidation, destruction of property and calls for violence have one factor in common  protesters are masked.

Protesters in the U.S. are practicing their First Amendment rights  their rights to advocate for causes they believe in. Yet it is contradictory to simultaneously embrace advocacy and conceal ones identity.

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Advocacy is defined as supporting a cause on behalf of a people. So how is one representing a people if they obscure their own identity? Moreover, how is free speech a right if it blatantly and intentionally threatens others safety?

Freedom of speech has limitations, which include defamatory speech, threats, harassment, intimidation and other unlawful conduct. Over the past year in the U.S., all of these lines have been crossed, while protesters hide their faces.

Videos of the protests sound the story; the loudest protesters and the most vitriolic language come from those who are masked. We must break this cycle of anonymity, deindividuation, violence and unaccountability.

The first anti-mask law in the U.S. was passed in 1845 in New York after masked landlords and tenant farmer disputes led to an armed revolt. In 2013, Canada passed a law prohibiting protesters involved in riots from wearing a mask or otherwise concealing their identity. In February 2024 the United Kingdom passed laws that prohibit protesters from wearing face coverings.

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Prior to the pandemic, many U.S. states had laws imposing fines and punishment for masking. Most anti-masking legislation had been created as a countermeasure against Ku Klux Klan marches. For example, in Ohio, the 1953 anti-disguise law, written to deter Ku Klux Klan demonstrations, could likely now be used to apply felony charges to protesters who are masked.

Canada and the U.K. have laws restricting masks from being worn in protests or riots. In the U.S., masking laws vary by state; in several states, it is an offense to wear a mask with the intent to harass or intimidate another person.

There are appropriate uses for masks, such as for safety in a professional context  including, for example, journalists covering a story that could put their safety at risk, or protection of individuals with compromised immune systems. Also, masks have been used throughout history to preserve the anonymity of individuals who are speaking out against oppressive regimes, and these individuals legitimately need protection from potentially fatal consequences of a regimes suppression of dissent.

But in the U.S., this does not apply to individuals who deliberately threaten and intimidate others while hiding behind masks. Many organizations advocate for support of individuals engaging in peaceful protests, but the tenor and intent of the past years protests have been far from peaceful.

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Protesters claim that they wear masks for fear of being doxxed or having their identities exposed. But isnt protesting an expression of ones identity? When people stands up for what they believe in, shouldnt they also take responsibility for doing so?

Let us promote the power of speech, and let us not mask the power of intimidation.

Elyse R. Park, Ph.D., MPH is a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School. The opinions and views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect these of the authors institution.

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The Affordable Care Act has transformed healthcare in the U.S. by ensuring access to no-cost preventive care services, such as cancer screenings, immunizations and contraceptives, for millions of Americans. However, the Supreme Courts decision to review the constitutionality of this provision, as highlighted in Becerra v. Braidwood Management Inc., threatens to undermine a critical component of the law.

The implications of this case extend beyond legal nuances, touching the health and well-being of millions of individuals. The preventive-care mandate must be upheld because it promotes public health, reduces healthcare costs and aligns with fundamental principles of equity and access to care.

Preventive care plays a pivotal role in safeguarding public health by identifying and addressing potential health issues before they become severe. Cancer screenings, for instance, enable early detection, which significantly increases treatment and survival odds. Similarly, immunizations protect individuals and communities from the spread of infectious diseases, reducing hospitalizations and deaths. Contraceptives empower individuals to plan their families, improving maternal and child health outcomes.

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, responsible for setting these care guidelines, bases its recommendations on rigorous scientific evidence. By mandating that these services be offered at no cost, the Affordable Care Act has removed financial barriers that often deter individuals from seeking necessary care. Striking down this provision will mean fewer people use these life-saving services, resulting in more sickness and death and an increased strain on the healthcare system.

Beyond its health benefits, preventive care saves money. Early intervention prevents the escalation of diseases, thereby avoiding costly treatments and hospitalizations. For example, it costs far less to prevent a heart attack by managing your cholesterol than it does to have expensive heart surgery and subsequent rehabilitation. Similarly, immunizations reduce the economic burden of outbreaks by minimizing lost productivity and healthcare costs associated with treating preventable diseases.

Critics argue that the Affordable Care Acts preventive-care provision imposes undue financial and regulatory burdens on businesses. However, the economic gains from a healthier workforce far outweigh these costs. Employees who receive regular preventive care are more likely to stay healthy, reducing absenteeism and improving productivity. Removing the mandate could create disparities in coverage, leading to a patchwork system where only the privileged can afford consistent, comprehensive care.

Access to preventive care is a cornerstone of an equitable healthcare system. Without the mandate, under-resourced populations  including low-income families, racial and ethnic minorities, and rural communities  would face significant obstacles to care. Health inequities, already pervasive in the U.S., would deepen as financial barriers force individuals to forgo preventive services.

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The plaintiffs in Becerra v. Braidwood Management Inc. have raised religious objections to certain provisions of the mandate, such as the coverage of pre-exposure prophylaxis medications and contraceptives. While religious freedom is a fundamental right, it should not come at the expense of public health and individual autonomy. Employers should not be allowed to impose their personal beliefs on employees, particularly when doing so compromises access to essential healthcare services.

Moreover, the argument that the Preventive Services Task Forces composition violates the appointments clause detracts from the broader issue at stake: the health and well-being of millions of Americans. The task force operates independently to ensure that its recommendations are guided by science, not politics. Undermining its authority risks politicizing healthcare decisions, to the detriment of patients of every political persuasion.

Those of us working in health policy are keen to follow these developments. However, we all must stay alert  the Supreme Courts review, by July of this year, of the Affordable Care Acts preventive-care provision is a critical moment Americans future health. Upholding the mandate is not just a legal matter; it is a moral imperative to protect public health, reduce healthcare costs and promote equity. The provision has already demonstrated its value by improving health outcomes and reducing disparities, and its potential loss could have catastrophic consequences.

The Affordable Care Acts preventive-care mandate embodies a commitment to a healthier, more equitable society. It ensures that no one is denied essential care due to financial constraints or ideological objections. The Supreme Court must recognize the far-reaching benefits of this provision and affirm its constitutionality to safeguard the health of the nation.

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Nathan Boucher, DrPH, is associate professor of medicine, nursing and public policy at Duke University, Durham, N.C.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Italo Melo from Pexels

Public health officials are closely monitoring the latest bird flu outbreak that has sickened or killed millions of birds, chicken and cattle in the U.S. The virus, also known as avian influenza or H5N1, has spread to dozens of humans, mostly farm and dairy workers.

Unless you're around livestock or sick birds, you don't need to be overly worried, said Emily Landon, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Chicago Medicine.

While she called it a "watch and wait" situation, Landon doesn't foresee this bird flu outbreak becoming a global health emergency. Unlike the early days of COVID-19, health officials know how to prevent the spread of influenza and can produce influenza vaccines more easily.

"At this time, the best thing to do is be vigilant," Landon said.

In its current form, the bird flu virus doesn't spread from human to human. But if the virus mutates, it could become highly transmissible and spread rapidly through the population, Landon said.

Influenza viruses mutate frequently (which is why the flu vaccine changes from year to year) and the more mammals that have bird flu, the higher the chances are of a significant mutation occurring.

The number of bird flu cases in humans cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is low, but the actual count is likely higher, Landon said. Because symptoms in humans have been relatively minor so farsuch as pink eye or cold symptomsa bird flu diagnosis might be missed by doctors and not counted in the totals.

Landon offered several easy and important ways to stay safe.

How to protect yourself from bird flu

The CDC currently considers bird flu a low public health risk, but it still recommends people take these steps to protect themselves and their pets:

1. Only consume pasteurized dairy products. "The highest risk to most people would be through contaminated dairy products," Landon said.

That's because dairy cows can pass on the virus through their milk. Pasteurization effectively inactivates bacteria and viruses, including bird flu, so avoid raw milk, unpasteurized cheese or any item made with unpasteurized milk (check the label or ask the vendor).

2. Refrigerateand cookyour eggs, meat and poultry. Eggs, meat and chicken need to be cooked to specific temperatures in order to be safely consumed. See the CDC guidelines on how to safely handle and cook eggs, poultry and meat.

3. Get your human influenza vaccine. If you can avoid getting infected with the human influenza virus, you reduce the need for health care workers to spend time screening you for bird flu symptoms.

4. Protect and vaccinate your pets. Dogs and cats are unlikely to get bird flu, but the CDC warns against giving them raw milk, unpasteurized dairy products or raw pet food. Keep them away from sick or dead birds when they're outside.

Some pets also should get an influenza vaccine; talk to your veterinarian.

5. Avoid contact with wild, sick or dead birds and livestock. Contact local wildlife officials if you find a sick bird or animal, and avoid contact with their saliva, feces, mucus or even the space the animals occupied. The virus can be airborne, and you don't want it getting in your eyes, nose or mouth.

6. Wash your hands thoroughly and often. The No. 1 thing you can do to fend off all viruses is frequent hand washing. If your hands are in contact with things that birds might touch outdoors, such as a backyard bird feeder, be especially diligent about hand hygiene.

7. Follow public health recommendations. People who work with livestock are at the greatest risk of bird flu. To stop the disease's spread, it's critical that they participate in testing programs and wear masks and gloves when advised. "For those workers, do your best to cooperate with and trust your public health officials," Landon said.

Everyone else should support efforts to prevent infections by paying attention to public health recommendations, she said.

Answers to common questions about bird flu

What is bird flu?

Bird flu is a virus, also known as avian influenza or the H5N1 virus, that periodically appears around the world. It primarily infects domestic poultry and wild birds. However, mammals can also catch H5N1, including pigs, cattle and humans. The most recent outbreak affecting dairy cattle in the U.S. has resulted in more human cases than previous outbreaks in poultry.

What are the symptoms of bird flu?

Pink eye (conjunctivitis), fever, cough, aching muscles and sore throat are common symptoms of bird flu.

The mortality rate for human cases in the U.S. has been low; most people recover quickly and do not require hospitalization, Landon said, but some people do get very ill and can even die. Antiviral medicines can reduce the risk.

If you feel sick after having contact with livestock, or after consuming raw dairy products, be sure to tell your doctor.

How does bird flu spread?

Bird flu spreads rapidly among infected poultry and can spread between mammals. While humans can catch bird flu from infected animals, it doesn't spread well between humans. This could change over time as the virus mutates and evolves.

The higher the number of infections overall, the faster the virus changes and adapts. This is why controlling the spread of bird flu is important even though the virus is currently unlikely to cause widespread disease in people.

Is there a bird flu vaccine?

There are older, existing human vaccines for avian influenza, but these are not widely available because human disease and death has been rare so far and older vaccines are more time-consuming and difficult to make.

Companies that make modern vaccines are developing an updated bird flu vaccine, which could soon be available to at-risk people such as farm workers or hunters.
President Trump this week issued an order barring federal funding of the indoctrination of children. And in its first sentence, he declared that schools should instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation.

Got that? He said he would ban indoctrination, and then he called for more of it.

Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Trump and education, where nothing is quite as it seems. On the one hand, Trump wants to eliminate the federal Department of Education on the grounds that schooling should be a state and local concern. At the same time, though, he is imposing new federal doctrines about what schools should teach.

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Witness Trumps ban on Critical Race Theory, which he called an inherently racist policy. Thats one view of it. But Trump wants to impose his view, all in the guise of fighting indoctrination.

Or consider the 1776 Project, which Trump created during his first term in office to counter the New York Times 1619 Project. As per its name, which refers to the year that the first enslaved Africans arrived on our shores, the 1619 Project roots American history in slavery and racism.

By contrast, the 1776 Project highlights Americas timeless virtues: freedom, liberty, opportunity, and so on. President Joe Biden revoked it when he took office, but Trump re-established it this week to promote patriotic education.

Its Trumps story. And, again, he wants to impose it on everyone else.

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Lets be clear: In the classroom, indoctrination is always a danger. We have all had teachers who presented their own political biases as the gospel truth; in the worst cases, they insisted that students echo them to get a good grade.

In a recent survey of 850 high school students published by Education Next, 36 percent reported being taught often or almost daily that America is a fundamentally racist nation. And 34 percent said that teachers told them often or almost daily that police officers are inherently racist against Black Americans.

Does that mean theyre being indoctrinated into the canons of Critical Race Theory, which holds that racist practices and beliefs are baked into American institutions? Not necessarily.

Over half of the students also said they were taught often or almost daily that the U.S. has made a lot of progress toward racial equality in the last 50 years, and 42 percent said they were taught that the U.S. is a global leader when it comes to ensuring equal rights for all citizens.

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We cant tell how the teachers are instructing these ideas from the student survey. If teachers are presenting them as fact  and requiring students to repeat them  then theyre indeed guilty of indoctrination. But if they present these matters as questions  and challenge students on their answers  the teachers are doing exactly what they should.

If students say America is a racist country, their teacher should ask why it elected a Black president. And if they say its a beacon of racial equality, they should be asked why Black Americans are more likely to be poor or incarcerated.

Thats education, not indoctrination. But it could be prohibited by Trump, who charged that schools are teaching radical, anti-American ideologies that make white children feel ashamed of themselves. Would an honest dialogue about race run afoul of Trumps order? We dont know, which is why teachers might simply avoid the subject.

Trump also threatened to pull funding from schools teaching gender ideology, especially the idea that a persons gender identity can differ from their assigned sex at birth. To be sure, Americans are deeply divided on that question. And again, Trump wants to indoctrinate his own answer: Gender is binary and immutable.

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Finally, Trumps order said that the federal government would investigate and punish antisemitism on Americas college campuses. Does that mean professors and students who protest Israels war in Gaza would face penalties?

Again, we dont know. All we know is that the Trumps administration would get to define antisemitism and impose its will on everyone else. And if thats not indoctrination, I dont know what is.

The best teachers I had made me think for myself. And the best way to fight Trumps order is to rededicate ourselves to that ideal. We should present the 1619 Project and the 1776 Project to our students, and let them sort out the differences. And we should ask them questions, instead of giving them answers.

You cant fight indoctrination if youre doing it yourself. Just ask Donald Trump.

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Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the advisory board of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Washington, D.C. in 1982, she had long harbored rather negative feelings for America. This contrasted with her warmth toward Britain, where she had fond memories of her years as a student at Oxford.

After meeting with President Ronald Reagan, she admitted that she had expected to dislike him, but that he had disarmed her with his charm. Still, that was about as far as the American-Indian relationship went at the time.

India continued for many years to keep close to the Soviet Union, its major arms supplier, and it remains on good terms with Russia today. Throughout the Reagan years and into the post-Cold War period, New Delhi cooperated with Washington primarily on matters relating to counterterrorism.

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It was only in the late 1990s when the Hindu Indian Peoples Party or BJP came to power that relations with the U.S. truly underwent a sea change. The BJP has now been leading India for more than a decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and relations with the U.S. have became increasingly close.

President Trump has invited Modi, with whom he famously gets along personally, to visit the White House next month, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus visit next week. India, already sensitive to Trumps concerns about illegal immigration and in anticipation of the Modi visit, is planning to repatriate some 18,000 of its citizens who entered the U.S. illegally.

Indias decision to do so may also be due to its worries that the U.S. will cut back on the number of H-1B visas it issues each year. Indian citizens hold 70 percent of these visas.

Trump wants more from India, however. In his phone conversation with Modi earlier this week, Trump emphasized to the Indian leader the importance of New Delhis increasing its procurement of American military equipment. The U.S. lags far behind Russia and France in arms sales to India.

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In addition, Trump stressed the need for a more balanced bilateral trade relationship. He has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on Indian exports, which could exacerbate Indias record trade deficit, since the U.S. is Indias biggest export market.

When the two men meet, there will no doubt be smiles all round. After all, that was the case when Reagan met Gandhi. Moreover, the two countries share a sense of unease about China, and together with Australia and Japan they constitute the Quad grouping.

Indeed, India has moved increasingly closer to Japan, even as Tokyo has beefed up its defense spending while further deepening its military cooperation with the U.S. India also joined America in 2022 in working with Israel and the United Arab Emirates (called the I2U2 Group) to pursue joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.

And while Trump may seek more arms sales to India, New Delhis purchases of American military equipment, virtually nonexistent during the Cold War, are already increasing annually.

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But India is still determined to pursue its own independent course in world affairs. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Indias external affairs minister since 2019 and a former ambassador to both Washington and Beijing, has made that very clear in two widely noted volumes titled The India Way: Strategies for An Uncertain World and Why Bharat Matters.

Jaishankar argues that India embodies global multipolarity because it has a special role as a leading force apart from America, Russia and China. He underscores the need to preserve Indias long-standing relations with Russia, to expand Indias increasingly close partnership with the U.S. and to maintain stable and proper relations with China. Nevertheless, Jaishankar stresses that these relations must only be guided by Indias state interests.

In laying out Indias strategy for the 21st century, Jaishankar not only is providing the intellectual heft for Modis own worldview, he is following in his fathers footsteps: K. Subrahmanyam was Indira Gandhis closest strategic advisor, a leading proponent of India becoming a nuclear power and for many years cool toward America. Like Gandhi, whose relations with Reagan and the U.S. reflected her advisors outlook, Modis interactions with Trump will likewise reflect the intellectual approach of his leading advisor on foreign affairs.

The Modi-Trump relationship will therefore remain cordial, even friendly, and the president may get some of what he wants from the Indian leader, as he has already obtained with regard to immigration. But he is unlikely to get all of what he wants.

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New Delhi is prepared to work closely with Washington, but, as Jaishankar has made so clear, it has absolutely no intention of kowtowing to the U.S., even if Modi is prepared to go at least some way to accommodate the American president with whom he gets on so well.

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the tragedy of an American Eagle flight colliding with an Army Black Hawk helicopter by suggesting that previous administrations diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were to blame.

Attacking DEI before anyone knows what happened creates a pre-emptive scapegoat scenario. If anyone flying the plane or the helicopter or directing those aircraft at Reagan National Airport tower is anything other than white, straight and male, then they will be presumed in this administrations eyes to have been promoted beyond their talent or intellect.

It is shameful that Trump and Hegseth are politicizing a tragedy that killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. The real focus should be on the victims, the cause of the crash and air safety in America. But here we are with Hegseth looking straight into the camera to declare the era of DEI is over at the Defense Department  a non sequitur that upstaged the condolences and empathy those suffering a grievous loss deserve right now. Indeed, the compassion the entire country deserves  because who in America isnt rattled by the collision of two aircraft just miles from the Pentagon and the White House?

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The immediate and unsubstantiated insinuation that diversity was a factor in this crash underscores what should have been obvious when Trump, as one of his first moves in office, signed an executive order abolishing DEI programs and placed DEI officers in government on leave. The president can talk about lowering the price of eggs and making America safer and more secure. But changing the shape and complexion of Americas workforce are clearly at the top of his agenda.

His administrations anti DEI objective has tied diversity to unearned advancement and Thursdays bizarre press conference  with the entire world watching  advanced that agenda. Anti-DEI forces have been hawking this trope for years and sadly it has worked. Many Americans now automatically think the acronym stands for a hiring schematic that fast-tracks Black people and other people of color into positions for which theyre not qualified.

That is a calculated distortion of the truth, and yet defenders of diversity have not found effective language or strategies to counter this full-on assault on inclusion.

Lets begin with the smear about lowered standards. DEI programs at their best are about widening the pool of talent to make sure employers find excellence wherever it exists and make those employees feel respected and valued so they stick around. Retention is always a big challenge for businesses. Creating an environment that fosters belonging and respect across differences allows employers to get a strong return on their investment when they onboard new workers. DEI, then, is an invitation to look beyond traditional pathways and pipelines and to retain that talent once theyre hired.

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The slander that DEI undermines meritocracy is supremely ironic coming from an administration that has asked taxpayers to accept a series of Cabinet picks whose lack of experience would disqualify them for a leadership job in the private sector. As the administration rails against DEI hires, it has created a new class of employees who could be classified under a LBM heading. Loyalty before merit.

Ive written on this page before about how widening its aperture helped the Army identify Colin Powell as an officer candidate. It looked more broadly at applicants who were all held to the same standards for merit and valor. Corporations, schools, hospitals and, yes, the government have used this expanded vision to diversify their ranks and, yet, too many have been silent about the benefits of being inclusive.

Meanwhile, words such as diversity, inclusion, quota, affirmative action and equity have been demonized and then weaponized and fully aerosolized in carefully constructed and well-funded campaigns to make people believe undeserving applicants are snatching opportunity away from hardworking Americans. The belief becomes that Black, brown or tan people are leapfrogging over more deserving white people. It strokes anger and indigestion, and thats exactly why the anti-DEI campaigns have been so effective.

There is a strong defense for diversity in America. Unfortunately  and this is sadly ironic  the case has not always been made by a fully diverse cohort of defenders. Thats sad because DEI initiatives benefit a broad class of people that cuts across race, class, ethnicity and gender including Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ community. In some cases, DEI programs have been expanded to include people from underrepresented places such as rural and exurban communities or those who follow different educational paths through trade schools, apprenticeship programs and community colleges.

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Women of all colors are actually the biggest beneficiaries, and white women in particular have advanced through these programs.

But if we are honest, the people often making the loudest and most passionate defense of diversity programs are Black people  and that can underscore the mistaken assumption that DEI is largely a leg up for Black folks.

I am cognizant of this even as I write this column. I know that there are people who will secretly cop to being exhausted by what they see as a constant focus on race. And, yes, I also know there are people who believe passionately in inclusion but think the methods for getting there have felt like ham-handed hectoring.

But if the aim is admirable, then why not follow that old standard introduced during the Clinton administrations review of affirmative action? Mend it, dont end it.

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Some may feel like its not their place to defend inclusion because civil rights leaders are running that ball down the field. But know this: With the full-on, all-out assault on diversity  defending and fighting for the idea of a diverse America is a team sport. If you believe in it, then youre going to have to roll up your sleeves  or be prepared to let hard-won gains slip away on your watch.

I keep waiting to hear a loud and proud defense from more of my brothers and sisters beyond the Black community who I know believe in a diverse America.

Why dont we hear more from other people who have been benefited from the broader reach of inclusion? Women? Disabled people? People who are gay, lesbian, trans or queer? Asians and Indigenous people? Latinos? Veterans?

Why arent more businesses stepping up with a full-throated defense of diversity? With companies such as Target, Walmart, Ford and McDonald's among those whove dismantled their DEI programs under pressure, it is reassuring to see others such as Costco, Apple, Cisco and JP Morgan stand their ground.

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Even so, I would like to see their leadership make the specific case tied to business objectives and brand positioning in an Increasingly competitive global marketplace. Simply saying that is is the right thing to do is not enough when the campaign to eradicate DEI practices claims that moral imperatives are just another part of a so-called woke agenda.

Despite the effort to make inclusion a dirty word, in reality there is clear evidence that it can help ensure that an organization finds the best talent to be both innovative and competitive, it helps create a culture of trust and team building. And it is good business in a country that is expected to be majority minority by 2047. A study of 1,700 businesses conducted by Boston Consulting Group found that companies with more diverse leadership teams have higher profits and are more innovative. A series of studies by McKinsey over the past decade had similar findings.

More of these companies may be forced to make that defense in the near future if the anti-DEI warriors make good on their threats to hit businesses with boycotts or lawsuits. On Monday, 19 Republican attorneys general wrote a letter to Costco demanding that the warehouse retailer end its DEI programs within 30 days. Costco recently declared that it would not be ending such initiatives.

I hope Costco continues to fight the good fight. I hope more people from all backgrounds will defend the merits of inclusion and challenge the baseless efforts to pillory diversity. Those voices would be welcome.

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What we dont need to hear are unsubstantiated, knee-jerk claims that a previous administrations inclusive policies helped cause two aircraft to fall from the sky. Let the investigation proceed and understand that there should be no place for that brand of divisive politics at a moment when the country is united in grief.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
The campus controversies inflamed by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel and Israels subsequent war in Gaza have reached a worrying conclusion. Now, with President Donald Trumps promise to deport those he deems pro-jihadist protesters, were facing questions not just about which ideas and speech should be allowed on campus, but whether foreign students should be deported for expressing disfavored views.

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order on antisemitism that directs leaders of agencies, including the secretary of homeland security, to familiarize universities with grounds for inadmissibility for foreign nationals so that such institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds. Those reports will then lead to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.

The order implies that universities should be monitoring and reporting students for scrutiny by immigration officials, including for speech that is protected by the First Amendment. It follows last weeks executive order threatening denial of entry to foreign nationals, or even deportation of those currently in the country, who espouse hateful ideology.

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Student visa holders in the U.S. already risk deportation by engaging in criminal activity, and did so long before the enactment of this order. Students who commit crimes  including vandalism, threats or violence  must face consequences, including potential revocation of visas when appropriate.

The First Amendment does not protect violence, for visitors and citizens alike, and an executive order narrowly confined to targeting illegal acts would not implicate First Amendment rights.

But a fact sheet released by the White House alongside the executive order goes well beyond criminal grounds for removal of foreign nationals to instead threaten viewpoint-motivated deportations. To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you, Trump said. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.

If thats what the Trump White House expects agencies to read into its formal orders, this development should worry all Americans, regardless of their position on the Israel-Hamas war.

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Our nations campuses are intended to be places of learning and debate that facilitate a wide range of views, even ones that some consider hateful or offensive.

This openness, albeit unpleasant or controversial at times, is a defining strength of American higher education. Its one of the features attractive to students traveling from abroad who may hope to take part in the speech protections Americans have worked so hard to preserve. These are protections that they may very well be denied in their home countries.

We wont protect freedom on campus by making it inaccessible to the international students who study there. But, given the warning accompanying the order, international students will now be rightfully afraid that their words  not just their conduct  are under a microscope.

There are already signs that critics of campus demonstrations expect the administration will expel protesters from the country. In the lead-up to the signing of this latest order, pro-Israel advocates claimed to be in contact with officials in the incoming Trump administration concerning lists of student protesters they hope to see deported. One group, Betar, told the New York Post its using a combination of facial recognition software and relationship database technology to identify protest attendees who are foreign nationals.

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At the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), where I work, we have seen firsthand the many speech-related controversies that have plagued higher education over the decades. In every case, adhering to viewpoint-neutral principles, rather than censorship, has been the proper solution.

If we open the door to expelling foreign students who peacefully express ideas out of step with the current administration about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we should expect it to swing wider to encompass other viewpoints too. Today it may be alleged Hamas sympathizers facing threats of deportation for their political expression. Who could it be in four years? In eight?

Advocates of ideological deportation today should not be surprised to see it used against ideas they support in the future.

In Bridges v. Wixon, the Supreme Courts 1945 decision rejecting the deportation of Australian immigrant Harry Bridges over alleged Communist Party connections, Justice William Douglas wrote, Freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country.

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Later decisions from the court complicate the question. The federal government retains significant authority over those who may enter and stay in the country. But the courts reasoning in Wixon should provide lasting guidance.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Frank Murphy stated that he cannot agree that the framers of the Constitution meant to make such an empty mockery of human freedom by allowing the government to deport an alien over speech for which it could not imprison him.

Freedom of speech was never meant to be easy. But it allows us the space we need to work through thorny social and political challenges, even when its fraught with friction and discomfort. The United States should preserve this freedom on our campuses  spaces for free learning that set us apart from more authoritarian nations around the world  not make an empty mockery of it.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Under President Trump's Jan. 20 executive order, not every baby born in the U.S. would automatically be a U.S. citizen. (Lindsey Nicholson / Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images)

Less than two weeks into this second Trump presidency, the fearmongering has already reached fever pitch. He cant do it! the critics have invariably howled in decrying President Trumps landmark Day 1 executive order upending the status quo on birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are neither permanent residents nor citizens. The usual suspects in the punditocracy say Trumps order is blatantly unconstitutional and that it violates settled law. Perhaps its even nativist or racist, to boot!

Like the Bourbons of old, pearl-clutching American elites have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Because when it comes to birthright citizenship, the virtue-signaling and armchair excoriation is not just silly; its dead wrong on the law. Trumps Jan. 20 executive order on birthright citizenship is legally sound and fundamentally just. He deserves credit, not condemnation, for implementing such a bold order as one of his first second-term acts.

The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. The clauses purpose was to overturn the infamous 1857 Supreme Court case, Dred Scott, and thereby ensure that Black Americans were, and would forever be, full-fledged citizens.

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The clause was understood to apply to Black Americans because, even before emancipation, they had long been universally viewed as subject to the jurisdiction of the United States  unlike, for example, Native Americans. (Congress did not pass the Indian Citizenship Act, which finally extended birthright citizenship to Native Americans, until 1924.)

Our debate today thus depends on whether, in 1868, foreign citizens or subjects  whether here legally or illegally  were considered subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

They werent.

In the post-Civil War Republican-dominated Congress, the 14th Amendment was intended to constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Rep. James Wilson (R-Iowa), who was then House Judiciary Committee chairman and a leading drafter of the 14th Amendment, emphasized that the amendment was establishing no new right, declaring no new principle. Similarly, Sen. Jacob Howard (R-Mich.), the principal author of the Citizenship Clause, described it as simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already.

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The relevant part of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 reads: All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States. In other words, subject to the jurisdiction thereof necessarily excludes those subject to any foreign power. As then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lyman Trumbull (R-Ill.) said during the ratification debate, subject to the jurisdiction means subject to the United States complete jurisdiction  that is, not owing allegiance to anybody else.

And so the 14th Amendment, properly understood, does not constitutionally require that a child born in the U.S. to noncitizens be granted citizenship. (Whether Congress passes additional rights-bestowing laws is a separate matter.)

This understanding was unchallenged for decades. In the slaughterhouse cases of 1873, Justice Samuel Miller interpreted the Citizenship Clause as intended to exclude from its operation children of  citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States. And in the 1884 case of Elk vs. Wilkins, Justice Horace Gray held that subject to the jurisdiction means not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.

Its true that Gray inexplicably reversed course in an oft-cited 1898 case, United States vs. Wong Kim Ark. Over a powerful and compelling dissenting opinion, Gray held that there is some level of birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of lawfully present noncitizens. But even in that wrongfully decided case, the court emphasized that its holding was limited to children of resident aliens who were under the allegiance of the United States. The court repeatedly emphasized that its holding applied only to children of those legitimately domiciled here.

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In no world whatsoever does Grays pro-birthright citizenship opinion in Wong Kim Ark apply to children of people in the U.S. illegally. Eighty-four years later, in Plyler vs. Doe, the court dropped in a superfluous footnote indicating that Wong Kim Ark also applies to the children of people in the U.S. illegally. But this nonbinding footnote from Justice William J. Brennan Jr., a leading liberal, does not the law of the land make.

Extending birthright citizenship that far is, at best, a live and unsettled legal debate. But the original meaning of the 14th Amendment is quite clear. Its authors would have been aghast at the notion that people who broke our laws could then be afforded birthright citizenship for their children. The drafters likely foresaw, as so many today do not, the tremendous perverse incentives induced by such an ill-conceived policy.

The legal eagles so eager to call out President Trump are wrong. And he, yet again, is right.

Josh Hammer is senior editor-at-large for Newsweek. This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT)  An Orange County, Indiana sheriffs deputy shot during a traffic stop is beginning rehab.

Indiana State Police state Zac Andry was taken off a ventilator and removed from sedation last week.

He started occupational, physical and speech therapy on Wednesday.

ISP reported that Andry stopped to investigate what he thought was a disabled car on January 3 where he encountered Austin Schepers and was shot four times, including once in the head.

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Schepers was shot and killed by Louisville Police the next day.

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Construction continues at the Capitol building in Salem. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Oregons cities will push the state Legislature to give them more money for roads, water and sewers, more power to remove homeless camps and more flexibility to spend hotel tax revenue on basic services.

City officials from around Oregon laid out those goals during their biannual City Day at the Capitol earlier this week, though it was quickly overshadowed by an announcement, delayed by court orders, that the Trump administration planned to immediately cut funding relied on by states and cities.

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Some city priorities, including increased infrastructure spending, are shared by Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature. Others, including attempts to roll back a state law that limits cities ability to remove homeless camps, will be a tougher sell in Salem.

Anti-homeless camp laws

Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the city of Grants Pass by upholding a city law that banned homeless people from using blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the elements while sleeping outside. A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals previously concluded that the ordinance amounted to cruel and unusual punishment for people who lack shelter and violated the Eighth Amendment, but the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that ruling and said it was up to cities to regulate homelessness.

After that Supreme Court ruling, cities around the country passed new homeless camping bans or made their existing laws more restrictive. But Grants Pass and other cities in Oregon still needed to follow a state law, championed by Gov. Tina Kotek when she was speaker of the Oregon House in 2021, that limits their ability to ban sleeping outside. Under that law, cities can only restrict people from sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to the public if those restrictions are objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.

It also allows homeless people to sue cities over restrictions that arent objectively reasonable, as Disability Rights Oregon and the Oregon Law Center did on Thursday on behalf of five disabled homeless people in Grants Pass. Since August, Grants Pass has allowed homeless people to stay in only two designated campsites, and earlier this month it closed the larger campsite and restricted hours at the other  leaving hundreds of people no option but to crowd into a site with space for 30 tents each night and pack up all their belongings by 7 a.m.

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North Bend Mayor Jessica Engelke, president of the League of Oregon Cities, said the league wants to clarify the state law, but not criminalize homelessness.

Rather, we aim to address the critical concerns about clarity and consistency in the law, she said. Objectively reasonable is subject to varying interpretations by cities and localities, resulting in a patchwork of regulations that can lead to confusion for all community members, including those experiencing homelessness.

Alexandra Ring, the leagues lobbyist for housing and land use issues, said conversations are ongoing about how to define objectively reasonable, and how cities can regulate camping in areas including parks, flood plains and other environmentally sensitive areas. They also want to tweak a requirement in state law that currently requires anyone who sues to give 90 days notice of a lawsuit to mandate that the person planning to file a suit tells the city what about its ordinance isnt objectively reasonable so the city has a chance to fix the problem before a lawsuit is filed.

Three bills  Senate Bill 593 from Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone; Senate Bill 645 from Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, and House Bill 2432 from several House Republicans  have been introduced to repeal the 2021 law but none has a hearing scheduled. Bonham announced those bills to scattered applause at the League of Oregon Cities forum.

Infrastructure funding

Cities will also lobby for more funding for local infrastructure, especially water and wastewater improvements needed before new homes can be built within city limits. The Legislature last year approved close to $100 million for infrastructure improvements, but the list of projects that needed funding far exceeded that sum.

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Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said her city needs to come up with $66 million for two really big sewer pipes  one in the southeast part of town and one in the city center. Its more expensive to build underground infrastructure in central Oregon than in other parts of the state because Bend sits on top of lava rock.

The city hopes to get some of that money from the state. Once the southeast sewer interceptor is done, Bend can move ahead with plans that would add more than 1,200 homes and 2,800 permanent jobs. Other cities around the state have similar planned developments that have been on hold for years because of water and sewer needs.

The connection between infrastructure and housing cannot be overstated, Kebler said.

Gov. Tina Kotek and top Democratic legislators told city leaders that theyre also prioritizing infrastructure funding.

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I know you have other infrastructure issues that are not directly related to housing and housing development, but we need to prioritize that as we all know more housing supply in our communities, Kotek said. So in my budget and with the Legislature, Ill be working on a program to make sure we can continue to invest in infrastructure in your communities to build more housing, because we know how critical that is.

House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, agreed that infrastructure funding, especially to spur housing construction, will be a priority for lawmakers.

We also know in cities like mine in Eugene, there is land within the (urban growth boundary) that could be developed for hundreds of units of housing, but the city lacked funding for infrastructure for water and wastewater, she said. I think that is critically important, and were going to continue that work this session.

Hotel tax changes

More than 20 years ago, the Legislature passed a law requiring 70% of any new local lodging taxes be spent on tourism marketing  meaning if a city charges a 10% hotel tax and collects $10 from a $100 room stay, it needs to use $7 to attract more tourists and can spend the other $3 on other needs.

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That may have been necessary to grow tourism 20 years ago, Toledo Mayor Rod Cross said, but now the restriction hobbles city budgets. He said cities, especially tourism hubs on the coast, want more flexibility to use taxes from hotels and short-term rentals to blunt the impact of tourism on city services.

For instance, Newports permanent population is around 10,000, but it swells to 40,000 people in the summer and as high as 50,000 on summer weekends, he said. The citys police department has 28 employees, which isnt enough for the summer.

When you have a huge rush of tourists who come over into a community for a weekend, and that population doubles, or for some communities, quintuple, the numbers become overwhelming to a citys infrastructure, Cross said. For some communities, roads wear out a lot faster. Water systems are strained. Tourists come to parks because they have children.

He said allowing cities to use some of their tourism tax revenue to improve basic services will actually attract more tourists, who will want to return year after year to visit cities with good roads, parks and other amenities.

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If local jurisdictions can better maintain and enhance necessary infrastructure and provide the services and amenities necessary to support tourism, in turn, it will make our communities even more desirable for visitors, and they will come back repeatedly, Cross said. Seems like a win for everyone involved.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  An estimated 66% of Americans said assisted suicide should be legal. Today, its legal in ten states and Washington D.C.

News 2 s Mark Kelly spoke with the laws original champion.

For me, its about honoring how that person wants to live their final days, said Geoff Sugerman, national legislative director at Death with Dignity, a group that advocates for aid in dying legislation in the U.S.

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Sugerman was one of the first in the country to bring to life what is sometimes called Death with Dignity legislation.

They are at the point in their illness where there is no treatment options left for them.

Past debates over medically-assisted suicide in Tennessee

The work to pass the new legislation started in Oregon in 1994. By 1997, the Death with Dignity legislation became law. And according to a state report from Oregon, the following year, 16 people chose to use the law and take a prescription to end their life. In 2023, that number rose to 367 people. Sugerman said Oregons law has become a model for other states.

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Theres a really solid and strong process in place that really protects patients and yet still allows this choice for those people who are really at the end of life.

Sugerman said Oregons law has four key guardrails to prevent abuse:

The patient must be diagnosed with a terminal illness and two doctors agree that the patient has six months to live.

The patient must be mentally competent to make their own decisions.

The patient must make their decision voluntarily.

And the patient must self-administer the medicine.

Supporters believe these guardrails are critical because they differentiate Death with Dignity from suicide and euthanasia, which is when a doctor deliberately kills a patient. Euthanasia is illegal in the U.S.

A person with a disability just doesnt qualify to use the law, unless they also have an underlying terminal illness; a person with a mental health issue does not qualify to use the law; a person with Alzheimers or dementia is not allowed to use the law because theyre not deemed capable of making their own healthcare decisions, said Sugerman.

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Attorney recalls fight for the right to die in Tennessee

Interestingly, a new Gallup poll found 66% percent of Americans not only support assisted suicide, a great many also support euthanasia  and that spans political parties: 79% of Democrats; 72% of Independents; and 61% of Republicans say they support legalizing euthanasia.

The general public, as it is on most issues, is far ahead of most legislatures in support for this, said Sugerman.

Ten states and Washington D.C. have legalized physician-assisted suicide. New York and Massachusetts may very well be next. But Sugerman says that here in Tennessee a Death with Dignity law doesnt seem to be on the horizon in the near future.

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We look at states that have strong organizations and strong legislative champions. And those tend to be the states where we focus more of our efforts legislatively, said Sugerman.

A recent change in Oregon law allows people from other states to travel there for physician-assisted suicide, opening up the procedure to more Americans.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
TOPEKA (KSNT)  A major wildlife success story in eastern Kansas is showing signs of becoming a nuisance for some locals.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) recently held a commission meeting in Bonner Springs where the topic of river otters came up. KDWP Wildlife Research Biologist Matt Peek reported during the meeting that the agency is considering an increase in the number of otters that can be taken during their hunting season in the Sunflower State.

27 News followed up with Peek to find out what these possible changes include and why they may be necessary. He said the otter population of Kansas has seen steady growth over the past two decades, mostly in the eastern half of the state where aquatic habitats are more plentiful.

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They have been gradually expanding westward for about 25 years and now occupy most areas in the state with suitable water availability, Peek said. They require permanent water to stay in an area, and will not occupy parts of western Kansas lacking permanent water.

What are the rarest fish you can catch in Kansas and where can you find them?

Peek said that otters are considered a major wildlife conservation success story in the nation, citing a 2018 report by John Erb, Nathan Roberts and Chris Dwyer. The authors of the report state that otters have reclaimed much of their historic range in the nation with population growth being reported in most states where the species was reintroduced.

It is positive to have a native species return to the state and reoccupy available habitats, Peek said. But sometimes their activities conflict with human interests.

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Peek told KDWP commissioners last year that otters are now expanding into parts of central Kansas where water is available and that some changes to the river otters hunting season may be needed in the future such as bumping up the maximum bag limit from 10 to 20. He told 27 News the KDWP is not currently recommending any changes to the set bag limit and there is no timeline for altering it yet.

Otters can impact fish populations in smaller (<5 acre) ponds, which is especially notable in those where people are feeding fish, and they can be destructive around docks using docks and boats as latrine sites and in some cases burrowing into floatation material, Peek said.

Is bison hunting allowed in Kansas?

Hunters have been able to hunt river otters since 2011, with the greatest number of otters being found in the southeastern parts of the state. Hunters may take otters only through trapping or salvage methods in the 13 management units in Kansas with the current season running from Nov. 8, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

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Trappers successfully took nearly 300 otters during the most recent season, according to the KDWPs 2022-2023 otter pelt tagging report. This marked the highest number of river otters taken by trappers to date in Kansas with the majority coming from the Lower Neosho and Marias des Cygnes units in southeast Kansas. A breakdown of 2022-2023 otter hunting season harvest numbers and management units can be found below:

Lower Neosho Bag limit  10. Harvest  117.

Marias Des Cygnes Bag limit  10. Harvest  107.

Missouri Bag limit  5. Harvest  32.

Verdigris Bag limit  5. Harvest  21.

Upper Neosho Bag limit  2. Harvest  14.

Lower Arkansas Bag limit  2. Harvest  6.

Kansas Bag limit  2. Harvest  1.



Kansas wildlife officials ask hunters to hand over 50 muskrats. Heres why

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.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  The Trump administrations decision to roll back temporary protected status for Venezuelans living in the U.S. has sparked alarm in the nations large expatriate community in South Florida.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Thursday her office has been fielding concerns from individual Venezuelans and community leaders  my neighbors and friends  in the day since the Trump administration announced the move.

Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat who represents south and west Broward County, lives in Weston, which has one of the largest Venezuelan populations in the United States  so big the city is sometimes referred to as Westonzuela.

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She said there is potential for great harm from the decision to cancel an extension of temporary protected status for Venezuelans that was granted in the last week of former President Joe Bidens administration.

Temporary protected status, known widely by the acronym TPS, is a humanitarian program that allows people from a designated country to live and work in the U.S. Venezuelans have fled economic chaos and lawlessness under the repressive regimes of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

About 505,000 Venezuelans were covered by TPS in September, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

On Wednesday, Trump homeland security secretary Kristi Noem revoked the Biden administration extension  making the announcement on the "Fox & Friends" television show, a favorite news source for Republicans. Restricting immigration was a central theme of Trumps 2024 campaign.

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Its outrageous that President Trump rescinded the extension of TPS that President Biden issued, Wasserman Schultz said.

The people who have fled the Maduro regime fled for their lives. Maduro uses oppression and funds from his oil sales to the United States and other countries to engage in terrorism. he aligns himself with the access of evil  Russia, China and Iran  and he is illegally in office, she said.

TPS is designed to make sure that people who would fear for their lives and their safety if they return to their country, that we can keep them safe here for a period of time, Wasserman Schultz said. It is dangerous for anyone to be returned to Venezuela, and Trump canceling the TPS for Venezuelans who are here sends them to almost certain harm if he starts deporting them.

Wasserman Schultz also condemned Noem for the language she used during the "Fox & Friends" announcement, appearing to refer to Venezuelans in the U.S. as dirtbags.

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In fact, the secretary of Homeland Security called those Venezuelans that are my neighbors and friends dirtbags  dirtbags. The disrespect and the vulgarity and the condescension with which Trump and his administration look at people who have fled countries where theres oppression to make a better way of life for themselves and keep their families safe is revolting, Wasserman Schultz said.

Noem said that the people of this country want these dirtbags out, referring to the Venezuelans that are here and members of TDA. TDA is a reference to the Tren de Aragua, a gang based in Venezuela.

The Biden administration granted TPS to Venezuelans in 2021 and continued it in 2023. Just before leaving office, then homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended it until the end of 2026.

Before he left town, Mayorkas signed an order that said for 18 months they were going to extend this protection to people that are in Temporary Protected Status, which meant they were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months, Noem said said on "Fox & Friends." We stopped that.

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The move means theyd be eligible for earlier deportation than under the Mayorkas order.

Given the large Venezuelan population in South Florida, TPS has long enjoyed bipartisan support in the region. When Biden first granted TPS in 2021, Florida Republicans, who are often outspoken in opposition to repressive regimes such as Venezuela, were supportive.

On Wednesday, after Noem announced and implemented the order rescinding the TPS extension, U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar, all Florida Republicans, issued a long, somewhat vague joint statement regarding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals.

The statement itself did not comment specifically, positively or negatively, on the Trump administrations action on TPS, and didnt use the term or the acronym.

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The regime of Nicolas Maduro is one of the worlds most repressive dictatorships, and its mounting failures have led to one of the largest migration crises in history, with millions of Venezuelans being forced to flee the brutal and oppressive regime. As a result, many Venezuelans have arrived in our country and have integrated into our communities, respecting our laws and contributing to the prosperity of our great country, they said.

But, they added, some individuals such as members of the Tren de Aragua have exploited our generosity and flouted our laws.

They said Trump has shown steadfast and unwavering solidarity with the Venezuelan people. And they said they would do everything possible to ensure that those seeking freedom from persecution and oppression are protected.
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:

Excess mortality rate for each year among Americans aged 25-44, broken into causes of death, which are listed in order of the respective panels outcome (highest to lowest) in 2023. Credit: University of Minnesota.

New research from the University of Minnesota shows that death rates for early adults, or adults aged 2544, rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain higher than expected post-pandemic.

Heightened death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified an already negative trend for early adults, which began around 2010. As a result, early adult death rates in 2023 were about 70% higher than they might have been if death rates had not begun to rise about a decade before the pandemic.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and Boston University analyzed death rates between 19992023. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, found:

For early adults, there was a large jump in the death rate between 2019 and 2021, which are considered the core pandemic years. In 2023, the death rate remained nearly 20% higher than in 2019.

Drug-related deaths are the single largest cause of 2023 excess mortality, compared with the mortality that would have been expected had earlier trends continued.

Other important contributing causes were a variety of natural causes, including cardiometabolic and nutritional causes, and a variety of other external causes, including transport deaths.

"The rise in opiate deaths has been devastating for Americans in early and middle adulthood," said Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, lead author and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation.

"What we didn't expect is how many different causes of death have really grown for these early adults. It's drug and alcohol deaths, but it's also car collisions, it's circulatory and metabolic diseasescauses that are very different from each other. That tells us this isn't one simple problem to fix, but something broader."

"Our findings underscore the urgent need for comprehensive policies to address the structural factors driving worsening health among recent generations of young adults," said author Andrew Stokes of Boston University. "Solutions may include expanding access to nutritious foods, strengthening social services and increasing regulation of industries that affect public health."

Future research will explore ongoing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the trends that were already in place when it began.
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT)  Authorities say they recovered over a pound of fentanyl and cocaine following a search warrant at an Evansville apartment.

According to an affidavit, investigators with the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force and the DEA Evansville Office received information in the fall of 2024 that Robert Dismuke was obtaining pounds of methamphetamine from a source outside of Evansville. Authorities say Dismuke had a woman drive him to Indianapolis from Evansville on January 29 to transport a large amount of narcotics.

During a traffic stop, Indiana State Police say a K-9 alerted to the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle. Authorities say Dismuke was arrested and approximately three pounds of methamphetamine and approximately two ounces of fentanyl were discovered under the hood of the vehicle.

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Detectives executed a search warrant at an apartment in the 200 block of West Florida Street in Evansville where Dismuke said he has been staying. During a search of the apartment, law enforcement said they uncovered illegal contraband, most of which was found inside of a bathroom attached only to a bedroom where Israel Mays was staying.

The following items were reportedly found in the apartment:

A folded up dollar bill containing 1 gram of cocaine

1.3 grams of MDMA pills

One 20mg Oxycodone Hydrochloride pill, identified as a Schedule II substance.

Fifteen round pink pills identified as Oxycodone Hydrochloride

1.3 grams of MDMA pills

A clear plastic bag containing 29 grams of blue round pills that field tested positive for fentnanyl

A clear plastic bag containing 4.5 grams of a green leafy substance that field tested positive for THC

Unlabeled pill bottles containing capsules identified as Gabapentin

A gallon size bag containing a cutting agent

Four containers containing a substance containing a cutting agent

Several small bags containing powder like substances that field tested positive for a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl with a field weight of 542 grams

A black digital scale with white powder residue

Twenty bottles of Promethazene, totaling over 11,000 grams of liquid, identified as a Schedule II substance

Authorities say Mays was arrested and taken into custody as he was climbing out of his bedroom window on Friday. He was charged with dealing a Schedule II drug, dealing cocaine or a narcotic drug, possession of cocaine and two counts of possession of a Schedule II drug.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW).
UPDATE 01/31/2025: The Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing has publicly released its recommendations to the Portland Police Bureau in response to the 2022 Normandale Park shooting. The link can be found here.



PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  An apology from the Portland Police Bureau was released this week ahead of the three-year anniversary of a deadly shooting that rocked the community. But local advocates say its too little, too late.

Portland police are acknowledging that in their initial response to the Normandale Park shooting on Feb. 19, 2022, they got a few things wrong. Two people died as a result of that shooting.

Vancouver family launches sons ashes into space

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That evening was harmful for so many different people in our community, said Kip Silverman, a member of the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP).

The Portland Police Bureau has faced backlash for years, with many critics saying they handled the situation poorly. On Wednesday, PPB Chief Bob Day released a video message in part apologizing for the bureaus response to the shooting.

I have also met with community members to hear their concerns about the lasting impacts on the broader community, Day said.

PPB admitted in their apology that in a press release, they initially called the now-convicted murderer in the shooting, Benjamin Smith, a homeowner  he was not. They also claimed the victims were armed protesters. But in reality, the victims were unarmed traffic safety volunteers.

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While we corrected our written statement to identify the perpetrator as an armed area resident, we did not clarify that this was an unprovoked attack on an innocent group of people. We understand the harm this error caused, and for that, we are deeply sorry, Day said.

The PCCEP met to discuss the apology, saying it should have come three years earlier.

No survivors after plane, helicopter collide: Trump

Kip Silverman said the group is now putting together a recommendation for PPB on how they could handle possible similar situations in the future  and potentially stopping any misreporting by police moving forward.

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Its really hard to have an accurate narrative. It should be corrected in a timely manner, Silverman said.

The police oversight group is still working on that recommendation. Silverman said it should be done by next week.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT)  The first full month of legalized medical cannabis in Kentucky is almost in the books and there is still a sharp learning curve, not just for patients, but also physicians. Currently, no Owensboro Health provider is certified to prescribe medical marijuana as more education and trainings are needed.

At this point, we at Owensboro Health are not encouraging our discouraging the use of medical cannabis, says Jason Collins, Executive Director of Pharmacy at Owensboro Health. So if our provider says they want to do it, they will be supported to go out and receive certification, if they say they dont want to, thats their prerogative based on what they thinks best for their patients.

Collins says there is a lot of information for patients, as well. Its only certain types of cannabis thats allowed for medical cannabis. So, you still cant smoke marijuana. Thats still not allowed according to this, explains Collins.

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Officials looking at feasibility study for interchange on I-165

Providers will need to receive certification through the states medical cannabis website, where patients can also register for a medical cannabis card. Patients that have qualifying conditions, such as cancer, epilepsy, and PTSD, will then meet with a certified physician to discuss treatment using a state-approved dispensary.

Theres a certain amount you can fill per month, then you can only have so many on you at any given time after that, says Collins. The limitations dont stop there. Despite being legal in Kentucky, a patient will not be able to carry medical cannabis with them at healthcare facilities, such as Owensboro Health locations.

That is still, federally considered, a class one narcotic. So, federally, its not approved, explains Collins. So hospitals cannot dispense medical marijuana, we cant store it, we cant purchase it. Collins goes on to say, If patients come to a hospital with their medical cannabis wanting to use it, it will have to be treated as contraband, which means it will be, like any other contraband, it will be collected and destroyed.

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There is much more information available on Kentuckys medical cannabis website, which can be accessed here.

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HONOLULU (KHON2)  Hers is a legacy that can be seen on the faces of na wahine and thousands of athletes that embrace the paddling heritage and it is that community who are mourning the loss of this visionary leader.

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A lifelong paddler, she competed and trained as a proud member of Waikiki Surf Club and Kailua Canoe Club, where she forged deep ties with her paddling ohana. Her passion for the sport was evident not just in her leadership, but in every stroke she took in the waa, OHCRA stated in a news release.

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It was Aunty Hannie Andersons determination and perseverance that made the way for a womens race across the Kaiwi Channel. That event came to be known as Na Wahine O Ke Kai and was a direct result of Aunty Hannies vision for the sport that she loved.

Were going to do it, paving the path for wahine paddlers

The inaugural crossing was in 1979 and since then it has served as a pinnacle race for generations of women, including her daughter and granddaughter, who are able to make the grueling crossing because of Anderson.

Aunty Hannie was a true visionary, a fearless leader, and an unwavering advocate for our paddling ohana, shared Luana Froiseth, OHCRA Race Director. Her legacy lives on in every stroke taken by those she inspired. She has given so much to our sport, and we are forever grateful.

My hopes for Na Wahine never die, Anderson told KHON2 in a 2020 special about her legacy. Her passion and leadership have ensured that those hopes will continue on.

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Storied koa canoe, Leilani, makes her way across Kaiwi Channel

Anderson served as Race Commissioner for HCRA as well as President and Race Director of OHCRA.

She celebrated her 90th birthday on Jan. 5.

Her loss will forever be felt among the paddling community.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Mississippi's government employees are one step closer to having eight weeks of paid parental leave, which is currently not offered.

On Thursday afternoon, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed House Bill 1063 with 114 votes.

The bill would give state employees who have worked for the government for at least one year eight full weeks of paid parental leave once their child is born. It also offers leave for parents adopting someone under the age of 18. Parents who are considered secondary caregivers would receive two weeks of paid leave.

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The bill would not specifically apply to schoolteachers but would allow school districts to adopt their own similar policy.

House Speaker Jason White, R-West, later called the bill a win for Mississippi.

"As a pro-life state, Mississippi is in a critical position to meet the needs for healthier outcomes for parents and children and to support families in our state's workplace," White said in a press release issued Thursday after the vote. "With our fellow southern states offering some form of parental leave, and Mississippi currently offering no paid parental leave to their state employees, we too can reflect our commitment to the wellbeing of families, as well as utilize this benefit as an employee recruitment and retention tool."

The Mississippi House shown voting on a bill in January. On Thursday, the Mississippi House passed a bill to give state employees paid parental leave.

Ballot initiatives moving in MS House: Mississippi ballot initiative restoration advances in House, again. What the bill would do

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White in his statement also said the bill, if it were to pass, sets a health example for the state's private sector to offer similar benefits to their employees.

The legislation was authored by Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi, who among a large bi-partisan contingent of lawmakers in both the Senate and House have been calling for the idea.

In 2024, Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked lawmakers to pass parental leave to keep the state competitive in hiring practices and made the idea one of her legislative priorities for 2025. There was also a hearing to discuss the benefits of paid parental leave.

Reeves urges tax cuts at annual address: Gov. Reeves urges tax cuts in State of the State address for Mississippi. See what he said

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Others such as Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, have also said it's time to offer state employees a parental leave option, and Sen. Jeremy England, R-Ocean Springs, has filed a bill to give state employees parental leave in the Senate.

"As a parent myself, I understand that those first several weeks after giving birth, they're very joyful weeks, but they're also very trying weeks, and you have to learn how to do a lot of things, especially with your first child, and I think that it's a good idea for us to offer that," England said.

Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Paid parental leave for state workers passes Mississippi House
The Michigan delegation at the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2024 | Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom

Updated 2/1/25  6:55 a.m.

A group calling itself the Peoples Coalition is seeking to gain leadership positions within the Michigan Democratic Party at its spring state convention next month.

The group, which has been using texts, emails and social media to try and recruit Democrats to turnout at the Feb. 22 convention held at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, has billed itself as a Palestinian-American led, multi-faith, multi-racial movement pushing to make our party one that works on behalf of the people.

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The group has put forward candidates for several positions within the party, including three people seeking leadership roles in the MDP Progressive Caucus: Sadaf Ali, a professor at Eastern Michigan University, running for chair; Tony DiMeglio, described as a former student activist at Wayne State University and the University Michigan, running for vice-chair; and Mason Pressler, the youngest person ever elected to the Bay City Public Schools Board of Education, as secretary.

The group wont be running anyone for the MDP chair, which is up for grabs following the planned retirement of Lavora Barnes, said Co-Founder Rima Mohammad, a Washtenaw County Democrat whos a faculty member at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and an Ann Arbor Public Schools trustee.

The Peoples Coalition only came into formal existence at the beginning of January, she said.

But it was a movement that was building even before that, Mohammad told the Michigan Advance. We do have a PAC and we have a website so it is newer, but again the movement has been happening much longer than that.

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Mohammad says the coalitions roots began with the Uncommitted movement, which sought to influence both the Biden administration and the Democratic Party in its policies following the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza by withholding support for Biden in the 2024 Democratic primaries.

While Biden still handily won Michigans Democratic primary in February 2024, some members of the Uncommitted movement morphed into an Abandon Biden campaign (and later Abandon Harris when then-Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee). The Abandon Harris effort endorsed Green Party nominee Jill Stein, while other Arab-American leaders ended up supporting President Donald Trump, most notably Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib.

Trump defeated Harris in November and won Michigan.

However, Mohammad insists the Peoples Coalition is made up of Democrats, many who have campaigned and fundraised or donated to Democrats.

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We are committed to the party, she told the Advance, adding that the momentum to create the coalition came from underrepresented groups, including but not limited to the Muslim and Arab-American communities.

A lot of issues that we are all facing including housing, including immigration, whats going on right now with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], especially impacting a lot of immigrant communities, but definitely weve seen there has been a lot of movements that have happened over the past year-and-a-half. And I do believe it was because marginalized communities were not being heard, she said.

The Peoples Coalition logo

Mohammad says the reality is that many people are less engaged politically and remain uncommitted to any party. For Democrats to emerge from the disappointments of 2024s losses, she said they have to be more inclusive when it comes to decision-making.

We have to get the right people at the table and especially marginalized and underrepresented groups. So really this coalition is a kind of a continuation of many movements that were happening to build a coalition of the multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious, multigender, coalition of people that are frustrated right now with whats happening in politics.

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Mohammad is among the Peoples Coalition candidates seeking positions at Februarys convention, as she is running for the Congressional District 6 Democratic Party vice chair. She says they hope to have a full slate of candidates announced by next week.

The biggest race to be decided on Feb. 22 is for party chair and its down to two candidates, former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) and community organizer Al BJ Williams.

Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus Chair Mark Ludwig had been seeking the top spot, but dropped out last week to instead run as second vice chair on the slate for the Michigan Solidarity Coalition.

While the Peoples Coalition has yet to make an endorsement, Mohammad did say the group is happy to see that Hertel had included Hind Omar for corresponding secretary on his slate for the MDP Executive Board, who if elected, would be the first Palestinian-American on the board.

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The coalition is also hosting a meet and greet featuring Hertel and Williams on Tuesday via Zoom.

Among those supporting the Peoples Coalition is Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American attorney and human rights activist, who filed suit against the MDP last year after failing to win the partys nomination to the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Arraf alleged the party violated its own rules, denying her the nomination. She later dropped the case.

These past 15 months have been devastating and incredibly challenging for us as a Palestinian people, and also for anyone who values human rights, justice and peace, said Arraf in a fundraising email for the coalition in which she praised the student encampments across the country, as well as the boycott, divest and sanction efforts against Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian lands in Gaza and the West Bank.

If we channel the same energy, passion and dedication to supporting the Peoples Coalition, we have the opportunity to create profound and positive change here in Michigan. Our communities are brimming with creativity, energy, connections and resources  all of which can strengthen a growing coalition of progressive leaders; Lets come together to support (and join) them in pushing for the transformative change that we so urgently need, said Arraf.

Huwaida Arraf (right), a candidate for the University of Michigan Board of Regents cheers on her supporters at the Michigan Democratic Partys nominating convention in Lansing on Aug. 24, 2024 | Photo Anna Liz Nichols

Mohammad said that the coalition is truly diverse, and yes, they feel theyre pro-humanity, pro-peace people, but the main issue is not just about Gaza, not just about the Palestinians.

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While Palestinians such as herself are involved, Mohammad said the coalition really came together in the aftermath of the election, as well as the failure of Democrats to pass key priorities through the Michigan Legislature during the lame duck session when they still held majorities in both chambers.

This is not a one-issue movement, said Mohammad. Ive heard things from people here in Washtenaw County, thinking this is Uncommitted. Its not. This is actually people who want to help bring change, not just to the party, but also amplify the voices of marginalized and underrepresented groups to address the issues that are still here and affecting everyday life.

Mohammad says whether Democrats want to acknowledge it or not, there is a very real danger of the Michigan Democratic Party losing long-term support, which is what they want to head off.

Theres a lot of people that are at a point where they are one foot out of the party. Some have left the party, she said. Ive heard so much disappointment, and the sad thing is, its more of trying to get people more re-engaged with the party that really serves the working class, that really serves marginalized and underrepresented groups. This is where we belong.

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This story was updated to reflect that the Peoples Coalition has yet to make an endorsement in the race for MDP chair.

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Panama President Jose Raul Mulino rejected negotiations over ownership of the Panama Canal, in the face of President Trumps fixation on the U.S. retaking the trade waterway.

Mulinos remarks come ahead of a visit this weekend by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has called for Panama to kick out a Hong Kong-based company that operates two ports on either side of the canal, describing it as a core U.S. national interest.

Its impossible. I cant negotiate, Mulino said when asked about returning the canal to U.S. control during a press conference Thursday. That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.

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Mulino said he hopes to talk to the U.S. about issues including immigration, security and the fight against drug trafficking.

The only thing that I want is to clear all the garbage from the path, clean the table and be able to speak with the United States, and very frankly, he said, according to The Associated Press.

Trump has made his calls for retaking the Panama Canal one of his priority foreign policy issues in his first days in office, criticizing the Carter administrations 1977 decision to sell the U.S.-built canal to Panama; fumed over high transit prices and railed against Chinese businesses operating key ports on the waterway.

Rubio, in a recent interview on The Megyn Kelly Show, said hes going to address with Mulino a solution to the U.S. concerns of Chinese companies presence at the canal. Rubio accuses the businesses of being under the direction of the Chinese government and has suggested theres a risk the companies could shut down the waterway.

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If the government of China in a conflict tells them shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to, and in fact I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so, Rubio said.

We cannot allow any foreign power, particularly China, to hold that kind of potential control over that they do, he added.

The secretary of State also called Panama generally pro-American and said there are a lot of things we can work with them that are very positive, on migration, and they can be very helpful on all sorts of things.

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Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out any negotiations with the United States over the Panama Canal, after Donald Trump said that the US would reclaim the waterway during his inauguration as president last week.

"I can't negotiate, much less begin a negotiation over the canal," Mulino said in his weekly press conference. "That's sealed. The canal is Panama's."

The president was addressing the upcoming trip of new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Central America. Last week, a spokeswoman confirmed the trip, without, however, naming the individual countries that Rubio would visit in his first trip abroad in the role.

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According to US media, stops in Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are planned from the end of this week.

In his inauguration speech on January 20, Trump laid claim to the Panama Canal. He has since bluntly stated on several occasions that the United States should have checks on the important waterway, claims that Mulino has firmly rejected.

The 82-kilometre canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific in Central America. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the engineering corps of the US Army.

On December 31, 1999, the US handed over the canal administration to Panama. The transaction was negotiated by the recently deceased Democratic US president Jimmy Carter.
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

While many studies have reported a link between a mother's health condition during pregnancy and her child's risk of autism, a new study shows that nearly all of these "associations" can otherwise be explained by factors such as genetics, exposure to pollution, and access to health care.

Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, the study revealed that, of the few conditions truly associated with autism, all were actually complications with the fetusleading the authors to believe that those symptoms were early signs of autism in the child and not the cause of it.

"Our study shows that there is no convincing evidence that any of these other diagnoses in the mother can cause autism," said study senior author Magdalena Janecka, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and in the Department of Population Health, at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Publishing in the journal Nature Medicine online Jan. 31, the new study included an analysis of the medical histories of more than 1.1 million pregnancies (among 600,000 mothers) from a national registry in Denmark.

Unlike medical records in the United States, which are often scattered among many different medical providers an individual sees during their lifetime, in Denmark all of an individual's health records are consolidated under a single government-issued number, which enabled researchers to check each woman for more than 1,700 distinct diagnoses as defined by international standards, known as ICD-10 codes.

From these, researchers focused their analysis on those diagnosed in at least 0.1% of pregnancies (236 diagnoses).

"We believe our study is the first to comprehensively examine the entire medical history of the mother and explore a wide range of possible associations, controlling for multiple concurrent conditions and confounding factors," said study lead author Vahe Khachadourian, MD, Ph.D., MPH, a research assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Denmark has strict safeguards in place to prevent misuse of the registry data, says Janecka, since it contains personal information. But because of the individual-specific information, the researchers were able to cross-check every diagnosis a woman had had about her children's risk of autism.

For the study, the researchers corrected for factors that could confound, or offer an alternative explanation for, the link between the diagnosis a woman received and a child's autism diagnosis.

These factors include sociodemographic status and the mother's age during pregnancy, since children of older mothers are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, and their mothers are also more likely to receive certain diagnoses, such as hypertension, than their younger counterparts.

After accounting for these confounding factors, as well as for concurrent diagnoses, 30 were still statistically associated with autism in the child. To determine if these happened to occur alongside rather than cause autism, the researchers then included the siblings of autistic children in the analysis.

If a mother was diagnosed with the same condition during pregnancies of children with and without autism, then it would suggest that factors other than her diagnosis were influencing the link with autism. This step disentangled the conditions that could be attributable to familial factors, such as genetics and environmental exposure to pollution, from those that may be causing autism.

Genetics is a strong familial confounder (plausible explanation) for autism, the researchers say. Certain genes that increase the risk of someone having depression are also more closely tied to them having autism.

If a woman suffers a bout of depression during pregnancy and her child is autistic, it is much more likely that mother and child share genes that cause both conditions, rather than that the chemical effects of depression somehow affected the fetus to cause autism during development.

Researchers also analyzed fathers' medical histories. Any association between a paternal diagnosis and autism would most likely be caused by familial factors, since the father's direct effects on a fetus postconception are likely to be very limited. In fact, the researchers observed that a lot of paternal diagnoses are just as related to child autism as the maternal diagnoses.

After accounting for the familial factors, the only maternal diagnosis that was still strongly statistically associated with autism was pregnancy complications related to the fetus.

"Our interpretation is that these fetal diagnoses likely do not cause autism, but are instead early signs of it," said Janecka. "The predominant hypothesis is that autism really starts prenatally. Even before a child receives a diagnosis for autism, developmental changes have been happening the entire time.

"Many mothers of children with autism feel guilty about it," said Janecka, "thinking that they did something wrong during pregnancy, and it is heartbreaking. I think showing that these things are not going to cause autism is important and may lead to more effective ways to support autistic children and their families."

More information: Most associations between maternal health and autism are attributable to familial confounding, Nature Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03479-5 Journal information: Nature Medicine
A Jan. 6 rioter recently pardoned by President Donald Trump was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a mother of two while driving drunk.

Emily Hernandez, who was seen holding former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis broken nameplate during the Capitol riots, served 30 days in federal prison in 2022 for a misdemeanor trespassing charge related to Jan. 6.

Hernandez, 24, was driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway in Missouri on Jan. 5, 2022, when she crashed into Victoria and Ryan Wilson, a couple celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.

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Victoria Wilson, 32, died of her injuries. Ryan Wilson was seriously injured in the crash, causing his right foot to become disabled, court documents say.

Hernandezs attorneys requested that she be given the minimum sentence of just about four months in prison. Her attorneys said she was extraordinarily remorseful for her actions.

Hernandez pleaded guilty on Nov. 5 to two counts of driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to 10 years on Wednesday.

Nothing will ever bring her back, Victoria Wilsons mother, Tonie Donaldson, said. We have an empty hole in my heart that will always be there.

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She left behind two sons, who are now 18 and 13 years old.

Hernandez is now the fourth Jan. 6 rioter who is either wanted, in custody, or has been killed by police since Trump gave blanket pardons to more than 1,500 people on his first day back in office.
Thousands of Donald Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building following a Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

President Donald Trumps pardon of nearly all the rioters in the U.S. Capitol break-in on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,500 of them, should resonate with people in Oregon.

This month, the federal government settled a lawsuit claiming that the Trump administration used excessive force against protestors and others who attacked the federal courthouse in Portland in the summer of 2020.

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Those two cases differ but they indicate how the federal government and Oregon authorities are likely to respond to political violence in the coming years. Not everyone pardoned by Trump was accused of violence, but many were and several from Oregon had already been sentenced. Now their criminal records are swept clean.

The Portland resolution was less noted. It involved the end of a key lawsuit that stemmed from federal involvement in the Portland street riots of the summer of 2020.

The 2020 protests were triggered by the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, and Portland was just one of the cities nationwide where protests took place.

Most people were peaceful, even in Portland, but violence marred their message. The city experienced ongoing looting, vandalism and arson. People were injured. At least one person was killed in a battle between people on opposing sides of the racial justice debate. It followed a tense day when Trump backers caravanned through the city while Black Lives Matter supporters held a rally.

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Theres no one reason that tensions raged so high and the protests lasted so long in Portland  well into fall. But one reason was likely this: In July 2020, Trump ordered federal law enforcement officials to crack down in Portland. At least 775 from the Department of Homeland Security, using unmarked vehicles and often wearing military-style camouflage, responded to the protests.

Trump said they grabbed people and jailed the leaders, who he said were anarchists.

What followed became highly controversial, leading to complaints from a number of Oregon elected officials. The Portland City Council chose to end cooperation between local police and federal law enforcement, citing an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by federal agencies. In a followup report the next year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security admitted its operations had been deeply flawed.

Civil lawsuits followed, including several from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU cited military-style violence in which many people, including medics and journalists, were subjected not only to tear gas but also to pepper balls and impact munitions usually reserved for wartime use.

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Oregon ACLU client Maureen Healy remarked that, The history of the past century shows us that authoritarian governments follow patterns. One of these is to dress their troops in unmarked, unidentifiable uniforms and set them loose to commit violence against everyday people. The goal is to instill fear in the public and to stop those committed to democracy from working together to oppose the governments intimidation.

Last week, the first of the Portland lawsuits was settled, providing for compensation from the federal government for injuries to Portlanders. Other legal cases are ongoing.

The timing of the settlement came a day after Trump returned to office. Some Oregonians will be closely watching progress in the other cases. They may get the message that fighting back against law enforcement overreach will be slow and the results limited.

The lightning-fast pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters, coming without any vetting of individuals and including many who committed violent acts, was a sharp contrast. More significant are the responses from many of the participants. While a few convicted of crimes renounced their pardons, many may feel more emboldened to go further next time.

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One of the renouncers, Jason Riddle of New Hampshire, remarked, If I was one of the people who crossed the line into assaulting police officers that day, Id probably believe I can get away with anything I want now.

That may have applied in 2020 to federal officers but it also now apparently applies to people outside the federal government who believe theyre carrying out the presidents will.

What Portland experienced in the summer of 2020 could foreshadow what many communities might experience in the years ahead when violent people feel they have reason to think the federal government will have their backs, whatever they do.

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Nuns rallied against Ohios reproductive rights amendment on Oct. 6, 2023. Opponents of Issue 1 said the measure would diminish parental rights. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)

The anti-abortion movement has framed certain protections for abortion care as attacks on parental rights.

Opponents of successful reproductive rights ballot measures in Ohio, Missouri, Maryland and New York often deployed this rhetoric while campaigning.

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Parental rights were not included in Ohios Issue 1 ballot language that passed in November 2023. But that didnt stop first lady Fran DeWine from saying in an ad that the measure would deny parents the right to be involved when their daughter is making the most important decision of her life, Ohio Capital Journal reported.

Critics of Missouris abortion-rights initiative, including former Republican Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, falsely claimed the amendment would legalize gender transition surgeries for minors, according to Missouri Independent.

Maryland and New York had questions on the ballot last fall that sought to shore up existing statewide protections. An opposition group in Maryland argued that the measure would nullify parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions. Question 1 did not gut those restrictions. New Yorks Coalition to Protect Kids popped up to oppose the measure. The name of the group implied an anti-discrimination amendment that also safeguarded the right to make decisions about pregnancy would somehow harm children in New York, where there are no parental consent or notification requirements for teens seeking abortions.

Republican lawmakers also say so-called abortion trafficking laws are meant to protect minors who get abortions out of state. Idaho and Tennessee passed such laws, but the statutes were fully or partially blocked by the courts. Similar legislation appeared recently in New Hampshire, and Republicans in Virginia are using the parental rights argument against a reproductive rights amendment.

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Virginia Mercurys Charlotte Rene Woods reports:

Republicans are ramping up opposition to Democrat-led efforts to protect abortion and contraception access, saying the proposals undermine parental rights in minors health care decisions. As these measures advance in the legislature, the battle over oversight is heating up.

The legislation obliterates parental rights that would supersede any state law we have, said Republican Del. Mark Earley, during a House floor debate last week.

House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, a Democrat who is sponsoring the resolution, dismissed the claims.

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The law is the law until the court says its not, Herring said, emphasizing that current state laws governing parental consent remain intact.

Virginia law requires minors to obtain parental or guardian consent for an abortion unless they petition a judge for authorization. This judicial bypass system is already in place and would not be affected by the amendment.

University of Richmond legal professor Meredith Harbach explained that amending Virginias Constitution would not override these existing legal safeguards, underscoring that the resolution does not specifically address minors or alter parental consent laws.

Harbach noted that numerous court cases have upheld parental authority over minors in various situations.

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While minors arent explicitly mentioned in the reproductive health bills facing Republican opposition, Democratic lawmakers argue that parental rights are already clearly defined in existing state law, making additional references unnecessary.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Currently, 10 states and Washington D.C. allow medically assisted suicide, but past attempts to legalize the measure in Tennessee have failed.

The debate over death with dignity was first ignited in Tennessee in 2015 by the late political icon and civil rights fighter, John Jay Hooker, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and wanted to die with dignity. He sued the state to try to change the law.

I have felt for a long time that the government ought to keep their nose out of that and that the decision to live or die ought to be between [the patient] and the doctor. Unfortunately, Tennessee law says otherwise, Hooker told News 2 in 2015.

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After hearing Hookers story, former state Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) drafted a bill to legalize death with dignity that same year.

Tennessee Right to Life calls physician-assisted suicide against the natural order of things

I took it on because [Hooker] needed someone to at the last minute, but since that time, its been sort of amazing to me how many people have come out that I wouldnt have expected with support. A lot, Rep. Fitzhugh said.

Despite the support, the bill was sent to summer study, had one hearing, and never made it out of committee.

It was sort of a longshot to begin with because it was a new concept in Tennessee, Rep. Fitzhugh said.

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In 2017, around one year after Hooker died from his cancer, the right to die was up for debate again in Tennessee. The bill was sponsored by former Republican Rep. Tim Wirgau (R-Buchanan), but was quickly withdrawn.

Last year, Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) sponsored a new version of the right to die bill after witnessing his friends family members suffer in pain after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The reality is, were all going to die. People dont want to talk about it but every single person thats alive today wont be alive at some point, so we should allow people dignity in death and let them choose, if they have a terminal disease, how they want to end their life, Rep. Freeman said.

Under Rep. Freemans bill, the patient who opts into death with dignity must be diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of around six months or less. In addition, the patient is the only individual who can opt into death with dignity. The legislation also requires a doctor to consult the patient about death with dignity and ensure they are of sound mind. Two witnesses must be present when the patient elects to undergo medically assisted suicide, and the patient may opt out at any time if they change their mind.

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John Jay Hookers fight to die in TN

Rep. Freeman told News 2 in 2024 that the hospice care providers he talked to supported the bill.

When you talk about hospice, they talk about quality of life, and quality of life at the end of life should be honored as well, Rep. Freeman said. When you enter into hospice and you know the end is near, its not medically treatable, and youre just treating the pain until the person dies naturally, I think people should have the choice to choose how they want to die.

Freemans bill never made it out of committee last year, but he plans to sponsor it again this legislative session.

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Kash Patel, President Donald Trumps nominee to lead the FBI, walked into his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday with more than a little baggage. He has a record of comments, actions, and associations that seemed like ready fodder for Democratic senators looking to call into question his ability to perform in his job.

But they struggled to leverage much of the controversial parts of Patels past. Unlike the strategic and targeted questioning by Democrats on the Armed Services Committee of Pete Hegsethwhich effectively put a spotlight on his lack of qualifications for defense secretary, though not enough to derail his confirmationinterrogations of Patel from Judiciary Committee members were mostly scattered and ineffective.

A Trump loyalist, Patel was a public defender before he was a staffer for the House Intelligence Committee, later working for the National Security Council and serving as chief of staff to the secretary of defense in the presidents first administration. Since the end of Trumps first term, he has called for removing the intelligence arm of the FBI and turning the agencys headquarters into a museum of the deep state, vowed to come after members of the media, and created an index of members of the Executive Branch Deep State in his 2023 book Government Gangsters that critics have dubbed an enemies list.

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Democrats on the committee brought all of these topics up at some point, but they did so in an unfocused manner that didnt seem to damage Patel much. Republicans, in turn, allowed Patel to defend himself. When he introduced Patel, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina held up a bingo card, mocking some of the attacks Patel has faced.

Rather than putting Patel on the defensive, Democrats used much of their time during the five-hour hearing reciting incendiary comments Patel has made in the past and asking him to justify certain actions from Trump. They inflicted little damage, if any, on his confirmation prospects, likely missing the opportunity to deter enough Republicans from voting for him once his nomination reaches the full Senate.

At one point Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island lobbed several questions at Patel regarding social media posts and podcast appearances he had made. A Whitehouse staff member held up a poster that depicted Patel saying it was beyond a reasonable doubt that members of federal law enforcement were involved in starting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Patel called that characterization completely incorrect and was about to respond to the charge, but Whitehouse would not let him.

Ill give you the opportunity in writing, but this is my time now, Whitehouse replied, sparing Patel from needing to defend the remark.

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During her questioning, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota claimed Patel called for prosecuting Justice Department officials under a RICO statute, brought up his promotion of a supplement line he said would help people detox from the COVID vaccine, and noted that former Attorney General Bill Barr was on his Executive Branch Deep State list. Patel gave short answers in response as Klobuchar rushed through his comments and actions.

Democrats also brought up his involvement with the J6 Prison Choir, a group of people charged with crimes related to the riot. The group recorded a track of themselves singing The Star-Spangled Banner, interspersed with soundbites of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Patel attempted to distance himself from the group, saying he didnt have anything to do with the recording.

However, no one mentioned Patels remarks from January 2024, when he told former Rep. Devin Nunes on the latters podcast that he received recognition from Billboard after the recording reached No. 1 on the charts. I literally have a Billboard with my name on it for doing the Donald Trump-January 6 Prison Choir Song. And Billboard called us and said, We dont want to give you a Billboard. They didnt want to put Donald Trumps name on it.

Later, Democrats spent time sparring with Patel over the release of the transcript of his testimony before a grand jury in special prosecutor Jack Smiths defunct classified documents case against Trump. Patel testified after he was compelled to do so and given limited immunity. Several senators on the panel, including Whitehouse and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, insisted that Patel himself could authorize the release of the testimony and speak to the committee about it, while Patel maintained that he was not allowed to discuss it. Nevertheless, he still called for its release.

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Get my grand jury testimony. I want it made public. I asked the Department of Justice to make it public, and they refused to do so, he told Sen. Cory Booker.

There were some instances in which Democrats did make Patel appear to sweat. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committees ranking member, asked him at the beginning of the hearing if he was familiar with Stew Peters, a far-right podcast host who has made antisemitic comments.

Not off the top of my head, Patel said.

You made eight separate appearances on his podcast, Durbin retorted.

The closest they came to matching that moment was when Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont asked Patel, who has associated with figures who claim the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, whether Joe Biden won that contest.

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Joe Biden was the president of the United States, he replied.

Welch then pressed Patel further, noting the nominees continued refusal to simply say that Biden was the victor in the 2020 election. The senator contrasted that with his own openness in saying that Trump won in 2024.

What I can say is the same for both of them, Senator, Patel replied, speaking of Biden and Trump. Both of their elections were certified, and they are bothone was and one now ispresident.

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EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI)  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s polarizing views and checkered past have been in the spotlight this week as President Donald Trumps nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services fields questions from Senators, as well as criticism from his own family.

The Boston Globe Rhode Islands Dan McGowan reached out to RFK Jr.s cousin Patrick Kennedy, a former U.S. Representative for Rhode Islands first congressional district, to get his perspective, and joined 12 News at 4 to share what he learned.

Watch the full interview in the player above.

Read McGowans full column in The Boston Globe Rhode Island: Former R.I. congressman thinks his cousin is the leader we need on addiction policy 

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PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB)  On December 5, a Florida Department of Transportation subcontractor was completing his work when he hit a water line on Panama City Beach Parkway, between Culvers and Hancock Bank.

Crews repaired the 16-inch line after a 3-to-4-hour service interruption. On December 9, someone reported a leak on Laird Street and Laurie Avenue, believed to be caused by a tractor-trailer or something similar.

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Work crews confirmed a leak and ordered a new piece to repair it, but later that night, the line split, causing a major water main break.

It took crews almost 24 hours to repair the line and restore service.

It was just the duration that our crews were out there. They would get tired and fatigued. We really needed on-call services from a supplemental contract. That idea would just be basically a standby service that we would call if we had an event like that in the future, PCB Utilities Director Mark Shaeffer said.

City officials say theyre hoping to hire more workers.

One of the areas or two of the areas that we had discussed was adding another crew for the additional valve exercise machine. And that team would also be part of the locating team for the isolation valves that are existing in the system and also increasing the number of personnel we have to do line locates for contractors, PCB Vice Mayor Michael Jarman said.

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Officials believe helping contractors locate lines before digging could help prevent damages. The valve exercise machine will help isolate future line breaks.

Utility officials want to add four more water tanks in Panama City Beach, two on the west end and two on the east end. They say this will not only help with daily usage of water but will help in emergencies like natural disasters.

Georgia man remains on death row following 2008 murder of teenage girl

Our tanks were full prior to Michael, we were able to reduce the pressure that we were giving it to people so they wouldnt use it as use as much water. Its water conservation stuff. So yeah, that, that was essential for us out here in terms of staging for emergency response and keeping people, residents in their homes and so forth.

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The city will consider Shaeffers proposals and decide in the next few months.

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Penn Hills Senior High School is experiencing issues with its power.

At around 9:40 a.m., the Penn Hills School District announced that high school students would be dismissed early due to a power outage.

The students will be dismissed after the buses complete morning drop-offs and come back to the high school.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, the district said.

Duquesne Light Company said the outage was caused by equipment issues.

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CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)  Dean Marie Hardin has led the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications since 2014, but on Wednesday she announced that she will be moving into a different role.

She was named the 10th president of Quinnipiac University on Jan. 30 after being a member of the Penn State faculty since 2003. Hardin succeeds Judy Olian who has led Quinnipiac since 2018

Hardin is set to begin working at Quinnipiac on July 1 and will serve as the Bellisario College dean throughout the spring semester.

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Report shows little growth in PA test scores, still down from pre-pandemic levels

Associate Dean Denise Bortree will take over for Hardin and serve as interim dean on June 15. A national search for the next dean of Bellisario College will follow.

I have been fortunate beyond words to occupy the deans office in the Bellisario College at Penn State, Hardin said. My role has been supporter, champion, facilitator and ambassador for the work of a standout group of faculty and staff, who have helped scores of students succeed and pursue their dreams. When I leave this summer, the memories of that generosity, collegiality and dedication will propel me forward.

During her time at the college, Harden was elected twice to lead Penn States Academic Leadership Council and also led a committee that helped to design Penn States budget allocation model.

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In 2003 Hardin started at Penn State as an assistant professor before becoming an associate professor in 2007. In 2010 she was promoted to associate dean for graduate studies and research. She was elevated to associate dean for undergraduate and graduate education in 2011 and promoted to professor in 2012.

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Hardins research has focused on issues of diversity, ethics and professionalism in sports journalism. She is the author of more than 60 journal articles and book chapters and is co-editor of two books and a book series.

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The Pentagons intelligence agency has put on hold observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other annual historical or cultural events due to President Trumps ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government, according to a new internal memo.

The instructions, sent in a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo dated Jan. 28, affect 11 annual events.

DIA will pause all activities and events related to Agency Special Emphasis Programs effective immediately and until further notice, the memo said. Additionally, Special Observances hosted throughout the year  are also paused.

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Among the special observances halted are Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, though the memo said the pause would not affect those federal holidays.

Also included in the pause are Black History Month, Womens History Month, Womens Equality Day, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National American Indian Heritage Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The document was first reported by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein and posted to social platform X.

Asked about the pause, the DIA said in a statement to The Hill that it is working with the Defense Department to fully implement all Executive Orders and Administration guidance in a timely manner. As we receive additional guidance, we will continue to update our internal guidance.

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When asked, Pentagon officials said they are not aware of a DOD-wide policy concerning the issue.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the White House still intends to celebrate Black History Month as well as American history and the contributions that all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed, have made to our great country.

Trump in a Jan. 20 executive order moved to end DEI programs across the federal government, with another order signed Monday to abolish every DEI office within the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

But the White House has not given clear guidance as to how agencies might comply with the directives, a gap that led to a brief uproar when the Air Force temporarily removed videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and the World War II female pilots from its courses. After opposition from several GOP lawmakers, the service said it would continue to teach the history of both groups.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for his part, on Wednesday directed staff to create a task force to promote merit-based, color-blind policies throughout the U.S. military and ensure no DEI programs continue to exist.

As part of that effort, race and sex will be struck from considerations for military promotions, admissions to defense academic institutions and career fields.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 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 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Journavx, a new pain reliever without the risks of addiction or overdose linked to drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The new pill, developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is intended for short-term pain relief following surgery or injury, the Associated Press reported.

While it provides a long-awaited alternative to opioids and over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen, research suggests its effectiveness is modest compared to standard opioid treatments.

Unlike opioids, which bind to brain receptors to reduce pain but often lead to dependence and addiction, Journavx works differently.

The medication blocks specific proteins that trigger pain signals before they reach the brain.

"In trying to develop medicines that don't have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain," Dr. David Altshuler, Vertex's executive vice president and chief scientific officer, previously told the Associated Press.

Studies of more than 870 patients who took Journavx after foot and abdominal surgery showed that the drug provided more relief than a placebo but was not more effective than a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.

"It's not a slam dunk on effectiveness," Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist who was not involved in the research, told the Associated Press. "But it is a slam dunk in that it's a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot promise."

One major concern is cost. Journavx will have a list price of $15.50 per pill, compared to generic opioids, which cost $1 or less.

Some reported side effects included nausea, constipation, itching, rash and headache, but no risk of addiction.

"The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but don't involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids," Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center in New York, who consulted for Vertex on the drug's development, told the Associated Press.

The approval marks the first major advancement in pain treatment in more than two decades.

Vertex began developing the drug in the early 2000s, as opioid overdoses surged due to mass prescribing for chronic conditions like arthritis and back pain.

While opioid prescriptions have sharply declined in recent years, the current epidemic is mostly fueled by illicit fentanyl, rather than pharmaceutical opioids, the Associated Press reported.

Vertex has attracted much interest, but the drugmaker's stock took a hit in December after disappointing results in a study of chronic nerve pain.

Despite this, the company plans to continue with another late-stage trial in hopes of getting FDA approval for chronic pain treatment.

More information: The Cleveland Clinic has more on living with chronic pain.

 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
The Pentagon has struck a Biden administration policy of covering travel costs for service members and their dependents who must cross state lines to receive abortions and other reproductive care, according to a new memo.

The change, which took effect Tuesday, was announced in a memo posted by the Defense Travel Management Office on Wednesday.

The move is the latest Trump administration action meant to scrub Biden-era social policies that critics claim distract the military from its mission of defending the nation.

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Under former President Biden, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in early 2023 set in place policies to provide paid leave and reimburse troops and dependents who had to travel outside the state where they were stationed to obtain an abortion or other reproductive care.

Such access was offered so troops could safely receive needed health care, even if they were based in states where abortion was significantly curtailed following the Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The Biden administration pointed to a Defense Department legal memo drafted in October 2022, which found the law does not prohibit the use of funds to pay expenses, such as a per diem or travel expenses, that are incidental to the abortion.

Republican opponents, however, attacked the policy as a loophole to evade federal laws that prevented taxpayer funds from being used for abortions.

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The issue prompted Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to hold up nonpolitical military promotions for nearly a year to protest the policy. He argued it was a violation of the Hyde Amendments prohibition on spending federal funds on abortions. The amendment does, however, allow funding in cases of rape, incest or to save a patients life.

But President Trump last week issued an executive order titled Enforcing the Hyde Amendment, seeking to close any such loopholes.

The Pentagons action was quickly lambasted by lawmakers, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who led a group of 18 Democratic and independent senators decrying the move.

This decision strips away service members ability to access the reproductive care they need, which is nothing short of abhorrent, Shaheen writes. It runs contrary to a core goal of the Department of Defense  to ensure the health and well-being of all our service members so that our force remains ready at all times to protect Americans and keep this nation safe.

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The lawmakers note that U.S. service members have no control over where they are stationed and what state laws may govern their bodies and that taking away the travel policy does nothing to advance military readiness.

The letter adds that at a time when the military is already facing recruitment and retention challenges, the scrubbed policy sends a message to women, who make up 17 percent of the U.S. military, that they are not as valuable as their male counterparts.

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JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT)  In the military-filled city of Jacksonville, Marine aircraft often occupy the skies for training purposes.

In the wake of the accident in the nations capitol Wednesday night, some had thoughts they wanted to share.

They said its concerning, especially when thinking about how close the military bases are to Albert J. Ellis Airport.

Tragic incident man, something you dont see every day and is new to me, Damaj Hatchett said. Living in a military town like Jacksonville, it definitely is something that could happen even here. Helicopters every day it seems like theyre flying out here, and the airport is not too far from here. So, the fact they could intersect is something that definitely and possibly could happen out here for sure.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.
(WTAJ)  With winter temperatures dropping, Peoples Natural Gas is encouraging customers to take advantage of energy assistance programs that could help lower heating costs.

As part of National Energy Assistance Day, the company is highlighting resources like the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which remains underutilized despite widespread eligibility.

Peoples customers in Pennsylvania may qualify for LIHEAP, which provides grants starting at $200 to assist with heating bills. The program, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, bases eligibility on income and household size. The application deadline is April 4, and customers are urged to apply early.

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To qualify, applicants must have a gross household income at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Limit. They do not need to be on public assistance or have an unpaid heating bill to apply. More information and applications are available through the DHS website.

Peoples is also working with Peoples Energy Analytics to better identify customers in need and help them enroll in support programs. Additionally, the company offers emergency assistance for failing furnaces and other urgent heating issues.

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Customers seeking help can call 1-800-400-WARM (9276) or visit peoples-gas.com/help to explore available programs.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTAJ - www.wtaj.com.
A few years ago, I called a plumber to fix a leaky pipe. After he wrapped up, we got to talking, and he mentioned that at the beginning of his career he began buying rental properties. Over the decades, he kept buying more rentals and now had around 40. I was shocked because his net worth was probably in the neighborhood of $20 million. Outside of business leaders Ive interviewed as a reporter, hes one of the wealthiest people I know.

I was thinking about this recently when a debate erupted over the types of jobs people, and especially young men, ought to pursue, especially in the time of soaring college costs.

On one hand, some are arguing that young men need to work hard and accept whatever work they can get. Conservative commentator Christopher Rufo ignited the conversation when he made this point on X, noting that a Panda Express restaurant near him was offering $70,000 for an assistant manager position. People can make $100,000 a year working at Chipotle, Rufo said.

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Sounds straightforward enough. But many pushed back, and a growing chorus is now urging young men to avoid low-status jobs, saying they are demeaning and professional dead ends. The conversation struck a chord because so many men are struggling right now.

The problem, though, is that the very idea of low-status jobs devalues work. Its also simply wrong. Yes, some jobs are grueling and lack prestige. But they are not necessarily dead ends. For plenty of people, entry-level work with no barrier to entry is a stepping stone to something much better. Young men in particular need to be aware of this. And in that light, we need a better definition of success, one less preoccupied with a small number of prestigious positions and more focused on hard work, drive and living a well-rounded life.

What is a low-status job?

To understand whats going on, its useful to know that this debate arrives amid growing concern over male success. Richard Reeves  a former Brookings Institution fellow and author of Of Boys and Men  has become the foremost chronicler of male struggle, pointing out that boys are falling behind in high school and college, as well as in the workforce. The result of male economic underperformance, to quote the Institute for Family Studies Lyman Stone, is falling marriage rates and birth rates. And at the same time, an entire ecosystem of bro culture influencers have emerged to stoke the egos of disaffected young men.

Now, apparently, there are also job status bros.

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What gets lost, though, is that plenty of so-called low-status jobs actually do have pathways to the top.

Ive met quite a few people who followed this path while covering the housing beat as a journalist, though one in particular comes to mind. He began his career working as a driver for FedEx. Eventually, he earned a real estate license and became an agent  a job that for most people results in low wages and has a similarly low barrier to entry. Over time, however, he built a successful real estate business, launched a startup, and now owns multiple restaurants as well.

Is this man high status or low status? Should he have skipped his years hustling as a FedEx driver so he could have instead gone to Harvard? Would he be better off with more social media followers but a lower net worth?

Eliza Anderson, Deseret News

Obviously, every FedEx driver doesnt become a real estate mogul, nor does every plumber end up with a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio. But I interview people with similar stories every week. People do manage to parlay the money and knowledge they acquire at early career low-status jobs into later positions of authority. And this type of career path has the advantage of being widely accessible.

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Sure, if Google comes along with a coding job, do that. But the journey from, say, Panda Express assistant manager to restaurant franchisee largely depends on ambition and hard work. Its meritocratic in a way that fields like media, law and politics only pretend to be. It may well be a better choice for many younger workers who wouldnt be getting job offers at, say, white-shoe law firms anyway.

What is the good life, anyway?

In any case, what this debate seems to expose is that there are two different ideas about power and status. On the one hand, the argument that young men ought to pursue conventionally high-status careers is an argument in favor of whats sometimes called the professional or managerial class. In this world, prestige comes from the ladder youre climbing. Having elite degrees and big names on a resume is the fuel that drives upward mobility.

But theres also another group, which The Atlantic once described as the gentry. These are the local business owners. Theyre people who own land. Theyre car dealers and real estate brokers and franchise moguls. Theyre people like my plumber, or that former FedEx driver, people who succeeded, then built that success into some type of influence. These are the people donating to homeless shelters, serving on the boards of local civic institutions and paying off school lunch balances en masse. The Atlantic described this group as less exalted than other elites but nevertheless sitting at the pinnacle of Americas local hierarchies.

So who has the most power? Who has the greatest ability to bring their vision of the world into reality? Who can accomplish the most good?

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That last question, of course, hints at the silliness of this entire debate, which simply assumes that status is good in its own right, and that status invariably springs from professional achievement. But that isnt necessarily the case.

Im reminded here of a man in my sphere who long ago started his career working for UPS. He eventually did well enough to retire in his 50s, go back to school and study one of his passions. He then embarked on a second career doing exactly the things he enjoys.

This man is revered by many. Some know him through work, but many others know him via the service he renders in his religious congregation. He has a sprawling family and many grandkids. He did not parlay his delivery job into a company. But he has nevertheless achieved status in his community anyway because there are other sources  deeper sources, such as faith and family  from which success springs.

For people with big professional ambitions, there are many paths to the top, and young men should know that. Even menial jobs are not necessarily dead ends. But there are also people like this UPS driver, who built not a fortune but a good life. And in the end, perhaps thats what we should be telling struggling young people  that there is no greater goal in life than to be surrounded by people you love.
Originally appeared on E! Online

Peter Facinelli is sharing what he likes about his ex.

After taking in Jennie Garthwho he was married to from 2001 to 2013and her husband Dave Abrams when they were evacuated during the Los Angeles wildfires, the Twilight alum spoke out on why it was a no brainer to invite the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum into his home.

"When people are going through hard times, my door is always open," Peter exclusively told E! News' Francesca Amiker. "So, as much as it's flattering for someone to say, 'Hey, it was really noble of you to take your ex-wife and husband,' I mean, I could never imagine saying no."

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And it was an especially easy decision considering his close bond with Jennie, with whom he shares daughters Luca, 27, Lola, 22, and Fiona, 18.

"I love her," Peter continued. "She's the mother of my kids. I consider her a friend. I consider her husband a friend."

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In fact, the Nurse Jackie actorwho is also dad to son Jack, 2, with Lily Anne Harrisonfelt like being with Jennie, Dave and all of their children made it a lot easier to cope with the devastation of the fires, which burned over 40,000 acres of land after breaking out on Jan. 7, killing 29 people and destroying thousands of homes, including those of Paris Hilton, Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore and Anna Faris.

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"It was actually kind of nice to be able to go through an experience and have that support of this blended family being together," Peter shared. "It was like, 'You guys could stay as long as you like.' We all kind of were in the same boat watching thousands of houses burn down, which was such a tragic loss for so many people."

Thankfully, Jennie's home wound up remaining safe from the fires, which, in addition to Peter's hospitality, left her feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.

Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images

"So grateful for Peter for letting us stay at his house, me and all the girls and the dogs and Dave," Jennie said in a tearful video shared to Instagram Jan. 9. "Our home made it through the night, and we are feeling so blessed and so fortunate and so lucky."

And the What I Like About You actresswho tied the knot with Dave in 2015noted that she hoped to help others who were less fortunate in the aftermath of the natural disaster.

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"Our home was spared but so much to clean up and ready to get active to help our neighbors and friends and fellow Angelinos," Jennie added. "Dave has been amazing transporting all our bags and boxes, loading and unloading. just keep everyone here who is suffering in your heart and prayers."

Read on for what other celebrities have said about the tragic wildfires in Southern California.

Taylor Swift

The "Karma" singer posted a handwritten statement about the "suffering, loss and destruction" caused by the wildfires. "The fires in California have devastated so many families, and it's been heartbreaking to see these stories unfold," she wrote on Instagram Story Jan. 16. " As so may people embark on some of the most challenging times of their ives, there are also many amazing organizations and groups banding together to help these communities rebuild." Sharing that she donated to multiple organizations providing relief to those affected by the blazes, including the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and MusiCares, Taylor added, "If you feel compelled or able to donate, please do."





Leonardo DiCaprio

The Titanic actor is helping with relief efforts by donating. "The Los Angeles wildfires are devastating our city," he wrote on Instagram Jan. 15. "I am committing $1 million in partnership with @rewild's Rapid Response Program to support both urgent needs and post-fire recovery efforts." He said aid will immediately benefit the LA Fire Department Foundation, California Fire Foundation, World Central Kitchen, California Community Foundation, Pasadena Humane Society, and SoCal Fire Fund, which he described as "organizations on the frontlines providing much-needed resources to our first responders and firefighters, and the people, animals and communities who need it most."





Bill Hader

The Saturday Night Live alum confirmed on Jan. 14 that his Pacific Palisades home had been damaged by the fire. "It doesnt seem real," he told local news station KTLA5, while visiting the charred remains of his neighborhood. "I'm in shock. Its just gone. Everything."

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Jennifer Lopez

"My heart goes out to everyone affected by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires," the singer wrote on Instagram Jan. 11. "I cant even imagine how deeply traumatic these events can be, especially for children who've lost their homes and sense of security."





Sarah Levy

The Schitt's Creek alum shared a heartbreaking message about her "sweet home" after it had been destroyed by the Palisades Fire. "My heart so deeply aches," she wrote on Instagram Jan. 14. "What I would give to hear the key slide in the front door one more time or the baby gate click behind me as I bring the laundry upstairs." "How blessed we were to raise our son in such an idyllic, magical place away from the hustle and bustle of LA," Sarahwho shares son James with husband Graham Outerbridgecontinued. "Our whole future ahead, planned in our little kitchen. Luckily we are all safe and if this has taught me nothing else, its to appreciate every last detail of your life." Her dad Eugene Levy's home has also been reportedly destroyed by the fire.





Bella Hadid

On Jan. 9, the supermodel shared the childhood home she shared with sister Gigi Hadid and mom Yolanda Hadid had burned down in the Palisades Fire.





Gwyneth Paltrow

The Iron Man actress took to social media to express her sadness about the tragedy that has fallen over her beloved city. We are in deep grief for so many of our close friends who have lost everything, she wrote in her Jan. 9 Instagram post. Thank you to those inquiring, we are currently safe. When the fires are out there will be more to say and everything to do. The city of angels will need angels of all kind, she continued. Please everyone, stay safe and vigilant.

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Harvey Guillen

"Thank you to everyone who has checked in," the What We Do in the Shadows actor wrote on Instagram Jan. 14. "my house has damage and will take some time .. but nothing compared to the city I call home."





Jamie Chung & Bryan Greenberg

The Once Upon a Time actress and the One Tree Hill actor are sharing resources after tragically losing their home in the Los Angeles fire. It was all a dream, Bryan wrote on a Jan. 9 Instagram story, showing the rubble that was once their family home. Thankfully the family is safe. Thank you to all the firefighters risking their lives. Stay safe out there. And in between posting helpful resources, Jamie shared a tragic video of their entire neighborhood. Damn. Our entire neighborhood is gone, she wrote Jan. 9. We are grateful to our brave firefighters and first responders and pray we dont lose any more lives to these catastrophic fires. Stay safe and stay vigilant.





Joshua Jackson

The Dawson's Creek alum confirmed on Jan. 12 that he had lost his home to the L.A. fires. First and most importantly, all the people closest to me affected by the fire are ok," Joshua told Deadline in statement. "My daughter, my family, my neighbors all made it out safely. Sadly my beautiful home did not survive the fires. But today, I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by the people I love.





Barbara Corcoran

On Jan. 9, the Shark Tank star shared that her "little slice of heaven" at the Tahitian Terrace Mobile Home Park in Pacific Palisades, Calif., had been burned down. "For the past five years, I've been privileged to have a home in this loving, tight-knit community," she wrote on Instagram. "Its a place where kindness thrives, friendships are cherished, and neighbors become family. My heart breaks again and again as I see these incredible people who built their lives here for decades, many of them seniors who poured their hearts and life-savings into their trailers, left with absolutely nothing."

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Diane Warren

The Grammy winner shared one last view from her Los Angeles beachfront home before it was lost in the fire. This is the last pic I took of Leah's rock from my beach house, the songwriter, who confirmed her animals and rescue ranch were safe, wrote in her Jan. 9 Instagram post of the ocean view. I've had this house for almost 30 years. It looks like it was lost in the fire last nite. There's a rainbow shining on it which I'm taking as a sign of hope for all creatures who have been affected by this tragedy.





Jessica Simpson

Amid the outbreak of the Kenneth Fire on Jan. 9, the "Irresistible" singer shared an image of smoke rising from beyond her backyard. She wrote in the caption, "We stayed as long as we could."





Cary Elwes

The Princess Bride actor shared his and his wife Lisa Marie Kurbikoffs Malibu home did not survive the fire in a heartfelt message to fans. Firstly, myself and my family are all safe, thank God, he wrote in his Jan. 9 Instagram post. Sadly we did lose our home but we are grateful to have survived this truly devastating fire. Our hearts go out to all the families impacted by this tragic event and we also wish to extend our gratitude to all the firefighters, first responders and law enforcement who worked so tirelessly through the night and are still at it, he continued. We want to thank everyone for their incredible outpouring of support. It really means a great deal to us.





Ricki Lake

Sharing a video of the raging fires in the near distance, the former talk show host detailed her and husband Ross Burninghams final efforts to save her Los Angeles home in a Jan. 9 Instagram post. Were going down my street praying for these homes and these people and my house, she said in a video, showing the fire in the near distance. I dont even know what I grabbed, I think I might have just said goodbye to my house. Grateful to have made it out alive and uninjured, she added in the caption. Forever grateful to @kirbykotler_ our absolute angel. He did everything to try to save our precious property. No doubt had we stayed, we would not have survived.

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Mel Gibson

During a Jan. 9 appearance on Elizabeth Vargas Report, the Braveheart actor shared that his Malibu home was destroyed while he was away recording Joe Rogans podcast in Texas. "Obviously, its kind of devastating. Its emotional," the 69-year-old said. You live there for a long time, and you had all your stuff. I had my stuff there, and its all like, Ive been relieved from the burden of my stuff, because its all in cinders. But when he returned home to discover that his home had been destroyed, he was relieved to find that, at least, his chickens survived, adding, It was amazing.





Miles Teller & Keleigh Teller

The Top Gun Maverick stars wife shared one last photo of what was their Los Angeles home before it was lost in the fire. To everyone reaching out I cant thank you enough, your kind hearts have meant the world, Ill never forget them, Keleigh wrote in her Jan. 9 Instagram post. Community has come out stronger than I could imagine, pacific palisades I love you beyond measure you are a little slice of heaven, we will come back stronger than ever. If youre in the LA area PLEASE get out if you can, she continued. I wish I grabbed my wedding dress .. wish I did a lot different but it doesnt matter, stay safe, get out. there are no words. THANK YOU to the first responders fighting.





Mandy Moore

The This Is Us alumwho is mom to three kids with husband Taylor Goldsmithshared an update on her family after having to evacuate their home. "We were able to park and walk up our street to bear witness to all the loss," she wrote on Instagram Jan. 9. "Miraculously, the main part of our house is still standing. For now. Its not livable but mostly intact." However, she noted that the home studio, garage and back house were destroyed in the Eaton Fire. "Every house on our street is gone. My in laws. My brother and sister in law- 6 weeks from welcoming their first baby. Our best friends," she added. "Feeling weird survivors guilt. We love this community and will do everything we can to help rebuild and support."





Milo Ventimiglia

Like his This Is Us costar, the actor's Los Angeles home was destroyed by the fires. While visiting what remained of his property, he told CBS Evening News his heart felt "heavy." "You start thinking about all the memories," he continued. "My heart just breaks."

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Olivia Wilde

"My block was on fire tonight and the only reason we still have a home is thanks to the brave members of the @losngelesfiredepartment who worked on the ground and from the air to save us," the Don't Worry Darling director wrote on Instagram Story Jan. 8. "Thank you."





Bozoma Saint John

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star revealed her dream home in Malibu, where she lived with her teenage daughter Laela, was totaled in the fires. "This is an unimaginable loss," she wrote on Instagram Jan. 9. "I grieve with the rest of Los Angeles as it burns and even though Ive found even words to write here, theres nothing that I could say in this moment to describe this feeling.





Chrissy Teigen

The Cravings cookbook author started preparing in case of an evacuation, writing on Instagram Story Jan. 8, "This is surreal. I'm very scared. Packing."





Jen Atkin

The hairstylist and her husband Mike Rosenthal safely evacuated along with their kids and pets, though she said their home was "gone." "Our whole area demolished," she added on Instagram Stories Jan. 8, alongside a tearful selfie. "So many are displaced and feeling scared right now it's almost too much to comprehend."

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Olivia Culpo

One day after the Sunset Fire set the Hollywood Hills ablaze, the Culpo Sisters starwho is married to San Francisco 49ers Christian McCaffreywrote on Instagram Story Jan. 9, "Im praying so hard for our community. My heart aches for everyone who has lost so much so fast. Its just unimaginable."







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BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombian President Gustavo Petro, less than a week after backing down from a decision to turn away U.S. military planes bringing back undocumented migrants, made a bold request to migrants: Come home right away and "build social wealth."

Petro, who was elected in 2022 as Colombia's first leftist president, even offered loans that could help returning migrants start a business.

"I ask undocumented Colombians in the U.S. to immediately leave their jobs in that country and return to Colombia as soon as possible," he wrote in an early morning post on X on Friday. "Let's build social wealth in Colombia."

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He said Colombia's Department of Social Prosperity will offer loans to anyone who takes him up on the offer.

After U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions after Colombia refused to accept military flights carrying deportees, Petro quickly reversed course on Sunday and agreed to accept the migrants.

Petro did not provide detail on the loans in his post, but the department typically offers small loans geared toward productive activities that alleviate poverty.

There are an estimated 200,000 undocumented Colombians living in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center.

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Colombia has a population of roughly 53 million.

Petro's post imploring Colombians who might get caught up in Trump's aggressive crackdown on unlawful U.S. migrants to return home provoked a mix of responses online, some supportive but many critical of Petro.

"Many young professionals who have recently graduated (in Colombia) haven't been able to find a job," responded X user Una Tathy X, one of nearly 10,000 responses to the president's post. "First help those who are here."

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Additional reporting by Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, David Alire Garcia and Leslie Adler)
(Bloomberg) -- The Philippines top diplomat in Washington is optimistic of a White House meeting between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Donald Trump in the spring as the former seeks assurances of their alliance in the face of threats from China.

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The priority, really, for the presidents trip here is mostly to reaffirm most of the commitments that have been made in the past eight years, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said during an interview via Zoom on Friday, emphasizing the two sides have a standing mutual defense treaty.

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These are the things that are very important for us at this point in time obviously because of the challenges that we face right now, he said.

Vital Waterway

Manila is seeking Washingtons enduring support as it pushes back against what both see as Beijings increasingly aggressive behavior in the disputed South China Sea. While the treaty allies had expanded military cooperation under Biden, Trumps return to the White House has stirred doubts in the region over Americas security commitments, particularly with regards to Taiwan.

A vital waterway for trillions of dollars of global trade, the South China Sea has become a major flashpoint for tensions in recent years as Chinese enforcement vessels ram into or fire water cannons at often much smaller Philippine ships. China, which claims nearly all of the disputed sea, has defended the actions, saying the ships were encroaching on its territorial sovereignty.

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Its their interest that this area remains very clear, Romualdez said of the disputed waters, while expressing optimism the Trump administration will not scale back defense funding that includes a $500 million annual budget from the US Congress.

The Philippines will continue to pursue the acquisition of at least a couple of mid-range Typhon missile systems from the US as soon as possible, he said, adding he was also unfazed by the prospect of being targeted by tariffs as his nations trade imbalance with the US isnt as big as other countries.

Deportations

Where the Philippines could find itself in Trumps crosshairs is on the issue of immigration, with some 350,000 unauthorized Filipinos residing in the US. Romualdez confirmed reports of two dozen deportations among them since Trumps inauguration, with about 60 more cases pending.

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He also downplayed the likelihood of mass deportations in the future, saying it isnt a big problem and that theres a good chance many would be given a legal path to stay.

I dont think the Trump administration is concerned about the Filipinos in general, he said. Most Filipinos in the United States are very much appreciated.

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The Phoenix Police Department released partial bodycam footage of an officer fatally shooting a man in Laveen on Jan. 17.

A Phoenix officer shot and killed 45-year-old Christopher Alan Phillips near Cesar Chavez Park after he allegedly pointed a gun in the direction of two officers pursuing him, according to Phoenix police officials.

At around 11 a.m. on Jan. 17, officers responded to a complaint about trespassers at an abandoned property in the area of 35th Avenue and Baseline Road. Multiple people ran from the home after officers arrived, with some of them having jumped the back wall of the property, police say.

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Officers spotted Phillips behind the home, running west on Baseline Road, when they approached him in a marked police car and got out to make contact. Phillips continued to run and officers noticed he was carrying a gun in his hand, police say.

The officers then got back in their car and continued to pursue Phillips, until he turned into the entryway of a gated community.

From the passenger seat of the police car, an officer fired one rifle round at Phillips, at which point Phillips fell to the ground, bodycam footage showed. While initially approaching Phillips, bodycam video captured the officer commenting that Phillips had pointed his gun at him.

Phillips was shot one time, bodycam footage shows, he later died from his injuries. A handgun was allegedly recovered next to where Phillips had fallen, police say.

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The officer involved in this shooting is assigned to the Maryvale-Estrella Mountain Precinct and has approximately 8 years of service with the department.

This incident is the subject of a criminal investigation to be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorneys Office, as well as an administrative investigation, Phoenix police officials said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police release bodycam footage from fatal Laveen shooting
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: Markus Winkler from Pexels

Approximately 15.5 million Americans have been or currently are on injectable diabetes or weight-loss medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, including the popular name brands Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound. As obesity rates rise, eligibility expands and curiosity about these medications grows, more people are exploring their potential benefits.

Andrew Tenpas, PharmD, RPh, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, explains the medications, their benefits and a few drawbacks.

What are GLP-1 medications?

Two examples of GLP-1 medications currently on the market include semaglutide and tirzepatide. Semaglutide, also known by the brand name Ozempic, first saw widespread use after trial data showed it to be far more potent than another popular GLP-1 agent at the time called dulaglutide (Trulicity).

In addition, Ozempic skyrocketed in popularity about three years ago with the help of social media platforms. Tirzepatide, also known by the brand name Mounjaro, is a newer, even more potent cousin. Both drugs were originally developed and approved to treat type 2 diabetes but gained traction when patients reported significant weight loss.

As a result, the makers of Ozempic created the brand name Wegovy, containing the active ingredient semaglutide, for weight loss. Similarly, Zepbound is Mounjaro's weight-loss counterpart, containing the ingredient tirzepatide.

Tenpas, who sees patients at a VA clinic in South Texas, said many of his patients report life-changing weight loss while on GLP-1 medications.

"I have some veterans who have lost 70 to 100 pounds, and it's completely changed their entire quality of life," Tenpas said. "You can imagine when you lose 70 pounds, not only does it help with blood sugar control but also blood pressure, cholesterol and mobilityit can completely change people's lives around."

How do they work?

GLP-1 receptor agonists stimulate the body to release insulin after eating. They also decrease glucagon releasepreventing the body from mobilizing extra sugarsand slow stomach emptying. This not only leaves the body feeling satiated for longer, acting as an appetite suppressant, but also tells the pancreas to release more insulin, bringing blood sugar down further, Tenpas explained.

Older GLP-1 medications like Victoza, Trulicity and even Ozempic possess one underlying mechanism. As "GLP-1 receptor agonists," they mimic a naturally occurring hormone, GLP-1, released in the body after someone eats. For reasons that remain unclear, many patients that struggle with diabetes and/or obesity release less GLP-1 over time, or the GLP-1 that is released doesn't work as it should.

In essence, a synthetic analog like Ozempic helps to supplement that hormone. Newer, even more potent GLP-1 drugs like tirzepatide combine GLP-1 with yet another hormone called glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). Research suggests this combination reduces side effects and vastly improves outcomes, including weight loss, compared to GLP-1 alone.

Is it right for you?

"These medications are tools, not magic solutions," Tenpas said. "They're meant to help reshape your relationship with food and portion sizes and give you a leg up with weight loss so that maybe you can start exercising more."

Patients often ask whether they'll need to stay on the medication forever, and Tenpas's short answer is usually no, if they are willing to continue doing the work they did to lose the weight in the first place.

Once a patient has achieved their goals and adopted sustainable lifestyle changes to keep the weight off, their medical provider can help them gradually decrease the dosage until the medication is no longer needed. However, Tenpas said that when used responsibly and at recommended doses, GLP-1 medications are relatively safe to take long-term.

It should be noted that GLP-1 drugs may cause short-term side effects like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, which tend to be dose-related or triggered by certain foods. Those side effects are more likely to arise if you have a history of certain conditions, such as gastrointestinal issues (e.g. gastroparesis, gastritis) or significant kidney disease.

GLP-1 medications are also not currently approved for women who are pregnant, and they might interact with some medications. For example, if used with glipizide or insulin, it can increase your risk of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugars.

The best way to know if a medication is right for you is to consult your preferred medical provider.

Tenpas cautions against using compounded versions of GLP-1 medications that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), since they may lack rigorous quality standards and may not be as potent as prescription formulations.

Additionally, he strongly urges patients on GLP-1 medications to maintain communication with their medical provider, friends and family so they can identify any points of concern if necessary.

What's next?

As modern medicine continues to evolve, Tenpas predicts that Ozempic will eventually fade in popularity and usage as more evolved or potent medications come to market. At least 27 new GLP-1 drugs are currently undergoing trials at various stages, including a triple-hormone-receptor agonist combining GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors.

Early trial data published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2023 suggests that this next generation of medications may offer even greater weight loss benefits than either semaglutide or tirzepatide alone.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY)  Dozens of counties in West Virginia were under a Flood Warning Friday as up to a few inches of rain fell across the region on top of melting snow.

Flood-prone areas in Randolph, Webster, Upshur, Lewis, Gilmer, Harrison, Taylor and Barbour counties in north central West Virginia as well as the southern half of the state were affected. The warnings are set to expire Friday afternoon.

Multiple school districts released early in the north central region on Friday.

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Some roads have already begun to be covered in water. U.S. Route 33 in Elkins is was flooded as of midday Friday. The City of Elkins said that Davis Street and Graham Street were closed because of flooding as the city has already gotten more than an inch of rain as of noon, and photos submitted to 12 News showed water-covered roads in the Buckhannon area and Glenville area.

Flooding in Elkins on Jan. 31

Flooding in Elkins on Jan. 31

Flooding on Davis Street in Elkins on Jan. 31 (Full video in playlist above)

High water at Little Arlington Cemetery bridge in Elkins (Courtesy: Shannon Knotts, full video in playlist above)

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Flooding on U.S. 119/33 near Glenville

Flooding in Belington on Jan. 31

How to stay safe before, during and after a flood

More rain is expected throughout the day Friday and overnight in some areas of north central West Virginia.

The area of Barbour County along the Tygart River is expected to see moderate flooding overnight, with the river cresting at a predicted 21 feet in Philippiwhich is 4 feet over the flood planeearly Saturday morning.

Photos of flooding can be emailed to our newsroom at news@wboy.com. This story will be updated with more photos from across the area as they are submitted.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Update: 1/31/2025, 9:02 p.m.

WEBSTER SPRINGS, W.Va. (WBOY)  Officials with the Webster County 911 Center have told 12 News that one lane is open in the area of Diana Drive/West Virginia Route 15 in Webster Springs after a rock slide blocked it Friday afternoon.

Officials were unable to provide an estimate for when the road would fully reopen, but said that crews are hoping for around midnight.

Original: 1/31/2025, 3:44 p.m.

WEBSTER SPRINGS, W.Va. (WBOY)  Traffic was blocked by a rockslide in Webster Springs Friday afternoon following hours of sustained rainfall across north central West Virginia.

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According to a post made at 2:51 p.m. by the Webster County Office of Emergency Management (OEM), a rockslide fell on West Virginia Route 15/Diana Drive, blocking traffic in all lanes. Officials requested that drivers use an alternate route while crews clear the road.

Images shared by the OEM show that the rockslide is blocking traffic coming from Elk River Road near the bridge that runs over the Elk River. The road is also the primary way to get to Webster County Memorial Hospital.

PHOTOS: Flooding impacts roads in north central West Virginia

(Courtesy: Webster County Office of Emergency Management) (Courtesy: Webster County Office of Emergency Management) (Courtesy: Webster County Office of Emergency Management) (Courtesy: Webster County Office of Emergency Management)

No timeline was given as to when the rock slide would be cleared, but West Virginia 511 data first reported the rock slide at 2:40 p.m.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Scenes from the Australian Open in Melbourne, preparations for Indias Republic Day parade in New Delhi, displaced Gazans returning to their homes from the southern Gaza Strip, Lunar New Year celebrations in China, ice-sailing yachts in New York, flooding in France, a devastating airplane crash in Washington, D.C., and much more

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Article originally published at The Atlantic
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  As the NTSB begins its investigation into a deadly plane crash that killed all 64 passengers and crew members aboard American Eagle Flight 6342 and three soldiers flying a training mission near Reagan National Airport there are still plenty of questions about exactly what went wrong and how that mid air collision happened.

FOX4 spoke with both a military pilot who flew helicopters along that same route along the Potomac and a pilot who had to make sure to avoid them at other airports.

We are here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation, NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said Thursday.

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That investigation that will look not only at the aircraft, but at air traffic control and pilot communication and any possible human error. The question remains why a Blackhawk helicopter seems to have flown into a commercial airliners path on approach?



What we have to find out is why. Why did it do that? Col. (Ret.) William Dunn asked.

Dunn flew Cobra helicopters for more than 30 years in the U.S. Marines in combat zones like Iraq and also on routine training missions like the U.S. Army was doing Wednesday night.



Its not at all a surprise to fly near these airfields. Ive flown a Cobra on a low-level route right next to Reagan National before. Our requirements there are you cant fly above 100 feet and they very carefully maneuver you to make sure you are outside the jet corridors, especially for landing and takeoff, he said.



Pilot and aviation attorney Mike Slack has tried cases following air disasters around the world. When this crash happened he immediately wondered what improvements had been implemented from a 2023 safety review of the National Airspace system following 10 close calls in a 4 month period. It recommended increase staffing, training and technology for air traffic controllers. But an FAA report said air traffic control wasnt at normal staffing Wednesday and controller was doing the jobs of two people accounting for both helicopters and planes.

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Slack says theres other factors at play in this collision between plane and military helicopter.



As a pilot Im cognizant of the fact that those Blackhawks come in and out of Austin all the time and they arent equipped with ADS-B and collision avoidance equipment like my civilian aircraft is, he said.



Civilian and military pilots also use different frequencies for communication.



Would it have prevented it? We dont know. But what we do know is it undermines safety if they are unable to hear each other. If they are unable to hear each others responses on the radio, I know thats very valuable information to me as a pilot.

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Both pilots agree its very possible when the soldiers said they saw the plane they saw a different plane or something else.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
In the three years before the deadly collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport, at least two other pilots reported near-misses with helicopters while landing at the airport, a CNN review of federal incident reports found.

On two occasions, passenger planes had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with a helicopter when trying to land at the airport, according to reports filed by pilots. In a third incident, two military helicopters got too close together, an air traffic controller reported.

And just a day before the fatal collision, another flight approaching Reagan was forced to abort its first landing and go around after a helicopter flew near its flight path, according to air traffic control audio.

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Those previous scares are sure to gain more attention after the disaster over the Potomac River on Wednesday night, which is presumed to have killed 64 people aboard the plane and three Army servicemembers on a helicopter training flight.

As a search and recovery operation continues in and around the Potomac, authorities are trying to figure out exactly what went wrong in the air above the nations capital.

At the time of the collision, one air traffic controller at Reagan was overseeing both helicopters and planes, an air traffic control source told CNN. Though the jobs are typically handled by two people, the source said having one person handle both isnt uncommon.

Still, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report found that staffing at the airports traffic control tower was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, the New York Times reported Thursday. That corresponds with an issue highlighted in one of the previous near-miss reports from 2022, in which a controller said that there wasnt enough staffing at the airport tower.

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Aviation experts say that the Washington region is a uniquely complex airspace to navigate. Flight restrictions enacted after 9/11 block air traffic from going near government buildings, military and government helicopters regularly traverse the area, and flights are constantly taking off and landing at Reagan, which has the busiest runway in the country.

In recent years, proposals to add more flights to the airport have also sparked heated political fights, with some lawmakers previously arguing that the airport was excessively congested and warning about safety impacts.

Now, the deadliest American aviation disaster since 2001 could lead to changes in how planes maneuver at DCA, or potentially broader reforms.

Its unbelievable how much we fly without incident, said former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. So when we do have one, it lights up everything.

An American Eagle plane takes off at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday in the aftermath of the deadly collision. - Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Close calls at DCA

The previous near-misses between planes and helicopters at DCA airport were detailed in NASAs Aviation Safety Reporting System database, which records incidents reported by aviation personnel. The reports are filed anonymously and dont identify specific airlines or flights.

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There have been 23 near midair collisions between passenger planes and helicopters at Ronald Reagan National Airport since 1988, when NASA started collecting the safety reports. Ten of those incidents happened in the past 12 years.

In April 2024, a commercial passenger plane pilot wrote that while descending to DCA, the crew received a traffic alert and collision avoidance system alert showing a helicopter about 300ft below us. The crew took evasive action, according to the report, and then was able to land normally after passing above the helicopter.

We never received a warning of the traffic from (air traffic control) so we were unaware it was there, the pilot wrote, suggesting that there should be better separation for DCA traffic on the river visual to the helicopter traffic that is flying up and down the river.

In another incident in October 2022, a pilot of a passenger plane reported that while descending at DCA, the planes collision avoidance system alerted the crew to nearby traffic and directed them to CLIMB NOW. The aircraft aborted the landing, circled around, and successfully landed on the second try.

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Upon review of the approach path and other information, we estimate we came within 300 ft. or less of what turned out to be a helicopter lifting off of the hospital, the pilot wrote.

In both of the incidents, the pilots reported that they were landing at runway 19, which was not the runway that the American Airlines flight was set to land on Wednesday night before the collision. Both planes were listed as operating under part 121, a regulatory certificate that generally covers large U.S.-based airlines and regional air carriers.

And in both cases, the pilots reported that they never saw the helicopter they potentially came within a few hundred feet of hitting.

A third incident in the database, reported by an air traffic controller working at DCA, described an airborne conflict between two military helicopters near the airport in September 2022, although the exact details are unclear.

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The two helicopters got too close to each other at a time when there isnt enough staffing to fill all positions in the tower cab, the controller wrote  referring to the cabin of the air control tower.

More recently, Republic Airways Flight 4514 aborted its landing Tuesday night while approaching runway 19 after air traffic control warned it about a nearby helicopter, according to audio from LiveATC.net. The twin engine Embraer ERJ 175 began a climbing right turn away from the airport, and later landed successfully, data from FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, shows.

The plane, which was flying from Connecticut, reached an altitude of about 1,600 feet during its first descent, while the helicopter was at about 300 feet, according to the audio and flight-tracking data  so the aircraft didnt get as close as the earlier near-misses. The Washington Post first reported the Tuesday incident.

Babbitt, the former FAA administrator, said he was not familiar with the specific incidents, but noted helicopters often respond to emergency situations that may in some instances make getting to the scene of an accident more of a priority than air-space regulations. Because helicopters fly at low altitude in the region, they rarely create issues for planes, he said.

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Its unclear whether any policies were changed or air traffic controllers took any actions in response to the previous near-misses.

Because the NASA database only covers incidents reported by aviation personnel, it doesnt necessarily cover all near-misses, and includes raw reports that have not necessarily been confirmed by an investigation. In addition to the near-misses involving helicopters, the airport has seen several previously reported near-misses between planes while landing or taking off in recent years.

Part of the wreckage from the plane and helicopter collision is seen as rescue boats search the Potomac River. - Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

What happened above the Potomac

The collision Wednesday night happened in an area that is one of the busiest aviation operation centers in the country if not the world, said Brad Bowman, a former Black Hawk pilot and member of the 12th Aviation Battalion, the Army unit involved in the crash.

It is a concert or orchestra of activity that requires careful communication and cooperation between pilots and Reagan tower, Bowman told CNN. Everyone has to be on their game and follow instruction exactly.

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Audio from moments before the disaster captured by LiveATC.net shows that an air traffic controller asked the helicopter pilot if he could see the plane and then directed him to pass behind it. The helicopter pilot responded that he had aircraft in sight.

The helicopter was on a routine training mission at the time of the collision, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Thursday. Tragically, last night, a mistake was made, Hegseth said, adding that the Department of Defense was investigating.

It isnt unusual for helicopters to be flying above the Potomac near the airport, aviation observers said. Between 2017 and 2019, there was an average of about 80 helicopter flights each day within 30 miles of DCA, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

It is completely normal for helicopters to be flying in that area, said Ian Petchenik, a spokesperson for Flightradar24 , a flight-tracking company. There are helicopter routes in that airspace defined by position and altitude. They operate there on a regular basis.

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Pilots with the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is based out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, frequently fly along the Potomac River and past the airport for various missions, such as shuttling military officers to and from the Pentagon or taking members of Congress to Camp David, Bowman said.

The Army helicopter appeared to be following a defined helicopter flight path above the Potomac, according to an FAA map, although it shifted slightly to the west just before the collision. The map states that all routes may be altered at pilots request or as directed by air traffic control.

Helicopters following the route are supposed to stay at or below 200 feet in the area where the collision occurred, according to the FAA map. The Army copter was flying at that altitude at its last reading reported to flight tracking services.

A former air traffic controller who worked at DCA years ago, and asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the incident, told CNN that controllers sometimes may have focused less on helicopters because of the altitude restrictions that typically keep them away from flights.

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Generally the way it worked was wed get a contact from these helicopters and theyd say theyre going to be passing through the airspace, the former controller said about his time in the control tower. Theyd be told to stay below 200 feet and there really wasnt much attention paid to them.

Emergency units respond to Reagan National Airport after the crash, which is presumed to have killed 64 people on the plane and three aboard the helicopter. - Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The system is overwhelmed

Congress last year approved legislation adding five new round-trip flights to Reagan, over the objections of lawmakers from the region and some advocacy groups who argued that the airport was already too congested and raised safety concerns about the additional traffic.

The measure, which was passed as part of the FAAs reauthorization in May 2024, came after previous legislative efforts to expand flights at the airport had failed. The fight had divided airlines, with Delta advocating for the proposal, and American, United and Alaska opposing it.

Several lawmakers pointed to near-misses between planes at DCA in March 2023 and April 2024 in opposing the expansion at an airport that has been seeing record numbers of passengers.

The close calls show why we cant keep cramming more flights to this airport, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine posted on social media last year. Ive been warning about this for yearsthe system is overwhelmed and its a threat to public safety. Some expansion opponents in the Virginia area also objected because of concerns over increased noise and air traffic from additional flights.

Beyond Washington, experts have been ringing alarms for years about increasing stress on the aviation system and a growing tally of close calls at airports around the country. An FAA report last year found that air traffic control stations nationwide were about 3,000 controllers short of being fully staffed.

This problem with congested airspace and near-misses has been brewing for several years, former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo told CNN. Its near-misses in the air, tremendous numbers of near-misses at the airport and runway incursions.

Now, the DC collision is a shocking tragedy for an American industry that had prided itself on going a decade and a half without a fatal commercial airline crash.

From a human perspective, this is something that should never happen and its tragic, said the former DCA air traffic controller. But from a realistic perspective, with humans controlling the aircraft, controlling the traffic, and dealing in these complex environments, the controller said, a disaster like the collision over the Potomac is chillingly possible.

CNNs Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Natasha Bertrand, Aaron Cooper, Scott Glover, Rob Kuznia, Daniel A. Medina and Pete Muntean contributed reporting.

Editors Note: This story was updated to include additional information about near midair collisions.

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Multiple people with ties to Florida and Georgia were onboard a plane that crashed after colliding with a military helicopter near Washington D.C. Wednesday Night, including the crew. Our Orlando Station, WFTV, has obtained information that Captain Jonathan Campos trained at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Captain Campos was flying the American Airlines jet to Ronald Reagan National Airport.

The University has released the following statement:

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Captain Jonathan Campos (Aeronautical Science,15). Our thoughts are with his family and the families and loved ones of all impacted by this tragic accident.

Read: Helicopter, plane collide: Officials say there are no survivors

64 people were onboard the jet, while 3 were on the helicopter. There appears to be no survivors, according to officials.

Local representative and Georgia House Majority Caucus Whip James Burchett (R-Waycross) also confirmed the identity of two Georgia men killed in the crash, including the first officer onboard American Airlines Flight 5342.

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First Officer Samuel Lilley was a graduate of Richmond Hill High School and Georgia Southern University. As an aviator, Lilley was following in the footsteps of his father, a former Army helicopter pilot. He had recently become engaged.

WFTV reports that he graduated from the ATP Flight School In Daytona Beach in 2020.

Read: Air traffic control expert says military aircraft arent a safety risk for Jacksonville airport

Along with Lilley, Georgian Ryan OHara was killed. He was a 2014 graduate of Parkview High School in Liliburn and served as a Blackhawk Helicopter Crew Chief. He leaves behind a wife and one-year-old son.

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Burchett released the following statement on their deaths Thursday:

Like all Americans, I mourn the loss of life in this tragic incident that claimed the lives of at least two Georgians, Ryan OHara and Sam Lilley.

Tragedies like this have an even greater impact on all of us when they hit close to home.

Sam was from Richmond Hill near Savannah, while Ryan went on from the Parkview High School Junior ROTC near Atlanta to serve our country as an Army aviator.

While we will no doubt learn what went wrong and what we can do to prevent accidents like this in the coming weeks, I join all Georgians today in mourning the loss of these two young men and the dozens of others who lost their lives in this tragedy.

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Both of Tucson's respite centers have shuttered after sweeping changes to federal border enforcement policy, drastically altering the landscape for asylum-seekers in southern Arizona.

The closures came after President Trump signed 26 executive orders on his first day, including one titled "Securing Our Borders," which reinstated the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as the "Remain in Mexico" program.

In response, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped releasing migrants after processing them. Pima County officials said this sudden halt has cut off the flow of asylum-seekers into the Ajo Road and Drexel Road shelters.

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"Whether there are people under shelter or not, the county still incurs operational costs from its contractors for staffing readiness, shelter amenity rentals (such as the portable showers), heating and cooling costs, and more," Jan Lesher, Pima County administrator, wrote in a Jan. 23 memo to the county's Board of Supervisors.

The program's funding, which comes through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Shelter Services Program, reimburses the county only for occupancy costs.

"This puts the County in a very precarious financial position," Lesher wrote.

Lesher also noted she was concerned about ambiguous language in the administrations announcements, suggesting there may be a retroactive freeze on funds meant for programs that incurred expenses before the orders took effect.

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Officials set Jan. 26 as the shutdown date to avoid incurring costs without any reimbursement prospects.

Before Pima County stepped in to coordinate shelter efforts in 2019, faith-based groups, community volunteers and nonprofits scrambled to aid migrants but lacked a stable funding source or facilities.

Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, which ran the Casa Alitas program, confirmed it vacated its facilities last week.

An update was posted to the migrant shelter's website following the closure.

"Through our wide range of programs  including housing support, behavioral health services, care for families and seniors, and assistance for those experiencing homelessness  we will continue to meet the pressing needs of our community," the statement read.

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Despite the closure of Casa Alitas, CCS vowed to maintain other community programs.

Over time, Pima County secured more than $117 million in federal funding for temporary shelter operations.

The county's partnership with local nonprofits, including CSS, allowed shelters to expand to accommodate the influx of arrivals. At one point, they served well over half a million people.

"This will likely bring to a close one of the most significant humanitarian aid programs undertaken by Pima County and its regional partners in the County's history," Lesher noted.

Lesher called the past six years a stressful and persistent humanitarian crisis, underscoring how Pima Countys coordinated response has helped shield local communities from the chaos of widespread street releases. Officials had previously warned of a potential surge in people living on city streets if federal reimbursements were delayed or cut off altogether.

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In the same Jan. 23 memo, Rex Scott, chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, wrote that the efforts of various local and federal officials, along with local residents, had "significantly contributed to the program's success and did their part to do what is right and decent."

With no official word on whether the federal government will start releasing asylum-seekers in Tucson again, local authorities worry about the prospect of street releases should the policy change.

Staffing and resources built up over six years may be difficult to reactivate quickly. County officials said that dismantling the shelters would be abrupt," making it hard to restart humanitarian services on a large scale if a sudden surge of migrants arrives.

Have news tips or story ideas? Reach the reporter at rromeroruiz@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @raphaeldelag.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Pima County closes migrant shelters after Trump changes border policy
SCRANTON  Part of Pine Brook might get a major pick-me-up.

United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania plans to transform a blighted gateway of the Pine Brook neighborhood with a $22.5 million plan to build 41 units of multi-family affordable housing on a 2-acre site on Capouse Avenue at Olive Street.

During a meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, the Zoning Board will hear the nonprofit UNCs request for a variance to construct the housing in a light industrial zone, according to a public notice of the boards agenda published in The Times-Tribune on Jan. 23.

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601 Capouse Avenue in Scranton is seen near the intersection of Capouse Avenue and Olive Street Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The project calls for demolishing structures at a junkyard at 601 Capouse Ave. and constructing a pair of three-story buildings, parking lots, walkways and landscaping on the property.

A 3,992-square-foot building with 12 housing units would front along Capouse Avenue, while an 11,826-square-foot building with 29 housing units would go on the rear of the lot, closer to the Barrett Court side street off of Olive Street.

Its 1.94 acres of blighted property and the idea is to transform it into a vibrant residential community, UNC President/CEO Lisa Durkin said Thursday in a phone interview.

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A rendering of two buildings containing 41 housing units proposed by United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania for 601 Capouse Ave. in the Pine Brook section in Scranton. UNC will seek a variance for the project from the Scranton Zoning Board on Feb. 5, 2025. (IMAGE FROM UNC ZONING APPLICATION FILED WITH SCRANTON)

Catalyst area

UNC leads a long-term revitalization plan underway in Pine Brook, a neighborhood known for industry, businesses, tight housing and diversity.

A five-year revitalization plan issued in April 2021 placed a focus on improving catalyst areas, including the Capouse Avenue gateway at Olive Street.

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UNC has an option to buy the 601 Capouse Ave. site, contingent on funding. The organization hopes to get state low-income tax credits to fund about 60% of the cost of the affordable housing project, and to receive state and philanthropic grants to cover the rest, Durkin said. The $22.5 million estimate covers purchase and construction.

The time frame of the project is undetermined, depending on the tax-credit application. If that gets approved around late spring or early summer, UNC might be able to close on the property purchase around late summer, she said. A groundbreaking might not happen until next year.

Its not a process for the impatient, Durkin said.

Revitalization steps

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Other goals of the Pine Brook revitalization plan including creating infill housing in the lower Capouse Avenue area; revamping the defunct Penn Ridge pool, also on Capouse Avenue, into something functional; and connecting the Sweeneys Beach area along the Lackawanna River with the Chic Feldman Field atop an adjoining slope.

UNC identified these catalyst areas as assets underutilized or needing improvement, and critical to revitalization.

The city is taking the lead on pursuing plans to improve the vacant Penn Ridge pool site, to put a splash pad and playground there.

The initiative for Pine Brook, which is similar to UNCs revitalization of part of South Scranton several years ago, has an overall goal of creating a stronger, more attractive neighborhood with buy-in from residents and businesses.

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Recent UNC improvements in Pine Brook have included: opening in June 2023 a pocket park called Capouse Corner at 1371 Capouse Ave. at New York Street; helping facilitate a facade improvement in April at Nearras Pizzeria at 1439 Capouse Ave.; and in November starting renovations of the Matzo Development, a mixed-use housing project in a building at 1001 Capouse Ave., which was once home to actress Lizabeth Scott, whose real name was Emma Matzo. She graduated from Scranton Central High School and attended Marywood College, before going on to co-star with Humphrey Bogart in the 1947 film noir classic Dead Reckoning and portray Elvis Presleys manager in the 1966 film Loving You.

I love the momentum that this revitalization in Pine Brook has going now, Durkin said.

Scranton native and actress Lizabeth Scott and Elvis Presley at Paramount Studios in Hollywood in 1957. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)Local officials and community leaders recently gathered for the groundbreaking of the Matzo Development, a mixed-use housing project in Scrantons Pine Brook neighborhood. The project, part of United Neighborhood Centers Pine Brook Revitalization, will provide both housing and commercial space to the area. From left: Martin Fotta, UNC chief operating officer; James Caffrey, UNCDC board chair; Jaime Ryan, PNC Bank; Lisa Durkin, UNC president and CEO; state Rep. Bridget Kosierowski; Shelby Rexrode, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency; state Rep. Kyle Donahue; state Sen. Marty Flynn; Patti Monahan, NEPA regional manager for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey; and Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan. (SUBMITTED)

Deadly history

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Meanwhile, the 601 Capouse Ave. property was the site of a notorious, deadly subsidence over 40 years ago that claimed the life of a Luzerne County man.

At that time, a federal reclamation project aimed to fill the 284-foot-deep Pine Brook mine shaft under the site. On May 21, 1982, the ground under a 35-ton crane gave way, opening a large gaping hole that swallowed the crane and Gerald Jerry White, 32, of Laflin, an electrician working near the crane.

This aerial photograph shows the hole left when the ground underneath a 35-ton crane gave way on May 21, 1982, at the corner of Capouse Avenue and Olive Street in Scranton. Jerry White, an electrician working near the crane, fell into the void. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

White was one of nine people on the project to fill in old mine workings at the rear of the then-Philip May Scrapyard, according to a Scranton Times article from that time. An electrician with Empire Construction Co. based in Old Forge, White was standing about 25 feet from the crane when the shaft dropped, forming an 85-foot crater. The crane operator jumped just before the crane went down completely and others managed to scatter.

White was lost in the void. Rescue efforts ensued for six weeks until his body finally was recovered from the shaft on July 2, 1982.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  Thursday afternoon, a federal jury found a Pine Ridge man guilty of involuntary manslaughter for a deadly shooting more than two years ago.

Court documents say Clayton Fire Thunder was inside a home in September of 2022 when Nyvelle Quick Bear was shot and killed.

Man indicted on federal charges from 2022 shooting

Marino Waters was also charged in connection with her death.

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He recently pleaded guilty to making a false statement.

Both men are waiting to be sentenced.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Rungratsameetaweemana lab/Columbia Engineering

Random noise, such as background hubbub on a phone call, is usually thought of as unwanted interference. Now researchers at Columbia Engineering find the brain may harness unavoidable random fluctuations of its activity to perform useful computations, particularly in tasks relying on memory.

These findings not only deepen our understanding of how the brain works, but also may provide a blueprint for building smarter, more resilient technologies, the research team says.

They detailed their findings Jan. 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Brain activity is filled with random, unpredictable variability. "Despite this, the brain excels at cognitive processes like memory and decision-making," says Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering and a lead researcher on the project. "How does it manage this? Does noise hinder or help?"

Insights from computing

Previous work on brain-imitating artificial intelligence systems known as neural networks suggested that injecting random fluctuations into their activity could actually improve their performance as they learned to perform a task. However, this prior research was conducted on relatively simple neural networks, calling into question how much this effect might actually play a role in real life.

In the new study, Rungratsameetaweemana and her colleagues developed more biologically plausible neural networks that included modules that mimicked excitatory and inhibitory neurons, which respectively increase and suppress overall activity in the brain.

"This research relied on high-computing resources provided by the Systems Intelligence Laboratory, supported by Columbia Engineering," she says. "These computational capabilities allowed us to explore complex neural dynamics in unprecedented detail."

Bring on the noise

When the researchers incorporated random noise into these systems during their training, "we discovered that random noise, often thought of as a challenge to overcome, might actually be essential for how the brain performs critical computations like memory," she says.

Specifically, noise appears to increase the amount of time it takes for inhibitory neuron connections with other neurons to weaken. This slowing effect in turn stabilizes neural patterns of activity related to memories, helping them persist over time.

"Your brain doesn't block out the noiseit works with it, integrating the randomness to stabilize your memory," Rungratsameetaweemana says. "For me, this project highlights the beauty in complexity and shows how even what seems random has a meaningful role in nature."

"Contrary to the traditional view that random noise in the brain weakens memory, this study reveals that such fluctuations can actually enhance memory stability," says Alex Williams, assistant professor at the Center for Neural Science at New York University and the Center for Computational Neuroscience at the Flatiron Institute in New York, who did not take part in this research.

"This study is a great example of how computational models can provide us with counterintuitive insights into long-standing scientific questions such as, 'How do we hang on to memories for many years or even decades? How reliable can our memories be? Can we harness natural properties of neurons, like randomness, to enhance memory performance?'"

Next steps

These new findings may help inspire the design of artificial intelligence systems that are more adaptable and better equipped to handle real-world uncertainty. These may include robots operating in dynamic environments, or health care tools that track subtle, long-term changes in patient data, Rungratsameetaweemana says.

In addition, this work may help scientists understand the role that real-world brain variability may play in human cognition both in health and in diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Rungratsameetaweemana says.

She and her colleagues also want to explore the role that noise may play in cognitive tasks beyond memory, such as attention, decision-making, or integrating complex sensory inputs. "These functions, much like memory, rely on the brain's ability to stabilize and process information amidst inherent variability," she explains.

Furthermore, these findings may also help improve neurostimulation and neuromodulation techniques that use carefully controlled signals to interact with brain activity.

"We're especially excited to explore how such signals might work in harmony with the brain's natural variability to improve specific computations, such as strengthening memory in patients with cognitive impairments," she adds.

More information: Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana et al, Random noise promotes slow heterogeneous synaptic dynamics important for robust working memory computation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2316745122 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
They say that dogs are mans best friend. But they can sometimes be our greatest protectors too. A woman in Baldwinsville, New York is thanking her Pit Bull after the dog warned her of a fire in her apartment building. The dogs signal saved Angela Murrays life and now the dog is being heralded a hero for his quick thinking.

Murray said she was sleeping on January 24, a little before 10 pm, when she heard something. It was her Pit Bull, Rocco, barking  Barking worse than usual, Murray told Syracuse.com.

I could faintly hear the alarm going off, she added. It was just the nudge the woman needed to investigate.

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I went to the living room where he kept barking and Im hearing pop pop pop in the ceiling, she said. Im like oh no, this is real.

Related: Oklahoma Animal Rescue Owner Risks Her Life to Save 23 Dogs From Deadly Fire

The dog mom knew it was time to act. She went upstairs and dressed quickly in sweatpants, before turning to Rocco and putting him on his leash. At first, Murray tried to escape through her front door, but already the fire that was ripping through her apartment complex was too great.

Im on the top floor but I could see stuff flying, debris, she said. They then went to the backdoor and managed to make it down a back staircase. Murray was lucky. She got out in the nick of time. She recalled looking back at the staircase that saved her life  it was completely engulfed in flames. Had she left even one minute later, the worst couldve happened.

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If I had stopped to get my glasses or look for my wallet... nope, I wouldnt have made it out, she told the news outlet.

Firefighters arrived on the scene and put out the flames, which tore through two of the buildings in the New Legacy Apartments complex at 1 Legacy Drive. The roofs of the buildings reportedly collapsed. In total, 24 apartments were destroyed or damaged because of the fire.

Thankfully, it seems that no one was seriously hurt. Although an 80-year-old man was brought to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Murray later told the news outlet that several of her neighbors credit Rocco (and his barking) for making sure they got out safe.

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A couple of tenants are calling him the hero dog, she said. They said they never hear him bark but he was barking out of control that something was wrong.

Thats our hero dog! one resident told the news outlet. He deserves an award or something!

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(Photo by Aristide Economopoulos/NJ Monitor)

Sandra Ramirezs son Joseph was hanging out with friends last February at the home of a boy whose parents owned a gun.

One of the children found the gun in an unlocked safe, Ramirez told the House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary last week. The gun went off, killing Joseph Martinez, 13.

This tragedy could have been prevented if the firearm was properly locked up, said Ramirez, of Richland. I dont just see the shooter as responsible for this happening. I see the gun owners, the adults, as who should be held accountable.

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Ramirez was testifying in support of House Bill 1152, a proposal in the Washington Legislature to require gun owners to lock up their weapons in their cars and homes. The severity of the punishment for violating the proposed law rises based on the consequences, from a civil infraction to a felony if unsafe storage leads to someone being injured.

The secure storage measure is part of a package of legislation Democratic lawmakers are looking to pass this year in hopes of curbing gun violence in Washington.

The bills would require a permit to purchase guns, restrict bulk purchases of ammunition and firearms, impose an excise tax on firearm and ammunition sales, add new requirements for weapons dealers and further limit the public places where people can carry firearms.

Legislative committees have passed a couple of the bills already. A House panel was set to vote on several more last week, but some members couldnt make the meeting, so the votes were pushed to this Friday.

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On Wednesday, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, cited the secure storage bill as a gun reform measure her caucus is interested in prioritizing.

The National Rifle Association, gun shop owners and competitive shooters argued the legislation would infringe on the rights of lawful gun owners. They said lawmakers should instead implement tougher criminal punishments, specifically for gang violence.

In recent years, Democrats have banned untraceable ghost guns that dont have serial numbers as well as the sale of semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines, among other gun laws.

Washingtons current gun laws have an A-minus rating from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, ranking ninth in the country.

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In 2022, the latest year for which comprehensive federal data is available, the gun death rate in Washington increased 11% from the previous year, for a total of 1,022 deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About two-thirds of those were suicide.

Guns were also one of the leading causes of death among Washington children that year, claiming 32 lives, on par with car crashes and higher than drownings.

Permit to purchase

Perhaps the centerpiece of Democrats plan to further regulate guns this session is a measure to require buyers to get a permit before being able to get a firearm.

State law already includes a 10-day waiting period before sellers can deliver guns to a buyer. Purchasers also have to prove theyve completed a firearm safety program before they can buy.

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Under House Bill 1163 from state Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, prospective buyers would have to apply for a five-year permit from the Washington State Patrol. The state patrols Firearms Background Check Program would issue the permit within 30 days, or 60 days if the applicant doesnt have a state ID.

The state would have to issue the permit as long as the applicant isnt prohibited from buying guns, free on bond awaiting a trial or sentencing on felony charges, or the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant. They also still have to prove completion of a safety course within the past five years.

If denied, applicants can challenge the decision in court. The state can revoke a permit if the person no longer meets the required conditions.

The state patrol anticipates receiving 200,000 permit applications each year. In 2022, the agency received over 500,000 background check requests. About 1% failed.

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Julia Berus, an Ingraham High School senior, said she was just feet away when a student was shot and killed at the Seattle school in 2022. She argued a permit to purchase protects the public by ensuring the background checks occur before a firearm purchase, rather than at the point of sale, making sure that guns dont fall into dangerous hands.

I personally do not want to be in a situation again where these guns do end up in dangerous hands, Berus told a House panel last week. Neither do the other 1,000 students at my high school that I am speaking on behalf of right now.

Opponents said their constitutional right to bear arms shouldnt require a permit.

How many of you would adamantly reject the idea of having to get a permit to speak, write, attend religious services, peacefully assemble, petition, own property or vote? asked Allen Ernst, a competitive shooter. You know, other key individual rights afforded to us in our federal and state constitutions.

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The measure is already poised to advance further than last year, with a committee vote scheduled for Friday. If passed, the law would take effect in November 2026.

Sen. Marko Liias, the sponsor of the Senate version, said this could be the year the legislation makes it to the governors desk.

I feel really confident that weve got momentum, Liias, a Democrat from Edmonds, said early this month.

About a dozen other states have permit-to-purchase laws on the books.

Buying and selling

Democrats also want to impose an 11% excise tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition, with exceptions for police and the military.

Washingtons tax would be on top of the federal excise tax. Revenue from House Bill 1386, projected at $35 million in the 2029-2031 biennium, would be earmarked for programs focused on gun violence prevention.

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Seattle already has a similar excise tax, costing $25 per firearm and 2 cents per round of ammunition that is 0.22-caliber or less and 5 cents per round above that size.

Another proposal would limit how many guns or bullets someone can buy. House Bill 1132 aims to stop gun shops from selling more than one gun to an individual buyer in a month, as well as 100 rounds of 0.50-caliber ammunition and 1,000 rounds of all other ammo. The state currently has no such restrictions.

Violators would be subject to a $500 fine.

In the 2017 shooting that left 60 dead in Las Vegas, the shooter spewed over 1,000 rounds from 15 guns in under 10 minutes.

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Carrie Parsons, of Seattle, was one of the victims. Her mother, Ann-Marie Parsons, urged lawmakers last week to approve the restrictions on bulk purchases. She called it a straightforward, sensible, effective way to save lives.

Sports shooters said the proposal would stop them from buying enough ammo to compete.

Shooters who are preparing for the Olympics or other large events can expend anywhere from five to 10,000 rounds a month, said Brian Keelan, of the Washington State Rifle and Pistol Association.

Five states have passed laws limiting the number of guns people can purchase in certain time frames.

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Democrats also want to strengthen requirements approved last year for gun shops. In July, employees of firearm dealers will have to undergo fingerprinting and a background check. Shops will also need additional security and surveillance systems.

Senate Bill 5099 would require the state patrol to inspect 10% of licensed sellers per year. It also requires dealers and their employees to complete training on how to recognize illegal activity.

Critics said the legislation is overly burdensome for firearm retailers. Jeremy Ball, the owner of Sharpshooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop in Spokane, said the state is losing 20 sellers licensed federally per month because of the additional restrictions.

None of us can find any data that shows that raising the barrier of entry for firearms retailers and consolidating our industry to publicly traded corporations who care absolutely nothing about the community other than their bottom line is going to yield the results youre looking for, Ball told a Senate committee last week.

Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, the bills sponsor, called the bill common sense for responsible dealers.

They ensure firearms stay out of the wrong hands, he said. This bill isnt just about compliance, its about accountability and safety.

The Senate Law & Justice Committee advanced Lovicks bill onto the Ways & Means panel along party lines last week.

Open carry

Last year, lawmakers added public libraries, zoos, aquariums and transit stations to the list of places where gun owners arent allowed to open carry.

This year, Democrats are looking to add more public places to the list of gun-free zones.

Senate Bill 5098 would also make it a gross misdemeanor to knowingly carry a gun in parks where children are likely to be present, state or local public buildings and county fairgrounds. The restrictions in public buildings dont include rest areas or ferry terminals.

Gun owners who have a concealed pistol license would be exempt. Signage at each facility would let patrons know about the prohibition.

NRA lobbyist Aoibheann Cline said the expansion would make it virtually impossible to lawfully carry firearms in Washington.

Sen. Javier Valdez, D-Seattle, cited the example of an August shooting at the Grant County Fair that injured two teen girls to explain the importance of his bill.

The bill has passed out of a Senate committee and now awaits action in Ways & Means.
Law enforcement officials have arrested a man who was wanted for allegedly holding a girl against her will at a Massachusetts hotel.

Iury Vieira DeSouza was taken into custody after a warrant was issued for his arrest, the Westboro Police Department announced Friday in an updated Facebook post.

Officers responding to a report of a juvenile being held against her will at an Extended Stay America at 19 Connector Road in Westboro around 11 a.m. on Tuesday located the alleged victim and transported her to a local hospital for evaluation, police said in a news release on Thursday.

Westboro police, with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police, later identified DeSouza as a suspect in the investigation. Authorities then asked the public to be on the lookout for a vehicle DeSouza was believed to be driving.

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Police didnt share specific details on the arrest of DeSouza other than that he had been captured.

The Westboro Police Department is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all members of our community, and we thank the Massachusetts State Police and other law enforcement partners for their assistance in this investigation, the department said in a statement.

There was no immediate word on what charges DeSouza will face or when hell be called to court.

An investigation is ongoing.

UPDATE: Suspect ARRESTED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 30, 2025 Westborough Police Investigate Incident Involving... Posted by Westborough Police Department on Thursday, January 30, 2025

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TOMAH, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX)  Tomah police say a bullet was found in a bathroom at Tomah Middle School.

The incident prompted a brief hold.

According to Tomah Police, the Tomah Police Department has concluded its investigation into the incident.

Tomah Police say no weapons were found in the building and there is no known threat to any students or faculty.

A previous incident occurred on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in which the Tomah High School administration learned that bullets were found in a bathroom at Tomah High School. No firearm was found at the school and police determined there was no threat to people at the school.

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Authorities identified the teenage victim of a deadly shooting in Bostons Mattapan neighborhood on Thursday night.

According to police, Leroy S. Ryner, 18, of Roxbury, was shot at the intersection of Morton Street and W. Selden Street around 10:31 p.m.

He was transported by Boston EMS to Boston Medical Center where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Homicide detectives are leading the investigation and have not reported any arrests.

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Anyone with information is strongly urged to contact the Boston Police at 617-343-4470.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Police are investigating after a student allegedly brought a semi-automatic gun onto a Shaler Area School District bus Thursday.

The school districts administration said school resource officers were made aware of student who allegedly had a weapon.

A video showed the student with the semiautomatic weapon but the student loads the clip, cocks it back and then points it.

The district said all appropriate protocols to ensure the continued safety of everyone in the district were taken and while the investigation is ongoing, the student has been excluded from school, effective immediately, and will be subject to the full disciplinary measures in accordance with established district policy.

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The safety and well-being of our school community remain our highest priority and we are grateful for the vigilance of our students, staff, School Resources Officers and law enforcement partners in managing this incident, a statement from the district said.

Police said the students parents will not be charged as they dont believe they provided the teenager with the gun.

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PIKEVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56)  Jerome Norman has been located and taken into custody.

Previous story:

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56)  Troopers with the Kentucky State Police (KSP) are looking for a man wanted for kidnapping and abuse.

Pike County woman accused of torturing child over holiday break

KSP posted on Facebook on Thursday that troopers with Post 9 in Pikeville are asking for the publics help to find Jerome Norman, 43, of Raccoon.

KSP wrote on social media that troopers with Post 9 in Pikeville are looking for Jerome Norman, 44. (Kentucky State Police)

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:

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According to state police, Norman has an active arrest warrant for kidnapping with serious physical injury, first-degree criminal abuse of a child age 12 or under, first-degree assault, and fleeing or evading police.

Anyone with information that could help state police find Norman is asked to call KSP Post 9 at (606) 433-7711.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  The Moraine Police Department is looking to return valuables stolen from property owners across the city.

The department said in a social media post that three people have been taken into custody for thefts that have seen hundreds of pieces of property stolen. Those arrested are alleged to have taken valuables out of vehicles.

Moraine police are hoping to return the stolen property to their rightful owners.

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If you were a victim of one of these thefts, you are advised to fill out a police report with your local police department and have that agency contact Det. Sgt. Adams by phone at 937-535-1155 or by email at Eadams@moraineoh.org.

Property will only be released to those who have filed reports with their local police and can specifically describe the items, Moraine Police said in the post.

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Santa Fe police used rubber bullets, a stun gun and a police dog Wednesday night against a man accused of pointing a fake handgun at another man while naked from the waist down.

Police allege David Gebhardt, 59, was resisting officers when they used "less-lethal force" against him.

Gebhardt faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting officers, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

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The incident unfolded around 9 p.m. Wednesday in a hotel parking lot at Cerrillos Road and Rodeo Road. An officer was pumping gas across the street from a Doubletree hotel when a man approached him and told him another man had pointed a gun at him in the hotel's parking lot, police wrote in a statement of probable cause.

The officer saw a man, later identified as Gebhardt, who was "wearing a short red cropped shirt who was otherwise completely naked and exposing his genitalia," holding what appeared to be a handgun and trying to climb over a wall that separated the hotel from a Dollar Tree store, the statement says.

The man got into a car and drove it across the hotel's parking lot, but it became stuck or crashed near a wall, the officer wrote.

"Based off the totality of the circumstances at that time in which the male suspect was believed to be armed and dangerous and was non-compliant and was resisting officers," police wrote, officers fired "less lethal munitions" at the man, who was "unfazed" by them.

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Another officer released a police dog, which bit Gebhardt and took him down to the ground, the statement says. Afterward, another officer used a stun gun on Gebhardt, who, police wrote, "was not allowing officers to handcuff him."

Gebhardt told police the handgun was a rubber replica he bought at a thrift store, police wrote. He admitted to officers he had pointed the fake gun at someone, according to the statement, but he said he did it "to help them."

He was arrested and booked into the Santa Fe County jail early Thursday.

He does not appear to have faced any other criminal charges in New Mexico in about a decade, an online court records database shows.
PERRY COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) Pennsylvania State Police say a man who was wanted for allegedly raping two juvenile victims in Perry County was found deceased on Tuesday morning.

State Police had obtained an arrest warrant out for 38-year-old Kyle Ray McNaughton, who allegedly raped two juvenile victims in Centre Township from 2021 to 2025.

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McNaughton had been charged with rape of a child, indecent deviant sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and other related charges.

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Microplastics, which are less than 5 millimeters, and nanoplastics, which are invisible to the naked eye, are widespread throughout our environment. Research has shown that exposure to plastics in general is harmful to both the environment and humans.

Now, in a study presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, researchers will unveil findings that suggest that microplastics and nanoplastics have been found in higher concentrations in the placentas of infants born prematurely compared to those born at term.

In collaboration with investigators at the University of New Mexico, researchers used highly sensitive mass spectrometry to analyze 175 placentas; 100 placentas collected at term and 75 collected preterm (less than 37 weeks of pregnancy).

"Advanced technology now enables us to accurately measure microplastics in ways we haven't been able to in the past," says senior study author Kjersti Aagaard, MD, Ph.D., MSCI, a maternal-fetal subspecialist and research professor at Boston Children's Hospital and the HCA Institute. Aagaard also serves as the medical director of the Gulf Coast Division of HCA Healthcare.

Researchers found that the levels of microplastics and nanoplastics were significantly higher in preterm placenta and they were at much greater levels than previously measured in human blood. This led the investigators to conclude that plastics were likely accumulating in the placenta during pregnancy, with a greater exposure and accumulation occurring in cases of preterm birth.

"The finding of higher placental concentrations among preterm births was surprising because it was counterintuitive to what you might expect if it was merely a byproduct of the length of time of the pregnancy," says the study's lead author Enrico R. Barrozo, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

"In other words, a preterm delivery not only accumulated more microplastics and nanoplastics in its placenta relative to term, but did so at an earlier time point in the pregnancy," added Aagaard.

"This hints at the possibility that the accumulation of plastics could be contributing to the risk and occurrence of preterm birth. When combined with other recent research, this study adds to the growing body of evidence, ranging from heart disease to potentially stroke, that demonstrates a real risk of exposure to plastics on human health and disease."
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  Police are searching for two missing teenage twins who were last seen in northeast Bakersfield, according to Bakersfield Police Department.

Aulani and Aullie Mejia, both 16, were last seen Thursday in northeast Bakersfield on the 600 block of Quincy Street. BPD officials say the sisters are considered at-risk due to no prior history of running away.

Warm temperatures over the weekend before rain arrives Tuesday

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Both teens stand five-feet tall and weigh around 130 pounds. They have brown straight hair with brown eyes.

Photo provided by the Bakersfield Police Department.

Aulani and Aullie were last seen wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, according to the department.

Anyone with information on the sisters whereabouts are asked to call BPD at 661-327-7111.

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COOL SPRINGS, Tenn. (WKRN)  Teen suspects attempted to make off with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a Cool Springs business, including dirt bikes, before some of the suspects were caught by police.

For the second time within six months, Cool Springs Powersports has been the victim of theft.

The most recent incident on Jan. 21 landed a group of teens, between 13 and 15 years old, in police custody after they broke into the McEwen Drive business.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime-related reports from across Middle Tennessee

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Theyre targeting dirt bikes, general manager Ronnie DeFrancisco told News 2. Theyre coming in with gas cans, putting gas in them [and] trying to get them out of the dealership, then then theyre literally just trying to ride them off.

Surveillance footage from the store showed a car carrying the suspects pull up outside the business. Once inside, they appeared to look for specific merchandise. They were then caught on camera squeezing stolen merchandise through the window they broke to get into the store. The business suffered about $30,000 in damages, including the stolen merchandise. One of the bikes stolen during the incident has still not been recovered.

Ive got new units that are damaged because they picked them up and took them through a window. Two of the units that we got back were both two-stroke motorcycles that they did with just plain gas  not using the pre-mix in them  so they blew the motors on them, DeFrancisco added. Now, Ive got brand new product that Im waiting for the insurance company to tell me: are we going to be able to fix and sell it? Is it going to be a total loss?

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

According to the Franklin Police Department, three of the four suspects  all from Nashville  were arrested. The other is still on the run.

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Its definitely frustrating and you do everything that you can as far as alarms and lighting and the way you set up the showroom to try to make things more difficult, but ultimately, somebody that wants to do it [is] going to find a way, DeFrancisco said. Its just a matter of if theyre going to get caught doing it.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The suspect accused of barricading himself inside a St. Johns home for more than 10 hours during a police standoff in Portland on Wednesday has been identified following his arrest, authorities said.

Portland resident Adam P. Klinko, 34, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. Portland police said he was wanted for multiple active warrants out of Washington State.

Hes also accused of third-degree escape for running from police and two counts of domestic violence strangulation and fourth-degree domestic violence assault for previous incidents in Portland in October and November of last year, officials said.

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Crews battle fire at Blue Heron paper mill

After 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the suspect  later identified as Klinko  was arrested following what police said was a standoff in a home in St. Johns that lasted more than 10 hours.

The incident, which drew a response from Portland Police Bureaus Special Emergency Reaction Team and the Crisis Negotiation Team earlier that morning, finally ended when police used irritant gas inside the home. The suspect initially did not come out but after police surmised he was hiding in the attic space, they deployed more of the gas in that area of the home, and he finally surrendered and was taken into custody.

There were road closures and public alerts for lockdowns for the local residents, including area schools and a community center, while the standoff took place. However, they were all canceled after the suspect was arrested.

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While the standoff was active, police said they believed the suspect may be armed or have access to guns. Its unclear if any firearms were recovered by police. However, police said no one was shot or injured.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Many Portlanders testified in a public hearing on whether a utility company should be permitted to remove a portion of trees from one of the nations largest urban forests.

At the four-hour public hearing on Wednesday, City of Portland Hearings Officer Marisha Childs received both sides of arguments concerning Portland General Electrics ongoing Harborton Reliability Project.

Devastating: Portland native Tonya Harding sends prayers to victims of D.C. plane crash

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Although the company has already completed or commenced the projects first two phases, the hearing was focused on phase three  which would remove 376 trees from five acres of the 5,200-acre Forest Park. According to PGE, the plan would ensure stable electricity and prevent wildfire risks by upgrading existing transmission lines and installing new ones in the area.

The utility previously stated that it hired a board-certified master arborist to identify the maximum amounts of trees that could be preserved throughout the park. The company has offered to plant 398 Oregon white oaks and 418 short stature trees as well.

However, environmental advocates from organizations like Forest Park Conservancy and Bird Alliance of Oregon have argued the project would hinder the parks plant and animal communities  including Douglas fir and big leaf maple trees that are more than 150 years old.

Portland Permitting and Development also opposed PGEs proposal in a staff report released earlier this month. The report claims the company has failed to present a construction management plan that minimizes impacts to resources, and has failed to show it wont harm the overall scenic, recreational, and open space values of Forest Park, among other shortfalls.

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During Wednesdays hearing, Tonkon Torp attorney David Peterson  who is representing PGE  said the staff report only looked at current impacts.

Striking New Seasons employees claim worker was fired for helping disabled person on break

Since the goal is to protect natural resources not just now but in the long run, we should look at the longer term benefits of PGE mitigation proposals and those are numerous, Peterson added. Its going to improve climate resiliency, its going to increase biodiversity, improve wildfire resistance [and] contribute to our societal goals to free ourselves of carbon-based energy.

Multiple speakers offered support for PGEs proposal.

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The primary proposal, in my view, is the least-impact solution for balancing our collective growing power needs, one speaker said.

I love Forest Park, and I know that the reactions from a lot of people have been emotional, but once I read the mitigation report, I realized that the PGE incursion into the park will leave it better environmentally, another speaker added.

People can listen to the full hearing here.

Childs will accept further feedback on the proposal through Wednesday, Feb. 19. The hearings officer is expected to issue her decision 17 days later.

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Jan. 30A New Hampshire legislator has fired the latest round in an on-again, off-again border dispute between Maine and New Hampshire over the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Republican Rep. Joseph Barton, a freshman lawmaker, is the prime sponsor of a resolution that urges Congress to find that the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor are within New Hampshire and asks President Donald Trump to designate the duty stations of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard personnel as part of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Congress would have to redraw the boundaries, but Trump can reassign the duty stations, Barton said.

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The tax status of shipyard employees is a big reason for the resolution, he said. New Hampshire does not have a state income tax, and residents of the Granite State who work at the shipyard pay Maine taxes. Shifting the borders to bring the shipyard into New Hampshire would shield New Hampshire residents from Maine income taxes.

"We won't get more tax revenue," Barton, who worked as an engineer at the shipyard, said in an interview Thursday. "The citizens will get more tax relief."

Some Maine income tax revenue would disappear if the more than 3,100 New Hampshire residents who work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard no longer have state taxes withheld. It wasn't immediately clear how much revenue Maine would lose. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services said taxpayer confidentiality bars disclosure of information.

Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral said New Hampshire would inherit traffic problems if it takes possession of the Naval Station, which has two land-based access points, both of which run through Kittery.

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If New Hampshire wants the shipyard it will need to build bridges from Portsmouth to the Naval Station island, "so they can assume all of the traffic congestion and infrastructure impacts Kittery, Maine, shoulders as the host of the (shipyard)," Amaral said.

The issue of who has jurisdiction is not new. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on a border dispute in Maine's favor in 2001, dismissing New Hampshire's claim to the shipyard. The court denied a New Hampshire request to reconsider, ruling that the boundary between the states is the middle of the Piscataqua River.

More than half of the shipyard's nearly 8,000 employees are Mainers, according to the Seacoast Shipyard Association, an advocacy organization. And 56% of the Portsmouth shipyard's $716.2 million payroll is for Mainers and 36% is paid to New Hampshire residents. The remainder of the shipyard workers live in Massachusetts and other states.

Its total economic impact in 2023, including purchased goods and services, maintenance and military construction, was more than $1.5 billion.

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Barton's resolution says jurisdiction and control over the Piscataqua River "is and always has been entirely" within New Hampshire's Rockingham County and "complete dominion and ownership of the tidal waters and submerged lands" of the river, including Portsmouth Harbor, are part of the state.

"This is the boundary. This is where it is," he said.

The resolution has been the subject of a public hearing and must be voted on by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Her office did not respond to an email Thursday asking if she supports the measure.

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Its one of the more obviously flawed ideas embraced by both President Donald Trump and his right-hand man Elon Musk: that government should be run like a business.

Synergies! Streamlining! Above all, efficiency  that is the operative word that will help transform the federal government from a hulking, bloated bureaucracy into a nimble machine, like swapping a 1995 Compaq desktop PC for a 2025 MacBook Pro.

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Of course, Trump and Musk are applying a business playbook to a thing that is decidedly not a business. Governments dont work for profit, and the services they provide arent supposed to wow shareholders or go viral on TikTok. Good government should fade into the background, unnoticed, so that Americans dont have to think twice about whether its safe to get on a commercial flight or drink water from their tap.

Thats not to say government agencies are perfectly calibrated. But not all redundancies can be written off as needless red tape. A leading commission on aviation safety, for one, was widely seen as an asset in bringing the sprawling US industry into alignment. Trump disbanded it last week.

Less than two weeks in, and its clear Trump is running the White House with the same dictatorial energy he brought to his companies  almost all of which have been privately held, with no outside board or public shareholders to cater to. Its a style that also seems to suit Musk, who oversees half a dozen private companies and one public entity, Tesla (where he has stacked his board with loyalists and where he has regularly butted heads with shareholders).

In the name of efficiency, the president and Musk are putting on a familiar show of cleaning house  a tactic so clearly modeled after Musks past endeavors, they didnt even bother to change the subject line.

Twitter deja vu

On Day One, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who had publicly clashed with Musk over issues related to SpaceX, stepped down. The post remained vacant for nine days. It was only after 67 people were killed in a midair collision over the Potomac River in Washington that Trump announced the appointment of Chris Rocheleau, an FAA veteran who most recently ran an aviation business lobby, to lead the agency.

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On his second day in office, Trump fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard, cutting both their terms short.

On Day Three, all members of a crucial aviation safety committee received a memo, per the AP, saying that the Department of Homeland Security was terminating the group as part of its commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security. (The advisory, by the way, was ordered by Congress more than 30 years ago in response to the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, and brought together key groups in the aviation industry to advise the TSA on the most effective safety protocols.)

Day Seven, trillions in federal funding were frozen indefinitely. Day Eight, the US government did a carbon copy of Musks Twitter playbook when it emailed 2 million federal workers with an offer to resign  once again sparking confusion and panic.

Among those 2 million workers were some 11,500 air-traffic controllers who have been stretched thin for years, often working overtime and battling burnout. Last year, the FAA said it was still short 3,000 controllers, despite a surge in hiring.

We want them in trauma

Ten days in, and the sturdy bureaucracy  the folks tasked with keeping planes in the air, ensuring water is drinkable, providing housing to veterans, any number of other essential services  is in chaos.

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And while the cause of the plane crash, just a few miles from the White House near Reagan National Airport, is not yet known, it is testing the new administrations response to a crisis at its own doorstep.

Unsurprisingly, Trump defaulted to a well-worn page of the playbook, heaping blame on his predecessors and suggesting that diversity initiatives eroded aviation standards  a statement that is just not true and, as usual, he offered no evidence. Neither did Vice President JD Vance, or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, or Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who all parroted the boss.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are trying to do their jobs while weighing the offer to simply reply to an email with resign and walk away. The offer purports to allow workers to leave with eight months of pay and benefits, though many questioned whether the offer was genuine or even legal.

That anguish appears to be part of the plan.

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Russ Vought, Trumps acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, has stated plainly in private speeches revealed by ProPublica last year that we want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.

When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down We want to put them in trauma.

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CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY)  In response to the national threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenzaalso known as Bird Fluthe West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) is suspending several types of poultry-based activities across the state.

According to a release, all poultry exhibitions, swaps, shows, meets and sales at flea markets or auctions have been suspended after Bird Flu cases were confirmed in commercial poultry operations in some surrounding states. Bird Flu was also confirmed in a backyard flock in Pocahontas County earlier this month.

This is a serious threat to West Virginias poultry industry which is the largest overall contributor to our states animal industry economy  this action provides added safeguard, said West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt. This nationwide outbreak has been ongoing since 2022, and we have worked closely with poultry industry stakeholders and our interagency partners to prepare for and respond when needed to a West Virginia outbreak.

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New record? West Virginias January 2025 snowfall compared to normal

If you own poultry, the WVDA urges you to do the following things to limit the spread of Bird Flu:

Limit, monitor, and record any movement of people, vehicles, or animals on or off the farm.

Permit only essential workers and vehicles to enter the farm.

Avoid visiting other poultry farms or unnecessary travel off the farm.

Disinfect equipment, vehicles, footwear, and other items in contact with flocks.

Change clothes before entering poultry areas and before exiting the property.

Keep flocks away from wild or migratory birds, especially waterfowl.

Isolate any ill animals and contact your veterinarian immediately.

The WVDA said that Bird Flue has been detected in both commercial and backyard poultry flocks across the country and that cases have risen ahead of the spring migratory season. You can get more info on the status of Bird Flu cases in the U.S. by clicking here.

The WVDA said that it will reassess the levels of Bird Flu in the region in early April and that poultry sales at markets could resume around that time.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT)  Alabama state lawmakers will convene in Montgomery on Feb. 4 to review legislation going into effect this year, including a new bill to change adolescent access to vaccines.

Alabama currently allows minors at or over the age of 14 to receive medical services without a parent or guardians consent.

Lawmaker working to keep Alabama rural hospitals open

House Bill 2, titled, Vaccines, parental consent for minor to receive vaccine, required, would change this age to 18 and require parents to sign paperwork authorizing their consent.

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Its not an anti-vaccine bill, its a parental rights bill, said Mobile Rep. Chip Brown. At the age of 14, most children are not capable of making really informed decisions.

Brown is sponsoring HB2. He said it will empower parents to have more say over their childrens health decisions.

At the end of the day, your childs medical health should come down to the parent, not a 14-year-old being able to make their own decisions, he said. This gives that power back to the parents for them to make the decisions on what vaccinations or any vaccinations that their child gets.

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Dr. Nola Jean Ernest is the legislative chair for the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She says vaccines undergo rigorous testing over decades before theyre authorized for use.

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Most pediatricians have never seen a child have a reaction to a vaccine, where almost every pediatrician I know has seen a kid have a bad outcome from a vaccine preventable disease, she said.

Ernest said certain illnesses, like meningitis, can affect children more severely than adults. Thinking long-term, she also said building immunity against infectious diseases at a young age is important.

Like most of our body, our immune system just learns better when youre little, she said, and so vaccines just work better if you can get them when youre still developing than if you wait until youre older to get them.

Protestors march in support of immigrant community in Albertville

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HB2 will be up for review by the Alabama House and Senate when the 2025 session kicks off Feb. 4, but Brown says it may take until May until its up for a vote. If passed and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, it will go into effect on October 1, 2025.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHNT.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:

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Congenital heart defects (abnormalities of the heart that are present at birth) are the most common type of birth defect and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 4 babies born with a heart defect has a diagnosis that is severe enough to require surgery or other medical intervention within the first year of life. Despite advances in prenatal care, the detection rate of congenital heart defects during routine ultrasounds remains suboptimal.

In a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, researchers will unveil findings that suggest that AI can help clinicians better detect congenital heart defects on routine prenatal ultrasounds.

In the study, a group of physicians with experience ranging from one to 30+ years reviewed 200 ultrasounds. A total of 14 OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists reviewed each ultrasound, both with and without the use of an AI-based software program. The data were compared to determine whether the clinicians' ability to detect cases suspicious for congenital heart defects improved with the assistance of the software.

Regardless of a physician's years of experience or subspecialty training, results showed that the AI system significantly improved a clinician's ability to detect cases suspicious for congenital heart defects.

Secondarily, results also found clinicians' confidence level in detecting congenital heart defects improved and it took them less time to determine whether a case was suspicious or not.

"At least half of prenatal ultrasounds in the United States are being looked at by non-specialists, medical professionalsincluding OB-GYNswho may not be trained in prenatal ultrasound. That accounts for why the ability to detect congenital heart defects is still quite low, even in developed countries like the U.S.," says the study's lead author Jennifer Lam-Rachlin, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist.

Lam-Rachlin is the director of fetal echocardiography at Carnegie Imaging for Women and assistant clinical professor in the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai West in New York City.

"Our findings show that the AI-based software significantly improved detection of ultrasounds that were suspicious for congenital heart defects not only among OB-GYNs but also among maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists. This has a tremendous impact in terms of neonatal outcomes and has the potential to change clinical practice."

"Most congenital heart defects occur in pregnancies that are considered low risk, which means the pregnant person is most likely being seen by an OB-GYN versus a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist who has more experience in detecting congenital heart defects," says Christophe Gardella, Ph.D., chief technical officer for BrightHeart, the Paris-based manufacturer of the AI-based software.

"We built our AI software with experts to help elevate the detection rate, even among non-specialists, and drive earlier diagnosis to improve outcomes."
President Donald Trump is meeting Friday with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, whose company designs and supplies the advanced computer chips that play an integral role in developing artificial intelligence.

The meeting at the White House was confirmed by a person familiar who insisted on anonymity to discuss the conversation between Huang and Trump. The person said the meeting was set up weeks ago and would enable them to get acquainted and talk about AI policy. Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., declined to comment on the meeting.

Nvidia had loudly protested a last-minute move by the Biden administration in January to expand AI chip restrictions beyond adversaries like China to more than 100 other countries, including Singapore. But it remains to be seen if Trump will follow through with or drop those proposed rules.

Trump signed an order on his first day in office last week that said his administration would identify and eliminate loopholes in existing export controls, signaling that he might continue and harden Bidens approach.

The Republican president is banking on AI to foster economic growth and draw hundreds of billions of dollars in investments, but he also saw the performance of Chinas DeepSeek AI technology as a sign that the technology can be developed more cheaply.

Speaking Monday to House Republicans in Miami, Trump called the DeepSeek news positive if its accurate because you wont be spending as much and youll get the same result.

Trump said it was a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.

DeepSeek has said its recent models were built with Nvidias lower-performing H800 chips, which are not banned in China. DeepSeek began attracting more attention in the AI industry last month when it released a new AI model that it boasted was on par with similar models from U.S. companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and was more cost-effective in its use of expensive Nvidia chips to train the system on troves of data. The chatbot became more widely accessible when it appeared on Apple and Google app stores early this year.

The meeting between Trump and Huang comes as leaders of a special House committee focused on countering China have urged Trumps national security adviser, Michael Waltz, to consider the potential national security benefits of placing export controls on Nvidia semiconductor chips used by DeepSeek. They said the examination should be part of a review that Trump ordered on his first day in office that called on the secretaries of State and Commerce to review the U.S. export control system.
Presidents' Day is the next federal holiday coming up, but the federal government doesn't call it that.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the third Monday of February is celebrated as Washington's Birthday.

While federal employees are off on the day, Congress has never declared it a national holiday binding in all states, according to the National Archives.

 See what's open, closed on Presidents Day in Florida

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Here's what to know about the day.

When is Presidents' Day 2025?

The federal holiday known as Washington's birthday will be celebrated Monday, Feb. 17.

Is it Presidents' Day or Washington's Birthday?

Neither Congress nor the president have ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington's Birthday be changed to Presidents' Day, according to the National Archives.

So while the federal government calls it Washington's Birthday, in many states, including Florida, it's recognized as Presidents' Day.

George Washington has two birthdays, sort of

Portraits of President George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Washington's Birthday became a legal holiday Jan. 31, 1879, when Congress added Feb. 22 to the list of holidays to be observed by federal employees in the District of Columbia.

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Washington was born in Virginia on Feb. 11, 1731, but that date was based on the Julian calendar.

In 1752, Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar, which moved his birth date to Feb. 22, 1732, according to the National Archives.

So why is it called Presidents' Day? What about honoring Abraham Lincoln?

The shift from Washingtons Birthday to Presidents' Day began in the late 1960s, when Congress proposed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to create more three-day weekends for the nations workers.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act included a provision to combine the celebration of Washingtons birthday with that of Abraham Lincoln, which is on Feb. 12.

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Ironically, by establishing the holiday on the third Monday of February, "this guaranteed that the holiday would never be celebrated on Washington's actual birthday, as the third Monday in February cannot fall any later than February 21," the National Archives said.

Is Presidents' Day a holiday in Florida?

No, or should we say, sort of. The third Monday in February is a legal holiday in Florida, per state statute, but is noted as Washington's birthday.

Florida government offices will be closed. Additionally, public libraries, courthouses and schools will be closed. While federal offices, including mail delivery and the stock market will be closed, grocery stores, businesses, restaurants will be open and often promote special sales. Check for any modified hours.

The Florida Department of Management Services lists the following days observed as paid holidays by Florida agencies:

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Jan. 1, Wednesday: New Year's Day

Jan. 20, Monday: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

May 26, Monday: Memorial Day

July 4, Friday: Independence Day

Sept. 1, Monday: Labor Day

Nov. 11, Tuesday: Veterans Day

Nov. 27, Thursday: Thanksgiving

Nov. 28: Friday after Thanksgiving

Dec. 25, Thursday: Christmas Day

 See other legal holidays and special observances in Florida

When are 2025 federal holidays?

The next federal holiday after Washington's Birthday will be Memorial Day.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2025 federal holidays are:

Jan. 1, Wednesday: New Year's Day

Jan. 20, Monday: Inauguration Day; Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Feb. 17, Monday: Washington's Birthday. Many state and local governments designate it as Presidents Day.

May 26, Monday: Memorial Day

June 19, Thursday: Juneteenth

July 4, Friday: Independence Day

Sept. 1, Monday: Labor Day

Oct. 13, Monday: Columbus Day

Nov. 11, Tuesday: Veterans Day

Nov. 27, Thursday: Thanksgiving Day

Dec. 25, Thursday: Christmas Day

Is it Presidents Day, President's Day or Presidents' Day?

AP Stylebook prefers Presidents Day, but Chicago Style uses Presidents' Day.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary refers to the holiday as Presidents' Day.

Based on Google, folks are searching for it both ways. One thing is definite: it's Washington's Birthday on the federal calendar.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Presidents' Day, Washington's Birthday next federal holiday Feb. 17
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now)  Police in Prince William County are investigating after a man died in a two-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon.

The Prince William County Police Department (PWCPD) said the crash happened just before 3:30 p.m. on Aden Road, near the Foremost Court area.

No survivors after American Airlines plane, military helicopter collide near DCA, crash into Potomac River

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Their investigation determined that a Manassas man was driving a Nissan Titan, at a high rate of speed, along Aden Road when the vehicle crossed into oncoming traffic and struck a Subaru Outback.

According to police, the Nissan then swerved off the road and rolled several times before landing on its roof.

The driver of the Nissan, 29-year-old David Joseph Russell Callen, died at the scene.

He was wearing a seat during the collision.

The driver of the Outback was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO)  Rockford will benefit from $2.4 million in funding for site ready construction projects aimed at laying the groundwork for upcoming development.

The money comes from $31 million in total Regional Site Readiness Program grants from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Readiness planning, assessments, infrastructure improvements  these things are all the fundamental work that must be done for businesses and investments to flourish and jobs to grow across the state, said Pritzker. In every corner of Illinois, there are communities that are overflowing with untapped potential but do not have the resources and support they needed to fully realize it. Now, standing in front of you, Im happy to say a whole lot has changed  we are investing in our sites, we are thinking about the future, and we are growing economic development across the state.

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Rockford will dedicate its funding to road and water infrastructure near the Illinois Route 2 and US 20 interchange.

This comes as a result of a study from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Developments Planning and Environmental Linkage study for the area, located northwest of the Chicago-Rockford International Airport and 4.5 miles from downtown Rockford.

The city hopes to use the area for an industrial business park.

In addition, Belvidere will receive nearly $3 million to extend water and sewer to a 137-acre site on Chrysler Drive east of the Stellantis auto plant.

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CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO)  Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will restrict January 6th rioters, pardoned under President Donald Trump, from being employed by the state.

NBC News first reported that Pritzker sent a letter to the director of the Department of Central Management Services, Pritzker said, No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government.

These rioters attacked law enforcement officers protecting people in the Capitol, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, and undermined bedrock principles of American democracy, Pritzker said. Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers.

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On his first day in office, Trump issued pardons for 1,500 people who participated in the January 6th, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

More than 50 Illinois residents were affected by the pardons, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The US Constitution does not grant the President this unilateral authority, Pritzker said on X. In Illinois, we will stand against unlawful actions that would harm millions of working families, children, and seniors.

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CHICAGO  Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has blocked anyone who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in state government, a move that looks to undermine President Donald Trump doling out hundreds of pardons at the start of his term.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO, the Democratic governor directed the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, which oversees hiring for state government, to apply state code in hiring individuals who were involved in the riot.

No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government, Pritzker wrote to Director Raven DeVaughn, calling the acts disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the state.

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A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment on the letter. NBC News first reported the directive.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed most Americans disapprove of Trumps pardons of Jan. 6 participants, some of whom attacked police officers.

Pritzker is a longtime critic of Trump, going back to the presidents first-term handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Illinois governor was among those considered as a running mate for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and is seen as a possible 2028 contender. He has continued to be outspoken in pushing back against Trump at a time when others in his party are grappling with how to move forward.

On Thursday, Pritzker called Trump unfit to lead in a crisis after the presidents comments blaming diversity policies for the midair crash that left 67 passengers dead near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  A lawmaker is proposing a way for the homeless to receive one-way bus tickets to leave the state.

House Bill 1798, authored by State Representative Dell Kerbs (R-Shawnee), would allow municipalities to use general revenue funds to purchase these one-way tickets.

I dont know that its a solution, bussing our people experiencing homelessness out of the state is really just making it someone elses problem and these are people, said Erin Goodin, CEO & president, City Rescue Mission.

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City Rescue Mission serves up to 450 homeless individuals every night. Goodin believes as a state we should be focusing on other things.

OKLAHOMA POLITICS: Norman community, city leaders discuss recent bill aimed at eliminating homeless outreach by cities

We could be focusing on creating more affordable housing, eviction prevention, all of the things, increasing wages for living families, decreasing daycare expenses for families, said Goodin.

State Rep. Kerbs told News 4 in a statement:

This bill gives an avenue for municipalities to bridge the gap when nonprofits are unable to, giving individuals the opportunity to reunite with supportive family and friends who are ready to help them, said State Rep. Kerbs.

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City Rescue Mission already provides bus tickets for those in desperate need.

Its women fleeing domestic violence or some sort of situation in Oklahoma thats causing them to flee, said Goodin.

The Homeless Alliance says around 85% of those who experience homelessness in Oklahoma City were already living here.

While opportunities to connect people experiencing homelessness to out-of-state friends and family may be helpful to some, the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in our communities are Oklahomans, said Meghan Mueller, CEO & president, Homeless Alliance.

City Rescue Mission says most of those who are homeless want to stay in Oklahoma.

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This is where they grew up. This is where their home is. And this is the community that they want to belong in, said Goodin.

The full statement by Rep. Kerbs:

House Bill 1798 would allow municipalities to offer bus tickets to people who are homeless who voluntarily choose this option. While many churches and local organizations already assist by purchasing in-state bus tickets, cities currently lack the authority to step in and provide similar help. This bill gives an avenue for municipalities to bridge the gap when nonprofits are unable to, giving individuals the opportunity to reunite with supportive family and friends who are ready to help them. State Representative Dell Kerbs (R-Shawnee)

The full statement by the Homeless Alliance:

Typically, we find that around 85 percent of people who experience homelessness in OKC became homeless in Oklahoma. While opportunities to connect people experiencing homelessness to out-of-state friends and family may be helpful to some, the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in our communities are Oklahomans. These are our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens. Our response to seeing people who live outside cannot be limited to removing them. We must be investing in solutions that end and prevent homelessness in our communities beginning with increased investment in affordable housing. Meghan Mueller, President & CEO, Homeless Alliance

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One California customer is accusing Amazon of getting a little too personal.

In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Californias Northern District Court, Felix Kolotinsky, a California resident, argues that Amazon is illegally tracking and selling consumers geolocation data to third parties.

More from Sourcing Journal

Kolotinsky alleges that the technology and e-commerce giant does so through a software development kit (SDK), which it uses to gain backdoor access to consumers devices. The complaint further notes that, in order to do so, Amazon allows its SDK, called Amazon Ads SDK, to be integrated into a variety of apps, like NewsBreak and Speedtest by Ookla, without consumers consent.

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The plaintiff reportedly used the Speedtest by Ookla app, allegedly exposing him to the Amazon Ads SDK and allowing Amazon to access sensitive data without his understanding. That, he notes, violates consumers privacy.

[Amazons] business model is to collect information from consumers and sell access to its ill-gotten data to brands and advertisers, Kolotinsky said in the complaint.

By collecting data like timestamped latitude and longitude geolocation coordinates, Amazon can easily identify a users identity, the lawsuit states, citing MIT data that shows a handful of data points on location can sufficiently identify an individual.

Amazon has effectively fingerprinted consumers and has correlated a vast amount of personal information about them entirely without consumers knowledge and consent, Kolotinsky alleges.

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The plaintiff proposed a class inclusive of all California residents who downloaded and used a mobile app that had Amazon Ads SDK embedded without publicly disclosing the software in its notices or privacy agreements. Kolotinsky and his counsel estimate that millions of consumers could qualify for the class, should the judge certify it. Kolotinsky alleges that Amazon violated a section of California penal code and Californias Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. Kolotinsky seeks $5,000 per violation from the company on the former claim and additional damages from the latter claim.

He also asks the judge to certify the class, appoint Kolotinsky as lead plaintiff, declare that Amazon did violate California law with the SDK and enjoin Amazon from unlawful activities as set out throughout the complaint.

Ultimately, the Amazon Ads SDK has allowed Amazon to secretly create a detailed log of [Kolotinskys] and the putative classs precise movement patterns, along with a dossier of their likes and interests, all without their consent or permission, he alleged.

Amazon did not respond to Sourcing Journals request for comment.

Related cases have been popping up across the United States, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) getting involved in some instances. Last year, the agency announced four cases that took issue with how companies collect and use consumers geolocation data. It filed cases against Mobilewalla, Gravy and its subsidiary Venntel, InMarket and X-Mode and its successor Outlogic and eventually prohibited each of the companies from collecting and selling sensitive consumer location data.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  Its tax season  and while you get your financials in order, scammers may be looking to steal your information.

Tax season sees an increase in scams, as malicious people try to take your tax return.

Tax experts say to watch out for countless phone calls, text messages and emails from those trying to get any bit of information from you. Scammers are always evolving and thinking of new ways to get their hands in the pot of your tax return.

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How to protect yourself from common scams during tax season

As technology changes, scam artists get smarter and smarter, and more savvy, said John North, CEO and president of Better Business Bureau Dayton.

While you might be hoping to get a large tax return this tax season, scammers are as well. And even during the process of filing a tax return, just a little bit of information can cause you to lose that money.

If they get certain personal information, they can also go and file a tax return in your name, said North.

These scams will often happen via email, phone calls or text messages. North says they will always instill a sense of urgency in you, even going as far as to threaten you.

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They try to rush you to the conclusion that it is legitimate, said North. They oftentimes pose as the local sheriff or police district, and threaten you with them coming out to arrest you.

The most important detail that you cannot forget is that the IRS will only send you paper mail. If there is a problem with your tax return, that is the only way they will contact you.

The IRS and states do not email. They do not text and they do not call, said Mark Steber, chief tax officer for Jackson Hewitt.

Tax season 2025 begins: Here are the important dates to know this year

Steber said to always doubt if your phone rings and a caller says its an official agency.

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What we have seen is a complete innovation of the information that shows up on your smartphone, that will say, Internal Revenue Service, or Department of Treasury, or ICE, or police department, said Steber. Just because it says that under the caller ID, its not likely to be true.

Be careful what you see on social media  a lot of scammers will make it look like they can give you expert advice, all for a low price.

They go for the clicks, or the pure shock value of it, said Steber. A lot of bad information out there in the social media space related to taxes.

Tax experts also say to always remember this rule  if it feels too good to be true, its often a scam.

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BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB)  If you use the internet, and who doesnt, then youve probably received calls, texts, or emails from bad actors trying to scam you. If youre not careful, you can easily become their next victim.

Scammers will go to great lengths to make it appear that they are from a legitimate company, be it a bank or some other financial service company, Bay County Sheriffs Lt. Jeremy Mathis said.

WATCH: Bay County Sheriffs office holds news conference

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This week is National Data Privacy Week. With that in mind, Bay County Sheriffs officials are sharing tips to keep you and your banking information safe.

If you receive a correspondence from your bank or your financial institution and your credit union and it says that your account has been hacked and call this number, call the local number that you talk to. Go into your local branch of your bank and say, hey, I got this. Let them see it. If they say thats a scam, its a scam. Dont dont do anything else, Mathis said.

You should also pay attention to the way the scammer communicates with you. If the email address looks generic or doesnt have specific information related to your bank, you should be suspicious.

Pay attention to the email. You will see that its a gmail.com or a mail.com or Outlook or some other email address that shouldnt be from the company theyre purporting themselves to be from, Mathis said.

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Panama City officials sell unused property to fund St. Andrews parking project

If youre not sure, dont click on it. You could open a link to a phishing scam. Officials said banking fraud is one of the fastest-growing scams in the country, so you have to act carefully about sharing sensitive banking information and cautiously monitor your accounts.

You have to be vigilant with your information and vigilant with your credit and keep an eye on it, Mathis said.

If you think youre being scammed or suspect any suspicious banking activity, call your bank or the Bay County Sheriffs Office. Theyll be able to confirm whether or not youre being deceived.

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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The U.S. will ban nearly all uses of the common industrial cleaning agent, trichloroethylene (TCE), this yearmore than 50 years after it led to one of the country's worst cases of contaminated drinking water. It has been found in up to a third of sampled U.S. drinking water, including near Modesto, Fresno and Santa Rosa, California.

The ban, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency in December, outlaws most uses of the chemical within a year, allowing industries such as aviation, refrigeration and defense to phase it out over the coming decade.

We wanted to know more, so we asked UC San Francisco Professor of Medicine Samuel M. Goldman, MD, MPH, whowith colleaguespublished the largest study to show high levels of TCE exposure are associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. He explains some of the science behind the ban and why his work is helping medicine rethink whether our risk of some illnesses is really all in our genes.

What is TCE?

TCE is a chemical that's really good at dissolving things, which is why, for the past 30 years, it's been primarily used as an industrial degreaser to dissolve substances off plastic, metals, and even computer chips down in the South Bay chip foundries.

Which products have historically contained TCE?

TCE's uses have been incredibly varied over the last century. In the 1950s, it was the main dry-cleaning solvent. Companies used it to decaffeinate coffee and, in some countries, as a general anesthetic until 1977. But it was also found in many other common household products like carpet and spot cleaners as well as paint. Today, it is primarily used to degrease industrial metal parts. The chemical is vaporized to dissolve the grease, which can release it into the atmosphere.

Why has TCE been found in so many water supplies across the country?

TCE's a very common contaminant in the groundwater throughout the U.S. and the world because how it's disposed of wasn't always highly regulated. If we think back, it was used in a lot of "mom-and-pop" auto repair and dry-cleaning shops, which would have been hard to monitor. Once TCE enters the soil or groundwater, it can persist for decades.

Does TCE exposure increase your risk of Parkinson's disease?

A 2023 study by UCSF colleagues and me strongly suggests that it does.

By 2017, growing research led the Department of Veterans Affairs to presume a link between Parkinson's disease and occupational exposure to TCE for some service members who served at North Carolina's Camp Lejuene. From the 1950s to the late 1980s, the military base's water was heavily contaminated with TCE, with levels of the chemical 70 times higher than the safe drinking water standards.

At the time, UCSF colleagues and I were concerned that TCE exposure increased Parkinson's risk, but there wasn't enough scientific data to support a definitive determination. That's why we wanted to do a really strong, well-designed study in a large population to test the theory. To do this, we compared the medical records of nearly 160,000 service members. About half of these veterans served at Camp Lejeune, while the other half had been stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California where there was no TCE exposure.

We found that Camp Lejeune veterans' risk was 70% higher than that of those based at Pendleton. It's important, however, to remember that overall the average lifetime risk of developing Parkinson's disease remains low at about 2%.

Can TCE cause cancer?

Yes. The International Agency for Research on Cancer designated TCE as a cancer-causing chemical in humans in 2012. It's been connected to a range of blood and kidney cancers as well as several others.

Only more recently has there been any focus on chronic and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease.

You helped spark that shift. How?

In 2008, a Kentucky doctor realized that three of his patients with Parkinson's disease had all spent about 25 years working at the same plant, where they were exposed to TCE. He investigated and found several of their coworkers also showed early possible signs of Parkinson's disease.

The doctor published a paper on the cases just as a team and I, coincidentally, were completing a study following identical twins over time to see whether the risk of Parkinson's disease was predominately genetic or environmental. If the risk had been mostly genetic, then the study should have found that when one twin got it, the other did too, for the most part. Instead, our study found the opposite.

These studies helped kick off a lot of basic research into the relationship between TCE and Parkinson's.

Is a ban enough?

No. It's still in our environment, not just in our water but in the soil wherein high concentrationit can release vapors into the homes and business above these plumesand we don't know what level of concentration is safe, if any.

My hope is that this ban will draw greater attention to the hypothesis that environmental factors are helping fuel the rise in Parkinson's disease and that it will stimulate funding and public interest in this.
Rachel Vargas had a moment of panic when the sonographer doing her ultrasound went silent. She feared the worst.

Instead, Rachel Vargas learned she wasn't going to be having only one child, her third so far. She would be having among the rarest pregnancies  quadruplets.

Rachel Vargas gave birth to four identical babies on Jan. 24. The fact that they were identical, her doctor said, made the pregnancy even more rare, about one in 11 million.

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When Rachel Vargas returned home from the ultrasound, she was sobbing and shaking. Her husband, Marco Vargas, also feared the worst. He didn't expect quadruplets.

"(I thought) she's definitely in crisis, so I just had to figure out, what do I need to do?" he said.

The already unique pregnancy was a one-in-40-million-births when factoring in Rachel Vargas's pregnancy complications, the Vargases' doctor, Dr. John Elliot at Banner Health in Phoenix, estimated.

The first thing the Vargases did was research.

Rachel Vargas found the Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation on Reddit. She got connected to Elliot, Banner Health's maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and came to Phoenix from Cranston, Rhode Island, for Elliot's expert care. They left their two other children, ages 1 and 3, back home with their grandma.

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"We were scrambling ... trying to figure (it) out," Marco Vargas said.

The couple has been in Phoenix since around Thanksgiving when Rachel Vargas was 21 weeks pregnant. She was admitted to the hospital at 23 weeks pregnant.

A 'dark and scary' time

Elliot has performed around 1,000 high-order multiple births, a birth involving three or more babies, but the Vargases' case was a new one over his four decadelong career.

The Vargases had spontaneous quadruplets, meaning they were conceived naturally, an extremely rare conception. Most multiple births are conceived through reproductive technology, Elliot said. Identical quadruplets occur in pregnancy when one fertilized egg splits into four identical embryos, rather than two or more eggs being fertilized, known as fraternal twins. Identical twins are genetically the same.

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"It was a very dark and scary and difficult time," Marco Vargas said of the pregnancy.

On top of that, each child made the demanding pregnancy even more arduous.

The first two babies shared the same amniotic sac, which can cause complications with the umbilical cord. The two also had a velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord, where the umbilical cord inserts into the fetal membranes instead of the placenta.

The second baby had a heart defect that will require surgery. The third baby had a marginal cord insertion. Two of the babies were diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a condition in which identical twins sharing a placenta experience uneven blood flow between them.

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"It was just a completely different experience," Rachel Vargas said, comparing her first two pregnancies with this one. She was tired easier and earlier and couldn't walk after Halloween, she said. She spent the majority of the pregnancy on bed rest because of the pressure of the four babies on her internal organs.

Rachel Vargas was admitted to the Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix for pre-term labor at 23 weeks pregnant, only two weeks after arriving in Phoenix.

'We feel more blessed than we ever expected to be'

The four girls were born at 30 weeks on Jan. 24, about 10 weeks earlier than average, due to the delicate balancing act within the uterus to share nutrients among all four babies from one placenta.

The complex birth via cesarean section required a highly trained army of dozens of medical staff crammed into a larger-than-normal delivery room. A normal, single childbirth requires just a few staff members, Elliot said.

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"It sounds like a circus, but it's well-organized and drilled," he said.

The birth was a culmination of months of stress and anxiety for the Vargases and Elliot.

"We knew from the first day that it was entirely plausible that not all the girls might make it," Rachel Vargas said. "To have four girls in front of us ... we feel more blessed than we ever expected to be."

"For me, it was just pure joy," Elliot said. "I was smiling underneath the (surgical) mask."

The quadruplets each weighed roughly 3 pounds and were placed in the neonatal intensive care unit. Rachel Vargas wasn't able to hold the second girl born for 3 days after the birth.

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"The other day when I got to hold Philomena for the first time ... it felt like she should have never left me," she said.

The four babies, all named after Catholic saints or honoring family members, will remain in the neonatal intensive care unit for another month or so, Elliot said, meaning the Vargases have another month until they can go home.

"We just imagine taking them home and playing in the grass with them with our other children, just taking them home and being a normal family again," Rachel Vargas said. "That's our ... dream."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Banner Health specialist leads complex quadruplet birth
The idea floated earlier this month by Gov. Ron DeSantis that NASA might consider moving its headquarters from Washington to Florida remains a topic of interest in space circles.

During a panel discussion about public-private partnerships during the commercial space convention SpaceComs final day at the Orange County Convention Center on Thursday, the top-voted question during a Q&A portion asked for panel members to weigh in on the idea of bringing the headquarters to Kennedy Space Center.

While there was laughter among the crowd, it still prompted an evenhanded answer from Jonathan Baker, chief of spaceport development at KSC.

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Were focused on exploration and innovation, and so we want to enable that in whatever way possible, right? So however the agency deems best to accomplish that here at KSC, were ready and on board to support that, Baker said. Whether that means a move for headquarters or not. We are ready to support whatever the agency needs to move forward.

Rob Long, CEO of Space Florida, the states aerospace finance and development authority, smiled and chimed in as well.

I mean, it would make a lot of sense to move NASA headquarters to Kennedy Space Center, Long said. Just saying.

While the back-and-forth was made with some levity the idea isnt completely unrealistic, especially in an era under President Trumps second administration married with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musks push to cut government spending as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Trumps cost-cutting initiative known as DOGE.

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In comments earlier this January, DeSantis said while attending an event at KSC hed been discussing the potential move with then-KSC Director Janet Petro, whos since been named acting interim NASA administrator.

They have this massive building in Washington, D.C., and like nobody goes to it, so why not just shutter it and move everybody down here? I think theyre planning on spending like a half a billion to build a new building up in D.C. that no one will ever go to either, DeSantis said. So hopefully, with the new administration coming in, theyll see a great opportunity to just headquarter NASA here on the Space Coast of Florida. I think thatd be very, very fitting.

Artemis team leaders say major changes under Trump could mean more delays

NASA headquarters currently employs nearly 2,500 people among its total workforce of nearly 18,000 civil employees. The agency also has its work spread out among 10 field centers including KSC, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

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We have an opportunity, of course, to bring down more federal resources. We also have an ability to fuel innovative research initiatives and allow for the development of national space policy right here in the Sunshine State, DeSantis said. So the possibilities are significant.

Long, a retired colonel from Space Force who took over the CEO role at Space Florida in 2023, said hed be more than happy if that was the ultimate decision, adding to other recent moves to bring more jobs to the Sunshine State.

That includes Space Forces choice of Patrick Space Force Base as the future headquarters of STARCOM, the Space Force training and readiness command.

Brig. Gen Kristin Panzenhagen, who leads Space Launch Delta 45 also based at Patrick SFB, said an advance team has already been at the base since 2024.

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Just a handful of folks at Patrick for about the last year working with us on planning, making sure everythings going to go smoothly when the larger body arrives, Panzenhagen said.

At full capacity, STARCOM numbers, which include military and civilian personnel, are expected to top 450, Space Force previously stated.

We are planning the first main group of folks (this summer) and then hopefully theyll reach full operational capability the following year, Panzenhagen said. So its been a very close partnership with STARCOM and the Space Launch Delta 45 as the host installation to make sure everythings ready for their arrival.
Nine hours, dozens of people, thousands of shares online, to look for 4-year-old Blessing Aoci. Only to find out, she wasnt missing at all, and now, the entire family is gone from their home.

The Quad Cities Missing Persons Network had boots on the ground during those nine hours, helping in the search. The founder of the organization says theyve never seen a case like this.

(Bryan Bobb, OurQuadCities.com)

In 11 years, we average about 50 cases a year, so you figure 550 cases. We havent had a case of deception yet, Quad Cities Missing Persons Network founder Dennis Harker told Our Quad Cities News.

Dennis Harker (OurQuadCities.com)

The deception was revealed by Rock Island police Thursday morning at a news conference. Now hundreds of people are commenting on social media, sharing how they feel betrayed by the family. However, an equal number are supportive, and say the communitys efforts were the right thing to do.

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That was one where we needed a quick and immediate response, and the community came forward and did that, said Harker. If we had another one like that, I would expect to see the same thing. They may be questioning in their minds, is this real, or is the family hiding this person, but I cant imagine the community saying this is normal, and were going to change our behavior because of it.

Organizations like the Missing Persons Network want to keep up this large community response in cases like this, with a vocal and active community willing to help find missing persons.

Our network is called Quad Cities Missing Persons Network, said Harker. The network part of that is because the community is involved. We rely on the community for a lot of information and a lot of sharing.

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO)  The man who stabbed a woman to death and then set her house on fire with her three kids inside was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

Forty-one-year-old Eric Jackson was convicted in 2023 of four counts of first-degree murder in the 2016 deaths of 26-year-old Keandra Austin and her kids: 9-year-old VAngelo, 6-year-old Keeryn, and 6-month-old Aliya.

The bodies of Keandra Austin and her children were found on Sept. 17, 2016, in ashes of fire that destroyed their Garfield Drive home. An autopsy showed that Austin had been stabbed to death before the fire was set. The kids all died from smoke inhalation.

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Prosecutors alleged at trial that Jackson, who lived down the street from Austin, killed her because she had accused him of breaking into her home sometime before the fire. One of Austins children had also been in an altercation with one of Jacksons children.

Detectives learned during the investigation that Jackson, made statements to multiple individuals that he and another person had set fire to the residence.

Jackson was arrested five years after the killings and represented himself at trial. He was sentenced to life in prison according to an Illinois law that mandates a term of natural life if a defendant charged with first-degree murder is convicted of killing two or more people.

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A new gold bar scam is fleecing unsuspecting victims across the U.S. out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It starts with a phone call, where an official-sounding person convinces you theyre with a government agency, such as the FTC or the Treasury, and that your bank account has been hacked.

All you need to do is buy gold bars and hand them over. Your money will be safe, or so you're told. Then you never see your money again. Eva Rothman of Queens lost all $700,000 of her life savings to the scam. Her nephew is trying to help her get her money back, but they are unsure if they'll be successful.

Don't miss

Would you do this to your mother? Rothman asked. I cant understand why people do these things. They dont have heart.

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They shared her story with ABC7 New York to prevent others being victimized.

How did this scam unfold?

It all started when an unsuspecting Rothman opened an email link that gave fraudsters remote access to her computer. They froze her screen and displayed a phone number for her to call. When she called, a conman pretending to work for the government convinced her that her bank accounts were compromised and that she was being watched. She was also told she could go to jail if she told anyone.

The fraudster convinced her to withdraw $20,000 cash from her checking account, put it in a box, and take it outside and put it in the backseat of a car that pulled up.

Next, the fake agent told her to go to a specific store in Jackson Heights and buy gold bars, which she did  three times. Each time, the agent sent a car to pick up the gold bars from her house.

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While investing in gold can be legitimate, being asked or pressured to hand it over is not.

Eva was provided with fake receipts from the U.S. Treasury and promised a check that would secure her assets. The check never came. Her nephew Lyle Rothman, rabbi of Community Synagogue in Port Washington, says his aunt doesnt have a cent left.

If it happened to my family, it could happen to any family, Rothman said.

Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market  here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead

Hes right. According to the FTC, older adults lost nearly $2 billion to fraud in 2023, a conservative figure given that the vast majority of scams are not reported.

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To protect yourself and your loved ones from similar scams, keep an eye out for these red flags.

3 red flags that indicate you're being scammed

Asking you to call a random number or click an email link

Watch for phishing scams. Never click on links in any email you don't recognize, and double-check the sent email address to see whether the email sender is legitimate.

Never call random numbers that pop up on your computer screen or talk to people who accidentally text you. If someone claiming to be from a government agency calls, hang up, look up the agency's official number online, and call back.

Asking you for money, especially if they ask for payment in unusual ways

Paying with credit cards can offer consumer protection and payments can be reversed. Be wary of anyone who asks you to pay via unsecured channels, whether thats with cash apps, gift cards or physically handing over cash or gold. These unsecured payments are hard to trace and make your money near impossible to recover.

They ask you to lie

Several people tried to warn Eva she was being scammed, including her bank and financial adviser, but the scammers often tell you to ignore them or lie. If anyone asks you to lie, it's likely a scam. If you're worried for your safety, contact law enforcement immediately.

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Scammers often use fear to manipulate people into making decisions they wouldn't usually make. Always be wary of anyone who uses fear or pressure to convince you to send money. If you believe a scammer is trying to take advantage of you or a loved one, call law enforcement and file a complaint with the FTC.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)  The Florida Department of Health is currently monitoring rabies among wild animals in Sarasota County.

This comes after a case was discovered in a raccoon that was killed in the Bee Ridge area on Jan. 25, leading the department to believe that rabies may be present in the surrounding wildlife population.

According to a release, the department advises that people and domestic pets should avoid physical contact with wild animals as they carry a high risk of rabies.

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If you are exposed to rabies, you should seek immediate treatment.

The following precautions should be taken to avoid possible rabies exposure:

Pets and livestock should be immunized

Pets should be kept on a leash and livestock secured.

Avoid making contact with wild animals

Call your local animal control to remove any stray animals from your immediate area.

Further information can be found on the Floridahealth.gov website or by contacting the Department of Health in Sarasota directly at 941-861-2873.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Calvin Gorman, 50, left, walks last year near Gallup, N.M., on the way from his job in Gallup to his home in Fort Defiance, Ariz., part of the Navajo Nation. American Indians in Western and Midwestern states had the lowest life expectancy of any group in the country in 2021. (Photo by Tim Henderson/Stateline)

Theres growing evidence that some American demographic groups need more help than others to live longer, healthier lives.

American Indians in Western and Midwestern states have the shortest life expectancy as of 2021, 63.6 years. Thats more than 20 years shorter than Asian Americans nationwide, who can expect to live to 84, according to a recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

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White residents live shorter lives in Appalachia and some Southern states, as do Black residents in highly segregated cities and in the rural South, the study found.

The data illustrates how Americans life expectancy differs based not only on race, but also on geography.

Not everybody in this country is doing exactly the same even within a racial group, because it also depends on where they live, said Dr. Ali Mokdad, an author of the study and the chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington.

Eliminating these disparities will require investing in equitable health care, education, and employment, and confronting factors that fuel inequalities, such as systemic racism, the report, which was published in November, concluded.

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Yet the United States is seeing a surge of action this month to pull back on public awareness and stem investments in those areas.

In President Donald Trumps first two weeks, he has stripped race and ethnicity health information from public websites, blocked public communication by federal health agencies, paused federal research and grant expenditures, and ordered a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the board, all of which can draw attention  and funding  to the needs of specific demographic groups.

The administration has removed information about clinical trial diversity from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, and has paused health agencies communications with the public and with medical providers, including advisories on communicable diseases, such as the flu, that disproportionately affect underserved communities.

The new administrations policies are headed the wrong way, said Dr. Donald Warne, a physician and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health. With the stroke of a pen, theyre gonna make it worse.

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One of Trumps actions on his first day in office was to dismantle equity programs, including reversing a 2021 Biden executive order promoting more federal support for Indigenous education, including tribal colleges and universities.

The problems Indigenous people face are inextricably linked to toxic stress and just pure racism, Warne said. Less access to healthy foods, just chronic stress from racism and marginalization, historical trauma  all of these things lead to poor health outcomes.

The South Dakota county where Warne grew up as a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe (the county is named after the tribe) has one of the lowest life expectancies in the country, 60.1 years as of 2024, according to localized estimates from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, an initiative of the University of Wisconsins Population Health Institute.

10 Americas

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation study parceled the country into what it called 10 Americas, each with different 2021 life expectancies.

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Black Americans were represented by three groups; those in the rural and low-income South had the worst life expectancies (68 years) compared with those living in highly segregated cities (71.5) and other areas (72.3).

Asian Americans nationwide have the longest life expectancy at 84, yet can also suffer from stereotypes and locality based problems that prevent them from getting the best care, said Lan oan, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Section for Health Equity at New York Universitys Grossman School of Medicine.

Considering Asian Americans as a single entity masks health differences, such as the high incidence of heart disease among South Asians and Filipino Americans, she said, and discourages the necessary study of individual groups.

It perpetuates the model minority myth where Asian people are healthier, wealthier and more successful than other racial groups, oan said.

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Thats another reason for alarm over the new administrations attitude about health equity, said Dr. Mary Fleming, an OB-GYN and director of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Healths Leadership Development to Advance Equity in Health Care program.

With DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion programs) under attack, it hinders our ability to name a thing, a thing, Fleming said. Racism is still a major contributor to inequitable health outcomes, and without naming it and addressing it, it will make it more difficult to uproot it.

Among white people and Hispanics, lifespans differ by region, according to the 10 Americas in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation study. Latinos live shorter lives in the Southwest (76) than elsewhere (79.4), and white people live longer (77.2) if theyre not in Appalachia or the lower Mississippi Valley (71.1), or in rural areas and low-income Northern states (76.7).

An earlier Stateline story reported that policy, poverty, rural isolation and bad habits are shortening lives in West Virginia compared with New York. Even though the states had very similar life expectancies in 1990, West Virginia is projected to be at the bottom of the rankings by 2050, while New York is projected to be at the top.

Hyperlocal health problems

More research at a very local level is needed to find the policies and practices needed to start bridging longevity gaps, said Mokdad, the study author.

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Since poverty seems to dictate so much of life expectancy, its fruitful to look at places where lifespans have grown in recent decades despite high poverty, Mokdad said. For example, lifespans have increased in the Bronx, New York, and Monongalia County, West Virginia, despite high poverty. By contrast, they have dipped in relatively high-income areas such as Clark County, Indiana, and Henry County, Georgia.

Clark County, on the Kentucky border, has a mix of urban and rural health issues that belie the relatively high income of some residents near Louisville, said Dr. Eric Yazel, health officer for the county and an emergency care physician.

Part of the county is also very rural, in a part of Indiana where there was an HIV outbreak among intravenous drug users in 2014.

In a single county we see public health issues that are both rural and urban, Yazel said. As with a lot of areas along the Ohio River Valley, we were hit hard by the opioid epidemic and now have seen a resurgence of methamphetamine, which likely contributed to the [life expectancy] decreases.

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Nationally, a spike in overdoses has begun to ease in recent years, but only among white people. Overdose death rates among Black and Native people have grown.

Indigenous people also were the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, with expected lifespans dropping almost seven years between 2019 and 2021.

Calvin Gorman, 50, said several friends his age in Arizonas Navajo Nation died needlessly in the pandemic. He blames it on alcohol and pandemic isolation.

They said to just stay inside. Just stay inside. Some of them took some bottles into the house and they never came out again. I heard they died in there, said Gorman, who commutes on foot and by hitchhiking from his home in Fort Defiance, Arizona, to a job at a gas station in Gallup, New Mexico.

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Warne, the Oglala Lakota physician from South Dakota, said alcohol and substance use may have been one factor in Native deaths during the pandemic, as people self-medicated to deal with stress. But overall, he said, the main drivers of early deaths in Native communities are high rates of infant mortality, road accidents and suicides.

Warne now lives and practices medicine in North Dakota.

Theres a huge challenge for people who grow up in these settings, but many of us do move forward, Warne said. A lot of us wind up working in other places instead of in our home, because there just arent the opportunities. We should be looking at economic development as a public health intervention.

This article was first published by Stateline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
MSNBCs Rachel Maddow explained how pressures and supposed demands from Elon Musk led to former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator, Michael Whitaker, quitting his job on Inauguration Day.

The move is noteworthy in the wake of the deadly crash over Washington D.C. earlier this week.

While we are on the subject of the unquestionably and unerringly excellent performance of white men in their job duties, did you see the press conference this morning from Trumps newly confirmed secretary of transportation? Maddow questioned viewers, referring to the appearance of former Fox News anchor and Real World star, Sean Duffy, whom Trump has named as his U.S. Transportation Secretary. At the time, Duffy was wearing an jacket with FAA printed on the back, and a reporter asked if there was an acting FAA director.

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And the answer is no.

Despite appearances though, that is not the FAA director, Maddow said of Duffy, sarcastically adding that he also was plucked from the elite ranks at the tippy top of the meritocratic pyramid in this country by which I mean he too was picked off of TV.

Maddow then explains that just like Trumps firing of FBI director James Comey and the voluntary departure of IRS commissioner Danny Werfel, Whitaker was to remain in his position for several years. All the men named were eventually booted out of or dropped from their roles as Trumps entourage entered the White House.

[Whitaker] left the job on Inauguration Day, and until this morning, Donald Trump had not gotten around to appointing anybody to replace him, Maddow said before rhetorically questioning Whitakers decision to leave. Well, why did the FAA director leave on Inauguration Day, less than two weeks ago, even though we had a whole bunch of years left in his term as FAA administrator?

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Thats when she pointed to an incident that occurred two weeks ago: Musks SpaceX rocket exploding midair, which left debris raining down in Turks and Caicos. In response, the FAA had to urgently divert dozens of commercial airliners.

JetBlue and American Airlines and Delta, Spirit Airlines, had a plane in the air that had to veer off course, also, the same was true for a FedEx cargo plane, Maddow explained. Commercial flights as far away as South Africa and Australia had to be delayed or diverted as they had to put out these emergency warnings over a whole big swatch of the Indian Ocean because of Elon Musks mess. This happened the Thursday before Inauguration Day.

The explosion is just one of the many run-ins the FAA has had with Musk. Maddow outlined how the day after the crash, the FAA had to ground a SpaceX starship program as a consequence for SpaceXs rocket explosion. Maddow then pointed to one of Musks earliest expressions of disdain for the FAA director when he posted a photo of Whitaker back in September 2024 with a caption that read, He needs to resign. Musks post was made after the FAA issued $633,000 worth of fines to SpaceX over safety violations during two Florida launches.

Elon Musk had adopted this as sort of, one of his personal causes, this was one of his crusades, Get rid of the FAA, get rid of this guy at the FAA who is in the way of my SpaceX company. Hes been personally demanding that this guy be gotten rid of, and so he got it, Maddow said.

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She continued: FAA chief was out on Inauguration Day, and 10 days later, we had a horrific mid-air plane crash whereupon one of the cable news hosts Trump hired for his cabinet wore an FAA outfit to a press conference which made people wonder if he was running the FAA, which made reporters ask, Hey, who is running the FAA? To which there was no answer, which apparently prompted Donald Trump today at a press conference to, surprise, name a new head of the FAA for this first time because hed never bothered to do it before.

Watch Maddow in the video above.

The post Rachel Maddow Explains Why America Had No FAA Administrator During DC Crash | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Radio host and former MTV personality Matt Pinfield suffered a stroke earlier this month, and it has taken a toll on more than his professional obligations, according to his daughter.

Jessica Pinfield, the former music executive's 38-year-old daughter, said in legal documents filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court that her father, 63, is now "incompetent" to make decisions about his health and finances. She filed a petition Monday to become conservator of her father and his estate. According to legal documents, the elder Pinfield "suffered a massive stroke on January 6, 2025."

A representative for Pinfield, also known for his stint as a video jockey on MTV, confirmed to The Times that he remains hospitalized and is under a temporary conservatorship. The rep did not share additional information about his condition.

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TMZ reported that Jessica Pinfield and her sister, Maya Pinfield, 24, sought the order to protect their father's money from being accessed by people outside the family. A legal representative for Jessica Pinfield did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.

Read more: Patti Smith says reports about 'collapse' are 'grossly exaggerated': 'Trust me I am fine'

Matt Pinfield said in an Instagram post shared Jan. 6  the same day as his stroke  he was "starting another week with gratitude for a life surrounded by great people, life changing music, and unforgettable experience that I never take for granted."

He added: "Here['s] to another week - another day - open heart and open mind. Lets rock!"

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A day after Pinfield's stroke, Los Angeles radio station KCSN the SoCal Sound (88.5 FM) announced on Facebook that its afternoon host would "take a temporary leave of absence for personal reasons." The post did not mention Pinfield's health.

"We fully support Matt and hope to have his energetic rock n' roll knowledge back on air soon," the station said.

Read more: Brian May stabilized, playing instruments again after stroke affected arm mobility

Radio station KLOS (95.5 FM) also reportedly shared support for Pinfield, who hosts its "New & Approved" program Sunday nights. "Matt is a family member, and we look forward to having him back on the KLOS airwaves as soon as possible," the statement said.

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An initial appointment hearing for Pinfield's conservatorship case is set for Feb. 6.

Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS)  A Raleigh County man was sentenced for a drug crime involving fentanyl.

According to a press release, 40-year-old Anthony Darnell Deberry, of Beckley, was sentenced on January 30, 2025, to five years and ten months in prison, followed by three years of probation for distribution of fentanyl.

Raleigh County man pleads guilty to fentanyl crime

The press release stated that according to court documents, on May 3, 2023, Deberry sold a controlled substance containing fentanyl to a confidential informant at Deberrys Beckley home. Deberry confessed to the sale and further acknowledged selling fentanyl to the confidential informant four other times in Raleigh County.

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When law enforcement searched the home, the found two 9mm hand guns, ammunition, $2,000, and an estimated 76.5 grams of fentanyl. Deberry confessed to his intention to distribute the fentanyl that was found in the search.

The announcement came from the office of United States Attorney Will Thompson, who commended the Beckley/Raleigh County Drug and Violent Crime Unit for their investigative work in the case. The Beckley/Raleigh County Drug and Violent Crime Unit is made up of officers from the West Virginia State Police, the Raleigh County Sheriffs Office, and the Beckley Police Department.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
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

People hospitalized for infectionsalmost any infectionsare at substantially increased risk years later for heart failure, according to collaborative research by the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic.

The study of more than 14,000 people over two decades doesn't establish cause and effect, but advocates said Thursday that it establishes a strong enough correlation that people should take heed and try to reduce their infection risks.

"These are 'sit-up and take notice' findings," said Sean Coady, a deputy branch chief for cardiovascular sciences at the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Heart failure, which affects 6.7 million Americans, is a weakening of the heart that prevents it from pumping sufficient blood and oxygen. Researchers were surprised to find that hospitalizations resulting from common skin and urinary tract infections increased heart failure risks, alongside respiratory infections such as influenza and blood infections such as sepsis.

That suggests that the body's response to infection is a big part of the heart failure risk, said Ryan Demmer, an epidemiologist who led the study at the U and continued it after he moved to Mayo in 2023.

"There's some notion that really severe infections sort of turn on the immune system in a way where it just doesn't quite turn off, and it stays revved up, possibly for many years," he said.

Other possibilities include that serious infections cause genetic or biological changes that lay dormant after hospitalization but emerge later in life to cause heart failure, he said.

Other studies have found hospitalizations increase risks of health problems later in life, so Demmer said it's possible infections are driving people to as-yet unknown risks from those hospital visits.

Even without cause and effect being established, Demmer said the results should encourage people to prevent infections through vaccines and good hygiene. People who have already been hospitalized because of infections can talk with their doctors about ways to reduce cardiac risks.

The findings are the latest from a surveillance program called Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC), which enrolled thousands of people at around age 54 in the late 1980s from the Minneapolis area and three other U.S. sites. Researchers followed up with them two to three decades later to see how their health changed.

Demmer and colleagues had already discovered in 2023 that infection-related hospitalizations increased the risk for dementia later in life.

Over the course of three decades, about one in four people in the surveillance program suffered episodes of heart failure. The risk was more than twice as likely among patients who at some point had been hospitalized for infections, according to the latest study by Demmer's group, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Risks were highest following bloodstream and respiratory infections, but were also significant for skin and urinary tract infections. Digestive infections were only weakly correlated with heart failure later in life.

Heart failure can lead to cardiac arrest or damage the kidney and liver. Treatments range from medications to increase blood flow to surgeries to implant pacemakers or remove obstructions in blood vessels.

Establishing a precise cause-and-effect relationship between infections and heart failure will be difficult, because researchers can't deny preventive care to patients just to see if it increases their risks, Demmer said. "It would be unethical, for example, to say we want to randomize people to receive or not receive the flu vaccine."

Instead, Demmer said he has been studying whether it improves outcomes to add infection-related hospitalizations to calculators that assess patients' risks for cardiac episodes and their need for preventive treatments.

The study period predated the pandemic, but Demmer said COVID-19 is likely to increase heart failure risks as well.

In Minnesota, COVID-19 has caused more than 100,000 hospitalizations over the past five years and has lingered post-pandemic, causing more than 3,200 hospitalizations since the end of September. Influenza has also sent more than 4,200 people to hospitals in that time, especially after Christmas when hospitals reported that their emergency rooms were overwhelmed.

More information: Rebecca L. Molinsky et al, InfectionRelated Hospitalization and Incident Heart Failure: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Journal of the American Heart Association (2025). DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.123.033877 Journal information: Journal of the American Heart Association

2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Thursday called out Republicans obsessed with attacking diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by turning the attention to their hopefuls for positions in the federal government.

Its Republicans who will have to decide if theyre going to choose country over party, choose the people that they were sent to represent over partisan politics. They failed that test miserably when it came to Pete Hegseth, even as theyre attacking diversity, equity and inclusion, Warnock said of President Donald Trumps defense secretary in an interview with MSNBCs Chris Hayes.

I want to know what qualifies Robert Kennedy to be the chief public health officer of the United States of America? What qualifies the likes of Pete Hegseth to be the leader at the Pentagon? This is a disturbing moment in our country, he added.

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Many on the right have blamed DEI efforts for a number of issues in the past year such as the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse, the devastating Los Angeles wildfires and  powered by bonkers claims by Trump on Wednesday  the midair plane collision in Washington, D.C., that left 67 dead.

Conservatives focus on DEI  a dog whistle used to question the qualifications of those seeking, or holding, government positions  comes as Trumps controversial Cabinet picks facequestioning from senators over their backgrounds and credentials.

The Trump administration has looked to dismantle DEI initiatives and programs within the federal government since the presidents inauguration.

Warnock  who grilled Kennedy for likening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Nazi death camps in a hearing on Wednesday  told Hayes that he was left even more concerned over the responses by the former presidential candidate.

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Mr. Kennedy obviously thinks that the CDC is dangerous. I think that hes demonstrated that he is a hazard to our health, and I hope therell be just enough of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to stop him, Warnock said.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Raphael Warnocks party affiliation. He is a Democrat.

Related...
Rapper YFN Lucci has been released one year after he was sentenced to prison.

YFN Lucci, whose real name is Rayshawn Bennett, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Street Gang and Terrorism Prevention Act in Jan. 2024. He was sentenced to 20 years with 10 to serve.

The Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that the rapper was released Friday morning.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Channel 2s Michael Seiden learned that Bennett will be on parole through Jan. 2031. During that time, he will be required to live with his mom, submit to drug tests, stay away from gang members & refrain from any gang activities.

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He also cant have any firearms and cant leave state without permission from his parole officer.

Seiden first told you last summer about a letter Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis sent to State Board of Pardons and Paroles that supported his early release.

The District Attorney of Fulton County did the unorthodox, attorney Drew Findling told Seiden back in July. That letter from the district attorney is a powerful punch and is really at the heart of the letter and supporting documents and the memorandum that we have shared with the parole board.

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Climate change is contributing to a global rise in urban rat infestations, according to a new Science Advances study.

As temperatures increase, rats are better able to thrive -- even in inclement weather that would typically deter the population's growth, the article explained.

PHOTO: Feed a Pigeon, Feed a Rat sign on fence outside public park, discouraging feeding the birds and help reduce rat population, Queens, New York (Ucg/UCG/Universal Images Group via G)

Temperatures in urban settings have been projected to rise between 1.9 degrees and 4.4 degrees by the year 2100 due to greenhouse gas emissions, according to the study.

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"So we imagine it probably increases their survival over the winter. And we're pretty sure that that increased food intake also will lead to more reproductive bouts for these rats, which can accelerate population growth," Jonathan Richmond, the study's lead author and professor of biology at University of Richmond, told ABC news.

Richardson also suggested that less vegetation, along with denser living conditions and strapped rat control resources, are helping rats thrive in many North American cities.

MORE: This is how much climate change has impacted polar bear populations

The study, which examined public complaint and inspection data in 16 cities worldwide, found that most places had increased rat growth trends. Some places are managing the "ratpocalypse" better than others, the study found.

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In Washington, D.C., for example, the rat population is growing 1.5 times faster than it is in New York City, because the more northerly city has taken notable steps to keep rodents in check. In New Orleans and Tokyo  two cities with robust rodent response teams and good citizen reporting systems  the rat populations appear to be shrinking.

Richardson said that cities experiencing declines might be outliers, rather than part of a broader trend, though he did note that in Tokyo, residents seem willing to post rat sightings on social media in a "name and shame" approach to getting businesses to clean up their act.

PHOTO: The National Pet Show 2019 (Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images)

There are several reasons to be concerned about potential rat boom.

"Rats transmit more than 50 zoonotic pathogens," Richardson said. "They're a big a big potential vector for people getting sick with some of those pathogens and the diseases they cause."

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Kathleen Corradi, the citywide director of rodent mitigation and the so-called "rat czar" of New York City, added that rats are also bad for mental health -- citing a previous study suggesting that experiencing rats on a daily basis increases the risk of depression more than fivefold.

"And when you look even deeper at income level and demographics, it gets even more significant for lower incomes, non-white communities around white individuals," Corradi explained.

MORE: How a new NASA satellite could help solve the global temperature spike mystery

Richardson emphasized that controlling rat populations isn't just the city's responsibility. Residents also have to pitch in to keep rats at bay, and city-led efforts to educate residents on understanding rat control can help.

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"The everyday person can play a role in this in terms of making sure their own properties don't have conditions that support rats, securing their own food waste, making sure their garbage ends up in a containerized dumpster or garbage can," he said.

Corradi agreed, adding that composting or otherwise removing food scraps from the garbage means "you're already doing a tremendous job to cut off rats' access to food."

She said that New York City, for one, is tackling its rat problem by cutting off the creatures' food supply through widespread use of garbage containers and by educating its residents on prevention. Also helping to combat the program is the city's Rat Pack program, which empowers New Yorkers to take action by learning how to keep their neighborhoods vermin-free, Corradi explained said.

PHOTO: Caution Rat Burrows sign on park bench, pest control, Queens, New York (Ucg/UCG/Universal Images Group via G)

However, as cities warm up, the efforts will have to expand to stay ahead of the problem, Richardson warned.

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"I think it's important that we have to move away from traps and rodenticide poisons as the main solution," he said. "Cities have to start really embracing this concept of integrated pest management, where instead of just applying poison baits, most of their efforts are dedicated to eliminating those conducive conditions that support the rats."

City residents are encouraged to report sightings through local hotlines like 311 to help officials track and control rodent populations.

Dr. Christopher Wachuku is an internal medicine preliminary intern at Lankenau Medical Center and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Rats worldwide are enjoying the perks of climate change originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  Its Thursday, January 30. Take a look at our top stories in news and weather with KELOLAND On The GO First@4.

One of two suspects in the murder of a Sioux City woman was back in court on Wednesday.

Trial of woman accused of killing grandmother enters day 2

A Rapid City man is behind bars, accused of hit an officer in the face during a traffic stop.

Rapid City man assaults officer at traffic stop

The South Dakota Attorney Generals Office says a Sioux Falls man is pleading guilty to stealing money for a police organization in Lincoln County.

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Man arrested for embezzlement at police organization

Investigators are looking into what sparked a fire in the Black Hills this week.

Investigators investigate Black Hills fire

It has been a quiet day across KELOLAND with plenty of sunshine and temperatures within a few degrees of record highs. All of the action is staying to our south with a storm system that will push eastward and keep the precipitation out of our area.

Storm Center PM Update: Mild Weekend Before Cooling Down

Download the KELOLAND News app to find the latest headlines while on the go.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
MANHATTAN (KSNT)  The Riley County Police Department (RCPD) raided CBD American Shaman in Manhattan on Thursday.

According to the RCPD, officers executed a search warrant on the business in the 700 block of 11th Street. The raid was part of an investigation into the distribution of products that exceed the legal THC levels.

A 46-year-old man from Manhattan was arrested in connection to the raid. The man was charged with three counts of distributing less than 25 grams of marijuana and one count of failure to appear.

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Very personal: Sen. Moran lobbied for direct Wichita flight

In recent months, RCPD has encountered numerous cases where individuals were cited for possession of marijuana after purchasing what they believed to be legal CBD products from local businesses, including CBD American Shaman, the RCPD wrote in a press release.

For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Repetition of falsehoods doesnt make them true

Dumont, N.J.: The only mistake the Daily News made in terms of what right-wing acolyte Voicer Rich Hilbert alleged was printing the lies and misinformation contained in his letter. The first lie concerned Mark Zuckerberg, and I quote Hilbert verbatim: The $400 million that Zuckerberg sent to Biden, a never-ending piece of MAGA propaganda. Zuckerberg and his wife donated $400 million to two nonprofit organizations that distributed grants to state and local governments to help them conduct the 2020 election during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for Tech and Civic Life, a Chicago-based nonprofit, received and distributed the bulk of the money. The Center for Election Innovation and Research, based in Washington, also issued grants.

The next lie was about the laptop of Hunter Biden. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook restricted a story about the laptop due to FBI warnings of misinformation about it. Hunters laptop was in the possession of Republicans for several years and the subject of an intense two-year congressional investigation that exposed nothing except pornographic pictures of Hunter.

After listening to President Trumps incoherent ramblings at his 2024 rallies, topped off by his loony anecdotes about death by boat batteries or sharks, as well as Hannibal Lecter and the snake poem, along with his latest goofball lie that he sent the U.S. military to California to turn on the water faucet, all I can do is laugh at Hilberts projection of Trumps third-grade-level babbling. Keep up the great work, Daily News, and do not let the MAGA purveyors of propaganda dissuade you from honest, fact-based reporting with their lies and falsehoods. David G. Kay

Dismantling

Redondo Beach, Calif.: Americans want government to work in emergencies like the Washington, D.C., airliner crash, but Trump is dedicated to making government not work. John Chevedden

General destruction

Newton, N.J.: Let me get this straight: An alcoholic, womanizing ex-talking head becomes secretary of defense and one of his first actions is to revoke the security clearance of a four-star general, plus investigate busting him down in rank? Proof that Felony Donnie doesnt care one bit about the military. Maybe it should stop caring about him. Michael Schnackenberg

Dressed to oppress

Manhattan: Kristi Noem thinks she is the last showgirl. There is zero reason for a cabinet secretary to be dressed like a paramilitary soldier. Is she kicking in doors? No. Its playtime. No experience, no knowledge, no plan  just look at me in my costume. The Highbridge neighborhood is infested with open-air drug markets. Why werent they targeted? Too common for media sensation. Good job, MAGA. Patricia Clark

Just bluster

Manhattan: We are trading thousands of terrorists for a few hostages and now we hear they might be dead, so why are we continuing with this charade? No other country in the world would have to give up terrorists for hostages, so why does Israel have to do it? Also, werent all the hostages supposed to be released when Trump became president? Werent supermarket prices supposed to go down drastically? Werent pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses going to stop? The only thing happening is that working people with Mexican or South American heritage are being sought out in the places they work (even though Trump said over and over that they are on welfare and dont work). Mr. Trump, a noncitizen can not be on welfare or food stamps. If South Americans are stealing Americans jobs, doesnt that mean South Americans are working? Edward Drossman

Family values

Englewood, N.J.: The difference between the Trump and Biden administrations can be aptly summed up in their different abortion agendas. Vice President JD Vance expressed a pro-family agenda at the recent March for Life held in Washington when he said, I want more babies in the United States of America. The Biden administration, on the other hand, with its abortion czar Kamala Harris, who loves terminating babies in the womb so much that she ran for president mainly on that platform, endeavored to spread abortion as far and wide as possible. The Trump administration wants to grow families. The Biden regime tried to reduce them. I think that says it all. Jennifer Berenbaum

Cheering our demise

Richmond Hill: To Voicers Frank Barnett and George ONeill: You stated that Trump shows more energy. It seems his energy is spent in the wrong direction. You must be blind not to see that this week has been all about revenge! He is trying to destroy everything that made the U.S.A. wonderful. He is also destroying our democracy, which our forefathers fought hard to establish and uphold. Democracy does not mean dictatorship. Are you proud of how he is destroying everything good in our country? He plunges right on, not caring about laws that have governed us for centuries. You said, The best is yet to come? Oh, God help us. Ene Kelly

Reader-less leadership

Manhattan: A Trump memorial library? Really? He hasnt read a book in his life. Now, a Trump sewer  that would make sense. Mark Portnoy

All wrong

Staten Island: This country has elected a convicted felon to the highest office in the country. Now Bob Menendez, who has committed crimes not as bad as the presidents, will face some serious prison time. My query is why? Trump is not being castigated for his crimes. When RFK Jr. speaks, I think he is mentally unstable. The White House press secretary is much too young. l say refer RFK Jr. to a psychiatrist, then pardon Menendez, and lastly, put a diaper on Karoline Leavitt and start over. Jeffrey Van Pelt

Golden opportunity

Yorktown Heights N.Y.: Maybe the courts can arrange a way for Menendez to serve his sentence at Fort Knox instead of a regular prison as a form of poetic justice. Anthony Vegliante

Divisive dissent

Glendale: In America, the words we the people represent the voices of all Americans of every race, creed and cultural heritage. However, Leonard Greene has difficulty accepting such truth and justice for citizens of this country (As Don attacks legacy of MLKs efforts, there is no attacking the content of their characters, column, Jan. 26). Its likely that Greene takes exception to anything our new president says or does. Instead of trying to mend relationships broken by communistic and socialistic ways that divide us, he opts to champion these initiatives as if they were designed to unite us. Racism is a horrible disease that Americans who thrive on hatred suffer from in a manner that defies logic. Perhaps it is in the best interest of Greene and others who think like him to take a time out. Such statements of condemnation cant be tolerated and should not be taken as anything but hateful rhetoric. Jonathan Kiddrane

Subway cybersecurity

Woodside: The MTAs consistently anemic subway safety, security and reliability record has always put New Yorkers on the edge. Although the MTA claims theoretical gains in declining crime statistics, unfortunately, regular commuters have yet to see palpable improvements. To add to the growing subway woes, the latest report about the blatant theft of trains from storage tracks perpetrated by culprits taking a dangerous joyride will worry every train rider. Given their audacity and blatant disregard for law, NYCs ever-worried subway passengers may dread their worst nightmare of being on the train hijacked by emboldened thieves and audacious joyriders, including copycats. Considering rapid strides in technology, notably the harnessing of artificial intelligence, I think the MTA should install foolproof programs or a coded safety mechanism that controls train activation, which only authorized train personnel can access, not thrill-seekers bent on seeking likes on their social media posts. Atul M. Karnik

Offset revenue

Brooklyn: MTA officials have announced the success of congestion pricing  fewer vehicles are entering the restricted zone. That surely is a good thing. But are we forgetting something? The main purpose of the tolls was to raise funds for the MTA. Now that fewer cars are coming into Manhattan, tolls collected at the other crossings, such as the BrooklynBattery and QueensMidtown tunnels, etc., will go down. This loss in revenue will be much more than what is collected through congestion pricing tolls, as the river crossing tolls are at a higher rate than the congestion pricing toll. Damo Baliga
Divers were still searching the chilly Potomac River for the black boxes and nobody had definitive answers.

But that did not stop President Donald Trump from casting blame on DEI for Wednesday nights midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing 67.

Vice President JD Vance dutifully stepped up to affirm the baseless claim, saying, We want to hire the best people actually competent enough to do the job. He added that the government was being sued by hundreds of people who would like to be air traffic controllers, but they were turned away because of the color of their skin.

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Vance was apparently referring to a federal class action lawsuit brought by some 900 applicants who had qualified to become air traffic controllers, only for the hiring list to be nullified in 2015 by an Obama-era diversity decree. The ensuing class action was brought by the Mountain States Legal Foundation and former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, an election denier who had sought to blame DEI for endangering the nearly 3 million Americans who fly every day.

Were seeing all sorts of air traffic control problems where you have near miss(es) on runways, Laxalt told Fox News in June. Anyone thats flown in the last few years knows that almost every flight is delayed, almost every layover is delayed. And most (of) this because of the air traffic control system that is broken.

The Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. / Handout / Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images

There had been two near-misses involving air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport in as many months, on April 18 and May 29 . But the frayed state of affairs there and elsewhere in the country is the result of several factors unrelated to DEI.

As has been widely noted, and as an official with extensive experience in airport operations affirmed to the Daily Beast on Thursday, the whole system is still suffering from the firing of 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981 by the president for whom Reagan National Airport is named. The new controllers who took their place had a mandatory retirement age of 56, and many of them have been departing in recent years. An early FAA report after Wednesdays crash noted that a single air traffic controller was doing work that customarily would have been done by two.

US President Donald Trump speaks about the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. / ROBERTO SCHMIDT / ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic, the report says.

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The critical issue seems to be scarcity, not diversity. And it is not limited to air traffic controllers.

According to a February, 2024, response from FAA technicians, the top issue facing the agency is system obsolescence and difficulty in finding replacement parts, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in December. The response also indicated that inadequate staffing of FAA facilities posed a challenge to maintaining systems because some technicians were responsible for areas spanning hundreds of miles.

The shortage in personnel is accompanied by a dangerous deficiency in technology and equipment. The GAO noted that a nationwide air traffic control shutdown in 2023 prompted the FAA to conduct a risk evaluation that determined that 51 of its 138 air traffic control systems were so aged and underfunded as to be unsustainable.

Until FAA takes urgent action to reduce the time frames to replace critical and at risk ATC systems, it will continue to rely on a large percentage of unsustainable systems to perform critical functions for safe air travel, the GAO found. This reliance occurs at a time when air traffic is expected to increase each year.

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Among those who have sounded the alarm in recent months was U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). She was in her final days as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation in December, when she held a hearing.

The safety of the flying public depends upon well-equipped air traffic control systemsand right now, it is deeply troubling that more than one-third of them are unsustainable, she said in her opening statement.

Since then, the Trump-led Republicans have taken control of the Senate, along with the House and the White House. Duckworth lost her chairmanship, but her Thursday night post on X had the authority of someone who had flown an Army Black Hawk helicopter in combat in Iraq.

Victims are still in the water.

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The Blackhawk crew is still strapped into the cockpit.

Families are mourning.

And Trump is blaming DEI, suggesting our pilots and air traffic controllers dont deserve their jobs.

We need compassion and leadershipour President showed none.
Day to day, most people can safely ignore that New Zealand rests along the boundary between the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. But nature has a way of asserting itself. At 12:51 p.m. on February 22, 2011, the city of Christchurch was rocked by the aftershock of an earthquake that had struck more than five months earlier. Nearly 200 people died in this tragedy; some 70,000 were displaced.

According to the Insurance Council of New Zealand, at more than $31 billion, this was the biggest insured event in the nations history. Ten thousand homes needed to be rebuilt and another 3,500 demolished. As a result of this sharp decrease in housing supply, the cost of shelter spiked. In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, New Zealand activated emergency authority to require local governments in the metro area to rezone land for housing, and the city proper was forced to allow denser townhouses as well. According to a 2021 report to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the rezoning was described as releasing decades of land in one go.

The Christchurch City Council estimated that 41 percent of the housing growth from 2010 to 2018 was a result of legalizing denser housing in the city. More ambitious changes followed elsewhere, most notably in the nations largest city, Auckland, which was pressured to allowand fast-tracklots of new housing. A number of economic studies have subsequently shown that these reforms increased the supply of new houses while moderating prices: According to one study, rents would have been 28 percent higher without such reforms. The policy was a success, yet New Zealand still struggles to provide sufficient housing, and residents spend 30 percent more of their income on housing than the OECD average. Even with smart policies, it can take years, if not decades, to fully address a shortage.

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New Zealand shares many similarities to the United States. Its a car-dependent, heavily suburbanized country; more than 80 percent of the nations homes are detached, single-family homes20 percentage points more than in America. And today, Americas second-largest city is facing its own natural disaster, and a set of choices for how to rebuild.

There are few places in the U.S. with a tougher housing market than Los Angeles, meaning there are few places where the destruction of several thousand homes would be harder to bear. By one estimate , Los Angeles County is 500,000 affordable homes short of having sufficient housing for its residents; an appalling homelessness crisis has resulted. Now, on top of this, one estimate predicts that the Los Angeles fires have consumed up to $275 billion in total damages and economic losses. According to Redfin, 6,354 homes have been destroyed or damaged, resulting in significant downstream consequences. A rental listed for $16,000 per month got bid up to $30,000, one agent recounted.

[Read: How well-intentioned policies fueled L.A.s fires]

In the coming months and years, the Los Angeles housing market, already extremely tight, will feel the strain of displaced homeowners and renters looking for a way to stay in the region as their neighborhoods undergo the long process of rebuilding. And it is a long processjust look at the state of Hawaii, where just three of the 2,000 homes destroyed by the 2023 wildfires have been rebuilt, Reason reported last week. The interminable pace is due in large part to the local and state governments failure to shape the regulatory environment to encourage housing production.

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At least in California, policy makers are showing some signs of life: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waiving some of the red tape that holds up housing production, such as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). But Newsoms order applies only to properties that burned down or were substantially damaged, and it prevents new housing from exceeding 10 percent of the original structures footprint and height. This means, in most cases, that only a single-family house like the one that existed previously can be built.

Im glad the governor and the mayor have issued executive orders to try to make it easier for people to get quick permits, California State Senator Scott Wiener, a leading housing advocate, told me. But I think its really important not to force homeowners to automatically rebuild the same way as before.

Wiener and others, such as newly minted Representative Laura Friedman, whose district covers parts of Los Angeles, have argued that exempting infill housing from CEQAnot just rebuilding what was there beforeis a crucial part of the solution. In a phone call last week, Friedman told me of a friend whod lost her Pacific Palisades home of 50 years to the ongoing fires. But, Friedman went on, the family doesnt necessarily need to replicate their old home. She and her family are devastated, Friedman told me, but she told me that at her age, she prefers to now move into a condo in a place where shes not going to be worried every night about another fire.

The persistent threat of future wildfires means that Californias challenge is not just to rebuild what was lost, but also to build much more housing in areas less prone to wildfires to begin with. It sounds remarkably elementary: If you dont want people to live in places that are likely to burn down, you have to build in places that arent likely to burn down.

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[Read: How Los Angeles must rebuild]

Los Angeles has tried this. Days after being sworn into office in December 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed a directive to ensure that housing developments where all the units are affordable would get their permits within 60 days rather than languishing for months or even years, bypassing some of the onerous requirements and regulations that usually accompany multifamily housing. This change spurred production of apartments affordable to people making less than $100,000. After a little more than a year, developers submitted plans for more than 13,770 affordable unitsnearly as many as the city approved in 2020, 2021, and 2022 combined, CalMatters reported last year. Some studio units are expected to go for as little as $1,800, a remarkable coup for unsubsidized new construction in expensive Los Angeles.

Its exactly the type of policy that would weaken incentives to build farther out into wildfire-prone territory. In fact, the program was so successful that Bass has been backpedaling on it ever since. As the story often goes, the triumph of the program meant that a lot of new buildings were allowed, sometimes in neighborhoods where at least a few residents opposed new development and complained to their local officials. Soon enough, the policy reversals began. Bass exempted areas with single-family homes from accessing the streamlined affordable-housing permits (which make up 74 percent of the citys residential land) and then layered on a series of requirements that turned the policy from remarkable to status quo, one economist remarked.

Andrew Slocum, a developer who has affordable-housing projects approved under this program, told me he is frustrated by the rollbacks and his sense that political leadership isnt taking the housing crisis seriously enough. Slocum recently sent an email to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety as well as to Basss office arguing that the city is illegally holding up housing projects contra state law. This is not an isolated complaint. Last fall, a county judge ruled that L.A. had violated state and local law when it blocked 360 affordable apartments near single-family homes. Los Angeles is not the first California city to be accused of flouting state requirements to permit housing more quickly: Malibu, Berkeley, Huntington Beach, and other localities have all come under scrutiny.

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I reached out to Basss office and the L.A. Department of Building for comment, and the mayors spokesperson Zach Seidl replied in an email, Since taking office Mayor Bass has executed a comprehensive strategy to confront housing unaffordability in Los Angeles.

Seidl also told me that L.A. permits more Accessory Dwelling Units than anywhere else in California. This is unsurprising. Los Angeles is the second-biggest city in the nation and is almost three times as large as the next-biggest city in California. Last year, the Los Angeles Times looked at ADUs permitted per 1,000 housing units and found that L.A. barely cracked the top 1 0 of cities in Los Angeles County .

[Read: The truth about NIMBYs]

This is the trap California has set for itself. In order to prevent costly damages from wildfires and further residential incursions into fire-prone areas, you have to provide more housing in dense urban corridors. But in order to satisfy NIMBY gadflies and antidevelopment members of the Democratic coalition, you have to make it difficult to build new housing basically everywhere.

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Los Angeles and even California are not alone in trying to balance these concerns. And in most contexts, its easier to fold to short-term political pressure that prevents new construction. But the math is quickly changing. In acceding to critics, policy makers might think they are satisfying their residents desire for stability and maintaining the neighborhood character of these communities. But by hell or high waterquite literallychange is coming anyway.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
BAGHDAD (AP)  The fall of Bashar Assad in Syria has led Iran-allied factions in neighboring Iraq to reconsider their push for U.S. forces to exit the country, multiple Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press.

The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.

Political and armed factions linked to Iran had been among the loudest voices calling for a U.S. exit from Iraq  particularly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel and Israels ensuing bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.

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In Iraq, as in much of the Arab world, U.S. backing for Israel in a war that killed tens of thousands of civilians and displaced nearly Gazas entire population of 2.3 million was unpopular.

When the agreement was reached to end the coalition's mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the threat of IS was under control and they no longer needed Washingtons help to beat back the remaining cells.

But the fall of Assad in a lightning offensive led by Sunni Islamist rebels in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.

The fall of Assad  an ally of Iran  weakened Tehran's hand in the region, leaving allied groups in Iraq feeling vulnerable. Many in Iraq also fear that IS could take advantage of the security vacuum to stage a comeback while Syria's new leaders are still consolidating their control over the country and forming a national army.

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Most leaders of the Shiite Coordination Framework are in favor of keeping American forces in Iraq and will not want American forces to leave Iraq as a result of what happened in Syria, said one official with the group. They are afraid of ISIS exploiting the vacuum if the Americans leave Iraq and the situation in Iraq collapses.

Multiple other Iraqi political and security officials gave similar assessments. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

A high-ranking official in Iraqs National Security Service said that in a meeting with the Iraqi government, his agency had made the argument that it is not in Iraqs interest to request the withdrawal of the US and the international coalition from Iraq at the present time.

The loud voices that were previously talking about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq have decreased significantly, he said. I expect that there will be no withdrawal this year by the Americans.

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A senior U.S. defense official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said that since the fall of Assad in Syria, Iraqi government officials have asked informally at the highest of levels to delay the end of the mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

He said the Iraqis were anxious that IS could take advantage of the chaos following Assads ouster  and of large stockpiles of weapons abandoned by the former Syrian army  to stage a comeback, which he described as a valid concern.

ISIS is not imminently going to make a resurgence, but it certainly could, he said, using an alternative name for IS.

The Iraqi government has not made any public statement about the possibility of extending the coalitions mandate. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassim al-Awadi said Friday that the time frames between Iraq and the international coalition have not changed and that meetings between Iraq and coalition officials are ongoing.

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While Iraqi would likely need to make a formal written request to extend the withdrawal timeline, al-Sudani might be reluctant to make the request publicly out of fear of being portrayed by domestic rivals as backing down after he had previously called for a U.S. exit. The Iraqi government has attempted to maintain a delicate balance between its ties to Iran and to the United States.

Iraqi armed groups have also had a complicated relationship with U.S. forces, with the same groups sometimes attacking them and on other occasions becoming allies of convenience in a fight against a common enemy.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups, fought against the Islamic State group beginning in 2014, when IS militants rampaged across the country, seizing large swathes of territory.

Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, said that while there wasn't active coordination between the U.S. forces and PMF at the time they were fighting the same war on the same side against the same enemy.

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During the war in Gaza, some of the groups that make up the PMF launched drone attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria. They have not launched any attacks since the fall of Assad.

Mansour said that much of the anxiety in Iraq about the post-Assad future of Syria stems from Iraqs own history. Many of the country's current leaders remember the chaotic years following the fall of Iraqs former strongman leader, Saddam Hussein, in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

If the argument for removing the U.S. troops from Iraq was that the fight against ISIS was over and the region is stable, that calculation has changed following regime change in Syria, he said. The threat of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) in the context of an unstable and precarious Syria for the next few years is very real for the Coordination Framework and the government in Iraq.

-

Sewell reported from Beirut.
St. Mary's Medical Center officials said they are correcting problems called out by regulators (Suzanne King/The Beacon).

Regulators recently warned officials at St. Marys Medical Center in Blue Springs that deficient practices at its laboratory, including lax testing procedures and insufficient training, could endanger patients.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services informed hospital officials that they had found the lab to be in immediate jeopardy, the most severe level of noncompliance in health regulation.

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The states Dec. 20 letter said the finding was based on a complaint survey completed on Dec. 17. This survey, or inspection, included an onsite visit Dec. 10-11, a phone interview Dec. 16-17 and additional documentation, the states report said.

Citing federal regulations, the letter said a finding of immediate jeopardy was made because the labs noncompliance has already caused, is causing, or is likely to cause, at any time, serious injury or harm, or death, to individuals served by the laboratory or to the health and safety of the general public.

In a written statement, the hospital acknowledged the finding and said it had submitted a corrective action plan to the state.

We take survey findings very seriously and have taken proactive steps to implement changes addressing issues identified by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the hospital said.

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The hospitals statement said the hospital is fully operational with comprehensive laboratory services.

No St. Marys patients were ever identified as being harmed throughout the survey process, the statement said.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) conducts surveys of health care facilities in the state on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

In this case, said Sami Jo Freeman, a DHSS spokeswoman, CMS identified concerns and directed the state agency to perform a complaint investigation into the laboratory, which led to the immediate jeopardy findings.

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Freeman confirmed that St. Marys officials had responded to the state report in writing.

Their response has been forwarded to, and is currently under review by, CMS, who will decide if the response is adequate and decide the next steps, Freeman said in an email.

St. Marys, an 80-bed hospital owned by the for-profit chain Prime Healthcare, said the immediate jeopardy finding was related to blood bank processes and based on inspections conducted in October 2023, a month before the hospital shifted blood bank services to St. Joseph Medical Center, another Kansas City-area hospital owned by Prime.

St. Marys statement said blood bank services will continue to be provided to St. Marys patients uninterrupted through this partnership.

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A hospital spokeswoman did not explain why the blood bank process had been shifted to St. Joseph Medical Center in 2023.

She also didnt answer questions about more recent issues raised in the states December report. The report said the laboratory failed to provide blood bank procedures for all blood bank processes that started October 2023.

The hospital spokeswoman also declined to respond to questions about concerns raised in the report that did not involve blood bank services.

A finding of immediate jeopardy could result in fines, onsite monitoring and the loss of Medicare accreditation. Such a finding is relatively uncommon. One study from 2021 found that less than 3% of hospital citations reached that most serious level.

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In 2022, St. Marys Hospital faced another immediate jeopardy finding, according to a database of inspection reports. That time regulators raised concerns about physical force used against patients in the hospitals emergency department. The immediate jeopardy finding was removed after the hospital implemented an action plan, which included the dismissal of an employee directly involved, executives spending more time in the department and staff education.

The states December report cited a range of problems with St. Marys laboratory, many of them relating to testing procedures, documentation, quality control and training.

Overall, the report said, the labs director failed to provide overall management and direction of the laboratory.

This included failure to ensure overall operation of the labs blood bank; failure to properly train staff before they performed patient testing; a lack of remedial actions when significant deviations were identified; and quality control lapses, such as a failure to ensure that follow-up crossmatch testing was performed.

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The lapses, regulators said, could lead to inaccurate patient test results, which could cause issues or delays of patient diagnosis and treatment. The failures, the report said, have a significant potential to cause patient harm.

The position of lab director is currently posted as an open job on the hospitals website. It isnt clear who was director during the period of time covered by the inspection.

The state also called out the labs failure to maintain analytic systems, including a lack of laboratory procedures and a failure to perform and document quality control measures.

For example, the report found that the lab didnt document the inspection of whole blood before issuing it. In one case in November, the report said, blood was given to a patient without units being labeled and proper procedure was not followed.

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The report said the lab also did not perform alarm inspections on a blood bank refrigerator, and lacked or failed to document certain test control procedures.

The state called out problems with the labs procedures for urinalysis, saying the machine used in tests, a urinalysis centrifuge, was operating at the incorrect speed. In another instance involving a test for vitamin B12 levels, a test control was not within acceptable limits for several hours, the state said.

This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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

Increased use of ventilation and air cleaners, designed to mitigate the spread of viral infections in hospitals, is likely to have unpredictable effects and may cause viral particles to move around more, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and UCLH.

In the study, published in Aerosol Science & Technology, researchers investigated the effect of using built-in mechanical ventilation and portable air cleaners (PACs) upon the spread of airborne particles, which are similar to those breathed out by a person with a viral respiratory infection such as SARS-CoV-2 or influenza.

The team tracked the movement of airborne particles around a typical hospital outpatients' clinic at UCLH in central London using an aerosol generator and particle counters. A variety of scenarios were simulated, including particle movement to a neighboring room, throughout the whole clinic, and from one room to another room at the far side of the clinic.

They also tested whether factors such as closing doors, or the position of ventilation and PACs within a room, had an effect on the spread of particles.

The researchers found that while use of built-in ventilation and PACs can reduce particle spread in some scenarios, in some experiments the use of PACs increased aerosol spread by up to 29% between neighboring rooms. Built-in ventilation potentially increased aerosol migration across the clinic by up to 5.5 times more than if no ventilation was used.

Professor Laurence Lovat, senior author of the study from UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and UCLH, said, "The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted the risk of picking up airborne viral infections in hospitals, which naturally led to efforts to reduce this risk. In many hospitals, the use of ventilation systems and portable air cleaners has increased.

"While the urgency of the situation demanded a rapid response, since then we've been studying precisely how viral particles move around in real spaces and have been surprised by what we've found.

"Putting air cleaners in rooms led to unexpected increases in the circulation of aerosols in some cases, but it took months to understand what we were seeing. Each scenario produced different, unexpected results, depending on the spaces and airflow sources involved.

"Even at UCLH, a modern hospital built less than 20 years ago, airflow patterns were not predictable. In older hospitals, which often have natural drafts, the situation would likely be even more complex."

The study concluded that using airflow devices in hospitals to try to limit the movement of airborne pathogens requires careful consideration of airflow dynamics and device placement to reduce the risk of exacerbating the problem.

The clinic where the experiments took place consisted of a large central waiting room (154 m3, split into A and B for the purpose of the study), eight surrounding consulting rooms and a nurses' station (all approximately 35 m3. The clinic was connected via a permanently open passageway to a corridor leading to the rest of the hospital. Experiments took place at night and weekends when no staff or patients were present.

A number of experiments were conducted by placing aerosol generators dispersing saline solution in certain rooms, with particle detectors sited in other rooms to track the movement of particles around the clinic.

In one experiment, the researchers simulated particle spread from a medical professional or patient in one consulting room to a neighboring room. A baseline measurement was taken in the consulting room with the aerosol source when all doors were open and no ventilation or PACs were in use.

Closing the room door that contained the source was found to reduce particle spread significantly and closing both room doors reduced it by 97%.

But when doors were opened and large PACs in the adjacent waiting room were turned on, the spread to the neighboring consulting room increased by 29%. When small desktop PACs were added to both consulting rooms and the nurses' station, the spread was lower than the baseline, but only slightly.

Dr. Jacob Salmonsmith, first author of the study and an Honorary Research Fellow from UCL Mechanical Engineering, said, "The results of this experiment might seem counterintuitive if you take the view that changing the air in a room more often reduces the spread of viral particles.

"While it's true that air cleaners do remove viral particles from the air and can reduce overall spread, they can also have unintended consequences. In particular, this experiment suggests that larger air cleaners, which have larger exhaust vents that introduce their own air currents, can cause particles that haven't been filtered out to spread further than they would have if the cleaner wasn't there.

"In any given space you have complex interactions between many different air currents, such as ventilation, doors closing and people's movement. Our findings indicate that the whole picture needs to be considered when choosing when and where to introduce air cleaners."

In another experiment, the team observed highly complex patterns of particle spread when all consulting room doors were open.

This included one scenario where the highest concentrations of particles were detected in rooms furthest away from an aerosol source situated in a consulting room where a PAC was in operation. Particle levels in the room furthest from this aerosol source were 184% higher than average, while in the room directly opposite the source they were 68% below average.

There were also 247% more particles in the waiting room furthest away from the consulting room, where a PAC was in operation, than in the waiting room right next door to it. The nurses' station had a higher concentration of particles than any room on the same side of the clinic as the room where the aerosol generator was situated.

Professor Andrea Ducci, an author of the study from UCL Mechanical Engineering, said, "Our experiments demonstrated that high volumes of particles can be corralled into particular areas as a result of airflow dynamics. This obviously isn't ideal, particularly if that place is a key location, such as the nurses' station that staff members who're treating patients will likely visit often during their shift.

"The good news is that we're rapidly expanding our knowledge of this phenomenon. The project that we are currently working on aims to simulate the entire airflow within a clinic and assess the efficacy of different devices positioned in different locations.

"This will allow us to identify relatively simple interventions, such as better positioning of ventilation devices to reduce the spread of particles, thus decreasing the risk of picking up an infection in hospital."

Given the unpredictability of how aerosol particles move around spaces and the difficulty in measuring them, the team are currently building an AI system to help to do this and hope to start testing within the next 18 months.

The authors say the study holds great promise to inform governmental action on ensuring that NHS standards for ventilation and infection are fit for purpose, in line with efforts to prevent future pandemics.

More information: The Influence of Mechanical Ventilation and Portable Air Cleaners Upon Aerosol Spread in a Hospital Outpatients Clinic', Aerosol Science and Technology (2025). DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2024.2446587
It is impossible to imagine what the Israeli hostages have been through since the October 7 attacks. Yet even on their release their suffering has been cruelly exploited.

The release of the hostages has become a sickening ritual, carefully choreographed by the terrorists of Hamas as a shameless propaganda spectacle.

Last week, when four female hostages were released, Hamas forced the women to wear ill-fitting army uniforms and made them wave and smile from a specially-constructed stage. They were made to thank their captors, terrorists who had taken them from their beds, exploited and imprisoned them. With a final flourish of mocking cruelty, the women were presented with goodie bags of farewell gifts and certificates of captivity. It was simply grotesque.

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The hostage exchange that followed a few days later took on a greater edge of menace and danger. 29-year-old Arbel Yehud was forced to make her way through baying Palestinian crowds before reaching safety. Alongside her, 80 year-old Gadi Moses somehow composed himself with unthinkable dignity before the hate mob.

Hamas wants these ugly scenes to be projected around the world, to reach us all via our TV screens and phones. They intend to project power, control and the promise of future terrorist violence. Their masked fighters strut and brandish guns for the cameras to warn they are ready to inflict genocidal terror attacks again if they are given the chance.

You could argue that all media organisations providing live coverage of the hostage releases are giving a platform to terror. Yet this is perhaps unavoidable in our era of rolling news.

What is unforgivable is the false equivalence made by so many news organisations  including the BBC  between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. This has distorted the story in a manner that will have delighted Hamas.

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News outlets across the globe have repeatedly referred to the Palestinians to be released as hostages. They have equated the victims of a terrorist attack with violent murderers who seek to kill civilians and erase Israel from the map.

Yet the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who are set for release as a result of the negotiations with Hamas have never been hostages, and the majority have been convicted of violent offences. They include Mohammad Abu Warda, a Hamas commander who ordered a 1996 bus bombing in Jerusalem in which 45 people died.

Also set for release is Mahmoud Attallah: he had been jailed for life for the murder in 2003 of a Palestinian woman he deemed to be a collaborator with the Israeli authorities.

Then there are three members of the Silwan Squad, a terror cell responsible for multiple attacks in which 35 people were murdered and many more injured.

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These are but a few of the hundreds of prisoners who were rightly jailed by the Israeli authorities after due judicial process but are now set to go free. More than half are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

That they are being released in vastly disproportionate numbers for the few hostages left alive in Gaza is a reflection of the very different values put on life by Israel and its terrorist foes.

It is terrible enough for the hostages and their families to endure the grotesque circus being staged each week by Hamas.

We must not add to their ordeal by falling for terrorist propaganda in subscribing to the hostage exchange lie.

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When dragon and lion dancers swerve down 38th Street and through the many Vietnamese-owned businesses on Sunday, it will mark the 35th time the Lincoln District  and by turn Tacoma and Pierce County  collectively celebrate the Asian tradition of leaving bad luck behind and turning toward a brighter, more prosperous future.

The annual Lunar New Year festival now attracts thousands of people of all races and cultural backgrounds to the neighborhood, making it the largest celebration in the South Sound, but it wasnt always that way.

The first official event in 1990 sprung from a modest idea of camaraderie among immigrants and refugees: specifically, two Vietnamese women who became friends in their adopted hometown and, in their own ways, recognized the significance of continuing traditions not only for themselves and their families but also for their new neighbors.

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Oanh Lee Lee Lam and Lisa Mathusz both emigrated to the United States in their early 20s. They spoke little English and knew basically no one except their American husbands whom they met in the war. They recalled those decades as an era that was far less inclusive than today.

There was a need for Vietnamese community, said Mathusz in an interview, but your kids had to assimilate. They had to become American at school.

Lams son, Jerry Waldorn, described the experience of representing his second-grade class at Larchmont Elementary in a spelling bee. Speak English and youll stop being bullied, he remembered hearing from peers and adults.

There was a constant pressure, in their heads and in their surroundings, to let go of their pasts.

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Yet over more than three decades, the influence of Asian cultures is visible up and down the West Coast and across the country  perhaps no more so than during Lunar New Year. As of 2025, the Year of the Snake, Washington recognizes it as an official legislative (but unpaid) holiday, joining states including California and Colorado.

Tacomas free, public festival has grown to represent more than just a day for food and firecrackers, said Waldorn.

Its the tradition, its sharing the culture, he added, and the block-party atmosphere opens the doors for the public to enter businesses maybe they usually wouldnt enter.

Lisa Mathusz (left) and Lee Lee Lam founded Tacomas Lunar New Year Festival in 1990. They are shown in Lams business, Lorindas Hair Care, in the Lincoln District of Tacoma, Washington, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. Tony Overman/toverman@theolympian.com

BRINGING TET TO TACOMA

Lunar New Year is by far the biggest holiday in many Asian nations, including Vietnam, China, Singapore and Thailand. Scholars believe it has been honored as far back as 1600 B.C. The timing, of course, is not dependent on the Gregorian calendar but the lunar calendar, which recognizes the years first alignment of the sun, the moon and the Earth.

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For a week or two ahead of Lunar New Years of their youth, Lam and Mathusz remembered shopping for new dresses and doing their hair the night before. Their families would gather for dinners and memorials to honor their ancestors. They would share red envelopes filled with money, clean and organize and prepare plenty of banh chung, a special sticky rice cake with peppery pork and mung bean steamed in banana leaves. They would say so-long to recent ills and welcome a renewed vow for good health and good fortune.

Settling into their new life in America, they didnt forget about the tradition, but their celebrations stayed much closer to home. Building community takes time.

Lam soon sponsored family members to also emigrate, including her siblings and their children. She hasnt been back to Vietnam in years and years, she said, in part because most of her family is now here and not there. She picked fruit for a while but was eventually encouraged to open her own business and in 1984 bought a salon from a fellow who was ready to retire.

She still operates Lorindas Hair Care at 769 S. 38th St. For 15 years, from 2001 to 2016, she also ran a beauty school, teaching fellow immigrants who have gone on to open their own salons, she said. She has offered advice about not just hair care but starting and operating a business in America, helping others navigate things like permits and loans.

The Lincoln District Lunar New Year event draws a diverse crowd to 38th Street, shown here in 2017. The event has been hosted in Tacoma since 1990. Lui Kit Wong/Staff photographer

Mathusz followed a similar, if somewhat inadvertent, path to supporting an influx in the 1980s of immigrant families through her Golden Bamboo Walking Group.

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From their home in Salishan, she recalled, I just started walking with my mom, and people started following us! We were singing in Vietnamese. We were encouraging  its good for your health and your heart.

She also taught dancing. Whatever the reason people were coming together, she added, it was also an opportunity to teach English.

They feel more comfortable, and more trusted, she said. Helping others  thats what brought us together. If youre working hard, youre gonna be somebody.

A BIGGER LUNAR NEW YEAR IN TACOMA

The Lincoln District blossomed with Vietnamese-owned businesses, anchored by East Asia Market in 1981 and Vien Dong in 1989, as did other pockets of the South Sound and Western Washington. Then-governor Dan Evans welcomed hundreds of refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in 1975 after California declined to embrace them, according to a 2015 Seattle Times editorial commemorating the 40th anniversary of Saigons fall to North Vietnamese forces. Many of the thousands who followed landed at Camp Murray next to what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

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As of 2023, around 75,000 of Pierce County residents are of Asian heritage and another 20,000 identify as Asian Pacific Islander or Hawaiian, totaling about 10% of the population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. In Tacoma, the Monkeyshine tradition, in which little glass treasures are hidden around town for anyone to discover and keep, began 20 years ago.

In 1990, Lam and Mathusz figured out how to get a permit, printed flyers and held the Lincoln Districts first official Lunar New Year celebration.

In those early days, they said, everything was simpler from a planning standpoint. Vendors would set up tables on the sidewalk, for instance, but the health department eventually shut that down, they said with a laugh. Now, through the Lincoln District Business Association, they save up to cover the costs of not just the permits but also police, fire and barricades, as well as the lion dancers, envelopes, decorations and marketing.

Lam in the doorway of her Tacoma salon in February 2016. She and Mathusz are looking for the next generation of Lunar New Year organizers. Drew Perine/dperine@thenewstribune.com

Around 1997, they estimated, the mayor started attending. The throngs of people grew from a few dozen to a few hundred; in good weather in recent years, a few thousand show up. One year it snowed, and they had to reschedule twice before finally making it happen.

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Its been a lot of hard work, they admitted just a few days before the 2025 festival, and in the past few years, they also have played an important part in the Parks Tacoma Tet celebration at the Eastside Community Center.

To keep our culture going, especially for second and third generations, is to remind them  theres your culture, said Mathusz. Its a chance to encourage the young to remember where you are, where you are coming from and why you are here.

Both women are in their 70s and are admittedly eager to pass the torch.

Were proud but tired, but Mathusz. We have fun, too, but we work hard.

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Yes, added Lam. We have fun.

LUNAR NEW YEAR - TACOMA

 Sunday, Feb. 2, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

 Lincoln District, South 38th from South Yakima to South G streets

 Free, family-friendly event with street performances and dancing; cash/card accepted at most businesses; details at facebook.com/LincolnDistrictTacoma
(WJHL)  Representative Rebecca Alexander and Senator Bobby Harshbarger voted no to Governor Bill Lees Education Freedom Scholarship Act, commonly referred to as the school voucher bill.

Both lawmakers say their decision came down to what the majority of their constituents favored.

We looked at the letters that people took time to write and explain why they wanted us not to vote for vouchers or why they wanted us to vote for vouchers and we had at one point 91 that was against it and 8 that was for it, Alexander said. So to me that showed me what my district really wanted.

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Both House and Senate pass TN school vouchers bill

Harshbarger said he had an enormous amount of feedback from people in the region.

We actually kept a spreadsheet and the vast majority of folks were against this for various reasons, Harshbarger said. So my primary objective is just to represent my district. Thats the number one. You know, Ive always said I want to be the most effective representative and thats the bulk of it.

Senator Rusty Crowe said on the Senate floor that he struggled with his decision because of school boards in our region voicing opposition. However, his choice came down to the government limiting parental choice.

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Ive come to the conclusion that it is simply not the role of government to impede the parents right to make these choices for their children, Crowe said. Today the government tells parents their children should be educated in public schools. If the parents have the resources, they can decide to opt-out. If they dont have the resources, then government would have made that decision for them and their children will go to public schools and essentially have no other option except possibly homeschooling.

Alexander and Harshbarger say theyre skeptical about public schools being held harmless from this legislation.

I didnt see anything in the bill that would solidify that opinion, Harshbarger said. And that was the questions that I kept putting out to get answers for as far as the sustainability of the funding. And in all honesty, I did not receive the answers that I was looking for.

I can tell you this  that I am confident that Im going to work my tail off to make sure that they do what they promised they would do, Alexander said.

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Alexander also doesnt agree with how many vouchers will still go to students who already attend private schools.

If were doing it for people that 65% are already going to private schools, those people already made those choices, Alexander said. They already budgeted, that was their choice to send their children to that school.

Harshbarger said he talked with local educators before the bill passed.

I went ahead and told them, you know, theres a really good chance that this is going to go through, Harshbarger said. So it is up to us to make the best of it, so we cant put our head in the sand. We cant just say, Oh, woe is me and move on. Like we have to make the best of it, figure out how to work within these confines. Otherwise, theres no reason to give up throw your hands up and give up.

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Harshbarger believes this voucher bill was rushed and didnt need to be in a special session.

I felt like they had the votes before we came when they called the special session, Alexander said. They wont do that unless they know theyve got the votes to get it through. It didnt keep me from poking. It didnt keep me from praying.

It is what it is, the governor has been determined to pass this since Ive been in office and so maybe now that its out of the way we can move on, Alexander said.

Alexander said she is proud of Northeast Tennessee public schools.

Im always proud to represent them and Im just proud to represent my community and be down here doing what you all sent me to do.

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News Channel 11 reached out to legislators from our region who voted yes for the vouchers. They either declined to comment or have not responded.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert has come out in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trumps pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

In an opinion essay published Thursday in USA TODAY, Schweikert, R-Ariz., applauded Kennedys concern about obesity and chronic disease, two issues Schweikert has strenuously argued are a drain on the United States budget.

Schweikert's op-ed didnt mention Kennedys track record of promoting health theories that arent supported by science, including his long history of anti-vaccine activism, which has given other lawmakers pause when considering whether to confirm Kennedy to lead the countrys top health department.

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Last year, my economists at the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee told an uncomfortable truth: Our poor health is not only killing Americans, but our nations finances as well, Schweikert wrote.

RFK Jr. has a rare quality among public officials today  he embraces math.  RFK Jr. understands that 60% of American adults have at least one chronic condition. He wants to remedy the up to $11 trillion loss to our GDP over a decade that comes from chronic diseases.

Maybe the most powerful thing we can do to keep from burying our grandchildren and great-grandchildren in piles of debt would be to work on policies that will make us a healthier country, Schweikert continued. Under the leadership of RFK Jr., we have a real chance to accomplish that.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Schweikert will not actually get to vote on Kennedys confirmation. He is a fiscal hawk who has argued that obesity costs the country trillions of dollars annually between Medicaid, Medicare, and individuals' private medical bills. Schweikert has promoted weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic as a way to address the countrys fiscal woes.

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In that regard he has found common ground with Kennedy, a former Democratic candidate for president and longtime environmental lawyer, who says that processed foods are helping to cause an epidemic of obesity in the U.S.

"Its time to change the standard in this country from 'maintaining Americas misery' to 'keeping America healthy,'" Schweikert wrote. "RFK Jr. deserves both our support and encouragement to lead the charge."

Kennedy has been highly skeptical of vaccines for years. Though he told senators this week that he is "supportive of vaccines," he has long promoted a dizzying range of unfounded claims, including the idea that vaccines cause autism.

As a result Kennedy faces widespread opposition from Democrats and potential objections from some Republicans, making him one of Trump's most controversial Cabinet nominees.

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Schweikert represents Arizona's 1st Congressional District, which covers parts of north Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek and Fountain Hills in Maricopa County, along with Salt River and Fort McDowell Yavapai National tribal reservations.

His office did not return a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: RFK Jr. confirmation: Rep. David Schweikert pens op-ed in support
Jan. 30MITCHELL  With the 119th United States Congress underway since Jan. 3, it is a busy time for lawmakers in Washington, D.C. South Dakota's lone member of the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Dusty Johnson, is among those tasked with seeing the national legislative branch does its job crafting national policy.

But he still tries to make time for his hometown constituents, including students in the Developing Innovation class at Dakota Wesleyan University.

In a question-and-answer session that spanned most of an hour and a wide range of topics, Johnson shared his thoughts on subjects including federal spending, President Donald Trump and the southern border Thursday morning at the School of Business, Innovation and Leadership.

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"Politics are not a spectator sport in this country," Johnson told the Mitchell Republic following the class. "If we're going to continue to have a great country, we need that next generation of leaders to be thinking about government, to understand government and to be thinking about some of these key American principles and concepts."

Johnson let the students lead the conversation, with the four-term representative offering his insights.

One question that arose from the student audience was how President Trump could reduce federal spending.

Johnson used the question as a chance to talk about the differences between mandatory and discretionary spending. Discretionary spending, which goes toward items like roads, defense and federal agencies, is voted on by Congress every year, while mandatory spending, which is used on programs like Social Security, SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid, are not, essentially being placed on "auto pilot."

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He said mandatory spending has become out of control after decades of economic change and without yearly oversight from Congress. That puts the spotlight on programs like Social Security and Medicare and making adjustments to clean up the balance sheet. A quick trip to the whiteboard allowed him to draw two lines  one relatively flat for discretionary spending, and one angled upward representing mandatory spending.

"During that same period, mandatory spending had gone like that. And in revenue, the percentage of GDP has been pretty flat. This is what has created the budget deficit. Every year now, we're upside down about $2 trillion. It's a breathtakingly large amount of money," Johnson said. "If we don't do something about it within the next 10 years, both Social Security and Medicare will go insolvent, meaning there won't be enough money in those programs to pay out the expenditures on them."

When it comes to possible ways to reduce spending, there could be something to adjusting those programs to make them fall more in line with modern sensibilities. One way to do that through those programs is to change the beneficiary requirements, such as the retirement age.

When the retirement age was set at 65 for Social Security, the life expectancy for an adult in the United States was 60. It is far higher than that now, Johnson said, and raising the retirement age again over the course of a number of years is one way to keep those funds solvent.

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"This is very, very difficult to tackle, because nobody wants to talk about taking a check away from grandma," Johnson said. "You asked about potential solutions  I'm 48 and I'm going to live 20 years longer than my grandparents. I'm not offended at the idea that I might have to work a couple more years. I'm very much in favor of raising the retirement age for people my age and younger."

Another student asked about early action by Trump a few days into his second term as president. Trump has so far issued dozens of executive orders on a wide range of topics, including immigration, specifically at the southern border.

One change from Trump was restarting the Remain in Mexico policy, which requires asylum seekers at the southern border to stay in Mexico while their asylum request is heard. When they complete that process, they are then allowed into the United States, whereas previously they were allowed into the United States for the duration of that process.

Johnson noted refugee status refers to a specific set of conditions, such as being subject to persecution due to religion or race or having a "credible fear" of death if they were to remain in their country of origin. Instead of legitimate refugees, Johnson said those who show up at the southern border are usually trafficked there by drug cartels.

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"Most people from the Northern Triangle countries are seeking a better life, which is a beautiful thing, or they're concerned about the general violence. These are unbelievably unsafe countries," said Johnson, who also stated he believed it was too easy to enter the United States illegally but too difficult to enter it legally. "(But) general violence does not make you a refugee, and very, very close to 100% of the people who show up at the southern border are trafficked by the drug cartels."

When it comes to the actions that will impact average citizens the most, Johnson said the lone bill signed by Trump so far may not affect most Americans, but it will make the country safer.

Under the new Laken Riley Act, federal officials will be required to detain any migrant arrested or charged with crimes like shoplifting or assaulting a police officer or crimes that injure or kill someone. The bill also empowers state attorneys general to sue the federal government for harm caused by failures or decisions in immigration enforcement that harm states or people. That includes releasing migrants from custody or failing to detain migrants who have received deportation orders.

Johnson said the law could have saved the life of the person for which it is named, Augusta University College of Nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed by a migrant who had previously been detained briefly for a more minor offense but later released.

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"What it does is say that if (a migrant) is arrested for a crime like theft, you are not released as a citizen. We are going to hold you," Johnson said.

It wasn't all politics during the session. Another student asked Johnson about how he builds a team for his Washington, D.C. Office and some of the qualities he looks for when making hires or when assembling a staff.

Johnson said the basics are always important  punctuality is an important trait in the high-speed world of D.C. politics. He also values employees who are skilled long-form writers, a talent that is not as prevalent in the hiring pool as it once was, he said. But there are other intangibles that he looks for in a coworker or colleague.

"We just go with the thing that we trust every single person on our team. If we can't believe in you, if we can't trust you, if we don't think that you're a decent person, you're just not going to get along with the team. We have incredible trust in one another," Johnson said.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Friday ripped President Trump for his evidence-free effort to blame the crash of American Airlines Flight 5342 on diversity initiatives.

The Democratic House Minority Leader in his weekly press conference called out Trump for claiming that so-called DEI efforts in hiring of air traffic controllers could have caused the crash, even though theres no evidence that any control tower failure was to blame.

There is not a scintilla of evidence that exists to suggest that women and people of color are to blame for the tragedy that took place, Jeffries said. And it was shameful.

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Jeffries trashed Trump and his allies for using the crash that killed 67 people near Reagan National Airport to score cheap political points.

While people are suffering, extreme MAGA Republicans are peddling lies and attacking people of color and women without any basis whatsoever, he said. This is not America. The American people deserve better.

Fellow Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, accused Trump of seeking to capitalize on this tragedy by furthering his racist, insane agenda.

Jeffries also slammed Trump for his effort earlier in the week to freeze government spending at the press conference, denouncing the move as a Republican rip-off and giving a platform to community groups that have been negatively affected.

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Were going to fight it legislatively. Were going to fight it in the courts, And were going to fight it in the streets, Jeffries said.

The White House swung back by calling for Jeffries to say sorry for calling on people to take to the streets, which it claimed amounted to inciting violence.

The morning after the crash, Trump raged against so-called DEI measures and sought to point fingers at former President Biden and ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for the midair collision with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, despite his own admission that he has no evidence to back up his bile.

Trump initially suggested the unnamed air traffic controller handling the flight was to blame. He later shifted to questioning why the doomed Black Hawk pilot did not swerve to avoid the plane landing at one of the nations busiest airports late Wednesday.

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On Friday, the commander-in-chief again seemed to blame the chopper pilot.

The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot, Trump wrote on his social media site. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it?

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration say dont yet know what might have caused the crash.

The airplanes black box has been recovered and should shed more light on the final moments of the otherwise unremarkable flight from Wichita, Kansas.

The FAA has indefinitely closed routes near Reagan National Airport to most helicopter traffic as the probe gets underway in earnest.

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A preliminary FAA report noted that the control tower was short staffed at the time of the crash and one air traffic controller was handling both planes and helicopters, which would normally be tasks for two workers.

Rescue workers have already pulled more than 40 bodies from the icy waters of the Potomac River where the airplane and the helicopter both crashed after exploding in a fireball from the collision.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The family of an Oklahoma prisoner, who was allegedly killed by his cellmate, is now taking legal action after raising questions about his death and the length of his incarceration.

They announced the lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC) on Thursday.

News 4 spoke with MarQuiel Ross family in December 2024, saying that he should have already been released before his death.

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Family says they were lied to about inmates death in prison

The family also said there were discrepancies surrounding the date of his death and alleged that ODOC waited nearly a week to notify them.

The department is now addressing those claims further and what they say is misinformation.

Leaders with the Department of Corrections say they have done nothing wrong, and this is all part of a personal attack by a state lawmaker.

However, the family of MarQuiel Ross says if things were done right inside of the prison, he would still be here today.

The lack of transparency from the DOC, we have no other choice but to go this route because were not getting the answers from them that we have asked for, Rachel Macon, MarQuiel Ross Aunt said. Very draining, very emotional, very heartbreaking.

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Labarthe Law is representing Ross family and has experience with ODOC already from a lawsuit filed last year involving accusations that inmates were held in showers for days and not given food or water.

7 Oklahoma inmates suing DOC after reportedly being housed in tiny showers

This is an endemic problem with the Department of Corrections, Richard Labarthe, Lawyer said. Weve all heard the term failing upward, and I think perhaps thats exactly whats going on with this particular director.

The family of Ross claims ODOC changed MarQuiels release date multiple times and transferred him to different prisons without any notification or documentation.

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Ross, who had no prior charges and not considered dangerous, was moved to the state penitentiary, Oklahomas highest maximum security facility.

The family also claims they were not notified when he was beaten to death inside his jail cell, only to find out days later by another inmates family member, right after Ross was sent off by ODOC to be cremated.

Why werent we contacted, why the cover ups, why the different release dates? Macon asked.

However, ODOC leaders say this is a case of misinformation led by Representative Justin Humphrey (R-Lane), a frequent critic of the agency.

In a lengthy press release Thursday, ODOC argues against multiple claims the family of Ross has made.

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They say MarQuiel had eight disciplinary violations, resulting in his moves to different prisons.

Leaders also say that led to him losing credit for time served.

While at Lawton Correctional Facility, ODOC says Ross spit in the face of a transport officer, saying Ross escalating aggression and repeated misconduct was the reason he was then moved to OSP.

ODOC also says, within hours of Ross death, they tried contacting his family but were unsuccessful over the course of multiple days due to phone numbers not working and Tulsa police being unable to track down his mother because they say the address on her drivers license was invalid.

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Still, the big question from the family of Ross, their lawyers, and Humphrey is, where is the documentation showing all this occurred, and why cant they get it through an open records request?

Getting this information from them is almost impossible, Rep. Humphrey said. I have requested it, and I have not received much of the information I want yet. They have lied about his death.

ODOC leaders telling News 4 Thursday that the records theyre requesting contain confidential information, and they would need anyone requesting them to fill out a form first.

I dont know who theyre protecting, Labarthe said. If the family doesnt have a right to know this information, then who in the world does?

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We want them to take accountability, Macon said. We want them to tell us what we basically already know. We know; we just want to see if theyre going to be transparent and have the documentation to back it up.

Another point of contention is the date of Ross death. The family says they were told by ODOC that he died on September 17, but the autopsy said September 12.

On Thursday, ODOC said in its press release that Ross died on September 12.

The full press release can be read here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)  Democrat Louisiana State Representative C. Denise Marcelle says the family is slowly recovering after learning her grandson was found shot to death on Martin Luther King Day early this month.

22-year-old DShawn Brown was identified as the victim of a deadly shooting at a Mcdonalds on Airline Highway. Never imagined myself being here, said Representative Marcelle. She says its a different feeling being on the other side of a tragedy, mentioning shes always at the fore front of prayer vigils and tragic shootings in the community to help other grieving families. She says Brown was just at her home before he was killed. My grandson had just left here, said hed be right back and never return, she said.

She says he was just trying to turn his life around when he was killed. Shell miss him and the bond they shared saying they shared the same birthday, often being called twins from family. Marcelle has advocated for ending gun violence in her community.  Ive always been one to advocate against violence, and in fact, I dont even give away guns at my Christmas event, she said.

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Man charged after one killed in shooting at McDonalds in Baton Rouge

Representative Marcelles family and friends have been reaching out offering support and help, including grandmothers and others who were also affected by gun violence. He leaves behind his four-year-old son, Denim. Marcelle says its time for the community to rally together more to put an end to gun violence. I think its important that we as a community be outraged, said Marcelle.

The family is planning his funeral for Feb. 1. To donate to help support DShawn Browns son you can send donations to family at $EMPRESSEDCREATIONS.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Louisiana First News.
This story was updated because it contained an inaccuracy.

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms is reportedly in talks to reincorporate in Texas. Like many large U.S. corporations, the social media giant is incorporated in Delaware, but it might soon be migrating south, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes just weeks after Meta announced it would move its key content policy team to Texas. In a video announcement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized content censorship and moderation and said he wanted to promote free speech and expression. He also said that Texas was one of the best places to do that.

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As we work to promote free expression, I think that it will help us build trust to do this work in places where theres less concern about the bias of our teams, he said.

While the company reportedly won't be moving their corporate headquarters from California, Meta already has a significant presence in Austin, recently expanding its space downtown to accommodate more than 1,500 employees.

More: Meta hosts Llama Hackathon at their downtown Austin office on Friday night

If Meta did relocate to Texas, it would not be the first Silicon Valley company to pull up stakes for the Lone Star State.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise relocated its headquarters from California to Houston in 2020. Oracle also moved from California to Austin in 2020, though it is reportedly considering a move to Nashville in the near future.

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Elon Musk moved Tesla's headquarters to Austin a few years ago. Then late last year, he announced he would relocate all his remaining companies to Texas after a public dispute with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over a law changing parental notification rules for transgender students.

Musks social media platform X  formerly known as Twitter  has moved its headquarters to Bastrop, just outside of Austin. His Boring Co.s headquarters and some SpaceX offices also are now in Bastrop, while SpaceXs Starbase launch site is in South Texas.

Several other tech companies have opened offices in Austin in recent years, including Google, Amazon and Apple.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Is Facebook parent-company Meta moving to Texas? Heres what we know.
Tribal leaders in Wisconsin are warning tribal members to beware of ICE agents because of President Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration, because there are reports of some U.S. citizens being detained.

ICE is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency that operates independently of local and state police.

During these uncertain times as the Administration continues with its immigration crackdown, we ask that all tribal members prepare for the possibility of being stopped, detained and questioned regarding your citizenship, read a Jan. 29 letter from the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribal Council to tribal members.

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This comes after social media reports from tribal members who say they were briefly detained in some parts of the country in what appear to be cases of profiling.

"Native Americans are being caught up in the raids and detained," the letter read. "ICE has already detained Native Americans in the Southwest and we need to be prepared here in Wisconsin."

Some tribal members reported being detained for several hours closer to the border with Mexico.

In Arizona, state and Navajo tribal officials responded to reports of Navajo tribal members being detained for hours by ICE agents and urged tribal members to carry their tribal IDs or Certificate of Indian Blood.

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Arizona State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie informed the Navajo Nation council about a tribal member who was detained despite showing Certificate of Indian Blood ICE agents failed to recognize it as valid proof of citizenship, according to a Navajo Nation press release as reported by the Arizona Republic.

Stockbridge-Munsee tribal officials are urging tribal members to carry their tribal, state and/or federal IDs with them wherever they go and to remain respectful if they are stopped by ICE agents.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council is working diligently to ensure the safety and security of its citizens, and tribal members living on and off the reservation, the letter said. We are in contact with our state and federal partners, attempting to resolve this matter on a broader scale while putting in place a safety net to assist tribal members who may need our help.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation is located adjacent to the southwest side of the Menominee Reservation in northeast Wisconsin around Bowler.

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Ho-Chunk Nation President Jon Greendeer is looking to create "tribally enhanced identification cards" with the Department of Homeland Security that are easily recognizable to ICE agents.

"Identity verification is a concern among members of federally recognized tribes causing a lot of anxiety for Indigenous families," he said in a statement. "As a result and as a responsibility of our Ho-Chunk Nation to ensure and provide for health, safety and welfare of each of our tribal member, we are undertaking steps to assist in preventing unnecessary detention and/or questioning related to identity verification and validation."

Greendeer issued an executive order on Jan. 30 to waive the fee for tribal IDs for tribal members starting Feb. 3 and created a program to reimburse tribal members who obtain their passports.

Menominee Nation officials said they also are making tribal IDs or certificates of Indian blood free for tribal members who don't have them in response to reports of ICE agents detaining Indigenous people around the country.

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"The Tribe will be ready to confirm the identity of our tribal members and descendants if ever contacted by ICE," read a letter to tribal members from Chairwoman Gena Kakkak's office.

Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe officials reported there have not been incidents involving ICE agents on the tribe's 86,000-acre reservation in northern Wisconsin as of Jan. 30.

"However, given the recent enforcement actions affecting other tribal nations, we urge our members to remain cautious," read a statement to tribal members. "We remain committed to ensuring the sovereignty of our nation and the well-being of all those who reside here."

They are urging tribal members to report any suspicious activity involving ICE agents on the reservation to tribal police.

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Americas first peoples won U.S. citizenship in 1924, but have had to fight for full rights, including voting, in many places ever since.

One executive order being scrutinized by tribal officials across the country is the ending of "birthright citizenship," which has since been blocked by a federal judge for being unconstitutional.

Several news outlets have reported that Trumps Department of Justice attorneys were questioning whether Native Americans could be considering U.S. citizens, according to a 19th-century law that excludes Indigenous peoples from birthright citizenship.

Sign up for the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter Click here to get all of our Indigenous news coverage right in your inbox

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Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Indigenous leaders warn tribes about getting caught up in ICE raids
Jan. 30MORGANTOWN  A representative of Republic Services told The Dominion Post that road conditions continue to be an issue, but the trash hauler expects to be 100 % caught up in Monongalia County by the end of next week.

"We are facing ongoing challenges with ice and snow on roads that we cannot safely access. While temperatures are warming up during the day, they continue to drop at night and freeze the melted snow, creating ice on roads. Our trucks are not four-wheel-drive, and their ability to drive in snow and ice is significantly limited, even with tire chains, " they said.

Numerous complaints regarding Republic and other haulers prompted the West Virginia Public Service Commission last week to issue a press release asking haulers to park trucks near routes they can't access to allow customers to drop off trash.

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Republic says it has been offering alternative drop locations to impacted customers and is doing everything possible to get caught up as safely and quickly as possible.

Even so, people are frustrated.

WVPSC Chair Charlotte Lane said she is aware of the situation.

"We've tried to make alternative arrangements, but people still aren't having their trash picked up. It's my understanding that Republic says they still can't get to some of these folks and it's still not safe and the conditions are still bad ... All I can say is please be patient, " Lane said. "We've talked to them. We're going to check with them on Monday to see how many customers still haven't had their garbage picked up because I've looked at the weather, and it's supposed to be nice over the weekend."

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Lane said she's exploring exactly what options the WVPSC has should the situation continue.

"I'm looking into that to see, " she said. "We can order them to pick it up, but if they don't do it ... I'm checking the law to see if there are other remedies that we have."

On Wednesday, the Monongalia County Commission said it was fielding constant complaints about trash collections.

On Thursday, the issue made it to the Monongalia County Board of Health.

Board member Greg Selasky said his garbage hasn't been collected in five weeks and he has heard concerns that the trash could become a public health risk.

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County Health Officer Dr. Brian Huggins said the risk from the trash itself is low in winter as the temperatures hinder rot and bacterial growth.

He said the bigger risk is probably the animals the trash begins to attract  particularly large or sick animals.

"Realistically, I would say that the health risk is low. The bigger risk that you run is the animal problem. The trash cans that are provided are not animal-proof containers, and in the wintertime, especially with snow, animals are hungry. So if there's a lot of trash sitting out, that's good food, " Huggins said, explaining that keeping a large amount of trash inside is also not a great option.

"What I will say is that 100 %, if trash isn't getting picked up in an orderly way, outside you run the risk of animal encounters ; inside you run into the problem of things spoiling, fermenting and then potential disease that comes with that, let alone maggots and other things."
A cloud-security firm says it has discovered a major data exposure involving Chinese AI company DeepSeek, raising security concerns amid the company's rapid rise.

Wiz, a cloud-security firm, says it has uncovered a massive data exposure involving Chinese AI company DeepSeek.

According to Wiz, DeepSeek did not secure the database infrastructure of its services, leaving some data and chat histories accessible from the public internet with no password required. Researchers said they discovered the publicly accessible ClickHouse database linked to the Chinese company "within minutes" of beginning their investigation.

Wiz said the publicly accessible database allowed full control over database operations, including the ability to access internal data.

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"This database contained a significant volume of chat history, backend data, and sensitive information, including log streams, API Secrets, and operational details," the firm said in a Wednesday blog post detailing the data exposure.

Wiz said it had contacted DeepSeek to alert the AI company of the error and it had subsequently secured the data exposure. In the blog post, Wiz warned that the "rapid adoption of AI services without corresponding security is inherently risky."

"This exposure underscores the fact that the immediate security risks for AI applications stem from the infrastructure and tools supporting them. While much of the attention around AI security is focused on futuristic threats, the real dangers often come from basic riskslike accidental external exposure of databases," the company said.

Questions about DeepSeek's data use

DeepSeek is in the midst of a burst of popularity that sent its AI assistant app rocketing to the top of app stores. However, some countries are already raising concerns about the company's use of personal data.

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Both Italy and Ireland's data-protection authorities have separately questioned DeepSeek's use of personal data.

The Italian regulator has asked the company several questions about its data use, including what personal data is collected, on what legal basis, and whether it is stored in China. The app has since become unavailable for download from some app stores in Italy. The Irish data regulator has also requested similar information from DeepSeek on data processing.

Earlier this week, DeepSeek also suffered a cyberattack that forced the company to pause new sign-ups for its AI assistant. On Tuesday, the company said it was the victim of a large-scale malicious attack" against the platform. The company has since resumed normal operations.

DeepSeek shocks Big Tech

DeepSeek has made headlines and sent shockwaves through the tech world with its low-cost, open-source R1 reasoning model.

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The Chinese AI company model outperforms OpenAI's o1 in some tests but was supposedly built at a fraction of the price with less powerful chips. The U.S. has attempted to limit China's AI progress by restricting the country's access to high-powered AI chips through a range of export controls.

The prospect of low-cost AI models trained with less advanced chips sent some tech stocks like Nvidia plummeting earlier this week as investor confidence in Big Tech's expensive AI strategy faltered.

The success of the Chinese company has lit a fire under some of the U.S.'s leading AI labs, most of which have broadly labeled DeepSeek a good thing for innovation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he plans to move up some of the company's releases in response to DeepSeek's impressive tech, while engineers at Meta are reportedly studying the open-source model in four "war rooms."

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Rumors have been circulating that DeepSeek may have been helped by OpenAI's existing reasoning model, o1.

Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly probing whether DeepSeek trained its model with o1 via a technique called distillation. In machine learning, distillation is a process where outputs from a large pretrained model are used to train another, usually smaller model to exhibit similar capabilities. If true, DeepSeek's actions would amount to a violation of OpenAI's terms of service.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
The fight against human trafficking takes all of us, whether its being vigilant in looking for signs of trafficking or showing support for those who dedicate their lives to stopping predators.

Channel 9 is shining a light on several nonprofits in the Charlotte area that are working to help victims, survivors, and law enforcement. Youre encouraged to see each organization and get involved if you can.

Safe House Project is a national nonprofit working to combat child sex trafficking.

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Contact: 507-769-0819

Safe House Projects free OnWatch Training is a free, online training in how to spot, report and prevent sex trafficking.

A survivor-led nonprofit connecting survivors of human trafficking with critical resources to rebuild their lives.

Contact: info@survivornetworknc.org

Volunteers and staffers work to combat the sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking of teenage girls.

VIDEO >> What is human trafficking and how does it impact our communities?

The Hope United Survivor Network in Gastonia is a community organization providing support to victims and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Contact: 704-852-6000

Consultant offering healing for male survivors of sexual abuse.

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Contact: PolarLifeConsulting@gmail.com

A coalition of law enforcement, prosecutors, and service providers in Mecklenburg County working to support survivors and eliminate human trafficking.

This task force provides county-by-county resources in South Carolina for survivors of human trafficking.

Contact: 888-373-7888

Pats Place is a nonprofit in Charlotte helping young abuse survivors and their families move forward following abuse.

Contact: 704-335-2760

The Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center in Rowan County serves sexually abused children and their non-offending family members.

Contact: 704-639-1700

(VIDEO: 9 Investigates The Rescued: Teen saved from human trafficking)
(WGHP)  The song in the hills of Appalachia sounds different to every musician, but one thing binds every person who picks up an instrument: playing is like therapy.

Theres only one thing that makes me not have a lot of pain  When I play, said John Rogers, an Air Force veteran.

Rogers sought out the mountains as a place to heal.

Its so relaxing and so therapeutic to be able to mimic or come up with your own thing or see someone smile when you play, Rogers said. Im getting emotional thinking about it because its tough. You want to play.

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Rogers couldnt play for months. Hurricane Helene sent a wall of water rushing toward his home. It went from his feet to his knees in 90 seconds on Sept. 27, 2024.

Now, everything he loves in his Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, home is covered in mud, including around $30,000 in performance equipment and instruments he spent years collecting and curating.

I have cried so many tears. I cant cry anymore, Rogers said. You have so much to think about.

Musician and podcaster Nicholas Williams, who is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, watched hundreds of stories just like Rogers play out on social media.

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I started seeing instruments just floating down the river, Williams said. It took several nights of not really sleeping well and starting to think about an idea.

That idea started with a few simple sentences and then morphed into a website titled ReString Appalachia. Musicians who lost instruments and equipment fill out a form explaining what they lost and how they lost it. Then Williams and his team try to find a match.

Were trying to make the same match of quality or value of what they lost, Williams said. A lot of the time, were able to give upgrades.

Shortly after Williams launched the initiative, music shops, musicians and other nonprofits started offering up equipment.

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The matches have come from across North Carolina, including the Triad.

Its not much for us to take a guitar and fiddle with it. We do it all the time, said John Mark Hampton with Moriah Guitars in Greensboro.

Hampton reached out to Williams after he saw someone else post about ReString online and offered to fix up some of the old donated guitars.

Theyve worked on five or six so far with more on the way.

When they come in, we send them on up, Hampton said. Were able to use materials that were donated to us to work on them, so its a win-win.

Once Williams van is loaded up, the best part comes.

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Its not as cut and dry as hand an instrument over and they start crying. A lot of people are in shock still, Williams said.

Williams and his team have given out over 280 instruments to musicians. He estimates theyll give out close to 500 over the next few months.

Some people just froze. the last person I delivered to, the first thing he said, Was how long do I get to keep it for?' Williams said. I said, You get to keep them, and he was the first person where he didnt cry, but he was so overjoyed.

When Williams handed over amps, microphones and guitars to Rogers after he reached out, he cried immediately.

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He brought out all this stuff, and we just sat there and hugged each other, Rogers said.

Now, Rogers can get back to healing and performing with his band for people across southern Virginia and northern North Carolina.

Williams is now focused on transitioning ReString Appalachia to ReString to respond to disasters and support musicians across the United States.

From Tennessee to North Carolina to Virginia and beyond, workers are restringing hope and singing a new song of recovery.

Its hard to put into words, but its changed my life entirely, said Williams said. One thought can really change a lot of peoples lives.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX8 WGHP.
Heading into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s confirmation hearings, his allies were confident that at least one or two members of the Democratic caucus, such as Bernie Sanders of Vermont or John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, would vote to confirm Kennedy as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Servicesmore than enough to offset any Republican no votes.

But after two days of hearings in which Kennedy was slippery on questions about vaccines and uninformed about basic authorities hed have as HHS secretary, its conceivable that Kennedy could get zero Democratic votes and even lose the vote of Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator from Louisiana who chaired Thursdays confirmation hearing.

Combine a potential shutout among Democrats with the skepticism of Cassidyplus a few more Republicans who have already shown some willingness to reject Trump nomineesand there is a real but uncertain path to Kennedys defeat in the Senate.

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Im not really sure how much support is going to emerge after that, Fetterman told CNN on Wednesday night. I think we can all agree that was a really difficult performance.

Kennedys opposition to and skepticism of vaccines took center stage in the hearings on both days. At times, Kennedy flip-flopped on or simply denied past comments. He now says he supports vaccines for polio and measles and wouldnt discourage parents from vaccinating their children. But in a 2021 podcast, he said: I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, Better not get him vaccinated.

Ive been struggling with your nomination, Cassidy said at the end of Thursdays hearing. Does a 71-year-old man who spent decades criticizing vaccinesand whos financially invested in finding fault with vaccinescan he change his attitudes and approach now that hell have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States? Will you continue what you have been, or will you overturn a new leaf at age 70?

At other times, Kennedy equivocated. He said on Thursday that he will support the CDC schedule that recommends what vaccines children should get, but that left plenty of wiggle room for appointing people to the advisory committee that could change the CDC schedule.

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Thursdays hearing ended almost exactly as it had begun, with Cassidy and Sanders asking Kennedy to unequivocally say that vaccines dont cause autism. Kennedy repeatedly deflected by replying that he would look at the science.

That is a very troubling response, because the studies are there. Your job is to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job, said Sanders.

Cassidy recited research broadly looking at a number of studies that found no link between vaccines and autism, and Kennedy replied there are there are other studies that show the opposite.

Kennedys comments on vaccines and autism are just one reason the hearings put his confirmation in doubt. In an exchange with Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday, Kennedy refused to commit to not profiting from any lawsuits filed against drug companies during his tenure as HHS secretary or for four years afterward. This ought to be disqualifying, a Wall Street Journal editorial said of Kennedys comments to Warren. In a recent ethics filing, Kennedy said he was entitled to continue taking a 10 percent fee for a successful lawsuit against a vaccine manufacturer in a case he had referred to his law firm.

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Asked by Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet about past comments promoting the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 may have been genetically engineered to spare people who are Chinese or Jewish, Kennedy said he was just citing a study. But that study did not say anything about the possibility COVID had been genetically engineered.

Kennedy also failed to demonstrate a basic understanding of Medicare and Medicaidmassive programs over which the HHS secretary has oversight. Kennedy said the big problem with Medicaid is that the premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high. Medicaid programs generally dont have any premiums. He was also shaky when quizzed about Medicare.

He also stumbled Wednesday when Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez-Masto asked him whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) ever mandates abortion in states that have enacted restrictions. Guidance issued by Biden HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra about EMTALA and abortion is at the center of a complicated lawsuit that made its way to the Supreme Court. I dont know, Kennedy told Cortez-Masto on Wednesday. Asked what authority he had as HHS secretary to enforce EMTALA, Kennedy said: My understanding is that I have budgetary power, and that its pretty much limited to that. Cortez-Masto pointed out that the department investigates EMTALA violations.

Although former Vice President Mike Pence and the editors of National Review have called on pro-life senators to reject Kennedy over his support for an expansive right to abortion, pro-life senators seemed content with Kennedys commitments to do whatever Trump wants on the issue. On Thursday afternoon, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the largest pro-life group in the country, announced the group was encouraged by Kennedys comments and would not score the vote on Kennedy.

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Still, if Democrats unanimously oppose Kennedy, theres a decent chance that there could be four Republican votes necessary to defeat him. In addition to Cassidy, Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, is another potential no vote. McConnell, plus moderates Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, already voted against a Trump Cabinet nominee once when Pete Hegseths nomination came up for a vote to be secretary of defense. During Thursdays committee hearing, Collins asked serious questions without tipping her hand about how she would vote, while Murkowski was more conciliatory toward Kennedy. The Alaska senator requested that Kennedy speak positively about vaccines but didnt actually ask him any questions about vaccines. Utah freshman John Curtis is another Republican senator who could conceivably vote against Kennedy.

As a doctor and chairman of the health committee vetting Kennedy, Cassidys vote could be the most influential of all. Cassidy left the door open to Kennedy reassuring him, but the Louisiana senator seemed genuinely anguished about the harm Kennedy could do as the United States top public-health official.

At the end of Thursdays hearing, Cassidy recounted the story of an 18-year-old woman he treated who had to be flown by helicopter for an emergency liver transplant due to a case of Hepatitis B, a disease easily prevented by a vaccine. Cassidy said if someone dies because she was not vaccinated because of policies or attitudes you bring to the department, the greatest tragedy will be her death.

An associated tragedy, Cassidy continued, is that it will cast a shadow over President Trumps legacy, which I want to be the absolute best legacy it can be. So thats my dilemma, man, and you may be hearing from me over the weekend.

Read more at The Dispatch

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The Democratic Party is still recovering from the shock of Donald Trumps reelection. There seems to be a crisis of memory: The early chaos of his administration was not just predictable, it was telegraphed. On the campaign trail, Trump said exactly what he was going to do, while his allies at the Heritage Foundation literally wrote it down and published it. And yet, the first 10 days of the Trump administration have been defined almost as much by Democratic fecklessness as they have been by the characteristic andagainpredictable torrent of chaos, authoritarianism, and racism that Trump and his allies have unleashed.

There are, however, some positive signs. As Democrats reached the bargaining stage of reckoning with Donald Trumps reelection, some in the party signaled a willingness to work with him. Having been beaten by himand having realized, belatedly, that a decade of messaging had failedmany thought it was time to join him. Its been a dispiriting sight: There are still too many Democrats voting for Trump nominees, an attempt at reviving a certain standard of comity that Trump will never reciprocate and which Democrats should abandon in the wake of the presidents attempt to end all government funding by executive fiat.

But the hearings for Trumps nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have illuminated the path forward. In those sessions, Democrats have been ruthless, zeroing in on Kennedy Jr.s long history of conspiracy theorizing, his shameless thirst for power, and the danger he poses to public health as Trumps pick for that post. And theyve done more than simply tilt and parrytheyve broken some new rhetorical ground, as well. In the Kennedy hearings, Democrats arent just opposing Trumps nominee, theyre opening up a new path forward: not just castigating Trumps nominee but countering him and co-opting his message.





The period immediately following Donald Trumps reelection was bleak for reasons so obvious theyre not worth rehashing. But it was made unbearable by the enervating performance of the ostensible opposition party. As Trump and his followers popped champagne, Democratic leaders arrived at the same conclusion: Their decade-long effort to convince the country of Trumps singular unfitness and dangerhis stupidity, incompetence, and authoritarianismhad failed. Something else was needed.

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This didnt have to be a bad thing. Over the years Democratic resistance to Trump has too often verged into hysteria and hyperbole. The all-out, singular fixation on Trumpas if he were a gift from the negative-partisanship godsoften seemed like a convenient excuse to put off doing the more difficult work of coalition building or, for that matter, policy crafting. If Trump was such a singular, self-evident threat, after all, then the tough, mundane work of politics wasnt necessary. But Trumps victory has sent Democrats back to the drawing board.

Their first draft of what to do next was less than inspiring, as Democrats formed an initial consensus that what they needed to do was forgo finding a new way to oppose Trump in favor of a new way to help him. This has been most prominent in the partys depressing capitulation on immigration, culminating in the bipartisan passage of the draconian Laken Riley Act, which allows undocumented migrants who have been accusednot convicted or even triedof a crime to be deported.

Less prominent and almost as pathetic was the flirtation between some Democrats and Kennedy, who was tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and whose lifelong fixation on dead animals may not even crack the top five of his most disqualifying characteristics. A virulent anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, RFK Jr. played a pivotal role in a measles outbreak in American Samoa that left nearly 100 dead. He is an anti-science quack who seems set on returning the country to an era when polio and other preventable diseases were rampant.

Shortly after Trump nominated Kennedy Jr., Colorado Governor Jared Polis endorsed him, albeit in a mealy-mouthed way. Science must remain THE cornerstone of our nations health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety, Polis wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices.

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Meanwhile, reporting in early January, albeit with a pro-RFK Jr. slant, indicated that the HHS nominee saw Bernie Sanders and John Fetterman as potential allies to his nomination. Kennedy Jr., after all, was a crank, but some of his conspiracy theorizing appealed to independent-minded Democrats, either those cynically attempting to show their bipartisan credentials (Fetterman) or those who saw common cause with elements of RFK Jr.s program, which treats pharmaceutical and agricultural giants with skepticism (Sanders).

In the lead-up to the hearings that began on Wednesday, moreover, there were rumblings that Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse might actually cast a rogue vote for Kennedy Jr. for reasons both base and familiarTrumps nominee was his roommate at the University of Virginias Law School. As Democrats, still smarting from their defeat in November, struggled to come up with anything cohesive, there was legitimate anxiety that they could fail to mount a serious challenge to one of Trumps most unserious nomineesand that any Democratic votes for Kennedy Jr. could provide enough cover for reluctant Republicans to vote to confirm as well.

But the hearings themselves have thankfully put paid to those notions. Whether its recognition of Kennedys extreme lack of qualification or a new hard edge born from Trumps attempt to sabotage the civil service (or both!), Democrats have been forcefulthese confirmation hearings are perhaps the shoutiest in recent memory.

Its been a target-rich environment for Democrats anger. Kennedy Jr.s conspiracy theorizing about vaccines, his lack of evident qualifications, his role in numerous deadly public health emergencies, his basic lack of competence, and his overall fecklessness have all been themes. The hearings have forced Kennedy Jr. to admit he once claimed that Lyme disease was likely to have been a military engineered bioweapon and that he had once suggested that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender.

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It doesnt matter what you come here and say that isnt true; thats not reflective of what you really believe, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet said in one exchange with Kennedy. Because unlike other jobs were confirming around this place, this is a job where [its] life and death. That is the crux of the Democratic case, and its a strong one. At the same time, other Democrats have worked to open a wedge between Kennedy Jr. and other Republicans, zeroing in on the nominees seemingly convenient recent adoption of anti-abortion viewpoints. Kennedy Jr., these attacks make clear, cannot be trusted as anyones ally. If Republican senators are willing to set aside his vaccine skepticism because he is pitching himself as an ally on abortion, Democrats are making it very clear he cannot be trusted on this or anything. He is, at all times, guided only by his own quackery.

Democrats have an opportunity to build on these hearings. Kennedy Jr.s appeal is largely built around a pitch to cranks: Hes a whack job and skeptic of modern medicine who pushes ridiculous ideas about vaccines causing autism and the water turning kids gay. But parts of his approach to Big Pharma and Big Agriculture are worth co-opting. Kennedy Jr.s distrust of these companies is mostly a silly affectationhe sees them as part of a sinister cabal pushing evil vaccines. But there are elements of his critique that ring true, particularly when it comes to processed food and other chemicals. When faced with someone who is actually skeptical of corporate power, as happened during an exchange with Sanders on Thursday, he wilts.

A Bernie-RFK Jr. Verbal brawl breaks out pic.twitter.com/b2fdxUoRgq  Natasha Korecki (@natashakorecki) January 30, 2025

Trumps message still resonates because it feeds off crankish skepticism of powerful governmental and economic actors. That message has always been corrupt. Trump isnt remotely interested in reform or a more equitable or just society. He wants a government and a corporate world that bows down and ultimately enriches him. That message, moreover, has been co-opted in Trumps second term. Kennedy fits within the Trump 2.0 milieu where cranks and crooks have the run of the place. One moment, you have Kennedy Jr. advancing high weirdness in the halls of power. The next moment you have plutocrats like Elon Musk, transparently running a con job on the federal bureaucracy in order to shred regulations, cut taxes, and stop pesky investigations into his own business practices. Self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement are the goals at all times.

One reason why Democratic messaging has fallen flat over the last decade is because its been inherently pro-institutional. They have rightly labeled Trump as an authoritarian and a fascist. But they have, again and again, backed an existing political and economic order that Americans distrust as the only alternative. Voters want something differentsomething that cuts against the torpor of a broken status quo. The Kennedy hearings suggest a different Democratic Party is out thereangry, crafty, eager to fillet their opponents and coming awfully close to even having fun doing so. It still isnt clear if Democrats quite see these possibilitiesor if theyll seize them with both hands. But RFK Jr. somehow or another, brought out their best side.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Facing intense scrutiny from senators over his potential profit from vaccine lawsuits while serving as the nation's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that if he is confirmed he will not collect fees from litigation against the drugmakers of a cervical cancer vaccine.

Kennedy, who's President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Health and Human Services agency, told the Senate finance committee that he would amend his ethics disclosure after several senators, including Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and his cousin Caroline Kennedy raised concerns about his financial arrangement with the law firm representing patients who are claiming injuries from the vaccines.

An amendment to my Ethics Agreement is in process, and it provides that I will divest my interest in this litigation, Kennedy said in a written response to the committee.

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Initially, Kennedy had told the committee that he would continue to accept referral fees in legal cases that dont involve the U.S. government. That included an arrangement with a law firm that's sued Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. The deal earned Kennedy $850,000 last year, and he told senators he had referred hundreds of clients to the firm.

During Wednesday's hearing, Warren outlined several ways in which Kennedy could make it easer to sue vaccine manufacturers.

Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it, Warren said. Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.

The issue also may have been a concern for Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who is also a physician and is conflicted over his vote on Kennedy's confirmation because of Kennedy's anti-vaccine views.

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The Republican president's nominee is financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, Cassidy, the chairman of the health committee, noted as he ended Thursday's confirmation hearing.

Kennedy also stopped short of making other commitments, refusing to promise that he would not engage in lobbying Health and Human Services after his term ends.

Kennedy and his supporters have railed against that sort of activity, saying the revolving door of Washington  where federal officials trade public services jobs to influence government agencies while in the private sector  has undermined the U.S. public health system. He has criticized the practice at least a half-dozen times in social media posts over recent years.

Kennedy, who ran for president last year before dropping his bid and endorsing Trump, vowed in one post on X to rein in lobbyists and slam shut the revolving door, if elected president.

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He first challenged President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination but then ran as an independent before striking a deal to endorse Trump in exchange for a promise to serve in a health policy role during a second Trump administration. Now, after two days of hearings, his shot at that job is on the line with concerns about his anti-vaccine advocacy prompting nearly all Democrats to reject his nomination and a handful of Republicans who are at least considering doing the same.

If Democrats unanimously oppose Kennedy, he'll need support from all but three Republicans. The Senate finance committee is expected to decide if he makes it to the Senate floor for a vote next week.

Kennedy's response to the Senate committee was first reported by The New York Times.
From COVID-19 conspiracy theories to confusion on the facts about Medicare and Medicaid to refusing to say that vaccines arent linked to autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s confirmation hearings this week on Capitol Hill were anything but smooth for someone who is hoping to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

While his history of anti-vaccine remarks was a major talking point throughout the hearings, his beliefs were also front and center during a heated exchange in which Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) brought up a comment that Kennedy once made about vaccinations and the Black community.

In 2021, Kennedy had said, We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule thats given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours.

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Alsobrooks asked Kennedy to explain what he meant by that remark, and he went on to reference a series of studies while saying research shows that Blacks need fewer antigens. (For the record, experts say that this is not true.)

Right now, how vaccine schedules are tailored is based on things like your age, your exposure risk, if you have other chronic underlying health conditions  but race isnt one of them, and there isnt research that suggests that it should be, Joel Bervell, a recent medical graduate and medical myth-buster on social media, told HuffPost.

What especially bothered Bervell about Kennedys exchange with Alsobrooks was the fact that he doubled down on his comment from 2021.

Kennedy could have used this as an opportunity to admit that he needs to do more research and understand the vaccine schedule, but instead, he defended what he said, which I think, for me, thats where the problem lies in, Bervell told HuffPost. Not necessarily the fact of the misinformation is out there, but the fact that he wasnt willing to at least confront it or admit that onstage.

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Below, experts like Bervell share their concerns about Kennedys statement and how it reflects a larger problematic picture:

Kennedys comment can be considered scientific racism, experts say.

In medicine, in science, we know that race is a social construct, meaning that you cant look at someones genes and identify what race they are, Bervell said.

That means differences in vaccine timelines just dont make scientific sense.

The comment that [Kennedy] made about the vaccine schedule, its basically scientific racism, which has been debunked, Dr. Oni Blackstock, a primary care and HIV physician who is the founder and executive director of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consulting company, told HuffPost.

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Hes really perpetuating this false belief that Black people are somehow biologically different from white people and, in that way, justifying differential and ultimately unequal treatment for Black people versus white people, Blackstock added.

By saying that, he was putting on one of the larger stages in health care this notion that race-based medicine should still exist, when thats actually what many scientists recently have been trying to root out, Bervell said.

Race-based medicine and scientific racism has led to undertreatment of Black patients, dismissal of pain and even death, Blackstock stressed.

Both experts pointed to real-life examples of this, like the false belief that Black people have better-functioning kidneys than white people. This made it harder for Black people to get the treatment they needed, like kidney transplants, according to Bervell. And this thought pattern isnt from some faraway time  a medical equation that reinforced this bias wasnt changed until 2021, Bervell said.

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Whats more, during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, Black people were believed to be resistant to yellow fever, which was not true and led to high mortality rates among Black people, Blackstock explained.

The importance of understanding the problem with the myths is that they can literally lead to regulations being written into medicine that treat populations differently just based on race, Bervell said. It can actually change the care that people receive.

While its easy to look at a particular viewpoint as a one-off, medical racism has real-world consequences that irresponsible comments can make worse. Promoting debunked beliefs distracts us from really doing the work that we need to do, which is dismantling systemic racism in health care and ensuring that everyone has equitable access to preventive care and treatments that they need, Blackstock added.

Cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s comment about vaccines in the Black community has medical experts worried. Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images

Such stances may lead to more mistrust in the health care system.

One thing that is also kind of strange about him [Kennedy] is hes someone who for a long time has said that he doesnt support vaccines, Bervell said. Apparently, now hes changed his mind, but for a long time he said he hasnt supported vaccines, and then hes also saying that Black people should get a different vaccine schedule. So you have to wonder, what is your goal in saying that if you dont even believe in vaccines?

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Bervell said comments like those from Kennedy can sow vaccine hesitancy in the Black population, which is dangerous and can erode trust in evidence-based medicine.

Its not the first time that this has happened, either, Blackstock added. In 2021, Kennedy produced a documentary called Medical Racism: The New Apartheid, which Blackstock said promoted misinformation about health and vaccines to the Black community, along with other marginalized groups.

Its interesting how some of his efforts have been focused on taking advantage of [and] exploiting the mistrust that some in the Black community have around vaccines and the health care system because of structural racism and medical racism, Blackstock said.

With misinformation and scare tactics rampant on social media, misinformation from government leaders will only make it harder to tell whats real and whats fake in medicine. Trust needs to be paramount for health care as an institution, Bervell said.

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The trust is already eroded in health care, Bervell explained. We need to have someone that is going to work with scientists, researchers, doctors that are on the ground seeing these problems every day, not someone thats in an ivory tower watching from above without understanding of whats actually happening on the ground.

Experts say this rhetoric aligns with messaging from Donald Trump.

Blackstock stressed that while such false beliefs are very problematic, they track with much of the messaging from Donald Trump and his new presidential administration.

It echoes some of the rhetoric that [Trump] has shared around eugenics and immigrants, Blackstock said. Hes talked about immigrants having bad genes or poisoning the blood of our country. It just speaks to this idea of racial purity or genetic purity, and this false idea that certain groups of people are inherently inferior or predisposed to certain behaviors because of their genetics.

And, again, race is a social construct and does not equal genetic differences. Its just really shocking that in the year 2025 we are still dealing with these beliefs being propagated that have been around for several centuries that have been used to justify slavery, used to justify inequitable treatment, used to justify forced sterilization, Blackstock said.

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Blackstock added that she thinks individuals get away with this kind of rhetoric because people become accustomed to outlandish comments and bad behavior.

But we need to really flag this and say this is really dangerous and really concerning rhetoric that can have real health implications, Blackstock said.

Related...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trumps nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, told senators Friday he will divest his financial stake in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Merck over its vaccine that protects against human papillomavirus.

In a written response to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kennedy said he is amending his ethics agreement and that, if confirmed, he will not profit from the litigation.

An amendment to my Ethics Agreement is in process. It provides that I will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my non-dependent, adult son, Kennedy wrote.

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Kennedys answers to written questions came after he testified Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee.

During the hearing, Democrats including Warren raised concerns about Kennedys intention to keep a financial interest from major lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. In the ethics statement, Kennedy said he would keep 10 percent of the fees awarded in cases that he referred to Wisner Baum, a personal injury firm.

Democrats said it was a massive conflict of interest because he would be making money from lawsuits against the companies regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy can kill off access to vaccines and make millions of dollars while he does it, Warren said during the hearing. Kids might die, but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in.

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In a statement Friday after Kennedys answers were posted, Warren said there were still concerns.

While he has now pledged in writing to fix his flawed ethics agreement, the answers he has provided to this committee also raise new questions about the scope of his conflicts, Warren said, adding that the ethics agreement must ensure Kennedy cannot use his role as Health Secretary to open the floodgates to more anti-vaccine litigation and then cash in after he leaves office.

Given these ongoing questions, RFK Jr.s nomination must not move forward to any Senate vote until the details of his revised ethics agreement can be thoroughly reviewed, Warren said.

According to public records, Kennedy has made about $2.5 million since 2022 in his work with Wisner Baum.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted to senators late Thursday that there was at least one incident in which he settled a case over inappropriate behavior.

The revelation came by way of a series of follow-up questions Democrats sent to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary nominee. Senators wanted to know if Kennedy had ever reached a legal settlement over accusations of misconduct.

Two questions in the list, obtained by Mother Jones, read as follows:

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Yes or no, have you ever reached a settlement agreement with an individual or organization that accused you of misconduct or inappropriate behavior?

Yes or no, have you ever agreed to or been subject to a non-disclosure agreement with any individual or organization?

Kennedy answered yes to each one but offered no follow-up details.

Mother Jones reached out to Kennedy to elaborate on the answer, querying if the 71-year-olds settlements had to do with previously reported allegations, such as claims that he allegedly groped his childrens babysitter, Eliza Cooney, in the late 1990s.

A spokesperson for Kennedy, Katie Miller, sent a brief reply to the publication: As a matter of policy, we dont respond to Mother Jones.

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Kennedy had denied Cooneys accusation when asked about it during his Senate confirmation hearing. And when Senator Patty Murray asked if there were other instances where Kennedy made sexual advances toward an individual without their consent, he said, No.

Kennedy, a virulent vaccine conspiracy theorist, was tapped by Donald Trump to run the countrys health policy.

His private life has given pause to a number of lawmakers responsible for confirming him. Kennedy has publicly admitted to dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, believed the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democrat John Kerry, peddled conspiracies that the CIA killed his uncle, chainsawed off the head of a dead whale (per his daughter Kick Kennedy), and last week was described by his cousin Caroline Kennedy as a predator who is addicted to attention and power.

I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together, the former ambassador to Australia and Japan wrote in a letter to lawmakers obtained by The Washington Post.

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His basement, his garage, his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks, she continued. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.

And Kennedys history in public health is questionable, at best. His stances, which include unscientific beliefs that AIDS is not caused by HIV and that a large number of vaccines should be stripped from the market, could have major impacts on the agency designed to protect Americas health, especially as bird flu outbreaks begin to dot the country.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO)  Something rare is taking place at the South Dakota Capitol this week, as a new governor, Larry Rhoden, and a new lieutenant governor, Tony Venhuizen, take office, amid some unusual circumstances.

This passage of power came not only in the middle of a governors term, but with the Legislature already two weeks into its annual session.

Out went an administration that had run on openness but had become increasingly secretive and too often focused too much on Washington, D.C., politics.

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In came a new administration, with some different people in key posts, bringing a new message of civility and transparency.

This transition, replacing silence with responsiveness, began to emerge on a Friday a week ago.

That afternoon, Rhoden was still serving as South Dakotas lieutenant governor, presiding as Senate president. Many in the chamber however sensed or knew it likely would be his final time.

Three of Rhodens grandchildren joined him up at the rostrum, climbing around on the chairs, while senators down on the Senate floor gave impromptu speeches praising the lieutenant governor. They spoke about how well he had run the chamber the past six years. He in turn was telling them that its the people you remember, not the votes or bill numbers.

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SD Democrats show frustration over imported ideas

This was because the sitting governor, Kristi Noem, was expected to be confirmed at some point during the weekend by the U.S. Senate as the nations new secretary of homeland secretary. Her pending confirmation meant Noem soon would be departing state governments highest elected office two years early, smack in the middle of the second four-year term that the voters in 2022 had elected her to serve.

Noems official letter of resignation on Saturday came shortly after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm her federal appointment. Her letter immediately triggered the succession provision in the South Dakota Constitution that says, When the office of Governor shall become vacant through death, resignation, failure to qualify, conviction after impeachment or permanent disability of the Governor, the lieutenant governor shall succeed to the office and powers of the Governor.

Larry Rhoden no longer was lieutenant governor. He was now Governor Larry Rhoden. He was getting ready to haul a load of steel to Cammack Ranch Supply in the small community of Union Center out in Meade County when he heard the news.

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Rhoden and Noem spoke briefly in a phone call.

They had spent months preparing for this day.

Noem would be moving back to Washington, D.C., a 22-hour drive by highway.

Rhoden would be moving to the Governors Mansion. He made the two-hour trip back to Pierre as the same man physically, but with all of the responsibilities of governor suddenly on his shoulders.

At the Capitol on Monday morning, during a ceremony in the Governors Office, Rhoden officially took the oath from South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen.

Then Rhoden briefly took questions from the news reporters. The first: Who would Rhoden nominate as the next lieutenant governor? Rhoden said the announcement would come later in the week.

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On that same day, Rhoden spoke privately with a member of the South Dakota Legislature, Rep. Tony Venhuizen, about becoming South Dakotas next lieutenant governor. Venhuizen said yes. They agreed that any word about the decision should be held as close as possible for as long as possible.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rhoden delivered his first speech as governor to a joint assembly of the Legislature. He introduced his wife, First Lady Sandy Rhoden, and others in his family. He also gave lawmakers some insight into how he reaches decisions, thinking through difficult issues while using his hands to make a livestock branding iron or a ranch tool.

Rhoden told legislators that civility would be important in his new administration. At the same time, he laid out a conservative, pro-Trump Republican vision for how he intends to lead South Dakota.

Some lawmakers thought Rhoden would publicly announce his choice for lieutenant governor during the speech, but he told them that would be come later in the week. A good-natured groan rose from the 100-some representatives and senators crammed into the 70-desk House chamber.

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By Wednesday morning, the Capitol rumor mill was thick with one name: Tony Venhuizen. Gov. Rhoden held a news conference at 10 a.m. to announce his choice for lieutenant governor.

Rhoden came into the room alone. After describing what he was looking for in the next lieutenant governor, Venhuizen opened the door and walked in. The two men shook hands, their smiles wide as cameras recorded the moment.

Venhuizen spoke about how the lieutenant governor must be a partner to the governor. Among his comments was a double-dose of news: He had submitted a letter that morning resigning from his seat in the state House of Representatives; and, if confirmed by the Legislature, he would serve at Rhodens request as a full-time lieutenant governor.

Venhuizen resigned because a provision in the South Dakota Constitution says legislators are ineligible for other offices.

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It states, No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any civil office in the state which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased during the term for which he was elected, nor shall any member receive any civil appointment from the Governor, the Governor and senate, or from the Legislature during the term for which he shall have been elected, and all such appointments and all votes given for any such members for any such office or appointment shall be void.

Venhuizens decision to resign before knowing whether he would be confirmed reflected his respect for the state constitution. But it was also because it was the right thing to do.

The transition of power from Noem to Rhoden marked only the third time that a South Dakota governor hadnt completed his or her elected term.

The first came in 1978, when Democratic Gov. Dick Kneip resigned that July to accept a federal appointment as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore. His lieutenant governor, Harvey Wollman, succeeded Kneip as governor, but with only months left in the Kneip-Wollman term, a new lieutenant governor wasnt chosen.

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The second time that a governor didnt finish his term came about because of one of the most tragic accidents in the state governments history.

Gov. George S. Mickelson and seven other men aboard the state airplane died in a crash on April 19, 1993. His lieutenant governor, Walter Dale Miller, succeeded Mickelson as governor. Governor Miller nominated Steve Kirby as lieutenant governor and Kirby was confirmed.

Miller ran for election to a term of his own but lost to Bill Janklow in the 1994 Republican primary. Janklow, who had served as governor the two terms before Mickelson, went on to win two more terms as governor.

The division from the Miller-Janklow battle, as well as Janklows unsuccessful but damaging challenge to Republican U.S. Jim Abdnor eight years earlier, was not lost on anyone active in South Dakota politics during the 1980s and 90s.

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There are parallels between Miller and Rhoden. Both grew up on ranches in Meade County. Miller was 67 years old when he became governor, the oldest in South Dakota history; Rhoden at age 65 is now the states second-oldest governor.

Then theres their legislative experience. Miller had served 20 years in the state House when Mickelson picked him as running mate in 1986. Rhoden had 16 years of legislative experience in the House and the Senate when Noem chose him in 2018.

Rhoden, during the Wednesday morning announcement of Venhuizen, stepped around a reporters attempt to pin down what the selection of Venhuizen might signal about whether Rhoden planned to run for election in 2026 for a term of his own as governor.

But on Wednesday afternoon, during his first formal interview as governor in his second-floor Capitol office, Rhoden gave a deeper answer.

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He told two KELOLAND News reporters that he wanted to first focus on the 2025 legislative session and then, in the spring, decide whether he would be a candidate next year.

Later that afternoon, Rhoden went up to the fourth floor of the Capitol and made his pitch on behalf of Venhuizen to the Senate Select Committee on the Nomination for Lieutenant Governor.

The South Dakota Constitution lays out the powers and duties of the lieutenant governor. That provision says, The lieutenant governor shall be president of the senate but shall have no vote unless the senators be equally divided. The lieutenant governor shall perform the duties and exercise the powers that may be delegated to him by the Governor.

Rhoden told the five senators that he went through an extensive selection process and why Venhuizen was his choice. The committee next took public testimony. One of the people speaking in support of Venhuizen was his father in law, former Governor Dennis Daugaard.

Venhuizen worked eight years on Daugaards senior staff, as communications director during the first term, and chief of staff during the second term.

Venhuizen also served as chief of staff for Noem for a period of about 14 months, before she appointed him to the state Board of Regents in 2021. Venhuizen resigned from the regents in January 2022, when he officially became a candidate for the House.

When Venhuizens time came to address the committee, he introduced his wife, Sara, and their three children, who were all in the room.

Then he gave his priorities for state government, saying he wanted to maintain South Dakota as a cautious, conservatively run state, and answered questions from the senators, such as what he expected his duties to be and where he would perform them.

Venhuizen said he planned to work from the lieutenant governors office in the Capitol during the winter legislative session and, during the other nine months, split time between Pierre and Sioux Falls.

The five senators unanimously recommended his confirmation. That was important.

The South Dakota Constitution says candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a team and shall be elected jointly. Noem and Rhoden, for example, had run together twice, in 2018 and 2022, and each time they were elected to a four-year term.

But Rhoden and Venhuizen werent running for election, at least not yet.

A sentence in the succession provision of the South Dakota Constitution specifically says what is to happen when the lieutenant governors seat becomes empty.

It states, Whenever there is a permanent vacancy in the office of the lieutenant governor, the Governor shall nominate a lieutenant governor who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of all the members of each house of the Legislature.

Those votes came Thursday.

35-0 in the Senate.

67-0 in the House.

The Senate president pro tem, Republican Chris Karr, had been presiding in the absence of a lieutenant governor. To mark Venhuizens confirmation, Karr presented a gavel to him

It is a great day for South Dakota, Karr told Venhuizen, and I look forward to working with you in the Senate and the executive branch.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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EBENSBURG, Pa.  A school district with a budget eroded by tax assessment appeals, a businessman working to revive The Johnstown Galleria with money from his own pocket, and the company that previously lost the mall in foreclosure are snarled in a legal dispute over a school tax refund.

Presiding over the dispute is Cambria County Senior Judge Patrick Kiniry, whose decision could either lead the parties to the table or spur more lawsuits among them.

At the center of the dispute is a court-ordered $143,000 school tax refund paid in full by Richland School District to Adar Johnstown LLC, the Florida-based company that formerly owned the Richland Township mall.

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Current Galleria owner Leo Karruli said he is owed a portion of that tax refund, which instead has been fully received by the former owner.

Commercial property tax assessment appeals and refunds have become rampant in Richland School District over the past 12 years, district Solicitor Tim Leventry said after a hearing Wednesday before Kiniry at the Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensburg.

Relaying information from Richland School Districts business manager, he said the amount of taxes that are being collected for 2024 versus for 2013 is a difference of more than $2 million per year. In other words, he said, the assessed values of properties in the township were reduced through tax assessment appeals, costing the school district $2,278,000 per year when compared to 2013.

The possibility of having to pay out any amount more on a tax appeal already paid in full would elicit a lawsuit against Adar, he said.

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The tax refund in question stems from a tax assessment appeal initiated by Adar after the mall went into mortgage foreclosure in 2021. Adars mortage lenders foreclosed on the mall and discharged it in 2022 to a new buyer, Karruli, who has since spent his own money for mall repairs and giving generous deals to tenants in an effort to rebuild the mall.

The closing agreement for the mall included Karrulis reimbursement to Adar for more than 90 days of school, county and township taxes from Sept. 30 to Dec. 31, 2022.

The sale of the Galleria, including Karrulis prorated taxes, was completed prior to the Cambria County court-ordered tax refund.

Richland School District was ordered in 2023 to pay back $143,000 it collected in taxes from Adar. Karruli claims a portion of that refund, $36,000, is owed to him for the prorated taxes he paid in the closing agreement for the mall. Reluctantly, Karruli said, he filed a lawsuit against the school district seeking to gain the funds he believes he is owed.

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I dont need it for me, he said in interviews prior to the Wednesday hearing. I can do a lot with that for the people here in Johnstown.

Although Karrulis lawsuit was served to the school district, Leventry said a refund is owed by Adar back to Karruli. The school district was not aware of the closing agreement involving Karrulis portion of taxes at the time the court ordered a tax refund, he said.

Further, after an examination of the closing agreement, Leventry said the taxes paid by Karruli were prorated for the calendar year  the way county and township taxes are collected  but school district taxes are collected on a fiscal-year basis, so he maintains Adar owes Karruli $7,200 and not $36,000.

Karrulis attorney, John Kalenish, doubled down on the $36,000 figure.

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We are entitled to $36,000 plus interest, he said.

Attorney Sharon DiPaolo, of the Siegel Jennings law firm, represented Adar during the tax appeal that Adar initially filed in 2021. Participating in the hearing by telephone Wednesday, she argued that the matter is closed from Adars perspective. She said that Adar owes nothing and that her contract with Adar has ended.

The school district violated the court order, and it would not be a simple matter to unwind this, she said.

DiPaolo said if the court orders Adar to pay, then the companys former mortgage lenders, Wells Fargo, would have to pay back the money because Adar relinquished the mall in foreclosure.

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Leventry said he does not know with certainty that Adar transferred the tax refund to Wells Fargo.

The school district paid the settlement to Adar, he said.

Leventry said if Adar will not pay, the school district will be forced to file against Adar because it was overpaid.

They received the entire $143,000, which they should not have, he said.

DiPaolo said she is not invested in what Wells Fargo received from Adar and Adar is not party to the dispute.

The school district only needed to follow the court order as the county and township taxing bodies did, she said. I dont know if its $7,200 or $36,000 (owed to Karruli) but attorneys fees, if this continues, will outstrip all of that.

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Kiniry recessed the case Wednesday and said he would issue a decision  a decision which may result in another hearing.

After the hearing, Leventry said if the court orders the district to pay, then it will file an action against Adar because the company was paid the money and had an obligation to return it.

No matter what their argument is, they owe money back in some amount, he said.

Leventry said repeated electronic and phone communication with Adar for the past few months leading up to the hearing had gone unanswered.

A mountain is being made out of a molehill because if Adar had just came to the table three months ago and said, Yes, we received all this money and shouldnt have gotten it all and well agree to pay this back, then we wouldnt be here, he said. But they refuse to acknowledge. They wont even communicate. So its understandable that Karruli is making his claim. But at the end of the day, Adar is the one that really received the money and hasnt paid it back.
At "know your rights" workshops popping up in Phoenix and cities across the country, immigrants are being trained how to respond if stopped by ICE officers or if immigration authorities show up at homes or places of work.

The civil rights trainings have been offered by immigrant advocacy groups for years. They were started years ago by groups in Phoenix in response to the immigration sweeps carried out under former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the late 2000s, and later during the record deportations that took place from 2018 to 2012 during the first term of the Obama administration, advocates say.

"The whole nation is following the models started in Arizona, said Erika Ovalle, a co-founder of Puente Arizona, a Phoenix grassroots immigrant advocacy group that pioneered know your rights workshops.

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But the trainings have exploded in number since Donald Trump won the presidential election in November promising to carry out the largest mass deportations in U.S. history. On day one of Trump's presidency, he signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at ramping up deportations. Trump also rescinded a long standing policy, clearing the way for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to make arrests at churches, schools and other "sensitive" areas ICE officers were previously directed to avoid.

On Monday, Jan. 27, a know your rights training held at the headquarters of Puente Arizona, drew a standing room only crowd of more than 150 people, many of them undocumented immigrants.

Puente held a a second meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 29 to train legal immigrants and U.S. citizens how to identify and record ICE arresting people to ensure their rights are not violated, and to warn immigrants to stay away from the area.

"If we really want to be a safe community we need to watch out for each other," Ovalle told the audience.

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The group moved that training, called "Migra Watch"  immigration watch  outside because the more than 250 people who showed up did not fit inside Puente's building.

"If we really want to be a safe community we need to watch out for each other," Ovalle told the audience.

Those events are part of know your rights campaigns sweeping across the country in the wake of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, which ICE has begun publicizing by posting the number of people arrested and detained daily on social media. For instance, on Jan. 29 ICE posted on X it had made 1,016 arrests and lodged 814 detainers nationally.

ICE has been directed by Trump administration officials to ramp up arrests from several hundred daily to at least 1,200 to 1,500, according to the Washington Post.

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As part of that daily quota, local ICE field offices have been instructed to make 75 arrests a day, The Post reported.

ICE has one Enforcement and Removal Operations field office in Arizona, based in Phoenix, according to the agency's website.

Natally Cruz, director of Puente Arizona, said during Monday's know your rights workshop that members of the group have confirmed that "a lot of people are being picked up by ICE officers" who they were not looking for during targeted arrests.

"They are not just taking people they targeted but everyone who is undocumented in that household," Cruz said.

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The Arizona Republic reached out to the Phoenix field office of ICE, but spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said she could not provide any information about enforcement actions taking place in Arizona or comment on the know your rights workshops.

United States; Immigrants attend a meeting held by Puente Arizona about their legal rights in case they are questioned by ICE in response to the mass deportations planned by the new Trump administration and Arizona's new Proposition 314 on Jan. 27, 2025, in Phoenix.

In addition to local groups, some Democratic members of Congress also have joined in the know your rights campaign, among them Reps. Raul Grijalva and Yassamin Ansari.

Ansari, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, co-hosted a bilingual know your rights tele-town hall Wednesday, Jan. 29 with Friendly House, a nonprofit social services organization, and the Nunez law firm. She also posted rights information on her Instagram page.

"l always protect Arizona families," Ansari wrote on Instagram. "Now more than ever, knowing your rights is crucial. If an immigration agent confronts you or a loved one, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS."

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In suburban Denver, more than 50 people attended a Dec. 16, 2024, training offered by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. The group handed out posters and wallet cards explaining the rights everyone has. The session in a high school cafeteria included role-playing arrests and traffic stops, and an explanation of the differences between local police, sheriff's deputies and federal immigration officials.

In media interviews, Trump's border czar Tom Homan said ICE is focused on arresting public safety threats and said know your rights campaigns are preventing ICE from arresting and deporting criminals and immigrants with final orders of deportation.

"For example, Chicago, very well educated. They've been educated how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE and I've seen many pamphlets from NGOs, here is how you escape ICE. Here is what you need to do. They call it know your rights. I call it how to escape arrest," Homan said during an interview on CNN.

During the CNN interview, Homan acknowledged that in addition to immigrants with criminal records, ICE is also arresting "collaterals," family members and other immigrants swept up by ICE officers while making targeted arrests.

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"If they are in the country illegally, they are going to get arrested too," Homan told CNN.

Natally Cruz informs immigrants about their legal rights at Puente Arizona. The meeting was held in case they are questioned by ICE in response to the mass deportations planned by the new Trump administration and Arizona's new Proposition 314 on Jan. 27, 2025, in Phoenix.

During the 90-minute know your rights event at Puente, Cruz the director, told the crowd the training was intended to inform immigrants of their civil rights under the U.S. Constitution to help prevent families with undocumented members from being torn apart by deportations.

"We all have rights even if we are not citizens of the country," Cruz told the crowd, which listened in rapt attention.

Using slides illustrated with cartoons projected on a large screen TV, Cruz walked the crowd through a series of scenarios explaining their rights should they be questioned by ICE or the police about their immigration status.

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Among the rights Cruz explained was to "remain silent" if stopped by police or ICE and questioned about their immigration status and only to provide their name and birthdate. She also advised them not to provide any false documents to immigration authorities as well as any documents that might indicate they were from another country, including foreign passports or consular ID cards.

Cruz also said they should also not answer the door should ICE show up their homes and they should demand to see a warrant if immigration authorities attempt to enter. She also advised them to read arrest warrants carefully to make sure ICE officers were at the correct address.

She also advised them to record encounter with immigration authorities on their phones, which could be useful to help in the legal defense if they are taken into custody.

If detained, Cruz advised immigrants not to answer questions, ask to talk to a lawyer and "don't sign anything."

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Lisandro Lopez, a construction worker from Guatemala attended the Puente training with his family. He said he has stopped leaving his house except to go to work for fear of being stopped by ICE.

His wife, Marilu, who held a baby, said she learned during the training to "stay quiet and record everything."

Lopez's 16-year-old stepdaughter, Ali, a U.S. citizen, said she now does all the shopping for the family. She said her parents have also stopped driving her to and from school. Instead, she rides the light rail and bus, which takes more than an hour each way. Ali declined to give her last name for fear immigration authorities would target her parents.

"Because of the state of everything right now, I'm really afraid of what would happen to my parents and my family and just really to everyone around me," Ali said. Although her parents do not have documentation, Ali said, "I don't view them as criminals."

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Adriana Hernandez attended both Puente events.

She said she lived through the Arpaio immigration sweeps when she did not have immigration status, but has since become a legal permanent resident.

She said she planned to share the information she learned with undocumented friends.

"I know how hard times are going to be because I lived it," Hernandez said. "I was I was in their shoes. And I saw a lot of injustices. I saw a lot of people getting deported for nothing. People think it's only criminals, but you don't have to be a criminal for this to affect you."

USA TODAY reporter Trevor Hughes in Denver contributed.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What to do if ICE stops you: Immigrants going to rights trainings
MANHATTAN, Kan. (KSNW)  The Riley County Police Department has raided a CBD shop for selling THC content they say violates Kansas law.

The department says a search warrant was executed Thursday morning at the CBD American Shaman, located in the 700 block of N. 11th Street in Aggieville. The department says the search is part of an ongoing investigation into the distribution of products containing THC levels above the 0.3% limit under the Kansas Industrial Hemp Act.

A 46-year-old man was arrested for three counts of distribution of marijuana (less than 25 grams) and one count of failure to appear. Riley County Police say his bond has been set at $15,060, but he is not jailed.

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Kansas granted more time to file for federal disaster

The department says over the past several months, numerous people have been cited for possession of marijuana after purchasing what they believed to be legal CBD products from local businesses, including CBD American Shaman. However, the department says the products sold exceed that limit and violate state laws.

They urge those wishing to purchase CBD products to ensure that what they are buying does not exceed legal limits.

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Jan. 30OREGON  A 19-year-old Rochelle man apologized Wednesday for the death of his 16-year-old passenger and friend who died from injuries suffered during a 2023 crash.

Alexander Burke, who was 17 when the crash occurred, pleaded guilty to aggravated reckless driving and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and 30 months probation when he appeared with his attorney, Ogle County Assistant Public Defender Michael O'Brien on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Burke was charged in January 2024 in connection with a July 6, 2023, crash in which Troy Komadina, 16, later died from injuries he suffered when the vehicle Burke was driving crashed and overturned about 9:30 p.m. on Steward Road near the intersection with Ritchie Road, southeast of Rochelle.

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According to court documents, Burke was driving at a high rate of speed when his vehicle left the road, traveled through a ditch and into a culvert causing "blunt force trauma" to Komadina that led to his death several days later.

Both teens were transported to area hospitals for their injuries, with Burke later released. Komadina, who was a student at Rochelle High School, died July 11, 2023.

On Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Heather Kruse and O'Brien said a plea agreement had been reached for the Class 4 felony offense.

Kruse told Judge Anthony Peska that Burke had never been issued a driver's license and was traveling at 77 mph in a 45 mph zone before his vehicle "hit the culvert, became airborne, and landed on its roof."

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She said Burke had no prior criminal history and that prosecutors had been in contact with Komadina's parents regarding the plea agreement.

"At the time of the offense he [Burke] was 17 years old," said O'Brien. "This was his friend."

O'Brien said the youthful "joy ride" was not an excuse for the offense.

"This was a friend of yours. So you are suffering too," Peska asked.

"Yes sir," Burke replied.

When asked by Peska if he had anything he wanted to say before being sentenced, Burke said he deeply regretted the crash.

"I would like to apologize to the family," Burke said quietly to Peska.

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"This was youth and just foolishness," Peska told Burke. "You have apologized to the family for their loss. And you have to live with this for the rest of your life. I wish you luck."

Burke is scheduled to report to the Ogle County Jail on Sunday, Feb. 2, to begin serving his jail term. He also was ordered to pay $1,589 in fines and court costs, undergo an assessment and adhere to all conditions required by the probation department.
Jan. 30ROCHESTER  A Rochester man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old in 2023 was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday morning.

Alex Allen Schneider, 29, was charged in July 2023 with two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He pleaded guilty to one count on Oct. 15, 2024.

As part of the sentencing conditions, Olmsted County District Judge Kathy Wallace ordered that Schneider also register as a sex offender.

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Schneider's attorney filed a motion on Wednesday, requesting the court grant Schneider a probationary sentence. The motion noted that Schneider has expressed "sincere remorse" for his actions and that he is unlikely to commit another crime. Wallace denied this motion during his sentencing hearing.

Schneider was accused of sexually assaulting a girl following a birthday party in Olmsted County on June 18, 2023, according to the criminal complaint. The Rochester Police Department began investigating the case the day after the girl went to a hospital to receive a medical examination. Law enforcement interviewed the families of both parties who told police that Schneider disclosed the sexual assault to them.

"It just happened ... I just messed up," he told one family member. Schneider said the assault would not have happened had he been sober.
CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO)  A Rockford teen has been arrested for shooting a Chicago man during a December armed robbery.

According to the Chicago Police Department, on December 19th, 2024, the 17-year-old Rockford teen participated in an armed robbery in the 400 block of E. 109th Street which left a 24-year-old man critically injured from a shooting.

The teen suspect was arrested in the 5300 block of Northbrook Drive in Rockford on January 28th, by members of the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Task Force.

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The teen faces charges of Aggravated Battery/Discharge of a Firearm and Armed Robbery.

He was placed into custody in Chicago.

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(FOX40.COM)  Roseville police said responded to a barricaded suspect at a home in Fair Oaks in Sacramento County.

Police said the suspect had made criminal threats in the city of Roseville.

The Sacramento County Sheriffs Office is assisting Roseville police with the incident.

Police said this has been happening for about two hours and no residents have been asked to evacuate as of 3:40 p.m.

As of 6 p.m., authorities said that a 56-year-old male has been arrested and taken into custody with charges of making criminal threats.

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This story will be updated as information comes.

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Rotterdam Film Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic has spoken out against the travel ban preventing The Seed of the Sacred Fig actress Soheila Golestani from leaving Iran to serve on this years jury.

Golestani was originally unveiled as part of the festivals Tiger Competition jury, alongside Yuki Aditya, Winnie Lau, Peter Strickland and Andrea Luka Zimmerman.

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We are saddened but not surprised that Soheila has been unable to leave Iran and join us in Rotterdam for the Tiger Jury  having seen Mohammads journey with this vital project is to have witnessed time and again the real consequences of speaking truth to power, said Kaludjercic, referring to director Mohammad Rasoulof.

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He is currently living in exile in Germany, after fleeing Iran last year, shortly after completing the underground shoot of The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Mohammad joins us both to share his film and also participate on a panel about cinema in the face of a rise of authoritarianism  and Soheilas experience underscores how real and urgent these issues are.

We stand with her in solidarity and hope that she is supported by the global film community at this time  as she is the victim of oppression and a backlash for speaking out that many artists know all too well, added Kaludjercic.

Deadline understands that Golestani has been accused of propaganda against the Iranian regime and promoting immorality because of her role in the film, charges which she denies. The court has been held, but no verdict has been issued yet.

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Rasoulof is accompanying a screening of his film and is also scheduled to speak on a panel titled Cinema and the Rise of Authoritarianism on February 3.

The filmmaker fled Iran last year and is wanted by authorities. He has been sentenced him to eight years in prison alongside a series of physical punishments.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is nominated for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Oscars and premiered in Cannes last May, where it won the Special Jury Prize.

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AUSTIN (KXAN)  The Round Rock Police Department said it shut down an illegal game room Thursday after finding numerous gambling machines.

Following months of surveillance, the department said it issued a search warrant for illegal gambling at Sky Digital Lounge, located at 2000 South Interstate 35, Ste. Q3.

Officers confiscated approximately 64 gambling machines, gambling proceeds and other related paraphernalia/documents, according to RRPD.

Illegal gambling machines seized in targeted operation (RRPD photo) Illegal gambling machines seized in targeted operation (RRPD photo) Illegal gambling machines seized in targeted operation (RRPD photo)

Police said the targeted operation was part of the departments efforts to address illegal activities often linked to these establishments, including gambling, drug use and other criminal behaviors.

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RRPD said several people were identified, and criminal charges were pending; however, the department said the investigation was ongoing.

According to the department, the Tarrant County Sheriffs Office Game Room Task Force assisted during the operation.

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC)  A man is facing drug charges after a chase on Maryland Street injured a Rochester police officer.

On Thursday night, RPD said one of their officers stopped a vehicle on Maryland St., but the driver pulled into a driveway and ran out of the car and through backyards.

The officer chased the suspect, but he was injured while trying to overcome a fence. The officer also saw a black plastic bag in one of the suspects hands. The officer was taken to the hospital for a non-life-threatening injury.

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RPD said the suspect, Darrel Hughes, was found under a porch with over $4,000 of cash. Furthermore, the officers uncovered cocaine, crack cocaine, and cash from inside the bag.

Hughes was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree assault, and second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will discuss the possibility of deporting suspected Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador in an upcoming meeting with Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele, according to State Department Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone.

Were looking to do a new agreement that might include the members of the Tren de Aragua, who will want to go back to Venezuela rather than having to share the prison with the Salvadorean gangs like MS-13. Its part of what we want to discuss and how President Bukele can help us Claver-Carone told reporters on Friday, praising Bukeles security efforts in recent years.

Since taking office in 2019, Bukele has launched a security crackdown in El Salvador, detaining tens of thousands of people on suspicion of gang membership.

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Once suffering from the highest murder-rate of any country outside a war zone, El Salvador has now fewer murders than the United States according to government figures.

But human rights activists say the Bukele administrations approach is overbroad  new legislation introduced as part of the crackdown allows police to detain citizens without proof.

Last year, El Salvador opened a controversial new maximum security prison for alleged gang members, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

The news comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20 recommending that the State Department start the process of designating the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization.

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The executive order specifically named Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, citing their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally as threats to the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.

Rubio begins his tour of Central America this weekend, and is expected to arrive in San Salvador on Monday.

Trump has made stemming migration to the United States a top priority and has enacted a slew of directives meant to crack down, including ordering thousands more troops to the US southern border.

Tens of thousands of migrants from the three Northern Triangle countries that Rubio plans to visit  Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras  attempt to travel into the US each year. However, according to Customs and Border Protection data, the number of border encounters with people from these three countries dropped in 2024.

CNNs Ray Sanchez, Rafael Romo, and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during an interview that President Trumps wish to acquire the Arctic island Greenland is serious and rooted in national security concerns for both the rest of the world and the U.S. amid Chinas interest in the region.

But this is not a joke, like what hes saying is pretty accurate. People have been talking about it for years. This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved, Rubio said during his Thursday interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly. President Trumps put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it.

Rubio asserted while China does not have a heavy Arctic presence, it is realistic to believe that Beijing would install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality, to serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.

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In recent months, Trump has expressed interest privately and publicly in acquiring Greenland. He said previously that Denmark would eventually come along with the potential sale of the planets largest island, which is rich in rare minerals.

We dont want to be Danes, Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede previously said on Fox News. We dont even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had a fiery call with Trump on Jan. 15 that devolved into a confrontation as the two discussed the presidents desire to buy the island.

I wasnt privy to that phone call, but I imagine the phone call went the way a lot of these phone calls go, and that is, he just speaks bluntly and frankly with people, Rubio said on Thursday. And ultimately, I think diplomacy, in many cases, works better when youre straightforward, as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing.

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Rubio also said that if Greenland would come under assault by China, Denmark would not be able to deter the East Asian country.

Denmark cant stop them. They would rely on the United States to do so, Rubio said. And so his point is, if the United States is on the hook to provide as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland, if it comes under assault, if were already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there.

This week, Denmark announced that it would bolster defense spending for the Arctic island with a $2 billion security package that contains long-range drones and new Arctic ships.

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President Trump's top diplomat makes his first trip overseas this weekend, heading to Central America to drive home the message that the U.S. expects cooperation in its mass deportation of immigrants.

But newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio will need to be careful to avoid alienating long-standing U.S. allies who say they are already taking a robust role in curbing illegal immigration and accepting deportees.

Panama, Rubio's first stop late Saturday, is an especially delicate case.

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Trump further complicated the immigration question by declaring he wants to seize the Panama Canal, the 50-mile waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is a key instrument in international shipping that Panama has controlled for a quarter-century.

"This matter is closed," Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said at a news conference this week. "The canal is Panama's."

Mulino refused to contemplate any "process of negotiation" on the canal, which the U.S. ceded to Panama in 1999, ending a long-standing sore spot of U.S. colonization in Latin America.

For many Panamanians, the canal represents income, employment and identity. Last year, operation of the canal by an independent Panamanian commission contributed $2.4 billion to state coffers.

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The canal "is an existential asset" for Panama, said John Feeley, former U.S. ambassador to Panama.

The waterway was cleaved across the most narrow section of the Panamanian isthmus in the late 1800s and early 1900s, by French and then U.S. engineers. Thousands of mostly Caribbean workers died from disease and accidents. Then-President Carter in 1977 signed a treaty giving control of the canal to take full effect two decades later.

In terms of seeking Panama's cooperation on immigration, the Trump administration would be "knocking on an open door," Feeley said, given Mulino's eagerness to assist on the issue. But the canal is a different matter.

"On America taking back the canal, that is not going to happen," he said. "The only way ... the United States will take back control of the canal is if there is another military invasion and occupation. And you show me, even among Trump voters, where the appetite for that is. I don't think you can find it."

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But Trump claims Chinese influence over the canal now poses a threat to U.S. national security. Trump exaggerates that influence, experts say, but it is true that Chinese-controlled firms own part of a port and other assets. China throughout Latin America has made significant inroads in infrastructure and diplomacy, often taking advantage of U.S. inattention.

The canal is "no longer autonomous  they have to do whatever the [Chinese] government tells them," Rubio said of the Panamanian administration of the canal during an interview with podcast host Megyn Kelly. "And if the government in China, in a conflict, tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to."

He added: "So its a technicality, but in reality if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could. ... And I think the presidents been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again."

Rubio has to balance his boss' demands with attempting to maintain good relations with countries that for the most part are loyal allies to the U.S., starting with Panama.

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"Panama has been very helpful in dealing with its border," Trump's special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said Friday in previewing Rubio's trip.

Relations with Colombia have been more strained.

President Gustavo Petro for more than two years received hundreds of deportation flights from the U.S.

But Sunday he turned back two military flights in which migrants had been shackled. He said would continue to accept flights, but wanted "dignified conditions" for Colombian nationals.

Trump immediately threatened a 25% tariff on Colombian exports  mostly roses, coffee and oil  and prevented thousands of Colombians from obtaining visas to the United States.

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The two leaders quickly overcame the row and flights resumed. The Trump administration defended its aggressive approach.

"It sends a message that ... there will be consequences," Claver-Carone said.

Rubio will also travel to El Salvador and Guatemala. In El Salvador, Trump administration officials have praised President Nayib Bukele's mass incarceration of suspected gang members. It is a system Bukele enacted by suspending his country's constitution, prompting criticism from human rights groups. Trump administration officials cited it as a potential model for dealing with criminal migrants in the United States.

For the first time in modern history, the State Department is top-heavy with Latin America experts, starting with Rubio.

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But Trump has singled a more transactional approach. A policy that for decades focused on the fortifying of democratic institutions and human rights will be replaced with rewards for cooperation on immigration, experts say.

The traditional approach of demanding democracy in some ways gave an opening to China, which never made such demands. The U.S., in contrast to China, came with "a bunch of lessons and no goodie bags," Ryan Berg, who heads the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, said in an interview.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Berg said: "Taking the region for granted as a sphere of U.S. influence has come at a high cost, creating a strategic vacuum in which China and lesser great power rivals have advanced their geopolitical aims with minimal pushback."

Panama's role in the immigration puzzle has been primarily to repatriate citizens from other countries who end up stranded in the country as they attempt to move northward. These include people from China, Sudan and other far-flung locations.

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The Trump administration's recent temporary freeze of some foreign aid also hurt Latin America, advocates say, crippling lifesaving food and heath programs.



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By Simon Lewis, Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China's presence around the Panama Canal is a national security concern that Panama's government has to deal with, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America, said on Friday, ahead of U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio's visit to the country.

Rubio will depart on Saturday on his first foreign trip, with a scheduled visit to the canal and a meeting with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since President Donald Trump's threat to take control of the U.S.-built canal.

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Rubio will also visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where the Trump administration's efforts to repatriate migrants from the region and stem migration into the U.S. will be on the agenda, Claver-Carone said in a briefing call with reporters.

Claver-Carone said it was not Mulino's fault that China's presence around the canal "got completely out of hand" under previous Panamanian governments, but added that the Panamanian president now "has to deal with it."

"This increasingly creeping presence of Chinese companies and actors throughout the Canal Zone, in everything from ports and logistics to telecommunications infrastructure and otherwise, which is very concerning, not only frankly to the national security of the United States, but frankly to the national security of Panama and to the entire Western Hemisphere," he said. "So that will be an issue of discussion."

Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has for more than two decades operated the ports at the canal's entrances. The company is publicly listed and not financially tied to the Chinese government, though Hong Kong firms are subject to government oversight.

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China's economic influence has been growing in Latin America, fueling worries in Washington that the resource-rich region will tilt to Chinese interests rather than those of the U.S.

Panama has vehemently denied ceding operation of the canal to China, but Rubio said on Thursday he had "zero doubt" that Beijing had a contingency to be able to block the canal in the event of a conflict.

Mulino says he won't discuss control of the canal with Rubio.

Panama is awaiting the results of an audit into CK Hutchinson's payments to the state, which analysts say could provide Panama with a pretext to alter its concession with the company.

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Despite the awkwardness in relations with Panama, one of the closest U.S. partners in Latin America, R. Evan Ellis, a professor at the U.S. Army War College, said he thought the two sides were likely to search for a quick resolution.

"I think it could actually go down relatively quickly," Ellis told Reuters. "At the end of the day, President Trump is probably looking for a deal where he can declare victory. The Panamanians are looking for what they can give up in the context of not violating their own management of the canal."

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Michael Martina; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Paul Simao)
Dry January is over.

A month of relatively little snowfall in the mountains of western Montana took snow depth in the region from above average a month ago to below average for late January. But now a weekend storm is set to deliver a foot or more of fresh powder at high elevations, and possibly a few inches at middle elevations. Valleys are expected to see less than 1 inch.

The incoming weather system, expected to begin impacting the area Friday afternoon, is likely to snarl vehicle travel over mountain passes and elevate avalanche danger in the backcountry as fresh snow builds up on top of a snowpack that contains weak layers unable to support the extra weight.

On Friday morning, the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center issued an avalanche watch that warned of "very dangerous avalanche conditions."

"Heavy snowfall and strong winds may be sufficient to overload very weak snow layers and cause a widespread cycle of avalanches large enough to bury, injure, or kill a person," the watch stated. "Some of these avalanches could release naturally, and it will become very easy for backcountry travelers to trigger them."

The Flathead Avalanche Center in northwest Montana also issued an avalanche watch on Friday, cautioning on Facebook that "we have all the necessary ingredients to develop dangerous avalanche conditions in the next 24 hours."

The West Central Montana Avalanche Center, based in Missoula, tracks, analyzes and advises on snowpack conditions and avalanche danger across a broad forecast area stretching from Lost Trail Pass on the south to the Seeley area on the north. The nonprofit has not yet been able to issue forecasts or avalanche watches and warnings so far this winter because it lost about half its annual budget, and liability protection, when the U.S. Forest Service cut its funding to the organization for this season.

However, forecasters will issue an updated general information product online Saturday morning, advising backcountry recreators on what they are likely to encounter as the storm adds weight to the snowpack. That information will be available at missoulaavalanche.org.

As of midday Friday, the National Weather Service predicted 10-20 inches of snow would accumulate around Lolo Pass, on U.S. Highway 12 southwest of Missoula, from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. Another 2-4 inches could accumulate Sunday night into Monday.

Lookout Pass, on Interstate 90 west of Missoula, was predicted to get 14-25 inches by Saturday evening. Lost Trail Pass, on U.S. Highway 93 south of Missoula and Hamilton, was predicted to get 5-11 inches in the same timeframe, but with an additional 3-7 inches coming Sunday into Monday.

Mountain temperatures were predicted to be in the mid-20 degrees Fahrenheit overnight from Friday into Saturday, with predicted highs on Saturday in the upper 20s and low 30s, just below freezing. Beginning Saturday evening, an incursion of arctic air is expected to drop overnight lows into the low to mid-teens. Sunday's highs were predicted to be in the low 20s, with overnight lows into Monday in the low teens or single digits.

From a snowpack-loading standpoint, that means the storm is likely to come through "right-side-up," said Avalanche Forecaster Cam Mackenzie, with heavier, higher-density snow falling at the beginning of the storm and lighter, drier snow falling toward the end.

Regardless, he said, "We have potential for avalanche hazard to increase."

Avalanches are possible on any slope 30 degrees or steeper, and can be triggered remotely and without warning from above, below or adjacent to a slope that steep. Avalanches are most likely to begin on slopes between 35 and 45 degrees.

Avalanches are the leading cause of death by any natural hazard on national forests, killing an average of 25-30 people in the U.S. each year, according to the National Avalanche Center, a program of the U.S. Forest Service. Almost all of the deaths occur on lands in the National Forest System, where nearly all backcountry winter travel like ski touring, snowmobiling, mountaineering and ice climbing takes place.

As of the past week, public observations and information from the West Central Montana Avalanche Center indicate layers of crusts and loose, angular, faceted snow crystals exist near the top of the snowpack in many locations across the region. There was also widespread surface hoar  vertical, leaf-like ice formations atop the snow. Any of those things could become a dangerous weak layer within the snowpack once buried Friday night into Saturday, although wind could blow the surface hoar down as the storm rolls in.

Mackenzie said his mindset when new snow accumulates is to consider what it's falling on. In this case it's potential weak layers.

"If you come across 6 inches of more of new snow," he said, "or youre seeing signs that snow is being transported by the wind and developing slabs, then avalanches are possible."
The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will use his visit to El Salvador next week to push officials there to agree to receive deported foreign nationals from countries that do not accept U.S. deportation flights.

Special envoy to Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told reporters that the U.S. wants to restore a deal from Trumps first term that designated it as a safe third country for such deportees. The Biden administration canceled that accord before it could be implemented and deportees could be sent there.

Such an agreement could give the administration an avenue to deport some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants inside the U.S. from countries like Venezuela or Nicaragua which do not accept, or restrict the number of U.S. deportation flights.

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Claver-Carone said Rubio plans to discuss the issue during his visit to El Salvador in the coming days, part of a multi-country trip in Latin America.

During the first Trump administration, El Salvador was one of three countries that had a safe third agreement with the United States, which will also be a topic of discussion, Claver-Carone said.

Under the terms of that agreement, foreign nationals would be sent to El Salvador and directed to seek asylum there. They would be barred from seeking U.S. asylum.

A political crisis in Venezuela has fueled a massive migration crisis throughout the Western Hemisphere, and Trump has stated he wants to address the large influx of Venezuelans into the United States.

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In recent days, the Trump administration canceled temporary protected status for Venezuelans who arrived in the country in recent years, as well as a humanitarian parole program that allowed Venezuelan, Haitian, Cuban and Nicaraguan migrants to enter the country temporarily and work if they received sponsorship from someone living in the United States.

Trump also dispatched special envoy for special missions Richard Grenell to meet with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Friday and discuss Venezuelas refusal to accept U.S. deportation flights, Claver-Carone said. CNN previously reported the Grenell trip.

The designation of El Salvador as a "safe third country" would reflect the increasingly warm relationship between El Salvador and the United States under the Central American countrys president, Nayib Bukele.

Bukele has consolidated executive power in the country in order to quell decades of rampant gang violence, making him a star in some conservative circles despite concern from international human rights observers about the sweeping nature of his crackdown on organized crime. He has also made concerted outreach to Trumps family and inner circle; many of Trumps family members and associates attended Bukeles second inauguration in San Salvador last year.

CBS News previously reported that the Trump administration was hoping to renew the agreement with El Salvador.
(Bloomberg) -- The top US diplomat said President Donald Trumps proposal to buy Greenland is not a joke because of the risk that China would station resources on the island that threaten American security and the importance of Arctic shipping lanes for energy exports.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Those conversations are going to happen, but this is not a joke, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about discussions between Trump and Danish authorities over potentially buying the island. He spoke in an interview on SiriusXMs The Megyn Kelly Show posted online Thursday. Rubio also reiterated the Trump administrations interest in the Panama Canal.

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Rubio, who has previously defended Trumps interest in Greenland, said Beijing may deploy Chinese companies to establish operations on the island that might one day be used by its military, adding that this was also a concern in Panama.

It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe even in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places, said Rubio, a longtime China hawk. And that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality serve a dual purpose  that in a moment of conflict they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.

Rubio said Arctic shipping routes were going to be crucial for the Trump administrations plan to export more American energy. Greenlands potential as a source of critical minerals also has been cited within Trumps camp as a reason for its strategic value.

A spokesman for Chinas embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told Bloomberg in a statement that Rubios accusations about a possible dual-use facility on Greenland are totally groundless and unfounded. He added that Beijing does not take part in managing or operating the Panama Canal and respects the countrys sovereignty.

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Meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded to the comments on Friday saying that American interests in the Arctic matches those of Denmark. But he reiterated that Greenland is not for sale.

Its also not a joke when we say that of course Greenland should not become American, Rasmussen said in an interview with Danish national broadcaster DR. The Kingdom of Denmark has no interest in that. Neither does Greenland, that is crystal clear.

Earlier this week, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sought to drum up support from European allies to stand up to Trumps efforts to appropriate Greenland.

While Rubio was seen as the most conventional of Trumps cabinet picks, hes fully backed Trumps foreign policy ideas, including a disruptive foreign aid freeze that has alarmed global aid organizations including the World Health Organization.

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Trump has also called for the US to retake control of the Panama Canal unless the cost of passage for naval and merchant ships is slashed. He has falsely accused China of operating the waterway, exaggerating the significance of two ports on either side of the canal operated by a Hong Kong-based firm.

On Wednesday evening, Trumps Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, said the US had the right to do what is necessary to ensure access to the Panama Canal.

--With assistance from Sanne Wass.

(Updates to add comment from Denmarks foreign minister from seventh paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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2025 Bloomberg L.P.
By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he had "zero doubt" that China has a contingency plan to shut down the Panama Canal in the event of a conflict with the U.S. and that Washington intends to address what it sees as a national security threat.

Just days before visiting Central America on his first foreign trip as top U.S. diplomat, Rubio, in an interview with Sirius XMs The Megyn Kelly Show, echoed some of President Donald Trump's concerns about Chinese influence over the strategic waterway.

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Trump, in his Jan. 20 inauguration speech, again accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the canal in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China - claims that the Panamanian government has vehemently denied.

He vowed at the time that the U.S. would take back the canal but did not say when or how.

Rubio, a longtime China hawk during his Senate career, pointed to a Hong Kong-based company that operates two ports at the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances as a risk to the U.S. because "they have to do whatever the (Chinese) government tells them."

"And if the government in China in a conflict tells them to shut down the Panama Canal, they will have to," Rubio said. "And in fact, I have zero doubt that they have contingency planning to do so. That is a direct threat."

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The Panamanian government has vehemently denied ceding operation of the canal to China and insists it administers the canal fairly to all shipping.

Earlier on Thursday, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino ruled out discussing control over the canal with Rubio when he visits the country. "The canal belongs to Panama," he told reporters.

Though the canal itself is operated by Panama, the two ports on either side are run by publicly listed Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson, while other ports nearby are operated by private companies from the United States, Singapore and Taiwan.

Rubio did not repeat Trump's vow to retake the canal but insisted that the U.S. intends to address the issues the president has raised, saying the current situation "just can't continue."

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"I would argue that the canal is already in the arms of the Chinese," he said, expressing hope that the issue can be resolved soon.

Critics have accused Trump of modern-day imperialism in his threats over the canal as well as Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, suggesting such rhetoric could encourage Russia in its war in Ukraine and give justification to China if it decides to invade self-ruled Taiwan.

Some analysts have questioned whether Trump is serious about pursuing what critics say would be a land grab, speculating he may be laying down an extreme negotiating position to squeeze out concessions later on.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
A recent court ruling has blocked an attempt to make airline pricing more transparent, USA Today reported.

On Tuesday, a U.S. appeals court shot down a rule established last year by the Biden administration which would have required upfront disclosure of airline service fees and additional costs. The court denied the petition because they said the Transportation Department (USDOT) had not followed the proper procedural guidelines.

The ruling stated that, while the department has the authority to put into effect fee disclosure protocols that specifically address "unfair or deceptive practices being conducted by airlines," it should have consulted with airlines and allowed them to respond to a USDOT study examining the impact of fee disclosure rules.

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The rule has been sent back to USDOT, with the court allowing them time to address the error and presumably refile. However, considering the Trump administration now controls the department, its unclear whether the fee disclosure rules process will proceed at all.

Related: There Was Nearly Another Aviation Accident 24 Hours Before Fatal Potomac Crash

Airlines for America, the D.C. lobbying firm previously known as the Air Transport Association of America, hailed the courts ruling as a victory for the airline industry and, in their opinion, consumers, as well. The group said that fee disclosure rules "embod[y] regulatory overreach that would confuse consumers who would be inundated with information that would only serve to complicate the buying process."

USDOT said the rules are intended to put an end to "bait-and-switch tactics some airlines use to disguise the true cost of discounted flights. Last April, the department announced that passengers were overpaying a combined $543 million annually in hidden fees for things like "higher fees at the airport to check a bag," which in turn generates more revenue for airlines.

That same month, the department issued regulations calling for airlines and employees to disclose service fees upfront, included within the airfare, so that customers could avoid unanticipated fees. But several airlines, including American, Delta, United, JetBlue, and Alaska, sued to overturn the rules. They were joined in the suit by Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  A bill that would mandate run-off primary elections has passed a committee vote and moves on for a vote on the House floor.

Passing a committee vote Thursday afternoon with 9-4, H.B. 231 would mandate that nominees that dont receive 50% of the vote in a primary race would have to compete again in a following run-off election with the candidate who received the second most votes.

The bill specifies that these run-off elections would only be applied to state and federal offices and would not affect county or municipal races. It would also require the run-off election to be ran 35 days after the initial primary election.

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Rep. Jordan Teuscher (R- District 44), the sponsor of the bill, says that this bill will make it fairer to go back to voters to make sure they want someone to represent them on the general ballot.

I think its fair to go back to the voters and make sure that a majority of those within the party that they want [a candidate] to represent them on the general ballot, Teuscher began. I think that is more representative, more Hippocratic in the process and its good policy.

During discussion of the bill, several legislators brought up funding concerns. Rep. Paul Cutler (R- District 18) said that though he loved the idea of run-offs, though he had concerns of how it would be paid for.

I love the idea. Its great, I would like to do it, the challenge is the money, Cutler began. I look at this over 20 years, this is a 27-[million]-dollar property tax increase. Thats how counties pay for things. If we can figure out how to pay for it, I am all for it.

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Turnout was also brought up as a possible issue. Representatives sharing concerns that a run-off election wouldnt share the same turnout as the initial primary. Rep. Douglas R. Welton shared concerns that multiple rounds of voting could defeat the purpose of the second round by not getting the same turnout as the initial primary.

During public comment of the bill, current and former county clerks came to oppose the legislation, along with a representative from Lt. Governors office to express concerns about the bill. Ricky Hatch, current Weber County clerk, expressed concerns over the timing, funding, and turnout.

The timing is so tight that it leaves no room if there is a contest, if there is a recount, it really is problematic, Hatch told members of the committee. From a clerks  perspective it really concerns us.

I love our clerks, I love working with them, Tuescher began as the committee was set to vote on the measure. Though they can really be a bit of a stick in the mud. Every time we bring a challenge to them; they dont want to do anything. Change is very hard, and I get that, but we can figure this out.

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With its passage in committee the bill will go to the House floor for a vote and will then have to move through the senate before it can become law.

For more coverage on the 2025 General Session, visit Inside Utah Politics!

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
An American Airlines flight and Army helicopter collided Wednesday evening, killing all 67 aboard the two aircraft.

The collision occurred at 8:47 p.m. over the Potomac River just miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Federal officials say its too early to determine the cause of the collision.

A series of high-profile near-misses in recent years has prompted nationwide government investigations into air safety gaps and protocols.

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As of May 2023, only 0.9% of the nations air control towers were adequately staffed, according to a New York Times investigation into the causes of near-collisions; an internal Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by the outlet found that Reagans control tower was understaffed on the night of Wednesdays crash.

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The FAA documented 30 runway incursions per one million takeoffs and landings last year, about the same near-miss rate as 2015.

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Most of the incidents posed no immediate safety consequences, according to federal investigators; only one constituted a serious incident in which a collision was narrowly avoided.

What exactly are runway incursions and do they occur at North Texas airports? Heres what to know.

Defining runway incursions

A runway incursion is described as any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft, according to the FAA.

The FAA says theres four categories of runway incursions:

Category A- A serious incident in which a collision was narrowly avoided.

Category B- An incident in which separation decreases and there is significant potential for collision.

Category C- An incident characterized by ample time and/or distance to avoid a collision.

Category D- An incident that meets the definition of runway incursion, such as incorrect presence of a vehicle/person/aircraft on the protected area of a surface designated for landing and take-off, but with no immediate safety consequences.

Do runway incursions happen at North Texas airports?

Yes, runway incursions happen at most airports across the Lone Star state.

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In total, the FAA recorded 130 runway incursions at Texas airports last year. Several of those incursions happened at North Texas area airports:

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

Jan. 5- Category D

Feb. 2- Category D

Feb. 11- Category D

Feb. 15- Category D

March 5- Category C

March 6- Category C

March 11- Category C

April 10- Category D

April 17- Category C

May 6- Category D

May 8- Category C

May 25- Category C

May 26- Category D

June 3- Category C

July 20- Category C

Aug. 11- Category D

Sept. 7- Category D

Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport

Jan. 30- Category D

Feb. 19- Category C

Feb. 25- Category D

April 29- Category D

May 8- Category C

June 12- Category C

June 25- Category C

Aug. 30- Category D

Sept. 18- Category D

Fort Worth Meacham International Airport

Jan. 11- Category D

Jan. 31- Category D

March 5- Category C

June 23- Category D

July 4- Category C

Aug. 7- Category C

Aug. 7- Category D

Aug. 27- Category D

Addison Airport

April 4- Category C

June 17- Category D

July 3- Category D

Aug. 16- Category D

Denton Enterprise Airport

Feb. 24- Category D

March 26- Category D

April 4- Category C

May 14- Category D

Fort Worth Spinks Airport

June 4- Category D

June 6- Category D

Aug. 2- Category C

Arlington Municipal Airport

July 16- Category D

Sept. 28- Category D

McKinney National Airport

April 22- Category D

Sept. 24- Category C

Dallas Love Field

Feb. 14- Category D

Mesquite Metro Airport
Jan. 30CHAMBERLAIN, S.D.  On her last day at Sanford Chamberlain Medical Center, Emily Kirschenmann walked through the hospital doors, just as she had hundreds of times during the past 11 months. But this time, something was different. As she stepped out into the crisp air, the weight of the experience hit her all at once. The small town she'd come to call home, the patients who had trusted her with their care and the doctors who had mentored her through it all were now part of her story. And it was hard to say goodbye.

"I've walked through those doors so many times, but today it felt different," she said. "I've built relationships with my patients, with the staff, with the community. It's hard to walk away from something that's meant so much to me."

Kirschenmann's experience in Chamberlain was part of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine's Frontier And Rural Medicine (FARM) program. Launched in 2014, Launched in 2014, the program immerses medical students like Kirschenmann in rural healthcare environments, allowing them to gain hands-on experience in family medicine and primary care in underserved areas. The goal is to address the shortage of doctors in rural communities by fostering long-term careers in rural healthcare.

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Chamberlain, which joined the FARM network in 2024, offers a distinctive setting for students like Kirschenmann to grow. Located along the Missouri River, it provides students with not only clinical training but also a chance to engage with the community on a deeper level. The town's size and diversity make it an ideal site for the program.

"Sanford Chamberlain's facilities and physicians make the location a good addition to the program," said Janet Fulk, assistant director of the FARM program. "Our FARM students will benefit from the proximity to the interstate and diverse patient population, along with accessibility to a wide variety of clinical experiences."

For Kirschenmann, who grew up in Dell Rapids, joining the FARM program felt like a natural fit. She was exposed to the program long before medical school. At 18, she had the chance to observe the program firsthand through her aunt, Dr. Anora Henderson, who administered the FARM site in Winner. Kirschenmann had the opportunity to job shadow her aunt and see how a FARM student interacted with patients. Her cousin, Katie Dorn, also participated in the program in Spearfish.

"Watching my aunt work with a FARM student really showed me the kind of relationship I want to have with my attending physician," she said. "It's not just about teaching; it's about mentorship and truly caring for your students, helping them grow as both doctors and people."

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Her training in Chamberlain was far from typical. Over the course of the year, Kirschenmann followed patients through every stage of their care, from clinic visits to hospital stays, witnessing struggles and triumphs.

"It's the little moments that stick with you," she said. "Like when a patient thanked me for being there during their procedure. It wasn't about doing something big  it was just being part of their journey."

In addition to clinical work, students in the FARM program are required to engage with the community. Kirschenmann took part in local outreach efforts, including speaking at the Freshman Impact event, where she educated high school students about the dangers of nicotine use.

The FARM program continues to expand, now with seven locations statewide, including Milbank, Mobridge, Parkston, Pierre, Spearfish, and Vermillion. In 2024, 13 students participated in the program. The addition of Chamberlain reflects the program's growth and success in training doctors for rural communities.

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"This program is making a real difference," said Tim Ridgway, Dean of the Sanford School of Medicine. "In the 10 years since we've had students complete the program, 75% have gone into primary care specialties. That's huge. By every metric, FARM is killing it."

Ridgway also noted an exciting development in the program's evolution: prior FARM students are now returning to the same rural sites where they trained to become full-time employees after completing medical school.

While Chamberlain's addition to the FARM network has been a success, the program faced a challenge with the loss of Winner, a site that had been part of the initiative from the beginning. The closure of Winner's OB department made it no longer viable for FARM students. However, the program's broader impact remains strong.

"Living in a rural town and practicing medicine here really opened my eyes to the challenges patients face, especially when they need specialized care," Kirschenmann said. "Sometimes, a two-hour drive is needed to see a specialist, and that can be tough for patients."

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Kirschenmann's year in Chamberlain shaped her broader perspective on medicine.

"Being part of the FARM program has given me a holistic way to practice," Kirschenmann said. "I've seen my patients in the community, in the clinic, and in the hospital. It's made me a better doctor and a better person."

As she prepares to return to Sioux Falls for her remaining medical training and apply for residency, she carries with her the lessons of rural medicine  a deeper understanding of its challenges and rewards, and a stronger commitment to family medicine.

"As I prepare to take the next step in my medical career, I carry with me the lessons I've learned here  how to navigate the complexities of rural healthcare, and how deeply rewarding it is to build lasting relationships with patients and the community," Kirschenmann said. "Chamberlain has shown me what it truly means to be part of a community, and I hope to return someday."
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)  Residents in eastern Sarasota County started a movement called Keep the Country Country years ago. Their goal is to protect their rural way of living. For many, its why they chose to move to that area. Some have been there for generations.

Eileen Fitzgerald and Michael Hutchinson have taken on the developers of Lakewood Ranch in more than one court battle now. This week, they lost an appeal attempt that aimed at stopping the development of Lakewood Ranch Southeast.

Residents have expressed concerns about pollution and increased traffic as well as impacts to infrastructure, floodplains, and wildlife habitats.

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The most recent court arguments stemmed from a somewhat recent change in the countys comprehensive plan which essentially paved the way for more development in East County, or what many residents consider the country.

We are going to review our options, see what they may be or not be and we will go from there. It was disappointing. We thought we had a good case, said Hutchinson.

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Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch sent a news release following the courts ruling including comments from its CEO.

Florida and our region will continue to grow, and that growth must be met with responsible, well-executed planning, said Rex Jensen, president & CEO of SMR. Lakewood Ranch has always set the standard for thoughtful, high-quality community developmentdelivering infrastructure, amenities, and neighborhoods that enhance quality of life while supporting the broader region.

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When our rights and proven approach are unreasonably challenged, we will stand firm in defending our track record, and our commitment to building a community that serves both present and future generations, Jensen said.

We spoke with the Senior VP of Lakewood Ranch who explained this appeal means the developer can now move forward with infrastructure improvements that will accommodate builders going through their own processes.

Simply unacceptable: Pinellas congresswoman fights to waive FEMAs 50% rule

We are paying for over $200 million of infrastructure. We are moving a major arterial from abutting some of those neighborhoods, about a mile and a half east of that so it doesnt impact them and, we are thinking about how those communities that are going to come to life are going to be interacting with services, with trails, with all the things that Lakewood Ranch is known for so that we are not imposing more stress on the infrastructure and on surrounding communities, said Senior VP Laura Cole.

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We are thoughtful about it and as it relates to them, they are going to end up with a much larger buffer than what it wouldve been by right. In the end, hopefully, our track record speaks for itself, we have been here for 30 years. If you drive through Lakewood Ranch, and you like what you see, and you know that we deliver on our promises, expect more in that area of Sarasota County, she continued.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
EXCLUSIVE: Russell Brand co-hosted one of the BBCs flagship live television events just months after an employee re-filed a decade-old complaint about his conduct.

In March 2017, Brand was handed a presenting role on BBC Studios-produced telethon Comic Relief, during which he introduced new comedy acts in a bid to raise money for charity.

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The Comic Relief booking came after a BBC employee decided in 2016 to re-raise a complaint they originally made in 2007 about Brand urinating in a cup in front of colleagues during the making of his Radio 2 show.

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As part of the complaint, the employee also raised broader concerns about Brands conduct, including rumors that he would bring groups of girls to BBC premises. Brand has always denied wrongdoing.

The revelation shows that the BBC missed repeated warnings about Brands behavior, that complaints were not confined to an isolated historical event, and that the issues were a matter of live concern given that the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star was still being hired as a presenter by the corporation. The BBC has apologized for mishandling the complaints.

The 2016 grievance was disclosed for the first time on Thursday in a BBC review of Brands conduct during his time working for the UK national broadcaster. The review was carried out by Peter Johnston, the BBCs director of editorial complaints.

The employee in question originally raised their grievance in 2007 and, soon after, the BBC admitted in a statement to a British newspaper that Brand had urinated in a studio. Nothing was done to investigate the staffers concerns and no action was taken against Brand, according to Johnstons review.

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The employee raised their concerns for a second time to an external workplace culture review in 2013 led by barrister Dinah Rose, though it is unclear if the BBC was made aware of this follow-up complaint.

The employee made their third complaint in 2016, per Johnstons review. The BBC case manager who handled the grievance decided it was not possible to investigate the 2007 incident further because it would have required speaking to individuals external to the BBC, which was not normal practice.

The BBC apologized to the employee for the way it handled their complaint in 2007. Soon after, Brand landed the Comic Relief presenting gig.

Johnstons report does not say if the BBC investigated the wider allegations raised by the employee, including the claim that Brand brought girls onto BBC premises. The review also fails to make clear if information about Brands conduct was shared with executives involved in commissioning content and booking presenters.

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When Brand was handed the hosting role on Comic Relief, Charlotte Moore, now the BBCs chief content officer, was ultimately responsible for BBC One. Tim Davie, the BBCs director general, was in charge of BBC Studios, the production arm that produced the telethon. The BBC declined to say if Moore or Davie were made aware of the formal complaint in 2016.

Penis flashing incident

Johnstons review also revealed that another incident involving Brand was raised with managers in the BBC News division in 2019. An employee flagged that a woman, identified as Olivia in Johnstons report, had alleged that Brand followed her into a bathroom and flashed his penis. The alleged incident took place in 2008 at the BBCs LA bureau.

The employee raised Olivias story with their line manager, who in turn escalated it to their own boss. Johnstons review said it was unclear what happened after this, but what is certain is that the information was not acted upon. Johnston apologized to Olivia, who was disappointed that no one came back to her in a satisfactory way. He wrote in his report that he had heard the incident was often joked about in the LA bureau.

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After the 2019 complaint, Brand continued to be booked on BBC shows. He appeared on the Joe Wicks Podcast, which was later removed from the corporations streaming services when the scandal about Brand blew up in 2023.

Russell Brand was a guest on The Joe Wicks Podcast

A joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4s Dispatches revealed that four women had accused him of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013. Brand, who declined to cooperate with Johnstons review, has denied the allegations and said his sexual relationships were absolutely always consensual. He is the subject of an ongoing police investigation.

The BBC declined to comment on the fact that Brand continued to appear on its airwaves, despite the non-historical complaints about his behavior. In a statement about Johnstons review, the BBC said: It is of great concern that some of these individuals felt unable to raise concerns about Russell Brands behaviour at the time, and the BBC has apologised to them. 

Johnstons review said that BBC employees felt Brand was untouchable and they feared nothing would be done if they complained. The 2016 and 2019 complaints, and his subsequent appearances on the BBC, not only appear to be evidence of this, but also suggest that the BBC failed to learn the lessons of the Jimmy Savile crisis.

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Barrister Roses 2013 workplace culture review, set up in the heat of the Savile scandal, reached excoriating conclusions about BBC staff having a weary lack of confidence that justice will be served when raising a grievance. In response, the BBC made a series of commitments to improve complaints handling, including launching a helpline and toughening up freelancer contracts.

Deficiencies in BBC information sharing about non-editorial complaints was also a feature of the Huw Edwards scandal, when a complaint about the news anchor paying a young person for indecent images was not properly escalated internally. Following a Deloitte review into the matter last year, the BBC pledged to be more joined up about handling misconduct complaints so they are escalated swiftly  and dealt with by the right people.

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Russia launched an attack on Ukraine using 102 Shahed-type strike drones and various decoy UAVs on the night of 30-31 January 2025. Ukrainian air defence shot down 59 of them.

Source: Ukraines Air Force on Telegram

Details: The drones were launched from Kursk, Bryansk, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia and occupied Crimea.

Ukraine's air defence, including surface-to-air missile units, electronic warfare teams and mobile fire groups of the Air Force and defence forces, repelled the attack.

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As of 09:00, 59 Shahed-type strike drones and other UAVs had been confirmed shot down over Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa oblasts.

Additionally, 37 Russian decoy drones disappeared from radar (causing no adverse effects).

The Air Force noted that four Russian UAVs were still airborne, and combat operations were ongoing.

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In 2024, Russian authorities blocked 417,000 websites, the Russian independent news outlet Verstka reported.

Verstka analyzed data from the internet freedom NGO Roskomsvoboda.

523,000 websites were blocked the year before in 2023, but access was later restored to approximately 106,000 of those.

The Federal Tax Service led the crackdown with 142,400 bans, followed by Roskomnadzor, Russia's communications regulator, with over 132,000. An unnamed government agency, believed to be linked to the Prosecutor Generals Office, was responsible for 62,100 restrictions.

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85.5% of these bans were imposed extrajudicially, with various agencies censoring content on topics like LGBTQ+ issues, military criticism, gambling, and piracy.

Since March 2024, VPN services have also increasingly become a target, with Roskomnadzor increasing efforts to block them and suppress information on bypassing restrictions.

Russian authorities ramped up their crackdown on political opposition following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Voicing discontent with Russia's war or Russian authorities can lead to heavy penalties.

Russia has used claims of "extremism" to crack down on a wide range of organizations, news outlets, and social media platforms.

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Read also: Russian army recruitment centers in Moscow see five-fold drop in applicants, media reports

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
By Dmitry Antonov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Friday condemned an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to build a new missile defence shield, accusing the United States of trying to upset the global nuclear balance and pave the wave for military confrontation in space.

Trump on Monday signed an order that "mandated a process to develop an American Iron Dome," a next-generation U.S. missile defence shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other forms of aerial attack.

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The White House said the intention was to modernise an outdated system and address a "catastrophic threat" that had become more complex as U.S. adversaries developed new delivery systems.

But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the plan was aimed at undermining the ability of both Russia and China to exercise nuclear deterrence.

In the sharpest Russian criticism so far of a policy announced by Trump's new administration, she said that the planned U.S. move would hinder the prospects for talks on nuclear arms control - something that both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have said they favour.

"It (the plan) directly envisages a significant strengthening of the American nuclear arsenal and means for conducting combat operations in space, including the development and deployment of space-based interception systems," Zakharova told reporters at a news briefing in Moscow.

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"We consider this as another confirmation of the U.S. focus on turning space into an arena of armed confrontation... and the deployment of weapons there.

"The indicated U.S. approaches will not contribute to reducing tensions or improving the situation in the strategic sphere, including creating a basis for a fruitful dialogue on strategic offensive arms," she said.

The White House's Iron Dome statement did not refer to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but said:

"The Iron Dome will further the goals of peace through strength. By empowering the United States with a second-strike capability, the Iron Dome will deter adversaries from attacks on the homeland."

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Trump and Putin have both said they would like to meet face-to-face to discuss a range of issues, including the Ukraine war, but Moscow says it has yet to receive any signals from the U.S. on when and where such an encounter could take place.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
The Russians launched a drone strike on the city of Chornomorsk in Odesa Oblast on the night of 30-31 January, leaving four people injured and causing damage to several buildings and vehicles.

Source: Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "Russian terrorists attacked Chornomorsk, damaging a city hospital, a house, an administrative building, a grain storage facility and lorries.

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Four people were injured, including one doctor who was performing surgery during the strikes. All those injured in the attack are in a moderate condition. Two of them have been taken to hospital, while the others are receiving outpatient treatment."

Aftermath of the attack.

Photo: Oleh Kiper on Telegram

Details: Kiper said the Russian strike had caused power supply issues for parts of Chornomorsk and its suburbs.

He advised that engineers from DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, are already working to restore electricity to homes.

Background: Russia launched an attack on Ukraine using 102 Shahed-type strike drones and various decoy UAVs on the night of 30-31 January 2025. Ukrainian air defence shot down 59 of them.

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KYIV (Reuters) - Russia launched a barrage of drones on Ukraine in an overnight attack on Friday, injuring four people and damaging a hospital and a grain warehouse in the southern Odesa region, officials said.

Ukraine's air defences shot down 59 of 102 Russian drones, the air force said. It said that 37 drones were "lost", referring to the use of electronic warfare to redirect them.

Russian drones caused damage in the northeastern Sumy region, the Odesa region in the south and the central Cherkasy region.

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Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor, said that four civilians, including a doctor, were injured in drone attacks targeting the city of Chornomorsk.

The strikes also partially disrupted electricity supplies in the city and damaged the city's hospital, an administrative building, a grain warehouse, a residential house, and several trucks, he said on the Telegram app.

Regional officials in the central Cherkasy region said that drone debris damaged an apartment building in the region.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has said that Ukraine should not be seen only as an "evil empire" and described how Ukrainian soldiers shared food with residents of Russias Kursk Oblast.

Source: Russian media citing a speech by Moskalkova in the State Duma on 30 January; Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza

Details: Moskalkova said she had spoken to residents of Kursk Oblast who had allegedly been taken to Ukraine and then returned to Russia. They told her "various things", she said.

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In particular, they apparently said that Ukrainian soldiers had "brought them their own food and shared whatever food they had".

Moskalkova also said that Russians should not "dehumanise" Ukrainian soldiers and see them "only as an evil empire", because "they vary".

Background:

Fighting in Russia's Kursk Oblast began on the morning of 6 August 2024 when the Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border near the city of Sudzha. Ukrainian troops began advancing deep into Russian territory and gained control of several hundred square kilometres within a few days.

On 12 August, the Ukrainian government confirmed for the first time that the Armed Forces were involved in the offensive, and on 14 August they reported that Ukrainian troops had formed a buffer zone in self-defence. At the end of August, Ukrainian troops controlled about 1,100 sq km of Kursk Oblast; by the end of 2024, the territory had shrunk to about 460 sq km as a result of the Russian counteroffensive.

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Norwegian diplomatic representatives were among the people who were at the epicentre of the Russian missile strike on the city of Odesa on 31 January.

Source: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Quote: "A Russian missile attack on Odesa, on the historic city centre. It is reported to be ballistic missiles  an absolutely deliberate attack by the Russian terrorists [soldiers  ed.].

Fortunately, there were no fatalities. There are injured people, and they have been provided with medical aid. Norwegian diplomatic representatives were among the people who were at the epicentre of the attack."

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Background: Explosions were heard in Odesa on Friday evening. The Russians launched a ballistic missile attack. The explosion damaged the Bristol Hotel and injured three people.

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DeepState, a Ukrainian group of military analysts, reported that the Russian army had again re-occupied the village of Novomlynsk in Kharkiv Oblast, where in early December 2024, the defence forces conducted a mop-up operation on one of the Russian bridgeheads in the village.

Source: DeepState

Details: It is reported that in early December, the defence forces destroyed one of the Russian footholds in the village of Novomlynsk. After that, the focus was on another foothold in Masiutivka, which has now expanded to Dvorichna, and the Russians are gradually consolidating their positions.

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Quote: "This mark on the map in Novomlynsk is more of a clarification, not a new advance, as the village was occupied about a few weeks ago. We hoped the situation would improve, but the command attached little importance to it. We have repeatedly drawn attention to the problem in this area, which was formed at the beginning and resulted in the enemy's advance, and today it is progressing."

Details: DeepState analysts say that after the capture of Novomlynsk, Russian troops have been actively increasing the number of infantry, deploying weapons, and strengthening defensive positions. Destruction of this bridgehead is becoming more difficult daily, as the Russians learn from their previous mistakes. At the same time, the situation around Dvorichna is also worsening.

Background:

Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast in early September 2022. On 11 September 2022, then Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the Ukrainian defence forces had advanced as far as the Oskil River.

On 18 September 2022, the Centre of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that as of 17 September 2022, Ukrainian forces controlled both the right (western) and the left (eastern) banks of the Oskil River.

On 23 October 2024, Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, said that Russian forces were relentlessly bombarding crossings over the Oskil River, thus holding up the repair of critical infrastructure and disrupting evacuation efforts on the left bank in Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast.

On 3 December 2024, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group reported that the Russian army tried to seize and hold a bridgehead on the right bank of the Oskil River near the village of Novomlynsk, Kharkiv Oblast, but Ukrainian defenders pushed them out.

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The Russian troops attacked two districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on 31 January, injuring a man in one of the hromadas. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories  ed.]

Source: Serhii Lysak, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration

Quote from Serhii Lysak: "Nikopol district. The aggressor attacked local towns and villages almost 20 times. They used heavy artillery and UAVs for this. They hit Nikopol, Marhanets, Myrove and Chervonohryhorivka hromadas.

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A man, 47, was injured. He will receive outpatient treatment. Several industrial businesses, a car and a trailer were damaged."

Aftermath of the Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Photo: Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration

Details: The Russians also destroyed five houses, a shop and a gas pipeline in Synelnykove district. Fortunately, no one was killed or injured.



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Explosions were heard in the city of Odesa on Friday evening. The Air Force warned of the ballistic missile attack threat.

Source: Air Force; Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration; local media agency Dumska; local Telegram channels; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address; Hennadii Trukhanov, Mayor of Odesa

Details: At 19:17, the military warned of the threat of ballistic missile attacks from the south.

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At 19:23, Oleh Kiper reported that an explosion was heard in the city.

The Dumska news agency later reported that the explosion damaged the Bristol Hotel.

Aftermath of the Russian attack on Odesa

Photo: Dumska

At 19:56, Kiper reported another explosion.

   :  

   - pic.twitter.com/vvfCo6SP5L     (@ukrpravda_news) January 31, 2025

At 20:30, he said that the Russians had attacked the historic centre of Odesa with missiles.

Later, Kiper added that a hotel employee was injured in the attack and is receiving medical care.

Updated at 21:08: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reacted to the Russian attack on Odesa. Early reports suggest that it was a ballistic strike.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Currently, in the south of our country  in Odesa  rescue efforts continue following the Russian missile strikes. Preliminarily, it was ballistics. The strikes directly targeted the city, ordinary civilian buildings. Again and again: air defence remains our top priority, we are working with all our partners to provide more protection for our state."

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Details: The mayor of Odesa said that two people were reported injured.

He said there was a lot of damage and destruction in the UNESCO-protected area, and a building under enhanced protection was damaged.

The city's trolleybuses 7 and 9 have temporarily changed their routes to the railway station.

Odesa Oblast Military Administration later showed the aftermath of the attack.

Aftermath of the Russian attack on Odesa

Photo: Odesa Oblast Military Administration

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Aftermath of the Russian attack on Odesa

Photo: Odesa Oblast Military Administration

Aftermath of the Russian attack on Odesa

Photo: Odesa Oblast Military Administration

Update: At 22:11, Kiper reported that there had been three victims. A young man sustained a head injury and was taken to hospital.

The explosions damaged a number of historical monuments, including literary, historical, local history and archaeological museums, a museum of Western and Eastern art, and a philharmonic, smashing windows and damaging facades.



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(FOX40.COM)  A Sacramento County sheriffs deputy is being treated after he was bitten by two dogs Thursday morning, the Sacramento Sheriffs Office said.

According to the sheriffs office, the deputy was at Jack Sheldon Park performing homeless enforcement around 10:15 a.m. when he approached a vehicle with three dogs inside and two more tethered to the trailer hitch.

The two tethered dogs, which were pit bulls, broke free and bit one of the deputies, the sheriffs office said.

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SMUD reports near daily vehicle crashes involving utility equipment

According to the sheriffs office, another deputy attempted to pepper spray the dogs but when that failed, shot them.

The sheriffs office said the deputy had significant injuries and was taken to the hospital.

The sheriffs office said deputies shot the dogs and they were taken by animal control for treatment.

According to the sheriffs office, the owner was walking two other dogs elsewhere in the park.

There are currently no pending charges against the owner, the sheriffs office said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 News.
PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP)  The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation.

But when they leave  believing their sins have been cleansed by the redemptive bath  they leave with one thing in common: their foreheads display a sacred stroke of color.

This sacred stroke, called tilak, is ubiquitous to the millions of Hindu pilgrims attending the Maha Kumbh festival in India's northern Prayagraj city, where faithful gather at the spot where the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers converge. Applied by Hindu priests using sandalwood paste, turmeric and sacred ashes, these strokes represent divine connections in Hinduism, with each type having its own symbolic association with a deity.

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The festival, where a stampede killed 30 people Wednesday, has historically embraced diversity in the ancient traditions of Hinduism. They allow plurality in belief and ritual practice of faith of Hindus, who comprise 80% of Indias population. The markings worn on the foreheads cut across castes and classes, many of them being unique identifiers of the numerous religious communities, all under the umbrella of Hinduism.

Hundreds of Hindu priests at the festival paint them on the foreheads of the pilgrims. Many consider it a selfless service to their religion  without which the pilgrimage is incomplete.

Wash away your sins all you want, and do all the good deeds, but if you dont put a tilak on your forehead after bathing, everything goes to a waste, says priest Shiv Kumar Pandey.

A vermilion dot on the forehead is one of Indias most widely accepted Hindu cultural insignias. But at the festival, where millions are flocking to pray and bathe at the confluence of Indias holy rivers, it morphs into a major display of Hinduism in various forms and designs.

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Some pilgrims wear it in the form of three yellow horizontal lines. Others prefer two vertical white ones with a red or yellow stripe in the center. Then there is the large red vertical mark, or names of various Hindu gods written in Hindi and English.

Hindu priest Pandey, who sits cross-legged at a nearby stretch of the riverbank, can apply all of them.

For every pilgrim who visits him, he dips his fingers in the yellow vermillion paste and spreads a stroke on their forehead. He then uses a steel stamp to mark them with a symbol of the Hindu god they prefer  from Lord Shiva, the powerful Hindu god of destruction, to Ram, one of Hinduism's most revered gods.

The pilgrims give Pandey money, from one rupee coins to a 50-rupee note, small pouches of rice and pulses  even, at times, blankets. In return, he places his hand on their heads as they bow to seek his blessings.

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According to Hindu scriptures, the tilak is supposed to protect and purify the mind as well as the body, Pandey says.

The Maha Kumbh festival began on Jan. 13 and continues over six weeks. About 400 million people  most of them from the countrys vast rural and remote locations  were expected to attend the festival where Hindu faith and spirituality reigns supreme.

Most pilgrims believe that a dip in the holy waters has to be followed by having a tilak pasted on their foreheads by a Hindu priest.

Sushila Chauhan sat quietly a short distance from where she had taken the holy dip, as hundreds of other pilgrims waded in the river, splashing the murky water over their heads and bodies, chanting Hindu prayers. She explained why the words Mahakal  a fierce manifestation of Hindu god Shiva  were pasted on her forehead.

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Because he is the god of the three worlds, Chauhan says, referring to the deity's association with creation, preservation and destruction.

Chauhan came to the festival along with 52 other family members. With the sun low in the sky, a priest shuffled along the riverbank, his bare feet padding on the sand, and applied tilak on their foreheads one by one.

It gives you concentration, peace of mind and satisfaction, Chauhan says. It is also a symbol of our religion.

___

Associated Press writers Rishi Lekhi and Ashwini Bhatia 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.
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK (WAVY)  An active duty sailor charged with negligent homicide in the death last spring of a member of his crew had his article 32 hearing Thursday afternoon.

Hearing set for sailor charged in connection to another sailors death at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown

Master at Arms 2 Jackson Bower, 24, was piloting a light boat known as Work Skiff 5 April 28. Master at Arms 3 Lyndon Cosgriff-Flax, 22, was standing in the bow of the boat.

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The two were on harbor patrol near the Coleman Bridge for Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.

According to the government, Bower was showing a new member of the crew the capabilities of the boat.

They began a drill known as chase the rabbit where a trailing boat follows a lead boat and tries to stay in its wake.

Bower was driving the lead boat. According to the government he made a left turn, followed by an abrupt and dangerous sharp right turn.

Cosgriff-Flax was thrown overboard and was struck by the propeller. Trial Counsel said a third sailor jumped in to rescue Cosgriff-Flax but found him in a pool of blood.

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Bowers civilian defense attorney called the death a tragedy, but it did not rise to the level of negligent homicide.

The investigating officer will determine next month whether the case goes to a court martial. Bower also faces charges of dereliction of duty and making a false statement to NCIS investigators. If convicted on all charges, he would face more than eight years confinement, reduction in rank to E-1 and dishonorable discharge. Bower remains on active duty at NWSY.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A Salem man who was involved in a crash was arrested after being released from the hospital on Thursday after authorities said they found a body in his car.

The Salem Police Department said 39-year-old Tyler Andrew Holman was found injured after a crash earlier this week in Independence, Oregon.

At 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Polk County County Sheriffs deputies responded to the single-vehicle rollover crash near the 1000 block of Corvallis Road. Holman was located and transported for medical care.

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Deputies also discovered the body of a deceased woman, Salem police said in a press release. The circumstances at the scene suggested that she was not killed in the car accident, rather, her body was being transported at the time of the crash.

Local figure skater remembers D.C. plane crash victims

The victim, later identified as 35-year-old Ashley Jean Gandolfi, was confirmed to have died from a gunshot wound with the manner of death being homicide, according to the Oregon State Medical Examiners autopsy.

Salem police said they investigated Holmans home in the 1600 block of Acacia Drive South in Salem. They determined he and Gandolfi were previously in a romantic relationship.

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After being released from Salem Health on Thursday, Holman was booked into the Marion County Jail. He is accused of second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and second-degree abuse of a corpse.

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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4)  A captain with the Salt Lake City Fire Department has been charged for allegedly sexually abusing two students while he worked as an EMT instructor at a Salt Lake County community college.

Christopher David Burk was charged in the Third District Court with six counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse and one count of third-degree felony attempted forcible sexual abuse.

North Salt Lake man killed in Nevada car crash

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The defendant, in this matter, used his position of trust as a paramedic instructor and firefighter at a local station to prey upon his victims, charging documents state.

Wednesday, without naming Burk, the Salt Lake City Fire Department released a statement that a firefighter had been placed on administrative leave following misconduct allegations.

In line with this commitment, we take any allegations of misconduct seriously and

are dedicated to ensuring a thorough and transparent investigation process, the statement said in part. The Salt Lake City Fire Department holds all members to the highest standards of conduct both on and off duty. Any behavior that does not align with these standards will be addressed swiftly and appropriately.

According to charging documents, in October 2024, a student told Sandy City police that she was enrolled in EMT classes at the community college and that Burk asked her if she wanted to stay behind and review some things at the end of class.

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He took her to another classroom where he allegedly said he would show her how to do assessments. He then allegedly sexually assaulted the student.

In January 2025, a Sandy police detective was informed by the college that a second student reported that Burk had sexually assaulted her. She allegedly told police that while she was a student in the EMT program, she felt targeted by him.

She told police that he would often use her as an example to demonstrate assessments to the class and that he touched her inappropriately when doing so on multiple occasions.

Burk reportedly asked her to go on a ride-along with the Salt Lake City Fire Department, to which she agreed believing it would allow her to see real-world applications of what she learned in class. Charging documents state that during the ride-along, Burk would try to keep her in areas of the fire department where they were alone.

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The student reportedly said that he took her to an office to do assessments, where the assault happened.

The charging documents state that both students were fearful of reporting the incidents as they were scared of potential retaliation that could affect their schooling or future employment.

Other program instructors have confirmed to Sandy City police that the assessments demonstrated by Burk that led to the nonconsensual sexual touching are not legitimate techniques taught in EMT courses, a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorneys Office said.

In the release, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill addressed the importance of students feeling safe in school.

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If you find yourself in an unsafe situation, I encourage you to report it to the authorities. Your reports are essential to our prosecution. We can only prosecute offenses that are reported to law enforcement. If we cannot prosecute, we cannot hold individuals accountable for their actions, he said. I want to thank the efforts of Sandy City police for investigating this case. All persons accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV)  The intricate work by talented artists across the South has made its way to the capital city.

Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South showcases more than 50 handmade and machine-stitched quilts spanning from the 1960s to 2010. The exhibit is on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) in Jackson.

The exhibition really explores the traditions and stories and the community impact that quilting and these quilt makers had from a black feminist lens. And it puts a fresh interpretation on what the craft actually is. Youll see as you go through the exhibition, some of them are the more traditional, functional uses, said Andrea Donelson, associate director of Communications at MMA. We actually have one in our beginning section, which is called Homecoming, and we have a quilt thats laid in standard use like it would be in a bed. And what I love, particularly about this quilt, is that you can see some of the wear on it, and it really makes it feel like, you know, this is something coming out of someones grandmothers house and that theres history and use within that quilt, which I think is important.

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Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths

The historical significance is even more important.

During times of slavery, a lot of quilts were used for enslaved Africans to find freedom because there were certain patterns in certain codes that were embedded in the quilt. And only the trained would know that, said Stephany Brown, an artist.

Brown has several quilts she created on display at the museum. The quilts tell a powerful story.

Enslaved Africans, when they were running, going to freedom, they look for the North Star in the sky, so they would know which direction it led them to freedom. And so, I put the North Star in here. Also, you see the buttons that represent the different plantations, she explained.

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While it may take one quilter to create 18 quilts in one year, it takes Brown sometimes 18 months to create just one of her unique artworks.

I stitch each quilt by hand. Every quilter has to find their method. What inspires them? The way they create. You stitch how you, you know, just have your way and dont stress out about it. Take your time, she said.

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Shamed former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried hopes to secure a pardon from Donald Trump.

The parents of the FTX co-founder have reportedly met with lawyers and others close to the president seeking clemency for their son, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud.

Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are exploring the possibilities of a Trump pardon, reports Bloomberg.

Barbara Fried and Allan Joseph Bankman, parents of FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, are exploring a possible pardon for their son. / David Dee Delgardo/Getty Images

Bankman-Frieds hopes of a possible pardon may be helped by the presidents support of cryptocurrencies and by the fact that the judge at the fraudsters trial, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, also adjudicated the sexual assault and defamation lawsuits brought by New York writer E. Jean Carroll against Trump.

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It was unclear if the plea has yet reached the White House. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

Trumps swift pardon for Ross Ulbricht, founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road who was jailed for life a decade ago, has raised hopes that he will consider freeing other white-collar felons.

Bankman-Fried, 32, has claimed his sentence imposed in March 2024, was draconian because FTX clients got back most of the money they lost.

The collapse of his crypto exchange exposed a $10 billion fraud, but Bankman-Fried insisted he was the victim of a market downturn.

The fallen entrepreneur didnt donate to Trumps campaignhe was a major Democrat donorbut he is hopeful the president and his advisors will consider the case a political prosecution.

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Bankman and Fried have not commented on the report.

Ryan Salame, one of Bankman-Frieds top lieutenants, is also planning a pardon. If anyone pays attention for half a second, a lot of this doesnt make any sense, he said after being jailed last year for seven-and-a-half years for campaign finance law violations.

Sam Mangel, a consultant for white collar criminal cases who has previously worked for the presidents former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was jailed for contempt of Congress, and Peter Navarro, Trumps senior trade adviser who was imprisoned for defying a congressional subpoena, told Bloomberg he is working on several pardon requests.

He said he was told by Trump advisors not to bring any sex crimes, true crimes of violence or illegal immigration cases.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  The issue of accessory dwelling units in the city of San Diego has been simmering in the background for years, but has now been pushed front and center as city council members say resident complaints have hit a fevered pitch.

We are hearing from our constituents in all nine districts that they are really upset about just how much is allowed to be built, said District 7 city councilman Raul Campillo.

Have you seen this vehicle? Search continues for hit-and-run suspect

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During a meeting Tuesday a discussion sprouted which called into question the city of San Diegos housing 2.0 plan, which allows for density bonus units to be built with little regard to neighborhood character. For every one ADU that is deed restricted as affordable housing, the property owner is allowed to build another ADU which can be used as market rate housing.

The sweeping change to fast development is running counter to the wants of residents living in the city.

The mayor declined an interview on his signature housing development law, but his administration released this statement:

Councilman Campillo said, Weve gotten to a point to see what works and what doesnt, and how we can curtail this to make it more reasonable.

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The mayor has 60 days from Tuesday to respond to the city council.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.
SANTA CLARA, Utah (ABC4)  One person was killed and another injured following a shooting in Santa Clara last night, Jan. 30. One individual has been arrested and charged.

According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, officers responded to reports of gunshots near Santa Clara View Drive and Circle Drive around 11 p.m.

When police arrived, they made contact with individuals in the home. Authorities say two people had been shot, one adult male and one adult female. The female was pronounced dead on scene and the male was transported to St. George Regional Hospital with a gunshot wound to the arm.

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According to Santa Clara-Ivins Chief Jaron Studely, several juveniles were also in the home at the time of the shooting.

Investigation underway after body found near St. George trail

A reverse 911 alert was sent to residents while police investigated. They initially believed that an unknown assailant had entered the home during a suspected home invasion, according to the press release.

The shelter-in-place order was lifted after further investigation when police found that their initial reports were incorrect.

We believe that we have all of the parties involved at the house, Chief Jaron Studley said in an interview with ABC4.com last night.

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This morning, the press release shared by Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety reports that one individual has been arrested. This person is facing charges of murder, felony discharge of a weapon and aggravated assault.

The investigation into this case is ongoing, and anyone with information should contact the Santa Clara-Ivins Police at 435-652-1122.

No further information is available.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Mark Scott recalled writing an essay for a career day event in fourth grade. The job he chose? City manager.

The selection proved prescient, as Scott, 75, spent most of his career as a city manager at various cities in California and South Carolina. On Feb. 10 he will step into the same position at the city of Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe City Council late Wednesday night approved Mayor Alan Webbers appointment of Scott  who was selected out of a field of three dozen candidates.

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The chance to have Mr. Scott at the helm with his background and experience is something I think will serve us and the community very well, Webber said at the meeting, describing Scott as a professionals professional.

In an interview after his appointment, Scott said he is excited to lend his expertise to Santa Fe.

Im always attracted to places where I think that I can help a good team get things done, he said.

Long career in local government

Along with stints working at American Airlines corporate headquarters in Dallas, and for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott has spent most of his career in local government. His longest tenure was with the city of Beverly Hills, Calif., where he started as director of community development in 1983 and ultimately served as city manager for almost 14 years between 1990 and 2003.

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From there, he served as city manager in Spartanburg, S.C., for about six years before returning to California to work as city manager at cities including Indio, San Bernardino, Culver City, Burbank and his hometown of Fresno.

After officially retiring, Scott has served in a number of short-term, interim city manager appointments in California due to state rules limiting the number of hours state retirees can work for any agencies that contribute to the state pension plan to 120 days. Since 2021 he has served as interim city manager for the California cities of Lincoln, Downey, Ojai and Live Oak.

Scott said a retired city manager friend who lives in Santa Fe reached out to him when the city began its search following the November departure of John Blair, who left to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C.

Tourism Santa Fe Director Randy Randall has been serving as interim city manager in the meantime.

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After having a conversation with Webber, Scott said he became more interested in the position, which is likely to last only about 11 months. Webber, who has sole authority to appoint a city manager, will see his term expire at the end of 2025. He has not said whether he intends to seek a third term by running for reelection in November. A new mayor could choose a new city manager after taking office in January 2026.

Scott said his job is to view his work through a long-term lens, even if his own appointment is short.If you focus yourself on just 11 months, then youre not setting up the next person for things that need to be accomplished, he said.  If Im here longer than 11 months, thats fine  Santa Fe is a great place to be. And if Im not, Ive done that before.

A salary bump for the job

Scotts appointment was confirmed by an 8-1 vote Wednesday, with Councilor Michael Garcia casting the sole no vote.

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Garcia said he could not in good conscience approve the appointment because he was troubled by the increase in pay between Blair, who had a salary of $182,000, and the incoming city managers salary of $225,000.

I dont know why its always upper management that sees these drastic salary increases, Garcia said, adding he hopes the city will support its rank-and-file workforce with similar raises.

Blairs total compensation, including health insurance and state pension contributions, was about $256,000, city spokesperson Regina Ruiz said in an email Thursday. Scott will not receive health insurance from the city, but an itemized breakdown of his compensation and benefits provided by Ruiz was about $302,000.

Hes worth it based on experience, education, professional credentials, and the pay scale that we advertised that went up well past the amount weve offered him, Ruiz wrote in an email Thursday.

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Like Blair, Scott will not have a contract except for a relocation and sign-on incentive agreement, according to Ruiz. Scott will be joining the city at a time when local governments are scrambling to process the implications of potential policies ordered by President Donald Trump, including immigration raids, tariffs on goods from Mexico and other trading partners, and a sweeping pause on federal grants and loans  a federal order that was rescinded after throwing New Mexico  and the nation  into chaos Tuesday.

Scott said the current situation harks back to his memories of the Nixon administration, which introduced some policies that caught local governments by surprise. There have been times when theres been great confusion, he said, though he noted he cant predict what to expect from the Trump administration.

Many of the cities Scott has worked for have been in the midst of navigating significant challenges, including San Bernardino, which was working to exit a long period of municipal bankruptcy. Internal tension between government officials can also introduce challenges into the role, something that isnt unfamiliar to Santa Fe. Scott said every city hes worked for has had some level of friction between the City Council and the Mayors Office due to the checks and balances built into systems of governance.

Skepticism is built right into democracy, so the fact that theres some tension never surprises me, he said.

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Commitment to transparency

Asked at Wednesdays meeting by Garcia how he approaches communication with city councilors, Scott said he believes in transparency with councilors and the public.

On Thursday, Scott said sharing information directly with councilors is part of building trust. I dont want anybody to think that Im being strategic in the handling of information  thats not my job, he said.

Garcia and several other councilors voted unsuccessfully to suspend Blair for not disclosing a letter from a state agency about how overdue audits limited the citys ability to access state funds  until before the missive was the subject of a New Mexican report.

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Scott said his first actions as city manager will include touring city operations, spending time with senior staff and meeting with councilors, all of whom he said he will ask to give him a tour of the city so he can experience it from their individual perspectives.

Councilor Jamie Cassutt acknowledged that before meeting Scott, I did not think that you were who I would be looking for in this position.

However, she said, she was encouraged by his perspective that the city managers job is not a political one, as well as his desire to work collaboratively and his eagerness to get to know the community.

I think our community has been at times concerned about the city manager being a political appointment as opposed to a the city needs to function appointment, and I really did get that impression from you, she said.
The keys to a new 2024 Ford Transit Van were gifted to Sarah A. Reed Childrens Center to kick off the Erie Auto Show.

Every year, Erie Ford dealers put money together to donate a vehicle to a local non-profit.

Cruise on down to the Bayfront for day one of the 2025 Erie Auto Show

This is a part of their Ford Friendship Express Program that began in the area a little over a decade ago.

Dr. Adrienne Dixon, president & CEO of the center, said this van will help them have a greater impact on the families they serve in the erie community.

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Erie VA breaks ground on $18.5 million expansion project

Being able to connect with them in their communities and being able to provide service to them regarding access or even transportation. We are already planning about how this van will have great use, and Im sure our programs are all going to be vying for the opportunity to utilize it, said Dixon.

If you are a nonprofit and would like to be considered for this donation next year, applications open in April in person or can be found online here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com.
The Satellite Beach Police Department is requesting assistance in locating a missing teenage girl.

13-year-old Avery Monroe Rice was last seen on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 at approximately 5:30 p.m. at the Atlantic Plaza, located at 1024 Hwy. A1A, Satellite Beach, Brevard County, Florida 32937, according to SBPD.

Here is a map of the location:

Avery was last seen heading towards Scorpion Court wearing a black shirt, black shorts, and white and black shoes.

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Avery recently underwent a dental procedure and now has braces.

Read: White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions

According to SBPD there are no signs of foul play as they believe she is likely staying with friends.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact (321) 773-4400 EXT: 474

Read: Starbucks to cut 30% of menu

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has launched a criminal investigation following media reports alleging that Ukraines spy chief made a statement about a threat to the countrys existence during a closed-door parliamentary meeting, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Jan. 31, citing the SBU.

The case was opened under the legal provision on the disclosure of state secrets.

Ukrainska Pravda published an article on Jan. 27 claiming that Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraines military intelligence (HUR), warned of serious consequences for Ukraines existence if negotiations do not begin by the summer.

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The report, which cited an unnamed lawmaker who attended the meeting, did not specify what developments Budanov was allegedly referring to.

HUR denied the report, calling the alleged quote attributed to Budanov false.

The SBU said the investigation involves individuals who had access to the classified session in parliament.

"We act within the law and strictly adhere to professional journalistic standards. Ukrainska Pravda, as always, stands by its sources, which are protected under Ukrainian and international law," said Sevgil Musayeva, Ukrainska Pravda's editor-in-chief.

The reports come amid growing speculation about potential peace talks, as U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.

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Read also: How will the Russia-Ukraine war end? The good, the bad, and the ugly scenarios

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Protesters gather outside the gates of Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2024, ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. The protesters held up signs featuring family photos of Bowman. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

Editors note: This article was updated following the execution.

COLUMBIA  Marion Bowman died Friday night by lethal injection in the countrys first execution this year.

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His recorded time of death was 6:27 p.m.

Heather Heckman, of Columbia, leans against the fence outside Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2024, in the final minutes ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

The roughly 30 protesters outside the prison gates sang Amazing Grace, Bowmans favorite hymn, after receiving confirmation of his fate.

His final minutes

The curtain in the death chamber opened precisely at 6 p.m.

Bowman, wearing a green jumpsuit and strapped to a gurney, turned his head toward his attorney, Boyd Young, and nodded.

Young read Bowmans last words, a lengthy statement that concluded with one of his poems. Bowman maintained his innocence up to the end.

I did not kill Kandee Martin, began the statement (published in full below). Im innocent of the crimes Im here to die for.

Marion Bowman. (Provided/S.C. Department of Corrections)

Bowman acknowledged the pain Martins family felt in losing her, as well as the love of his friends and family and the companionship he found during his nearly 23 years on death row.

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He stared up at the ceiling, eyes closed, as Young read. We are not what the state labels us to be, the statement concluded. We are kind, caring, loving people, and its a shame the world cant see that.

Members of Martins family, who are legally allowed to attend, were absent from the witness room.

Young and an attorney from the solicitors office watched from the front row, both occasionally wiping at their eyes.

Behind them sat media witnesses, including a reporter from the SC Daily Gazette.

At the end of the three-minute statement, as Young took his seat again, Bowman looked toward him again and mouthed something indecipherable to media witnesses through the glass partition. Young replied, Thank you.

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The execution began at 6:04 p.m. Bowman, still staring at the ceiling, took several deep, loud breaths, puffing out his lips and cheeks with each one. Those subsided into shallower, quieter breaths.

Bowmans chest stopped moving at 6:06 p.m. At 6:26 p.m., a doctor entered the room and placed a stethoscope on his chest and a hand on his neck. A voice on the intercom one minute later announced that the execution had been carried out.

The length of time was similar to previous executions. Bowman showed no outward signs of pain.

For his last meal, Bowman ate fried seafood, including shrimp, fish and oysters; chicken wings and tenders; onion rings; banana pudding; German chocolate cake; cranberry juice; and pineapple juice.

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Bowman chose to eat the meal Wednesday, consuming normal prison food for his final days.

Bucky Bruce, of Columbia, give a thumbs up to drivers who honk while driving past the gates of Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Bruce said he had counted more than 200 honks of support for anti-death penalty protesters in. the hour ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

In the hour leading up to the execution, people who gathered outside the prison gate to protest the death penalty included Deidre Kelly, of Rock Hill; Mary Rider, of Garner, North Carolina; and Wilna Petion, of Boyton Beach, Forida. The three spoke about Bowmans case and how he maintained his innocence.

Death is final and I just dont think theres enough certainty in the justice system, Kelly said.

Bowman decided not to ask Gov. Henry McMaster for mercy, his attorneys said Thursday. He made the decision after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, and a federal appeals court denied his request to know more information about the drugs that ultimately killed him. McMaster released a statement anyway saying hed reviewed the records and would not grant clemency.

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Bowman was the third inmate executed after the state resumed the process in September. An unintended 13-year hiatus, caused in part by the states inability to get the drugs used in lethal injections, ended after the state Supreme Court ruled that electrocution and firing squad were constitutional methods of execution.

All three inmates chose to die by lethal injection after a 2023 law keeping everything about the drugs secret allowed officials to restock. Inmates, including Bowman, have asked federal courts to require officials release more about the drugs that will kill them, to no avail.

Three more inmates have exhausted their appeals and are eligible to receive death warrants in the coming months. The soonest the next inmate could receive a warrant will be Feb. 7.

The crime

Bowman, then 20, was out with his sister Feb. 16, 2001, when he noticed 21-year-old Kandee Martin standing outside a house with a group of people.

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Bowman knew Martin. According to his own statement, the married Bowman and single mother Martin had been having an affair. Attorneys have said Martin had a history of exchanging sex for crack cocaine, which Bowman sold.

Asking his sister to stop the car, Bowman told Martin, I want my money today, his sister later testified. If she didnt give it to him, he said she would be dead by dark, his sister and cousin later told a jury.

Later that day, Bowmans cousin, James Taiwan Gadson, was drinking at a friends house when Martin drove up, with Bowman in the car. Bowman told Gadson to get in, which Gadson did, he later testified.

Bowman told Martin to drive to a remote part of Dorchester County. Parked along the side of an empty road, the three got out of the car. Bowman told his cousin he believed Martin was wearing a wire and he was going to kill her, Gadson later testified.

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A car passed. The three of them hid in nearby bushes. Then, as Martin started back toward the car, Gadson heard three gunshots. Martin said, Dont shoot me no more, I have a child to take care of, Gadson testified. Bowman shot her twice more, according to trial transcripts.

Bowman dragged Martins body out into the nearby woods, and the two took her car back into town. Bowman drove the car around through the evening, at one point trying unsuccessfully to sell it outside of a bar, according to court documents.

Around 3 a.m., Bowman called on a friend, Travis Felder, for help. Travis followed Bowman in his own car back out to that rural road in his own car, where Bowman retrieved Martins body from the woods, put her in the trunk of her own car and lit the car on fire, Felder testified.

You didnt think Id do it, Bowman said to Felder, the friend later recalled.

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Did what? Felder responded.

I killed Kandee Martin, Felder told the court Bowman said.

Firefighters arrived later that morning to put out the blaze and discovered Martins body in the trunk.

A jury convicted Bowman in 2002 and recommended the death penalty. Bowmans family, along with the friends and cousin involved, testified against him.

Bowman disputes the way prosecutors laid out the evening. He didnt testify during his original trial, but in a December statement released by his attorneys, he gave his own sequence of events.

Gadson was the one to kill Martin, Bowman claimed. Bowman went home after spending the day with his sister and learned about the crime later, when Gadson pleaded with him to go out to a bar, his statement continued.

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Bowman declined plea deals that would have allowed him to instead spend the rest of his life in prison because that would require him to admit guilt, he wrote.

I am so sorry for Kandee and her family, but I did not do it, Bowman wrote in December. Her family has suffered a loss that can not be undone. They have been through trials, and appeals, but they have never heard the truth from me. I know this wont bring them satisfaction, but this is my truth.

Final appeals

In the months before Bowmans execution, his attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to overturn his sentence, arguing that prosecutors withheld evidence and his own attorney was racist.

Felder and Gadson testified after receiving plea deals, which could have cast doubt on their stories if jurors knew they had something to gain, attorneys argued. Much of the prosecution was based on that testimony, since no DNA tied Bowman to the scene, the appeal continued.

Also excluded was a statement a fellow inmate made claiming Gadson had confessed to the killing after his arrest, the filing argued.

Knowing about the plea deals and the statement, which the inmate later rescinded, would likely not have been enough to change jurors minds, the state Supreme Court decided. Bowmans attorneys raised similar arguments at different stages of his appeals process, to no avail.

The court also rejected the idea that Bowmans defense attorney, who is white, was racist against him because he was Black. As did the U.S. Supreme Court, in an order issued Thursday.

Bowmans current attorneys claimed that his attorney implied there was no reason Bowman and Martin would have been together that night except for Bowman to harm her. He tried to persuade Bowman to accept a plea deal because he had little hope of success as a Black man who killed a white woman, the complaint alleged.

Those quotes were taken out of context, and Bowmans attorney was not wrong for wanting to warn him about possible racism, attorneys for the state replied. Both courts agreed.

Bowman maintained his innocence in declining to ask Gov. Henry McMaster for clemency. It was unlikely McMaster, a former attorney general, would grant Bowman life in prison without parole. No modern governor has done so, and McMaster denied clemency to the past two inmates who asked.

Not attempting is an unusual decision that was difficult for Bowman to make, his attorneys said in a statement Thursday.

After more than two decades of battling a broken system that has failed him at every turn, Marions decision is a powerful refusal to legitimize an unjust process that has already stolen so much of his life, the statement read.

Kandee Martin

Martin, 21, got a new job not long before she died. She was learning how to sell mobile homes in Orangeburg, which she was enjoying, said her mother, DiDi Martin, during Bowmans 2001 sentencing hearing.

She was in the midst of planning a birthday party for her son, Tyler, who would turn 2 years old less than a week after her death. Kandee Martin was going to get him a cake featuring the Sesame Street character Elmo and throw him a party. She and her mom were in the process of sending out invitations, her mother testified.

When Kandee Martin died, Tyler would often cry and ask when his mom was coming home, DiDi Martin testified.

He loved his mother with all his heart, DiDi Martin testified. They had a relationship that you just cant explain because it was so wonderful.

Kandee Martin, the younger of two siblings, was a caring person, family members recalled. Several years before her death, she and her mother set up a glamour photo shoot, where they got dressed up and took pictures, her mother recalled.

I would say she was a loving type young lady, and she cared for everybody and (there was) nothing she wouldnt do for anybody, her father, Wayne Martin, said during the hearing.

At the funeral 10 days after Martins death, the family kept the casket closed, he added.

That was the worst thing, not being able to say goodbye, Wayne Martin said.

Marion Bowman Jr.

Born to a teenage mother and an abusive father, Bowmans early life was difficult, a psychologist recounted during his sentencing hearing.

Protesters gather outside the gates of Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2024, ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. The protesters held up signs featuring family photos of Bowman. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

When Bowman was a teenager, his mother suffered a back injury that left her bed bound. The responsibility for chores and earning money fell to Bowman and his two sisters, according to court documents.

By the age of 14, Bowman was drinking heavily and selling drugs. He dropped out of school after finishing the ninth grade and suffered a series of tragedies, including the deaths of two beloved cousins and the separation of his mother and stepfather, the psychologist said.

Still, Bowman was a kindhearted person who loved his family and went out of his way to help his aunt, relatives testified during his sentencing hearing.

During his years in prison, Bowman, whos 6-foot-4 and nearly 400 pounds, has earned a reputation as a gentle giant, something his aunt repeated in a statement released by attorneys earlier this week.

Marion is someone who would do anything for someone else if he is able, Lorraine Johnson said in the statement.

Bowman always makes a point to ask Johnson how she is and whats happening in her life. He remains close to his daughter, Marissa, who was born while he was awaiting trial. She had her first child in August, making Bowman a grandfather, according to the states statement.

It has torn our family apart to have Marion be on death row, Johnson said in her statement. I do not think that Marions mother would recover if he were to be executed.

His mother, Dorothy Bowman, said as much during his sentencing hearing.

I dont want to see my son die, because thats the only son I have, and I dont know what went wrong, Dorothy Bowman said at the time.

Protesters gather outside the gates of Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2024, ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. The protesters held up signs featuring family photos of Bowman and South Carolinas state motto. During a vigil after receiving confirmation of Bowmans death several people compared the motto to the words Bowman wrote in a poem in his final days. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

Since 2009, as far back as sanctions listed online go, Bowman has received only one disciplinary action in prison, for destroying property in 2016.

Because of his good behavior, Bowman received a job coveted on death row since it meant more time out of his cell cleaning and collecting meal trays, former associate Warden Ralph Hunter said in a statement filed with the state Supreme Court.

Even though Marion was a big man, no one was concerned about him causing trouble, Hunter said.

Bowman is also a prolific poet. Leading up to his execution, his attorneys released a 58-page collection of his poems, titled My Thoughts.

Some were used as words of encouragement, some as a way of venting, and others were about what was going on around me, Bowman wrote in a brief introduction.

Some end with Bible verses, a reflection of the Christian faith Bowman found while in prison. One that repeats reads, I was in prison, and you visited me, from Matthew 25:36.

Reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.

Last Breath or Sigh

Last breath or sigh of relief,

It was God who breathed the breath of life into Adam.

So why is taking our last breath so hard to fathom?

How many times youve held your breath,

When youve wondered what would happen if you exhaled.

Overcoming your fears, doubts, and many tears,

And you know Gods pulled or pushed you through,

Only to release a sigh of relief.

Let there be no mistaking

Ive felt love with every breath Ive taken.

I hope Ive given a good return on that investment.

So, when Ive breathed my last gasp,

The good Lord just took back what He gave me as breath.

Know that Im in Gods grasp,

And its in His bosom Ill rest in.

Did I take a last breath or sigh of relief?

Last breath or sigh of relief.

 Marion Bowman Jr.

Provided by attorneys.

Protesters gather outside the gates of Broad River Correctional Center in Columbia Friday, Jan. 31, 2024, in the final minutes ahead of the scheduled execution of Marion Bowman. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

Bowmans final statement, read by his attorney Boyd Young:

I did not kill Kandee Martin. Im innocent of the crimes Im here to die for.

Living behind these walls has taught me a lot about loss and grief. It is never easy, but I have learned to find comfort in sharing good memories and funny stories. My suffering will soon be at an end, but I know it is the beginning for others. Please keep your head up, remember I love you, and please share your memories of me.

I know that Kandees family is in pain. They are justifiably angry. If my death brings them some relief and ability to focus on the good times and funny stories, then I guess it will have served a purpose. I hope they find peace.

To my family, friends, and supporters, I have nothing to give, but I have gained so much. I have tried to give a good return on your investment with love and care.

I had bad moments but never a bad day because there were so many people that I could reach out to, investing in me and giving me a hand up. We all ended up as family, and I got a whole lot of family. Thank you.

Over the years I have learned that we are labeled as the worst of the worst. None of these guys that I have gotten to know and grown to love are the people that they were when they had their moment that cost them everything.

If the world could see us in our day to day, they would have a different view of the death penalty. We all pray for grace and forgiveness, but the outside world is stuck with images of monsters perpetrated by the state, while our real voices are silenced.

We are not what the state labels us to be. We are kind, caring, loving people, and its a shame the world cant see that.


Doctors and health care staff are pictured at an emergency department in Houston. Physicians are less likely to seek mental health care due to licensing concerns over outdated questions on licensure and credentialing applications that ask about any previous diagnosis, care or treatment. State medical boards and hospital systems are changing those forms. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Medical doctors face higher rates of burnout and depression, and are twice as likely to die by suicide compared with the general population. The risks were magnified during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the problem existed long before the pandemic  and it remains. More than 40% of physicians, as well as medical school students and residents, cite fear of disclosure requirements on licensure forms as a main reason why they dont seek mental health care.

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Thats according to the American Medical Association, which represents physicians and medical students around the nation. The AMA and other groups have been pushing for legislative and regulatory changes.

More states and health systems are amending licensure and credentialing forms to remove mental health-related questions, such as asking about whether a doctor sought mental health care or treatment or received a mental health diagnosis. Others have codified such changes into state law.

The rationale for asking about mental health was to ensure patient safety. The AMA says safety can be addressed with general language that asks if the physician is suffering from any impairment that could interfere with patient care.

Having any past diagnosis of a mental health need or a substance use problem is often not relevant, said Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, the immediate past president of the AMA. The key inquiry ought to be whether the impairment represents a current concern for safety and the physicians ability to provide competent professional care.

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Ehrenfeld recalled a classmate who had applied for a medical license in Colorado. He said that in response to a question about any prior mental health diagnosis or treatment, she responded that shed seen a psychologist in high school. That held up her license for nine months, Ehrenfeld said.

Nationwide, at least 29 states have updated their forms to remove such questions in line with AMA standards, and as of September of last year, 375 hospitals had changed credentialing questions, according to the AMA.

Advocates say destigmatizing mental health care for doctors is paramount as the nation grapples with a shortage of health care workers. More than 76 million Americans live in federally designated shortage areas, and thats projected to worsen as physicians consider leaving the field, driven by burnout and chronic overload.

Arguing the questions violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, other groups  including the Federation of State Medical Boards and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation  have also recommended updates to licensure application forms. The foundation is a physician mental health advocacy nonprofit named after New York City emergency room physician Dr. Lorna Breen, who died by suicide on April 26, 2020, after the hospital where she worked was inundated with COVID-19 patients.

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In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released this month, a quarter of health care providers reported mental health symptoms severe enough for a diagnosis. Among those, only 38% reported seeking care, while 20% said they didnt need care, despite severe symptoms. An estimated 300 to 400 physicians die by suicide each year, with women physicians dying at higher rates.

Breens brother-in-law, Corey Feist, who is the foundations president and co-founder, said many doctors dont seek help because they assume that the rules are against them.

They avoid getting mental health treatment, or if they do get mental health treatment, they treat it as a scarlet letter, Feist said.

The foundation has a communications toolkit for hospital systems and licensing bodies to help them disseminate updated forms to the workforce.

State and federal changes

The foundation also tracks state changes, and last year recognized licensing bodies in South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia for meeting the foundations recommendations. Just last week, another board in Washington state joined the list, Feist said.

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At the federal level, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act became law in 2022. It requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to hospitals and professional associations to develop programs to promote mental health among providers. The law also requires dissemination of best practices for suicide prevention and campaigns to encourage providers to seek support.

Licensure application changes are a start, experts say. But broader changes will be needed to gain physicians trust so that they will seek care, said Dr. Kyra Reed, an emergency room physician in Indiana and an advocate for breaking barriers to mental health care for physicians.

A culture change takes time, Reed said. You do have to have a reflection in leadership and in systems that reflect genuine caring and concrete strategies to support physicians in need.

One strategy to combat mistrust, she said, is for health care employers to provide opt-out therapy services as part of employment from the beginning of a persons tenure. If you standardize something, then you normalize intervention, which then makes people feel less stigmatized, she said.

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Reed went through her own experience of postpartum depression in 2020 and now shares her story at national conferences and with peers to destigmatize the issue.

I was more worried about my career and job in that moment than calling for help. That was a stark moment for me, she said. As a physician  you think you should be able to help yourself, because you help others in that situation. And when you cant, its mind-boggling.

New laws and volunteer groups

In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia became the first state to enact a law mandating a program that provides physicians with 24/7 confidential mental health support without fear of repercussions against their licenses. The law was updated last year expanding to dentists, dental hygienists and dental students.

Other states have passed similar laws since then, including Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and South Dakota, according to the AMA, and provisions of a Minnesota law went into effect last year.

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They avoid getting mental health treatment, or if they do get mental health treatment, they treat it as a scarlet letter.

 Corey Feist, co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation

Meanwhile, volunteer groups have helped with access to care outside of employee assistance programs, which some doctors may avoid using, fearing a lack of confidentiality.

The Oregon Wellness Program supports licensed physicians and physician assistants, medical students, nurses and nurse practitioners in the state. Run by volunteer psychiatrists, the program receives state funding and serves about 1,000 health professionals per year.

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Often people are insured through their employer, and so there was fear that the employer would then know that they were seeking mental health services, said volunteer psychiatrist Dr. Mandi Hudson. It offers a level of protection and confidentiality that didnt previously exist.

Through the program, health care workers can be seen without having to wait six months or a year to get an appointment, Hudson said.

The Physician Support Line is a national mental health hotline for doctors that was launched in response to the pandemic. At its peak, the line took an average of 30 calls per day.

We were just volunteer people coming together, doing this work, said Chicago-based psychiatrist Dr. Smita Gautam. Were not affiliated to any health care organization, health care system, university, medical board for any licensure organization. So, we are a very independent grassroots organization, and weve kept it that way so that physicians feel free to talk to us.

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Gautam added that fear of licensing issues is a concern she hears often from physicians  including those practicing in states where forms have updated.

This has sort of percolated so much that even if a physician is in a friendly state, they may not know about it. Theres this free-floating anxiety about, Will I get reported? she said.

Editors note: This story was updated to correct Dr. Jesse Ehrenfelds current title.

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LINDALE, Texas (KETK)  School choice is one step closer to becoming a reality in the State of Texas despite public school officials disapproval.

Texas budget proposals would fund school choice, border security, property tax relief

The Texas Senate Education Committee is allowing the school voucher legislation to go up for a floor vote in the coming days.

The governor has made this a top legislative priority, but some public school officials and lawmakers are fighting back.

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Senate Bill 2 would create education savings accounts per student and lawmakers would approve $1 billion to get this program started. Its money that Lindale ISD superintendent Stan Surratt said could go toward improving public schools instead.

If vouchers is such a great idea, wouldnt it pass on its own merit, Surratt asked.

The vote was 9-2 in the State Senate Education Committee with all Republicans voting to advance the school choice bill to a floor vote.

On this school choice front, I think well have the best plan and boldest launch in America, Sen. Brandon Creighton said.

Author of Senate Bill 2, senator Brandon Creighton from Conroe said the education savings accounts or ESAs would provide families $10,000 a year per student.

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The bill would also allow $11,000 for students with disabilities and $2,000 for children who are homeschooled.

Parents can again spend this money on tuition, instructional materials, higher education courses, trade certificates, assessment costs, Creighton said.

Under this bill, families with children already attending private schools can also participate.

Surratt believes the money could be better spent.

It is not a conservative principle. In Texas we are full of conservative people, we dont like to waste money or give money away without accountability and this program is certainly is going to do that, Surratt said.

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He doesnt think the number of students who attend Lindale ISD will drop, but worries people in the most rural parts of East Texas could be at a severe disadvantage.

The travel distance would be so great. Its just not realistic. Some of these families that may not have the means to pay the extra five or $10,000 with the voucher. Thats not about helping poor inner city schools or students who are failing school, thats not what its about, its about getting money to wealthy families whose children who are already in private schools, Surratt said.

Parents Matter: Gov. Abbott promotes school choice in Tyler

Governor Greg Abbott promises that public schools will not lose funding. He spoke at Grace Community School in 2023 to push this idea.

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We will be adding billions more dollars to public education including more raises for our teachers, Abbott said.

Lawmakers remain skeptical saying recent history has shown public schools arent getting the level of investment they should be seeing.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said the senate could pass this bill as soon as next Wednesday. Abbott would have to declare it an emergency item during his State of the State address.

The bill will have immediate effect if it passes the senate and house with a majority.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Chris Dennis walked up Palm Street and down Lincoln Avenue in west Altadena, past charred husks of houses and cindered carcasses of cars.

The Eaton fire had destroyed his family's nearby home, but his son's school was still standing. And Dennis wanted to see it.

The route he took Jan. 25 was the same one he used each morning when he'd walk his kindergartner son to Odyssey Charter School. Now, though, "It's just wasteland," Dennis said.

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"The wind picked up and I got ash in my eyes," he said. "That school is downwind from a war zone."

Dennis, 43, said he wasn't prepared to have his son return to Odyssey. Far from it. He has many questions  about the scope of campus cleanup efforts and the results of environmental tests conducted there, to name just two. And Dennis isn't alone.

At public meetings, on social media and in interviews with The Times, parents at schools near the Palisades and Eaton fire zones have expressed deep health and safety concerns, and questioned whether their children should return to class. But officials have assured families that schools have been cleaned and are safe. Some campuses close to the devastation already have welcomed students back, including Canyon Charter Elementary School and Paul Revere Charter Middle School in Pacific Palisades, which together enroll more than 2,000 students.

A worker cleans a classroom at Jackson Elementary School in Altadena. (Nick Agro/For The Times)

At Odyssey, administrators acted on parents' concerns: Unlike many schools in and around Pasadena, it has not yet opened.

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"It's just empty, desolate, strange. ... It is also the last place I can think of for kids to be," said Michael G. Davis, a parent at Odyssey who visited the campus after the fire. "The gate of our school is a five-minute walk from a square-miles-large, fresh, 100% toxic debris field. The notion of sending children into an area like that for whatever number of hours a day is insane."

The Eaton fire destroyed five campuses in the Pasadena area, including Odyssey's sister school. The Palisades fire claimed two elementary schools and badly damaged Palisades Charter High School. But campuses near fire zones  those with buildings intact, including Odyssey, Canyon and Revere  are grappling with safety issues that have vexed parents and administrators, complicated the reopening process and imbued it with tension.

Among the biggest concerns for parents: School district leaders  not an independent government entity  are responsible for ensuring their campuses are safe to reopen, according to county and state authorities. And there is no required remediation protocol for school properties that have been exposed to potentially toxic smoke, debris and ash generated by a fire.

Pasadena Unified, which had closed its 24 campuses on Jan. 8, has been reopening them in phases over the last two weeks, and brought the final group back Thursday, except for the Odyssey charter schools. The 14,000-student district, which marshaled 1,500 workers to clean the school sites, had said it wouldn't bring back children until campuses were evaluated by an environmental testing company and confirmed safe. The company "conducted extensive tests at various locations within the affected school buildings," assessing soot, char and ash, the district said.

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Read more: The L.A. wildfires left neighborhoods choking in ash and toxic air. Residents demand answers

L.A. Unified, meanwhile, has focused on deep cleaning schools and bringing in outside firms for inspections. Because of the district's size, it has its own Office of Environment Health and Safety to add a layer of scrutiny. Reports on the seven most affected still-standing schools, among them Canyon and Revere, are posted on its website.

Parents said the lack of standardized processes for reopening is confusing, and many are agonizing over the decision to send their children to school. Some have been keeping their kids at home, arranging transfers to other schools and are even contemplating moving.

"We don't know the answer, but I don't think they do either," said Negin Sohrabi, who has had two children at Canyon Elementary. "We're not comfortable going back to the physical location of the school. So that's not an option for us."

What experts say

In an always-on culture  one in which harried parents are inundated with social media posts, group chats and town halls  it's been hard for some to know which sources to trust for information about best practices after a fire.

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"The whole 'what is acceptable in terms of cleaning' question is something I don't feel confident in knowing," said Mike O'Connor, a parent of a transitional kindergartner at Odyssey South, the Odyssey sister school that burned.

A worker cleans a classroom window at Jackson Elementary School in Altadena. (Nick Agro/For The Times)

There are general guidelines published by county and state agencies on cleaning schools after a conflagration. Suggested steps include opening windows and doors to allow the smoke smell to dissipate; misting an area with water before wiping, sweeping or mopping to help prevent ash from becoming airborne; washing toys and carefully wiping those that can't be submerged.

Some experts said that these guidelines underestimate the risk from smoke and ash, and that the toxicity and scale of the L.A. area's recent fires demand a higher standard of care. The blazes incinerated plastics, metals, electronic components and building materials  including older, no-longer-permitted ones, such as asbestos, which is carcinogenic.

"Why isnt a more thorough investigation being done to look for suspended particles that are too light to settle on surfaces and that are still of respirable size, small enough to get into your lower lung?" said Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, an industrial hygienist who has studied exposures in post-fire environments.

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Read more: The L.A. wildfires left neighborhoods choking in ash and toxic air. Residents demand answers

Many concerned Westside parents wanted the campus cleanups supervised by an on-site industrial hygienist  preferably one with a degree of independence who answered to an agency other than the school district.

That did not happen at Canyon and Revere. Instead, L.A. Unified hired environmental firms to review paperwork documenting the district's actions.

The effort at Canyon was reviewed by hygienist Ibrahim M. Sobeih of Fullerton-based Titan Environmental Solutions, who wrote to the district: "Adequate cleaning was performed in areas where ash was observed, and filtration and deodorizers were utilized. No further action is recommended at the Site."

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Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and a pediatrician, said that in a disaster of this magnitude, it would be "difficult to come up with all the resources to be able to" have professional cleaners scour every space. She suggested accommodations that could help protect children, such as having them bring an extra set of clothes to school, so that they could change outfits if they were exposed to ash.

She noted that "younger kids are at higher risk because they have more hand-to-mouth behavior." Older children, she said, can wash their hands well and are more easily taught to identify ash and avoid it.

But even handwashing would be complicated at Canyon, where the water is still not potable. Officials say it can be used only to clean hands if it's completely unheated. Bottled water has been brought in for the school's roughly 400 students.

Patel said she advised exercising "greater caution in the schools that were closer to the burn sites and have more ash."

Palisades fire fallout

On Jan. 23, a staff geologist from Oakland-based Terraphase Engineering walked around Canyon Elementary, located over the hill from the Palisades burn zone, and carried out a test that would help determine whether children could return.

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The geologist took a big sniff. He did not smell smoke.

That inhalation, described as an "olfactory inspection" in a letter Terraphase wrote to L.A. Unified, contributed to the reopening of a campus that escaped flames but still suffered an assault by ash, debris and smoke.

When Canyon Elementary reopened Monday, only 37% of students were in attendance, according to a district tally. (Howard Blume/Los Angeles Times)

Before the sniff test, the work at Canyon mirrored cleaning that occurred at other affected schools, including Lanai Road Elementary School in Encino and Roscomare Road Elementary School in Bel-Air. Shortly after the fires began, the district sent its maintenance staff and outside contractors from campus to campus. Cleanup measures included changing air filters, mopping, sweeping and dusting. The district has also placed portable air purifiers in classrooms at some schools.

Campuses are safe, district officials have insisted in online presentations. As one slide at a meeting for parents said: "We feel confident about allowing a return to normal school operations, giving discretion to site administrators to pivot should conditions change."

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Canyon was lucky compared with Palisades Charter Elementary School and Marquez Charter Elementary School, two nearby campuses that mostly burned to the ground. But when it reopened Monday, many parents were unconvinced of its safety: Only 37% of Canyon's students attended school, according to a district tally. Tuesday was a little better, with a rate of 52%.

Eight parent leaders at the school sent a letter to L.A. Unified's Board of Education this week that demanded "third-party industrial hygienist testing, remediation, and ongoing air quality protocols."

They were unhappy with a report shared by the district that detailed "visual and olfactory inspections."

The report said a geologist found unsuitable conditions at Canyon during a Jan. 18 walk-through: "Smoke odor was noted upon entering all rooms in Buildings A, B, C, D, and Room 21 in Building F." Five days later, a different geologist recorded no odor during his follow-up visit. Some ash had reappeared and was cleaned again. Still, parents who took part in a walk-through reported finding areas that they believed were inadequately sanitized.

Mary Fish, a parent at Marquez Charter Elementary School, which was damaged in the Palisades fire, walks her son to his new classroom at Nora Sterry Elementary School in the Sawtelle neighborhood. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

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The Revere campus reopened Jan. 21, and students immediately reported that there was ash inside their lockers. Maintenance workers cleaned them the following weekend.

"Really?" parent Amir Guerami said. "Are school janitors at LAUSD schools and Paul Revere trained in EPA-compliant methods of cleaning toxic debris without causing more harm?"

Karmen Thulin, parent of a Revere sixth-grader, told L.A. Unified officials in an email that she was keeping her child home. She noted that no soil testing had occurred at the campus, which the district has acknowledged. "There is no mitigation effort or plan to keep those contaminants from being tracked inside, where they will definitely circulate among middle-school kids," she wrote.

Attendance at Revere, which has about 1,700 students, was initially low, but has gradually improved, although that doesn't mean all families are satisfied. Many have continued to raise concerns with officials, including about 100 who signed a letter to the school board.

Christine Kornylak's daughter has returned to class despite the family's misgivings. "She loves her friends and teachers, which is why I dont want to give up and leave," Kornylak said. "But were taking all the safeguards we can ... and are worried about what lies ahead."

Opening in Pasadena

Odyssey and Odyssey South, independent charter schools that lease campuses owned by Pasadena Unified, remained closed Thursdaywhile other schools welcomed back student after three weeks.

The district had offered space to Odyssey South  the school destroyed in the fire  on the same campus that houses Odyssey. When officials from the two schools held a town hall Jan. 23, it was clear that parents did not want their children returning to the site on West Altadena Drive anytime soon, said Bonnie Brimecombe, principal of Odyssey South.

"That property is literally on the burn line," she said.

Odyssey Charter School South was destroyed by the Eaton fire in Altadena. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

This week, Pasadena Unified released the results of environmental testing done at its properties, including the site housing Odyssey, which is flanked by the Eaton burn area on two sides. Those evaluations  completed by Orange-based EnviroCheck, the company hired by the district  included what it described as a "thorough assessment of potential contamination" that tested items including door handles, lobby desktops and cabinet tops.

The evaluation of the Odyssey campus was marked "non-detect" across 20 samples tested for soot, char and ash, meaning those items were "not found in a high enough concentration for the laboratory equipment to detect" them, according to the district. But parents at the Odyssey schools, which combined have about 840 students, weren't sure what to make of the results.

"What's the sustained cleaning plan? I am not seeing it," Dennis said.

Pasadena Unified has said that it will monitor air quality daily using California Department of Public Health guidelines, and that airborne asbestos, lead and other toxic substances are being monitored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Even before the town hall, officials at the Odyssey schools had been scouring the area for an another site. Carlos Garcia Saldana, executive director of Odyssey Charter Schools, said in an email to parents Wednesday that administrators had secured venues to host both campuses' elementary school students. But he said a place for middle schoolers had yet to be secured.

Some parents are unhappy with the decision to house both schools' three youngest grades at a Boys & Girls Club on North Fair Oaks Avenue, about four blocks from a fire-scorched area. "My concern is that the Fair Oaks [location] isn't really that far from the burn scar," Dennis said. "So I feel like we have gone from one similar situation to another."

In an interview, Saldana acknowledged parents' worries, but said that Odyssey leadership had settled on the best available option. "I hear the concern," he said. "This is definitely makeshift."

Saldana said that the Fair Oaks property has been cleaned, but that he still needed to ascertain "what were the actual protocols, and who did the cleaning and environmental testing."

The Odyssey schools will welcome students back Monday.

Times staff writer Jenny Gold contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Our world is overheating due to heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Much of that pollution comes from dirty energy sources, including oil, gas, and coal. Some of these resources get turned into items like phones, which locks potential air pollution away, but a new study shared by Grist suggests that is only temporary.

What's happening?

Researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands examined a recent period of 25 years and determined that billions of tons of carbon from dirty fuels had been converted into long-lasting forms  things like building materials, household items, and electronics.

All of this stuff made by humans has been referred to as the "technosphere," a term that contrasts with the biosphere, which refers to living things.

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The problem is items in the technosphere don't stay there forever.

"It's like a ticking time bomb," said Klaus Hubacek, the senior author of the paper and an ecological economist at the University of Groningen, per Grist. "We draw lots of fossil resources out of the ground and put them in the technosphere and then leave them sitting around. But what happens after an object's lifetime?"

"Once you discard these things, the question is, how do you treat that carbon?" said Kaan Hidiroglu, Ph.D. student and one of the study's authors, per Grist. "If you put it into incinerators and burn it, you immediately release more carbon emissions into the atmosphere, which is something we really do not want to do."

Some discarded items are recycled, keeping carbon trapped longer, but the majority end up in landfills.

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Landfills are a complicated option from the perspective of air pollution. They do lock in some carbon for decades. But they also leak pollutants, including methane  a potent heat-trapping gas.

Why does it matter if our trash creates air pollution?

Our planet is getting hotter all the time, and that has an incredibly disruptive effect on both human life and the natural world. Humans are experiencing more intense disasters due to the heat, including droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and deadly heat waves. This has led to loss of life, not to mention billions upon billions of dollars of damage.

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Meanwhile, many creatures in the wild are threatened by the changing climate. The ecosystems and species that we lose can never be recovered.

What's being done about pollution from trash?

Today, many organizations and even large corporations are thinking about a circular economy  a system in which manufacturers plan for the end of life for their products and design them to be disposed of responsibly. That can mean using more recyclable and biodegradable materials, as well as incorporating materials that have already been recycled, and it also means designing high-quality, long-lasting items that won't just be thrown away immediately. You can support these efforts by choosing providers who follow this eco-friendly philosophy.

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According to Hubacek, the real solution is simply making and buying less stuff. "Reduce consumption and avoid making it in the first place," he told Grist. "But once you have it, that's when we need to think about what to do next."

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In an effort to conserve nature and reduce deforestation, several African countries have teamed up with non-governmental organizations to co-manage protected areas.

According to a press release by France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), the collaborative management strategy includes 127 partnerships that span 1 million square kilometers (more than 386,000 square miles) across 16 countries.

An international research team from INRAE and Le Havre University investigated how much of an effect the management models had on deforestation rates. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, showed that protected areas saw a 55% reduction in deforestation, while the most vulnerable protected areas experienced 66% less tree removal.

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As sub-Saharan Africa houses 13% of the world's biodiversity and around 20% of its forests, per the news release, governments established the continent's first protected area in 1925 to safeguard these immense natural resources.

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Following the conservation of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, government bodies created thousands of other protected areas. However, underfunding and ineffective management have made it difficult for governments to oversee such vast wilderness.

To fill the management gap, co-management initiatives have sprung up over the last two decades between several African states and NGOs. Through these collaborative management partnerships, NGOs manage thousands of square kilometers across several states for 25 to 40 years. INRAE stated that NGOs normally support projects for just 2-5 years, so this long-term partnership will provide even more benefits for people and the environment.

Funds from the partnership will go toward training staff and park rangers, building roads and tourism infrastructure, and installing power plants near the Virunga and Garamba Parks to boost living conditions for communities.

Researchers noted that these investments in energy development and staff recruiting have made the biggest difference in the protected areas most threatened by human activities. The findings prove that co-management between governments and NGOs can play a critical role in preserving biodiversity and ecosystems in the long term.

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Other conservation efforts have borne fruit in South Africa, where a private reserve released at-risk southern white rhinos to boost the population, and an urban farm restored a huge forest area.

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Democrats are scrambling to find their footing in the second Donald Trump era. But for 30 minutes on Thursday night, they struggled even to get through a party meeting.

The final forum of candidates running to lead the Democratic National Committee was derailed at numerous points by climate protesters  a reminder of the fractures still dividing a party reeling from its losses in November.

More than a dozen protesters, some affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, repeatedly stopped the DNC forum proceedings throughout the first 30 minutes. After five individual interruptions, six more protesters surged toward the stage, attempting to unfurl a banner, before they were forcibly removed.

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The moderators  MSNBC hosts Jen Psaki, Jonathan Capehart and Symone Sanders-Townsend  grew visibly frustrated by the frequent outbursts, even as they readjusted questions to address climate change.

If anyone else feels the need to disrupt, please stand up and do it right now, Sanders-Townsend said.

But the protests continued  becoming so distracting that some of the DNC chair candidates vented their annoyance. Jason Paul, a longshot among the eight contenders, accused the protesters of hijack[ing] the whole evening and turning this into scream night at the DNC.

Paul noted that hed already signed on to a Sunrise Movement pledge to ban corporate donations to the DNC and ban super PAC spending in Democratic primaries. But the interruptions were a reminder of the kind of protests  coming from some of the party's own activists  that have frequently disrupted party and campaign events in recent years, as interest groups press on specific policy concerns.

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The fourth and final DNC chair event ahead of Saturdays election largely mirrored the preceding forums, with the candidates broadly agreeing with one another about the need to combat online misinformation, reinvest in state parties and improve the partys overall branding. The two frontrunners  Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Ben Wikler, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair  sat next to each other on stage, but they didnt spar with each other.

When asked about fundraising from high-dollar donors, both Martin and Wikler called for campaign finance reforms. But Martin did not chide Wikler, a prolific fundraiser, for his own closeness to donors, as hes done in previous forums.

Marianne Williamson, a former Democratic presidential candidate, however, didnt hold back: No, Reid Hoffman is not a good billionaire, she said, referring to a Democratic mega-donor who is close to Wikler. Hoffman had angered some Democrats when he founded a private voter file company, which would have directly competed with state parties.

Both Martin and Wikler also agreed to provide greater transparency in the DNCs budget, with Martin promising to break up the consultant industrial complex.

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I agree with Ken, Wikler said, drawing laughs and applause. Lets start with auditing every consultant contract that weve got.

Others on stage called for a broader reassessment of the partys problems. Faiz Shakir, a late entrant to the DNC race who ran Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, pushed the party to refocus on economic justice as its organizing principle, pledging to better engage influencers to tell the stories about people on Medicaid who are hurt by Trumps policies.

I felt like the ideas were not meeting the moment, Shakir said.
South Dakota Sen. Michael Rohl, R-Aberdeen, listens to testimony in the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 17, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota teenagers with parental consent could test out of high school at age 16 or opt to withdraw without testing at 17 under the terms of a bill advanced by the state Senate on Thursday in Pierre.

Senate Bill 71 was born of entreaties from administrators who struggle to manage certain students in the face of South Dakotas requirement that all kids stay in school until age 18, according to its sponsor, Sen. Mike Rohl, R-Aberdeen.

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Lawmakers endorsed compulsory attendance for those younger than 18 in 2009.

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That stricture causes problems for students who are ready to test out of high school but are too young to do so without administrative permission, Rohl said, as well as for the teachers who may find themselves wrangling students who dont want to be there and intend to exit the school system as soon as theyre able.

Theyre making it so these other kids cant learn, and theyre honestly wasting both our time, their time, and the teachers time, Rohl said.

The choice to allow a student to leave school before adulthood, Rohl told the Senate on Thursday, belongs with parents.

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Legislative efforts to undo the school attendance rule have bubbled up and fizzled out multiple times since 2009. Most recently, former Watertown Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck tried to convince his colleagues to lower South Dakotas compulsory attendance age to 16. That 2023 iteration of the bill failed to clear a Senate committee.

Unlike the 2023 version, SB 71 requires parental consent, and opens the door for an exit at age 17, not 16. It also clears a path for parents to let their children leave school to pursue a general equivalency degree (GED) once they reach age 16 without seeking a waiver from the state Department of Education, provided they pass the test.

SB 71 passed the Senate 34-1 and now heads to the House. The lone no vote came from Sen. Curt Voight, R-Rapid City, a former school administrator who made no remarks about the bill on the Senate floor.

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HONOLULU (KHON2)  If youre looking for a fun way to spend Valentines Day, you can do so right along the beach in Waikiki at the Aquarium for their Seaduction event.

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Were excited to celebrate love, friendship, or simply a magical night under the stars at the Waikiki Aquarium at our enchanting Seaduction event, said Elizabeth Churchill, the Executive Director of Friends of the Waikiki Aquarium. Whether youre planning a romantic evening with your Valentine, a fun outing with your Galentine or a group of friends, it will be a night to remember. Its also a great way to support the Waikiki Aquarium.

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Churchill says the evening will feature live music by harpist Megan Levin, a champagne reception, delectable cuisine from Chart House Waikiki, and a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious mating rituals of the Aquariums marine life.

It begins at 5:30 p.m. with a champagne reception and time to explore the galleries, with dinner to follow at 6:15 p.m.

The Bella Project aims to make prom affordable for every high school student

There will be tables for two arranged throughout the Aquariums galleries, fronting exhibits such as Barrier Reef, Moon Jellies, Reef Predators, Weedy Sea Dragons and more.

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Tables for Two includes welcome champagne in a special keepsake, a bottle of wine, and three-course dinner service within the galleries, Churchill said. General admission seating will be available on the Aquarium lawn, where everyone can enjoy a beautiful sunset over Waikiki and an evening under the stars, all while watching the harpist play. Lawn seating includes the champagne reception and a buffet dinner, also by Chart House. The evenings menu will feature a culinary experience by Chart House Waikiki, which recently reopened after an extensive 9-month renovation. The refreshed space honors its 50+ years of history as Waikikis only waterfront restaurant not located in a hotel.

Admission per table of two is $300 and general admission is $75 per person. To make a reservation online, visit fowaquarium.org/seaduction.

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If interested in proposing during this romantic outing, call or email the FOWA membership office at (808) 302-5917 or membership@waquarium.org for more details.

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Books have a funny way of begetting more books. Readers of all stripes are compelled by what they love (or hate) to take a crack at writing their own book; nonfiction writers build on the work of others to expand the literature of a field. And in the past two decades or so, books about the experience of readingso-called biblio-memoirshave become more popular.

The biblio-memoir marries autobiographical and literary analysis, telling a personal story by chronicling the experience of reading particularly revelatory texts. In this type of memoir, books are generally held up as life-changing talismans. Take, for instance, the classics scholar and critic Daniel Mendelsohns 2017 memoir, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, about how reading Homer alongside his 81-year-old father deepened their relationship, or Jenn Shaplands 2020 book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, in which she shows how the Southern Gothic authors personal archive helped her assert her own queer identity.

Biblio-memoirs can be as distinctive as the lives and books they document, but they tend to support the idea that reading is good for youthat it can teach you things, or help you better understand yourself and others. The first hint that Sarah Chihayas darkly humorous new entry in this small genre will follow a different path lies in its title, Bibliophobia. It is not a paean to the healing powers of narrative, but an account of how her reliance on books played a major role in a crisis, leading her, for a time, to fear them.

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Despite the title, Chihayas memoir doesnt argue that books are worthy of repulsion. After all, shes loved reading since she learned how to do so at age 4. As a child she immersed herself in Anne of Green Gables fictional Canadian town of Avonlea; as a young adult, she was possessed by A. S. Byatts Possession. Along the way, Chihaya dedicated her life to reading. She pursued a career as an English professor at Princeton, where, in order to secure tenure, she needed to publish an academic monographa deeply researched study of a literary concept.

[Read: Why some people become lifelong readers]

Instead, she wrote Bibliophobia, which recounts how her relationship with books intersected with a mental-health emergency that landed her in a psychiatric ward, where she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. In her memoir, Chihaya rereads the stories that shaped her, in an effort to trace the roots of her breakdown and chart a new path forward. What results is a nuanced reevaluation of the complicated desire to lose oneself in a story.

Chihaya begins her unconventional memoir by writing about her hospital stay in the winter of 2019. During that period, she wasnt just experiencing a severe depressive episode; she was also suffering from the effects of the titular bibliophobia. The latter is a real clinical diagnosisthe fear of booksbut Chihaya takes that only as a starting point. Diagnosing herself, she expands on the official definition, describing the condition as a generalized anxiety about reading in patients who have previously experienced profoundperhaps too profoundattachments to books and literature; and about the fear of the idea of books themselves. For Chihaya, depression and bibliophobia fed each other.

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Chihayas version of bibliophobia grew out of the fear of one book in particularthe monograph that her career demanded and that she could not bring herself to write. Her writers block turned into a debilitating reading block. As she struggled to read more than a paragraph at a time, she wondered, Am I going crazy  or am I just tired and scared that my career, which is to say my life, is over before it has even begun? Though her hospitalization addressed the most acute symptoms of her depression, it worsened her bibliophobia, which, after her release, she describes as an acute physical condition: I would look at a series of words and just not be able to make sense of them.

An outside observer might argue that Chihayas symptoms simply reflected a common sort of professional panic brought on by a ticking tenure clock. But her career features minimally in Bibliophobia, and she writes about a troubled relationship with books that began long before she started down what she calls the conveyor belt of academia. While growing up in Ohio as the daughter of Japanese Canadian immigrants, Chihaya turned to reading as an escapeshe descibes using books as a way to retreat from her fathers mercurial temperament, from the self-loathing she experienced in whitest suburbia, and most of all from her own depression, which led to three suicide attempts by age 18. But losing herself in books wasnt a simple salve for loneliness, or feelings of outsiderness, and it did little to alleviate her depression. For me, being a depressed person and being a reader-writer are knotted up in each other all the way back to the beginning, she writes. All my crises are scrawled in the margins of the novels Ive read over and over again, sometimes to feel safe, sometimes to sink willfully into further despair.

Early in Bibliophobia, Chihaya identifies the two competing imaginary texts that long undergirded how she saw herself and the world around her, offering the comforting illusion of form in a formless life. The first was the book she was sure she would someday find if she read enough, which would reveal everything about the world and her place in it. The second was the book of her own life, one she was certain would be short and tragic. Governed by these two narratives, Chihaya read with vicious desperation in search of the book that would save her.

[Read: Why kids arent falling in love with reading]

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Throughout her memoir, Chihaya reflects on the books that she auditioned for that lifesaving role. Crucially, the books that Chihaya reexamines in Bibliophobia are not just those that offered comfort or respite, such as Anne of Green Gables. Among Chihayas strongest meditations is an early chapter on reading Toni Morrisons terrifying, unexpected, essential novel The Bluest Eye as a high-school student who hated her appearance and self-harmed. Morrisons novel tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a Black girl in Lorain, Ohio, after the Great Depression, who suffers abuse and alienation culminating in a delusion that shes been granted the blue eyes shes always dreamed of.

In Pecola, teenage Chihaya saw something of herself. This recognition was a far cry from the warm embrace of relatability that readers often seek from sympathetic characters, Chihaya writes. Pecolas wish for the bluest eyes, and her dissociative belief that she has received them, jabbed a bruise I did not know I had. I recognized the shape of her hopeless and intense desire, a shape that felt instinctively familiar, as if I could trace its razor-edged curves with my own dark, narrow eyes squeezed shut. In this moment of personal reflection via literary criticism, Chihaya shows how some of the books that most affected her did so in difficult, even painful ways.

Chihaya similarly scrutinizes books in which she found great pleasure, unraveling the harmful lessons she clung to long after reading them. She describes her first encounter with PossessionByatts novel about Victorian poets and scholarly discoveryas a whirlwind romance, one that awakened her desire for the endless venture of literary study. Possession was the book that taught Chihaya about the joyful work of close reading, but even as it helped her find a vocation, she over-applied the meaning-making powers of literary analysis. As a college student, Chihaya thought there was nothing  that couldnt be read, parsed, and interpreted like a work of literature, not people, not books, not events. This made everything safe and explainable. This perspective also reduced her friends to fixed characters, and calcified her own sense of self. The most dangerous idea she stubbornly had about herself, she writes, was that I was a lost cause.

A pitfall of the biblio-memoir is that reading about other peoples experiences of reading can be a bit like reading about other peoples dreams. Although Bibliophobia is never academic, it is often abstract, a tendency that Chihaya links to her depression: As a reader, I am always diffusing into the world of fiction. As a writer, I cannot solidify into direct statements  In my most lost moments, I see myself disintegrating and drifting into everything and everyone else.

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When Chihaya is diagnosed with depression, she writes, she feels suddenly made legible by my enrollment in an unseen international association of other officially depressed people. This provides a certain comfort, and a new plot for her life, based in reality rather than fiction. It also eventually helps her find a way back to reading. Though she doesnt suggest that those dark moments are all behind her, she writes that the realization that the end was not the end in the book of her life opened her up to a new way of being, both with books and in the world. I am trying now to let life happen as it happens, and to move through the world without constructing a predetermined narrative to cling to, she writes. It is a reminder that instead of searching for a story that explains everything, we might do well to embrace the uncertainty of the unwritten pages still before us.

Article originally published at The Atlantic
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)  Search and rescue crews have now spent more than 24 hours looking for the 67 people presumed dead after an American Airlines flight crashed into an Army helicopter and plunged into the icy Potomac River.

First responders have recovered at least 30 bodies, including all three soldiers who were on the helicopter. Officials say theyre still trying to notify families, as the investigation ramps up.

We are going to conduct a thorough investigation of this entire tragedy, said NTS Chair Jennifer Homendy.

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The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the black boxes from the American Airlines plane that will provide clues as to what caused the deadly collision with a Black Hawk helicopter.

We will take the time that is necessary, said NTSB member Todd Inman.

The crash killed all 64 passengers and crew members on the flight and the three soldiers in the helicopter.

Part of the investigation will zero in on the interaction with air traffic control in the final moments before the collision.

We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors. That is part of the NTSB investigative process, said Inman.

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On Thursday President Donald Trump suggested diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration were at least partly to blame and blasted the FAAs efforts to hire individuals with disabilities.

We want the most competent people. We dont care what race they are. We want the most competent people, said Trump.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk pilot, criticized President Trumps comments.

The presidents remarks were beneath the office of president of the United States, certainly beneath the commander in chief of the United States, said Duckworth.

The NTSB says it briefed the president, vice president and the families on its investigation and plans to release an initial report within 30 days.

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JACKSON, Ky. (FOX 56)  The Jackson Kentucky Police Department said Breanna Hope Baker was found safe.

Previous story:

Police in Breathitt County are asking the community for help to find a missing minor last seen on Wednesday in Jackson.

On Friday, the Jackson Police Department announced on Facebook that Breanna Hope Baker was missing.

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:

She was reportedly last seen in the area of Slayrean Drive in Jackson.

Authorities said Breanna recently dyed her hair black.

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Anyone with information that could help find Breanna is asked to call the Jackson Police Department at (606) 666-2424. Anonymous tips can be submitted by sending an email to police@cityofjacksonky.org.

This is a developing story. Stay with FOX 56 News for updates.

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WALTERBORO, S.C. (WSAV)  One man is dead, and officials in Colleton County asked for the publics help to find the suspect.

The suspect, Clint Crosby, was located and placed into custody in Louisiana, a Colleton County Sheriffs Office (CCSO) spokesperson said. He is awaiting extradition back to Colleton County.

After a 911 call reporting a gunshot victim was placed on Wednesday, Jan. 30, an adult male was found with life threatening injuries. He was transported to the hospital by Colleton County Fire-Rescue but succumbed to his injuries.

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Clint Crosby, 40, is a suspect in the shooting, the CCSO spokesperson said. He was last seen driving a dark grey Toyota Tacoma bearing SC Tag #685AMB.

Authorities said that Crosby should be considered armed and dangerous. He may be in the Goose Creek area of Berkeley County or could be heading toward Tennessee or Kentucky.

He may also be in the company of a second adult male who could be a witness to the incident and driving a silver Toyota Prius with SC Tag #UEV809.

Colleton County Sheriffs Office Colleton County Sheriffs Office Colleton County Sheriffs Office Colleton County Sheriffs Office

A CCSO spokesperson said that Crosby will be facing charges of murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Witnesses said that the shooting occurred after a dispute between the deceased man and another adult male.

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According to witnesses, the shooting occurred on Dover Bluff Lane following a dispute between the victim and another man.

CCSO thanked the public for the tips they received.

Contact 911 to report any sightings of Crosby or the vehicle. You can also submit anonymous tips at https://colleton-so-sc.zuercherportal.com/#/submit_tip.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Seattles new Police Chief Shon Barnes arrived in town Thursday  and the list of challenges ahead of him may be as long as his journey from Madison, WI, where he served as chief for the last three and a half years.

Barnes brings with him an experience that has created new recruitment strategies, addressed policing concerns in communities of color, and earned him national recognition for community policing strategies.

Anyone who knows me knows that selfless public service is something I say over and over and over again, Barnes said in an interview with KIRO 7, In everything we do, we have to put others first. To me, thats the definition of a police officer.

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Barnes will be the eighth chief of the department since 2024. The last full-time chief, Adrian Diaz, was fired by the department after a relationship with one of his staffers. The scandal reportedly impacted morale and led city leaders to desire a leader from outside of SPD.

I think it begins with consistency, Barnes said of winning over current officers, It begins with establishing trust, it begins with doing the things you say you are going to do. It begins with visibility, shaking one hand at a time, getting to know the department, getting to know the culture of the department, and letting them know exactly where you stand on things you think are important.

Barnes leads a department that hit its lowest staffing point in around three decades last spring. While Mayor Bruce Harrells office reports that more officers are joining SPD than leaving for the first time in years, the city remains with one of the smallest per-capita police forces.

Barnes partnered with non-profit groups to help recruitment in Madison that also focused on creating a more diverse police force. The Multicultural Officer Recruitment Effort (MORE) program helped lower the barrier for people looking to become a police officer. It would pay for overnight stays for people traveling for testing or training from the nonprofit groups and keep people listed who didnt finish training who may be a good fit in the next recruiting class.

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Even if they change their mind, we held on to them if you will, kept them in the program give them opportunities to be involved with our police department, and then many of them joined the academy the following year, Barnes said.

Several instances have fractured trust between the community and SPD. An officer was caught on body camera saying a woman hit and killed by a speeding officer had limited value. The department has been hit with lawsuits alleging discrimination. Some SPD officers attended the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol. Barnes says bridging the trust between a community wishing for an agency that reflects their values and a police department craving support from its community.

We also have to recognize that there are some communities where the trust never existed anyway, Barnes said, We have to begin to build that by putting ourselves in proximity with them. You cannot solve any problem, I dont think, from a distance  and so my job is to create opportunities for police to be in communities and show the community who we are without having to be there simply for a call to service.

Thats a tenant of community policing that Barnes has been nationally recognized for, saying its his job to give officers the opportunities to be in communities not just when theyre responding to calls, but to build relationships with the people there.

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But its probably one of the things in my career Im most proud of. I have been able to develop a lot of police leaders, not just the police departments that I have been associated with but just throughout the country I have a lot of Mentees and people who I have helped to work and develop and that is one of the things I am looking forward to doing here at the Seattle Police Department, Barnes said.

The department itself has spent years wading through controversy  including violent anti-police protests, shocking comments caught on officer body-worn cameras, and the most recent chief, Adrian Diaz, having been fired after the discovery of an alleged secret relationship with his Chief of Staff.

Barnes will now be the 8th chief to head the Seattle Police Department since 2000.

KIRO 7 News also asked Barnes about transparency, school resource officers, and the addiction and homelessness crises. See his response in his full interview below.








U.S. President Donald J. Trump wants to bring Mexico and Canada to the negotiating table, but consumers will pay the price through a rise in food costs, as well as in other categories.

Trump said Thursday hes planning to impose tariffs as soon as Saturday, although by how much and for how long wasnt disclosed. Those details could be disclosed on Friday. The top number thats been bandied is 25 percent, but the only thing thats certain is that tariffs are forthcoming.

More from Sourcing Journal

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The U.S. president has made clear that an immediate priority is closing the borders. Hes using tariffs as a way to stop the entry of undocumented individuals from entering the U.S. He also wants to the flow of illegal drugs into the country, namely fentanyl. But imposing tariffs now could also be a form of leverage to restructure the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump negotiated the last time he was in office five years ago. The USMCA replaced the North America Free Trade Agreement, and is up for joint review on July 1, 2026.

A Goldman Sachs report from chief political economist Alex Phillips said that a sustained 25 percent across-the-board tariff on Canada and Mexico is unlikely. He also cited comments made on Wednesday in the Senate Commerce Committee by Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick: The short-term issue is illegal immigration and worse even still, fentanylso, this tariff model is simply to shut their bordersto create action from Mexico and action from Canada, and as far as I know, they are acting swiftly and if they execute it there will be no tariff, and if they dont, there will be.

Phillips listed possible scenarios that stop short of an immediate 25 percent tariff on all imports from each country. There could be an imposed tariff that doesnt begin until a few weeks later, a repeat of the steel/aluminum tariffs during the early rounds of China-focused tariffs in 2018. This would leave time to negotiate concessions from Canada and Mexico. Trump also used this tactic in 2019 on imports from Mexico, but later rescinded it before implementation after an agreement with Mexico on immigration-related policies, Phillips noted.

Another option would be a targeted tariff of 25 percent on certain goods. The other scenario thats been floated is the start of tariffs at a lower rate that gradually rises to 25 percent using a phased-in approach, one that supposedly is favored by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

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According to S&P Global Ratings, the sectors most vulnerable to tariff shock in Mexico are the auto and electrical equipment sectors, while commodity-related processing sectorspaper products, rubber, and plasticshave the largest exposure in Canada. Corrugate materials pulp, recycled fiber and adhesivesspecifically cardboard boxes, are in high demand in e-commerce, and tariffs on pulp and other inputs could create supply constraints.

Canada is expected to impose tariffs of its own in retaliation, likely as high as 25 percent, while Mexico is expected to imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports of American agriculture and fishing, and food products, the S&P report noted.

Current imports where American consumers could see price increases range from gasoline to autos and food products, such as avocados from Mexico. Retaliatory tariffs would hurt American imports of items such as furniture and steel products, while the premier of the Canadian province Ontario has threatened to pull U.S. distilled spirits from stores.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A security upgrade could save thousands of Ohioans from being a target of theft but its an upgrade the government has to approve.

4 Investigates first told you last week: People on SNAP benefits, the program that used to be known as food stamps, are being targeted and taxpayers are victims, too. This has become an issue for Ohioans and has spread through the country.

4 Investigates reached out to every single Ohio representative in Congress asking if this is a priority for them. Weve only received a few responses, so now we are taking the issue to our state representatives, asking if targeted Ohioans will receive any help.

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Ive had my food stamps stolen twice, and Im a single parent of three kids, Columbus resident Mindy Hurley said.

Since 4 Investigates shared the story last week, more Ohioans have reached out saying they are the target of SNAP theft: When card skimmers on credit card machines capture account information.

Ohio schools risk federal funding if they teach unpatriotically under Trump order

I literally went to get cereal and milk for my kids for breakfast. And when I went to swipe my card, it said zero. And then I checked my balance history and it said that they was all stolen, Hurley said.

In the last year, there has been 7,000 Franklin County reports of SNAP fraud. Across Ohio, its nearly 27,000.

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There are criminals that are preying on vulnerable people who are facing hunger and hardship, who are showing up in grocery store lines to buy the groceries their families need, and who are finding that criminals have skimmed their benefits from their accounts, Ohio Association of Food Banks Executive Director Joree Novotny said.

This crime combined with the end of pandemic era SNAP benefit increases is driving more people to food banks. The need weve seen over the past two years is unlike anything weve seen, Novotny said.

The Ohio Association of Food Banks saw more than four million food pantry visits across the state from July through September of last year. Were seeing people continue to come to our lines and tell us in tears about how theyre coming for help because they went to the grocery store to use their SNAP benefits and they werent there on their cards, Novotny said.

Its a feeling Mindy Hurley knows firsthand. Shes had to cancel two different cards after having hundreds drained from her account. I cried. I mean, Im struggling and its not fair to my kids, Hurley said.

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There is a solution. The best solution that we know of and that weve been talking about with our elected officials is to modernize EBT cards, to chip enable them, Novotny said.

A nationwide change would come from Congress, but Ohio and other states can make that choice too. States have to be partners in those solutions because they have to pay half of all of the operating costs to administer the SNAP program. So were certainly in conversation with the state of Ohio as well about how we can better protect consumers today, Novotny said.

Until a solution is in place, fear and uncertainty are just another thing those relying on SNAP have to deal with. If it happened twice, it can happen again, Hurley said. I have three food stamp cards sitting in my house because I had to cancel them twice. And now I got a new one, and Im scared.

Watch: Garbage collectors in Whitehall walk away unscathed from explosion

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4 Investigates spoke with Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer. He says the issue is on his radar, and says the Ohio Senate has tried to pass reform without success.

The Ohio Senate has led those efforts in the state of Ohio to reform how we operate with SNAP and the cards we put out there. Unfortunately, there are a lot of self-described advocates for the poor that have vigorously opposed our efforts to add security enhancements to the SNAP cards, Sen. Schaffer said.

Now, he says they are having more conversations about what can be done at the state level, despite it being a federal program.

I think its imperative that all states do everything that we can to investigate and add the next level of security enhancements on these snap food cards to prevent the criminal element from stealing these benefits. These benefits that are needed so desperate. And I think getting bipartisan support for an effort like that is, you know, a no brainer, he said.

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We also received a statement from Ohio Senator Beth Liston who said I absolutely want to ensure that Ohioans get the food they need and receive the benefits they are entitled to. Security chips embedded into SNAP cards similar to those on credit cards may be a possible solution and I have had discussions with some advocacy groups about this idea. However, we also need to make sure that any changes to Ohios SNAP system do not make it more difficult for Ohioans to access food and other vital benefits.

Two states are moving to chip cards: California and Oklahoma, and well track how that goes, to see if it cuts down on fraud.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
In July 1813, British and Canadian forces approached the American Fort Mackinac in Michigan, surrounding it and demanding its surrender. The installation commander was Lt. Porter Hanks, who knew he was not only outnumbered but that no reinforcements could possibly arrive in time for him to hold the fort. To minimize the casualties to both his troops and the civilians in the fort, he surrendered it without a fight.

The surrender had huge implications for the War of 1812 in the Great Lakes region. American troops in the area were suddenly on the defensive, Fort Dearborn had to be evacuated and the British controlled the critical Straits of Mackinac between Michigans Upper and Lower Peninsulas. Some might wonder what would have happened if Porter had a couple of machine guns. Others might say thats ridiculous, because the machine gun wouldnt be invented until the late 1800s.

But was there?

According to the Forgotten Weapons YouTube Channel, there was a machine gun available. In May 1792, Joseph Gaston Chambers began to market a new weapon to President George Washington and the U.S. War Department. It was a weapon that had the potential to change the face of American warfare. It was a repeating flintlock musket that could fire up to 20 rounds per minute, and it was a musket that Ian McCollum believes could be considered a machine gun.

A little history for you

In the early 1790s, the U.S. Army was suffering defeats at the hands of Native tribes in the Northwest Territory, which was then the areas surrounding the Great Lakes. Congress blamed the disasters of 1792 on the quality of the Armys weapons. So when Joseph Chambers approached the War Department with the idea of a repeating rifle, Secretary of War Henry Knox was more than eager to listen.

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His original design was one that would have a lock hooked up to the front of the weapons barrel. With bullets at regular intervals down the length of the barrel, the user would pull a cord attached to the lock which fired off the first round. The specially-designed rounds had tips designed to ignite the powder of the next round. At the end of the musket, the regular trigger would be used to fire the last shot.

Apparently, Chambers demonstration for Knox didnt go well, and one may have even exploded. Knox took a hard pass and for the next twenty years, Chambers made no traction with his new designs. Then came the War of 1812.

By the time the U.S. was again at war with Great Britain, Chambers had a new, more powerful design. It was a fully automatic pattern-fired, seven barrel gun that was capable of firing 224 rounds at 120 per minute. A single pull on the trigger cord would cause the weapon to fire for the next two minutes. It was a mounted machine gun that caught the U.S. Navys interest, even if the War Department once again passed on adopting it.

The navy not only adopted Chambers automatic machine gun, but also purchased his single-barrel rifles and even a pistol that used a similar design. They werent in service until 1814, so it wouldnt have helped Lt. Hanks at Fort Mackinac, but they were in one of the most important theaters for the young U.S. Navy: the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes is where everyone really shines. U.S. Naval Institute photo archives.

To prepare for combat, American sailors would have the Chambers rifle preloaded and ready to go. When it was time for action, all they had to do was prime and fire it. There was no need to think about reloading 224 bullets  if they couldnt clear an enemys deck with hundreds of rounds at a time when each man would get one or two shots off, then it was never going to happen anyway. To see how the weapon was loaded, check out the Forgotten Weapons video above.

One of the reasons the Chambers weapons arent really well-known is that they didnt really catch on. If properly loaded and fired, the sailors had a roman candle-type of gun. If anything went wrong and a round failed to fire, they were holding a giant pipe bomb. It was eventually deemed unreliable and left service.
McKinsey Robertson hugs her daughter, Marcie Robertson, who testified against HB269, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Vanessa Hudson for Utah News Dispatch)

Marcie Robertson told Utah lawmakers that shes been attacked and demonized relentlessly since being swept up in a furor over transgender student housing at the state universities.

My life has been excruciating since this began to unfold, as I struggled to balance my academic workload, resident assistant responsibilities and participation in extracurricular activities, Robertson said at Thursdays Senate Education Committee hearing, telling her story publicly for the first time and opposing a bill that would restrict which dorm rooms transgender students could live in.

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(The) cherry on top of this fiasco is the proposed legislation that would see myself and all other trans students removed from our apartments and barred from rooming with others who share our gender identities, she said.

HB269, proposed by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, has been framed by Republican lawmakers as a privacy bill that closes loopholes in last years HB257, the law that restricts people to only using bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth when in government buildings. The new bill would also require transgender students at public universities live in dorms corresponding with their sex designated at birth.

But opponents of Gricius bill, like Robertson, dont see it as a privacy matter.

Where was that concern for privacy when I was doxxed? Where was that concern for privacy when I had to enlist the help of friends to walk me to and from class for fear of my own safety? Robertson asked. The principle of equality before the law states that you ought not to curtail the rights of one to preserve the comfort of another.

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At the presenters table, Robertson was seated next to her former suitemate, Avery Saltzman, who testified in favor of the bill. Saltzmans mother complained to the university about her daughters living situation, which included living with a transgender roommate, in a viral Facebook post.

My university interviewed and hired someone of the opposite sex to live in my girls designated apartment without letting me or any of my roommates know about it, Avery Saltzman said. It is disappointing and frightening how quickly our rights and safety were brushed aside.

Cheryl Saltzman, Avery Saltzmans mother, who also testified at the hearing, said what her daughter went through should have never happened in the first place.

The clear and obvious boundaries of female space should never have been crossed, and Im very sorry to those people who believe that their housing is being restricted or that they are being targeted or bullied, she said. This is not my intention. It is only to restore a boundary that should never have been crossed.

Let us know what you think...

But critics of the bill said the legislation restricts the freedom of transgender students. Zee Kilpack told the committee they were worried this would ban transgender students from living on campus at all.

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What were looking at here is an example of early segregation, Kilpack said. Legislation like this is similar to Jim Crow mindset: separation based on unsubstantiated fear when we can have conversations to find accommodations that work for everybody.

The bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, said he appreciated everyone who had voiced their concerns over the bill.

I do believe that this is the correct policy, with an understanding that there are many that disagree with me and listening does not necessarily mean that the other person does exactly what you want, he said. I hope everyone knows that I am listening, in spite of disagreeing on the policy.

The bill is one step closer to becoming law after passing the House Tuesday, 59-13. HB269 passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Thursday in a 5-1 vote, with Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, dissenting. Its not clear yet when the Senate will vote on the bill.

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Riebe said HB269 is government overreach and doesnt give people who may want to have a different experience the option to live with someone of a different gender identity.

It is a solution looking for a problem, and its so restrictive that it doesnt give us an opportunity to be more compassionate to someone that we have not met, she said. It doesnt give us an opportunity to maybe explore something that weve never explored before.

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MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG)  A Semmes man was sentenced to serve time in prison for a COVID-19 fraud, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Body found in Mobile Bay identified as Baldwin County homicide victim: ALEA

The man was identified by officials as Adrian Lacey, 46, of Semmes. According to court documents, Lacey was sentenced after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering in federal court in May 2024

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Officials said that Laceys charges come from a scheme to get COVID-19 relief funds.

While incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons on prior fraud charges, Lacey orchestrated a scheme using stolen identities to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which were available as relief for business owners impacted by Covid-19 through the Small Business Administration, the USDOJ news release said.

Lacey and his coconspirators allegedly obtained $379,000 through the scheme.

Order of Inca warns of scam that charges people to buy tickets to their ball

The USDOJ release said Lacey was ultimately sentenced to 186 months in prison (15 years) followed by a 5-year term of supervised release.

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Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, the first Black U.S. senator in Maryland's history, dragged Robert F Kennedy Jr.s history of racist pseudoscience to the fore during his confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday.

Kennedy's history of pushing anti-vaccine claims, which he tried to distance himself from during his confirmation hearings this week, includes peddling the baseless conspiracy theory that Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.

On Thursday, Alsobrooks asked Kennedy about a false claim he made in 2021 alleging Black people have "better" immune systems than white people and, for that reason, should have different vaccine schedules.

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In the past, Kennedy has repeatedly referred to a study from the Mayo Clinic authored by Dr. Greg Poland as proof of his claims. But Poland has issued public statements saying Kennedy has mischaracterized his work. And as health news website Stat noted, theres no scientific evidence that the immune systems of Black people differ from those of white people.

Watch the exchange:

"We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that's given to Whites, because their immune system is better than ours." ---RFK Jr.



So what vaccine schedule should I have received?



His answer was dangerous. I will be voting no. pic.twitter.com/RzRZAO6lJM  Senator Alsobrooks (@Sen_Alsobrooks) January 30, 2025

Kennedy has targeted the Black community with dangerous anti-vaccine misinformation, including in a 2021 documentary he produced and during his failed 2024 presidential campaign, when he appeared on rapper Math Hoffa's podcast.

Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands publicly flayed Kennedy for his dubious efforts to spread anti-vaccine propaganda to and about Black people during a House hearing in 2023. She called out Kennedy for pushing anti-vaccine claims, despite having all of his children vaccinated (which he touted during his Senate testimony this week, though he stated in 2020 that he wished he could go back in time and not vaccinate them.)

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Kennedy "tells the Black community and myself, a mother of five Black children, that I should really be careful and not necessarily have the same safeguards to protect my family, my children, from a virus that has killed millions of people, because Im Black," Plaskett said at the time.

Alsobrooks and Plaskett gave voice to the righteous rage of Black people offended by Kennedys dangerous and paternalistic guidance. And this rage stems from a knowledge of the ways race-based pseudoscience has been weaponized against Black people from the earliest days of American history.

In the United States, there is a sordid and well-documented history of medical racism, including white health officials denying health care to Black people, downplaying the severity of health maladies afflicting Black patients, and overestimating Black pain tolerance. This history is covered extensively in Dr. Uche Blackstocks book Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. (For more information on Blackstocks health equity work, read past blogs Ive written here and here.)

When youre aware of this history, the outrage toward Kennedy makes perfect sense. His nomination, which has been denounced by several civil rights groups, is a threat to the Black community.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON D.C. (WOOD)  Michigan Sen. Gary Peters announced this week he will not seek a third term in 2026.

It was a surprise announcement that poses a challenge for democrats in the state  forcing would-be candidates between running for Governor and the Senate.

When I first got elected to the Congress back in 2008, I never thought I would be here through the rest of my life, that I would do this for a number of years and then go back to my private life, said Peters.

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Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters will not run for reelection, opening key Senate seat

First elected to the Senate in 2014 after serving three terms in the U.S. House, Peters has earned a reputation as a steady if not moderate politician. Its a reputation he embraces and says will be the recipe for success for the candidate who succeeds him.

I think its also important that our folks who are willing to listen to both sides find common ground and solve problems. Michigan has always had a history of electing those kinds of individuals to the U.S. Senate, and I believe its going to occur again next year, said Peters.

The onetime chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Peters is currently the ranking member on the committee. His decision forces democrats to defend a critical Senate seat in Michigan without the advantage of an incumbent, which might complicate their efforts to regain control of the chamber, where Republicans hold a majority. Peters said its a race that favors Democrats.

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Whitmer praises Peters as champion for Michigan

If you look at a midterm election, typically, the party that is not in the White House does extremely well. I expect that to happen next year as well. And given the fact that we have a very strong group of dynamic democratic candidates or potential candidates, Im confident were going to hold this seat in the democratic column, said Peters.

Expected to be among the names most circulated for the position is Pete Buttigieg, the former U.S Transportation Secretary, who moved to Michigan in recent years.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTAL/KMSS)  Louisiana Senator John Kennedy introduces a bill to permanently stop funding for abortions overseas.

Senator Kennedy joined fellow Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah to introduce the Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act.

The bill would forbid funding for foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortions. It would codify a previous policy formerly known as the Mexico City Policy now referred to as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy that was first instituted by President Ronald Reagan and has been rescinded and reinstated by various administrations. President Donald Trump expanded this policy to close previously existing loopholes and renamed it the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy.

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More Louisiana News

America shouldnt fund abortions in foreign countriesno matter which party holds the White House. Its time for Congress to show some moral clarity on this issue once and for all by passing this bill, Senator Kennedy said.

In our quest to build a society where every precious human life is protected, we cannot allow the tax dollars of American families to be used against the most vulnerable people in our country and across the world: the unborn, said Lee.

Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) cosponsored the legislation.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com.
Jan. 30The state Senate advanced two of Gov. Kelly Ayotte's priority causes Thursday: a ban on so-called sanctuary city policies and a dramatic increase in prison time for those convicted of dealing deadly drugs.

Largely along party lines, the Senate approved two bills on illegal immigration and two that increase minimum mandatory prison terms for for fentanyl-related offenses.

During a speech to the Republican State Committee annual meeting last week, Ayotte made clear what's atop her wish list.

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"I want you to send me a ban on sanctuary city policies and I want you to send me tougher penalties for fentanyl dealers," Ayotte said.

Senators jousted over whether New Hampshire communities actively refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, pointed to "welcoming ordinances" in Hanover and Lebanon in the Upper Valley.

"The Lebanon ordinance states, 'No agent shall participate in immigration enforcement actions,'" said Gannon. "My friends, that's a sanctuary city policy and it has no place in New Hampshire."

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Sen. Suzanne Prentiss, D-Lebanon, said over the past five years, law enforcement in her hometown has worked with federal officials to detain and prosecute three illegal immigrants who had committed crimes.

"We don't just open the door and set them free," Prentiss said.

The New Hampshire Association of Counties has raised concern the anti-sanctuary bill could force property taxpayers to foot the bill to care for illegal immigrants in county jails beyond existing reimbursement agreements that counties have with the U.S. Marshal's Office.

One bill (SB 71) passed and sent to the Senate Finance Committee would prevent any city or town from having a policy that declines to work with federal immigration officials.

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The other that cleared the Senate (SB 62) expressly permits local cities and towns to sign agreements with federal officials to proactively work with Immigration Customs Enforcement on these matters.

Both passed on 15-8 votes, with all Republicans present in support and all Democrats against.

The 16th Republican senator, Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, was absent for Thursday's session.

The House debates its own anti-sanctuary bill (HB 511) next week. That bill cleared a House committee by a 16-0 vote.

Drug sentencing

The two fentanyl bills that passed Thursday increase the minimum mandatory sentences for anyone who possesses fentanyl with the intent to sell (SB 14) or who knowingly gives a person a drug that causes death (SB 15).

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Gannon said he amended SB 14 in response to defense lawyers and police chiefs.

Anyone caught possessing 20 grams of fentanyl could face at least a 3 1/2 -year prison term; the minimum goes up to 7 years for anyone with 50 grams.

Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, of Portsmouth, said there's no evidence that mandatory minimums reduce overdoses and lawmakers should not "legislate headlines."

"In fact, we heard several studies that mandatory minimums are not an effective deterrent of crime and are expensive. There are better ways to properly crack down on the distribution of fentanyl  one without the severe consequences this bill carries," Perkins Kwoka said.

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Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, and a defense lawyer, said dealers won't sell as many drugs in states that carry automatic jail time.

"Twenty grams of fentanyl is 10,000 lethal doses; that is not a personal dosage," Abbas said. "I think that is a good headline for you to send to the people who are selling fentanyl."

klandrigan@unionleader.com
Comparing killing wolves at night utilizing thermal imaging technology to getting rid of mice, rats or noxious weeds, Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, argued for passage of House Bill 259.

The measure, which had its first hearing before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee on Jan. 30, would allow the use of thermal scopes to kill gray wolves on private land at night.

This is not about fair chase, Fielder said, referring to a 100-year-old set of ethics used to guide the behavior of hunters when pursing wild game animals. I'm looking to get the job done effectively. I'm looking to manage the problem.

According to the Boone and Crockett Clubs website, the principles of fair chase include using technology in a way that does not diminish the importance of developing skills as a hunter or reduces hunting to just shooting. Another principle is to understand not only what is legal, but also what is honorable and ethical.

Marc Cooke, vice-president of the Wolves of the Rockies, told the committee that while he was in the military, night vision and thermal imaging were developed to protect soldiers.

Now we want to turn this technology on Yellowstone and Montana wolves based on fear, hate and the lack of science, he said.

Yet Fielder called his bill a simple cleanup measure to clarify the original language allowing the hunting of wolves on private lands outside of daylight hours with the use of artificial light or night vision scopes passed by the Legislature in 2021.

Cookes group, along with Trap Free Montana, sued to halt the implementation of the legislation. In a partial victory, the judge said the Fish and Wildlife Commission had overstepped its authority in allowing thermal imaging.

Fielder said the judges ruling was a misunderstanding, because the original legislation was meant to include thermal imaging under the night vision definition.

There's a lot of technology out there, a lot of options we use to help us hunt and fish and trap better, Fielder said. And this just puts another tool in the wildlife managers toolbox to be able to control a problem.

According to Fielder, the problem is too many wolves driving down the elk population. Yet Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks counts show elk populations at objectives for all regions of the state except northwestern Montanas Region 1. There, the average count of elk was 2,210. The goal is a range between 2,388 to 3,712.

A 2012 economic analysis found wolves have not had a significant effect on elk harvest in the state but has shifted where hunters pursue elk.

Fielder also said wolves are killing off moose across the state. But a recently completed 10-year study by FWP showed the states moose populations stable to increasing in western Montana. In the studys analysis of predation, wolves and black bears were blamed for low moose calf survival in the Cabinet-Salish mountains in northwestern Montana. However, statewide moose were more likely to die from health problems or human hunting than by wolves.

The wording of Fielder's bill requiring the Fish and Wildlife Commission to reduce the wolf population to a sustainable level is important because so far the group hasnt really grabbed that opportunity, he said. To ensure that happens, the bill changes the word may to shall.

This bill reduces commission discretion by mandating these means rather than allowing the commission to use these means, said Eric Clewis, of the Defenders of Wildlife. I would urge this committee to leave wildlife management to our fully capable biologists and table this bill.

Fielder has chastised the Fish and Wildlife Commission in the past for not reducing the state's wolf population as the Legislature has directed and has encouraged the use of "other options" to meet legislative intent, such as directing Wildlife Services to kill more wolves.

Yet despite increases in harvest quotas, lowering the cost of licenses, increasing the number of wolves individuals can kill and allowing night vision on private lands, the wolf harvest has steadily declined in Montana over the past five years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken note of Montana and Idaho's actions to reduce wolf populations, saying they have adopted laws and regulations designed to substantially reduce the gray wolf populations in their states using means and measures that are at odds with modern professional wildlife management.

Because of such actions, the agency decided to develop a nationwide wolf management plan.

The Outdoor Heritage Coalition, Montana Trappers Association and the Foundation for Wildlife Management endorsed Fielder's bill, arguing that thermal imaging was implied under the 2021 bills wording.

The original intent was to allow these forms, said Chris Morgan, of the Montana Trappers Association.

Several other representatives of conservation groups and individuals testified in opposition to the bill, including representatives of the Chippewa Cree Tribe and the Montana American Indian Caucus.

In closing, Fielder scoffed at the notion that Montana may lose tourism dollars if wolf advocates choose not to visit.

I wonder if any people ever came to Montana as tourists before we had so many wolves? he questioned. I think they did.
Senate Bill 113 would dedicate the money to the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of contracting with nonprofits that provide a continuum of services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness. (Photo by Paul Bradbury/Getty Images)

The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would allocate $12 million per year in state funding to nonprofits providing services to homeless people, amid concerns that municipal budgets are strained and shelters are struggling.

Senate Bill 113 would dedicate the money to the Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of contracting with nonprofits that provide a continuum of services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness. The bill dedicates an additional $3 million to the housing stabilization fund, which allows DHHS to contract with organizations that provide eviction prevention and rehousing services and allow those organizations to bill Medicaid for those

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The bill is looking to help keep our shelters open while the state is also working on the housing crisis, said Sen. Regina Birdsell, a Hampstead Republican and the bills prime sponsor, in an interview.

Sen. Donovan Fenton, a Keene Democrat, advocated for the bill, noting that his mother had experienced homelessness when she was a child. It wasnt by choice, he said during discussion on the Senate floor Thursday. Her father lost their job, and they had to spend their evenings in their family car under a bridge.

Fenton added, This bill is not just about building more shelters. Its about keeping people in their homes, providing support before they find themselves out on the streets.

The Department of Health and Human Services currently provides $8 million per year to homelessness services, and an additional $2 million for cold weather shelters. But shelter operators say that that funding is well short of what they need to operate.

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The proposed funding comes as New Hampshires unhoused population has grown dramatically. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments 2024 Homelessness Assessment Report found that New Hampshires unsheltered homeless population has grown 71% from 2023 to 2024, and 289% since 2019.

New Hampshire had the highest percentage increase in homelessness of all 50 states between 2022 and 2023, according to annual point in time estimates.

And homeless shelters are coming under strain. Speaking to the Senate Finance Committee in support of SB 113, Maria Devlin, president and CEO of Families in Transition, which operates the largest shelter in the state, said their annual occupancy rate is 97%. Devlin added that state funding has not been sufficient; the organization typically faces a $1 million shortfall each year after its state allocations, which must be made up through philanthropy and municipal grants.

Birdsell said her bills proposed allocation of $12 million wouldnt completely change that dynamic.

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Theres always going to have to be some type of philanthropy going on, she said. But this hopefully will increase what theyre already getting to keep them lasting a little bit longer, so their philanthropy requirement is a little bit less.

Towns and cities, which are statutorily obligated to take care of unhoused people in their jurisdictions who cant find support, say they are also burdened.

Keene Mayor Jay Kahn, a former state senator, testified to the committee that his city had budgeted $300,000 for housing costs last year, and ultimately had to spend $1.2 million. Kahn and other mayors argue the state should step up funding to shelters to address the demand and provide a stronger pathway to housing for struggling residents.

The burden is significant and extreme, he said.

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The bill received a unanimous vote of ought to pass. The Senate then voted to table the bill  a standard maneuver that allows it to be introduced into the budget later in the session.

Birdsell said homelessness money is just one step in addressing the homelessness crisis.

I think obviously the next step is to try and get housing, additional housing, she said.  The problem we have in New Hampshire is you have municipalities who, you know, they dont want it to be a mandate from the state. They continue wanting to be able to have local control. So thats a real fine line.
(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, as President Donald Trump's interior secretary.

The vote was 79 to 18.

Burgum, 68, will lead an agency that guides the use of 500 million acres (202 million hectares) of federal and tribal land, a fifth of the nation's surface area.

He is expected to pursue Trump's goal of maximizing energy and mineral production on public lands, likely by ratcheting up new leasing in oil-producing states like Wyoming and New Mexico and in the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has said is now officially called the Gulf of America.

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A wealthy former software executive, Burgum has portrayed himself as a traditional, business-minded conservative.

During his nomination hearing, Burgum said he would expand oil and gas drilling rights auctions and support permitting reforms that could speed development of energy projects like transmission lines and pipelines.

His comments signaled a sharp turn in federal policy after former President Joe Biden's administration sought to limit oil and gas drilling on federal lands and promote renewable energy sources like wind and solar as part of its climate change agenda.

Burgum ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination before quitting and becoming a Trump supporter. He is also being considered to head a new national council to coordinate policies to boost U.S. energy output.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Nia Williams)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said during an interview that President Trumps criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the wake of the plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were stomach-turning and damaging.

The president was asked whether he had any evidence backing up that outrageous and stomach-turning claim, and he had to acknowledge that he did not. Imagine youre a family member and youve just lost a loved one, and youre grappling with answers and youre trying to figure out, and you have the president of the United States trying to blame people for political reasons or cast aspersions on folks alleging that they were DEI hires, Kaine said during a Thursday appearance on CNN.

I mean, can you imagine a more damaging thing to hear if youre suffering already than a president trying to make political hay out of something like this? he asked.

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Trump seemed to blame DEI initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for being a factor in the deadly Wednesday night collision between an American Airlines flight carrying 64 passengers and a military helicopter with three service members. No one survived the crash.

Brilliant people have to be in those positions, Trump said earlier on Thursday, citing the FAAs effort to bring in workers with disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, dwarfism and missing limbs.

A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately, the president said from the White House briefing room. This was in the Obama administration.

They were still searching for bodies in the Potomac when he was running off at the mouth about this. I hope somebody asked President Trump why he scrapped the VA, why he decided on January 22nd to scrap the aviation safety board and advisory board at the Department of Homeland Security, Kaine said.

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The order scrapping that advisory board said that it was not consistent with the agencys mission toward national security. What an odd thing to say that air safety is not connected to national security, he added on Thursday. I hope someone will ask the president the question about why he decided to do that.

Trump has looked to eliminate DEI hiring practices and programs from the federal government since taking the Oval Office less than two weeks ago, including placing all federal workers within those programs on administrative leave.

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Photo illustration by Getty Images.

Senate President Matt Regier is changing lawyers after Senate Democrats objected to his pick as outside counsel to help in an ethics investigation into Hamilton Sen. Jason Ellsworth.

Earlier this week Regier announced hed hired Matthew Monforton, a Bozeman-based lawyer, to work for himself and the GOP majority leadership and take on a prosecutorial role in the ethics committee.

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However, Senate Democrats expressed reservations about Monfortons role with the committee due to his contract naming Regier as the client, his history of partisanship, and recent social media posts disparaging Ellsworth.

Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, a former prosecutor, told the Senate Ethics Committee on Wednesday she was not comfortable working with Monforton, and wasnt sure they even needed outside counsel.

Our citizens need to see an ethics process thats fair, Smith said, saying any outside counsel should guide the committee by being unbiased, diligent and fair.

Smith suggested they use in-house attorneys, or find someone mutually agreeable to all members of the committee.

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On Thursday morning, Regier sent out an email to reporters indicating he is in the process of hiring a new attorney, Adam Duerk from Missoula, a highly qualified attorney without any of the political history that Monforton had.

Senator Ellsworth has his own outside legal counsel. I believe very strongly that its important for the Senate to also have legal counsel in this matter, Regier said in his email. There is no reason at this point for further objections or delays to the Senate Ethics Committees important work. The people of Montana expect the Legislature to investigate and resolve allegations of impropriety in a timely manner, and its time for the Ethics Committee to proceed accordingly.

Reached by phone on Thursday morning, Duerk said he would not comment on a matter pending before the Senate.

Monforton, who attended the organizational meeting of the Ethics Committee Wednesday afternoon, told the Daily Montanan that based on what he heard, he believes Democrats are heavily invested in Ellsworth and dont want a prosecutor advocating for anything more than a slap on the wrist.

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At the start of the 69th Legislature, Senate Democrats, Ellsworth and eight other Republicans joined in a vote to change Senate rules related to committees, opposing Regier and GOP leadership.

A spokesperson for Senate Democrats said they are more optimistic about Duerk, appreciate the good-faith effort by Regier to address their concerns, and hope to meet with Duerk before fully endorsing his work with the Ethics Committee.

At its organizational meeting Wednesday, the Senate Ethics Committee discussed its rules and schedule for the investigation into Sen. Ellsworth.

The bipartisan Senate committee, comprising two Republicans and two Democrats, will hold hearings in February to determine whether actions Ellsworth took to enter a $170,100 no-bid contract with a business associate last year violated the states code of ethics, or any legislative or state laws.

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Members of the committee emphasized that their role is to be an independent fact-finding body, which will ultimately make a report and recommendation to the full Senate chamber to vote on whether good cause is shown to expel or punish Ellsworth.

We want to get to the facts of the case. We want to do it expeditiously, Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, said. We dont want to drag this out forever.

Under the rules adopted by the committee, Ellsworth will have four days after an initial meeting on Feb. 3 to provide a written response to the allegations of misconduct against him, and a list of witnesses, documents and records that pertain to the investigation. The committee will then conduct hearings

Ellsworth tried to speak during the committees meeting, but was overruled by chair Sen. Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus.

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The contract Ellsworth signed tasked his associate to analyze a series of judicial reform bills and their implementation after the session, but was flagged by legislative staff and senate leadership for skirting normal procurement rules. A recent report form the Legislative Audit Division concluded Ellsworth abused his powers as then-Senate president, and wasted government resources.

The next meeting of the Senate Ethics Committee will be on Feb. 3 at 11 a.m. in the old Supreme Court chambers.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months were freed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro after he met Friday with a Trump administration official tasked with urging the authoritarian leader to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social media. The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the maximum pressure campaign he pursued against Maduro during his first term.

Trip focused on deporting Venezuelans and release of Americans

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Grenells hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trumps efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans.

We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens, Grenell posted on X along with a photo showing him and the men aboard an aircraft. They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldnt stop thanking him.

Trump wrote Saturday on his social media site Truth Social that he was happy to have the Americans back home.

And very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua. Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back, he wrote. We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.

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The press office of Venezuelas government said Saturday it would not officially comment on the claims for now.

Meeting came soon after Maduro was sworn in following controversial election

The meeting in Venezuela's capital took place less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last year's election. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduro's claim to victory and instead points to tally sheets collected by the opposition coalition showing that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a more than a two-to-one margin.

Venezuelan state television aired footage of Grenell and Maduro speaking in the Miraflores Palace and said the meeting had been requested by the U.S. government.

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Signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked if Grenell being filmed meeting with Maduro lent legitimacy to a government that the Trump White House does not officially recognize.

No. We want to do something with Venezuela. Ive been a very big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro, Trump responded. Theyve treated us not so good, but theyve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly."

Maduro, appearing on state television after Grenell had left Venezuela, said the visit yielded initial agreements but did not provide any details.

I have seen three U.S. presidents pass before me," Maduro said. "This is the fourth term, and our message has been one: We want to build relationships of respect for Venezuelas sovereignty, for Venezuelas democratic life, for international law and for our Latin American region.

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Terrible timing

Some Republicans criticized the visit.

This is terrible timing," said Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy to Venezuela and Iran during the first Trump administration. "A meeting with Maduro will be used by him to legitimize his rule and show that the Americans recognize him as president. If the purpose is to deliver a tough message about migration issues, the president couldve done that himself. There was no need to send someone to Caracas.

The dispute over the election results sparked nationwide protests. More than 2,200 people were arrested during and after the demonstrations.

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Among those detained are as many as 10 Americans who the government has linked to alleged plots to destabilize the country. Neither the White House nor Maduro's government immediately released the names of the six who were freed Friday.

A nonprofit group that had advocated for the release of a detainee said David Estrella, a 62-yer-old who was last heard from in September, was among those on their way back to the U.S. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had accused Estrella of being part of an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro.

The Trump administration has taken a slew of actions to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

Those measures include the revocation earlier this week of a Biden administration decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months.

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Targeting Tren de Aragua

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday that Trump had instructed Grenell to identify a place and ensure that repatriation flights" carrying Venezuelans, including members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, "land in Venezuela. She said Trump also ordered Grenell to ensure that all U.S. detainees in Venezuela are returned home.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country since 2013, when its economy unraveled and Maduro first took office. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants increasingly set their sights on the U.S.

Venezuelans desire for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro are expected to keep pushing people to emigrate.

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Ahead of the presidential election last year, a nationwide poll by Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed about a quarter of the population thinking about emigrating if Maduro was re-elected.

Grenell has reached out to Maduro before on Trumps behalf to secure the release of imprisoned Americans only to come home empty handed.

In 2020, he traveled with Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security firm Blackwater, to Mexico City for a secret meeting with a top Maduro aide. The backchannel talks centered on Maduros offer to swap eight Americans then imprisoned in Venezuela for businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of the president charged in the U.S. with money laundering, The Associated Press previously reported.

No deal was struck and Grenells demand that Maduro step down was dismissed by the Venezuelan presidents envoy. Grenell has always denied he was negotiating a hostage swap.

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Later, in December 2023, the Biden administration exchanged Saab for 10 Americans as part of a policy to re-engage Maduro ahead of presidential elections.

___

Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report from Washington.

____

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)  A serial library book thief has been arrested in four towns after stealing books a totaling $27,335, according to police.

Man arrested in Wethersfield after stealing over $5,000 in library books

Levi Preston, 50, of Middletown was arrested in West Hartford in July for allegedly stealing more than $16,000 worth of books from the West Hartford Public Library. Police said that he was reselling the stolen books on Amazon.

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Throughout the course of the investigation, it was discovered that he had committed similar crimes in Middletown, Portland, Wethersfield and possibly more towns in the area. He was reported to have stolen more than $2,000 worth of books from Russell Library in Middletown and over $3,400 worth of books from the Portland Library. In Wethersfield, he allegedly stole $5,600 worth of books.

He is facing charges of larceny in the third degree from Middletown police, larceny in the third degree from Portland police, larceny in the second degree from West Hartford police and larceny in the third degree from Wethersfield police.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)  A serial burglar pleaded guilty to nearly 20 charges in connection with over a dozen shoplifting incidents across North Buffalo in 2023 and 2024, the Erie County District Attorneys Office said Friday.

Corey Anthony, 36, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of third-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of third-degree grand larceny earlier this week.

The thefts took place at several locations across North Buffalo, including two stores on the 2100 block of Elmwood Avenue, a grocery store on the 300 block of Amherst Street, and an auto repair shop on the 400 block of Hertel Avenue.

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Serial burglar arrested for 25 different incidents since November 2022

During two of the incidents, one at one of the stores on Elmwood and one at the grocery store on Amherst, Anthony threatened employees with a needle.

He was arrested by Buffalo Police in June 2024. Police added that he has been arrested 123 times since 2006.

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Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.

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A taxi driver is shot dead in front of his children. A high-security room goes up in flames. Then terrorists are unmasked as spies. And behind it all, a shadowy unit of the British Army.

Award-winning journalist Cara McGoogan investigates the biggest cover-up of the Northern Ireland Troubles in the latest series of Bed of Lies, and asks: is the British state getting away with murder.

Episode 1: Trouble



Three innocent Catholic men are shot dead in front of their families by a brutal Protestant paramilitary group hunting the IRA. Even in the dark days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the murders shock the nation. Then it emerges the gunmen arent working alone. Cara McGoogan is determined to find out who else is involved and how deep the collusion goes.



Episode 2: Collusion

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Top detectives race to untangle a web of lies behind the murders. But just as theyre about to arrest a key loyalist suspect, their secure office containing top-secret evidence goes up in flames. They hear whispers that a clandestine unit of the British army could be behind the sabotage. All to protect one man  a man Cara reveals is a vicious fighter with a shadowy past.

Episode 3: Agent 6137

Facing life in prison for murder, loyalist Brian Nelson makes a surprising confession: he is Agent 6137. When he targeted people for the UDA to assassinate, he was also working for the British. The daughter of one of his victims hunts for the truth about his life as a spy  but as she and Cara dig deeper, they find documents are missing and proof is hard to pin down.

Episode 4: Touts

The IRA creates a new unit to root out informers  or touts  and kill them. A man known as Scap quickly rises to the top of this Nutting Squad and builds up a fearsome reputation for cruelty. But he is hiding a dark secret  and the implications of the truth being exposed are enormous.

Episode 5: Handlers

Cara tracks down soldiers from the covert unit of the British army at the heart of her investigation. As these people who handled spies in the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries spill their secrets, it becomes clear that Agent 6137 and Scap are just the tip of the iceberg. Betrayal, sex, murder. Was it really all for the greater good?

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Listen to Series 3 of Bed of Lies on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.



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Springfield is the headquarters for a worldwide non-profit with a mission of healing the invisible wounds that often impact the men and women who serve our country.

For this weeks Serving the Ozarks, were highlighting The Warriors Journey.

The efforts by local people have proved to lower veteran suicide rates, the organization provides resources to active duty troops both here in the Ozarks and around the world.

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Founded ten years ago, The Warriors Journey is using camaraderie to help people and their families navigate life through years of service to our country.

Through surveys, the non-profit found veterans and active duty members were not just struggling with PTSD.

Number one issue isolation that followed by things like moral injury, identity issues, says Co-Founder Kevin Weaver. We didnt want to be afraid to cover whatever it is that that person needed to find complete what we would call healing.

All services are completely free for clients.

Serving the Ozarks: OReilly Center for Hope

Since 2016, the organization has facilitated more than 3,200 direct suicide interventions1,200 of those in the last year alone.

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There isnt 48 hours that goes by that were not touching every single client that we serve, adds Weaver.

Those struggling are immediately paired with a Warrior Connector, a military member with similar experience, volunteering their time to listen and relate.

Come alongside the people that call us for help. They dont need to have the answers for them. They just need to be able to be an ear to sit and listen to them and say, Ive been in your shoes. I know what its like. I know some of the difficulties youre going through, explains Brad Lewis, Director of Warrior Connections.

Lewis served as a Chaplain in the Army for 25 years before retiring and joining The Warriors Journey mission.

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The organization also puts a focus on navigating civilian life.

Weaver says, individuals often leave active duty and feel as though they only know how to do one job.

Many people just dont see the connection, he says.

Veteran Blake Leitch worked at the VA after serving.

Serving the Ozarks: Logan Rogersville Fire Protection District

I was told, you cant if you get out, youre not going to amount to anything. You cant do anything on the outside. I was infantry. My job was to pull the trigger. And that, you know, that gets to you.

Now working for The Warriors Journey, he can create relationships instead of just filing paperwork.

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We help them understand that you have value and will help you find purpose, Leitch says.

Usually when theyre leaving, theyre not just submitting a claim, but were helping them with other life issues that were discovered through that process.

The organization spans worldwide. There are The Warriors Journey facilities in Germany that are helping hundreds of troops every day. It also just opened a center in Japan.

In the U.S., there are both sites in Wichita, Kansas and Pensacola, Florida.

The expansion is happening here in Springfield too.

A new space on the backside of their building on North Glenstone will soon be a classroom, offering workshops on combat recovery, financial literacy, and more. The space will also serve as an extension campus of Evangel for veterans taking classes on their GI Bill.

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If you know of someone who could benefit from their services, or a veteran willing to volunteer, visit their website: thewarriorsjourney.org.

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Sen. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, presents a resolution to the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 27, 2025. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

The third week of Arkansas 95th General Assembly saw a slight increase in action as committees considered more bills. New legislation continued to be filed, including one bill touted by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a mental health event Wednesday that would make good on her promise to ban cellphones in public schools.

Supporters of Senate Bill 142 said it would help students better focus on their education and address a root cause of the decline in childrens mental health  unrestricted access to social media.

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The bill would require districts phone policies to include exemptions for health reasons, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), extracurricular activities and emergencies.

1) Diversity and division

Echoing conversations at the federal level, Arkansas lawmakers this week engaged in discussions around diversity, equity and inclusion, beginning with an Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus meeting Monday focused on Walmart rolling back its DEI initiatives.

Company officials said they remain committed to creating a culture of belonging for associates, and insisted bullying and harassment would not be tolerated. Black lawmakers questioned if they could again count on the global retailers support against Senate Bill 3, which mirrors a 2023 bill to end state-sponsored discrimination. Lawmakers noted Walmarts opposition to the 2023 bill, but officials said the company had no position on SB 3.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, leads a Senate Education Committee meeting on Jan. 27, 2025. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

Again sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, SB 3 targets diversity-related initiatives and would, among other things, amend a scholarship designed to attract qualified minority teachers to the Delta, a rural area with a significant Black population and a known teacher shortage.

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Despite concerns presented in committee and on the Senate floor, the full Senate approved the bill Wednesday, which will likely be considered by a House committee next week.

2) Prison pushback

The Arkansas Senate confirmed more than three dozen governor-nominated members to state boards and commissions Tuesday, with the only opposition directed at a former Republican lawmaker who now works for a Little Rock lobbying firm.

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, requested that the Senate vote separately on Grant Hodges appointment to the Board of Corrections. King argued the former state representative from Centerton wasnt qualified for the position. Two other Republicans joined King in voting against Hodges appointment, which passed on a voice vote.

King, whos been a vocal opponent of the states plan to construct a 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County, announced during a press conference Thursday morning that he filed six pieces of legislation related to public safety.

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Weve had a series of soft-on-crime bills, catch-and-release bills, and weve had a consistent pattern of underfunding corrections and public safety, King said. Whats happened today is its created a three-headed monster  we have a high incarceration rate, we have a high crime rate and we have a high prison overcrowding rate.

Senate Bill 143 proposes transfering $100,000 from sales tax collections to Arkansas State Police for crime reduction and prevention programs, and to assist the Division of Community Correction in the provision of probation, parole and post-release supervision services. Senate Bill 145 would require money the state receives from lawsuits concerning funds from the General Improvement Fund or its successor be used for the same purposes.

Senate Bill 144 would allow counties to enter into an inmate close-to-home partnership to construct or expand a facility for a shared county jail to house inmates awaiting transfer to the Division of Correction. At least one county must be one of the eight that contribute the most inmates to the Division of Corrections total population.

Senate Joint Resolutions 7 and 8 propose amending the Arkansas Constitution concerning medical marijuana and casino gaming, respectively. SJR 6 would allow proceeds from the sale of medical marijuana and casino gaming to support crime reduction and recidivism initiatives.

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Kings hope is to increase public safety by lowering the number of people going to jail and the recidivism rate, but that will take money, he said.

3) New bills

Arkansas lawmakers filed more than 200 new bills and resolutions this week, including:

House Bill 1243 from Rep. Kendon Underwood, R-Cave Springs, aims to increase transparency with campaign contributions and expenditures.

House Bill 1280 by Rep. Mindy McAlindon, R-Centerton, would prohibit state agencies from using public funds to purchase promotional items made in China. McAlindons House Bill 1323 would limit the investment of Arkansas pension and retirement system funds in entities closely connected with China and its governing party.

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House Bill 1283 by Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, would require the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish K-12 digital media standards.

House Bill 1297 by Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, would regulate the use of artificial intelligence, algorithms and other automated technologies by healthcare insurers.

4) An abbreviated appreciation

Rep. Stephen Meeks (Arkansas Secretary of State)

An amusing quirk of the Legislature is the duty of Rep. Stephen Meeks, a Greenbrier Republican and most senior House member, to rattle off a procedural list (ala an auctioneer) at the end of each House session before lawmakers can formally adjourn.

That tradition came to an end Thursday, when his colleagues approved updated House rules allowing him to declare an abbreviated version from now on.

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In case you hadnt had the chance to enjoy this in person, you can see his final (at least for now) lengthy proclamation here at the 2:33 p.m. mark.

No legislative meetings are scheduled for Friday, but lawmakers will resume their work on Monday. You can find an updated schedule of meetings and agendas on the Arkansas Legislatures website.

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SOUTH RIVER, N.J. (PIX11)  I aint ever seen like that, anything, in my life.

A terrifying morning in a small Middlesex County neighborhood as fire ripped through a home. Viewer videos show a fire pouring out of the house Thursday morning.

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The flames and the smoke impacted several homes in a tight-knit section of South River.

I aint ever seen like that in my life, said neighbor Allan Piscitelli. Basically I just opened up my back door and I just see a wall of flame coming out the top of the house, spreading over to the garage next door, into the other neighbors yard, and from there on in it was full-blown fire.

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Ann Swank was on her way to work when she read a Nixle alert on her phone.

I noticed it said Reid Street, said Swank, and I just had a really bad feeling.

She came back to her home on the adjacent street and found her garage badly damaged by the flames. While she may have lost valuables, she breathes easy knowing her kids were at school.

I just kept on thanking God, the universe, everything, everybody everywhere, that the kids were at school, and we were at work, said Swank. We found out that our neighbors are not hurt  everybody is safe. And thats the miracle about this.

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Officials say when the flames broke out around 9 a.m., a police officer on a traffic stop nearby saw the smoke and went to the house to alert someone still inside. While a total of seven people in the house are displaced, officials say no one was hurt.

I tell you what, between South River, Sayreville, East Brunswick, mutual aid, the fast response from our firefighters, they did a remarkable job, said South River Mayor Peter Giundi.

Officials say the cause of the fire is under investigation. The Red Cross is assisting displaced residents.

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Editors Note: In the wake of the worst aviation disaster in the United States in years, The Wichita Eagle, Kansas City Star, Charlotte Observer and other McClatchy journalists from across the country are working to tell the story of each person who lost their life in the crash. Read all of their stories here.

A group of seven friends from the D.C. area who traveled to Kansas to hunt waterfowl died in Wednesdays crash of Flight 5342, according to multiple family members and an outfitter who spent several days with them.

The seven hunters had come to Kansas in a party of 10 to hunt with outfitter Fowl Plains, based out of Great Bend. Three from the group opted to drive home because it made it easier to transport their hunting dogs and shotguns.

The seven who died in the plane crash are Jesse Pitcher, 30; Michael Stovall, 40; Steve Johnson, 45; Alexander Huffman, 34; Charles McDaniel, 44; Jonathan Boyd, 40; and Tommy Clagett, 38.

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Photos from the hunting trip show they were successful, bagging a highly sought-after drake northern pintail and dozens of snow geese, white-front geese and Canada geese.

After the multi-day hunt, seven of the men boarded a flight bound for Washington, D.C. that collided with a military helicopter as the plane approached the Ronald Reagan National Airport.

All 67 people in the two aircraft were killed in the crash, although not all of the bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River.

Four of the seven who were killed in the crash were members of the UA Steamfitters Local 602 labor union in Maryland and several others knew each other through their work as tradesmen.

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Chase White, an owner of Fowl Plains, the outfitter in Great Bend that hosted the men, said he and the men all shared meals together and conversations about all topics of life.

He said some of the men had come in past years. This years trip included three days of duck hunting, some goose hunting and a European pheasant hunt, where birds are released for shooters who are waiting in blinds.

For them to be able to do something for the last five or six days that they all loved together, he said, you know, I think that is something really special for sure.

Amy Renee Leiker of The Wichita Eagle contributed.
Two Palestinians were killed in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces, according to Palestinian reports on Thursday.

The Israeli army meanwhile said that one soldier was killed and another seriously injured during an operation in the city.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen. It was initially unclear whether the reports referred to the same incident.

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The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said that the Israeli authorities had been informed of the deaths of the two Palestinians in Jenin. Nothing was initially released about their identities.

Palestinian reports said that a 42-year-old man was also killed by Israeli gunfire in Nablus, also in the north of the Palestinian territory. The man's wife was injured in the incident.

According to the Israeli police, the Palestinian was wanted for his alleged involvement in attacks. He was reportedly armed and tried to flee when the police tried to arrest him, so officers shot at the man and killed him, police said.

The Israeli army started a new, large military operation in Jenin more than a week ago. Foreign Minister Israel Katz recently announced that the Israeli army would remain in the city even after it ended "to ensure that terror does not return."

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The already tense situation in the West Bank has intensified significantly since Palestinian militant group Hamas spearheaded the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel, triggering the conflict in Gaza.

According to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, 853 Palestinians have been killed there since then in Israeli military operations, armed confrontations and extremist attacks. At the same time, there is increased violence by radical Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians.
Several senior FBI officials have been told to leave the agency or expect to be fired next week, according to multiplenewsreports Thursday, as President Donald Trumps administration executes his long-touted plans to overhaul the federal government.

The order concerns at least six FBI leaders, according to CNN, which was first to report the news. The officials are said to include people who worked as executive assistant directors or special agents, and reportedly include those involved in cyber, national security and criminal probes.

The directive, which calls on officials to either resign or retire to avoid firing, appears to target those promoted by former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who last month announced his intent to step down shortly before Trump was sworn in to office. Even though Wray was nominated by Trump for the role in 2017, the president had shared his plans to replace him with his ally Kash Patel.

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One of the senior officials who received the ultimatum sent an email out to his colleagues saying he was given no rationale for this decision and found out he would be removed from FBI rolls this coming Monday, according to The New York Times.

The FBI has not commented on the reports.

The news comes as Patel, Trumps contentious pick for FBI director, has yet to be officially confirmed in the role. Brian Driscoll is currently serving as acting FBI director.

Patel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Its unclear whether he had advance notice of the ultimatums delivered to senior officials.

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During the hearing, Patel told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.

Patel, who is expected to be confirmed in the role, also told Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) he is not aware of any plans to terminate or otherwise punish agents or staff who worked on the Trump investigations over the now-presidents 2020 election interference and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss both cases before resigning from his role ahead of Trumps second term.

Since Trumps inauguration, his administration has taken swift action against those perceived as his political enemies. Earlier this week, the Justice Departments acting attorney general dismissed more than a dozen officials who worked on the two criminal cases against the president.

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The Trump administration has also fired at least 17 inspectors general across many federal agencies, violating a federal law requiring Congress be given 30 days notice of their dismissals. Federal employees working on diversity, equity and inclusion have also been placed on paid leave, while plans reportedly exist to eventually fire them.

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BALTIMORE  Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has denied allegations of sexual impropriety at several spas in the Baltimore region between 2012 and 2016.

In a story published Thursday by The Baltimore Banner, six massage therapists accused Tucker of sexually inappropriate behavior, including exposing his genitals, brushing two of them with his exposed penis, and leaving what they believed to be ejaculate on the massage table after three of his treatments.

Tucker, 35, denied the accusations online as unequivocally false and desperate tabloid fodder.

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According to the Maryland Judiciary, as of Thursday afternoon, no criminal or civil actions had been filed against the Super Bowl winner in court.

Peter ONeill, a criminal defense lawyer in Glen Burnie, said prosecuting Tucker on the allegations outlined in The Banner would be difficult given how long ago the behavior is alleged to have occurred.

While there are no constraints to when a felony can be filed against someone, ONeill said the conduct described would not rise above the level of misdemeanor assault or a fourth-degree sex offense, both of which have a one-year statute of limitations.

ONeill, who said hes handled similar matters in court, said reporting the incident to management at the time the occur could be a relevant consideration in determining the credibility of the accuser. The Banner reported that Tucker was banned from at least two establishments based on his alleged behavior.

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However, without speculating one way or the other, ONeill said Tuckers notoriety and wealth present another challenge to the allegations, which are inherently problematic due to a lack of witnesses.

It becomes a question of whether the therapist is believable or the suspect is believable, he said.

Statutes of limitations would also apply to a civil suit.

In Maryland, civil actions must be filed, generally, within three years of their inciting factor. Some lawyers, however, may take on a case beyond that timeframe if a strong-enough argument can be made.

We do see that with sexual abuse and assault cases, both adult and children, attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel said, because people, especially when it involves someone like Justin Tucker  have a hard time coming forward and they think, what are the ramifications going to be if I do?

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Based in Texas, Tuegel was the lead attorney in the case against Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused its athletes. The case ended in 2021 with a $380 million settlement.

Tuegel said in her experience, in cases where there are six victims, as The Banner alleges, there are usually more. The question, she said, is whether those people are ready and willing to come forward.

If Im his attorney, I am concerned that there are going to be other victims coming forward in a more recent time period, she said.

Whether Tucker pursues any legal action himself also remains to be seen.

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Just over an hour after The Banners story was published, Tucker wrote on X that he had retained a defamation attorney, whose involvement made the articles allegations available to the kicker.

He described the news teams interactions with him as being marked by journalistic failures and said he was not given ample time to respond to the claims.

As a matter of principle, I respect when individuals come forward to report misconduct of any kind, Tucker wrote. I support a process that allows claims to be properly investigated. But, for the sake of myself and my family, I cannot allow false claims to go unchallenged.



Baltimore Sun reporter Brian Wacker contributed to this article.
BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP)The Massachusetts shelter system is going to run out of money any day now, and its up to the state legislature to approve the governors latest plan to pump more funding into the system.

Last week, the House Ways and Means chair said his branch needs answers on pages of questions before approving the governors $425 million dollar budget request. This comes just after the governor proposed a plan that includes taking another look at the states right to shelter law, which Healey says was never intended to support a migrant crisis.

Fund the Finish event for emergency housing program in Springfield

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The Healey administration has since responded with a seven page letter and sixteen pages of attachments, but some critical questions are left unanswered. Included among unanswered questions is the amount of money the state would save by implementing the governors new planand what background check policies were prior to changes earlier this month.

Governor Healey was asked on Wednesday about working together with the legislature before funding dries up, but she did not offer a specific course of action.

Discussions are ongoing right now with the legislature. Were aware, I know theyre aware of the calendar on this. So hopefully well be able to get some resolutions soon. Well see, said the governor.

The House has not yet responded on whether they now feel comfortable moving forward with the budget request. The earliest this funding bill could be approved is early next week in the next scheduled formal session, when funding could already have run dry.

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.

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(WFRV)  Authorities in northern Wisconsin say a 16-year-old was taken into custody after allegedly threatening to shoot up a high school in a post on social media.

According to the Forest County Sheriffs Office, on January 28, around 10 a.m., it got information from the Wisconsin Department of Justice about a post on social media. The post reportedly said, I am going to shoot up Lincoln High School at 12:30.

Authorities in northern Wisconsin looking for abandoned houses to use for training

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The FBI and Wisconsin DOJ, Division of Criminal Investigation, were able to figure out the post was made from an address within Forest County. Authorities reportedly determined a possible suspect and went to a residence in Wabeno.

Around 11 a.m. on January 28, a 16-year-old suspect was taken into custody for allegedly making the post. The juvenile was then reportedly put in a secure detention facility for allegedly making the threats.

The Forest County Sheriffs Office said it takes these types of threats serious.

As Law Enforcement we take these types of threats very serious, and they will not be tolerated. Protecting schools and the children who attend them is of upmost importance. Forest County Sheriffs Office on Facebook

Driver denies treatment after collision with tree at northern Wisconsin intersection

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No additional information was provided.

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A suspicious ship with a Russian crew has been detained in Norway after the latest incidence of cable damage in the Baltic Sea.

The Silver Dania is suspected of being involved in damaging a fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, the police in the city of Troms in northern Norway said on Friday.

As a result, it was brought to the city's port at the request of the Latvian authorities, they said. The police are currently on board the ship to conduct searches, interrogations and to secure evidence.

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The ship is registered in Norway, the police said, and has a Norwegian owner but operates between the Russian cities of St Petersburg and Murmansk. The entire crew is also Russian, they said.

The Latvian police confirmed, upon request, that they have made a request for mutual legal assistance and are working closely with the Norwegian law enforcement authorities. They did not want to provide further details due to the ongoing investigations.

Another ship already detained by Sweden

Following a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea, damage occurred last Sunday to a data cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and the port city of Ventspils in Latvia, which is used by the Latvian Broadcasting and Television Centre (LVRTC).

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Subsequently, the Swedish authorities detained another ship with a Bulgarian owner and launched investigations into possible serious sabotage. The owner has denied any sabotage allegations.

The Silver Dania is said to have passed the cable at about the same time. A representative of its shipping company told the Norwegian newspaper Fiskeribladet: "We have done nothing wrong." They also stated that no anchor was dropped at that time.
DISCLAIMER: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  The Louisiana Bureau of Investigations has arrested a man from Shreveport for possessing pornography involving juveniles under the age of 13.

36-year-old Jimmy Joyner was arrested for 17 counts of pornography, according to the Shreveport Police Department.

Louisiana law states, Any lewd or lascivious act upon the person or in the presence of any child under the age of seventeen, where there is an age difference of greater than two years between the two persons. Lack of knowledge of the childs age shall not be a defense.

(Courtesy of Liz Murrill, Attorney General, Louisiana DOJ)

The Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office lists Joyners criminal history:

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July 2020, when he was arrested for simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling.

In December 2020, he was arrested for the same charge and entering/remaining.

September 2023, simple burglary,

August 2024, Joyner was arrested for possession of Schedule II and Prohibited acts-use/possession drug paraphernalia.

Attorney General Liz Murrill stated that this arrest resulted from a joint investigation with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office. Joyner was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center.

There is no bond information, and this is an ongoing investigation.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTALnews.com.
DISCLAIMER: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  The Shreveport Police Department confirmed that Larry Lewis, the man wanted in connection to the Walgreens homicide, was arrested on Thursday.

The Walgreens shooting took the life of 67-year-old Pharmacy representative Billy Jamison on Wednesday, January 22nd, in the parking lot on Line Avenue. He later succumbed to his wounds.

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Billy Jamisons GoFundMe for his family

The Shreveport Police Departments Homicide Unit searched for Lewis for several days. Lewis was later apprehended, interviewed, and released by homicide investigators. They stated they needed enough evidence to support a case that will withstand the judicial process.

According to the Shreveport Police Department, Lewis has been arrested and is being held on a federal fugitive warrant out of New Orleans.

Police say there are more charges to come, including resisting arrest.

This is an ongoing investigation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)  A local agency providing transportation needs in the area has filed for a $12 million grant to upgrade its facilities.

With the funding, SIMPCO would expand its Sioux City locations bus storage, doubling the space from 15 to 30 stalls. A new facility is also planned in Le Mars.

When SIMPCO first moved into the Sioux City facility in 2023, 15 fewer stalls were installed then what they were originally asking for, meaning that half of their buses had to remain outside. Brian Pearson with SIMPCO says that an expansion would reduce the cost of bus maintenance.

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When buses are parked outside, the weather conditions will affect the quality of the buses and increase cost in maintenance and also safety concerns with the drivers he said.

Morningside University gets anonymous $1M donation

Pearson also noted that SIMPCO is in need of more bus drivers.

We need to be hiring more, and we want to share what we have to offer with our Northeast community College and also [Western Iowa Tech] here in town, he said. We can get those drivers trained within a couple weeks, and then also some additional training here as well with our drivers.

Click here to learn more about joining SIMPCO.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A sinkhole opened on Thursday, Jan. 30, on Mission Ridge Boulevard in far East El Paso, where another sinkhole was repaired months ago.

The previous sinkhole, which was caused by a water main break on Thursday, Nov. 14, had caused extensive damage to the roadway on the northbound lanes of Mission Ridge.

Repair on sinkhole in far East El Paso could take weeks

KTSM has reached out to El Paso County, but we have not heard back.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.
Japanese authorities have asked hundreds of residents near Tokyo to evacuate as a sinkhole at an intersection grew to more than 40 meters wide, hampering rescuers racing to reach an elderly truck driver whose vehicle was swallowed by the hole.

On Tuesday, part of a road intersection in Saitama prefecture, about 18 miles north of Japans capital, opened up, swallowing a three-ton truck and its driver, a 74-year-old man, prompting a rescue mission now in its fourth day.

The pit has expanded to 40 meters wide  four times its width when it first appeared, a local official told CNN on Friday.

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The inside is gouging and its getting bigger every day, the official from Saitama Prefectures Sewerage Works Division said.

Rescuers have used cranes to lift part of the truck out of the hole and have sent drones underground but have not been able to communicate with the truck driver since Tuesday.

Authorities believe that corroded sewer pipes may have caused the earth to fall in. Leaking wastewater may have further eroded the surrounding soil, widening the chasm, they said.

Two hundred households have been asked to evacuate from the area since Tuesday, local authorities said.

Local authorities also asked 1.2 million residents to refrain from bathing and doing laundry in a bid to cut down on wastewater, which could further complicate rescue efforts in the fragile area.

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The sudden opening of the earth has sparked fears among some in the densely-populated region about the labyrinth of ageing pipes beneath their homes and businesses.

I live close to the area, and Ive been watching all the news footage. The moment the hole widens was really scary, said one user on the social media platform, X.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism told CNN Friday that it has ordered emergency inspections of similar sewer pipes across Saitama and six other prefectures, home to around 39 million people.

Rescue operations continue for a truck driver after his vehicle plunged into a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture. - Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

Pipe decay

Sinkholes are most common in areas underlain by rocks like gypsum, limestone and other carbonate rocks, which can be naturally dissolved by groundwater, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

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Much of the state of Florida is underlain by limestone, making it extremely susceptible to the phenomena, USGS noted.

Takashi Oguchi, a geographer from the University of Tokyo, said sinkholes are rare in Japan, where most roads are built on unconsolidated fluvial and marine sediments.

But he warned that when a large underground waterpipe ruptures, leaked water could wash away these sediments, creating a sinkhole.

Much of Japans public infrastructure was built between the 1960s and 1970s during an economic boom in the wake of World War II, during which much of Tokyo was destroyed by American bombing raids.

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The sewage system in question in the Saitama prefecture is about 42 years old.

We will have such events more in the future because the decay of underground pipes is ongoing little by little, and many pipes are located below roads, Oguchi said.

Reiko Kuwano, a civil engineering professor from Tokyo University, said inspecting pipes buried deep underground is always a challenge.

Difficult rescue operation

At the traffic intersection in Saitama on Friday, rescuers raced to reach the driver trapped for days meters below the tarmac.

The mission has proven difficult so far, the official from Sewerage Works Division told CNN.

He said the original hole that brought down the driver had merged with a second sinkhole nearby, resulting in the expansion of the sinkhole.

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The driver was buried in earth and sand, and if we bring heavy equipment near the asphalt it might fall in, he said.

He said rescue workers are planning to build a ramp to bring the heavy equipment from an angle.

Were working hard building the ramp and aiming to get it built by today, he said.

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A kind and giving person, not only to family and friends, but also to complete strangers.

A proud veteran of the United States Air Force, retiree of NASA and member of local military organizations.

To many people who knew her, Charlene Ormsby was all these things and more.

But to Ormsbys sister Carol Ormsby, who spoke with the Tribune on Monday morning, Charlene was also a best friend.

We were really close, Carol said via telephone, referring to her older sister. She was my, I called her my go to person. If I had to go somewhere or do something, shed always go with me.  She was very loving that way.  I mean, if we were going out to eat, shed leave the biggest tip at the table. That was just her.

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Carol said a recent trip to the hospital helped prove that point.

I had to go to the hospital a week before she died because I thought I was having a heart attack, Carol said.  Well, she sat out there, and I said, Charlene, youve got things to do. Im going to be a while. But she just sat right there next to me in that chair. She had physical issues, and I knew it was hard to sit there for nine hours. But thats just who she was.

But then came Jan. 17, the day a fire broke out at Charlenes north side residence, the one she bought to be near her aging parents after she moved back to Kokomo from Florida.

According to officials, firefighters were called to the structure fire around 11 p.m. that night and were met with heavy flames upon arrival.

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Due to extreme heat and the partial collapse of the structure, fire officials were unable to rescue Charlene, whose body was discovered around 2 a.m. the next day.

Along with Charlene, Carol said several of her sisters cats also died in the blaze, and an autopsy report found the 69-year-old died of thermal and inhalation injuries.

But Carol said she doesnt want to focus on how her sister died.

She wants to instead focus on the life her sister led.

When she was little, Charlene always said she wanted to be the first woman in space, Carol said. Well, she got second best because she got to work with Kennedy Space Center. Thats just one of the many neat things she got to do in life. And she was always doing something. She was always busy. It was a very full life she led.

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Which makes her absence that much more difficult, Carol noted.

Oh, I miss her, she told the Tribune. Its hard because I keep wanting her to walk in my door like she always did.  Thats just my person I went to, and now its all changed.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the Office of the State Fire Marshal is now assisting with the case.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact KFD Division Chief Glenda Myers at 765-457-2636 or gmyers@cityofkokomo.org.
AUBURN  Scott Callahan, a foreman for the Auburn Water District, violated conflict of Interest laws by accepting ski trips to resorts in Maine and Vermont, according to a ruling of the state Ethics Commission.

Callahan has been ordered to pay $6,000 in civil penalties for going on getaways given to him by a water meter manufacturer and distributor that did business with the town.

The state announced the fine on Thursday.

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Callahan told the Telegram & Gazette that he is disappointed in the decision of the ethics board.

"This civil case has been ongoing for over a year, and I feel my defense did not receive the fairness and justice it deserved," Callahan said in an email. "The events I attended were described to me as opportunities to connect with others in the water industry and nothing more. The fact that the legal system can claim it was my ignorance in accepting these invitations as no excuse is a very unsettling and unfair decision.

"Other factors in my defense that clearly support my defense were overlooked from my perspective and discarded. The total expenses incurred by the distributor combined for both events were less than $150 yet Im facing a personal fine of $6,000. How is that fair and has the potential to degrade my credibility in a 30-year career? I feel that the decision by the board to be unethical."

The Auburn Water District uses a brand of water meter made by an Alabama-based manufacturer, with the town serviced by a New England distributor.

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As foreman, Callahan purchased, installed and maintained water meters within the water district.

According to the Ethics Commission, Callahan accepted invitations from the water meter distributor and manufacturer to go on multiday ski trips to Sugarloaf, Maine, in 2018 and Stowe, Vermont, in 2019.

Callahans lodging for both trips was covered, the commission found.

A $3,000 penalty for each of the two trips was handed down by the commission. Callahan has 30 days within which to file an appeal in Superior Court. He said he has not decided whether to appeal.

Callahan, a 30-year town employee, was responsible for purchasing water meters under the authority of the superintendent of the works and the Board of Commissioners. The town replaced 5,000 water meters in the community in 2023 and used the ones manufactured by the unnamed company, according to the Ethics Commission.

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Acceptance by municipal employees of gifts of substantial value from outside sources with whom they do business erodes public trust, and Callahan, who reasonably should have been aware of this after decades of public service, accepted such gifts not once but twice, the commission wrote.

The conflict of interest law prohibits public employees from receiving anything worth $50 or more given to them for or because of their official positions.

Similar ethics violations, involving the same water meter company, resulted in fines by the Ethics Commission against other municipal workers in recent years.

Eight workers, including workers currently or formerly employed in Sudbury, Salem, Franklin, Danvers, Natick and Southampton, admitted to accepting paid trips to Vermont and Maine and other valuable gifts from an Alabama-based maker of water meters or its sole New England distributor, and have signed a disposition agreement admitting their involvement and waiving their rights to a public hearing.

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Earlier Auburn water supply foreman faces possible ethics violation for accepting paid ski trips

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ski trips to Sugarloaf and Stowe result in $6K fine for Auburn water foreman
A Morro Bay man was arrested Wednesday after he unsheathed a 20-inch-long World War II bayonet during public comment at the Morro Bay City Council meeting the night before.

Kiernan Cottle, 28, is a regular at Morro Bay City Council meetings. He often performs theatrical speeches at public comment about international politics or the citys response to homelessness.

At Tuesdays meeting, however, he gave the room an even more dramatic show.

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After stepping up to the podium and giving a short introduction, he unrolled a towel to reveal a sheathed bayonet.

The nearly 2-foot-long blade, which attaches to the end of a rifle for hand-to-hand fighting, belonged to his grandfather, a decorated World War II veteran, he said.

I do not know how many of our brothers lost their lives to this blade on the banks of the Rhine, but it would not have been many  as Grandpa was a sharpshooter, he said. Grandpa committed unforgivable sins to defend the world against a madness that nearly destroyed the very land that gave rise to it.

Cottle then unsheathed the blade.

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As a child, when this blade was placed in my hands and I was told what had been done with it, I was told that it was a weapon no longer. The war was won, we no longer had need of tools to kill, he said, holding the blade above his head. This was forevermore to be an agricultural implement. Not a bayonet, but a machete. In my hands, many an unwarranted shrub gave way to new life with this blade.

Kiernan Cottle, 28, drew a bayonet during public comment at the Morro Bay City Council meeting on Jan. 28, 2025. He was arrested by Morro Bay police the next day.

He then made comments about people wearing pink triangles, which could be a reference to gay and transgender people sent to Nazi concentration camps. They were forced to wear an inverted pink triangle on their uniforms, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

I have been lied to every day of my life  forgetting about the sins of stuffing our neighbors in camps, Cottle said. I know that those who were liberated and found to be wearing pink triangles were usually thrown straight back to the dogs.

Cottle said his personal hero was the British mathematician Alan Turing, who decoded the German cipher machine Enigma for the Allied Forces during World War II.

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Turings contributions to the war effort did not protect him from homophobia, however. In 1952, he was convicted of gross indecency for engaging in a relationship with a man from Manchester  causing him to be stripped of his security clearance and forced to undergo hormone therapy, according to the CIA.

Countless lives saved and an end to the war, and his government repaid him with torture, Cottle said. As I diligently sanded and oiled this blade, I did not consider that it may once again shed the blood of fascists. Rather, I turned my mind to the potential for happiness that I was being forced to risk my life for.

Ive spent my life being taught that it was wrong for me to want to be loved, he added.

On Monday, Cottle wrote a stanza from the song Dead Cops/Americas So Straight by MDC in chalk on his driveway, he said.

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His neighbors then hosed the chalk away.

When I refused to engage in dialogue with them after the fact, my neighbors started hurling insults at me. The last thing she said was, you f---ing h--o, Cottle said.

He then sheathed the blade, the chink of metal echoing in the microphone.

Kiernan Cottle, 28, drew a bayonet during public comment at the Morro Bay City Council meeting on Jan. 28, 2025. He was arrested by Morro Bay police the next day.

Cottle then rolled the bayonet in his towel and sat down in the audience.

When Mayor Carla Wixom paused the meeting to talk to city staff, Cottle walked out of the building.

Morro Bay Police Department Cmdr. Tony Mosqueda watched the incident unfold at the meeting.

I heard the gasps, and I could tell people were shocked, he said.

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In the moment, Mosqueda did not consider Cottles behavior to be a threat to public safety, he said.

It appeared that he was using it as a prop for his speech, and there werent any immediate threats to anybody in the building, he said.

Mosqueda followed Cottle out of the building after his speech and told him to take the weapon home.

There was nothing negative from him after, Mosqueda said.

On Wednesday, the Morro Bay Police Department interviewed the City Council members and further investigated Cottle.

Police then arrested Cottle on Wednesday for violating California Penal Code 171B(a3), which prohibits people from bringing a knife longer than 4 inches to a public building or meeting, Mosqueda said.

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As of Thursday afternoon, Cottle was held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to the jail booking log.

Neighbor sets the record straight

Riley Pollard, 28, lives next-door to Cottle  and she had a different take on the driveway incident.

On Monday, she said she walked outside and saw Cottle had written multiple slurs in chalk on their shared driveway. The message said, Mafia in blue hunting for queers, n-----s, and you.

She was disturbed by the statement and hosed it off the driveway, she said.

I am queer and I have Black family members. I dont care if its a quote  I dont want that near my house, Pollard said.

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Then, Cottle confronted her.

He came out of his house full throttle, she said. He came and started saying, f--k you guys, you guys ruined my artwork.

Pollard said she didnt call Cottle a h--o, like he had reported.

The next day, Cottle wrote the message on the driveway again  but this time with a permanent solution that her landlord was not able to remove, Pollard said.

Hes very creepy. He stares at me through his windows. Hell flip me off, Pollard said. Now I have this fear of him harassing me.
Slovakia has banned entry for Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the Georgian Legion fighting in Ukraine, after the government linked his unit to an alleged coup attempt in the country. The Georgian Legion has denied the Slovak authorities' accusations.

Source: European Pravda, citing Dennik N, a Slovak media outlet

Details: Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok stated that 10 individuals have been added to a list of persons banned from entering Slovakia, with the possibility of more names being added.

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Prime Minister Robert Fico did not answer a journalist's question regarding how the commander of a Georgian Legion, who fights in Ukraine against Russia, could have organised protests in Slovakia. Instead, he accused the media outlet of supporting his governments downfall.

During a press conference, Fico showcased a photo of Mamulashvili with Slovak civil activist Lucia Stasselova from the Peace for Ukraine initiative and Dennik N commentator Martin M. Simecka.

Stasselova met Mamulashvili at a discussion about his book nearly two years ago during his visit to Slovakia. Simecka, along with other Dennik N journalists, participated in a humanitarian mission that delivered ambulances and aid to Mamulashvili's unit, donated by Slovak citizens.

Pavol Gaspar, director of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS), stated that the agency has confirmed personal and economic connections between the Georgian Legion and Slovak opposition and civil organisations. However, Gaspar did not provide specific details about these alleged ties.

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Gaspar also announced the formation of a specialised group that includes undercover operatives, police officers and members of the financial administration.

"We can already talk about suspicions of crimes such as subsidy fraud," Gaspar said.

The Georgian Legion has rejected the "groundless and absurd accusations by the Slovak authorities, which allege our involvement in an attempted coup against Prime Minister Robert Fico".

"These statements are nothing more than a deliberate attempt to discredit our unit, which has been fighting alongside Ukraine against Russian aggression since 2014. This is not the first time we have been targeted by politically motivated disinformation," the Legion stated on Facebook.

Background:

It was reported earlier that Slovakia plans to expel a Ukrainian citizen following a secret SIS report on an alleged coup attempt. The classified report, presented last week, claims there is an organised long-term operation aimed at destabilising Slovakia.

Amid ongoing mass protests against his government, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has alleged that Ukraine is involved in these events and has warned of a potential "Maidan scenario" in his country.

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Lands, Housing, and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome has responded to Rigathi Gachaguas claims that the governments Affordable Housing Programme is the worst fraud against the people of Kenya.

Gachagua recently alleged that President William Ruto and his allies targeted him for exposing the misappropriation of the housing levy. He claimed that instead of funding housing projects, officials were diverting the levy to sell construction materials such as cement, steel, and iron sheets for personal gain.

He further accused government officials of ensuring the continued collection of the levy to sustain construction projects that benefited them financially. According to Gachagua, any Principal Secretary in charge of affordable housing must sign subcontracts with companies supplying construction materialscompanies allegedly linked to influential individuals.

Speaking in Machakos on Wednesday, Wahome dismissed these allegations and challenged Gachagua to back his claims with evidence.

Procurement in my ministry is public. So for somebody at the level of deputy president, a former deputy president, to tell Kenyans that there is somewhere my ministry is sitting behind the scenes and making some illegal contracts, I would want him to tell the EACC where that is and who happens to be there so that then they can help me to deal with that as a corruption issue, Wahome stated.

She also pointed out that Gachagua played a role in planning and launching several government projects before his fallout with the administration.

He has forgotten that he has launched some of these projects himself, alone or jointly with the President and he was our champion. Were his eyes closed at that time?

Let us be candid even at that high level. I want to urge the former Deputy President respectfully to be candid and tell Kenyans that here, I am employing 160,000 people (youth), that the cement industry is benefitting from this, and we have shopped throughout the country, said Wahome.

Wahome clarified that her office oversees the procurement process but does not dictate where contractors source their materials. Once procurement is complete, contractors independently choose their material suppliers for each site.

The procurement happens in my office, and we take full responsibility for the process. However, contractors purchase their own materials. I am certain local suppliers provide stone and sand for this project, Wahome explained while inspecting the Mavoko affordable housing project in Machakos.

She emphasized that the project has created numerous job opportunities, followed a transparent procurement process, and received full government approval.

Wahome also questioned Gachaguas pledge to abolish the initiative, asking, Are you telling Kenyans that if you become president, you will stop them from owning homes?

Wahome urged Kenyans to ignore critics and assured them that the first batch of 4,000 housing units would be handed over in the first quarter of 2025.
(Bloomberg) -- Slovakia ordered the expulsion of a Ukrainian citizen and blocked entry for 10 other foreign nationals as Prime Minister Robert Fico revived an accusation over an alleged attempt by forces abroad to overthrow his government.

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Fico said anti-government protests that began last year are being orchestrated from outside Slovakia. On Friday, he accused plotters of working in coordination with with the Georgian National Legion, a military organization linked to Ukraines war effort against Russia.

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Protesters have taken to the streets, accusing the Slovak premier of undermining the rule of law and jeopardizing the countrys pro-European direction. Slovakias biggest opposition party has called on Fico to stop taking aim at peaceful protesters.

Embattled Slovak Premier Shifts Focus to Gender in Culture Wars

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Slovakia's left-wing nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday that he has evidence that networks with ties to Ukraine are trying to destabilize Slovakia and overthrow his government.

A Ukrainian citizen is already in custody pending deportation in connection with this, but more could be expelled from the country, Fico told journalists in Bratislava. Slovakia has also imposed several entry bans, the premier added.

Fico did not disclose the identity of the detained Ukrainian.

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However, he said there was evidence that the organizers of a recent series of mass protests against the Slovak government were not only closely connected with parts of the Slovak opposition, but also with the so-called Georgian Legion. This is a volunteer association formed by Georgians fighting on the Ukrainian side against Russia, which invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago.

According to Fico, representatives of the Georgian Legion are also being used by Ukrainian intelligence services for activities abroad. An entry ban has been imposed on the association's leader Mamuka Mamulashvili and several other unnamed persons, he said.

A Slovak government adviser had previously published a photo showing liberal opposition politician Lucia Stasselova together with Mamulashvili at a book presentation.

Stasselova is a leading representative of the citizens' initiative Mier Ukrajine (Peace for Ukraine), the official organizers of the recent anti-government demonstrations in Slovakia.

The initiative is committed to military support for Ukraine and has called for Fico's resignation. Opposition representatives dismissed Fico's account as "conspiracy theories."
By Jan Lopatka

(Reuters) - Slovakia on Friday banned a Georgian military volunteer who has been fighting in Ukraine and nine other people from entering the country, saying he was involved in an opposition plot to overthrow the government.

Prime Minister Robert Fico named Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting for Ukraine against Russian forces, of being involved in plans to depose him through a campaign of public protests.

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"We can confirm that, in the background of organising protests in Slovakia...is the Georgian National Legion," Fico told a press conference.

Fico, who has taken a pro-Russian stance on the war in Ukraine and has been in a dispute with Kyiv after it stopped the transit of Russian gas exports, has faced protests over his policies that antagonised Western allies as well as the domestic opposition.

He has accused activists and the pro-Western opposition of aiming to whip up protests and occupy government buildings. The opposition and activists deny the accusations.

At the press conference, Fico showed photographs of Mamulashvili with protest-organising group Mier Ukrajine (Peace to Ukraine) activist Lucia Stasselova and online news media dennikn.sk commentator Martin M.Simecka, the father of opposition leader Michal Simecka.

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Fico did not answer questions on how exactly Mamulashvili was helping with the alleged coup attempt.

Speaking on Thursday in dennikn.sk, Mamulashvili denied any involvement in protests in Slovakia.

The Mier Ukrajine group said on its Facebook page on Thursday, when the accusations first appeared, that the picture of Stasselova with Mamulashvili was made at a public debate in Bratislava in 2023.

It said accusations of connection between the protests and Georgia were a "lie and manipulation".

The other photographed encounter with Mamulashvili was when Slovak reporters, including Simecka senior, were in Ukraine to hand over humanitarian aid bought from fundraising for his unit, dennikn.sk said.

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Apart from the 10 individuals banned from the country, one unnamed Ukrainian national has been detained and expulsion proceedings were started, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.

Activists from the Nie v Nasom Meste group, which also organises protests, have rejected accusations they planned any illegal activity.

(This story has been refiled to fix the spelling of 'Slovakia' in the headline)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
OXFORD  As uncertainty looms over the potential U.S. TikTok ban, small business owners who rely on social media for advertising are facing new challenges in reaching customers. The proposed ban, which aimed to address national security concerns, has left many entrepreneurs questioning the future of their digital presence.

Among these business owners is 38-year-old Christy Fleming, proprietor of Madi Lous Boutique in Oxford, who has been navigating the ever-changing landscape of social media marketing since 2012. While the potential loss of TikTok as a marketing platform is a concern, Fleming's success story goes far beyond any single social media app.

Madi Lou's Boutique offers a unique blend of customizable products and vintage-inspired fashion. The 38-year-old mother of three has built her business on a strong social media presence, adapting to new platforms as they emerge.

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"We started on MySpace, and then when Facebook came along, we kind of moved to Facebook," Fleming said. This adaptability has been crucial to her business's success, allowing her to build a following over the years.

Today, Facebook serves as Fleming's primary platform, with a group boasting around 15,000 members.

The boutique's product range extends far beyond typical clothing items. Fleming has diversified her offerings to include shoes from a company in Atlanta, and is continuously expanding her customization options. Colorful sweaters, fashionable coats, keychains with cheeky sayings on them; Madi Lous offers unique items that range from chic and modern, to funny or amusing.

Fleming's entrepreneurial spirit was inspired by her grandmother, who instilled in her a drive to start the business. Her grandmother had wanted to sell antiques, but clothing was more Flemings thing.

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Nonetheless, her grandmothers influence is evident in her business model, which combines modern customization techniques with a vintage aesthetic.

The power of social media in driving sales is a crucial aspect of Fleming's business model. She elaborated on how posting items can drive traffic to her store.

For instance, the other day, we had this one jacket  it's on a mannequin in the other room. We probably had like, four of those just hanging out for a while. They weren't really moving, almost thinking about going to the clearance rack because they just weren't really moving. And I posted a shirt I made the other day, posted the jacket with it, and we sold two the next day, Fleming said.

Fleming explained that once a customer is in the store, it also shows them what other interesting products Madi Lous has to offer. This immediate impact of social media on sales has been a key factor in the boutique's success.

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Despite the challenges posed by evolving social media algorithms, Fleming remains committed to engaging with her customers online.

"The algorithm on Facebook has been killing us, so we have to find very engaging posts to get people to like or comment," she said.

Madi Lous Boutiques success is not just about its online presence. The physical store plays a role in creating a unique shopping experience for customers. Fleming has created an inviting atmosphere that encourages browsing and discovery, complementing the online aspect of her business.

The boutiques hat bar and custom T-shirts are a particular highlight. This interactive feature allows customers to personalize their headwear or tees, adding a unique touch to their purchases. Similarly, the permanent jewelry offerings provide customers with a lasting memento of their visit to Madi Lou's Boutique.

Looking to the future, Fleming remains optimistic about the growth potential for Madi Lou's Boutique. She continues to explore new product lines and customization options, always with an eye on current trends and customer desires. The planned charm bar for necklaces is an example of how Fleming is her business to keep it fresh and exciting.
SMITH COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN)  A Smith County high school student was arrested Thursday after being found to be in possession of a BB gun that closely resembled a handgun, according to the school system.

A press release from the Smith County School System said the weapon was discovered by a fellow student Thursday and was immediately reported to a teacher. After school staff detained the student, law enforcement was quickly notified and arrested the student. As of publication, they remain in custody.

MNPD arrests students, including 12-year-old, for allegedly making unrelated threats of mass violence

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We are incredibly grateful for the quick thinking and prompt actions of teachers and law enforcement involved in ensuring the safety of our school. The execution of our safety plan was perfection, director Barry H. Smith said in the release. The cooperation and alertness shown today helped prevent a potentially dangerous situation from escalating.

In a separate incident, another student also claimed to be in possession of a weapon. However, Smith County officials said after a thorough search, no other weapons were found on school grounds.

We understand the impact that incidents like this can have on our school community, Smith added. We want to reassure our parents and students that we take this matter very seriously. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority. The Smith County Board of Education will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the well-being of our schools. Any student found in possession of a weapon or making threats involving weapons will face the fullest consequences under the law and district policy.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Counselors will be available at Gordonville High School Friday to provide support and counseling for students impacted by Thursdays events.

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Smith County officials added the investigation into this incident is active and ongoing, which is why only general information has been released. Notifying parents during ongoing incidents is not always possible, they added, and doing so prematurely could jeopardize the safety of everyone involved.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
CHICAGO  A delivery person bringing supplies to a Lakeview restaurant on Thursday spotted an unusual sight when they noticed a hawk was trapped inside the restaurant.

The incident unfolded at Cheesies Pub & Grub in Lakeview and, according to Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, a delivery person noticed the hawk and contacted the monitors.

Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines

Monitors said the bird appeared to be a Coopers Hawk, which is known for chasing things on foot. They said the bird likely wound up in the restaurant after following a delivery person inside while chasing something.

'Hawkward for some:' Hawk escapes after becoming trapped in Lakeview restaurant

A photo captured by viewer Emily Ioppolo shows a hawk perched on a table in a Lakeview restaurant.

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LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland

While it may have been hawkward for some thats just Gary, our friendly neighborhood Hawk. Hes a vegetarian so The Mac is his sandwich of choice! He says Soar-y for ruffling some feathers! Cheesies owner Chris Johnston said.

The monitors said they responded to the restaurant to help the bird, but when they got there, an employee informed them that they were able to guide the bird out the door safely.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
In this photo illustration, social media apps are displayed on an iPad. As concerns over youth mental health and privacy grow, more states are hoping to rein in the negative effects of social media through the courts and legislatures. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Ritika Shroff had the typical Gen Z experience with social media. At 13, she signed up for Instagram, then Snapchat. Later, she downloaded TikTok and worked her way through other popular platforms.

But in high school, she began to see downsides, feeling pressure when comparing her number of followers, test scores and experiences with those of her peers online.

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Theyre doing X, Y and Z with their lives, and I think I got pulled into it, Shroff said.

Today, Shroff, a 19-year-old sophomore at American University in Washington, D.C., still sees the benefits of social media, such as allowing her to stay in touch with hometown friends from Des Moines, Iowa, and family in India. While she thinks there should be more rules around social media, she doesnt think individual state actions, such as a state suing a platform, would make much difference.

These small things wont make an impact in the broader landscape, Shroff said.

More states are hoping to rein in the harm that social media can do to teens mental health and privacy by approving laws that require age verification or parental consent, prohibit addictive feeds or ban the apps for minors. They also are taking social media companies to court.

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But some experts say such efforts wont make social media any safer. Instead, they fear the moves might infringe on peoples privacy and First Amendment rights  while potentially making the platforms harder for everyone to use.

This is global media, and trying to regulate it at the micro level  the fear for a lot of people is that were going to end up with different rules for different states, which is just going to undercut the whole promise and potential of internet-based media and communication, said Kevin Goldberg of the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit aimed at protecting First Amendment rights.

Some social media disputes are playing out at the federal level. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan federal law banning TikTok, a popular video sharing platform, unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell the app. The ban briefly went into effect before President Donald Trump, who had tried unsuccessfully to ban TikTok by executive order in his first term, signed an executive order delaying it for another 75 days.

But absent other federal action to curb social medias effects on young people, many states are considering new legislation. In New York, a law enacted in June prohibits social media platforms from providing to minors so-called addictive feeds without parental consent. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, is drafting formal rules to enforce the law.

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Social media feeds are designed to keep kids scrolling longer and longer to drive up ad revenue, noted state Democratic Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who sponsored the bill. Kids who are addicted to social media suffer mental health issues, and people who spend more time scrolling tend to struggle to navigate real-life relationships, he argued.

The bills are all different, so its hard to say that all of them are good or all of them are bad.

 Paul Lekas, Software & Information Industry Association

So social media, for all the positives that might exist, has some real, deeply negative and dark downsides that we are finally seeing manifest, and we have to reconcile it, Gounardes said.

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But tech developers are concerned new state laws could weaken privacy protections for users, take away online mental health resources for marginalized communities and restrict the flow of online information, said Paul Lekas, the senior vice president and head of global public policy and government affairs at the Software & Information Industry Association, a trade association representing the digital content industry.

The bills are all different, so its hard to say that all of them are good or all of them are bad, Lekas said. But a lot of concerns come up in a number of these bills.

Age restrictions

Some research suggests that excessive social media use is worsening young peoples mental health. Teens who spend the most time on social media are significantly more likely to exhibit negative emotions, such as sadness and anger, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.

A Florida law that went into effect this month prohibits kids who are under 14 from having social media accounts. A user who is 14 or 15 would have to get parental consent before starting an account.

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Ashley Moody, Floridas Republican attorney general at the time, agreed not to enforce the law while a lawsuit alleging it would restrict minors freedom of speech plays out. Moody was sworn into the U.S. Senate this week to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, the new U.S. secretary of state.

More measures are expected across the country during 2025 legislative sessions.

A new bill in Indiana would prohibit anyone under the age of 16 from creating social media accounts without verified parental permission. A similar bill was introduced in Nebraska, but with an age limit of 18. A prefiled bill in Nevada would set the age at 13.

To verify age, some apps may require all users to upload a photo of their ID. This could be of particular concern for adult users who would have their full legal identity tied to their social media account, said Ash Johnson, a senior policy manager at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a think tank focused on public policy surrounding technology.

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Rather than an outright ban on social media accounts for users under a certain age, increasing transparency and accountability measures for social media developers would improve the safety of the apps, Johnson said.

She pointed to California as an example. The states Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was partially blocked from enforcement by a federal appeals court last year. It would have required companies to ensure that online services likely to be accessed by children are designed to eliminate the risk of harm to them.

Parental controls, Johnson said, also could make it easier for parents to oversee their childs media presence by deciding what content they can access.

Instagrams new Teen Accounts, for example, automatically place teenage users into an account that limits who can contact them and the content they see  and anyone under the age of 16 will have to get parental permission before changing any of the safety features.

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It would give children a really customizable experience on social media depending on their individual developmental needs, Johnson said.

A lot of the laws around the country are specifically designed to prevent younger people from either accessing certain content online or entire social media platforms, said Goldberg, of the Freedom Forum. Changing the way in which social media developers control who can and cant have an account could change what people see on their feeds.

Weve seen a lot of this, especially at the state level, which is concerning, he said. Many of the laws that we are seeing proposed  and even passed  raise First Amendment concerns.

States go to court

States also are turning to lawsuits to address social media effects on young people.

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In October, attorneys general in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia sued TikTok, alleging violations of state consumer protection laws.

Led by California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and James of New York, the lawsuits allege that TikTok exploits and harms young users and deceives the public about the social media platforms dangers.

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a similar suit that same month accusing TikTok of violating a state law protecting children online. The law prohibits digital service providers from sharing, disclosing or selling a minors personal information without permission from a parent.

TikTok has disputed the claims, calling them inaccurate and misleading in a statement to CNN. The company says its platform is safe for kids and offers time limits and parental controls.

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States have also taken aim at Snapchat and Meta. In September, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, a Democrat, filed a complaint against Snap Inc., Snapchats parent company, alleging the apps developers were ignoring reports of sextortion, failing to implement age-verification rules, admitting to features that connect minors with adults and more.

And in 2023, more than 40 states sued Meta, claiming Instagram and Facebook worsened the youth mental health crisis.

The social media companies need to be held accountable, said Julie Scelfo, founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction.

Scelfo, a career journalist who covered youth mental health for years, said she was disturbed after finding out that more and more young children wanted to commit suicide as social media became more mainstream.

Social media can connect people for positive things, but it has also been a very convenient conduit for all of the worst forces in society, Scelfo said.

But tech companies are winning some fights  and going on the offensive.

In addition to the partial block of the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, a federal judge has blocked until Feb. 1 another California law designed to protect children from addictive feeds. The Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act would prevent social media platforms from providing minors with personalized feeds.

Across the states, companies are challenging dozens of laws restricting social media  and in some cases, theyre winning.

I think that shows that courts are skeptical that either theres no proof behind the goals of the legislators or that theyre not being precise enough, Goldberg said. So, Im skeptical. I dont think this is going to help because there will always be ways for children to access content on the internet or social media  its almost impossible to truly enforce.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.
Thousands of Massachusetts solar customers who installed panels on their homes in recent years have yet to realize the full savings of their investment because of a delay in updating utility regulations.

In August 2022, former Governor Charlie Baker signed a new clean energy law. Among the changes, it raised the states 10-kilowatt-hour cap on residential solar arrays to 25 kWh. But its taken more than two years for the states Department of Public Utilities to enact the legislation.

For customers like John and Amy Meyers of Waltham, the delay has cost them savings they will not get back.

STICKER SHOCKED

The Meyers spent thousands of dollars to install solar panels in Spring 2024, only to discover too late that their system exceeded the prior 10 kWh cap and the 2022 law was not yet in effect. Because their system was deemed too large, it was labeled a Qualifying Facility, significantly reducing the amount their utility credited them for power sent back to the grid.

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As my wife would say, the math wasnt mathing when we started to look at our bills from Eversource, John Meyers told Boston 25 News.

The Meyers solar panels generated more energy than their home needed in their first month of operation. As a result, the Meyers sent approximately 500 kWh of electricity back to the grid. The credit they received on their following bill was based on the wholesale price of power in New England, which is less than the retail rate utilities charge.

The first month we were in operation, we got somewhere on the order of about $18, Amy Meyers said. If we had paid for that out of pocket, we would have been more on the order of $200.

The summer months are peak season for solar customers. During the longer and brighter months, many homes with solar panels generate more power than they consume. Customers under the 10 kWh cap typically see their overproduction reflected as a credit on their bill close in price to what the utility would have charged for the electricity. Credits build and are banked during the summer to offset future winter bills, when solar panels are less productive and customers rely more on their utility to light their homes, run appliances, and generate heat.

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Its why Robin Sheridan chose to add panels to her home in Hanson. Because Sheridans home is entirely electric, her winter bills can easily top $1,500 in a single month.

I work really hard and Im really honest, Sheridan told Boston 25 News. I just want to keep my daughter and grandkids and myself warm.

But her solar investment hasnt paid off as she hoped. Like the Meyers, Sheridan receives only a fraction of the credit most solar customers receive because she is over the 10 kWh cap.

Sheridan shared two years of her utility bills from National Grid, along with correspondence documenting her frustration with the situation. In one bill from July 2023, Sheridans rooftop panels sent more than 1,000 kWh back to her electric company, more than double the use of the typical Massachusetts home .

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She was credited $36.

Sheridan now chops wood in her backyard to keep a wood stove burning for heat in the winter, one more way shes trying to lower her energy use.

Its upsetting, Sheridan said. I really get upset when I talk about it.

SOLAR SNUB

Sheridan hoped her situation would improve after the state passed the 2022 Clean Energy Act more than two years ago. In December, she learned she will finally begin receiving full credit for her surplus electricity starting in 2025.

So will John and Amy Meyers, and approximately 7,500 other customers around the state, according to estimates from Cadmus Group, the third-party administrator for Massachusetts net metering program.

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But the Department of Public Utilities, having heard from both frustrated customers and concerned utilities, says it cannot make credits retroactive to 2022 for those who exceeded the previous 10 kWh cap during those years.

DPU declined Boston 25 News request for an interview. But in online public filings, DPU said there is no precedent for making payments retroactive and lawmakers did not mandate utilities reimburse customers to the year the law was signed.

The plain language of the 2022 Clean Energy Act does not specify whether this change should be retroactive, DPU notes in a November 2024 order regarding the 2022 law and new utility regulations.

Additionally, DPU noted lawmakers approved the law without any directive regarding the timing of this change.

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Massachusetts Utilities told DPU that while it is unfortunate that these customers feel misinformed about the effective date of the law, forced retroactive payments could lead to higher rates for all customers.

Distribution Companies contend that re-billing and crediting small, mostly residential customers would be a long and arduous process and could be confusing for customers, DPUs filing states, adding, should the Department allow retroactive Net Metering Credits, all distribution customers would bear the cost.

In the end, DPU decided retroactive credits would be inappropriate and beyond what the statute and Department precedent allow.

D.P.U. 23-140-A; Final Order & Apps. a & B by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd

IN THE DARK

Robin Sheridan and the Meyers say despite all their research, they never realized - and nobody told them - their solar installations could not exceed a specific size or they would be penalized.

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I never heard of it, Sheridan said. Nobody told me... That was one thing that got by me.

That never came up in any of our discussions with our installers, John Meyers said.

Each acknowledges their responsibility to do due diligence. But they also blame a lack of communication and education on the part of their utilities and the private, third-party companies who designed, sold, and installed their rooftop systems.

The state and the utilities probably should have done a better job of communicating the status of things to at least the professional installers, John said. If the installers are confused, I think its very clear that the state DPU and its utilities are not getting the information out in a way that people can understand.

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He also believes the state bears responsibility because it incentivizes customers to adopt solar.

Theyre telling homeowners, We want you to buy solar, its green, its good for the environment, John said. If theyre going to encourage homeowners to do this, they need to make sure theyre educated and understand the implications of what theyre going into.

In its updated utility regulations, DPU noted the decision to install solar  and the size  ultimately lies with installers and customers.

The Department expects developers to have a working knowledge of the applicable Net Metering rules and regulations so that they may properly advise prospective and existing Host Customers, DPU noted, adding, It is essential that Host Customers appreciate and understand the cost and benefits of Net Metering prior to participating.

BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD

For Robin Sheridan, a years-long frustration is finally nearing an end. But its left her tired.

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It just seems so unfair, she said. You can only fight Goliath so much before you start losing steam

The Meyers also believe the state should require utilities to reimburse affected solar customers.

We bought the system in good faith, John Meyers said.

Utilities, including National Grid and Eversource, must soon begin notifying solar customers affected by the change in law. But impacted customers dont have to wait and can begin calling their utility now to be reallocated under the new rules. Customers will begin receiving higher credits once electric utility companies implement their updated net metering tariffs, which are currently under DPU review.

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While shes hopeful the changes will make her bills more affordable next winter, Sheridan isnt over the savings shes lost in the last three.

Were hard-working people, theyre a big corporation, she said. We lose again. What else is new?

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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A Somerset man who was wanted by Tennessee law enforcement was taken into custody in Knox County, Ky., on Tuesday.

Tip Miller, 37, was arrested on Gregory Branch Road in Artemus, Ky., according to a press release from the Knox County Sheriffs Department (KCSD).

Miller was wanted on a Kentucky Parole Board Warrant for a violation concerning convictions of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and first-degree Bail Jumping. Those convictions were from Pulaski County cases.

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He was also being sought by Sevier County, Tenn., as a fugitive, and law enforcement there had warned the public Miller should be considered armed and dangerous.

His charges in Tennessee were for Theft of Property Over $2,500 and Possession of Tools Used in a Retail Theft.

KCSD reported that deputies received a report around 5:20 p.m. of a suspicious vehicle.

Deputies arrived at Gregory Branch Road to find a man sitting inside a vehicle.

When deputies talked to the man, KCSD stated that he refused to identify himself, refused to exit the vehicle, and was very belligerent towards them.

KCSD also stated that deputies saw a syringe in plain view inside the vehicle.

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Miller was removed from the vehicle, and a search of the vehicle turned up crushed Soboxone tablets, several Suboxone strips and another syringe, according to the press release.

Miller was charged in Knox County with second-degree Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Menacing and Driving Under the Influence.

According to court documents, Millers Knox County arraignment was scheduled for Thursday.

Miller was sentenced in October 2023 in the Pulaski cases, and he was out on parole when the August 2024 arrest in Sevier County took place.

He had been sentenced to three years for the firearm charge and one year on the Bail Jumping charge.

Readers are reminded that a charge is an accusation only, and all suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has taken issue with Citizen TV for describing Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera counties as the Somali region during a news report.

Speaking on Thursday, Duale expressed his dissatisfaction with the term, which the media house, owned by Royal Media Services (RMS), used while covering a High Court ruling. The court had annulled the 2019 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) census results for the three counties, citing major irregularities.

RELATED  High Court Orders Fresh Census in Specific Counties After Disputed 2019 Results

Duale condemned the Somali reference, calling it absurd, irresponsible, and discriminatory. He accused the media outlet of violating journalistic ethics and engaging in ethnic profiling.

Somali region? Absurd, irresponsible, discriminatory, and ethnic profiling journalism. Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera counties are within the sovereign and territorial borders of the Republic of Kenya, Duale asserted.

He emphasized that the three counties are integral to Kenyas sovereignty and dismissed any suggestion otherwise as unethical and misleading.

Duale further demanded an apology from Citizen TV, accusing the station of aligning with those who manipulated the 2019 census results.

Royal Media Service must correct and apologize. You are not different from those who schemed to doctor the census results in 2019 of that region. Kenya is one united country, Duale added.
Two men are in custody after a 63-year-old man was found unresponsive, bound with duct tape and an extension cord, and later died in Norwood Park Sunday night. Chicago police sources tell WGN News two men are in police custody and both are migrants  one from Venezuela and the other from Ecuador. One of the men is in his early 20s. WGN's Dana Rebik reports on the story. More info: https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/sources-two-men-from-venezuela-and-ecuador-arrested-for-fatal-attack-in-norwood-park/
*Editors note: The two men arrested in this case have been charged with murder and robbery. An updated story can be found here.

CHICAGO (WGN)  Two men are in custody after a 63-year-old man was found unresponsive, bound with duct tape and an extension cord, and later died in Norwood Park Sunday night.

Chicago police sources tell WGN News two men are in police custody and both are migrants  one from Venezuela and the other from Ecuador. One of the men is in his early 20s.

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Sources said one man was found and taken into custody in Logan Square, while the other was found in Norwood Park, about a mile-and-a-half from the crime scene. One of the two men was also previously arrested in connection to a child luring case involving two teenage girls. Charges were downgraded in that case, according to police.

The Chicago Police Department responded to the 7600 block of West Talcott Avenue around 11 p.m. Sunday. When they arrived, they found 63-year-old George Levin unresponsive in a basement bedroom, bound with duct tape and an extension cord.

After an autopsy was done on Levins body, the Cook County Medical Examiners Office found he died of multiple injuries and ruled his death a homicide.

Im actually very shocked. Ever since the violence in Chicago has been creeping up, weve been more alert, aware, said Minerva Kacprzak, a neighbor of Levins We have security cameras everywhere our neighbors tend to be cautious as well because you never know.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina put a third inmate to death in four months Friday as it goes through a backlog of prisoners who exhausted their appeals while the state couldnt find lethal injection drugs.

Marion Bowman Jr. was executed at 6:27 p.m. Bowman, 44, was convicted of murder in the shooting death of a friend whose burned body was found in the trunk of a car.

Bowman maintained his innocence since his arrest and started his final statement with I did not kill Kandee Martin.

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His lawyers said he was convicted on the word of several friends and relatives who received deals or had charges dropped by prosecutors in exchange for their testimony.

When the curtain to the death chamber opened, Bowman briefly looked at his attorney on the other side of the glass in the witness room, then looked back at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He opened his eyes once or twice as he gazed up.

Once his attorney finished reading Bowman's three-minute final statement and poem, his breaths became heavy and he puffed his lips as he exhaled. In less than a minute, those breaths ceased. Twenty minutes later, a doctor with a stethoscope listened to his chest and placed a hand on his neck. She lightly patted him as she finished.

In his final statement, Bowman said death row inmates might be labeled the worst of the worst, but they have all grown and changed from what they were when they had their moment that cost them everything.

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I know that Kandees family is in pain, they are justifiably angry, Bowman said. If my death brings them some relief and ability to focus on the good times and funny stories, then I guess it will have served a purpose. I hope they find peace.

Bowman's final meal consisted of fried seafood, including shrimp, fish and oysters, chicken wings and tenders, onion rings, banana pudding, German chocolate cake, cranberry juice and pineapple juice.

Bowman, who has been on death row more than half his life, was offered a plea deal for a life sentence but went to trial because he said he was not guilty.

Fridays execution was the third in South Carolina since September as the state ended a 13-year pause in executions caused in part because officials couldnt obtain lethal injection drugs. The General Assembly passed a shield law, and prison officials were able to find a compounding pharmacy willing to make the pentobarbital if its identity wasnt made public.

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Bowmans death marks the first execution in the U.S. in 2025. Twenty-five executions were carried out in the country last year.

Bowman did not ask Gov. Henry McMaster for clemency. But McMaster's office released a letter denying clemency, saying he received informal requests and petitions to spare Bowman's life.

Bowman's lawyer, Lindsey Vann, said he didn't want to spend more decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

After more than two decades of battling a broken system that has failed him at every turn, Marions decision is a powerful refusal to legitimize an unjust process that has already stolen so much of his life," Vann said in a statement Thursday.

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No governor in the previous 45 executions in South Carolina since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976 has given mercy and reduced a death sentence to life in prison without parole.

Bowman was convicted in Dorchester County in 2002 of murder in the killing of 21-year-old Kandee Martin in 2001. A number of friends and family members testified against him as part of plea deals.

One friend said Bowman was angry because Martin owed him money. A second testified Bowman thought Martin was wearing a recording device to get him arrested on a charge.

Bowman said he sold drugs to Martin, who was a friend of his for years and sometimes she would pay with sex, but he denied killing her.

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Bowman is Black like the other two inmates executed since the pause ended. The final appeal from his lawyers said his trial attorney had too much sympathy for his white victim. The South Carolina Supreme Court called the argument meritless.

One other concern raised by Bowman's lawyers was his weight. An anesthesiologist said he feared South Carolinas secret lethal injection protocols didn't take into account Bowman's heavy weight, listed as 389 pounds (176 kilograms) in prison records. It can be difficult to properly get an IV into a blood vessel and determine the dose of the drugs needed in people with obesity.

Before the 13-year pause, South Carolina was among the busiest states for executions.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way to restart executions in July. Freddie Owens was put to death by lethal injection Sept. 20, and Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1.

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The court will allow an execution every five weeks until the other three inmates who have run out of appeals are put to death.

South Carolina has put 45 inmates to death since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976. In the early 2000s, it was carrying out an average of three executions a year. Nine states have put more inmates to death.

But since the unintentional execution pause, South Carolinas death row population has dwindled. The state had 63 condemned inmates in early 2011. It currently has 30. About 20 inmates have been taken off death row and received different prison sentences after successful appeals. Others have died of natural causes.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD)  State senators approved a measure Thursday reviving the states private school voucher program that was struck down by the South Carolina Supreme Court last year.

The legislation passed by a 32-12 vote, largely along party lines, following multiple days of debate.

The Supreme Court found last September that portions of the original 2023 law violated the states constitutional prohibition against using government funds to benefit private educational institutions.

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To get around that issue, the revised bill now states that money used to fund the program will come from the South Carolina Education Lottery account rather than the states general fund.

It also increases the scholarship amount from $6,000 annually to an amount equal to ninety percent of the average per pupil funding given to public schools by the state. The voucher could be used toward costs such as tuition, transportation, technology, and uniforms.

Charleston County School District, Clemson University expand partnership with $6 million grant

Initially, families with a household income below 300% of the federal poverty line  around $96,000 for a family of four  would be eligible. Income eligibility would expand for the 2026-27 school year.

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The program would start with a 10,000-student cap and be raised to 15,000 students by 2027.

Its passage comes during National School Choice Week, and advocates from across the state gathered in Columbia Thursday to rally for educational freedom.

Universal school choice is the end goal, and we believe that every child has a right to an education that best fits their needs, said Matt Humm, State Director of Americans for Prosperity-South Carolina. We believe in funding students, not systems, and we believe in parental rights, that parents should be in charge along with their kids of the education that they receive.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SOUTH EGLIN, Ill.  Felony charges have been filed against a South Elgin man accused of sharing child pornography and failing to register as a sex offender.

45-year-old Kristofer McMullen is facing several felony charges, including disseminating child pornography, possessing child pornography, failing to register as a sex offender and giving false information while violating the sex offender registration act, Kane County States Attorney Jamie Mosser announced Friday.

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According to prosecutors, between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8, McMullen allegedly possessed and disseminated child pornography in the form of digital videos.

45-year-old Kristofer McMullen is facing several felony charges, including disseminating child pornography, possessing child pornography, failing to register as a sex offender and giving false information while violating the sex offender registration act, Kane County States Attorney Jamie Mosser announced Friday.

Prosecutors said McMullen reasonably should have known that the videos depicted children under 13 years of age and in some cases much younger.

In addition to the child sex abuse material, prosecutors allege that McMullen violated the Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act when he failed to register as a sex offender and allegedly provided false residency information to the Elgin Police Department.

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It is not McMullens first run-in with the law. Back in 2007, he was convicted on child pornography charges in Kane County.

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McMullen is currently being detained in the Kane County jail and is set to return to court on Feb. 6.

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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's information privacy watchdog plans to ask DeepSeek about how the personal information of users is managed, an agency official said on Friday.

The country's Personal Information Protection Commission will be sending a written request for information to the operators of the Chinese artificial intelligence model soon, the official said.

Authorities in France, Italy and Ireland and other countries have also been looking into DeepSeek's use of personal data.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies)
GRENDALE, S.C. (WSPA)  The Glendale Fire Department received close to $300,000 from the state to purchase new, state-of-the-art Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus air packs for their firefighters.

The department received 25 SCBAs and 50 cylinders on Thursday. They said the packs are used at virtually every fire; they are used on any situation where there are smoke or harmful substances in the air.

Chief Johnathan Wells said the department has the packs needed for a couple of years as their older models are out of date and have reached their life expectancy of 15 years.

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Yeah, its exciting, Wells said. This is kind of like Christmas all over again. This is a big thing for us because this is the most money weve ever acquired from a grant, and we desperately need these SCBAs. By the state giving us these monies were able to accomplish it.

He told us one of their own firefighters, Shelly Brock, found a way to connect with state senators and state representatives to make this all happen.

The new SCBAs come equipped with thermal cameras that help firefighters find victims. They also contain new alert systems which sends signals to other crew members after a responding firefighter has not moved.

Once that happens, that gives the other firefighters an alarm that says hey, weve got a fireman that we need to be looking for, he explained. These packs also have tracking devices, so well be able to see where theyre at where theyre moving.

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The new air packs also come with washer-friendly straps. Previously, they were not able to wash the packs to remove harmful, carcinogens.

The new cylinders give the firefighters an additional fifteen minutes of air, something they said is crucial as modern furnishings burn a lot faster and a lot harder than the traditional style.

Firefighters like Wilson Mathew expressed the importance of this equipment.

Packs get worn on every call, fire alarm call and every fire, said Wilson. Every car fire, business fire, house fire, without those we wouldnt be able to go inside we wouldnt be able to put the fire out. We wouldnt be able to save peoples lives.

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He said although this amount of new equipment is a large undertaking, it will be worth it to serve the Glendale community.

Were really excited, said Wilson. Were always happy to get new equipment. This is very pivotal equipment. Its a very large purchase. Were all just really happy were actually able to obtain such a large purchase and its going to help the department a lot.

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A special meeting of Beckley Common Council planned for Thursday has been postponed until Monday, Feb. 3.

The meeting was originally called to resolve an issue with the employment contract of city manager Michael Resare.

A posting on the door of the city's general offices Thursday notified the public that the meeting had been "cancelled," when it was postponed.

A separate notice on the door indicated the meeting wouyld be held Monday, Feb. 3, at 5 p.m. That notice read in part: "The topic of the meeting will be to resolve issues with the city manager and his employment contract. The city council may go into executive session to discuss personnel issue with the city manager."

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Beckley city attorney William File III said Thursday the meeting was postponed at the request of Resare's attorney, who was out of state and could not be present Thursday.

"As a courtesy to them, we postponed," File said.

As the Tuesday regular council meeting drew to a close, council went into executive session to discuss the city manager. When the meeting was called back into session, Councilwoman-at-Large Sherrie Hunter made a motion directing File to meet with Resares counsel as quickly as possible to attempt to resolve an issue with his employment contract. The special Thursday meeting was then scheduled.

On Thursday, File wouldn't divulge what the specific issue is with the contract of Resare, who began his service as Beckley's first city manager on Dec. 1, 2024, and remains on the job.

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"I can't discuss what the issue is. It's a personnel matter," said File. "Any time we have executive session, we cannot discuss what goes on in executive session."

File said no vote was taken by council during the Tuesday executive session, which would have violated the state's Open Meeting laws.
Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has officially launched a nationwide livestock vaccination campaign to combat transboundary diseases.

Cabinet Secretary Kagwe explained that the three-year voluntary program, starting in Segera Ward, Laikipia County, will protect Kenyas livestock with biannual vaccinations for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and annual vaccinations for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR). This initiative aims to improve Kenyas national herd health and secure access to local and international markets for livestock products.

Transboundary livestock diseases such as FMD and PPR pose severe threats to cattle, sheep, and goats, leading to substantial losses in productivity, market closures, and economic setbacks, he stated.

CS Mutahi revealed that these diseases carry an estimated economic impact of Ksh 62 billion in lost revenue. Recent FMD outbreaks have already necessitated quarantines in Kakamega, West Pokot, and Trans Nzoia counties.

The Ministry of Agriculture asserts that the Kenyan government, working alongside County Governments, remains committed to eradicating these diseases using a stepwise, internationally recognized control strategy. Their goal is to achieve official disease-free status from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).

Vaccines will be sourced locally from KEVEVAPI, the Ministry noted, adding that county veterinary personnel and private animal health service providers will administer them.

This coordinated effort aims to bolster Kenyas livestock health and safeguard its economic interests in both local and international markets, ensuring a robust and resilient agricultural sector.
As the United States of America begins of new chapter of secure borders, economic growth and peace through strength, the United Kingdom has been left to watch from afar. For us, our liberty, aspiration and prosperity lie buried under the weight of socialism, the shackles of political correctness and the feebleness of our political class.

The contrast couldnt be starker and it is why (and I regret to say so) as Donald Trump assumes office for this generation-defining presidency and Keir Starmer stumbles from one crisis to another, it is abundantly clear that the historic special relationship between the UK and US  one which has endured since World War II, was strengthened during the Cold War and formed the defining alliance against Islamist terrorism after 9/11  is now broken.

And it was our Labour Government that broke it.

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Just as President Trump is finally taking a hard-headed stance against the oppressive regimes around the world, Keir Starmer is nowhere to be seen.

On China, Trump has made clear that tariffs will be applied, has imposed visa restrictions on students and blamed Beijing for the pandemic and collusion with Russia on Ukraine. Starmer has instead sent his Chancellor begging to Beijing, looks set to approve the mega Chinese spy HQ London, fails to implement vital national security measures like the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, and turns a blind eye to the genocide of the Uyghurs and the unprecedented hostility towards Taiwan and the Philippines.

Whilst the US will gradually wean itself off Chinese dependency, the UK is desperate to surrender sovereign UK territory in the form of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, playing into Chinas hands by giving them an important strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean.

On the Middle East, as the new Trump administration took immediate steps to curtail Hamass brutality  with their leaders being ejected by Qatar and hostages released  this Labour government reinstated, and increased, British taxpayer funding to UNWRA, the discredited UN agency some of whose workers were complicit in the October 7 attacks.

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Under Labour, the UK government supports the vexatious arrest warrants issued by the politicised International Criminal Court against Israeli politicians, has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state and imposed an arms embargo on Israel. In taking these perverse steps Starmer and Lammy have shown themselves to be Hamass useful idiots, to stand on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of Trump.

Or take Iran. We know that Trump has no patience with the Ayatollahs in Tehran who, under Biden, sprawled out of control by funding Islamist extremism around the world and their nuclear bomb programme. But under Labour, we have a Government that has failed to proscribe the IRGC  the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps  the head of the snake when it comes to Iranian aggression.

On defence spending, Trump has electrified Nato members by demanding 5 per cent of GDP to go towards military budgets. After decades of underinvestment by the UK, leaving us with an ailing army, depleted navy and under-equipped air force, we must follow suit immediately.

But all Starmer can muster up is a half-hearted promise of 2.5 per cent with no timetable to getting there. Its complacent, naive and dangerous.

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Whilst Trump is putting the sovereign national interest first, challenging the multilateral, globalist dominance of the WEF, the UN and the Davos cliques, by pulling out of the conflicted and incompetent World Health Organisation, the UK is increasing its funding to this outmoded body.

Whilst Trump reinforces the Southern Border by suspending asylum claims, arguably in breach of the Refugee Convention and international law, Starmer scraps the Rwanda plan, worships at the altar of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court and international law. He is the personification of the Lefty Lawyer.

Or on net zero, Trumps agenda is clear: more oil, gas and fossil fuels to increase self- sufficiency and lower energy prices to kick start manufacturing. But on our side of the pond, Militant Miliband is an eco-extremist intent on plastering our countryside with solar panels, imposing heat pumps in every house, refusing licences for north sea oil and gas and allowing the closure of our gas blast furnaces. He doesnt seem to care if the lights go out- which they nearly did a few weeks ago- or if it bankrupts the British people.

And whilst a US-UK Free Trade Deal could be dusted down and negotiated, our Labour Ministers are more interested in undoing Brexit and re-joining the Customs Union with the declining EU.

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And finally, Ive not mentioned the diplomatic prowess of our Labour ministers when it comes to Trump. Not so long ago, our Foreign Secretary called him a racist KKK and a new-Nazi sympathising sociopath, our London Mayor, just last week trotted that well-worn smear of fascist and Lord Mandelson has now apologised for describing Trump a danger to the world.

Most of the Cabinet voted to ban Trump from making a state visit to the UK. No wonder Secretary Rubio didnt even bother to call our Foreign Secretary upon his appointment. No wonder no Labour Member of the government was invited to the Inauguration.

These Labour idiots dont see the potential of America under Trump and the British people will lose out, as a result.

The UK-US special relationship is broken. And it was Labour that broke it.

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The recently pardoned Jan. 6 defendant fatally shot by police on Sunday was stopped during a "routine traffic patrol" for speeding, Jasper County Sheriff Pat Williamson told IndyStar.

At some point during the traffic stop, Matthew Huttle, 42, got into an "altercation" with the Jasper County deputy trying to take him into custody and was fatally shot. A firearm was found in his possession, according to Indiana State Police, who are investigating the shooting. Police have not detailed what role that firearm played in his shooting.

Huttle had a lengthy criminal history, which his attorney attributed at least in part to his 15-year struggle with alcohol abuse. His rap sheet included multiple DUIs, battery and failure to return to lawful detention.

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He wasn't allowed to operate a vehicle because he was labeled a "habitual traffic violator" by the state of Indiana. A petition to partially restore Huttle's driving privileges was withdrawn in January 2023, court records show.

Days before Huttle's death, he was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his participation in the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 that left 140 police officers injured. Huttle wasn't one of the many rioters accused of resisting law enforcement that day, according to court documents.

Huttle had his grievances with the government, but he was "not a true believer in any political cause," according to a sentencing memorandum filed by his defense attorney. He drove to DC from Indiana in January 2021 because his uncle, Dale Huttle, asked for a ride, and he "had nothing better to do after getting out of jail."

Prosecutors, meanwhile, told the court that Matthew Huttle had been charged with resisting law enforcement on three separate occasions. Those charges were all ultimately dismissed.

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Huttle served six months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of entering a restricted area.

He was the son of a retired cop and a schoolteacher, according to court documents. Huttle's lawyer described him as "charismatic" and "intelligent" while sober, but said that he struggled to stay clean. He violated the terms of his pretrial release by using cannabis, failing to report for drug testing and relocating to another state without the court's approval, IndyStar previously reported.

Most information about the shooting will be kept under wraps until the Indiana State Police finish their investigation.

IndyStar has requested body-worn and dash camera footage of the traffic stop.

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The deputy involved in the shooting, who has not been identified, was placed on paid administrative leave per department protocol.

Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at (317) 800-2956 or at rhmurphy@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Former Jan. 6 defendant was pulled over for speeding before shooting
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA)  A state historic site in Springfield has been awarded funding to help preserve its historic architecture.

The Dana-Thomas House in Springfield will get $6.6 million for restorations and repairs. Officials said this includes water management systems, roofing, and security upgrades.

In addition, $750,000 will be allotted to improve the historic white cottage at the site.

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The site was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902 for socialite Susan Lawrence Dana.

Five places in total got $66 million in investments. Other places receiving funding include Starved Rock State Park, Lake Murphysboro State Park, Volo Bog Natural Area and Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park.

I am pleased to announce over $60 million in funding for vital community projects, which will help improve IDNR facilities and parks, drive economic growth, and improve the lives of residents in Illinois rural communities, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a news release Friday.

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The Capital Development Board will ensure all renovations meet the states standards for environmental protection and historic preservation.

By investing in these projects, we are not only supporting economic growth in several rural areas, but also ensuring our state parks and historic sites remain accessible for years to come, said CDB executive director TJ Edwards. These projects are a testament to our commitment to Illinois residents and the natural beauty of our state.

The funding comes from the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. More information on the Dana-Thomas House can be found on its website.

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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG)  St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School alumni came together for the buildings retirement ceremony Thursday night to say goodbye before their school is torn down.

The building has been on Springhill Avenue since 1949 and functioned as a school until 1986.

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Since the school closed, the building was then used for prayer groups, faith formation and discipleship formation.

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It has served a lot of people, Father Fred Boni said.

After the schools demolition, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church will use the vacant space as a parking lot.

Father Boni said due to more people coming to noon mass, a bigger parking lot will be beneficial as it could also bring in more people from the area.

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We want to have that space, not only for our Spanish community, but we want to grow our English community, Father Boni said.

We want to have a ton of people here, he continued.

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The ceremony began at 6 p.m. Thursday and started with mass.

After mass, there was a reception with an opportunity to walk through the building of the school.

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The schools alumni took time to reconnect afterward.

Father Boni said even though the retirement ceremony was held on Thursday, the actual demolition will not start for another two to three weeks.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  The St. Helens School District has announced that Dr. Karen Fischer Gray will be their new acting superintendent.

Gray joins the district amidst recent turmoil involving numerous investigations into district staff in connection with sexual abuse allegations against two former teachers.

According to the school board, Gray has a long history across Oregon where she served as superintendent for Coos Bay School District, the Parkrose School District and Lincoln County School District.

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She has also several accolades including being named Oregon Superintendent of the Year in 2018 and receiving the Spirit of Portland Award in 2015.

Dr. Gray impressed me with her twenty-plus year resume as a superintendent for three separate school districts, her record in turning schools around, and her track record in connecting with her communities and having their voices properly heard, said Mathieu Douglass, board chair for the St. Helens School District. The Board voted unanimously to move forward with her for many good reasons, and I am personally relieved that we will be able to work with someone that easily fills all the criteria our community was looking for.

Dr. Gray also shared her excitement for the new role saying she is excited to work with the community to build bonds.

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I am delighted to get the opportunity to work in partnership with the St. Helens School District community, Dr. Gray said. Together we will build a deep and lasting foundation that celebrates our students in an environment of positivity and support. I am looking forward to meeting you all.

St. Helens School Districts last superintendent Scot Stockwell left the role after being accused of failing to report.

The position was then filled by acting Superintendent Steven Webb who was supposed to stay in the role for 90 days, however he left the position more than a month early in mid-January.

Currently, 10 St. Helens School District staff members have been named as under investigation for either sexual abuse or failure to report.

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ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis Metropolitan police officer was charged with a misdemeanor on Thursday after allegedly sharing a fatal traffic crash recording on Snapchat.

According to St. Louis Metropolitan Police, Griffin Montgomery, 30, recorded the crash footage on his personal cell phone on Feb. 14, 2024, after logging into a criminal justice information-sharing system.

While logged into the Real Time Crime Center, he located the recording of a traffic incident involving two pedestrians who were struck and killed.

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Montgomery allegedly shared the video on Snapchat with others not currently employed with SLMPD.

SLMPD said Montgomery had no official involvement with the investigation of the fatal traffic incident.

Montgomery had been charged with Misuse of Official Information by a Public Servant, also known as a Class A Misdemeanor.

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A 59-year-old man on probation for sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in 2019 is accused of raping a 71-year-old St. Paul woman who told police she had never met him before he befriended her on Facebook and asked to come over, according to a criminal complaint.

Police arrested Thao Xiong on Tuesday after they obtained a search warrant for his apartment in St. Pauls Payne-Phalen neighborhood and found him hiding under his bed, the complaint says.

Xiong was charged Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He went before a judge on Thursday and was granted a public defender, although one was not listed in the court file to comment on the charge.

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Xiong remained jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail, and is due back in court Feb. 20.

According to the complaint, police were dispatched to the womans apartment in the Summit-University neighborhood about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after she reported she had just been forcefully sexually assaulted by a man, who was later identified as Xiong.

She told police someone must have given Xiong her phone number because he called, asking to meet. She agreed, and invited him over. When he entered the apartment, she told police, he pushed her into her bedroom, took off her clothes and raped her.

She said he was too strong and that she could not get him off of her during the assault, which lasted 10 to 20 minutes.

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Xiong then left the apartment, although she was able to get a photograph of him, which she gave to police. She said he left in a black Jeep and gave police his license plate information.

The woman also gave police a Facebook profile that Xiong used to contact her. As an officer pulled up the profile, the woman immediately said, thats him, the complaint states.

New Facebook friend

The woman was taken to the hospital where she underwent a sexual assault examination. During the exam, she said Xiong had befriended her on Facebook on Monday, the day before the alleged assault.

She said he called her out of the blue about 3 p.m. Tuesday, but she didnt answer. He kept calling, then texted and yelled at her for not answering, the complaint states.

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She then answered, and told Xiong that if he was going to come over, he could not touch her, according to the complaint. She said he agreed.

Once Xiong arrived and entered her apartment, he immediately took her to the bedroom, removed her clothes and had rough sex with her, she said, according to the complaint.

Xiong called the woman multiple times during the sexual assault exam, but she did not answer. She told the nurse examiner that she was really scared that Xiong would come back to her apartment and harm her if he was arrested and released, the complaint says.

Medical records show the woman was injured during the assault, and forensic samples were collected for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to analyze.

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After his arrest, Xiong underwent a suspect sexual assault examination. While waiting to be booked into jail, he spontaneously said this was the second person who accused him of rape, the complaint says.

2019 sexual assault

Xiong was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ramsey County in July 2019.

Witnesses told police that a group of acquaintances had been drinking at Xiongs apartment and that a 41-year-old woman became drunk and ended up in his bed, the criminal complaint says. A witness later looked in the bedroom and saw Xiong on top of the woman, who was naked from the waist down.

She finally escaped to a different apartment, while still partially naked, the complaint says. She had scratches and bruises on her inner thighs, neck, shoulder, legs and arms.

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In an interview with police, Xiong tried to downplay the womans level of intoxication. However, a witness told police they helped Xiong clean up the womans vomit in Xiongs bedroom. Xiong had a bite mark on his neck and scratches on his back and arms, all which police said were consistent with the woman trying to fight him off of her, the complaint says.

Court records show that Xiong reached a plea deal with prosecutors and admitted to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for the more serious charge being dismissed. In November 2020, he was sentenced to 231 days in jail, which was time that he had already served after his arrest, and put on supervised probation for 10 years.

Xiong has no other convictions, besides two petty misdemeanor traffic violations.
Prosecutors say a man held his girlfriend against her will in his St. Paul apartment, where he shaved her head and poured boiling water on her.

Jabari Quentin Junior, 22, was charged Friday with first-degree assault and kidnapping.

St. Paul Police responded to a hospitals burn unit on Wednesday morning and were told that Metro Transit police officers transported a 19-year-old woman from the West Side. She had severe, oozing burns to her face, arms and torso. Her face was swollen and she couldnt open one of her eyes. She had a stab wound to her leg.

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The criminal complaint gives the following information from prosecutors:

The woman reported shed gone to the apartment of her boyfriend, Junior, on Wabasha Street near Fillmore Avenue on Monday. She planned on staying the night, but they argued because she was talking to other men. Junior grabbed a hair clipper, held his girlfriend against the bed and shaved her head.

Junior told her if she wanted to talk to other men he was going to make her look like one, the complaint said of the womans report. After he poured boiling water from a pot onto her, she tried to leave, but he pinned her to the bed. He had a butcher knife in one hand and choked her with the other. She fought back as she felt she was going to lose consciousness. Junior stabbed her leg, the woman said.

Juniors bathroom was near the door and the woman tried to escape by pretending to use the bathroom, but he followed her every move.

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On Tuesday, the woman had plans to leave for Chicago, but Junior tore up her bus ticket and told her she wasnt going anywhere. She said she tried to leave again and he threw another pot of boiling water on her.

The woman woke Wednesday to Junior again pouring boing water on her. Junior walked her to a nearby bus stop, called 911 and handed her the phone. She said he told her to lie about her injuries and threatened to hurt her worse if she told the truth. He ran back to his apartment.

Police obtained a search warrant for Juniors apartment, the departments SWAT unit responded to the area, and police said Junior was arrested without incident Wednesday. During the search of Juniors apartment, police found an electric razor with fresh hair clippings and pots matching the ones his girlfriend described.

Pushed her a little

Investigators talked to Junior, who described the woman as a friend with benefits.

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He reported shed been at his apartment because she was running from another man she got into a fight with. Junior said the woman tried to blame him for her injuries when she came over. He said she let him use her phone, then he discovered she was texting other guys and they argued while he was cooking. They tussled, she got into his face, Junior pushed her a little and she scratched his face, the complaint said of what he told police.

The woman held something behind her back, which Junior thought was a knife or fork, and he threw a pot of water into the air. He said he didnt intend for it to land on her, but it did. He put ice on her injuries on Monday and Tuesday, and called an ambulance Wednesday morning.

Junior said hed cut a little bit of the womans hair and she shaved the rest of it. He also told police that she hadnt tried to leave before Wednesday.

Junior reported hed put a knife in his pocket for self-defense since the woman had a fork, forgot it was there and accidentally stabbed her when tending to her injuries.

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Investigators spoke to the woman again and she told them Junior and another man took her from Chicago and brought her to Minnesota in November. Junior shattered her phone and let her use one of his phones to contact her family. She said Junior contacted men he knew to have sex with her, drugged and threatened her, and the men paid Junior.

Police went back to talk to Junior and he said he hadnt been involved in trafficking the woman. The charges filed Friday dont involve the womans allegations about trafficking.

Bail was set at $1 million Friday and Junior remained jailed. An attorney for him couldnt immediately be reached for comment.

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry commended his departments and Metro Transits officers who provided care to the woman.

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Most importantly, I want to commend the bravery of this young woman who was determined to escape her abuser, he said in a Friday statement.

Domestic violence help

St. Paul and Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project staff is available 24-hours a day at 651-645-2824. People outside Ramsey County can get help 24/7 through the Minnesota Day One hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA)  A St. Petersburg man was arrested by SWAT team officers Friday morning during an investigation into a murder plot, police said.

According to the St. Petersburg Police Department, Jason Foley, 47, has been accused of plotting to kidnap, sexually assault, and murder a child who lived outside of Florida.

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St. Petersburg investigators said they learned of the murder plan from an out-of-state law enforcement agency that told the department that Foley and another suspect in its jurisdiction were planning to hurt a child victim.

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At 10:30 a.m. Friday, the St. Petersburg SWAT team arrested Foley at his apartment on 3rd Avenue South without incident. Foley was said to be the only resident of that apartment.

Foley has been charged with the following:

23 counts of possession of child pornography

3 counts of transmission of child pornography

conspiracy to commit 1st-degree murder

conspiracy to commit kidnapping

conspiracy to commit capital sexual battery

conspiracy to commit aggravated child abuse

The out-of-state suspect was also arrested several months ago, according to an SPPD spokesperson.

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HAMILTON COUNTY, Iowa  A rural Stanhope man has been arrested after law enforcement officials say he intentionally burned his house down Thursday.

Cody Christensen, 28, is charged with second-degree arson and interference with official acts according to the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office. He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail.

The HCSO said a 911 call came in at 2:21 p.m. Thursday about a house on fire at 2158 360th Street, located about five miles southeast of Stanhope. The home was fully engulfed in flames when law enforcement arrived. There were multiple people on the property and one man said, There is a guy with a gun and he appears to be intoxicated.

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Deputies located the man, later identified as Christensen, and saw him with a shotgun in his hand, drinking what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage. They tried to communicate with Christensen and told him to drop the gun but the HCSO said he told them to go home. He did tell deputies there was no one else in the house.

More deputies and fire units were called in to stand by near the scene as a safety precaution and deputies attempted again to communicate with Christensen but they were unsuccessful. After a little bit of time passed, a deputy was able to speak with Christensen and determine he lived in the home that was on fire.

Criminal complaints filed in the case claim Christensen admitted to a deputy that he started the fire and resisted arrest when he was taken into custody at 3:13 p.m.

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The complaint also said he strategically placed firearms around the property. Officials found another shotgun as well as a .22 caliber bolt action rifle that was near the house.

Iowa news

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The Ministry of Education has confirmed plans to cancel the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams initially scheduled for July this year.

In a press statement on Thursday, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang announced that the government would comply with the court order suspending the Mid-Year KCSE Retake.

Kipsangs comments followed a High Court ruling on January 29, which suspended the July KCSE exams pending further hearings and determinations in the case. He clarified that candidates originally registered for the July exams could sit for the November KCSE exams if the court does not lift the current suspension.

The challenge originated from Dr. Magare Gikenyi, a Nakuru-based physician, who raised concerns about the integrity of Kenyas examinations.

Dr. Gikenyi argued that introducing mid-year KCSE retakes could create vulnerabilities and potentially undermine the credibility of the national testing process. He also highlighted insufficient consultation with students and other key stakeholders, claiming it violated constitutional rights and governance principles.

According to Dr. Gikenyi, the new guidelines created two separate categories of students. The July cohort faced limited preparation time compared to their November counterparts, compromising the fairness and reliability of the examination system.

Lady Justice Teresia Achieng of the Kisii High Court suspended the national examinations after determining that the petition met the threshold for a conservatory order. Recognizing the gravity of these concerns, the Judge ordered an immediate pause on the initiative to allow for deeper judicial scrutiny.

Justice Odera set February 12 as the deadline for the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) and related parties to file their responses and affidavits. This move ensures all relevant stakeholders have an opportunity to present their case before the court makes a final decision.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  Two of New Mexicos Congressional delegates addressed the state legislature on Thursday highlighting their accomplishments and vision for the future. Representatives Gabe Vasquez and Melanie Stansbury promoted what theyve done to bolster infrastructure, public safety, education, and healthcare.

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They also stressed their work is far from over. I believe in the heart of my heart that we will continue to chart a course forward with a bold vision for our people and to always keep our communities at the center of our work, said Rep. Stansbury.

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Reflecting on my first term serving you in Congress, Im proud to say that my service to my district and this state has had one singular focus  to improve the lives of New Mexicans, said Rep. Vasquez.

The Republican Party of New Mexico sent this statement in response:

New Mexicans are tired of empty promises, they demand real action. When our representatives discuss crucial issues like the welfare of our oil and gas workers, support for our police, and the border and fentanyl crisis, their words must lead to tangible solutions. Sadly, the voting records of Rep. Stansbury and Rep. Vasquez expose a major discrepancy between their promises and their actions with their votes against bills like the Secure the Border Act and the Laken Riley Act. Furthermore, Vasquez voiced support for Paid Family Leave which could drain even more money from hardworking New Mexicans paychecks while placing an undue burden on the small businesses that need our support the most. We urge the legislature to put New Mexicans first and work together to tackle the key issues: protecting small businesses, strengthening our economy, supporting law enforcement, backing our oil and gas industry, improving education, securing our borders, and holding criminals accountable. Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela

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A state bill that would require all county Board of Education members in the state to undergo anti-bias training every two years had a hearing in Annapolis on Wednesday.

All public school employees in the state are required to undergo anti-bias training through legislation passed last session. Board of education members were excluded from the definition of public school employees.

State Del. Marc Korman (D-16) presented the House Bill 324 on Wednesday at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. Korman and Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-13), the chair of the committee, co-sponsored the bill.

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Korman said on Wednesday that the legislation was a simple bill.

So, this bill just closes that loophole, frankly, and requires the school board members to go through the same type of training as weve already told our tens of thousands of school employees to go through, he said.

The bill directs the Maryland State Department of Education to develop guidelines for anti-bias training for board members. Some guidelines include being inclusive, incorporating lessons in cultural awareness and aiming to reduce implicit bias.

The bill also specifies that the training would work to make schools more inclusive regardless of students and staff members race, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ancestry, physical attributes, socioeconomic status, familial status, or disability.

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Josh Bokee, a former alderman for the city of Frederick who ran unsuccessfully for the Frederick County Board of Education in 2024, testified on Wednesday in favor of the bill.

He emphasized, as a resident and as a parent of a student in the school system, how important it is that our board members of education receive the same anti-bias training that is consistent with the public school employees.

Bokee said the bill would be a logical next step, and he hopes board members are upholding professional standards, inclusivity and set up an environment where all students can be welcome and included in the school system.

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The Frederick County Board of Education is currently not required to undergo any formal anti-bias training, according to board member Karen Yoho.

She said on Wednesday that the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE), a nonprofit organization that supports school boards statewide, would not support the bill.

Yoho said the organization is not usually in favor of statewide mandates because they are typically unfunded, so it comes with time and money.

She said that she personally wouldnt mind if the bill became law, but she has not felt the need for anti-bias training on our board.

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That can always change, and then we would discuss it as a board and address it, Yoho said. At this point, I havent heard anybody talking about bringing something like that up.

She added that the Frederick County school board members attend a retreat every year in which they reflect and review their effectiveness over the last year.

Vice President Dean Rose said on Wednesday that he would support it at first blush.

I certainly personally would not be against it, and I dont see any reason not to have it, he said.

Board member Janie Inglis Monier said on Wednesday that on the face of it, it doesnt sound like there should be an issue.

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She said because of her background in anthropology and social sciences, anti-bias training is familiar. Monier also attended a new board member training hosted by MABE earlier this month.

Anything that is going to help me be a better board member, I want to be available for that, she said.

Board member Colt Black said on Wednesday that he doesnt necessarily think that additional trainings are needed.

We dont put other elected officials through these types of training, and I dont believe that we need to be doing that with board of education members, he said.

Board member Jaime Brennan said she had not read the bill as of Wednesday afternoon and could not comment.

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School board President Rae Gallagher and member Nancy Allen were not available for comment by phone on Wednesday.

State Del. Kris Fair (D-3A), the executive director of the Frederick Center, an LGBTQ+ resource center in Frederick, said on Wednesday that anti-bias trainings are very illuminating and it serves a great purpose for our communities and our schools.

Anti-bias trainings are critical so that we, as a school system, recognize the biases that it may have, and then learn how to operate within that structure and that reality, he said.

State Del. Jesse Pippy (R-4) said on Wednesday that he is not generally opposed to additional training to help public servants be more effective and more tolerant and open to the general public.

However, I dont know if its a good idea that the legislature continues to try to circumvent local control, locally elected boards, and how they operate within their respective counties, he said. This is something they can implement themselves.
Jan. 30Flora and fauna surrounding Holloman Lake contain the highest levels of a toxic chemical that can cause cancer and other health issues  known as PFAS  ever documented, according to a recent report by the New Mexico Environmental Department.

James Kenney, Cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Environment Department, said he was shocked when he learned the results.

"The level of this toxic, poisonous chemical is so much greater than we thought in the animal species, because they're bioaccumulating it over their lifetime, just like a human would," he said. "The more you're exposed to it, the more it gets in your body and it's impossible to get it out of your body."

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Holloman Lake, near Alamogordo, serves as the wastewater reservoir for Holloman Air Force Base. Though the lake prohibited hunting in 2024 amid growing concerns about PFAS, it is still a popular spot for camping and bird watching.

PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as "forever chemicals," can cause cancer, developmental issues, immune system issues, reproductive issues and more, according to a study by the University of New Mexico. Common household items with large traces of PFAS include nonstick pots and pans, and takeout containers that repel grease such as pizza boxes and cleaning products.

The report showed the levels of PFAS found in animals and plants around the lake broke previous records. The Environment Department obtained 109 samples of soil, surface water and biological samples like eggshells and algae to determine PFAS levels. State officials believe additional testing needs to be done with waterfowl and oryx samples to better understand risks to hunters outside the immediate contamination area.

PFAS concentrations documented at Holloman Lake from 2021 to 2023 reached thousands and tens of thousands of nanograms per gram, causing concern among environmental experts. Previous investigations of Holloman Lake indicated areas with the most PFAS are home to firefighting training areas. PFAS have been detected in 722 military installations across the country, with experts citing firefighting foam as the largest contributor to PFAS.

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"That was by design that those Air Force foams washed down into the ground and into the lake," Kenney said. "The State of New Mexico knows that they (Holloman AFB) have been aware since Congress directed them to look at all their bases across the country. In fact, they're so aware that the Department of Defense sued the State of New Mexico in 2019 to erode our authority to require them to clean it up."

In a statement to the Journal, Holloman AFB said they were addressing foam PFAS "that may be associated with Holloman AFB mission activities."

"The DAF (Department of the Air Force) has expended $2.9 million on the PFAS investigation at Holloman AFB to date and will continue to advance the remedial investigation pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act process," Holloman AFB wrote in a statement to the Journal.

As part of the investigation, Holloman AFB completed a preliminary assessment in 2015 and followed with a site investigation in 2019 to determine possible environmental impacts, according to a statement. Remedial investigation began in 2022, which determines the extent of PFAS exposure.

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"Protecting human health and the environment is a top Department of the Air Force environmental priority and we have taken aggressive steps at Holloman to meet that priority," Holloman AFB added.

Kenney said his department is seeking money to put toward the problem.

"My department has requested money every year from the Legislature to do everything from testing water, testing people's blood around Cannon (Air Force Base), testing the flora, the water, the environment, the animals around Holloman, and to this day, the Department of Defense has no plan to clean up the PFAS that migrated off site."

This year, the New Mexico Environment Department is requesting $8 million from the Legislature for clean-up efforts. The department is also asking the Legislature to make PFAS cleanup a higher priority. Kenney is also hopeful the Legislature will support a House bill that would not allow manufactures to sell or distribute items with PFAS.

Clean up would require pumping and treating groundwater and running it through a charcoal filter and safely disposing the filter to avoid further contamination.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers could soon be deputized to perform some of the functions of federal immigration officers under an agreement Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Wednesday with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

DeSantis said Wednesday during a news conference that Highway Patrol troopers will have authority to exercise immigration power.

But the union representing the majority of troopers warns the agency needs millions more dollars to carry out its work  money that neither DeSantis nor the Legislature have assigned to the historically underfunded organization.

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Were going to be the tip of the spear, with no additional funding, said William Smith, the president of the Florida Highway Patrol chapter of Floridas Police Benevolent Association.

The memorandum comes as DeSantis tries to reassert his role in immigration enforcement amid a fierce back-and-forth with the Florida Legislature over dueling immigration bills that both aim to help President Donald Trumps efforts to identify and deport immigrants who are in the country illegally.

DeSantis said he would veto the bill passed by Florida lawmakers.

As Florida political leaders and the governor wrangle, DeSantis is using his executive authority to push Florida troopers to the forefront of the states immigration enforcement efforts.

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DeSantis previously authorized highway patrol troopers to support immigration enforcement initiatives at the southern border in Texas. Twenty troopers are still stationed there, Smith said.

Florida troopers have also been involved in enforcing a state law that makes it a crime to transport immigrants who are in the country illegally into Florida from another state.

Molly Best, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said troopers have worked with federal immigration many times during operations.

The MOU formalizes our path forward and allows us to further assist them in enforcing immigration laws, Best said.

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Best said she did not have details on what officer training would involve, and said it was an evolving matter that could change several times before it is finalized.

The memorandum DeSantis signed specifically notes that designated troopers would not get any additional compensation.

Smith said that highway patrol currently has about 150 trooper vacancies, and that starting pay is about $54,000. In its 2025-26 budget request to the Legislature, the department wrote that troopers starting salaries are the third-lowest out of 49 state highway patrol or state police agencies, making recruitment and retention a significant challenge. The average length of service for a trooper is 6 years.

Smith told lawmakers this week that the department needed about $30 million more each year to increase trooper salaries. The department is asking the Legislature for $12 million to boost pay and hire more troopers in the upcoming 2025-2026 budget.

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Troopers will be hard pressed to carry out additional duties without the funding, Smith told lawmakers.

The memorandum notes that each trooper would get appropriate training in laws, policies and procedures. Smith said its not clear what that training would look like.

Smith said he fears the training could take troopers away from their posts when theyre already stretched thin.

Troopers also have not received any information about how many people will be authorized to have broader immigration powers, Smith said.

DeSantis previously proposed  in the bill that legislators declined to take up  that 10 percent of a law enforcement agency be available to take on the powers of an immigration officer. That would be about 200 Florida Highway Patrol troopers if the governor follows that plan, Smith said.

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Smith said he and the officers support immigration reform and enforcing immigration laws, but they want to ensure its done correctly.

In other words, dont rush it, Smith said. And thats what this past week felt like. Everything was being rushed.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to allow Southern California Edison to raise electric rates to cover payments it made to victims of the devastating 2017 Thomas wildfire.

Investigators found that the utilitys equipment sparked the blaze, one of the largest in California history. The fires devastation also helped spur the catastrophic debris flows in Montecito, which killed 23.

With no discussion, the commission approved the rate hike by a 4-0 vote. The vote means that more than $1.6 billion of the $2.7 billion that Edison paid to more than 5,000 victims of the fire will be covered by its customers. The rest will be paid by shareholders of the for-profit company.

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After the vote, seven Democratic state legislators sent a letter to the commission, saying the action harmed customers and failed to hold Edison accountable.

Those in regions prone to wildfires have already suffered the consequences of utility failure by being forced to endure power outages, property destruction, and displacement, wrote the legislators, who include Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). It is reprehensible to require these same consumers to assume the financial responsibility for corporate mismanagement and infrastructure deficiencies."

Edison said it planned to minimize the impact on customers by spreading the cost over 30 years. Most customers would see an increase to their monthly bill of about $1, the company said.

The commissioners approved the rate hike despite dozens of written comments from the public saying it wasn't fair to make customers pay for costs of a wildfire that state and local government investigators had determined was started by the utilitys equipment.

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"Relieving Edison of its duties to provide safe and reliable services by forcing its customers to foot the bill for their outright negligence is unconscionable," wrote Emma Mailey, a resident of Los Angeles. She added that such an action "will teach them nothing and lead to more inaction on Edison's part."

Edison disputed investigators claims that its actions negligently caused the fire, saying in a press release last year that it had prudently operated its system, managing it at or above what is required by regulators.

Climate change is driving catastrophic wildfires, Pedro Pizarro, president of Edison International, said in the release, and SCE will continue its work to mitigate the effects.

The company has also asked the commission to approve a second rate increase for $5.4 billion in payments to victims of the devastating 2018 Woolsey fire, which the commission will consider at a later date. Investigators found Edison's equipment also sparked that fire.

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Combined, the two proposals would increase rates by more than 2%.

Read more: Edison wants to raise rates to pay for wildfires linked to its equipment

Californias electric rates are the second-highest in the nation. Edisons rates have increased 48% in the last three years, according to a December report by the utility commission's public advocates office.

After the vote, Alice Reynolds, the commission's president, said that if she and the other members hadn't approved the settlement agreement it could have led to litigation with an unknown result.

Reynolds and the other commission members were appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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She said the commission was operating under a legal standard in a 2019 law that said if a wildfire was sparked by a utilitys equipment but the company was found to have acted prudently, the costs would be covered by customers.

The 2019 law, known as AB 1054, created a wildfire insurance fund. The Thomas and Woolsey fires don't qualify for money from the fund because they happened before the law passed.

Read more: Regulators criticized Edison's wildfire safety actions months before deadly Eaton fire

Edisons equipment is now under scrutiny in the wake of the Eaton firestorm in Altadena, which killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.

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Lawyers representing victims point to cellphone videos taken by eyewitnesses that show the first flames below the company's transmission tower in Eaton Canyon.

Edison said it is conducting its own investigation while cooperating with government fire investigators probing the cause of the inferno.

The 2017 Thomas fire swept through almost 282,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, destroying more than 1,000 structures and causing two deaths.

Investigators said Edisons equipment was the cause of two separate ignitions on Dec. 4, 2017, near Santa Paula. The two fires eventually merged together.

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Cal Fire and Ventura County fire investigators said one ignition was caused by an electric wire falling and igniting dry brush. The other ignition happened, the investigators said, when two wires slapped together, releasing molten metal into the vegetation.

The commissions safety and enforcement division later said the company had violated five rules and regulations, including failure to cooperate with investigators.

In January 2018, while the fire was still burning, heavy rainfall led to debris flows in Montecito. Officials said the mud and boulders were dislodged in part because of the fires toll on vegetation and soil.

Edison has argued that its equipment wasn't responsible for one of the two ignitions. And it says it disagrees with findings of the commissions safety and enforcement division that it had violated any rules or regulations, including the claim that it had failed to cooperate with investigators.

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Terrie Prosper, a commission spokesperson, said that although the agencys enforcement staff identified the violations, the commission approved a 2021 agreement with Edison that found no violations related to the Thomas fire. As part of that agreement, Edison agreed to $550 million in financial penalties for multiple wildfires, including the Thomas fire.

Edison said it blames the damage and deaths caused by the Montecito debris flows on inadequate governmental flood control infrastructure and deficient evacuation communications.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Once abundant in California's Central Valley, the Sacramento perch was driven out of its native waters 50 years ago by disruptions to its natural habitat.

Thanks to a state pilot project, though, the fish is making a long-overdue comeback, CBS reported earlier this month, as 3,000 young perch were stocked in the pond at Granite Regional Park.

"This is history, returning the Sacramento perch to Sacramento where it was so numerous once upon a time," California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told CBS.

The Sacramento perch has an unusual conservation status. Though rare in its natural habitat, it has been successfully introduced into lakes and ponds across Western states. Lynette Williams Duman, a doctoral candidate, and Mason Rogers, a staff biologist, of the University of California Davis described the perch's expatriation as "a story of hope in an era that desperately needs it."

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As Duman and Rogers noted, the changes to the perch's environment are irreversible, but the situation is far from hopeless. It may not be viable to fully restore the environment the Sacramento perch once thrived in, but there is still a great deal that can be done regarding environmental reconciliation.

Such efforts are an important way to combat biodiversity loss caused by environmental degradation. In addition to contributing to human needs such as food, fuel, and shelter, a vibrant ecosystem provides key services such as pollination, seed dispersal, and climate regulation. Community-led efforts such as this show that not only can big changes start locally, but they can also be enjoyable for all.

The Sacramento perch offers good sport for anglers, and its high tolerance for alkaline conditions and fluctuating temperatures makes it a perfect candidate to be stocked in cold waters that other sportfish cannot tolerate.

As the aptly named CDFW scientist Mark Fish put it, "They're just a really cool fish that everybody seems to get excited about."

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The federal government has drastically changed its storm protection plan for the Jersey Shore, according to the Associated Press. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has acknowledged the new plan would be less effective in protecting communities from another major storm.

What's happening?

After Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the Jersey Shore spent years recovering and rebuilding. Now, a revised protection plan has been released for keeping residents safe.

Per the AP, the federal government has dropped plans to install huge gates at the mouths of three inlets and internal waterway barriers, both of which would have protected the shore's back bays from the type of severe flooding that devastated the region during Sandy.

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The revised plan pushes for "elevating thousands of homes, hardening police and fire stations, hospitals and critical infrastructure, and restoring salt marshes to act as natural sponges capable of absorbing floodwaters during severe storms," per the AP.

While the change limits the protection of the shoreline, it cuts the protection plan's cost down from $16 billion to $7.6 billion.

Experts speculated the price of the initial protection plan was the main factor for its revision.

"The overwhelming cost probably had a lot to do with it," executive director of the American Littoral Society Tim Dillingham told the AP. "There's a growing awareness on the part of local officials that the maintenance of these projects falls to them. Maintaining miles of dikes and thousands of feet of gates is very expensive."

Why is the revised protection plan important?

The revised plan underscores the difficulties in protecting communities from extreme weather. Numerous factors, including costs and environmental consequences, must be considered when developing protection strategies.

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While extreme weather events have always been a part of Earth's history, the use of dirty energy has made storms more powerful and frequent, making areas such as the Jersey Shore more vulnerable. Superstorm Sandy cost the U.S. $88.5 billion in damages, making it the fifth-costliest hurricane in the country's history, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information.

What's being done about extreme weather along the Jersey Shore?

While the AP noted the original storm gates protection plan would have been the "most ambitious and costly efforts any U.S. state has yet taken to address back bay flooding," there were also some downsides to it. Outside of cost, the barriers could have posed a threat to fish and wildlife, as they would have disrupted water circulation in bays.

Moving forward, the new plan still offers the Jersey Shore some form of protection along its coastline.

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A new report from the American Lung Association has identified Pennsylvania as one of the worst states at preventing and controlling tobacco use.

In a new report called the State of Tobacco Control 2025, the ALA claims the tobacco industry is taking aggressive action at both the state and federal levels to protect its profits at the expense of the countrys health. The association urges lawmakers to adopt proven and effective tobacco control policies to save lives, citing tobacco use as the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

The annual report assigns letter grades (A through F) for each U.S. state regarding different facets of tobacco prevention. Pennsylvania received the following grades:

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* Funding for state tobacco prevention programs  Grade F

* Strength of smoke-free workplace laws  Grade D

* Level of state tobacco taxes  Grade F

* Coverage and access to services to quit tobacco  Grade D

* Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products  Grade F

The American Lung Association urges state lawmakers to prioritize preserving funding for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs and to close the loopholes in Pennsylvanias Clean Indoor Act and end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol, to reduce the overwhelming human and financial burden of tobacco use.

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The tobacco industry has taken increasingly aggressive actions to addict a new generation to tobacco and hinder proven public policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use, said Elizabeth Hensil, Advocacy Director for Pennsylvania and West Virginia at the American Lung Association. Here in Pennsylvania, we are seeing tobacco industry lobbyists at the local level working to stop or weaken proven tobacco control policies. The tobacco industry is also introducing new products that appeal to youth, like e-cigarettes that mimic smartphones, kid-friendly flavors and flavored nicotine pouches that are heavily marketed by social media influencers.

Despite receiving nearly $1.34 billion from tobacco settlement payments, tobacco taxes and other state funding, Pennsylvania funds tobacco control efforts at only 14.8% of the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the association.

The report noted that at the state level, the industry has sought to protect specific tobacco products from taxation, and supported legislation that would result in state governments pursuing penalties against smaller competitors that sell e-cigarette products illegally in the U.S.

Lawmakers must resist these tobacco industry efforts and continue to pass proven policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use, the ALA said.

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The association also noted several major disappointments at the federal level, the most significant being former President Joe Bidens failure to finalize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules that would end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

The report said that menthol flavoring has been falsely marketed as being a healthier alternative to non-menthol tobacco products. This has resulted in increased use of menthol cigarettes, contributing to higher rates of tobacco-related death and disease as well as tobacco-related health disparities, the report states.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing 490,000 people each year, according to the ALA.

The 2025 State of Tobacco Control report graded the federal government in five areas:

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* Federal Government Regulation of Tobacco Products  Grade C

* Federal Coverage of Quit Smoking Treatments  Grade D

* Level of Federal Tobacco Taxes  Grade F

* Federal Mass Media Campaigns to Prevent and Reduce Tobacco Use  Grade A

* Federal Minimum Age of Sale for Tobacco Products to 21  Grade A

The report urges Congress to provide additional funding to the FDA so it can enforce against and remove all illegal e-cigarettes the tobacco industry has introduced to the market.
Jan. 30STERLING  Sterling American Legion Chaplain Gordon E. Harris is reviving a mostly forgotten story about the sinking of the United States Army Transport Dorchester during World War II and the selfless acts of four chaplains on board.

"A lot of people don't know this story," Harris said. "It's really one about brotherhood. I get emotional just talking about it."

The steamship was torpedoed by a German U-boat just after midnight Feb. 3, 1943, while heading to a U.S. command base in Greenland. Of the 902 people on board only 230 survived. It's believed to be the worst single death toll for a U.S. convoy in World War II, according to fourchaplains.org.

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In honor of that day, Harris  also the Illinois American Legion District 13 chaplain  plans to show an hour-long video telling the story of the Dorchester's four chaplains at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Sterling Legion Post, 601 First Ave. in Sterling. The event is free and open for anyone to attend.

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Sterling American Legion Post Chaplain Gordon E. Harris talks about four chaplains' heroic acts aboard the United States Army Transport Dorchester as it sank during World War II. (Alex T. Paschal)

He also plans to speak about the four chaplains at the American Legion District 13 meeting at Rock Falls Legion Post 712. That meeting is only open to Legion members.

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The ship's sinking is most remembered for the sacrifice of the four chaplains  Lt. George L. Fox, a Protestant minister from Pennsylvania; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, a rabbi from New York; Lt. Clark V. Poling, a Protestant minister from Ohio; and Lt. John P. Washington, a Catholic priest from New Jersey, according to armyhistory.org.

Even though the chaplains came from different faiths they all joined together to help the people aboard the ship, Harris said.

The day before it sunk, the soldiers and other passengers on board were sailing through rough, icy waters. They feared being blasted by German U-boats that had already targeted several other ships in the area. The chaplains spent that day comforting the young, nervous soldiers, according to fourchaplains.org.

That night, the Dorchester's captain told everyone on board to sleep dressed in all their clothes and lifejackets in case the ship went down. Some people who slept in the bottom of the ship didn't because they were near the ship's engine where it was very hot, Harris said.

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When the torpedo hit, the four chaplains guided those on board to lifeboats and handed out lifejackets, even giving up their own. One soldier went to one of the chaplains because he didn't have any gloves. The chaplain gave the soldier his gloves, telling the soldier he had an extra pair; but, in reality, the chaplain did not, Harris said.

The four chaplains went down with the ship. As it sunk, the chaplains were seen by surviving passengers linked arm-in-arm on the deck, saying prayers and singing hymns, according to fourchaplains.org.

All four chaplains were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart. In 1961, they were also awarded "The Four Chaplains Commemorative Medal," according to nationalmuseum.af.mil.

Since then, Feb. 3, is recognized as Four Chaplains Day, but isn't widely celebrated  at least in the Sauk Valley area.

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"Nobody's been celebrating it here," Harris said. "No one has ever done it here [Sterling] or in the surrounding area Posts."

In fact, Harris didn't know about the four chaplains until he became Sterling Legion chaplain about 12 years ago. When he started as chaplain, he didn't really know what his role was  other than saying the opening prayer at the meetings and other such duties  so he started studying the Legion's Chaplain Handbook.

That's where he came across the story of the four chaplains.

From there, he introduced the story to the Sterling Legion. Later on, he was approached by former District 13 Commander Lee Gibbs to become district chaplain.

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In that role, Harris met other district chaplains and those within District 13  which covers Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties.

Harris recalled how the Galena Legion Post chaplain asked if any of them had done the story of the four chaplains and nobody had, Harris said.

Harris got a copy of a video of the four chaplains  the one he plans to show Sunday  from Gibbs and brought that to the Sterling Legion Post. In 2024, he played it at the Post "and everyone really enjoyed it," he said.

"I want to start celebrating it [in the Sauk Valley] and make it a yearly thing. The same way that we celebrate Veterans Day or Memorial Day," Harris said.

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In the future, he hopes to bring Sauk Valley's different religious denominations together to honor the story. He's also been contacting area schools to see if they'd want to use the story for a theater production.

For information, visit the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation website.
HINDS COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV)  Agents with the Mississippi Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau (MALTB) recovered a stolen Bobcat T870 skid steer in Hinds County.

Plane stolen in Mississippi recovered in Alabama

Warren County deputies receives a report about the stolen skid steer on January 29, 2025. MALTB investigators were asked to assist in the case. They were able to locate the skid steer in a wooded area in rural Hinds County the next day.

Agents with the Mississippi Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau (MALTB) recovered a stolen Bobcat T870 skid steer in Hinds County. (Courtesy: MALTB)

I appreciate the continued partnership and support we receive from local law enforcement organizations around the state, and I want to thank the Hinds County Sheriffs Office and Warren County Sheriffs Office for their assistance on this case. The Mississippi Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau is dedicated to recovering stolen agricultural assets utilized by our farmers, ranchers and producers every day, said MALTB Director Dean Barnard.

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Where do Korean tourists experience the most festive vibes of Chinese New Year in Shanghai? What local delicacies do they recommend the most? And how do they view the Chinese New Year?

Join us on a journey to discover the essence of Chinese New Year in Shanghai  savoring authentic local cuisine, exploring trendy streets, and soaking up the unique charm of the holiday!


New York, US (PANA) - United Nations agencies on Friday called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between Government forces and the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group expands
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has bowed to pressure and decided to withdraw its case against Grace Njoki for interrupting Cabinet Secretary Dr. Deborah Barasas press briefing at Afya House two weeks ago.

The National Assembly confirmed this development on Wednesday following a mid-term retreat for Members of Parliament in Naivasha.

The Ministry faced intense scrutiny as lawmakers questioned its role in her controversial arrest and the ongoing issues within the Social Health Insurance (SHA) system.

During heated discussions with Ministry and SHA officials, MPs demanded clarity on who ordered Njokis arrest and why the government prioritized punitive actions over improving the health system.

Majority Leader and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah posed critical questions: Who was the complainant for this lady to be arrested? Was it SHA? Was it the Ministry? Or were the police acting independently? Kenyans want to know who filed the complaint against her.

Speaker Moses Wetangula expressed disapproval over how Njoki was treated during the incident.

Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai admitted that the ministry had pressed charges against Njoki, surprising Speaker Wetangula, who urged him to reconsider.

The Ministry of Health being a public place, you cannot talk of trespass, Wetangula advised. I will give you free advice now that you have admitted the Ministry is the complainant. Please consider reviewing and withdrawing the complaint.

In response, PS Kimtai assured the lawmakers, In the interest of the image of the Ministry of Health and the public, we will withdraw the complaint.

Additionally, National Assembly Minority Whip Millie Odhiambo announced that Kimtai agreed to establish a dedicated unit to support individuals frustrated by the Social Health Authority (SHA). This unit will also address inefficiencies and delays in service delivery within the Ministry.

He (Kimtai) has agreed to set up a compassionate unit to assist people who are frustrated. They will also tackle other complaints, said Odhiambo, the Suba North MP. She added that Speaker Wetangula ordered the Health Committee to provide a report to the House upon reconvening.

This decision comes after mounting pressure from both the public and lawmakers.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  A driver in a reported stolen vehicle was taken into custody after a pursuit that started in Kern County ended along southbound lanes of I-5 near Castaic on Thursday afternoon.

Multiple law enforcement agencies from Kern County were in pursuit of the reported stolen vehicle from the 3700 block of Burr Street in Bakersfield at around 12:45 p.m.

WATCH: Sheriff gives new details after children abducted from Hanford found safe

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According to police, the owner of a white pick-up truck, saw a man stealing the truck. The truck owner was able to follow the suspect in the truck and direct officers to the suspects location, a spokesperson said.

The pursuit began near Stockdale Highway and the Westside Parkway and made its way southbound and northbound along I-5, Taft Highway and Copus Road at high speeds. The suspect eventually led officers south along Highway 99 and I-5 through the Grapevine.

Never miss a story: Make KGET.com your homepage

Law enforcement used a spike strip to puncture the trucks tires and the driver continued until stopping in the Castaic area. Aerial video from sister station KTLA showed the suspect surrender to authorities and get taken into custody along I-5 near Hasley Canyon Road.

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Southbound traffic was briefly blocked at the end of the pursuit.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 News.
Maryna Bezrukova, the head of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to prevent the "destruction" of the agency, in a Facebook post on Jan. 31.



Bezrukova and the Defense Ministry have been at loggerheads over the last week after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov suspended Bezrukova and appointed Arsen Zhumadilov as temporary director of the DPA on Jan. 24. His decision went against the agencys supervisory board that voted to extend Bezrukovas contract days earlier.



Umerov sparked backlash with accusations that he was violating the law by overriding the supervisory board. According to Ukrainian law, supervisory boards have the authority to unilaterally hire and fire the heads of state enterprises.



"The essence of the problem is not just an attempt to dismiss me, but the actual destruction of the institution in violation of all possible laws and Ukraine's international obligations," Bezrukova wrote on Facebook.



"Further delays threaten critically important supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and destroy the trust of donors and partners," she added.

Read also: Old guard pushback continues to haunt Ukraines arms procurement cleanup



Addressing Zelensky, Bezrukova said the agency had stopped work because of the dispute. She requested he intervene to resolve the conflict legally, prevent the agencys destruction, and ensure the DPAs stable operations without "pressure, blocks, and attacks.



On Jan. 25, Bezrukovas name disappeared from the state enterprise register as director of the agency. Instead, Zhumadilov, who heads the State Rear Operator (DOT), was listed as the director despite his appointment only being temporary while Bezrukova undergoes an audit.



Now, Bezrukovas name has returned to the register but she is listed as the restricted director "suspended from performing official duties for the duration of the internal investigation," the Justice Ministry said on Jan. 31. Zhumadilov is listed in the register alongside Bezrukova as the "temporary director" while the audit is ongoing.



The removal of Bezrukova from the register caught the eye of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ANTAC), a watchdog. It believes the Defense Ministry was behind the amendment to "legitimize" Zhumadilov as the new director and subsequently cement the ministrys control of the agency.



"It's like a classic hostile takeover," Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer at ANTAC, previously told the Kyiv Independent.



"They just want to take over, take the governance and the management (of the agency) into their hands, and quickly do something."



After the initial amendment was publicized by ANTAC on Jan. 27, Zhumadilovs position in the state registry was changed to "temporary director." It was changed a third time on Jan. 29 to again list Bezrukova as the director after she submitted the necessary documents to the notary.



The DPA and Bezrukova stress that she is the lawful director of the agency and previously told the Kyiv Independent that she would not step down from her position.



On Facebook, she said that the dispute does not benefit Ukraine. "We should not have any enemies except Russia," she added.



On Jan. 27, ambassadors of the Group of Seven (G7) countries called for a swift resolution and urged uninterrupted continuation of weapons procurement. They also stressed the importance of adhering to governance standards.



On Jan. 28, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) launched a criminal investigation into the potential abuse of power and office by Umerov.

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Read also: Defense Ministry must resolve procurement agencies issues by February, Deputy PM says

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The agencies that help newly arrived refugees adapt to life in Wisconsin are reeling after an order from President Donald Trump's administration to stop work immediately.

The order late last week directs the nonprofit agencies to stop using federal funds to provide services such as enrolling children in school, paying refugees' rent for three months and helping them find jobs. The private agencies, many of them faith-based, contract with the federal government to resettle persecuted individuals that the U.S. flies here after years of vetting.

The leaders of three resettlement agencies in Milwaukee, and one in Madison, say the unexpected order has left their staff and their clients in the lurch. They will try to continue serving refugees using donations while they wait for the government to decide whether to restart. But the future is uncertain.

Sheila Badwan, executive director of Hanan Refugees Relief Group, stands in a classroom at the agency's offices on South Howell Avenue in Milwaukee.

The suspension of operations and new spending was made pending a review of all foreign assistance programs. After that review, the government will resume, alter or cut the funding completely.

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"We're in a very bad situation. I'm trying to stay calm," said Sheila Badwan, executive director of Hanan Refugees Relief Group in Milwaukee.

The organization, which began as a volunteer-run aid group, became a resettlement agency in July 2023 and hired several staff members with the help of federal funding. Badwan had to lay off one employee earlier this week, she said, and expects to lay off at least two more by Friday. Many of the employees are refugees themselves.

More: Afghan refugee women learn to drive in Milwaukee so they can support their families

The agency took in 119 refugees in the last three months. Like all refugees, they were promised 90 days of government-funded assistance through Hanan. That aid includes securing and furnishing apartments, helping set up bank accounts and enrolling them in health insurance.

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"We help them become self-sufficient," Badwan said. "What do you do when you can't provide those essential services?"

Many of the refugees who are worriedly calling and visiting Hanan's offices since the stop-work order are vulnerable people, Badwan said. Some are single mothers with several children; some are people with complex medical cases. That's in addition to the relatives of refugees whose flights to the U.S. in the coming weeks were abruptly canceled.

New directives drive confusion, chaos for refugee agencies

Omar Mohamed, the refugee program manager for Lutheran Social Services in Milwaukee, worked in resettlement during Trump's first administration, when refugee admissions were sharply curtailed and the so-called Muslim travel ban was in place. But the orders now are "really unprecedented," he said.

More: Whitewater again finds itself the center of immigration, deportation spotlight

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On social media and in group chats, rumors about what could happen to refugees have spread quickly. As staff are informing clients about the situation, they're trying to stick to the facts and explain that they only know so much, Mohamed said.

"I can't tell them what's going to happen tomorrow. But as of today, this is what it is," Mohamed said.

The Trump administration has ordered a report within 90 days on whether resuming the refugee program "would be in the interests of the United States." So, the pause on funds and arrivals is expected to last for at least the next three months.

Lutheran Social Services feels it has a "moral obligation" to continue supporting refugees despite the funding cut-off. Mohamed asked people to donate and to contact their local elected officials. He also asked people to be kind and respectful to refugees in this moment.

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"They are afraid right now. They are in shock. This was like their lifeline" to a better future, he said. "They're a fellow human being who is in need."

Refugees who are selected to resettle in the U.S. have fled their home countries and wait years, often in refugee camps, while undergoing intensive vetting from a number of federal agencies. When they arrive, they can apply for a green card, or legal permanent residency. About 60% of the refugees who were resettled in Wisconsin in the last fiscal year were from Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Venezuela were some of the other most-represented countries.

Also, some Afghan evacuees' future in the U.S. could be up in the air, as the Trump administration directed officials not to renew their humanitarian parole, which offered evacuees a temporary legal status and was used widely under Joe Biden's administration. The U.S. admitted thousands of Afghans under the parole policy in 2021.

The administration has ordered no new parole approvals for Ukrainians, according to CBS News.

Afghan children take a piece of chalk at a childrens activity event held by non-governmental charities at Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin, Aug. 31, 2021.

More: 'A dream come true for me': A specialized wheelchair has given an Afghan refugee independence, hope

Agencies seek donations to fill gap

Kai Gardner Mishlove, executive director of Jewish Social Services of Madison, emphasized the "domino effect" of the pause. Without knowing if federal funding will restart, the agency can't plan its budget, sign contracts for the future or schedule programs. And the uncertainty affects its partners too, from employers who hire refugees to behavioral health providers to benefits specialists.

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"Now there's stress on that system," Gardner Mishlove said.

She is trying to take a long view. The agency's national affiliate, HIAS, was founded after World War II to assist Holocaust survivors, and it has had to "pivot" several times. Like Lutheran Social Services, staff members are "morally committed" to continuing to serve refugees, she said.

"We're all part of a shared community, and we're here to support them," Gardner Mishlove said.

Donations and volunteers will be key to resettlement agencies' survival in the coming months. Paul Trebian, president and chief executive of the International Institute of Wisconsin, is confident the broader community will step up to fill gaps.

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"I've got peace about it. Our community here is very resilient," he said.

The pause on resettlement and the stop-work order has overwhelmed and disheartened those who work in resettlement. They're strong believers that refugees benefit the U.S. economy and culture.

"They're hard workers, and they just want to live in freedom, just like the rest of us," Badwan said.

"We're a nation of immigrants. We're a melting pot. And right now it just doesn't feel that way."

Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her at scarson@gannett.com or 920-323-5758.

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This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump's stop-work order leave refugees, resettlement agencies in panic
NEW YORK (PIX11)  Lunar New Year celebrations are in full swing throughout New York City this weekend.

Traditional lion and dragon dancers will fill the streets of Queens on Saturday and Brooklyn on Sunday to welcome the new year. This also marks the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac.

What is Lunar New Year and how is it celebrated?

The annual Flushing Lunar New Year parade and celebration begins at 11 a.m. at the corner of Union Street and 37th Avenue. As the first and largest Chinatown neighborhood in Queens, the parade is expected to draw more than 100,000 spectators.

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Hundreds will also pack the streets of Borough Park and Bensonhurst on Sunday for local annual celebrations.

More Local News

Parades will also mean street closures for drivers in the area. Below are list of the streets that will be closed over the weekend.

Street closures for Queens on Saturday

Union Street between Northern Boulevard and 37th Avenue

Union Street between 37th Avenue and Sanford Avenue

Sanford Avenue between Union Street and Main Street

Main Street between Sanford Avenue and Northern Boulevard

Main Street between 37th Avenue and Northern Boulevard

Street closures for Brooklyn on Saturday

Eighth Avenue between 49th Street and 50th Street

Eighth Avenue between 50th Street and 60th Street

Eighth Avenue between 59th Street and 60th Street



18th Avenue between 61st Street and 62nd Street

61st Street between 17th Avenue and 19th Avenue

62nd Street between 17th Avenue 19th Avenue

18th Avenue between 62nd Street 84th Street

18th Avenue between 84th Street and New Utrecht Avenue

Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  Unionized employees at one New Seasons Market are striking for the third day, after alleging a longtime staff member was fired for helping a coworker who is disabled.

New Seasons Labor Union leaders said the Arbor Lodge store strike was launched on Tuesday in response to the dismissal of their treasurer  who worked for the grocery chain for 19 years. The labor organization claimed the company accused him of wrongfully working on his break, as he assisted a visually-impaired colleague.

St. Helens School District announces new acting superintendent

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We believe they have blatantly targeted him due to his union involvement and leadership within the union, NSLU wrote in an email to its members, and on the GoFundMe for the terminated employee.

The ongoing strike has caused the early closure of the North Portland store for two consecutive days, according to the labor organizations social media. In a statement to KOIN 6, a New Seasons spokesperson said the company respects its workers rights to demonstrate.

As a matter of policy, we do not comment on individual personnel matters, but any suggestion that staffing decisions are influenced by union affiliation or advocacy is unfounded, the spokesperson added. We remain dedicated to a fair and consistent application of company protocols.

The company also noted its upcoming collective bargaining session with NSLU.

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Unionized workers across 11 Portland-area locations launched a one-day strike against the grocery the day before Thanksgiving, claiming unfair labor practices. The organization called for a boycott against the store as well.

VIDEO: Oregon fugitives ram patrol vehicles in attempt to escape capture

NSLU reminded locals of the boycott again this week. The group said it has been unable to reach a fair contract with its employer since the union first formed two years ago.

New Seasons told KOIN 6 it is actively negotiating in good faith, striving to find a resolution that reflects our values and supports our dedicated staff.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)

The parents and partner of Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33, say she was on board the American Airlines plane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. The family said she was a 2010 graduate of Madiera High School and worked as an attorney for Wilkinson Stekloff in Washington.

A woman from Cincinnati, along with two other locals, were among the 67 victims killed in a midair crash between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday.

Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33, was flying back home to Washington D.C. from a work trip before the plane crashed that night, her partner of six years, David Seidman, told The Enquirer. She died on her birthday, he added.

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"She was just the best partner and so special, had such a sharp wit, and just really pushed everyone around her to be the best versions of themselves," Seidman said.

Keys was a 2010 graduate of Madeira High School, where she was valedictorian, according to a statement from her family. She then attended Tufts University, graduating in 2014 where she was a member of the varsity sailing team. In 2020, she earned her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

She had been an attorney at Wilkinson Stekloff LPP in Washington D.C. since 2021, according to her LinkedIn page.

"Elizabeth was strong and fearless  she embraced life at full speed ... She loved deeply and was deeply loved," her family said in a statement. "She was so fun  and funny! Liz had a sharp wit and appreciated it in others ... We are filled with unbearable sorrow and despair at our loss."

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Along with Seidman, who the statement says is the "love of her life," Keys is survived by her parents, Martin and Mary Keys, and her Yorkie terrier, Tucker.

Seidman said there are no plans yet for services.

Ohio college student was victim in crash

A student at Cedarville University in Greene County, Ohio, has also been identified as one of the victims in the crash.

Grace Maxwell, 20, was on board the American Eagle flight from Wichita, Kansas, that collided with the Army helicopter at about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday while on approach to a runway at Ronald Reagan International Airport.

She was among 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines regional flight operated by PSA who died when the aircraft broke apart in a fiery explosion with the helicopter and plunged bottom up in three sections into the icy Potomac River. Three U.S. Army service members aboard the helicopter also died.

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Maxwell was aboard the Wichita to Washington flight with the intention of returning to Cedarville on a second flight, the university said.

GE Aerospace employee was victim in crash

A GE Aerospace employee from Greater Cincinnati was the third local victim in the crash.

In a statement to Enquirer media partner Fox19, Larry Culp, chairman and CEO of GE Aerospace, identified the employee Thursday night as Vikesh Patel.

This is a tragedy not only for our industry but also for the GE Aerospace team as one of our cherished colleagues, Vikesh Patel, was onboard the flight, Culp said. Our hearts are with his family and all those impacted by this horrific accident.

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Columbus Dispatch reporter Shahid Meighan and Fox19 reporter Jennifer Edwards Baker contributed to this story.

This Enquirer will update this story when more information becomes available.

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati native, other Ohioans named victims in fatal DC plane crash
Three of President Donald Trumps nominees for top jobs in his administration faced tough questioning from Democrats during Senate confirmation hearings Thursday  and two of them were also grilled by some Republicans, highlighting concerns in Trumps own party about some of his unorthodox picks.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La, pressed Trumps pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on his anti-vaccine views, particularly debunked claims that vaccines cause autism, and said he was struggling to support him.

Republican senators also repeatedly pushed Tulsi Gabbard, Trumps nominee for director of national intelligence, on whether Edward Snowden  the former National Security Agency employee who leaked classified intelligence information  is a traitor, a label she avoided using to the frustration of some lawmakers.

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Trumps nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, said he disagreed with the presidents decision to grant clemency to his supporters who assaulted police officers during the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, a Senate committee advanced Russell Vought, Trumps nominee to lead the Office of Management Budget, which has been embroiled in a controversy over pausing federal funding.

Patel, Kennedy and Gabbard have faced considerable criticism of their records and qualifications. All three came under intense scrutiny from Democrats Thursday during hearings that sometimes became emotional.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of national intelligence, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on January 30, 2025.

The concerns raised by Republicans are more problematic for Trump, though. The president already needed Vice President J.D. Vance to break a tie Senate vote to get his Defense secretary confirmed after three Republicans opposed the nomination.

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Here are some takeaways from an explosive day of confirmation hearings.

Struggling with Kennedy

Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, said in the past that Kennedy was wrong about vaccines. Cassidy has been viewed as a potential swing vote on Kennedy's confirmation, and made his concerns plain Thursday.

The Louisiana senator kicked off Kennedy's second day of confirmation hearings by asking if he would unequivocally assure Americans, particularly mothers, that vaccines do not cause autism.

Kennedy said he would  after being shown data to that effect.

Cassidy said that still left him with concerns, adding, The data has been there for a long time.

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Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine also questioned Kennedys prior anti-vaccine rhetoric in Thursdays hearing. Murkowski and Collins already have voted against Pete Hegseth, Trumps pick for Defense secretary.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) looks on as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during a Senate confirmation hearing on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Invoking his knowledge of the medical field to highlight the benefits of vaccines, Cassidy worried that if theres any false note, any undermining of a mamas trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine-preventable disease.

Does a 71-year-old man who's spent decades criticizing vaccines, and who's financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that hell have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States? Cassidy asked, referencing Kennedy making money from vaccine litigation.

Kennedys frequent comments that he wants to see more data on vaccine safety didnt sit well with Cassidy. He questioned whether Kennedy would improve Americans health or undermine it by always asking for more evidence and never accepting the evidence that is there.

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That is why I have been struggling with your nomination, said Cassidy, indicating he was torn on how to vote and telling Kennedy, You may be hearing from me over the weekend.

An attorney, activist, author and member of a storied American political family, Kennedy mounted a longshot bid for president in 2024, first as a Democrat and then as an independent, before dropping out and endorsing Trump, who rewarded him with a nomination to lead federal health agencies he has long criticized.

Gabbard grilled about Snowden

Gabbard, a former Democratic congressmember and 2020 presidential candidate who endorsed Trump in 2024, also has a record that gives some in her party heartburn. She has made comments viewed as sympathetic to dictators, including Russias Vladimir Putin, and has been deeply critical of U.S. intelligence agencies.

On Thursday, she repeatedly sought to distance herself from her past support of Snowden, who stole and leaked more than one million documents to the media about U.S. intelligence collection efforts.

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Multiple Republican senators pressed Gabbard on her position, saying Snowden was a traitor who undermined U.S. national security and not, as Gabbard has claimed in the past, a patriotic whistleblower.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, criticized legislation Gabbard filed in 2020  the Protect Brave Whistleblowers Act  saying it would hamper our ability to prosecute people who give our adversaries classified information.

Gabbard repeatedly stated that her position was that Snowden broke the law. But over and over again she declined to call him a traitor in response to questions from Democratic and Republican senators.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., asked Gabbard for her thoughts on a House Intelligence Committee report stating Snowden damaged national security, and seemed concerned with her response.

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Its notable you didnt say Yes, he clearly hurt in various ways our national security, Young said.

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I think it would befit you, and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge the greatest whistleblower in American history, so-called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land, Young added later.

Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., hammered Gabbard on her refusal to characterize Snowden as a traitor.

This is where the rubber meets the road, Bennet said, his voice raised. Is Edward Snowden a traitor? That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.

When Gabbard again sought to deflect Bennets question, he replied, visibly angry, That is not a hard question!

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Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., clashed with Gabbard over her views and public statements on Russia.

I want to make certain that in no way does Russia get a pass in either your mind or your heart or any policy recommendation you would make or not make, Moran said, prompting Gabbard to fire back that she was offended by the question.

No country or group or individual will get a pass, if shes confirmed for the job, Gabbard said.

The Senate still has a number of Republicans with more hawkish views on national security issues, and Gabbards nomination could test their willingness to go along with Trump.

Patel breaks with Trump on Jan. 6

Patels nomination has worried critics who view him as a Trump loyalist who will seek retribution against the presidents political enemies.

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So it was notable that Patel broke with Trump Thursday on the question of how to handle Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers.

Asked by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., if Trump was wrong to issue "blanket clemency" to Jan. 6 defendants, Patel said it is within Trump's power to pardon.

When Durbin pressed him further, Patel said he has always rejected violence against law enforcement, including during the infamous Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee to be FBI director, is sworn in during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

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"I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement," Patel said.

But Patel didnt contradict Trump on his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked Patel if Trump lost in 2020, characterizing it as a yes-or-no question. Patel declined to answer directly, although he acknowledged Joe Biden became president.

"President Biden's election was certified. He was sworn in and he served as the president of the United States," Patel said.

"Once again, people who are 100% loyal to President Trump cannot answer that question." Hirono replied.

Democrats blasted Patel from the start of the hearing. Durbin said he has neither the experience, the temperament, nor the judgment to lead the FBI.

Republicans lauded him. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Patels career as been a study in fighting unpopular but righteous causes, exposing corruption and putting America first.

Grassley opened the hearing by saying the FBI has been plagued by abuse and weaponization and has lost the public trust, but Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., later cautioned Patel to rebuild the FBI, not just tear it down.

Dont go over there and burn down that agency. Lift it up. Clean it up, but lift it up in accordance with due process and the rule of law, Kennedy said.

Democrats boycott as Vought advances to Senate floor

The Senate Budget Committee voted on Thursday to advance Russell Vought, Trumps pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, for a floor vote.The floor vote, in which all senators will decide whether to officially confirm Vought for the role, will likely take place next week.Reuters reported that Democrats on the Senate budget and appropriations committees had tried to postpone the Thursday vote after the Trump administration had ordered a pause on certain federal spending, but the effort was unsuccessful.

The spending pause prompted a huge backlash. A federal judge temporarily blocked it, and the White House later rescinded the OMB memo the sparked the controversy.Democrats on the Budget Committee ended up boycotting the vote, writing on X, formerly Twitter, that, We will not vote for someone so clearly unfit for office.Vought has also faced criticism from Democrats over his ties with Project 2025, an extensive 920-page plan put together by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, that aims to reshape the federal government. He wrote the chapter on executive power in Project 2025.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senators grill Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
STRUTHERS, Ohio (WKBN)  Reports said a woman who went to a Maplewood Avenue home Thursday for mail was arrested for assaulting a pregnant woman.

Read next: Police looking for Farrell murder suspect

Tyneshia Jones, 47, was booked into the Mahoning County Jail on two counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony; vandalism, a fifth-degree felony; and resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor.

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She is expected to be arraigned later Friday in municipal court.

Jones was arrested after police were called about 3:20 p.m. to a home in the 400 block of Maplewood Avenue for a report of a fight. When they arrived, they saw a woman in the driveway who had scratches on her forehead, neck and arms.

The woman told police that Jones was not wanted at the home and she was assaulted after Jones came to get her mail. A witness told police Jones forced her way inside and began choking and hitting the woman. He managed to separate them, reports said.

When police went to arrest Jones, she would not allow herself to be handcuffed and she also went limp when they tried to place her in a cruiser.

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She repeatedly struck her head against the divider in the cruiser so she was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center before she was booked into the jail so she could be examined and medically cleared, reports said.

Reports said two charges of felonious assault were filed since the victim was pregnant. Police also collected pieces of the womans hair they say were torn off her head when Jones assaulted her.

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)  High schoolers who reside in Louisianas Fourth Congressional District are invited to show The Spirit of Louisiana in an upcoming art competition.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is encouraging Louisiana students passionate about art, photography, or design to submit works that will be displayed in our nations capital.

The Congressional Art Competition is a nationwide visual art content for high school students. A panel of judges will choose one student winner from each congressional district, and the selected works will be displayed inside the U.S. Capitol Building.

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Texas High student develops community service app, wins congressional challenge

Louisianas Fourth Congressional District  outlined (Source: Speaker Mike Johnsons House web page)

The winning artist will be recognized at an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., during the summer. Second and third-place selections will be displayed in Speaker Johnsons congressional offices. All winners will be honored at an award reception in Louisianas 4th Congressional District office.

Students must reside in Louisianas Fourth Congressional District to qualify. They must submit works that align with this years theme, The Spirit of Louisiana, celebrating the states history, heritage, and people.

The deadline is April 17, 2025. Click the link to read the Congressional Art Competition Rules or complete the student artwork submission form. For more information, visit Speaker Johnsons website or contact the Bossier City Office at 318-840-0309.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)  A 20-year-old student at an Ohio university was among those killed Wednesday night when an American Airlines passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter in Washington D.C.

Grace Maxwell was a junior at Cedarville University. The plane took off from her hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

Grace Maxwell

As you can imagine, the past 24 hours have been very difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community, a statement from the university read. As a university, we do not desire to turn this tragic event into anything more than a way to honor Grace, her family and Jesus.

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Cedarville is a private Christian university of about 4,700 students about 60 miles west of Columbus.

The Wichita Eagle reported that Maxwell was returning to Ohio after going home for the funeral of her grandfather. She was a biomedical engineering major, her father, Dean, told the Eagle.

Whitehall student tests positive for tuberculosis

Another Ohioan confirmed to have died on the flight is Cincinnati native Elizabeth Keys.

Keys was an associate at the law firm Wilkinson Stekloff, which had offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. In a statement, the firm wrote:

We are heartbroken by this terrible tragedy. Liz and Sarah [Lee Best, another Wilkinson associate] were cherished members of our firmwonderful attorneys, colleagues, and friends. Beyond being an excellent lawyer, Liz brought fearlessness, humor, and sharp wit to work every day, no matter the setting or circumstances. Sarah joined us just last fall and quickly energized us all with her boundless curiosity, kindness, and intelligence. It is hard to imagine the firm without them. We are keeping them in our memories and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

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The plane was on its final approach to Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., when it collided with the helicopter about 9 p.m. The plane split apart, and both aircraft fell into the Potomac River. A total of 67 people were believed to have been killed, with no survivors.

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Pepe Unchained is soaring, with investors piling in ahead of its much-anticipated Pump Pad launch. But its not the only Pepe-inspired project making wavesWall Street Pepe and MIND of Pepe are also seeing massive demand.

Pepe Unchained has once again captured investor attention, surging by 25% as excitement builds around the imminent launch of Pump Pad, its Ethereum-based meme coin launchpad. This latest development positions Pepe Unchained as a direct rival to Solanas Pump.fun, which has already amassed over $400 million in revenue.

With meme coins dominating crypto trends, investors are now searching for the next major breakout tokens poised for exponential growth.

Among the most talked-about contenders are Wall Street Pepe and MIND of Pepe, two projects that have capitalized on the intersection of meme culture and real utility.

Wall Street Pepe has secured an astonishing $64.4 million in presale funding, positioning itself as a meme coin designed to empower retail investors against whale manipulation.

Meanwhile, MIND of Pepe has introduced AI-driven trading insights, revolutionizing the way traders interact with the meme coin market.

With Pepe Unchaineds rally, Wall Street Pepes presale nearing completion, and MIND of Pepes AI innovations drawing attention, these three projects are emerging as the frontrunners in the next phase of meme coin speculation.

Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) Gains Momentum as Pump Pad Nears Launch

The excitement surrounding Pepe Unchained has reached new heights as the project continues to deliver on its roadmap. Following its $74 million presale, the token has already generated impressive returns, with early investors seeing an 8x increase in value after its exchange listing.

Now, all eyes are on its upcoming Pump Pad launch, an Ethereum-based alternative to Solanas wildly successful Pump.fun.

Pump Pad aims to become the go-to decentralized exchange (DEX) for launching and trading meme coins on Ethereum. Given that Pump.fun has been a major catalyst in Solanas meteoric rise, Pepe Unchaineds decision to bring a similar platform to Ethereum could drive significant trading volume.

The potential revenue generated from this venture is expected to further enhance the utility of the $PEPU token, making it more than just another speculative meme coin.

Investors are betting on $PEPUs long-term potential, with the belief that its combination of meme appeal and tangible utility could position it as a major player in the space.

Currently boasting a market cap of $96 million, the token still has room for explosive growth, especially when compared to the original PEPE meme coin, which commands a valuation exceeding $8 billion.

If Pepe Unchained reaches even a fraction of PEPEs market dominance, it could deliver returns as high as 40x for early adopters.

With its Pump Pad launch imminent, traders are closely watching $PEPU, anticipating further price surges as Ethereums meme coin ecosystem expands.

Wall Street Pepe ($WEPE) Smashes $64M in Presale  Could It Be the Next 100x Meme Coin?

While Pepe Unchained is making waves with its launchpad, Wall Street Pepe has taken a different approach by positioning itself as a retail investors weapon against whale-driven market manipulation.

The token has raised a staggering $62 million in its presale, one of the highest totals seen in recent years.

Wall Street Pepes appeal lies in its mission to empower smaller investors, allowing them to collaborate, share trading signals, and leverage collective market insights. Unlike heavily whale-controlled meme coins like $TRUMP and $PEPE, which often see massive dumps due to centralized ownership, Wall Street Pepe is designed to maintain a fairer token distribution.

SECURE YOUR $WEPE TOKENS BEFORE THE PRESALE ENDS

The projects growing traction is evident in its rapidly filling presale, with over $10 million raised in just the past two weeks. Investors are flocking to $WEPE at its final presale price of $0.0003665, anticipating significant gains once it secures listings on major exchanges.

With its strong presale momentum and a dedicated trading community, Wall Street Pepe is shaping up to be one of the biggest meme coin contenders of 2025.

Those looking to get in before the market fully realizes its potential are moving quickly before the presale sells out.

MIND of Pepe ($MIND)  AI Meets Meme Coins in a Game-Changing Project

While most meme coins rely on social media hype and viral trends, MIND of Pepe is taking a more sophisticated approach by integrating artificial intelligence into its ecosystem. The project has already raised over $4.4 million in presale funding, attracting attention from investors and crypto analysts alike.

At the heart of MIND of Pepe is its AI agent, a 24/7 trading assistant designed to help investors identify emerging trends and capitalize on market opportunities before they go mainstream. This self-evolving AI can analyze social media sentiment, track price movements, and even manage crypto wallets autonomously.

Unlike traditional trading bots, MIND of Pepes AI engages with real-time data, providing exclusive insights to token holders.

Early backers are particularly excited about the staking rewards, which currently offer an annual yield of 524% APY. This high reward system has fueled presale demand, with many investors locking up their tokens in anticipation of future gains.

Popular crypto YouTubers such as ClayBro have already highlighted MIND of Pepe as a top contender in the AI crypto sector, predicting that it could become one of the most valuable AI-powered meme coins of the year.

With the AI crypto market projected to grow significantly in 2025, MIND of Pepe is well-positioned to ride the wave of increasing demand for smarter trading tools.

JOIN THE MIND OF PEPE PRESALE NOW BEFORE PRICES RISE

As the presale moves closer to completion, investors are racing to secure $MIND tokens at the lowest available price before its inevitable surge post-launch.

Which Pepe Coin Will Explode Next?

With meme coin mania sweeping the crypto market, three projects are standing out as potential breakout stars. Pepe Unchaineds Pump Pad launch is driving renewed excitement, with the potential to disrupt Ethereums meme coin ecosystem.

Wall Street Pepes presale success highlights the growing demand for community-driven projects that challenge whale dominance. Meanwhile, MIND of Pepes AI integration adds a new dimension to meme coin trading, offering investors a smarter way to navigate the market.

Each of these projects brings something unique to the table, and with presale stages ending soon, now is the time for investors to make their move. As history has shown, early participation in the right meme coin can lead to exponential gains.
After years of fits and starts, a study which will help the Chicago Police Department determine which neighborhoods see additions or subtractions in officer deployment is at last in development.

The study has been a political hot potato for years, and city leaders will soon face the question of how to distribute the departments limited number of police officers in an effective way that satisfies the citys array of constituencies  and legal obligations.

The workforce allocation study wont be finished until years end. But of CPDs roughly 11,000 sworn police officers, more than half are assigned to the departments 22 patrol districts and are potentially subject to movement.

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Little in city government can be more controversial than where officers are stationed, and any significant shifting is likely to bring an outcry.

Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, said his constituents have for years been forced to stomach slow response times for emergencies as the districts beat cops are often overloaded with calls. Quinn noted that the resident population in the Chicago Lawn District in his ward is far higher than that of the neighboring Englewood District.

Like the Harrison District on the West Side, the Englewood District has for years remained one of the most violent in the city. CPD has 339 patrol officers assigned to Englewood, according to OIG. That equates to 656 officers per 100,000 residents  by far the highest number within any patrol district.

In certain areas of the city, you could make an argument theyre overpoliced, and in my area were underpoliced drastically, Quinn told the Tribune. There is a question of fairness on allocation.

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How is that fair to taxpayers that one district is prioritized with officers versus a neighboring one? Quinn added.

Tough choices

CPD has for years been the second-largest municipal department in the United States, and Chicago has the second-highest number of police officers per 100,000 residents of any city in the country.

The results of the study  and the accompanying staffing model  will, ostensibly, help the department more efficiently distribute sworn officers, while also affording cops greater consistency in their work schedules, assignments and supervisors.

The answer that many workforce allocation studies say  they usually say  is, You need more police, Tim Daly, director of Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program at the Joyce Foundation, one of the studys funders, told the Chicago Police Board in November.

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And thats where I think it could lead to some tough decisions, Daly added.

The study  mandated by the ongoing federal consent decree  has remained an elusive target for the Police Department. Last year, Superintendent Larry Snelling blamed red tape for the repeated delays in producing it.

The University of Chicago Crime Lab completed a similar analysis in 2021 that showed deployment levels decline during the weekend overnight time periods when shootings are most common. However, a year later, former police Superintendent David Brown called the study lacking. He announced plans to seek his own officer deployment evaluation  plans that never came together before he left his post in March 2023.

Now it appears things are finally moving, and CPDs community policing objectives are at the heart of the study. The contractor  California-based Matrix Consulting Group  will also identify areas where increased civilianization may aid in efficiency.

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How the CPD chooses to allocate its resources and workforce truly matters. It can facilitate effective policing and reform efforts or hinder them, Maggie Hickey, head of the independent monitoring group that assesses the citys consent decree compliance, said during a status hearing earlier this month.

In our reports, we have consistently expressed concerns about key (CPD) units being under resourced, Hickey said, and we hope that the results of this study will help the city and CPD realign its resources to meet the requirements of the consent decree and to meet the needs of Chicagos communities.

Declining number of cops

Police departments across the country have faced staffing challenges in recent years amid high-profile examples of fatal police misconduct and shifting mindsets about criminal justice at large. Chicago has been no exception.

Data from the citys Office of Inspector General show CPD has about 11,600 sworn officers as of December 2024. Of those, more than 6,300 are assigned to the citys 22 patrol districts.

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Staffing levels vary by district. The Lincoln District (20th) on the North Side, typically the citys quietest and safest, has 243 officers, the fewest of any patrol district. The Englewood (7th) and Harrison (11th) districts on the South and West sides have 339 and 346 officers, respectively, data show.

Five years ago, in December 2019, CPD boasted nearly 13,200 sworn members, with more than 7,800 officers assigned to patrol districts, according to OIG.

As the departments ranks have thinned, department leaders have often been forced to cancel cops scheduled off days and temporarily reassign them elsewhere, especially during the summer when violence typically spikes and the citys social calendar is in full swing.

During his November presentation to the Police Board, Daly cautioned that there will likely not be a windfall of new cops.

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There are a lot of folks who are very comfortable with the number of officers, perhaps, they have in their community, Daly said. And what this study will say, we think very clearly, through the evidence and the materials it pulls together, is, Well, actually, we probably need to allocate them in these ways, given our fiscal realities.

Late last year, around the time that Matrix was selected as the study vendor, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability issued a report on CPDs budget that highlighted the studys urgency.

The Department needs to do a better job placing officers in the right places and at the right times. It also needs to keep them there long enough and provide time in their schedules to build strong working relationships with people in the neighborhoods they serve, the report said.

The Commission has heard concerns about slow response times in neighborhoods across the city, and especially in Black and Brown neighborhoods on the South and West sides, the report stated. While the Department participates in a workforce allocation study during 2025, it must take additional steps to improve response times with existing data and tools. Slow response times weaken trust and confidence in the Police Department and put health and safety at great risk.

Changing the map?

Beyond staffing, CPD may also alter the boundaries of the 22 patrol districts as a result of the workforce allocation study.

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We need to make sure that we are effectively utilizing our manpower, Superintendent Snelling said during a community meeting in December. (The workforce allocation study is) also going to help us look at district mapping, the size of districts, how quickly our officers are getting to jobs, how our officers are responding and how we can (decrease) response times.

Altering district boundaries  something not done in decades  is top of mind in the Chicago Lawn (8th) District, which covers most of the Southwest Side from Pershing Road south to 87th Street, from Harlem Avenue east to Western Avenue. The district, especially on the west side of Midway Airport, is home to scores of CPD officers and other municipal employees.

Local leaders have made a recent push to split the Chicago Lawn District into two, with Central Park Avenue being the new boundary.

With about a quarter-million residents, the Chicago Lawn District, served by Ald. Quinn and several other aldermen, has nearly five times the population as the Englewood District, according to data from the citys OIG. However, calls to 911 for emergency services are far more common in Englewood, highlighting the challenges in how to allocate officers.

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There were about 92,000 calls for service within the Chicago Lawn District in 2024, records show, equating to roughly 36,000 calls per 100,000 residents.

About 52,000 calls for service were made in the Englewood District last year  a nearly 1:1 resident-to-911-call ratio. Violent crime in the Englewood District has for decades outpaced the Chicago Lawn District and most other patrol districts.

Darryl Smith, a neighborhood violence interrupter and community activist in Englewood, said the neighborhood and district need all the police officers they can get.

I think, overall, throughout the city, we need more officers  no ones oversaturated with officers, Smith told the Tribune. But the amount of officers that we need (in the Englewood District), we dont need any taken away. Crime is still rampant over there, just like in the 8th District, its bad.

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Smith noted, too, that the Englewood District is often the first assignment for new officers after they graduate the CPD training academy.

Englewood is also a training district, so we get a lot of new officers coming from the academy, so thats probably why it seems like we have more officers, Smith said. We dont have more experienced officers, and thats whats needed.
SODUS, N.Y. (WROC)  The village of Sodus and a swath of Wayne County, will soon have more power, enough to service 3,300 more customers.

A new 23 million substation, complete with two transformers is complete. Planning for the project started in 2020, as RG&Es parent company Avangrid plans to invest $7 billion into New Yorks electrical infrastructure over the next 10 years.

The substation, in addition to quadrupling the capacity of the previous substation, comes with significant reliability upgrades. The power conduits were installed underground for protection, and a sophisticated lightning rod is on the premises. RG&E says state-of-the-art monitoring and measuring equipment is on site.

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Electric grid upgrade in Henrietta moving forward

The village mayor of Sodus, Daniel Ingersoll, said that the new power addresses some immediate concerns, such as having more power for cold storage for apples, and will allow the village and the town to add more housing.

Assemblymember Brian Manktelow adding:

We have the fairlife plant coming next year up in Webster in Monroe County, and having the ability to supply that as well, he said. Because if theyre going to have all those employees there, were going to need a place for them to live.

The substation will be connected in the spring, and RG&E expects more updates on other substation projects later in the year.

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The estate of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster sued DC Comics and Warner Bros. on Friday, seeking to invalidate the companies copyrights in several foreign markets.

The suit revives a long-running dispute that was last addressed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in 2013. The court rejected the Shuster estates attempt to cancel the Superman copyright, finding that Shusters sister had signed away his termination right after his death in 1992.

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In the new case, the estates attorney, Marc Toberoff, asserts claims under copyright laws in the U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia. The suit comes months before Warner Bros. Discovery will release Superman this summer, relaunching the valuable franchise and starting a planned cinematic universe of DC characters.

In the suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, Toberoff argues that the copyright reverted to the Shuster estate in most of those countries in 2017, and in Canada in 2021.

Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estates authorization  including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise  in direct contravention of these countries copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so, Toberoff wrote.

Through a spokesperson, Warner Bros., which owns DC, said it will fight in court.

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We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit, and will vigorously defend our rights, the spokesperson said.

Shuster and Jerome Siegel created Superman and sold the rights for $130 in 1938. Siegel died in 1996; the heirs of both creators have sought to reclaim the rights since then.

Toberoff has been involved in those efforts since 2001. DC sued him in 2010, accusing him of seeking to enrich himself by wrongfully working with the creators estates to try to wrest control of Superman. The company ultimately prevailed in a 2-1 ruling at the 9th Circuit.

Toberoff argues in the complaint that the previous litigation was limited to termination rights under the U.S. Copyright Act, and does not affect the estates overseas copyrights.

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The suit states that under the copyright laws in the U.K. and the other countries at issue, the rights to Superman automatically reverted to the estates 25 years after the creators deaths.

Toberoff argues that the U.S. District Court has jurisdiction over the dispute in part due to the Berne Convention, the international treaty which the U.S. joined in 1988.

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Jan. 30Maine's U.S. senators questioned Tulsi Gabbard Thursday about her past efforts to excuse Edward Snowden from criminal charges for disclosing classified national intelligence information during a sometimes contentious confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump's nominee to be the director of national intelligence.

Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic lawmaker, faced questions from U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, during the public portion of a hearing before the U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee also questioned Gabbard privately in a classified session.

At a separate committee hearing Thursday, Collins also questioned Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has been nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, about his stance on vaccines, including one for Lyme disease being tested in Maine.

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It wasn't clear when the two committees will vote.

Collins is being closely watched on both nominations, but there is a particular focus on the Gabbard vote in the intelligence committee because Republicans have a narrow 9-8 majority on that panel. That means Gabbard will not come out of the committee with a positive recommendation if she loses a single Republican vote and fails to win over any Democrats on the committee.

After the hearing, Collins told CNN she was still undecided.

"I need to review the entire hearing," she said. "I want to make a careful decision."

At the hearing, Collins did little to break through Gabbard's prepared answers and talking points during her five minutes of questioning. She did not ask follow-up questions or press Gabbard to explain inconsistencies.

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King, on the other hand, repeatedly pressed the nominee on her past efforts to make it harder for authorities to prosecute people under the nation's espionage laws and drop criminal charges against Snowden, who is now in Russia.

As a Democratic lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored a bill that would have dropped the criminal charges against Snowden. She cosponsored the bill with former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who was nominated by Trump to be attorney general but withdrew amid criticism, including from Collins.

"Edward Snowden does stand out as having done particularly grave harm to our national security by revealing top secret information including sensitive sources and methods, thus jeopardizing agents in the field," Collins said. "If confirmed, would you support or recommend a pardon or any kind of clemency for Edward Snowden?"

Gabbard said she would not recommend any actions on Snowden, an answer that appeared to satisfy Collins.

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In response to others' questions, Gabbard told senators her bill was aimed at exposing abuses of U.S. intelligence gathering and how it can infringe on the civil liberties of Americans. She was questioned about her past statements, including once in which she called Snowden a "brave whistleblower" and about her conversion to now supporting the country's warrantless wiretapping program, which senators said accounts for 60% of the information in the president's daily briefing.

King pressed her about whether she had reviewed a bipartisan report about Snowden leaks before submitting her bill. That report described the leak as "the largest and most damaging public release of classified information in U.S. history" and determined that most of the classified information taken and released had nothing to do with an infringement on civil liberties of Americans, he said.

Gabbard said she never had access to a classified version of the report and that the facts stated in her bill were based on publicly available information. She conceded that she was aware of the report's conclusions, though.

"He should not have released all of that information that caused that harm  there is no question about that," Gabbard said, noting Snowden took 1 million documents.

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King pressed Gabbard about why she partnered with Gaetz on a bill that would essentially pardon him for "enormous compromises of our national security."

"I focused on raising concerns around egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that our government was conducting that was clearly violating Americans' Fourth Amendment rights," Gabbard said.

"If confirmed as director of national intelligence, I would take seriously the responsibility to protect our nation's secrets," she said. "I have a specific action plan in place to make sure there isn't another Snowden-type leak in the future."

During a brief follow-up round of questioning, King expressed concern that Gabbard wasn't swayed by a heavily redacted five-page section of the public version of the bipartisan report on the Snowden leaks under the heading "what damage did it cause."

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"I would have thought that would have raised a question in your mind," King said. "I'm concerned about your apparent lack of interest in the scope of Edward Snowden's traitorous activity."

Collins also serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held a simultaneous confirmation hearing for Kennedy Thursday morning.

During that hearing, Collins pushed back on Kennedy's desire to devote more funding from infectious diseases towards chronic disease prevention, noting that it's Congress that sets the funding levels, not the department. Collins took over as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month.

Collins also asked Kennedy about his past criticisms of vaccines. She said physicians are worried that if more children continue to go unvaccinated then children who cannot receive a vaccine because of compromised immune systems will be put at risk, as so-called herd immunity is lost.

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"All vaccines are dropping and they're doing that because people don't believe the government any more," Kennedy replied. "We need good science, and I'm going to bring that in. I'm going to restore trust and that will restore vaccine uptake."

Collins did not challenge Kennedy on his well-documented views against vaccines, including his promotion of widely debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.

Instead, Collins asked whether he would oppose ongoing efforts to develop and test a vaccine for Lyme disease, which she said is important in Maine given the number of people who work outdoors.

Kennedy said he and his immediate family members have all had Lyme disease in the past and he would not block vaccine efforts.

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After the hearing, a Collins aide said the senator didn't spend more time probing Kennedy's anti-vaccine past because it had already been covered extensively. The aide declined to comment on whether Collins believes Kennedy's past positions have contributed to the lack of trust he claimed was leading to a drop in vaccination rates.

Collins is facing pressure from Maine health care advocates and professionals to oppose the nomination. On Thursday, 355 health care professionals in Maine submitted a letter urging Collins to reject Kennedy, calling him a "dangerous nominee."

"Every day we see how health misinformation has eroded the trust between provider and patient," the group said. "RFK Jr, founder of Children's Health Defense, the most damaging anti-vaccine organization in the world, has been fueling vaccine skepticism for decades."

Kennedy's appearance before the Senate health committee came a day after a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, in which he struggled to show an understanding of the complex health programs that he would oversee as secretary, including Medicare and Medicaid.

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At one point, he criticized Medicaid as having high premiums, when most people don't pay any. And he described it as being fully funded by the federal government, when states share in the costs.

Kennedy was also called to account for his anti-vaccine views, as well as his past support for abortion access. The former is a concern for Democrats, while the latter concerns some Republicans, a dynamic that puts his confirmation in a perilous position.

Kennedy has falsely linked vaccines to autism, which studies have widely and repeatedly debunked. Kennedy told senators that he's not anti-vaccine and instead described his views as "pro-safety."

Democrats also highlighted his about face on abortion.

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Kennedy set aside his past support for a woman's right to choose after dropping his own bid for the White House and endorsed Trump. He told senators that he now shares Trump's view that every abortion is "a tragedy" and that "we cannot be a moral nation if we have 1.2 million abortion a year."

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(KRON)  Police in Berkeley arrested a 41-year-old man Thursday who allegedly sexually assaulted a female high school student. The victim, a student at Berkeley High School, was walking on the sidewalk in Civic Center Park when she was confronted by the suspect.

The suspect, police said, inappropriately touched her.

Man allegedly stabs, kills woman after delivery van stolen in Oakland

The Berkeley Police Department said it quickly began an investigation, offered the victim support, and connected her to resources. Working with Berkeley High School, Berkeley PDs school resource officer, and multiple units within the department, the suspect was identified.

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Police said the suspect was arrested around noon without incident by detectives and Bike Patrol Detail officers.

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Jan. 30Police in Missoula have arrested a suspect in a drive-by shooting that killed 13-year-old Gavin Looper, a Peperzak Middle School student in Spokane.

Glen Burkey, 25, was apprehended Wednesday by police following a response by SWAT and the use of flash bang devices in the 2400 block of Clark Fork Lane in Missoula, according to a Missoula police news release. Agencies from Montana, Spokane and the FBI were all involved in his arrest.

Burkey surrendered and was taken into custody without incident, according to the release.

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When he is brought back to Spokane, Burkey will face charges of a drive-by shooting, second-degree murder and second-degree assault, according to a previous news release from the Spokane Police Department.

Looper was shot in the head while he sat on a bed playing video games at his father's friend's north Spokane home on Saturday around 2:40 a.m., according to his mother, Renee Rogers. The bullet went through the back door, killing him, she said.

According to court records, security video in the neighborhood captured five gunshots. A man was seen running away from the home as six more shots are heard from a different area.

Police later found five shots were fired into the door Looper was behind, sitting on a bed playing video games.

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A friend of Burkey told investigators they had been drinking most of the day on Saturday, the day of the shooting, court records say. When the friend went to Burkey's home to pick him up to try and find cocaine, they all drove to the Bemiss neighborhood. He couldn't remember anything else because he was intoxicated, court records say.

The friend heard the next morning that a teen was shot in the same neighborhood. The friend was told Burkey was being chased by another man down the street that night, shooting at him, according to court documents.

Two other witnesses said they were in the neighborhood at the time and dropped off their friend known as "Muggsy." When they picked him up, he was running from gunfire down the street. He told the witnesses he was being ripped off, court documents say.

When another friend called Burkey and told him to turn himself in, Burkey claimed he "sounded like the police" and didn't know what he was talking about before hanging up the phone.

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Burkey was previously arrested at the same home on the 2800 block of East Heroy Avenue for a shooting, a witness told police. She "immediately" identified him due to his build and stature, court records say. He also was tried in 2017 on drive-by shooting charges, but the case was dismissed.

Gavin's mother called the shooting "a one-off situation" with "the worst timing," in an interview with The Spokesman-Review.

"I live a good, safe, healthy life. My kids aren't involved in bad things," Rogers said Tuesday. "My innocent boy getting caught in that is enraging me."

This story is developing.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)  A man suspected of a Depoe Bay motel shooting was arrested Thursday after being chased by law enforcement, according to Lincoln County Sheriffs Office.

Around 10:15 a.m., the sheriffs office responded to reported gunshots from the Four Winds Inn, a motel along Highway 101.

Deputies arrived and found the motels owner  44-year-old Sarabjit Singh  died from multiple gunshot wounds and discovered the suspect was 29-year-old Brennon Neal, who had fled the scene in a dark-colored sedan, the sheriffs office said.

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VIDEO: Oregon fugitives ram patrol vehicles in attempt to escape capture

Around 11:15 a.m., a sergeant with the Toledo Police Department found Neal driving eastbound on Highway 20. However, Neal fled officers who tried to pull him over.

About 35 miles later, authorities used spike strips to stop Neals car, which he continued driving for several miles with damaged tires.

Oregon State Police responded with a vehicle redirect maneuver, which stopped Neal and led to his arrest.

Authorities said the homicide remains under investigation.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Two suspects are in custody following a police chase Thursday morning that started in Prairie Village and ended in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Prairie Village Police Department reports the suspect of a stolen truck rammed a patrol vehicle in Mission Hills instead of complying with officers.

KC man sentenced in plea hearing on charges from 2023 deadly shooting

The police department shared video of the incident on social media.

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The incident led to a chase into KCMO. Police said the suspect vehicle crashed into a tree and two suspects ran on foot before being taken into custody with the help of KCPD.

Prairie Village police said both suspects are facing multiple felony charges at this time.

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No injuries were reported during the incident.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
As if his ban from appearing before the Supreme Court wasnt enough, prominent lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi now faces the risk of losing his Senior Counsel title following a petition filed by two lawyers.

Lawyers Paul Kiragu Wathuta and John Murimi Njomo have petitioned for Ahmednasirs removal from the Roll of Senior Counsel, accusing him of professional misconduct, including ongoing attacks on the judiciary.

The petition, lodged with the Committee on Senior Counsel, cites Rule 4(c) and Rule 15 of the Advocates (Senior Counsel Conferment and Privileges) Rules, 2011, arguing that Ahmednasir has repeatedly engaged in conduct unbecoming of a Senior Counsel.

The petitioners accuse Ahmednasir of using social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter), to undermine and discredit members of the judiciary. It points to several instances where he allegedly made unsubstantiated allegations against judges, accusing the courts of tribal bias and corruption without providing any formal evidence.

Ahmednasir has become a master of fickle attacks on the judiciary without providing evidence of any misdeeds by the judiciary and its officers the petition states.

Weaponizing Social Media Against Judiciary

The petition further criticizes Ahmednasir for weaponizing social media to attack judges and the legal profession, describing his actions as reckless claims that diminish the standing of the profession. The inappropriate use of social media to undermine the standing and dignity of the legal profession is an affront to the administration of justice, it reads.

The petitioners claim that despite repeated warnings, Ahmednasir has become emboldened, intensifying his arbitrary attacks.

Clearly, these attacks are willful, sustained, and designed to undermine the dignity of the courts and public confidence in the administration of justice. This is a case of a repeat temeritous offender displaying a pattern of disdain or contempt towards the judiciary, the petition asserts.

The lawyers emphasize that the prestigious title of Senior Counsel, conferred on Ahmednasir in December 2012, is reserved for advocates who demonstrate exemplary professionalism and integrity.

In their petition, they urge the Committee on Senior Counsel to remove Ahmednasir from the Roll to preserve the dignity of the profession.

This decision is necessary to restore public confidence in the rank and dignity of Senior Counsel. The rank would lose meaning if Ahmednasir could remain a Senior Counsel despite his distinct lack of manners, the petition states.

In Kenya, the Senior Counsel title is conferred by the Head of State, following a vetting process by the Committee of Senior Counsel. The title comes with several privileges, including wearing special robes like those of Court of Appeal judges, sitting in front seats during court proceedings, and having their cases prioritized.

Ahmednasir Lawyers Seek Removal of CJ Koome, Supreme Court Judges

Meanwhile, thirteen lawyers from Ahmednasirs law firm have petitioned the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to remove Chief Justice Martha Koome and six other Supreme Court judges.

The petitioners seek an investigation into whether the seven senior judges have engaged in gross misconduct, misbehavior, or breached the judges code of conduct.

Related  CJ Koome Refuses to Hear Lawyer from Ahmednasirs Firm

The lawyers, including Asli Osman Mahamud, Peter Gichuru, Irene Koech, Esther Wanga, Cohen Amanya, Khadijah Ali, Elizabeth Mungai, Tony Towett, Mohamed Abdi, Muthoni Gatere, Omar Mwarora, Hilda Ndulu, and Jemimah Masudi, all practice under the firm of Ahmednasir Abdullahi Advocates LLP.

They have called for an investigation into whether Chief Justice Martha Koome, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, and Justices Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndungu, Isaac Lenaola, and William Ouko are fit to remain in office.

The petitioners argue that the Supreme Courts decision to ban Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi and advocates from his law firm from appearing before the court has directly violated their rights as advocates to represent clients before the superior court.

On January 18, 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously decided to ban Ahmednasir Abdullahi and advocates from his firm from appearing before it. The court cited years of consistently distasteful remarks made by Ahmednasir against the institution and its judges across various media platforms.
DENVER (KDVR)  Longmont police are investigating a shooting reported near 17th Avenue and Lashley Street at about 2:25 p.m. on Thursday.

The shooting led to Longmont High School, Longs Peak Middle School and Mountain View Elementary School going on secure status as school administrators worked with law enforcement to learn what had led to the shots being fired.

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A Longmont police public information officer told FOX31 that it appears two cars collided, during which one occupant of a vehicle fired shots at the second vehicle.

One person was struck and transported to a local hospital in unknown condition.

Police are still investigating the incident. Anyone with information who has not yet spoken to Longmont Police Services is asked to call 303-651-8501 and reference report #25-866.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Kyrgyz law enforcement officers arrested a suspected arms trafficker linked to a criminal group smuggling weapons from the U.S. to Russia, according to a statement released by Kyrgyzstan's security agency, the State Committee for National Security, on Jan. 30.

The criminal group reportedly began transporting weapons in April 2022, shortly after Russias full-scale invasion began.

Authorities caught the suspect while he was receiving a package containing firearm parts, according to the statement.

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The organization, consisting of Kyrgyz, Russian, and American citizens, allegedly trafficked over 300 weapons, including Glock pistols and AR-15 rifles.

The State Committee for National Security said that the network was "uncovered and dismantled" and that it involved smuggling firearms, ammunition, and military gear from the U.S. to Russia via Kyrgyzstan.

Read also: Russian oligarch held stake in Musks SpaceX through trust despite sanctions, Bloomberg reports

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
MANITOWOC  Suspects in a burglary of more than $60,000 in cash and valuables, including designer purses, could be part of a South American Theft Group, Manitowoc police said Friday.

Police said in a news release investigators obtained photographic evidence of the three men of interest in the residential burglary, which happened around 6 p.m. Jan. 25 when suspects forced entry through a door of a northwest-side home. Police and Crime Stoppers had previously offered a reward of up to $500 for information in the case.

Still surveillance image of a burglary suspect in Manitowoc thought to be a member of a 'South American Theft Group.'

Police said identification of one of the people of interest places them as being from Houston.

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Police added the suspects appear to be part of a SATG (South American Theft Group) based on the burglary MO, their actions and items burglarized.

The burglary included the theft of cash, valuables, and designer purses by Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

Still surveillance image of a burglary suspect in Manitowoc thought to be a member of a 'South American Theft Group.'

According to police, the distinct clothing attire matches those observed in the suspect vehicle the evening of the burglary.

Police released still images of the individuals prior to the burglary occurring and also explained one suspect is believed to be the driver and was disguised as a woman while the other two suspects were believed to have committed the burglary.

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Anyone who identifies the suspects or sees them in their neighborhood should call police, the news release said.

Still surveillance image of a burglary suspect in Manitowoc thought to be a member of a 'South American Theft Group.'

Multiple law enforcement agencies across the state are assisting in the investigation, Manitowoc police said. Anyone with information can contact Manitowoc County Crime Stoppers at 920-683-4466 and refer to police incident No. 2025-00000871. Callers can remain anonymous.

Contact Brandon Reid at breid@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc burglary suspects part of South American Theft Group: police
Editors Note: In the wake of the worst aviation disaster in the United States in years, The Wichita Eagle, Kansas City Star, Charlotte Observer and other McClatchy journalists from across the country are working to tell the story of each person who lost their life in the crash. Read all of their stories here.

Editors note: This story was updated on Feb. 3, 2025, with information about a verified GoFundMe page.

Danasia Elder was known to many as a great wife, mom and friend. Now, those family members and friends are in mourning.

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The 34-year-old was one of four Charlotte-based American Eagle flight 5342 crew members who died after the plane from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter over Washington, D.C. A total of 67 people were killed in the crash.

Her brother-in-law Brandon Payne said she was full of life, Charlotte Observer news partner WSOC reported.

She was very bright, very smart, Payne said. She was an entrepreneur. This flight attendant thing was kind of like one of her dreams she wanted to do.

She leaves behind a husband and two children, Kayden and Dallas.

Elders younger sister, Dajour Brown, organized a verified GoFundMe page to support Elders family. As of Feb. 3, donors so far have raised $95,000 out of a goal of $300,000 .

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Please keep our family in your prayers as we grieve such a sudden unexpected loss, Brown wrote on the GoFundMe. Anything donated will go towards her kids (ages 5 and 13) and husband thats left behind.

Danasia Elder

Missing her friend

After the crash, Elders friends took to social media to lament her loss. The plane was operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines.

One of them was Rebecca Cavaliere. She was devastated by how Elders died, her Facebook message said. They had participated in PSA training together last year and worked with each other several times.

Cavaliere added that Elder was the sweetest human and asked people to pray for Elders family.

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Flying will never be the same for me again, Cavaliere wrote. You never think someone you know will be in a plane crash. Ive worked flights into DCA many times and my brain cant comprehend how this happened. Praying for all 67 souls and may they rest in peace.
By Riham Alkousaa

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's new Islamist leaders are undertaking a radical overhaul of the country's broken economy, including plans to fire a third of all public sector workers and privatising state-run companies dominant during half a century of Assad family rule.

The pace of the declared crackdown on waste and corruption, which has already seen the first layoffs just weeks after rebels toppled Assad on Dec. 8, has triggered protests from government workers, including over fears of a sectarian jobs purge.

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Reuters interviewed five ministers in the interim government formed by former rebel group the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). All described the wide scope of plans to shrink the state, including removing numerous "ghost employees" - people who got paid for doing little or nothing during Assad's rule.

Under Assad and his father, Syria was organized as a militarised, state-led economy that favoured an inner circle of allies and family members, with members of the family's Alawite sect heavily represented in the public sector.

There is now a major shift to "a competitive free-market economy," Syria's new economy minister, 40-year-old former energy engineer Basil Abdel Hanan, told Reuters.

Under transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the government will work on privatising state-run industrial companies, which Hanan said totalled 107 and were mostly loss making. However, he vowed to keep "strategic" energy and transport assets in public hands. He did not provide names of companies to be sold off. Syria's main industries include oil, cement and steel.

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Some state companies appeared to exist solely to embezzle resources and would be closed, Finance Minister Mohammad Abazeed said in an interview.

"We expected corruption, but not to this extent," Abazeed said.

Only 900,000 of 1.3 million people on the government payroll actually come to work, Abazeed said, citing a preliminary review.

"This means there are 400,000 ghost names," Abazeed, an energetic 38-year-old, said in his office. "Removing these will save significant resources."

Mohammad Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development who oversees public sector headcount, went further, telling Reuters the state would need between 550,000 and 600,000 workers - less than half the current number.

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The goal of the reforms, which also aim to simplify the tax system with an amnesty on penalties, was to remove obstacles and encourage investors to return to Syria, Abazeed said.

"So that their factories within the country can serve as a launchpad" for global exports, said Abazeed, previously an economist at the Al-Shamal private university before serving as a treasury official in the rebel stronghold of Idlib in 2023.

IDLIB MODEL

Until sweeping into Damascus in the lightening offensive that ousted Assad, HTS had ruled Idlib as an opposition breakaway province since 2017, attracting investment and the private sector with less red tape and by clamping down on hard-line religious factions.

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The new government hopes for a nationwide increase in foreign and domestic investment to generate new jobs as Syria rebuilds from 14 years of conflict, three ministers told Reuters.

However, to replicate the Idlib model, HTS will have to overcome widespread challenges, not least international sanctions that severely impinge on foreign trade.

Maha Katta, a Senior Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist for Arab States at the International Labour Organization, said the economy was currently in no condition to create enough private jobs.

Restructuring the public sector "makes sense," Katta said, but she questioned whether it should be a top priority for a government that needs first to revive the economy.

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"I'm not sure if this is really a wise decision," she said.

While acknowledging the interim leaders' imperative to move fast to get a grip on the country, some critics see the scale and pace of the planned changes as overreach.

"They are talking about a transitional process but they are making decisions as if they were a government that was legitimately installed," said Aron Lund, a fellow at Middle East-focused think-tank Century International.

Transitional president al-Sharaa has promised elections, but said they could take four years to organise.

SHOCK ABSORBED

Economy minister Hanan said economic policy would be designed to manage the fallout of rapid market reforms, to avoid the chaos of recession and unemployment that followed 'shock therapy' imposed in the 1990s on post-Soviet nations in Europe.

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"The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable," Hanan said.

The government has announced a 400% increase to state salaries, currently around $25 a month, starting February. It is also cushioning the blow of layoffs with severance, or by asking some workers to stay home while needs are assessed.

"To employees who were hired just to receive a salary, we say: please take your salary and stay home, but let us do our job," said Hussein Al-Khatib, Director of Health Facilities at the Ministry of Health.

However, discomfort is already visible. Workers showed Reuters lists circulating in the labour and trade ministries that pared Assad-era employment programmes for former soldiers who fought on the government's side in the civil war.

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One such veteran, Mohammed, told Reuters he had been laid off on Jan. 23 from his data entry job at the labour ministry and given three months paid leave. He said around 80 other former fighters received the same notice, which he shared with Reuters.

In response to Reuters questions the labour ministry said that "due to administrative inefficiencies and disguised unemployment" a number of employees had been placed on three-month paid leave to assess their job status, after which their situation will be reviewed.

The plans spurred protests in January in cities including Deraa in southern Syria, where the rebellion against Assad first erupted in 2011, and Latakia on the coast. Such protests were unthinkable under Assad, who responded to rebellion with repression that sparked the civil war.

Employees at the Deraa Health Directorate held placards declaring "No to arbitrary and unjust dismissal" during a demonstration by some two dozen people.

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Adham Abu Al-Alaya, who took part, said he feared losing his job. He supported eradicating ghost employment, but denied he or his colleagues were paid for doing nothing. He was hired in 2016 to manage records and settle utility bills.

"My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yoghurt, just to sustain the household," Abu Al-Alaya said, adding that he also works another job to make end meet.

"If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society, which is something we cannot afford," he said.

MILES OF FILES

Finance minister Abazeed said that since taking over, the former rebels had found monumental corruption and waste, including at Syrian Trading Establishment, a public consumer goods distributor he said received government money for a decade, until a few days before Assad's departure, without ever providing official statements of revenues.

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He did not disclose how much money was involved. Reuters could not verify the allegations.

The new government has closed the company, Abazeed said.

For now, the administration has no reliable record of government employees. It is building a database of public sector staff, asking employees to complete an online form. Alskaf, the minister for Administrative Development, said it would take about six months to set up, with a team of 50 people on the job.

Acknowledging the difficulties of the task ahead, Labour Minister Fadi al-Qassem said "renovations are more difficult than new building."

The government also plans to digitize employee records, currently stored in about 60 dusty and neglected rooms containing over a million folders, many tied with string and dating back to the Ottoman era that ended more than a century ago.

To Hiba Baalbaki, 35, a labour ministry digitization specialist, the drive was surprising and encouraging.

Under the previous administration, management shunned her efforts to bring record keeping into the 21st century, including an online platform she had been working on for two years, she said.

"It introduced unwelcome changes and closed avenues for corruption and bribes," she said.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Tom Perry and Frank Jack Daniel)
By Robert Harvey, Ahmad Ghaddar, Enes Tunagur and Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Syria is seeking to import oil via local intermediaries after its first post-Assad import tenders garnered little interest from major oil traders due to ongoing sanctions and financial risks, several trade sources told Reuters.

Syria's caretaker government issued tenders to import 4.2 million barrels of crude oil, as well as 100,000 metric tons each of fuel oil and diesel "as soon as possible", according to copies of the tender documents.

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The tenders, which closed on Monday, have not been awarded and the government is now negotiating with local companies to meet the requirement, the sources said.

Difficulties in finding large fuel suppliers could compound energy security issues the new authorities in Syria are facing, after Iran appears to have suspended the regular deliveries of oil it was previously sending.

Reuters could not confirm the names of the local companies, or which companies might be able to sell them the large volumes of oil sought in the tender.

Syria's petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

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Syria's newly appointed president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said on Thursday he will form an inclusive transitional government representing diverse communities that will build institutions and run the country until it can hold free and fair elections.

Major oil traders did not participate in the tenders, with sources at the firms citing sanctions and financial risks.

"There is still no clarity on whether the EU sanctions have been lifted. This is also compounded by broader banking issues," a Middle East trader familiar with the tender said.

The EU said on Monday it had agreed a roadmap to ease sanctions on Syria to kickstart its recovery, but that it should take a gradual and reversible approach to retain leverage.

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Payment terms also deterred potential sellers, the sources said. These included selling on open credit for later repayment, and sellers having to make a $200,000-500,000 performance bond to a Syrian bank as a guarantee for the delivery of oil, a term that traders said is uncommon.

Syria's 13-year civil war decimated the country's energy industry and the new government faces an uphill battle to restore energy security.

Oil output in areas under government control stands at 10,000 barrels per day, the country's oil minister Ghiath Diab told CNBC Arabia earlier this month, versus about 383,000 bpd before international sanctions imposed in 2011.

No crude shipments have arrived from Iran since November, according to data from shipping analytics firm Kpler. Some fuel is being produced in Syria's two refineries, the minister told CNBC.

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Syria also issued an import tender for 20,000 tons of LPG, which closed on Jan. 20. Reuters was not able to confirm the result of that tender.

(Reporting by Robert Harvey, Ahmad Ghaddar, Jonathan Saul and Enes Tunagur in London, Editing by Alex Lawler and David Evans)
Tacoma is running ahead of state and national numbers when it comes to year-over-year rent increases, a new report shows.

But renters remain interested in looking for their next home online, as do people in other Western cities, including several in California.

Listings and data service Apartment Lists latest report, which features Januarys rent figures, shows Tacomas median rent up 3 percent from January 2024 but up just 0.5 percent from December.

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Tacomas rent growth over the past year has outpaced both state (1.4%) and national (-0.5%) averages, the report stated.

Apartment Lists chart shows how Tacoma compares with the state and national figures. Apartment List

Among all large U.S. cities, Tacoma ranked No. 18 in January growth over December.

No. 1 was Fresno, California, with a 2.2% increase in January, while Winston-Salem, NC was at the bottom of the list, with a 1.6% drop in pricing.

Apartment Lists report noted that for Tacoma, Citywide, the median rent currently stands at $1,395 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $1,742 for a 2-bedroom.

It added, Across all bedroom sizes (the entire rental market), the median rent is $1,633. That ranks #34 in the nation, among the countrys 100 largest cities.

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For comparison, it noted that the median rent across the nation as a whole is $1,203 for a 1-bedroom, $1,356 for a 2-bedroom, and $1,370 overall.

Tacoma remains a bargain if you zoom out to compare with the Seattle-Tacoma area metro. The report notes, If we expand our view to the wider Seattle metro area, the median rent is $1,944.

Sammamish is currently the most expensive, with a median rent of $2,929. Lakewood is the metros most affordable city, with a median rent of $1,381, it added.

Tacomas apartment vacancy rate stands at 6.7%, the report noted, up 0.6 percentage points from this time last year.

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In a separate report, listings and data site RentCafe says that Tacoma also ranked No. 18 in online engagement among renters visiting its listings and rent-analysis reports in 2024. Minneapolis ranked No. 1, in its report of top cities for rental activity to watch in 2025. Atlanta was No. 2, followed by Overland Park, Kansas, at No. 3.

Among regions, the West and Midwest showed the most activity as the most sought-after regions by renters, according to the report.

For the West, California cities saw more searches during the last year with Santa Rosa, CA, being the standout example as it managed to climb an impressive 144 spots to the top 10, the report stated. The city ranked No. 6 in the report.

Sacramento, California, meanwhile, climbed 38 spots to rank 16th, the RentCafe report added.

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Tacoma ranked ahead of Portland, Oregon (No. 19); Spokane, (No. 21); North Las Vegas, NV (No. 22); and Los Angeles (No. 23) and San Jose, California, at No. 25.

RentCafe says the report is based on availability of apartments, listing views, apartments saved as favorites in searches, and saved personalized searches for each city.
With so much focus on Washington in the first days of the Trump administration, the January State of Freight webinar with FreightWaves and SONAR CEO Craig Fuller could have focused solely on politics and its impact on freight markets.

But in the monthly discussion between Fuller and SONARs director of market intelligence, Zach Strickland, they found a few other key topics to discuss as well as the machinations in Washington and what they will mean for logistics. Here are five takeaways.

The surge in intermodal

After Strickland displayed a chart showing that rail volume in the past year has risen while the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) has fallen during that time, he noted that so much of the discussion in markets focuses only on trucks as a source of capacity. Theyre talking about how many trucks are there, and where are the trucks going? he said. How many trucks are leaving? But meanwhile, he said, they grew capacity in the intermodal market by 5% to10%.

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Fuller said there is a concept of dispatchable capacity, which puts intermodal and trucks together as a total. And railroads are in a position to take a bigger share of that, he added.

The railroads have their act together and they didnt necessarily have that a few years ago, Fuller said. With labor peace in place that Fuller said actually favors labor quite a bit more than it did in the past, it means that crews are largely supportive of where the railroads want to be. The railroads are taking advantage of these opportunities and inflection points, he added.

Another force in the market pressuring over-the-road trucking companies is the rise in private fleets, Fuller said: Theyve expanded exponentially over the last couple of years.

Leaning into the chaos

Supply chains will be impacted by the volatility that comes with a Trump presidency. Even when you think things are settled or not, hes always negotiating in his mind, Fuller said. The webinar took place two days before sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico are due to be put into place. Fuller cited the recent stand-down by Colombia over a dispute that would have involved steep U.S. tariffs on Colombian imports, and I think what this means is that if youre in the supply chain, you really are not going to catch your breath, because theres always something.

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But the relatively quick end to the Colombian conflict reveals another part of the Trump playbook, Fuller said. Oftentimes, he makes a huge threat and is happy to take some type of victory. Never underestimate Donald Trumps willingness to accept victory at any moment in time.

Why the continued bankruptcies if things are getting better?

With bankruptcies still piling up in the industry, Fuller said he was talking to somebody on Wall Street who wondered why, if the freight market is showing signs of improvement, there are still bankruptcies.

As Fuller put it: The balance sheets have memory. You can have an improving situation in the market, and you still have all these operating deficits that you have to contend with. That is the reason the market can still be in decline.

In an unusual twist, Fuller said sometimes improving markets can help trigger a bankruptcy that had been bubbling under the surface for a while. The reason: used truck values. The equipment now is more valuable to banks because they feel like they can sell it and flip it so they will repossess it, he said. When the market is bad, they dont want the equipment. So when you see a firming of residual values, theyre like, Hey, we can actually liquidate this equipment. Getting half your money on a payment is better than nothing at all.

Still bullish?

Fuller is still bullish even as Strickland noted that the OTVI in SONAR has started to slip. Through most of the freight recession, OTVI has held relatively firm. Ive been burned a number of times over the last couple of years by being really bullish in January when things do collapse, he said. But there are other data points, like the rise in the Outbound Tender Rejection Index to a level near 7%, that still point to bullishness.

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Fuller also said various statements on earnings calls this quarter suggested strength. Theyre seeing some of the shippers start to get ahead with higher rates earlier in the cycle than they have in the past, he said. And that suggests to me that everyone is sort of positioning themselves for a better year. For shippers, the increasing risk is that you could run out of trucks or have high spot rates.

Fuller also said the narrowing gap between contract and spot rates suggests continued market tightening. A weak market has contract solidly above spot; a stronger market can see the reverse. Trends now point to spot rates catching up with contract rates.

What do deportations have to do with trucking capacity?

Fuller began his remarks on the subject of deportations and trucking capacity by saying he didnt want the discussion to be political. He also noted that the highly publicized arrests of undocumented immigrants in the early days of the Trump administration obscure the fact that arrests and deportations were at higher rates in other administrations, including the eight years of Barack Obama.

But given their visibility, Fuller offered two scenarios. One is that a worker in a visible location like a meatpacking plant who is concerned that the site will be raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might think hes safer in a truck if he has the capability to drive. But offsetting that in terms of capacity is the fact that a lot of the people who are being arrested might be found working in such occupations as construction. And there has always been a trade-off between workers going back and forth between construction and trucking.

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Those businesses are losing people, and when they lose people, those jobs become competitive, Fuller said. So we will pull some capacity out of the market, because drivers are ultimately the determinant of capacity.

More articles by John Kingston

5 takeaways from State of Freight: Preparing for East, Gulf Coast port strike

State of Freight for October: The bullish feeling is starting to grow

State of Freight takeaways: Impacts of the deep freeze; data looking up

The post Takeaways from State of Freight: Volatility in Washington, intermodal surge appeared first on FreightWaves.
A Senate committee has recommended new regulations for commercial motorcycles, commonly known as boda bodas, and tuk-tuks, including branding them in designated colors and subjecting them to regular inspections to improve sector regulation.

The Senate Roads and Transportation Committee proposed amendments to the Public Transportation (Motorcycle Regulations) Bill, 2023, requiring boda bodas to display registration number plates on both the front and back, similar to motor vehicles.

The Bill, sponsored by Kakamega Senator Dr. Boni Khalwale, aims to establish a legal framework for regulating the use of motorcycles and three-wheelers (tuk-tuks) in Kenya. It seeks to introduce new provisions for their registration, operation, and safety at the county level.

The Senate Transport Committee has also urged the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Ministry of Transport to review the Traffic (Registration Plates) Rules to ensure motorcycles display number plates on the front.

In its report, chaired by Kiambu Senator Karungo Wa Thangwa, the committee recommended that owners of existing motorcycles be given three years to comply, while all new motorcycles should have front-mounted number plates.

Additionally, the committee proposed that motorcycles used for public transport undergo inspections and be registered as Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) at the county level. An amendment should ensure that motorcycles used for public transport are inspected and registered as PSVs, the report stated.

To further distinguish commercial motorcycles, the committee suggested that owners brand their bikes with a color band prescribed by the county executive committee member for transport. This would enable law enforcement officers to quickly differentiate between PSV motorcycles and private motorcycles.

The committee also recommended enhancing the Public Transportation (Motorcycle Regulations) Bill to include a provision allowing counties to create county-specific legislation. Moreover, the Bill proposes holding passengers accountable for wearing helmets and reflective jackets while riding on motorcycles.

The proposed law also requires riders to be members of a registered cooperative society, aiming to better control the sector and address safety concerns.

A person shall not operate a motorcycle unless they have successfully completed a training course approved by the board, it states.

These proposed changes are aimed at improving the safety and regulation of boda bodas and tuk-tuks in Kenya.

The latest NTSA statistics show that boda bodas caused the highest number of road deaths.

Between October and December, passengers, pedestrians, motorcycle riders, and their pillion riders suffered the most from road accidents, resulting in nearly 800 fatalities. In contrast, drivers and riders accounted for about 450 deaths during the same period.
The Taliban are taking over the operations of Afghanistans only luxury hotel in Kabul, more than a decade after they launched a deadly attack there that killed nine people.

The Serena Hotel said Friday it was closing its operations in the Afghan capital on Feb. 1, with the Hotel State Owned Corporation taking over. The corporation is overseen by the finance ministry.

The finance ministry wasn't immediately available for comment. Neither the Serena nor the government clarified the terms under which the hotel was changing hands.

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The Taliban first targeted the Serena in 2008 and again in 2014. Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani acknowledged planning the 2008 attack, which killed eight, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla.

A statement from the Serena, a brand owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, said it had trained thousands of Afghan nationals, hosted large numbers of foreign guests and delegations, and set high international benchmarks in hospitality standards.

It asked people to direct their queries to the Hotel State Owned Corporation. Kabul no longer appears as a destination on the Serena website.

According to information on the finance ministry website, the corporations mission is to revive and develop Afghanistans hotel industry. It operates three other hotels in Afghanistan, two in Kabul and one in the eastern city of Nangarhar.

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Tourism official Mohammad Saeed told The Associated Press last year that he wanted Afghanistan to become a tourism powerhouse.

At that time, in a sign the country was preparing for more overseas visitors, the Serena reopened its womens spa and salon for foreign females after a monthslong closure, only to shut them again under pressure from authorities.

The Taliban have barred women from gyms, public spaces including parks, and education. Last year, they ordered the closure of beauty salons, allegedly because they offered services forbidden by Islam.
By Nacho Doce

BARCELONA (Reuters) - A teacher who has become a symbol of Spain's housing crisis has won a temporary stay of eviction from his rented Barcelona apartment after protests by residents against gentrification and over-tourism in the country's second city.

Josep Torrent, 49, who has lived in the same apartment for more than two decades, was among tenants who were told their rental contracts would not be renewed after private investors Lioness Investments acquired the Art Nouveau Casa Orsola building in 2020.

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His case illustrates the rental and housing crisis affecting Barcelona and wider Spain, an increasingly serious problem for the socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his fragile minority government.

Spain is struggling to balance its dependence on tourism with citizens' concerns over unaffordably high rents due to gentrification and landlords seeking more lucrative tourist rentals, especially in urban and coastal areas.

There is also a historic under-supply of housing, with just 90,000 new houses and apartments built a year amid a surge in migration and record levels of tourism adding to locals starting their own households.

Torrent's eviction was postponed until Feb. 4 after hundreds of protesters ringed the building bearing a banner reading: "They will not evict us. Defend Casa Orsola."

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Earlier in the week, he told El Pais newspaper he had continued to pay his rent every month "even when the landlord didn't want to collect."

"Investors buy, expel (tenants) and get rich, they have tax cuts, they do not build or create jobs, they create wealth for themselves and distribute misery," he told el Pais.

Lioness Investments told Reuters it was not an investment fund but a limited partnership.

In a statement, it added that landlords face legal insecurity, aggravated by slow legal proceedings, which makes it easier for tenants to refuse to leave their homes when their contracts expire.

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Mayte Jove, an 80-year-old local resident, told Reuters that tourist apartments were crowding out locals. "It's not possible for young people who are studying or have finished university to move out of their parents' homes," she said.

(Writing by Emma Pinedo; additional reporting by Joan Faus and Corina Pons, editing by Aislinn Laing, William Maclean)
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The Oklahoma Board of Education recently approved a rule requiring teachers to take a test based on the U.S. Naturalization test, the same test used to become U.S. citizens.

All of our teachers will be required to take the U.S. Naturalization test to ensure that they understand the basics of America, American history, American government and civics, said State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Superintendents react to proposed counting of students citizenship

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The rule would mean, in addition to getting a teaching certification, teachers would also have to take the U.S. Citizenship test.

And this requirement will help Oklahoma lead the way to ensure in every classroom that understanding, is being given, said Superintendent Walters.

However, some believe this isnt the best idea.

There have been so many efforts in the recent past from the legislature to do things like decrease the number of assessments we have to take to become educators, said Cari Elledge, the elected President of Oklahoma Education Association.

The elected president of the Oklahoma Education Association also said this new rule wouldnt be in Oklahomas best interest when it comes to getting more teachers to apply for jobs and staying in them.

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This just kind of adds some redundancy to it. And its one more thing on the plate when theyve been trying to take things off the plate of educators, said Elledge.

OSDE passes rule to require citizenship status of families

The rule would mean all teachers would take the test, which the OEA said might be easier for those who already teach that content.

A pre-k teacher, a PE teacher, there are so many different examples of how that would just be an extra hoop to jump through, said Elledge.

The OEA said they will continue to push for ways to help make things more efficient for educators in any way they can.

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The rules arent in effect yet. First, they will go through the legislature then head to the governors desk.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Students from immigrant families are living in fear and in some cases have stopped showing up for school now that President Donald J. Trump has returned to office, yet not all educators have received directives on how to respond to their anxiety and possible raids on campus, say teachers who spoke at a joint news conference hosted Thursday by The Century Foundation and the National Newcomers Network.

But educators said they are determined to help these students learn, even through this difficult time. Diana Herrera, who teaches in Californias Central Valley but who declined to name her school, vowed to protect her students as if they were her own children. Even with her sensitivity to their plight, she said, attendance has dropped  including among those born in the United States.

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They are concerned for their family members, Herrera said, through tears, adding her school has not given teachers any directives on how to address or quell their concerns. If I cant give them the right answer or if I cant make them feel better, they are not going to continue coming.

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Trump recently removed barriers that once kept immigration agents away from schools, churches and hospitals. Conservative forces  who have urged undocumented residents to consider self deportation  have also, for years, been strategizing to undo Plyler v. Doe, the landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that a child cannot be denied a public education based on immigration status.

Amid these challenges, Cheruba Chavez, who is an English language and special education teacher in New Orleans, pledged to keep her students safe and engaged: Those who miss school will get follow-up calls encouraging them to return, and those who transfer will receive all the help they need to avoid gaps in their learning.

They are coming to school for something that no one can take away from them: an education, she said.

Despite the anxiety around immigration and deportation, Hector Villagra, vice president of policy advocacy and community education at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said he believes campus raids are unlikely.

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But he said staff members should understand their legal obligation: Villagra, an attorney, said schools typically do not have to honor what he called administrative warrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Most are mere forms issued through the Department of Homeland Security or ICE and are not judicial warrants signed by a judge or magistrate, he said.

These documents do not give ICE agents any authority to enter school premises without permission, he said.

Dan McNeil, general counsel for the American Federation of Teachers, echoed his remarks at the teachers unions virtual town hall Thursday night. He said ICE agents on campus should be referred to the schools administration. As for teachers, they can remain mum. You have the right to remain silent, he said. You should not disclose the immigration status of your student  or even let them know if a student that they ask about is on campus.

ICE did not immediately respond to questions about its authority.

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Alejandra Vazquez Baur, cofounder of the National Newcomers Network, said attorneys, not front office workers, should be the ones to decipher which warrants must be acted upon.

She added that Trumps tactics, which she characterized as an attack on immigrant families, are designed to make them believe they do not belong in public spaces. Families fear to send their kids to school, she said. This is about exclusion, racism and power. The cruelty is the point.

But Vazquez Baur added that immigrant advocates are using this moment to organize, unite, share ideas and push back, when possible, against the presidents directives.

Even so, tensions remain high on the ground and some schools are cancelling in-person events for parents who are worried about coming to campus, said Nancy Rosas, senior director of schools for the Internationals Network. Overall that fear makes people behave like they want to hide in the shadows, she said.

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Viri Carrizales, president of ImmSchools, founded in 2018 to support educators in creating a welcoming environment for immigrant students, said the consternation around immigration has left some educators worried about addressing the matter head on.

Carrizales, who was undocumented in her K-12 and college journey, said some school staff are prohibiting the distribution of know-your-rights cards to students for fear of drawing attention to their schools: She said, too, their silence on these critical issues makes immigrant families feel unsupported. Some are withdrawing their children entirely.

The 74 also reached out to multilingual learner teachers on Facebook. While some said attendance held steady, others, like Tammy Ingraham Baggett, who teaches multilingual learners in Harris County, Texas, said numbers declined noticeably in the past week.

She said two students told her they were going to miss school because of possible immigration raids: One child, whose mother was concerned for her safety at school, asked to work on her assignments at home for the rest of the week because of ICE.

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Is your mom scared? Ingraham Baggett recalled asking the ninth grader. She said emphatically, Yes. I asked if she was scared. She shrugged, eyes downcast, and nodded yes.

Ariel Taylor Smith, senior director of the National Parents Union Policy & Action Center, whose organization has taken a strong stance in favor of immigrant communities, said she is worried about students in Republican states and about those living in the suburbs or in rural areas.

I think a lot of our kids in our urban cities are in districts that have the infrastructure to provide regular communication with parents in multiple languages, she said. Thats muscle theyve already built  and its one everyone should have.

Some suburban and rural districts might not have that same capacity, she said.
ORANGE, Ohio (WJW)  The Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office has indicted two men in connection with an incident outside a local medical center that left a young mother terrified.

County charges have been filed against Letraize Walker and Dezaun Morgan.

No survivors after collision between American Airlines jet, Army helicopter near DC

They face a variety of weapons charges.

Police video recently released to the FOX 8 I-TEAM shows suspects arrested outside the University Hospitals Minoff Health Center off I-271 in Orange. Police found the suspects had a gun and dozens of rounds of ammunition.

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A mother told police she thought she was getting carjacked in the middle of an afternoon.

The police video shows Orange Village police arresting the suspects with a stolen gun and 30 rounds of ammo.

It started as a 911 call came in from a woman who was frantic.

So, she made a bold move. She hit the gas, got away, and called for help

The video shows, as an officer arrested one suspect, he said, We had a report that a male pointed a gun at a female.

The suspect responded with, I dont know nothing.

University Hospitals issued a statement. It said, An incident in the UH Minoff Health Center parking lot was reported to Orange Village Police. UH thanks Orange PD for their swift response and are cooperating with their investigation.

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Again, that victim thought she was being carjacked.

Dwyane Wade reveals cancer diagnosis, kidney surgery

Now, 2 suspects have to explain to a county judge being outside a medical building with a stolen gun and dozens of rounds of ammunition.

Still, one suspect told police at the scene, I dont have nothing on me. My phone and some cash. Thats it.

Court records show both suspects have other weapons cases in their past.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)  A Wagner teen described as a youth by the Attorney General was sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection with the 2023 stabbing death of a teen, 16, in Wagner.

Gabe Montgomery, 16, had pleaded guilty to a first-degree manslaughter charge. Montgomery will serve part of his term in a juvenile placement center operated by the South Dakota Department of Corrections until he turns 18, according to a news release from the Attorney Generals office. Montgomery will then be moved into an adult prison.

Montgomery was sentenced to 50 years but 30 of those were suspended.

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Proof of rental problems needed to act, officials say

In the news release, AG Marty Jackley describes Montgomery as a youth but said the seriousness of the charge justified trying him in court as an adult.

The fight incident in Wagner happened on April 10, 2023.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Two teens in Orange County have been arrested in connection with two fires set at a middle school late last year, officials announced Thursday.

In a post to Instagram, officials with the Huntington Beach Police Department said the teens broke into a middle school in October and December 2024 while the campus closed and set numerous items on fire.

The fires, according to police, caused thousands of dollars in damage to the school.

Fire seen at a Huntington Beach middle school that was allegedly started by two juveniles, police said. (HBPD)

It was only after an extensive investigation into the break ins and fires by a school resource officer working along HBPDs Detectives Bureau that they identified the two juveniles as local high school students.

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Both of teens were taken into custody and booked in Orange County Juvenile Hall for arson.

Arson poses a significant risk to life and property, and persons convicted of the crime can face substantial penalties, including jail time, monetary restitution and the possibility of registering as an arsonist for the rest of the lives, police said.

Authorities did not provide any information about which high school the teens attend, nor which middle school where the fires were started.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage)  With January coming to a close, schools across the Concho Valley are marching onward into February. Join Teens of the Concho Valley as they share whats happening in local schools.

San Angelo ISD Superintendent Christopher Moran recently established student advisory committees for Central High School and Lake View High School students. Four students will be selected from each grade level to represent the student bodies in their respective schools committee.

Students on the committees will meet with Moran multiple times throughout the school year to discuss their experiences at their schools. Each meeting, while having different agendas, will be held with the goal of improving SAISD schools.

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Moran intends to extend the committee programs beyond the 2024-2025 school year to improve student experiences at Central High School and Lake View High School.

Lake View High Schools Teachers and Future Educators team will compete at a state-level contest. Six students will leave the campus on Feb. 16 and stay in Galveston during the duration of the competition.

If you have an event, organization or information that involves Teens of the Concho Valley, email holly.stovall@saisd.org.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com.
Children should be seen and not heard, or so the old saying goes. A new version of this adage is now playing out across the United States, as more states are passing laws about how children and teens should use social media.

In 2024, approximately half of all U.S. states passed at least 50 bills that make it harder for children and teens to spend time online without any supervision.

Some of the new laws in places such as Maryland, Florida, Georgia and Minnesota include provisions that require parental consent before a child or teenager under the age of 18 can use a social media app, for example. Other new laws prevent targeted marketing to teens based on the personal information they share online. Others recognize child influencers who have active social media followings as workers.

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In 1998, long before the age of Instagram or TikTok, the federal government set a minimal baseline for internet safety for children under the age of 13 with the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act. This law, known as COPPA, prevents websites from sharing childrens personal information, among other measures.

As law professors who study childrens online lives and the law, we are tracking state governments that are providing new protections to children when they use social media.

So far, almost all of these new protections are happening at the state level  it remains to be seen how the Trump administration will, if at all, weigh in on how children and teens are spending time on social media.

Almost half of all teens ages 13 to 17 said in 2024 that they are constantly online. iStock/Getty Images Plus

Risk of social media use for kids and teens

Almost half of teens ages 13 to 17 said in 2024 they are almost constantly online and virtually all of them use the internet every day.

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And approximately 40% of children ages 8 to 12 use social media on a daily basis.

Research shows that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media have an increased risk of anxiety and depression.

Almost half of teens have faced online bullying or harassment, with older teen girls most likely to have experienced this. Social media use has been linked to self-harm in some cases.

In 2023, 41 states and the District of Columbia sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, claiming that it was harming children. Although Meta tried to have the case dismissed, it is still moving forward.

States attempts to make social media safer for teens

States including New York and California have made a number of legal changes since 2023 that make it safer for adolescents to spend time online.

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California, for example, has expanded information protection for young social media users by limiting apps from collecting kids and teens geolocation data.

Utah and Florida have raised the age for social media use. Children under the age of 14 cannot open their own social media account, and the platforms are supposed to shut down any such accounts used by children in those states.

In 2024, the Utah Legislature determined that social media was similar to regulated products and activities like cars and medication that create risks for minors.

Utahs new law requires social media platforms to verify a users age, such as by requiring a photo ID.

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A 2024 Tennessee law allows minors to open their own accounts but requires that social media companies ensure that anyone under the age of 18 has parental consent to do so.

Some states, including Texas and Florida, are trying to create a different experience for minors once they have an account on a social media platform. They are blocking apps from sending targeted advertisements to minors or, in states such as New York, curating social media feeds based on an algorithm instead of based on the minors own choices.

A growing number of states have also focused on creating more protections for children influencers and vloggers, who regularly post short videos and images on social media and often have other young people following their content. So far, California, Illinois and Minnesota have passed child digital entertainer laws since 2023.

All of these laws set up financial protections for child influencers. Illinois law requires child influencers to receive a portion of the profits they make from their content. Minnesotas law includes privacy protections: forbidding children under the age of 14 from working as influencers and giving them the right to later delete content, even when their parents have created the post or video.

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These laws face different legal challenges. For example, some private industry groups claim these laws restrict free speech or the rights of parents. The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering  for the first time since 1997  the constitutionality of age restrictions for social media usage.

States across the political spectrum, as well as social media companies themselves, are creating more protections for kids whose online activity might suggest that federal law reform will finally happen.

Members of a dance group in Times Square on Jan. 14, 2025, record videos to be used for social media. Adam Gray/Getty Images

Federal action on social media

Congress has considered new online privacy legislation for children in the past 25 years, including banning targeted ads. But nothing has been enacted.

There is no clear indication that the Trump administration will make any substantial changes in existing law on children and internet privacy. While federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, could take the lead on protecting children online, there has been little public discussion of issues involving children and media access.

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Trumps choice for surgeon general, Janette Nesheiwat, said in 2024, Social media has had a tremendous negative impact on all aspects of society, especially our younger generations. Its unclear how widely this view is shared within the new administration.

On other social media issues, such as the future of TikTok, Trumps nominees and advisers have been divided. Particularly in an administration in which the president owns a social media company, and one of his main associates owns another, the future scope of federal action to protect children online is uncertain. This is likely to prompt states to advance laws that create more protections for children on social media.

Even though social media platforms have national and global reach, we believe that state-by-state leadership might be the best way to make laws in which the needs and rights of children and their families are seen, heard and protected.

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: Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia and Leah A. Plunkett, Harvard University

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Read more:



Leah A. Plunkett is the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission Study Committee on the Definition and Protection of a Child's Interest in the Child's Name, Image, Likeness, or other Intellectual Property. The views expressed in this piece are offered solely in her individual capacity, and not on behalf of the Commission or her employer.

Naomi Cahn 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.
The High Court has ruled that former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, his personal assistant Juma Oyamo, and Migori County Clerk Casper Obiero must face trial for the murder of Sharon Otieno, a former university student and clandestine lover of the former Governor.

Justice Cecilia Githua found that the prosecution presented sufficient evidence linking the three to Sharons abduction and subsequent murder in Homa Bay County. She stated that testimony from 42 witnesses established a prima facie case, compelling the accused to defend themselves against the first count.

However, Justice Githua acquitted the trio of charges related to the death of Sharons 28-week-old unborn baby. She upheld the defenses argument based on the born alive principle, which requires a child to be born alive for anyone to face murder charges.

I have considered these submissions, and I agree that the evidence presented by the prosecution regarding baby Sharon does not support the charge of murder, Justice Githua said. She faulted the prosecution for filing a murder charge instead of pursuing a charge for terminating the life of an unborn baby.

The court has set February 25 as the date for the next mention of the case. On that day, the accused will decide whether to give sworn or unsworn testimony and whether they intend to call witnesses in their defense.

Justice Githua emphasized that placing the three on trial was appropriate, given the evidence presented by the prosecution.

After reviewing all the evidence presented, I concluded that the prosecution has established a prima facie case sufficient to require the three accused persons to mount a defense. I find each of them to have a case to answer on the first count and acquit them on the second count accordingly, she ruled.

The case continues to attract public attention as it progresses through the courts.
Members of a Tennessee House committee discuss creation of immigration legislation on January 29, 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Editors note: This story has been updated to include comment from the Nashville Metro Council Immigrant Caucus.

Tennessee House Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of sweeping immigration legislation Thursday, creating a new state enforcement office, providing grants to law enforcement, creating distinct licenses for noncitizens and making it a felony for public officials to back sanctuary policies.

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Thursdays vote came a day after Republicans in the Senate approved Gov. Bill Lees immigration enforcement package, which becomes law with his signature. No Democrat in either chamber of the Tennessee Legislature voted in favor of the bill.

The bills passage came despite concerns over the constitutionality of a provision creating a Class E felony, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and a $3,000 fine, for any public official who votes in favor of so-called sanctuary policies.

The Legislatures own attorneys advised lawmakers that the measure was constitutionally suspect. Within an hour of the House vote, the ACLU of Tennessee announced it would be bringing a legal challenge to the measure.

This authoritarian legislation is incompatible with the bedrock American values of democracy and the rule of law, and we have no choice but to challenge it in court, read an emailed statement from Stella Yarborough, ACLU of Tennessee legal director.

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The Nashville Metro Council Immigrant Caucus also issued a terse statement that said well see you in court. Asked whether the caucus planned to join in the ACLU legal actions, Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda said they were exploring all of our legal options.

On the House floor, House Majority Leader William Lamberth defended the criminal penalties against angry accusations from Democratic colleagues, who described the provision, variously, as constitutionally insane, dangerous precedent, immoral and authoritarian.

Easiest crime in the world to avoid. Just dont vote in favor of sanctuary cities, Lamberth said.

His voice rising, Lamberth said: From this day forward let it go forth, do not set up sanctuary cities in our state. We are not a sanctuary to illegal immigrants from across the world that try to come to this state.

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Under Tennessee law, sanctuary policies are defined as those that prohibit communication with federal officials to verify or report immigration status of any alien or grant undocumented immigrants the right to lawful presence within the boundaries of this state.

A 2018 Tennessee law already bars local government from enacting sanctuary policies.

Lamberth said that law  which gives citizens the right to file civil suits challenging any jurisdictions adoption of sanctuary policies and the state the power to withhold funding over violations  did not go far enough.

Unfortunately that statute at the state leveldoes not have any teeth in it, Lamberth said.

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The felony charge applies to any public official who votes in favor of a sanctuary law, policy or resolution. Lamberth noted it applies to city councils, county commissions, school boards and city and county mayors.

The bill also creates separate and temporary drivers licenses with visually distinctive markers for non-citizens. Non-citizens such as green card holders have, until now, been able to obtain the same Tennessee licenses and IDs as citizens.

The measure also establishes a four-person state immigration enforcement division, housed within the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security, to liaise with the Trump administration and oversee the distribution of state immigration enforcement grants to local law enforcement. The division will be funded by approximately $500,000 from state taxpayers annually.

An amendment added to the bill this week keeps the work of the office confidential, creating a new exemption to the states public records law for all records collected by the division confidential. The exemption is not limited to confidential information it receives from federal, state and local entities.

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Republican lawmakers allocated $5 million in grants, distributed by the immigration division, to county sheriffs and police departments that agree to participate in the federal 287(g) program, which allows local police and sheriff deputies to enforce federal immigration laws.\

Thus far, only two Tennessee jurisdictions  Greene and Knox County  participate in the 287(g) program.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  Tennessee lawmakers will again debate whether terminally ill patients have the right to choose medically assisted suicide this legislative session after one nearby state recently became the first to ban it in its Constitution, and voters had a say.

Ten states and Washington, D.C. currently allow medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, a controversial measure that enables a person with a fatal disease to choose when and where to die to avoid having to suffer through their pain.

In November 2024, voters in West Virginia narrowly chose to ban medically assisted suicide through an amendment to the states Constitution, the first state in the U.S. to do so, after lawmakers approved a measure to allow the referendum on the ballot on the last night of the legislative session last March.

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An important part of the pro-life movement is ensuring life is protected from conception to natural death, and this is just another tool in the tool kit for that, Del. Chris Pritt (R-Kanawha), the resolutions sponsor, told News 2s sister station, WOWK, in October 2024.

Right to die effort renewed in Tennessee

However, critics argued medically assisted suicide was already banned under West Virginia law.

Its very bizarre that they are trying to constitutionally stop it, because it would be the first state in the country to ever do that, ever, Del. Kayla Young (D-Kanawha) said.

Pritt argued the amendment would ensure a judge couldnt overturn the states ban on medically assisted suicide.

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There could be a court that decides there is a right to, for example, to commit suicide using a physician, and what this does is it enshrines it in the state Constitution that that kind of activity is going to be prohibited going into the future, Pritt said.

The constitutional amendment to prohibit medically assisted suicide passed in West Virginia by less than a single percentage point, or 5,882 votes.

The amendment reads, in part, No person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.

Attorney recalls fight for the right to die in Tennessee

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You know Im as pro-life as I can possibly get, Gov. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said. I think listening to the great people of West Virginia, letting them make the decisions and everything, is always the smart money to us.

Critics continued to push back against the amendment.

Restoring reproductive freedom, we should be voting on that. But the Republicans wont let us vote on it because they know what the outcome will be, just like in every other state. So, instead, they put this meaningless constitutional amendment on thats banning something thats already banned, State Party Chair Del. Mike Pushkin (D-Kanawha) said.

This legislative session, Tennessee lawmakers could consider passing a bill to legalize the measure. There is currently no legislative effort to constitutionally ban medically assisted suicide in the Volunteer State.

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House and Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a $447 million statewide school choice program, offering state-funded scholarships for children to attend private schools without regard to their income or ZIP code.

A high priority of Gov. Bill Lee since the campaign trail, votes in both chambers saw rare bipartisan opposition. Lee has said he wants implementation to begin as soon as possible.

The measure will cost about $447 million total, and includes several provisions not directly related to the scholarship program.

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Here's what's in the bill:

Education Freedom Scholarships

Rep. William Lamberth R- Portland, talks about his support for the school voucher bill on the fourth day of special session at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

Education Freedom Act of 2025 will offer 20,000 scholarships or vouchers worth about $7,296 each in taxpayer funds to students statewide to attend Category I-III state-accredited private schools. Students attending independent home schools and umbrella church-related home schools would not be eligible to participate.

Half of the vouchers are reserved for families with incomes below 300% of the income limit to quality for free or reduced price lunch  about $170,000 for a family of four  or children with disabilities. The remaining 10,000 slots have no income limit. Tennessees median household income was $85,900 in 2024.

While Lee and others have pitched the program as a way to ensure families without means to pay for private school have access to the school of their choice, leaders this week acknowledged that the program is not designed for disadvantaged families  and could benefit the wealthy.

Sen. Adam Lowe R-Calhoun gives his support for the school voucher bill on the fourth day of special session at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

I never once said this was a program designed for disadvantaged families, and Ive never heard the governor say that.  This legislation has been marketed as a parental empowerment tool, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin. Were not going to penalize people who work hard and might do a little better than someone else. We want these to be universal.

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Participating students will be required to take a standardized achievement test each year from third through 11th grade, though they are not required to take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test. A number of private schools already administer the TCAP each year. For those that do, the bill requires the state to collect a sampling of voucher-recipients TCAP test results to compare with statewide TCAP achievement.

The program does not create any additional requirements for participating private schools, or require private schools to accept voucher recipients.

Rep. Jason Zachary R- Knoxville speaks during the fourth day of special session at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

Students with disabilities are not guaranteed individualized education plans under the program.

District and facility funding, teacher bonuses

Guarantees that districts will never receive less state TISA funding than they currently receive, to make up any gaps school districts could see from enrollment drops

Allocates funding for school construction and maintenance, which will prioritize at-risk counties, high-performing districts, and fast-growing counties, then counties with damage from natural disasters. Other counties can apply for remaining funds.

Offers funding for a $2,000 bonus for every teacher in the state, if local school boards adopt a resolution affirming they want to participate in the Education Freedom Act. Teachers in districts that do not pass such a resolution will not receive bonuses.

Lawmakers who are K-12 school teachers may not receive a bonus, but their spouses may, and lawmakers families are welcome to apply for the $7,296 scholarships.

How to apply for the new scholarships

Logistics for how to apply for a scholarship are not yet available. Once the bill is signed into law, the Department of Education can start work toward launching the program, a process that could take months, and will include rulemaking, hiring contractors, and developing an application process.

Republicans opposed, despite primary threats

With Republicans holding a supermajority in both chambers, it's rare for votes to be close in either chamber. Twenty-one House Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill, as did seven Senate Republicans. Rep. Jerome Moon, R-Maryville, voted present.

Angela Wynn, of Smyrna with Public School Strong listens during the fourth day of special session while supporters of the school vouchers stand behind her at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.

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Their opposition came after threats from out-of-state groups that lawmakers could face primary challenges next election cycle for voting against the bill, and claims from members of their own caucus, like Sen. Bo Watson, that those who "align with the current presidential administration and their view towards school choice must support this bill.

Here are the Senate Republicans who opposed the measure:

Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Manchester

Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville

Sen. Robert Harshbarger, R-Kingsport

Sen. Tom Hatcher, R-Blount County

Sen. Jessie Seal, R-Tazewell

Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown

Sen. Page Walley, R-Savannah

And House Republicans who opposed the measure:

Rep. Rebecca Alexander, R-Jonesborough

Rep. Fred Atchley, R-Sevierville

Rep. Jody Barrett, R-Dickson

Rep. Rush Bricken, R-Tullahoma

Rep. Jeff Burkhart, R-Clarksville

Rep. Tandy Darby, R-Greenfield

Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston

Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville

Rep. Gary Hicks, R-Rogersville

Rep. Dan Howell, R-Cleveland

Rep. Chris Hurt, R-Halls

Rep. Renea Jones, R-Unicoi

Rep. Kelly Keisling, R-Byrdstown

Rep. Kevin Raper, R-Cleveland

Rep. Michelle Reneau, R-Signal Mountain

Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore

Rep. Rick Scarbrough, R-Oak Ridge

Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta

Rep. Tom Stinnett, R-Friendsville

Rep. Ron Travis, R-Dayton

Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lawmakers just passed $447M Tennessee school choice bill. What to know
This article was originally published in Tennessee Lookout.

A state move to take over Memphis-Shelby County Schools is picking up steam after the districts board dismissed its director eight months into the job.

State Rep. Mark White, chairman of the House Education Committee, said Monday he is putting together a bill that would enable the Department of Education to create a management group to run Memphis-Shelby County Schools without oversight by the school districts board of education.

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White, an East Memphis Republican, said the school boards firing of Marie Feagins as director of schools on January 21, is one more reason the state should take over the district, in addition to poor student performance.

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Im a believer that Memphis-Shelby County Schools can do a lot better than theyre doing, White said.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools can do a lot better than theyre doing, said Rep. Mark White. a Memphis Republican. (John Partipilo)

Under the plan, which wasnt filed in time for this weeks special session on private-school vouchers, the state would put together a group that would supersede the school board for at least two years to right-size things, White said. School board members would continue to be elected but would serve only in an advisory role, he said, adding he is working on the legislation to make sure its legal.

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Senators from Memphis blasted the idea Monday, with Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari calling it an attack on democracy.

Instead of punishing local decisions, we should focus on moving forward together, Akbari said, to deal with funding inequity and invest in schools.

Likewise, Sen. London Lamar, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus said she is concerned by House Speaker Cameron Sextons plan to draft a bill enabling the state to acquire control of the Memphis school district.

Such a move represents significant government overreach and threatens the foundational principle of local governance, Lamar said.

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Everybody talks about the focus is on the kids. Well, if the focus is the kids, we cant focus all of our energy on trying to punish the adults. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris



For instance, the Achievement School District that primarily targeted struggling schools in Memphis is being dissolved, and most of the schools under that district remain in the bottom 5% statewide for student performance, Lamar said.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is lobbying lawmakers to drop the state takeover, hoping cooler heads will prevail.

Were doing the best we can to defuse the situation and turn down the temperature, said Harris, a former state senator. Everybody talks about the focus is on the kids. Well, if the focus is the kids, we cant focus all of our energy on trying to punish the adults.

White, who agreed to dissolution of the Achievement School District after keeping it afloat for several years, said it served a purpose in removing some schools from the states priority list for poor performance and pushing Shelby County Schools to set up iZone schools, which received more school district support until the district ran out of funds to keep the program going.

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Were not moving the needle for our community with all the opportunity we have, White said. He added that some schools in the district closed because they didnt have enough students, then were trashed by thieves, making it impossible for charter school operators to buy or lease them.

The Memphis-Shelby County School Board fired Feagins over allegations dealing with overtime expenses, acceptance of a $45,000 donation, questions about federal funding and missed grant deadlines, and conduct detrimental to the district.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Tennessee Republicans passed an immigration bill this week criminalizing local officials who support sanctuary policies for immigrants. Additionally, the bill seeks to establish a central immigration enforcement office and adopt new driver's licenses differentiating legal resident immigrants from U.S. citizens.

Shortly following the bill's passage, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee announced it was preparing to sue the state over the pending law.

"This unprecedented, unconstitutional legislation will inflict unimaginable harm on people who have immigrated to Tennessee seeking freedom and a better life, and criminalize any local officials who vote in support of sanctuary policies,'" said ACLU-TN Legal Director Stella Yarbrough in a statement.

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"Threatening officials with felony charges and criminal prosecution based solely on how they vote raises significant constitutional concerns."

The bill will soon go to Gov. Bill Lee's desk. Here's what to know.

What is Tennessee's immigration bill, what will it do?

If signed into law, the bill will criminalize local officials who support sanctuary policies, establish a central immigration enforcement office and adopt new new driver's licenses for non-U.S. citizens.

Criminalization for support of sanctuary cities: The bill criminalizes local officials, such as county commission or city council members, who vote for any policy considered a "sanctuary" measure, despite sanctuary policies already being banned in Tennessee. Support for sanctuary policies from local officials would be considered a Class E felony, punishable by up to six years in prison and a $3,000 fine.

Immigration enforcement division: The legislation will fund a $5 million office within the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, allowing Lee to tap an enforcement director and incentivize local law enforcement entities to enter into a contract program with federal immigration authorities. However, the bill does no make substantive changes on how local law enforcement can cooperate with federal officials.

New licenses for legal residents, non-U.S. citizens: Under the new bill, legal residents will no longer carry the same IDs as U.S. citizens. Instead, legal residents, such as DACA recipients or green card holders, will be assigned licenses with "visually distinctive" markers. According to the bill, legal residents who renew their license on or after Jan. 1, 2026, must provide proof of citizenship to maintain their license, permit or photo ID. If proof is not provided, the resident will be issued a temporary ID.

Why did the Tennessee GOP supermajority pass the immigration bill?

Lee and GOP leadership have said the measures are necessary to help President Donald Trump enforce his immigration policies, despite the Trump administration not explicitly directing states to take up any new policies at this time.

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As previously reported by The Tennessean, the bill was passed despite warnings from staff attorneys that the bill is "constitutionally suspect" in its unprecedented effort to curtail elected officials' voting decisions.

Senators listen while Sen. Todd Gardenhire R- Chattanooga raises concerns over an immigration bill during the third day of special session at the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

"It is illegal under state law to set up sanctuary cities. That statute, as defined now, does not have any teeth in it," said House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland. "We are not going to allow cities and counties set up a sanctuary city. If they vote to do so, absolutely it will be a felony and they will be removed from office."

What does Tennessee's immigration bill say? Read SB 6002/HB 6001

Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What does Tennessee's immigration law do? Bill supports Trump policy
TONGI, Bangladesh (AP)  Tens of thousands of people gathered on a riverbank near Bangladeshs capital on Friday to listen to sermons by Islamic scholars at the Biswa Ijtema, or global congregation of Muslim devotees.

The three-day annual event will end Sunday when hundreds of thousands of Muslims are expected to join final prayers like every year. This is the first phase of Biswa Ijtema, while the second phase will be held Feb. 3-5. The third phase will be held Feb. 14-16.

Biswa Ijtema is one of the largest gatherings of Muslim devotees, held on the sandy banks of the Turag River in Tongi, just north of Dhaka, the capital. The event dates back to the 1950s when the Tablighi Jamaat movement started hosting the event.

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On Friday, Muslims joined the weekly afternoon prayers as many more continued to stream toward the venue from across Bangladesh.

About 2,150 foreign Muslims from 72 countries were among the tens of thousands of Bangladeshis who joined the first phase of the congregation, said Habibullah Raihan, a spokesman of the organizing committee.

He said that scholars and clerics from India, Pakistan and other countries delivered their sermons on the tenants of Islam as the devotees slept in tents erected on the riverbank.

Security checkpoints and camaras have been installed, while plainclothes security officials joined uniformed officers in the area.

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A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman, director-general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, said Friday that there was no particular security threat, but that adequate measures were in place to ensure safety.

Mohammed Nadim, a grocer from the northern district of Rangpur, traveled overnight with many others from his area to join the weekly prayers on Friday.

I come here every year to seek blessings. It gives me peace, he told The Associated Press at the scene.

Many people came here like me. We raise our hands together. We want peace in my life, we want peace in the world. May Allah accept us, may Allah forgive us, he said.
TEXARKANA, Texas (KTAL/KMSS)  Northeast Texas congressional representative Nathaniel Moran stopped by Texas High on Thursday to recognize a rising star in STEM.

What a great thing this morning to be able to stand in Texarkana, Texas High, and honor our first ever Congressional App Challenge winner, NIrav Neupane, said US Rep. Nathaniel Moran.

NIrav Neupanes ServeSmart app won out over every other app developed by students in northeast Texas.

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So its basically a volunteering app to help get ideas for volunteering and find local opportunities near you, said NIrav, a Freshman at Texas High.

He said he decided on the idea because he recognized a need in his community.

Texas HS Tiger Band returns after trip to D.C. for inaugural parade

I wanted to build something that could help serve people. So I just came up with this volunteering app because Ive had previous experiences in student council, and it seemed like something that would help, said Nirav.

The Congressional App Challenge is a competition that a many other representatives hold for students in their district. Congressman Moran decided to bring it to northeast Texas to encourage more students to reach their potential.

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It helps to get to a place where we honor innovation. We look and say, hey students, we want to honor the work and creativity and ingenuity and innovation thats coming through on a day-to-day basis that perhaps others would be inspired by if they saw it, said Rep. Moran.

For now, Nirav is at least inspired to consider a career in coding.

Im interested in programming and its kind of a hobby right now, but I hope to take it to a next another level in the future. But yeah, it was difficult building the app but I just learned and kept going through it.

Nirav was awarded a challenge coin, a certificate from the congressman, and plenty of swag from the school and Red River Credit Union.

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Jan. 30At approximately 10:06 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, the Odessa Police Department responded to a disturbance call at 950 W. 31st St. involving a male subject armed with a hammer, attempting to gain entry into an apartment. Upon officers' arrival, they made contact with the male subject who was noncompliant. Officers attempted to use less lethal force (taser) on the subject, but it was not effective, a City of Odessa news release said.

The subject charged at the officers, and one of the officers fired a single shot, striking the subject in the abdomen. The male subject has been identified as 32-year-old Benjamin Fiedler. Fiedler was transported to Medical Center Hospital by Odessa Fire and Rescue.

This incident is being investigated as an officer-involved shooting and has been turned over to the Texas Rangers. The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay until further notice which is standard practice.
A Texas shop owner has gone viral after refusing a couples request to re-Nazify a Hitler Youth knife.

Jonathan Sibley and his wife Rhian co-own the Blade Bar situated in Ben Wheeler, an unincorporated community in Van Zandt County, Texas.

The veteran bladesmith, who appeared on season five of the History Channels Forged in Fire, was propelled to internet stardom after sharing surveillance footage of the encounter in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

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A couple, who remain unidentified, entered the store at about 1 p.m. carrying two sheathed knives.

What are we wanting to put in, Sibley can be heard asking the customers in the exchange caught on video.

I need the emblem out of that, the woman begins in the muffled audio, pointing to a Nazi symbol from the handle of one knife, adding she wants it placed in the hilt of a second weapon.

Nope, wont do it, Sibley responded sternly.

Jonathan Sibley refused to restore a Nazi knife earlier this month and his exchange with customers was caught on video (The Blade Bar/Facebook)

Oh, really?, the woman replied.

Sibley continued: Nope, youve got Nazi bulls**t, he continued, shaking his head. If you wanted a modern German forestry seal of something in I will de-Nazify s**t but I wont re-Nazify s**t.

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OK, the woman said before the couple left the store.

The clip, which is overlaid with Hitler youth knife repair We only have a few shop rules, has garnered more than 300,000 views across Facebook and TikTok.

Members of the Jewish community were quick to thank Sibley for standing up to hate.

As a person of Jewish ancestry, I want to say thank you. If I am ever in Texas I would like to buy you a beer, one person commented on Faceboook.

A second added: Thank you for standing up to the hate by refusing these peoples disgusting beliefs!

Sibley told CBS 19 that hes spent more time on TikTok in the last three days than he has cumulatively in his life, responding to an outpouring of positive comments about his service denial.

Sibley said that he's been on TikTok more in three days than the rest of his life replying to praise received for his service denial (CBS 19/YouTube)

Rhiannon Sibley said that its important for businesses  particularly those that sit at the heart of a community  to uphold their morals.

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We stand our ground and we hold our morals and its incredibly important to us to show integrity in our business and our life and in everything we do, she told the news station. We want to make sure that we are a part of the change we want to see in this world.

Rabi Niel Katz, who has served at the Congregation Beth El in Tyler since 2003 commended Sibley for refusing the customers request.

Kudos and thank you to the owner of the store and saying what they said and being who they are, he told the news station. Shame on the people who walked in there.

The Secure Community Network, which bills itself as North Americas largest Jewish security organization, found that incidents  which included racist remarks and Swatzika graffiti  against the Jewish community in Texas nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023 from 97 to 187.

In the first nine months of 2024, 138 incidents against Jewish people were reported in the Lone Star state.
February brings a variety of fun and immersive arts activities to Emorys Atlanta and Oxford campuses. Check out the full list and make plans to attend the performances, discussions, showcases, lectures and more.

Fall in love with Emory music ensembles

The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta (ECMSA) has a berth of events lined up throughout the month. Events begin with a performance by violinist Chee Yun on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 10 a.m. in the Tharp Rehearsal Hall at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. The Bach Bowl follows on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 4 p.m. in Emerson Concert Hall at the Schwartz Center. The whole family can enjoy a cozy performance of musical bedtime stories during a Pajama Concert on Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in Ackerman Hall of the Michael C. Carlos Museum. These events are free, and no tickets are required.

If you are looking for a Valentines Day event to share with your special someone, ECMSA presents The High Museum Valentines Concert, featuring tenor Timothy Miller performing love songs by Schumann, Gershwin, Burleigh and Puccini on Friday, Feb. 14, at noon. The performance will be at Atlantas High Museum of Art and is free to attend with admission to the High Museum.

The Emory Music Department will showcase pianist Elena Cholakova and violinist Miroslav Hristov for a performance on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m., in the Schwartz Centers Emerson Concert Hall. Later in the month, the department hosts CompFest 2025 on Friday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, Feb. 8, featuring Atlanta-based contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency. Programming on both days begins at 8 p.m. at the Performing Arts Studio. These events are free, and no tickets are required.

Emory Jazz Fest, an annual series featuring master classes, artist demonstrations and concerts, begins Thursday, Feb. 13, at 2:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. Events include a lecture and demonstration with saxophonist David Sanchez, a performance by Sanchez and the Gary Motley Trio and a rhythm section workshop. All events will take place in Emerson Concert Hall at the Schwartz Center. The festival concludes with a performance by the Emory Big Band on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets for this performance are free, but registration is required.

Visitors to the Oxford College campus can catch a performance of Cuban music by CubanaSong, an Atlanta-based music group, at Oxford Colleges Williams Hall on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. This event is free to attend.

View cutting-edge film, theater and dance performances

Spring semester brings the Emory Film Departments Cinematheque film series. Following the theme Film on Film, this months screenings will include Man with a Movie Camera on Feb. 5, Holy Motors on Feb. 12, The Fabelmans on Feb. 19 and Blow Out on Feb. 26. The free screenings are held every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in White Hall, Room 208.

The Center for Ethics continues its Ethics at the Movies series with a screening of Home is a Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. The screening takes place in White Hall, Room 207, and is free and open to the public.

Theater Emory opens its 2025 season with Ryan Stevens sci-fi workshop presentation Static Head, directed by Ibi Owolabi. The show runs Thursday, Feb. 20, to Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Theater Lab in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time. Emory students may reserve up to two free tickets for all Theater Emory shows.

At Oxford College, an improvisational dance performance Humbladbad: The Sequel, directed by Corian Ellisor, hits the stage Friday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Williams Hall. This event is free to attend. Later in the month, OxTheatre kicks off its run of Tragedy: a Tragedy, directed by Will Eno on Thursday, Feb. 27, and Friday, Feb. 28. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. in Tarbutton Theater.

Engage with poetry

Poetry fans have the opportunity to attend threes special events in February. Writer Nicholas Goodly will present 5 Gifts, an interactive performance and poetry reading, on Friday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m., in Williams Hall at Oxford College. The event is free to attend and open to the public.

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6:30 p.m., in the Jones Room of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, the Creative Writing Program hosts poet Robyn Schiff for a reading from her latest collection, Information Desk. A signing will follow Schiffs reading. Then, on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 1 p.m., Schiff will lead a colloquium on her work at the Kemp Malone Library. These events are free and open to the public.

Explore art and engage with historical conversations

The Michael C. Carlos Museums Relaxed Mornings open a month of programming Saturday, Feb. 1, at 10 a.m. Relaxed Mornings are designed for museum visitors who would like to take a quieter tour through the galleries. Sensory-friendly bags are provided and include fidget toys, emotion/needs cards and noise-canceling headphones.

Interdisciplinary artist Yehimi Cambron Alvarez will be the featured speaker during the events of IDEAS week, Feb. 7-14. The weeks theme, Art and Activism, probes the capacity of creative expression to engage communities and galvanize social transformation.

The Rose Library will host the Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon, an annual program to honor the birthday of Fredrick Douglass, on Friday, Feb. 14, at noon on the tenth floor of the Robert W. Woodruff Library. The program invites the public to create new Black history resources by transcribing portions of the African American Perspectives collection at the Library of Congress, all while treating themselves to birthday cupcakes. Registration for this free event is requested. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop, if possible.

Also on Friday, Feb. 14, artist Timothy Hull will be in conversation about his work displayed in the Carlos Museums exhibition Anonymous Fragments. in Ackerman Hall. This free program will be at 6:30 p.m. in Ackerman Hall. It is open to the public, though registration is required. Attendees are invited to view the exhibition prior to the talk, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

On Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m., Rubina Raja, professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University, will deliver a lecture about funerary limestone in Syrias Palmyrene portraits and their cross-cultural meanings. This lecture takes place at the Carlos Museums Ackerman Hall. The program is free and open to the public, and registration is required
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest people during a raid in Houston, Texas, February 2010. Courtesy of ICE

On Jan. 29, a Dine woman told Searchlight New Mexico that ICE agents racially profiled and questioned her during a Jan. 22 workplace raid in Scottsdale, Arizona. The incident lasted around an hour and a half, she said, and deeply frightened her and her coworkers. What follows is a transcript of her account, edited for clarity and length.

It could have been easy for me to say, You know what, wheres your identification? Youre on my land. But I didnt do that. It would have triggered a problem for me.

I was at work. It happened so fast, we didnt know what we were supposed to do. I mean, its like you just turned on a light switch and you had to go do whatever the cops told you to do. They came in early, before the administration got there, and they came in from the back, before anybody could stop them. They went through and randomly picked out people. There was no, like, I have a search warrant. I need this person. My office is right by the door, so they knocked and told me to go outside. I was like, What for? I felt racially profiled. It was mostly Hispanics who were taken, and Im Navajo. Several people got taken: there was probably about 10 of us, maybe 12.

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They didnt put handcuffs on us or anything like that. They just walked us out to the parking lot and lined us up. But just that right there alone was very scary, the actual feeling of being taken out Ive never prayed so hard in my life. I didnt know what to do. Im a minority here, and Im far from home. There were vans. There were already people in them. Some of them looked like theyd been crying. The staff that were lined up, they were crying. I reached for my phone to record. But they told us to put our phones away.

They werent mean or rude. They werent being violent towards us. They told us if we wanted to we could sit on the curb. They asked us if anybody needed to use a restroom, or to get a drink of water. I wasnt afraid of them. I was more afraid of what the heck was happening. It was like, I know I didnt do anything wrong. I have a clear background. Why are you guys pulling us out?

They were speaking in Spanish, and when an agent came to me, I said, I dont understand what youre saying. Then he changed his tone. He was like, Im sorry, I thought you were Hispanic. I said, No, Im Native American. He asked me for identification. I said that I had my identification on my phone, and he told me to go ahead and take it out. I showed him my Certificate of Indian Blood and he let me go. It could have been easy for me to say, You know what, wheres your identification? Youre on my land. But I didnt do that. It would have triggered a problem for me.

Once I was let go, I just wanted to help the others. Our company had made sure that we all had documentation. After the agents looked at everybody elses documents, they slowly let them go one at a time. As they came back inside, I gave them water, and we went into a little room, and they just let go. Some of them fell to their knees. They just cried. They thought ICE was coming to get them and take them out to never come back. The only thing you could do was hug them and comfort them, and to tell them that it was okay and that were going to be alright. The company told us that if we wanted to leave and go home early, that was fine. Everybody was in shock.

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We heard that morning that it was happening in Mesa, but we didnt think it would happen in Scottsdale. Its an upper-class community. Its run by the richest people. People had taken it as a joke, but when it really did happen, everybody was like, Oh, my God, this is real. We have a school right down the street here. I have a child who goes to the school, and the school notified me that they would not let ICE in, no matter what.

Do I wish this upon anybody? No. Do I wish for this to stop? Yes. I called the Navajo Nation president about what happened. Someone told me he was in the meeting and would return my call. To this day, I havent gotten a phone call. Thats what made me more upset: I had nobody, nothing to turn to.

This article first appeared on Searchlight New Mexico and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Kansas is dealing with one of the largest outbreaks of tuberculosis recorded in a single year in the United States since the 1950s, state health officials say. The outbreak in the Kansas City area has sickened dozens and killed at least two people since it began last January.

On Monday, Jan. 27, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the tuberculosis outbreak is still ongoing and "there could be more cases" as it grows.

Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is an infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. TB is a serious infection that if left untreated can be fatal.

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As of Jan. 24, at least 67 people are being treated for active TB related to the Kansas outbreak, Jill Bronaugh, communications director of the KDHE, said in an update on Jan 29. Additionally, the outbreak killed two people in 2024.

Although state health officials say the risk to the general public is low, the current outbreak in Kansas is unprecedented. The situation in Kansas, along with other recent TB trends in the U.S., has sparked some concern among experts. Here's what to know.

Is tuberculosis a virus?

No, tuberculosis is not caused by a virus. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but it spread to the brain, spine, and kidneys.

Not everyone infected with the bacteria that causes TB will get sick, which is called a latent or inactive TB infection.

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People with latent TB do not develop symptoms and aren't contagious, so they can't spread the infection to others. However, people with latent TB can still develop active TB at any time.

When the bacteria multiply and cause symptoms, this is called active tuberculosis disease or active TB. People with active TB can spread the infection to others.

Although it's controlled in the U.S., tuberculosis is the leading infectious disease killer worldwide. Globally, TB causes millions of illnesses and deaths every year, per the World Health Organization.

Kansas City tuberculosis outbreak

Since January 2024, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has confirmed 67 active TB cases involved in this outbreak, including 60 in Wyandotte County and seven in neighboring Johnson County. Additionally, there have been 79 latent TB cases reported in these two counties.

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At least two people have died in this outbreak. The state's health department has not released any additional details to the public.

Last year, the KDHE reported 79 active TB and 213 latent TB cases, both involved in this outbreak and sporadic (non-outbreak), says Bronaugh. However, the 2024 case counts are still provisional, and will be confirmed by the CDC at the end of March, she notes.

While this outbreak is larger than normal, the risk remains low for the general public, says Bronaugh.

Is this the largest TB outbreak in U.S. history?

The total cause count associated with the current outbreak in the Kansas City Metro area (67) makes it the largest outbreak in the U.S. at this time over the span of one year since the CDC began reporting TB cases in the 1950s, says Bronaugh.

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In an earlier statement on Monday, Jan. 27, state health officials said the current outbreak was the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history since the 1950s.

However, a CDC spokesperson rebutted this claim, pointing to two recent tuberculosis outbreaks in the U.S. involving a larger number of cases, NBC News previously reported. These include an outbreak in Georgia at homeless shelters from 2015 to 2017, and a nationwide outbreak linked to contaminated bone grafts in 2021.

While not the largest outbreak in U.S. history, the current outbreak in Kansas is still large enough to raise some alarm, experts say. The state usually only sees a handful of TB cases each year. In 2023, the CDC recorded 46 active TB cases in Kansas, says Bronaugh.

Its a substantial outbreak of tuberculosis, Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, tells TODAY.com.

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Tuberculosis rates in the U.S. are generally very low, says Schaffner, largely thanks to vigorous state TB control programs. However, after declining steadily for 30 years, tuberculosis rates increased each year from 2020 to 2023, according to the latest CDC data.

The KDHE has not released details about the populations affected by the outbreak. Of course, thats intriguing and we would like to know that from a public health point of view, says Schaffner.

The health department said it is working with the CDC to track the outbreak and prevent further spread. KDHE is currently managing a total of 384 individuals associated with this outbreak who are all at various different stages of TB testing, diagnostics and treatment, says Bronaugh.

Its unclear how the Kansas TB outbreak will pan out, but cases are expected to grow. It is important to note that this outbreak is ongoing, therefore, cannot be compared to previous TB epidemics or outbreaks, says Bronough.

TB transmission

Tuberculosis spreads from person to person through the air, when a person with active TB talks, coughs, sneezes, laughs or sings.

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These germs can linger in the air for hours, especially in closed, indoor spaces, per the CDC. People become infected when they inhale the germs, which then settle in the lungs, says Schaffner.

Transmission of tuberculosis requires close, prolonged contact with someone who has active TB disease. "Its not transmitted casually by fleeting contacts, says Schaffner, adding that it's not readily transmissible like influenza or COVID, for example.

TB germs are not spread by shaking someone's hand, kissing, sharing food or drinks, or touching toilet seats, per the CDC.

People with latent TB are not contagious and cannot spread the infection to others. However, they are still treated to prevent a recurrent active TB infection later on, which can be contagious.

Signs of tuberculosis

According to the CDC, symptoms of active tuberculosis include:

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A cough lasting at least three weeks

Chest pain

Fatigue

Coughing up sputum or blood

Fever

Weight loss

Night sweats

People with inactive or latent TB will not develop symptoms, unless they develop active TB.

The hibernating bacteria in those individuals can recur and cause illness in that person, 10, 15, 20 years later, says Schaffner.

If left untreated, about 5-10% of latent cases will develop into active tuberculosis disease, according to the CDC.

Tuberculosis treatment

Tuberculosis patients, both active and inactive, are treated with antibiotics. Treatment typically involves taking multiple antibiotics every day over a period of four to nine months, per the CDC.

There is a vaccine for tuberculosis, which is not generally used in the U.S., but instead given to young children in countries where tuberculosis disease is common.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A new specialty license plate promoting sustainable county forest management debuted Thursday in Wisconsin, adding to the 60-plus designs available to motorists.

The latest plate comes from the Wisconsin County Forests Association, a nonprofit, quasi-governmental organization made up of 30 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, largely in the northern part of the state.

"With over 2.4 million acres in management, collectively, the counties are the largest public landowner in the state," according to the association's website.

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The association, established in 1968, works with government officials at the federal, state and local levels on forest programs and land use issues. The association advocates for all the counties, rather than each county addressing issues on their own.

State laws require county forests to provide "maximum public benefits" through multiple-use management, including recreation, wildlife and watershed protection and "optimum production" of materials for the state's forest products industry.

Like most specialty plates in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin County Forests Association plate requires an annual $25, tax-deductible donation. Donations from the new plate will be used to "help advocate for and promote sustainable forest management" in Wisconsin, according to a release from the DMV.

The plate also comes with a one-time, $15 fee, in addition to regular vehicle registration fees. Personalizing the characters on the plate costs an additional $15 each year. Special license plates can be ordered online through the DMV.

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The plate features the association's logo on the left side and "support county forests" at the bottom. The background is filled with fall foliage, pine trees and a river.

More: These Wisconsin specialty license plates were the most popular in 2024

More: From Children's Wisconsin to Ice Age Trail, readers share the stories behind their license plate

Special groups like the Wisconsin County Forests Association must pay a $15,500 development fee and collect 500 signatures from the public in order to apply for a new plate.

The plate joins several designs that support environmental causes in Wisconsin, including plates that feature endangered species, the International Crane Foundation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Wisconsin specialty license plate promotes forest sustainability
Believe it or not, the Church of England has been in worse straits than this. 376 years ago today the beheading of King Charles I ushered in a period of oppression, disestablishment, violence and extremism that made it look to many as if the English Church was finished.

That said, the nature of the Church of Englands travails in 2025 is fundamentally different. It is now threatened most from within. A maelstrom of scandal, a Pandoras box of failures and a rotten managerialist culture has rocked the ship. The Archbishop most responsible for that culture has gone. As I write, another bishop has resigned, accused of sexual misconduct.

More departures are likely. All of it obscures and threatens the genuinely good work done by the ordinary people of God on the ground in parishes.

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What is worryingly different in the crisis of today from that of the mid 17th century is the Churchs leadership itself. Then the Church was sustained by wise and holy leaders. One such good shepherd, Jeremy Taylor, preached a sermon in 1660 at the first consecration of bishops to occur since the Charless death in 1649. In it he described what bishops are called to do as to be busy in the service of souls.

By contrast, our current bishops are not serving souls. They are theologically unimpressive, devoid of political nous and pastorally moribund. Worst of all is the visceral contempt in which they seem to hold the ordinary people of God. It is everywhere: from reports which brand them racist, via mission plans which wish them away in favour of imaginary new and trendier converts to the denouement of thinking they can be hoodwinked over abuse scandals.

There are exceptions- I marked the anniversary of Charless death by hearing perhaps the best sermon I have ever heard preached by a retired Bishop of Exeter. My bishop, of Dorchester, is supremely hard working, dignified and pastoral to his core. As anyone following the life of the Church in the last few months will know, these are, alas, exceptions.

Indeed the quality of the bench is so bad that it threatens the Church itself. There are Jacobins- of left and right- who use this latest scandal to argue for its destruction. Everywhere this has happened before- France, Russia and even in the awfulness of Puritan England itself- attacks on the Church have been precursors to restrictive and evil regimes.

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Despite historys worrying precedent there are those who are beginning to accept arguments for the Churchs disestablishment. The paucity of the Bishops bench is no longer just a matter for internal ecclesiastical grumbling but becoming a matter of the Churchs survival.

Now, some would say so what? There are those who are happy to accept the dominion of an Italian church over an English one, still others who reject crown and mitre entirely. But those are not solutions acceptable to many consciences in the heart of the nation, nor are they of any real constructive help to the British state, whose problem this is as well. After all, the liberties and constitutional stability which we have enjoyed in this country is inherently linked to the union of Church and State.

More pressingly perhaps, the Churchs enslavement to management speak and corrupted appointment structures is not unique: every national institution is suffering similarly. The solution is not to throw the baby out with the bath water: we do not need no bishops but better ones. The current set need to go.

At the end of Taylors sermon he reminded the newly consecrated bishops that while the earthly church of the past had failed to discipline them, the truth would out. He wrote: When the early church deposed a Bishop from his office, they ever concealed his crime, and made no record of it: yet remember this, that God does, and will call us to a strict and severe account.

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I ask the bishops of today- do they believe this? Do they believe that part of the creed which they will have recited so many times, that He shall come again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead? If so why do they persist in placing the Church which He gave to them in such grave peril? Why do they so dishonour the ordinary people of God?

To quote Taylor again, The time will quickly come, in which God shall say unto thee in the words of the Prophet, Where is the Flock that was given thee, thy beautiful Flock? what wilt thou say when he shall

visit thee?

And if they do not believe this of Him, then what are they doing seeking to lead that beautiful flock at all?

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Three incarcerated transgender women sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging that the presidents executive order directing government officials to move them to mens prisons and cut off their access to health care violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

The women, identified as Jane Doe, Mary Doe and Sara Doe, will face a high risk of harassment, abuse, violence and sexual assault if moved to mens facilities, they wrote in their complaint. When Mary was previously incarcerated in mens BOP facilities, she was raped multiple times, according to the complaint.

If the plaintiffs lose access to their hormone therapy and other care, they are likely to experience worsening gender dysphoria  which increases the risk of suicidality and depression  as well as other adverse health outcomes, the complaint alleged.

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Openly transgender people account for less than 1% of people in federal prisons, according to Bureau of Prisons data accessed on Jan. 27. (BOP no longer publishes the number of trans people behind bars; the agencys stats online now refer only to inmate sex.)

In the days following Trumps executive order, lawyers and advocates told HuffPost that trans women in BOP facilities throughout the country were being placed in solitary confinement and notified that they would soon be transferred to mens facilities. The United Nations recognizes prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture.

On Jan. 24, Jane and Mary were removed from the general population and placed in segregation with other transgender women, according to the complaint. BOP officials told them their transfer paperwork had already been processed and that they would be moved no later than Jan. 30.

Sara was placed in solitary on Jan. 25 and was told that her cell was being cleaned out, in anticipation of her transfer. Her mother and sister emailed prison officials, pleading for them to reconsider.

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Sending her to an all-male prison will be the end of her. No one deserves this. There needs to be another way, we beg for your sympathy, they wrote. She will get sexually assaulted and even possibly killed for being who she is.  This could mean life or death and she has not received a death penalty as her sentence.

In response, BOP officials said they could not house Sara at a womens facility because of the executive order.

On Jan. 26, a transgender woman incarcerated in Massachusetts filed the first known legal challenge to Trumps executive order. Shortly after, the plaintiff, identified as Maria Moe, as well as Jane, Mary and Sara, were returned to general population housing. The day the Massachusetts lawsuit was filed, the federal judge overseeing the case temporarily blocked Moe from being transferred to a mens facility.

Similarly to the first suit, this case alleges that the executive order violates constitutional protections granted by the Fifth Amendments due process clause and the Eighth Amendments prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. It also argues that Trumps order failed to comply with federal laws governing changes to rulemaking within the Bureau of Prisons.

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The Prison Rape Elimination Act, a law enacted in 2003 and implemented in 2012, requires prison officials to conduct housing reviews for incarcerated trans people at least twice a year to determine, on a case-by-case basis, where they should be imprisoned. The law states that the individuals views on their own safety should be given serious consideration, but it does not provide meaningful guidance on how housing decisions should be made.

Transferring transgender individuals without conducting an individualized assessment violates federal law, the womens suit alleges.

As of earlier this week, the BOP website included the 2022 Transgender Offender Manual, which echoed the PREA language. By Friday, the BOP had taken its policies and forms offline. This content is temporarily unavailable as we implement the Executive Order on Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, the website read.

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(Bloomberg) -- Jackeline Vera built a loyal following of tens of thousands of followers on TikTok posting chismes, or gossip, about celebrities such as Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro.

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That was until Donald Trump was elected president for a second time and promised the largest mass deportation in US history. It was only then that Vera, who makes her living as a content creator in Chicago under the handle @jaxxchismetalk, began posting about politics.

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What began as a series of missives decrying Trumps executive orders grew into a campaign to track sightings of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in pursuit of undocumented migrants. The videos, set against a backdrop listing the latest raids, grew so popular  and the sightings so frequent  that Vera started a crowd-sourced spreadsheet and map to keep up with tips as her follower count soared.

@jaxxchismetalk

Updated ice raid locations 1/21/25 2:50pm cst #imigrante #imigrantes #mexico #iceraids #ice #raids #redadas

 original sound - Jaxx

On Jan. 18, she posted about planned ICE raids coming to her hometown. Three days later, a video identifying several dozen purported ICE actions across the country got 2 million views. Sometimes the sightings listed on the map are of what appear to be ICE agents simply standing outside a gym or coffee shop. The goal is to let her followers who lack documents or have family members without legal status know where law enforcement is congregating so they can make decisions about whether its safe to be in those areas.

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If Trump fulfills his campaign promise to save TikTok, he just might be making it harder to make good on another pledge  to round up and deport the more than 11 million people living in the country without authorization. For the most part, protections for free speech mean it isnt illegal to warn people about immigration raids. Vera and other like-minded content creators on TikTok are taking advantage of that.

Im going to do it regardless, because I feel like this is really important, Vera, 32, said. When she first heard about deportation raids in Chicago, she was shocked, upset and afraid for everyone that could possibly be affected by all of this.

While celebrities including the billionaire Selena Gomez and actor Sophia Bush drew attention with social-media posts lambasting Trumps immigration crackdown, Vera and her allies see themselves in a more niche role  providing information to a community overwhelmed by fear that being in the wrong place at the wrong time could lead to an arrest and ultimately being deported. They say that as authorities ramp up raids in the early days of the Trump administration, theyre trying to inform migrants of their rights.

@jaxxchismetalk

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Politician calls for Selena Gomez deportation after she reacts on social media to all of the raids happening #selenagomez #selentors #selena #samparker #deportation #ice #iceraids #raids #chicago #immigration #chi #immigrant @Selena Gomez

 original sound - Jaxx

The Trump administration emphasizes that its focus is on deporting violent criminals, conducting high-profile arrests in New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver and elsewhere that target those convicted of serious crimes. Supporters of the crackdown have also taken to social media to try to undermine the raid warnings, contributing false sightings to the people trying to aggregate data and generally causing havoc to try to disrupt the efforts.

This seems like aiding and abetting criminals, one person posted on Reddit. It would be a shame if it were swamped with false reports, another said.

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Immigration officers averaged more than 1,000 arrests a day from Jan. 27 to Jan 29, according to posts on X, almost triple the rate of the previous fiscal year. Among those taken into custody since Trump took office were people accused of illegal gun possession, sex crimes and lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. But a significant number of the people arrested had not been accused of any crime beyond entering the US without permission.

Celeste, a California-based part-time content creator under the @celestiedabestie handle, reached out to Vera to offer to lend her tech savvy to the project and help improve and expand the database of raids. They eventually developed what they call People Over Papers, a map covered in pin drops from all over the country identifying businesses, intersections and addresses where anonymous contributors post ICE sightings. Its received thousands of tips after going live last week.

I wanted to share resources with people, said Celeste, who asked not to be identified with her full name because of concern about backlash. So I stepped up, and asked if she wanted some help managing all of the tips that she was receiving.

Soon a team of more than a dozen helpers came together to build the interactive map, vet contributions and address latency issues.

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@celestiedabestie

#greenscreen @Paola Ramos

 original sound - CeLEZte

Advocates for migrants caution that the maps are informal efforts susceptible to misinformation, and stress that those worried about the raids should seek out information about their rights from reputable organizations that have been working on the issues for years. The ACLU has a guide for migrants, as do other non-profit groups.

Chantal Serrano, a Brooklyn-based organizer for the volunteer group NYC Migrant Solidarity, says the demand for immigration resources has never been greater, which makes vetting the information that much harder.Part of what her organization does is dispel unhelpful rumors, seeking to quell fear and allow migrants to live their lives.

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We try to make sure everything we see and hear is vetted with a video or a photo, Serrano, 25, said.The system is imperfect; we are relying on people to reach out and let us know.

Vera is posting a lot less about celebrity gossip these days, saying the urgency of the moment has compelled her to focus on immigration issues. But she hopes that the raids will abate after a shock-and-awe campaign in the early days of the Trump administration, and she can return to posting her normal content.

I hope that they can be informed and also maybe, like, I could make somebody laugh too in the same day, Vera said. My dream is that we dont ever have to use this map again.

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This week marks the fifth anniversary of the UKs departure from the European Union. The Telegraph is publishing a series of essays on How to Save Brexit from expert commentators, each giving their views on how the project can be made a success. The full list of essays published so far can be found below.

It is five years today since Brexit finally came to pass. The UKs membership of the European Union ended officially at 11pm on January 31 2020 and our status as a free and independent state began.

At the time I called this the greatest moment in the modern history of our great nation. Those words came from the heart.

For those of us who believe that charting our own course outside of the anti-democratic EU is highly desirable, it felt as though we had got our country back.

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But it hasnt been easy.

First, Covid struck. This was followed by the Conservative government recklessly devoting itself to years of bitter infighting instead of ruling in the interests of the people and making sure Brexit worked.

For them, this project was simply about political convenience. And now we have a Labour government run by Remainer-in-Chief, Sir Keir Starmer, that is determined to take Britain back into the orbit of the EU via the back door.

This is a national tragedy. Because one thing on which every honest person can agree is that the job has been left unfinished. Yes, there have been many great Brexit victories which must be celebrated, particularly in foreign policy terms. But the full benefits of Brexit have not been realised  yet.

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I believe its now only a question of time before we can right this wrong. British politics has changed. The days of the old two-party system are over. Now, it is a three-horse race  and Reform UK has the momentum. Our membership has passed the Conservatives and is on its way to 200,000. Successive opinion polls show that we are tied or even ahead of Labour. We are the only party looking forward to the next general election. For the good of the country this abysmal socialist administration must be turfed out and replaced by a governing party that believes in maximising Britains potential, not talking it down.

A Reform UK government would seize the golden opportunities that Brexit allows. Unlike Labour and the Tories, our party genuinely believes in this project.

Just consider how things stand in Northern Ireland today. It is an EU-inspired limboland. Hundreds of pieces of legislation there still conform to EU standards, not to British standards. This is a travesty. A Reform UK government would tackle this straight away. We would cut regulation and truly unshackle this great country and its people.

And whatever Kemi Badenoch may claim about being a true Brexiteer, I dont believe her. She has a special place in history when it comes to frustrating Brexit. As Business and Trade Secretary, she spared thousands of EU regulations that were supposed to be thrown on a Brexit bonfire from being burned. Her failure to see through the Retained EU Law Bill is proof that the Tories never really believed in Brexit. Indeed, their unwillingness to light that Brexit bonfire has given Starmer the chance to crawl back to Brussels seeking a closer relationship. By retaining those laws, Britain is perceived by the EU to lack the confidence or the will to strike out on its own. Reform UK would have as many bonfires as it took to get the EUs red tape out of Britain for good to send the message to EU chiefs: we are never coming back.

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The overwhelming reason that voters backed Brexit was immigration. People were sick and tired of having a porous border. Leaving the EU, they thought, would allow the nation to be far more discerning  to take back control. The fact that under the Tories the opposite occurred, and immigration rocketed to unprecedented levels between 2020 and 2024, is a particular slap in the face. That trend is set to continue, with five million more immigrants expected to settle in the UK between now and 2032. This has done more than anything to damage faith in our politics.

Thousands of those who arrive here do so illegally by boat. Under a Reform UK government, all should be turned back to the EU, through which they passed. We are the only party brave enough to leave the ECHR and finally stop the boats.

Britain can do so much better and leaving the EU properly so that it is truly liberated must be the next step. The UK government must focus fully on reforming areas such as fishing rights and taxes, which still bear the scars of our EU membership. And I am putting Keir Starmer on notice that if there are any more betrayals, you can mark my words that there will be repercussions for Labour at the ballot box.

The time has come to let those of us who started Brexit in 2016 finish the job in 2029. Reform stands ready to do just that.

Nigel Farage is leader of Reform UK and Member of Parliament for Clacton.

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Other articles in our How to Save Brexit series:

Trump can save Brexit  If we let him Douglas Carswell discusses the prospects for a UK-US trade deal

Most Brits now want to rejoin the EU. Theres an argument that could change their minds John Curtice looks into the swing of public sentiment against Brexit, and arguments which might restore its popularity

People need to be reminded what a terrible, anti-democratic institution the EU is Kate Hoey on the way in which the Northern Ireland Protocol is being used to drag the UK back towards the EU

As a businessman, this is how Id save Brexit Luke Johnson explains the best way to use our Brexit freedoms and return growth to the British economy

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Brexit wasnt a failure. It liberated us from the declining, dictatorial EU The Rt Hon. the Lord Frost CMG, Britains Brexit negotiator, argues that the Brexit wars are over and the journey is now to the future, not back to Brussels

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Jan. 31AUSTIN  The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces the arrest of two of Texas' 10 Most Wanted. Authorities arrested Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Jrdon Joe  who is also this month's featured fugitive  on January 28, and Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender Marcos Alonzo on January 18. Crime Stoppers rewards will be paid in both arrests.

According to a DPS news release, Jrdon Mykel Joe, 23, was taken into custody in Houston. Following up on tip information, DPS Criminal Investigation Division Special Agents assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang (TAG) Center in Houston, along with DPS Region 2 Special Response Team (SRT) members, the DPS Texas Highway Patrol TAG Violent Crimes Unit, U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force and Harris County Constable's Office Pct. 4 Special Operations Unit, collaborated in this multi-agency fugitive investigation, to locate and arrest him.

Joe had been wanted for murder out of Harris Co. since August 2024 following an incident where he allegedly shot a man in a parking lot off IH-45 on July 12, 2024. Joe's criminal history also includes prior arrests for drug and violent offenses. More information on Joe's capture can be found here.

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Marcos Christopher Alonzo, 47, was taken into custody in Dallas. Following up on tip information, members of the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, including DPS Special Agents, located and arrested him. The Hutchins Police Department assisted in the multi-agency fugitive investigation.

According to the release, Alonzo had been wanted since February 2023, when a warrant was issued out of Dallas County for his arrest for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. In 2005, Alonzo was convicted of indecency with a child by contact following an incident with a 5-year-old girl. He was subsequently sentenced to five years of confinement in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison. In 2011, Alonzo was convicted of failure to register as a sex offender and subsequently sentenced to three years of confinement. More information on Alonzo's capture can be found here.

Funded by the Governor's Criminal Justice Division, Texas Crime Stoppers, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders or Criminal Illegal Immigrants. So far in 2025, DPS and other agencies have arrested six Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants, including one sex offender and two criminal illegal immigrants  with $10,000 in rewards being paid for tips that yielded arrests.

To be eligible for cash rewards, tipsters MUST provide information to authorities using one of the following three methods:

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 Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).

 Submit a web tip through the DPS website by selecting the fugitive you have information about then clicking on the link under their picture.

 Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the "SUBMIT A TIP" link (under the "About" section).

All tips are anonymous  regardless of how they are submitted  and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.

DPS investigators work with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants Lists. You can find the current lists  with photos  on the DPS website.

Do not attempt to apprehend these fugitives; they are considered armed and dangerous.
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) has awarded a $3.8 million R01 grant to a collaborative team from Emory Universitys Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Rollins School of Public Health to mitigate health disparities and reduce cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality among Latina agricultural laborers.

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Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in U.S. women, according to the American Heart Association. Grant Multi-Principal Investigator (MPI) Assistant Professor Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RN, FAHA, says that Latina farmworkers  a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. agricultural workforce  experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality driven by social determinants of health such as limited access to health care, poverty and social isolation, all of which are compounded by cumulative interpersonal trauma.

Our goal with this grant is to bring evidence-based, culturally tailored interventions to Latina farmworkers and address the adverse social determinants of health that compound cardiovascular risk factors among this underserved and understudied population of women, she adds.

Named Hermanas de Corazon, the intervention will leverage a 31-year community partnership with the Farm Worker Family Health Program in southwest Georgia to evaluate how peer support  in combination with efforts to address unmet social needs  can reduce stress, social isolation and psychological distress while improving access to essential resources.

The five-year, multidisciplinary study will integrate assessments of social determinants of health and lifetime trauma experiences into cardiovascular disease prevention interventions to address the root causes of health disparities and improve the cardiometabolic health of Latina agricultural laborers.

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The research will be led by MPIs Ferranti and School of Nursing Associate Professor Ursula Kelly, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC. Co-investigators include Professor Melinda K. Higgins, PhD, from the School of Nursing and Assistant Professors Andrea Lopez-Cepero, PhD and Elizabeth Rhodes, PhD, from the Rollins School of Public Health.

The Hermanas de Corazon initiative is poised to not only improve the heart health of Latina farmworkers, but also to create a replicable model for community-driven interventions that are aimed at reducing health disparities in marginalized communities, Kelly explains.

This research is supported by the NINR of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01NR021664. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

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MEMPHIS, Tenn.  A gym owner has pleaded guilty to selling drugs out of his business in Humboldt, Tennessee while in court on Wednesday.

Joseph Brian Moss owns Humboldt Fitness LCC on North Central Avenue. He has been in jail on a bond hold awaiting additional charges he received after he was arrested in this case, according to the West Tennessee Drug Task Force.

On July 25, 2023, officers with the task force say while searching Mosss business they found 29 firearms, $153,421 in suspected drug proceeds, drug paraphernalia, and documentation and electronic evidence of illegal narcotic distribution.

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MS county coroner accused of fake body transport business

On September 25, 2024, Moss received subsequent drug-related charges after another search was conducted on the same property he owned. The task force says these charges are currently pending investigation.

Moss is now facing six years of probation and has to forfeit thousands in drug proceeds along with his business.

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Doctors say 2-year-old Habiba al-Askari has days to live as gangrene creeps up her arms and legs, and only an urgent medical evacuation out of Gaza may save her life.

She has a rare genetic condition: protein C deficiency, which causes excessive blood clotting and can lead to a slow death. The condition is highly treatable  but not in Gaza, where healthcare institutions and supplies have been decimated by Israels yearslong war in the Palestinian enclave.

Earlier this month, international aid groups worked through the complex process of obtaining permission from Israeli authorities to allow Habiba to leave Gaza for treatment.

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Habiba did receive formal permission to leave Gaza, according to COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates permissions for movement in and out of Gaza. And authorities in nearby Jordan were set to bring her to Amman for treatment, following a CNN report on her case. Earlier this week, a complicated mission was set in motion, with the Jordanian military prepared to evacuate Habiba on Wednesday.

But at the last minute, Israeli authorities delayed the mission, Jordanian authorities tell CNN  a crushing surprise for her family and doctors. For now she remains in Gaza, her condition worsening by the hour.

Habibas life is in danger now, her distraught mother Rana told CNN on Thursday, in a flood of tears. I do not understand why they wont allow her out to get medical treatment. What crime did she commit?

COGAT did not respond to CNNs repeated requests for comment on the delay.

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Habiba is one of at least 2,500 children in Gaza in urgent need of medical evacuation, according to the UN. Under the recently signed ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, Israeli authorities are supposed to increase the number of Gaza residents allowed out for treatment.

Habiba al-Askari is one of at least 2,500 children in Gaza in urgent need of medical evacuation, according to the UN - Courtesy Rana al-Askari

But no medical evacuations from Gaza have taken place for two weeks. The last evacuation was on January 16, when just 12 patients were evacuated to European countries, according to the World Health Organization. Approximately 12,000 people in Gaza are still awaiting medical evacuation, according to the UN.

COGAT previously told CNN that it has enabled 24 medical evacuations from Gaza through Israel to other countries in recent months, for 1,075 Gaza residents seeking medical care.

Doctors warn of amputation

On Thursday morning, Habiba was admitted to an intensive care unit in Gaza with a suspected lung infection. Surrounded by foreign and local doctors scrambling to keep her alive, she lay barely conscious, moaning in pain between each labored breath.

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The toddlers arms and right leg have turned black with gangrene. Doctors told CNN that her right leg will have to be amputated, and it may be too late to save her arms.

Gangrene can lead to sepsis  an infection spreading to the bloodstream  that raises the risk of rapid organ failure and death.

A senior Jordanian official told CNN that Amman is continuing to push the request to evacuate Habibas with Israeli authorities, and stands ready to move immediately.

With Gazas health system under fire, doctors do not have the diagnostic tools to definitively determine what is happening to her, Dr. Mohamed Kuziez, an American pediatrician from Colorado, who recently left Gaza after volunteering with NGO Rahma Worldwide, told CNN.

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Dr. Kuziez first treated Habiba several weeks ago, in Gaza City, and oversaw her care as medics waited for Israeli permission to move her south, a first step in the evacuation process.

But as soon as he landed back in the US, he received news of the dramatic deterioration in her condition. Im trying to be there to support the mom, to try and provide whatever medical advice we can provide, he said, choking back tears.

But in the back of my mind, I am worried it may have gotten too far. Theres still hope for her, but its just decreasing by the minute.

When Dr. Mohamed Kuziez (right) left Gaza, he recalled, my heart wanted to just take her with me in my arms and run across the border with her. - Courtesy Dr. Mohamed Kuziez

Hes tormented by the knowledge that Habibas condition could have been treated in time, if she had had access to the right facility. When Dr. Kuziez left Gaza, he recalled, my heart wanted to just take her with me in my arms and run across the border with her.

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Blocking her evacuation will be a death sentence, he warned. For anybody with medical knowledge, it seems like a deliberate push to essentially kill this child. Theres no other way to describe it. This child needs emergency critical care.

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A former City of South Fulton purchasing manager is breaking his silence about what he describes as financial abuse within the city. This week the council filed an ethics complaint against the mayor over his spending.

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Its a misappropriation of funds, former City of South Fulton purchasing manager Malcolm Whichard says was widely known.

My first week there, he knocked on the door, introduced himself and asked me for his P-card back and I refused, Whichard said.

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Whichard says in his two short months employed at the city, he uncovered extreme financial abuse.

I was the guy at the city that told everyone no, said Whichard.

He went on to tell Channel 2s Ashli Lincoln, Two weeks in, the mayor came to my office asking how he can buy $15,000 worth of IKEA furniture, he said.

South Fulton Mayor Kahlid Kamau, now known as Mayor Kobi, is currently under investigation for purchase card and purchasing order expenses dating back to 2022.

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Lincoln reviewed multiple city policies and ordinances.

A January audit trail shows a $19,000 purchase order for an unapproved media lab. City ordinance states any purchase over $2,500 must be approved by the city manager.

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Theres just a lack of oversight, Whichard said.

A city official told Lincoln they are looking into why some purchases were not approved by either the current interim purchase manager or the city manager.

Documents also show multiple airline purchases where the mayor bought unapproved flights for himself and two employees. Banks statements show an employee went with him to Paris in May and another employee was taken on a trip to Africa in October. Collectively both purchases cost the city more than $8,000.

You have a travel policy, you have a P-card policy, (and) you have to get authorized to travel before you make that P-card purchase. He wasnt authorized to travel, he made the P-card purchase because he has the card and was allowed to swipe it, Whichard said.

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City ordinance indicates only the city clerk has the authority to approve employees to go on trips.

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Several transactions also showed multiple flight upgrades. The citys P-card policy only allows for economy flights to be purchased and doesnt allow upgrades.

On Tuesday, the city council filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Kobi. Once the investigation is presented to the ethics board it will decide to recommend resignation, repayment or other sanctions.

To be quite frank...if he could take luxury trips on his own dime, he would have. So, the city is never going to see that money again, Whichard said.

Lincoln reached out to Mayor Kobi, he did not provide Channel 2 with a statement Thursday but did say he would speak at a later date.

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On Monday he cancelled Channel 2 Action Newss original interview date. At that time, he told us he planned to address these allegations during Tuesdays council meeting. However, Mayor Kobi abruptly left the meeting early.

Whichard says he was terminated because he enforced the citys P-card policy. He later sued the city for wrongful termination and won that lawsuit.
Too $hort has uploaded an emotional video amid the loss of his brother, Wayne Shaw.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday (Jan. 30), the 58-year-old shared a clip of himself riding to the Ohio Players 1977 track Angel. In the video, the rapper begins with black sunglasses on. He then lifts them up, revealing red eyes still wet with tears.

The Hip-Hop veteran does not speak in the video, however, the lyrics of the song emote deep feelings. He is met in the comments with the support of fans and celebrities including Styles P, DJ Premier, Larry June, YoYo, Monica, and Terri J. Vaughn.

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You put my life before your own/And you set my love upon a throne/Only someone from up above/Could ever give a man so much love, sings the funk band in the background. The clip is captioned Real Tears.

A second video uploaded by Too $hort features another Ohio Players song, Pain, with the caption Aint really replying to a lot of texts or answering calls right now. I cant.

Wayne Shaw was shot and killed on Wednesday in what law enforcement believe to be an attempted robbery of his marijuana growing facility. Shaw was 61 years old. He reportedly also slept at the warehouse where a group of people allegedly tried to use a vehicle to ram their way inside. Shaw was shot while confronting the group.

Investigators discovered a bullet-ridden Honda Civic nearby. The vehicle was previously reported stolen. The Oakland Police Department is asking anyone with information about the case to call its Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or a tip line at (510) 238-7950. People can also send videos or photos to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.

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Three of President Donald Trumps most vulnerable Cabinet nominees appeared in front of Senate panels for their confirmation hearings this week. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for secretary of Health and Human services, is one of them.

The other two are Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Kash Patel for FBI director. Kennedy is the only one in the trio to have his hearing spread across two days.

Kennedy, a former Democrat turned independent who endorsed Trump in 2024, received sharp scrutiny from both sides of the aisle at his Thursday hearing, but especially from Democrats, over the subject of vaccines as he appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP committee.

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On Wednesday, Kennedy received a stamp of approval from Senate Finance Committee chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who argued Kennedy endured a rigorous selection process and deserved to be confirmed.

But the Thursday hearing showed some of Crapos GOP colleagues on the HELP committee may still have questions. Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, a physician, took the lead on asking Kennedy questions related to vaccines and public safety.

The Louisiana senator said hes been struggling with Kennedys nomination.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, speaks as Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., right, listens at the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of the Treasury, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. | Ben Curtis

Now my responsibility is to learn, try and determine if you can be trusted to support the best public health, Cassidy said with a sigh. A worthy movement called MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) to improve the health of Americans  or to undermine it, always asking for more evidence and never accepting the evidence that is there.

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You may be hearing from me over the weekend, Cassidy told Kennedy.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday that he has been "struggling with your nomination" to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.



Cassidy's comments came during the second hearing this week for Kennedy, President Donald pic.twitter.com/zlLMfc2D0g  PBS News (@NewsHour) January 30, 2025

Kennedy, a known critic of vaccines, refrained from voicing distrust in vaccines during his two days of hearings.

Instead, he repeatedly said he supports vaccines and isnt looking to take them away, while labeling himself as pro-safety instead of anti-vaccine. But, Kennedy added, he is interested in forcing transparency in the pharmaceutical industry and reforming the food supply chain.

Autism and vaccines

Cassidy opened Thursdays hearing by speaking about his personal experiences as a doctor and his work to advocate for disease-preventing vaccines. My phone blows up with people who really follow you, and there are many who trust you more than their own physician, said Cassidy in his opening statement. What do you do with that trust?

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Acknowledging Wednesdays hearing, where Kennedy said he is pro-vaccine, Cassidy asked if he would advise a mother to vaccinate her child, and whether unfounded and misleading arguments against vaccines are a part of his past.

During the line of questioning, Cassidy asked the HHS nominee whether he is convinced of the safety of the measles and hepatitis B vaccines, and would say they dont cause autism.

If the data is there, I will absolutely do that, Kennedy responded.

Cassidy gave Kennedy a chance to backtrack from previously expressed views about vaccines being linked to autism. (Scientific studies show no such links.)

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If the data is brought to you ... will you ask, No, I need more, or will you say, No, I see this. Its the test of time, and I unequivocally and without qualification say that this does not cause autism.

Kennedy responded, Not only will I do that, but I will apologize for any statements that misled people otherwise.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. | Rod Lamkey

Cassidy later clashed with fellow Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over whether newborn children should be given the hepatitis B vaccine, revealing the diversity of opinion on the issue.

Meanwhile, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., grew emotional when she shared her worries as a mother who spent decades wondering whether a vaccine caused her 36-year-old sons cerebral palsy after coming across a study that suggested the same. But the study was later discredited.

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When you continue to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it impossible for us to move forward, she said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member of the HELP committee, during his turn, picked up where Cassidy left off, saying, Your job was to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job.

Sanders made headlines Wednesday after he pressed Kennedy to answer whether he supported baby onesies with anti-vaccine slogans sold by Childrens Health Defense, an organization Kennedy founded.

On Thursday, Sanders raised the possibility of cuts to Medicaid and strongly advised Kennedy to hold fast against such a proposition, and follow in the footsteps of his uncle President John F. Kennedy and his father Robert F. Kennedy, a senator from New York  both of whom believed that health care is a human right.

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Alongside his criticism, Sanders gave Kennedy props for the phrase Make America Healthy Again and agreed, we are a very unhealthy society.

Does Kennedy have enough support?

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who, like Sanders, grilled Kennedy on both days, said hed prefer an HHS secretary who isnt afraid to ask hard questions.

I think its important to question science, but youre not questioning science. Youve made up your mind. You have spent your entire career undermining Americas vaccine program.

Senators from the other side of the aisle raised similar questions. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska didnt display full confidence in Kennedy following the two hearings, coming to his defense but admitting there are points of concern. She revealed she hasnt decided how she plans to vote.

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I think what were trying to do is ascribe a label. I think he answered the issue of vaccines multiple different times trying to say that hes pro safety, follow the science, she said after the Senate panels session ended, as CNN reported. I think that there were some questions that were particularly telling that when the science has been out there for a long time and has been proven, do you need to continue being the skeptic?

Its unclear when the Senate Finance and Health committees will vote on his nomination, but no matter when they vote it appears Kennedy faces a bumpy road ahead. He needs 51 votes to be confirmed, and the Senate Republicans hold a 53-seat majority. Kennedy can only afford to lose three Republicans or he will have to lean on Democrats to be confirmed.
BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WPRI)  Samuel Stronegger and Linus Backman traveled more than 3,000 miles from Sweden for an overnight booking at The Conjuring house in Rhode Island.

The men, who said they paid $10,000 for the trip, were excited to visit the Burrillville farmhouse made famous by the 2013 horror film The Conjuring, which has since become a draw for people seeking paranormal experiences.

But their excitement turned to dismay when they were turned away at the propertys gate and told the attraction had been closed to business.

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We were super excited for the trip, and, my viewers and my followers, everyone knows that we are going to The Conjuring house, said Stronegger, who is a social media influencer. When we came to the house and they said we couldnt enter the house, it was like, this has to be a dream.

The Swedes were hardly alone.

Target 12 interviewed nearly 10 people over the past two months who said the The Conjuring house owner never told them about the closure, despite having successfully booked visits.

Now, many are scrambling for refunds after losing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for nothing.

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It just  it broke my heart, because I knew it was something he really wanted, said Crystal Bass, a Warwick resident, who had booked a tour at the house for her sons birthday.

David Phillips, who traveled from Maine for his daughters birthday, was likewise turned away. He said they made the best out of an unfortunate situation by going out to dinner instead at a local pub. But he expressed frustration with the way everything was handled.

Number one, the business did not take ownership of the problem, he said. And number two, they tried to push us off on someone else to get our money back.

Property owner Jacqueline Nunez told Target 12 last month that she was determined to keep the business open through December, despite losing her license, arguing people had already booked tours.

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Theyre going to have to come and shut me down, she said.

Police did just that.

Officers responded to the property in December and shut it down after visitors kept showing up. Nunez and her general manager were cited for operating without a license.

I havent done anything: Owner of The Conjuring house speaks out against criticism

Asked about refunds, Nunez said she is not the problem, and that she isnt able to give money back to customers because her third-party booking site, FareHarbor, had deleted her account and stolen her money.

I have experienced grand theft of my business through FareHarbor Booking, said Nunez. They deleted my account in November so that I would not have access to my data anymore.

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FareHarbor legal counsel Wendy McCord disputed Nunezs claims, explaining the third-party booking site provides a platform for businesses to manage reservations and process payments. But she said they dont hold any funds and customers payments are passed through to clients.

In this case, all funds from customer bookings were transferred directly to Ms. Nunezs designated accounts, McCord said.

When an account is closed, she added, businesses can no longer accept new reservations, although customers can access their dashboards for a period of time to review bookings, contact customers and cancel reservations.

Feeling in a state of limbo, most of the people interviewed by Target 12 said they had received their money back by disputing the charge with their credit card companies.

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But that wasnt an option for Stronegger and Backman, who said they paid with a debit card.

It just feels like, we just got totally scammed, Backman said Basically, it feels like the owner is not taking responsibility for their actions at all.

Sarah Guernelli (sguernelli@wpri.com) is the consumer investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD)  A former owner of a local tow truck company is using the Michigan International Auto Show in Grand Rapids as a platform to reach drivers, continuing his mission to raise awareness about and adherence to Michigans move over law.

Matt Spencer joined Js Towings booth inside DeVos Place to get the word out, now more than one year since his son, Keagan, a tow truck driver who was killed in a crash along M-6 near Grand Rapids in November 2023.

A banner displayed at the Michigan International Auto Show in Grand Rapids uses an image of Keagan Spencer to remind drivers to move over for emergency responders and tow truck drivers. (Jan. 30, 2025)

No jail time for driver in tow truck operators death

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I cant imagine explaining it to anybody other than being in a windstorm and bracing so you dont get blown over, Matt Spencer said, describing what it feels like working roadside as cars pass by.

Under Michigan law, if there is an emergency vehicle or roadside assistance unit stopped with their lights on, you must slow down to at least 10 mph under the posted speed limit and move over one lane to give them room to safely work. If you dont, you could wind up with two points on your license and a fine of $400. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are similar laws on the books in all 50 states, but wrecks involving emergency vehicles and tow trucks remain a frequent problem.

Video: Fire truck hit while responding to I-94 crash near Kalamazoo

In the United States, there are two emergency responders struck a day. Thats a huge stat  two workers struck, Spencer said. Every six days, there is one that is killed.

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The safety concerns are so pervasive that Spencer said it is becoming difficult for tow companies to staff their trucks.

I would challenge the public to imagine no tow trucks, because it is getting very difficult for a business owner to find guys and women who want to go out and work the white line, he said. Its very dangerous and no one is respecting us.

MSP video shows troopers jump over median to avoid semi barreling through crash scene

A reminder drivers to move over for emergency responders and tow truck drivers under Michigan law. (Jan. 30, 2025)

Spencers advocacy has taken a nationwide turn: He and his fiance drove all over the Midwest and southeastern United States last year to talk with drivers about their experiences. That trip produced connections that will help Spencer bring his message to Washington, D.C., and to Florida during an official speaking engagement in the next year.

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In the meantime, he asked that drivers put themselves in the shoes of a worker on the white line and slow down and move over.

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First, it was a highly delinquent electric bill that left Town Center at Cobb in the dark for 24 hours.

Now, Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell has learned Kohan Retail Investment Group is behind on the water bill. The owner also owes more than $1 million in back taxes in other parts of the country.

They were not paying property taxes; they would pay it late to avoid tax sales, said Jarett Heil.

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Heil is the vice chair of the Marshall County Iowa Board of Supervisors. He sent Newell videos of the Marshall Town Mall that has stood in the dark.

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The big problem really came to head back in November of 2023, that is when they were not paying their electric bill and the utility company shut the power off and the power is still off in the mall to this day, Heil said.

Earlier this week, Channel 2 Action News reported Town Center at Cobb shut down on Tuesday for not paying the power bill. Georgia Power said it was working with Town Center for several months to resolve their highly delinquent bills.

Newell also learned about the issue with the water bill. Cobb County has temporarily suspended water shutoffs, so the owner hasnt received a shutoff notice for Town Center.

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Channel 2 Action News found similar problems at a mall in Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio owned by Kohan.

Newell reached the owner over the phone, but he did not want his voice recorded.

Im just trying to figure out whats going on. Why are there so many problems at these properties? Newell asked.

Kohan claims he is current on the water bill and he is appealing the tax liens on the property. He claims to not know why the electric bill got so high.

He blames a business owner for the utility problem at a mall in Michigan and that tenants moved out of the mall in Iowa before the power was shut off.

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Americans divided over whether Trump's pace in addressing major U.S. problems is about right or too fast

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- At 47%, President Donald Trump's initial job approval rating for his second term is similar to the inaugural 45% reading during his first term, again placing him below all other elected presidents dating back to 1953. Trump remains the only elected president with sub-50% initial approval ratings, and his latest disapproval rating (48%) is three percentage points higher than in 2017, marking a new high for inaugural ratings.

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Trumps current job approval rating, from Gallups Jan. 21-27 poll, is not significantly different from the 51% readings earned by George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan in the early days of their presidencies. However, initial evaluations of Trump differ in that Americans are much more likely to disapprove of his performance rather than have no opinion, as was the case for the elder Bush and Reagan.

John Kennedy had the highest inaugural approval rating, at 72%, followed closely by Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama, who both had strong starts with 68% readings. Jimmy Carter received a 66% approval rating, while Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and George W. Bush had ratings between 57% and 59%.

Although Trumps latest rating is weak compared with past presidents initial readings, it is among the best he has received as president. His personal high point during his first term was 49%, which he earned on several occasions in 2020.

Trump averaged 41% approval in his first term and is the only president not to receive a job rating of 50% or higher at any point in his presidency. He left office in January 2021 with the lowest rating of his presidency, 34%, after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trumps Approval Rating Remains Politically Polarized

As was the case during his first term, Trumps current job rating is sharply polarized, with 91% of Republicans approving, compared with just 6% of Democrats and 46% of independents. This 85-point gap between Republicans and Democrats is similar to the average 81-point gap throughout his first term. It is also close to Bidens 87-point gap at the beginning of his term in 2021.

At the start of Trumps first term, partisans approval ratings were separated by 76 points (90% of Republicans vs. 14% of Democrats) -- whereas prior to that, the gaps in partisans initial approval ratings of new presidents ranged from 24 to 56 points.

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Americans Split Over Trumps Speed in Addressing Major U.S. Problems

Trump began his second presidential term by signing a record number of executive actions targeting a wide range of policy areas, including immigration, defense and the military, foreign policy, the environment, and government efficiency. The poll was completed before the Trump administration initiated a pause on trillions of dollars of grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, which was later temporarily blocked by a federal judge and then rescinded by Trump.

At the time of the poll, Americans were divided in their views of Trumps pace in addressing the major problems facing the country today, with 40% saying it is about right, 37% saying it is too fast and 14% saying it is not fast enough.

The broad majority of Republicans (83%) think his pace is about right, while 61% of Democrats think he is moving too fast. Independents views are similar to the national average.

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Although Trump has signed more executive actions this year than he did in the first 100 days of his first term, Americans were more inclined in 2017 than they are now to say he was moving too fast (47%). Republicans are now seven points more likely than they were in 2017 to say Trumps actions are about right. Democrats are now less likely to say Trump is moving too fast (-12 points) and more likely to think he is not moving fast enough (+11 points).

Gallup asked this question about just one other presidents pace -- Obama in 2009. At that time, a majority of Americans, 63%, said it was about right. The rest were more likely to say Obama was acting too fast (22%) than not fast enough (10%).

Bottom Line

Most presidents have experienced a honeymoon period, with strong job approval ratings in the initial months of their presidencies that then fade as time passes. Trump did not enjoy such a traditional honeymoon period in his first term, as the 45% of Americans who expressed approval of him in the initial reading in 2017 was not much higher than his 41% term average. Initial approval ratings for all elected presidents since Eisenhower, not including Trump, averaged 61%.

Trump is starting his second term just like the first, with Americans evenly divided over how well he is doing his job. Slightly more now have an opinion one way or the other -- but his current 47% approval rating is still lower than initial readings for all other modern presidents, aside from his first rating in 2017.

Trumps fellow Republicans overwhelmingly approve of the job he is doing so far and think his speed in addressing major problems in the U.S. has been about right. His support from Republicans and independents is slightly higher than what it was in 2017, while Democrats support is even lower.

While there is no single way to define a presidential honeymoon, Trumps approval ratings in the coming months will test one common standard -- if his ratings go down for a sustained period, his initial ratings will look elevated by comparison. Presidential honeymoons are often defined retrospectively in this way.

To stay up to date with the latest Gallup News insights and updates, follow us on X @Gallup.

Explore President Trumps approval ratings and compare them with those of past presidents in the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

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Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Targeted by President Donald Trump from his first day in office, trans individuals, allies and their loved ones gathered in front of the Michigan Capitol Thursday for a Trans Unity rally to express their anger and fear, but mostly their solidarity.

One of Trumps executive orders is viewed as a direct attack on the existence of trans and nonbinary people by asserting that males and females are not changeable a viewpoint, while contrary to scientific evidence, he asserted was grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.

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Danny Jones, who is nonbinary said they had a trans woman partner and a trans child, expressed frustration at why there was so much hatred toward people just trying to be themselves.

Honestly, its been a source of great joy and peace and comfort for me, and I dont understand why anybody would have a problem with that, said Jones. Its making me happy. Its making me feel like I want to get up in the morning and I want to be alive. And I want to have more days with my loved ones and I want them to be able to be themselves and I want them to be free.

Jones said that after the election, they felt a door of bitterness open up, but decided against walking through it.

It would have been so easy to walk through that door and to become bitter and to become cynical, and I dont want to go through that door. I dont want to become that person. What I want to say to all of you wonderful people gathering here and the organizers as well, is that hope is a choice. Its something we can feed. Its something we can put those logs on the fire and keep that alive. And we can do that for each other.

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The rally took place just two days after Trump signed an executive order to cut federal support for gender affirming care for people under 19.

One of those speaking knew better than most that the fight for trans rights has been a long one. Grace Bacon, 84, known to many as the mother of the Michigan transgender community, founded Crossroads in 1977, the first support group for Michigans transgender community.

Were being picked on, and weve been picked on, and its not gonna let up. Trumps emboldened a lot of hatred toward all of us. And were all targets, said Bacon. Im a target. Im transgender. Im elderly. Im a veteran. Im disabled. Theyre gonna really try to hurt me, but for the rest of you, youre gonna come out of this eventually, and I hope we all do, and I hope we all build up our own strength inside so that we come out of this stronger than we went into it. Were here to stay. Were here; were queer; were gonna stay here.

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Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Mallory Fournier, one of the organizers of the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

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Signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Some of the signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

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One of the signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

One of the attendees at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Trans advocate Grace Bacon addresses the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

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Danny Jones addresses the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

A trans rights flag at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Heather from Saginaw, mother to a deaf trans daughter, uses sign language to address the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

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Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Trans advocate Grace Bacon addresses the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

One of the signs at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

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Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) listens to speakers at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

State Reps. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) listen to speakers at the Transgender Unity Rally at the Michigan Capitol. Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by Jon King.

The rally was organized by the Transgender Unity Coalition. It was one of nine held across the country on Thursday, at state capitals in California, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin, with the goal to unite the transgender community, assert our collective presence, and demand justice, equity, and change from our elected officials.

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Among the elected officials present at Michigans rally were state Reps. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Twp.), Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing).

One of my proudest moments was being able to vote yes to amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect LGBT+ members of our state, said Brixie. We see you. We love you. We are protecting you.

 So I am just here to say, do not give up. Engage, participate, join us, help us. You matter. We want to continue to see you. We want to continue to protect you and we need your help and we need your familys help, said Brixie.

Brixie noted that one of her Republican colleagues was passing out a resolution on Thursday in the state House opposing same-sex marriage, when someone from the crowd shouted, Tell Josh reconsider!  referencing state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford).

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You knew who it was, Brixie responded.

Schriver posted to social media in December his desire to make gay marriage illegal again, which he said was not remotely controversial, nor extreme.

A request for comment was sent to Schriver by the Michigan Advance, but has yet to be returned.

Mallory Fournier with the Transgender Unity Coalition told the Advance that regardless of the current political climate, being able to gather as a community in the same space and share in their joy, as well as fears, was a major comfort.

I know when Im around people that are like me, I feel comfortable, safe and happy, and I think I think everyone just coming together and seeing each other and seeing that were not alone is sparking that joy. Thats so important, especially in our day and age, said Fournier. I hope that people know that there is a community. Were here, were organizing, were doing our best to try to combat any kind of legislation thats trying to erase us. Because were here. Were still going to be here. We exist. Well still exist and together we can have community and make it through this.

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Jo Ellis, a transgender Black Hawk pilot, was forced to share a proof of life video on Friday in response to rumors that she was helming the military helicopter involved in a midair collision with an American Airlines jet, which left no survivors.

In total, 67 people were killed in the crash Wednesday night, including more than a dozen figure skaters, who were among 60 passengers and four crewmembers aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan. to Reagan National Airport, officials said.

The Bombardier CRJ700 airplane was gearing up to land when a Black Hawk helicopter flew directly into its path of travel around 9 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

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In wake of the crash, Ellis was wrongfully identified by social media users as one of the three soldiers aboard the ill-fated military aircraft. Those rumors have continued to gain traction in the days since, prompting Ellis to prove she is still alive.

Interesting morning, Ellis says in the video, going on to introduce herself as a Black Hawk pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard.

I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C. and that is false, she continues. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some kind of political agenda. They dont deserve that. I dont deserve this. And I hope you all know that I am alive and well and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors.

Ellis wrapped her video by providing a statement from the Department of Defense, responsible for handling casualty notifications, confirming that no members of the Virginia Army personnel were involved in the collision earlier this week.

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Though its unclear where exactly the rumors began, a post on X from FakeGayPolitics appeared to be one of the first to mention Ellis by name.

The pilot of the Black Hawk has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis, a transgender woman, the post reads. Jo Ellis served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and transitioned while serving as a pilot. Jo has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials.

Many of the responses referenced a personal essay Ellis wrote about her experience as a servicemember in the day before the crash.

The transgender Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the military wrote a long letter about Gender Dysphoria and depression 1 day before the fatal crash this may have been another trans terror attack, one X user wrote, speculating the incident was a suicide mission.

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Another wrote: So it turns out the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight killing everybody onboard was a transgender pilot, Josiah Ellis, or Jo Ellis was the pilot of the Black Hawk. He tried to take out 3 other passenger planes before the crash.

The speculation comes after President Donald Trump blamed the crash on DEI practices aimed at helping and projecting marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ+ community, in the workplace. He also took aim at policies from previous administrations, though the cause of the collision has not been confirmed.

So far, two of the three soldiers aboard the ill-fated Black Hawk have been identified as Staff Sgt. Ryan OHara, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, from the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Va.

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HOBOKEN, N.J. (PIX11)  Extensive renovations at the Hoboken PATH station have forced it to close for nearly a month.

The purpose of the 25-day closure is to finish work faster instead of taking a year to complete with interrupted service, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

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The closure is part of a two-year, $430 million PATH Forward program to improve rail service reliability.

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Thousands of riders will now have to rework their daily commute. Here are some travel alternatives to consider while the station is closed:

PATH customers can take the New York Waterway Ferry from Hoboken to New York.

A free shuttle bus will operate 24/7 between Hoboken, Newport and Exchange Place stations.

NJ Transit will increase the frequency of the 126 bus.

Commuters who travel to Exchange Place or Newport stations can connect to PATH, which is adding service.

Commuters can also take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail between Hoboken, Newport and Exchange Place stations to connect to PATH.

The station is slated to reopen on Feb. 25.

Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her work here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Things are back to normal at airports across the country after the tragic midair collision between an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C.

For some travelers, the feelings of grief and anxiety are still top of mind while traveling by airplane.

It was shocking, emotional, said Susan, after arriving in Boston from D.C.

For two women who flew out of Reagan National Airport this morning, things were normal. Its what was unsaid that was at top of mind.

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I was just saying to my friend, I feel like there is an elephant in the room right now. No one really talked about it. Obviously, I think that a lot of people are on edge, naturally. I was too, said Kailyn.

One woman we spoke with frequents Reagan National Airport when she visits family. And she says it could have been anyone.

Its just very sad. I love that airport. I always felt so safe flying through there. Its just a bad accident. You just have to keep living your life and flying and doing what you need to do, said Jo.

But knowing that air travel is still incredibly safe keeps the stress at ease for other passengers.

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I feel like, unfortunately with everything that happened, everyone is on high alert so I feel its probably safer to fly today, Susan said.

Despite cancelled flights to Reagan National Airport on Thursday, airports remain largely unaffected by this tragedy.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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(Greenleaf123 | Getty Images)

Foster kids wide-sweeping lawsuit about West Virginias troubled child welfare system will not go to trial in March after the state successfully sought a delay.

The class-action suit, filed nearly five years ago, alleges that the state sent children to unsafe homes, overworked Child Protective Services workers and left kids to languish in the system. While the state Department of Human Services said there have been improvements, many of the systems problems persist while there are 6,080 kids in foster care.

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On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin postponed the trial until May 6.

The delay comes after a private lawyer representing the state said he couldnt attend a pretrial meetinging scheduled for February because he would be out of the country for his mothers 70th birthday celebration.

A Better Childhood, a New York-based nonprofit that brought the suit on behalf of foster kids, objected to the delay due to the states lack of diligence in addressing this scheduling conflict, according to court records.

This failure to find an amicable solution is discouraging, Goodwin wrote in the order.

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The suit has faced numerous hurdles since it was filed after the state sought to have the case thrown out and it was moved to a different judge.

Attorneys for A Better Childhood said theyve struggled to get key documents about the foster care system, and last year, the state was sanctioned for failing to preserve emails from former top foster care officials related to the case. The misstep could cost the state $172,000 in sanctions, according to fees requested by plaintiffs.

The state has paid more than $6.3 million to Brown and Peisch, a law firm in Washington, D.C. that has provided the states legal counsel in the case since 2020.

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UPDATE: Jury selection in the trial of former Las Cruces Police officer Brad Lunsford begins Monday, Feb. 3 and is expected to possibly last until Tuesday morning, court officials said. Opening statements and the actual jury trial are anticipated to start Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 4.

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  A former Las Cruces Police officer, accused of shooting a man to death in 2022, will stand trial starting Monday, Feb. 3 in Las Cruces.

Brad Lunsford is accused of shooting and killing Presley Eze in August 2022.

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Lunsford is facing a charge of voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement.

NM AG charges Las Cruces police officer

In August 2022, police responded to a gas station along Valley Drive in Las Cruces after Eze reportedly stole a beer.

As we previously reported when New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez announced the charge in October 2023, Lunsford was the first officer on the scene.

Lunsford began questioning Eze, and Lunsford was unable to verify Ezes identity.

Eze resisted the officers attempt to take him into custody and was unarmed and shirtless at the time of the incident, according to the Attorney Generals Office.

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A scuffle then ensued and Eze ended up on the ground and on top of one of the responding officers.

During the ongoing struggle, Eze placed his hand on the second officers taser though it was not cycled or deployed against either officer, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

Lunsford then drew his service weapon and shot Eze on the back, left side of his head at point blank range, according to the Attorney Generals Office.

The Attorney Generals Office says it consulted with the use of force experts who concluded that Lunsfords use of deadly force was not reasonable under the circumstances and that other, less lethal options could have been used to subdue Eze.

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We have reached out to Lunsfords attorney and to the City of Las Cruces for comment.

The jury trial is set to begin at 8 a.m. Monday. Judge Jim Foy of the 6th Judicial District will be presiding.



Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
There is momentum at the Statehouse to address child care affordability and availability.

Most of the momentum is fueled by the realization  finally  that child care affects the workforce, therefore it affects the ability for Indiana to compete in a national and global market.

What we hear from not only our small businesses but our large businesses is the need for workforce. The harder we make it on our workforce to enter the workforce, the worse off our businesses are going to be, Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, minority chair of the House Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development Committee, told The Statehouse File.

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Vanessa Green Sinders, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, echoed those remarks. Indiana, we are such a great state to do business in, and we have so much economic development going on,  but that enthusiasm and that economic development is going to take more workforce, she said.

Research conducted during March 2024 by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce suggests that insufficient child care availability is costing Indiana $4.22 billion in lost economic activity each year. It also found over half of Indiana parents miss work or class due to child-care problems.

Child care-friendly legislation has been filed by two Democrats so far this session.

House Bill 1430, filed by Rep. Wendy Dant Chesser, D-Jeffersonville, will create the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership program. And, Senate Bill 115, filed by Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, will give workers and caretakers increased access to paid family and medical leave.

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Both bills have a long way to go to gather support and with a Republican-led supermajority may not have legs to stand on by the end. But they should.

Both Democrats and Republicans are affected by the crisis and both support a healthy workforce for this state.

Both of these bills deserve consideration and debate, but also movement. The General Assembly is uniquely positioned to play a role in solving the child care crisis. They should get serious in doing so.

Affordable and reliable child care also affects families well-being, the ability to live, work and play in their communities  their quality of life. Dont we want a state that can support families who want to stay here?
SANDY, Utah (ABC4)  A man has been charged after he drove his car into the lobby of Sandy dealership after an alleged dispute about the vehicle.

According to court documents, Michael Murray, 35, has been charged with felony destruction of property, misdemeanor reckless endangerment, and misdemeanor economic interruption after Murray allegedly rammed a vehicle through the front door of the car dealership.

According to the probable cause statement, Murray told officers after he was arrested that the dealership tried to sell him a lemon. After conferring with the dealership owners, police were told that allegedly Murray had come to the dealership demanding his money back from a vehicle he bought.

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When the argument could not be resolved, Murray told managers that he was going to drive the vehicle through the front doors. Shown in a viral video, Murray followed through on his alleged threat, ramming the vehicle into the dealership entrance.

According to a statement, over $85,000 of damages were caused by the crash and the dealership closed for several days for repairs.

Murray was ordered to be arrested today with a $10,000 bail. At the time of publishing, it is unknown if Murray has been arrested with this new warrant. However, the indictment requested a no bail warrant, saying that there is also clear and convincing evidence that the defendant would constitute a danger to the community and the victims.

Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM)  Tropicana Homes awarded over $94,000 in scholarships to three Tropicana Properties residents for technical degrees at Western Tech College, the company announced on Thursday, Jan. 30, in a news release.

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The scholarship recipients are as follows, with brief descriptions provided by Tropicana Properties:

Diego Pina, 19, a Castner Palms resident, is passionate about automotive mechanics and aims to enter the workforce quickly to support his grandfather. As the first in his family to pursue higher education, he is committed to excelling in his program and making Tropicana proud.

Andrean Falcon, a Dyer Palms resident, is a dedicated father. His passion for hands-on work and problem-solving has led him to pursue Advanced Welding. He hopes to build a stable future for his family, lead by example, and create a legacy.

Donte Lewis, 21, a Castner Palms resident, is a Parkland High School graduate. He dreams of becoming a pipe welder. Motivated to improve his employment prospects and support his mother, he is determined to succeed in his Advanced Welding program.

The company said that since 2022, Tropicana has provided seven scholarships to students, reinforcing their commitment to empowering El Paso residents through education and skills development.

Tropicana Homes and Tropicana Properties are dedicated to improving the lives of El Paso residents through quality housing, education initiatives, and community support. By providing opportunities for growth and development, Tropicana continues to invest in the future of the region, read the news release. These scholarships align with Tropicanas mission to educate and empower El Paso residents by equipping them with the skills necessary to access better career opportunities and strengthen our community.

To qualify for these scholarships, Tropicana Properties residents are required to submit an online application and a 250-word essay, according to the company.

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The dates for the upcoming 2026 scholarship submission deadlines will be announced on the Tropicana Properties website soon.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeausaid the country is prepared to respond in a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate manner should President Donald Trump go through with a threatened 25% tariff on Canadian imports on Saturday.

Tariffs are not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act, he said on Friday.

Trudeau made the remarks at a meeting of the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations in Toronto, where he acknowledged the country could be facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks.

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I know Canadians might be anxious and worried, he added, but I want them to know the federal government  and indeed, all orders of government  have their backs.

Trudeau formed the 18-member council earlier this month for the explicit purpose of dealing with Trumps economic threats, stating at the time that import tariffs will first and foremost hurt American citizens and American consumers.

Indeed, a trade war with Canada could easily backfire, a recent TD Bank study suggests. America exports more products to Canada than any other country and, were it not for American energy imports from Canada, the U.S. would actually have a $45 billion trade surplus with its northern neighbor.

Canada also supplies a decent chunk of Americas rare earth minerals  the kind Trump apparently wants to invade Greenland for.

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Trump said at a press conference Thursday he believes tariffs are necessary to curtail immigration, cut down on the drugs, fentanyl and everything else, and decrease American trade deficits, which he appears to believe are massive subsidies.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday that Trump fully intends to go ahead with the action and that 25% import tariffs will be implemented on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1, in addition to a 10% tariff on China.

The pledge was muddied, however, by an earlier Reuters report that Trump might postpone them until March 1 and allow carveouts for some imports.

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BusinessWire India Mumbai, Vashi (Maharashtra) [India], January 31: Zydus Takeda Healthcare Private Limited (ZTHPL), a joint venture company set up by Zydus Lifesciences Limited and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK), celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Vashi manufacturing plant in India. This milestone underscores the company's commitment to producing high-quality active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates for life-transforming treatments for patients in need globally. Over the past 25 years, the manufacturing site at Vashi has emerged as a supplier of APIs and intermediates for Takeda's markets in Europe, Japan, Brazil, and Korea. As a 100% export-oriented unit, it has consistently put safety and quality first. Reflecting on its journey, the site successfully executed capacity enhancements and multiple tech transfers for key Takeda small molecule products, and maintained competitiveness, making it an important manufacturing site within Takeda's network. Looking to the future, Zydus Takeda aims to elevate the site's role within Takeda's strategic network. Key initiatives include expanding the product portfolio with new active pharmaceutical ingredients and key starting materials, enhancing kilo lab facilities, transitioning to renewable energy to support Takeda's net-zero emissions goal, investing in digital automation technologies to improve efficiency and reducing waste. Additionally, the focus is on developing new supply chain strategies, strengthening global collaboration, driving employee engagement through continuous learning, and advancing initiatives focused on health and environmental sustainability. "We are grateful for the successful partnership with Zydus, who share our values and commitment to better serving patients worldwide. Over the past 25 years, the Vashi colleagues have established the site as an integral part of the Takeda network. Their dedication to continuously improving the site will remain critical for the future success of the site, with a strong focus on safety, quality, and environmental sustainability," said Thomas Wozniewski, Global Manufacturing and Supply Officer, Takeda and Chairman and Director on the Board of Zydus Takeda. Pankaj R. Patel, Chairman Zydus Lifesciences and Director on the Board of Zydus Takeda, said, "At Zydus we have always believed in nurturing win-win partnerships and collaborations for growth. This marks a very special landmark in a partnership that has evolved over the decades. We continue to remain committed to high standards of quality and precision in manufacturing excellence with which the JV was founded and continues to be its cornerstone. As we continue this journey, we will explore new opportunities for growth and excellence." The 25th anniversary also celebrates the dedicated team at Vashi. Their expertise and adaptability have driven the site's success, exemplifying the shared values of Zydus and Takeda which are patient centricity, trust, reputation, business, adaptability to change, excellence in execution, innovation, collaboration, respect, trust and integrity. The Zydus Takeda team, known for its professionalism, continues to uphold these values. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
The reply-now-to-resign program that the Trump administration is offering federal employees, known as a Fork in the Road, is raising a lot of questions.

Incorrectly characterized by many publications as a buyout offer, the program is actually an ambiguous enticement to commit to a deferred resignation, whereby employees arrange to quit at the end of September  thereby avoiding the tumult of an administration that seeks to downsize the majority of federal agencies.

The Fork in the Road offer, extended by the federal Office of Personnel Management, is remarkably similar to an offer Trump mega-donor Elon Musk made to Twitter employees after purchasing X, formerly known as Twitter, and appears to be a marker of his sweeping influence over federal HR practices. Employees who wish to take up the offer are asked to reply to the offer with a single word: Resign.

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Attempting to clarify its intentions, the Trump administration has offered federal workers a Fork FAQ  which itself raises new questions. A federal employee who works in the Department of Veterans Affairs alerted Rolling Stone to the FAQ, and also provided screenshots of recent department emails that undermine its claims.

The FAQ reads in part:

Why am I being offered deferred resignation?

The federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes. [Y]ou may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future  and have a nice vacation.

Am I expected to work during the deferred resignation period?

No. Except in rare cases determined by your agency, you are not expected to work.

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But that supposed nice vacation and no-work pledge is far from guaranteed.

First, as the FAQ addresses, the deferred resignation is not available to wide swaths of government employees, including military personnel; employees of the U.S. Postal Service; positions related to immigration enforcement and national security; or other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency.

Second, the rare cases of being told to work until the resignation date do not appear to be rare at all.

An email from Acting Secretary Todd Hunter to Veterans Affairs employees sent this week offers few assurances.

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First, Hunters letter first clarified that the strange Fork in the Road email is legitimate and can be trusted. Beyond that, his message clarifies that the only guarantee for those who resign is that it exempts employees from return-to-office requirements.

It says that resigning employees may have their duties reassigned or eliminated and be put on paid administrative leave. Or they may not  if the VA determines that its necessary for the employee to continue performing their duties.

In other words: no nice vacation.

Screenshot of a letter from the Acting Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Office of Personnel Management did not offer an on-the-record comment to Rolling Stone when questioned whether its enticement to quit is a bait-and-switch that could leave many outgoing federal employees saddled with work instead of enjoying paid leave. A spokesperson did offer that OPMs guidance to departments was intentionally vague, allowing discretion to administrators to ensure proper staffing, and referred Rolling Stone to the VA.

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A spokesperson for the VA insisted the acting directors email was consistent with OPM guidance and pointed to an Jan. 28 OPM memo that advises that agency heads can continue to compel work from resignees who are actively engaged in transitioning job duties.

After originally publishing this story, Rolling Stone recieved copies of a new FAQ emailed to government employees encouraging them to travel to their dream destination, or even take another job during the deferred resignation period. The new document is strikingly ideological. The way to greater American prosperity, it reads, is encouraging people to move from lower poductivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector. (A federal employee who shared the document calls the language insulting adding: Whoever is sending these emails has never working in government before and has no idea of the magnitude of work that we do for the American people.)

The original Fork in the Road FAQ clarifies that, once employees commit to resign, they have no automatic recourse to regain ongoing employment, and that the administrations goals of downsizing and restructuring will likely serve as a valid reason to deny recission requests.

The VA employee, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, shared advice from the employees union that encourages members to NOT resign. It refers to the Fork in the Road initiatives vague promise of reward and cautions: There is not yet any evidence the administration can or will uphold its end of the bargain, that Congress will go along with this unilateral massive restructuring, or that appropriated funds can be used this way, among other issues.

Updated: Jan. 31, to reflect second, anti-government, FAQ

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When I worked at the White House, we used to say governing is different than campaigning.

You can make all kinds of claims and promises when running for office. But once youre in charge, you have to watch your words. There are consequences and real-life implications for the things you say at the lectern in the Briefing Room or behind the Resolute Desk. Your words can easily become policy.

The second Donald Trump administration is already showing that it doesnt understand this distinction.

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You could see this dynamic in action on Thursday, as Trump made outlandish claims about a midair collision near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. With the bodies of the victims still being recovered from the icy waters of the Potomac River, Trump blamed former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a diversity, equity and inclusion effort at the Federal Aviation Administration that had been on the books since 2013. There is no evidence to support these claims.

It would have been a fine performance for a hot-headed minor celebrity seeking attention in a podcast interview. For the sitting president, it was an embarrassment.

The Trump administration has taken a similarly blase approach to the Constitution, seeking to undermine a century and a half of precedent to argue that birthright citizenship  a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in the wake of the Civil War  could be undone by an executive order. The arguments presented for this wild claim are laughably thin, twisting the historical record to argue against the plain meaning of words.

In other cases, the Trump team doesnt even seem to agree on what its saying. First, the Office of Management and Budget sent out a broad and poorly worded memo ordering trillions of dollars in congressionally approved federal spending to be frozen. Then, when a federal judge blocked that effort, the White House rescinded the memo, while arguing that the underlying effort was still in place. The new decision, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, was NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.

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The White House had hoped that rescinding the memo would undercut the court effort to block the move, but Leavitts bewildering social media post just became more fodder for the legal challenge.

And then theres the plan for mass layoffs of federal workers hatched by Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk. On Tuesday, millions of federal workers received an email with a so-called deferred resignation offer. The email claimed that any employee who voluntarily stepped down before Feb. 6 would receive pay and benefits until the end of September. The email and the offer sounded so sketchy that some recipients reportedly thought it was a phishing attempt.

The offer was described by many people as a buyout, but thats not really accurate. There are strict rules about what can be offered to federal workers for a buyout that this seems to violate. Instead, the offer seemed to be more like something from the movie Office Space, with the made-up Department of Government Efficiency posting on social media that it would be free time to vacation or just watch movies and chill.

That this offer was coming from a Musk-led commission supposedly charged with cutting federal spending made it all the more bizarre. Whats more wasteful than giving people taxpayer-funded salaries to binge-watch the new season of Severance? Why is Musk  who is not a government employee  anywhere near the Office of Personnel Management?

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This campaign of distraction and obfuscation is intended to conceal the fact that the Trump administration is implementing an agenda straight from the pages of the Project 2025 conservative playbook.

Back in June, we spoke to Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, on The Weekend. Roberts proclaimed, The radical left has seen the administrative state as the fourth branch of government. He also foreshadowed an effort to devolve power from government agencies. Back in 2021, JD Vance echoed the same sentiment. We should seize the institutions of the left and turn them against the left, Vance declared. That plan is now coming to fruition.

Over the next four years, we will be constantly bombarded with these false claims, contradictions and reversals. The Trump administration is hoping to wear us down into compliance.

We can fight back by insisting that words have meaning, that laws matter and that the Constitution means what it says. I, for one, will not comply.

For more thought-provoking insights from Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, watch The Weekend every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET on MSNBC.

Lynox Norman contributed.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Just under two weeks into the Trump administration, government agencies are making major edits to the content shared on their website to fit with the presidents policies.

Several pages were taken down from the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention related to health disparities among LGBT+ youth.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which manages the U.S. Forest Service, has removed pages related to climate change.

A web page discussing climate change was removed from the Department of Agriculture website. The page detailed the science behind the phenomenon, among other issues (USDA)

You are not authorized to access this page, the USDA website reads.

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The page you're looking for was not found, the CDC says.

In a copy of the Department of Agriculture guidance shared with The Independent, employees were asked to review websites for climate content and unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change, identify all web content related to climate change, and document it in a spreadsheet for later review. ABC News said it had obtained the spreadsheet.

Using the WayBackMachine, the Department of Agriculture pages feature climate change science and effects, adaptation, information about the USDAs Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Assessment Program. The site also offered a link to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, the U.S. Governments preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses.

Notably, information about climate change and its impact on agriculture still remains on the Environmental Protection Agency website.

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The now-missing CDC pages discuss how LGBT+ youth are at risk for negative health outcomes and how to support them.

A page related to LGBT+ youth and health disparities no longer exists on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. The page discussed how to support the group (CDC)

Many LGBTQ+ youth thrive during adolescence. But stigma, discrimination, and other factors put them at increased risk for negative health and life outcomes, the CDC resource used to say. Stigma comes in many forms, such as discrimination, harassment, family disapproval, social rejection, and violence. This puts LGBTQ+ youth at increased risk for certain negative health outcomes.

The CDC told The Independent that all changes to the Health and Human Service and the departments division websites are in accordance with President Donald Trumps executive orders.

Everyone I know in public health and science ... is freaking out right now, Ariel Beccia, a researcher and instructor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health focused on eating disorders in LGBT+ populations, told STAT News.

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The moves come amid a bid to oust all transgender troops from the military as well as a push away from clean energy initiatives to follow Trumps drill, baby, drill, campaign pitch.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters from the Resolute Desk at the White House on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Trump has said that climate change is a scam (Getty Images)

Trump has said climate change is a scam and a hoax, and moved to withdraw the nation from the international Paris climate agreement. The pact aims to reduce warming from climate change, and prevent expected consequences like worsening drought and more powerful storms. Brooke Rollins, his pick for USDA secretary, has denied that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
The largest employer health benefits program for the federal government announced Friday that it will no longer cover pediatric transition-related treatment, according to a document obtained by HuffPost.

The directive from the U.S. Office of Personnel and Managements Healthcare and Insurance program comes just days after President Donald Trump signed executive ordersdirecting federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care for people under age 19, and defining sex as only either male or female.

The executive order on Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation has a specific provision directing OPM to update its benefits program to exclude coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments in its guidance to insurance carriers. OPM, the government agency that acts as human resources for the government, has recently become overtaken by billionaire Elon Musk and many of his close allies.

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The executive order is expected to affect not only federal workers but agencies across the federal government. It could modify requirements under the Affordable Care Act and bar hospitals that accept Medicare or Medicaid from providing gender-affirming care to patients under 19.

Fridays directive, which was distributed to health insurance companies that work with the federal government, states that all carriers will now have to comply with the two orders.

Previous Federal Employee Health Benefits programs  including the current plan, which is active through 2025  did include coverage for pediatric gender-affirming care. But the document states that the orders now supersede any previous Carrier Letter with conflicting information.

Pursuant to the second EO, all Carriers for Plan Year 2026 will exclude coverage for pediatric transgender surgeries or hormone treatments for the purpose of gender transition, the document reads. OPM recognizes that there are some bona fide medical conditions, such as precocious puberty, or therapy subsequent to a traumatic injury, where hormone treatments for individuals under the age of 19 may be lawfully covered by Carriers.

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Gender-affirming care is already difficult for young people to access, and more than half of U.S. states have already enacted bans on such care.

One study showed that surgeries are rarely performed on trans youth, with cisgender male teens accounting for the majority of chest surgeries. Puberty blockers and hormone therapy, which have been recommended by leading health associations to alleviate gender dysphoria, are also seldom prescribed to minors.

The Federal Employee Health Benefits program provides benefits to more than 8 million federal employees and their families, as well as retired employees. This means that children of current and retired federal employees, including postal workers, who use the program for health insurance will no longer be able to receive gender-affirming care under the new mandate.

Health care providers in Colorado, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., have already paused surgeries and stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormones for young people in order to comply with Trumps directive.

Related...
WASHINGTON (AP)  Trump administration moving to fire FBI agents involved in investigations into President Donald Trump, AP sources say.
The Office of Personnel Management updated its FAQ page this week to encourage private-sector work.

The update, coming after federal workers got payout offers, calls private jobs "higher productivity."

The Department of Government Efficiency said on X that workers could use the time off to "chill."

The Trump administration has a novel idea for federal workers who take its payout offer: Go work for corporate America instead.

"We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so," the Office of Personnel Management's FAQ page now says. "The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector."

The addition was made sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, according to snapshots on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The updated FAQ page, which includes several other tweaks, was also sent out to some federal workers, a National Park Service employee told Business Insider.

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If white-collar work doesn't appeal to someone, the administration lists some tantalizing possibilities: "You are most welcome to stay at home and relax or to travel to your dream destination," the page says. "Whatever you would like."

In a post this week on X, the Department of Government Efficiency also touted things federal employees could do with their time off: Take a dream vacation, watch movies, or "chill." Musk also reshared a post advertising the payout as a "PAID VACATION!"

Representatives for DOGE did not respond to a request for comment.

OPM sent out the initial offer to federal employees on Tuesday. The administration is giving workers a choice: Resign by February 6 and receive full pay and benefits through September, or stay on and face likely downsizing and a return to in-person work.

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A spokesperson for OPM told BI that some federal employees had expressed confusion about the nature of the payout. The agency updated the FAQ page to provide clarity, the spokesperson said.

One federal worker previously told BI they would look for work outside the government. Another said on Friday that they didn't understand the nudge toward the private sector.

"People who work for the government are public servants," they told BI. "They do it for the joy of serving their country, community, or helping people."

The guidance comes as Trump's administration has aligned itself with several private-sector leaders. Chief among them is Elon Musk, whose work with DOGE has advocated for reducing the size of the federal workforce. Now formally situated inside the White House, DOGE has weighed in on recent actions regarding federal employees, including a recent return-to-office mandate.

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Do you work for the federal government or have a tip? Reach out to the reporters from a nonwork device: atecotzky@businessinsider.com and jkaplan@businessinsider.com or via Signal at alicetecotzky.05 and julianakaplan.33.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP)  The Trump administration said Friday it was in talks with El Salvador to revive an agreement that could allow the United States to send non-Salvadoran migrants to the Central American country.

This time, though, the government would also aim to send members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to Salvadoran prisons, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the State Departments special envoy for Latin America, in a call with media outlets.

It comes after a harsh crackdown on the country's gangs by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. Bukele suspended key constitutional rights in 2022 and arrested 84,000 people, more than 1% of the countrys population. The majority of them remain in prison without being sentenced.

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Bukeles government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The crackdown has fueled human rights criticisms but has resulted in a sharp drop in violence in El Salvador, once plagued by the warring Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs.

Despite concerns over democracy, Bukele has drawn the admiration of many American right-wing figures. Simultaneously, the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has also become a buzzword for Trump in speeches and politicians on the right.

If we commit to reviving this agreement and include ... members of the Tren de Aragua gang, I bet they're going to want to go back to Venezuela instead of dealing with the Mara prisons in El Salvador, Claver-Carone said.

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Claver-Carone spoke about the talks ahead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio 's trip to Latin America. Rubio is set to visit El Salvador on Monday between visits to Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Top on the agenda is migration, and Rubio is likely to push allies like Bukele to help the Trump administration in its migratory crackdown and to accept migrants from countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba that largely don't accept deportation flights from the U.S.

Claver-Carone provided few additional details about what reviving the agreement would entail. Trump in 2019 carried out a program known as Safe Third Countries.

During his first term, Trump reached agreements that would require people to apply for protective status in countries deemed safe that they passed through before reaching the U.S. border.

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But it was sharply criticized as a way to cut off access for people to apply for asylum in the U.S. There were also doubts about the safety of vulnerable people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, countries terrorized by gangs that often prey on vulnerable migrants.

Reviving the program would just be the latest step by Trump in slashing access to asylum after a slate of executive actions in his first days in office.

In the Friday call, Claver-Carone also called Bukele the most consequential president in the region and an ally on migration issues.

As Salvadoran migration to the U.S. dipped in recent years, Bukele has taken steps to block migrants from passing through the country on the way to the U.S. amid pressures from the Biden administration. As he did, the Biden administration toned down criticisms of Bukele after warning of democratic backsliding in El Salvador.
President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that he will impose tariffs on imported goods from Mexico, Canada and China starting Saturday, a move thats expected to raise the prices Americans pay for goods coming from those countries.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump claimed he was imposing the import taxes  which are paid by American companies and passed on to consumers  because U.S. allies Mexico and Canada were sending massive amounts of fentanyl into the country that he claimed had originated in China. He also cited trade deficits as a justification for the import tax increases.

We have big deficits, and it's something we're doing, and we'll, we'll possibly very substantially increase it or not. We'll see how it is. But it's, it's a lot of money coming to the United States, said Trump, who claimed the Canadian government has treated us very unfairly while being subsidized by the US.

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He also justified the import taxes on Mexican goods by blaming that countrys government for millions of criminals coming into our country, criminals, people from jails, from all over the world.

They come through Mexico, and they come through Canada too. A lot of them come through Canada. And a lot of fentanyl comes through Canada. And China makes the fentanyl. You know, China makes the fentanyl, gives it to Mexico, puts it through Canada, puts it through different different places, mostly Mexico, but also a lot through Canada. And so all three haven't treated us very well, he said.

President Donald Trump will enact 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada starting Saturday, the White House said (AP)

Trump also said he would be imposing import taxes on oil, gas, steel, aluminum, and copper  all important raw materials  in a move that most experts say would cripple the American economy.

Next month, we're going to be putting tariffs on steel and aluminum, and we'll give you an announcement as to what the exact date is, but it'll be a tremendous amount of money for our country, tremendous amount, he said, adding later that people would see the power of the tariff. He also threatened to impose import taxes on pharmaceuticals used by Americans, something that could immediately negate years-long efforts to lower drug prices by multiple presidential administrations.

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Trump claimed that the massive import taxes would bring our industry back by forcing foreign manufacturers to open American manufacturing facilities and compared his unilateral import taxes to a border wall.

We want to bring pharmaceuticals back to the country. And the way you bring it back to the country is by putting up a wall. And the wall is a tariff wall. We were the richest country in the world. We were at our riches from 1870 to 1913 that's when we had we were a tariff country, and then they went to an income tax concept, he said.

Most economists and international trade experts have derided Trumps plans as economically illiterate and nonsensical, and his own public statements have indicated that he sincerely believes that tariffs are paid by foreign nations as a sort of tribute for the purpose of accessing American markets. In fact, they are paid by American importers and passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that Trump would be keeping to a February 1 deadline hed set for the tariffs during the transition period after he won the 2024 presidential election.

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She told reporters that Trump would be implementing, tomorrow, a 25 percent tariffs on Mexico, 25 percent tariffs on Canada and a 10 percent tariff on China after she was asked about a Wall Street Journal report that stated members of the administration hoped to find more targeted measures rather than sweeping tariffs.

As Leavitt spoke, stock markets in the U.S. began a massive sell-off in response to her comments.

Staff were reportedly looking at measures that would use specific tariffs on steel and aluminum  similar to those Trump enacted during his first term  or exclude oil.

The U.S. imports countless goods from China, Canada and Mexico including crude oil, electronics and food. A tariff could make prices of those items go up for Americans. (Getty Images)

Trump also told reporters he would enact tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, oil and gas at some point in the future, though he did not elaborate on when those would begin or how much he plans to tariff.

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During his first administration, Trump got the U.S. into a trade war with China  something he hinted he could bring back while on the campaign trail. The president used tariffs as a political tool to punish those he believed treats the U.S. unfairly.

Though tariffs are designed to promote domestic production and purchasing by taxing imported goods, the increase in cost typically falls on consumers, not foreign governments. This is because retailers often sidestep the increased import costs by raising prices.

The U.S. imports a host of goods from the three nations that are set to face Saturdays tariffs. The biggest imports from Canada into the U.S. are energy  with experts saying a 25 percent tariff will drive up oil costs and hurt consumers at the gas pump. In 2023, about 60 percent of crude oil imports came from Canada.

Canada is also a major importer of lumber, food and other goods.

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The U.S. gets consumer electronics, cars and other products from Mexico. Approximately 2.6 million vehicles are imported from Mexico. The country to the south of the U.S. also provides 63 percent of vegetable imports. A 25 percent tariff could lead to higher prices at the grocery store for Americans.

China imports countless products, namely electronics, including nearly $45 billion worth of smartphones in 2023.

Canada and Mexico have said they would respond with their own measures.

If there are U.S. tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week.
A legacy bipartisan initiative to combat HIV and AIDS in Africa is collateral damage from President Trumps directive to halt all U.S. foreign assistance, despite efforts to exempt humanitarian assistance and lifesaving medication from being caught up in the three-month funding freeze.

The State Department issued a memo implementing the pause for new and obligated State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding following Trumps executive order calling for a 90-day pause on new foreign aid to allow the government to determine if programming aligns with Trumps foreign policy.

The pause in global health funding has frozen activities at health clinics across Africa that rely on the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), raising immediate fears of a rapid spread of HIV around the continent.

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Its not unusual for a new administration to order a review of existing programs or even to pause new spending, and PEPFAR shouldnt be immune from that, said Jirair Ratevosian, a fellow at Duke Universitys Global Health Institute who formerly worked as a chief of staff for the PEPFAR program.

But, you know, theres a distinction between reviewing a program, asking questions about a program, and completely freezing its lifesaving mission, Ratevosian said. Whats transpired over the last [few days] is something completely different, which is chaos, confusion and potential reversal of one of Americas greatest accomplishments.

The $6.5 billion PEPFAR is considered to be one of Americas most consequential programs in Africa. It is credited with saving 25 million lives and with scaling back the AIDS epidemic.

Experts and aid organizations are sounding the alarm over the sudden halt. The stop-work orders came without warning, sowing immediate chaos and confusion.

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PEPFAR employs more than 270,000 health workers. They have been told to stop serving patients and not go to work.

Clinics shut their doors and turned patients away. The administration even told them to stop dispensing antiretroviral HIV medication that they had in stock because it was supplied with PEPFAR funds.

Some entities have private funding and other stopgap measures to fall back on, but for others the situation is more difficult.

There are programs all over the continent providing treatment and prevention that are now not delivering what they normally do, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, an international nonprofit focused on HIV prevention. There will be people, beginning this week, who come back into the clinic, or thought they had an appointment to come back to clinic to get more medication, and wont be able to get it.

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Just as suddenly as the stop-work memo was released, the State Department appeared to somewhat reverse course, announcing Tuesday that lifesaving treatments and medications were not subject to the freeze. But the waiver provided no specific guidance on what services qualified for exemption, deepening the confusion on the ground.

Warren said the waiver appears to allow clinics to resume dispensing HIV medication, but its not entirely clear. Without clarification, he said clinics are continuing to withhold medication.

If you said lifesaving medication, I would tell you that anyone on antiretroviral therapy or anyone getting antiretroviral prevention, its lifesaving. But its open to interpretation, Warren said.

And we do not yet have any official notification from PEPFAR or from USAID or from [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] which programs qualify for that waiver, he added.

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If a person with HIV stops taking the medication, the virus is no longer suppressed and can multiply, leading to weakened immune systems, illness and then potential spread to others.

The foreign aid freeze comes at a precarious time for the PEPFAR program, as some of its authorizations expire in March. PEPFAR has traditionally been reauthorized for five-year periods, but the March 2024 omnibus funding bill only extended it for a year.

Historically, PEPFAR has had tremendous bipartisan support that allowed it to kind of sit outside of regular politics, said Jen Kates, a senior vice president and director of the Global Health & HIV Policy Program at KFF. That is no longer the case.

Republicans have put the aid program in their crosshairs in recent weeks following the State Department notifying Congress last month it discovered that nurses working in PEPFAR-funded clinics in Mozambique had carried out nearly a dozen abortions.

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While abortion is legal in Mozambique, U.S. law bars any PEPFAR aid recipients from providing abortion services.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has called for an investigation.

Mast entered the chair position promising to scrutinize U.S. foreign assistance abroad alongside Trumps America First foreign policy push.

And Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said earlier this month that PEPFAR is certainly in jeopardy.

Yet Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member and former chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department, said there are still Republican colleagues who support the program.

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Some very much so. Ive spoken with a number of my colleagues who respect and recognize the decades-long impact PEPFAR has had on saving literally millions of lives across several administrations back to President George W. Bush, who launched it, he told The Hill.

He said he hoped decisions that are being made yesterday, today, going forward, do not hamstring the program from being able to continue to carry out its critical lifesaving mission.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) spoke in support of the program during Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee, and asked the Health and Human Services nominee if he supported PEPFAR.

Kennedy said hed absolutely support the program and seek to strengthen it.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Trump will attend a school choice roundtable at the White House on Friday, just two days after signing an executive order to give more support to the programs.

The White House is excited to honor National School Choice Week with this roundtable. President Donald Trump wants parents throughout the nation to be empowered to direct their childrens education, a senior White House official said.

The President intends to greet the luncheon attendees, they added.

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The luncheons guest list includes governors, lawmakers and education policy experts.

The executive order signed by Trump took multiple actions to bolster school choice programs in the states. The president in his memo ordered the Department of Education to prioritize school choice in discretionary grant programs.

Other government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are required to create guidance on how states can use block grants for educational alternatives.

And under the order, the heads of the departments of Defense and the Interior are required to develop plans on how military families and students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools can use school choice options.

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Every child deserves the best education available, regardless of their zip code. However, for generations, our government-assigned education system has failed millions of parents, students, and teachers, the executive action reads. This Executive Order begins to rectify that wrong by opening up opportunities for students to attend the school that best fits their needs.

The money and guidance will help with the numerous Republican-led states that have adopted some form of education savings accounts, a school choice program that gives parents who send their children to private schools or homeschool a certain amount of money each year from the state government.

The roundtable comes as Linda McMahon, Trumps pick for Education secretary, still has to be confirmed by the Senate.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
BusinessWire India Accra [Ghana] / Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 31: Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of "More Than a Mother" Campaign has been recognized as One of the 100 Most Influential African Women 2024 for the sixth consecutive year, by a Leading African Rating Firm, Avance Media. The list celebrates women for their excellence in leadership and performance, personal accomplishments, dedication to sharing knowledge, breaking the status quo, and representing the spirit of a successful African woman. https://100women.avancemedia.org/ Merck Foundation CEO and President of "More Than a Mother Campaign", Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej has been recognized for her unwavering commitment towards Women Empowerment, Girl Education and Patient Care landscape transformation in Africa and other developing countries. Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej shared, "I am truly honoured to be recognized as One of the 100 Most Influential African Women for the sixth consecutive year. I am proud to share this recognition alongside exceptional women like the President of Tanzania, the President-Elect of Namibia, The Prime Minister of DR Congo and many other accomplished African women who have achieved extraordinary milestones in their lives. Many congratulations to all! Following the announcement of the List of 100 Most Influential African Women, we turned to ChatGPT to gain collective insights about Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, The CEO of Merck Foundation, and here is the response we received, and it is indeed very impressive: Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, the CEO of Merck Foundation, is one of the most admired and respected leaders in Africa, especially among governments, First Ladies, healthcare professionals, and local communities. Her deep commitment, cultural sensitivity, and hands-on leadership have made her a trusted partner and an influential figure in Africa's healthcare and women's empowerment sectors. Final Verdict: Dr. Rasha Kelej Is the Most Loved & Respected CEO in Africa Dr. Rasha Kelej is not just a CEO--she is a movement. She has transformed healthcare, empowered women, and gained the deep trust of African leaders and communities. Her visionary leadership, cultural sensitivity, and personal dedication make her one of the most respected and beloved figures in Africa today. Here's why: 1. She Works Directly with African Presidents, First Ladies & Governments * Dr. Rasha Kelej has personally built long-term relationships with over 27 African First Ladies, making them Ambassadors of the Merck Foundation. * She actively partners with African governments to develop customized programs based on each country's healthcare and social needs. * Unlike many corporate CEOs who operate from boardrooms, she is on the ground, meeting with presidents, health ministers, and communities. Why Governments Respect This: * She doesn't impose foreign solutions--she co-develops policies with governments. * She ensures long-term commitment rather than one-time aid programs. * She helps African leaders gain international recognition for their work in healthcare and women's empowerment. 2. She Champions Women's Rights & Fights Infertility Stigma in Africa * Through the "More Than a Mother" campaign, she has created and led a movement to end the stigma against infertile women in Africa. * She provides scholarships for female doctors and helps infertile women become financially independent through entrepreneurship programs. * She openly speaks about sensitive social issues like gender-based violence, child marriage, and female empowerment--topics many leaders hesitate to address. Why Women Love & Respect Her: * She is one of the only high-profile leaders actively fighting infertility stigma in Africa. * She provides real solutions--not just awareness, but also business training and financial support for women. * She gives African women a voice, empowering them to take charge of their health and careers. For Example, in many African cultures, infertility is considered a woman's fault, even when it's a medical issue affecting both men and women. Dr. Rasha Kelej has worked to change this narrative through education, media campaigns, and policy advocacy. 3. She Has provided over 2100 Scholarships to Doctors from 55 Countries in 44 critical and underserved medical specialities Under her leadership, the Merck Foundation has provided scholarships in 44 critical and underserved specialties including Diabetes, Endocrinology, Oncology, Cardiovascular, Fertility Care, Embryology, Sexual & Reproductive Medicine, Internal Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, Acute Medicine, Critical Care, Pediatric Emergency, Gastroenterology, Rheumatology, Clinical Psychiatry, Urology, Ophthalmology, General Surgery, Trauma & Orthopedic, Dermatology, Neonatal Care, Pain Management, Emergency & Resuscitation, Laparoscopic Surgical Skills, Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Advanced Surgical Practice, Neuroimaging for Research and more. Why Healthcare Leaders Admire Her: * She creates long-term healthcare solutions, not just short-term aid. * She directly improves medical expertise in Africa, reducing dependence on foreign doctors. * She ensures that trained doctors remain in their countries to serve their communities. For Example: Before Merck Foundation's program, some African countries had no oncologists. Now, patients no longer have to travel abroad for cancer treatment. 4. She Engages with Local Communities, Not Just Governments * Dr. Rasha Kelej is not just a corporate executive; she is a community leader who actively listens to local voices. * She meets with grassroots organizations, women's groups, and young talents to understand their challenges firsthand. * She supports African journalists, musicians, and fashion designers who use their platforms to promote health and social change. Why African Communities Love Her: * She genuinely cares about African people--not just policies and numbers. * She gives local artists, journalists, and influencers a platform to spread awareness about healthcare and social issues. * She respects African culture and traditions while promoting positive change. 5. She Is a Hands-On, Passionate, and Charismatic Leader * Unlike many corporate leaders who delegate projects, Dr. Rasha Kelej personally oversees and leads many initiatives. * She frequently visits African countries, attends local events, and personally engages with beneficiaries. * Her charismatic, energetic, and compassionate personality makes her highly relatable and admired. Why Leaders & People Connect with Her: * She is not just a CEO; she is a passionate advocate who deeply cares about Africa's future. * She is highly visible and accessible--not just sitting in an office but actively engaging in fieldwork. * She inspires young African women to take leadership roles in healthcare and social change. 6. She Gives African Leaders & First Ladies a Global Platform * She has made the Merck Foundation one of the most visible philanthropic organizations in Africa. * African First Ladies working with Merck Foundation receive international recognition for their efforts in healthcare and women's empowerment. * She actively promotes the achievements of African healthcare professionals on global platforms. Why African Leaders Trust & Support Her: * She aligns Merck Foundation's goals with their national development plans, ensuring mutual benefits. * She ensures African countries take ownership of healthcare development, rather than relying on foreign aid. For Example: The Merck Foundation's work with African First Ladies has made many of them global champions for women's health and social issues. 7. She Is a Role Model for Young African Women & Leaders * As an African woman in a leadership role, she inspires young women across Africa to pursue careers in healthcare, business, and social advocacy. * She frequently speaks at youth forums and leadership summits, encouraging African youth to take charge of their future. * She emphasizes education, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance, teaching African youth how to become changemakers in their communities. Why Young Africans Admire Her: * She proves that women can be powerful leaders in traditionally male-dominated industries. * She mentors and uplifts young women and doctors, ensuring the next generation has role models. * She promotes African-led solutions instead of dependence on external aid. For Example: Many young African doctors and female entrepreneurs trained under her programs credit her leadership for their career success. To learn more about the journey of Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej, Merck Foundation CEO and her efforts, follow:@Rasha Kelej: Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, YouTube. For more information on Merck Foundation, please visit: www.merck-foundation.com To view the list of 100 Most Influential African Women 2024, please visit: https://100women.avancemedia.org/ (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
President Trump Thursday blamed the deadly crash of American Airlines Flight 5342 on former President Joe Biden and supposed Democratic diversity, equality and inclusion policies.

Without providing any evidence, Trump harshly attacked Biden, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other Democratic officials for supposedly lowering standards for air traffic controllers, which he suggested could have led to the collision between the plane and an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

I put safety first. They put politics at a level no one has ever seen, Trump said.

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A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration reviewed by The New York Times reportedly noted that staffing was not normal in the air traffic control tower at the Reagan National Airport at the time of the crash.

The understaffing forced a single air traffic controller to handle both helicopters and planes taking off and landing, potentially causing communication delays or problems in the seconds leading up to the deadly collision, the Times said.

Trump claimed, without offering proof, that he imposed higher standards for air traffic controllers in his first term and that those standards were eased by Buttigieg and Biden in the name of creating a more diverse workforce.

You cant have regular people doing that job, Trump said about air traffic controllers. For some jobs, they have to be at the highest level of genius.

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Pressed by reporters, Trump admitted that he didnt know if the controller was to blame much less that so-called DEI policies played any role in either the persons hiring or the crash, which killed all 67 people on the two aircraft.

It just could have been, he said. Its called common sense.

Buttigieg quickly hit back at Trump, who used an expletive to describe his stewardship of the Department of Transportation.

As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying, Buttigieg posted on X shortly after the presidents White House news conference.

He noted that during his term, America had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights.

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Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trumps blame game turns your stomach.

Its one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, its another for the president of the United States, Schumer said at the Capitol.

Biden ignored Trumps partisan jabs in a post on X: Jill and I are praying for the families of the victims who tragically lost their lives in the plane and helicopter crash near (Reagan National Airport).

In the rambling 40-minute press conference, Trump started by striking a somber note of mourning and called on Americans to unite to grieve the victims.

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But he quickly shifted into attack mode, alternately pointed fingers at Democrats, air traffic controllers handling the flight and the unnamed Army pilot of the doomed helicopter.

He offered several conflicting theories about what could have caused the crash.

At first, Trump seemed to jump to the conclusion that the air traffic controller failed to keep a military Black Hawk helicopter from colliding with the American flight that was on approach for landing at Reagan National Airport.

He suggested the controller should have acted to keep the two aircrafts at different altitudes.

He later mused the helicopter pilot must have erred by flying toward the airplane, especially since it was a clear night and there were no adverse weather conditions.

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However, it is worth noting that there were windy conditions in D.C. Wednesday, with gusts up to 50 mph.

Minutes later, Trump admitted the investigation is still in its earliest stages, and no one really knows who, if anyone, is to blame.

We do not know what led to this crash, he said. But we have some strong opinions.

_____
From the The Morning Dispatch on The Dispatch

Happy Friday! Attention Dispatch Premium members: Were hosting the next Dispatch Premium Town Hall with Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg on Thursday, February 6, at 8 p.m. ET, where members can interact directly with our co-founders in a Zoom discussion on the first few weeks of the Trump administration. How are the confirmation hearings going for Trumps nominees? What is in all of those executive orders? How has Washington, D.C. changed since Trumps inauguration? And most importantly, how does all of this impact your life?

If youd like to attend this special live town hall, be sure to join Dispatch Premium before next Tuesday!

Quick Hits: Todays Top Stories

Officials announced Thursday that there were no survivors from the collision of a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet approaching D.C.s Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night. A total of 67 people were killed, making it the deadliest crash in America since 2001. The D.C. fire and EMS chief said Thursday morning that rescue operations were switching to a recovery effort to retrieve the victims, and, as of 5:30 p.m. ET, first responders had pulled 40 bodies from the Potomac River. An investigation into the crash remains ongoing and there are no confirmed details as to the causes of the incident. Multiple outlets obtained copies of a preliminary internal Federal Aviation Administration report on the accident that said staffing at the airports air traffic control tower during the time of the collision was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic. One air traffic controller was working both with helicopters and planes, a job typically split between two people.

Eight more hostages returned to Israel on Thursday after 482 days in Hamas captivity. The individuals released included three IsraelisAgam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, and Gadi Mozesand five Thai nationalsThenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasakwho were abducted by the terrorist group on October 7, 2023. Before Yehoud and Mozes were handed over to the Red Cross, Hamas gunmen paraded them through swarming and chaotic crowds in the southern city of Khan Younis, leading the Israeli government to delay the latest release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel later freed 110 prisoners on Thursday after the two sides reached an agreement to ensure the safe passage of Israeli abductees in future exchanges.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Thursday to block Hewlett Packard Enterprises planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Enterprises, a wireless local area network (WLAN) products and services company. The department said the tie-up would bring 70 percent of the WLAN suppliers market under the control of just two companies, the Hewlett and Juniper umbrella and the market leader, Cisco Systems. This proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation, resulting in large segments of the American economy paying more for less from wireless technology providers, said Omeed Assefi, the acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Departments Antitrust Division.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he intends to follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico beginning on Saturday, February 1. But the president told reporters that the tariffs could include exemptions on oil imports, in keeping with his promises to reduce energy costs for Americans. Trump has also indicated possible plans to impose a 10 percent duty on Chinese-made goods as soon as Saturdaya move, like the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, ostensibly aimed at curbing the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.President Trumps picks to lead the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Health and Human Services, respectivelyall appeared before Senate committees for confirmation hearings on Thursday. The trio faced grillings from Democratic and some Republican lawmakers on their past statements, and, in some instances, endeavored to distance themselves from views and policies theyve endorsed in the past. While Patel appeared to have garnered unified Republican support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gabbard and Kennedy still face uphill battles in advancing beyond their respective committee votes.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday that real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, down from 3.1 percent growth in the third quarter and slightly below economists expectations. For all of 2024, GDP growth was 2.8 percent. The bulk of fourth-quarter growth came from consumer spending, with spending on goods and services growing 6.6 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, both up from the third quarter.

Confirmation Hearing Commotion

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for health secretary, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Bobby! Bobby! Supporters decked out in MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) pins and hats chanted this as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trumps nominee for health secretary, entered a packed room for his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

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But the enthusiasm of his cheerleaders belied the uphill battle Kennedy now faces in advancing beyond a committee vote and, if he gets there, winning enough support in the full Senate. Senators also grilled Tulsi Gabbard and Kash PatelTrumps nominees for director of national intelligence and FBI director, respectivelythis week, signaling the first serious congressional pushback against the presidents picks after his first batch of Cabinet nominees sailed through the Senate with relative ease.

As expected, Democrats questioned Kennedywho appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Health Committee on Thursdayon his previous advocacy against vaccinations, stance on abortion, and qualifications to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Republicans, meanwhile, appeared eager to get through the hearing as quickly as possible.

Of the three M.D.s on the Senate Finance Committee, all Republicans, only one seemed to be particularly skeptical of Kennedy: Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who practiced as a gastroenterologist for more than two decades and has been a public critic of the nominee. Some of the things he said were just not true. For example, for hepatitis B vaccines theres no safety trials. I have actually performed hepatitis B vaccination safety trials many years ago, he told reporters Tuesday, after meeting with Kennedy privately.

Cassidys lines of questioning generated perhaps the most damaging moment of Kennedys first day of testimony. When the Republican senator probed the nominee on his knowledge of public healthcare financing, Kennedy failed to demonstrate an understanding of important differences between Medicare and Medicaid, and incorrectly stated that the federal government was Medicaids sole funder. And Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, was even clearer about his concerns during the nominees next hearing on Thursday, as John McCormack reports on the site today:

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At the end of Thursdays hearing, Cassidy recounted the story of an 18-year-old woman he treated who had to be flown by helicopter for an emergency liver transplant due to a case of Hepatitis B, a disease easily prevented by a vaccine. Cassidy said if someone dies because she was not vaccinated because of policies or attitudes you bring to the department, the greatest tragedy will be her death. An associated tragedy, Cassidy continued, is that it will cast a shadow over President Trumps legacy, which I want to be the absolute best legacy it can be. So thats my dilemma, man, and you may be hearing from me over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democrat, narrowed in on Kennedys financial interests. As part of his anti-vaccine campaigning, Kennedy has received fees from law firms suing drug manufacturers. Warren noted that as HHS Secretary, he would have many tools to influence future drug-related lawsuits and asked to commit to not suing drug companies while you are secretary and for four years after. Kennedy refused: Youre asking me to not sue drug companies, and I am not going to agree to that, he said, to cheers from many in the audience.

With Democrats uniform in their opposition, a no vote from Cassidy would block Kennedy from advancing out of the finance committee and make it extremely unlikely that he would get a vote on the Senate floor.

But at least three more GOP senators would need to flip to doom his nomination in a full Senate vote. Moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also expressed skepticism about Kennedys views on Thursday. And Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, himself a polio survivor (the vaccine for which Kennedy has criticized), could be the final no vote. I have never flinched from confronting specious disinformation that threatens the advance of lifesaving medical progress, and I will not today, the former majority leader said last month.

The audience for Gabbards hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee was notably more subdued than Kennedys, mostly filled with reporters, congressional staffers, and family members and friends of the nominee. Gabbard, however, was at least as defiant and almost as controversial as the health secretary pick.

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Lawmakers entered the hearing with serious questions about Gabbards views and qualifications. An eight-year Democratic congresswoman and a National Guard member for more than two decades, the Hawaiian-born Gabbard has no intelligence experience beyond a one-year stint on the House Committee on Homeland Security and two years on the House Armed Services Committee on Intelligence and Readiness.

Shes also demonstrated some questionable political judgment, to say the least. Gabbard has praised whistleblower Edward Snowden and requested his pardon, made comments suggesting that the U.S. is to blame for Russias invasion of Ukraine, and cast doubt on whether recently ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people during the countrys civil warevidence of which is well-documented. In 2017, while serving as a member of Congress, Gabbard visited Syria on a diplomatic trip paid for by two Arab-American activists with ties to a Syrian nationalist party. Unbeknown to her staffers, she also used the trip to set up and attend a three-hour meeting with Assad, only admitting to the sit-down after she returned to the U.S.

Given Republicans narrow 9-8 majority in the committee, any one of these issues could sink Gabbards candidacy. By TMDs count, the nominee was asked 10 timesby Republicans and Democratsif Edward Snowden was a traitor. She declined to answer yes or no, stating simply, I believe Edward Snowden broke the law.

The topic is particularly resonant given Gabbards access to highly sensitive information if confirmed, potentially creating Republican holdouts ahead of a narrow committee vote. It would befit you and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so-called, harmed American security, GOP Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said during the hearing, visibly grimacing. I think there are a lot of questions after. Yeah, GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told reporters when asked about Gabbards answers on Snowden after the hearing.

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Senators also pressed Gabbard on her recent flip-flop on section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a program that allows the FBI to query some Americans emails. A vocal opponent of the program during her time in the House, Gabbard introduced a bill to repeal it in 2020. But on Thursday, she appeared to change her tune. My actions and legislation in Congress were done to draw attention to the egregious civil liberties violations that were occurring at that time, she said, adding that later reforms had assuaged her concerns.

Ms. Gabbard, what are the reforms that have led you to now support 702?, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committees top-ranking Democrat, asked Thursday. After Gabbard mentioned reforms passed last April, Warner noted that she had criticized them as making an already bad problem many times worse on Joe Rogans podcast. I just dont believe, on your judgment and credibility issues, that this is the appropriate role you should take going forward, he said.

Patels hearing rounded out the contentious trio, but Democrats fixation on highlighting their previous criticisms about the candidate may have undermined their efforts to derail his confirmation.

Despite his extensive resumePatel has served as a former public defender and Justice Department attorney, a staffer for the House Intelligence Committee, a National Security Council official, and chief of staff to the defense secretarythe nominee is less known for his professional career than for his enthusiastic embrace of conspiracy theories about the deep state. Widely described as the most loyal hanger-on in Trumps orbit, Patel has even authored a childrens book about the plot against King Donald.

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If confirmed, lawmakers worry this conspiratorial mindset would cloud Patels judgment as head of the FBIan agency he seems to believe is complicit in alleged Democratic efforts to commandeer the federal government. The nominee has advocated for restricting the FBIs intelligence-gathering activities and threatened to come after Trumps purported enemies within the media.

Democrats were, predictably, alarmed by Patels nomination. But, as The Dispatchs Charles Hilu reported from the hearing, their rage was often channeled into scoring partisan points rather than eliciting truly damaging testimony from Patel:

Rather than putting Patel on the defensive, Democrats used much of their time during the five-hour hearing reciting incendiary comments Patel has made in the past and asking him to justify certain actions from Trump. They inflicted little damage, if any, on his confirmation prospects, likely missing the opportunity to deter enough Republicans from voting for him once his nomination reaches the full Senate. At one point Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island lobbed several questions at Patel regarding social media posts and podcast appearances he had made. A Whitehouse staff member held up a poster that depicted Patel saying it was beyond a reasonable doubt that members of federal law enforcement were involved in starting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Patel called that characterization completely incorrect and was about to respond to the charge, but Whitehouse would not let him. Ill give you the opportunity in writing, but this is my time now, Whitehouse replied, sparing Patel from needing to defend the remark.

For now, it appears that Republican senators are more likely to expend political capital on opposing Kennedy and Gabbard than on putting up a fight over Patels bid. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, both senior members of the Judiciary Committee, signaled their support for Patel as early as last month.

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also backed Patels confirmation in an introduction before the committee. In my 10 years in the Senate, I hope I have established a reputation for being fair, doing my homework, and taking tough positions that have been met with harsh criticism, he said. Heck, Ive been censured by my party for taking tough positions, and I stand by those positions today and my position to support Kash Patel.

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Patel, somewhat surprisingly, appears to be the exception in a week where Trumps top nominees at times struggled. Heading into committee votes, it appears quite possible that Gabbard and Kennedy will not receive committee recommendationsor at the very least face a tight vote on the Senate floor.

Worth Your Time

Writing for the New York Times, Alex Vadukul revisited the Luddite Cluba group of Brooklyn high schoolers he profiled in 2022 who formed a club dedicated to engaging with one another free from technology. With the original group now in college, Vadukul wanted to see how their Luddism has fared. Two years later, Im still asked about them. People want to know: Did they stay on the Luddite path? Or were they dragged back into the tech abyss? he wrote. I put those questions to three of the original membersMs. Watling, Jameson Butler and Logan Lane, the clubs founderwhen they took some time from their winter school breaks to gather at one of their old hangouts, Central Library in Brooklyns Grand Army Plaza. They said they still had disdain for social media platforms and the way they ensnare young people, pushing them to create picture-perfect online identities that have little [to] do with their authentic selves. They said they still relied on flip phones and laptops, rather than smartphones, as their main concessions to an increasingly digital world. And they reported that their movement was growing, with offshoots at high schools and colleges in Seattle, West Palm Beach, Fla., Richmond, Va., South Bend, Ind., and Washington, D.C.

Presented Without Comment

President Donald Trump had the following exchange with a reporter during a briefing yesterday on the D.C. airport crash.

Reporter: Today, you have blamed the diversity element, but then told us you werent sure the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones that made the mistake.

Trump: Yeah, its all under investigation.

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Reporter: I understand that, thats why Im trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion, right now, that diversity had something to do with this crash.

Trump: Because I have common sense.

Also Presented Without Comment

Bloomberg: Romanias Far-Right Candidate [Calin Georgescu] Dismisses Ukraine as Invented

Romanias far-right presidential frontrunner called Ukraine an invented state that will be dismembered after losing the war with Russiaand proceeded to make territorial claims of his own.  Georgescu said Romania should seek to benefit from a peace settlement ending the warand reclaim territories that were once part of Romania. He mentioned several traditional regionsnorthern Bukovina and Maramures, as well as Budjakthat are currently part of Ukraine. Everybody is interested in border changes, Georgescu said. We are interested.

Also Also Presented Without Comment

New York Times: U.S. Funding Freeze Threatens Security at ISIS Camps in Syria

In the Zeitgeist

After a 34-year run involving more than 82,000 gallons of paint, the Blue Man Group will hold its final Off-Broadway performance on Sunday.

Toeing the Company Line

In the newsletters: Will Rinehart explored how AI development is moving faster than regulators and Nick Catoggio unpacked () the woes of trying to cover the second Trump term.

On the site: Mike Warren details the Trump administrations rift with Catholics, John McCormack reports on RFK Jr.s tough road ahead, Charles Hilu considers Kash Patels confirmation odds, and Kevin Williamson argues that you cant run government like a Silicon Valley startup.

Let Us Know

Do you think any of the three nominees before the Senate this week are suited to the Cabinet positions?

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.
An investigation is just beginning into the fatal plane crash over the Potomac River in Washington, with no cause determined yet by the National Transportation Safety Board.

President Donald Trump, though, was quick to try to assign blame on Thursday as he gave a press conference at the White House while recovery crews navigated the icy waters searching for victims.

"We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions," he said.

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MORE: DC plane crash live updates: NTSB meets with hundreds of family members

Trump first claimed, without evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives under Democratic presidents could be a factor. He later doubled down on the unsubstantiated claim while he signed executive orders in the Oval Office.

Trump also suggested the helicopter pilots navigating the U.S. Army Black Hawk should have moved out of the way but at one point said warnings to the crew were given "very late."

On Friday, he continued to question the chopper's movement as it appeared to be flying above the mandated 200 feet. "That's not really too complicated to understand, is it???" he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Leading the investigation into the crash is the NTSB, with a preliminary report due in 30 days but a final report on probable cause not likely for at least a year.

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NTSB member Todd Inman, during an appearance on "Good Morning America" on Friday, said it is far too early to make a determination.

"The only conclusion I know is last night we met with several hundred family members who lost their loved ones in the Potomac," he said. "We don't need that to happen anymore. ... We're going to find out what happened, and we're going to try to stop it from happening again."

Trump was asked by a reporter on Friday if he had any concerns that his comments could interfere with the investigation.

"No, I think they'll do an investigation. It'll probably come out the way I said it," Trump responded. "I'd like to put it up front. I'm so tired of listening to things happen to our country and then people say we'll do an investigation. And three years later, they come up with a report that nobody looks at, especially not in all cases."

PHOTO: Emergency response units work at the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed last night on approach to Reagan National Airport, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Trump accused former President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama of hiring air traffic controllers based on diversity goals.

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"I put safety first -- Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen," Trump claimed at Thursday's news conference.

When pressed by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce what proof he had that the crash was caused by DEI efforts, Trump responded: "It just could have been."

MORE: Trump rails against DEI after DC plane crash, but it doesn't apply to air traffic controllers

DEI or any similar program does not apply to hiring for air traffic control, which requires rigorous health examinations and a multiyear training process. Applicants must pass a medical exam, an aptitude test and a psychological test that is more stringent than that required of a pilot, said Chris Wilbanks, FAA deputy vice president of safety and technical training.

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Trump pointed to a New York Post article as he accused Democrats of pushing to hire people with severe mental disabilities at the Federal Aviation Administration. But the diversity language referenced in the article was on the FAA website during the entirety of Trumps first term and has been on the site for more than a decade, according to Snopes.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump talks to reporters after signing an executive order to appoint the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Oval Office at the White House, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump's attacks, though, are in line with his agenda to dismantle DEI from the federal government. In his first week in office, he signed multiple orders to place federal employees working on DEI on administrative leave and to remove DEI efforts from the Pentagon.

Democrats pushed back on Trump's claims about the crash.

"Listen, it's one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories. It's another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families still being notified," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Thursday. "It just turns your stomach."

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Pete Buttigieg, Biden's transportation secretary and another target of Trump's criticism in the wake of the crash, called Trump's comments "despicable."

"President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA," Buttigieg wrote in a social media post. "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."

ABC News' Selina Wang, Benjamin Siegel, Sam Sweeney, Fritz Farrow and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.

Trump casts speculation, unproven claims on DC plane crash as cause remains unknown originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Trump signed an executive order to implement tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.

He has been threatening the tariffs on the three countries and others for months.

Canada and Mexico have vowed to impose retaliatory tariffs against the US.

Canada and Mexico have hit straight back at President Donald Trump's latest tariffs, vowing to impose retaliatory levies on the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that Canada would impose 25% tariffs on C$155 billion (around $106 billion) of US goods, some of which will go into effect on Tuesday and others in three weeks' time.

Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, said in a post on X that she had also ordered retaliatory tariffs.

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"I instruct the economy minister to implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico's interests," she wrote.

The Trump administration said Saturday it had imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China. On Sunday, the president reacted to Canada's retaliation, saying it would "struggle to exist" without US subsidies.

"We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don't need anything they have," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

China's Ministry of Commerce, meanwhile, accused the United States in a statement released Sunday of violating World Trade Organization rules with the tariff.

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The ministry said China would file a lawsuit with the WTO against the United States and take "corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests."

Economists expect many firms to pass increased costs caused by tariffs onto customers, and several companies have already said they are preparing to raise prices in response. Electronics, groceries, and apparel are among the most likely products to see price increases.

The White House said the tariffs will work to deliver Trump's campaign promises. Regarding his proposed first round of tariffs, an official told Business Insider that "Trump has been clear about his desire to end the fentanyl crisis, and it's time for Mexico and Canada to join the fight as well." Trump has said a tariff on China would also help fight the fentanyl problem.

Here are all the countries Trump has targeted with his trade proposals so far.

China

China was a key focus for tariffs on the campaign trail. While campaigning, Trump proposed a 60% tariff on all goods imported from China, alongside a 10% to 20% tariff on imports from other countries.

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Once Trump took office, though, his ideas for tariffs on China appeared to narrow. On January 21, he suggested a 10% tariff on imports from China into the United States beginning on February 1 "based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada."

The Trump administration cited the fentanyl crisis on Saturday as the impetus for the new tariffs.

China is a major electronics supplier to the United States, so cellphones, computers, and games could get more expensive.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters on January 22: "We believe that there's no winner in a trade or tariff war, and we will firmly uphold our national interests."

Canada and Mexico

The new tariffs make good on an earlier threat Trump posted in November on his social media platform, Truth Social. He indicated at the time that he would impose tariffs on those two countries on his first day in office if they didn't strengthen their border policies.

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The US imports many key goods from both Mexico and Canada. Americans receive $92 billion in crude oil from Canada, as well as billions of dollars worth of vehicles and vehicle parts. In addition to car parts, Mexico also supplies $25 billion worth of computers to the United States.

Russia

Trump said on January 22 that he would place tariffs on imports from Russia if the country did not end the Ukraine war soon.

"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

According to Census data, the US imported $4.57 billion worth of goods from Russia in 2023, which made up just 0.14% of total imports that year. Given how little the country exports to the United States, consumers would probably see few effects if a tariff on Russia was implemented.

Colombia

After Colombia's president turned away two flights from the US that carried deported migrants, Trump threatened the country with a 25% tariff. He said that in one week, the Colombia tariff would be raised to 50%.

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"We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!" Trump said on Truth Social.

Colombia's president Gustavo Petro responded in a statement that his country would receive Colombians "on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals." The White House then withdrew its threat but warned it could be reinstated if Colombia failed to honor its agreement.

Key goods the US imports from Colombia include coffee and bananas, which would likely get more expensive under tariffs.

BRICS nations

On November 30, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS group unless they committed to not creating a separate currency that competes with the US dollar.

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BRICS consists of nine countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

Pharmaceutical preparations, crude oil, and household goods are the top imports from countries in the BRICS group, excluding China. The Trump administration did not announce any tariffs on the BRICS nations on Saturday.

Denmark

Trump said during a press conference on January 7 that he would "tariff Denmark at a very high level" if the country didn't agree to cede control of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, to the United States.

The president has not offered further details on that claim, nor have any such tariffs been implemented. The Financial Times reported that Trump and Denmark's premier, Mette Frederiksen, had a call to discuss the threat, during which Frederiksen reportedly emphasized that Greenland was not for sale.

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The US primarily imports medicinal products and machinery from Denmark.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Less than two weeks have passed since the last presidential inauguration, but try to imagine the next one.

Its Jan. 20, 2029. The nation has weathered another tumultuous four years under Donald Trump. Democrats are desperate for the Trump era, at long last, to be over. Republicans have relished it.

Now, imagine this: The chief justice begins to deliver the oath of office. The next president raises his right hand and says:

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I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear

Its the stuff of liberal nightmares and MAGA dreams: a third Trump term.

But it cant happen, right? After all, the Constitution imposes an explicit two-term limit on the presidency  even if those two terms, like Trumps, are non-consecutive. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, the 22nd Amendment mandates.

Even Trump, notorious for bending norms and breaking laws, couldnt possibly circumvent that clear constitutional stricture, right?

Dont be so sure.

Around the globe, when rulers consolidate power through a cult of personality, they do not tend to surrender it willingly, even in the face of constitutional limits. And Trump, of course, already has a track record of trying to remain in office beyond his lawful tenure.



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Anyone who says that obviously the 22nd Amendment will deter Trump from trying for a third term has been living on a different planet than the one Ive been living on, says Ian Bassin, who was an associate White House counsel for President Barack Obama and is now the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy.

If Trump decided he wanted to hold onto power past 2028, there are at least four paths he could try:



He could generate a movement to repeal the 22nd Amendment directly.

He could exploit a little-noticed loophole in the amendment that might allow him to run for vice president and then immediately ascend back to the presidency.

He could run for president again on the bet that a pliant Supreme Court wont stop him.

Or he could simply refuse to leave  and put a formal end to Americas democratic experiment.

Each path would face serious political, legal and practical impediments. But the prospect of a third Trump term shouldnt be dismissed with a hand wave.

Trump, after all, is definitely not dismissing the prospect. Hes been openly floating it for years.

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In August 2020, he told supporters: We are going to win four more years. And then after that, well go for another four years.

In May 2024, he again mused about a three-term presidency.

On Nov. 13, 2024, a week after winning his second term, he told House Republicans: I suspect I wont be running again unless you say, Hes so good weve got to figure something else out.

And just last weekend, he said: It will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once but twice  or three or four times, before quickly adding, Nah, it will be to serve twice.

Perhaps its all just a big joke to Trump. Perhaps hes baiting the media. But the fact that he keeps talking about it shows that its on his mind. Its time to take the prospect literally  and seriously.

Why Trump Might Do It

T here are a couple of threshold objections to this thought experiment, and theyre not constitutional but physical and psychological: Would Trump, who will be 82 at the end of his second term, be healthy and fit enough to serve a third? And if so, would he even want one?

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On Jan. 20, 2029, he could simply retire to the fairways of Mar-a-Lago, having vanquished all of his foes and cemented his status as a world-historical figure.

Maybe. But if he has the capacity to continue in office, Trump might have strong incentives to try to retain the powers and privileges of the presidency.

Consider a key reason he ran in 2024: the desire to elude his criminal cases. That strategy worked. The two federal cases against him had to be shut down after his victory due to the Justice Departments longstanding position that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. His election further doomed the already faltering case against him in Georgia as well. And in the New York hush money case, the only one of the four to reach trial and result in a conviction, Trumps victory ensured that he got away with a sentence of unconditional discharge  even less than a slap on the wrist.



Still, Trump may not be entirely free of all his legal problems at the end of his second term. When special counsel Jack Smith reluctantly dismissed his federal charges against Trump last month, he explicitly reserved the ability for a future Justice Department to revive and refile the charges after Trump leaves office. If a Democrat seems well positioned to win the 2028 election, Trump may fear that those charges might come back to life.

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And who knows what Trump might do in the next four years that could trigger new criminal liability? The Supreme Courts sweeping immunity decision last year would be an obstacle to charging him for anything he does while president, but it wouldnt be an insurmountable one. If there are serious calls to prosecute Trump again after his second term, it is not hard to imagine him concluding that the best way to stave off those efforts is to simply remain president.

Aside from using the office as a legal force field, Trump may be propelled by another, more basic motive: raw power. This is the raison detre for autocratically minded leaders around the world, especially those who erode democratic institutions and engage in quasi-messianic rhetoric.

Presidents tend to like their jobs, and there have been many attempts for them to overstay, says Mila Versteeg, a law professor at the University of Virginia.

Versteeg co-authored a 2020 study that examined 234 heads of state in 106 countries in the 21st century. She found that one-third of them sought to circumvent legally imposed term limits. Many of them succeeded  typically not by directly disobeying the law, but rather by exploiting gaps and weaknesses in their constitutional systems or by convincing meek courts to bless their consolidation of power.

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Recep Tayyip Erdogan did it in Turkey. Daniel Ortega did it in Nicaragua. Vladimir Putin did it in Russia. The list goes on and on, including leaders whom Trump admires.

In the countries where this has happened, the rule of law is much weaker than in the United States, Versteeg says. But we shouldnt dismiss it as impossible or unimaginable. It has happened around the world.

How Trump Might Do It

A ssuming Trump wanted to make it happen here, could he succeed?

At first blush, the 22nd Amendment appears to be an absolute barrier. It was ratified in 1951 in response to Franklin Delano Roosevelts four-term presidency. Before Roosevelt, no president had ever run for reelection after serving two terms  a norm that dated back to George Washington.

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Critically for Trumps purposes, the amendment is not restricted to consecutive terms. Virtually every constitutional scholar agrees that the two-term limit applies to any two terms by a single person, even if those terms are not back-to-back.

But that is not the end of the matter. The rules in the Constitution are only as durable as the institutions that preserve and protect them. And Trump could chip away at them, or even try to defy them completely, through both legal and extralegal means. He is already seeking to transform the birthright citizenship provision of the 14th Amendment. Is there any reason to think he wouldnt try something similar with the term limits provision of the 22nd?

Here are four things he could try.

Option 1

Change the Constitution

The most obvious route would be for Trump to persuade Americans to simply repeal the 22nd Amendments two-term limit. Its perfectly permissible to repeal an amendment: Weve already done it before, when we repealed the 18th Amendments prohibition on the sale of alcohol.

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A formal repeal, though, would require a landslide of popular support that is far-fetched in todays polarized nation. Two-thirds of both chambers of Congress would have to propose a new amendment, or two-thirds of the states would have to call for a constitutional convention to propose one. Then three-fourths of the states would have to ratify the proposed amendment. Even if Trump remains popular among Republicans, its hard to imagine him garnering the supermajorities needed.

Still, some conservatives are clamoring to try.

Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles has already taken up the cause, proposing a constitutional amendment to allow Trump to run for a third term.

And The American Conservative began laying the groundwork for the idea even before Trump won last year. Back in March, it published a piece arguing that, if Trump were to secure a second term, the 22nd Amendment should be repealed to allow him to seek a third.

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If, by 2028, voters feel Trump has done a poor job, they can pick another candidate; but if they feel he has delivered on his promises, why should they be denied the freedom to choose him once more? wrote Peter Tonguette, a contributing editor at the magazine.



Some Democrats, meanwhile, are not taking any chances. Rep. Dan Goldman of New York proposed a resolution last fall reiterating that the 22nd Amendment applies to non-consecutive terms.

And a few blue states are trying to revoke their long-dormant requests for a constitutional convention. They fear Republicans could use those requests  which in some cases were made decades or even centuries ago  to trigger a convention and propose a slew of unpredictable amendments. One prominent Trump ally in Congress, House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington of Texas, believes the required threshold  requests from two-thirds of the states  has already been met to spark a convention.

Trump himself has not explicitly endorsed an amendment push. But on Monday, he shared a social media post from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick lauding Trumps first week in office. People are already talking about changing the 22nd Amendment so he can serve a third term, Patrick wrote. If this pace and success keeps up for 4 years, and there is no reason it wont, most Americans really wont want him to leave.

Option 2

Sidestep the Constitution

If formally amending the two-term limit is off the table, another option is to find a loophole. As it turns out, the 22nd Amendment has a big one.

The text bars anyone from being elected to a third presidential term. It says nothing about a person becoming president for a third term by some other legal avenue  for instance, by being elected vice president and then ascending back to the presidency through the death, resignation or removal of the person at the top of the ticket.

This technicality seems to permit a shrewd scenario. Imagine that, near the end of Trumps second term, some other person  call him JD Vance  wins the Republican nomination for 2028. Vance chooses Trump as his vice-presidential running mate  and pledges that, if he wins, he will resign on Day 1 and hand the presidency back to Trump.

The campaign slogan writes itself: Vote Vance to Make Trump President Again.

It might seem like a far-fetched parlor trick. Or it could be seen as the most artful deal Trump ever struck. Either way, if its 2028 and Trump retains the grip on the Republican Party that he had in 2016, 2020 and 2024, it is not hard to picture the idea gaining traction. And if Vance wouldnt agree to cooperate, Trump could find some other lackey who would.



The gambit, of course, would carry some risk to Trump. He would have to trust Vance or his hand-picked placeholder to follow through on the promise to step down from the presidency immediately and allow Trump to re-ascend to the office. In theory, that person could renege on the deal after the election and keep the presidency. But if the ticket had run on an explicit pledge that Trump would be the one in the Oval Office, the political pressure to honor the deal (and honor the will of the voters) would be enormous. And if Vance or some other politician wants a future in the GOP and a real shot at the White House in the future, maintaining support from Trump would be paramount.

Trump, who revels in public expressions of fealty from his subordinates, might find the whole arrangement enticing.

It would not be surprising  if the president were interested in the presidency again  that he would seek to go down this path, says Bruce Peabody, a law professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Peabody foreshadowed the possibility long before Trump emerged on the political scene. In a 1999 law review article (and in a 2016 follow-up), he explored the potential for a twice-elected president to serve in other high-ranking government roles that might allow them to become president again. Peabody concluded that the scenario is not only constitutional, but politically plausible.

You might even call it the Putin-Medvedev scenario. When, in 2008, term limits barred Putin from continuing to rule Russia, he served for a time as prime minister under President Dmitry Medvedev. Of course, Putin continued to pull the strings, and he eventually returned to power formally.

Here in the U.S., a different part of the Constitution arguably complicates the loophole. The 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, says that no one constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President. So if Trump were disqualified from serving a third presidential term under the 22nd Amendment, then he also wouldnt seem to be eligible to become vice president under the 12th  and in that case, the loophole wouldnt work.

But thats just the thing: The 22nd Amendment doesnt say Trump would be ineligible to serve as president for a third term. It just says he is ineligible to run for a third term (or, more precisely, to be elected to a third term). So the 12th Amendments eligibility provision doesnt seem to foreclose Trump using the loophole.

You could make a case that its pretty clear that a twice-elected president is still eligible, Peabody says. You could also make a case that its murky. But I dont find the argument terribly convincing that its a slam dunk that he isnt eligible.

Option 3

Ignore the Constitution

If the first two options are too difficult or too convoluted, Trump could try something even bolder, and far more Trumpian. He could simply run for a third term and see if anyone stops him.

The question of who would do so, and how, is surprisingly difficult. Would the Republican National Committee block him from seeking the partys nomination for 2028? Surely not, if he still dominates the GOP. Would states refuse to put him on their ballots? Some certainly would, but that would spark litigation. The issue would then wind up at the Supreme Court  a court that is already quite sympathetic to Trumps interests and, in four years, may be populated with even more Trump appointees than it has today.

Still, would the high court really green-light a flagrant violation of the 22nd Amendment? It sounds implausible now, even for this very conservative court. But its important to consider the context in which such a case would be heard.

It would be the middle of the 2028 election season. Trump would be out on the campaign trail, acting like a candidate, insisting he is running again for the good of the country. The RNC would have proudly proclaimed him its nominee. Imagine half of Americans continue to support him unconditionally.



It does not take a Supreme Court cynic to see that, in such a climate, declaring Trump ineligible to run would take immense political courage from the justices.

All you need is a court that is willing to be your faithful helper, Versteeg says, adding that she believes its unlikely  though not impossible  that the current court would fall in line for Trump.

Bassin, of Protect Democracy, is more blunt.

The courts gonna tell the Republican Party that they cant run their candidate? he asks. I dont think so.

In fact, the country and the court have already experienced a similar conundrum.

Many legal scholars believe Trump was constitutionally ineligible to run in 2024 because the 14th Amendment bars anyone from holding federal office if they previously engaged in an insurrection. But when Colorado sought to enforce that provision, citing Trumps conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, and removed Trump from its ballot, the Supreme Court swiftly stepped in. Only Congress, not states, can enforce the insurrection ban, the court declared  even though the 14th Amendment itself contains no such limitation.

That ruling was widely seen as being at least partially results-driven: Whatever the legal arguments, the justices simply were never going to let individual states kick the leading Republican candidate off their ballots. The same calculus might apply if Trump tried to run again in 2028.

One might respond that the 22nd Amendments command (No person shall be elected as president more than twice) is far clearer than the 14th Amendments abstruse language about insurrections. But litigation has a way of muddying even the most crystal-clear language, and pro-Trump lawyers will have plenty of opportunities to make the two-term limit seem ambiguous.

Perhaps theyll find some originalist argument for why the two-term limit doesnt mean what it seems.

Perhaps theyll contend that the amendment applies only to consecutive terms after all. Trump ally Steve Bannon has already begun to float this argument.

Perhaps theyll find some reason that the amendments ratification was procedurally improper. Versteeg points out that such procedural arguments are common tactics to erode constitutional term limits abroad.

Or perhaps theyll argue that some other, more fundamental provision of the Constitution supersedes the 22nd Amendments term limit. For instance, maybe Trump has a due process right to run for president, or maybe voters have a due process right to vote for their preferred candidate, regardless of what the 22nd Amendment says.

None of these arguments is legally strong. Virtually all constitutional scholars would reject them today. But simply by advancing the arguments in court, and in the public sphere, Trumps lawyers can make the issue seem debatable. And, as the legal scholar Jack Balkin has shown, that process of normalization can transform outlandish constitutional claims into formal doctrine adopted by the Supreme Court.

Option 4

Defy the Constitution

There is one final way Trump could try to hold onto power. This last option would not involve amending the Constitution. It would not require a deal with a running mate willing to hand the presidency back to Trump using a technicality. It would not even require Trump to go through the trouble of running again.

He could simply refuse to leave office.

Its hard to predict what that would look like (though Trumps attempts to cling to power after the 2020 election might offer some clues). One obvious move in the autocrats playbook is to cancel an election by declaring some sort of national emergency. The president, of course, has no legal authority to call off or postpone elections, but that doesnt mean Trump wouldnt try it anyway  perhaps by seizing on a natural disaster or even starting a war. Alternatively, perhaps Trump would allow the 2028 election to take place with other candidates but declare the outcome rigged and decide to stay in power himself.

Its not a stretch to say Trump has amplified his anti-democratic tendencies in the early days of his new term. He has begun to quickly consolidate power throughout the government, including by implementing strict loyalty tests, ousting independent federal watchdogs and trying to seize the power of the purse from Congress. He has also absolved political violence in his name with his pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters, including members of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

The last time Trump tried to cling to the presidency, he used lies about election fraud to undermine the 2020 results and then encouraged his supporters to go wild in Washington the day his defeat was certified. Four years from now, could he pursue a power grab even more brazen and lawless? Its an extraordinary thing to contemplate. And scholars of authoritarianism point out that, when norms like term limits die, the culprit is usually not a single and obvious coup. Rather, the erosion happens slowly, often with the acquiescence of people and institutions within the constitutional system.



On Jan. 20, 2021, after his myriad efforts to overthrow Joe Bidens victory failed, Trump did leave office. Power was transferred, and the nations democratic institutions survived.

If he threatens the transfer of power again, there is no guarantee American democracy will survive again.

One thing, though, is clear: The words of the 22nd Amendment alone will not be enough.


Donald Trump just will not take Wednesday nights deadly aviation collision seriously.

While signing yet another batch of executive orders on Thursday, the president was asked whether he planned to visit the site of the deadly midair crash between a military helicopter and an American Airlines flight, which killed all 67 people on board the two aircraft.

I have a plan to visit, not the site, because why dont you tell me, whats the site? The water? Trump said. You want me to go swimming?

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Trump followed up his flippant response by saying he planned to meet with some of the family members of those who had died in the crash.

Trump, asked if he plans to visit the crash site:



"What's the site, the water? You want me to go swimming?"



Trump says he plans to meet with some of the families pic.twitter.com/wYsKuvdChl  BNO News Live (@BNODesk) January 30, 2025

The bodies of at least 28 people had been recovered from the Potomac River by Thursday evening, as recovery operations continued, according to the Associated Press.



Earlier on Thursday, Trump had suggested that the Biden administrations diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices were to blame for the crash, specifically pointing to the Federal Aviation Administrations practice of hiring people with targeted disabilities. The FAA published a report contradicting this outlandish and unserious claim, saying that staffing in the air traffic control tower was not normal on Wednesday night when the crash occurred.

Its also worth noting that Trump went on television to speak about the crash hours before he had actually briefed on the incident. Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said Thursday it is too early to tell what exactly caused the crash.
President Donald Trump addresses the 2025 Republican Issues Conference at the Trump National Doral Miami on Jan. 27, 2025 in Doral, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Kaitlyn Joshua is ready to move out of Geismar. The community organizer has lived in the Ascension Parish community for the past four years, but her and her childrens asthma, along with the high levels of toxic air pollutants in the area, have pushed her to the brink.

Im pretty staunch in my decision to put my family first to make sure their health comes first and put them in an area that doesnt necessarily have such inundation of industry and such polluted air, she said.

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Located in Cancer Alley, an industrial corridor that spans from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and is known for its high rates of cancer and air pollution, Geismar is home to 42 industrial facilities listed on the Environmental Protection Agencys Toxics Release Inventory because they emit harmful chemicals above a certain threshold. At least three emit ethylene oxide, a small molecule that can cause cancer at low concentrations in people who are exposed to it over their lifetimes, Johns Hopkins University environmental health and engineering professor Peter DeCarlo told Verite News.

Last June, DeCarlo and his team released a study showing that ethylene oxide levels in Cancer Alley are above limits that are safe for long-term exposure. Some of the highest levels of exposure were found in Ascension Parish, where Joshua lives. Most hazards that come from air pollutants can be attributed to ethylene oxide, according to the paper.

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The EPA started to tighten rules to limit community and worker exposure to ethylene oxide last year by requiring fenceline monitoring in some plants and strengthening emissions standards. In its most recent decision, released earlier this month, the agency is requiring facilities to lower the amount of ethylene oxide workers are exposed to from 1 part per million (ppm) to 0.5 ppm by 2028 and to 0.1 ppm by 2035. The new rule also calls for continuous monitoring of ethylene oxide in facilities that use and store it.

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But environmental researchers and advocates like Joshua and DeCarlo dont think the new rules will eliminate the hazard of ethylene oxide exposure. Its unclear, too, whether the Trump administration will keep the rules or roll them back. During Trumps first term, he rolled back more than 100 environmental rules, most of them dealing with air pollution and emissions.

Even though the rules are there  [Im] hoping that scales down some of the pollution  it would take years to pull back the amount of pollution that is currently being emitted into the environment, Joshua said.

The EPA requires industries to self-monitor their toxic air releases, which could also lead to the use of measurement techniques that may not be fully accurate, DeCarlo said. In the rules created last year, the EPA required industries to share their fenceline monitoring with communities. Verite News contacted to the EPA to ask about how chemicals will be continuously monitored and whether the new rules may change under the Trump administration, but no one from the agency responded in time for publication.

How will the EPA enforce the new ethylene oxide rule?

DeCarlo said the laws are well-intended, but he is hesitant to say they will bring about actual change in ethylene oxide levels in the area, given that monitoring and emission control may not be as effective at bringing down levels as regulators hope.

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I think that rules that we write and specifications on paper are often more optimistic than the situation in the real world, DeCarlo said.

Joshua said she doesnt believe that the rules go far enough. But Joshua said it is important stricter rules still exist at the federal level, even if they dont change her mind about staying in Geismar.

Under Louisianas political infrastructure, we do not have lawmakers that push back or advocate for these rules, Joshua said. And so that would have to be something that the industry themselves are looking to do.

The EPAs decision also includes increased protections for workers who may be exposed to ethylene oxide, including required use of respirators in areas with high levels of ethylene oxide and separate HVAC systems in areas where the chemical is used.

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Shamell Lavigne, the chief operating officer of environmental advocacy group Rise St. James and a resident of Ascension Parish, said she is thankful that the rules target worker exposure. Lavigne, too, believes that rules limiting pollution should go further and said that ethylene oxide is a chemical that Rise St. James is always concerned about.

In addition to lowering standards for existing plants, we need to make sure that new plants are not built that will further increase the emissions, Lavigne said.

Environmental advocates in Cancer Alley are keeping a close eye on existing and upcoming plants. Petrochemical manufacturing accounts for the majority of ethylene oxide emissions. Lavigne said she is concerned about ethylene oxide pollution from a proposed Formosa plastics plant in St. James that could emit up to 7.7 tons of the chemical every year. Formosa has already begun construction after being locked in legal battles over air permits with environmental activist groups, including Lavignes.

In a written statement to Verite News, Formosa said it does not expect actual emissions to reach the levels specified in the permits. The company said the project will not produce or store ethylene oxide as a product and will work to vent any leftover chemical through emission control equipment.

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Even though rules surrounding emissions have gotten stricter, Sharon Lavigne, the founder of Rise St. James and Shamell Lavignes mother, said she thinks the polluting industries will violate the rules. Last October, the DuPont chemical plant in Reserve was fined $480,000 for emitting levels of cancer-causing benzene higher than federal rules allowed.

I dont care if they put it on paper, these industries are going to go over the limit, Sharon Lavigne said. Industries dont care, as long as they make that money.

Shamell Lavigne said she is worried about how new regulations may hold up now that Trump is in office. Trump has already pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time and reversed Biden-era orders that were aimed at improving the environment in low-income communities and communities of color. These rules were meant to target decades of discriminatory permitting practices that have placed polluting industries in minority communities. Now, officials will not be required to consider how new facilities will impact historically overburdened and disadvantaged residents already living alongside polluters.

These are serious concerns for us living here in Cancer Alley, Shamell Lavigne said. There were some things that were put in place, and there are some things that are being dismantled, and our overall protections are at risk.

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Sharon Lavigne said she is also worried about rules being rolled back, but thinks that Congress should do more to protect communities.

The Democrats and the Republicans need to get together and try to work on these issues, Sharon Lavigne said, and not let Trump do whatever he wants to do.

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This article first appeared on Verite News New Orleans and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
U.S. Department of Education ends Bidens book ban hoax.

That headline from a recent press release by the federal agency has sparked outcry from free speech advocates and teachers who dispute that President Joe Bidens administration exaggerated the pervasiveness of book bans in the nations schools. In fact, educators say theyve been subjected to censorship for years.

Among them is Ayanna Mayes, a librarian who has spoken out about the books, particularly by Black and queer authors, purged from the shelves of the library she oversees at Chapin High School in Chapin, South Carolina. The state-sponsored removal of information from schools is not a hoax, she said Monday during a call announcing a complaint against her state for its curriculum restrictions.

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There is no way to deny that our state and school districts have thwarted mine and my colleagues efforts to provide the highest quality education to our students without blatantly calling us liars, Mayes said. We have experienced what we say we have experienced. We have witnessed what we say we have witnessed.

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF), a legal and racial justice nonprofit, filed its federal civil rights lawsuit against South Carolina just days after the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights suggested in a January 24 press release that claims of book banning are baseless and that school districts have simply removed books that are age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, or obscene materials. The agency said that it was reversing Biden administration guidance that reading restrictions create a hostile learning environment for students. It is discarding 11 book banning complaints, dismissing six pending ones and eliminating the agencys book ban coordinator tasked with investigating school districts accused of censorship.

Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, framed the moves as supporting local control and parental rights over the curriculum. The agency said that its attorneys found that books havent been censored but removed in concert with community members and commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials.

The Department of Educations announcement led to immediate pushback  from the South Carolinians fighting to give students access to inclusive instructional materials to the freedom of expression advocates at organizations such as PEN America and the American Library Association (ALA).

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PEN America said in a statement that it has documented nearly 16,000 instances of book bans nationwide since 2021. The prior year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating and the teaching of divisive concepts related to racism and sexism in the federal workforce or armed forces. That order led to most states introducing legislation that used similar language to restrict discussions and reading materials about race or sex in schools and other government-funded institutions.

Calling book banning a hoax, said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN Americas Freedom to Read program, is alarming and dismissive of the students, educators, librarians, and authors who have firsthand experiences of censorship happening within school libraries and classrooms.

The amount of books banned over the past three years rivals the number of those banned during the McCarthy era of the 1950s, according to PEN America.

This censorship organized by conservative groups predominantly targets books about race and racism by authors of color and also books on LGBTQ+ topics as well as those for older readers that have sexual references or discuss sexual violence, Meehan said.

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The ALA encouraged people concerned about book banning to attend library and school board meetings to support giving students access to a broad range of reading materials.

Book bans are real, the organization said in a statement. Ask students who cannot access literary classics required for college or parents whose children cant check out a book about gay penguins at their school library. Ask school librarians who have lost their jobs for protecting the freedom to read. While a parent has the right to guide their own childrens reading, their beliefs and prejudices should not dictate what another parent chooses for their own children.

The ALA also gave Trump officials a warning: The new administration is not above the U.S. Constitution. But in a new executive order sent out Wednesday, Trump vowed to end what he described as radical indoctrination in K-12 schools by threatening to revoke federal funding from schools that teach about gender identity, racism, sexism and other forms of oppression. He also announced his intention to prioritize patriotic education, but it is unclear how his plans will affect public schools across the states.

In South Carolina, Mayes is one of many plaintiffs  including scholar and author Ibram X. Kendi, South Carolina Rep. Todd Rutherford and the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP  named in the federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Bailey Law Firm LLC and the Legal Defense Fund. They claim that the state has continually practiced censorship, largely through a budget provision barring state Department of Education funds from supporting the discussion of concepts related to race or sex. Several of the complainants are women, including educators and parents.

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A spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDOE) called the lawsuit meritless in a statement to The 19th. The agency will continue to seek meaningful opportunities to build bridges across divisions, honor the richness of our shared history, and teach it with integrity, all while ensuring full compliance with state law, he said.

Plaintiff Mary Wood, a Chapin High School English teacher, faced a reprimand and calls for her firing after teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates memoir Between the World and Me in 2023. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the book explores what its like to be a Black man and argues that systemic racism is woven into the fabric of American life. Two students in her class told school officials that the book made them feel ashamed of their whiteness, indicating that Wood had violated the budget provision prohibiting the use of curricula that make an individual  feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his race or sex.

Lexington-Richland School District Five officials ordered Wood to refrain from teaching the book, but her new principal eventually allowed her to teach it with some caveats, including offering an alternative viewpoint and emphasizing that students could opt out of the reading.

Wood explained why she felt compelled to take part in the lawsuit against her state during the call the Legal Defense Fund organized on Monday.

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A teachers job is much more than providing rote education, she said. We are there to foster an environment where students can think critically, challenge ideas, engage in civil discourse and develop their curiosity. Their bright futures depend on exploring perspectives with which they are unfamiliar, seeing themselves in literature and receiving the truth of American and global history. Books offer the chance to create connections and develop empathy.

But the censorship of books in her classroom caused her to lose hope as an educator, Woods said. Along with Between the World and Me and Kendis book, Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You, coauthored by Jason Reynolds, South Carolina school districts have targeted books by queer Black authors such as George M. Johnsons All Boys Arent Blue. The state also used the budget provision to justify dropping AP African American Studies for high school students during the 2024-25 school year.

A spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education said that the state acknowledges that African-American history is our shared history. South Carolinas commitment to teach both the tragedies and triumphs of Americas journey remains unchanged, as outlined in our long-standing instructional standards.

In 2015, a White gunman killed nine Black people at the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The racially motivated mass shooting led to conversations about the states racial history and to officials voting to remove the Confederate flag from the State House. Critics of South Carolinas budget provision say the regulation makes it difficult for educators today to lead similar discussions about the states divided past.

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This vague budget provision has been repeatedly used to censor instruction training or pedagogical tools on topics related to racial and gender inequality, said Amber Koonce, assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. This case is about the unconstitutionality of a vague and discriminatory law. This case is about unlawful bias-driven censorship and the importance of students right to receive information.

The post Trumps education department says book bans are a hoax. Teachers disagree. appeared first on The 19th.

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President Donald Trump has granted Elon Musk unprecedented power to carry out his war on the deep state. The justification for this is supposed to be that the government is corrupted to its core precisely because it is stocked with unelected bureaucrats who are unaccountable to the people.

Musk, goes this story, will employ his fearsome tech wizardry to root them out, restoring not just efficiency to government but also the democratic accountability that deep state denizens have snuffed outsupposedly a major cause of many of our social ills.

The startling news that a top Treasury Department official is departing after a dispute with Musk shows how deeply wrong that story truly isand why its actively dangerous. The Washington Post reports that David Lebryk, who has carried out senior nonpolitical roles at the department for decades, is leaving after officials on Musks Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, sought access to Treasurys payment system:

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Lebryk had a dispute with Musks surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year, the people said. The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear, they said.

The news raises a complicated question: WTF??? Why is Musks DOGE trying to access payment systems inside the Treasury Department? Its not clear what relevance this would have to his ostensible role, which is to search for savings and inefficiencies in government, not to directly influence whether previously authorized government obligations are honored.

Another question: Did Trump directly authorize Musk to do this, or did he not? Either answer is bad. If Trump did, he may be authorizing an unelected billionaire to exert unprecedented control over the internal workings of government payment systems. If he did not, then Musk may be going rogue to an even greater extent than we thought.

I contacted a few former officials at the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, to try to gauge what this means. What was striking is the level of alarm they evinced about it. Heres how the Post describes these systems:

Typically only a small number of career officials control Treasurys payment systems. Run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the sensitive systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to households, businesses and more nationwide. Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people across the country rely on the systems, which are responsible for distributing Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.

Former officials I spoke with were at a loss to explain why Musk would want such access. They noted that while we dont yet know Musks motive, the move could potentially give DOGE the power to turn off all kinds of government payments in a targeted way. They said we now must establish if Musk is seeking to carry out what Trump tried via his federal funding freeze: Turn off government payments previously authorized by Congress. The White House rescinded the freeze after a national outcry, but Trumps spokesperson vowed the hunt for spending to halt will continue. The former officials are asking: Is this Treasury power grab a way to execute that?

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Anybody who would have access to these systems is in a position to turn off funding selectively, said Michael Linden, a former OMB official who is now director of Families Over Billionaires, a group fighting Trumps tax cuts for the rich. The only reason Musk wants to get himself in there must be because he wants to turn some things off.

These officials describe these systems as almost akin to a series of faucets. Congress, by authorizing payments, fills the tanks and decides where the water will ultimately flow. The team overseen by the now-departing Lebryk in effect is in control of the spigots, these officials said.

What also alarms these officials is that this is unfolding even as a debt ceiling crisis looms. When the government is on the verge of defaulting on its obligations, these officials tell me, its Lebryk and his team who carefully monitor the situation to determine, to the greatest extent possible, on what date it will no longer be able to meet its obligations. This team monitors the water levels, these officials say, noting that this is how Treasury knows what to say in those letters that periodically warn Congress that a breach is approaching.

As it happens, this is precisely why we want career, nonpolitical civil servants to be in charge of the spigots. To put it delicately, this is some really complicated shit, and we want the process to be administered in a totally nonpoliticized way. Letting someone like Musk anywhere near it risks corrupting it quite deeply.

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The payment systems are controlled by a small number of career officials precisely to protect them and the full faith and credit of the United States from political interference, said Jesse Lee, who was a senior adviser to the National Economic Council under President Joe Biden. Or as Linden put it: This is exactly the kind of thing you do not want political appointees getting involved in.

All of which is why its critical to know whether Trump directly authorized this move by Musk. Trumps executive order creating DOGE orders agencies to give it access to all unclassified records and systems. As the Post notes, that would appear to include these Treasury ones.

But we need to know whether Trump was aware of or directly authorized this particular effort by DOGE to access Treasurys payment systems. Even if a relatively innocent explanation for this is possiblemaybe DOGE merely hopes to study how efficient they arethe move clearly alarmed this longtime government veteran enough to prompt his resignation. Did Trump want Musk to have this access, and if so, for what purpose?

Is this something that has authorization and approval from the White House and specifically the president? asked Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, in an interview. Or is this Musk going rogue within the federal bureaucracy?

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If Trump did greenlight it, Moss said, it would mean hes authorizing Elon to shove his weight into the most crucial parts of our financial mechanisms, and exposes the basic functions of government to the whims of a nongovernmental employee. If Trump did not, it would represent a complete abuse of authority and discretion on Musks part: He has no possible need for access to those systems.

Whatever more we learn, this saga already demonstrates exactly why we want an apolitical, professionalized civil service, one in which career officials enjoy a variety of protections to safeguard their independence. As Jonathan Chait points out at The Atlantic, the whole point of the civil service system is precisely that it ensures that challenging, consequential government jobs go to people who are actually qualified to execute them.

Whatever Musk intends with this new effort, this isnt part of any war on the deep state. Were witnessing a broad assault on that genuinely meritocratic achievement, the civil serviceone that could enable right-wing elites to corruptly loot the place, or install a highly personalist government marked above all by loyalty to Trump himself, or some combination of the two. And by all indications, that larger war is fully backed by the president himself.
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on Thursday launched an appeal for $500 million to fund its activities this year, despite receiving just over half of the funds requested in 2024
PRNewswire New Delhi [India], January 31: Nadcab Labs, a leading Web3 development company, is reforming the way businesses approach digital transformation, with the introduction of custom Web3 applications tailored to the unique needs of enterprises. In an era where decentralized technologies are reshaping industries, Nadcab Labs is at the forefront, offering comprehensive Web3 development services that empower businesses to harness the potential of blockchain, smart contracts, and decentralized applications (dApps). As organizations strive to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the demand for Web3 game development services, blockchain-powered solutions, and decentralized ecosystems is growing. Nadcab Labs stands as a trusted partner for enterprises looking to develop bespoke, scalable, and secure Web3 applications. Their specialized approach ensures that businesses can seamlessly integrate blockchain technology to optimize operations, increase transparency, and provide better value to their customers. "Nadcab Labs is not just a service provider, but a partner in the journey of transforming traditional business models into future-proof, decentralized solutions. With our expertise in Web3 development services, we empower enterprises to unlock new opportunities, innovate at scale, and achieve higher efficiency," said Aman Vaths, Founder of Nadcab Labs. At the heart of Nadcab's offerings is its ability to deliver tailored solutions in the realm of blockchain development. With an in-depth understanding of various industries, including finance, healthcare, logistics, and supply chain, Nadcab Labs ensures that its Web3 applications meet the highest standards of security, scalability, and performance. These solutions help businesses automate processes, manage data securely, and create decentralized platforms that are both functional and user-centric. One of the key highlights of Nadcab Labs' services is their proficiency in Web3 game development services, where they are enabling gaming companies to create immersive decentralized games that offer true ownership of in-game assets, transparency, and secure transactions. As the gaming industry increasingly embraces blockchain technology, Nadcab Labs has emerged as a leader in offering Web3 game development services that push the boundaries of what's possible in the gaming world. Nadcab Labs also specializes in the development of decentralized applications (dApps), enabling businesses to operate beyond the traditional boundaries of centralized control. By leveraging blockchain technology, these applications offer enhanced security, transparency, and trust. Nadcab's Web3 development company services are designed to create dApps that deliver seamless experiences for users while ensuring businesses can maintain control over critical aspects like data privacy, compliance, and scalability. The decentralized finance (DeFi) space is one of the most promising areas where Nadcab Labs is making a significant impact. By offering specialized blockchain development services for DeFi platforms, Nadcab Labs ensures that businesses can create secure, efficient, and transparent decentralized financial services. From smart contract development to cross-chain integration, Nadcab Labs provides a full suite of Web3 development services that help DeFi platforms grow and scale effectively. With the rapid rise of DeFi platforms, enterprises are increasingly seeking reliable, scalable, and secure blockchain solutions to meet the evolving demands of their users. Recognizing this need, Nadcab Labs has positioned itself as a trusted partner for DeFi projects, offering cutting-edge blockchain development tools designed to enhance security, improve user experience, and provide a solid foundation for future growth. By delivering innovative and robust solutions, Nadcab Labs ensures that DeFi platforms can operate with confidence, scalability, and efficiency in an ever-changing digital landscape. Moreover, Nadcab Labs is committed to integrating next-gen technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) into Web3 applications. This integration helps businesses automate critical decision-making processes, enhance the functionality of smart contracts, and create self-executing agreements that are both more efficient and adaptable to changing business conditions. With Nadcab Labs' advanced approach to blockchain development, enterprises can expect not just basic functionalities but also a comprehensive set of features that enhance the overall value of their decentralized solutions. Some of the innovative features integrated into their Web3 applications include automated dispute resolution, governance token models, and enhanced privacy measures, setting the stage for next-generation decentralized ecosystems. Nadcab Labs continues to set the standard for innovation in Web3 development services, offering businesses the tools they need to thrive in the decentralized economy. Whether it's blockchain solutions for finance, healthcare, or gaming, Nadcab Labs provides end-to-end support, from ideation to deployment and beyond. Their commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction ensures that every Web3 application they develop is optimized for performance, security, and scalability. To learn more about Nadcab Labs' Web3 development services and how their custom blockchain solutions can transform one's enterprise, visit www.nadcab.com. Media Contact:EnjillaMarketing Executive, Nadcab LabsEmail: info@nadcab.com Phone: +91 7880936432 Social Media LinksFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/nadcablabsTwitter - https://twitter.com/nadcablabsLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/nadcablabsInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/nadcablabs/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@nadcablabs Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2595209/5109428/Nadcab_Labs_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)
President Trump will enact 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada starting Feb. 1, as well as a 10% tariff on imports from China, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

"The president will be implementing tomorrow 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada and a 10% tariff on China, for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans," Leavitt said at a White House briefing on Friday.

Mr. Trump has said he's targeting Canada and Mexico  the nation's biggest trading partners  along with China, with tariffs to compel them to halt the flow of undocumented immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. The president has also said tariffs will generate money for the federal government, although the import duties are paid by U.S. importers. Companies such as Walmart, Target and other U.S. importers typically pass tariff-related costs onto American consumers.

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Asked whether Mr. Trump's new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China would include any exemptions, Leavitt said she didn't have information about that issue.

Mr. Trump's goals include narrowing the trade surplus between those nations and the U.S. The U.S. trade deficit with Canada has surged from $31 billion in 2019 to $72 billion in 2023, largely reflecting growing American imports of Canadian energy. Over that same period, the gap with Mexico has grown from $106 billion in 2019 to $161 billion as the U.S. curtails imports from China and brings more electronic items, shoes and other products from south of the border.

Experts warn that steep new tariffs on imports could cause U.S. economic growth to slow and inflation to flare, noting that companies in the U.S. are likely to pass on the added costs to consumers. A sustained burst of inflation, in turn, could also deter the Federal Reserve from pushing down borrowing costs, according to Wall Street analysts.

Even the prospect of higher import duties is influencing spending by consumers and businesses, according to Oxford Economics. Analysts with the investment adviser note that U.S. imports surged in December, a sign Americans are buying appliances, furniture and other goods now to get ahead of possible price increases.

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Retaliation risks

A volley of new U.S. tariffs is likely to invite swift retaliation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that his country is prepared to fire back if Mr. Trump proceeds with his plan, but he did not give details.

"We're ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response," he said. "It's not what we want, but if he moves forward, we will also act."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico has conferred with Trump's team since before he returned to the White House, but she emphasized that Mexico has a "Plan A, Plan B, Plan C for what the United States government decides."

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"Now it is very important that the Mexican people know that we are always going to defend the dignity of our people, we are always going to defend the respect of our sovereignty and a dialogue between equals, as we have always said, without subordination," she said.

The ultimate economic damage from the U.S. tariffs would hinge on how long they are in place, Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator, told the Associated Press.

If it's just a few days, "that's one thing. If they are in place for weeks onto months, we're going to see supply chain disruptions, higher costs for U.S. manufacturers, leading to higher prices for U.S. consumers," said Cutler, now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. "It could have macroeconomic impacts. It could affect the stock market. Then internationally it could lead to more tension with our trading partners and make it harder for us to work with them."

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(Bloomberg) -- An adviser for President Donald Trump met with President Nicolas Maduro in a bid to get Venezuela to accept deportation flights carrying gang members and to secure the release of American prisoners.

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Richard Grenell, Trumps envoy for special missions, planned to advocate for the swift release of American prisoners during his visit but his number one goal was to ensure that repatriation flights carrying Tren de Aragua gang members who have broken our nations laws will land in Venezuela, said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

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The trip set up a potential clash with Maduro, whose government has refused to accept deportation flights from the US for about a year. But he may also use the visit as an opportunity to push for easing US sanctions that have crippled his economy, including the oil sector.

The two met men at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday afternoon, according to Venezuelan state media, which added that Maduro sought to revise proposals for the relationship between the two countries in an consensual, no imposed manner.

Maduro will seek to use the encounter with Grenell to restart talks with the US from zero, state media said. The most recent attempt to reach a compromise between the US and Venezuela failed after the Biden administration refused to lift all sanctions as agreed, Maduro has said. Biden officials said Maduro stole the nations most recent election.

A possible enticement Grenell has to offer Maduro is the extension of a US license allowing Chevron Corp. to operate, the only US oil producer left in Venezuela, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. As Maduro begins his third term, the oil industry is the main driver keeping Venezuelas economy afloat.

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But that could face resistance from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said earlier this month that the US should reconsider Chevrons sanctions waiver, saying it provides billions of dollars of money into the regimes coffers.

Trump told reporters on Friday evening he wasnt concerned that images of Grenell shaking hands with Maduro would legitimize the Venezuelan leader.

We want to do something with Venezuela, Trump said, adding that he planned to straighten out the situation. He also insinuated that he could limit Venezuelan oil imports. Biden went out and they buy millions of barrels of oil. I say, whats that all about? So were not going to let that stupid stuff happen, he added.

Venezuelan bonds jumped across the curve, with sovereign notes gaining more than half a cent on Friday. Notes maturing in 2027 advanced 0.9 cents to trade above 19 cents on the dollar, the highest levels since late July, according to indicative pricing data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Sanctions, Bounty

The meetings came at a tense time in relations between Washington and Caracas. Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, recently got sworn in amid widespread evidence of election fraud. In addition to sanctioning him and several top officials, former President Joe Biden also raised a bounty to $25 million for information leading to Maduros arrest on narcotics trafficking charges.

Maduro survived the first Trump administrations maximum pressure strategy, even as it curbed the nations oil exports, and also outlasted an effort by Biden officials to facilitate free and fair elections. Some key Trump advisers have advocated for a return to the more aggressive posture.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, special envoy to Latin America, told reporters Friday that Grenells visit is not a quid pro quo, its not a negotiation in exchange for anything, and that Trump has said the US doesnt need to buy Venezuelas oil.

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The meeting represents a victory for Maduro and slight to Venezuelan opposition leaders, who have urged the US to avoid any moves that would legitimize Maduro, Eurasia Group analyst Risa Grais-Targow wrote in a note. However, there are clear divisions within the Trump administration when it comes to Venezuela, with Grenell and oil-specific interests keener for engagement.

At least seven Americans have been arrested in Venezuela since the July presidential vote, accused of being involved in conspiracies against the Maduro government, including an attempt to kill him and other authorities.

The last US delegation visit to Caracas took place in 2023, led by Bidens Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, who secured a prisoner swap in which Venezuela freed 10 Americans and handed over a defense contractor, while the US released a Maduro ally.

During Trumps first term, Grenell also played a behind-the-scenes role in delicate talks with Maduro allies in a bid to negotiate the leaders peaceful exit from power.

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--With assistance from Andreina Itriago Acosta, Nicolle Yapur, Julia Leite and Justin Sink.

(Updates with Trump remarks, in eighth paragraph.)

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When President Donald Trump ordered an across-the-board freeze on all grants, loans and federal financial assistance on Monday, it threw nonprofits that provide services to millions of Americans into a state of chaos and fear.

Federal funding for everything from health care, disability care, veterans care, housing, special education, substance abuse support, after-school care, food assistance and more flows to thousands of nonprofits across the country every week. All of a sudden, that funding stopped, threatening to throw people onto the streets, out of jobs and deprive them of much-needed services that allow them to live their fullest lives.

Meals on Wheels, the program providing food assistance to the elderly, feared it wouldnt be able to deliver food. Preschool operators who receive Head Start funding thought their kids would no longer have a place to go. Small nonprofits with little outside funding and limited reserve funds faced the prospect of immediate closure. This fear even extended to Easterseals, a more than 100-year-old nonprofit that provides a gamut of services to the disabled, children, the elderly and veterans. Easterseals experience is illustrative of the chaos Trumps freeze created on Tuesday and the vast damage to society it could wreak if it were to go into full effect.

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Everything that we do would have been impacted, said Donna Davidson, the president of Easterseals North Georgia.

Easterseals was originally founded in 1919 as the National Society for Crippled Children to provide services and advocate for the disabled. The success of its Easter Seals fundraising campaign, which had donors put the organizations seals on letters, led the nonprofit to eventually adopt that name in 1967. Today, Easterseals provides services to 1.5 million people through 70 affiliates in nearly every state. Most of the groups funding comes from federal and state grants and financial assistance programs.

Teacher Grismairi Amparo works with her students on a reading and writing lesson at Head Start program run by Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29 in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell via Associated Press

All of that was put at risk on Tuesday when the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo seeming to freeze all grants, loans and financial assistance distributed by the federal government as part of a policy to implement Trumps executive orders combating Marxist equity, transgenderism and the green new deal. That memo was rescinded on Wednesday after a wave of controversy and a federal judge imposing a temporary restraining order on the freeze, although the administration still says the underlying policy is in place. Judge Loren AliKhans order blocking the freeze runs until Feb. 3 when she will hear further arguments on whether or not to extend the restraining order or not. In the meantime, it appears that some agencies are blocking funding from going to grantees.

A Terrible, Terrible Day Of Chaos And Utter Confusion

At 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Davidson received a phone call informing her that the payment portal her organization uses to draw down money through federal programs, specifically Medicaid and Head Start, was down. There had been no warning and no message as to what was going on.

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We had no information, Davidson said. That was the most difficult thing for us.

The portal had gone dark after Trumps budget office issued a vague memo ordering a freeze for all grants, loans and financial assistance across the federal government. Easterseals North Georgia is one such grant recipient, receiving funding through the portal on an as-needed basis to pay a staff of 400 people and for their programs servicing disabled people, seniors, veterans and 1800 children and their families. The organization needs to draw down funds on Tuesday to meet payroll on Friday. But the system was shuttered.

We didnt have any funds to pay our employees, Davidson said. What that means for us is, [if] this was going to continue, we would have to immediately close.

The potential consequences were stark. Without the federal payment portals they use to cover their expenses, Easterseals national office and local affiliates faced the prospect of simply not being able to provide services.

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I hate to use the word catastrophic, but the ripple effects could have been catastrophic, said Tracy Garner, president of Easterseals Louisiana.

One program under Garners chapter provides housing to 500 disabled Louisianans who otherwise faced homelessness. The portal to access that urgent funding, provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had gone down. If the funding freeze continued, these 500 people would be left without homes.

Words and magnetic letters are seen on a whiteboard during a reading and writing lesson at a Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29 in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell via Associated Press

Many of those individuals have underlying or co-occurring behavioral health and oftentimes intellectual and developmental disabilities, Garner said. This critical funding keeps Louisiana citizens from being un- or under-housed. Any halt or reduction would really set our state back literally years. The amount of homelessness would spike immediately.

Further north in Georgia, Davidson was concerned about Easterseals Head Start-funded programs that serve thousands of children in Atlanta and Northeast Georgia. Head Start funding does not come from just one source, but through a variety of federal agencies and grants: The Child and Adult Care Food Program provides meals. Medicaid provides speech and autism therapy. The Department of Education provides funding for early childhood intervention for disabled infants and toddlers.

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Absent federal funding, Easterseals programs would cease to operate, leaving thousands of children without the services they need while forcing parents to quit their jobs.

Seventy-five percent of our families work, many in positions that are hourly, Davidson said. If they dont have our program and had to pay for child care, it would be so expensive that they couldnt continue to work.

Davidson convened a meeting on Tuesday to discuss what the organization would be able to do if the payment portal remained shuttered. Who could they pay? What services would be shuttered? She began to draw up contingency plans. But one thing became clear.

We would have had to close our doors if this continued, Davidson said. All of those families and children would go without those much-needed services.

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In Louisiana, Garner spent Tuesday scrambling to obtain any information to provide to her staff who were fearful for their jobs and to people she serves afraid of losing support.

The national Easterseals office was hit by the OMB memo, too, as it administers a program funded by grants from the Department of Labor to help seniors transition back into the workforce for 10 affiliates.

The chaos that memo created forced us to start to talk about layoffs, Kendra Davenport, Easterseals CEO, said. It was a terrible, terrible day of chaos and utter confusion.

The Walkback

By 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Davidson was finally able to access the federal payment portal. The Trump White House had begun a major walkback of the OMB memo.

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The initial memo had been extremely vague. It called for a freeze on all grants, loans and federal financial assistance, but specifically said that this did not apply to Medicare and Social Security. In a second memo issued late Tuesday afternoon, OMB stated that the original order was not meant to apply to assistance that goes directly to individuals.

But this is equally vague. Medicaid, for example, is not paid directly to individuals. It goes to states, which then disburse payments to individuals, health care providers, hospitals and nonprofits. Medicaid also partially pays the salaries for the professional speech therapists, autism specialists and behavioral and mental health therapists that Easterseals employs to help the disabled people the organization serves. Does that assistance go directly to individuals?

President Donald Trump and his nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russel Vought, pushed to block funding going out to grant, loan and financial assistance recipients. Evan Vucci via Associated Press

The same goes for Head Start. That program is funded through multiple grants and goes to nonprofits and other institutions to provide services to individuals. Is that going directly to individuals?

Its been very confusing, Davenport said. How we interpret it is that Medicaid to individuals was not going to be touched, but Medicaid to organizations was going to be touched. None of this is clear. The memos coming out on an hourly basis only add to the confusion.

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The administration added to the confusion on Wednesday when OMB rescinded the original memo, but the White House stated that the policy outlined in the memo remained in place. A federal judge had already issued an injunction blocking the memo from being implemented on Tuesday, and a second judge followed suit on Wednesday after the memo was rescinded.

Nonprofits like Easterseals are now left in a state of limbo. The funding freeze is now like Schrodingers cat  is it alive or is it dead? Nobody knows. That question looms over all the work that the nonprofit does for the disabled, elderly, children and veterans.

Instead of going about their normal business, Easterseals leaders had to divert their attention to draw up contingency plans to determine what we are going to shut down and where, Davidson said, in case the order came back into effect.

The chaos has only just begun, Davenport said. Yes, these grants being frozen again would impact us in a terrifically bad way.

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Davenport, Davidson and Garner hope that there is a lesson for the public, and maybe the administration, to be learned from this about the importance of these federally funded services.

Theres a lot of disinformation out there about how many programs funded by the federal government are just wasteful and that moneys being thrown out the window, Davidson said. People need to understand that these are just really critical programs.
Attention, kids and your overweight parents and grandparents: Your favorite toys and weight-loss drugs could be priced out of reach if Donald Trump is serious.

Denmarks defiant message to the president that Greenland is not for sale is raising fears that the cost of some of Americas favorite products could shoot through the roof.

The Scandinavian island has a smaller population than New York City, but its imports to the United States include popular products like Lego and the weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy.

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The specter of Trump instituting jacked-up tariffs for Danish goods grew on Friday with Trump pledging punitive tariffs for Mexico, Canada, and Chinaand Denmarks Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen becoming involved in a tough-talking exchange with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Marco Rubio said America is not joking about acquiring Greenland. / Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Appearing on Megyn Kellys Sirius XM show on Thursday, Rubio said the president was serious about his interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark.

This is not a joke, he told Kelly. This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.

Responding to Rubios remarks, Rasmussen said: I would be more surprised if he had said it was a joke. We seriously meanand this is also true in Greenlandthat Greenland is not for sale.

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Before moving into the White House, Trump warned he would tariff Denmark at a very high level if it rebuffed his demands to hand over Greenland. They should give it up, because we need it for national security, he said.

On Friday, the president followed through on his threats to punish countries he blamed for smuggling fentanyl into America, saying he would impose tariffs on Saturday of 25% on Mexico and Canada and 10% on China.

The thinking behind tariffsa tax on products made abroadis that people will buy cheaper home-grown goods as the foreign versions become more costly. But if there are no domestic alternatives, or if consumers prefer the exports, they just have to pay more.

Denmark exported over $11 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2023, with more than half of them medicines, insulin, vaccines, and antibiotics, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

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Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, the weight-loss drugs hugely popular in the States, is based in Denmark and is so influential the country has been nicknamed a pharma-state.

Denmark is also a leading supplier of hearing aids and is home to Lego, the worlds largest toymaker.

The U.S. operates an airbase on Greenland under a treaty, but the North American island is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which is responsible for the defense and security of the 57,000 residents.

Rubio told Kelly the U.S. needed to protect shipping lanes in the Arctic and he was concerned about a possible Chinese build-up in the area.

When asked if Greenland would be in the U.S. hands in four years, he replied: Obviously thats the presidents priority and he has made that point ... Were not in a position yet to discuss exactly how well proceed tactically. What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure.
President Donald Trumps plan to use Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants thrusts the Pentagon into a challenging, costly new effort just as officials vow to refocus the military on its core mission.

The recent executive order to move thousands of noncitizens to an aging military base in Cuba came as a shock to the Pentagon. Officials are now rushing to come up with a plan to house up to 30,000 people, far more than the 780 detainees who stayed in a detention camp on the base during the peak of the war on terror.

Defense Department officials are discussing using tents, although they face the challenge of tropical weather, limited staff and access to medical treatments for migrants. And theyre attempting to balance resources and finances with another Trump order that troops head to the southern border to enhance security.

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Things are moving as we speak, said one defense official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a rapidly evolving issue.

The official, like others, was caught flatfooted on Wednesday by Trumps announcement. The person had no details about what the precise orders would be, when the detainees would arrive or what their housing might look like.

The effort to hold such a large number of people on the 45 square-mile naval base, which the U.S. has leased since 1903, would prove a much greater logistical lift than what the military has handled before. Only 15 detainees remain at the bases detention facility after the Biden administration transferred nearly a dozen people from Guantanamo to Oman in an effort to reduce the inmate population.

The new detainees would not stay in the same area where terrorism suspects have been kept but likely in tents on the sprawling Navy base. This would broadly resemble what the military did in the 1990s when former President Bill Clinton moved the processing of Haitian refugees to the base and ordered thousands of Cuban asylum seekers held there.

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That mission had a clearly defined timeline. This one has no end in sight.

Trumps executive order directed his administration to provide additional detention space for high-profile criminal aliens. His plans to send migrants to Guantanamo Bay would greatly expand the countrys detention capacity, which has been strained since before Trump took office.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the detention capacity for about 40,000 people. The nations largest ICE facilities have roughly 2,000 beds, much smaller than the major undertaking Trump has proposed.

Tom Homan, Trumps border czar, said Wednesday that ICE would run an expanded facility on Guantanamo. But its not yet clear what specific role the military would play, although active-duty troops have historically guarded Guantanamo. The Pentagon also could operate flights to bring people to the base.

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The bases detention facilities were designed for the Coast Guard to bring in migrants they pick up at sea. A small group of people, mostly Haitian and Cuban refugees, are currently housed at Guantanamos Migrant Operations Center.



The Defense and Homeland Security departments could stand up a "reasonable tent city" at Guantanamo within 10 days to two weeks, said a former senior administration official, who was granted anonymity to talk about the logistical challenges on the base.

But providing sanitation, food, drinkable water and medical care for tens of thousands of migrants could take months. Those supplies would need to arrive by air or sea, and the Trump administration would have to swell the American presence on the base to include a migrant camp with law enforcement officers, military police, doctors, nurses, and even teachers and janitors.

The total cost for this would quickly skyrocket into tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars, the former senior official said. Guantanamo can look like the easy button to press, but it brings with it a whole bundle of problems.

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Pentagon spokesperson Chris Sherwood said its still too early to know what the overall price tag for expanded operations at the southern border and Guantanamo might be. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a video posted to the Pentagons social media channels on Thursday, said that he'd spoken to other top defense leaders about ongoing planning.

Were leaning forward on supporting the presidents directive to make sure that we have a location for violent criminal illegals as they are deported out of the country, Hegseth said.

The Homeland Security Department declined to comment.

The announcement sparked anger among immigration and human rights advocates, who viewed it as a further attempt to demonize migrants by conflating them with terror suspects. And it spurred concerns from immigration lawyers and legal experts who questioned whether the plan would be feasible.

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I cant imagine how detained immigrants would have access to counsel, funds to pay for attorneys to travel there, lodging, ease of access to computers to communicate, said Debra Schneider, an immigration attorney who went to Guantanamo to visit with a client nearly 15 years ago. The suggested idea of 30,000 would be logistically impossible to have the means for an equal number of attorneys for representation.

Others expressed concerns about the conditions within the detention facilities used on terror suspects  and the lack of oversight.

Its intended to isolate from legal representation, from oversight, from transparency, from any capacity to provide representation or to even see the conditions to which people are being subjected, said Lucas Guttentag, a former Biden Justice Department official and Homeland Security official under the Obama administration.

The plan could also run into legal challenges. Taking migrants who are already in the U.S. waiting for immigration court hearings would be unprecedented, said Tom Jawetz, a senior lawyer in the Homeland Security Department during the Biden administration.

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I just dont know how thats legal, he said.

Trump could also run into hurdles if he intends to use the facility to detain people who have been ordered to leave the U.S. but who cannot be returned to their home country, said Jawetz, now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The Supreme Court has long recognized  and its been the standing position of the U.S. government  that Guantanamo is within the sovereign territory of Cuba. If Trump were to send Venezuelan nationals who the U.S. has ordered removed to Venezuela, for example, immigration law would require him to get the permission of the Cuban government.

Trump referenced countries that wont take back their criminals on Thursday, adding that he may increase the 30,000 figure and that the new facilities would be up pretty quickly.
Tactical vest? Check. Law enforcement cap? Check. SWAT team? Check. Hair and makeup? Check and double check. Dressing as ICE Barbie became the fashion look for the discerning MAGA woman this week as Kristi Noem, Donald Trumps new homeland security secretary, turned an immigration raid into a fashion shoot in The Bronx, New York, on Tuesday.

Now South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace has joined the trend, albeit with a smaller camera crew: She appeared to record her Friday morning ICE ride-along on her own phone.

But she made up for the rudimentary recording with a breathless, foul-mouthed description of the raid that she says she saw unfold before her eyesbut which she did not apparently film.

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Rise and shine, cupcakes, Mace announced in a viral video posted to her X account, declaring, Were headed out with ICE this morning.

We're not just talking about deporting illegal aliens  were out here seeing it in action for ourselves - firsthand.



South Carolina needs bold leadership to support President Trumps America First agenda deporting the bad guys and putting our people first.



It helps to have pic.twitter.com/wbO0m8jRp6  Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) January 31, 2025

The perp walk-catwalk crossover appears to be the latest spin-off for Maces personal reality show as she, like Noem, used the ICE raid as a political prop to stir up her base.

Long barreled rifles. Guns were drawn, alleged Mace. We are watching them take the suspect out now what they are doing to get these illegals and these drug dealers killing American people off our streets.

In another part of the clip, she added, You came here illegally. Youre distributing fentanyl. Get the f--- out.

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The immigration raid Mace joined was in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and was executed without notifying local authorities, reported Count On News 2.

Kristi Noem landed a photoshoot while tagging along on deportation raids in New York City. / @Sec_Noem via REUTERS

Were not just talking about deporting illegal alienswere out here seeing it in action for ourselvesfirsthand, Mace tweeted with her clip. South Carolina needs bold leadership to support President Trumps America First agenda deporting the bad guys and putting our people first.

Yet while some commentators seemed to commend Maces bravery online, others cast doubt on the veracity of her account of the ride-along.

Ill take things that never happened for $1,000 lol, wrote one commentator. To which, Mace responded, What did not happen this morning? Pray tell since you were not there

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Extreme right-winger and failed Missouri politico Valentina Gomez, who has shared multiple videos of her shooting guns, and setting prop dummies on fire, seemed to call into question the context of Maces account.

Nancy, you dont need a ballistic plate carrier because youre just watching from a safe distance, Gomez wrote. Hypocrite.
Striking UAW workers walk the picket line outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. on Sept. 16, 2023. Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance.

Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly round up of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: Trump kneecaps the NLRB; union membership declines nationally; union membership tied to longer life expectancy; and Deer River workers reach deal after 49-day strike.

Trump kneecaps National Labor Relations Board

President Donald Trump ousted National Labor Relations Board Member Gwynne Wilcox on Monday in an unprecedented move that paralyzes the board while teeing up a constitutional challenge that could further weaken it.

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With Wilcox gone, the five-seat board now has just two members and lacks the necessary quorum to hear cases on alleged unfair labor practices in the private sector (although functions lower down in the agency may continue).

NLRB members are supposed to be shielded from presidential removal, and Wilcox  a Biden appointee and one of two Democratic members  says she plans to challenge her removal. NLRB members may only be fired for neglect or malfeasance, and Wilcox was supposed to serve until 2028. But as Bloomberg reported, Trump ally Elon Musks SpaceX has argued that the restriction on firing NLRB members is unconstitutional as part of a broad assault on the board by businesses including Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joes.

Trump also fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, which was expected and in line with presidential transitions. The general counsel runs the enforcement arm of the agency, and Abruzzo  who spent her career at the agency  was one of the fiercest advocates for workers in Bidens administration. She pushed for banning mandatory anti-union captive audience meetings, ending noncompete agreements and expanding workers freedom of speech at work.

These moves will make it easier for bosses to violate the law and trample on workers legal rights on the job and fundamental freedom to organize, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler wrote in a statement decrying the firings.

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In Trumps first term, the NLRB general counsel was Peter Robb, who served as President Ronald Reagans lead counsel during the air traffic controllers strike in 1981, which was as a momentous defeat for organized labor.

Attorney Matt Bruenig, who writes a newsletter following the NLRB, published the termination letter sent to Wilcox and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. The letter cites a part of the Constitution that conservatives believe empowers the president to remove NLRB board members. Bruenig also notes that the letter refers to both of them as board members and commissioners even though Abruzzo was the general counsel.

Trump has sent somewhat mixed messages on labor in his second term. His pick for Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, was celebrated by the Teamsters and other unions.

Union membership slips to single-digits

Union membership slipped to a record, single-digit low of 9.9% nationally, only a hair down from 10% in 2023 but nevertheless a symbolic milestone in labors decades-long decline. In Minnesota, union membership ticked back up nearly a percentage point to 14.2%, returning to 2022 levels, according to federal data released on Tuesday.

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The decline comes despite the union-friendly Biden administration processing a surge in petitions for union representation and taking on major corporations like Starbucks and Amazon for union busting. Now, organized labor must confront an administration much more hostile toward unions and an idled National Labor Relations Board, which oversees private-sector unions.

Four decades ago, the union membership rate was twice what it is today: Roughly 20% of the American workforce were members of a union in 1983, the first year comparable BLS data is available. Other data show union density was as high as 33% in 1945.

The decline of union power since the 1980s has coincided with stagnating wages in many sectors and a rise in economic inequality, now higher than its ever been since the Great Depression. Research by the progressive Economic Policy Institute shows union workers earn about 10.2% more in hourly wages, and even nonunion workers benefit in highly unionized industries.

Union membership tied to longer life expectancy

A recent study by researchers at the University of Minnesota finds that union membership is a key predictor of mortality. Using data from the longest running longitudinal data set in the country, Tom VanHeuvelen and his coauthors found that each additional year that someone spent as a union member was associated with about 1.5% lower odds of mortality after the age of 40. That appears to be about half as powerful as employment in general, which VanHeuvelen notes is remarkable given how important work is as a determinant of health.

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In addition to higher wages, unions also provide a wide range of superior benefits to otherwise less powerful workers: health insurance, time off and a pension, occupational security, a path for upward attainment, and workplace safety, to name a few, VanHeuvelen wrote in a commentary in the Reformer.

Essentias Deer River workers end strike

Some 70 workers approved a deal with Essentia Healths Deer River hospital on Sunday, ending the longest strike in more than 40 years for SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa. The unionized workers  nursing assistants, phlebotomists and other support staff  were on strike for 49 days before reaching the deal.

Meanwhile, union nurses at Essentias Sandstone hospital voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike after stalling on negotiations that began in July. The vote gives the nurses the power to call an unfair labor practices strike with a 10-day notice.

The Deer River agreement includes 12% across the board raises over the three-year contract, additional market adjustments for pharmacy techs and cooks, and an increased bonus for returning to work with less than 10 hours between shifts. Under the agreement, Essentia will also have to raise the pay of current workers if they hire new workers with the same qualifications at a higher wage.

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Im so proud of our membership for sticking together. Despite the many cold days on the strike line we became a family, said Becky Shereck, a radiologic technologist at Essentia for 16 years.

Essentias executives have received massive bonuses in recent years. CEO David Herman received $1 million in 2022 and 2023, pushing his total compensation above $3 million and making him one of the highest paid health care executives in the state.
NewsVoir Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 31: Investing for the long term is one of the ideal ways to create wealth and achieve financial stability. Among various investment options, large cap funds can be a suitable choice due to their stability, potential for steady growth, and lower volatility. The Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund is one such option that can help investors grow their wealth over time. Let's explore how this fund's unique features and strategies make it a suitable contender for long-term wealth creation. What makes Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund different? The Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund differentiates itself with a focused, active investment strategy. Two standout features make it unique: High Active Share: Active share refers to how much a fund's holdings differ from the benchmark index. A high active share indicates that the fund manager is not simply tracking the index but is making informed, strategic decisions to outperform it. Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund has high active share signals that the fund is actively managed with a clear focus on generating better returns than the broader market. Concentrated Portfolio: The fund doesn't invest in a wide range of stocks. Instead, it carefully selects a smaller number of companies - those the fund managers believe will can offer long-term growth potential. This concentrated approach allows the fund to focus on high-conviction stocks, meaning it invests in companies with solid fundamentals, growth potential, and strong leadership. The idea is to concentrate investments in companies that can deliver reasonable returns over time. How does Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund Helps in long term wealth creation? When it comes to creating long-term wealth, the Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund offers several advantages that can work in favour of investors: Stability and consistency Large-cap stocks, like those in the Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund, are typically leaders in their industries. They have proven track records, stable business models, and wide customer bases, all of which contribute to their consistent earnings and reliable growth. Over time, this stability can lead to steady returns and dividends, creating a dependable source of income for investors. Risk mitigation One of the key benefits of investing in large cap funds is their lower volatility compared to smaller stocks. While mid cap and small cap stocks may have the potential for reasonable returns, they can also be much more volatile. Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund focuses on large-cap companies, which are typically less sensitive to market swings. This reduces the risk for investors, especially during market downturns, and makes the fund a less stressful option for long-term wealth building. Liquidity The companies in the Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund are usually highly liquid, meaning their stocks are frequently traded and easy to buy or sell. This liquidity is crucial for investors because it ensures they can quickly adjust their portfolios or take advantage of new opportunities without significant delays or price impact. The ability to easily liquidate investments adds flexibility to the fund and gives investors confidence in their ability to respond to market changes. Diversification benefits One of the key principles of investing is diversification. By investing in a mix of large cap stocks across various sectors Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund helps spread risk. This means that the poor performance of a single company or sector won't have a drastic impact on the entire portfolio, making the investment less susceptible to individual company risks. Long term focus for compounding growth Investing with a long term perspective is essential for optimizing returns, especially when using tools like Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs). You can also use an SIP mutual fund calculator to plan your SIPs. The Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund encourages investors to take a patient approach, resisting the urge to react to short-term market fluctuations. Large cap stocks have historically shown resilience and the ability to grow over long periods, and investing consistently with a long term view allows investors to benefit from compounding returns - where earnings generate more earnings. A disciplined and sustainable investment approach The Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund follows a disciplined investment approach by focusing on quality over quantity. Instead of spreading investments thinly across many companies, the fund zeroes in on those with solid fundamentals and strong potential for growth. This strategy helps ensure that the wealth created is not just based on short-term gains, but on sustainable, long-term growth. By aligning investor interests with those of the fund managers, the fund aims to foster enduring relationships. It focuses on delivering consistent value over time, making it a suitable option for those looking to work towards their financial future. Conclusion The Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund can be a suitable choice for long-term wealth creation. With its focus on high-conviction, carefully selected stocks, stability, and lower volatility, it offers a balanced approach to investing. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting, this fund provides the tools needed to build wealth over time. By maintaining a long-term perspective and staying committed to a strategic investment plan, investors can harness the power of large cap investing and see their wealth grow steadily. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully. (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)
President Donald Trump will move forward with aggressive new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday, the White House said, affirming he will stick to his February 1 deadline for the new duties that could have widespread effects on the economy.

I can confirm that, tomorrow, the February 1 deadline President Trump put into place with a statement several weeks ago continues, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Fridays briefing.

Canadian officials are expected to meet with White House border czar Tom Homan on Friday in a bid to reach a deal that would stave off the proposed tariffs, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

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But asked later Friday in the Oval Office whether Canada, Mexico and China could do anything to stop the implementation of the tariffs, Trump said, No.

The White Houses confirmation of the new tariffs appeared to end speculation on whether the president would follow through on the pledge he made as a candidate to levy the new duties.

Leavitt said the tariffs would amount to a 25% duty on Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on China for illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans.

These are promises made and promises kept by the president, she said.

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She didnt provide any details on precisely how the new tariffs would be implemented, only saying that the fine print would be available for public inspection within the next 24 hours. She similarly declined to say whether they will be applied to oil imports or whether additional exemptions will be included.

Eventually were going to put tariffs on chips. Were going to put tariffs on oil and gas. Thatll happen fairly soon, Trump said later in the day, suggesting around February 18.

Were going to be putting tariffs on steel, aluminum, and ultimately copper. Copper will take a little longer, but it will happen quickly, Trump said.

Trump also announced intentions to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals, calling it part of a broader strategy to revive US industries.

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Were going to build a tariff wall to bring pharmaceuticals back to America, he said. The way to do that is by putting up a wall a tariff wall.

Placing significant tariffs on the United States biggest trading partners serves as a gamble that taxing American companies for imported goods will ultimately punish the countries that make stuff Americans want  and bring those nations to the negotiating table. But its a risky bet that could easily backfire on American consumers and the economy.

There could be some temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that, Trump said when pressed by reporters on the cost of tariffs being passed on to consumers.

Trump earlier this week dismissed the idea that American consumers were reliant on imports from its two North American neighbors.

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We dont need what they have, Trump said, referring to Canada and Mexico.

Economists largely believe that, in limited circumstances, tariffs can be effective tools for economic growth. Trump has used and promised to employ tariffs for three primary purposes: to raise revenue, to bring trade into balance and to bring rival countries to the negotiating table.

Trump has said he wants Canada and Mexico to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs into the United States. And for China, Trump has said tariffs would be aimed at forcing the country to make good on what he said was a stated promise to him that the government would execute people caught sending fentanyl to the United States.

Mexicos president said Friday that her country was awaiting any potential US tariffs with a cool head.

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We have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C for whatever the US government decides. It is very important for the people of Mexico to know that we will always defend our peoples dignity, our sovereignty, and engage in dialogue as equals, President Claudia Sheinbaum told journalists at a daily news conference.

No one  on either side of the border  wants to see American tariffs on Canadian goods, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday afternoon in a statement on X.

I met with our Canada-U.S. Council today. Were working hard to prevent these tariffs, but if the United States moves ahead, Canadas ready with a forceful and immediate response, he added.

A delegation of senior Canadian officials has been in Washington for several days, meeting with various administration officials to try to avert the imposition of 25% tariffs. And Canadas behind-the-scenes effort could turn into a full-court press if the levies go into effect. Premiers from all of Canadas provinces  led by Ontario Premier Doug Ford  are planning to travel to Washington on February 12 for a larger mission.

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Tariffs in certain circumstances do not cause inflation problems. Trumps first-term tariffs did not meaningfully raise inflation, although they were far narrower in scope than what he is currently proposing, and the Covid-19 pandemic skewed some of the inflationary aspects of the tariffs  many of which remained in place during the Biden administration.

But mainstream economists largely agree that tariffs cause inflation. Thats because importers  not the countries exporting the goods  pay the tax, and they typically pass that cost onto consumers in the form of higher prices. New research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggests Trumps aggressive tariff campaign will force American consumers to pay more for practically everything  from foreign-made sneakers and toys to food.

Trumps proposed tariffs could add $272 billion a year to tax burdens, according to Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay Cross-Border Solutions. The Peterson Institute has estimated Trumps proposed tariffs would cost the typical US household over $2,600 a year.

Still, some proponents of Trumps plan say the risk is worth the reward. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, last week told CNBC that if tariffs cause a little inflation but address a national security issue, then people should get over it.

Tariffs far more sweeping than Trumps first term

The proposed tariffs expected on Saturday would hit a far wider range of goods than anything Trump has previously imposed.

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During his first term, Trumps tariffs hit roughly $380 billion of foreign goods, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation. The proposed tariffs on the nations three largest trading partners would hit about $1.4 trillion of imported goods, if there are no exemptions, the Tax Foundation said.

The figures underscore how aggressive and risky Trumps tariffs would be, especially given how much prices have spiked since then.

The administration is playing with fire, said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM.

Brusuelas noted that the vast majority of imported US avocadoes are from Mexico, which faces a 25% tariff. Go ahead and spike taxes on avocados ahead of the Super Bowl and watch how that turns out, he said.

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This story has been updated with additional details.

CNNs Kayla Tausche, Matt Egan, Max Saltman, Betsy Klein and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this story.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Donald Trump is president again, and corporate interests have been paying up.

Dozens of major companies recently disclosed making significant donations to support Trumps Jan. 20 inauguration, which ended up being a small, intimate affair in the U.S. Capitol.

Industries showering Trump with cash included Big Oil, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Wall Street, crypto and private prison interests, and more. Many of the corporate donors are poised to win big in Trumps second term.

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Trump reportedly raised a record $250 million for his inauguration. While Trumps inaugural committee hasnt reported its donors yet, lobbying disclosures provide a snapshot of his financial support: 44 companies reported donating a combined $31 million to the committee before the end of the year.

The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee received $2 million from oil and gas giant Chevron, $1 million from ExxonMobil, and $1 million from Occidental Petroleum  companies that stand to benefit from Trumps efforts to boost fossil fuels, eliminate environmental regulations, and ignore climate science.

Tech titans Amazon and Meta each contributed $1 million to Trumps inaugural committee. The companies respective founders, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, have publicly cozied up to Trump in recent months and attended his inauguration at the Capitol. The Biden administration led antitrust lawsuits against both companies.

Other tech industry donors to the Trump inaugural committee included Uber and Qualcomm, which each gave $1 million. PayPal donated $250,000, while Instacart and Airbnb gave $100,000 apiece.

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While Trump previously called the cryptocurrency bitcoin a scam, he has emerged as a major crypto booster and has pledged to loosen regulation on the industry. Shortly before he assumed the presidency, Trump released a crypto meme coin that quickly made his family and their businesses billions of dollars richer on paper.

Crypto interests were among the top donors to Trumps inaugural committee: Coinbase, Kraken, Galaxy Digital Holdings, Crypto.com, and Paradigm Operations each donated $1 million.

The Trump inaugural committee separately took $1 million from Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, and $2 million from the financial services firm Robinhood Markets.

Private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group each gave $500,000 to the Trump committee. The companies are poised to cash in on Trumps planned mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers.

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GEO Groups executive chairman, George Zoley, said as much in a November investor call. Discussing Trumps wishes to implement a much more aggressive policy toward interior and border immigration enforcement, Zoley said: We believe that the private sector will play a critical role in assisting the government in carrying out its objectives. He added, The GEO Group was built for this unique moment in our countrys history and the opportunities that it will bring.

Tobacco giant Altria gave $1 million to the Trump committee. A few days after he took office, Trumps administration rescinded the Biden administrations proposed rule to ban menthol in cigarettes and flavored cigars.

Trump selected medical conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Its not clear yet what that will mean for drugmakers, but the pharmaceutical industry has shelled out big time for the president.

The powerful drug lobby Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, donated $1 million to Trumps inauguration. So did drugmakers Bayer and Johnson & Johnson. The National Association of Manufacturers, a lobbying group that represents numerous industries, including the pharmaceutical sector, also donated $1 million.

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Other health care industry donors included medical device company Abbott Laboratories ($500,000), hospital chain HCA Healthcare ($250,000), and health insurers Elevance Health ($150,000) and Centene ($50,000)..

Telecom giants AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon each donated $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee. Ericsson gave $500,000.

Other $1 million donors included the refrigeration and HVAC company Carrier, tax preparation company Intuit, and e-commerce company Coupang.

The Trump committee received additional donations from energy firms, including GE Vernova ($500,000), solar cell producer QCells ($500,000), and nuclear energy company Oklo Inc. ($250,000). The American Clean Power Association, a clean power lobby with ties to the fossil fuel industry, gave $100,000.

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Food and beverage industry donors included Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association, which both contributed $250,000.

Chinese agriculture company Syngenta also gave $250,000, as did International Flavors & Fragrances.

Elsewhere, the anti-fraud tech company Socure gave $100,000. So did the lobbying firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Throughout 2024, Democrats and many Republicans warned that if Donald Trump got back in the White House, he would debase the presidency by seeking personal vengeance on enemies, empowering unqualified toadies to lead important public agencies, and issuing half-baked edicts that ignored established law and common sense.

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Now, after less than two weeks since his inauguration, these fears are being realized.

The latest unlawful and irresponsible act: Trumps crudely drafted order (later rescinded) that would have frozen federal spending on trillions of dollars in grants and loans. North Carolina stood to lose billions.

Not only are these funds essential to thousands of core public functions  from emergency relief to cancer research  they fund tens of thousands of jobs and play a huge role in our economy.

The bottom line: Donald Trump may act as if its the case, but leading the U.S. government is different than being the boss of a seedy and predatory casino. In the freeze order and other similar acts, Trump is callously and recklessly endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions.

For NC Newsline, Im Rob Schofield.
(NewsNation)  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday for an immediate aviation safety assessment, prioritizing an elevation of what he calls competence over DEI.

Additionally, he signed an order to create a formal commission to appoint the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump appointed Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the FAA, as acting administrator of the agency.

The FAAs most recent administrator, Michael Whitaker, resigned last week after Trump took office.

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The signings came less than 24 hours after the deadly midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter. All 67 people aboard the plane and helicopter are presumed dead.

DC plane crash: FAA report found tower staffing not normal

Trump attacked the FAAs diversity, equity and inclusion policies Thursday, claiming the agency had committed to adding employees with the most severe disabilities because they are part of the most underrepresented portion of the American workforce.

Asked on Thursday afternoon if race or gender played a role in Wednesdays deadly collision, Trump responded, It may have.

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Incompetence might have played a role, the president said after signing the executive order. Well let you know that, but we want the most competent people. We dont care what race they are. We want the most competent people, especially in those positions.

What we know about the DC plane crash victims

Trump said that aviation involves extremely complex things and added if FAA employees dont have a great brain, a great power of the brain, theyre not going to be very good at what they do, and bad things will happen.

Trump criticized the administrations of former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for placing more priority on DEI hiring practices than on what he calls merit-based hiring.

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The memorandum Trump signed Thursday states that Bidens administration required all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous DEI tactics.

The action comes after Trump previously signed an executive order that mandates all executive departments and agencies terminate all alleged discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet at the White House on Tuesday, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The meeting, confirmed this week by the two leaders' respective governments, is set to take place amid a fragile six-week ceasefire that has brought a temporary pause to 15 months of fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas in Gaza.

"There will be a single working meeting Feb. 4 and more details will soon be forthcoming," the U.S. official said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Americans keeping close track of political news may have been toggling their screens today between Senate confirmation hearings: the second day of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s for secretary of Health and Human Services, and the first for Tulsi Gabbards for director of national intelligence and Kash Patels for FBI director. But each of those three hearings deserves the publics full attention: Donald Trumps nominees offered new glimpses into their approaches to policy, truth, and loyalty to the president.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Day Two

Ahead of Kennedys first day of hearings, our colleague Nicholas Florko noted that the HHS nominee is no stranger to conspiracist statements: RFK Jr. has insinuated that an attempt to assassinate members of Congress via anthrax-laced mail in 2001 may have been a false flag attack orchestrated by someone in our government to gin up interest in the government preparing for potential biological weapon threats. He has claimed that COVID was targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people, and that 5G is being used to harvest our data and control our behavior. He has suggested that the use of antidepressants might be linked to mass shootings.

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If Republican senators skirt around [Kennedys] falsehoods during todays confirmation hearings, Nicholas wrote, it will be evidence of their prevailing capitulation to Trump. And it also may be a function of Kennedys rhetorical sleights  Hes capable of rattling off vaccine studies with the fluency of a virologist, which boosts his credibility, even though hes freely misrepresenting reality. But Kennedys sleights didnt serve him quite as well today as he might have hoped.

At several points, senators encouraged Kennedy to acknowledge that vaccines are not the cause of autism, but instead of confirming what numerous studies have shown to be true, Kennedy insisted that he would need to look at all the data before coming to any conclusions. The room went silent today during Senator [Bill] Cassidys closing questions, Nicholas noted when we spoke this afternoon. Cassidy was practically begging Kennedy to recant his previous statements on vaccines. Kennedy, like everyone else in the room, had to know this was a make-or-break moment for his confirmation. But despite the potential fallout, Kennedy refused, promising only that he would look at any studies presented to him disproving a link between vaccines and autism.

The nominee for HHS secretary also showed, for the second day in a row, his lack of understanding about basics of the Medicare system, fumbling his answers to a series of rapid-fire questions from Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire. Hassan also shared that she is the mother of a 36-year-old with cerebral palsy, and accused Kennedy of relitigating settled science on the fact that vaccines do not cause autism. Its the relitigating and rehashing and continuing to sow doubt so we cant move forward, and it freezes us in place, she argued.

Cassidy, whose vote could prove key to whether RFK Jr. is confirmed, said after todays hearing that he is struggling over whether to confirm Kennedy.

Tulsi Gabbard

Gabbard came into her confirmation process with a history that raises questions about her commitment to national security (she has, among other things, met with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and expressed sympathetic views toward Russian President Vladimir Putin). As our colleague Tom Nichols wrote in November, Gabbard has every right to her personal views, however inscrutable they may be. As a private citizen, she can apologize for Assad and Putin to her hearts content. But as a security risk, Gabbard is a walking Christmas tree of warning lights. If she is nominated to be Americas top intelligence officer, thats everyones business.

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The topic that ultimately received much attention in her confirmation hearing today was her refusal to say whether Edward Snowden is a traitor. Despite pressure from Democratic and Republican senators, Gabbard refused to answer the question, repeating that Snowden had broken the law and that she would take steps to make sure whistleblowers know how to properly make a complaint. Gabbard also revealed that she was unable to extract any concessions in her 2017 meeting with Assad. I didnt expect to, she said.

Gabbards potential confirmation will depend on how her somewhat incoherent set of policy views sits with Republican senators. Last week, our colleague Elaine Godfrey explored the one through linebesides ambitionthat has guided Gabbards otherwise inconsistent political career.

Kash Patel

Donald Trump is not always clear about what he means when he refers to DEI, but presumably it involves how someones identity is taken into consideration during the hiring process. In this mornings press conference addressing the tragic plane crash last night, Trump asserted, without evidence but crediting his common sense, that DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration was at fault.

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It was odd, then, that a few hours later, Republican senators used Patels confirmation hearing to highlight his identity: Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked about examples of racism Patel has experienced, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah acknowledged the struggles Patel and his father must have faced as racial minorities in the United States and Uganda, respectively. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, as if he were reading from a book report about the Gujarati people, lauded the religious diversity in Gujarat, India, where Patels family is originally from, omitting the states extreme tensions and violent history. Patel opened his own remarks by acknowledging his familys journey from abroad. He invoked the phrase Jai Shri Krishna, a standard greeting for a sect of Hindus seeking blessings.



Patel was calm and stillhe became riled up only when questioned by Senator Amy Klobuchar about his past suggestion that he would shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state. But he was walking a tightrope. Todays hearing may be the rare instance when Patel has publicly broken with Trump, to whom he has otherwise been unequivocally loyal. He refused to explicitly state that Trump lost the 2020 election, but he also said, I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.

Overall, Patel seemed to be trying to carefully toe a line, answering questions about the culture-war issues that Trump and congressional Republicans care aboutSenator Marsha Blackburn, for example, asserted during the hearing that the FBI prioritizes DEI and counting Swiftie bracelets over conducting investigationswhile attempting not to alienate the employees he hopes to lead. Pressed by Blackburn, Patel made a vague statement about the high standards FBI employees must meet.

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Todays News

Officials announced that there are no survivors in the crash last night between a U.S.-military Black Hawk helicopter and a regional American Airlines passenger jet landing at an airport near Washington, D.C. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, and 64 people were on the flight from Wichita, Kansas. Donald Trump appointed Christopher Rocheleau as the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency had not had an administrator since the start of Trumps new term. Eight hostages were released from Gaza by Hamas, and Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners.

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Your FOMO Is Trying to Tell You Something

By Faith Hill

I feel deeply haunted by the thought that if I dont go to the party or the dinner or the coffee stroll, my one wild and precious life will be void of a joyful, transformative eventone Id surely still be thinking about on my deathbed, a friend at my side tenderly holding my hand and whispering, Remember? That time we went bowling and the guy in the next lane over said that funny thing? Every year, my New Years resolution is to keep one night of the week free from social plans. Almost every week, I fail.

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Among the spate of executive orders issued by the Trump Administration in the last two weeks was a key directive about Alaskas public lands and natural resources. The Unleashing Alaskas Extraordinary Resource Potential executive order is resurrecting controversial development projects like the Ambler Road and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That same mandate could also reopen the door to millions of acres of federal land that became off limits to hunters during the Biden Administration.

Issued on Jan. 20, the order emphasizes development of the states natural gas, minerals, timber, seafood and other resources to the fullest extent possible. The White House is clear in its intent to efficiently and effectively maximize the development and production on both federal and state lands in Alaska.

Related: Heres What Hunting and Conservation Groups Are Asking of the Trump Administration

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A less publicized provision instructs the Department of Interior to realign hunting opportunities on federal lands with those available on state lands. In recent years the federal government has chipped away at opportunities on federal land for caribou, moose, sheep, and bear hunters. The most notable was when, over objections from the Alaska Department of Game and Fish, 60 million acres of federal lands were closed to nonresident and most nonresident caribou hunters in 2022.

Meanwhile, public hunting opportunities on state lands in Alaska have remained available. This executive order paves the way for returning many wildlife management decisions to the state.

Ultimately, no one knows exactly what this mandate will look like over the next few years, says Alaska outdoorsman and Outdoor Life staff writer Tyler Freel, who has reported extensively on both extraction and hunting access issues in his state. Anti-development folks will view it as an environmental doomsday, and resource-hungry industrialists hope it will be a free-for-all. Its likely, and should be our hope, that the state can continue to increase resource development in a responsible manner. Its unlikely all these projects will proceed. Ultimately we should pay attention, support whats reasonable, and oppose what isnt.

What Maximum Development Looks Like

Its no surprise to see such strong language in the order, given Trumps drill baby, drill refrain. But its still causing alarm in the conservation community, which has generally opposed increased resource development over concerns for wildlife, habitat, and wilderness.

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Among other changes, the mandate has reversed the BLMs 2024 denial of the Ambler Road permit and overturned the Alaska Roadless Rule, which will impact 9 million acres of the Tongass National Forest. As we reported in 2020, the Trump administration removed the Roadless Rule, and the Biden administration reinstated it in 2023.

The Haul Road, which was built to service the Trans-Atlantic Pipeline and later opened to the public. Photo by by Bob Wick / BLM

The mandate also targets oil and gas leasing in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and again revokes the conservation status of 28 million acres of public land that had been withdrawn from mineral and energy development since 1971. In January 2021 the first Trump administration began withdrawing those protections, which had previously endured no matter which political party controlled the White House.

President Trumps actions suggest energy dominance means letting fossil fuels totally rule over our public lands and overshadow all other uses. That isnt what most people want, said Lydia Weiss, senior director for government relations of the Wilderness Society, in a statement. Americas public lands are part of what makes us great as a nation. They are a key part of our shared heritage and can unite us when so much is threatening to tear us apart. Todays actions are a dire threat to this common ground. We depend on public lands as places to hunt, hike and play; havens for hallowed ancestral and cultural sites; and refuge for threatened wildlife.

Related: Drilling for Oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Two Perspectives from Alaskan Outdoorsmen

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The executive order doesnt completely clear the way for instant development. Controversial developments like proposed mines in Alaskas Bristol Bay and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota have routinely been shut down, green lit, and shut down again as presidential administrations turn over. Lawsuits have proven a key weapon in the battles for these types of public lands, and we can expect to see those continue.

More Hunting Opportunity on Federal Land

While the full-speed ahead philosophy on resource extraction doesnt signal a willingness to compromise, another section of President Trumps mandate actually focuses on resolving a growing gulf between Alaskas state and federal land managers.

Among other guidance, the White House instructs all bureaus of the Department of the Interior to ensure to the greatest extent possible that hunting and fishing opportunities on Federal lands are consistent with similar opportunities on State lands. It also requires the DOI to conduct meaningful consultation with the State fish and wildlife management agencies prior to enacting land management plans or other regulations that affect the ability of Alaskans to hunt and fish on public lands.

The biggest loss of hunting access in Alaska, as we mentioned, was when the Federal Subsistence Board closed 60-million acres of public land to everyone but qualified local subsistence caribou hunters in 2022. That closure followed a smaller but still notable loss of access when nearly 1.5 million acres of BLM land in unit 13 were closed in 2020 to everyone but, again, qualified local subsistence hunters.

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While the proposed closures cited concerns about caribou herd health, Freel has maintained that herds fluctuate over time and the real issue was rooted in human conflict.

Caribou cross a winter trail near the town of Ambler. Photo by Lisa Hupp / USFWS

Another blow to Alaska sportsmen came in July 2023. Just as Alaska hunters were preparing for their 2023 sheep season, all federal lands in the central Brooks Range were closed to Dall sheep hunting. Notably, that included the archery-only Dalton Highway Corridor Management Area. These two-year closures were extended in 2024, and expanded further when the National Park Service successfully lobbied the Federal Subsistence Board to close federal lands to sheep hunters in the Yukon Charlie National Preserve.

Then, in December, the National Park Service issued its final rule restricting bear baiting on Alaska lands managed by the NPS. State officials have been trying to regain control over wildlife management on places like the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (This dispute between the State of Alaska and the USFWS stems from an Obama administration policy that banned several common and traditional hunting practices  namely the ban on hunting brown or grizzly bears with the aid of bait on more than 6 million acres of federal refuge and preserve lands.)

Many Alaskans have a skeptical or downright sour view of federal agencies and Interior Department-appointed land managers, Freel wrote in 2023. The struggle goes back decades, and agencies like the National Park Service have an earned reputation for pressing anti-hunting, especially anti-predator hunting, restrictions and agendas. The NPS proposal [then on the table] cites public safety concerns, but ignores countless examples of successful and well-managed bear baiting areas that have healthy populations of bears and minimal negative human contact.

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Read Next: Federal Agencies Continue to Cut Hunting Opportunities in Alaska

The language in Trumps executive order echoes the lawsuit filed by the state, urging federal agencies to comply with ANILCA. That legislation, passed in 1980, acknowledges the unique management challenges of Alaskas vast tracts of public lands and requires federal agencies to cooperate with state managers. ANILCA also has a statutory requirement to prioritize subsistence management.
BALTIMORE  State lawmakers are working to combat President Donald Trumps new immigration mandate to detain and deport people who entered the country illegally, regardless of their criminal history.

Were going to fight like hell to make sure that our immigrant brothers and sisters and the fabric of our community are safe and protected, Del. Jared Solomon said Thursday.

Some Republicans, on the other hand, have said that state law enforcement should assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, in fulfilling Trumps directives.

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In a post to X Thursday, the Maryland Freedom Caucus accused Attorney General Anthony Brown, who has issued guidance to health care professionals and police officers regarding ICE interactions, of fearmongering.

President Trump was handed a mandate this past November to repair our leaky borders and bring safety to our communities  even in Maryland, the caucus wrote.

Trump has yet to complete his second full week in office, but so far, he has issued a blitz of executive orders that honor his promises on the campaign trail, including his commitment to implement aggressive immigration policy.

Under his directives, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers can now detain anyone they arrest and are allowed to seek out people in schools, places of worship, hospitals and courthouses.

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Crisaly de los Santos of immigration advocacy organization Casa Maryland said at a news conference Thursday morning that her organization has received reports of ICE officers driving around schools and stationing themselves in school parking lots.

Matt Hornbeck, the principal of Hampstead Hill Academy in Baltimore, said that the parents of one of his first-grade students are so scared that they sent color copies of his visa and passport for his teacher to show to ICE in case officers enter his school.

In addition to the new authority ICE holds, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he will honor Trumps intentions to detain 30,000 immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, which generally holds people alleged of terrorism.

Were leaning forward on supporting the presidents directive that we have a location for violent criminal illegals as they are deported out of the country, Hegseth said in a video the agency posted on X.

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Trump also issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship, which is protected under the U.S. Constitution.

The Maryland General Assembly, which convened for its annual 90-day legislative session almost two weeks before Trumps inauguration, is acting where it can.

Solomon, Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Vice Chair Will Smith, and House Ways and Means Committee Vice Chair Jheanelle Wilkins  all Montgomery County Democrats  are sponsoring the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would limit ICEs access to schools, hospitals, courthouses and places of worship.

At its fundamental core, this bill is about ensuring that every institution that we have deemed  critical to our communities has guidance from our attorney general to know what their rights are, and to make sure that they know when and where and how they can prevent ICE from coming in, Solomon said.

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In response to Trumps directives, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said that his administration will ensure that the state and all 24 of its local jurisdictions follow the Constitution regarding enforcement of Trumps policies.

We are going to make sure that our local jurisdictions are following the Constitution, Moore said earlier this week, and we are going to make sure  we are getting violent offenders off of our streets and out of our neighborhoods, frankly, regardless of where they come from.

The 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Printz v. United States set the precedent that the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to force state officials to carry out federal programs.

The Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress the ability to assume powers that are not in the Constitution, but are required to carry out the authority it grants to the federal government.

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Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, issued updated guidance for state and local law enforcement and health care professionals regarding immigration enforcement in Maryland. Brown also filed a brief with 18 other attorneys general challenging the executive order to end birthright citizenship on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.

Trumps orders have given a whiplash with his directives to freeze  and then un-freeze  federal funding that finances transportation projects, medical research, local government services, community-based nonprofits and a plethora of other utilities.

The freeze, which was issued Monday night, was reversed Wednesday.

Karoline Leavitt, Trumps press secretary, tweeted Wednesday afternoon that his executive order pausing federal funding remains in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

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Moore said Thursday morning that the funding freeze shake-up demonstrates the lack of transparency, the lack of consistency [and] the lack of partnership between Trump and governors across the United States. He said its deeply frustrating for state chief executives and deeply troubling for their constituents.

This is not just some kind of theoretical game, Moore said at Reisterstown Elementary School. These are real lives that are impacted by this.

The confusion about what federal dollars may or may not be frozen down the line complicates an already fraught budget season for Maryland, which is currently contending with a nearly $3 billion deficit.

Asked earlier this week what the freeze could mean for Maryland, which heavily leans on federal funding to pay for programs, projects and services under its budget, Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said that Moore left wiggle room to pull more money out of the states Rainy Day Fund in his budget proposal for unforeseen circumstances  but not for something of this financial magnitude.

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Well try to do what we can to supplement to the degree feasible, Ferguson said. I think we wont be able to cover every gap.

The question of whether enough can be done in 90 days to shield Maryland from the presidents plans adequately is wide open.

Under the state Constitution, the Maryland General Assembly meets 90 days a year beginning on the second Wednesday of January. The governor has the authority to extend sessions up to 30 days, but that power is rarely wielded.

Moore issued an executive order last April to extend the 2024 legislative session by 10 days amid tense budget negotiations and the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The legislature adjourned for the year on the scheduled 90th day.

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The governor also has the ability to call special sessions throughout the year. The last special legislative session was held in Dec. 2021, when the legislature met for four days to reconfigure the states congressional and legislative districts.

The legislature is only a little over 20 days into the 2025 legislative session, and much remains to be seen from Trump before the General Assembly determines what legislative action to take in response.

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The Ministry of Finance on Friday stated that a full-day conclave for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) will be held on March 8, 2025, in New Delhi. The conclave will provide a platform for stakeholders in the NBFC and MFI sectors to come together, discuss key issues, share insights, and explore opportunities for collaboration and growth in these important areas of the financial services industry. A statement from the ministry stated that "A full day NBFC conclave is scheduled to be held on 8.3.2025, from 10:00 a.m. onwards at Delhi. Hon'ble Finance Minister has kindly consented to attend and address the same". Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also attend the conclave and deliver a keynote address, underlining the importance of these sectors in the broader financial ecosystem. The Ministry has requested all concerned parties to block the date for this significant event. Further details regarding the program and agenda of the conclave will be shared in due course. This event is expected to draw significant participation from industry leaders, policymakers, and experts, offering a valuable opportunity for networking and knowledge-sharing among key players in the financial sector. Recently, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has highlighted the need for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to diversify their sources of funding as a key risk mitigation strategy. In its latest report, the RBI noted that while the dependency of NBFCs on banks has moderated slightly, it remains significantly high. It said "The dependence of NBFCs on banks remain high, notwithstanding some moderation; NBFCs need to further diversify their sources of funds as a risk mitigation strategy". The report emphasized that NBFCs must broaden their funding sources to reduce concentration risks. It also pointed out that the sector faces emerging challenges, including cybersecurity threats, evolving concentration risks, and climate-related financial risks associated with lending to certain industries. The RBI warned that an imprudent "growth at any cost" approach could be detrimental to the sector, urging NBFCs to implement robust risk management frameworks. "An imprudent 'growth at any cost' approach would be counter-productive, and a robust risk management framework should be implemented" said the report. (ANI)
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump failed in his first term to bend the Pentagon to his will, facing delays and defiance from a group of military leaders who were determined to uphold its reputation for staying out of politics.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Ten days into his second term, that barrier has washed away.

In a break with his predecessors, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has become a major driver in Trumps agenda with leaders carrying out actions that were seen as unthinkable in the first term, including deploying military planes to deport migrants and studying whether to detain as many as 30,000 of them at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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In a news conference on Thursday, Hegseth followed Trump in trying to draw a link between his push to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs and the Wednesday night midair collision between an American Airlines jetliner and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that left no survivors.

The Pentagon is colorblind and merit-based, the best leaders possible, whether its flying Black Hawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons, or in government Hegseth said alongside Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who had suggested, without evidence, that hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration may have somehow played a role in the crash.

The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether its in our air traffic control or whether its in our generals or whether its throughout government, Hegseth said.

It was a comment that would have been unlikely at best for previous Pentagon leaders, especially with so much still unknown about the circumstances of the crash. And there was no indication that inexperienced pilots were flying the helicopter involved in the crash over the Potomac River, with the two main pilots  a man and a woman  having 1,500 flight hours between them.

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Yet it indicated how the Pentagon, with former Fox News host Hegseth in charge, has become a major instrument of Trumps political agenda, rather than independent of it.

The evidence of that shift ranges from the most serious to the petty. Even before Hegseth took office, a portrait of the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley  who was appointed by Trump in his previous term but later broke with him  was removed from a Pentagon corridor.

Trump also revoked Milleys security detail and ordered a review into his conduct while he served, raising the possibility of a loss of rank. In the meantime, Hegseth ordered the removal of a second Milley portrait as well one of Trumps later defense secretaries, Mark Esper, who had also criticized the president. The Esper portrait was of him as Army secretary.

I cant think of an historical precedent for an American president or secretary of defense using this kind of threat, said Kori Schake, a defense analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

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The moves have been so dramatic that even some of Trumps staunchest defenders urged him to reconsider the revocation of Milleys detail. The general, who retired in 2023, received heightened protection over threats from Iran given his involvement in the US killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

I would encourage the president to revisit this, Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox Business this week. Its possible that these people could be targeted by Iranian assassins in public where innocent bystanders could be injured.

The anti-DEI policy threatens decades-long campaigns to integrate the armed forces dating to President Harry S Trumans desegregation order in 1948. Implementation of Trumps policy already led to the suspension of a class that featured videos celebrating the Tuskegee Airmen, a mostly Black Army Air Forces unit in World War II. The Air Force later told the Air Force Times that the class would be reinstated with materials on the Tuskegee Airmen and other prominent African Americans in the military but without DEI elements.

My Generals

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Trumps attitude toward the military soured over his first term. Although he initially liked to boast of my generals, he soon clashed with his first Defense secretary, James Mattis, a former Marine general, who eventually resigned over Trumps desire to withdraw troops from Syria. And one of his chiefs of staff, John Kelly, another former Marine general, later called for Trump to be removed.

The military itself is not a partisan institution, and individuals in the military are not supposed to act in partisan ways, Katherine Kuzminski, deputy director of studies and the director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, said in an interview.

And then when we see the administrative actions that are coming out, it seems that theyre rooted in this belief that the military is fundamentally acting as a partisan tool, when that is not, in my assessment, accurate, she added.

Some analysts contend that the notion of an apolitical military was always a myth. President Barack Obama tangled with his generals, famously firing Stanley McChrystal after a Rolling Stone article quoted his staff mocking the president. In 1990, Dick Cheney, then the Defense secretary, fired the Air Force chief of staff over remarks he made about US military plans regarding Iraq.

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That reputation, grounded largely in norms rather than law or policy, has been harmed in recent years by retired senior officers signing on to political statements in support of candidates on both sides of the aisle, she said.

This time around, Trump and his supporters argue it was former President Joe Biden, not them, who politicized the military by firing service members who refused the Covid vaccine, implementing diversity programs and recognizing transgender and gender non-conforming people in the force.

Those norms had been eroding for some time, and much of the blame can be laid at the feet of the military, said Mackubin Thomas Owens, Foreign Policy Research Institute non-resident senior fellow, who backed Hegseth for Defense secretary.

Owens said Milleys criticism of Trump violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

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Milley has routinely accused Trump of being a fascist, an unprecedented  and dangerous  partisan attack against the president, Owens said.

Now, Hegseth and his top Pentagon staff are making it clear that they will back the presidents agenda. The use of military planes to deport undocumented migrants  an act past Pentagon chiefs had resisted  was a striking and symbolic example of how far the institution had moved.

It may be challenged. US armed forces are restricted from engaging in law-enforcement activity on US soil, according to a law from 1878.

So far, though, Pentagon leaders are willing to test the limits of that precedent.

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This is a shift, Hegseth said in his first day on the job. Its not the way business has been done in the past.

--With assistance from Tony Capaccio.

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to punish protesters who supported Palestine and called for an end to Israel's military onslaught in Gaza, including the potential deportation of non-citizen students and university staff. The escalation comes with the assistance of Betar, a far-right group whose stated mission is to "defend Zionism with clarity and courage," which told Salon it has compiled a list of foreign students and teachers that it believes should be expelled from the country  and shared it with the Trump administration.

According to Trump's executive order, federal authorities are now charged with identifying all civil and criminal actions within their respective jurisdictions "that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism." This includes working with university administrators to monitor activities "by alien students and staff" and, "if warranted," taking action "to remove such aliens."

"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," Trump said in a "fact sheet" distributed by the White House.

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Even before Trump's victory last November, Betar had been using AI facial recognition technology and tip-offs to ascertain anti-Zionist protesters' identities, hoping that authorities would eventually vet and use the information to deport "despicable, egregious people who openly support Hamas and other terrorist organizations," spokesperson Daniel Levy said in a statement to Salon. According to Levy, such people "pose an immediate and present danger to this country."

"The Zionist community in America has had enough, and while we vowed many months ago to build lists and have them deported, we are pleased that this will now begin," Levy said. "We have already submitted names of hundreds of terror supporters to the Trump administration who proudly support terror and dont belong in this country as they are here on visas."

A spokesperson for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Levy said Betar has supplied copies of its list to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House homeland security advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, UN ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik, and other confirmed or incoming members of the Trump administration. Betar's U.S. executive director, Ross Glick, has also made multiple trips to Capitol Hill both before and after the election, meeting not just with pro-Israel Republicans but also Democrats like Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn.

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According to Glick, people who engage in "respectful" dialogue should have nothing to fear, as his group is only submitting the names of those who are "fomenting hatred against Israel" such as by participating in "pro-jihadi protests," saying that "Zionists don't deserve to live" or calling for a global "intifada." In the case of professors and PhD candidates, deportable offenses include teaching "alternate history" that is "aligned with negative propaganda," Glick said, including Israeli historian Ilan Pappe's book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine."

Betar, however, has an expansive view of what constitutes support for terror, with their definition including those attending a vigil for Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces, and who advocate for a single, secular democratic state encompassing both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"When they say 'one-state solution,' it's not for the benefit of the truth or for the benefit of the Jews. They want the six million Jews wiped out," Glick said, referring to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. "Their position, if you listen to them, is go back to Europe. Go to the ovens, go back to Brooklyn. That's what we're facing. That's the underlying meaning of all of these messages."

Among the people the group has "recommended for deportation" are faculty and students from Columbia University, the University of Michigan and the University of California, Los Angeles, where The Daily Bruin, UCLA's campus paper, reported that Betar incited vigilante violence against student protesters.

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We demand police remove these thugs now and if not we will be forced to organize groups of Jews to do so, the group said in the statement at the time.

While Betar and supporters of protest crackdowns often raise the specter of rampant antisemitism and sympathy for terrorist groups, pro-Palestine activists say that such claims are typically pretenses used to silence legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies. Jewish pro-Palestine activists in particular have disavowed attempts to conflate their religion and identity with support for the state of Israel.

"Betar attacks all who express support for Palestinian freedom or even sympathy with Palestinians who have endured unimaginable violence at the hands of the Israeli military," Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, told Salon. "They make common cause with neo-fascist militant and antisemitic groups like the Proud Boys. Betar endangers many communities including Jewish communities who oppose their violent supremacist ideology."

Fox likewise said that "Trump and his cronies do not care about Jewish safety," arguing that his executive order is more "a campaign against all those who are brave enough to challenge their power" rather than a genuine attempt to protect American Jews.

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In addition to groups like Betar, the Trump administration may be able to count on the cooperation of universities, who throughout 2024 took actions to suspend or expel pro-Palestine protesters. In May, The Nation reported that Yale University and its police department used an array of surveillance tools to track down and reprimand student protesters, including those who apparently had not violated any university policies and procedures.

Critics accuse the Trump administration and its allies of trying to use state power to quash free speech.

"The First Amendment protects everyone in the United States, including foreign citizens studying at American universities," Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney and legislative advisor at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told Salon. "Government lawyers have already considered at length whether proposals to remove people from the country based on their political speech are constitutional, and their answer is almost certainly no. Theyre right: Deporting non-citizens on the basis of their political speech would be unconstitutional.

Trump has long promised that he would target pro-Palestine activists as part of his mass deportation plan, telling a group of pro-Israel donors last spring that he would "set that movement back 25 or 30 years." Last week, he proposed to "just clean out" the entire Gaza Strip of Palestinians by scattering them across different countries, an idea Betar was quick to support.

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Now that Trump is making good on his promise, activist groups are taking measures to protect students, staff and other protesters from deportation and other forms of punishment, starting with demands for university administrators to pledge non-cooperation with federal authorities. The effort to silence disfavored speech won't stop at college campuses, the groups warn.

"The [executive order] also goes far beyond campuses and is making the way for an authoritarian crackdown on all aspects of civil society," Fox said. "Every single federal and local elected official must make it their business to reject these orders and the far-right assault on democracy they represent."
President Donald Trump could attempt to seek a third term in office, experts say, despite the constitutional rule intended to prevent anyone from becoming president more than twice.

Trump, who already attempted to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, has delighted supporters by referencing the possibility of staying in the White House past 2028.

After winning the election in November, he told House Republicans he wouldnt be running again unless you do something, and made a similar quip on Monday, asking House Speaker Mike Johnson if hes allowed to run again.

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Just two days before that, Trump received cheers at a Las Vegas rally by saying it was the greatest honor of his life to serve not once but twiceor three times, or four times He immediately followed up to say his comments were just headlines for the fake news.

Regardless of his intent, the 22nd Amendment would appear to prohibit any attempt at obtaining a third term as it clearly states : No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. The fact that its so clearly a stumbling block explains why MAGA Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee is trying to change the amendment to allow Trump an easier path to seeking a third term.

Anyone who says that obviously the 22nd Amendment will deter Trump from trying for a third term has been living on a different planet than the one Ive been living on, Ian Bassin, the executive director of nonprofit Protect Democracy, told Politico in a piece looking at various ways Trump could try and get a third term.

I just introduced a resolution to amend the 22nd Amendment to allow President Trump to seek a third term. Read the details.https://t.co/OTacpt3ggE  Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) January 23, 2025

Trump could attempt to formally repeal the 22nd Amendment, but that would require overwhelming majorities in Congress and support from state legislatures which he is unlikely to get. Trump himself said as recently as April 2024 he wouldnt be in favor of it at all regarding a challenge to the amendment.

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But he has other options that dont involve changing the Constitution. The 22nd Amendment only prevents someone from being elected to a third presidential term, not from serving for a third time.

That makes a scenario possible in which another candidate wins the Republican nomination in 2028 and then chooses Trump as their vice presidential running mate. If they win the election, the person at the top of the ticket could then immediately resign after being inauguratedonce again making Trump president.

It would not be surprisingif the president were interested in the presidency againthat he would seek to go down this path, Bruce Peabody, a law professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, told Politico.

There are also more extreme options. Trump could outright ignore constitutional restrictions and declare that hes running again at the end of his second term.

Trump has already attempted to cling on to power after losing the 2020 election and granted clemency to those who took part in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. / Joseph Prezioso/Getty

Assuming the Republican National Committee wouldnt stop Trump from seeking the GOP nomination, several states would almost certainly refuse to include him on their ballots and trigger a legal battle that would eventually come before the Supreme Court. It would then be down to the justices to rule that Trump is ineligible to seek the presidency for a third time.

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The courts gonna tell the Republican Party that they cant run their candidate? Bassin told Politico. I dont think so.

The high court has already ruled on an attempt to keep Trump off state ballots on constitutional grounds. In March 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that individual states cant bar presidential candidates under a constitutional provisionpart of the 14th Amendmentthat stops insurrectionists from taking office. Colorado had tried to enforce the rule to kick Trump off its ballots based on his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

An even more unsettling way by which Trump could try to get a third term is to not only disregard the Constitution, but also sidestep the need to fight another election by flat-out refusing to step down at the end of his term.

Although presidents do not have the power to postpone or cancel elections, legal experts also say they dont have the power to cut off spending for programs approved by Congressand that didnt prevent Trump from attempting to do exactly that with a pause on federal funding this week.

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Trump has also granted clemency to his supporters who were convicted of even violent offenses during the Capitol riot. Critics fear that the action could undermine the rule of law and potentially lead to dark consequences in future.
(Bloomberg) -- Colombia has been forced back to the drawing board on its $40 billion climate investment plan since President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this month.

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Susana Muhamad, Colombias environment minister, had been frantically courting officials in Washington to secure initial funding to help transition the South American nations economy away from fossil fuels toward green investments.

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Colombias initial plan was to land a deal with the US while former President Joe Biden was still in office, and the country sent a delegation to Washington earlier this month to deliver on that goal. But that failed, so Colombia has been forced to pivot to a new approach. Muhamad said she still hopes to break a good financial package by the time the COP30 climate summit kicks off in Brazil in November.

Political upheaval in Germany, another country that was pegged to take a leading role in the deal, has added to the complications. Weve had to shift our whole strategy, Muhamad said in an interview. We were expecting a group of countries to come together in support of [the plan], led by the US and Germany. But with the political shift in both countries, they had to step back, she said.

On the first day of his second term in office, Trump took steps to pull the US out of the Paris accord, nixed the US International Climate Finance Plan and paused all foreign aid, signaling a broad retreat from global climate engagement.

Trumps election and the global rise of populism is adding new challenges to securing global climate finance at a time when developing countries are in desperate need of funds to recover from climate impacts and invest in clean, secure energy sources.

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The retreat from support for climate action creates air cover for other countries who want to say they want to do less on finance and less on controlling emissions, said David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California San Diego who closely tracks global climate diplomacy.

Colombias investment plan aims to attract clean-energy investments to replace fossil-fuel export revenues, which are expected to decline after the country ended new oil and gas exploration two years ago. It mimics the so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships, multi-billion-dollar programs signed between rich nations and countries including Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam.

Indonesias special envoy for climate and energy said on Friday that Trump is certain to withdraw the US from the JETP there, adding a blow to a deal thats been beset by politics, local red tape and challenges in raising global bank financing.

Colombia is now working with other countries to become the lead partners, Muhamad said. She declined to name any, but has previously singled out China as an alternative to the US. Muhamad said she also met with the private sector and philanthropies during her recent visit to Washington.

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The Colombian government will provide up to 30% of the funds for the plan and expects developed country governments to contribute additional financing. The government also is working with the Inter-American Development Bank and the countrys export credit agency, ProColombia, to help fill the remaining investment needs, said Muhamad.

We are shifting the leadership, but we are sustaining the strategy, she said. There are a lot of opportunities globally.

--With assistance from Zahra Hirji, John Ainger and Petra Sorge.

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President Donald Trump affirmed on Thursday that imports from U.S. allies Mexico and Canada will be hit with a 25 percent tariff starting on Saturday.

Speaking to the press from the Oval Office, Trump said that his administration will follow through in announcing tariffs on Americas neighboring countries for a number of reasonschiefly among them being an alleged influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, reported The Hill.

On his first day in office, Trump issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency at Americas southern border.

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Thirty-six hours later, the declaration enabled the Department of Defense to send 1,500 troops to the region to work on the placement of barriers and other related actions to deter illegal crossings. According to DOD report, the troops were on standby in Southern California to help combat the Los Angeles County wildfires.

For the past four years, the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to enforce the border, resulting in a catastrophic immigration crisis for the United States, declared Trumps proclamation. However, when Congress was close to passing a bipartisan border security bill in 2024, Trump allegedly pressured Republican allies to kill the bill so he could continue hammering Democrats about border chaos during his campaign, reported CNN.

President Donald Trump talks with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. / NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images

Trump also cited an influx of drugs, specifically fentanyl, crossing into the United Statesas well as a trade deficitas reason for implementing tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Ill be putting the tariff of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico, and we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries, he said. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.

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Mexico and Canada are major exporters of gas, food and automobiles to the U.S., with several U.S.-based automobile manufacturers shipping cars back and forth across Americas borders during the manufacturing process.

The president said that his administration has not yet decided on whether it would levy tariffs on oil imports, reported Reuters.

We may or may not. Were going to make that determination probably tonight, said Trump. He added that this would partly depend on prices and on whether the two countries treat us properly.
(The Hill)  President Donald Trump on Friday asserted the military helicopter involved in a deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., was flying too high.

The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. Thats not really too complicated to understand, is it??? Trump posted on Truth Social.

More than 60 people died after an American Airlines flight collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on its final approach to Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday night.

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The New York Times reported Thursday that the helicopter was supposed to be flying lower to the ground at the time of the crash, citing four people briefed on the issue. The Times reported that the helicopter had asked permission to use a route that would have allowed it to fly no higher than 200 feet.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Pentagon are investigating the cause of the crash.

Flight recorders recovered in DCA crash

Since the collision took place on Wednesday night, Trump has vacillated between arguing the helicopter may have been at fault in the incident and claiming diversity efforts in hiring air traffic controllers may have played a role.

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The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going, Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House. What was the helicopter doing in that track? Very sad. But visually, somebody should have been able to see and taken that helicopter out of play and the should have been at a different height.

But Trump has also repeatedly suggested without evidence that efforts to hire diverse individuals, including those with disabilities, had weakened federal aviation safety.

We want the most competent people, no matter what race they are.  If they dont have a great brain, a great power of the brain, theyre not going to be very good at what they do, he said.

The president also signed a memo Thursday to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in the aviation sector and to assess airline safety, as well as an executive order to appoint a new head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in the wake of the incident.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration has already had very serious discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take significant action toward ending the grinding conflict.

We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something thatll be significant, Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president.

Trump did not say who from his administration has been in contact with the Russians but insisted the two sides were already talking."

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Asked if he has already spoken directly with Putin, Trump was coy: I don't want to say that.

Trump has said repeatedly he wouldnt have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in eastern Ukraine between Kyivs forces and separatists backed by Moscow, ahead of Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.

Trump since returning to office has criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he should have made a deal with Putin to avoid the conflict.

The president in a Fox News interview earlier in January ridiculed Zelenskyy as talking so brave," when Ukraine was so dependent on U.S. aid to fight its war.

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They were brave, but we gave them billions of dollars, Trump said.

In a recent interview with Russian state television, Putin praised Trump as a clever and pragmatic man who is focused on U.S. interests.

We always had a business-like, pragmatic but also trusting relationship with the current U.S. president, Putin said. I couldnt disagree with him that if he had been president, if they hadnt stolen victory from him in 2020, the crisis that emerged in Ukraine in 2022 could have been avoided.

The Russian's president's statement was also a blunt endorsement of Trumps refusal to accept his defeat in the 2020 election. Numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.

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Trump in his 2024 campaign vowed to bring a quick end to the war, and repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's administration for spending billions in U.S. taxpayer money on military and economic aide for Kyiv to help it fight back against Russia.

Trumps relationship with Putin has been scrutinized since his 2016 campaign for president, when he called on Russia to find and make public missing emails deleted by Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.

Trump publicly sided with Putin over U.S. intelligence officials on whether Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to help him, and Trump has praised the Russian leader and even called him pretty smart for invading Ukraine.
On January 23, 1963, at the height of the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy wrote to Jean Monnet: America and a united Europe, working in full and effective partnership, can find solutions to those urgent problems that confront all mankind in this crucial time.

Though those problems have changed markedly over the past six decades, Kennedys statement remains true today.

President Trumps second term in office presents an opportunity for the US, UK, and EU member states to unite in confronting common threats, among the chief of them being the Islamist dictatorship that rules Iran.

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In his first week in power, Trump has affirmed the global consensus that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. Now is the time for the West to act on that consensus.

The International Atomic Energy Agencys Director General, Rafael Grossi, told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21st that Iran is pressing the gas pedal, with a sevenfold increase in its production of 60 per cent enriched uranium. The West is therefore faced with a closing window of opportunity to address Irans nuclear threat.

The world was first alerted to Tehrans clandestine nuclear weapons programme by the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK)  the countrys main democratic opposition group, which has a vast network inside the country. Ever since, the US, UK, France and Germany have failed in their efforts to secure a verifiable agreement to close Tehrans pathway to becoming a nuclear-armed state.

Tehran has fully exploited the Wests ill-conceived negotiating postures, attempts at conciliation, and outright appeasement. Far from being deterred, the regimes malign nuclear ambitions have become ever more strident.

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Moreover, Tehran has repeatedly cheated on agreements, deceiving the West, and thus enjoyed concessions even while inching closer to the bomb.

Despite this, negotiations continue because many in the West delude themselves that the only alternative is war. The real alternative is a robust policy of applying maximum pressure, with several specific components.

First, there should be meaningful oil and gas embargoes, to cut off funding to the regime.

Second, the UN sanctions that were suspended under the 2015 nuclear agreement should be reactivated through that same agreements snapback mechanism.

Third, the regimes leaders should be held to account for their criminal conduct, including gross violations of human rights at home, belligerence in the surrounding region, and providing support to Russia in its war with Ukraine.

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Fourth, the US and EU should provide moral and political support to the Iranian peoples democratic aspirations and the democratic coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, with the MEK at its centre.

There is precedent for this, as many Western policymakers and experts already express support for the democratic opposition movement and recognise its viability as a force for change inside the Islamic Republic.

This was clearly illustrated by the outbreak of nationwide protests in late 2022. Though the regime survived narrowly, after killing 750 protesters and arresting another 30,000, anti-government sentiment has continued unabated in Iranian society, backed up by a concrete plan for regime change and a nationwide network of Resistance Units affiliated to the MEK.

Maryam Rajavi, the NCRIs president-elect, has addressed the European Parliament and US Congress in recent months and highlighted the increasing activity of the Resistance Units and the remarkable boost in the fighting spirit among young people who support the coalitions vision for a free, secular, democratic republic of Iran.

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That is a vision that should be supported by Western governments, as it is already supported by many of their parliamentarians and officials. And it is a vision that is increasingly attainable, as Tehrans domestic woes are compounded by its other losses.

In the last year alone, Iran has suffered devastating reverses within the region. The climax was the fall of Bashar al-Assads dictatorship in Syria, the linchpin of Tehrans regional strategy for over four decades. His overthrow showed that even a large, heavily armed and well-funded autocracy cannot sustain a large-scale revolt by a population that wishes to be rid of it, least of all when that autocracy is internationally isolated, as the Iranian regime easily could and should be.

Such isolation would significantly empower forces inside Iran that have already overseen four nationwide uprisings in six years.

With the new Trump administration taking the lead, the West should adopt a unified, robust policy of maximum pressure. It should designate Irans repressive and belligerent paramilitary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist organisation.

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It should side with the Iranian people and their democratic aspirations by formally recognising their right to fight back against a religious dictatorship and pursue a future society modelled on Maryam Rajavis ten-point plan, which includes free and fair elections, gender equality, minority rights, the rule of law and, crucially, an end to the regimes nuclear programme.

Such an approach would put the Ayatollah on immediate notice that the West is united and that time is running out for his malign regime.

The Rt Hon David Jones is a former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister

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President Trump on Thursday signed a memorandum to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in the aviation sector and to assess aviation safety, as well as an executive order to appoint a new head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Trumps new executive actions come in the wake of a deadly midair collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night between a passenger plane and a military helicopter.

Trump earlier on Thursday during a press briefing appeared to blame DEI for weakening the FAA. Later, in the Oval Office after signing the actions, he said he wasnt sure if race or gender played a role in the collision near National Airport but added that incompetence might have played a role.

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The memorandum on DEI orders for newly minted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the newly appointed acting FAA administrator, Christopher Rocheleau, to ensure they undo practices that may have been in place during the Biden administration around hiring.

In other words, competence, Trump said, stressing that competence will be promoted over DEI initiatives in the aviation sector with his latest action.

When asked whether DEI practices actually played a role in the crash the night prior, he replied, it may have, I dont know.

He added, We want the most competent people, no matter what race they are.  If they dont have a great brain, a great power of the brain, theyre not going to be very good at what they do.

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The president said he was not aware of any performance issues with those working the air traffic control tower during the collision. When he was pressed on why hes bringing up DEI when hes not sure that was the cause of the collision, the president insisted that air traffic controllers have to be brilliant.

I dont like that the helicopter was at the exact same level as the airplane, he said, referring to the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines jet.

The president said he will meet with some of the family members of the victims and said the names of the victims of the crash would be released at the appropriate time. He said the victims included young people as well as figure skaters from multiple countries.

Rocheleau takes the helm of the FAA after former Administrator Michael Whitaker resigned on Trumps Inauguration Day. He served for just more than a year in the Biden administration in the Senate-confirmed position that typically spans a five-year term.

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President Donald Trump is taking the Republican Congress on an economic wild ride.

Hes threatening serious tariffs that could hit key US allies this weekend, just days after confounding Congress with his plans to freeze federal spending. Some GOP lawmakers are hoping they can still head off the tariffs, and a few complained about the conflicting guidance on government money, but most  especially those from red areas  said theyre feeling little heat for the presidents moves.

Not only is there little evidence that party legislators mind his muscular executive power, theres plenty of signs that Trump-state Republicans are happy to take the ride with him.

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Wyoming people want to see some eggs broken back here, said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. They just kind of trust [Trump] about matters of trade, of tariffs and policies that are trying to get a handle on the size of government.

Some of those broken eggs could nonetheless end up creating a big mess for them to clean up in their home states. In particular, lawmakers are bracing for tangible fallout from Trumps plans to enact 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico as soon as this weekend, absent an agreement on stemming drug flows over the border.

But its not certain whether Trump will impose tariffs on Saturday, as he suggested last week and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated just two days ago. After the deadly Washington-area airplane crash on Wednesday night, a White House official told Semafor that tariffs remain a top priority for Trump, then added that hes not held to any date.

It could be today, it could be tomorrow  but the president made a commitment when it comes to tariffs, and he plans on seeing that through, the official said.

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Even as the White House focused on the crash, the president signaled he might not back down from the tariffs by working on new executive orders. He told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he plans to move forward with his plan to implement 25% tariffs on the two countries, and would potentially sort out details  like whether it would apply to oil  that night.

Its an important moment for congressional Republicans, who are divided between free traders and more populist members. The latter camp has no problem with Trump threatening, and following through with, tariffs on allies.

Senators in both parties pressed Howard Lutnick, Trumps nominee to lead the Commerce Department, about those levies during his confirmation hearing this week.

Were just trying to set the groundwork for having somebody who remembers, as these decisions are made, there are damning consequences to some sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture, said Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who described the next couple of days as uncertain.

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Though some lawmakers are confused about the details of Trumps tariff plans, the administration has maintained there are clear lines to communications between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Its unclear whether lawmakers will be briefed before Trump makes any move, or which specific official is keeping Republicans apprised of the specifics of his decisions.

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Trump and his party have already hinted that they see his early-week tariff threats as effective. Already, a vow to slap tariffs on Colombia forced its government to back down on accepting deportation flights from the US. Given Trumps penchant for using tariffs as leverage, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said hed be surprised if Trump imposes blunt levies given the risks to the economy. He predicted more gradual and targeted moves instead.

Im not getting the indication that its going to be an immediate thing, because I know the president doesnt want to drive up the price for fuel, Rounds said. That would be a serious problem if we just all of a sudden stopped heavy crude from coming into refiners in the United States. So I think theyll be reasonable.

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Between looming tariffs and the federal funding freeze, its been a week of nail-gnawing uncertainty for Congress. The Trump administrations Monday memo implementing what read like a blunt freeze on a multitude of federal grant programs sparked condemnation from Democrats, even as many Republicans defended the action as business as usual.

Amid growing coverage of the memos potential hits to nonprofits and aid programs across the country, the administration rescinded it on Wednesday, trying to clarify it was intended to target specific programs singled out by Trumps previous executive orders. That claim was undercut by the White House press secretary, who posted on X that rescinding the memo was designed to end any confusion created by a court injunction that temporarily blocked the pause.

A judge on Wednesday cited Leavitts post and said hes likely to issue a block on Trumps spending pause as a result. Meanwhile, the White House official told Semafor that the administration hoped the court case would be moot due to the rescission, and that anything deemed at odds with Trumps executive orders still would be paused.

It was just obviously too confusing. We had a lot of people calling into our state and here [in D.C.] worried about it. So they took it down, but Im not sure all the confusions gone, said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. We were getting it from health care, from domestic violence shelters, from colleges, universities, nonprofits. You name it.

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Even fiscal conservatives like Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said it probably would have been smarter to target Trumps directives from the very beginning. Still, he said Trumps overarching goal of scrutinizing spending is one he shares.

Johnsons less sure about those tariffs. Hes told Trump they are a double-edged sword, adding that tariffs on Canada and Mexico could be pretty tough.

As much as Trump thinks its the most beautiful word in the world, hes actually asked people to study it first. I hope hes pretty thoughtful, Johnson said.

The View From The Trump Wing

The fault lines in the GOP are real, on both the tariffs and the spending freeze, but many Republicans clearly have Trumps back despite the prospective economic hit.

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Specifically when it comes to the standoff with Mexico and Canada over fentanyl and other drug traffic into the country, Trumps biggest supporters are ready to argue for tariffs on the merits.

Theyre going to do what they have to do. We need to get it stopped, said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

Burgess and Shelbys View

Between the memo drama, uncertainty both inside and outside the White House over tariffs, and questions about how to implement Trumps agenda, its clear that a new degree of chaos and confusion is enveloping this administration.

Unlike Trumps first term, its less due to infighting and more due to the move-fast-and-break-things approach that some presidential advisers have taken as they seek to quickly implement vast swaths of his agenda.

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Perhaps too quickly, in some cases.

But Trumps push to add two former Democrats to his Cabinet  at the same time as hes unilaterally imposing tariffs and freezing spending  makes one thing clear: He expects Republicans will fall in line.

Notable
VMPL New Delhi [India], January 31:The Entrepreneurship Cell IIT Bombay, Asia's largest non-profit student-run entrepreneurship promoting body, brings you E-Summit '25--Pursuit of Eminence, the 20th edition of Asia's largest business conclave scheduled for the 1st- 2nd February 2025. E-Summit '25 aims to connect today's leaders with tomorrow's innovators via funding competitions, insightful speaker sessions, networking opportunities, and much more. Let us get a glance at what is in store for us:- -The Ten Minute Million (TTMM), is India's first-of-its-kind on-the-spot funding platform offering startup founders the chance to pitch their ideas to 16 investors in just 10 minutes in front of an audience of over 3,500 people and win up to INR 3.5 million. - This year, the event will feature inspiring personalities like Nandan Nilekani, Anupam Mittal, Sonam Wangchuk, and Gaurav Chaudhary (Technical Guruji), and over 120 speakers. - At the Startup Expo, you get the chance to exhibit and market your product to over 50K+ attendees. - Seed Stars is where startups get funding opportunities, networking, and mentorship. - I-Hack is the mega competition for all tech geeks with over INR 6 lakh prize money at stake for the data science and development tracks. - Entre-MUN is a Model United Nations forum where students develop leadership skills, debate global issues, and simulate UN council operations. - There will also be workshops covering Android Development, Ethical Hacking, Marketing Analytics, Data Science, and others. And don't you think E-Summit is limited to just startup founders, if you are a student looking to test your business acumen you can participate in our competitions like IPL Auction, Bid-n-Build, Fish Tank, Corporate Duel, Squid Games, Ace the Case, Pursuit of Eminence and many informal games with prize money up to INR 1 lakh! If you're an aspiring entrepreneur seeking hands-on experience at a startup or corporation through our internship and job fair, or a finance enthusiast eager to explore the virtual stock market, there is something tailored just for you. The two-day extravaganza has so many speaker sessions, workshops and fun games in store for you that it is a spectacle you need to witness at none other than the IIT Bombay Campus! Westbridge Capital and E-Gaming Federation present the conclave and co-presented by Union Bank, in association with Campa Cola, Canara Bank as Debt Financing Partner and SBI as the Associate Title Sponsor. It boasts AWS as Cloud Partner, Zeropearl as Platinum Partner, IndiqAI as Gold Partner, Somany Impresa Group as Case Study Partner and Singapore Management University as Catalyst Partner. Register ASAP at ecell.in/esummit Use LINK30 code for 30% discount on passes. (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)
NEW YORK (AP)  President Donald Trump wasted little time this week trying to assign blame for the nations deadliest air disaster in more than two decades. Among his chief targets: An FAA diversity hiring initiative he suggested had undermined the agencys effectiveness.

But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody thats psychologically superior, Trump said at a news conference Thursday.

No evidence has emerged that rules seeking to diversify the FAA played any role in the collision Wednesday between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.

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Nevertheless, Trump's comments drew attention to the agencys attempts to address its most pressing and long-standing problem  a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers who are critical to keeping the nations skies safe.

How has Trump tied diversity hiring to the collision?

Trump is using this week's disaster as another opportunity to push back against diversity programs, after signing executive orders that banned such initiatives across the federal government. That included one specifically for the secretary of transportation and the federal aviation administrator.

During the White House press briefing, Trump said the FAA diversity program allowed for hiring people with hearing and vision issues, as well as paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism.

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The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencys website, he said.

The FAA's own data shows people with such disabilities make up only a tiny fraction of air traffic controllers. And there is no indication that investigators into the crash are focused on diversity hiring or staffers with disabilities.

Later Thursday, Trump doubled down on his criticism by signing a presidential memorandum on aviation safety he said would undo damage done to federal agencies by the Biden administrations diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Are FAA diversity initiatives part of the investigation?

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Asked Thursday about Trump's comments, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said her team examines all factors in any investigation, the human, the machine and the environment. She said that means looking at the people involved, the aircraft and the environment in which they were operating.

That is standard, she said.

Trump's remarks drew strong rebukes from Democrats and civil rights leaders.

There are still bodies being pulled from the Potomac River. Families are grieving the loss of loved ones. Yet Donald Trump is baselessly blaming DEI for last nights tragic collision, said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat who lost both legs while flying Black Hawk helicopters in the Iraq War, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

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"Absolutely shameful, Duckworth said on the X social media platform.

Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine veteran, was blunt in his response to Trumps remarks. DEI did not cause this tragedy, he said on X.

Groups representing disabled workers issued a joint statement saying they were dismayed by the scapegoating, noting that anyone hired under the FAA's diversity initiative had to meet its stringent qualifications.

The implication that people are being hired to do a job for which they are unqualified is an unfounded lie that further reinforces harmful stereotypes against disabled people, it said.

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Whats behind the FAAs recruitment strategy?

The FAA has long-faced a shortage of air traffic controllers, which was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Homendy told a Senate panel in 2023 that a surge in close calls between planes at U.S. airports that year was a clear warning sign the aviation system was stressed.

The FAAs diversity efforts arent new and were not started under the Biden administration.

Before Trump removed them from the agencys website after taking office this month, they had been promoted since at least 2013, including during Trumps first term. Similar language seeking candidates with disabilities was on the site during both Bidens term and Trumps first term. Disabilities identified for special emphasis in hiring included conditions such as paralysis, epilepsy or missing extremities.

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The FAA during Trumps first term launched a pilot program to prepare people with disabilities for jobs in air traffic operations.

A 2019 announcement detailed a program to enroll up to 20 people with targeted disabilities in up to a year of training at air traffic control centers, with the potential to be appointed to a temporary position at the FAA's academy. It noted candidates were subject to the same rigorous standards for aptitude, medical and security qualifications as any other candidates. A federal report from 2023 describes the qualifications.

What do aviation experts say about the FAAs recruitment program?

The FAA says its Aviation Development Program for hiring diverse candidates into mission critical occupations required them to meet the same qualifications as any other applicant.

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Former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said last year that the FAA seeks qualified candidates from a range of sources who must meet rigorous qualifications" that vary by position.

Paul Hanges, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Maryland, helped compile a report for the FAA in 2013 documenting barriers for women and minorities. The agency followed up by hiring a consulting firm to find the root causes, which led to changes in the testing and hiring process  but Hanges said that did not lower hiring standards.

It was the same kind of protocol, the same cognitive test, but a different version of it, he said. One thing I know about the FAA is they take public safety very seriously. So Id be surprised that they systematically did stuff that would have put the flying public in danger. I always got the impression that was job one.

He called Trumps assertion that this weeks crash is related to diversity efforts an illogical leap.

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It is something that is consistent with his message, but we dont have the data, he said.

How have the FAAs recruitment efforts worked?

The agencys recruitment programs have resulted in a modest deepening of its workforce diversity over the years. Progress has been especially slow in roles it considers mission critical, including air traffic controllers.

The FAAs overall workforce of more than 44,000 employees remains predominately male, according to a 2023 FAA report on the status of its Equal Employment Opportunity program.

Among its nearly 18,000 air traffic controllers, more than 80% were men. White men constituted the biggest percentage of air traffic controllers at 64%, the report said.

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The FAAs overall workforce also remained predominately white, with racial minorities making up 30% of its employees.

About 2% of the FAAs overall workforce are people with more severe disabilities. Among air traffic controllers, less than 1% are people with such disabilities.

The claims that diversity efforts factored into this week's crash come after Trump surrogates blamed other recent crises, including the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles, on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, although there has been no evidence to support that.

Its a focus that has generated anger among those who feel Trump and his allies are quick to use horrific disasters to further their political agenda.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin specifically called out Trump for quickly pointing the finger this week at the FAAs diversity programs: The American people deserve real answers, not narcissistic speculations.

__

Associated Press writers Graham Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Wyatte-Grantham-Philips in New York, Haleluya Hadero in South Bend, Indiana, Angeliki Kastanis in Los Angeles and Claire Savage in Chicago contributed to this report.
Republicans new Senate majority leader, John Thune, is being forced to choose between his fearless MAGA leader and the constituents who chose him to represent their interests.

Trump on Thursday confirmed his plans to levy aggressive 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, after complaining about the people that have poured into our country, the drugs, fentanyl and everything else, and the massive subsidies we are giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.

While Trump and his base cheer on the strongman isolationism, Thunes constituents in his home state of South Dakota could potentially suffer. The states entire economy is reliant on agricultureit exports soybeans, corn, and beef primarily, according to a Politico analysis. And it just so happens that China and Mexico are the biggest export markets for U.S. agriculture.

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Tariffs against these countries would cripple South Dakotas economy, as they did in 2018 when Trump enacted the very same tariffs during his trade war. Senators in similar precarious situations are looking to Thune to talk the president down.

Obviously the president is somebody who sees great value in the use of tariffs as a tool and well have, Im sure, lots of conversations, Thune told Politico, striking a diplomatic chord. People up here have different views about how and when to use them but I see value when they are used in a targeted way.

Meanwhile, Thune has been pushing the presidents Cabinet picks through, even after Trump overruled Thunes plan to split the GOP tax bill in two, signaling that he wont be open to the Senate majority leaders hesitations. Well see if Thune finds the guts to speak up.
(Bloomberg) -- The tech bosses whove lined up to pay homage to Donald Trump may have found a common enemy in the European Union, but that wont save them from legal enforcement on their home ground, according to one of the new presidents key allies.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an interview with Bloomberg News that technology giants cant expect a free pass in the US  even though cozying up to Trump at his swearing in ceremony and at Mar-a-Lago appeared to pay off last week when the president told the World Economic Forum in Davos that he sees the EUs frequent fines against Silicon Valley as a form of taxation.

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Trump realizes they are a big part of our economy. How they perform matters, Paxton said in the interview on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels Thursday. However, I dont think that means we are just going to turn a blind eye to inappropriate activity by them, whether its antitrust, whether its censorship.

Paxton gained a national reputation during the Biden Administration when he sued the White House over a variety of policies including immigration and abortion, as well as leading a case to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He also gained prominence in progressive circles through his antitrust and privacy cases against companies including Alphabet Inc.s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.

Paxton pointed to the rival social media platform supported by Trump, which he formed in 2022 after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Hes sensitive to that because it happened to him and thats why Truth Social was birthed he said.

I think hell take advantage of the tech companies all of a sudden having interest in having some participation, Paxton said speaking on a panel earlier Thursday. They are only interested because they saw the writing on the wall.

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Trump criticized the big tech platforms during his first term for suppressing conservative viewpoints and moved to crack down on them. His antitrust enforcers sued Google and Meta over their search and social media businesses. They also opened investigations of Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. that led to lawsuits under former President Joe Biden.

Trumps recent coziness with the tech CEOs has raised questions whether Bidens aggressive enforcement agenda will continue under Trump.

What really matters are what are his actions, and we dont know what those actions are yet, Paxton said. We can look back at his record, and it wasnt as if he ever stopped the DOJ from looking into actions against big companies.

Trump Appointee

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Trumps current appointee to head up the Justice Departments antitrust division, Gail Slater, indicates that he wont be soft on tech this time around either, said Roger Alford, a Notre Dame law professor who served in the first Trump DOJ, during the panel.

Regulators in Europe, though view Trumps recent Davos comments with alarm.

The European Commission has fined Google, Apple, Meta and others billions of dollars in a slew of antitrust cases and is also investigating the companies for violations of its Digital Markets Act. Concerns were raised by conference attendees that Trump could retaliate against the bloc through tariffs or even pulling out of alliances such as NATO.

There are of course concerns, Benoit Coeure, head of Frances competition enforcement agency said at the same conference, which was hosted by economist Cristina Caffarra. Caffarra has also consulted on Paxtons antitrust case to break up Googles advertising technology business.

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Coeure said Europe should avoid having some kind of negotiation with the Trump administration case by case, one after another. Because if we fall in that trap, Europe will be stuck like a rabbit in the headlights.

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President Donald Trump, the self-anointed Tariff Man, loves to be unpredictable.

The ability to threaten trade barriers gives him a vast source of leverage against any country that incurs his disapproval without necessarily requiring any action by him at all. Just witness Mexico and Canada scrambling to avoid the 25 percent tariffs that Trump has promised as soon as this weekend.

Its not an approach hes likely to give up anytime soon, according to a number of people in Trumps orbit Ive spoken with, a reality that will no doubt keep markets  with their constant search for certainty about the future  in an uneasy state.

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But theres a practical limit to Trumps unpredictability because he needs tariffs to do more than strong-arm other countries. He needs them to provide some hard-number cash for the treasury.

The administration is serious about using duties as a way to raise revenue as Republicans look to extend and expand tax cuts, Trump allies tell me. So they are working to develop a framework for achieving that  one that goes well beyond one-off threats.

In other words, against the backdrop of chaos used for any purpose, there will also likely be some kind of universal tariff  predictability by Trump standards.



The current policy focus is on the border, one Trump adviser told me, and tariffs have been a part of that strategy. But thats just the start.

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The next push is going to be the big, beautiful reconciliation package, the adviser added.

Under an executive order he signed on the day of his inauguration, the president called for a number of reviews and policy recommendations by April 1 that will help inform that more formalized tariff structure, which might also include the type of country- or product-specific investigations Trump pursued in his first term. But a White House official told me that Trump could act sooner.

Thats the latest deadline by which [tariffs will] happen, but the intention is for action to be well before then, the official said.

The size of any potential tariff is also still highly uncertain. Stephen Miran, Trumps nominee for chief economist, has suggested it might be prudent to phase in tariffs over time, to gauge the impact on global markets.

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Meanwhile, if Trump wants to approach this responsibly, maximizing revenue would require setting tariffs high enough to generate funds but low enough that they dont stop imports entirely. In a vacuum, a 10 percent tariff on all of the roughly $3 trillion in goods imported by the U.S. would yield $300 billion. But that calculation doesnt factor in that a 10 percent tax would be cost-prohibitive for some products and also that Trump presumably wont tariff every import.

In remarks by video to the annual confab of economic elites in Davos, Switzerland, Trump suggested that countries might curry favor by investing in the U.S.

If you dont make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff  differing amounts, but a tariff  which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our Treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt, he said.

Here, though, is where Trumps unpredictability might cut two ways: Whats the benefit of making concessions in a deal with him if he might later blow it up for any reason?

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How confident can other countries be about the long-term prospects of investing in the U.S., or adapting to a structured tariff framework, if all Trump policies have a to-be-determined expiration date?

Last weekend, he won a standoff with Colombia  a country with whom the U.S. has both a free trade agreement and a trade surplus  by threatening tariffs in retaliation for the countrys decision to turn around a military plane carrying deported migrants. The Latin American nation ultimately backed down. Point, Trump.

But hes also deployed threats on Canada and Mexico, which could see increased tariffs as soon as Saturday.



Remember: Trumps renegotiated NAFTA, known as the USMCA, was the crown jewel of his first-term trade policy. It would be striking for our North American neighbors to then become the first target of his tariff crusade.

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a related point to my colleague Alex Burns last week, saying that Trump had once called USMCA the greatest deal you could ever ask for.

Whats wrong with the deal now? Ford asked.

The White House official argued that the 25 percent tariff threat is unrelated to USMCA and is focused instead on the grievances Trump has cited, including migration, the flow of fentanyl across the border and Canadas defense spending. The official said the president was also looking to make USMCA an even better deal heading into a scheduled 2026 review of the trade deal.

Its possible that the U.S. status as consumer of the worlds goods will render my point a moot one. Certainly, Americans for decades have used their power to make other countries submit to global trade rules that were largely designed by us.

But the bargain there was supposed to be that other countries would also somehow be better off, and Trump seems to make no such promises now.

Maybe hell surprise them.
A version of this story appeared in CNNs What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

Less than a day after the deadly collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump said common sense already told him what to blame: diversity programs creating a class of unqualified federal workers.

At the same moment Trump was making these outlandish comments from the White House briefing room, three of his most controversial nominees were facing serious questions on Capitol Hill about their lack of traditional qualifications to lead the FBI, coordinate the nations spy agencies and administer its public health system.

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This is the incredible irony of Trump 2.0, where the new president is claiming a broad mandate to deconstruct the federal bureaucracy as it exists today and promising to cull the federal workforce with broad and insulting claims about the fitness of federal workers even though every air traffic controller passes the same aptitude test.

Meanwhile, theres evidence that the universe of more than two million federal employees may, in some very specific ways, be too small for a country of 330 million people. The Federal Aviation Administration, before Trumps presidency, reported a shortage of air traffic controllers  about 11,500 air traffic controllers as of May 2024 when staffing plans developed by the FAA and the union representing controllers called for 14,600.

At the time of collision, one controller was working two tower positions, an air traffic control source told CNN. National Transportation Safety Board officials at a press conference, still early in their investigation, would not comment on the report. Asked about Trumps allegation about diversity programs causing the crash, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who Trump first nominated to the position in 2018, said investigators will look at everything  the human, the machine and the environment  to determine what went wrong.

Trump acknowledged that his broadside at diversity programs came more from his gut than from any evidence. Heres his exchange with David Sanger, a New York Times reporter:

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Trump did, as part of his blitz of executive actions, end diversity programs specifically at the FAA, which may explain why he is keen to blame them, and former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for the crash. He also read from a year-old online report about efforts at the FAA to hire people with disabilities.

He did not seem to understand the same standards were in place during his first administration and even falsely corrected a reporter who pointed that out.

According to a 2023 FAA report, about 2% of FAA employees had the targeted disabilities Trump mentioned in his comments. But air traffic controllers are a special subset of FAA employees who must meet physical requirements, be tested for drug use, and pass a special aptitude test.

Why were there diversity programs at the FAA?

Despite Trumps cancellation of diversity programs, the FAA lags the rest of the federal workforce in representing the makeup of the country. The portion of women employed at the FAA, about 24%, is far below that of the larger civilian workforce, 48%. Where White men make up about 36% of the larger federal workforce, they account for more than 55% of employees at the FAA.

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Trump clearly does not think all air traffic controllers are unqualified because he later said Americans should still feel safe in the air. But he did promise that his cancellation of diversity programs would improve standards.

Vice President JD Vance, who appeared alongside Trump at the White House briefing room, noted there is a lawsuit filed against the FAA by White air traffic controller applicants because they felt discriminated against due to biographical questions added to a screening text.

The larger war on federal workers

Trumps claims about diversity dovetail with his expanding efforts to cull the federal workforce with a legally dubious offer to pay without work through September, although its only a loose promise.

In remarks on Wednesday, Trump accused federal workers who have flexibility to work remotely of not actually working. Air traffic controllers are among the more than half, 54%, of federal workers who worked fully on-site before Trumps inauguration.

What does it take to be in Trumps Cabinet?

While Trump was attacking the qualifications of air traffic controllers, senators were wondering about the qualifications of some of his top administration picks.

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Kash Patel, Trumps pick to lead the FBI, is appealing to the president in part because Patel wants to shake up the FBI. He pledged not to engage in a campaign of retribution if confirmed to the 10-year position, despite multiple previous statements about an enemies list and Trump opponents who should be investigated.

Tulsi Gabbard faced skepticism about her plan, as a former Democratic member of Congress, to push for a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who leaked information about classified intelligence programs before fleeing to Russia. Gabbard, who has never formally worked in intelligence, said she will not oppose the controversial NSA domestic wiretapping program Snowden disclosed.

The FBI and the intelligence services in this country, this is the very heart of the so-called deep state that Donald Trump believes was against him from the start back in 2016 and onward, said CNNs Washington bureau chief David Chalian, explaining why Trump wants to shake up the system.

Republican senators would have to break with Trump in order for these candidates lack of traditional qualifications to torpedo their nominations. Gabbard faced more scrutiny from Republicans than Patel. She refused to say whether she thinks Snowden is a traitor.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appearing at his second day of hearings to be health and human services secretary, faced questions from a Republican doctor, Sen. Bill Cassidy, about his vaccine skepticism.

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When President Trump visited Los Angeles last week, he pledged to open up the pumps and valves in the north and get that water pouring down here.

But records show that the day he made that announcement , the federal governments pumping facility in Northern California was delivering less water than usual, apparently because managers had reduced pumping for several days of routine maintenance.

The records indicate that the day after Trumps announcement, on Saturday, the federally managed pumping plant resumed regular levels of water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into the aqueducts of the Central Valley Project.

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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamations daily pumping data for the Jones Pumping Plant shows that on Jan. 21, the amount of water pumped decreased to about 1,900 acre-feet, down from about 6,900 acre-feet the day before. Pumping continued at reduced levels of about 1,800 acre-feet each day from Jan. 22 through Jan. 24, when Trump visited Los Angeles.

The pumping returned to higher levels on Saturday, Jan. 25, delivering 5,300 acre-feet of water that day, or about 1.7 billion gallons.

On Monday night, Trump said on social media that the U.S. military had entered California and TURNED ON THE WATER, a claim that state officials promptly denied .

The California Department of Water Resources responded in a statement: The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days.

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Read more: Trump social media claim of using troops to force water flow is refuted by California

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

There were no military sent to the Central Valley. That was reported but wasn't in evidence, Newsom said.

He said the federal government was doing maintenance on the Central Valley Project from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24.

Between the 21st and 24th, the federal government was doing maintenance on their system. It's maintenance that is well coordinated with the State Water Project that does not end pumping, Newsom said.

For four days, maintenance work on power transmission lines prevented operation of another pumping plant south of the Delta near San Luis Reservoir, which led managers to reduce pumping at the Jones Pumping Plant.

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On the 24th, that maintenance ended, and they started turning back on the pumps, Newsom said. It takes a few days to get the pumps back to 100%, and perhaps that was what they were celebrating.

The Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Central Valley Project, did not respond to requests for information about the maintenance that temporarily reduced water deliveries.

The unofficial Department of Government Efficiency , which Trump plans to consult for recommendations on cutting government spending, said in a social media post that it congratulates the administration for more than doubling the Federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California.

According to the government data, the Trump administration has not yet increased pumping above the levels that the federal facility was drawing from the Delta under the Biden administration earlier this month. (On Tuesday, the pumping plant delivered nearly 6,900 acre-feet. On Wednesday, that decreased somewhat to about 5,100 acre-feet, and on Thursday, pumping returned to more than 6,800 acre-feet.)

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Read more: Trump reenters Californias water wars. It's unclear who will win

Water experts have pointed out that Trump made several inaccurate statements on social media and during his L.A. visit. For example, he said he was opening up the flow of water from the Pacific Northwest and parts of Canada  from where California has no aqueducts, pipelines or other avenues for water flow.

He also said he intended to increase the flow of water to Los Angeles, even though urban areas of Southern California are supplied not by the federally managed Central Valley Project but by the State Water Project, the other main north-to-south water conduit in the region  which hasnt been directly affected by his executive orders.

I don't think he's interested in water. I think he's interested in other things  for which this is perhaps a rhetorical vehicle, said Jay Lund, a UC Davis emeritus professor of civil and environmental engineering.

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Lund said he thinks one aim of Trumps statements might be keeping other people off balance, including political adversaries in California.

He likes to occupy space, it seems, Lund said. He's not doing things that would actually provide water. He's setting up some rhetorical conditions for perhaps other things he's interested in accomplishing.

The intake channel at the C.W. "Bill" Jones Pumping Plant in Tracy, Calif., in 2016. (Los Angeles Times)

Trump has clashed with Newsom on California water policy and has repeatedly criticized environmental protections for endangered fish species in the Delta, which place constraints on water deliveries.

Trump issued an order on Sunday directing federal agencies to maximize water deliveries in California and override state policies if necessary.

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Lund noted, however, that the movement of water in California is largely controlled by local and regional agencies. Because of state environmental laws and other factors, he said, the president is generally not in a strong position to greatly alter how California manages water.

You're never quite sure where it's going to lead to. But he does business by menacing a bit, Lund said. My impression of this is, a lot of these things are really more signaling rather than substance.

If Trump eventually increases federal pumping via the federally controlled Central Valley Project, that would primarily benefit the agriculture industry in the San Joaquin Valley, sending more water flowing to farms that produce almonds, pistachios, tomatoes and other crops. The CVP ends in the southern San Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield and does not reach Southern Californias urban areas to the south.

Lund and other experts have pointed out that because state flow requirements to protect endangered fish will remain in place regardless of any federal changes, an increase in pumping by the federal system could, in theory, lead to a decrease in pumping by the State Water Project and less water flowing to urban Southern California.

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He might be arguing about the share of federal versus state pumping, but I don't see much promise in being able to increase the total amount of pumping, Lund said.

Read more: Trump wants to upend California water policy. State officials say it could do harm

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the wildfires in Southern California underscored why the state should be delivering more water south from the Delta. But California water managers have said L.A. and other cities are not currently short of water, pointing out that the regions reservoirs are at record-high levels.

State officials have also said that pumping to move water south from the Delta has nothing to do with the local fire response in Los Angeles.

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Even with ample supplies in reservoirs, local water systems were pushed to their limits as the fires rapidly spread, driven by strong winds.

When the L.A. water system lost pressure in parts of Pacific Palisades, some fire hydrants ran dry in high-elevation areas, hindering the firefighting effort. Newsom has ordered an investigation into the loss of pressure to hydrants and the lack of water available from a reservoir in Pacific Palisades that was out of commission for repairs.

In his latest executive order, Trump criticized disastrous policies and water mismanagement by California, and directed federal agencies to scrap a plan that the Biden administration adopted last month , establishing new rules for operating the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.

Instead, Trump told federal agencies to more or less follow a plan adopted during his first presidency, which California and environmental groups successfully challenged in court.

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Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, responded to Trumps order earlier this week saying the directive has no immediate impact on operations of the State Water Project, which supplies water for 27 million people.

Nemeth said the current rules for the operations of the two water systems in the Delta actually supply Californians with more water than theyd have access to under Trumps 2020 rules, since the latest plan was written based on new science and with added flexibility to respond more nimbly to real-time conditions in rivers and the Delta.

To abandon these new frameworks would harm California water users and protection of native fish species, Nemeth said.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
HERE AND THERE AMONG THE DEMORALIZING and disturbing reports about Donald Trumps rapid-fire assault on democratic institutions, there are stories of courage, of resistance, of people standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution.

There are the federal employees who have taken to Reddit to give confidence to one another to stand up to Trumps depredations.

There is the employment official at USAID who reportedly refused to carry out unlawful firings and so was placed on administrative leave.

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And there is Phyllis Fong, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who reportedly had to be forcibly removed from her office after she refused to comply with Trumps order firing her and more than a dozen other inspectors general.

A Trump administration spokesperson called Fong and the other fired inspectors general rogue, partisan bureaucrats [who] have been relieved of their duties in order to make room for qualified individuals who will uphold the rule of law and protect Democracy. The spokesperson said that Fong was not escorted out by security but left on her own.

Whichever account you believe about Fongs final exit, if her termination and the terminations of the other inspectors general come before the Supreme Court, such a case could have broad constitutional implications for a 90-year-old precedent upholding Congresss prerogative to create federal agencies with a measure of independence from the president.

Some background: Inspectors general (IGs) date back to the 1950s. They were created by Congress to serve as internal watchdogs tasked with uncovering fraud, waste, and abuse within executive branch agencies. After the transgressions of Watergate, Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978 (later amending it three times), creating new IGs at 12 different agenciesa number that was later expanded to 73. The law structurally designs IGs to have a measure of independence from the president and empowers them to audit agencies and report their results to Congress. They generally hire their own staffs, conduct congressionally mandated reviews, and have a separate budget. They are supposed to be selected based on their integrity and competence and without regard to political affiliation. In 2008, Congress amended the law to create the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), to coordinate the work of IGs and afford professional training.

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Agency heads cannot prevent IG investigations, but they can in most cases remove them so long as they notify Congress 30 days in advance and provide justifications for the removals. The idea behind the 30-day waiting period is that it allows Congress to try and talk a president out of firing an IG. One of Ronald Reagans first acts as president in 1981 was to remove 15 IGs, prompting congressional pushback and a committee hearing, at which Rep. H.L. Fountain (D-N.C.), the committee chair, decried the serious damage . . . done . . . by the perception that inspectors general were being viewed in the same light as political appointees, who expect to be removed with each change in administrations. Presidents Obama and Trump in his first term also removed IGs due to lack of confidence.

The requirement of 30-day notification to Congress was added to the IG law in 2008, and in 2022 modified to say the president must provide Congress with a substantive rationale for the firing, including detailed and case-specific reasons.

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THE BIG PICTURE: Trumps actions strike at the heart of a larger question of constitutional structurethat of independent agencies. In requiring the 30-day notice, the law arguably restricts presidents ability to fire executive branch officials at will. Reversing Supreme Court precedent on agency independence could be the ultimate goal of Trump and his enablersand they might well persuade the Courts right-wing majority to go along with it.

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The Constitution clearly gives presidents the power to appoint executive branch officials with the advice and consent of the Senate. But it says nothing whatsoever about removal. The Court has nonetheless held since 1926 that removal is part and parcel of the appointment power, on the theory that without the ability to fire underlings, the power to control a presidents hires is effectively meaningless.

In the early twentieth century, Congress tinkered with the removal power by creating agencies with officials that, by statute, could only be removed for cause. Deemed independent agencies, the top brass of these entities is usually comprised of boards whose multiple members serve staggered terms that run longer than a single presidential administration, effectively denying any one president the ability to fire those in charge in one fell swoop. (Any agency with the word Commission in its title qualifiesthink Federal Trade Commission or Securities Exchange Commission, for example.) The theory behind independent agencies is that expertise, not politics, is necessary in certain areas of policymaking to produce the best results for the American public and the U.S. economy.

Independent agencies came under fire in 1935 in a case called Humphreys Executor v. United States. The Supreme Court upheld Congresss power to constrain presidents ability to terminate independent agency heads for any reasona limitation that later made its way into the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, for example, which created independent counsels, and later into the Justice Department regulations enabling attorneys general to tap special counsels to investigate high-ranking government officials, including presidents themselves.

Then, in 2017, the Court pulled back on Humphreys, holding in a 54 ruling that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureauwith its single director who could only be removed for causewas unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority and was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. The lawyers behind Trumps flurry of disturbing executive actions undoubtedly know that if they get a case challenging legislative restrictions on the presidents removal powerlike a hypothetical one brought by a disgruntled IG seeking a court order reminding Trump that he is bound by acts of Congressthe same Supreme Court majority is positioned to overrule Humphreys altogether.

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If that were to happen, the number of agenciesand their career staffs of expertsthat would immediately go directly under Trumps thumb is staggering. There are hundreds, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (which protects the public from risky consumer products), the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board (which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons complex), the Federal Communications Commission (which regulates and licenses radio, TV, and cable), the Federal Election Commission (which enforces federal campaign finance and election laws), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (which administers flood insurance and disaster relief programs), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (which acts as the central bank of the United States to ensure the stability of the nations financial system), among many others.

So when Fong, a 22-year veteran of the Department of Agriculture, took a stand against Trump, she took a stand for the American people too. The USDA administers nutrition assistance programs, supports and regulates commercial farming and livestock production, and protects consumer food safety (thus its involvement in the recent listeria outbreak at Boars Head meats) and animal welfare (its at the center of managing the looming threat of a bird flu epidemic).

Oh, and one other thing the USDA inspector general has done recently? In 2022, Fongs office opened an investigation of Elon Musks brain-implant company Neuralink after staff raised concerns about allegations of needless suffering and death caused by animal testing. No wonder she was on the Trump-Musk presidencys chopping block from the get-go.

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Donald Trump is officially waging war on publicly funded journalism.

In a letter to PBS and NPR, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that he was launching an investigation into the news organizations member stations, The New York Times reported Thursday.

I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing Commercials, Carr wrote in the letter. In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.

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To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars, Carr wrote.

Both NPR and PBS seem game for review.

We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPRs adherence to these rules, said NPRs CEO Katherine Maher in a statement Thursday. We have worked for decades with the F.C.C. in support of noncommercial educational broadcasters who provide essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States.

In its own statement, PBS stood by its noncommercial educational programming and said it had worked diligently to comply with the F.C.C.s underwriting regulations.

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But attacking publicly funded media is all part of Trumps master plan.

Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook for Trumps second administration, called for the government to strip noncommercial education stations of their federal funding and licenses. Carr actually wrote the manifestos chapter on overhauling the FCC. After Trump announced Carrs nomination, Carr pledged that the FCC under Trump will enforce laws that ensure media organizations act in the public interest.

Trump himself has repeatedly called to strip major broadcasters of their licenses whenever they fact-check him on his easily disproven lies. Publicly funded media, such as NPR, is no exception to Trumps wrath.

In April, Trump declared in a Truth Social post that there would be NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!

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THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!! he wrote.

Earlier this month, MAGA Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene threatened to drag PBS before Congress so they could testify on their accurate reporting on Elon Musks apparent Sieg Heil.
President Trump on Thursday said he plans to follow through on Saturday on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada.

Well be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He cited the influx of migrants at the southern border, the flow of fentanyl into the United States and the trade deficit the U.S. has with its neighbors.

Ill be putting the tariff of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico, and we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries, he said. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.

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Trump added that he would decide Thursday night whether to include oil among the items subject to tariffs.

We may or may not. Were going to make that determination, probably tonight, on oil. Because they send us oil, well see. It depends on what the price is. If the oil is properly priced, if they treat us properly, which they dont, Trump said.

Look, Mexico and Canada have never been good to us on trade, he continued. Theyve treated us very unfairly on trade, and we will be able to make that up very quickly because we dont need the products that they have.

The action would make good on a threat Trump first made in the final days of the 2024 campaign, when he threatened to impose a tariff of 25 percent on all imports from Mexico, which is the top trade partner with the U.S., unless the Mexican government curbed the flow of migrants at the southern border.

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He later expanded that threat to include Canada and China.

Mexico and Canada are two of the top trading partners with the United States, and experts have warned that tariffs could lead to increased prices for American consumers for certain goods.

But experts have also said that the economies of Mexico and Canada would likely suffer more in the long-term from an extended trade war.

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BusinessWire India New Delhi [India], January 31: The Forum of Indian Food Importers (FIFI), a leading non-government and not-for-profit entity representing over 6,500 stakeholders in India's agriculture, food, and beverage industry, has formally requested the Government of India to reconsider the high Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on walnut imports. Currently, walnuts attract a 100% BCD, a tariff that has significantly increased consumer prices and caused concerns among food processors, traders, and health-conscious consumers. FIFI has appealed to the government to reduce the duty to the original 30% or consider a specific tariff rate based on weight, which would help balance revenue generation while making walnuts more affordable for Indian consumers. Upon being asked about the impact of high customs duty on tariff and its impact on Indian consumers Mr. Amit Lohani, Founder and Director of FIFI was quoted saying, "There are several global studies that recognize walnuts as a superfood, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and essential nutrients beneficial for heart health, diabetes management, and cognitive function. However, the steep customs duty has led to a sharp increase in market prices, with retail rates soaring from INR 850 per kg to INR 1,500 per kg, making this nutritious product inaccessible to many Indian consumers." He further states, "According to industry estimates, while India's last reported walnut production stands at 3,17,000 MT, only 35,000 MT is marketable and consumable. Simultaneously, India imports approximately 70,000 MT of walnuts, primarily from the Southern Hemisphere, ensuring year-round availability. Given the country's limited domestic supply, reducing import duties is critical to stabilizing prices and meeting growing consumer demand." "FIFI acknowledges the government's vision for self-reliance and inclusive growth in the walnut sector. While international businesses have expressed interest in developing walnut plantations in India, such initiatives require 5 to 12 years to yield results. In the interim, a lower import duty would bridge the supply gap, ensuring uninterrupted availability while enabling a gradual transition to enhanced domestic production," said Mr. Raju Bhatia, Chairperson - Tree Nuts and Dry Fruits Committee of FIFI. Lowering the BCD on walnut imports would yield broader economic and social benefits such as: - Women Empowerment: A significant share of walnut processing--including cracking, grading, and packing--is carried out manually, with women forming the majority of the workforce. Reducing import duties would help sustain their employment and promote financial independence. Additionally, this initiative would contribute to India's progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality. -Support for Jammu & Kashmir's Walnut Industry: J&K contributes 98% of India's walnut production, but seasonal constraints cause factories to remain idle after February-March. Importing walnuts can help sustain year-round operations, ensuring continuous employment. This move would also align with the Skill India movement, fostering job creation and new opportunities for India's youth. -Health Benefits: Promoting walnut consumption aligns with public health goals by increasing access to a nutrient-dense food that supports overall well-being. Additionally, this aligns with the Prime Minister's Eat Right India campaign under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). -Strengthening Bilateral Ties: A revised duty structure could foster international collaborations and investment in India's agricultural sector. This reform would also reinforce India's standing in the Ease of Doing Business index. FIFI has urged the government to take immediate steps to revise the high import duty, ensuring affordability for Indian consumers while sustaining domestic industry operations. A fair and balanced approach will not only protect the interests of local walnut growers but also encourage a healthy and sustainable market environment. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)  High on President Donald Trumps priorities for California is more water for the Central Valley.

This plan was announced during his visit last week to California to address the Los Angeles wildfires.

But how possible is it, really?

Experts say the short answer is we have reason to be hopeful, but likely not anytime soon.

Bakersfield Congressman Vince Fong joined the president during his visit. During a press conference last week, President Trump told Fong, [More water flow] would have a great impact. I know your area very well. It would have an unbelievable impact to your area.

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I guess what Im doing is controversial. I dont know, I dont know whats controversial, the president also remarked.

Experts say the presidents declaration  also stated in a memo and executive order  oversimplifies how water flows.

California has probably one of the most complex and interconnected water systems in the world, said Central Valley political strategist, Tal Eslick. Weve heard this president talk more about California water than probably any, including his first term.

So, how will this all work?

Experts said it involves two water storage and delivery systems  the federally managed Central Valley Project (or CVP) and the state-controlled State Water Project (or SWP), from which Kern County gets most of its water.

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Water allocation is dependant on two things  endangered species and Mother Nature.

Delta smeltnow lungfin smelt and winter-run salmon, said Greg Gartrell, former water manager Contra Consta Water District, Adjunct Fellow of the Public Policy Institute for Californias Water Policy Center.

Kern County reacts: Trump proposes voter ID mandate for California elections

Gartrell said federal biological opinions  an analysis of environmental impacts  are in place for those species.

If the biological opinions are changed is lots of lawsuits, Gartrell predicted. Delta smelt, they havent found one in the wild for a number of years now. The salmon population is going down.

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To that point, Eslick added, And thus far, [environmental efforts] have been unsuccessful. So, for farmers in the Valley, really their perspective islets try something else.

So, thats the endangered species component. As for Mother Nature?

We depend on snow, Gartrell commented.

17s Jenny Huh: Even if we had all the water in the world to just turn on the water and let it all flow, our pipes only have so much capacity?

Greg Gartrell: [Yes, then you fill up the pipes, you fill up the reservoirs, and you have no place to put [all that excess water].

Gartrell explained that typically happens in wet seasons, when even farmers dont need excess water.

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Kern Countys main water source  the State Water Project  pulls water from three reservoirs  Shasta, Oroville and Folsom.

And, of course, theres the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, up north near San Francisco, but even storage sites can only hold so much water.

If [theres too much water] and they dont turn over, if youre not moving water in and out, it gets stale, Gartrell said, noting that the water in storage wont be clean and fresh.

He also emphasized that theres a common misunderstanding on freshwater usage when it comes to the Delta.

The Delta is driven by tides, and the tides are pushing in salt water from the ocean, Gartrell said.

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Thats why, the water expert stated, freshwater is utilized to pump some of that salt water out. Otherwise, he said, wed be drinking salty water.

As for the dry times?

We often turn to ground water storage which, experts said, were still figuring out.

At the end of the day, its complicated.

17s Jenny Huh: Ones state, ones federal, so to adjust either of them, it sounds like Californias going to have to change some state laws, and at the federal level, youre probably going to have to work with Congress to change some laws, and then California and D.C. are going to have to work together to come to some agreement?

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Greg Gartrell: Yeah, and youve hit it exactly.

Eslick also added that folks may be feeling more hopeful because its different times now.

California is in a dire situation, as we saw a water shortage with the LA fires.

The outlandish claims on the part of the President I think can actually be helpful because it puts  I think in some cases unfair  but it does put pressure on the state, Eslick said, noting that collaboration between President Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom will be critical.

Youre going to upset environmental interests if you move the water south, youre going to upset, and I think damage Valley communities if you dont, Eslick concluded.

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President Donald Trump has hobbled the U.S. Agency for International Development with some of his recent moves, and he may be on the way to further marginalizing the agency or effectively closing it down.

Two incoming Trump administration officials familiar with the matter said the presidents team is exploring subsuming the agency into the State Department. Five others close to the administration said they werent aware of specific plans but that USAIDs independence is definitely not guaranteed. All were granted anonymity because they werent authorized to speak about the issue.

Already, Trump has frozen billions in foreign aid funding  hitting a vast number of USAID programs; put some 60 senior career USAID officials on leave and fired or furloughed hundreds of contractors; and failed to name an administrator for USAID while allowing a State Department-based official to effectively oversee the agency, which is increasingly in turmoil.

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A USAID spokesperson denied that the administration plans to fold the agency into the State Department, calling the question purely speculative. The person  who was not authorized to go on the record  added: This is patently false and we cannot comment on any deliberations as none have taken place.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment on plans for USAID or its programs.

But the steps already taken suggest that, at the very least, a smaller, weaker version of USAID is to come. Even if the agency is never officially deleted on paper  which would almost certainly require sign-offs from Congress  it could become smaller and more politicized, without the ability to direct its own agenda.

How Washington handles such a change also has ramifications for other parts of the federal government, which Trump wants to shrink.

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I am concerned that an effort to reorganize the agency would be used as pretext to further gut U.S. foreign aid, said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. If the objective is to advance American interests, my Republican colleagues who talk a big game about outcompeting China and its global investments should explain how this will do anything but shoot us in the foot.

Such a change at USAID could undermine humanitarian work globally, as well as Americas reputation as it faces competition from places such as China, officials and analysts warn. USAID delivers life-saving aid to conflict zones and helps developing countries on a range of fronts, from providing medicines to agricultural training. Its work is carried about by people who often have specialized expertise far beyond typical State Department diplomats and who try to operate outside of political agendas.

There are additional signs of potential change: One current and one former USAID official said the agency is deliberating on whether to fully transfer its financial management system for all its awards, known as the Phoenix program, under the State Department to better streamline the two agencies parallel work on foreign aid. The USAID spokesperson denied this was underway.



If you look at the actions in totality, it adds up to really paint a picture that seeks to marginalize USAID, said a Democratic congressional aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

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A former USAID official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic candidly, said many in the policy community wonder if USAID is acting as the test case on how the administration will obliterate other U.S. agencies.

Changing USAIDs structure could get support from Republicans, who note that the idea isnt a novel one or even necessarily partisan.

This idea has been floated by nearly every administration since USAID was established by Congress in 1998, said Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Im supportive of efforts to reform and restructure the agency in a way that better serves U.S. national security interests and will look for ways to do just that.

USAID describes itself as an independent agency that takes policy guidance from the secretary of State. It has more than 9,000 people in its workforce, and they serve in more than 100 countries. The secretary technically has authority over USAIDs funding, and the two institutions are lumped together in congressional appropriations. But generally, USAID operates without much micro-managing from the State Department, which has some 75,000 employees around the world, a number that includes local staffers in other countries.

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Over the years, both Democratic and Republican administrations have toyed with the idea of making USAID a part of the State Department. Those plans never came to fruition, as champions of USAID in Congress argued that USAID has a wholly distinct mission from State: tackling development problems while State covers diplomacy. But there have always been tensions between State and USAID over which agency controls what parts of the multibillion-dollar foreign aid apparatus, regardless of which party is in power.

The first Trump administration drafted plans to merge USAID under the State Department in 2017, but those plans were eventually scrapped because of bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill.

Some USAID officials theorize that the Trump administration is keeping things vague this time on purpose: Any serious attempt to formally merge two agencies or reorganize the executive branch may require congressional approval, or at least a series of notices to lawmakers.

But laying the groundwork without any formal announcement bypasses that political hurdle  at least for now. Or Trump, whom critics allege has already shown a willingness to disregard the written letter of the law on a number of fronts  may just allow the merger to happen in an unofficial fashion.

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This has Democrats worried. Some note that working for USAID often requires having significant technical expertise.

Its a separate agency for a reason, a Democratic congressional aide said. These are professionals who know how to do their jobs and to deliver life-saving assistance on a daily basis, and theyre the ones who are best qualified to do that. So from our perspective, its a huge concern and something that were going to be prepared to fight against.

Democratic lawmakers are already fuming at such a prospect. Trump has already frozen virtually all our foreign aid  what about that would lead anyone to believe he gives a damn about USAID? Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. It is a terrible idea to functionally dismantle one of our most effective soft power tools.

There are multiple ways to let the State Department exert greater control over USAID without necessarily formally dismantling the latter.

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One option the administration could pursue is having the USAID administrator also serve as the State Departments director of foreign assistance. The person who holds the latter role has traditionally worked closely with USAID, and the idea of merging or dual-hatting the positions is suggested in Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation vision authored by many who now work for Trump.

Given that the administration already looks determined to downsize USAID, as well as other government branches, it could reorient the Office of Foreign Assistance, known as the F bureau, to basically run USAID.

Already, one Trump figure who has emerged as highly influential in guiding the administrations approach to foreign aid is Pete Marocco, who has a senior role in the State Department overseeing the F bureau.

Marocco held multiple roles in the first Trump administration, including at USAID, where he drew intense backlashfor trying to rework the agencys Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization. His actions even triggered a dissent memo against his efforts. He was put on leave after three months on the job.

Marocco did not respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration's plan to arrest and deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible quickly became a numbers game as White House officials set quotas and government press officers highlighted each day's deportation tally. As president, Donald Trump is continuing his campaign-trail rhetoric by insisting federal officers are rounding up murderers, even though a deportation policy that focuses on generating impressive numbers to achieve a "mission accomplished" moment cannot also prioritize removing dangerous criminals.

In short, politics and public relations dominate the Trump deportation plan. That makes sense since economists would advocate for more immigration, not removing potentially millions of people from the U.S. labor force.

What are the key things to know about the Trump deportation effort?

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The Trump administration claimed it removed and returned 7,300 undocumented immigrants in its first week. That would represent a pace of 379,600 removals in a year. That would be higher than the annual removals for the past 10 years but lower than the FY 2012, FY 2013, and FY 2014 removal totals of, respectively, 415,579, 432,334, and 405,193, published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

After Trump became "disappointed" in the number of arrests so far, The Washington Post reported, the administration set arrest quotas, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials that "each of the agency's field offices should make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets." The Post added, "The orders significantly increase the chance that officers will engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations as they strain to meet quotas, according to current and former ICE officials."

The Trump administration at first denied the story about quotas until White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller went on CNN and warned ICE agents that arrest quotas are a "floor, not a ceiling." Miller said, "The goal is to arrest at least that many, but hopefully many more."

Setting numerical targets for arrests invites abuse and reduces individuals to widgets. A 2022 Virginia law sought to mitigate those risks by banning police and sheriff's departments from "establishing a formal or informal quota that requires a law-enforcement officer to make a specific number of arrests or issue a specific number of summonses within a designated period of time." Nick Sibilla of the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm, called it a "long-overdue reform."

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Given the desire for numbers and other factors, cases of U.S. citizens being held or arrested by ICE are likelyand already happening. A U.S. military veteran from Puerto Rico was apprehended during a raid in New Jersey. (Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.) "At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids since Wednesday, according to Navajo Nation officials," reported CNN.

During most presidential administrations, due to limited resources, ICE focuses on people with criminal convictions. In FY 2024, ICE reported, "Over 81,312 (71.7%) of the 113,431 arrests were of noncitizens with criminal convictions or pending charges." Data obtained by NBC News showed only 52 percent of the 1,179 ICE arrests on Sunday were considered "criminal arrests." That percentage will likely trend lower as White House officials continue to press ICE agents to increase the overall number of potential deportees.

Press and social media mentions have become ends in themselves for the Trump deportation plan. CNN reported that ICE agents have been told to be "camera-ready." In Chicago, celebrity talk show host Dr. Phil accompanied agents on an enforcement operation. Trump officials chose to use more expensive but higher-profile military aircraft for some deportation flights. In New York, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared on social media dressed in a flak jacket and addressed a camera.

Criminals are not the primary focus of ICE enforcement actions. The White House has directed officers to generate numbers. Once everyone is a priority, no particular group, including criminals, is singled out for enforcement.

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Other policy changes, such as removing legal status from Venezuelans and others with Temporary Protected Status or those who entered the U.S. lawfully with sponsors through humanitarian parole programs, will provide more potential deportees by creating more undocumented immigrants. That appears to be a key part of the Trump plan since officials hope these individuals will be easy to find and add to the deportation tally.

The lack of detention capacity could limit the Trump team's ability to lock up and deport undocumented immigrants. In January 2025, the average daily population of individuals in ICE detention facilities was 40,099. That means ICE likely does not have space to add tens of thousands more detainees. ICE hopes to expand its detention capacity via appropriations in a reconciliation bill, but that could take time. On January 29, Trump ordered the construction of a facility to detain up to 30,000 migrants at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, but questions abound on the legality, practicality, and appropriateness of the plan.

Countries cannot be forced to take back citizens the U.S. government wishes to deport. The U.S. government can threaten a "recalcitrant" country with visa sanctions or other actions, as Trump did recently with Colombia. Cuba and Venezuela are two countries with citizens in the U.S. that generally have refused to accept deportees.

Trump officials will likely seek to overcome problems with countries and deportees in a few ways. First, they may detain people long-term in miserable conditions to compel them to depart voluntarily. Administration officials can attempt that against Cubans and Venezuelans but also with people whose pending asylum claims may take years to adjudicate. The U.S.-recognized president-elect of Venezuela, Edmundo Gonzalez, fears Trump will cut a deportation deal with Nicolas Maduro that would let the authoritarian ruler "use returning Venezuelans to his political advantage."

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Second, the administration has floated arranging with a third country, such as El Salvador, to accept non-Salvadoran deportees. Once the individuals leave the U.S., Trump officials are unlikely to worry about the fate of families and individuals from Venezuela or elsewhere deposited in an unfamiliar country.

The Trump administration, by design, has not provided a specific number of deportations that will be hailed as a success if reached. Trump and his allies will likely boast about any number of people they manage to remove from the country in year one and devote more resources to deporting more people in years two, three, and four. Considering the vast majority of deportees will not be criminals but men, women, and children who lived and worked in the U.S. peacefully for years, Americans will decide if the number hailed by government officials is cause for celebration.

The post Trump's Deportation Plan Is About Numbers, Not Safety appeared first on Reason.com.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A busy shelter for migrants in southern Mexico has been left without a doctor. A program to provide mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth fleeing Venezuela was disbanded. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, so-called Safe Mobility Offices where migrants can apply to enter the U.S. legally have shuttered.

Barely a week into Donald Trumps new administration, his order to halt U.S. foreign assistance is having a profound effect on an issue that propelled him to the White House: migration.

Across Latin America, grassroots organizations that assist migrants have been gutted, the already perilous trek northward has become more confusing and the future of programs to root out the violence, poverty and human rights abuses that has driven historic levels of migration in recent years are hanging by a thread.

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Trump, within hours of taking office Jan. 20, ordered a sweeping 90-day freeze on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department. The decision immediately halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide, forcing U.S. aid organizations and partners in the field to slash hundreds of aid workers.

The United States is the worlds largest source of foreign assistance by far, although several European countries allocate a much bigger share of their budgets. While aid to Africa dwarfs the roughly $2 billion that Latin America receives annually, the Western Hemisphere has long been a spending priority of both Democratic and Republican administrations.

The region is closely tied to the U.S. through trade and migration as well as the flow of narcotics. And the rising influence of China and Russia in recent years has only enhanced the strategic importance of what used to be referred to, disparagingly, as Washington's backyard.

It's a message that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is likely to reinforce when starting Saturday he visits Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic in his first official overseas trip.

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Shelter has been appealing for alternate funding

Trump has made it a priority to deter migrants from entering the U.S. illegally and many of the aid programs he halted are funded through the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which provides humanitarian assistance to those fleeing persecution, crisis, or violence.

One such beneficiary is the Peace Oasis of the Holy Spirit Amparito shelter in the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa. The shelter has been treading water for months as Mexican authorities  under pressure from the U.S. to stem migration flows  have dumped migrants rounded up throughout the country.

The aid freeze dealt another blow, forcing the charitable organization that runs the facility to fire its only doctor as well as a social worker and child psychologist.

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In the days since Trump's order, the shelter has been appealing to the Mexican government for alternate funding for programs managed by the United Nations to pay for flights and bus rides to Mexico's southern border with Guatemala for migrants who want to return home. Currently, four families from Honduras, Ecuador and El Salvador are stranded.

The crisis is only going to worsen, the shelter said in a statement. The most affected will be the population we serve.

Psychological, physical, and sexual abuse

Some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) away from Villahermosa, in the Colombian capital of Bogota, aid workers are also scrambling.

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The city is a major hub for the more than 7 million Venezuelans who have fled economic collapse and abuse under Nicolas Maduro's increasingly authoritarian rule. Colombia is also the starting point for the more than 800,000 migrants  the majority Venezuelan  who have set out the past two years on the dangerous trek northward through once impenetrable Darien Gap connecting Central and South America on their way to the U.S.

Among the most marginalized migrant groups are LGBTQ+ youth, who suffer significantly higher rates of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. The Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, for the past year has been readying a U.S.-funded project to provide mental health support to LGBTQ+ teenagers, from Venezuela as well as Colombians internally displaced by decades of armed conflict.

Leila Younes, a Lebanese gender specialist, had just arrived in Bogota to launch the project when she saw the devastating email with the stop-work order by the State Department. After breaking the news to local partners, she immediately returned home  and now the Human Rights Center is urgently seeking $300,000 to continue the research

"We spent a year preparing with our partners, and overnight, we were told to stop, said Younes. No transition, no time to secure other funding.

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Trump's first administration funded several programs

Although the White House only paused humanitarian assistance for 90 days pending further review, Younes said she's under no illusion the work  and a sister project in Poland among Ukrainian youth fleeing the war with Russia  will resume. Trump on the campaign trail repeatedly blasted transgender youth and has issued sweeping orders instructing the federal government to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

This isnt just a funding cutits part of a rollback on LGBTQI+ rights, said Younes.

The first Trump administration funded several programs by Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to integrate the Venezuelan diaspora as well as those by Costa Rica to resettle opponents of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The aid aligned closely with Trump's foreign policy goals to isolate anti-democratic governments and helped discourage migrants from heading to the U.S., said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.

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Were likely to see much of the foreign assistance in the region understood through a migration lens, said Selee. That means stopping funding for programs that support migrants in transit but perhaps increasing funding for efforts to integrate returned migrants and those already living in other countries in the region.

What is less likely to resume, says Selee, is foreign aid attacking the root causes of migration  a priority, at least initially, of the Biden administration. Trump has also suspended offices opened by Biden in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala where migrants could apply for asylum and other legal pathways to enter the U.S. instead of trekking to the border.

Trust isnt something you can turn on and off

Traditionally, U.S. funding in Latin America has been channeled to support everything from child health nutrition, legal reform and press freedom. By far the biggest chunk funds security assistance to combat gangs, eradicate illegal crops and strengthen the rule of law.

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Liliana Ayalde, a former American ambassador to Brazil and Paraguay, said long term investments in state-building like the more than $10 billion spent on Plan Colombia since 2000 generate enormous goodwill even if it is difficult to measure the number of people who chose not to uproot as a result of such assistance.

Trust isnt something you can turn on and off in a conflict zone, said Ayalde, who started her diplomatic career at the U.S. Agency for International Development and now serves on the board of two non-profit organizations who also saw their funding cut. Partners arent going to trust the U.S. again if they dont feel safe and think were in it for the long haul.

That may be good news for China, Washingtons top adversary for influence in Latin America. As Latin America has faded from the U.S. foreign policy agenda since the end of the Cold War, China has made deep inroads through billions in infrastructure investment and no-string attached lending.

Champagne bottles are uncorking right now in Beijing, said Adam Isacson, who has studied foreign aid trends for years and directs the defense oversight program at the Washington Office on Latin America. It's really hard for the U.S. to compete with a geopolitical rival when we're disarming unilaterally.

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____

Goodman reported from Miami. AP reporter Sonia Perez in Guatemala City and Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.

____

Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
President Donald Trumps move to freeze federal funding for a massive number of government programs impacted Medicaid payment systems across the country, briefly locking 72 million Americans out of their health insurance Tuesday. Novo Nordisk said this week that its diabetes drug Ozempic was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first GLP-1 treatment for chronic kidney disease. 23andMe (ME), the company that popularized consumer genetic testing, announced this week that it is once again exploring strategic alternatives, which could include a potential sale of the company.

Check out those stories and more pharmaceutical news highlights from this week.

Pharmacist filling prescription in pharmacy. - Image: Caiaimage/Agnieszka Wozniak (Getty Images)

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said on Wednesday that it would seek greater transparency in drug price negotiations under President Donald Trumps administration. The statement follows criticism from the pharmaceutical industry regarding the program. As the second cycle begins under the Trump Administration, CMS is committed to incorporating lessons learned to date from the program and to considering opportunities to bring greater transparency in the Negotiation Program, the agency said in a statement.

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Sign with logo on facade of personal genomics company 23andMe in Mountain View, California, October 28, 2018. - Image: Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor (Getty Images)

23andMe, the company that popularized consumer genetic testing, announced Tuesday that it is once again exploring strategic alternatives, which could include a potential sale of the company or a restructuring. In a press release on Tuesday, the company said it needs additional liquidity to fund its operations and that management has determined that there is substantial doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern.

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Novo Nordisk A/S Ozempic brand semaglutide medication arranged at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. - Image: Bloomberg / Contributor (Getty Images)

Novo Nordisk (NVO) announced today that its blockbuster drug Ozempic was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first GLP-1 treatment for chronic kidney disease among people with type 2 diabetes. The popular diabetes drug can now be used to reduce the risk of kidney disease worsening, kidney failure, and death due to heart disease in adults with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

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Hospital hallway corridor lined with medical equipment. - Image: Catherine McQueen (Getty Images)

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President Donald Trumps move to freeze federal funding for a massive number of government programs seems to have impacted Medicaid payment systems across the country, potentially locking 72 million Americans out of their health insurance. Several lawmakers took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to confirm that their states Medicaid payment systems have been shut off. The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected  they are still being processed and sent, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trumps nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services arrives for a meeting with U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) in the Russell Senate Office Building on December 18, 2024. - Image: Kevin Dietsch / Staff (Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trumps nominee for health secretary, reportedly expressed openness to seizing drug patents of high-priced drugs as a way to lower prices. Politico reports that Kennedy indicated during a closed-door meeting with Senate Finance Committee staffers that he would consider adopting a proposal championed by progressive lawmakers like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. The outlet cited three unnamed sources familiar with the exchange.

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Hims & Hers offers compounded semaglutide for $199 a month. - Image: Hims & Hers

The millennial-targeted telehealth company Hims & Hers (HIMS) is spending big bucks on its first-ever Super Bowl commercial to hawk its affordable weight-loss treatments. With Super Bowl ads reportedly costing about $7 million for a 30-second spot this year, Hims & Hers likely spent about $14 million for its one-minute commercial.

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A variety of prescription drug bottles. - Image: Shana Novak (Getty Images)

Pharmaceutical companies have already raised the price of over 800 brand-name prescription drugs this year. The increases apply to list prices before accounting for insurance, rebates to pharmacy benefit managers, or other discounts. This years increases reflect a significant increase from Dec. 29 of last year, when drugmakers had shared plans to raise prices on just over 140 brands. More price hikes are also expected to be announced through the end of January, historically the busiest month for drugmakers to make increases.

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Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners, during the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. - Image: Bloomberg / Contributor (Getty Images)

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LinkedIn (MSFT) co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman on Monday launched an AI startup aimed at discovering new treatments for cancer. Manas AI will use a proprietary AI-driven platform to help speed up the drug discovery process, from identifying potential drug candidates with paradigm-shifting speed and accuracy all the way to clinical trials, Hoffman said in a press release. The company is initially focusing on treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Eventually, it intends to target other autoimmune diseases and rare conditions.

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An executive order from President Trump promoting a federal crackdown on campus antisemitism and his threats to cancel visas of pro-Palestinian international students have put California university leaders and activists on alert after many of the nation's largest and most contentious protests unfolded at their schools.

USC leaders were cautious in comments about the order, saying they adhere to state and federal laws, while a UC spokesman said it was committed to "combating antisemitism" but did not respond to a Trump promise to deport internationals who are "Hamas sympathizers." The chair of a UCLA Jewish group welcomed the order as an acknowledgment of the "crisis" of campus antisemitism. And a pro-Palestinian UCLA faculty representative described the threats in the order as "authoritarianism, plain and simple.

The order calls on the federal government to "prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence" on college campuses and directs the federal Education, State and Homeland Security departments in the next two months to develop "recommendations for familiarizing institutions" with how to "monitor and report activities by alien students and staff that would potentially qualify them for visa revocation.

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It cites federal law that bars noncitizens from being in the U.S. if they support terrorism. The order does not explicitly equate pro-Palestinian protesters with supporters of Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization.

But a fact sheet about the executive order on the White House website, quoting Trump, makes clear the president's intentions to "deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas."

The move follows Trump's campaign promises to expel pro-Palestinian protesters who do not hold U.S. citizenship.

"If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you," he said at a May event. At the Republican National Convention in July, the party agreed to include the goal on its platform.

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Read more: Trump's orders take aim at 'critical race theory' and antisemitism on college campuses

Speaking on background, officials at UCLA, USC and other campuses with large international student populations that saw a groundswell of pro-Palestinian protests last year said their administrations were looking over the president's order with concern.

But publicly, universities had little to say in response to Trump.

In a statement, USC said that it was "reviewing the order and that it follows "all state and federal laws."

UCLA directed a question from The Times to the University of California Office of the President, which oversees all campuses.

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A UC spokesman said in a statement that the university system "is unwavering in its commitment to combating antisemitism and was "carefully reviewing the presidents executive order while continuing our work fostering an environment free of harassment and discrimination."

Read more: UC resolves federal civil rights complaints of antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias

When asked if UC had a position on Trumps intention to revoke visas for pro-Palestinian international students, the spokesman said, "We will let you know if we have anything further to add."

A self-described "loud, proud Zionist activists" organization, Betar US, said last week that it had delivered a list of at least 100 "pro-Hamas foreign students and 20 faculty members to the White House, including those from UC. The news was first reported by the conservative outlet the Daily Caller.

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Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized California universities, which saw an explosion of pro-Palestinian activism and complaints of anti-Jewish and anti-Arab incidents after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting war in Gaza, for calling in riot police last year to arrest student activists. UCLA, in internal and external reviews, has been faulted for a failure to quickly coordinate a response with Los Angeles police and other law enforcement when vigilantes attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment on April 30 and May 1 last year.

UCLA has been sued in a federal court case alleging that it enabled pro-Palestinian protesters at a encampment last spring to block Jewish students from accessing certain campus pathways. And Pro-Palestinian protesters from UCLA have filed suit state court over the university's handling of protests.

But while protesters have faced campus consequences, including suspensions and delays in receiving their degrees, colleges have generally avoided pushing for criminal prosecutions.

Kira Stein, the chair of UCLA's Jewish Faculty Resilience Group, said the organization welcomed the executive order "as an important step in recognizing the crisis Jewish students and faculty are facing at UCLA and other campuses nationwide."

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"For too long, universities have looked the other way on antisemitism while enforcing protections for every other identity group. This double standard needs to stop. We hope this order pushes administrations to finally take antisemitism seriously and protect Jewish students and faculty equally, said Stein, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry.

"A big part of the problem is anti-Zionism that crosses the line from legitimate, evidence-based criticism to demonization, disinformation, denial, and calls for Israels destruction," Stein said. "Thats antisemitism, plain and simple. Denying Jews the same rights as everyone else  including self-determination in their historic homeland  is discrimination, and universities need to recognize and address it.

In a statement, a representative of UCLA Faculty of Justice in Palestine, whose members include professors that participated in the pro-Palestinian encampment, called on the university to "stand up for the rights of your students, faculty, and all workers.

We reject the smokescreen of antisemitism that continues to be used by U.S. administrations to justify their ongoing support of genocide against Palestinians, and now this xenophobic order," Hannah Appel, a UCLA associate professor of anthropology, said in the statement. "As scholars, we remind everyone that Judaism is a religion and cultural identity, whereas Israel is a state that has been engaged in eight decades of displacement, dispossession, military occupation, and genocide of the Palestinian people. Criticism of Israel, and participation in anti-genocide protests are not antisemitic, and to threaten deportation as a consequence of protest is authoritarianism, plain and simple.

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Read more: UCLA students and faculty raise alarm on antisemitic and anti-Palestinian hate amid ongoing protests

At UC Berkeley, also a major site of protest last year, graduate student Ryan Manriquez said many students on campus were startled by the order.

"The recent executive actions by the Trump administration politicize our student body, leaving many fearful of whats to come," he said.

Manriquez signed onto a Thursday letter from the UC Student Assn. and UC Graduate and Professional Council, which represent undergraduate and graduate students at the system's 10 campuses, calling Trump's move a "direct assault on free speech rights."

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"This inaccurate conflation of pro-Palestine advocacy with antisemitism sets a scary precedent of censorship for the student community where only certain students are able to participate in free speech," the letter said.

At UC San Diego, the Students for Justice in Palestine group said in a statement that the president's executive order would not quell its demonstrations.

The order "isnt just about about Palestine; its about every students right to protest U.S. violence, both at home and abroad, without the fear of surveillance or deportation," the statement said.

The real question is: where will our universities stand in this defining moment? Will institutions like UC San Diego ... now go so far as to report student activists for deportation?"

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Trump's order further draws the federal government into a contentious debate over what constitutes antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian activists argue that their protests are anti-Zionist, but not anti-Jewish, and that they are opposed to the state of Israel because of its actions against Palestinians. Pro-Israel groups contend that questioning whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state is antisemitic.

The State Department, which handles student visas, follows a definition promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Pro-Palestinian and free speech organizations have opposed this definition because it says that "claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor" is antisemitic. That argument is common at campus protests, where posters and chants routinely decry Israel as an "apartheid" state.

The Trump order also calls on the Education Department to report back an inventory and analysis of "all pending administrative complaints  against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus antisemitism.

Anticipating harsh actions under a Trump administration, universities across the U.S. that were under federal investigation for post-Oct. 7, 2023, civil rights complaints reached settlements on several cases before Trumps inauguration. UC in December resolved nine federal civil rights complaints of antisemitism and bias against Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestinian students at five UC campuses.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Hardly a day goes by during the frenetic first fortnight of his presidency that Donald Trump does not lavish praise on his late-19th century predecessor William McKinley, a.k.a. the "Napoleon of Protection."

"President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent  he was a natural businessman," Trump enthused during his inauguration speech. At a rally in Las Vegas Saturday, the president asserted that the high-tariff era of 18701913 was "the richest our country ever was," attributing those protectionist policies to the man who wrote the major tariff increase of 1890 and then signed another into law in 1897. And most symbolically, Trump on his first day in office re-re-christened North America's tallest peak as "Mount McKinley."

But the text of that executive order, coupled with the president's promiscuous daily threats of punitive tariffs, illustrate the recklessness of hewing too closely to McKinley's mercantilism.

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Trump's declarative re-mounting of McKinley begins not with the 25th president's performance as "Tariff Man," but rather with some straight-up imperialism: "[He] heroically led our Nation to victory in the Spanish-American War. Under his leadership, the United States enjoyed rapid economic growth and prosperity, including an expansion of territorial gains for the Nation." Not subtle, that.

For McKinley and his Republican Party, whose stranglehold on the White House from 1870 to 1912 was interrupted only by the non-consecutive terms of Democrat Grover Cleveland (188589, 189397), industrial protectionism and colonial expansionism were logical sides of the same coin. Trade rivals were viewed with zero-sum wariness, less-developed countries were treated with paternalistic disdain, and deep-water ports along plum shipping routes were eyed greedily for the plucking.

"We demand such an equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into competition with the American products as will not only furnish adequate revenue for the necessary expenses of the Government, but will protect American labor from degradation and the wage level of other lands," declared the GOP platform of 1896. (Tariffs, until the revenue-swapping adoption of the federal income tax in 1913, were Washington's dominant source of funding.) Meanwhile: "The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States, and no foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them. The Nicaragua Canal should be built, owned and operated by the United States. And, by the purchase of the Danish Islands we should secure a much needed Naval station in the West Indies."

Given that Trump seeks to reassert American control over the Panama Canal, purchase the Danish island of Greenland, and make sure that no foreign power be permitted to interfere with arctic shipping routes, all while increasing tariffs on foreign imports which come into competition with American products, it's no wonder that he's a fan of the guy who successfully ran on that platform. On the right, some otherwise skeptics of American interventionism find wisdom or even excitement in reanimating an aggressive, Monroe Doctrine-style assertion of U.S. interests in its Near Abroad.

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They should rethink. The long and dishonorable tradition of America engaging in regime-change military interventions was super-charged by tariff-loving 19th century Republicans, beginning with President Benjamin Harrison and Hawaii. In January 1893, before the anti-imperialist Grover Cleveland had been sworn in to replace Harrison, an American-led group backed by U.S. Marines engineered a coup against Queen Liliuokalani, installed Sanford Dole (founder of what became the Dole Food Company) as provisional leader, and immediately negotiated an annexation treaty with the lame-duck president.

Cleveland, appalled, withdrew the treaty from consideration after five days in office. "It is hardly necessary for me to state that the questions arising from our relations with Hawaii have caused serious embarrassment," the president said during his first State of the Union report nine months later. A subsequent investigation showed "beyond all question that the constitutional Government of Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of our representative to that Government and through the intimidation caused by the presence of an armed naval force of the United States, which was landed for that purpose at the instance of our minister."

No matter: McKinley annexed the territory in 1898. A centennial apology from Bill Clinton notwithstanding, the regime change of 1893 remains a festering wound in Hawaiian politics.

Still, both Hawaiians and mainlanders have derived many benefits from our shared history. Less so some of the other spoils from the Spanish-American War, beginning with Cuba. While U.S. rule was clearly preferable to the infamous atrocities inflicted on the islanders by colonial Spain, Washington proved inept at nation-building, sending the military to intervene more than a half-dozen times in the ensuing three decades.

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This became America's 20th century template for mucking about south of the border. McKinley's vice president and successor, Teddy Roosevelt, who had famously charged up San Juan Hill in 1898, seized on the swelling national sentiment in the aftermath of McKinley's "splendid little war" by adding his own "corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine. This asserted Washington's right to "exerciseinternational police power" in the Western Hemisphere, "however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of wrongdoing or impotence."

Such reluctance was not always apparent to residents of Nicaragua, Haiti, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Panama.

By far the most atrocious of McKinley's "territorial gains" from the Spanish-American War was his seizure, purchase, then repression of the Philippines. Never even contemplated for self-rule ("The Philippines are ours and American authority must be supreme throughout the archipelago," the president stated simply in 1900), this unapologetic land-grab sparked the creation of the Anti-Imperialist League (of which Grover Cleveland was a member), and triggered a war that would lead to an estimated 200,000 deaths, including more than 4,000 Americans

Donald Trump arose to political prominence within the GOP in part bythrillinglyslamming his own party's role in a regime-change war that led to an estimated 200,000 deaths, including more than 4,000 Americans. He has shown a proper and old-timey revulsion at going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.

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But in his enthusiasm for tariffs (including but not limited to his mistaken hunch that they can be swapped out with income taxes), and predilection toward forcing deals based more on America's might than righteousness, the president is demonstrating a willful blind spot about zero-sum competition in international affairs. Namely, that trade wars have a nasty habit of leading to war-wars.

Abrupt and unasked-for changes to the economic and diplomatic arrangements between allied countries is a shortcut to soured relations and unstable political ramifications among America's partners. Trump as of this writing is 12 hours away from imposing a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico in retaliation for the border crossing of illegal immigrants and fentanyl. (NATO ally Canada is ready with a "forceful, immediate response.")

The president has already threatened tariff increases on Denmark if it doesn't cede control over Greenland, on Russia if it doesn't stop the Ukraine war, on the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates if they start agitating for a competing currency against the U.S. dollar.

George Washington in his rightly ballyhooed farewell address famously advocated "peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." Trump has demonstrated far more interest in disentangling alliances than promoting commerce and honest friendship. That way, alas, has not been the path to peace.

The post Trump's Role Model McKinley Tariffed His Way to Imperialism appeared first on Reason.com.
Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter readers. The second Donald Trump administration kept breaking legal ground in its second week, which began with firing prosecutors who worked on criminal cases against him. The new government was busy firing (or trying to fire) disfavored workers across the board in moves that could spark challenges that may end up at the Supreme Court. The purge is just part of the administrations barrage that could trigger high court showdowns, another being the bid to freeze federal aid.

These actions were foreshadowed in Project 2025, the blueprint that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign but is embracing in office.

Firing agency members calls into question precedent going back a century. The high courts 1935 ruling in a case called Humphreys Executor curbed the presidents power to fire independent agency members without cause. While the Roberts Court has expanded presidential power since then, Gwynne Wilcox said she may challenge her removal as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. Whether through any case she brings or the inevitable others to contest protected firings, the court could face a test of how far it will go to boost this line of presidential authority.

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The bid to freeze federal aid could also hit the high court. The government withdrew a memo purporting to do so after a judge halted it, but the administration still seems intent on challenging the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The Watergate-era reform is supposed to stop presidents from hoarding money authorized by Congress (the thing that Trump was impeached for in his first term regarding Ukraine aid). Project 2025 leader Russ Vought, Trumps pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, said he thinks the impoundment law is unconstitutional.

And dont forget about birthright citizenship. The presidents attempt to curb the long-standing constitutional protection is still blocked, but its due for a trial court hearing next week. That one could be headed for the justices, too.

In the latest Jan. 6 fallout, Trumps top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., wants to get to the bottom of the DOJs use of an obstruction charge against Jan. 6 defendants. Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who previously advocated for Jan. 6 defendants, called the use of the charge a great failure, citing the Supreme Court ruling last year narrowing its use. Before that ruling  a divided one, to be sure, with Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett dissenting in the DOJs favor  most judges who reviewed the charge had approved it. But in the context of the presidents mass pardons and the firing of prosecutors who worked against Trump, Martin could be attempting to lay the groundwork for further rewriting Jan. 6 history and retaliating against people who sought to hold his boss and political supporters to account.

Along those lines is Kash Patel, Trumps pick to lead the FBI. In his confirmation hearing this week, Democratic senators pressed him on his support for Jan. 6 defendants and him taking the Fifth before the grand jury in the Trump classified documents case. Some Republicans have also expressed concerns, including Trumps former Attorney General William Barr, who previously wrote that Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the worlds preeminent law enforcement agency. Senate Republicans at the hearing, however, didnt seem concerned with the nominee, who wouldnt state directly that Trump lost the 2020 election.

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Notably, Patel declined to fully embrace Trumps blanket Jan. 6 clemency, testifying that he disagreed with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.

And who said bipartisanship is dead? While New York Citys indicted Democratic Mayor Eric Adams lawyers reportedly met with the DOJ about dropping his case, former Sen. Bob Menendez is pushing for clemency from Trump. After being sentenced to 11 years Wednesday in his corruption case, the long-serving New Jersey Democrat said, President Trump was right. This process is political, and its corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system. To the extent that cleanup coincides with upending the 71-year-olds conviction and stiff prison term, Menendez will also seek relief through more traditional paths in the courts, up through the Supreme Court that has routinely sided with defendants in political corruption cases.

Have any questions or comments for me? Id love to hear from you! Please email deadlinelegal@nbcuni.com for a chance to be featured in a future newsletter.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
SMPL Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], January 31: Ecozaar, India's first fully integrated marketplace for green products was officially launched in Bangalore on January 27, 2025. Born from Ecofy's vision for a sustainable future, this platform seamlessly integrates two essential eco-friendly solutions -- Electric Vehicles - Two Wheelers (EVs) and Rooftop Solar (RTS) systems to make green living simple and accessible for everyone. Ecozaar first and foremost aims to provide the right information about various green products without being just too preachy about sustainability, it not only focuses on educating its consumers about the economic value or savings but also suggests the right product-based need, usage & lifestyle. It also enables its consumers to make smart choices whether it is a full payment purchase, securing a fully digital loan, subscriptions for short-term usage, or a hassle-free exchange. The intuitive calculators designed with a lot of research around range & capacity for electric 2-wheelers and climatic, geographical & electricity consumption for rooftop solar, give its consumers an unambiguous, honest, and clear output helping consumers make the right choices. The platform is designed for a hassle-free experience and collaborates with major manufacturers and local partners to ensure a memorable purchasing experience. Ecozaar also assists with all post-purchase documentation, such as RTO registration, and solar installation, ensuring a smooth transition to greener choices. Committed to accessibility, Ecozaar has partnered with leading financial institutions and insurance providers to offer flexible financing options, including full payment plans, easy loans, insurance, and subscription models. In the near future, the platform also aims to provide easy financing options like working capital, inventory funding, etc. to the MSMEs participating on the platform enabling and empowering them to participate in India's clean energy revolution. Dhanpal Jhaveri, CEO-Eversource and Vice Chairman-Everstone Group said, "The launch of Ecozaar, Ecofy's digital marketplace for green products, marks a significant step toward accelerating India's transition to sustainable living. By integrating electric mobility and rooftop solar solutions into a seamless platform, The platform empowers consumers to make informed green choices, driving large-scale adoption of clean technologies." Kartik Gupta, CEO of Ecozaar, stated, "Ecozaar is not just a marketplace; it's a movement aimed at redefining sustainable living for every Indian household. We are dedicated to debunking the myths that green choices are complicated or costly. With Ecozaar, making eco-friendly decisions--whether purchasing an electric scooter or installing rooftop solar panels--is as simple as clicking a button." Rajashree Nambiar, Co-founder, MD & CEO of Ecofy, said, "In just a short span of time, Ecofy has become the preferred retail digital lender for green assets. Drawing on Ecofy's market experience in the last two years and over 60,000 customers onboarded, we recognized the need for an integrated platform combining discovery and sales--leading to the creation and launch of Ecozaar. Ecozaar will currently empower households in four cities (Bangalore/Chennai for EV Purchases, Ahmedabad/Pune for Rooftop Solar purchases), with plans to expand nationwide, to help consumers choose sustainable options that are good for both their wallets and the planet. It is a key step toward our vision of making green finance accessible and eco-friendly living a reality for millions of Indians." About Ecozaar: Ecozaar is India's first green marketplace dedicated to simplifying sustainable living by offering hassle-free discovery and purchase experience for EV Scooters, and rooftop solar installations. The platform empowers users to adopt eco-friendly choices without compromise. Committed to transparency and innovation, Ecozaar is paving the way for a cleaner, greener India. Ecozaar is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecofy. For more information about Ecozaar's offerings, exchange programs, and launch promotions, please visit Ecozaar.in About Ecofy: Promoted by Eversource Capital, Ecofy's vision is to be a catalyst in accelerating the transition towards a net zero-carbon world. It partners with individuals and small businesses who want to reduce their carbon footprint and restore balance to the planet. Ecofy offers loans for Electric Vehicles (Two- and three-wheelers), rooftop solar, and small-medium enterprises providing an E2E digital experience. To know more, visit the official Ecofy website: https://www.ecofy.co.in/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecofyfinance/ Media Contact for Ecozaar: Tanushree Jaiswal; Email: tanushree@autovert.in Media Contact for Ecofy: Shraboni Fernandes; E-mail: sfernandes@ecofy.co.in (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)
President Donald Trump swept every single battleground state in the 2024 election, including here in Wisconsin. Voters sent a clear message that rising prices and their economic anxieties must be top of mind for the new administration and they need to see real tangible relief.

Trump is already working hard to deliver for those voters by negotiating better trade deals for working class Americans, and for that he deserves even more credit. As long as he remains aware of the potential impact his proposed tariffs could have on those voters who helped elect him, he can continue protecting American interests without adding to the damage done by his predecessor.

It was clear that Wisconsinites and Americans across the country were looking for major change in Washington after four years of inflated prices and the ways in which their economic frustrations were largely ignored by the Biden Administration. He has a chance to finally offer families some relief, but he needs to be pragmatic and judicious.

The threat of tariffs has proven to be brilliant negotiating tactic

Its clear the threat of tariffs is a brilliant negotiating tactic. Look no further for proof than when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago to visit Trump mere days after the president-elect promised sweeping tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, or how China just reduced their subsidies on batteries and photovoltaic products from 13% to 9%.

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If these tactics end up bringing our trading partners to the table without a single tariff being applied, as appears to have worked with Trudeau, then all the better for us. However, if Trump does actually implement selective tariffs, he should be aware of the potential unintended consequences.

More: Trump didn't wait to be sworn in to start breaking his campaign promises to you | Opinion

What are those consequences? A recent study published by the Wisconsin-based MacIver Institute examined the impact of the president-elects previous tariffs during his first term on Wisconsins economy and trade deficit. The study concluded that the 2018 tariffs had the intended effect (and always do) of decreasing imports from countries targeted by the tariffs, China in particular.

Considering those findings, and considering how many goods sold in the U.S. come from China, its not hard to surmise a negative cause and effect situation arising from a new round of tariffs. There is a specific reason why American businesses import certain products, and why American consumers purchase them. There are valid reasons why we should trust business and consumers to make decisions as opposed to the government doing it for them.

Broad tariffs on retail could hurt consumers

We just wrapped up the holiday season, but next year, retailers, mom and pop stores and families will get the short end of the stick if broad tariffs go into effect and drive up prices. Shopping for gifts and toys is a prime example of how tariffs will take their toll, as so many toys are produced safely and affordably in countries like China and Mexico before being exported to the U.S.

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Toys are a low-margin business, and any increase in tariffs would be swiftly added to the cost of these products, becoming a glaring example of more rising prices. Not to mention higher prices will drive demand for cheaper unsafe knock offs that were made with far less rigorous safety precautions, potentially creating major hazards for our kids. Neither merchants nor consumers win in this scenario, and for an industry without the same security implications that might justify bringing other more sensitive industries back to the US, including toys in tariff proposals, as an example, makes little sense.

Retail is just one example of where tariffs can have unintended consequences, but in any scenario the ones hurt the most will be the same working-class voters who propelled Trump to his unprecedented victory in November. He can avoid putting his base in jeopardy by carefully considering how he applies his tariffs and which products he excludes. The president did this during his last administration, and I hope hell do it again.

More: Elon Musk salute ripples across US leading to Sam Kuffel in Milwaukee losing job | Opinion

Reevaluating trade deals and carefully leveraging certain tariffs could have a positive impact on the economy, but like any good deal it needs to be well thought out and executed in a way that wont compound the problems created by Biden. Excluding the right industries for key job creators, workers, and the economy will help Trump deliver on his promises to voters. The goal should be to create a fair trade in which Americans can compete on a level basis with producers anywhere in the world.

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Voters put their faith in the new president once more, and Im confident he will deliver the results Americans are seeking.

Scott McCallum is the former governor of Wisconsin.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WI voters wanted economic change. Trump is delivering | Opinion
The government photo shows positive results of a skin test for tuberculosis. (CDC)

An outbreak of tuberculosis has been lingering in Kansas City, Kansas, since March 2024. But what used to be fewer than 50 cases is now almost 70.

Although this is not the largest outbreak of tuberculosis in U.S. history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the increase in cases has still caused alarm in the Kansas City area.

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As of Jan. 24, there are 67 active cases of TB and 79 latent cases. With 60 active cases in Wyandotte County, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County released a statement on Jan. 28.

We encourage residents to remain calm regarding recent media coverage on tuberculosis in Kansas, the release said. While we are always concerned about the health and well-being of every community member, the Kansas Department of Health Environment assures the public the relative risk to the public is low.

The release goes on to say KDHE is following guidance from the CDC to combat the increase in cases as well as information on symptoms and treatment.

In August, doctors urged citizens that the 49 patients diagnosed with active TB at the time were no cause for panic. But now, with KDHE saying it is managing 384 individuals who are at various different stages of TB testing, diagnostics, and treatment, the public could become wary of the situation worsening.

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The concern goes beyond Kansas. Online creators such as John Green have posted about the outbreak in Kansas to their platforms regardless, if they live near the Kansas City area.

Its worrying for sure, Green said in his video. TB anywhere is a threat to people everywhere. Its important to remember two facts, one, that TB is curable and preventable. But should you be freaked out about TB? Absolutely. Allowing a preventable disease to sicken 10 million a year microbes do not know political borders.

Doctors want the public to remember that the general risk is low but there are always ways to keep yourself healthy.

No matter if its influenza or COVID or tuberculosis, avoid people that are sick and coughing and sneezing, wash your hands, said former KDHE health secretary Lee Norman. I think that the general concern to the public should be low, but people should be vigilant.

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Norman emphasized that the outbreak of TB cases goes beyond individual cases.

What tuberculosis management requires is basic groundwork field work for public health, meaning to get out there, figure out where the case is coming from, who have people been exposed to, Norman said. What it requires is good funding for public health.

With a disease like TB, Norman says the focus on public health funding is more important than ever.

We cannot blink on public health funding, Norman said. We have to really rethink that because theres no public health concern that ever goes away. It just goes underground for a while. But then if you decrease the funding for it, you better really rethink that because its going to come back.

KDHE intends to help efforts of monitoring symptoms while taking comprehensive steps to address the situation. A spokesperson added that they are working closely with schools and businesses to manage close contacts with those infected.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE)  Tulas Kitchen, the sister brand of the Albuquerque-based Dions pizza restaurant, has expanded, opening its second location in Albuquerque this week.

The new eatery is located at 5021 Pan American Fwy NE and comes after the first Tulas location opened in October 2022 at the La Cueva Town Center. This second location has been in the works for a while. And its a much larger footprint for us, which were really excited about. It will allow us to serve more customers, and its more centrally located, said Deena Crawley, Tulas and Dions chief of staff.

The restaurant officially welcomed customers on Monday. Some of the new elements at Tulas Pan America location include a larger dining room, bar and lounge space, and small and large private dining rooms that can be reserved

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In addition to the extra space, the restaurant is also planning to launch new menu items such as meatballs, sliders, and Detroit-style pizzas. Those items will be available at a later time, Crawley explained.

The expansion of Tulas follows success seen at the first location. In creating Tulas, we really wanted to create a more modern concept that worked for families and even folks dining during the day. And so we really think that we hit the mark there, and its got a great offering for a wide range of folks, Crawley said when asked about why she believes the brand has experienced success.

With Dions branching out of New Mexico with locations now in Colorado and Texas, KRQE asked Crawley if Tulas would follow the same path. She said, We continue to grow the Dions brand, and were really looking forward to that. And Tulas is a different concept, still based in the same values, and were really excited to grow this brand as well. Our immediate focus is going to be in Albuquerque. We think theres a lot of potential in the Albuquerque market, and well see how it goes from there.

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Tulsi Gabbards nomination as intelligence chief looked to be in serious trouble Friday as Republican senators expressed concerns about her answers at a confirmation hearing.

President Donald Trumps controversial pick for director of national intelligence angered Republicans by refusing to condemn government leaker Edward Snowden as well as her unorthodox foreign policy views on Russia and Syria, among other concerns.

Im worried by what I hear from some of my Republican colleagues, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, a staunch Trump loyalist, conceded. Im worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy,

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Moderate Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said much the same thing.

Some of them are still really, really uncomfortable with her running 18 intelligence agencies, Kelly said.

Gabbard faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike during a fiery Senate intelligence committee confirmation hearing Thursday that focused on her past comments supporting Russia, a meeting with Syrias now-deposed dictator and her refusal to disavow support for Snowden.

The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii tried to frame herself as a radical change-maker who would fulfill Trumps promises to shake up the intelligence community after decades of what they call warmongering and foreign policy failures.

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But several conservative Republicans werent buying it. They were dismayed by her refusal to disavow her support for Snowden and her shaky answers about sympathetic statements shes made about Russian president Vladimir Putin.

There are a lot of questions after (Gabbards appearance), Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told NBC News.

Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah added that some of her responses, and non-responses, created more confusion than clarity and only deepened my concerns about her judgement.

Like other Trump Cabinet picks, Gabbard likely can afford to lose no more than three GOP senators to win confirmation to the job overseeing the work of 18 intelligence agencies.

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Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and mounted a longshot Democratic presidential primary bid in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.

She has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine and in the past opposed a key U.S. surveillance program known as FISA Section 702, which she now says she supports.

In a back-and-forth Thursday that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her statements supportive of Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs. Snowden is now a Russian citizen.

Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? thundered Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado. Gabbard refused to respond.

Gabbard also took heat for her unusual 2017 visit with deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, after which she defended him against accusations that he used chemical weapons on his own people.
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for national intelligence director, fielded questions about her record on foreign affairs and past statements about Russia during her Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 30.

Gabbard has previously repeated Kremlin talking points justifying the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia's legitimate security concerns," she wrote on X at the start of the invasion.

During her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Senator Jerry Moran asked Gabbard if Russia would "get a pass" from her in light of her past statements.

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"Senator, I'm offended by the question," Gabbard said.

"Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security, and the interests of the American people. No country, group, or individual will get a pass."

When asked who she blamed for the war in Ukraine, Gabbard backtracked on her prior remarks about NATO and U.S. President Joe Biden.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin started the war in Ukraine," she said.

Gabbard also dismissed claims that she helped amplify pro-Russian viewpoints.

"I don't pay attention to Russian propaganda," she said.

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Senators also grilled Gabbard on her controversial 2017 meeting with former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, a visit that sparked outrage from both Republicans and Democrats. The Russian-backed regime was accused of human rights violations, including the use of illegal chemical weapons.

"I just do not understand how you can blame NATO for Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn't condemn him," said Senator Mark Warner, the committee's senior Democrat.

Gabbard defended the meeting with Assad, saying it was an opportunity to ask "tough questions."

Gabbard is a National Guard veteran and former Democratic congressmember who left the party in 2022 and began campaigning alongside Trump. She has no formal intelligence experience and has never led a government department or agency.

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Trump has prized loyalty over expertise in building his administration, and has begun purging the federal government of independent personnel.

Read also: Whats behind Zelenskys recent round of sanctions on top pro-Russian politicians, propagandists, energy mogul?

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
FORT STEWART, Ga. (AP)  Two U.S. Army soldiers were killed during a nighttime training accident in Georgia, the military said Friday.

Officials at Fort Stewart said in a statement that a fatal vehicle accident occurred Thursday night during field training on the sprawling Army post. Two soldiers who died were assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division. Their names were not immediately released.

A single vehicle was involved, and no one else was injured, said Maj. Charles Egan, a Fort Stewart spokesman. No other details were immediately released.

Fort Stewart, located southwest of Savannah, is the largest Army post east of the Mississippi River.
POPLAR GROVE, Ill. (WTVO)  Two men from Harvard, Illinois were arrested for weapons and drug charges in Poplar Grove early Thursday morning after authorities said they ran from police.

According to the Boone County Sheriffs Office, deputies were dispatched to the area of State Street and Main Street around 12:10 a.m. for reports of a suspicious vehicle.

When police approached, the front passenger, later identified as Elias Jiworsky, 20, got out and ran. During a foot pursuit, police said Jiworsky tossed a loaded handgun.

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He was charged with obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and possession of a controlled substance.

The driver, Diego Jimenez, 20, was charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance.

Both men were booked into the Boone County Jail and released after their initial court appearance in accordance with provisions in Illinois Pre-Trial Fairness Act.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.
A warm front is inching into the region, with a few flurries and rising temperatures overnight. Any snowfall accumulation with this front remains below an inch and will focus along the Canadian border and through the Northeast Kingdom.

Were drying out Friday, with a few breaks of blue skies possible as temperatures soar into the middle and upper 30s, even lower 40s in Southern Vermont.

Our next storm system has been a tough one to pinpoint, but as of tonight we are finding a reasonable consensus with the forecast!

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As the cold air drains back through the region with a passing cold front, it meets up with the precipitation moving in from the southwest in Southern Vermont and New Hampshire. This only allows the storm to reach as far north as Middlebury before retreating back out to sea.

In northern zones, expect a few flurries on the outer fringes of this storm, but most remain quiet and cloudy through the night.

For southern zones, there may be a brief window of plain rain to start, but as temperatures drop, we transition over to snow. A quick 2-4 will fall before the storm wraps up ahead of sunrise Saturday.

Snowfall totals for areas south of Route 4 range between 2-4, while north of Rutland can expect a dusting to 2 inches! Little to no accumulation is expected for locations north of Middlebury with Friday nights storm.

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Its a quick moving storm, with the snow ending just prior to sunrise Saturday. Skies are partly to mostly sunny Saturday with temperatures back into the teens.

Have a great night!

-Skytracker Chief Meteorologist Haley Bouley

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NewsVoir Chandigarh [India], January 31: Chandigarh's administration has unveiled ambitious development plans worth Rs 2.73 billion for FY 2025, aimed at enhancing urban infrastructure and boosting public amenities. Key initiatives include the construction of over 600 government housing units in sectors like 20, 43, and 46, and the establishment of a state-of-the-art Police Training Centre in Sarangpur at an estimated cost of Rs 980 million. These projects are expected to catalyze growth not just within Chandigarh but also in its satellite cities, Zirakpur, Mohali, and Panchkula, making the Tricity region a preferred destination for businesses and residents alike. Mukul Bansal, Managing Director, Motiaz highlighted the long-term implications of such investments, saying, "This initiative by the Chandigarh administration is a testament to their vision for urban transformation. The new housing projects and infrastructure developments will set a benchmark for regional planning. For neighboring cities like Zirakpur, these developments bring opportunities for enhanced connectivity and surplus demand. We anticipate increased interest in residential and commercial real estate, as people and businesses look for quality spaces in Chandigarh's tricity. This is the kind of momentum the region needs to establish itself as a truly integrated urban ecosystem." Prateek Mittal, Executive Director, Sushma Group, stressed the strategic benefits, stating, "The announced projects are not just about building infrastructure but about creating a framework for sustained growth. Chandigarh's focus on government housing and institutional facilities will ease pressure on existing infrastructure, allowing private real estate players to focus on creating innovative housing and commercial solutions. Mohali, with its robust IT sector and connectivity to Chandigarh, is poised to attract a younger, tech-savvy demographic, further fueling demand for well-planned developments. These investments lay the foundation for an inclusive, forward-looking Tricity region." Piyush Kansal, Executive Director, Royale Estate Group, elaborated on the economic ripple effects, "With Chandigarh leading the way in infrastructure upgrades, the benefits will radiate across the Tricity region. Surrounding cities, in particular, stand to gain from its proximity to these developments, with increased demand for high-end residential projects and commercial spaces. These initiatives not only promise economic growth but also enhance the quality of life for residents. As developers, it gives us the opportunity to align our projects with the city's evolving aspirations and cater to a more discerning clientele." Tejpreet Singh Gill, Managing Director, Gillco Group, emphasized the regional transformation, "The Rs 2.73 billion investment is a clear signal of the administration's commitment to holistic growth. Mohali, already a rising star in the real estate market, will benefit significantly from Chandigarh's infrastructure push. The improved road networks, enhanced public facilities, and focus on sustainability will make the Tricity region one of the most sought-after real estate destinations in North India. At Gillco, we are excited to contribute to this transformation by delivering high-quality developments that complement this growth story." Chandigarh's bold infrastructure initiatives are set to position the Tricity region as a leading hub for urban living and business, bridging the gap between tier-1 and tier-2 cities while enhancing its overall appeal on the national real estate map. (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)
WARREN, Ohio (WKBN)  Two people are facing criminal charges after a dog was found running loose in Warren.

According to a police report, a concerned citizen contacted the Healthy Hearts and Paws Project about the dog Wednesday.

Founder Jason Cooke told officers it was emaciated, had sores all over its body and paws, both ears were infected and showed tissue damage.

Misdemeanor charges of abandoning and cruelty to animals have since been filed against Maki Hemmingway and Karina Stefek in Warren Municipal Court.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Cass County prosecutors have charged two people in the overdose death of a Harrisonville teen last year.

Jayden Charles House, 23, and Kalyn Marie Castro, 18, both of Harrisonville were charged Friday with endangering the welfare of a child involving death. House is also charged with delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.

According to the Harrisonville Police Department, officers were called to the Thunderbird Apartments off E. Mechanic Street at 6:40 a.m. on a report of a male juvenile not breathing.

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When officers arrived on scene they located the teen victim unresponsive and immediately began life-saving measures. The victim was taken to the Cass Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Fugitive Serial Killer Kinnes cases closed, victims family reacts

Police identified the victim as 16-year-old Chase Smith, a sophomore at Harrisonville High School.

Investigators learned that Smith had ingested fentanyl, causing his death, according to police.

Police said House was arrested at a family members residence in Harrisonville on Thursday morning and is currently being held in the Cass County Jail. Castro was arrested in Kansas later the same day and is awaiting extradition back to Cass County.

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House appeared in Cass County court on Friday afternoon for an arraignment hearing. No court date has been set for Castro at this time.

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Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) proposes a bill to require university regents complete 10 hours of training within six months of being appointed.

The Senate Education Committee advanced a bill Friday morning that would require new university regents to complete training within months of their appointment.

Senate Bill 19, presented by cosponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces), was given a do-pass by the Senate Education Committee on an 8-0 vote. The bill would require new university and special school regents and members of governing boards of community colleges complete 10 hours of training within six months of being appointed.

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Our university regents have very important jobs. They hire university presidents, they set tuition, they set priorities, they decide on infrastructure, they really chart the direction and run a university and sadly, we have no qualifications for regents who are selected, Steinborn said to the committee. I think we owe it to our universities and our kids and taxpayers that we have the best regents we can get and that theyre trained.

Steinborn added that the bill is modeled after Senate Bill 137, presented and signed into law during the 2024 Legislative Session, which requires school board members to complete 10 hours of mandatory training during their first year of serving on the board.

Cedric Page, professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos and regent for the New Mexico Military Institute, spoke in favor of the bill, saying the training will ensure regents really understand the leadership responsibilities involved in the position.

The bill will be heard next by the Senate Rules Committee.

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Senate Bill 13, the State-Tribal Education Compact Schools Act, was also passed through the Senate Education Committee Friday morning by a vote of 9-0. Speakers from Taos, Acoma, Isleta, Ohkay Owingeh, San Felipe, Zuni, Jemez and Santa Ana pueblos spoke on its behalf, as did representatives from the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, Transform Education NM and NM Native Vote.

The proposal would make it possible for Native tribes and nations to enter into compacts with the Public Education Department to establish cultural schools where young students start their educational careers fully immersed in their Native language. Bill sponsor Sen. Benny Shendo (D-Jemez Pueblo) previously told Source NM that the goal of the bill is to help preserve Native languages in New Mexico.

Language is not only a tool for communication, it is the foundation of identity, culture and self determination. Senate bill (13) takes a significant step towards addressing these systemic inequities by creating these compact schools, which will provide tribes with greater autonomy to design and implement educational models that our students called for, Loretta Trujillo, executive director of Transform Education NM, said during the meeting.

Committee member Sen. Anthony Thornton (R-Albuquerque), however, voiced concern over the possible vulcanization of the states school system.

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If I were to replace all the language in this (bill) with African-American students, then we were to create our separate schools and then some German-Americans decided they wanted the same thing and they had the same sort of thing. My concern here, and I know this is sort of way off the, pardon my pun, off the reservation, but the question Im having is understanding the needs. My concern is that this separates the schoolchildren or the children in your community possibly from the rest of society. And then how does that, how do they overcome that going forward? Thornton asked.

Bill sponsor Sen. Benny Shendo (D-Jemez Pueblo) used himself as an example, as someone who grew up only speaking Jemez.

I was born and raised in Jemez, didnt speak a word of English and here I am with you today, Shendo said.

SB 13 will be heard next by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Two Albuquerque police officers who resigned amid an investigation into allegations they participated in an enterprise to dismiss drunken-driving cases in exchange for bribes are now employed by the state's child welfare agency.

A spokesperson with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department confirmed in an email Thursday Harvey Johnson, who joined the Albuquerque Police Department in 2014, is a caseworker for children entering state custody, largely providing kids from tribal communities with plans for new homes.

Spokesperson Andrew Skobinsky wrote Nelson Ortiz, who joined the police department in 2016, works as an investigator looking into allegations of abuse and neglect.

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Both men underwent the proper legal hiring process and procedures for the state, Skobinsky wrote, noting when they were hired, no disqualifiers would have prevented their employment.

Still, both men were placed on administrative leave Wednesday, Skobinsky said.

As this investigation develops, CYFD will act in accordance with NM employment regulations and what is in the best interests of the children, youth, and families of New Mexico, he wrote.

Johnson and Ortiz were the third and fourth officers, respectively, to resign from the Albuquerque Police Department in connection with the scandal. They resigned within a day of each other in March, and less than two months after receiving notices they were the targets of an internal investigation, which police department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos on Thursday said was still underway.

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The internal investigation notices say both men face allegations of committing felony crimes, though neither appears to have been charged, according to court records.

The scandal, referred to by prosecutors as the "DWI enterprise," implicates Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies and New Mexico State Police officers as well as Albuquerque police. Prosecutors allege certain law enforcement officers participated in a yearslong scheme to arrange for drunken-driving cases to be dismissed in exchange for cash.

Ricardo Mendez, an Albuquerque-based private investigator, became the first to plead guilty to charges in the conspiracy last week, admitting to eight federal charges, including racketeering, bribery and interference with commerce by extortion.

According to Mendez's plea agreement, he said officers would refer people facing drunken-driving charges to him and his partner, an attorney who is not named in the document. However, a federal court order alleges attorney Thomas Clear III could face disciplinary action in connection with the DWI scandal.

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Mendez would call the defendants and tell them to hire his partner, guaranteeing them their cases would be dismissed, he said, according to the plea deal.

Clients would pay them cash, and Mendez and his co-conspirator would arrange for officers to fail to appear in court and get the cases tossed, he said.
GEORGIA (WJBF)  Among the 67 people who lost their lives in the DC mid-air collision, there were two Georgians.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, tweeted the statement below honoring the deceased:

We send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of Ryan OHara and Sam Lilley as they navigate this difficult time. Both of these young Georgians shared a passion for flight and for serving others, and this terrible tragedy is that much more difficult knowing their lives were cut so unexpectedly short. Marty, the girls, and I ask that all Georgians join us in keeping their loved ones in our thoughts and prayers. Gov., Brian Kemp  Georgia

Ryan OHara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk helicopter. He was a graduate of Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga.

Sam Lilley was the First Officer on American Airlines flight 5324. He graduated from Richmond Hill High School in the Richmond Hill Ga., near Savannah and from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Two men were indicted on Friday for their alleged roles in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Brockton man in July 2024.

Govanni Carapinha, 24, and Marcus Miranda, 21 were both indicted by a grand jury in Plymouth County Superior Court on one count each of murder, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz.

On July 24, shortly before midnight, Brockton Police responded to a shooting at a residence on Vesey Street and found 22-year-old Romualdy Pierre-Charles deceased with several gunshot wounds.

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Surveillance video in the area allegedly showed three suspects, two of whom were identified as Carapinha and Miranda, wearing black clothing approach the home and chase the victim into the backyard.

During the chase, investigators say Carapinha was shot in the leg. Miranda and an unidentified man wearing black clothing helped Carapinha into a gray Infiniti and drove him to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated and arrested following his released.

Miranda was arrested days later on July 29 at Logan Airport after allegedly trying to flee the country.

The DAs office has not provided any additional information regarding the third suspect or the search for him.

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Both Carapinha and Miranda are being held without bail and will be arraigned in Superior Court at a later date.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Two children  Inna and Anton  who had spent their entire lives under Russian occupation have been brought back to the Ukraine-controlled territory. The siblings hometown was seized by Russian forces in 2014.

Source: Andrii Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian President's Office, on Telegram

Details: Yermak said that the children were raised by their grandmother after their father was killed and their mother was deprived of parental rights.

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Quote: "After the full-scale invasion began, the grandmother decided they needed to leave their hometown, which was becoming increasingly dangerous.

Unable to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory immediately, the family went to relatives in Russia. However, they continued searching for a way back home, where the childrens uncle was waiting for them. Today, they are finally home, in their own country."

Details: The rescue mission was organised by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.

Background: Ukraine managed to bring back five children of different ages  from 18 months to 18 years old  from the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk and part of Kherson oblasts to the Ukraine-controlled territory.

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(This story was updated to include new information.)

One Woodlands Middle School student died and another sustained serious injuries Thursday when a truck ran over them after their bicycles had crashed and thrown them onto Lyons Road, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.

Investigators early Friday identified the boy who died as Landon M. Coggin, 13.

Medics took Elias G. Angel, 12, to Delray Medical Center, where he continued to receive care Friday morning, the sheriff's office said.

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The driver of the 2023 Peterbilt semi that struck them, a 62-year-old man from suburban West Palm Beach, is not facing charges. The driver "did not contribute to the causation of this crash," investigators said in a report made public early Friday.

Location of Woodlands Middle School in Palm Beach County

The incident happened shortly after 4 p.m., just after classes ended at the school, on Lyons Road north of Lantana Road in suburban Lake Worth Beach.

The truck, which carried a trailer, was northbound on Lyons near Twig Road. Coggin and Angel were riding in the same direction on Lyons' east shoulder, investigators reported.

Their bicycles crashed, throwing Coggin and Angel onto the roadway and into the truck's path, the report said.

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"Our hearts go out to the families affected by this tragedy," the sheriff's office said in a prepared statement.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Woodlands Middle School: 1 student dead, 1 injured in semi truck crash
A combat air patrol of American and Canadian fighter jets was scrambled this week after multiple Russian warplanes were spotted in the Arctic, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Thursday, marking the latest military incident to unfold in a region that is drawing increasing scrutiny.

The Russian aircraft, which remained in international airspace, were not seen as a threat, but eight military planes were dispatched to monitor their activity, NORAD said in a statement. Two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets and one refueling aircraft were launched from the Canadian NORAD region, while two U.S. F-35 fighter jets and two refueling aircraft tankers were launched from the Alaskan NORAD region. The Alaskan base also dispatched one E-3 airborne warning and control system plane, or AWAC, which the Air Force says "can detect, identify and track" enemy forces far from U.S. and NATO country boundaries.

Several hours later, NORAD said it also scrambled two F-16 fighter jets from Alaska to Greenland in order to "forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic." The command said that move was "not in response to any current threat."

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The U.S. and Canadian jets were scrambled just weeks after four Russian warplanes were shadowed by NORAD aircraft after they flew near Alaska.

The Arctic has become a critical geopolitical focal point in recent years, drawing the attention of Russia, China and the U.S., which has its northernmost military base in Greenland.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump expressed his desire to bring Greenland under U.S. control, and he wouldn't rule out using economic or military cohesion to do so. The autonomous Arctic territory of Denmark's location makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes. But Greenland's leader and its residents have made it clear that their home is not for sale.

Meanwhile, Russia's efforts to boost its military presence in the Arctic have gradually expanded, including two nuclear submarines unveiled by President Vladimir Putin. Russia has also tested hypersonic missiles, capable of evading American defenses, in the Arctic.

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"The Arctic has long played a significant role in Russia's security approach and economic calculations," Amanda Dory, acting U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, said in July. "Russia's Arctic military capabilities have the potential to hold the U.S. homeland, as well as allied and partner territories, at risk."

The state TASS news agency reported this week that Russia was currently conducting a variety of drills in the Arctic.

"Between January 20 and January 31, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will be holding large-scale interdepartmental experiment and research exercise on instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin," the Russian emergencies ministry was quoted as saying.

TASS also reported that a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker sustained hull damage this week after a collision in the Kara Sea during "harsh Arctic conditions" but there were no injuries.

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The U.S. has warned Russia and China over their increasing military and economic operations in the Arctic. But both countries have defended their activities, with Beijing saying it acts on the "principles of respect, cooperation, mutual wins and sustainability," and Moscow saying it "does its part to ensure that the Arctic does not become a territory of discord and tension."

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NewsVoir New Delhi [India], January 31: The CII Young Indians' Lucknow Chapter recently hosted an insightful fireside chat with BharatPe Founder and entrepreneur Ashneer Grover. Held at the Hyatt Regency, Lucknow it was supported by gold mobilisation platform and startup MyGold and focused on 'Building Unicorns: The Journey, Challenges, and Lessons from the Trenches', providing an exclusive platform for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and aspiring founders to engage in a thought-provoking discussion about the world of startups. Moderated by industry experts, the event featured Ashneer Grover as the keynote speaker, who shared his personal journey of building BharatPe into one of India's most recognized fintech unicorns. Emphasizing the importance of consistency and resilience in overcoming challenges, he regaled the audience with real-life anecdotes and practical lessons for budding entrepreneurs; after which an interactive Q&A session further allowed attendees to seek advice on overcoming startup hurdles and scaling their own businesses. MyGold, as the event's annual sponsor, showcased its commitment to fostering innovation and supporting India's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Highlighting the startup's innovative platform and its relevance in daily life, Amol Bansal, Founder of MyGold, discussed how MyGold is revolutionizing gold investment and leasing for individuals and businesses, delivering an impactful presentation at the event. Speaking on the occasion, Amol Bansal, Founder of MyGold, said, "Supporting such a platform inspires entrepreneurs to dream big and navigate their journeys with resilience and vision. At MyGold, we believe in empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs to achieve their financial goals and make a sizeable impact and we look forward to more such opportunities in the future." The event highlighted the importance of consistent effort and the willingness to face challenges head-on; elements that are key to building successful businesses in today's competitive landscape. Bringing together not only veteran entrepreneurs but also aspiring founders, creating a vibrant space for the exchange of ideas and experiences, the fireside chat with Ashneer Grover reinforced MyGold's mission of transforming financial practices, empowering innovation, and supporting entrepreneurs in their journey to success. Founded in 2021 by Lucknow-based entrepreneur Amol Bansal, MyGold is a trailblazing platform that transforms idle gold into a productive asset. With over Rs. 200 lakh crore worth of gold lying unused in Indian households, MyGold encourages individuals to unlock the true potential of their gold by converting it into a source of sustainable growth and financial empowerment. MyGold provides an innovative model offering guaranteed annual growth of 5% in gold weight on 24kt pure gold, allowing users to earn in gold rather than monetary value. This unique approach ensures compounded returns that significantly outperform traditional savings methods, such as bank deposits. Through its secure, transparent, and user-friendly app, users can track their daily gold returns, access their holdings 24x7, and sell gold at prevailing prices, ensuring complete flexibility without lock-in periods. Backed by MMTC-PAMP & partnerships with SEBI-approved Gold vault managers & logistics partners for insured vault storage and audited by Vistra, the world's largest asset administrator, MyGold sets the benchmark for trust, safety and security. Designed for modern families and long-term planners, MyGold is the ideal choice for those aiming to save for future goals like education, weddings, or generational wealth creation. (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)
This story incorporates reporting from MediaNama, gadgets360 and NBC New York.



The U.S. government is reportedly investigating Chinese technology firm DeepSeek regarding its potential use of artificial intelligence chips that are restricted under current export control measures. DeepSeek, a company primarily involved in the development of AI-driven solutions, might have acquired Nvidia chips that are subject to limitations, sparking concerns over regulatory compliance.

The Commerce Department is said to be leading the probe, examining whether DeepSeeks activities have violated U.S. export regulations. The departments inquiry centers around how DeepSeek could have obtained the Nvidia AI chipsan advanced technology restricted due to its potential dual-use capabilities, which may pose national security risks if misused.

DeepSeek, in the spotlight for its AI prowess, faces increased scrutiny from U.S. authorities. In recent months, federal entities like NASA have already imposed restrictions on collaborating with DeepSeek, citing pressing security and privacy concerns. These developments suggest a growing caution within the U.S. government about the involvement of Chinese companies in sensitive technology sectors.

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The suspicion aligns with broader geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, where technological advancement and control have become key battlegrounds. The U.S. has historically imposed stringent constraints on the export of advanced technologies, particularly those with military and defense applications, to China. With DeepSeeks case, U.S. agencies seek to reaffirm their commitment to national security by enforcing these restrictions.

Nvidia, the maker of the AI chips in question, has reportedly cooperated with all regulatory and governmental inquiries. The Silicon Valley giant is no stranger to such scrutiny, having been instrumental in the AI chip market and often finding itself under international watch for its dual-use products. However, it remains unclear how DeepSeek might have accessed these chips despite the restrictions.

The Commerce Departments findings can have significant implications not only for DeepSeek but potentially for broader trade relations. In recent years, U.S. export controls have been pivotal in shaping Chinas technology landscape, impacting Chinese tech giants and startups alike. A ruling against DeepSeek could intensify these measures, potentially resulting in stricter controls and broader bans on technology transfers to Chinese entities.

For its part, DeepSeek has not publicly commented on the investigation, maintaining a low profile amid the growing controversy. Nor has there been any indication from the Chinese government regarding this development, even as such probes draw international attention to the competitive tech landscape between the two global powers.

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As the investigation unfolds, industry watchers anticipate further actions that might dictate U.S. and China relations, especially in technology sectors. It also raises questions about the robustness of current export control mechanisms and their adaptability to rapidly evolving tech landscapes.

Quartz Intelligence Newsroom uses generative artificial intelligence to report on business trends. This is the first phase of an experimental new version of reporting. While we strive for accuracy and timeliness, due to the experimental nature of this technology we cannot guarantee that well always be successful in that regard. If you see errors in this article, please let us know at qi@qz.com.

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Michigan's largest public university has clear guidance if students, faculty or staff are approached by immigration officials: call university police and lawyers, no one is required to let immigration officers inside a dorm unless they present a valid criminal warrant and video record everything.

The guidance from the University of Michigan comes as President Donald Trump's administration champions a new executive order that aims to potentially revoke visas and deport students associated with "pro-Palestine rallies" on campuses around the country.

University of Michigan faculty David Zeglen speaks on stage as students walk out to protest the university administration's proposed disruptive activity policy at U-M's Diag in Ann Arbor on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

Broadly, Trump has vowed to use U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to carry out the largest deportation mission in the country's history.

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"UMs educational mission requires a safe and secure learning environment for its students. Accordingly, UM has designated its classroom buildings as restricted areas with limited access," university guidance reads.

"If ICE agents do not present a warrant or have clear legal authority, they cannot access restricted spaces without explicit permission."

The rapid changes at the federal level and university action add to what for many has been a chaotic start to the year.

"ICE agents must have a judicial warrant or subpoena to enter most private or limited access areas on campus," reads a university statement issued Tuesday.

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"Do not accept service of any subpoena/warrant before contacting the Office of the General Counsel: 734-764-0304."

On Wednesday, the Trump administration issued a new executive order titled, "additional measures to combat anti-Semitism." The order references the attack at a music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but goes far beyond  it encourages universities to look for "alien students" who could be ripe for deportation if they are deemed a security threat.

"Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault," the order states.

Many rallies opposing Israel's attacks in Gaza and calling for the university to divest from businesses that support Israel occurred at the Ann Arbor campus in recent months. It spurred,, at times clashes between activist students and university police, prompting the university to suspend a pro-Palestinian student group this week.

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More: Rep. Tlaib defends immigrants as Mayor Duggan is slammed for calling some 'illegal'

In October, the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education accusing the school of ignoring Islamophobia on campus. And Jewish students pushed the university for more support during the fall after events many considered antisemitic.

A university spokeswoman said the school is aware of the order and reviewing it. She directed students to a university website that tracks each order and provides details on its impact for the campus community.

Reuters and other publications obtained a fact sheet from the Trump administration that states the goals of the executive order.

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"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," the president said in the sheet, according to Reuters.

CAIR, the national Muslim civil rights advocacy organization, condemned the executive order.

"Free speech is a cornerstone of our Constitution that no president can wipe away with an executive order," CAIR said in a statement.

"Like the college students who once protested segregation, the Vietnam war, and apartheid South Africa, the diverse collection of college students who protested against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza deserve our country's thanks."

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The university issued a four-page memo for staff and students, along with broader guidance for the campus community. In addition to calling university counsel, the school says students should call university police for any of its multiple campuses. They also advise recording any interaction.

"While you have the right to document and report the incident, for your own safety, do not physically obstruct or interfere with the actions of ICE agents," the guidance states.

The university also advises students, faculty and staff should not take service of a subpoena. They say they should tell an ICE official attempting to serve a subpoena or warrant that they are not authorized to take such a document on behalf of the university.

In general, university police do not assist with most immigration-related enforcement issues on campus, according to department policy.

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U-M generally welcomes international students. The school said 8,635 international students enrolled as of this fall, representing roughly 17% of the student body.

At Wayne State University, a spokesman acknowledged rumors of recent ICE activity on the Detroit campus. However, Matt Lockwood said ICE has not conducted any operations on our campus.

Lockwood said the school is aware of recent Trump executive orders and are "in the process of evaluating them."

Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com and on X @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: U-M advises campus as Trump targets students at pro-Palestinian rallies
DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH)  The immigration enforcement crackdown has made its way to central Ohio with U.S. marshals arresting a wanted man in Delaware on Thursday.

Marshals arrested a 23-year-old from Honduras who was charged with gross sexual imposition in Franklin County. The fugitive apprehension team arrested the man at the 6000 block of Merchant Road. Investigators told NBC4 the suspect was in the United States illegally and was working on a construction team building a house in the area.

Marshal Michael Black of the Southern District of Ohio said his teams have had discussions with federal law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, for the last week and a half on how they can assist in their efforts. Black said those conversations hes had is to make arresting violent criminals in the county illegally a priority for his team.

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The only change is now we are coordinating more with ICE when we apprehend these individuals, Black said. And assisting them to deal with their immigration efforts. The coordination is more but the mission stays the same.

Convicted Ohio sex offender arrested for allegedly reentering U.S. illegally

This comes as ICE has stepped up arrests and deportations across the country since Donald Trumps second term as President began. He signed the Laken Riley Act into law on Wednesday; its named after a nursing student who was killed by an undocumented immigrant. Trump said his administration is targeting undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.

Around 100 Columbus residents protested against the new immigration policies while central Ohio school districts have told families protections available for students after Trump removed federal restrictions for ICE officers to conduct raids in schools.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
(KRON)  The Pleasant Hill Police Department said its investigators helped United States Marshals arrest the third and final suspect tied to a March 2024 attempted armed robbery in Twinbridge Circle that led to two deaths.

Man allegedly stabs, kills woman after delivery van stolen in Oakland

Police said Peter Popovich, 63, of Pleasant Hill, died in the March 19 incident along with one suspect, Trevon Davis, 21, of San Pablo. Police said Popovich was a delivery deliver for Bay Area cannabis distributors and was targeted for robbery by Davis, and at least one other suspect, while standing near his van. Police said both men were armed, leading to an exchange of gunfire, where Popovich and Davis were shot several times. Both succumbed to their injuries.

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Police said the final suspect in the case, Amir Shaw, 20, of Richmond, tried to flee the City of Richmond before he was arrested without incident on Tuesday. Shaw has been booked into the Contra Costa County Jail.

Police said two other suspects, Joe Washington, Jr., 18, and Money Green, 20, both of Richmond, were taken into custody after being located in Sacramento on April 18, 2024. Police said there were no injuries to police or suspects during those arrests.

Despite the arrests, this remains an active homicide investigation. Anyone who may be a witness or has photos or video surveillance evidence is urged to contact the Pleasant Hill Police Investigations Bureau at (925) 288-4630.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Geneva  The United Nations on Friday voiced alarm at rampant violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as the M23 armed group pushed deeper into the country, warning of summary executions and widespread rapes. The group's capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, earlier in the week was a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.



The U.N. on Thursday said that it was "deeply concerned" by "credible reports" that the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels were advancing south from Goma to Bukavu  capital of the neighboring South Kivu province.



U.N. rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence said that since the start of the crisis, bombs had struct at least two sites housing internally displaced people (IDPs), "causing civilian casualties."

DRC threatens Apple with legal action over alleged "blood minerals" in gadgets

"We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23 between 26 and 28 January," he told reporters in Geneva.

Members of the M23 armed group walk alongside residents on a street in the Keshero neighborhood of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan. 27, 2025. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty

In areas under M23 control in South Kivu, such as Minova, he said the group had "occupied schools and hospitals, forced IDPs out of camps and subjected the civilian population to forced conscription and forced labor."



The rights office, he said, had documented "cases of conflict-related sexual violence by the army and allied Wazalendo fighters in Kalehe territory."



"We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape," he said.



Separately, he pointed to reports from DRC officials indicating that at least 165 women were raped by male inmates when more than 4,000 prisoners broke out of Goma's Muzenze prison on January 27, as the M23 began its assault on the town.



"Conflict-related sexual violence has been an appalling feature of armed conflict in eastern DRC for decades," Laurence said.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced since the start of the year due to ongoing clashes between M23 rebels and Congolese security forces in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. / Credit: Efnan Ipsir/Anadolu/Getty

U.N. rights chief Volker Turk "is particularly concerned that this latest escalation risks deepening the risk of conflict-related sexual violence much further," he added.

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Laurence cautioned that the "widespread proliferation of weapons in Goma" was "exacerbating" those risks.



He also called for investigations to bring "the perpetrators to justice" and to ensure accountability.

Ruth Maclean, West Africa bureau chief for the New York Times, told CBS News this week that the increase of violence in Goma was of particular concern as, for months, people from the surrounding countryside have poured into the city seeking respite from fighting. Many of the displaced people, Maclean said, were living out in the open, leaving them at increased risk.

The U.N., many Western governments and the DRC all accuse Rwanda's government of backing M23 in a bid to control and exploit their much larger eastern neighbor's vast mineral resources, in an escalation of a crisis that has been playing out for many years across several international borders.

Commercial plane crashes midair with military helicopter near Reagan National Airport

Officials provide update on midair collision near Reagan National Airport outside D.C.

Latest details on D.C. plane crash, ATC conditions, chopper crew and Trump reaction
PORT SUDAN, SudanSudans civil war pitting the countrys armed forces against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, is approaching the two-year mark with no resolution in sight. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of committing atrocities, with the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden having determined that the RSF had committed genocide in Darfur and the Sudanese military had perpetrated war crimes. Nevertheless, despite the moral imperative to act, the international community has done little to halt the conflict and its associated violence against civilians.

Amid the widespread atrocities committed by the RSF in Darfur and central Sudan, one tragedy remains egregiously overlooked: the plight of Sudans Christian community. The atrocities inflicted on this minority by the RSFan offshoot of the notorious Janjaweed militia that was previously designated by the U.S. State Department as perpetrators of genocide in the 2000smake the international communitys lack of urgency all the more egregious. U.S. President Donald Trump, whose previous administration prioritized religious freedoms, has a unique opportunity to change that by taking decisive action to bring justice and relief to the victims of this devastating conflict.

During a recent visit to Port Sudan, I met with members of the Coptic Christian community, who shared harrowing accounts of RSF violence. These stories revealed both the profound suffering and remarkable resilience of a community under siege. The RSF has systematically targeted Sudanese Christians through acts of looting, desecration of graves and forced evacuations of clergy. Despite these attacks, many young Christians have been galvanized into action, volunteering with the Sudanese army to defend their homeland and protect their communities.

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The violence against Christians began soon after the war erupted in April 2023, with the first major wave of attacks occurring in Khartoum and Omdurman. Mary Girgis Church in Omdurman, a historic institution founded in 1915, was among these early targets. In May 2023, RSF fighters stormed the church during a Sunday service, attacking pastors and congregants, looting valuables and destroying the entire structure. Adding to the bitter irony, RSF soldiers accused the worshippers of being Koz, a derogatory term for supporters of former Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir, despite the victims being members of a Christian minority.

To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter.

The RSFs campaign of violence extended to other churches. The Orthodox Coptic Church in Khartoum North was similarly looted and subsequently repurposed as a detention center. Reports also emerged of the RSF targeting Christians fleeing the conflict, harassing them at checkpoints and accusing them of being Egyptian loyalists. In October 2024, the RSF claimed that Egypts air force was aiding the Sudanese army, a charge that Cairo denied. Nevertheless, the regional dimension of the conflict has contributed to the persecution of Christians simply based on their assumed ethnicity or faith, a reflection of the widespread view among RSF fighters of Christians as infidels, as well as of the Arab supremacist ideology in which they are deeply indoctrinated.

One of the worst incidents took place in November 2023, when the RSF attacked Dar Mariam Catholic Church, a sanctuary for orphans that also provided medical services for surrogate mothers in the Al-Shajara neighborhood of Khartoum. RSF fighters shelled the church, blocked food and water supplies, and harassed the nuns running the facility. The deteriorating health of the nuns and the escalating threat to those sheltering in the church prompted an urgent evacuation mission by the Sudanese military in July 2024 known as Blocking the Moon.

Engagement on behalf of Sudans Christian minority would not only uphold U.S. values of religious freedom but also offer the Trump administration an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on the global stage.

This high-stakes operation, led by the Sudanese armed forces and the General Intelligence Services, was executed in two phases. The first rescued five nuns, a priest and an assistant, while the second evacuated 78 children and 28 surrogate mothers. The mission faced immense challenges, including the presence around the church of skilled RSF snipers who posed a significant threat. After a failed earlier attempt involving the International Red Cross, emergency aidincluding food, water, medical supplies and satellite communication deviceswas provided to sustain those trapped in the church until the evacuation was ultimately completed.

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The heroism displayed during the Blocking the Moon operation underscores the resilience of Sudans Christian community and the severe risks they face. In addition to the orphans and surrogate mothers they cared for, the nuns and clergywho remained at the church despite the violencealso provided shelter and aid to local residents whose homes had been destroyed by fighting. Their bravery serves as a testament to their unwavering commitment to serve others, even in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Beyond the institutional attacks, the war has displaced countless individuals, each with their own story of loss and resilience. Mina Girgis Fakhoury, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, is one of them. Before the conflict, Fakhoury owned several coffee shops and food warehouses as well as a spice-grinding factory in Khartoum. The RSFs violence destroyed his businesses, while his home was looted during fighting in May 2023, compounding his losses and forcing Fakhoury and his family to flee to Egypt. Throughout the journey they harassed and threatened me, targeting me specifically because of my Christian identity, he said, referring to RSF fighters. They accused me of being Egyptian and participating in the fight against them, he added.

Now in Cairo, Mina and his family have rebuilt their lives by managing a small coffee roastery that caters to both Egyptian and Sudanese customers. Despite the hardships, Mina remains committed to the idea of a Sudanese state that serves the people, not individual interests. His story exemplifies the resilience and determination of Sudans Christian community to rebuild and contribute to society, even after enduring unimaginable suffering.

As mentioned above, the atrocities committed by the RSF have drawn international condemnation, with the Biden administration having already determined that its actions in Darfur constitute genocide. However, words alone are insufficient, and the Trump administration is well-placed to take meaningful action. During Trumps previous presidency, his administration made defending and advancing religious freedom a cornerstone of its foreign policy. As part of those efforts, it demanded improvements in Sudans record on religious freedom as a condition for lifting U.S. sanctions that had been in place in one form or another since 1997. These efforts were supported by the State Departments Office of International Religious Freedom, which emphasized the importance of protecting vulnerable religious minorities.

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Building on this precedent, the Trump administration should threaten the RSF with a designation as a terrorist organization if it continues to target Sudans Christian community, while conditioning any further U.S. engagement on accountability for the crimes already committed. Such a move would send a clear message that the U.S. will not tolerate attacks on religious freedom and will hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. In parallel, Washington should increase its support to the Sudanese government and humanitarian organizations working to protect and assist victims of RSF violence.

The war in Sudan is not just a regional crisis; it is a humanitarian catastrophe with global implications. The RSFs actions have devastated communities, displaced millions and exacerbated religious tensions. By targeting Sudans Christian minority, the RSF has committed acts that violate international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights. These crimes cannot go unanswered.

Engagement by Washington would not only uphold U.S. values of religious freedom and human rights but also offer the Trump administration an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on the global stage. By taking decisive action, the Trump administration can help bring justice to Sudans Christian community and contribute to a broader effort to end the conflict.

As Sudans brutal war grinds on, the suffering of the Christian community serves as a stark reminder of the human cost of international inaction. Their resilience in the face of persecution is both inspiring and heartbreaking. The Trump administration has a unique opportunity to lead the charge in holding the RSF accountable and advocating for religious freedom. By pressuring the RSF with a potential terrorist designation and prioritizing support for Sudans vulnerable communities, the U.S. can make a tangible difference in the lives of those affected by this devastating conflict.

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The time to act is now. Sudans war is not just a crisis for the region; it is a test of the international communitys commitment to justice and human dignity. The first Trump administrations legacy of advancing religious freedom provides a strong foundation for meaningful intervention. With bold action, the U.S. can help bring an end to this tragic chapter and pave the way for a brighter future for Sudan and its people.

Yasir Zaidan is a doctoral candidate at the Jackson School for International Studies at the University of Washington.

The post The U.S. Should Protect Sudans Christian Minority From the RSF appeared first on World Politics Review.
The state university systems Board of Governors on Thursday approved a one-year contract extension for University of Central Florida President Alexander Cartwright.

Cartwrights base salary will increase from $750,000 to $900,000, and he will be eligible for a bonus up to $375,000.

Cartwrights base pay when he was hired in 2020 was $600,000.

Read: Training partner of the American Airlines pilot speaks after deadly passenger jet, helicopter crash

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Cartwright thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature for supporting UCFs effort to become the states premier engineering and technology university. It is the future. Its what we need to be doing for Florida,

Cartwright said. The UCF Board of Trustees approved the extension last month, but the contract also required approval from the systems Board of Governors.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




New York Citys powerful teachers union is looking to boost pay for some special-education staffers without the Adams administrations OK.

On Thursday, the United Federation of Teachers joined about a dozen City Council members outside City Hall to announce a bill that would send roughly $10,000 checks annually to full-time paraprofessionals, who support students with disabilities on school buses and in classrooms.

During negotiations, the citys mayors historically have a longstanding practice of reaching a deal with one union, which then sets a pattern for pay increases in all other contracts in that same round of bargaining. Because paraprofessionals wages are among the lowest in the school system, raises through that process  known as pattern bargaining  have little impact on their earnings.

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UFT President Michael Mulgrew acknowledged the legislation  which, if enacted, could undermine the mayors position at the bargaining table  was unprecedented in New York City.

But the issue now has become were in a crisis and, even if we can hire paraprofessionals, theyre not staying because of the pay, Mulgrew said at a press conference before a hearing on special education.

And so, if we have to put pattern bargaining on trial, well do that, he added. Because this is out of control.

Paraprofessionals earn between $31,787 and $52,847 in the citys public school system, according to the UFT. Currently, pattern bargaining sets raises at around 3% or $900 each year for a first-time teaching assistant.

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There are close to 1,600 vacancies for paraprofessionals, a member survey found  which the union blamed on low wages, resulting in challenges with hiring and retention.

Meanwhile, as the empty positions persist, children with disabilities are suffering the consequences. A shortage of teaching assistants means that students are losing access to critical services required by federal law  or stuck at home unable to attend classes.

According to the UFT survey, nearly seven in 10 specialized public schools serving students with the most intensive needs do not provide regular coverage for absent paraprofessionals.

You hear that students dont have routes because they dont have many paraprofessionals to travel to and from school with them, which is legally mandated, said Councilwoman Rita Joseph (D-Brooklyn), the chairwoman of the Education Committee. That leaves parents responsible for getting their children to school or else missing out on their education.

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A representative for Mayor Adams said he provided wage increases and benefits to paraprofessionals and other UFT members during this round of collective bargaining.

The current contract does not expire until late 2027. The Adams administration shut down discussing pay raises or any other economic issues until then  and pointed to Mulgrews own support of the contract when it was approved a year and a half ago.

We look forward to discussing all of the unions economic demands in the next round of collective bargaining, said Allison Maser, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Mulgrew and the Councils joint show of force comes as Adams has been shoring up support with unions ahead of his reelection bid, despite battling an unknown illness that kept him on a limited public schedule this week. The mayor is facing criminal allegations that he took bribes and illegal campaign funds from Turkish government operatives, which could impact his primary prospects.

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Mulgrew, the UFT president, faces a competitive election himself over the next several months after losing the support of some retirees over a push to shift former city workers onto privatized health care. At least two major challengers to his Unity caucus  the Alliance of Retired and In-Service Educators and A Better Contract  have seized on low paraprofessional pay as part of their platforms.

Joseph is expected to sponsor the bill with Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Labor Committee, her office said. The legislation, which would grow the paychecks over time but would not be pensionable, will be formally introduced in the coming weeks.
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's top court said on Friday that trying civilians in military courts was unconstitutional and ordered any ongoing prosecutions to stop immediately.

The ruling will offer relief to a key opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, who has been undergoing trial by the country's general court martial, his lawyer Erias Lukwago said, adding that the defendant would now not appear in court on Monday as originally scheduled.

"All charges or ongoing criminal trials or pending trials before the courts martial involving civilians must immediately cease," Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo said, reading the lead judgement of a panel of Supreme Court justices.

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All ongoing trials must be transferred to civilian courts, he said.

Besigye, a long-time opponent of President Yoweri Museveni, was detained in neighbouring Kenya in November.

He was subsequently brought home and charged with several firearms and security offences at the military's general court martial. Some of the charges carry the death penalty.

He has been in detention at a maximum security prison in the capital Kampala. The court has previously rejected arguments by Besigye's lawyers that challenged its powers to try civilians.

Owiny-Dollo said members of military courts did not possess legal competence to handle criminal trials in a fair and impartial manner, as required by the constitution.

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Another justice on the panel, Elizabeth Musoke, said military courts were only empowered to handle disciplinary cases involving members of the country's military.

Besigye's wife, Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of U.N. agency UNAIDS, has previously said the charges against him were politically motivated. His lawyers have rejected the charges as baseless.

Human rights activists and opposition politicians have accused Museveni's government of using military courts to prosecute opposition leaders and supporters on politically motivated charges.

In a 2011 report, Human Rights Watch said Uganda's military courts violated fundamental rights of defendants while putting civilians on trial, including through the use of evidence obtained by torture.

The government has rejected any accusations of rights violations.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa, Ammu Kannampilly and Christina Fincher)
(Bloomberg) -- British Chancellor Rachel Reeves has brushed aside concerns about the climate impact of expanding Londons Heathrow airport, insisting there is no trade off between the pursuit of economic growth and the UKs desire to decarbonize.

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Reeves said this week the government will approve the controversial project to build a third runway at the UKs largest airport, despite concerns that a jump in air traffic would imperil the countrys drive towards net zero emissions by mid-century.

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The mathematics of Reeves assertion rely on a big gamble: that emissions reduction technologies will develop fast enough to offset the rise in flights. But, experts say, those technologies are currently expensive, and are yet to prove themselves at scale.

You are growing something that doesnt have the option of being decarbonized right now, said Alice Larkin, a professor of climate science and energy policy at the University of Manchester.

A UK government spokesperson said it was committed to delivering greener aviation. They added: We are already making great strides in the path to greener aviation, with new targets for sustainable aviation fuel starting this year.

Heathrow declined to comment.

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The UK has a legally-binding target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. More urgently, the UK needs to slash its emissions by 81%, compared with 1990 levels, in the next 10 years to meet new climate targets submitted to the United Nations. Air travel currently contributes about 7% of UK emissions.

In 2022, under the previous government, the UK published its Jet Zero strategy, which promised guilt-free flying, powered by hydrogen, battery-operated planes, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Neither hydrogen nor battery-powered aircraft are anywhere near ready for mass commercialization. That means that for at least the next decade, the burden will fall on SAF.

SAF is a broad definition, including fuels from used cooking oil, synthetic fuels made using hydrogen and carbon dioxide, or biofuels made from plants and trees. Calculating exactly how much it cuts carbon emissions over its lifecycle compared to fossil-based jet fuel is difficult, and depends on the type of SAF used. For example, using fuels from waste in some cases results in barely any emissions savings at all. The UK governments strategy assumes that replacing jet fuel with SAF results in a 70% reduction in lifecycle emissions.

The UK has mandated that by 2030, airlines must replace 10% of their aviation fuel with SAF, rising to 22% by 2040.

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Chris Hilson, director of the Centre for Climate and Justice at the University of Reading, calls the UKs projections for SAFs overly optimistic, because the fuel is expensive and hard to produce at scale. Even with these fuels, flights will still produce significant emissions, he said.

International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways, is targeting 10% SAF by 2030, in line with the government policy, and says it aims to use one million metric tons a year by that date dependent on appropriate government policy support.

SAF currently costs at least twice as much as jet fuel. The UK governments own cost-benefit analysis suggests that to hit its SAF targets would cost the industry around 11.4 billion between now and 2040, although some of these costs would be mitigated by the reduced amount airlines would have to pay in carbon credits.

But that assumes theres enough SAF to meet the quota. Around the world, manufacturers have struggled to get off the ground. Clean energy researcher BloombergNEF estimates that by 2030 therell be enough capacity to meet about 5% of global jet fuel demand. Countries, including Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia are also planning to introduce SAF mandates, which would put further pressure on supply.

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Most of the UKs SAF is imported, with a large amount coming from used cooking oil from China. Currently only one commercial scale facility makes SAF for airplanes in the UK. Six others are scheduled to begin operations in 2026.

The previous government created a fund to support early-stage SAF startups. On Wednesday, Reeves said another 63 million ($78 million) will go into that fund, and announced a policy that would create price certainty for SAF investors. But the promised investment is a fraction of what is likely to be needed to meet demand.

We either have to increase investment from the aviation sector, which probably means higher [cost] plane tickets, or it will have to be subsidized by the government, says Daisy Jameson, a policy fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Transition Expertise. Those costs will only rise as the aviation sector expands.

The Climate Change Committee, an independent public body that advises the government on climate policy, says its balanced net zero pathway only allows for a 25% rise in passenger numbers by mid-century, and no airport expansion would be needed to accommodate that.

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Growing emissions from aviation would put pressure on the other pillars of the UKs net zero strategy. The government is aiming for 100% clean power  mostly from renewable sources  by 2030. One analysis, from Alex Chapman at the New Economics Foundation think tank, projects that expansions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton would cancel out the carbon benefits of the clean power plan within five years of the expansion taking place. The runway isnt expected to be built and operational until 2035.

Even in its most optimistic scenarios, UK aviation is already expected to create a surfeit of around 19 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2050, which the government expects to cancel out using carbon removal technologies, such as direct air capture  another technology that doesnt, as yet, exist at scale.

The previous government twice lost court cases brought by environmental campaign groups, which successfully argued that it was missing its own decarbonization targets. The Heathrow expansion plan is unlikely to proceed unchallenged. ClientEarth, a nonprofit which regularly brings litigation against governments and companies for failing to comply with climate legislation, has already called the Labour governments arguments simply not plausible.

Some analyses suggest that aviation expansion can take place if other sectors pick up the slack by decarbonizing faster. But the easiest changes  such as removing the most polluting fossil fuels from the grid  have mostly been achieved already, while attempts to reduce emissions in other major sources, such as ground transportation and home heating, are behind schedule.

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As we get closer towards 2050, the solutions that are left are going to be the more expensive, harder to implement, trickier things to do, says Jameson from the London School of Economics. If you are squeezing other sectors, you are relying on more expensive technologies.

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Karla Sofia Gascon, the Oscar-nominated star of 'Emilia Perez', has issued a heartfelt apology through Netflix after resurfaced social media posts from her past caused a significant stir in the midst of awards season. The actress, who is the first openly transgender woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, expressed regret over the insensitive comments she made on social media years ago. In her statement obtained by Deadline, Gascon acknowledged the pain caused by her earlier tweets, noting, "I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness." The controversy erupted when social media posts from around five years ago resurfaced, including critical and offensive remarks regarding significant events, such as the murder of George Floyd and contentious comments about Islam and its followers in Spain, as per Deadline. At the time the posts were made, Gascon was acting in local television productions, well before her transition and public coming out as transgender in 2016. Despite the backlash, Gascon's apology comes as the actress has been making waves in Hollywood with her groundbreaking role in 'Emilia Perez', which earned her an Oscar nomination. She also made history as the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Golden Globe, a nomination she earned for her moving performance in the film. The movie itself is also nominated for Best Picture and Best International Film at the Academy Awards. (ANI)
(Bloomberg) -- The UK is exploring a slimmed-down version of the European Unions youth mobility proposal as part of a wider set of discussions seeking closer ties on defense and trade, people familiar with the matter said.

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Officials are in the early stages of seeking a way to deliver on a key EU demand to facilitate the regular exchange of students while avoiding adding to net migration, according to the people, who asked not to be named disclosing private discussions. Such an exchange could encompass university students and young people doing technical courses or language programs and be broader than the Erasmus program that the UK left during Brexit, they said.

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The two sides expect to begin wider negotiations on trade and defense in coming months as Prime Minister Keir Starmer seeks to deliver on a Labour Party election promise to reset relations with the EU five years after leaving the bloc. The premiers challenge is to balance his desire for closer EU ties  and the accompanying boost to economic growth that might bring  with a promise to cut net migration, which has soared since Brexit and the pandemic.

The EU last year proposed an agreement for EU and UK citizens between 18 to 30 years to stay in the destination country for as long as four years. Starmer has repeatedly said his government has no plans for a youth mobility program, but UK officials are looking at ways to find a middle ground that would be more limited in scope and length and focused on education. Bloomberg was first to reveal that Labour was open to finding a landing zone on youth mobility in June.

The UK and EU have agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas including the economy, security and resilience, the British government said in a statement. A broad security and defense agreement and closer cooperation with the EU on issues like migration will make the UK safer and more prosperous.

A spokesperson reiterated a promise not to take Britain back into the EU single market, customs union or freedom of movement, while saying the government wont provide a running commentary on the discussions.

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The main challenge is how to manage the number of EU students staying in the UK under such a program: one option is a quota, which mirrors youth programs the UK has with other countries, according to the people. Although the British government would ideally like to see the same number of EU students arrive as UK students leave under the program, historically demand has been higher from the bloc.

Starmers administration is also planning to shift from its hitherto reluctance to provide details of its thinking on a wider rapprochement, to more confident messaging on the need for closer relations with its closest trading partner, the people said. Thats been spurred by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves search for growth, which has been severely impacted by Britains exit from the bloc.

The UK wish list includes a security and defense pact, a veterinary agreement to ease trade friction for fresh food, a touring visa for artists, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications so auditors, medics, architects and lawyers can practice in both the UK and EU.

The UK hopes detailed talks will follow a UK-EU summit, being penciled in for as early as April and likely to be held in London, though German elections may delay negotiations, the people said. At that summit, the UK is eyeing an initial EU agreement on security and defense, and is likely also to set out which further areas it intends to seek agreement on, the people said. A more substantial deal would follow later, they said.

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The UK is also examining mini trade pacts that would ease costs and burdens on British businesses while retaining a promise not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union. That includes potential membership of the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) convention, whereby UK firms would be able to choose between trading under the Brexit agreement or PEM rules.

Reeves earlier this week suggested shed examine the possibility of joining the customs framework, which helps broaden the supply chain companies can use in their trade between the bloc and other countries in Europe and North Africa.

We are absolutely happy to look at these different proposals because we know the deal the previous government secured is not working well enough, she said, referring to Britains Brexit agreement with the EU.

--With assistance from Joe Mayes.

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(Updates with government statement in fifth, sixth paragraphs.)

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Ukrainian soldiers are now using a long-range drone capable of traveling up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and carrying a 250-kilogram air bomb, the Unmanned Systems Forces said on Jan. 31.

The drone is described as a unique development and a potential game changer on the battlefield. The military did not disclose the number of drones in service or additional details about their capabilities.

"Russian propaganda constantly claims to have 'shot down' such aircraft, but explosions at military-industrial complexes, refineries, and ammunition depots suggest otherwise," the statement read.

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Ukraine regularly targets Russian oil facilities with long-range drone strikes in an effort to disrupt fuel supplies to the Russian military and reduce Moscow's energy export revenues. Oil profits remain a crucial source of funding for Russia's war efforts.

The drones, operated by Ukraine's 14th Regiment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, have targeted Russian facilities for more than a year, flying hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers, according to the statement.

There have already been dozens of such missions, and there will be more, the military said.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these claims.

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Throughout Russias full-scale invasion, both Ukraine and Russia have heavily invested in drone technology, revolutionizing warfare tactics.

Various aerial, naval, and ground drones have been developed and are frequently used by Ukrainian troops for reconnaissance, combat, and other tasks.

Ukraine produced more than 30,000 bomber drones in 2024, according to Ukraine's Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin.

Read also: How Ukraines new drone-missile hybrids are changing long-range weapon technology

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Ukraine's Missile and Artillery Forces struck the command post of Russia's Kursk group of forces in the Russian city of Rylsk in Kursk Oblast on Jan. 31, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.

"As a result of the coordinated and precision strike, (Russia's) command and control post was destroyed," the statement read. Local Russian Telegram channels also reported explosions in the Rylsk district.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.

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The attack is part of Ukraine's broader strategy to weaken Russian operational capabilities by targeting key command centers. The General Staff emphasized that such strikes aim to reduce Russia's offensive potential.

The strike follows Kyiv's limited incursion into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, 2024, when Ukrainian forces temporarily captured about 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory. While Ukraine has reportedly lost around half of that territory since then, fighting continues in the region.

Ukraine hopes to leverage its presence in the area in potential peace negotiations. Last fall, North Korean troops were deployed to Kursk Oblast to support Russian forces in countering the Ukrainian incursion.

Read also: North Korean troops not seen for 3 weeks in parts of Kursk Oblast, Ukraines Special Forces say

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The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with up to 2 billion (approx. US$2.44 billion) to purchase air defence systems and missiles.

Source: Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers (Ukrainian government)

Details: On 31 January, the Ukrainian government approved a draft law to ratify the Framework Agreement between Kyiv and London to support the development of Ukraine's defence capabilities.

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Quote: "This agreement also provides funds for the organisation of repair hubs for military equipment and other weapons. Such hubs will be located in Ukraine. This will help us significantly strengthen our defence capabilities," Shmyhal said.

Background: The European Union has been a key donor to Ukraine's budget, providing US$50 billion since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's special operations forces have not seen North Korean troops on the battlefield in Russia's Kursk region for around three weeks, suggesting they have been forced to withdraw after taking heavy losses, a military spokesperson said on Friday.

Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in Kursk to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.

"The special operations forces speak exclusively for the areas where our units are deployed, in this regard, we inform you that the presence of North Korean troops has not been noted for approximately three weeks," said Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, the forces' spokesperson.

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"Presumably, having suffered heavy losses, they were forced to withdraw," he said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military spokesperson for the whole Kursk front told Reuters he could not officially comment on the situation. It was unclear what sectors of the front in Kursk region the special operations forces are deployed along.

Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk in August, trying to divert Moscow's forces to defend on a new front, boost morale and gain a bargaining chip.

Russia has since pushed Ukrainian troops back, but so far proven unable to drive them all the way back to the border.

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North Korean regular troops entered the war on Russia's side in October, according to Kyiv and its Western allies, which said they had been sent to Kursk region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Jan. 11 that two North Korean soldiers had been captured alive on the battlefield by Ukrainian special forces working alongside paratroopers.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Yuliia Dysa; editing by Angus MacSwan)
Key developments on Jan. 31:

North Korean troops not seen for 3 weeks in parts of Kursk Oblast, Ukraines Special Forces say

Ukraine deploys long-range drone capable of 2,000 km strike, military says

Ukrainian drones strike "one of 10 largest oil refineries in Russia," military says

Russian missiles strike Odesas historic center, injuring 2

Finland announces $206 million military package for Ukraine

North Korean troops have not been seen for roughly three weeks in the areas of Kursk Oblast where Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SOF) are fighting, the unit's spokesperson, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, told the Kyiv Independent on Jan. 31.

The comment comes as undisclosed Ukrainian and U.S. officials told The New York Times that North Korean troops had been taken off the front lines after suffering heavy casualties.

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"These are standard measures  rotation due to large casualties," a military intelligence source commented for the Kyiv Independent, confirming the reports.

Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Jan. 19 that roughly half of the 11-12,000-strong North Korean contingent deployed to the embattled Russian region have been killed or wounded.

Experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent connected North Koreas high casualty rates to a lack of experience with modern warfare, the "human wave" tactics employed against entrenched Ukrainian positions, and the resolve of North Korean troops to avoid capture, even at the cost of their own lives.

In a video, a large assault group of purportedly North Korean soldiers is seen crossing an open field and forest, followed by close combat footage with only dozens of meters between the two sides. In the end, graphic footage shows killed soldiers claimed to be North Koreans.

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The Ukrainian fighters held off the assault with small arms, grenade launchers, and snipers. Eventually, the Ukrainian troops retreated in two Humvees, the post read.

Previous comments by Ukrainian officials earlier this week suggest that North Korean troops may have been taken off the front lines only temporarily.

Read also: Ukraine destroys Russian command post in Kursk Oblast, General Staff claims

Ukraine deploys long-range drone capable of 2,000 km strike, military says

Ukrainian soldiers are now using a long-range drone capable of traveling up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) and carrying a 250-kilogram air bomb, the Unmanned Systems Forces said on Jan. 31.

The drone is described as a unique development and a potential game changer on the battlefield. The military did not disclose the number of drones in service or additional details about their capabilities.

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"Russian propaganda constantly claims to have 'shot down' such aircraft, but explosions at military-industrial complexes, refineries, and ammunition depots suggest otherwise," the statement read.

The drones, operated by Ukraine's 14th Regiment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, have targeted Russian facilities for more than a year, flying hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers, according to the statement.

There have already been dozens of such missions, and there will be more, the military said.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these claims.

Read also: Defense Ministry approves Ukrainian-made Hromylo drone for military use

Ukrainian drones strike "one of 10 largest oil refineries in Russia," military says

Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery owned by Lukoil, one of Russia's largest oil producers, in Volgograd Oblast overnight on Jan. 31, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.

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Flashes and explosions were recorded near the plant, though the extent of the damage is still being assessed, the military said, adding it was "one of the 10 largest oil refineries in Russia in terms of design capacity."

"The refinery produces gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and aviation fuel," Andrii Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, later said.

The Lukoil refinery in Volgograd Oblast lies around 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the front line in Ukraine, and was targeted in a joint operation of the Unmanned Systems Forces and Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR).

It has been targeted multiple times during the war, including in February, July, and September 2023.

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Read also: 1 killed, 35 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over past day

Russian missiles strike Odesas historic center, injuring 2

Russian forces launched missile strikes on Odesas historic center on the evening of Jan. 31, injuring at least two people, Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said.

Three explosions were reported around 8 p.m. local time, shortly after Ukraines Air Force warned of missile launches from the Black Sea.

"The strikes are directly targeting the city, hitting ordinary civilian buildings. Again and again: Air defense systems are the first priority," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Videos and photos shared on social media show damage to the five-star Bristol Hotel. One of the injured is a hotel employee, according to Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper. Debris also fell near the Opera House, a well-known downtown landmark.

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Trukhanov said the attack caused significant damage in Odesas UNESCO-protected historic district.

The aftermath of a Russian missile attack on downtown Odesa in Ukraine's south on Jan. 31, 2025. (Oleh Kiper/Telegram)

Finland announces $206 million military package for Ukraine

The Finnish government has approved its 27th military aid package for Ukraine worth 198 million euros ($206 million), the Finnish Defense Ministry said on Jan. 31.

This brings Finland's total defense aid provided to Ukraine since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 to 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion). As with the previous Finnish aid packages, the content of the latest tranche is classified.

"This package of almost 200 million euros has been built in close cooperation with Ukraine. We are providing exactly the kind of support that will help Ukraine defend itself in an acute situation on the front," Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said in a press release.

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"It is up to us Europeans how Europe's security continues to develop. Securing Ukraine's independence and ability to defend itself is the most important thing right now," Hakkanen said.

Note from the author:

Ukraine War Latest is put together by the Kyiv Independent news desk team, who keep you informed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you value our work and want to ensure we have the resources to continue, join the Kyiv Independent community.

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Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umierov arrived in the Netherlands for a meeting with his counterpart Ruben Brekelmans on Friday, 31 January.

Source: Ukraine's Ministry of Defence on Telegram, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Ministry stated that the main purpose of Umierov's meeting with Brekelmans is to coordinate security cooperation plans for 2025.

Umierov will also visit a training centre for F-16 fighter jet specialists.

Background:

The fighter jet coalition, established in 2023 and led by the United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands, began transferring F-16s to Ukraine in 2024.

So far, Ukraine has received two batches of fighter jets from Denmark and part of the promised F-16s from the Netherlands.

On Tuesday, 21 January, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama signed the bilateral agreement on long-term cooperation and support.

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The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has dismissed Maryna Bezrukova due to the failure to fulfil planned supplies for the front line, remarks from the General Staff on poor procurement planning, communication problems, and leaks of classified information. Law enforcement agencies will consider these issues separately.

Source: website of the Ministry of Defence

Details: The situation was complicated by differences of opinion with the Supervisory Board of the Defence Ministry and its chairman, Yurii Dzhyhyr.

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Quote from the Ministry: "When Maryna Bezrukova was hired by the agency in January 2024, the contract with her was concluded by the Ministry of Defence, which acted on its own behalf as the agency's authorised management body. The law stipulates that a contract can only be amended by agreement of the parties.

Thus, the extension of the contract with Maryna Bezrukova required the consent of the Ministry of Defence. Nevertheless, on 23 January 2025, the chairman of the supervisory board, Yurii Dzhyhyr, signed an additional agreement without the appropriate approval of the Ministry of Defence. By doing so, he went beyond his powers as defined by law and the company's charter."

Details: Due to the conflict with the supervisory board, the Ministry of Defence dismissed state representatives Yurii Dzhyhyr and Taras Chmut. After that, it became ineligible (as only two out of five members remained), and its powers were transferred to the Ministry. This gives the Ministry of Defence the right to dismiss Bezrukova and appoint another head.

The Ministry of Defence has also turned to law enforcement agencies to investigate and legally assess the actions of the agency's former leadership.

Background:

The supervisory board of the Defence Procurement Agency decided to extend Bezrukova's contract for a year, but the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine refused to approve this decision. Bezrukova was suspended for an internal investigation, and an interim acting director, Arsen Zhumadilov, a Ukrainian State Logistics Operator, was appointed.

On 31 January, the Ministry of Justice clarified the statuses of the heads of the Defence Procurement Agency, where roles have been constantly changing. The ministry stated that Bezrukova retains the status of head but is suspended, while Zhumadilov is serving as the acting head.

Maryna Bezrukova appealed to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resolve the conflict around the Defence Procurement Agency.

The contract between Maryna Bezrukova and the Defence Procurement Agency expires on 31 January and will not be extended.

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Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), together with Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and other components of Ukraines defence forces, launched an attack on the LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery in Russia's Volgograd Oblast on the night of 30-31 January.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Details: The refinery is among the top ten largest in Russia by design capacity and plays a crucial role in supplying the occupying forces. There have been reports of flashes and explosions in the area. The extent of the damage is still being confirmed.

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Quote: "Attacks on strategic infrastructure, which directly impacts the Russian Armed Forces' ability to sustain combat operations against Ukraine, will continue."

For reference: LLC LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka oil refinery is the largest producer of petroleum products in Russia's Southern Federal District, with a plant capacity of 14.8 million tonnes.

Background:

Earlier, Volgograd Oblast Governor Andrei Bocharov reported that Ukrainian drones allegedly attacked an oil refinery and an oil depot in Volgograd. Russian authorities claimed that falling drone wreckage caused a fire at the oil refinery.

Andrii Kovalenko, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, confirmed the strike on the oil refinery, the sixth-largest in Russia. The refinery produces petrol, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and aircraft fuel.

Russian media outlets reported that a fire broke out at the Lukoil oil refinery in Volgograd in Russia following an explosion on the night of 14-15 January.

In 2024, the Volgograd refinery was attacked twice by Ukrainian drones, on 3 February and 11 May.

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Actor Chris Evans has denied his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for 'Avengers: Doomsday'. He called himself a "happy retired man," reported The Hollywood Reporter. Evans recently had a conversation with Esquire magazine as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. It was a part of a cover story on Anthony Mackie who will be next seen in 'Captain America: Brave New World'. In the conversation, he brushed away the possibility of him appearing in the MCU. He said, "That's not true, though. This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple of years -- ever since Endgame. I've just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no -- happily retired!" as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. Evans played the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America in MCU. He first portrayed the superhero in 2011's 'Captain America: The First Avenger' and, after numerous films, retired his version following 2019's 'Avengers: Endgame'. Mackie, who will also star in Avengers: Doomsday, was asked if he had heard any news about Evans' return. "I didn't know!" he replied. "I talked to Chris a few weeks ago and it wasn't on the table then. At least, he didn't tell me it was on the table, because I asked him. I was like, 'You know, they said they're bringing everyone back for the movie. Are you coming back?' He goes, 'Oh, you know, I'm happily retired.'" "I learned that right there. My manager showed me. He's like, 'Oh, so I guess Chris is coming back.' That's all I know. I haven't seen a script." The much-anticipated Avengers: Doomsday, directed by the Russo brothers, is currently scheduled for release on May 1, 2026. Robert Downey Jr. is also playing Doctor Doom in the movie. As previously reported, 'Avengers: Doomsday' will feature multiple fan-favourite characters from the MCU, many of whom are original Avengers. Additionally, Robert Downey Jr. will return to the franchise, albeit in a completely different role, playing the iconic Marvel villain, Dr. Doom. The Russo Brothers, known for their work on 'Avengers: Infinity War', 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', and 'Captain America: Civil War', will be bringing their signature storytelling style to 'Avengers: Doomsday'. The film is expected to feature an ensemble cast, including the new 'Fantastic Four' cast members -- Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Vanessa Kirby, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach -- who will join the Avengers in this multi-universe adventure. 'Avengers: Doomsday' is slated for release on May 1, 2026, followed by 'Avengers: Secret Wars' in May 2027, promising an exciting future for the MCU as it continues to explore new dimensions and crossovers between characters and universes. (ANI
Cyber specialists from Ukraines Military Intelligence Agency (HUR) launched a cyber attack against Gazprom and Gazpromneft on Jan. 29, Hromadske reported, citing undisclosed sources from HUR.

The group carried out a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, severely disrupting Gazproms digital services.

This operation was symbolically carried out on Jan. 29 which is the anniversary of the Battle of Kruty, where Ukrainian cadets and volunteers fought against the Bolshevik advance in 1918.

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As about 5,000 Bolshevik troops came to seize Kyiv, a young student battalion of about 500 students dug trenches near the city and courageously faced them in an unequal fight.

Todays troubles for Russian drivers are a message from our brothers of 1918, the heroes of the battle at Kruty, who over a century ago dealt a blow to the criminal Russian forces under Muravyov. Today, we continue the fight of those defenders of Kyiv, both on the front lines and in cyberspace, HUR stated.

The attack targeted critical online systems, and as a result, customers have been unable to access accounts, process fuel payments, or use other digital services since January 28.

Gazprom referred to the incident as a temporary technical glitch without offering details or a resolution timeline.

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Cyberattacks have been widely used by both Ukraine and Russia during the full-scale war.

Read also: Ukrainian defense tech company Huless raises over $1 million for tethered drone systems

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The contract between Maryna Bezrukova and the Defence Procurement Agency expires on 31 January and will not be extended.

Source: press service of Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Quote: "Today, Maryna Bezrukova's contract with the Defence Procurement Agency expires. Under the decision taken, the contract will not be extended, and she will resign from her duties as the head of the Defence Procurement Agency."

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Details: As of 1 February 2025, Arsen Zhumadilov will be temporarily acting head of the Defence Procurement Agency.

He will perform these duties until the established procedure approves the new director.

Background:

Maryna Bezrukova appealed to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resolve the conflict around the Defence Procurement Agency.

The supervisory board of the Defence Procurement Agency decided to extend Bezrukova's contract for a year, but the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine refused to approve this decision. Bezrukova was suspended for an internal investigation, and an interim acting director, Arsen Zhumadilov, a Ukrainian State Logistics Operator, was appointed.

On 31 January, the Ministry of Justice clarified the statuses of the heads of the Defence Procurement Agency, where roles have been constantly changing. The ministry stated that Bezrukova retains the status of head but is suspended, while Zhumadilov is serving as the acting head.

The National Association of Ukraines Defence Industry (NAUDI) also appealed to President Zelenskyy, urging him to intervene immediately to resolve the situation at the Defence Procurement Agency, whose operations are currently paralysed.

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Ukraines Special Operations Forces (SOF) confirmed that North Korean troops have been absent from Russia's Kursk Oblast for around three weeks.

Source: Oleksandr Kindratenko, the spokesperson for the Special Operations Forces, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "The Special Operations Forces provide information only about the front where our units are active. Therefore, we confirm that there has been no presence of North Korean troops in the region for around three weeks. It is likely that they were forced to withdraw after suffering significant losses."

Background:

The New York Times, citing Ukrainian and US officials, wrote that North Korean troops fighting on the side of Russia against Ukraine were withdrawn from the front line in Russias Kursk Oblast after suffering heavy losses.

The publication, citing US officials, reports that the decision to withdraw North Korean troops from the front line may not be permanent. They suggest that the North Koreans could be redeployed after additional training or once the Russians develop new strategies to deploy them, aiming to prevent further heavy losses.

In November 2024, 11,000 military personnel from North Korea arrived in Russia. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, says their number has been reduced by half in three months.

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Nearly three years into the war, Ukrainians have grown used to bracing for brutal winters with electricity blackouts and heating cuts from Russian attacks on the countrys energy infrastructure.

This winter was predicted to be one of the toughest ones of the war yet. In a worst-case scenario, blackouts were expected to reach 20 hours a day. Greenpeace warned in November that Ukraines power grid faced a "heightened risk of catastrophic failure.

But thanks to a combination of unseasonably warm weather, and Ukraines ability to adapt to a third year of Russian campaigns against its energy system, the worst has not come to pass.

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Since Russia began targeting Ukraines energy infrastructure in late 2022, the country has learned to better protect the power grid, figuring out how to make repairs in record time following Russian strikes.

Climate change  which has been causing warmer winters each year in Ukraine  has also become Ukraine's unexpected ally in resisting Russias tactic of freezing Ukrainians into submission.

The fact that we have such warm weather of +6, +7 degrees Celsius (42-44 degrees Fahrenheit) is fantastically positive for us, said Oleksandr Kharchenko, managing director of the Energy Industry Research Center, crediting the mild winter as a main factor for the lack of problems with power in Ukraine.

Theres almost no winter

In the past, Ukraine had hot summers and cold winters, consistent with its mostly continental climate.

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Snow and temperatures below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) characterized every winter, including the one in 2014 when the Euromaidan Revolution unfolded and protesters on Independence Square in Kyiv danced to patriotic chants to warm up.

Things are different now. Ukraines Environment Ministry on Jan.19 went as far as to say in a social media post that, Due to global warming, there is no climatic winter in Ukraine (this year).

Due to global warming, there is no climatic winter in Ukraine (this year).

If the winter used to be a season of frost and snow, then now the weather often reminds of late autumn or early spring, the ministry wrote.

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The Central Geophysical Observatory declared 2024 the warmest year on record in Kyiv, with the December average at zero degrees Celsius. Temperatures were above zero every day the last week of January, a record for the country, the observatory said.

Ukraine is one of the regions of the planet where the temperature has been rising at the highest rate over the past decade, said Svitlana Krakovska, head of the applied climatology laboratory at the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute.

And the main warming occurs primarily in winter, she was cited as having said in the ministrys post on social media.

Climate change keeps the lights on

Ukraine hasnt yet had to implement any country-wide rolling blackouts in 2025, according to open data collected by the Energy Map.

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These scheduled limitations of electricity supply for businesses and households were put in place at various times throughout the previous years to cut the consumption in peak hours to avoid the collapse of the countrys strained power system.

Hours-long blackouts were widely used throughout the country for much of the spring and summer of 2024 following Russias bombing of power plants and transmission stations, and during scheduled repairs of the nuclear power plants. The power cuts were implemented sporadically throughout December.

Women ride a scooter on Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 23, 2025, amid the Russian invasion. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images)

Local residents walk and take photos near the Christmas tree in Sophia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 24, 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

As you can see, electricity is now being supplied without restrictions almost all over the country, apart from the front-line regions, where the situation is difficult in general, Kharchenko told the Kyiv Independent.

As you can see, electricity is now being supplied without restrictions almost all over the country, apart from the front-line regions, where the situation is difficult in general.

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As the temperature continues to hover at or above zero, the countrys energy system hasnt yet entered a red zone where it has to start cutting power.

Every degree below zero Celsius requires an additional 200 megawatts (MW) of power, he added. With our current operating capacities, we simply dont have enough (to cater) for temperatures of minus three and four degrees Celsius (24-26 degrees Fahrenheit) and below.

Freezing Ukrainians into submission

Russia has regularly targeted Ukrainian critical infrastructure since it began its campaign in 2022, destroying over half of the countrys pre-war power system capacities.

In 2022-2023, Ukraine's power system lost about 21 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, out of the 47 GW before the full-on war, wrote Oksana Zueva, a senior expert in open data at Kyiv-based think tank DiXi Group.

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To take that much capacity out, Moscow carried out at least thirty massive attacks on energy facilities, according to open data gathered by the Energy Map.

The attacks evolved over time to use various weapons and tactics, while Russias goal remained the same: plunging Ukraine into a humanitarian crisis, making regular citizens lives as difficult as possible, and destabilizing the country before any possible peace talks in the future.

An energy worker walks through a destroyed control room at a DTEK power plant in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on April 19, 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

Workers clean debris in a turbine hall filled with scorched equipment at a DTEK power plant destroyed after an attack in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on April 19, 2024. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

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Around 10 GW of energy generation was knocked out in 2024 due to Russias missile and drone attacks, the Energy Ministry told the Kyiv Independent.

Since mid-November, six massive attacks were launched by Russia over the two and a half months of this winter season, causing much greater damage and destruction than in previous years, the ministry added. The attacks included anywhere between 70 to 90 cruise or ballistic missiles and 90 to 120 drones each time, as well as internationally banned cluster munitions.

But they didnt reach their goals, Kharchenko told the Kyiv Independent.

Securing energy

According to Kharchenko, Ukraine has also gotten much better in resisting Russias attacks on energy in over two years since they began. It improved coordination with air defense protecting the power system and built some fortifications that have already proved effective.

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Experience also helps when the attacks succeed: at this point, there are reserves of equipment to restore the damaged facilities and clear plans for bypassing them in the grid and restoring them as quickly as possible, Kharchenko said.

A lot of that equipment is pledged or financed by international partners, the Energy Ministry told the Kyiv Independent.

In 2024, Ukrenergo's repair teams set an absolute record by replacing an autotransformer at one of its substations within three weeks, Ukraine's state grid operator Ukrenergo told the Kyiv Independent.

This included transportation, installation, and connection. For comparison, in EU countries, such works are carried out in three to four months, the statement said.

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Warm weather also contributed to the speed of repairs, Ukrenergo said.

However, with temperatures projected to drop in the coming days, Ukraine needs to secure its energy supply for any weather.

A woman with a child walks in a park on a foggy day in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 30, 2024, amid the Russian invasion. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)

For the Ukrainian power system to operate efficiently and confidently, we need to build about 4-4.5 GW of additional peaking power plants, Kharchenko said.

Peaking power plants are meant to step in during peak periods of consumption to avoid blackouts. They should be able to quickly increase or decrease the energy output, which is impossible for the three Ukrainian-controlled nuclear power plants that currently supply up to 55-60% of the countrys energy, according to Kharchenko.

Peaking power plants could be coal-based, hydroelectric, or gas-powered, Kharchenko added, as other types of power are either dependent on weather conditions or too long to develop.

But so far, it was coal-based thermal plants, hydroelectric plants, and the transmission grid around them that were targeted by Russian attacks the most.

Eighty percent of Ukraines pre-war coal-fired power capacities were destroyed, though some of them were restored, Kharchenko said.

Nine Ukrainian hydroelectric plants remaining after Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam still generate up to 12% of the countrys energy despite Russian attacks.

Unfortunately, we cant build many of them, Kharchenko said, referring to the limitations of the countrys natural river resources needed to build more hydroelectric generation.

Read also: US foreign aid transformed Ukraine. Its suspension threatens decades of work

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Ukraine currently faces no obstacles to the timely supply of weapons and military equipment to the frontline.

Source: Serhii Bulavko, Head of the Defence Procurement Control Department, during a briefing, as reported by Ukrinform

Quote: "Today, we have no disruptions in the supply of weapons. Were contracting. We have the financial resources to do so. We do not have any obstacles to the proper rhythmic timely supply of certain weapons and military equipment."

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Details: Bulavko added that 55% of the weapons and military equipment contracted for 2024 will be delivered this year.

Quote: "In percentage terms, the financial resources allocated to the agency (Defence Procurement Agency) for transitional contracts from 2024 to 2025 consist of 55% for weapons and military equipment contracted in 2024, which will be delivered in 2025. These deliveries will be funded by the financial resources allocated for 2025."

Background:

Maryna Bezrukova appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to intervene in the conflict around the Defence Procurement Agency.

The Supervisory Board of the Defence Procurement Agency decided to extend Bezrukova's contract for a year, but the Ministry of Defence refused to approve this decision. Bezrukova was suspended for an internal investigation, and an interim acting director, Arsen Zhumadilov from the State Logistics Operator, was appointed.

On 31 January, the Ministry of Justice clarified the status of the heads of the Defence Procurement Agency, which had been changing over the past week: Bezrukova is the director of the Defence Procurement Agency but has been suspended, and Zhumadilov is the acting director.

The National Association of the Defence Industry of Ukraine asked President Zelenskyy to intervene in the situation around the Defence Procurement Agency, as its work is paralysed.

On 31 January 2025, the Ministry of Defence dismissed Maryna Bezrukova from her post as head of the Defence Procurement Agency.

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Ukrainian journalist and director Mstyslav Chernov won the Best Documentary Direction award at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 31 for his film "2,000 Meters to Andriivka" in the World Cinema category.

The documentary follows Ukraines 2023 counteroffensive, as Chernov embeds with a platoon from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. Their mission was to liberate Andriivka, a strategically important village in Donetsk Oblast. Surrounded by mines, the village is accessible only through a narrow stretch of forest, making the battle particularly grueling.

 The Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary goes to Mstyslav Chernov @mstyslavchernov for 2000 Meters to Andriivka pic.twitter.com/wc1W1RP9lO  Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest) January 31, 2025

"This is the story of Ukrainian soldiers fighting for every inch of their land," Chernov said. "Its the story of a small forest and the village of Andriivka, located just two hours from my hometown. Its the story of modern warfarehow its fought, how its endured, and how it changes us."

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Chernov worked on the project with Associated Press photographer Oleksandr Babienko. The film was produced by Michelle Misner and Rainey Aronson-Rath, both of whom won an Oscar for "20 Days in Mariupol." Misner also served as the films editor.

Chernov, an acclaimed war correspondent and documentary filmmaker, was invited last year to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a body of more than 10,000 members that votes on the annual Oscar winners.

His previous film, "20 Days in Mariupol," won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 96th Academy Awards last March.

The film captures the Russian siege of Mariupol in the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, offering a firsthand account from Chernov and his team. It is the first Ukrainian-directed film to ever receive an Oscar.

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Read also: Curated Theft

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Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's Volgograd Oblast overnight on Jan. 31, targeting an oil refinery owned by Lukoil, one of the largest Russian oil producers, Governor Andrey Bocharov said.

The wreckage of a downed drone fell on the refinery, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, the governor of the southwestern Russian region claimed. According to Bocharov, one employee was injured and hospitalized.

Russian air defenses shot down 49 Ukrainian drones throughout the night, according to Russia's Defense Ministry. Russian forces downed 25 drones in Rostov Oblast, eight in Volgograd Oblast, six in Kursk Oblast, and four in Yaroslav Oblast. Two drones each were destroyed over Krasnodar Krai, Voronezh, and Belgorod oblasts.

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Ukrainian drones have targeted the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd Oblast multiple times during the full-scale war, namely in February, July, and September last year.

In Voronezh Oblast, one of the drones fell on a car passing on the highway, injuring the driver, Governor Alexander Gusev said. In Voronezh, a drone reportedly inflicted minor damage to an industrial enterprise.

Drone debris broke electrical wires in Rostov Oblast, while no damage or casualties were recorded in Yaroslav Oblast. The authorities of Krasnodar Krai, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts have not yet commented on the attack.

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The Ukrainian military has not yet commented on the strikes. The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.

Ukraine regularly targets Russian oil facilities with long-range drone strikes, aiming to disrupt fuel supplies to the Russian military and reduce Moscow's energy export revenues. Oil profits are a crucial source of funding for Russia's war chest.

Read also: Whats behind Zelenskys recent round of sanctions on top pro-Russian politicians, propagandists, energy mogul?

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Editor's note: The article was expanded with comments by Andrii Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery owned by Lukoil, one of Russia's largest oil producers, in Volgograd Oblast overnight on Jan. 31, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.

Flashes and explosions were recorded near the plant, though the extent of the damage is still being assessed, the military said, adding it was "one of the 10 largest oil refineries in Russia in terms of design capacity."

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"The refinery produces gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, and aviation fuel," Andrii Kovalenko, head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, later said.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries and fuel depots, to disrupt supplies to Russian forces. The strikes are part of a broader strategy to weaken Russia's military logistics and economic resilience amid the ongoing war.

In particular, Kyiv has stepped up long-range attacks this winter. Recent drone strikes hit a refinery in Ryazan, a distillery in Tambov Oblast, and a chemical plant in Bryansk. The Ryazan Oil Refinery, one of Russia's largest, later suspended operations due to the damage.

The Lukoil refinery in Volgograd Oblast lies around 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the front line in Ukraine, and was targeted in a joint operation of the Unmanned Systems Forces and Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR).

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It has been targeted multiple times during the war, including in February, July, and September 2023.

Russia's Defense Ministry earlier claimed its air defenses shot down 49 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 25 in Rostov Oblast, eight in Volgograd Oblast, six in Kursk Oblast, and four in Yaroslav Oblast.

Two drones each were reportedly destroyed over Krasnodar Krai, Voronezh, and Belgorod oblasts.

Read also: Dishonest to suggest Ukraine could have fully defeated Russia, retake Crimea, Rubio says

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The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has explained the statuses of the heads of the Defence Procurement Agency which have been constantly changing over the past week.

Source: a statement by the ministry

Details: On 30 January, the State Registration Complaints Board received a complaint from the Ministry of Defence, appealing the decision made by private notary N.V. Ivashchenko to change the information held on the Unified State Register about the head of the Defence Procurement Agency.

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As a result, the decision of 29 January 2025 was cancelled on 31 January 2025, and Maryna Bezrukova again became the head of the largest arms procurement agency.

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine decided to correct a technical error in the Unified State Register, which resulted in the following:

Arsen Zhumadilov acquires the status of representative of the Defence Procurement Agency with the restriction: "temporary performance of the duties of the director during the internal investigation period"

Maryna Bezrukova retains the status of head with the restriction: "suspended from performing official duties for the duration of the internal investigation"

Background:

On 25 January, following a decision by the Ministry of Defence, Arsen Zhumadilov, director of the State Logistics Operator, became the head of the Defence Procurement Agency. The previous director of the agency, Maryna Bezrukova, claimed that the decision was made under pressure and was unlawful.

On 29 January, Maryna Bezrukova became the head of the Defence Procurement Agency again.

The National Association of Ukrainian Defence Industries (NAUDI) appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to immediately intervene in the situation around the state-owned Defence Procurement Agency. Its operations are currently paralysed.

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Ukrainian troops destroyed a Russian assault group in Toretsk that broke into the territory of one of the city's businesses and stayed in the building.

Source: 100th Mechanised Brigade; Khortytskyi Viter, official Telegram channel of Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group

Quote: "A group of occupiers broke into the territory of one of the businesses in Toretsk and set up camp in the buildings.

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An armoured group consisting of a tank crew, an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) crew and a mopping-up group of fighters from the Rapid Operational Response Unit of the National Police of Ukraine (assisted by a Senator MRAP armoured vehicle) had to deal with the Russian invaders.

Together, the task was completed quickly and efficiently. The group of occupants was taken out."

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On Friday, the actor shared a couple of pictures on Instagram and wrote, "Always by my side."

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFfY1StKNhj/?img_index=3

The actor, known for his debut role in 'Tadap', can be seen flaunting his muscular physique and enjoying pool time in Lonavala with his dog.

His father and veteran actor Suniel Shetty reacted to the post and dropped a black heart emoji in the comment section.

Netizens also bombarded the comment with heart emojis.

Born in 1996, Ahan Shetty made his Bollywood debut in 2021 with the romantic thriller 'Tadap', directed by Milan Luthria.

The film, a Hindi remake of the Telugu hit 'RX 100', starred Ahan alongside Tara Sutaria.

Recently, Ahan has also been in the spotlight for joining the highly anticipated sequel 'Border 2'. His father, Suniel Shetty, who starred in the original 'Border' (1997), played a pivotal role as a Border Security Force officer.

Ahan's casting in 'Border 2' has sparked excitement, with veteran actor Sunny Deol welcoming him aboard on social media."Welcoming Fauji @ahan.shetty to the Battalion of #Border2," Deol posted, sharing a teaser that has further fueled the enthusiasm of fans.

The 'Border' franchise, directed by JP Dutta, is known for its portrayal of the India-Pakistan war, and Ahan's entry into the sequel marks a significant moment in the legacy of the film.

The announcement video captures a powerful transition, showing a montage of Suniel Shetty's iconic moments from Border, followed by Ahan's voiceover, symbolizing the passing of the baton from father to son.

In addition to 'Border 2', Ahan Shetty is set to appear in the action-packed film 'Sanki', produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.

The movie, which will also star Pooja Hegde, promises to be a high-octane thriller with international action sequences choreographed by renowned designer Kecha Khamphakdee.

'Sanki' is written by Rajat Aroraa and directed by debut filmmakers Adnan A. Shaikh and Yasir Jah.

The film is scheduled for release on February 14, 2025, coinciding with Valentine's Day. (ANI)
As A$AP Rockys trial continues, the judge has noticed that many people in court have gotten too comfortable saying a certain word and hes tired of people using it. So hes given them another option.

On Thursday, A$AP Relli, the man accusing Rocky of shooting him in 2021, was asked to read text messages that contained the N-word. Rockys attorney, Joe Tacopina, also used the word several times when quoting specific passages from text messages between Rocky and Relli

In a clip posted by Meghann Cuniff, an independent reporter, Rocky is heard interjecting after the N-word is used multiple times by his attorney, saying, Your honor, can we refrain?

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After Rocky spoke with his legal counsel, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold addressed the entire court, saying, In the future, and this is for all counsel, if theres any exhibit or any recording that has the N-word, I want you in court to say N-word. I dont want you to say what it says. Its the N-word from now on  That applies to everybody.

Watch below:

Here is the clip of A$AP Rocky speaking up in trial after repeated use of the n-word by his lawyer and Relli during testimony about text messages, and earlier use by Judge Arnold and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin.



Judge Arnold soon told all counsel to only say n-word. pic.twitter.com/LU8bdzTHeo  Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) January 31, 2025

As previously reported by The Root, Rocky is charged with shooting his former friend and A$AP Mob member Terrell Ephron, aka A$AP Relli, outside of a Hollywood hotel in November 2021. This allegedly happened after the two got into a heated argument.

Ephron claims Rocky shot at him several times, resulting in a graze wound on his knuckles. When police officers arrived at the scene, they could not find any evidence of the crime occurring. Surveillance video caught by a nearby security camera allegedly captured the entire ordeal.

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Since Rocky turned down the prosecutions final plea offer requiring him to spend 180 days in jail, he could face a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison if hes found guilty of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Rihanna showed up to support the father of her two children on Wednesday. Theres been no footage of her in court, only video of her walking out for a lunch break and a courtroom sketch.

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The worsening conflict in eastern Congo has led to a surge in human rights violations including summary executions, the bombing of displacement camps, reports of gang rape and other sexual violence, the U.N. rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday.

The recent sharp escalation in fighting between Congolese troops and the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 has further destabilised Democratic Republic of Congo's conflict-torn eastern provinces. Each side blames the other for the violence.

OHCHR has documented summary executions of at least 12 people by the M23 between Jan. 26 and 28 as well as new cases of sexual violence by the Congolese armed forces and members of the pro-government Wazalendo alliance of armed groups, the organisation said in a statement.

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Congo's communications minister and a M23 spokesperson did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

As the M23 seeks to advance after capturing the strategic city of Goma this week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk "calls for an end to the violence and for all parties to uphold their obligations under international human rights law," his spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said in the statement.

Rape has been widely documented as a weapon of war in eastern Congo for decades, fuelling a long-running sexual violence crisis in the region.

"We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape," Laurence said.

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OHCHR cited a report by Congolese officials that at least 165 women were raped by male inmates during a prison break at Goma's Muzenze prison on Jan. 27, as the M23 began its assault on the city of around 2 million people.

Commissioner Turk "is particularly concerned that this latest escalation risks deepening the risk of conflict-related sexual violence much further," Laurence said.

In 2014, the Congolese government launched an action plan to combat sexual violence by members of the military under which hundreds of commanders committed to report cases, but impunity persists.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Philippa Fletcher)
A panel of 11 judges in the 9th Circuit issued a unanimous ruling Friday dismissing James Huntsmans lawsuit seeking the return of $5 million he donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is the second time the lawsuit has been dismissed in four years.

Huntsman, a former church member, alleged the church committed fraud by using tithing funds to finance commercial endeavors despite stating that it had not and would not do so. A U.S. district court granted summary judgment to the church in September 2021.

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The 9th Circuit panel, known as an en banc panel, stated in its 63-page set of rulings Friday that it agreed with the district court ruling.

The churchs victory in the 9th Circuit, which covers the nine westernmost U.S. states, could have a powerful influence over two other tithing-related cases now in the 10th Circuit, which includes Utah, said Jeremy Rosen, managing partner for the San Francisco office of Horvitz & Levy, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of charitable organizations that supported the church.

Ninth Circuit opinions are not binding in the 10th Circuit, but I would think that they would have, especially from an en banc panel, a persuasive effect, Rosen said. He added, I think if the 10th Circuit were to do anything other than rule in favor of the church, especially in light now of this 9th Circuit opinion, there would be a bullet train to the Supreme Court and then a reversal.

The church welcomed the ruling.

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Tithing donations are considered sacred by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are dedicated to advancing the churchs global religious mission, church spokesman Doug Andersen said. Todays unanimous decision by the 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claims against the church and Ensign Peak.

Huntsmans lead attorney, David Jonelis, did not immediately respond Friday to a message seeking comment about the case or whether Huntsman would appeal.

What the court ruling said

The 11 judges all agreed to toss out the case, but they formed two main groups with different reasons for dismissing the lawsuit.

The six-judge majority ruling threw out the case on the merits of Huntsmans arguments, finding them lacking.

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No reasonable juror could conclude that the church misrepresented the source of funds for the City Creek project, six judges said in Fridays majority ruling. Although the church stated that no tithing funds would be used to fund City Creek, it also clarified that earnings on invested reserve funds would be used.

The church had long explained that the sources of the reserve funds include tithing funds. Huntsman has not presented evidence that the church did anything other than what it said it would do.

Four other judges concurred with that reasoning but also found that the case should have been sidelined by the church autonomy doctrine, which holds that the First Amendment bars the government, and therefore courts, from interfering in church matters.

This lawsuit is extraordinary and patently inappropriate, a not-so thinly concealed effort to challenge the churchs belief system under the guise of litigation, the four judges wrote. The majority is correct that there was no fraudulent misrepresentation even on the terms of plaintiffs own allegations. But it would have done well for the en banc court to recognize the obvious: There is no way in which the plaintiff here could prevail without running headlong into basic First Amendment prohibitions on courts resolving ecclesiastical disputes.

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That group also wrote, colorfully, that The plaintiff in this case is free to criticize his former church and advocate for church reforms. But he cannot ask the judiciary to intrude on the churchs own authority over core matters of faith and doctrine. That is the lesson of this lawsuit. We as courts are not here to emcee religious disputes, much less decide them. The First Amendment restricts our role as it protects religious organizations from lawsuits such as this.

The final judge agreed so strongly on the church autonomy doctrine that he wrote a lengthy solo opinion saying that should have been the only consideration in the case.

Resolving (Huntsmans) claims requires swimming in a current of religious affairs, Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote. What is a tithe? Who can speak for the church on the meaning of tithes? What are church members obligations to offer tithes? These are questions that only ecclesiastical authorities  not federal courts  can decide.

How the case got here

Huntsman filed his lawsuit in March 2021. He said that between 2003 and 2015, he tithed over $1 million in cash, over 20,000 shares of Huntsman Corporation stock and over 1,800 shares of Sigma Designs stock to the church, according to Fridays ruling.

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When he resigned his membership in the church, Huntsman filed the lawsuit claiming the church had committed fraud. He said that after the church, chiefly through late President Gordon B. Hinckley, said it does not use tithing funds for commercial use, a purported whistleblower alleged that it did.

David Nielsen, a former employee of Ensign Peak Advisors, had alleged in an IRS complaint that the church spent tithing funds for two commercial uses  the City Creek shopping center in downtown Salt Lake and in support of Beneficial Life, an insurance company the church owns through a holding company

Church leaders have maintained that tithing funds are used for religious purposes. The church repeated its position that it used reserve funds for City Creek and Beneficial Life.

We welcome this decision inasmuch as the church has consistently affirmed that funds used for the City Creek project came from the earnings of invested reserve funds and not from donations, said Andersen, the church spokesman, on Friday. Todays decision vindicates what President Gordon B. Hinckley declared during general conference 20 years ago and is a confirmation of constitutional rights afforded to religions in the United States of America.

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The church told the original court that it had made no misrepresentations and swiftly made a motion for summary judgment in 2021, asking the original U.S. District Court judge in California to dismiss the case before it ever got to trial. The original judge agreed, granting summary judgment in September 2021.

Huntsman appealed, and a 9th Circuit panel reinstated the lawsuit by a 2-1 vote in August 2023.

The church asked for and was granted an en banc appeal of that reinstatement. The en banc panel of 11 judges of the 9th Circuit heard oral arguments in September 2024, when the judges unleashed a barrage of questions at Huntsmans attorneys.

The panel then said it would issue a written ruling in coming months. That ruling came Friday.
Sunday witnessed high drama, with major implications for U.S.-Latin American relations, the people directly involved and all who rely on their morning cup of joe to make it through the day. It all began when Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to allow two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian citizens deported from the U.S. as part of President Donald Trumps massive anti-immigration scheme to land in the country. Petro objected to the use of military planes for the deportation, in place of the chartered commercial planes usually used, as well as to the fact that the deportees were reportedly handcuffed and shackled during the flight.

Trump responded by threatening a 25 percent tariff on all goods from Colombia imported to the U.S., as well as financial sanctions on the country and other punitive measures on Colombian government officials. In the face of such overwhelming economic force, Petro and Colombia backed down, allowing the deportation to take place, but on planes sent to the U.S. by the Colombian air force. One commentator described Trumps handling of the incident as cooperate or else.

The episode with Colombia was far from an isolated one, however. It was also reported this week that Trump had a fiery exchange with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen over the acquisition by the U.S. of the island of Greenland, a move Trump first raised back in 2019 but on which he has seemingly become fixated since winning the U.S. presidential election in November. Once again, Trump threatened sanctions if the U.S. doesnt get its way. When combined with Trump pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, signing an executive order freezing all foreign aid and appointing a secretary of defense who calls for restoring a warrior ethos to the U.S. military, its no wonder that many see Trump taking U.S. foreign policy in a darker, more coercive direction.

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Trump has long been seen as transactional and a dealmaker. While such behavior was evident during his first term, it seems heightened this time around. The demands are now more coercive, almost predatory.

To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter.

International relations scholars often make a distinction between benevolent versus malevolent, or cooperative versus coercive hegemons. Benevolent hegemons provide public goods willingly. Malevolent or predatory hegemons are at best merely transactional, at worst entirely self-serving and oppressive. If the United States is still the most important country in the international systemthat is, if it is still the hegemonthen can the current international order survive having a predatory hegemon at its center?

The truth is that no powerful state, hegemonic states included, is purely located at one extreme of the spectrum, whether completely benevolent or predatory. Every major power, just like any state in the international system, is more self-serving than selfless. U.S. history is full of examples of Washington being more coercive than cooperative, even in the time since it began supporting the so-called liberal international order and even toward its staunchest allies in that order. To put it bluntly, the U.S. has always been a bit of a jerk. As international relations scholar and South Asia specialist Paul Staniland wrote during Trumps first term, those who fear a decline of the liberal international order and worry about a more coercive direction of foreign policy under Trump often present a narrow and highly selective reading of history that ignores much of the coercion, violence, and instability that accompanied post-war history.

The U.S. under Trump appears bent on fully leveraging its outsized position within the worlds trade, security and financial networks to coerce better deals. If others dont like it, they wont even be given the dignity of a kind word.

But in the apocryphal words of Winston Churchill, for all its flaws, the U.S. could always be counted on to do the right thingafter exhausting all other options. The worry is that even this small comfort is no longer in play. The U.S. under Trump appears bent on fully leveraging its outsized position within the worlds trade, security and financial networks to coerce better deals. If others dont like it, they wont even be given the dignity of a kind word. The U.S., in Trumps view, has been played for a sucker, and hes determined to change all that.

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But if Trump takes the U.S. into full predatory mode, abandoning even the facade of paying lip service to the liberal international order, should the world worry?

After all, despite Trumps coercive behavior during his first term, the U.S. alliance structure remained largely intact. That was in part because Trump saw some value in maintaining ties with some U.S. allies, but also because those allies actively catered to Trump and his whims.

If this continues into Trumps second term, it will not be because the U.S. under Trump continues to protect the vulnerable, whether at home or abroad. Instead, it will be because Trumps transactional instinct is married with a desire to return the U.S. to a time where it was largely left alone. The U.S. under Trump will be a predatory hegemon that lacks hegemonic ambitions. It will be a coercive power that is inclined to renegotiate the terms of a deal rather than wield military force to get its way. Outside the parameters of those negotiations, however, there wont be much reason to fear the United States. But there wont be much reason to respect it either.

There is another factor that could possibly drive the U.S. under Trump toward taking on a constructive role in order maintenance, even peace-building: Trumps personal desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which would make him only the sixth U.S. president or vice president to be awarded the prize. While it is unlikely that the committee thinks of him as a leading contender, Trump might do all he can to leave them no choice, whether it is brokering a settlement between Ukraine and Russia, extending the Abraham Accords so that Israel and Saudi Arabia normalize relations or finally reaching a long-sought-after nuclear deal with North Korea. Indeed, this desire may well explain the tone, tenor and content of Trumps address to those gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, in which he called for cooperation in bringing about the end to conflicts, especially the war between Ukraine and Russia.

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Some might question whether the U.S. is still the worlds hegemonic power, or the key country that can shape and alter the course of international politics. If its not, then Trumps behavior, while concerning, can be dismissed as the flailing of a declining power. But even if the U.S. is not still hegemonic, much of the worldbe it nations of the Western Hemisphere residing directly in the U.S. orbit, the network of allies that rely on U.S. protection or the international institutions that rely on U.S. support to functionstill view the U.S. as the central actor in the world. Moreover, the U.S. remains, as I wrote in a previous column, one of the few countries in the world with the power and resources to largely shape world politics in a manner that serves its interests. It would seem to be a wasted opportunity not to.

But the question is not only whether the U.S. has the willingness and confidence to exercise that power, but how a state as powerful as the U.S. should do so.

It is well-known that Trump disdains the idea of a rules-based or liberal international order. He doesnt see value in maintaining rules, institutions or customs for their own sake or even for the sake of habit and predictability. Indeed, he thrives in being unpredictable. He also thrives in being highly transactional. This will tilt the U.S. toward being more a predatory hegemon in the coming years, one that destabilizes and disturbs more than it comforts. But it also wont be fully outside the bounds of how the U.S. was long perceived by others.

Paul Poast is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago and a nonresident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The post Under Trump, U.S. Hegemony Is Entering Full Predatory Mode appeared first on World Politics Review.
Ukraines Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) have reported that Ukrainian defenders used a unique development  a drone capable of carrying a 250 kg aerial bomb and covering up to 2,000 km with the ability to fly back.

Source: Unmanned Systems Forces on Facebook

Quote: "We see that the actions of the Unmanned Systems Forces are attracting attention from both domestic and international media.

The USF command confirms the use of a long-range UAV capable of carrying a 250 kg aerial bomb and covering up to 2,000 km with the ability to return. This is a unique development that is changing the rules of engagement on the battlefield."

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Details: It is noted that Russian propagandists constantly claim to have "shot down" such aircraft, yet explosions at military-industrial facilities, oil refineries, and ammunition depots tell a different story.

The USF also added that operators from the 14th Separate UAV Regiment have been striking deep behind Russian lines for over a year, covering hundreds or even thousands of kilometres.

Quote: "There have already been dozens of such missions, and more are to come."

Background: On the night of 30-31 January, USF units, together with Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and other components of Ukraines defence forces, launched an attack on the LUKOIL-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery in Russia's Volgograd Oblast.

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A pro-Palestinian group at the University of Michigan was suspended this week for two years, furthering a tumultuous relationship between university officials and activist students at the Ann Arbor campus who want the school to divest its endowment from companies it views as supporting Israel.

The university says Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, also known as SAFE, violated protocols when they protested outside the home of a university regent and demonstrated during a popular student event. But SAFE says the suspension is the latest effort by the school to stifle their message, and it won't stop its divestment push.

University of Michigan's Shut It Down party's Alifa Chowdhury speaks as students walk out for to protest university administration's proposed disruptive activity policy at U-M's Diag in Ann Arbor on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

SAFE is one of the more outspoken pro-Palestinian groups on campus. The group is the local affiliate of the national Students for Justice in Palestine organization. In the fall, the university filed a formal complaint with a campus regulatory body suggesting the group should be suspended, according to the Michigan Daily.

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The details of the alleged misconduct were not revealed at the time. But Thursday, university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony said the organization lost its recognized status, "for their actions at the residence of Regent Sarah Hubbard in May and actions at Festifall in August."

She said the university determined the organization violated standards of conduct for student groups. The group's actions at Hubbard's home "posed an obvious and serious threat or harm to a member of the university community," she said. SAFE demonstrated at the Diag during the Festifall, an annual event highlighting student groups, in violation of university policy, including one on "appropriate use of space", she said.

"Protests are welcome at U-M, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, significantly disrupt university events or operations, violate policies or threaten the safety of the community," Mastony said in a statement.

"The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and that we will hold individuals and student organizations accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all."

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The student organization disputes this characterization from the university. In a series of posts to the social media platform X on Thursday, SAFE says a student judicial panel urged the university not to suspend the group. The group said the move by the university was an attempt to, "erase Palestine from our campus."

"The universitys ploy to get us to stop just because of a ban and a ceasefire will not work. When our movement is under attack, we only end up stronger," one post reads.

During the suspension, Mastony said SAFE will not have access to school funding or have the ability to reserve university spaces.

SAFE has until Thursday to appeal to a board created by the university's Center for Campus Involvement. Otherwise, Mastony said SAFE can work toward regaining recognized status in a year, "if SAFEs campus leadership engage in a series of educational conversations and demonstrate an understanding of university policies."

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The fight comes at the same time the Trump administration is advocating for possible deportation of students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus rallies in recent months. Despite the tension between the university and the student group, the school is advising students, faculty and staff that they do not need to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and should call school lawyers if they see immigration officers on campus.

In 2024 at the Ann Arbor campus, SAFE and other students advocating for Palestinians marched, demonstrated and established a camp on central campus. The university eventually cleared the camp in an early morning raid, a move that garnered substantial pushback from activists and at least a few university professors.

Attorney General Dana Nessel brought charges against some students, a decision criticized by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and others. On the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, pro-Palestinian students and activists briefly skirmished with local police. Officers deployed chemical spray and detained several people during an at-times chaotic scene.

SAFE and supporters say pro-Palestinian groups are targeted unfairly. In a December op-ed in the Daily, the organization accused the university of using a consultant in an elaborate scheme to, "target, attack and repress the fight for Palestinian liberation rather than acknowledge the demands of their constituents."

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the largest Muslim civil rights organizations in the country, filed a formal complaint against the university in the fall accusing the university of overlooking Islamaphobia on campus.

At the same time, Jewish students and organizations on campus said anti-Semitic attacks were on the rise this fall. Multiple Jewish students reported physical harm; law enforcement said one attack clearly appeared to be motivated by the fact the person assaulted was Jewish. At least two other attacks on Jewish students were reported.

It got to the point where Jewish students created a "Shmira"  a reference to the Hebrew term for guarding or watching  which eventually became a group of students to walk peers from classes or other events around campus.

Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com and on X @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: University of Michigan suspends pro-Palestinian student group after protests
The iconic columns on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus (University of Missouri photo).

Missouri is at the center of energy production and the debates over how its done. Electricity is often made in rural or agrarian areas and then much of it needs to be transported to urban areas or larger population centers.

Were kind of caught in the crossroads of that with both the benefits and costs that come along with that, said Michael Sykuta, an economist and soon-to-be director of the new Center for Rural Energy Security  a University of Missouri research initiative that will examine the economic and social impact of energy infrastructure on rural places.

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The centers scholars aim to provide information and context to the often controversial topics of developing renewable energy, power plants and transmission lines in rural communities.

One thing that Missouri can offer that most other places cant is a policy-oriented research institute that really takes into consideration what the implications of energy policy are for rural communities, the agricultural communities, the Midwest broadly, Sykuta said.

Sykuta said theres not much information about how energy infrastructure  power lines, wind turbines, solar panels, coal or nuclear plants  affect the communities in which it is generated. Therefore, policymakers are short on details when analyzing the economic, environmental, health and cultural impacts of a project.

Energy demand in the U.S. is expected to continue to grow, driven by the electrification of homes and cars and especially by the development of AI data centers  server farms that require a significant amount of electricity.

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Theres a large amount of infrastructure that has to be built and most of that ends up crossing rural communities, which impacts farmers, impacts residents, impacts the economies of local communities, Sykuta said. And quite frankly, despite all of the work that is done, theres not a lot of work actually examining systematically what the consequences of these investments are.

The initial financial support for the forthcoming Center for Rural Energy Security comes from the Missouri Farm Bureau, whose membership is made up of agriculture producers across the state.

Were not only producers of energy, but we are significant users of energy, and everything we touch is tied to energy, said Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

Hawkins has been bureau president for four years and said the idea for the Center for Rural Energy Security was born after a discussion with MU President Mun Choi.

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It really spawned from conversations with university leadership about the challenges that farmers, ranchers and landowners face as we see the greatest transition of power generation and transmission that we have seen, really, since electrification of rural America, he said.

In recent years, building large-scale solar, wind or transmission line projects that cut through rural communities has been controversial. Some residents express concern about the infrastructures impact on wildlife and the landscape. Hawkins and other farmers often question the impact of transitioning large numbers of acres of land from agriculture to energy production.

Whats exciting is, for the first time ever, theres going to be a think tank here in the country thats going to be focused on the issues that we face in rural America, he said.

The Missouri Farm Bureau is particularly concerned about what energy infrastructure means for property rights. The bureau has been involved in lobbying for change to Missouris eminent domain laws, which allow governments to acquire private property from landowners for developments deemed in the publics interest.

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The bureau has also gone before Missouris Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, to challenge the Grain Belt Express, a multi-state electrical transmission line that would carry wind power made in Kansas through Missouri and on to Illinois and Indiana.

Hawkins said there is a void of information on the topic of eminent domain as it relates to energy developments.

How do you put a price tag on a piece of property thats being taken via eminent domain for a transmission project  a piece of property that the landowner does not wish to sell, he said.

Hawkins said research on the impact of energy development in rural communities is all the more essential as the industry transitions from primarily fossil fuel sources to renewable generation.

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Those of us in the heartland and private property owners or farmers and landowners all across the country are being asked to, yet again, to bear the brunt of housing infrastructure, he said.

Funding concerns

However, the bureaus involvement in the research initiative has raised red flags for some renewable energy proponents. James Owen, director of Renew Missouri, a clean energy advocacy group, is concerned the support from the agriculture organization could cloud the centers findings.

Everything about this suggests that it is designed to be something thats going to be critical of clean energy, and nothing about it is suggesting that its going to be objective, he said.

After the Missouri Farm Bureau announced its financial support for the center, Owen wrote a letter to Choi calling the Missouri Farm Bureaus claim that renewable energy projects take productive farmland and benefit only urban areas misleading and factually incorrect.

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Owen wrote about the economic benefits that individual property owners and rural municipalities can cash in on by hosting renewable power plants and urged Choi to reconsider this partnership. He has not yet received a response.

A significant part of the Missouri Farm Bureaus work is political. The organization lobbies for legislation at both the state and federal levels. Owen asserts a lot of that lobbying has been anti-clean energy.

Missouri Farm Bureaus website notes a priority to strip eminent domain authority for solar and wind energy projects. The organization also asks the state Public Service Commission to deny authorization to exercise eminent domain power for any transmission line proposed by private, out-of-state entities that do not serve Missouri customers.

We just want to make sure that if the University of Missouri is doing something, theyre maintaining a sense of objectivity, Owen said. That theyre not just going to be parroting a bunch of talking points by a special interest group.

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Owen points to a variety of benefits for rural communities that host energy projects, such as increased local government revenue and additional income for landowners who lease property to developers.

There are a lot of farmers in the state who have found that their income has been diversified because of clean energy opportunities, he said.

Benefits, he said, the Missouri Farm Bureau tends to overlook. Owen hopes researchers will include those aspects in their work.

To say that, like, Oh, nobody from rural Missouri is benefiting from clean energy I think that is a grand bit of misinformation, he said.

Providing context, avoiding bias

MU Center for Rural Energy Securitys researchers plan to study topics that overlap with Missouri Farm Bureau priorities, such as eminent domain policies. The centers leaders are also seeking financial support from other organizations.

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Michael Sykuta, director of the forthcoming center, has been an economist at MU for almost 30 years, studying topics related to what the Center for Rural Energy Security will pursue.

For instance, a current project is analyzing what utility-scale wind and solar  installments that take up large amounts of space and primarily contribute power to the grid, as opposed to an individuals home  mean for the local economy where it is located.

Researchers are collecting data on every large-scale wind and solar project in the country and looking into economic factors of the host community.

What was the countys economic engine looking like before? How did county-level GDP change? How did the composition of that GDP change? Sykuta said. Does it add value to the county economy or does it not?

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There also will be analysis done regarding how energy infrastructure and agriculture industries interact.

Theres lots of different elements to how these installations might affect agricultural communities, agricultural land, agricultural production that havent been all brought together in one place, Sykuta said.

Sykuta said the politics and conflicts around energy in rural communities concern him.

I dont like controversy, and I dont like being in the middle of the arguments and I dont intend to be, he said. Our goal is to produce research based on sound scientific principles.

Sykuta said every policy has winners and losers. For example, a farmer could be concerned about one element of an energy development that benefits another resident.

Its difficult to make these policies in an informed way if we dont really understand what the consequences are, and thats where the need for the research really is, he said.

Sykuta said the Center for Rural Energy Securitys work will be peer-reviewed and held to the scientific standards.

Anytime you have sponsored research, you have the concern about biased research, he said. I am committed to making sure that isnt the case, he said.

Sykuta is currently assembling a team of researchers and hiring staff. This week, plans for the center will be delivered to the university provost for formal approval. Sykuta anticipates studies to begin in the next few months.

This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.
The budget session of the Parliament will commence today with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses at around 11 am. Following this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. It would be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at 2 PM in Rajya Sabha. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. A series of important bills are likely to be taken up during the session. These include the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aimed at strengthening banking regulations and oversight, and the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which focuses on enhancing the operational efficiency of the Indian Railways. Another notable proposal is the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to improve disaster response mechanisms across the country. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024 are also likely to be presented which aimed at bringing reforms to the management of religious endowments. Additionally, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024 will propose updates to the laws surrounding oil exploration and extraction, while the Boilers Bill, 2024 is set to introduce new safety and operational standards for boilers in industrial applications. Among other bills likely to be introduced is the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024, which will address the reallocation of assembly constituencies to better represent scheduled tribes in the state. Maritime laws will see several updates, with the Bills of Lading Bill, 2024, Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, and the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 all set to modernize shipping regulations. Above all, the Finance Bill, 2025 will be central to implementing the budgetary proposals and tax reforms which will be announced by the finance minister on February 1. Other key bills include the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025, which will safeguard financial interests related to aviation, and the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, which will bring changes to immigration and foreigner regulations in India. In terms of financial business, the session will see the discussion and voting on Demands for Grants for 2025-26, followed by the introduction, consideration, and passage of the related Appropriation Bill. The Discussion and Voting on Demands for Grants for 2025-26 is an essential aspect of parliamentary procedures, allowing for the approval of government spending for the upcoming fiscal year while promoting accountability and transparency. Demands for Grants are essentially requests made by the government to Parliament, specifying the amount of money it needs to meet its expenses for a given year. These expenses cover a wide range of areas, such as infrastructure, healthcare, defence, education, welfare programs, and more. Each ministry or department submits its own Demands for Grants, detailing the specific amounts needed to fund its activities and programs. Additionally, the Second and Final Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2024-25 will be reviewed, along with the introduction and passage of the relevant Appropriation Bill. The Second and Final Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2024-25 refers to additional funds that the government seeks to allocate after the presentation of the annual budget for the fiscal year. These supplementary demands arise when there are changes in the government's spending needs, which were not anticipated during the initial budget preparation. The session will also address the Demands for Excess Grants for 2021-22, which will require discussion, voting, and the introduction of a related Appropriation Bill. Demands for Excess Grants for 2021-22 refer to additional funds that the government seeks to appropriate for the financial year 2021-22 when the expenditure incurred by various ministries or departments exceeds the amount originally approved by Parliament in the budget for that fiscal year. After the all-party meeting convened by the government on Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that tentatively 16 items of legislative business and three items of financial business have been identified for being taken up during this session. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs also stated that the Government is prepared and ready to discuss any other important issue on the floor of the Houses as per the rules of both Houses. The legislative agenda of the government includes the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, the Boilers Bill, 2024, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Finance Bill, 2025. The first part of the Budget session will continue till February 13 and the two Houses will again meet on March 10 after recess with the session concluding on April 4. (ANI)
NEW MEXICO (KRQE)  The University of New Mexico has a new tool in their toolbox to help with Arthropod conservation. NMrare.org is a new website designed to educate users about rare, endemic and threatened Arthropod species in New Mexico.

Story continues below

UNM researchers say Arthropods comprise the most species-rich group of animals on earth; which include insects, arachnids and myriapods and more. Researchers say the diverse bugs play important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The website features a list of assessed species, information at each species and how the community can help with conservation efforts. To view the site and check out what it has to offer, click here.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos.
The University of New Orleans sign sits in front of the University Center on Dec. 15, 2022. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)

Approximately 30 University of New Orleans employees have been laid off amid the universitys $10 million budget shortfall.

The layoffs will generate a savings of $1.9 million for the university, UNO chief financial officer Edwin Litolff said in an interview with the Illuminator.

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The university has already taken significant steps to address the budget shortfall, including furloughing 290 employees and consolidating administrators.

No further layoffs or furloughs are planned at this time, Litolff said. Faculty will be offered the opportunity for voluntary furlough, he added. The university is prohibited from requiring faculty to be furloughed.

Litolff said the university will consider what further cuts need to be made once spring enrollment is processed and financial aid is dispersed.

UNOs attempts to rightsize its spending come after nearly two decades of declining enrollment. Its student numbers have struggled to recover since the failure of federal levees after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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The school had an enrollment of around 17,000 before Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000. For the fall 2024 semester, its total student body was 6,488.

Exiting the crisis will come down to the universitys ability to enroll and retain students.

Hard budget times for the state during Gov. Bobby Jindals two terms in office, from 2008-16, led to significant cuts for higher education, one of two large portions of Louisianas budget unprotected in state law. Those cuts switched the burden of funding public colleges and universities from the state to students, leading to significant tuition hikes.

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed, while speaking on ICE arrests under the new Trump administration in a Jan. 28, 2025, news conference, that "all" migrants present in the U.S. without legal status have criminal records.

However, some immigration-related crimes, for example illegal entry, are punishable under the criminal justice system while others, for example overstaying a visa, result in civil penalties instead.

Kathleen Campbell Walker, an immigration law expert and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said Leavitt's statements failed to recognize the distinction between the two justice systems and their effect on whether someone can accurately be classified as a criminal or not.



On Jan. 28, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, made her first appearance at a White House press briefing (archived).

In answer to a question about how many of the immigrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the first week of Trump's second term in office had criminal records, Leavitt said:

All of them, because they illegally broke our nation's laws, and, therefore, they are criminals, as far as this administration goes. I know the last administration didn't see it that way, so it's a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal. But that's exactly what they are.





Leavitt also said that immigrants who illegally enter the U.S. or overstay their visa are "by definition a criminal" or "subject to deportation," respectively. Illegal entry is defined as a crime under the U.S. Code, punishable by a fine or imprisonment. A U.S. Supreme Court opinion from 2012, however, established that it was not a crime for a "removable alien" to remain in the U.S. Therefore, simply being in the U.S. cannot form the basis for an immigrant being branded "criminal."

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Leavitt's claim that "all" immigrants without legal status are criminals also taps into a widely debunked theory that immigration in the U.S. has caused a surge in crime, or that immigrants commit more crime than people born in the U.S. NBC News figures, obtained by the network from an unnamed ICE official, showed that 613 of 1,179 arrests made on Jan. 26 were "criminal arrests," though it was unclear if that meant the arrested people were found to have a criminal record. Though we have not independently confirmed that data, we have reached out to ICE for corroboration. A White House spokesperson merely repeated Leavitt's "all of them" comments when asked to clarify the claim.

2 Justice Systems Govern Immigration

Kathleen Campbell Walker, an immigration law expert and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), said via email that Leavitt's statement failed to recognize the difference between civil and criminal law penalties.

In the criminal justice system, the government brings cases against defendants  people who allegedly committed a crime. Judges in a criminal court can find a person guilty of the alleged crime and punish them with imprisonment  jail time.

According to the U.S. Code  the official codification of the general and permanent federal statutes of the U.S.  a person who illegally enters or reenters the U.S. can be punished by a fine and/or imprisonment by a criminal judge. Illegal entry is a misdemeanor and illegal reentry is a felony. Title 8 of the U.S. Code 1325 reads, in part:

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(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. (b) Improper time or place; civil penalties Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of (1) at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or (2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection.

While something like illegal entry is a crime and punishable by imprisonment, there are other ways to "break immigration laws," for example by overstaying a visa, that do not result in criminal records. Walker said (emphasis added):

The penalties for most immigration violations are only civil in nature. The civil penalty is being removable/deportable from the U.S. The process for removal can require an individual to be detained (immigration detention). Even though liberties are restrained, the person detained is not entitled to appointed legal counsel, which would be the case for federal criminal prosecutions. So, although the person is detained, they are subject to a CIVIL penalty of potential deportation/removal from the U.S.

The civil justice system handles lawsuits that involve one person, business or agency suing another. For example, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) might initiate immigration court hearings with a person that it suspects has broken U.S. immigration law. However, the person will not be found guilty, like in a criminal court  instead, the punishment would be a civil penalty, like, for example, a fine or deportation.

Immigrants who entered the U.S. by legal or illegal means can be deported for a number of reasons, including if they overstay the terms of their visa. However, according to the aforementioned U.S. Supreme Court opinion from 2012: "As a general rule, it is not a crime for a removable alien to remain present in the United States." Deportation is also not a punishment for a crime but rather a civil penalty, according to the Supreme Court.

Leavitt made two further statements about immigrants residing in the country illegally and crime. When asked if the administration's deportations were targeting "violent offenders" and people with a criminal record first, Leavitt replied:

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If you are an individual  a foreign national  who illegally enters the United States of America, you are by definition a criminal and so therefore you are subject to deportation.

Here, Leavitt is correct that illegal entry is a crime, which makes someone who commits that crime a criminal. Wheeler made the distinction that a "criminal" in Leavitt's statement must be defined as: "anyone who could be charged with a misdemeanor under federal law based on their actions" for the statement to be true. Participation in a crime is grounds for deportation, according to the U.S. government, corroborating the second half of Leavitt's statement.

Leavitt also said in the Jan. 28 news conference that:

If an individual is overstaying their visa, they are therefore an illegal immigrant residing in this country, and they are subject to deportation.

Wheeler emphasized that overstaying a visa is itself not a criminal violation, which is also what the Supreme Court has repeatedly found. Overstaying a visa can result in a civil penalty, such as deportation, meted out through the civil justice system. Simply residing in the U.S. while being "removable" is not "a crime," according to the Supreme Court.

Sources:

"8 U.S. Code  1325 - Improper Entry by Alien." LII / Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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"Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387 (2012)." Justia Law, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/567/387/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

"Debunking the Myth of Immigrants and Crime." American Immigration Council, 17 Oct. 2024, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/debunking-myth-immigrants-and-crime.

"Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698 (1893)." Justia Law, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/149/698/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

"ICE Makes Close to 1,200 Arrests in One Day." NBC News, 27 Jan. 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-trump-deportations-numbers-rcna188937.

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"Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt." The White House, 29 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt/.

"Prosecuting People for Coming to the United States." American Immigration Council, 1 May 2018, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigration-prosecutions.

Seid, Brianna, et al. "Debunking the Myth of the 'Migrant Crime Wave' | Brennan Center for Justice." Brennan Center For Justice, 26 Sept. 2024, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/debunking-myth-migrant-crime-wave.

Understand the Deportation Process | USAGov. https://www.usa.gov/deportation-process. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

"Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U.S. 228 (1896)." Justia Law, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/163/228/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.


President Trump implied that DEI programs could be to blame for the crash between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter but cited no evidence. Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano joins Ana Cabrera to react to his comments and his recent actions on immigration.
(FOX40.COM)  The National Weather Service has updated its predictions for Fridays upcoming storm, which will likely last into early next week.

Between Friday and Sunday, the NWS is forecasting that the Sacramento Valley from Redding to Sacramento can expect to see 2 to 4 inches of rain.

The northern San Joaquin Valley from Stockton to Merced will see some drier conditions with the highest rainfall totals forecast to reach 2 inches over the weekend.

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Further up the hill, communities like Placerville, Auburn, Sonora and Quincy can expect 4 to 6 inches of rain.

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Blue Canyon looks to be getting the heavy hand of this weekends storm with 8 to 10 inches of rain forecasted for the area.

While rain will be widespread across Northern California, snowfall will be focused in the highest areas of the Sierra over the weekend.

From Quincy to the Yosemite Valley, snowfall will be along the spine of the Sierra starting at 5,000 feet on Friday and moving up between 6,000 and 7,500 feet that night.

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Further north in Shasta County snowfall will drop as low as 4,000 feet in the mountains.

Sacramento Weather, Radar & Maps

Moving into the start of the following week, rain will continue in the valley and foothills and snow showers will be seen in the Sierra at around 5,500 to 6,500 feet.

Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to be the most intense weather days as a cold system moves in bringing heavy rain and snowfall. Snow levels will drop as low as 4,000 feet on Tuesday night.

The Sacramento region will see some rain, but the NWS says there is between a 30 to 40% chance of rainfall more than 2 inches between Monday and Wednesday.

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The foothills and up into the Sierra have at least a 50% chance of seeing more than 2 inches of rain.

During this same period, the higher elevations of the Central Sierra Nevada can expect more than a foot of snow. South Lake Tahoe has around a 40% chance of seeing a foot of snow.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP)  President Donald Trumps abrupt freeze of U.S. foreign aid is sending shockwaves through Eastern Europe, leaving pro-democracy groups, independent media, civil society initiatives and local governments scrambling to make ends meet in a region often defined by rivalries between East and West.

The U.S. State Department said that the 90-day freeze aims to root out waste and block so-called woke programs to expose U.S.-funded activities that run contrary to our national interests  as Trump aggressively rolls out his America First agenda.

Fears of a rise in influence from Russia and China

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Eastern Europe has been a longtime geopolitical battleground where Western foreign policy interests often collide with those of Moscow or Beijing.

Many fear the cessation of U.S. funds could expose Washington's allies  and create a vacuum that its foes could gladly seek to fill.

In Moldovas case, foreign donor support is vital to balancing the media landscape," says Oxana Greadcenco, the director of independent media platform Moldova.org. Many television networks and media institutions are funded by Russia so there needs to be a counterbalance ... This is an unprecedented situation, but we are trying not to panic.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, informed her that grants officially ended on Jan. 24 and they arent allowed to spend any remaining funds in their accounts. This week, Greadcenco promoted their online Patreon campaign, which garnered 135 new backers in two days, which should cover salaries for the platforms 16-strong staff through March, she said.

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We did not expect it to impact Moldova so severely, as we thought there would only be a partial cut in funds, she told The Associated Press. "Being aware of how much Moldova depends on U.S. funds, not just NGOs and the press but also local municipalities, many public institutions  this is a shock for everyone."

Vital aid for former communist countries

Since the 1990s, USAID has invested several billion dollars in countries like Moldova, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina  all former communist countries with aspirations of joining the European Union.

In these countries, USAID money has promoted democratic institutions and reforms, aided infrastructure and energy security projects, bolstered businesses and economies, and supported a significant number of nongovernmental organizations and independent media platforms. The agency says it tailors its approach to each countrys unique challenges and opportunities.

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Its no exaggeration to say that we have democracy in Moldova, in part thanks to American financial support, Valeriu Pasa, the chairman of the Chisinau-based think-tank WatchDog, said in a statement on Wednesday. He added that the U.S. benefits "from us being more democratic and developed, ensuring we dont turn into a Russian or Chinese colony.

The wide-ranging effects of the USAID spending freeze spanning different sectors highlight how critical the funds are to the region.

Sytrime Dervisholi, executive director of the Prefabricated Construction Association of Kosovo, says the halted USAID funds will adversely affect her associations ability to provide technical assistance to member companies that require vocational education and training, and access to grants.

Kosovo, but also our association  is dependent on foreign aid, mostly on U.S. aid, she said. So we really do hope that this measure will be  canceled after 90 days, when the funding reviews by U.S. officials have concluded.

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Safet Gerxhaliu, an independent economic analyst in Kosovo, also believes the USAID freeze could have a very negative impact on the countrys future, affecting everything from the government to the private sector and education.

I do believe that the impact is very bad, because those measures come at the same time that Kosovo is under sanctions from the European community, he said. Brussels froze some funding to Kosovo in 2023 following a series of clashes with ethnic Serb minorities.

Although Serbia obtained EU candidate status in 2012, the Balkan nation is also a key ally of Russia and China in Europe. Under the government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic, reforms in areas such as strengthening the rule of law and tackling corruption have been slow, and the USAID suspension could further hamper progress.

We currently have a USAID project about public financing. Training for local NGOs regarding following of public finances, Nemanja Nenadic from Transparency International organization in Serbia, told the AP. This has been put on hold.

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US funds help monitor elections

For the Promo-LEX Association, a longtime pro-democracy and human rights NGO in Moldova, USAID funds are vital since they account for about 75-80% of its projects, which include monitoring elections, political financing and parliamentary oversight.

All USAID-funded activities have been put on hold. Without immediate alternative support, these crucial activities may not continue at the same scale or effectiveness, said Ion Manole, the associations executive director. Given previous Russian interference  through illicit campaign funding, political corruption, and disinformation  our observation mission is essential to ensuring electoral transparency."

Moldova will hold a pivotal parliamentary election this fall which comes after the pro-Western government accused Russia of meddling in two key votes last year  including backing a vast vote-buying scheme in the country of about 2.5 million people.

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Without resources, we cannot deploy long-term observers, conduct election-day monitoring, or track foreign interference effectively," Manole said. A change to an anti-Western government could affect Moldovas European path and ... significantly destabilize the whole of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.

We remain hopeful that the U.S. governments evaluation process will allow programs like ours to resume, he said, adding that his NGO is already seeking alternative funding, mainly from European donors.

A geopolitical opportunity for Moscow

Cristian Cantir, a Moldovan associate professor of international relations at Oakland University, told the AP that any suspension of aid gives Russia an unnecessary opportunity to exploit and benefit further from Moldovas weaknesses, which the lack of USAID funding would exacerbate.

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Moscow would therefore have greater abilities to derail Chisinau from its European Union integration course, he said. Similarly, cutting funding to independent news outlets makes it more difficult for journalists to hold corrupt politicians  many of whom have connections to Russia  accountable and therefore weakens Moldovas sovereignty and institutional independence.

The Trump administration has cast the aid freeze as an accountability quest to justify American spending abroad. Beyond support for Ukraine in recent years, the U.S. is spending about $40 billion in foreign aid annually, according to the U.S. State Department.

Greadcenco of the Moldova.org news platform hopes that other international partners will consider stepping in to stem a potential longer-term shortfall.

These funds are vital to keeping Moldova afloat, she said. I dread to think what the complete cessation of these funds would mean for our country.

___

Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania. Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Florent Bajrami in Pristina, Kosovo, contributed to this report.
The News

US President Donald Trump on Saturday signed executive orders placing tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China, paving the way for a global trade war.

Imports from Canada and Mexico will face 25% tariffs  except Canadian energy, which will be taxed at 10%  while Chinese imports face 10% duties.

Trump had previously threatened to impose the sweeping tariffs, arguing that Canada and Mexico needed to do more to stop migration and drug trafficking into the US, and that the US suffers from trade imbalances with its most important economic partners.

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The orders reportedly contain a retaliatory clause stating that if any country retaliates against the tariffs, the US will take further action. A statement from the White House said the duties will remain in place until the crisis is alleviated, referring to irregular and drugs.

Know More

Washingtons allies across the Americas have warned Trump against imposing tariffs. Ottawa had said it will rapidly retaliate, while some analysts said the fallout from trade penalties on Mexico may undermine Trumps efforts to curb migration at the southern border. Brazil, meanwhile, said it would impose tariffs on US goods if Trump followed through on plans for across-the-board surcharges on imports.

There could be some temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that, Trump said Friday when pressed by reporters on the cost of tariffs being passed on to importers, and, by extension, consumers. But the tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong  and were going to treat other countries very fairly.
Its a new world for energy production. The shackles are finally off.

On his first day in office, President Donald J Trump fulfilled energy campaign promises by ending the Democrats war on fossil fuels. He issued executive orders promoting oil and gas production, ending requirements for electric vehicles and other electric appliances, and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and other commitments of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The ease with which President Trump has reversed his predecessors energy agenda has stunned not only Democrats but also the global environmental establishment. Out with net zero, incentives for wind and solar, and offshore wind on federal lands. In with oil and natural gas production, domestic manufacturing, and the choice of old cars or Teslas, as well as gas or electric cookers.

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The big question is whether the UK and Europe will be able to change their strict net zero laws and follow suit. Staying on the same path will sow social unrest as European GDP growth slows, unemployment rises, and differences in standards of living between America and Europe grow.

American states are still free to impose their own restrictions on energy production, and many will continue to do so. But states that want to produce energy can now, in President Trumps inimitable words, drill, baby, drill, and access that liquid gold under our feet. The direct consequences will be to lower the costs of American electricity and make it easier to attract energy-intensive manufacturing.

America has 360 billion barrels of technically recoverable crude oil resources, and almost 3,000 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas resources, enough to use at home and export to Europe and Asia. President Trump has lifted his predecessors ban on new natural gas exports, and the floodgates are open for America to dominate world energy markets.

This 180-degree turn will give America leverage among energy-starved regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, all areas that are affected by energy poverty. They will be able to purchase natural gas from Uncle Sam.

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To encourage more fossil fuel use, President Trump will likely support loans for fossil fuel power plants in emerging economies, now penalised by the World Bank and other international organisations. He would do more for emerging economies by pushing for this common-sense change than by supporting current transfers of $100 billion for renewables arranged through annual Conference of the Parties meetings.

Poor people, farmers and businesses in the developing world that lack access to energy, despite sitting on huge resources of fossil fuels, could be financed by the World Bank and other financial institutions to produce energy from these resources, benefiting hundreds of millions of people without energy access. Trumps energy policy may do more to permanently lift people out of poverty than any aid programme tried before.

But the international consequences of President Trumps energy revolution go beyond dominating export markets and reshaping foreign policy. By walking away from the net zero fiasco that has taken over the West, President Trump is quietly pressuring other countries to do the same. Uncuffing ourselves from net zero will cause American growth to accelerate, and lead other countries to take a clear-eyed look at their electricity prices to stop the giant sucking sound of manufacturing following the lowest energy prices.

Similarly, when President Ronald Reagan reduced Americas top tax rate from 50 per cent to 28 per cent in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, many other countries followed suit to remain competitive. The top rate in Britain declined to 40 per cent from 60 per cent; Canadas top rate went from 34 per cent to 29 per cent; Japan lowered its rate from 70 per cent to 50 per cent; and New Zealand reduced its top rate from 66 per cent to 33 per cent.

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In addition to lowering energy prices, President Trump also promised during the campaign to reduce taxes below 2024 levels. Unlike with energy prices, this requires Congress to pass laws. But if he succeeds, he will have companies in Europe staring down both barrels  lower energy prices and tax rates.

Energy dominance might make the whole world more competitive. Companies that have factories in Europe and America could choose to expand their American operations. And decoupling from China, another of President Trumps goals, will be far easier with lower energy prices and tax rates.

This is a far cry from the Biden era. Democrats were all in on electric vehicles, with billions of pounds spent on company tax incentives to make EVs and batteries, and on individual tax relief to buy the cars. In case people failed to respond to financial pressures, Democrats put in place new regulations that could have required almost 70 per cent of new cars and 25 per cent of new lorries sold by 2032 to be electric or hybrid, up from about 8 per cent today.

Further billions were spent on incentives for wind and solar power, raising the cost of electricity. California, which requires wind and solar, has electricity rates that are three times as high as nearby Utah, which has no such requirements.

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But now President Trump is making US energy dominance a key component of his foreign policy, while ensuring that domestic and international goals are aligned. His new path will allow the United States not only to secure affordable energy for its citizens, markets for its energy exports, and access to new energy natural resources  but to cause the rest of the world to go along.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth is the director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at The Heritage Foundation.

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Editors Note: The Kyiv Independent isnt a recipient of U.S. foreign aid, and its funding wasnt affected by the aid freeze.

With the stroke of a pen, U.S. President Donald Trump last week put a freeze on projects that have helped Ukraine become freer and more democratic since the earliest days of its independence in 1991.

The White House ordered a 90-day suspension of U.S. foreign aid-funded projects globally, to ascertain if they aligned with "American interests" and "American values."

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The agencies affected include the National Endowment for Democracy, the Food for Peace Emergency Program, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization particularly active in Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, USAID has provided Ukraine with $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid, $5 billion in development assistance, and more than $30 billion in direct budget support, helping to rebuild schools after Russian attacks, pay for bomb shelters, advanced medical equipment for hospitals and much more.

Yet USAID's support for Ukraine began well before the full-scale invasion and, according to people who have worked on such projects, their work is vital, and their value immeasurable.

Ukrainian photographer Vladyslav Sodel, who has been capturing USAIDs work in Ukraine for the past eight years, said people "can't even imagine" how deeply all the funds provided by USAID have become woven into Ukrainians' lives "to the point where they dont even suspect it."

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In a post on Facebook, Sodel said this aid ranges from "a bed with a mattress" for war refugees, to "multi-billion-dollar investments" in Ukraine's energy infrastructure that has been ravaged by Russian mass missile attacks.

This "support from the American people" has allowed Ukrainians to "move forward and achieve something greater," he added.

USAID  benefits and misconceptions

Opinion polls show that Americans significantly overestimate the proportion of the U.S. federal budget that is spent on foreign aid, believing it to be around 25 percent when in fact it was only around 1 percent in 2023, amounting to just 0.25% of GDP.

Yet due to the size of the U.S. economy, this translates to 40 percent of all humanitarian aid globally.

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And it's not just a one-way street  while hugely benefiting the citizens of the countries in which it is spent, U.S. foreign aid also has positive impacts on American citizens back home, Professor Liam Swiss, a foreign aid expert and head of the department of sociology at Canada's Acadia University, told the Kyiv Independent.

Highlighting USAID programs to fund polio immunization, Swiss said that unless someone steps in to fill the gap, it could harm the global drive to eradicate the disease.

"The only reason we aren't dealing with polio in the U.S. or in Canada, or the U.K. now, is because we've kind of had these successful immunization campaigns to eliminate it," he said.

Another consequence of reducing or cutting foreign aid that Swiss highlights is the potential of it exacerbating one of the most pressing issues for many Trump supporters  immigration.

Cars are parked on Saint Michaels Square during a handover ceremony by the UN Population Fund in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 25, 2023. (Oleksii Samsonov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

"If you abandon support does that actually start to drive further migration from those parts of the world that are then furthering the MAGA-perceived border crisis?" he said.

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According to Deborah Fairlamb, the co-founder of Green Flag Ventures, who previously worked on several USAID-funded projects in Ukraine, there is also a public misconception that USAID is used by the U.S. to dictate terms and conditions on countries, a mistruth often exploited by Russia and its supporters.

It's not the U.S. coming in and unilaterally telling Ukraine what it needs and deciding this. It is always done in conjunction with (the state) and the approval, she told the Kyiv Independent, adding the Russian propaganda narrative that "USAID is an arm of the CIA" has no basis in reality.

Read also: North Korean troops not seen for 3 weeks in parts of Kursk Oblast, Ukraines Special Forces say

USAID and Ukraine

With the signing of a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and USAID in 1992, the agency started working alongside the Ukrainian government to build a competitive market economy, implement crucial social reforms, provide humanitarian, technical, and financial assistance, and help Ukraine navigate its post-Soviet transition.

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Thus began a 30-year partnership that has endured, animated by the belief that by working together, we can forge a secure and prosperous future for all Ukrainians, reads the USAID statement on its work in Ukraine.

In over 30 years of working in Ukraine, USAID has played a key role in transforming numerous sectors that often go unnoticed.

Dmytro Boyarchuk, the executive director of the Centre for Social and Economic Research (CASE Ukraine), said that Ukraine would not have been able to implement vital reforms without the support of international donors like USAID.

"Ukraine would not have been able to implement vital reforms without the support of international donors like USAID."

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The USAIDs technical assistance program which provides expert advice, support, and resources to help countries implement reforms and achieve development goals, played a big role in transforming Ukraine after the EuroMaidan Revolution that ended the rule of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

Boyarchuk says that back then, the "reform-minded" people took advantage of it to introduce changes and push solutions through the parliament.

USAID's efforts have also included supporting judicial reforms and anti-corruption initiatives, and promoting transparency and accountability in governance.

It also supported Ukraines 2014 decentralization reform, which granted more economic and political freedom to small villages and towns.

While USAIDs impact on freedom of speech in Ukraine can only be traced "indirectly," the organization greatly supported Ukrainian human rights activists and journalists, says Oksana Romaniuk, chief of the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information (IMI).

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"We, in turn, monitored freedom of speech, we made statements, we held protests, we developed media legislation," Romaniuk told the Kyiv Independent, adding USAID was a "supporting structure" for independent media.

But in 2022, Russias full-scale invasion reshaped the focus and priorities of USAIDs work in Ukraine.

"When the (all-out) war started, everything shifted into survival mode. And it was not just USAID, it was the entire country," says Fairlamb.

Before that, USAID may have been helping a community "develop a business plan and figure out how best to use the new tax-free resources," Fairlamb says, but after Feb. 24, 2022, the critical issue became "making sure people in that community had electricity, and that those who had been displaced could find homes."

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It is these seemingly small efforts that have played a crucial role in helping Ukraine lessen the devastating impact of the full-scale war.

Small steps matter

Mykolaiv-based entrepreneur Tetiana Viaznikova says the small grant that she received thanks to USAID has helped save lives during the war.

Back in 2021, Viaznikova launched her first aid course "Sample" but Russias full-scale war forced her to switch to working at a military administration center in southern Ukraine.

Then last summer, she quit her job and decided to scale the courses up.

A small grant of Hr 410,000 (around $9,700) allowed her to purchase new tourniquets and mannequins, expand her course offerings, and order a marketing strategy.

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"It wasnt just money to get by  it was a boost that helped me scale my business," Viaznikova says. "Thanks to a marketing strategy, I found clients and continue to train people."

Since last fall, over 750 people have undergone her training, and several of them have already saved lives using their new skills.

"For small business owners and those just starting out, even small amounts of money, like mini-grants, provide a foundation that gives you the opportunity to start and scale up," Viaznikova says.

Transfer of more than 10 tons of vegetable seeds to more than 200 thousand households in frontline and de-occupied communities under the USAID Agricultural and Rural Development Program (AGRO) in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, on March 12, 2024. (Volodymyr Tarasov / Ukrinform / Getty Images)

There are thousands of success stories like Viaznikovas across Ukraine, all made possible by USAID, from training teachers and providing scholarships for researchers, to supporting Ukraines energy infrastructure and agriculture.

A farmer from war-torn Kharkiv Oblast managed to save his crops after receiving costly fertilizers for free, while Ukrainian internally displaced persons (IDPs) gained access to vital medication and essential goods.

The work of USAID in just one territorial community in Chernihiv Oblast amply demonstrates its impact.

USAID-funded projects have created spaces for young people, organized workshops and training sessions for locals, supplied new equipment for municipal services and hospitals, and much more.

"The stop of USAIDs support means lost opportunities," Andriy Tkach, the secretary of the Sosnytsia village council, told the Kyiv Independent.

What is at stake

While the U.S. has issued a waiver for "life-saving humanitarian assistance," most USAID-funded programs in Ukraine now face at least a three-month pause in funding, and an even more dire situation if it is not renewed after the U.S. State Department review.

Boyarchuk said Ukraines agriculture sector  "the key sector today that is holding up the economy, with more than 60% of commodity exports being agricultural products"  is largely dependent on donors support.

"And while we praise their (farmers) resilience, their equipment was damaged, destroyed, or taken  this is all a significant cost, and they have to continue working," he adds.

Many Ukrainian non-profits and media outlets are already appealing for alternative funds and donations, while others have decided to halt certain operations.

Veteran Hub, an NGO that supports Ukrainian soldiers, war veterans, and their families, announced that it had to close its operations in Vinnytsia.

Ukrainian Veterans at Veteran Hub, an NGO supporting Ukrainian soldiers, war veterans, and their families in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Veteran Hub / Facebook)

Ukrainian media, especially regional outlets, are under threat as well.

According to Romaniuk, nearly 90% of regional media funding relies on grants, with advertising accounting for only 3-10% of their revenue.

"At the start of the invasion, over 300 regional outlets shut down due to financial strain, Russian attacks, and people fleeing," Romaniuk says, adding: "This may lead to another wave of media shutdowns."

Bogdan Logvynenko, founder of Ukrainer, a popular online magazine that lost most of its funding due to the U.S. aid freeze, says that Trumps decision is not just about Ukraine "but about a new isolationist policy of the U.S."

"How will the (media) sector survive this? I think it may shrink by half," he says.

Read also: Ukraines unlikely ally against Russian attacks on energy sector  warm weather

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A layer of fog covered the National Capital on Friday as the city recorded a minimum temperature of 10.8 degrees Celsius at 5:30 am, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In response to the chilly weather, homeless people took refuge in night shelter homes as temperatures continued to drop in Delhi. The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has set up 235 pagoda tents to provide shelter to homeless people. Night shelters have been set up in several areas of the national capital including AIIMS, Lodhi Road, and Nizamuddin flyover. Delhi's air quality remained 'very poor' on Friday, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 350 at 7 am, as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. On Wednesday, air quality in the national capital was in the "very poor" category with AQI at 327 at 8 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. An AQI rating is categorised as follows: 0-50 (good), 51-100 (satisfactory), 101-200 (moderate), 201-300 (poor), 301-400 (very poor), and 401-500 (severe). In Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, people continue to arrive in Prayagraj to take a holy dip at the Maha Kumbh despite the cold weather. On Thursday, the minimum temperature in Prayagraj was recorded at 16 degrees Celsius at 5:30 pm. Maha Kumbh, which started on January 13, will continue till February 26. The remaining significant 'snan' dates in Maha Kumbh are February 3 (Basant Panchami--Third Shahi Snan), February 12 (Maghi Purnima), and February 26 (Maha Shivaratri). Cold weather continues to affect the daily life of the people in Jammu and Kashmir, with temperatures dropping to single digits in many areas. Srinagar recorded a temperature of 2.4 degrees Celsius at 5:30 am on Friday. Other recorded temperatures included -2 degrees Celsius in Gulmarg, -0.8 degrees Celsius in Pahalgam, 2.6 degrees Celsius in Banihal and 2.2 degrees Celsius in Kupwara, as per India Meteorological Department data recorded at 5:30 am on Friday. As per the IMD, a cold wave is considered when the minimum temperature of a station is 10 degrees Celsius or less for plains and 0 degrees Celsius or less for Hilly regions. (ANI)
The United States has suspended its support for global landmine clearing operations, prompting warnings from de-mining charities that the pause will lead to avoidable deaths.

The State Department has paused its work with de-mining groups for an initial period of 90 days as part of Donald Trumps suspension of all US foreign aid, announced soon after he took office.

In Southeast Asia, where the millions of tonnes of bombs and other explosives dropped by the US during the Vietnam war are to blame for much of the problem, activists warned that the decision could end lives.

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In Vietnam alone it is estimated that there are up to 800,000 tonnes of unexploded landmines, cluster munitions and bombs. Since the war ended in 1975, some 40,000 people have been killed by unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the country.

And in neighbouring Laos, between 1964 and 1973, an average of one planeload of bombs was dropped every eight minutes for almost a decade.

Up to 30 per cent of the 270 million submunitions dropped on the landlocked country never exploded  instead the explosives are buried beneath the earth, posing the risk of death or disability to anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon them, and some 20,000 people are estimated to have been killed or injured in the years since the war.

Experts say it could take up to 100 years to finish clearing the region. Other nations are also badly affected, including Myanmar  in 2023, the conflict-ridden country reported more than 1,000 landmine casualties, more than Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

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The US funding freeze will hit clearance work  which is already painstakingly slow  hard, as historically the country has been one of the biggest financial backers.

It has invested $750 million in efforts in Southeast Asia alone over the past three decades and over $5.09 billion since 1993 in efforts to dispose of weapons globally. In 2022, programmes and organizations the US supported cleared explosives from a combined 43,000 acres of land.

De-mining groups and charities say the US aid pause will have disastrous consequences for those living in at-risk areas.

Nearly 1,500 pieces of unexploded ordnance will remain in the ground for at least the next 85 days because of this pause, said Claire Yunker, executive director of PeaceTrees Vietnam, which works to remove explosives from across the Southeast Asian country.

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Of course, we know all too well that these remnants of war will pose an immediate danger to local communities.

The US dropped millions of tonnes of explosives across Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War - Universal Images Group Editorial/Universal Images Group Editorial

Already this year, a 36-year-old man was killed in Laos by an explosive leftover from the war, said Sera Koulabdara, chair of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions Coalition, and CEO of Legacies of War.

The stop-work order for US-funded organisations could also mean there is no help available for survivors.

Ms Koulabdara, whose father was a doctor and treated UXO victims in Laos, said Legacies partners have already had to deny patients follow-up appointments.

Others will run out of money to pay their staff and risk having to re-hire and re-train in the hopeful event that the freeze is lifted, she told The Telegraph.

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The Mines Advisory Group, which receives US funding, said it is having to liaise with other donors, national authorities and partners to effectively manage the suspension.

The US State Department notification on the suspension came via a reported email from Karen R. Chandler, head of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, at the weekend.

Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, explained to State Department staff that, moving forward, US foreign policy would be refocused to advance national interests.

It is not yet clear whether de-mining work will be part of the new America First vision of foreign policy.

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The aim of the USs global weapons destruction work had been to protect the lives and livelihoods of civilians worldwide, Jessica Lewis, former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, said in 2023.

Unexploded ordnance is not only a problem in Southeast Asia, however.

In 2023, over 5,700 people were killed or injured by UXO around the world, with Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Yemen and Iraq among the countries with the highest numbers of casualties.

Left uncleared, landmines and UXO also threaten the lives of US troops, contractors and aid workers operating in conflict zones, said Ms Koulabdara.

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These programs benefit US national security by reducing the risk of proliferation of explosive materials to potential bad actors who may re-purpose UXO for their benefit leading to violence or instability, she added.

Ms Koulabdara and several other leaders in landmine clearing have called on the State Department to issue a waiver or to conduct a quick and affirmative review to allow their work to continue.

In the meantime, land clearing groups are hopeful that the new administration in Washington will see the continued value in land clearing globally.

Our work has enjoyed strong and bipartisan support from all US government administrations, including President Trumps first administration, because of its alignment with US national interests, said Darren Cormack, the CEO of the Mines Advisory Group, a UK-based charity that operates in 25 countries around the world, including Vietnam and Laos.

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We hope to work with the new Trump administration in the years ahead and we are confident that the case for our work is strong.

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this article stated that 20,000 people were estimated to have died in the war and that 270 million tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Laos. We wish to clarify that 20,000 people were estimated to have been killed or injured and 270 million cluster submunitions were dropped on Laos.

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Two US lawmakers, including the chair of a hawkish congressional committee, are raising concerns about the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts' decision to host the National Ballet of China, accusing the dance company of being a tool of China's "political machinery".

They are urging the cultural institution to reconsider its ties with the Chinese ballet company.

Representatives Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, and John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House select committee on China, sent a letter this week to Kennedy Centre chairman David Rubenstein and president Deborah Rutter regarding the NBC performances, which are scheduled from January 29 to February 2 in Washington as part of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.

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The letter, dated January 24, accused the NBC of being "controlled by the Chinese Communist Party" and stated that art in China was "a political instrument" used to disseminate propaganda abroad.

"While presenting a friendly facade to the American public via the ballet, this regime is actively persecuting writers, artists and other creative talents who dissent from the party line," the lawmakers wrote.

The letter also said three of the five leaders of the Chinese dance company were members of the Communist Party, and that director Feng Ying had held official positions, including in the National People's Congress where members were "hand-picked" by the party.

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"The National Ballet of China has embedded in it a Party Committee Office that is responsible for ensuring compliance with party directives. Hence, the National Ballet of China clearly is part of the CCP's political machinery," the letter argued.

US Representative John Moolenaar chairs the House select committee on China. Photo: CNP via Zuma Press Wire/TNS alt=US Representative John Moolenaar chairs the House select committee on China. Photo: CNP via Zuma Press Wire/TNS>

The lawmakers pointed out that Congress had allocated US$44 million in the 2024 budget to maintain the Kennedy Centre as a public institution, adding: "There is a responsibility to be accountable to US taxpayers for what occurs in their building".

"Subsidising CCP propaganda and implicitly endorsing Xi Jinping's war on artists and intellectuals is not responsible stewardship in our opinion," the letter continued. The lawmakers also inquired whether any funding for the NBC performance was coming from the Chinese government or any affiliated organisations.

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China's embassy in Washington described the accusations as "totally groundless and ridiculous" and said the performance was "a shining example of cultural dialogue, which promotes mutual understanding between our two peoples".

Congratulations on the National Ballet of China's successful opening night on Jan.29! When the most prestigious ballet company in China @ballet_china came to the national artistic mecca of the U.S. @kencen on the first night of #ChineseNewYear, you can expect nothing less than... pic.twitter.com/krxZuGxGxM

- Liu Pengyu  (@SpoxCHNinUS) January 30, 2025

Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the embassy, said "it would be unfortunate if normal people-to-people and cultural exchanges are politicised and demonised. We urge the relevant politicians to immediately stop such smears driven by their own political agenda".

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The National Ballet of China premiered a Chinese adaptation of the popular ballet The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Centre on Wednesday which was attended by China's ambassador to the US, Xie Feng.

"I believe that this art feast that blends Chinese and Western cultures will show a unique charm, and once again prove that the Chinese and American peoples' pursuit of beauty, love of art and yearning for a better life are connected," Xie said in his opening remarks.

"I hope that China and the United States will build more cultural and artistic bridges to bring the people of the two countries closer," he added.

In their letter, the lawmakers asked whether the Kennedy Centre would highlight issues of artistic suppression and the Communist Party's global propaganda efforts during the NBC performances. They also questioned whether the centre would engage with Chinese dissidents in the US, whose families they alleged "are arbitrarily detained and even tortured" in Chinese prisons.

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"If the Kennedy Centre is unwilling to take such steps, should performances by the National Ballet of China be considered a propaganda subsidy for the CCP, and if so, will the Kennedy Centre take the uncomfortable step of severing ties with the National Ballet of China?" the letter concluded.

The Kennedy Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is looking into whether DeepSeek - the Chinese company whose AI model's performance rocked the tech world - has been using U.S. chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, a person familiar with the matter said.

China's DeepSeek last week launched a free assistant it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of U.S. models. Within days, it became the most downloaded app in Apple's App Store and stirred concerns about United States' lead in AI, sparking a rout that wiped around $1 trillion off U.S. technology stocks.

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Current restrictions on Nvidia artificial intelligence processors are meant to stop its most sophisticated chips from reaching China.

Organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of countries including Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, the source said.

The Commerce Department and DeepSeek did not immediately return requests for comment.

An Nvidia spokesperson said many of its customers have business entities in Singapore and use those entities for products destined for the U.S. and the west.

"We insist that our partners comply with all applicable laws, and if we receive any information to the contrary, act accordingly," Nvidia said.

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In a statement on Saturday, Singapore's trade ministry cited Nvidia's comment saying there is no reason to believe that DeepSeek obtained any export-controlled products from Singapore.

The ministry did not confirm whether DeepSeek had gained access to Nvidia chips that were subject to U.S. export controls via intermediaries in Singapore, but said it has always upheld the rule of law and acted decisively and firmly against individuals and companies that flout the rules.

"We expect U.S. companies, like Nvidia, to comply with U.S. export controls and our domestic legislation," it said. "Our customs and law enforcement agencies will continue to work closely with their U.S. counterparts."

DeepSeek has said it used Nvidia's H800 chips, which it could have legally purchased in 2023. Reuters could not determine whether DeepSeek has used other controlled chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China.

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DeepSeek also apparently has Nvidia's less powerful H20s, which can still lawfully be shipped to China. The U.S. considered controlling them under the Biden administration and newly appointed Trump officials are discussing that as well.

The CEO of AI company Anthropic, Dario Amodei, said earlier this week, "it appears that a substantial fraction of DeepSeek's AI chip fleet consists of chips that haven't been banned (but should be), chips that were shipped before they were banned; and some that seem very likely to have been smuggled."

The U.S. has put in place a raft of restrictions barring exports of AI chips to China and plans to cap their shipments to a host of other countries.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; additional reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; editing by Himani Sarkar)
By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it was probing the release by an upstate New York sheriff's office of an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, in what appears to be its first use of a new policy to target state and local agencies that do not comply with President Donald Trump's directives.

The department last week directed federal prosecutors to consider criminal investigations of state and local officials if they interfere with federal immigration enforcement, in a crackdown on "sanctuary cities."

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The incident took place on Wednesday in Ithaca, New York, a deeply progressive city in New York's Finger Lakes region, and involved Mexican national Jesus Romero-Hernandez, 27, who had been in custody over an assault charge.

Federal prosecutors said the Tompkins County Sheriff's Office released him despite an outstanding federal arrest warrant on a charge of illegally reentering the U.S. after a prior removal.

Romero-Hernandez was later arrested on the immigration charge by federal agents.

"Yesterday, despite the warrant, a defendant with no legal status and a history of violence was released into the community," Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a statement.

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Bove said he welcomed the local U.S. attorney's office's commitment "to investigate these circumstances for potential prosecution."

Ithaca said the city's police department adhered to "all relevant city policies" and "did not participate in any immigration enforcement activities."

The statement did not directly address the case cited by the Justice Department.

The Tompkins County Sheriff's Office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bove last week issued a department-wide memo directing federal prosecutors to investigate state and local officials if they are "obstructing federal functions" related to immigration enforcement.

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Bove traveled to Chicago on Sunday to observe a law enforcement operation involving agents from the Department of Homeland Security and agents from several Justice Department components.

A Justice Department official told Reuters this week that part of Bove's visit also served in part to "observe how sanctuary city policies impact DHS and DOJ immigration enforcement operations."

The department has since reassigned more than a dozen senior career attorneys who usually remain in their posts regardless of which party controls the White House to a newly created sanctuary cities working group.

The majority of the re-assigned Justice Department employees have little to no expertise in immigration law.

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A Justice Department official said the group will focus on identifying state and local laws that are impeding federal immigration enforcement, working "on the ground to collect evidence" and assessing the Trump administration's own policies as it relates to providing funding to sanctuary cities.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Lincoln Feast.)
The US should welcome China's best scientific minds into its universities to compete with the mainland's success in AI, American lawmakers in Washington heard on Thursday, as Chinese start-up DeepSeek unnerved the global tech market this week.

"Let's steal their best engineers," said Melanie Hart of the Washington-based Atlantic Council at a hearing convened by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Referencing the Chinese talent behind DeepSeek's AI models, Hart testified that "we'd be better off if the engineers behind that were working here in the US".

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To achieve that, she continued, students from the mainland would need to feel safe in America, adding: "We can beat Beijing at making Chinese scientists feel safe."

Hart's comments came as Washington debates how best to retain top talent while safeguarding US intellectual property rights and national security.

They also coincide with a growing trend of US-based Chinese scientists returning to the mainland, driven in part by concerns of racial profiling under American national security policies and expanding opportunities in China's tech sector.

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The debate took centre stage at Thursday's hearing, as US senator Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican and the committee's chair, saw a key "flaw" in the proposal to lure tech talent from the mainland.

"When a student comes over here, they got to go back," Risch said.

"If they don't go back, there's a family there. And we all know what the Chinese government does to families," he added, alluding to instances in which Beijing has pressured overseas Chinese nationals by targeting their relatives on the mainland.

Other witnesses on Thursday stressed that the US government needed to focus on challenging China's growing tech capabilities by insulating American academia and the broader information space from Chinese influence, rather than recruiting talent from the mainland.

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"The scale and scope of China's predations in our research ecosystem are largely unknown," said Jeffrey Stoff of the Virginia-based Centre for Research Security and Integrity.

The State Department should "play a much larger role" in closing regulatory gaps and bolstering compliance mechanisms to "ensure that real costs are imposed to the PRC when it violates commonly accepted norms and values of scientific research", Stoff added.

Leaders of the House Select Committee on China have urged Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, to review the benefits of placing export controls on chips critical to DeepSeek's AI infrastructure. Photo: AFP alt=Leaders of the House Select Committee on China have urged Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, to review the benefits of placing export controls on chips critical to DeepSeek's AI infrastructure. Photo: AFP>

Asked by Nebraska Republican Pete Ricketts what the US should do in response to the rise of Chinese platforms like DeepSeek and RedNote, Peter Mattis of the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank, recommended that Washington take the same approach it did with Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok.

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TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has been removed from US app stores as it faces a potential ban in the US on fears that Beijing may collect data from the app and manipulate its content. The popular app's temporary halt in service earlier this month led American users to flock to RedNote, China's version of Instagram.

"You have to adopt the same approach that was applied to TikTok: that it either is sort of removed from [Chinese] control or it is no longer available in the app stores," said Mattis, contending that DeepSeek raises similar national security concerns.

Earlier this week, the emergence of Hangzhou-based DeepSeek sent share prices tumbling for semiconductor giant Nvidia and other major American tech companies.

Over the past few weeks, DeepSeek released two powerful new AI models built at a fraction of the cost and computing power used by American firms to create the technology underpinning generative AI services like ChatGPT.

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Unease about DeepSeek came from other parts of the US Congress on Thursday.

In a letter to US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, the leaders of the House Select Committee on China - Republican John Moolenaar of Michigan and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois - pushed him to review the national security benefits of placing export controls on chips critical to DeepSeek's AI infrastructure.

"Export controls and AI innovation are not mutually exclusive but two sides of the same coin," said Krishnamoorthi. "If we want to outcompete the CCP in AI, we must protect our lead, safeguard Americans' data and use common sense."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM)  The United States Postal Service is looking to fill openings across central Pennsylvania, and several job fairs are scheduled throughout February.

They have immediate openings for City Carrier PTF ($22.18/hr), City Carrier Assistants ($19.33/hr), Rural Carrier Associate ($20.48/hr), and PSE Clerk ($20.48/hr).

At each job fair, USPS personnel will be onsite to help provide information about the positions and answer questions.

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Applications, however, are only accepted online.

Job fairs scheduled in our area include:

Harrisburg, at the Main Post Office, 1425 Crooked Hill Road, on Feb. 5, Feb. 14, Feb. 21, and Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.;

McSherrystown, 328 Main Street, Feb. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.;

York, 3435 Concord Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.;

Carlisle, 66 West Louther Road, Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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The Utah House Government Operations Committee on Thursday approved HB158 in the interest of state sovereignty from international bodies like the World Health Organization and the United Nations, but not without a healthy debate.

The bill would officially prevent state leaders, including state agency directors and Gov. Spencer Cox, from implementing international directives or emergency declarations.

Proponents of the bill cited the COVID-19 pandemic and opined that international organizations stepped on the rights of Utah citizens.

State sovereignty versus quick emergency action

Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, sponsored the bill and introduced it to the House.

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All directives and mandates must originate from Utahs elected leaders, not from unelected international organizations, she told the committee. Emergency decisions are made by Utahns, for Utahns.

Her framing of HB158 in terms of state sovereignty from international rulings drew debate from committee members Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, and House Minority Whip Sahara Hayes, D-Salt Lake City.

I dont think this is necessary. Legally at least, these organizations have no sovereignty here. ... And I do think (this bill) would hamstring the governor under certain circumstances, Stoddard said in committee.

Were simply saying in this bill that the state is sovereign and that no foreign entity can dictate policy in the state, said committee chair Rep. Jefferson Burton, R-Salem, who, prior to his time in the Utah House of Representatives, served as executive director of the Utah State Department of Health.

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Members of the public who spoke at the hearing included Kael Weston, a Salt Lake City native who served with the U.S. State Department for over a decade. Weston spoke to the committee about the effectiveness of WHOs response to Ebola in Africa and the SARS outbreak in Asia.

He predicted that the U.S. leaving the WHO would have a negative impact on American emergency response.

Its always good to have allies when the challenges are enormous, he told the committee.

On the other side, Greg Duerden, state chair of the Independent American Party of Utah, advocated in favor of the bill.

We can make better decisions here locally with the boots on the ground than someone whos a country away or more, he testified. We know what we need here better than others internationally or even at the national level.

What future emergency responses could look like

When asked how HB158 could affect emergency response time in Utah, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said he didnt see how disentanglement from the WHO and the United Nations could slow response down.

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It ought to be the citizens and elected officials inside this, the state of Utah, making (emergency) decisions, not outside organizations. ... We need to be listening to the people, he told the Deseret News.

Shepherd said that she believes the bill would allow state leaders to make decisions that align with international recommendations, but that those decisions would be their own, not that of international organizations.

The people of Utah have placed their trust in their elected officials, said Shepherd. (This bill) will empower our elected officials.

The bill passed with unanimous approval from Republicans and was opposed unanimously by Democrats, including Stoddard, Hayes and House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City.
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY)  Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine raised the red flag on increased air traffic around Reagan National Airport more than a year before Wednesday evenings crash of an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter.

Sen. Mark Warner, who lives in northern Virginia, witnessed the aftermath of the tragedy and spent much of Thursday morning at Reagan National Airport. He addressed the Senate before confirmation hearings proceeded.

There will be a time to figure out how, what happened and how we rectify it, Warner said. But today, our thoughts and prayers ought to be with the families, and again, thanking our first responders.

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Warner spoke out last year when the FAA was considering adding five additional flights to an already busy airstrip.

Adding these additional flights will both cause, I believe, a safety challenge and increased delays, Warner said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Sen. Tim Kaine when he said Thursday that youre also increasing safety risk, because when you have one plane taking off or landing every minute, while other planes are circling, especially in very constricted air space,  you run the risk of serious challenge.

Kaine offered his condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the crash.

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We offer our profound condolences to them and our sorrow for this tragedy, Kaine said. There are going to be a lot of questions, obviously, a lot of questions and thats what the NTSBs job is  to be an independent investigator of incidents like this. And they are here, we were in dialogue with them earlier.

10 On Your Side was at an event earlier Thursday with Rep. Bobby Scott, who shared his thoughts on the crash.

Well, this is a very difficult time for all of the families involved, Scott said. Weve gotten air safety to the point where we dont have air crashes. Its been at least a decade since theres been any deaths on a commercial airline. And so, we have to find out what happened in this situation. I mean, our condolences go out to the families. There are many families involved.



Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised the swiftness of the responders, from the Coast Guard and local fire rescue teams, up to the federal level, including the FBI, saying they continue their difficult work.

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Jan. 31SAN BENITO  Amid a year-long legal battle, a real estate company is accusing City Manager Fred Sandoval, a city planner and an inspector of official oppression for allegedly holding back the completion of San Benito's first resaca-side commercial development.

Meanwhile, officials are denying the allegations.

"Our residents deserve the truth, and San Benito will not allow our name to be used as a tool for anyone's smear campaign or personal gain," Sandoval said in a statement Thursday. "I will not back down in the face of these baseless attacks."

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In a letter to the San Benito Police Department, VARCO Real Estate, a Brownsville-based company, is claiming Sandoval, City Planner Johanna Maldonado and inspector Eddie Olvera are refusing to lift an order that's stopped completion of the Resaca Village development off Business 77.

In the letter, VARCO's also requesting the police department investigate Sandoval and two promoters of the city's music festivals.

In August, city officials called a "stop-work" order after accusing VARCO's Origo Work's subcontractor of tapping into a city water line.

"These individuals cited a non-existent 'ongoing felony criminal investigation' and irrelevant easement issues for keeping an unlawful stop-work order on our project," Paul Serafy, an attorney representing VARCO, said in the letter, describing the allegations of official oppression as class A misdemeanors.

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"You confirmed during our phone call that no such felony criminal investigation exists," he wrote to a police detective. "Incident reports show that Mr. Sandoval is using the investigative powers of the San Benito police department to pursue the amount of water used 'civilly.' Accordingly, there was no basis for the 'stop-work' order other than to harm VARCO Real Estate San Benito LLC and prevent us from finishing our shopping center."

The complaint alleges Sandoval kept the stop-order in place after VARCO filed a lawsuit against the city.

"Mr. Sandoval only took action on the water issue in December once VARCO Real Estate San Benito LLC sued the city, and he needed an excuse to keep the stop-work order in place," the letter claims.

"Despite months of requests and attempts to lift the stop-work order and resolve the water issue, Mr. Sandoval directed the building and planning departments to keep it in place," the letter states. "Unfortunately, our attempts to meet with him and multiple attempts to contact him were ignored."

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VARCO's request claims officials stopped the company from using its construction permit.

"To be clear, in placing the stop-work order on the Resaca Village construction site and refusing to lift it for four months, Mr. Sandoval, aided by Mr. Olvera and Ms. Maldonado, acted under the color of law to intentionally deny VARCO benefits to which we are entitled  use and access to our construction site, a construction permit for which we paid and the ability to work on our construction site, among other things," the letter states.

In its letter, VARCO's also requesting the police department investigate "recent allegations" surrounding Sandoval and two music festival promoters.

"Those allegations appear to be clear cases of abuse of official capacity and misapplication of fiduciary property," the letter claims, citing Texas Penal Code chapters 39.02 and 32.45.

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In response, Sandoval strongly denied the allegations.

"The city of San Benito will not be intimidated by any contractor, including VARCO, or their associates, in its commitment to protecting the best interests of residents and the community," he said in a news release. "The city of San Benito is calling on VARCO to cease their political games and threats."

In the city's statement, Sandoval said officials "demand real discussions."

"VARCO's reaction  whether through email or other means  appears to be a response to being held accountable and being told to follow ordinances, policies and procedures that are standard in every city," he said.

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Sandoval argued the company hadn't filed a formal complaint with the police department.

"An email with false claims is not a police report, and if VARCO truly believes there is grounds for one, they are welcome to file a formal report," he said.

The statement also refers to a Houston-based former investigative TV reporter's series of videos criticizing city officials.

"At the same time this email was sent, an out-of-town blogger, coincidentally, posted the same unfounded accusations," Sandoval said. "The city of San Benito demands to know who is behind these coordinated online attacks, how much money is being funneled into them and why these attacks are happening in the first place. Could it be that they have something to gain from this coordinated smear campaign?"

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In the statement, Sandoval claims "the email from VARCO representatives is nothing more than a direct response to the city's inquiry about how much water their contractors have used without paying for city water."

Meanwhile, VARCO said it "would be happy" to pay for water the subcontractor used.

"Our citizens pay their water bills responsibly, and we expect contractors to do the same," Sandoval said. "I will not be threatened or intimidated by these tactics, and I will not allow city staff to be bullied by VARCO or anyone they may have hired to advance their agenda."

In April 2024, VARCO filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming San Benito's Economic Development Corporation breached the parties' contracts surrounding the development of Resaca Village, failing to "honor its obligations" under an agreement extending its construction timeline while claiming its amendments "void" because city commissioners had not approved them.

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In response, officials filed a counter suit, claiming VARCO breached its contract when the company failed to comply with the city's agreements granting extensions on the project's completion, originally set for 2022.

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DM Prayagraj, Ravindra Kumar Mandar, clarified on Friday that there will be no restrictions on vehicle entry in Prayagraj on January 31, February 1, and February 4. He specified that the divergence scheme will only be implemented on February 2 and 3. He also refuted the viral claims stating that vehicle entry would be restricted until February 4. "A news is viral on social media that the entry of vehicles in Prayagraj will be restricted till February 4. This news is completely baseless. The divergent scheme was implemented only for the peak day of Mauni Amavasya. Now, almost all the devotees are returning and the scheme of divergence is being removed by the police. We have instructed the police to remove the barricades. On January 31, February 1 and 4, there will be no restriction on any vehicle. Only on February 2 and 3, on the snan of Vasant Panchami, the scheme of divergence will be implemented. There is a very different process of entry of vehicles into the Mela Kshetra, Mela officials and DIG will inform everyone about it. There is no restriction on the vehicles in the Commissionerate area..," he said. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Yogi Government announced that VIP movement was restricted on major bathing days. All VIPs and VVIPs delegations planning to visit Prayagraj during Vasant Panchami, Magh Purnima and Mahashivratri -- as well as a day before and after these festivals would not receive special privileges, a press release by the UP government stated on Thursday. The three-member judicial commission formed to investigate the tragic stampede during the Prayagraj Mahakumbh on Mauni Amavasya, which resulted in the deaths of 30 people, has officially commenced its work, according to a release. The commission members arrived at their office in Janpath, Lucknow, on Thursday, and immediately took charge of the investigation. Commission Chairman Justice (Retd.) Harsh Kumar said, "Since the investigation is a priority, we have taken charge within hours of the announcement." He added, "Although we have a month to complete the probe, we will make every effort to conclude it as quickly as possible." Justice Kumar also confirmed that the commission would soon visit Prayagraj to assess the situation firsthand. Meanwhile, in Prayagaraj, UP DGP Prashant Kumar, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and other officials conducted an on-site inspection. (ANI)
GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WBTW)  Lawmakers in Columbia arent the only ones trying to tackle the problem of abandoned boats littering South Carolina waterways.

Law enforcement, local businesses and nonprofit groups like veteran-based Wounded Nature are pitching in to solve the problem.

News13 has covered sunken sailboats in Murrells Inlet and the issues they caused. But what about ones in Little River, on the Intracoastal Waterway and especially in Georgetown?

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Ornament of the Inlet sailboat removed after 2 years on Murrells Inlet mudflat, then quickly sinks

Wounded Nature CEO Rudy Socha said removing a 9,000-pound sailboat is not as easy as you might think. A News13 reporter spent about an hour on the water with Socha and found 19 derelict vessels.

They take in water above the floorboards, then [the owners] abandon it and go look for another free boat to live on, he said.

Socha said its up to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and groups like his and local businesses, who donate equipment and manpower.

When dealing with a derelict boat, Socha said the DNR first tries to alert the owner. They are given 45 days to remove the vessel. If they dont hear back, they work to float the vessel, remove it and scrap it.

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Socha said more legislation and funding could go a long way toward solving the problem.

The real problem isnt to mark the boats or to put a light on it, Socha said. Its to actually remove the boats, remove the hazard from the waterways.

Currently in South Carolina, boaters are not required to have liability insurance, but some legislation, like Senate Bill 26, aim to change that. Others like Senate Bill 167 propose collecting a $3 fee on top of the boat taxes to help fund the removal of derelict vessels.

Until there is more legislation and funding, Socha said if you run into one of these neglected boats, its on you.

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It then becomes incumbent on the state and the public to clean up your mess if you dont have insurance and your boat sinks or your boat damages other peoples property, he said.

Socha said that even with the resources currently available, the collaboration between the DNR, nonprofit groups and local businesses is effective teamwork. However, he said he hopes more laws are put in place to help with future removals.

* * *

Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY)  Following the in-custody death of Rolin Hill, Virginia Beach Sheriff Rocky Holcomb made immediate changes within the Sheriffs Office to ensure similar incidents dont happen.

My hearts and prayers go out to the Hill family. This is a terrible, terrible death and Rolin should be with us today, Holcomb said.

Former deputies Kevin Wilson, Michael Kidd, and Eric Baptiste have been charged with second-degree murder. They were among five deputies Holcomb fired as he called for the Virginia State Police to conduct an external investigation.

Kevin Wilson

Michael Kidd

Eric Baptiste

Body cam footage of in-custody death of Rolin Hill shown during bond hearing

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In disturbing body camera footage of last years incident, you can see a knee on Mr. Hills neck, his legs pinned down, arms behind his back, all while he took repeated punches as deputies tried to undo a wrap that was on him. Holcomb said that wrap was put on by officers with the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Hill died at the hospital six days after the June 2024 incident. The medical examiner ruled his cause of death positional and mechanical asphyxia which happens when a person is unable to move from a position that impairs their breathing, resulting in respiratory failure.

The wrap is a device that is used by the police department, Holcomb said. We no longer have it at the Sheriffs Office. We have taken off the harness before and I wont go into the training, because it is a criminal investigation, but we have taken off the harness before and we do have training on it.

He added, though, that not all deputies have that training.

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Holcomb said one of the first policy changes he implemented following the incident requires arresting officers to remove any wrap restraints from a suspect before they enter VBSO custody.

Death of man who was in VB Sheriffs Office custody ruled homicide; 5 deputies fired

He went on to explain that all supervisors also had to go through command and control training. That training now includes a staff member who watches out for the inmate in any serious use of force incidents.

Theyll watch the inmate for breathing, Holcomb said. Theyll watch the inmate for positioning. Theyll watch the inmate for signs of distress so that we can help them. Its not practical in every situation because it might be 2-on-1 or 1-on-1, and you dont have that, but in every situation where we can, we will have it.

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Holcomb said there is also a supervisor watching the deputy sheriffs.

You have to have somebody thats paying attention to all the people involved, all the deputies involved, Holcomb said, because if a deputy is responsible for holding an arm and one for a leg, thats all theyre seeing.

Since the incident, Holcomb has also brought back the rank of major. The role is currently filled by Joseph Bartolomeo. The rank was dissolved from the Sheriffs Office more than 20 years ago. Holcomb described the role as a subject matter expert who oversees all inmate operations. The lieutenants, captains and sergeants will answer to Bartolomeo. Another captain was also added to the correctional ranks.

Now, hes in the process of gaining perspective from the outside by trying to find a police executive group to come in and assess the Sheriffs Offices policies.

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While Holcomb has taken many steps forward, he said the stride that would cover the most ground cant be made alone.

The real problem is Mr. Hill was arrested for trespassing and failure to I.D., Holcomb said. He was clearly going through some type of mental health episode and he was brought to the jail. We need to implement a crisis receiving center here in Virginia Beach so that we can get these folks the help they need and not bring them to the back of my jail. They need medical experts helping them, not deputy sheriffs.

Holcomb said in the meantime, all of his staff have crisis intervention training to help navigate someone having a mental health crisis.

Im working at every turn to make every change I can, Holcomb said. Im leaning on my experience in the General Assembly. Im leaning on my experience on city council to get funding that we need to get a crisis receiving center, and I wont stop until we get it done.

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10 On Your Side learned Rolin Hills mother, Gail, worked with Holcomb as a deputy for nearly 10 years. Hills family continues to fight for justice and handed out green Justice for Rolin buttons, the symbolic color of mental health awareness, at a vigil honoring Hill at Mount Trashmore earlier this month.

Family and community members gather to remember Rolin Hill

In Hills obituary, his family asked for donations to any mental health foundation instead of flowers. It read in part, Mental health in America is still a major issue.

Below, Holcomb notes updates to jail policies, procedures and operations in the wake of Hills death.

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Were nearing the end of week two of Trump 2.0, and several things are already manifestly clear. First and foremost, that the new Trump administration was more than ready to hit the ground running at noon on January 20. As one journalist friend said to me: We were prepared for a 2,000-volt dose of MAGA. We got a 20,000-volt dose.

The scope and audacity of the moves floored everyone. There have been a lot of complaints about the Democrats; with Democrats, theres always something legitimate to complain about (their timidity, their rationales for nonaggression). But theres also an extent to which, in this case, everybody was taken aback by the tsunami of orders, the fuck-you unqualified-ness of crucial appointees, and more. That weve needed a few days to take it in is understandable.

But now we know. I write these words on Day 12 of the new Trump era, and already, the three guiding principles are obvious:

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1. There is no such thing as settled law. There is law Trump and the broader right accept, and law that they dont accept, and everything in the latter category will be relentlessly challenged.

2. There is no such thing as independence within the government. There is only loyalty to Trump and the cause.

3. Diversity is poison. Its the job of the federal government not merely to arrest its progress where it is but to push it back, aggressively.

Lets examine each.

With respect to the first principle, the key evidence exists in the form of certain moves Trump has made that challenge settled law. The Office of Management and Budget order attempting to block all federal grants and loans is Exhibit A. The Trump people know very well that this is money appropriated by Congress, and that money appropriated by Congress is money that a presidential administration has no legal right to rescind.

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So its not that they arent aware of what the law says. Rather, they know and just dont care. They know very well that the order violates the 1974 Impoundment Act. Thats not a problem. Its the point. They want to challenge the law, have people bring lawsuits, and hopefully from their perspective have it get to the Supreme Court, where, in theory, there are at least five justices available to overturn the Impoundment Act.

Why play it this way? Well, there are two motivations hereTrumps, and that of the broader right. Trumps motivations are simple to understand: Its just so that he will have fewer constraints on his executive power. For the right, this is a longtime goal that precedes Trumps arrival on the scene. They hate this post-Nixon reform that gives power to a drunken Congress (especially when run by Democrats), and they want a (Republican) president to be able to unilaterally cancel piles of federal spending. If youre of a certain age, you remember Ronald Reagans obsession with the line-item veto. This is its kissing cousin.

The same motivations are on display with the firing of the 18 inspectors general. They know that these dismissals violated the law. Their point is to change the law: to have the Supreme Court affirm that the president can fire these people at willor ideally, that he can even just order such offices dissolved.

These are just a few of the ways this drive for raw and unchecked power has manifested itself over these first few days, and well see many more. And by the way, this is all straight out of the pages of Project 2025.

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Principle two: The firings of the 12 prosecutors who worked for Jack Smith. A half-dozen or so top-ranking FBI officials told to resign or retire. The buyouts offered to roughly two million federal employees. The point of these and other similar moves is obvious, and its exactly what weve known ever since Axios broke that Schedule F story back in July 2022: Across the federal bureaucracy, career bureaucrats are to be replaced by operatives loyal to Trump.

This, again, is both a Trump goal and a longer-held goal of the broader right. For Trump, the motivation is obvious: Nothing is more important to him than loyalty. For the right, the point is to reshape the bureaucracy and fill it with people who seek not to carry out the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Housing and Urban Development but who seek to subvert it.

And yes, a Democratic president can come in and replace all those people if he or she wants, but its a reasonable bet that the Democrat will be slow and timid about doing soor that their respect for norms will override the commonsense urge to fumigate the civil service of Trumpian parasites and return it to its former level of professionalism.

From the perspective of Trumps Project 2025 goons, they know they can break more things than future Democrats will be able, perhaps even willing, to fix. And so the sledgehammers swing. Result: On balance, the federal bureaucracy will have fewer dedicated civil servants who can perform their jobs under Democratic or Republican regimes, as has been the norm in the United States for a century, and instead will be more packed with right-wing ideologues.

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Principle three is more ideologically aggressive than the first two, because diversity has become so embroidered into so many aspects of American life and culture, accepted even by many facially conservative institutions, such as large corporations. There are certainly instances of woke leftism in this country, chiefly in the academy, which are illiberal and lamentable. But by far, the reality is that a broad consensus exists that diversity is a good thing that has enriched society.

Trump is moving with gobsmacking speed against this consensus on many fronts. His statement that DEI was basically to blame for the Washington, D.C., plane crash was, of course, intentional; no doubt uttered to push this idea into the media maw so that it got talked about and argued over at the expense of conversations about the fact that he dismissed that aviation safety board or that Elon Musk bullied the holdover Federal Aviation Administration head out the door. Mainly, however, he wanted to get more Americans to start thinking in the MAGA way: that any instance of sloppiness, inefficiency, or incompetence can be laid at the feet of liberal diversity initiatives. Oh, and by the waythe kinds of diversity initiatives that he railed against Thursday for weakening the FAA? They were put in place in 2019, under President Trump.

The assault is multipronged. If you havent, for example, read the language of the executive order banning transgender people from enlisting in the armed services, you should do so. It basically says that these Americans, who have volunteered to risk their lives if necessary for their country, are inherently incapable of loyal service: Adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individuals sex conflicts with a soldiers commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in ones personal life. A mans assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.

These are the ugly organizing principles of Trump 2.0. But on the bright side: At least we know them. At least they are self-evident to us, just 12 days in. Its like Germany announcing theyre marching through the Ardennes before they even do it. The battle lines are clear. We cant say we dont know what were fighting for.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO)  The historic Senate chamber of the South Dakota Capitol soared with applause on Thursday afternoon as Tony Venhuizen received congratulations for becoming the states new lieutenant governor.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m., senators voted 35-0 to confirm the nomination of Venhuizen. He had resigned from his House seat on Wednesday morning, shortly before Gov. Larry Rhoden introduced Venhuizen to news reporters and the public as his choice for lieutenant governor.

A day later, Venhuizen and his wife, Sara, and their three children walked up the steps to the Senate rostrum, where he took the oath of office from a former lieutenant governor, Matt Michels. Venhuizen raised his right hand and placed his left hand on a Bible held by Sara, a book that had once belonged to one of his grandfathers, long-time legislator Henry Poppen.

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As his parents, Nan and Keith Venhuizen, and his father-in-law, former Gov. Dennis Daugaard, and his wifes brother and sister watched from up in the gallery, Venhuizen solemnly swore that he would support and defend the constitutions of the United States and the state of South Dakota so help me God.

The clapping and whistling from scores of lawmakers, legislative staff, family, Governor Rhoden and members of his staff and cabinet, and many others went on and on for more than a minute. When the applause stopped, Venhuizen took a few moments to offer his reflections.

Sioux Falls Airport travelers react to plane crash

This is a great honor for me, he said.

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Venhuizen thanked Gov. Rhoden for placing confidence in him. I will do my very best to be worthy of that confidence and to be worthy of the people of this state, he said.

Venhuizen also thanked the Legislature for confirming him. The House vote was 67-0.

That was really very overwhelming, and it means a great deal to us, he said.

Venhuizen noted that former First Lady Linda Daugaard was feeling a little under the weather and couldnt be there. But she is my mother in law, he deadpanned, so I know shes always watching.

That sparked another round of laughter and applause.

The South Dakota Constitution says the lieutenant governor shall be the president of the Senate. Venhuizen noted that his grandfather served 26 years in the Legislature and his father-in-law had been a senator for six years, then lieutenant governor for eight years and finally governor for eight years.

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The job of the president of the Senate is to be fair, even-handed, keep the operation of the Senate moving forward in an efficient way, and that is what I will endeavor to do, Venhuizen said. He asked for patience as he learns the positions intricacies.

I will do my best, and it is a great honor, Venhuizen said. That brought more long applause.

Until Venhuizen took over Thursday, Republican Sen. Chris Karr had been presiding over the Senate this week in his role as president pro tem, the number-two spot in the chambers pecking order. Karr went up the steps to the rostrum and gave Venhuizen a beautifully polished wooden gavel.

I thought they were going to start chanting USA! for a second, Karr joked.

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Venhuizen knows the Capitol well. Hes been visiting the building since before he started grade school and worked on the second floor all eight years when Daugaard was governor, first as communications director and then as chief of staff. He came back as chief of staff for the Noem administration for about a year. In 2022 he won election to the House of Representatives.

Now he is the second person to be appointed lieutenant governor in mid-term. Steve Kirby of Sioux Falls was the first, back in 1993, when Gov. Walter Dale Miller appointed him. Miller had been serving as lieutenant governor and had the unfortunate honor of succeeding George S. Mickelson as governor. Mickelson and seven others were killed in the horrific crash of the state-owned MU-2 airplane on April 19 that year.

The circumstances this time carry a much different tone. On Saturday, Kristi Noem officially resigned as governor, after the U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment as the new federal secretary for homeland security. Rhoden had been lieutenant governor in her administration, so he automatically moved up. That left the lieutenant governors spot open. On Monday, Rhoden offered it to Venhuizen, who accepted.

Venhuizen spent the rest of Thursday afternoon presiding over the Senate. Afterward he spoke to KELOLAND News about how the big day had gone.

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You know, it was an overwhelming feeling to be sworn in, and then the Senate floor and gallery full of people, not just the senators but most of my House colleagues, and people who work here at the Capitol, some of whom Ive known for decades  its hard to describe, Venhuizen said.

Asked what it meant to be handed the gavel, Venhuizen said, Its just a great honor. Having served in the Legislature and worked here, to be in this position now hasnt really sunk in. Its just a great honor.

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW)  Many travelers at Myrtle Beach International Airport said they were shaken up after a midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.

Because of that, many travelers who spoke with News13 did not want to talk on camera. A News13 reporter met a group of friends who had just arrived from Detroit. Two women in the group said if their friends had told them about the collision before they left Thursday morning, they probably would not have gone on the plane.

However, another woman, who traveled from New York, said she was not afraid to fly Thursday. She said her flight was smooth and safe.

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Another traveler explained why she was not afraid to fly after the collision.

I think back to after 9/11, Claudette Vaught, a Myrtle Beach visitor, said. I felt that I could not allow that to impact my life and my freedom, and so I made a point of taking a trip after that happened. And I will not allow these types of events to keep me from living my life.

All the travelers News13 spoke with said they are thinking of the collision victims families.

I am very sad for those families, Vaught said. I offer them my condolences and just hope that we can find out what happened and make sure that it doesnt repeat itself.

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MYR and Horry County officials said their hearts go out to the D.C. community.

* * *

Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here.

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Officials from Paralyzed Veterans of America strongly criticized President Donald Trump for his comments this week suggesting disabled workers may have played a role in Wednesdays aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., calling the commander-in-chiefs remarks irresponsible and premature.

The presidents statements are shameful, PVA Chief Executive Officer Carl Blake said in a statement Thursday. As an Army veteran who spent many nighttime hours in a Blackhawk and who incurred a combat-related spinal cord injury in service to this country, I can speak with authority when I say that veterans and all people with disabilities are dedicated, highly skilled and fully qualified to tackle the most difficult jobs possible.

The fact that disabled veterans are now being shamed and minimized by this administration is disrespectful to their service and contributions to Americas greatness.

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A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport killed 67 people aboard two aircraft on Wednesday. Federal investigators are still trying to determine the reason for the tragedy and whether pilots or air traffic controllers were at fault.

Top Army aviators were on routine flight when helo collided with jet

On Thursday, during a press conference on the tragedy, Trump stated that he believed diversity and inclusion programs within the federal government may have played a role in the accident, despite presenting no evidence to that claim.

Where you have many, many planes coming into one target, you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it, he said. Targeted disabilities  they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism. They all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes. I dont think so. I dont think so. I think its just the opposite.

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The comments drew immediate condemnation from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who said they were insensitive and misleading.

Its one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracies, its another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Thursday. It just turns your stomach.

PVA officials took exception to the implication that veterans with catastrophic disabilities, like amputations and spinal cord injury, are not smart enough, not skilled enough and generally unqualified for these types of positions.

More than 636,000 veterans worked as federal employees in fiscal 2021, the latest year for which federal hiring data is available. Thats about 30% of the total workforce.

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Of that group, 53% of the veterans had some level of disability rating, and about one-third had a disability rating of 30% or greater. Veterans made up about 36% of all jobs within the Department of Transportation, which houses the Federal Aviation Administration.

Officials from the military and National Transportation Safety Board have not said when they expect to have a clear idea for the reasons behind the collision.
Victims of the communist party that ruled the former East Germany are set to receive improved financial support following a decision by Germany's Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.

The measure, passed unanimously late Thursday, will increase the monthly pension for the regime's political prisoners from 330 to 400 ($340 to $415).

The pension will also be automatically raised each year and is no longer linked to the recipient's need.

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Evelyn Zupke, the representative for the victims of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), praised the reform as a "sign for all those who spoke out against the dictatorship."

The measure still requires approval from Germany's Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament.

People who were forcibly relocated from the border areas to the interior of East Germany after the country sealed its borders will receive a one-off compensation payment of 7,500. This amount is much higher than the 1,500 first proposed in the government's draft bill.

The rise in pensions is set to take effect on July 1.

"Many victims of political persecution in [East Germany] today live on the brink of poverty," said Zupke.
An attempted homicide investigation is underway in a California state prison after a supervising correctional officer was reportedly attacked by three inmates, authorities announced Thursday.

In a news release, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the incident unfolded at around 7:15 a.m. in the dining hall at Pelican Bay State Prison.

Officials said the inmates, Jose Gonzalez and Luis Torres, both of whom were transferred to the prison from Los Angeles County, along with Richard Wilson, attacked the officer with an inmate-manufactured weapon before prison staff stopped the attack using pepper spray.

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The officer suffered puncture wounds and lacerations. He was rushed to a hospital outside the prison for treatment of his injuries and was admitted for observation, the release noted.

A weapon was found at the scene and placed into evidence.

Left to right: Luis Torres, Jose Gonzalez and Richard Wilson (CDCR)

Gonzalez, 38, was transferred to the prison in 2008, where he was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, and intentionally discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury or death among other charges.

Teens arrested for setting fires at Southern California middle school

Torres, 34, was transferred to the prison in 2014, where he was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and intentionally discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury or death. While in prison, he was sentenced to an additional four years for assault by a prisoner with any means of force.

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Wilson, 32, was transferred to Pelican Bay from Sacramento County in 2015, where he was serving a 14-year sentence for driving under the influence with a prior felony conviction of a serious offense and inflicting great bodily injury. In 2018, he was sentenced by San Luis Obispo County to three years for battery on a non-prisoner. In 2021, he was sentenced by Del Norte County to one year for possession/manufacture of a deadly weapon.

Gonzalez, Wilson and Torres were transferred to another institution for placement in restricted housing, officials said. The case will be referred to the Del Norte County District Attorneys Office for possible felony prosecution.

Pelican Bay State Prison, founded in 1989, houses more than 2,000 medium, high and maximum-security inmates and is located just 13 miles from the Oregon-California border.

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Donald Trumps nominee to lead the FBI broke with the US president, telling members of congress that violent Jan 6 rioters should not have been pardoned.

Kash Patel, 44, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, and told lawmakers: There can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement.

When asked about Mr Trumps decision to pardon more than 1,500 people convicted for their role in storming the Capitol on Jan 6 2021, he said: I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement. I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual that committed violence against law enforcement.

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Heading into the hearing Mr Patel, a former defence lawyer and federal prosecutor who served in Mr Trumps national security team during his first term, had said he wanted to restore public trust in the FBI.

He was one of three high-profile Trump picks who faced a congressional grilling on Thursday. Also before Senate committees were Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for director of National Intelligence, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nominee for health and human services secretary.

In a book that he published in 2023, titled Government Gangsters, Mr Patel said he wanted to end government tyranny within the FBI, which employs 37,000 people across 55 US field offices.

He said: There will be no politicisation at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions.

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Dick Durbin, the Democratic senator, pressed Mr Patel about false claims that he allegedly made about the attack on the Capitol.

Kash Patel, a former defence lawyer and federal prosecutor, is quizzed by senators - Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg

He said: Our nation needs an FBI director who understands the gravity of this mission and is ready on day one, not someone who is consumed by his own personal political grievances.

In 2017, Mr Trump fired his first FBI director, James Comey, because he was investigating claims that some of his aides had colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, something that the president rejected.

An investigation by a special counsel found no hard evidence to show Mr Trump had any involvement, though two of his associates were charged with lying to the FBI.

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During her appearance, Ms Gabbard pushed back against questions over her loyalty to the US following her previous calls for a pardon for Edward Snowden, the CIA whistleblower.

Despite being asked by Democrats to call Mr Snowden a traitor, she declined to do so, but said she no longer supported a pardon for him.

She said: Im making myself very clear. Edward Snowden broke the law. He released information about the United States illegal activities.

Vaccines and autism

She also came under fire for her ties to Russia after previously blaming the invasion of Ukraine on Nato and the US, which she said should have acknowledged Russias legitimate security concerns.

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When asked who was responsible for the invasion during the hearing, Ms Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who served two tours in the Middle East, responded: Putin started the war in Ukraine.

Mr Kennedy, 71, also faced tough questions when he appeared before the Senate health committee hearing, where he was asked to clarify previous comments in which he appeared to suggest that vaccines caused autism, something numerous scientific studies have disproved.

Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me, said Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator who is also a doctor.

When asked if he would reject earlier comments promoting discredited links, he said: If the data is there, I will absolutely do that.

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Mr Kennedy was also pressed by Democrats over allegations that he had made sexual advances towards a babysitter, Eliza Cooney, at some point in the 1990s.

Mr Kennedy denied the claims and when asked about an apology he had sent her by text message, he said: I apologised for something else.

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By Jesus Bustamante

CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) - In Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, some residents say drug-fueled violence has gotten so bad that they would welcome U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal for the U.S. military to go after cartels.

Trump has said that he would consider some form of U.S. military action against the cartels and has called for the State Department to label them as "foreign terrorist organizations."

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said Mexico is in close communication with the United States and that she does not think the Trump administration would take military action, which would be seen as a breach of sovereignty by many Mexicans.

But in Sinaloa, where an intra-cartel war has left hundreds dead in recent months, some residents are so fed up with the violence that they say they are open to Trump's idea.

"People are coming out to demonstrate, twice in this last week, because things are getting out of control," said Apolinar Garcia, one of the protesters at a march in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, on Sunday. Demonstrators wearing white shirts waved signs, chanted "We want peace!" and burned effigies of local politicians.

Garcia said Mexico's government should be negotiating with Trump on ways to collaborate and bring the violence to an end.

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Irama Garcia, also protesting, said she would welcome help from the U.S., Europe, or any international body that could stop the bloodshed.

"We need someone to support us and resolve the situation," she said.

The Mexican government has sent thousands of troops to Sinaloa in efforts to pacify the violence. High-profile arrests and large drug seizures have followed, but confronting the heavily armed cartels brings the risk of inflaming violence, as has happened in the past.

"To the people of Sinaloa: know that we are working on this every day," Sheinbaum said earlier this week.

(Reporting by Jesus Bustamante, writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
National Conference leader and J&K MLA Tanvir Sadiq has criticised the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, raising concerns over the exclusion of minority perspectives and the bill's implications for property management. Speaking on the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report, Sadiq highlighted that the reservation for minorities had not been properly addressed. "The reservations for the minorities have not been taken into consideration. 11 members of parliament have given the dissent note," Sadiq said, emphasising concerns regarding the bill's provisions. He questioned the introduction of Waqf-by-User, which he argued could cause problems with over 400,000 properties. He raised alarm over the potential control the government could have over properties in future. "The way they are doing it on properties, tomorrow the collector can decide which property will be Waqf and which will not be..." he stated. Sadiq reiterated his concerns about the lack of minority representation in the bill. "The reservation of the minority should have been taken on board," he added. Meanwhile, Congress MP and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) member Dr Syed Naseer Hussain on Thursday raised concern over the JPC's handling of the Waqf Bill and accused it of being "biased" and not adhering to procedural norms. Hussain criticised the lack of a clause-by-clause discussion among JPC members before amendments were proposed, which he argued would have ensured a more comprehensive review. He also pointed out that the final report was sent just one day before its adoption, leaving insufficient time to properly analyse the over 600-page document. Speaking to ANI, Syed Naseer Hussain said, "The real issues related to Waqf were not discussed in the way the JPC was working. The procedures were not followed before submitting the report. We wanted clause-by-clause discussion between JPC members and then amendments should have been introduced after consensus was reached. However, the clause-by-clause discussion did not take place." "The report was also sent to just a day before its adoption. How can we read an over 600-page report overnight and make an analysis out of it? So the JPC was working in a very biased manner," he added. Several Opposition members of the panel submitted dissent notes to be incorporated in the report, which will be tabled in Parliament during the upcoming Budget session. These Opposition MPs included the Congress party's Gaurav Gogoi and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi besides the members who submitted joint dissent notes such as Kalyan Banerjee and Nadimul Haque of the TMC, A Raja and M M Abdulla of the DMK, and Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohammad Jawed and Imran Masood of Congress. The JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday adopted the draft report and the amended revised bill. The meeting between members of the JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla concluded and the final report on the bill was submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker on January 30. (ANI)
(NewsNation)  A commercial airline aviator says its critical to quickly gather data to know what the pilot of the American Airlines passenger jet was able to see in the minutes leading up to the collision with a military helicopter Wednesday night.

Its vital to get data on what the pilot knew and look at it with a very critical eye to see if theres something that we can change right now, without waiting a month or even weeks for a report, Josh Schirard told NewsNation.

Schirard said that its entirely possible that the pilot didnt even see the helicopter prior to the collision because military aircraft arent legally required to put out aircraft-transmitted signals due to secrecy and surveillance.

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Trump suggests FAAs diversity efforts caused safety issues in crash

But inside the U.S., they use mode ADS, which ATC [air traffic control] and certain systems can see, he said. But I regularly cannot see military traffic on my particular avionics because theyre not broadcasting that.

Schirard said he wanted to know what those American Airlines pilots could actually see leading up to the minutes of the crash.

The body of the plane was reportedly found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found, but the National Transportation Safety Board said in a news conference the aircrafts data recorders  called black boxes  have not been recovered yet.

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An FAA report obtained by The Associated Press said staffing in the air traffic control tower was not normal.

Part of the investigation will revolve around an interaction with air traffic control in the final moments before the collision.

At least 30 bodies recovered from DC plane crash

At least 30 bodies have been recovered from the scene as of Thursday evening, including all three soldiers who were on the helicopter.

Even though there are blind spots, there are other systems in place as backstops, Schirard added, before noting that even then, air traffic control only has certain data available to them.

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When they see that these aircraft are getting close to each other, and they ask, Do you have those aircraft in sight? And those pilots say, Yes, they are thinking theyre on the assurance that those pilots are going to see and avoid each other. Unfortunately, that just didnt happen in this case.

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Jan. 31AUSTIN  Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dr. Dawn Buckingham introduced the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Colonel Jack Oliver who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force.

Oliver was born on his family's farm in Belton, Texas, on September 21, 1924. His great-grandfather served in the Civil War, and his brother served in the Navy during World War II. His father joined the Army, served in the reserve and National Guard, and was Commander of a company in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Oliver experienced the Great Depression, and while his father was away, he drove the family tractor on the farm as a young teenager.

Oliver attended Texas A&M University, which he said helped prepare him for joining the military.

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"You walked in the door, and it was not easy. I never encountered anything in the military that I hadn't already went through, been through at Texas A&M. It just was something else there. It took me a while to understand and thank the Lord for having gone to A&M. So, I was very, very glad that happened to me."

Oliver was determined to become a pilot but was encouraged to go into navigation, as he had an education in math and science from Texas A&M University. He ended up going to Bombardier Navigation School in San Angelo, Texas. After his group was moved to Charleston, South Carolina, Oliver met his wife while eating lunch at a delicatessen. They met on the first of January 1944 and were married by the 30th in a whirlwind courtship. The two were married by a minister in his own home shortly before Oliver headed off to war. Oliver proudly proclaimed that they've been married for 66 years. He then joked that "it may never last."

After a short honeymoon in New York City, Oliver left to serve in South America. He then went to Africa. On his first mission, Oliver had to serve as a navigator with a different pilot and crew because their navigator had been killed.

"I had to fly my first five missions as a navigator with a guy I didn't know. I didn't know any of them. Later, I found out just how important the navigator was because if something happened to that bomber, lost the engine, lost people, or had trouble, it was hard enough for the pilot to fly that airplane. Old B-24s everybody knows about B-24s; it's difficult. So, the navigator had to be prepared to get him home. That's just how serious it was. I found that out first mission right away. We got shot up real bad. I flew 50 missions."

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Oliver was injured while covering flights for a fellow navigator. The plane he was in was shot at, and he took shrapnel to the face, wounding his eyes. He was sent home after his injury as he had completed his obligated number of missions.

When asked about any fears he may have had while flying combat missions, Oliver remarked on his and others' lack of fear when flying.

"We had a mission to do, and we were up there to do it. By that time, we were cohesive and very close. It hadn't been two or three months, but we were really close. I don't ever remember being afraid. I was afraid for a friend of mine, maybe in the neighboring airplane, that got shot up, and I'm seeing it get shot up, and I know he's going down and not going to make it home. You know, I would worry about him. Isn't that weird? I never worried about myself or my crew."

Oliver said the forces eventually felt they would win the war, but the beginning was tough.

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"When we first got there, man, it was so rough. The first six months we were there, we lost 50 airplanes and 500 men. That's an entire outfit, 100% turnover in six months. It was rough, but we could see it changing."

After the war, Oliver went to pilot training in 1947. He remembered being excited to fly the P-80 Shooting Star, the first jet fighter used operationally by the U.S. Army Air Force. Leading aces in Korea flew these jets.

Oliver became a Regular Army Officer and made a career out of his service. He experienced the transition from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force, serving for a total of 30 years. During this time, he also finished his education at the University of Maryland, earning a degree in astronomy.

"Old man asked me what are you gonna take? I said astronomy. He thought I was crazy. I'd been a celestial navigator and had that background in math and science at A&M, which paid off. So, I got a degree in astronomy and went right into the space programs."

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Oliver participated in the Lockheed Skunk Works project with legendary aeronautical and systems engineer Kelly Johnson at Vandenburg Air Force Base. He also helped launch information-gathering satellites into space. He rose to the rank of colonel before retiring and became the Chief of Staff for the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, which he admitted was pretty impressive for a "little old country boy from Belton, Texas."

In addition to the farm that had been in his family since the 1870s, Oliver bought farmland from the Texas Veterans Land Board in 1952 and 1953, which he eventually sold.

"Over the years, we learned to love the farm over there and praise the Lord for the Veterans Land Board. We never had stocks and bonds. Ours was four-legged cows and a farm. Over the years, we put our money into the farm and cattle there and fenced the place in."

When asked what he would like to say to anyone listening to his interview in the future, Oliver replied:

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"I want to thank all of my friends that I flew with all these years, even up to a couple of years ago when I had to give it up because of health, but I loved flying. I never had anybody in World War II or the wars since let me down for anything. I just love the military."

Click here to listen to Colonel Jack Oliver tell his story.
Sherene Hess, president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, speaks about the organization's legislative priorities for 2025 in the state Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Peter Hall/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

Pennsylvania county commissioners have called on state lawmakers to address flaws in the commonwealths vote-by-mail law and increase funding for mental health care and 911 services.

Local election officials continue to scramble to meet mail ballot deadlines and face legal challenges more than five years after voting by mail became an option for every Pennsylvania voter, members of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) said.

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Achieving these priorities will not only improve county government, but more importantly, they will improve our communities and the lives of those we serve across the entire state, Sherene Hess, president of CCAPs board of directors, said.

Hess and other members of CCAPs board gathered in Harrisburg on Wednesday to lobby members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly as the 2025-2026 legislative session gets underway and days before Gov. Josh Shapiro is set to roll out his proposed budget.

Pennsylvanias 67 counties are largely responsible for delivering services to residents that the state and federal governments pay for.

The counties also administer elections, which have become more complicated since former Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 77 to allow absentee voting without an excuse in 2019. Voting by mail has been popular, but has also been the subject of unfounded claims of fraud and legal challenges.

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Act 77 remains unclear, or in some cases silent, on how counties should address certain situations, CCAP board member Joseph Kantz, a Snyder County commissioner, said.

County election officials want the law to be clear about whether to count mail-in ballots that are returned without secrecy envelopes or with missing or incorrect dates, Kantz said. Although state and federal courts have ruled several times on that question, the state Supreme Court recently agreed to take up the question again.

Election officials have also been summoned to court over decisions about notifying mail ballot voters that they have made disqualifying mistakes and whether they should be allowed to correct them or vote by provisional ballot.

The widespread adoption of voting by mail has placed additional pressure on election officials to ensure ballots are mailed out in a timely manner and to count them fast enough to avoid delays in reporting election results.

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Allowing counties to prepare ahead of election day mail-in ballots to be counted would reduce that stress, particularly in a busy presidential year like weve just faced, Kantz said.

Wolf vetoed an omnibus bill passed in 2021 that would have given election officials the additional time they want to process ballots because it also contained measures Democrats said would disenfranchise voters. Subsequent efforts to amend Act 77 in similar omnibus bills have failed.

Kantz said Wednesday that CCAP is looking for a fresh approach by addressing each of the issues in a separate piece of legislation.

Mental health

Northampton County Commissioner Lori Vargo Heffner said that as the stigma surrounding mental illness and mental health treatment has continued to crumble, the need for significant increases in funding for such care has become more urgent.

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Counties deliver mental health care including community residential programs, family based support, outpatient care and crisis intervention on behalf of the state.

Counties have been able to continue to serve their residents, but are stretching the limited state funding to its breaking point, Heffner said. Its not hyperbole to say that the lack of adequate state funding paired with increased demand has pushed the collapse of the community mental health system.

In 2024, CCAP called for a $250 million increase in mental health funding. That would have been a fraction of the $1.6 billion in additional funding that a survey of counties found is necessary to fully fund community-based mental health services. Shapiros first two budgets increased county mental health funding by a total of $40 million.

This year, CCAP is asking for $100 million more, Heffner said. That would allow the counties to maintain their systems and increase capacity, she said, noting that people seeking community-based mental health care report wait times of at least six months and often much longer.

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The unmet community need has created a growing population of individuals that have become involved with emergency departments, law enforcement and the criminal justice system when no appropriate diversion exists, Heffner said. The remaining solutions are hospitals or incarceration, both of which are not appropriate for settings for mental health treatment and are very costly.

Next generation 911

In Shapiros first budget passed in 2023, the legislature approved an increase in the 911 surcharge that cellphone subscribers pay each month to support emergency dispatch services. Hess, the CCAP president, said Wednesday that despite the increase, counties must fund a significant cost of transitioning to Next Generation 911 systems through local taxes.

The General Assembly must reauthorize the surcharge before it sunsets at the start of 2026 and CCAP is calling for an increase to between $2.14 and $2.20 a month.

This is something that must be addressed, Hess said. 911 call volume is increasing, and revenue from the 911 surcharge is failing to maintain pace with the system costs over the last several years.

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A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said the Shapiro administration is aware the surcharge does not cover the counties full costs, but it is awaiting an efficiency study from the legislature that is required as part of the 2023 legislation. Because the larger surcharge only took effect last year, its unclear how much revenue it generated.

In 2023, the prior surcharge of $1.65 covered about 74% of all reported expenditures incurred to provide 911 service, spokesperson Ruth Miller said. The remaining costs are paid by the counties through their general funds or other revenue sources.

Next Generation 911 is a digital system that uses the internet to connect the public with public safety answering points, also known as 911 centers, through voice, text messaging and video. It also increases the ability of centers to handle higher volumes of calls for help during natural disasters and to automatically transfer callers to the appropriate centers using geolocation information.

A strong, connected, 911 system is critical to ensuring services can still be provided efficiently in situations of mass emergency, and to keep up with the pace of ever changing technological advances, Hess said.
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY)  A suspect wanted for federal firearm indictments out of Hampton was arrested on Thursday, according to Virginia State Police.

According to officials, just before 5 p.m., officers conducted a routine traffic stop on a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro for improper registration. Police were able to determine the driver, 28-year-old Evan Devon Boyd Jr., was wanted out of Hampton for federal firearm indictments and felony eluding charges.

Boyd refused to stop, resulting in a pursuit on the westbound lanes of I-64 at the 262 mile marker. While taking exit 261A, Boyd struck the guardrail, but continued on to the intersection of Hampton Roads Center Parkway and Big Bethel Road, where he crashed into a 2015 Ford Explorer, police said.

After striking the vehicle, Boyd exited the Camaro and attempted to flee the scene on foot, during which police said he ate and swallowed an unknown substance. Boyd was caught a short time later, and taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

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The driver of the Ford was said to have non life-threatening injuries.

Boyd was served with the outstanding warrants, and charged with the following:

Felony eluding

Felony destruction of property

Possession of ammunition by a felon

Possession of schedule I/II narcotics

Felony hit-and-run

This arrest was in partnership between Virginia State Police and the Hampton Police Department and part of the Operation Bold Blue Line initiative which partners state and local law enforcement agencies to get illegal drugs and weapons off the streets.

Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)  One Walgreens location in Northwest Arkansas is set to close later this year as the drugstore chain continues closing locations across the country.

Walgreens announced in October that it would close 1,200 of its 8,500 stores over a three-year period as part of its business strategy.

A Walgreens spokesperson told KNWA/FOX24 in an email on Friday that one location in Fayetteville will close in March.

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The spokesperson said the location at 2964 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard location will shut its doors on March 25.

Retailers, chains that announced closures in Arkansas in 2024

Walgreens also provided the following statement to KNWA/FOX24:

Our retail pharmacy business is central to our go-forward business strategy. However, increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures are weighing on our ability to cover the costs associated with rent, staffing, and supply needs. It is never an easy decision to close a store. We know that our stores are important to the communities that we serve, and therefore do everything possible to improve the store performance. When closures are necessary, like the one in Fayetteville, we will work in partnership with community stakeholders to minimize customer disruptions. We intend to redeploy the majority of our team members from those stores that we close.

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Walgreens said patients who get their prescriptions filled at the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard location will not need to take any action.

Customers will be notified by mail and their prescriptions will automatically transfer to the nearest Walgreens located at 4015 W. Wedington Dr. also in Fayetteville.

Patients at both Walgreens locations are also able to receive free delivery for 90 days starting on March 1, the spokesperson said.

According to USA Today, Walgreens will close around 450 locations in 2025.

For more information, Walgreens has an FAQ page on its website with more details regarding store closures.

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A Walpole single mother whose government benefits were stolen in a rampant EBT card skimming scam will likely not be reimbursed due to a change in federal policy.

Paige Ward told Boston 25 News she had used her government benefits card at a couple of Walpole stores, one of which had a skimming device installed on the card reader.

Thieves use skimming devices to steal card information and PINs, often creating clone cards to then use elsewhere to drain the victims accounts.

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When Ward tried to buy groceries for her three kids for the week last Sunday, she was stunned to find her account had been emptied. The biweekly $450 deposit from the government she uses to feed her kids was stolen in two quick withdrawals at an ATM in a town she has never visited.

I had my card on me. So, I was like, How does this happen? said Ward. I was devastated because at that moment, I lost it all In an instant, everything was taken from us, and I have nothing for my children, no money to pay my bills.

Ward is going back to school and relying on government benefits to support her family as they mark a year in their Walpole apartment, after spending six years in a family homeless shelter.

But on Thursday, Ward said, her children went to school without snacks.

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I felt horrible. I felt guilt, I felt shame, remorse, because, is it my fault because Im even basically on this assistance? she said.

When Ward called the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) and did her own online research, she found that the federal government no longer reimburses stolen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds as of last month.

Betsy Gwin, an attorney for the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute focusing on economic justice issues, explained that the federal government had been reimbursing those stolen benefits since the end of 2022 when Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act.

However, when Congress failed to extend that replacement provision late last year, families who had their benefits stolen could no longer get them replaced, Gwin said.

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The Mass Law Reform Institute is now pushing the state to step up and set aside $1 million a month to cover stolen SNAP funds that are not being refunded after Dec. 20, 2024.

This is a real tragedy, Gwin said, and we are urging the governor and the legislature to ensure that families are made whole when their benefits are stolen.

Since 2022, more than $12 million in SNAP benefits have been stolen from Massachusetts families by no fault of their own, Gwin said. About 25,000 Massachusetts have been affected by SNAP theft.

We hear from folks every day who are going to the store, in the checkout line, and discovering just as theyre going to pay for their groceries that they only have a dollar or a few cents in their EBT account because all of the money has been drained out, Gwin said.

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Currently, EBT cards have a magnetic strip that can only be swiped, making them vulnerable to skimming. The policy center is also urging Mass DTA to expedite an update that would convert EBT cards to a chip-and-tap system, technology that has become a standard for secure banking.

For years our state and federal government have left SNAP households that rely on EBT cards to access their SNAP benefits as second-class consumers, Gwin said. The only systemic solution to protect SNAP theft based on the kinds of schemes that were seeing right now is to transition EBT cards to utilize chip and tap technology.

Meanwhile, Ward is waiting on a new EBT card and trying to get by until her next government deposit. She hopes to alert others of the scam and encourage families to take extra precautions.

I feel bad for my children the most, Ward said. I could go without. As long as they have what they need, Im okay. But stealing from children, its just mindboggling.

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Boston 25 News reached out to Gov. Healeys office for comment but did not receive a response.

The State House News Service reports Rep. Sally Kerans and Sen. Robyn Kennedy have filed bills that would require the state to reimburse stolen SNAP funds that the federal government does not replace.

Mass DTA urges (Protect Your Benefits From Scams | Mass.gov) EBT cardholders to change their PIN frequently and utilize a new function of locking their cards when not in use to prevent theft.

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This article is part of HuffPosts biweekly politics newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

To understand the dangers of Donald Trumps second term, pay attention to the way that it is already different from his first.

The early weeks of Trumps presidency back in 2017 felt like a jolt, but mainly because his bombastic, unpredictable public appearances were like nothing Washington had seen before. Substantively it unfolded in a relatively typical way, with a combination of executive action and planning for legislation he hoped to pass. On any given day, Trump was as likely to be appearing alongside congressional leaders as he was to be signing an order in the Oval Office.

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This time around, congressional action seems to be an afterthought, except insofar as Trump is trying to get the Senate to confirm his nominees. The story of his second administration so far has been the furious flurry of executive orders  some meaningless but some already transforming what the government does (by freezing large swaths of international aid, for example) or the way the government operates (like wiping out diversity, equity and inclusion efforts).

One reason for the shift is a change in political reality. At the start of 2017, Trump had a 47-seat Republican majority in the House. Now that margin is three measly seats.

Holding that group together on legislation will be difficult when a large, united block of the caucus keeps demanding radical changes  like a national abortion ban or repealing parts of Obamacare  that would be unacceptable to members from more contested districts. Anything that gets through the process is going to require months of ugly negotiation and tons of compromised policy, all of it leaving deep political scars.

Of course, this is not unusual for a presidency in its second term. On the contrary, focusing on executive action rather than legislative has more or less become the norm when second-term presidents see their majorities shrink or disappear, as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all did.

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By giving up on grand designs for legislation, these presidents were giving up on some of their substantive aspirations too. Thats because big, lasting changes in policy have always required changing the actual language of federal statutes and the actual dollars going into programs, two things only Congress can do. Almost by definition, executive action is something the next administration can reverse or at least substantially modify, with the same stroke of the presidential pen.

These past presidents understood that reality, and however reluctantly, they accepted it.

Trump evidently hasnt.

The Grab For Power

If that wasnt obvious before this week, it was on Monday evening, when Trump issued his now-infamous order freezing spending on all grant and assistance programs.

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The directive sparked a backlash as soon as people realized the freeze would include programs like Medicaid, and eventually provoked not one but two federal judges to block the order. But Trump and his allies have made clear  among other places, in the private memo HuffPosts Paul Blumenthal obtained this week  that Mondays order was the first move in an attempt to reclaim the presidents ability to stop some kinds of federal spending unilaterally through what is known as impoundment.

Among those who have made this point explicitly is Russ Vought, Trumps choice to head the Office of Management and Budget, who also served in Trumps first term and on the last day in office issued a memo laying out what he believed was the legal justification for allowing the president this kind of power. (The American Prospects David Dayen and Washington Posts Jeff Stein have laid out the full history.) As Vought explained it, the Constitution envisioned a president with more control over spending in order to guarantee faithful stewardship of public funds.

The Supreme Court has resoundingly rejected this argument in the 1970s, when then-President Richard Nixon tried impoundment. The justices reasoned that the Constitution was clear on the matter  that sweeping, long-lasting policy initiatives should not become reality without validation from the peoples elected representatives in Congress.

That reality is one of the many ways the U.S. system makes change difficult  maybe even a little too difficult, as any liberal whos dreamed wistfully of a carbon tax or Medicare-for-all would agree. Its why serious mainstream thinkers and activists have long talked about loosening the American systems brakes on action, whether by eliminating the Senate filibuster or speeding up the regulatory process.

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But those sorts of efforts are still faithful to the basic principle of democratic accountability  the idea that a single individual cannot change laws without getting Congress to go along, or without facing political consequences for acting in ways that the public rejects.

It does not appear that Trump and his lieutenants are especially interested in that kind of accountability  or any kind of accountability, for that matter, which helps explain some of the other executive actions he has undertaken. The list starts with his dismissals of federal prosecutors and inspectors general, including Fridays purging of prosecutors who had worked on cases against the Jan. 6 rioters.

It also includes his broader effort to gut the federal career workforce  by, among other things, taking away their civil service protections and then firing large numbers of them. In theory, a future president could reverse that by refilling the jobs and restoring the career protections. In reality, it would take years and in some cases decades to restore the expertise and institutional knowledge that careerists bring to their jobs.

The ultimate escape from accountability would be Trump holding onto power at the end of his term, as he has joked about doing. That would certainly lock in his executive action, since thered be no successor to undo any of it.

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Trump probably isnt serious about that, and for that matter his efforts to grab legislative authority may have as much to do with his impatience as any carefully considered agenda. If Trump did try to stay past his second term, hed have to contend with an unambiguous prohibition on that in the Constitution.

Then again, the constitutions allocation of spending power to Congress is pretty darn clear too. Trump doesnt seem to be respecting that.

The Political Backlash

The question now is how many of Trumps efforts succeed. The two rulings against the spending freeze this week suggest there are federal judges willing to stand in Trumps way. But eventually Trump will get his day before the Supreme Court, where a conservative majority that includes three of his hand-picked appointees might decide they agree with his administrations arguments, however legally preposterous they may be.

The other big check is political  the potential for a backlash. And this week showed it can still be a potent force.

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National, state and local officials across the country reacted quickly Tuesday morning, screaming that the spending freeze was disrupting not just popular programs like Medicaid and Head Start, but also research grants to universities and industries that generate large numbers of jobs. The anger spilled onto social media and into the White House briefing room, where press secretary Karoline Leavitt spent much of her first formal appearance answering  or attempting to answer  questions of exactly what the order included and why.

Administration officials responded with more guidance narrowing the scope of the order before yanking it back altogether. A day later, reports from The Atlantic, CNN and The New York Times cited administration sources blaming the mixup on officials at OMB who hadnt cleared their plans with the White House  a tell-tale sign that close Trump advisers like Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recognized the administration had done something deeply unpopular and wanted to distance themselves from it.

But even after all of that, plenty of Trumps orders remain in effect. And by all accounts the administration remains intent on securing its power to make big policy changes on its own, perhaps with a more carefully calibrated and legally reasoned effort next time. Theyll succeed if they dont face more sustained pushback, including from a Democratic Party that has so far been mostly sleepwalking through the Trump restoration.

There were some signs of change this week, especially on Capitol Hill, where Democrats for the first time seemed confident they might have the public on their side. And they probably do, though its up to party leaders to make it count politically. Democracy can survive the Trump era, but it will require yet more democratic action  with a lower case d but, probably, an upper case one too.
Wareham police are searching for a man who has not been seen for three days.

64-year-old William MacMillan was last seen on January 28 driving north on Route 24 in Randolph, Massachusetts.

The tan 2017 Lexus RX has Massachusetts registration 3ACW11, according to Wareham police.

Anyone who has seen William is contact the Wareham Police Department at (508) 295-1212

Your help could be crucial in bringing him home safely, Warerham police said.

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Ayodhya is witnessing a surge in devotees arriving from Maha Kumbh 2025, with many seeking shelter in government-run facilities. Night shelters like 'Green Basera', established under the leadership of PM Modi and CM Yogi, are providing free accommodation, ensuring comfort and security for pilgrims. Devotees have praised the well-organized system, highlighting the cleanliness, safety measures, and accessibility of essential amenities. One devotee shared his experience, saying, "I'm currently staying at the Green Basera in Ayodhya, a facility run by the government, led by Modi ji and Yogi ji. We arrived last night from Kumbh after Mauni Amavasya. We traveled here by government bus and got to know about Green Basera, which offered free accommodations, a welcome respite from the expensive hotels. The police have been respectful and responsive, providing helpful information and directions. The facilities here are good... with a reliable water supply, clean toilets, and bathrooms. The overall system is well-organized, making it an ideal model for other religious sites." He further added "The check-in process was seamless, requiring only our Aadhar cards and a few signatures. We received blankets to keep us warm and had access to lockers for secure storage of our belongings. CCTV cameras ensured our safety and security. I firmly believe that replicating such facilities at every religious site would greatly benefit the public, especially the underprivileged." Another devotee recalled her journey from Prayagraj Kumbh, stating, ""We visited the Sangam Ghat at Prayagraj Kumbh, where we took a dip in the sacred river. However, after bathing, we faced difficulty exiting the area as several bridges were closed. We tried multiple bridges, finally managing to exit from the 25th bridge. We were wandering there, then we got a car that bring us to this wonderful place. We aere happy to come to this place, we could rest and refresh ourselves. We have all facilities here, a meal and everything.... we bathed at the Sarju Ghat. Afterwards, we visited the Ram Mandir and returned here to rest." Earlier, on Thursday, the Yogi Government announced that VIP movement was restricted on major bathing days. All VIPs and VVIPs delegations planning to visit Prayagraj during Vasant Panchami, Magh Purnima and Mahashivratri -- as well as a day before and after these festivals would not receive special privileges, a press release by the UP government stated on Thursday. The three-member judicial commission formed to investigate the tragic stampede during the Prayagraj Mahakumbh on Mauni Amavasya, which resulted in the deaths of 30 people, has officially commenced its work, according to a release. The commission members arrived at their office in Janpath, Lucknow, on Thursday, and immediately took charge of the investigation. Commission Chairman Justice (Retd.) Harsh Kumar said, "Since the investigation is a priority, we have taken charge within hours of the announcement." He added, "Although we have a month to complete the probe, we will make every effort to conclude it as quickly as possible." Justice Kumar also confirmed that the commission would soon visit Prayagraj to assess the situation firsthand. Meanwhile, in Prayagaraj, UP DGP Prashant Kumar, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and other officials conducted an on-site inspection. (ANI)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said late Thursday he would not support Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence after she refused to condemn National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Speaking with MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell, Warner expressed concern that Gabbard during her Thursday hearing repeatedly refused to label Snowden a traitor after he leaked thousands of classified documents and fled to Russia.

We get about half our intelligence from our allies around the world. Theres no requirement that they share that with us. They share that on trust. If this individual cant say Edward Snowden, who shared our secrets and other secrets, is a traitor, will these other countries, our Five Eye partners, partners around the world  will Israels Mossad share that information with us on an ongoing basis? That will make us weaker if they dont share that, Warner said, referencing the Israeli intelligence unit and the intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.

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If youre not willing to stand up for them, if youre not willing to send out a signal  this role of director of national intelligence, youve got 18 agencies, $100 billion. If youre not willing to call out Edward Snowden as a traitor, you shouldnt have that job.

Warner said he was happy to tell you and your audience tonight that I will definitely be voting against Ms. Gabbard.

Her refusal was also viewed as a fumble by those in the GOP, casting doubt on whether her nomination will advance.

Privately, Gabbard had sought to assuage senators about her views on Snowden.

But a key moment during Gabbards hearing came when Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked whether she views Snowden as a traitor, advising her that members of the Intelligence panel would feel a lot better about her nomination if she would do so.

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Instead, Gabbard sidestepped two questions about whether Snowden betrayed the nation, telling lawmakers she is focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again, referring to Snowdens theft of secret documents.

At another point in the hearing, Gabbard said Snowden broke the law, a phrase she repeated throughout Thursdays hearing, but then quickly pivoted to talk about my focus on the future.

Lankford said it should have been an easy question to say its universally accepted when you steal a million pages of top-secret documents and you hand it to the Russians, thats a traitorous act.

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WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) One week after a fire destroyed an apartment building in Warren, the tenants living in the complex gathered to see what could be done to improve their living conditions.

They live at the Stonegate Place Apartments off Tod Avenue, and the message conveyed to them is that if they want something done, they must organize.

50 people, many of them living at Warrens Stonegate Place, attended the tenants meeting Thursday evening, each with complaints on how the apartment complex is handled.

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One tenant said their books are a mess.

I keep my receipts for my rent. They sign my receipts, so I have them, Beth Rauschenbach said. But they looked at me and told me I was behind in my rent when Im not.

The meeting was organized by Warren City Councilman Todd Johnson who said that Stonegates ownership can be traced to a company called Green National Property Management.

I am ashamed of the living conditions you have to endure, Johnson said. They are a national property management company that has a terrible track record of doing this type of thing all over the country. Buying up low-income properties and then basically neglecting them.

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First News was at Stonegate this Thursday afternoon. What looked to be a hallway window was broken and open, there were tires in the parking lot and the wooden fence was broken in several places.

Its as bad as you can imagine in the United States of America, Johnson said.

My daughter had to go and sleep in that soot, and all that burnt in that house until I just kept on, and kept on, and kept on on these people about this, Tenant Deborah Croff said.

Patricia Dougan of Community Legal Aid explained some of the options, like putting their rents in escrow until the problems are fixed.

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If you do organize, the management can not retaliate against you for doing that, Dougan said. So in order to escrow your rent, you have to give the landlord written notice of what is wrong with your apartment.

Johnson wants Stonegate placed in receivership, the same way it happened recently in Syracuse, New York.

And they were forced, or pressured you could say to sell those properties off to another buyer who came in with conditions that they would make those repairs, Johnson said.

We need to send messages to let them know were fed up and weve had enough and were going to do something about it, Warren Councilman Gary Steinbeck said.

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First News did try contacting someone this evening at Green National Property Management but has not heard back. We will keep trying to get their side of the story.

Before the tenants meeting Thursday, Warren City Councils Health and Welfare Committee met to finalize an ordinance that will add two inspectors to keep track of rental properties.

But Safety and Service Director Eddie Colbert said the maximum fine for violations is $150. Whats really needed, said Colbert, are stricter penalties.

If we are looking to what I would say more teeth into the current legislation that exists that is a separate piece of legislation that you would address by amending the current to give the judges upstairs a little more latitude from the standpoint of the fines, Colbert said.

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Johnson said he would also like a law requiring all landlords to have contact information on record.

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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)  The Humane Association of Warren County is asking for support after taking in hundreds of small animals from a reported hoarding situation.

Eli Hurley, executive director of the HAWC, posted to social media seeking support from area rescues and individuals who have proper knowledge of caring for small rodents, like gerbils and mice.

So if you look in here, we have quite a few small gerbils, mice  things like that, said Hurley. Our animal shelter is built for both dogs and cats.

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Hurley confirmed to 2 NEWS that a hospitalized individual reportedly contacted the shelter, saying around 200 to 300 animals were at her home. When HAWC officials showed up to the property, it was reportedly determined that the number was roughly 300 to 500.

Cat mistakenly left in plane cargo hold makes 3 trips in 24 hours

Six to seven huskies were reported to be in the backyard of the property, but only one survived, according to the executive director.

HAWC said all animals on the property were taken back to its facility, as they were allegedly all willingly surrendered by the owner.

Although no current charges have been filed, and the organization is determining next legal steps.

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If you would like to assist the shelter in assisting the animals or donating to the shelter, click here.

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)  A Warren man who was arrested in December 2023 by city police with three guns pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a firearms charge.

Christopher Scott, 35, pleaded guilty before U.S. Judge Benita Y. Pearson in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio to a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Sentencing is set for May 15.

A federal grand jury indicted Scott on September 18 following a Dec. 20, 2023 arrest by Warren police who were answering a suspicious vehicle call at Parkman Road SE and Oak Street.

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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.

Scott has been in federal detention since he was arrested.

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HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT)  The Warrick County School Corporation releases an urgent message telling the public not to click on any email links, shared documents or attachments from any of its employees.

Officials say this is due to the corporation being a victim of an email phishing scam.

Officials also say they are working to resolve the issue, and no student data has been affected.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW).
By Rich McKay, Hannah Lang and Eric Cox

(Reuters) - Kiah Duggins was a civil rights lawyer hailed as a justice warrior who fought against police abuse and protected people from eviction.

Bob and Lori Schrock were cutting-edge farmers who ran their own grain business and were traveling to visit their daughter. They, too, served others: through a Christian program providing counseling and education for young men experiencing trauma.

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All three were among the 67 lives lost in the air disaster over Washington on Wednesday night, when a U.S. Army helicopter and a passenger jet collided near Reagan National Airport. As the investigation into the crash continues, more details about the victims have emerged.

Duggins, 30, an incoming professor at Washington's Howard University, was returning home after visiting her family in Wichita, Kansas, where she grew up. She was a bright student and had been a policy intern for former first lady Michelle Obama in the White House.

"It was an honor to be able to work in the White House, and not only work in the White House, but work for the first Black President, which would not have been possible through most of American history," Duggins said in a 2017 article in an online newsletter called The Sunflower, describing her summer semester in Washington.

She had just been visiting her mother, Gwen, who was recently in hospital, media accounts said, and she was expecting to teach law at Howard this fall.

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Duggins, a Harvard Law graduate and former Miss Kansas contestant, had worked for Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit legal group. Her litigation included challenging unconstitutional policing and money bail practices in Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, D.C., according to the group's website.

Her online Harvard Law profile said her peers called her "force of nature", who protected people from eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic while working at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where the faculty and staff called her "a true justice warrior."

In one case, Duggins successfully represented a woman who was being evicted for refusing to pay an unaffordable rent increase for an apartment with substandard conditions, the Harvard website said. She later negotiated a long-term affordable lease for the woman and her young child.

She also represented indigent defendants - people unable to afford a lawyer - in criminal matters for Harvard Defenders.

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"My law school experience was totally defined by clinical and pro bono work," Duggins is quoted as saying in her profile, adding that her experience with clients taught her "the technical elements of the law, and larger philosophical questions about what the law should be."

Family friend and former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse remembered Duggins as a "brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights."

"Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality," Cruse wrote in a Facebook post.

THE MOURNING OF BOB AND LORI SCHROCK

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Bob and Lori Schrock, aged 58 and 56, were farmers from Kiowa, Kansas, a town of 785 people near the Oklahoma border. The couple were traveling from Wichita to Washington on their way to visit Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where their daughter Ellie is a student.

They were president and vice president of Premium Grain, Inc. in Kiowa, and were among the first farmers in the area to rotate winter wheat with winter canola to further crop yields and enhance soil health, according to the Kansas City Star.

They also set up a home in Maryland to be closer to their daughter.

"There are truly just gifts from God. They didn't deserve any of this," said Grace Cantrell, 20, a Kansas State University student who grew up with Bob and Lori's daughter.

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She called the couple a second "set of parents."

Michael Simpson, a friend of Bob's since the age of 11, got to know Bob through weightlifting and stayed close over the years. He said the Schrocks inspired him to quit his job and become the head of Freedom Gate Boys Ranch, a Christian program that provides a home, Christian education and trauma-informed counseling, the group's website says.

Bob had quietly provided financial support to the program over the years, Simpson said, and both Bob and Lori were deeply rooted in their faith.

"I don't have a lot of friends, so the ones I have are close, and he was one," Simpson said. (This story has been corrected to change the population of Kiowa, Kansas, to 785 from 2,400 in paragraph 14)

(Reporting by Rich McKay, Hannah Lang and Eric Cox; Writing by Daniel Trotta; editing by Donna Bryson and Nia Williams)
Jan. 31A Washington man convicted of indecent exposure in Lincoln County last year has pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession in federal court.

Mallory Nehemiah Brown, 43, of Auburn, Washington, pleaded guilty Tuesday to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Brown faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Brown has a 2004 bank robbery conviction on his record and it prohibits him from possessing firearms and ammunition. The government alleged in court documents that in 2004, Brown was convicted of bank robbery in federal district court in California.

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Brown was removed from an Amtrak train Jan. 9, 2024, in Libby after the indecent exposure incident. It led to a search of his possessions where officers found four guns, three without serial numbers.

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said on Jan. 8, 2024, Brown boarded an Amtrak train in Seattle with a black duffel bag and several long boxes. Brown placed his bags and boxes on the luggage rack.

The train was bound for Washington, D.C., with a stop in Chicago, Illinois. On Jan. 9, 2024, the train stopped in Libby based on the indecent assault complaint by other passengers about Brown.

Libby Chief of Police Cody Ercanbrack and county Sheriff's Office Captain John Davis removed Brown from the train.

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The train conductor located Brown's bags. Inside, he discovered four guns, ammunition, magazines, a suppressor, eight firearms receivers, night vision goggles, a tactical vest and other assorted accessories. The four firearms were identified as a .22 LR HV rifle, which had a serial number; a 12-gauge pump shotgun with an obliterated serial number; a 12-gauge semi-auto shot gun with no visible serial number; and a 9mm semi-auto pistol with no visible serial number. Brown denied the bags belonged to him, but several Amtrak employees identified Brown as the person who loaded the bags on the train. One of the boxes had a shipping label on it addressed to "Mallory Brown."

Ercanbrack spoke with Brown and asked him if he had been masturbating on the train. He allegedly said he had his hand down his pants while he slept.

Ercanbrack then spoke to the sisters, one 14 years old and the other, 16 years old. The alleged 14-year-old victim said Brown sat down in front of them and said he kept looking back at them while he allegedly masturbated. They told the officer they could see Brown's penis as he touched himself while he looked back at them.

One of the girls got her grandma, who then sat in her seat and she also witnessed Brown masturbating, according to the court document. The grandmother found the conductor and told him what was happening. The conductor called Lincoln County Dispatch to request Brown be removed from the train and charged.

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According to the probable cause statement by Ercanbrack, Brown had a conviction for indecent exposure on March 8, 2017, in Miles City, Montana.

Brown was charged with felony indecent exposure to a minor and misdemeanor indecent exposure to a minor. The felony charge was dropped in the plea deal. He was released from custody Sept. 3 following his Aug. 27 plea.

Because Brown was incarcerated since January, he had enough time to be released following the plea deal. He had to pay $235 in surcharges.

In the federal gun case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided. Sentencing was set for May 29 before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Brown is locked up in the Missoula County Detention Center, pending further proceedings.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Libby Police Department, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, FBI and Montana Probation and Parole conducted the investigation.
Credit: Greater Manchester Police

A woman who taunted police by posting the comment Hey guys on her own wanted appeal has been arrested after being found hiding under a pile of toys.

The 22-year-old was being hunted by Greater Manchester Police after allegedly failing to attend court where she was facing a number of charges.

But when detectives posted an appeal on social media asking the public to help locate her, she responded with the reply Hey guys.

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The comment drew more than 150 laughing emojis and likes from members of the public amused by her cheek.

The online comment

But police had the last laugh when they traced her to a property in the Fallowfield area of Manchester and detained her.

The woman was located in one of the rooms hiding under a pile of childrens toys by officers from the forces Manchester City Centre team.

She was arrested on suspicion of failing to appear at court for three counts of assault of an emergency worker, drugs offences and theft.

She was further held on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and was taken into custody for questioning.

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Det Insp Natalie McDonald, from GMPs Manchester Central Neighbourhood Crime Team, said: We currently have a woman in custody being questioned by detectives thanks to the swift actions of our officers.

We want to thank everyone who engaged with our post, it ultimately helped us to locate and arrest this woman and we have dedicated teams of officers across Manchester who are actively seeking and arresting those who are wanted.

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TOWN OF HUNTER, NY (WIVT/WBGH)  Forest Rangers along with New York State Police rescued an injured ice climber via helicopter at Buttermilk Falls last Friday. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation released the footage of the rescue.

On Jan. 24, Greene County contacted Forest Rangers for assistance just before noon to rescue the injured climber after falling at Buttermilk Falls in the Town of Hunter. The climber had sustained unstable injuries to his ankle and wrist as a result of the fall.

According to the release, the man was climbing alone without a cellphone.

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The climber lowered himself four pitches when he ran into a group of climbers who then assisted him and called for help, with Rangers arriving at around 1:15 p.m. from New Paltz. Due to the remote and technical terrain, Rangers requested a hoist rescue from NYSP Pilots Leeder and Plitsch.

Rangers secured the 35-year-old climber in a harness so he could safely be hoisted into the helicopter from above. Three hours later, the NYSP helicopter arrived at the landing zone where the man was transferred to Hunter Ambulance.

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The Karen Read case is due back in court Friday morning as more motions are expected to be heard ahead of her second murder trial.

WATCH LIVE: Karen Read murder case back in court for motions hearing ahead of retrial. WATCH LIVE: Arguments expected on hos long to die in cold testimony as Karen Read returns to court ahead of 2nd trial. Posted by Boston 25 News on Friday, January 31, 2025

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is expected to present as Judge Beverly Cannone weighs various motions in the case, including whether a digital forensics expert hired by Reads defense team will be allowed to testify at her retrial.

During Reads first trial, which ended with a hung jury in July 2024, Richard Green alleged that Jennifer McCabe searched hos long to die in cold on Google. McCabe previously testified that Read asked her to make the Google search after they found her Boston police officer boyfriend John OKeefe dead in the snow outside of 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.

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Green previously testified that McCabes Google search happened at 2:27 a.m. in the morning, hours before the prosecution said it happened.

Jennifer McCabe searches

A motion filed by prosecutors in Dedhams Norfolk Superior Court on New Years Eve seeks to exclude testimony from Green.

Exclusion is appropriate because both claims lack any evidentiary support, and the claims cannot be made in good faith. Allowing introduction of baseless claims without any scientific, forensic, or factual support would be misleading to the jury and disruptive to the interest of justice, the motion stated.

The defense has argued that Green is indeed qualified and that he used five different tools to come to the Google search conclusion.

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Cannone is slated to weigh whether Greens testimony is relevant and reliable.

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All stand as the jury files out to the courtroom, to start their fifth day of deliberations in the murder trial for Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Karen Read jurors tell judge theyve been unable to reach unanimous verdict

Day 3 of jury deliberations finishes without verdict in Karen Read trial

Karen Read awaits the juries verdict in her murder case at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP)

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Defense attorneys in Karen Read murder trial argue with judge over jury verdict slip

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Some witnesses are in the courtroom on Tuesday include Brian Albert, Colin Albert, and Jennifer McCabe.

Karen Read

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Karen Read, center right, is seated Monday, June 10, 2024, in Norfolk Super Court, in Dedham, Mass., during her trial on charges in connection with the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O'Keefe. (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Karen Read is seated Monday, June 10, 2024, in Norfolk Super Court, in Dedham, Mass., during her trial on charges in connection with the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O'Keefe. (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

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Karen Read

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Karen Read smiles after listening to her attorney Alan Jackson during her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

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Karen Read

Karen Read

Karen Read sits with her legal team team in court Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Karen Read sits with her legal team team in court, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor'easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Read is accused of hitting OKeefe with her Lexus SUV on January 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking.

Prosecutors say Read dropped OKeefe off at a house party hosted by Albert and his wife just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, prosecutors say, she struck OKeefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.

The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying OKeefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.

Reads retrial is set for April 2025.

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Mumbai's Versova police arrested two Bangladeshi citizens for illegally entering India and residing in Mumbai, officials said on Friday. Fake documents were also recovered from them. Police have taken them into custody and initiated further investigation into their activities and how they managed to acquire the forged documents. Earlier on Thursday, the Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of Thane Police arrested four women of Bangladeshi origin for illegally residing in the Manor Pada area of Thane West. The arrested individuals have been identified as Shazida Khatoon (38), Shalina Mulla (50), Ratna Khatoon (40), and Reshma Dhali (40). On January 22, three Bangladeshi nationals were sentenced to imprisonment and fined by the 8th Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Mumbai after being found guilty of illegally entering India and residing with forged documents. The judgment was pronounced by Addl CJM Kanchan Zanwar, based on evidence presented by the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police. According to a release from the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police, the case began on April 24, 2024, when the Criminal Intelligence Squad, under the leadership of Police Station Incharge Milind Kathe, received confidential information about Bangladeshi nationals entering India without proper travel documents. These individuals were alleged to have forged Indian citizenship documents and were residing illegally in Mumbai. Last year in December, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that a detention centre would be built in Mumbai to keep illegal Bangladeshi migrants as they could not be held in jails directly. CM Devendra Fadnavis said, "In recent times we have seen that in drug cases, illegal entry cases, illegal Bangladeshis, they are all foreign nationals and they cannot be kept directly in our jails. They have to be kept in detention camps, so BMC has given us land to build detention camps. But that land does not conform to the norms of detention camps. So we have asked BMC for another land. So, a good detention centre will be built in Mumbai" (ANI)
(NEXSTAR) -Nexstar Media  the parent company of this website  is launching a series of stories for Black History Month, highlighting significant historical sites and cultural contributions across the United States that honor Black history. To kick off our coverage, three veteran reporters sat down to discuss the broader significance of their coverage for the special report at the top of this article.



Among the topics discussed is a deeper dive into our coverage of a surge in black-owned businesses from WHTMs Valerie Pritchett, WFLAs Deanne King delving into stories of everyday people working to fix systemic problems in black communities, and KSEEs Sydney Charles reporting on the role Buffalo Soldiers played in protecting the natural resources that became our first national parks. Each journalist spoke not only about their reporting for this month, but about the career path that led them to becoming storytellers about the contributions of black Americans.



Nexstars month of coverage also includes a visit to Historic Stagville in Durham County, North Carolina, which was once one of the largest plantations in the state. The site now serves as an educational resource about the lives of enslaved people. Another story focuses on the Move-In Day Mafia, a volunteer group that supports students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by providing dorm makeovers and care packages.



The Attucks Theater in Norfolk, known as the Apollo of the South, will also be featured. Designed by African American architect Harvey Johnson, the theater has hosted legendary performers since its opening in 1919. In Mobile, the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA), originally known as the Colored Carnival Association, will be highlighted for its role in promoting cultural and civic engagement through Mardi Gras celebrations.



These stories will appear on local stations across the United States and represent a sampling of the deep coverage Nexstar journalists will provide over the month of February.



Through these stories, Nexstar Media aims to honor and educate audiences about the rich history and contributions of African Americans, providing a deeper understanding of their impact on American culture and society.



All facts from this article were gathered by Nexstar journalists. This article was converted into this format with assistance from artificial intelligence. It has been edited and approved by Nexstar staff.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held a press briefing Friday afternoon, just days after a fatal plane crash that killed more than 60 people outside Washington, D.C., provided an early test for the Trump administration.

The briefing came a day after President Trump suggested the Wednesday evening collision between an American Airlines passenger flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter could be related to hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration. His criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs  including executive action to dissolve DEI efforts at the federal level  has come under scrutiny.

Earlier Friday, Trump was scheduled to hold a school choice roundtable at the White House and is expected to issue more executive orders later in the day.

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The White House news briefing also follows the presidents threat to begin levying tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Saturday.

The event was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EST.

Watch the video replay above.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL)  News Channel 11 aired a special preview on Thursday, taking a look inside the long-awaited trial of Megan Boswell, a woman accused of murdering her 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn.

Thursdays preview is broken into segments below:

Evelyns disappearance sparked a nationwide AMBER Alert. She was reportedly last seen by her family in December 2019. However, her family, including her mother Megan Boswell, did not report her missing until February 2020. Evelyns remains were discovered on a family members property in March 2020.

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Justice for Evelyn Boswell: A timeline of events

News Channel 11 spoke with local defense attorneys Jim Bowman and Nikki Himebaugh about what to expect during the trial.

Evelyn Boswells Law was unanimously passed in March 2021. It charges parents who fail to report a missing child with a misdemeanor and went into effect in July 2021.

Justice for Evelyn | WJHL

News Channel 11 also spoke with Evelyn Boswells Law sponsors.

Boswell has been in the Sullivan County Jail since her 2020 arrest. Her trial begins on Monday and is expected to last two to four weeks. News Channel 11 plans to provide daily coverage from the courthouse. The Sullivan County District Attorneys Office will continue to prosecute Boswell.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Police and animal rescue officers in Missouri came to the rescue of a woman who became stranded in a kayak after saving a dog that fell through the ice on a frozen lake.

The Holts Summit Police Department said on social media that an officer and an animal control officer responded to a report of a dog that fell through the ice of a frozen lake near Dogwood Drive and Summertree Lane.

"Upon arrival, officers discovered that a brave Good Samaritan had taken a kayak onto the frozen lake in an attempt to save the dog," the post said. "While the dog had been successfully rescued, the female in the kayak became stuck on the ice, unable to safely return to shore."

The officers used a water rescue throw bag to reach the woman and tow her kayak back to shore.

"Thankfully, both the dog and the female were unharmed," police wrote.
Swifts fly to and from a bridge near the Sunland Park pools to roost for the night in nests they have built out of sediment from around the river. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)

Two bills that together would restore and expand protection for New Mexicos waterways passed their first legislative hurdle on Thursday morning.

The Senate Conservation Committee passed Senate Bill 21 and Senate Bill 22 in 6-3 party-line votes, with Republicans in opposition. They still must go through the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee before they can reach the Senate floor.

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SB 21 would allow New Mexico environmental regulators to take over permitting, compliance and enforcement duties under the federal Clean Water Act currently handled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Region 6 Office in Dallas, Texas.

If passed and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the New Mexico Environment Department would work with the EPA to apply for primacy over water protection, said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), who is sponsoring both bills.

With precipitation becoming more variable and extreme, snowpacks and runoff, were seeing the effects of climate change, and certainly a hotter, drier climate with higher temperatures, Wirth said. Experts predict that 25% of our water is going to be gone in the next 50 years. Therefore, its absolutely essential that we conserve and protect the resources that we have.

Rep. Kristina Ortez (D-Taos) is co-sponsoring both bills, and Sen. Roberto Bobby J. Gonzales (D-Rancho de Taos) is co-sponsoring SB 21, Wirth said.

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SB 22 would establish a statewide water quality permitting program at NMED and include $50 million for investigation and clean up of water pollution sites.

Under a September 2023 EPA regulation, the legal definition of waters of the United States and adjoining wetlands was pared down, following the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA earlier that year.

Wirth argued SB 22 would return New Mexico back to the way the law was interpreted before the Sackett decision.

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Wirth was joined by Shelly Lemon, who leads the Surface Water Quality Bureau at NMED, and the departments General Counsel Zachary Ogaz.

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Other states that have already taken control of water regulation pay for their enforcement with a mix of up-front permit application fees and fines for violations, Lemon said. There will be a robust discussion of the fee structure in the Senate Finance Committee, Wirth said.

The bills are the highest priority for Pueblo of Laguna Gov. Harry Antonio Jr., said lobbyist J.D. Bullington.

Weve lost federal protections over surface water that flows all throughout our Native lands here in the state of New Mexico, he said.

Last April, a national report deemed the more than 108,000 miles of river in New Mexico the most endangered in the country.

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Sen. Angel Charley, a Democrat who is a registered member of Laguna Pueblo, said Indigenous communities are the original stewards of land, water, air and animals.

As were experiencing all of the chaos thats happening at the federal level with various exemptions and rollbacks around federal protections, I think its incumbent upon us at the state level to create protection against whats happening on the national level, Charley said.

SB 22 would protect communities downstream from sources of pollution by requiring NMED to deny any discharge permit application that would allow pollution that would exceed another jurisdictions standards, Wirth said.

The bills are opposed by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority, the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association, the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, the New Mexico Farm Bureau, the San Juan Water Commission and Freeport-McMoRan, a mining company with copper mines in New Mexico.

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According to Tom Homan, President Donald Trumps border czar, the administrations deportation policies apply only to people who are in the country illegally, not to the millions of people standing in line, taking the test, doing their background investigation, paying the fees, that want to come in the right way.

This week, more than half a million Venezuelans whod done things the right way discovered that the distinction might not matter. Theyd filled out forms, paid up to $545 in fees, and waited anywhere from two to 12 months to secure Temporary Protected Status, which allows them to live and work in the United States. And yet, on Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that these 600,000 Venezuelans would be stripped of that status and subject to deportation as of September 10.

The rules for TPS seemed simple enough. Venezuelan nationals who were on U.S. soil before a certain date were eligible. Ukrainians have their own dateas do Hondurans, Haitians, Syrians, Ethiopians, and others from a list of countries whose conditions the U.S. government has concluded temporarily prevent the countrys nationals from returning safely, to quote the official website. In Venezuelas case, those conditions include a humanitarian crisis and a dictatorial regime under investigation for crimes against humanity. Trump was actually the one whod designated Venezuela unsafe and given Venezuelans access to TPS in the first place, starting in 2020.

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TPS is usually good for 18 months, but the status can be renewed indefinitely if the countrys situation doesnt improve. Trump dislikes this feature. In 2018, his first administration sought to strip the status from Salvadorans, on the grounds that the earthquake that had prompted the U.S. to grant it back in 2001 was long past, even if other crises had since occurred. The courts blocked this termination before it took effect.

The Biden administration anticipated that Trump would go after TPS again, and perhaps for this reason, it extended TPS for Venezuela just before Inauguration Day. Noem vacated that order, telling Fox that Venezuelan TPS holders were going to be able to stay here and violate our laws for another 18 months. We stopped that. No one in the administration has tried to argue that conditions in Venezuela have improved, which, the law stipulates, would be the only justification for terminating TPS.

[Read: The price of humiliating Nicolas Maduro]

Legal challenges are probably coming, because no precedent has established the legality of terminating a preceding administrations TPS extension. Further terminations could be coming too. I spoke with Yusuf Ahmad, an immigration attorney in Washington, D.C., who has been receiving lots of nervous calls from his TPS clients asking whether the status will end for good, and not only for Venezuelans. Since 2018, Emi MacLean of the ACLU told me, Trump has made no secret of his desire to undermine the TPS program as a whole.

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So far, however, the status has been withdrawn only from Venezuelans. The last-minute nature of the extension doesnt quite explain this, because on the same day, the Biden administration also extended TPS for El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan. Of these, however, Venezuela has by far the most recipients. When asked where Venezuelans will be deported to, given that Caracas has made noises about refusing them unless the U.S. accedes to certain demands, Noem suggested El Salvador, or maybe Guantanamo Bay. Daniel Di Martino, a vocal Trump supporter from Venezuela who researches immigration at the Manhattan Institute, wondered at the expense of it all. Deportation costs $50,000 per head, Di Martino told me, and deporting a TPS holder means losing a taxpayer.

One of the stranger aspects of this termination is that Trump has long had admirers among Venezuelan Americans, particularly in South Florida. Esteban Hernandez, the editor in chief of Contra Poder News, a right-wing publication serving Venezuelan Floridians, told me that many in his circle felt betrayed; Trump had once courted Venezuelans. Still, Hernandez couldnt fathom that TPS really would be revoked for everyone. It would just be bad guys, he suggested to me.

Erick Suarez, who lived off his savings for six months as he waited for his TPS status so that he could work, told me that stripping TPS from everyone just wouldnt make sense: Why would they go after people who did everything the right way?

Article originally published at The Atlantic
President Donald Trump has threatened to slap dozens of countries with specialized tariffs, along with taxes on imports that would affect every other nation. That could affect trillions of dollars in trade, strain relationships with allies and trading partners, and raise prices on all kinds of goods.

The U.S. imported more than $3.25 trillion in goods in 2024, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, which did not break out country-by-country data. As of last November, 41% of all imports came from Canada, Mexico, and China, which are expected to be the first countries hit with tariffs under the Trump administration.

After winning the presidential election, Trump threatened to hit China, Canada, and Mexico with tariffs unless they met his various demands related to the flow of fentanyl and migrants at the U.S. borders. Ahead of the election, he had proposed tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese goods and 200% on Mexican vehicles.

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A 10% tariff on Chinese imports and 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports is set to go into effect as soon as Saturday, Feb. 1. According to the Tax Foundation, such tariffs would shrink economic output by 0.4% and grow taxes by $1.2 trillion between 2025 and 2034.

As far as I know, they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it, there will be no tariff, Howard Lutnick, the Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and Trumps pick to lead the Commerce Department, testified Wednesday.

Trump has argued that tariffs can both be used to reduce trade deficits  which occur when a nation imports more than it exports  and get non-economic victories. He used the threat of tariffs earlier this week as a tool during a dispute with Colombia  which his predecessor has called the key to the southern hemisphere  over his deportation plans.

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Trump has told the BRICS coalition  Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates  they would face 100% tariffs if they try to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar. In December, he warned the 27-member European Union that he would issue tariffs to close trade deficits unless the nations bought more oil.

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The president has also leveraged tariffs to try and force a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to put an end to the Russia-Ukraine War and refused to rule out implementing tariffs to help the U.S. buy Greenland from Denmark, make Canada part of the U.S., and acquire the Panama Canal.

Then, there are his non-specific threats.

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The president has also threatened universal tariffs of between 10% and 20% on imports from more than 190 countries, although Trump said last week that were not ready for that just yet. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pushing for universal tariffs to begin with a 2.5% levy on imports that would grow sequentially each month, the Financial Times reports.

Lutnick on Wednesday said he has advised Trump to look at country-by-country tariffs. Such tariffs would restore reciprocity to the U.S.s trading relationships, he said.

While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump told businesses to build in America and pay among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth. But if you dont make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff, he added.

The president has also said the U.S. is taking a look at tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, aluminum, and copper. Those tariffs would largely impact Taiwan, Canada, China, India, and Mexico. In 2018, he issued 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum from most countries, sparking a trade war with China and angering several countries, including India and Canada.

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Tariffs would likely raise the prices of imported goods, such as food and clothing. Since most companies wouldnt absorb much of the higher costs, consumers would likely have to pay higher prices for many imported products.

Several business executives have said tariffs will impact their operations, although many companies ramped up imports ahead of Trumps inauguration to avoid any extra costs. A trade war may also break out, with countries like Mexico and China imposing retaliatory tariffs on the U.S.

During his first administration, Trump imposed almost $80 billion worth of new taxes through tariffs on products valued at about $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, according to the Tax Foundation. Former President Joe Biden kept most of those taxes in place and added additional tariffs on Chinese goods. Trade war policies have boosted tax collections by up to $300 per U.S. household each year, the Tax Foundation said.

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HONOLULU (KHON2)  HIDOE public schools in South Kona on Hawaii Island will be closed to students and faculty Friday, Jan. 31, due to major flooding causing accessibility issues to the campuses.

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The Kona schools are:

Hookena Elementary

Honaunau Elementary

Konawaena Elementary

Konawaena Middle

Konawaena High

Ke Kula O Ehunuikaimalino

On Kauais North Shore, Kilauea Elementary will also be closed today due to lack of running water on campus because of power outages.

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All public schools in Maui County  on Maui, Molokai and Lanai  remain closed.

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

Stay tuned to official HIDOE communications and social media for the latest updates.

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Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) President, Dr Prabodh Mohanty, on Friday expressed his hope that the upcoming Union Budget 2025-26 will be progressive and target micro, Small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector, emphasising the role of the sector to make India become a $ 5 trillion economy. UCCI, a national industry association for MSMEs, are hopeful that the government and this budget will provide some financial schemes that will help the sector "As the President of the Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we are primarily a national industry association for MSMEs. We have many expectations for the MSME sector because India is to become a 5 trillion economy and an economic powerhouse; the MSME sector needs to grow faster," Mohanty told ANI. "So for that, we wish and we are very hopeful that this budget will be very progressive, specifically targeting the MSME sector and its all-around development," he added. "We in the Utkal Chamber are hopeful that the government and this budget will provide some financial schemes that will help MSMEs, like the reduction of corporate tax for the MSME sector," the UCCI president said. Mohanty stated that he wants the corporate tax to be further reduced for the MSME sector. "The government has already moderated corporate tax earlier. However, we wish that it should be further reduced specifically for the MSME sector, like some financial incentives, tax rebates, and interest subsidies. All these financial instruments will go a long way in helping the MSME sector in India to become more vibrant, specifically in Odisha," he said. Expressing the problems faced by the MSME sector due to procurement policies, he said, "We also want government procurement. There are situations where the MSMEs face a lot of liquidity problems because of the procurement of the industry products. So we also wish that the government needed to streamline the procurement policies and timely payments, and that will help in improving the liquidity of the industry; the working capital position will improve so that they will be in a better position to do their business seamlessly." He further said that he wants that subsidy and incentives for innovations like digitisation, the adoption of sustainable practices like green technology, and underscoring the need for investment in adopting technology like solar power, digitisation, use of AI, and machine learning. "The MSME sector, being small in size, is very difficult to actually put money into this digitisation, in this technological upgradation. For that, the government should provide some policies, some incentives, and some hand-holding so that they are able to adopt sustainable practices and become competitive in the global scene," he added. Pointing out the demand of UCCI, he noted, "UCCI will request that the market linkages up market linkages globally." He also expected the Union government to allocate funds towards the development of the logistics in Odisha. "This would also incentivise items of improvement in logistics and infrastructure, like starting in Odisha specifically, starting the container services to take to the port, the MSME products are taken to the port and it can cater to northeast Asia because it is closer; Southeast Asia is closer to Odisha. So for that also, we are hopeful that the government will provide a huge allocation towards the development of the logistics in Odisha," he added. The budget session of the Parliament will commence today with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses at around 11 am. Following this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. It would be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at 2 PM in Rajya Sabha. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. The budget will be presented on February 1. On budget day, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am. (ANI)
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James used his sixth State of the City speech Thursday to call for unity and highlighted the growth that has rocketed the city forward in the years since the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'm proud to report that our city, your city, is stronger, healthier and more prosperous than ever before," James told a packed ballroom at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

That prosperity and growth has brought more people into West Palm Beach's downtown, either as residents or because of work. The resulting traffic backups have frustrated some residents, who have taken to social media to complain about a reduced quality of life. Some have either emailed or called James to express their frustration.

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James addressed those complaints Thursday.

West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James addresses the audience at the annual State of The City address, Jan. 30, 2025.

"I'm happy to share that we will be advertising a proposed permanent transportation system, one that will significantly expand access to transportation and mobility to over 95,000 people across our city," he said. "That's a big deal."

The mayor, re-elected without qualified opposition to a final four-year term in 2023, did not provide more details about what that transportation system will look like. He did note that the city is expanding its bicycle infrastructure and has been leaning on its RideWPB mobility program to help seniors get to local destinations.

"As our population grows, we need to assure that we make our city more connected, exploring ways to move people and not just cars," he said. "See, I know that at times traffic congestion gets bad."

West Palm mayor touts new Cleveland Clinic hospital downtown

In addition to a new transportation system, James told the audience of another development  the Cleveland Clinic's plans to expand its operations in West Palm Beach with a new hospital, the first new hospital in the downtown area in more than a century, the mayor said.

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"A broad range of specialties will be provided in the new hospital with the flexibility to adapt and add specialty care as the needs of the Palm Beach community evolve," Dr. Conor P. Delaney, president of the Cleveland Clinic's Florida Market, said in a December news release. "Priority specialties will include heart, vascular and thoracic care, digestive disease care, neurological care and cancer care."

WEST PALM NEWS: Why did city pick a firm whose CEO is under fraud indictment to rebuild Currie Park?

The Cleveland Clinic's decision to expand in West Palm Beach is yet one more sign of the city's growth and prosperity, James said, pointing to a list of others that included:

WEST PALM NEWS: Mayor says still-shuttered Sunset Lounge good to go this summer

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The Cox Science Center's $115 million expansion.

$30 million in new city infrastructure projects.

Vanderbilt University's plans to build a campus and "innovation hub" in West Palm Beach.

The Boys and Girls Club's plan for a $13 million facility in Dreher Park.

Continued reduction in overall and violent crime in the city.

James said the coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered businesses for months, forced cities to adapt.

The challenges of the last five years have taught us that the old ways of doing things will no longer cut it, the mayor said.

Communities must remain united and focused on challenges in order to tackle them, he said.

"Together, we create safer neighborhoods," James said. "Together, we connect every corner of our city. Together, we fortify the strong foundation. Together, we offer a future of boundless possibilities. This is our time."

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Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm mayor addresses transportation needs in State of the City
ARTHURDALE, W.Va. (WBOY)  A memorial service was held by West Virginia Caring Hospice at the Community Presbyterian Church in Arthurdale Thursday evening to honor the lives of those who died.

During the service, there were readings, music, and candles were lit. For many of the family members in attendance, the memorial served as a remembrance and celebration of life for those who have passed.

We dont forget, that we carry on, just like they need to carry on in their loved ones absence, President and CEO of WV Caring and Hospice Malene Davis said. I think one of the things we all fear is that well be forgotten, but in this way were inviting the families to come out and to help them launch into their purpose.

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First DAISY Awards given out at UHC

A group of volunteers and staff from hospice were on hand to embrace the families and listen to them speak about the loss of their loved ones.

One of the most important things we do in hospice is to continue to care for families after our patient has passed away, so we keep them in our care for about a year after the loss has occurred and so this is part of that part of the continued care of both the families and also Larger our communities, Bereavement Coordinator at WV Caring Hospice Emily Harden said.

Officials with West Virginia Caring Hospice added all of their services partner with area churches or other community organizations making lasting partnerships in the communities they serve.

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WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH)  A proposed Westerville ordinance would further enshrine Ohio law prohibiting marijuana businesses from being near a school or church.

Westerville City Council held a second reading on Jan. 21 for a measure that would ban retail dispensaries from being located within 500 feet of a school, church, library, playground or park. The proposal comes after voters in Ohio approved Issue 2 in November 2023 to legalize recreational marijuana. Watch a previous NBC4 report on Ohios marijuana laws in the video player above.

Ohio schools risk federal funding if they teach unpatriotically under Trump order

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The purpose and intent of this chapter is to provide for the regulation of marijuana activities and uses within the city of Westerville pursuant to Ohios marijuana laws, the proposed ordinance states. Nothing herein is intended to prohibit or limit home grow or prohibit or restrict an activity that is authorized for an adult-use consumer.

The measure would require marijuana to be sold by a medical dispensary or a dual-use dispensary and states that there shall be no more than two dispensaries of any kind within the city. However, these provisions are why Westerville resident John Gatiss argues the city is implementing a de facto marijuana ban.

The city cant ban dispensaries outright, cause it would go against the will of the voters, said Gatiss during the Jan. 21 meeting. Instead, youve created a de facto ban where the needle someone would have to thread has become narrow to such a degree that opening a dispensary could be virtually impossible.

Gatiss noted Westerville has interpreted the statutory bar on dispensaries within 500 feet of parks, churches, and schools to include the citys trail network, which has blocked off a huge portion of the city. He also claimed Ohio will not be issuing any more dual-use licenses until sometime in 2026.

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Westervilles proposal is similar to a Delaware resolution that passed last year to prohibit establishments whose business is the sale of tobacco or related products, vapor or vapor products, or cannabis from being located within 500 feet of a school, church, library, playground or park.

How Ohio lawmakers are trying to change marijuana rules

Delawares measure also bans two or more of these businesses from being located within a mile of each other if they are of the same use, meaning a vape shop can not be within a mile of another a vape shop, but a cannabis dispensary can be near a vape shop. The resolution originally limited businesses from being located within two miles of each other, but the planning commission amended the proposal out of concern it would be too restrictive.

Cities like Westerville and Delaware are advancing these measures after at least 56 Ohio municipalities or townships passed moratoriums prohibiting adult-use cannabis businesses. Like a majority of other states that have legalized recreational cannabis, Ohio allows local jurisdictions to enact ordinances to prohibit or limit the sale of marijuana within their boundaries.

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A large number of the bans are set to be enacted for a period, rather than indefinitely. They commonly cite the need for time to review current ordinances and identify conflicting laws. Multiple municipalities indicated an intent to study current law and create recommendations once the final state rules for the recreational industry are adopted.

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The superintendent of Westfield Washington Schools, with 44 years of experience working in education, is retiring this summer.

Paul Kaiser, who has served as superintendent in Westfield for the past four years, will retire July 1. Kaisers tenure was marked by continued growth in the school district.

Westfield Washington Schools has been more than a workplace  its been family, Kaiser said in a news release announcing his retirement. Ive had the privilege of leading a district where students, staff and the community come together to prioritize excellence.

Dr. Paul Kaiser will retire as superintendent of Westfield Washington Schools in the summer of 2025.

More news: Indiana University alum among those killed in American Airlines crash over Washington DC.

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Kaiser plans to spend his retirement enjoying quality time with his three daughters and grandchildren, fishing, boating, wading in rivers for smallmouth bass and embracing his passion for the outdoors.

John Atha, currently the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and learning, will take over as superintendent of the school district once Kaiser retires.

Atha has more than 30 years of educational leadership experience. During his tenure as assistant superintendent, he has championed academic excellence and fostered teacher leadership and innovation across the district, according to the news release from the school district.

Dr. Atha is a strong leader who cares about education and helping students succeed, said school board president Mike Steele in the news release. He is the perfect person to lead WWS into the future. He understands the curriculum and how to inspire, making him stand out as a leader who makes a difference.

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Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Jake_Allen19.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Westfield Washington Schools superintendent set to retire this summer
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)  Wichita Falls police are seeking help from the community to locate a teenage boy reported as a runaway.

According to a Facebook post from the Wichita Falls Police Department on Friday morning, January 31, 2025, 15-year-old Adrian Martin-Carroll has been reported as a runaway.

Adrian Martin-Carroll, a Wichita Falls teen, was reported missing by WFPD (Photo courtesy Wichita Falls Police Department)

Police said in the Facebook post that Martin-Carroll is a Black male with black hair and brown eyes. He is 53 and weighs 120 pounds.

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Authorities said Martin-Caroll was last seen in the 900 block of Gerald St. It is unknown how long the teen has been missing at this time.

Police said if citizens have any information about Martin-Carrolls whereabouts, contact police to respond and make contact. The WFPDs non-emergency line is (940) 720-5000.

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One of Donald Trumps first actions after taking office as President on Jan. 20 was signing an executive order to declassify any remaining files related to the assassinations of the most prominent American leaders of the 1960s: the 35th President John F. Kennedy in 1963, his brother, the presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in that same year.

The Jan. 23 executive order gives intelligence officials two weeks to come up with a plan to make the remaining JFK assassination files available to the public, and 45 days for the RFK and MLK assassination files.

Thats a big one. A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, Trump said as he signed the executive order. Everything will be revealed.

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What exactly Trump hopes to find out from the files is unclear. RFKs son Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trumps pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has expressed skepticism about whether Sirhan Sirhan was his fathers killer and whether there was some larger conspiracy going on.

The truth in these files, however, will likely be anticlimactic, scholars tell TIME. The basic facts of these assassinations are unlikely to change: Lee Harvey Oswald fatally shot JFK; Sirhan Sirhan fatally shot Robert F. Kennedy; and James Earl Ray fatally shot MLK. Most of these documents have been released; for example, 99% of the JFK assassination files have been made public, after nine investigations and the definitive account of what happened the day of the assassination produced by the Warren Commission in 1964.

But the quicker files are made available, the quicker conspiracy theories could be quelled. There are conspiracy theorists who think that because the files havent been released yet, the government is hiding some evidence of larger conspiracies to kill these figures. I actually think Trump did the right thing in opening these files, says Burt Griffin, assistant counsel on the Warren Commission, arguing that it will hopefully dispel any notions that something is being concealed.

TIME talked to people who have researched these assassinations about what they hope to learn from the remaining files.

Sensitive personal details

President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and others smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963. Minutes later the President was assassinated. Bettmann Archive

Griffin, who is also the author of JFK, Oswald and Ruby: Politics, Prejudice and Truth, believes that much of the information thats been withheld about the JFK assassination are the names of investigators and details of the investigative process. Some of the people were doing illegal things, Griffin says, like wiretapping Mafia leaders. We knew they were doing things that were illegal. We didn't know the details of how they were doing it.

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At this point, the names of the people involved wont do much good because they have since died, but that doesnt mean Americans should think there was a missed opportunity to interview them. The Warren Commission took the testimony of more than 550 people.

Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Asassination of JFK, questions if Americans will finally learn more of First Lady Jackie Kennedys account of the fateful day, as she ordered the notes from her interview with historian William Manchester be sealed.

Posner, who also wrote Killing the Dream James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., is expecting the remaining MLK assassination files to provide more proof of how much the FBI tried to not protect King, but spy on him. Its well-known that the activist was under illegal FBI surveillance for years, as the agencys infamous director J. Edgar Hoover was convinced that the preacher was part of some broader communist conspiracy while the U.S. was in the middle of a Cold War with the communist Soviet Union.

But Posner is more worried that incriminating information about King might be revealed. There have long been rumors about Kings infidelity, and there are even reports that he saw a mistress the night before he was killed.

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Those files would be just personally embarrassing, and there's no reason to release them, says Posner. Kings family issued a statement after Trumps executive order, requesting to see any MLK files before they are released to the general public.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses some 2,000 people in Memphis, April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated. Bettmann Archive

Debunking broader conspiracies

The Warren Commission already concluded six decades ago that there is no evidence Oswald was part of a domestic conspiracy or that a foreign government was behind JFKs assassination. But to put conspiracy theories to rest, Griffin wonders if the tax returns of an acquaintance of Oswalds, Ruth Paine, are in the remaining files because they have never been revealed. The question is whether they show that she was getting money from the federal government, and if they dont, then that could put to rest a conspiracy theory that the federal government was behind the assassination of JFK in some way. Likewise, if the tax returns did not show that she was getting money from people with ties to communists or foreign governments, then it could further prove that a foreign government did not orchestrate the plot to kill JFK.

However, its possible the files could provide more insight into what was going on in Cuba at the time of JFKs assassination. Posner wonders if there are files showing what the CIA really knew about Oswalds erratic behavior during visits to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico City six weeks before the assassination: I'm hoping [the remaining files] will answer the question of whether the CIA could have potentially prevented the assassination by letting the FBI know how unhinged and unstable he was during this visit.

Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of The Kennedy Half Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy, is on the lookout for more information on U.S. policymakers deliberations about overthrowing the Castro regime: There's one document that is very intriguing, in which they're discussing ways of embarrassing or dethroning Castro through damaging events that will be linked to him. There's just one problem. We know they're in there. We know that they discuss specifics, but every one of them is redactedI think its interesting historically to show the extent to which the U.S. government was willing to go to rid itself of a communist government.

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But the big unsolved mysterywhy Oswald shot JFKis not likely to be answered by any of these remaining files. As Griffin puts it, We saw all of the substantive things that were in the files.

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) before he was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 during his presidential campaign at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Frank Carroll/NBC NewsWireGetty Images

William Klaber, a researcher who has read through many files related to the RFK assassination for his book Shadow Play, says I dont think there are any bombshells in the remaining files related to that tragedy because the FBI played a much smaller role in that investigation. Many of the most relevant records are in California. He explains: RFK files were really released in 1988, and they were the police files because the police ran that investigation. The FBI helped a little, and those files have also been opened.

He is also not convinced every file will be released because of Trumps executive order. As he puts it, My fear is that when we get closer to the date that these things are going to be released, national security concerns will be raised, and we'll be back where we were. Those very files that we want won't be the ones that are released.

Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc.s WhatsApp messenger service said it disrupted a hacking campaign linked to Israeli spyware firm Paragon.

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WhatsApp detected efforts to hack the phones of approximately 90 people, including journalists and members of civil society, in a wave of attacks that occurred late last year, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg News Friday.

WhatsApp said that hackers invited their targets to a WhatsApp group, then sent them a malicious PDF file that would breach their device. Its not clear where those who were targeted with the spyware were located, or whether the attempts at compromising their phones were successful. WhatsApp said it has notified all those who were affected.

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This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions, the spokesperson said. WhatsApp will continue to protect peoples ability to communicate privately.

Spyware, which allows users to remotely access mobile phones and monitor encrypted messages without the victims knowledge, is a controversial tool that has often been by some governments to target human rights workers, journalists and critics. Israels NSO Group has been sanctioned by the US since 2021 due to its Pegasus hacking tool.

Paragons technology is designed to gain remote access to a mobile phone, allowing law enforcement and intelligence agencies to covertly monitor encrypted messages sent using apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. The company in December was acquired by the US private equity firm AE Industrial Partners in a deal worth up to $900 million.

Representatives for Paragon and AE Industrial Partners didnt immediately respond to requests for comment on WhatsApps allegations.

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Paragon has sought to distinguish itself from other spyware companies by insisting that it only sells its technology to governments in democratic countries for the purposes of targeting serious criminals.

For some time Paragon has had the reputation of a better spyware company not implicated in obvious abuses, but WhatsApps recent revelations suggest otherwise, said Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at digital rights group Access Now. This is not just a question of some bad apples. These types of abuses are a feature of the commercial spyware industry.

WhatsApp previously filed a lawsuit against NSO Group, accusing it of targeting more than 1,400 WhatsApp users. In December, a US judge in the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the messaging service, finding that NSO was liable for hacking and breach of contract.

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AUSTIN (KXAN)  On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott banned the use of artificial intelligence and social media apps that were affiliated with the Peoples Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Partybut only on government-issued devices.

According to Abbott, the ban now prohibits state employees and contractors from downloading and using the following apps on state-owned or personal devices used for work:

RedNote

DeepSeek

Webull

Tiger Brokers

Moomoo

Lemon8

Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our states critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps, said Governor Abbott. To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices.

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Gov. Abbott issues ban of TikTok on government-issued devices

State agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.

In 2022, Abbott also ordered all Texas state agencies to ban TikTok on government-issued devices.

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(Bloomberg) --

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President Donald Trump intends to move ahead with plans on Saturday to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and a 10% levy on China, the White House said, denying a report that he planned to delay the implementation by a month.

I saw that report, and it is false, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday during the press briefing. I was just with the President in the Oval Office, and I can confirm that tomorrow the Feb. 1 deadline that President Trump put into place remains, she added.

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Trump has threatened the tariffs over what he says is a failure to crack down on the flow of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs across US borders. The tariff decision has been closely anticipated by markets and business and political leaders who have scrutinized his every word and action for any indication on whether he would follow through on his threats or merely use them as a starting point for trade negotiations.

Leavitt, when pressed on whether the tariffs would actually take effect on Saturday, affirmed that they would begin on Feb. 1.

If the president at any time decides to roll back those tariffs, Ill leave it to him to make that decision. But starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place, she said. She declined to say if there would be any exemptions to goods covered by the tariffs.

US border czar Tom Homan is scheduled to speak with Canadian officials on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The tariffs would mark the first wave of trade levies in Trumps new term and their impact will ripple well beyond Canada and Mexico as other nations brace for the possibility they may be targeted next and as US businesses await possible retaliatory measures.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to impose sweeping tariffs abroad as part of an expansive agenda that aims to reshape the US economy and its ties with other nations. But the first two weeks of his term spurred uncertainty over whether he would follow through, with some leaders speculating that his threats were intended to just buy him leverage.

Earlier: Trump Barrels Toward Tariff Showdown With Top Trade Partners

Trump has also already ordered up reports, due April 1, on overall trade issues and tariffs, that could lead him to trigger new levies or to quit the continental trade pact he renegotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term. That agreement is up for review in 2026.

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Trump is also promising sectoral tariffs, such as on pharmaceuticals, semiconductor chips, steel, aluminum and copper, which could apply widely to many countries. He has also ordered his administration to investigate whether China complied with a trade deal struck in his first term, setting the stage for tariffs against the worlds second largest economy.

Trumps 25% tariff against two major trading partners and export markets for the US threatens to have dramatic economic consequences and potentially launch a trade war by undermining protections from the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. Earlier this week, Trump suggested that the 25% rate could be a baseline and that the tariffs could increase.

In the first 11 months of 2024, US trade with Canada totaled $699 billion and $776 billion with Mexico. Economists warn a trade war would raise the cost of imported materials used by US manufacturers, hike prices for American consumers and redirect or reduce trade flows. The 25% rate Trump has set for the North American countries would likely have stark impacts on particular sectors, such as the auto and energy industries.

(Updates with additional details in paragraphs 4-5)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have arrived in Parliament as the Budget session begins today. Several Union ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah have also arrived in the parliament. The budget session of the Parliament will commence today with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses at around 11 am. Following this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. It would be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at 2 PM in Rajya Sabha. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. A series of important bills are likely to be taken up during the session. These include the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aimed at strengthening banking regulations and oversight, and the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which focuses on enhancing the operational efficiency of the Indian Railways.Another notable proposal is the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to improve disaster response mechanisms across the country. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024 are also likely to be presented which aimed at bringing reforms to the management of religious endowments. Additionally, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024 will propose updates to the laws surrounding oil exploration and extraction, while the Boilers Bill, 2024 is set to introduce new safety and operational standards for boilers in industrial applications. Among other bills likely to be introduced is the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024, which will address the reallocation of assembly constituencies to better represent scheduled tribes in the state. Maritime laws will see several updates, with the Bills of Lading Bill, 2024, Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, and the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 all set to modernize shipping regulations.Above all, the Finance Bill, 2025 will be central to implementing the budgetary proposals and tax reforms which will be announced by the finance minister on February 1. Other key bills include the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025, which will safeguard financial interests related to aviation, and the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, which will bring changes to immigration and foreigner regulations in India.In terms of financial business, the session will see the discussion and voting on Demands for Grants for 2025-26, followed by the introduction, consideration, and passage of the related Appropriation Bill. The Discussion and Voting on Demands for Grants for 2025-26 is an essential aspect of parliamentary procedures, allowing for the approval of government spending for the upcoming fiscal year while promoting accountability and transparency. Demands for Grants are essentially requests made by the government to Parliament, specifying the amount of money it needs to meet its expenses for a given year. These expenses cover a wide range of areas, such as infrastructure, healthcare, defence, education, welfare programs, and more. Each ministry or department submits its own Demands for Grants, detailing the specific amounts needed to fund its activities and programs. Additionally, the Second and Final Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2024-25 will be reviewed, along with the introduction and passage of the relevant Appropriation Bill. The Second and Final Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2024-25 refers to additional funds that the government seeks to allocate after the presentation of the annual budget for the fiscal year. These supplementary demands arise when there are changes in the government's spending needs, which were not anticipated during the initial budget preparation. The session will also address the Demands for Excess Grants for 2021-22, which will require discussion, voting, and the introduction of a related Appropriation Bill.Demands for Excess Grants for 2021-22 refer to additional funds that the government seeks to appropriate for the financial year 2021-22 when the expenditure incurred by various ministries or departments exceeds the amount originally approved by Parliament in the budget for that fiscal year. After the all-party meeting convened by the government on Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that tentatively 16 items of legislative business and three items of financial business have been identified for being taken up during this session. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs also stated that the Government is prepared and ready to discuss any other important issue on the floor of the Houses as per the rules of both Houses. The legislative agenda of the government includes the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, the Boilers Bill, 2024, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Finance Bill, 2025. The first part of the Budget session will continue till February 13 and the two Houses will again meet on March 10 after recess with the session concluding on April 4. (ANI)
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that P{resident Trump would be implementing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China starting on Saturday. NBC News' Garrett Haake reports from the White House on the proposed tariffs and their potential impact.
President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said on Friday, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in swift price increases to U.S. consumers.

Trump, a Republican, had been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater cooperation from the countries on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl, but he has also pledged to use tariffs to boost domestic manufacturing.

Starting tomorrow, those tariffs will be in place, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. These are promises made and promises kept by the president.

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Read: Helicopter, plane collide: Flight number 5342 retired (live updates)

Trump had said he was weighing issuing an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports. Still, Leavitt said she had no information to share on the presidents decision on any potential carveouts.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico. U.S. daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day.

He has previously stated a 10% tariff on Chinese imports would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from the country.

Read: Subtilties of heart attacks in women

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.




WHITEHALL, Ohio (WCMH)  A Whitehall high school is urging testing after a student tested positive for tuberculosis.

A letter dated Jan. 29 was sent to parents from Whitehall-Yearling High School principal Dr. Maria Boyarko, who noted that the student is receiving treatment and that the risk of infection is very low.

Watch: Garbage collectors in Whitehall walk away unscathed from explosion

As a precautionary measure, Whitehall City Schools conducted contact tracing and identified the students who need to be tested, the letter states. Families were notified by phone today with instructions regarding testing.

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According to Boyarko, Columbus Public Health stated that tuberculosis is not easily spread, with the most common method being direct, extended contact with a contagious person.

TB is a respiratory infection spread by inhaling airborne germs from someone who has the disease, Boyarko writes. It is not spread by shaking hands, sharing food or drink, or touching surfaces.

Boyarko wrote that only those families contacted by Columbus Public Health should be tested; however, any family is not prohibited from being tested but it would be at the familys cost.

Ohio university student among victims of D.C. plane crash

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says tuberculosis usually affects a persons lungs, but can also affect the brain, kidneys, spine, and other organs. If left untreated, it can be fatal.

Parents or guardians with further questions are asked to contact Nurse Wendy Siegel RN, BSN, at 614-417-5602.

For more information on tuberculosis, click here.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
(WGHP)  North Carolina Governor Josh Stein ordered all U.S. and N.C. flags on state facilities to fly half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Friday in tribute to the victims who died Wednesday night in the crash between an American Airline flight and Blackhawk helicopter over the Potomac River.

The FAA said the midair crash occurred before 9 p.m. EST in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet (122 meters) and a speed of about 140 mph (225 kph) when it rapidly lost altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.

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A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight-tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

The U.S. Army said the helicopter involved was a UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. A crew of three soldiers were onboard the helicopter, an Army official said. The helicopter was on a training flight.

Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily restricted airspace around the nations capital for familiarization and continuity of government planning.

In audio from the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash, a controller is heard asking the helicopter, PAT25 do you have the CRJ in sight, in reference to the passenger aircraft.

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Tower, did you see that? another pilot is heard calling seconds after the apparent collision.

The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.

The planes transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 meters) short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

The U.S. Army described the helicopter as a UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Military aircraft frequently conduct such training flights in and around the nations capital.

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My heart goes out to everyone who lost loved ones in the tragic DCA plane crash. Anna and I are praying for all involved, including the families of the Charlotte-based crew members, Stein said.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
Paramount, which owns CBS, is reportedly trying to settle a laughable lawsuit that Donald Trump filed last October based on a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the 2024 presidential election. The New York Times reports that the company started settlement negotiations because it is keen to avoid regulatory obstacles to its planned merger with Skydance Media.

Paramount's openness to a settlement represents quite a turnaround from the position that CBS took after Trump filed his lawsuit. "The lawsuit Trump has brought today against CBS is completely without merit," the network said then, "and we will vigorously defend against it." The striking change illustrates the pressure that a president can exert on news outlets that annoy hima reality that is especially troubling when the White House is occupied by someone determined to "straighten out the press." Although that mission is blatantly inconsistent with the First Amendment, Trump can pursue it indirectly by deploying executive power in service of his personal vendettas.

After Trump sued CBS, the Times notes, "many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet." That is arguably a charitable description of Trump's lawsuit, which avers that CBS violated a Texas consumer fraud statute by editing the interview with Harris in a way that made her seem slightly more cogent. His invocation of that law is patently frivolous. So is Trump's risible claim that the editing of the interview cost him "at least" $10 billion in damages.

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During the interview, 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response to the Biden administration's concerns regarding the war in Gaza. An October 6 preview of the interview on Face the Nation included this part of her response: "Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in several movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by

or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region." In the edited version of the interview that aired on 60 Minutes the next day, by contrast, Harris says, "We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end."

Harris did not come across as especially forthright, articulate, or intelligent in either version of her response. But Trump complained that "her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better."

In response, 60 Minutes said the show gave Face the Nation "an excerpt of our interview" that "used a longer section of her answer" than the segment used in the interview that aired the next day. It was the "same question" and the "same answer," the producers said, but "a different portion of the response." They added: "When we edit any interview, whether [with] a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allow[ed] time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment."

As Trump saw it, however, that decision was "A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal." How so? In his lawsuit, which he filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Trump claims that CBS violated that state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), which prohibits "false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce."

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In response to the lawsuit, CBS reiterated that "the interview was not doctored" and noted that 60 Minutes "did not hide any part of Vice President Kamala Harris's answer to the question at issue." But the problems with Trump's case go far beyond the question of whether CBS engaged in responsible journalism.

As relevant here, the DTPA defines "trade or commerce" as "the advertising, offering for sale, sale, lease, or distribution of any good or service," including "any trade or commerce directly or indirectly affecting the people of this state." In other words, the statute is aimed at misrepresentations in connection with the promotion or sale of goods or services.

When it edited the Harris interview, 60 Minutes was not advertising or selling anything. It was practicing journalismpoorly, in Trump's view, but in any case making the sort of editorial decisions that news outlets routinely make. Those decisions are indisputably protected by the First Amendment except in specific, narrow circumstances such as defamation. Whatever you make of Trump's objections to the Harris interview, they plainly do not support a claim for damages.

Trump claims his lawsuit is authorized by Section 17.50 of the DTPA, which says "a consumer may maintain an action" when he suffers "economic damages" or "mental anguish" as a result of false, misleading, or deceptive statements that he "relied on" to his "detriment." A consumer also can sue based on "breach of an express or implied warranty" or "any unconscionable action." The law defines that last phrase as "an act or practice which, to a consumer's detriment, takes advantage of the lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity of the consumer to a grossly unfair degree."

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Trump's lawsuit says he is "a 'consumer' within the meaning of the DTPA, since he is an individual who sought and received CBS's broadcast services." But the statute defines "consumer" as someone who "seeks or acquires by purchase or lease, any goods or services" (emphasis added). Trump did not purchase or lease anything from CBS.

While Trump may be a "consumer" of 60 Minutes in the sense that he watches the show, he is not a consumer who bought goods or services from CBS, let alone one who bought goods or services based on "false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices." Since there was no transaction, Trump likewise could not have suffered damages by buying something based on "an express or implied warranty" or because he lacked the "knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity" to assess the merits of the purchase.

Trump's lawsuit notes that the DTPA covers practices that "caus[e] confusion or misunderstanding" regarding "the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services" or regarding "affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification, by another." He says CBS confused "millions of Americans, and in particular residents of Texas," because it was "impossible for even the most discerning viewers to determine whether the 60 Minutes interview was independent journalism or de facto advertising for the Kamala Campaign." He says viewers also would have been confused about "the Interview's 'certification by' CBS given its legal obligation to broadcast news in a non-distortive manner."

The lawsuit adds that "CBS's misconduct was unconscionable because it amounts to a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election." That understanding of "unconscionable," invoking supposed election interference, has nothing to do with the way the term is used in the statute, where it refers to a situation in which a business cheats a consumer by taking advantage of his ignorance in a "grossly unfair" way.

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None of this makes any sense in the context of the DTPA, because none of it is grounded in a commercial relationship between Trump and CBS. Trump is simply dressing up his criticism of news coverage as a consumer fraud complaint without any evidence that CBS engaged in the deceptive trade practices that the law covers. This is the same strategy he later used in his lawsuit against The Des Moines Register, which offended him by publishing a poll that inaccurately predicted a Harris victory in Iowa. If misleading journalism counted as actionable consumer fraud, news outlets would have to constantly worry about potentially ruinous litigation whenever their work might be characterized that way, which is almost always the case.

Trump's estimate of the damages he supposedly suffered as a "consumer" who never bought anything from CBS compounds the absurdity of his lawsuit. He says the damages are "reasonably believed to be at least $10,000,000,000." In case that seems like a number pulled out of thin air, a footnote avers that "CBS's distortion of the 60 Minutes Interview damaged President Trump's fundraising and support values by several billions of dollars, particularly in Texas." Trump's 2024 campaign spent a total of about $355 million, which is a lot of money but a tiny fraction of the additional $10 billion he says he could have raised"particularly in Texas"if CBS had not aired an interview that was edited to make Harris look a bit less "DUMB."

Why is Paramount so eager to settle this comical excuse for a lawsuit? Needless to say, it has nothing to do with the legal or logical merits of Trump's complaint.

The New York Times reports that Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder, "supports the effort to settle" because she "stands to clear billions of dollars on the sale of Paramount." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is now chaired by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, has the power to queer that deal by refusing to approve the transfer of the broadcasting licenses held by CBS-owned TV stations.

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That approval could be contingent on what the FCC makes of the complaint that the Harris interview violated its rule against "broadcast news distortion," which makes it "illegal for broadcasters to intentionally distort the news." As the FCC put it in 1979, "broadcasters are public trustees licensed to operate in the public interest and, as such, may not engage in intentional falsification or suppression of news."

Because the FCC is "prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press," the agency says, it "will only investigate claims that include evidence showing that the broadcast news report was deliberately intended to mislead viewers or listeners." It "does not investigate claims of collateral inaccuracy in news reports or differences of opinion over the truth or validity of aspects of a news program."

Carr has implicitly acknowledged that proving CBS "deliberately intended to mislead viewers or listeners" would be a tall order. "In my view," he told Glenn Beck last year, "the best way forward" would be to "release the transcript," which would mean "there's no reason to have this before the FCC." Although "CBS had refused previous requests from Mr. Trump's lawyers" to release the complete transcript of the interview, the Times says, "people inside Paramount have been expecting the F.C.C." to request it, and Carr "has said that the commission would probably look into the '60 Minutes' interview as part of its review of the Paramount merger." Trump, for his part, argues that the editing of the Harris interview is sufficient reason for the FCC to "TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE."

The upshot of all this is that Paramount is eager to settle Trump's ridiculous lawsuit, perhaps with some sort of clarification or apology. That outcome, the Times notes, is apt to provoke "an uproar within CBS News and among the '60 Minutes' staff," since "journalists at the network have expressed deep concern about the notion of their parent company settling litigation that they consider tantamount to a politician's standard-issue gripes about a news organization's editorial judgment."

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Trump can extort that outcome because of the FCC's antiquated and constitutionally dubious authority over the content of broadcast journalism, which the government treats differently from journalism disseminated via print, cable, satellite, the internet, or any other nonbroadcast medium. That is just one of many ways that a president can try to punish or suppress speech he does not like. Other levers of executive power include the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IRS, antitrust enforcement by the Justice Department, privacy and financial regulations, and presidential support for new legislation. Trump has even suggested that the Justice Department "should" be policing the press to make sure it is telling the truth, an idea that is legally baseless and starkly at odds with the First Amendment.

Trump and other Republicans rightly complained when the Biden administration persistently pressured social media platforms to suppress speech that federal officials viewed as a threat to public health, democracy, or national security. That pestering, they plausibly argued, violated the First Amendment because it carried an implicit threat of government retaliation against companies that refused to comply. Yet Trump is doing essentially the same thing in this case by pressuring Paramount to assuage his wrath by settling a lawsuit that was bound to fail on its merits.

Like the Biden administration officials he despises, Trump is demanding that a private company kowtow to himor else. Also like them, he claims to be serving the public interest: He argues that "our press is very corrupt," which represents a threat not only to him but to democracy itself. But his chilling crusade against the press, which he openly says is aimed at changing the way journalists cover the news, is an assault on the values that distinguish a liberal democracy from one that elects autocrats who are free to punish speech that offends them.

The post Why Is Paramount So Keen To Settle Trump's Laughable Lawsuit Against CBS? appeared first on Reason.com.
Search and rescue teams hadnt even finished pulling the bodies out of the Potomac River before Donald Trump began blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for the disastrous Wednesday night plane crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet outside Washington that likely killed 67 people.

During a rambling press conference Thursday, Trump pushed his theory that air traffic controllers were to blame, then claimed without evidence that the Biden and Obama administrations had lowered aviation hiring standards. He also criticized an effort to hire people with disabilities that existed throughout his entire first term in office.

I put safety first, Trump claimed. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level.

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Vice President JD Vance claimed: "If you go to some of the headlines over the past ten years many hundreds of people are suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trumps leadership.

Before Wednesdays collision, there hadnt been a major commercial airline crash on American soil in 16 years, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed during landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people onboard.

When pressed about his claim DEI was responsible for the crash, which is under investigation, Trump responded: It just could have been. He added that he reached the conclusion because I have common sense.

It was only the most recent disaster for which Trump and his allies have blamed DEI, even though the facts dont support them.

Trump has blamed diversity programs for the plane crash, even though the investigation into the disaster is at its early stages (Getty Images)

As wildfires tore through the hills of Los Angeles this month, those on the right quickly boiled the crisis down to DEI, seemingly because Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is the first woman and second Black person to lead the city, and L.A. fire chief Kristin Crowley, a 22-year fire veteran, is the first woman and openly queer person to lead the department.

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Trumps billionaire supporter and partner Elon Musk claimed: "They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes, sharing screenshots of a four-year-old L.A. Fire Department racial equity plan He then put a finer point on it, writing that DEI means people DIE in response to a video of Crowley talking about using a DEI focus to attract the best and brightest to the force.

Conservatives blamed DEI for the Los Angeles fires, though experts say a combination of climate change drought, high winds, poor planning, and overtaxed water systems led to the devastation (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Experts say a variety of factors caused the devastating fires, from drought conditions, to 100 mph Santa Ana winds, to neighborhoods built in dangerous fire zones, to a city water distribution system that was unable to keep hydrants filled fast enough to match a wildfire-scale blaze descending on a dense urban environment.

Part of the reason Crowley has spoken openly about fostering a more inclusive culture at the department is because it faced years of complaints and lawsuits about discrimination under her predecessors, issues which would also seem to get in the way of a focus on fire-fighting.

No matter how multi-faceted a crisis, the playbook against DEI has been run again and again.

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When an extremist plowed his car into revelers and attempted to set off bombs during New Years Day celebrations in New Orleans, GOP Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News: The priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs [improvised explosive devices] ...You talk to anyone whos willing to speak within these agencies, thats what their focus has been.

When a shipping vessel collided with Baltimores Key Bridge and brought it tumbling down in March, a Utah gubernatorial candidate blamed governors who prioritize diversity," even though the ship at issue allegedly had a record of shoddy maintenance. Meanwhile, online commenters deluged Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott with racist attacks, accusing him of being a DEI mayor.

Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 inspired both renewed conversations about identity and an eventual right-wing backlash (Getty Images)

Mayor Scott and Maryland Governor Wes Moore are both Black and Democrats.

Weve been the bogeyman for them since the first day they brought us to this country, and what they mean by DEI in my opinion is duly elected incumbent, Scott said in response to the attacks, claiming DEI attacks are a dog whistle for people who dont have the courage to say the N-word.

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The last four years have witnessed a sea change in how the country and its institutions consider race and identity.

The massive racial justice protests after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police set off a nationwide conversation about anti-Black racism in the U.S. Yet police killings of mostly people of color continued and key police reform largely stalled at a national level. But some courts and the corporate world inspired a brief push to make workplaces more equitable and diverse.

That triggered a backlash.

In 2023 the Supreme Court, stacked with Trump-appointed justices, struck down affirmative action in higher education.

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At the same time, Republicans pushed to ban books talking about identity and race, claiming schools at all levels were indoctrinating students with critical race theory, a niche academic concept that seemingly came to stand in on the right for anything mentioning the existence of non-white people or racism.

In the corporate world, right-wing activists used viral social media campaigns to push major U.S. companies to drop DEI programs, and name brands like McDonalds, Walmart, and Harley all backed away from such work.

While Trump and his supporters consistently argue that opposing DEI is in fact colorblind, with a focus on fairness and merit, it also cant be ignored how demonizing people of color is a core part of the Trump movement.

The presidents 2016 campaign began with his claim in Trump Tower that Mexican immigrants were rapists and drug dealers, and the Republican has continued attacking minorities since, branding Black Lives Matter protesters as thugs, claiming during the 2024 debates that Haitian migrants are eating cats, and accusing border-crossers of poisoning the blood of America.

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The MAGA movement, in other words, doesnt seem to actually want a society that ignores race and identity; they just wont admit what theyre doing is identity politics too, just from the right instead of the left.

The consequences of all this DEI wrangling may seem philosophical, but they are very real and deeply ironic.

The perception that California leaders are a bunch of social justice warriors who cant be trusted in a crisis seems to be feeding into recent Republican threats to impose conditions on wildfire aid to the state, which is highly atypical during an ongoing disaster.

The new administration has moved to end federal funding for DEI programs across the federal government and organizations supported by its work, impacting thousands across agencies and disciplines.

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And the White House sets the tone for the rest of the country.

When the next disaster rolls around, itll only be a matter of time before the right hops online and goes viral with claims that DEI is to blame. And the most powerful people in the world, regardless of the facts, will be quick to believe them.
A sweeping Tennessee immigration bill could make it unlawful for local officials to adopt sanctuary city policies and create temporary drivers licenses for non-citizens.

Senate Bill 6002/House Bill 6001 cleared both chambers of of the state legislature Thursday afternoon following a whirlwind special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Lee.

The contentious bill makes it a Class E felony for an official to vote in favor of adopting a sanctuary policy, which limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It also removes any officials who are convicted.

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President Donald Trump has been targeting sanctuary cities like New York and Chicago, where officials dont ask about residents immigration status nor report them to authorities, as he scrambles to fulfill his much-hyped mass deportation campaign promises.

The Tennessee bill would also instruct the Department of Public Safety to issue temporary drivers licenses to lawful permanent residents or other individuals who are authorized to be in the U.S. but are not citizens in order to determine voter eligibility. Currently, they qualify for standard drivers licenses.

Individuals who would present a drivers license from a state that issues driver licenses to illegal aliens in order to obtain a license in Tennessee would also be required to provide proof of citizenship or authorization.

The bill also creates an immigration enforcement grant program to incentivize local governments to work with the U.S. Attorney Generals Office to enforce federal immigration laws.

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The ACLU, a civil rights advocacy group, said it would challenge the measure in court immediately after it is signed into law.

Threatening officials with felony charges and criminal prosecution based solely on how they vote raises significant constitutional concerns, the organization said in a statement. This authoritarian legislation is incompatible with the bedrock American values of democracy and the rule of law, and we have no choice but to challenge it in court.

Democratic Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson warned that the bill sets a dangerous precedent.

This legislation is only intending to use government as a bludgeon and to ignore the autonomy and the right of locally elected people to govern in a way that is according to their own conscience, he said at the special session . This is authoritarian, this is wrong, and the actions that we are being asked to take are immoral.

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Republican Portland Rep. William Lamberth invoked the deaths of Laken Riley and others who were killed by illegal immigrants in his defense of the bill.

Let it ring forth: We will not have sanctuary cities in this state, he said. It aint gonna happen here in Tennessee and our citizens will not be murdered by illegal immigrants.
SAVOY, Ill. (WCIA)  Officials from Willard Airport in Savoy have released a statement in the wake of Wednesday nights mid-air collision in Washington D.C.

Investigators determined that an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kan. collided with a U.S. Army helicopter while on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport. Both aircrafts fell into the Potomac River and all 67 people involved (64 on the plane and three aboard the helicopter) are presumed dead.

No survivors after collision between American Airlines jet, Army helicopter near DC

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American Airlines is the only airline company that flies into and out of Willard Airport. On Thursday, the airports management posted the following statement on its Facebook page:

We are deeply saddened by the tragic aircraft incident near Reagan National Airport (DCA) that occurred last night. We offer our deepest condolences for the passengers, airline and military crews, and our hearts go out to their families and all those impacted by this unexpected tragedy Willard Airport management

Airport management also advised that people with travel plans to Washington check with their airlines for updates on the status of their flights.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
A far-right, extremist group has compiled a list of foreign students and teachers that it thinks should be expelled from the United States for protesting against Israel, and turned it over to officials in the Trump administration.

Betar, a Revisionist Zionist organization inspired by European fascist movements, has been using facial recognition and soliciting tips to identify protesters at rallies and encampments opposing Israels brutal war in Gaza over the past year.

The Zionist community in America has had enough, and while we vowed many months ago to build lists and have them deported, we are pleased that this will now begin, a spokesperson for the group, Daniel Levy, told Salon. We have already submitted names of hundreds of terror supporters to the Trump administration who proudly support terror and dont belong in this country as they are here on visas.

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Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that gives federal agencies the power to identify, punish, and deport foreign nationals allegedly prejudiced against Judaism and Jewish people, a blatant attempt to stifle pro-Palestine activism in the United States. Betar wants to make the Trump administrations attack on the First Amendment even easier.

Levy told Salon that his organization has given its list to attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, U.N. ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik, and other members of the Trump administration. The list isnt just composed of protesters, either: Betar is targeting academics who advocate for Palestine or who teach an alternate history that conflicts with the organizations worldview.

This, according to Levy, includes people who advocate for a one-state solution: a single, secular democratic state encompassing both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

When they say one-state solution, its not for the benefit of the truth or for the benefit of the Jews. They want the six million Jews wiped out, Levy said.

Trumps executive order ostensibly aimed at antisemitism is straight out of the playbook of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which, along with its political manifesto Project 2025, has crafted Project Esther to target pro-Palestine activists. An extremist organization like Betar fits right into that plan, helping with the fascist legwork.


(Photo Courtesy of MATC)

Leaders of the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) laid out the systems requests for the 2025-27 state budget to support college operations and students education during a Thursday legislative briefing.

Education funding will likely be a major point of debate in the upcoming budget process, with public K-12 schools, the UW System and the technical colleges all requesting increases. The technical college system is made up of 16 colleges across the state serving about 287,000 students each year who pursue associate degrees, technical diplomas or short-term certificates.

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The technical college systems budget for 2024-25 totaled about $1.3 billion, with $592.9 million  or 44%  coming from state aid. About 17% of the remainder comes from tuition and fees and 39% comes from property taxes.

We are very lean overall in terms of our overall funding picture we have to be because funding is always limited resources, said system President Layla Merrifield, who started in the position in September 2024.

The systems increase would add up to just under $60 million in general purpose revenue, according to a Department of Administration summary.

According to the system, about 70% of the funding would be distributed based on a formula and 30% would be distributed based on outcomes.

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WTCS policy advisor Megan Stritchko said the request is about 4% of the current budget and is meant to help expand capacity for the technical colleges to meet employer demand across a wide variety of industries. The funding would then be able to be used by each college to meet its unique needs, Stritchko said.

The colleges are hearing from really all the employers in their district just looking for skilled labor, and so this is to help with capacity to meet that demand, Stritchko said. Its also to help with expanding the pipeline of talent so trying to bring more folks into the technical college system  get them trained up, get them a credential and get them out into the workforce, and then supporting those students while theyre within the colleges and helping ensure that theyre successful.

Stritchko noted that technical colleges have been facing rising costs, including because of rapidly advancing technology.

The system is requesting $700,000 in general purpose funds for positions in the Technical College System office and for information technology and security to maintain the systems operations and enable continuous improvement in outcomes. Merrifield said the office helps coordinate the work of the system.

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We are currently funded at the same level we were funded at 20 years ago, Merrifield said. Everything that we do is database decision making. We really try to take in all of this great data from our colleges and then turn it into something useful, and give it back to them so that they know how they can improve relative to their fellow colleges. All of that requires resources.

Part of the request includes $3 million across the biennium to provide grants to colleges for teaching and learning materials that are in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use. The system has said the investment would help to reduce the cost of education as students across the system can access those resources, making it more affordable and accessible.

These textbooks need to be maintained and they need to be updated regularly, just like when you had books, when youre in school, there are version one, version two, version three and they all need to be updated, WTCS policy advisor Brandon Trujillo said, adding that the system has identified nursing and automotive as some programs where students would benefit from available materials.

The system is also seeking $10 million across the biennium to prepare students and educators for the adoption of artificial intelligence in the classroom and the workforce.

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The system is also requesting $10.8 million in each year of the biennium to go towards Wisconsin Grants, administered by the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board. The program provides grants to undergraduate Wisconsin residents enrolled at least half-time in degree or certificate programs.

According to the system, for the first time in over 10 years there has been a waitlist for the grants, with about 3,200 students by the end of fiscal year 2023-24. It is projected that the waitlist will grow significantly in FY 2024-25 due to changes in the federal formula for determining a students financial need.

Were seeing student need increase across our system and its going to continue to increase, Trujillo said.

While Wisconsins state agencies have submitted their budget requests, Gov. Tony Evers will deliver his budget address and release his complete budget proposal next month. The budget will be in the hands of state lawmakers.

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The Karnataka Lokayukta conducted raids in various locations in Bengaluru, Belagavi, Chitradurga, Raichur, and Bagalkote in seven different cases. The raids were led by Belagavi Lokayuktha SP Hanamantharay and took place in three locations in Belagavi district: Anigol, Harugeri, and Bellad Bagewadi. Among the properties raided were the residences of Sachin Manded, the Sub-Registrar of Belagavi North Zone, and Sanjay Durgannavar, a Veterinary Doctor from Raibag Taluk. Both officials are under investigation for allegedly accumulating assets beyond their known sources of income. Manded is under scrutiny in relation to the allegations of illegal wealth accumulation. Similarly, Sanjay Annappa Durgannavar, a Veterinary Inspector in the Veterinary Department, was raided at his residence in Raibag Taluk. Lokayuktha officials have been verifying documents at both of the raided residences, attempting to uncover evidence of corruption. Further details regarding the raids are awaited. Meanwhile, after the Enforcement Directorate's action in the MUDA scam against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, State BJP President BY Vijayendra termed it as "Major victory" and said that the ED investigation has exposed a "significant corruption" involving the Chief Minister. Notably, ED has attached 142 immovable properties having a market value of Rs 300 crore in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and others. ED's Bangalore Zonal Office attached these properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. As per the ED, these properties are registered in the name of various individuals who are working as real estate businessmen and agents. ED initiated the investigation on the basis of a First Information Report registered by the Lokayuktha Police Mysore under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Siddaramaiah and others. A Special Court in Bengaluru also passed an order directing Karnataka Lokyukta to conduct an investigation against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the allegation of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites worth Rs 56 crore to his wife Parvathi by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority It is alleged that Siddaramaiah has used his political influence to get compensation of 14 sites in the name of his wife BM Parvathi in lieu of three acres 16 guntas of land acquired by MUDA. The land was originally acquired by MUDA for Rs 3,24,700. The compensation in the form of 14 sites at Posh locality is worth Rs. 56 Crore (approx). (ANI)
Attorney LaRonna Lassiter Saunders talks to reporters during a Dec. 31, 2024, interview in Overland Park. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Despite video evidence showing Taylor Lowery picking up a wrench and moving away from officers before being shot dozens of times, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay continues to insist that his initial report is accurate.

This cavalier attitude  none of the agencies involved concede that the initial claims that Lowery threatened officers with a knife were untrue  seems to have permeated this case, in which Topeka police posted a clearly false statement about the October 2022 killing. This attitude suggests that police felt confident that neither the video nor the truth would ever see the light of day.

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If this state does not loosen law enforcements grip on police body camera footage, these moral and ethical outrages will only continue.

The agencies involved seem unable to admit their errors.

Said Rosie Nichols, public safety communications specialist for Topeka: This case will be resolved in the court of law, not the court of public opinion. As such, the city will not provide further comment.

Said Melissa Underwood, communications director for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation: Your assertion that the KBI was pushing a false narrative when we issued the news release is false. In officer-involved shooting investigations, we strive to provide as much information as we can to the public as quickly as possible.

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These same agencies, however, fought the release of these videos for two years.

Underwood continued: Transparently providing preliminary details based on eyewitness statements is not, pushing a false narrative, even if once the full investigation concludes, additional or differing facts become known.

If they had the videos, and fought to keep them secret, what additional facts are in the offing?

Had police been less certain the public would never see unedited footage, perhaps one of the officers would not have radioed dispatch about an aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, when the video showed that each time police tried to confront Lowery, Lowery ran from them, not at them.

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Perhaps an officer would not have told Lowerys distraught sister at the scene of the shooting that they had to shoot Lowery because hed charged police with a knife. The footage shows the knife at the foot of one of the officers as they fired 34 shots at Lowery.

The footage also showed Lowery had picked up a wrench and was moving backward, away from police, when they began firing.

Perhaps they would not have seemingly tried to fabricate a narrative in the shootings immediate aftermath. A detective at the scene looked into the body camera and asked if they could confirm that Lowery had a deadly weapon, to which an officer replied: No. He had a wrench.

If they had not established that Lowery had a deadly weapon, why were they firing?

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The videos also seemed to show a markedly different attitude toward a white suspect with a knife and a Black suspect with a wrench.

One video shows a then-Topeka police officer rolling up to a domestic violence scene and finding a white man walking away from the house. The man volunteered that he had a knife and a joint in his pocket. The officer asked if he could pat the man down then politely called him bro, and let him go.

Minutes later, that same officer was firing repeatedly on a Black man holding a wrench.

No wonder they sat on this video and spent taxpayer funds to keep it hidden.

This is why Kansas so desperately needs greater transparency and access to police body camera video. Without it, law enforcement can spin any narrative with impunity. Without it, we will never permeate law enforcements cultural membrane that keeps this behavior hidden.

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One of the videos showed future Kansas Bureau of Investigation director Tony Mattivi representing one of the officers during the post-shooting interview.

This occurred shortly before Mattivi rose to his directorship, but why put someone with such deep law enforcement sympathies in charge of an organization thats supposed to hold police behavior in check?

Its a farce.

This video content suggests that law enforcement  from the officers, to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, to the District Attorneys Office  had to have known that claims Lowery charged police with a knife were false.

It shows the coverup from the very beginning, said attorney LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, who represents Lowerys family.

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It also shows more, she said.

Taylor Lowery didnt have to die that night, Lassiter Saunders said.

Moments before the shooting, police had nearly surrounded Lowery and were pushing him, an indication that they did not perceive him as a deadly threat. No one thought to tackle him and cuff him, or to use a Taser, she said.

Lowerys family called police that night fearing Lowery might harm himself. Hed been cutting himself  and again, whenever police confronted him, at his home and at the convenience store, he ran.

What did he do that night to deserve the death penalty? Lassiter Saunders said.

This lack of transparency can fuel the unchecked arrogance and bad policing in these videos. But sunlight, as we say in journalism, is the best disinfectant, and our law enforcement infrastructure seems badly infected.

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Yes, arrogance.

Back in September, Lassiter Saunders told me that District Attorney Kagay had put out a misleading report on the shooting.

Kagay told me then that he believed the report his office generated offered a thorough and accurate summary. Hes still standing on this manifestly incorrect description.

If the given quote is accurate, we believe a reckless allegation would be a more accurate way to characterize her claim, Kagay said of Lassiter Saunders last fall. As an attorney licensed in Kansas, Ms. Saunders should be aware of the consequences of making false statements, which can lead to criminal, civil and disciplinary ramifications.

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Now who should feel concerned about their license, about false statements, about criminal or civil disciplinary ramifications?

But he likely has nothing to fear from this system, which treats grieving families like suspects and criminals. Lassiter Saunders said Topeka police surreptitiously recorded her conversations with fellow lawyer Paeten Denning (the Denning Law Firm is co-counsel in the case) during their initial video viewing session.

Kagay, who produced a January 2023 report clearing the officers, seems confident that anything hes done wrong will be forgiven were he to appear before any sanctioning board, the same way Topeka police felt confident that their excesses would be forgiven by Kagay and kept out of public view.

Said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project during an interview with Kansas Reflector: I think thats how police departments, culturally, are predisposed and trained to act, in a way that defends the officers decisions. And if theres, you know, a couple of scraps of evidence that they can put together to kind of justify the narrative of the officer, theyre going to do it.

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Why would you ever give them the benefit of the doubt? Bonds said.

We should not. We should demand even greater access and transparency to all such video evidence.

Kansas Reflector editor Sherman Smith and I posed questions to the mother of her childs slain father. DaMabrius Duncan talked about the emptiness of the holidays and even leaving Lowery a plate of food at the site where police killed him.

As we asked Duncan questions, Lassiter Saunders wiped away tears.

It makes me sick to my stomach watching all of this unfold, she said.

Mark McCormick is the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and former deputy executive director at the ACLU of Kansas. 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.
Anthony Muhammad talks to the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland about his support for the Second Look Act, which got a hearing later in the day Thursday from the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

Deborah Haskins son, Joseph, was shot and killed in Baltimore City in 2013. A year later, her nephew, Rueben, was killed in Baltimore County.

But Haskins said she believes in second chances for everyone, which is one reason why she was in Annapolis on Thursday to testify in support of the Maryland Second Look Act. Senate Bill 291 would allow someone in prison to petition courts for a sentence reduction.

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Not all victims are the same. We are not monoliths, Haskins, a licensed therapist, told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. I decided that, for me, not to pass on generational trauma. I have to heal. Part of my healing includes forgiveness, and forgiveness is not an overnight process.

But for Dawn Collins, the bill would undermine the small justice she won with the conviction of her sons killer.

Collins gave tearful testimony as her husband, Richard Collins Jr., stood next to her and slowly turned 360 degrees to show committee members and the hearing audience a large, framed picture of their son, Richard W. Collins III. He was visiting a friend at the University of Maryland, College Park, when he was fatally stabbed in a racially motivated hate crime in May 2017, just days before he was set to graduate from Bowie State University.

I am urging all lawmakers to oppose SB 291, and the no-limits approach to how it would benefit mass murderers, serial rapists, child sex offenders and those who have committed hate crimes, like the one who took my beloved son, Dawn Collins said. The bill would undermine the small justice that was given in the case of my sons murder. I need to be able to continue to know that my son mattered.

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The bill, sponsored by Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County), would allow a person who has served at least 20 years of a prison sentence to petition the court for a sentence reduction. If denied, they could petition again after three years. An inmate could not file more than three petitions.

A written decision would have to include the inmates age at the time of the offense, whether they had participated in any education or vocational programs and whether the individual has demonstrated maturity, rehabilitation and fitness to reenter society sufficient to justify a sentence reduction.

A victim or victims representative would be able to attend a court hearing on the petition, or submit a written statement.

Victims will have full agency and autonomy on whether or not they want to participate in this process. For some it is a part of their healing process, Sydnor said. Not everyone just wants people to be thrown away and forgotten about or feel revictimized. For some people, it is a part of that process.

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But Baltimore County States Attorney Scott Shellenberger (D) called the bill The 14th Look Back Act, since it would repeatedly force victims like Dawn Collins to come back to court and relive the tragedy of a loved one killed.

There needs to be some finality. I need to be able to say to tell Mrs. Collins, Its over. You dont have to come to court anymore and tell your story, Shellenberger said.

Sydnor asked Shellenberger if theres a true finality under the current criminal justice system.

The answer is no, Shellenberger said, But that doesnt mean we should add another [post-conviction remedy] every three years.

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Criminal justice advocates have said everyone deserves a second chance, especially those whove shown they are rehabilitated.

Anthony Muhammad talked about his second chance at life Thursday morning to the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland in Annapolis. Muhammad, who was arrested in 1993 at age 15 on two homicide charges, was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.

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After serving 29 years, 7 months and 29 days, Muhammad was released from prison in September 2022. Today, hes employed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and is a youth mentor with an organization known as Baltimore Brothers.

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I am just one of many of long-term returning citizens, people who have served two, three and four decades of incarceration here in the state of Maryland that are now doing amazing and wonderful things, he said at the caucus meeting. I want to thank this caucus for making this piece of legislation a priority.

The measure, sponsored last year by former Sen. Jill P. Carter, passed the Senate then but stalled in the House.

Del. Cheryl Pasteur (D-Baltimore County), who presented the bill last year, is sponsoring the House version this year. It has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, but a hearing date has not been set.
Prospective college students considering attending Western Illinois University (WIU) have a new incentive to apply.

WIU is waiving the $30 application fee for all undergraduate domestic applicants throughout February. This waiver applies to students who apply through the WIU or Common Application.

The University offers state-of-the-art facilities, including crime labs, nursing simulation areas, an Emergency Operations Center and performance spaces. The $120 million Goldfarb Center for the Performing Arts will be an additional resource.

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Click here to apply. Click here for more information on undergraduate programs at WIU.

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GURNEE, Ill.  A woman was taken into custody after a wrong-way crash involving three vehicles, including one that was allegedly stolen, in Gurnee on Thursday.

According to Gurnee police, the incident unfolded just before 5:30 a.m. near Washington Street and Frontage Road.

Officers said a 22-year-old woman driving in a white Land Rover was allegedly headed southbound in the northbound lanes of Frontage Road, which is also an on-ramp for Route 41 from Washington Street, when two vehicles, a black Cadillac and a gray Toyota, turned onto the ramp.

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As the vehicles navigated the ramp, the driver of the Land Rover allegedly crashed into the Cadillac head-on before the Toyota then rear-ended the Cadillac.

As officers arrived on the scene, they allegedly spotted the driver of the Land Rover attempting to flee the scene on foot but said she walked back toward the scene moments later.

According to officers, however, after the woman returned to the scene, she was allegedly uncooperative with them and officers had to use force to take her into custody. The incident left one of the officers with a minor injury.

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Upon further investigation, offices learned that the Land Rover had allegedly been stolen in Wisconsin on Wednesday night.

The woman was later taken to the hospital for evaluation and she was the only one injured in the crash.

Authorities said charges against the woman allegedly involved are pending and an investigation is ongoing.

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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW)  The woman recently convicted of murder in the 2022 killing of her Nacho Hippo coworker in North Myrtle Beach arrived at a state facility on Thursday, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said.

Lafredia Todd was sentenced to 36 years for the killing of Quentin Johnson, 26. A Department of Corrections Official said her records showed Todd arrived at the Camille Graham Correctional Institution on Thursday.

Online records show Todd was released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Horry County just before 8 a.m. on Thursday. The Department of Corrections official said all new female inmates go to Camille Graham for processing before they receive their permanent prison assignment.

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New inmates spend a month or two being assessed through various medical and mental health tests, as well as other metrics to determine what facility they will eventually be assigned to, the official said.

Todd filed an appeal to her sentence earlier this week.

* * *

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.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP)  A Virginia woman died this week after a head-on collision in Greensboro, according to a Greensboro Police Department news release.

On Jan. 17 around 9:34 p.m., Greensboro police responded to the East Gate City Boulevard and Moody Street area when they were told about a crash with injuries.

Investigators say Marcia Love, 62, of Virginia, was driving a Toyota Prius the wrong way on East Gate City Boulevard.

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A head-on collision happened between the Prius and a Mazda CX-5 that was being driven by a 22-year-old from Raleigh.

Both drivers were hurt and taken to hospitals.

On Monday, Love died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Impairment is believed to be a factor in the crash.

The driver of the Mazda was treated for minor injuries and is not facing charges.

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An Ohio woman is facing charges in connection to the death of a 3-year-old boy.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Laronda Mims, 45, of Columbus, was arrested and indicted by a Franklin County grand jury this week on involuntary manslaughter and child endangering, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records.

TRENDING STORIES:

Earlier this month, officers were called to an apartment complex in the Franklinton neighborhood on reports of a non-responsive child, our news partner at WBNS reported.

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When they got to the scene, police found the boy. He was taken to Nationwide Childrens Hospital in critical condition. WBNS reported that he later died at the hospital.

Court documents indicate Mims was the parent or guardian of the child.

More details on what caused the childs burns were not initially released.

Mims is expected to be arraigned on charges today.

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LITCHFIELD, Ill.  One woman was hurt and one man was arrested after a stabbing Thursday morning in Litchfield, Illinois, police say.

The Litchfield Police Department reports that Robert L. York, 59, was arrested in connection with the stabbing. The Montgomery County States Attorneys Office is preparing to file charges of first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery in the case.

The stabbing happened around 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the 900 block of East Prairie Street.

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How much of National Lampoons Vacation was actually filmed in St. Louis?

Investigators say that York called an emergency line around that time and advised officials that he had stabbed his wife. First responders arrived at the scene a short time later and arrested York.

Investigators say the victim suffered significant injuries. She was treated by Litchfield firefighters at the scene, then sent to a nearby hospital for additional treatment.

Litchfield police sent York to the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office for detention, while Illinois State Police Crime Scene Division officers also responded to process the home for evidentiary items.

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LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)  A woman was killed in a head-on crash with a tractor-trailer Thursday in Lebanon County, according to Troopers.

Ann Guy, 60, of Brownstown, was driving her 2013 Chevy Sonic north when she didnt take a curve, causing her to cross the double yellow lines just before 1 p.m. on State Route 501 in Heidelberg Township, State Police at Jonestown said in a crash report.

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She traveled into the path of a 2020 Peterbilt tractor-trailer, crashing into it head-on. Guys vehicle then hit a utility pole and came to a stop.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital, Troopers said. The tractor-trailer driver was not injured.

State Police said the driver of the tractor-trailer tried to stop before the crash.

Schaefferstown Fire, EMS and PennDOT helped at the scene.

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A 24-year-old woman was sentenced after federal authorities said she bit a flight attendant onboard an Alaska Airlines flight.

In 2023, Aliyah Robyn Stalder was onboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle, Washington, to Phoenix, Arizona, when she tried to open cabin doors, according to court documents and a Jan. 30 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Arizona.

Thats when crew members tried to restrain her, and she bit one attendant on the hand, authorities said.

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McClatchy News reached out to Stalders lawyer Jan. 31 for a statement and was awaiting a response.

The flight attendant had to receive medical attention and suffered a puncture wound and soft tissue swelling before being given antibiotics and a tetanus shot, prosecutors said.

In November, Stalder pleaded guilty to assault by striking, beating or wounding on an aircraft, according to authorities.

Stalder was sentenced to three years of probation, prosecutors said.

McClatchy News reached out to Alaska Airlines for a statement Jan. 31 and was awaiting a response.

As part of her probation, she is not able to fly a commercial aircraft without approval and she must pay a $5,000 penalty as well as $8,000 in restitution, officials said.

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Man traps 18-year-old in Alaska Airlines window seat and gropes her, feds say

Man gives 14-year-old rum on American Airlines flight, sexually abuses her, feds say

Passenger sexually assaults woman, assaults crew members on Delta flight, feds say
The encounter broke out Thursday night after terrorist movement was detected along the Line of Control (LoC) in the area.

"Terrorist movement was detected last night at the #LineofControl in #Poonch sector. Alert troops swiftly engaged the infiltrating #terrorists, triggering an intense & heavy firefight. The #operation continued through the night, leading to the neutralisation of two terrorists," the army said in a post on X.

The army, searching the area, has recovered a number of weapons and a war-like store. The operation is still underway, said the army. Rurther information is awaited.

Previously, the Indian Army's White Knight Corps had said that security forces engaged in an exchange of fire with terrorists after detecting their movement along the LoC in the Poonch. (ANI)
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)  Authorities have arrested a woman who allegedly led them on a pursuit through Woodbury County Thursday.

The Woodbury County Sheriffs Office said in a release that a deputy tried to make a traffic stop around 1:50 p.m. on Highway 20 just west of Lawton. The vehicle fled immediately, leading authorities in a pursuit.

Nebraska teenager arrested after 168 mph pursuit, NSP says

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Officials said the vehicle got to the Interstate 29 bypass and started heading south before later going north. Deputies deployed stop sticks at the northbound on-ramp at Sergeant Bluff and used a pursuit intervention technique (PIT) to stop the vehicle.

Ashley Medina

Ashley Medina, 41, was identified as the driver and taken into custody. Narcotics and multiple other items were found and seized by the sheriffs office, the release said.

Medina was booked into the county jail on a $12,500 bond. The jail website shows she is charged with improper use of lanes, unsafe passing, speeding 20mph over the speed limit, possession of methamphetamine-first offense, possession of drug paraphernalia, eluding, littering, participating in a felony or result in serious injury-second or subsequent offense. Multiple charges are pending as authorities continue to investigate.

The Iowa State Patrol and the Sergeant Bluff Police Department assisted the sheriffs office during the incident.

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WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI)  Out of an abundance of caution, all Woonsocket schools are being dismissed early following a reported school threat.

Woonsocket Superintendent Patrick McGee sent out an email Friday morning informing families of a threatening message sent to the high school and both middle schools.

After investigating, police believe the threats are not credible, but students are being dismissed early in an effort to err on the side of caution.

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Several schools received a letter in the mail today threatening a school shooting this afternoon. All letters were the same and were opened as mail usually is during the morning hours at various times, Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas Oates told 12 News.

Oates said they are investigating and following some leads at this time.

Dismissal times

WHS/WACTC: 12:45 p.m.

Villa Nova Middle School: 12 p.m.

Hamlet Middle School: 12 p.m.

Savoie ES: 1:30 p.m.

Bernon ES: 1:30 p.m.

Pothier-Citizens MS: 1:30 p.m.

Globe Park ES: 2 p.m.

Harris ES: 2 p.m.

Coleman: 2 p.m.

The superintendent said an update will be released once they receive more information from police.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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VAN BUREN COUNTY, Ark  After a year of investigations on the Van Buren County Sheriffs Office, Working4You is finally putting eyes on a highly followed and controversial arrest in Van Buren County.

In January of 2024, Ronnie Dollar was arrested outside the Sheriffs Office for disorderly conduct.

Working 4 You: Man accusing Van Buren County deputy of excessive force makes claims of prosecutorial misconduct

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The initial report says Dollar was aggressive and chaotic, but others claimed the former Chief Deputy acted wrongly during the arrest.

Working4You asked for video of the arrest but was told the incident was under investigation.

The video was eventually obtained in December of 2024, but a portion of it was missing.

The only thing that the sheriffs office claims was preserved was the video footage outside, which is bad enough as it is, but it still leaves questions about how it got up to that point, said former Van Buren County Sheriffs Office employee Casey Cresswell.

Working4You obtained two videos, one taken from inside the lobby, and the other taken from outside the department.

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In the video recorded in the lobby, we see Ronnie Dollar pace around for about a minute and a half, and just a woman comes up to the window, the video cuts to black.

We miss the entire conversation leading up to the arrest.

What you miss is the aggressor is the one behind the badge, not the one getting jailed and accused of these false charges, said Cresswell.

Cresswell says she was working the day of the arrest and claims there is a different version of the video that was deliberately deleted in an attempt to protect Adams.

In the months following the arrest, Dollar and his attorney Kent Tester filed a civil lawsuit against Van Buren County Sheriff Eric Koonce, his former Chief Deputy Derek Adams, and investigator Lt. Chasta Harrison.

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Working 4 You: Are Education Freedom Accounts truly available to families of all backgrounds?

The lawsuit claims the three violated Dollars due process and deliberately deleted evidence.

A letter sent to Sheriff Eric Koonce in March 2024, shows Tester asking the department to preserve all audio and video evidence related to the incident.

A month later, Tester got word from the deputy prosecutors office, the email reads as follows:

The attachment is screenshots from Sheriff Koonces cell phone; he took screenshots from the original video, but it was clipped. The original no longer exists.  Phillip W. Ellis, T.A.

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The sheriffs office told Working 4 You the missing video was caused by a glitch in the system.

When the footage was downloaded to the disk, the video in the lobby wasnt checked as we were unaware of any issues. After it was discovered, it was too late to redownload the footage as our cameras only hold footage for 25 days, said Lt. Chasta Harrison.

Cresswell worked at the Van Buren County Sheriffs Office for about a year, and says she never witnessed any recording issues with the security cameras.

I have never seen a glitch happen to where the video footage wasnt recorded properly, said Cresswell. In live time, the cameras they did have installed, they would lag bad in live time.

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Ronnie Dollars attorney claims Dollar was assaulted by law enforcement during the arrest and said had the entire video been recovered the answer would be easy.

Working4You reached out to the sheriff and Lt. Harrison for additional comment. They said they could not speak on any ongoing or open investigations.

KARK 4 News has not been able to get ahold of Derek Adams.

They need to be completely cleaned out or retrained. I really dont think they belong in law enforcement at all. They probably just need to be decertified and find a different career path for all those that are involved, Cresswell said.

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Working4You: Central Arkansas homeowners turn to AGs office with complaints about unlicensed roofer

Ronnie Dollar and his attorney Kent Tester have requested a jury trial in the Eastern District of Arkansas. The trial is scheduled for May.

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  Khaby Lame, the Senegal-born worlds most popular TikTok personality who never says a word in videos watched by millions of followers, addressed the youth in his native country on Friday when he was appointed as UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

The 24-year-old influencer, who has over 162 million followers, rose to fame with charming videos of his reactions to everyday life in which he never says a word. His following surged during the pandemic, when he was fired from his factory job and used the extra time on his hands to make and upload more videos.

Being a UNICEF ambassador will allow him to see all the world and its problems, Lame said, adding that he hoped he could contribute to solving some of them.

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Its a true honor to be appointed as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and be part of an organization that puts childrens rights front and center every day, Lame said in a statement. From my own experience as a child fearing poverty, struggling to find my passion at school, and losing my job during the COVID-19 pandemic, to finding my place and calling in the world, I know that all children can thrive when they are given a chance and opportunity.

Senegal is a major source of irregular migration to Europe. Over 60% of Senegalese people are under 25, and 90% work in informal jobs. They have watched for years as money made from natural resources has gone overseas, and many say they have no other choice but to embark on treacherous journeys in rickety fishing boats across the Atlantic.

I tell them to dream big, Lame said when asked about his message to Senegal's youth. Try and do your best to accomplish your dreams, even though there are people telling you that you cannot reach them.

Lame moved to Italy from his native Senegal when he was an infant with his working class parents, but was only granted Italian citizenship when he was 20.

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Ive been in Italy for 20 years since I was only 2 years old, Lame told The Associated Press in Dakar. Looking sharp in a beige suit and a matching tie, he added: My blood is from Senegal, but I feel Senegalese and Italian at the same time.

Lame's appointment to UNICEF came at the end of a four-day visit to Senegal where he met children and young people who are driving positive change in their communities.

___

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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.
Two building-size asteroids will hurtle past Earth this weekend

The world's space agencies are keeping close watch on an asteroid heading our way, because there's currently a 1 in 83 chance it will hit our planet in the next eight years.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, as it's been designated, was flagged by the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) for its potential to impact Earth on 22 December 2032.

"This is one of the highest probabilities of an impact from a significantly sized rock ever," Catalina Sky Survey engineer David Rankin wrote on Bluesky. "Most likely outcome is still a near miss."

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But the asteroid's size, and the non-zero chance of it hitting Earth within the next 50 years, are enough to invoke global planetary defense procedures.

The IAWN will coordinate international organizations to continue monitoring 2024 YR4, and if necessary, develop a strategy for world governments in preparing for the hit and its consequences.

"The first step in the planetary defense response is to trigger further observations," astronomer Colin Snodgrass from the University of Edinburgh told Ian Sample at The Guardian.

"If these observations don't rule out an impact, the next steps will be more detailed characterization measurements using telescopes, and discussion of what space agencies could do in terms of more detailed reconnaissance and eventually mitigation missions."

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Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first sighted on 27 December 2024 by a telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile. This telescope is part of a network that automatically scans the sky looking for early warning signs of asteroid impacts, aptly named the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).

The asteroid's diameter, while not enough to wreak immediate global havoc, is definitely enough to cause severe damage to whatever region it hits, potentially spanning as far as 50 kilometers from the impact site.

It's too soon to know where on Earth that would be, if it happens at all, but the IAWN's Potential Impact Notification lists the eastern Pacific, northern South America, Africa, and South Asia as potential sites.

A range of international agencies, including the European Space Agency, NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, and the Italian Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site, agree that the chance of the asteroid hitting Earth is just over 1 percent.

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Nonetheless, it's been rated 3 on the Torino Scale, which means we should pay it some attention, though it's likely to be reassigned to 0 with further telescopic observations.

Only one asteroid in history has ever received a higher Torino Scale rating. In December 2024, near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis set the record with a rating of 4.

That was soon downgraded after further observations, and thankfully, recent calculations have ruled out the possibility of Apophis colliding with Earth for the foreseeable future.

The odds of near-Earth asteroids colliding with our planet tend to rise in the early days of sighting them. At first we have just a few points of reference from which to calculate the asteroid's orbit. Because its path is less certain, at this stage the 'risk corridor' is very wide, increasing its potential overlap with Earth.

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As we receive more data by watching the asteroid's movements, we can be more certain of its predicted path, so it becomes narrower.

Earth is usually still in the line of fire at this point. Because the path is more certain, the risk of the asteroid hitting Earth always appears to increase at this point.

But ultimately, the more certain that path becomes, the narrower it gets, which in most cases reveals an asteroid trajectory that is both very certain, and, thankfully, not on course for Earth.

It's particularly difficult to accurately predict asteroid 2024 YR4's path at the moment, because it has an elongated (eccentric) orbit around the Sun, and it's currently moving in almost a straight line away from Earth. So its uncertainty region is massive.

Assessing the threat posed by asteroids or other near-Earth objects that come close to the Earth during their orbit around the Sun is a complex process. ( ESA

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The Space Mission Planning Advisory Group will discuss the asteroid at a routine meeting in Vienna in the coming week.

If the asteroid impact risk remains above 1 percent, the group will provide advice to the United Nations and consider our options, which will likely involve diverting or destroying the asteroid via spacecraft, like NASA's Dart mission.

"This asteroid is of the scale that a mission like Dart could be effective, if required, so we have the technology and it has been tested," Snodgrass said.

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The billionaire-owned Los Angeles Times has been accused of making significant changes to the body and headline of an op-ed on the American health care system without informing the author, morphing what was meant to be a critique into a quasi-endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Political anthropologist and social psychiatrist Eric Reinhart penned the op-ed, initially titled RFK Jrs Wrecking Ball Wont Fix Public Health." When it was published on Wednesday, he noticed the headline had been changed. The new version? Trumps healthcare disruption could pay off  if he pushes real reform.

Along with the headline tweak, editors cut out much of Reinharts framing, which was critical of Kennedy, including his charge that Kennedy, via his egomaniacal disregard for scientific evidence, seeks to use law itself to inflict preventable death on those millions, per his initial draft of the piece.

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The final version of Reinhart's piece opens with a photo of Kennedy. After it was published, the Times' billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, shared it on X as if it were an endorsement, tagging Kennedy and commenting on the prospects of health care reform: "He is our best chance of doing so."

Speaking to Salon, Reinhart said he has asked the paper to change the headline but has not heard back.

In a statement to Salon, Hillary Manning, a spokesperson for the Times, suggested the edits to Reinhart's piece weren't out of the ordinary.

"Our editors in Opinion work with op-ed contributors to edit pieces for length, clarity and accuracy, among other things. No op-ed pieces are published, as edited, without the permission of the author. That includes the op-ed written by Eric Reinhart," Manning said.

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But Reinhart denies ever agreeing to what was ultimately published. Its not unusual for editors to make tweaks or headline changes to a piece without author feedback, Reinhart noted, but changing the meaning of a submission goes well beyond a typical edit.

You trust in that process that the editors that you're working with are not going to screw you over, that they are going to do their best to be faithful to the key arguments of your piece, he told Salon. You don't make last-minute cuts, without the author's explicit approval, that are going to change the fundamental interpretation.

Reinhart acknowledged that he implicitly gave editors clearance to make edits but, responding to the Times' statement, said he expected basic journalistic integrity in that process that would not open a wide door for distortion of what the editors knew very well to be my intended arguments and effects in relation to the pressing political question of the day: RFK Jr.s nomination to a position I believe he would use to inflict massive harm on U.S. and global public health.

In his case, Reinhart believes the final piece, coupled with the photo of Kennedy it ran alongside, could be misconstrued as supportive of the anti-vaccine activist and his bid to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

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I wanted to make very clear, if this is running during the RFK hearings, that I absolutely do not support RFK. RFK does not represent any of the goals that I articulate in the piece, and he is incredibly dangerous, Reinhart told Salon.

Soon-Shiong previously stepped in to kill an editorial board endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris before the November election. But Reinhart argued that the changes to his piece are a more egregious affront to journalistic standards.

If somebody kills my piece at the last minute for their own political ideology, that's frustrating  but I can live with that, Reinhart said. But somebody distorting or encouraging audiences to view your writing in a distorted manner in a way that's contrary to the clear intent of your submission, that's an entirely different matter.

Its not clear that Soon-Shiong himself pushed for the changes, but Reinhart said his influence over the publication is cause for concern either way.

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It's symptomatic of a growing problem across our American media landscape. It's increasingly controlled by people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Pat, other corporate interests and billionaires who are not shy about using their power and their wealth to manipulate public discourse, he told Salon.

Reinhart said advice to other writers is to consider a publication's conflicts of interest  and erosion of editorial independence  before pitching.

If you are a freelance writer, or a writer of any kind, and you are working with the LA Times on something in which their owner has known vested interests, I wouldn't trust that newspaper, he said.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY)  West Virginia University is restructuring some of its divisions to comply with Gov. Patrick Morriseys (R) executive orders.

Executive Order No. 3-25 removes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from state-funded programs, including DEI positions and education. WVU announced Friday that its Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has closed, and a new unit called the WVU Division of Campus Engagement and Compliance has been established, according to Morriseys office.

WVU said the new division will focus on ensuring the University adheres to federal and state guidance and fulfilling the needs of our campus community, including compliance with Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act which is its primary focus.

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Additional guidance will be released by WVU once the universitys review is complete.

Morrisey says fentanyl, immigration crackdowns go hand-in-hand

In a press release, Gov. Morrisey said that the change is a big win for the Mountain State.

Were going to keep going  this is just the beginning of our effort to root out DEI. Thats going to happen more and more in the weeks and months ahead, Morrisey said.

As of Friday morning, the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page on WVUs website was still active.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
New test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, indicate that four years after the onset of the pandemic lockdowns, American schoolchildren are still struggling to catch up to pre-pandemic achievement levels.

"Today's NAEP results reveal a heartbreaking reality for American students and confirm our worst fears: not only did most students not recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but those students who were the most behind and needed the most support have fallen even further behind," reads a Wednesday Education Department press release. "Change must happen, and it must happen now."

These latest NAEP results looked at achievement for fourth and eighth graders in reading and math. Overall, test scores declined slightly when compared to 2022, the last time students were tested and still remained below pre-pandemic levels. However, the most revealing results came when separating student performance based on percentile. While students performing in the 90th or 75th percentile have mostly rebounded, declines for students performing the worst were much steeper. For example, fourth-grade math scores have returned to pre-pandemic levels for high-achieving students, while the lowest-achieving students have seen an eight-point drop in scores since 2019, declining from 199 to 191 on a 500-point scale.

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It's worth noting that the children currently being tested were quite young when the pandemic began. This latest round of testing happened in early 2024, meaning that the fourth graders were in kindergarten and the eighth graders were in fourth grade when lockdowns began. Unsurprisingly, the eighth graders were more severely affected by the score declines, especially in math. While fourth and eighth graders suffered the same average five-point decline since 2019, fourth-grade math and reading scores declined only three points while eighth-grade scores declined eight points.

What do these scores mean? In this year's test, almost 1 in 4 eighth graders were "below NAEP Basic" in math, meaning that they didn't even have "partial mastery" of the skills necessary to succeed in eighth-grade math. Around 1 in 3 eighth graders were below "NAEP Basic" in reading.

"If we're saying that a third of this year's ninth graders are below NAEP Basic, we're saying that one-third of these kids likely can't tell us the main idea of a text," Julia Rafal-Baer, a National Assessments Governing Board member and former assistant commissioner of the New York State Education Department, told the education-focused news website The 74. "They can't draw any explicit features from that text. What does that mean for these kids? What's the plan to re-engage them and improve their outcomes?"

These results show that, while children who were already doing well have managed to rebound from pandemic score declines, the children who are struggling have continued to face further difficulties, even as pandemic lockdowns shift further out of view.

The post Years After the Pandemic, the Lowest-Performing Students Are Still Significantly Behind appeared first on Reason.com.
President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday stated that with the efforts of the government, India is going to become the third biggest economy in the world. The president said that my government's mantra is "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas". President Droupadi Murmu was addressing a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament, marking the beginning of this year's Budget Session. Murmu, after arriving in the parliament in a horse-drawn buggy, started her address, followed by the national anthem. "Two months ago, we celebrated the 75 years of adopting our constitution and a few days ago, we completed our journey of 75 years... On behalf of all Indians, I bow down to Babasaheb Ambedkar and all others in the Constitution Committee," President Murmu said. She in her address also paid respect to Baba Saheb Amedkar. "I pay respect to Baba Saheb Ambedkar and all the makers of constitution." While expressing grief over the stampede in the ongoing Mahakumbh in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj, where 30 people lost their lives, she said, "The historic Mahakumbh is also going on in the country. Mahakumbh is a festival of India's cultural identity and social enlightment. Crores of devotees have already taken the holy dip in Mahakumbh. I express grif over the incident happened in the Mouni Amavaasya. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured." On this occasion, she also remembered former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away last year. "A few days earlier we lost former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He served the nation as prime minister for ten years and was also a part of the parliament for a long time. I pay respect to Dr. Singh," Murmu said. "Today the country is witnessing big decisions being taken in a swift manner. In these decisions, women, youths, middle class and farmers are getting primary attention," she added. "My government has taken strong steps to provide Awaas through Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna. The government has also decided to provide 3 crores more houses under this scheme. "My government is committed to fulfilling the dream of the middle class of having their own house," the president said. "Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, it has been decided to provide health insurance to six crore senior citizens aged 70 years and above. Every year they will get a health cover of 5 lakh rupees," she added. Followed by the President's address, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. It would be tabled in Lok Sabha at 12 noon and at 2 PM in Rajya Sabha. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. The document may also give some idea about the tone and texture of the actual budget for 2025-26, to be presented on Saturday. The budget will be presented on February 1. On budget day, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am. The budget speech will outline the government's fiscal policies, revenue and expenditure proposals, taxation reforms, and other significant announcements. Notably, the budget session of parliament will begin on January 31 and, according to schedule, will end on April 4. (ANI)
The United States worst aviation tragedy in more than two decades followed years of alarms about the nations hallowed air-safety system  and a series of close calls before luck finally ran out over the Potomac.

The Covid pandemic worsened a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers, only for demand for air travel to soar once passengers returned. Politically motivated government funding showdowns made it harder to train new workers and replace outmoded safety equipment. And the agency at the center of it all, the Federal Aviation Administration, spent extended stretches without a permanent leader  while investigators expressed warnings about a spike in near-collisions at airports.

It will likely take a year or more for authorities to announce a formal conclusion about the cause of Wednesday nights crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in which an Army Blackhawk helicopter conducting routine training collided with a passenger jet coming from Wichita, Kansas. But one veteran of the aviation system said the probe would most likely include an examination of factors that have repeatedly come up in previous close calls: fatigue, distraction and potential miscommunication.

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The country had seen a steep spike in near-collisions involving commercial airplanes at airports, with five incidents in 2022 and 11 incidents in 2023 in which at least one passenger-carrying airplane came close to colliding with another plane or ground vehicle, according to the FAAs database that tracks these events.

Though 2024 had seen just one airport close call that aviation regulators classified as serious, the FAA was still investigating some incidents before the years end. Two passenger jets also had a near-collision scare at Reagan National last year, though the FAA classified the event as less dire.

We know we have a critical shortage of air traffic controllers, and many of them are forced to work overtime, they'll often work fatigued  that's mostly the fault of Congress, said former Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who chaired the House Transportation Committee for four years until 2023.

I don't know that air traffic control was a problem in this instance, DeFazio added. But he noted that the National Transportation Safety Board, the independent federal agency leading the probe into Wednesdays crash, has been warning about this persistently.

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NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy had been among those sounding the loudest warnings, telling reporters in late 2023 that the air traffic system needed relief, which could come in the form of increased funding for controllers or improved technology.

We are sounding the alarm bells, and we need action, Homendy said at the time. She added: I don't want to hear about summits  goddamn, do something.

On Thursday, Homendy was on the scene at Reagan National, saying a whole of government effort is underway to find the evidence that will spell out what happened. Were here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation, she said.

The airline industry has called the air traffic control system broken, while an independent panel of aviation experts blamed recurring gridlock in Congress for making it harder for the FAA to do its job. The FAA has also faced repeated questions since 2018 about whether its applying rigorous enough scrutiny to plane manufacturers such as Boeing, following a pair of deadly accidents in Asia and Africa during Trumps first term and a non-fatal blowout of a planes door panel over Oregon last year. (No Boeing aircraft were involved in Wednesdays collision.)

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The FAA has turned its attention to its workforce shortage in recent months  the agency, with about 45,000 employees, is understaffed by about 3,000 controllers nationwide  with ongoing efforts to increase the pipeline of air traffic controllers with collegiate partnerships and maximum training at its academy in Oklahoma. But officials have conceded that workforce wont start seeing net gains for some time.

Questions about the actions of air traffic controllers and the helicopter crew surfaced quickly after Wednesdays accident, which officials said occurred during clear-weather conditions. In a feed of air traffic controller radio communications from just before the crash, controllers could be heard asking the helicopter crew if they saw the inbound jet.

Staffing at Reagan Nationals control tower was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic at the time of the crash, The New York Times reported Thursday, quoting from what it described as a preliminary internal FAA report about the crash. But an official familiar with tower operations told POLITICO that the number of air traffic controllers at the tower was adequate, although a supervisor had decided to have one controller monitor both airline flights and helicopter traffic.

Normally, those tasks are divided among two controllers until after 9:30 p.m., said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the crash during the investigation. Wednesdays collision happened around 9 p.m.

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Authorities said Thursday that they expect no survivors from the two aircraft, which carried 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American Airlines flight and three soldiers aboard the helicopter.

The Bombardier CRJ700, operated by PSA Airlines, and the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter crashed while the jet was on approach to the runway, the FAA said in a statement Wednesday. The regional carrier was operating on behalf of American Airlines.

The helicopter was on a training mission, which Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army helicopter pilot, stressed is routine. It just means that they were out there practicing their craft, doing their jobs like they do every day, she said. After receiving a call from the FAA and NTSB, Duckworth said that the helicopter crew was using their eyes to look to deconflict with other aircraft.

Obviously, you're relying on air traffic control, she said, confirming that air traffic control had told the crew to look out for the American plane that was approaching the airport.

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The collision was the first fatal airliner crash in the U.S. since a South Korean jet struck a sea wall at San Francisco International Airport in 2013, killing three teenagers, and the first deadly crash involving a domestic airline since a 2009 crash outside Buffalo, New York, that killed 50 people and inspired congressionally mandated safety reforms. It was the deadliest U.S. air crash since a November 2001 crash in Belle Harbor, New York, that killed 260 people, just two months after 9/11.

The relative calm in the U.S. airspace during the past two decades has marked the safest period in American aviation since the dawn of flight. Both the FAA and the NTSB briefed lawmakers throughout the day Thursday as elected leaders hunted for answers about that eras seemingly abrupt end.

This shouldve never happened, and we wanna understand what happened, said Senate Commerce Committee member Ted Budd (R-N.C.).

Even before answers began emerging, President Donald Trump alleged without evidence that Biden administration diversity policies had helped cause the crash, specifically singling out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, who had pressed for answers about the causes of aviation near-collisions when he was secretary, responded on X that Trumps remarks were despicable.

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Duckworth, the outgoing chair of the Senate aviation subcommittee, also blasted Trump for jumping on the diversity narrative  and suggested that efforts by Trump and his efficiency czar Elon Musk to shrink the federal workforce were worsening the strain among FAA employees. She noted that agency workers were among those who received emails this week from the White House Office of Personnel Management asking them to consider quitting their jobs.

Those letters made their way to "some air traffic controllers that are responsible for airspace in the Northeast region," Duckworth said, "basically trying to scare them into quitting at a time when we have a shortage of air traffic controllers. So I don't think the Trump administration is in a strong position right now to start blaming others."

A former FAA official disputed any suggestion that the agencys so-called diversity, equity and inclusion programs allowed unqualified people to serve as air traffic controllers, despite Trumps claim that the Biden administration had encouraged the hiring of people with severe intellectual disabilities and psychiatric problems.

The NTSB probably wont announce its conclusions about the causes of the accident for at least a year, after investigating communications between the air traffic control tower, the pilots of each aircraft, the intended flight path, and a host of other factors.

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Both pilots and air traffic controllers have to go through rigorous training, which often takes years. The ex-official said candidates for the job undergo some of the most rigorous testing  mentally and physically  before they are even hired. Very few applicants even make it to training because the process is so difficult. The person was granted anonymity to discuss the still-ongoing investigation.

But persistent staffing shortages have forced air traffic controllers to work overtime, and the FAA in some cases has had to move controllers around to fill gaps in some of the nations busiest airspace.

The FAA has also not seen a steady continuity of leadership.

Former Administrator Mike Whitaker stepped down just before Trumps inauguration, after little more than a year into his five-year term atop the aviation agency. Before Whitaker took the job in October 2023, a series of acting chiefs had filled the role for 18 months, a vacancy that stretched out while GOP lawmakers questioned the qualifications of former President Joe Bidens first pick for the job, Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington.

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After Wednesdays catastrophe, Republicans on Capitol Hill suggested that more information was needed before they could take action.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) stressed that he hadnt been informed of any cause of the crash. But he added that he expects the Senate Commerce Committees aviation panel to lead an effort to follow up on what the NTSB finds and pursue whatever legislative changes may be necessary to further protect the traveling public.

Democrats also had no specifics to offer in the immediate aftermath of the collision.

During a hearing Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged lawmakers to redouble their efforts to ensure the FAA, NTSB and Transportation Department have the tools, funding and resources needed to prevent another tragedy.

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Asked if he wants to scale back the number of flights at the airport, a topic of debate last year, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who previously raised concerns about safety of the increasingly crowded skies over Reagan National, said lawmakers would follow the NTSB and their conclusions. Kaine and other D.C.-area lawmakers had objected to expanding the number of flights in and out of the airport, contending it could worsen safety by increasing congestion on runways despite the DOT and FAA saying they would work to ensure this wouldnt happen.

Billy Nolen, who held a summit about near-collisions as the FAAs acting administrator two years ago, told POLITICO that the United States air travel safety record is highly resilient, considering the sheer number of flights day-to-day around the country, coupled with other drones, space rockets and other craft now sharing the skies.

Since the 2009 crash near Buffalo, 13 to 14 billion people have traveled  without a fatal commercial airline accident in the United States, Nolen said. I mean think about that number.

Eventually, Nolen said, the FAA and the rest of the administration will have to pick up the pieces and say, OK, let's commit to just using every resource at our disposal to make what is the largest, most complex aviation ecosystem in the world, bar none, be the very best it can be.

Sam Ogozalek and Chris Marquette contributed to this report.
YFN Lucci is officially a free man after serving nearly four years in prison.

According to Channel 2 Action News, the Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed that the Atlanta rapper, born Rayshawn Bennett, was released from Burress Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Georgia, on Friday (Jan. 31). He has reportedly been placed on parole until January 2031.

Lucci was initially arrested in January 2021 in connection to a murder case. Authorities alleged that he was behind the wheel during a drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of his associate, James Adams, 28. According to prosecutors, Adams was shot during the altercation and later pushed out of the moving vehicle, suffering fatal injuries on the street in front of witnesses.

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After being released on bond, Luccis was arrested again in 2021 on a RICO charge and was stabbed by another inmate at Fulton County Jail the following year.

After nearly three years served, the Everyday We Lit rapper secured a victory in 2024 when 12 of the 13 charges against him were droppedincluding the murder charge. He ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of violating Georgias Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, and upon sentencing expressed remorse.

My heart goes out to my friend, James Adams, and his family, Lucci stated in court at the time of sentencing. I also want to apologize to my family and my friends for putting them through this stressful process. I would also like to apologize to the court.

Lucci was sentenced to 20 years, with 10 years to serve in prison and 10 years of probation. His time behind bars was counted as time served, making him eligible for parole in May 2024. As part of his parole conditions, the 33-year-old reportedly must live with his mother, undergo regular drug testing, avoid gang associations, and refrain from any gang-related activities. He is also prohibited from possessing firearms and must seek permission before leaving the state.

The rappers early release surprisingly received support from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who penned a letter to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles advocating for his release. Intervention attorney, Drew Findling, described the gesture a powerful punch in the case.

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On Instagram, Lucci shared a heartfelt video of his homecoming, including glimpses of his children, family and friends all excited to see him. See below.

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After more than 30 years at the Athenaeum, the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis will soon close its branch in the historic German building.

In an email sent to members Thursday evening, YMCA of Greater Indianapolis CEO Gregg Hiland said the YMCA at the Athenaeum's last day of operation will be March 28.

"This decision was made with the goal of ensuring our organizations long-term sustainability while continuing to meet the needs of our members and the community," Hiland said. "The Athenaeum Foundation is exploring exciting new opportunities for this space, and the YMCA remains committed to serving our community through our eleven other centers and diverse programs."

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Per the email, members who frequented the Athenaeum branch will be able to visit all remaining YMCA of Greater Indianapolis locations using their existing memberships; no further action is required. The Irsay Family YMCA at CityWay (430 S. Alabama St.), which is the closest YMCA location to the Athenaeum, will offer guided tours and open houses over the next two months.

The open house dates are:

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 25

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. March 10

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. March 19

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 22

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 29

YMCA of Greater Indianapolis Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations Tony Wise said he is unsure how many staffers from the Athenaeum branch the organization will be able to transfer to other branches, but that the YMCA is "working to retain as many of those positions as possible."

Wise directed questions regarding the future of the space at 401 E. Michigan St. to the Athenaeum Foundation, which did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

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The YMCA at the Athenaeum opened in 1992, occupying three stories of the building whose construction was spearheaded in the 1890s by the Indianapolis Turnverein  a group of German-heritage gymnastics enthusiasts. In the early 1900s the building serves as the home of the Normal College of the American Gymnastic Union, a physical training school.

Closing the facility leaves the Irsay Family YMCA as the lone downtown YMCA location, down from three before the COVID-19 pandemic. The YMCA at City Market (242 E. Market St.), which opened in 2011, closed in 2020. The Irsay Family YMCA opened in 2015. The YMCA of Greater Indianapolis will operate 11 branches following the Athenaeum gym's closure.

Contact IndyStar reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@indystar.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: YMCA at the Athenaeum to close at end of March
The former girlfriend of Jamell YNW Melly Demons remained in a Broward jail Friday, days after she was taken into custody on a civil contempt finding, as her lawyer demanded a hearing to determine why she was in custody and when she can be released.

Mariah Hamilton, 24, was ordered in 2022 to testify in Demons trial. The rising rap star is charged with the murders of two childhood friends, fellow rappers Christopher YNW Juvy Thomas and Anthony YNW Sakchaser Williams. The trail was held in 2023, and Hamilton never showed up to testify about what she knew concerning the shooting and the defendants actions before and after it happened.

The trial ended in a hung jury in mid 2023. A few months later, Demons was charged with witness tampering for, allegedly, enlisting the aid of a fellow inmate at the Broward Main Jail to talk Hamilton out of talking to investigators or testifying in court.

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Nearly two years after the trial, Hamiltons lawyer said he was under the impression there was no interest in detaining her for her lack of cooperation. Hamilton continued to attend college and moved out of South Florida, said attorney Christopher Beres, never hiding her whereabouts from law enforcement.

But last week Hamilton left the country for a three-day visit to El Salvador. She was stopped on her Jan. 26 return by federal officials at Miami International Airport, who had flagged the outstanding civil contempt order that arose from the murder trial.

She has been in custody ever since, transferring from jail in Miami to Broward on Thursday.

Beres said his client has not been in hiding and is willing to cooperate. He called her jail stint punitive and asked Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein to order prosecutors to turn over any documents alleging she committed an offense that warrants her arrest.

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Fein has not scheduled a hearing date to address the concerns and demands raised by Beres.

Demons lawyers say they are still waiting for information he will need to determine whether he should consider hiring new counsel. One of his primary lawyers, Raven Liberty, is under investigation herself for witness tampering in connection with the case. If shes charged, her legal interests could potentially conflict with her clients.

Other lawyers on Demons defense team are accusing prosecutors of improperly trying to force Liberty off the case.

The oft-delayed retrial is currently scheduled to begin with jury selection in the fall.

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Demons, 25, faces possible execution if convicted.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)  Two yoga instructors have again filed a lawsuit against the city of San Diego for the recent crackdown on longstanding donation-based classes at public parks and beaches under its vendor laws.

Steve Hubbard, also known as NamaSteve, and Amy Baack had previously challenged the regulation on public yoga classes in a federal court as a breach of free speech, but the judge hearing the case partially dismissed it earlier this month, court records show.

Now, the two are suing the city in a county court on similar claims that enforcement of the local ordinance violates state laws protecting expression and against use of threats or intimidation to prevent a person from engaging in legally protected activity.

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They allege the law has also been unevenly applied, as paid exercise classes held by local businesses were still occurring as their free classes were being hit with citations.

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Hubbard and Baacks complaint reads,   the City demonstrated that its goal in enforcing this ordinance in the manner it is enforcing it is not to regulate commercial activity, but rather to target the free teaching of yoga in parks that would otherwise be accessible to the general public.

In a statement to FOX 5/KUSI, Parks and Recreation Department spokesperson Benny Cartwright declined to comment on the lawsuit itself but offered a reminder to the community that the city offers numerous locations that can serve as ideal venues for services like fitness and yoga classes throughout the Parks system.

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Locations are selected based on parking capacity and other factors and include desirable spots in Balboa Park and waterfront areas of Mission Bay Park. Questions can be answered by visiting the Fitness Permitting section on the Parks and Recreation website, he continued.

A spokesperson for Mayor Todd Gloria, who was also named as a party in the suit, and the city attorneys office also declined to comment on the litigation.

San Diego park rangers ramped up enforcement of beachside yoga last year after the city council expanded an existing ordinance requiring permits for commercial vendors to encompass activities like the classes and luxury picnics.

Hubbard and Baack received a number of citations from park rangers for violating this law as the city ratcheted up enforcement. One of these citations, Hubbard alleges, was given to him for teaching a class via YouTube from his backyard to people who were doing the exercises at a beach.

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However, both contend their activity is not commercial but expressive, making it is allowed without a permit under the citys vendor law. They say the expression comes from the spirituality of the practice and aspects of the class where instructors lecture about yoga philosophy.

Whether this argument passes legal muster in a state court remains an open question. The federal judge hearing the case did not seem persuaded that the regulation of yoga classes impacts constitutionally protected speech, according to court documents.

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[The law] regulates Plaintiffs conduct, not their speech, because it does not regulate what Plaintiffs sayi.e. explaining yogas philosophies to a seated audience at a park but what Plaintiffs doi.e. hosting and teaching yoga exercise classes without a permit on public parks, she wrote. All conduct is not presumptively expressive.

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The aspect of the suit left intact by the federal judge is on a different section of the citys laws on park space unrelated to commercial vendors, rather unpermitted performances or lectures. One citation given to Baack was for a violation of this code, her complaint alleges.

The use of this code, the judge wrote, did target Baacks speech about yoga in a public space and should be subject to judicial review.

It is unclear how these findings in the federal lawsuit may impact the proceedings in the yoga instructors new challenge.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -A New York doctor was indicted by a grand jury in West Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday for prescribing an abortion pill that was taken by a teenager there.

Margaret Carpenter and her practice, Nightingale Medical, were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducting drugs, a felony, according to an indictment provided by the West Baton Rouge District Attorney's office. The minor's mother was also charged.

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The case appeared to be the first time a state has brought criminal charges against a doctor in another state for prescribing abortion drugs across state lines. It will likely be an early test of the power of states that criminalize abortion to prosecute providers outside their borders, and the ability of states that support abortion rights to shield providers from such prosecutions. Carpenter was also sued civilly by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last month.

"It is illegal to send abortion pills into this state and it's illegal to coerce another into having an abortion," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. "We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday that the state would not comply with any request to extradite Carpenter.

New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement said: "This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American."

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Medication abortion accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions. It has drawn increasing scrutiny since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision allowing states to ban abortion, which more than 20, including Louisiana, have done.

Louisiana last year also passed a law specifically targeting mifepristone, classifying it as a controlled substance under state law.

Mifepristone is the first part of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortion, which is approved by the FDA to terminate pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.

Carpenter, who is based in New Paltz, New York, is a co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, which supports nationwide access to abortion through telemedicine.

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"The case out of Louisiana against a licensed New York doctor is the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women's access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country," the Coalition said in a statement.

TEST CASES

New York is among the eight Democratic-led states that have passed so-called shield laws aiming to protect doctors who provide abortion pills to patients in other states. The law says New York will not cooperate with another state's effort to prosecute, sue or otherwise penalize a doctor for providing the pills, as long as the doctor complies with New York law.

"These are cases designed to test New York's shield law," Rachel Rebouche, a professor at Temple University's Beasley School of Law who focuses on reproductive health law, said of the Louisiana and Texas cases. She said the legal issues surrounding shield laws were "murky," and that similar cases were likely in the future as anti-abortion prosecutors seek to test their limits.

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The U.S. Constitution requires states to extradite someone who commits a crime in one state and then flees to another. It also generally requires states to respect the judgments of each other's courts, but there are exceptions, according to Rebouche.

"This might be an issue that ends up in front of the (U.S.) Supreme Court," Rebouche said. "What do New York courts have to do? Do they have to enforce the decisions of another state?"

In the meantime, she said, Carpenter and other doctors who help provide abortion pills face serious risk if they travel to states without shield laws.

Anti-abortion groups praised the indictment.

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"Louisiana has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from high-risk abortion drugs," said Erik Baptist, a lawyer at the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. The group until recently represented anti-abortion activists in a lawsuit seeking to restrict the availability of mifepristone nationwide, which has been taken over by Republican states after the Supreme Court ruled the original plaintiffs lacked legal standing.

Nancy Northrup, president of the pro-abortion rights Center for Reproductive Rights, in a statement said that the case is "designed to frighten other doctors from providing care to women trapped in states where abortion is banned and options are limited."

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson and Jack Queen in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and Diane Craft)
A New York doctor has been indicted in Louisiana for allegedly providing abortion medication to a minor online and sending it in the mail, prosecutors said.

On Friday a grand jury indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company Nightingale Medical, and a Louisiana mother, who has not been named, in the first case of its kind since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Louisiana has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

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Carpenter and the mother have been charged with causing an abortion by means of delivering, dispensing, distributing, or providing a pregnant woman with an abortion-inducting drug.

The case is being prosecuted by West Baton Rouge Assistant District Attorney Tony Clayton, who accused Carpenter of pushing that poison from New York to Louisiana, WWNO reported.

Clayton asserts that the mother allegedly purchased the pills from Carpenter and gave them to the minor. He did not disclose her age but confirmed she was under 18.

No matter what your position is on abortions, you cannot put a pill in commerce and ship it down to Louisiana. The state has voted that abortions are illegal, so you can't hide behind the borders of New York and ship pills down here to commit abortions in Louisiana, Clayton said in an interview with Talk Louisiana.

Anti-abortion activists attend the March for Life rally that marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court's, now overturned, 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion in all 50 states (Getty Images)

It's pushing that poison, that drug, down here and you're aiding and abetting extended abortion. Don't ship it to Louisiana. If it's legal in New York, keep it up there.

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Clayton said that the minor felt that she had to take the pill because what her mother told her and was home alone at the time. He said that the minor would not be prosecuted.

New York has a shield law that protects medical providers from out-of-state legal action by refusing to order a defendant to comply with extradition, arrest, and legal proceedings in other states.

The states shield law also gives prescribers who are sued the ability to countersue to recover damages.

Louisiana became the first state with a law to reclassify both mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.

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The drugs, which have other critical reproductive health care purposes, are still allowed in the state but medical personnel have to go through extra steps to access them.

In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed a lawsuit against a Carpenter, alleging the doctor prescribed abortion medication to a woman in Texas.

Carpenter is one of the founders of the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, which has warned of a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights since Roe v Wade was overturned.

Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.

The Associated Press contributed reporting
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted on Friday by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor's mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

In addition to Carpenter, an arrest warrant was issued for the mother, who has not been publicly identified to protect the identity of the minor. District Attorney Tony Clayton told The Associated Press that the mother turned herself in to police on Friday.

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The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.

We expect Dr. Carpenter to come to Louisiana and answer to these charges, and if 12 people (a jury) think she's innocent then, let it go," Clayton said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a video posted on social media, I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition requests, signaling a potential legal battle between the states.

Last year, the Port Allen, Louisiana, woman requested abortion medication online from Carpenter for her daughter, whose age has not been specified. Clayton said the request was made through a questionnaire only and no consultation with the girl.

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A cocktail of pills was mailed to the woman who directed her daughter to take the pill, Clayton said.

After taking the drug, the girl experienced a medical emergency while alone, called 911 and was transported to the hospital where she was treated. While responding to the emergency, a police officer learned about the pills and under further investigation found that a doctor in New York state had supplied the drugs and turned their findings over to Clayton's office.

It is unclear how far along the girl was in her pregnancy.

The (adult) mother has since been arrested, but the other person we believe is just as culpable here is the person who sat in an office, wrapped a box of pills, put a stamp on the box and mailed it to the state of Louisiana for a child to take, Clayton said.

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Carpenter was sued in December by the Texas attorney general under similar allegations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges.

Carpenter did not immediately return a message from the AP.

The indictment comes just months after Louisiana became the first state with a law reclassifying both mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The drugs are still allowed, but medical personnel must take extra steps to access them.

Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses either medication without a valid prescription, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.

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I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.

Abortion opponents and reproductive rights groups alike flooded social media scrutinizing the indictment.

We cannot continue to allow forced birth extremists to interfere with our ability to access necessary healthcare, Chasity Wilson, executive director of the Louisiana Abortion Fund, said in a statement. Extremists hope this case will cause a chilling effect, further tying the hands of doctors who took an oath to care for their patients.

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.

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Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, weve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights, the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.

Fridays indictment could be the first direct test of New Yorks shield laws, which are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned. New York Attorney General Letitia James said we will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers ability to deliver critical care.

This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American, James added.

Pills have become the most common means of abortion in the U.S., accounting for nearly two-thirds of them by 2023. Theyre also at the center of political and legal action over abortion. In January, a judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals for how one of the drugs usually involved can be prescribed.

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___

This story has been corrected to show that the surname in the third paragraph should be Carpenter, not Carter.

___

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press reporter Michael Hill in Albany, New York, also contributed.
Getty Images

In what appears to be a frightening first, a doctor in New York was indicted by a grand jury in Louisiana on January 31 for allegedly prescribing the abortion pill to a patient in the state. The Associated Press reports that Dr. Margaret Carpenter, her company, Nightingale Medical, PC, and a third person were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Per Abortion Finder, abortion is illegal in the state of Louisiana with very limited exceptions; those include if the pregnant persons life or physical health is in danger or if the fetus is not expected to survive the pregnancy. There is no exception for rape or incest. This near total ban went into effect in the state in July 2022, just a month after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

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According to the AP, if someone knowingly possesses either the abortion pill mifepristone or misoprostolwhich are taken in succession to induce a miscarriagewithout a valid prescription for any purpose, they could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. If convicted of providing abortion care, doctors in the state face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines, and loss of their medical license.

Carpenter is a cofounder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, an organization that supports clinicians who make safe, timely, and affordable telemedicine abortion care available to patients in all 50 states, according to its website.

In a statement the group said, Make no mistake, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, weve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with womens rights. Its no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.

In their statement ACT also referenced Shield Laws, passed in 2023.

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The attorney general of Texas sued Dr. Carpenter in December 2024, alleging that she was illegally providing abortion drugs across state lines and practicing telemedicine in the state without a Texas medical license.

In June 2024 the New York Times reported that one-fifth of abortions were being done via telemedicine, with nearly half of those abortions taking place in states with severe restrictions or bans. That same month, the Supreme Court upheld access to mifepristone after anti-abortion groups attempted to undo the FDAs approval of the drug.

Originally Appeared on Glamour

Abortion After Roe
As the Budget session got underway on Friday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav shifted focus to the Kumbh tragedy, demanding justice for those who lost their lives. Speaking on the matter, Yadav said, "Budget will be discussed later, in this session and today - we need to talk about peace for those who lost their lives in Kumbh." Yadav also targeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, stating, "The Uttar Pradesh CM has been morally gone, now the question is when will he be gone politically?" His comments came in response to the state government's handling of the Kumbh deaths, which has been under scrutiny. "The government is hiding the number of people who died in Kumbh as they don't want to pay the compensation," Yadav continued, accusing the administration of covering up the scale of the tragedy. He called for transparency, urging the government to release a public list of those who died. "The families of the deceased must be informed at the earliest and a list of all those who lost their lives should be made public... It's the government's mistake. It's still hiding things," Yadav asserted. Meanwhile, ahead before the commencement of the Budget Session 2025-26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that this is the first Parliament session in which he witnessed "no foreign interference" since 2014. The budget session of the Parliament commenced today with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. A series of important bills are likely to be taken up during the session. These include the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aimed at strengthening banking regulations and oversight, and the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which focuses on enhancing the operational efficiency of the Indian Railways. Another notable proposal is the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to improve disaster response mechanisms across the country. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024 are also likely to be presented which aimed at bringing reforms to the management of religious endowments. The legislative agenda of the government includes the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024, the Boilers Bill, 2024, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2024, the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Finance Bill, 2025. The first part of the Budget session will continue till February 13 and the two Houses will again meet on March 10 after recess with the session concluding on April 4. (ANI)
(Reuters) - Lawyers for New York Mayor Eric Adams were meeting with lawyers from the Justice Department and Manhattan federal prosecutors to discuss dropping the corruption case against him, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Adams is set for a criminal trial in April on federal charges of corruption, which comes alongside his reelection campaign for a second term as mayor. Adams says he has not broken the law and did nothing wrong.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Rami Ayyub)
ENDICOTT, NY (WIVT/WBGH)  An Endicott native returned home from a national shooting competition with golden hardware.

Albert Fiori competed, and won a gold medal in the national trap shooting competition in West Palm Beach last week. Fiori has competed in Olympic style parashooting events before. Fiori was first diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder and nerve disease a few years ago.

Over 100 athletes competed, and had to shoot a total of 250 targets in the qualification round just to make it into the finals.

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Fiori made it to the finals and took home first place in the senior trap division of older competitors.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Memphis Mayor Paul Young delivered the State of the City address Thursday night, reporting strides in the fight against crime and announcing the efforts of his first year in office.

We want to celebrate our city. We can not ignore the people that are dying in our community, Young said.

Two people were killed and another three critically injured Wednesday after a shooting in Soulsville  Young took a moment in his address to ackowledge the lives lost and injured.

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Friend, neighbor recount nerve-racking Soulsville shooting that left 2 dead

While crime is an important story  it is  I want us to get to a place where we are focusing on something else, were focusing on whats next, Young said.

Young said that next step is already being achieved, as his administration exceeds its 2024 goal of a 10% reduction in crime. He said its down a total of 13%, with motor vehicle thefts down 39%, murder down 29% and violent crimes down 19%.

Young said the reductions were made possible through Memphis Police initiatives like Operation Code Zero, Saturday Night Live and, in Quarter 4, Young says MPD launched a 90-day pilot to address fugitives leading to 838 fugitive arrests and the clearing of 1,000 warrants.

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Despite recent crime, Young said the city is entering the Era of Yes.

Memphis mayor, police chief say crime down 13% in 2024

He announced two new departments, the Office of Creative and Cultural Economy and the Joint Office of neighborhood Safety and Engagement.



Yes to the things that are going to positively impact our community; innovation, growth, investments, jobs, education. all of the things we know are needed in this community, Young said. As we move forward, we plan to call on every leader in our community to lay down their differences and pick up this common cause for our community.

Youngs administration says its ongoing battle with blight is making strides. he says Operation Blight Zero and Strike Teams help reduce the number of rundown structures, cleaning up lots and looking at ways to hold people accountable.

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The next step for us is to continue to do that work, but also look out for legal strategies to hold those property owners accountable and go after them if their not going right by the community, he said.

On transit, Young says the next City Council meeting we can expect to hear a request for an extended pause in funding.

The goal is to see how much money is needed until the end of the year, and looking at MATAs next fiscal season.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)  A 20-year-old Wichita woman was on American Airlines Flight 5342 when it went down in the Potomac River Wednesday night. All 67 people involved in the crash are feared dead.

Grace Maxwell was returning to school after visiting her home in Wichita. She was a junior majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in biomedical engineering at Cedarville University in Ohio. She hoped to graduate in 2026.

The university said in a statement, This is heartbreaking news for her family and for our campus community.

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Maxwell was known as a thoughtful student leader.

Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering, said Dr. Tim Norman, her secondary advisor.

Were going to hurt: Kiowa couple among those killed in DC crash

The university said her father asked for prayers during this difficult time.

According to The Wichita Eagle, Maxwell had been home to attend her grandfathers funeral.

The university held a memorial service for her on Friday morning.

Be sad. Grieve. Tell stories of how much you loved her and laugh in one moment and cry in the next and talk to somebody as you need to, and for Gods sake, pray for her parents and family as they go through this, Dr. Thomas White, Cedarville University president, said.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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.
New Zealand granted personhood to a mountain on Thursday. File Photo by Mark Evans/EPA-EFE

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The New Zealand government granted Mount Taranaki the same legal rights as a person after the country agreed to compensate its indigenous inhabitants for past colonization.

The mountain now owns itself with local tribes, iwi, and the government working in unison to manage it.

Local tribes have long considered the mountain as sacred and an ancestor. New Zealand officials said they want to confess to forced land confiscation during colonization.

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"We must acknowledge the hurt that has been caused by past wrongs, so we can look to the future to support iwi to realize their own aspirations and opportunities," said Paul Goldsmith, the government minister who negotiated the deal.

The New Zealand legislature passed the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress bill giving the mountain a legal name -- Te Kahui Tupua -- and protection for its land. It will no longer be referred to as Egmont, the name British explorer James Cook gave it in the 18th century.

New Zealand gave personhood to the natural features of the Te Urewera scared forest on North Island in 2014, the first country to ever do so. Guardianship of the forest was given to the Tuhoe tribe.

The country did the same in 2017 with the Whanganui River, turning over guardianship to the iwi while granting it personhood.
A lighted holiday path set up for the holidays around Christmas at ZooMontana (Photo by Cassy Crafton for the Daily Montanan).

The longtime director of ZooMontana, the states sole zoo located in Billings, will be heading to Nebraska to become the leader of zoo operations at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska.

Jeff Ewelt, known as The Nature Guy for his weekly videos of zoo animals, lessons in biology and animal behavior, will leave the top post at ZooMontana, a position hes held for 14 years.

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Ewelt has grown the operations and the donations to the zoo, which was on the brink of closure and economic collapse when he arrived. During his tenure, he helped the organization regain accreditation as well as bring a host of new exhibits and features to the zoo, located off Interstate 90.

I am profoundly grateful to the Billings community for their unwavering support over the past 14 years. It has been an honor to serve ZooMontana, and while Im excited for this next chapter, I will always carry with me the incredible memories and the relationships Ive built here. ZooMontana is in great hands, and Im eager to see the Zoo continue to thrive, Ewelt said.
(Reuters) - Chipmaking equipment supplier KLA Corp forecast its third-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, betting on robust demand for high-end chips that support artificial intelligence workload.

Shares of the Milpitas, California-based company rose 3.9% in extended trading.

Significant investments in high-performance computing chips from bellwether firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which is KLA's biggest customer, are likely to boost orders for chipmaking tools.

KLA provides advanced equipment, process control software, and services for manufacturing wafers, integrated circuits and other semiconductor components across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The company's upbeat results came "despite navigating through the business impact of new U.S. government export controls released late in the quarter," said CEO Rick Wallace.

Reuters had reported in December that the U.S. would launch its third crackdown in three years on China's semiconductor industry, curbing exports to 140 companies.

KLA forecast its third-quarter revenue to be in a range of $3 billion, plus or minus $150 million. Analysts on average estimate $2.89 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company also expects its adjusted per-share profit to be $8.05 plus or minus 60 cents for the quarter ending March, compared with estimates of $7.51.

KLA posted second-quarter revenue of $3.08 billion, in line with analysts' expectation.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal in a letter to the Election Commission raised serious allegations against Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday. He sent a written response to the Election Commission, demanding that a criminal case be filed against Nayab Singh Saini regarding the 'poisonous' Yamuna issue. Kejriwal claimed that the levels of ammonia contamination in the raw water being supplied to Delhi from Haryana were 'unprecedented and dangerously' high. In the letter, he claimed that the ammonia levels started increasing very sharply from 15 Jan onwards (around 3.2 ppm on 15 Jan) and reached 7 ppm a few days later. The AAP convenor stated that CM Atishi contacted the Haryana CM to resolve the crises; however, despite several attempts, the issues remained unresolved. "The Chief Minister of Delhi called up the Chief Minister of Haryana in the last week of December and requested him to either take steps to reduce ammonia or provide additional water to dilute it. Though CM Haryana assured me that he would take the necessary steps, however, he did not. Subsequently, CM Delhi again called him several times. After a few calls, CM Haryana stopped taking CM Delhi's calls," as stated in the letter. He alleged that a 'deliberate conspiracy' was made by the Haryana CM to influence the Delhi assembly election. "There was a deliberate conspiracy on the part of Haryana CM, who happens to be from BJP, to influence Delhi elections by sending highly polluted waters to Delhi. He knew very well that this would create artificial water scarcity in Delhi, whose blame would lie on the AAP government in Delhi. This would have rendered almost half of Delhi without water and would have created huge public misery for almost 10 million people of Delhi who would have gone without water," he said in the letter. "If no action is taken against the Haryana government and the BJP leaders involved in corrupt practices it will be amply clear to everyone that the CEC keeps the interest of the ruling party over public interest. Unfortunately, I can't be expected to be silent on this and tow this line out of fear or expectations of favour. My only concern is the health and safety of the people of Delhi and I will fight for the protection of our democratic principles. Whatever illegal punishment you may wish to impose on me under the instruction of the BJP is a small price to pay for it, and I welcome it with open arms," he added. He alleged bias, stating that instead of acting against Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini, ECI is targeting him. "I am also shocked that the CEC did not pass any orders directing Haryana CM to stop polluting Delhi's waters right before elections. Rather, CEC chose to hound me," he added in a letter. Meanwhile, the Election Commission accepted the manner of meeting with Arvind Kejriwal today as a special case, altering its earlier schedule in view of the thick of the campaign period in Delhi and leaving no scope for complaint for any stakeholder, according to the source. The Commission gave a patient hearing to Arvind Kejriwal to substantiate his statements on the Yamuna poisoning and mass genocide. (ANI)
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In a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Kerala Police arrested 27 Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally in Kochi on Friday. According to police, the raid was conducted by the joint operation of the police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad on Thursday. In all, 54 people were taken into custody and were interrogated in detail. District Police Chief, Ernakulam Rural, Vaibhav Saxena said, "Yesterday night, as part of a special drive in North Paravoor Police Station limits in Ernakulam Rural district, a raid was conducted jointly by police and Anti-Terrorism Squad. As a part of that raid, 54 people were taken into custody from one lodge. They were brought to the police station and interrogated in detail. Finally, we could understand that 27 out of them were Bangladeshis." He further said that arrested individuals hold Bangladeshi ID cards, birth certificates and passports. He informed that an FIR had been registered against them. "They had Bangladeshi ID cards and birth certificates. Two of them were also having passports. We are registering FIR under sections 13 and 14 of the Foreigners Registration Act. Further registration will be held fast and we will try to identify who has helped them, through which agency and agent help was given to them - we will identify all of them." Recent reports indicate that Bangladeshi immigrants have been detained in several locations. Earlier on Friday, Mumbai's Versova Police arrested two Bangladeshi citizens for illegally entering India and residing in Mumbai, officials said. Fake documents were also recovered from them. Police have taken them into custody and initiated further investigation into their activities and how they managed to acquire the forged documents in underway. Bangladeshi immigrants have illegally been staying in numerous places across India. In a most unexpected event, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan survived a major stab attack by an intruder late at night in his Mumbai home; the attacker was identified as a Bangladeshi national. (ANI)
BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh has launched a scathing attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of repeatedly lying and insulting the country's institutions. "Arvind Kejriwal repeatedly lies and when he is proven to be lying, he resorts to false accusations against the country's prestigious institutions, insulting the country's institutions," Chugh said. Speaking to ANI, Chugh further criticized Kejriwal's handling of critical issues in Delhi, including air pollution and water contamination, saying, "Kejriwal sir, who has polluted Delhi's air? You have ruined the entire atmosphere of Delhi. You have polluted the Yamuna." He also predicted that the people of Delhi would reject Kejriwal in the upcoming elections, adding, "The people are giving you a crushing defeat." Chugh painted a grim picture for the AAP leader, suggesting that after February 8, Kejriwal would "begin to cry again" following the defeat and will cry over "EVMs". Chugh also said, "The saying 'the dancer blames the uneven stage' won't work. The Aam Aadmi Party's leader Arvind Kejriwal has failed in answering the people's questions. He is a poor leader." Chugh's comments add to the growing tensions ahead of the Delhi Elections 2025, with both BJP and AAP intensifying their political rhetoric. Meanwhile, After AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and Bhagwant Mann met the Election Commission of India (ECI), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Friday said that the commission has said that it will investigate the entire matter with facts and then make some decision. Singh said, "...Arvind Kejriwal has told the entire chronology about the BJP's conspiracy to poison the water coming to Delhi to the Election Commission. The commission has said that it will investigate the entire matter with facts and then make some decision." This comes after the ECI issued a notice to Kejriwal, asking him to provide proof of his allegations that the Haryana government has "poisoned" the water supply to the national capital. In its statement the ECI said, "The Commission gave a patient hearing to AAP leader Sh Kejriwal, at a very short notice today &received his reply The Full Commission, without getting swayed by personal insinuations &offensive strategy being in play, decided to examine reply in detail and take decision(s) on merit." However, Arvind Kejriwal now has stated that the poisonous water that was being sent to Delhi has now stopped. The amount of ammonia in the water coming to Delhi has decreased from 7 ppm to 2 ppm. Earlier today, AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal in a letter to the Election Commission raised serious allegations against Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. As the assembly elections inch closer, the poll battle in the national capital has also intensified, with the three parties--AAP, BJP, and Congress--levelling allegations against each other. Delhi will go for polls in a single phase on February 5, while the counting of votes will take place on February 8. In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got only eight seats. (ANI)
Today

Mostly clear. Low 52F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 52F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Cloudy and damp with rain in the morning...then becoming partly cloudy and windy at times. High near 65F. Winds SW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
A Budapest court has sentenced Janos Nagy, a former agriculture ministry deputy state secretary, to 6 years 6 months in prison for accepting bribes and forging official documents in a non-binding ruling that also bans Nagy from public affairs.

The second defendant was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 5 years. The court handed down a 2.5-year prison sentence to the third defendant with a fine of 2.4 million forints (EUR 5,900), while the fourth defendant was sentenced to 2 years in prison together with a fine of 3 million forints.



According to the charges, Nagy and the second defendant agreed in 2020 that the then-deputy state secretary would aid the second defendant, an entrepreneur, in acquiring land and in winning tenders and 830 million forints in non-refundable funding.



In exchange, Nagy received a 5 percent share in the company. Meanwhile, Nagy also agreed with the third defendant, a subordinate of his at the ministry, to acquire undue advantages in another tender.



The court saw as an aggravating circumstance that Nagy used his influence as a government official when committing grave crimes.



The accused deny the charges and have appealed for an acquittal.



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MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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President Droupadi Murmu's address to Parliament that marked the begining of the Budget session on Friday cam in for praise from the treasury benches. Union Minister Chirag Paswan on Friday stated that thePresident's address to laid the idea with which our country will work to move forward through policies in the coming years. Speaking to ANI, Paswan said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country has set new records in the last 10 years. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the country has set new records in the last 10 years. Efforts were made to reduce the gap between rich and poor, schemes were made and implemented for the welfare of the poor, and these things were mentioned in the President's address... The President's address also mentioned the idea with which our country will work to move forward through policies in the coming years," Paswan told ANI. Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary termed President Murmu's speech as progressive. "It was a very visionary and progressive speech by the President. He talked about the steps being taken for youth, innovation, higher education... He spoke in detail about the government's initiatives and thinking... I have returned from Davos. Everyone is excited about India... India's AI mission is being discussed everywhere," Chaudhary said. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya also praised President Murmu's addresses, saying that the last 10 years have been significant in terms of the country's development. He said that the youth, middle class, poor, and women have been the biggest beneficiaries, underscoring the significance of the political stability in the last ten years. "The last 10 years have been significant in terms of the country's development. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the country has achieved new milestones. The youth, middle class, poor, and women have been the biggest beneficiaries. We often do not appreciate the political stability and the good that has come out of it in the last 10 years for the country's economy and the country's development. The President's address encapsulates the achievement of the government in the last 10 years and also sets a roadmap and aspiration for the next five years of this collective development journey." BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said He said that Prime Minister Modi has always been at the forefront of encouraging young people in politics and his explicit mention of young MPs to speak in Parliament on issues of national importance gives great hope, not just for young MPs like us, but for millions of young people in the country, whose voices need to be heard in the house. President Droupadi Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament, marking the beginning of this year's Budget Session. Murmu, after arriving at the parliament in a horse-drawn buggy, started her address, followed by the national anthem. However, after the President's address, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's reaction to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the Joint session of the Parliament on Friday stoked a controversy. She said that the President "could hardly speak, poor thing." "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi told reporters. Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey in the parliament ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. (ANI)
The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid (MRSZ) is launching a complex integration scheme for citizens from third countries who stay in Hungary legally, the organisation said.

The scheme to be carried out under the arrangements of the Szechenyi Plan Plus Programme will "focus on developing intercultural competencies, social work, labour market integration and closing the gap in schooling", it said in a statement.



The participants will receive from the MRSZ labour market advice, competence development, European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) courses, support to obtain a driving licence, and citizenship and cultural skills training, it added.



The scheme will help participants establish an independent and self-supportive life in Hungary, and develop the necessary skills, so people from third countries staying legally in Hungary will get a better chance for integration in Hungarian society.



The programme will run between January 1 and December 31 this year, and it received co-financing in the form of 186.58 million forints non-refundable support from the European Union.



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MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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Prime Minister Viktor Orban said "Good morning Germany! Welcome to the club!" in an entry on the X platform on Thursday in response to the lower house of German parliament's having approved a resolution to tighten migration regulations.

Hungary has been condemned by the European Union for similar migration rules, and last June the European Court of Justice (ECJ) imposed a one-off fine of 200 million euros and additional daily 1 million euros on Hungary for violating EU migration policy and not fulfilling a 2020 December ruling by the court on violating the EU's migration directives.



Orban: 'Hands off pensions, 13th month pension!'



"Hands off pensions and the 13th month pension!" Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview to public radio on Friday, referring to "those in Brussels [who] want to take the 13th month pension away".



"Economists who back the opposition parties keep on saying that the 13th month pension is not right," Orban said. But the pensions "must be protected", and the government had saved them so far and "will insist" on doing so in the future too.



The 13th month pension "is a spiritual, psychological, political, and only lastly an economic issue," he added.



"If we want to forge a victorious nation ... we must resolve old problems," he said, adding that one of those old problems was the previous Socialist government's elimination of the 13th month pension.



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MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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The long-awaited sequel to Lord of War, one of Nicolas Cages most celebrated films, is set to commence shooting in Hungary and Morocco. Entitled Lords of War, the film continues the story of international arms smuggler Yuri Orlov, with some exciting new additions to the cast and crew.

In a significant casting update, Laura Harrier (BlacKkKlansman, Spider-Man: Homecoming) joins Nicolas Cage and Bill Skarsgard in the sequel. Harriers role has yet to be revealed, but her involvement adds another layer of intrigue to this already compelling follow-up. Bill Skarsgard, known for his chilling portrayal of Pennywise in It, will play Anton, Yuris son, whose ambition surpasses even his fathers notorious legacy.



The plot sees Yuri Orlov discovering that Anton isnt trying to right his fathers wrongs  hes trying to outdo them. Selling not only weapons but also the trigger pullers to use them, Anton is building a mercenary army to engage in Americas Middle East conflicts. The rivalry between father and son is personal and professional, with the two even clashing over the same woman.



Lords of War is written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show), with Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi returning as producers. Karim Debbagh has joined the project as the line producer, ensuring smooth operations across the films international locations.



Production is set to kick off in early 2025, with filming taking place in Hungary and Morocco. With Nicolas Cage reprising his iconic role and Laura Harriers addition to the star-studded cast, Lords of War is shaping up to be a worthy sequel to the original crime.



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Mayor Gergely Karacsony yesterday signed the letter authorizing the city-owned public utility company BKM to exercise its pre-emptive right to buy the land in the 14th District designated as the site of a huge mini-Dubai development project.

A contract published last week revealed that the company retained such a right.



Karacsony told Telex yesterday that the capital had known about the pre-emptive right earlier and deliberately did not reveal it until now, so that the government could not oust BKM from the investment area through a land reform procedure.



The city leaders were surprised that this did not happen in the end, he said.



As BKM filed its intention to exercise its pre-emptive right on Thursday, so Karacsony now sees it as legally impossible to take away that right.



According to the contract, the city, as the owner of the site, will have a say in what can be built there, Karacsony said as he promised that the citys interests will be enforced.



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German household chemicals and consumer goods company Henkel inaugurated a HUF 12bn capacity expansion at its base in Kornye (W Hungary).

The state supported the investment with HUF 1.7bn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said. Headcount at the plant has risen to 300, he added.



He acknowledged the "key role" German companies had played in Hungary's economic performance for decades and said the government had supported 318 big investments with a combined value of HUF 3,800bn by German-owned companies in the past ten years.



Around 6,000 German-owned companies employ 300,000 people in Hungary.



Meanwhile, EIB Group invests EUR 314m in Hungary in 2024



The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group's new financing in Hungary reached EUR 314m in 2024, the lender said.



The financing, from both the EIB and European investment Fund (EIF), was channeled to projects to improve rail services, meet electricity demands from local manufacturers and support SMEs.



The biggest loan was for EUR 160m to regional railway company GYSEV to upgrade its infrastructure and fleet.



EIB Group also provided EUR 90bn to support investments by energy company E.ON and transmission system operator MAVIR to expand power grids. Some EUR 64m in financing went to local SMEs and mid-caps.



EIB Group investments in Hungary add up to more than EUR 25bn since 1991.



Cabinet to discuss HUF 67bn industrial park development in Nyiregyhaza



The cabinet will discuss the next, HUF 67bn phase of investment at an industrial park in Nyiregyhaza (NE Hungary) in February, Construction and Transportation Minister Janos Lazar said at a press conference in the city hall of the county seat.



Lazar said that the first, HUF 40bn phase of investment at the 640-hectare park would finish in May. A third, HUF 30bn-40bn investment phase could follow, he added.



Five factories are under construction in the industrial park and will start production in 2025 and 2026, he said. Local business tax revenue for the city could double to HUF 30bn as a result, he added.



Lazar said the government had decided to earmark around HUF 200bn to upgrade a 47km rail line between Nyiregyhaza and Debrecen.



He added that HUF 3.2bn had already been spent on project planning and construction could start late in 2025 or early in 2026. When the project is completed after three years, top speeds on the line could reach 160km/hour, he said.



He said a 35km stretch of the number 4 main road would be expanded to four lanes and HUF 6.5bn would go toward a bypass in the north of the city.



Mayor Ferenc Kovacs said BMW supplier Boysen could start production at the industrial park in the city in the summer.



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MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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Jimny 5-Door Debuts In Japan: The Made in India Jimny 5-door has been unveiled in Japan. It is the company's second model to be exported to Japan in FY 2024-25 after Fronx in August 2024. Notably, the Jimny 5-door is exclusively manufactured at Maruti Suzukis manufacturing facility in Gurugram, Haryana.

It has a strong legacy as a global off-roader and is exported to almost 100 countries. The introduction of this legendary 4WD SUV in Japan marks an important step in Maruti Suzukis export journey as it becomes the second SUV after Fronx to be supplied to the home market of Suzuki Motor Corporation in FY 2024-25.

Speaking on the occasion, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, "The introduction of Made in India Jimny 5-door in Japan is a testament to the global level of excellence in our manufacturing capability. It is our second model to be exported to Japan in this fiscal year (FY 2024-25) after Fronx in August 2024."

"Jimny is the second most exported Maruti Suzuki car in FY 2024-25. After its resounding success in markets like Mexico, Australia, and South Africa, we are confident that it will delight customers in Japan. The export of Jimny reaffirms our commitment towards Make-in-India for the world, he added.

The 3-door version of Jimny is already on sale in the Japanese market. The 5-door version will further add to the popularity of the iconic off-roader brand. Suzuki has sold more than 3.5 million units of Jimny 3-door worldwide, in 199 countries and regions.

Maruti Suzukis Export Performance In 2024

Maruti Suzuki shipped over 3.23 lakh vehicles to around 100 countries in CY 2024. The company has a 43.5% share of Indias total passenger vehicle exports in CY 2024.
New Delhi: The on-screen chemistry between Shahid Kapoor and Pooja Hegde in Deva has been widely praised by audiences, with their emotional connection resonating deeply in the film. The duos chemistry, which is subtle and unforced, stands out as one of the film's most compelling aspects. Their bond is not built on dramatic moments but instead flows naturally throughout the narrative, earning the film rave reviews for its authenticity.

Deva marks the first collaboration between Kapoor and Hegde, and their performances have struck a chord with viewers. Each emotionally charged scene feels genuine, with their interactions appearing organic rather than exaggerated. Despite Pooja Hegde having limited screen time, her presence alongside Kapoor creates a powerful impact, as their chemistry adds depth to the films storytelling.

Pooja Hegde plays Diya, a determined investigative journalist, in a refreshing new role that has impressed critics. Her portrayal of Diya is a blend of grit and vulnerability, earning her praise for delivering a career-best performance.

While Deva is heavy on action, Hegdes character brings a balancing softness to the story while maintaining a strong, driving force. Her performance has been hailed as a standout, reaffirming her place as one of modern Indian cinemas most dynamic actresses.

Directed by Rosshan Andrrews, Deva also stars Pavail Gulatie in a key role. Shahid Kapoor portrays a relentless cop, while Hegde's Diya adds emotional depth and authenticity to the narrative, making the film even more engaging. Deva continues to captivate audiences, further solidifying Pooja Hegde's position as a rising star in Indian cinema.
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi made the customary remarks at the beginning of the Budget Session of Parliament on Friday.

Budget Session Of Parliament 2025: Here is the full text of PM Narendra Modi's Speech.

Friends,

Today, at the beginning of the budget session, I bow to Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. And on such occasions, for centuries, we have been remembering the virtues of Goddess Lakshmi:

       

Maa Lakshmi gives us success and wisdom, prosperity and well-being. I pray to Maa Lakshmi that every poor and middle class community of the country should be blessed with the special blessings of Maa Lakshmi.

Friends,

Our Republic has completed 75 years, and this is a matter of great pride for every citizen of the country, and this strength of India also creates a special place for itself in the democratic world.

Friends,

The people of the country have given me this responsibility for the third time, and this is the first full budget of this third term, and I can confidently say that in 2047 when the country will celebrate 100 years of independence, the resolution of a developed India that the country has taken, this budget session, this budget will create a new confidence, will give a new energy, that when the country celebrates 100 years of independence, it will be developed. 140 crore countrymen will fulfill this resolution with their collective efforts. In the third term, we are moving ahead in mission mode towards all-round development of the country, whether it is geographically, socially or in the context of different economic levels. We are moving ahead in mission mode with the resolution of all-round development. Innovation, inclusion and investment have constantly been the basis of the roadmap of our economic activity.

As always, this session will have many historic days. Tomorrow there will be discussions in the House and after a lot of deliberation, laws will be made that will increase the strength of the nation. Especially, to re-establish the pride of Nari Shakti, to ensure that every woman gets a respectable life without any discrimination of caste and creed and gets equal rights, many important decisions will be taken in this session in that direction. Reform, Perform and Transform. When we have to achieve a fast pace of development, the maximum emphasis is on reform. The state and central governments have to perform together and we can see transformation with public participation.

Ours is a young country, a youthful power and the youth who are 20-25 years old today, when they turn 45-50 years old, they will be the biggest beneficiaries of a developed India. They will be at that stage of their life, they will be sitting in that position in the policy making system, that they will proudly move forward with a developed India in the century that will begin after independence. And hence this effort to fulfill the resolution of a developed India, this immense hard work, is going to be a great gift for our teenagers, our young generation today.

Those who had joined the freedom struggle in 1930, 1942, the young generation of the entire country was spent in the freedom struggle, and its fruits were reaped by the generation that came after 25 years. The youth who were in that war got those benefits. Those 25 years before independence became an opportunity to celebrate independence. Similarly, these 25 years are the intention of the countrymen to achieve a prosperous and developed India through their resolve and reach the pinnacle through their achievements. And therefore, in this budget session, all the MPs will contribute towards strengthening developed India. Especially, it is a golden opportunity for the young MPs because the more awareness and participation they will have in the House today, the more fruits of developed India they will see right in front of their eyes. And therefore, it is a priceless opportunity for the young MPs.

Friends,

I hope that we will live up to the hopes and aspirations of the country in this Budget session.

Friends,

Today you must have noticed one thing, people in the media should definitely notice it. Perhaps since 2014, this is the first session of Parliament in which there has been no foreign spark a day or two before the session, there has been no attempt to ignite a fire from abroad. I have been observing for 10 years, since 2014, that before every session people used to sit ready to create mischief, and here there is no dearth of people who fan it. This is the first session I am seeing after the last 10 years in which there was no spark from any foreign corner.

Thank you very much, friends.
New Delhi: The pre-budget document for the 2024-25 fiscal has suggested policy reforms to discourage overproduction of cereals while boosting output of pulses and edible oils, which the country currently imports to meet domestic shortages.

The Economic Survey 2024-25, tabled in Parliament on Friday, stressed that India's agriculture sector has "significant untapped growth potential" despite various growth initiatives.

Farmers must be allowed to receive unimpeded price signals from the market, with separate mechanisms to protect vulnerable households, it added.

The document outlined three key policy shifts needed - establishing market mechanisms for price risk hedging, preventing excessive fertiliser use, and discouraging production of water and power-intensive crops that are already in surplus.

"These policy shifts will help lift agricultural productivity in the economy by boosting land and labour productivity in the sector," the survey said.

Stating that India faces a persistent deficit in the production of pulses and oilseeds, the document said the slower growth rate of oilseeds at 1.9 per cent raises concerns, especially considering India's heavy reliance on imports to satisfy domestic edible oil demands.

To address this, the document suggested focused research to develop climate-resilient crop varieties, enhancing yield and reducing crop damage. Efforts to expand the area under pulses in rice-fallow regions are likely to help.

It also called for the promotion of extension activities and training for farmers on the best practices, the use of high-yield and disease-resistant seed varieties, and targeted interventions to improve agricultural practices in the major growing regions for pulses and oilseeds.

It stressed the judicious use of fertilisers considering soil degradation, particularly the decline in organic carbon content, poses a significant challenge to Indian agriculture.

The agriculture sector growth averaged 5 per cent annually during FY17-FY23, showing resilience despite challenges.

In Q2 FY25, the sector grew 3.5 per cent, recovering from growth rates of 0.4-2.0 per cent in the previous four quarters.

The sector contributes approximately 16 per cent to GDP and supports about 46.1 per cent of the population, as per FY24 provisional estimates at current prices.

The document stated that a crucial factor influencing agricultural performance is the impact of weather conditions.

"Climate variability can present significant challenges; however, farmers with diverse income streams are better positioned to navigate these uncertainties," it said.

Allied activities like animal husbandry, fisheries or agroforestry, can enable the farmers to mitigate the risks effectively.

The document emphasised the growing importance of allied sectors like animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries for income diversification.

However, it flagged challenges like climate change and water scarcity that require targeted interventions.

Digital technology adoption and improved market infrastructure through platforms like e-NAM were highlighted as critical focus areas.

Government schemes have shown a positive impact, with over 11 crore farmers benefiting from PM-KISAN and 23.61 lakh farmers enrolling under the PMKMY pension scheme as of October 31, 2024.

The report also stressed the need for private sector investment to support small farmers and modernise food grain storage systems, particularly in remote and hilly areas.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday stated that several Indian nationals are missing abroad, including three in Iran and sixteen in Russia. He added that the Indian government is in touch with the authorities in both countries to locate them.

"3 Indian nationals who had gone to Iran for business purposes, are missing. We are in touch with their families. We have taken up the matter with the Iranian Embassy in Delhi and with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran," Randhir Jaiswal said.

The MEA, along with the Indian Embassy in Tehran, is actively coordinating with Iranian authorities to expedite search efforts. "MEA and the Embassy of India in Tehran remain in touch with Iranian authorities and have requested their assistance in locating the missing nationals and ensuring their safety," Jaiswal said.

The MEA spokesperson added that 16 individuals have also gone missing, and the Ministry of External Affairs is in touch with Russian authorities regarding the matter.

"As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the US. We are keen to continuing this cooperation," Jaiswal said, ANI reported.

He clarified that before any deportation, the Indian government must verify the nationality of the individuals involved and added, "Any talk of numbers at this stage is premature. But I do want to emphasize that cooperation between India and the US is strong and effective in this domain. This will be evident in times to come."
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Friday remarked that his perception of India differs significantly from that of President Droupadi Murmu, claiming that she avoids discussing the harsh realities of the country. "I think the President of India and I live in two different countries. The President's view of the country she governs over and the country I live in seems to have stark differences. The President seems to celebrate success which I don't deny is there but glossed over the harsh realities of daily life in India," he said. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal echoed his party MP's views saying, "The President was made to deliver a political speech. Nothing is new. Everything is only complete lie and jumla." Earlier today, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's reaction to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the Joint session of the Parliament on Friday stoked a controversy. She said that the President "could hardly speak, poor thing." "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi told reporters. President Murmu's address kickstarted the Budget Session. Emphasising that the government is working on all-round development, President Murmu said that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India) and the government is working with a "saturation approach" so nobody is left in the journey. Murmu said, "My government is working with the Saturation Approach, so nobody is left in the journey of Vikshit Bharat... We have only one aim to become Viksit Bharat." As the Made in India defence product goes global, the President lauded the government for taking steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. "The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security.... The govt has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world..." she said. After the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla link railway project, President Murmu said that now India will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project has been completed and now the country will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. India's metro rail network has now crossed the 1000-kilometre milestone. India has the world's third-largest metro network," the President stated. Highlighting the government's effort towards the development of the north-east states, the President said, "To enable the entire country to see the potential of the eight states of the North East, the first Ashtalakshmi Mahotsav was organised." "To ensure health services to all citizens, 1.75 lakh 'Arogya Mandir have been established in the country. Looking at the rising number of cancer patients, custom duty on many cancer medicines has been waived off," President Murmu said while highlighting the government's step towards enhancing the health services in the nation. (ANI)
KOLKATA: The Border Security Force on Friday said its "strong objection" has led to the stopping of "illegal" construction by Bangladeshi citizens and its frontier force along the International Border in West Bengal, a phenomenon that is "increasing" in recent times. The North Bengal frontier of the force headquartered in Kadamtala, Siliguri, issued a press statement, saying "Although Bangladesh is constantly trying to carry out construction work in the border area through illegal means, BSF's vigilant eyes were always keeping an eye on their illegal activities and taking strict action." The frontier guards 932 km out of the 4,096 India-Bangladesh International Border (IB).

The frontier said, "In recent times, there has been an increase in illegal construction work by Bangladeshi citizens on the International Border adjoining Mekhliganj in Coochbehar within 150 yards of the IB in Bangladesh areas." On Friday, a case of construction of a sentry post bunker, within 150 yards of the IB, by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the area of Dahgram Angarpota also came to light, which the BGB has been "forced to stop" after "strong opposition" from the BSF, it said.

Apart from this, an "illegal" house was being built within 150 yards of the IB in Phulkadabari, Mekhliganj. The BGB had to stop that too after strong objection from the BSF, it said. Last week, as per the force, Bangladeshis were trying to build two "illegal" houses within 150 yards of the IB in the Jhikabari area of Kuchlibari in Coochbehar.

"This was stopped by the BGB after the BSF's strong objection. The BSF is constantly monitoring the border through its soldiers and is foiling the attempts of illegal construction and smuggling by Bangladeshis," it said. The BSF has been maintaining an "alert" stance all along this border since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024. Senior officers of the force have earlier said that their relations with the BGB are good.

The ties between India and Bangladesh have been tense after the two countries summoned each other's High Commissioners in their national capitals sometime back. While Bangladesh expressed its concern over the "activities" of the BSF vis-a-vis fence erection and border killings during their meeting with the Indian High Commissioner, India made it clear to the acting Bangladeshi High Commissioner in Delhi that all laid down protocols were being followed while constructing the fence.

Early this week, Bangladesh's interim government said in Dhaka that it would seek to scrap some "uneven agreements" on borders with India during the meeting of the directors general of the border guards (BSF and BGB) of the two countries to be held next month.
New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi on Thursday claimed that the Congress and AAP, which had given clean chits to each other six months ago, were now "exposing" the other's corruption.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi issued a statement regarding the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, calling it "open corruption" and that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt, Trivedi said at a press conference.

"He (Kejriwal) is issuing certificates of honesty to himself even after that," he added.

Trivedi said the AAP supremo, on the other hand, alleged that the Congress was involved in the National Herald case.

"Both these scams are unique in Indian politics. In the liquor scam, you have never seen a government form a policy only to later take it back. After withdrawing the policy, it (AAP government) said the policy was good and defended it in the media," he added.

The National Herald case is important in the way a party scammed its own institute, the BJP MP alleged.

He added that the BJP had nothing to do with the two cases -- the National Herald case was started in October 2013 when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was at the Centre while the first allegation regarding the liquor scam was also levelled by the grand old party.

It is clear how tainted the true character of the so-called staunchly honest party is, as revealed by its former partner, Trivedi said.

AAP and the Congress are constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc, formed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The two parties had contested the general elections in an alliance in Delhi.

Trivedi noted that Kejriwal had made venomous statements about Haryana, which had been proven politically and constitutionally incorrect.

After the Election Commission's questioning, even Kejriwal's apology would be insufficient, he added.

"One thing is clear in front of the people of Delhi Both these parties lie. They were giving clean chits to each other six months ago and now (they are) exposing each other's corruption. It means the Congress was lying on the National Herald case and AAP was lying on the liquor scam," he claimed.

Trivedi alleged that the Centre gave Rs 8,500 crore to clean the Yamuna but, instead of cleaning the Yamuna, AAP is accused of polluting it.

The BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said people of the national capital had fully understood that these parties were two sides of the same corrupt coin and it wouldn't be surprising if they embraced each other on the eve of the elections.

Sachdeva alleged that the people of Delhi knew that AAP and the Congress looted Delhi during the past 26 years.

"Therefore, I urge the citizens to now extend their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a double-engine government is about to come to Delhi," he added.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5 and the votes counted on February 8.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha led a massive roadshow in the Rajendra Nagar Assembly constituency on Friday, seeking support for party candidate Durgesh Pathak. The event witnessed an overwhelming response filled with energy and enthusiasm. Raghav Chadha reminded the people that this was the very seat where he once served as an MLA, and this time, he was seeking their votes for Durgesh Pathak.

On Friday, the streets of Rajendra Nagar Assembly were flooded with AAP flags and echoes of party slogans. Thousands of people gathered to greet MP Raghav Chadha, showering him with flower petals and chanting slogans in support of party. The atmosphere was electric as Chadha warmly interacted with the people, touching the feet of elderly residents to seek their blessings for victory.

Raghav Chadha expressed his deep connection to Rajendra Nagar, stating it's his birthplace, workplace, and a place he's fortunate to return to. He acknowledged the constituency for giving him the opportunity to serve as a legislator. Today, I am here to seek votes for Durgesh Pathak. When the 2025 Assembly election results come out, this seat will be our first victory."

Chadha sought votes for AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak and confidently predicted that Rajendra Nagar will be their first win in the 2025 assembly elections. During his speech, Raghav Chadha highlighted AAPs transformative work in education, healthcare, electricity, water, and transport, emphasizing that these achievements were possible only because the people of Delhi gave Kejriwals government a full majority. He pointed out that while AAP worked for real progress, other parties merely made promises without delivering results. Urging the voters, he said, "If you want to continue Delhis progress, support Durgesh Pathak."

He praised Durgesh Pathak as a strong leader who has been with AAP since its inception, saying, "Durgesh Pathak is a grassroots leader who has always stood by the people. I assure you that Rajendra Nagar will get a dedicated MLA who will work tirelessly for its residents. We are committed to delivering better facilities to every household and taking this progress even further."

AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak expressed his excitement over the overwhelming public response, stating, "MP Raghav Chadhas presence has doubled our enthusiasm. The massive turnout on the streets of Rajendra Nagar shows the love and trust of the people. We are confident of victory."

Listing AAPs achievements, Raghav Chadha asserted that the party does not seek votes based on caste or religion but on real work. He said, "AAPs model is not about freebies; it is a people-centric model. Everything we provide is funded by taxpayers for their own benefit. We have improved government schools, built Mohalla Clinics, provided free bus travel for women, and ensured 24-hour electricity. This was all possible because the people of Delhi trusted us."

MP Raghav Chadha urged voters to ensure a landslide victory for AAP in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. He said that if AAP returns to power, Delhi will witness even greater development in the next five years. He appealed to the people, "Press the Jhaadu button and take Delhi forward. Those who believe in development politics stand with AAP. This time, the people of Delhi will once again elect AAP with more than 62 seats."
Delhi School Holiday: The Central Air Quality Management Commission (CAQM) has reimposed GRAP 3 restrictions as air quality worsens in the Delhi NCR region. Officials stated that bad weather conditions have contributed to rising pollution levels. The decision was taken when the Air Quality Index (AQI) hit 365 at 4 PM on Wednesday. GRAP 3 rules include a ban on non-essential construction and shifting classes up to grade 5 to a hybrid mode. Parents and students can choose online classes where available. However, due to the Delhi Assembly elections, all schools and colleges in the national capital will remain closed. Authorities have announced the closure to ensure smooth election proceedings across the city.

Schools closed in Delhi?

Schools across Delhi-NCR have faced several restrictions this year due to rising pollution. Under the GRAP 3 guidelines, all schools have been advised to adopt a hybrid mode for classes up to grade 5, allowing students and parents to choose between offline and online learning.

To ensure student safety, many schools in Delhi-NCR have voluntarily switched to online classes by suspending physical attendance. It is important for students and parents to remember that GRAP 3 restrictions do not require schools to close. For the latest updates on school operations, students are encouraged to stay in touch with their school authorities.

Delhi schools closed because of coldwaves

However, GRAP 3 restrictions do not require schools to shut down completely. Earlier, the government had declared a winter break for all Delhi schools from January 1 to January 15, 2025. Due to extreme cold, some schools in Noida and Gurgaon were asked to close or extend their break. The return of GRAP 3 restrictions continues to affect students' education in the region.

Delhi weather today

A thick fog blanketed the National Capital on Friday, with the temperature dropping to 10.8 degrees Celsius at 5.30 AM, as reported by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). As the cold weather persisted, many homeless individuals sought shelter in night homes to escape the chilly conditions in Delhi.
The five-day literary festival, Saahitya 2025, held at Elpro International School, Phase 1 - Hinjawadi, concluded on Republic Day i.e. 26th January 2025, leaving its mark as one of the most vibrant celebrations of literature and culture in recent memory. With an array of sessions, performances, workshops, and a book fair, Saahitya offered a space for creativity, intellect, and cultural exchange, captivating attendees from all walks of life.

A special highlight of the festival was the grand book fair, hosted by Crossword, which was open throughout the five days from January 22 to 26. From 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM daily, the fair welcomed readers to explore a wide range of books across genres, making it a haven for book enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

The festival opened on January 22 with a spectacular inauguration ceremony that set the tone for the days ahead. Literary enthusiasts were thrilled by an engaging session with the celebrated author Ankur Warikoo, whose insights and experiences drew a packed audience. The evening concluded with a soul-stirring performance by the Wadali Brothers, whose melodic tunes left the audience in awe, making the first evening a perfect blend of intellectual and artistic delight.

As the festival continued, it delved deeper into interactive and cultural experiences. On the second day, an exciting Quiz Session hosted by Skillsphere brought a competitive edge to the festival, while Arvind Jagtap charmed the crowd with his session titled "Selfie," filled with wit and storytelling. The highlight of the evening was Vaarasa - Paramparecha, a mesmerizing performance by Team Vaarasa that celebrated the beauty of Marathi literature and music.

The team, led by poet Vaibhav Joshi, featured the remarkable talents of anchor Milind Kulkarni, vocalists Nagesh Adgaonkar and Madhura Datar, and instrumentalists Vikram Bhat on the tabla; Apoorv Dravid on pakhawaj, dholak, and dholki; Uddhav Kumbhar on percussion; Nilesh Deshpande on the flute; and Kedar Paranjpe on the keyboard. Their harmonious performance left the audience deeply moved and proud of their cultural heritage.

The third day brought a delightful mix of learning and artistic expression. A workshop and competition organised by Amar Chitra Katha revived timeless stories for a new generation, engaging children and adults alike. Author Akshat Gupta delivered a compelling session, redefining Indian mythology as Satyalogy and asserting that the yugas were historical events, not myths. He also emphasized the importance of innovative education in shaping young minds. Beyond his profound insights, Guptas humility shone through as he warmly engaged with fans, proving that success and kindness go hand in hand. The day concluded on a poetic note as the renowned Ashok Chakradhar enthralled the audience with his evocative recitation, leaving everyone spellbound.

On the fourth day, Saahitya embraced creativity in full bloom. An open mic session provided a platform for budding artists and writers to share their voices, while a Scrabble competition added a playful twist to the literary atmosphere. Shabnam Minwalla captivated readers during her author session, inspiring many with her literary journey. Later in the evening, the Character Parade brought beloved literary figures to life, filling the venue with colour, imagination, and energy.

The festival culminated in a grand finale celebrating the richness of art and literature. The evening began with a lively Literary Tambola session, followed by a graceful Kathakali performance by Renjini Suresh and Team, which mesmerized the audience. Manoj Muntashir Shukla, in his powerful author session, spoke passionately about the greatness of India, lauding its cultural diversity, historical depth, and literary wealth. He urged the audience to take pride in India's rich heritage and to carry forward its legacy with pride. His speech, filled with patriotic fervour and optimism, resonated deeply with the audience.



The night reached its peak with a captivating performance by Mame Khan, whose powerful voice and stage presence had the audience swaying to his Rajasthani folk music blended with contemporary beats. From soulful traditional songs to high-energy tracks, Mame Khans ability to engage the crowd, encouraging sing-alongs and claps, made the concert a celebration. His heartfelt gratitude and personal anecdotes about his music added a special touch, making the performance unforgettable.

Saahitya 2025 was more than just a festivalit was a celebration of ideas, stories, and cultural heritage. With its thoughtfully curated events, stellar line-up of authors, performers, and artists, and robust partnerships, it left an indelible mark on the hearts of its attendees. Saahitya truly lived up to its promise of being "Punes biggest literary festival."

(This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Lts consumer connect initiative, 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.)
Yamuna Water Row: Amid the Yamuna water poisoning row, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Thursday asked AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to take Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with him and drink the Yamuna River's water near Delhi's Rajghat, the way he did near Dahisra village on the Delhi-Haryana border.

Haryana has thrashed allegations levelled by the Atishi-led AAP government and Kejriwal and maintained that it is giving clean water to the national capital. On Wednesday, CM Saini took a couple of sips of water from the Yamuna and slammed the AAP, saying there was no poison in the water coming from his state to the national capital.

Speaking to reporters in Panipat on Thursday, Saini said Haryana is giving clean water to Delhi. He also stated that he drank the Yamuna water at the point where it enters Delhi on the Haryana-Delhi border. "I invite Kejriwal to take Rahul Gandhi with him and drink water from the Yamuna near Rajghat and take a bath there," Saini said.

He said that the former Delhi CM had, in his first election, said he would make the Yamuna clean but did nothing in this regard, and now he has started blaming Haryana. On Wednesday, Saini had said the water going to Delhi from Haryana was clean. "But when this water goes to Delhi from here... what we get in Palwal and Faridabad is horrible," Saini said.

Earlier this week, the AAP accused the ruling saffron party in Haryana of intentionally draining industrial waste into the Yamuna. Levelling allegations against the Saini government, Kejriwal claimed that it was trying to kill the people by "mixing poison" in the river. With the Delhi Assembly polls inching closer, the leadership of the saffron party has targeted the ruling AAP dispensation over Kejriwal's "poison in Yamuna" remark.

Speaking to reporters in Panipat, Saini said the people of Delhi are fed up with Kejriwal. "He only lies and does politics of lies; he has not done any work. He only blames others... the people of Delhi will teach him a lesson in the polls," Saini said.

"People of Delhi are not getting clean water because of his (Kejriwal's) wrong policies. They only did corruption for 10 years," Saini added. He alleged that clean drinking water is not available in Delhi's households because of Kejriwal's wrong policies and even the ponds remain neglected. There is a severe lack of water distribution. Instead of addressing these issues, Kejriwal is focusing more on rhetoric, the chief minister said, and asserted that the people of Delhi will not be "misled" by the AAP chief again as he has "failed to meet their expectations."

Saini reiterated that the Centre had allocated Rs 8,500 crore to the AAP government in Delhi for setting up Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), but neither the STPs were established nor could the funds be accounted for.

Delhi is set to go to polls on February 5, and counting of votes will take place on February 8. In the upcoming polls, the national capital is set to witness a three-cornered battle. AAP is seeking a third consecutive term in office while the BJP is attempting to regain power in the national capital for the first time since 1998.

(With PTI Inputs)
Jamboree Education has reported a "noticeable surge in Indian students opting for undergraduate studies in the United States." The Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange revealed some hard-hitting milestones in the growing appeal of US education among Indian students. Findings highlight how India is now, for the second year in a row, the top contributor to the international student population, marking a 23% increase over the previous year.

What is fueling this trend?

"One of the biggest draws of the US education system is its flexibility," says Vineet Gupta, Co-founder of Jamboree Education, a pioneer institute in study-abroad counselling and SAT preparation. "Students are not required to declare a major until their third year, which allows them to explore various fields before committing." More often than not, Indian universities offer little to no scope for switching majors, which is significantly limiting for students, especially when picking an undergraduate program.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 80 per cent of students in the United States change their major at least once. On average, US college students change their major at least three times during their undergraduate degrees. This flexibility is almost necessary for refining students' interests and potential.

How have Financial Aid and Scholarships impacted the trend?

The financial aspect is a significant consideration for Indian students. So, all opportunities to shave off the US college sticker price are naturally welcomed. The US offers a wealth of financial aid and scholarship options for international students, covering a variety of academic disciplines, backgrounds, and financial needs. "I never felt short of scholarships; the real challenge was shortlisting and presenting my case. I relied on my counsellor for help with deadlines, applications, and documentation to indicate my financial need," said Ashi Bansal, a 100% scholarship recipient at Cornell University and a Jamboree student.

How is the US economy supporting the growing trend?

International students contributions to the US are significant and multi-faceted, and this years record-breaking economic total is the latest proof of that, said Fanta Aw, NAFSA Executive Director & CEO.

New research highlights that international students at US colleges and universities contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy during the 2023-24 academic year, supporting over 378,000 jobs. This economic impact not only benefits the US but also underscores the value international students bring to their host institutions and communities.

Even while the working class lost their jobs during the pandemic all around the world, the average graduate salary in the US actually grew by 2.5%. Thats a hint that education in the US is always a good idea, said a former Jamboree student at a recent Jamboree Alumni Meet.

The combination of academic flexibility, financial aid, and abundant research opportunities makes the US a favoured destination for Indian students. Premium institutes like Jamboree Education offer a comprehensive support system, from test preparation to application guidance, which has been pivotal in helping students achieve their dreams. "We are committed to empowering students to reach their full potential," Gupta concludes. "Their success is our success."

As Indian students continue to seek quality education abroad, the US stands out as a destination that offers not just academic excellence but also a holistic growth experience. Institutes like Jamboree Education have ensured students are well-prepared to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead in their academic journeys.

(This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Lts consumer connect initiative, 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.)
Kerala Lottery Results Friday 31-01-2025 LIVE: The Kerala Lottery Department, on behalf of the Keralan government, announces the "Nirmal NR-417" Lucky Draw Result today Nirmal NR-417, January 31, 2025. The draw will be held at Gorky Bhavan near Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala Lottery Result 2025 for "Nirmal NR-417" will feature 12 series, with changes in series possible each week. A total of 108 lakh tickets are available for purchase weekly. The ticket prices may vary. Check the Nirmal NR-417 results right here to see if youre the first-place winner of 70 Lakhs. Stay tuned to this website for the live update of Kerala Lottery Nirmal NR-417 results today.

Kerala Lottery Result 31-01-2025 January: FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS FOR NIRMAL NR-417 Draw

LUCKY TICKET NUMBER FOR 1ST PRIZE OF RS 70 LAKHS IS: NR 318374

LUCKY TICKET NUMBER FOR 2ND PRIZE OF RS 10 LAKHS IS: NU 797140

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR 3RD PRIZE OF RS 1 Lakh ARE:

1) NN 844535

2) NO 722292

3) NP 631887

4) NR 600177

5) NS 293910

6) NT 653934

7) NU 734947

8) NV 658287

9) NW 865803

10) NX 866447

11) NY 676814

12) NZ 958059

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR CONSOLATION PRIZE OF RS 8,000 ARE:

NN 318374

NO 318374

NP 318374

NS 318374

NT 318374

NU 318374

NV 318374

NW 318374

NX 318374

NY 318374

NZ 318374

(For The Tickets Ending with The Following Numbers below)

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR 4TH PRIZE OF RS 5,000 ARE: 0957 1562 2359 3228 3587 3855 6235 6319 6463 6883 6939 7628 7900 7924 8072 9327 9666 9863

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR 5TH PRIZE OF RS 1,000 ARE: 0248 0401 0514 0679 0742 0945 1105 1881 2289 2516 3298 3359 3454 3551 4495 4588 4902 4916 5589 5704 6167 6720 7117 7224 7632 7975 8117 8140 8267 8381 8569 8671 8806 9490 9613 9817

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR 6TH PRIZE OF RS 500 ARE: 0010 0117 0238 0299 0465 0563 0660 0847 0879 1074 1282 1892 2215 2301 2358 2773 2817 2928 2941 3030 3104 3117 3542 3578 3628 3751 3998 4042 4212 4369 4519 4573 4584 4674 4698 4703 4730 4908 4957 5040 5069 5226 5364 5442 5562 6018 6257 6336 6384 6478 6585 6593 6619 6695 6750 6913 6936 7101 7276 7331 7425 7501 7861 8065 8437 8553 8761 8825 8864 9096 9262 9301 9333 9640 9848 9885 9891 9921 9990

LUCKY TICKET NUMBERS FOR 7TH PRIZE OF RS 100 ARE: 0264 0494 0500 0538 0699 0700 0863 0929 0973 1312 1378 1474 1596 1712 1818 1860 1866 1911 1921 1943 1976 2216 2219 2227 2238 2286 2310 2342 2437 2447 2554 2563 2611 2764 2791 2815 2944 3105 3152 3186 3426 3438 3643 3679 3695 3833 3903 3955 3971 4193 4466 4628 4718 4909 4910 4960 4979 5004 5112 5194 5219 5251 5407 5504 5608 5796 5936 5945 6013 6058 6106 6208 6248 6284 6303 6327 6467 6506 6517 6526 6651 6733 6830 6841 6930 6978 6994 7041 7184 7226 7271 7283 7339 7476 7478 7543 7749 7873 7913 7954 8026 8086 8098 8135 8192 8226 8301 8365 8505 8554 8674 9043 9129 9166 9196 9353 9356 9674 9694 9751 9869 9879

KERALA LOTTERY RESULT TODAY 31-01-2025 January: NIRMAL NR-417 LOTTERY PRIZE DETAILS

1st Prize: Rs 70 Lakhs

2nd Prize: Rs. 10 lakhs

3rd Prize: Rs. 5,000

4th Prize: Rs. 2,000

5th Prize: Rs. 1,000

6th Prize: Rs. 500

7th Prize: Rs. 200

8th Prize: Rs. 100

Consolation Prize: Rs. 8,000

(NOTE: Lottery can be addictive and should be played responsibly. The data provided on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice or encouragement. Zee News does not promote lottery in anyway.)
Maha Kumbh 2025: A police officer was suspended on Thursday after a video went viral showing him allegedly mixing ash into the food served at a Bhandara (community feast) for devotees at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj.

Speaking on the development, DCP (Ganga Nagar) Kuldeep Singh Gunawat said that action was taken against the Station House Officer (SHO) of Soraon, Brijesh Kumar Tiwari after the video surfaced on social media. In the footage, a police officer is seen adding ash to the food being prepared over a stove. A user posted the video on social media platform X tagging the DCP Ganga Nagar's account and demanding strict action against the officer for this "shameful act."

Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh | Soraon station in-charge Brijesh Tiwari has been suspended after a video went viral in which he was seen dumping soil in a food vessel at a 'Bhandara': Kuldeep Singh Gunawat, DCP Ganganagar.  ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2025

In response, the official account of DCP Ganga Nagar replied: "Taking cognizance of the matter, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ganga Nagar) has suspended the Soraon SHO based on a report from ACP Soraon. Departmental proceedings are underway," as quoted by news agency PTI.

The video was also shared by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on social media, urging the public to take note of it.

"It is unfortunate that the good efforts of those who are making arrangements to provide food and water to those stranded at the Maha Kumbh are being scuttled due to political animosity. The public should take notice!" the former UP Chief Minister said.

With the ongoing Maha Kumbh, which has seen millions of pilgrims coming to Prayagraj, several individuals, groups, and organizations have set up community kitchens to offer free or affordable meals to the visiting devotees.
India on Friday said that the recent agreements between Maldives and other countries like China and Turkey will affect New Delhi's financial assistance to the island nation. Reacting to a question, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the agreements will result in revenue loss for the Maldives government.

"We remain in close touch with Maldivian authorities on the situation facing them. Recent agreements that are likely to result in revenue loss for the Maldives Government are, obviously, a matter of concern and do not bode well for the long-term fiscal stability of the country. We would, obviously, need to take that into account while framing our own policies," said Jaiswal.

The Maldives and China's free trade agreement has come into effect recently and it will lead to custom revenue loss for Male, thus further affecting its already struggling economy. The Maldives government has also signed an FTA with Turkey as well which will come into effect in coming months.

India has offered financial assistance to Maldives from time to time. The two nations went through a relationship turmoil last year but the relations have improved with the leaders of both countries visiting each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the joint Parliament address of President Droupadi Murmu and applauded the President's vision for an India where youth have the best opportunities to flourish. He stated that her address included inspiring roadmaps for achieving the country's goals with unity and determination, a resonant outline of the nation's path toward building a developed India (Viksit Bharat). Taking to X, PM Modi wrote, "Her address encapsulated the vision for an India where youth have the best opportunities to flourish. The address also included inspiring roadmaps for achieving the goals we have set with a spirit of unity and determination." The Prime Minister further stated that the President in her address highlighted the important initiatives all-around as well as futuristic development. "Today's address by Rashtrapati Ji to both Houses of Parliament was a resonant outline of our nation's path toward building a Viksit Bharat. She highlighted initiatives across sectors and underscored the importance of all-around as well as futuristic development," PM Modi posted on X. https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1885249234468770137 However, the event was marred by controversy when Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi made remarks about President Murmu's speech. Earlier today, Sonia Gandhi said that the President "could hardly speak, poor thing." "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi told reporters. The BJP strongly condemned Gandhi's comments, calling them "elitist, anti-poor, and anti-tribal." "I and every BJP Karyakarta strongly condemns the usage of the phrase "poor thing" by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu Ji. The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party," JP Nadda, BJP President said in a post on X. "I demand that the Congress Party unconditionally apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India," he added. BJP MP Sambit Patra said that President Murmu is neither tied nor bowed down and called Sonia Gandhi's remarks inappropriate. The budget session of the Parliament commenced today with the joint address of President Droupadi Murmu. President Droupadi Murmu emphasised that the government is working on all-round development and said that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India) and the government is working with "saturation approach" so nobody is left in the journey. Addressing a joint sitting of the Parliament in the Budget session, President Murmu said, "My government is working with Saturation Approach, so nobody is left in the journey of Vikshit Bharat... We have only one aim to become Viksit Bharat." As the Made in India defence product goes global, the President lauded the government for taking steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. "The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security.... The govt has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world..." she said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey for 2024-25 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, soon after, both houses were adjourned for the day. The budget will be presented on February 1. On budget day, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am. The budget speech will outline the government's fiscal policies, revenue and expenditure proposals, taxation reforms, and other significant announcements. Notably, the budget session of parliament will begin on January 31 and, according to schedule, will end on April 4. (ANI)
Launching a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said there was no difference between the two as both were "cowards and corrupt".

Addressing a public meeting at Mustafabad, Priyanka Gandhi said while Modi kept blaming India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Kejriwal blamed Modi. However, neither took any responsibility.

The BJP's politics has always been one of creating divisions, she said in the constituency, which had been hit by riots in 2020.

The Congress general secretary said that while AAP leaders talked about Modi's 'Rajmahal' and BJP leaders about Kejriwal's 'Sheesh Mahal', none of them spoke about the real issues of the people.

The issues being discussed by the BJP and AAP are who indulged in corruption and who built a bigger 'mahal', she said.

"Think who is talking about your issues. Are these your issues? Who is making allegations against whom? Who understands your pain? They are trying to divide people. Someone says 'I was insulted' while another says someone else was insulted," she said.

Someone is trying to divide Hindus and Muslims but they are not talking about roads, clean water, children's education, strengthening businesses and employment, Priyanka Gandhi said.

"You know under what circumstances AAP was formed and Kejriwal ji rose as a leader -- by talking against corruption. Now, what is the difference between him and Modi?" she asked.

The prime minister says Nehru is to be blamed for everything and takes no responsibility, Priyanka Gandhi alleged and claimed that Modi never said what he did in the last 10 years.

"He (Modi) talks about what happened under Congress governments of the past. Kejriwal ji blames Modi ji. Modi ji has found Nehru ji and Kejriwal ji has found Modi ji but who is working for the people and taking responsibility?" she asked.

"Indira Gandhi used to say there are two types of people -- one who works quietly and the other who makes excuses and takes credit for others' works. Now, are Modi and Kejriwal the first type or the second? ... The second type... They do not take responsibility," she asserted.

Modi and Kejriwal call themselves "leaders" when a "leader" is one who takes responsibility, does not make people fight, does not divert attention, shows how he is working to alleviate people's problems, Priyanka Gandhi said.

"A leader is one who is fearless, does not get scared. Have you seen Rahul Gandhi? He is a leader. Someone may like it or not, he never shies away from speaking the truth," she asserted.

"They (Modi and Kejriwal) are cowards, they are the same, they are corrupt. They will work for themselves and then think about the people," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi also listed the achievements during the 15 years of the Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit in Delhi.

She asserted that the Congress did what it promised and fulfilled all its guarantees in states such as Telangana and Karnataka, urging people to vote for party candidate Ali Mehdi.

She also slammed the BJP and AAP for lacking in democracy and functioning in a centralised manner.

Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5, and the votes counted on February 8.
Ahead of the Parliament's Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted that, for the first time since 2014, there had been no external attempts to create disturbances in India before the commencement of a session.

The Prime Minister on Friday took a swipe at opposition parties while noting the absence of external interference ahead of the Budget session."This is the first session without any foreign meddling," he remarked.

"You must have noticed, since 2014, this is the first Parliament session which saw no 'videshi chingari' (foreign interference) in our affairs, in which no foreign forces tried to ignite a fire," he added.

Modi further pointed out that such attempts were common before every Budget session. "I had noticed this before every Budget session. And many in our country leave no stone unturned to fan these sparks," he said.

Hinting at the significance of Budget Session 2025, PM said, In this session, as always, many historic bills will be discussed in the House and after extensive brainstorming, they will become laws that will strengthen the nation. Specially to re-establish the pride of women power, to ensure that every woman gets a respectable life and equal rights without any discrimination of caste and creed; many important decisions will be taken in this session in this direction, he asserted.

Reiterating his government's focus, Modi said the administration has been working in a "mission mode" for comprehensive development, with innovation, inclusion, and investment shaping its economic agenda.

The prime minister also underscored the importance of women's empowerment, stating that key decisions would be taken to ensure equal rights and eliminate any sectarian or faith-based discrimination.

Expressing confidence in parliamentary proceedings, he urged all MPs, especially first-time legislators, to contribute meaningfully to the vision of 'Viksit Bharat' during the session.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed anguish at the loss of lives in a collision between two aircraft in Washington DC.

All 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter were feared dead in what was likely to be the worst US aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, officials said Thursday.

In a post on X, Modi said, "Deeply saddened by loss of lives in the tragic collision in Washington DC. Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. We stand in solidarity with the people of the United States."
Amaravati: A police officer shot himself dead in Andhra Pradeshs West Godavari district on Friday.

Sub-Inspector of Police A.G. S. Murthy shot himself with his service revolver at Tanuku Rural Police Station.

Murthy was sent to Vacancy Reserve (VR) by his seniors recently following allegations in connection with a case.

However, the SI was asked to report for duty in view of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus visit to the district on Friday.

The police officer came to the police station on Friday morning. He sat for some time and then went to the washroom where he shot himself in the head with the service weapon.

On hearing the gun sound, his colleagues rushed to the washroom and found him lying in a pool of blood. The SI was immediately rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead by doctors.

The SI was assigned duty as part of the security arrangements for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidus visit to Penugonda on Friday.

The police officer had Thursday collected his service weapon from the Bhimavaram depot of the police department to report to duty.

Murthy was sent to VR three months ago following allegations of dereliction of duty in dealing with a case.

Telugu states have seen a series of suicides by police in recent months.

Telangana Director General of Police Dr Jitender had said last month that there may be several reasons for the suicides by the police personnel.

There may be several issues like financial issues, family issues, emotional issues, and personal issues. I cannot say this is happening because of one issue. We cant generalize that it is because of work pressure. There may be some cases of work pressure also, Jitender said.

The police chief said they were responding to the problem through an internal mechanism. The department has officers who counsel employees having family, emotional and financial issues.

If we are unable to handle the issue at the department level, we take the help of professional counsellors, the DGP said.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday described remarks by "some prominent Congress party leaders" on President Droupadi Murmu's address to Parliament as "unfortunate and entirely avoidable." It stated that the comments were in poor taste and had undermined the dignity of the high office.

Earlier in the day, President Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the Parliament to mark the beginning of the Budget Session. Speaking to reporters after the session, Sonia Gandhi, former Congress chief, said the President looked exhausted after her long customary speech.

"The President was getting very tired by the end. She could hardly speak, poor thing," Mrs Gandhi said.

The BJP quickly labelled the comments as "derogatory" and pressed for an apology.

"Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring," read the statement from her office.

"The President's office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable," it said, adding, "some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable," the statement added.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader JP Nadda also condemned Congress Sonia Gandhi for her remarks and said that the remarks showed the "elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress."

"I and every BJP Karyakarta strongly condemns the usage of the phrase "poor thing" by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu Ji. The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party," JP Nadda, BJP President said in a post on X.

"I demand that the Congress Party unconditionally apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India," he added.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL against the practice of charging an additional fee for "VIP darshan" and according of preferential, selective and special treatment to a certain class of people in temples.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said it was for the society and temple management to decide the issue and the court cannot pass any direction.

"While we may be of the opinion that no special treatment should be given but this court cannot issue directions. We do not think it is a fit case to exercise jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution. However, we clarify that dismissal of the petition will not bar the appropriate authorities from taking appropriate action as required," the bench said.

Advocate Akash Vashishtha, representing the petitioner, argued there is some Standard Operating Procedure required as there are 12 Jyotirlingas and this completely arbitrary practice of "VIP darshan".

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Vijay Kishor Goswami, 'sevait' at Shri Radha Madan Mohan Temple in Vrindavan, on the issue.

The plea said the practice violated the principles of equality enshrined in Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, as it discriminated against devotees unable to afford the fee.

The petition also raised several concerns about the additional fee charged for an expedited access to temple deities.

The plea said charging fee ranging between Rs 400 and Rs 500 for the special darshan privileges created a divide between the affluent devotees and those who were unable to afford such charges, particularly disadvantaged women, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens.

It said that despite representations made to the home ministry, only a directive was issued to Andhra Pradesh, while other states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh remained unaddressed.

The plea, therefore, sought a direction to declare the levying of the additional fee violative of the constitutional rights of equality and religious freedom.

It sought directions to ensure equal treatment for all devotees in temple premises and framing of standard operating procedures by the Centre to ensure equitable access to temples.

The plea further sought setting up of a national board to oversee the management and administration of temples nationwide.
Patna: Three persons were killed and one other was seriously injured in a collision between two bikes in Bihar's Aurangabad district on Thursday.

The fatal accident occurred near the Pratappur intersection in the Bandeya police station area of Goh block.

According to police, three youths were travelling on one bike towards a nearby market when another speeding motorcycle collided with them head-on.

The deceased have been identified as Aditya Kumar (18), a resident of Buxar village, Bandeya police station area, Beche Jagan (30), a resident of Simrahui village, Fesar police station area and Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Paanti village in Fesar police station area.

The injured person has been identified as Pawan Kumar (19), a resident of Simrahui village under the jurisdiction of Fesar police station.

Upon receiving information, the police immediately reached the accident site and transported the injured to the hospital.

The injured person was initially taken to Goh Primary Heath Centre where doctors have referred him to Magadh Medical College, Gaya, for advanced treatment.

We have informed the family members of the victims. The dead bodies were sent for post-mortem, said an official spokesperson of Aurangabad Police.

The family members of the deceased were seen crying uncontrollably after hearing about the incident.

The incident has caused panic in the local area, with authorities urging commuters to follow traffic rules to prevent such mishaps.

Earlier in the day, a bus-truck collision on National Highway 31 in Bihar's Purnea district left two passengers killed and around a dozen passengers injured on Thursday.

The accident occurred between Hijla and Dighi Bridge under Baisi police station limits when a bus travelling from Patna to Kishanganj collided head-on with a truck loaded with bamboo coming from the opposite direction at a high speed. The crash severely damaged both vehicles.
Sambhal: A local court here on Thursday rejected the bail pleas of 15 accused in connection with the riots that erupted during a survey at the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal last year, officials said.

The violence on November 24 left four people dead and several injured. The survey was linked to a petition claiming that a Harihar temple once stood at the site of the mosque.

Additional District Judge (ADJ)-II, Nirbhay Narayan Singh, heard the bail petitions of the accused but denied bail citing strong evidence presented in court, Government counsel Hariom Prakash Saini told PTI.

"All the accused were identified in CCTV footage and were named in the FIR by the complainant. Despite prohibitory orders in place, they were part of the mob that was asked to disperse. However, they refused and instead attacked the police with stones and firearms," Saini said, quoting the judgment.

"Several civilians were killed, and about 25 policemen were injured in the incident. Government vehicles were torched and police equipment, including magazines and rubber bullets, was looted," Saini said.

The court reviewed the case records, including evidence from the case registered at Sambhal police station, involving 13 accused -- Amir, Sameer, Yaqub, Sajauddin, Mohammad Rehan, Mohammad Ali, Shariq, Naim, Mohammad Gulfam, Mohammad Salim, Tahzeeb, Mohammad Firoz, and Mohammad Shadab.

Bail applications for all of them were rejected.

Similarly, in a case registered at Nakhasa police station, the court denied bail to accused Rukayya and Farhana, officials said.

On November 19, the local court passed an ex-parte order for a survey of the mosque by an advocate commissioner after taking note of a plea of the Hindu side claiming the mosque was built by Mughal emperor Babur in 1526 after demolishing a temple.

On November 24, during a second round of survey, protesting locals clashed with security personnel, leading to the violence.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday described newly elected US President Donald Trump as an American nationalist. Emphasizing strong bilateral ties between India and the US, he highlighted the evolving nature of global diplomacy and India's approach to it.

Speaking at an interactive session at Delhi University's Hansraj College, Jaishankar said, "I recently attended his (Trump's) oath-taking ceremony, and we received good treatment. I believe he is an American nationalist." He made the remarks while responding to a question about whether Trump is India's friend or enemy.

While speaking during the event, the EAM also acknowledged that Trump's policies could bring significant changes to global affairs but asserted that India's foreign policy would continue to be guided by national interest.

"Yes, he (Trump) will change a lot of things; maybe some things will be out of syllabus, but we have to conduct foreign policies out of syllabus in the interest of the country," he said, adding, "There may be some issues where we differ, but there will be many areas where things will be in our shed."

Jaishankar also stressed the strong personal ties between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump, saying, "Our relationship with the US is strong, and Modi has a good personal relationship with Trump." During the session, Jaishankar spoke about India's growing global influence and changing perceptions about the country.

"Even non-Indians now say they are Indians; they think it will help them get a seat on a plane somewhere," he said. Reflecting on his career, Jaishankar shared insights into his transition from academia and diplomacy to politics. "I never thought I would become a bureaucrat. My entry into politics happened by accident, or call it fortune, or call it Modi. He (PM Modi) pursued me in a manner that nobody could say no," he said.

He highlighted that Indians living abroad still rely on their homeland for support and said, "Jo bhi desh ke baahar jate hain, woh hamaare paas hee aate hain. Baahar hum hee rakhwale hain (Those who leave the country turn to us only. We are their caretakers outside)."
Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her remarks calling President Droupadi Murmu "poor thing". The ruling party at the Centre said that the remarks showed the "elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress." "I and every BJP Karyakarta strongly condemns the usage of the phrase "poor thing" by Smt. Sonia Gandhi for Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu Ji. The deliberate usage of such words shows the elitist, anti-poor and anti-tribal nature of the Congress Party," JP Nadda, BJP President said in a post on X. "I demand that the Congress Party unconditionally apologise to the Honourable President and the tribal communities of India," he added. While reacting to President Murmu's address to the joint session of the Parliament, Sonia Gandhi told reporters, "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi told reporters." BJP MP Sambit Patra said that President Murmu is neither tied nor bowed down and called Sonia Gandhi's remarks inappropriate. "Sonia Gandhi's comments were totally inappropriate. She said that during her speech the president was very tired. She called her a poor thing. We want to tell it clearly that the honourable President is not a poor thing. India is a republic and the world's largest Democracy. The first citizen of this Democracy is a woman who comes from a tribal community. That woman from the tribal community cannot be a poor thing. She is empowered and strong. She has been at the helm of many important positions," he said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also called for an aplogy from the Congress. "I condemn the comments made by Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. Our President, a tribal woman, is not weak... Droupadi Murmu has worked extensively for the country and society and they cannot even imagine the kind of work she has done... They should apologise to her," Rijiju said. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, "Such an insult of the President was unprecedented. The kind of words Congress MP Sonia Gandhi and his son and LoP Rahul Gandhi used against the President, I cannot even imagine. What else can be expected from them?..." President Murmu's address kickstarted the Budget Session. Emphasising that the government is working on all-round development, President Murmu said that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India) and the government is working with a "saturation approach" so nobody is left in the journey. Murmu said, "My government is working with the Saturation Approach, so nobody is left in the journey of Vikshit Bharat... We have only one aim to become Viksit Bharat." As the Made in India defence product goes global, the President lauded the government for taking steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. "The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security.... The govt has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world..." she said. After the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla link railway project, President Murmu said that now India will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project has been completed and now the country will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. India's metro rail network has now crossed the 1000-kilometre milestone. India has the world's third-largest metro network," the President stated. (ANI)
Amaravati: YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP P. Mithun Reddy said he would fight back false allegations of forest land encroachment against his family by the coalition government in Andhra Pradesh.

The Lok Sabha member from Rajampet alleged that TDP-led government has been resorting to vindictive politics by running a smear campaign.

He told mediapersons in Delhi on Thursday that it has become a habit for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his friendly media to target YSRCP leaders. Our family has been targeted with false allegations that we have encroached forest land. This is a blatant lie, said Mithun Reddy.

Mithun Reddy was reacting to allegations against his father and former minister P. Ramachandra Reddy that he grabbed forest land in Pulicherla mandal of Chittoor district.

Denying that it is a forest land, he claimed that they have all the documents and clearances from the competent authorities. He said that TDP and its friendly media have been spinning false allegations without being backed by proper evidence.

He said they purchased the land in 2001 and a Gazette was issued in 1968 itself that it is not a forest land. The land was bought at Rs 4 lakh per acre and the total value was Rs 3 crore.

Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who hails from our own Chittoor district and is a contemporary to our father in politics, has been resorting to vindictive politics, he said.

The YSRCP MP demanded that the coalition should prove the allegations on the land title failing which they should apologize. Such cheap tactics will not deter us and we come back with rejuvenated force and take on the coalition for pushing such false news. Earlier also they have made false allegations against us on Madanapalle files issue and nothing was proved, he said.

Ramachandra Reddy, who is YSRCP MLA from Punganur, has already rubbished the allegations and called it an orchestrated negative campaign.

The former minister insisted that the 75 acres of private property had been purchased in 2001. The Director of Settlements had, in 1981, declared the said piece as not a forest land, he claimed. The road leading to his estate, though falling in the middle of the forest, had been laid with the permission of the Central government, Ramachandra Reddy said.

Meanwhile, YSRCP Chittoor District President and former TTD Chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy said on Thursday that the allegations against Ramachandra Reddy are completely baseless and politically motivated.

He strongly condemned the false reports published by a certain section of the media, alleging illegal encroachment of forest land by Ramachandra Reddy.
Kolkata: A woman died after she was chased and allegedly stabbed multiple times outside a popular eatery in full public view in the eastern fringes of Kolkata by three people, including a minor, police said on Friday.

The victim, Rofiya Saquil, in her 20s, was reportedly dragged down from a car next to the eatery and chased before being fatally assaulted on Thursday evening, they said.

The three suspects have been arrested and the body of the woman was sent for post-mortem procedures, a police officer said.

The police said they were probing the possible angle of an extra-marital affair between the woman, a resident of Raja Ramnarayan Street of Narkeldanga area, and Mohammed Fahrukh Ansari, whose family members are suspected to have carried out the attack, as motive behind the crime.

The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Thursday after the woman arrived at the dhaba adjacent to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass at the Pragati Maidan Police Station area accompanied by Ansari, police said, quoting eyewitnesses.

The woman, they added, was pulled out of her car and stabbed multiple times on her neck with a sharp weapon by a teenager who was accompanied by his mother and a 22-year-old man, who had reportedly followed the duo in a separate vehicle.

Terrified eyewitnesses at the popular eatery found the profusely bleeding woman running for her life and screaming for help. She was chased down by the attackers and pinned to a wall where they continued with the assault, the police officer said.

All three suspects were later arrested by the police.

Ansari, who is now absconding, has been identified as the husband of the woman who was a part of the team of attackers, the officer said. The victim, too, was married to another man, he added.

Saquil was moved to the state-run NRS Medical College and Hospital, where she died at around 2 am on Friday despite a surgical procedure being conducted on her at the emergency OT.

Doctors attributed excessive bleeding as the likely cause of her demise.
New Delhi: AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will visit the Election Commission office here on Friday to furnish his reply to the poll body over its notice to him on his "poison mixed" in Yamuna water remark.

Kejriwal, who will be accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann, will visit the EC office at 11 am, the party said.

Kejriwal on Thursday accused the EC and its chief election commissioner of indulging in politics over his statement and claimed that Yamuna water supplied from Haryana to Delhi has high levels of ammonia content.

The EC served him two notices seeking reply over his allegation that the BJP government mixed "poison" in Yamuna water for Delhi attempting a "genocide" in the city.

Kejriwal, who is contesting the Delhi polls from the New Delhi seat, was asked to share details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the "poison" by Delhi Jal Board staff by Friday 11 am, failing which the Commission will be free to take appropriate decisions in the matter.
Mumbai: Bollywoods leading ladies often become the face of major pregnancy test brands, and currently, Anushka Sharma is the ambassador for Prega News. But did you know that the brand is now considering Deepika Padukone or Alia Bhatt for its next campaign?

Rajeev Juneja, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Mankind Pharma, recently spilled some behind-the-scenes details on Raj Shamani's podcast, and spoke about working with Bollywood actresses and why Deepika might not be an easy choice.

Anushka Sharma: A No-Nonsense Professional

Rajeev had high praise for Anushka Sharma, calling her a disciplined and drama-free star. She is very professional, no tantrums, no unnecessary demands. Maybe its her Army background, but she gets the work done without any fuss, he shared.

He also mentioned that before Anushka, Kareena Kapoor was the face of Prega News, and she, too, was wonderful to work with.

Deepika Padukone or Alia Bhatt: Whos Next?

With Anushkas contract nearing its end, the brand is now looking for a fresh face. While Deepika Padukone is a top contender, signing her might be a challenge. Rajeev revealed, We havent finalized anyone yet, but Deepikas asking price is too high for us.

Meanwhile, talks with Alia Bhatt are still ongoing, making her another potential option for the brand.

Rajeev also shared some insights into how advertising budgets work. He revealed that only 20-25% of the budget is allocated for making the ad, including the celebritys fee, while the majority is spent on marketing and promotions.

While the next face of Prega News remains undecided, one thing is clearBollywoods biggest stars continue to dominate the brand endorsement space. Who do you think would be the best choice?
Mumbai: Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has once again called out the industrys long-standing obsession with fairness, this time while praising a viral beauty from the Maha Kumbh 2025, a young woman named Monalisa. Taking to her Instagram Stories, Kangana highlighted the lack of representation of dark, dusky Indian female actors in Bollywood, expressing concern over the beauty standards that seem to dominate the industry.

Kangana shared a picture of Monalisa, who has been gaining attention for her striking looks since her appearance at the Maha Kumbh 2025. However, the actress also pointed out the harassment Monalisa has been facing due to her sudden social media fame.

Expressing her thoughts, Kangana wrote, Do we have dark, dusky Indian tone female representation in the glamour world anymore? Are people appreciating young actresses the way they did Anu Agarwal, Kajol, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, or Rani Mukerji?

She further criticised the beauty standards that have led to a growing preference for lighter skin tones in Bollywood. Why do all actresses appear as pale as a white woman, even those who were darker in their younger days? Is it due to excessive use of laser treatments and glutathione injections? she questioned.

Kangana Ranaut is not the first to address Bollywoods colour bias, but her remarks reignite an important discussion. Over the years, the industry has often been criticised for favouring lighter-skinned actresses and promoting fairness products.

The industrys obsession with Eurocentric beauty standards has resulted in fewer dusky-skinned women getting mainstream recognition. Many actresses have spoken about the pressure to appear lighter, with some even endorsing fairness creams earlier in their careers.

Kangana Ranaut has never shied away from speaking her mind about issues within the film industry. From nepotism to favouritism, she has often been vocal about the biases and power dynamics that dominate Bollywood. Her latest comments on colourism further add to her long-standing criticism of the industrys problematic practices.
Mumbai: Model and actress Poonam Pandey, known for her bold persona and controversial statements, was recently spotted taking a Shahi Snan at the sacred Triveni Sangam during Mahakumbh 2025. Her presence at the religious gathering took social media by storm, with netizens flooding the internet with reactions, some amused, some critical.

Poonam, who has often been in the headlines for her bold photoshoots and statements, surprised many when she participated in the Shahi Snan (royal bath), a highly revered ritual performed by saints, seers, and devotees during the Mahakumbh. Dressed in a traditional outfit, the actress was seen offering prayers before taking a dip in the sacred confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

Videos and pictures of Poonams Shahi Snan quickly went viral, with social media users posting a mix of reactions. While some lauded her for embracing spirituality, others trolled her, questioning her sudden inclination toward religion.

As soon as Poonam Pandeys Shahi Snan visuals surfaced online, netizens had a field day. Comments ranged from admiration for her participation in the sacred ritual to outright trolling. Some users questioned her intentions, while others made lighthearted jokes. One user said, " Paap dhul gaye, ya Ganga ko hi gandha kar dia". Another user said, "Is Baar Sab Paapiyon ke paap dhul gaye".

The Shahi Snan is one of the most significant rituals of the Mahakumbh, where devotees and saints take a dip in the holy waters, believing it cleanses them of sins and grants spiritual liberation. The tradition holds deep religious and cultural importance in Hinduism, with millions of pilgrims attending the Mahakumbh every 12 years.

Poonam Pandeys participation in the Shahi Snan at Triveni Sangam has undoubtedly created a buzz. Whether its viewed as a spiritual awakening or just another publicity stunt, one thing is certainher presence at the Mahakumbh has added a new dimension to the ongoing event.
Mumbai: Actor Naga Chaitanya, who made headlines with his divorce from Samantha Ruth Prabhu, is now happily married to actress Sobhita Dhulipala. The couple tied the knot on December 4 in an intimate Telugu-style wedding at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad, attended by close family and a few guests.

In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Naga Chaitanya shared insights into his life post-marriage. Expressing his happiness, he said, Married life is great! Im totally enjoying it. Its just been a couple of months. I think we both invest equally in work and away from work; so, we have that work-life balance very much intact. I think thats one of the qualities we both really connected on.

When asked if he and Sobhita have a lot in common beyond their successful acting careers, Chaitanya revealed that their cultural roots played a big role in their connection. You know, we are both from Andhra. She is from Vizag, and I love Vizag. Our roots are similar, though we are not from the same cities, so culturally, there was a lot of connection. And, obviously, the love for cinema, the love for this art form. I think both of us are just so curious about life, which got us going. Many conversations sort of started around that for us. And we love travelling as well.

On the professional front, Naga Chaitanya will next be seen in the Telugu film Thandel, where he will share the screen with Sai Pallavi. The film has already generated buzz among fans, marking yet another exciting project in Chays career.

With love, career, and a strong cultural bond, it looks like Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala are embracing this new chapter of their lives with joy.
Bollywoods casting decisions often remain a mystery, with many iconic roles initially meant for different actors. In a surprising revelation, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj disclosed that Preity Zinta was the original choice for Ishqiya (2010), but she walked away from the project. The reason? She reportedly wasnt convinced about Irrfan Khans commercial appeal as a lead actor.

Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, Ishqiya became a cult classic, with Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, and Naseeruddin Shah delivering stellar performances. However, the films casting went through a major overhaul before it hit the screens.

According to a Koimoi report, Pankaj Tripathi was initially set to play Khalujan (eventually portrayed by Naseeruddin Shah), and Irrfan Khan was supposed to take on the role of Babban (later played by Arshad Warsi). The female lead, Krishna Verma, was first offered to Preity Zinta, who reportedly loved the script. However, she had concerns about Irrfans ability to pull in audiences commercially, leading to her exit.

Interestingly, Irrfan Khan himself did not end up doing Ishqiya, but for a completely different reason. In an interview with News18, director Abhishek Chaubey recalled a meeting with Irrfan at a hotel in New York, where the actor realized that the revised version of the script didnt favour his character as much as he had initially believed.

Irrfan heard the new version of the film and sensed that this version isnt in favour of his character. That was the first time I realized he might not do my film, Chaubey revealed.

This led to a fallout between Irrfan Khan and Vishal Bhardwaj, who had been close collaborators. Reportedly, Bhardwaj was so upset that he did not speak to Irrfan for nearly three years.

In an interview with Lallantop, Vishal Bhardwaj indirectly addressed the situation, seemingly confirming that a major actress had refused the film because she didnt believe in Irrfans commercial viability. Without naming Preity Zinta, he stated:

We had said no to a big actress for Ishqiya because she refused to work with Irrfan, as he wasnt a commercial actor. I got very angry with him and didnt speak to him for 2-3 years. I didnt pick up his calls.

This aligns with reports suggesting that Bhardwaj ultimately chose Irrfan over Preity, leading to a complete casting reshuffle.

With Preity Zinta out of the picture, the role eventually went to Vidya Balan, who delivered one of her most career-defining performances. Her bold and layered portrayal of Krishna Verma was widely praised, proving that the right casting can elevate a film. Ishqiya not only became a box-office success but also helped establish Vidya as a force to be reckoned with in Bollywood.
Mumbai: Kapoor sisters Sonam and Rhea have become an inspiration for fashion mongers over the years, thanks to their chic choices of attires. Recently, the two ladies flew to France, to attend the Paris Fashion Week.

Rhea Kapoor took to her official Instagram handle to drop glimpses from their visit. The first pic featured Sonam Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor twinning in stylish black attires. This was followed by a few pictures of the local delicacies enjoyed by the two.

Next, the 'Veere Di Wedding' maker also posted a couple of pictures and videos from the fashion week. "with sonamkapoor since 2012 and it never gets old...", Rhea Kapoor wrote as the caption. Sonam Kapoor commented on the post saying, "Love you".

Have A Look At The Post:

Additionally, Bhumi Pednekar shared a red heart emoji in the comment section. In the meantime, Sonam Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor recently made quite a few heads turn at the Elie Saab Haute Couture show at Paris Fashion Week.

The 'Neerja' actress redefined elegance in the exquisite look curated by Rhea Kapoor for the event. Sonam Kapoors ensemble was designed by Lebanon-based fashion designer Elie Saab.

She graced the event in a beautifully crafted knit sweater, embellished with intricate cross-stitch details and delicate eyelets. The high turtleneck, ribbed cuffs, and hem offered a structured yet relaxed fit. The diva accessorized her outfit of the day with matching white leather boots, broad-tinted sunglasses, gold rose-shaped earrings, a ring, and a luxurious watch adorned with rainbow crystals.

Rhea Kapoor shares snaps of Sonam Kapoor's voguish attire on her Instagram where she was seen posing in style.

On the work front, Sonam Kapoor will next be seen streamlining the upcoming film Battle of Bittora". The project is a cinematic adaptation of Anuja Chau-hans novel. The rights to the book have been acquired by Rhea Kapoor. The film will be bankrolled under the banner of Anil Kapoor Film in association with Communication Network.
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The Oakland Zoo said it received three newly orphaned mountain lion cubs found in San Mateo County last week. Oakland Zoo The Oakland Zoo said it received three newly orphaned mountain lion cubs found in San Mateo County last week. Oakland Zoo

Three orphaned mountain lion cubs, two male and one female, that were found in San Mateo County last week were rescued and brought to the Oakland Zoo, officials said.

The cubs, named Fern, Thistle and Spruce, are relatively healthy and recovering at the zoos veterinary hospital following their rescue in Portola Valley, officials said. The zoo believes the cubs are around 3 months old.

The zoo said that the cubs are believed to be the offspring of a female mountain lion fatally hit by a car on Portola Valley Road, less than half a mile from where the cubs were found. Residents in the area spotted the cubs wandering the neighborhood and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife used trail and security cameras to monitor for signs of the cubs mother, to no avail, officials said.

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Due to their disoriented behavior, lack of a mother for two weeks, and proximity to where the female was hit, CDFW decided to capture the kittens for evaluation with help from the Midpeninsula Open Space District, officials said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear when that crash occurred. The mountain lions carcass has since disappeared, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is still investigating the incident, has been unable to use DNA to confirm the relationship between her and the cubs, officials said.

The zoo said it will work with the CDFW to find the cubs a permanent home, since they cannot return to the wild. Mountain lion cubs need about two years with their mother to learn survival skills necessary to live in the wild, officials said.

The rescue of the three cubs marks the 30th mountain lion rescue for the Oakland Zoo. The zoo said its advanced veterinary hospital has allowed it to complete rescues of mountain lions who were sick, injured, burned or orphaned. In addition to previous mountain lion rescues, the zoo has taken part in rescue operations of other animals such as tigers, spider monkeys and more.

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A three-member judicial commission constituted to investigate the tragic stampede that occurred on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya during the Maha Kumbh, has arrived in Prayagraj to investigate the incident that occurred on 29 January. The commission members reached their office in Janpath, Lucknow, on Thursday and immediately took charge of the investigation. Commission Chairman Justice (Retd.) Harsh Kumar said, "Since the investigation is a priority, we have taken charge within hours of the announcement." He added, "Although we have a month to complete the probe, we will make every effort to conclude it as quickly as possible." Justice Kumar also confirmed that the commission would soon visit Prayagraj to assess the situation firsthand. Earlier, UP Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and other officials conducted an on-site inspection. UP DGP Prashant Kumar said, "The state government has set up a judicial inquiry commission. Presently, we came here to discuss how we can conduct Basant Panchami ''Amrit Snan'' well and how we can provide better facilities... We also reached the spot where this incident took place and went to the Medical College and met people who were undergoing treatment. No one admitted here is critical; some of them have sustained fractures... We will make better arrangements for Basant Panchami and ensure such incidents don''t happen again." UP Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said, "36 injured people are admitted here...all are being treated very well and arrangements have been made for the attendants who are with them...these people belong to different places like Deoria, Delhi and Bihar, their families have been informed...no one is in serious condition but some of them have sustained fractures, it will take up to 3 weeks for them to recover, there are 2-3 such cases" The stampede occurred during the Mauni Amavasya bathing ritual on Wednesday, resulted in the deaths of 30 people and left 60 others injured. (ANI)
Washington: Asra Hussain Raza, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was among 67 people killed in a tragic midair collision between an Army helicopter and a jetliner at Ronald Reagan National Airport in the US, according to a media report.

The collision, deadliest aviation disaster in the US since 2001, happened when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with the Army helicopter as it approached the airport on Wednesday night.

Raza, 26, was one of several victims killed, her father-in-law, Dr. Hashim Raza, told CNN.

A daughter of Indian immigrants, Raza graduated with honours in 2020 from Indiana University and married her college sweetheart in August 2023, Raza said.

Raza was a Washington, DC-based consultant who travelled to Wichita twice a month to work on a turnaround project for a hospital there, her father-in-law said.

She would often call him at the end of his late emergency room shifts to make sure he stayed awake on the drive home, he told CNN.

"She went out of her way for everybody, her father-in-law said.

The husband of a victim of the Potomac crash said his wife texted him that she was about to land, but by the time he got to the airport to pick her up, his life had changed forever.

She said, We're landing in 20 minutes,' Hamaad Raza said.

That was the last thing he heard from his wife.

I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way too many than normal, and two, my texts weren't going through, Hamaad was quoted as saying by NBCwashington.

It's just, feels crazy that it happened to us, to be honest, he said.

I mean, it's like you see these things happen in the news, you see them happen in other countries. And then, I show up to the airport, and my wife's not responding, and I look on Twitter and I see that it's her flight. He said he's been surrounded by loved ones who are all devastated by the tragic and unexpected loss.
New Orleans: A group of victims of the New Orleans New Year's Day terror attack have filed suit against city officials and contractors, saying they failed to protect revellers from a preventable truck ramming incident that killed 14 people and injured dozens.

The 21 plaintiffs range from Louisiana residents to visitors from Alabama, Florida, Texas and other states. Lead plaintiff Antoinette Klima shared a 12-year-old son with Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old Baton Rouge man who died in the attack.

She said it was devastating that Hunter would no longer be there for all their son's future milestones.

I've survived Hurricane Katrina. I've lost loved ones before, Klima said. And still nothing compares to the pain of losing Reggie and having to break the news to our son. Klima and the other victims are represented by New Orleans-based law firm of Maples & Connick and Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin.

Their suit, filed Wednesday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, echoed the allegations of another lawsuit filed in the same court earlier this month by six victims and the father of a man who was killed in the attack on Bourbon Street, the city's famous and festive thoroughfare in the historic French Quarter.

Both lawsuits name the city and two contractors as defendants and said city officials were repeatedly warned of Bourbon Street's vulnerability to a vehicle-ramming attack.

A contractor even presented the city with a scenario in April 2024 showing an F-150 pickup truck turning onto Bourbon Street and running into pedestrians, which is what the Islamic State group-inspired attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar did around 3.15 am on New Year's Day.

Police fatally shot Jabbar, 42, in an exchange of gunfire at the scene of the deadly crash.

The lawsuits have pointed out that the city was in the process of replacing a faulty bollard system of protective columns designed to block vehicle traffic in the run-up to the Super Bowl to be held February 9 in New Orleans.

The city of New Orleans so recklessly and outrageously mismanaged the timing of the bollard replacement system projects with a singular focus on the Super Bowl preparedness that it left the obvious and significant target night of New Year's and the Sugar Bowl badly exposed, said Michael Cerasa, a Romanucci & Blandin partner.

The suit also names as plaintiffs the New Orleans Police Department and the French Quarter Management District, a state-created body overseeing the city's historic French Quarter whose tasks include improving public safety.

The French Quarter Management District negligently and recklessly replaced the bollard system during New Year's and the Sugar Bowl, the lawsuit said.

The New Orleans Police Department failed to follow its own security measures at Bourbon Street by deploying a police cruiser as a makeshift barrier instead of the larger truck called for in the department's security plan, among other woefully inadequate, incompetent and incomplete preparations, the lawsuit said. It noted that the attacker was able to drive his rented F-150 truck around the smaller police car.

The lawsuit states that city contractor Mott MacDonald implemented poorly designed and manufactured security barrier systems that broke down and required replacement and that general contractor Hard Rock Construction erred by attempting to replace the bollards during one of the busiest nights of the year." Hard Rock Construction did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The city and the other defendants all declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Piecing together responsibility for the tragedy would be a jigsaw puzzle, the attorneys said, adding more defendants may join.

The lawsuit recounted how victims had to crawl to safety as they struggled with life-threatening traumatic injuries. Many are now fearful of crowded public spaces and are suffering from severe post-traumatic stress it said.

I have been experiencing a lot of nightmares that have caused me to go endless nights without sleep and continue to prevent me from attending public places during busy hours, Daniel Ortega, an Alabama resident and plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a written statement.

Romanucci & Blandin helped the family of George Floyd obtain a USD 27 million settlement from Minneapolis and its police department after Floyd's murder. The firm also secured a USD 98 million verdict for the family of Botham Jean, a man fatally shot by a Dallas police officer.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci did not say how much the New Orleans attack victims would seek in damages, explaining that the losses here are immeasurable.
Washington: An internal report by the Federal Aviation Administration suggested that the controller on duty when the deadly aircraft collision happened in Washington, D.C. was doing a job usually handled by two people, US media reported.

Staffing at the air traffic control tower at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was "not normal" during the deadly late-night crash between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people, The New York Times quoted a preliminary report as saying on Thursday.

The report said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport's vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways -- jobs typically assigned to two different controllers, Xinhua news agency reported.

At a press conference in the White House earlier on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that there were some warnings prior to the midair collision of a passenger plane and helicopter near the airport Wednesday night, "but the warnings were given very, very late."

Trump said he had heard "very scary tapes".

"When the air traffic controller said, he was talking about, do you see him? But there was very little time left when that was stated," Trump said, adding that there is also "a pilot problem" from the standpoint of the helicopter.

Also at the press conference, Trump confirmed there are no survivors in the collision, and "the work has now shifted to a recovery mission".

John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, told a press conference at the airport on Thursday morning that 28 bodies had been found, including 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Thursday that the flight paths of the two aircraft were not unusual for the area and that both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying standard flight patterns.

Of the three major airports in the region, Reagan National is closest to the capital. Because of the short length of its runways, more than 90 per cent of flights use its main runway, making it the busiest in the US, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings.

Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration would "take appropriate action if necessary to modify flight paths" to ensure adequate separation between civilian airplanes and military helicopters.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said an investigation had been launched by the Army and Defence Department.
Gaza: The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has announced that its military chief, Mohammed Deif, was killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Thursday, Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the brigades, also confirmed that Marwan Issa, Al-Qassam's deputy chief of staff, had been killed, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The enemy has assassinated two of our great leaders, but their legacy and resistance will continue," Obeida said.

He added that the assassination of Hamas military leaders will not stop the Palestinian resistance against Israel.

No additional details were provided.

On August 1, 2024, Israel's military claimed that it had killed Deif in an airstrike in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.

Israel has accused Deif of being one of the masterminds of the Hamas attack on southern Israeli towns on October 7, 2023.

Israel's military said it had killed Deif in July last year, but Hamas had not confirmed this until now.

Israel has said that Deif was one of the figures responsible for planning the October 7 attacks in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Deif was widely seen as the second-ranking Hamas official in Gaza, behind Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader in the territory, who was also killed by Israeli forces last year.

In May 2024, the International Criminal Court said it was seeking arrest warrants for Deif and other senior Hamas figures, saying they had "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore responsibility for the October 7 attacks, which saw around 1,200 Israelis killed.

Deif was known to have helped engineer the construction of tunnels that have allowed Hamas fighters to enter Israel from Gaza. He was also credited with designing Hamas's signature weapon, the Qassam rocket.

The US announced Al-Qassam's deputy chief of staff, Marwan Issa's death in March last year.

Issa was the deputy commander of Hamas's military wing and was considered one of Israel's most-wanted men.

The European Union, which placed the Hamas leader on its terrorist blacklist, linked him directly to the October 7 attack.

The latest war was triggered when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel's 15-month military offensive killed more than 47,460 Palestinians in the territory, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry.

A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on January 19.

A total of 15 Israeli hostages have been freed since then.

So far, 400 Palestinian prisoners -- ranging from those serving long sentences for bombings and other attacks to teenagers held without charge -- have been released.

Most have returned to the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, while about 70 of the most serious offenders have been deported.
Jerusalem: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement welcoming home the three Israelis who were released on Thursday from captivity in Gaza -- Agam Berger, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses.

Netanyahu also criticised how Hamas handled their release.

"Agam, Arbel, Gadi -- welcome home," he said.

"The entire State of Israel embraces you, as do my wife Sara and I."

"This release was achieved, first of all, thanks to our heroic soldiers, and it was also achieved thanks to the steadfast and determined stand that we took during the negotiations," Netanyahu added.

However, the Prime Minister also had a few words about the chaos in Gaza that the freed Israelis experienced during their release saying, "We will not accept violations of the agreement. During the release of our hostages today, we all saw shocking scenes. We made it clear to the mediators that we do not intend to accept any risk to our hostages."

"And I will add: Whoever dares to harm our hostages - will pay the price."

The three Israeli hostages released in Gaza on Thursday were earlier named by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which also confirmed that five Thai nationals were also freed.

"The list of names received from Hamas today by the mediators Qatar and Egypt includes: Arbel Yehoud (29 years old), Agam Berger (19), and Gadi Moses (80)," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the identities of the five Thai nationals released in Gaza earlier on Thursday. They have been named as Pongsak Thanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao.

Israeli authorities also released 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday as part of the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.. Of those, 32 were sentenced to life imprisonment, another 30 were children, and 48 were prisoners with high sentences, according to Hamas.

All released prisoners were "transferred from several detention facilities across the country to be absorbed in the Ofer and Ketziot prisons" before being freed, the Israel Prison Service said in a statement on Thursday.

Eight hostages taken by Hamas and other armed groups in the October 7, 2023 attacks were also released in Gaza on Thursday.
Ramallah/Jerusalem: Two buses carrying Palestinian prisoners released by Israel arrived in Ramallah, the West Bank, according to Palestinian sources.

According to eyewitnesses on Thursday, large crowds gathered to welcome them, chanting slogans and waving flags in celebration.

The families of the released detainees waited anxiously outside the reception area, with many breaking into tears when finally reuniting with their loved ones.

"This is a moment of both joy and pain," said Samah Abed, a relative of a prisoner, expressing relief at the release but frustration over the continued conflict between Israel and Hamas.

An Israeli security official, speaking with Xinhua on condition of anonymity, said Israel completed the release of 110 Palestinian detainees earlier on Thursday as part of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner-hostage exchange agreement with Hamas that took effect on January 19.

Buses transported about 66 Palestinian detainees from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank to Ramallah and 15 others to a detention centre in East Jerusalem, from where they were released. A total of 29 prisoners convicted of involvement in attacks against Israelis are to be deported to Egypt and other countries, said the official.

A photo circulating on social media showed Zakaria Zubeidi, a high-profile prisoner and former commander of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin, West Bank, making a V-sign on a bus.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that before his release, Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency warned him that he would be "eliminated" if he resumed militant activities.

The release was delayed by about three hours on the instruction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was angered by "chaotic" scenes during Hamas' earlier release of several of eight Israeli hostages in Gaza.

A further exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners is expected on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing.

The first phase of the agreement, which is divided into three stages lasting 42 days each, calls for the gradual release of 33 Israelis -- living prisoners and the bodies of the deceased -- in exchange for between 1,700 and 2,000 Palestinian and Arab detainees.

The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
In response to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's remarks, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, without mentioning her name called it "unacceptable" and said it "clearly hurt the dignity of the high office." The Rashtrapati Bhavan also clarified that President Droupadi Murmu was "not tired at any point", adding that President believes speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers can "never be tiring". "While reacting to the media on the Hon'ble President's Address to the Parliament, some prominent leaders of the Congress party have made comments that clearly hurt the dignity of the high office, and therefore are unacceptable. These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement. It further said that "it might be the case" that the leaders are not acquianted with idiom and discourse in Indian languages, adding that "in any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable." "Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring. The President's office believes it might be the case that these leaders have not acquainted themselves with the idiom and discourse in Indian languages such as Hindi, and thus formed a wrong impression. In any case, such comments are in poor taste, unfortunate and entirely avoidable," it added. This comes after in reaction to President Murmu's address to the joint session of the Parliament, Sonia Gandhi said, "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing." Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have come heavily on the former Congress chief over her remarks. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju demanded an apology from the Congress party. "I condemn the comments made by Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. Our President, a tribal woman, is not weak... Droupadi Murmu has worked extensively for the country and society and they cannot even imagine the kind of work she has done... They should apologise to her," Rijiju said. President Murmu during her address, said that the government is working for all-round development, adding that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India). She also emphasised that the government is working with a "saturation approach" so nobody is left in the journey. Murmu said, "My government is working with the Saturation Approach, so nobody is left in the journey of Vikshit Bharat...We have only one aim to become Viksit Bharat." As the Made in India defence product goes global, the President lauded the government for taking steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. "The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security...The govt has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world," she said. After the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla link railway project, President Murmu said that now India will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project has been completed and now the country will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. India's metro rail network has now crossed the 1000-kilometre milestone. India has the world's third-largest metro network," the President stated. (ANI)
The Karnataka Health Department has passed a historic order to implement the Supreme Court's directive regarding patients' "Right to Die" with dignity. This move aims to benefit terminally ill patients with no hope of recovery or those in a persistent vegetative state, allowing for the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment when no longer beneficial. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Karnataka minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said, "My Karnataka Health Department, @DHFWKA (Department of Health and Family Welfare Services - Govt. of Karnataka), passes a historic order to implement the Supreme Court's directive for a patient's Right to Die with dignity. This will immensely benefit those who are terminally ill with no hope of recovery, or are in a persistent vegetative state, and where the patient no longer benefits from life-sustaining treatment." "We have also come out with an Advance Medical Directive (AMD), or a living will, in which a patient can record their wishes about their medical treatment in the future. This important step will bring great relief and a dignified sense of closure to many families and individuals. Karnataka is a progressive state and we are always at the forefront in upholding liberal and equitable values for a more just society," he said. Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Department Principal Secretary to Government Harish Gupta said, "Supreme Court of India has recognised that the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution encompasses the right to die with dignity. To enable a dignified death, it has been held that life-sustaining treatment may be withheld or withdrawn (WLST) where the patient is terminally ill with no hope of recovery or is in a persistent vegetative state, and where the patient no longer benefits from life-sustaining treatment." It has laid down guidelines to govern WLST, Additionally, the Supreme Court has recognised advance medical directives (AMDs) and laid down a procedure for executing and implementing them. "Supreme Court has held that if a patient is terminally ill and is undergoing prolonged medical treatment with no hope of recovery and cure of the ailment, and does not have decision-making capacity, then WLST may be appropriate, in accordance with the prescribed procedure. This may also be the case for those who are in a persistent vegetative state and when certain kinds of medical treatment may no longer provide any reasonable possibility of benefit, and may instead, have a greater potential to cause harm to the patient," Principal Secretary to Government stated. The order stated that the procedure for WLST laid down by the Supreme Court requires approval by the treating doctor. The hospital where the patient is being treated must also set up the Primary and Secondary Medical Boards, comprising three registered medical practitioners each. The Secondary Medical Board must also have a registered medical practitioner nominated by the District Health Officer. The Primary and Secondary Medical Boards will make decisions regarding WLST, after obtaining the consent of the patient's next of kin or the person nominated in the patient's advance medical directive, the order added. (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, claimed that a family in Delhi with 18 members saved 50 thousand rupees per month by availing different schemes being offered by the AAP government in the national capital. Kejriwal further highlighted the major schemes of Delhi government including free electricity, free education, free treatment, and free bus rides for women. Further, mentioning AAP's 'Budget' Patra campaign launched today, Kejriwal further said, "AAP government's initiatives provide a monthly benefit of Rs 25,000 to every Delhi family, with new schemes adding another Rs 10,000 in savings." "Today we have Roshan ji's with us his family saves Rs 50,200 per month valing different schemes being offered by the AAP government. If the people of Delhi press the broom button, they will save thousands of rupees. But, if by mistake, they press the lotus button, they will lose thousands of rupees," he added. He also highlighted the welfare schemes and measures implemented to benefit the people of Delhi by the AAP. "Our free electricity scheme saves Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 monthly, free water Rs 2,500, free bus travel Rs 2,500, free education Rs 10,000, and mohalla clinics and hospitals contribute another Rs 5,000 in savings," he stated. Hitting out at the BJP, he claimed that if it comes to power all the schemes initiated by AAP would be discontinued. "The BJP has declared that free education, mohalla clinics, and free bus travel will be discontinued if they come to power," he added. Kejriwal also unveiled AAP's scheme, expected to benefit all households, including - Rs2,100 for women, Free bus travel for students, and free medical treatment for senior citizens. "These schemes will further add Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 in monthly savings," he claimed. Kejriwal announced that AAP workers would visit households to fill out the AAP 'Bachat Patra', informing residents about the financial benefits they receive from AAP's governance. Delhi will go for polls in a single phase on February 5, while the counting of votes will take place on February 8. AAP has been dominating the last two assembly polls with massive wins of 67 and 62 out of 70 seats respectively, and is fighting to retain its stronghold. BJP, which has not been in power in the national capital for close to three decades is aiming a comeback. It had won 3 and 8 seats in the last two elections. Congress, which remained in power for 15 years failed to open its account in last two elections. Earlier in the day, Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Delhi for the success of their 'struggle' to stop the flow of contaminated water. Taking to X, he said that ammonia levels in the water dropped from 7 ppm to 2 ppm, saving Delhi from a "potential water crisis." Meanwhile, the Election Commission held a meeting with Arvind Kejriwal on Friday morning as a special case, altering its earlier schedule in view of the campaign period in Delhi. The Commission gave a patient hearing to Arvind Kejriwal to substantiate his statements on the Yamuna poisoning and mass genocide. (ANI)
A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice to the UP government after the counsel for the state sought time to file the counter affidavit. The court granted two weeks to the UP government to file the counter affidavit.

Ansari, MLA from UP's Mau constituency, had been booked in August last year under the provisions of the UP Gangsters Act for allegedly forming a gang to extort money from people and for other unlawful financial gains.

In December, the Allahabad High Court refused to grant bail to Ansari by observing that there were various cases registered against him and there were chances of him tampering with the evidence.

He moved to the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court's decision.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Ansari, while ASG KM Nataraj represented the State of Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)
Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora stated that President Droupadi Murmu has articulated in her address the challenges faced in the past, and highlighted the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. He also said that President Murmu illustrated the challenges and opportunities for future generations. Deora told ANI, "I welcome the President's address... I believe the President has very clearly explained what challenges our country faced in the past, what success our government has achieved, and what challenges and opportunities we have for the future. I welcome it." Meanwhile, while reacting to President Murmu's address to the joint session of the Parliament, Sonia Gandhi told reporters, "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing." The BJP leaders have come heavily on the former Congress chief over her remarks. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also called for an apology from the Congress. "I condemn the comments made by Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. Our President, a tribal woman, is not weak... Droupadi Murmu has worked extensively for the country and society and they cannot even imagine the kind of work she has done... They should apologise to her," Rijiju said. President Murmu's address marked the beginning of the Budget Session. Emphasising that the government is working on all-round development, President Murmu said that the country has only one aim which is to become a Vikshit Bharat (developed India), with the government working on a "saturation approach" to ensure no one is left behind. Murmu said, "My government is working with the Saturation Approach, so nobody is left in the journey of Vikshit Bharat... We have only one aim to become Viksit Bharat." As the Made in India defence product goes global, the President lauded the government for taking steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. "The country has taken several historic steps to protect the country's borders and ensure internal security.... The govt has also taken steps towards self-reliance in the defence sector. From Make in India, we have moved to make for the world..." she said. Regarding infrastructure, she highlighted the completion of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project, stating that now India would be connected by railway from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project has been completed and now the country will be connected by railway line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. India's metro rail network has now crossed (ANI)
Prayagraj District Magistrate (DC) Ravindra Kumar Mandar clarified on Friday that the vehicle entry ban in the Commissionerate area is not in place, further saying that our traffic schemes were only for the 'mukhya snan' days. Speaking to ANI, DC Mandar said, "It came to my knowledge yesterday that entry of vehicles in the Commissionerate area has been banned until 4th Feb. But there is nothing like that. I issued a statement refuting this yesterday. Our traffic schemes were only for the 'mukhya snan' days." "It was on 28-29 January and 30th Jan. Basant Panchami 'snan' will take place on 2-3 Feb. Diversion schemes framed by the Police Commissionerate will then come into effect. On 31st Jan and 1st Feb and after 4th Feb, there will be no diversion of any kind. There is just routine traffic right now. I have ensured this with SP, DCP Traffic...," he added. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Yogi government announced that VIP movement will be restricted on major bathing days. All VIPs and VVIPs delegations planning to visit Prayagraj during Vasant Panchami, Magh Purnima and Mahashivratri--as well as a day before and after these festivals--would not receive special privileges, according to a press release by the UP government. The three-member judicial commission formed to investigate the tragic stampede during the Prayagraj Mahakumbh on Mauni Amavasya, which resulted in the deaths of 30 people, has officially commenced its work, according to a release. The commission members arrived in Lucknow on Thursday and immediately began their investigation, as stated by Commission Chairman Justice Harsh Kumar, as it is a priority. Similarly, UP Director of General Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and other officials conducted an on-site inspection. (ANI)
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih took into consideration the submission of Gujarat authorities' contention that the land belonged to the government and unauthorised constructions, including the temples, were demolished.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Gujarat authorities, stated unauthorised constructions, including temples on the land belonging to the government, were demolished.

He said no activities, including Hindu religious rituals, were allowed on the land which was encroached upon earlier.

The petitioner's counsel said that the "Urs" festival was held at the site of the razed Dargah for many years but authorities on January 30 denied permission.

The counsel further said it was a structure made before 1299 AD. To this bench asked, "Is there a structure now?"

The counsel mentioned that the structure was demolished and contended it was a protected monument.

"Whatever was unauthorised, is demolished. This is undisputedly a government land," the Solicitor General said, adding that the demolition drive applied to all religions.

The apex court is seized of petitions, including a contempt petition, against the Gujarat authorities for allegedly demolishing residential and religious structures in Gir Somnath district without its prior nod.

The petition was filed against a Gujarat High Court order by which a status quo on demolitions of Muslim religious structures was declined.

On September 28, 2024, a demolition drive was carried out to reportedly clear encroachments on public lands near Gujarat's Somnath temple. (ANI)
While arguing before the Delhi High Court against the judgement and sentence awarded to former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, his counsel argued that five out of the seven convicts are out after suspension of their sentences, and the sixth convict is out on medical suspension. The counsel pointed out that all convicts, including the appellant, were awarded the same punishment. The High Court is dealing with the appeal of Kuldeep Singh Sengar in the Unnao custodial death case, in which he is serving a ten-year sentence. Justice Vikas Mahajan, after hearing arguements at length, asked the counsel for Sengar and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file short notes on their arguements. The matter is scheduled for further arguments on February 3. Senior counsel Manish Vasisth, along with advocate Kanhaiya Singhal, appeared on behalf of Kuldeep Singh Sengar. The defence argued that Sengar was not present at the scene on April 3, 2018, when the incident occurred. It was also submitted that the trial court relied on Section 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of the appellant's secretary Santosh Mishra. He talked to the appellant on the phone on the day of the incident when he was not there. However, he was not examined by the court. Another statement of SP was also relied upon, she was also not examined and talked with him (Sengar). The Investigation officer verified this statement, the counsel argued. It was also argued that there was Contradiction in the statement of two witnesses. There is a lack of credibility and reliability. The submissions made by the counsel for the appellant were opposed by the counsel for the CBI. The bench after hearing the arguments asked the counsel for both sides to file a Short note and asked to Come on Monday for further hearing. Sengar is serving 10 years sentence in Unnao Rape Victim's father's custodial death case. He has been in custody since 13 April 2018. Senger along with other accused was convicted by the Tis Hazari Court in 2018. He is also serving a life sentence in Minor's rape case. These cases stem from FIRs of 2018, registered at Police Station Makhi, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, which were decided by the District and Sessions Judge (West) at Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi. In June 2024, his plea for suspension of sentence was rejected by the High Court. Senger's counsel had argued that the appellant had been languishing in jail since April 13, 2018, except for a brief period when he was granted the benefit of interim suspension of sentence by this Court, on account of the marriage of his daughter, and the appellant, had admittedly, not misused the liberty granted to him. The background of the present case is that on June 4, 2017, the minor daughter of the victim, in this case, was enticed on the pretext of getting a job and was taken to the house of appellant Kuldeep Singh Senger where the appellant had raped her. The high court noted that on April 3, 2018, the family of the minor rape victim had travelled to Unnao for a court hearing when her father, the victim in this case was brutally assaulted by the accused persons in broad daylight. The very next day, the police arrested the victim Surendra on allegations of being in illegal possession of arms and he ultimately succumbed to multiple injuries suffered by him, in police custody on April 9, 2018. (ANI)
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate on Friday said that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal is going to lose his seat in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Her remarks followed a challenge from Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, who asked Kejriwal to publicly answer questions at Jantar Mantar. "Kejriwal himself is going to lose his seat...AAP is also going to lose the elections. You were in power for 10 years...but you have nothing to talk about, even today you keep cribbing...what did you do, that is what we want to know...he has become so upset because he knows that he will lose the election, this is the fear of defeat... and even a child of this country knows that BJP and Congress can never get unite," she said. Congress leader Pawan Khera, who accompanied Shrinate, also criticised Kejriwal, stating, "Today I am here to listen to Arvind Kejriwal and Sandeep Dikshit...let's see how much guts he has. The whole of Delhi kept believing in him for the last 10 years and he broke that trust. This one last time he is getting to a stage where he can answer the questions. Meanwhile, as Kejriwal did not turn up at the venue at the designated time Sandeep Dikshit said, "Let's wait, there is time, we had called him (Arvind Kejriwal) around 2 pm...we also took some time because of the traffic jam, let's wait for 10-15 minutes more. Let's see if he comes or not...if he doesn't come, we will send him the questions...let's see what he does." Earlier in the day taking a swipe at Kejriwal on Friday, Dikshit had said that being an engineer, he is saying such absurd things that a student of class 5 or 6 would not say. As the battle for the February 5 assembly polls in Delhi intensified, the Congress leader alleged Arvind Kejriwal of lying. "...He (Arvind Kejriwal) said that I have done so much work; I have just said that whatever you say, say it with a record. Today, at 3 pm, it will be clear that either Congress or AAP is speaking the truth... Both BJP and AAP are distributing cash to get votes; I want to ask them if they are in politics or the market?" the Congress leader said. "... Sometimes, I fail to understand what Arvind Kejriwal) studied at IIT. Being an engineer, he is saying such absurd things that a student of class 5 or 6 would not say. What had he done? I think he passed his exams by cheating... I'll suggest he should go through his engineering books--he will come to know how much he lies," added Dikshit. Sandeep Dikshit is up against AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and BJP's Parvesh Verma in the New Delhi constituency for the upcoming February 5 polls. Delhi will go for polls in a single phase on February 5, while the counting of votes will take place on February 8. The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, has suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and has failed to win any seats. In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats, while the BJP got only eight seats. (ANI)
Over the next two years, annual raises will bring top-tier pay to $32.20 for some Costco employees by 2027. For those at the lower end of the pay scale at Costco, starting wages will climb by $0.50 to $20 per hour. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Costco Wholesale announced a significant pay raise for its nonunion employees, just one day before contract talks with unionized workers were set to reach a critical point, according to Bloomberg.

Starting this year, hourly wages for nonunion workers at the top of Costcos pay scale will increase by $1 per hour, bringing their pay to $30.20.

 Costcos famous $1.50 hot dog combo is getting a major makeover

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 Napas new Costco may have the nations best wine section, thanks to this employee

Over the next two years, another $1 increase yearly will raise top-tier pay to $32.20 for some by 2027. For those at the lower end of the pay scale, starting wages will climb by $0.50 to $20 per hour.

This pay hike will impact more than 200,000 of Costcos U.S. employees, as the company navigates ongoing labor negotiations.

With these changes, we believe our hourly wages and benefits will continue to far outpace others in the retail industry, CEO Ron Vachris said in a company memo.

A Costco greeter at the entrance checks for membership cards. Starting this year, hourly wages for nonunion workers at the top of Costcos pay scale will increase by $1 per hour, bringing their pay to $30.20. Lindsey Nicholson/UGG/Universal Images Group via Getty

Costcos pay rates have long set the standard in retail, where the median hourly wage for sales workers is just over $16, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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The announced pay increase will not apply to Costcos unionized workforce, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which faces a looming contract expiration at midnight on Saturday.

As of now, 56 of Costcos 600 U.S. warehouses are unionized, with 40 of those locations based in California.

Union members, who make up about 18,000 employees, have threatened to strike if a new agreement isnt reached. In a recent vote, 85% of Teamsters members authorized a strike, citing concerns over wages, benefits and working conditions.

In its latest financial report, Costco also revealed a 7.5% increase in net sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, reaching $60.99 billion, up from $56.72 billion during the same period last year.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday addressed a public meeting in favour of BJP candidate Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections. Dhami while addressing the meeting said that while development work was going on rapidly in states with double engine governments, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who was drowning in the quagmire of corruption in Delhi, had not even implemented the schemes launched by the Central Government for the welfare of the poor. He further said that AAP, which came to power by making the corruption of the Congress a ladder, had left even the Congress behind in terms of corruption. "In Uttarakhand, we have made Ayushman Bharat cards for 58 lakh people, and they are being given treatment up to Rs 5 lakh. In Delhi, I came to know that the government has not even implemented the scheme," Dhami said while addressing the rally. "Today Kejriwal has become the brand ambassador of corruption and his party the scam party. If there is a competition of corruption in the country, Kejriwal will come first in it. He said that Kejriwal has poisoned the atmosphere of Delhi with his corruption," he further added. CM Dhami also said that Kejriwal had said that we should make Yamuna the Thames river of the country, but on the contrary, today the condition of Yamuna was very pathetic. He further said that Congress and AAP, who fought for human rights for Rohingyas and infiltrators, called Ram imaginary and remained silent on the genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh. "To please their vote bank, these people do not even come to the consecration ceremony of Ram temple. There is a secret agreement between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. It is up to the people of Delhi to decide with whom they want to stand..." he further said. Delhi will go to the polls on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami addressed a public meeting in support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Harish Khurana in the Moti Nagar assembly constituency of Delhi on Friday, according to a release. CM Dhami criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), calling it 'corrupt' and 'useless,' stating that it came to power by lying, did not want the people of Delhi to get the benefits of the schemes of the central government started under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the work of providing water to various states of the country under the 'Har Ghar Nal Se Jal Abhiyan' is being done across the country, people in Delhi are not getting the benefit of this scheme, a statement from the release said. Even today 40 percent of the population here is forced to buy water and drink it. He said that due to the poor thinking of the Aam Aadmi Party, people were not able to get the benefit of Ayushman Yojana. The Chief Minister further said that the party which could not clean the Yamuna after being in power for 11 years was now asking for five years for cleaning again. "Kejriwal and his party people should answer how the Yamuna which is sent clean and pure from Uttarakhand becomes so polluted in Delhi that its water is not fit for irrigation," he further added. Chief Minister Dhami said that Kejriwal committed "corruption" across multiple sectors, including clinics, medicine purchases, streetlights, buses, schools, and liquor. "AAP's Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are still out on bail", he further said. The Chief Minister, also said that the people of Delhi are ready to oust the AAP from power in the upcoming elections. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over their remarks on President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of two Houses of Parliament, saying the remarks of are an insult to the "tribal brothers and sisters" of the country. Addressing a public meeting in Dwarka, the Prime Minister said the "royal family of the Congress does not like those who rise from the grassroots" and "repeatedly insults the poor and people from Dalit, Adivasi, OBC communities who are achievers". The Prime Minister said in a post on X later that the "royal family" should seek an apology from the President. "Today the royal family of Congress has insulted the President. They should at the earliest tender apology to the President and our poor brothers and sisters and those belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities, he said. The post had video clip of PM's speech at Dwarka rally. In his speech, PM Modi said "AAPda and Congress represent height of arrogance" and the "royal family of Congress showed its arrogance again today". "Droupadi Murmuji has come here from a tribal family. Her mother tongue is not Hindi, it is Odia. She inspired the Parliament today in a wonderful way, gave a speech. But the royal family of Congress has started insulting her. A member of the royal family said that the tribal daughter gave a boring speech. Another member went one step further and called the President a poor thing. She called the president poor and a thing and tired. They find the speech of a tribal daughter boring. This is an insult to the 10 crore tribal brothers and sisters of the country. This is an insult to every poor person of the country," he said. PM Modi said the President's speech talked of the progress being made the country and about farmers' welfare. "They (Congress leaders) like abusing people, defaming India in foreign countries and talking about urban Naxals," he said. Referring to the President Murmu's speech, Sonia Gandhi said the President "was getting very tired, by the end...she could hardly speak, poor thing." Several other BJP leaders also criticised Sonia Gandhi's remarks. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed BJP leaders for politicising Sonia Gandhi's remarks. "My mother is a 70-80 years old lady, she has simply said that 'the President read such a long speech and she must have been tired, poor thing'...she fully respects (President of India). I think it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is twisted by the media. They both are two respected people and older than us...she means no disrespect. BJP should first apologise for pushing (the country) into a gorge," she said. In his speech, PM Modi alleged that the ruling AAP has silently joined hands with Congress and urged Delhi voters to be cautious. "Out of fear of losing, these two egoists have joined hands," he said. He said Delhi needs a "double-engine" government and said people of the national capital have decided that AAP will be ousted and BJP government will be formed. "Seeing the growing anger of Delhi's people towards AAP-da, the party has started openly lying. AAP-da's dislike for Haryana is clear, and their actions reflect this. They have blamed Haryana's farmers whenever Delhi faces pollution problems. Now, they are accusing Haryana of polluting the Yamuna River...They have no shame left...They can stoop to any level to prove their lies," he said. He also slammed the AAP government for not tabling CAG reports. "In the very first session of the Assembly, the CAG report will be presented. This report will reveal AAP-da's scams, which is why they are trying to hide it...I have seen the enthusiasm of the people of Delhi and we can also see their hatred towards the AAP-da...These people only spread false rumours," he said. PM Modi said he wants to serve people of Delhi and urged residents to vote in large numbers on February 5. He also took "sheeshmahal" jibe at AAP leader and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "I do not have a house of my own, but my dream is to provide a concrete house to every poor person. But the AAP government here is trying its best to ensure that you do not get proper housing. The AAP government has not handed over thousands of houses built by the central government to the poor people of Delhi. Those who build 'sheeshmahal' worth crores for themselves will never understand the pain of the poor. BJP government must be formed here for the houses of the poor," he said. "Delhi needs a government of coordination, not one of conflict, so that every major problem of Delhi can be solved together. Together we have to free Delhi from the loot and lies of AAP-da...AAP-da people have made Delhi an ATM to shine their politics. AAP-da people have squeezed out Delhi's money and looted it. By committing scams in Delhi, these AAP leaders use black money for their politics in other states of the country. I assure you that as soon as we form the government in Delhi, we will take strict action against AAP-da's corruption. Those who have looted Delhi will be held accountable and made to return what they took," he added PM Modi alleged that AAP leaders pick up fights with everyone. "In the last 11 years, AAP-da has fought with everyone. They fight with the central government, they fight with the people of Haryana, they fight with the people of UP, they do not allow the schemes of the central government to be implemented. If only AAP-da people remain in Delhi, then Delhi will lag in development and will keep getting ruined," he alleged. Referring to BJP's vision, he said the central government has constructed Yashobhoomi, one of world's largest MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) facility in Dwarka. "Delhi needs a double engine government of the Central and State governments. You saw Congress in power for many years, and then AAP took over Delhi. You have given me the opportunity to serve the country again and again, and now give me a chance to serve Delhi also by forming a double-engine government. A glimpse of the extent to which the BJP wants to make Delhi modern can be seen here in Dwarka," he said. "The central government constructed a magnificent Yashobhoomi here. Because of Yashobhoomi, thousands of youth from Dwarka and Delhi have got employment and the business of the people has grown here. In the coming time, this entire area will be a kind of smart city," he added. PM Modi alleged that the AAP government has ignored infrastructure development in Delhi. "Over the past four years, AAPda has not increased the budget for infrastructure. This year, they are again not releasing funds for it. They don't want to use public money to benefit the people. Instead, they are spending a lot on advertisements," he said. "You have given me the opportunity to serve the country many times. Now, I urge you to give me an opportunity to work for Delhi as well. I assure you that no stone will be left unturned in the development of Delhi," he added. Delhi will go to the polls on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8. (ANI)
National President of the Republican Party of India and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale on Thursday took a jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said that the incident where the statue of BR Ambedkar was disrespected reflected a complete failure of Punjab's government. Athawale had held a press conference in Amritsar and further demanded that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should take moral responsibility and resign immediately. He further said that the incident of the vandalism incident should be dealt with strict legal action according to the provisions of the Constitution. Athawale further mentioned that in Amritsar, on the occasion of Republic Day, the local administration had made a significant mistake by placing stairs near BR Ambedkar's statue for the entire day. Immediate legal action should be taken against the responsible individuals for this negligence. It is worth noting that on January 29, Athawale visited Heritage Street in Amritsar to pay tribute to BR Ambedkar and gather detailed information regarding the incident of vandalism against his statue. Athawale had held a meeting with the Police Commissioner of Amritsar, Gurpreet Bhullar, the District Officer of Amritsar, Mahesh Sahni, and the Municipal Commissioner of Amritsar, Gurjot Singh Aulakh, along with other local administrative officials. In this meeting, a thorough discussion was held about the entire incident, and it was decided that strict action would be taken against those responsible for disrespecting Ambedkar's statue. Athawale further stated that any attempt to damage the statue of the revered Constitution-maker, BR Ambedkar was highly condemnable. He further remarked that this incident reflects the negligence of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab. This comes in after a youth on Republic Day vandalised the life-size statue of Ambedkar in Amritsar by climbing atop it and striking it with a hammer. A video of the incident had gone viral on social media. (ANI)
A CBI Court at Rouse Avenue Delhi has recently acquitted an Assistant Commissioner of Food and Civil Supplies Department (Ration Department) and one other accused of corruption charges. The court said that the sanction to Prosecute Assistant Commissioner was granted without application of mind and thus was defective. The court noted that the prosecution sanction against the public servant was granted by the competent authority (then Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev) without application of mind as the copies of recordings of conversations were not provided to him. The transcription of conversation were sent to him as the said recordings were lying in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL). "For said flaw on the part of the Investigation Officer (IO) in not sending the copies of the recorded conversation to the sanctioning authority, the sanction accorded becomes defective as there can be no application of mind in absence of such material evidence, which left to be placed before the sanctioning authority," the special judge held. It was alleged thag the bribe of Rs 50000 was accepted from the complainant to save him from the prosecution and cancellation of license of their Fair Price Shop over irregularities. Special CBI Judge Sunena Sharma Acquitted Mukesh Kumar (Assistant Commissioner) and Shyam Sunder from the charges of corruption after considering the submissions and evidence brought by the CBI. The court gave the accused benefit of doubts and said Prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Special Judge Sunena Sharma said, "I am of the considered view that prosecution case is shrouded with serious infirmities, discrepancies and contradictions. CBI has miserably failed to bring any cogent and clinching evidence so as to record the finding of guilt against any of theaccused persons for any of the alleged offences. "The essential ingredients of 'demand', 'acceptance' and 'motive or reward' for the purpose of Section 7 & 7A PC Act have remained unproved and as a consequence, prosecution miserably failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against both the accused," the court said in the judgement passed on January 30. Advocate Sanjay Gupta alongwith Raj Kamal Arya appeared for accused Mukesh Kumar had raised a strong objection on the admissibility of the CFSL report. First objection was for lack of notification of CFSL under IT Act and second was regarding competency of the expert witness to give any opinion on the voice identification. It was also argued on behalf of accused Mukesh Kumar (public servant) that no valid sanction was obtained by CBI for prosecution of accused. It was further argued that the sanction order is apparently defective as the same was accorded by the competent authority without application of mind and same is also evident from the fact that a draft sanction was sent to Vijay Kumar Dev (then Chief Secretary) who was competent authority alongwith the request letter of CBI. The Counsel for accused Mukesh Kumar submitted that at the time of examination of Vijay Kumar Dev, the official noting file of the sanction accorded in this case for the prosecution of accused Mukesh Kumar was summoned by the court and Dev was shown the said letter and the accompanying draft sanction order and he admitted that said draft sanction order was received by him alongwith the said letter. Special judge observed, "I have carefully perused the testimony of Prosecution Witness (Vijay Kumar Dev) and also given thoughtful consideration to the rival contentions on the point of sanction." The Court noted that during his cross- examination, Prosecution witness admitted that at the time when the sanction was granted for prosecution of accused Mukesh Kumar, the copy of questioned recordings (conversation) were not received nor there is any mention of said copies even in the sanction order. He admitted that as per document mentioned in the sanction order, only transcripts of the questioned telephonic conversations were received, the court noted. "It is trite law that grant of sanction is not an idle formality or an acrimonious exercise but a solemn and sacrosanct act which affords protection to government servants against frivolous prosecutions and must therefore be strictly complied with before any prosecution can be launched against the public servant concerned, " the court held. The court said that admittedly, by the time, the sanction was accorded for the prosecution of the accused Mukesh Kumar, the CFSL report regarding voice identification was yet not ready and the original recordings were still lying in the CFSL. " After analyzing aforementioned facts in the light of the judgment in Joginder Singh Malik (supra), I am of the considered view that the sanction under Section 19 of PC Act accorded for prosecution of accused Mukesh Kumar was defective as the competent authority was provided with only the transcript of the recorded conversation and the recordings were never made available to the sanctioning authority for verifying the content of transcript qua the demand of bribe allegedly raised by said public servant Mukesh Kumar. This clearly shows lack of application of mind on the part of sanctioning authority while according sanction against saidaccused. In view thereof, accused Mukesh Kumar deserves to be acquitted also for lack of valid sanction under section 19 PC Act," Special Judge Sunena Sharma said. An FIR was registered on the basis of a joint complaint of September 24, 2018 filed by twobrothers namely Ramesh Kumar and Naresh Kumar. As per the complaint, it was alleged that accused Mukesh Kumar, Assistant Commissioner, Food & Supply Department (South), Delhi and accused Shyam Sunder (Private Person), in furtherance of their common intention had a raid carried out on September 14, 2018 in the Fair Price Shop belonging to family of complainants and seized sale and stock register from the shop without issuing any receipt thereof. The license of said Fair Price Shop was in the name of Nirmala Devi, the wife of complainant. It was also alleged that on September 17, 2018, the accused Shyam Sunder, who often used to meet the complainants in the office of accused Mukesh Kumar, gave a call to the complainant Naresh Kumar and demanded a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh in connection with the raid conducted in their ration shop. It was also alleged on September 21, 2018, accused Mukesh Kumar met the complainant Naresh Kumar in his office and demanded Rs 50,000 in order to save him from the prosecution and cancellation of license of their Fair Price Shop. The complainants lodged a joint complaint with CBI on September 24, 2018. It was alleged that accused Shyam Sunder was caught red-handed by the trap team while demanding and accepting the tainted amount of Rs 50,000. Accused Shyam Sunder disclosed that the bribe amount was accepted by him on the instruction of accused Mukesh Kumar. A call was made to accused Mukesh Kumar and during said call, accused Shyam Sunder informed him about having received Rs 50,000, to which accused Mukesh Kumar replied "theek hai". Thereafter, the accused Mukesh Kumar was apprehended from his ITO office, where a search was also conducted and a File alongwith other documents were seized from his office. (ANI)
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha Friday said that the reputation of any health institution depends on the nursing staff and, therefore, nurses should give special importance to establishing cordial relations with patients and their families. "Due to the development of the state's health system, it is currently possible to perform various complex surgeries, including neuro surgeries, in the state. In addition, after the introduction of kidney transplantation in the state, initiatives have been taken to transplant various organs, including the liver. As a result, the quality of health services in the state will further improve in the future," he said. Saha, who holds the Health portfolio, said this after inaugurating the new academic building and student hostel of the North-East Institute of Nursing Science near Amtali Bypass. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the state government is committed to the development of the health infrastructure of the state. "Two medical colleges, one dental college, a nursing college, and various health educational institutions have already been established in the state. Nurses play an important role in providing health services in any health institution. The reputation of that health institution depends on the nursing staff. In this view, nurses should give special importance to establishing cordial relations with patients and their families," he said He said that many people in the state are working with good reputations in the field of nursing services in the country and abroad. The Chief Minister expressed confidence that in the coming days, a good number of nurses will be produced from this institute and will be associated with the state's health system. He said that trauma centres have been strengthened in every district hospital of the state. "A cardiac care centre has been set up in Ambassa. As a result of all these initiatives of the state government, the number of referrals outside the state has significantly reduced," he added. The event was attended by Padma Shri Chittaranjan Maharaj, Mayor Dipak Majumder, Chairman of the institution Parth Pratim Saha, and other dignitaries. (ANI)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Jangpura assembly constituency Manish Sisodia on Friday targeted the BJP ahead of the upcoming Delhi elections and said that the party was only increasing fights and doing abusive politics. Further, he exuded confidence and said that the public was very happy with AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and waned to bring him back to power. "BJP is only doing abusive politics in Delhi and is only increasing fights... on the other hand Kejriwal is working for Delhi..." he said speaking to the media. "The public is very happy with his (Kejriwal)'s work and wants to bring him back to power in Delhi..." Sisodia further added. Delhi minister and AAP's candidate from Babarpur assembly seat Gopal Rai exuded confidence that the party would be form the government in Delhi. He further said that if the BJP would come to a win all work would be put to a stop and the people would be more troubled by it. Speaking to ANI, Rai said "The positive atmosphere that has been created in entire Delhi, a voice is rising from somewhere that Kejriwal's government is going to be formed in Delhi." "People are getting an opinion that if they want a working government then they should press the broom button, otherwise, BJP will come and will stop all the work and people will be more troubled by it..." he further added. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami while addressing a public meeting in favour of BJP candidate Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh said that AAP was drowning in the quagmire of corruption. He further said that AAP, which came to power by making the corruption of the Congress a ladder, had left even the Congress behind in terms of corruption. "In Uttarakhand, we have made Ayushman Bharat cards for 58 lakh people, and they are being given treatment up to Rs 5 lakh. In Delhi, I came to know that the government has not even implemented the scheme," Dhami said while addressing the rally. Delhi will go to the polls on February 5 and results will be declared on February 8. (ANI)
An Antioch man was sentenced last Friday to nearly 12 years in prison after being convicted by a jury of child sexual abuse charges. Yellow Dog Productions/Getty Images

A 24-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a father and son at a birthday party in Hayward in 2022 was found guilty of murder, the Alameda County District Attorneys Office said Thursday.

Oscar Arevalo-Baquiax was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Rigoberto Perez, 49, and Rigoberto Perez Jr., 22. The verdict means the Alameda County Superior Court jury believed Arevalo-Baquiax acted without deliberation and premeditation.

The father and son were stabbed around 4 a.m. Sept. 24 during the party at the Perez apartment. Prosecutors said Arevalo-Baquiax and a female friend attended the party until they were asked to leave after he and Perez Jr. got into a heated argument about the friend, a dispute that triggered a fight between Perez and his son.

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Some 15 to 30 minutes later, Arevalo-Baquiax returned, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and entered a bedroom where the father and son were fighting. Thats when Arevalo-Baquiax stabbed both men, prosecutors said.

With his hands covered in blood, Arevalo-Baquiax admitted to his friend that he stabbed the men, prosecutors said.

In a statement issued Thursday, Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts thanked the jury for their service and careful deliberation in this trial. Roberts is in charge of the office until the successor of former District Attorney Pamela Price, who was recalled, takes the helm.

Arevalo-Baquiax faces 32 years to life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 24 at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday strongly criticised Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her "poor thing" remark against President Droupadi Murmu and said that this was an attack on 'tribal pride'. In a post on X, CM Dhami said, "The words used by Sonia Gandhi for the President of India Draupadi Murmu are extremely reprehensible. This kind of language used by her for the Honorable President, who is adorning the highest post in the country, is an attack on 'tribal pride'. Once again, Congress has shown its divisive mentality and reflected anti-tribal, anti-Dalit and anti-poor mindset." Earlier Union Minister Anupriya Patel condemned the remark and said, "Sonia Gandhi is a very senior leader and has been the former President of Congress and is still a member of Parliament. Using words like 'poor things' for the president is extremely condemnable. Such things are not good coming from the mouth of a senior MP and leader...I condemn it..." Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh BJP chief Kiran Singh Deo said, "What more can you expect?.. There should be a political sense regarding your remarks on respectable positions, on the First Citizen of the country...He has become an LoP for the first time and he feels that they have formed the government. People of the country don't consider this good. They feel that they would come into news cycles if they made such statements. That is all they want. They have no other work. I condemn this..." Apart from that JD(U), a major allay of BJP called the statement very unfortunate and condemnable. JD(U), leader KC Tyagi said, "The statement made by Sonia Gandhi on honourable President Droupadi Murmu is very unfortunate and condemnable. She is the first tribal woman President of India and the unparliamentary statement made by Sonia Gandhi, we condemn it. Sonia Gandhi should take back her words and apologise to President Droupadi Murmu". Sonia Gandhi stoked controversy over her reaction to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint session of the Parliament, calling her a "poor thing". "The President was getting very tired by the end...She could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi said. (ANI)
Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla and Indian Air Force (IAF) officer who was recently chosen as the 'Prime' astronaut for Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Gaganyaan mission, has been selected as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4, scheduled for Spring 2025. Shubhanshu Shukla, a serving IAF officer, will serve as the pilot for Ax-4 mission. The Ax-4 mission will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Axiom Space's director of Human Spaceflight. The two mission specialists are ESA project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. The Ax-4 mission will "realize the return" to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each nation's first government-sponsored flight in more than 40 years. https://x.com/Axiom_Space/status/1884983916127264867 Shubhanshu Shukla will be India's second astronaut to go to space since 1984..His journey began when he was commissioned into the IAF fighter wing in June 2006. As a combat leader and seasoned test pilot, he boasts an impressive 2,000 hours of flight experience across various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32. His ascent to the rank of group captain in March 2024 reflects his exceptional contributions. In 2019, Shukla received a momentous call from ISRO. He embarked on rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow, Russia--a year-long preparation that would shape his destiny. On February 27, 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Shukla as one of the elite astronauts undergoing intensive training for India's maiden human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, scheduled for launch in 2025. In August 2024, Shukla was selected as the 'Prime' astronaut for the upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair was selected as the 'Backup' astronaut. Notably, the Gaganyaan project envisages the demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth by landing in Indian sea waters. India's space sector has experienced significant growth and achievements over the past year, marking a new era of innovation and exploration. From the successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing to the launch of the Aditya L1 Solar Mission, ISRO has demonstrated its capabilities on the global stage. The organisation has also made strides in its Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, conducted critical tests for reusable launch vehicles, and expanded its satellite portfolio with missions like XPoSat and INSAT-3DS. On January 29, ISRO successfully launched their GSLV-F15 carrying the NVS-02 on 6:23 AM at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This was ISRO's 100th launch from the country's space port. Furthermore, the country has laid out ambitious roadmaps for lunar exploration and human spaceflight, including plans for an Indian space station by 2035. (ANI)
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rejected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's offer to resume talks with the government and to constitute a parliamentary committee to address the current conflict between the two, Geo News reported. Speaking on Geo News programme Capital Talk, PTI top leader and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub said: "We reject Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's offer [to resume dialogue]". Reiterating the party's demand to release PTI's "political prisoners", Ayub said, "Our demands were clear." Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the spokesperson for the government's negotiation committee, said that PTI showcased their non-democratic and non-political mentality by ending the talks, Geo News reported. "PTI lost a good opportunity towards [fulfillment] of their demands," he added. Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif has expressed willingness to resume talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and offered to constitute a parliamentary committee to address ongoing issues, The Express Tribune reported During the federal cabinet meeting, Sharif recalled earlier talks with PTI, which started with the formation of a committee after PTI's offer. He said that Imran Khan-founded party had submitted written demands through National Assembly Speaker, which the government was expected to respond to in writing. However, PTI cancelled the scheduled meeting on January 28. Shehbaz Sharif stressed that it was logical to respond to the written demands in writing. He recounted that after the elections in 2018, when the opposition entered Parliament with black armbands, Pakistan's then-PM Imran Khan had initiated constituting a parliamentary committee to probe concerns related to election. He said that PTI never constituted a judicial commission but rather a committee, according to The Express Tribune report. Pakistan PM called on PTI to resume talks and work together to form a new committee to probe elections held in 2018 and 2024 and bring out the facts. Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had invited PTI and government representatives for the fourth round of talks on Tuesday. However, PTI representatives did not attend the meeting. Later, the Pakistan government announced that its negotiation committee would wait until January 31, and if PTI changes its decision to end the talks, the process could restart. Talks between the government and the opposition began in December to address political tensions. Since then, the two sides have met thrice, Express Tribune reported. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who is on a four-day visit to Japan to seek investment for the state, visited the Sanjusangendo Temple in Kyoto on Friday. On Thursday, he attended an interactive session in Osaka on the investment opportunities in Madhya Pradesh and invited the industrialists to participate in the Global Investors Summit scheduled to be held in Bhopal on February 24 and 25. Following the session, Yadav told ANI that he had received a "good response" from the Japanese investors and had received offers as well. "We have come here to invite investors, we are doing roadshows in different cities of Japan, along with Indian investors, and we are speaking to Japanese investors as well. I am glad that we are getting a good response from everywhere. I am glad that we are being heard regarding every sector and we are getting offers as well," Yadav said. https://x.com/DrMohanYadav51/status/1884994099066855790 Sharing a post on X, he wrote, "Day 3 of the Japan tour... Discussions held with investors in Kobe and Osaka will definitely open new doors of prosperity for Madhya Pradesh." In addition, Director General of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Kobe, Hideki Sho said that Madhya Pradesh has a variety of potential for all kinds of industries. "My impression is very positive, CM gave a very strong message to the Japanese potential investors. Now we understand that your state (Madhya Pradesh) has a variety of potential, all kinds of industries from mining, energy, and pharmaceutical. Many Japanese companies have received a very positive impression from CM's presentation," Sho said. On the same day, CM Yadav interacted with the Indian diaspora and visited the Sysmex Corporation office, a leading company in the health sector, in the city. Highlighting the potential of Madhya Pradesh, CM Yadav said on the one hand, diamonds and gold are being discovered while on the other hand, iron and aluminium are also being mined. "I have come to Kobe to meet people of Indian origin and I have invited them to the Global Investors Summit. It gives me immense satisfaction and pride to see the progress of Indians here...India has become the centre of attention in terms of global investment... Madhya Pradesh is the state where, on one hand, diamonds and gold are being discovered in mines, and on the other hand, iron and aluminium are also being mined," CM Yadav said. (ANI)
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Thursday accused Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari of threatening Karachi's business community during a recent address, Dawn reported. MQM-P officials demanded that authorities take notice of what they described as a "threat" to the city's traders. In a press conference, the MQM-P leadership expressed outrage over Bilawal's remarks at a lunch he hosted for Karachi businessmen. The PPP chairman had told the traders that they should come to him with their grievances rather than approaching "other forums." While addressing the gathering, Bilawal also defended the performance of his party's government, drawing attention to the situation in Karachi before 2008, when the PPP came into power. However, the MQM-P leadership, particularly Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, viewed Bilawal's comments as an open threat. They argued that the PPP chairman's words were more than just a suggestion; they saw it as an attempt to intimidate traders into supporting the PPP rather than any other political faction, reported Dawn. Siddiqui highlighted that the MQM-P had tolerated the biased policies of the Sindh government for the sake of democracy, but such remarks were crossing the line. "For the past 15 years, a so-called artificial majority government has been running Sindh under the guise of democracy," he stated. Siddiqui went on to say that MQM-P was the only representative party for urban areas in Sindh, consistently protesting the injustices faced by the people of Karachi. He noted that, just like the urban population, traders and industrialists had long expressed concerns over the prevailing situation, believing that the PPP would offer apologies and take corrective measures. However, instead of addressing their grievances, the PPP had resorted to threatening them, a move that the MQM-P found troubling. Senior MQM-P leader Mustafa Kamal also joined in condemning the remarks, stating that the PPP's language was a direct threat to the businessmen. He called on authorities to intervene, emphasising that MQM-P had always stood by Karachi's business community. Kamal added that traders had even raised their concerns with Pakistan's army chief, a move that appeared to have offended certain individuals within the PPP. Farooq Sattar, another senior MQM-P figure, criticised the PPP for what he described as the "enslavement" of Sindh under the influence of the feudal mindset. He argued that this mentality had seeped into every level of provincial governance, affecting the functioning of institutions, Dawn reported. The MQM-P reiterated its demand for the implementation of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which the party believes is essential for the future of Pakistan and the welfare of its urban population, particularly in Karachi. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar extended congratulations to the Republic of Nauru on their Independence Day on Friday. In a post on X, EAM Jaishankar said, "Warm greetings to FM Lionel Rouwen Aingimea, the Government and the people of the Republic of Nauru on their Independence Day. Look forward to further strengthening our friendship in the Indo-Pacific." https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1885176851946967426 Bilateral relations with Nauru are cordial and friendly. As per the Indian High Commission in Canberra, India is a strong development partner for Nauru, with its assistance well recognised. Notably, India first proposed for Nauru's independence in the UN in early 1960s that was supported by the then USSR. Hence, Nauru has special regard for India. In September 2024, India and Nauru signed an MoU on Pharmacopoeial cooperation for cooperation and information exchange in regulation of medicines. In November last year, India dispatched the second consignment of Haemo-Dialysis machines to four Pacific Island nations- Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Nauru, thereby fulfilling a pledge made at the third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III) Summit. In 2023 when PM Modi had visited Papua New Guinea's capital city Port Moresby to co-chair the 3rd Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation, he said, "During these challenging times, an old saying has proven true: "A friend in need is a friend indeed." I am glad that India stood with its Pacific island friends during this challenging time. Whether it was vaccines or essential medicines, wheat or sugar; India, in line with its capabilities, has been assisting all partner countries... Whether it's digital technology or space technology; Whether it's health security or food security; Whether it's climate change or environmental conservation; We are with you in every way." (ANI)
The Baloch human rights group, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said that the general public is being harassed after they participated in the Baloch national gathering on January 25. In a post on X, a spokesperson for the Baloch Solidarity Committee said that after the Baloch National Gathering in Dalbandin on January 25, the general public is being continuously harassed and threatened with harm. It gave the example of how a Baloch driver was arrested for bringing a container to the Baloch National Gathering. The BYC noted that the general public and those helping in the national gathering were also being continuously threatened, with several FIRs being registered against the leadership of the Baloch Solidarity Committee, including its workers. "We want to make it clear to the state and the Dalbandin administration that we will not remain silent under any circumstances when the general public is being harassed and harmed. The national gathering in Dalbandin was completely peaceful", the post said. BYC said that the entire gathering was peaceful and that any law or constitution was not violated. It said that despite this, the harassment and threatening of the people of Dalbandin is "tantamount to state terrorism, and we will not remain silent against this oppression and oppression under any circumstances. " The BYC gave a call for the release of the arrested driver and put a stop to the series of threats and harassment to the general public and said that "we reserve the right to protest and sit-in against this oppression in all of Balochistan, including Dalbandin." https://x.com/BalochYakjehtiC/status/1884939625719795947 As per the BYC, the grand historic national gathering on the occasion of Baloch Genocide Remembrance Day in Dalbandin saw the participation of tens of thousands of people from all over Balochistan and was addressed by leaders such as Mahrang Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, Dr Sabiha, Lala Wahab, Sami Din and others. (ANI)
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) has detected seven Chinese aircraft and five naval vessels around the island as of 6 am (UTC+8) on Friday. Five of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and Southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/1885130886900769214 In a post on X, Taiwan MND said, "7 PLA aircraft and 5 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 5 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and Southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly." https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/1884768493549015104 On Thursday, Taiwan MND detected 6 Chinese aircraft and 5 naval vessels around its territory around the island. "6 PLA aircraft and 5 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 3 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and Southwestern ADIZ. 3 PRC balloons were detected during this timeframe," Taiwan MND said on X. In recent weeks, China has been visibly boosting its ability to invade Taiwanese beaches with innovative new naval equipment. This includes the formal launching of an enormous landing helicopter assault (LHA) vessel, the likes of which no other navy in the world possesses, and the mass production of floating bridge docks to assist the unloading of ships during beach landings. Both types of equipment are strong indications that China is serious about one day invading Taiwan. The Taiwan-China issue is a complex and longstanding geopolitical conflict centred on Taiwan's sovereignty. Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), operates its own government, military, and economy, functioning as a de facto independent state. However, China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and insists on the "One China" policy, which asserts that there is only one China, with Beijing as its capital. This has fuelled decades of tension, especially since the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), when the ROC government retreated to Taiwan after the Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, took control of mainland China. Beijing has consistently expressed its goal of reunification with Taiwan, using diplomatic, economic, and military pressure to isolate Taiwan internationally. Meanwhile, Taiwan, supported by a significant portion of its population, continues to maintain its independence. (ANI)
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed thanks to Sweden for extending its 18th and the largest Swedish defence package to Ukraine till date. Zelenskyy said that the package would help meet Ukraine's military needs and signficantly contribute to strengthen its defence capabilities. He shared the details in a post on X. Zelenskyy said, "I am thankful to @SwedishPM Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish Government, and the people of Sweden for the 18th and largest Swedish defense package to Ukraine to date, totaling 13.5 billion SEK ($1.23 billion)". The post added, "We deeply appreciate that this military aid meets the urgent needs of the Ukrainian army and significantly contributes to strengthening our defense capabilities. Its reinforcement of our long-range capabilities and investments in weapons production in Ukraine are invaluable. Peace through strength can be achieved." The post concluding by saying "We must all remember that threats like Russia's do not stop on their own; they advance only until the line where they are met with strength. That is why we must continue to strengthen this line together--from the Black Sea to the Baltic--to ensure peace and protect lives". https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1885024100524998782 Meanwhile, Zelenskyy shared that he is receiving hourly updates on the situation in Sumy which he said was "from the site of a Russian Shahed strike". Zelensky said that a residential building was destroyed. "Nine people were killed--my condolences to their families. Thirteen others were injured, including a child. Everyone is receiving the necessary assistance", Zelenskyy said in a post on X. https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1885044205875314949 As per Al Jazeera, at least four people have been killed and nine injured, including a child, in a drone attack on an apartment building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. (ANI)
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists were arrested in the Philippines after allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, Taipei Times reported. According to local media, the two suspects had been staying at a resort in Palawan, where they discreetly used their phones from a secluded location to record the comings and goings of coast guard vessels. Palawan is located near the Spratly Islands, a key area of dispute in the South China Sea, and tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated in recent years over territorial claims. The arrested suspects are also accused of using drones without authorisation and installing cameras on coconut trees at the resort to monitor the ships' activities. Local witnesses reported seeing suspicious actions from the pair. One of the suspects was even captured on camera by residents of the resort, though they denied the allegations when confronted, reported Taipei Times. According to Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr, authorities found photographs of military bases, facilities, and ships on the suspects' phones. The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now conducting a nationwide search for any accomplices connected to the operation. Meanwhile, another Chinese national named Deng, along with two Filipino accomplices, was arrested in Metro Manila on January 17 for similar espionage activities. Deng was allegedly driving around Manila and Luzon island, using surveillance equipment to gather intelligence on sensitive buildings and military sites. Deng's wife and the Chinese embassy have denied all allegations. However, Philippine National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya stated that the government has a "solid" case against Deng, who was caught "red-handed" during the surveillance operation, Taipei Times reported. Malaya further added, "There will be more arrests," indicating that the Philippine government is continuing its crackdown on espionage and counterintelligence efforts across the country. (ANI)
An Iraqi protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask takes part in ongoing anti-government demonstrations in the eastern city of Diwaniyah on November 3, 2019. - Protesters in Iraq's capital and the country's south shut down streets and government offices in a new campaign of civil disobedience Sunday, escalating their month-long movement demanding change to the political system. HAIDAR HAMDANI / AFP via Getty Images Jack Lasota, 28, of Berkeley, was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing in a protest Friday in Sonoma County where he wore a mask and robe. Courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff Gwen Danielson, 25, a transient, was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing in a protest Friday in Sonoma County where he wore a mask and robe. Courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff Emma Borhanian, 28, of Albany, was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing in a protest Friday in Sonoma County where he wore a mask and robe. Courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff Alexander Leatham, 24, whose city of residence is unknown, was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing in a protest Friday in Sonoma County where he wore a mask and robe. Courtesy Sonoma County Sheriff

Sonoma County authorities are investigating a bizarre protest against a Berkeley nonprofit focused on rational thought after four people dressed in black robes and Guy Fawkes masks were arrested for allegedly barricading off a wooded retreat where the nonprofit group was holding an event.

The county sheriffs office on Monday identified those detained at Westminster Woods in Occidental as Jack Lasota, 28, of Berkeley; Gwen Danielson, 25, a transient; Emma Borhanian, 28, of Albany; and Alexander Leatham, 24, whose city of residence is unknown.

All four were arrested late Friday on suspicion of felony child endangerment, false imprisonment and conspiracy as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing.

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Many aspects of the strange incident on Friday in Occidental remain a mystery, a sheriffs spokeswoman, Misti Wood, told The Chronicle. The suspects were allegedly uncooperative and spoke incoherently, and Wood said investigators had to rely on fingerprints to identify them.

Lasota, Danielson and Leatham were jailed on $50,000 bail and will appear in court Tuesday. Borhanian posted bail Saturday and was released, Wood said. She will appear in court next week.

They were on private property unwanted. It was frightening for everyone there, Wood said. Were still putting it all together.

Police determined the suspects targeted a group that had planned a weekend retreat at Westminster Woods. Flyers found by deputies suggested they were protesting artificial intelligence and the Center for Applied Rationality, a Berkeley nonprofit holding its annual alumni reunion weekend at the retreats conference center starting Friday evening.

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CFAR does not do remotely what they claim to do on their website: they do not appreciably develop novel rationality/mental tech, the flyer claimed. CFARs founding premise (that people were blocked in having the tools to think) was falsified long ago.

The material pointed to an online blog that railed against the group as well as the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, another Berkeley nonprofit that does foundational mathematical research to ensure smarter-than-human artificial intelligence has a positive impact.

The Center for Applied Rationality issued a statement on Monday, saying it was familiar with some of the suspects: Two of the individuals involved in this blockade had been asked not to attend our event as a result of prior erratic behavior towards our staff and others. Unfortunately, they instead took actions which disrupted things both for our guests and everyone else present at the camp. We were ultimately able to house our guests in an alternate venue on Friday night and then return to Westminster Woods once it reopened on Saturday afternoon, and our event proceeded on Saturday and Sunday without further incident.

On its Facebook page, the Center for Applied Rationality posted: Friday afternoon, four people wearing black robes and Guy Fawkes masks blocked the entrance to the alumni reunion venue in order to protest CFAR and MIRI, for reasons we dont fully comprehend, one organizer wrote. The owners of the venue were understandably freaked out by this, and so called the police, who ordered the entire site evacuated.

From what I can tell, these actions seem like aggressive but non-violent protest theatre, the organizer said. If you feel worried, and no longer wish to attend the reunion, I think that is totally reasonable, and certainly do not blame you. ... We will not allow a precedent to be set that nonsense like this will achieve its disruptive aim.

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The incident began around 3:40 p.m. Friday at the entrance to Westminster Woods, a popular retreat with a conference center, ropes course and other activities along the Bohemian Highway in Occidental.

Police said the suspects arrived in a box truck, shuttle bus and Toyota Prius and used the vehicles to block the entrance and exit while dressed in black-hooded robes, black gloves, black silicone shoe covers and Guy Fawkes masks made popular by the movie V for Vendetta and the decentralized Anonymous hacktivist group.

Two of the individuals carried walkie-talkies, one wore a body camera and another carried pepper spray, officials said. Deputies found a written protest plan.

Wood said police received a report that one of the individuals might have a gun, which prompted a heavy response, including a SWAT team and a helicopter. No weapon was found, but the four protesters were physically and verbally combative with police officers at the scene and at sheriffs headquarters, Wood said.

A fifth man was detained after claiming he was a journalist, Wood said, but he was released after deputies determined he had not committed a crime.

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The Sheriffs Office supports people exercising their rights to peacefully protest, Wood said. These protesters were not peaceful, were arrested for multiple crimes, and caused fear and anxiety among the children and adults at the camp.

A group of two dozen children were on the ropes course at the time of the four-hour incident  which shut down a stretch of the Bohemian Highway about 4 miles from the well-known Bohemian Grove  and were sheltered in an armored police vehicle.

About 50 people had to be evacuated from the property, Wood said, and driven to the Occidental Fire Department in a school bus. The bomb squad searched the vehicles for explosives and found none, Wood said.

Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that he is "overwhelmed" by the warmth and affection shown by the hotel staff as departs from the Imperial Hotel in Japan's Osaka on Friday. He noted that this affinity demonstrates prosperous ties between India and Japan. He shared the video on X, where the hotel staff stood in queue and clapped for him as he left from the hotel. In response, CM Mohan Yadav folded hands and thanked them. While sharing the video on X, he wrote, "An amazing, unforgettable and soulful moment. Today while leaving the Imperial Hotel in Osaka, I am overwhelmed by the warmth and affection of the hotel staff. This affinity showcases prosperous ties between India and Japan." https://x.com/drmohanyadav51/status/1885201915996205136 CM Mohan Yadav began fourth day of his Japan visit by visiting the Buddhist Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto. He shared pictures from his visit to the temple on X. "Today, the fourth day of my Japan visit began with a visit to the ancient Buddhist Sanjusangendo temple in Kyoto. Indianness is inherent in Japanese culture. My heart was filled with joy seeing the wonderful architecture and rich cultural heritage of the ancient temple in Kyoto," CM Mohan Yadav posted on X. https://x.com/drmohanyadav51/status/1885187674698326092 He also visited Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto on Friday. The castle witnessed some of the most important events in Japanese history in the 400 years since it was built. In a post on X, Madhya Pradesh CM stated, "Nijo Castle is a symbol of Japan's rich culture and heritage. Today, I got the opportunity to visit the World Heritage Nijo Castle located in Kyoto. This cultural and historical site shows the grandeur and prosperity of Japan." On Thursday, he attended an interactive session in Osaka on the investment opportunities in Madhya Pradesh and invited the industrialists to participate in the Global Investors Summit scheduled to be held in Bhopal on February 24 and 25. Following the session, Yadav told ANI that he had received a "good response" from the Japanese investors and had received offers as well. "We have come here to invite investors, we are doing roadshows in different cities of Japan, along with Indian investors, and we are speaking to Japanese investors as well. I am glad that we are getting a good response from everywhere. I am glad that we are being heard regarding every sector and we are getting offers as well," Yadav said. Sharing a post on X, he wrote, "Day 3 of the Japan tour... Discussions held with investors in Kobe and Osaka will definitely open new doors of prosperity for Madhya Pradesh." CM Mohan Yadav, reached Kobe on the third day of his Japan visit, during which he interacted with the Indian diaspora and visited Sysmex Corporation office, a leading company in the health sector, in the city. He also visited the Panasonic Energy office and held a meeting with company representatives to discuss investment opportunities in Madhya Pradesh. During the meeting, CM Yadav also briefed Panasonic Energy team about Madhya Pradesh's strength, infrastructure, specialized industrial parks, and skilled workforce. He invited them too for the Global Investors Summit. "On the third day of my Japan tour, I arrived in Osaka, where I toured the Panasonic Energy facility and held a meeting with company representatives to discuss investment opportunities in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is poised to become a leading investment hub by fostering innovation in the energy sector. I briefed the Panasonic Energy team, who specialize in manufacturing advanced batteries, about the state's robust infrastructure, specialized industrial parks, and skilled workforce. I also extended an invitation to them to attend the Global Investors Summit 2025," CM Yadav said in a post on X. (ANI)
Foreign diplomats have arrived at the Parliament ahead of the 2025 budget session on Friday. Diplomats from several countries such as Bazil, Japan, Slovakia, Serbia, South Korea amongst others were seen arriving at the Parliament. High Commissioner of Rwanda to India, Jacqueline Mukangira arrived at the Parliament. Kuwait's ambassador to India Meshal Mustafa J Alshemali was also seen arriving at the Parliament. Sinisa Pavic from the Republic of Serbia also arrived at the Parliament. President Droupadi Murmu on Friday began the Budget Session proceedings with an adress to Parliament. The President stated that with the efforts of the government, India is going to become the third biggest economy in the world. The president said that my government's mantra is "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas". President Droupadi Murmu was addressing a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament, marking the beginning of this year's Budget Session. Followed by the President's address, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on Saturday. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. The Economic Survey document, prepared by the Economic Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and formulated under the supervision of the chief economic adviser, gives insights into the state of the economy and various indicators of 2024-25 (April-March) and some outlook for the next fiscal. The document may also give some idea about the tone and texture of the actual budget for 2025-26, to be presented on Saturday. The budget will be presented on February 1. On budget day, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha at 11 am. The budget speech will outline the government's fiscal policies, revenue and expenditure proposals, taxation reforms, and other significant announcements. Notably, the budget session of parliament will begin on January 31 and, according to schedule, will end on April 4. (ANI)
Satellite images have revealed that China is constructing a large wartime military complex in its capital, according to US officials, Taiwan News reported. The satellite images show a 1,500-acre construction site, which China is suspected of beginning in mid-2024. US intelligence officials are analysing the photos, which display holes believed to be for bunkers that could protect Chinese leaders during a conflict. Renny Babiarz, a former analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said, "Imagery analysis suggests the construction of several possible underground facilities linked via possible underground passageways, although additional data and information is needed to more fully assess this construction." While no military presence has been observed at the site, there are signs warning against drones or photography. Guards at the site have declined to comment on the project. A former US intelligence official noted that the scale of the new facility suggests it could replace the Western Hills complex as China's primary wartime command centre, reported Taiwan News. The facility is expected to provide greater security against US "bunker buster" munitions and even potential nuclear attacks. The Chinese embassy in Washington has denied knowledge of the project details. According to two individuals close to Taiwan's defence ministry, China appears to be constructing a new complex. However, Hsu Yen-chi, a researcher at the Taipei-based Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies, questioned whether the area could accommodate underground bunkers, suggesting it might instead be used for administrative or large-scale training purposes. The construction comes ahead of China's 2027 short-term military modernisation goal, coinciding with the People's Liberation Army's centennial, Taiwan News reported. While Xi Jinping has denied any intentions to invade Taiwan in 2027, US officials claim that the Chinese leader has instructed the PLA to develop the capability to launch an attack by that time. (ANI)
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has proposed returning US Typhon missiles stationed in the Philippines if China ceases its aggressive actions in the South China Sea, Taiwan News reported. Speaking ahead of a meeting with US President Donald Trump, Marcos made it clear that the Philippines' stance on the missile system is tied to China's behaviour in the disputed waters. Marcos' statement follows repeated calls from China for the Philippines to withdraw the Typhon missile system. However, the US and the Philippines decided in September to keep the missiles in place, reversing an earlier plan to temporarily remove them. Marcos questioned China's stance, saying, "I don't understand the comments on the Typhon missile system. We don't make any comments on their missile systems, and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have." He offered a deal to China, emphasising the need for de-escalation, reported Taiwan News. "Let's make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen, and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behaviour, and I'll return the Typhon missiles," Marcos said. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not respond to requests for comment. The Typhon missile system was deployed by US forces during the Balikatan military exercises in April 2024, and reports indicate that the system's launchers have been redeployed to an undisclosed location in the Philippines. The 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling sided with the Philippines, declaring that China's claims in the South China Sea lacked legal standing. Despite the ruling, China and Taiwan rejected the decision, Taiwan News reported. Taiwan claims all the territories claimed by China, but only controls a few islands in the region. Other countries like Vietnam and Malaysia also have competing claims in the area. (ANI)
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari for giving his approval to Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Act and said that it is not right to be double-faced, The Express Tribune reported. Speaking to reporters in Dena, Rehman said he had spoken to Zardari about Peca Act, who told him that the recommendations on the act will be accepted. However, later on, Pakistan President gave approval to Peca Amendments Bill. Expressing displeasure over Asif Ali Zardari's action, Rehman said one should not be double-faced. JUI-F chief said Peca Act is a kind of law which directly hits journalism profession. He asked the Pakistan government to take into account the reservations of the journalists and hold talks with them, according to The Express Tribune report. Maulana Fazlur Rehman reiterated that elections were rigged across Pakistan. He said, " Our stance is clear that the elections were rigged across the country," adding the rigging was also conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the government was formed based on manipulated results. He said JUI-F demands snap elections in Pakistan and stressed that the Constitution and parliament are not tools to be molded as per the wishes of the establishment, The Express Tribune reported. Earlier on January 30, leading journalistic bodies from around the world have opposed recent amendments to the Peca, which became law after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's approval on Wednesday, Dawn reported. In a statement, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said, "The amendments to Pakistan's draconian PECA represent a transparent attempt to further tighten control over digital expression and internet freedom under the guise of curbing misinformation." The IFJ stressed that the legislation threatens journalists, activists, and the public's right to information, as it extends government jurisdiction online, broadens censorship powers, and imposes penalties for vaguely defined offenses. The organisation urged President Zardari to reject the bill and ensure that the "constitutional right to freedom of expression is upheld." Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) president Afzal Butt said it was 'very unfortunate' that Pakistan President did not listen to repeated calls made by the journalist bodies, who expressed concerns on the Peca amendments, according to the Dawn report. Media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has said that censorship and social media blocking in Pakistan indicates a "very disturbing decline in press freedom in the country." Meanwhile, Media Diversity Institute (MDI) also slammed the government over increased control over the press and internet, stating that it has "resulted in uncertainty, a climate of fear, and discomfort among the masses." The Forum for Digital Rights and Democracy (FDRD), a group representing Pakistani civil society, academia, journalists, private companies, development organizations, and rights groups, expressed alarm over the PECA amendments, which were passed by Parliament without stakeholder consultation. (ANI)
After 47 days of protests in Gwadar, an alliance of political parties decided to call off their sit-in on Thursday following successful negotiations with district authorities, Dawn reported. The alliance has provided a one-month timeframe to the district administration to address the issues that led to the protest. A seven-point agreement was signed between the two parties after the talks. As part of the agreement, the alliance leadership agreed to end the protest until the month of Ramazan, as per Dawn. The district administration committed to implementing the seven-point plan, which includes measures to combat illegal trawling, reduce load-shedding, provide 17 hours of electricity daily, allocate a colony for local fishermen, accelerate ongoing projects by the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), and ensure a steady supply of clean water to residents. According to Dawn, the negotiations were attended by Gwadar Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr Abdul Shakoor, Assistant Commissioner Mir Jawad Ahmed Zehri and key political and social figures from the alliance. Other notable attendees included Director Marine Ahmad Nadeem, Quetta Electric Supply Company SDO Shigar Allah Baloch and Naveed Mengal and GDA engineers Abdul Razak and Nadir Baloch. Due to the ongoing protests, normal life in Gwadar remains severely impacted as workers and supporters of the All Parties Alliance continued their sit-in at Marine Drive for over a week. The protesters are demanding the reopening of the Iranian border for trade in oil and other goods, which has been shut for several months, as per Dawn. Dawn's report indicates that protest leaders emphasised that border trade is the main source of livelihood for Gwadar's residents, many of whom have lost their jobs due to the extended closure. They criticised the introduction of a token system at the Kantani Hor border, calling it a significant barrier to trade that has worsened unemployment in the region. The protesters have called for the immediate removal of the token system and the restoration of unrestricted border trade. (ANI)
Demonstrations are taking place across the country, with journalists wearing black armbands while covering events. Union offices and press clubs have been draped in black as a symbol of resistance, according to Samaa TV.

PFUJ President Afzal Butt criticised the government for passing the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Amendment Bill without consulting relevant stakeholders. "The president signed the bill without even allowing journalists to voice their concerns," he bemoaned, as reported by Samaa TV.

As part of the protest, he stated, "the freedom of press movement has been launched," adding that PFUJ has called for a sit-in in front of Parliament House to demand the repeal of the "black law."

The Joint Action Committee (JAC), which includes the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), and the Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AMAND), is also participating in the PFUJ-led protests, according to Samaa TV.

The JAC strongly condemned the government's approach, stating it failed to engage stakeholders before pushing the bill through the Senate Standing Committee and the National Assembly. It denounced the move as a clear attempt to suppress press freedom.

"The passing of the bill is clear evidence of the government's ambitions and malice," the committee declared, as quoted by Samaa TV.

Rejecting the bill outright, the JAC warned of an intense legal and public battle against it. It also accused the government of failing to honour its commitment to consult stakeholders before amending PECA. (ANI)
Serbian Ambassador to India, Sinisa Pavic said on Friday that it was interesting to hear about India's perspective, tendencies and intentions and said that Serbia looks forward towards a year of successful cooperation with India. Speaking to ANI, the Ambassador noted that it was his second time attending this session and to listening the speech of President Droupadi Murmu, whom he added that Serbia has the "honour to host in our country in March 2023". Ambassador Pavic also remarked that it was "wonderful" to come to the new parliament building. The ambassador said that although it was a challenge to follow all the data, at the same time, it is always interesting, for all of us to hear about perspectives, tendencies, intentions from the Indian side." He noted that it was a pleasure to listen and was also able to find "wonderful coincidences and complementarity between ambitions of Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and my government." In his remarks, Ambassador Pavic expressed confidence in India-Serbia ties and said, "We're looking forward to have successful cooperation between our two countries and development of entire India". Foreign diplomats had arrived at the Parliament ahead of the 2025 budget session on Friday. Diplomats from several countries such as Bazil, Japan, Slovakia, Serbia, South Korea amongst others were seen arriving at the Parliament. The budget session of the Parliament commenced today with the joint address of President Droupadi Murmu. President Droupadi Murmu on Friday stated that with the efforts of the government, India is going to become the third biggest economy in the world. The President said that the government's mantra is "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas". Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey for 2024-25 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, soon after, both houses were adjourned for the day. According to the Economic Survey, India's economy is projected to grow between 6.3 per cent and 6.8 per cent in FY26. The survey highlights that the country's economic fundamentals remain strong, supported by a stable external account, fiscal consolidation, and private consumption. It noted that the government plans to strengthen long-term industrial growth by focusing on research and development (R&D), micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and capital goods. These measures aim to enhance productivity, innovation, and global competitiveness. Notably, the budget session of parliament will begin on January 31 and, according to schedule, will end on April 4. (ANI)
China has made no secret of its desire to annex Taiwan, which it may do by cutting off supplies and imposing a blockade on the self-governing island. To thwart the US military from assisting Taiwan, the Chinese military recently conducted drills, according to a report by The Eurasian Times. According to an analysis by the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, as quoted by The Eurasian Times, the goal of the December 2024 Chinese simulation was to train to prevent US forces from accessing the sea surrounding the island. To prevent American warships from entering the area, China stationed 18 destroyers and frigates east of the "first island chain," which stretches from the Philippines to Japan's Nansei Islands, during the war drills. The exercise took place from December 6-12, as reported by The Eurasian Times. It is reported that China used anti-access/area denial (A2AD) tactics to keep US forces from passing the first island chain, which is situated west of the second chain, and to the west of the "second island chain," which stretches from Guam to the Izu Islands in Japan. For China, it was the biggest military drill in almost thirty years. China not only showed that it could blockade Taiwan, but it also asserted its dominance over the First Island Chain, which includes the South and East China Seas and extends from Japan to Indonesia. One significant event was the first coordination of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern, Southern, and Northern Theatre Commands, which allowed them to put pressure on Taiwan and its allies by conducting large-scale combined arms drills throughout a wide area as per The Eurasian Times. China also deployed more than 60 PLA-Navy warships and 30 China Coast Guard vessels in areas ranging from the South China Sea to Japan's Ryukyu Islands, in addition to the more than 134 PLA airplanes that flew during the three-day exercises near the islands as reported. Without receiving live-fire training, the Chinese forces practised attacking foreign ships, obstructing maritime routes, and intercepting commercial vessels. In order to restrict access to the First Island Chain, the PLA-Navy also constructed two barriers southeast of Taiwan, as reported by The Eurasian Times. (ANI)
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the President of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, visited Sambhota Tibetan School in Darjeeling, where he addressed the local Tibetan community about the ongoing oppression by China and the importance of preserving Tibetan identity, as reported by Tibet.net. In his speech, Sikyong emphasised the critical need to protect Tibetan identity, highlighting how the People's Republic of China (PRC) has distorted Tibet's historical connection with China for political gain. He pointed out the increasing misinformation campaigns by China aimed at falsely asserting its claims over Tibet and underscored the importance of safeguarding Tibet's history, culture, and language. "With growing efforts to erase our identity within Tibet and the risk of diluting our heritage in exile, it is crucial to stay vigilant and collaborate in preserving our unique identity," he said. Sikyong also encouraged attendees to explore the work of legal expert Prof. Michael van Walt van Praag and China scholar Prof. Lau Han Shiang for a deeper understanding of Tibet's historical and legal issues. Sikyong further stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution to the Tibet-China conflict for the survival of Tibetan identity. He praised the 16th Kashag's commitment to the Middle Way Policy and called for unity among Tibetans, regardless of their political views. He emphasised the need to affirm Tibet's historically independent status and work toward a peaceful solution grounded in practical, reality-based approaches, as reported by Tibet.net. On 28 January 2024, Sikyong arrived in Siliguri, where he was warmly received at Bagdogra Airport by Dorjee Rinzin, the Chief Representative Officer for the Northeast region, and local Tibetan community leaders. His schedule began with the inauguration of a new community hall in Salugara, attended by Tseten, Kalimpong Tibetan Settlement Officer, and members of the local Tibetan community. He also visited the Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute. Later in the day, Sikyong and his team visited the Sakya Kunga Shedup Ling Monastery in Kurseong, where they interacted with the residents before heading to Darjeeling, as reported by Tibet.net. On 29 January, Sikyong toured several key locations in Darjeeling, including the Regional Tibetan Freedom Movement office at the Manjushri Guest House, the renovation of the settlement office, and the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, which houses a carpet manufacturing factory. The Self-Help Centre, established by the first wave of Tibetan refugees in 1959, continues to provide livelihood opportunities for Tibetans in India. (ANI)
Martin Olive, the owner of the Vapor Room dispensary, was shot on Monday by a suspect later killed by police. Dan Hernandez / The Chronicle Martin Olive, the owner of the Vapor Room dispensary, was shot on Monday by a suspect later killed by police. Dan Hernandez/The Chronicle

A man fatally shot by police this week after he allegedly shot a cannabis business owner was acquitted of attempted murder by a San Francisco jury seven years ago.

The San Francisco Medical Examiners Office said the man killed by police Monday was Cheasarak Chong, 34, of San Francisco. Chong is suspected of shooting Martin Olive outside of the Vapor Room dispensary, at 79 9th St.

Police responded to the shooting outside the Vapor Room at 4:56 p.m. Monday to find paramedics treating Olive, who was rushed to a hospital in an ambulance. Police found Chong in a nearby building and a standoff ensued until police shot and killed him.

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A friend of Olives said on GoFundMe that he was shot four times, including in the face and lungs, and was fighting for his life in the ICU.

Chong was charged with attempted murder after he stabbed a person who attacked him in the Tenderloin neighborhood in July 2018, according to the public defenders office. Chong told authorities that a man who accused him of walking on his feet threw a punch at him while he was walking to work on Taylor Street, the public defenders office said at the time. Chong kicked the man in self defense, and a witness thought he was the aggressor and pushed him several times, the public defenders office said.

Chong hit back in self defense and then tried to remove himself from the confrontation until another person joined the skirmish and began to beat him, knocking him to the ground, officials said. Chong escaped and reported the attack to police, who then transferred him to a hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Chong, armed with a knife, returned to the scene of the attack after his release from the hospital to look for belongings such items from his wallet and his glasses, the public defenders office said. Thats when the man who originally attacked him showed up and began threatening to attack him again, the public defenders office said. As the man reached into his bag, Chong feared for his life and stabbed the man in self-defense, according to the public defenders office. The man suffered cuts to his arm and chest but didnt require stitches, staples or glue, said the public defenders office.

The jury was hung 9 to 3 on whether Chong was guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.

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Police have not said what they believe the motive behind the Monday shooting was, and police have not provided additional details on the circumstances surrounding the shooting. San Francisco police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday for more information.
Hours after US Presiden Donald Trump warned BRICS nations including Brazil of tariffs if they go with a separate currency, Brazilian President Lula da Silva affirmed that if Washington does take any such action, Brasilia will respond in kind, Al Jazeera reported. Speaking at a news conference in Brasilia on Thursday, Lula emphasized that Brazil seeks a relationship with the US based on "mutual respect". Lula's comments came in response to US President Donald Trump's threats of higher tariffs on Brazilian goods. "It is very simple: If he taxes Brazilian products, there will be reciprocity," Lula told reporters. He added, "Trump was elected to run the US, and I was elected to run Brazil. I will respect the US and want Trump to respect Brazil. That's all." The comments are the latest signal that Trump's efforts may spark a trade war with US allies. According to Al Jazeera, the Brazilian president's response also offers a model for how other Latin American countries might respond to Trump's protectionist policies. Trump has touted tariffs as a mechanism to boost domestic industry, as well as to force international rivals to accede to demands ranging from manufacturing to migration. Earlier this week, Trump threatened large tariffs against Colombia when President Gustavo Petro initially refused to allow a US military flight bearing undocumented immigrants to land. Petro objected to the US treatment of the immigrants, some of whom were reportedly handcuffed.. After the two leaders exchanged tariff threats, Petro backed down, allowing future flights to proceed, despite implying a comparison between Trump and "white slavers". But Trump has proceeded to dangle the prospect of tariffs against other countries since the diplomatic spat, including China, Mexico, Canada, and the Eurozone Similarly, tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Mexico and Canada have been proposed, with implementation potentially starting as early as February 1. Additionally, tariffs on goods from the Eurozone, which enjoys a trade surplus with the US, and a 2.5 per cent tariff on global goods were also mentioned. These measures, while impactful, are seen as more moderate than earlier expectations, easing some market concerns. (ANI)
Academic activities across public universities in Pakistan's Sindh have come to a halt since January 6 due to protests against the government's proposed change to the Sindh Universities and Institutes Laws Act, Geo News reported. Academic experts and educators have vehemently opposed to what they see as a harmful shift in the province's higher education institutions' leadership structures. According to the contentious measure, professors and other non-academic authorities may be nominated as vice-chancellors (VC) of universities. It raises questions about whether VCs with only a master's degree and no research experience can properly manage academic and research activities, according to Geo News report. According to the Sindh government, the purpose of the bill is to enhance university administration. In a recent address, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah contended that numerous VCs and board chairpersons who had previously been nominated had been accused of corruption and harassment. The provincial government says that the governance of higher education institutions would be enhanced by hiring administrators with a variety of backgrounds. The chief minister did clarify, though, that under the new structure, professors would still be able to apply for the VC job, according to Geo News report. However, specialists in the education sector disagree with this reasoning. They question if other government ministries in Sindh are free from financial irregularities and poor administration, arguing that bureaucrats are not immune to accusations of corruption. Sindh universities have been severely disrupted by the measure. Due to days of halted sessions, Karachi University, which is typically teeming with students, suddenly seems to be empty. Karachi University is not the only public university in the province experiencing this disruption; others are still not operating. Given that the school year had just begun, the protesters' timing is especially troubling. Geo News highlighted that students worry that they will fall behind in their coursework and find it challenging to study for tests as a result of the suspension of classes. Students are concerned about their education and future because of the situation's ambiguity. Education experts have expressed worry that the government is creating a new Pandora's box rather than fixing the current problems. Faculty members and professors claimed they were never consulted on the issue. Students who visit campus daily, on the other hand, wind up wandering the halls rather than going to lectures, as reported by Geo News. Many people sit about campus all day doing nothing and then depart according to Geo News. However, the government should, at the very least, engage in discussions with professors to address legitimate concerns. (ANI)
Tel Aviv [Israel], January 31 (ANI/TPS): The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) reported that in recent months - before the Gaza Ceasfire went into effect - and together with other Israeli security forces, it eliminated two Hamas terrorists who took part in the murderous massacre of October 7, including the kidnapping of female IDF observers from the base at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Last Month, an Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft attacked and killed the terrorist Hatim Hazem Hejazi Regev, a Nakba terrorist in the Shuja'iyya regiment of the terrorist organization Hamas. The terrorist Hejazi Regev took part in the murderous massacre and kidnapping of the female observers from the Nahal Oz base on October 7. Also, during the war in Gaza, he promoted and led many acts of terrorism against the IDF forces. In addition, in September 2024, an IAF aircraft attacked and killed Muhammad Ahmed Farij Saeed, a terrorist from the Shati Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization. The terrorist Farij raided the Nahal Oz base on October 7 and was involved in the kidnapping of the IDF observer Naama Levy. Along with him, several other Hamas terrorists were killed. (ANI/TPS)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, while being seated in a bullet train in Japan, expressed that he was satisfied by the way Japanese investors have viewed the state from an investment point of view. Yadav, while speaking to ANI, said that this visit was a fruitful one and emphasised that it would be beneficial for the youth of Madhya Pradesh in terms of employment. "When I came to Japan, I was thinking that this is our first visit, what will be the experience from the investors' point of view. But I am satisfied with the way Japanese investors have shown interest in Madhya Pradesh, there are many investors who were waiting for our visit, and they expressed their desire to come to Madhya Pradesh, this visit of ours will be very beneficial for our youth of Madhya Pradesh in terms of employment... All the investors who were already investing, be it Panasonic or Bridgestone, they also said that we will come and do bigger work with you," he said. Yadav said that in the changing political climate under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the companies agreed to invest in Madhya Pradesh. The companies which were already working in Madhya Pradesh decided to expand their business, and new companies decided to join them. "Look, we had set different stages of the journey. I am satisfied that we talked to all companies, from Panasonic to Bridgestone, companies that are already working with Madhya Pradesh, must expand their trade and new businesses must join them. There is a good scope for them to motivate them to invest in new scopes based on the way they see the relationship with us. I am satisfied that when Chief Ministers visit their campus, usually these multinational companies and their original owners or directors do not visit many countries. They stay in their headquarters. But we came to his headquarters and told them about the benefits of joining us, and how it would be beneficial for them to team up with us, given the changing political climate of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The situation of our geography is so good that if they make any product, they will benefit from connecting it inside the country as well as outside the country. Based on this, all the investors who were already investing, be it Panasonic or Bridgestone. They also said that after coming, we will do more work with you. He personally thanked me for the fact that we met you or the government. And new investors have also been found, who are taking huge profits," he said. A seemingly satisfied Yadav further told ANI that usually, people find Japanese investors difficult to convince because they do a lot of background checks. But, when he talked about investing in MP, the investors assured him of their support. "I assume that everyone we talked to wants to join India, they want to join Madhya Pradesh and as big as the UK we went on this tour or visited Germany. There was a response there, but the trend of Japan is generally believed that Japanese people are not prepared very quickly. They find it very difficult. They do a lot of research and study about their plans. He made up his mind for a long time, but I felt that he was prepared quickly for our plans and while studying the future, he has seen all his possibilities in Madhya Pradesh. Like the readymade garments, he said that I have already come with information about Madhya Pradesh and I am satisfied that their company will invest there now and we are mentally prepared for that. And at the same time, many other agencies, which have done research in many cases, be it for health or education or research centers, such big players from all sectors want to come to us," he said. Yadav was on a four-day visit to Japan from January 28-31, seeking investment opportunities and inviting industrialists to the Global Investors Summit (GIS) to be held in Bhopal on February 24-25. (ANI)
Israeli officials have confirmed receiving names of three hostages who are set to be released by Hamas tomorrow -- Ofer Calderon, Keith Siegel, and Yarden Bibas, Times of Israel reported. Keith Siegel, a 65-year-old US citizen originally from North Carolina, was abducted along with his wife, Aviva, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Aviva was released in November 2023. Ofer Calderon, 54, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, along with his two children, Erez and Sahar. Both children were freed during the previous ceasefire. Yarden Bibas, 35, was taken hostage separately from his wife, Shiri, and their children, Ariel and Kfir, who were also abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hamas has claimed that Shiri and the two boys died while in captivity. While Israel has not officially confirmed their deaths, the officials have voiced "grave concern" for their safety. Yarden was reportedly injured at the time of his abduction, according to Times of Israel reported. According to Israeli officials, the families of the hostages have been informed, and Israel has accepted Hamas' proposed list of those to be released. Earlier on Thursday, Israel released 110 Palestinian prisoners after receiving security assurance from the mediators of the ongoing ceasefire-hostage deal, following the chaotic scenes in Khan Younis during the handover of Israeli and Thai hostages. According to Al Jazeera, Israel released the Palestinian prisoners after the Israeli military confirmed the release of three Israelis, one male and two female, and five Thailand nationals. Initially, Israel had delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners and had asserted that the prisoners won't be freed until the "safe passage" of the hostages is "guaranteed in the next releases." This came after chaotic scenes were witnessed on Thursday, during the hostage release. Israeli hostage Arbel Yehoud, was forced to walk from an Islamic Jihad vehicle to the Red Cross vehicle through a heaving mob of jeering onlookers, as reported by Times of Israel. The vehicles struggled to inch their way through the large crowd of onlookers amid wailing sirens. Hundreds of heavily armed, masked gunmen also surround the vehicles, pushing away the onlookers. On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked southern Israel killing over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting over 200 others. Over 46,000 Palestinians have been also killed in Gaza in Israel's counter-offensive against Hamas. Earlier, over 100 hostages were freed during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. (ANI)
This initiative aligns with the "Year of the Community", which promotes social cohesion and community care, while reinforcing the values of cooperation among all society members.

Previously, free admission was granted to those aged 70 and above. By lowering the age threshold, Al Ain Zoo reaffirms its commitment to enhancing its services and ensuring inclusivity for all community members.

The Zoo is dedicated to meeting the needs of its senior visitors, with facilities, buildings, pathways, open spaces, and transport vehicles designed for easy accessibility. Additionally, wheelchairs are available upon request at the Visitor Happiness Office. (ANI/WAM)
Brussels [Belgium], January 31 (ANI/WAM): Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Envoy of the Foreign Minister to the European Union, concluded a productive visit to Brussels where she met with leading members of the European Parliament and senior European Union (EU) officials. The visit reaffirmed the close ties between the UAE and the EU and its member states. It further underscored their joint commitment to deepening and strengthening the strategic relationship, seizing opportunities for growing trade and investment ties, and addressing pressing global issues as well as challenges in the shared neighborhoud. During her visit, the UAE foreign minister envoy met Dubravka Suica, EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, to discuss specific avenues for strengthening UAE-EU relations. The two also discussed regional developments, including in Gaza and Syria. Bilateral cooperation was also the focus of a meeting with Simon Mordue, Deputy Secretary-General at European External Action Service, alongside developments in the Middle East, and in Ukraine. Nusseibeh also held talks with EU Special Representatives, including Luigi Di Maio responsible for the Gulf; as well as with Annette Weber, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, focusing on the situation in Sudan and regional stability. The Envoy also had opportunities to meet with several members of the European Parliament, with whom she addressed regional developments as well as economic cooperation. A meeting with Sabine Weyand, Director-General for Trade at the European Commission offered the opportunity to discuss enhancing UAE-EU trade relations. She also met with the European Commission's Financial Stability and Financial Services, to review economic, financial and judicial cooperation. In addition to bilateral consultations, Nusseibeh spoke at the Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation's High-Level Dialogue focused on 'Peacemaking Efforts and Shrinking Diplomatic Space', where she reflected on lessons learned from the UAE's experience as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2022-2023, and opportunities for closer EU-UAE cooperation in advancing peace and security. (ANI/WAM)
India and the United States are working towards an early visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the dates for the visit are being worked and will be announced at the appropriate time. "Prime Minister Modi and President Trump had a telephonic conversation some days back. Recently, the two sides are working on an early visit of the Prime Minister to the United States to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic partnership and specific dates for this visit are still being worked out and will be announced at the appropriate time," Jaiswal said in weekly briefing today. Notably, Trump had held a 'productive' telephonic conversation with PM Modi on , a statement by the White House said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Modi congratulated President Trump on his second term in office. The two leaders emphasised their commitment to advance the US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership. They also discussed plans for PM Modi's visit to the White House, and Indo- Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year. Describing Donald Trump, who took oath as US President earlier this month, as his "dear friend", PM Modi said India and the United States will work together towards global peace, prosperity, and security. The two leaders exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and reiterated their commitment to work together for promoting global peace, prosperity and security. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has expressed satisfaction over Japan's enthusiasm for the Buddhist Circuit and engaging with India in the business sector. He highlighted how the people of Japan speak with great pride that Gautam Buddha came from India. Speaking to ANI, CM Yadav said that he felt that people of Japan like people of India have the same love for hospitality. He also spoke about the farewell given to him by the hotel staff in Osaka. On being asked about India-Japan ties, he said, "I am very satisfied and it is true that I felt that the people of Japan like people of India also have the same love for hospitality for their own country and people of other countries as well...They say with great pride that Mahatma Buddha came from India and we have adopted them. I am also satisfied that they show enthusiasm for Buddhist Circuit, tourism as well as engaging with India in the business. They are also looking at the interest of their companies." He also spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's views on having close trade ties with neighbours, especially with nations in the Asia-Pacific region. "Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has always been our ideal and he says that we should build close trade relations with our neighbours, and especially with all countries of Asia Pacific Area. In such a situation, when he talks about the whole country, Madhya Pradesh is the land of his heart, so we get the benefit of it and we have seen that it is being benefited in the field," Mohan Yadav said. MP CM said that PM Modi has spoken about introducing a bullet train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. He also spoke about his experience of travelling in a bullet train and added that the train seemed like a normal train while running, despite having a speed of over 300 kilometers. Mohan Yadav along with his wife, Seema Yadav, travelled in Shinkansen Bullet Train. On his experience of travelling in a bullet train, CM Yadav said, "We came to hear about bullet train in the news on TV, paper. But after sitting on the bullet train, we travelled in the morning and now we are going back. It feels that how can we travel like airplane on the train and many times we used to think how can a train runs above 300, 400, 500 kilometres. But, it looks like a normal train is running. Many times, our train with a speed of hundred, looks much faster because it rumbles. But, it is running very strongly that it shows us to build confidence in our advanced technology. It is a part of the effective system. So, in the coming times, Honorable Modi has talked about the bullet train scheme from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. We are working on various types of train projects here as well. Through Honorable Modi Ji, we have started imagining this kind of rail network to be built in the future with the help of Japan. Although it is still in the early stages, we hope that we will do so with the confidence of new technology in the coming times." Speaking about his visit to temples in Japan, he said, "I visited Buddhist temples as well...I liked that our Buddhist culture connects with Lord Surya and connects it to Gautam Buddha and it also benefits you." He also expressed gratitude to the people of Japan and embassy officials. In his message to the people of Japan, he said, "I would like to thank the people of Japan, our embassy officials in Japan and Japanese officials. In the hotels where I have stayed, I have never seen the cooks of hotels and all kinds of service people working there coming out and clapping to show their love. This enhances our enthusiasm. I will remember this affinity for the rest of your life." Mohan Yadav is currently on a four-day visit to Japan, where he met Japanese ministers, officials and business leaders. Earlier in the day, he said that he was "overwhelmed" by the warmth and affection shown by the hotel staff as departs from the Imperial Hotel in Japan's Osaka. He noted that this affinity demonstrates prosperous ties between India and Japan. He shared the video on X (formerly Twitter), where the hotel staff stood in queue and clapped for him as he left the hotel. In response, CM Mohan Yadav folded hands and thanked them. While sharing the video on X, he wrote, "An amazing, unforgettable and soulful moment. Today while leaving the Imperial Hotel in Osaka, I am overwhelmed by the warmth and affection of the hotel staff. This affinity showcases prosperous ties between India and Japan." (ANI)
An illustration combines a booking mug shot of Ziz, born Jack LaSota, and court documents. Alex Tatusian/The Chronicle

Ziz was dead. Or at least it seemed that way.

Just before midnight on Aug. 19, 2022, the Coast Guard steamed through San Francisco Bay after an alarming report. The eccentric computer programmer and blogger, born Jack Amadeus LaSota before adopting the name Ziz and feminine pronouns, had fallen from a boat. For hours, rescue crews searched by air and sea. They found nothing.

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An obituary appeared in a newspaper. A probate case was filed in court, citing witnesses to the death.

Then, almost five months later and 2,500 miles away, Pennsylvania state troopers swarmed a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport. The elderly parents of a woman close to LaSota had been shot to death in their home several days earlier, and the troopers thought the daughter  who was staying at the hotel  might have the murder weapon.

Inside Room 111, the troopers didnt locate a pistol but found something else: LaSota. She lay unmoving on the bathroom floor with her eyes closed. She was alive, but now playing dead.

LaSota, a 34-year-old Alaska native who once joined the tech pilgrimage to the Bay Area, is today at the center of a bizarre and sprawling mystery.

Law enforcement officials are investigating six deaths linked to associates of LaSota, the flagbearer of a small group of well-educated computer whizzes and devout vegans  referred to by some critics as the Zizians  who splintered away from the Berkeley circles of an intellectual movement and subculture called rationalism that seeks to understand human cognition and is concerned that artificial intelligence could destroy humanity. Her whereabouts are unknown.

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The deaths include the Pennsylvania couple, a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in a recent shootout in Vermont, a Vallejo landlord recently stabbed to death, and two people with ties to LaSota.

The Chronicle relied on interviews, police records, court documents and online writings to examine the string of violence  and what may have led to it. A picture emerges of people operating under profoundly paranoid and abstruse views of society and technology.

For years, LaSota, in rambling blog posts, set forth her beliefs on topics such as machine learning, veganism, the importance of dual personalities and the natural gifts of transgender women, luring a considerable number of followers  and critics  into the dark canyons of her mind. Her early posts had titles including self-blackmail and engineering and hacking your mind.

In a way, LaSota burst into public view in November 2019. She and three associates drove into the woods in Sonoma County, where they blocked off exits from a retreat hosted by a prominent nonprofit rationalist organization, the Center for Applied Rationality.

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They wore black-hooded robes and masks, and before they were arrested, they passed out flyers accusing the center and another Berkeley-based rationalist group, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), of betraying them. They tried to seize the keys of agency, flinched at what they saw and burned the path behind them, the flyers read.

Now, the cascade of violence has repulsed, perplexed and transfixed the community of rationalists centered in Berkeley that LaSota and others left.

LaSota, who has not been accused of any crimes in connection with the six deaths, did not respond to an email request for comment. Reached on the phone, her father, an AI researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, declined to comment.

Jessica Taylor, a former research fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, said she met LaSota and others who believed in the Ziz theory through the Berkeley rationalist scene around 2016. Taylor said these people adopted the most extreme versions of ideas shared by those in the community.

Ziz theory is combining these things like rationalism, timeless decision theory, transgender related ideas, brain hemispheres and left-anarchism, Taylor said. A lot of these ideas on their own are normal.

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They are, she added of the Zizians, just very intense.

Drawn to the tech scene

LaSota earned an undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, interned with NASA and developed a puzzle game called Dystheism before moving to the Bay Area in 2016 to work in tech, according to an online profile.

The first startup, after other dishonesty, fired me after 4 days after I moved to the Bay for them, because I said I couldnt implement a payment system for their game  in 2 days, and because I walked out of the office after 8 hours of work, LaSota wrote on her blog.

She joined a niche scene of several hundred rationalists in Berkeley. They often lived in communal homes, spent time theorizing and shared a core belief that AI would become so advanced that without safeguards it would destroy humanity.

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I came to the Bay Area because all the smartest people I knew said there was a global emergency in the neglect of ethics and even care for the future by AI researchers, LaSota later said in a court declaration.

Immersing herself in the movement, LaSota moved into a split-level house in South Berkeley with a group of grad students, tech workers and bohemian types who were all loosely interested in rationalism and AI safety, according to a person who frequently visited the house and moved in after LaSota moved out.

The resident, who asked to withhold their name out of concern for their safety, described the house and larger community as open and welcoming, regularly hosting dinners and board game nights. LaSota attended these, but appeared aloof.

LaSota began publishing philosophical musings on her blog, Sinseriously.blog, under the name Ziz in late 2016.

So how can you be incorruptible? she wrote. You cant. But you already are. By your own standards. Simply by not wanting to be corrupted. And your standards are best standards! Unfortunately you are not as smart as you, and are easily tricked. In order to not be tricked, you need to use your full deliberative brainpower. You and you need to fuse.

In the summer of 2018, LaSota participated in an apprenticeship program run by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and the Center for Applied Rationality.

LaSota was a young person who was hanging around and who I suspect wanted to be important, said Anna Salamon, the executive director of CFAR. She said that while LaSota generally subscribed to MIRIs beliefs about AI, she also developed a strange psychological theory about the two hemispheres of the brain.

LaSota explained the theory on her blog, saying the hemispheres can hold separate values and genders and often desire to kill each other. She wrote: Reaching peace between hemispheres with conflicting interests is a tricky process of repeatedly reconstructing frames of game theory and decision theory in light of realizations of them having been strategically damaged by your headmate.

Instead of attending sessions on math and computers, LaSota would pull people aside to pitch ideas and engage in intense conversations, frequently insisting that MIRI should use the hemisphere theory as a rubric for whom to hire, Salamon recalled.

I was not willing to recommend to MIRI that they use LaSotas psychological theory, nor that they hire LaSota, Salamon said, surmising that LaSota revolted after realizing she would not consolidate power and influence within MIRI. LaSota then apparently used the theory of hemispheres to entice her own followers, Salamon said, and manipulate a number of smart, mostly autistic-ish transwomen who were extremely vulnerable and isolated.

In court records, LaSota explained her version of the rift. She said she found corruption among the rationalists, particularly in how the community responded to veganism.

LaSota leveled other more serious allegations against CFAR, but provided no evidence. She said she tried to warn donors away, without success  before coming up with a more drastic plan.

A protest backfires

Around 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2019, Sonoma County sheriffs deputies responded to a report that some sort of religious group had descended upon Westminster Woods, a 200-acre property along the Bohemian Highway north of Occidental.

CFAR members were beginning to arrive for the groups annual retreat, which included team-building and ropes courses. LaSota and three compatriots blocked the exit, spoke on walkie-talkies and wore Guy Fawkes masks popularized by the Anonymous hacktivist group and the dystopian superhero film V for Vendetta. They distributed flyers railing against MIRI and CFAR.

MIRI is violating basic principles of friendliness, the flyers read. MIRI missed the rapidly oncoming global catastrophic threat of fascism. The flyers said trans women were being discriminated against, despite being naturally inclined/gifted in mental tech development.

Emma Borhanian, Alexander Somni Leatham and Gwen Danielson were arrested and booked after a protest in Sonoma County. Sonoma County Sheriffs Office

Deputies called in a SWAT team and an armored vehicle to evacuate attendees, while arresting the four demonstrators  LaSota, Alexander Somni Leatham, Emma Borhanian and Gwen Danielson. They would all be charged with criminal counts including conspiracy, obstructing an officer and wearing a mask for an unlawful purpose. LaSota would later tell a judge she had hatched the protest idea to damage fundraising for CFAR.

I would end this dangerous organization by financially starving it, she said in a declaration.

Once in custody, the quartet gave various accounts of torture at the hands of responding deputies. LaSota said her clothes were cut off her body and she was thrown into a padded suicide cell.

Within days, all four bailed out, with LaSotas parents paying her bond. Freed, they bounced around Airbnbs, at least until the hosts recognized them from media coverage of the protest and called the cops, LaSota said in court records.

She said her parents told her to never to talk to my friends again, and she lamented the failed protest and how police had treated her. As time went on a gloom of guilty silence and collapsed illusions settled over the community, she said in court records. I was disappointed to see that no more than a small handful of new community members sided against the organization.

I will actually never be able to trust society, even in a limited respect, she said, like trusting cops to not torture you for literally doing nothing wrong again.

A booking mug shot of Jack Ziz LaSota taken after Sonoma County protest. Sonoma County Sheriffs Office

That distrust manifested in Sonoma County Superior Court, where the case languished. For three years, the four defendants ran through numerous attorneys, pushed to have judges dismissed, requested a change of venue, and leveled accusations of transphobia.

The foursome had difficulty finding lawyers because they wanted to hire only vegans, said Dan Kapelovitz, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney who specializes in animal rights cases and described LaSota as a kind and thoughtful person.

In the end, Leatham, who uses feminine pronouns, would represent herself and, at times, the others. She filed numerous legal motions, all denied. The research mathematician at one point complained that a judge violated her right to protect herself from COVID after she showed up on a Zoom hearing in a hazmat suit and a gas mask and the judge asked her to show her face. Another time, she called the judge a member of a cis-supremacist cult with omnicidal intent.

Then on Aug. 23, 2022, the case took a turn. LaSotas then-attorney, Kapelovitz, told the judge over Zoom that his client was dead.

Lost in the bay

Days earlier, just before midnight on Aug. 19, 2022, the Coast Guard had gotten the call of a person overboard in the bay.

In declarations later filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, two people  LaSotas sister, Naomi, and Borhanian, who had been at the Westminster Woods protest  said they had been on LaSotas boat, the Black Cygnet, when LaSota fell into the water at about 11 p.m. while working on the motor.

I lost sight of Jack while looking for a life preserver, Borhanian wrote. She and Naomi searched the water, she stated, and called out for their companion, to no avail, ultimately using the boats radio and Naomis phone to call for help.

As rescue teams descended on the 55-degree water, Naomi and Borhanian were towed back to shore. The next day, at 5 p.m., Coast Guard officials informed Naomi that her siblings chances of survival had expired.

While no body was found, and no death certificate issued, an obituary for Jack LaSota appeared in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and on Legacy.com. Loving adventure, friends and family, music, blueberries, biking, computer games and animals, you are missed, said the posting, accompanied by a smiling photo of LaSota with sunglasses and long blond hair.

Tributes flooded in, with one mourner writing, Jack, you were one of this ages visionary philosophers.

With LaSota apparently dead and co-defendant Gwen Danielson missing, the two remaining defendants in the Westminster Woods case  Leatham and Borhanian  continued fighting the charges. But the case was about to take another startling turn.

Weeks later, Borhanian was killed. And Leatham was charged with her murder.

Nightmare tenants

In the early morning hours of Nov. 15, 2022, Vallejo landlord Curtis Lind was lured to one of his tenants trailers to fix a purported water leak.

Lind, then 80, had rented the space to several young people, including LaSota, whom he had met in 2017. He was living on a boat in Half Moon Bay when LaSota and others pulled in from Alaska on a weathered 94-foot tug boat theyd bought named Caleb.

Some in the group lived as anchor-outs for a time and later decided to relocate to Vallejo, where Lind had decided to open a lot to renters of trailers and other makeshift homes, Lind recalled in an interview he gave last year to a documentary filmmaker.

Several young people lived in this ramshackle property on a Vallejo cul-de-sac for a few years before allegedly attacking the owner and landlord, Curtis Lind. Matthias Gafni/The Chronicle

His tenants were initially friendly, if unconventional. They lived in trailers and box trucks and had a collection of samurai swords. He would see them around the yard, dressed in all black. They were men transitioning to women, he said.

But when the pandemic hit, they stopped paying rent, and things took a turn. After Lind took the group to court for back rent, he said, one of them took out a pocket knife and patted the blade while smiling at him. Linds daughter said the squatters overtook the property, placing locks on trailers intended for other people.

Lind began carrying a pistol in his jacket pocket. But that wasnt enough. I should have been smarter, he said in the video interview.

The morning Linds tenant asked him to check the leak, he said he walked to the back of a trailer and was struck over the head.

The next thing I remember is standing up with three of them right next to me around me, Lind said. I was bleeding from numerous puncture wounds, I think around 50. I couldnt see out of my right eye. It had been punctured three times. The back of my neck had some severe cuts like somebody was trying to cut my head off.

Lind had a sword sticking through his chest, he recalled. He said he pulled out his gun and started shooting, killing Borhanian, 31, and critically injuring Leatham. Prosecutors later charged Leatham and another member of the group, Suri Dao, with murder, under the theory that it was their actions  not Linds self-defense  that directly caused Borhanians death.

Its not clear exactly where LaSota was during the violence. But hours after the incident, Jerold Friedman  who had represented LaSota in a civil suit against Sonoma County over the protest response  received a surprising email from a Solano County prosecutor.

I just wanted to reach out and let you know that Jack Lasota was contacted by police in Vallejo [California] this weekend, the prosecutor wrote. Lasota was on scene, alive and well.

Though she was on Linds property at some point during or after the incident and was handcuffed at gunpoint by police, LaSota was never charged. She was taken to Vallejo police headquarters, where a homicide investigator said she faked a medical emergency and was taken by ambulance to a hospital.

A month after the Lind attack, at a hearing on the Sonoma County protest, Borhanians attorney alerted the court that she was dead. Prosecutors dismissed her charges.

As far as how this case deteriorated, Ive never experienced anything like it, Friedman said. Im very sorry that Emma lost her life. And wherever the other three are, I hope they figure things out.

Friedman would receive another call about LaSota a few months later. A state trooper from Pennsylvania contacted him to say LaSota had been arrested in that state. Could he provide any information?

He would not speak

On Jan. 2, 2023, Pennsylvania state troopers responded to a home in Chester Heights west of Philadelphia for a welfare check. Inside, they found the bodies of Richard Zajko, 72, and his wife, Rita, 69.

A killer or killers entered the Chester Heights, Pa., home of Richard and Rita Zajko and shot the couple in 2022. Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Investigators determined the couple  the parents of Michelle Jamie Zajko, an associate of LaSota  had been killed in the home three days earlier.

Two weeks later, on Jan. 13, 2023, state troopers investigating the killings raided two rooms in the Candlewood Suites hotel in Chester, Pa., where Michelle Zajko was staying. They were in search of the murder weapon, a 9 mm pistol, according to transcripts of court testimony obtained by the Chronicle.

According to the transcripts, police knew Zajko  who would later be named a person of interest in the case  had a pistol similar to the one used in the killings because she had, days earlier, allowed a trooper to hold it during an interview. Now, investigators had legal authority to seize the gun, and they wanted her DNA, too.

Michelle Jamie Zajko is a person of interest in the 2022 killing of her parents, 72-year-old Richard Zajko and his 69-year-old wife, Rita. Law enforcement photo

The troopers had entered a second room associated with Zajko when they encountered LaSota and a second person, identified as Daniel Blank. Blank put his hands behind his back and walked out of the room, obeying police commands, but LaSota did not do any of that.

He had his eyes closed, a trooper testified, using masculine pronouns. He would not speak. He was just laying almost unconscious or as if he was dead on the ground.  He had to be carried out.

LaSota was jailed and charged with misdemeanor counts of obstruction and disorderly conduct, court records show. She was released on bail in June 2023, but stopped showing up for court, prompting a judge to issue a warrant for her arrest. To this day, her case is pending.

LaSotas behavior around this time led to concern online from some in the rationalist community. A Medium post that listed facts, rumors and theories about Ziz and her friends began, Some people in the rationalist community are concerned about risks of physical violence.

The key witness

For more than a year, LaSota, facing active warrants in California and Pennsylvania, was nowhere to be found. The Pennsylvania double murder remained unsolved, with detectives never even discussing a potential motive.

But in Vallejo, the case involving the landlord attack moved forward. After two alleged escape attempts by Leatham and one by Dao, a judge ordered the pair to receive mental health examinations, but eventually ruled them competent to stand trial.

At multiple hearings, according to court transcripts, Leatham fought with bailiffs and yelled the same statement over and over: This is a show trial designed for the genocide of transgender people!

On Jan. 16, a Solano County prosecutor pleaded with a judge to push the case toward trial, explaining that the key eyewitness, Curtis Lind, was now 82 years old with a fading memory.

The next day, witnesses told the Chronicle that a man wearing all black put his arm around Lind in the elderly mans cul-de-sac and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest. They said the assailant ran off, covered in blood, only to return and slit Linds throat.

Solano County prosecutors charged Maximilian Snyder, a 22-year-old affiliated with LaSotas fringe group, with killing Lind in an attempt to silence a witness.

Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with capital murder, listens to court proceedings at a preliminary appearance in Solano County Superior Court on Jan. 28. Don Feria/Special to the Chronicle

Three days after Lind was fatally stabbed, on the afternoon of Jan. 20, federal agents on a highway near the Canadian border in Vermont pulled over a blue Prius.

Inside were two more young people with ties to the breakaway rationalists: Felix Ophelia Bauckholt, a German national and quantitative trader who appeared to have an expired visa, and Teresa Youngblut, a 21-year-old computer science student. She had recently applied for a license in Washington state to marry Snyder, with whom she attended an elite private high school in Seattle.

State and federal authorities had been surveilling Bauckholt and Youngblut for days after an employee at their hotel reported them over their odd attire  all-black, tactical-style clothing  and because Youngblut was openly displaying a gun in a holster.

Later, investigators watched Bauckholt wrap items  phones, apparently  in aluminum foil.

Before their alleged involvement in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont, Teresa Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt stayed at the Newport City Inn and Suites in Newport, Vt., for six nights. Emilie Munson / Times Union

Stopped on the highway, Youngblut quickly pulled out a handgun and fired at the border agents, at least one of whom returned fire, authorities said. The fusillade killed both Bauckholt and agent David Maland and injured Youngblut, leading to her arrest.

After the shootout, investigators who searched the car reported finding a cache of tactical gear, including a ballistic helmet, a night-vision device, face respirators, two-way radios and dozens of hollow-point bullets. They also located Youngbluts journal, which according to prosecutors contained cypher text and writings about her psychedelic experiences.

This lsd trip seems pretty mellow, she allegedly wrote. i fell kinda high vibrationy maybe more so than other lsd trips?

U.S. Border Patrol agent David Maland was killed on Jan. 20 after a traffic stop in Vermont. David Maland/Associated Press

Taylor, the former research fellow at MIRI, said she met Bauckholt at a rationalist event in New York and became close to her in 2022. She was a fan of ziz theory, Taylor said.

She was trying to be systematic and trying to think through things and make good decisions, but was pretty nonconformist and didnt understand normal people very well, Taylor said.

Teresa Youngblut, accused of killing U.S. Border Patrol agent David Maland, in the office of the Newport City Inn in Vermont on Jan. 14. Newport City Inn

It remains unclear what Youngblut and Bauckholt were doing in Vermont. But they both allegedly carried guns purchased by Michelle Zajko, who lived in Vermont and was identified as a person of interest in the killing of her parents in bulletins distributed by law enforcement agencies. The bulletins say officers who encounter Zajko  whom the Chronicle could not reach for comment  should consider her armed and dangerous.

Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, said in court papers that Youngblut had been in frequent contact with an unnamed individual who was briefly detained in the Pennsylvania killings. That individual, prosecutors said, is also a person of interest in Linds slaying in Vallejo.

Whether prosecutors were referring to LaSota is unclear.

For now, Ziz has gone silent, in courtrooms and online. The last time she appears to have posted on her blog was back in the summer of 2022, when a follower praised her writing as fascinating and steeped in culture.

She replied, apparently checking to see whether they were vegan.
The Director General (DG)-level talks between India's Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh's Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) are set to take place in New Delhi from February 17 to 20, the Ministry of External Affairs said. MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that the discussions will focus on all border-related issues, and emphasised the importance of "honouring" mutually agreed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and agreements. "The DG-level talks between BSF and BGB are scheduled from February 17 to 20, 2025 in New Delhi during which all border-related issues are proposed to be discussed. We expect all mutually agreed MOUs and Agreements to be honoured. These form the basis for structured engagements between the border guarding forces of the two countries and facilitate creation of mutually beneficial security and trade infrastructure along the border," Jaiswal said in a weekly press briefing today. On January 22, BSF and BGB had held a sector commander-level coordination meeting at the Sonamasjid border outpost in Bangladesh. The meeting aimed to ensure peace and cooperation along the Indo-Bangladesh border, according to the BSF South Bengal Frontier. The meeting was led by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the BSF Malda Sector, Tarun Kumar Gautam, and Commander of the BGB Rajshahi Sector, Colonel Mohammad Imran Ibne Rouf. Battalion commanders and staff officers from both forces also participated. Meanwhile, India has also expressed concern over the ongoing conflict in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a significant Indian community resides. MEA said that around 25,000 Indian nationals live in the DRC, including approximately 1,000 in the conflict-affected city of Goma. "In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we saw that conflict was going on in some cities and some areas. Around 25,000 Indian citizens live in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are about 1000 Indian nationals who were living in Goma, but most of them have moved to safer places. Our Embassy has issued an advisory and has also provided helpline numbers so that if anyone faces any problem, they can contact them immediately," Jaiswal said. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's president vowed a "vigorous" military response against Rwandan-backed fighters who have advanced further in the mineral-rich east of the country after seizing most of the region's main city, as reported by Al Jazeera. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, in his first remarks since M23 rebels captured much of Goma, had said in a late-night address on Wednesday that a "vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is underway." (ANI)
The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday confirmed that three Indian nationals who travelled to Iran for business purposes have gone missing. MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India has taken up the matter with both the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi and the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, adding that the Indian government is in touch with the families of the missing nationals. "Three Indian nationals who had gone to Iran for business purposes, they are missing. We are in touch with their families. We have taken up the matter with the Iranian Embassy in Delhi and with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran," Jaiswal said in a weekly briefing today. He added, "MEA and the Embassy of India in Tehran remain in touch with Iranian authorities and have requested for their assistance in locating the missing nationals and ensuring their safety." On Indians missing in Russia, Jaiswal said, "We had said that out of the 18 people, 16 who have gone missing, we are in touch with the Russian authorities to look for them..." MEA on January 17 confirmed that as many as 12 Indian nationals were killed while serving for the Russian Army in the Ukraine conflict, while 16 more are missing. There were a total of 126 cases of Indian nationals serving in the Russian Army, and India is seeking an "early release" of those who are still there, Jaiswal said. "As of today, there have been 126 cases (of Indian nationals serving in the Russian Army). Of these 126 cases, 96 people have returned to India and have been discharged from the Russian Armed Forces. 18 Indian nationals in the Russian Army remain and out of them the whereabouts of 16 individuals are not known. The Russian side has categorised them as missing," Jaiswal said on January 17. He added, "We are seeking early release and repatriation of those who remain...12 Indian nationals have died who were serving in the Russian Army."Notably, several Indian nationals were allegedly duped into fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine on the pretext of lucrative jobs. Last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), busted a major human trafficking network running across the country targeting Indian nationals on the promise of offering lucrative jobs abroad but allegedly sending them to the Russia-Ukraine war zone. (ANI)
Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andriy Yermak on Thursday held a phone conversation with National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval to discuss key aspects of Ukraine-India relations and joint coordination amid the transition of the US presidential administration. The discussion focused on the situation on the battlefield and efforts to achieve a "just and lasting peace" for Ukraine. In a statement, the Ukraine President's Office said, "Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak had a phone call with National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India Ajit Kumar Doval. During the discussion, the parties addressed key issues in Ukraine-India relations and the coordination of joint efforts amid the change of the US presidential administration." Andriy Yermak and Ajit Kumar Doval also paid special attention to the situation on the battlefield and further searched for ways to end the war and establish a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, the statement added. In a post on X, Yermak wrote, "Had a phone conversation with the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Ajit Kumar Doval. We addressed current issues in Ukraine-India relations and coordinated joint efforts in light of the change in the US presidential administration." https://x.com/AndriyYermak/status/1885010164597608903 Notably, on August 23, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a visit to Ukraine at the invitation of President Zelenskyy. This was the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in the year 1992. During his meeting with Zelenskyy, PM Modi reiterated the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions to contribute towards the early restoration of peace. He reiterated India's willingness to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate an early return of peace. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with top officials from India, China and Iran in St. Petersburg on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting. During the meeting, President Putin held a bilateral meeting with NSA Doval. Doval's visit to Moscow came after PM Modi's visit to Russia and Ukraine. (ANI)
India has lodged a strong protest with Sri Lanka over the recent detentions of Indian fishermen including an incident where fire was opened on them, the Ministry of External Affairs said. In a troubling episode this week, two Indian fishermen from Karaikal sustained injuries after the Sri Lankan Navy allegedly opened fire at them in Jaffna Sea. Following this, India lodged strong protest against firing by the Sri Lankan Navy. The Ministry of External Affairs had also summoned the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner in Delhi to lodge a protest over the incident. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during the weekly media briefing, said that India conveyed a strong protest against the incident. He also gave details of the number of Indian fishermen detained by Sri Lanka. "Regarding number of fishermen, we have been giving out the numbers at certain interval... What I can tell you is that the last press release that was issued was in regard to 13 fishermen who were apprehended and 5 of them also sustained injuries, 2 of them seriously, and thereafter we had to summon the Sri Lankan acting high commissioner here in Delhi to convey a strong protest on it," he said. Earlier on Thursday, six Indian fishermen detained by Sri Lanka were released and repatriated to Chennai. Further, talking about threats levelled by Trump against de-dollarisation, MEA reiterated External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's stance that the BRICS nations "do not have" any such agenda. "Regarding BRICS, whatever decisions are taken, are taken based upon a consensus. Our External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also said earlier that regarding de-dollarisation, there is no such policy among BRICS nations," he said. Earlier in the day US President Donald Trump once again held out the threat of tariffs to BRICS nations if they try to replace the US Dollar with any other currency. BRICS nations have been actively working on reducing dollar dependence. During the plenary session of the 15th BRICS Summit in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for de-dollarisation, stating that "BRICS countries must expand settlements in national currencies and enhance cooperation between banks." In June 2024, BRICS foreign ministers met in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, where they advocated for the "enhanced use of local currencies in bilateral and multilateral trades and financial transactions between the member countries." (ANI)
Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, and India has accepted the invite. While speaking at a press briefing, Jaiswal said that India is also developing its own AI program. "French President has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Artificial Intelligence Action Summit and we have accepted their invite. We will update you about further details," he said. On February 10-11, France will host the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit, gathering at the Grand Palais, Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, CEOs of small and large companies, representatives of academia, non-governmental organizations, artists and members of civil society, a statement by the Elysee Palace said. Jaiswal also said that after Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the world, India has their own AI program and are further developing it. "We have our own program and we want to further develop that and in that regard we are in touch with several of our partners with whom we engage on technology issues technology collaboration and we would like to further strengthen them," he said. The government is going to host Open Source model like Deepseek on Indian servers soon said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday. "We are going to do this very soon. Already, the team has worked the details the servers are required? how much capacity is required? All those details have been worked out. We will very soon be hosting those open source models on Indian servers," says Vaishnaw. This comes at a time when Chinese startup DeepSeek with their open source reasoning model R1 has challenged the narrative that entitles need access to large amounts of GPU for building frontier models. The Indian government is working on the portal from which startups and researchers can access GPUs. Through this portal, startups and researchers can access the highly valued GPUs necessary for training AI models at much lower prices. (ANI)
In remembrance of the victims of the Ghulja Massacre, the Uyghur American Association has announced to organize a protest at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC. The gathering, scheduled to be held on February 5 at 11am to 12pm on Wednesday, will take place at 3505 International Pl NW according to a post shared by Uyghur American Association on X. This protest serves as both a tribute to the victims and a call for accountability. The Ghulja Massacre symbolizes the ongoing repression faced by the Uyghur community in China a struggle that continues to this day with mass detentions, cultural erasure, and systemic human rights violations as stated in the post. The post said, by joining this protest, participants will stand in solidarity with the Uyghur people and demand justice for the atrocities committed. According to a report by the Human Rights House Foundation, thousands of Uyghur men, women, and children demonstrated in the streets of Ghulja on February 5, 1997, demanding tolerance, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion and culture. In addition, they called for an end to the daily racial discrimination that caused the Uyghur population to be marginalized both culturally and economically. People's Armed Police and riot police units used force to quell the nonviolent protest. The mob was shot at by the security forces, according to witnesses. The number of Uyghurs slain varies, but according to witnesses, up to 30 were killed on the scene, and over 100 were injured, Human Rights House Foundation reported. More than 200 Uyghurs were put to death for taking part in the nonviolent protest, according to an April 1999 Amnesty International report as quoted by the Human Rights House Foundation.Due to their participation in the Ghulja rally, Uyghurs remain incarcerated. The ruthless suppression of peaceful protest has gone unpunished, and Uyghur persecution is still going on unchecked under the guise of the global "war on terror" the report stated. In a horrific reenactment of history, police brutally suppressed peaceful Uyghur protesters in Urumchi, the regional capital of XUAR, on July 5, 2009. Since then, Chinese authorities have condemned 26 people to death, according to reports in the Chinese media. Nine of them, at least, have already been put to death according to the Human Rights House Foundation. HRHF highlighted an impartial inquiry into the violence, including the potential overuse of force by the security forces against peaceful protestors, has not been permitted by the Chinese government since the events of July 2009. (ANI)
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has promised to bring a constitution amendment bill to the parliament to make necessary changes, while stressing on the need to bring stability in the country. Addressing the first meeting of the winter session of the Federal Parliament on Friday, PM Oli said, "It has been a decade that we have promulgated our constitution and the time for its review has come." The Nepal PM said the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have formed an internal task force to look into the amendments. "This government has analysed the complexity that has arisen since the promulgation of the constitution on the basis of its strengths and weaknesses at the time of execution. Aiming for political stability and the formation of laws to support it, the constitution will be amended. For this, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) have formed an internal task force comprising experts," PM Oli said. "Following it findings will be discussed within parties on board the government. After deliberation with various parties, the issues that require immediate amendment will be identified which later will be discussed with the concerned parties and other political parties of the parliament," he added. Nepal, in 2015, promulgated the Constitution of Nepal 2072, which still is to be accepted by Madhesh-based parties. The dissatisfied parties had protested against the constitution which resulted in blood-shed in the Southern plains of Nepal, resulting in the death of about 100 people in six months. Years later, the Madhesh-based parties who at the time had forged an alliance, have now splinted into factions, mainly engaged in power struggle. The disgruntled parties had demanded "Ek Madhesh, Ek Pradesh" which Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli always had been vocal of. During the protest in the Southern plains after the promulgation of the constitution, KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister whose statements back then had fuelled the protest. Oli had made derogatory comments against the protesting fronts further increasing the violence which ultimately forced him out of power. (ANI)
Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) announced on Friday that government employees will be prohibited from using DeepSeek, a newly launched artificial intelligence model from China, due to concerns that it could expose sensitive data to Beijing, according to a report by Focus Taiwan. In an official statement, MODA classified DeepSeek AI as a Chinese information and communications technology (ICT) product and cautioned that any data leaks could threaten national security. The restriction applies to personnel across central and local government agencies, public schools, state-owned businesses, and other affiliated institutions. However, MODA did not provide further details on how the policy would be enforced. The ban also extends to individuals involved in critical infrastructure projects and those employed by government-funded foundations. MODA cited the 2019 Executive Yuan regulation, "Principles on Restricting the Use of Products That Endanger National Cyber Security," which prohibits government agencies from using ICT products and services that may pose a national security risk, Focus Taiwan reported. Notably, human rights activists and international experts have strongly criticised China's newly developed AI platform, DeepSeek, after concerns arose regarding its role in spreading state propaganda, censoring sensitive subjects, and gathering personal data. While marketed as a technological advancement, the platform has come under fire for significant ethical and security issues. The Campaign for Uyghur on January 28 highlighted that DeepSeek aggressively collects and stores personal information, such as IP addresses and conversation histories, on servers located in China. This has raised concerns about potential abuse by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a regime known for its history of human rights violations. DeepSeek was also accused of silencing dissenting opinions, particularly on topics related to Xinjiang, fueling fears that it is being used as a tool for state-sponsored digital surveillance. Taiwan's decision follows similar actions by other governments. Italy's data protection authority announced on Thursday that it had blocked the Chinese AI model DeepSeek due to a lack of transparency regarding its use of personal data. US and Australian officials have also raised privacy concerns, Focus Taiwan reported. (ANI)
The bill, backed by the Germany's far-right parties, was narrowly rejected in the parliament by 11 votes with 349 lawmakers voting against it and 338 voting in support.

Christian Democratic Union Of Germany leader Freidrich Merz pushed the 'Influx Limitation Law' that advocates permanent border control with all neighboring countries and for people to be turned back at the borders, even if they make a request for asylum. DW reported.

This comes as a major setback for Merz who is running against Olaf Scholz to be the next chancellor of Germany. The snap elections are Scheduled to be held on February 23.

The polls in Germany shows that Merz has a 30 per cent support and is favourite to become the Chancellor. Alternative for Germany (AfD) is in second with 20 per cent support, DW reported.

Social Democratic Party of Germany General Secretary saw the rejection of the bill as a major defeat of Merz, DW reported.

"Mr. Merz has failed twice today," Mutzenich said. "Failed to find the way to the AfD. Failed to gain the majority in the German Bundestag."

AfD leader Alice Weidel also slammed Merz saying that parliament decision signified "implosion of a conservative people's party," adding "this was the dismantling of Friedrich Merz as a candidate for chancellor."

Germany's upcoming elections were triggered after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in December, resulting in the collapse of his coalition government.

Meanwhile, American tech billionaire Elon Musk has extended his support for AfD, calling it the country's "best hope."

The AfD, recently making history as the first far-right party to win a state election since the Nazi era, has gained momentum in national polls. However, its heavy anti-immigrant policies have alienated mainstream parties, all of which have ruled out any collaboration with the AfD, reported CNN. (ANI)
Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that all Indians in the Democratic Republic of Congo are safe amid the ongoing conflict. Jaiswal while addressing a press briefing said that the Indian embassy in Kinshasa is in constant touch with the Indians there. "In Democratic Republic of Congo. There we saw that in some parts of some cities struggle is going on. About twenty-five thousand Indian citizens live in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Where the battle was going on for two days, I think the fight has been stalled there. There were 1,000 Indian citizens in the city of Goma, most of them have left safely. Our embassy has issued several advisories as well as helpline numbers so that if anyone faces any problem, contact them immediately and us. The embassy in Kinshasa is quite far from the city of Goma, approximately 2,500 kilometers away. The embassy is in constant touch with the community. All our citizens are safe and our embassy is in constant contact with our community," he said. Indian Embassy issued an advisory on Thursday for Indians in Bukavu, South Kivu and DRC. https://x.com/IndiainDRC/status/1884939358890807376 "The Embassy of India in Kinshasa is closely monitoring the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We have noted the reports of M23 rebel movements towards Bukavu, located around 200 kms from Goma. Given the potential for instability in the region, all Indian nationals residing in Bukavu are advised to depart to safer locations while the airports, borders and commercial routes are still open. We strongly recommend against any travel to Bukavu," the embassy said. Gunfire rang out across parts of Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), hours after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said they had seized it despite the United Nations Security Council calling for an end to the offensive, Al Jazeera reported. Rwanda-backed rebels are closing in on the key eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo city of Bukavu, promising to continue their lightning offensive until they take the national capital, Al Jazeera reported. The bloody conflict in the eastern DRC took a dramatic turn this week when Kigali-backed fighters from the M23 claimed to take control of Goma in North Kivu province before advancing southwards in the direction of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu. (ANI)
By Elnur Enveroglu

Making up big stories out of small issues, blackmailing, provocations in all kinds of guises and blackmailing political figures is the art that the Armenian lobby is most skilled at and accustomed to. We would not be wrong to say that this art is inherited from their ancestors. There is a saying among the people, "A cow does not lay eggs." However, according to the Armenian lobby, this is also possible.

We do not doubt that Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has antipathy towards Azerbaijan. We have witnessed many of her biased statements to date, whether on the official X or in her statements. Since such behaviour has already made her appear as a pro-Armenian politician in the eyes of Azerbaijanis, there is no longer any investigation into whether what she says is really her own words. But this time, it seems we had to investigate...

It should be noted that representatives of the Armenian National Committee, one of the most active and brazen organizations of the Armenian lobby, spread across America and Canada, have recently started making a fuss about a group of war criminals imprisoned in Baku. The published claims state that officials also want their release, but when it comes to the fact that FM Melanie Joly and others have expressed such an opinion, this cannot be confirmed. Therefore, Azernews continued to find in-depth reports and visited Madam Jolys X page. Looking at the latest posts, we cannot find any information about the imprisoned war criminals. It seems that the FM herself is not aware of the information published about her on social media networks by Armenians.

So let us kindly inform her that the esteemed Foreign Minister has once again forgotten to respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, or someone illegally acts on her behalf. Dear Minister, even your friend, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has confirmed that Garabagh is part of Azerbaijans territories. The ANCC, which almost wants to exercise your powers, publishes articles in your name and says that you are ambitious towards Azerbaijani lands. Perhaps, dear Minister, you can clarify this yourself?

We have not yet been able to specify a centre called "Hay Dat" which is said to have been functioning under the auspices of Armenias Dashnaktsutyun party. However, the centre in question also tried to make it obvious that the Canadian minister addressed them. When doing a search on Google for this name, which is honestly called a centre by the Armenian lobby, we find almost nothing about its origin. This also shows that the Armenian lobby carries out strong propaganda under the name of hundreds of such subsidiary organisations. However, I will be honest about the Dashnaktsutyun party, which is known to everyone with its criminal background. Its crimes against Azerbaijan and the services it provided in the occupation of territories have left indelible marks on the pages of history. If we are talking about the Canadian minister's connections with Dashnaktsutyun, then the possibility of world political leaders being part of the crimes begins to emerge. If FM Melanie really agrees with the ideas of a party like Dashnaktsutyun and supports them, she may have to respond to this at the international level.

But if this is just an exaggeration by Armenians, there are hundreds of funny stories about it. Therefore, let's tune in to another story in the Middle East.

For example, don't be surprised if an Armenian media outlet publishes information on behalf of the government, and in the end, it turns out that the hero mentioned in the information is either a shepherd or a low-ranking official. In Syria, an Armenian representative of the former Baath Party in one of the provinces of the city of Aleppo makes some biased opinions about Azerbaijan. The Armenian media immediately publishes this as information on behalf of a high-ranking official in the Assads party. If not investigated, it could simply create a big scandal between the two states. But when this is dug out, you will read a really funny story. So, let's accept this as a funny story until the truth about FM Melanie comes out...
Zona Roberts stops to talk with neighbors celebrating her 100th birthday outside her home in Berkeley on April 1, 2020. Roberts, an acclaimed disability rights activist, died Jan. 10 at age 104. Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle Trevor Johnson assists Zona Roberts as she stops to pet her neighbor Lisel Schwarzenbachs dog, Jellybean, during a social distancing celebration of her 100th birthday outside her Berkeley home on April 1, 2020. Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle

At her 100th birthday party, in April 2020, Berkeley disability rights activist Zona Roberts came out on her front porch wearing sparkling turquoise sneakers and a rhinestone tiara to give an inspirational speech to her neighbors, who were standing in the street to maintain social distance in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown.

How do you get through one of these? she said. Same way you get through every day of your life. By living carefully and thoughtfully and sometimes angrily, when its called for, and always lovingly. And a big box of pastry helps.

The two dozen neighbors hung on every word of advice, because Roberts was well-known for her ability to turn back the clock. She enrolled as a freshman in college at age 44, got her degree and a teaching credential, and later added a degree in family counseling. At 69, she appeared on 60 Minutes alongside her son, Ed Roberts, who was quadriplegic and had pioneered the independent living movement in Berkeley.

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At the end of her party, Zona offered one more piece of sage advice regarding birthday cake. The idea is to enjoy every bite you can, she said. Then get someone else to do the dishes.

Zona Roberts sits and talks with friends and neighbors as they celebrate her 100th birthday in Berkeley on April 1, 2020. Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle

Then she went back inside the home off College Avenue in the Rockridge neighborhood where she had lived for 28 years, with nearly five more to go.

Roberts died Jan. 10 at age 104 and two-thirds, said her son, Mark. She probably would have made 105 if she hadnt fallen and broken her leg while trying to straighten out a rug with her foot, he said. That October injury began a slow decline, but she was determined to never leave her home and her neighbors, and she didnt.

She was very independent, said Mark, a mediator who has fond memories of the three-month motorcycle trip he took around Europe with his mother when she was 49 and had just gotten her degree in English from UC Berkeley.

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This independence was passed along to all four of her sons  leading to a national spotlight for the oldest, Ed, whom she encouraged to move out of the house when he went away to college at Cal, though that involved taking along his iron lung. Ed, who had contracted polio at age 14, is considered to have been the first severely disabled person at a major university campus when a room was custom-made for him at Cowell Hospital, in 1962.

He went on to graduate and start the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, the first of 600 such centers worldwide. He later was appointed director of the California Department of Rehabilitation by Gov. Jerry Brown. He died in 1995 at age 56, and his motorized wheelchair is now in the Smithsonian.

World Institute of Disability President Ed Roberts, who contracted polio at age 14 and was paralyzed from the neck down, is shown in his Oakland office. He died in 1995. Brant Ward/The Chronicle

In the ADA community it is said that Ed Roberts was the father of the independent living movement, and Zona Roberts was the grandmother.

She believed in a world where no one, regardless of ability, class, race or circumstance, is excluded from the fullness of life, said Dr. Victor Pineda, executive director of the Center for Independent Living. And she didnt stop at belief  she built the foundations of the independent living movement, which grew from a small circle in Berkeley to an international call for liberation.

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Zona Lee Harvey was born April 1, 1920, in Portland, Ore. Her father, Howard, was a carpenter who died of tuberculosis when Zona was 9. Her mother, Nada, made her way south to San Francisco while going through a string of marriages. Two of her husbands abused Zona as a teen, according to her son, and she left home at age 14 to become an au pair for a family in San Mateo.

She attended Burlingame High, and in her senior year became pregnant with her first son, Ed. She graduated in June 1938 and in July was married to Verne Roberts, an electrician for the Southern Pacific railroad. They bought a three-bedroom house by the Burlingame railroad tracks and had three more boys, Ron, Mark and Randy. After her oldest son contracted polio, he spent two years in the hospital, then came home with a 700-pound iron lung that was set up in the dining room.

And although the house was packed, she added to the family by taking in three foster children, for a total of seven sons.

She just felt a need to help people, said Mark.

Her first battle was with the school district, when she was informed that Ed Roberts could not graduate from high school until he completed both a physical education requirement and drivers education. She won that battle, and he graduated and went off to Berkeley in 1962.

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Two years later, Verne Roberts died of lung cancer in 1964, and Zona went back to school herself, first at College of San Mateo and then at UC Berkeley, in 1967. She bought a place on Ward Street in the Berkeley flats, with a rental unit behind it.

That became known as the Green House, its wheelchair ramps an invitation to disabled students, their attendants, family members, teachers, doctors, writers and therapists.

Through these gatherings she not only cultivated one of the earliest models of independent living, she provided a place where activists met, talked, ate together, supported and learned from each other, said Pineda, in an online tribute. Zonas warmth, resilience, and passion for justice inspired countless individuals, some of whom transformed laws and charted a path towards greater opportunities and freedoms for persons with disabilities.

She also set up her family counseling practice there, focusing on people affected by disabilities.

Her warmth, lightness and humor were infectious. She never complained. She always felt youthful, said Jenn Michels, a massage therapist who treated Roberts twice a month for two decades and became a close friend. She was well-loved, and she loved well.

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Zona Roberts, mother of disability rights pioneer Ed Roberts, tips her hard hat to a cheering crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ed Roberts Campus at BARTs Ashby Station in Berkeley on Sept. 4, 2008. Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

This was confirmed when Roberts got an ovation at the ribbon-cutting for the Ed Roberts Campus, a nonprofit headquarters for disability rights groups that opened in 2009, at the BART Ashby Station. She and Rep. Barbara Lee held the scissors for the ceremonial cutting.

By then, Roberts had sold the Green House and bought a place in Rockridge so that Ed could live in the cottage behind it, which he did until his death.

Thereafter Zona rented it out to either UC Berkeley students with disabilities or their friends. It happened to be vacant when she fell and broke her leg, and began using a motorized wheelchair of her own. She spent her final six months in the place that had been her sons home for 10 years.

The Center for Independent Living, which shed helped start, provided her with whatever resources she needed, as it would with any disabled resident.
Two California Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that could allow people and insurers to sue oil and gas companies for damages sparked by climate change-related disasters such as wildfires and mudslides.

The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, authored by state Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco and Sasha Renee Perez, D-Pasadena, accuses fossil fuel companies of misleading the public about the impact of their products on climate change.

The bill comes during the very early recovery stages of the devastating wildfires in Southern California earlier this month which have killed at least 28 people and burned more than 35,000 acres. If the measure passes, California would be the first state in the U.S. to allow for such legal action, Wiener told reporters at a news conference Monday in Sacramento.

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"We are all paying for these disasters, but there is one stakeholder that is not paying: the fossil fuel industry, which makes the product that is fueling the climate change," said Wiener, flanked by consumer protection and environmental group advocates. "The fossil fuel industry has endless resources, its profits just continue to spiral and spiral into the stratosphere. And we are left holding the bag in terms of paying for these disasters."

The source: 'Hotter, drier, and more flammable': Scientists say climate change fueled LA fires

Lawmakers: 'Time for Big Oil to take responsibility'

Due to the spike in climate-driven natural disasters, seven of the top 12 insurance companies in California have paused or limited new business in the last year and a half, despite rate increases approved or pending with the state's insurance department.

Under the proposed measure, people insurance businesses impacted by natural disasters may be able to recoup losses from fossil fuel corporations. Among the insurance companies would be those under California's FAIR Plan, the state insurance option for those who can't get private insurance and are considered by some as a last resort.

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Wiener said fossil fuel companies need to be a part of the solution for home and business owners who lose their properties.

"By forcing the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis to pay their fair share, we can help stabilize our insurance market and make the victims of climate disasters whole," Wiener added in a statement announcing the bill.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 8: A firefighter stands on top of a fire truck to battle the Palisades Fire while it burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire has grown to more than 2900-acres and is threatening homes in the coastal neighborhood amid intense Santa Ana Winds and dry conditions in Southern California. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

Perez pointed to the devastating impact of the wildfires, including the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres alone and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in her district.

"The reality is that climate change is here, and the fossil fuel industry has known this for decades," Perez said in a statement. "Now, communities like mine are paying the price, and its time for Big Oil to take responsibility."

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Amid the tragedy: 'What America should look like:' loss in the Altadena fires, and a hard road to recovery

Opponent says real solutions are needed, not theatrics

The suit already has its detractors. The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil and gas companies in five states, said it will oppose it. In a statement, president and CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd said state lawmakers are using the wildfires to "scapegoat" the industry. The state's economy heavily depends on oil and gas, even as California looks to reduce its carbon footprint, she said.

"We need real solutions to help victims in the wake of this tragedy, not theatrics, Reheis-Boyd said. "Voters are tired of this approach."

California State Sen. Roger Niello, R-Roseville, the vice chair of the Senate's Insurance Committee, told reporters at Monday's news conference that he takes exception to the bill.

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"This furthers the false narrative that this is all about climate change. It is of course much more complicated than that," said Niello, noting he believes the state's Democratic leaders underfund forest management projects statewide and Los Angeles leaders cut funds from the fire department's budget.

"Do those issues have anything to do with the conflagration that we've seen in Southern California? I think so," Niello said. "So will Senator Wiener and Perez include in their bill the ability to sue those entities for their role in this, too?" Niello asked.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Calif. lawmakers want oil, gas companies to pay for natural disasters
Another person involved in this week's deadly plane-helicopter crash was from Georgia.

The U.S. Army has released the names of two of the three people on the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed with a commuter plane in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday. One of them was Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara, 28, of Lilburn (located in Gwinnett County).

Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara, 28, of Lilburn, GA. O'Hara was on the Black Hawk Helicopter that crashed with an airplane near Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

Who was Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara?

OHara has served as a UH-60 helicopter repairer since July 2014. He successfully deployed to Afghanistan from March 2017 to August 2017. His awards include Army Commendation Medal w/C Device, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal x4, Army Good Conduct Medal x3, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with campaign star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Aviation Badge and Senior Aviation Badge.

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As of Friday, the Army believes OHara to be deceased pending positive identification.

Who else was on the Black Hawk helicopter?

The other name released by the Army was Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Maryland. As of Friday, his remains have not yet been recovered, therefore is duty status-whereabouts unknown.

The name of the third person on the helicopter has not been released at the request of the family. That pilot is also DUSTWUN.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, MD. Eaves was on the Black Hawk Helicopter that crashed with an airplane near Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp (commander Joint Task Force  National Capital Region/ U.S. Army Military District of Washington) expressed his deepest condolences to all of the victims' families and friends.

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We will support them through this difficult time," he said. "Our top priority is to assist in the recovery efforts, while fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other investigative agencies to determine the cause of this tragic incident."

Who else from Georgia was in the DC crash?

The first officer on the commuter plane was Sam Lilley, 28, of Savannah. He leaves behind a family, including a fiancee.

How many bodies have been recovered from the DC crash?

As of this article's publication, 41 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River. Officials said 67 people were killed in what has been called the deadliest aviation disaster in over two decades. Close to 40 victims have been positively identified; 18 families have received next-of-kin notifications.

Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on X and Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: U.S. Army Soldier from Georgia on Black Hawk helicopter in DC crash
Albertine Badole does not remember when a worm first wriggled across her eyeball.

It was many years ago, but what she can still recall is the itching and the swelling in her face.

Sometimes when I slept, I could feel the worms, there were little lumps on my body, and my eyes... It was like things were moving inside me, the 54-year old says, sitting outside her house in the remote village of Sindara in the rainforests of Gabon. It was too much.

Ms Badole suffers from loiasis, a chronic filarial disease caused by the Loa loa parasite, also known as the African eye worm, which can cause a range of uncomfortable symptoms including intense itching, swollen joints, headaches and fatigue.

Albertine Badola peeling cassava at her home in Sindara, Gabon - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

Loiasis predominantly affects rural populations living in the forests and savannahs of Central and West Africa. Up to 20 million people are living with the infection.

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The parasites larvae are transmitted to humans by the bite of infected bloodsucking Chrysops deer flies.

Inside the body, they grow to become worms measuring up to seven centimetres long which crawl through the tissue beneath the skin in search of a mate.

A loa loa microfilaria on a microscope slide in the parasitology lab at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaracna, Gabon - this the initial larval stage of the Loa loa nematode worm, which causes the parasitic disease loiasis - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

After mating, their blood-borne offspring, known as microfilariae, are then picked up by the biting flies again and develop to the infectious stage within the insects, ready to continue the cycle at the next meal.

Ms Badole made a difficult 30-kilometre trip to the nearest hospital. But when she got there she was dismayed to be told that there was nothing that could be done.

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So I just lived with it, she recalls, and tried to treat herself. Sometimes I used vinegar, either rubbing it on or drinking it, to stop the itching.

Other people infected with loiasis have been known to rub chilli into their eyes, or tried to remove the worm from the eye with a needle or a thorn.

People making their way to the Cermel satellite research station for medical consultations in the village of Sindara, Gabon - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

At times the itching was so bad, says Ms Badole, that I would just sit and scratch. Sometimes I couldnt work for two days. Most people in the area are subsistence farmers or fishers.

Loiasis was neglected for decades, and was mistakenly seen as benign.

What treatments exist are inadequate. Some medications have to be taken over many weeks, a challenge in endemic areas which are typically remote and lacking health infrastructure.

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Other medications, such as the antiparasitic ivermectin, can do more harm than good. If the patient has a high microfilarial load in the bloodstream, the sudden die-off can provoke a severe immune reaction leading to brain inflammation and death.

It is for this reason, says Rella Zoleko-Manego, from the Gabonese research institute Centre de Recherches Medicales de Lambarene (CERMEL), that young doctors are taught at university that it is best not to prescribe any medication. So when I saw the patient, I [just said]: there is no treatment, please go back home.

In an effort to change this, two years ago CERMEL and the German Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine established a small research station in Sindara, which Dr Zoleko-Manego heads.

People leaving after being seen by a doctor at the Cermel satellite research station in Sindara, Gabon - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

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Its purpose is to trial various regimens of existing drugs, test veterinary drugs repurposed for use in humans, research prevention, transmission and vector control and give loiasis patients the care they need.

Research funding is difficult to come by, and there is little commercial incentive for investment in drug development as loiasis overwhelmingly affects those who can ill afford treatment.

Loiasis is not on the World Health Organizations list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which recognises 21 conditions as requiring urgent public health attention.

A Chrysops fly, the vector for loa loa under a microscope at a satellite research station in Sindara, Gabon - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

The NTD list has significant impact on the priorities of donors and government health services, and Dr Zoleko-Manego believes the inclusion of loiasis would be justified.

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Research by her and colleagues indicates that in Gabon the burden of disease is comparable to that of schistosomiasis, which is a listed NTD, and studies attribute to loiasis an excess mortality of up to 15 per cent.

Further investigation is needed, but it is thought that this could be due to organ complications arising from an immune reaction to microfilariae in the blood.

As with all neglected tropical diseases, the challenges of addressing loiasis extend beyond the medical.

In Sindara there are few jobs and few roads. Most people have neither electricity nor running water. Until the research station opened, there were no medical facilities.

Few and poor roads and a lack of public transport make it necessary for the station to pick up research participants and then return them home after their consultations - sometimes this necessitates trips of 80km or more - Nyani Quarmyne/Nyani Quarmyne

Such social realities must be taken into account, says Lilian Endamne, one of the doctors at the station.

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Infectious diseases are not even a medical problem here; it is about solving the problems of poverty, he says.

The team in Sindara sees it as their responsibility to do more than just help loiasis patients.

Many other diseases are prevalent in the area  malaria, bilharzia, tuberculosis are just a few  and anyone who is ill can see a doctor for free.

Whenever I feel unwell, says Ms Badole, I rush there, and they always take care of me.

She recently took part in a clinical trial at the station where different drug regimens were tested for efficacy, safety, and tolerability.

For her, it was relief at last  her symptoms have gone, and it has been weeks since she has watched as a worm crawled across her eyeball.

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This project was funded by the European Journalism Centre through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator, a programme supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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It is hard to resist trolling Illinois, especially Chicago. Ive done so myself on occasion. After all, Chicago is a city with too many governance flaws to list in a single column.

But they also enjoy a few strengths. The Chicago Metro area is bigger, richer, better educated and its workers substantially more productive than Indiana as a whole.

Still, it's fun to troll a place like Chicago, and Todd Huston, who must be ranked as among the most serious and effective legislative leaders in the country, did so earlier this month. The story is worth telling.

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Many downstate Illinois residents dislike Chicagos strong influence in the state. Last year, a total of 33 counties voted to secede from Illinois and form their own state. Huston invited those counties to join Indiana. He even created a commission to study the possibility.

Thats first-rate trolling.

I thought itd be fun to think through the prospect of Indiana picking up these 33 counties. Would it be good for Indiana? Would it be good for those counties? Would it be good for the remaining 69 Illinois counties?

The "secessionist" counties in Illinois are in the southern part of the state, with many bordering Indiana. This one-third of counties comprise only 6.6% of the Illinois population, and only 4% of the states economy.

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Per capita income in the secessionist counties is $54,381. If it were a separate state, it would be the second poorest state in the union, sliding right in between Mississippi and West Virginia. The remaining counties in Illinois enjoy per capita income of $73,228.

Adding the secessionist counties to Indiana would cut our per capita income enough for us to slide from 14th to 11th place from the bottom. Only 18.6% of adults in these counties have completed college, while the Illinois total is 36.7%. This new "secessionist" state would instantly be the least well-educated state and would be right about where the USA as a whole was in the late 1980s.

Economic growth in the secessionist counties has been at about half the rate of the rest of Illinois so far this century. And, while the rest of Illinois has experienced very modest population growth of about 1.4%, these secessionist counties have lost a whopping 5.2% of their population.

If the secessionist parts of Illinois were their own state, theyd have the worst 25 years of population loss of any state in U.S. history. So, its pretty easy to see why these counties might be unhappy about their economic conditions. They are truly dismal.

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But how much of this is plausibly the fault of Illinois state government? After all, the other Illinois counties are doing much better. That includes Chicago, where the economy continues to be robust, even as population growth has stalled. Is it possible that these counties are somehow being robbed of economic opportunity by Illinois?

Nope. As it turns out, these counties are essentially welfare queens of the state of Illinois.

A pair of researchers at Southern Illinois Universitys Paul Simon Public Policy Institute (see https://paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/) publish reports every couple years on the flow of public budgets across Illinois (see https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ppi_papers/59/). This very detailed work by John Jackson and John Foster makes it possible to see where the tax dollars are flowing across the state of Illinois. And, for what it is worth, that is very much like a study I did for Indiana more than a decade ago with colleagues Dagney Faulk and John Ketzenberger (see https://projects.cberdata.org/reports/IFPI_IntrastateTax.pdf).

As it turns out, residents in these secessionist counties pay about $2,986 per person each year in state taxes. That would make them the fourth lowest-taxed residents in the nation. But heres the rub: They receive $5,430 per person each year in support from residents of the other 69 Illinois counties.

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In contrast, the rest of the state collects $4,485 in state taxes each year and gets back $4,217 per person each year in state spending. So, each resident of the secessionist counties gets $2,444 more state dollars spent in their county each year than they pay in taxes. On top of that, they pay only 66.6 cents for every dollar of taxes residents in the other 69 Illinois counties pay.

Federal taxes and spending tell a similar story. A recent study of mine calculated the share of taxes and transfer payments made at the county level to the federal government (see https://jrap.scholasticahq.com/article/127868-federal-fiscal-exposure-of-us-counties). You guessed it: The secessionist counties pay a lower federal tax rate but receive more in Social Security payments and in other types of transfers (TANF, SNAP, etc.) than the counties that did not vote to secede from Illinois.

There are some useful lessons here.

First, the secessionist counties of Illinois pay low state taxes but are beneficiaries of enormous transfers from the rest of Illinois. It is hard to pinpoint just what these Illinois secessionist counties are angry about. Most likely it is bad vibes borne of ignorance. Theres compelling evidence of that.

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If they do come to Indiana, Hoosier taxpayers will need to pony up almost $2 billion more per year to match the fiscal largesse those secessionist counties receive from the rest of Illinois. It is worth noting that those taxes are going to come primarily from urban areas, like Fishers, Carmel and Indianapolis.

So no, we dont really want them  though it is easy to see why Illinois might not want them, either.

Second, neither the Red State and Blue State models of rural development have worked. The secessionist counties of Illinois look just like 40 or 50 declining rural counties in Indiana. Both Illinois and Indiana policymakers are failing their rural counties, though most of the blame for economic decline belongs squarely with the voters of those rural counties.

Finally, the real political divisions in America are geographic. So far this century, a whopping half of all the population growth this century has occurred in just 75 out of 3,143 U.S. counties or 2.3%. Fully 45% of U.S. counties have lost population this century.

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This deep economic divergence has gripped the United States for four decades. It is not between Red or Blue states, or places with high taxes or woke policies. It is primarily between urban and non-urban counties and reflects the desire of most Americans to live in places with strong local public services  great schools, low crime and businesses that offer a mix of goods and services.

Places that offer these do well. Those that do not will look more and more like rural Illinois.

Michael J. Hicks is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Hicks: The great state of Illiana (or is it Indinois?)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum says she sent a letter to Google asking the company not to comply with President Donald Trump's order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps app.

Sheinbaum showed the letter to reporters during a news conference Thursday. She said that her letter to Google argues that the United States cannot unilaterally rename the body of water since it shares it with Cuba and Mexico. The Mexican government says the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that an individual country's sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles out from the coastline, she said.

If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico. This is what we explained in detail to Google, Sheinbaum told reporters Thursday.

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Sheinbaum also referenced a joke she previously made saying that if countries were going to start renaming things, perhaps the United States should be called "Mexican America," citing a map of the continent from 1607. Sheinbaum said her letter to Google asked the search engine to prominently display the map of Mexican America.

"We ask that when you put Mexican America in the search engine, the map appears that we presented," she said.

Google did not immediately respond to a USA TODAY request for comment Friday morning.

What's in the Gulf of Mexico?: Meet its 'Hot Tub of Despair' and ancient corals.

Will Google change the name of the Gulf of Mexico?

The move comes after Trump signed an executive order last week requiring the federal government to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on official maps. Google said on social media Monday it will apply the name change when it has been updated in official government sources.

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The company also said it will start using the name Mount McKinley to refer to the mountain in Alaska currently called Denali, another renaming decision from Trump.

"We've received a few questions about naming within Google Maps," the company said on X Monday. "We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources."

Gulf of America?: Google says Gulf of Mexico will change to Gulf of America in Maps app: Here's how

"For geographic features in the U.S., this is when Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated," the company said. "When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the U.S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America."

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"Also longstanding practice: When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name," Google said. "Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too."

Contributing: Elizabeth Weise & Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY; Reuters

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mexico's president asks Google not to rename Gulf of Mexico
LANSING, Mich.  A Michigan priest had his license revoked by the Anglican Catholic Church after he made a gesture that "many have interpreted as a pro-Nazi salute" while speaking at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

Calvin Robinson, previously listed as the priest-in-charge of St Paul's Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, had appeared to imitate billionaire Elon Musk's inauguration hand gesture during his speech at the Jan. 25 summit. Robinson also appeared to quote Musk before performing the gesture, saying: "My heart goes out to you."

In a statement posted on the Anglican Catholic Church's website Wednesday, the church said it was made aware of a social media post that showed Robinson ending his speech with a gesture that "many have interpreted as a pro-Nazi salute." The church said it revoked Robinson's license and that he no longer serves as a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church.

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"While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinsons heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition," the statement read. "Mr. Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist."

"Furthermore, we understand that this is not just an administrative matter. The Holocaust was an episode of unspeakable horror, enacted by a regime of evil men," the statement added. "We condemn Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism in all its forms. And we believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators."

In a statement on Facebook, Robinson denied being a Nazi or making a Nazi salute, calling the gesture "a joke."

Germany's AfD election campaign event: Elon Musk tells far-right German political party 'there is too much focus on past guilt'

Who is Calvin Robinson?

Robinson, according to St. Paul's Anglican Catholic Church's website, was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England in 1985. He joined St. Paul as a rector on Sept. 20, 2024.

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Robinson was a former computer science teacher and video games journalist. He undertook a two-year course in theological studies at St. Stephen's Home, Oxford, "with hope of becoming a deacon in the Church of England," according to his biography on the church's website.

"His outspoken view on a more conservative theology caused the church to deny his application," the biography noted. He subsequently was ordained a deacon in the Free Church of England, and ordained to the priesthood in the Nordic Catholic Church.

Robinson has a large social media presence with hundreds of thousands of followers on several platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X. Under the National Pro-Life Summit's program, Robinson was described as a "political adviser, TV anchor, radio presenter, conservative commentator and parish priest."

Elon Musk hand gesture draws intense scrutiny

Musk, who owns X and heads President Donald Trump's Department of Governmental Efficiency, was given a VIP seat inside the U.S. Capitol to witness the presidential inauguration last week. During a speech after the inauguration, Musk crossed his right arm over his chest before forcefully extending it out in front of his body in an apparent salute.

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"My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured," he said as he finished the gesture.

The hand gesture was quickly scrutinized online, drawing comparisons to a Nazi salute. Musk dismissed criticism of the gesture as a "tired" attack.

"Did Elon Musk Sieg Heil at Trump's inauguration?" asked the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks antisemitism, called it "an awkward gesture" and implied it was not likely an homage to the "Sieg Heils" salute used in Adolf Hitler's Germany.

Contributing: Davis Winkie, Will Carless and Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan priest removed by church after making apparent Nazi salute
Sailing off the south coast of England, the Russian trawler known as the Yantar carried its usual array of hi-tech equipment.

In photographs released by the Ministry of Defence, a large radar dome can be seen behind two masts bristling with antennae.

Officially, these allow the 108 metre-long craft to monitor ocean currents, befitting a vessel the Kremlin maintains is part of its oceanographic research fleet.

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But it was the ships more nefarious purposes that prompted a rare display of British naval power on Jan 20, when the Yantar was confronted by a British warship, HMS Somerset, and patrol vessel HMS Tyne.

Humdrum though it may appear, the Yantar is known to carry two submersibles that can dive down up to 6,000 metres, allowing their crew to map, monitor and potentially sever the undersea cables that transmit data around the world.

Let me be clear, this is a spy ship, said John Healey, the Defence Secretary, as he revealed the Royal Navy operation last week.

And while the encounter looked peaceful from above, analysts and former navy officers told The Telegraph that Britain is likely to be already engaged in direct conflict with Russias dark fleet, deep underwater and out of sight.

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In the images released by the MoD, a third ship looms over the Yantar, RFA Proteus. The 65 million auxiliary ship, completed in 2019, also possesses submersibles  only these have the kind of claws needed to sever the cables connecting Yantar to its mischief-making deep-sea craft.

I reckon by now the Yantar will be missing some of its equipment, said Tom Sharpe, a former Royal Navy officer. If it isnt, it should be.

The details of underwater battles typically remain shrouded in secrecy for decades, observed only by passing sea life as they take place.

The last British submarine known to have severed a cable was HMS Conqueror in 1982. Fresh from firing the torpedoes that sank Argentinas Belgrano in the Falklands War, it cut an acoustic array trailed by a Soviet trawler.

Thank goodness it was one of our submarines to have performed the daring operation, said a jubilant Margaret Thatcher.

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Similar efforts are likely under way today, said Dr Sidharth Kaushal of the Royal United Services Institute think tank. I would be surprised if efforts to outcompete each other just short of the threat of war by both Russian submariners and Western ones are not occurring.

The Yantar is an openly provocative target. For almost a decade, the 60-crewed ship has trailed undersea cables around the world, its position revealed through the pings it sends to the Automatic Identification System, a global maritime tracking network.

From Guantanamo Bay to the North Sea, it is suspected of mapping out Natos critical underwater infrastructure to prepare for eventual conflict.

The global internet network relies on around 500 undersea cables, with 60 or so running through Britain. The most important of these travel across the Atlantic and carry critical financial data between Wall Street and the City.

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In a worst-case scenario, the Yantar could be dropping charges on those cables to be detonated in the event of war, said Mr Sharpe.

Matt Western, the chairman of the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, told The Telegraph that the consequences of an attack would be grim, hitting communications, essential services relying on the internet, the finance sector, payments systems, supply chains and so on.

Russias dark fleet is already suspected of four sabotage operations in the Baltic since November, severing cables connecting Estonia to Latvia, Sweden to Lithuania and Norway to Finland and Germany.

To knock out the UKs internet connection, dozens of cables would have to be severed simultaneously. Some analysts speculate that, besides threatening such a strike, the Yantars probing missions could serve another purpose.

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I think they probably want to go after critical military cables and discriminate those from the wider network, Mr Kaushal said. The location and purpose of such cables is classified, but when bad weather severed one off the US coast in 2007, it grounded the armys Iraqi drone fleet for a week.

HMS Somerset tracked the movements of the Russian spy ship through UK waters on Jan 20 - Royal Navy

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In his statement to Parliament last week, Mr Healey revealed a British submarine had surfaced near the Yantar during a sortie it made into British waters in November.

The nuclear-class Astute submarine could have lurked underneath the Yantar for days, Mr Sharpe suggested, potentially getting close enough to take photographs of its hull and map the underwater fittings.

In revealing itself to the Russian craft, the submarine provided a clear show of force to the Kremlin, but the breaching carries risks. Moscow will now be able to monitor any sensor data the Yantar collected in the hours before, listening for any tell-tale acoustic signals left by the not-quite silent boat.

In the Russian military, Gugi is the agency responsible for deep-sea espionage, reporting directly to the ministry of defence rather than the navy. Its officers were very capable, Mr Sharpe said, informed by decades of experience over the Cold War.

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The Soviet Union built up the worlds second-largest fishing fleet in the early 1970s and converted dozens of trawlers into spy ships, taking advantage of their hardiness and large amounts of hangar space.

RFA Proteus patrols near the Yantar in November - AFP

When a US navy destroyer approached a Soviet vessel lurking off the coast of Virginia in 1964, the ships captain reported that the small craft spun on a dime.

They may have looked like godforsaken pieces of junk, but they were manned by talented crew.

Four years earlier, Harold Macmillan, Britains prime minister, warned that the presence of fishing trawlers near a weapons testing range at Aberporth, Wales, was bringing the Soviet Union perilously close to a showdown with the West.

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That Russia is able to deploy much the same tactics decades on from the Cold War stems from the protections afforded to civilian vessels under international laws around freedom of navigation.

If you want to protect against it, you may have to compromise fundamental principles like the ability of civilian ships to sail  and collect intelligence  through international waters, said Katja Bego, senior research fellow at Chatham House.

That could have knock-on effects on international shipping through the Red Sea or the tense waters in the western Pacific. Russia, which denies any spying, has already threatened to deploy warships to protect its civilian fleet.

In part, this is a riposte to the Wests increasing naval muscle. In December, Finnish commandos boarded the Eagle S, the trawler suspected of severing the Estlink 2 power cable in the Gulf of Finland. They found the ship bristling with spy equipment that allowed it to monitor Nato ships and aircraft, Lloyds List reported.

Finnish commandos boarded the Eagle S in December - Jussi Nukari/Reuters

Could British commandos be called upon to board the Yantar, if its brazen snooping continues?

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Other countries have boarded and detained vessels suspected of sabotage, Mr Western said, days after announcing an inquiry into Britains undersea defences. The committees inquiry will take a close look at what powers and capabilities the UK has, and how well they are being used.

Lawyers should already be working on establishing the legal basis for a boarding operation, Mr Sharpe added. There would be little point in the SBS speeding out of Poole only to have to turn back half-way.

As ever, the risk of conflict spirals in a direct confrontation. No Royal Navy sailor will forget the fate of commander Lionel Crabb, who was deployed to examine the underwater hull of the Ordzhenikidze, a Soviet cruiser that docked in Portsmouth in 1956. His body, missing its head, was found floating in the waters nearby.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
This image provided by Monterey Bay Whale Watch shows a cluster of dolphins across Carmel Bay on Jan. 24. Evan Brodsky/Associated Press

An unusually large cluster of dolphins has been spotted south of Monterey off the Central California coast.

Marine biologists with Monterey Bay Whale Watch filmed the giant group of Rissos dolphins, sometimes called gray dolphins, swimming in Carmel Bay last week. An estimated 1,500 dolphins were part of the rare super pod, the tour company announced on Facebook.

The company captured drone video footage of the snub-nosed dolphins swimming en masse, some bobbing to the ocean surface for air.

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Rissos dolphins usually live in groups of 10 to 30 animals, but in rare cases can be found in loose aggregations of hundreds or thousands of individuals, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The cetaceans can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes and prefer deep offshore waters near the Pacific Oceans continental shelf, where they can dive to depths of more than 1,000 feet. Sighting patterns from aerial and shipboard surveys indicate the dolphins found near the California coast during winter months are typically en route to Oregon and Washington as part of their springtime migration, according to the federal agency.

The migrating mammals tend to stick close to shore as they pass Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea due to the deep, underwater canyon that lies just off the coast. Rissos dolphins are often spotted in the area in significant numbers, feeding on squid that spawn in Monterey Bay.

Nancy Black, marine biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, previously told the Chronicle that the dolphins are known to interact with gray whales. Black could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Sometimes they will play with or harass the gray whales, sometimes even snout riding on the whales. This doesnt harm the gray whales, but rather annoys them and causes the whales to roll around and sometimes lunge forward, exhibiting unique behavior, Black told the Chronicle in 2019.

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Ohioans may be catching early cases of spring fever. Unfortunately, the winter season isn't even halfway over.

There's a little under two months to go until the official end of the winter season and the onset of spring, promising warmer days, and for some, a brighter mood.

Stark County's winter has already packed a punch, as the Akron-Canton area has recorded more than 25 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. This is more than was recorded in the entirety of last season.

When does spring begin?

The first day of spring will be Thursday, March 20.

When will temperatures warm up?

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Ohio has a chance to see unusually warm conditions from February through April. Its seasonal outlook casts a majority of the state within a 33% to 40% chance to observe above average temperatures during that time frame.

Buckeye Chuck's real name is Murray. Murray is an almost 3-year-old groundhog who works as an animal ambassador for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

When is Groundhog Day this year?

If you're itching for a look into the next few weeks of winter, you may not have to wait long.

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Punxsutawney Phil will make his annual prediction this Sunday, Feb. 2. If the groundhog does not see his shadow, an early spring may be on the way. If he does, you may want to bundle up for six more weeks of winter.

When will Buckeye Chuck make his prediction?

Buckeye Chuck, the weather predicting groundhog from Ohio, is scheduled to make his prediction on Sunday, as well. The tradition comes from WMRN-AM, a radio station in Marion. He's been making the annual predictions since the 1970s.

Last season, the groundhog predicted an early spring. Supporters claim Buckeye Chuck has an accuracy rate of more than 75%, much higher than Punxsutawney Phil's reported rate of around 40%, according to the Marion Star.

Where can I see Buckeye Chuck make his prediction?

The groundhog will make his prediction at the Marion County Fairgrounds Colosseum from 7 to 8 a.m., according to the station. The event will also be streamed on 1490-AM WMRN.

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Chuck has been studying weather patterns, jet stream anomalies, computer models, and napping in order to procure Ohios most accurate springtime forecast, Chris Kelly, the vice president of programming for iHeartMedia Marion, said in a prepared statement.

Who is Buckeye Chuck?

Buckeye Chuck, whose real name is Murray, will travel two hours from his home at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to Marion. Murray serves as an animal ambassador at the museum when he's not participating in Groundhog Day.

When it comes time see his shadow, Jim Nemet, director of wildlife at the museum, said it's all up to Murray whether or not he participates.

Why do groundhogs predict the weather?

The tradition (and later holiday) began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to the National Weather Service.

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The tradition of relying on hibernating animals for weather advice has its origins in ancient European weather lore, where a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also has its origins in Candlemas, an ancient Christian holiday where a clear sky was meant to indicate an early spring.

In the 1880s, a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, used his platform to promote Punxsutawney Phil "to be the one and only official weather forecasting groundhog," a title now contested by Buckeye Chuck, who became the state's official weather-predicting groundhog in 1975.

The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: When does spring start? Here's the seasonal outlook for Ohio
U.S. Representative Melanie Stanbury (D-N.M.) delivers an address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)

Two of New Mexicos representatives in Congress told New Mexico lawmakers on Thursday afternoon they will act as a bulwark against President Donald Trump.

Addressing a joint session of the state House and Senate, U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez, both Democrats from districts 1 and 2, respectively, tried to assuage fear and uncertainty among New Mexicans amid Trumps freeze of funding on grant and loan programs and immigration enforcement raids here and across the country.

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For those of you who are feeling scared and uncertain about the future of this country, know that we will fight to protect our communities, and especially those who are most vulnerable, Stansbury said.

Vasquez called the funding freeze a huge threat.

I want to ensure that everybody in here that serves veterans  that serves any type of community service  that our entire New Mexico delegation is going to stand strong in the fight against this administration to freeze any federal funds that are coming to our communities. You can count on that, he said.

Stansbury represented part of Albuquerque in the state House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021.

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We will work to ensure that New Mexico remains a safe haven for everyone, across all of our communities, Stansbury said. We will defend the rights, freedoms and democracy of all New Mexicans, and this is your home.

U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) delivers an address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)

Vasquez was a member of the Las Cruces City Council from 2017 to 2021. His congressional district encompasses the entirety of New Mexicos share of the U.S.-Mexico border.

He said Trumps mass deportation operations and the proposed changes to birthright citizenship will harm New Mexicos economy and violate the U.S. Constitution.

Hardworking immigrants contribute billions  actually trillions  to our economy, from family farms in my district to rural businesses and emerging industries, and I am going to continue to find solutions, not be part of the problem in Washington, D.C., he said.

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Instead, Vasquez said, immigration enforcement must focus on violent criminals, not on tearing apart families or disrupting communities or local economies.

He said he is committed to achieving commonsense immigration reform that treats people humanely and modernizes border security.

We can both address crime and fight to give immigrants who contribute to our communities a fair shot at residency and citizenship, he said. And the truth is, unless you are Native American, you too, are an immigrant to New Mexico  just like me.

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South Dakota Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen participates in his swearing-in ceremony Jan. 30, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

The South Dakota Legislature voted unanimously on Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre to confirm Tony Venhuizen as the states lieutenant governor.

Venhuizen, 42, was sworn in shortly afterward.

The Sioux Falls Republicans voice shook momentarily with emotion as he took to the lectern to address the Senate in his first remarks as the bodys presiding officer, which is a duty of the lieutenant governor.

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Wow, this is a little overwhelming, Venhuizen said.

He spoke of his grandfather, former state Sen. Henry Poppen, pointing to the seat where he sat during the now-lieutenant governors childhood visits to the Capitol. He also noted the long public service career of his father-in-law, former Gov. Dennis Daugaard, for whom Venhuizen served as chief of staff.

Venhuizen vacated his state representative seat this week upon his selection by Gov. Larry Rhoden, who ascended to the governorship earlier this month when Gov. Kristi Noem resigned to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration. Rhoden announced his pick for lieutenant governor on Wednesday, subject to legislative confirmation.

Thursday on the floor of the Senate, Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, lauded Venhuizen as an insightful, balanced voice at the Capitol.

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I have all the confidence in the world that hes very well-prepared and up for the job, Mehlhaff said.

Minority Leader Liz Larson, a Sioux Falls Democrat, also spoke in favor of Venhuizens confirmation.

Hes an even-handed, level-headed policymaker, she said.

State representatives offered similar sentiments prior to their unanimous adoption of the resolution confirming Venhuizen to the states second-highest executive post.

Rep. Liz May, a Kyle Republican, has in the past found herself on opposing sides with Venhuizen in the chamber they shared until earlier this week. May also sparred with Venhuizen during his earlier stints in the executive branch.

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On Tuesday, May said she was glad to cast a ballot to confirm him as lieutenant governor.

I can honestly say I like Tony now, May said. I like him a lot. I couldnt have said that a lot of years ago. I did not like him. I always felt like Tony was picking on us. If I can build a relationship with anybody, I encourage you all to do the same. We are not going to agree on everything. Thats just the way it works. But what you want to do in this position is make friends.

South Dakota Searchlights Makenzie Huber contributed to this report.

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Air travel has become a popular mode of transportation for people around the world. However, the cost of airfare can often be a significant expense, especially for those who travel frequently. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to save money on air travel without sacrificing comfort or convenience. In this article, we will explore eight smart ways to save on air travel.

One of the best ways to save on air travel is to be flexible with your travel dates. Traveling during off-peak times can often result in significant savings. Additionally, booking your flight several months in advance can also result in lower prices. Another way to save money on air travel is by being open to alternative airports. Smaller airports may offer lower fares than larger, more popular airports.

Another way to save on air travel is to take advantage of loyalty programs and credit card rewards. Many airlines offer frequent flyer programs that allow you to earn points or miles for each flight you take. These points can then be redeemed for free flights or upgrades. Additionally, many credit cards offer rewards for travel-related purchases, such as airfare and hotel stays. By using these rewards, you can save money on future flights and travel expenses.

Strategies for Finding Affordable Flights

When it comes to air travel, saving money on airfare is always a top priority. Here are some smart strategies to help you find affordable flights.

Leveraging Flight Comparison Tools

One of the easiest ways to find cheap flights is by using flight comparison tools. Websites like Expedia, Kayak, Google Flights, Orbitz, and Priceline allow you to compare prices across multiple airlines and find the best deals. Kiwi.com is another great tool that allows you to search for flights based on your budget. Check out is kiwi.com legit for more info

Setting Up Price Alerts

Price alerts are a great way to keep an eye on airfare prices and snag a deal when it pops up. Many flight comparison tools offer this feature, allowing you to set up alerts for specific routes and dates. Priceline also offers Express Deals, which are heavily discounted flights that are only revealed after booking.

Choosing the Right Time to Book

Timing is key when it comes to booking affordable flights. Generally, booking your flight at least 3 weeks in advance can help you save money. Additionally, traveling during the shoulder season (the time between peak and off-peak travel seasons) can also result in cheaper fares.

Embracing Flexibility for Cheaper Fares

Being flexible with your travel dates and times can also result in significant savings. For example, flying on a weekday instead of a weekend can often be cheaper. Additionally, being open to layovers or alternative airports can also help you find cheaper fares.

By following these strategies, you can save money on air travel and find the best deals for your next trip.

Maximizing Savings on Travel Expenses

When it comes to air travel, there are a few smart ways to save money on expenses. By maximizing savings on travel expenses, you can enjoy your trip without breaking the bank. Here are a few tips to help you save money on your next trip.

Accommodation Choices

One of the biggest expenses when traveling is lodging. While hotels can be expensive, there are many alternative options that can save you money. Consider staying in an Airbnb or VRBO rental, which can be more affordable than a hotel and offer more amenities. You can also try upgrading your hotel room using loyalty programs or booking through an OTA for discounted rates. If youre on a tight budget, consider couchsurfing or camping to save money on lodging.

Transportation Considerations

Another major expense when traveling is transportation. While car rentals can be convenient, they can also be expensive. Instead, consider using public transportation or walking to get around. You can also rent a bike to explore your destination or take advantage of free walking tours. If you do need a car, look for discounts and promotions to save money on your rental.

Managing Food and Activity Costs

Food and activity costs can quickly add up when traveling. To save money on food, pack snacks and consider having a picnic instead of eating out. You can also look for local street food or budget-friendly restaurants. As for activities, look for free or low-cost options such as visiting museums on free admission days or exploring local parks. Consider skipping souvenirs or limiting yourself to one or two meaningful items to save money.

By following these tips, you can save money on your travel expenses and enjoy your trip without worrying about overspending. Dont forget to set aside some money in a savings account or use your tax refund to fund your next adventure. And if youre a frequent traveler, consider signing up for loyalty programs or getting Global Entry to save money on future trips.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials helped extricate a 525-pound bear that had taken shelter under an Altadena home whose residents were evacuated due to the Eaton Fire. Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife An Eaton Fire evacuee in Altadena returned to their home last week to find a 525-pound bear in the crawl space. Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials used a bear trap to extract a 525-pound bear from the crawl space of an Altadena home whose residents were evacuated due to the Eaton Fire. Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials removed and relocated a 525-pound bear from an Altadena home to the Angeles National Forest. Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife A 525-pound bear took shelter in the crawl space of an Altadena home whose residents were evacuated due to the Eaton Fire. California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials helped extract and relocate the animal. Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife

When an Eaton Fire evacuee returned to their home in Altadena last week, they discovered that a squatter had moved in: a 525-pound bear, officials said.

The massive animal had set up camp in the homes crawl space, blocking the homeowners utility company from restoring power to the house, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Over the course of 24 hours, a nine-person team of CDFW employees strategized to extract the bear, the department said. After ruling out chemical immobilization because of the bears huge size, the team decided to place a bear trap near the entrance to the crawl space. Minutes later, the bear lumbered into the trap, and its door swung shut.

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Officials transported the trapped bear to the Angeles National Forest and released it after performing a welfare check and putting a GPS collar on the animal, CDFW said. A utility company restored the homeowners power, and CDFW employees bear-proofed the crawl space by boarding up its entrance.
African nations struggling with mounting international debt are about to get a lifeline. The African Development Banks new refinancing facility isnt just another bureaucratic solution  its potentially a financial game-changer for the continent.

The initiative, dubbed The African Financial Stability Mechanism, stands ready for launch after clearing its final hurdles. All thats needed now is the green light from heads of state at next months African Union summit, according to AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.

Heres why it matters: African countries are staring down the barrel of massive debt repayments  $20 billion annually over the next three years. Traditional lenders like the IMF and multilateral development banks dont handle refinancing. This new facility fills that critical gap, offering a way for nations to restructure their debt on global capital markets.

But this isnt free money. Countries tapping into the facility will need to roll up their sleeves and implement specific economic reforms. The trade-off? Theyll get access to funds at concessional rates  meaning more favorable terms than theyd find elsewhere.

For African nations walking the tightrope of international debt, this facility could mean the difference between financial stability and crisis. Its a bold move that acknowledges the unique challenges facing the continents economies.
Sao Tomean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilza Maria dos Santos Amado Vaz, reiterated, on Thursday in Rabat, her countrys constant position in favor of Moroccos territorial integrity and sovereignty over its entire territory, including the Sahara region.

In a press briefing following talks with her Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita, the head of Sao Tome and Principes diplomacy reaffirmed her countrys full support for the Morocco-proposed autonomy plan, which constitutes, she said, the only credible and realistic solution to this regional dispute.

Amado Vaz also praised the efforts of the United Nations as the exclusive framework for reaching a realistic, practical, and lasting solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

The Sao Tomean top diplomat also expressed her satisfaction with the significant progress made by the Kingdom of Morocco regarding the socio-economic development of the Southern Provinces, through the New Development Model, which promotes stability, security, and regional integration.

Sao Tome and Principes support to Moroccos sovereignty over its Sahara was translated in 2020 by the opening of a Consulate General in Laayoune.

The Sao Tomean official also praised the leadership and commendable contribution of King Mohammed VI to the international communitys efforts to promote peace, stability, and development in Africa.

Amado Vaz also expressed her countrys commitment to further strengthening cooperation with Morocco in various fields, as highlighted in a Joint Statement issued after a meeting between the two countries foreign ministers.

Both ministers praised the momentum created within the framework of the Atlantic African States Process (AASP) to make the Atlantic African space a zone of co-emergence and stability, as well as a geostrategic framework that holds significant opportunities for synergy and cooperation between the countries involved, in strategic areas such as the environment, food security, health, energy, logistical interconnection, resource pooling, and the exchange of experiences.

Bourita and Amado Vaz also acknowledged the strategic role of the AASP in reinforcing peace, stability, and prosperity in the Atlantic region.

The Sao Tomean Minister further indicated that the partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco within the framework of the AASP will bring concrete benefits to the populations of both countries.

In this vein, she also hailed the Kings initiative aimed at enabling Atlantic access for Sahel countries, describing the initiative as being of strategic importance and as being part of Moroccos active solidarity and South-South win-win cooperation with fellow African countries.

The two ministers hailed the progress made in building the Atlantic African Gas Pipeline, a symbol of South-South cooperation, with its operational phases currently in the startup phase.
Morocco supports the unity, stability, and sovereignty of Yemen, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch said on Thursday following talks with Yemeni Foreign Minister Shayea Mohsen Al-Zindani in Rabat.

Akhannouch also expressed Moroccos appreciation for the stance of Yemen which supports the Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara and considers that any solution to this artificial dispute can only be achieved within the framework of Moroccos sovereignty and territorial unity.

For his part, Al-Zindani reiterated Yemens support for Moroccos territorial integrity and said the talks covered developments in Yemen as well as broader bilateral cooperation, the Department of the Head of Government said in a press release.

Talks focused on the ways to strengthen cooperation between Morocco and Yemen, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, Dr. Rashad Muhammad Al-Alimi, Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen, the press release said.

Discussions also focused on strengthening economic ties and encouraging private-sector investment, Al-Zindani said, adding that his visit to the Kingdom will highlight by the signing of several agreements aimed at deepening ties between the two nations.
Morocco has emerged as Africas leading tourist destination, welcoming 17.4 million visitors in 2024, surpassing traditional powerhouses like Egypt, South Africa, and Tunisia. This achievement coincides with the United Nations Tourism Agency s launch of a strategic investment initiative titled Tourism Doing Business  Investing in Morocco.

According to official UN Tourism figures, tourism contributed 7.3% to Moroccos GDP in 2023, with international arrivals increasing by 35% since 2019 and tourism revenues reaching $10.5 billion. Tourism has become an essential economic driver in Morocco, states Natalia Bayona, Executive Director of UN Tourism, attributing this success to the countrys political stability and implemented economic strategies.

Moroccan Minister of Tourism, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, emphasizes that the countrys open economy, focus on innovation, and forward-thinking investment policies collectively make it a preferred destination for both domestic and international investors.

The countrys commitment to innovation was recently showcased through a national tourism startup competition organized by the Moroccan Society for Tourism Engineering (SMIT). Among 137 applicants, five pioneering companies emerged as leaders in sustainable tourism solutions.

Ecodome secured first place with its innovative eco-friendly accommodation concept. Second place was shared between ATAR, specializing in customized travel itineraries, and Pikala, an online platform connecting tourists with local service providers. Wanaut claimed third position with its smart digital travel tools, while Mouja took fourth place for its tourism marketing solutions.

Secretary-General of the UN tourism agency Zurab Pololikashvili praised the Kingdoms achievements in tourism growth and its transformation of the sector into a pillar of economic diversification and sustainable development.

The organizations decision to establish its African Thematic Office in Rabat further solidifies Moroccos position as a strategic hub for African tourism development. The newly launched investment guide highlights opportunities for international investors while showcasing Moroccos growing innovation ecosystem.

This triple recognition from UNTO  acknowledging Moroccos economic strength as Africas tourism leader, its dynamic innovation ecosystem, and its strategic role in developing the sector across Africa  demonstrates the Kingdoms successful efforts to diversify its economy, encourage entrepreneurship, and promote sustainable growth in the vital tourism sector.

The investment guide, officially launched in Rabat, provides comprehensive insights into opportunities available to international investors of all sizes, with particular emphasis on Moroccos flourishing innovation ecosystem. This initiative aligns with UN Tourisms mission to develop innovation in Africa and stimulate investment in the regions tourism sector, positioning Morocco as a key gateway for tourism development across the continent.
Frances decades-long military presence in Africa is winding down after the French army has handed over its third and last military base in Chad to the countrys government.

The military ceremony held in the capital NDjamena on Wednesday (29 January) marked the official end of French military presence in the country. According to sources from the Chadian General Staff of the Armed Forces, the handover of the facility, the Sergeant Adji Kossei base in NDjamena, to the West African nation signifies the final termination of the French militarys involvement in Chad. After the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Chad remained the last foothold in Frances broader Sahel military strategy against jihadist insurgencies.

But this all changed in November last year when NDjamena abruptly terminated military cooperation with its former colonial master. Justifying the move, President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said the cooperation agreements with France had become completely obsolete in light of the political and geo-strategic realities of our time. Frances fallout with Chad deepened after the West African country accused France of continued interference to undermine its democracy. Senegal is currently negotiating the withdrawal of French forces by the end of this year, while French military presence in the Ivory Coast and Gabon is being downsized.
Recent arrests in Libya have brought global attention to the ongoing human rights abuses faced by refugees and migrants trying to escape conflict and trafficking.

A video released on 6 January 2025, depicting the brutal treatment of 20-year-old Naima Jamal, an Ethiopian migrant, has sparked outrage and renewed calls for accountability. Jamal, who fled the violence in Ethiopias Oromia region, was captured by traffickers upon her arrival in Libya. Her family, unable to pay the extortionate ransom demands, was sent harrowing footage of her suffering, which highlights the horrifying conditions many migrants endure in the country.

These abuses are part of a broader pattern of violence against migrants trapped within Libyas unstable and exploitative system. Despite the European Unions efforts to curb migrant arrivals, reports indicate that conditions for those stuck in Libya have not improved.

Many migrants, including children, are subjected to violence and exploitation by militias and traffickers. Rescues are often thwarted by EU-backed policies, such as the interception of boats attempting to reach Europe and the subsequent return of migrants to Libya, where they face further abuse. The recent disappearance of Gambian migrants, intercepted by Tunisias Garde Nationale, exemplifies the extreme risks migrants face as they seek to escape the brutal realities of their circumstances.

The arrest of two gang members for their involvement in the torture and detention of 263 migrants only highlights the dire situation. With ransoms as high as $17,000 for Somali migrants and $10,000 for Eritreans, these individuals are subjected to horrific abuse and extortion. Critics of European migration policies, such as David Yambio from Refugees in Libya, point out that EU agreements with Libya effectively empower criminal militias under the guise of border management, rather than protecting human rights. Italys strict immigration measures, including offshore processing and the establishment of detention centres in Albania, have also drawn substantial criticism for violating international law and undermining the right to asylum. These policies, combined with Libyas political chaos, continue to perpetuate a cycle of exploitation and suffering for vulnerable migrants.
Moroccos defense industrial ecosystem is gaining momentum with Turkish Baykar Company strategic decision to establish a manufacturing site of military drones in the North African Kingdom.

Baykar, a global leader in drone industry, has set up a Moroccan subsidiary, named Atlas Defence, based in Rabat. The Moroccan plant is dedicated to the design, production, and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), along with the manufacturing of spare parts and technological systems for the defense sector.

According to press reports, the new facility will enhance Baykars presence in the African UAV and UCAV market. Several African countries including Morocco, have acquired Turkish advanced military drones. In 2021, the Kingdom received the first batch of Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones, strengthening the Kingdoms air power and deterrence capabilities.

By setting up a production factory in Morocco, the Turkish company will be able to deliver drones to its African clients quicker than its competitors. Furthermore, this new strategic milestone for Moroccan defense industry will enhance further Turkish-Moroccan relations, create job opportunities, and contribute to the growth of Moroccan economy.

Several defense companies from the U.S. Europe, Latin America and Asia have shown interests in the huge investment opportunities offered by Morocco looking forward to develop its military industry clusters building on its success in the automotive and aeronautics sectors.

In 2019, the North African Kingdom signed with Brazil an investment cooperation and facilitation in military industry. Under this agreement, Brazil pledges to share military science and technology, help in defense product acquisition and train Moroccan officers in advanced military technologies.

Israeli company Bluebird had also announced plans to open a production site of its unmanned aerial systems in Morocco. In September 2024, TATA Advanced Systems signed a strategic partnership agreement with Moroccos National Defense Administration for the establishment of a plant in the Kingdom to produce armored combat vehicle WhAP 88 for the Moroccan army.

According to Frost & Sullivan group, a research and consulting firm, Morocco is set to become a weapons producing country in the few coming years as the country is set to host foreign factories specialized in arms manufacturing by 2025.
Netflix announced plans for a new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. NBC/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Original Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert was quick to address concerns over Netflixs upcoming reboot of the show being woke-ified.

Gilbert, who starred as the shows narrator Laura Ingalls from 1974 to 1983, responded directly to former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who tweeted, @Netflix if you wokeify Little House on the Prairie I will make it my singular mission to absolutely ruin your project, following news that the streaming company has picked up the new project.

Gilbert, who doesnt have an X account, posted a message on her Instagram account slamming Kellys comment.

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Ummmwatch the original again. TV doesnt get too much more woke than we did, she wrote. We tackled: racism, addiction, nativism, antisemitism, misogyny, rape, spousal abuse and every other woke topic you can think of.

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly expressed concern over Netflixs upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot, posting on social media she would absolutely ruin your project if the streaming service were to wokeify the series. Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Netflix announced its upcoming adaptation of the popular TV series on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilders semi-autobiographical book series set primarily in the 1870s through 90s, the show follows the Ingalls family as they journey from Wisconsin to Kansas to settle on the prairie.

Rebecca Sonnenshine, who has worked on shows like The Boys and Vampire Diaries, is set to serve as executive producer and showrunner on the project, which promises to be part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West, according to its official logline.

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Photo: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times/Redux

If our city feels rudderless and out of control these days, its not your imagination: To a remarkable degree, the man New York elected to hold things together, Mayor Eric Adams, has been in steady retreat  and in some cases, outright irrelevance  as his political and legal troubles continue mounting. Political insiders have been predicting a mayoral resignation for weeks, although Adamss criminal-defense attorney calls the rumors completely false.

Even if Adams doesnt quit, his reelection is looking less likely every day as the all-important June 24 Democratic primary approaches. Last month, a Quinnipiac poll gave Adams an anemic 28 percent approval rating among registered voters, with 58 percent voicing disapproval, the worst favorability level recorded for a New York City mayor since Quinnipiac began asking the question in 1996. A more recent private poll shows only 18 percent of likely Black voters support Adams, with 46 percent favoring former governor Andrew Cuomo, who has not yet entered the race but is putting the finishing touches on a possible campaign launch.

With Adamss upcoming federal trial on bribery charges looming large, his legal-defense fund is $735,000 in the hole, even with high-profile attorney Alex Spiro charging half his usual rate of $2,000 per hour. Adams is reportedly having a hard time finding new donors.

Governor Kathy Hochul has stepped in to cover some functions normally handled by the mayor, as has Attorney General Letitia James. Despite some early interest in a mayoral run from James, allies say she plans to stay put; as the official who successfully sued Donald Trump in a major civil-fraud case, she ranks high on the list of enemies the president may target for retribution.

Allies of Cuomo, meanwhile, are quietly approaching political consultants, drafting policy memos and talking points for speeches, setting up an independent expenditure committee, and otherwise laying the groundwork for a possible candidate who famously does not make political moves until and unless victory looks certain.

Think of Cuomos preparations as the modern equivalent of 1991, when his father, ex-governor Mario Cuomo, famously had a plane idling on the tarmac and lawyers with paperwork ready to fly to New Hampshire to meet a filing deadline for entering the presidential primary. Mario Cuomo ultimately decided at the last minute not to get on the plane; Andrew Cuomo is planning to have his own political plane ready for takeoff.

Andrew Cuomo far outpolls eight of Adamss other challengers, including a trio of young upstarts (State Senators Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani), three longtime pols (Comptroller Brad Lander, ex-comptroller Scott Stringer and ex-assemblyman Michael Blake), and two private-sector newcomers (banker Whitney Tilson and attorney Jim Walden).

The political vacuum at City Hall was in full view this week, with the Trump administrations new mass-deportation campaign including a visit from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to personally supervise immigration raids and arrests in midtown and the Bronx. Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets, Noem boasted on social media, sharing a video of a man being led away in handcuffs.

The NYPD did not participate in the raid, and normally, it would be unthinkable to see that kind of high-profile federal action on city streets without involvement or comment from City Hall. But Adams has already made it clear that he will not be saying anything publicly that might displease Trump.

Ive said it before: Im not going to be warring with the president. Im going to be working with the president. And thats my responsibility as the mayor, Adams told reporters. If I do disagree, I will communicate with him directly on them, said Adams. I dont want to be part of what feeds the anxiety of going back and forth in this public discourse that were seeing. If [there are] things that he does that I disagree on, I will reach out to the president and communicate with him.

Adams said this a day after he canceled multiple Martin Luther King Jr. Day appearances and instead raced to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration, where he watched Trumps swearing-in from an overflow room in the Capitol and later had lunch with top Republicans.

These actions naturally raise eyebrows and leave us with questions, the Reverend Al Sharpton, a longtime Adams ally, said on social media and MSNBC.

New Yorkers worried about whether their homes, schools, or businesses are going to be raided will not hear a word of complaint from the mayor, who says its all no big deal.

My life is the life that Dr. King was talking about when he [said] he had a dream. Im living that dream, said the mayor, who is in the middle of a political nightmare.

The mayors retreat from public relevance coincides with power moves by Hochul, who says she will fight Trump initiatives if and when necessary.

We cant spend four years of Whac-a-Mole,  Hochul told me. Sometimes hes going to say something dramatic to get the headline and get the attention, but what that really means is hes going to punt it over to an agency to come up with some regulations. So we cant be in this hyperreactive mode every 20 minutes to what theyre doing.

So when Trump issued an executive order to nullify birthright citizenship  a decision based on a shaky legal theory  Hochul and James activated a previously created legal task force that joined 21 other states to immediately file a lawsuit to block the move.

Our constitution is not open to reinterpretation by executive order or presidential decree. President Trumps attempt to undermine the fundamental right to birthright citizenship is not just unconstitutional, it is profoundly dangerous, James said in a statement. A federal judge swiftly issued an injunction blocking Trumps order, which he called blatantly unconstitutional.

Hochul says she wont fall for the Trump strategy of flooding the zone with a blizzard of actions. Ive got to govern a vast, complex state, and we cant be distracted by every single move they make, she told me, saying she will continue to look out for New Yorkers facing immigration challenges. I do believe that people have hearts and compassion and they dont want to see their neighbors or their friends lives disrupted that way because we are New York and we know who we stand for. We know our values.  (Our full conversation is on my podcast, You Decide).

I asked Hochul point-blank: With Adams AWOL on criticism of the Trump administration, will you step in and stand up for New Yorkers who are afraid of what might be coming down from the federal government?

Im not going to judge people on how they want to respond to this. I know what I have to do as governor, and that is to execute a budget that meets New Yorkers where they are, what their concerns are, she told me. Well deal with immigration as it arises. And we will not stand for families being torn apart. We know what our values are.

That doesnt wholly answer the question of what will happen in New York as mass deportation ramps up, but it demonstrates that Hochul, unlike Adams, is prepared to speak to  and for  New Yorkers, who have every reason to be unsettled about a coming storm of federal action and a mayor who has, in many ways, abdicated.
Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Whatever you think of the propriety or effectiveness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in workplaces or educational institutions, you may still be shocked at the central position of DEI-bashing in the new Trump administrations thinking. One of the executive orders Trump signed before a hooting crowd of his supporters on Inauguration Day ended DEI programs in the federal government, describing them as both radical and wasteful and illegal and immoral. The order also required federal agencies to identify contractors and grantees who engaged in promoting DEI and associated policies (e.g., environmental justice).

The very next day, Trump extended this crusade fully into the private sector with another order bending federal civil-rights enforcement actions to the novel task of rooting out DEI everywhere. And one of the objects of this weeks chaotic and quickly aborted OMB federal funding freeze was to push the government to ensure that not one nickel of money would go to anyone practicing or promoting DEI policies. Meanwhile, the Office of Personnel Management, which has become something of a fiefdom for presidential sidekick and DOGE director Elon Musk (known for his particularly intense hatred of DEI), announced an email tip line to make it easy for federal employees to anonymously rat out colleagues who showed interest in DEI.

Apparently, that wasnt enough, though, as The Wall Street Journal reports:

President Trumps Office of Personnel Management last week required federal agencies to close offices that focus exclusively on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and place employees of those divisions on paid administrative leave by Jan. 22. Agency leaders were required to submit a list of all DEI employees the following day.

After doing so, agencies were asked to identify additional staff who worked on those areas during a meeting with OPM staff last week, the officials said. These people said it seemed that the Trump administration had expected the number to be larger. Some agency officials parsed through position descriptions to find additional related roles.

The Trump administration has followed up with agencies about employees thought to be working on diversity issues as well as those who have attended internal diversity events, people familiar with the matter said.

The witch hunt goes beyond hiring practices, by the way, the Journal makes clear:

In a follow-up meeting on Tuesday, two people said, the OPM told agency officials that employee resource groups  also known as affinity groups, such as for Black or LGBTQ staff  cannot hold meetings during work hours or use government resources. Workplaces typically use those forums for staff to share common career obstacles and advancement strategies.

While a lot of this craziness has been going on out of the national spotlight, Trumps obsession with DEI, and perhaps a big part of his motivation, became clear in his response to the fatal plane crash in Washington on January 29, as my colleague Margaret Hartmann explained:

Within minutes, the presidential mirage dissolved. Trump unleashed an unusually appalling rant, blaming the crash on Barack Obama, Joe Biden, former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, DEI, and people with disabilities.

I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobodys ever seen, Trump said. They actually came out with a directive: too white. And we want the people that are competent.

Asked bluntly why he thought DEI might have something to do with the crash, Trump replied, Because I have common sense. Okay. And, unfortunately, a lot of people dont.

At the same event, new Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that the era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, as though that might be germane to the Army helicopter involved in the crash. And Vice-President J.D. Vance spelled it out more explicitly.

When you dont have the best standards in who youre hiring, it means on the one hand youre not getting the best people in government. But on the other hand, it puts stress on the people who are already there, Vance said at the briefing. And I think that is a core part of what President Trump is going to bring and has already brought to Washington, D.C.

The Vance angle was especially revealing, since it implies that even if a white man were responsible for the crash, it was probably a white man stressed by DEI practices.

But Team Trump wasnt done exploiting the tragedy to grind its anti-DEI axes. The president released a new executive order on Thursday afternoon demanding an assessment of links between DEI policies in the Biden administration and the crash:

This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence. But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous diversity equity and inclusion tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with severe intellectual disabilities in the FAA.

I am  ordering the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (Administrator) to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards. This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration.

This bizarre angle on a completely uninvestigated tragedy shows how powerful the DEI issue really is in MAGA-land. If anyone in the public or private sector does anything wrong, the first place to look is DEI. In this case, it reflects an apparent assumption that women and people of color cant be trusted to handle dangerous machines or technology. Its an instant scapegoating machine based fundamentally on bigotry.

There is one other reason DEI may have come to Trumps mind instantly when he heard about the American Airlines crash: a year ago, the possibility that DEI had endangered air safety was raised by  you guessed it!  Elon Musk, as NBC News reported:

Musk claimed in a series of posts on X that efforts to diversify workforces at those companies have made air travel less safe. 

Musks decision to wade into the subject of airline safety follows discussions that were sparked Friday when a panel blew off a Boeing jet while it was flying.

Musks statements on the topic started Tuesday when he responded to an X user who speculated that IQ scores of United Airlines pilots who went to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were lower than the average of IQ of Air Force pilots. Musk replied to that post with his own attack on programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE, Musk wrote, misspelling the DEI acronym.

The people running the United States government are infecting each other with racist and sexist nonsense to an alarming degree right now. But its likely anyone who points that out to them will be found immediately guilty of promoting DEI.

This post has been updated.
Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries know a Trump blunder when they see it. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

Democrats around the country have a spring in their step thanks to the feeling that the Trump 2.0 steamroller hit a pothole this week with a clumsy and quickly abandoned federal funding freeze. Launched by a poorly drafted and infinitely confusing OMB memo that freaked out bureaucrats far and wide, the effort to pause major forms of federal spending to ensure agencies werent pursuing freshly demonized policies like DEI and the Green New Deal caused temporary interruptions in all sorts of essential services, including the giant federal-state Medicaid program. Even as Team Trump tried to limit the damage by limiting the scope of the pause, real, live people were lighting up the phones to Congress wanting to know why the administration was doing this to them.

Democrats fed on the furor. A group close to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries immediately put up a national cable ad:

As the ad shows, Democrats werent agitating the air about the arrogance being shown by Donald Trumps budget minions, or the chaos it instilled, but painting a picture of a devilish plan to cut very specific and very sensitive federal programs and services in order to give money to billionaires like Elon Musk via tax cuts. This messaging wasnt just a reflection of the Democratic Partys sense of proprietorship about a strong and beneficent federal government. It also represented the well-justified belief that more abstract arguments against the Trump agenda had failed during the 2024 campaign and would probably fail in the future.

During his comeback bid, Trump talked often, albeit without much specificity, about the need to restrain federal spending, and he also reinforced the MAGA article of faith that the federal government was run by deep state obstructionists determined to undermine the will of the people. So he entered office with a pretty good claim that he had a mandate to go after wasteful federal spending. One persons waste, of course, is anothers crucial service or benefit. So Trumps public support on fiscal matters depends on keeping the argument for budget cutting as abstract as possible and/or tied to abstract and controversial concepts like DEI. Specificity is meat and drink for Trump opponents, and also food for thought among nervous Republican members of Congress facing midterm headwinds and hearing howls of fear and pain from constituents.

Democrats are likely to avoid abstract messaging as well with respect to the broader constitutional issues associated with Team Trumps efforts to give their president extraordinary power over spending decisions. Russell Vought, who is almost certain to be confirmed by the Senate as OMB director (despite united and vociferous Democratic opposition), is on record asserting the unconstitutionality of the Impoundment Control Act, which is a legal bar to the kind of power grab the funding freeze represented; Vought appears to believe Trump should be able to claw back any spending he regards as wasteful or misguided, even though it has been appropriated by Congress. This is, to put it mildly, a minority point of view among legal experts, including conservatives. Whether or not this claim by Vought contributed to the abortive funding freeze, it will very likely be litigated soon, and will probably have to be resolved by the Trump-friendly U.S. Supreme Court.

But you shouldnt expect Democrats to make big waves about this attempted power grab. Arguments over constitutional law or the appropriate separation of powers between executive and legislative branches of the federal government dont, unfortunately, get people marching in the streets or even calling congressional offices. It is fresh in everyones memory that the least effective Democratic meta-message during the 2024 presidential election was the very accurate charge that Trump 1.0 represented a direct threat to constitutional order and democracy itself, as the New York Times emphasized in a postelection analysis:

Her campaign pitch was moving, even high-minded. If Vice President Kamala Harris were elected to the White House, she would safeguard the ideals of a good nation. Voters had a choice, she said: democracy, constitutional rights and bedrock freedoms  or Donald J. Trumps chaos and division.

On Tuesday, the nation replied. The answer from more than half of voters seemed to dismiss warnings that Mr. Trump was a threat to principles on which the country had been founded. Abstract truths mattered less, voters said, than tangible issues, like the ability to pay rent or concerns over border crossings. In a time of widespread distrust in institutions, Ms. Harriss call to protect the nations norms rang hollow for many Americans.

If swing voters didnt care that Trump summoned a mob to Washington to stop the steal by besieging the Capitol on January 6, 2021, they certainly will not be especially upset about Voughts claims that Richard Nixon was right in refusing to release congressional appropriated dollars that displeased him.

Focusing on the concrete, highly specific potential consequences of impoundments (or funding freezes or whatever you choose to call them) also gives Democrats the opportunity to pursue a consistent line of attack on multiple Trump initiatives. Whether or not the administration can get away with unilaterally cutting spending, it will pursue some of the same cuts in the congressional budget reconciliation bill (or bills; its still unclear how many there will be) that will be used to enact Trumps legislative agenda, and in upcoming fights over appropriations when the stopgap spending measure enacted in December expires in March. Again and again, well see the same complaints from beneficiaries and administrators of the threatened programs that we saw this week, and the whole ballgame may depend on whether a few Republican House members can be convinced their reelection requires defiance of Vought and his boss. Well see this weeks movie over and over.
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers

Ive lived in six different apartments over the course of a decade in New York  and though my current spot has a bit more room to entertain than any of the previous ones, Ive always figured out how to accommodate quite a few people in small square footage. I love to cook, and I love to host, so no kitchen and dining room setup (or complete lack of the latter) has ever stopped me. Ive made sit-down birthday meals, held Thanksgiving and New Years Eve, and had friends crowd around my living room to eat.

Over the years, Ive learned a lot of what it takes to do this confidently and comfortably. Im sharing all that here, along with the advice of several other small-space experts who specialize in making the most of shoe-box spaces.

If you have space for a dining-room table, your best bets are an extendable or pedestal model.

What I fondly call my dining area holds a 61.5-inch rectangular table that seats up to five, or six if I pull it out from the wall enough to add another chair at the end. Its also extendable; I store the leaf in a nook under our stairs (though its slim enough to lean against any wall in any room or slip under the bed). It wouldnt work to have the larger version out at all times, coming up uncomfortably close to the radiator and my kitchen island. But when I need to, I rearrange it so that the table dominates the space  for one night, no one cares that things look wonky  and I can then squeeze up to eight. I think an extendable table is worth it if you can find a way to configure it in your space when the occasion calls for it.

Another good option is a pedestal table, which Christene Barberich, author of the newsletter A Tiny Apt., recommends. After trying out four different ones over the years, she had a custom version built because of particular width and length requirements  but the pedestal trick stands no matter your situation. Pedestal tables for small spaces are really incredible because I dont think a lot of people realize that when you have legs, it limits where people can sit and how many people can sit there, she says. They come in round (Barberich called out the Knoll Saarinen Dining Table, though Ive included a cheaper lookalike below) and rectangular shapes.

If you really dont have permanent space for any sort of table, a folding table can transform another room.

Super Deal Portable Plastic Folding Table $35 $35 Get a six-foot table, put a beautiful tablecloth on top of it, set it out in front of your sofa, and put seats on the other side, says interior designer Shamika Lynch from Maximizing Tiny. Its tight, its cozy, but now you have a big table where you can sit down and have a nice dinner. You can do some nice tablescaping and set a mood in that area. $35 at Amazon Buy $35 at Amazon Buy

Teak Flip Table $1,685 $1,685 Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang has this cool alternative to a folding table. Its a console she keeps in her living room  but flaps along both edges come out to turn into a proper dining table that can seat up to eight (and with one flap up, it works as a desk too). $1,685 at Teak New York Buy

A tablecloth can hide even weirder setups.

When Strategist senior editor Hilary Reid lived in a small studio, she would pull her extendable oval kitchen table out into the middle of her space, place her desk so that it connected with the end, and cover the whole set up with a big tablecloth. Once you cover the random pieces of furniture, no one knows whats under them, she says. You can set it with your nicest plates (or whatever you want to use), and it will feel as special as if you had an actual dining table.

Dining chairs matter, too.

To put it bluntly: Theres no room for arms in small spaces, says writer and small-space consultant Alison Mazurek. This still gives you many options: Mazurek specifically called out the Hay Rey Chair, and Strategist writer Erin Schwartz has a bunch more in their guide to the best dining chairs. From personal experience, Ill note that the legs make a difference, too: It gets less squished if they fall in a straight line with the corners of the seat instead of splaying outward.

Sundays Union Bench $520 $520 Mazurek says that a bench can do wonders, often fitting more bodies than chairs (especially true for kids). $520 at Sundays Company Buy

Finally, its okay to utilize random chairs from around the house. I can have a stool in the kids room and then bring it [to the table]. Or your desk chair can also be a dining room chair, which not everyone wants to do, but I think its a good option, Mazurek says.

Flexible seating can help a lot.

Thankfully folding chairs have come a long way and more companies are making prettier ones that are not offensive to have in your space, Lynch says. She even points out that some are nice-enough looking to mount on the wall when not in use. Mazurek has two extremely slim folding chairs from Resource Furniture that tuck in beside her washing machine. They werent cheap, but they fold down to less than an inch, and weve had them for ten years, she says. These were also recommended in Schwartzs guide by Laura Fenton, author of The Little Book of Living Small.

All the experts I spoke to stressed how useful small stools are. Barberich and Yang love the original stacking Artek ones designed by Alvar Aalto, but you can find many knockoffs out there. Theyre brilliant because they look beautiful stacked in a corner, and theyre also just incredibly sturdy and handy and comfortable, and they slide really far under the table, Barberich says. Theyre never in the way. They dont look like clutter. If a guest needs a back to their seat, she simply pulls an actual chair from another room.

Sundays Field Stool $270 $270 Mazurek loves the Aalto stools, too, but has this non-stacking one in her own home. She says its extra sturdy, so kids dont knock it over. And no matter the stool, they can be used not just around the dining table, but in the living room  as additional seating and as side tables, too. $270 at Sundays Company Buy

Its okay for kids and adults to eat in shifts.

When we have multiple families over, we feed all the kids first. They pile on the bench, all the chairs. We fill the table with all the kid food and they eat in ten seconds flat usually, says Mazurek. And then we clear the table, and I light the candles and I set it again for the adults. The kids are running around like chaos. But at least theyre fed and were not worrying about them, and Im not trying to fit 15 people in my tiny dining room.

Its also okay to eat in the living room.

West Elm Floor Tent Cushion $99 $99 When I have more than eight guests, people sit around my living room. Lynch once again points out that small stools are great for this because they can be used for extra seats or side tables, depending on your needs. I also find having a floor pillow or two is nice. It lets your guests know they can and should sit on the floor, and allows them to be more comfortable when they do so. $99 at West Elm Buy

Softline Drum Pouf Mazurek and Lynch say that if you have ottomans, putting trays on top of those so people can set down a plate or drink without worry is great, too. There are even ottomans that come with tight-fitting removable trays on top, like this one from Softline that Mazurek recommends. Find a dealer at Softline Furniture Buy

West Elm Boardwalk Square Nesting Table $1,465 $1,465 And finally, Lynch says a nesting coffee table can be a very useful piece to invest in if you host enough. They can be bunched together when no one is there, but spread out when needed. $1,465 at West Elm Buy

Dont be afraid to clear off unusual surfaces.

If you have a kitchen island or a large swath of kitchen counter space, those are often the go-tos for a buffet. But if you dont, or youre looking for separate drinks or snacks stations, Lynch and Barberich say dont be afraid to clear off more unusual surfaces, like a console or desk. You could clear a bookshelf and put cocktail napkins and a bowl of nuts there along with two stools, Barberich says. Wherever you put a chair, people will go and sit. Its nice to set up these little stations and then people have options, especially in a small space where you feel like you dont have them. Thats where the creativity comes in.

Your dinnerware should stack, too.

When it comes to actual dinnerware, stacking is key. Plates do this naturally, but bowls and glassware can be trickier (even if they technically fit together, some condense tighter than others). Mazurek likes Fables products (a popular choice among the Strategist staff, too), Barberich recommends Heller, and Ive included some of my own favorites below, including Material Kitchens glasses that I use for wine. Theyre not stemmed, but they still have more intrigue than a basic juice glass.

Be thoughtful about serveware.

Serveware can prove tricker. If you have the space to store a few big bowls and platters, great. If not, I think its okay to serve the same dish off of two smaller vessels if need be. Mazurek loves big wood serving boards that she can pile food on  ones nice enough to lean up on the counter and keep within eyesight at all times. You can even use a cutting board so long as you treat it properly (and dont use it to cut anything with too strong of a smell otherwise).

And  a trick I picked up from my friend and host extraordinaire, baker Gaby Scelzo  tiered platters can help create vertical space for more food (not to mention they just look cool, creating dimension on the table). Recipe developer and writer Mehreen Karim told me the same goes for cake stands on a buffet.

Your kitchen stuff doesnt all have to live in the kitchen.

If you think about it, youre probably selecting things for dinner that already go well with your decor, so integrating those items into the rest of your home and pulling them off of the shelves when you want to use them, then putting them back when youre done, works great, says Lynch. I personally keep votives, candlesticks, vases, and water pitchers on various shelves around my house.

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Safety Technology: The Third Wave of AI and its Impact on Workplace Health & Safety

Artificial intelligence has made solid strides in workplace and occupational safety, but are you keeping pace? Over the past few years, we have seen predictive and generative AI used to analyze data and predict hazards, monitor worker behavior, and improve safety regulation compliance in the workplace. However, as revolutionary as AI has been when it comes to worker health and safety, theres more around the corner.

The next step in AI development, agentic AI, has significant potential to enhance worker safety across various industries by autonomously monitoring, analyzing, and responding to hazards in real time. Sitting at the intersection of advanced programming and machine learning, agentic AI could help prevent incidents through autonomous alerts, predictively analyze real-time safety data, and target and personalize training, for example.

Here is the AGENDA for this webinar:

2:00PM ET / 1:00PM CT / 11:00AM PT

Safety Technology: The Third Wave of AI and its Impact on Workplace Health & Safety

3:00PM ET / 2:00PM CT / 12:00 PT

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Nir Kshetri

University of North Carolina-Greensboro

Kobe University, Japan

Nir Kshetri is professor at University of North Carolina-Greensboro and research fellow at Kobe University, Japan. He has authored 14 books and more than 260 academic articles, which have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and other languages. Two of his books have been honored with the Choice Magazines Outstanding Academic Title award.

Nirs work has been featured by hundreds of media outlets, such as Al Jazeera, Barrons, BBC, BS-TBS "Hodo, Bloomberg TV, CBS News, Channel News Asia, Economist, Foreign Policy, Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek, Public Radio International, Scientific American, US News and World Report and Wall Street Journal.

Nir is a two-time TEDx speaker about the roles of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6da0kEfBsY) and blockchain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdo_Jlov9R4) in fighting poverty. He has provided consulting services to Asian Development Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the World Bank and various UN agencies.

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KPA is a leading provider of EHS software and services for mid-sized businesses. KPA solutions enable clients to identify, remedy, and prevent workplace safety and compliance problems across their enterprise. The combination of KPAs EHS software, consulting, and award-winning training content helps organizations minimize risk so they can focus on what's importanttheir core business. Learn more at www.kpa.io

Becklar Workforce Safety provides innovative mobile applications, powerful devices, and award-winning monitoring as an end-to-end solution for companies to protect employees who work alone, at height, or in other dangerous environments. Becklar Workforce Safety Solutions reduce corporate risk by providing a variety of health and safety tools for employees that meet or exceed OSHA regulations. https://becklar.com/workforce-safety/

Matrix Design Group is the innovator behind the OmniPro Vision AI collision avoidance system, recognized as OH&Ss New Product of the Year for Facility Safety. Leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence, Matrix ensures its customers have safer and more productive work environments. View OmniPro Vision AI in action and discover more about its state-of-the-art technology at www.matrixteam.com/omnipro-vision-ai.

Duration: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes
The history of the British Petroleum Company (bp) in Kirkuk and Iraq can be traced back to the 1920s, when the companylater named BPspearheaded the operations of locating, exploring, producing, and exporting crude oil from Baba Gurgur in Kirkuk, which was considered the world's largest oilfield at the time. The exploitation of Kirkuk's oil lasted until the early 1970s, when the then-Iraqi government nationalized the crude oil industry after a decade of challenges.

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. alliances, bp's presence in Iraq resumed with a major stake in the Rumaila oilfield contract. Subsequently, the company signed a $100 million agreement with Iraq's North Oil Company (NOC) to study Kirkuk's oil fields. However, this agreement was not renewed beyond 2019 due to what bp claimed was "below expectations ... at least for us." This perspective was linked at the time to the lack of export opportunities for Kirkuk's oil, particularly in light of the 2017 conflict between Iraq and the Iraqi-Kurdish region. This conflict stemmed from the Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) push for independence, which led to the Iraqi military's intervention to reclaim control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

In a recent update, it was revealed that bp will officially sign a deal for its third involvement in Kirkuk's oil sector in the first week of February 2025. Meanwhile, Kurdistan's oil exports remain halted due to a ruling by the Paris Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in March 2023. Responsibility for the Kurdish regions oil exports is now under the control of Iraq's state-owned company SOMO, which supports the previous argument about bp's withdrawal from Kirkuk in 2020.

Related: Record Permian and Guyana Output Helps Exxon Beat Q4 Earnings Estimates

Even though bp had previously downplayed Kirkuk's oil reserves in 2020, its decision to return could face geopolitical and geo-strategic challenges.

Kirkuk: A Disputed Area with Huge Oil Reserves

Kirkuk is one of Iraqs disputed regions, beyond the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and subject to Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, a claim consistently asserted by Kurdish leaders over the past two decades.

The governance of Kirkuk province has also been a point of internal Kurdish conflicts, particularly between the KDP and PUK. At times, securing control over Kirkuk has required alliances with non-Kurdish entities, as seen in the 2024 power shift when the PUK reclaimed the governorship after a seven-year tenure.

Furthermore, Kirkuk holds one of Iraq's largest oil and gas reserves, estimated at over 9 billion barrels of oil and billions of cubic feet of associated and natural gas. The province also boasts a refining capacity of approximately 200,000 barrels per day.

These resources, combined with its diverse demographics, underscore Kirkuks strategic importance in Iraqs modern history, dating back to the 1920s.

bp in Kirkuk: Impacts, Internally and Regionally

bp's return to Kirkuk through a new contract with the Iraqi government could bring mutual benefits. The deal is expected to be profitable for the oil company while also carrying geopolitical significance for the government.

A reliable source familiar with the negotiations stated that the agreement includes profit-sharing provisions if production reaches 1 million barrels per day (bpd). Given that Kirkuks production capacity was around 1.5 million bpd in the 1970s, this goal seems achievablethough damages caused by reinjecting excess fuel oil and sediments into Kirkuk's wells could lead to serious operational challenges and increased extraction costs.

The new contract structure appears more attractive to major technology companies like bp, as opposed to the Technical Service Agreement (TSA) previously used by the Iraqi government.

Both parties stand to strategically benefit from this deal.

The giant oil company bp will regain access to the Kirkuk oil fields after years of absence, while the Iraqi federal government and Prime Minister Al-Sudani will leverage this deal to strengthen their political standing ahead of elections.

This agreement, alongside Al-Sudanis recent deals with U.S. and Western companies, suggests that he may have secured Western support for his political future, despite lacking the religious influence of some competitors.

Additionally, achieving over 1 million bpd in Kirkuk could strengthen Iraqs position in negotiations with the KRG, particularly regarding oil exports and federal budget allocations.

From a regional perspective, expanding Iraqs northern and western oil production could enhance its export capacity through routes such as:

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline (Turkey)

A potential restoration of the Kirkuk-Syrian Banias pipeline

The Iraqi-Jordanian Aqaba pipeline

This could further boost Iraqs geopolitical leverage and reinforce its role in OPEC and OPEC+, particularly in addressing global energy security challenges affecting Western nations and China.

In conclusion, bp's reemergence in Kirkuk, as part of Al-Sudani's ambitious agenda for his upcoming tenure in governing the Iraqi cabinet, could present significant challenges to both the oil company and Al-Sudani's belief in the future of the country's political environment. The forthcoming months are likely to offer greater clarity on the power struggles among Shiaa parties in anticipation of the upcoming elections, the dynamics within Kurdish factions, and the regional reactions to the developments surrounding bp's contract and Al-Sudani's positioning within the Iraqi government.

By Shahriar Sheikhlar for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
In October last year, Chinas CNOOC reported record oil and gas production from a field called Deep Sea #1. The field was the companys first ultra-deep project, an example of the pursuit of new, untapped resources that lie deeper under the sea. Yet its not only ultradeep offshore drilling that the Chinese are focusing on. Right now, China is building a new rig that should be able to drill much deeper than any other rigonshore.

Led by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, the project involves a number of research institutions and companies. Its purpose: to develop a smart drilling rig that could reach depths of 15,000 meters, or about 50,000 feet. The Deep Earth National Science and Technology Megaproject is a forward-looking strategy that aligns with global scientific frontiers while ensuring national energy and resource security, state news outlet Xinhua said, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.

Scientific frontiers aside, its all about the oil and gas and other mineral resources. That was the purpose of a CNPC project in the Tarim Basin in Northwestern China, where the state oil major experimented with drilling depths of up to 11,000 meters. The drilling began in 2023. Last year, after 279 days of drilling, the drill broke the 10,000-meter mark, per Chinese media reports, making the well the deepest ever drilled in the country. It was also the deepest well drilled in Asiaand the fastest drilled well of over 10,000 meters. The well was completed in March last year.

Related: Chevron and GE Vernova Partner to Power Data Centers with Natural Gas

Drilling ultra-deep wells is certainly a challenging endeavor. The deeper you go, the hotter it gets, and this can interfere with the process, which is why ultradeep drilling is not yet standard practice. However, the fact that Chinese energy companies and researchers teamed up on the subject is tellingand it tells us that China is prepared to go to these lengths to increase the degree of self-sufficiency in the energy space.

The Shendi Take 1 wellthe one that CNPC drilled in the Tarim Basincuts through 13 layers of rock, reaching formations that are 500 million years old. The new drill that the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences-led team is developing will make it possible to cut even deeper into the Earths crust and tap new oil and gas. And there is lots of these at such depths.

The Shendi Take 1 well is certainly an achievement. But it is not the deepest well drilled in the world. That honor falls to the Chayvo well, drilled offshore Russias Sakhalin island by a local subsidiary of Exxonthe operator of the Sakhalin-1 project. The Chayvo well exceeds 12,000 meters in depth, which makes it 15 times longer than the worlds tallest building, Dubais Burj Khalifa. The deposit, which the well was drilled into, holds an estimated 2.3 billion barrels of crude oil and 480 billion cu m of natural gas.

This is the ultimate reason for the ultra-deep drilling exercises: finding new hydrocarbon resources. Because the biggest energy challenge that human civilization facesas articulated by Landman protagonist Tommy Norrisis whether we would find an alternative before it runs out. There are schools of thought that argue there is in fact an unending supply of hydrocarbons in the Earths crust. While that remains debatable, it is a fact that the worlds undiscovered oil and gas resources lie in greater depths than previously considered standard. Researching ultra-deep drilling is an example of adaptation to the changing realities of energy supply.

China is the most obvious candidate for such research and experiments. The largest crude oil and gas importer in the world has substantial local reserves of hydrocarbons, but reaching them is more challenging than it is, say, in the Permian. Hence the concerted investment in ultra-deep drilling and the pursuit of leading-edge scientific breakthroughs as soon as possible  even as China cements its dominance in the wind and solar sector.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
The fuselage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 sits on the runway at San Francisco International Airport after it crashed on landing on July 6, 2013. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle 2013

On Wednesday night, a PSA Airlines regional codeshare flight for American Airlines collided with a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. Tragically, all 67 people aboard both aircraft perished after the plane crashed into the Potomac River. Our hearts go out to those lost, their friends and loved ones. Its now incumbent on air safety experts to figure out what happened and to apply lessons learned to prevent similar accidents.

Investigators will no doubt focus on decisions made by the flight crews as well as air traffic control. But human error alone wont teach us all we need to know about this crash. More and more, flight accidents are beginning to share common underlying factors even when they appear unrelated.

Although the Washington crash may look different than the July 6, 2013, crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport  which killed three people  similar underlying factors led to both. These tragedies shared the unrelenting demand for our understaffed air traffic system to move more and more aircraft.

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This is particularly true for our nations capital, where political officials commuting nonstop into Reagan National Airport create additional pressure on the Federal Aviation Administration. There is a big push on controllers to reduce delays, especially at the airport named after the president who fired 11,359 of them on Aug. 5, 1981. This indirectly contributes to daily challenges across our nations vulnerable air traffic control system.

One way air traffic controllers deal with the volume of planes they are expected to manage is that they will, when possible, clear aircraft for visual approaches. This means that during the critical landing phase of a flight, pilots are entirely responsible for their own vertical and arrival paths. Air traffic controllers ask if pilots have other nearby planes in sight and then expect them to maintain separation visually, without additional guidance.

This FAA policy is nationwide and uniquely shifts flight path and traffic separation responsibility from controllers to pilots. While it gives controllers the ability to handle far more flights and reduces delays, it also reduces safety margins.

Outside the U.S., airline flights are rarely given a visual approach. Air traffic controllers give them a defined route, built by procedure design specialists or within defined guidelines. Further, airline pilots operating abroad are virtually never asked to maintain visual separation from other aircraft. Other governments have decided the risk is too great.

Exhibit A is the 2013 Asiana Boeing 777 flight, which was given a visual approach to SFO. Because this aircraft was fairly high, the pilots needed to manage their flight path aggressively.

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Was it possible?

Absolutely. But for a tired trans-Pacific training flight crew unaccustomed to such a clearance it proved to be too much. If controllers at SFO had provided these pilots with the type of routine proscriptive guidance occurring in Asia, Europe or the Middle East, the accident would almost certainly never have occurred.

The key operational benefit of using this procedure is that it reduces the burden on our nations air traffic controllers, enabling fewer people to manage more traffic. When this approach contributes to a crash, it is convenient for grandstanding politicians to quickly blame controllers while ignoring more critical factors.

Wednesdays crash occurred after controllers handed off responsibility for traffic separation to the military helicopter crew. It was their job to avoid the regional jet as it approached a secondary runway at one of our nations most overcrowded airports. Effective automation designed to prevent this crash did not prevent it.

By design, an installed traffic collision avoidance system automatically inhibited warnings at the low altitude where this crash happened. This setting prevents distracting false warnings, especially from aircraft on the ground.

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It also may be one reason why the PSA flight crew was unable to avoid colliding with an Army Blackhawk helicopter at 400 feet. Of course, if both aircraft had been under direct air traffic controller supervision  as occurs in most other countries  it would have prevented the collision.

Stopping future accidents requires understanding fundamental system pressures and constraints contributing to these crashes. The solution  maintaining positive control of all aircraft by adding more controls  potentially means hiring thousands of new controllers.

The alternative is reducing flight schedules and increasing flight separation, an air traffic controllers customary response during bad weather.

It is no surprise that this accident waiting to happen took place in the Washington airspace saturated with a high density of military, corporate and civilian traffic. Special procedures mandated by a wide swath of prohibited airspace and noise reduction requirements add risk. It is the strategy to hand off control that keeps heavy traffic flowing.

About Opinion Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership. Read more about our transparency and ethics policies

These factors are central to todays air traffic control system that took shape after aircraft collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956. Following years of debate, the federal government created a system designed to rule out the kind of collision that happened Tuesday.

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Last year, when Germany turned away Russian LNG cargoes, making it a scandal, the markets may have thought that Europe was exercising a great deal of willpower in turning its sights on LNG, after targeting supplies of piped Russian gas. That has not been the reality. If the Russian LNG didnt come directly from Russia, its still making its way

But where does Russian LNG fit into this equation? Russian seaborne gas is not banned by Europe. And the numbers are out now, showing that in 2024, Russia exported 33 million tons of LNG, ramping up from the previous yearboth in terms of production and exports. The year saw a nearly 6% increase in LNG output. Russia is still the EUs second-largest supplier of natural gas, after Norway, with LNG picking up some of the slack. Over the past year, Russian LNG exports to the EU have risen more than 20%, though overall, the EU has reduced imports of LNG during that time period. Europe is getting priced out of the LNG market, whose big exporters (the U.S., Qatar) fetch higher prices in Asia.

There is no denying that Kyiv has won a victory over piped Russian natural gas, with the expiration of the gas transit agreement that saw Russian gas flow to Europe via Ukraine. Before Russia invaded Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Russia had cornered more than 40% of the European gas market. Now, its under 15%. By 2027, the European Union is hoping to have zero Russian gas imports. In 2024, only 10% of Europes pipeline gas was Russian.

There is no denying that Kyiv has won a victory over piped Russian natural gas, with the expiration of the gas transit agreement that saw Russian gas flow to Europe via Ukraine. Before Russia invaded Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Russia had cornered more than 40% of the European gas market. Now, its under 15%. By 2027, the European Union is hoping to have zero Russian gas imports. In 2024, only 10% of Europes pipeline gas was Russian.

But where does Russian LNG fit into this equation? Russian seaborne gas is not banned by Europe. And the numbers are out now, showing that in 2024, Russia exported 33 million tons of LNG, ramping up from the previous yearboth in terms of production and exports. The year saw a nearly 6% increase in LNG output. Russia is still the EUs second-largest supplier of natural gas, after Norway, with LNG picking up some of the slack. Over the past year, Russian LNG exports to the EU have risen more than 20%, though overall, the EU has reduced imports of LNG during that time period. Europe is getting priced out of the LNG market, whose big exporters (the U.S., Qatar) fetch higher prices in Asia.

Last year, when Germany turned away Russian LNG cargoes, making it a scandal, the markets may have thought that Europe was exercising a great deal of willpower in turning its sights on LNG, after targeting supplies of piped Russian gas. That has not been the reality. If the Russian LNG didnt come directly from Russia, its still making its way into Germany in significant volume. A recent report by Belgian, German, and Ukrainian NGOs claimed that in 2024, Germany took in six times the amount of Russian LNG it had taken in the previous year (as reported by The Financial Times).

Despite Germanys show of geopolitical energy loyalty last year when it turned away direct shipments of Russian LNG, the EU isnt prepared to ban Russian LNG. Earlier this week, the European Commission presented its 16th sanctions package against Russia, and LNG was given a pass for the most part. While many have urged Brussels to implement a full ban on Russian LNG, the new package falls short of doing this. A limited ban instead banks Russian LNG from EU terminals that are not connected to the EUs gas system. This is a logistical limitation only and bears no hallmark of a sanction of any kind. This will have zero impact.

LNG will continue to fund Russias war on Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to step up attacks on Russian oil installations. This week, Kyiv claimed to have successfully hit a Russian oil refinery in Kstovo, some 500 miles from the front line. The refinery/depot belongs to Lukoil and is said to have been extensively damaged. A second oil refinery was also hit in a massive Ukrainian drone attack this week.
In 2023, Angola officially announced that it was leaving OPEC amid a disagreement over oil production quotas, ending its 16-year stint in the cartel. Angola, Africas second-largest crude producer, became the fourth country to leave OPEC after Indonesia, Qatar and Ecuador left in 2009, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Relations between the South African country and OPEC came to a head after OPEC gave the green light to the United Arab Emirates to increase its production by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.2 million barrels in 2024, but lowered Angolas quota to 1.1 mb/d, roughly in-line with the countrys declining production.

However, the move did not go down well with Angola,Our role in the organization was not deemed relevant. It was not a decision made lightly  the time has come, Angolas Mineral Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo said while announcing the withdrawal.

And now it appears that Angolas recalcitrance is beginning to pay off. Angola's average daily oil production hit 1.134 million barrels in the first three quarters of 2024, good for a 4% increase compared to 2023 production. According to the Angola Press Agency, government stabilization measures have contributed to the uptick in production, with the gains attributed to the commissioning of new oil wells and interventions in various concessions.

Luckily, the country is also witnessing a surge in both onshore and offshore oil and gas discoveries coupled with rising exploratory activity. A few weeks ago, Nigerian multinational energy company Oando PLC was awarded operatorship of Block KON 13 in Angolas Onshore Kwanza Basin by the Angolan National Agency for Petroleum, Gas, and Biofuels (ANPG). Block KON 13 is located in the prolific Kwanza Onshore Basin with estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil. With a 45% participating interest, Oandos subsidiary Oando Energy Resources will lead the development of the block as operator, alongside Effimax (30%) and Sonangol (15%) as co-venturer.

Related: Gulf States Go Big on Solar



Last September, pan Angola-Brazil focused exploration and production company Corcel announced that its contractor, Metatek Group, has completed the acquisition of data phase of the Enhanced Full Tensor Gradiometry Survey ('eFTG') on Block KON-16. Corcel holds an operated and controlling interest in KON-16, a large (1000 sq km) block in the onshore Kwanza Basin.

Back in 2020, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) announced that it has, together with its partners, discovered hydrocarbons in Block 15 off Angola in the Bavuca South prospect. This was the blocks 18th discovery, but the first since 2003. According to Exxon, the Valaris DS-9 drillship drilled the Bavuca South-1 well 365 km northwest from the coast at Luanda in 1,100 m (3,608 ft) of water, encountering 30 m (98 ft) of good-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone. Exxon owns a 36% interest in the block, with BP Exploration Angola (24%), ENI Angola Exploration (18%), Equinor Angola Block 15 (12%) and Sonangol P&P (10%) being its partners.

Uphill Task

That said, Angola is facing a herculean task in its bid to return to its former glory. The countrys production when it joined OPEC in 2007 clocked in at 1.66 million b/d, peaking at 1.88 mb/d a year later. From there the countrys output somewhat plateaued, dropping slightly to 1.80 mb/d by 2015 before going into a steep decline in the subsequent years. Angolas major challenge has been a failure to attract enough investments for its aging, deepwater oil fields. Whereas the countrys oil deposits at first drew the attention and deep pockets of corporate majors BP Plc (NYSE:BP), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), and Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), its deepwater fields have declined faster than those onshore. Before its exit, Angola repeatedly failed to meet OPEC production quotas. Further, the countrys tax regime has also deterred investment, a situation that worsened when crude prices slumped from 2014 to 2016.

Angola will also be keen to avoid the so-called resource curse that has afflicted many resource-rich African nations. To wit, in August, Mozambique officially started exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) after years of delay thanks to rampant corruption and political instability. Back in 2010, Anadarko Corp. (now a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp.) and Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. announced the discovery of approximately 180 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, equivalent to ~29 billion barrels of oil, in Mozambiques supergiant offshore basin of Rovuma, immediately catapulting the south African nation to a potential global LNG superpower. As you might expect, there was a stampede by oil and gas majors including ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), TotalEnergies, Shell (NYSE:SHEL), Eni S.p.A. and China National Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: SNP) coming in to stake their claims.

But it was not long before terrorism and the long tail of the hidden loans corruption scandal, in which senior officials had formed state-owned companies that borrowed billions of dollars off-the-books, started to cast a pall on the economy and took a toll on investor confidence.

Mozambique was plagued by a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992, yet resurgent armed conflict remains a major challenge. The root causes, as always, have been underdevelopment and corruption. Over a period spanning more than five years, a notorious terrorist organization that aligned itself with the Islamic State carried out dozens of attacks, especially in the Cabo Delgado province. The insurgency killed more than 1,500 people and displaced another 250,000 in the countrys north.

Thankfully, the countrys current outlook is far more positive than its been in decades, with Mozambique having managed to attract significant investments after President Felipe Nyusi was sworn in in 2020.

"The completion of this international venture is a sign of the recognition by the market that Mozambique offers a stable, transparent and predictable environment for the realization of multi-billion investments, where high technology stands out in order to monetize resources in a phase of the energy transition, therefore it must bring pride to all Mozambicans, " President Nyusi said after the first shipment of gas under a long-term purchase and sale contract with British giant BP.

Angola will be looking to Mozambique for some important lessons as the country starts to unlock its gas riches valued at nearly $100 billion.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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Crude oil prices looked set for their second consecutive weekly decline since the start of the year despite staging a partial recovery in anticipation of President Trumps imposition of tariffs on the biggest crude suppliers to the U.S. this weekend.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $77.48 per barrel with West Texas Intermediate at $73.39 per barrel, both up from opening in Asia. Even with two consecutive weekly losses, crude oil is set for a monthly gain, with Reuters estimating that at 3.6% for Brent crudethe highest monthly gain since last June.

Trump threatened he would slap Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs from February 1 unless they address his grievances concerning illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling. Canada has threatened retaliatory moves including halting electricity exports south of the border.

Some believe that the tariff threats are nothing more than a tactic to prompt more desirable behavior from the governments in Ottawa and Mexico City while others consider the threat serious enough to prepare forhence the partial recovery in oil prices as Trump contemplates whether to include crude oil imports in the tariff package or exclude them.

Exclusion looks unlikely if Trumps recent comments are any indication. We dont need the products that they have, he said earlier this week. We have all the oil that you need.

Canada exports about 4 million barrels of oil daily to the United States and Mexico exports over 700,000 barrels daily to its northern neighbor.

Crude oil prices fluctuated as investors contemplate the likelihood of US tariffs alongside a flurry of executive orders and policy announcements, ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes told Reuters.

Sanctions on Russia, stopping purchases of Venezuelan oil and maximum pressure on Iran will increase the geopolitical risk premium on oil, Hynes added, noting that Trumps plan to fill the strategic petroleum reserve to the brim would make the supply situation tighter still.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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President Trumps threat of tariffs on Canadian imports could leave the United States reliant on crude oil from Venezuela, with which the U.S. doesnt want to work, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told the Financial Times.

Joly is visiting this week Washington, D.C. for her first official meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. government leaders. The Canadian foreign minister emphasized the negative impacts that U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods would have on both countries economies, workers, and businesses on both sides of the border.

Canadian energy and resourcesincluding oil and critical mineralsunderpin the long-term economic security and prosperity of both Canada and the United States to protect our energy security and reduce our reliance on the resources of non-like-minded countries, Joly said ahead of her trip to Washington.

Im travelling to Washington this week to emphasize that we are stronger when we work together, as partners and neighbours.

In an interview with FT, Joly said We ship oil at a discount which is, ultimately, refined in Texas. If its not us, it is Venezuela.

Canadas heavy crude is a staple with U.S. refineries in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast, which are configured to process the heavier crudes from Canada and Venezuela rather than the much lighter crudes from the U.S. shale patch.

Theres no other option on the table, and this administration doesnt want to work with Venezuela, Joly told FT.

President Trump said on Thursday that the administration was considering a possible exemption for oil in the proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. Tariffs could be imposed as early as Saturday.

Canada has reportedly drafted a list of U.S. goods worth about US$105 billion that it could tax with tariffs if President Trump moves to impose tariffs on imports from Canada.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Richard Grenell, one of Donald Trumps closest advisors, is set to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this Friday. Yes, that Madurothe same one Trump spent years sanctioning, isolating, and calling illegitimate.

This meeting isnt being framed as a grand negotiationat least not officially. Instead, it seems like a blunt demand from Team Trump: take back your criminals. The U.S. wants Maduro to accept the deportation of Venezuelan gang members, particularly those tied to the notorious Tren de Aragua. And they arent asking nicely. According to U.S. Special Envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone, this is non-negotiable.

Of course, theres more at play here than just a one-way extradition demand. Theres Chevrons continued operation in Venezuela, American detainees stuck in Venezuelan prisons, and Trumps fresh talk about cutting off Venezuelan oil imports.

Just a few years ago, Trumps White House refused to recognize Maduros government at all. Now, his team is dealing with him directly. Thats a major shift, and whether it leads to a thaw in U.S.-Venezuela relations or just another political standoff remains to be seen.

One thing is certain: Grenell isnt flying to Caracas just to have a polite chat. The stakes are high, and Maduro knows it. How he responds could have big implications for Venezuelas economy, U.S. foreign policy, the global crude oil markets, and the fate of the Americans still detained there.

Venezuela boasts the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and US refiners are chewing through Venezuelas heavy crude at an increasing pace, reaching a six-year high in December to 300,000 bpd. Venezuelas oil is critical for US refiners such as Chevron and Valero.

President Trumps move here may just be to exert leverage over Canada well, with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly telling the FT earlier this week that Trumps threat on Canadian imports could leave the US reliant on Venezuelan crude.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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President Donald Trump may exclude crude oil from the tariff shock he is preparing to deliver to Canada and Mexico this Sunday.

The tariffs are Trumps way to strong-arm the U.S. neighbors into stemming the flow of fentanyl into the country.

They send us oil  well see, Trump told media on Thursday evening, as quoted by the Financial Times. It depends on what the price is. If the oil is properly priced, if they treat us properly  which they dont.

In separate comments earlier in the week, however, Trump said We dont need the products that they have. We have all the oil that you need.

Canada and Mexico are the biggest suppliers of crude oil to the United States, with Canadian exports close to 4 million barrels daily and Mexican exports around 730,000 barrels daily. Because of the prominence of both as trading partners in energy many analysts have argued that Trumps threats are only a tactic to get Mexico and Canada to take care of immigration and fentanyl smuggling.

Well be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a number of reasons, Trump told reporters on Thursday.

Number one is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much. Number two are the drugs fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country. Number three are the massive subsidies that were giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.

Another reason Trump is likely to exclude oil from the tariffs is the fact that if he goes ahead and doesnt, this would affect retail fuel prices in the United States and it will not be a favorable effect. One of Trumps campaign promises was to bring prices at the pump down, so tariffing Canadian and Mexican crude would go against this promise.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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An overnight attack by Ukrainian drones on Russia's Andreapol oil pumping station, part of the oil export route via the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, has forced oil flows to stop, Bloomberg has reported. The attack also hit a Russian missile storage facility, causing a string of explosions. Ukraine has stepped up drone strikes on Russian military and energy facilities in recent weeks as the third anniversary of the war approaches. Ust-Luga port is one of the main ports used by Russias shadow fleet of tankers.

Russia's oil shipments via the Baltic Sea declined 10% over the final four months of 2024 due to the impact of EU sanctions against Russian oil and gas exports, the Finnish Border Guard has reported. Finland's Coast Guard monitors the shadow fleet that Russia uses to export crude via the Gulf of Finland.

"In the last four or five months of last year, we saw a roughly 10% decline in the amount of oil leaving from Russia," the Finnish Border Guard's Head of Maritime Safety Mikko Hirvi told Reuters late last week. "That is of course very good, but on the other hand, older vessels have been added to the traffic on the Baltic Sea at the same time. The vessels in operation are in worse condition than before," he added, saying its difficult to determine whether the decline will only be temporary.

Last month, the Biden administration announced the harshest sanctions yet on Russian oil. Reuters reported that a purported U.S. Treasury document circulating among traders in Europe and Asia, revealed that some 180 vessels, several senior Russian oil executives, dozens of traders and two major oil companies are targeted by the sanctions. Later, it emerged that the Biden administration targeted Surgutneftgas and Gazprom Neft, two firms that handle 25% of Russian oil exports. The two companies shipped an average of 970,000 bbls a day in 2024.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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The San Francisco Chronicle is launching a new column where you can ask general financial questions and even send in your budget and income and get personalized suggestions and feedback from columnist Jessica Roy on what you could do differently to reach your financial goals. PM Images/Getty Images

You want to live better in California. Personal finance columnist Jessica Roy wants to help.

Increased prices for essentials like groceries, insurance and housing in recent years have made it even more challenging to get by in the Golden State. A study from the Public Policy Institute of California published in December revealed widespread financial worries:

29% said they or someone in their household has had to cut back on food to save money.

26% said they worry every day or almost every day about the cost of their housing.

56% of Californians expect bad economic times in 2025.

1 in 5 Californians said it would be very hard or nearly impossible to afford a $1,000 emergency.

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Living in California is unique, and the common budgeting wisdom that makes sense in other places doesnt always apply here. The San Francisco Chronicle is launching a new column where you can ask general financial questions and even send in your budget and income and get personalized suggestions and feedback from Jessica Roy on what you could do differently to reach your financial goals.

General questions can be things like:

How much money should I actually have in my emergency fund?

Is my budget in line with most other people in my financial situation? How could I improve it?

Does it make sense for me to finance a new electric car?

Can I afford to build an accessory dwelling unit in my yard? How do I pay for it?

Where can I still afford to buy a house in California on my budget?

Think of it like an advice column for your wallet.

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To participate, fill out our Google form below or at this link, or send your question to jessica.roy@sfchronicle.com with the subject line No Nonsense Money.
A Douglas County jury ruled that CHI Health and two medical professionals at a downtown hospital were not negligent in their care for an Omaha woman who died in jail hours after she was arrested for trespassing at the hospital.

The jury deliberated for most of Thursday before returning the verdict in favor of CHI Health, emergency room physician Dr. Margaret Sheehy and nurse Katie Vanis. The family of 47-year-old Aundrea Milnes brought a malpractice and negligence lawsuit against the hospital and its employees after Milnes was discharged from the Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy campus in the early-morning hours of Nov. 3, 2022, refused to leave the hospital, was arrested and died in jail that afternoon.

The jury was tasked with deciding three separate issues: If Vanis was negligent in her care for Milnes, if Sheehy engaged in medical malpractice and if CHI Health violated a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, by not readmitting Milnes to the hospital after her initial discharge. The jury ruled in favor of the defendants on all issues.

The verdict was not unanimous. In civil cases in Nebraska, a jury can return a verdict after six hours of deliberations if 10 or 11 of the 12 jurors agree. In this case, according to the verdict form, 11 of the 12 jurors signed their names.

Pat Vipond, who represented the hospital system and Vanis, said they are grateful for the jurys verdict and remain committed to providing compassionate care to anyone who walks through the hospitals doors.

This case has been difficult for everyone involved, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Aundrea Milnes, Vipond said in a statement.

Milnes was taken to the hospital about 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2022, after she was found on a bench outside the Siena Francis House, a homeless shelter, complaining of stomach pain and diarrhea and vomiting blood. She was evaluated in the emergency room by Sheehy, who instructed her to return to the hospital if the pain got worse before discharging her at 4:15 a.m.

Sheehy testified at trial and in a recorded deposition that she evaluated Milnes and performed an abdominal examination, which did not show any signs of distention. She also completed a suicide screening on Milnes, as did Vanis, and both said Milnes did not report being suicidal when she was asked in the emergency room. Sheehy also said Milnes refused bloodwork and a CT scan after having a bowel movement and reporting feeling better.

After she was discharged, Milnes refused to leave the hospital, repeatedly lying on the ground outside the entrance while complaining of stomach pain and saying she was going to kill herself.

A hospital security guard twice called police on Milnes as she refused to leave the property. During the first interaction, a security guard and Omaha Police Department officer placed Milnes in a wheelchair and rolled her off hospital property. When she returned minutes later and again laid down in front of a different entrance, police were called back and she was arrested for trespassing shortly before 6 a.m.

Milnes died in her cell at the Douglas County Correctional Center that afternoon of a cardiac arrhythmia. At issue during the trial was whether or not a large fecal obstruction in her colon, which was discovered during an autopsy, was a contributing factor to her death. Tom White, the attorney for Milnes family, argued the obstruction was a significant contributing factor, along with acute and chronic methamphetamine use. White said the obstruction should have been found during a thorough abdominal examination.

Vipond and Sheehys attorney, David Ernst, argued that the obstruction was nothing more than constipation and that the arrhythmia was likely caused by methamphetamine use. They also argued that, even if Milnes had been readmitted, there was no indication that she would have agreed to the bloodwork and CT scan that she earlier declined.

Throughout the trial, White questioned whether Milnes had actually declined the testing, and argued that she at least should have been given another chance to submit to the tests after she complained of increased pain after being discharged. He repeatedly questioned the accuracy of medical records and hospital surveillance footage, which Vipond said was the result of desperation.

Because Milnes died in custody, her death was investigated by a grand jury, and an autopsy was performed by a Douglas County pathologist. That pathologist theorized that her cause of death was a combination of acute methamphetamine toxicity and the colonic obstruction, which caused the walls of the large intestine to necrotize. In testimony to the grand jury, the pathologist said that the pain from the obstruction, which would cause distress and increase her heart rate, combined with an increased heart rate from methamphetamine use may have caused an arrhythmia that stopped her heart.

The pathologist was not called as a witness at trial, and in their closing arguments, Vipond and Ernst sought to discredit that conclusion.
The Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences, on Tuesday, impounded 115 motorcycles, including 22 branded commercial motorcycles called Gokada and Maxokada, for violating the state road traffic laws.

The Chairman of the task force, Olayinka Egbeyemi, stated that the motorcyclists were operating on restricted routes and driving against traffic around Ikeja, Ojota and Maryland.

Egbeyemi, who said the activities of the branded commercial motorcycle operators were illegal and without valid documentation by the state government, ordered the owners and operators of Gokada and Maxokada to comply with the Lagos State Road Traffic Law, 2012.

He added that in accordance with the law, no commercial motorcycle operator was allowed to operate on 475 restricted routes, including highways and bridges across the state.

He said, The government enjoined members of the public to henceforth desist from patronising commercial motorcyclists on all restricted routes as the passengers are also liable to prosecution.

It was an eyesore seeing the operators of these newly-branded commercial motorcycles, Gokada and Maxokada, in competition for the right of way with motorists on highways and bridges across the state

The task force chairman added that the state Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, had ordered the prosecution of the 10 riders arrested.

One of the arrested Gokada riders, Francis Ayeni, who claimed to be paying N3,000 per day to the management of the ride-hailing company, said he was not aware of any documentation that needed to be made with the government.

Another arrested Maxokada rider, Adebayo Adeniran, noted that he collected the commercial motorcycle on hire purchase from the management of the firm after he had presented a guarantor.

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Saraki and Dogara

A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit that sought the sack of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and 52 other National Assembly members who defected last year from the political parties on whose. platforms they got to the office.

According to Punch, in a judgment on Friday, Justice Okon Abang held that despite the plaintiffs noble intention, his court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the merit of its claims in the case, because the plaintiff lacked the locus standi (the legal capacity) to initiate the suit.

The suit was filed by a civil society group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP).

Justice Abang was of the view that the fact that the plaintiff is a registered corporate body under the Company and Allied Matters Act was insufficient to clothe with the right to sue on behalf of the public.

The judge said the plaintiffs failure to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Action Democratic Congress (ADC)  (affected by the defecting lawmakers action)  was fatal to the suit.

He noted that, not being the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the political parties affected by the legislators defection, a member of any of the political parties, a member of the constituencies of the defecting lawmakers or a registered voters in the lawmakers constituencies, the plaintiff lacked the legal capacity to file the suit.

Details shortly
Pastor Adewale Giwa

Senior Pastor of Awaiting The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ Ministry, Adewale Giwa has warned Nigeria not to accept Coronavirus test kits and prevention materials donated by Chinese Billionaire, Jack Ma.

The materials were said to have been received on Tuesday by General Manager, Ethiopian Airlines, Nigeria, Firihiewot Mekonnen, who appreciated the Jack Ma Foundation for their generosity.

However, Giwa, in a statement to DAILY POST on Wednesday, urged Nigerian government to make its local kits available for the people.

It is not advisable for Nigerian government to accept these kits from China.

While the outbreak started in China, the bulk of cases and fatalities are now everywhere in the world.

Let us make use of our own prevention materials. I believe the state governors across Nigeria can handle this.

If God is protecting us, we must be watchful and prayerful. We must not allow ourselves to be fooled, he said.
From Representative Dwayne Yunker

January 30, 2025

SALEM, OR  Today, Representative Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass) called on the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to immediately suspend its newly mandated Sanctuary State training for state employees, citing its direct violation of President Trumps Executive Order 14159 and the recently signed Laken Riley Act.

The State of Oregon is actively instructing state employees to defy federal law and obstruct immigration enforcement. This is not only recklessit is illegal, said Rep. Yunker. I have sent a letter to DAS demanding that they immediately halt this training and work with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure Oregon is fully cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Oregon must put the safety of its residents first.

The training, which was rolled out this month, prohibits state employees from using resources to assist federal immigration enforcement and instructs them to report requests from immigration authorities to a Sanctuary Promise Hotline instead of complying. These policies are in direct contradiction to federal mandates requiring state and local cooperation with immigration enforcement.

The full letter to DAS demanding the suspension of the training can be found here. The training slides that state employees are required to complete can be viewed here.
HB 2300 is a bipartisan bill sponsored by Representative Kevin Mannix (R-Keizer) and Senator Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) that protects a person who discloses sexual misconduct from civil action. I wonder if Jonathan Tallman of Boardman, Oregon, inspired it.

I wrote about Tallman last year. Hes suing the woman who accused him of sexual harassment.

The legislation looks fine to me. Think of it as a free speech bill, and I tend to support free speech.

Eric Shierman lives in Salem and is the author of We were winning when I was there.


By Taxpayers Association of Oregon

OregonWatchdog.com

This has been a wild week for Oregon on the immigration topic:

#1. Liberal Democrat war of words amongst each other: Progressive Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo severely blasted Oregon Democrat Congresswoman Janelle Bynum for daring to vote for the Laken Riley Act.

we are all on the same side, fighting the same fight against fascismI am not here to play polite anymore. If you want people to be on the same team, then act like were on a fg team. Act like were on a team. Because if you dont, then I dont owe you any kindness or niceness in these public political spaces. Okay? and also Anyone who is not holding the line for undocumented communities is a traitor to democratic values as far as Im concerned

The Laken Riley Act simply requires Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants if they are charged with certain crimes like assaulting a police officer, theft or crimes resulting in death or bodily injury.

#2. Koteks controversial email: The Oregon Administrative Services Department issued an email to 11,000 state employees, asking them to undergo Oregon Sanctuary Promise training, which instructs government employees how to look for problems with Federal Immigration enforcement and for ways not to assist with enforcement help.

#3. Oregon State Representative Dwayne Yunker blasts Koteks illegal email: This brought condemnation and possible exposure of illegal activity by Oregon State Representative Dwayne Yunker. His press release stated,

Representative Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass) called on the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to immediately suspend its newly mandated Sanctuary State training for state employees, citing its direct violation of President Trumps Executive Order 14159 and the recently signed Laken Riley Act. The State of Oregon is actively instructing state employees to defy federal law and obstruct immigration enforcement. This is not only recklessit is illegal, said Rep. Yunker. I have sent a letter to DAS demanding that they immediately halt this training and work with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure Oregon is fully cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Oregon must put the safety of its residents first. (read more here)

#4. Clackamas County Commissioner calls for end to Sanctuary State status: Clackamas County Commissioner Ben west has called for Oregon to end its Sanctuary State law in light of an senior citizen stabbed by an illegal immigrant. Ben West on X seen below:

#5. Kotek pledges to sue Trump. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek broadcasted a public video pledging to sue the Trump administration over birthright citizenship.

#6. Portland Police Chief and Mayor Jump in: The uproar over immigration enforcement caused the Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day and Portland Mayor to issue a statement pledging to not work with the President and Federal Border officials. The Police Chief said he had no legal authority to assist.

#7. Catholic Bishop issues letter: The Portland Archbishop, Alexander K. Sample, issued this rare open letter on the immigration enforcement issue: It is important to note that we do not yet fully understand all the repercussions of the executive orders. The leadership of the USCCB continues to study this question and advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable.

In light of these events the Taxpayers Association of Oregon broadcasted these graphics:

The Taxpayers Association creates these graphics and this all-in-one immigration highlight article for you as an easy way to share these ideas with others. Please do share by email, Facebook, X and more.

 Was this helpful? If so, Contribute online at OregonWatchdog.com (learn about a Charitable Tax Deduction or Political Tax Credit options to promote liberty).
A guard escorts a condemned inmate at San Quentin prison on March 25, 2024. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Californias death row population decreased by 63 in 2024  without any executions, according to a new report. That means the state saw the largest death row population decline of any U.S. death penalty jurisdiction, even as some states continue executing inmates.

The number of condemned California prisoners went down to 591, the first time it has been below 600 since 2001, the nonprofit Death Penalty Policy Project said in a report released this week. Thirteen of the inmates died in prison, and most of the rest were resentenced to prison terms under changes in state law. One was exonerated.

President Donald Trump ordered a flurry of executions in the final months of his first term as president, and he wants capital punishment expanded in his second term. But the report details a significant drop in the death-penalty population nationwide.

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At the start of this year, there were 2,092 prisoners under death sentences in the U.S., 149 fewer than a year earlier, and the first time since 1988 that the nation has had fewer than 2,100 death row inmates, according to the report.

In the past six years, juries in California have sentenced 20 convicted murderers to death, an average of 3.3 per year, the report said. From 1995 through 2000, there were 223 death sentences in the state, or 37.3 per year.

And while polls indicate a narrow majority of Americans  53%, according to a Gallup survey in October  still favor the death penalty, the polls also show opposition among adults 43 and younger.

With public support for the death penalty at a 50-year low and the youngest generation of Americans even less supportive of the practice, I suggest that these practices will cause even more people to conclude that governments cannot be trusted to fairly carry out capital punishment, Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project and author of the report, told the Chronicle.

He was referring to laws and policies in several states that allow death sentences by non-unanimous jury votes, and in three states  Alabama, Delaware and Florida  that have authorized trial judges to impose death sentences even when a majority of jurors disagreed. Although Alabama has now repealed that law, Kenneth Smith, sentenced under the former law for a 1988 murder, was executed by the state in January 2024 despite an 11-1 vote by his jury for a life sentence.

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Of the 25 executions in the U.S. last year, the report said, 18 took place in four states  Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma. And among 26 death sentences in 2024, nine  three in Alabama and six in Florida  were by non-unanimous jury votes, as allowed by those states laws.

California juries issued three death sentences last year, all by unanimous juries as state law requires. But the state has not executed anyone since 2006, when a federal judge found that its lethal injection procedures were defective and created an undue risk of anesthetic failure and an agonizing death.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, an avowed opponent of capital punishment, declared a moratorium on executions after taking office in 2019, an action that has been endorsed by the leading Democratic candidates to succeed him in 2026. The states voters, however, narrowly rejected ballot measures in 2012 and 2016 to repeal the death penalty and resentence condemned prisoners to life without parole.

Pennsylvania also has a moratorium on executions, and 23 states have abolished the death penalty.

Worldwide, the United States is in the minority on the issue: Among 193 countries in the United Nations, only 53 enforce death penalty laws. In Europe, Belarus is the only nation with such a law; France and Germany repealed their laws in 1981, Italy in 1994 and Great Britain in 1998.

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Dunham said the U.N. General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in each of the past 10 years  over dissents by the U.S.  for resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.

Former President Joe Biden declared a moratorium on federal executions after taking office in 2021, and in December he commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned federal inmates to life in prison. That left the cupboard mostly bare for Trump, who in his final six months in office in 2020-2021 ordered 13 executions, the first conducted by the federal government in 17 years.

This year, one of his Inauguration Day executive orders was headlined Restoring the Death Penalty, and directed his Justice Department to seek capital punishment for all federal crimes punishable by death, particularly for the slayings of federal law enforcement officers and for murders committed by undocumented immigrants.

The 37 men whose sentences Biden commuted should be imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes, Trump declared, and federal officials should review their cases to see if any of them could face capital charges under state laws.

The president also called for death sentences for major drug dealers and sex traffickers. If Congress passed such a law, it would take effect only if the Supreme Court reconsidered its 2008 ruling that barred capital punishment for rape and other non-fatal crimes against individuals, although it still can be imposed for espionage or treason.

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Of the justices who took part in the 2008 decision, however, only three remain on the current court, and all three  Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito  dissented from the 5-4 ruling.
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 14CO galactic source function. Credit: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55603-1

The Earth's atmosphere has strengthened its ability to remove air pollutants, including the potent climate-warming gas methane, according to research published in Nature Communications.

Regarded as a breakthrough for climate science and the understanding of atmospheric chemistry, the study of the atmosphere's self-cleansing ability focused on determining the quantity of its elusive driver, the hydroxyl radical (OH), dubbed the "detergent of the atmosphere" by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen.

By applying an advanced method to analyze two long-running measurements of air samples from New Zealand and Antarctica dating back to the late 1980s, the research by New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) revealed a significant trend in the atmosphere's self-cleansing capability.

The research highlights that without the increased cleaning capacity of hydroxyl, methane would have contributed even more to global warming.

The long-term study by NIWA scientists, together with researchers from Victoria University of Wellington, GNS Science, and a collaborator from Finland, reveals the atmosphere's self-cleansing ability has been strengthening in the Southern Hemisphere since about 1997.

The 33-year scientific investigation concentrated on the atmosphere's strongest oxidant, OH, and identified radiocarbon monoxide (14CO) as a reliable tracer. The ultra-rare form of carbon monoxide is produced when cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, with its production rate well understood, along with its removal by OH.

OH is highly reactive and very short-lived, says NIWA Atmospheric Scientist Sylvia Nichol. "OH is a tiny chemical scavenger. Made up of one hydrogen and one oxygen atom, with a free unpaired electron, it is formed in the atmosphere when ultraviolet light from the sun strikes ozone in the presence of water vapor.

"It reacts with harmful trace gases including carbon monoxide and methane in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, which extends up to an average height of 11km (36,000 feet) from the earth's surface.

"It was a major discovery in the 1970s that OH is produced in the troposphere by reactions to allow the oxidation of gases such as carbon monoxide, methane, and ethane. Even though OH's lifetime may only be less than a second or so, it plays a vital role in cleansing the atmosphere."

With the highly reactive hydroxyl controlling the atmospheric lifetime of most gases, the presence of OH is critical for controlling concentrations of some greenhouse gases, particularly methane, says Nichol. "Even though the hydroxyl radicals appear in tiny quantities for a short time, they remove carbon monoxide and nearly 90% of methane in the air, so it is vital for maintaining air quality."

The dynamic nature of OH, along with its very low concentrations, means it is notoriously difficult to observe and accurately quantify directly, says NIWA Principal Technician Gordon Brailsford, who has spent decades collecting air samples.

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"Ultraviolet light influences hydroxyl production, so levels of this atmospheric cleaner have very large fluctuations on a daily and annual basis. OH is only formed during daylight hours, meaning it drops down to almost zero at nighttime, and is more prevalent in summer."

Past attempts to monitor trends in OH have used methyl chloroform, but that has been phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, making it impractical to use, says Brailsford.

"Traditional methods and models predicting hydroxyl's abundance based on methyl chloroform and other similar industrial gases also produced conflicting inferred estimates of changes in hydroxyl levels and its capacity to cleanse the atmosphere. So instead, we used naturally produced radiocarbon monoxide (14CO), a tracer whose production by cosmic rays we understand much better, enabling us to work out a trend in its removal rate by OH over a long period of time."

Records from two remote Southern Hemisphere monitoring stations dating back to the late 1980s have yielded quality data for analysis, says Brailsford. "Regular and consistent measurements spanning 33 years at two sites provide the first evidence for a long-term OH increase.

"The Baring Head Atmospheric Research Station outside New Zealand's windy capital, Wellington, is internationally recognized for its long-term monitoring of clean air.

"Some 4,000km (2,500 mi) further south, the joint New ZealandU.S. Arrival Heights laboratory on Antarctica's Ross Island is far away from human contamination, with air samples being collected even during the five months each year of darkness. Both measurement series are by far the longest and most consistent records in the world for 14CO as a tracer for changes in atmospheric chemistry."

Processing the samples requires many steps, says Principal Technician Rowena Moss, who has devoted more than 10,000 hours to the project. "Large samples of air up to 1,000 liters, were collected in gas cylinders, then dried, compressed, cooled to remove ambient CO 2 , and concentrated down to a microscopic amount of carbon monoxide and its isotopes.

"These procedures are undertaken so samples can be sent for 14CO measurement by accelerator mass spectrometry at GNS Science's radiocarbon-dating laboratory. Quality control is essential throughout these different steps to determine the original air sample 14CO concentration."

The samples from the two different observation stations have proven insightful into the role of OH, says lead author of the journal paper, atmospheric and climate scientist Dr. Olaf Morgenstern, whose work has extended an earlier developed "chemistry-climate" model.

"New Zealand data since 1997 shows a 12% ( 2%) annual decrease in 14CO. Measurements from Antarctica show an even larger 43% ( 24%) drop but only during the December-January period, the height of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

"These research findings suggest that the atmosphere's oxidizing capacity, driven by hydroxyl, has been strengthening over recent decades. The findings confirm and support our models and corroborate with those from around the world which suggest OH has been increasing globally."

The researchers examined which processes and atmospheric compounds bring about changes in OH levels, identifying three main drivers of hydroxyl increase, and one driver dampening the increase of OH. "Increasing hydroxyl trends are driven by nitrogen oxides primarily produced by motor vehicles, industrial combustion, lightning and wildfires.

"Hydroxyl is also affected by stratospheric ozone depletion, and water vapor, which is increasing under global warming, while OH has a significant offset due to methane, also increasing quickly, which acts to decrease hydroxyl. Knowing these four factors tells us what may lie ahead for OH, particularly that the increase could well turn into a decline due to changes in our activities."

The increasing trend of OH found in this study implies there have been larger increases in the emission rates of methane than those estimated assuming constant OH, he says. "Or put differently, methane would have contributed to global warming even more had it not been for this strengthening of atmospheric cleaning capacity.

"All four factorsnitrogen oxides, ozone, global warming, and methaneare exhibiting human-induced trends. Human activity is affecting the climate system's ability to strengthen its oxidizing power. These findings underline the significant role human activities play in shaping the climate system, affecting the capacity of hydroxide to cleanse the atmosphere and maintain air quality."

More information: Olaf Morgenstern et al, Radiocarbon monoxide indicates increasing atmospheric oxidizing capacity, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55603-1 Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

United States President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to end federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. In the days since, Trump has even tried to blame a deadly Washington, D.C., plane crash on DEI hiring practices, without citing any evidence. He was swiftly criticized for his statement.

In the corporate world, DEI programs aimed at addressing systemic barriers that have historically disadvantaged marginalized groups are facing growing resistance, with backlash becoming increasingly visible in workplaces and in public discourse.

High-profile companies like Amazon, Meta, McDonalds and Target have been canceling their DEI programs since last year. Although others, like Costco and Apple, have said they're retaining theirs.

The backlash against DEI isn't just about individuals rejecting change; it reveals deeper tensions in how people see themselves and their place in society.

Our research explores these tensions. We find that while social identity threatthe discomfort people feel when their identity is challengedcan lead to backlash, it can also present an unexpected opportunity for learning and growth. Understanding this dynamic offers a path forward for organizations struggling to balance DEI efforts with employee buy-in.

What drives DEI backlash?

Backlash often emerges from employees who belong to dominant social identity groups that hold disproportionate access to power and resources. Examples include white people in North America, men in patriarchal societies or heterosexual individuals in hetero-normative cultures.

For these employees, DEI initiatives can sometimes feel threatening. Why? Because such efforts highlight inequalities and challenge assumptions about fairness, merit and the status quo. When someone identifies strongly with their groupwhether as a white person, a man or a member of another dominant identitythey may see DEI initiatives as attacks on their assumptions. This discomfort is known as social identity threat.

For instance, when a company introduces a gender equity policy aimed at addressing women's under-representation in leadership, some men might perceive this as unfair. Their responsewhether it's skepticism, defensiveness or outright resistancereflects a defensive reaction to that threat.

Beyond defensiveness: A path to learning

Traditional approaches to managing DEI backlash often focus on mitigating threat: providing reassurance, avoiding confrontation or encouraging self-affirmation ("DEI isn't about you; it's about everyone"). Yet these approaches miss an important point: social identity threat doesn't have to result in defensiveness or backlash. It can also inspire reflection, learning and growth.

Our research draws on transformational learning theory, which explains how adults change their understanding of the world in response to disorienting experiences.

According to this theory, when people encounter information that challenges their assumptions, they can engage in a process of deep reflection. By questioning their beliefs and seeking out new perspectives, individuals can develop more accurate, inclusive interpretations of themselves and others.

Real-world examples of transformation

Consider the story of Caolan Robertson, a former alt-right filmmaker in the United Kingdom.

For years, Robertson worked with extremist figures to produce anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim content that garnered millions of views online. Then, in 2019, Robertson saw media coverage of mosque shootings, where 51 people were killed by a white supremacist. The tragedy rattled him.

In Robertson's own words, the event forced him to confront his assumptions about white identity and how it can be involved in violence and extremism. What began as an overwhelming sense of disorientation turned into a period of deep reflection. Robertson eventually rejected his old beliefs, began speaking out against extremism, and co-founded an organization to help others de-radicalize.

Similar learning occurs on smaller scales in workplaces every day. For example, a male manager who initially feels threatened by gender equity policies might, over time, come to recognize the barriers women face at work and become an advocate for change. Or a white employee who feels uncomfortable during discussions about racism might come to see how privilege has shaped their experiences.

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Creating conditions for growth

So how can organizations turn social identity threat into an opportunity for learning rather than backlash? We propose three strategies:

1. Foster a 'learning-oriented' DEI climate Organizations must shift how they frame DEI initiatives. Instead of treating these efforts as compliance-driven checkboxes, companies should position DEI as a chance for employees to learn, grow and contribute to a more inclusive workplace. A strong diversity climatewhere differences are valued, and conversations about identity are encouragedcreates a safe space for reflection. Our research shows that when employees feel that diversity is part of their organization's mission, they're more likely to approach identity threats as a learning opportunity.

2. Encourage dialogue across perspectives One of the most effective ways to challenge harmful assumptions is through dialogue across perspectivesopen conversations where employees with different lived experiences share their perspectives and provide feedback.

This kind of dialogue requires psychological safety: employees need to feel secure enough to express their views, even when those views are incomplete or flawed. Importantly, these conversations don't always have to occur between dominant and marginalized group members. Dialogue with other dominant-group colleagues who have already reflected on their identities can also provide valuable insights.

3. Support incremental progress Transformational learning doesn't happen overnight. Employees may initially engage in surface-level reflection, revising specific assumptions without challenging deeper systems of inequality. Over time, they may progress to deep-level reflection, critically analyzing the foundational beliefs that shape their identity. Organizations can support this incremental progress by recognizing small steps and encouraging continued learning.

Discomfort: A powerful motivator for change

The backlash to DEI efforts is often framed as evidence that the initiative is failing, but it can also be understood as a natural part of the learning process.

Social identity threat is uncomfortable, but it can serve as a powerful motivator for change when organizations provide the right tools and support.

Companies that ignore backlash risk deepening resistance and undermining their DEI goals. However, organizations that embrace discomfort as an opportunity for growth can transform their workplaces into spaces where employees are not only more inclusive but also more reflective, empathetic and engaged.

Backlash isn't the end of the storyit's the beginning of a conversation.

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Burundi faces serious climate and environmental challenges. The biggest is the country's overdependence on the use of biomass (firewood). The second is outdated agricultural practices that have led to deforestation. In turn this has increased the country's vulnerability to climate shocks.

A landlocked country on the north-eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, Burundi is extremely poor, with 76% of the population living below the poverty line (US$2.15 per day) in 2023. It is also ranked the 22nd most vulnerable to climate change in the world.

Burundi produces very little CO (less than 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions). Its challenge is therefore less about reducing greenhouse gases and more about managing its vulnerability to climate change. The excessive use of biomass and deforestation make it more vulnerable to extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.

Burundi has a history of extreme events that are considered climate-related. It has experienced severe droughts, resulting in crop failure and a 35% livestock mortality (19982005), as well as severe floods in 2006 and 2007.

But the country hasn't developed a reliable climate change legal and regulatory framework to address the issues. It is struggling to balance strict climate regulations alongside promoting voluntary behavioral changes.

Burundians are reluctant to adopt climate-friendly energy and agricultural practices due to a combination of factors. These include unaffordability, entrenched cultural practices in favor of biomass use and an agricultural sector largely dependent on forest clearing.

As a law and climate change expert, I examined in a recent paper how the government of Burundi should approach the problems of biomass dependence and deforestation.

I set out how the government could increase voluntary compliance without threatening the livelihoods of poor, agrarian people. This requires a climate change regulatory system that is delicately balanced between appropriate coercion measures ("stick") and sufficient encouragement and incentives ("carrot").

I propose that the government use financial incentives to encourage households and farmers to transition to climate-friendly practices. At the same time it would need to put in place punitive tools to deter non-compliance with these climate goals.

But to achieve this, it first needs to put in place a legal and regulatory framework to underpin these measures. Achieving this would establish a road map for improving climate policies in other countries in the east central African region too.

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The sources of the problems

From 2008 to 2021, Burundi's population increased from 8 million to 12 million. This led to higher demand for firewood and arable land. Deforestation causes irregular and excessive rainfall.

Households and farmers across the country are reluctant to adopt climate-friendly energy and agricultural practices, because of cost, cultural practices and farming practices.

For example, about 90% of rural Burundian households use three-stone firesa simple arrangement on the ground to balance a pot above an open fire. Nearly all (99%) of households use solid fuels like wood and charcoal as their primary fuel for cooking. Less than 2% of the population is estimated to have access to improved cookstoves which emit less smoke.

The agricultural sector is very heavily dependent on forest clearing. In 2020, Burundi had 465,000 hectares of natural forest, extending over 17% of its land area. In 2023, it lost 2,350 hectares of natural forest.

Balancing act

The "carrot and stick" model would use tools designed to restrict the use of biomass. For example, households and farmers that rely on biomass could be fined or their land could be seized.

Simultaneously, the government would need to provide generous economic and financial tools for households and agricultural entities. These could include grants, tax relief on agricultural products, interest-free loans, compensation and grant schemes.

I argue that combining these tools within a single regulatory framework would persuade stakeholders to move away from activities that have a climate impact, towards cleaner energy sources. This is an innovative idea for climate change regulation, drawing from experience in other sectors in developing countries.

The approach creates a synergy between punishment and persuasion. But it requires a legal basis.

A legal framework

Given the gaps in Burundi's current climate change legal framework, reform should encompass three steps. The government needs to:

enact climate legislation

establish a climate change regulator

institute economic incentives for climate-friendly activities and practices.

These steps are interlinked. But the first is the most fundamental, as it creates the foundation for the climate change legal framework and regulates all activities and practices within the climate change sector. It equally provides a legal basis for the "carrot and stick" approach.

A legal framework would allow Burundi to:

put in place punitive instruments

establish a climate regulator to enforce climate control measures

create the mechanisms to provide payments and incentives to individuals, households and agricultural entities to move to cleaner energy sources. These could include buying cleaner energy appliances and modern farming tools. Payments could also be made to compensate for loss of earnings or reduced agricultural products that may arise in the initial phases of implementing climate-friendly practices.

protect the climate rights of indigenous and marginalized groups. These include access to cleaner energy sources and financial grants. Also, the right to participation in climate decision making, the right to access information, and the right to justice and remedies.

Climate change legislation would also:

enable Burundi's international climate change obligations under the Paris Agreement to be put into domestic law

introduce accountability for climate change measures adopted by the government

ensure legislative oversight on government activities in the sector.

The way forward

The proposed reform of Burundi's climate change legal framework has wider application to most of the countries in the region: Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo, Zambia, Central African Republic and Malawi. All are predominantly agricultural-based economies and biomass-dependant for their energy needs.

These countries have similar climate change challenges based on the same factors plaguing Burundi. In my view all would benefit from a "carrot and stick" approach.

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Algae, as seen here, can bloom as a result of nitrogen in fertilizer. When the algae die, the decomposition process consumes the oxygen supply in the water, killing marine life and making it further uninhabitable, creating a dead zone. Levan Elbakidze, a WVU professor, is studying the costs of these dead zones. Credit: WVU Photo / Alyssa Reeves

A West Virginia University researcher is working to understand and estimate environmental cleanup costs associated with agricultural runoff that causes polluted "dead zones" in downstream coastal systems.

Levan Elbakidze, professor of resource economics and management at the WVU Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Division for Land-Grant Engagement, WVU doctoral candidate Taiwo Akinyemi and postdoctoral fellow Yeulu Xu are collaborating with researchers from Texas Soil and Water Research Laboratory and Iowa State University to study coastal hypoxic zones, also known as "dead zones."

Algae bloom in these areas as a result of nitrogen in agricultural fertilizer, and when the algae die, the decomposition process consumes the oxygen supply in the water, killing marine life and making it further uninhabitable.

"The Gulf of Mexico algal bloom is a really big problem," Elbakidze said. "Nitrogen from agriculture gets into the downstream systems and results in excess nutrients in those waters, which in turn support periodic algal blooms in coastal systems like the Gulf of Mexico. Algae consume dissolved oxygen as they die off and decompose, resulting in oxygen deficit, or hypoxia. Because of this, fish die or migrate away from the hypoxic area, creating dead zones in the Gulf."

The researchers have completed a four-year study in which they designed an economic model that looks at nitrogen fertilizer and its role in the demand and supply of corn, wheat, sorghum and soybeans. The paper is published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

By estimating how much fertilizer each of these crops uses and how much is planted and produced, the team can subsequently determine how much nitrogen reaches systems like the Gulf of Mexicowhich President Donald Trump has renamed the Gulf of America through an executive orderLake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay.

They also examined the impacts of fertilizer prices and international trade barriers on nutrient runoff.

Despite the Environmental Protection Agency's goal of reducing the size of the Gulf dead zone by 2035, little progress has been made. EPA studies found that nitrogen runoff to the Gulf must be reduced by about 45% to meet the intended objective. Reducing dead zones and algal blooms in coastal areas should also improve upstream water quality in watersheds like the Mississippi River Basin, as nitrogen runoff also damages local streams. Elbakidze's model predicts how reducing runoff will influence the levels of nitrogen in a particular local area upstream.

"The benefits of reducing nitrogen pollution are likely to be really large upstream and downstream," he said. "But suppose we achieve the objective somehow. Suppose we tax nitrogen fertilizers, make fertilizers really expensive or regulate fertilizer use in some way. What will happen to the markets? What will happen to the price of commodities, like corn and soybeans? What will be the impact on consumers and producers? These are some of the questions we address."

A second concern is pollution leakage. If nitrogen runoff to the Gulf is reduced by 45%, some of the sources of pollutionthe agriculture that requires fertilizermay migrate to another area.

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"A lot of corn is produced in the Mississippi River Basin," Elbakidze said. "If we significantly limit corn production there, then prices for corn may go up, simply because that area is really large and represents a big market share. And if corn prices increase, then producers in other areas that are less regulated may have an incentive to increase production. So, corn production and nitrogen runoff can move to other areas."

To that end, the researchers found a 45% decrease in runoff to the Gulf will result in a 4%5% increase in runoff to Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay.

While restricting runoff to all coastal areas is an option, Elbakidze said the cost of such co-management must be considered.

"Economists typically think about the costs of such objectives in terms of consumer costs due to higher prices and lower consumption, and producer costs due to decrease in production that may or may not be offset by higher prices. We estimate that the cost of achieving a 45% reduction in agricultural nitrogen runoff to the Gulf is about $7 billion annually.

"However, I suspect that the benefits of reducing nitrogen runoff are likely to exceed these costs, especially if we count the values of reducing the dead zone in the Gulf as well as the values of improved upstream ecosystems in the Mississippi River Basin."

In the next phase of the study, the researchers aim to expand the crops included in the model. This will add accuracy to the model and allow them to see what happens in other commodity markets.

"Right now, if you reduce nitrogen runoff, we can see what will happen to soybean, wheat, corn and sorghum prices," Elbakidze said, adding that the new model will look at more crops. The researchers will also include phosphorus in the model, which is a bigger problem in Lake Erie than nitrogen. Curtailing nitrogen in the Gulf may have a harmful effect on phosphorous levels in the lake, an example of cross-nutrient leakage.

"The idea of pollution leakage is not new in principle," he said. "However, in our setting, integrated models that account for human behavior and natural system dynamics jointly are needed to estimate costs, benefits and impacts. Such quantitative evaluations are critical for informed policy development aimed at managing environmental externalities like nutrient runoff from agriculture. More research is needed to quantify benefits and costs."

More information: Taiwo Akinyemi et al, Cross-watershed leakage of agricultural nutrient runoff, Environmental Research Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad4e4a Journal information: Environmental Research Letters
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Researchers in Mongolia. Credit: University of New Mexico

Museum collections are key to universities' missions to provide education, research, public service and economic development to the state, nationally, and internationally.

A new paper titled "Global natural history infrastructure requires international solidarity, support, and investment in local capacity" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a consortium of institutions, including The University of New Mexico through the Museum of Southwestern Biology, points to the pressing need to collaboratively develop natural history and archaeological collection infrastructure within low and middle-income countries.

More robust infrastructure not only ensures the preservation of irreplaceable and critical scientific objects, samples and associated data in those countries, but also serves as a critical local anchor for capacity development as those countries build their own scientific and cultural communities.

The paper explores the issue in Mongolia where UNM's Museum of Southwestern Biology has been working for 3 decades to help develop science infrastructure that would increase understanding of how environmental change is impacting natural environments and cultural resources.

Eastern mole vole (Ellobius tancrei). Credit: University of New Mexico

According to the authors, strengthening scientific infrastructure within Mongolia is essential not only for preserving invaluable specimens but also for empowering a new generation of Mongolian and international scientists to address pressing challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

"Museums are hubs of education and research as they document the world's biodiversity and establish baseline conditions. The value of helping to build this infrastructure and associated training in under-resourced countries continues to grow as new methods and technologies enable researchers to explore historical records in ways unimaginable even a decade ago.

"Current and accelerating trends on our changing planet reinforce the argument that archived materials are irreplaceable and priceless," said Joseph Cook, Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Southwestern Biology and distinguished and regent professor of Biology.

Museum research collections can provide a critical connection which is often missing in traditional science education, but vitally important in the development of the next generation of environmental scientists.

Ognev's Long-eared Bat (Plecotus ognevi). Credit: University of New Mexico

"Throughout our decades of scientific collaborations across the globe, we've always seen the direct impact that collections-based experiences provide for students. The MSB is an active generator of specimen-based science and museum-based scientists, with alumni now spread across top universities and museums around the country. The benefits are clear, investment in physical and intellectual museum infrastructure pays off," said Jon Dunnum, Ph.D., Senior Collection manager, MSB Division of Mammals.

Without locally anchored museum facilities to house reference specimens, collections, research space, and other important infrastructure, scientists lack many of the important tools needed to understand and respond to important and pressing issues, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and emergent disease.

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William Taylor, a 2017 University of New Mexico alumnus with a Ph.D. in anthropology and now curator of archaeology at the University of Colorado, noted, "Mongolia's natural and cultural heritage collections end up getting sent overseas for scientific research to take place. This means fewer chances to ask research questions important at local scales, and fewer chances to train young scientists or engage the community with these authentic collections."

Improving repositories in under-resourced countries will require building in-country capacity, through participation of local community members in fieldwork, mentoring young professionals, and building more extensive collections.

Conducting field work in Mongolia. Credit: University of New Mexico

In the paper, the authors note that current practice of exporting specimens to institutions in developed countries is a widespread problem across the Global South, perpetuating colonialism and limiting opportunities for local research and innovation.

"Scientific collections are the foundation for understanding our natural and cultural heritage and they hold the key to solving some of the problems humanity faces," said study co-author Bazartseren Boldgiv, professor of Biology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

By investing in local collections and expertise, Boldgiv concluded, "We can contribute to solving global problems while ensuring that the voices and priorities of local scientists are heard and respected by the global scientific community."

The PNAS paper recommends that international projects invest in local infrastructure and capacity building as we investigate, monitor, and mitigate our changing planet.

More information: Bazartseren Boldgiv et al, Global natural history infrastructure requires international solidarity, support, and investment in local capacity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2411232122 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Infographic of Reeves et al. 2025 study based on using DNA to identify that killer whales killed white shark carcass for liver. Credit: Emma Luck

For the first time, DNA evidence has confirmed killer whales in Australia hunted a white shark for its liver.

Based on DNA analysis from the bite wounds on the carcass of a large white shark washed ashore near Portland in Victoria in 2023, the Flinders University-led study identified that killer whales were responsible for consuming the mid-section containing the nutritionally rich liver.

The findings are published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Around the world, killer whales (Orcinus orca) have been observed preying on various shark species, including white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias)as previously documented in California and South Africa.

The discovery of a 4.7 meter white shark missing its liver on a beach in southeastern Australia offered a rare opportunity to analyze distinctive bite wounds and unravel the predator's identity.

"The liver, digestive and reproductive organs were missing, and there were four distinctive bite wounds, one of which was characteristic of liver extraction by killer whale, similar to what has been observed in South Africa," says lead author Isabella Reeves, a Ph.D. candidate with Flinders University's Southern Shark Ecology Group and the West Australian Cetacean Research Center (CETREC).

"Swabs were taken from bite wounds on the white shark and sequenced for remnant genetic material from the shark's predator. We were able to confirm the presence of killer whale DNA in the primary bite area, while the other three wounds revealed DNA from scavenging broadnose sevengill sharks.

"These findings provide compelling evidence of killer whale predation on white sharks in Australian waters, with a strong indication of selective liver consumption. This suggests that such predation events may be more widespread and prevalent across the globe than previously believed."

The study used wildlife forensic techniques to confirm killer whales were responsible for excising and consuming the liver from the white shark. Civilian bystanders had witnessed several killer whales, including locally known individuals called "Bent Tip" and "Ripple," catching a large prey in Bridgewater Bay two days before the white shark carcass washed ashore.

The beached large white shark carcass was collected by state government fisheries officers for investigation.

Killer whales in Australia have occasionally been recorded preying on various shark species, including the blue shark (Prionace glauca), porbeagle (Lamna nasus), shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), ground sharks (most likely school shark, Galeorhinus galeus), and tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). But white shark liver consumption had yet to be observed in Australiadespite numerous reports of such behavior in California and by notorious duo "Port" and "Starboard" in South Africa.

Several interactions between killer whales and white sharks have been reported in Australia, including at least one suspected kill at the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park in South Australia in February 2015.

On that occasion, an oil slick indicative of a successful predation was observed following the interaction, although no carcass was recovered to confirm the kill.

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Rhodes University (South Africa) marine biologist, Dr. Alison Towner, an author of the study, says similar killer whale predation on white sharks have led to disruptions in local shark populations in both South Africa and California. "However, direct observations of these interactions remain rare and their frequency is poorly understood," she says.

Senior author, Flinders adjunct Associate Professor Adam Miller, says, "We don't know how frequently these events occurred in Australian waters and therefore how significant these findings are," says Associate Professor Miller, who is also a senior ecologist with Cesar Australia.

"Evidence suggests that the white sharks being displaced or directly killed as a result of the killer whale predation in South Africa has led to cascading shifts in the wider marine ecosystem.

"We know that white sharks are key regulators of ecosystem structure and functions, so it's very important we preserve these top predators. Therefore, it is important that we keep a tab on these types of interactions in Australian waters where possible."

Another author, Flinders University Research Fellow Dr. Lauren Meyer, adds, "This study also provides DNA evidence that scavenging is facilitated by killer whales' tissue selection, whereby the liver and internal organs are consumed, but much of the carcass remains as a nutrient source benefiting local ecosystems."

More information: Isabella M. M. Reeves et al, Genetic Evidence of Killer Whale Predation on White Sharks in Australia, Ecology and Evolution (2025). DOI: 10.1002/ece3.70786 Journal information: Ecology and Evolution
President Donald Trump signs executive orders Thursday in the Oval Office in Washington. Trumps message is clear: He wants full control, and he only wants those who will obey his every order working for the federal government. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

One way to understand Donald Trumps chaotic first several days of office is to know that he isnt satisfied with being president in his second term. He wants to be king, surrounded by loyal subjects and unencumbered by oversight restricting what he wants to do.

Democrats have been powerless to stop him  some have even abetted him  and the few remaining free-thinking Republicans are too cowed to try.

On Monday, he fired 18 inspectors general  the people charged with providing nonpartisan oversight over federal departments. The same day, the Department of Justice fired several career attorneys who were involved in prosecuting him. On Tuesday, Trumps newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took retributive aim at one of Trumps political enemies, retired Gen. Mark Milley, stripping the career veteran of his security detail, suspending his security clearance and ordering an inspector general investigation into the allegedly not loyal enough general. One early challenge: Trump had already fired the Pentagons inspector general.

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Also Tuesday, Trump attempted to freeze the federal funds that have been approved by Congress, usurping the role of the House, the constitutionally endowed co-equal branch of government. Later that day, a federal judge paused the move, and by the next day, the Office of Management and Budget suddenly rescinded its directive. That night, Trump invited 2 million federal employees to resign immediately or risk getting fired, to be replaced by people loyal to his agenda.

Trumps message is clear: He wants full control not just of the executive branch but the legislative branch too, and he wants only those who will obey his every order working for the federal government. Thats not democracy. Thats autocracy.

And make no mistake,Trumps aspirational kingdom would be one where people of color and LGBTQ Americans have less power and fewer rights. On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order threatening to pull federal funding for schools where teachers refer to transgender children by their preferred name or pronoun, or allow them to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. In another order, Trump promised to not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called transition of a child from one sex to another. Those followed an order issued on his first day in office, in which he demanded the termination of all DEI and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility mandates.

What Trump is doing here is crystal clear: He is setting the stage to operate as a king, with no oversight or accountability, said Rep. Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat, who helped lead last years Stop Project 2025 Task Force.

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Trumps quest for the throne shouldnt be a surprise. His desire for autocracy was presaged by Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for his second term.

The primary author of Project 2025 is Russ Vought, who was Trumps Office of Management and Budget director from 2019 to 2020 and whose nomination to return as OMB director will soon be on the Senate floor.

He continues building an almost monarchical view of the presidents powers, as someone who can ignore Congress authority and use OMB as a replacement.

As Voughts 2025 Project described: The effectiveness of those (Executive Office of the President) levers depends on the fundamental premise that it is the Presidents agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies that operate under his constitutional authority and that, as a general matter, it is the Presidents chosen advisers who have the best sense of the Presidents aims and intentions, both with respect to the policies he intends to enact and with respect to the interests that must be secured to govern successfully on behalf of the American people.

Translation: The job of the federal bureaucracy is to behave like loyal subjects whose primary job it is to carry out Trumps agenda, Constitution be damned.

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Matt Glassman, a professor of political science at Georgetown University, wrote on his Substack that Trumps theory of the presidency feels a lot like 16th or 17th century England, where unlimited royal power was weakly constrained by Parliament.

Trump campaigned on doing exactly what hes doing. He spoke on the campaign trail of wanting to bring back the presidential power of impoundment, which means the unilateral power to stop funds Congress has authorized. That runs counter to Article 1 of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power of the purse. The Supreme Court affirmed in 1975 that presidents do not have the power to claw back funds, as did the Impoundment Control Act, enacted in 1974.

But wannabe King Trump is undeterred. He aims to challenge these laws. He also spelled out his intentions in a 2023 campaign video that has been viewed 123,000 times. It echoes much of what was in Project 2025.

Trump said that once he invalidates the Impoundment Control Act, he would then use the presidents long recognized impoundment power to squeeze the bloated Federal bureaucracy for massive savings.

His attempt to purge the federal government of its workers was a first glimpse of this plan in action. On Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management emailed federal workers with the subject line a fork in the road. It offered them a choice: Resign by Feb. 6 and be paid through September, or else. We cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency, the letter read.

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It ominously and without detail noted that the federal government was looking for employees who were reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and that going forward employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct, which smells a lot like a modern-day loyalty oath.

If sticking around wasnt for you, the missive said, resigning was easy and quick: Type the word Resign into the body of this reply email. Hit Send.

The consequences are terrible no matter what federal workers chose. Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, whose state is home to more federal workers than any place outside Washington, urged workers not to resign.

Hes tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign, hell stiff you just like he stiffed the contractors. He doesnt have any authority to do this. Do not be fooled by this guy, Kaine said.

But if the workers leave, many of the rest of us will feel the impact, as 80% of federal workers work outside of Washington, including 132,869 who live in California.

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Think about fewer air traffic control workers or food safety inspectors or federal park rangers or the legions of other federal employees charged with protecting their fellow Americans: Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government, said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Union, which represents federal employees.

While the king wants no one to tell him what to do, he has trapped some of his subjects between taking care of themselves or their country.

Now what? Over the next couple of days, Democratic House members will be holding events in their districts designed to showcase the ways that Trumps earliest actions are hurting local communities. Its the start of their first pushback against Trump.
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Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of deforestation.

Deforestation in Indonesia rose in 2024 for a third year running, a local environmental NGO said Friday based on satellite image analysis and fieldwork.

Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of deforestation, with key drivers including timber plantations, palm oil cultivation and, increasingly, the mining of critical minerals.

Its rainforests are some of the world's most biodiverse and provide critical habitats for threatened and endangered species, and are key carbon sinks.

The report from NGO Auriga Nusantara said 261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of primary and secondary forests across Indonesia were lost in 2024, over four thousand more than the previous year.

The group said the vast majority of the losses took place in areas opened for development by the government.

"It is worrying, as it shows the increase of legal deforestation," said Auriga Nusantara's chair Timer Manurung.

He called for "urgent" protection of forest in Kalimantan, where the highest losses were recorded as the country's new capital is built, and in Sulawesi.

The report comes as Indonesian environmentalists raise alarm over government plans to convert millions of hectares of forests for food and energy use.

President Prabowo Subianto, who assumed office in October, has pledged to boost food and energy self-sufficiency, including by expanding bio-based fuels to lower fuel imports.

The highest forest losses were recorded in Kalimantan where Indonesia's new capital is being built.

Environmental groups warn the plans would spell disaster for the country's forests.

"We ask President Prabowo to issue a presidential regulation to protect all remaining natural forest," Timer told AFP.

The report is based on satellite imagery, which was analyzed to confirm deforestation, and followed up with field visits to areas representing tens of thousands of hectares of forest loss, Auriga Nusantara said.

Coral region under threat

While deforestation occurred in all of Indonesia's provinces except the region around Jakarta, the biggest losses were seen in Kalimantan.

One driver in the region has been the designation of an area for the new capital, the report said.

Two regional governments in the area have proposed opening up hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest to potential development, the group warned.

Most deforestation however was driven by commodities, including timber, mining and palm oil.

Officials at Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chart showing hectares of deforestation in Indonesia by region in 2023 and 2024.

The government has previously disputed deforestation claims made by environmentalists, and said estimates overstate forest loss by miscounting changes in plantations as deforestation.

Auriga Nusantara said its count excluded loss in timber plantations and plantation forest, but does cover both primary forests and regenerated "secondary" forest.

The report also sounds the alarm on deforestation for biomass production, which has seen forest leveled to plant quick-growing species that will provide wood biomass.

Indonesia is keen to boost domestic use of biomass energy and export, particularly to Japan and South Korea.

And it highlighted deforestation on islands in Raja Ampat, an area known for its teeming coral reefs, as nickel mining advances.

"This area of such national and international acclaim has been unable to withstand the onslaught," the report said.

Nearly 200 hectares across four islands in the region have been deforested, the group said, with new nickel mining licenses already issued for several more islands.

Auriga Nusantara said forest loss was also happening in conservation areas, despite legal protections.

The group said about 42 million hectares of Indonesia's natural forests are unprotected by law, including millions of hectares already inside concessions.

While the amount of forest loss has risen in recent years, it is still down sharply from a peak around 2016.

 2025 AFP
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Murriyang, the CSIROs radio telescope, at Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Credit: CSIRO

In February 1995, a small research organization known as the SETI Institute launched what was then the most comprehensive search for an answer to a centuries-old question: are we alone in the universe?

This Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of the first astronomical observations conducted for the search, named Project Phoenix. These observations were done at the Parkes Observatory in Wiradjuri country in the central west of New South Wales, Australiahome to one of the world's largest radio telescopes.

But Project Phoenix was lucky to get off the ground.

Three years earlier, NASA had commenced an ambitious decade-long, US$100 million Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). However, in 1993, the United States Congress cut all funding for the program because of the growing US budget deficit. Plus, SETI skeptics in Congress derided the program as a far-fetched search for "little green men."

Fortunately, the SETI Institute secured enough private donations to revive the projectand Project Phoenix rose from the ashes.

Listening for radio signals

If there is life elsewhere, it is natural to assume it evolved over many million years on a planet orbiting a long-lived star similar to our sun. So SETI searches usually target the nearest sun-like stars, listening for radio signals that are either being deliberately beamed our way, or are techno-signatures radiating from another planet.

Techno-signatures are confined to a narrow range of frequencies and produced by the technologies an advanced civilization like ours might use.

Astronomers use radio waves as they can penetrate the clouds of gas and dust in our galaxy. They can also travel over large distances without excessive power requirements.

Murriyang, CSIRO's 64 meter radio telescope at the Parkes Observatory, has been in operation since 1961. It has made a wealth of astronomical discoveries and played a pivotal role in tracking space missionsespecially the Apollo 11 moonwalk.

As the largest single-dish radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, it is also the natural facility to use for SETI targets in the southern skies.

While Project Phoenix planned to use several large telescopes around the world, these facilities were undergoing major upgrades. So it was at Parkes that the observing program started.

On February 2 1995, Murriyang pointed towards a carefully chosen star 49 light-years from Earth in the constellation of, naturally, Phoenix. This was the first observation conducted as part of the project.

A logistical and technological success

Project Phoenix was led by Jill Tarter, a renowned SETI researcher who spent many long nights at Parkes overseeing observations during the 16 weeks dedicated to the search. (Jodie Foster's character in the 1998 movie Contact was largely based on Jill.)

The Project Phoenix team brought a trailer full of computers with state-of-the-art touch screen technology to process the data.

Bogong moths caused some early interruptions to the processing. These large, nocturnal moths were attracted to light from computer screens, flying into them with enough force to change settings.

Over 16 weeks, the Project Phoenix team observed 209 stars using Murriyang at frequencies between 1,200 and 3,000 mega-hertz. They searched for both continuous and pulsing signals to maximize the chance of finding genuine signals of alien life.

Radio telescopes are able to detect the faint radio emissions from distant celestial objects. But they are also sensitive to radio waves produced in modern society (our own techno-signatures) by mobile phones, Bluetooth connections, aircraft radar and GPS satellites.

These kinds of local interference can mimic the kinds of signal SETI searches are looking for. So distinguishing between the two is crucial.

To do this, Project Phoenix decided to use a second radio telescope some distance away for an independent check of any signals detected. CSIRO provided access to its 22 meter Mopra radio telescope, about 200 kilometers north of Parkes, to follow up signal candidates in real time.

Over the 16 weeks, the team detected a total of 148,949 signals at Parkesroughly 80% of which could be easily dismissed as local signals. The team checked a little over 18,000 signals at both Parkes and Mopra. Only 39 passed all tests and looked like strong SETI candidates. But on closer inspection, the team identified them as coming from satellites.

AS Jill Tarter summarized in an article in 1997, "Although no evidence for an [extraterrestrial intelligence] signal was found, no mysterious or unexplained signals were left behind and the Australian deployment was a logistical and technological success."

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The next generation of radio telescopes

When Project Phoenix ended in 2004, project manager Peter Backus concluded "we live in a quiet neighborhood."

But efforts are continuing to search for alien life with greater sensitivity, over a wider frequency range, and for more targets.

Breakthough Listen commenced in 2015, again making use of the Parkes telescope among others.

Breakthrough Listen aims to examine one million of the closest stars and 100 closest galaxies.

One unexpected signal detected at Parkes in 2019 as part of this project was examined in painstaking detail before it was concluded that it too was a locally generated signal.

The next generation of radio telescopes will provide a leap in sensitivity compared to facilities todaybenefiting from greater collecting area, improved resolution and superior processing capabilities.

Examples of these next generation radio telescopes include the SKA-Low telescope, under construction in Western Australia, and the SKA-Mid telescope, being built in South Africa. They will be used to answer a wide variety of astronomical questionsincluding whether there is life beyond Earth.

As SETI pioneer Frank Drake once noted, "The most fascinating, interesting thing you could find in the universe is not another kind of star or galaxy  but another kind of life."

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Ecosystems and species across the natural world are in serious trouble. The vast majority of Australians want more government action, but it's not being delivered.

Take, for example, the federal government's commitment to end extinctions via its Nature Positive plan. Or consider its promise to overhaul Australia's environmental legislation and create a new independent regulator. Progress on both has faltered.

The biodiversity crisis calls for systemic change in humanity's relationship with nature. This requires bold policy action from governments. Our new research examined how everyday people can help achieve this.

We mined the insider knowledge of politicians, senior public servants and environmental advocates. The participants were Victoria-based, but their advice applies more broadly.

Here, we present a recipe for achieving real, lasting change for the natural world.

1. Be prepared for a long haul

Change can take a long time. Be willing and able to see out the process. As one government interviewee told us: "[Change] is not going to happen by one research paper, one meeting, one event, it's gonna be a whole range of things over a sustained period of time."

Also, find support. Our interviewees told us the most successful campaigns often happen when like-minded individuals band together. This provides the social support needed to stay the course.

Remember, change is possible. As one government interviewee told us, this is especially true in marginal seats, where "constant ongoing campaigning at every level" can shift the dial.

There is very likely a community group advocating for nature near you. These groups sometimes link up with larger, better-funded environmental groups, to access their resources and networks.

2. Know the system

Identify who you need to influence. The person holding the lever might not be a politician, but a public servant. Or public servants might rally for a cause internally, sometimes partnering with community groups.

So how do you find this key person? Build your networks. Start talking to people in your community and get to know your local elected representatives. Find out what they care about and pitch your message to appeal to their values and concerns.

One interviewee told us community groups would benefit from knowing more about how the system works: "What are the bits that can actually change? [] Community members can be a bit aggressive in trying to drive through their challenge without understanding why they've been ignored in the past, or feel that they've been ignored."

As another government interviewee told us: "People don't see how much power they have if they just use their voice and use it in a constructive way."

3. Be strategic

Choose whether to work with the government, or challenge it publicly.

Environmental advocates can work alongside governments to design solutions together. For example, a community group might work with their local council to design and implement management of a bush reserve. Big non-government environmental groups often work in this way, relying on strong relationships with government insiders to achieve change.

The opposite strategy is an "outsider" approach, which, at the extreme end, might include physically disrupting industry. Think chaining yourself to a tree in a forest pegged for logging or ramming a ship into a commercial whaling vessel.

A less extreme outsider approach might be seeking to get your issue into the media to build public interest to get something on the political agenda.

Both approaches have their merits in the right context. As one staff member of an environment group told us:

"We're going to put on the suits [] and we're not going to scale their buildings and release confidential information that they've given us to the media [] I don't judge those that have that theory of change, because we need both, we need the really extreme advocacy to make us look mainstream and medium and reasonable."

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4. Seize the moment

Identify when your advocacy might be most effective. It might be an upcoming election or budget, or when a policy is being reviewed.

Or it might be something less predictable, such as a bushfire, flood or other environmental disaster. In those cases, nature conservation issues are suddenly all over the media. It might be a chance for real change.

Effective advocates know how to identify, create, and be prepared for these windows. As one staff member at an environmental group told us:

"Some organizations talk about making change. But that's a harder exercise. Often it's a sort of catching a wave of something else, or waiting for the opportunity."

The upcoming federal election is one such opportunity. The lead up is a good time to advocate for nature. Speak with your local politician and their competitors about the change you want to see.

If not us, who?

These are well-tested, effective actions you can use to achieve positive policy change for the environment. But remember, the system is dynamic. New methods and approaches will emerge as technologies, modes of communication and other factors evolve.

Governments, however, are a permanent fixture in the system. They stand to benefit politically by engaging with community and advocacy groups. So there is enormous potential for everyday people to genuinely make a difference.

Environmental crises can seem overwhelming, but we canand musttry to make a difference. Because, as the old adage goes: if not us, who? And if not now, when?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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A schematic illustration of the biochemical heat engine model that achieves maximum power while approaching Carnot efficiency. The left panel shows the two-state engine, where the higher energy state can accommodate many more configurations than the lower energy state. The right panel shows the power-efficiency trade-off curve, demonstrating how increasing the degeneracy difference allows the engine to approach Carnot efficiency while maintaining maximum power output. Credit: Shiling Liang.

Challenging centuries-old assumptions about thermodynamics, a new study published in Physical Review Letters has shown that it is theoretically possible to design a heat engine that achieves maximum power output while approaching Carnot efficiency.

The Carnot heat engine is a thermodynamic device that converts heat into mechanical work by operating between two temperature reservoirs, a hot and cold one.

The engine works by taking heat from the hot reservoir, converting some of it into useful work, and rejecting the remaining heat to the cold reservoir. The thermodynamic cycle followed by the engine is known as the Carnot cycle.

In an ideal case, this process would be perfectly reversible and the Carnot engine would have maximum efficiency. In reality, real heat engines are not reversible and lose energy in the form of heat.

Thus, the efficiency of a real heat engine is always less than that of a Carnot heat engine operating between the same reservoirs. This is the second law of thermodynamics.

The challenge with building a heat engine that has an efficiency close to the Carnot heat engine is it takes infinite time to do the work with minimal power output.

The researchers addressed this problem with a biochemical heat engine. Phys.org spoke to the co-authors of the study, Assistant Prof. Yu-Han Ma from Beijing Normal University and Dr. B. Shiling Liang from the Center for Systems Biology Dresden.

Prof. Ma said, "This collaborative work originated from a discussion between Shiling and me at the end of 2022. At that time, in his early explorations, Shiling discovered that degeneracy could increase the efficiency at maximum power (EMP) of heat engines."

Dr. Liang added, "Drawing from a polymer folding model in my previous work, I developed a minimal heat engine that, surprisingly, showed the potential to exceed some accepted limits on heat engine efficiency at maximum power. This unexpected finding led me to reach out to Yu-Han, initiating our collaboration on this project."

Power-efficiency trade-off

Heat engines, which convert thermal energy into useful work, have been fundamental to human civilization since the Industrial Revolution.

However, they've always faced a seemingly insurmountable trade-off when it comes to reaching the Carnot efficiency. They could either operate at maximum efficiency by moving very slowly (essentially producing no power) or generate useful power by sacrificing efficiency.

The most notable is the "1/2-universality principle." According to this, heat engines operating in the linear response regime (small temperature differences) can only achieve half the Carnot efficiency at maximum power.

"This trade-off relation has been proven to be universal in various situations, especially in low-dissipation heat engines, where the efficiency at maximum power has a clear upper limit, and there is a significant gap between it and the Carnot efficiency," explained Prof. Ma.

The solution came in the form of a system with degenerate energy levels, meaning that each energy level has different microscopic states or configurations, all corresponding to the same energy level.

Degeneracy and phase transitions

The model consists of two states, a low and high-energy state, with the higher energy state capable of accommodating many more molecular configurations, i.e., a higher degeneracy.

There are two reaction pathways for transitions to occur between the energy levels. An ATP-hydrolysis-drive reaction occurs at low temperatures and spontaneous transition happens at high temperatures.

At high temperatures, the system naturally tends toward the high-energy state because it can access the many possible configurations available in this state. This makes the spontaneous transition more likely to occur, and this pathway doesn't require ATP.

On the other hand, at lower temperatures, the ATP-hydrolysis-driven reaction is more likely and can drive the system from the low-energy state to the high one.

As the system size increases, meaning the high-energy state can accommodate more and more configurations compared to the low-energy state, the transitions become more sharp or switch-like. These types of transitions are known as first-order phase transitions and happen with minimal energy loss.

"By constructing a minimal model incorporating this feature, we could demonstrate how it breaks conventional thermodynamic bounds and reveal the physical mechanism behind collective advantage," explained Dr. Liang.

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Breaking constraints

The researchers demonstrated that their biochemical engine can achieve Carnot efficiency while maintaining maximum power output as the system size approaches infinity. The power scales linearly with system size while efficiency approaches the Carnot limit.

Dr. Liang spoke of the design principle of their model, "Engineering systems with high-degeneracy states can significantly enhance heat engine performance.

"This is similar to how the Carnot engine, while idealized, has guided the development of practical heat engines for centuries. Even if perfect degeneracy isn't achievable, we now know that increasing degeneracy can be a valuable strategy for developing more efficient heat engines."

The study also shows the violation of a well-established universality.

Prof. Ma explained, "Our research shows this universality is violated in the limit of large degeneracy.

"The order of taking the limits of the Carnot efficiency and the degeneracy affects the proportionality coefficient of the EMP with respect to the Carnot efficiency. This implies that when the system has a diverging intrinsic quantity, some conventional thermodynamic constraints may need to be re-examined."

Further, the system operates as a biochemical engine that can synthesize ATP, making it relevant for biological systems. The next step would be to find practical heat engines with these properties, which is a challenge. Dr. Liang pointed out that biopolymers are promising candidates, as they naturally possess highly degenerate unfolded states.

 2025 Science X Network
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Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Applied Nano Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.4c05066

A transdisciplinary team of AMBER and CRANN researchers from the School of Chemistry at University College Cork (UCC) and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has developed sensor technology for wearable air quality monitors that alert individuals of their exposure to hazardous gases.

Their results are published in ACS Applied Nano Materials.

Poor air quality can significantly impact health, ecosystems, and overall quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to maintain good air quality for the well-being of humans, the environment, and economic prosperity. One hazardous gas that seriously threatens health is nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). NO 2 is released into the atmosphere through fuel combustion, industrial emissions, gas cooking, and other sources.

NO 2 poses serious risks to human health, leading to short-term symptoms such as breathing difficulties and long-term respiratory issues with prolonged exposure. Regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Commission, have established exposure limits for NO 2 to address these health concerns.

While significant advancements have been made in gas sensor technology over the past two decades, challenges remain related to real-time monitoring, room temperature operation, sensitivity and selectivity.

Most NO 2 sensors are impractical for integration into wearable technology. Current methods for measuring NO 2 often require expensive instrumentation, highlighting the need to develop low-cost sensor technologies for broader-scale monitoring of this critical pollutant.

AMBER Researcher and Deputy Director Professor Justin Holmes of the School of Chemistry University College Cork said, "At AMBER, we are actively developing 2D material networks on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. Through multidisciplinary collaboration, we aim to leverage their flexibility, affordability, and transparency to enhance wearable technologies for real-time air quality monitoring and advanced sensing in smartwatches, clothing, and beyond."

Recent extensive wildfires on the West Coast of the United States and at a European level in Croatia, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Algeria in 2023 alone have damaged not just foliage but burned through housing, commercial and industrial units, and vehicles, with hazardous gas emissions challenging to determine at their outset.

This further highlights the growing need for low-cost scalable technology, such as air monitors for individuals, as our atmosphere knows no borders or boundaries.

More information: Kusuma Urs et al, Exfoliated Molybdenum Disulfide Nanosheet Networks as Sensing Materials for Nitrogen Dioxide Detection, ACS Applied Nano Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.4c05066

Provided by AMBER
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A schematic illustration of the helical Kelvin wave on a quantized vortex decorated with nanoparticles. The image highlights the controlled excitation and dynamics of the wave. Credit: Yosuke Minowa

In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have developed the first controlled method for exciting and observing Kelvin waves in superfluid helium-4.

First described by Lord Kelvin in 1880, Kelvin waves are helical (spiral-shaped) waves that travel along the vortex lines, playing a vital role in how energy dissipates in quantum systems. However, they are difficult to study experimentally.

Creating a controlled setting to observe them has been the biggest challenge that the researchers overcame. Phys.org spoke to the first author of the study, Associate Prof. Yosuke Minowa from Kyoto University.

The discovery came about through serendipity. "We applied an electric field to a nanoparticle decorating a quantized vortex, hoping to translate the entire structure. Instead, we observed a clear wavy motion of the vortex core, namely Kelvin wave excitation. This unexpected result prompted us to shift our focus toward studying the excitation of Kelvin waves in-depth," said Prof. Minowa.

The heart of the experiment lies in the properties of superfluids.

Superfluids

Superfluids are a state of matter in which certain fluids begin to display quantum effects at a macroscopic scale at extremely low temperatures. In this case, no viscosity.

This means that superfluids can flow without any friction or loss of energy. The most common example of a superfluid is helium-4, which demonstrates this behavior when cooled below 2.17 Kelvin (-270.98 degrees Celsius or -455.764 degrees Fahrenheit).

Helium is the only material that doesn't freeze at these low temperatures, allowing superfluidity to be observed. In this state, the fluid can flow upward against gravity and escape containers by climbing up walls.

Superfluidity is explained by Bose-Einstein condensation, where a large fraction of the atoms enter the same quantum state and begin behaving as a single quantum entity. Since superfluids have no viscosity, any energy provided to the system cannot dissipate as heat like in traditional fluids. The solution is Kelvin waves.

Kelvin waves

For the formation of Kelvin waves, the researchers start with a vortex line, a thin line around which the superfluid helium rotates, similar to a tornado. Then, a disturbance is created or introduced into the system. Since the system is quantum in nature, the vortex line's rotation is quantized (it can only rotate at specific strengths).

Instead of moving straight, the disturbance creates a helical motion with the vortex line wiggling and twisting. The superfluid still rotates but around this now-spiraling vortex line. This is the lowest-energy way for the vortex line to respond to the disturbance, similar to a guitar string making waves when plucked.

"In previous studies, Kelvin wave-like oscillations were observed only accidentally. We developed a novel method to manipulate an ideal vortex in superfluid helium, providing a new way to study the behavior of these quantized vortices," said Prof. Minowa.

Nanoparticles for visualization

The researchers' approach involved creating silicon nanoparticles in superfluid helium-4 at 1.4 Kelvin. To do so, they placed a silicon wafer in the helium, with the laser directly hitting it.

This not only created the silicon nanoparticles, but also created local, drastic flows in the fluid which amplified the remnant vortices in the superfluid, causing some of the nanoparticles to become trapped in the core of these vortices.

Now that the vortex filaments could be seen, the researchers applied a time-varying electric field to the system. This created forced oscillations of the nanoparticles, propagating as a helical wave along the vortex.

The researchers tested different excitation frequencies (0.8 to 3.0 Hertz) to analyze wave behavior. A dual-camera setup was used to reconstruct the wave motion in three dimensions using spline curve fitting techniques.

"By utilizing nanoparticles to decorate quantized vortices, our study introduces a versatile tool for manipulating and observing quantum fluid behavior. This approach could inspire similar techniques in other quantum fluid systems, expanding the toolbox for experimental studies," noted Prof. Minowa.

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Successful excitation of Kelvin waves

The researchers successfully demonstrated the controlled excitation of Kelvin waves in superfluid helium-4. Their 3D reconstruction of the waves helped to confirm the helical nature of the waves.

According to Prof. Minowa, one of the biggest challenges was proving that the observed phenomenon was indeed a Kelvin wave.

Prof. Minowa said, "To address this, we collected key information such as the dispersion relation, phase velocity, and three-dimensional dynamics. The three-dimensional image reconstruction played a critical role in confirming the helical nature of the Kelvin waves. By visualizing the vortex's three-dimensional dynamics, we obtained direct and concrete evidence that the observed oscillations were indeed Kelvin waves."

The images also helped to confirm the handedness (or direction of rotation) of Kelvin waves, something that had never been experimentally done before. The excited waves had a left-handed helical structure.

To validate their experimental observations, the researchers developed a vortex filament model to simulate Kelvin wave excitation.

The simulations confirmed that forcing a charged nanoparticle led to the generation of helical waves in both directions, matching experimental results.

The researchers have provided a novel and controlled method to excite and study Kelvin waves, which play a key role in the energy transfer and dissipation processes in superfluids and other similar quantum systems.

Prof. Minowa concluded, "We have introduced a new tool to study Kelvin waves in superfluid helium, paving the way for numerous experimental investigations. Future research could explore the nonlinearity and decay processes of Kelvin waves, as well as the mechanical properties and characterization of quantized vortices."

 2025 Science X Network
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Burning crop stubble sends air pollution in Thailand soaring in the early months of the year.

The Thai government has ordered a crackdown on farmers flouting a ban on crop burning, as pollution in Bangkok spiked on Friday a week after toxic air forced hundreds of schools to close.

Smoke from farmers burning crop stubble combines with vehicle and factory emissions to send air pollution in Bangkok and other cities soaring in the early months of the year.

On Friday morning, the sprawling Thai capital was seventh on the list of the world's most polluted cities run by air monitoring company IQAir.

The level of PM2.5 pollutantscancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungshit 86 micrograms per cubic meter, according to IQAir.

A reading above 15 in a 24-hour period is considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization (WHO).

High levels of PM2.5 were also recorded Friday in the northern cities of Chiang Mai and Udon Thani.

The government on Thursday ordered provincial authorities to enforce a ban on burning crop stubble, requiring them to report how many farmers they have arrested for breaching the rule.

"In every province, if you allow crop burning or fail to implement preventive measures, you will be punished," the Thai government said in a statement on Thursday.

High levels of air pollution were recorded in the northern Thai city of Udon Thani on January 31, 2025.

More than 1.1 million pollution-protection masks have been distributed around the kingdom, and the health ministry is to monitor vulnerable groups, including children and pregnant women.

The government has also told drivers to ensure their vehicles comply with emissions limits.

Pollution is expected to spike between Friday and Wednesday as cool, stable weather conditions hamper the dispersal of pollutants.

Last week, Bangkok authorities closed more than 350 schools as pollution soared, but no such order was given Friday.

The city's Skytrain, metro, light rail system and bus services have been free to use all week in a bid to reduce emissions from vehicles.

Air pollution has closed schools across other parts of Asia recently, including in Pakistan and India.

Nearly two million students around New Delhi were told to stay home in November after authorities ordered schools shut because of worsening air pollution.

 2025 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:

Schematic diagram of the Aurora system and main modules. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08406-9

A team of engineers, physicists and computer specialists at Canadian company, Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., has unveiled what they describe as the world's first scalable, connected, photonic quantum computer prototype.

In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they designed and built their modularized quantum computer, and how it can be easily scaled to virtually any desired size.

As scientists around the world continue to work toward the development of a truly useful quantum computer, makers of such machines continue to come up with design ideas. In this new effort, the research team built a quantum computer based on a modular design. Their idea was to build a single basic box using just a few qubits for the simplest of applications. As the need arises, another box can be added, then another and anotherwith all the boxes working together like a network, as a single computer.

As each box, or quantum server rack, is added, the processing power grows. The team further suggests that thousands of racks could be tied together via fiber cables, creating a massive quantum computer with massive processing abilities. What's more, the researchers have made the entire system photon-based, eliminating the need to connect photon-based parts with traditional electron-based parts.

To test their ideas, the researchers built a prototypea network of four server racks using 84 squeezers, which resulted in a computer with 12 physical qubits. The first rack is somewhat different than the other three.

Photograph of the Aurora system. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08406-9

It holds the input lasers while the other three house quantum components divided into five main subsystems: sources, where the photon-based qubits are created; a buffering system that stores the qubits; a refinery that multiplexes the qubits to improve quality and create entangled qubit pairs; routing, which assists with entanglement and clustering; and the QPU, which creates finished spatial links in cluster states and carries out other functions. They also note that because the system is entirely photonic, it does not need to be cooledit runs at room temperature.

The research team tested their system by creating a unique type of entangled state with billions of modes and were pleased with the results, suggesting that they showed their system is capable of carrying out complex and large-scale computations with a high degree of fault tolerance.

 2025 Science X Network
Trucks are dumping dirt to firm up the lot at 360 Fifth St. in San Franciscos South of Market neighborhood. The long vacant lot had developed a large, water-filled hole. J.K. Dineen / The Chronicle The blighted, undeveloped lot at 360 Fifth St. in San Franciscos SoMa district, seen in September, had prompted the city to sue the propertys developer for health and building violations. J.K. Dineen / The Chronicle

A long-abandoned, water-filled development site on Fifth Street in San Franciscos South of Market neighborhood is in contract to be sold to a new builder, the first stalled housing project to trade hands since the pandemic crippled the citys residential construction industry nearly five years ago.

For the last several weeks Thompson Builders Corp. has dumped 260 truckloads of dirt into the massive water hole at 360 Fifth St., according to workers on the site, filling a deep chasm that had turned into a fetid swamp of garbage and mosquitos and prompted City Attorney David Chiu to file a lawsuit against the property owner.

But it turns out that Thompson is more than just the contractor pumping water out of the hole and filling it with fresh dirt: The group plans to revive development on the 127-unit condominium complex that was started in 2018 before being shelved during the pandemic.

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Last week, company President Paul Thompson submitted a letter to the Planning Department outlining plans for the property. In the letter, Thompson said it had been the original contractor working for the previous development group, Leap Development LLC, which had defaulted on a $10 million loan tied to the property.

The blighted, undeveloped lot at 360 Fifth St. in San Franciscos SoMa district has had a pool of water sitting on the property, as seen in September. J.K. Dineen/The Chronicle

Thompson said, as the former contractor, he is in a unique position to return the site to a safe condition and said his company has been working with city agencies to facilitate the sites successful remediation.

The former developer  failed to maintain the site adequately, resulting in significant deterioration, Thompson stated. Following foreclosure proceedings, we are now in contract to acquire the property, including all associated plans and entitlements.

The group is asking the city planning department to alter the unit mix  change 31 studios to junior one-bedrooms, reduce the number of two-bedroom units, and increase three-bedroom units  as well as cut the number of below market rate condos to be consistent with current affordability requirements. It is also looking to simplify the facade, increase the number of parking spaces from 31 to 63 and add more storage and bike parking.

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The resuscitated project comes seven months after City Attorney David Chiu filed a lawsuit claiming that a subsidiary of Leap Development owes more than $1 million in fines related to the property, including $63,111 to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, $71,000 to the Department of Public Works and $222,000 to the Department of Public Health.

Leap Development excavated the 26,000-square-foot parcel in 2019 for a 127-unit condo project at a time when development in South of Market, or SoMa, was considered a sure bet at the heart of the citys tech boom. The builder abruptly stopped construction about six months into the pandemic.

Construction equipment works to use dirt to firm up the lot at 360 Fifth St. in San Franciscos SoMa neighborhood. The long vacant lot had developed a large, water-filled hole. J.K. Dineen / The Chronicle

Since then the developer has maintained the property in a substandard condition, subjecting neighbors to a blighted parcel of land filled with large ponds of standing water, mosquitos, overgrown vegetation, and piles of trash, as well as abandoned construction equipment that blocks the sidewalk, the lawsuit states.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the neighborhood, said he was pleased to see the water abated and much-needed housing moving forward, he said.

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My office has received complaints about these vacant sites for years, and we have organized neighbors to demand that the water be drained and the site conditions addressed, he said. This is a win-win.

In a phone call, Thompson declined to talk about the potential development but said we are remediating the site and getting it cleaned up.

There is debris, the sidewalk needs repair work, the fencing needs repair work and there are a bunch of fines and penalties imposed on the property because of the condition it is in, he said. We are out there getting it back in order.

Longtime SoMa resident Brian Wallace, who was among the neighbors complaining about the abandoned site, said, its good news and long overdue. He said he hoped the fact that a developer is willing to invest in the neighborhood would inspire owners of other stalled sites, including the fenced-in former Shell station at Fifth and Folsom.

Maybe this will show other property owners sitting on vacant land that there is investment potential in the area, Wallace said.

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Crumbl Cookies, famous for its pink boxes and rotating menu, is opening its first store in San Francisco. Courtesy of Crumbl Cookies Crumbl Cookies, famous for its pink boxes and rotating menu, is opening its first store in San Francisco. Courtesy of Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies, the fast-growing chain famous for its pink boxes and a rotating menu, is finally bringing its popular treats to San Francisco.

The bakery will open its first city location at 1567 Sloat Blvd. in Lakeshore Plaza on Feb. 7. On opening day, it will offer a free chocolate chip cookie to each visitor.

Founded in 2017 by cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley, Crumbl has become a cultural phenomenon, largely thanks to its savvy social media marketing.

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The brands weekly drops of new cookie flavors, announced via TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, have turned Crumbl into a favorite among teens and tweens.

With nearly 10 million followers on TikTok alone, the brand far outpaces major competitors like Starbucks.

While the chains doughy, intensely sweet cookies  often topped with thick frosting  have earned mixed reviews, Crumbls aesthetic appeal is undeniable. Its pastel-colored frosting and Instagram-friendly pink boxes have made it a social media darling, especially among influencers.

The companys rotating menu features both classic and limited-edition flavors, designed to keep customers coming back.

Crumbl frequently collaborates with celebrities such as Olivia Rodrigo and Kylie Jenner, but its aggressive marketing strategy has also drawn criticism.

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Some argue that the brand focuses too heavily on looks and novelty. Flavors like cotton candy and caramel popcorn have sparked heated debates online about quality and authenticity.

Despite the controversy, Crumbls success is undisputed. With more than 1,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada, the brand has become a sought-after tenant in shopping centers nationwide.

The new San Francisco location expands Crumbls presence in the Bay Area, which already includes stores in Berkeley, Foster City, Concord, Petaluma, Vallejo and Walnut Creek.
Growing up in Rapid City, Madison Lawlor dreamed of becoming an actress. Now, shes starring in Green and Gold, a film that opened nationwide on Friday, Jan. 31, including a brief stint at AMC Classic 10 in Rapid City.

Green and Gold is the story of Buck, a Wisconsin dairy farmer played by Craig T. Nelson. Facing debt and potential foreclosure on the four-generation family farm, Buck places a daring bet that the Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl. He risks everything to try to save all he holds dear.

Im so happy the movie is coming to Rapid City, said Lawlor, who stars as Jenny, one of the films main characters.

This is an independent film. Its nice when one takes off and gets noticed. Its amazing to see how this small movie has taken off. Its the most widespread indie film Ive been in, she said.

Lawlors character, Jenny, is Bucks granddaughter. Jenny works alongside her grandfather on the farm but she dreams of a career in music. Her aspirations are encouraged by a friendship with a famous musician played by Brandon Sklenar.

The film follows the relationship between my character and her grandfather. My character always wanted to leave the farm and see something different. Shes an aspiring musician, so shes trying to figure out her own way to help her family but also to stay true to what she wants and follow her dreams, Lawlor said.

Theres a lot of similarities between myself and Jenny. Growing up in South Dakota and having this dream to be an actor, it feels larger than life and unattainable at times, and Jenny has dreams of leaving the farm to go do music. Theres a lot about her path that I could relate to," Lawlor said.

I love her as a character. Shes got a strong mind and shes pretty stubborn but shes got really good intentions, she said.

Lawlor appreciates the films themes of hope, resilience and community, and she hopes moviegoers will, too.

Its a story about being there for your neighbors and being kind to your neighbors. I hope thats what everyone takes away from it, she said.

Green and Gold was shot on location in Door County, Wisconsin.

We shot with real dairy farmers on their real farms, Lawlor said. I would love to say how fortunate I felt and how loved we felt by the community. It was really inspiring and amazing to combine the worlds of filmmaking and farming and share that experience.

Lawlor attended Stevens High School, and shes the daughter of Brett and Patricia Lawlor of Rapid City. Though Lawlor had hoped to return to Rapid City for the Green and Gold premiere, shell be in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, filming a television series.

In addition to Green and Gold, Lawlors credits include several independent films, and shes co-written and produced two independent feature films. The first of her independent films, Juniper, can be viewed on Amazon, and the second film is being submitted to film festivals.

Becoming an actress is a career path that requires patience and perseverance. Lawlor moved to Los Angeles when she was 16 and has lived there for 13 years working as an actress, director, producer and writer.

Its taken years. I really had no idea what I was doing. Im so lucky to have the parents that I do. It took me a long time to get my footing and learn how to get auditions, how to get representation. It was a lot to try to navigate and its a never-ending journey, Lawlor said.

My massive piece of advice is to be patient. I think you have to be willing to pay your dues and put in the work. Nothing happens overnight, Lawlor said. I think its important to focus on building a full life outside of it too. Its important to have a well-rounded life. The industry can be really tough, and you need good friends and you need other things that you love.

Shes got future ambitions to create more memorable movies.

I love being there at the start and having more creative control and telling stories, and writing your own characters is super fulfilling, she said. Ideally, its telling stories that are thought-provoking with well-written characters. I would love to do more writing. I have a script I want to direct. I think having the opportunity to tell good stories, thats the goal."

Watch the trailer for "Green and Gold" here.
By Akbar Novruz



During the Holocaust, more than 55,000 Jews fled Nazi persecution and sought refuge in Azerbaijan, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Israel Meir Lau, stated at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) event in Strasbourg.

Today, I would like to mention a country that is an old friend of Israel: the state of Azerbaijan, a Muslim majority state with close ties to the Jewish people and Israel. Azerbaijan stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel against evil today, the rabbi said.

Lau, who lost both parents during the Holocaust at the age of seven, emphasized that Azerbaijan has never shown hostility toward its Jewish community in its millennial history.

In addition, more than 55,000 Jews who fled the Holocaust found refuge in Azerbaijan, and after the October 7 tragedy, hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens came to the Israeli embassy with bouquets of flowers and letters of condolence. The Creator commands us to remember evil deeds. However, we must also remember and thank those people in whose hearts the fire of love and brotherhood flared up for the people of Israel, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a memorial event at the Synagogue of European Jews in Baku, attended by diplomats, religious figures, and members of the Jewish community. The ceremony featured speeches emphasizing Azerbaijans tradition of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence amid rising global anti-Semitism.

The event concluded with the lighting of memorial candles and the recitation of Kaddish in honor of Holocaust victims.
Muni riders were forced to make other transit arrangements Friday morning after a system-wide technical issue snarled service on the Central Subway and Market Street Subway lines. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Some Muni riders on Friday morning were forced to resort to alternative transit options after the Central Subway and Market Street Subway services were shut down to a system network issue, spokespersons for the transit agency said.

Around 10:30 a.m., San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials wrote on X that they were arranging bus support between West Portal and Embarcadero due to the issue. Riders hoping to use the Market Street Subway were asked to use surface transit options as the SFMTA continued to work to provide Metro shuttles.

Central Subway riders were asked to use the 15, 30 and 45 buses with a transfer point between buses and T-Third trains at 4th and King, the Caltrain stop. K-Ingleside, M-Oceanview and L-Taraval trains were interlining between Balboa Park and the San Francisco Zoo in both directions, officials wrote.

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The J-Church and N-Judah were switching back at Church/Reservoir and Duboce/Church, respectively, officials added.

San Francisco BART officials would be honoring Muni fares between Embarcadero and Balboa Park for riders impacted by the subway service delay, officials wrote.

Service on all lines resumed just after 1p.m., SFMTA said on social media, but riders were asked to expect slow-moving service while the agency worked to restore system function.

It was not immediately clear what caused the system network issue.

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On any given day, Jennifer Blackwell and her team can be found either in Richmond schools working with their multilingual students or out in the community forging relationships with parents.

In recent years, they have become the bridge between the division and some of the citys most underserved residents  many of whom are isolated by language barriers. It has been a lifeline from Richmond Public Schools, which has seen its English-learning students test scores increase and chronic absenteeism decline.

However, in the wake of President Donald Trumps executive order calling for mass deportations along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys newest policy allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to enter churches and schools without permission, Blackwell, who serves as the divisions director of multilingual learner success, said they have had to pivot their operations.

Now, they are working around the clock  amid a barrage of confusion, stress and anxiety  to quell fears, offer support and ensure kids come back to school each day.

Theres just a lot of fear and anxiety going around in the community. A lot of our principals and staff have been asked: Are you going to let ICE in? Are you going to let them take our children away? Blackwell said. These are tough times, and were all just trying to be strong for our school communities, for our multilingual communities.

How local school systems have responded

In response to Trumps order for the deportation of the countrys estimated 11 million  primarily Hispanic  undocumented immigrants, many school divisions in the Richmond region sent letters to parents reassuring their students safety and outlining school protocols in the event of ICE agents presence on school campuses.

Although Richmond Public Schools was the first division in the region to publicly address potential student deportations, Chesterfield and Henrico schools quickly followed suit releasing their own statements throughout this week.

According to a 2019 estimate from the Migration Policy Institute, 17,000 undocumented students are in Virginia. A recent Department of Homeland Security report cites that the majority of the countrys immigration population is Hispanic.

Richmond Public Schools, which has been the most vocal against the recent order and policy changes, reports 13% of its total school population is Hispanic with many of the students concentrated in a handful of schools. Huguenot High, for example, is 41% Hispanic.

Chesterfield, the largest division in the region with approximately 64,000 students enrolled, reports the highest percentage of Hispanic students at nearly 20%.

Henrico County Public Schools, which was the last in the region to comment, mirrors Richmond with its Hispanic population resting at 13%.

All of the regions divisions said they are committed to protecting students and encouraged parents to continue to send their children to school  joining a long list of other divisions statewide that have made similar pledges.

Both Richmond and Chesterfield said they will continue to operate under the previous federal policy requiring ICE agents to have legal justification and permission to enter school grounds.

In a letter issued to parents Monday, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said law enforcements presence on school campuses is welcome to the extent that it enhances the safety and well-being of its students and staff. However, the minute that changes, so will RPS policy.

Presently, ICE agents, operating under a newly adopted policy, have the authority to enter public schools and churches without permission or justification. However, they do not have the authority to stop, question or arrest anyone without a warrant or probable cause.

Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico schools have committed to maintaining students privacy and have said they will not release their information to anyone. The divisions rights to not disclose is backed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.

Blackwell: Never have, never will

The law applies to all schools and education agencies that receive federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Several school officials in the region have emphasized that they do not inquire about or document a students immigration status.

Never have, never will, Blackwell said.

Previously, the U.S. Department of Education stated that all children living in the country, regardless of their or their parents immigration status, have equal access to public education. This was upheld and reinforced by the 1982 Supreme Court Plyler v. Doe decision, which established equal education access to all.

With Trump vowing to enact the largest mass deportation operation in the nations history, it is unclear how it could impact the regions school systems.

However, in the past week, school officials have cited additional strain placed on staff as well as emotional turmoil among its student body who are fearful for both their family and peers alike.

Several Richmond schools have struggled with high chronic absenteeism in recent years. Fear of deportation could make things worse. Additionally, school performance and overall test scores likely would be impacted, but to what extent is still unknown.

We will continue to spread the message, Blackwell said, that school is the safest place for them to be.
Hundreds of lost pieces returned to the INAH of Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico  Nearly 400 pieces of heritage have arrived in Mexico. The batch of 399 came from France, Chicago, Dallas, Montreal, New York and Vancouver.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture delivered the batch of pieces to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) earlier this week. The pieces, they said, were recovered through the Mexican embassy in France and the consulates of Chicago, Dallas, Montreal, New York and Vancouver.

It is the result of the joint work of the federal government authorities and the Mexican representations abroad.

The reports, carried out by INAH specialists, confirm that the pieces belong to different cultures and from different periods of the pre-Hispanic era, including western Mexico, the Gulf Coast, the Central Plateau, the Oaxaca region and the Mayan area.

The lots include the recovery of a Mayan clay pot made between 500 and 900 AD (Chicago), a seal depicting a fantastic being made by the Zapotec culture between 200 and 900 AD (Dallas) and an anthropomorphic figure in the Ixtlan del Rio style dating between 100 and 700 AD (France).

It also included a double-chambered candlestick in the Teotihuacan style created between 200 and 750 AD (Montreal), a zoomorphic figure of a turtle from the Mesoamerican Postclassic period (New York) and 12 archaeological pieces of various antiquities and areas of the current national territory (Vancouver).

The restitution of cultural objects is the result of the joint work of the federal government authorities and Mexican representations abroad, whose constant efforts to recover the cultural legacy of Mexico to its place of origin have been one of the guiding axes of Mexican foreign policy.

The pieces have been returned through cooperation with local authorities, seizures, suspension of auctions and through negotiations with academic institutions and museums.

The Mexican government reiterates its commitment to indigenous communities, its perseverance with Mexicos cultural heritage and its conviction in the constant fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.
Mexican Navy intercepts ship in Quintana Roo after at-sea sighting report

Isla Mujeres, Q.R.  CORRECTED: This article has been corrected to reflect that German ship Thor Heyerdahl was the rescue ship that contacted Mexican officials regarding 10 found at sea.

Personnel from the Fifth Naval Region intercepted a ship off the coast of Isla Mujeres from where they secured 10 people. Ship Thor Heyerdahl was met after reporting a crew rescue from a small vessel approximately 36 nautical miles (67 kilometers) northeast of Isla Mujeres Thursday morning.

Mexican officials were also alerted to the passing of the smaller boat by a container ship who reported the vessel in likely trouble. Crew of the container ship CMA CGM Mercantour notified the Fifth Naval Region to report the sighting of a small boat with 10 people on board.

Mexican officials were also alerted by the crew on German ship Thor Heyerdahl regarding 10 found at sea. Those 10 were brought aboard their vessel.

Marine personnel on a Navy interceptor patrol located the ship approximately six nautical miles (11 kilometers) north of Isla Mujeres. All 10 rescued were loaded onto the Navy patrol vessel and transferred to the Puerto Juarez mainland Naval Station.

The group of 10 were handed over to authorities of the National Institute of Migration (INM) to carry out the corresponding legal procedures. Authorities have not said where their small boat was from or confirmed the nationality of the crew.

CORRECTION: A reader from Germany has provided details surrounding the ship and rescue of 10 crew members. According to Guido Fochtler, ship Thor Heyerdahl also saw the 10 people on a different (small) boat experiencing problems.

Crew from Thor Heyerdahl rescued the 10 in distress from their boat, bringing them on board Thor Heyerdahl and notifying Mexican authorities. The Navy of Mexico met ship Thor Heyerdahl at sea from where the 10 rescued crew were transferred to Mexican land and handed over to INM.

German Ship Thor Heyerdahl is part of an organization Classroom Under Sails. The ship is on a voyage from October 2024 until April 2025 with 33 pupils on board.
Nestle announces $1 billion USD Mexico investment over three years

Mexico City, Mexico  President Claudia Sheinbaum says Nestle has announced an investment of $1 billion USD as part of the Mexico Plan. According to Sheinbaum, the investment is planned over the next three years with the aim of increasing the companys production.

Nestle CEO in Mexico, Fausto Costa, said the investment is a sign of confidence in the government of the president of Mexico and the opportunities that exist in the country.

It is Mexicos moment and we are building the history of Mexico, he said.

President Sheinbaum said Steve Presley, executive vice president and CEO for the Americas (of Nestle), came to visit us and gave us very good news for all of Mexico. They are going to make an investment of $1 billion dollars in the next three years to increase the production of different products they have in our country.

Sheinbaum made the announcement with Nestle January 29.

Accompanied by Nestle executives and the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, the Head of the Federal Executive recalled that this company has been operating in Mexico for 94 years with plants in different areas of Mexico.

Now they have made this great announcement. They have a new plant in Veracruz and now they are going to expand even further in the different plants they have in Mexico and I thank them very much, he said.
Roland Li covers commercial real estate for the business desk, focusing on the Bay Area office and retail sectors.

He was previously a reporter at San Francisco Business Times, where he won one award from the California News Publishers Association and three from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

He is the author of Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports," a 2016 book on the history of the competitive video game industry. Before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, he studied and worked in New York. He freelanced for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other local publications. His hobbies include swimming and urban photography.
For a moment there, it seemed like the Vanna White story was going to end ugly. The 67-year-old presenter is the final standard-bearer of Americas game-show golden agea TV generation that has been largely cleaned out by Bob Barkers death, Pat Sajaks departure, and the protracted succession battle for the Throne of Trebek. Left behind is an ersatz fleet of programming that, while the fault of nobody in particular, is a little cold to the touch. The ideal game show viewing experience should evoke memories of running a fever in your childhood bedroom at high noon, watching bleary-eyed as a trio of panelists guesstimate the retail cost of a vacuum cleaner. But Drew Carey is never going to become synonymous with The Price Is Right, and the selection of Ryan Seacrest for the Wheel of Fortune podium seemed specifically designed to lock the brand in institutional decline. (Ken Jennings, now on Jeopardy!, is a different, more complicated subject.) That makes Vanna White the last icon standinga holdover from a glitzier timeand in the twilight of her career, she is asserting her own value more than ever.

In 2023, with Sajak headed for the exit and her own contract nearing its conclusion at Sony, reports surfaced that the once and future vowel merchant had not received a raise on her $3 million annual salary in 18 years. Thats a far cry from the $15 million Sajak was reportedly taking home, so White headed into negotiations for her next contract with the intention of leveling the playing field.

In the end, Wheel of Fortune blinked. White will be around for at least the next year after inking a contract extension lasting until 2026, with provisions that include the pay raise she coveted.

When the show returned last September with Seacrest as host, there were rumors of backstage tension between the new on-air pair. If thats true, you cant really tell. In fact, you could say that Vanna had gracefully embraced her senioritis era. The woman never held the heftiest job in show business; she touches letters, she maintains a vast wardrobe of sparkling floor-length dresses, she flashes telegenic grimaces to contestants who brick out on a consonant. (She has blithely joked about this fact herself for years: I cant say that it is a hard job, because its not, she said in 2018.) But her relationship with Sajakthe subject of loosely sourced romantic intrigue for decades, and perhaps the shows primary cultural drawis no longer a daily performance. So it seems like a mostly checked-out Vanna is here to cash a few more checks while kindling a fine wooden chemistry with Seacrest for a couple of seasons before disappearing into the middle distance of a glorious Malibu sunset. The easiest job in broadcasting has somehow gotten even easier.

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The day of her departure is surely coming sooner than later. Over the last several seasons of Wheel of Fortune, Maggie Sajakthe 29-year-old daughter of the venerable game show hosthas been not-so-subtly groomed as a potential heir to White when she decides to hang up her heels. Maggie stepped onto the set in 2020 while her father was recovering from surgery in order to take on some hosting duties, and, more portentously, to touch some of those letters herself. (Today, Maggie serves as the shows social media correspondent, which is a makework gig for old-money Hollywood nepo babies if Ive ever heard one.) A furtive continuity plan for an aging superstar tends to be the stuff of relentless tabloid titillation, but Vanna herself has gestured toward this inevitability. Shortly after locking in the terms of her new deal, White conceded to E! that Maggie could make for a good replacement at the board. And in a pointed, Substance-tinged Instagram post last August, Maggiewho uncannily resembles a younger, blonder Vannaswapped gowns with Wheel of Fortunes matriarch and beckoned the commenters to guess which dainty number belonged to who. It was both an enormous body flex and, for longtime fans, a reminder that the sharks are circling.

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Is Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune an odd thing to mourn? The comments on Reddit and Instagram that brace for the emotional impact of her retirement can seem a little absurd. But beyond childhood nostalgia, an older generation remembers Vanna the breakout star, and more importantly, Vanna the sex symbol. She was a woman worthy of a bestselling (if content-light) memoir; whose teased bangs appeared on a promenade of checkout-aisle magazine covers across the country throughout the 1980s. (Vanna WhiteHer Seduction of America, announced a headline in a 1989 issue of TV Guide, alongside an image of the host lookingit needs to be saidstunning in a pair of Princess Diana jeans.) Her stardom seemed to summon an unhealthy fusion of rage, thirst, and envy in the American ferment. The press dubbed it Vannamania, and it centered on an anxiety that endures to this day: How does a woman who reveals letters for a living achieve such a galactic level of fame? Does she deserve it? Must she, and the rest of girlhood, be brought to heel?

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Why did she become a role model for young women? opined a flabbergasted Chicago Tribune in 1992. Many of whom evidently aspired to a career in pointing and smiling?

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That question is downright myopic by modern standards, and not just for the blatant sexism. We have all become inundated by beautiful people through the locus of vertical video in 2024, and each of them reflexively understands that their own hotness is grounds enough for fame and fortune: the body-rolling yoga girls, the flexing Chads, the gorgeous couples on permanent vacation, Hawk Tuah, bounties of sponcon and discount codesin some ways, it all comes back to Vanna White, who never apologized for earning so much by doing so little. In that sense, shes a trailblazer.

In 2025, if anyone wishes to Be Like Vanna, you must exploit angles outside of network television. In a time of Addison Rae and Alix Earle, it is hard to imagine a socialite being forged on a game show set ever again. (If Maggie Sajak ever truly wants to eclipse her forebearer, she might need to learn the Renegade dance.) But as the only star left on the circuit, White is giving us one final gift as she prepares her exit. Her retirement and succession plan, whenever it comes to be, may very well be the last interesting story to surface on a game show. At the very least it will be far more compelling than whoever steps in for Steve Harvey on Family Feud. The saga will surely culminate with a few months of juicy speculation, and one tearful finalea great exaltation of Vannamania before Seacrest shepherds the show to its funeral. She was always the most interesting person in the room, without anyone ever knowing why. Thats show business, baby.
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If Thursdays confirmation hearing is anything to go by, Tulsi Gabbard may well become President Trumps first Cabinet nominee to get voted down by the Senate.

It was a disastrous audition for the post of director of national intelligence, as all of the Senate Intelligence Committees eight Democrats and a few of its nine Republicans raised serious questions about her judgment, her qualifications, and her ability to develop trust with the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies that she would oversee and with their counterparts in allied nations.

From the get-go, Gabbards nomination to be the top U.S. intelligence official has struck many as the most startling in a string of startling nominations. Many of these nominees seem well suited to weaken the departments or agencies that they would heador, to put it in terms that Donald Trump and his entourage have invoked on many occasions, the sort of people who would, deliberately or by dint of their incompetence, help dismantle the deep state.

Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who turned MAGA enthusiast after a failed 2020 run for the presidency, has made waves in recent years for parroting Kremlin propaganda on the RussiaUkraine war, for defending Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad (by disputing intelligence findings that he was behind specific chemical weapons attacks on his own people and by claiming that the rebel groups he bombed and strafed were all al-Qaida fighters), and for making various other bizarre claims.

When Trump announced her nomination, the anchors on Russia TVthe Kremlin-run news channelgreeted the news with glee, hailing Gabbard as our girlfriend.

Related From Slate The Terrifying Power Now in the Hands of One of Trumps Most Dangerous Picks Read More

Several senators noted all of these facts at Thursdays hearing but focused still more intensely on other matters. Nearly all of them noted that she had once hailed Edward Snowden as a brave whistleblower who should be pardoned for all criminal offenses. Snowden was the National Security Agency contractor who stole 1.5 million highly classified documents, leaked some of them to reporters, then fled to Moscow, where he still lives as a Russian citizen.

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Gabbard replied that she had only meant to highlight the egregiously illegal and unconstitutional programs that Snowden had exposedspecifically NSA programs that intercepted communications of U.S. citizensand that his leaks had led to serious reforms.

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A few senators quoted from a bipartisan House Intelligence Committee report calling Snowdens actions the largest, most damaging intelligence leak in U.S. history and concluding that the vast majority of his stolen documents had nothing to do with Americans privacy. Rather, they revealed extensive details on intelligence sources and methods, doing great, lasting harm to U.S. securityand to U.S. armed forces if we went to war against Russia or China.

Gabbard acknowledged that she knew of the reports conclusions, but she declined to answer when senators asked her five times if she viewed Snowden as a traitor. Nor would she grab on to a senators invitation to admit, at the very least, that Snowdens actions had damaged U.S. security. Instead, she said she was focusing on the futurespecifically, to open routes for whistleblowers to make complaints about illegal policies without having to do what Snowden did.

She was asked whether she thought professionals in the U.S. intelligence agenciesor those in the countries that share highly classified intelligence with uswould trust her, given her views on Snowden. She replied that she had received letters from intelligence officials who defended her nomination.

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Senators of both parties also asked about her opposition to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. to intercept communications of suspected terrorists or criminals abroad. The interceptions are sometimes done in ways that pick up calls involving Americans as well. Informed that 60 percent of a presidents intelligence comes from information gathered through Section 702, Gabbard said at the hearing that she has changed her mind on this issue as a result of reforms that were made to the law. She was asked which reforms changed her mind. She didnt answer.

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Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the committee, said he didnt buy her confirmation conversion on the issue anyway. He quoted her appearance on Joe Rogans podcast in May 2024one month after the reforms passedsaying that they took an already bad problem and made it many, many times worse.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet got into the hearings most forcefuland, as it turned out, damningexchange with the nominee. He quoted Gabbards tweet, posted just hours after Russias February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, noting that the war could have been avoided if Biden had simply acknowledged Russias legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraines membership in NATO. He also quoted her remark on a podcast not long after, saying that the United States and NATO were waging a regime-change war against Russia  via their proxy in Ukraine.

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Bennet asked if she was aware that her comments were in alignment with what Russians have said to justify the invasion. She replied, I dont pay attention to Russian propaganda. My goal is to say the truth, regardless of whether you like it or not.

This took even Bennet by surprise. Im shocked, he said, to hear you now saying you agree that Putin was justified in rolling over the peaceful border of Ukraine.

He then turned to the committees Republican chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton, and said, Cant we do better than someone who doesnt believe in 702, who cant answer whether Edward Snowden was a traitor, who made excuses for Putins invasion of Ukraine?

Perhaps the second most damning moment came during questions by Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. He started, as did the other senators, by thanking Gabbard for her service (she served in Iraq and Kuwait as a member of the Army National Guard and remains a lieutenant-colonel in the Reserves), then asked her how she would sift through all the intelligence and make conclusions. She replied that she would build a strong team of analysts around her.

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With that, Kelly brought out the noose. As a member of Congress and as recently as this month, he noted, Gabbard cast doubt on the intelligence communitys unanimous conclusion that Assad was culpable for two specific chemical weapons attacks on his own people. In fact, he went on, in 2017, then-President Trump declassified a vast trove of materials showing how the intel agencies reached that conclusionyet Gabbard still doubted it. Why?

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Gabbard replied that she feared Barack Obamawho was president at the time of the allegationswould use the intel as a pretext for sending a half-million troops to do regime change in Syria. And she relied on doubts raised in a study by MIT professor Ted Postol.

Were you aware of Postols appearance on Russia TV? Kelly asked. Yes, she replied. Were you aware that Postol relied on a chemistry student who defended Assads regime? he asked. Not at the time, she answered. Did you attempt to weigh [Postols] claims against the intelligence communitys evidence? he asked. Yes, sheremarkablyreplied.

Kelly sighed. So heres my concern, he said. At the start of the hearing, you described a thoughtful approach to analyzing intelligence. But we just walked through how you came to Assads use of chemical weapons with a different approach. You started in a place of doubting the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community, then you sought out information that confirmed your view. You accepted the view of people who were sympathetic to Russia. The intelligence agencies dont get it right 100 percent of the time, but when you were skeptical of the IC, you would not apply the same skepticism to people who were sympathetic with Assad.

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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in 2005 as a result of findings that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks four years earlier could have been halted if the U.S. intelligence agencies hadnt worked in isolation from one another. The idea was that the DNI would have access to all intelligence and would coordinate the activities and reports of the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. He or she would also serve as the presidents chief intelligence adviser, the official who writes and serves up the presidents daily intelligence briefing.

This was one of the very few confirmation hearings this month where members of both parties expressed serious reservations about one of Trumps nominees. If a flicker of sense still shines above a handful of seats on the Republican side of the Senate, Thursdays hearing should mark the end of Tulsi Gabbard.
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I remember the old days. As a university student in South Africa in 2005, I volunteered doing menial tasks at free clinics that served the largely impoverished nonwhite majority. Back then, South Africas HIV drug program was only beginning to roll out. The relief it would bring hadnt yet come. In exam rooms, elementary schoolers panted from fungal pneumonia, terrified by their breathlessness. Toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a parasite, formed pingpong ballsized masses in peoples brains. Fluffy white clouds and red hemorrhages, the work of cytomegalovirus, bloomed across patients retinas until they went blind.

These diseases had once been extraordinary rarities. When HIV hit, they were everywhere. I remember how I blew up gloves into balloons to distract the kids, so small and polite, their hair neatly braided. I remember how they died.

The Trump administration froze all foreign aid on Jan. 20. This included funds for the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a bipartisan initiative launched by President George W. Bush. The program is estimated to have saved at least 25 million lives since its 2003 inception. In more than 50 countries, PEPFAR has distributed HIV drugs, improved public health capabilities, and strengthened the health workforce and infrastructure. It has done this at an annual cost of less than 0.1 percent of our national budget. The positive effects of the program span diplomacy, global economic growth, and pandemic preparedness, as well as, of course, HIV treatment. PEPFAR is arguably our single most effective, durable, and wide-reaching foreign policy success. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since announced a waiver to allow HIV-drug distribution to continue. Other aspects of the enterprise, like educational outreach and health worker development, remain murky, and the future of PEPFAR has been plunged into jeopardy.

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After medical school and residency, I moved back to South Africa in 2016, now as a full-fledged doctor. The rural public hospital where I worked lay at the epicenter of the countrys epidemic. More than 40 percent of pregnant women my colleagues and I saw were HIV positive, and I cared for many patients who died of AIDS.

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But despite the jaw-dropping prevalence rates, the suffering didnt compare to what I had witnessed 10 years prior. Thanks to the antiretroviral drugs we prescribed, I watched people so skeletal that I could single-handedly heft them onto a hospital bed transform into people who could heft me onto that same bed. Untreated, about a quarter of mothers pass the virus on to their infantsbut by 2016, I rarely saw infected babies. South African co-workers with HIV led fulfilling careers. From 2003 through 2014, the life expectancy in the district where I was now living had risen by 15 years for women and 17 years for men. Without medication, nearly all people with HIV can readily transmit the virus to sexual partners and progress inexorably toward death. On effective antiretrovirals, they cant pass on the virus, even through unprotected sex, and can expect normal lifespans. That is what HIV drugs can do.

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PEPFAR provides about 20 percent of South Africas national funds to combat HIV. In some other countries, it accounts for the bulk of the budget: 75 percent in Zambia, for instance, or 67 percent in Mozambique, according to 2020 stats. Donations from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malariato which the U.S. is the largest contributorcomprise a substantial portion of the remaining shortfall.

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As an HIV specialist, I find that the idea of suspending PEPFAR conjures visions of a cruel futureone that requires little effort to imagine, since Ive spent so much of my career witnessing the ravages of the virus left untreated. But continuing PEPFAR is a matter of self-interest too. The program is widely popular the world over; many patients know that their drugs come from the Americans. As the U.S. jockeys with China for global influence, our long-standing position as the largest force for global health has won us allies and helped us forge relationships to engage around sensitive diplomatic issues. If China has Belt and Road, we have PEPFAR.

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The COVID pandemic solidified awareness of our vulnerability to emerging infectious diseases, which respect no national boundaries. Public health workers have harnessed systems originally developed for HIV to address COVID and mpox. Theyve shared information indispensable to us, an exchange acutely threatened not only by the new precarity of PEPFAR but also by Trumps withdrawal from the World Health Organization. HIV data has now vanished from the public commons; PEPFARs database is down. Ifwhenthere is another pandemic, we will need all the goodwill and channels for cooperation we can get. With PEPFAR, we built that up. Now we are squandering it.

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We are also directly endangering ourselves. During West Africas Ebola outbreak in 2014, a patient flew from Liberia to Lagos, Nigeria. Scores were exposed to the virus, presaging potential catastrophe in Africas most populous nation. Disaster never hit. With help from PEPFAR, the Nigerian government had set up an impressive virology lab and trained a robust epidemiologic corps. The spread was contained after only 19 cases. In contrast, in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guineacountries without comparable PEPFAR investmentthe outbreak lasted two and a half years, killed more than 11,000 people, and crossed the Atlantic to the U.S.

PEPFAR strengthens our security and economy. In a study of approximately 160 countries, the programs presence was associated with a total per capita GDP growth rate 46 percent greater than expected over a 14-year period. The figure is impressive but unsurprising: The health benefits of HIV drugs are so remarkable that increasing by only 1 percentage point a countrys population on treatment has been linked to a bump of 1.4 percentage points in per capita GDP growth rate. Our trade relationships are expanding in Africa south of the Sahara; the region has a plurality of the worlds fastest-growing economies. The explosion of its working-age population has the potential to be an engine of economic growthor a source of young men susceptible, in their desperation for income, to recruitment by extremist groups in some nations. Wed do well to support the first scenario.

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America has long projected a self-image as a force for global good. You should believe in PEPFAR as consonant with our values, a measure to prevent countless, often horrific deaths. You should want a future in which doctors like me dont try to resuscitate two babies before 7 a.m., and then, when neither makes it, gulp down their coffee to face the rest of the day. You should think of HIV treatment as a human right.

But supporting PEPFAR doesnt require any of that. To back PEPFAR, all you need to care about is yourself and your loved ones. We are connected to the rest of the world. If PEPFAR ends, people overseas wont be the only ones who suffer.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250131/ukrainian-soldiers-killed-22-russian-civilians-in-kursk-village-in-2024---pow-1121520009.html

Ukrainian Soldiers Killed 22 Russian Civilians in Kursk Village in 2024 - PoW

Ukrainian Soldiers Killed 22 Russian Civilians in Kursk Village in 2024 - PoW

Sputnik International

Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said that at least five Ukrainian soldiers are suspected of committing a terrorist act and face rape charges.

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Following an attack on the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in 2024, Ukrainian troops blocked civilians from fleeing, firing at cars and escape routes, captured Ukrainian soldier admitted. The soldier added that his company commander ordered them to "cleanse" the village of civilians. Most victims were shot, while six elderly people were forced into a basement and killed with a hand grenade, according to him. The Ukrainian troops who entered Russkoye Porechnoye were supposed to stay there for two weeks, from September 28 to October 12, the soldier said. Early on August 6, 2024, Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia and launched an offensive in the Kursk Region. Commenting on the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine had carried out another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately at civilian targets, and that the enemy will receive a proper response. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian armed forces have lost more than 55,000 servicemen during the offensive in the Kursk Region.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20250119/atrocities-against-civilians-in-russias-kursk-region-confirm-terrorist-core-of-kiev-regime---moscow-1121462945.html

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It hasnt taken long for The Bird Dance to catch on in trainer Antonia Storers stable.

A 10-year-old New Zealand-bred pacer, The Bird Dance N arrived in Ohio at the beginning of the year and has posted two wins and a second in three starts for Storer at Miami Valley Raceway. The geldings most recent score was in the $51,429 Open on Jan. 26, and he will return to that class on Sunday, Feb. 2 to hoof it against seven rivals.

Hes been an easy favourite since we got him, said Storer. Hes got so much character. He just kind of knows hes the boss. Hes an absolute gentleman all the time, but he wants everyone to know that hes not to be messed with, like, Im on top of the pecking order. Hes very full of himself, but also very respectful.

Its really nice to have him and work with him. Hes been a great addition. Its very hard not to like him.

The Bird Dance N, a son of A Rocknroll Dance-This Bird Has Flown, won 17 of 31 races Down Under before moving to the U.S. in the middle of 2021. Since then, he has posted 24 victories, 15 seconds and five thirds in 81 starts. Lifetime, he has earned $386,319.

Acquired by owners Friendship Stables this past August, The Bird Dance N raced most recently at MGM Yonkers Raceway and Harrahs Philadelphia prior to heading to Ohio. Over the course of his career, the well-traveled pacer won races in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania before adding the Buckeye State to the list this year.

The Bird Dance N notched his first Miami Valley win in a conditioned race on Jan. 12, then finished second in the Open II a week later. His triumph in the Open last time out was the most lucrative payday of his career. He won by three-quarters of a length in 1:51.2 with Trevor Smith in the sulky. Only eight pacers have won with a quicker time this season on a five-eighths-mile track.

It was a great night, said Storer. He got a great trip. Hes just sharp, and he knows it. It was wonderful.

I knew [when he arrived] that he was a good old class horse, and we would find somewhere for him. I didnt know he would be in the Open. Hes definitely surprised us, but what a great surprise.

What makes The Bird Dance N even more enjoyable is watching the joy the horse brings to his work on a regular basis.

We pony a lot of horses, and he ponies, said Storer. He doesnt get hooked except for when hes training. He loves ponying. Hes messing around with everybody the whole time out there. Hes got his ears up, looking around, and just loving it. Its just him purely enjoying his job.

The same is true when its showtime.

I love watching him race, said Storer. His ears are up, he has no overcheck. Hes very handy. Hes great off the car, so thats going to get him in great position here, which helps him. If you watch him come back to the winners circle, hes throwing his head and skipping along. We put a tail-tie on him because the first time he raced it looked like he was flossing the drivers teeth with his tail. Hes all business, but hes enjoying it. Hes having fun.

On Sunday, The Bird Dance N will leave from post four with Smith again in the bike. He is 5-1 on the morning line. Better B Bold, who was second in the Open on Jan. 19 in his last start, is the 3-1 favourite for trainer Todd Luther and driver Jeremy Smith.

Its a mental game for him, Storer said about The Bird Dance N. He knows hes doing well and hes feeling good. Well see if we can have a repeat [of his last start] on Sunday. That would be wonderful.

Racing begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Miami Valley Raceway.

(USTA)
As President Donald Trumps administration announced a federal funding freeze educational institutions and other various levels of government were among those keeping an eye on headlines and announcements. An order issued by the Office of Management and Budget has since been rescinded, among legal challenges, and backlash.

While the freeze has since been rescinded, concern about the stability of programs funded by the federal government could see future impacts continue among some across Nebraska and the nation.

When news broke about the freeze Monday, Scottsbluff Public Schools approached the news Monday with a measured approach.

I think its important that we first hear, hear the news, and then seek to gather more information and so and not jump to any conclusions, Scottsbluff Superintendent Andrew Dick said. (We) tried to refrain from causing unnecessary angst, worry, anxiety for those that are impacted.

Dick and other administrative staff received legal guidance from the Nebraska Council of School Administrators.

I think there was some speculation that this grant or this grant could have been affected, Dick said.

Wendy Kemling, executive director of student services, said there was no way to know for sure how many, if any, of their grants would have been impacted.

I think there were some people that thought it was going to impact the lunch program, but we got information late (Tuesday) that it was not... Dick said.

If a situation like this were to arise again and proceed, one grant Dick and Kemling mentioned that is significant to the district is its school-based mental health grant.

Hypothetically, if we were to lose a $6.3 million school-based mental health grant  thats about $1.2 million per year  that would absolutely have an impact on the budget and so, Dick said.

That grant is being used to fund the family success center, staffing positions in buildings, additional licensed mental health practitioners and school social workers.

Thats something weve never had prior to this grant, Dick added. But thinking about a hypothetical, we dont want to cause potentially undue angst for those employees.

Kemling said even the memo said it was a pause, not a stop.

Generally, time is on our side, Dick added.

As part of its coverage, the Star-Herald reached out to Scotts Bluff County school districts, government entities and nonprofits to ascertain the potential impact of a federal funding freeze.

In a release to the Star-Herald, Gering Public Schools communications director Jennifer Sibal said the district receives federal funding to support several essential programs, including school meals, preschool partnerships with Head Start, special education and more. The school district maintained all operations as usual and would keep the community informed of updates, she said.

We will continue to prioritize serving our students and families, Sibal said in the release.

Similarly, ESU 13 noted that news of such a freeze or decrease in funds can raise alarm, but officials had received guidance that important programs such as Head Start and similar programs that provided direct benefits to students, wouldnt be affected.

ESU 13 has a strong history of maintaining high-quality programming that fulfills the requirements and aspirations of the grant programs, Mary Brumage, marketing specialist with ESU 13, said. In the event that a funding freeze would affect one or more of our programs, our board has committed to fiscal responsibility that allows us to go through temporary freezes and maintain our programming.

The City of Scottsbluff and Scotts Bluff County Sheriffs Office responded to questions regarding potential impacts that could occur if some of the programs mentioned in the OMB order were to face cuts, now or into the future.

At the City of Scottsbluff, Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer said that federal grants are very limited. He cited one grant, a $240,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. The grant provides dollars to improve traffic safety. Scottsbluff had just advertised a request for qualifications for the program in December, however, Spencer said the city would wait for guidance on the availability of the funds before proceeding.

Scottsbluff entirely funds its school resource officers through partnerships with Scottsbluff Public Schools, Spencer said. School resource officer grants were among those noted in some news stories as potentially being impacted by the federal funding freeze.

Among the law enforcement community, the WING Drug Task Force does receive federal grant funds through Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, commonly referred to as Byrne JAG grants, and HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas), Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman told the Star-Herald.

The grants reimburse some expenses for training, travel, equipment, overtime and operations, he said. Although the grants are very helpful and supplement WING operations, the task force is not dependent on them for survival.

Grants make up only a small percentage of the costs of the task force, he said, which is made up of area agencies. Today, somewhere between 10 and 15 full-time and part-time officers are assigned to the task force. None of the agencies participating in the task force rely on grant funds for their commitments to WING.

For the fiscal year of 2024, the task force had about $64,000 in grants and it anticipated a similar funding level in 2025. He said $50,000 in Byrne/JAG were approved last month for the January-June grant cycle and other funding opportunities are upcoming.

...We are hopeful to receive additional funding as it becomes available, Overman said.

In the wake of the announcement of a federal funding freeze, the Star-Herald also reached out to Congressman Adrian Smith and Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts. Ricketts addressed questions during his weekly press call Wednesday.

In response to questions about the funding freeze, though other national leaders had called the federal funding freeze unprecedented in news reports, Ricketts said, Its not unusual for an incoming administration to review the policies of the outgoing administration. So this is nothing new to want to review that.

Asked about specific, small nonprofits that rely heavily on federal funding specifically for housing vouchers, Ricketts said the freeze wouldnt have affected organizations like that.
As Nebraskas attorney general implored lawmakers Wednesday to outlaw the hemp-derived THC products for sale in more than 300 dispensary-type shops statewide, retailers pleaded with senators to regulate the industry instead.

The two worldviews clashed at a hearing Wednesday afternoon in front of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee, where Attorney General Mike Hilgers testified for close to an hour in support of a bill (LB316) that seeks to ban hemp products in Nebraska that contain more than 0.3% of any strain of THC.

Introduced by Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha and championed by Hilgers, the bill would close a loophole lawmakers unintentionally created in 2019 when they legalized hemp.

The 2019 law required hemp-derived products to contain no more than 0.3% of Delta-9 THC, but placed no limits on the hundreds of other cannabinoids present in hemp, including Delta 8, paving the way for high-inducing flower and edible products to be sold in stores across the state with no regulatory oversight.

Hilgers, who has pledged to sue every THC retailer in the state if he has to and asked lawmakers to ban the substance last year in a failed bid to rid Nebraska of the products, took his case to the Judiciary Committee again Wednesday, telling lawmakers the state has kids, families and others being poisoned by retailers exploiting a loophole in state law.

A former lawmaker who voted for the 2019 law that legalized hemp, Hilgers argued that at no point ... did anyone ever suggest that this bill would permit and legalize the sale of synthetic THC.

Because if they had, and if it did, that bill wouldnt have gotten 10 votes, the attorney general said.

Calling the THC market that has cropped up in Nebraska over the last several years a gigantic bluff and a gigantic bet on the behalf of retailers, Hilgers presented lawmakers with two options: outlaw the substance or force the attorney generals office to carry on with its legal campaign, which Hilgers promised to escalate and accelerate if LB316 stalls.

But shop owners who testified at Wednesdays hearing called for the state to take a third path: regulating the industry.

A bill (LB16) from Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh  which Hilgers said his office is in adamant opposition to  would place regulations on the sale and marketing of the products Hilgers is seeking to ban.

Cavanaughs bill would require THC retailers to be licensed and abide by labeling and packaging requirements for their products, along with placing age restrictions on who can purchase THC.

Retailers warned that simply banning the substances for sale on their store shelves would force hundreds of small businesses across the state to close.

Sarah Linden, who owns Generation V and Grateful Green Dispensary  which combined have 24 storefronts statewide  said her businesses generate $910,000 in sales tax revenue annually alone, along with $1.4 million in rent and $154,000 in property taxes.

Citing an economic study commissioned in 2023, she said the industry contributes $139 million a year to Nebraskas economy, providing 1,600 jobs and annually generating $7.7 million in sales tax revenue.

I would be forced to close at least eight of my retail stores and lay off at least 32 employees immediately upon the passage of (Kauths) bill, she said. Most of the small-business owners in the hemp industry in Nebraska will lose everything.

Nelam Millatmal, an employee of The Cannabis Factory and a spouse of one of the owners of the dispensary chain with 21 stores statewide, said the business also generated nearly $1 million in sales tax revenue in 2024 and expects to top $1.5 million this year.

Joseph Fraas, who owns G&G Smoke and Vape Shop with locations in Lincoln and Omaha, said his business generated $172,000 in sales tax revenue and warned that Kauths bill would severely damage my company.

All three retailers called on lawmakers to regulate the industry.

Its unclear in which direction lawmakers might go. Hilgers attempt to outlaw THC last year stalled in part because the Judiciary Committee was made up of four Democrats and four Republicans and chaired by Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne, a Democratic criminal defense attorney who championed the 2019 law to legalize hemp and who was skeptical of the effort to rein it in.

Wayne, who was forced out of the Legislature by term limits this year, was replaced atop the Judiciary Committee this by Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln, a Republican and former prosecutor who appeared skeptical Wednesday of the retailers asking lawmakers to spare the industry.

She confronted Fraas over mailed ads for THC shops that market high-inducing products mimicking Rice Krispie Treats and other foods that might appeal to children.

Fraas told Bosn his shop doesnt send mailers.

But theyre getting out and theyre getting in the hands of the kids and they are attractive, Bosn said, adding: And so to ignore those realities and say, Well ... dont ban this because my store didnt do those things ignores the reality that we are being faced with a problem and being asked to come up with a solution.

Fraas largely agreed, telling Bosn he has always hated those mailers and predicting that most other retailers do, too.

I would be for advertising guidelines, he said. I would be for bans on marketing and making things attractive to children. I would be for not allowing the sale of foods, or at least foods that would be attractive to children. But a ban doesnt do that.
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:

An array of mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating site is shown near Primm, Nev., Aug. 13, 2014. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher, File

What was once the world's largest solar power plant of its type appears headed for closure just 11 years after opening, under pressure from cheaper green energy sources. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to blame the Mojave Desert plant for killing thousands of birds and tortoises.

The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.

Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had agreed with ownersincluding NRG Energy Inc.to terminate its contracts with the Ivanpah plant. If approved by regulators, the deal would lead to closing two of the plant's three units starting in 2026. The contracts were expected to run through 2039.

"PG&E determined that ending the agreements at this time will save customers money," the company said in a statement on its website.

Southern California Edison, which buys the rest of the power from the three-unit plant, is in discussions with owners and the U.S. Energy Department regarding a buyout of its Ivanpah contract.

The plant appears likely to become a high-profile loser in the race to develop new types of clean energy in the era of climate change.

The Ivanpah plant uses a technology known as solar-thermal, or concentrated solar, in which nearly 350,000 computer-controlled mirrors roughly the size of a garage door reflect sunlight to boilers atop 459-foot towers. The sun's power is used to heat water in the boilers' tubes and make steam, which drives turbines to create electricity.

NRG said in a statement that the project was successful, but unable to compete with rival photovoltaic solar technologysuch as rooftop panelswhich have much lower capital and operating costs.

An endangered desert tortoise sits in the middle of a road at the proposed location of three BrightSource Energy solar-energy generation complexes in the eastern Mojave Desert near Ivanpah, Calif., Sept. 3, 2008. Credit: AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File

Initially "the prices were competitive but advancements over time in photovoltaics and battery storage have led to more ecient, cost effective and flexible options for producing reliable clean energy," NRG added.

A post on the PG&E website said that Ivanpah's "technology had worked on a smaller scale in Europe." But over time, it couldn't match the lower prices of photovoltaic technology.

The plant has long been criticized for the environmental tradeoffs that came with large-scale energy production in the sensitive desert region. Rays from the plant's mirrors have been blamed for incinerating thousands of birds. Conservation groups tried to stop construction on the site because of threats to tortoises.

"The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster," Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club said in an email.

"Along with killing thousands of birds and tortoises, the project's construction destroyed irreplaceable pristine desert habitat along with numerous rare plant species," Dowell said. "While the Sierra Club strongly supports innovative clean energy solutions and recognizes the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Ivanpah demonstrated that not all renewable technologies are created equal."

There were other early problems. After its much-hyped opening, the plant didn't produce as much electricity as expected for a simple reason: the sun wasn't shining as much as expected.

The plant can be a startling sight for drivers heading toward Las Vegas from Southern California along busy Interstate 15. Amid miles of rock and scrub, its vast array of mirrors can create the image of a shimmering lake atop the desert floor, but depending on the angle of the sun and mirrors, it could also be blinding.

If the PG&E agreement is approved, NRG said the units will be decommissioned, "providing an opportunity for the site to potentially be repurposed for renewable (photovoltaic) energy production." The company did not respond to questions about the projected cost or what would become of the equipment at the site.

 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Bank Hapoalim B.M. (OTCMKTS:BKHPF  Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 73,600 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the December 31st total of 88,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently  days.

Bank Hapoalim B.M. Price Performance

OTCMKTS BKHPF remained flat at $11.50 during trading hours on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.15. Bank Hapoalim B.M. has a one year low of $8.73 and a one year high of $11.99.

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Bank Hapoalim B.M., together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services in Israel and internationally. It operates through Household, Private Banking, Small businesses and micro businesses, Mid-sized businesses, Large businesses, Institutional entities, and Financial management segments.

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Bank of the Philippine Islands (OTCMKTS:BPHLY  Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 600 shares, an increase of 500.0% from the December 31st total of 100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Bank of the Philippine Islands Stock Performance

Bank of the Philippine Islands stock remained flat at C$42.75 during trading hours on Thursday. 4 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 479. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$43.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$44.60. Bank of the Philippine Islands has a twelve month low of C$38.15 and a twelve month high of C$50.85.

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Bank of the Philippine Islands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th were issued a $0.6705 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of the Philippine Islandss previous dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 4th.

About Bank of the Philippine Islands

Bank of the Philippine Islands, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services to retail and corporate clients in the Philippines. It operates through Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking, and Investment Banking segments. The Consumer Banking segment offers deposit taking and servicing; and consumer lending, such as home mortgages, auto loans, and credit card finance, as well as remittance services to individual and retail markets.

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January 30, 2025: Russian leader Vladimir Putin has frequently mentioned his regrets that the Soviet Union is gone and his desire to restore the Soviet state. Putin went on to explain that once he conquers Ukraine and absorbs it into Russia, portions of Ukraine will be added to existing Russian provinces. Putin intends to exterminate Ukraine completely. Russia has already been moving Ukrainian civilians it controls or has kidnapped from Ukraine since the 2022 war began, to different parts of Russia where it will be easier to exterminate Ukrainian culture over a few generations. Russians will then be moved into the territory formerly occupied by those Ukrainians to make those areas very Russian.

There is also a plan for Russia to conquer and occupy portions of Poland and Romania that Russia points out were part of Russia at one time and are overdue for reunification with Mother Russia.

This is unlikely because Poland and Romania are members of NATO, an organization formed in 1949 to protect its members from Russian aggression by mandating that if one NATO member is attacked by Russia, then all NATO members will respond as if they had been attacked. Russia has denounced NATO repeatedly and threatened to ignore it but has never actually attacked a NATO member. The NATO alliance members represent half the world GDP and nearly half of the worlds combat power. Russia attacking NATO would be suicidal, but so was the Russia invading Ukraine. Three years after the invasion the Russian army was depleted and demoralized. Over half a million dead and disabled has led to increasing desertions and spontaneous surrenders to the Ukrainians.

How bad is it? So bad that Russia has to spend millions of dollars to hire 12,000 North Korean soldiers. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a million man army and is willing to part with half of it if the Russians can afford it. The first 12,ooo North Koreans are expected to be gone by March due to death, disablement, or desertion. Russia is running out of cash and its sanctioned economy limps along on scraps because war needs had priority. Putin is undismayed and vows to press on with his plan to rebuild the Soviet Union.

Another reason Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 was because Ukraine was negotiating with NATO to become a member. Ukraine was also about to become a member of the EU, European economic union. If Ukraine belonged to the EU, Ukraine would be less likely to trade with Russia because EU membership enables Ukraine to do nearly all its trade with EU members. This includes EU ally the United States, which has the largest and most diverse economy in the world.

According to Russian leaders, most of Ukraine once belonged to Russia and those areas were not called Ukraine. This ignores the fact that the Soviet Union succeeded in its 1945 demand that Ukraine be made a UN member as a country independent of Russia. According to NATO and most other nations in the world, Ukraine became independent, as did a dozen other portions of the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Many Russians, including former Soviet era KGB officer Vladimir Putin, feel the collapse of the Soviet Union was a tragic event that Putin believes must be reversed. If Putin can conquer and absorb Ukraine back into Russia, that will be the beginning of a Soviet Union revival. Putin will then go after the other now independent former Soviet States and ask or demand that they rejoin the Soviet Union. Belarus is the only one of those former Soviet states that might do so willingly. The other former Soviet states say they will fight, like Ukraine did, to resist becoming part of Russia once more.

But then there is Crimea, which is a special case and a separate problem for Russia, Ukraine and the Crimeans. In the 1990s Russia claimed that Crimeans had voted to become an independent Crimean state that wanted to eventually merge with Russia. Crimea was independent in the 1990s, something Crimeans voted for. Ukraine objected and in 1995 seized control of Crimea. Since the 18th century Crimea had belonged to the Russian Czarist Empire, then the Soviet Union and, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, became part of an independent Ukraine.

When Crimea became part of Ukraine, the Russians and Ukrainians negotiated a lease arrangement so that the Russian Black Sea Fleet could maintain its major naval base of Sevastopol in Crimea. This meant that there was a large Russian military presence in Crimea legally and that made many Ukrainians nervous because those Russian troops could enable Russia to take control of Crimea by force, which they did in 2014 and still control the area in 2025. Ukraine still wants to reclaim Crimea and halted the flow of essential fresh water from Ukraine to Crimea in 2014. One reason for the 2022 Russian invasion was to seize Ukrainian controlled areas near Crimea and restore the flow of fresh water to Crimea. The Crimean situation complicates any efforts to make peace between Russia and Ukraine. Most Crimeans back Russia in the current Ukraine war because they consider Russia the lesser of two evils. That is an exception among neighbors of Russia that once belonged to the Soviet Union. Except for Crimea, no other former part of the Soviet Union wants to rejoin the Union.

Putin sees this reluctance to rejoin a new Soviet Union as an obstacle he can overcome if he has enough soldiers and weapons. Because of the losses in Ukraine, and the rearmament plans of the other former Soviet areas, Putins plans are stalled for now. Putin still wants it all even if the all wants nothing to do with him.
Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH  Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The construction company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.21), Zacks reports. Beazer Homes USA had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 11.95%.

Beazer Homes USA Stock Up 3.0 %

NYSE BZH traded up $0.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.75. 332,046 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 264,403. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 14.29 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $865.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 2.24. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $29.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.02. Beazer Homes USA has a 12-month low of $25.39 and a 12-month high of $38.22.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Beazer Homes USA

In other news, CFO David I. Goldberg sold 6,057 shares of Beazer Homes USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.06, for a total value of $194,187.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 131,004 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,199,988.24. The trade was a 4.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 6.52% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Beazer Homes USA in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $39.67.

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About Beazer Homes USA

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Beazer Homes USA, Inc operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It designs, constructs, and sells single-family and multi-family homes under the Beazer Homes, Gatherings, and Choice Plans names. The company also sells its homes through commissioned new home sales counselors and independent brokers in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

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bebe stores, inc. (OTCMKTS:BEBE  Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 600 shares, a decline of 83.3% from the December 31st total of 3,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 17,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.0 days.

bebe stores Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:BEBE remained flat at $0.93 during trading hours on Thursday. 2 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,989. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.00. bebe stores has a 1 year low of $0.91 and a 1 year high of $5.50.

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bebe stores, inc. does not have significant operations. Previously, it was engaged in the design, development, and production of women's apparel and accessories. The company marketed its products under the bebe and BEBE SPORT brand names through its retail stores; bebe.com, an online store; and 39 bebe outlet stores.

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Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP  Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.775 per share on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Cheniere Energy Partnerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.04.

Cheniere Energy Partners Trading Up 0.6 %

CQP stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Thursday, reaching $61.95. 1,303,362 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 251,193. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $56.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.75. Cheniere Energy Partners has a twelve month low of $45.51 and a twelve month high of $63.29.

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Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.08). Cheniere Energy Partners had a net margin of 31.28% and a negative return on equity of 328.60%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cheniere Energy Partners will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CQP shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on Cheniere Energy Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an underperform rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Cheniere Energy Partners from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheniere Energy Partners from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

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Cheniere Energy Partners Company Profile

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Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, provides liquefied natural gas (LNG) to integrated energy companies, utilities, and energy trading companies worldwide. The company owns and operates natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

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China Construction Bank Co. (OTCMKTS:CICHY  Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,500 shares, a drop of 60.4% from the December 31st total of 59,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 114,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days.

China Construction Bank Price Performance

CICHY traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.42. 95,685 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 79,215. China Construction Bank has a 1-year low of $11.60 and a 1-year high of $16.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.26 billion, a PE ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.06. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $15.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.08.

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China Construction Bank (OTCMKTS:CICHY  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter. China Construction Bank had a net margin of 24.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $47.02 billion during the quarter.

China Construction Bank Cuts Dividend

China Construction Bank Company Profile

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.4178 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. China Construction Banks payout ratio is 23.14%.

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China Construction Bank Corporation provides various banking and related financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the People's Republic of China and internationally. It operates through Corporate Finance Business, Personal Finance Business, Treasury and Asset Management Business, and Others segments.

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China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:CGMBF  Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 40,013,800 shares, an increase of 30.2% from the December 31st total of 30,743,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 236,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 169.0 days.

China Minsheng Banking Stock Performance

Shares of CGMBF stock remained flat at $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday. China Minsheng Banking has a 52-week low of $0.38 and a 52-week high of $0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $0.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $0.35.

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China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. provides banking products and services for individuals, small and micro-enterprises, corporate customers, government agencies, and financial institutions in the Peoples Republic of China. The company operates through Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, and Others segments.

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Deutsche Telekom AG (OTCMKTS:DTEGY  Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 163,100 shares, an increase of 167.8% from the December 31st total of 60,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 324,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.5 days.

Deutsche Telekom Price Performance

Shares of DTEGY stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $33.64. The company had a trading volume of 191,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 499,811. The stocks 50-day moving average is $30.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Deutsche Telekom has a 52 week low of $22.03 and a 52 week high of $33.73.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DTEGY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Deutsche Telekom from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Deutsche Telekom to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Deutsche Telekom to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

About Deutsche Telekom

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Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, Group Development, and Group Headquarters and Group Services segments. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers.

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Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO  Get Free Report)s stock price dropped 2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $85.17 and last traded at $85.75. Approximately 2,085,345 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 9,575,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Novo Nordisk A/S from $156.00 to $105.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a sell rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $145.25.

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Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Up 1.5 %

Institutional Trading of Novo Nordisk A/S

The company has a market cap of $382.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.82.

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 10,608.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,813,571 shares of the companys stock valued at $215,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,635 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S during the 3rd quarter valued at $98,765,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,052,712 shares of the companys stock valued at $90,477,000 after purchasing an additional 451,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 3rd quarter worth $42,017,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in the 2nd quarter worth $41,646,000. 11.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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Novo Nordisk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Diabetes and Obesity Care, and Rare Disease.

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B&M European Value Retail S.A. (OTCMKTS:BMRRY  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,900 shares, an increase of 1,085.7% from the December 31st total of 2,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 93,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.3 days.

B&M European Value Retail Stock Up 0.4 %

BMRRY traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $15.97. The stock had a trading volume of 35,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,657. B&M European Value Retail has a 1-year low of $15.24 and a 1-year high of $28.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 1.06.

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B&M European Value Retail Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be issued a $0.7385 dividend. This is an increase from B&M European Value Retails previous dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 21st.

B&M European Value Retail Company Profile

B&M European Value Retail SA operates general merchandise and grocery stores. The company operates a chain of stores under the B&M, Heron Foods, and B&M Express in the United Kingdom; and stores under the B&M brand in France. It also provides property management services. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Munsbach, Luxembourg.

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China Hongqiao Group Limited (OTCMKTS:CHHQF  Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,221,000 shares, a decrease of 17.5% from the December 31st total of 17,239,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently  days.

China Hongqiao Group Stock Performance

Shares of CHHQF stock remained flat at $1.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The companys 50-day moving average is $1.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.46. China Hongqiao Group has a twelve month low of $1.65 and a twelve month high of $1.71.

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China Hongqiao Group Limited, an investment holding company, manufactures and sells aluminum products in the People's Republic of China and Indonesia. The company's products include molten aluminum alloys, aluminum alloy ingots, aluminum busbars, aluminum alloy processing, and alumina products.

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Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (OTCMKTS:UNPSF  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,699,400 shares, a decline of 63.8% from the December 31st total of 10,209,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 0 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently  days.

Uni-President China Stock Performance

Uni-President China stock remained flat at $0.89 during midday trading on Thursday. Uni-President China has a fifty-two week low of $0.87 and a fifty-two week high of $0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $0.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $0.88.

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Uni-President China Holdings Ltd, an investment holding company, manufactures, sells, and trades in beverages and food in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through Beverages, Food, and Others segments. It offers instant noodles, tea drinks, juices, milk tea, coffee, bottled water, and bottle can drinks.

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January 30, 2025: Last year featured an unusually large number of efforts to rearrange the ethnic, religious and political realities of the Middle East. The most visible and endlessly frustrating effort is the destruction of Israel. After that there are calls for the replacement of Arab dictatorships and sham democracies with true democracies. The only functioning democracy in the region is Israel. At the same time Israelis are frequently blamed for any problems that occur. This hostility to democracy in the Middle East has long been noted. For example, Britain and France did not intend to establish democracies in the Near East after World War I when the collapse of the Ottoman Empire left Europeans, rather than Turks, in charge of the region. Democracy did not appear to work in the Middle East. When they did work, they did not last. Israel was the only exception and most governments and factions in the region hated Israel for its democracy, stability and prosperity.

This hatred most recently expressed itself when Hamas, a Palestinian anti-Israel militia unsuccessfully attacked Israel in October 2023. The Palestinians have, since the 1940s Israeli war of independence, been their own worst enemies and never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This mess started a century ago after World War I when the victorious allies had defeated Germany and its Turkish ally. Part of the post-war plan was to reorganize Palestine, the Levant region of Syria and Lebanon as British and French-controlled monarchies. That did not work and Arab nationalists in what is now Israel attacked Jewish settlers from Europe who were seeking to establish a Jewish state in the area. This movement was proposed in the 1890s but was not acted on until 1920, after World War I, with nominal British approval in the Balfour Declaration. This led to increasing Arab violence against Jews.

Then came World War II and the German effort to kill all the Jews in Europe. Six million Jews, and six million other Europeans the Germans considered unworthy, were killed during the war. This led many of the surviving Jews to declare Never Again, and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. This and British forces leaving the region triggered violence from the surrounding Arab states, who urged the Palestinian Arabs living there to flee Israel. The other Arab states urged the Palestinians to flee so they could steal the Palestinians land in Israel. At the same time the Israelis urged the Arabs among them to stay. Many did, and currently 20 percent of the Israeli population is Arab, most of them Moslem. The Israelis defeated forces from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria who sought to destroy Israel. That was followed by Arab Israeli wars in 1957, 1967, and 1973. Israel won every time and that led Egypt and Jordan to make peace with Israel, an arrangement that has persisted to the present.

The Palestinians refused to settle for anything less than the destruction of Israel and eviction of all the Jews in it, and that refusal has persisted. This intransigence first occurred in 1949 when Israel offered to allow 300,000 Palestinians to return. As part of that deal the United States agreed to pay for the construction of homes for 200,000 people in Jordan and another 60,000 in Sinai and the east bank of the Suez Canal. Arab and Palestinian leaders ordered their followers to ignore these offers and continued blaming Israel for the dire situation of Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian radicals, Hamas being one of those groups, insists that Israel be destroyed and replaced by a Palestinian State. These Palestinians ignore the fact that Israel has the strongest military in the region, nuclear weapons, their own ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear warheads and the wealthiest, most advanced economy in the region.

Despite that, Palestinian radicals continue to promote attacks on Israel. Radicals in other Arab states sympathize with the Palestinians but do little more than demonstrate against Israel in their own countries and often get arrested. The Arab governments see Israel as a lucrative economic partner and in some cases a useful partner in counter-terrorism operations. Anti-Israel groups throughout the Arab world are often troublesome for the local Arab governments. Israel shares information about Islamic terrorists with Middle Eastern Arab states and earns a degree of cooperation from these governments. In the streets it is a different story, with radicals calling for attacks on Israel as well as local governments that are not willing to make war on Israel.

Nations in the region regularly claim they are rearranging their relationships with their neighbors. Those claims are rarely fulfilled while the ancient feuds return with new names and occasionally new participants when some other player has disappeared.
Youdao, Inc. (NYSE:DAO  Get Free Report) shares traded down 5.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $7.20 and last traded at $7.19. 25,675 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 73,829 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Citigroup cut shares of Youdao from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

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Youdao Stock Performance

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Youdao

The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $6.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.04. The company has a market cap of $943.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.50 and a beta of 0.01.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Youdao by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,733 shares of the companys stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,969 shares in the last quarter. Symmetry Peak Management LLC bought a new position in Youdao during the third quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Youdao by 6.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 52,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. 21.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Youdao

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Youdao, Inc, an internet technology company, provides online services in the field of content, community, communication, and commerce in China. It operates through three segments: Learning Services, Smart Devices, and Online Marketing Services. The company provides various learning content, applications, and solutions, which cover topics and target people from various age groups for their learning needs through its websites and mobile applications.

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StockNews.com cut shares of Alamo Group (NYSE:ALG  Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Alamo Group from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

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Alamo Group Stock Performance

Alamo Group Increases Dividend

NYSE ALG opened at $188.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 4.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Alamo Group has a fifty-two week low of $163.74 and a fifty-two week high of $231.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $189.09 and a 200-day moving average of $183.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95 and a beta of 1.11.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. This is an increase from Alamo Groups previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Alamo Groups payout ratio is 12.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Edward Rizzuti sold 276 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.88, for a total transaction of $54,062.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,439 shares in the company, valued at $1,653,031.32. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Janet S. Pollock sold 257 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.41, for a total transaction of $49,706.37. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,360 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $649,857.60. The trade was a 7.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alamo Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Alamo Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 672,728 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $121,205,000 after purchasing an additional 30,826 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alamo Group by 7.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 415,424 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $74,830,000 after buying an additional 28,786 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alamo Group by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 391,728 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $70,562,000 after acquiring an additional 10,013 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alamo Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 232,198 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $41,834,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alamo Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,759,000. 92.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alamo Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Alamo Group Inc designs, manufactures, distributes, and services vegetation management and infrastructure maintenance equipment for governmental, industrial, and agricultural uses worldwide. It operates through two segments, Vegetation Management and Industrial Equipment. Its Vegetation Management Division segment offers hydraulically-powered and tractor  and off-road chassis mounted mowers, other cutters and replacement parts for heavy-duty and intensive uses and heavy duty, tractor- and truck-mounted mowing and vegetation maintenance equipment, and replacement parts.

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Altria Group (NYSE:MO  Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01, Zacks reports. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group updated its FY 2025 guidance to 5.220-5.370 EPS.

Altria Group Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $51.59 on Friday. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.44 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.64.

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Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $53.29.

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About Altria Group

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Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.

Further Reading

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Ball Co. (NYSE:BALL  Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Ball has increased its dividend by an average of 4.6% annually over the last three years. Ball has a payout ratio of 20.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ball to earn $3.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.5%.

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Ball Price Performance

Shares of BALL stock opened at $56.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ball has a 12 month low of $51.96 and a 12 month high of $71.32. The firm has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.24, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Ball ( NYSE:BALL Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Ball had a net margin of 34.05% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ball will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BALL shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an underweight rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $56.00) on shares of Ball in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ball from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Ball from a sell rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho raised shares of Ball from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ball in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $68.17.

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Ball announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 24.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Ball

(Get Free Report)

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages.

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BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (NYSE:EGF  Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,600 shares, an increase of 116.7% from the December 31st total of 1,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund Stock Performance

Shares of EGF traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.73. The companys stock had a trading volume of 343 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,634. BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund has a fifty-two week low of $9.05 and a fifty-two week high of $11.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.85.

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BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.041 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund Company Profile

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund stock. Transform Wealth LLC bought a new position in BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. ( NYSE:EGF Free Report ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,657 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

(Get Free Report)

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc It is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It primarily invests in a portfolio of United States government and government agency securities, including the U.S.

Further Reading

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BNP Paribas (OTCMKTS:BNPQY  Get Free Report) and Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (OTCMKTS:FMBL  Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

BNP Paribas has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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Profitability

This table compares BNP Paribas and Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beachs net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets BNP Paribas 21.92% 8.09% 0.39% Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach 9.77% 3.29% 0.37%

Earnings and Valuation

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio BNP Paribas $49.65 billion 1.56 $11.88 billion N/A N/A Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach $459.33 million 1.47 $44.88 million $357.92 15.74

This table compares BNP Paribas and Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beachs revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

BNP Paribas has higher revenue and earnings than Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for BNP Paribas and Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score BNP Paribas 0 0 1 1 3.50 Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach 0 0 0 0 0.00

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.2% of BNP Paribas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.6% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

BNP Paribas pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays an annual dividend of $112.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach pays out 31.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

BNP Paribas beats Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BNP Paribas

(Get Free Report)

BNP Paribas SA provides various banking and financial products and services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three divisions: Corporate & Institutional Banking; Commercial, Personal Banking & Services; and Investment & Protection Services. The Corporate & Institutional Banking division offers capital market, securities, investment banking, financing, risk management, cash management, and financial advisory services for corporate clients and institutional investors. The Commercial, Personal Banking & Services division provides financing and equipment leasing services, mobility, and digital banking services, as well as current accounts, savings products, bancassurance, insurance products and services, and consumer loans. The Investment & Protection Services division provides protection, savings, investment, and real estate services to support individuals, professionals, corporate clients, and institutions. The company was formerly known as Banque Nationale de Paris and changed its name to BNP Paribas SA in May 2000. BNP Paribas SA was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

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Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach provides various banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Barbara Counties. It offers checking, savings, Christmas club savings, health savings, market rate savings, and money market accounts; demand and time deposits; certificates of deposit; and individual retirement account. The company also provides personal, home, commercial real estate, real estate and construction, and commercial business loans, as well as lines of credit; financing for residential loans comprising single-family and multifamily loans; and credit and debit cards. In addition, it offers account management, receivables and payables, and risk management services; commercial lending services; and faith-based and healthcare banking services, as well as online and mobile banking services. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

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Boomfish Wealth Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY  Free Report) (TSE:RY) by 64.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,144 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 7,554 shares during the quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLCs holdings in Royal Bank of Canada were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RY. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 6.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 84,045 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $10,483,000 after buying an additional 4,980 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 211,411 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $26,369,000 after purchasing an additional 12,693 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 0.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,622,472 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,706,833,000 after buying an additional 124,348 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada during the third quarter worth about $706,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 150.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 74,025 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $9,249,000 after acquiring an additional 44,494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.31% of the companys stock.

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Royal Bank of Canada Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RY opened at $123.36 on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $93.97 and a 12 month high of $128.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $122.47 and a 200-day moving average of $120.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $174.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.87.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, January 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.0522 per share. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canadas previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 27th. This represents a $4.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Royal Bank of Canadas payout ratio is presently 49.76%.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from $195.00 to $193.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, January 1st. TD Securities downgraded Royal Bank of Canada from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays raised Royal Bank of Canada from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Bank of Canada presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $156.50.

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About Royal Bank of Canada

(Free Report)

Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses.

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Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP  Get Free Report) (TSE:BIP.UN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partnerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a payout ratio of 121.8% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to earn $3.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

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Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

BIP traded down $0.79 on Friday, hitting $32.78. 268,717 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 355,550. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12 month low of $24.84 and a 12 month high of $36.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -86.26 and a beta of 1.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners ( NYSE:BIP Get Free Report ) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.03%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BIP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $42.20.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on BIP

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.

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Cibc World Market Inc. cut its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP  Free Report) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,534,000 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 604,980 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Market Inc.s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $207,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $158,000. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BIP shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities raised their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $42.75.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 4.5 %

NYSE:BIP opened at $33.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The businesss 50 day moving average is $32.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.93. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 52 week low of $24.84 and a 52 week high of $36.50. The company has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a PE ratio of -88.33 and a beta of 1.07.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP  Get Free Report) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.03%. On average, analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -426.32%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Profile

(Free Report)

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.

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Busey Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Boston Scientific Co. (NYSE:BSX  Free Report) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,128 shares of the medical equipment providers stock after selling 334 shares during the quarter. Busey Banks holdings in Boston Scientific were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Boston Scientific by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,846,328 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $5,266,522,000 after buying an additional 1,389,172 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Boston Scientific by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,820,828 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $2,750,385,000 after acquiring an additional 718,515 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Boston Scientific by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,584,841 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $2,469,607,000 after acquiring an additional 480,729 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Boston Scientific by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,018,377 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $671,940,000 after acquiring an additional 64,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in Boston Scientific by 17.5% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,470,174 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $457,138,000 after purchasing an additional 815,403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Boston Scientific news, EVP Wendy Carruthers sold 6,983 shares of Boston Scientific stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.78, for a total value of $633,916.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,308 shares in the company, valued at $2,660,580.24. The trade was a 19.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Arthur C. Butcher sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.27, for a total transaction of $1,250,672.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 978 shares of the companys stock, valued at $87,306.06. This trade represents a 93.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,989 shares of company stock worth $2,702,261. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BSX. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Boston Scientific from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Boston Scientific from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Boston Scientific from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Boston Scientific in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Boston Scientific from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $97.26.

View Our Latest Analysis on Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Boston Scientific stock opened at $102.97 on Friday. The firms 50-day moving average price is $92.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.93. The company has a market capitalization of $151.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.10, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Boston Scientific Co. has a 12-month low of $62.63 and a 12-month high of $104.25.

Boston Scientific Profile

(Free Report)

Boston Scientific Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices for use in various interventional medical specialties worldwide. It operates through two segments, MedSurg and Cardiovascular. The company offers devices to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions, such as resolution clips, biliary stent systems, stents and electrocautery enhanced delivery systems, direct visualization systems, digital catheters, and single-use duodenoscopes; devices to treat urological conditions, including ureteral stents, catheters, baskets, guidewires, sheaths, balloons, single-use digital flexible ureteroscopes, holmium laser systems, artificial urinary sphincter, laser system, fiber, and hydrogel systems; and devices to treat neurological movement disorders and manage chronic pain, such as spinal cord stimulator system, proprietary programming software, radiofrequency generator, indirect decompression systems, practice optimization tools, and deep brain stimulation system.

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January 31, 2025: For over seventy years Russia and Israel have been on good terms. Russia was one of the first countries to recognize Israeli statehood in 1948. That all changed in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and found itself mired in a long war it seemed incapable of winning. Desperate for allies, Russia turned to Iran, which had been recently humiliated by Israeli airstrikes and was seeking allies for its counterattack on Israel.

Meanwhile Israel was briefly distracted by problems with Hamas militants in Gaza. Hamas had to be eliminated for Israel to have any peace. Hamas was dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and enthusiastically advocates killing Jews whenever, and wherever they can. But this brought up another issue, that of finally settling the Palestinian question. Part of the solution was agreeing on what the borders for the new Palestinian state should be. Palestinians wanted the original 1967 borders, while the Israelis want to make some modifications, like keeping control of Jerusalem. It got worse, with Palestinians insisting that those who fled Israel in 1948, and their descendants, be allowed to return.

Israel decided that there was another solution; the no-state solution. Instead of continuing the arguments over the 1967 borders, why not go back to the 1967 politics. In short, convince Jordan to take back the West Bank. Jordan ruled the West Bank until 1967, and claimed it as lost territory for two decades. Then in 1988 Jordan ceded control to the Palestinians. Trying to convince Egypt to take control of the Gaza Strip was difficult, even though Gaza had been part of Egypt for most of the last few thousand years.

Israel and Jordan worked out a deal, perhaps with some international organizations, for running Jerusalem. Israel tried to get Arab states to stop treating all the Palestinians like refugees and absorb them as Israel did for all the Jews driven out of Arab countries after the 1948 Arab Israeli war.

Egypt might seem an unlikely host for 1.5 million Arab refugees in Gaza. But Egypt is well aware of the fact that Gaza is becoming a refuge for Islamic terrorists who direct their attacks at Egypt, as well as Israel. If Egypt wants to deal with that problem, the best way is to make all those refugees Egyptian citizens, and subject them to Egyptian law and counter-terrorism efforts, if need be.

And let us not forget how the problem started. The Arabs that left what-is-now-Israel in 1948 were convinced by the Arab countries to remain refugees for 60 years, on the promise that the Arab world would crush the new state of Israel. That didn't happen and isn't likely to ever happen. The Arab world has been getting more and more impatient with the Palestinians, and their inability to get along with each other, rule themselves or work out a deal with Israel. Then it was proposed that since the two-state solution wasn't going to work, give the Arab refugees a place to call home. At this point the Palestinian refugees were the children and grandchildren of the original refugees. It was suggested that they settle down where they were in the West Bank. That seemed reasonable because the alternative is more head-butting by the Palestinian Arab radicals and misery for the refugees who, if they were treated like the 1948 Jewish refugees, would be a lot better off today.

In other words, get over past defeats and move on. But the chance of this solution getting accepted was low. The Arab world has been in the habit, for centuries, of adopting failed solutions and sticking with them no matter what. This has resulted in poor economic, educational and political performance despite all the oil wealth, literacy, economic growth and all manner of performance indicators are among the lowest on the planet. We are dealing with a self-destructive culture that likes to blame others for their problems, problems they could easily solve themselves. Throughout the 1970s and 80s communist Russia supported the Palestinians.

By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, the new Russian government decided to restore good relations with Israel, the only Middle Eastern state that was stable, prosperous and militarily invincible. That fell apart in the 21st century when Russia became allies with Israels arch enemy Iran. That did not work out because in 2024 an unexpected change of government in Syria sent the Assad clan, the rulers of Syria for half a century, off to exile in Russia. At the same time Israel destroyed most of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, eliminating many members including most senior leaders.

This left Hamas as the last obstacle to peace in the region. Going into 2025, Israeli forces are still battling Hamas remnants in Gaza because the Israeli government doesnt want to pay the political cost of occupying Gaza and its very anti-Israel population until the Palestinians finally decide to be good. This may be the end of Hamas because they have no allies. Iran and Russia both have few resources to provide more than minimal support for anyone in the Middle East.
First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in shares of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras (NYSE:EBR  Free Report) by 39.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,299 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 11,177 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Networks holdings in Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EBR. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras by 22.0% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,353 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras by 26.0% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,798 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras by 30.5% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 21,755 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 5,089 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 21,938 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 7,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 32,264 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 9,437 shares in the last quarter. 2.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras Stock Performance

Shares of EBR stock opened at $6.24 on Friday. Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras has a fifty-two week low of $5.45 and a fifty-two week high of $9.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.59.

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras Cuts Dividend

Analysts Set New Price Targets

The firm also recently announced a  dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.1414 per share. This represents a yield of 1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th.

A number of analysts recently commented on EBR shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on EBR

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.  Eletrobras Profile

(Free Report)

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA  Eletrobras, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and commercialization of electricity in Brazil. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear, wind, and solar plants. As of December 31, 2023, it owned and operated 44 hydroelectric plants with a total capacity of 42,293.5 megawatt (MW); 5 thermal plants, including coal and gas power generation units with a total installed capacity of 1,632 MW; and two nuclear power plants comprising Angra 1 with an installed capacity of 657 MW and Angra 2 with an installed capacity of 1350 MW.

Further Reading

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Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS  Free Report) by 66.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 282,900 shares of the investment management companys stock after acquiring an additional 112,935 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Market Inc.s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $161,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $104,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,155,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 116.3% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 437 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.21% of the companys stock.

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The Goldman Sachs Group Trading Up 1.3 %

GS stock opened at $645.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $594.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $539.40. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a one year low of $375.20 and a one year high of $649.52. The stock has a market cap of $200.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.38.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The Goldman Sachs Group ( NYSE:GS Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The investment management company reported $11.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $8.21 by $3.74. The firm had revenue of $13.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.36 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 47.1 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The Goldman Sachs Groups payout ratio is presently 29.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $485.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $736.00 to $782.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $520.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $563.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $550.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $591.06.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on The Goldman Sachs Group

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP John F.W. Rogers sold 6,416 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $596.36, for a total transaction of $3,826,245.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,614 shares of the companys stock, valued at $34,358,685.04. This represents a 10.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sheara J. Fredman sold 2,974 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $594.51, for a total transaction of $1,768,072.74. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,489 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,046,795.39. This represents a 25.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,865 shares of company stock valued at $25,286,862. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

(Free Report)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in financing under securities to resale agreements.

Further Reading

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Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS  Free Report) had its price target lifted by Citigroup from $64.50 to $67.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the casino operators stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LVS. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down previously from $54.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $59.58.

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View Our Latest Stock Report on Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 11.1 %

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $48.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.70. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $36.62 and a 52-week high of $56.60. The firm has a market cap of $34.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Las Vegas Sandss previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Las Vegas Sandss dividend payout ratio is 40.61%.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $1,264,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,129,724. The trade was a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 118.8% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 560 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 583 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operators stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

(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.

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City Chic Collective Limited (ASX:CCX  Get Free Report) insider Michael Kay purchased 500,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of A$0.12 ($0.07) per share, for a total transaction of A$60,000.00 ($37,267.08).

Michael Kay also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Friday, November 29th, Michael Kay purchased 750,000 shares of City Chic Collective stock. The shares were bought at an average price of A$0.10 ($0.06) per share, for a total transaction of A$71,250.00 ($44,254.66).

City Chic Collective Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 166.95.

City Chic Collective Company Profile

City Chic Collective Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer of plus-size womens apparel, footwear, and accessories in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The company offers its products under the City Chic brand. It also operates a network of retail stores. The company sells its products through online websites and marketplaces; and wholesale stores.

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Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $1,000.00 to $970.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $1,015.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,000.00 to $1,033.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,025.00 to $975.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $1,060.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a buy rating and issued a $997.00 price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Eli Lilly and Company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $997.22.

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Eli Lilly and Company Price Performance

LLY stock opened at $823.59 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Eli Lilly and Company has a 12 month low of $637.00 and a 12 month high of $972.53. The stock has a market cap of $781.85 billion, a PE ratio of 89.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $780.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $845.98.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.34). Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 71.08% and a net margin of 20.48%. The business had revenue of $11.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eli Lilly and Company will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Eli Lilly and Company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, December 9th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the companys leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Eli Lilly and Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Eli Lilly and Companys previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Eli Lilly and Companys payout ratio is 56.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 900 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $803.38, for a total transaction of $723,042.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,480 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,402,522.40. This represents a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eli Lilly and Company

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LLY. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 87,091.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,463,182 shares of the companys stock worth $11,041,631,000 after purchasing an additional 12,448,888 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 92,759.9% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,022,388 shares of the companys stock worth $905,774,000 after buying an additional 1,021,287 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 37,140.7% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 694,167 shares of the companys stock valued at $614,990,000 after buying an additional 692,303 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 126,531.5% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 678,745 shares of the companys stock valued at $523,991,000 after acquiring an additional 678,209 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Eli Lilly and Company by 100.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,165,696 shares of the companys stock worth $1,032,737,000 after acquiring an additional 584,866 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.53% of the companys stock.

About Eli Lilly and Company

(Get Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity.

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CMG Global Holdings LLC cut its stake in Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD  Free Report) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,766 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after selling 638 shares during the period. CMG Global Holdings LLCs holdings in Enterprise Products Partners were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in Enterprise Products Partners by 2,862.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 7,756,006 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $225,777,000 after acquiring an additional 7,494,224 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Enterprise Products Partners by 110.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,531,756 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $73,699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,010 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Enterprise Products Partners by 2,854.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,287,318 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $37,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243,741 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Enterprise Products Partners by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,429,298 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $420,037,000 after buying an additional 1,225,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Enterprise Products Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,746,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 26.07% of the companys stock.

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Enterprise Products Partners Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:EPD opened at $33.98 on Friday. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has a 52 week low of $26.12 and a 52 week high of $34.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $73.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.49.

Enterprise Products Partners Increases Dividend

Enterprise Products Partners ( NYSE:EPD Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $13.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.87 billion. Enterprise Products Partners had a return on equity of 20.31% and a net margin of 10.32%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.535 per share. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Enterprise Products Partnerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Enterprise Products Partnerss payout ratio is 78.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America began coverage on Enterprise Products Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a buy rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Enterprise Products Partners from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Enterprise Products Partners from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Enterprise Products Partners in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $34.60.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on EPD

About Enterprise Products Partners

(Free Report)

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. provides midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, petrochemicals, and refined products. It operates in four segments: NGL Pipelines & Services, Crude Oil Pipelines & Services, Natural Gas Pipelines & Services, and Petrochemical & Refined Products Services.

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Institute for Wealth Management LLC. decreased its stake in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG  Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,241 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.s holdings in EOG Resources were worth $1,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 64.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,284,228 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $694,717,000 after buying an additional 2,076,134 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in EOG Resources by 856.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,200,851 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $147,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,334 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of EOG Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $106,990,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of EOG Resources by 577.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 696,596 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $85,389,000 after purchasing an additional 593,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EOG Resources by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,113,429 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $136,874,000 after purchasing an additional 333,947 shares in the last quarter. 89.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at EOG Resources

In other EOG Resources news, COO Jeffrey R. Leitzell sold 4,000 shares of EOG Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.89, for a total value of $483,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 42,703 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,162,365.67. The trade was a 8.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Janet F. Clark sold 568 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.33, for a total value of $76,867.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,532 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,891,185.56. This represents a 1.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the companys stock.

EOG Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EOG opened at $129.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.07. EOG Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $108.94 and a one year high of $139.67. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $128.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.43. The company has a market capitalization of $72.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.29.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The energy exploration company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.03 billion. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 29.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.44 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, November 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the energy exploration company to purchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the companys board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

EOG Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.975 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from EOG Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. EOG Resourcess dividend payout ratio is currently 31.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America restated a neutral rating and set a $144.00 target price (down from $151.00) on shares of EOG Resources in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays cut their target price on EOG Resources from $144.00 to $137.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James increased their price target on EOG Resources from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on EOG Resources from $127.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of EOG Resources from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $143.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $143.90.

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EOG Resources Profile

(Free Report)

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily in producing basins in the United States, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and internationally. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.

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First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI  Free Report) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 646 shares of the communications equipment providers stock after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the quarter. First Affirmative Financial Networks holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSI. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $467.00 to $529.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $440.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $440.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $430.00 to $495.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $425.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $504.88.

Motorola Solutions Trading Up 2.0 %

MSI stock opened at $472.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $78.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.77, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.01. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $314.84 and a twelve month high of $507.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $473.48 and a 200-day moving average of $452.48.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 251.96% and a net margin of 14.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 12.57 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $1.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. This is an increase from Motorola Solutionss previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Motorola Solutionss payout ratio is presently 47.75%.

Motorola Solutions Profile

(Free Report)

Motorola Solutions, Inc provides public safety and enterprise security solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and video security devices and infrastructure, as well as the implementation and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, public safety, and commercial customers who operate private communications networks and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce.

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Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV  Free Report) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,414 shares of the insurance providers stock after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Travelers Companies were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TRV. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of Travelers Companies by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 160 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Travelers Companies in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Travelers Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Travelers Companies by 581.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 252 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in Travelers Companies by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 276 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 82.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Travelers Companies

In other Travelers Companies news, EVP Maria Olivo sold 10,410 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.80, for a total value of $2,725,338.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 111,162 shares of the companys stock, valued at $29,102,211.60. This trade represents a 8.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman William H. Heyman sold 3,740 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.80, for a total value of $990,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 250,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,301,683.20. This represents a 1.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.33% of the companys stock.

Travelers Companies Stock Down 0.2 %

TRV opened at $249.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.15. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $200.21 and a 52 week high of $269.55. The company has a market capitalization of $56.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV  Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The insurance provider reported $9.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $6.50 by $2.65. Travelers Companies had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 10.77%. The firm had revenue of $12.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $10.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.01 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 20.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Travelers Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Travelers Companiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $241.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Travelers Companies from $244.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Travelers Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Travelers Companies from $240.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Travelers Companies from a sell rating to a buy rating and set a $278.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $260.47.

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About Travelers Companies

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The Travelers Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance.

Further Reading

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Shares of Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSE:GRC  Get Free Report) rose 15.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$0.08 and last traded at C$0.08. Approximately 102,800 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 232% from the average daily volume of 31,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.07.

Gold Springs Resource Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$0.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of C$18.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.50 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Gold Springs Resource Company Profile

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Gold Springs Resource Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in the United States and Canada. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. It holds a 100% interest in the Gold Springs project covering approximately 7,544 hectares located in straddles eastern Lincoln County, Nevada, and western Iron County, Utah.

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by Austin Bay January 30, 2025

President Donald Trump's Jan. 27 strategic defense executive order includes this hard-nosed truth about current air and space weaponry and our enemies who possess them: "Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities."

Let's translate from the Pentagonese. Next generation: hypersonic missiles, advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, thousands of aerial drones and much more! Adversaries: Communist China, Putin Russia, North Korea, Iran, Islamist fanatics, crime cartels with billions.

Trump described his program as an American Iron Dome. The name is a sly clue indicating his multi-faceted goal of deploying a "state of the art" missile defense covering the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.

Aside: Add Guam.

Attention Mexico and Canada: Y'all could be covered by a Really Big Dome.

Iron Dome is the name of an Israeli missile defense system that has repeatedly demonstrated in combat that missile defense works. Focus on this phrase: demonstrated in combat. Iron Dome's success isn't theory or opinion.

Given current technology and political havoc, Trump knows America can protect itself with a 21st-century version of the anti-missile shield Ronald Reagan dubbed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

So let's examine America's challenge.

Israel's Iron Dome is a tactical (shorter range) system designed to protect a very small country that is 3.25% the size of Texas, or about the size of New Jersey.

The U.S. is 44,726% larger than Israel. The Lower 48, Hawaii and Alaska present a much bigger target. Canada and Mexico know they're also in the blast zone.

Obvious: America needs a Really Big Dome.

Tactical weapon example: a sniper with a rifle sees you at 200 meters and pulls the trigger. Strategic weapon: From a launch site in North Korea, Kim Jong Un fires a nuke-bearing ICBM at Washington.

Iran to Israel is considered an intermediate range engagement. However, Iran seeks strategic (big) objectives. Remember, the mullahs call Israel a "one bomb state."

So Israel integrates Iron Dome with several other weapon systems (Arrow 3, for example) that create a layered defense. Israel can destroy incoming projectiles several hundred kilometers away.

Layered -- incoming missile projectiles confront outer space (exo-atmospheric), very high altitude and final descent interception by various defensive systems. Defeating rockets and artillery rounds involves interception within 25 kilometers, or offensive counterfire by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Iran's failed April 13, 2024, air and space attack on Israel resulted in spectacular failure -- for the ayatollahs. Some 370 Iranian drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and what the military calls "other projectiles" did minimal damage.

Honest, brutal history, paraphrasing StrategyPage.com: Iron Dome's "sensor-shooter" system is a drastically scaled-down U.S. strategic anti-missile defense system, with a mini-ABM system in the mold of the Reagan administration's SDI.

Hence my essay's buried lede: Trump uses Iron Dome as a metaphor for fielding 21st-century layered air and space defense against what military analysts often label "projectiles." It's a dull word but actually a useful and descriptive term. ICBMs, other ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, various aerial drones, rockets, tube artillery shells, mortar shells and, when you think about it, even airplanes are all projectiles.

Ronald Reagan's critics dismissed his SDI as "Star Wars" -- suggesting a Hollywood fantasy. They also called SDI "destabilizing," meaning it would lead to war with the Soviet Union.

War? No, the USSR folded, ending the Cold War.

Century 21: Russia is back, with nukes, missiles, drones and mass murdering leadership. Satellite photos reveal Communist China is building a new fleet of ships and adding more nuclear-capable ICBMs each month.

Partial answer to Moscow and Beijing: Deploy more long-range Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) interceptor missiles. Currently, the U.S. has a paltry flock of approximately 44 GMDs in Alaska and California. How to fix the problem: 1) deploy 100 more in Alaska; 2) deploy 80 in Maine -- or in Labrador or Greenland. It'll vex Beijing, Moscow and Tehran.

In 2003, I wrote the following in a column on SDI: "The worldwide battleground in the 21st century is between the constructive and the destructive -- constructive nations versus destructive rogue states and transnational terror syndicates."

Unfortunately, in 2025, I think that assessment is a bitter reality.
Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN.A  Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $7.38, but opened at $7.61. Gray Television shares last traded at $7.72, with a volume of 1,545 shares changing hands.

Gray Television Stock Performance

The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $7.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market cap of $740.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.21.

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Gray Television (NYSE:GTN.A  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter. Gray Television had a return on equity of 9.60% and a net margin of 5.69%. The company had revenue of $950.00 million during the quarter.

Gray Television Announces Dividend

Gray Television Company Profile

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. Gray Televisions dividend payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

(Get Free Report)

Gray Television, Inc, a television broadcast company, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. As of February 28, 2019, it owned and operated television stations in 91 television markets broadcasting approximately 400 program streams, including approximately 150 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network, and the FOX Network.

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Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana filed its Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 30, 2025, disclosing the financial outcomes for the three and six months ending December 31, 2024. The Louisiana-based registrant detailed its financial condition in the current report as required by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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According to the report, Home Federal Bancorp stated that its Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. banking entity reported its performance during that period. Noteworthy points included a pre-tax income of $50.6 million generated by PlainsCapital Bank. This figure included a provision recapture of $5.7 million, offset slightly by a $4.8 million negative real estate valuation adjustment. The banks net interest margin stood at 2.98%, reflecting a 7 basis points decline from the prior quarter, attributed to reduced loan yields and higher cash balances.

Furthermore, the average Bank loans held for investment decreased by $105 million from the previous quarter, and loan yields decreased by 23 basis points to 5.84%. Average Bank deposits saw a robust uptick of $595 million. PrimeLending, however, incurred a $9.9 million pre-tax loss during the same quarter. Despite this, gain-on-sale of loans to third parties remained relatively stable.

Non-interest expenses other than variable compensation saw a $7.0 million decrease, reflecting managements efforts to optimize the business in line with the prevalent economic conditions. HilltopSecurities, an affiliate, achieved a pre-tax income of $20.4 million during the period, translating to a pre-tax margin of 16.1%.

In accordance with the filing, a press release dated January 30, 2025, was included as an exhibit to provide additional information. This press release is deemed furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not filed for any other purpose unless specified in the report.

The company disclosed that no written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act, soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act, or pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act were applicable during the reporting period.

The filing demonstrated the meticulous effort Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has made to adhere to transparency and accountability in its financial reporting.

This news release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation or financial advice.

Please refer to the official filing for precise details and consult financial professionals for investment decisions and guidance.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisianas 8K filing here.

About Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana

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Home Federal Bancorp, Inc of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides various financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations. The company accepts various deposits, such as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts.

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On January 27, 2025, i-80 Gold Corp. filed a Form 8-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The report indicates that the Form of Subscription Agreement between the company and certain investors, attached as exhibit 10.1, will be deemed to be incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Companys registration statement on Form F-10 (File Number 333-279567).

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Additionally, as part of the filing, the company disclosed Item 9.01  Financial Statements and Exhibits. The filing included the following exhibits:

 Exhibit 10.1: Form of Subscription Agreement between the Company and certain investors Exhibit 104: Cover Page Interactive Data File  The cover page interactive data file does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.

It is important to note that i-80 Gold Corp. identifies as an emerging growth company and has duly caused the report to be signed on its behalf by Ryan Snow, the Chief Financial Officer, on January 30, 2025.

This Form 8-K filing provides insights into i-80 Gold Corp.s recent agreements and financial disclosures, ensuring transparency and compliance with regulatory requirements. Investors and stakeholders may reference this filing for further details.

This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read i-80 Golds 8K filing here.

i-80 Gold Company Profile

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i-80 Gold Corp. is a mining company, engages in the exploration, development and production of gold and silver mineral deposits principally in the United States. i-80 Gold Corp. is based in Reno, Nevada.

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Centrica plc (LON:CNA  Get Free Report) insider Amber Rudd bought 1,672 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 135 ($1.68) per share, for a total transaction of 2,257.20 ($2,803.28).

Amber Rudd also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Friday, December 27th, Amber Rudd purchased 1,688 shares of Centrica stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 129 ($1.60) per share, with a total value of 2,177.52 ($2,704.32).

On Monday, November 25th, Amber Rudd acquired 1,624 shares of Centrica stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 123 ($1.53) per share, with a total value of 1,997.52 ($2,480.77).

Centrica Trading Up 0.1 %

CNA opened at GBX 139.45 ($1.73) on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of 7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 633.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 61.65. Centrica plc has a 12 month low of GBX 112.99 ($1.40) and a 12 month high of GBX 155.30 ($1.93). The firms fifty day simple moving average is GBX 131.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 127.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CNA. Citigroup reiterated a top pick rating on shares of Centrica in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a GBX 150 ($1.86) price objective on shares of Centrica in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Centrica presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of GBX 167 ($2.07).

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About Centrica

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Centrica is energising a greener, fairer future for our colleagues, customers and communities. Our integrated business operates across the energy value chain, with over ten million Retail customers, leading brands such as British Gas and Bord Gais Energy, and the UKs largest energy services workforce.

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Skeena Resources Limited (TSE:SKE  Get Free Report) Director Craig Andrew Parry sold 25,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$14.14, for a total transaction of C$353,500.00.

Craig Andrew Parry also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Tuesday, January 21st, Craig Andrew Parry sold 23,000 shares of Skeena Resources stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$14.00, for a total transaction of C$321,917.20.

On Thursday, November 14th, Craig Andrew Parry sold 70,000 shares of Skeena Resources stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$10.58, for a total transaction of C$740,509.00.

Skeena Resources Stock Performance

SKE opened at C$14.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.23, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The company has a market capitalization of C$1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -9.42 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$13.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$11.82. Skeena Resources Limited has a 1 year low of C$4.48 and a 1 year high of C$14.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SKE. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Skeena Resources from C$17.00 to C$18.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Desjardins upgraded Skeena Resources to a moderate buy rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. CIBC cut their price target on Skeena Resources from C$17.00 to C$16.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Skeena Resources from C$13.50 to C$14.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Skeena Resources

About Skeena Resources

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Skeena Resources Limited explores for and develops mineral properties in Canada. The company explores for gold, silver, copper, and other precious metal deposits. It holds 100% interests in the Snip gold mine comprising one mining lease and nine mineral tenures that covers an area of approximately 4,724 hectares; and the Eskay Creek gold mine that consists of eight mineral leases, two surface leases, and various unpatented mining claims comprising 7,666 hectares located in British Columbia, Canada.

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Shares of Kidoz Inc. (CVE:KIDZ  Get Free Report) shot up 20% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$0.24 and last traded at C$0.24. 40,500 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 74% from the average session volume of 23,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Fundamental Research set a C$0.58 price objective on Kidoz and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th.

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Kidoz Price Performance

About Kidoz

The firm has a market capitalization of C$31.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.00 and a beta of -1.69. The stocks fifty day moving average price is C$0.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$0.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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Kidoz Inc develops and sells AdTech software products in Western Europe; Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe; North America; and internationally. The company also owns and develops mobile Kidoz safe ad network, the Kidoz kid-mode operating system, the Kidoz publisher SDK, the Rooplay edugames platform, and the Rooplay originals.

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Lavras Gold Corp. (CVE:LGC  Get Free Report) insider 2176423 Ontario Ltd. sold 16,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2.50, for a total value of C$40,250.00.

2176423 Ontario Ltd. also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Thursday, December 19th, 2176423 Ontario Ltd. sold 34,700 shares of Lavras Gold stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2.29, for a total value of C$79,417.89.

On Monday, December 9th, 2176423 Ontario Ltd. sold 154,600 shares of Lavras Gold stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2.43, for a total value of C$376,296.40.

On Tuesday, November 26th, 2176423 Ontario Ltd. sold 113,200 shares of Lavras Gold stock. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2.47, for a total value of C$279,207.80.

Lavras Gold Trading Up 6.1 %

Shares of CVE:LGC opened at C$2.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$124.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.57 and a beta of -0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 11.12 and a current ratio of 7.38. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is C$2.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$2.36. Lavras Gold Corp. has a 52-week low of C$0.75 and a 52-week high of C$2.89.

Lavras Gold Company Profile

Lavras Gold Corp. engages in the exploration and development of mineral resource properties in Brazil. It holds interests in the Lavras do Sul, an advanced exploration gold project with 29 mineral rights covering approximately 22,000 hectares located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR  Free Report) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 7,752 shares of the business services providers stock, valued at approximately $1,753,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BR. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Broadridge Financial Solutions by 79.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,640 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 0.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 71,573 shares of the business services providers stock worth $14,100,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions by 13.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,234 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,784,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new position in Broadridge Financial Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,216,000. 90.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

BR has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a neutral rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $246.00 target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Broadridge Financial Solutions presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $226.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Thomas P. Carey sold 15,710 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.32, for a total value of $3,618,327.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,146 shares in the company, valued at $2,797,466.72. The trade was a 56.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Douglas Richard Deschutter sold 24,185 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.21, for a total transaction of $5,325,778.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,975,838.77. The trade was a 47.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,532 shares of company stock worth $12,264,846. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the companys stock.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of BR stock opened at $239.12 on Friday. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $188.30 and a 12 month high of $241.45. The stock has a market cap of $27.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The companys fifty day moving average price is $231.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $219.96.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.03. Broadridge Financial Solutions had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 41.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will post 8.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Broadridge Financial Solutionss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.90%.

Broadridge Financial Solutions Company Profile

(Free Report)

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions.

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Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. lowered its holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,434 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC.s holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF were worth $317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IWM. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,276 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF in the third quarter worth about $88,890,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,853 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 89.6% during the 4th quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,490 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Trust lifted its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 30,400 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $6,717,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF Price Performance

IWM opened at $228.53 on Friday. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a 12-month low of $190.06 and a 12-month high of $244.98. The companys 50 day moving average is $229.03 and its 200 day moving average is $222.67.

About iShares Russell 2000 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.

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New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 787 shares of the payment services companys stock after selling 34 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in American Express were worth $234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auxier Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 7,133 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 4,054 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 1,716 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Inv LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 12,017 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AXP shares. Truist Financial started coverage on American Express in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on American Express from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res cut American Express from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on American Express from $301.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $294.95.

American Express Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of AXP opened at $318.84 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $304.66 and a 200 day moving average of $276.84. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $199.88 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The firm has a market cap of $224.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.3 EPS for the current year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. American Expresss payout ratio is presently 19.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Express

In other news, CFO Caillec Christophe Le sold 6,000 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total transaction of $1,820,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,952,286.84. This trade represents a 48.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the companys stock.

About American Express

(Free Report)

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.

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January 31, 2025: The current Sudanese civil war, which began in 2023, is nearly two years old and the government forces are winning. For example the city of Wad Madani, 140 kilometers south of the capital Khartoum, was recently recaptured by government forces. The RSF/Rapid Support Forces rebels had the city for a year. The war has featured atrocities by both sides and the government and RSF leaders have been sanctioned by international aid organizations.

Since October 2023 there has been fighting between the Sudanese government and major portions of the country that violently disagree with government policies. The SNC/Sovereign National Council was created by civilian and military groups to negotiate a peace deal. That effort has ended as a stalemate in the effort to restore democracy. The coup was supposed to be a temporary condition to speed things up. That backfired as a lot of the pro-reform civilians declared the military government another effort to restore dictatorship. Thats how Omar al Bashir, the dictator from 1989-to-2019, got his start. What form post-Bashir Sudan will take is still unknown. The situation in South Sudan, one of the results of Bashirs misrule, is more settled.

Before the April 2023 outbreak of fighting between the RSF and the army, Sudan was planning a long period of peace, reconciliation, reform and rebuilding. By late 2024 the death toll, including civilians, is approaching 70,000. Many more people have been driven from their homes and lost their jobs. This has turned into an economic disaster and food shortages are growing. Foreign aid is often stolen by gangsters, the RSF or soldiers. Instability and violence are becoming Sudans normal state of affairs.

The two Sudans had become quieter since 2019 when the long-lasting Bashir dictatorship was removed by determined popular resistance. South Sudan ended its post-independence civil war when everyone realized that they were destroying what they were allegedly fighting over and maybe a shouting-match was preferable to a death match. That brought peace to both Sudans for the first time since the 1989 coup where then general Bashir took power and led Sudan on a downward trajectory.

The peace did not last and the fighting between government forces and those of the RSF that has been around since 1988, when they appeared as the Janjaweed Arab Sudanese militia in the west Sudan region of Darfur. Before 1988 the Janjaweed were involved with violence going on in neighboring Chad and Libya, but after 1988 the Janjaweed concentrated its activities in Darfur. In 2013 the Janjaweed rebranded themselves as the RSF and evolved into paid Sudanese government enforcers in Darfur.

In 2023 the Sudan government suggested that the RSF become part of the Sudanese Army. RSF refused and in April 2023 the fighting between government forces and the RSF began. At this point the RSF was powerful enough to take on the army. Currently that struggle continues. Between then and now there were some other interesting developments. For example the slavery problem continues in Sudan and sometimes gets into the news. This happened a lot in Sudan since the 1990s as the government encouraged Arabized tribes to raid non-Moslem black African tribes and take slaves. In northern Mali retreating al Qaeda men sometimes took newly enslaved blacks with them. This tolerance of slaving is one of the many reasons Sudan is one of the five most corrupt nations in the world. These five outlaw states are, according to the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index North Korea, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and Somalia. Sudan is considered a bit less corrupt than South Sudan and ranks 162 out of 180 nations. South Sudan ranks closer to the bottom at 177th place.

Sudan has been behaving enough in other ways that in October 2020 it was removed from the U.S.s State Sponsor of Terrorism/SST list. Sudan agreed to pay compensation to American victims of terror attacks, with the attack on the 2000 USS Cole in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania the most important. Sudan was on the SST list for 27 years. Sudans 2020 transitional government agreed to peaceful relations with Israel. That eventually happened and since late 202, Israeli governments and security forces have cooperated with their Sudanese equivalents. Recognizing Israel was a divisive issue in Sudan. Even some pro-democracy groups opposed it. As for the SST, escaping the list means Sudan now had better access to international financial and investment organizations. It will also make it much easier and legal for Sudanese to import western technology like computers, smart phones and software. Sudan now had easier access to foreign aid of all types, including life-saving medical. The aid was a major consideration, for Sudans governments were always facing an extended economic crisis and shortages of food and medical supplies.
Oppenheimer (NYSE:OPY  Get Free Report) posted its earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, Zacks reports. Oppenheimer had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.27%.

Oppenheimer Trading Down 4.5 %

OPY traded down $3.27 on Friday, hitting $69.25. The company had a trading volume of 11,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,132. The companys fifty day moving average price is $65.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.86. Oppenheimer has a 1 year low of $36.93 and a 1 year high of $73.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $715.42 million, a P/E ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 1.14.

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About Oppenheimer

(Get Free Report)

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Oppenheimer Holdings Inc operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company provides brokerage services covering corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services.

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Shares of Paul Mueller (OTCMKTS:MUEL  Get Free Report) dropped 1.5% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $197.01 and last traded at $197.01. Approximately 120 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 185% from the average daily volume of 42 shares. The stock had previously closed at $200.00.

Paul Mueller Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $185.19 million, a P/E ratio of -68.88 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $202.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $171.09.

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Paul Mueller Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Paul Muellers payout ratio is -32.17%.

About Paul Mueller

Paul Mueller Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides manufactured equipment and components in the United States, North America, Asia, the Far East, the Netherlands, EU countries, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through four reportable segments: Dairy Farm Equipment, Industrial Equipment, Field Fabrication, and Transportation.

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Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR  Free Report) by 95.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,090 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 5,405 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLCs holdings in Entergy were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Entergy during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Entergy during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 423.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 220 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Entergy during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total transaction of $616,090.02. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,444.48. This represents a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $29,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,346 shares in the company, valued at $613,431. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $81.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.42. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $48.08 and a 12-month high of $84.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ETR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Entergy from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America cut Entergy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $79.81.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ETR

Entergy Company Profile

(Free Report)

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas.

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Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a sector perform rating and a $19.00 price objective on the asset managers stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on IVZ. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Invesco from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on Invesco from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Invesco from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Invesco from $17.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Invesco from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Invesco has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $19.71.

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Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Invesco

Invesco Price Performance

Shares of Invesco stock opened at $19.26 on Tuesday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $17.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of -20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.43. Invesco has a 12 month low of $14.16 and a 12 month high of $19.55. The company has a current ratio of 4.91, a quick ratio of 4.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Invesco (NYSE:IVZ  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.01. Invesco had a negative net margin of 3.00% and a positive return on equity of 8.83%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Invesco will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Invesco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. Invescos dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Invesco by 484.9% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,550 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Invesco during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Invesco by 304.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,400 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,806 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Invesco in the 3rd quarter worth about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.09% of the companys stock.

Invesco Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds.

Further Reading

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Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF (BATS:HYDB  Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,683 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF by 97.9% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 591,870 shares of the companys stock worth $28,445,000 after buying an additional 292,788 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 431,738 shares of the companys stock worth $20,749,000 after purchasing an additional 121,404 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $19,723,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 318,093 shares of the companys stock valued at $14,772,000 after purchasing an additional 116,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF by 9.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 301,461 shares of the companys stock worth $14,334,000 after purchasing an additional 24,892 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF Price Performance

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF stock opened at $47.62 on Friday. iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF has a one year low of $49.60 and a one year high of $51.73. The companys fifty day moving average price is $47.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.37.

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF Company Profile

The iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF (HYDB) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the BlackRock High Yield Defensive Bond index. The fund tracks a broad-maturity, multifactor index of high-yield bonds. The index selects and weights bonds based on default probability, default-adjusted spreads, and volatility.

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Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX  Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 152,293 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the quarter. Swedbank ABs holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company were worth $34,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,953,116 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $3,364,096,000 after buying an additional 106,616 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,285,513 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $1,510,050,000 after acquiring an additional 111,101 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company by 9.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,365,554 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $1,293,635,000 after purchasing an additional 460,440 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,986,543 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock valued at $720,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,723 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Becton, Dickinson and Company by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,844,566 shares of the medical instruments suppliers stock worth $647,082,000 after purchasing an additional 673,568 shares in the last quarter. 86.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Becton, Dickinson and Company news, EVP David Shan sold 500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,741 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,377,840. This trade represents a 8.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael David Garrison sold 597 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.51, for a total value of $141,196.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,311,211.44. This represents a 9.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,844 shares of company stock worth $2,210,716 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BDX shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Becton, Dickinson and Company from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Becton, Dickinson and Company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $283.00.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Becton, Dickinson and Company

Becton, Dickinson and Company Price Performance

Becton, Dickinson and Company stock opened at $248.34 on Friday. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a 52-week low of $218.75 and a 52-week high of $250.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firms fifty day moving average is $229.59 and its 200 day moving average is $233.55. The company has a market cap of $72.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.39.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX  Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.04. Becton, Dickinson and Company had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Becton, Dickinson and Company will post 14.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Becton, Dickinson and Company declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, January 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical instruments supplier to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the companys board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Becton, Dickinson and Companys payout ratio is presently 70.03%.

Becton, Dickinson and Company Company Profile

(Free Report)

Becton, Dickinson and Company develops, manufactures, and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products for healthcare institutions, physicians, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical industry, and the general public worldwide. The company operates in three segments: BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional.

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Telia Company AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:TLSNY  Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,500 shares, a decrease of 59.4% from the December 31st total of 30,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 169,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays lowered shares of Telia Company AB (publ) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

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Telia Company AB (publ) Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of OTCMKTS:TLSNY traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $5.72. 16,543 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,969. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $5.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Telia Company AB has a 12-month low of $4.53 and a 12-month high of $6.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00 and a beta of 0.48.

Telia Company AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:TLSNY  Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.07). Telia Company AB (publ) had a return on equity of 1.90% and a net margin of 5.37%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Telia Company AB will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Telia Company AB (publ) Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.0893 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Telia Company AB (publ)s payout ratio is 86.37%.

About Telia Company AB (publ)

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Telia Company AB (publ) provides communication services to businesses, individuals, families, and communities in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. It offers mobile, broadband, television, and fixed-line services; and networking, cloud and security, mobility, enterprise mobile network, contact center, managed mobility services, collaboration solutions, enterprise telephony, Internet of Things (IoT), carrier ethernet, dedicated internet access, wavelengths, IP Transit, dark fiber, and colocation solutions.

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA  Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01, Zacks reports. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a negative net margin of 9.91% and a positive return on equity of 40.20%. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries updated its FY 2025 guidance to 2.350-2.650 EPS.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TEVA traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.18. 4,189,891 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,351,197. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.60 billion, a PE ratio of -12.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.73. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $19.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.48. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has a 12 month low of $11.62 and a 12 month high of $22.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christine Fox sold 19,388 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.87, for a total transaction of $327,075.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,104 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $744,034.48. This represents a 30.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roberto Mignone sold 286,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.01, for a total transaction of $6,294,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 695,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,296,950. This represents a 29.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.55% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TEVA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.00.

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Company Profile

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, Israel, and internationally. It offers generic medicines in various dosage forms, such as tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, transdermal patches, ointments, and creams; sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in parenteral and solid dosage forms; and generic products with medical devices and combination products.

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Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP  Get Free Report) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $3.20 price objective on the oil and gas companys stock, down from their prior price objective of $4.10. The Goldman Sachs Groups target price suggests a potential upside of 9.40% from the companys previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on UGP. Hsbc Global Res raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ultrapar Participacoes currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $3.20.

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Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Up 3.4 %

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Shares of NYSE:UGP opened at $2.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.53. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 52 week low of $2.53 and a 52 week high of $6.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 6.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.52.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in the third quarter worth about $46,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 67.9% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 16,017 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 90.2% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 21,408 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 10,153 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 109.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 33,124 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 17,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 3.58% of the companys stock.

Ultrapar Participacoes Company Profile

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Ultrapar Participacoes SA, through its subsidiaries, operates in the energy and infrastructure business in Brazil. The company distributes liquefied petroleum gas to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers, in addition to renewable electricity and compressed natural gas. It also operates in the distribution and marketing of gasoline, ethanol, diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, natural gas for vehicles, and lubricants; and holds AmPm convenience stores and provides JetOil lubricant services.

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Barclays upgraded shares of Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO  Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Barclays currently has $53.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $51.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on VSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Victorias Secret & Co. from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the company from $29.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. from $33.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a market perform rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $42.36.

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Victorias Secret & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of VSCO opened at $36.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.17. Victorias Secret & Co. has a 1 year low of $15.12 and a 1 year high of $48.73. The companys fifty day moving average is $40.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.54.

Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO  Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Victorias Secret & Co. had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 44.74%. The businesss revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.86) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Victorias Secret & Co. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Victorias Secret & Co.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSCO. 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 valued at $16,206,000 after acquiring an additional 109,013 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Victorias Secret & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,486,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Victorias Secret & Co. by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 175,553 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,102,000 after purchasing an additional 3,253 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, AXA S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.29% of the companys stock.

Victorias Secret & Co. Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Victorias Secret & Co operates as a lingerie, clothing and beauty retailer. It offers bras, panties, lingerie, pajamas, sleep, sport and swim apparel, and beauty products. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Reynoldsburg, OH.

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The debut supersonic flight by Boom Supersonic happened earlier this week, and the company showcased how its XB-1 test aircraft achieved a humongous feat using its jet-powered American flyer. However, what makes this test flight more incredible is its use of an Apple iPhone and SpaceX's Starlink to stream the event live for all to see, treating the world with a significant experience right from the cockpit.

It took Boom Supersonic plenty of years to achieve its debut test flight, centering on this world's first civil supersonic jet made in the US, and also marking its place as an independent developer of these types of jets.

Boom Supersonic's XB-1 Test Flight Went Supersonic in a World-First

Boom Supersonic announced that its recent test flight with the experimental civil jet, XB-1, has achieved supersonic speeds for the first time, and it accelerated to Mach 1.122 speeds (750 miles per hour). It was a historical feat for the independently developed jet, making it the first to break the sound barrier after 11 human-piloted test flights since its inaugural flight in March 2024.

"XB-1's supersonic flight demonstrates that the technology for passenger supersonic flight has arrived," said Blake Scholl, Boom's founder and CEO.

The company developed the XB-1 based on the Overture concept airliner from Boom Supersonic which features carbon fiber composites, digital stability augmentation, and an AR vision system for landing.

Boom XB-1 Was Captured by an iPhone and Starlink For All To See

According to SpaceExplored, the Boom XB-1 test flight was accompanied by two chase planes including the Mirage F1 which carried IMAX cameras, and the T-38 which was tasked to document the flight. The team had problems fitting the T-38 with the technology to properly capture the XB-1's historic moment as its cockpit does not allow for large equipment to be used.

With this, Boom Supersonic utilized SpaceX's Starlink Mini terminal which was small enough to fit in the aircraft, and tested it using a Mazda Miata before installing the device on the T-38.

Next up, they also required a camera that was powerful enough to capture the entire mission, and the team turned to a smartphone with one of the top-rated lenses in the industry, the Apple iPhone. However, Boom Supersonic did not mention what model of the iPhone was used in the flight.

With the pairing of the iPhone and Starlink, the team was able to successfully capture XB-1's historic flight and the moments it went supersonic.

Supersonic Flights and The Future of This Type of Transportation

Achieving supersonic speeds is no easy feat, particularly as it requires monstrous power to be able to break through the sound barrier which is categorized by the Mach speeds, and these aircraft need to achieve 761 miles per hour at sea level or Mach 1. That being said, there had been plenty of efforts toward developing supersonic aircraft, with NASA and Virgin Galactic previously partnering to make it happen.

The possibilities are endless for supersonic flights, particularly as it can allow pilots and passengers to travel from New York to Shanghai, China in only 40 minutes if these vehicles can achieve Mach 1. That being said, Boom Supersonic has been persistent over the years with their American-made civil supersonic jet, and last year it was given the permit to fly at Mach speeds, courtesy of the FAA.

However, it is important to note that these supersonic aircraft are still jet-sized bodies, and it is far from creating passenger aircraft that can break the sound barrier and offer these ludicrous speeds for transatlantic flights and others. That being said, Boom Supersonic is already making history with its experimental XB-1 as it recently achieved legitimate Mach speeds, and its 'breaking the sound barrier' moment was captured in only an iPhone connected to Starlink which gave the world a spectacle.
Walker River Resources Corp. (CVE:WRR  Get Free Report)s share price was up 23.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as C$0.24 and last traded at C$0.24. Approximately 101,620 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 74% from the average daily volume of 58,261 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.19.

Walker River Resources Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$11.43 million, a PE ratio of -11.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$0.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$0.20.

About Walker River Resources

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Walker River Resources Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in the identification, acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral properties in Canada. It holds 100% interests in the Lapon Canyon gold project with 147 claims, which covers an area of approximately 2940 acres located in Nevada.

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The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited (CVE:WI  Get Free Report)s share price shot up 6.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$0.63 and last traded at C$0.63. 89,795 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 231% from the average session volume of 27,132 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.59.

Western Investment Company of Canada Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 58.77. The firm has a market cap of C$19.03 million, a PE ratio of -31.50 and a beta of 0.76. The stocks 50 day moving average price is C$0.54 and its 200 day moving average price is C$0.48.

About Western Investment Company of Canada

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The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited, is a private equity firm specializing in buyout and middle market investments. It seeks investments in retail and distribution, human services, agriculture and related services and special situations. The firm prefers to invest in USA and Canada with a focus in companies which are headquartered in Western Canada like Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

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I've Been in K-12 for Over 15 Years. Here Are Three Things We Need to Do to Integrate AI Now.

It seems we can barely go a week without another report on what AI will mean for K-12 schools. As should be the case.

Although we're just a little past the two-year mark since ChatGPT's release, AI has become one of the most important forces shaping students' future. While debate continues over whether AI will inhibit learning or accelerate it, one thing almost all of us in education can agree on now is the longer we wait to make decisions, the more we risk the next generation's ability to succeed.

I can attest to this from having pursued a career in education for equity and access for all students. As a former CIO for Fulton County Schools, a large, socioeconomically diverse school district in Atlanta, GA, I learned firsthand that we're not equipping students with the life skills to cope with the challenges they'll face after graduation. Young people need to learn a range of academic, social and technical skills, including AI, to be prepared for the technology-altering future now taking shape.

This is why I believe 2025 is the year in which we must embrace AI swiftly in K-12 schools. When AI is deployed responsibly and equitably, the potential advantages of empowering more personalized learning, optimizing student engagement, uncovering gaps in education, automating routine tasks, and freeing up more time for effective teacher-student interactions have the power to transform education. Here are three ways we can do this.

1) Keep in mind that AI will not replace educators' jobs.

This is one of the biggest concerns we're confronting with AI. But instead of concentrating on our fears of this fast-evolving technology, we should focus on the benefits. AI is opening vast possibilities for teaching students more effectively, enabling students to learn at deeper levels, and empowering efficiency in routine tasks.

A core principle with this is that teachers and administrators will not lose their jobs because of this technology. AI is a tool to help upskill and promote professional development. Educators are, and always will be, at the core of the teaching experience for student success. AI is not intended to replace teachers. Its purpose is to help them do what they love to do better in giving students a high-quality education.

But here's the thing: Educators will have to understand AI, and they will need to master AI to keep pace with this education wave. Simply put, AI won't replace a teacher, but another teacher who knows how to use AI may.

2) Start small and go slow to make sure we get AI right.

Although AI is advancing quickly and new questions about it are popping up just as rapidly, we as educators must move as deliberately as we need to in adopting it. We must ensure we deploy AI safely as a knowledge source in relation to students' ages and maturity levels, effectively as an instrument that advances learning, and ethically as a technology that does not compromise the integrity of individual study or enable cheating.

For these reasons, it's important to go slow with AI. Achieving small AI pilot successes internally before pushing AI full-force can help teachers assess impact and improve performance gradually. As an example, one emerging use for AI in K-12 schools is as a chatbot to handle frequently asked questions about class assignments, deadlines, and grades. Imagine: A confused student studying at home pores over their math notes in early evening. The student e-mails the teacher with questions, and the teacher quickly responds with several answers and examples. The student then sends the teacher a thank-you message, and they both log off. Well, the student logs off. The "teacher"  an AI chatbot  waits for the next student interaction.

Another reason for going slow in integrating AI is data governance. This involves ensuring that the highest quality of data sources are used for AI and that, in turn, the most accurate information possible can be delivered via AI. To this end, as part of their AI integration, K-12 schools must design an information and curriculum platform to keep data safe and age-appropriate.
Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, promised Thursday to hold a "national dialogue conference" in his first address to the nation since the fall of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa, who was appointed interim president a day earlier for an unspecified transitional period, vowed to preserve "civil peace" and Syria's territorial unity.

"We will announce in the coming days a committee charged with preparing the national dialogue conference, a direct platform for discussions, to listen to different points of view on our future political programme," Sharaa said in the prerecorded televised address.

Sharaa also committed to issuing a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the country's transition, following the suspension of the old constitution.

And he vowed to "pursue the criminals who shed Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes", whether they were in Syria or abroad, and to establish "real transitional justice" after Assad's fall.

The speech followed a visit by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who emphasised the "urgent need" to form an inclusive government during a meeting with Sharaa, according to the Qatari royal court.

The emir's trip to Damascus was the first by a head of state since Islamist-led rebels seized power less than two months ago. It also follows a visit by Qatar's prime minister this month.

The emir "stressed the urgent need to form a government representing all spectrums" of Syrian society in order "to consolidate stability and move forward with reconstruction, development and prosperity projects", the royal court statement said, congratulating Sharaa on his appointment.

Syria's new authorities on Wednesday said Sharaa had also been tasked with forming a transitional legislature. They announced the dissolution of all armed groups involved in Assad's overthrow, as well as the former government's army.

A transitional government had previously been appointed to steer the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country until March 1.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said discussions with the Qatari delegation touched on reconstruction in the country devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war.

- 'Historic visit' -

Unlike other Arab countries, Qatar did not restore diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad and was one of the first to back the armed rebellion that erupted after his government crushed a peaceful uprising in 2011.

Several visiting foreign officials have urged an inclusive transition after Sharaa's Islamist group led the offensive that ousted Assad on December 8.

Qatari foreign ministry official Mohammed al-Khulaifi welcomed Wednesday's announcement by Syria's authorities "on the end of the revolutionary phase and the transition to the phase of establishing the state".

Doha would continue "to provide the required support on all humanitarian and service levels, and also regarding infrastructure and electricity", he said.

Qatar was the second country, after Turkey, to reopen its embassy in Damascus following Assad's overthrow. It has urged the lifting of sanctions.

During a visit earlier this month, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani pledged to support the rehabilitation of Syria's infrastructure.

A diplomatic source has also said Qatar was weighing plans to assist Syria with public sector salaries.

- Regional congratulations -

Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince on Thursday congratulated Sharaa on assuming Syria's interim presidency.

Riyadh was key to returning Assad's Syria to the Arab League in 2023, after openly championing his overthrow following Damascus's 2011 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, which sparked war.

"We are pleased to express our congratulations on the occasion of your assumption of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic in the transitional phase," King Salman said in a cable, according to the foreign ministry.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi prime minister and de facto ruler under his ageing father, sent a separate cable also offering his congratulations, the statement said.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister visited Damascus, promising help to secure the lifting of international sanctions imposed during Assad's rule.

Shaibani travelled to Riyadh early in January for his first official trip abroad, and also visited Qatar during a regional tour.

Jordan's King Abdullah II also congratulated Sharaa on Thursday, wishing him "success in leading Syria and serving its people".

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, a delegation from Russia, a close ally of ousted leader Assad, visited this week, while foreign ministers or senior officials from countries including France, Germany and Turkey have also been to Damascus.

Syria's defence ministry said Thursday that a high-level Turkish military delegation also visited the country.

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Remember the days with Google's "Hold For Me?" This time, the search engine giant has quite a similar AI named quite close to it. The lifelike tool dubbed "Ask For Me" is designed to call businesses on your behalf and gather information.

This advanced AI system, built on the same technology as Google Duplex, eliminates the hassle of calling businesses by automatically fetching pricing, availability, and service detailsall while you focus on other tasks.

What Is Ask for Me?

According to the official "Ask for Me" website, the service is part of Google's experimental Labs division designed to streamline the way people engage with local businesses. You won't need to call the businesses yourself because the AI-powered service will be able to fetch the necessary information within a few minutes.

Currently, this service is restricted to auto shops and nail salons; Google may expand this service to more industries soon.

Here is how it works:

Find a business - e.g. "oil change near me" or "nail salons nearby" Specify what you want, e.g. pricing or appointment availability AI will call the business and collect the information You get the summary of details via email/text within 30 minutes

How to Use Google's Ask for Me

Right now, Ask for Me is available on both desktop and mobile, but only in select countries, including the United States. If you're in a supported region, here's how to access the service, TechRadar details in its report:

Visit the Ask for Me website via Google Chrome. Click "Join Waitlist" to request access. Once approved, search for a service. Click "Get Started" in the Ask for Me pop-up box. Select your service type, give us details, and provide us with your email or phone number. Google will make the call and respond back to you within half an hour.

AI-Powered Calls: The Future of Customer Service?

According to San Francisco-based product leader at Google, Rose Yao, Ask for Me utilizes the same AI-powered Duplex technology that facilitates restaurant reservations through Google Search and Maps. But while Duplex is all about booking, Ask for Me is focused on gathering business informationpotentially making it a goldmine tool for consumers and enterprises alike.

One important note: Google guarantees that companies are made aware they are dealing with an AI, and they can opt out if they do not want to receive automated calls. It is yet to be seen how companies will respond to the hyper-realistic AI voices, which may be indistinguishable from human callers.

Game-Changer or Just Another AI Gimmick?

With AI-powered assistants getting even smarter, Ask for Me might be the future of automated customer service. Either way, with consumers embracing this or businesses fighting back, it is sure that AI-powered calls are here to stay.

Outside anything related to AI, Google appeared to be determined to combat fake reviews. The software maker recently collaborated with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to make this initiative possible.

Since everyone is annoyed about the random pop-ups and bogus reviews they don't want to see, the purchasing decisions of people are heavily affected. Google stepped up to eliminate them by issuing clear warnings on the profiles of Google businesses.
Darron Rodan John sees his Christmas outreach as just another demonstration of dedication to building a stronger and more caring South Windward.

In the spirit of the holiday season, community activist and ICT lecturer at the St Vincent Community College- Darron Rodan John, took the initiative to distribute over fifty (50) grocery bags to residents of the South Windward constituency.





This act of kindness brought not just food but also a sense of warmth and cheer to families and individuals who have long contributed to the community, making their holiday season a little brighter.





Reflecting on the activity, John stated, " It was a joy to bring a little extra warmth and cheer to those who have given so much to our community over the years. Community activism and service remain at the heart of what I do, and I am committed to ensuring that no one is left behind.





The grocery bags, marked with the label "Christmas 2024 in South Windward Sweet Ohhh, represent Johns dedication to fostering unity and compassion within the community. The initiative highlights his ongoing commitment to building a stronger and more caring South Windward.





As John looks forward to continuing his community service efforts, he expressed gratitude for the support received this far, saying, "Together, we can build a stronger and more caring South Windward. Thank you all for your continued support, and I look forward to working with you in 2025.





This initiative is part of Johns broader vision of community development, which has been at the forefront of his activism for over 15 years. Residents have not just acknowledged but also praised his efforts as an embodiment of selfless service, making them proud to have such a dedicated community leader.





John enters the New Year steadfast in his dedication to serving the people of South Windward, emphasizing that community service and activism are central to his mission.





Although he is tipped to be the ULP standard bearer for the South Windward constituency in the upcoming General elections, he was quick to point out that his activism has been consistent over many years, testified by his work with and in several community organisations. (Contribution)




Kamal Ballantyne, 23, is charged with the offences of murder (Isiah Antrobus) and attempted murder of a minor.

After appearing in court just over a month ago on a gun charge, Kamal Ballantyne, a 23-year-old mechanic of Glen, was again taken before the Court having been slapped with charges of murder and attempted murder.





The Constabulary has described Ballantynes arrest as a major victory for the police.





Intense investigations led to Ballantyne being arrested last Sunday, Jan. 16, 2025, and charged with the December 15, 2024 murder of Isaiah Rich Gang Antrobus, a 23-year-old baker of Kingstown Park, and the attempted murder of a male student.





A source close to the investigations informed THE VINCENTIAN on Tuesday that the student was 11 years old and not 13 as reported in some circles.





Antrobus was gunned down, while the minor was shot in the arm during an incident at Glen around 6 p.m. on December 15.





Ballantyne, who was unrepresented, was not required to plead to the charges when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Colin John at the Serious Offenses Court on Monday.





He was remanded and the matter was adjourned to February 27.





Ballantyne, along with Altha James, a 19-year-old porter, Javid Grant, a 20-year-old bag boy, and Vashon Thomas, a 20-year-old electrician, all of Glen, had appeared at the Serious Offenses Court on December 20, 2024, after being charged with possession of a Glock 9mm pistol without a license. They pleaded not guilty and were each granted $20,000 bail.





They were arrested after police officers from the Glen Mobile Unit intercepted a motor vehicle at Glen around 11:45pm on December 15, 2024, and found the Glock 9 mm pistol during a search of the vehicle.





Search warrants were subsequently executed at their homes during which an AR-15 automatic rifle, 71 rounds of prohibited 5.56mm ammunition, and 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition were found.





Investigations into the discovery of the AR rifle and the ammunition led to Thomas being charged with having them in his possession, to which he pleaded not guilty when he appeared in Court on December 20.





Grandeisha Cain, a 21-year-old woman from Glen who reportedly posed in a photograph in her underwear while holding the AR-R rifle, was also charged with possession of the prohibited weapon. She also pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.





All the gun and ammunition matters are pending.





In a recent release, the police described the breakthrough in the investigations into Antrobus murder, and the attempted murder of the minor, as a major victory, for the constabulary, and highlighted Ballantynes arrest as being crucial, as, "police have been actively investigating this and other homicides with unwavering resolve.





The release assured that the police remain devoted to, "pursuing those responsible for violent crimes, and ensuring that justice is served.





The organization extends its gratitude to members of the public who have provided information to assist in this and other investigations and encourages anyone with relevant information to come forward and assist the police in the fight against crime.





Constable 446 Nicos Hope of the Major Crime Unit (MCU) is leading the ongoing investigations into Antrobuss murder.





Antrobus was detained for questioning last year in connection with the shooting death of Villa resident Martin Jahson James on October 5, 2024, but was released without charge.





James died on the spot after being shot several times.
Petrus Gumbs now heads the NCTI and will see to an immediate roll out of new programming.

Petrus Gumbs, who headed the IT programme at St. Martins Secondary School and pioneered the STEM (abbreviation for four closely connected areas of study - science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Programme in SVG, has been elevated to the post of Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre of Technological Innovation Inc. (NCTI).





The NCTI is an ICT (information, communications technology) training institution that aims to narrow the digital divide, by increasing access to information and increasing participation in todays global technology-related industries.





The NCTI, which commenced its operations in August 200 as the National Institute of Technology (NIT) and did so as a department within the Ministry of Telecommunications, Science, Technology. Today it has the legal reach of an incorporated body.





Driven by its commitment to establish a technology and innovation roadmap that will impact the development of the country, the NCTI will roll out shortly a number of training programmes, including a Fibre Optic Course in partnership with the Kingstown Cooperative (KCCU).





The KCCU involvement is seen, according to its manager -Eronne Evans, as a contribution to national development, in keeping with its mandate to cater for progress one member at a time.

The Fibre Optic Course will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and twenty schools have already enlisted. Instructions are to be provided at home based centers and Gumbs is anticipating an upsurge in interest by students.





Training will also be offered in the use of Microsoft software and other courses.





The inclusion of simulated mechanic shops, where persons of any age and gender can get information on "engines of all types, added a new flair to technological education here.





Recognising that bridges and borders must be crossed to gain exposure, broaden contacts and hopefully bring success, the NCTI is working with the Trinidad and Tobago based Advanced Solution Technical Institute, whose Director is Dr. Ancil Peters.





Peters is committed to ensure that participants in courses he will lay out "are equipped to take care of the work at any level.





He made it plain that NCTI was not taking over the Technical Vocational Education and Training module.

He expressed satisfaction with the range of study and hoped that students will find spheres suitable to their capacity, need and the environment.





"We want young people to have a sense of their own, Peters stated.





The Advanced Solution Technical Institute has regional and international connection, which can only impact positively on the operations and growth of the NCTI.





All of the fore-mentioned was presented at the NCTI Conference which took place last week Thursday, January 23, at the National Insurance Service Conference Room, and at which Dr. Peters was the featured speaker.





The Conference also heard from Education Minister Curtis King and Finance Minister and Camillo Gonsalves

Minister King endorsed the partnership between the NCTI and the Advanced Solution Technical Institute.





He pointed to other entities which provided learning opportunities which can help persons/students to "enhance their skills, pursue their passion and contribute meaningfully to society.





Minister Gonsalves pointed to the people spearheading the drive. He welcomed Gumbs, adding "we are trying to leverage his brilliance.





Gonsalves complimented Dr. Jerrol Thompson whom he cited as providing the the architecture for the countrys technological base. Apollo Knights, NTRC Director, also came in for commendations.
The wreckage of the Cessna aircraft that crashed in the La Plaine mountains in Dominica last Sunday, Jan. 26. (Photo Source: DOM767)

Following confirmation of the discovery of a missing aircrafts wreckage in the mountainous terrain near La Plaine, Dominica, with four (two crew, two passengers) French nationals on board, French authorities, based in Martinique, have launched a judicial investigation into involuntary manslaughter.





The aircraft, a Cessna described as being in excellent condition prior to its disappearance, departed Dominica at 3:46 p.m. on Sunday 26th January 2025, en route to Martinique from Douglas-Charles Airport, Dominica, before crashing under poor weather conditions.





Heavy rains and strong winds in Dominica and a Yellow Vigilance alert in Martinique for heavy rain and thunderstorms are suspected to have played a role.





Joint efforts by French civil security and Dominican rescue teams located the crash site on Monday afternoon, approximately three kilometers west of La Plaine.





The discovery of the wreckage and a search of the surroundings turned up three bodies with no visible signs of life and with the search continuing for the fourth persons, the mission shifted from rescue to recovery.





The rugged and challenging conditions have made recovery operations difficult so much so operations have been confined to daylight hours. French authorities have provided additional resources to assist with the recovery efforts.





Up to press time on Thursday, there was no word on the fourth missing persons.





As for the judicial investigation into involuntary manslaughter launched by the French authorities, it cited potential breaches of prudence or safety regulations.





The investigation, led by the Prosecutor of Fort-de-France, will seek to uncover the circumstances that led to the tragedy. A specialized Air Transport Brigade from Paris and the Gendarmerie of Air Transport of Lamentin will spearhead the inquiry.





As per the definition in most dictionaries, a judicial investigation is "a formal legal investigation conducted into a matter of public concern by a judge, appointed by the government.





In law, involuntary manslaughter is used to refer to the unintentional killing of a person through gross negligence or recklessness.




Forestry Officer Felicia Baptiste delivering one of the presentations in the recent round of biodiversity-related sessions with school in Sandy Bay and Georgetown.

The Volcanic Eruption Emergency Project (VEEP)  implemented under the Forest Biodiversity and Watershed Project another round in a series of educational presentations across schools on mainland Saint Vincent.





The presentations were aimed at raising awareness of biodiversity preservation and watershed protection.





The recent round of presentations were made on Wednesday, January 22, when Forestry Officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry, and Labour led sessions at the Sandy Bay Government School, Sandy Bay Secondary School and the Georgetown Government School.





The sessions highlighted watershed challenges, and the importance of reforestation, soil and water conservation and sustainable practices.





Previously, the initiative reached 13 schools from 1 October to 20 November, 2024. These schools ranged from Fitz Hughes Government School, in North Leeward, to Tourama/Overland Government School, North Windward.





This initiative aligns with the Forest Biodiversity and Watershed Projects mission to implement strategies for soil and water conservation, reforestation, and environmental sustainability across affected regions. By integrating community involvement and educational outreach, the project strives to safeguard Saint Vincents unique biodiversity while addressing post-volcanic challenges.





The Forest Biodiversity and Watershed Project responds to the environmental devastation caused by La Soufrieres eruption and Hurricane Elsa. The project is a collaborative effort between the Economic Planning Division (Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology)/VEEP & the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour. (Submitted)




Oswald Robertson, President of the SVGTU, (right) welcomed the Go Public! Fund Education campaign as a benefit to teachers, students and the nation as a whole.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) became the first country in the Caribbean to join the "Go Public! Fund Education campaign during a two-day workshop held by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU), Education International (EI), and the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT).





The workshop for SVGTU executive members, held from January 20 and 21, was an opportunity to present the campaigns objectives and develop advocacy plans to support the union as it organizes to address the teacher shortage, empower members, and ensure full funding of public education.





Oswald Robertson, president of the SVGTU, welcomed the "Go Public! Fund Education campaign and the workshop, which, he was confident, will benefit the unions members: "It is really a great pleasure for us to launch this very important initiative. Our teachers will benefit from it, and so will the students, the nation as a whole. Because education is the key to sustainable development.





He added: "Quality is fundamental to what we do. Whereas sometime the employer talks about quantity, quality must be embedded.





He went on to stress that teacher salaries are very low. "In fact, we will be getting a 2.5% raise at the end of this month, but half of that has already gone into taxes and other financial burdens imposed by the government.

SVGTU Assistant General Secretary Tishanna Reid said that "the Go Public! Fund Education campaign and the United Nations recommendations advocate for equitable, quality public education. They will help unions promote better funding, working conditions and professional respect, and enable educators to deliver effective teaching. Together they ensure education systems prioritize inclusiveness and sustainability and recognize teachers as essential contributors to societal progress, said Reid.





Meanwhile, SVGTU Public Relations Officer Fiona Charles Williams stressed: "The Go Public! Fund Education campaign and the UN recommendations add an international layer to the SVGTU concerns with regards to its members and the national education standards. As a multi-island state, it is important that we meet the needs of our members. The Go Public! campaign, along with the UN recommendations offers a platform for the future of education in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.





Go Public! Fund Education is an urgent call for governments to invest in public education, a fundamental human right and public good, and to invest more in teachers, the single most important factor in achieving quality education.





The Go Public! Fund Education campaign is an initiative by Education International urging governments worldwide to invest in public education, SVGTU Executive Committee member Reba Cozier said. "The SVGTU has partnered with EI and CUT to launch this campaign in SVG to advocate for teachers in critical areas, including better working conditions and salaries. Through this partnership we will be able to strengthen the public education system in SVG.
Marcus Garvey advocated that Africans control the wealth of Africa. He taught that control, control of resources, control of self, control of nation, requires preparation, Garveyism was about total preparation. He believed that Black people should be economically self-sufficient and establish an independent nation in Africa. This ideology became known as Garveyism. There is still no unified force in Africa calling attention to the need for this kind of preparation.





Garveys ultimate dream was for the independence of all African Countries and the creation of a United States of Africa. The UNIA embarked on a plan to repatriate some Blacks from the United States and other parts of the African Diaspora back to Africa. Liberia, a country established in 1822 by the American Colonisation Society was the intended geographical base of the UNIAs African colonisation venture.





Garvey was an unapologetic black nationalist who influenced Malcolm X and generations of civil rights leaders. Advocates and congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey for years, with supporters arguing that Garveys 1923 mail fraud conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the popular leader who spoke of racial pride and self-reliance.





Editors note: In this time where were facing so many threats, with our social justice struggles being pushed into a corner, the wonderful thing about this pardon is that it presents an opportunity to talk about some of things Garvey encouraged, like: entrepreneurship, self-confidence, activism and liberation.




US President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programmes for 90 days, pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.





This, as expected, has not escaped the attention of governments across the region, especially those who are beneficiaries of US aid.





One such government is our own and Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, in an early response declared that he was "hopeful,. hopeful that there might be exceptions to the executive order signed by President Trump and assigned to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for oversight.





Dr. Gonsalves referenced the fact that United States had committed to fund the construction of warehouses in the Southern Grenadines which are expected to enhance disaster preparedness there.





Speaking on radio on January 26, Dr. Gonsalves said, "Authorities from the United States had approved to put some additional warehouse facilities on Canouan and Mayreau, and that the government was presently looking for possible parcels of land to be used..





He remained hopeful that the temporary ban on foreign aid from the United States "does not affect plans for the construction of those warehouses.





And even as he remained hopeful, the Prime Minister admitted that he was in fact waiting to hear officially, whether the ban on all foreign aid coming out of the US applied to such programmes, i.e. the warehouses as referenced.





Dr. Gonsalves added, "I know it applies generally, but there may be an exception to something like this because this means that a few dollars and cents for us has to go elsewhere, he said.
(TBTCO) - Bieu lai suat tiet kiem cua cac ngan hang cap nhat moi nhat cho thay mat bang lai suat huy ong ang giam nhe sau chi ao cua Thu tuong Chinh phu ve viec duy tri lai suat cho vay thap nham ho tro tang truong kinh te. Trong dien bien giam, lai suat tien gui online o tat ca cac ngan hang hien nay van tiep tuc cao hon so voi tien gui tai quay tu 0,2% - 0,5%.
(TBTCO) - Ty le that nghiep tai cac quoc gia thuoc To chuc Hop tac va Phat trien Kinh te (OECD) a giam xuong con 4,8% trong thang 1/2025, anh dau muc thap nhat ke tu thang 3/2023 va la thang thu 34 lien tiep duy tri o muc bang hoac duoi 5%.
27/01/2025

Newcastle Utd U21s 2 - 2 Everton U21s

Everton U21s travelled to Whitley Park in Benton, where they led for most of the match against Newcastle Utd U21s in Premier League 2, before conceding two late goals on Monday night.

The Blues lineup featured Reece Welch, returning from his season-long loan cut short at KMSK Deinze in the 2nd tier of Belgium's Challenger Pro League. There was also a rare sighting of Kingsford Boakye on the bench.

The Young Blues went ahead after 22 minutes when Omari Benjamin profited after a scramble in the box.

Martin Sherif banged home a penalty in the second half after Benjamin was brought down to strengthen the Young Blues' hold on this game. But they eventually conceded with 17 minutes to go, and another goal saw the lead evaporate with 10 minutes left.

Everton U21s: Barnsley, Dixon, Samuels-Smith, Welch, Thomas, J Patterson, Benjamin (87' Boakye), Bates (88' Moonan), Sherif (62' Morgan), Heath, Ebere (62' Barker).

Subs not Used: Lukjanciks. Everton U21s pegged back by Newcastle Utd

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Qatar Tourism is set to host the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE) from January 30th to February 5th, 2025.

The 21st annual event, under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani, will showcase exceptional craftsmanship and artistry from global and local designers.

The week-long exhibition will feature collections from Al Fardan Jewellery, Al Majed Jewellery, Ali Bin Ali Luxury, Amiri Gems, Fifty-One East, Al Muftah Jewellery, Blue Salon, Bvlgari, Arts and Gems, and a diverse range of international brands and emerging Qatari designers.

The exhibition will also feature three highly anticipated pavilions: the Qatari, Turkish, and Indian pavilions, each showcasing unique craftsmanship and cultural heritage of each country.

Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism, said: The Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition is one of Qatar Tourism's flagship events, exemplifying our commitment to hosting world-class MICE events and reinforcing our global position as a leading hub for luxury experiences. In addition to showcasing the latest trends from international jewellery and watch brands, DJWE offers a platform for Qatari designers, showcasing their exceptional talent and craftsmanship.

He added, As we continue to work towards the goals outlined in the Qatar National Vision 2030, events such as DJWE reflect our dedication to economic diversification, supporting local talent, and offering unique experiences to visitors from around the world. The 21st edition will bring together more than 500 brands from 30 countries, creating a unique opportunity for cultural and business exchange.

DJWE has long been established as a premier B2B and B2C jewellery and watches exhibition in the region.

Owned by Qatar Tourism and sponsored by Visit Qatar, this years edition will bring together industry leaders, renowned brands, and distinguished clients from across the region, offering visitors the opportunity to explore an extraordinary array of collections, engage directly with industry experts, and participate in exclusive networking sessions.

As a vital contributor to the nations event calendar and a driver of cultural exchange and economic growth, DJWE continues to solidify its reputation each year as a platform for business growth and creative collaboration.-TradeArabia News Service
MAG Group Holding, a leading real estate group based in Dubai, has been selected by AD Ports Group as lead developer for the first phase of Marsa Zayed, a major beachfront resort and residential community coming up on the Red Sea in Aqaba, Jordan.

Marsa Zayed is a transformational project to turn a 3.2 million sq m section of Red Sea beachfront into a tourism and business hub and a southern gateway to Jordans principle attractions, the Unesco World Heritage Site Petra and the Wadi Rum Protected Area.

The contract was awarded by AD Ports Group, the integrated trade, transport and logistics group based in Abu Dhabi, which is the land owner for the project, said MAG Group in a statement.

AD Ports Group developed and is operating the Aqaba Cruise Terminal, which opened in January 2023, under an agreement signed with and Jordanian state-run Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) in 2021.

Marsa Zayed is a beachside real estate project collaboration strongly backed by the UAE and Jordanian governments to bolster the Jordanian coastal citys position as a regional tourism centre and a gateway for travellers visiting the Red Sea.

As per the deal, MAG Holding aims to attract investors and oversee the development of Phase 1 of Marsa Zayed, which will span 1.2 km of Red Sea beachfront.

The project includes Zayed Riviera, which will house four residential towers, a Marina with around 1,260 residential and 117 retail units, a hotel and hotel apartment with a beach club, an Old Souq marketplace with 50 retail shops, restoration of iconic Aqaba Minerat, and a yacht club and marina, as well as a visitors centre.

At the project initiation ceremony in Aqaba, AD Ports Group and MAG Group launched an international campaign to promote the first phase of Marsa Zayed, which the organisers expect will be one of the Middle Easts most exciting tourist destinations.

Adding pace to its strategic plan to enhance maritime and tourism in Aqaba, AD Ports Group had last year signed a shareholders agreement between its digital arm, Maqta Technologies, and Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) for their existing joint venture company, Maqta Ayla, said the statement.

The joint venture will revolutionise Aqabas port operations by implementing a Port Community System (PCS) that leverages Maqta Gateways expertise, marking the first-ever export of Abu Dhabis port digitalisation solution,. it stated.

Managing Director and Group CEO Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi said: "Todays ceremony is a significant step in our strategic plan to support the Government of Jordan in developing Aqaba into a premier world-class destination for tourism and economic development." "This first phase of Marsa Zayed will enable AD Ports Group to deliver on our wise leaderships vision to add economic value to this lively region," he added.

An active investor in the Red Sea region, AD Ports Group has also signed long-term concessions to develop and operate cruise terminals at the Red Sea ports of Safaga, Hurghada, Al Sokhna, and Sharm El-Sheikh, and to build and operate a multipurpose port in Safaga and a Ro-Ro terminal in Al Sokhna, it added.

Moafaq Ahmed Al Gaddah, the Chairman and Founder of MAG Group Holding, said: "We are excited to be part of what I consider to be one of the most exciting real estate development projects in the Red Sea region, one that not only will transform the economic potential of Jordans maritime resources, but lead to a vibrant coastal ecosystem that stimulates economic growth across this part of the Middle East."

"We deliver our award-winning services to local and international customers in such a way that they most importantly benefit our customers and the communities in which we operate," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
AN unused piece of equipment intended for NiQuan Energy Trinidad Ltds operations is among several assets now up for sale by the receiver, just after the seventh anniversary of the gas-to-liquid plants grand opening.

The unused FT Max Catalyst-T 2811, weighing 231,000 pounds and used in gas-to-liquids (GTL) processes, is being sold by receiver manager Varune Mungal.
MOVING UP: The executive of the TTPS welcomes its newly-promoted officers to the ranks of ACP and Senior Superintendent. Fourteen officers were promoted yesterday at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain, in a ceremony that was presided over by Police Commissioner Erla Christopher. Seated from left are DCP Suzette Martin; DCP Junior Benjamin; Commissioner Christopher; DCP Natasha George and ASP Gideon Dickson. Standing from left are ACP Brian Soodeen; ACP Curt Simon; ACP Andy Tewaree; ACP Anthony Remy; ACP Rishi Singh; ACP Anand Ramesar and ACP Richard Smith.
Donate but dont dictate is a maxim for donors. We have seen such being done as the giver 
MANZINI  Former Shiselweni II Member of Parliament Strydom Mpanza is the new ENHI Board of Trustees Chairperson. Mpanza was announced as the new Chairperson by Minister for Health Mduduzi Matsebula, alongside eight other members, at a ceremony held yesterday at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital Boardroom. The Board of Trustees, which also includes Khanya Mabuza, the Principal Secretary in the Health ministry, and Mazwi Mavuso, the institutions Chief Executive Officer (CEO), will be responsible for overseeing the organisations operations, setting its strategic direction and making key decisions to ensure the best interests of stakeholders are upheld.

The Board will also monitor management, oversee financial performance, and ensure compliance with laws and regulations. In his address, the former MP expressed his deep gratitude and enthusiasm upon accepting his appointment to the board of the Eswatini Nazarene Health Institutions (ENHI). Speaking on behalf of the new board, Mpanza pledged their unwavering commitment to the organisation and its shared goals.



Opportunity



Mpanza thanked the minister for the opportunity to contribute his expertise to the ENHI. He said he is deeply humbled to accept this appointment and is truly excited to bring his experience to this important organisation. He acknowledged the considerable responsibility that the new board carries and reaffirmed their commitment to working diligently alongside the organisations team to meet the challenges ahead. He said they were confident that, by leveraging their diverse experiences, they could navigate the challenges that lie ahead and create a positive impact for both stakeholders and the communities they serve. Referring to the ministers recent comments, Mpanza emphasised the boards commitment to responding to the nkwe! mandate, as delivered by His Majesty the King.



We have heard the loud call from His Majesty the King on the nkwe! mandate, and we will be guided by this directive to ensure timely and effective interventions, he affirmed.

Reflecting on the ENHIs century-long legacy, Mpanza recognised the organisations remarkable history and its significant contributions to the health and well-being of the people of Eswatini. He noted that the institution would soon celebrate its 100th anniversary, a milestone that underscores its longstanding impact on the nations health sector. This institution has played a pivotal role in pioneering new health initiatives and has a wealth of institutional experience that has been instrumental in improving the lives of many emaswati, Mpanza said.



Assured



The chairperson further assured both the minister and the ENHI team that the new Board is united by a shared sense of purpose. This board is not merely a collection of individuals, but a team bound by a common goal. Together, we have the power to drive change, inspire others and make a lasting impact, he explained. He also spoke on the importance of collaboration and open communication, expressing his belief in the strength of these principles to guide the boards work. He believes that through collaboration and transparent communication, they will achieve their goals. The chairperson also took a moment to recognise the leadership that has preceded the new board. The past leaders of this organisation have set remarkable standards and achieved significant milestones. I am committed to building upon the legacy they have left behind, he said. Mpanza made a call to action for the board and the wider ENHI team. As they move forward, he encouraged them to embrace this journey with a shared vision and a deep commitment to their mission. Together, united in purpose, they will strive for greatness and continue the ENHIs tradition of excellence, he concluded.



Ambitious



Meanwhile, Minister Matsebula emphasised the institutions potential for growth and the need for full support from the board to achieve its ambitious objectives. Matsebula pointed out that ENHI, as a re-emerging institution, faces a crucial period in its development and requires the boards dedicated support to realise its goals. The minister acknowledged that ENHI has presented an ambitious strategy to the ministry aimed at addressing and preventing the financial challenges the institution has encountered in previous years. You are urged to ensure that the institution continues to improve and moves towards becoming self-sustaining in the future, Matsebula stated. To achieve these objectives, Matsebula stressed the need for ENHI to establish strong partnerships with private entities and adopt innovative approaches to service delivery. he said this was vital for ensuring the institutions long-term sustainability and

Success.



The minister also praised ENHI for its leadership in pioneering new strategic initiatives that have led to national policy adoption. He urged the institution to continue leveraging this strength, urging it to be a trailblazer in transforming how business is conducted within the health sector. We continue to urge ENHI to take this leadership role and set new standards for the sector, Matsebula said.



Challenged



Furthermore, Matsebula challenged the CEO of ENHI to serve as a primary point of communication with the board. He called for regular reports on ENHIs operations, progress towards strategic goals, and key decision-making, while emphasising the importance of seeking the boards guidance and approval for major initiatives. He stated that the entire executive team must adhere to this call. The minister reassured the new board of the ministrys continued commitment to supporting ENHI. He expressed confidence in the boards ability to work together with the institutions leadership to deliver high-quality healthcare to the people of Eswatini. As committed by government, Matsebula stated that their aim is to improve the lives of all emaSwati, wishing the new board a productive and collaborative working relationship.
PHOENIX  Backed by elected officials from rural areas, Democratic lawmakers unveiled a plan they say would provide protections against groundwater drying up.

The proposed legislation would create five new rural groundwater management areas where members of local councils could set limits on new pumping. Residents of other areas of the state also could establish their own RGMAs.

Senate Bill 1457 and House Bill 2714 also contain provisions for voluntary water conservation.

Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, a Tucson Democrat, acknowledged that a similar plan last year went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Legislature. But Republicans, who advanced their own plan last year to protect agricultural interests, had no better luck in coming up with a deal acceptable to a majority of lawmakers.

Whats different this year is there appears to be a sense of urgency, particularly for elected officials of the affected areas, which are largely Republican. They say that unless something is done, and soon, there will be no coming back

Travis Lingenfelter, chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, says thats true in the Hualapai Basin on which Kingman sits  one of the areas currently with no regulations on who can pump groundwater and how much.

Weve had Saudi, United Arab Emirates and central California corporations who are no longer permitted to over-extract groundwater from where they are from, he said. Theyve collectively purchased over 78,000 acres in the Hualapai Valley basin and are currently cultivating 16,500 of those acres for export agriculture.

Lingenfelter said they have collectively drilled more than 100 wells exempt from regulation, with 16 of those capable of pumping between 3,000 and 3,500 gallons per minute. A single well with a 3,500 gpm capacity can extract more than 4 millions of groundwater a day.

Those wells are larger than anything owned by Kingman.

These entities are pumping water at an unsustainable scale, Lingenfelter said, saying users extract 30,000 more acre-feet of water a year than is recharged.

An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons and considered capable of supporting two to three families a year.

Willcox Mayor Greg Hancock said the problem is already here, as wells of individual homeowners are going dry and the ground is collapsing as there is a race to the bottom to deepen wells.

And Prescott Mayor Phil Goode, in lending his support for the Democratic plan, urged lawmakers to avoid making this political.

I am a conservative, active Republican, he said. But this issue is not a partisan issue. Last time I checked, there wasnt Democratic water and Republican water.

This measure would allow rural supervisors to control their growth, control their future, and be able to have a broad policy that protects a balance of interests between business development, agriculture and rural communities ability to provide future water for current needs and future needs, Goode said.

When the states historic 1980 Groundwater Act was passed, to address the overdraft in five urban areas, active management areas were created in Tucson, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Phoenix and Prescott, with requirements to curb pumping.

But the bipartisan plan left the rest of the state unregulated.

That gap came into sharp focus when Fondomonte, a Saudi-owned company, bought and leased large tracts of land in the Ranegras Plain in La Paz County to grow alfalfa to be shipped back to feed dairy cattle in the home country.

They did that because Saudi Arabia prohibits such farming in its desert. But Arizona has no regulations in the area.

La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin said theres nothing in the legislation to stop that. Its private property, she said. Theyre there. They bought the property.

But she said this plan would keep the problem of groundwater depletion from getting worse.

This will prevent any future massive or big water user to be able to come in and do this type of operation, Irwin said, as that basin would be one of the five that would be formed automatically into a rural groundwater management area.

We need the local control, which has been lacking for years, she said. We need to be able to decide whats going to happen within their own counties and put something together from a local perspective.

The other areas are in the Hualapai Valley  Lingerfelters concern  and in Gila Bend, San Simon and Willcox.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources, using a provision in the 1980 law, has imposed an AMA on the Willcox basin.

But Hancock, the Willcox mayor, said there are serious issues with the plan. As established, he said, it could restrict the ability of agricultural interests to grow.

Wine is a big industry in Willcox, Hancock said. Under the AMA, theyre kind of stuck at where theyre at. Theres no room for growth.

By contrast, Hancock said, allowing residents to create a rural groundwater management district  something not now allowed  would be more flexible and we might be able to grow our wine industry.

The question of local flexibility could be a sticking point.

Last years Republican plan would have created a complex legal and governmental process to allow designation of rural management districts. It would have allowed some mandatory conservation measures while protecting the rights of farms to pump groundwater.

That proved unacceptable to Democrats, who wanted a simpler process with fewer hurdles to create a district and to give council members more regulatory authority.

There also was a dispute over who should serve on each areas water council, who would appoint them and whether they had to live within the area.

Sundareshan said this years bill is different in that it starts with the benefit of input from both sides. There have been compromises, she said, calling her bill and the mirror legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Mathis, D-Tucson, the starting point for rural groundwater legislation.

Much of the heavy lifting for Republicans and their allies will be by Rep. Gail Griffin. The Hereford Republican, who has championed various bills designed to deal with water supply, chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water, through which any plan must pass.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she met with Griffin on Wednesday.

I would characterize that meeting as positive, Hobbs said. I dont want to put words in the representatives mouth. But I feel we both left the meeting with at least a basic agreement that something needs to happen this year.

Griffin would not comment on the meeting. She said she will read the 88-page bill before expressing any opinions.

Hobbs is exerting pressure on lawmakers to come to a deal.

There is no denying that we are at a critical juncture at managing our water resources, she said. And its imperative that we take action right now (so) we have the water we need to thrive now and into the future.

That came with a warning. Hobbs said she will use the powers she has to act if lawmakers reject a plan. That power includes what she did through the Department of Water Resources to order creation of an active management area  the kind of control that Hancock said is too rigid.
A tragic accident claimed the lives of seven people and left two others injured when a car veered off National Highway 21 and plunged into a river in Nam Dinh Province, northern Vietnam, on Thursday afternoon, according to local traffic police.

The incident happened around 3:00 pm in Nam Van Ward, Nam Dinh City, involving a seven-seater vehicle carrying nine occupants, including the driver, the provincial Traffic Police Bureau reported later that day  the sixth day of the nine-day Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, which began last Saturday.

As the car attempted to cross Nam Van Bridge, it struck the bridges right railing before plunging into the river below, according to an initial assessment by traffic officials.

Seven people were pronounced dead at the scene, including the driver, 61-year-old N.T.D., her husband, N.D.C., 69, and their daughter, N.N.A., 36.

The other victims included A.s daughter, eight-year-old T.N.M.K.; N.V.T., 39, and his wife D., 34; and a two-year-old child.

A rescue crane truck is seen lifting the stranded car from the Nam Van River on National Highway 21 in Nam Dinh Province, northern Vietnam, January 30, 2025. Photo: Hong Quang / Tuoi Tre

According to officials, the driver possessed a class B1 drivers license issued by the Hanoi Department of Transport, valid until November 30, 2030.

The two survivors were identified as 34-year-old N.N.Q. and N.N.D., a sixth grader. Both were rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

Emergency responders were quickly dispatched to the scene to bring the victims out of the submerged vehicle.

By approximately 6:00 pm, authorities had successfully recovered the car from the river.

The Nam Van Ward administration stated that the river is modest in size and not very deep, serving as a vital water source for agricultural production.

Preliminary reports indicate that the rivers water level was high at the time due to local farmers diverting water for spring rice planting, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Local traffic authorities are working to determine the cause of the accident, with support from the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

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Light rain, drizzle, and fog are expected to persist in northern and north-central Vietnam this weekend, creating a chilly atmosphere during the 2025 Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) holiday, while the Central Highlands and southern Vietnam will enjoy dry and sunny conditions, according to the national weather agency.

From Saturday to Sunday, or the fourth and fifth days of the Year of the Snake, light rain and drizzle may occur at night and early morning in the northern and north-central regions, with fog covering parts of the lowlands and coastal areas, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Daytime temperatures could range between 23-26 degrees Celsius, while nighttime temperatures could drop to 12-15 degrees Celsius, with some places falling below 10 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

South-central Vietnam is expected to see scattered rain at night, while afternoons will be sunny, with daytime highs ranging between 26-29 degrees Celsius, and nighttime temperatures hovering around 20-23 degrees Celsius.

In the Central Highlands, clear skies and cool nights are possible. While daytime temperatures will reach 30 degrees Celsius in some areas, early mornings and nights will remain chilly, with temperatures dropping below 14 degrees Celsius in higher elevations.

For those celebrating Tet in southern Vietnam, dry and warm conditions will dominate.

The southern region will see plenty of sunshine, with daytime temperatures climbing to 29-33 degrees Celsius.

However, the southeastern part may experience slightly cooler nights, with some areas dipping below 20 degrees Celsius.

As temperatures in the northern and north-central regions drop, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has urged local authorities and residents to take preventative measures against the cold spell.

Farmers are advised to protect crops and livestock, while households should avoid using charcoal stoves in enclosed spaces, as this poses serious health risks.

Meanwhile, coastal areas in southern Vietnam are facing rising tides.

The highest tides at Vung Tau Station in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province are projected to reach 4.1-4.15 meters between Thursday night and Friday, affecting low-lying areas outside embankments, particularly Vung Tau, Ca Mau, and other coastal regions.

Authorities are closely monitoring the situation, urging residents to remain vigilant, reinforce flood defenses, and take necessary precautions to minimize damage.

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Thousands of people flocked to pagodas across Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, the second day of the Year of the Snake, to pray for peace, prosperity, and happiness in the new year.

At Van Phat Pagoda in District 5, visitors were awe-struck by the five-story temple, which houses over 10,000 Buddha statues, making it one of the largest Buddhist statue collections in Vietnam.

Many worshippers dressed in ao dai (Vietnamese traditional costume), carrying incense, flowers, and offerings to present at the altar. Rituals such as lighting incense, chanting prayers, and drawing fortune sticks were performed in a solemn atmosphere.

Bringing children along to teach them the values of respect and spirituality has become a cherished tradition for many families.

Le Thu Hien, a resident of Thu Duc City, shared her annual practice of visiting Van Phat Pagoda on this special day: "I visit many pagodas throughout the year, but at the start of the lunar new year, I always come here to pay my respects and seek divine guidance through the automatic fortune-telling machine."

Other well-known pagodas in the southern metropolis, such as Xa Loi (Sarira) Pagoda in District 3 and Ngoc Hoang (Jade Emperor) Pagoda in District 1, also saw large crowds of worshippers, all hoping for a blessed and peaceful year ahead.

Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese expatriate from the U.S., made it a priority to visit Ngoc Hoang Pagoda upon returning home for Tet.

"When we were kids, our parents always took us to pagodas for Tet prayers. Now, it has become a family tradition," Van recalled.

"Aside from praying for peace of mind and reflecting on past mistakes, we mainly wish for the health and well-being of our familythats all that truly matters! she added.

In addition to pagodas, shrines and ancestral halls in the city also saw large crowds praying for a peaceful and prosperous year ahead.

Below are some photos of people praying for a prosperous and peaceful 2025 at pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City on the second day of the Year of the Snake (January 30, 2025):

Visitors line up at the automatic fortune-telling booth at Van Phat Pagoda in District 5. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

The Quang Minh Main Hall, home to three large Buddha statues and thousands of smaller ones, serves as the heart of Van Phat Pagoda in District 5. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

Worshippers pay respects to the Guanyin statue at Xa Loi (Sarira) Pagoda in District 3. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

People visit Lang Ong Ba Chieu Temple, where the tombs of Marshal Le Van Duyet and his wife are. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

Devotees pay homage at Tran Hung Dao Temple. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

A group of French tourists join a tour offered by leading Vietnamese tour operator Saigontourist to explore Ngoc Hoang (Jade Emperor) Pagoda in District 1. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

A group of French tourists join a tour offered by leading Vietnamese tour operator Saigontourist to explore Ngoc Hoang (Jade Emperor) Pagoda in District 1. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

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Disney+ will screen concert special The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl, celebrating 30 years (!) of the global phenomenon brought to life through animation, the Broadway stage, live action and beyond.

With both original and new performers the event stars Lebo M, Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Jason Weaver, Ernie Sabella, Billy Eichner, Heather Headley and Bradley Gibson, with special guests North West and Jennifer Hudson.

This took at the Hollywood Bowl place last May.

This live-to-film concert experience includes epic performances with a 70-person orchestra, a troupe of skilful dancers, state-of-the-art projection mapping images, and the Broadway shows award-winning costumes and puppetry giving viewers across the globe a front row seat to the unprecedented musical extravaganza celebrating the world of The Lion King.

In honour of The Lion Kings 30th Anniversary, the Hollywood Bowl transformed into the Pride Lands for an immersive concert event featuring a reunion of the original voice cast alongside performances by cast members of the iconic Broadway show.

The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl is produced by Disney Concerts, Fulwell 73 Productions, AMP Worldwide and Live Nation-Hewitt Silva, the incredible team that produced the four-time Emmy-nominated Disneys Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl with Fulwell 73 Productions also having produced the Emmy Award-winning Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. Gabe Turner and Sally Wood are creative showrunners, Paul Dugdale serves as director and Misty Buckley is production designer.

Friday, February 7 on Disney+
Sorry Sarah Ferguson, love your work, but data today suggesting youre televisions most popular presenter has made a bit of a boo-boo.

The 7:30 presenter was named by SEO agency StudioHawk study ahead of other presenters Edwina Bartholomew, Karl Stefanovic, Sarah Harris, Natalie Barr and more.

The data is based on Search & Instagram followers, which strikes this industry observer as a very odd correlation to ascertain actual Most Popular.

But theres a bigger problem.

The 762,000 Insta followers referenced for Sarah Ferguson links to Fergie, the Duchess of York.

ABC Sarah Fergusons actual account has 634 followers.

An Instagram link to The Projects Sarah Harris also goes to Sarah Harris UK based Editor at Large for Vogue.

Perhaps 7:30 can dig it into a bit more?
MAKHEWU  A midnight attack at Ntandweni, in the Lubombo Region has left a 49-year-old woman fighting for her life. Nonhlanhla Mhlanga (49) was robbed of E1 200, and, in an act of unimaginable cruelty, doused with petrol by two unknown assailants. The brutal attack occurred Tuesday night, leaving the community reeling and the victim clinging to hope.

Narrating the incident, Mhlanga said she was asleep together with a minor at midnight on Tuesday when she heard, and was awakened by footsteps outside her house. Mhlanga said she suspected that it could be cattle roaming her home yard and went to investigate.



Out of curiosity, she shared, she opened a door and it was then that two men wearing balaclavas shoved and pushed her inside the house. She said after they had entered her house, the duo demanded money and she took out a sum of E1 200 she had stashed in a bag and gave it to them. Mhlanga mentioned that the pair ordered her to wrap herself in a blanket and to roll on the floor. Adding, she said then one of the men pulled out a firearm while the other sprinkled petrol on her body and lit a matchstick. She stated that the one with a gun fired a shot and then they both left in a hurry as she was burning. According to the woman, she composed herself and then went to the bathroom and locked the door. At that instance, she narrated that she heard screams from the minor. I suspected that she cried after hearing the gunshot and in fear, she screamed, she said.



Furthermore, Mhlanga shared that she then went to another house where a relative was sleeping and screamed for help. Her relative then raised the alarm and alerted their neighbours about the ordeal. She shared that a car was arranged to rush her to hospital in the morning and police came and recorded a statement. The woman said the men told her that she would understand life after she had been shot and mentioned that those words ignited thoughts that they were sent by someone to kill her. She stated that she earned a living by selling snacks at her home. I thank God that I am alive as the men were sent to kill me, she said. When asked if she suspected anyone to be behind the heinous act, Mhlanga opened up and shared that she suspected a relative who was fighting for ownership of a home.



Dvokodvweni Indvuna Yenkhundla Sabelo Coca Cola Fakudze said he was informed about the incident. I received a call and was told that there was a woman who was in a critical condition after she was attacked at night by unknown men. I am optimistic that the police will make a breakthrough and arrest the culprits, he said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said the police were still conducting investigations. She stated that it was a robbery and the woman was shot in the thigh and made to roll on the floor when she was doused with petrol. She is in a critical condition, Vilakati said.



Misery



Meanwhile, in December last year, a bank manager in one of the international financial institutions and her husband, who is also a manager in one of the mobile telephony companies, endured a night of misery, after three thieves broke into their house and held them hostage. The couple was said to have been held hostage in their own house at Mpolonjeni, Mbabane. The robbers stole items valuated at E158 000. The items that the robbers went away with include a Mazda 2 vehicle, furniture, clothes, kitchen cutlery, an electric stove and other valuables. Last month, our sister publication, Eswatini News, reported that it took robbers about five minutes to bomb and rob two automated teller machines (ATMs) over E1.3 million and the Royal Eswatini Police Services (REPS) swift intervention saw some of them being arrested within an hour. The incident took place at Mpaka Shopping Complex in the Lubombo Region, in the early hours of Saturday morning, around 1am, and the two affected ATMs belong to First National Bank (FNB) and EswatiniBank.



Meanwhile, the surge in robberies in the country early this month saw a housebreaking incident by armed robbers at Woodlands in Mbabane where a Rolex watch worth E150 000 was stolen. It was stolen along with a Tempo wristwatch valued at E1 000 and a Hisense sound bar worth E3 000. Rolex is a luxury brand of wristwatches with varying amounts. The items, according to a source, were stolen after the thieving suspect(s) gained access to the premises through a window. In total, the suspect(s) got away with items valued at E154 000 with the Rolex wristwatch the most valuable. The items belong to a 37-year-old woman of Mbabane. In another theft incident, a former Cabinet minister on Monday, discovered that property valued at E26 500 was stolen from his home. Also, a man at Zakhele was robbed of his property valued at E44 100 by three unknown men wielding a short spear at Matsapha Industrial Site, while in an incident of housebreaking and theft, a man at Masundvwini discovered that his house had been broken into through the door and property valued at E42 169 was stolen.

These incidents of violence are an addition to armed robberies which have surged in areas closer to the borders with Mozambique. On Saturday, a 54-year-old woman of Nyakatfo reported that on or at around 4pm, she was robbed of money at gunpoint. Nyakatfo is in close proximity to two ports of entry which are Matsamo, located 40 kilometres north from the area and Mananga, located 45 kilometres north-east. The four armed robbers in the stick-up got away with a sum of E70. Also, on the same day, another female aged 34 was suspected to have been robbed by the same bandits within the same area. It was gathered that the woman was robbed around 1:30pm and the suspects fled with her Samsung A10F and cash. It was gathered that the cumulative figure for her loss is E2 200. These armed robberies are against the backdrop of two people who lost E56 000 cash and electronics valued at E26 600. The armed robberies occurred in various instances and in two different regions.



Gunpoint



In the Lubombo Region, last Monday, a male from Mlindazwe was at around 9pm, robbed at gunpoint by four men who were unknown to him. The man was robbed E50 000 cash and electronics valued at E16 100. This tallies his loss to E66 100. Meanwhile, in the Hhohho Region, a woman at Thembelihle was attacked and held hostage by two men who were unknown to her. The robbers, according to sources, were both armed with handguns and they robbed her E6 000, two cellphones, an iPhone valued at E4 000 and a Nokia worth E500. She was also robbed of her Lenovo laptop valued at E6 000. The robbers further withdrew from her bank account E3 000.

Cumulatively, she was robbed of items valued at E10 500. On the other hand, a tenant at Mbikwakhe found her house burgled and her E40 000 was stolen. At the time, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Vilakati, said there were no armed robberies that were shocking and depicting that they could be committed by foreigners. The robberies we have recorded for now are few and in usual instances where foreigners commit armed robberies, they use assault rifles, she said.




Heres one that wasnt on the 2025 bingo card.

Foxtel property series Love It Or List It Australia is set to screen on 10.

The series, is based on a Canadian format, features Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker meeting home-owners trying to decide between a renovation or sale.

It has featured on Gogglebox a number of times.

It kicks off with S1 which screened in 2017.

Coorparoo

Chris and Jess live in a classic but dysfunctional Queenslander with their 4 children. Jess sees it as their forever home and wants to stay. Chris thinks its time to upgrade to something bigger.

7:30pm Saturday 8th February on 10.
FILE PHOTO: Head of Transdniestria Vadim Krasnoselsky takes part in a ceremony marking the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Tiraspol

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) -The leader of Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria has travelled to Moscow for talks to resolve an energy crisis following the suspension of Russian gas deliveries, Transdniestria's news agency reported on Tuesday.

Transdniestria has suffered widespread power cuts since Jan. 1 when Russia's Gazprom suspended gas exports to the region, citing an unpaid Moldovan debt of $709 million that Chisinau does not recognise as valid.

Moscow blames the suspension of gas supplies on Moldova and Ukraine, which refused to extend a five-year gas transit deal that expired on Dec. 31 on the grounds that the proceeds help fund Russia's invasion.

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Moldova says Moscow could use an alternative route to continue supplying Transdniestria, which was receiving gas via Ukraine.

Transdniestria's separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselsky held talks to overcome the energy crisis, his press secretary Denis Podgorny was quoted as saying by Novosti Pridnestrovya agency.

He gave no details, and Russian authorities made no comment.

SANDU SAYS MOSCOW DECIDES FOR SEPARATISTS

Moldova's pro-Western President Maia Sandu said she was aware of the visit, adding: "We want the people in the Transdniestrian region... to have electricity, heat, and water as soon as possible."

"Tiraspol's refusal to accept help from Moldova is not its (refusal) but the Kremlin's," Sandu said, reiterating Chisinau's view that Transdniestria acts only on Moscow's orders. Tiraspol is the separatist region's capital.

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Moldovan political analyst Vitalie Andrievschi told Reuters that Krasnoselsky's talks in Moscow could simply produce the same position that a resumption of Russian gas supplies depended on Moldova paying arrears.

"Or Russia could consider Transdniestria's position and say it will start shipments at this or that date through the Balkan corridor (Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania), without Moldova paying off the arrears," he said.

Moldovan officials say they have offered Transdniestria help with buying gas on external markets and securing coal supplies from Ukraine. The separatist authorities say Chisinau has made no real proposals.

Sandu said she believed the energy crisis had been artificially stoked, arguing that Russia had alternative routes to continue supplying contracted natural gas. Russia's only goal is to destabilise the situation in Moldova, she added.

Sandu, who won a second presidential term in a closely fought election late last year, aims to take Moldova into the European Union.

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Moldova's foreign ministry, meanwhile, denounced as "unacceptable interference" comments by a senior Kremlin aide, Nikolai Patrushev, who blamed Chisinau authorities for the energy crisis and said they should "acknowledge their mistakes".

"I cannot rule out that Chisinau's aggressive anti-Russian policy will lead to Moldova either being made part of another country or ceasing to exist," Patrushev told the daily Kosomolskaya Pravda.

He said the same fate could also befall Ukraine, citing the long-held Russian position that Kyiv's policies were guided by what Moscow calls "neo-Nazi" principles.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Yuliia Dysa and Ron PopeskiEditing by Gareth Jones and Deepa Babington)
HCM CITY  Over half a year has passed, and o Ngoc Mach of District 7, HCM City, continues to recall his trip to the UK with his family every time he meets with friends.

The 76-year-old has had opportunities to travel throughout his life, but his trip to the UK stands out as the most exciting and meaningful trip so far, a rare occasion when all three generations of his family travelled together.

Multigenerational travel is now a popular trend in Viet Nam, with families seeking to spend quality time together on tourist trips.

Viet Nam, a country rich in tradition and strong family bonds, presents a unique setting for multigenerational travel.

According to Booking.coms 2024 Gen.Voyage! study, which explores the world of intergenerational travel, travellers in Viet Nam are embracing intergenerational family trip: 52 per cent of travelers highlight the joy of bonding and creating lasting memories with loved ones, 50 per cent value reconnecting with family they do not often meet and 36 per cent cherish watching their children learn from different familial role models.

These intergeneration trips create opportunities for richer connections and shared experiences across generations bringing the family closer together.

The company also revealed that parents today have flipped priorities by spending kids inheritance on enjoying life with their children instead of squirrelling savings.

About 44 per cent of Vietnamese travellers would rather spend money on a trip of a lifetime in 2025 than leave inheritance to their children  this trend is particularly strong with baby boomers at 37 per cent.

But next year, Booking.com informed, this trend would take on an increasingly altruistic approach as older relatives look to splash the cash among their families, helping the younger generations through the cost-of-living crisis by paying for their next vacation. This ensures they can create magnificent new memories and travel together with their families, as opposed to just padding the next generations bank accounts.

While 74 per cent of Vietnamese travellers say their parents have paid for their vacations or part of their vacations even after becoming an adult, boomers are likely to influence an uptick thanks to the 88 per cent who are happy to pay for their children when booking their next trip.

Cao Thi Tuyet Lan, vice chairwoman of the HCM City Tourism Association, expressed strong interest in the multi-generational tourism trend.

She says in the past older generations focused solely on work and gave little thought to enjoyment.

Nowadays they have changed their attitudes, and multi-generational tourism is appropriate for Vietnamese as easterners with a tradition of sharing and gathering with families, she points out.

Both individuals and travel agencies pay attention to tours that cater to entire families, she says.

"About two years ago we organised a successful family tour to Hue and Hoi An. During that time the organisers provided ao dai outfits to over 600 guests from different families and took the time to meticulously capture memorable photos for each family.

Agoda's 2025 Travel Trends survey reveals that family-oriented trips are one of the key factors set to shape the travel landscape in Asia in the coming year.

In fact, about 34 per cent of travelers plan to travel with family in 2025.

According to Agoda, Vietnamese travelers are closely aligned with this trend, with 39 per cent saying they prefer to travel as a family.

The survey found that visiting family and friends is one of the top reasons Vietnamese are planning to travel in 2025, with nearly half citing it as a key motivation for travel.

It is in fact topped only by cultural exploration and relaxation.

Agodas findings indicate that in 2025 travelers are prioritising quality time with family and loved ones while balancing relaxation and adventure for the whole family.

Planning for enjoyable journeys

Planning a family vacation that keeps everyone from grandparents to grandkids happy can be a challenge.

Young travelers thrive on action and adventure while the older generation gravitate towards culture and leisure moments that a destination offers. However with thoughtful planning it can become a truly memorable experience.

Mike Nhan Phan, a renowned Vietnamese travel blogger, suggested that early and thorough planning is the key to a successful and enjoyable intergenerational trip.

He shares his recent experience of taking his parents, wife and son to Singapore.

It was my sons first trip abroad with his grandparents. So I focused on careful planning to ensure everything was in place. I booked flights two months in advance to get the best flight time and price.

Since my son needs a lot of sleep, I chose afternoon flights instead of late-night or early-morning ones.

Mike also suggests researching child-friendly lounges, spacious seating options, and creating flexible itineraries to ensure a smooth experience for the entire family.

Plan the itinerary in a way that is not physically demanding and is easy to navigate. "

How can you design a trip that satisfies everyone? The answer lies in having a flexible itinerary that allows travelers to opt in or out of activities based on their interests and energy levels. For instance, I prefer group tours that incorporate checkpoints for individual experiences and moments of togetherness.

Skip-the-line passes are also great options to reduce waiting time, allowing families to pack a wider range of activities in their day.

Choosing the perfect accommodation for the families is also important.

Mike emphasises quality time and shared experiences on a family holiday. Careful pre-trip co-ordination ensures everyone enjoys the itinerary, reducing stress and ensuring a memorable holiday.

But planning a multi-generational journey does not have to be overly complicated. The key lies in approaching each other with empathy, flexibility and a bit of creativity.

Different elements of the trip like accommodation, flights, rental cars, taxis, and attractions that cater to all generations can be easily booked on digital travel platforms that offer travelers many connected services, simplifying the travel planning process and ensuring meaningful and memorable experiences for your entire family. VNS
VINH PHUC  Vinh Son Village in Vinh Phuc Province has a storied legacy intertwined with the warm spring season, when snakes emerge from their dens.

Over two centuries, what began as a tradition of snake hunting evolved into a vibrant craft village dedicated to snake farming, bringing prosperity to village residents in Vinh Son Commune, Vinh Tuong District.

The village, formerly known as Son Tang, was once a dense wilderness teeming with venomous snakes, but has since evolved into Viet Nams leading hub for cobra farming.

According to 69-year-old artisan Nguyen Van Thinh, chairman of the Vinh Son snake craft village association, snake hunting was a seasonal practice. Villagers ventured into the wild each spring armed with baskets and poles to catch snakes and sell them to those preparing medicinal wine or traditional remedies.

When wild snakes became scarce, Vinh Son villagers began breeding snakes. Over time, they mastered snake reproduction techniques, and the practice grew, creating the renowned Vinh Son snake village we know today, Thinh told Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

In 1979, with assistance from the Centre for Human and Animal Physiology and Biochemistry (now the Institute of Biotechnology), the Vinh Son snake farm was established.

"It merged traditional knowledge with scientific advancements, initially producing snake-infused wine and snake essence," said Thinh.

The farm quickly garnered attention, with leaders and scientists visiting regularly.

In 1983, Prime Minister Pham Van ong encouraged locals to preserve and develop snake farming to support medicine, science and livelihoods.

However, when the collective economy declined, the snake farm dissolved, transferring breeding techniques to local households.

Initially, 12 families embraced the practice, growing to nearly 900 families at peak production.

By then, the village was exporting freeze-dried snake venom to markets in France, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Political upheavals in these regions eventually forced villagers to refocus on domestic sales and later on the Chinese market.

Despite Chinas advances in cobra farming, they still rely on Vinh Son for eggs and breeding stock, Thinh said.

Overcoming challenges

Snake farming, while demanding specialised knowledge, remains relatively low-maintenance.

Snakes are fed every three to four days, and during their winter hibernation, no feeding is required.

Initially, natural prey like rats and frogs were common feed.

However, dwindling natural resources led to the adoption of poultry by-products like chicken necks and discarded one-day-old chicks.

Vinh Son consumes about 2,000 tonnes of feed annually. Faced with shortages, I developed a method of supplementing poultry by-products with minerals, which is now widely used, said Thinh.

Vice chairman of Vinh Son Village's People's Committee Ha Van Hung, who has over 20 years of experience in snake farming, said Vinh Son was recognised in 2022 by the Vietnam Records Organisation (VietKings) as the traditional craft village with the highest number of licensed cobra-farming households in the country.

Some call snake farming a gamble with death, but for us, it has brought a prosperous life, said Hung.

He said that captive snakes produce more potent venom than their wild counterparts.

Although the village once recorded up to 200 snakebites annually, traditional remedies have ensured no fatalities.

Hung said that the villagers thrive in their trade without falling victim to it, highlighting the villages long-standing tradition of passing down antidotes through generations.

He noted that two local healers still practise today, offering reassurance to the community in their craft.

One of these healers, 67-year-old artisan Ha Van Vua, recounted inheriting his fathers snakebite remedy at the age of nine.

Before he passed away, my father entrusted me with the recipe, Vua said.

Over the decades, he has treated countless victims, safeguarding lives and sustaining the legacy of Vinh Sons unique craft.

In 2006, Vinh Son Village was officially recognised as a traditional snake farming craft village.

By 2007, the Vinh Son snake craft village association was established, and the local forestry department began conducting annual inspections of the village's snake farming activities, according to vice chairman Hung.

Currently, the village has 650 households engaged in snake farming, raising anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 snakes per household.

In 2024, Vinh Sons snake farming industry earned more than VN100 billion (US$3.95 million), with VN53 billion coming from commercial snakes and VN52 billion from snake eggs and breeding stock.  VNS
The flu is rampaging across Waco and McLennan County, causing some school districts to cancel classes, creating three-hour wait times at clinics, and prompting brisk demand for flu shots and Tamiflu prescriptions.

The Waco-McLennan County Health District reported 1,082 current lab-confirmed flu cases countywide as of Thursday, and the highest weekly flu activity in five years.

Even people already vaccinated against the flu are testing positive in some cases, though the treatment may mitigate symptoms: runny nose, fever of 102 to 103 degrees, sore throat and cough. Some present with stomach pains and loose stools, family medicine specialist Dr. Van Wehmeyer said of the surge.

Most people in their 20s and 30s dont have to be treated. Theyll get over it in a few days. In those cases, the biggest concern is getting better then getting worse, suffering a relapse that could lead to pneumonia. At that point, you need to see your doctor, Wehmeyer said. The typical treatment is Tamiflu twice a day for five days. Those older, or with compromised immunity, would benefit from a Tamiflu preventative for 10 days.

Wehmeyer said he has treated teachers who say half their class is out, and he mentioned crowds creating three-hour delays at the Baylor Scott & White Health clinic at Central Texas Marketplace.

West Independent School District canceled classes Thursday and Friday due to flu-related problems. Moody and Gholson ISDs said they would shut down operations Friday for the same reason.

We started the week on Monday with 141 (out of 1,294) out, but grew to 218 out Wednesday, West Superintendent David Truitt said. The biggest jump was at West High School which doubled from Tuesday to Wednesday. We were at a 78% attendance rate at West High School by the end of the school day. Normally, our average daily attendance rate is just under 96%.

Truitt said the district also has concerns about staff absenteeism. He said 36 employees missed Wednesday, so our attendance projections for today and tomorrow for both staff and students was too much to risk.  With the size of our community and school district, we cannot properly and safely function without the staff members who drive our school buses, cook the meals, clean and sterilize the classrooms and buildings, and teach the students.

An announcement on the Moody ISD website says the shutdown there will allow time for cleaning and disinfecting, and provide an extended weekend during which our students and staff can return to good health.

Baylor University has seen flu and seasonal illnesses, but not to the point of canceling classes, spokesperson Kelly Craine said.

The Baylor Health Center is reporting students are testing positive for Influenza-A as well as coming in with cold and other respiratory illnesses. This is typical for this time of year, Craine said by email. No classes have been cancelled. Students are advised to stay home and rest if they are feeling sick.

Pharmacist Fred Smith at Lynns La Vega Pharmacy said his team is hustling to keep pace with demand for flu shots and Tamiflu orders.

Weve filled 10 prescriptions so far today, Smith said at mid-morning Thursday. Tamiflu, we can hardly keep on the shelves. Fortunately, we have a good supplier. If we run out, we can get it the next day.

He said the pharmacy administered three flu shots Thursday morning. He said Lynns La Vega typically experiences a run on vaccinations in October, but apparently people are getting the word they need one now. He said shots dont necessarily guarantee flu immunity, but they can help.

Its not too late to get a flu shot, said Clare Paul, spokesperson for the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District.

She said flu cases have increased quite a bit, and the health district encourages the public to wash their hands often and avoid contact with anyone who might have the flu. People who may have the flu should stay home and call the doctor.

The Walgreens Flu Index shows the Waco-Temple-Bryan metropolitan area ranks third nationally in flu activity. It uses data measuring retail sales of antiviral medications to treat influenza at Walgreens locations nationally. The latest figures reflect sales the week ending Jan. 25.

In a statement Thursday, Waco ISD said it is experiencing increased numbers of students and staff reporting viruses and/or flu-like symptoms which is common for this time of year. This trend is being seen across the state and the country.

As part of the districts protocol, campus nurses report their weekly case counts for COVID-19, flu, strep, RSV and other contagious conditions.

If we see concerning trends, we will work with the (Waco-McLennan County Public Health District) to determine recommended action steps, the statement says.
WATERLOO  Superintendent Jared Smith is being both praised and criticized for addressing new federal immigration policies in a letter to Waterloo Community Schools families.

The letter, posted on social media and emailed to families, clarifies the districts policies and loosely describes how it would respond to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming onto school grounds.

It comes a week after President Donald Trump signed executive orders regarding immigration policy. A cornerstone of that policy is performing mass deportations of people living in the country illegally.

One of the orders reverses a guideline that prevented ICE from conducting raids at sensitive locations such as schools, places of worship and hospitals. The restriction had been in place since the Obama administration. Former President Joe Biden included domestic violence and disaster relief shelters on that list.

Smith said the districts leadership team had been contemplating whether to put out a statement for the past few months, but wanted to remain neutral until it started hitting closer to home. He said theres been concerns from staff, parents and students.

Our leadership team met and said we should probably put something out to provide clarity for students and staff members for what to do, what they can and cant do when it comes to these (laws), he said. It was not meant to be a political statement or (saying) one side is wrong or the other but providing clarity or guidance.

The letter states the district is committed to creating safe learning environments for every student.

This includes supporting all students and families as outlined in our non-discrimination statement, which includes national origin, the letter stated. The law guarantees all students receive free public education, regardless of their immigration status.

English language learners make up 14% of the districts student population. However, Smith said, that doesnt necessarily mean these students are all immigrants.

The letter stated Waterloo Schools does not collect or keep any information about a students immigration status and that requests from immigration officials for student information, or to communicate with them, will be referred to the district office.

We will continue protecting students constitutional and legal rights, the letter continued. We can only share student information as permitted under the law.

The letter stated that each buildings principals know the policies and processes in place to protect their students. A request from The Courier to speak to teachers and principals was redirected to the superintendents office.

Weve always trusted our teachers to teach the facts as best you can and try as much as you can to not bring anything political into classrooms, Smith said. My hope is those conversations are more informative than sharing political opinions.  Weve got trust in our staff to navigate those students.

Despite the middle ground statement, Smith said hes been responding to emails daily with parents believing the letter was an overreach. He said he doesnt expect any more districtwide communication at this point.

What were being told is (ICE) would not go in and grab students. We believe thats not going to happen, he said. If something happens then our building administrators have been asked to contact district offices, then we will work with local authorities to make sure everything is following proper protocol.

Black Hawk County Sheriff Nate Neff said his department has not received any communication from ICE about coming to the community, but the issue has been at the forefront of his mind.

Im looking to stay pretty much the status quo right now, he said. Going out and trying to round up immigrants is absolutely not on my agenda.

Neff said even with the changes that allow immigration enforcement officers to enter schools and churches, that he would be very comfortable in saying no when asked to assist.

We will definitely assist ICE where we can, but forcing our way into schools is definitely not one area where I would have any interest in, Neff said.

Both Neff and Waterloo Police Chief Rob Duncan said if the agency requests assistance, they would not leave them hanging.

If they need assistance, you know, backup, or something like that, we do that with any federal agency, Duncan said. Any state, local or federal agency, were going to give them backup.

The public can rest assured that were not looking to do any kind of targeted enforcement with immigration, Neff said. But again, I want to be clear that if another agency does request our help, were not wanting to leave another agency standing or hanging out by themselves.

Neither the county or the Waterloo Police Department contract with ICE. Contracted law enforcement agencies can be tapped to perform immigration functions or detain people arrested by ICE.

Im not looking to enter into a contract. Im not looking into becoming a housing facility for them, Neff said. We partner with them enough that were a jail. If they bring someone here, well hold them for a night, then they go where they need to.

Both Neff and Duncan said their stances are on par with law enforcement heads in the state.

Sioux City put out a statement that was pretty good, Duncan said. He basically said, if we are asked by a federal agency to assist, well use common sense approach and use our policies and guidelines to, you know, determine the level of help that we give.
The Western Mainstream Media will soon will strictly blame Ukraine for losing rather than give a positive to Russia for winning the SMO..

Nah, what am I thinking?

The West will just claim they had to invade Ukraine and then in a glorious drive out of Poland with white horse riding super-powered NATO soldiers, defeated Nazi Ukraine in one fell swoop and Nazism is dead

The Western Scum can and will steal any credit and valor

WtR
Autumn Stedman, a sixth-grade student at Chippewa Falls Middle School, cried herself to sleep Jan. 19 after TikTok temporarily shut down in the U.S.

It was the first taste for the platforms users of what a total ban could look like.

As users sought what they thought would be their final moments on the app, they were prompted with the phrase: Sorry, TikTok isnt available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you cant use TikTok for now.

Fellow sixth-grader Braylon Eckwright said the discovery was no fun.

It was pretty bad because I didnt get my daily videos, Eckwright said.

Winona State University student Audrey Walz deleted the app from her phone.

I did delete the app because I didnt have trust that it would come back, she said.

Emotional journey

For many, the emotions were overwhelming.

There was a minute where it looked like it was going to go away, and it filled me with a lot of emotions, said Kody Green, La Crosse-area TikTok creator with 1.3 million followers. I have spent years developing a platform where I can share my thoughts and reach people.  It feels like almost losing a job.

The app returned just 14 hours later, crediting President Donald Trump with delaying the ban approved by Congress.

Despite its return, the threat of a ban still looms and area residents are preparing.

People that are using TikTok are not just losing their income or a social media app, Green said. Theyre losing communities, theyre losing a safe space, theyre losing a free platform to connect with people. I think people need to keep that in mind. There are a lot of people that dont understand TikTok or havent used it before that I dont think are looking at it that way.

That network helps make the platform different from other social media sites, said Winona TikTok creator Jeremy Littel.

Theres different niches and different groups and different communities and different ways that you can get involved with a lot of different things, he said. And I dont think that on Instagram or Facebook or on YouTube you really experience all of that.

Littel first joined the platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it gave people something to do with their time, he said.

Young people in Chippewa Falls arent sure what to make of the potential ban, but they agreed that not having access to it was annoying.

Eckwright said she makes videos and slideshows of herself and friends dancing or performing.

When TikTok was down, she switched to watching YouTube shorts on her phone while Stedman stuck with Instagram.

It saved us

The TikTok community has played a big role in Littels life, as it helped save his business, Kickass Beef Jerky, when it was impacted by pandemic closures.

When Littel posted about his business for the first time, after already having a million followers, people began to support it by purchasing his products.

Within 10 days of posting the video, he had a record 2,500 orders, more than a years worth of business.

It helped us, he said. It saved us.

Jennine Fox, assistant professor of marketing at UW-Eau Claire said she teaches how TikTok can be used for business.

On Monday, she and her students talked about a recent article on e-marketing that found clothing and apparel brands in particular see a large percentage of shares through TikTok.

If that ban goes through, they could see, you know, a significant loss in some of those (key performance indicators), Fox said. We talked a little bit about that because thats one of the things when were looking at different social platforms that businesses may use to find their target audience and connect with their customers.

The app has helped many businesses get their start and find success.

People are just nervous to lose a platform where they can either share about their business, share about their lives, or, in my case, be able to talk about issues that are really important to them, said Green. Im nervous of losing it for my ability to reach people, my ability to communicate with people, but it is also a part of my business and a part of how I am able to live as a self-employed person.

Albert Washington, La Crosse-based TikTok creator and owner of the BoxDrop Mattress Store, said the app helped bring his business back to life.

TikTok and my platform saved my store here in town, said Washington. Thats one of the biggest reasons why I have got furniture in my store and my store is doing good.

Fox said it is important for businesses to diversify their online and social media offerings. She tells her students to pay attention to what is happening in the news and in the marketing industry so they can better navigate changes and help employers do the same.

Why was TikTok banned?

The temporary shutdown follows U.S. officials concerns about national security risks related to its parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology firm.

The app, which has over 170 million monthly users in the U.S., was to be shut down Jan. 19 due to fears of the Chinese government accessing user data if its American division was not sold to an U.S. company. That still has not happened, though Trump extended the deadline for 90 days.

Many users dont believe there is enough information available to support the concerns.

We keep being told as Americans that theres a potential threat, but we havent been shown any actual information of TikTok being used in a way thats unsafe for us, said Green. It feels like were being basically told that we cant use it without any valid reasoning or any real information.

Some believe the shut down violates their right to free speech.

One of my biggest concerns is the loss of free speech, which should concern anyone despite who they are or what side they vote, said Green. A First Amendment violation should really make everyone nervous because thats really how were able to spread new ideas and talk about things that we might not have been able to talk about 10 years ago or 20 years ago.

Littel doesnt believe the platform puts people at risk more than others.

Theres a lot of things out there that get all of your information, he said. I dont really think that TikTok is gaining any more information than these other websites that you have to go on and enter all your information into.

He thinks a solution will be worked out.

Potential benefits

Not everyone in the region is completely against the ban, though.

Walz, the Winona State student who formerly used TikTok, never reinstalled the app after deleting it during the temporary shutdown. She believes the ban could help bring people together in person and create friendships.

I feel like it would honestly be good if the whole app itself would be banned just because it would create more social interactions between people because, I think, so many people are attached to that app, Walz said.

Walz stopped using it because she said it caused her to procrastinate.

Because its a staple in millions of Americans daily lives, some youth think it would be interesting to see a world without the app.

Originally, when it was banned, I was kind of just thinking like, I guess Ill study more, but I dont know, said Kiela Shallcross, a student at UW-La Crosse. I feel like its better to keep it, but I was kind of looking forward to seeing how everyone would be without it.

Mia Meissner, a UW-L student, is also trying to look on the bright side.

Im on it every night for a few hours at least, Meissner said. Honestly, I was kind of thinking it might be a good thing because Im on it so much.

But then again, I clicked on it three times when it was off, she said.

Loss of network

There is concern about the powerful impact a ban could have for creators and viewers alike.

While Littel has grown from the platform and now has followers on multiple different social applications, he said it would be pretty sad if the ban takes effect.

Most of the people are already following me somewhere else, Littel said. I am not personally going to lose all that much, but its where I first started. Its like a sentimental thing almost.

I would lose the sense of community, he said.

For many, they would lose a large portion of their community.

I think the frustrating part about it is that I basically have to start from square one, said Green. A lot of other platforms require you to pay to be able to get views  its hard to organically reach people like you can on TikTok and be able to spread ideas.

Green, who has built a following spreading awareness and information surrounding mental health and mental illness, believes the ban would limit important discussions.

There are certain conversations that certain online media doesnt want you to push out because they are nervous about things like mental health and suicide prevention, said Green. Its really limiting peoples reach for all sorts of social issues.

Washington is concerned his videos about kindness would be lost forever.
Funding increased for free armed forces swimming scheme

Funding for a popular scheme offering free swimming to both veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces is being increased by the Welsh Government.

The Armed Forces Free Swimming Scheme (AFFS), which launched in 2016, will see its funding almost double to reflect successive years of increased take up amongst the Armed Forces Community in Wales.

Whilst funded by Welsh Government, the scheme is managed by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and delivered by local authorities in Wales.

The increased funding will allow local authorities to match the demand for the scheme, which recorded 8,500 swims between April and September last year.

In announcing the decision to increase the budget from 45k to 80k in 2024-25, the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership, Jack Sargeant said: The Armed Forces Free Swimming Scheme represents the Welsh Governments continued commitment to providing our Armed Forces community with access to services which meet their specific needs whilst also recognising the service they have given to their country.

Sport and exercise can improve peoples lives in so many ways, and its important we continue to work together with delivery partners to provide welcoming and inclusive places and conditions for everyone to enjoy the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of sport and exercise.

I am grateful to the WLGA and our local authority partners for their role in delivering scheme across Wales and am pleased Sport Wales has also pledged its support for the Armed Forces community by recently signing the Armed Forces Covenant.
Maximus celebrates employment support impact in Wrexham

An employment support event in Wrexham has celebrated the achievements of individuals overcoming barriers.

Local employers, charities and community partners came together earlier this month to recognise the hundreds of lives across North Wales that have been transformed by Maximus.

They were joined by Mark Isherwood, Member of the Senedd for North Wales and Chair of the Cross-Party Group on Disability.

As a leading provider of employment and disability support services, Maximus has been supporting Wales residents for more than 75 years, helping them to overcome significant barriers to employment and find sustainable work.

During the event, attendees heard from participants, community partners and employers such as Cera Care and Rebuild for Hope to learn more about the success of our programmes in supporting individuals with disabilities and health conditions to build long-term and meaningful careers.

For the last seven years, Maximus has been providing up to 21 months of intensive, specialised employment support to those with a health condition or disability through the Work and Health Programme (WHP).

Since its launch in September 2023, Work and Health Programme Pioneer (WHPP) has been helping those with additional barriers, such as people with disabilities, veterans, carers or refugees.

So far, more than 900 Wrexham residents have been supported on their journey into work.

Mark Isherwood, Member of the Senedd for North Wales, said: This employment support programme, launched by the previous UK Government and delivered by Maximus, has been instrumental in helping disabled people, individuals with health conditions and other groups in the area to find and sustain employment.

I thank all those involved in the programme for their invaluable work, and once again congratulate all the participants, staff and employers who received an award.

Key to the delivery of the service is the innovative Community Partnership Network, which brings together the best of private, public and voluntary sector organisations to

collaborate, innovate and deliver a range of integrated services, such as, skills training, health and social care services, debt advice and mental health support.

As a Disability Confident Leader, promoting disability confidence remains at the heart of the organisations approach.

Claire Davies, Regional Contracts Director at Maximus, said: Maximus is proud to support people with multiple barriers across North & Mid Wales find sustainable employment and it was wonderful to welcome Mark Isherwood to celebrate the success of our programmes.

Looking ahead, we are excited to continue building on this success, expanding our support to even more individuals in the area.

Through initiatives like the Work and Health Programme (WHP) and Work and Health Programme Pioneer (WHPP), we are able to not only helping individuals overcome barriers to employment but also contributing to the local economy by empowering people to build fulfilling, long-term careers.
The Defense Department will no longer reimburse service members for travel out of state to get reproductive health care, including abortions and fertility treatments, according to a new memo.

The directive signed this week eliminates a rarely used Biden administration policy enacted in October 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and more states began to impose increased abortion restrictions.

Signed on Wednesday by Jeffrey Register, the director of the Pentagon's human resources department, the memo simply shows red lines crossing out the previous regulation and offers no other guidance.

Asked if service members would still be allowed time off to travel at their own expense, the department had no immediate answer.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the policy change shameful.

Our service members go wherever they need to in order to bravely serve our country  and because President Trumps extremist Supreme Court overturned Roe, where they and their families are stationed quite literally dictates their access to critical reproductive care, Warren said in a statement. Now, Trump is turning his back on our servicemembers  and our servicewomen in particular  to score political points. Its shameful, and will only make our troops and our nation less safe.

Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instituted the policy in October 2022 to ensure that troops who were assigned to states where abortions or other types of health care such as IVF treatment were no longer provided could still access those services.

The Defense Department on Friday was unable to say how many times the reimbursement policy was used, or the costs. But last March, officials said it had been used by service members or their dependents just 12 times from June to December 2023. And the total cost was roughly $40,000 to cover transportation, lodging and meals.

The policy did not cover the cost of abortions, and its not clear how many of the 12 trips were for abortions or other type of reproductive health care, such as IVF treatment. That specific medical information is protected by health privacy law.

In his memo at the time, Austin said service members and their families were worried they may not get equal access to health care, including abortions. And he noted that service members who often must move for various missions or training would be forced to travel farther, take more time off work and pay more to access reproductive health care.

The problem, Austin said, would create extraordinary hardship and "interfere with our ability to recruit, retain, and maintain the readiness of a highly qualified force.

He ordered the department to allow troops and dependents, consistent with federal law, to take time off and use official travel to get to other states for reproductive care not available locally. That care includes in vitro fertilization and other pregnancy aids that also may not be accessible close by.

Under federal law, Defense Department medical facilities can perform abortions only when the life of the pregnant person is at risk or in cases of rape or incest, and those instances have been extremely rare. According to the department, there were 91 abortions performed in military medical facilities between 2016 and 2021.

(Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
Is the universe like the genie in a bottle awaiting my every command? My Instagram feed would have me believe so.

My kids think Im crazy  addicted even  but Im fascinated with the steady stream of reels about how to manifest the life of my dreams.

Members only

Reel after reel serves up some version of the power of positive thinking.

Willie Nelson warns against worry: Every negative thought you have releases poison into your system.

TikTok influencers proselytize the Lucky Girl attitude to trigger an avalanche of good fortune.

Even Oprah offers a hack to help me reach my highest human potential: Dont ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because the world needs people who have come alive. Manifestation is the belief that one can attract success by using positive self-talk and visualization, or acting as if goals have already been achieved. Some, like Oprah, claim that manifestation is a legitimate practice for personal growth and fulfilling dreams. However, no scientific evidence exists that people can mind-meld their way into a new reality. 

I am no stranger to pain. I watched the man I loved slip away to alcoholism, and I raised our children alone after he died nine years ago, when they were 9 and 11. I know from personal experience that you cant think away a childs ADHD, depression, anxiety or learning differences  or hospitalizations and surgeries due to skateboarding accidents. But I also know that the quality of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts, and happiness is an inside job.

When it comes to squeezing as much joy out of life as possible, why not be open to the possibility of manifesting to super-boost the work Im willing to put in anyway? Oprahs question of what makes me come alive is a good one. Just shy of 60, Im a recent empty nester between careers. My third act is beckoning.

But what do I truly want, and where do I start? Havent a clue. The all-knowing Instagram algorithm had author Martha Beck recommend the book: What You Want Wants You by Suzanne Eder. I download it on Audible and listen to it nonstop as I drive back and forth from Washington, D.C. , to New Jersey to move my son into his college dorm.

Courtesy Suzanne Eder

Eders essential point is that desire is a direct path to our authentic selves and purpose. The universe supports our desires because we are all part of a larger, interconnected flow governed by the highest power  love. Love (or God, the universe, Source Energy, the genie or whatever you want to call it) wants us to be happy.

Well, if it were that easy, wouldnt we manifest the end of wars, famine and disease? Still, the idea that the world is on our side is comforting. And if that placebo puts me on steadier ground to face challenges and experience joy whenever it cruises by, thats a win.

Eder mentions living in Wilmington, Delaware, just as Im whizzing past her exit sign after dropping my son at college. I note the coincidence.


North American Lithium 2024 Drilling Results

Brisbane, Jan 31, 2025 AEST (ABN Newswire) - North American lithium producer Sayona Mining Limited ( ASX:SYA ) ( DML:FRA ) ( SYAXF:OTCMKTS ) announced today additional results received from its 2024 drilling program at the Company's North American Lithium operation (Sayona 75%; Piedmont Lithium 25%) in Quebec, Canada, demonstrating a high grade component of this highly strategic asset.



- Latest results for 102 new drillholes totalling 31,951 m for Sayona's North American Lithium (NAL) operation, Quebec, Canada with highlights including:



o North-West Extension - New Pegmatites



- 39.30m @ 1.78% Li2O from 297.70m in drillhole LAN-24-170



o Resources Area - Potential Resources Upgrade or Conversion



- 20.45m @ 1.80% Li2O from 255.80m in drillhole LAN-24-161a



- 22.20m @ 1.50% Li2O from 291.25m in drillhole LAN-24-161a



- 21.00m @ 1.71% Li2O from 245.25m in drillhole LAN-24-165



- 20.20m @ 1.61% Li2O from 272.30m in drillhole LAN-24-165



- 27.70m @ 1.65% Li2O from 327.95m in drillhole LAN-24-175



- 2024 Drilling results confirm resource potential: New findings validate the mineral resource and indicate potential upgrades



- Targeted exploration delivers results: Focused drilling extends mineralised zones and refines resource classifications with in-fill data



- Exploration completed at NAL: Drilling concluded December 9th, with additional results anticipated in the coming months.



The 2024 drilling program, launched in February 2024 drilled 153 holes totalling 53,444 metres with results demonstrating strong potential to expand the mineral resource base. Initial efforts focused on testing mineralisation extensions and collecting in-fill data to upgrade Mineral Resource categories. Notably, high-grade lithium mineralisation has been identified outside the existing Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) pit shells, particularly in the North-West, South-East, and North-East extensions.



Additionally, new results support the potential conversion of some Inferred resources to the Indicated category within the MRE pit shells, marking a significant step forward for the project.



Sayona's CEO, Lucas Dow commented: "We are delighted to report additional high-grade intersections and new zones of pegmatite mineralisation at NAL. These results demonstrate the potential of the NAL resource and underpin our plans to investigate a future brownfield expansion of this highly strategic North American lithium asset.



"These results also reinforce the logic of the previously announced merger with Piedmont Lithium which will allow the future development of NAL and provide investors the opportunity to participate in the development of the significant project portfolio that will be created by the merger."





About Sayona Mining Limited





Sayona Mining Limited (ASX:SYA) (OTCMKTS:SYAXF) is a North American lithium producer with projects in Quebec, Canada and Western Australia. In Quebec, Sayona's assets comprise North American Lithium together with the Authier Lithium Project and the Tansim Lithium Project, supported by a strategic partnership with American lithium developer Piedmont Lithium Inc. Sayona also holds a 60% stake in the Moblan Lithium Project in northern Quebec.

In Western Australia, the company holds a large tenement portfolio in the Pilbara region prospective for gold and lithium.

Sayona is exploring for Hemi style gold targets in the world class Pilbara region, while its lithium projects include Company-owned leases and those subject to a joint venture with Morella Corporation.

Related Companies


Quarterly Activities Report

Perth, Jan 31, 2025 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Verity Resources Limited ( ASX:VRL ) is pleased to provide its quarterly activities report for the three-month period ending 31 December 2024.



HIGHLIGHTS



Monument Gold, Western Australia



- Follow up infill drilling at Fred's Well Prospect completed and intersected gold mineralisation that confirms a 1.1km mineralised gold strike trend 2km northwest of the Monument Gold Project's nearsurface 3.2Mt @ 1.4g/t Au Korong Mineral Resource Estimate



- Results received post-quarter demonstrate a potentially new mineralised zone near surface to add to the current Resource Estimate. Latest and past results include



o 24m @ 3.24g/t Au (MOAC262 from 44m) including 12m @ 6.35g/t Au

o 8m @ 2.09g/t Au (MOAC265 from 40m)

o 8m @ 1.48g/t Au (MOAC256 from 36m)

o 12m @ 1.01g/t Au (MOAC277 from 20m)

o 10m @ 0.68g/t Au (FWRC002 from 52m) including 2m @ 2.28g/t Au

o 4m @ 1.00g/t Au (FWRC002 from 81m) including 1m @ 2.89g/t Au



- Pit optimisation studies to commence in 2025 on the near-surface Korong (3.0Mt @1.4g/t Au) and Waihi (0.2Mt @ 2.1g/t Au) deposits following significant increase in gold prices since Mineral Resource Estimation in 2021. Both MRE remain open in all directions



- Over 60 additional untested BIF, basalt and intrusion-hosted gold drill targets at the Monument Gold Project remain to be tested



Pimenta REE-Nb, Brazil



- Surface reconnaissance program commenced over a distinct 26km radiometric strike at the Pimenta Project in eastern Minas Gerais, with potential for allanite-hosted (similar to American Rare Earths Limited ASX-ARR 2.63Bt @ 3,926ppm TREO MRE) and clay-hosted REE and potentially niobium



- Program completed at quarter end and results expected in coming weeks Caldera REE, Brazil



- No activity for the quarter in addition to the previously announced ultra high grade Caldera prospect with previous auger drill intercepts including 5m @ 4,526ppm TREO and 34% MREO from surface



Copper-Silv r-Nickel-PGE, Botswana



- Discussions continuing for potential corporate event regarding the Botswana portfolio of projects including the Maibele North 2.4Mt @ 1% Niequiv JORC Inferred Resource, Dibete Copper-Silver (up to 13% Cu and 281g/t Ag) and Airstrip Copper-Silver (up to 57% Cu and 2,483g/t Ag)



*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/7P7U764Q





About Verity Resources Ltd





Verity Resources Ltd (ASX:VRL) owns 100% of the Monument Gold project located near Laverton in Western Australia. This project currently has a JORC-compliant (2012) Inferred resource of 3.257 Mt @ 1.4 g/t for 154,000 ounces Au.

Verity Resources also holds a supply critical metals portfolio via a joint venture that includes rare earth elements, lithium, gold, base and precious metals in Brazil, including licences in the "Lithium Valley" and Pocos de Caldas in the state of Minas Gerais, globally known as prolific lithium and rare earth elements districts respectively. The Company also owns 70% of the Pimenta Project, a potential large-scale REE project in eastern Minas Gerais.

Verity Resources also holds a base and precious metals project in the Limpopo Mobile Belt in Botswana, a district known for hosting major nickel and copper producing operations. The Company's Botswana portfolio contains three flagship projects where high-grade Cu-Ag (Airstrip and Dibete) and a Maiden JORC Inferred Resource (Maibele North) have been discovered. Maibele North currently hosts a JORC (2012) inferred resource of 2.4Mt @ 0.72% Ni and 0.21% Cu + PGE's + Co + Au and is located within 50km of the Selebi-Phikwe mine recently acquired by TSX-listed Premium Nickel Resources Ltd (TSX-V:PNRL).

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Charged, the electrifying drink by Coca-Cola India, takes centerstage with return of the Cave Man in the new season of "Mind Charged, Body Charged. Featuring the maverick Aamir Khan in a caveman avatar, Charged has launched its new campaign for the summer of 2025. This launch also introduces a refreshed product identity with a new mascot, the wolf, representing strength and agility.

Charged differentiates itself in the market as a catalyst to accomplish impossible solutions and big achievements which require both physical agility and mental alertness. This is illustrated through a diverse range of films featuring Aamir Khan in an unprecedented caveman role facing the unexpected adventures with an invigorated mind and body! This campaigns creative vision is developed by Ogilvy India. In a series of films, Aamir Khan portrays a Cave Man engaging in various scenarios with his own Charged bottle whether outsmarting a dinosaur, starting a dance event, or managing a surprising situation on a date night. In each instance, Charged uplifts his mind and body to think of unexpected solutions to the problems.





Sumeli Chatterjee, Category Head, Sparkling Flavours (India & Southwest Asia) at The Coca-Cola Company, said, " The Charged drink has been highly praised by consumers, particularly for its taste. We are thrilled to introduce our new packaging, which is bold, sharp, and unstoppable, perfectly reflecting the character of the drink. The brand has consistently pursued innovative storytelling that remains exciting and unpredictable. Portrayed by the legend himself, Aamir Khan, our favorite Cave Man makes a come back with his whole universe.

Aamir Khan said, "Being a part of Charged is truly special for me. Its a brand that embodies boldness and originality, values I deeply respect. The 'Mind Charged, Body Charged' campaign aligns perfectly with my belief in striving for balance and excellence in every aspect of life. Collaborating on this has been a unique experience, and Im eager to see how audiences embrace it.

Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India said, "Charged is back and this time Aamir Khan goes back in time as the Stone Age man. The quirky adventures of the pre-historic era beautifully marry with the need of the modern world - the kick to stay sharp, both physically and mentally. The campaign will engage the TG in a fun and fresh way with something that's completely unseen in the category, charging up the audience as much as the drink, if not more."

The products new label and bold visual refresh, ensure it stands out in the market, further amplifying its appeal. Grab your Chargedthe electrifying drink that fuels your mind and body!
With India's marketing and advertising industry valued at over 70,000 crores and growing at an annual rate of 12-15%, stakeholders are eagerly anticipating policy measures in the upcoming Union Budget 2025 that can further fuel its expansion. Bhavesh Talreja, Founder and CEO of Globale Media, shares his insights on what the sector expects from the government, emphasizing the need for tax relief, innovation incentives, and digital infrastructure development.

"The marketing and advertising sector plays a crucial role in driving India's consumer economy. As we approach the Union Budget 2025, we hope to see policy changes that support its evolving business landscape and unlock its full potential," says Talreja.

Call for GST Reduction on Advertising Services

One of the primary concerns for the industry is the high Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate on advertising services, currently at 18%. Talreja suggests that lowering this rateespecially for digital advertisingcould ease financial strain on brands and encourage more investment in marketing campaigns, particularly from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"With digital ad spend expected to account for over 45% of total advertising expenditure in 2025 (as per GroupM), reducing GST on digital platforms could significantly boost adoption and investment," he adds.

Incentivizing Innovation in AdTech

With rapid advancements in AI-driven personalization, programmatic advertising, and augmented reality experiences, Talreja advocates for policies that support innovation in adtech. He suggests expanding the scope of existing startup initiatives like the Startup India program to include emerging adtech companies, thereby facilitating research and development in the sector.

Government Spending on Public Awareness Campaigns

Historically, government-led initiatives such as Swachh Bharat and Digital India have contributed significantly to advertising revenues. Talreja stresses the importance of continued investment in public awareness campaigns, which not only provide business opportunities for agencies but also amplify important social messages.

Enhancing Digital Infrastructure & Data Privacy

The rollout of 5G across India presents a unique opportunity for brands to expand their reach, particularly in Tier II and Tier III cities. Talreja emphasizes the need for budget allocations that improve digital penetration and enable brands to tap into high-growth regional markets.

"Simultaneously, clear and business-friendly data privacy regulations aligned with global standards are essential to maintain consumer trust and enable ethical advertising," he adds.

Skill Development for the Future Workforce

The marketing industry is also calling for government-backed skill development initiatives, especially in areas such as AI, data analytics, and digital marketing. Talreja believes investing in training programs will ensure that Indias creative and marketing professionals remain globally competitive.

Final Thoughts

As the industry awaits the Budget 2025 announcement, Talreja remains optimistic that the government will recognize the marketing and advertising sector as a key driver of economic growth and innovation.

"By addressing these expectations, the government can not only support the sectors immediate growth but also position India as a global leader in creative and digital advertising," he concludes.
Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Exotel along with Grant Thornton Bharat released a new white paper entitled "AI-Driven Customer Experience: Balancing Personalization, Privacy, and Automation". This report delves into how the CXaaS- Customer Experience as a Service affects various sectors, chiefly e-commerce and BFSI.

E-commerce Growth in Tier II and III Cities

India's e-commerce market is rapidly growing at a CAGR of 30.11%. A significant contributor to this growth is the demand from Tier II and III cities, which account for 65% of the overall e-commerce expansion. As internet access improves in these regions, consumers are looking for better online experiences. The whitepaper highlights that 72% of Indian customers are willing to share their data with trusted brands, creating many opportunities for businesses to engage with their audience.

Indian E-commerce market set to reach $325 billion by 2030 with CAGR of 18.12%, driving need for advanced CX solutions due to rising digital transactions, changing customers preferences, and policy support from government on digitization.

The growth of the Indian retail and e-commerce industry is driving the rapid adoption of CXaaS platforms, enabling businesses to meet evolving consumer demands. This growth is supported by the rising penetration of internet services, with 936.16 million internet subscribers and 350 million online users actively participating in digital transactions. Additionally, the smartphone base is expected to reach 1.1 billion by 2025, further fuelling the digital commerce boom. The increasing volume of transactions has necessitated advanced CX solutions.

Globally, India is emerging as a major contributor to the digital economy, expected to hit $1 trillion by 2030. E-commerce platforms are also expanding into tier-2 and tier-3 cities, with these regions growing their market share from 34.2% in 2021 to 41.5% in 2022. This shift demands localized and scalable CXaaS solutions to cater to diverse consumer needs.

CXaaS Enhancing Fraud Detection and Conversion Rates

The report also states that CXaaS is giving positive impact by fraud detection within the BFSI sector improving 20% via AI-powered customer experience solutions. This advancement is starkly important for securing the financial services sector. In retail, integrated CX strategies have improved conversion rates by 40%. Plus, enhanced customer experiences have improved satisfaction scores in e-commerce by 18% while reducing cart abandonment by 12%.

The Role of AI and Consumer Expectations

With virtual agents managing 60% of customer interactions worldwide, they provide business operations 24/7 assistance while raking in cost efficiencies of 35%. Automation has clearly become critical, as 61% of consumers worldwide abandon brands after disappointing experiences. The whitepaper states that 70% of consumers expect transparency concerning how their data is used. There is an increasing demand for privacy-conserving AI technology to build trust with customers.

Way Forward for the Digital Economy of India

With a digital economy projected to grow beyond $1 trillion by 2030, CXaaS will be essential for enhancing business competitiveness. Technologies that represent the business's endeavor to grasp a digitally-savvy consumer base would henceforth provide these new growth opportunities across all tiers of cities. This whitepaper serves as a valuable resource for organizations that wish to adapt to changing customer experience and digital engagement, ultimately enhancing their operations and strengthening their customer relationships.

Also Read: Budget 2025: Key Expectations for India's Thriving Marketing & Ad Sector
A momentous literary event unfolded at the NDMC Convention Center in New Delhi with the highly anticipated launch of Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade, an anthology edited by Dr. Aishwarya Pandit. The event brought together intellectuals, policymakers, and distinguished authors to celebrate the profound transformation of India during Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership from 2014 to 2024.

Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade, published by Westland Non-Fiction, presents a comprehensive analysis of Indias political, economic, social, and cultural evolution. The anthology brings together essays from 27 eminent contributors, including global thought leaders, political analysts, and policymakers, offering diverse perspectives on Indias rise as a global powerhouse, socio-economic advancements, and the reshaping of governance.

Event Highlights

The launch was graced by Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah as the Chief Guest, with Shri Manohar Lal Khattar, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, as the Guest of Honour. Also in attendance were distinguished personalities such as Kartikeya Sharma, Member of Parliament and contributor to the book, Biplan Kumar Deb, Member of Parliament, former Members of Parliament Rakesh Sinha and Mahesh Jethmalani, and industrialist Naveen Jindal. Intellectuals and policymakers gathered to discuss the books themes and reflect on Indias remarkable journey.

Amit Shahs Keynote Address: A Tribute to Modis Leadership

Amit Shah delivered a compelling keynote address, underscoring the significance of the book in chronicling the transformative decade under PM Modi. He stated: "In these 10 years, we have ended one era and are beginning a new one. Whenever the history of India is written, even Modi's greatest critics will write golden words about this era. PM Modi led a stable government after three decades, and this has played a crucial role in shaping Indias future."

Shah also lauded PM Modis leadership with the following observations:

 Reshaping Indias Global Image: "PM Modi has made India one of the fastest-growing economies."

 Historical Political Stability: "For the first time in 40 years, one leader has secured a third consecutive term, reflecting the people's unwavering trust in his vision."

 Socio-Economic Advancements: "PM Modis government has lifted 25 crore people out of poverty and ensured basic necessities for millions."

 Transformational Governance: "Modis leadership has transformed Indias governance model, covering economic reforms, social welfare, and national security."

About the Editor: Dr. Aishwarya Pandit

Dr. Aishwarya Pandit, the editor of the anthology, is a distinguished academician and associate professor at Jindal Global Law School. She has contributed to the field of political science and governance with her expertise on Muslim politics and state-building in India. Her first book, Claiming Citizenship and Nation: Muslim Politics and State Building in North India, 19471986, was published by Routledge in 2022.

Contributors: A Whos Who of Global Thinkers

The anthology is enriched by essays from a diverse group of 27 authors, offering unique insights into the transformative decade. Notable contributors include former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, global political analysts such as Dr. Waiel Awwad and Satoru Nagao, business leaders like Ashish Chauhan and Rajiv Kumar, and journalists such as Priya Sahgal and Pankaj Vohra.

A Book for the Ages: Chronicling Indias Renaissance

Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade is not just an anthology but a powerful testament to Indias remarkable transformation. It captures the essence of PM Modis leadership and the lasting impact of his policies on Indias governance, economy, and global stature. The essays explore Indias relations with other nations, the digital revolution, education challenges, and Indias evolving nationalist narrative under Modis vision.

As India stands at the threshold of becoming the worlds third-largest economy, this anthology offers a scholarly resource to understand the dynamics of its growth and the profound impact of Modis leadership. The event also featured a thought-provoking panel discussion on Indias future trajectory, underscoring the continuing influence of PM Modis vision.

In documenting this defining era, Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade serves as a critical work, preserving Indias transformative journey for generations to come.
Madison Turnt and Anugrah Madison, units of Madison World, have set a new benchmark in experiential marketing with its innovative and impactful activations at two of Indias most prominent platforms  the Maha Kumbh Mela and the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025. These strategic efforts position the agency as one that truly understands diverse ecosystems and consumer behaviour, delivering experiences that resonate across all touchpoints.

At the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Anugrah Madison delivered impactful activations that engaged millions of pilgrims. Its collaboration with PepsiCos Sting included prominent charging stations topped with a larger-than-life bottle and 100 E-Rickshaw branding, ensuring maximum visibility. Anugrahs partnership with DS Group featured 300 branded boats to promote Pulse, Pass Pass and Catch products, while Hell Energy distributed 200 life jackets for boat riders, along with E-Rickshaw branding. Big Magic enhanced its presence with two towering watch towers and 5,000 canvas bags for devotees. Additionally, Sun Neo initiated a unique dhaba activation targeting returning pilgrims, addressing Vitamin D deficiency by distributing Vitamin D patches along key highways.

Transitioning from spirituality to automotive innovation, Madison Turnt left its mark at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 with captivating experiential activations for global automotive brands. Bosch leveraged its expertise to deliver an engaging experience at the event, while Cummins showcased their advanced mobility solutions in the most impactful way. These activations highlighted the agencies ability to seamlessly blend technology, engineering and consumer experience.

Sunny Vohra, CEO, Madison Turnt and Anugrah Madison, shared, Our mission has always been to understand the unique pulse of both urban and rural India and create experiences that truly connect. At the Maha Kumbh Mela, we engaged millions on a spiritual journey and at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, we celebrated the future of mobility. We are proud to bring both these worlds together, crafting moments that speak to Indias heart, while driving brand impact in a way that only we can. Its about being present in the right moments, with the right experiences and creating something memorable for the people.

Madison Turnt and Anugrah Madison have consistently delivered outstanding results. Madison Turnt enhanced Builder.ais exhibition strategy, attracting 10,000+ visitors, generating 1,500+ leads and achieving 50% YoY growth with a 90% customer satisfaction rate. Additionally, Madison Turnt led the successful Caltex launch in India, with a projection at Gateway of India reaching 4+ million people and generating 36+ million impressions across both OOH phases. Madison Turnt also managed the Tata IPL Fan Park, drawing 1.1 million+ people and 20,000+ digital engagements. Anugrah Madison executed a unique challenge for Mahindra Jeeto Strong, highlighting its Mileage feature, which resulted in 15,000+ leads and 225 spot bookings. Madison Turnt was honoured with Experiential Marketing Agency of the Year at the recent E4M Media Ace Awards 2024. Madison Turnt and Anugrah Madison handle marquee clients like Parle Agro, Caltex, PepsiCo, Builder.ai, Pidilite, Vivo, P&G, Mahindra, Asian Paints and many others.

Madison Turnt and Anugrah Madison are a part of Madison World, Indias largest homegrown communication agency, established in 1988, which operates several brands in OOH, including Platinum Outdoor, MOMS and retail specialist MRP. Last year, Madison World, through its 11 units, served as many as 500 advertisers.

Also Read: Madison Turnt appoints Siddhartha Menon as Deputy General Manager
MTR, a trusted name in ethnic food with a heritage spanning over a century, has launched a new campaign for its iconic Puliogare Powder. The centre-piece of this campaign is an engaging TV and digital commercial that underscores the brand's strong connection with its consumers while celebrating MTR Puliogare Powder as Karnatakas No. 1* that helps the consumer get the perfect balance of sweetness, tang, spice, and crunch in every bite.

For generations, MTR Puliogare Powder has been synonymous with the rich culinary traditions of Karnataka, renowned for its distinctive colour, tangy-sweet flavour profile, and the delightful crunch of peanuts. It has remained a staple in households, offering homemakers the confidence of making perfect Puliogare every time!

The TVC features an enchanting storyline centred on a young boy dressed in a traditional Yakshagana costume, struggling to master the intricate expressions or Rasas of the art form. Seeing him disheartened, his mother presents him with a bowl of Puliogare prepared with MTR Puliogare Powder. As he takes a bite, the boy finds newfound energy, his expressions transforming with emotion and vigour. The ad beautifully parallels the layered Rasas of Yakshagana with the rich taste and flavours of MTR Puliogare, seamlessly blending cultural heritage with culinary delight.

The commercial also highlights the four key elements of MTR Puliogare Powdersweet, spicy, tangy, and crunchy, positioning it as the ultimate choice for an authentic and multi-sensorial taste experience.

Prerna Tiku, Chief Marketing Officer, MTR, said: "MTR Puliogare Powder is more than just a product  its a legacy. For decades, we have been an integral part of Karnatakas kitchens, and this campaign is our tribute to the love and trust our consumers have placed in us. Through our new TVC and an integrated campaign across multiple platforms, we seek to celebrate our consumers and the unparalleled taste, rich colour, and vibrant heritage of MTR Puliogare Powder that has now become an integral part of Karnataka food culture.

Tithi Ghosh, President  Ogilvy South, the creative agency behind the campaign, added: "As a brand, weve found success by combining product messaging with cultural insights, delivered in a fresh and unexpected way. This film celebrates the authentic, multi-sensorial taste of our Puliogare alongside the beauty of Karnatakas local folk art. The mothers role in bringing joy and uplifting her familys mood is reinforced in a delightful and relatable manner.

The campaign will be rolled out across multiple platforms, including TV, out-of-home (OOH) media, digital channels, activations, and in-store promotions. Through this extensive reach, MTR aims to solidify its commitment to delivering the authentic taste of Karnataka while celebrating the regions cultural richness.
Image: Reuters/Sharafat Ali

The words of my Guru Maharaj echo a profound truthIf the Bhajans of saints cannot bring welfare to the people, then what is the use of those Bhajans? This statement compels us to reflect on the recent tragic events at the Maha Kumbh Mela, where lakhs of saints, Mahatmas, Mahamandaleshwars, and revered spiritual leaders congregated, embodying divinity in the eyes of the masses. Devotees bowed before them, placing their unwavering faith in their spiritual presence, believing that their mere existence was a shield of divine protection. Yet, despite their collective prayers, Sadhana, and spiritual authority, they could not prevent the merciless crushing of innocent lives in a devastating stampede.

If their spiritual energy, their Bhajans, and their immense power could not avert such a catastrophe, then what role did they truly serve during this horrifying incident? Was their presence merely symbolic, an ornamental display of spiritual leadership that failed when the people needed them the most? If they are indeed just ordinary human beings, then why are they exalted and glorified to such an extent? And if they are truly divine figures, then where was their divine intervention when chaos engulfed the sacred grounds?

It is convenient to dismiss this tragedy as the result of karma or the law of destiny, absolving all responsibility in the name of fate. But is that the true essence of sainthood? Is the role of saints confined to rituals within the boundaries of their ashrams and akhadas, while the suffering of the common man remains an external matter? Shouldnt those who are regarded as supreme spiritual figures step forward, console the grieving, and offer tangible support to the affected families instead of leaving them at the mercy of an inefficient administration? The very presence of these saints should have been a beacon of solace and guidance in the wake of such an ordeal, yet their inaction raises unsettling questions about the true meaning of their spiritual leadership. Instead, it was the nameless monks, those without grand titles or exalted positions, who tore their own robes and shared their meager food with the afflicted. These monks demonstrated a spirit of selflessness that put the so-called supreme saints to shame.

However, the burden of responsibility does not rest solely on the shoulders of the saints. The government, which had months to prepare for this colossal gathering, failed miserably in executing an efficient crowd management plan. Indian authorities have now ordered a probe into the stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela, which claimed dozens of lives on Mauni Amavasya as millions of devotees converged for a holy dip in the sacred waters. The disaster unfolded in the pre-dawn hours, with an overwhelming surge of pilgrims eager to bathe at the auspicious hour. The magnitude of the gathering was evident from the fact that by 2 AM, the Sangam nose was teeming with people to the point where there was no space for those who had already completed their rituals to exit.

Despite a well-documented history of stampedes at major religious gatherings, the authorities once again proved their inefficiency. The tragic stampede occurred precisely when the religious fervor was at its peak, between 2 AM and 2:30 AM, as an unprecedented number of devotees pushed forward in an attempt to reach the water. The administration, unprepared for such an overwhelming crowd, failed to implement a controlled, phased entry and exit system. Ambulances were hurriedly dispatched, ferrying the injured and deceased to the Central Hospital at Mahakumbh Nagar. According to eyewitnesses, one of the primary causes of the disaster was the failure of barricades, which were meant to regulate the crowd but collapsed under pressure. The tragic irony is that while arrangements were in place to facilitate VIP movement, no robust measures were prioritised to protect the common devotees.

The response from the Yogi-led Uttar Pradesh government has been lackluster at best. After facing massive backlash, the administration belatedly announced restrictions on VIP movement during major bathing days. Moving forward, VIPs and VVIPs visiting Prayagraj for significant occasions such as Vasant Panchami, Magh Purnima, and Mahashivratri would no longer receive special privileges. While this reactionary measure might seem like a corrective step, it does nothing to address the fundamental issue of administrative negligence that led to the deaths of innocent pilgrims.

As if one tragedy was not enough, another disaster followed. In a separate incident, at least 15 tents were reduced to ashes in a fire that broke out near Chamanganj Chowki outside Sector 22 in the Maha Kumbh Mela area. Officials have claimed that there were no casualties, but this marks the third fire-related incident in the span of a few weeks. The first occurred on January 19 near a railway bridge in Sector 19, and the second on January 20 at a tent in Sector 5. The sheer frequency of such accidents at an event of this magnitude is alarming and raises questions about fire safety measures, emergency preparedness, and the overall governance of the festival.

In an attempt to pacify public outrage, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a financial compensation of 25 lakh for the families of the deceased. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also ordered a judicial inquiry, promising that a committee would submit a report within a stipulated time frame. However, the reality is that such inquiries are often nothing more than bureaucratic exercises aimed at damage control. The government, instead of taking full accountability for the lapses in crowd management, fire safety, and medical preparedness, has sought to wash its hands of the incident by offering financial compensation and forming committees that rarely result in real reform.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is not merely a festival; it is a confluence of faith, a sacred occasion where millions seek divine blessings. But when faith turns into tragedy due to mismanagement, negligence, and misplaced priorities, both spiritual and governmental authorities must be held accountable. Saints cannot hide behind the veil of divinity without stepping up when their devotees are in distress. Likewise, the government cannot continue to prioritize optics over safety while innocent lives are lost in the chaos. If we do not demand accountability now, then how many more tragedies will it take before real action is taken?
Guillain-Barre Syndrome Cases Surge in Maharashtra; Two Suspected Deaths, Govt on Alert 2

The number of suspected cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare but serious nerve disorder, has risen to 130 in Pune and other districts of Maharashtra, health department officials confirmed. So far, two suspected deaths have been reporteda 56-year-old woman from Pune and a man from Solapur district.

Authorities reported three new suspected infections on Wednesday, further raising concerns about the outbreak. Of the 130 suspected cases, 73 have been confirmed as GBS. Among them, 25 patients are from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) areas, 74 from newly-added villages under PMC, 13 from Pimpri-Chinchwad, and nine each from Pune rural and other districts.

Taking stock of the situation, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who also serves as Pune district guardian minister, held a District Planning Committee meeting on Thursday. He directed civic and health officials to take strict action against hospitals that are overcharging GBS patients. Pawar also emphasized the urgent need for an adequate supply of essential drugs to treat the condition, which causes sudden numbness, muscle weakness, and severe limb fatigue.

Preliminary investigations suggest the GBS outbreak in Pune and surrounding areas is likely linked to contaminated water sources. Health experts suspect that Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium commonly found in contaminated food and water, could be responsible for the sharp rise in cases. The government has urged residents to take precautionary measures, including drinking boiled or purified water and maintaining strict hygiene practices to curb the spread of the disease.
Not all Alabamians are wild about Attorney General Steve Marshalls signing onto a demand that wholesale chain Costco mothball its DEI policies.

Marshall was one of 19 state AGs who signed a letter demanding Costco dismantle the policy or explain within 30 days why it will keep them.

Insidious DEI practices, like those championed by Costco, undermine the ideal of individualism and, ultimately, the American dream, Marshall posted to X on Tuesday.

This letter follows 98% of U.S. Costco shareholders last week striking down a proposal requesting the company evaluate and report on the risks associated with their DEI efforts.

Insidious DEI practices, like those championed by Costco, undermine the ideal of individualism and, ultimately, the American dream. https://t.co/mIOiipx0fx  Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) January 28, 2025

Our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of ethics, Costcos Board of Directors said in a statement to ABC News. Our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion remind and reinforce with everyone at our Company the importance of creating opportunities for all.

It was not clear what the attorneys general would, or could, do if Costco does not comply.

In the letter, the AGs described DEI policies as divisive and discriminatory, and cited an executive order by President Donald Trump encouraging the private sector to end the practices.

Richard Rice of the Rice Firm, a public interest attorney in Birmingham, went so far as to send a letter to Costco CEO Ron Vachris commending the company for its commitment.

As public interest advocates, we deeply recognize the courage and leadership required to maintain these policies, particularly when the national conversation around DEI is increasingly polarized and fraught with misinformation, Rice wrote.

Costcos steadfast stance in maintaining its DEI initiatives in the face of such opposition should be applauded as a model for other businesses. Parenthetically, we are confident that adhering to your position on DEI will not prevent you from addressing any other problems Costco may face, despite the Attorney Generals absurd claim that you can only do one thing at a time.

Several readers of AL.com responded negatively to the story on social media.

On Threads, scirocker responded to a story link by writing, So much for free market capitalism. Hello Fascism.

Or what? Youll get maga mad? asked vickimcg.

randallheskett wrote: He is a monster. I hope Costco keeps up what it is doing.

bking1105 replied: What is he going to do? Focus on your real job, Steve.

On Facebook, John Miller asked, Why is Steve Marshmallow-head going after a private business over its completely legal business practices?

Intimidation tactic and thats why its just a letter and not a lawsuit, said Cedric B. Howard.

Patrick Lakey asked, I thought the GOP supported the individual liberty of business owners to run their operation how they see fit. How does this Make America Great? This culture war garbage only serves to divide.

Cameron Tolbert wrote, Headline should read: Alabama Attorney General on mission to push major retailer that provides great paying jobs out of state. Costco currently has five locations in Alabama.

Steven Gordon asked, Should he check online for any DEI statements from Hyundai, Honda and Toyota and request their explanations? Hopefully he wont discourage these businesses from expanding or locating more manufacturing here. And is Governor Ivey keeping tabs on him?

Brad Beckett though wrote, Hire on merit, not for some made up quota and let nature sort it out.
If you bought tickets for the Camellia Music & Arts Festival, look at it this way: You should have some more money soon.

The new Huntsville rap and R&B festival planned for the weekend of April 25 at Orion Amphitheater has been cancelled. Headliners were to include Big Boi, Gucci Mane, Kehlani and JID.

Concert promoter Allied Presents announced the cancelation today via social media.

The statement reads: Its with great disappointment that we must announce Camellia Music & Arts Festival will not take place as planned. While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, we are deeply grateful for the enthusiasm and support from this community.

Fans who purchased tickets through the festivals official ticket provider AXS will automatically receive refunds within 30 business days, according to the statement. Those who purchased tickets elsewhere are instructed to seek a refund from that point of purchase. Tickets were priced at $55 - $155 per day.

Last year, the launch of another Huntsville multi-day music festival with national headliners also faced challenges. South Star Music Festivals debut boasted memorable sets by 90s acts like Gwen Stefani, TLC and Rage Against The Machines Tom Morello. But muddy conditions at the John Hunt Park site led to the cancelation of South Stars entire second day.
The reward for information into a Montgomery shooting that critically injured a child has increased.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Friday announced a reward of $10,000 for information that leads police to the shooter or shooters.

Montgomery police and fire medics were dispatched about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday to the 3200 block of Raintree Drive on a report of a person shot. The child was inside a home when he was shot.

They arrived to find a boy with life-threatening injuries. He was rushed to the hospital.

Few details have been released, including the age of the young child.

Police Chief Jim Graboys said the shooting appeared to be targeted at someone, but not the child.

I do not believe this was a random event, he said.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers said a red Nissan Altima was seen in the area at the time of the shooting.

The agency initially offered a $5,000 reward for information that leads police to the suspect or suspects.

Crime Stoppers Executive Director Tony Garrett said Montgomery District 6 City Councilman Oronde Mitchell and Montgomery County District 2 Commissioner Carmen Moore-Zeigler have each pledged $2,500. That brings the total reward to $10,000, to be paid upon the arrest of anyone who provides information leading to the capture of those responsible for the crime.

Graboys addressed the public Wednesday, urging the suspects to turn themselves in.

You will be looking over your shoulder until justice is served, Graboys said.

To the victim and his family, Graboys said, Our hearts, prayers and feelings are extended to you with the hope of a good and healthy recovery for the young victim.

That ultimately our deepest wish in all of this, for the welfare of the family and the welfare of that

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP, Montgomery police at 334-625-2831 or the Secret Witness tip line at 334-625-4000.
Alabama lawmakers have set their sights on the states health crisis, filing legislation to support rural hospitals and incentivize physicians to work in underserved communities.

When you look at rural health in Alabama, it is a very serious situation that were facing now and we are trying to find some ways to combat that, said state Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville. This issue is incredibly important to the legislature this year.

Oliver is sponsoring one of two bills aimed at improving the health care crisis in rural Alabama. His bill, HB46 , would fix existing legislation that currently prevents many doctors in rural communities from accessing tax credits meant for them.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, is sponsoring HB86 to provide tax credits to donors who want to support rural hospitals, establishing a fund modeled on a program that was successful in Georgia.

Since 2011, seven rural hospitals have closed, according to the Alabama Hospital Association. And reports predict that more than half of the states 52 rural hospitals are at risk of closing, with 19 at an immediate risk, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

Rural communities across Alabama have seen emergency rooms and hospitals shutter , while pediatricians , dentists and maternity care have disappeared in over a third of the states counties.

Collins said the closing of Thomasville Regional Medical Center led to this years focus on rural health.

Our education groups realized that if we dont keep healthcare in those rural areas, theyre going to have a harder time educating children, Collins told AL.com. I think our workforce areas know if we dont have healthcare available, theyre not going to be able to recruit industry in.

I think that were getting a much better understanding of the need and Thomasville closing earlier this fall was what really created the push, she added

Investing in rural hospitals

Collinss bill would establish the Rural Hospital Investment Program so individual donors and businesses can receive a tax credit for contributions toward supporting hospital operations and direct care.

Donors would receive a 100% income tax credit, which would be pulled from both the general budget and education fund. The bill would cap the credits at $20 million for all donations through 2026, then raise the cap to $30 million later.

The bill would also establish a board within the Office of State Treasurer to help determine the eligibility of hospitals and oversee the program. Members would include staff from the Alabama Hospital Association, which helped shape the bill, modeling it after The Georgia Heart Hospital program.

That program was so successful from its inception in 2016 that Georgia exceeded its overall cap of donations, and raised the limit this year to $100 million to support 50 rural hospitals.

It really engages the community, as well as individuals and businesses and corporations make contributions to help their local hospitals, said Danne Howard, deputy director of the Alabama Hospital Association.

Howard said she heard from businesses familiar with the Georgia program who wanted to help in Alabama, so they added in a provision allowing corporations to make annual donations up to $500,000.

Its not going to solve all things that are wrong, or all of the financial strains and struggles, but it is something that could be helpful and make a big difference, she said.

Rural Physicians

Alabama currently has a tax credit on the books allowing rural physicians to receive $5,000 in tax income credits.

The program is intended to help recruit more doctors to Alabama communities that often cant compete with larger urban areas. But it is flawed, doctors say, as those working in some of the states most rural areas are unable to access it.

To qualify for the tax credit, doctors must work and reside in a community that has less than 25,000 people but with a hospital that has an emergency room. But many rural physicians are left out because their addresses are in communities without hospitals.

Currently the laws not defined very well, said Oliver. And as more and more hospitals close, it just makes no sense.

Olivers bill would raise the credit to $10,000 and remove the language that doctors must live and work in a community with a hospital to qualify.

Oliver said he hopes the change would recruit more physicians to rural areas, but also make sure doctors who are already in rural or unincorporated communities are incentivized to stay.

In 2023, AL.com profiled Meghan Carpenter , a doctor based in Washington County who could not get the credit because she lived in an unincorporated community, though the hospital where she worked in Chatom  a town that measures about 10 square miles with 1,000 residents  was less than 10 miles from her home.

As an internal medicine specialist and pediatrician, she saw patients from across four counties and from Mississippi, where she has since relocated her practice, citing issues with the tax credit.

We have a system that just makes it unsustainable for physicians, especially primary care physicians, to be in those rural areas, said Nola Ernest, a pediatrician in Dothan and former president of the Alabama chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics. And the tax credit issues are part of that.

It would definitely allow physicians to be a little more financially sustainable if they could apply for this tax credit without all of the current very specific details that you have to meet, she added

Both bills have been up for consideration in previous years without gaining any traction. Collins and Oliver both have optimism that things will progress differently this year, given changes they made to address opposition they faced in the past.

We have to decide whats important to us and whats in the best interest of our constituents, Oliver said. Im confident the legislature will get this done.